Swim:
Heading down to the water I realized my timing chip strap was not secured very well, I thought hmmm I should probably safety pin that, but just never got around to finding a safety pin. Its little tiny things like this that I'm realizing I should probably pay more attention to. The men went off a couple minutes before us and we all laughed a bit at how ridiculous it looked when they ran almost all the way to the first buoy. I lined myself up somewhere in the middle along the beach and kept my eyes on the first line of buoys. The gun went off and everyone took off running into the water. My original plan had been to kind of copy cat what the other women were doing. The water was still around knee deep when I started to feel the timing strap going up and down my leg. I didn't want to lose it so I thought, well maybe dolphin diving will be better. This is about when I learned that I really, really need to work on my dolphin dives. After a couple pretty comical attempts, I decided to just swim. The water was still really shallow and the other women were still running. Brian later asked me why I had started swimming when everyone else was running: rookie mistake number one. In all the confusion, the group had gotten a bit of a jump on me which very quickly lengthened. I tried to make up the gap but I was too late and all of a sudden I was mostly on my own: rookie mistake number two. I put my head down and decided to just swim as best I could and hope that I wasn't too far back and could make it up on the bike. I was having some (ok a lot) of difficulty swimming in a straight line. It was hard to tell what exactly the current was doing, and my sighting was probably not at its best. It felt like it took forever down the back part of the triangle swim course. On the last stretch, I was caught by a couple amateur men. This is about where I knew I was in trouble. When I stood up and glanced at my watch, I could hardly believe it, slower even than Kona, which to me had been a very difficult swim. I gritted my teeth and ran into transition. I knew I had work to do so I made it through T1 and onto my bike fairly quickly.
Bike:
My bike has come a very long way over the past couple years, but I knew my work was cut out for me after coming out so far back in the swim. I was getting in a groove pretty quickly and my speed and effort were right where I wanted them to be. I was passed by a few amateur men, and once I was sure I was way back of the drafting zone, I put my head back down and kept at it. In my hurry to get back in the game, I completely forgot about the stagger rule (only applies to pros): rookie mistake number three. Once I realized, I moved to the left, but it was too late and a marshall drove up next to me and told me to stand down. Standing on the side of the road, watching the stop watch count up to two minutes was heart breaking. I knew with a bad swim and a penalty it was going to be very difficult to bridge up to the main group. As soon as the two minutes were up I jumped back on my bike, determined to continue to ride well. Minus the penalty, I actually had a good ride. The wind on the way back didn't get to me, and I rode at a very consistent effort. I also got my planned nutrition down. Heading into T2 I was anxious to get into my running shoes, but also a bit worried if I had made up any of the time I had lost. Looking at the pro women bike splits after the race, without my penalty, I was right up there with a bunch of the other pro women. I know this is far from just a bike race, but it was encouraging to know that I have made good gains on my biking.
Run:
Coming through transition, I heard someone yell good job and that I was on video, I thought it was someone from Rev3, but it was actually our friend Frank. He videoed my T2 which was actually kind of cool because then I got to see later how I can get through transition more quickly. Again, in my hurry to get out and make up some time, I got a little flustered. I should have put my socks then shoes on, grabbed my visor/race belt and run out while putting them on. Instead I put my race belt then visor on. Then socks and shoes. Minor details I know, but still areas I can improve. I also decided to run out the wrong way, and thankfully Frank yelled for me to turn around: rookie mistake number four. The first couple miles I was on pace and felt like my legs were turning over decently well. Overall I felt pretty good. Then, I started to slow. My stomach was feeling weird, and I just didn't want to take calories, plus I couldn't tell if I was hot or cold. I kept trying to make my legs move faster only to see my watch reading off the same pace, I wasn't getting any slower, but I also wasn't speeding back up. However, I've felt similar to this before in a race and completely unraveled. This time I held it together enough to at least have an ok run. There are some kinks to work out, but I'm confident that I can figure it out and have a more solid run in the next race. I love to run, so I always love to finish off strong. Right before the finishing chute Brian started to run next to me. I got a little paranoid and yelled at him that he couldn't pace me and he was going to get me a penalty. He explained that he had asked the race director if he could run down the chute with me. So we ran in together, hands held, and it was a really nice moment to share with him. Another run highlight was seeing Caldwell and Lauren Clarke's kids Will and Katie with their super awesome sign for me "Go Rachel, Run Like A Squid!" I just made it into the money with a 10th place finish.
Right after I saw my little buddies
Will with my sign
A huge congratulations to all the pro men and women, as well as all our friends I saw racing. It was really nice to get high fives along the course and to see friendly faces. Its going to be a great season for everyone. I was really proud of Brian for gutting it out to 1st in the 25-29 division. He even offered to run with me when he passed me instead of continuing his own race. A very selfless offer and I appreciate his support way more than he probably realizes.
Thank you so much to my coach, Tara Norton. All aspects of my training and racing have come so far since I started being coached by her last January. She is so encouraging, and she keeps me honest and positive. She helps me to learn from difficult training days and races and is always helping me to move forward to become a better athlete and person.
Overall, I learned quite a bit. The pro women are an extremely talented, fast bunch and you can't lose focus out there. I've discovered how important the swim start is and that I have a few things that I can definitely improve on for next time. A race is only bad if you don't learn from it. The pro women after were very encouraging, as well as a few of the pro men. Our friends and family are always so supportive and it means so much to me that they continue to believe in us. I am extremely grateful for our sponsors for all that they do for us: Zoot, GU, Fuelbelt, Fat Frogs Bike and Fitness Chesapeake, Ghent Chiropractic, Garmin. I am also excited to start working with a new sponsor, Stages Cycling. I will have my new power meter this week and can't wait to train with it.
top 10 women
Wow great job! You guys make such a great team! I used to wonder who those crazy people were that came in first at races - and now I know it's people like my cousin! :) great job! - Anne Marie
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