So for the last two months Coach M has been having these "themes" to week workouts. Hot August.. was Hot August Nights, in part thanks to Neil Diamond and also because it was HOT indeed.
August was mainly a speed workout. We would go out and ride our bikes time trial style. We would go to the TMS and do a 5 mile warm-up lap around. Then we will come to a stop and he would let us go from 0 to another lap, all out. 5 miles all out. The key was that it wasn't the fastest lap, it was the most improved lap over the month. oh, and another condition was that we had to be present at every practice. Well... the winner was Res, she was the most improved lap.
September he came up with another "Theme"... Elaine Power Workouts. Well, Elaine is not a woman, neither is synonymous of Power. Elaine is this street near Bear Creek Park. It is a bit steep, and definitely not tender, regardless of the "cute" name. Well... we've called Elaine numerous names over the few times that we've gone up and down. Coach M insists that it is for our own good, and we sure hope so, actually we were reminded of sweet Elaine during Trifecta and we were actually pleased to know that we could do it, after seeing a few people walking that big one on Trifecta we were thankful that we were ready to tackle anything that comes up or down our way.
What a great race!! First all around, first olympic distance for us and first inaugural Trifecta Triathlon.
Pre-Race:
On Saturday we had a 75/30 brick on our schedule, we were debating about doing it because we weren't sure how it was going to affect our race on Sunday. We decided on Friday we will do it and just do a slow one. We headed out to meet Coach M at the lake since he had the IM guys do their swim. It was a cold morning, in the high 60s a bit chilly for a ride in September, but we went off to do our 21 mile loop. We just strolled, Puli was drafting the whole way from me saying that I help him keep a nice pace, it was more me helping him because he didn't want to work the legs. We then got back at the 1:20 mark and got our kicks on, and off for a nice 5K run, we just went out 15 and 15 back, weather was still nice and cold so it felt good.
We headed home to finish packing and get our stuff ready for the roadtrip to PK Lake. We were meeting some teammates along the way so we headed out. Got to PK, did our check-in first thing. This was a bit different for us, as we had to check-in our bikes and our running gear ahead of time. We did all that, and then headed to our team cabin. We also did a quick drive of the bike route with the team to see what we were up against the next day, so glad we did, see why later.. We organized our sleeping arrangements and then headed out to dinner at Puli's friends lake house, the rest of the team stayed and had the dinner they offered there. We headed back and by 10 pm lights were out and us trying to sleep with 9 more people in the same room, it was quiet an experience but we survived, we were so tired from the early brick that we just crashed.
Race-Day
Alarms started to go off at 4:30, then by 5:30 we were all up and starting to get ready. Everyone did their breakfast rituals, it was funny to see that. We are pretty simple when it comes to that. Quick oatmeal, banana, water/gatorade and we are good to go. Race didn't start until 7:30 so we kept it simple. By 6.30 we were heading to T1, last check of the bikes, pump air, setup shoes, helmet and glasses and off to body marking. The day looked a bit cold, so I decided to go with wetsuit, as they had announced the day before that it was going to be legal, so I used the advantage, considering that my swim had been struggling for a few weeks and I was off from swimming all last week. Puli decided to not use his.
Puli was the first wave so off he went after the pro's left. I was the 3 wave. I felt strong on the swim, my sighting definitely improved and the wetsuit gave me more confidence to do the 1500 meter swim. My swim was 36:49, not too bad, considering that I was in the 40's when doing it at training. I felt good coming out of the water. They had strippers and it was good, got on my bike and the road was a bit bad at the beginning and one of my aerobars became lose. It was moving so much I had to be aero the whole time, it was uncomfortable at the beginning but by the end I was concentrated and it didn't bother me as much. I was so glad that we had done the drive of the ride the day before because that big hill at mile 14 right before the turn was steeper than we all thought. I was able to do the bike in 1:29 averaging 16.7 mph on the bike, considering my tech difficulties and the hills, I was happy with my time. Got to T2, we new we were going to be in a rough T2, but it was a slow one. Got my newtons on and off to the run, we had driven some of the run we knew we were hitting hills at mile 1, but didn't count with the hill at mile 2, it was steep, when I finished those two I knew the rest of the way so it wasn't that bad. Was feeling pretty strong the whole way, I managed to keep a 9:03'/mi pace which to me it was great. Legs were feeling strong. Overall a great race, great volunteers and course support. Will do it again next year.
Here are the maps and profiles of the bike and run according to Puli's Garmin:
And a nice treat from the organizers... a great production video
So we did our first Five55 series race today. http://www.five55series.com/race-info-dallas.php It is a race in a few cities that consists of a 500m swim at a local lake, a 5k and the other 5 is because it is on the 5th of every month. We have been wanting to do it but our schedules weren't matching. Finally we got to do it tonight. It is a good race because it is not that crowded. Only a couple dozen people. The temperature today was very hot 100+ at 6 pm. Res and I had registered and got body marked. I was trying to drink some water but our bottles were frozen. Couldn't get much in. By 6:30 males got in the water. We started shortly after. The water was hot, I was starting to get used to the water getting actually cooler. But not tonight. The water was slow, my arms were feeling heavy. The buoys seemed just far, at the end the swim was bit longer than the promised 500 meters. I started in the back of the pack didn't get passed as much and passed a few until I got cut and had to stop for a second to let the guy get by. Got out of the water in 14:29 a bit slower than I expected but off to transition and to the run. Put my shoes on, sunglasses, hat and off I went. The run was painful. I guess the water heat was starting to catch on to me and it was still hot by the time we got off the water. I still pushed but before the u-turn I had to walk for about 30 seconds. Got to the return and got some water and gatorade and started going back. I realized that I was not last but wasn't that far from being the last guy. Saw Res and she was going strong and trying to catch the 3 girls in front of her. I got back my 5K time today 30:11, considering that my time on Sunday's sprint practice was closer to 26:00 it was not a good day. I sat down and waited for Res. I was really happy to see that she did catch 2 of the girls in front of her and got second place of the women. A good short race, recommended to all interested to get some open water practice out there. Just wished it was a bit cooler out there, results might have been different.
