Great Clermont Race Report

    I have never pushed myself so hard in my entire life. I know, this sentence probably belongs somewhere at the end of the blog, after I've went into excruciating detail about how much my quads burned, lungs ached, and how hard oxygen was to come by. But I couldn't help it. I mean, look at this face.

 Yeah, that's how it felt.

So, to back track, we arrived to transition at just about 6:30. The air was a thick but pleasant 68 degrees. As I walked to transition, was having trouble shaking the memory of last years' race here in Clermont. I had a fever 2 days prior and then subsequently caught an upper respiratory infection. I decided to race anyway, and almost quit after the first lap of the swim. I was exhausted, and spent the time after the race wallowing in self pity and coughing forcefully.

        I was also battling some confidence issues. I had anticipated having a much higher level of fitness for our FCTC championship race. I didn't feel ready, and the hills we drove over to get to the race site was an omen of things to come on the bike course.

     I got a good warm up in because I forgot my timing chip in my car...and then when I got back into transition, realized I also forgot my water bottle. So that was a solid 1.5 mile run all together. After taking care of race priority #1 (it rhymes with smorta-plotty), I saw my parents walking down the trail. I ran over to give them a big hug. It meant so much to me that they woke up at 4:30 am race morning to watch me race.

    After a short swim warm up (the water was perfect-no wetsuit required), my Trigator teammates and I did our cheer and got ready to race. I gave a strange motivational speech involving Shamu,"mountains", and strong legs. Then, the gun went off, and we were swimming through Lake Minneola. The swim course got everyone messed up, and I heard that the lead pack of girls got off course. I'm hoping I didn't cut the course in any way, because it was my best olympic swim yet. The water was choppy from the cold front that went through, and I swallowed a lot of water. It was delicious.

      I sprinted to transition, strapped on my shoes, and started my one hour and seventeen minute sufferfest. The course is a beast, with 3 out and back loops and more hills than flats. The out and back nature of the course made it so that every hill that you zoomed down you also had to climb. Great. It's the triathlon equivalent of a double edged sword. As hard as it was, I have never felt so capable on the bike, instead of telling myself (for motivation) that my legs were pistons, they actually were. I kept telling myself that "this is my race", and before I knew it, I was believing it. As painful as it was, I enjoyed the bike a lot. I pushed every ounce of power out of my legs, and didn't stop until I saw the dismount sign. I began to worry about the run. Boy, and for good reason.

      My parents saw me pull my Pegasus into transition and I could hear the surprise in their cheers. "Awesome job Kace, you're doing great!!" Later my mom told me she didn't even have her camera out because she wasn't expecting to see me that soon. I realized that I forgot to take my GU on the bike, so I pulled it out of my container on my bike and clenched it in my teeth. I ran out of transition, grasping my race belt and with my eye on the lead girl, running 15 seconds ahead.

         My worries were confirmed. I used all of my oomph on the bike. My form felt decent, but the speed that I usually have wasn't there. I could see the FSU uniform fading away, especially after the 3 mile mark. I was fighting hard, and my lungs were screaming for me to stop. There was a nice breeze and some shade, so luckily the conditions didn't exacerbate things. My body oscillated between feeling miserable and totally miserable the whole run. I tried to push as hard as I could after the second turnaround point, when I had just about 1.5 miles to go. I met the 6 mile mark with a sense of bliss; I was so glad it was almost over. Then I heard some bounding and breathing from behind. By the time I turned around, I saw a blur of orange and blue blow past me. I had  about 4 steps of acceleration, and then my legs told me not-so-politely that they had had enough. I wouldn't have wanted anyone else to pass me at that point. So proud.

             So, there you have it. Now I have that wonderful finishing picture.

I am so proud of all of my teammates, who inspire me SO much. For many, it was their first olympic triathlon, and for one it was their first! Everyone overcame difficulty at some point, whether it was the swim, bike, run, transition, or another one of the multitude of variables that come with triathlon. The college triathlon community is awesome too. Everyone encourages each other before, during, and after the race, and we took a group picture as a memento of the last race of the 2011-2012 season. What a great sport, what a great team, what a great race.

"Never doubt yourself in the face of uncertainty; be certain that you have no doubts."