alexis
08-17-2009, 10:34 AM
Lake Stevens Race Report
As many of you already know, this was my first half & my “A” race of the season. Overall I couldn’t have been better prepared – so many thanks to Ben, all the Vo2-ers & those early morning swim4tri sessions :p
Nutrition:
Breakfast – oatmeal with blueberries, a handful of trail mix, 1 cup of coffee & lot of water. Sipped on EFS electrolyte mix on the drive to the race & finished it before the swim. (500-600 calories)
Bike – 9 Gus, yes 9 … 1 every 20 minutes + Gatorade (1000 calories)
Run – carried a 400 calorie flask of gel & electrolytes with me but only needed about 250 of it.
Arrived at the race site at 5am – the transition area closed at 6:15 and my wave was scheduled for 6:45 so I had plenty of time to get my stuff set up. It was still pitch black and my slot was a ways away from the lights they had set up so I pretty much just sat in my car with the heat blasting until I could see well enough to pump my tires etc (it was cold!!) Once I finished setting up my spot & showing my parents & JP where they would best be able to see me (and saying hi to Eric who had come to watch the start!) I got into my wetsuit and headed to the water. The fog was so heavy we couldn’t really see the buoy line, so they delayed the race start by 10 mins. In the meantime I just got into the water because it was a lot warmer than the air temperature outside J
Swim – 40:47, 28/48 AG
It was pretty cool because we all got to walk down a long dock and jump off for our deep-water start. My wave wasn’t too large compared to the men’s who had just gone off before us so I wasn’t too worried about getting trampled or anything like that. Luckily there was an orange cable visible under the water that traced the buoy line because the fog hadn’t lifted yet and I still couldn’t see any of the buoys… but I felt remarkably calm and relaxed. The horn went off and I let the initial sprinters go out ahead of me and I just started out nice and easy. Spotted the cable and positioned myself just to the left of it; kept my head down and started thinking about my form. It was a while before I really ran into a crowd even though it was obvious that everyone was trying to huddle around the cable for sighting. I felt great and didn’t let anyone bother me – I even passed a few people on my way to the first turn around which was definitely a first for me in the water!! Once I knew I was on the home stretch I was feeling so great I focused on picking up the pace and pushing myself a bit more. I passed a few green caps and knew I was catching the slow swimmers from the wave before me. However I was also getting clawed at from the faster girls coming up from the wave behind me… so the last half mile was definitely more physical than the first, but nothing out of the ordinary and I knew I was swimming one of the best swims for me – so that’s all that mattered. Tried to ignore the nasty god-knows-what floating in the water as it got shallower and kept my head down all the way to the mat. Ran out and heard people cheering for me and sprinted to my bike :)
T1 – 1:51, 7/48 AG
Bike – 3:04:37, 14/48 AG, 18.2 mph ave
I felt so confident coming out of the swim stronger than I had expected and knowing that the bike is by far my best leg I was very careful not to let myself ride my adrenaline without watching my pace. My goal was to have a negative split on the 2 laps and finish in 3 hours so I watched my speed carefully and made sure to “go easy” on the first lap. I had ridden the course a few times prior so I was familiar with all the turns & climbs and I honestly felt great the entire time. The hardest part was forcing myself to eat GUs every 20 mins… I swear every time I looked down at my watch it was time for another one lol. The only bummer was around mile 12 when I was taking my 2nd sip of electrolyte mix that I was carrying in my cage & my hands were still wet and frozen that when I went to put it back I dropped it. Fortunately there was a bottle exchange not too long after so I was able to grab some Gatorade instead.
There’s no way around it, the course is definitely challenging and by the time I finished the 2nd lap at about mile 50 my legs were definitely telling me it was time to dismount – I could feel the burn building up in my hip flexors and quads. At this point I was getting a little eager and contemplated pushing it to finish sub-3hrs but I reminded myself that it wasn’t just a 10k coming next (and the run is my weakest…) so I decided against it and slowed up on the last 6 miles coming back to transition & tried to stay in a low gear to leg my legs spin and flush out a bit before they hit the ground.
