Devilman Half Lite Race Report

First things first, I am writing this report, so I survived! Now onto the report. On Friday night I taught my spin class, well I stood in front of the room and told people what to do, then we ate some pasta and chicken and hit the road. Nick and Hailey came to keep me company and supply me with some confidence when I needed a little boost. We made it down to Vineland, to our lovely hotel (sarcasm at it's best) at around 10:30pm and I was out like a light by around 11pm. I then proceeded to wake up every hour or so to check my phone to make sure I hadn't overslept.

At 5am it was time to get up and get ready. So I got up, fed the dog, and put on my kit. Then it was off to register. Last year we showed up with what we thought was ample time to register and set up transition and we were sorely mistaken so this year I decided we would just show up early and then I would take care of my nutrition and all that good stuff after I had my transition area set. Good choice on my part. Before I knew it, I was sitting in the car eating my applesauce, then sitting in the port-o-john getting rid of my applesauce.

The water was 66 degrees so we were wet suit legal. After another 20 trips to the bathroom I was ready to suit up and head to the water. The one complaint I had with the swim, was that they because they were trying so hard to stay on time and have the entire women's wave of the half lite start at 8:30, they shot the starting gun, while some of us where still on the dock. So we had to walk the doc, go down the stairs and swim to the start, after half of our wave had already begun the swim. Either way, it was into the water and swimming we went.

The swim was pretty uneventful. I got bitch slapped once, considered retaliating and then decided why bother and got shoved a few times by stragglers from the last two laps as I passed them. All in all it was a good swim and I came out at .80 Swim: 21:23. The only awful thing about the swim is that it was dirty! Begin the last wave all the dirt had gotten kicked up and we got out of the water with faces covered in dirt to the point that in T1 people were yelling at us to wipe our faces.

T1, was again uneventful, but kind of slow for me. I think it was due to my new gloves, it was the first time I wore them and they were hard to get on with my wet hands. I was in and out of T1 in 2:19 and off to the bike course.

Here is where I thought the challenge would be. But thankfully after giving myself a quick pep talk on my way out of T1 of "You can do this, let's go!", I got on the bike, clipped in and off I went. I remembered from when I did this ride last year the out portion of the two loops you could fly on. So I got into the big ring and took off. My cateye was averaging about 21 mph, before it stopped working (fantastic little mishap) and I was feeling great. On the way back, the wind picked up a bit, but I just forced myself to keep pushing. I made through the first 20 in a little over an hour and headed back out for Lap #2. It was a little more of the same, fast on the way out and windy on the way back.

As I was pushing it on the bike, I started to think to myself, "Is pushing it this hard a good idea? Would I be able to maintain the 8:12 pace on the run if I killed my legs on the bike?" But I said fuck it! I mean this was the part I was the most worried about all along. I was afraid to start and now that I was in it, I really wanted to attack it with all the frustration I felt for the past few months. So I did the best my body would let me do. I can in at 2:11:51, approx 18.5 mph, and about 13 minutes faster than last year.

As I got off my bike I saw Nick and Hailey hanging at the dismount area taking pictures and cheering me on. I ran into T2 and again got slowed down a bit. The girl next to me had taken my spot, and thrown her shit everywhere, so I had to push her bike out of the way in order to rack mine. Then I had to find all of my stuff that she knocked out of the way. I was in and out of T2 in 2:03. A little slow for my liking.

Then came the challenge of finding my legs and getting up to speed. I ran out of T2 and saw Nick an Hailey cheering me on again. He said, "I will see you in an hour! Keep smiling!" and that was all I needed, I was off. Again the run was quite flat, with only a little bit of wind, and as soon as I got on the course I began to remember all of the turns and landmarks from last year. I was on pace, well around pace, until about mile 7 and then I started to get really strange stomach pains. And the best part is, for the whole entire race, there is not 1 bathroom. So you are either going in your pants or pulling over in plain view and going in a field, which probably contains vegetables you may very well purchase and eat in the near future! So I decided I would slow it down a tiny bit until the pains figured themselves out.

Luckily they disappeared in about a half of a mile and I was back in business. I rounded the last corner and headed towards the finish line. My run clocked in at 1:14:45, 8:14 min miles, approx 13 min faster than last year. Only two seconds off per mile, but hey it beat pooping in my pants!

Here are what my laps looked like:
Lap 1 8:20
Lap 2 8:13
Lap 3 8:11
Lap 4 8:15
Lap 5 8:11
Lap 6 8:07
Lap 7 8:13
Lap 8 8:23 (gotta go to the bathroom)
Lap 9 8:18 (still thinking about it)
Lap 10 7:22

So it is safe to say the race was a total success. I had a 26 minute PR and I felt great. I smiled the whole drive home and have been on Cloud 9 since. And the great part is, I am not sore and ready for my next race this weekend. This weekend is the Red Bank Olympic Tri and Coach P has warned we are pacing the bike this time! BRING IT!