Ironman Louisville

Ironman Louisville was my 4th Ironman and 1st Ironman as a pro. This was Brian's 5th Ironman. I really enjoyed traveling to the race with Brian and spending a weekend in Kentucky with him. We were also able to meet up with several Zoot Ultra team mates as well as some friends from back home. All those people, combined with an awesome homestay, made for a really fun and relaxing trip.

We arrived in Kentucky on Wednesday afternoon, which gave us a day or two to enjoy the area before really buckling down into race mode. We strolled around the city, had some delicious food and even made it by the Louisville Zoo. Brian even got to visit a giant Cabela's store, one of the highlights of his trip haha.

                                outside the science museum              Brian and the Tapir

compared to a gorilla, wish I had that arm span for swimming!

 

                                  selfie with a meerkat                                 trip to Cabela's

We were blessed with a wonderful homestay with a great family. Kelly even rode with me for one of my pre race rides. We really enjoyed meeting her and her husband Garry and their three kids Trey, Parker and Olivia. The kids were a lot of fun. They all played our traditional pre race mini golf with us, and Olivia brought me some green nail polish so my nails could match my tri kit. Most of them came down to the finish line area to give us high fives before crossing the finish line. Late that night, exhausted from the race and hanging around after, we got back to find that the kids had made us really sweet signs. We took the signs home with us and they are going to go up in our training room.

                                    pre race mini golf                           our signs from the kids

Our pre race preparations went very smoothly, and I arrived to transition on race morning feeling nervous but relaxed and ready. I like being a bit nervous because it shows how much I care about the race.

Brian and I walked down to the start with his coach Jesse and Jesse and I got ready to get in the water. We jumped in a few minutes before 6:50 and I splashed around a little before lining up. As soon as the gun went off the group of pro men and women started to break up. I desperately tried to latch onto someone. Just as I felt like I was losing the pair of feet I was on, a male pro passed me and slid into the gap so I could catch on. The three of us, Whitney, male pro from US pro tri team then me, swam in this line until right before the finish. Every time I thought I could maybe get around them, someone would throw in a surge and I was hanging on again. I'm pretty sure I drove the male pro a little nuts with my continuous foot slapping but I didn't want to lose those feet! I came out of the water and glanced at my watch, a six minute swim PR! I know part of it was the current, but it was still nice to come out of the water knowing I wasn't super far behind. I heard the announcer say, "and Rachel Jastrebsky is another one of our female pros out of the water, one of the favorites for the day." I thought, huh?! Since when am I a favorite?! Even if he was mistaking me for someone else it was still pretty cool to hear.

The bike starts with a pretty fast section, and then about 20 miles out of town you do an out and back with a couple bigger downhills and uphills. After that, its rolling hills until about you start to head back to town around mile 90 to 100. I kept thinking about what Brian's coach had said before the race, don't go crazy on the first 70 miles and you can kill it on the last 40. I held back a little on the climbs, trying not to tax my legs too much. Looking back, I probably could have and should have pushed it just a little bit more on the two loops in the middle of the course, but am still ok with my effort on the bike. About mile 60 or so we started the second loop and collided with the amateurs. This was a tricky section for me, because it was difficult to get around everyone. There were many times when people were riding 3-4 wide across the road, and descending with riders in the middle of the road made me nervous. I managed ok though, and as soon as I split off to head to town I was able to pick up some more speed.

coming into T2 - picture by Kelly Smith, her husband Steven (a friend of ours) was racing 

starting out on the run (picture also by Kelly Smith)

I have a bad habit of booking it out of transition, and this race was no exception. Fortunately I was able to catch myself pretty quickly and reign it in. I remember hearing the announcer call out that I was starting the run and that my husband was also racing, it gave me a bit of a lift being reminded that Brian was out there. I was holding a good pace and feeling pretty good until about the first turn around. That was when I started to notice the heat and I could feel that my legs didn't quite have the spunk they started with. I was able to hold pretty steady though, and started making sure I was staying on top of nutrition. It made a huge difference with the heat to put ice down my top/shorts every chance I got as well as dumping water over my head. Although, I'm pretty sure one of the photographers got a not so flattering picture of me putting ice down my shorts. Every time I started to think I couldn't possibly hold the pace, I did one of a few things. 1. I did a little self assessment and discovered that my legs weren't really as tired as I kept thinking they were. 2. I remembered what coach Tara said and repeated to myself, this will pass. 3. I prayed that my legs would keep moving. It seemed to work, because even though my pace slowed a little, I was still holding fairly steady.

thank you Ali Engin Photography for the sweet photo

On the second lap, I started to notice that 6th place wasn't incredible far ahead. I thought, if I can hold this I might just be able to catch her. After the turn around on the far side of the second lap I kept thinking where the heck is this girl!? A little before the 24 mile mark I could see her just ahead. Shortly after, I passed our team mate Diana and she yelled out, you can catch her! And it gave me that little extra umph I needed to make the pass. I did my best to keep it together to avoid a pass back and ran pretty strongly to the finish. About half a mile from the finish I decided I was going to really enjoy the last few minutes. Too often, we get tunnel vision during these races and we forget to really soak it in. I reminded myself how lucky I am to be able to do this and tried to slap as many high fives as possible. One lady was holding a sign that said "For super powers, press here" and I almost knocked the sign out of her hand I slapped it so hard. WTC played a mean trick on me by switching the clock to the amateur start time before I finished so I thought I'd done a 9:46, but surprisingly, after seeing on my watch that it was 9:56 I was not disappointed. I hadn't fallen apart, I hadn't given up on myself, I had been smart. There are things I can do better next time, there always are, but that doesn't change my happiness about this race. I made it into the money in my first pro Ironman and that to me was awesome. I went to the awards the next day expecting to see the top 5 on the stage and was pleasantly surprised to get a trophy for 6th! The other pro women/men were all very positive and inspiring and I enjoyed getting to chat with a few of them, especially fellow rookie Brooke who absolutely killed it.

