It has been awhile, sorry. I think the last time I (A) blogged was right before the Steamboat Springs Stage Race over the Labor Day weekend. Gulp! What happened to my regular updates? I guess life got in the way! That was a full bit of time with a 4-race holiday weekend with the GS Boulder ladies in Steamboat, then a ½ ironman race the next weekend at Harvest Moon (great race by Without Limits Productions) where I PRed and finally broke my 5-hour curse with a 4:40 and change, followed by a hot and dusty cyclocross race on weekend #3. At the start-line for the cyclocross race, I just had to laugh at the wide variations in racing venues over the past few weeks.
Anyways, this update is supposed to serve as a catch up. So, here you go:
Steamboat Springs Stage Race: I did well and had fun racing my bike. I went in without enough points to upgrade to cat-3 and came out with an automatic upgrade after accumulating lots of points over the 4 races. I started with a win in the prologue TT, was second in the circuit race and had the GC lead by 1 second, raced a good road race with my biggest GC threat where we rode together until the final climb and then she threw down the move I had planned to make, and held on to 2nd in the GC in the crit by finishing in the pack. To top it off, most of my teammates had great races, too. Lorna ended 3rd in the GC! Unfortunately, we did have a teammate in a very scary crash. Jennica is a trooper, though, and is planning her come back, as a cat 3, at the Gila in a few weeks.
Harvest Moon Triathlon: This race was so fun! I got to sleep in my own bed (too many years of Ironman has made that a novelty!). E was my race sherpa. My swim was solid, my bike was solid (may have had more to give, but really wanted a fast run). I had some very slow transitions (this used to be a strength, but I guess I’ve gotten soft) but otherwise a great race. I was spot on nutritionally, made one quick potty stop near the halfway of the run, and finished 3rd overall woman behind Sonja Wieck and Mandy Mclane. I got a chance to work on good run cadence and just focus on motoring along. The best was the finish line: a slip-n-slide to dive into! Anyways, I think my old half-iron PR was 5:09, so a 4:40 was an awesome result (Sonja and Wendy were neck-and-neck a good 10 minutes in front of me, so there is always room to grow!).
Cyclocross: E has already posted some pics and blogged about his season. This was an interesting year for me in ‘cross. I was playing with the big girls this year as I took an upgrade to cat-3 at the end of 2009. They are fast! There were plenty of highlights (3rd at state behind two fast riders from Hudz-Subaru) and lowlights (scary course preview crash an hour before my start that had me frightened and cramping, where I finished 30th of 33 racers), and lots of good been and friends along the way. I met some new friends (fast ladies out there, tough, too), and really got a chance to push my comfort level. Riding my bike on dirt scares me. A lot. But I’m slowly getting over that, learning skills, trusting my bike, AND remembering how to push my body to new levels of pain (from physical, aerobic exertion, not crashing, lol!). I was a blast chasing Margel, Karen, Lisa, Amanda, Melanie, Lorna, Melissa, Kat, Nicole, Sara, Erin, and all the rest of you around and around the course each week. I’m already excited for the 2011-2012 season.
Everything else: Since cyclocross ended, work has really ramped up and has taken up most of my time. We had a good break around Christmas, which we spent in Coloradothis year, just the two of us. The highlight was lots of yummy cooking, baking, and a few trips into Grand County to ski. E and I did sneak in enough training to prepare to race the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon. We love this race, and always think of it as a good gage of our February fitness since we have done it so many years now. That race report will be coming next, but I’ll lead into it by saying we both had good races this year, but “I want to go faster!”
2011 blogging plan: don’t hold me to it, but I have a plan to get over my lazy blogging habits: posting once a week at a minimum. Consider this the update for 2011 Week 9.
Ketchup: this was really just a play on words, and a check to see who would read this whole thing. Sorry if I kept anyone hanging.
Cheers!
