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I suppose no race will ever go 100% as planned and that is why it is important to have a plan B and maybe even a plan C.  Or you can just keep riding that flat tire all the way to T2.  I would advise a plan B, but allow me to elaborate…

Last Saturday I was in Milwaukee racing the USAT Age Group National Championship.  I had planned a big part of my season around this race, but had to adjust when I decided to add Frankenmuth to my schedule at the last moment.  But for me, this was still a big race and a chance to maybe, just maybe, grab a pro card.  Honestly, I think next season would hold a better chance of earning a pro card for multiple reasons, such as more time for training since the second year of residency is much calmer than the first year!  But I like to shoot for the moon!  I was really nervous before this race, more nervous than I have been for any other race this season.  I felt better after my pre-race routine, which included the rare opportunity to see my coach, Barb Lindquist, in person.  She lives in Wyoming, so the majority of our conversations are on the phone or by email. 

But after the glow of pre-race workouts ends and I’m sitting in my hotel room with my husband, the nerves slowly worked up again until I had trouble eating.  Lucky for me, my husband is a pretty cool character and knows the best way to deal with this situation.  He asked me what would be the worst thing that could happen.  I rounded on him and crazily said “I could suck!”  He laughed and calmly told me the worst that could happen is a flat tire (foreshadowing?) because you put in the training and you know what you can do.  Be confident in your training.  A very good reminder and something I could wrap my nervous energy around and remind myself about all those 5am trainer workouts and treadmill runs and long yards in a too hot pool at the YMCA.

Then it was race morning.  Due to heightened security, I had to pack all my transition gear into an awkward clear plastic bag and lug that down to transition.  I knew I would forget something and I forgot my Body Glide.  Lucky for me, I ran into Eric Abbott in transition and he had some I could use.  Ok, crisis averted.  I must have checked my transition area at least 4 times, checking that my wheels weren’t rubbing, checking that my gearing was ok, checking the rubber bands holding my shoes in place, checking that my helmet would fit over my two French braids, checking, checking, checking.  Eventually Todd dragged me out of transition and back to the car to relax for a few hours before our waves. 

After a too long wait during which my nerves kindly ramped up again, it was finally time to head back to transition with wetsuit in hand and get ready to race.  At Frankenmuth I had gotten a little too chatty before the race and hadn’t been quite ready when the horn blew, so I was determined to keep my mind focused on making it to the first buoy as fast as possible.  I helped zip up a few wetsuits and was so wrapped up in my own head that I wasn’t very good at saying hello to Oak Park YMCA Tri Team member Danielle Gauna!  But seeing a friendly, Lansing-area face did help to calm my nerves a bit, so thank you Danielle!  And I’m glad we finally “met” on Facebook! 

I was glad when we finally got to head down to the water because I swear I was starting to bake in my full-sleeve wetsuit with the sun shining and no breeze to be felt where we waited.  I did a quick warm up swim, switching from 10 strokes fist drill to 10 strokes normal to 10 strokes fast a few times before heading back to line up.  This time when the horn blew, I was ready.  I went after that first buoy as hard as my non-swimmer arms could spin!  I kept up with the front group of swimmers almost to the turn around until I had to settle into a slightly slower pace.  They pulled away and I found myself in no-man’s land, which forced me to really focus on finding the next sighting buoy because I didn’t have a bunch of yellow caps to follow.  I managed a pretty straight line to the exit ramp and, using the hands of multiple volunteers, pulled myself up the very steep ramp.  I wasn’t sure where I was compared to the rest of the field, but the swim had felt strong and I was excited to get on my bike!

From the beginning, something just felt off.  I couldn’t hold my cadence where I wanted it and my heart rate was too high relative to my speed.  I chalked it up to a hard swim and focused on the first climb.  I was quickly becoming frustrated.  Maybe I hadn’t recovered fully from Frankenmuth.  At the first turn around I should have known that something was very wrong when my front tire slipped out on the turn, but somehow I kept my bike upright and focused on getting back up to speed.  Shortly after passing by transition for the next out and back, a very friendly girl from my age group passed me and shouted “Good job babe!”  I was encouraged by her kind words and pushed my gearing harder, doing my best to keep her in sight.  I fought through my cadence issues and ignored my climbing heart rate and finally felt like I was moving again! 

