Hey TSC crew!
As promised, I want to give you a brief race recap of my time in Vegas. From the responses we got from last week’s post, it sounds like many of you were there either racing, spectating, or volunteering (a HUGE thanks if you fall into the two latter camps and a huge congrats to the first).
Unfortunately, this will not be a happy newsletter. The race went in the opposite direction of “as planned.” I woke up race morning to rain and believe it or not cold conditions. With the rain, the outside temperature was about 68 degrees with the promise of the rain tapering off and the temperature going up to 70 by the start of my wave. For the first time in my life I was glad that I started later.
Fortunately the water was still fairly tepid at only 81 degrees, which is what my pool is usually heated to, so it felt completely normal. The quality of the water was a different matter. I could barely see two inches in front of my face Without any ability to see my hand and thus my catch and pull, I had to go off 100% feel. The blind swimming drills actually did come in handy! Even given the conditions, I felt that the swim went well. My time was slightly faster than last year but unlike last year I did not come out of the water winded but rather as if I had just warmed up. I also came out with a group of athletes instead of solo; it appears that everyone had a slow swim.
Onto the bike, I went. Due to the wet and very sleek roads, I had to take the descents and turns at a very conservative pace. The road shoulders were littered with athletes who had lost control and wiped out. Even with my slow swim, I decided to stick to the plan and hold my watts. Nutritionally, I took in 3 Amrita bars and 4 bottle of water, both of which worked perfectly. I was primed for a good run.
I hit the run and did a 5:15 first mile followed by a 5:25. Then disaster struck. As I was plowing up the main hill of mile 3, My lungs contracted and I began to cough, and cough, and cough. I could not stop. I pulled over to the aid station and tried to take some water but couldn’t hold it. It was a text-book case of exercise-induced asthma. Unfortunately I did not have an inhaler on me and the only inhaler they had was in the ambulance. After I took a few puffs, my lungs finally opened up and I relaxed, but the damage had been done. My chip had been pulled and I was out of the race.
Next week, I will tell you my tips on how to bounce back from a bad race, but let me leave you with this: The end of a race is not the end, it is just the beginning.
Train hard and race harder
Coach Chris and Kev