Showing posts with label Ironman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ironman. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Friday, August 13, 2010
IM Lake Placid Race Report: A's version
As E already relayed, we had a nice trip out from Denver to Burlington, VT (who knew that tons of other people would be trying to catch the parking shuttle at 4:30 in the morning?). The 6 am flight was a bit rough, but we were prepared with homemade meals, and a ~2pm arrival was a nice treat (flying East is always a chore from Denver, but this was better than our usual red-eye into NYC where you leave at ~midnight and arrive at 6am, the perks of traveling to race, not for vacation or business!).
Lap 1 of the run... see my potty stop at mile ~10?
Lap 2 of the run.... what happened with 8 miles to go, and can you see where I was walking the aid stations?
A nice late lunch on Church Street got us fed a decent, bigger meal, then we pointed the rental car North and West and headed for the ferry crossing of Lake Champlain. Our plan was then to drive in and preview ~1/2 the bike course, from Ausable Forks all the way to Lake Placid as we made our way over to our lodging in Saranack Lake. Heavy rain challenged this plan, you couldn't see much, but we got a sense that the area was green, pretty, and somewhat hilly. Once we found NCCC (North Country Community College) we had some trouble finding check-in for the dorms. Eventually we backtracked and parked near a building with "Visitor" parking spots, only to read a sign with directions on where to go to check in (back out towards the entrance, then left, right, left over the RR tracks, right, and first building on the right. No we did not get it right on our first try, but by our 3rd or 4th try we found it!).
As we moved in, we learned that our accommodations were a bit more rustic than we anticipated. Luckily, we were able to just roll with it. We unpacked our clothes into the dresser and headed out for a quick run to loosen up and shake out the travel, then found dinner and a grocery store (bought bars of soap and contemplated a cheap shower curtain).
That was Wednesday. The next couple of days we settled in, laid low, and got ready to race. We had 2 GREAT swims in mirror lake, picked up our bikes from TriBike Transport, rode the only flat miles of the course to spin out the legs and make sure the bikes shipped fine (between Upper Jay and Jay), and read and rested. I was sleeping well (not the case before St. George), we were fueling well (cutting back on fiber, still no coffee for me until race morning), and all signs were good. The only small hiccup was my watch dying (I use the timer to remind me to eat and drink on the bike) during our second Mirror Lake Swim. I swung into the expo, though, and picked up a new one at the Timex booth (I may have paid too much for it, but it sure was convenient to just stop in there and get a new one right away).
This trend continued race morning. We woke early (4 am, I think) and tried not to make too much noise and wake our suite-mates, Tommy (from Long Island) and Rob (from 'Jersey). A breakfast of pop-tarts (no fiber), banana, juice with carbopro, and coffee (no coffee maker or french press, so some Starbucks via thingies from the grocery) and we were out the door. Rob had shared his secret parking spot with us the night before, so we headed there and got pretty close to transition. Then we got body marked, did a warm-up hike out to the special needs drop off spots, and headed back to transition to add nutrition to the bike, pump up tires, apply body glide, and turn in our dry clothes bags. Somewhere in there I lost my swim cap, but I easily picked up a new one on the beach.
Once we were fully in our wetsuits, we headed into the water, swam a tiny bit, then floated over to the shore opposite the beach to stand and wait a bit for the pro start before finding our spots. We ended up in the middle, ~3 people back from the banner (start line). It was a beautiful morning, a great day to race! Off in the west, a tunderstorm cloud was building, but it was also sunny where we were.
The cannon fired and we started to swim. This swim is 2 loops, a short beach run in the middle. The course is a long, skinny rectangle and the buoys are set on a cord that runs the length of the course, a meter or two below the surface. The whole way out to the turnaround on the first loop I spent passing people. I was to the right and just out of sight of the cord, but tracked well due to the total number of people also tracking off that line.
Part way down, my right hip flexor started to cramp. Uh-oh! I ignored it as best I could and swam on. The return of that first loop went smoothly, but I began to notice some rubbing under my right armpit. I was in my sleeveless wetsuit and the leash for the zipper was caught up in there. I fixed that during my beach "run" (more of a walk for me as I was fixing my clothing, and I still forgot to look for my split time on the clock!) and all was good for the second lap. Except now it seemed like everyone was passing me, not the other way around. I swam steady and strong, but added a left calf cramp to my right hip flexor stiffness/pain and got a small nick in my nose from another racer's watch (I think that was my only real contact during the swim, pretty good for a 2700+ person start in a tiny lake! At that point, though, we were almost done and I decided to just chill a bit, there was no reason to get hurt too early in the day). My 1:04 was an OK time. A tad slower than the 1:00-1:03 I was hoping for, but in the ballpark. My sleeveless wetsuit is easy to strip and I was soon carrying it and running down the road toward T1.
