Triathlon Grandma: 200 Pound Journey to World Championship!: November 2015

DRAFT

November 7, 2015
Lake Louisa State Park
Clermont, Florida

RESULTS

2 / 7 (age group)

53 / 78 (female) = Top 68%

Finish Time: 1:32.59

1.14 x the first place finisher's time (1:21:49)

Weather:
HOT !!!!! 88^oF, 70% humidity, 5 mph winds

TAPER WEEK

Brian and I arrived in Clermont on Tuesday so we wouldn’t have two hectic days of driving immediately prior to the race. That gave me a chance to train on the course. We were surprised that Clermont has many rolling hills (about 3% grades). On Tuesday, I was supposed to do a brief swim. When we got to Lake Louisa (3,500 acres), it was totally deserted. No laughing kids playing on the beach, no swimmers, no boats, no lifeguards. No one but the alligators hiding in the grass that was poking out of the water about 25 meters from shore!

As I had been warned, the water had the appearance of coca cola – clean and clear, but the color of Coke – which made it even harder to see the alligators hiding in the water!

I was heartbroken that I was too scared of the alligators to do the swim. I went into the bathroom and when I came out there was a boat on the beach! I asked the couple in the boat about alligators and was told, yes . . . there were alligators in the lake but they would leave me alone. I was not convinced. Then the man surprised me by offering to stand in the water out by the grass while I did my short workout. It crossed my mind that I had no idea what I would do if the alligators attacked him while I was swimming. But it gave me comfort to know that I would not be swimming alone with the alligators.

Photo: My rescuer (Greg), me, and Sue

Normally, I hate to put people out, but I really needed to do that swim workout and I knew I wouldn’t have the courage to go in a deserted lake with alligators all by myself. I accepted his offer and he patiently waited while I put on my wetsuit and did a quick warm-up on the beach. Then he stood 25 meters from shore out by the grass while I swam intervals in the lake. I was and still am so appreciative of his kindness and his generous gift of time.

On Wednesday, I practiced racing through transition and the 180 degree turn-around (more about that in the bike section). I was pleased that I could get through the curves in transition at 20 mph and loved taking the curves as fast as I could safely go.

On Thursday, I did all three events (which left me feeling a frazzled since getting all the gear together for all three events and then going through them takes so much time and energy).

On Friday, my coach (who was doing the men’s age group race and had arrived on Thursday evening) and I did a quick bike and run workout. I spent time talking to people which probably resulted in too much sun for the day prior to the race. We stopped to pick up carry-out dinner for my coach (I always bring my food) and got back to the hotel way later than we should have because the restaurant messed up our order. Note to self: Need to be in hotel room eating dinner at 5:00 pm on the day prior to the race.

RACE DAY MORNING:

There were three races on the day of my race. The collegiate girls raced at 9:00. My race was at 11:00. The mens’ age group race was at 2:00. Because the bike course was on the main drive into the park, we had to be in and parked prior to 9:00, but we couldn’t set up in transition until 10:15. We were only allowed 35 minutes in transition to set up. My coach suggested that I put just the things that I would leave in transition in a separate bag and take that into transition at 10:15. Good idea.

I didn’t write my morning schedule until the day before the race and was still making adjustments the night before and even the morning of the race. This last-minute scheduling 1) got me to bed a little later than planned, 2) left me feeling a bit out of control and panicky, 3) resulted in me mistakenly leaving out time to go to the bathroom, and 4) resulted in me not knowing what my coach wanted me to do for the warm-up. Not the calm confidence that I want to feel on race morning. Note to self: Need to dissect my coach’s race plan and put it into my words 1-2 weeks prior to the race.

Florida was forecasted to have near-record highs on race day. When we drove into the park at 8:15 am, it was 76% degrees with 93% humidity. It felt like a steam bath. I went to the swim start to view the buoys (tiny) and then walked through transition, noting where my bike was racked and a landmark for finding it. I noticed several other women with 60 tatooed on the back of their left calf. They all looked really young and really, really, really athletic. Most had on USA triathlon uniforms. It was a little intimidating. Then we went back to the car and got everything ready to move to transition while sitting in the air-conditioning. At 9:45, we moved everything to a blanket that we placed in the shade closer to transition with chairs and I did a run warm-up.

