Buffalo Springs 70.3 Race Report-2016

               This year’s Buffalo Springs was my 5^th half distance to date, and compared to my end of season race coming up this October, it was not as big of a focus. I didn’t have a proper taper time and I knew that this race would chalk up to what I need most… 70.3 racing experience. But even knowing all of that, of course I would still race it as if it was my A race and I wanted to finish well.

               A week before the race, I had two back-to-back 40k time trials (individual & team-see previous blog post about that experience!), leaving me with one week of rest and taper combined essentially. But I still knew that I had way more fitness under my belt than I did before Galveston 70.3. I still felt ready to rock, and I was eager to race for the top spot and improve on my time from last year.

               Pre-race was very relaxed. Jeffrey and I got to Lubbock Friday evening with enough time to settle into the hotel, pick up our packet and eat dinner. Saturday was mostly race day prep and relaxation (and driving the bike course). It’s one of the few times I actually felt relaxed about a big race! I was prepared and ready. But even though this was the most prepared I have ever been before a race and even getting to the race site very early… I managed to leave my timing chip at the hotel. The parking for the event was a lengthy trek to the race site, and with a huge hill. Thank goodness for Jeffrey, who rode all the way down to the race site, talked to the timing people, and rode all the way back up to let me know they had a replacement chip ready for me! Crisis averted! I was also lucky to have a bunch of fellow friends/teammates and my mom there to help out before the race got started! I had more than enough time to get ready.

SWIM:

The swim at Buffalo is always wetsuit legal because it is a spring fed lake…but that doesn’t mean it didn’t get as hot as you know what. If it’s a wetsuit legal swim, the wetsuit will always be faster, which is why I opted for that. And even though I was flushing fresh water into my suit at every buoy marker, I had the fastest women’s swim time of 24:35-actually matching exactly with my swim time from last year and is my half PR swim time. I was lucky enough to be in the second wave of the morning, meaning I had very little crowd to swim with and it was relatively calm! I came out of the swim confident and ready to roll.

Ready to Start!

Bonus Buffalo

BIKE:

               The bike course is notoriously hilly and challenging, but I enjoyed it the previous year, and I knew I could handle it. Unfortunately, my legs and my back were giving me a little more trouble than I had hoped for. The first couple climbs out of the reservoir I was just trying to spin my legs and manage my heart rate-there would be no point in blasting up the hills when I knew I would need them for the run! I did manage to launch my Rudy sunglasses at the very beginning of the ride, to which a volunteer let me know after the race that they were probably smashed by a car. Yay! The flats were fine, minus my back fighting me just slightly. I was passed by a man with one leg who was unbelievably strong. Because there was no pro field this year, and I was out in the front of the race, the motorcycle refs were very attentive to passing and potential drafting violations (but of course they do not care when there’s a huge group together further back). So a couple of times I was either sitting up at recovery watts, or blasting at way above FTP watts to make sure I wasn’t going to get tagged with a penalty. There was one stretch of the course where I did hate everything. There was a strong headwind and the road was TERRIBLE, plus I knew I was no longer the lead female. I hit every possible hole, and I believe I went through a book of curse words in the process. But I made sure to follow my power number and kept my head down, reminding myself there was still the run left. The rest of the race I tried to stay consistent and keep on top of my nutrition and hydration.

RUN:

               Let me also note that although the transition area is a great spot…the ground is full of stabbing rocks, which means coming off the bike with no shoes on is a painful run/walk/flail. I was nervous for the run, knowing there was a female out ahead of me, and I wanted the win. My nerves got the best of me and I came out of T2 still wearing my aero top from the bike. I dumped it at a trash can as to not litter on course, but thank goodness it was recovered after!! My legs felt good off the bike and I knew I had a decently challenging course ahead. My plan was to stay steady the first lap (I did not want to blow up), and then start to build into the second lap. I was just trying to go mile by mile. Ice in the hat. Water. Gel. Gatorade. Repeat. I was keeping track of the leading female, and I knew I had started to make a dent in her lead. I could not give up, it was time to really figure out how to race this distance. By the time I saw her on the second lap, I only needed about a minute-minute and a half to catch up, but only about 4.5 miles to do so. I pushed myself those last few miles, closing the gap to just under a minute…but just not enough miles to take the overall lead. I finished second place overall female and a course PR.

To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I had envisioned the banner in my hands countless times leading up to this race and replayed it in my head over and over during the race. I may have cried a little… But there’s a few things I could be happy about and learn from: I got valuable experience in the distance I want to excel at and I have time on my side to improve where I need to. Both the first place female and the females who finished in the top 5 overall were all older than me, and they kicked ass! Even though I am in the 25-29 age group, I’m still 24 until September. I am still young to this sport and I have lots of experience to gain. We made a joke from this race: right now, I’m about a $4 bottle of wine at Walmart…give me a few years to mature and I will be a $20 bottle of wine at a nice restaurant! The only way to go from here is up.

1st Place 25-29 AG; 2nd Female Overall

The next big race on my schedule isn’t until the fall: the Tempe 70.3 on October 16^th. So I have plenty of time to push myself to be even better. And to complain about how much the workouts suck! 

Bonus! Finally got my USAT South Midwest Award! 1st Place Ranked Overall Female in the region. My second time receiving this award! (First was in 2013)