The Austin Tri aka TriRock Austin Race Report

The Austin Tri is one of my favorite tris, I love the course (only course I like more is Cozumel), I love the organization (High Five puts on a great race!), I love that it's local so I get to race with friends, I love the loops on the bike & run so I get to see tons of spectators! I just love everything about this race! 2012 would be my 5th Austin Tri- it was bought by the TriRock series, so it's new official name is TriRock Austin, but it's still the same race. I was feeling pretty good about my tri season so far this year, so I set a goal of PRing at Austin even though I knew my 2010 PR would be really hard to beat. Looking at the weather forecast, I thought it would be a great day for a PR (my 2010 PR was an odd cloudy, cool Labor Day) Sunny, 9 mph south wind, and high of 101 ("but it should 'only' be 88 when I finish"). In retrospect, I was a bit delusional.

Ed, Linda, Cindy, Eva, Kim H. Kim B., me, Katie, Jill, & Laura. Photo by Kristen Carey

Pre-race & Swim
Pre-race was pretty typical, up at 4:00am, meeting lots of friends in transition, hanging out at the team tent before heading down to the water for the start. The swim course was a little different this year, they've had a huge growth of fanwort in Town Lake, in some areas (most of the original course) it's way too thick to swim through, so this year we swam mostly east instead of west. I didn't think anything of it and assumed it wouldn't make any difference for me. I know a lot of people don't like swimming in Town Lake, but I have always enjoyed it. I don't think it's any "dirtier" than Lake P-ville, Lake Travis or anywhere else we swim, and it's certainly cleaner than the Ski Ranch water! No wetsuits this year, I got in the water with the other purple caps, and swam over to the start line, and heard "5...4..."seriously? already? ok, good thing I swam straight out to a good start spot! "GO" Not too much contact at the start and I felt pretty good. I noticed quite a bit of fanwort on that first stretch heading west, but we turned quickly and there wasn't much plant life after that. Crossed under the First Street bridge and headed toward the Congress Bridge- cool I'd never swum under First Street before! As I got close to Congress I started to smell the bat guano, I had not thought of that before the swim! We always smell it running under the Congress Bridge (where the famous Austin Bats live) but now I was actually swimming through bat poo! Ok, maybe this east bound course isn't so great after all. It also seemed like the water got choppy in that area, it was a little windy and they had boats out for safety so that's not really surprising, but I would turn to breathe and get a mouth full of water instead- yuck! I checked my watch at the turn but I knew it wasn't the halfway point and it didn't really tell me if I was on course for goal time or not. As I got out of the water I saw 36:xx on my watch! WTH how in the world did that swim take me 36 minutes?!? Goal time was 33 minutes. Yikes! Official swim time was 36:28  my slowest swim time at the Austin Tri ever! This was shocking to me because I felt good during the swim and I feel like my swim training has been going well.

Out of the swim. Photo by Miguel Ortiz

T1
As I was running up to my bike I could feel the KT tape on my ankle coming off- not cool, I had practiced swimming in it and it stayed on fine. (I've had a slight Achilles "thing" for a while, it's really more of an annoyance than an injury, but I'd like to keep it that way, and the tape seems to help). I got to my bike and decided that I had to at least take off the bottom piece of tape that was coming off anyway, so I sat down on my towel to do it right, put my socks and shoes on while I was sitting, I actually put one sock on upside down first (heel of the sock on top of my foot) I've never done that before! Then I got the rest of my stuff together and got out of there. 6:00 for T1- my longest T1 ever at the Austin Tri- not looking good for a PR so far! But I knew if I had a good bike & run I could still make up for it.

