New Orleans...trip and race report

So, I don't quite remember when we all decided to sign up for the New Orleans 70.3 race, but I do remember we were out celebrating some one's birthday and there were a few adult beverages and texting of coachie involved. Before I knew it, I've got my early season 70.3 race scheduled and I'm planning a trip.

First off, I had never been to New Orleans before and I was super excited to see the French Quarter and to eat at Cafe du Monde. My best friend growing up would go to New Orleans on a regular basis and would always rave about the beignets and hot chocolate there. Her mom would make some for us and we would sneak them into the library at school to eat while we were studying.

Road trip snack food!!

The group of us left early Friday morning. It consisted of Brian, Herb, Aixa, and myself. We loaded up Brian's truck with all our gear and bikes and we were off. (Thank you Brian for making it so we could travel with four people and four bikes!) Having company on the trip sure made the drive more bearable. It didn't seem nearly as long to get out of Texas as it normally does. We arrived at the host hotel in downtown New Orleans a little before 5 pm and got ourselves unloaded and off to athlete check in. A friend of Herb and Aixa's that they met at Hillary's tri camp last year was also in town for the race and we met up with him after we got situated to grab a bite to eat. The hotel had a great restaurant in it, Drago's, and we ate there. Yummy food!!

The next day the first thing I said when I woke up

Heaven, I mean Cafe du Monde ;)

was, "Let's go to Cafe du Monde". We were in walking distance of the French Quarter and started on our way. And right then was when I knew I wasn't in San Antonio anymore. There were normal looking people just passed out on the side of buildings or in benches. A little too much partying for them! Having seen so many movies and TV shows that are filmed there it was really interesting to see it in person. It almost didn't even feel like it was my first time there since everything looked so familiar. We found Cafe du Monde and ordered and it was everything and more than I ever wanted it to be. Best hot chocolate I have ever had. Period.

The rest of the day was more sightseeing and then bike drop off. I had always said that I wanted to have my palm read or my future told by someone there, but I chickened out since it was before my race and I didn't want to hear anything negative if that's what they had to tell me! After getting lost once or twice we finally made it to bike drop off. We walked down to the swim start to check out what the course looked like and get a feel of the water temps. It was cool but not freezing cold so we decided to go with sleeveless wetsuits, which turned out to be perfect. Then we headed out to meet all the other racers for dinner and then I headed up early to get my gear ready and then hit the sack.

Pre-race dinner goofiness

Tri-Belief: Ryan, me, Dawn (coachie), Q, Aixa, and Kris

Race morning:  I got really lucky with my spot in transition, as it was at the end of the rack and the person who was assigned next to me was a no show so I had plenty of room to lay my gear out. Also I was on a row that had the only light pole around on that side so it was very easy for me to find my row. As Kris, Aixa, and I were sunblocking up we had someone comment on our Smash tri clothes we were wearing and she said that she wore Smash too. It turned out to be pro triathlete, and reigning NOLA 70.3 champ, Haley Chura!! We were able to snap a quick pic with her and wish her good luck on her race. She is a super fish extraordinaire and I was hoping some of her speedy swim powers would rub off on me! We finished up in transition and headed over to the swim start.

Swim: 40:25
This was my first time starting a 70.3 race with a time trial start. They put everyone in waves and then started each wave off by having us jump off a ramp, 8 people at a time, 10 seconds apart. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it but it did take a lot of the bumping and fighting for position out of the equation. At first the water felt shockingly cold because we had waited for close to an hour in the sun to get into the water but I would say by the first turn buoy I wasn't even aware of it anymore. Overall I'm pretty happy with my swim. The water was not overly choppy and it was a pretty uneventful swim. Until the men in orange swim caps caught up to me. Then I had maybe two of them swim over me, but they were moving so fast that they were gone before I could even try to hop onto there feet and draft!

