Music City Pregame

The triathlon season is winding down for most people, and while I'm past the halfway point in my race season, the next couple months carry a lot of weight. Tomorrow a.m. I will be competing in my first Olympic Distance race of the season: Music City.

Why is this race so important? I've been racing sprints all season, but my training since April has been focused on the international distance. My goal for this season has been to travel to Dallas in October to race in the U.S. Open- a competitive USAT race that qualifies the top 3 finishers for their elite license. Yes, I'm still hung up on that. I realize that I am currently a competitive amateur, and that if I become a professional I will be bringing up the rear, and I'm ok with that. It feels great to do well overall, but I'd rather go for it & be a mediocre pro than not try & be happy as a fast age grouper.

Being a professional doesn't really pay, it just enables you to enter pro races where there may be more opportunities to win prize money. But the real incentive is that this would be a great business opportunity. Kyle & I own a running/ multisport store, so we need to be the experts, & what better way than to have a professional triathlete & her coach running the show? Not to mention, our coaching services are starting to take off, & being on the next performance level will be great for business. The bottom line is Kyle is an awesome coach, he's very knowledgable & passionate about what he does, & his methods WORK.

Back to the race...
Music City will be kind of a checkpoint race to assess my progress & where the focus needs to be in the coming months. The ultimate goal is to go under 2:20 by Rocketman. If I can't get into the 2:teens, there's really no reason to waste the time or money going to Dallas. I don't have those expectations for tomorrow, but I should have my best Olympic Distance race yet. I've never been this well prepared going into this distance before, so I'm EXTREMELY excited to see what I'm capable of. I've been working on pacing for the swim, & I know exactly what 1:20 per 100yrds feels like, so I anticipate being out of the water between 23.5-24 minutes. The goal for the bike is to average 23, and that needs to happen. While the run will be considerably weak compared to the other two legs (I've never broken 50:00 in this type of race-sad!), I've never been I this good running shape going in to this race, & I expect to finish around 48 minutes.

Wish me luck!

Sunfish Tri Race Report

Busy transition area as athletes prepare for race start.

This weekend a bunch of the Hattiesburg Triathletes went to Meridian to participate in the Sunfish Triathlon. H'Burg was well represented! Had some great overall finishes, a grandmasters winner (I got beat by an old guy), age group wins... oh & let's not forget simply FINISHING a tri is a HUGE accomplishment! Team HAMR is looking awesome!


Meridian is only an hour and a half away, but we stayed in one of the host hotels so we could get to the race site early & not have to worry about travel.

The race was sponsored in part by our coaching business, Tri Optimum Performance. We gave participants business cards with race promotions- 3rd month free when they sign on for 3 months. Overall it was a HUGE success. Picked up a few athletes at the race & had a great overall finish- FIRST FEMALE.

In previous years, the race has been co-directed by Lori & Shannon. Lori took over this year, & from my perspective the transition was flawless. She was really awesome about letting us sponsor the race, took the time to meet me after the race was over (RD's have a lot going on race day) & just put on a great event. The race is well supported- LOTS of volunteers on the course. The bike turns are visible and on the run course the volunteers are energetic & helpful. There was a lot of energy between the spectators & volunteers, especially at the finish area, & I think the volunteers really set the tone for creating that atmosphere.

I did this race last year, just 2 weeks after moving from Virginia, and I was NOT used to the Mississippi heat. It really affected me... walked A LOT on the run. This year was MUCH better- felt a nice breeze while running over the dam at the run start & am now used to running in 95degree heat + high humidity. This has been my first repeat race since I started training consistently a year ago, so I was excited to be able to track my progress & compare results. Just a preview: this year 1:19:58, last year 1:26:10. That is a HUGE jump for a sprint tri!

Swim: 9:28 1/3 mile OR 530 meters
Sunfish does a time trial start, seeded by registration date. I AM NOT A FAN OF THIS FORMAT! I registered in April or May, so had a relatively low number, 48. It just creates unnecessary chaos, and a lot of races around here do it. I think maybe the idea is to get people to register early rather than later, which I understand, but I feel that having price increases would be more beneficial. It's not extremely difficult to seed by swim time, & it would make the quality of the races SO much better.

I expected the swim to take me right around 8 - 8:30, which would be about 1:20/100yd. The 9:28 time would put me at 1:38/100yd... MUCH slower than anticipated. Last year I did a 9:53, and I've been working hard enough to make better progress than 25 seconds over a 500. Training buddy Brinn Strange came out of the water within seconds of my time, so I feel we were pretty accurate in our pacing (we should be, we've been working on it!).  I think it's safe to say the swim was long this year.

Bike: 47:05, 21.4mph
The bike course for this race is really hilly, which I don't mind so much, but that combined with the terribly rough roads make for an rough ride. They do a pretty good job of marking the larger craters, but there are so many small holes & cracks & rough pavement changes that you just can't get away from it. Last year I saw A LOT of people on the side who flatted out, and this year was no different. My bike was rattling really bad most of the ride, I felt like it was going to break down on me!

Last year I did a 48:47, 20.7 mph on the bike. Needless to say I am disappointed with this years' split. I've been working really hard & have been spending a lot of time in the saddle, doing lots of power work, and I've made huge jumps. I've averaged 22.6 & 22.8 at recent races, averaged 24 at a local time trial, and have continued to build strength. This race did not reflect that, and it wasn't just because the course was difficult. I told Kyle my legs just felt tired, which is hardly an excuse since I've had days to recover from my last hard workout. At this point, I have about 2 weeks to get it together because I have an Olympic Distance in Nashville which is not going to be any easier, and 21's are just not going to cut it at this point.

