The first biggest race after the On Road Du Draper Duathlon was the Guthrie Triathlon, which was a nice race to do since its a beautiful course and a good challenge if you like hills. Last year I got second place because I dropped my number on the bike (successfully stayed put this year!), and this year finally got the win I really wanted. However, despite a pretty nice swim and a good start to the bike course...which again I like since I love the hills...I bit it on the turnaround with my bike. I dropped my chain and came away with a nasty bruise, which slowed me a bit, but thankfully on the run I managed to make up the distance lost and come back to win. Being able to get up and get back on the bike after crashing again was really a big thing for me since the last crash was in Austin, and I wanted to have an experience of getting past a ride like that. Thank you to all of my TriOKC teammates who were there and did a fabulous job too!
Nationals was the next race after that, and Milwaukee is always such a fun course. They changed the swim to make the course less of a mosh pit under the bridge, and moved the swim exit back so it helped with the course but made the transition a lot longer. The swim itself was one of the toughest swims I've done in terms of battling the entire time: its fun because its nice to have the challenge of being around such strong swimmers, but it was a lot of smacking of arms and not a lot of clean water. The bike was one of the best bikes I've ever had. The course was the same as last year so it was nice to have the heads up on where to push and where to cruise, and with my new Trek and Bontrager wheels I got up to almost 23mph for the average speed, and 8th overall for my agegroup in the bike (crazy!). There was some concern about the water that got into the wheels on the drive up, but it ended up not being a big deal in the end. My run this year wasn't as fast as last year, especially since I pushed it on the bike and it was a lot hotter on the course with the sun out at that point, but again I was really happy I did as well as I did. Overall I got 9th for my race, and qualified for Worlds again in Chicago! My teammate from Oklahoma Stephanie also made it in, so we'll both be racing again this next year (though she'll be a Virginian!).
The next race after that was supposed to be the State Championships at Arcadia, and I really was looking forward to do that race. However, a few setbacks emotionally the night before the race pretty much blew my ability to race, and reminded me that if your head isn't in the game, its not safe to race. Since I have a track record of crashing to begin with, my friends (and fellow triathletes) suggested it was better to be safe than sorry, and I agreed that there are times that its OK to admit to being human. Its the second time I haven't been able to do the State Championship, but hopefully next year I can fix that.
The last race I did this season was Worlds in Edmonton. Sandra was my planned travel buddy since last year, and I was extremely grateful she was there for me this year and keeping me focused and on track. My bike was checked in to be shipped to Edmonton pretty much right after it came back from Nationals, so I didn't get access to my Trek until I was there in Canada. Our flight to Canada went really well, and everything was pretty much as smooth as it could be before the race. We picked up my bike and got Sandra a road bike so she could train while we were there, as well as check out Banff after we were done. Sandra and I biked on the river trail and did the practice swim in the cold water, which was a lot of fun, but it wasn't really that cold for the preceding days of the race. In fact, the aquathlon was apparently pretty hot for people temperature-wise that Thursday. Which made the Monday morning of the race super surprising that it was only in the low 30's at the start.
All of us were freezing, especially the girls in our wave since we had to stand around a while as one of the first waves. It was the first time I've ever had a diving reflex reaction from the cold water in fact, and myself like many other girls apparently had issues with getting a full breath and just dealing with a sense of panic in that water. It was the first time I seriously considered stopping in a swim. Thankfully no matter what I had to keep swimming, and eventually it went away. The run to the bike was also a long run, and by the time I got to my bike I had such a hard time getting out of my wetsuit with numb hands and feet. The first hill climbing out of the bike transition definitely helped me get warmed up, but my feet and hands remained numb for most of the ride. The course was really difficult in terms of handling, but not a hard course by far with effort. It was really hard for me to get up to full speed when there was so much turning and twisting, especially with a TT bike, but with a bunch of people crashing out I was just so happy I was not one of them. The run was one of the most fun runs I've ever done in a triathlon because it reminded me of cross country. It was a mix of trails, grass, and pavement, and the whole time I was just having so much fun that I forgot about the pain building up in my left foot. The split on my run was about the same as Milwaukee, and I was stoked to find out I was in the top 15 in that race for my age group with a 14th place finish. I was so proud, and it was a great end of the season.
My foot that started to hurt in the run of the race ended up being a much more painful injury that I had thought, pretty much making walking around the next two days difficult. And a huge bummer because the rest of the trip was supposed to be biking and hiking with Sandra, which we still ended up doing but not as much as I had hoped. It also meant Redman was a no, but in some respects I already knew that was going to be the case because I was dealing with some serious burnout issues by the time Worlds came around. For my first half ironman I wanted to be motivated and excited, and instead I was just ready to be done. This was also a bit of the plan since I had been training since the preceding December for Worlds as the goal, and had been racing since February. Worlds ended up being the best finale.
Thank you again to the Schlegel Trek Oklahoma Elite team for the wonderful opportunities this season, as well as my friends and TriOKC for the Scholarship and support! I'm glad I could represent you guys proudly!
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