When I am racing simply for training I find it almost impossible to give up a day of hard training to allow my body to rest for the race. Isn't it the triathlon way to enjoy being tired and well trained?!?!?! I don't know many triathletes that find tapering easy. I am no different. Tapering is not my specialty, and this is especially true for shorter "C-" races. But after a tough week it was time to elevate the intensity for a local olympic distance race. But before I can get to race day I have to report on the amazing end of the week festivities.....
As you've maybe read in prior postings I am a HUGE Red Wings hockey fan. It's round 2 of the playoffs, and the Wings are playing Anaheim's Ducks. That means 3 of the games would be played right up the freeway from me. Thursday I got a call that tickets had been scored, and I had to get ready ASAP for the game. I was sure Matt was joking, but he promised he wasn't (we both agreed that would be a cruel joke). I started resting my vocal cords as I knew I had to represent Detroit (a.k.a. Hockey Town). The Wings won 6-3, making for an awesome night! Wings fans took over the hockey arena, and it hardly felt like we were the away team. (although I knew I was in SoCal when half naked girls came onto the ice at every commercial break to "clean" the ice. I
've never seen so much ice cleaning at a hockey game. Meanwhile the dudes in the arena wished for more. haha)
So, back to the "race" report. Saturday morning I headed to Lake Perris. It was a low key fun race, and a great morning for some hard efforts. Had I not been racing it would have been very tough to wake up and train hard. I was tired, but the idea of racing brought about that 'race day energy.'
Before the swim I spotted Sergio and Christina at the race. I didn't put a whole lot of thought or planning (actually had to pack for the race in about 25mins because of the surprise red wings plans...see above :) ), so I didn't know who would be racing. It was great to see them out there ready to rock n' roll! When the horn went off I found Christina to be right there on my left side. Soon after I grabbed her feet with hopes of hanging on. Sadly I didn't have a rope with me, therefore making it tough to cling to her feet and hang on. There was one guy out with us, so I decided to practice drafting and attach myself to his feet. By buoy 2 I thought I could go harder so made the pass and swam the final 3/4's of the swim alone. My shoulders and legs were burning (on the swim...not good), but I told them to shut up and go!By mile 2 on the bike my legs were unresponsive, but I kept demanding more. Ouch!!! I was feeling my killer training from the week. As the bike went on my legs started to loosen a little, and I hoped for a strong run. My confidence has taken a blow since my absence from running last month. I really want to get back to the running shape I was in last year!
Christina Jackson and I came out of the swim in first/second, respectfully. We remained there throughout the bike, and into the run. I was thankful for her being there. I realized the next female was over 5 minutes behind me and I was running away from her. Had Christina not been racing hard ahead of me I think I would have shut it down on the run. And seeing as though the point of the race was to put forth a hard effort on tired legs, that was not in the plan. I closed a little on the run, but still wasn't clipping along at the pace I hoped for. My tempo efforts on my 10miler on Thurs was faster. So at the run turn around I started playing games. The boys were now girls, and I had to pass them all! I took one at a time and was able to negative split the run even though the way back involved running into a decent head wind. It was great to race and I had a lot of fun out there.
Racing within a tough training period is a recipe for pain. But it will also make me appreciate how I'll feel when my "A" races come around and I'm rested/tapered.
Here are your Big Rock 1st and 2nd overall females, and 6th and 7th humans.
Next olympic race is June 7, and I think I might taper for 2 or 3 days before it ;) Until then there is a lot of work to do!
Thanks for reading. Cheers!
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