This year was my first year competing at Nationals and hopefully not my last. For a number of years my focus has been IM training. Over the years I have used sprint and Olympic distance, and even half IMs, as training days. I don’t taper for these races they are worked in to my training. Nationals is not a race I would ever want to use again as a training race. Next year this will be an A race on my schedule.
Heading into last weekend I was feeling really good. I was finally feeling recovered from my bike accident and my training was going well. I had been getting some good sleep and was feeling rested.
Race morning …I had my usual breakfast and we headed to the race site. The place we were staying was about 45 minutes away. On the drive there I kept reminding myself not to forget to grab my water bottle and gel flask for the run . I had put them in a separate bag they didn’t fit in my back pack. When we got to the site, Mike dropped me off and then went back to take the shuttle. I ran down to transition to get my bike ready and it was then I discovered I had left my bottles in the car. No problem …I’ll call Mike and he can bring them back with him when he comes back on the shuttle. I get the phone out and dial he number and my phone say’s, “No Network” . Ok so I figure there is a very slim chance I will not be getting my bottles so I start looking around for an alternative. I saw Tom and he said he had cell coverage and tried to call Mike but couldn’t get through. When I finally saw Mike I asked him if he could run back to the car and get my bottles… he told me that the car was 2 miles away, and that he had just gotten off the last bus. I was able to get a Gatorade from the one of the volunteers. I am not a fan of Gatorade; it doesn’t sit well with me but I 
figured it was better than nothing.
Swim. The swim went OK nothing spectacular. I felt I could have had a faster swim …I need to work on swimming straight. It was a deep water start which I prefer so you were able to spread out. I hardly had any contact at all the entire swim.
Bike …Back in May I did a race called Get Set Tri. It was the exact same course as Nationals, and it was also a Nationals qualifier. I was also using my new Power Tap for the first time in this race. After many, many months of having all kinds of problem with the Ergomo, I had decided to switch to a Power Tap. We got some good info from that race. When I got back from that race Lang told me he wanted me to do my training as I would normally do and that he was going to watch to see what kind of power outputs I was doing for my rides. We did this until June 19th, and I agreed that this was a really smart thing to do. Lang gave me a plan for the race. I was not to go above a certain wattage on that first loop. I did this and it was hard. There were a couple times I wanted to push a little harder but had to hold back. I have stopped wearing my HR monitor when I race as I have found that I will focus on those numbers if I have them and not pay as close attention to the power. I have a really good feel for how I can ride but it is still hard not having the HR there to watch. So the first loop went well. It felt easy and I knew I was putting out more watts than I had the last time I raced here. The second loop was a completely different story. Shortly after I started the second l
oop I noticed a definite difference in my riding. I was supposed to pick it up on this loop. I tried but I wasn’t going any faster; in fact, I was going slower! My perceived exertion went up I was definitely working harder but not going anywhere. After about two miles of this I started getting passed left and right. I could not believe how many girls passed me. I couldn’t figure it out. I kept thinking “I feel flat today …no power …” but the power numbers were right where they were supposed to be. I felt like I was working as hard as I possibly could on the bike and still have enough left for the run. I stayed at that pace and was just being passed constantly. About a mile out from transition Lisa Walker passed me. I kept her in sight and we entered transition together.
As I headed out for the run I was still thinking about that bike. I knew it was bad, I just had no idea how bad at that point. I was disappointed and puzzled to say the least. As I head out of transition I saw Lisa. I knew she was a good runner and I thought I will stick with her or at least try to keep her in sight. I wasn’t sure I could do this on this course but I was sure going to give it my all. I was surprised how quickly my legs came around this time vs. the last time I raced there. I know this time I was mentally better prepared because I knew what was ahead of me and what to expect. This is a tough run course. I was able to keep Lisa in sight for most the run. I kept pretty much the same distance until we approached the turn around. When we got there I noticed I was gaining on her. I continued to gain a little each mile and I think it was somewhere in the last mile I passed her. I felt like I was running well compared to last time to my last race there.
When I finished Mike came up and asked what happened, I just looked at him and said I don’t know???? I went got something to eat in the finishers area and we talked about the race. I was bewildered by my bike time. I then told Mike I was going to go get my computer and see what my average watts were for the race. I went back into the transition area and pulled the computer off the bike and flipped through the screen….222 watt average! That was 30 watts more than my average last time and my normalized power was 30 watts more than last time as well, yet my bike time was slower! I then packed my bags up and got my bike off the rack. I put my hand on the seat to push it and the bike would barely roll. I pushed it harder and it was difficult to move. It is then that I realized what the problem was. The right side of the brake was firmly wedged on the wheel. I had been pushing against this the entire second loop of the course. When I went back into my power graph I could see where it happened. Right at the start of the second loop, the speed all of a sudden takes a significant drop but he power is increasing. My brake must have become stuck during the sharp downhill turn that is at the beginning of the loop.
Believe it or not, I was relieved! There was a reason I was feeling like I did on that second loop. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong during the race. Now I am not at all disappointed about my performance. My bike time was bad but, oh well, these things happen. I had no control over that. I was glad I could keep it together mentally and still pull off a good run after a very puzzling bike. I feel really good about the race and how my training has been going this last couple months (OK minus the fall on my bike and recovery from that) My FTP has gone up from 200-235 since April, I know I’m improving. I couldn’t ask for more than that.
Entire workout (192 watts):
GET SET TRI Power info: 5/19/07
Duration: 1:12:26 (1:15:31)
Work: 834 kJ
TSS: 88.2 (intensity factor 0.855)
Norm Power: 201
VI: 1.05
Distance: 23.483 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 395 192 watts
Cadence: 29 141 80 rpm
Speed: 0 39.5 19.5 mph
Pace 1:31 0:00 3:05 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 291 81 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 726 207 lb-in
USAT NATIONALS Power info: 6/30/07
Entire workout (222 watts):
Duration: 1:19:09 (1:19:10)
Work: 1053 kJ
TSS: 128.2 (intensity factor 0.987)
Norm Power: 232
VI: 1.04
Distance: 24.257 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 424 222 watts
Cadence: 29 141 80 rpm
Speed: 2.8 42 18.4 mph
Pace 1:26 21:27 3:16 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 298 97 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 774 242 lb-in
