If you've followed by earlier blogs last year was my year of being a "run-aholic" and earlier this year prior to the Boston marathon I felt burned out. I was having a hard time motivating myself to keep training as hard as I did in the prior year. I was questioning giving myself a break from it all and once again left for South America alone to find balance for a few weeks. Not sure why exactly but South America is starting to become my new OM...I usually return feeling recharged both physically and mentally. After returning in June from the trip I felt ready to get back to training and missed the structure. I decided to spend this summer focusing on triathlons only, and not sign up for any fall marathon. Instead I've setup a race calendar for one triathlon per month ending in October with a 1/2 iron (Soma, Arizona) - thank you Cara Payne for + influencing me to sign up for my first 1/2 :)
"Have fun and compete" was my mantra heading into ChelanMan Olympic triathlon this year. My sis and friends are often reminding me to have fun since that is usually my breaking point - if I'm not having fun it's obvious and my training suffers. Pre-race encouragement from my sis, Jane, and Tesia were the things that stuck with me throughout the race - Angel (have fun!), Jane (have fun and compete!), and Tesia (kill it on the bike b/c you'll be fine on the run).
Pre-Race Day/Evening
Blaine and I arrived Chelan on Friday afternoon and un-winded from the road trip by getting in a tune up swim in the lake and shake out on the bike. The swim felt great. Chelan is one of my ultimate fave lakes to swim in. The waters are crystal blue when the sun is shining down on the lake and usually pretty warm in comparison to the surrounding Seattle lakes. After the bike spin and gears/tires in check I went and setup Blazing Daisy on the rack. She looked ready for tomorrow.
This year we stayed at the Bauer's cabin - big thank you to Joe Bauer for being an amazing host! Post the race meeting we all headed back to the cabin to whip up dinner and get everything setup for race morning. Triathlon race prep compared to marathon race prep is on a whole different level. Checklists are involved due to the insane amount of things you need to remember! This year I made sure to use one since I didn't have my iron Tesh to ride back to our condo 10 minutes before the race to grab my goggles. Definitely didn't want to have a redo of that freak out scene again…
After dinner wrapped up I snuggled up in my sleeping bag and listened to some pump up tunes with Jay's headphones that are about the size of my head (I looked like Warren looking for his baseball…)and got myself to sleep at a decent time.
Race Day!
Alarm clock went off at 4:30am and Jay and I were instantly up and brewing coffee and getting breakfast together. The others got up shortly after and we put in the Chelan mix to get things started :) Thank you Mikey for the Repatriated song on the mix since that was voted the race theme song of the weekend…
Took down my routine breakfast - coffee, oatmeal, banana, lots of water/Gatorade. Car was packed and heading to the start line at 5:15am. Arrived to the race with plenty of time to grab a stellar parking spot near the start and beat all the crowds to get marked up for the race.
The transition grounds were soaked on the side where my bike was racked making setup a little challenging. I couldn't lay down the towel and put my things on top since it would be a complete mess when I finally needed everything so I just went without. Setup all the tips/tricks I've learned along the way and practiced running to the rack from the swim area a few times to lock the bike location in my memory. Last year I was running in circles around the transition area from not doing this beforehand.
Sydney and I went for a warm-up run to calm the nerves which ended up helping a lot - definitely a new pre-race tradition. After the jog we watched our friends start the 1/2 iron swim and quickly got back to our transition to get suited up and ready for our start. Got in the water 5 minutes prior to our swim and acclimated to the lake temps and environment. My nerves started kicking in at that point and I was really unsure of where to start with the swim. I knew I was a stronger swimmer than last year, but you can never tell where other swimmer's abilities are when you're standing there at the start and you have to make the decision to plow or get plowed. I made the decision to not go in the very front but went for a direct shot in the second row to the first buoy. I knew this was somewhat risky since if I didn't swim out hard enough I could get plowed since everyone is going for the most direct path.
Swim 1500 Meters (30:45)
The direct path to the first buoy worked out and I didn't find myself getting plowed too much but definitely found myself having to look for open spots between bodies to swim into to get past swimmers. Had some moments of feeling claustrophobic and each time I looked up to spot and could see bodies in front and on both sides made me feel a little more panicked. I tried to think about something logical and focused on breath to keep myself out of the emotional side of my brain. Popped up once when a large mammal tried to overtake me aggressively and ended up grabbing his arm pretty hard since he needed to back off. Outside that I would say the panic/large mammal attack only lasted for 3-4 minutes top and then I felt myself get into a groove.
I felt so much more comfortable out in the water this year. The only thing I find myself struggling with at times is I tend to get cozy and somewhat forget I'm suppose to be competing at race pace. When I find myself doing that I quickly snap out and apply what my friend Lilia suggested awhile back - imagine you're doing a hard track workout and keep pushing yourself the entire time. With swimming this involves ensuring I'm both kicking powerfully, striding out long, and pulling back with my arms correctly. It's hard for me to get all three in place at times since when you're in race mode you usually resort to sloppy form your body feels comfortable in.
Overall, finished the swim feeling good and took off 1:09 from my swim time last year. Ranked 8th in my age group coming out of the water.
