Race Report: Wasa Lake Olympic Distance Triathlon, June 9, 2013

Before I get to Wasa, let me point out that I ALSO participated on a 4-woman team at the Giver8er Mountain Bike Enduro on June 2, 2013.  It didn't simply RAIN that day, it rained almost all week prior, AND poured down like a monsoon most of the day.  That morning was a bit drier - in fact, I managed to squeak out the second team lap with only a couple of raindrops.  But the trails were beyond muddy.  Quagmire.  There was a log across the trail, I attempted and got bucked off, my front tire simply slid sideways.  Then, at one point, I decided that riding the narrow bridge would be reckless, so, to avoid injury, I hopped off the bike and proceeded to walk across the bridge.  Bad decision: I must have looked like a cartoon character who stepped on the banana peel. I came crashing down on my tailbone on the edge of the plank.  I sat and cried, it hurt so much.  Eventually (my Garmin says 2:30 later), I got up and back on the bike - no problem spinning, but the minute I put torque on the pedals, excruciating pain spread across my back and down my legs.  Ouch.  The rest of the lap was uneventful, but much slower than I'd have liked.  All week long, I hobbled around, flinched at changing direction, used heat and ice, tried to keep my tailbone from sending massive waves of pain across my back and control the dull ache that settled into every waking minute.  (postscript note: it hurt for more than a week, so I eventually went for x-rays; turns out, I broke the bottom bone in my vertebrae - ouch!)

So that left me feeling uneasy about Wasa.  Would I be able to pull off the race goals that I set?  

Wasa race goals:

- execute my race plan

- finish with a smile - exhausted and spent, but smiling

- negative split my run, stretch goal: aim for sub 55 min

- rock-solid bike

- smooth swim

- nutrition dialed back in for racing (no more overheating and weird electrolyte imbalances - see Vegas for more gruesome details) 

- stretch goal: PB this course (I've race here before!)

Swim

Wetsuit felt pretty good today!  I struggled into it with few hiccups, it even felt okay around my neck.  I saw my girls on the beach, them gave Mum a big set of hugs, always a good luck charm.  I tried to stay with the pack but out of troubled water.  Mission accomplished, but I just didn't feel as smooth as I wanted, maybe there was a chop heading out, maybe there was a bit of a wind, but the swim across the back side and then return to shore felt smoother and faster - and it was.  It just took me a while to get settled.  It think the course is also a bit long, by approx. 75m, maybe it's just my poor sighting? 

Swim time: 35:55 (which includes a run up from the beach to T1, although I wasn't running!).  I pressed Lap on my Garmin when I exited the water, it reads 33:48. 

T1

What a disaster!  I couldn't sit properly to remove my wetsuit, pain pain pain.  It took time for the wetsuit strippers to help me, and changing from swim to walk, sit to walk was terrible.  Bending to put on bike shoes was painful. This transition zone ate up a lot of time.  

T1 time: 3:26.  My Garmin gave me 5:50 for T1, as it included the long run up from the beach. Small differences, same result: too much time in T1.

Bike

I got rolling, and once situated on my bike, pain disappeared.  My legs felt strong, full of energy.  I decided to use my Garmin Edge 500 to track watts and consistency in my post-race analysis.  I haven't raced with a power meter before, so wasn't using it to pre-determine my output, just a curiosity for me. As it turns out, I had a superb ride!  Best time for me on this course in several years, solid, consistent pacing, hit E4 and sustained it nicely.  I even started to pass people!  This is a new phenomenon for me, I usually hold my own pace and stay steady; but today, today I was passing all kinds of racers!  Maybe my slow T1 put these other racers in front of me and I was simply catching up, but man, it felt good to see my fellow age-group competitors fall behind.  And I still felt strong on the bike, so I kept on pedalling.  In Coach Jack's words, "you didn't burn any matches here."

Bike time: 1:20:14 (this is a 6 min. improvement over my bike time on this same course, same weather conditions!)

T2

Once off the bike, even while walking through T2, the transition from seated to upright caused more pain, making my total time in T2 long.  I moved as smoothly as possible, no wasted movement, but I was in slow motion. 

T2 time: 2:53

Run

Here is the cool part: I've been trying to work on my running.  I know it's my weakest of the three disciplines, and I tend to lose a lot of ground on the run.  I've done hills and speedwork, long distance, increased frequency, tried to be a good athlete and do the prescribed running.  You know what? It paid off!  The first kilometre wasn't pretty: adjusting to a run was painful, I really, really had to pee so pulled over into a portatoilet, and then had to adjust to a run again.  But after that, I just kept on running!  In fact, I held a solid pace all the way thru!  AND! I was passing more people!  At one point I remember my Garmin showed me a split for the previous kilometer and I had to do a mental check on whether I could sustain the pace or keep pushing.  I was nervous about my back, so I didn't fully exhaust myself until the final kilometer. I had been playing leap frog with another racer all day, and I knew that she was in my age group. I pulled out all the stops in the final kilometer, passed her, and kept on going.  The Finish Line was sweet!

How did the race stack against my goals?
-  race plan execution - check!
- I promise I finished with a smile, and the catcher at the Finish Line had to hold me up for a few seconds, and my eldest daughter kept asking if I was okay - check!
- YES! I negative split my run!!! Came slightly shy of stretch goal, I think the pitstop ate up 30sec, and adjusting from walk to run cost me time too - it would have put me very close to stretch goal today.  Check!
- rock-solid bike - check!
- smooth swim - almost....
- nutrition dialed in for racing - check!
- PB this course - check!
My race was strong, in spite of the injury.  I'm back on track for racing again, it feels great!

Next stop: XTerra Canmore August 4, 2013

(sorry, no pics this post, v boring, couldn't find any in race-day stack)