I
basically set up an intense five weeks consisting of four races, with two of them being half-irons. Was I crazy? Six days after my first half-iron at Chisago Lakes, I did
Wausau’s Olympic course triathlon, and that seemed to go okay. Then I had two weeks off before
Pigman’s half-iron, six days after which I had signed up to do another
duathlon. I seemed to make it
through the first three races pretty well, but by the time the duathlon
arrived, I was realizing that what I really needed was some good recovery time. I took it easy for the 5
days between races, but when I got to the starting line for the duathlon, my
legs were not completely ready for this.
It started with a 2.2 mile run,
which I figured I should be able to do at about a 6:30/6:40 pace and still be able to bike well. I hung on at a
6:50 pace and instantly knew my body was not recovered to perform at its
best. I have been battling a tight
hamstring for several weeks, and doing run speed pushed it to its limits. Even during Pigman’s half-iron, I felt
it on the half-marathon run. At
Wausau, the bike at least got my muscle warmed up enough to run feeling okay. Not at this race. I knew I was pushing the line of injury
if I went any harder, and well, I just felt like I couldn’t really run any
faster either.
I was in fifth for females coming
in from the first run, and I headed out on the bike for the 14.6 mile
ride. My plan was to bike hard
today. I wanted to out-bike every
other woman at that race. I
struggled to push my watts, as my legs just didn’t have it in them to sustain
the higher efforts, but nonetheless, I came in with a good split. I managed to pull of the fastest female
bike split, averaging over 23 mph, and had the fifth fastest bike split
overall! Solid. I’ve never biked that fast, so that was
really exciting for me!
I headed out on the second run of
2.3 miles, and already feeling like I wanted to be done. My body was taxed, and this speed stuff
was tough! I think I’ve come to really
like the endurance aspect of the bigger races. Who knew?! I
went just under a 6:50 pace, having the second fastest female split and
finishing as the second female (first in my age group) and sixth overall for
men and women. The leader had
outrun me, but since she used to run for the Wisconsin Badgers, I could not be
shocked by that one. I did have
almost five minutes on the third place finisher though, so it was still a fast
day.
This marked the end of my big
racing season. It was an awesome
year, and I far exceeded my hopes and expectations for it! I had started off with winning a 5K
just two months post-baby, followed by a 10K win (both with significant PR
times). Green Bay kicked off the
triathlon season with a very cold day, but a successful win, followed by a
duathlon win at Badger State Games in Wausau. I had my FIRST swim meet of my life at Badger State Games,
managing to win two of the events even!
I took a long break from racing and focused on getting ready for my
first half-iron distance races.
Chisago Lakes was surreal, with perfect weather and a sub-5 hour race
and 4th place finish, and still only 5 months post-baby! Claimed another victory at Wausau’s
triathlon, and then took on Iowa’s Pigman Half-Iron, dropping significant time
and finishing in 5th.
Then I wrapped the season up with this duathlon. I am very much satisfied with the
season, but I also know my areas of weakness to work on in order to prepare for
next year.
Not able to QUITE be done yet, I
signed up for my first marathon in October. Here I am in recovery week, and writing out my training plan
for the next 6 weeks leading up to it.
Just can’t quite end the year yet!
Thank you to Rob, for coming out and racing with me, and thank you to
Andy for photographing, watching Baya, and being a huge supporter and fan all
season!
No comments:
Post a Comment