I'm in bed hoping to be asleep shortly after a very long weekend. It began bright and early Saturday morning around 4:50 am. I packed up my bike and stuff for the weekend and headed down to Galveston for my races.
Saturday morning was the Lonestar sprint race. It was a .3 mile swim, 12.5 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. I did the same race last year (run was 3.0 miles instead of 3.1) and finished 17/57 in my age group with a time of 1:27:31. I set my goal for this year at 1:22, hoping to shave a bit off each of the 3 disciplines, but was a bit worried that was too lofty of a goal considering the run was longer this year and I think it may have even been shorter than 3.0 last year.
The actual race was pretty uneventful, but it was fun. I had a good swim and enjoyed riding "fast" for once. I passed a lot of people on the bike and only 1 girl in my age group passed me. Then came the run. I'm just slow. My GPS wasn't working right so I had no idea how fast I was really going. I knew I felt slow and sluggish and like my legs weighed a ton. I kept telling myself I should feel that way 2 weeks out from an ironman and not to worry about it. Then the thought crossed my mind that perhaps I was actually running fast, and that was why my legs felt like lead too. Turns out I bettered my time in each the swim, bike, and run, and by a significant amount. I finished in 1:18, taking 9th place in my age group out of 42 girls. I was disappointed that such an improvement in time still leaves me in 9th place, but it was the best I could do.
I hung out at the hotel and expo the rest of Saturday and a group of us went to dinner at an Italian restaurant on the Seawall Saturday night. It was a great group of people and I really enjoyed getting to talk to everyone. Jane joined us saying she wasn't sure if she was going to race or not, in light of a recent dog attack. Of course I told her to just use duct tape and she'd be good to go!
Sunday morning came bright and early again, but staying right next to the race site was nice because the day did not start as early as it would have had I been in Houston. Randy, Shellie, Greyhound, and I all headed to transition on our bikes and I got ready for race day #2.
I wasn't the least bit thrilled about having to bike 56 miles, but I kept telling myself to get over it considering I have to bike 112 in just 2 short weeks. I hadn't really been dreading the swim, although I think I should have been. My swim just sucked and I can't really figure out why other than that I just plain sucked today. Usually I can take something away from "failure" to prevent future "failure", but I got nothing today. Oh well. If I had to pick something to be a total bomb, swim would be the one because a bomb there is a matter of 2-3 minutes where a bomb on the bike or run could be a matter of half hours or hours.
Once I was on the bike I decided to have a little fun and just see how fast I could go. I wasn't sure what the wind would be like, but knew however strong it was it would be at my back on the way out. The course was two out-and-back stretches of 14 miles, for two 28 mile loops. After I turned around on the first loop I was pleased to find the wind was truly a cross wind coming straight off the water and it was no harder to get back to town than it was to get out of town. Right before the turn I saw Jonathon (old friend from Houston Fit) on the other side of the road with bike trouble. When I turned around and came up on him I asked him if he needed anything and he said he could use some air. So I pulled over and gave him one of my CO2 cartridges and told him it was his A race and not an A race for myself, so he should take it and get back at it. He thanked me and I went on my way. Right about then I saw someone on the other side approaching the turn around and decided this person absolutely could not pass me. So I proceeded to haul ass for the next ~12-13 miles to ensure they did not pass me. I was very impressed with my legs at this point. They were doing me well. I came back into Moody Gardens, turned around, and headed back out for lap 2. A mile or so into my 2nd loop I saw said person on their way in and was glad I succeeded in my momentary goal. My second momentary goal became to keep my average above 18 for the remainder of the ride. Usually I'm not the least bit competitive with anyone but myself, but I've found the "new Kathleen" likes a little healthy competition now and then these days and it has been good for me. If nothing else, it provides a little entertainment.
I really was having a good time looking for everyone I knew and shouting for them across the highway. Last year I ended up going off road doing this and said I wouldn't do it again, but my social side just gets the best of me. On the first loop I was only getting passed and the people doing the quarter ironman started coming up on me too. The second loop was a different story. I got to do most of the passing and it was quite fun. It was very weird to know that I didn't have to run afterwards. At the last turn around I decided to "see what I was made of" and averaged close to 19mph on the last 14 miles. I was very proud that my last 14 miles were my fastest. I usually fade big time on longer rides and was able to stay strong today. Of course it would have been a different story if I had had to run afterwards, but oh well.
