A's BSLT race report

I have been busy at work this week, reading other's blogs and BSLT race reports, and writing my own 20 times over in my head. The bottom line is (and I feel qualified to say that. As an engineer, I know what a bottom line is) I am very, very disappointed with my race.

Despite an 11 min personal best time at this distance, I do not feel I raced to my current physical potential, and that just doesn't sit right with me. Somewhere along the way, my abilities have expanded, and subsequently, my expectation also rose. Unfortunately, I had not taken the time to evaluate that in much detail before the race, so I merely wanted to "race well" without any way of quantifying that during the race. I didn't help when others who I knew there seemed to be having "rock star" races (kudos to all of you, you rock!).

But, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Let's back up to our Boulder departure. We have raced BSLT two other times and thus learned that there is NOTHING to do in Lubbock, TX. So, I "smartly" decided we should leave mid-day Friday rather than sun-up Friday and break the drive down into two days. What I did not think about was the fact that we could not get into our hotel in Lubbock until ~3pm on Saturday. At 3 pm we also had to head to the race registration hotel to get our Trakkers units which we were helping to demo during the race. By the time we got our Trakkers and had a good visit with Armando, we didn't get back the hotel to get bikes built until nearly 5 pm! And then they needed a quick test ride, we had more race prep, and we had to cook dinner yet (a perk of our hotel suite was the kitchen and more control of our pre-race dinner, but this meant more time/work, too). By the time we laid down to sleep, I was pretty worked up. My tight neck knot combined with my racing mind meant ~1 h of actual sleep.

At 3:30, though, we rolled out of bed and started to eat breakfast, dress, and get the last minute race prep done. I consolled myself with the thought that I was ready to race. I was prepped physically and less-than-ideal sleep was not going to significantly interfere with what I had come to Lubbock to do: which was RACE FAST and beat this 70.3 mi distance. I was ready. No excuses.

The drive out to the lake was pretty uneventful, but we were both aware of the weather and how it might impact our day (wind was howling and there was some consistent lightning to the North). Once parked (which took much, much longer than normal) we donned our headlamps and rode down the hill towards transition. Set-up was quick, though I modified where I put my helmet and glasses due to the way my bike was swaying on the rack from the winds. At the last minute I shoved my run shoes into a random plastig bag E had rescued as it flew across transition. That ended up being a great thing later when my shoes were some of the few to start out dry. Then a quick zip into my borrowed long-john (thanks, Billy, it worked great!) and down to the beach for a wait and some splashing around.

I found Jenni, but not Cathy as Jared had instructed (I hear she is a good open water swimmer...... !). Before I knew it we were filing over the first timing mat and lining up at the water's edge. As we ran into the water, I looked for fast feet. I missed the leaders, and a few fast solo swimmers in the middle of the field, but soon settled in behind two women who could site well, swim strait, and were close to my pace. Now I just had to follow without hitting them. Too much, at least. On the back side (the swim is a long rectangle), a faster white-cap passed us on the right. I moved to catch her feet, but never quite got into her draft before she was gone. In the end, my swim was 2 min slower than last time (2007) when I lead my age group (but had a great draft off of an older woman), but it was sounding like everyone was slower than normal, leading to the conclusion of a "long" course.

Off to the bike. My T1 was a mess as I tried to get a heart rate monitor strap on while wearing a 1-piece swim suit. This proved difficult and useless, as I never, not once, looked at my heart rate during the race. At least I won't do that again!

I had my shoes on and fastened before the first steep hill, then down the back towards the lake's dam (all within the first mile) where I promptly ejected both drink bottles. This was all my fluids and a good portion of my calories, so I turned to retieve my water-electrolyte bottle resumed racing, thought better of it and turned to retrieve my glucose bottle. Both had damaged lids and had lost most of their fluids. This would be interesting, but I had 7 gels on-board the mothership and headed out to start my race, hoping to snag another water bottle soon.

Immediately, the bike felt smooth, strong, solid. Then I realized that was due to a sweet tailwind. We did the first 180 degree turn-around and faced the headwind as our payment for the free-ride. But with all the earlier racers in front of us (we were the 8th wave, I think) there were plenty of people to pass and use as wind blocks.

Before I knew it, the bike was done Honestly. It was a good bike for me. Very good. Finally! I am starting to feel like I'm playing with the big girls out there. The bike has been my weakness in year's past. I even got to "play" some when Jenni passed me at mile ~45 (right before the last turn-around, where Kerri has passed me every other time we raced BSLT) and I let her go a bit before reeling her back in for good (for the bike! that girl can run!). The last bike was wet from rain, and transition was soaked, but my dry run shoes and socks were waiting and I was soon off on the run course (after being tackeled by a volunteer for trying to run down isle 1 instead of isle 2).

And that is where my race frustrations began. I was soooooooo ready to rock this run. I even wore the race suit for it. My legs just did not get the memo. I ran a steady pace, but it was 45-60 s slower per mile than planned. By mile 3 I had peed twice and was congratulating myself on good race nutrition (my normal problem with BSLT is nutrition issues). But by mile 8 I was talking myself into a pit stop for my gassy, sloshy tummy. And then, as I was reaching for the door to the porta-potty as the current occupant exited, a man, heading the other way (so he was only at mile 5) jumped inside right in front of me! I was incredulous. Seriously? Yeah. So I stood outside pacing and whining... "Sir, please hurry up!"....... "Sir, go, go, go" ...."Siiiiiiiir!" It was rude, but I was now despirate as I had mentally committed to this pit stop AND I was watching the women in my race run by me as I was stopped. I was able to run again (opposed to the iron-shuffel I had embraced) after my pit stop. But I never really was able to turn it on all the way with my tummy remaining unsettled. A 1:48:xx was 8-10 min slower than the plan, but I ran the whole thing which was not a given. And my pit stop was not quick (4 min? 5?).

I crossed the line and told a changed and clean looking E "I think I quit." Afterall, who wants to keep training and working hard towards goals that just seem so ellusive. A more honest reflection, after some time has elapsed, has me conceeding that I never really gave myself a chance. Our training volume has been low so far due to work obligations adn "life issues" consuming our training and recovery time. On top of that, I went into this race wanting to "race well" which I guess meant to break 5 hours (I was a high 5:09) at this distance, have a solid run, and maybe be close to a Kona slot. I was feeling pretty far off the mark in all 3. But I had never set those goals up pre-race! At least not difinitively. This race was a good eye-opening experience for my Canada: I need concrete goals. Time based goals. And I need to state what those goals are clearly, now, before thetraining ramps up and LONG before the race cannon fires. I need to state what I want. Which I am not very good at doing. In anything.

I trust the training. I always have. Now it is just time to focus that training so that I have the race that I am capable of. Even if I don't know it yet.

It was a good learning-experience race (which I guess I still needed, even after 11 years in this sport). It was also an awesome chance to race against some of the best women in this sport and to meet a few amazing tri-bloggers that I admire and read as often as I can. You guys rock! It was an honor to race you!

Now, time for dessert!