what to do when an injury forces you out of a race? you create your own race! Ha- well provided the injury is in recovery mode. I hurt my shoulder with a week1/2 to go to Buffalo Springs 1/2 Ironman in Lubbock! don't know what I did but I couldn't move my left arm w/out severe pain- went to Doc JJ and a few days later it was functional but I didn't swim til the following Thurs. No pain in a 1000 so I swam Fri. and no pain in a 2200. Good to go? how bout NO... well JJ advised me not to race and loverboy Jeff jumped on that and insisted that I not even go to have a training day. A few other friends also sagely advised I not participate *waaaaa*. Ok, cry over-I knew I wouldn't race so i continued training as usual. And some good medicinal Cabernet on Fri and Sat before my "race". I decided I would hit the pool at 6am, swim 1.2mi race swim distance but ez, then drive home, jump on the bike and race with the guys for 56miles, THEN hit the street and run McNutt back and forth for 13 miles of hills just like BSLT. Well, almost...
I arrived at the westside pool at 6:20 and tried to figure out in my tired brain just how far 1.2 mi is in yards-duh! Francois gave me a clue; 2075! oops then I overswam:
Eased into the first 600, added some backstroke, shoulder was good, swam the next 600 with some faster 50's, swam the next 600 with 100's, tacked on a few more since I was feelin good, then tacked on a few more when racer joe got in next to me-oh yeah, I added rest on those repeats to check the shoulder and effort. Jumped in the car and drove 15mins home to my waiting bike-transitioned quickly and found my usual suspects group ride-I tried not to draft, hanging out to the side, front or back off the wheel and the pace went from 20-28mph depending on who was feelin it. We then decided to hit the "pumpstation" road which climbs and dips much like my race course. I did stop to admire one of my little friends in the road and scoot him off to the side... yea! killed myself in the wind and heat just like Buffalo :) sweet! nailed the nutrition and effort levels.
Well, if that wasn't enough, my Faux race still had the 13.1 to run; race type transition and off I went, still totally self supported and now I was having doubts. I had hidden 2 water bottles at 6am but it was now 10:30 and I had 5 miles to run BEFORE I found them. I carried one bottle and one flask of Perpetuem and was feelin groovy. I tend to think A LOT on my runs and I was going over my course paths and areas I could ditch if I needed to, and the what ifs, and the fact that I had NO SHADE, and the fact that I was totally SOLO(again), and the fact that it was 97* and the wind was mostly at my back, and the sun was KILLER, and the road was hilly. This being the "Faux Buffalo" I could have quit after the first loop since it was just a training day and believe me i thought about that too; especially when I got a heat blister (I never get these) on my left foot and a heel blister!(I never get these either)! There are several ways to run this course; out and back McNutt, loop to Artcraft 2x McNutt or after my bottles at 5 run BACK because that's harder. Back over those hills, up and down and turn around and do it again! I figured my feet would hold up for 10 and since those 2 bottles were sizzling at 100*+ I needed to run back thru the house and get water-COLD! On my last hill I stuffed paper in my shoe over that blister and trotted on- I was gonna do this whole thing! Back at the house at 10.35 on the watch, I taped my foot, hit myself with the hose, grabbed a cold Gatorade and out the garage to my Cielo Dorado loop which is like the BSLT last 3 miles except NO SHADE-at this point it was 1 foot in front of the other and "what would (insert racer's name here) do". I thought of my 2 FIERCE competitive girl friends that were racing today as well and the answer was finish! Believe me, when the watch read 13.10 I stopped and walked a short distance to my front door and hit the hose! usually I'm back in the lake at Lubbock, chillin in the spring fed water, but that hose sure did feel good!
Everything went as planned; nutrition was spot on, I love the 1/2 Iron distance, and proved that I can do it alone in tough conditions.
Big shout out to all my friends that did the actual race and finished! LauraB, NancyG,BrooksV, SalvadorA, JimW!
NadiyaM.-and my pro friend Jessica Jacobs! I was there every step of the way in spirit!
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