70.3 World Championships Race Recap

Racing the World Championship 70.3 yesterday was a great experience.  This was extra special because it was a big race in my hometown Las Vegas.  I qualified for this race back in February at Panama 70.3.   In Panama I was 2nd in my age group earning a spot for the World Championships.  I was very excited leading up to this race.  My parents were coming down from Montana to watch the event. I have so many friends and clients that were planning to come volunteer and watch.  I was racing with the best triathletes in the World!  Talk about pressure.  I am usually not nervous before races but this one had me a little on edge.  I was really well hydrated leading up to this race.  I also had a great taper and felt ready to race. Race morning is always questionable how much food I can get down.  I managed to get down a entire power bagel with peanut butter and honey. I also drank a muscle milk.  It was good that I ate all that because normally I can’t eat that much.  On the drive out to Lake Las Vegas my stomach started to feel nauseated. I got to my bike and got all my nutrition set up and was ready to go.  I found Nancy (or rather she found me).  Nancy is a coach and trainer in Las Vegas. She is an amazing athlete and I knew she was going to have a great race. We went together to the swim start. Her wave was 5 minutes after mine.  That meant at some point on the run she was going to chase me down.  She is a really strong runner. While waiting we ran into Renee who was another Vegas racer.  

Nancy, Renee and I before the swim start

Finally it was time for us to go.  I knew the water temp. was about 82 degree.  I stepped into the water and was a little shocked at how warm it was.  I don’t recall ever racing a Half Ironman in water temps that warm.  Most times in the swim I don’t push myself and really forget to kick.  I told myself I was going to kick today!  I got into a rhythm pretty quick.  I was feeling really good for the first half of the swim.  I kept thinking kick, kick, kick.  Move your legs!  After the turnaround I started to feel really warm.  I almost felt like I was over heating.  I thought maybe I was pushing too hard considering the water temp was so warm.  But I kept it up. I exited in 34 minutes.  I was hoping for anything less than 35 so that was good.  I got onto my bike and realized I was really thirsty.  I was drinking my carbo pro mixture and it wasn’t quenching my thirst I needed water. I had one bottle of water and drank that pretty quick.  Normally in a Half Ironman I will bypass the first bike aid station and get fluids or water at the second one.  Not this time, because by the time I made it to aid station number one I was really thirsty for water.  But that one bottle didn’t last long. I still had plenty of carbo pro but I was craving cold water.  I felt this way during one other race and that was the Honu Half Ironman in Hawaii.  I was so dehydrated from the warm, salty swim I couldn’t get enough cold water.  I felt this way for the entire bike and onto the run.  I think the swim took more out of me than I realized.  I was on track to my goal time on the bike. This is a very challenging bike course and I knew I wouldn’t have my fastest bike time but I was hoping to finish in 3 hours or less. I came off the bike in 2:52.  I was doing good so far and off to the run.  I hoped to do the run in 1:50 or less. It was a challenging run course, in fact nothing about this race was easy.  We were experiencing temps of 100 degrees and significant humidity by the time I was on the run course.  I managed a 2:02 run which was definitely not my fastest but I was happy I kept moving and considering the heat I will take an overall time of 5:37.  That is 7 minutes off my goal time.  My client Nancy finished in 5:28 and about mile 7 on the run she caught up to me.  I remember being so thirsty most of the day.  I remember wanting cold water.  Racing in my hometown I heard people shouting at me all day.  It was great and really kept me moving.  Seeing my clients, parents, cousins and friends out there was amazing.  I have not had a race experience like this ever before. I know for them to be out there cheering me on is not easy.  It’s hot and I only come around every 20-30 minutes.  Finally I was coming to the finish and see two of my clients Anne and Bev

My clients with me after the race!