Goseong 70.3 Race Recap
Greetings from my great-grandma's hometown!
First thing's first: WE ARE GOING TO FRANCE, BABY!!!
Second, but more importantly: a huge huge HUGE thank you for helping me cross that finish line today - very much a team effort here (you know who you are)!
Well, you know the drill - you'll find race recap below :)
Swim
Rolling start, self-seeding by anticipated swim time. Was going to seed myself in the second group (35-40min) but last minute jumped onto the back of the first group (25-34min). I don't think I was even 15m into the water when I thought "oh maybe I should just pull out now and just DNF and spend the rest of my time with my family". I felt like I was thrown into a washing machine. There were SO MANY people AND the swim lane was narrow - I was being kicked and whacked left & right. Breathing was difficult and I def swallowed a lot of ocean water. Sighting? Fuck that noise - I couldn't see shit. I nearly panicked, but just kept trying to get as close to the buoys as possible, and repeated to myself "strong & calm" over and over again until I found a better clearing halfway through. The moment I relinquished my ambition of doing well in the water, the better my stroke, and the easier it was to be task-oriented.
T1: They had the Ironman style of transitioning (complete with changing tents for men & women), bike & run bags hanging on a rack on the way to the tent. Was definitely thrown off by this in the beginning but found it much easier to take my wetsuit off sitting on a chair than on the ground by my bike.
Bike: Beautiful course! You're along the water most of the time, and the roads were nicely paved - not like our Bay Area roads full of career-ending potholes. After a swim like that my only thoughts here were to press hard & patiently pick off the people ahead. 90 minutes in my right hamstring cramped up. Then 3 minutes later as I was climbing a hill my left hamstring ALSO cramped up. That was fun... For a moment I was worried I'd end up just tipping over on the bike but instead just focused on *trying* to relax as much as I could and eased up on the push. I packed my 40oz Speedfil with 4 scoops of Skratch, 1x26oz bottle of plain water, and 1x26oz bottle w/ 2 scoops of Skratch -- drank more water & electrolytes after the cramping and that seemed to help? I wasn't prepared for the heat & humidity today (at least it felt hot & humid - I think it was ~85*F & 50% humidity... at least that's what the reading was a couple hours after I had finished). Also... felt my rear wheel starting to rub against my brake again towards the end of the ride - luckily I was close enough to not give this too much thought...
**Fueling: 5 packs of Skratch chews --> 0:15, 0:38, 1:15, 1:50, 2:15
T2: Nothing to report - just the usual change from bike to run.
Run: Again, like at HITS Napa in April, both my quads were on the verge of cramping hard coming off the bike. Is this a nutrition thing or a bike fit thing? OR are my legs just not strong enough to handle the fatigue? I had to remind myself not to be greedy during this time and to be patient with my legs. Again, played the patience game of waiting for my legs to "open up". This run course was hard. Although total elevation gain wasn't as much as the run segment in Napa, the SUN + the HEAT + the mental grind of 3 loops was like a bit of a middle-finger. I definitely enjoyed the hills, though - it was nice to drop some Korean guys on these, for sure. Grabbed water at EVERY AID station - would drink half the cup and pour the rest of it down the back of my neck, which was v helpful & relieving. Halfway through the run, one of the volunteer ladies stopped me for a sec and shoved 2 cubes of ice into my mouth (I immediately spat them out and shoved them down my sports bra instead - like hello? How am I going to breathe with a mouthful of ice?!).
Overall still didn't break 5 hours today, but came in first overall! Just super happy I got to share this day with the fam - saw them pretty frequently (ALL 3 SEGMENTS, not just at the transition area + finish!!). Today was...
A test in patience - each segment definitely gave its own flair
A practice of mentally regrouping myself (especially in panic-inducing situations)
A reminder to respect every race (no matter the distance or destination)
Peace out & Lights out,
Ha Na
