Sportybrains

Now that I've had a nap and a Skinny Mocha from Starbuck's (two of my favorite Sunday items in case you care), I thought it would be as good a time as any to write up some thoughts and high points from today's Cypress Triathlon (for Houston locals-formerly Bridgeland Tri). Today I was to close out my short summer tri season and put another somewhat frustrating running summer behind me. I wanted to do well today, and feel I did just that. And lucky for the reader: this may be my last "long" race report!!

Pre-race was pretty uneventful and unusually calm for me. I went with what works for dinner, penne pasta with spinach and salmon for dinner, oatmeal with peanut butter and sports drink for breakfast, and a Stinger Gel before the swim. I felt like I hydrated and rested well this week to prepare as a new snap suddenly appeared in my legs for the days leading up to the race, something I didn't have pre Texas Star. We also were blessed with a cool front making conditions bearable for SE Texas in August.

My process goal for this race was to simply focus on myself, what I could control and what I could do over the course. When I wanted to look at the start list, I didn't, when I wanted to look around and size up others, I managed to refrain. I just may be growing up:)

Swim-550 meters Open-Water: 

This was a big race with well over 1000 participants, I believe. There were 14 or 15 waves and my AG was #13. While this was good for time management and not feeling rushed, everyone seemed out on the course by the time we waded in, treaded water and went off. After losing a little warmup effect, it took me about 100 meters to get comfortable and in rhythm, but when I did, it was surprisingly comfortable. I just focused on long strokes and saving energy. It occurred to me near the one turn that I was having a pretty good race. My friend Richard actually was a pleasant surprise at the shore and he pulled me out onto the beach, and I went into T1, which wasn't fast but wasn't slow either. I swam pretty good for a non-fish, in 10:39. Oh, and the water was grayish brown-but I chose not to acknowledge it and fortunately, I don't think I got much in my mouth!

Bike-13 miles

I am a decent cyclist, but with travel over the past couple weeks and a slow increase in running mileage the bike took the back burner a bit in training. It actually took me until half way through the course to get comfortable and in a groove. Jockeying with two other women in my AG made it challenging, then I remembered my race plan "focus on YOU". Ok self, point taken...

The last few miles I rode under the red line, but solid enough to keep me in contention. And I started feeling energized again-I put another gel in my water bottle with a spoonful of beta alanine with a salt tab. It looked weird having brown liquid in there (it was a basic Honey Stinger) but worked like magic-I never wanted hydration on the run, which is weird for being such a heavy sweater. T2 I feel I did a better job of getting my stuff together. I came in at 37ish and was a little over 20 mph.

Run 3.1 :

I took off from the grassy transition area onto the residential run course-most of it on sidewalk (eeek!). After having some trouble focusing on the run in spots last race I actually wore a Garmin on this part. My shoe choice was the Saucony Virrata-light and responsive. The first half mile I thought I was running respectively, but upon looking down saw 6:03 for the pace. Um, need to dial back a bit-at least at this stage! Although the first part of the run felt the easiest it has in a long time, I slowed quite a bit to stay around current LT and was glad I did as the last mile got a tad tedious. I kept telling myself how I'm getting my toughness back, and that I'm having a great race and going to do so much better than my last race. In the last quarter, I found the energy to surge past a few more athletes and put in a 1:13-good enough for the podium in a big race. Even though the Virratas are now banned for how tired and sore they made my "project foot", I felt great afterward and accomplished for the season. Avg pace was 6:56, an improvement from last race and a sign things are trending positively and was fastest in my AG. Telling myself "you're having a great race" was much better than "you're out of shape" or you have work to do".

At the time of the awards ceremony, I was listed 1st AG 30-34, with the fastest run, 4th fastest bike and 11th fastest swim. I'm sure my transitions were pretty slow, but whatev. Total time was 1:13 and I'll gladly take it. I think post awards another girl in my AG was ahead of me (whoops!). The medals were really sweet and awards were actually useful-engraved medal hangers!

While I don't race for swag, I have been wanting a medal hanger!

I'll note some things I did for recovery-first, after having a disturbing blood sugar drop after last race, I knew I needed more sugar just after. So I had my first Coke in about 2 years. And it was everything I wanted it to be. When I got home, in addition to foam rolling, I took an epsom salt bath-especially with still-repairing foot muscles, it was very helpful. You should try one sometime.....but hydrate while you're in there.

My takeaways for this event are that I run/race better relaxed. Comparing myself with other athletes is exactly what I read and convey to others: useless, and I am starting to find my mental toughness again. As I shift back to run focus, training my mind will be just as important as my runs and recovery practices. Today's run I am happy with and can't wait to see what Coach Doug has in store in the next cycle. Til then, I get a recovery week-and I will gladly take it to 'hit reset' and move on.

Thanks goes out to Doug Storey for keeping me corralled for my run training as I build, and of course my sweet sponsors Oiselle and Honey Stinger.

Race. Recover. Repeat. Get stronger!

Stay the course.