Rev3 Williamsburg Olympic Tri - June 23, 2013

Pre-race
I re-packed my transition bag(s) on Saturday night before headed to bed. Sunday, we got up at 3am and started getting ready. No tri-tat problems this year! Woo hoo! When we woke up, it was raining... and raining... and raining. I had my normal breakfast of oatmeal. I stashed a Larabar & applesauce, just in case I was hungry pre-race.

It's EARLY!

 We finished getting ready and got in the car right around 4am and headed to transition. We got parked (which was really the big concern) and sat in the car for a bit. At 4:40, I decided to suck it up and get T2 set up.

Too much rain makes for a quiet morning

Trying to keep things dry

Around 5 or so, I decided we needed to get on one of the busses to take us to T1. This decision would be the single best decision I'd make all day. Turns out that the line for the busses got REALLY long and caused some people to be late to the start line. Once in T1, I got my bike tires pumped up, set up everything else (well, kept it all in a bag to keep it as dry as possible since it was still raining), and then walked around to hang out with Jon for a bit. Around 6:25, we headed down to the swim start so that we could watch the pros go off at 6:30. Except, they didn't. The start was held for about 15 minutes because of the busses being busier than anticipated & apparently some people decided to park on the bike out course, so the Rev3 group had to flip the swim in/bike out locations. The pros went off at 6:45 and they changed the swim starts to be 3 minutes between waves instead of 5 to try to make up some of the time.

Setting up transition - blurry!

We got to ride on the bus!

I look so happy, don't I?! Nadia just looks nervous.

Swim
No question about it, this swim was hard. Apparently the super moon has a HUGE effect on the currents and tides. I didn't know this (mostly because I don't pay attention to those sorts of things). We watched the pro men & women go off, then all of the half athletes. You could see the current moving every one left. That definitely meant it was best to start as right as possible, so that the current took you left towards the first turn buoy.

Chillin before the start

Pro guys going out

My new heros. Seriously. These parents are outstanding.

Sky blue caps headed out! Look at all of those Zs!

One of the many boats bringing people in. There's a count of up to at least 100 being pulled out of the water.  Rough current!

A friend, Alexis, came over & said hi before our wave start. Sandy found me in the corral, as did Jess & Tracy. Nadia was staying towards the back and taking her time, so I found my way to my starting position.

Around 7:25 (which was our original start time), our wave was off. I started as right as I could. We walked out to the first buoy. Then, the swim/fight started. The current was definitely taking us left. I got past the second (sighting) buoy and started making my way towards the turn buoy. I feel like I spent 5 minutes trying to get to the buoy after I turned to make the turn around it. It was like being in one of those never-ending pools. Anyhow, I finally made it to the red buoy and then kept fighting the current. And fighting, and fighting, and fighting.

At some point, I had another sky blue cap was backstroking and kept swimming directly over top of me. Every stroke, she'd hit my legs down. I was seriously being pushed down every time she stroked and no matter where I moved, she seemed to move with me. Needless to say, I popped up and let her go past me just to get away. The current and chop was enough to keep me from moving too far forward. I didn't need someone pushing me down too!

I finally reached the second turn buoy and made the turn. This turn was definitely easier to make. I set myself on a course for the shore and started heading in. It seems like the current changed because I found myself very far left (headed in... which would've meant the current was now in the opposite direction as when I was headed out) of everyone else.  I swam in as much as I could and then walked the rest of the way in. I saw Jon and yelled for him a few times, but he didn't see me. He was so worried about finding me in the water, he never looked for me coming OUT of the water!

Apparently a few of the spectators figured out who he was and got him to get up to T1 to meet up with me. Thank you spectators!

My head is just behind the woman in the white hat. Guess it was good that Jon caught me there.

T1
I got into T1 and Alexis showed up. We seem to be rack buddies at almost every race we do together. It's awesome. Jon & Kevin (her tri-sherpa) showed up and we chatted with them for a few seconds while getting helmets & shoes on and packing up our swim to bike stuff. I made a split second decision to hand my swim to bike bag to Jon. Alexis did the same (to Kevin). This turned out to be a VERY good decision. We grabbed our bikes and headed out of T1.

