Race Week!

Race week is here, and I can say that after yesterday's triathlon I am feeling a great deal more confident going into Sunday's half-ironman. Though 70.3 miles is a completely different beast, I know if I can stay in the game mentally I can finish the damn thing strong.

So a quick analysis of yesterday's race:
The Swim: My swim time was slower than I wanted as I was hoping to go sub-11. The disappointing thing is that I felt like I was swimming really strong (for me), but had to stop twice to de-fog my goggles. This pisses me off as it really throws off your rhythm. For the life of me, I cannot find goggles that do not fog. And, I've tried everything - spitting in them, goggle wipes, goggle de-fogger, different types of goggles. And every single time I get into open water the damn things fog up. If someone can find me goggles that do not fog, I'd pay them big money. I also swam off course once ... because my goggles were foggy and I couldn't see where I was going....grrrr. Anyway, I hope to get some new goggles and have a better swim (sub-45) next weekend.

The Bike: The bike went much better than expected. I ending up averaging 18.8 mph which is good for me. I started in the second to last overall wave of the day, which meant I passed a lot of people on the bike and only got passed by 1 or 2 (as opposed to starting in an earlier wave and getting passed by a ton of speedy people). This actually was good for my psyche, and I really pushed myself on the bike and didn't let my mind wander or my legs take a break.

The Run: This was my big question mark of the day. I had no idea how my legs were going to respond off the bike. Most of my brick workouts have been struggles for me and that's after not biking as hard as I just had. I don't know what happened, but I felt freaking awesome on the run. I started out at a comfortable pace, and came through Mile 1 at 7:00 min flat. From there I just dropped the hammer and ended up running the 3 miles in 19:48 for a 6:36 pace. I was pumped, and it gave me some much needed confidence going into next weekend.

So next weekend - let me start by saying that I hope we don't get last year's weather. It was 111 degrees at 5 pm last year. Yeah. This race has been around for about 23 years, and its course is known for being extremely challenging, due to it’s rough bike course (hills, windy flat-ish stretches, and bumpy rough roads), and its usually-hot temperatures.

I've done this race before. Dan also likes to remind me that when I finished this race last time I swore NEVER AGAIN. Problem with me is that I tend to have a selective memory, and so I found myself signing up for it again this year.

Here are a few things I do remember. Lubbock is very dry and very, very flat. I bet there are only six hills within 100 miles that are caused by natural canyons. The race director found all six hills for the bike course. But that was not the biggest challenge. Neither was the heat. It was the stiff wind. With the wind at my back, 18 miles per hour was easy. With the wind at my face…which seemed like most of the time, 14 miles per hour was impossible. The bike course ate me alive.

I also remember that coming out of transition on your bike, you go up a Monster Hill that is probably 600-700 meters long and at a 7.5% grade. Hello!

The run course doesn't get any easier. There are 3 really steep hills (Miles 3, 6 and 9), but what makes it worse is that by the time you're on the run  temperatures are climbing, and there is not much shade on the run course. The worst stretch was a desolate, dry, telephone-pole-lined two miles straight into the wind and no shade. Also, the sun  and the heat was makes the cow poop from the cattle yard at the side of the road stink.

Sounds like fun, huh? My goal this week is to hydrate, sleep well, eat well and not think too much about the task at hand next Sunday!