This is a nice little recap of Amy Woods recent race in which she qualified for Worlds. It is a thorough recap of her experience with work-ons provided. Enjoy.
Week before the race I was nervous and started to wake up really early in the morning. Appetite was off, but I was eating. Perhaps that’s why I lost weight the week before the race. I felt fine, though. Night before race : rice noodles and chicken. Stomach all good. I do better with white meals…my gut is stupid. :) I slept well the night before the race, too. Got a solid 6 hours which isn’t bad the night before a race, right? Pre race: ate a PB and J and half a banana and coffee for breakfast around 4. Ate the other half banana in transition. That is all I can get down on race morning. I know you want me to eat more but I can’t. Sipped some water in transition and took it down to the swim chute. There was no swim warm up allowed and they didn’t want you to leave transition so I couldn’t get a warm up run in. But I did some dynamic movement in the swim line. Swim: successes- kept swimming the whole way... stayed calm. No panic. Good sighting. Relaxed start. Nice temp and wetsuit legal. Didn’t really have any people attacking me . Shoulders felt good! Challenges: a bit rolly and current-y. Definitely had to work for strokes and to stay on course . Biggest challenge was pace. I have definitely gotten faster this year but I have had faster swims in the past. Not sure if this was because I haven’t had much OWS experience yet this year or if am I just destined to be a mid pack swimmer. My shoulder won’t let me swim every day, so maybe I should just roll with it. I wasn’t disappointed with my time, but just jealous of the faster women. Transitions were smooth. No issues there. Bike: everything went great on the bike. Like I said, my HR was a bit higher than you said to keep it at, but I felt really good and knew I could hold the pace. Legs felt strong. Honestly I wonder if I could have pushed even harder. However, I did not get water at aid stations like Billy wanted me to (so I could pour it on my head). I just went right by them. - Stuck to the nutrition and hydration plan. Drank every 10, at every 20. Mainly ate 3 clif blocks every 20, but sometimes there was a bite of honey stinger waffle in there. I took a Caffeine pill half way through…around 1:15. I ended up drinking 2.5 bottles- 2 SOS and .5 bottle of water. Stomach was great. No issues with burping or nausea. Run: successes: steady steady pace. Felt strong at the end. Hydration and nutrition on point. Salt tabs at mile 4 and 8. Caffeine pill at mile 8. The only change I made is that I took 4 gels (not 5). But I had no stomach issues. I walked through every aid station to get water in me, dump it on me, and pour ice down my shirt. That really helped a lot. Legs were solid. Race sneakers felt comfy and fast. Challenges: overheated right at the start but got that under control at the first aid station. Biggest challenge were the side stitches that caused me to run slower than I wanted. First, I felt a little “something” on my lower left side that could have been a muscle? Not sure. Didn’t hurt, just was aware it could turn into something more. Then at mile 2.5 I got a right side stitch below my ribs... diaphragm? I feel like this happens when a) I get my HR too high or b) something fatigues out. Not sure. I was able to quickly make it go away by walking through the aid station. But it came back 1/2 mile from the end when I pushed pace before the finish line. I really really want to figure it out because I totally could have fun faster than I was going. My legs felt strong. I have gotten this side stitch in two other triathlons and in my virtual Boston marathon at the end. Most of time I can walk it off and breathe it out and it goes away. I did not get it in Maine 70.3 . Other thoughts-
Amy Woods amywoodsfitness.com @amywoodsfitness
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