State TT and Steelhead 70.3

I decided to do a couple shorter races in August as a build up for Ironman Wales.  The first was State TT championships.  Every time I do a 40k time trial I say, wow, that was a sufferfest, I’ll never do that again!  You'd think I would learn one of these years.....Time trials are always good people watching, not sure how we get called “trigeeks” because the “bikeaerogeeks” at the local TT definitely take the cake in terms of nerdy aero shit!  I am sure the local Missourians watching thought they had found a giant cult of Tron worshipers!  I rode down to the race from Columbia which was a nice 26 mile warmup, races the 40k (I swear I will never do it again) and was about 20s faster than last year, not too shabby as I was pretty fit last year for it and more tapered.  We rode the 26 miles back for a total of about 80 miles so it was a solid training day!  Sorry, no photos, I was worried I'd be arrested for photographing people sporting head-to-toe spandex.....

Next up was Steelhead 70.3 in Benton Harbor, MI.  I needed a nice 70.3 to get back into a race before the big Ironman in September.  I’ve always loved swimming in the great lakes (great childhood memories swimming in lake Huron at Port Elgin in Ontario, Canada).  Two other women from our Multisport Club were going so I knew it would be a fun road trip.  The weather was amazing, we have had such terrible heat so the 80 degrees felt great and the race start was about 65 and the swim was point to point and wetsuit legal.  Got to finally wear my gorgeous TYR Freak of Nature wetsuit – YAY!!  The swim was a beach start and I held back a little from the first pack of pro women as I usually am last out of the water and was thinking I would try to locate the draft of the two girls behind me….turns out I was the stronger swimmer and maybe I should have risked it with the first pack.

Got on the bike and was loving the cool weather and flat roads, a bit of sketchy surface in areas but no big hills and a really fast course due to low wind.  I averaged close to 190 watts which was superb for me, and a I had a girl stalking me the whole time which made me really work to keep my distance from her.  I knew with how hard I had ridden that the run would be interesting but Joe told me to race aggressive!  This pro deal really makes me go harder than I ever would have as an amateur....I keep thinking I will blow up later and usually the risk pays off so I'm sticking with it!

The run was hilly and I really had to have some good positive self talk to keep my average under 7:00/mile pace.  This was probably the first race in a full 70.3 where I really persevered when I in the hurt box on the run and stuck it out for a solid 1:30 range ½ marathon.  I was happy with my 4:39 time (a PR) and I know my training is progressing well for the Ironman next month.

It was a great time travelling with friends Cheryl Rathert and Amanda Gerke from CMC!  They put up with my 20 minute milkshake orders, Starbucks for breakfast and a million pee stops on the ride back J  Cheryl qualified for 70.3 Worlds next year so I’m excited for her and glad to have her for a training partner on the bike, she rides like a BOSS!!

Super excited about my new toy that I just got this week!  I decided to sell a couple bikes I didn’t ride and build up a Valdora PHX2 (my race bike for triathlon) as an aero road bike.  Should be awesome for group rides and climbing (I went with a compact crank).  Steve and I have a couple FUN trips coming up with some big mountains to ride so looking forward to putting her through her paces in the next few months!!  Took her around the big tree loop and felt great!  Also loving the new Hed wheelset (Jet 5 Express – affordable aero wheels!!) and the primo XLab sidekick cages that fit nicely in the frame.

Stuff Jackie Noticed:  The BarFly mount, which is a rad little plastic mount that will position a Garmin 800 or 500 device in front of the stem (more like an SRM) and so pro!  It’s hard for me to resist looking down a lot when I’m riding as I am such a geek when it comes to data, now I can stay aero and check out the numbers, sweet!  Check out this nifty little gadget at: http://tatelabs.com/ the best news is they also have a TT mount coming out really soon which will mount on an aerobar extension!  Nerd Alert!!