I'm Going to 70.3 Worlds! (BSLT Race Report 2014)

When I won the Norseman slot, Dawn and I talked about what needed to happen with the limited time I had to train for Norway on August 2. We agreed that it meant skipping Buffalo Springs, even though I had already registered for it, and spending the weekend training instead. I reluctantly agreed and asked Marti Greer, the race director, to let me defer to next year. Then immediately started begging Dawn on a daily basis to change her mind. I love Buffalo Springs - it's my favorite race. I've raced it the past 2 years, and I didn't want to miss a third.

About 3 weeks ago, Dawn agreed to let me participate! Maybe I wore her down. She allowed it under the condition that I would "not race." That I would have fun with my friends, get in a long training day on the race course, and be fresh for the following week's massive training block. So I begged Marti Greer to let me do the race after all (she's the coolest - she laughed and put me back on the list) and joined Shelly, Aixa, and Trent on the participant list for Lubbock! Yippee!

The night before the race, after giving out race instructions to the other Tri-Belief athletes, Dawn talked strictly to me again about "not racing." Her concern was that I'd dig myself into a hole by going too hard at BSLT, and she was so firm about staying within myself that when I got off the phone with her, I thought she was mad at me. I heard the message loud and clear.

As a result, I was calmer than I've ever been on the morning of a race. The swim went smoothly. I wore my new blueseventy Helix longsleeve wetsuit to practice for Norseman, even though the water was barely wetsuit legal. It was incredibly comfortable and flexible and amazing to swim in, and I know it will be perfect next month.

I aimed for steady, "comfortably hard" watts and heart rate on the bike, which proved to be a perfect plan on an extremely windy day. Riding steady meant going a little easier into the headwinds and up the hills, and going a little stronger with the tailwinds and downhill. Dawn had said to put my ego in my back pocket, and this meant letting people hammer past me as I spun into the wind. I'm learning! I stayed within myself and enjoyed seeing my friends along the course. Marveled at my new bike handling skills as I turned corners with confidence and descended with significantly less fear (a thousand thank yous to Chris Aarhus for this - I can't say enough times how much the instruction I received last month in Arizona helped me). The fear of other riders that I've battled for 2 years is going away as well - when Carlos Miranda passed me and patted me on the shoulder to say "good job," I spent the next few minutes giggling about how I didn't freak out and fall over. I rode into T2 with a bike time similar to last year, but I felt so much fresher than I ever have.

When I took off on the run, I aimed for a strong, steady pace. I chatted with other athletes and yelled some sweet nothings at Jordan Rapp and Jesse Thomas as they ran by to finish the race ("I love you! Run faster!" Hahaha). I was having fun.

Then I saw Dawn sitting on her bike about 2.5 miles in. She told me calmly, "You're in 3rd place. You need to start running." What? Third place in my age group? Yes. But...what happened to staying within myself and saving my energy for the next week of training? Her answer was basically, hey stupid, you're in 3rd place, so move your ass.

As I ran, I realized how much I wanted to stay in 3rd. I wanted the buffalo trophy that I'd seen the winners receive last year. I wanted the shot at a rolldown to the 70.3 World Championships in Mt. Tremblant, Canada, in September! I knew there were 2 slots to Worlds in my age group.

I ran scared. I'm usually stronger on the swim and bike, and then helplessly watch people pass me on the run. Each time I felt footsteps approaching from behind, I thought it might be someone in my age group coming to take away my buffalo. And each time it was a male and not a female running by, I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, I reached the turnaround of the out-and-back course and could see who was behind me. There were no women near me, but that didn't mean that someone couldn't run me down. Roland did it last year - after I passed him at the halfway point, he chased me for 6 miles and I had nothing left when he passed me right before the finish. This was in my mind as I continued back into the park.

