Greenville Spinners 10-mile TT #3 - Race recap

 
Photo: Greenville Spinners

After the last Greenville Spinners Time Trial event (#2 in the series but my first time participating in the event), I made note of some areas of improvement. Although only a few weeks separated the two events, there were so many lessons learned from my first ever Greenville time trial event. 

There are so many differences between endurance racing and time trial racing. In an endurance triathlon event, it's all about energy management - being great at not slowing down. In a time trial race, it's all about you versus the clock. Although both are extremely uncomfortable, it's a very different type of hurt. In endurance racing, the body endures great mechanical fatigue, not to mention dehydration, glycogen depletion and central nervous system fatigue. You can't fake the training if you want to perform well in an endurance event. There's no skipping steps or rushing the process. You need great body awareness and exceptional mental strength. Going into an endurance vent with a haphazard fueling and hydration strategy (before and during the event) often leads to GI issues, early fatigue and other performance limiters. In a long distance event, there is room for error and mistakes. Not always does the "fastest" athlete perform the best on race day.

In a time trial event, every physiological system in the body is called into action. The little details (like aerodynamics and willingness to suffer) are extremely important. Although nutrition is important, it won't necessarily make or break the race. Being fit, strong and powerful go a long way. Did I mention the ability to suffer? It's a very uncomfortable feeling when the heart is beating out of your chest, your legs are burning and at any moment, you feel like you can't go any harder but something inside of you tells you that you still have a little bit more in you. 

After my first attempt at the 10-mile event, I knew there were things that I needed to do differently if I wanted to perform better. I certainly felt a bit of expectations in this last time trial event as I had a reference point to compare to (series #2). Knowing that improvements are not always linear, I felt like I could do things better this time around. 

               

I went into this race very tired - emotionally and physically. Still mentally exhausted from our 6-days of training camps, this past week has been extremely busy. I've also found myself emotionally drained from all of the COVID-19 news/media. When Karel and I arrived to the Donaldson parking lot around  4:45pm on Thursday late afternoon, I was anxious to get on my bike to loosen out my legs. As I started my warm-up, my legs felt just like they did throughout the week - heavy and tired. Interestingly, my running legs have felt good and I've been enjoying swimming long course this week. But on the bike - ugh - I had no oomph. I made sure to give myself plenty of time to warm-up. I felt it out as I went along and did a warm-up that helped me get into the zone. It took me the entire warm-up to finally start to feel somewhat good. 

Warm-up
15 min EZ
2 x 30 sec all out (w/ 60 sec EZ)
2 x 45 sec all out (w/ 60 sez EZ)
3 x 3 min build w/ 3 min EZ
EZ spin until my start time of 6:14pm EST

Karel joined me (as a participant) for this last series (even though he is not a fan of time trial events - he was always a crit-style racer and enjoyed the sprint at the end of a road race). Of course, with 8 years of triathlon under his belt, he has become a different cyclist and much more of a well-rounded endurance triathlete - not to mention an incredibly fast and efficient runner! Karel put himself in the Merckx category (no time trial equipment, just a road bike) just to keep it more fun for him. 

As I warmed up (Karel and I each did our own warm-up), I took note of the wind direction and made mental notes of the parts of the out and back 10-mile course that I needed to take advantage of. In the last event, I felt like I could not have gone any harder/faster on the downhill segments. Instead, I needed to embrace the suffer and push harder on the more difficult sections (climbs and false flats and in the wind). This is where I would be able to gain a little more time (talking seconds - not minutes) but it would certainly come at a cost. I also knew that I needed to have a really quick start (clipping in) and needed to nail my u-turn at the turn around. 

Having friends/athletes at the event made a huge difference. Our athletes Alvi and Yannick, along with our former athlete and good friend Thomas, were also participating in the event. Since the starting times are first come, first serve (you sign-up online), we strategically positioned ourselves one after another for motivation. With a 1-minute gap between each rider, we each rode our own race but also had vision of who was around us on the out and back course. Having Karel ahead of me gave me a rabbit to chase (I never caught him but I did ride faster than him ;) and I also felt like I had a bullseye on my back as I had Yannick, Alvi and Thomas chasing me down (in that order). I knew Yannick would catch me but my goal was to not let Thomas catch me (he started 3 minutes behind me). All three of these guys are incredibly fast. This mental approach helped tremendously. Even though it was me against the clock, I was able to squeeze a bit more out of myself knowing that I had people chasing me down along with having Karel to chase. 

