HITS Napa Long Course 2019 Recap
Overall sentiments: Lol… definitely had a boozy taper going into this. Glad I got that out of my system. Hopefully that feeling will last for at least a few more years... Very pleased with results but also fire is lit to actually hit 2:30 on the bike segment <!!!>
Pre-Race: 2 plain white bagels + almond butter + honey. 1 consumed at 4:20am on the drive up to Lake Berryessa, 1 consumed at 5:20am right after I got to the site. Coffee? Always. I think I had about 3 cups - definitely went to the porta like 5+ times before race start.
Swim: 7:03am start. You know that feeling when you feel strong and smooth and unafraid, but then you look at your watch and it shows you a slow pace?! I saw avg pace of 1:43/100yd.... What a letdown! Had to underwater wrestle a few dudes a few times throughout, since they could NOT swim straight for their life (or maybe it was me, or both - we'll never know!). Focused on sighting & staying as close to the buoys as possible. Overall distance turned out to be a little less than 2112yd (1.2 miles) - I think I hit like ~1900yds. Why swim more than you have to...? :P
T1: another wrestling match - this time against my wetsuit. Took me longer than I would've liked to get outta here.
Bike: Only thoughts I had on this were "if only I were about 20 lbs lighter... then maybe I could actually hit the 2:30 mark at my current power output". Packed 4 long & fat PB&J rice cakes. Ate them on 0:15, 0:45, 1:20, 2:00 marks (tried to time these so that I'd be eating these at the bases of hills). Luckily I also shoved a pack of Skratch chews in my bike, so when I realized I wouldn't be off my bike by 2:30, I downed that pack at around the 2:30 mark. Watch says I was 18 minutes off goal; we'll see what official chip time says.
---> I lost my extra bottle of Skratch (26oz) somewhere along the road - it was in my rear cage, but alas - the gorilla cage was no match for Napa roads! No drama here, but honestly would've been nice to have had just maybe even 6oz of this to drink, since I ended up finishing both my bottle of water (26oz) and my Speedfil full of Skratch (40oz) by the time I hit the 2:30mark.
T2: "I definitely saw ONE LADY up with the boys - time to catch her". *rounds the corner out of transition* - Volunteer: "YOU ARE THE FIRST FEMALE GO GO GO"
Run: Legitimately confused - definitely saw 1 lady ahead of me. My legs felt cramp-y (on top of the usual brick feeling you get after getting off the bike). Luckily it was like inner mid-segment of both quads (as opposed to right above the knees I used to get last year). I told myself I'd give myself the first 3 miles to let them open up, and OPEN UP THEY DID! Took a dixie cup full of water each time I hit the aid stations, packed a 12oz handheld mixed with Skratch and sipped on that throughout the run (I promised myself I'd finish this by mile 9, which I did). I packed a thing of Skratch chews here too but didn't end up eating anything on the run - felt too full.
The strangest part was my legs felt better as the run progressed! Surprised myself with being able to charge up the first hill after the first turn around, and honestly felt so great I just kept pushing as much as I could without blowing up for the remainder of the run. At this point multiple ppl had told me that I was first female, so I guess the other lady I saw was part of a relay team. Saw the 2nd female coming up as I made my way up hill after the first turnaround. Def felt like it was too close for comfort, and prayed I wouldn't blow up for the remainder of the race.
Super stoked I got to break the tape! Last time I did this race was 2 years ago - results below. Waiting on official results for this year, but also kind of hard to compare the two times since it was super cold (38*F) and rainy the last time I did this (plus I had no fuel on the bike since that all popped to the lovely shitty roads of this course).
Date: 4/8/2017
Gender Place: 1
AG Place: 1
Swim 0:37:42
T1 0:01:41
Bike 3:05:11
T2 0:01:42
Run 1:53:17
Finish 5:39:34
Also low-key new goal: I do want to break 5hrs on this distance soon - maybe Korea? Course looks favorable... or am I being aggressively greedy with ambition?!