Transition opened at 10:15. Because the race was a qualifier for Worlds, they were going by many Worlds (ITU) rules. We were not allowed to put towels on the ground because they didn’t want us to have anything that would mark our space. We had to rack our bikes by the handle bars at the start, but could re-rack during T2 by the seat or the handlebars. Another difference was that we had to wear our bib during the bike. I decided to hang my bike helmet on one of my brake levers by one of the helmet straps. My bib and glasses when in the helmet. That left just two pairs of shoes and a my race water bottle on the ground.

Next we had to wait in line on black asphalt in the sun for our timing chips and it was hotter than blazes. I was totally melted before I even got my timing chip on my leg – and was drinking water bottle after water bottle to stay hydrated.

I was following the race-morning schedule that I had with me on paper and Brian was monitoring. At 10:45, I realized that I had left out time to go to the bathroom. The pre-race briefing started at 10:50.

I ran to the bathroom with my timing chip in hand. Luckily, the bathroom was at the beach. As I rushed down the boardwalk that spanned the marsh, I juggled my timing chip and almost lost into the green gook that covered the marsh. Phew! I held it in a death grip after that.

Confusion at the Swim Start: As I came out of the bathroom, they were starting the briefing which was horribly confusing. Earlier in the day, they had changed the direction of the swim for the collegiate race, and suddenly it was switched back. Everyone thought the official had misspoken and a raucous broke out. The official was quite short with everyone, stating that she didn’t have time to explain. What! Everyone is confused and you don’t have time to explain!?! They had also added a buoy at the start to keep swimmers out of the weeds. The official said that we had to swim through the buoys nearest the shore on the way out, but didn’t mention the way back. When I asked the question, the official said, “I already explained that.” But everyone around me agreed that she had not. And then we got a very confusing answer about keeping all the buoys on your left. But when you swim through buoys, one has to be on your right. Someone tried to clarify by asking if on the way back, you swam between the buoy and the grass. Then I tried to clarify, “So at the finish, there will be two orange buoys on your left, correct?” We were still confused when the briefing ended. Later, after the briefing when some people were perhaps not present, the official announced that on the way back we should swim between the buoy and the grass, but I wasn’t sure that everyone heard her. I later learned that one poor woman was DQ-ed because she swam on the wrong side of the buoys.

My plan was to do my swim warm-up during the 15 minutes between Wave A and Wave B. Someone had specifically asked if that would be possible during the briefing the day before and got a yes answer. But the official at the swim start would not let us get into the water after Wave A. When I explained that someone had asked that question during the briefing the day before, the official told me that she didn’t hear that question. She asked me, “Why didn’t you warm up prior to Wave A?” I told her, “Because I was told that I could warm up after Wave A.” She would not let me get in the water.

About that time, my coach arrived. He gave me his water bottle and told me to squirt it under my cap. That not only cooled my body, it calmed my nerves. Kind of.

I did not feel my normal pre-race calm. Immediately prior to a race, I like to go within myself and have a few minutes of mental solitude among all the craziness around me. I think that had to do with the last-minute development of my morning race schedule. I just did not feel centered. I did take a few seconds to look out across the water, but it was not with the normal calmness and resolve that I normally feel at the race start. I felt chaotic.

SWIM (non-wetsuit)

Looking a little unsettled! Trying to get into game mode.

Garmin Data:

Swim data was posted by the race organizer but then removed from their website.

2^nd in AG

2:21 / 100 m – Garmin (for the portion where there was cadence)

2:26 / 100 m – Official

Ave Cadence = 31

Start:

The 78 women were split into two waves. The first wave had 53 women from ages 15-49. The second wave had 25 women from ages 51 to 77. I’m sure that the uneven split was done to 1) put more of the younger and presumably faster women together so they could draft and 2) create a safer environment for the older women. But, I really would rather have been with the younger women for drafting purposes on the bike. After much confusion and conflicting instructions about the direction of our swim and which side of the start / finish buoys we were to swim, we lined up in the sand and the horn sounded.

Per my coach’s instructions, I lined up a little to the right of middle in the front. When the horn sounded, I took off but being a slower runner, several women were in front of me when we got to the water. But in the water, I made up the distance by high-kneeing and kicking my heels to the sides. Then I dolphin-dived and caught almost all of the women who had passed me on the run into the water.