T1 Transition - 2:04
Took off 37 seconds from last year's transition time. This is an area I need to further improve since I wasted some seconds on doing silly things such as bike gloves (who needs these for a short ride!?!) and having things better positioned.
Bike 24.8 Miles (1:17:14 - 19.3 mph avg)
The bike leg is my weakest link, but improved my bike time 5 minutes over the prior year which was a huge thing for me. I'm an inexperienced cyclist and this gave me confidence that with time I can keep getting stronger and more knowledgeable which will help lower that even further.
I kept what Tesia said in mind "kill it on the bike" and tried to make sure I was pushing myself as hard as I could on the uphills and maintaining a solid rhythm on the flat sections. My quads tired at times but as I took in nutrition on the bike (Powerbar drink/shot blocks) that seemed to give me the energy to pick it back up. It was so encouraging to see all my Pauole teammates out there and felt the Pauole love from them and others (people seem to dig our team so thank you to all you strangers who said go "Pauole").
Towards the end of the ride a girl in my age group came up which helped me rally until the end. We ended up playing yo-yo the last 5 miles of the race - constantly moving back and forth with passing. It helped a ton to have her there and I actually enjoyed it :) I was secretly thinking to myself you won't last on the run - boom in your face. Ended up ranking 21st in my age group for the ride so this is an area I need to keep improving.
T2 Transition - 1:53
Got off the bike and legs didn't feel as bad as I had imagined they would but my feet felt numb. I sat down to put on my shoes with socks! Last year when I wore yank laces without socks it ended up being the worse idea since it resulted in bad blisters!
Run 10K (42:50)
I laced up my fave Nike flats which always put me in race mode and felt confident moving onto my asset leg - running!! Started off with the slight jello leg feeling but got off to an easier pace to get through mile 1 and then found myself maintaining a faster pace than most of the athletes in front of me after my legs adjusted. One by one I kept counting the age group females I was passing which kept pushing me to keep it up. My run time was slower than last year which was a little disappointing but I did enjoy hearing all the kudos along the way from Pauole friends and other tri babes/guy friends I've met through training. My friend Darin put some pep in my step at the mid-way point when he told me "to get at it King" and from then on I was putting all I could into those last 2+ miles left. Ended up taking first in my age group for the run leg so just need to keep tuned up with track workouts and this should continue to serve me well.
Overall, I'm really pleased with how the race turned out. I went into this with no expectations
since it's the first race of my summer season on limited training. Joining Pauole Sports tri team has helped tremendously - the team is fantastic and solid group to roll with.
"Have fun and compete" was my mantra heading into ChelanMan Olympic triathlon this year. My sis and friends are often reminding me to have fun since that is usually my breaking point - if I'm not having fun it's obvious and my training suffers. Pre-race encouragement from my sis, Jane, and Tesia were the things that stuck with me throughout the race - Angel (have fun!), Jane (have fun and compete!), and Tesia (kill it on the bike b/c you'll be fine on the run).
Pre-Race Day/Evening
Blaine and I arrived Chelan on Friday afternoon and un-winded from the road trip by getting in a tune up swim in the lake and shake out on the bike. The swim felt great. Chelan is one of my ultimate fave lakes to swim in. The waters are crystal blue when the sun is shining down on the lake and usually pretty warm in comparison to the surrounding Seattle lakes. After the bike spin and gears/tires in check I went and setup Blazing Daisy on the rack. She looked ready for tomorrow.This year we stayed at the Bauer's cabin - big thank you to Joe Bauer for being an amazing host! Post the race meeting we all headed back to the cabin to whip up dinner and get everything setup for race morning. Triathlon race prep compared to marathon race prep is on a whole different level. Checklists are involved due to the insane amount of things you need to remember! This year I made sure to use one since I didn't have my iron Tesh to ride back to our condo 10 minutes before the race to grab my goggles. Definitely didn't want to have a redo of that freak out scene again…
After dinner wrapped up I snuggled up in my sleeping bag and listened to some pump up tunes with Jay's headphones that are about the size of my head (I looked like Warren looking for his baseball…)and got myself to sleep at a decent time.
Race Day!
Alarm clock went off at 4:30am and Jay and I were instantly up and brewing coffee and getting breakfast together. The others got up shortly after and we put in the Chelan mix to get things started :) Thank you Mikey for the Repatriated song on the mix since that was voted the race theme song of the weekend…
Took down my routine breakfast - coffee, oatmeal, banana, lots of water/Gatorade. Car was packed and heading to the start line at 5:15am. Arrived to the race with plenty of time to grab a stellar parking spot near the start and beat all the crowds to get marked up for the race.
The transition grounds were soaked on the side where my bike was racked making setup a little challenging. I couldn't lay down the towel and put my things on top since it would be a complete mess when I finally needed everything so I just went without. Setup all the tips/tricks I've learned along the way and practiced running to the rack from the swim area a few times to lock the bike location in my memory. Last year I was running in circles around the transition area from not doing this beforehand.
