Mary
05-06-2009, 01:00 PM
Here is my race report from last Saturday.
I wanted to get a race in before IM Brazil, so I took the opportunity to spend time with family and race in the Napa Valley Vintage Half Ironman last Saturday.
Pre race: I arrived in Napa on Thursday evening and settled in. I got up on Friday and put my bike together and headed out for a short ride and run. It had rained the night before, but it was dry when I headed out, so that was a good sign. My sister and I headed down to the bike shop, I needed to pick up some CO2 and I had left my brand new sunglasses somewhere between Seattle and Sacramento, so I needed to pick up another pair. If that’s the worse that happens, it will be a good race. We drove the course, which by the way is quite hilly and the roads are very much chip seal and lots of potholes and ruts. It began to rain, and then pour. It pretty much rained for the rest of the day and well into the night.
Race day: I got up early as usual and had my coffee and breakfast and before I knew it, it was time to leave. We were about 1 hr from the race site, so we headed out at 5:30. Transition opened at 6:30 and the race started at 8am. Got to the race site, racked my bike and went down to pick up the race packet. Got all my gear out, I had brought some plastic garbage bags to put my run gear in, which turned out to be a good thing. The race started right around 8am, they had 3 swim waves and I got into the 2nd group out. This was my first open water swim for the year and it felt good to be in the open water. Had a good swim and finished in 32:32. Sounds like a great time, but the swim was short, oh well. Got the wetsuit off and by this time it had started to rain, so I decided to put on my rain jacket, which I am glad that I tossed in at the last minute. Headed out on the bike and it began to pour and didn’t stop until well into the run. It was a tough bike course and with the rain, not much fun. I wasn’t able to really take advantage of the descents as this was a training race and I didn’t want to end up crashing 3 weeks before Brazil. Finished the bike in 3:16:13. I have never been so happy to have my feet on the ground. Thank goodness I had put my running shoes in a plastic bag, at least I had something dry to put on my feet. Off on the run, which was a two loop run with several hills. Started off well and had a good first loop, but on the second loop began to slow down. I think it was a combination of not enough nutrition on the bike and the relentless hills. Managed to pull out a 2:07:24, which is a PR run for me in the ½ distance.
Total race time was: 6:09:50, a PR for me and also placed me 2nd in my age group.
Overall, this was a very mentally and physically challenging race, I am glad that I did it and I know where I am in regards to my race in Brazil.
I wanted to get a race in before IM Brazil, so I took the opportunity to spend time with family and race in the Napa Valley Vintage Half Ironman last Saturday.
Pre race: I arrived in Napa on Thursday evening and settled in. I got up on Friday and put my bike together and headed out for a short ride and run. It had rained the night before, but it was dry when I headed out, so that was a good sign. My sister and I headed down to the bike shop, I needed to pick up some CO2 and I had left my brand new sunglasses somewhere between Seattle and Sacramento, so I needed to pick up another pair. If that’s the worse that happens, it will be a good race. We drove the course, which by the way is quite hilly and the roads are very much chip seal and lots of potholes and ruts. It began to rain, and then pour. It pretty much rained for the rest of the day and well into the night.
Race day: I got up early as usual and had my coffee and breakfast and before I knew it, it was time to leave. We were about 1 hr from the race site, so we headed out at 5:30. Transition opened at 6:30 and the race started at 8am. Got to the race site, racked my bike and went down to pick up the race packet. Got all my gear out, I had brought some plastic garbage bags to put my run gear in, which turned out to be a good thing. The race started right around 8am, they had 3 swim waves and I got into the 2nd group out. This was my first open water swim for the year and it felt good to be in the open water. Had a good swim and finished in 32:32. Sounds like a great time, but the swim was short, oh well. Got the wetsuit off and by this time it had started to rain, so I decided to put on my rain jacket, which I am glad that I tossed in at the last minute. Headed out on the bike and it began to pour and didn’t stop until well into the run. It was a tough bike course and with the rain, not much fun. I wasn’t able to really take advantage of the descents as this was a training race and I didn’t want to end up crashing 3 weeks before Brazil. Finished the bike in 3:16:13. I have never been so happy to have my feet on the ground. Thank goodness I had put my running shoes in a plastic bag, at least I had something dry to put on my feet. Off on the run, which was a two loop run with several hills. Started off well and had a good first loop, but on the second loop began to slow down. I think it was a combination of not enough nutrition on the bike and the relentless hills. Managed to pull out a 2:07:24, which is a PR run for me in the ½ distance.
Total race time was: 6:09:50, a PR for me and also placed me 2nd in my age group.
Overall, this was a very mentally and physically challenging race, I am glad that I did it and I know where I am in regards to my race in Brazil.