Hi all:
I've never written a race report before but I believe this was a unique situation for me so I'll give it a go.
Three weeks prior to Nationals I was in a crash in a road race in the ECCC Philly Phyler and sustained a Grade 1 (almost 2) AC separation -the equivalent to a sprained ankle, but in your shoulder. It was quite painful and I was unable to really move my left arm until about 1 week before the race without a lot of pain. One week before the race I was able to swim ~400m so I figured racing was not out of the realm of possibility. Leading up to the race I took naproxen religiously, and iced my shoulder a lot, trying to rest it as much as possible. I did very little training those three weeks, and had just come off of a rest week, so essentially the month before my race was ruined for training. I mostly rode on the trainer and went for some short runs, but even running really hurt my shoulder.
The day before the race was the first time I had ridden outside since my crash. I set up my aerobars, taped on my homemade disc wheel (thanks Mitch!) and grabbed my aero water bottle and aero helmet, and we headed out to pre-ride the course. My legs felt supah-fresh having not ridden in like, 3 weeks, and I was cruising easily at >20mph on the flats with my sweet aero equipment, feeling like a total aero-weenie. We also had a practice swim in the delicious Tempe town lake, replete with dead floating fish. The practice swim left me feeling optimistic but not overly excited to swim 1500m - my shoulder was still sore, but at that point I was determined to make it through (and had been given the all-clear from my PT that racing wouldn't cause further damage).
On race day, I woke up right on time and ate my favorite pre race meal of oatmeal and PB. Our wave was to start at 7:40am, and the weather was looking perfect, 75 and sunny. Allie, Sarah and I set up in transition and had a quick warmup swim before being herded into the starting gate with the other 500 girls ready to start the race. I downed my caffine-laden pre-race gel in one gulp. This was by far my biggest mass start swim of all time (about 150 women). It was a floating start, so I positioned myself in the back corner of the holding pen to avoid as many thrashing limbs as possible, and took off with the gun. I felt pretty comfortable during the swim and averaged a bit over 2:00 per 100m, which was definitely slower than my hoped-for time, but I know my injury was holding me back. I finished in 32:21 (PR).
T1 was difficult because having a sprained shoulder doesn't make getting a wetsuit off very easy, but I got out to the bike in 2:18.
On the bike, everything was perfect. I felt so incredibly fresh and strong, I continually passed women on the course. No one beat me up any of the hills, or through any of the corners. I stuck to my aero position and averaged ~157W on the 36K course for a time of 1:07:35 (also a PR). I'd estimate on the whole bike course I was passed maybe 5 times (which is huge for me, I'm usually not the one doing the passing!). At mile 18 I forced myself to eat a gel, but I am certain I did not drink or eat enough (was too focused on reeling in cyclists in front of me!).
Coming into T2, I again had some difficulties fumbling with things (unpracticed) and had a measly 2:12 time (woof).
Then it was out to the run course and boy, was I dreading it. 4 weeks without serious run training was going to bite me in the tush. And it did. For as good as I felt on the bike, I felt that much more terrible on the run. I ran most of the way with a girl from UVA but probably everyone I passed on the bike passed me back on the run. It felt horrible, but I focused on just crossing the finish line and getting ice on my shoulder, which was starting to throb considerably. I walked one of the last aid stations to gulp down a few cups of gatorade and upped the pace as much as I could for the final 2 miles. I finished the run in 1:01:46, not my best performance, but also certainly not my worse.
I wanted to especially write this to encourage new or beginner athletes to consider competing this summer. I certainly do not come from an endurance sport background (I played tennis in high school and was a mathlete), but I have gotten so much out of training,racing, and hanging out with the team, that I believe endurance sport is now a part of me for good. Nationals just reaffirmed that. Triathlon, for me, is a personal pursuit - I try not to compare myself too much to others. One of my mantras is "This is YOUR race" - I repeat this to myself all the time, especially when I'm swimming, because it's easy to get caught up in the thrashing and forget to fall into your own rhythm. At the end of the day, I'm just happy to make personal improvements and enjoy the sport for what it is - fun, ridiculous, challenging both physically and mentally, and fulfilling. What you put into training is what you get out in a race, and that is satisfying for someone who, as an MD/PhD student, often watches a lot of hard work come out as failed experiments (which is simply the nature of biological science!). SO JUST DO IT. Register for a race, make a plan, and stick to the plan! You'll soon be wondering what you were doing all these years without training and racing!
cheers,
Morgan
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