The swim quickly spread out, probably due to some of the women entering slowly while others charged in. My instructions were to go out hard for the first 25-50 meters so I did with what seemed like a quick stroke and a big kick. My coach also wanted me to look for a draft ASAP so instead of sighting on the buoy, I looked for green caps. I found one swimmer who was about 10 feet in front of me and tried to reach her but was struggling to do so. Then I realized that I had swum quite a distance without sighting the first buoy. When found the buoy, I realized the woman I was following was swimming off course so I just started heading toward the buoy.

Main Swim: After the morning heat, the run down the beach, the quick start and trying to catch a draft, I was pretty tired. I settled into a strong stroke but I sensed that my cadence was not quite as quick as normal. There were a lot of women in front of me which kind of freaked me out. I just tried to keep a strong stroke.

At this point in the race, I always start thinking about form (head down, pull to hip), but I noted that I wasn’t focusing for some reason. I was just trying to keep my stroke strong. I also noted that my tri shorts were too loose and I could feel the drag as the water went down the back of my shorts. This was the first race I did all season without a wetsuit. I should have checked to make sure my tri suit still worked in the water without a wet suit - especially since I am 35 pounds lighter than I was at the end of the 2014 season.

I caught the woman in front of me right after we passed the second buoy. I was pleased to get a good draft this time and was swimming in her bubbles. I sensed that the effort was a little easier. But more than that, it was just fun to swim through a bunch of tiny little bubbles! LOL! I followed her for about 100 meters but then she was swimming off course too so I left her.

Exit: Per my plan, I swam as far up the beach as I could before standing in water that was less than knee deep. I ran up the boardwalk with no one in front of me. When I turned the corner, I looked back. There was no one running behind me. I would not be starting the bike in a group as my coach had hoped.

Data Not Provided by Race Organizer

T1 was a 0.2 mile run on a wood boardwalk (with nail heads sticking up) and concrete. I think I ran pretty fast but fast in normal weather and fast in heat are two different things. I passed no one. No one passed me. I was pretty much alone. When I got to the bike racks, it looked like all of the bikes in my age group were still there. Good. No problem with transition. As I was running out, another person in my age group arrived at her bike.

Bike

Data Not Provided by Race Organizer

Garmin Data:

Lap Splits by COURSE LAPS

	HEART RATE		SPEED		WATTS		CADENCE
	TARGET	ACTUAL	TARGET	ACTUAL	TARGET	ACTUAL	TARGET	ACTUAL
Lap 1	140	144	20-21	20.1	185	167	92	91
Lap 2 (in pack)	140	146	20-21	21.7	185	167	92	92
Lap 3	140	146	20-21	19.5	185	163	92	92
Lap 4	140	142	20-21	19.0	185	150	92	94

Lap Splits by HALF MILES

My heart rate was 144 when I got on the bike, but I didn’t know it at that point.

Bike Course: The bike course consisted of 4 laps including racing through transition. There was a row of cones down the middle of transition. People running in and out of transition were on one side while speeding bikers were on the other. It sounded horribly dangerous on paper but it worked rather well.

Mount: I ran with my bike shoes on my feet to the other end of transition, ran well past the mount line and got on the bike. The next challenge was to merge with bike traffic. The officials were doing a GREAT job of yelling and blowing a whistle when bikes were coming through transition so I knew it was safe to enter the bike lane. The route out of the transition area was a series of short S turns. After I had ridden around one or two curves and was getting up to speed, someone passed me and I heard my coach yell, “Catch her!!!” He sounded excited which excited me!

Lap 1: My mission for the first lap was to catch the person that my coach told me to catch. I was closing the space between us but ever so slowly. I wondered if my watts and/or heart rate were above the limits that my coach had set but when I went to check, my bike computer had somehow gotten on a weird screen and I had to try to adjust the screens while pedaling my legs off to catch that woman. When I finally got the right screen, there were no readings for watts or heart rate!! Shoot. I turned the computer off and on. Still no readings. Luckily, I did have a speed reading and was going just over 20 mph which is where we thought I’d be so I continued to push. Shortly after the turnaround, I remembered that I could see watts on my Garmin watch. I checked and did see both HR and watts displayed. Watts were high, but not too high.

