So ready for off season…massive amounts of swimming and hot yoga have been sounding so good basically since the BIG DAY. Yet, there was one more race…Augusta 70.3…

I was feeling better than my normal overtrained self at this time of year…thanks to Coach M. We have really been keeping a better log on how many hours I am training and backed off a lot from previous years and focused on quality not quantity. My only worry going into the race was the run. I had not run 13 miles for maybe 3 years…the endurance is there but my body just does not want to do the mielage…my hips are still not 100%.

Matias and I signed up for Augusta 70.3 in July…I was on feeling on fire and itching to do a half…wanted to wait until after the wedding but not push the season into October…and wanted something driveable…Augusta…hmmm.

We headed out on 95S at 3pm on Friday in the rain…you can imagine what fun this was. We made it to Richmond by 730pm…stopped for some eats and back on the rode. Around 10pm we decided we had enough and stopped in Wilson, NC to sleep. Up at 5am the next morning and back on the road. About 9am we made a much needed stop in Columbia, SC for a quick dip at a Wellness Center. I was feeling much better after all that sitting in the car. Next stop Augusta! Made it to town about 1230pm just in time to stand in a looooong line for check-in. Apparently Augusta is the largets 70.3, with about 3000 racers…eeeyikes. Remind me why I sign up for these sorts of events. Oh what I would have given to be back in Loooray! After check-in we hit up the expo, and headed over to bike drop-off. Well after about 3 hours of Matias trying to get our tires to hold air (darn race wheels) and my rearranging my stuff at least 20 times (yes, OCD) we were on our way to our hotel in Aiken, SC (sometimes it is nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the race hotel!). I was wiped and the race had not even begun. We found some good wine and eats at Outback, finished off a box of Skinny Cow Pops and were in bed at a decent hour.

***DISTANCE***
1.2 Mile Swim
56 Mile Bike
13.1 Mile Run

***RESULTS***
Swim: 21:50
Bike: 2:44:24
Run: DNF

***PRE-RACE***

Up at 430am…cooking potatoes and breaking microwaves….yep, that is what I do best. On the road to Augusta at 5am…found parking and headed to take the shuttle to transition…what a ZOO transition was. We checked our tires…thanks goodness they had heald air or I would have quit right then and there. Set up my stuff, waited in the enormous line for the portas, found Matias, and we walked the 1 mile to the swim start. More waiting as I did not go off until almost 9am. Matias went at 8am so I just stewed for about an hour and found friends. Waves began to line up…I was wave 22 white caps (female 30-34 A-S)…

***RACE***

SWIM – Swim was a point to point downstream the Savannah River…I was really looking forward to killing this. Yesterday, the water had looked really inviting. Today was we walked down onto the dock I noticed all the trash floating on the other side…eeeeeeeeguhhh. Everyone jumped in and treaded. BRRRRRRRRRRR it was chilly! I positioned front and towards the left (middle of the river). Looked at my watch to see what the appx go time would be…NOOOOOOOOO…my watch was blanking out…apparently it liked cold less than I! Hopefully after the swim it would come back on…hopefully…I did not race with anything but this watch…I just race off time. And the horn…we were off…I pulled ahead with a few others. I felt strained but mediocre. I stayed ahead with one girl right in front of me. I drafted her for a bit and then pulled to her side after losing pateince. We swam together for most fo the way and then she started to drift out and I kept on going. I saw her a bit behind me to the left and lost site of her for awhile. Swimming did not feel effortless as it should with the current…but I kept on busting. Finally could see the end bouys…also caught site of the other white cap. We were battling for the lead. Coming up the ramp into T1 was a MESS of people. The girl plowed through and all I could do was keep my head down and follow her lead…and we were into T1…

T1 – wetsuit strippers…I passed this time…as I had a long way to run to my bike I could have my suit practically off by then. Yep, watch was DONE done done. GREAT. this would be interesting. With as far from the bike out entrance I was I had decided to leave the shoes on the bike. I had a smooth Bananas mount and was off.

BIKE – hmm ok I was hoping to hold 5miles/15minute pace…now I would just ride and gauge off others…ehh and my nutrition. Matias and I had wrote a solid plan for this were I was eating about 75-100 calories within every 30 minutes. I would have to modify this and go by miles and not time. One of the good things about starting at the back is you can pass a lot on the bike! About Mile 10 I finally settled into a group that I could keep pace with. I found a few women that I tried to keep within site. I would pass them on the hills and they would catch me on the downhills. I had seen maybe 1 30-34 woman go by….I must be keeping a good pace. The roads were not super…a lot of bumpiness, rumble strips in some spots. I kept to my nutrition plan and felt probably the best I have on a hard bike effort like that. I felt I had done solid work and even forgot about the dreaded run…

T2 – Into T2. As I got off my bike I felt decent running in. This could be a go.

