Race

So, the race did not go amazingly. When I was flying there I didn't feel great on the plane and I just assumed it was motion sickness. After I got there when I was riding with Kory I told him his driving was making me sick...I probably should have caught on at this point. We went to my hotel and it was a nice hotel. It was located right on the Oceanside Pier. My room had a nice bed and a very nice bathroom which consisted of a stand alone shower and a jacuzzi tub.

On Friday my head hurt so bad I took my meds for headaches and it didn't work. I went to bed really early, which is what I usually do, but this time because I felt so bad. I woke up with a headache and a queasy stomach. Then I had to ride my bike a mile to the race start, while Kory walked the mile.

Onto the swim. The water was cold but my wetsuit worked very well. People were jealous that I had the booties, because everyone thought they were banned...but I was the smart one that actually emailed USAT. The hat thing worked awesome too. I have been practicing "sighting" the buoys while swimming and so I didn't swim off track that much. This time I was swimming with other people in my group, unlike last time most had left me. I was passed by some guys that were swimming really fast. When I got out I thought I had swam a lot faster but it was only about 2 minutes faster than my last one (which wasn't in an ocean). Then I had a long long run to where my bike setup was.
When I got to my bike I tried to get on my arm sleeves but when you are wet that is impossible. So, then I gave up took off the one I got on and decided to just wear my jacket and capri running pants.

Now out on the bike...the first 20 miles I was flying along. Then came the "MONSTER" I guess it is what they call this gigantic first hill. It was huge, people looked like ants from a distance because it was so long and so steep. I felt like I was riding vail pass. Then there were 4 more hills that were not as long but just as steep. It was quite difficult, considering I have never ridden a hill that steep and 5 of them on top of it. There was also a headwind, not like the 30mph colorado headwinds, but a decent one. My headache continued and I couldn't eat much on the bike (suppose to have 500 calories an hour). After the huge hill my bike decided it wasn't happy and wouldn't let me shift to my big ring so on the flats I couldn't go as fast.

Then to the run. I changed out of those clothes into lighter clothes because it was pretty hot. My leg was fine until I had to run on dirt or turn corners. Then pain would shoot down my leg and I would walk for a second than start jogging again. Here my heart rate was still ridiculously high and no matter what it wouldn't go down. It was a two loop run, mainly on cement along the beach. Pretty run...as far as runs go. It was kind of defeating when you are on your first lap and you see signs of what mile you would be on if it was your second lap (so I was on mile 2 but second lap would be mile 8 or something). I must have been limping some because my opposite bad leg quad was nearly ready to cramp. I thought about eating a banana but my stomach wouldn't have been happy. I finished the run mainly because I wanted my race t-shirt and you had to finish to get the shirt..lol

Lessons learned here would be that if you haven't run outside at all in 6 weeks and then run a race of 13 miles, don't expect the run to be great..and expect to have some sore leg muscles like I still have (2 days later). Practice biking on hills and when you read that there is a hill that climbs 800 feet or so, just because it is at sea level doesn't make it any easier :)