My goal for this race was really just to finish. Normally my
goal is much loftier (a win, podium spot, WC slot) but after the rough
pre-season I have had I really just needed to get a race under my belt.
In February I had a strange running injury that caused me to
drop out of the Surf City Half Marathon at mile 5. I followed that up nicely
with a car accident a few weeks later that left me with whiplash and a
concussion and unable to train for a little bit. With a DNF at Surf City and a
DNS at Desert Tri, I knew I wasn’t in good racing shape, but I needed to finish
a race for my own peace of mind. That race would be Oceanside.
Normally I go into a race with confidence knowing I have
trained well and that I am prepared. This was the first race where I knew I
wasn’t prepared and it wasn’t a great feeling. By mid- week the concussion
symptoms were back and I literally stopped at the neurologist on my way to
Oceanside. Not the best sign. Friday morning I cut all of my workouts short
because I felt so bad and I went back to my hotel room pissed off and worried I
would add another DNF to the season.
Luckily I had a great group to hang with on Friday (Tyler,
Erin, Dusty and Karin), which kept my mind off of things and allowed me to
relax. Karin wasn’t racing so she was our Sherpa, which proved really helpful
on race morning. While everyone else biked in the dark to T2 and back over to
T1 we all jumped in the fancy Range Rover and were escorted to the race site.
This was a big relief, as I knew I would somehow manage to crash if I was
riding my bike in the dark with 3 bags hanging off my bike.
I got in my usual warm up and then hung out with Erin until
it was time for our wave. When I saw the pro men come in around 20 minutes I
knew it was going to be a fast swim!
The Swim: 29:39,
6th place
The water temp was perfect and the conditions were great. My
goal was not to get a horrible headache. Since the accident, swimming has
caused the most severe headaches and I was worried the cold water and
adrenaline might make my head explode. I started at the front and had the
cleanest easiest swim ever. I got a little frustrated having to swim through so
many people from earlier waves (I was wave #16) but other than that I had no complaints.
I haven’t raced a 70.3 in almost a year and I realized half way through that I
was probably putting out more of an Ironman effort and needed to up the
intensity. I was really comfortable the whole time and I don’t think that
should be the case in a half! Something I need to work on.
The Bike: 2:45:31,
4th place
Anyone who has done this race knows what the last half of
this course is like. If you are not in good climbing shape it will be obvious,
and it was.
The first 25 miles are fast and pretty easy. I figured with
a sub 30- minute swim I had to be in a fairly good position and I just wanted
to hold on. After a few miles a girl came up next to me and we continued to jockey
back and forth for about 20 miles. I was fighting hard to not let her go, but
once we hit the long climb at mile 25 she dropped me and I wouldn’t see her
again (she ended up winning). During this part of the course I started getting
passed by a lot of girls. I knew going into this race I was not in climbing
shape due to all of my injuries and set backs so I tried not to get frustrated
and just maintain a consistent effort. This is also the point my headache
started to kick in. It wasn’t the horrible type of headache I had been getting and I just prayed it wouldn’t get worse. Miles 25-40 were pretty rough with the hills
and the headwind. Thankfully the last 16 miles were fast and we had a nice
tailwind (which has never been the case when I have done this race in years
past). I knew I was going to be 5 minutes shy of my bike goal but I was happy
that I was almost done with the race and my headache had not gotten worse.
The Run: 1:34:42,
4th place
I cringe just seeing that run split. This was my worst half
ironman run ever! This is usually my favorite part of the race since I am a
better runner than swimmer or cyclist, but my leg had been acting up so much in
the last week I wasn’t sure how this was going to go. Within the first mile or
so I passed a woman who complimented my pace. A few seconds later she was by my
side telling me that the first place girl was just ahead of us and that we were
going to reel her in together. This is just what I needed as I was not feeling
the typical spring in my step. Together we started picking up the pace and although
we were still running slower than I had hoped, she was pushing me to get it
together. The next 6 miles were great as she motivated me, yelled at me and
bribed me with promise of drinking together after the race (Audra Adair, you
rock)! Sure enough around mile 4 we caught the girl who we “thought” was in 1st place. We
passed her with confidence and it felt great to be really racing. However, the
fact I was not racing at 100% health started to become more apparent around
mile 7 as Audra pulled away. The next few miles I slowed to an embarrassing
pace and just hoped I could hold onto my position. At the last turn around I
spotted a girl who was too close for comfort and that motivated me to pick it up.
What I didn’t know was that there was
someone 30 seconds in front of me! UGH. I crossed the line and Audra was
waiting for me (as she promised) and we both celebrated what we thought was a
win for her and 2nd for me. It took about an hour (love ironman tracking) for the results to be
sorted out. We found out that Emily, the girl who passed me at mile 25, had
won; Audra had taken second and I had slipped to 4th (30 seconds
behind Stacia). I was definitely bummed but not as hard on myself as I normally
would be given all the issues I was dealing with. It really just felt great to
be back racing, seeing old friends and making new ones (I now need Audra to run
with me at every race)!
Finish: 4:55:34,
4th AG, 10th OA
Up next is Wildflower Long Course followed by Kansas 70.3
and Vineman 70.3. I just need to work on
getting healthy (and staying that way) so that I can grab a Vegas slot.
I have to thank my coach, Joanna Zeiger, who puts up with
all of the curve balls I throw at her and keeps me calm and sane in the midst of
it all. I also have to thank everyone at Altus (if you are in LA this is the
place to go) for helping me with my slew of recent injuries.
I am looking forward to a fun and injury-free season!
