High Cliff Triathalon
June 15, 2013
Swim: 42:04
T1: 2:25
Bike: 2:48:18 (20mph avg)
T2: 1:55
Run: 1:55:45 (8:51 avg)
After completing the Ironman, you sometimes ask yourself, 'what's next?' And while I loved the Ironman, the Half Ironman Distance is more of a distance that I can do without it consuming me whole. So, last year I completed Wild Flower, and this year I knew I wanted to get in just one Half Ironman.
I kept putting off signing up, as I didn't know what race I wanted to do. Racine has always been a good one, as my family is able to watch, and my Dad loves my races. But, I also thought maybe I wanted to do a different one this year.
My friend Jeff asked me if I would join him at High Cliff. The biggest plus was the race entry was less than Half that of an Ironman Brand race! So I decided to commit to the race. I didn't do anything special with my training. Or I should say, I didn't have a training schedule for it. I just did what I always do, which is enough to keep conditioned for a half ironman. It's kind of like my marathons where I would like to be conditioned to do a Marathon tomorrow on the whim, I like the idea that if I wanted to do a half ironman tomorrow, I would also be prepared.
Since the Brookings SD Marathon, my runs have been horrible. Nicole had to put up with my requesting walks, more water stops, and cutting our runs short. I ran nothing over 10 miles just because I couldn't get into a rhythm. Of course this made me nervous for the Half Ironman, but at the same time, by the Friday before, I concluded I was just over trained, and I needed to take a step back. (And luckily I didn't hold Nicole back too much, as she set a new PR at the Rock N Sole Half Marathon the same weekend as my race!).
The week before the race, I had some personal drama put me into a whole different state of mind. My nutrition was messed up, and it took a lot of effort to get that back on track for the race. And from there, it's like the world just rained on me; I was stopped at a stop light when I was rear ended part of a 3 car accident created by a drunk driver. My car was fine, but it gave me whiplash and a pinched nerve. Then the day before the race, as I was getting gas, I was also cleaning out my car, and when I turned from shaking out my floor mat, I hit my face right into my car door, breaking my sun glasses and leaving me to be hurting even more.
When we got to Sherwood, things were a little lifted since I got to see my friends. Friday afternoon, Jeff, John and I got into the open water and had a pre-race swim. The waves weren't that bad, but just getting used to the waves again made me a little nervous. The good thing we learned is you can touch for the first maybe 100 meters, so as you start, if you need a moment to collect yourself, I knew I would be able to.
Maria H and I got to talk a little Friday evening which was good because well, no matter how ugly I can feel on the inside, she always looks at me in such a light I don't feel so ugly anymore.
The night is a little haze, in line with most of the previous week (big thanks to Irisa for being you!), I wasn't fully into the race. When we woke up Saturday morning, they called for 60% chance rain. I struggled getting out of bed, I told Jeff I didn't want to race, and I had a bad feeling, if everything else has gone wrong, that this would continue to be bad. Of course, I couldn't not show up to the start. I was texting with Danielle some as she was awake already. And I made the decision that I had to suck it up and just focus on having a good race; it would give me six hours to be in my zone.We got to the race transition, I set up my bike, and now it looked like the rain might just miss us. The pre-race jitters finally hit. Jeff went to jump in the water quickly, and Maria, Brett and I hung out. Shannon, from my gym was also there and we saw each other briefly before the start. I was in wave 6 as was Maria and Brett, and soon enough we had started...and I was in my zone.
Though they say not to try new things when you race, I tend to always have one thing new. This time, it was putting my goggles UNDER my swim cap. Jeff did this and he said it keeps them from falling off if you get kicked. I always have problems with goggles so I decided this couldn't make things worse. (And I was right! Happy I did that).
he race, I know I have a few hours ahead of me to get through, so it's important I relax. It's one thing to get in a rhythm of breathing, but then to be able to completely relax while swimming, helps me with the rest of the race. If you have ever tried to pee while swimming, it's hard! But it's possible when you are in a good calm place! And that's why I always make that a goal ( if you don't know this- almost all triathletes pee in their wet suits..but most do it standing in the water waiting to start).
So, at the start, I slowly got into my rhythm, relaxing and just moving forward. Working on not zig-zaging too much, working on not getting kicked and working on not kicking others. The water was a little choppy, but not horrible. It was the worst before the first turn and got better from there. After I was fully relaxed, I kept trying to swim around this one person and it just wasn't happening, so instead of getting upset, I just visualized I was swimming next to Maria and we were just at Ohio Street Beach having an easy swim.
I prepared myself for feeling like it was going to take forever, and somehow, it never felt that way. I got out of the water in 40 minutes ran part way up the hill, let the suit strippers take my suit off, and ran the rest of the way up.
As this is my one only this year, and haven't done one for over 12 months, I know my transitions aren't going to be sub 1 minute. I took a gu, and drank some gatorade. I had been up in the air if I wanted to wear my socks on the bike. I've been biking sockless, but if it was going to be cold, I wanted them. It felt warm, I was warm, so I decided to leave the socks behind.