Lastly, I focused on all the little things during the race that could make a big difference. In addition to my race bike set-up, I had a little sport nutrition in my Ventum hydration system to keep my brain alert and to keep my mouth/throat from getting dry. Although it was a little added weight (I didn't have anything in my front bottle - it was just there for aerodynamic purposes), it was negligible. After the last event, Karel put new elbow cups (Wattshop) on my Ventum and moved the cups a bit closer to the aerobars. While this position allowed me to get more aero, it also helps me feel even more stable on the bike (especially when pushing hard). Lastly, all 5-feet of me needs every opportunity possible to gain free speed - whether it was tucking in my head (while still safely looking ahead), nailing my start and u-turn (thankful there was a cop controlling traffic, which allowed me to quickly and safely take the turn), pushing as hard as I could on the downhills (to get out as much watts as I could) and lastly, being willing to suffer a bit more on the inclines. 

It's amazing what you learn about yourself after one all-out effort. You quickly realize that you are always capable of a little more - even when you think there was absolutely nothing left in you. 

I left everything out on the course. It took me several minutes to return back to life after I crossed the finish line. I didn't physically catch Karel, Yannick passed me a few miles in and Thomas never caught me. Although the course was slightly shorter than the last time, I had a big improvement. It hurt, it was painfully delightful and I was reminded of why I love racing - there is so much satisfaction in breaking down physical and mental barriers. You learn so much about yourself (like thoughts/feelings are not actions) and you get to surround yourself with like-minded individuals who understand your joy for suffering. 

A big thank you to the Greenville Spinners Bicycle Club for putting on this series. With all that is going on in the world, none of us are immune to a wide range of emotions. I can't escape my daily rollercoaster of emotions but for these brief moments in time -when I move and use my body - I feel tremendous joy and gratitude for my physical health. I didn't come this far to only come this far. Onward I go! 

GARMIN STATS (Series #2)
Distance: 10.2 miles
Time: 25:33
Speed: 24.0 mph
Normalized lap power: 198 watts (average power 192 watts)
Elevation gain: 436 feet
Average cadence: 95 rpm
Average HR: 152 bpm (max 166 bpm)
Average temperature: 87 degrees 

GARMIN STATS (Series #3)
Distance: 9.98 miles
Time: 24:17
Speed: 24.7 mph
Normalized lap power: 203 watts (average power 201 watts)
Elevation gain: 410 feet
Average cadence: 90 rpm
Average HR: 151 bpm (max 164 bpm)
Average temperature: 87 degrees 

TreesGreenville Turkey Day 8K - race reflection

The beginning of every season is an exciting time for me. It's a fresh new start to build from the past, to re-create the present and to plan for the future.

As athletes, we know that it is necessary to progress through phases in our season in order to enhance performance systematically.
But what about the first time you train for something for the very first time?

You see, there are stages of learning as athletes and we must go through these stages as we progress with our skills and fitness. 

But the really neat thing about being an athlete and training for an event for the very first time is that we don't necessarily know the stages that we should be experiencing yet we put our trust in the process and simply enjoy the journey to train for the first ever, longest distance ever.

Once you become a veteran to a distance, things change. There are more gains in fitness to be felt but the mind also changes. No longer are you seeing challenges for the first time or experiencing exciting first-ever moments but instead you reflect...a lot.
There was once a time when you thought you were super fast, really in shape, exceptionally strong and it likely all felt so natural. These thoughts come and go at random times throughout a training journey.

When you, the athlete, trains for a new distance for the first time, there is little awareness of what you are doing wrong, if you are doing things wrong. How do you know if you should do better or differently? There is no past in your athletic career to recognize what should have happened at specific phases in your training. Although this may look like a very scary time for you in terms of you lacking an understanding as to how to train for an event for the very first time, there is a special period during this training when you do begin to refine skills and feel more prepared with each training session that you put behind you.  

As we continue our journey as athletes and train for another new distance, the journey becomes a lot less scary and a lot more exciting. We begin to gain confidence. We often make mistakes but overtime, we learn from our mistakes. We begin to call these learning lessons in an effort to train smarter. 

Every year I am building fitness from the previous year. Over the past 8 years, I have never experienced a new longer distance for the first time. For the past 8 years, I have taken my body on the same Ironman journey. For nine times in the past 8 years, I have trained for the same distance event. 140.6 miles. 

Yet every year I find myself refining my skills. Recognizing weaknesses and discovering a smarter way to train. I still get nervous on race day, I still question if I am doing "enough" and I still fist pump my way down the finish line because I am so grateful for my amazing body.

As athletes, we have an unique opportunity, every year, to begin a new season of training. We get to build a new foundation that will stand as the platform of our season fitness progression. 

