TriRock Triathlon 2012
Olympic (Intermediate) Distance :: 1500m Swim / 40K Bike / 10K Run
[Intermediate Distance = 1 mile Swim / 25 mile Bike / 6.2 mile Run]
Aug. 2011 I wrote a “stretch goal” to complete an Olympic Tri by Labor Day 2012. The Austin Tri, (now TriRock) was the only Olympic distance race I knew of at the end of the season, so I picked it. I since learned of a new race in Kerrville that many of my teammates enjoyed. At the beginning of 2012 I signed up for the Olympic distance at The Kerrville Triathlon and the Sprint distance for this race.
Details & Race Results
- Event Name: Land Rover TriRock Austin
- Date/Times: September 3rd, 2012, Time: 7:00am
- Location: Auditorium Shores
800 West Riverside Drive
Austin, TX 78704 - Distance = Intermediate/Olympic
- Total Time = 4h 02m 19s
- Overall Rank = 43/46
- Age Group = Athena
- Age Group Rank = 3/3
- Total # = 1691 / Oly = 916 participants:
281 Women & 635 Men - Course Map: Download Map
My Story
Last year I didn’t have my best race (Austin Tri Race Report 2011) so I was planning to either A) Replace my “not great” race w/ a good experience or B) Have this be my “not great” race each year.
I planned to do the same Sprint distance again, and to be mentally & physically prepared, as well as familiar with the course (which was my downfall last year). As I was reviewing my goals before MasterMind, I coudn’t help feel like I “really” wasn’t accomplishing the Oly goal by Labor Day, although I was telling myself it was close enough.
I have been riding my bike a lot and putting good mileage under my belt, but had not spent much time running or swimming during the summer. (Almost all of it had occurred DURING summer triathlons!) I couldn’t sleep one night at the end of August and got the hair-brained idea of jumping in unprepared and switching TriRock to the longer Intermediate distance. Being impulsive and sleep deprived, I just registered a second time for the longer race. Then, of course, I didn’t sleep for a few nights worried about it & wondering how could I increase my training and pull this off in a 10 days. I rationalized that I wanted to have FUN in Kerrville and not be nervous about my first Oly distance, so I could just have a sacrificial race that I can stress out about and be nervous. It was a “not great” race last year – so what was the loss? I could always run the first 3.1 mile loop and then quit and it wouldn’t really stand out. I could do the bike for sure. I can swim a mile, although I haven’t in a year (+ I am getting slower.)
Pre-race Weekend:
First Bike on Rack #20
I blocked out time to be mentally prepared and well-rested. I wanted a good racking spot so I went to the Hyatt at 9:15a to wait in line for packet pickup to open at 10a. Sandra Spicer (La Ultima) was there and we got to chat in line. I checked in, bypassed the Expo, and headed to the transition area. They told me I was on Row 20 and I could see no one else had racked. When I got there, I realized we had assigned spots and I could have come anytime during the day and been in the same AWESOME location: 2nd bike in on the south side of the main aisle. I posted to everyone that it was assigned racking so others didn’t have to rush downtown. 🙂
Back to the Expo to purchase my PURPLE transition mat that had been on my list for a few months. I had hoped someone was selling them at the Expo. I attended the athlete orientation and course review. I wanted to hear how they had changed the swim course, since I missed and had to backtrack on 2 buoys last year.
I walked back to transition for some reason. Say goodbye to my bike? Check swim/run/bike In & Out locations? As I approached my bike I realized someone had moved it. They had pealed all of the stickers off and flipped them to the other side. After talking to the race marshal, she informed me that out of 300+ racks, Row 22 on the south side, first rack, was the only one that was wrong and they had to adjust it. Of course! I didn’t really care, but after CapTexTri when the guy kept moving my bike, I was a little upset. Whew! Got that out of the way today!
Met some clients then had a relaxing evening. My nutrition was in snack-sized baggies and labeled (pre-race, bike, run) and my cooler was full of post-race things (protein shot, protein bar, peanut butter, baked lays & various other things, if I had the urge).