Bike

Starting the bike. Photo by Kristen Carey

I was happy to be on the bike course and I knew I'd have to work hard to beat my fastest time of 1:31. I turned onto Congress for the first time and started up the hill, my legs felt kind of tired and sluggish- not at all what I was hoping for. I struggled to the top of Congress, turned around, enjoyed the downhill and hoped my legs would warm up and feel better soon. The rest of the loop is mostly flat and my legs didn't feel too bad even though I was pushing really hard to bring up my speed after a slow start up the hill. I hoped they'd feel great for loop 2. But as I started up the hill the second time, if anything my legs felt worse and that headwind had really picked up! I was getting a little frustrated that I didn't seem able to do what I had wanted and I tried to think of why my legs might feel sluggish. During loop 2 I realized I hadn't taken my Sport Legs this morning. I started using them early this year and they seem to work for me, so maybe that's why my legs felt sluggish (the Sport Legs issue might deserve it's own post). I pushed super hard during loop 2, but was still behind where I wanted to be. Up the Congress hill the 3rd time, I just tried to survive, it seemed crazy windy and it was crowded since most of the sprint racers were on the course by then too. I checked the wind speeds later in the day and toward the end of my bike there were gusts of 22 mph, so it really was crazy windy! Even though I had a tougher bike than normal, I still loved it! I loved flying back down that tough Congress hill with a tailwind (5 years ago I was braking and scared to death going down that hill). I loved riding through down town Austin toward the Capital, I loved hearing my name tons of times on the course, sometimes I knew who was cheering for me, sometimes I had no idea! I loved seeing so many teammates and friends on the course and cheering for each other. Even on a tough day, that's one of the best bike courses around! Bike time was 1:36:38, exactly to the second the same as my 2011 time (when it was ridiculously crazy windy the entire day).

Finishing the bike looking happy. Photo by Kristen Carey

T2
 T2 was 3:27, nothing too interesting there, except that giant step up to get onto the course, I'm pretty sure they had a little step in between last year.

Run
I started running and my legs still felt tired & sluggish. I hoped maybe it was just a brick feeling and they'd feel better soon. It already felt warmer than I expected, and I knew all hope of PRing was gone, so I just wanted to have a decent run. Mile 1 was actually pretty quick considering my legs didn't feel great. By mile 2 I was already getting hot and I ate my emergency sport beans. I was also feeling really thirsty, which is rare for me.  Up the little First Street hill and back down, I was already halfway done! I LOVED seeing and hearing all the spectators on the course- so much fun even on a hot, tough day!

When I saw Kristen I had just eaten my sport beans and needed to walk a few seconds to let them settle, so I pretended to run for her :) Photo by Kristen Carey

and then I laughed at how funny I was :) Photo by Kristen Carey

I had never even heard of Vitalyte the course drink and I knew I couldn't put something new into my sensitive stomach during a hot race so I had planned on just water and my sport beans if I needed them. But by the first aid station on lap 2, that Vitalyte looked tempting, instead I took 3 cups of water, drank them all and walked for a minute to let it settle. Kim H. and I kept passing each other the entire run, at least 5 times I think! It was fun to see her and it was a great motivator to pass her again, or not let her pass me again! I was still really thirsty and getting hotter. I thought it would "only" be 88 when I finished, but it "hotted up" faster than forecast and it was over 90 on my second lap. I even felt like my quads and calves might cramp which has never happened to me before! I saw the girls handing out ice and this time I stopped and grabbed two big handfuls- ice is the BEST on a hot run! Thank you to those girls- whoever you are! At the next aid station I did take a cup of the Vitalyte and it was super cold and tasted pretty good. I walked for a minute to let it settle and it seemed ok. But I still felt super hot and thirsty, I wished I had worn my fuel belt (which no one does for an Olympic distance). I tried to really enjoy the shady points, and at the last aid station I took more Vitalyte and water and walked again to let it settle. That's when Jason O. saw me and cheered like crazy "RUN Heather RUN!!!" I told him, probably not as nicely as I thought, that I drank that Vitalyte stuff and I had to let it settle...and he said back "I'm sorry, I'm just trying to encourage you"...wonder what I actually said to him, sorry if I was mean Jason! Saw Kristen again and this time I was actually running- Yay! Then up First Street one last time and all downhill to the finish! Run time was 1:15:08, about 7 minutes slower than I was hoping for.