I ended up finishing in 3:42 which is at least 10 minutes faster than my goal. I say "at least" because I wasn't exactly sure what my goal was. I didn't think I could go much faster than 3:52 and would have been upset with anything slower than 3:59. After I finished I went to the half/quarter finish line and cheered on all my buddies and local tri people. It was awesome knowing so many people at this race. It was a huge race and people came from all over the US, but there was a familiar face or 3 every time I turned around.
Despite my good racing I had a pretty crappy weekend and was in a pretty crappy mood all weekend. I'm mad at myself for being in a crappy mood too and for taking the good things about this weekend for granted. I had fabulous friends around all weekend, I kicked butt, all of my friends kicked butt, I had an awesome dinner with awesome friends, and it didn't rain!
The weekend was full of tri-friends - many of whom did awesome. Included were: Andy (2nd in his age group Saturday), Robin (2nd in Aquabike), Laurie (kicked butt on swim and had a strong bike), Shellie (lived through deathly illness all week to kick butt on Sunday), Randy (proving his own PT works better than that dr. stuff...supposedly), Michelle (kicked major quarter butt and looked super hot while doing so), Chad (kicked half butt), Fred, Andrew, Ben (won quarter age group today), Liam (I think a big PR, but I still won our race), Greyhound, Jane (HUGE PR in half, dog bite hole in leg and all), Sissy (did half relay with her son - I want to be like her when I grow up), Jill (flatted right out of transition, had a hole in her rim, still finished after super slow bike time and had fastest swim time for women in quarter I think), Michelle (got hit by a car and lived to tell about it), Kelly (had an AWESOME swim and AWESOME entire race to take 5th woman in half iron), Natalie (awesome race over all too, huge PR, smile on her face the whole time), Michelle, Cameron (came back from recent injury to kick butt), Augie (great race, after not training lots because she was studying for the CPA which she just PASSED!!), Jonathan (for still going faster than I ever could in a half after flatting and waiting for help and then apparently flatting again about a mile out and walking his bike in), Anna (won her AG in the half), and John (2nd overall in the half). I'm sure I forgot people - I'll be adding them as they come along.
Saturday morning was the Lonestar sprint race. It was a .3 mile swim, 12.5 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. I did the same race last year (run was 3.0 miles instead of 3.1) and finished 17/57 in my age group with a time of 1:27:31. I set my goal for this year at 1:22, hoping to shave a bit off each of the 3 disciplines, but was a bit worried that was too lofty of a goal considering the run was longer this year and I think it may have even been shorter than 3.0 last year.
The actual race was pretty uneventful, but it was fun. I had a good swim and enjoyed riding "fast" for once. I passed a lot of people on the bike and only 1 girl in my age group passed me. Then came the run. I'm just slow. My GPS wasn't working right so I had no idea how fast I was really going. I knew I felt slow and sluggish and like my legs weighed a ton. I kept telling myself I should feel that way 2 weeks out from an ironman and not to worry about it. Then the thought crossed my mind that perhaps I was actually running fast, and that was why my legs felt like lead too. Turns out I bettered my time in each the swim, bike, and run, and by a significant amount. I finished in 1:18, taking 9th place in my age group out of 42 girls. I was disappointed that such an improvement in time still leaves me in 9th place, but it was the best I could do.
I hung out at the hotel and expo the rest of Saturday and a group of us went to dinner at an Italian restaurant on the Seawall Saturday night. It was a great group of people and I really enjoyed getting to talk to everyone. Jane joined us saying she wasn't sure if she was going to race or not, in light of a recent dog attack. Of course I told her to just use duct tape and she'd be good to go!
Sunday morning came bright and early again, but staying right next to the race site was nice because the day did not start as early as it would have had I been in Houston. Randy, Shellie, Greyhound, and I all headed to transition on our bikes and I got ready for race day #2.
I wasn't the least bit thrilled about having to bike 56 miles, but I kept telling myself to get over it considering I have to bike 112 in just 2 short weeks. I hadn't really been dreading the swim, although I think I should have been. My swim just sucked and I can't really figure out why other than that I just plain sucked today. Usually I can take something away from "failure" to prevent future "failure", but I got nothing today. Oh well. If I had to pick something to be a total bomb, swim would be the one because a bomb there is a matter of 2-3 minutes where a bomb on the bike or run could be a matter of half hours or hours.
