Windy Possibilities: 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!