Race Report?

    This past Memorial Day weekend I traveled down to Austin, TX with my Terra Tri teammates Dan Tigert, Emmy Huffnagle, Elissa Lim, and Mike Brayer to compete in the Lifetime Series Cap Tex Triathlon. All four of us signed up for the Olympic Distance, with Dan going in the Pro Wave. To save time and keep ourselves entertained during the long drive down there on Saturday, we all rode together in Dan's car with the bikes and gear packed in two cars (Dan's mom came down to watch the race too and took some of the bikes and gear).
    We arrived in Austin that afternoon and were lucky enough to stay at the Embassy Suites, which was a fantastic hotel and within walking distance of the start of the race. To meet up with Dan's mom and check out some of Austin's local fare, we checked out Shady Grove for eats and some "Local Water" (I assume because its maybe directly from Barton Springs, its a treat?). We enjoyed the music, atmosphere, and weather to relax before the real events started up Sunday.

Fresh local water. Kind of ironic...

   We tried to see the bats after dinner, but after standing there for an hour or two and it getting dark, we ended up bailing on the little flying fur-balls and called it a night. Dan, Emmy, Ellisa and I ended up sharing one room to store all of our stuff, and somehow squeezed all the bikes and equipment in there along with us four nervous athletes. The next morning, though, it was nice having us all together to grab breakfast and face the nerves that started to creep up with the less-than-24hours-away-from-race factor closing in.
       To loosen up and get ready for the next day, we decided to park at the original Whole Foods on Lamar street and run with our wetsuits to the Deep Eddy pool part of Barton Springs. It was my suggestion to swim there since when I lived in College Station and used to commute to Austin to get away, it was a favorite locale of mine, especially after running around the Town Lake. It had been a while since I did the run to the pool, though, and I definitely think I got a few "what the heck is she getting us into" thoughts from Dan, Emmy and Ellisa as we hauled our wetsuits, running to the pool. It ended up being a few more miles than planned...but we did get there, and got a nice open water swim with a wet-suit test before the race (and a few comments from the locals about its not nearly cold enough to swim in a pool with a wetsuit...we knew that, lol!).

Deep Eddy pool in Austin

   And...I managed to covert a few more people to the dark side of invertebrates, after Dan discovered some snails hanging out by the stone walls...muahahaha!

Watching snails...

     After running back to Whole Foods we grabbed some lunch and breakfast for the next day, then hauled it back so Dan could make his athlete meeting and so we could check in, get to our athlete meeting, and check our bikes into transition. We were able to meet up with Mike Brayer at that point, and Dan and Emmy hung out with Mike and his relay team that night as Ellisa and I checked out the Austin Food Truck scene for some local dinner fare (so glad Ellisa is another foodie like me! Not sure eating food out of a truck before a race was smart, but we both survived).
      And then...race day. We woke up around 5:30am to wet roads from rain overnight and Dan was the first to get ready to race. The race itself was huge...some 2000 participants. The pro waves were relatively small with less than 20 people each, and even though they got the benefit of the first waves and no crowds on the courses, they had to deal with the rainy roads first. The pros started in a mass wave, and with the temperature in the 70's were not wetsuit legal. Our waves of age-groupers, though, were wetsuit legal and had the unusual start of a "time trial" start, where in pairs of two we jumped into the water every 3 seconds to start. Emmy, Ellisa and I were all in the 30-34 agegroup and started around the same time, which was nice. In the end I decided not to wear a wetsuit and just wear tri-shorts and a sports bra because I knew it was going to get hot on the course now that the sun came out, and taking my wetsuit off was going to take a lot longer than it was worth it.
       The swim went well, despite the unusual start, and I passed a ton of people and got the 3rd fastest swim in my age group. I easily passed a bunch of people on the run to transition as they were trying to get their wetsuits off (good call on me!) and got the best T-1 transition time of my age-group. The extra-long run to the transition (quarter of a mile) also helped, but made it a long haul to the bike. I took the time to put on my shoes rather than try a shoe-on-bike mount again since I didn't know how muddy my feet were going to get for slipping and sliding into my shoes (plus I need new shoes...mine are really hard to get my feet in on the bike). Everything was going smoothly so far, and I felt so confident!
         Emmy told me the bike segment was a lot of fun with 4 loops around the Capital and downtown Austin with a ton of bikers on the course, making it feel like a Crit. She was right...with so many athletes on such a small course for multiple loops it was like Beltway Traffic. People were passing on the right and the left, three abreast...you name it, the rules were not being followed. Honestly it was a bit dangerous, especially when you're on an aero bike and making sharp turns...but it WAS fun, I can't lie. I might try criterium races after that since it was fun...but....I only made it one loop. As I turned up the bridge after the first loop turn around, made a right on Chavez, and then went to make the left onto Congress...something happened.
         All I remember is approaching the turn...then waking up in an ambulance as it pulled into the emergency room. I also remember asking the responders when I arrived if I had crashed [yes], and how long I was out for [at least 10 minutes]. I have no memory of what happened. They rolled me into a room with my bike (they took my bike, helmet and everything with me), and then there were follow ups of CAT scans and other stuff that I don't really remember well.
       Looking at my helmet and what Ellisa told me of how I was laying on the pavement when she passed me (she didn't know it was me until later), I must have slipped out on the wet road paint, hit my head on my left temple and hip, and slid on my shoulder and arms. My helmet got smashed in (wear helmets kids...they might save your life!), so I'm grateful for it. The bike got just a little cosmetic damage on the handlebars which wasn't bad...but also reinforced that my body and head got most of the brunt of the crash
     I managed to get a taxi ride with my bike back to the hotel from the hospital just as the storms moved in again, and caused Ellisa to be pulled off the course on her last run loop. Emmy was the only one who completed the race unfazed and got a PR (yay Emmy!). Dan got a flat on his bike segment after a fantastic start which was disheartening, Mike crashed initially as he came out of transition but pulled of a good race in the end.
      Never having a concussion before, recovering from this is completely new for me. I had a lot of supportive friends give me advice and well wishes, including the use of Tagaderm for the road rash (thank you!). My head was killing me the first day and the second day and I mostly just slept; Rob was nice enough to keep an eye out on me, and I was really happy I got a ride to Austin that I couldn't drive back. Now I still feel a slight headache, but the biggest thing is just feeling out of it and having my memory still a little wonky. I'm hoping to be recovered enough for Rt 66, but I'm playing it by ear. My brain is my most important organ...so gotta protect it.
        So that's the latest report...off to bed for me! Heal brain, heal!

