Stiff, Sore and Flat... not the race I wanted today... ;(

I did the Portage Lakes Olympic Triathlon as my last race of the season - and it sucked.

They can't all be great races... and I am OK with that (so I keep telling myself). To be honest, I'm embarrassed about my result today - but there is a reason I raced so badly today.

Just 16 hours before, I did the Alan's Elite Race - a "grand prix" style race set of 3 sprint triathlons back-to-back-to-back with just a few minutes' rest between. I did great on Saturday afternoon... and had nothing left for Sunday morning as a result.

The weather was on the chilly side (about 50F at the start), but brilliantly sunny. There were a lot of people I knew at the race. That was cool - except that I had this bad feeling I was going to race badly in front of them. Oh well - I do this for myself...

I knew right away in the swim that I was going to have a long day. I could just feel it. My warm-ups were OK, but I didn't do anything with high speed or intensity like I normally do, since I was sprinting all afternoon before. I settled into my swimming rhythm and did the best I could to keep going quickly. Never really found any good feet to follow in the swim, so I pretty much expended full energy without a draft. Bummer... but that's how it goes sometimes.

The bike course was brand new for this race - so I had no sense of my speeds / times / etc. It was a good course. Road conditions were good, lots of rolling hills and a few climbs that got you out of your saddle for power. Problem for me was I just wasn't feeling it. But I carried on.

Speaking of not feeling it... my feet were totally numb during the bike (and a good portion of the run). It was rather chilly that morning, and not being acclimated to cold weather yet, and choosing to leave the arm warmers in my transition bag - I lost my feet out there. It isn't that my bike was THAT bad... I did take pleasure in sprinting up the steep hills past people. but I just wasn't into it mentally, which made it hard to push.

I didn't realize how bad my numb feet were until I took them out of my bike shoes coming back into the park for a flying dismount into transition. I was shocked at the numb blocks hanging at the end of my legs. Not good - and I was really worried I'd fall flat on my face jumping off my bike. Luckily I didn't fall over... but running to my bike rack was not easy.

Pulling on my shoes was a real challenge too! I manged to finally get my shoes on, take a deep breath and head out.

My entire body was upset with me for racing so quickly after yesterday's effort. Legs felt depleted and dead like the final miles of an Ironman... and my head just wasn't in it today... My pace felt sluggish, but to my surprise, my first uphill mile was about 6:20... but after running 5:XX miles yesterday - it felt relatively slow anyway.

At mile 3, I was really feeling crappy, and contemplated walking - me walking! Man, I was just not into it today. I actually had to stop and pee along the 3rd mile as well. Ugh...

Then I saw teammates on the out and back and that gave me a lift to try to hang in there and do better... I pushed up the pace and tried to start reeling in more people in front of me.

The second loop I maintained a 7:00-ish pace... but knowing what I should be running... and how I felt, it just wasn't a good experience.

When it was all said and done, I came in a disappointing 16th overall. :( I'm used to being around 5th or 6th overall in the HFP Olympic race... but I did come in 6th overall in the combined 3 race set just 16 hours before...

So, the moral of the story is that my season actually peaked in July (5th at Caesar Creek Olympic and 2nd at Huntington Sprint)... then travel to India and China and family vacation got in the way... and the whole month of August was a training bust. I milked my fitness for USAT Nationals in August... and didn't train again until last week - too late to have a good race today! Oh well - lessons learned.

It was a great season for me overall... from a big PR in Boston Marathon, to my highest finishes in Sprint and Olympic triathlons, a new PR at Olympic triathlon and my first National Championships! Just kinda went out with a tired, flat fizzle.

Gonna use this for motivation to kick ass in 2012!