Race Morning:
Sunrise over Transition (by Beth Lentz)
I had my alarm set for 3:50a so that I could putz around and still have time to get things in the car and out the door by 5am. I wanted to get a good parking spot and decided to return to the Butler Park lot by the bathrooms. I was the first person there, then fellow TriZoner Heather Herrick showed up. (She was my cheerleader and shoulder to cry on last year in my “not great” race.) I love that my team is always uber-present in transition right when it open.
I hauled my stuff to transition and rolled out my new purple transition mat, arranged my gear in order of use, stood up my 2 purple Camelbacks and started dividing up what I needed outside of transition. 2 of the people beside me did not show up, so there was a huge gap between me and the other folks on my rack. The 2 other full racks south of me were super crowded (same volunteer error as our lables being reversed). They moved 1/3 of them to some extra racks toward the Swim In. Because of the gap, the USTA officials kept circling our area, which made me nervous even though I was totally in my tiny space.
Headed to the TriZones tent to drop off my TriBag & Cooler, then walked to my car for a brain break and to get my water. Gave me a chance to focus and relax. Most of the TriZoners were also doing the Intermediate distance. They combined the 45 and over Women into one wave (yellow caps) so many of us started together.
Race Report:
First Swim Wave
Swim: (52:27:00 @ 3:29/100m, 1500m) As Yellow Caps were “on deck,” Nikki Dubois said, “Are you wearing that?” Um… yes. “Have you practiced in it?” Yes, I did 1/2 mile of drills at Lake Pflugerville. I was mainly checking how the sports bra would feel under my new girl-cut sleevless TriZones bike jersey. It was the first time I would have a swim exit photo in TZ gear. She said off-handedly, “My bike jersey always chaffs here at the underarm area, but you’ll be fine.” Alrighty then. Too late to do anything about it, and I have no body glide standing on the side of Lady Bird Lake. I reminded myself that I have never had chaffing issues…
I had my double-shot espresso Gu and walked down the dock, put my goggles on and jumped into Town Lake. Good water temp, made my way out toward the starting buoys and waited for the countdown. There was a lot of space so we weren’t on top of each other. Started my Garmin 910XT in multi-sport mode and we were off. I got into a good rhythm and decided not to think about the fact that this course was twice as long as I have been training. I focused on my form, breathing, and started my affirmations that I use to count 250m sets in the pool. (“I’m a healthy & fit triathlete.” “I’m inspirationally successful b/c I’ve lost 150 pounds.” “I cook healthy meals everyday.” “Everything works out right for me.” “My clients love to hear from me and send me referrals.” “I’m a positive & patient person.” etc. <– Keep in mind, I’ve been saying these things for years, and doesn’t mean that they are all FACTs!)
Sighting was easy going west and I double-checked that I actually made it around all of the correct buoys. Once we started going east, the downtown buildings blocked the sun until we crossed under the 1st street bridge. At that point, the fast/young boys were passing me and it was pretty easy to follow their bubbles. I also decided to just “swim toward the light”. I really enjoyed swimming under the bridge and only briefly thought about bird/bat poop falling on my while I was taking a breathe. It looked clear in my quick glances. I see I was moving by watching something overhead vs. just the sky. Only “surprise was that when I thought I got to the turnaround buoy that was directly in the sunlight, I realized there was one more. Ugh. Small mental adjustment and realized that I felt great, and I was 2/3 of the way done. Once I was heading back to the shoreline, the rest went very quickly. Mentally I kept thinking, how well that went… and maybe I should have been swimming faster. (Also made note that I needed to tie the string in my tri shorts so I didn’t have to stop and pull them up when I swam.)
I swam all the way to the ramp and stood up, grabbed someone’s hand and reached down with my right hand to my Garmin to switch to transition 1 mode. In some weird way that I can only remember as a blur, I used my left hand then to take off my swim cap, that I have done dozens of times, starting over my right ear… and my fingers got stuck in the cap. It’s hard to explain but I was running up the shoot thinking: “Great – my 1 swim exit in TZ gear and my arm is stuck in front of my face!” (Needless to say, there are no swim exit photos of me…grrr.)
