Pre-Race
My attitude wasn't as positive as it could have been. I wasn't feeling 100% and my stomach was quite upset. Transition set up was quick and easy and coming back to the hotel was peace of mind to put the wetsuits on and what not. Starting late was really hard for me. I'm so used to training at 7am that I think this is inevitably where the nutrition really went wrong. Pre transition I had a granola bar (what I normally have before a training day), couple bites of banana (thanks to my coach for bringing one to me last minute) and then a GU right before my start. I screwed up here big time and think I paid for it later in the day.
Swim
Did my best to get to front of the line. Started standing up a few people in from the far left of the dock like my coach told me to. Waited for the first girl to get in and then went for it. Immediately got kicked in the stomach which didn't feel great and knocked me off my game. First time I've had contact in a swim ever. Kept 'alligator' swimming until I got out of the madness. Was able to swim and take a breath every stroke for a bit then panic set in. WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME!?!?!??! I then tried to self calm and tell myself I go to Dynamo, home of some of the fastest swimmers around, I should crush this swim. I do this ALL the time. So face in I went for it. Swam a good distance then panic again. This repeated the whole swim. I eventually back-stroked for a minute or two to calm down. Finally out of the water in 31 and change...should have been sub 30. This swim was not indicative of my training.
T1
Wetsuit strippers are AWESOME!! Other than that excitement ... nothing special in T1. Took way too long. Didn't run into T1 and rather just took my time trying to recover my HR. Didn't forget anything ....bonus!
Bike
Started off pretty strong, was feeling good and averaging around 16.5-17.7 for a while...not too shabby. The hills started and I chugged through. Told myself it wasn't worth killing it but still tried to keep my mph above the normal and constant cadence on hills. Recovered decently on the flats/descents which I was happy about. There were about 4 "big" hills I struggled on but knew there was reprieve at the top. Tried to keep nutrition on track but think this is what happened--just didnt' pace my drinking and then over-indulged when I did drink. Not to mention my HR was higher than normal on the bike due to hills so I'm guessing that played a part too. As soon as I hit mile 48 I cranked it on the bike hauling ass at around 20-23mph for a bit then hovered in the 16-18mph to get me finally into T2. Passed more people on the bike than ever before in a race.
T2
Again, took my time, didn't run my bike in but rather caught my breath and tried to think about not forgetting things for the run and telling my body to actually run!
Run
Well the positive news is I could run after getting off the bike. I started with my normal 4x2 and got through a bit of that until the stomach pain set in. I felt like at any point I could vomit. If I stopped moving that's what was going to happen. I also knew I'd see my coach at some point so that kept me moving too. I started walking pretty early on which made me upset but knew if I could salvage my stomach a bit I could maybe run later on. Once I got some coke, cold water and an orange in my stomach I was feeling a bit better. Again, nutrition was off here. Typically I take a GU every 3 miles ... messed that one up (had one at mile 4 and one at mile 9). Took ice, sponges, oranges, water and coke at almost every aid station and then had sprite (that my coach sneakily brought me). Finally felt OK around the turn on Broad street and just tried to run/jog as much as I could and when I walked I walked angry. My left IT band reared its ugly head about mile 7 and just tired to keep it under control and not get it too bad knowing what lies ahead for me. Pretty disappointed with my run as I've had some solid training days and know I'm capable of better. Salvaged 8 minutes slower than my GC time BUT I walked a hell of a lot more in this race than I did in May.
Pretty bummed I missed a PR by 1 minute and overall just upset with my performance knowing I'm capable of being faster as I do it every freaking day in training. I tried to counter all that with knowing I wasn't as tapered as other athletes and again, I know it wasn't about that race but I am very internally competitive.