T1 was as quick as I could make it (on with the helmet, race number and belt, socks and shoes, sunglasses, and a swipe of chamios butt'r) but the long run on the road from the lake to the Oval makes this a slower T1 than some. I had a much smoother mount than at St. George, and was soon flying through town and out onto the course.
The first loop of the bike went well and I finished it right on target for pace and effort (both perceived exertion and heart rate, but I was only glancing at this every so often and getting "real time" readings). E passed me early in the first loop, after Keene I think. We ended up staying close to each other for ~10 miles before he moved on ahead. My nutrition was spot on for the whole bike: 4 powergels, 1 bottle of carbopro-nuun with ~200 kcal, 4-5 bottles of Powerbar Perform drink (really like that stuff, goes down easy and worked well for me), and 4-5 bottles of water in the front aero bottle with The Right Stuff electrolyte concentrate added (this was the key to good nutrition for me, I think, 4 doses of The Right Stuff). Oh, and 1 gasX. I meant to take 2 of the 3 gasX I was carrying, but lost my 2 spares somewhere out there on course. My second loop on the bike felt good, solid, and strong, and I hit a faster speed on The Big Downhill since it was less crowded this time (just over 55 mph, I think), but I lost a bit of focus on the climb up from Wilmington and gave up a fair bit of time (7+ minutes!) there unintentionally.
As I rode back into town that last time, I was focused on a fast T2. I had decided to ride with my road shoes, not my tri shoes, so I was not able to get my feet out and leave my shoes on my bike (I tried, wasn't going to happen), but I was still able to run in them, grab my bag off the rack thingy, get into the right change tent, swap shoes, socks, and headware, and get out in ~2:30. What I forgot to do was pee. And I had to GO. Luckily, I have skills, and before the first aid station (at 0.4 miles, I think they said) that problem was gone. All this might explain why I said nothing to Lisa as she cheered for me on the way out of T2 (thanks Lisa, I was just in the zone, and it wasn't even the run zone yet!).
I quickly settled into my pace on the run. I felt good. After my pee, and a gel and gasX, I was flying. Comfy, steady, on target. I was happy. I was making my dreams come true! This feeling survived until I was back in town and nearing mile marker 10. Kerrie had just passed me looking strong (on her way to running the fastest run of the day for the female age groupers) but I knew something was off with my tummy. I had been taking in a cup of drink at each aid station and using the icy sponges to stay clean and cool, but my lower GI was off having its own raucous party. And the party was OVER. A quick (1:33 or so) pit stop in a non-locking porta-potty and I was back, running very strong, and cruising uphill and into town. Justin Daerr passed me on his way to the finish and I used him to pull me up the hill, through the second turn around, and then to slingshot me off into my last run lap.
I started my 2nd lap and felt strong and solid. It was time to hold onto that feeling and start creeping up, faster if I could. I held steady until mile ~18, then noticed my hands and fingers start to get tingly. It was odd. Odder yet was my response: I just settled in, on auto pilot, and got it done. I started taking cola at each aid station, and upped it to 2 cups of drink, too, so that was at least 3 cups per aid station. My tummy felt great and stayed that way until the finish (this is a MAJOR victory for me, first time in 7 ironmans that the nutrition was spot on). I started having to walk the aid stations, though, so that I could grab all those cups before I got to the other end. I moved onward, but in kind of a blur. And I guess I was in full-on shuffle mode here, not really "running" anymore.
