2011 Race Season Recap - Part 2

After West Point Lake it was time to get my mind back into HIM, we had already started ramping up training the week before since I had decided on a race and I only had four weeks to build up after WPL.

I opted for Muncie 70.3; reason being it was driving distance and that meant no need to re-assemble the bike. I have improved tremendously on bike maintenance but I wouldn’t trust myself putting it back together before a race. Also, a friend of mine, Jennifer Lesser, was thinking about doing Muncie as well. So the thought of having a traveling partner made it that much attractive.

Once again girls weekend was a great experience, we laughed, had a good time, and the best thing of all we both got a slot for Vegas. Muncie was a hard race on the sense that I had to mentally ‘readjust’ the plan, one of my goals this year was not to walk in any of my races. The week before I got sick and took antibiotics, the combination of the heat and lack of salts made it for a pretty miserable run. But I was able to stay with it ‘mentally’, I decided on walking the aid stations and run the rest. The plan worked and end up 3^rd on my age group and with a ticket to Vegas.

 Jennifer and I with our 'tickets' to Vegas

My training and focus was Vegas from this point on. I did Acworth Women Sprint Tri in August which was a fun race, probably one of the weakest this season but not bad for being in the middle of HIM training and coming off of a week vacation. I did learn though, that regardless how much of a 'B' race you have ahead of you, you do NOT race the day after you get back from vacation, it was just tough to get in race mood when the only thing I could think about was the beach I was at just a day before J.

Next up was Vegas, what an experience that was! It was amazing, being there was just surreal, the venue was just astonishing and tough, as a World Championship should be. Miss Carmen here thought she was Julie Dibbens and took off on the bike as if I was going to eat the world, a combination of that with not taking in enough calories resulted on a very painful run. This was probably the one race I learned the most… pacing and nutrition are CRUCIAL for HIM distance. But still had the time of our lives and I am hoping to be back (not next year though).

We extended our stay in Vegas for two days

I had planned to do one more race before calling it a season (Tugaloo), but I was bummed that I was not going to be able to take advantage of my fitness from Vegas in another 70.3.  After breaking down the race and realizing where I went wrong I just wanted to be out there again and ‘fix’ it.

We got an email from our team two or three days before Tugaloo, one of our sponsors (Muscle Milk) had a free entry for the REV3 race in Anderson, SC. After thinking about it for a couple of days I decided I was going for it.

Tugaloo was good, the only regret is that I used my brand new wetsuit and the zipper got stuck, had to stop on my way to T1 and ask one of the volunteers to unzip it for me, that kind of messed me up a bit. But overall was a solid race.

My sister, the kids and myself headed to SC two weeks after Tugaloo for the REV3 race. This was my race, but I told my coach I was just his puppet. He insisted to take it easy on the swim and not to overdo it on the bike, the whole goal was to have a solid run. And that is exactly what I did, I was able to end the season on a good note.

It is always good to end the season with a good race, but not so good that you let yourself relax too much. Last year after Augusta, I was so mad at my run that I didn’t want to forget how I felt after the race. I wore that race’s t-shirt over, and over, and over again on my runs. I think that anger helped me get through a lot of the hard workouts as I knew I did not want to feel like that after a race ever again.

Don't take me wrong, I know we can't have estellar races all the time, but to me if I cross the finish line and I know I gave it all is a HUGE accomplishment. When I start thinking back and realizing I didn't give it all, I didn't follow the plan or I just 'gave up' is when I consider that race a failure.

This year is a bit different; I had a good end of the season but one that I know I can improve on, as I run through the fall-winter I will keep thinking about how determination and hard work pays off.