T2 - 2:14, 22/48 AG
Run – 2:11:28, 31/48 AG, 10:03 min/mile ave
My goal for the run was to average 10 minute miles (I knew there were hills…) and just to “feel good” up until the last 3 miles or so where I knew I’d just give it everything I had left. Coming out of T2 my legs were so happy to be running instead of climbing on the bike that again I was very careful to watch my pace because I knew how easy it’d be to sprint the first few miles and then have it catch up to me. The first couple of miles are pretty flat before you get to a gradual climb and then more flat until you come back into town, get an adrenaline rush from the crowd, and then head out & back over the “big hill” to complete lap 1 back in town. Lap 1 went really well for me. I was holding 9:30 min miles, feeling good & getting really excited to be so close to the finish. I didn’t even struggle too much with the hill; I just shortened my stride and didn’t push myself too hard. Before I knew it lap 1 was done & I was just over 1 hour in time which is exactly where I was planning to be. I passed my parents, JP, my dog, my aunt & uncle, & Deb all in town before starting lap 2 – it was awesome J On lap 2 I definitely started to get the burn back in my legs but I was able to push my pace a little bit and get back to town before the out & back in a little over 30 mins – so I was at about 1:40 total time at this point. I was very happy with this and knew I was going to struggle to the end but felt confident that I’d finish in about 2:10 which is what I was shooting for. I didn’t walk at all which I was very proud of but I was probably running about 12 min/miles up that stupid hill for the last time. As much as it hurt for the last 20 mins I could start to hear the announcer and I knew the finish was just around the corner - & I was elated. It hurt like h*ll but at the same time it was the best feeling in the world. I know I need to work on my run & will make it a focus in the off-season but I’ve definitely improved seeing as how I ran my first half marathon not even a year ago and my 2nd one at Mercer Island in April where I PR’d at 2 hours (& I’d say this course was much harder than that one.)
Total time 6:00:54, 18/48 AG, 98/290 Overall Females
Great experience, great preparation & I will definitely do this again :D :D
Thanks everyone!
As many of you already know, this was my first half & my “A” race of the season. Overall I couldn’t have been better prepared – so many thanks to Ben, all the Vo2-ers & those early morning swim4tri sessions :p
Nutrition:
Breakfast – oatmeal with blueberries, a handful of trail mix, 1 cup of coffee & lot of water. Sipped on EFS electrolyte mix on the drive to the race & finished it before the swim. (500-600 calories)
Bike – 9 Gus, yes 9 … 1 every 20 minutes + Gatorade (1000 calories)
Run – carried a 400 calorie flask of gel & electrolytes with me but only needed about 250 of it.
Arrived at the race site at 5am – the transition area closed at 6:15 and my wave was scheduled for 6:45 so I had plenty of time to get my stuff set up. It was still pitch black and my slot was a ways away from the lights they had set up so I pretty much just sat in my car with the heat blasting until I could see well enough to pump my tires etc (it was cold!!) Once I finished setting up my spot & showing my parents & JP where they would best be able to see me (and saying hi to Eric who had come to watch the start!) I got into my wetsuit and headed to the water. The fog was so heavy we couldn’t really see the buoy line, so they delayed the race start by 10 mins. In the meantime I just got into the water because it was a lot warmer than the air temperature outside J
Swim – 40:47, 28/48 AG
It was pretty cool because we all got to walk down a long dock and jump off for our deep-water start. My wave wasn’t too large compared to the men’s who had just gone off before us so I wasn’t too worried about getting trampled or anything like that. Luckily there was an orange cable visible under the water that traced the buoy line because the fog hadn’t lifted yet and I still couldn’t see any of the buoys… but I felt remarkably calm and relaxed. The horn went off and I let the initial sprinters go out ahead of me and I just started out nice and easy. Spotted the cable and positioned myself just to the left of it; kept my head down and started thinking about my form. It was a while before I really ran into a crowd even though it was obvious that everyone was trying to huddle around the cable for sighting. I felt great and didn’t let anyone bother me – I even passed a few people on my way to the first turn around which was