Danny and I arrived in Vegas for the Ironman 70.3 WorldChampionships on Wednesday. And then it hit me: I would be toeing the line with
the best Professional female triathletes in the world on Sunday. Yay! To say I was a little excited was an
understatement. I felt fit and ready to fight a honest battle. This year has been one of mini breakthroughs
and benchmarks and I felt motivated to race aggressively against some of the
fiercest girls in the world in fabulous Vegas.
The training on Wednesday was a swim session and shake out
run. Since we were both tired from travel
I decided to complete my swim workout in our hotel pool since it was quite
large. I did briefly forget that I was in
crazy Vegas vacation land which meant I spent the majority of the swim dolphin
diving and zig-zagging over/under/through the copious amounts of tipsy Vegas
goers. Just picture dozens of
bikini/speedo wearing drunkards and ME with my swim cap, goggles and one
piece. I was happy to have made it out
alive.
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| Big Dork |
After the scorcher of the shake out run (temps hit 105!) we
spent some time wrestling the one arm bandits.
I chose the penny slot machines because that’s the kind of high roller I
am. And I would like to point out that
at one beautiful moment in time I was 360 up. And I’m talking 3 dollars and 60
big cents. And then I lost it all. But
you know what they say in Vegas? Fold and forget.
On Thursday I completed my swim workout at the local YMCA.
It was a beautiful facility with no drunkards. Perfect. I then hopped on the
speedy Felt DA for a ride which was very short lived because I couldn't shift. I dismounted thinking I would give it another
check over since yours truly assembled the bike and that is always a
fingers-crossed-hope-I-did-it-right ordeal.
Soon after getting off the bike I noticed the pulley system of the rear
derailleur was in bad shape.
First I cried. And then I got down to business.
Luckily my great friend and bike mechanic, Myles Chase, would be flying into
Vegas that day.
Short story: we ended up
over-nighting a rear derailleur.
Long
story: the derailleur did NOT arrive in 24 hours and fell subject to Murphy’s
law. And the long story also involves a
grand UPS mix up, a lazy loading dock, an incompetent stripper, a large annual
gay parade and the sketchiest back alley Vegas has to offer. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. All
you need to know was I got my derailleur.
;)
My sister was also competing in the race and it was awesome to
have her there. Our parents came down to cheer/Sherpa as well so the positive
energy was flying high. We filled the
days with lots of relaxing, laughing, eating and of course wrestling some one
arm bandits.
Race day came quickly as always. I miraculously was able to
sleep the night before which may or may not be due to the VERY strict caffeine
taper I had completed. I started 2 weeks out and made an honest effort to wean
my way down to 0 mg of caffeine for several days pre-race. And if you know me and my coffee addiction this was a big win for me.
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Race morning I woke with good energy at 3:30am, showered,
massaged my muscles, ate my breakfast and had my first coffee in weeks. Ahh,
the sweet nectar of the Gods! I was
totally ready to go and then someone gifted me the best race day present: As we
drove to Henderson it started to sprinkle. And then it started to RAIN. It was
raining in the desert. Sweet Jalissa! I
was psyched, smiling ear to ear. I LOVE racing in the rain and to go from
expecting race day to be a dry 105 degree scorcher to getting rain and humidity
made me giddy.
Danny and Myles had scored themselves VIP passes so they
were in transition helping the sisters out. The rain was cooling me down, but
even so, right before heading off to the swim start I shoved a mound of ice
down my Zoot speedsuit. The water was 80 degrees and I had no
intention of overheating 20 minutes into a 4+ hour day. I said good luck to my sis, my awesome
teammate Heather Jackson, my friend Magali and then I was diving into the
brackish water that is Lake Las Vegas. They announced the pros, gun goes off
and I’m feeling great! And then trouble strikes. I am on the front line but a
distinct pack is forming to my right and my left. I want to jump on a lead pack
but I have to literally make a split decision. I chose the pack to my right because
the course eventually turns right but I got caught up on some slow feet and had
to swim to the very edge of the big pack until I moved myself up to the top of
the 12 girl pack. I spot Magali and Heather Wurtele so I know I’m swimming
strong. Gotta love aquasphere goggles for allowing you to actually survey your
environment.
The pace felt easy and relaxed. Actually, a little too easy so I swam out to
the side of the pack to test some open water and tried to make a move. That’s
when someone swam over me and then another grabbed my feet and pulled me under.
Never had that happen! I calmed my breathing and made the executive decision to expend as little
energy as I could in the swim.
I exited the water and sprinted through the long transition.
I mounted the Felt (with the disc!) and immediately had to discard the glasses. It was dark and
pouring. I laughed out loud. It’s raining in Vegas!
The first 5 miles of the bike I dealt with
some bad luck and got stuck behind some girls who were sitting up going down
the first descent. I lost some time navigating around them and it frustrated me
as I knew my teammate Mandy Mclane was just up the road and I wanted to bridge
the gap. Cat Morrison passed me around 20 miles in and I tried my hardest to
keep her in sight. I stood up on the hills and tucked my head and pushed hard
on the pedals. I was trying to stay aero and do all the little things the head honcho Kurt taught me but at the same time my stomach started to revolt. After that point I
had trouble keeping any liquid down and I spent the ride vomiting the GU I
tried to take down. At one point I wanted to put my head in my aero bars and cry. My worst enemy was giving me 100 reasons why
I should throw the towel in. I was way
out in no-man land, feeling sick and not very powerful. I knew how important
nutrition is on the bike and here I was unable to take anything down.
Would I be able to even finish? And then it happened. I smartened up and
clubbed my inner critic over the head.
I
began to think of all the POSITIVES. All the wonderful people I have in my life
that had helped me get here: my husband, my coach, my training partner Ryan Kelly,
Myles Chase/MC cycles, my mom and dad and so many others along the way.
If I wimped out, I would not be honoring them. At that moment I quieted my mind and
regrouped.
Of course it’s easy to have self-confidence when the race is
going great. But I am a strong believer
that BIG breakthroughs rarely take place in that environment. The most worthy
breakthroughs happen when you dig yourself out of very uncomfortable/tough situations. During the race, I believed that even on a
day of vomiting my nutrition, getting T-boned on the swim and getting caught in
no-man’s land, a breakthrough was possible but not if I quit. I was going to fight tooth and nail if I had
to and get myself to the finish line.
I finally dismounted the bike, slipped into the Zoot Kiawis
and sprinted out of transition. The miracle of this day was I felt OK on the
run. Except for the 4 emergency bathroom stops -
at least I wasn’t throwing up - I felt better than I thought considering I had zero nutrition in me. My cadence was up and I was
chasing girls down. The course was an intense roller coaster and an absolute
quad buster. My Mom, Dad, Danny, Myles, Jim Johnson and PJ (my wonderful homestay/friends from Oceanside), Jake, Kim and other Zooters were
cheering like crazy and it was so helpful. I was smiling on the run and
absolutely loving that I was finally getting in a groove!
.JPG)
I crossed the line hurting, suffering and
smiling. The moral of the story is there is ABSOLUTELY no harm in giving 100%.
Ever. Even if 100% on that day does not live
up to your expectations. After giving my inner critic a swift kick in the
booty I was able to move past the challenge of the moment and strengthen myself
as an athlete, physically and most importantly, mentally. I stayed tough, stayed engaged, gave 100% and
got what I was looking for: a world championship worthy mental and physical
battle.
Next up: The dirty double of Miami 70.3 and Florida Ironman!
