So now that I’ve explained what happened to the swim, etc (see below) I’ll get into the actual race. I was really excited for this one, and very prepared. Back in Oct, I cracked my ribs so it was excruciating to swim for a few weeks after that. Actually, I couldn’t really swim. I would “swim” for 50 yards, be on the verge of tears and needed help getting out of the pool (not to mention getting out of bed, sitting up, etc). Not an ideal situation a few weeks out from swimming 2.4 miles. At one week out, I was able to work up to 4k in the pool. Kind of funny the swim was canceled. All that drama for nothing!
So as I mentioned, this was a split transition. I woke up at 4 and started to wonder how I was going to dress. The day before the weather changed and there were 25 to 30 mph winds, pouring rain and colder temps. This was stressing me out more than anything. History has told me I do NOT bike well in the cold. The temps were in the 30s on race morning, but it was set to be a pretty nice day.
I ate my standard breakfast of a GF bagel, Justins nut butter, and banana, coffee, etc, grabbed my wetsuit and headed out. ITU rules state you cannot alter or cover up any part of your uniform, so I planned on wearing a long sleeve shirt under the uniform. However, due to the abnormally cold temps, we were thankfully allowed to wear any compression sleeves, jackets, shirts we wanted. I never race in compression sleeves but for the extra warmth I put them on. I was wearing my Team USA uniform, a long sleeve shirt, coat and winter hat. I stepped outside and it was cold, no doubt about it.
We drove over to Lake Las Vegas, parked and I grabbed my wetsuit and started my walk down to the changing tents and transition. A lot of people were walking in the opposite direction. Someone walked by and said “the swim is canceled”. I said “ha, sure” and kind of laughed. I really thought he was kidding!
Then another person walked by and said the same thing, then a third. So, I was beginning to think this was reality. I was not happy, nor disappointed. I simply shifted my mind to what I needed to do to have my best possible race. It was out of my control and nothing I could do. I also was wondering if it was a rumor so I brought my wetsuit just in case. But, after hearing it from about 10 more people, I put the wetsuit back in the car.
We checked in our gear bags and bikes the night before. The bags were lined up outside the changing tents and sat out in the pouring rain all night. Yes, they were tied up, but everything was still soaking wet. Bike shoes, gloves, jackets, etc. The scene inside the changing tent was a little chaotic as everyone was crowded around the heater trying to dry off gear. We had a long wait, it was about 6am and we were set off to go out around 8:43. So there was nothing left to do but shiver, wait, shiver and wait.
I opted to wear gloves, long sleeve shirt and a jacket. I wish I had leg warmers, but other than that I was fine. It was a little windy, but not nearly as bad as the day before and the sun was shining.
We lined up by our number and went off 5 seconds apart. They did a good job with what they had to work with last minute. Forget about drafting on this course! The hills and topography of this course would eliminate that. The start involved climbing “out and up” out of the Lake Las Vegas area, so I would say we climbed for about 15 to 20 minutes then headed out to the Lake Mead area. I thought with starting out 5 seconds apart I would start to pass people fairly quickly. But, I was cold and my legs did not want to work. I ended up passing a couple people and then seemed to hold my place until we were well into the Lake Mead Nat’l Park. So from then on it was a loooooong climb, followed by a looooong downhill, repeat and repeat. The scenery is amazing here. I felt good but my legs were not working as well as I needed them to and I was not warming up. Overall it was not bad though. I saw a huge tarantula on the road and a girl pedaled up beside me and said “Wow, did you see that??”, it was quite large and a cool sight! I did my standard infinit and EFS liquid gel but also ate since I knew I needed more calories with the cold. I grabbed bananas and ate snickers which no doubt helped my run.
So up and down we went until we got to “the bike path”. How bad can a bike path be you ask? Bad. It was up and up and then I saw a mileage sign coming and it said “60″. I had 15 more miles on this thing?? I know 15 miles was not bad, but you have to understand it was lucky if I was going 12 mph. It was evil. It ended with 3 hills, the last being an 18% grade. I was not overly pleased with my bike time but was not really surprised given the weather. I’d just have to run fast which I was prepared to do!
We came into T2 which was in Henderson and I noticed my left leg and feet were numb but luckily that only lasted a few staggering steps off the bike. I returned to transition with only one glove and one sock, they met an unfortunate demise on the bike path.My feet were numb and I was not used to wearing socks so I managed to get one off and I’m not sure where one glove went. I probably took it off while trying to pedal and take socks off at the same time. I will say now that the volunteers were GREAT at this race. Someone took my bike and my grabbed my gear bag for me. I was a little out of it and forgot my race number so I got the wrong bag for a second. After that minor mishap, I put on my shoes, took off all my layers and took off. My legs felt awesome and I was ready for a great run. The run was 4 loops (30k total) which was half downhill, half uphill. I did my standard 6:20 mile off the bike, said “whoa!” and settled in the 7s which felt good. I started passing people quickly but knew I did not have a great bike. The run went by very quickly and I got to the 13 mile mark under 1:40 and said “hang on!!”. Third lap was great and then I started to feel it on the 4th lap, which I expected. It was not bad, I was just able to tell I had to work a little harder now. I was taking in the liquid shot and water and that seemed to work just fine. It seems with the liquid shot as opposed to traditional gels that I don’t need to take in as many calories, not sure why. My energy seems more even with it. Mile 16 came up fast and it was great to know I only had 2 more to go. I started to take in some coke to get that extra energy. Since it was a looped course, it helped SO much to see my family that came down to see me including my mom, cousin Angie and my Aunt Janet and her girlfriend Nomi. Talk about superstar spectators, they gave me a huge boost every time I saw them.
It was great to run down the chute and I finished with a huge smile on my face. I wanted top 10 badly and got it. However it took days for me to find that out since the results took forever-most likely due to the TT start format. I then started to shake, my core temp dropped fast and I was freezing!! I put on 2 coats and walked over to grab my bike and gear. I wanted to stick around but I was just too cold. All in all a great race, I really hand it to people who do the full Silverman on this course. It’s one of the most beautiful areas I’ve been to and I can’t wait to head out here again to do some training.
So what next? A little much deserved rest and then some late season running races!
I have a feeling I’ll have a better handle on it this time.
