Race Coverage

HOLT Stories...

Sunday, 24 July 2011 03:00

HOLT Race Report: Bad Voodoo continues

By Kortney Haag

I love this race and was looking forward to it all week long. I knew the weather was going to be warm but I thrive in the warm weather. I would much rather it be 90 degrees than 75. I also knew this was going to be good training for Pigman Long Course in August which is known to be steamy.

My swim is still not where it needs to be - especially since I didn't swim for six weeks and then I fell down the stairs a couple of weeks ago and I might have a slight crack in my rib or a rib out of place. Swimming hurts as well as taking in deep breaths. I was hoping that with the rain the lake would...

cool down....it did but not enough, so no wetsuits. So again I struggled in the open water and had to do some catching up on the bike. The bike was going great until I got my chain caught again in rear derailer. This happened last week at Lifetime and again I had to get off my bike to put the chain back on. It was pretty scary going 24 mph when your wheel is jammed and also sucky when you loose time because of it. I am really frustrated because this has happened the last two races so I have no idea of where my biking fitness is at. I came off the bike in 5th and knew I had some work to do on the run. It was really hot at this time and some people were walking on the course. It was hard to run by them because you kind of say to yourself "if their walking....I can walk too!" I wasn't sure how fast I was running because my watch wasn't working and I like to know my splits. At every water stop I considered taking my gel but the thought of warm gel in my mouth did not sound appealing.

At that point you play mind games with yourself...if only I didn't drop my chain...if only I took my gel....should I take my gel?

I finally caught Suzie with about a mile left and just wanted the race to be over with. So much that I thought the end of the race was about 20 yards short of the finish line! I ended up third female overall so it's a long road to recovery but it's coming :)

Purloined from Kortneyhaag.blogspot.com