I've now officially completed 3 70.3's and it looks like I'm in for at least one more this year. As expected, Yesterday's race was a tough one, but I'll take a hilly course like that one over a flat one anyday!! The race started off as planned with a fast swim...that is until laurel and I were directed off course. We had a big lead that disappeared by the time we got back on. I was so fired up, I swam my way back to the front and was able to get on my bike first, but with only a few seconds on my main competitors. The ride felt great though, I just listened to my coach's advice and pushed the pace. I thought I might get tired, but 40k came and went and I felt great and before Iknew it, I was at the 90k mark. This race is extra long, about 94k. The only thing that went wrong on the bike was missing both water bottle exchanges. I'm just not coordinated enough to reach out at 20mph and grab a bottle. Maybe next time I'll slow down, especially considering how I felt the last 5k of the run.
I managed to hold off the competition for the entire ride and entered t2 first and quickly proceeded to crash my bike into the men's transition rack because my legs were so wobbly. Once I started running, mirinda quickly passed me running at a speed that would win most short course races. Whoever is racing her at kona better watch out! At that point, I just decided to run my own pace because I was in no condition to run 5:45 pace. I got in a good groove and was estimating my time to be about 1:21 after the first 15k, but the last 5k is when things (like getting the right nutrition on the bike) started to take a toll. I tried to push myself all the way to the finish, but it was hard! Meanwhile, Karl was out running hard, trying to make up for her bogus dismount penalty. 4 minutes in the penalty box, which, by the way, was added to her run split. In the end we finished 2nd and 5th, both with big improvements over last year.
After I finally made it to the finish line, I hung around to wait for SJ. In the end, he opted out of sprinting by Lisa bentley and came in just a few seconds behind her. He finished 6th in his age group, not bad for someone who runs maybe 5 times a month. Seriously. And, his run split was 1:34.
More from Canada later, we're off to check out queens university while SJ does a work recruiting thing.
3 comments:
I don't know how you all do it! Way to keep your head in it despite the little glitches. Guess each 70.3 will be a learning experience!
Along with the obstacle course we'll have to include water bottle exchanges. haha. Great job.
I just commented on Karl's blog because some person had an interesting take on her penalty from Sunday's race. I think she overpaid her dues by sitting in the penalty box. She didn't really need any more punishment--especially in the form of anonymous comments.
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