37/123 in AG.
Long version...
I raced this course last year and though that it would be a good mid year race to test gains vs last year. It also provides something short to focus on between the cowtown last feb and imfl this fall.
I decided that it would be fun to bring the wife and kids, get a suite and make a weekend in Austin out of it. A family travel test run for imfl. As it turns out, I learned much more about traveling with small kids than about racing.
Kids don't care that you have a race coming up. And they really shouldn't. At age 3 and 7, they should have center stage. And if dad is going to be preoccupied with how many gels to put in his race belt, or where the bike out is, then mom is gonna need help. And that will only be more true in November.
When I have an important race coming up, I turn inward. I get quiet. I visualize. That is my natural method of preparation. But it will not work with little kids. For my kids, daddy = playtime. So there was extra stress as I felt the pull to turn inward on Sunday before the race and they tugged me outward. Combined with being out of town and Terri did not have her usual places to take them. It was tough.
Sleeping was a problem. We had a beautiful hotel suite. Pull out bed for kids, separate bedroom for us.
BUT
Our 3 yr old has massive tonsils that should come out. It effects her sleep and she snores like a freight train. So 7yr old was in our room by midnight complaining. On Saturday night, I gave her my spot in bed. At first I tried to sleep with CC, but the snoring was absurd. So then I tried to sleep on the floor. That was tough too. Ended up on the foldout with CC and just not sleeping much. On Sunday night, the night before the race, same thing again. This time, Ellie just got in bed with us. I don't sleep well the night before races anyway.
The bottom line I think is that taking children to a grown up hotel is not the best choice for us. A house or condo would be better. And CC needs to see the specialist about her tonsils.
At 5am Monday morning, I was finally allowed to focus on the race. I had breakfast and coffee and a shower and headed down to set up transition. I was out the door by 5:45. 15min walk and 45 min to set up. Which is plenty of time. I don't have much stuff.
I had between 6:45 and 8:02 to wander around, pee 59 times and watch the pros go off. At 740, I had my pickle juice and my gel, put my wetsuit on and was in line 10 min before my wave.
I have a history of major swim anxiety in races in the past. It feels like a panic attack. Spiked hr, chest tightness, trouble breathing. Scary scary shit. It happened a few time last season. The only consistent data point was that I did not have a panic episode in races where I was able to swim on the course prior. I had planned to do this at this race but with the demands of family, I didn't. The closest I got was taking Ellie for a kayak ride on the lake that we would be racing in.
As I waited to get in the water, I could feel the fear creep in. It isn't rational. I swim 3x a week. I am in my 3rd season and have never had any genuine trouble in the water. But something about the natural adrenaline of a race start can make the swim start a tough place for me. So I told myself to focus on that boat ride from the day before. How happy she was. How smooth the kayak was in the water. I would imagine that I was that red boat with Ellie on my back. Safe and confident.
When it was time to get in the water, I stayed towards the back. I lined up in the middle but in more or less the back row. The swim is a deep water start, rectangle with right turns.
At the horn, I just went really really easy. My plan had only one objective: avoid the panic. My hypothesis was that if I stayed away from the panic float breaks that my time would be ok even if I didn't put out much effort. I got into an easy rhythm and just kept repeating the mantra "I. Am. A. Boat". Over and over. Each time my right hand hit the water I said another word. I was able to keep calm. Mission accomplished.
A couple of minor problems did pop up. My right goggle kept taking on water. This effected my ability to see the buoy line which was on my right. I emptied the goggle a couple of times but it would fill right back up again. I am still not sure why.
So I ended up breathing left mostly. But I was also pulling left like mad. I could not stop. At first I thought it was the current. But when I hit the first turn, the problem persisted. In the end, all I could do was sight about 2x as often as normal and course correct. My only guess is that it had to do with my only breathing to one side.
At the end of the day, I swam slow, crooked, wide and panic free. I will take it. My swim split was bottom 1/2 of my ag. I need to find a coach...
T1 was fine. There had been a ton of rain so it was a mud pit but nothing major.
The bike itself was ok. I ended up riding at 95% of FTP which would have been my target. But that was coincidence as I really wasn't focused on it. Mostly, I was focused on not hitting anyone. The course is 4 laps so by the end it is packed! I was 1:10 faster than last year.
The bike almost ended poorly. The dismount line is after a sharp turn. This is good as it forced folks to slow down. It is also in about 5ft wide. This is not so good.
Feet out of shoes. Right leg over seat, leaning on left foot holding pursuit bars coasting to dismount. Slowing down ready to hop off at a trot. Guy ahead of the guy ahead of me falls trying to clip out. Guy ahead of me hits him. Pile at the dismount line taking up entire lane. I had left enough cushion to hop off and run around them. Get ready early.
T2 was fine. Rack bike. Helmet off, run shoes on. Grab hat. Fix race belt as I running out.
On the run, I decided to focus on hr and not look at my pace. 170bpm is red line for me. So I figured that for the first 5k, I would aim between 160 and 165. For the next 5k, just keep it under 170 till i thought that I could hold on to the end. Sometimes, Rpe gives me the nudge to change that plan. This time the plan seemed right so I stuck with it. A couple of times, I felt the tug to check my time. My stretch goal was to go 2:3x and my brain told me that if I knew I was close it might motivate me. But thinking it through, I knew I was running as hard as I could sustain. That I was suffering. So knowing overall time and trying to do the math didn't seem worth it. I opted to stay in my box, keep the effort at the right level and run from mile market to mile marker. About 4mi into the run, I see Terri holding cc and Ellie on the side of the road. I had told the girls that if they saw me, they needed to give me a high 5 because it would give me a turbo boost. They were very excited about this so as I got closer, they had their hands up. BUT they were standing on the other side of the active car traffic lane. So I had to time my street crossing carefully. Which was surprisingly difficult that deep into a race.
The end result was the best start to finish oly bike/run combo I have ever put up and I didn't feel like I was really going all out ever. I just never slowed down.
I ended up 37/123 in my AG. I can do better.
Post race, I had to grab my stuff and get back to the hotel. Sure enough, I could hear my kids tearing the place up from the elevator.
This week is unstructured for me. I hope to build speed and strength this summer and most importantly, FIND A REAL HUMAN SWIM COACH. No DVDs. No YouTube. A real human.
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