T1: (04:47) I wore my SpiBelt and race number rolled up under my top during the swim. After I untangled my arm & removed the cap, I started unrolling my race number, turned up the shoot, up the stairs and ran past the first transition entrance. Someone (or two) yelled something and I said “I’m Olympic Distance”… thinking they were directing me into the wrong transition. The fast sprint people were already exiting the water and the Intermediate & Sprint transition areas were divided. Finally he caught me and pointed out that I had passed my transition area and was going into the Sprint one. Ugh. Back to my area, ran to my bike at row 22 and threw my stuff down. I just lost the time I tried to save wearing the race number in the swim. I put my glasses, wristband, BodyBugg, headband & helmet on. Slipped my bike shoes on w/o socks and grabbed my bike. Running to transition I turned the bike computer on, said hi to Becky and Bike Out, hit the button on my Garmin and got on my bike.
Beginning of the Bike
(by Kristen Carey)
Bike: (01:37:29 @ 15.29/hr, 24.85 miles) I glanced at my Garmin and realized it was in T1 mode. Arg! What happened? I guess I pushed Stop on the swim out vs. Lap. It will mess my overall time up, but I cycled through until I was at the Bike leg. I looked down at my bike computer and it was in cadence mode. WHAT? There are 2 menus on the computer, the 2nd one I never enter, don’t use, and apparently don’t know how to exit out of. In a fuzzy moment of panic I rotated through the entire set of options in menu 2, about five times! Panic set in as I realized I wouldn’t know how fast I was going or how far. I turned the entire computer off and tried to restart it. I’m making the U-turn onto the S. 1st Street bridge, decided to clip in and focus on biking. I twiddled with this until I was turning from Caesar Chavez onto S. Congress. AHHH… speed/distance… now I can relax and ride. Got into aero position and needed to get some speed to make up for the distracted time, and the long climb to Mary.
The rolling climb up South Congress (into the wind) seemed a lot harder than I remembered (or than it looked). It was VERY crowded and there were super slow people, medium slow people pass them, me, fast young boys passing me, then the REALLY fast people w/ race wheels passing them. Of course, no one is communicating and it’s a mess of 3-5 deep and wide. I felt bad passing people when someone was passing me, but I wasn’t going to be the only one following the rules… on a hill! Once I get to the turn around… it’s downhill. REALLY downhill. That’s when I get to pass everyone! I can pedal up to 30mph, then just tuck, hold on and coast as long as I can. The wind was at my back so speed got to ~33mph. I like to look, but also know I have to keep my eye on the road since wiping out that fast wouldn’t be pretty…
The ride was good and I love the course. I remember things from last year, like where I dropped my ShotBlocks and didn’t have back-up nutrition (then seeing it squished all over the road on lap 2.) This year I had Infinite in my Camelback so had some nutrition in that, and I had a few Sports Beans. Mentally it helped to know the course and be prepared for the steep hill going up the access ramp at MoPac just past Austin High. I was able to make it up each of the 3 times, and pass people as I went.
On the 2nd lap, going up the ramp, someone said: “And now the sun comes out for our run.” I was thinking about the fact that I had one more lap to do! Although I feel like I people all around me, and would have awesome bike photos, I didn’t see a photographer on the bike course at all. Boo. By the 3rd lap people were chatty and it was fun… also knowing it was my last lap, and I was almost 2/3 of the way done. I mentally calculated that I beat my goal time on my bike and I think I did on my swim as well. Could I hold on to that for the sizzling run?
T2: (03:01, rank 17 of 43!) I slipped my feet out of my shoes and zipped to the dismount line. I am not quite sure why people stop SO early and fiddle around. Ran into transition, hit Lap on my watch w/ my chin, (saw Becky cheering again) and to my rack. Didn’t need much for the run that wasn’t packed up already. I did sit down and put socks on since I was having blister issues and confirmed the moleskin + waterproof tape was still holding strong. Switched helmet for visor & switched to the 2L purple Camelback and was off. Or course the area was full of hot guys in tri suits that were already finished with the race and had big smiles on their faces. Everyone was super encouraging and wished me well. (I know in their minds they were thinking about the temps that were reaching 100 degrees and SO GLAD they were not starting out on a 6 mile run!) Jody pointed the direction for the run and I was off.
