Shaver Lake Triathon

this post is a couple weeks late but i got distracted 1. by doing my workouts as i should (hmmm...?), and 2. by during each workout thinking of new stories to tell on here. now, the problem with that is, i'm the kind of person who HAS to do things in order, so i can't tell a new story before an old story. sadly that equals no stories. how lame is that?

so, shaver triathlon was an interesting and successful event this year. the race itself holds a soft-spot in my heart (does that make sense?). so, i like the race. it was the first triathlon that i ever did, and it's kinda in my old backyard, growing up just 15 minutes from the race site. i haven't always raced at shaver #1 because it's always FREEZING! and #2 it's a REALLY tough race!! this year, i decided i would brave the cold and at least get this race in as my only real race heading into Ironman Arizona.



the week leading into the race was a recovery week according to my training schedule. i was happy to oblige! i was really feeling tired! friday before the race i headed up to shaver in the morning to go on a longer bike ride and check out the course a bit. it was a beautiful day, and i felt strong on the hilly ride. afterwards i headed up to my mom's house in big creek for a relaxing saturday before the race sunday. all night friday my legs were still feeling achy and tired from my ride out dinkey creek road, and i was a little worried about how i would feel come race day.



sunday morning i woke up, ate some oatmeal, and headed out the door with coffee in hand. i stepped out of the car at the race site and instantly started wondering why on earth i would do this race! didn't i learn the last few times i had done it!?! it's NOT fun! it's COLD and it's HARD! i instantly found myself in a crabby mood. i set up my bike and gear said hello to all my friends as we complained together about why we should never do this race again!



i was pretty excited to use my new sleeveless wetsuit (yay!) and feel like a dolphin in the water. well, the wetsuit felt great, but i didn't feel like a dolphin at all! i instantly felt really tired and slow. i tried honing in on my mental toughness skills, but just found myself feeling slow and frustrated....and thinking how much farther i was going to have to swim in Arizona. i exited the water the fourth female, my toughest competition was going to be my friend shelly, as we've raced together a lot. she was already on her bike when i got to the transition area. i striped out of my wetsuit and threw on a jacket...and i was off. the hunt for shelly was on. typically i catch her within a few miles on the bike course so my focus was on finding shelly.



shelly was no where to be seen. i tried to focus on getting my rhythm, and warming up my legs as they still felt stiff and achy. i thought by the time i got to the first couple hills on the bike course i would catch shelly for sure. not seeing shelly out there made me feel like i must be moving SUPER slow, and feeling terrible. it's one thing to feel terrible when your hammering away, it's another to feel terrible when you are creeping along. luckily for me (shelly and i discussed this later) shelly was just HAMMERING to get away from me and she's just gotten that much stronger! :) not knowing these things, really put a damper on my morning. i even caught myself thinking, "i don't HAVE to do the run, i don't want to! i'm just going to go back and be done, who cares!". who would do that!?!? but i thought it. finally i'm about to the turn around point and THERE is shelly! cheering me on as usual. i was finally able to relax. i hit the turn around and caught shelly within a few minutes and then my race started looking up!

shelly and i later discussed how at that point in her mind she said, "agh! finally katy caught me i can relax now!". as she was just trying to hold me off the whole time. in my mind i thought, "finally! now i have to make up time cuz' shelly can run!". it's so fun being able to share racing with my friends and watch them improve!

heading back into the transition area, i knew this would be a painful run. #1 my feet were numb from being frozen, #2 my legs were DEAD from the climbs, #3 it's a REALLY hard run. off my bike and on the trails i was instantly elated and reminded of why i love this race. it is BEAUTIFUL and the trails are SO fun. i just love being outside doing what i love. at this point i was the first place woman. doing the math in my head i thought if i made up two minutes on shelly on the bike, then she would only have to run 20 seconds per mile faster than me to catch me. hoping that shelly's running hadn't improved as much as her cycling, i went for it. the run is a two loop run, so you run through transition which is nice to get a boost from all your cheer leaders, it's also nice because during your loops you get a chance to see where your competitors are. during loop one i was able to see that shelly was about 1/2 mile behind me. which in our world equates to about four minutes. knowing she was four minutes behind with three miles left i knew she wasn't running a minute per mile faster and i was able to relax a bit.

out on the trail i was trying to have a good time and chat it up a bit with the dudes i was passing. #1 i always feel a little bit bad passing super fit looking guys on the course, and #2 i'm always going for the miss congeniality award at races. to one guy i said, "hey, the second lap should feel easier since we can feel our feet this time huh?" i mostly just got a blank stare, and a tiny smile in response. i think he was still mad that the crowd told me to "demolish that guy" and "make him work for it katy!!" as we ran by together. hey, i didn't say it?? :) (i did enjoy it though). i ended up finishing first place female, yay....and i took about 10 minutes off my time from the last time i raced up there. no complaints here.....well, aside from those ones about it being cold and hard. but....i mean.....other than....that...??


comments???