definitely a first for me in the water!! Once I knew I was on the home stretch I was feeling so great I focused on picking up the pace and pushing myself a bit more. I passed a few green caps and knew I was catching the slow swimmers from the wave before me. However I was also getting clawed at from the faster girls coming up from the wave behind me… so the last half mile was definitely more physical than the first, but nothing out of the ordinary and I knew I was swimming one of the best swims for me – so that’s all that mattered. Tried to ignore the nasty god-knows-what floating in the water as it got shallower and kept my head down all the way to the mat. Ran out and heard people cheering for me and sprinted to my bike :)
T1 – 1:51, 7/48 AG
Bike – 3:04:37, 14/48 AG, 18.2 mph ave
I felt so confident coming out of the swim stronger than I had expected and knowing that the bike is by far my best leg I was very careful not to let myself ride my adrenaline without watching my pace. My goal was to have a negative split on the 2 laps and finish in 3 hours so I watched my speed carefully and made sure to “go easy” on the first lap. I had ridden the course a few times prior so I was familiar with all the turns & climbs and I honestly felt great the entire time. The hardest part was forcing myself to eat GUs every 20 mins… I swear every time I looked down at my watch it was time for another one lol. The only bummer was around mile 12 when I was taking my 2nd sip of electrolyte mix that I was carrying in my cage & my hands were still wet and frozen that when I went to put it back I dropped it. Fortunately there was a bottle exchange not too long after so I was able to grab some Gatorade instead.
There’s no way around it, the course is definitely challenging and by the time I finished the 2nd lap at about mile 50 my legs were definitely telling me it was time to dismount – I could feel the burn building up in my hip flexors and quads. At this point I was getting a little eager and contemplated pushing it to finish sub-3hrs but I reminded myself that it wasn’t just a 10k coming next (and the run is my weakest…) so I decided against it and slowed up on the last 6 miles coming back to transition & tried to stay in a low gear to leg my legs spin and flush out a bit before they hit the ground.
T2 - 2:14, 22/48 AG
Run – 2:11:28, 31/48 AG, 10:03 min/mile ave
My goal for the run was to average 10 minute miles (I knew there were hills…) and just to “feel good” up until the last 3 miles or so where I knew I’d just give it everything I had left. Coming out of T2 my legs were so happy to be running instead of climbing on the bike that again I was very careful to watch my pace because I knew how easy it’d be to sprint the first few miles and then have it catch up to me. The first couple of miles are pretty flat before you get to a gradual climb and then more flat until you come back into town, get an adrenaline rush from the crowd, and then head out & back over the “big hill” to complete lap 1 back in town. Lap 1 went really well for me. I was holding 9:30 min miles, feeling good & getting really excited to be so close to the finish. I didn’t even struggle too much with the hill; I just shortened my stride and didn’t push myself too hard. Before I knew it lap 1 was done & I was just over 1 hour in time which is exactly where I was planning to be. I passed my parents, JP, my dog, my aunt & uncle, & Deb all in town before starting lap 2 – it was awesome J On lap 2 I definitely started to get the burn back in my legs but I was able to push my pace a little bit and get back to town before the out & back in a little over 30 mins – so I was at about 1:40 total time at this point. I was very happy with this and knew I was going to struggle to the end but felt confident that I’d finish in about 2:10 which is what I was shooting for. I didn’t walk at all which I was very proud of but I was probably running about 12 min/miles up that stupid hill for the last time. As much as it hurt for the last 20 mins I could start to hear the announcer and I knew the finish was just around the corner - & I was elated. It hurt like h*ll but at the same time it was the best feeling in the world. I know I need to work on my run & will make it a focus in the off-season but I’ve definitely improved seeing as how I ran my first half marathon not even a year ago and my 2nd one at Mercer Island in April where I PR’d at 2 hours (& I’d say this course was much harder than that one.)
Total time 6:00:54, 18/48 AG, 98/290 Overall Females
Great experience, great preparation & I will definitely do this again :D :D
Thanks everyone!