Tempe Marquee Olympic Triathlon 2014 Race Report byJenni Marshall

MARQUEE INT’L DISTANCE APRIL 13, 2014 RACE REPORT - Jenni Marshall

Race Week

I went into this race very concerned about what my performance would be.  First, I had been professionally coached for the year leading up to Ironman AZ 2013 and now I was back on my own.  Second, I feared I had not done enough since Ironman to warrant a decent performance (do we ever feel we’ve done enough?).  Finally, I did the Splash and Dash the Thursday night before this race as a warm-up and test for Sunday.  My run was horrible and did not bode well for Sunday’s race. 

In order to “right the ship” for Sunday, I slept in Friday and Saturday mornings.  Our Friday noon Endurance Hour of Power at Power in Motion was a great foam rolling and stretching session.  My only workout before Sunday’s race was a 30 minute bike ride followed by a 10 minute run on Saturday morning. 

Saturday night I had my favorite pre-race meal of homemade basil sauce on grilled shrimp and gluten free pasta with green beans.  

Race Morning

Breakfast - Steel Cut Oats made in the slow cooker, 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder in coconut water with a packet of orange Emergen-C, coffee, water

Warm-Up - Ran down to where the turn buoys to see where they are in relation to the shore.  15 minutes before race I sucked down a MamaChia packet.

RACE

Swim - 

Goals: Time Goal: 25:00 / 1:40 pace (based on Splash and Dash); 

Non time Goal: Stay strong and controlled, don’t get overly excited, no thrashing.  Power comes from the core, drive from hips, high elbows.  

Results: Official time: 26:55; 1:48 pace (included running to transition and my Garmin had 1620m not 1500m); Wore sleeveless wetsuit.  Had clear water the whole time.  Was hoping for a faster time given I was swimming by myself.  Need to work on trusting my body to keep up with good technique and power.  Still think I thrash too much because I'm excited and feel like I'm "racing" more if I'm moving quickly instead of with purpose.  Work on this at Bartlett.

Bike - 

Goals:  Time Goal: 1:24, 20mph 

Non-time Goal: HR: 165-175;Stay upright (I crashed in this race last year), relax quads and upper body, trust yourself in the turns, think about power from the core, stay aero as much as reasonable

Nutrition: 2 scoops of Fixx and a Nuun tab in aerobottle; 1 Endurobite - half eaten at halfway point, other half a few miles out from transition

Results:  Official Time: 1:24:10 (19.96mph, jeesh wanted the 20.0 at least); Hit goal time, yes!  Had 20.3mph avg speed (based on my Garmin) at halfway point and held on for the remainder.  Was trying to negative split but that didn't happen.  HR stayed lower than I intended so need to work on getting it up and holding.  Tried to be patient with myself, stay strong and relax upper body.  Accepted the fact that I'm slow around the turns and told myself to just hit it hard on the straight parts.  Course got a little crowded in spots which slowed me down where I would otherwise be going faster.  Stayed in aero position quite a lot for me.  Felt happy and was having fun.  

Run-

Goals:  Time Goal: 47:00 / 7:35 pace 

Non-Time Goal: HR 168-178; Control breathing in the beginning - 3 breath count, don’t start too fast, hold back, drink.  Lift knees, drive feet down, use arms to give legs a break.

Nutrition: Flask with honey water and salt combo; water on the course; had some Coke too

Results:  Official Time: 44:33 / 7:11 pace; Holy shit, where did this come from and how do I bottle it for my next race?  Fastest 10K ever and :30 per mile faster than any 10K in a triathlon.  

I felt good and was happy I only had 6.2 miles to go instead of 26.2 like the last tri I did in Tempe.  I came firing out of transition like I usually do but made an effort to settle myself down a little and stay in control.  I kept looking at my watch to see when my average pace would drop to something around 7:30 but it didn't.  I ran the last mile sub 7!  Average HR didn't get up into the range I had set as my goal so I obviously have more to give.  Think getting back into track workouts will get my strength and confidence up in order to push a higher heart rate.  Very excited about this run!  Ironically, it was the same pace that I ran in my dismal 5K during the Splash and Dash on Thursday.

Overall Race Time Goal: 2:38:30  

Overall Race Non-Time Goal:  Relax, have fun, don’t waste energy getting tense.

Overall Race Time Results:  2:38:35

Overall Race Non-Time Results:  I had a lot of fun in this race.  In T2 as I was getting on my running shoes I said aloud to myself, “This is so much fun!”  It was great seeing so many One friends out on the course.   Thanks to everyOne for their support and to Lifetime for a fun race!