Redemption

Ironman 70.3 Austin was my first Ironman affiliated event. It was also my first have-faith-in-yourself, make-the-leap race. I trained for it while still going to school full time and working 25 hours a week. I was forced to learn how to be disciplined and how to find joy in pain.

My training consisted only of high intensity sessions and a lot of strength work (that was all I had time for). My times solely improved due to strength, not because of speed or better endurance. I had a goal time to finish at 6 hours, but what I didn't realize at the time was how much specific training you need to do to hit a goal time. There's long bike rides and bike pacing and endurance runs and tempo runs, etc. Long story short, I finished at 6:40.00 and was so devastated and disappointed in myself. I had given up mentally before the start of the run. That hurts me more than not being physically prepared.

I now have the chance to redeem myself. Three years later, I'm going back to race Ironman 70.3 Austin this October. I have nearly a whole year under my belt on how to train and recover properly, and I understand all the different kinds of training sessions that are needed. I will be entering the race with a lot more confidence and experience. I will also be having another have-faith-in-yourself, make-the-leap race because I am going to give it everything I got, mentally and physically. My ultimate goal of the day will be to qualify for the world championships, and in doing so, I will know how to plan my following year and career in this sport. If not, I will take my foot off the gas pedal and possibly return to school and remain an amateur athlete until I am really ready to make a run for it/am in peak condition.

I have a three tier goal this time around. Just achieving the first level will be enough for me. I will be on cloud nine. The next two goals will just be icing on the cake and will top off what has already been a ridiculously amazing, awesome, and joyful year.

Goals
1. 5:15 or under.
2. Podium in age group.
3. Qualify for 2014 70.3 World Championships.

High goals? Yes. But I wouldn't have it any other way. Spit spot! Time to get to work. Got only 14 weeks to get ready!

Got my game face on :)

Grin

I present to you - me and my goofy grin:

Cheesing on the course

I competed in the Shadow Creek Ranch Triathlon yesterday. It was a nice overcast morning, and I barely noticed the heat until I was finished with the race. The swim and bike went well, but I lost concentration on my run (busy trying to fix my watch) and didn't run at my full potential. I was also really tired and sore from a hard training week as I didn't take much rest or taper for this race. 

Swim (500m open water)

Warm but not too warm. It was a pretty comfortable swim except I was really having trouble swimming straight in this race for some reason. My arms were definitely sore and tired from doing weights the past week. Maybe that's why I couldn't steer properly. That's okay! This isn't my A-race, and I can feel myself getting stronger and faster in the water as the weeks go by. Swim time was 10:27.3. I was 10th coming out of the water.

Bike (16.4 miles)

Wheee! It was a fast course except for three 180 degree turns, and those were all done twice since it was a double loop course. Those turns made the course more technical and forced me to use more energy to accelerate. Got off the bike after 45:30.2, averaging 21.6 mph and finishing with the top bike split in my age group! I know what my strongest leg is! :)

Run (3.23 miles)

How embarrassing of me to lose focus on the run because my watch was malfunctioning. :( I should have just continued to push the pace and run by feeling (which I normally do, until I'm performance/number driven). I ran a 7:14 split for my second mile, seeing that, I thought it was too hard and let doubt shut me down on the last mile despite feeling pretty decent. As motivation to reach the finish line, I coerced myself to try to pass 5 people, then 10, then 15 all in the last mile. I didn't think it was possible to reach 5, but once I did, my confidence was boosted and I brought it home, ending the race in another sprint finish, passing the 13th person right before the line. I definitely paid the price as I thought I was going to die while doubling over and hanging onto an ice tub to stay upright. Run time was 26:34.5, a 8:15/mile pace. :( Going backwards here!

Results

I got 2nd in my age group and am now 2/2 for podiuming this summer! :) I don't think I podiumed at all last summer season. I also got a belt buckle as the award, which is nice. I need to start wearing belts anyways, especially with the way training has been going ;)

Yeehaw! Nothing says I'm Texan like a big belt buckle!

BUT!! My most accomplishing moment of the day was... purchasing a shirt. A really cool shirt because it had green on it. Haha :) The shirt was a side gift for donating to send a blind athlete to London for paratriathlon world championships. He got invited but needed the funds to get there. Supporting him is so much more satisfying than podiuming or winning a race. I'm helping make someone else's dreams and goals happen. I can only hope when my time comes that I will have many more supporters as amazing as you are. :)

Family

At the race last week, I overheard a man/fellow athlete mention how his entire family was competing that day. He did the entire race while the rest of his family participated as a relay. His daughter swam, his wife biked, and his son ran.

This is freaking awesome. (To the tune of Thrift Shop!)

Ever since I got bitten by the Ironman bug, I've always dreamed about my future family and how we'd travel to races and compete. It just makes me smile inside to envision us training together, going through the same ups and downs, and understanding each other/how much discipline and work is involved. Also, life is so much easier when people understand what you do/love and how hard you've worked for it.

In the meantime, I have my furry family to train with, take care of, and celebrate the wins and losses. :)

Future world champs in the furry division! 

ps, if you ever see or talk to my sister Karen soon, try to convince her to do the Ironman 70.3 Texas in Galveston next April! I'd love to do a race with her, and this time we'd actually be competing in the same age group! :)

Y Freedom Triathlon Race Report

Experience. Routine. Efficiency. That's what I love and appreciate about committing to a sport or anything in life really. I've done enough short course triathlon races that I know exactly how much time I need to get ready in the morning and what to eat. I can set up my transition area in 3 minutes and be done scouting the bike and run exits and leave the area by 5 minutes. I've got it all down to a T, and I love being able to sleep in to the last minute, waiting until only 15 minutes till I need to leave the house to wake up. More sleep means less time to be nervous, right?

