Vegas 70.3 World Championships> Highlights and Lowlights

5 days post race, the soreness is mostly gone, but the fatigue and tan lines are still there and the brain is stuck on what now?, why?, what if, and whew! (It almost sounds like my documentation at work: 

5th day post op, swelling is down but the incisions and scars are still healing, and toughen up …….just kidding on the last part)

I'll be honest I am not completely thrilled with the outcome of this race, but have come to accept it.  I have a lot of mixed feelings about it (both good and bad) that have been hard to describe to... the people I work with, family, my coach, and friends.  For my fellow employees they think 28th in the world is amazing and want to have their picture taken with me (LOL, its true! love them), for my close friends or even myself I know I am a better athlete than the results show. Just 2 years ago I was 12th, in a younger AG and on a much hotter day. WTF. But this is a different year with much different circumstances. My training going into the race had been going well and I was excited and motivated to race, but deep down I know this course. I've done it 3 x, and trained there multiple times. I know what it takes and I know what I had been able to fit in amongst a bunch of craziness and it just wasn't enough to get me where I wanted to be.   So many people close to me say just have fun, enjoy not having pressure to perform. But part of the fun,  for me,  is performing to the best you can…to your full potential. Its a frustrating feeling to not be able to do what you are capable of. But, is 28th in the world as good as it gets for me,  now,  with working full time, developing programs,  shuttling kids, coaching athletes, and being a good wife to an amazingly fast husband who knows how to take his racing training and business to new levels. I don't think so, and isn't doing your best part of what makes you get out the door to train? fit the training in around life? Its part of what still gets me to sign up for races, have a coach, and get up early, skip hair appointments (its obvious!) to train instead. 

I just don't do detailed race reports, but like to give highlights and lowlights on my race day.  But first,  I have to say it was so fun to have so many Wattie Elite team members out on the course racing and supporting. They were simply awesome and made a little suffering at the that much better !!!  Being part of such a supportive team throughout the past 2 years has been such a fun experience. Even though most the pictures that have shown up show pain, grit, a muddy face… I was smiling out and high 5ing my teammates out there! 

I also have to give an enormously huge THANKS to the Elite team sponsors who surprised us with an AMAZING super pro package of World Champ surprises!   A new WATTIE INK World champ race kits and a super sweet tank, new KSWISS shoes, BlueSeventy Goggles, sweet towels from Speedfil and ISM, Fuelbelt bottles and race belts, Spidertek tape and my last POWERBAR shipment came the day before I packed to leave. Seriously how awesome is this! They totally went all out for us and it was like Christmas morning! :)  

I love new kits for race day!

pre ride with a lot of fast Treks!

Race Day Recap:

We walked out of the hotel and felt rain! Say what? I hadn't packed any rain gear and could only think about the stuff getting wet and that T1 being a mudslide!  Guess CX was starting early.  It kept raining even after it was suppose to stop. Nothing new hear. Can't tell you how many rides I did this summer in the rain.  

Swim: Best part of the swim was my BlueSeventy swim skin to help me slide through the muddy sludge that was Lake Las Vegas. It seemed worse than the past 2 years, maybe it was the rain stirring up who knows what from the bottom. I had a good start, swam a straight line and passed a number of girls in the back half of the swim. The frustrating part is a slower time than last year, despite working harder on my swim, 4:20 am. wake up calls to go swim with fast people. I was shocked, it was still raining when I exited the water and was running through T1. 

Bike: My new bike was a dream! I can't thank Trek,  Nes/Studio DNA enough for dialing it in to perfection. It fit perfectly. I was so sad it was going to get dirty though! The rain continued the entire bike! I chose not to wear sunglasses, which is good because I got pelted by packs of men coming from behind. I rode strong the bike was perfect, it was just missing some bigger riding miles in the legs by the person pushing the pedals.

Thank you Kevin Koresky for this pic!

Run: The rain stopped, and the sun came out which I loved. My team was out all over the course in the race and on the sidelines cheering. I am one of the few who actually like this run course. When you are on,  you can run strong uphill then hammer the downhills. This worked for about 1 1/2 laps for me. I had trouble with cramping in my feet and calves which I had to walk out some, well more often than I would have liked. I'm guessing I didn't get in enough salt/ hydration because it wasn't as hot, or more likely just not strong enough this year. 

Finish: 28th in the World.  I'll take it with a smile.

big bling

Many athletes just dream to be at a World Championship event, and I have been in at least 5 that i can remember and feel lucky to have fit enough training to be there again this year. 2 days after coming home I picked Jack up at football practice to find out that he had won that weeks game ball;  of course I was mom of the year for missing that game, but the coach said he won it because he executed 90% of his snaps and even though their team lost he never gave up and kept playing hard. Maybe he's learning something!

And thats a wrap on the 2013 tri season! Except for 1 trip to Kona for an underpants run and to cheer for so many friends and my athletes racing this year.  But as 1 season ends another begins! My CX bike has already seen the dirt a few times :)

good bye Vegas World Champs