I got on my way with the bike. I usually don't like to have the course route memorized, just know a little bit of what to expect. Maria M. (Wisconsin Maria) had given me a course overview and what to expect. This included a big climb at the start (so start on an easy gear) and then nothing too horrible from there. She did warn me we would hit wind one way or another, it's inevitable. So, as we made the initial climb, I just took it easy and enjoyed it.
Jeff and I talk about how we race. Every movement he makes in a race is calculated and has a lot of thought in it. Whereas every movement in the water for me is focused to be relaxed, and every movement on the run I try to think of everything but my form and pace and distance. The Bike is where I'm calculated. Where I count my cadence, where I keep focused on consistent power, and where I know it's crucial to shift in the right places to keep moving at a good speed. I didn't place much thought in my nutrition on the race, but I was the best at managing it here than any other race. Eating, taking electrolyte pills and drinking fluids throughout.
I thought a little bit about my past week, the things I had control over and understanding what I don't have control over. I knew how I did in this race was something I had control over. So greatness here is a start to coming back into greatness elsewhere.
Once I made it up the hill, I was in my calculation zone. We hit wind early on, so I was expecting the last half to be easier. The miles passed slowly at first, then we hit some rolling hills. I can't emphasize enough how much I love rolling hills. It's all about working them right and they can just be amazing. You power the down you and you keep the speed as you go up, and shift just right to get to the top of the roll and feel like you just went fast, not that you climbed a hill. (This doesn't work so well with the 7 sisters in California- but for Wisconsin rolling hills it works). I wasn't just in my zone at this point, I was genuinely in a happy place
We were in the last 15 miles and we hit some down that was just so great. And then we were less than 10 miles to go when we turned a corner, and Whoosh! The wind. We had wind at the beggining and throughout and this was the point I thought I should have the tail wind. But instead, it was the hardest push we had. I was averaging over 20mph so I refused to let it slow me down too much. I didn't think of the wind, I just thought of getting through it and how to sit on my bike to be most aerodynamic.
The last two miles were a nice gradual down, and before I knew it, I was dismounting. I made it to and through transition. I make my way to the run, and my legs are feeling great. We start in some grass, and we have to climb back up the big bike climb. Given the grade is 8-12%, I ran/ walked it, just taking it easy conserving my energy for the rest of the run. As I was making my way to turn onto the trail, a guy behind me started talking with me. He ran right in front of me, and had a real steady and strong pace. So I said, hey 646, you have a nice pace! And from there we started talking. He has paced half marathons, but with every triathlon, he crashes on the run. This time he took the bike a little easier to see if he could make it through the run.
While Jeff was on the run he thought "I wonder who Tara is making friends with today" ...because again, he is calculated on his runs, but I'm doing everything I can to not think of the next 2 hours ahead of me and I make friends. So sure enough, I made friends with 646, Tim. I learned he was a police officer from Sussex and did a lot of races, he is friends with the manager of the Oconomowoc Performance Running outfitters, and him and his wife were going to move to Oconomowoc soon.
From the top of the hill we ran the rest of the run together. Maria passed us at one point, and she was doing what she always does- kicks butt on the run! The first loop we chatted a lot. The trail was nice and soft, kind to our legs. Around mile 4/10 Scott was handing out water, I didn't realize he was going to be up there, so it was nice to see another familiar face. There was one point where we were running on rock and you could see Lake Winnebago. It was a nice view and as I was enjoying it, I saw two people making out right there. So of course, Tim and I were immature and made 'ooohhh' sounds. This point I then referred to on loop number 2 as makeout point. I knew once we made it there, there was more down than up and we were almost home free.Loop number two felt longer, but we didn't really slow down, we just talked less. There was a point where we were running through tall grass and that section was real hot. We had over 2 miles before we got water again (Which was the station Scott was at) so before 10 miles, I made it clear to Tim he could go ahead if I slowed down. He wouldn't accept that, and since I didn't want that to happen, I decided to not let that happen. It felt like forever to get to makeout point. I kept saying "Are we there yet?" I was so happy to get there and from there we started to pick up our pace for a strong finish. Our final turn was about a half mile to the finish, down the big hill. We started to soar. My garmin watch tells me we ran the last half mile at a 6:50average!
I sprinted across the finish and I had just gotten a P.R. at 5 hours and 31 minutes, 14 minutes better than my fastest time. Without focused training, without even wanting to start the race that day. I just went out and I got in my zone and did well.
I quickly found Maria, and Jeff and we all congratulated one another. I decided to go into transition and get stuff to shower as my face was all salty and I gross all around.
Jeff wanted to watch the awards as his friend was getting one. So we made a home in the grass at the top of the hill and watched the awards. As we were in the middle of chatting, we hear my name. I looked to him and we were like - wait what!? I placed!?
So, not being down where most were if they knew they were getting a trophy, I was up on top of the hill. I sprinted down like a crazy person, got my trophy and made my way back to laugh about it. I knew I had done well, but didn't realize I had done that well. It was a very happy ending to a race I was weary about.
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