Wrong. I always spend another 5 minutes double and triple checking my transition setup to make sure I didn't forget anything. Why do I keep doing this? It's not like my shoes are going to walk off by themselves before the race. Ah, but this time, there was more on the line. A qualification was at stake! First place age group or bust. Okay, not really. I don't like ultimatums and I do like to have stress-free fun.. but qualifying to compete in the age group national championships would be the icing on the cake, especially after everything that happened this past year.

Swim (300 meters)
It was a pool swim. I had not done one of these in over 20 races. I am not a big fan of pool swims because the lanes can get really congested when swimmers are passing and there's high chances of head collisions. We started off in 10 second intervals. As the volunteer counted down to 1, an adrenaline rush took over and I rocketed off the wall. I definitely started off too fast and caught 2 swimmers by the end of 50m (one pool length). Oops. But I was feeling pretty good, so I just kept going. Caught another 3 swimmers, got stuck in traffic when there were four of us side by side in one lane (crazy!!! and dangerous!!) but I got away unscathed and finished in 5:44.

Bike (11 miles)
Vroom vroom! I averaged 21.5 for the first 5 miles. Legs were feeling awesome and well rested. Lungs were not. I definitely could have held a 22 for the entire ride, but my heart rate was soaring and I knew if I didn't lower it, my respiratory system wouldn't recover well enough for the run, especially since I haven't had time to train it to push this hard. I passed lots of riders! A few in my age group too. That pumped me up as finishing number one might not be so out of reach. :) I ended up finishing the 11 miles in 31:26, averaging 20.9 mph.

Run (3 miles)
Ouch. Time to focus and just push the pace. I let my legs do whatever they wanted to do, and all I did was just focus on my breathing. This plan was working pretty well. I wanted to speed up even more, but I hadn't trained at this pace, and I knew it wasn't worth the risk to blow up. I passed a few runners, which is a new thing for me in sprint distance. It's always the other way around because my pace is slower compared to my competitors. None were my age, so I was getting a bit discouraged. Maybe I was too far away from the leader of the F25-29.

Whenever I saw a female that looked young, I'd focus my attention on her and try to run her down. What a bummer! Nearly all triathletes look young. Even the 40 year olds! But the hard pushes were not a waste as they kept my mind engaged or else it would've told my lungs and legs to quit miles ago. With 0.6 miles left, I saw one. Her calf was branded with a 29. The big bad wolf inched closer (I was huffing and puffing pretty loudly). She was within striking distance when I debated whether or not to slow down and stay behind her. I'd have an advantage being behind her in that I can sneak attack towards the end and sprint past her, leaving her no time to match my acceleration. But what if she wasn't the only one? What if there was another F25-29 ahead of her? Then this plan would be for nothing. So I decided to pass her, but with a faster pace as to dishearten her and discourage her to match my speed. Nothing breaks your heart like watching someone walk away from you while you're suffering and giving it your all.

Gotcha! I thought to myself as I finally saw her shadow moving further and further away. Just keep this pace to the finish, there's only half a mile left. The only problem is, my lungs didn't have half a mile left. Goodness. Nearing the finish, I heard some huffing and saw a shadow. I thought the girl I had passed was going to pull the move that I was dreading, so I sped up, and so did she. I was definitely over my threshold point as I could barely breathe. She passed me. Except she was a he. It was another racer. Noo! I wasted precious energy! and I could only hope I recover in time to make a strong finish and ward off another attack. Final turn, finish banner in sight, relief. Only ten more steps to go. As I counted down, I had let my guard down and slowed my pace (I was out of breath). With 5 steps to go, I was feeling the celebration, but then a shadow appeared. The shadow turned into a body. SHE WAS RIGHT NEXT TO ME! I mustered whatever I could to accelerate across the last timing mat. We finished head to head, but I think my toe/timing chip crossed the line first by a toenail. No celebration after that. More like words I can't repeat here.

I finished the run in 23:57 and had a total time of 1:03:59.2 (My goal was to get 1:05. Beat it!! :) )

Results
I hate waiting. Especially watching a screen scroll. My name finally appeared and I was in first! But wait, it was the wrong age group. I got first in F20-24. I couldn't catch the 1st place time of the F25-29 to compare, so I had to wait for the results to scroll through entirely again. Two minutes felt like two hours. No joke. But the wait was worth it. :) I won my age group! My first win for F25-29!! I went to the officials and got them to place me back into the correct category, then I may or may not have proceeded to watch the screen many more times that morning to confirm what I already knew. :) I was afraid it might change or disappear, that my name being on top was a mistake.

I could get used to having that number 1 next to my name :)

I got this nice podium gift for my valiant efforts today:

 

My first canteen!!

:)

It was a good day and so much excitement and drama all before 8:20am! See, there's no need for reality television. Go do a triathlon instead! ;)

I am now patiently waiting for an email from USAT to make things official, but instead of sitting here twiddling my thumbs, I am going to go train. I can't just show up at nationals, got to represent and show them what's coming in the future. ME!