But I was not aware of any of this. I was getting it done and was just unaware of how much I had slowed. The final 8 miles were a blur. That is really all I remember. I came back into town, climbed the hills, got a big smile as I saw E heading for the Oval and the finish as I headed out for the final turn around, and then joined him there myself. Here are some screen shots of the first and second loops of the run. You can see my potty stop, and then how pace slowed with ~8 miles to go, and where I walked the aid stations.
Lap 1 of the run... see my potty stop at mile ~10?
In the end, I PRed the race by 49 seconds and PRed the run (for an Ironman) by ~2 minutes but missed my goal times (total and for the run) each by ~16 minutes. That's a lot. Could I have made that up all on the run? Not sure. Am I frustrated? Yes. Am I still oddly pleased at that race I have, the effort I gave, and the outcome? Yes. Do I have any clue what happened and why? No.
I was really ready to run a 3:40. Trained and ready. It was not a reaching goal, not a pipe dream, it was doable, oh so very doable. In the end, though my nutrition finally seemed spot on, I was likely under fueled on the run. I had planned to use race drink as my sole source of fuel, but had neglected to think about dosing using their cups. I probably was not getting enough of anything. And the gel I grabbed, off the table after some hunting and gathering, with 2 miles to go was too little, a lot too late.
After finishing, I was exhausted. And Sore. All over, everywhere. I saw E, bust still used my Volunteer Catcher to walk over to the athletes food area and sit. 1 bottle of water, 1 slice of pizza, 1 ham sandwich, pretzels, grapes, 3 cookies were consumed while we sat and chatted with Kerrie and Kau. Then I changed into better clothes, and we went to the car to drop off gear and grab the wheel bag. Next was a trip to tribike transport to drop off the bikes, then we headed onto the run course to cheer for people. We swung into the Lake Placid Brewery, but the wait for a table was over an hour, so we went to their tent out front and bought a hamburger and chips to share, and 1 beer each. Then we headed back to the dorms and chatted with our room mates (Rob had a good day cheering, but Tommy missed the bike cut-off and was trying to cope with his first DNF). As usual, I slept very little that night due to being sore everywhere.
The next day, I was still sore all over! Deep breathing was impossible (so was deep sighing, like when the 3rd and final Kona slot rolled to 4th place and she took it, I was 5th). And laughing? Not an option.
We had a good morning in Lake Placid before rolling out and heading to Plattsburgh where we had a room booked in an awesome B&B (it was Eric's birthday, AND this was halfway back to the airport). It was so relaxing there! We ventured into town for dinner, then picked up a pint of banana fudge ice cream for dessert, which we shared in their mosquito-proof gazebo.
The next day we took the ferry over to VT, drove down to Burlington, and spent a few hours roaming Church Street and the lake front. It was a nice day, but HOT, so we didn't walk too much or too fast. Our flight wasn't until after 7 pm, so we had time to kill. We wandered, then lunched at the Vermont Brewery, then went to the used book store, then wandered some more. In the end, we went to this "museum" called the Outdoor Gear Exchange and looked at a lot of things made in Colorado. I enjoyed Burlington, the state of VT, and the Adirondacks very much, and would love to go back there again. It was a great trip!
One final thought: I am not sure why I am so troubled by missing my goal times, and the Kona slot. I had a great race. I was fairly steady loop to loop. I nailed my nutrition, before (can anyone say breakfast for dinner???) and during the race. The weather was PERFECT for me, definitely not too hot like it can be at Canada. I am plagued by some of what Kerrie says, here, yet for me some of it IS about the journey, and for me, I get to share the training hours and miles with my family (and my best friend, E). Yet I missed my goals, and that is very hard (for my ego) to swallow and move on.
I guess the conclusion I am reaching is that Ironman is just not for me. I did well, learned lots, and had fun preparing and racing 7 of these things over the last 5 years, but I am just not as good at this as I want to think I am. I can run a good open marathon, I can rock an Olympic distance tri, I'm a good skier, and I can hike with the best of them, but this Ironman thing, not so much. That's OK, next year's race still sold out before lunch the next day, so there are enough others out there to keep this thing going! And I am trying to tell myself that this is not giving up, it is moving on to something else. Work with me here.... and come along for the ride if you wish.