Throughout the run, I'd chatted and made friends with half a dozen people, including a young lady who ended up winning 2nd in 25-29. As we approached the last mile, she turned to me and told me "let's go, we got this," as she took off for the finish line. With less than half a mile to go, I asked a spectator, "are there any women behind me?" and he answered that he couldn't see any.

For the last few minutes of my race, I was alone, and I allowed myself to really take in and enjoy the last stretch. Thinking about this magical day where everything went right. A perfect day at my favorite race. It was simply incredible to cross the finish line knowing that I'd held my position on the run. On this difficult, windy, hot day, a 5:43 was good enough for 3rd place in my age group. It's also a new personal best time for this distance.

As soon as I finished, 2 volunteers rushed over and asked me if I was okay. I said yes, and gratefully allowed them to support my weight on either side of me. As soon as I was no longer responsible for holding my own body upright, I collapsed. They lifted me by both legs and carried me into the busy medical tent. I grasped their shoulders for a moment but soon felt myself go completely limp as they lowered me to a lawn chair in the tent among 25+ other athletes who were lying on chairs, receiving IV fluids.

Aixa was there (she had collapsed after the bike and had already received her own 3 bags of IV and met Jordan Rapp in the process - jealous) and she helped me calm down and breathe as they covered me with cold towels and got ready to start an IV for me. Even this part was fun, although it was a little bit scary. I have to admit that I felt like this was a part of the full experience of making it to a podium at an Ironman event. I mean, you always see the super fast awesome people being carried off afterwards for medical attention! It turns out I was just one of many with this experience - Aixa asked a race official, and on this very hot day, at a race with 1000 athletes, 450 bags of IV fluids had been provided to participants after the race.

Super happy to be finished and getting my IV.

This lady sitting on top of me is the greatest coach ever.

At the awards ceremony that evening, it seemed to take forever for them to announce the Female 35-39 age group. Although I felt nervous about going up onto the stage in front of a room of people, I was impatient to see if I'd get a rolldown slot to Worlds. If the women in first and second place didn't take the spots, I'd get one. And of course I would take it, although the triathlon budget has been stretched pretty thin already this year, to say the least!

When they called our group, only two of us walked up there! The first place winner didn't come to the awards. We were handed our trophies (the buffalo!!) for 2nd and 3rd, and then the question came - first, to the 2nd place female, "Do you want to go to Canada?" Her amazing words came next, "I'm already going, I already qualified." And then I knew. When the same question came at me, I practically shouted "OH YES!" and took the little card and got my hug from Marti. I thanked her for letting me do the race and reminded her that I was the one who had waffled because of Norseman. She laughed and said she remembered. She really is the coolest!

The buffalo!

I took my card (and my credit card) and walked into a room to sign up immediately for Worlds. I was shaking; it all happened so fast. Then Bree Soileau, a friend from San Antonio, walked in - she had won 2nd in her age group and won a slot to Worlds as well! We hugged and congratulated each other and immediately started making plans for going to Canada.

I'm still in a state of disbelief. I can't believe this happened at a race that I was "not racing," although upon reflection, of course pacing the bike evenly and staying within myself for the first 2/3 of the race is the reason that I was able to hold the run pace that I did. Coachie is no dummy.

This overwhelming year...I am 100% aware that I'm living a dream right now. First Norseman, now 70.3 Worlds - it feels like the sky is the limit. I'm just so amazed by my progress over the last few months and so excited to see what the future holds. And as always...just keep on training, training, training. It works. Hard work works.

I want to say a huge thank you to the people who support this crazy dream of mine: Dawn Elder, Hillary Biscay, and my incredible Tri-Belief training buddies and dear friends. My coworkers and my family, who have no choice but to listen to all of this on a nonstop basis. The folks at Promotion Physical Therapy who keep me healthy and the guys at Bicycle Heaven who push me to achieve while making me laugh. And blueseventy for providing the sweet gear that makes me feel super legit in the water! And of course my ridiculously supportive husband Robert, who just keeps saying "okay," and understands what this dream is - I know it's not easy and I know how lucky I am. Thank you.

Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon 2013 Race Report

The Buffalo Springs 70.3 is considered one of the most difficult courses on the half-Ironman circuit, and it's right here in Lubbock, TX, about 6 hours from San Antonio. Last year, when I was unexpectedly offered a discounted entry fee as part of a tri club, I thought, why not try an epic race and see what happens? Well, I had an amazing day in 2012 and even achieved a new half-Ironman personal record time of 6 hours, 13 minutes. So this year, when Dawn and I met after Ironman Texas to decide "what's next," I jumped at the chance to do it again, at Coachie's suggestion. (It's only 6 weeks after IMTX? Can I really do it? "Sure, you have a ton of fitness in you and you had a huge taper for IMTX due to injury and illness. Of course you can! Just think of Ironman Texas as your last long training day for this race." Okay, Coachie.) Bonus: Dawn was also planning on racing Buffalo Springs.

The course is tough because you battle hills, heat, and wind on the bike and the run. The swim and transition area are at the bottom of a (beautiful!) canyon, so the first few hundred meters of the bike course are up a huge hill, climbing out of the canyon. There are a couple of big hills out on the bike course, and because it's always windy in Lubbock and the course is made up of 2 out and backs (imagine one of those pointy barbecue forks with 2 prongs), you ride in all different directions, so you get headwind, crosswind, and tailwind at all different times. The run has 3 long, steep hills spaced pretty evenly through the course, and even has its own "energy lab" section, named after a particularly difficult stretch of the Ironman Kona marathon course that is completely unprotected from the sun and the wind. And it's Lubbock at the end of June, so the temperatures are usually in the 100s.

An added bonus for this race is that we have some good friends who live in Lubbock, so we made plans to get together with them after the race. Robert and I drove up Saturday morning for the Sunday race, with a plan to arrive in time for packet pickup and a warm-up ride and run. Everything went as planned and we arrived in Lubbock around 2 pm on Saturday. In and out of packet pickup/expo, and we headed out to the lake to make sure we could remember how to get there. It had been raining in Lubbock (weird!) and it was freakishly humid outside. The roads were wet and full of puddles. As we parked the car at the lake (trying not to get it stuck in the mud) to get my bike out for a practice ride, Coachie called. Don't do your warm-up stuff, she cautioned. It's too hot and humid. Get to your hotel and rest! She didn't have to tell me twice. I felt sick. Humidity! Just like Ironman Texas. This is not going to be good. I was counting on a "dry heat," which I typically handle far better than humidity.

Pre-race Smash shenanigans with Coachie and Alan.

At 4:15 on race morning, I woke up and checked the weather. Cool temperatures but raining. ARGH. Looked on Facebook and secretly hoped to see a post from the race director offering apologies that the race was cancelled. Nope. Fine then. At the lake, the parking situation was not good due to the rain/mud, so Robert dropped me off at the transition area and drove to find another place to set up to take photos.

Alone for the first time ever before a race, I felt sick and nervous as I wheeled my bike down the hill into transition to get set up. My goals for the race were to be brave (i.e., stay in my aerobars) on the bike, and to PR the run. How could I make the first goal with wet roads and hills? The forecast said that the rain was passing through and would stop by the time the race started. But the roads might still be wet, I whined to myself.

Everything went smoothly and very quickly. I socialized with some friends from home, Kelly, Bob, and Roland. I saw Dawn briefly. And then, before I could blink an eye, it was time to race! We lined up for the beach start and watched the pros go. Two more age groups and then my wave was off. Started my watch, ran into the water with all the women 44 and under, and started swimming. There was less contact than last year because the women were split into 2 waves instead of one, but the sun was out and was directly in our eyes. I sighted off the silhouettes of the swimmers in front of me and prayed they were going in the right direction.

Gorgeous sunrise; yes, this really is Lubbock.