Once I was on the bike I decided to have a little fun and just see how fast I could go. I wasn't sure what the wind would be like, but knew however strong it was it would be at my back on the way out. The course was two out-and-back stretches of 14 miles, for two 28 mile loops. After I turned around on the first loop I was pleased to find the wind was truly a cross wind coming straight off the water and it was no harder to get back to town than it was to get out of town. Right before the turn I saw Jonathon (old friend from Houston Fit) on the other side of the road with bike trouble. When I turned around and came up on him I asked him if he needed anything and he said he could use some air. So I pulled over and gave him one of my CO2 cartridges and told him it was his A race and not an A race for myself, so he should take it and get back at it. He thanked me and I went on my way. Right about then I saw someone on the other side approaching the turn around and decided this person absolutely could not pass me. So I proceeded to haul ass for the next ~12-13 miles to ensure they did not pass me. I was very impressed with my legs at this point. They were doing me well. I came back into Moody Gardens, turned around, and headed back out for lap 2. A mile or so into my 2nd loop I saw said person on their way in and was glad I succeeded in my momentary goal. My second momentary goal became to keep my average above 18 for the remainder of the ride. Usually I'm not the least bit competitive with anyone but myself, but I've found the "new Kathleen" likes a little healthy competition now and then these days and it has been good for me. If nothing else, it provides a little entertainment.
I really was having a good time looking for everyone I knew and shouting for them across the highway. Last year I ended up going off road doing this and said I wouldn't do it again, but my social side just gets the best of me. On the first loop I was only getting passed and the people doing the quarter ironman started coming up on me too. The second loop was a different story. I got to do most of the passing and it was quite fun. It was very weird to know that I didn't have to run afterwards. At the last turn around I decided to "see what I was made of" and averaged close to 19mph on the last 14 miles. I was very proud that my last 14 miles were my fastest. I usually fade big time on longer rides and was able to stay strong today. Of course it would have been a different story if I had had to run afterwards, but oh well.
I ended up finishing in 3:42 which is at least 10 minutes faster than my goal. I say "at least" because I wasn't exactly sure what my goal was. I didn't think I could go much faster than 3:52 and would have been upset with anything slower than 3:59. After I finished I went to the half/quarter finish line and cheered on all my buddies and local tri people. It was awesome knowing so many people at this race. It was a huge race and people came from all over the US, but there was a familiar face or 3 every time I turned around.
My butt may be small casualty from the weekend, unfortunately. On my second bike loop I got a sharp pain in my butt that was so bad I hat to stop pedaling at one point. I tried to stand up on my bike and nearly fell over because it hurt so bad. I backed off a bit and was still able to finish strong, but I'm definitely getting Cheryl to try to figure out what is wrong with it when I get a massage on Tuesday. I'm thinking it may be my piriformis muscle and I've heard awful stories about this little tiny muscle that can cause major pain. I'm going with the "ignore it and it will go away" method for now and will re-evaluate in a few days.
Despite my good racing I had a pretty crappy weekend and was in a pretty crappy mood all weekend. I'm mad at myself for being in a crappy mood too and for taking the good things about this weekend for granted. I had fabulous friends around all weekend, I kicked butt, all of my friends kicked butt, I had an awesome dinner with awesome friends, and it didn't rain!
The weekend was full of tri-friends - many of whom did awesome. Included were: Andy (2nd in his age group Saturday), Robin (2nd in Aquabike), Laurie (kicked butt on swim and had a strong bike), Shellie (lived through deathly illness all week to kick butt on Sunday), Randy (proving his own PT works better than that dr. stuff...supposedly), Michelle (kicked major quarter butt and looked super hot while doing so), Chad (kicked half butt), Fred, Andrew, Ben (won quarter age group today), Liam (I think a big PR, but I still won our race), Greyhound, Jane (HUGE PR in half, dog bite hole in leg and all), Sissy (did half relay with her son - I want to be like her when I grow up), Jill (flatted right out of transition, had a hole in her rim, still finished after super slow bike time and had fastest swim time for women in quarter I think), Michelle (got hit by a car and lived to tell about it), Kelly (had an AWESOME swim and AWESOME entire race to take 5th woman in half iron), Natalie (awesome race over all too, huge PR, smile on her face the whole time), Michelle, Cameron (came back from recent injury to kick butt), Augie (great race, after not training lots because she was studying for the CPA which she just PASSED!!), Jonathan (for still going faster than I ever could in a half after flatting and waiting for help and then apparently flatting again about a mile out and walking his bike in), Anna (won her AG in the half), and John (2nd overall in the half). I'm sure I forgot people - I'll be adding them as they come along.
Comments
You have some famous and fantastic racing buds.
Hang in there. You will do great in Arizona, all butt pain aside.