RUN – Off and running onto the streets of Augusta. Something STUNK…like someone was cooking up some stale beef stew. yucky. Mile 1 came pretty quickly..but I was not feeling too strong. I started realizing that it may not be the amount of running but the amount of activity that just drains my hips of strength. Maybe I could shake it off…but it was a pretty deep hurt :/ I pushed through Mile 2 and Mile 3…the pain demons were there. This could damage me. I was not having fun at all and I wanted to stop. At Mile 4 I asked a policeman if I could stop and go back to the finish. He called my number in as DNF and I walked slowly back to the finish…fortunately it was a lot of out and back and it was not too far…

Honestly I was not too disappointed…it had been an amazing season, including the happiest day of my life…I don’t have anything more to ask for…

Up Next – Katie’s 30 day Bikram Yoga Challenge! Most of the bikram studios do a 30 day challenge…but since I like to attend multiple studios…I am doing my own challenge! and since anything worth doing is worth overdoing…this might get OUT OF CONTROL…

as KATIE DAVISON!…NO…NOT last race…but last race as Katie Davison…I needed this victory! (BIG DAY, where I will become Katie Palavecino, is in less than 2 weeks…where has the time gone?!).

The LURAY DOUBLE…is becoming my favorite race/race weekend. Great town, great race, great people.

David Glover had given Matias and I an entry to the International race as our wedding present. nice! We have a lot of dishes now so this was really cool We decided to go for the weekend and enter the Sprint race as well. This would be good for pre-wedding relaxation. We got a cabin in Stanley at Shenandoah Woods, which is right on the bike course…it is always nice to roll out of bed and be at the race in 5 minutes. Headed for Luray mid-afternoon on Friday. Got into town, cooked up some good eats , and were in bed at a decent hour.

LURAY INTERNATIONAL

***DISTANCE***
1500 Meter Swim
41K Bike
10K Run

***RESULTS***
02:29:39, 1st female overall!!! WHAT?!?! that is crazzzzy!

***PRE-RACE***

I did not really feel too nervous. But my pre-race anxiety issues started immediately when I woke up. In the bathroom often. no good. Got to Lake Arrowhead in plenty of time to set up transition, do all the other pre-race prep, mingle with lots of familiar faces, and hit up the bathroom several times.

***RACE***

SWIM – 78.5 degree water temp…this was just barely over the wetsuit limit…I went with my Xterra Velocity Speedsuit. I was in the 4th wave (39 and under women). I positioned myself front and center. I felt ready to SMASH IT. For some reason I was feeling wide awake and really ready to race. The go. I was off in front with a few to my right and a few to my left. Then I was alone. My stroke was feeling awesome. I had not felt that great in the water for a loooong time. I went with it. I continued to push it. The course was a pacman shape…which sounds tricky but the buoys were very easy to site. Out of the water first female. There were so many people cheering! yippeee!!!!

T1 – slow…getting those speedsuits off is never easy. I need to tie a string on the zipper…yes, that is what I will do. Shortly I was off on Bananas.

BIKE – Bananas was on FIRE. Passed some dudes up the first climb out of the park. “What wave were you in?!,” one guys shouted at me. yahahaha. I am going to SMASH IT. I felt very focused. I do not use a computer on my bike but decided to try for 5 miles/15 minutes. I hit the first 5 right on time. I was feeling pretty good. I hit the next 5 with ample time to spare…yikes…maybe I had better simmer down. I continued to push it. My hip felt kinda funny…maybe a worry for the run. I kept up my pace, hitting my time goals with much time to spare. I came into transition about 8 minutes before I had expected. nice! I was still 1st female.

T2 – Busted through transition and was off and running.