-A
Friday, July 30, 2010
A's NY reflections
Hi All! E and I had a great trip to NY and VT for Ironman Lake Placid. We were well prepped for the race and had a great trip. The end, with a B&B stay and then wanderings around Burlington, VT, before our flight home even felt like vacation! The vacation extended a few days here in Boulder as I finished my reading from the plane and am trying to get back to "normal," whatever that is. So nice!
So...... After 7 tries at the iron-distance, I set a small PR (49 seconds!), had my highest placing in my age group (5th), and had a well-executed race where I really have no excuses or interesting happenings to report from the swim, bike, or run. I was excited to have a race where I felt like I gave it everything I had to give.
Unfortunately, I did not earn a Kona slot, and I also missed my goal time, by a lot, so my emotions are a strange mix of elation for a race where I felt I went hard, took risks, and used up all my resources, frustration at the missed Kona slot and final time/place, and confusion at what I could have done differently since my prep was awesome and I thought my execution went pretty well. Maybe I'm just not as fast as I want to think I am? Anyways....
We are moving on now after 5 years of ironman racing. No WTC or ironman in our future for now. I am a bit lost on how to cope without a race of this magnitude to prepare and train for. I know I will need a focus soon, but don't feel rushed to find "what's next" just yet.
This was not meant to be a race report, that is still coming, just a quick update to say we had a great vacation, and I had a good race but one that has me searching for something new to chase. Hopefully that something is a good challenge, but also something I can achieve and find some satisfaction in. The road has been fun to travel on so far, let's see what's around the next bend!
-A
So...... After 7 tries at the iron-distance, I set a small PR (49 seconds!), had my highest placing in my age group (5th), and had a well-executed race where I really have no excuses or interesting happenings to report from the swim, bike, or run. I was excited to have a race where I felt like I gave it everything I had to give.
Unfortunately, I did not earn a Kona slot, and I also missed my goal time, by a lot, so my emotions are a strange mix of elation for a race where I felt I went hard, took risks, and used up all my resources, frustration at the missed Kona slot and final time/place, and confusion at what I could have done differently since my prep was awesome and I thought my execution went pretty well. Maybe I'm just not as fast as I want to think I am? Anyways....
We are moving on now after 5 years of ironman racing. No WTC or ironman in our future for now. I am a bit lost on how to cope without a race of this magnitude to prepare and train for. I know I will need a focus soon, but don't feel rushed to find "what's next" just yet.
This was not meant to be a race report, that is still coming, just a quick update to say we had a great vacation, and I had a good race but one that has me searching for something new to chase. Hopefully that something is a good challenge, but also something I can achieve and find some satisfaction in. The road has been fun to travel on so far, let's see what's around the next bend!
-A
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Race Report Follow Up
Hi. I forgot a few things yesterday. Here goes.....
Thanks!
Thanks!
Thank you to those who read this blog! Your interest and support is priceless. Thank you to my parents and to Sunny, the first two phone calls I got after finishing. It was great to talk to you 3 and share some thoughts and feelings while they were still fresh. Thanks for your love, your support, your belief in me (and E), and your understanding at how silly I must have sounded after nearly 12 hours of movement. Thanks to my two sisters, too, who were interested all along the way and kept me grounded in reality with your phone calls, emails, and facebook updates. Thank you to E, my love, my biggest fan, my supporter, and my training partner. It was neat to share another IM (training and the race) with you.
Thanks to coach J for keeping us focused and getting us to a May 1 IM after a snowier-than-normal winter, while keeping us challenged, and full of joy at the lifestyle this sport has given to us. Thanks to Kerrie for the neoprene caps: no ice cream headache for us during the swim. Thanks to Wolfgang and Curt (and my awesome lanemates) for good challenging swims every week. Thanks to Izzy-dog, a great run partner.
