07 Season Wrap Up

Going into my last race of the season, I had one goal in mind and that was to “tie it all together”. Last month, racing in at the Toyota US Open in Dallas, I started off with a disappointing slow swim, but then went on to have a strong bike and a great run. Prior to that, in Pacific Grove, I started off with a great swim and decent bike, but then finished up with a poor run. With this last race, I was prepared and ready to bring all the pieces together with a great swim, strong bike AND a quick run. I was rested, tapered down, ready to race and ready to tie all three events together.
But, we all know, things don’t always go as planned …
Due to a 58,000-gallon oil spill into the San Francisco Bay, event organizers, the United States Coast Guard, and city officials determined that the water conditions off Treasure Island made it unsafe to proceed with the swim leg of the San Francisco Triathlon.
With the swim portion cancelled, the race was turned into a duathlon (run/bike/run event). I wasn’t really pleased about this change, mainly the distance they chose for the first run (6.5K). No one else was happy with it either, and we were all in the same boat. That was how it was going to be, so I quickly tried to change focus and mentally prepare for a different race. It was not easy; I didn’t feel the same pre-race excitement and jitters leading up to the race. I simply felt “I’ll do what I can”.
The first run was fast and hard; I tried to run strong while still staying within myself and not blowing it all in the first 25+ minutes of the race. I managed to enter into T1 with another girl – which was a good thing, since the bike portion was draft legal. At least I wasn’t going to be riding the bike course all alone!
Despite the (many) rough sections of pavement, the bike course was actually really fun! I loved all the corners, and had fun taking them fast. The 4.1 mile loop had about 20 turns, plus one hairpin turn around, and we did that loop six times around … so that’s a lot of cornering!
On the bike leg, my group (three of us) managed to make up time and bridge up to another group of three others during the final lap. This was good; going into the 10k run, I felt like I was somewhat back in the race… not with the race leaders, but with a handful of others, and not completely off the back.
Starting the run, I told myself it was just another regular triathlon. I tried to push it out of my mind that I had already run 6.5K earlier in the race. My legs didn’t go for that trick though; they were letting me know they had already run this course today. I did my best to ignore them, and just focused on keeping the turnover up, fast-feet going and arms pumping. Andy was there yelling for me, reminding me on each loop that this was my last chance of the season to have a great race. I faded though, and my legs couldn’t quite do what my heart wanted.
I crossed the finish line in 11th place … good enough to finish the TriCal Series in 2nd place. I am very happy with my season as a whole; I stayed healthy, raced consistently and had my most successful season racing pro … so far.
Despite being incredibly eager for the season to be over, I am already finding myself getting excited about training and planning for 2008. In the meantime though, I am taking a step back to let my body recover. Today was grey and rainy – perfect for rest and recovery. I slept in, took a walk, went to yoga, made granola, went out to a movie and just enjoyed a very mellow day. It’s not that I deprive myself of these things throughout the season; it was just a special treat to do all those things in one day!
Thank you for your support and thanks for reading,
Erin