Race Report CyMan Triathlon - Sept 21, 2014

After the Hy-Vee triathlon I was pretty pumped to go out and give CyMan all I had and try for a new PR.  My body conspired against me in the week leading up to the race and on the Saturday before the race I was not sure I be up to racing.  

I managed a strong training run on the Tuesday morning leading up to the race, but things quickly went downhill from there.  One of the more common symptoms for people with Multiple Sclerosis is fatigue.  I had not had a significant fatigue problem since June and all in all have been feeling pretty good.  However reality hit and I found that the end of August and beginning of September my stress level started to creep up on me with my two kids starting school, soccer, band, as well as other things going on in my life.  All that stress wore on me until Sunday the 14th I started having hints of a problem.  By Wednesday night “Lead Arms” were in full effect.  Fatigue manifests itself such that it feels like both arms and legs are weighted and all I can do is sit very still while my mind runs great and my body is on pause.  Thursday I spent the day on the couch waiting for my body to lighten and tried to go to work Friday morning but found myself back home on the couch by noon.  I was finally feeling better by Friday around dinner time and manage to participate in family activities Friday night and Saturday but still was not sure I would feel up to racing on Sunday.

The Kyle's Bike 2014 Triathlon Team
(Robert, Scott, Christian, Laura, Me and Andy)

Saturday afternoon I prepped my bike, loaded my gear (I actually remembered everything this time) and operated under the assumption that I would feel good to go Sunday morning.  The great thing about CyMan is that is starts an hour later than most races so I rolled out of Ames Sunday morning to head down to Bondurant around 7am feeling rested.  I got myself set up in transition and spent some time chatting with the Kyle’s Bike team as this was the first race all six of us were doing together.  It was a beautiful, albeit very windy, morning and while my hopes for a chance at a PR were dashed I was certain my race would be solid.

In the wetsuit waiting for the start (photo Katherine R)

I was not sure about wearing my wetsuit but after a stern talking to from “coach” I wrestled into it for the first time in three years.  I was the last wave to go in after the Olympic racers and all the sprint racers so struggled to stay warm in the cool breeze even with the wetsuit.  The swim start is a standing water start so I was able to get a good spot and pulled out front with another woman to lead our pack.  We were heading into the sun to the first buoy so I had found some landmarks above the buoy on shore before the start to keep my line.  After coming around the first buoy around 300 yards out we went left into the wind and the water was very choppy and stayed that way around the next buoy until about 100 yards from shore.  The 750 yard swim went well enough and I came out of the water second in my group in 13:43 with the best swim time out of the Kyle’s team for the first time all year (Andy you are tough!) and my fastest time of the season.

Coming out of the lake (Photo Katherine R)

After tugging myself out of my wetsuit (T1 2:02) I was off on the bike for 14 plus miles.  Wind was going to be a factor or maybe it was my legs as my bike miles have been low this year.  I did not feel strong the first couple of miles up the road with the cross wind.  I was trying to remember what the course looked like and how much of it would be into a headwind.  As it turns out not much but most was with a stiff crosswind and rolling hills. I was on my way back before I got into a good grove, it was my worst ride of the season at 50:17 (ave speed around 15 mph).

Starting the Run (Photo Katherine R)

I redeemed myself a little with my second fastest transition of the year (T2 @ 47 seconds) and was off on the run.  FINALLY I had perfect run weather with a little sun in the 60s and a nice cooling wind.  Once I made the turn onto the trail beyond the lake I was starting to get into the grove.  I was afraid to look at my watch but snuck a peek going into the second mile and was stunned by a pace under 9 minutes.  The run felt great and was a bit of redemption for all focused training runs the last month and I ended the 5k with a time of 27:51 which was my fastest 5k time of the year and left me with an overall time of 1:34.42 which was almost my slowest sprint time of the year but I felt great about things as a whole.

Showing off my hardware (Photo Christian B.)

The final outcome got me a second place age-group finisher spot (out of 3). This was the first time I did CyMan (sponsored by the ISU triathlon club) at this venue and it was a well run race with a fun course.  Definitely on my list for future years.  My next race of the 2014 season will be the Des Moines Half Marathon October 19th. This is my first half marathon in three years so trying to get focused to get the job done.

2014 Triathlon Summary below with fastest times in bold.

Copper Creek swim (750 m), Bike 12 miles (hills/rain), run 3.1 miles(hills/humid)

Swim: 15:54 T1 2:08 Bike 46:59 T2 1:22 Run 32:25 Final time 1:38:48

Iowa Games swim (500 yds), bike 15 miles (hilly), run 3.1 miles (flat/hot)

swim 6:37 T1 1:35 bike 53:12, T2 0:36, run 29.10 ave 9.51 - 1:31

Bluff Creek swim (1500 yards), bike 25 miles (twister hill), run 3.1 miles (hills/humid)

swim 30 min, T1 1:22, Bike 1:29.51, T2 1:15, Run 1:09.54 Overall  03:12:28.7

Hy-Vee swim (750 m), Ts (huge), Bike 12 miles (flat/fast), run 3.1 miles (flat/hot)

swim 15:40, T1 2:36, bike 38:23 T2 2:12 run 29:41 overall 1:28.30

CyMan swim (750 m), Bike 14 miles (hills), run 3.1 miles(flat/fast)

swim 13:43, T1 2:02, bike 50:17, T2 0:47, run 27:51 overall 1:34.42

As always thank you to my race sponsor Kyle’s Bikes and Discounttrisupply.com as well as my Kyle’s Bike and Triracers teammates.  It has been an honor to race with you all this season.  It means a lot to me to know you are out there on the course keeping me going. Also, a big thanks to my Facebook Family and all the encouraging words. You have lifted me back up when I felt like I had a huge hurdle to overcome. Thanks most of all to my family who put up with me through another season of training and chaos. Even if you don't come to the races its good to know I have you to come home to.