Things almost went bad again at the second and final turn around.  I had to slam on my brakes to slow my bike as the tire skidded again.  Now even my race-focused brain had to admit something was wrong.  I looked down at my front wheel and saw tire bulging out on both sides.  Not good.  I figured there had to be some air left in there, I mean, how could I be biking 24mph with no air in my tire?  I decided to ignore the tire for now and continue tracking the girl in front of me.  I held to her pace until we hit the last downhill.  My bike was shaking and I could feel every crack vibrating through my wheel and into my handle bars.  I looked down and knew the tire was probably really, really flat.  I mused about stopping and tried to figure out how many miles were left to transition.  I figured about 3 miles and decided to just keep going.  I didn’t have any Fix-A-Flat and it would take a LOT of time to rip a tubular off.  I was frustrated that I couldn’t get moving fast enough to keep up with my friendly companion, but kept pushing as fast as I could.  Disaster almost hit again when I came to the sharp right turn into transition and came very close to hitting the crowd!  A squeal of tires and brakes later, and I was accelerating to the dismount line and safely jumping off my bike. 

I had a nice, quick transition, but as soon as I started running I knew the flat tire on the bike had cost me.  My legs felt frustratingly unresponsive.  I wasn’t sure how many girls were ahead of me, but on a good day I can usually run 6:43 pace.  I decided not to look at my watch as it beeped for each mile because I was worried I would see 7:00 pace or higher.  And I had to watch as 3 girls passed me and, after a quick turnaround point, I knew I had dropped from 5^th place and a podium finish to 8^th place.  I tried to keep up with the girls for a bit, but my legs were screaming and I had to settle back to my pace, whatever it was.  I decided to just focus on finishing, because I have only DNF’ed once, and I hated it!  With 2 miles left to go, I finally decided to look at my mile split.  I had to do a double take when it flashed 6:44 at me.  That was right on track!  My legs were dead, but all those miles on the treadmill had apparently made that pace automatic.  From the second and final turnaround, I knew there were a number of girls close on my heels and I was not ready to give up 8^th place.  I pushed through my last two miles and managed a big smile for the camera before collapsing into a few volunteers, my legs were completely done.  Turns out I beat 9^th place by 2 seconds.  Turns out every second really does count!  Overall, I averaged 6:39 pace, making that a run PR for me after a very tough bike.  I finished 8^th in my age group, which was also good for 19^th overall, in a time of 2:10:54.

It was a tough race.  It is always hard when you focus so much of your training on one certain race, travel a decent distance and spend a good chunk of change on a hotel, only to have a flat tire on race day.  But a certain triathlon super-star who was at the finish line handing out medals reminded me that even when something bad happens, you can turn it around.  I staggered over to Chrissie Wellington and she draped my finisher’s medal around my neck and gave me a quick hug.  I was completely star struck!  And reminded of the year when Chrissie had the stomach flu at the Ironman World Championship.  It must have been heartbreaking not to be able to defend her title, but she turned around a few weeks later and won Ironman Arizona.  I’m hoping for a similar redemption in 2 weeks at the Lifetime Series Triathlon in Chicago. 

I like to end every blog with a few shout outs to my triathlon family who also raced!  The Lansing Triathlon Team was there in force, with excellent results all around.  Jason Hartzell had a speedy bike to finish in 2:15:16 and 70^th in his age group.  Ron Alleman had a strong run to finish in 2:40:35 and 140^th in his very competitive age group.  Todd Kaufman also had a speedy run to finish in 2:14:55 and 67^th in his age group.  Kim Albin put together a solid race to finish in 2:32:34 and a very impressive 53^rd in her age group. Nathan Kark also had a strong all around race to finish in 2:09:57 and 62^nd in his age group.  Aaron Bales finished up with a strong run to finish in 2:20:55 and 102^nd in his age group.  And as always, it was awesome to see Bethany Hartzell and Jessica Corson!

I know the Oak Park YMCA Tri Team was out there in force as well!  Angie Spayde had a great race and finished in 2:26:34 and 53^rd in her age group.  My wetsuit buddy Danielle Gauna joined me on the bad luck bus and also had a flat front tire.  But she had a fantastic swim and a PR on the run, so some serious kudos to her! 

There were also a number of collegiate triathlon friends!  Eric Abbott had a blazing fast bike to finish in 2:02:08, which netted him 25^th in his age group.  His girlfriend, Courtney Jones, had a really strong all around race to finish in 2:19:31 and 16^th in her age group.  Anthony Klingler also had a blazing fast bike to finish in 2:04:31 and 32^nd in his age group.  And finally, my wonderful husband!  Todd had one of his best races all season to finish in 2:04:08 and 30^th in his age group. 

Oh, and about that wheel… my dad performed a wheel-autopsy by removing the tubular and all the excess glue to inspect the carbon rim.  There was a rumor online that a person could jump up and down on a Pro-Lite and it would survive.  Well, after this race, I have to say this might actually be true!  My wheel survived the ordeal unscathed!

Congrats to everyone who raced!!  And happy training through these last few months of the triathlon season!