End of Lap 1: Toward the end of my first lap, a well-established group of eight 40-year-olds from the first wave passed me and I caught them. Bingo! Just like my coach told me to do. I loved it! The women were working as a team and communicating well. Women pointed out slow riders that we were passing or when they were changing positions in the group. However, they sometimes weren’t rotating in a way that made sense. Sometimes, the lead rider slid out to the left and then slowed like I expected while we passed on the right. But other times, the lead rider would yell and then slow down without sliding over to the left. That forced someone to pass the leader on the leader’s left to take the lead. No sudden moves were made, though, and it felt safe.

I just followed the bike in front of me for the most part, but at one point, I found myself on the left slightly ahead of the fourth bike. She had allowed a 3-4 foot gap between her and the third bike. I yelled, “COMING IN,” and slowly moved to the right. I was the fourth bike! Not the third position where my coach wanted me to be, but close enough.

We were going around 22 mph and for the most part, it was easy. I had to stop pedaling several times to keep from running into the person in front of me. But it wasn’t always easy. At strange times, the leaders would speed up and I’d have to pedal pretty hard to keep up. But I knew I had to or I’d get spit out the back. At some point, my bike computer started showing HR and watts again (go figure). My HR was too high. My cap was 140 and I was showing 144-147. But it felt manageable for the entire race and I hoped that the speed in the pack was worth it. I just couldn’t imagine dropping out of that pack.

It was really, really cool coming into transition for the first time with that pack. I heard the PA announcer say that a big group of well-organized riders were coming into transition and that we were all working really well together. The group slowed just a little and we all put more space between each other’s wheels and got into single file. Like my coach said, it just happened naturally. We whizzed around the first three S curves and as we entered the straight through transition, we accelerated (I stood). The we took the second set of four S curves.

I knew my coach was standing in the middle of the second set of S curves and I couldn’t wait for him to see that I was fourth in a pack of eight. He had worked so hard to teach me what to do in a pack and answered all of my million questions about every possible scenario that I could think of. The time and effort that he invested not only helped me know what to do, but just as important, gave me the courage to execute what he taught me during the race. As I passed him, I heard him yell in a voice that sounded excited, “Good job Sue. Right there, Sue! Stay right there!! Good work!!!” I don’t think I have ever been happier or prouder. I wanted to yell back, “It’s working, Coach! You’re a genious!”

Lap 2: As we started my second lap, I heard several of the women yell, “Last lap!” and realized that I was riding with a pack from the first wave. Shoot. If we had all started the swim together instead of in two waves, I could have possibly ridden with them for all four laps instead of just one and a half. Oh well.

The second lap was a blast. I made it my goal to stay 2 inches behind and 2 inches to the left of the bike in front of me. It was easy to do when we were on a straighter part of the road. I stuck to that tire like glue. But in the turns, I back up a little (maybe two feet). Just not quite brave enough to go around a sharp turn at 2 inches.

I did note that when coming out of the turns, I had to accelerate to keep up with the group. I think I only stood coming out of the first set of S turns in transition and at the 180 degree turn-around. The other times, I just hammered my quads.

I worried that I’d not be able to keep up when the group rode up the hill before the turnaround, but they actually rode slower than I would have ridden. The turnaround was no problem. As my coach said would happen, we all just somehow got into a single file line and took a fast but safe turn around the cone. There was a lot of comradery. It was like we were all best friends wanting to help each other. I found myself shouting back warnings that the lead rider gave and pointing out things we needed to be cautious of (mainly slower bikers). It was just super, super cool.

My coach instructed me not to lead. I hoped that they all saw the 60 on the back of my calf and were tolerant of me not leading. However, if I had been them, that 60 would not have made a bit of difference. If someone is going to benefit from the pack, they need to contribute to the pack, regardless of their age. Toward the end of the lap, I was considering taking a 30” pull (limit set by my coach) but suddenly, the two riders in front started taking off their shoes and slowing down. I wouldn’t have minded taking a short turn, but I had not really practiced that scenario. I knew what to do (pull to the left and slow down), but wasn’t confident about my ability to communicate my intentions.

