I asked my wife Jen to talk about her experience at Syracuse 70.3 in 2010 versus 2011. Below is her recap of the race in 2010 and tomorrow we will be sharing her thoughts from the race this past weekend. Enjoy!
Syracuse Then-2010
Like many others in this neck of the woods, I signed up for the 2010 Syracuse 70.3 pretty much because it was right here on my home turf, not because I actually thought I was ready to tackle that distance. So last year, it was all about survival. I don’t remember having any sort of plan . . . except for nutrition on the bike: I planned to eat half a power bar at 30 minutes, another half at 1 hr, then gel shots every 30 minutes and to drink one bottle of Gatorade every hour.
The swim went ok. However, my sighting consisted of doing a few strokes of breaststroke, or stopping to tread water & locate the next buoy. Because I am a mom first, while I was swimming, I was not focused on my stroke or race plan. Instead, I remembered that I never told my mom that my 6 yr old was being picked up at 9am to go to Church school. I was literally doing the math in my head to figure out if I was going to make it out of the water in time to call home!
Luckily, I had met a volunteer in the bathroom before the race, who told me her job was a stripper … of wetsuits. I had no idea they would have those, and I think MC even told me he ran past them, so it was a bonus to be privy to some inside info. Also, I stopped along the run into T1 when I saw Turbo Curbeau’s dad and asked if he had his phone. He didn’t, but a random spectator offered hers. So as the T1 clock was ticking, I stood there giving my mom’s # and the message that someone was coming to get Ash.
Finally at T1, I took the time to put on a long sleeve jersey, which is not so easy when you’re soaking wet! The bike was rough! I remember not be able to catch my breath from the swim as I was going out Apulia Rd. I just kept peddling. I don’t remember pushing hard or trying to go faster, or aiming for a heart rate, just biking for about forever and wanting to be done. Also, stopping to pee in a corn field was not my best decision ... after getting back on my bike, I couldn’t clip in b/c there was so much mud stuck in my cleats (did I mention it was raining up until the race start?)
So happy to be off the bike and finally make it to T2, I sat down to change my shoes and for some reason starting peeing my pants as well, so I decided to just go with the flow until I was done.
On to the run . . . the original plan was simply to walk to the aid stations. Sadly, the minute I started the run I realized how overly optimistic that was. I had been battling tendonitis in my knees for about 6 weeks or so at the point. At the start of the run, there was an out-n-back that was about a ½ mile and I had to start walking before I even finished that. So my plan quickly morphed into: run til it hurts, then walk til you can run again. This plan of attack became stale real quick. There was nothing fun about that run! Oh wait, I guess there was: when I passed a YMCA aid station along Erie Blvd, I got tons of high fives and hugs from familiar faces. Then as I was about a ¼ mile away I saw on the ground in giant chalk letters, “JEN CORONA ROCKS!” and in little baby letters, “and mike too!” That was awesome!! I’ve never had my name chalked in a race before, and it definitely gave me a burst of energy! If you get the chance to chalk the street for a friend that is racing, do it!!!
What did I learn from 2010??
First and foremost, you need to respect the distance! Signing up for a 70.3 on a whim can be extremely painful! It was definitely cool to have finished a half iron, but it was also very frustrating when comparing my time to others who I have raced along side many times. Basically, my time sucked! And the thought of people I know looking up my results sucked even more!
I realized that I needed to address my chronic issue of patella tendonitis if I wanted to continue to enjoy this sport. That is a whole other topic for another day.
The positive energy from volunteers, spectators, and fellow competitors is vital to your race success. I realized that I need to try to volunteer more often to pay it forward.
Most importantly, I realized that I needed a real plan and real training. I was not at all satisfied with just completing the race. I was ready to become a “real” triathlete and learn what it takes to improve and become competitive.
0 comments:
Post a Comment