BEFORE the RACE
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, or that is what they
say, anyways. Well I disagree, what happened in Vegas will forever be a
highlight of my life!
Lee Gardner my Amazing Coach and I left Thursday morning for the long road trip to Sin City. After several hours of driving we arrived around 9pm to Henderson which is just outside of Las Vegas. We eagerly jumped out of the car and we both were shocked by the overwhelming heat, 90 degrees, dear God it was hot for so late at night!
The next morning I felt completely lethargic from the long
road trip. Since we got in so late, Lee and I needed to get some groceries. After
a quick stop at Trader Joe’s (which I love, super cheap and great food) and
breakfast, Lee and I headed over to the pre-race check in. The race venue was
completely packed with hundreds of athletes all of whom are incredible shape.
Pre-race always makes me think of a dog show where everyone judges the
competition based solely on appearance. I always get so nervous at check in, it
is actually my least favorite part about racing because I start to question
myself, “am I fit enough to race”,” they look so strong, how will I ever beat
them?” etc. I am always extremely happy
to get out of check in as quickly as possible.
Right after getting my packet, Lee and I drove to Lake Las
Vegas where we did a 2 hour stake out ride. We had all intentions of previewing
the course during this ride but shortly after entering the State park I missed
our turn and I didn’t realize it till almost 40 minutes into the ride. It was
painfully hot, about 105 degrees at 2:00pm and in the rush to get everything
done we didn’t eat lunch. Once we started to put in some light intervals to
wake up the legs, my bike was skipping gears and I started feeling extremely
light headed and so at two intervals we just rode easy back to the car.
I was having my doubts at check-in if I was ready for this
race, but now I was getting pretty concerned. How am I going to race in this
heat? I am dying after a fairly easy bike ride. Plus, my bike wasn’t working
properly, which is never a warm fuzzy, especially, with my track record of
having bike malfunctions at all my very important races. Thank goodness, Lee
never faltered and if he was having doubts himself, he never let me know. He
continued to build me up reminding me of all the hard work we had done and how
I was going to do great.
Thursday night was the second night in a row that the people
staying in the hotel above mine made such a ruckus that it woke me up several
times throughout the night. Two nights
in a row of poor sleep made it hard to get up early the next morning. However,
I know if I wanted to get my shake out run before the insane heat blast that
seemed to start at 6:00am I needed to pull myself out of bed.
The start of the shake-out run, I wasn’t too excited and
slightly grumpy. But once Lee and I started the run instantly I started to wake
up and feel so much better then I felt the day prior on the bike. We did a
short jog and ended with some half ironman pace striders. Meanwhile, we got to
watch the entire sunrise, which was spectacular! It is amazing what exercise
does to your mood, after the run I was laughing at myself for being a grouch
before the run.
Lee made breakfast, which was delicious, and then we drove
to Lake Las Vegas. Friday, was the only day athletes were allowed to pre-swim
part of the course. It felt fantastic to get an open water swim in and practice some drills. I just started working
with a new swim coach Joe Novak, to improve my swimming technique. He is the
swim coach for Cheyenne Mountain High School and was highly recommended to me
by Michael Weiss. Joe’s approach to swimming is very different than any other
swim coach I have worked with. He views swimming more like the sport of golf.
You would never go to the driving range and hit 200 golf balls not thinking at
all about your technique. In the same breath he explained to me why swimming 4
to 5k a practice without thinking about technique will never allow me to reach
my full potential in the water. Therefore, instead of swimming for yardage, I
have now switched my approach to swimming until I achieve a certain skill for the
day, wow, what a difference it has made in just a few short weeks!
After the swim, Lee made lunch and then we were back in the
car to drop off all the gear at each of the transitions. Luckily, Cervelo had a
tent setup at T2 and one of the mechanics was able to adjust my wheel and
derailleur so that I wouldn’t have issues on the bike come race day. Lee and I
got on our bikes one last time to double check that I wasn’t having any issues
with the shifting before I checked it into T1 for the night.
Once I had all my gear check-in, Lee made another amazing dinner
and for some comic relief we watched The Dictator
and part of Old School, one of my
favorite movies. Before going to bed,
Lee said to me; “Danielle, tomorrow might be your last 70.3 race as an amateur.”
Afterwards, when I was lying in bed visualizing my perfect race, I prayed that
if it was my last 70.3 race as amateur that I would make it one to remember. I
was so tired that even if my upstairs neighbors were having a party I couldn’t
hear it. I was out cold throughout the night and woke up right before my alarm.
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