Sydney and I went for a warm-up run to calm the nerves which ended up helping a lot - definitely a new pre-race tradition. After the jog we watched our friends start the 1/2 iron swim and quickly got back to our transition to get suited up and ready for our start. Got in the water 5 minutes prior to our swim and acclimated to the lake temps and environment. My nerves started kicking in at that point and I was really unsure of where to start with the swim. I knew I was a stronger swimmer than last year, but you can never tell where other swimmer's abilities are when you're standing there at the start and you have to make the decision to plow or get plowed. I made the decision to not go in the very front but went for a direct shot in the second row to the first buoy. I knew this was somewhat risky since if I didn't swim out hard enough I could get plowed since everyone is going for the most direct path.Swim 1500 Meters (30:45)
The direct path to the first buoy worked out and I didn't find myself getting plowed too much but definitely found myself having to look for open spots between bodies to swim into to get past swimmers. Had some moments of feeling claustrophobic and each time I looked up to spot and could see bodies in front and on both sides made me feel a little more panicked. I tried to think about something logical and focused on breath to keep myself out of the emotional side of my brain. Popped up once when a large mammal tried to overtake me aggressively and ended up grabbing his arm pretty hard since he needed to back off. Outside that I would say the panic/large mammal attack only lasted for 3-4 minutes top and then I felt myself get into a groove.
I felt so much more comfortable out in the water this year. The only thing I find myself struggling with at times is I tend to get cozy and somewhat forget I'm suppose to be competing at race pace. When I find myself doing that I quickly snap out and apply what my friend Lilia suggested awhile back - imagine you're doing a hard track workout and keep pushing yourself the entire time. With swimming this involves ensuring I'm both kicking powerfully, striding out long, and pulling back with my arms correctly. It's hard for me to get all three in place at times since when you're in race mode you usually resort to sloppy form your body feels comfortable in.
Overall, finished the swim feeling good and took off 1:09 from my swim time last year. Ranked 8th in my age group coming out of the water.
T1 Transition - 2:04
Took off 37 seconds from last year's transition time. This is an area I need to further improve since I wasted some seconds on doing silly things such as bike gloves (who needs these for a short ride!?!) and having things better positioned.
Bike 24.8 Miles (1:17:14 - 19.3 mph avg)
The bike leg is my weakest link, but improved my bike time 5 minutes over the prior year which was a huge thing for me. I'm an inexperienced cyclist and this gave me confidence that with time I can keep getting stronger and more knowledgeable which will help lower that even further.
I kept what Tesia said in mind "kill it on the bike" and tried to make sure I was pushing myself as hard as I could on the uphills and maintaining a solid rhythm on the flat sections. My quads tired at times but as I took in nutrition on the bike (Powerbar drink/shot blocks) that seemed to give me the energy to pick it back up. It was so encouraging to see all my Pauole teammates out there and felt the Pauole love from them and others (people seem to dig our team so thank you to all you strangers who said go "Pauole").
Towards the end of the ride a girl in my age group came up which helped me rally until the end. We ended up playing yo-yo the last 5 miles of the race - constantly moving back and forth with passing. It helped a ton to have her there and I actually enjoyed it :) I was secretly thinking to myself you won't last on the run - boom in your face. Ended up ranking 21st in my age group for the ride so this is an area I need to keep improving.
T2 Transition - 1:53
Got off the bike and legs didn't feel as bad as I had imagined they would but my feet felt numb. I sat down to put on my shoes with socks! Last year when I wore yank laces without socks it ended up being the worse idea since it resulted in bad blisters!
Run 10K (42:50)
I laced up my fave Nike flats which always put me in race mode and felt confident moving onto my asset leg - running!! Started off with the slight jello leg feeling but got off to an easier pace to get through mile 1 and then found myself maintaining a faster pace than most of the athletes in front of me after my legs adjusted. One by one I kept counting the age group females I was passing which kept pushing me to keep it up. My run time was slower than last year which was a little disappointing but I did enjoy hearing all the kudos along the way from Pauole friends and other tri babes/guy friends I've met through training. My friend Darin put some pep in my step at the mid-way point when he told me "to get at it King" and from then on I was putting all I could into those last 2+ miles left. Ended up taking first in my age group for the run leg so just need to keep tuned up with track workouts and this should continue to serve me well.
Overall, I'm really pleased with how the race turned out. I went into this with no expectations
since it's the first race of my summer season on limited training. Joining Pauole Sports tri team has helped tremendously - the team is fantastic and solid group to roll with. I've changed my master's swim group to All Star with Kainoa which has been fantastic so far and putting more time in on the bike. I'm excited to see what further focused training in the pool and on the bike does for me this summer. My mood check is also really good. I'm happy and look forward to all of the training. There aren't many days where I find myself kicking to have to do a workout, but instead up and chipper, ready for the workout. Weird...maybe this triathlon bug has bit me :)
Race Results - Overall Time 2:34:48
Overall Female - 12th place
Age group - 5th place
6 minute PR over last year - woot!!
Next up Portland Olympic!
Race Results - Overall Time 2:34:48
Overall Female - 12th place
Age group - 5th place
6 minute PR over last year - woot!!
Next up Portland Olympic!
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