Matt and I headed out to Henderson, NV (just outside of Las Vegas) to compete in the 70.3 world championship race. We arrived in the Las Vegas airport on Friday afternoon only to find that my bike had missed the connection in Minneapolis. (Despite this, the airline was able to get it to our hotel later that night.) We picked up my registration packet and checked out the expo. The weather was warm--in the upper 90's, which was quite a bit different from WI!
Later that night, we got together for dinner with a bunch of the Zoot team. It was great to see everyone again and meet some Zooters who were unable to attend the camp last spring.
Saturday was spent putting the bike together, packing up transition bags and dropping off gear at the race site. I was able to get in the water and do a practice swim. It felt good to swim in open water without a wetsuit. The resort was beautiful and the weather was overcast, but comfortable--much cooler than the day before. That night before bed, I pre-loaded with 6 salt stick salt tablets to prepare for the warm race weather.
Race morning...
I ate the usual breakfast (2 bars, a bottle of pre-race, and took another 4 salt stick salt tablets). I checked over my gear, pumped up my tires, and went for a 10 minute warm-up run. I was a little nervous because everyone looked fast and fit.
Eventually I lined up with the other girls and we were herded along and into the water. The swim start was an open water start rather than a beach start. The waves were 5 minutes apart, so we had to tread water for a little bit. It wasn't too bad though because there were only about 115 of us and the water was around 80 degrees. There were a line of flags strug overhead signaling the starting line. About 6-8 girls drifted out in front of the flags, but I held the line waiting for the start. All of a sudden the horn went off. There was no count down! I was taken by surprise and lost some ground on the other swimmers (who were floating out in front of the flags) right away. I pretty much swam alone the entire way (which had its pros and cons) and made sure to swim straight, buoy to buoy. Without the other girls it was hard for me to really tell how I was doing. I hoped for the best. I rounded the last buoy and ran up the ramp and onto shore. The transition was fairly long (about 300 yards) so I took my time getting my speed suit off. I ran into the transition tent, grabbed my bag from the volunteer and got to work with getting ready for the bike. Then I grabbed my bike from the rack and ran it up a fairly steep incline to the road.
Once on the bike, there wasn't much of a flat stretch before we started climbing up hill. The 56 mile bike route wasn't much different as there was 5200 feet of elevation/climbing over the course of the ride. Several girls in my age group passed me within the first 10-15 miles. This irritated me, but I knew it was going to be hot, and chose to stick to my pre-determined race power so that I could still get off the bike and run well. We pretty much biked through the desert and a (state?) park area. I was beautiful, but warm. I made sure to stay hydrated, stick to my nutrition plan (gel every 30 mins & 2-3 salt tablets per hour), and remain focused. It was harder than I thought it would be. I pretty much rode the entire way alone. At Steelhead it was much easier to ride hard when I could see where the other girls were in my age-group and when I knew approximately where I was place-wise in the race. Here I was all alone and I had no idea how I was doing. I just kept plugging along.
Finally we approached town and neared T2 (T1 and T2 were in different locations). I was glad to be almost done with the bike. I took the last left turn only to discover that the dismount line for the bike was RIGHT THERE!!! I hadn't prepared well for this and had to run through T2 with my bike shoes on. A volunteer took my bike (which was very nice) so I didn't have to rack it myself. I ran to the T2 tent and got ready to run.
I ran out of T2 feeling tired. I knew my legs would eventually come around. I just needed to be patient. The run course pretty much was up and down a 2 mile long hill 3 times plus a little extra (for a grand total of 13.1 miles). Thank goodness that we started in the middle of the hill and headed down hill for the first part of the run. As expected, around the start of the 2nd loop (around mile 4), my legs decided to work better and I got a 2nd wind. I also learned at this point that I had just cracked the top 15 in the age-group and that I was catching people on the run. This was very encouraging (considering that I was 13th out of the water and around 20th coming off the bike). I ran strong for the rest of the race, but was definitely tired the last time going up the hill. The last 1.25-1.5 miles was down hill to the finish line and I was trying to push the pace and catch up as much as I could. I wanted to break the top 10 and maybe even get to top 5 in the age-group. I could start to feel goose bumps developing on my body as I ran and started to see stars. I needed the finish line to be there. I ran down the finishers chute and through the finish line.
I had the volunteers walk me to medical, just to make sure that I was ok (since I've never had this happen to me before). I was ok, but just a little dehydrated. I hung out in the medical tent for a short while and clearly observed that I was pretty well off--others were shaking uncontrolably, hooked up to IV's and 1 guy was unable to even state his name for the medical professionals! Race day temperatures were in the mid-upper 90s and it was hard to stay hydrated. I made sure to drink at every aid station.
In the end, I ended up 13th in the age-group. I felt I had a good, solid race and was pleased with my performance. It was a great warm-up for Kona!
