Patriot Race Report

Well, the "training" Half IM is done and to be quite honest, I'm pretty pleased. Going into this race was very different for me than Eagleman. Prior to Eagleman, I had a countdown going, I was nervous and I obsessed about my plan for each discipline. When it came to race day, I was a nervous wreck, my race plan went out the window, I did everything I shouldn't have done and my extreme GI issues during the run reflected my lack of dedication to my plan.

For Patriot, I was totally calm going into it. I mean, so calm that I kept thinking "what's my training this weekend?" and then I'd remember, "oh yeah, I'm doing that 1/2". I think it had something to do with how busy I've been. I've just been more focused on getting into the swing of things with all 4 kids starting school -- Booger just beginning Kindergarten and my oldest -- we'll call him Mr. Awesome (because that's what he thinks he is!) -- starting his Senior year in High School. In addition to that, coaching our competition cheer squad has started up again and taken up a good deal of my free time and, oh, there's that pesky part-time job that rears its ugly head now and again, too. So, anyway, I've been surviving day-to-day and simply looking at what workout was on the calendar that day and never looking ahead. So, going into Patriot, I was totally relaxed, calm and looking at it as simply another training day.

Another thing about Patriot was that I wasn't "racing". My goal for this race was to finish it feeling like I could do it again. I wanted to pace myself, follow my plan and finish feeling strong. And, suprisingly, I did it! It was difficult at times. For example, during the bike, I usually pedal hard and try to catch whoever is in front of me. My goal is to pass as many people as possible without ever being passed myself. During the run it's a completely different story. I typically go out strong and allow myself no more than 15 seconds at every water stop -- if it's a 10k or shorter, no stops are allowed at all (I adopted this stupid plan because running is my weakest discipline and I'm always getting passed by what seems like thousands of people -- I figured I couldn't afford to lose any time stopping at the water stops). Well, this plan usually means that my legs are very tired when I get off my bike and I usually completely die and need to begin doing A LOT of walking somewhere around mile 8 of the run. I was determined not to let that happen at Patriot. I would let people pass me on the bike and I would run the entire run while allowing myself to fully walk and reassess myself through every water stop.

As far as details,

THE SWIM:

We found out race morning that the race was wetsuit legal. Yay! I got to use my "floatie"! I wasn't particularly worried about the swim. My plan for the swim was simply to imagine that I was swimming in water that could potentially have sharks in it. I know -- kind of dumb since I knew there weren't really sharks but I'm trying to mentally prepare for IMFL! :D Anyway, I was just going to swim from buoy to buoy as comfortably as possible. All was going well until the last turn into the finish. As soon as I turned back toward the shore, I couldn't find the buoys because the sun was shining directly into my eyes. Oh, well, since I was in the last wave, I figured I'd just follow the small cluster of swimmers ahead of me. BIG mistake. A short while later, I stopped and wanted to really get my bearings and locate a buoy to site off of. I took a minute to breaststroke and look around. I spotted the orange buoys about 100 meters to my right. Dammit. I was totally off course. But as I looked around, I realized most everyone else was too! I spotted lots of people cutting a diagnoal path back toward where the swim finish was. I figure it took me about 200 meters off course. I finished in 39:15 so this wasn't bad for a 1.4ish mile swim. After the race, Derek told me almost everyone was off course. The spectators thought it was because of the current until some Elites came out of the water cursing and complaining about how crappy the markers were. I didn't think it was the markings but rather the sunlight but, whatever, I'm not "Elite" so I really didn't care either way.

T1:

Uh, sucky. You have to run about 1/2 a mile before you even get into transition. Over pokey rocks that they tried to mask with 1/8 in think carpeting. Ouch.

BIKE:

The bike was good except for the course. I really didn't enjoy the road conditions on the course. I lost one water bottle before I even made it out of the Jamestown parking lot!! But I anticipated I would lose a bottle (or two!) because of the bumpy course, so I packed 3 bottles and filled my Profile. Good thing because I came back with 1 completely empty water bottle and and empty Profile, too! But, I managed to hold back and pace myself really well on the bike. I wanted to maintain a 19-20 mph pace and I came pretty close. I finished the 58 mile course in 3:01 -- which, if I'm calculating right is about 19.23 mph. The only problem was that I didn't eat as much as I should have on the bike. This usually isn't a problem for me, but for some reason I just couldn't choke down my bagel and fig newtons. I was a little concerned for the run, but I had taken 4 gels during the bike and drank a full bottle of Sustained Energy so I was hoping I could hang on.

T2:

T2 is typically my "vacation" transition. I have no idea why, but I just seem to take FOREVER!! And this time was no exception. I took 3+ minutes and ranked 11th out of 13 finishers in my T2 time. What the hell do I do that takes so long??? I don't know. Maybe it's the massage, nap and mani & pedi that I get while I'm in there. ;D

RUN:

The run was damn HOT! I would guess it was in the low 90's but being on the asphalt with the cars seemed like the radiated heat temp was closer to 100. And for all but 2 miles there was virtually no shade whatsoever. But, despite all of this, my legs felt good -- really, really, good. So good that wanted to pick up the pace quite a bit. But, I reminded myself of my goal: finish this race like you could do it again. This was my one opportunity to really "practice" for IMFL so I took advantage of it. My goal was to run a 6mph pace and then walk through every water stop while I assessed how my body was feeling. The water stops were my time to give myself a "tune up" to prepare for the next mile. This worked really well for me. I managed to keep my pace while running and I spent about a minute walking through each water stop. While I was there I would drink water, drink some of my concentrated Sustained Energy, pack my sports bra full of ice, douse my head with cold water and take an Endurolyte if I felt I needed it. My final run time of 2:23 reflected a perfect balance of 6mph pacing and 45sec-1 min. water stops. I was happy that I felt strong enough to run the entire time between each water stop and when I came into the finish, I honestly felt like I could keep going.

Final race time was 6:14 which was 5th in my age group and only 21 seconds off of of 4th -- but a whole 45 minutes off of Speedy TG Liz's time of 5:32!! Damn, that girl can kick some ass!!! But, I felt GREAT when I was done!! And, I really am starting to believe I might be able to pull off this whole IMFL thing!

Highlights of the race:

**All the TriGirls. I just love being a TriGirl and racing with everyone. We are THE BEST team out there at every, single race!

**GRANDISON being out on the course again! God, it was nice to have her back out there giving encouragement!!!

**Carmen -- she just inspires me in so many ways!

**Liz taking first in our age group. So proud of her! I swear I'm calling sponsors to pick her up. She's amazing!!

********And, Derek, of course, being there as my number one supporter!! I cannot stress enough how much he does for me. There's no way I could do this without him! Love that guy so much!
!!!
All in all, a great race!! Up next, IMFL - AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH