Blue Lake Recap - Going easy is hard!

With IM CDA just 2 weeks away I decided to do a weekend of triathlon fun to get in my training time for the weekend but also to get an opportunity to mostly swim in a pack with other people.

Saturday I did the sprint relay with a co-worker's wife. She wanted to do the whole race but had some knee concerns after just starting to get back into shape. No problemo, I'll do the swim and we can walk the 5k.

I started right in the front of my wave on the swim and it was awesome. Got right into the mix and had a super awesome swim time of 17.08 for a 1/2 mile. WOO HOO! Carrie did great on the bike and we were off and running?!?! Turns out she can run just fine but tends to go to fast too soon and then her knee hurts. We did 3/1 intervals and finished the 5k in just about 12 min mile pace. Nice!

Sunday I was doing the Olympic. Very interesting you all say, wasn't Blue Lake Olympic where you kicked ass last summer. Yep that'd be the one. So of course in my head I'm like "hello, you're 2 weeks from an Ironman you should be smoking fast". Wrong answer! I knew that it would be very very bad to actually race or anything that resembled racing today so I went in with a very strict plan.

Go Naked, then go Easy.

What>!??!?@?#

No times, no bike computer, nothing to tell me how I was doing compared to last year. Wow! Scary!!!!! Of course going easy is self-explanatory.

Got set up, wetsuit on and headed to the water where I started chatting with a fellow Athena. About 2 minutes in she's like "are you Bonnie?" I didn't know her but apparently she's a fan and has lost weight herself and wants to do the Ironman someday. I was like "you go girl, that is awesome!!!!"

What a fun way to start the day :)

Got into the front again and planned to focus on finding feet and swimming smooth and straight. Done and done. Got on the feet of this girl in a red and black wetsuit and stayed with her for like 85% of the swim. I have no idea who she was but she rocked and is a very straight swimmer. Nice, smooth and very relaxed swim. No idea how good since we have no times yet but it felt great.

Out of the water and usually I'd be running about this hill and all the way into transition but I'm going easy so I walked the whole thing. It was pretty cool and a little misty out so I wore my long sleeved jersey over my sports bra.

Got onto my bike and hello Marine Drive Headwind. No problem, I'm going easy, down shifted til I was spinning easily and plugged along. At about the airport I have to pee really bad.

Hmmmm what to do???? I could just pee. I've done it before and it's no big deal but I'm like #($*%%&! - I don't want to get my seat bag, bike and bike shoes all dirty this close to IM. I hold it until the turnaround hoping for a portolet. No dice. Soooooooooo I did the next best thing :)

Hopped off my bike at the turnaround, ran behind the official race vehicle, pulled the shorts to the side and bingo I'm ready to bike again. Problem solved.

So now we're headed back to T2 and I'm thinking where's the tailwind. Nothing. Headwind/crosswind the whole way back. I felt like I was going so slow :( I was starting to get demoralized. It was weird, honestly it was one of the lowest emotional points I've had since I started IM training but I just talked to myself and told myself to stay present and focus on what I was doing today which was just an easy training day.

Got off my bike in T2 and walked the entire thing again. Vaseline, socks, shoes etc and decided to keep the jersey on even though it was starting to warm up and the sun was out. Heat training was sort of the idea but it was more because I didn't sunscreen anywhere other than my neck and I felt lazy.

Started my timer and headed out on the run course. Ack - I have to pee again!!!!!! You've gotta be kidding me. Ducked into a portolet at the start of the run course and then finally started with some actual running. Did 3/1 run walk intervals through the whole 10k. My legs felt great and I started passing people. Nice!

Only 2 people passed me the whole time which was awesome! I thanked the volunteers encouraged all those at the BOP and took my walk breaks til the finish :)

Official results aren't up yet so I only know it took me about 3 hours 31 minutes today. I know my bike was way slower and so were my transitions but it'll be interesting to see how the swim and run end up.

Overall it was a fun training day in preparation for the big dance just 2 weeks from today.

Bring it on!