We look so happy there ha-------->
It's been a while since I've blogged, but I wanted to write a big and long post about the two last races of the season and some thoughts and feelings about this summers racing and thoughts for fall, winter and next year...
YW was a great race once again. I truly love this race, and hope to keep doing it. It's a different type of atmosphere, but competitive at the same time, and so close to home, it's just a great time.
I didn't PR, but I wasn't really expecting to this year. With my ongoing knee issue and ankle surgery in March, and this being my second race of the season I didn't have super high expectations, but wanted to go hard and have fun! Not too much excitement in this race or things going out of the ordinary besides my swim...My goggles got water in them three different times and my breathing was very chaotic. I didn't get into a groove until the first turn, and with it being such a short swim that was not a good thing. The bike was pretty good, but my legs were feeling heavy and a little tired, likely due to me doing the BHO WOD 2 the day before (or re doing). The run was actually pretty good, hard, but I felt like I could push it. Overall I didn't place as too well and my time was about 3 min off from 2012, but I wasn't overly disappointed and was glad that my run was only about 10 sec off from last years pace when I did WAY more running.
Results
8:42 1:45 1:21
42:42 21.8 1:08
20:42 6:40 pace
Total Time 1:14:32 7th overall
Hyvee just happened this past weekend, Labor Day weekend. I was gone in Seattle the weekend before for a fun vacation. I was pretty active there with CF and some running. The knee issue I've been having is turning out to be something more then just runners knee. I am not sure yet what exactly, but it seems like a scar tissue or soft tissue mass of some sort that I might need surgery on AGAIN....It's been a bit disappointing and frustrating with the surgeries, but then again what can you do?? If this issue in my knee is ultimately resolved with removing something I guess I'll be happy to maybe say good bye to knee pain after a long long time of this ongoing "bug"...
Hyvee was a fun race, overall I think I felt like I had a good race, although once again about 2min off PR from last year. When it comes to how I felt I would say I tried my best and felt pretty good during the whole race. Racing is always tough, but I was in a good mental state and tried to have fun for the most part. The swim was good, I was pretty much last out of the 20 Elite Women in the Championship race, but my time was about 10 sec off the last year and I tried to focus on my stroke and sighting more. The bike was very very windy this year and there were a lot of false flats. I got the exact same average this year though, was only about 15 sec slower compared to last year. Then run was where I lost the most time about 2 plus min, but I went sub 7:30 pace which I was pretty happy with.
The biggest difference in this race this year was how long the transitions took, but that was the same for everyone but it was kind of crazy to see the transitions from last year being almost a min or more faster...
Kurbs did very well considering her injury, she hasdn't run in a month and didn't do much swimming and some biking and still managed to kick booty!! I liked staying an extra night and celebrating that day with Gabe and Kurbs =) Her family came to watch also which was fun. Our hotel wasn't super accommodating though, not sure if we'll stay there again although it was a decent price, Marriot in downtown.
Results
Swim 29:19 1:48 pace
Bike 1:09 21.6
Run 45:11 7:18 pace
2:27.56 16th overall for elite
Lost a lot on transitions too
T1 2:27 T2 2:02
All in all I feel like the season has been "different" this year. I'm not sure if it's being burned out of racing or the combination of having injuries and the nagging knee thing, or the added interest in CF this year, maybe a combo of everything. I'll see where the Fall/Winter and next year takes me. Next up is a competition for CF in Oct (Granite Games), so my focus will shift this way for the month at least. I'm really having a lot of fun doing the CF thing, and I still love to do the tri stuff, just not sure where I'll be next year with racing and such, since it's tough to really focus on both and excel at both, which I've learned in my second year of CF and triathlon =)
Hope to heal up the knee first off, and then go from there...