RUN – Now this is where it always gets exciting…the real race begins. I knew I had a pretty good lead because I had not seen any females coming in on bikes as I was running out of the park. I was feeling pretty good…the hip issue from the bike not a problem. Pretty good meant ok about mile 2. OK so this was going to be painful. Running is usually not pleasant. I had not run a 10K for a few months…my long runs had been about 30-45 minutes tops. But I had been rollerblading. At the turnaround I still had the lead but I had developed a bad blister on the bottom of my foot. I had to change my step a bit. The course was an out and back so I could see who was coming. The female in 2nd was gaining on me…and the one behind her (Michelle Harburg) was flying. well there it goes. Here they all come again. boo. My heart sunk. Mile 4…I kept looking back…still no one in site…only about 2 more miles…you CAN do this. What if you could win?! Your last race as Katie Davison…come on! I quickened my cadence…used my arms. Mile 5…maybe I had this?! I picked it up. I wanted this really really bad. I gave it my all to the finish…came across 1st female! but I was scared to get my hopes up…there was a wave of 40+ women that had started 3 minutes behind…one may have gotten me. I waited anxiously for the results. When they came out I saw I had won! I still did not believe it and had to go check the list several more times

The even more exciting thing was that Matias was 1st overall male. BUHAHA. But there was still more racing to do….Sprint race the next day. Even though we had races the next morning…we still decided to celebrate…you never know when experience a solid performance again! Headed to Wisteria Vineyard for some good wine and live music!

LURAY SPRINT

***DISTANCE***
750 Meter Swim
16.5 Mile Bike
5K Run

***RESULTS***
01:28:47, 2nd female overall

***PRE-RACE***

Woke up feeling like a bomb went off in my legs. And my blister was bad news. I put some moleskin on and was hoping it would stay on in the water and through the race. And I just felt tired. I thought my pre-race nerves would settle, as I had gone through the exact same routine the day before…but not so much…hit up the bathroom as much as the previous day…maybe once or twice more. I felt pretty empty.

***RACE***

SWIM – After some rain that night the water had cooled to 77 degrees…wetsuit legal! Thank goodness I had thrown my wetsuit in the truck! Same wave, same positioning…although this time my favorite swim buddy, Julie Roddin, was there with me…just like good old times. The go…it was no longer a repeat of the previous day…I hung behind a few ladies. Then pulled away from all but one up ahead. I stayed with her. It seemed like we had to fight through more people today. I felt sluggish and strained. Stroke felt forced. I came out of the water 2nd female..maybe 10 seconds behind 1st.

T1 – into transition…it felt mush harder than normal to get my wetsuit off…the strength was just not there. I was after what felt like forever off on Bananas. I saw the 1st female heading out right before me. game one.

BIKE – I passed her on the first climb out of the park. Biking lately had felt better than swimming and I was happy to be off on my bike. I aimed for the same pacing…5 miles/15 minutes. I held to this for the first 10 miles and again was ahead of schedule and was feeling decent. Last 6 miles and climbing hurt a bit. My legs were very fatigued. I was dreading the run. I can’t remember the last time I ran a 10K, let alone run back to back days, let alone run more than 9 mile in a week…BUHHH!

T2 – I was in 1st and quickly moved through transition.

RUN – As I was running out I saw Snapple teammate Hilary fly in on her bike. She is SO strong. She had also started in the 40+ wave (3 seconds behind me)…so she was already ahead. no way in heck I could outrun her! no way in heck. 2nd would do…but could I hold it? I saw Lisa coming in on the bike as I was running out of the park…it was going to be tough. And that blister was on FIRE. OK…where was my game on face? I needed to get it back. My blister was hurting big time. I need to think of anything but the darn blister…Sarah, Matias, wedding, patents…blah blah blah…then came Hilary about Mile 1. I felt spacey. The trees to the right were not so visible. yes…I was getting a migraine. I had taken my shades off in T2 because it was not too sunny and they were fogging up. bad idea. At the turn around I had a full on migraine. Well, the good news was that I was not focused on the blister anymore but more on focusing on what was going on. I just kept it moving. I had a hard time seeing who was coming on the other side. Saw Lisa and another female running together not too too far behind. I tried to push it…picked up may cadence and arm speed. I could hold this…and for once thankfully for a migraine it had made my blister feel better. I felt delirious. I was going to be hurting after this. I gave it my all into the finish…came across and finished a solid 2nd place female overall. I’ll take that!

Matias took the win again What a tremendous weekend!

Thanks to Bonzai, RATS, Kona Kev for the tent set up and food and hanging out! And of course thanks to David and Krista for another amazing Luray Double weekend. Can’t wait for next year! It was so nice to see so many great friends in one place. CONGRATS to all on awesome races!

And now onto the BIG EVENT!