Rev3 Williamsburg: 1/2 Aquabike

It's been awhile since I've posted.  Today marks exactly 1 week since I raced the Rev3 Williamsburg 1/2 Aquabike but also, it has been 13 years since I had knee surgery. So, here is the good, the bad and the downright ugly.

Let's start with race morning. Oh, I was originally expecting hot ass hell weather. Well, Mother Nature decided otherwise. We had rain!!!! You train for the race that you're given, not the race you want.

We had to bring shoes because there was approximately a .8 mile run from swim out to transition. Also, we had a new bike course from last year which I am so grateful for.

Swim:

Per usual, I do not know why I always go into a cry-fit. I think it is because it is just the release of all the stress that I've been dealing with. Any hoo, I had my #FastChix and #CoeurSisters with me.

So we walked down the pier because we had to jump off the pier and swim towards the orange squiggly guy and climb out. Well, let's talk about the swim in the Chickahominy River. It is literally the most nastiest body of water only second to Tempe Town Lake. So, I'm swimming and it took a while to get my rhythm but I finally got it. I was sighting roughly every 8 strokes. During 2 different stroke/sight cycles I saw jumping fish. I also had  to navigate through plant life, diesel smell and swimming over a log. Yes, a log and in my defense I couldn't see it because the water was brown and gross. Once I made it to the ladder, I climbed out and took proceeded to take my glasses out of my sports bra. Why??? Well, there was no special needs table. Once I got my shoes on, it was time to do my run to transition. Geez!!! Can I just say that this is where I was saying in my head, "This is some absolute bullshit!"

Time: a 4 minute PR (46 minutes)

Transition time: 13 minutes and some change

Transition area:

It was a mud fest and everything was wet. I made the decision to not throw on my socks because they were soaking wet. Why try to put on wet socks? I threw on my cycling shoes, my visor, my helmet and grabbed Beeker and was ready to go.

The bike:

For some bizarre reason I had the hardest time clipping in to my pedals. I don't know what happened,  but I finally got locked in and it was time to roll. 

Oh, embrace the rain. I knew that the course had loose gravel. It was ridiculous! I went slower than I normally would because number one, it was pouring rain and there was a lot of loose gravel but add in traffic as well. I could have just been miserable, but I decided to change my mindset. My mindset was that I could do this all day. Thank you Captain America!!!

Well, while riding, the goal was to keep pedaling, stay upright and have fun. Somewhere around mile 20ish, I saw a dead deer on the side of the row. Don't focus, keep pedaling. Further down the road, I thought there were crows. No, there were a million buzzards! Okay, not a million but they were on a fence waiting for me to fall so they could eat my carcass. #pedalbishpedal

Further down the road, a truck sped past me. I had another "Final Destination" moment. The truck had logs on it. #iykyk

Luckily, highway patrol was very helpful with directing traffic. I was happy that this was the new course and not the old course. If it was the Old course, I think there would have been a lot more accidents due to how technical the old course was in nature. 

Plantations, cornfields,  more plantations, pouring rain and I kept going. I knew that I could make the cutoffs and I didn't have to run. When I saw mile 50, I knew I was home and I had to just keep pushing. I surprisingly wasn't really tired but I didn't want to push it due to the rain and all  of the loose gravel.

When I made it to the dismount line, I was so happy to not topple over.  When I got back to my bike spother, I changed shoes and crossed the finish line.

Time: 4 hours,  14.2 mph

Overall time: 5 hours

After thoughts:

Overall I'm happy with my performance even with all of the everyday stresses that I deal with on a daily basis. If I had did the Olympic Aquabike, I would have placed. I placed overall 10 out of 10 and 4 out of four for women.

I trashed my cycling shoes because there was no saving them anymore. In my defense, I did purchase the shoes for $25 8 years ago. I got my money's worth. Now if anyone can help me on finding a pair of cycling shoes for someone who has a size 12 AAU'S  (double narrow), I would be very, very appreciative. Now if I have to go with another pedal system I will if it is absolutely necessary. This was the first time I went 56 miles without stopping at any aid stations. I had all that I needed nutrition wise. 

The most important thing for me was that I was able to be with my people. I was able to just turn off my brain and just enjoy being with a group of wonderful amazing women and I am so appreciative of that. Until the next adventure.

XOXO, 

#Afrocoach

First "Race" of the Season

 Welcome to Medal Monday! This past Saturday, I did the F^3  Half Marathon. 

So, real feel temperature at the start was 0 degrees, but I was surprisingly okay after I started running. Remember, there is no bad clothing, but bad clothing options. I wanted to see how my training was going for the #UnitedAirlinesNYCHalfMarathon in March.

What really helped me was my $6 mittens from Walgreens and 2 sets of hand warmers. The reason for these is simple. I have very bad Reynauds in my hands primarily. My last long run before taper was supposed to be 12 miles but I aborted the run at 10k because I was soo cold. It wasn't the temperature of 9 degrees but it was more the wind that was affecting me.

*getting ready for the start*

I truly loved the course with the backdrop of the Chicago Skyline as well as being able to see Indiana on the Southern end of the course. The course went from Soldier Field to 63rd Street and back on the Lakefront Path. The path was clear and well salted-one of the things that I love about the City. Now, of course there were at least 5 guys wearing shorts! Not shorts over their running tights, but ACTUAL SHORTS! Umm, it was cold outside folks.

*the beautiful Chicago Skyline from the South

Now one of the things that I did not mention in my Instagram post was the fact that I bonked hard at mile 11. The reason for this is I did the one thing that I also tell my athletes not to do. I did not fuel . Not, I didn't have a gel or a waffle, but I DID NOT FUEL AT ALL from Friday until I returned home after the race. Here's a little quirk about me: When I am very stressed out, I do not eat at all, I work out excessively. The past week had me in a very bad tailspin and I recognize that I have very disordered eating but I seriously just can't eat. So, at mile 11, I got dizzy and I had to walk for a while and then I started back running. I recognize I need to try and get a handle on my stress and some causes of my stress is being addressed this week.

Now, as far as my results, I was fine with my official finish time of 2:59:28 for it being the first race of the season. What I was more impressed with was my heart rate. I stayed primarily in the Green Zone or 70-79% of my max Heart Rate. This week, I'm taking it easy, but I will be back to the grind by next week. Only 6 weeks to go.

*all that green was the F^3 Half Marathon*

That's about it, but if you donate $13.10 for my half marathon efforts (I'm running the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon for Team 2 End AIDS) between now and February 5th, you will be entered into a raffle for 2 Private Pilates Session either in person (if you are local) or remote (via the Zoom). 

https://action.aidschicago.org/fundraiser/3625150

*my poor shoes-all that salt