Race Coverage

"Hormone Brain" and "Sticking it Out"...

Friday, 19 July 2019 23:10

By Hanna Grinaker (thfitspace.com)

You know that emoji with the person doing the face palm? That's me personified right now. I promised myself I wouldn't write a book, and well, that's exactly what I did. Grab a cup of coffee, or maybe have a couple of meals prepared, this could take you well into lunch. 

A note about race recaps: I've always felt that they are hard to read. It's like watching your favorite Netflix series from episode one after they have just released the whole season. I am cool with watching one or two episodes to get a feel for what's going on, and then I kinda want to blow through the next 10 to get the actual POINT! Do you sense I have a wee bit of impatience? I swear this is an actual gift in many circumstances.  

Anywho, with race recaps, I find myself reading faster or skipping over paragraphs to get to the punch line. "I don't care that you dropped a water bottle on the bike or had cramping at mile 38. HOW DID YOU ACTUALLY DO?!?  ...

So, let me tell you my result first and then I'll back track a little bit. 

I competed at High Cliff Triathlon just outside Appleton, Wisconsin, where I competed in the Aqua Bike Division. For those of you (like me), that thought this was like riding one of those pedal boats in the lake, it's not. It's just a regular triathlon, minus the run. I came in first overall with a final time of 2:50. Again, that means literally nothing to basically everyone, but it was a race from which I gained experience, and I was actually really freaking stoked with how the bike went for me! 

So rewind. Why that race? And why not just do the whole dang thing and run? Let me explain. Madison 70.3 on June 9th was my first choice, but with Sean graduating from residency that same weekend, this obviously couldn't even be up for consideration. As for the no running part, the run took place largely on wooded trails. Sounds absolutely stunning in theory, but with injury risk on the brain, I decided to eschew that portion of the race and focus on hammering the bike instead.   READ MORE