Actually running the second time I saw Kristen. Photo by Kristen Carey

If I'm not having a fast race, I might as well have fun! Photo by Kristen Carey

Overall time was 3:37:43 my second slowest Austin Tri ever. I really can't figure out why... I've been training really well, I've PRed other races this year, I know I raced as hard as I could because I was absolutely exhausted after I got home. At least it's a really awesome race, so I enjoyed it and had a good time even though I wasn't as fast as I'd hoped. Nicki and I were talking about it and she said "sometimes it's just not your day" All I can say is, I really hope it IS my day at Kerrville!

I look pretty happy for it "not being my day" Photo by Kristen Carey

Jack's Generic Tri 2012

 I hadn't really planned on doing Jack's this year, but then I found out it fell on my birthday and that this would be the last High Five race at the Texas Ski Ranch, the ski ranch isn't my favorite triathlon location, but since this would be the last race there and on my birthday, I decided I wanted to do it. When does someone get the chance to do a triathlon on their actual birthday? and when they're turning 35- going into a new age group, I thought it might never happen again, so I definitely wanted to do it!

Sunrise at the ski ranch

I've done Jack's twice before, in 2010 and 2009. When I raced in 2009, it was actually a cool day in August, I don't think it got above 80 all day! I had a really good race that day and didn't think I'd ever beat that time. So my goals for this year were to beat my 2010 fastest bike pace, and I knew if I beat it by enough and had a good run maybe, just maybe I could get a PR for my birthday, but I wasn't going to be upset if I was way off a PR, it was forecast to be 100 degrees on race day. Then Jeff and I went hiking at Colorado Bend State Park the day before the race, we hiked about 9 miles and I fell down a river bank. About 6 miles through the hike I told Jeff, "I have revised my goals for Jack's, now I just want to have fun racing on my birthday."

Jeff and I pre-race. I'm wearing the birthday tiara, on top of my new Newton Running visor, it's just hard to see

Jeff and I pulled in to the ski ranch at 5:38am, I know this because we were a few minutes early and I wasn't sure they'd have the gate open and be ready for parking yet, but the main lot was almost full already and we got one of the last super sweet spots in the main lot right by transition. I went to set up transition while Jeff napped in the car. Katie body marked me and wished me Happy Birthday and "welcome to my age group" I've technically been in the 35-39 age group all year (USAT rules go by your age on Dec 31), but this was the first race where I really raced in my new age group (I raced in my new age group at Marble Falls, but all women under 40 started together and since it was an out of town race, the only person I knew in my new age group was Kelly Green). I walked into the transition area and was immediately greeted by Happy Birthday wishes and hugs from lots of Tri Zoners and other friends  and lots of "you're wearing the birthday tiara!!" Mohamed even gave me a Newton Running visor for my birthday! Thanks Mohamed!! I hung out with Tri Zones and TWCC before the race and got lots more Happy Birthday wishes.

My wave was set to start at 8:24, Jeff gave me a good luck kiss and Carolyn volunteering at swim start wished me Happy Birthday as I got in the water. I looked around for Amy B. I had seen her that morning (when she and Matt gave me birthday hugs) and I knew she was in my new age group, but I didn't see her. Then all of a sudden she was right beside me and said "hi Heather, I didn't know you were in my age group" and I replied "I'm in your age group NOW" to which she replied "oh yeah, it's your fucking birthday! Happy Fucking Birthday!!" Which made everyone around us laugh and a few strangers wished me Happy Birthday, then Jen Ritchie said Hi and Happy Birthday, I didn't realize she was in my new age group! Then just before the start (Logan was counting down as she was singing) Amy sang me her favorite birthday song "This is Your Birthday Song, It isn't Very Long"...GO!!!

