A's Loveland L2L RR

I am almost ready to head out for a guaranteed pain session with our masseuse, Josh, so this will be brief. Both E and I had good races this weekend....it's been a while and it was NICE!

We woke early, ate breakfast, and loaded bikes and our gear into the car. We arrived at the race site just as registration was opening, which proved to be a great strategy since it let us get very nice transition spots, get through the registration line quickly, and then get into the real toilets before the lines were huge.

I was in the 2nd wave, E was 4 min behind me in the third wave. As the gun sounded for my wave I fought to get onto Lisa Boatright's feet, but she and the other swimmers in the lead pack slipped by before I could settle in. After a quick tangle with the first buoy, I was well on my way to a good swim (not superstar, but not too bad) but was mostly all by myself. After the last turn buoy, we had a long straight shot to the shore (we basically swam a "D" counter clockwise) and I finally found another blue-cap that was going fast enough and straight enough for me to get some drafting.

This race has a long, grassy run up from the lake to T1, which I used to take off the top part of my wetsuit. Once in transition, it was off with the rest of the wetsuit, and a quick grab of the glasses and helmet before unracking my bike and getting out of there. All went smoothly after my feet were out of the wetsuit.

I settled in for a nice, scenic, longish bike (~ 30 mi). The first bit wound us out of town to the hills back in the farm-country. It was fast, but twisty, and I found myself braking a tad on some corners to slough speed (they had them coned rather tight) and stay upright. Once on the backroads, I got down to business. It wasn't long before Brooke Davison flew by me (she started in wave 5, 8 minutes behind me). I settled in ~ 10 m behind her on the false flat we were climbing and started churning away, but she soon left me once the pitch increased. She was moving, and looking good..... amazing!

The bike gets hillier, and more scenic, but I barely noticed. Instead I was focused on the burning that was starting to set me legs on fire. By now I was settled in, so I just tried to keep it steady and as hard as I could handle.....and then I tried to go even harder! By Horsetooth Reservoir there are a few good descents where I let it rip, only once moving from the aerobars to the hoods, even though in the end I probably didn't need to.

Then we popped out int the south side of Ft. Collins and hung a right, heading back to Loveland and transition. We were on a beautiful road with a ton of rollers. They were a lot of fun, and a tailwind made quick work out of them, I was flying! My memory of the roads used for this race for the section from Ft. Collins to Loveland are of something very flat and very bumpy. These road were smooth, and the rolling hills were FUN!

Heading back into town, people started saying "third woman" as I rode by.....huh? I knew Brooke was in front of me and I was pretty sure I'd hunted down some of the speedy swimmers from my wave, but not all of them. And most of the women were in waves 8 to 12 minutes behind me. Anyways, I figured I'd best focus on MY race and get moving.

I was in and out of T2 even faster than T1: put on socks and shoes and grabbed visor, race number belt, and a gel to stuff in the top of my swim suit.

I quickly settled into a nice pace, and then focused on keeping steady or even increasing my pace. My legs felt great! All our track runs this month must have gotten some speed into my Ironman legs! My stomach was happy, too, and that's huge. Aid stations were ~ 1 mi apart, and I was grabbing a water at each. It was still overcast and not too warm, but I was gulping half the water and dumping the rest on my chest and shoulders with each cup. As I approached the turnaround I started paying close attention to who was headed back already. I saw Brooke and one other woman, and a ton of guys.

At the turnaround I took my gel and chased it with some water. Immediately I knew that that was a bit rough on the timing, I should have started to eat the gel a bit sooner and then could have dropped the wrapper before picking up my water cup. Oops! At least I only got a little water up my nose, and most of the gel went into my mouth (at this moment, and a few others, I kinda felt like a rookie, even though this is my 10th year racing triathlons).

I also was surprised to see E, right behind me at the turnaround. My mouth was too full of gel and water to cheer for him, but he was yelling at me to get moving! The run back was uneventful. Stomach was still being a trooper and the legs were chugging along. Turnover, turnover, turnover! I felt my hamstrings starting to tighten a tad, but pushed that thought out of my mind and just kept running guys down, and kept my feet moving.

Apparently, E almost passed me at the last aid station. I was so focused I never saw him or knew he was on my shoulder. Turnover, turnover, turnover. Get to that finish line NOW!

And I did.

It was an OK run for me, and based on my expectations for the day, it was a GREAT run! I still have a secret hope of running under (well under) 40 min for an Olympic distance tri sometime in my lifetime, but that will probably have to be a year when I am racing and training for more of the short, speedy stuff.

E never caught me until after the finish line. Then we both started chatting with friends, headed back up to transition to change into dry clothes (I was COLD!), and inside the high school for the food. This race always has a great lunch, and this year was the same (tacos!). We ate some of our food inside, then headed out to the stage area to wait for the awards and visit with more folks.

Results were being posted....I was 4th woman! Brooke killed the field, beating second place by 12.5 minutes, but 2-5th place were close, within 2 minutes of each other. I was 31 s out of the money (3rd)! I guess next time I need a bit MORE turnover! It has been a while since I have been playing with the big girls, and I felt good. Now I just need to keep upping the ante! And maybe start beating E again.

-A