As I finished lap 2, the women in the pack started taking off their shoes. As I pulled to the left and passed the two in front of me (I was third at that point), I yelled, “Good luck!” and sped through transition.

Laps 3 and 4: I didn’t find anyone else to draft with during the last two laps. I passed a bunch of people but they were going way to slow. One person I passed yelled, “I’m on your back wheel” as I rode past. But I was going too fast for her to keep up.

Without all the people around me, I had more time to look at my watts and HR. My watts were low – 160 (185 target). But my HR was too high – 148 (140 cap). Yikes! I tried to slow a little and way able to bring my HR to 145. I decided to just keep up that effort – and hoped that I wasn’t sacrificing my run. I also really worked to get fluids in. I drank much more than normal (about 12 ounces), but probably not enough. The volunteers at the turn-around were yelling to everyone to hydrate. I also totally forgot to eat my Shot Bloks!

Dismount:

As I approached the place where I planned to take off my shoes, there was a somewhat fast bike in front of me. I decided that I wanted to be in front of her when we dismounted so I could do a flying dismount without having to worry about where she was, so I sped up and passed her. I yelled “Passing Left” as I approached. She yelled back, “You got it.”

I took off my shoes where we planned. Or at least I tried to. My right foot came out fine. But, my timing strap had become attached to the Velcro on my left shoe. When I tried to take my foot out of my shoe, I found that my ankle was tethering my bike! Here’s a picture of me trying to un-teather myself! The bike behind me probably wondered what the heck I was doing as I pulled my left leg away from my bike and started shaking it! Luckily, I got untethered, but I was trailing a six-inch section of timing strap from my ankle, and I was afraid the entire thing was going to come off! I raced around the curves to the dismount line and hit the ground running.

Unfortunately, the race results do not show any bike times so I’m not able to compare my bike time to the other women. That would have been interesting.

All in all, I have to say that this bike was one of the most fun things I’ve ever done in my life.

Data Not Provided by Race Organizer

In T2, I quickly racked my bike, took off my helmet and googles, and changed shoes. Then I tried to quickly figure out what was going on with my timing strap. It seemed that it was still attached securely, but the extra strap that was underneath the attached part of the strap had just unwoven. I stuffed it under the attached strap and took off. I hoped I wouldn’t be tripping on a timing chip strap during the run.

Run

Data Not Provided by Race Organizer

	HEART RATE		PACE
	TARGET	ACTUAL	TARGET	ACTUAL
1:00		149	9:45	10:27
3:00	155	149	9:20 *	10:29
5:00	155	150	9:20 *	10:32
Top of hill	155	158	9:20 *	10:48
2.5 miles	155	160	9:20 *	10:25
Last ½ Mile Delayed to last 1/3 mi	n/a	163 (ave)	Sub 9:00	9:35
Finish	155	168	Sub 9:00	9:06

* or better with a 155 HR

When I started the run, the temperature was 88 degrees with 70%-ish humidity and virtually no wind. It was HOT. As we came out of transition, we approached a water station. I dumped a glass of water over my head, and then reached for another but the volunteer couldn’t get it in my hand. As I past, he dumped it on my head. I can’t express how grateful I was for that extra glass of cool water over my head! Thank you volunteer!!!

My HR at the start of the run was 149. I was supposed to run 9:45 for the first minute and then build my HR to 155 (bottom of z5) within the first 3-5 minutes which my coach thought would give me a 9:20 pace or better.

I wasn’t getting to 9:45 in the first minute. I’m not sure if that was because of the heat or the bike or both. It just wasn’t happening. So, my goal was to just to keep my cadence consistent and hope that I got a second wind after the first 3-5 minutes like I often do. The second wind didn’t come – so I just tried to keep my feet moving and hoped that the second wind would come later.

At three minutes and five minutes, I tried to push my HR to 155, but I didn’t feel like I could sustain that effort for 3 miles so I settled on a 150 HR. I don’t know if that was a smart decision or a wimpy decision. I kept remembering my coach saying, “You got this!” when I ran out of transition and I hoped that meant that I just had to survive the run to make it to Worlds.

I started getting the sharp pain that comes under my lower ribs, only this time, it was on both sides. I wondered if it was because I had drunk so much water. I continued to just work on keeping my cadence consistent. Somewhere along the way, I burped (ha) and then it didn’t hurt so much.