Bike: 2:53:31
Hello tailwinds and flat roads!! This is my fastest bike split for this distance race and let me tell you, it was like 56 miles of 471 out to Castroville. A little rougher in some areas and maybe two bridges to ride over, but overall a very, very flat course. I really couldn't get a gauge of exactly which direction the wind was blowing but I knew when I was riding into a headwind! Around mile 32 I looked down at my speed and saw 24 mph and it didn't even feel like I was working. I knew that when I turned around on this road, back to mile 40, was going to be into a headwind and I mentally tried to make myself ready for this. Sure enough, turn around at mile 35 and the speed dropped dramatically. It's really crazy how many thoughts go through my mind when I'm fighting a headwind. I went from loving life to questioning why I was even out there. I forced myself to stay down in my aerobars and to keep my legs moving. I took in my nutrition here since I could feel myself struggling and that seemed to help. The extra calories made me feel better. I finally got to mile 40 and back out to the road that would take me back to transition. I had some lingering effects of that headwind creeping back in my mind, but I think my food finally kicked in and I felt my legs responding and my speed started to increase. I finally got back some of that tailwind I was loving earlier and all of a sudden I was all smiles again! The last 5 miles back to transition were a combination of head/crosswinds but these didn't bother me as bad since I knew I was so close to the end. I was also very happy about my time. Now, I wasn't sure how my legs would feel for the run, but I would soon find out.

Run: 2:15:38
Coming into this race I hadn't run for 2 weeks due to some shin splits I started developing after the Austin Marathon back in February. I wasn't sure what was going on but after going to the doctor this is what was concluded. I was told not to run and put on steroids to bring down the inflammation. I was pain free by the time race day came but I wasn't sure how my body was going to respond to running a half-marathon after not running for 2 weeks. The first 2 miles were great. I was running in the 9's and there was no pain in my leg. After that though, my legs just felt heavy and I just could not seem to get them to turnover as quickly as I wanted them to. Also, it felt hot. I mean, like, really hot. It was probably only in the 80's but the sun was out in full force and there was zero shade for the first 10 miles of the run. I saw my splits rapidly declining, although, I was surprised to see them in the 10's. It felt like I was running a whole lot slower than that. I turned on my mental hat and told myself to just keep moving the feet. Don't walk, it will only make the pain last longer. Around mile 8 my right knee started KILLING me. I kept running, but it was so frustrating! I think around mile 9 I stopped completely and looked down at my knee and threw my hands up in the air and yelled at it to stop hurting! I've never had knee pain, where did you come from?! (People were like, who is this crazy person?) I started running again and was managing a painful shuffle towards the park where the finish line was. I think around mile 10 my coach was there yelling at me to push it. I was so deep in my head at that point though that I don't remember much of what was said. I just wanted to get to the finish line. I knew I wasn't going to PR this race, but my backup plan was to finish in under 6 hours. At the out and back section I found Brian waiting for me. He was having a less than spectacular run too and he knew I wasn't that far back from him so he wanted to wait for me. That was super nice of him but I just wish I had been feeling better to enjoy it more. We finally made it back to the turn into the park towards the finish line. Oh My God...the longest straightaway I have ever run to a finish line. It was like I could see the light at the end of the tunnel but jeez that tunnel was long!

Total: 5:55:33
Yahoo, I did it! I managed to hit my goal and finish in under 6 hours. On a day where not everything went right on the run, I was super proud of myself for hanging in there and pulling it out. Not every race is going to be a PR but you do certainly learn something from every race. This race taught me that even though I may not have had my fastest time, I can still accomplish great things (i.e. new bike split PR) and digging within myself when pain is consuming me and not giving up.

Pedi-cab selfie! Me, Brian, and Herb

 After the race we took a pedi-cab ride down to the French Quarter for a celebratory dinner and drinks with Herb and the A-team. Thank you Allen for the suggestion. I will rank the pedi-cab through the French Quarter right up there with my New York City taxi cab rides!