Not the Race I was Training For: USAT Nationals

Low-techie in my non-tri-related
Turin Brakes t-shirt

Just over a week ago, I took a quick jaunt to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for cheese curds and kringle, and also to compete in the USA Triathlon Age Group Olympic-distance National Championship on August 9. If there's a national championship within driving distance, I've decided to fit it into my schedule in order to make sure I mix it up with the best competition out there. Because… I've found it's easy to slack off when I'm not racing, and, as I get older, local races have had fewer age group numbers (although, I've seen this changing for the better).

And despite being eyeball-deep in Ironman training, Nationals stayed on my schedule because it was a qualifier for the ITU Age Group World Championship in Chicago next year - and that is definitely within driving distance and should be a great experience.

As soon as we got to Milwaukee, I had second thoughts about my lack of preparation for the race. Everyone was super-fit, riding the latest and greatest (read: fastest) bikes, wearing the fastest wetsuits, fastest clothing and fastest running shoes. As usual, all I wanted to do was slink away and hide somewhere with my low-priced shoes, four-year-old P3, sub-$400 wetsuit, and other non-gadgetry (a single multi-purpose Garmin, no compression socks, and free sunglasses). But then I went for a warm-up swim to find - again, as usual - that everyone was just as prepared (or unprepared) as me, and we all still needed to figure out the swim course, whether we should actually wear wetsuits the next morning, and how we're going to find our bikes in the huge transition zone.

There were almost 4000 bikes in transition.

I had nothing even resembling a taper, but I took the day before easy(ier) with a shorter swim and run, and I tried to get two good nights of sleep leading into race morning (although Expedia did everything to thwart that by allowing us to book a hotel with no vacancy two nights before the race, making us scramble around Racine at midnight on Thursday looking for a place to stay). Even though my legs were fatigued, I attempted to come up with a race plan - just to have one.

My race plan was simple: hammer the bike and see what happens. I guess it's basically the same thing I tried to do last year because of my hamstring injury. The difference was that this year I was able to run without pain, and I've working on bike speed by riding with faster riders.

I went back and read last year's race report only to realize that this year I had an identical (disappointing) race (on the bike). The water was a little warmer this year and the swim course was slightly different, but the rest was mostly the same.

W45-49 start

The water was calm and the women in my age group weren't overly aggressive - in fact, everyone was courteous in the water when any contact was made. I felt strong the whole time, visibility was good, and I came out of the 1500-meter swim in the top ten in my age group (time: 22:18). It was a long run to the bikes, and my overall transition was slower than I would have liked, but I was happy to finally win the struggle getting my wetsuit off over my heels.

Like last year, my bike leg began with pain and soreness and I immediately struggled to push myself. With all my long riding, all my body wanted to do was settle into a comfortable pace - you know, the way you do in Ironman. Aerobically, I felt fantastic, but my quads were sore and cement-like and protested immediately. Similar to last year, the first few miles of the 40K bike course were spent playing leap-frog with another woman. I passed her on the "hills" (not really hills but more "up"hill than the flats, and one was a long bridge) and she dusted me on the flats. The mostly-flat bike course has several turns and two turn-arounds. The most memorable thing during the bike leg was seeing the referee nail a guy for drafting. It happened right in front of me, and when the leap-frogger passed me, she said "that guy was a jerk!" (although I think she used a different word) - to which I replied "did you see they nailed him?" We had a laugh and then she took off.

Bike finish

My speed was pretty steady, but after the turnaround, five or six women in my age group passed me before we pulled into transition. To my dismay, my bike time - 1:09:37 - was only about one minute faster than last year. I had another slow transition struggling to both rack my bike AND get into my running shoes. Once I was running, things started to look up.

Without a specific time goal (sub-7:00 pace would have been good), I wanted to at least chase down the women who passed me on the bike. I managed to do just that. Only that. My first three miles were under seven minutes, I felt good and I wasn't limping. Around mile 5, everything changed. I felt like I had "hit the wall" in a marathon. I lost mental concentration and my legs felt heavy and discombobulated. At mile 6, I made the mistake of turning around - to see an age-group woman I had caught was now catching me. I willed myself to hang on, but my legs were revolting.

I've felt better at finish lines.

With less than a quarter mile to run, I dragged my uncooperative body to the finish while praying that I wouldn't get passed in the last few seconds (and thus die of embarrassment). It was good for sixth in my age group - by a hair. My run time was 43:28 - about three minutes faster than last year - and my total time was 2:19:41 (about four minutes faster).

My surprising finish place made me instantly regret not having tapered for this race. I guess I always feel that way after USAT Nationals because it has always come at an inconvenient time of year. And this year, I certainly never expected to be in the midst of Ironman Kona training. My choice was made when I took my Kona slot that morning in Coeur d'Alene. But standing at the finish line in Milwaukee, I wasn't thinking "big picture" - only reacting to one small moment in a grand scheme.

Now I can see clearer and be satisfied with it and look forward. There's always next year. In Chicago. In a new age group.

Thanks to my husband Jim for the photos, all the driving and support with these whirlwind weekend trips.