Week 30: Wildflower Long Course Completed? Check.

This week I was tapering in preparation for Wildflower 2008. Last year, this was my event that I trained for and unfortunately did not finish the course because they start the old ladies last giving us the least amount of time to finish. ANYWAYS, tapering. Which for me meant only swimming twice for the whole week and then trying to get all my camping stuff together. Race report below:

Friday
Woke up early to pack all my stuff in my car and head over to Yi's. We wanted to be on the road early to avoid traffic. We headed out at 8am for our 3-4 hour drive. Had a quick stop over in Soledad for lunch and made it to Lake San Antonio around 11:30am. Coach Ted arrived earlier in the week and had kindly set our tents up for us. All we had to do was set up inside our tents and then we were off to pick up our registration packets at the Expo. Came back to camp, had a great dinner cooked for us by Susan. Then I hit the sack around 8:30 after taking a Tylenol PM (the stuff is amazing).

Saturday
Woke up at 5am and started moving about, getting dressed, making oatmeal and making a spare peanut butter sandwich for my 2 hour wait at transition. The night before I had been trying to visualize my transition set up and also my race but I kept falling asleep during the swim! I did, however, keep telling myself that I would do the swim in 45 minutes, which would be 10 minutes faster than last year. Packed all my stuff up and we rode our bikes down to the transition area and began setting up. What was really important about this day was to remain calm. I had been telling myself over and over again that it is just a training day. Yes, I wanted to make the certain cut off times and yes I wanted to complete it, but I also wanted to stay relaxed. The great news was, it worked! I really wasn't nervous at all despite the 8 trips to the bathroom!


Swim
At 9:20am my age wave started and I waded slowly into the water and started to swim. The water was a balmy 65 degrees (balmy compared to our 50 degree bay). Typically in an open water swim I freak out in the first 15 minutes and then once that is over I start the business of swimming. For this race I decided to use my tempo trainer which I use in the pool to regulate my stroke. It's kind of like a metronome for swimming. I hoped that if I started to panic, that I would be able to focus in on the tempo and get my breathing under control. It worked! I actually SWAM this course. Usually, I swim for a bit and then do some water running and then swim some more and do some doggy paddling. This time I was able to keep my head down and just go, once I even counted up to 100 strokes before I had to stop for a breather. Once I rounded the corner to come back to shore, I looked at my watch and saw that it said 30 minutes had passed. Last year I swam this course in 55 minutes and was pretty sure I could do better. However, when I looked at my watch and realized I was just slightly more than half way at 30 minutes I was a little worried. The thing about doing these kind of endurance things is that, I can't do any kind of math while I am in the process. Looking at my watch, I thought that 55 minutes was 10 minutes away from 30 minutes. I was really disappointed until about 5 minutes later while I realized, hey wait! It's TWENTY-FIVE minutes away! At that point I knew I'd set a PR for this swim course and I started swimming my ass off. I started to panic, too, with all the fast swimming and stuff but I made it and pulled myself out of the water at 44 minutes!

Bike
I ran up to transition and got ready for the bike. I hustled as best I could as one of the things I wanted to work on was my transition times. Last year I spent almost 10 minutes in T1. This year? 5:54! I hit the bike course and immediately recognized Mika from the spring team last year. MIKA! I yelled as we peddled up Beach Hill. Last year we were on the bike at the same time too...or rather, last year she passed me on Beach Hill...and this year was no different. We chatted briefly and then she was gone. I told myself that I wanted to take it easy on the hills, since the most challenging part of this course is Nasty Grade, a 4 mile incline that starts at mile 42, is only made more difficult if you push yourself too early on the course. At the top of Beach Hill I realized I had strained my lower back a bit (related to my bike accident in September) and I spent the whole ride with a stiff and aching back. Trying to take it easy at the next hill at mile 4 I dropped my chain, replaced it but then had to run to the top of the hill for an easier start. That is when Renee from my team rode by me and I caught up with her. We leap frogged each other the whole course and I believe that really helped to make the ride so easy.

