NJ State Olympic Tri Race Report - A PR!

As I stated a while back I have been "non-plan" since Mooseman and I wouldn't necessarily say I like it, because I need to have structure in my life.  BUT, on the flip-side, it turned out that non-plan is actually a good thing when things are pretty crazy. I decided for the rest of the season, it would be best to stick with short distances with everything going on with Mike's dad.

I spent Saturday before the race at the hospital with Mike and his dad until about 8pm.  I was sad to leave Mike by himself for another over-nighter.  Tiffany said she would come and stay over so she could be my sherpa for the day. 


The nice thing about NJ State is that it's about 10 minutes away and it's where I train, which means...I can sleep in!!  I got up at 6am and got my breakfast ready (2 slices ezekial bread and 1 tbsn of almond butter).


We got there sort of early (I'm surprising people left and right!) and was able to get a decent spot in transition and get over to the swim start.  While trying to instagram (cause I can't stop) a picture of me and my sherpa, Tiff, I happened to find a nice girl and guy to ask them to take the picture.  Ironically it was Donna (@trintriagain) who just moved from Texas to Atlantic City!  Again social media at it's best.  She was cheering on her boyfriend who was racing.

Sherpa Tiff and me!

Donna and Tiff

I am going to compare this to 2009 race since 2010 was 110 degrees and ended up being a sh$%show death march.  The only other Olympic I did was Red Bank this year, where I only really PR'd on the run.

Swim - 1500 meters 0:38:36 (compared to 2009 time of 0:40:20) - PR

Again one of the last waves W35-39

 I ate about 3/4 of a banana about 30 minutes before the start in place of my usual Gu to see how that worked.  The water was warm 78 degrees and for me no wetsuit equals a more comfy swim!  I decided to start in the middle and pushed my nerves aside by saying "Heather, you have swam in this race 5 years in a row, get over it!"  That did it and I was off and feeling pretty good until the turn around and realized I forgot my mirrored goggles and the sun was directly in my face.  I kept having to stop and take them off, defog and reassess where I was, I think I drifted a few times, but all in all I felt good in the swim and ran up the ridiculous hill to transition where the timing chip would complete my swim time...

T1 2:20 (compared to 2009 time of 3:20) - PR
 Uneventful, but I was a little more organized than in previous races.  Could it be getting there early?

Checking my Garmin saying huh, I got ready quick this time.

Bike -  25.6 miles 1:22:27 18.6mph (compared to 2009 23.2 miles time of 1:16:30 @18.2mph) - PR
I started on the bike feeling hungry so I quickly took a GU coming out on the park road before the turn.  I was sipping on GU brew as I went on the ride.  I realized it was really hard to pedal....and that a mountain biker was passing me (okay she wasn't a mountain biker I later found out but a road bike without the drops) so I realized my brakes were hitting the wheel.  I got off and checked.  Yup, it was, and fixed it and went passed the girl.  I then saw Yasi while she was on her multi-hour run and then I turned and it happened again, this happened about 4 more times and I decided to just fix while in aero which proved to work, but would not recommend to do it while in a race.   With all that aside, I recently got a new bike fit from Bill and he put me in a more agressive position dropping my handlebars and pushing my seat up and I have to say it was fantastic.  I LOVE IT!!! My goal was to do 19 or above and I did it in 18.6.  However, with the brake issue and looking at the Garmin data at those points, it could have happened...c'est la vie!

T2 2:55 (compared to 2009 time of 2:48)

There really is no excuse for this...I should be faster.


Run - 6.2 miles 59:46 9:38/mile  (compared to 2009 1:05:37) - NJ State PR -but Red Bank was faster at 9:13/mile
Humidity kicked in big time and I decided to walk the water breaks and take in the Heed.  I took one GU at mile 3 and then stuck with water for the remainder.  I slowed down for mile 5 but then picked it back up for the final mile or so.All in all no cramps and felt good for the last mile or so to kick it in. 


There you have it 3:06:06 a PR from 3:08:29 in 2009 which was 2.3 miles shorter on the bike! 

Relaxing on the deck with my pup

I have new goals that start this week which consist of lots of speed work on all disciplines.  I am very excited for September 15th and Atlantic City Olympic Tri and have a new goal to break 3 hours (hoping for a 2:50).