Things that went well:
Clothing/shoes/gear: I wore my new 2XU tri shorts and Oomph top (lots of compliments on the green stripes during the run) and they worked great all day. Full sleeve wetsuit (duh!) and neoprene cap (little bit of neck chafage from one of these, but not noticeable until the day after), speedo vanquisher goggles: all worked flawlessly. Regular bike shoes with toe covers and smartwool socks (slower than tri shoes, but my bike shoes are more comfy and that mattered for a 112 mi ride), aerohelmet, big Rudy Project sunglasses (the mono-lens, but good optics and wind protection), cheap socks as arm warmers, knee warmers, and gloves: I was bundled up and less aero, but never overheated nor got too cold, I was just ready to get down to work and ride my bike. I shed the gloves, arm and knee warmers, and changed socks for the run. I also wore my Nike Lunar Glides (training shoe, not racing flat, but a good call with the pounding downhills on that course). Visor, fresh sunglasses, and fuel belt and I was ready to rock the run. I really liked having my hands free as I often carry a hand-strapped water bottle for water and ice if it is hot.
Bike: my bike (Javelin Lugano) rocks right now! It fits well, rides solid and fast, and is comfortable. I was geared well for the climbing and was able to descend in the crosswinds with no issues. All thanks to the great fit from Ryan Ignatz and Colorado Multisport! Wheels were 50 mm rims, no disc and rode well on that course.
Peeing: It is an ironman, it happens. I peed once in the water before the start, once during the swim, 4 times on the bike, and once while running. Now you know.... And now you know why all volunteers wear disposable gloves at an ironman.
The finish line: crossing it is amazing (a bit of a blur this year, but very satisfying), but coming back to it after a shower and some food and watching the people who finish near midnight is awesome. I always get very excited for them and a bit emotional at the whole experience. This time was no exception.
Nutrition: Carbopro-nuun (concentrate) for calories, water on the bike and run courses, and some addition of nuun (regular concentration) to my front aerobottle during the bike. 2-3 salt capsules on the run and one cup of Gatorade with less than 3 miles to run. Worked the best yet of anything I have tried, but there is some room for improvement here....
Things that still need work:
Nutrition: Despite following practiced timing for water and calories, I still had a bit of a sloshy/gasy tummy at the end of the bike and start of the run. This held me up a bit every now and then as my run pace slowed to allow me to maintain control of my innards without using a porta-potty for a pit stop. It all ended well on that count, but I want to run without the water-belly someday. It is just weird to hear yourself sloshing. Weird. I also want to not gain multiple pounds during an ironman. Yup, MULTIPLE pounds. This time it was only 5.5, not the 8 I saw at the last two IM Canadas and IM AZ (April 2008), but that is extra weight to lug around AND calories/water that is not getting to my muscles. I was getting into a bonk the last 2+ miles of the run, yet I had gained a little weight during the day. My stomach was acting as gate keeper and had decided to close down that boarder crossing for the day. I have tried everything osmotically possible to keep it processing fuel and fluids, and was regularly peeing throughout the race (a good sign of progress), yet I still was fighting this frustrating problem. After I finish an ironman, things start to work again and I will have to pee every 30 minutes until my system is back to normal (a few hours, normally). This year I was back to normal sooner, but still, I need to figure this out and fix it. Any thoughts? Anyone? I'm doing about 200-250 kcal per hour with ~24-30 oz of fluids (normal strength nuun mostly or straight water) on the bike, same calories with 1-2 cups water at each run aid station. This is not excessive.
Race anxiety: I'll be honest, I think I'm fixing this, but I'm not so sure that is true. I never, ever had a problem with this until I was doing my second IM in 2007 at age 29. I have been racing since middle school and at a high level since high school and college with no problems. In 2002 I raced age group worlds in Cancun, no problem. Since 2007, all "big and important" races will cause me a moment (or longer) of panic. I am sure that is why my sleep was disrupted for so many nights before the race this year. I even slept poorly our last night at home before our trip even started. This time the whole thing was subtler than some of my full-blown panic attacks of the past, but it was VERY annoying, seemed to streach on FOREVER, and was not conducive to good race prep. Self-talk of "it is just a race" and "getting nervous only makes it worse" and "RELAX!" did not change anything, not for a moment. Any help on this one from blog-land? How do I get my confidence in check (and not get cocky) so I can keep from being my own worst enemy?