Although my pace stayed the same, my HR drifted to 155 by the half way point and continued to climb to the end of the race.

No one passed me the entire run. I started checking the left calves of everyone going the other way and didn’t see any 60’s. That was good.

As I approached the 3% grade hill prior to the turnaround, I was grateful that I had run lots of hill repeats while preparing for the Muncie Olympic Triathlon in 2014. I shortened my stride length and kept running. As I approached the hill, I I noted several women walking down the hill going the other way.

At the turn around, I yelled ahead, “Two waters!!” The volunteers rushed to get a second water ready for me and I was able to get them both and pour them over my head. The coolness of that was absolutely wonderful. Thank you volunteers!

Once I was around the turnaround, I passed a woman going the other way who had a 60 on her calf. Darn. She was maybe 200 meters behind me. I was going downhill and sped up a little, but that seemed to send my HR too close to 160 which to me said “danger” since I was only at the half-way point. I slowed down and hoped that the woman behind me was also struggling or maybe walking. I was only going 10:15-ish. There was a good chance should would catch me.

I was supposed to increase my HR and pace at 2.5 miles. I told myself that it would be the same as doing an 800 on the track when I was already exhausted from all of the previous intervals. I was mentally ready to hit the last half mile. But at 2.5 miles, the slope was uphill. I decided to wait until the top of the hill at 2.8 miles before trying to accelerate.

At the top of the hill, I increased my speed to around 9:30. I could hear the music at the finish line. What a sweet sound. I glanced around my shoulder to see if that woman with 60 on her calf was catching me. Someone saw me do that and yelled, “No one’s behind you. Finish strong!” Even though I did not see that woman behind me and was told that there was no one behind me, I wanted to run the end of the race as though she was there – just in case. I ran as fast as I could. Then I could see the finish line. Then I could hear my coach yelling, “Suuuuuuue!” I “sprinted” the last 100 meters and crossed the finish line at 8:54.

Finish Line

Post Finish Line: Once again, I wanted to collapse at the finish line. I bent over but knew that I had to keep walking or the volunteers would be all over me. Even so, a person ran up and asked if I needed a medic. I shook my head. Then my coach was there with a steady hand on my arm. They asked him if I needed a medic and he said something like, “No, she just gives it everything she has,” or something like that. Felt kind of proud at that moment. Pooped but proud. I found a chair and sat. Brian arrived with ice and we stuffed it everywhere – in my bra, down the back of my shorts. Then Brian started rubbing ice all over my arms which felt wonderful.

My coach said he thought I was second. Cool. I asked him if I had made the time cut for Worlds and he told me not to worry about that now. How could I not worry about that now? That was the entire reason I was in Florida. I asked him what the first place finisher’s time was and then did the math to determine if my finish time were within 30% of the first place finisher’s time. I didn’t think I made it. I wanted to cry but quickly came to terms with not qualifying. I knew I had done my best. I had no regrets. It was what was. What I wanted to do at that point was cheer for my coach whose race would start in a few minutes.

Post Race

I made it !!! Team USA !!! Cozumel !!!

When we were waiting for my coach’s race to begin, I ran into Carol Hassel, the amazing woman who finished first at Worlds this year. She told me that the results were up and that I was second and had qualified for Worlds! I couldn’t believe it. She told me her finish time and my finish time. I quickly did the math. I MADE IT!!! I was so excited that I started jumping up and down – and then ran to find the posted results so I could see for myself.

When I saw the posted results, I saw that Carol was right. I couldn’t believe it. I asked another woman to confirm what I was seeing. She did. Simply amazing! As I walked away, I threw my arms up in the air in victory and then started crying.

I did it!

AWARDS CEREMONY

The awards ceremony was fun! I met another one of my triathlon heros, Laurita Samuals, while we waited to receive our awards. She had finished third. It seemed so surreal to be waiting to climb the podium with her after following her races for the past two years. As I walked to the podium, I was surprised to find myself raising my forearms and shaking two fists. Yes!

Second Place! Super coach! Love to raise my bike!

Triathlon Grandma: 200 Pound Journey to World Championship!

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Saturday, November 7, 2015

USAT Draft-Legal Sprint Triathlon World Qualifier

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