Oceanside 70.3

I was a mess going into this race - the Di2 shifting was working perfectly- on my training wheels. The shifting with my Zipp Wheels was all messed up so ATA Cycles adjusted it but needed to add a new crank so it would work- needless to say the bike was not ready until 9:00 PM the night before I needed to leave. I wrestled with packing the bike and finished packing at midnight - amazing how much tri gear you need and how much space it takes up! I flew out with my teammate Keith Manning and we stayed with my brother before going to the QT2 condo. The team condo was out of control with high end tri gear everywhere. Race morning came and 12 of us rotated using the bathroom- nice! I rode down to transition with Molly Zahr - having won Ironman Lake Placid, Molly was a pro at keeping cool, calm and collected- just what I needed. I glanced at the women on my bike rack and realized all of them were USAT All-Americans – Reality sunk in that this was the big leagues and I was going to need to bring it in a major way - nothing like a little pressure. We lined up by age group in the swim corral, I made my way to the front - I needed to let these ladies know that I was not going down without a fight - and that I would maul them if they got in my way in the swim!!! Swim went well, sprinted out to the front and stayed there - as soon as we hit the turnaround the sun immediately blinded me and I could not see a thing - I was blindly following what I was hoping was arms and legs from the wave ahead of us. I had to slow down to almost a stop 3 times to frantically search for the big bouys – what a nightmare ! Came out in 28:10- was psyched because Pat told me the swim was 1.3 and that I should expect to swim around 30:00. I ended up beating Pat by 1 second in the swim – it was the first thing he pointed out to me when I saw him after the race :-) In the final results I was 119th overall men & women out of 2500 and had the 6th fastest amateur women’s swim – not bad for an old lady! Once on the bike, I immediately felt strong - I so badly wanted to hammer it but I was under strict orders from Pat Wheeler (coach) to keep my HR right around 135 - this was difficult and I really had to keep backing off and letting people go that I wanted to chase. QT2 talks about "checking it"- if you check it now, you won't wreck yourself later ( meaning blow up on the run). My bike split was 2:58 - slow for me but within 5 minutes of what I was told to ride and within HR. They call that "hitting your numbers". The bike was very challenging and hilly- it was a great course and I really enjoyed the ride. I was taught how to pee on the bike and was able to practice my new talent 3 times. My nutrition plan that Cait wrote for me was solid and I had great energy and no problem following the plan: bar, gel, bloks, bloks, gel, gel- same as what we practice every workout. Nothing new. Flew into T2 and headed out to crowds of thousands of spectators - really cool. I felt awesome- took out the first mile in 7:45- whoa, had to check it- backed off to 8:00 minute miles for the first 10k. Was amazed that I felt as good as I did- kept waiting for the piano to drop on my back. Started my 7th mile and slowed to a 8:05 pace until mile 9- still felt good- hit the last turnaround- 3.5 miles left- at that point Pat said to give it everything you have left - I put the hammer down with 2 miles left and passed a ton of people- that was truly magical for me. QT2 had assured me that this is how my run would go but I had a hard time believing that with my run history. As I neared the finish I got a second wind with the big crowds and brought it in strong. My run split was 1:49 !!! I had NEVER been faster than 2:01 in a half ! Total time was 5:21- a PR on a tough windy course. I was thrilled- especially when I heard from others that on many of the other 70.3 courses I would have been 10:00 faster. So all in all the team did great - because it was both a Kona and Clearwater qualifier - all of the talent was at this race. I would have loved to podium but surprisingly I was so pleased with "hitting my numbers” that I decided that was my personal victory. This was a great race, very well organized and run. I would highly recommend it - but only if you like cool water, lots of hills and wind on the bike :-)