As usual, I couldn't tell how I was doing on the 1.2-mile swim. I felt like I was breathing hard, so I was probably "racing," but I couldn't be sure. Once we turned away from the sun, I sighted the buoy line and passed people from waves ahead of me, which gave me confidence. My new sleeveless wetsuit felt good. And before I knew it, I passed the final turn buoy and was hauled up out of the water by 2 energetic volunteers. Had my wetsuit stripped off and looked at my watch. 32 minutes - I screamed with joy. Are you kidding me?! That's a swim PR by like 3 minutes. I was over the moon, but also trying to figure out if my watch had somehow malfunctioned. (I'm pretty sure the swim was short. After the race, everyone was talking about record times.)

Up the big hill on my bike and out onto the 56-mile course. Saw Robert at the bottom of the first big hill and screamed incoherently at him - it was so great to see him. Rode up the next big hill and settled in. I was actually talking to myself out loud, "That swim time, ridiculous! No way! Ok, forget the swim. Settle down. Focus." My heart rate was high (168) - focus on getting that to come down. Get some nutrition in. It's funny - when I have a bad swim, it affects at least the first few miles of the bike and I have to force myself to get over it. I didn't expect the same thing to happen with a good swim. It took some serious self-talk to get myself to focus on the task at hand.

No need to fake this smile. 

After the first few miles inside the park, we got out onto the farm roads and I was flying on the bike course. Over 20 mph and passing people. The roads were dry, for the most part, except for a few deep puddles that filled the whole road, that I went through praying that there were no potholes hidden underneath. I got down into my aerobars and stayed there. The first hour of the bike flew by. Throughout the ride, I watched the average speed on my Garmin fluctuate between 17.8 and 19 mph. I really wanted to ride faster than last year, and to do that, the average had to stay above 17.8. Saw Coachie and Carlos out there on an out-and-back, and they shouted encouragement. Then the wind picked up (or, we had a tailwind for the first part of the ride. I'm not sure which). For a good 45 minute stretch, it was tough and I was struggling to go 15+ mph. Kelly and Roland passed me and I started to get discouraged. Come on Kris, you're a better cyclist than this. Stay with them. But I couldn't. And I kept thinking about the massive headwind that we had last year for the last 10 miles of the bike, and knew I wouldn't get a bike time better than last year - impossible. Kris! Focus. Stay in the moment.

And then, as I turned for that final stretch, I realized that the wind pattern was the exact opposite of last year. Tailwind! Woo hoo! The final 10 miles were a blur and I went screaming down the road at 25 mph. Even the headwind that I had to fight going back into the park couldn't bring the average back down, and I ended up with a bike split 4 minutes faster than last year.

On the way back into the park.

Seeing Robert and Tony cheering at the park entrance was a huge boost, too. I screamed at them about how great I was feeling. The run course went out past the park entrance in the opposite direction of the bike route, and I knew that they would be expecting me soon on the run. I think that made me move a little quicker. I hustled through T2 and headed out onto the run course. The first 3 miles of the run inside the park were a blur. I felt like I was on familiar ground - I remembered the course well from last year and particularly remembered enjoying watching the pros come in on the the first 3 miles of the out-and-back course. So inspiring to see them racing by to win when I still had 13.1 miles to run. They are so unbelievably fast...in fact, Greg Bennett, the winner, posted a new course record of 3:48!

I saw Robert on the way down the second hill near mile 4, and yelled joyfully at him. Throughout the run, I ran steadily and never stopped to walk, not even on the hills. I actually felt great the whole time. There were a couple of times in the last 3 miles that I felt my calves and shins wanting to cramp, but each time, the feeling passed. The entire time, I just kept watching my watch and calculating what I needed to do to get under 6 hours. I had this goal in mind and planned to achieve it by running 20 minutes faster than last year - well, now I had some padding with faster times than I'd counted on for the bike and the swim, so I didn't have to. Which is good, because I didn't. With a 2:13 split for the half marathon, I was only 8 minutes faster on the run than last year. But I will take that, because I know I was moving as fast as I could the entire time.

