IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOU, FUCKER!

We all experience discomfort, moments of self-doubt, pre race nerves, and post race regret. Welcome to endurance racing.

Race Recap to IRONMAN 70.3 Lubbock!

Swim

The night before race day, Lubbock got hit with a severe storm that flooded the entire town with a 100% storm forecast for race day. Waking up on race morning to the sound of rain made me question if race would be post-pone. Jimmie offered to drop me off at Transition (T) to avoid having me wait in the cold rain for the shuttle to take me from T2 to T1.

I arrived to T1 with ample time to set my bike gear, pump my tires and make my way to the swim start that was about 0.6 miles down from T1. The water temps the day prior were 81F and on race morning they had dropped to 73F. This meant the race was wetsuit legal. We’ve all heard the rule on wetsuit legal races; if a race is wetsuit legal, wear your wetsuit to be equal to your competition.

I disagree 100% to this rule.

Yes, a wetsuit does make you swim slightly faster since it makes you buoyant and lifts your legs up BUT at what expense in warmer waters. I personally overheat in a wetsuit when water temps are above 72F. Sure, wearing a wetsuit might save me a minute or two on the swim but I promise you, you would pay for that minute saved on the swim on the bike leg, when body is struggling to cool off and it’s hard to hold power in the early miles.

So I stayed in my lane, even if I was one of the very few not wearing a wetsuit. I was a pink dot among a sea of black rubber. I got a lot of comments such as “you must be a fast swimmer”... to which I hope one day respond “fuck yeah”! But for now I respond “no, just a bold smart swimmer that knows her temp thresholds”.

The gun went off at 6:30AM and just like that, the rain stopped, and the morning light started to appear, and we were greeted with the our next surprise. The most nasty body of water that I have ever swam in. Zero visibility. Muddy. Debris on the surface with every stroke you took, from grass, branches, you name it. The locals know this lake is not a clean lake. Actually swimming is not allowed at Dunbar Historic lake nor would you want to. These lakes in Lubbock are meant to be for run off. The quality of water was very questionable. My swim goggles leaked about 500 meters from the finish. In any other water body, I would have pushed through, but not in this lake. I stopped to fix my swim cap that had pushed the goggle bands up, which then removed the eye suction pressure. Glad I took those seconds to fix this, as post race so many athletes complained of GI issues that they asked athletes to contact Lubbock Health Department if you had any symptoms. I had no GI stress as I think my immune system is pretty tolerable from years of swimming in the Baltimore area.

Bike

I raced and paced my race! “Race within yourself” has been my bike motto for past races. Lubbock is a flat course making it super easy to work with power and splits. It was also a great course to test my recent bike fit from Richardson Bike Fit. Outcome of bike fit with Chris Richardson: way faster on the bike with same power output, stronger and faster run off the bike, and comfortable on my aerobars which means I literally didn’t move from them unless to grab water or taking turns on flooded roads!

The only thing I need to master, peeing on the bike. Believe me, I try in every race and always end up stopping. To all my female cyclists reading this, if you have mastered this technique, please message me and share your trick. This truly can be my big time saver between a podium finish or not.

Run

Solid pace running at 3000+ feet of altitude for someone that trains and lives at sea level. For me the hardest part of this run course was staying motivated to run 3 laps in Texas Tech University campus. I totally felt my pace fade in the 2nd lap and on the 3rd lap I fought to regain my pace back.

The fight was so worth it to be greeted by that high energy on the IRONMAN red carpet. It always makes me so emotional. I can’t tell you how happy I was to cross the finish line and be greeted by Jimmie who was right there on the stands (Jimmie, I could have not done this, without your support!).

Lubbock, what an amazing race course! I loved your chaos, grit, hard working mentality, and your authentic raw beauty! I registered for Lubbock not for its location but because it was the only race not sold out in June/July. My two goals for Lubbock: podium & get a slot to World Champs.

Lubbock did not disappoint: 4th place in my age group with a finishing time of 5:22!

Texas, you stole my heart. You taught me, that the only thing you can control in racing is how you chose to deal with adversity. No race will ever be easy and perfect. What you can control is how you deal with what life throws at you and keep moving forward. How you handle yourself as a athlete, by far is more important than any top podium, PR or slot to Worlds. It shows the human quality in you that will trickle in all other aspects of your life. Thank you Texas! I will be back!

Next race: 10 weeks till IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships in St. George, Utah.