Road bike shoes today

Headed out

Once out of T1, we ran into traffic. No, literally... ran into traffic. Apparently the ferry had just gotten in and the police allowed them to go ahead and held us up. This didn't bother me all that much given that I'd rather that the angry motorists (and some of them were down right rude) go ahead and I'll follow behind so that they can't hit me. Just sayin. (Side note, I saw my old coach while we were all held up in this. I can't say that I was happy about how she acted during this. Having someone there who knew her name did get her to snap out of it though.)

Traffic Jam!

Bike
After the traffic jam, we mounted our bikes and headed out. The olympic and half courses were the same for a while. It was nice when the courses split. Things definitely spread out a good bit when that happened. For the most part, the bike was uneventful. I had my custom Infinit blend on my bike and made sure to drink at least a sip every 5-10 minutes. I knew that even though the swim & bike temperatures were comfortable, the run was going to be hot. Had to get those electrolytes in!

Around mile 14 or so, there was a caution on the course. There was also a volunteer out vocalizing and using hand signals to let us know that a rough patch of road was coming up. We had been warned about this section during the pre-race athlete meeting. It was definitely rough. After the rough patch, I went to change gears in the front and I couldn't down shift. Crap! I was stuck in my big ring (up front) for the remaining 10 miles of the race. Thankfully this wasn't a super hilly course or I would've been in trouble. But, I made do and just went for it.

I had been playing leap frog with another woman throughout the course (depending on the hill/part of the course, one of us would be in front of the other). She dropped almost everything off her bike at one point trying to get nutrition out of her bento box. So, when she pulled over, I asked if she was ok. She came back and kicked my butt getting back in. Either way, it was nice having someone around!

I was so happy to be coming in to transition. When I got there, I saw/heard Jon and then our friends Donna & Jim. It was so great to see them! With the rain in the morning, I wasn't sure they'd be there.

Dismounting

T2
T2 was pretty uneventful. I racked my bike, dumped out my T2 bag, sat down, put on my socks, put on my shoes, and reapplied Body Glide under my arms. I drank a bit of water, threw on my hat & race belt and headed out to the run.

Just chillin in T2

Hiiiii!

Run
The run went ok. I started out kind of slow. Given the quad problems I've been having lately, I was taking the first couple of miles pretty conservatively. Like 12 minute miles conservatively. I took my first Island Boost around 25 minutes in. After the turn-around, I was able to pick up my pace a bit and for the first time EVER ran a negative split! Say what?! (I didn't figure this out until it was confirmed after the race by my results.) I took another Island Boost around 45 minutes in, knowing I had about 30 minutes left.

I saw Nadia starting her run when I was at about mile 4.5. I was soooo excited to see her! I yelled "Is that a Nadia S that I'm seeing on the run course?!" I gave her a huge hug and told her she was doing great and to keep going. A guy behind me told me that it was awesome that I motivated her like that (as he passed me).

Shortly after that, there was a guy running in briefs. There was a woman behind him. At first she had this look like "what the?!", then the look changed to "I might as well enjoy the view!" I said to her "I saw that!" She laughed and said "no you didn't!". Totally made me laugh. I needed that right about then.

Coming down towards the transition area, headed out towards the last turn around gave me just the burst of energy I needed. After the turn around, I headed back up the hill towards the finish line.

Seriously. My heros.

Headed in

And DONE!

Post-race

I was so excited to see Jon, Donna, Jim, and their family. They were so sweet & it was good to meet some of her family. They said congrats & chatted for a few minutes and then headed out. I sat down at the Team Z tent, changed my shoes, and eventually changed my shirt. It wasn't until I got back to the trailer that I realized they gave me a half shirt instead of the olympic. Oops!

It started out as a rainy day and turned into a hot, humid day. The one thing I regret is not putting my sunscreen in my T2 bag. I should've done it even though the radar said it was going to rain for the rest of the morning. Lesson learned.

