I’m Not Dead – Update

Hmmm. Ok, so it’s now July 2017. A whole year has escaped me, and what have I accomplished? Uhhh….not that much. But I figured I’d do a quick recap of what I’ve been up to and we’ll go from there!

Races since June 2016:

Low Country Splash 2016: This was a rough day. This swim normally is down river, with the outgoing tide, but in 2016, the race started at slack tide with a headwind and I was pretty good and well undertrained (This is a theme for 2016). It took almost two hours and it was not so fun. (1:51:16, 70/131 OA)
Dixie Zone Long Course Meet: I do not like racing long course (50M Pool) but I let myself get talked into this meet. I don’t even remember what I swam, but it was probably not anything special. I didn’t die!
Fab 4th 100K Ride: I was going to do this ride with a friend who was training for her first IM, but I broke a derailleur cable maybe 20 miles in? It was my front derailleur so I could have finished the ride but it seemed like a good excuse to take the 30 mile option back so I did #noragerts.
Clemson Tri 2016: This was a moderately pitiful race. My training lacked greatly (particularly in the running department) and I was about 3 minutes slower than my 2014 time – pretty much all on the run. (1:26:16, 35/86 OA, 3/6 AG)

Stumble and Flail Du: I signed up for this just for fun and it was fun! It was a 2 mile trail run followed by a ~200 m swim (cooldown) at Paris Mountain.
Swamp Rabbit Tri 2016: Somehow, somehow, I swung a PR on this race. HAH oh maybe because the last time I raced it was 2013 on my old road bike. But it was actually not a bad race. The run was half decent and my bike was solid. (1:32:18, 26/94 OA, 1/5 AG)
You Go Girl Tri 2016: Another PR from a 2013 race, it was just ok for me, but I enjoy this race because there are lots of new triathletes to cheer on. And some of the guys brought donut holes to share 🙂 (1:01:35, 6/104 OA, 1/15 AG)

Lake Logan International Tri: This was a poor race and I absolutely deserved it. I did not run, I did not bike (I was in great swim shape!) and it definitely showed. Pathetic. (3:02:10, 57/115 OA, 5/10 AG)
Greenville Tri 2016: My mom and sister were in town for this race and I knew it would be so bad that I told them to stay home. I was right. Thankfully this ended my tri season – the only reason I participated in this race was to get my 5 in the series so I could get a age group award. (1:31:22, 36/100 OA, 5/9 AG)
Asheville Off-Road 10K: I did this race to complete the Royal Trifecta – 3 races completed at Biltmore over the year. It was a fun race where we got to run up a trail on the back side of the Biltmore house. They also had some off-road biking events which could have been fun, but I don’t have a bike for off-roading.
Upstate Splash 2.4 Mile Swim: This was a rough swim for me, but it came in the middle of my training for the Swim the Suck and my shoulder was in terrible pain. It probably didn’t help that we camped out at the lake, so slept on the ground for two nights. But the weather was good and I enjoyed the camping.
Swim the Suck 10 Mile Swim: Alright, so this was my big event for the year. This is an extremely well run event, and is a great into event for long distance swimming. I don’t have any particular interest in doing this much swimming ever again, but I enjoyed the journey and race experience. The last 40 minutes of the race were the longest 40 minutes of my life.

Paris Mountain Trail Half: ARG. One week after completing Swim the Suck, I went for a trail run to train for this race and took a faceplant to the trail and sprained my ankle something good. It got big, but because I am dumb, I went out and got an ankle brace and did this race anyway. I proceeded to roll the sprained ankle on a root or something (I said many bad words!), finished the race anyway, and then couldn’t walk for days afterwards. DO NOT DO THIS. A week later, it was so swollen, the nerves in my foot were being compressed, causing my foot to be numb, which sent me off to the doctor. No running for 6 weeks. I couldn’t swim for MONTHS because of how badly it hurt. It’s one way to force yourself to bike – when it’s the only thing you can reasonably do.
Tryon Half Marathon: I had signed up for this before I hurt myself…It was almost exactly 6 weeks after my ankle sprain, so I was technically cleared to run. It wasn’t wise, but I went out and did it. It was slow, but pain-free!
River to Rock “100” Relay: This was a preview event for a relay a local RD wants to do in the future – running from Hartwell to Caesar’s Head. It was hilly but we had a blast!

Palmetto 200: First official race of 2017! I finally got my shit together and back to training, so when someone asked for people to join a team for the P200, I jumped it. We were team Baconators and had a great time! This was the first relay I’ve done that isn’t SMR, so it was fun to see some different scenery (the running is so much easier!!)
Assault on the Carolinas 100k: This was a tragic day – the day I broke my road bike 😦 The ride started out well – the weather was good, I felt good. I completed the Caesar’s Head climb for the first time and was coming down the other side back into Brevard when I hit a pothole and busted my frame. Mile 52. Luckily I was in sight distance of the next aid station so I was able to stop there, but I had to ride the SAG home.
Smoky Mountain Relay: Nothing new here! Another great year of SMR with the Bootleggers! Picked up some new buddies.
Wheels for Meals English Century: OH man. This ride destroyed me. I felt like I trained well for this ride – my first century of the training cycle, but it was killer. I was not ready for how difficult Green River Cove was. I also broke YET ANOTHER BIKE FRAME during this ride (it’s now fixed). A long and frustrating day.
Noblesville Triathlon: So this was supposed to be my tune-up half IM race, and 70.3 #5….long story, but it was cancelled. I don’t want to get into it here, but I highly advise you to think twice about choosing races from this RD.
Low Country Splash 2017: This was a splash like it should have been. Lots of good current, good weather! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay and hang out at the beach since I had to get back for more IM training.
WNC Flyer Century: The day after the splash, I drove up to Brevard for century #2 of the year! This was a good event. The course was fast, well-marked, and I didn’t even mind the rain in the last 30 miles since it kept the heat off. A good training ride for Alaska.
Enka Lake Triathlon: I woke up a few weekends ago and decided that I wanted to race instead of doing a long training ride. I hadn’t done a tri since last August! So I drove up to Asheville for the Enka Lake Tri. It was a sprint tri and I definitely enjoyed it! A nice lake swim, very hilly bike course (I had 1400+ ft over 18 miles?), and a shady run along the lake. I wasn’t fast, but it was good to shake off the racing cobwebs before the big race. (1:57:00, 20/64 OA, 4/7 AG)