Flossie Diary: Chapter Three

This weekend I went to Des Moines, Iowa for a little race called "the Hy-Vee". That's actually what they call it in the pre-race meeting video - "the Hy-Vee". It is a pretty big deal - huge cash payout for the pros, lots of great schwag, awesome sponsors, etc. This year however, the weather put a damper (literally) on the race.

Headed up with a good friend Saturday morning - leaving the torrential downpour in KC for ... more torrential rain in DSM. It had been raining in DSM all week but this meant a wetsuit legal swim!! It also meant I would NOT be running out of T1 with my bike shoes on my feet (Speedplay pedals + mud = hell of a hard time clipping in).

We got to town and went straight to packet pick-up, sat through the pre-race meeting, wove through the mandatory expo, then got the best goody bag ever!! Backpack, visor, bike jersey (which I passed on because I'm a cycle-fashion snob) and tons of food samples. Left pp, and did the bike check-in. MUD EVERYWHERE!!! Transition was a swamp!

My super star travel companion had researched and found a fabulous Italian restaurant for dinner Saturday night in downtown DSM - away from all of the athletes out in suburbia. Great food, great ambiance, and great company. We took desert to go and headed back to the hotel for all the usual pre-race prep: double check the race bag, race number on helmet, etc.

Race morning came too soon! 6 am start!!! It was overcast and chilly and about two seconds after I walked into transition and put my water bottles on my bike the announcement was made: "We've been in contact with the National Weather Service since 3 am ... there is a rather large cell that should arrive around 7:30 am ... changing the Olympic distance to a Sprint with a 400m swim, 20K bike, 5K run and a time trial start so that we can get everyone out of the water in time".

What can you do? Nothing. Roll with it. I was a little surprised that there weren't more groans from the crowd - in fact, most of the comments were "those poor race directors" ... "can you imagine how hard it would be to make that decision?". And really, under the conditions, the RDs did AWESOME!!! The volunteers WERE AWESOME!!!

So the race ... I decided to forgo the wetsuit because of the short swim distance. MISTAKE!!! I swear that course was long because that was the WORST swim time I have ever had at that distance - worse than when I first started swimming 6 years ago. ALWAYS WEAR YOUR WETSUIT!!! NO MATTER THE DISTANCE!!! Lesson learned.

Out of the water and on to the bike. I picked up my shoes and ran with them in hand to the mount line - slipped them on and away I went. Bike course was PANCAKE FLAT with one slight hill. Tailwind going out, headwind on the way back. I still have not replaced the computer that I lost at the Auburn TT last month and have been racing by "feel" for the last two races. It's been working out really well, I must say. This time, I opted for a slightly higher cadence (again, going totally by feel here) and while I felt slightly guilty about not pushing it to the limit on the bike, it paid off on the run ...

WHICH ROCKED!!!

We got to run through the ITU grandstand heading out on the run - all that blue carpet was a blur though 'cuz I was bookin' it!!! Run course was flat too with only one little hill at the turn around. I got new shoes on Friday before the race (my old shoes were so old they were causing me leg pain earlier in the week) and they felt AMAZING!! With one mile left to go, I kicked even harder and with about 400m left I started to get some crazy chest pains. I felt like my heart was going to explode - but my legs felt fresh as a daisy!!

Crossed the finish line with a time that wasn't exactly what I was hoping for but I raced smart on that bike and run and THAT IS PROGRESS!!! More and more progress people - I love it!

About two minutes after I crossed the finish line and found super friend, the announcer comes on again and tells us that we have 5 minutes before the storm will be there. No really? You mean that huge black cloud hanging out over the lake? All the athletes rush transition and the USAT official is barking instructions at us: the race is still going on; don't wear your helmet as you ride to your car so they can distinguish who is still in the race and who is not; do not jump the barricade or you will be disqualified; volunteers will check to make sure your bike number and bib number match. We all rush into transition, grab our gear (luckily, I travel light) and just as the first drops fall we take cover under a tent - with 200 other athletes.

And waited.

And waited.

And waited for it to stop POURING!!! Soaked to the bone and teeth chattering, the race seemed like such a blur. What just happened? Was that a dream? Seriously, it went by so fast it seemed surreal. No chit chat with other racers ... no expo... no autographs from Shawn Johnson (who canceled her appearance due to the storm). HA!

Finally it let up enough for us to book it back to the car, crank the heat, quick stop to Starbucks, then HOT SHOWER!!! Ahhh...

Yesterday I had a brief e-mail conversation with coach. I wondered "what is going on with my swim?? am I not as focused this year? am I over confident?". The swim will come and the easy fix is - WEAR THE WETSUIT! I am making HUGE strides on the bike and run this year and I'm really happy about that. I'm doing bigger, more competitive races this year too. Not that 70.3s aren't big - they're HUGE, but the competition in the shorter distances is fiercer. You are sprinting!!! The fields are bigger and filled with college track stars. It's so interesting ... you can be racing better than you ever have before, getting stronger and faster than ever before, and yet place lower than you have before simply because the race you choose to do has a stronger field.

So forget placing. Forget time. I'm breaking it down by splits. I'm comparing my race times to MY race times. I'm analyzing the last couple of years that I have been racing and even though I don't have the hardware to prove it, I'm getting faster and faster.

But more importantly, I am the happiest I have been in a long time. I know that this is where I belong. I'm happy with the journey and rolling with what ever life, or mother nature, throws my way.