Race Report - Hy-Vee Triathlon - August 31st Des Moines

My ID for Transition

Race Tat the night before

I was apprehensive all week about doing another Olympic race after I imploded on the run at Bluff Creek.  I came up with a nutrition plan, I worked with my trainer to improve my strength, and had a few solid workouts in the last three weeks.  I also contacted the race officials to see if it was possible to move me from heat 22 (second to last) to something earlier as I was worried the heat and humidity on the run like it has in my other races.  I am still getting a handle on doing triathlons with MS since heat causes a flare up of symptoms.  The last couple of weeks with the stressors of all things related to my kids starting back to school I have struggled with nearly constant flare-ups in my hands and feet.  The race director decided to move me to heat 12 which is a para-athlete heat so they could keep an eye on me.  

We had a crazy amount of rain last week (5” in two days up in Ames) causing flooding to the race bike course, so the officials changed the distance from an Olympic to a sprint (750m swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run) which is half the distance.  I was disappointed and considered bailing out of the race because of some family issues that came up on Friday.  Ultimately, I decided I need to do this for me because of all the hard work I have put in the last couple of months.   I went through the athletes briefing Saturday and then dropped my bike off.  I had to ask for help finding my spot because they have the para athletes located at a different spot which had me set up along the blue fence that separated the 5150 racers from the age groupers (like me).

My spot in the middle of transition
Note there are just as many bikes behind me

Due to the sheer size of transition (over 2000 athletes) and my location within it was a bit of a solo endeavor for me.  I got to transition around 5:15 am to set up my gear and realized I had forgotten my hat and sunscreen.  Once set up I went to see if I could hunt down any of my Kyle’s bikes or Triracer teammates in the dark of transition.  I bumped into Triracers president Jim and chatted with him while he set up his space.  He had an extra visor and sunscreen and was willing to share, and I was extra grateful for that out on the run course.  I saw a couple other folks but once they closed transition everyone dispersed and made it hard to find people.

I headed around the lake to the swim start while listening to updates for the pro athletes on the course.  Their course is an Olympic distance and the rest of the athletes were not allowed to start until all of pros were off the bike course.  All the 5150 championship folks (qualified for a slot at other races) went off in wave starts around 8:20 with 10 heats.  The age group folks started around 8:50 with the elite athletes (super fast) and then it was my heat.  I was the only one racing para in age group so I rolled off the beach solo with my Kyle’s Bike teammates in the heats right behind me.  The great thing about the swim was no traffic until I got to about the third buoy and that was very lite.  The bad thing was I had very little splashing ahead of me to site off of and my goggles fogged a bit making it hard to see the red/orange buoys in the water.  I had a comfortable swim and am good with the time at 15:40.

Taking on nutrition coming into T2

I took my time in transition (2:36 minutes) and got going on the bike. I realized in transition that I forgot to turn on my watch which also has GPS and was in triathlon mode.  I attempted to advance it to the bike setting but ended up in T2 so didn’t have any speed readings for my bike.  I also started to have blurred vision in my left eye during the ride and into the run which due to a combination of sweat and an allergy flare up so I just had to hunker down and grind through it all.  The bike course was really flat and fast and ultimately it didn’t matter as I gave as much as I had and ended up with an average speed of 19 mph with a time of 38:23 which is a solid ride for me.

Katherine grabbed a shot of me at mile 2

Next up was the run.  It was creeping into the high 70s with some humidity by the time I hit T2 (2:12 minutes) so I opted to race with my cooling sleeves again.  I love these because they bring my arm skin temp down and keep the sun off of me when I run.  The first two miles we had water stops every half mile or so and a lot of course encouragement from Kyle’s Bikes teammates racing and spectating.  The last mile really started wearing on me with no water to pour on myself and a fair bit of sun beating down.  I had no idea what my pace was and I just kept putting one foot in front of the other.  I ended up with a solid time with an average speed of 9:34 a mile and run time of 29:41 which still leaves me with room for improvement but was a solid time for me.  My final time was 1:28.30 which to my surprise is my second fastest sprint time only to my last Hy-Vee sprint race which had a significantly shorter swim distance.

Bringing it home

If I had been racing with my age group (assuming no heat issues) I would have placed 15th out of 36. They said I can race in the 5150 championship next year.  So for my age group this puts me top four on the swim, 17 on the bike, 23rd on the run.  I am still working through the mental issues associated with racing with MS but feel like I had a good showing at Hy-Vee and am pumped for my last triathlon, CyMan on September 21st in Bondurant.  Hoping to get closer to my last sprint PR which was a 1:24.50 in 2010.

As always thank you to my race sponsor Kyle’s Bikes and Discounttrisupply.com as well as my Kyle’s Bike and Triracers teammates.  It means a lot to me to know you are out there on the course keeping me going.