Two different lessons in humility

   About two weeks ago I ran the Oklahoma City Memorial Half Marathon, and yesterday did the May in Okarche Duathlon that replaced the original race date in March. They could not have had more different outcomes. The half I felt pretty unprepared for and surprised myself, and the duathlon ended up being a lesson in reassessing outcomes. I learned a ton in both.
    The half was a spur-of the moment sign up since I really wanted to be a part of the experience of the Memorial marathon, but I knew there was no way I could do the whole thing on such short notice. Thankfully my background in long distance running meant I could probably fudge a half with less than normal training, so I figured I'd at least try that and see how it went. There were no real goals other than to stay in the 1:30's range if I could, but I knew that it was not going to be an easy run with only 12 miles of long running done beforehand.
      The day of the race was pretty miserable as many people have stated with the storms pushing the start back two hours, and it meant that a lot of pre-race nutrition plans got thrown out the window too. The marathoners had it the worst, though, since they got stuck in the wind and heat so late in the day.  Many kudos to all the marathoners...you rock!
     At the start I just tried to focus on my pre-assigned mantra..."don't be a retard". I needed to keep telling myself this because the half marathon was, in a way, a stupid decision considering I could get injured and was the last thing I needed this early in the season. Plus, the start of long races are when everyone tries to sprint to the start, then inevitably fade...so there is no reason to get too caught up right away and to just be patient and hope you can keep a good, consistent pace. So...everytime I got excited and tried to pull with some fast people, I had to keep reminding myself of my DBAR.
     It was hard not to get excited, though, with all of the crowds. My friends Cat and Travis were there around mile 3-4 to cheer me on, and later on at Broadway. Sandra and Tara also were around mile 9, all which made me smile and kept the race fun. Around Nichols Hills I got the song "What goes up...must go down...spinning wheels...round and round" stuck in my head between all the cheering and pretty much stuck with me when things started to get rough around mile 10. That is when my body said..."You know what? You WERE retarded to do this race..." and decided to throw some wrenches into the system to keep it interesting. At that point it became a mission to find a port-o-potty, remember how to deal with legs that had hit "the wall", and finish. Those last 3 miles were a nice dose of humility for why its important to properly train your body for events like these! Plus two days of barely movable calves after the race...hello ouch.

Telling the finish staff I was OK, though realizing my legs were really not happy with me! Photo by Chris Barnes

     For the duathlon yesterday, I thought I had a bit more experience and training under my belt to really do well this year both in my bike and run times, but the race became one of those events where no matter how much you train, its going to be tough. For one, with it being so late in the afternoon, the heat was at its highest of the day. It also was insanely windy...serious wind gusts from the SSW that made crosswinds on the bike a real challenge. Everyone had some serious elements to deal with this race, and like a lot of people I succumbed to the fact I was unprepared to race at that hot of a temperature.
        For the first time ever, I had to walk in a race because I literally could not will my legs to move from being so hot and dehydrated on the last run leg. As a runner you get used to your legs wanting to stop, and you push through because you know by experience its just a phase, and it goes away. For the first time I really couldn't will my legs to move at times, and if it wasn't for Christy helping me with fluids on the last 5K I would not have made it through. Another lesson in humility.
      There were lessons to be learned from this, though, and some of this could have been prevented for me in hindsight. Though I love and am amazed by my new Trek bike, I still hadn't gotten the adapter for my Speedfill hydration system and just had a standard water-bottle holder with a small bottle of water for the bike. Even though I'm a lot more comfortable with handling in the Trek than my old Cannondale, I was really nervous about grabbing the water bottle while in aero position while duking it out with those cross winds. So I ended up baking in the sun in high winds and only getting about half a bottle of water in me...mistake.

Great photo of me enjoying me new bike by Talbot Cox, but note the small water bottle...half a bottle of that water was not enough!

I had hoped I could chug enough water after transition to make up for it, but it was already pretty much a lost cause at that point trying to get hydrated enough. At transition I did have a personal victory of dismounting the bike with shoes still clipped in, so booyah!

One step closer to better transitions...cha ching!

      I knew it was just going to be a race where I would be happy to finish with that weather, so I was super happy to still pull off a second place. Kirsten killed it as she usually does in duathlon, and it was great to see her healthy and back to her fast self again for the win. Go STOKEs ladies!
    So two different lessons in humility these last few weeks...and a reminder that its now summer, so the name of the game is hydration people! :-) Until next time...