Toad Suck Tri, Conway, AR 9-10-2011
Toad Suck Tri, Conway, AR 9-10-2011
So, it’s been a while since I’ve posted up. Here’s a short recap, then I’ll get into my race report from Conway, AR.
May 30, 2011- Cap Tex Tri- Fun but brutal race for me.
June 12, 2011- Xterra Eureka Springs- First girl out of the water (yay!!!!), then I had a brutal bike, and even more brutal run. Realized at this point in my season that something might be up with my foot, which had been giving me lots of fits. I went to the doc after this race and discovered that I had a stress fracture in my foot. Awesome. So that put me out for the Xterra Dog Dayz race here in Little Rock.
June 26, 2011- Dog Dayz Mountain bike race at Burns Park, Little Rock. After lap 1 I was in the lead, then I flatted. I pulled over to fix my flat, and blew the gasket off my C02 inflator. So I had no way to get air in my tire. Had to DNF. This was my first race to DNF, I was really bummed!!!
I took some time off after that race to let my foot heal. I officially got out of my “boot” August 24th. It was time to hit the track and start running again after nearly 8 weeks off. Ouchie!
Toad Suck Race, Conway, AR.
Suzanne and I decided to head up to Conway at the last minute to do the Toad Suck Tri. This was the Olympic distance race. Sure, I can run 6.2 miles after not running all summer. No problem. Ha. So after a few hiccups race morning, we were ready to tackle the swim. I was feeling really good and hoping for a good swim. Ready… GO. The ladies were off. I sprinted to the front of the pack and tried to maintain my lead when I came up to the buoy that I thought was the one to turn on…. I could not see another buoy out there, so I turned. The sun was apparently blocking the correct buoy. Oops. I got about half way across when a kayak came up and got my attention, I had gotten off course. DANG! I had to back track a bit, and get up to the correct buoy. Ok, just breathe… you’ll be fine. I tried to kick it up, because I knew this was going to put me at the back of the pack. Once I made it up to the correct buoy, I continued to pass people. I just tried to keep it strong and steady. I rounded the last buoy and headed into lap 2, and when I got up to the buoy I thought I turned at last time, I kept going straight, but then heard someone yelling at me. I had shot past the correct buoy. DANG. Seriously? Ugh… ok… again, breathe and just try to keep steady. I rounded the last correct corner, and headed in. I had NO idea where I was in the pack now. I shot out of the water and into transition. Once to my bike I felt like I was moving in slow motion. I couldn’t seem to go any faster. I got my bike and headed out on the bike course. The course was really nice. The hills were a lot less than I had anticipated, which was a good thing. I just kept trying to hammer it out. I’m not used to the road tri’s. They are a totally different animal than the Xterra races. My goal on the bike was to hold Suzanne off for as long as I could. I had not seen her yet, and I had already made it to the turn around point. SWEET!!!! It seems like the way back was a bit more brutal. I dropped my chain on a hill, my front shifter kept giving me fits (not letting me drop down into the smaller chain ring), and my neck was killing me! My race is so mental sometimes. I just have to get out of my head and keep pedaling hard. I finally saw Suzanne after I had turned around, so that was motivation to keep pushing hard. She finally caught me at mile 21. I held her off for that long… I was happy with that! I only had about 4 miles to go, so I was almost done with the bike…. And I was dreading the run a bit. As I was coming into transition, I saw Suzanne running out… ok, so I’m only a few minutes behind her. I got into transition and I felt like molasses again. Ugh. I slipped into my running shoes and headed out. The first mile was a bit brutal. I had shooting pain radiating down my arm into my fingers. That’s not a good sign. So I tried to put the pain out of my head and keep my feet moving. I came up to a guy that seemed to be running at my same pace. We ended up running the rest of the race together and he was a great pacer, motivator. It makes such a difference to run with someone, and it totally passes the time! I had not run 6 miles since my fracture diagnosis, so I was really hoping that I could pull this off without walking. I knew we weren’t running a super fast pace, but I felt it was one that I could maintain for the duration. And it turns out it was. Before we knew it, we were almost done! I finished the race in 3 hours and 7 minutes. AND it turns out that I was the second girl out of the water! Even with my off course mess ups… I was able to make up time. I was really hoping to finish in under three hours, but I was very happy coming in at 3:07. I finished 4th in my age category, which is respectable. It was a great training day! Next on my agenda is a mountain bike race at Devils Den next weekend, then I’m off of racing till Maui in October! Let the hard core training begin!
On a side note: a few weeks ago I got a new sponsor. Just a quick shout out to Trigger Point Performance Therapy (www.tptherapy.com) . Thanks guys for believing in me!!!! And thanks to Spokes for being an awesome shop, and sponsor.