The Ski Ranch water is pretty disgusting, a combination of goat poo (goats live on the island in the middle of the pond), oil, and silty mud. They have to do water quality tests, so technically it's safe, but it doesn't always look, smell or feel good.

goats on the island

I started swimming and immediately got gross ski ranch goat water in my mouth- yuck!! My legs felt tired when I tried to kick faster, I knew it was not good if my legs already felt tired! I swam a little too far to the outside by accident and when I got to the first turn buoy I was way outside of it. But otherwise I had a good (but gross) swim. As I got near the shore I could see and feel all the disgusting muck that gets stirred up and sticks to your face- Yuck! I was glad this would be my last swim in this water! I made sure to exit to the right side so the volunteers would grab my right arm to help me out and not my left scrapped up still sore arm. And someone handed me a wet wipe as I ran up to transition- thank you whoever you are! Swim time was 11:30, my fastest Jack's swim time is 11:16.

T1 was 2:59, 10 seconds faster than my previous fastest T1 at Jack's.

I got on the bike and my legs didn't feel too bad up the first hill, Red flew by me and wished me Happy Birthday again. Then Eva flew by and wished me Happy Birthday too. It became a theme (I'm a decent swimmer but a pretty slow cyclist so I get passed a lot on the bike) everyone I knew who passed me wished me Happy Birthday, then people around me who didn't even know me said Happy Birthday too- Fun! Plus I had Amy's stupid "This is Your Birthday Song, It isn't Very Long" stuck in my head! The first half of the ride went really well, I was averaging over 16mph (awesome for me), and the roads weren't as bad as I remembered. Then I turned onto the chip sealed road from Hell- Yuck! My scraped up arm actually felt ok in the swim, but on the rough chip seal it vibrated and really hurt, I couldn't wait to get off that road. The nasty road was longer than I remembered and I thought "I will not miss this bike course!" really it's just that one road, the rest of the bike course isn't bad but I got sick of that nasty chip seal fast this year. I was really feeling every little hill after hiking so much on Saturday too. But soon I got to turn back onto the frontage road and fly down the big hill, in the past I have been nervous on that hill, but this year I loved it! Bike time was 54:25 (15.2 mph) best previous bike at Jack's was 55:24 (14.9mph) so a course PR on the bike!

T2 was 1:36, 11 seconds faster than my previous fastest T2 at Jack's, even with an extra second or 2 to put my birthday tiara on my running hat!

I don't know how I ran a 10:12 pace at Jack's in 2009, but I knew I couldn't beat that, especially since it was already getting hot. I hoped to keep my pace under 11min/mile but I knew even that might be tough since my legs were tired from the start. I love the run at Jack's and I will miss that part of the ski ranch course. It's just an out and back, but it's mostly uphill out and mostly downhill back, my strategy is always to push harder than I think I should on the way out and then take advantage of the downhill on the way back. I also love that I get to see all my faster friends on my way out and my slower friends on the way back. It was especially fun this time, since I was wearing my birthday tiara and everyone wished me Happy Birthday! There were more people around me on the run than there had been on the bike, so it felt like everyone racing wished me a Happy Birthday! Fun!! My Garmin said my first mile was a 10:20 pace- wow that was way faster than I thought I could do! Mile 2 was about the same and I tried to pick up the pace as I ran around the lake to the finish line. Run time was 30:58, 10:19 min/mile.

Almost to the finish! Photo by Miguel Ortiz

 I didn't know my overall time when I finished, I knew I was close to an overall PR, so I kept checking the results pages, it took them a long time to post mine! When they did post them, I was looking at the page from 1:43-1:47 finishing times (my previous Jack's times were 1:45:39 & 1:45:51) so I thought mine still wasn't up, I checked the page above and there I was at 1:41:29!! wow a PR over the time I thought I'd never beat by 4:10! I didn't find this out until later, but I was also in the top half of my age group which has never happened for me before at any race! So far I'm loving being 35!!

Very Happy post race! photo by Miguel Ortiz

After the race, we went to the Gristmill for lunch with Vanessa, Miguel, Sandra, Jenny & JoAnne. We had a great time and they even got me a birthday dessert- strawberry shortcake, my favorite!