1 Mile to Go!
(by Kristen Carey)
Run: (1:24:34 @ 13.37/m/mi, 6.21mi) I hit the lap button on my Garmin and realized I had a good T2 time. As I was heading west on the trail I kept passing people that seemed pretty fit. I felt good, legs didn’t feel like bricks. (Should I have riden harder or did the spinning at the end really work?) As I looped around, had a Gu and focused REALLY hard on not looking at how far I had gone, I realized that some of the super-tired-looking people were starting their 2nd lap. Ugh… that’s why I was passing them! When I finally checked the watch I had gone .33 miles. My goal is to make it past the .25m mark before I check to see how far I had gone. Usually, after .5 miles I can get into my “stride” – if you are generous enough to call it that. I had some mental barriers on the course b/c I remember how sick I felt last year and what I was thinking on each segment during the first mile. (I ended up only running 2 miles of the course last year, even though it tracked me and shows that I finished the race.) There was a band at Riverside just before the bridge at Lee Barton and they were pretty good. It was a nice touch. This is where I saw Heather, Mudge & gang last year. (Odd that I remember that!) Turned up Lee Barton and to my joy, there was a lady there with a big bin of ice. I took two handfuls and put one down the back of my jersey. What a nice idea. The turn around at Jack & Adams had sports drink & water, but I had my Camelback so I kept going, took off my sunglasses, and ran through the sprinklers. (I learned last year that it’s hard to clean your glasses w/ a sweaty technical shirt, so I had a spotty view the rest of the race.)
1st Loop w/ Lauren
I saw Lauren from the Wednesday TriZones group by her purple hair! We started chatting and she was having problems w/ her foot so was going very slow. She started running w/ me and we chatted then entire lap. It made things go so quickly and my pace picked up a lot. She was going 1/min mile slower than usual and I was going 2/min mile faster than normal. I justified it b/c it was her 2nd lap, and I could slow down after she left. I actually thought as soon as we got to the bridge she’d take off. It was the first time I’ve ever had a running buddy. That was such a treat (for both of us!). Kristen got a few good photos of both of us, and amazingly, I finally saw an official photographer. As we got close to the chute I let her move ahead and run on in. Although it was freakin’ hot, and everyone was commenting on that, I felt good on my second loop. I got my sports beans out and made my way through the trail. Hydration was good although I could tell I was sweating a lot.
I had officially made it past the halfway point and I was “almost over.” The band was now packing up, and one of the ice ladies was walking down Lee Barton. I was so happy to see her again. (I thought they would be out of ice and long gone.) I got my fill and kept running. At the top of the hill was Ice Lady #2. I must have been the most excited person to see her b/c she said she was waiting for me! As I made the u-turn, took a water to pour over my head, removed glasses, sprinkler, took a water to pour over my head, and Ice Lady #2 crossed to my side of the road and gave me more. (I LOVE THIS LADY!) Filled up as much as I could carry, eat, put on my head, down the front and back of my jersey, etc. {It was H O T and I was still running my 5K pace!} As I was weaving through the Parmer grassy area, the HS girls were still there doing cheers. I thanked them… it had been a long, long day for them! I gobbled up every bit of shade I could find, and actually put some sunscreen that was in my Camelback on my shoulders and face as I ran. As I ran east down Riverside I was surprised I didn’t see any TriZone people, and then was my girl Kristen taking photos… flashed my peace sign at her and was so happy! She makes me smile and I know she’s such a great photographer! (See photos in slideshow below.) I need to start waving with my hand vs. nodding, and remember not to shout at her, b/c there are always photos of my mouth open or my head pointed up. At this point, I knew I had at lease one frameable race photo, and I only had 1 more mile to go. Up the hill, around the cone, down the hill… I had to encourage the folks still going up who looked even more tired than I was… I was grinning ear to ear.