We waited for Nadia to come in. I was so excited to see her finish this race. She wasn't sure she'd even finish the swim, so to see her finish was amazing. Love ya girl!

Mmmm, Island Boost! Gave me the boost I needed to get to the finish!

Overall, not my best showing, but I had a GREAT race & had fun. That's what this season's all about, so I'm good with it!

Results
Swim: 45:21 (Not bad for how hard it was! Also, the results say it was a 1932m swim instead of 1500m.)
T1: 7:07
Bike: 1:31:15 (This included the long wait to get onto the course)
T2: 1:05
Run: 1:14:23 (Negative split baby!)
Overall: 3:39:11

Placements
Division: 44/52
Overall: 382/443
Gender: 176/216
Wave: 88/107

Ramping up to Rev3 Williamsburg

One week until Rev3 Williamsburg! Yikes!

Lately, I've been biking a good bit. I forgot (over the winter) how much I really enjoy it. I need to get out more! I also need to drag my husband out with me.

We start training for Space Coast Half Marathon on July 23. I'm looking forward to it. We went exploring (on our bikes) yesterday to check out the new neighborhood trails. There are so many now! The community's gotten so much larger than the last time we rode around.

Gotta get through this week and Rev3. Then... to actually put in some training for Luray Double.

Zooma Half Marathon - Annapolis, MD; June 1, 2013

Some days are good days, some days, well, aren't. Today wasn't. And that's ok. I can still run and do all of the things I love to do, so I'll take it.

Note: This is probably one of the longest race reports I've written and I feel like it's rather negative. If you want the short version: I didn't have a good race for many reasons. I have several lessons learned. I'm not sure I'd do this race again.

Pre-race

I signed up for this race because I've had several friends tell me how much they've enjoyed this race in the past. It's rolling hills, so it's also a challenging course. The course was a little confusing on the map - there were a lot of out & backs within the course. I've biked part of this course as part of TriRock Annapolis. (I can honestly say, post-race, that I prefer to bike it.)

The weather snapped this week and it's now summer. Given that it was in the 60s last weekend, I was a little frustrated that the forecast was for 92 or so for race day.

I made the mistake of not packing my race bag (that had to be kept in the car due to city of Annapolis paranoia) the night before. I made a list for race morning and called it a day.

For some reason, I haven't been sleeping well for the past week. I got into bed around 10pm and at least laid there to rest. I was up around 3:30ish, with the alarm going off around 4am.

I packed up all of my stuff and got ready for the morning. I had a LaraBar for breakfast and brought a few snacks. It was going to be a hot day and I knew I'd need something else pre- (and possibly post-) race and it'd probably need to be salty. We headed out at 4:30 for an hour drive to Annapolis. Once we got there, I headed straight for the port-a-potties since it was super early and I knew the lines would be longer later.

Navy- Marine Corps Stadium, Annapolis, MD

Zooma Start/Finish

Flags at Navy Stadium

Finish chute

Navy- Marine Corps Stadium

I met up with a Disneymooner friend, Meredith. I was so excited that someone else I know was doing the race. We chatted a couple of days before the race and decided that we were close enough in pace to run together for a while. It was so good to chat with her and get to know her a little more. (Disneymooners are a group of Disney brides that I belong to. Some of my closest friends are people from this group.) As we were chatting in the days leading up to the race, Meredith said that she's had a problem finding nutrition that doesn't upset her stomach, so I offered to bring her some Island Boost. I made sure to give her the Island Boost as I was loading up my race belt.

Meredith & I pre-race

I had some applesauce pre-race (about 45 min before) and some water. Looking back, I probably should've started eating my nuts pre-race. Live and learn.

Race time
Around 6:45, we hopped into the corrals. I noticed that along the side of the corrals, they had "pace per mile" charts listed. Unfortunately, they were thigh high and the crowds were thick enough you'd have to know they were there to see them. Meredith & I just happened to see the first one as we were walking in to the corrals.

Mmmm, Island Boost!