Vanessa, Miguel, Sandra, JoAnne, Jeff, me, and Jenny at the Gristmill- Yum!

me with my birthday strawberry shortcake, and still wearing the birthday tiara :)

 I had an absolutely Awesome time doing a triathlon on my birthday!! Thanks so much to everyone who was there and made it extra special!!

Couples Tri 2012

Cool finisher medals! Photo by Ed Sparks sparksphoto.smugmug.com

Couples is one of my favorite races. It's a Jack & Adam's/High Five event so it's really well organized and has a super fun atmosphere. The course at Decker Lake is fairly tough, but I kinda like it anyway. I had a pretty tough race at Couples last year since I raced with bronchitis and a sinus infection. I hoped to redeem myself this year. I hadn't raced a tri since February, so I was really excited!

Connie and I Coupled again this year with the same name "Heather & Connie's Excellent Adventure" and we did packet pickup and lunch together again too. We had a great time (maybe better than last year since we actually knew each other this year!).

I went to bed but got woken up by thunderstorms, I knew that might make the bike course wet and slower and it would make the run muddy, I knew my chances of PRing the course might not be very good on a wet course, but I knew I'd still have a fun race so I wasn't too concerned. I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm and got up to check the weather forecast, it said 70% chance of thunderstorms at 7am- oh no! I knew if it was stormy they wouldn't let us swim. I just hoped the forecast was wrong.

I got to Decker early enough to get a sweet parking spot and as soon as I got out of the car, I heard Logan announce "there is no chance of rain until 11am today" hmmm, I hoped he was right! I got my transition area set up with the other Tri Zoners racing in the "female friends" category, then headed to the tent to hang out. I planned to use Pre-Race for this race, I knew it could be really good or really bad. At 7:40 I drank my bottle of Pre-Race. A few minutes later Eva asked what Pre-Race was (I'm sure she was immediately sorry!) I could already feel it coursing through my veins as I jumped up from my chair and animatedly told her some of my crazy Pre-Race stories! **If my experience with Pre-Race today makes you want to try it, PLEASE see the disclaimer at the bottom of this post**

I got down to the swim start too late to do a warm up swim and I really wanted one. I couldn't stand still, I really wanted to get in the water! Finally it was our turn and I got in the water next to Nicki and Kim. The Female Friends wave is usually not very friendly at the swim start and this year was no exception, I swam the first few strokes Tarzan style to try to find some open water, I got kicked, hit and grabbed but nothing hard enough to really hurt. After a minute or 2 I found some space and could really swim, I knew I had to take it a little easy the first couple minutes since I didn't get a warm up swim. But soon I was warmed up and feeling good, around turn buoy 1 and onto the straight section, I took this a little wide to get around a few slower people, maybe I should have just swum over them, oh well. Turn buoy 2 and the home stretch felt the fastest! I crossed the timing mat at 19:03, compared to 18:10 in 2010 (my previous Couples PR, I'm not going to compare to 2011's dismal times), a little slower, but I had a good warm up swim and a great start in 2010.

coming out of the water. Photo by Miguel Ortiz

I hurried through T1 in 3:22 compared to 3:50 in 2010. I could feel the Pre-Race as I fumbled with my bike glove, then took a deep breath and chilled a little. This is actually my fastest T1 ever at Decker.

