OCTOBER RECAP: KONA & AZ 70.3

I’m only a month late, but better late than never right?! October was an exciting month to say the least! First of all, I had the amazing opportunity to go spend the first week of October in Kona, Hawaii for the Ironman World Championships for work. Being on the island during this week and being surrounded by the best Ironman athletes in the world was one of the greatest experiences and the energy of it all is astounding. Also, it was my final prep week for my last 70.3 race of the year (Arizona)! Being able to train in that environment was definitely the uplifting I needed as I neared my last race of the season. I have never had this long of a season with a race this late in the year, and with some lulls here and there, it can be difficult to keep up the mental morale. Kona week was an eye-opener for me and a re-awakening of my passion for this sport and has helped me push my ultimate goals to the surface…but you’ll know more on that later!

I will be uploading my Kona pictures to my Facebook! But now on to my Arizona race recap…

The hardest part about this race was the amount of fatigue I probably accumulated in the week of Kona, being on my feet exponentially more than usual, and the long travel days the week of the race. Regardless, I was excited and ready to race. In the couple days leading up to the race, I did not feel any race nerves…which immediately backfired race morning! I was so nervous that I felt sick enough to not eat my favorite Clif hazelnut butter filled bar! The race itself, though, was somewhat lackluster without the excitement I have felt at other races.

SWIM

The swim was wetsuit legal and the wave sizes were small, but my wave did not start until nearly 2 hours after the first wave of the day. I went in expecting a calm swim (small, man-made lake), but the amount of turbulence in the water threw me off somewhat. The little canal is not wide enough to dissipate waves, leading to more churned up water conditions. Although I still had the fastest female swim of the day, it was one of my slowest swims (27 min), and I was decently disappointed, but ready to get on the bike and see what my legs could do!

BIKE

The bike course at Arizona is a multiple lap, multiple tight U-turn course. While I thought I would absolutely love that type of challenge, it proved to be not my favorite at all and I found myself wanting the challenge of a long stretch of road with some sort of rolling hills. My legs wanted a challenge. The constant slowing down and attempting to pass near turns and U-turns made the course much slower than I would have liked. But, in the end, I did come away with a 70.3 bike PR by a little over a minute (2:36:57-21.4mph)! I am ready to challenge my bike legs next year to bump up to a 22mph average. I had also recently switched my nutrition to GU products, and I very much loved it on the bike! Weather wise, Arizona is much drier heat than I am used to, so I made sure to stay hydrated and poured water on my kit to make sure I stayed cool throughout. Thankfully, I didn’t ever feel overheated! Coming into T2, I was definitely ready to get off the bike and on to the run course.

RUN

I knew I was still in the lead female spot coming off the bike, and I would need to really dig deep in my run to be competitive at the front. Little did I know, Colleen De Reuck aka previous world record holder and Olympic runner, was in the field and her experience along with her talent totally blew us away on the run course (and she had a great bike time as well!). Anyway, my biggest takeaway from this segment of the race was that this was the best my running legs have felt coming off the 56 mile bike. This was a huge step as I burnt myself out in 2015 and I have been fighting this whole year to build my run back up to its old hype. I felt strong and smooth and my form felt better than it has ever felt. That was until I hit mile 9-10… It was one of those days that nutrition was great, the plan was great, but my body just said “NOPE”. I wanted to stop and walk and throw in the towel in those last 3 miles, and I was passed by 2 more women running strong. I reminded myself of the fight I had inside and pushed myself to run through the last miles. I was upset, but I was proud of my body for pushing through that much pain and hurt. The days after the race my body hurt more than it ever has after a race. Sitting in a car for 15 hours probably didn’t help the situation either!

In the end, I placed 4^th female overall (amateur only race) and 2^nd in my age group. Because they offered 50 70.3 World Championship slots, my age group was allotted 2 spots! So of course I snagged my spot to Chattanooga! I have previously qualified for both 2015 and 2016 70.3 Worlds, but the locations did not allow my budget to compete. Worlds being on US soil this year makes it possible for me to compete with the best!

2017 will be a whole new world of possibilities and doors to be opened. I am excited to really get down to business and truly unlock my full potential and gain even more experience. I am so thankful for the people who are supporting me and believing in my potential. Stay tuned for some exciting stuff to come!