OK, I knew I forgot a few things yesterday as soon as I hit "publish post" but I think that's all for now. Let me know if you have any suggestions for my "needs improvement" items...
-A
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
A's race report: IM UT 2010
Where to start? After all, this is an ironman race report, and an ironman is a fairly epic day. Then again, it is also just a race (sorry, just started to read Three Cups of Tea and it is hard to take a silly race to seriously with that as a counter reference). Anyways...... I'll make this a race report to me, again, so I can continue the learning process.
This race I have had trouble sleeping, and only got one good, solid, over-7-hour night of sleep in the 5 nights before the race. I was feeling fresh and fairly rested, but was slightly unnerved by this unusual turn of events. It is something I'd like to prevent in the future, and may even consider OTC sleeping pills if it happens again. Normally, once my head hits the pillow, I'm sweetly dreaming nearly instantly.
Race Morning:
Anyways, when the alarm went off at 3:30, I was not as fast to rise as I might be with better sleep, but soon I was dressing in my chosen race apparel, sloshing on the first layer of sunscreen, and donning my warm, warm, warm warm-ups while downing some instant oatmeal, coffee, and apple juice. I pocketed a large banana and a peanut butter packet, and grabbed my transition bag, which was already loaded for the 4 drop-offs I needed to make: special needs bike, special needs run, T2, and stuff for T1. Luckily, I also remembered to stuff my wetsuit in there the night before, it had almost been left neatly hanging in the closet.
We got onto our school bus, got a seat together near the front, then were moving out into the dark morning on the ride out to Sand Hallow State Park. I was a bit wound up and the chatter of the other passengers was making me a bit nervous, but soon the bright lights of the transition area came into view and we were unloading into the cold morning air. Bathroom, air in tires, bottles/fuel on bike, more sunscreen (including sharing some with a QT2 girl and Beth) and it was time to shimmy into the wetsuit and drop off the morning clothes bag. Then we joined the other racers and moved towards the beach.
As soon as we were able (shortly after the pro start) E and I waded into the chilly water and swam a few strokes away from shore. It was cold, but we soon adjusted and swam some more to further acclimatize and warm up. By the time we had 5 minutes to go, we moved to the second row of starters, all the way out to the left, by the blue kayak. All was well until the guy next to me decided to tread water using a breast-stroke kick and clobbered me with every whip of his feet, I moved left and avoided him. Then the cannon fired and we were off.
The swim: 1:06:14
The course was a counter-clockwise rectangle. My swim was uneventful for the first two sides of the course, but then I seemed to want to veer right (outside of the race course) on the 3rd side. There was also a light chop here coming from the front/right side during this section. By the time I was nearing the island we swam around I had to pee, but try as I might that did not seem likely to happen. Then, as I rounded the island and was leaving it for shore, I was finally able to find some relief, and warmth in my suit, as my bladder relaxed enough to empty itself.
T1: 6:29
Up the carpeted boat ramp, through the wet suit peelers, grabbed my bag, and fast baby steps on my Popsicle feet into the women's change tent. It was already crowded! I glanced at my watch somewhere in between setting out my socks, shoes (already wearing their toe covers), helmet, and glasses and saw 1:11. SLOW! Oh, well, time to try and force the tight knee and arm warmers onto my wet skin and get moving. I got a volunteer to help in the tug of war with my clothing and she even helped me don my full-fingered gloves before I stuffed my feet into my bike shoes, clipped on my number belt, and tossed the aerohelmet and sunglasses onto my head. Then I was running toward my bike. The volunteer there to grab it for me was not ready, but since I was the first bike on the rack, right by the isle, I just grabbed it myself and kept moving. After the mount line I tried a flying mount (practiced all fall during cyclocross) but only managed to knock off my rear water bottle, which I needed for later on. I retrieved the potential escapee, mounted successfully, and rode onward.