Island Boost & electrolytes, just in case

I was a little surprised that we didn't start out with the National Anthem. (Later, Jon asked if we could hear it, because we apparently did start out with it... it just wasn't loud enough that a couple thousand people could hear it.) I also didn't hear the race start, we just started gradually moving forward.

We crossed the start line and took a lap around the parking lot. The run was actually pretty enjoyable for the first couple of miles. At mile 2, we had our first water stop. This was probably the best run one of the entire day. They seemed ready for the runners to come by and had a good number of volunteers.

Right around mile 3, we were in downtown Annapolis. It's such a pretty town once you get into historic downtown and towards the water. As we ran down towards the water, I took my first Island Boost.

When we hit the mile 4 marker, I realized that my Garmin said 3.75 miles. Uh oh, something's off! For the remainder of the race, my watch didn't match the course markers. Normally I blow this off, but this was a significant enough "off" distance that I was wondering what was up. (Strike 1)

There was a water station at the bottom of "the" bridge that was completely ridiculous. If you needed/wanted water, you had no choice but to come to a complete stop and wait for it to be poured. This water station was NOT well run, had 2 volunteers and one of them was filling people's water bottles. They apparently ran out of cups at some point. (Strike 2)

Up until now, Meredith & I had been running in between the 2:20 and 2:30 pace groups. We decided to walk the hill on the bridge. We ran down the other side and then walked up the next hill. Somewhere in the next few hills was another water station - with 3 people. The 2:30 pace group had just passed us and we were at the water station when they were. The 2:30 leader was talking with one of the volunteers... who was originally the 2:20 pace group leader. Not sure why she dropped out of the race, but she did and started helping with the water station (which was much appreciated). I took my second Island Boost around mile 6.

Around mile 7, there was another, better manned, water station. There was also SHADE! Most of this course is not shaded, so it was hot! Another few hills and back to where the mile 7/8.5 water stop was. It was around this time that my achilles started to twitch. NO NO NO! Ugh. I told Meredith to go ahead because this meant I needed to walk more than run and I didn't want to hold her up. I took another Island Boost around mile 8.5 (I was taking them every 30 minutes or so).

I texted Jon to let him know that I wasn't keeping my "desired" pace. Around mile 9, I seriously considered just calling it a day. I have yet to have my first DNF and this is the second race this year I've thought "this isn't worth it today". My legs were alternating cramping between achilles on my left leg & calf on my right leg. I took my electrolyte tablet around mile 9, but I knew it was too late. (Lesson learned... again). My hands were swollen and it just wasn't good!

I got over "the bridge" again and kept moving. There was no mile 10 mile marker, which several people around me commented on. There were several turns on this course that there were no volunteers at to tell us where to go, and the course wasn't marked other than cones. Usually, if there aren't volunteers, there's chalk markings or something giving you a direction.

After the mile 11 marker (where my Garmin read 10.6 miles), I was VERY confused. I knew where the mile 12 marker was since we had just passed it. Just before my watch read 11 miles, there was yet another turn around... and no one telling us where to go. A small group of us reached the point at the same time and were all confused about where we were going given that there was an officer at the corner and the cones just stopped... and we were supposed to be on the "non-traffic"side of the cones. Hmmm. So, the one guy in the group asked the officer and thankfully he knew that it was a turn around.  Side note: the water stop along this part of the course was relatively well managed (unlike quite a few of the others). Somewhere in between miles 11 and 12, I took another Island Boost.

At this point, I was ready to be done. When I passed mile 12, my watch said 11.75, so I knew the course was short. There was a great group of volunteers, who I think were the mile 2 waterstop, cheering everyone on. They were very appreciated at that point.

By the time I got back to the parking area of the stadium towards the finish chute, I was confused... again. There was no volunteer telling us where to go and the cones just stopped (at an intersection) again. Thankfully a quick question to the people standing there made it a bit more clear.

