Boise 70.3 2014

I went back to Boise this year to redeem myself after last year.  Things did not go exactly as planned.  Here are all the race details.  I'm going to do some reflecting on what happened and try to figure out what went wrong and what I could have done differently.  I feel like my training was pretty solid and I was uninjured the whole time.  This should have been my year.  It didn't work out that way, and it's a hard pill to swallow.

Pre-Race

The  race starts at noon so I didn't have to wake up super early.  I got up around 7, had some coffee and a yogurt, then headed to Shannon and Virginia's hotel.  I had some oatmeal when I got there.  We walked over to put our bags at T2 and waited for the shuttle.  We got up to T1 around 11, I think.  Shannon and I got our bikes set up and went down to the reservoir to wait.  It was a warm day, but no where near as bad as last year.

Swim

I'm not sure I've ever had a swim that was this slow.  I didn't position myself in the right spot.  I was about 3 rows back when the horn went off. I thought I would be able to get around people but it never happened. A bunch of people were going inside the buoys. I stopped and asked which side we should be on and someone in a kayak said we needed to go outside.  It would have been faster to go inside and get around people, but I didn't want to get disqualified 10 minutes into the race.  But I don't really think they DQ'd anyone for that. So I spent the whole swim in a crowd. I new things were bad when the group behind us started swimming up.  I got out of the water a little upset, but I knew the swim isn't a huge part of the race.  I still had hours and hours to make up time.  

2014 swim- 42:05

2013 swim- 40:43

T1

Again, the wetsuit strippers are amazing.  This guy got my wetsuit off in like 2 seconds.  I waked to T1 feeling a little pukey from the swim, but not too bad.  I took my time getting my stuff on, ate a ginger mint and was on my way.  I saw Virginia on my way out.  That was fun.

2014 T1-5:45

2013 T1 7:07

Bike

I was looking forward to having a better bike.  I felt like I was faster this year and I knew more of what to expect.  For the most part it was better.  There were far fewer tears than last year.  I saw my cousin and his family around mile 12.  That was a wonderful surprise.

Shannon caught up to me a little after mile 18.  We talked about how it was windy, but not too bad.  I guess we jinxed things.  From about mile 20 on the wind picked up.  I was still feeling so much better than last year.  I knew I was going to crush my time.  About mile 40 the headwinds really picked up.  It was kind of defeating to be that close to the finish and have to work so hard to keep my pace up.    My time wasn't as fast as I had hoped for but I finished feeling SO much better than last year.  I was ready for an awesome run.

2014 bike- 3:36.27

2013 bike-3:43:16

T2

Pretty uneventful.  I saw Shannon headed out for her run as I was pulling in.  It's always nice to see people you know.  A lady almost stepped on my hand with her bike shoes. That would have sucked.  I got my stuff on, had some wonderful volunteers put some sunscreen on me, and took off. 

2014 T2- 5:01

2013 T2- 4:39

Run

I was ready for a great run.  I'd really been feeling strong on my training runs.  I'd done a ton of speed work and knew I was faster.  I was sure there was no way I could make my race goal time of 6:30.  That was unrealistic to begin with. But I was certain this run would be way faster than last year.  Last year I was dead after the bike. I had no energy and it was a billion degrees. This year I felt pretty good after the bike and it was cloudy.  Perfect.  I made it .5 miles before I knew I was in trouble.  I thought I was going to throw up.  My stomach was a mess.  I tried some flat coke at the first aid station but that didn't help. I tried a potato chip, pretzel, orange....nothing helped. I decided not to eat anything for awhile, that didn't help.  I walked until I felt ok, then I'd run until I felt sick.  It sucked.  I was so disappointed.  I finally told myself the only thing left was to try to beat last years time.  A time I thought I would crush.  It took all I had to beat it.  I crossed the finish line defeated.  I'm sure the look on my face was awful.  I should have been happy just to finish.  I wish I would have been.  At least to enjoy that moment.  

2014 run-2:43:31 

2013 run-2:40:23  

2013 race time-7:16:08

2014 race time-7:12:49

I'm feeling better about things now.  Still disappointed with the day, but I finished when I wanted to quit. That counts for something.  I'm going to re-group and see if I can figure out what went wrong.  I've got the Portland Marathon to look forward to, as well as some sprints over the summer.  I might try to get in another half next month.  Need to see if my body (and my family) is up for it.