Happy w/ my pace…
As I was going down the S. 1st Bridge I knew I was killing my estimated time and pace, and I was calculating that I could actually finish under 4 hours. (My “based-on-my-past-Tri-times” goal was 4:18 and my “based-on-my-best-times goal was 4:10). At that point I had forgotten I skipped my T1 time in the Garmin calculations. People were streaming out of the race area w/ bikes, chairs, and families in tow. At least 50 people yelled out encouraging things. (I have found if you’re smiling, people tend to engage and say nice stuff to you!) Half of them said – It’s Hot! I’m thinking, yeah – and I’m not even finished yet, and you’ve already had beer! I saw all the TriZoners and took my now empty Camelback off and handed it to Heather so I could run (and have photos) without it. I passed a cute gal w/ a professional tri outfit (and her name on the back!) She did a double-take, and decided she really DID have one more gear as we hit the finishline carpet. There was no way I could keep up with her, but it was nice to look like I was at the finishline w/ a real athlete! Annette was there at the corner cheering. The announcer called my number but not my name, and said I was with Tough Cookies. Huh? They’re pink… I’m in Red! I think Lauren helped pace me for the first 5K. Poor guy has been at it since 5am and it was almost 11am… and there were still lots of people on the course. Stopped my Garmin and it said I was 11 min faster then my last 10K time and ~2/min/mile faster. I was just about double my fastest 5K time! (I think Lauren helped pace me for the first 5K.) I crossed the finish line exhausted, got my medal, my wet towel, & water bottle… Tried to catch my breathe and politely told the young guy removing the timing chip that I was not going to bend over and get it off. There were Perfect Fit cookies on a table and I grabbed 3. They had a lot left and most of the 1691 people had finished, I justified. Official photographer got my finisher photo.
TriZones tent after race
Post-Race: Most of my friends were mingling around, having post-race food and checking results. They have computers set up and printers to print race results… That’s cool. They are 20 minutes behind, so I’ll come back in a bit and get mine. Went to the TriZones tent and had a protein shot & a Justin’s Honey Peanut Butter packet. I had lots of snacks, but nothing sounded very good. Since I had a massage schedule at 2pm, I wanted to make sure I could get my stuff packed up in time to get there. Debriefed with everyone. Elle & Jenny had great races. Listened to the “fast girls” talk about their races. They’re cooled off, relaxed and enjoying the shade.
I walked over to get my race results w/ my Tribag and cooler, headed to transition. When they printed it out, itsaid 3rd place (out of 3) in my Age Group 45-49 in the Athena (150#+) Division. I said: “What does this mean?” He said, “You came in 3rd, you better run over to the awards ceremony.” I went back to the tent, dropped everything and headed over to watch all of the awards, of which there is always someone from my team on the podium. Nancy & Roy were going to take my photo and people were really happy for me… and I was still kind of in shock. How fun! They waited until the very end of the women’s & men’s awards before they did Athena. I was ready to go and they called out Jennifer instead of JoAnne. I walked up and showed them my piece of paper and they said that it was unofficial results. I was pretty sad, but figured it updated and I now was 4th of 4? I told everyone I wasn’t on the official list. 😦
I packed my stuff up, actually more sad thinking I got something and NOT, than not placing at all, since that is so outside of my expectations. I went and printed another copy of my results, it still said 3rd. I was sure no one else had come in, so I went BACK to the awards ceremony and asked to look at the results of the Athena category.
Finished my First Olympic!
Lesson learned: All of the Athena age groups are combined together and there are only 3 awards out of 46 people. The 3 finishers were all just over 3 hours, and w/in a few minutes of each other. Alrighty-then. Get the HELL out of the Athena category. I won’t even get started on that rant. 🙂 I loaded all of my stuff in my Tri backpack and put the cooler on my aerobars and road over to my car. I was short on time now b/c of the awards ceremony. Rushed to 24 Hour Fitness to shower so that I wouldn’t gross out Keith at Massage Envy. Great sports massage to stretch out.
What I Learned: To Be Continued…
synergizesuccess :: συνεργός + επιτυχία 