I rolled my bike to the mount line and waited a few seconds for the people in front  of me to go, so I wouldn't run into them. I hate the mount line, it's always crowded and unpredictable, I'm always afraid of accidents at the mount line. But I got going with no issues and sped down the first little hill. On Decker Lane I passed by Kim H. with a flat, Oh NO!! I've been working hard on my biking this year, so I really hoped to have a good ride. I hoped my Pre-Race focus would be on a fast bike. Turns out my Pre-Race focus was on optimal gearing. (I thought about gearing when I rode Decker with Sandra a couple weeks ago, so I assume that's where that focus came from) I tend to be a lazy shifter and am generally happy to coast down hills. But today, I HAD to have perfect resistance at all times! When I turned onto Lindell my average speed was 17.4 mph- unheard of for me! I got up Little Tard with no drama and as I flew down Blue Bluff, Sandra flew by me- wow she's fast on that new tri bike! I was having a great ride and so much fun! And I don't think I've ever pedaled so much on downhills! As I was working my way up Big Tard feeling super happy with my ride, I felt/saw someone passing me really close, I heard her say my name so I knew it was someone I knew and I didn't need to worry. Just as I looked over to see who it was, Laura reached over and pinched my ass!! haha!! Later she told me that she could hear me laughing as she came up behind me, I don't remember LAUGHING while riding up Big Tard, but I was happy enough that I believe it! Thank you Pre-Race!! I finished the ride in 42:37 compared to 48:02 in 2010, and at a pace of 15.8 mph, my third fastest pace in any tri ever (and at DECKER!)

I rushed through T2 as well in 1:44 compared to 1;51 in 2010. This is also my fastest T2 ever at Decker.

I think I'm trying to wave at Ed here. Photo by Ed Sparks sparksphoto.smugmug.com

I started the run right by Laura, we chatted a little, I told her I had an awesome bike, I assumed she'd get ahead of me since she's a fast runner, but I was keeping up right behind her! I stayed with her almost to the top of powerline hill, then I had to walk for a minute and let her go. I also saw David spectating (while I was walking- sigh), at the top of powerline hill, I ran down the hill and into the woods still feeling good. Mile 1 was 10:44, maybe a little too fast for me on the wood chippy trail at Decker. Mile 2 was slightly slower even with quite a bit of downhill, my legs were starting to feel a little tired. Pre-Race makes me hungry (faster metabolism?) so I probably should have drunk more Infinit on the bike, I only drank about half my bottle. Mile 3 includes that huge hill, I walked most of it- I'm not sure I've ever run the entire thing, but today I walked quite a bit of it, even when I saw Lynn cheering at the top and heard her encouraging me to run! But I got to the top and was able to pick it up and run well on the flat into the finish. Run time was 34:42 compared to 37:20 in 2010. Under 11 minute miles at Decker! I'm blaming that on Newton running shoes instead of Pre-Race!

Finish Line!! Photo by Ed Sparks sparksphoto.smugmug.com

Overall time was 1:41:31 compared to 1:49:14 in 2010, a PR by 7:43!!

After finishing I went back to the big hill and hung out with Lynn, then ran in with Connie so we could finish as a team, hopefully Liz got a good picture :)

Even if Liz (official race photographer) didn't get a good picture, at least Ed did! Thanks Ed! Photo by Ed Sparks sparksphoto.smugmug.com

For all my concern about the weather, it was actually a beautiful day for a race! The bike course was dry and the run course wasn't really muddy at all!

As always, post-race at Couples was a lot of fun! I think my favorite moment was when I heard my name, I turned and saw some brunette I didn't know, but then I did a double take- it was Kim H. in a brunette wig! and Eva had a blonde one! Legally Blonde & Brunette wore backwards wigs post-race!

Thanks for being such a great Couples partner again Connie!!

**Pre-Race Disclaimer- Pre-Race is a supplement by First Endurance, it is completely legal but it is very powerful. It contains caffeine-which really affects me- and other interesting stuff that does things like "increase mental focus" which sounds great, and it is when you can focus on the right thing. I have had some great experiences with Pre-Race, and some really miserable experiences with it! For me, I don't necessarily get to choose what I will focus on, but Pre-Race definitely makes me focus on something! When it's the right thing- it's great, but when it's the wrong thing it's pretty awful! If you choose to try it, please try it in training a few times before racing on it and please start with just half a scoop! The scoop is tiny, but a little goes a LONG way!! Obviously it affects different people differently, and it REALLY affects me, just ask those who hung around me today!