LURAY 2021- first tri POST (or in) PANDEMIC
This year, I will admit, I was NERVOUS going into the
race. I didn’t train this year as I
would typically- among still being mindful/semi-nursing my hamstring and hip
injury, I felt like I wasn’t 100% sure the race WOULD happen, and….. maybe I’m
just older and a bit more mellow?! I trained,
but not my 100% committed and focused Sharon-level training!
I hadn’t swam over the summer, so I Really just got back
into the pool in June. I swam 2x/week as
a goal, and those were both 1500. I
never went over that distance which also had me worried since I normally do
more volume, PLUS more actual workouts- intervals and hard work in the
pool. This summer, I really j ust swam,
enjoyed, did a little pushing here and there, but… mostly… honestly… tried to
get a tan!
I biked 2x/week as well.
I tried to build up to doing one longer distance of 30-35 and one was shorter
and more interval based- honestly even 12-15 miles sometimes, so not much bike
training compared to what I typically would do.
(one of these bike workouts was always a brick, if not both). (*For comparison, I used to try to bike
4-5x/week and I would definitely have a long of 50-60 miles/week).
My run was my current standard of 35 miles/week.
The week of the race made me even more nervous. I was
OFF. Mentally and physically. I even looked weird, my eyes swollen/puffy,
my attitude just frustrated and irritable and TIRED. TIRED TIRED TIRED.
I honestly hadn’t had a break over the summer and really
needed one. Needed to not be talking so
much, expending energy. I needed to
somehow refill myself. The things that
normally fill me weren’t even doing it- I wasn’t even going out to garden because
I was in a low place. Ugh. The week of
the race, I didn’t even do my taper plan because I was tired, irritated, and I
wasn’t eating my normally healthy food.
I of course tried to mentally get myself into a good place
and be excited for the race. I know I love going there and being in the mountains
and I was hoping for the race to be a good solid day. I just didn’t want to be disappointed and
feel terrible.
Race morning- we got there of course early, long dark
drive. Saw a black bear ambling in the
street in front of us when we were 2 miles from the park! I felt okay that morning physically and was
very nervous as people were lining up for the swim. It has been so long since I”ve been in an
open water swim, plus environment with others swimming so close to me. The swim began, I did start relatively at the
front, even though I’m not a strong swimmer.
I was wave #5 so I knew there were people to follow and I love this lake
to swim in. The swim was changed from
previous years to 2x the sprint distance loop instead of the typical longer
loop. The first 3-4 minutes, something
that has happened to me before happened again and I had to work through
it: my legs felt tired. My legs are barely kicking in a triathlon,
they shouldn’t feel tired- I wasn’t even going that fast or hard. So, when my legs get this weird feeling, I
mentally get nervous/ think is something wrong with my body and am I going to
drown. I got myself into a good self-
talk saying slow down maybe just a bit, don’t let the weird leg feeling dictate
anything, etc. And, when I let my
breathing stay easy and relaxed, my leg feeling seemed to get better. The first buoy AS USUAL at luray- you turn
the corner and BANG. You are
blinded. Every year. The sun is apparently RIGHT THERE and when I
say blinded, I mean literally there is nothing to see. It is as if you are IN the sun. It is very strange. There is nothing to even
see. So, then you literally feel like
you are swimming blind. I kind of
glanced right and saw there was a line in the lake- like a rope line and was
lucky to angle myself to that and that ended up bringing me in line with the
buoys to follow and so this worked out PERFECTLY! The triangular course took us back almost to
the beach and then we began again. I
wasn’t sure how I was doing among others, but I knew I was swimming well enough
for me, staying steady and strong, breathing easy, staying relaxed, and that
was my whole goal. On the 2nd
loop, it did have some snags with slower people that I had to go by basically
pushing down on my body as I was going by, and getting pushed around a little.
I had to do some kicking back, which I don’t like to do, but after being
repetitively smooshed under the water by large men, I was like STOP DOING THAT.
Ugh.
Happy to get to the BEACH and ON LAND!!!!
BIKE: This is never an easy course, particularly if you don’t
train enough on the bike. I definitely
felt my lack of bike strength. Within
the first 5 miles, I was worried. My
left quad/glute/low back was having an issue.
It was oddly tightening up and fatiguing SO much more than my right
side. I didn’t know why, and I didn’t
know what it would lead to- particularly with my back and being able to stand
up after the bike. I would say about
halfway through, it seemed to normalize and just both sides/ full body felt
sluggish and not like I was really “BIKING”…. I was just kind of trying to push
pedals and survive and keep going.
