Nola 5150: Over It

With the history of New Orleans WTC races and given the past 3 swim cancellations,  I was extremely hesitant to do another event. I've been a little over WTC lately. Despite mixed feelings, I knew I needed to get out there and see what I could do.

After my 140.6, I took a few weeks off, did a cross fit fundamentals class, and then slowing transitioned back to the swim-bike-run. Although I think my time off and slow transition back was appropriate, all of that long-sllllooow-distance really wrecked havoc on my speed. This definitely showed on race day.

Tropical storm Debbie had to make her presence known on race day and kicked up the wind to a lovely 20mph. The swim was a little choppy and the water was a little gross. Knowing the race turnout was low I made sure I was in the top few groups of AG women in the time trial swim start. And having a good knowledge of most of the swim field, I figured I should have been out of the water top 1-2 female. Here is a picture of the course:

There were some changes made on race day to lengthen the course to the actual 1500 m. The change that made the middle part of the race look like the letter: M

 Heading out on the first half I knew there was one girl and myself on each others heels. We were the gray swim caps. I stayed on her until the final straight away to the finish as all of a sudden a ton of gray caps showed up out of nowhere. Much to my surprise and as a result of the wind,  the buoy that marked the middle of the M and the buoy that marked the final stretch were pushed a little too close to each other. This apparently confused a few swimmers or they just blatantly cheated. As I approached this part, I saw a ton of gray swim caps: 1: stop and breast stroke 2. Do the math 3. turn hard right and head for the finish. Yes they totally just cut 300m from the course.....

Despite this I was still top 2 out of the water, but had several girls who I know are not strong swimmers right on my tail. Huh.... wonder how that happened. Anyway the New Orleans races (5150 and now the new half IM course) have the longest transition I have ever seen in my life. The checkered red line marks that on the above picture and you can kinda see this long straight away in the one below. It was literally almost a half mile run from the swim exit to the bike racks. Yes -that explains the 5 minue T1.

Anyway despite being frustrated about the cheating I saw and worn out from the long T1 run, I shrugged it off and headed onto the bike. Despite the race being in the flat swamplands, there were approx 8 hills going over overpasses and a 20mph+ tail wind on the second half of the 2-loop course. A few girls past me but I just focused on my race. It was hammer on the first half of the loop and then suffer for the second. My legs were trashed by the time I finished. I was super stoked however to rock some new goods :) Thank you REV3!!!!!!!

Going into the run, the sun beat down and the temp swelled over 100 deg with 90% humidity. After fighting the wind so hard, I had nothing left. I went out around 8 minute pace and it was all down hill from there.

It was a painful death march. With the time trial start, I had no clue where I was. Although no girls in my AG passed me, I knew my run was nightmar-sh-ly slow..... This is exactly how I felt afterwards:

Despite the ugly performance, I was 2nd AG and qualified for Hy-vee. Now it's time to get back to a real race and head to Rev3 Portland! 

New Orleans 5150 RR

I think I jinxed my self by calling the New Orleans 5150 swim cancellation too early. My prediction came true and the swim was in fact cancelled. Water conditions were definitely a little rough.... far worse than the NOLA 70.3.

Prior this year I've only had one swim cancellation due to rough waters and this year I'm 2/2 for swim cancellations. GEEZ! Sometimes I think we need to ask ourselves: isn't this what triathlon is about... sucking it up and facing the conditions? I don't think WTC would agree lol.

But getting to the race report, I 'll keep it simple to spare you from my negativity! Instead of the 1500 m swim, race organizers opted for a 2 mile run. Yay! Right up my ally....

2 mile Run

As the run took off, I kept reminding myself not to go too hard or get super

excited. I knew if I did my legs would pay for it on the bike. I went out at a decent pace and stayed with the top 5 women or so.

Run 14:22

40 k Bike

Again very similar to the NOLA 70.3, the winds were a nightmare=gusty and unpredictable.... Given the conditions, I tried to keep up my cadence and keep my heart rate in check. After the first 5 miles or so 2 girls from my age group passed me. I tried to keep them in my sight but my legs and heart rate just said F-U Heidi...I was frustrated but tried to just focus on my race.

Bike 1:13:45 pace 20.2

10k run

I knew if I wanted to be competitive at all in this race I had some major making up to do on the run. I took the first mile easy and tried to focus on my turnover and cadence. After mile 1, I loosened my bike legs and dropped 30 sec off my mile pace. I was able to keep my pace between 7:30-7:50. At the 3 mile turn around, I could see the 2 girls that I needed to catch. They were both a good 2-3 minutes ahead of me. Lots of making up still to do. I caught a group of people here and there but still no sight of my AG girls. As the last mile approached, I tried to keep it up as both my pace and positive attitude faded.

Run 47:24 pace 7:39

Final time: 2:18:03, 5th AG 30-34

On a positive note, my 5th place finish earned some nice swag and also qualified me for the Hy-vee Age Group Championships. Yay for that!

Mary and I are debating Hy-vee... Girl trip?!

Anyway you can probably tell from my tone that I was disappointed with my race... Ultimately I believe certain days we race like champions and on some days we don't. Yesterday was not one of my days. After every race, I try to go back and examine what went wrong... what could I have done better? Looking back at this race there were no glaring, huge mistakes. I haven't missed any workouts. Nutrition was spot on. No injuries. I just didn't have my Heidi spunk. For me, that makes it that much more frustrating! Am the only one? Solid day buy I know I can do better!

Regardless, I will move on and be positive and know that "my day" will happen in the near future :) Congrats to everyone else who tore it up this weekend at the NOLA 5150, Rev3 Knoxville, and the Florida 70.3. And as for next week, I am thinking about signing up for IM Texas 2012..... Who's with me :) ?

That Time Again

It's race time AGAIN! Yay! This weekend is the first annual New Orleans 5150. When WTC first announced the 5150 series I was so excited. I thought wow this is something I could probably do well at and maybe even qualify for the 5150 Hyvee World Championships. Then I did some thinking... Why would I want to go to Iowa? I think if I'm going to travel I'm going to go somewhere like Florida or California. Definitely not Iowa...(no offense mid-westerners). So I think there has been a slight change in my schedule. No more Hyvee for me. With the cash prizes and hype maybe I will change my mind.

Anyway I was shocked today when I saw the registrant list: less than 500 peeps. Wow-WTC must be losing some big bucks here.

And after checking out the water early this am, I am far less optimistic there will be a swim. Conditions were far more rough than they were at the 70.3. The pressure is on WTC. All I know is that if this thing is cancelled is going to kill the future growth of this race and other races in New Orleans as well. Frustrating. Nuff said.

Anyway who else is racing this weekend? Good luck to: Charisa, Kim and all of the Pittsburgh half/full marathoners :)!