I always enjoy racing with Brian, it picks me up seeing him on the course and it was great to get a high five and an "I love you" from him about halfway through the run. I also got to put his medal on him at the finish which was really special. I was so proud of him for his 6 minute swim PR (he has come sooooo far), his blazing fast bike (5:06!) and then for toughing it out on the run even though he hadn't run in almost two months.

I was overwhelmed with the response from our friends and family about our races this past weekend. The support and encouragement really does mean so much to us. Thank you also to our awesome sponsors. Zoot, the swim skin, shoes and kit made for a fast and comfortable day. GU my nutrition plan was just about spot on thanks to you guys. Fat Frogs Chesapeake, thanks for checking my bike over! Ghent Chiropractic, keeping us healthy so we can train and race. Stages Cycling, using power to gauge my effort on the bike is very useful. Big thank you to my coach Tara for believing in my potential and for helping me to develop into a better athlete and person. Looking forward to continuing to work with her!

Last but not least huge congrats to our fellow team mates that raced this weekend, Cathy and Diana both placing in their age groups and Jesse making top ten for the male pros. Congrats as well to Steven and Adam, doing awesome in their first Ironman! And of course our friend Shane for toughing it out once again in Louisville. Congrats as well to our team mates and friends that raced elsewhere this weekend.

Steelhead 70.3

A lesson in patience, that is the major thing I have taken from this race last weekend. This has been a difficult lesson for me to swallow because I'm not a very patient person. Pretty sure my impatience ended in stitches a few times when I was younger because I refused to wait for my dad to help me use some tool. I've realized though that if this came too easily and if there were no lessons to be learned, than I probably wouldn't appreciate it very much. Instead, each obstacle is something to learn from and when that endurance and speed does evolve over time, I'll be a much better athlete and person from those struggles.

Take the swim for example. I taught myself to swim when I was 18, I even used a nose clip for a few years. Ask my college swimmer friends, they teased me relentlessly (all in good fun of course). They were also the ones most excited when I did start to improve in the swim, and they were the first to give tips and advice. My swim start in my first pro race at Williamsburg was almost comical. I didn't really know what to do in the start and as a result lost the entire group. Since then, every time I got into open water, I practiced swim starts. Coach Tara was great about teaching me how to go right from the gun and get onto feet. It must have paid off, because my swim start at Steelhead was probably the highlight of my race. I dolphin dove with the best of them and latched onto feet right away. The water was choppy and we were swimming against a light current but I didn't lose those feet until the very last part of the swim. By then, another group had caught up and I came out with them right on my heels. Speedy swimmer Radka had gone way off the front, followed by a few women in a group and then I came out with the next group.

It was a long run up the beach and down the lines of bikes through transition. I didn't sprint and instead thought about what I needed to do to get on my bike. Some of the other girls in the group out of the water had gotten up the beach before me and had already left on their bikes. Once on the bike I set my sights on a couple girls just ahead. One of the girls I was back and forth with almost the entire ride. I would catch up and pass on the hills and then she would pass back on the flats. I took the last stretch a bit conservatively to see if it would help my run and she pulled away a little. Not sure if this more conservative approach was best, but I am just starting to train with power (Stages) and that should help me to gauge my efforts better.

Another long run through transition and then I was able to get my stuff together much more quickly and get onto the run. I felt pretty good for the first few miles, my legs were turning over well. After those first few miles though I had trouble getting my legs to open up and find that half ironman gear. Good news I guess for my upcoming full but not so great when you're trying to do a speedy half. I have three main races left this season: Ironman Louisville, Augusta 70.3 and Ironman Florida. I feel like I'm better at the full distance so I'm excited to change gears and focus on those more. With less than 3 weeks until Louisville, the main goal right now is to stay healthy and maintain the edge.

I had a chance to talk to several of the other pro women and men. They were all very encouraging and all had the same advice: patience.

The weekend was made very enjoyable by my travel buddy Kristen, and our homestay hosts Sean and Jann. Kristen made me laugh all weekend, and her positive attitude was infectious. She raced as well, and got a PR! I remember walking from the parking lot to the expo and a nice gentlemen offered us a ride on his golf cart. Kristen replied "we are not allowed to receive any outside assistance." She and Brian helped me find perspective after the race. She also helped me research causes of peeing blood, because to be honest it was the first time its happened to me and it genuinely freaked me out. I was reading off the potential causes: enlarged prostate, tumors or long distance running. She replied "well it can't be the long distance running, maybe you should get your prostate checked." Haha so much ridiculousness.

Sean and Jann (and their kids) were wonderful. It must not be the easiest thing to open your home to strangers, especially athletes that tend towards type A personalities. They were also racing (Sean the half and Jann running for a relay team) and both did awesome. Kristen and I missed our puppies and they shared their goofy pup Blue with us for the weekend. Their friends were wonderful and fun. I really enjoyed meeting their friend Andrea, who is also just starting out as a pro. She and I shared some similar thoughts and experiences and its nice to have that camaraderie with other pros that are trying to find their way.

I also really enjoyed seeing a couple of our team mates. Zoot Ultra team mates Rick and Dana were both racing and both made it on the podium in the 30-34 age group. Our team is full of positive and fun people and its always great to catch up at races. I was also finally able to congratulate Rick and his awesome wife Brittany on their recent wedding :)

Thank you to my sponsors for their continued support. Thank you to my family and friends for your words of encouragement. Huge thank you to coach Tara for helping me to develop as an athlete.