Race Report: Challenge Rancho Cordova

Posted by Katie

Oh ya so I did this race last weekend and here is the (late) report.

Surprised? Me too. I did not post my pre-race thoughts on this one because my only pre-race thought was "Well this is going to be a DNS or DNF... and that sucks". Let me explain...

*DNS- Did not start
*DNF- Did not finish

As Matt mentioned, we signed up for this race as a substitute for the cancelled IM Lake Tahoe 70.3. It seemed wasteful not to put our summer of hard training to the test and we were already planning to be at the race to cheer on friends. I had two hesitations... 1) I took a pretty nasty fall on a trail run the monday after Tahoe and my back was feeling tight and 2) My first day at a new job was scheduled for the day after (turns out interviewing like a marathoner works!). The fall was silly, I was running downhill on a steep section of trail and Kona (our dog) cut behind me and misjudged my speed and ended up taking out my feet. Youch. Initially my back was just tight... but then the Thursday before the race I knew something was wrong. I decided to swim anyway and that turned out to be a horrible idea. By Friday everything hurt. In a last ditch effort to save this race I saw my amazing chiropractor who also does ART. She confirmed that my back/glutes were a total mess and as a triathlete herself, said I should listen to my body and not do this race. Spoiler alert... I listened to 1/2 of this advice, but seriously that ART stuff works magic!


The nice thing about going into a race thinking that you very likely won't finish is that there is no real pressure. My "race" plan was start swimming... and see how that goes. That was it. I decided I would just take each section one at a time and see how my back felt. In all honestly I fully expected to only do the swim and then feel like death. I even mapped out the shortest route from T1 to the finish (two different places) in case I needed to bail. To my surprise the swim went well. This was the first race/open water swim that I did not panic and I was super proud of myself. Usually I hyperventilate and do the breast stroke for a while... and I didn't do that! I just swam. #soproud

One nice but also somewhat weird thing about the Challenge Rancho Cordova race was the wave starts... it was Pro men, Pro women, Men <35 years, Women <35 years, Women 35+, Men 35+, and Aquabike/Relay. Okay... I might be new to triathalons... but I do know that Men 35+ are really good at triathalons. A big pack of 35+ men caught me right at the end of the swim and then I was basically around primarily older gents the entire race. Not sure what the rationale was there?

I exited the swim with 43:28 a bit short of my 40 min goal and took my sweet time in transition (5:03) and then figured what the heck... might as well bike. The bike course was really nice, rolling hills with most of the climbing in the first half and then mostly descending in the back half. My only struggles were with aid station / stomach / hydration. For some reason aid stations #1 and #2 only had gatorade when I went through. I had only brought one water bottle with me so for most of the race I was drinking concentrated gatorade. In training I normally dilute Powerade to half the recommended concentration... so full strength gatorade tasted way too sweet. It was also awesome to know that Danielle was out there on the course. Originally I was hoping we would start together being in the same age group, but they had Aqua/Bikers start at the end. My only complaint was at mile 29ish we were on a road that was HORRIBLE. Okay horrible is a little dramatic... but it was so bumpy and my back was feeling every little bump. Luckily as we passed an "Entering Sacramento County" sign the road got MUCH better! Thanks Sac!

Not nearly as hilly as Tahoe... but also not flat.

 Then miraculously it was time to run! Finally a sport I understand. Due to an unseasonably hot weekend by the time I started the run it was approximately 88 degrees and when I finished it was most likely in the 90s. (Not being dramatic... it was 100 on the drive home). At first I scoffed at stopping at every aid station (spaced 1 mile apart). Then I quickly realized that stopping at each station was MANDATORY. I developed a system of taking two water cups and one ice cup. Drink one water, dump one water on my head and then dump the ice down my shirt and within one mile I was dry, hot and thirsty again. Also, at mile 3 I dumped a full cup of gatorade on my head. I swear I asked "water?" and the volunteer said "yep" and splash dumped it right on my head...I laughed really hard for a good quarter mile. I also started to loose my grasp on simple math and though that I would not be able to hit my goal time when in fact I was ~20 minutes under at the end.
 

Consistent pace + water stops

 Another sort of odd by product of staggered starts and two loop run courses is that you never really know if people are finishing or just starting. As I passed one woman I said "great job" and she replied "I wish it was over" and I cheerily said "We are almost there!" because I was (at mile 12) apparently she was not and she snapped back "I AM JUST STARTING". Err oops... good luck then...

Coming into the finish I felt good, and was happy to be done running in this crazy heat. Afterwords there were burritos, beer in mason jars (swoon), free massages, and raffles that Matt and I BOTH won giftcards!
 

Home stretch

Done and done!

Ladies at the finish!

In general I feel that (famous last words about to be uttered) the 70.3 was not that bad. Or at least not as bad as I thought it would be.

So naturally....