However, I was doing a good job mentally. I was aware that I could have been beating
myself up a bit for not having done more, for how different this felt than
previous times on the course, but I was doing good telling myself to stick
within my means on this day and keep plugging away. That became kind of my motto. Plug away.
I made sure to eat a bite of bonk breaker at mile 10-12 and then I had a
block at mile 18. Water throughout. The views, as always were GLORIOUS. Glorious.
The roads were narrow and always a bit scary with cars coming the other way.
But the views- GLORIOUS.
The hill at the end… again… laughable. You turn the corner and it NO JOKE looks like
a WALL. But… it was doable! I was trying to maintain a pace that was not
going to put me over the edge for the run.
T2- was able to stand up straight right off the bike, so
that was good news (stretched a few stretches in last 2 miles of bike to get my
back mobile again after being hunched so much).
RUN: now here comes
the gritty part. 6.2 miles, 4 segments
in my head, out #1, back #1, out #2, back #2.
I love breaking it up that way.
First segment out, just tried to start smart. My mile time surprisingly was like 7:45ish (it
also has a downhill), but I was sure happy with that, and reminded myself based
on this time to not give up ever. Mile 2
included the first gravel uphill and downhill that is just so stinking hard,
did it and flew by a guy on the way down the hill and that downhill gave me momentum
to the turn around. On the way back, I
hit mile 2 still with a real good split.
This section of going BACK to the start is the most challenging. A section is really hot in the sun/ no shade
cover and HILLY… I created a rule for myself that the entire way back, there
would be no negative self talk or commenting- everything had to be
positive. So, I was reminding myself in
the heat that I was getting a tan at least.
When in the shade, I was noticing how much of a difference that
made. I was being thankful that my
calves were doing okay and not exploding, being thankful that my GI system was
not making me stop to go to the bathroom.
It was all good, I was honestly so thankful to be out there with a
positive attitude and not giving up.
My way out #2 I was just telling myself- you can start to
push a bit more, but mostly stay steady and smooth and smart. Be aware where you are on the road/ ride the
lines well. I would see some people
walking and think, nope, that is not an invitation for MYSELF to follow
suit. I was taking cold water at some of
the stations, heed at the mile 2.5 and mile 5 stop. Also pouring cold water over my head. I had a honey stinger block at mile 2, mile
3.5 and mile 5.
The 2nd time up the gravel uphill didn’t actually
seem as bad as the first, and I tried to mimic the strong downhill I had the
first time. Hard to get to the turn
around, but when I did, I was on my LAST SEGMENT. Even knowing this, it was hard, again- here I
am on the hardest segment, body at it’s max.
But I stayed strong mentally.
When going through the hard heat and hill the final time, I did a funny
thing that I am still laughing about, but which WAS so POWERFUL FOR ME. *who watched the women’s marathon in the Olympics
with Kara Goucher commentating when Molly Siedel got gold? Kara Goucher was the
most POWERFUL commentator I have ever heard and IJ loved her so much.. SO…. In my
mind during this hard part of the race, I put Kara Goucher in my mind commentating
on me! I said the same things she said for
the Olympic marathon: “She is running
focused and brave. She is trusting her training and BELIEVING IN HERSELF. She needs to stay patient. “ and I kept repeating this, and I could hear
Kara Goucher and I used this to help me be brave and patient and believe in
myself😊 It
was honestly FUN!
Last ½ mile I was just pushing what I had, and then I got to
near the finish chute and there was this SUPER TALL girl we had seen before
that we were oogling over how long her legs are, Phoebe and I wondering if she
may be a volleyball player. Well, I saw
her in front of me and had a burst of energy to hammer it home and pass
her. I wanted to make sure I made a
point to phoebe that “height isn’t everything”…. (although I Know… different
sport)…. But.. she did enjoy my huge effort that she saw at the end!
I finished HAPPY. I
knew I did ALL that I could. I knew I
had just made myself more fit by (quasi) training for the race, but also in
DOING IT. I knew I made myself mentally
stronger by being in the arena, showing up, being scared and doing the hard
thing anyway. I am always motivated by
races. It feels good to ask big things
of myself, work daily, and see where it brings me. I am grateful to have had another chance to be
out there in this gorgeous lake, on the beautiful country roads, and under the
hot and blue beautiful sky😊
