The opener of my season...I'm writing this report a bit belated because, well, the past month has been a blur of frantic rushing, racing and whirring about. Just look at the house and the chaos inside it - I have been living like a whirling dervish...no focus or concentration, just moving from one thing to the next putting out fires and doing just what needs to be done in hopes to survive to the next race/heal up enough to race/get everyone TO the race/etc. So...my stint as tour director is now done for awhile. I'm no longer going to be the team mom. I'm going to let my legs heal, try to get my back straightened out and get the new bike up and running and try to get some confidence back. But anyway....the write-up for the MulletMan....a bit belated, so I'm going to miss some of the nuances, but whatever.
It's a long 12-hour drive home. All the nutrition and rest and pre-race lore says the most important time for rest and hydration is actually 2 nights/days before - for a Saturday morning race that means Thursday is THE day. So...when you spend the last half of Wednesday in a car travelling to meetings, all of Thursday morning sitting still in meetings, and all day Thursday afternoon and night in a car driving from the meetings to the rendezvous with the "team car" then driving to Alabama, you're pretty much guaranteed to NOT eat, hydrate or rest right. But whatever...it's a fun race, intended to be a hilarious getaway weekend, not an "A" race for the season. So....we did our best eating ok and hydrating as much as possible. Once at the house (7a on Friday arrival, rest for a few hours) we all kind of locked in a took it easy. Went down to pick up packets and get a first look (for N & N) at the race course and the Florabama. Had a relaxing dinner and readied everything for the early start and went to bed. I've got to say that sleeping on a couch isn't my favorite - but I like my parent's couch. I slept pretty decent the entire time we were there.
Woke up and schlepped around a bit trying to get everything ready and get out the door. Took off, got to the race site and set up. It's been a pretty windy spring down in LA (lower Alabama) and that's been producing rip currents like no other. It's also been driving up some impressive surf. Most of that week had been red flagged (no swimming, rip tides) and this day looked to be no exception. Surf was coming in at an angle. There were rumblings about cancelling the swim (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- it's all I got, yo!!) but in the end they wound up shortening it. I started to whine, they specifically pointed out that if you freaked, you could stand up and run, then realized that I didn't care at the end of the day - no one should get hurt and the Navy swimmers and lifeguards were really just trying to keep everyone safe. At that point, we all kind of said - screw it - there were a lot of people freaking out. (Having swam a few times in the Pacific out at Malibu, I wasn't worried - it IS Gulf surf after all...easy peasy. But there were plenty of people nervous. It was both N's first ocean swims. I kind of hated to see them start like this....but whatever.) The rip tides really picked up - when you hear a Navy lifeguard come running up and say to the RD - "if they go around that buoy we won't be able to save them," you know it's about to get interesting. But anyway...they pulled the buoys in a bit more (which did no good as the far one just kind of kept getting sucked further down the beach - i'm pretty sure the 1st wave had about 100yd shorter swim altogether) and off we went. Noah looked great starting his wave, one of the bigger guys standing out with no wetsuit and his CCMSC kit on - pounded out into the surf and nailed it. His swim time was quicker than mine! (read above about shorter swims....) The extra time spent swimming over the past year has really paid off - he's a rock star. Our wave started and all of my previous ocean swims just CLICKED. Knowing where the current is going and planning accordingly - I'm one of few women that went around both buoys. Started off to the left, dolphin-dove through/under the surf, popped up and just relaxed into a stroke, breathing to the left to keep and eye on the surf, got carried right out and past the buoy. I knew the run to the other turn buoy would be short with the current and surf - i also knew I would have to swim outward a bit (trying to stay inside the rip though) - NAILED that leg....had a nice, easy cruise, rolling over the crests, staying relaxed. Only had to spot once or twice, just kept pointed in the right direction. Made the turn for home just before I reached the buoy - knew the current wasn't going to magically push me the other way - grazed right by it and threaded through the other girls swimming into my right side having not been able to spot the buoy or judge the current well. Also know to not fight the current - it's much easier to run a few extra yards up the beach than try to swim against the current towards the swim exit. Body surfed a couple of times and hit the beach running. THANK YOU MALIBU! Had a great swim. I also know to not try to kill myself running through that deep sand, stay up on my toes, don't overuse the legs and just chug along.
T1 uneventful, I need to get quicker at these things...but I just don't push too hard in them. I kind of think of it as a point where it's better for me to stay steady than to try to rush - I leave things behind when I do that. It wasn't the quickest, but it wasn't that slow. Took off on the bike.
Did I mention earlier it's been windy down there? Popped out of transition, on the bike and away I went. When I looked down a mile or so in and I was way over 20mph, my first thought was that the return leg was going to SUCK...bad. (I wasn't far off base) Having been down that road before, I know that it's better to just hammer the first half, then spent the second just holding form and chugging along. Watching people fight the wind and try to just hammer through it with bad form kills me. It makes me tired for them. I always remember what John used to tell us about how just focusing on form and getting the job done in the wind would pay off - every time I'm in a windy race or ride I remember those words....they save me and my energy stores. My avg speed on the way out HAD to be over 25mph. I was FLYING. I love my bike and my aero position. It just feels good all the way around. Comfortable and efficient. Came flying down off the bridge over 30mph, passed a couple of guys just rocketing along....then we turned around. The wind was REALLY gusty between the towers, it's nice being able to sort of read that and know when it's coming. I only almost got knocked over once. (Thank you Silverman!) Kept chugging along and did my best to just maintain and spin through it comfortably. Was still holding a pretty decent pace. Was also pulling a chick through most of it - annoying. But whatever. Rest of the bike was uneventful. Saw Noah headed back from the turnaround very close to the front of the race - AWESOME - also saw him early on the run looking strong. He was putting in some great effort and looked solid.
T2 also uneventful. I was worried that I hadn't seen N after the turnaround - was worried she was right behind me so while I still didn't rush through T2 I wasn't exactly taking my time. Popped out on the run and was just putting in some good effort, trying to keep my form in check, not overheat and just run - actually run hard. I started to pay for that about the end of Mile 1...I was maybe running a bit hard and I'm not used to that (training for a marathon doesn't exactly build in much speedwork). Having STILL not seen N I was getting really worried - I even saw Noah headed back in from the run turnaround (form suffering a bit but still was chugging along without too many people in front of him!!!). Finally saw her coming down the bridge as I was headed down for the run turn. She looked like she was in hell and hurting (mechanical - both front & back brakes rubbing). Knowing where she was, that it's such an early season race, I had a marathon coming in two weeks I decided to back off a bit. I wanted a good showing, but with the lack of rest and amount of stress we've been pulling I figured it was more important to have fun.
Finished the run feeling fairly ok. Decent times (though I forget them now) all through the race, though nothing spectacular. Was 4th in age group (again...why does that keep happening?) but at least it was by a few minutes this time. I'll take it. My goal for the race was to go kind of hard - blow off the dust and see if my legs had some "GO" in them. With the weather, it was all skewy, but I think it was a good first race of the season. Took one gel at the beginning of the run - normally would have taken one fairly early in the bike and then also at the beginning of the run, but I don't think that hurt me. I still managed to gulp down some liquid calories (gatorade) and didn't tear up my stomach too much...I did have to pee through most of it - almost tried during the bike but couldn't do it - so I think I still need a bit of work on the morning routines.
So that's that....finally it's done.
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