The Race Season In Review or How I went from running hurts to "Hey, lets do 70.3s..."

This is for the ones who stand

For the ones who try again

For the ones who need a hand

For the ones who think they can

Comes and Goes (In Waves) - Greg Laswell

My first year racing is over.

There I've said it. The first year in the books and done. I've had to take some time to really think and reflect on not just the past 4 months of racing, but the year in training so far.

I've learned and grown so much this year. Not just as an athlete, but as a person. Let's start with the easy part to talk about, my growth as an athlete. I started training in earnest in February. Shortly after that I found Heather, and begged her to be my Coach. What has a season with Heather gotten me? Let's look at the numbers shall we?

March: 40 minute run: 2.32 miles at a 19:25 average pace with a Zone 3 HR of 155 Avg.

August: 40 minute run: 2.56 miles at a 15:38 average pace with a Zone 2 HR of 147 Avg.

I wanted to compare apples to apples for you. The same amount of time for the run. Let's talk about running in general. In March, that run was killer. It was tough for me to get through. I thought it would never ever EVER end. Now I look at a 40 minute run as a nice easy run outside, no big deal. 

I won't throw around bike numbers. I think the fact that I can go out for an "easy" ride of 25 miles and say I lollygagged the whole ride speaks for itself.

If you want to talk pound for pound? At the end of March I was 187, now at the end of August, I'm 171. 

Ok enough numbers. I'm going to bring my feels out here. If this makes you uncomfortable, I suggest you go to http://xkcd.com for a bit. 

I was so very nervous and unsure of myself at the beginning of the season. I was fully of doubts. Not just about racing, but about myself in general. I'd just come out of a very bad time in my life ('Nuff said on that). My self confidence (never high to begin with) was at an all time low. All I knew is I had to do SOMETHING. I need something to work towards. Something I had never done before. A year ago, I wanted to do sprint triathlons. Nothing more. Just sprints. March this year, I latched on to triathlons and training as a life ring. I quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to do tri's this year, but duathlons were very realistic. 

So I focused on duathlon. 

In the beginning it hurt, it sucked, I thought I was never ever going to be able to finish a race, let alone be competitive. I wanted to be competitive, in the worst way. I despaired, I worried, there was angst and gnashing of teeth. 

Dear New Du/Triers: Let me impart this bit of wisdom. I had a very key thing happen to me when I would get this way. Heather seemed to know when I was low and would send me encouragement or talk me off a ledge. Having this kind of support was VERY important. Get it, I don't care how, but do it.

I had a week away from home and stunted training with work thrown in the mix a couple of weeks before my first race. I was terrified I'd submarined race with that. Again, Heather to the rescue. The few weeks prior to the race, my excitement grew as did my nervousness. I remember the day of the race riding out to the course. I was mentally going over everything in my mind, barely talking to the people who were kind enough to come with me to spectate. 

Then I raced. 

Something happens to me when I race. All the bullshit and asshattery of the world drop away. Any problems I have, real or imagined, drop away. I live in that moment. That next step, the next pedal stroke, the next breath. This is the most incredible feeling for me.

And then I finished the race. I was stunned. I could complete a sprint duathlon! Something was going right for me! Then... I found out I received 3rd in my age group. I was stunned and elated.

The rest of my race season held a lot more surprises for me. Each race I improved. I got strong, faster, more confident. That translated into other parts of my life as well. I noticed I was walking taller, smiling more, happier with who I am and who I was becoming. This was new to me. I actually LIKED myself. Sure, I still had my moments of pure WTFery, but I could laugh them off. A bad day training? That's ok, attack it tomorrow. Bad day in life? No problem, come back at it again. 

My friend Jennifer said it best: Fall Down Seven Times, Get up Eight.

My one wish is that I could share this feeling with everyone. It's such an incredible thing to go through and experience. 

At the end of this season, I completed my first Olympic Length Duathlon in 3 hours and 5 minutes. Good enough for 3rd in my Age Group. A nice bookend to my first season of racing.

This felt DAMN good.

Next year, I'm leaving Duathlon behind for Triathlon and the longer courses. I've planned two Olympic Tri's and two 70.3 Tri's. I'll never be Macca, Crowie or Potts. But I'm still going to do my damndest to chase them down. All I have to do is keep pushing, and I'll be surprised where I end up. And that my friends is what racing has taught me about life.

For my Coach: Heather, thank you. You've been such an incredible influence on my life. You're part coach, part friend, part shrink and you take my oddities in stride. I couldn't have done any of this without you. I'm looking forward to many more races with you, and giving you more entertaining training log entries. One day, I hope we can high five each other on the same race course. Just not on the bike, I'll crash.

