Puerto Rico Caribbean Cup ~ June 12, 2005
I had a good time this weekend. It was slightly hectic getting to the city where the race was held (Rincon) because it's on the other side of the island from the big airport in San Juan. We arrived on Friday night (race on Sunday) and had all Saturday to get the details pinned down. We had fun training on Saturday – ocean swim in a storm, getting attacked by a stray dog while running down the beach…
Sunday I woke up at 7:20 am, took a shower, ate my breakfast: ½ of a whole wheat bagel, 1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal and a cup of coffee. We left to ride the 20 minutes to the race at 8:20 and got there a little late… I had to rush to get my stuff organized and didn't get a warm-up run. I also didn't put Vaseline or baby powder in my running flats… I thought that I wouldn't have blister problems since I wasn't wearing the death-trap orthotics I had worn in Tempe. I swam a sufficient warm-up. The surf was pretty calm, but there was still a current that ended up working against us. It was humid but partly cloudy and probably around 85 degrees. The water temp was like 84! Way too warm for an ocean! As we lined up for the start, I counted 14 girls in my field.
SWIM (1500m, 2 laps of a triangle shaped course, must swim onto shore, run around a cone before going out on the 2nd lap). THE SWIM WENT OUT VERY FAST!! Way faster than at Tempe, probably because we had a smaller field. I hung in well until the first buoy then it started to string out in a line. After rounding the first buoy, I began to feel like I was hanging on by a rope that was rapidly unweaving. The long stretch, the base of the triangle, was against the current – I was feeling it immediately and KNEW I couldn't get dropped there or that would be it. Sighting ahead, I noticed that the girl I was drafting was headed more towards the outside of the buoy and a bigger group was at the same speed but more in-shore than us. They had to come back out to make it around the buoy. But drafting off a single swimmer was tough, especially because the pace was a bit quick for me. As we turned the last buoy and headed for shore, either I was blowing up or she picked up the pace because I was no longer in the protection of her bubbles. I began to panic, looking around for other feet to get on and struggling to find the true direction of the current so it could bring me into shore. But as I dropped off, I slowed into a pace that was SIGNIFICANTLY SLOWER. I kind of picked it up as I reached the shore but I was SO READY TO BE DONE SWIMMING. I stood up too early and tripped coming out of the water. When I ran up the beach around the cone, I realized how much the swim was taking out of me because I was short of breath. I ran down the shore as far as I could then dove in again for my 2nd grueling lap. I was in her bubbles again but I couldn't regain and sustain that pace. I was intimidated by knowing I had an entire lap to do again that that pace was too fast for me to hold on my own. I was so conflicted because I knew I HAD to hang on if I wanted in that pack. But I got dropped on the first section back out and settled into my solo slow pace again. I passed a couple guys so maybe that tricked me into believing I was going fast. But I noticed my breathing had slowed down and I wasn't hurting as much. I kicked harder and tried to pick up the pace after the last turn since that was it. I swam a 23:29 which was 8th fastest.
My second exit wasn't as bad but still could use some work. My coach was saying “40 seconds down – just GO – the girls behind you can't help you!” We had to run around this cone before getting our bikes to equalize it out. So I grabbed my helmet fast, unracked my bike and ran up over the bridge and out of T1 in :28.