During this time, there is the opportunity to get excited about the journey ahead. To be OK with the progression of fitness and that yes, it did feel easier at one time. But, we have this beautiful blank canvas ahead of us as to how we will paint our season. There is a tendency to think back and to feel frustrated about fitness (and perhaps skills) in the beginning of the season but recognize that this is normal and necessary. 

Remember that time when you trained for an event for the very first time? You had nothing to look back on so all your energy was taking you toward the present. You probably felt frustrated at times that it was hard but that's also why you signed up for your journey in the first place.

So why should now be any different just because you no longer a newbie?

Once you find yourself years into a sport, you begin to accumulate PR's, best performances and times when you feel/felt in the best shape ever. No more do you get excited about doing something for the first time but instead you get excited to do it again...but even faster.

You begin to train with higher expectations as to what you feel you should be doing at this point in your journey. Whether it's because you did it in the past or you have confidence that you should be there right now, this is often one downside of being a seasoned athlete.

There's always that one time. 

After 6 weeks of no training, Karel and I began our foundation phase of training. We focused our energy on strength and skills. We are in the pool a lot. The ankle strap has become a daily training partner in the water. We perform single leg drills on the bike and often ride with a fast cadence. And sometimes push heavy gears really slow. We don't workout very long but we train frequently. And this include strength training. We have frequent short runs, slow as possible with good form. Karel learned how to run 7:45-8 min/miles and I embraced 8:45-9 min/miles. Yes, there was a time that I ran a 1:31 solo half marathon and Karel ran a 1:21 solo half marathon but that was in the past when we trained to run fast in a running event.
Yes there was a time when I could swim a 1:11 x 100 breastroke in college and a 2:19 x 200 butterfly but now I get excited if I can hold repeating 100's on a 1:30 cycle. Yes, there was a time when Karel had a higher FTP on the bike and he could push more watts but that was before he found a way to ride strong and run a 3:11 marathon off a 112 mile bike ride. 

There will always be a time when you were faster and I never want you to forget that time. Rather than wishing you were there, celebrate what you once did and then think about the future. There are so many ways to get fast but if you put all your energy into the past, you will lack the fundamental skills of how to train smarter for the future. 

On Thanksgiving morning, Karel and I ran the TreesGreenvill 8K. My first road race in 2 years. There were no expectations for Karel and me because well, we haven't done any speed work since well before IMWI. As I mentioned above, our running has been short and frequent and slow. But we are doing exactly what we should be doing right now in this phase of our training. 

This race was all in the name of fun. If anything, this was a great way to give thanks to our healthy bodies.
This was our first event in Greenville and a great opportunity to be around other runners. 

On a hilly course, I went solely by RPE. There was no pacing strategy aside from hold back on the first 2 miles to make it feel easy. Without any speed work, I was running almost 2 minutes faster per mile than any run I have done since IMWI in early September. Sure, there was a time when I could run faster but when I was racing for almost 5 miles, I was not thinking about the past.  I was thinking about where I see myself in October at my 4th IM World Championship and 10th Ironman and where I am right now in my season journey. 

Running fast is not in my plan right now and that's because I am in a specific phase of training that does not emphasize speed. If I am not training for speed, why should I expect myself to be fast? I know this because I am no longer a newbie athlete but instead, an athlete who knows how to train smarter. I made mistakes and I learned and I also like to try new things.

The beautiful thing about being an athlete is never losing the athlete that lies with us. Regardless of the fitness, the love of competition, pushing and refusing to quit still comes out on race day.

So even though  I may not have ran my fastest pace in a running race (technically it was a PR since I have never ran an 8K before :) I was incredibly proud of my body that it knew exactly what to do on race day.
Give the best effort possible with my current level of fitness.

Karel and I both surprised ourselves as we never thought we'd both run so fast without any speed work in our body.

Although we have no way to predict the future, this was a great confidence booster that our transition plan is working.
Get stronger to get faster and then go longer. 

This is my favorite part of the training season. To dream big and work hard but remain patient with the journey.

A new journey of training for the same distance triathlons. 

Marni 910 Garmin data 

Total time: 34:40
Distance: 4.95
Average pace: 6:56 min/mile
3rd age group, 13th overall female
Mile 1: 6:49
Mile 2: 7:17
Mile 3 6:52
Mile 4: 7:10
Mile 5: 7:05

Karel Garmin 910 data

Total time: 29:01
Distance 4.95
Average pace: 5:45 min/mile
2nd age group, 10th overall
Mile 1: 5:15
Mile 2: 5:53
Mile 3: 6:02
Mile 4: 6:07
Mile 5: 5:29