Day 64, Rev 3 Knoxville 70.3

Day 64:  Race Day, I really never seem to sleep well before race day. I always have so much running through my mind. I am hoping the more I race and get into a groove I will be able to sleep better before the race. The good thing though I was in bed by 9:30 pm, so at least I was relaxing. Race morning I felt pretty relaxed and ready to go. I got to transition around 6 am to get everything all set and since the forecast was calling for rain I set everything up in bags so if it rained I had try shoes to put on. With everything set up I put on my wetsuit and away we went walking down to the swim start and watched the pros get start at 7 am. My wave was at 7:38. Finally it was time to jump in the freezing water. The water was in the lower 60's. I think it seemed even colder because it was overcast and windy. The hardest part I think is being in the water waiting for the horn to sound to start. Finally the horn sounded and off all the females for the half went and we are all on our way!!!! I really felt pretty good in the swim. The first part of the swim was up stream and then we made a 180 degree turn to go down stream to the finish. I thought the upstream would have been a little harder but it felt fine. I knew I wasn't going to have the fastest swim because I really wanted to keep focus on my stroke and being able to sight forward without stopping which I am not good at, but it was all a success I spot forward without stopping the whole time. Also the Olympic distant people started after us so by the time we made out turn we were join up with all the Olympic people as well so the swim started getting crowd and the next thing I knew I was all mixed in with the men's wave from the Olympic. At first I started to get a little anxiety, but I calmed down fast and just kept my rhythm going and it was fine. It was really good experience because I know for Ironman Wisconsin it will be a mass start and there is no womens wave. I also realized I have to me more aggressive in the swim but that I am sure that will come with practice and experience. My swim time was 46:58, I was hoping for a little better, but whole well. Off to transition I ran with my wetsuit on since they didn't have wetsuit strippers. I need to be a little faster in my transitions, but I always like that time to relax for a minute to regroup and refocus on the next event. I got the wetsuit off with no problems and get all my biking gear on and away I went. Knowing all the hills to come I was I kept looking at the huge rain cloud getting closer and closer which worried me because this was the most technical bike racing course I have ever been on. There was only one thing to do is pray the rain doesn't come and keep moving forward. I guess all the praying worked because the rain held off. The rain held off but there we some other things that happened that made the bike that much worse. To start the hills, I don't even know what to say about them but WOW!!! I had to get get out of my saddle a couple of times for the the hills and I am use to hills because of where I ride.  For all you GA people it was a mix of Cartersville, Silk Sheets and the Gaps all rolled into one. UGH, it was tough. I really liked the challenge of the course though and I kept telling myself this is good training for Wisconsin because I know there is now way the hills in Wisconsin are like this. So where did all the problems come in on the bike? Well the way I have my drink system set up I need to get water at every water stop for my mix that I have. So at mile 10 when I was focused on grabing water there were also signs for the Half people to turn and the Olympic people to go straight. Well guess who missed the signs and guess who went straight. ME! Who knows how long it would have taken me to notice that I missed the turn until someone yelled "I think you were suppose to turn back there." Someone was looking out for me so I turned around and headed back. Thank God I only ended up going about .5 miles out of my way. Come to find out though, I was not the only one who missed there turn. There were a lot of people that missed the turn so that made we feel a little better when I found that out. Then at the second water stop as I went to grab the bottle and I almost dropped it so as I was trying to hang on to the water bottle and not let it drop since I needed it, I started to lose control of my bike but lucky I regained control fast and continued on my way. For a second though I thought I was going down lol. Oh and that is not it. After climbing another hill and switching gears to get ready to go down the hill I dropped my chain! Just what I needed, so I hoped on my bike and pulled it of the side of the road. I am not sure why but I was struggling getting my chain on and I am not sure if I felt pressure because it was a race, but it finally got on and away I went. Finally it was smooth sailing to the end of the bike course besides all the big hills I had left to climb, including the hill at mile 47 that was a mile long with switch backs. All I could think was WHY? lol I powered through it though and finished strong. I averaged 16.5, I would have loved to averaged higher but with that being one of the toughest bike course and knowing I still have to run 13.1 miles I think it was smart of me for right now so I could have a strong run as well. I finish the bike in 3:23:35. I forgot to mention one other thing about the bike course. Not only was I battling the hills there was also a killer wind out there. Hills + Wind = not so much fun for 56 miles. =) Transition 2 went well. Once again not the fastest but I like to change my socks and get comfortable for the run. Starting the journey on the 13.1 mile run I was still really glad it was overcast because if the sun was out that would have been a hot run!.Going into the run I felt really good and the legs were on cruise control and life was good! Then I reached mile 4. Mile 4 was the enemy there was a hill that was the mother of all hills. I thought I would give it a try and run up it and then about 5 strides in I said crew this and decided walking up was the best bet. =) I really thing there was not one person that ran up this hill. Not only was it steep and was long and I think if you tried to run up it the grade was so steep that it would have forced you to walk. Finally making it up the hill I started running again and then I started feeling pain in my right knee and knew this couldn't be good. My knees have been so good lately I was mad that I was starting to feel pain again. I kept pushing through until I hit another hill! I was starting to feel like I was on the bike course again. From mile 4 through mile 10 it was nothing but hills! I ended up walking up and walking down some of the hills just because of my knee because I was in pain, so I started taking it one mile at a time and that really helped. Finally I was back running past transition and I knew where I was and I had about .6 left and I was ready to be done. And then before I knew it I saw the finish shoot and I was happy and I was done!!!!! My run time was 2:12:38. With a finally time of 6:30:28. I am not that excited about my time but I guess taking in the the hills, wind and the things that went wrong I guess I can't be to upset. Looking at everyone else in my age group as well the 2nd and 3rd place finish were in the 6 hours as well, which is very unusual for a 70.3 so I guess everyone else struggled as much as I did. Overall, it is another race in the bag, with things learned and a great experience. I really think I would do it again, because I loved the challenge.  And if I had to describe this course I would say " Hills, Hills, Hills and more Hills. Oh and did I say Hills?" =)

You've got to believe you can win.  But I believe respect for the fact that you can lose is what you always have to keep in your mind so that nothing surprises you.

Andre Agassi - Winner of all four tennis Grand Slams