Cancelled due to combined air (39) and water(54) temps.

Time Trial start, so no T1

Well, it was as expected...very challenging and just gorgeous. I didn't expect the course to go behind the hotel (more hills of course!) before the expressway, but the hill got me warmed up so I was glad for it! Riding in Lake Mead was spectacular, but a tad lonely. The dessert landscape, cold temps,wind and time trial start all led to a desolate sort of feeling while out there. The views in the park were really gorgeous...red rock, dessert plants, blue blue blue Lake Mead and sky...then when you got on the bike path there was a great view of the Las Vegas Strip with the mountains in the back ground. I had lots of "Elizabeth Bennet moments" when I said beautiful outloud! I tried to work my bike plan as written,but with so many hills it was hard to go easy at the beginning, and with the sisters at mile 56, miles of climbing already on the ride, plus the long false flat and headwind it was hard to be pushing the higher watts at the end of the ride. I did "ok" but not my best biking effort.

Not much...I hydrated/fueled pretty much as planned (even though it was hard to grab my chews with my full fingered gloves!) didn't have to stop to pee at all, (YAY!) and tried to not blow myself up on the climbs. I always seem to lose focus on the bike, and scenery helped a little with that, but I'm ok with it. I beat my time estimation by 17 minutes, so I guess I should be happy with the bike! :D

They had bike handlers who took our bikes at the dismount line! My right quad over my knee was very ouchie, and I was stiff, so I kind of walked/jogged to t2. Had lots of layers to remove, put biofreeze on, took tylenol, pulled on my shoes, stretehed, got my gu's and biofreeze stuffed in my tri suit and hit the potties. Gosh, I suck at transition.

Well, I knew I had a long assed run and I didn't much care about anything other than having what I needed for the run and going potty! My "racing" mentality or grrr as I like to call it never really showed up, and that is evident in this t2 time. Second slowest in my ag...Bad athlete!

I planned on staying zone 2 through out taking a gel every 3 miles, walking 1 minute every mile and picking it up the last 5k if there was anything left. This course was a challenge...I liked the fact that we looped 4 times because it got me through the finish area where my hubby and friends(grabbed a kiss from Dave on loop 2) could yell at me and it was less lonely than an out and back (once again, because of the TT start, by the time I'd hit the run course, so many athletes, including ALL the pace booty lol, had only a lap or 2 to go or had finished) and that made it harder mentally... but I did see Pam, Cathleen Jane and Andi out there which was great. Cathleen caught me on the beginning of lap 3 and we ran a mile together (awesome)...she had a great run as usual!

What made me happy was I ran with a higher hr than my IM races, kept more consistant pacing throughout, stuck to my simple nutrition plan of water and a gu every 3 miles(added coke and chicken broth at the very end of the run), qued myself on form on the last lap (it helped a lot) and ...wait for it...actually had NO potty breaks on the run!!! Whoo Hoo!

I did have a side stitch once again at about mile 3.85. What gives? I was able to run through it and was gone after about 1.25 miles, thank goodness!

One highlight of the run was that the ITU race commentator (I don't know his name) who called the elite race in Myrtle Beach was spectating the run course on lap 4 and cheering me on...he was super positive and it was very cool that he was there cheering us late runners!

I had the goal of finishing before sunset...5:45 pm and when I hit the timing mat turnaround with about 1.75 to go, I realized I'd make it. I pushed as hard as I could on the final downhill (my hr didn't really go up much, but my rpe did, and my tendon issue from IMFL started talking a bit) and had a bit of a kick at the finish...I got to high five folks in the shoot and hear them cheering USA which was awesome! They said my name....sort of "start cheering for Marcia...uhh Marshall with 2 ll's from Troy, MI" and it was done...over...finally!

I am very happy with my run execution in spite of my HORRIBLE ag ranking! Lets face it...I need to become a runner, but after the Halfmax championships train wreck of a run, this was a great way to finish out the season. REDEMPTION!

Positives:
I'd expected to run closer to 12's due to the tough as nails bike course and based on my IM run's in Placid and Florida. I totally beat those times!
I felt much better throughout the WHOLE run than I did at Myrtle Beach after a tough bike and with hills, beating that pace as well!
I felt much better mentally on this run than MB, which I am so thankful for.
No potty breaks on the run! I have no idea how long its been since I havn't had to break in a longer run or race to pee...that was awesome!!!
Negatives:
I suck on the run compared to those in my AG, not news to me, but I gotta say, it hurt to be ranked SOOOO poorly in relation to my competition.

I still have not made my way into the terrible beauty of run pain while racing. I am not sure what exactly I'm afraid of, but that fear must still be lingering, as I could have thrown down the last 5k, but didn't.

I had a kick, so there was definately more in there waiting to be tapped.

just walked to the food tent, got a tad to eat and drink, Pammy found me, wrapped me in a mylar blanky, brought me my beer from my better half (it was delish!) and got me over to the massage tent for the WORST massage ever (seriously...it was a joke) and an awesome stretching session which was great!!!


Mentally I was toast from a long season...did not have my GRRR...treated it kind of like IMFL last year...enjoy the experience and do the best I could on the day.


It was a great experience to race the ITU long course World Championship. I had soooo many laughs with my teammates, my husband actually had a GOOD time, and post race Vegas shinanigans (and cocktails) were a blast. I am sorry that I didn't make it to the awards dinner and Team USA party, but with my late finish and the host hotel being so far away (13 miles!) I just didn't have time to get there. If I race in Spain, I'll do that all for sure.