The ride itself was uneventful and not difficult at all. A year ago I couldn't say that as I found it to be one of the most challenging rides I had ever done. However, after spending the summer on the TnT cycle team and doing all those crazy rides with them, this 56 miles was now a piece of cake. The night before Mike Kyle, an awesome teammate, told me that when I passed him on the bike that I had to tell him a joke. I was like, awww Mike! I'm not gonna catch up to you, you're way faster than me and you are leaving about 20 minutes before I am! But as I was approaching Nasty Grade, who do I see on the side of the road? Mike Kyle! I didn't have a joke but was so impressed with him because he had stopped to help a fellow rider with a flat. He caught up to me after that and we rode together for a bit before he pulled ahead up the hill. I was whizzing down the backside of Nasty Grade and hitting the flat when someone yelled my name. It was Deb! She wasn't doing so hot, feeling nauseous and having GI issues. I slowed down so she could catch up to me and I could see if she needed anything. Then this woman passed me in an Ironteam jersey and said, You're not faster than me. I was like, huh? I had originally passed her and then slowed down when I saw Deb and, as it happens a lot in these races, people get bitchy. She was basically telling me that I had no right to pass her because clearly I wasn't fast enough to stay in front of her. Well, eff that! And after I made sure Deb was ok, I was like, OH NO SHE DINT!, and I took off and left her in the dust never to see her again. So you know what Ironteamer from some other team? I AM FASTER THAN YOU. Then I whizzed by Jesus, I mean Mike Kyle who was again helping someone on the side of the road and said, Deb is behind me and she doesn't feel good! Turns out, Mike waited for Deb and rode in with her and then went with her on the run. What a guy! Last year I did the bike course in 4:50, this year I did it in 4:06.

Run
The whole last part of the bike I had been repeating my mantra of: shoes, run belt, visor to make sure that my transition ran smoothly. Headed out on the run in 4 minutes! Whooo! Started running and was like oh, I have about a million tiny stones in my shoes from when I came out of the swim and just put my socks on. I stopped and turned my socks inside out and then kept going. Then the hell started. The run course is 13.1 miles and about 10 miles of trail and rolling hills. Hills so steep you can't really run up them and then so gravely you can't run down them. About an hour and 15 minutes later I looked at my watch and I had only gone 3 miles. Shit. I have to pick it up. The course closed at 5:30pm and I started the run at 2:20pm. I had slightly over 3 hours to do it and had almost wasted half the time and had not gone half the distance. I started speed walking like a maniac. Hahaha. What was really disappointing is that I wasn't really tired, my legs weren't hurting but every time I tried to run I got the worst intestinal distress. At that point not "urgent" but I realized that some point I'd need a bathroom. Luckily I knew there were porta-potties all over the place. At mile 6 we ran through our camp ground and there was Heidi, Tessa, and Susan all cheering me on...then I detoured for the bathroom! I realized that I needed to run as much as I could for as long as I could after that "elimination" to make up for the time I lost early on. Mile 7 I rounded a corner leaving the campsite and this older woman and her husband were cheering and she yelled, Go on! You're doing great! You're a good girl! ...and inexplicably I started sobbing. I ran all the way to mile 8 and then had to walk. Hit the bathroom again and then finally got dumped out onto the road. No more trail! Headed down a 3/4 mile long descent into the "pit." As I was running down, there was Yi walking up the other side! We hoped that she would super slow and I would walk super fast and we'd catch each other but it didn't happen. At mile 10.5 I was walking up from the pit, I looked at my watch and saw that I only had about 25 minutes to make it to the finish line. I was really worried at this point, realizing that I probably wasn't gonna make it. But then I said to myself, you have to! You have to make it! So I buckled down and ran the best I could. On a good day I can barely run 3 miles in 35 minutes but I knew the last mile was a descent into the finish line so I thought it was possible. I rounded a corner and I heard the announcer who was stationed there say my name! That gives you such a push! Then all of a sudden I was at the top of Lynch Hill which meant I only had one mile to go. I looked at my GPS and realized that it was a mile behind. I looked at my watch and realized I had about 10 minutes to get to the finish line. You bet I started booking! I flew down Lynch Hill running a 7:40 minute mile which is just ridiculous. I was passing people left and right. I dumped out into the shoot and saw the official time clock indicating that I had about 36 seconds to get to the finish line. I started hauling ass. I heard my name being yelled by teammates in the stands and I heard the announcer saying Heather Aronson from San Francisco! I crossed the finish line and yelled FUUUUUCK!!!! as the volunteer handed me a wet towel and put the medal around my neck.

Hez coming in strong, looking skinny and like she is dying

Then it was over. 8 hours and 9 minutes and here I was at the finish line with no one around. I wandered around the finishers corral and then I saw Kristi walking towards me. She asked if I just finished and all I could do was nod and then I burst into tears. Hahahaha. She hugged me and then there was Renee who had finished a bit earlier because she passed me on the run course. We decided to go stand in the lake to cool off, to cool our burning feet and to help reduce the swelling of our muscles. On the way down there I was telling her my nail biting, race finish story and how I only had 36 seconds before the course officially closed at 5:30pm. She looked at me and said, Dude. the course closed at 5:45pm.

*blink blink*