As I was coming down the finish chute, my calf started to cramp up again. Bad. It was a good thing I was finished. Jon told me I did a good job when he saw me and I barely acknowledged him. I was not in a good mood and knew I needed water & salt. I think the first thing I said after I had the cold water was "there's a bag of nuts in my bag in the back of the car, please get it". He's such a great sherpa... he ran over to the car and got it for me. Jon asked if this was worse than the Hot Chocolate debacle. For me, it was. I didn't have a lot of the bad experiences many others did for several reasons (note: most people did NOT have a good experience at that race and I was one of the few that did). Here, I feel like we all experienced the same issues.

One other point of confusion I had the entire race: the course was not marked into "lanes" of any sort. Basically, there were cones to guide us to stay on one side of the road. However, since the course was a series of out and backs, there were people running in both directions within those cones. Particularly between miles 10-12, people were running all over the place.

Headed in to the finish line

Just glad to be done (I'm kind of glad that you can't fully see the look on my face here!)

Since the race, Zooma posted the following on their Facebook page.

"Runners we are aware that due to misdirection on the course both the half marathon and 10K are about .25 miles short today. We know this is frustrating and we are so sorry this happened."

This was followed by the next post:

"We would like to take a moment to publicly address the runners who may have been disappointed after todays race. We share your frustration and can assure you that we are paying attention to each of your concerns. Our team will be discussing each of them with the intention of using your input to improve future races. It's difficult to pour your heart into a race and not have it go as planned, unfortunately mistakes happen. We appreciate your support."

The course being .25 miles short was better than it being long... especially on a hot day like today. I was more upset by the course markings, lack of volunteers at key locations, and lack of properly staffed water stations than by the shortage! My hope is that Zooma takes the comments that have been posted to heart and that they are able to correct the issues that occurred. 

My personal bad day had very little to do with them & more to do with the fact that my body "didn't wanna". It happens. I'm thankful that I can still get out and do races, (usually) enjoy myself, and just do my thing. 

Lessons learned that I can correct:

1) I seem to re-learn my salt/electrolyte/heat nutrition lesson every year. I need to remember warm weather racing nutrition in future years and stop re-learning this lesson!
2) Hilly courses are not good for my achilles. Still.
3) When my achilles starts to act up, it's time to call it quits. This way, my gait doesn't get all screwy (causing blisters and other cramping).
4) Check the electrolyte tablet dispenser if bringing it, or just put them in a bag.
5) When in doubt, carry my water... even when I don't feel like it.
6) Know the course. In triathlon, we're required to and I often carry it with me to be on the safe side. We're not "required" to in running races, so I don't (plus, being a MoP/BoP runner, I am rarely alone!).
7) Figure out all of my race nutrition needs based on my real foods diet now. I had it figured out last year, but changing what we eat on a daily basis has changed what I can tolerate. Island Boost is VERY well tolerated! Being hypothyroid and changing the diet for that has really changed my approach to nutrition in general. This will probably always be a work-in-progress item.

Lessons learned that I cannot correct:
1) Volunteers need to know the course at the station they are assigned.
2) Volunteers need to be assigned at each course turn.
3) Police need to be assigned at each intersection where cars are anticipated.
4) Water stations need to be appropriately manned and ready for 2000+ runners to hit them.
5) Runners need to realize that everyone's trying to do the same thing they are. (I heard one woman say another woman pushed her aside to get water at one of the stops.)
6) Swag bags need to be given out when race packets are picked up. For those of us who had our packets mailed to us, we should be the only ones picking up swag the day of the race... and we should be able to do that pre-race instead of post race.
7) Have enough "snack boxes" for the runners. While I didn't even attempt to get the one that I should've been able to get, I hear they ran out of the post-race food. Not sure what happened there as you know how many bibs you've got registered.
8) Mark the course clearly enough that people aren't running into each other... literally.


Race: Zooma Half Marathon, Annapolis, MD
Date: June 1, 2013
Weather: Hot (80s at 7am) & sunny, very little shade on this course
Overall time: 2:51:52
Overall placing: 959/1086
Women placing: 900/1023
Age group placing: 159/183

Update: Zooma is offering a discounted race entry into any remaining 2013 Zooma race or for any 2014 race.