The Mighty Wolf ...Grrrr!

Last weekend I raced the Mighty Wolf Tri in Winneconne, WI. I think it was the most low-key race I have ever done. There were no timing chips, you just racked your bike anywhere you wanted, and there were only 250ish athletes. It was great! It was nice to have a low-key race, although kind of weird. I kept looking in my race packet for my timing chip and swim cap because I thought I was missing something!

SWIM: I started off in wave 5 with coach Mike Pierson. He had better reflexes than me, so beat me off the start and into the water. No worries though, as I soon passed him. Coming around the back side of the swim course, I got caught up in a bit of traffic and took a hand or foot to the face (ouch!), but otherwise was ok. Came out of the water ahead of Mike...only to get smoked in T1!

BIKE: I decided not to look at my power meter for this race other than for cadence. I was not super impressed with my bike split at KS, so I wanted to try to up the cadence and see if that made a difference. My average cadence ended up where I wanted it to be, 91, but my time/pace was still a bit slower than I'd like. Despite this, only 3 guys passed me on the bike and no girls. I did, for the first time, manage to get my feet out of my shoes prior to coming into T2. It worked realitively well, although I will need to continue to practice to make it faster. I'm just psyched that I didn't crash while doing it!

RUN: I made it out of T2 only to realize that I forgot my race belt and number. This was not good because the race number was how they got your time and place at the end of the race. I decided to keep going anyway and face the consequences if needed. We ran on grass for about 1/4-1/2 mile and then hit the road. The grass was a bit wet (although not too bad) because of all the rain we got last week. I was glad when I got to the road because I felt as though I could pick up the pace a bit without worrying about footing. Only 1 guy passed me on the run at the very end (mostly because of footing on the grass on the way back), and he had tried to make a move the entire run, but ended up hanging just behind me until the very end. I have no idea how fast I ran because my watch battery was dying and my watch just kept asking me if I'd like it to run in English or Deutsch...oh well. I was fortunate that they were forgiving and held my finishing spot on the tags while I went back to transition to get my race number after I crossed the finish line.

All in all, it was a fun race. I was happy with the OA win and new course record. It was great to meet and see everyone from Your Training Zone team!

Things I'd like to improve/work on:
1. Transition time--ugh
2. Biking harder--I need to be less cerebral and just put the pedal to the metal and bike 'till I puke.
3. Staying out of traffic on the swim or just being meaner and swimming over people :)

Kansas 70.3

My uncle Ed lives near the course, so my plan was to visit with him as well as do the race. In the end, my family and I decided to make the weekend into a small family gathering. My two aunts (Mary Lou and Nancy) from Iowa came as well as my parents. I appreciated the support as it was my first time doing a bigger race without Matt (who was called away for work).

Ed was a gracious host, and helped me prepare for the race. He drove me along the bike course in his 2010 Z06 Corvette. Vroom, Vroom. Ed's car isn't just any old Corvette; it's pretty slick: There were 12,194 Corvettes made in 2010, 518 were ZO6 Corvettes, and 231 of these were painted with the Crystal Red Metallic paint (which his car has).



Race morning, my dad and I were up bright and early at 3:30. After a small breakfast, I showed up and did the usual morning routine--pump up tires, check bike out, make sure PitStop is electrical taped to top tube, Salt Stick dispenser loaded, water bottle in holder. The weather that morning was a little questionable. Heavy storms were predicted and there was lightening when we showed up at the race site. They even condensed the waves a bit as race officials were concerned about the weather.

My swim was marginal. Upon lineup, another athlete seemed pretty determined to take front row and charge into the water once the horn sounded. I asked her what she planned on swimming and she replied 27. At the sound of that, I knew who I'd be spotting for (she did manage to swim fast and took the age group win). The wind was up so I had to battle through the waves. I finally exited in 32, an okay time for me.

Biking was hard. My legs felt tired with little pop. I wanted to push about 170-180 watts. I ended up averaging 165 watts with cadence of 85. I was little bummed that my bike time was mid 2:4X. It seems like I need to be a little more slippery (go lower) and ride a little harder.

The run ended up being strong (somewhat surprisingly, as I felt pretty tired coming off the bike). It took me about 3-4 miles to get my legs underneath me. I managed to prevent any major GI issues and plug along a fairly good clip. My pace was a bit slower than what I had wanted it to be and I had a bit of a struggle at times with motivation to push the 10-15 seconds per mile harder that I had intended to run. In the end, I crossed the finish line and was able to immediately walk over and thank my family for their wonderful support. (Little did I know that I was only 19 seconds off of 3rd place and about 2 minutes off of 2nd place--watch out for next time ladies!!!)

Overall it was a solid race for me, and I had a great time with my family! My uncle travels about 90% of the time for his job, and he actually convinced his company to fly him home from MI for the weekend so he could see me race. That was pretty awesome. The Corvette ride was pretty slick too :)

It was great to have some fellow Zoot team mates out on the course as well. Everyone from Zoot who raced got on the podium, so that was sweet.

Things to remember:
1. Bike harder with higher cadence
2. Take 2 salt tablets before bed the night before the race, 2 salt tablets with breakfast, and 6 salt tablets on the bike. This seemed to help as I did not have any leg cramping during or after the run (like I did at NOLA).
3. Take 2 ibuprofen with breakfast race morning and towards the end of the bike to prevent GI pain.
4. Need faster transitions--take feet out of shoes coming into T2
5. If air pressure isn't holding steady when pumping up tire, it's likely because the valve extender is loose. Righty tighty, Lefty losey.
6. Took 5 Gu's on the bike and washed 'em down with water.
7. Teflon socks + Zoot Ultra Kalani running shoes = super comfortable and NO BLISTERS!!