Ok, maybe I didn't feel awesome the whole time. Trying to fake it here.

I knew that I was going to make my goal of a sub-6 hour race, and as I approached the final half mile, I started to get really emotional. I needed to do well at this race. After spending a year and a half preparing for Ironman, then DNFing in November at Arizona, and then coming up way short of my time goal at Ironman Texas, I needed that feeling of racing. I needed the confidence and pride that it brings. I didn't race at Ironman Texas; I survived it. I raced Buffalo Springs and I'm so proud.

I was feeling all of this as I ran down the final stretch, and I started to cry - an ugly, hyperventilating, dry heaving, sobbing cry that left spectators looking somewhat horrified and Robert, who I passed without a word, looking concerned. And then I crossed the finish line with a time of 5:57 and ran straight into the arms of Dawn, who was there waiting for me (she had finished nearly an hour earlier, in first place in her division) and I started weeping and she was hugging me screaming at me about how f-ing proud she was. Such a cool, ridiculous, overwhelming moment, and I was just thinking and probably yelling out loud, "I LOVE THIS SPORT!" I really do. I am totally, completely in love with the sport of triathlon. And I know now that the 70.3 distance is my soulmate!

Here I am with proud Coachie. Sniffle.

We packed up pretty quickly after the race and headed back to the hotel to clean up. Went to have some lunch with Dawn and then the plan was to go to the awards ceremony and then Robert and I would head to Tony's house for dinner. It would be cool to see Dawn get her award for first place in her age group - how awesome is that!? But I had another reason for wanting to attend - the top finishers in each division get offered a spot at the 70.3 championship race in Las Vegas, and if they don't want the slot, it rolls down to the next person in that age group, and then the next person, until someone claims it. You have to be present to get it. There was a very slight chance that I could claim one of these spots if it rolled down far enough. I can't imagine anything cooler than racing in Las Vegas with all the pros and the best athletes in the sport. I had finished 17th in my age group, so it was a very outside chance.

To make a long story short, I didn't get a Vegas slot. It was pretty cool to watch it happen though. They went through the awards, one age group at a time, starting with the oldest age groups first. As each set of athletes came up to claim their awards (a buffalo statue and a bottle of wine for the top 5 finishers), the announcer called the names of the winners, pictures were taken, and everyone clapped politely. Then he asked the important question of the first place finisher - do you want to go to Vegas? This is when everyone listened a little closer. If they said yes, the crowd clapped politely. If they said no, the announcer asked the second-place person, and so on. And everyone listened intently to see what each person would say.

Coachie on the far left - 1st place AG!

In most cases, the first and second place athletes declined the slots, usually stating that they had already qualified at a previous race. Once everyone on the podium had been asked if they were interested, the slot would roll down in that age group. They brought up a projection of the finishers in the age group and just started reading down the list of names until someone in the audience yelled out "YES!" Most of the slots were claimed by someone in the top 5 athletes. A few age groups rolled down, though. In my age group, the second Vegas slot rolled down to maybe 8th place. In the male 35-39 age group, because there were more competitors in the group, there were more Vegas slots available, and the last one rolled down beyond 25th place. It really is about the luck of the draw!

The whole weekend was pretty awesome. Instead of epic weather, we got beautiful, unseasonably cool temperatures to race in. It was great to be there to see Dawn standing on the podium in first place at the awards. I loved chatting with nervous new triathletes at the start line, socializing with friends before and after the race, and making new friends out on the race course (hmm, I suppose I lost focus for a few minutes on the run after all). I really loved seeing Robert so many times out on the course, and it was so cool that Tony came out to cheer too and to learn a little bit about the sport from Robert. I enjoyed and appreciated the words of encouragement from other competitors out on the course, and the energy and joy coming from spectators and volunteers. There's something really special about the triathlon community, and I'm so grateful to be a part of it. All in all a great weekend of racing!