Roomie and his instant cheering section: Thank you for all the understanding, getting up early, dealing with my moods and insane schedule. You guys are awesome. Go have some pancakes.

Otter: You're one of those continual sources of encouragement for me. You've made the tough times easier. You're next!

Jennnnnn-AYYYY: You're still an inspiration to me. And you're wicked tall. It's also your chess move.

Turtle: You're just a daily ray of awesome and happy. Thank you.

Amanda: We're still gonna bicker. But I appreciate all the running tips you've shared.

Unicorn: You're still the best lil buddy I have!

To all the others I know I've not mentioned: Thank you all. You've made a huge difference in my race season and life.

Race Report: Presidential Lakes - Grind In The Pines

So, let's get right to it shall we?

1st Run: I took Coach's advice and set my Garmin to auto-lap every half mile. This... was SHEER GENIUS! It worked so well. I was a bit quick off the start, but I think I brought it under control to our target of 10 min/miles fairly quickly. This did leave me in the back of the back, but I stuck to our plan. The first part of the run was over pavement with rolling baby hills. Yes, they did it to me again, they found hills. The 2nd half was over a dirt trail. This was strange for me. The dirt, it kind of sucks the feet a bit and you slide around more than I'm used to. But still, I kept at the target pace and HR. Over all, I thought I nailed this part of the race plan.

T1: Zoom. Quick, easy.

Bike: The bike started off a bit hairy. I had a gaggle of people just lollygagging across the narrow bridge. Like taking up the whole thing. Using the gifted set of lungs I have, I bellowed "ON YOUR LEFT!" and zipped by them. Out on the main course, I settled down and found a gear that worked for me. This bike course was odd. It was billed as flat and fast. One the first leg to the first turn around (we had 3 laps to do) I thought OK, so it's a bit of a false flat, no worries, I can do these. I'll just get a bit of push on the way down. After the turn, I rode for a bit, and look up, and it seemed like I was going up hill again. Every time I looked up, I swear, I was going up hill. How can they find a course that is literally uphill both ways?!

Anyway, I kept my cadence as close to 90 as I could and stayed aero. I hit the water first, and saved some for the tail end of the bike. Hit the gels at 45, 1:15 and 1:45 like planned. At the first turn of lap 2, I switched to the Roctane. After that was gone, went back to the water. This worked out very well.

And no, I didn't puke :P

T2: Flying dismount, jump over the rock, zip boom bang, off on to the run

Run 2: This is where it got interesting. I knew my legs were hammered. So I settled in to a good HR rate and what I thought was a good pace to start to let me legs shake out. The calf cramps went away after the first mile and a half. I had no idea where I was over all, but I was thinking "Stay strong, stay focused, finish hard." So I kept doing my thing. I saw a guy in my AG go buy me at about 3 miles. I thought I was last in my AG, guess not. I decided to make it a race for the cellar. My plan was to keep him in sight, and reel him in slowly. When I saw he was slowing down, I'd increase my cadence a bit to nibble away at his lead. It was working, I was reeling him in. Slowly but surely. I was gaining ground. At the 5k turn around, he saw me and got hip. After that turn it was up hill for a good long way, and I couldn't hang with him. I saw it right away and decided to ease off. We still had 5k to go, maybe he would blow himself up and I could get by him. A bit later, another guy in my AG went by me. He was running strong. At this point, I was hurting. My knees weren't happy and my hips were screaming at me. I ran through a mental checklist (ProTip from Macca, btw) to pull through it: Pace good? HR Good? Breathing ok? Form good? That worked well and I ended up using it several times.

That way back was tough. I was gutting it out, keeping on pace. Grabbing water and gatorade at the water stations and popping a gel on the run as well. I think I picked up my pace a bit at the end when I could see the finish area. There was no sprinting this time, I really did leave it all out on the course.

So, those two guys that past me? It seems I was leading my AG off the bike and onto the run. Ha! :P

So, the tale of the times...

1st Run: 30:54 at a 9:58 avg pace
Bike: 1:23:47 at an avg speed of 18.3 mph
2nd Run: 1:09:07 with an avg pace of 11:09
Overall Time: 3:05, which did get me on the podium in 3rd in my Age Group.

This was a nice way to end the season. I learned so much this year about race, training, and myself. I thought Duathlons would be a bit....easier... than Triathlons for some reason. Not. True. Du's are VERY hard. They are leg killers and you really have to dig deep on that last run.

That being said, I'm looking forward to next race season, where I'm focusing on Triathalons. Specifically two Olympic Distances and two IM 70.3s.

Now... if I can just someone to help me stand up out of this chair, please?