BIKE (40K, 4 out-and-back laps, turnaround by transition area is pretty technical/turny). I didn't put my shoes on until I got through the technical section and out on the straight road. I looked back and thought I saw my friend behind me, so I was like, ok we can work together… but it was actually this other girl on the U-23 team. My first thought was – woah why did SHE swim slower than me? But she was ready to work together to catch the group ahead. 40 seconds CAN be made up with two people working hard because it'd take a bit for the bigger group ahead to get organized. But another girl caught us and asked “do you guys want to work together?” – DUH! But she was kinda dumb with the pacelining. Before the turnaround we saw the second pack and another girl somewhat behind. They weren't too far ahead on that first lap. We went by the single girl and I said “pick it up if you want on”… and she got on but had a tough time pulling through for the rest of the race. We should have dumped her right away. At the end of the first lap, I led it in and my coach shouted “Michelle just get away!” But honestly I wasn't feeling like attacking. There weren't any good spots, I wouldn't be able to catch the group ahead because 40 seconds had turned to 90 seconds, and I didn't think I'd be able to lose the U-23 girl. I did try when we came back through the technical section on the start of the 2nd lap. We shook one girl but she got on again. So it went like that for the next two laps, except the U23 girl was attacking through the technical section at the end of the laps. I ate 2 Gu's and drank only a bit more than 1 bottle of water with a Nuun tablet. The last lap we shook one girl for good, then the last girl certainly wasn't doing her share in the paceline. I yelled at her a bit, then the U23 girl said to just go and we tried attacking from the front but the girl vainly held on. “F$%@ this!” said the u23 girl and sat up, and I sat up too and let the slow girl go by. We sat in behind her for a minute. Then we swung way left and attacked hard, and the girl couldn't get on. We hammered until the turnaround, about 1-2K… it hurt though, yeah, OW. So U23 girl and I worked, taking longer pulls since there were only 2 of us. Unfortunately since it was a smaller group, we dropped off the pace but at least we weren't giving any free rides. I was hoping to come into transition first but she attacked at the same spot and I just caught a ride in. I was thinking, dang how am I going to outrun this chick? She usually puts down good run times. But we went out together and I stayed right on her heels. We had biked 1:06.20 and T2 was :39 for me.
RUN (10K, 2 out-and-back loops) I was terrified of running with this girl. I knew she was capable of running fast and I was scared of what I'd do to myself mentally if I let her drop me. I started feeling like I was getting a side-stitch and I adjusted my breathing to fix it. I took over the lead for a bit and we switched around a couple times. Then on a downhill, I increased my cadence and dropped her for good. Relieved, I switched into hunting mode, knowing that some girls would blow up on the run and may be catchable. I kept hearing steps behind me but they were just guys. Just before the turnaround, I saw the leaders. The girl who was last in front of me was a girl on the U23 team. I was in 8th place, but it would be TOUGH to catch them. So I switched my thinking again, knowing I was being chased. I wanted top 10 – that was the goal and all I had to do was not get passed. I pushed it hard up the hills and accelerated downhill, fast cadence. The water stations were AWESOME – with cold water and hoses to spray us down. I got passed by a Canadian chick at the end of the first lap. It's ok, I was still in ninth. My first 5k was 20:45 or so. I focused on negative splitting my next lap. My coach told me “no one in sight, keep running strong.” On the way out for the 2nd lap, with all the drenching myself that I was doing, my soaking wet shoes started to rub my feet. The BLISTERS were coming back!! I blocked that thought out, pretending they weren't there. After the last turnaround, I saw the girls behind me, and it seemed like they had been gaining. Terrified that I wouldn't get top 10, I worked hard on the way back, building my pace as I got closer to the end. I actually probably didn't increase pace but rather maintained with increased effort. I held my form together well and had room for a good kick. I need to remember to check out the last ¼ mile so I know where to start my kick. I forgot to think about relaxing my shoulders though. My 2nd 5k was 21:02, pretty close. I finished the run in 42:06, 6th fastest out of the women.
My overall time was 2:12.58 – a PR for me! Haha but we can draft on the bike, yeah yeah. Overall I guess I was pretty happy – 9th isn't bad for a 2nd pro race. And I looked back over the results (yes in a very obsessive manner) and determined that if I had made the 2nd pack out of the water, I probably would have gotten 5th since I would have run faster with competition. So that means for the next few weeks, if you don't know where I am, try the pool first.
Next triathlon race is in 3 ½ weeks – New York City Continental Cup. I'm excited because the swim is essentially neutralized with the current! YAY!
Thanks for reading!