Run: 22:26, 7:26/mile
As I ran out of T2, Kyle yelled, "FIND YOUR LEGS AND EMPTY THE TANK!". The tricky part about this run is that you can see the entire course. You run over the reserve, go around the lake, then come back over the reserve to finish. It can either be a mental challenge or a strategic advantage. I chose the strategic advantage approach this year. Took the first .5 mile to get into my rhythm, maintained for 1.5, picked it up for the last mile and focused heavily on the 800's we frequent in speed work to get through the last half mile. I was the first female coming out of the water, so there were only men around me. For the last mile, though, I saw some pretty quick women moving along, & I was nervous the might catch up to me with the time trial format. Overall I was pretty pleased with my run time. It's a little slower than earlier in the season, but I haven't lost a ton of speed from the couple weeks I took off to nurse my injuries. Looks like I'm back to where I left off, which means the running can only get better!

Again thank you to all of the volunteers who helped at today's race and thank you to Lori for keeping this great race going, I believe they said this was Sunfish's 27th year.  Congratulations to all the finishers and I'll see you at the races!

 

 

Sunfish Tri Race Results

Up next: Music City Triathlon (Olympic Distance) in Nashville July 28th.

 

Offer a Girl Donuts & She Can Do Anything

So here's the latest from this morning:
A few months ago Kyle had Elizabeth & I do a 1 mile predictor set: 30 x 100 on 1:30. I was able to do 1:19's for ALL of them- a HUGE milestone for me. Since then, I can do that pace on a moderately-hard effort most days, but haven't been able to really pull it together for a longer set.
This morning: 8 x 300's, descend 1-4 & 5-8. I had a big weekend, so I was feeling a bit tired & pretty much blew off the first several (not that I'm stubborn, but fatigue just wears me down mentally as much as physically). Needless to say the descents were larger than they should have been. The last few I started feeling pretty motivated. The 8th 300, I knew I was pushing pretty hard, & I convinced myself that if I went under 4:00 Kyle might let me have donuts for breakfast. I descended to a 3:56!! That's right, 300 under 1:19 pace. K-Jop was PUMPED, and I was treated to Krispy Kreme.

I AM L-A-Z-Y...or maybe I just work too hard! I am way behind on blogging. At first I didn't feel bad, but then one of our customers at Runner's High came in and asked me to do a better job of maintaining my blog. It seems some people actually enjoy reading about my experiences & following the progress!

Here are some updates:

• Half of my Hattiesburg friends have moved away over the past month. First Ginger, who I spent 50% of my workout times with. I didn't realize how much time we actually spent together until she left. I have other training friends that I'm grateful to have, but losing Ginger has been a huge blow. After that, Shelly & Nicole. Both have been awesome coaches for our 5K training and great friends. Lauren is next. Sad to loose friends, but excited for their opportunities ahead! Then Doug, who I didn't realize was moving until he visited the shop to say farewell on his way out of town. I don't know why, but this one made me tear up. Probably because I think he works the hardest out of ANYBODY at masters, and I felt like I was losing someone who would inspire me on the days I just didn't want to work (which is 90% of the time at the pool, which is why I need him!). Doug trained throughout the winter & missed very little workouts. He worked hard to be a distance swimmer, but was a strong sprinter. Kyle would seed us in comparing abilities to race when we have to do sprints, & Doug & I frequently swam in opposing lanes. I could swim circles around him in longer sets, but he usually beat me in sprints, then would fist bump me & say thanks for pushing him. I will miss his attitude!

Now for the positive:

• Team HAMR: Hattiesburg Area Multisport Racing. This was Hattiesburg's Tri club, which I was somehow appointed to get restarted. We had our first meeting last week with what I consider to be a successful turnout. Since then several people have expressed interest in the club. Team HAMR is joining forces with Hub City Velo, the cycling group. We're forming a combined organization with 3 racing teams: Hub City Velo, Team HAMR, & Hub City Mountain Biking. I'm excited to see the collaboration among organizations, and am more pumped to see endurance athletes in this city unite to try to do some great things. It's gonna be a fun ride!
• Inaugural Epley Challenge 10 mile TT & Du: Some of the guys active in the community organized a grassroots training effort here over the weekend. The event was free, $10 donations accepted, so it was an awesome (cheap) way to get a race in. Best of all, they're trying to make a series out of it. I see great potential in this event! I participated in the 10 mile Time Trial. I was nervous going into it because I registered kind of late & was 3rd position from going last, with a "time trial specialist" following me. Oh yeah, & I was the only girl, so I thought it would be really uncool to be the very last one on the course. I actually didn't do half bad. I passed several guys in front of me, and finished with a time of 25:43. I was told the course was short, which would have put me at 22ish mph- not bad, but not stellar. The official results have it listed as 10.3 miles, which puts me RIGHT at 24. I'll go with the latter. This chick is pleased. Results here. P.S. Training partner Brinn Strange kicked butt at the du. First female!
• Tri Optimum Performance has kicked off! Team T.O.P. uniforms are in, and they look SHARP.
• We just started back with speed work sessions last nigh. I didn't feel great, but I'm happy to be back to working hard, & running pain-free!
• Music City Tri coming up. MY MOM IS GOING WITH ME! I'm excited to get some girl time with her, & it should be a great race for me, so she'll get to see what I can do!