The bike: 6:25:38
I got on the bike and started to motor. I felt good, but very chilly in my still-wet race top and shorts. I was safely and legally passing lots of people, and trying to get in some liquids. Soon I found my rhythm and we were out of the park and onto the roads into Hurricane. I tried to settle in and find a strong steady pace since were were in for a nice hard bike ride and I wanted a chance at a good run afterwards. E passed me while we were on the frontage road to I-15 at about mile 20 of the bike (right before starting to climb up Red rocks Parkway). This was earlier than expected, but I had a slower-than-normal swim, so I tried to not let it get in my head and just tried to keep him in sight along with a girl from my age group that had just passed me and was keeping speed with him. They slowly pulled away from me, though, and soon I could not spot E's race suit up ahead. She would come back to me, he did not. Onward we motored.
I was fueling well and my the aid station in Santa Clara I was dropping bottles and picking up water to fill my front bottle and mix into the rotation with my concentrated nuun-carbopro solution. By the time we were passing the village on the Indian reservation I had to pee again, and luckily there is a downhill right after that where I was able to do so.
The remainder of the first loop and the entire second loop were not too eventful. I survived the 4 cattle guard crossings in each loop, picked up a bottle, or two, of water at all but one aid station each loop, took in the right amount of calories every 30 min, got warmer, got chilly, got warmer again, did not grab my special needs bag, and bombed that lovely downhill as fast as I could. We did not race on the disc wheels, and that was likely a good call with the crosswinds on the decent, but the rest of the course could have gone either way, nothing was very, very steep or excessively bumpy (I did not like the bumpy patched sections, but they were no worse than CO-36 between Boulder and Lyons). The most interesting parts were 1) when an older male racer passed me going uphill and exclaimed "you make the scenery even better," 2) climbing the steep, but short, hill after Gunlock and having another racer say "this must be the wall" to which I replied "Oh no, no, no, just wait, the wall is loooonger," and 3) looking at my Garmin at one point and trying to do math which had me figuring on being lucky to break 8 hours on the bike (I biked slow, but not THAT slow).
T2: 3:33
The end came quicker than I expected and I ended up leaving my shoes on my feet and running with them into the change tent. My volunteer was awesome. I tried to pick up my bag of gear as I was running through the isles of transition bags, but she already had it and carried it for me into the change area. I forgot to take off the knee warmers before tying my shoes but was able to bunch them up and get them off in one quick motion. I decided to run in my training shoes (Nike Lunar Glides) and to tie the normal laces rather than using elastic race laces because they fit better and don't move that way. I grabbed my visor, fresh sunglasses, fuel belt with one concentrated bottle of carbopro-nuun, and ditched the heart rate monitor and strap since they weren't reading and since I didn't want them for the run. Then I was off and running.
The run: 3:58:36
I had some goals for the run: run the whole thing (no walking), nutrition (and no potty stops), and set a PR. I did all 3! I also wanted to run between 3:30 and 3:40, that did not happen this time, but I gained some major confidence which will roll with me into the next race where I hope to tackle this last goal. I started out thinking of light feet and finding a rhythm for the first 2 miles. Then I just kept plugging away. At the turn around on the first loop, I felt good, and just focused on holding steady back into town and running, not shuffling. I was hot most of the first loop and grabbed plenty of ice-cold sponges at every aid station and drank a cup or two of water at each, too.
At the ~11 mile mark, as I was heading into the Ford Inspirational Mile for the first time up in the golf course parking lot, Sully (Eric Sullivan) passed me on his way to the finish (and an AG overall win) and proclaimed "today, we are LIONS!" With that thought in my head, I soldiered on, strong and fierce.
As I moved through special needs at ~12.9 miles, I grabbed another fuel belt bottle and left the extra clothes. At the halfway point, you swing intoxicatingly close to the finish line as you run a circle around a round-about in the road, then you head back out for lap 2. All was proceeding as planned, and a quick glance at the watch told me that if I held the same pace, I'd break 4 h and PR for the run. With that happy thought, I found my focus and began to slay the final lap of my marathon and my ironman. It hurt. A lot. There were times when my sloshy stomach slowed me a bit, but as soon as I could, I picked it back up. And my body, and mind, let me do it this time. I started to get COLD and stopped taking sponges. I considered the chicken broth, just for warmth, but passed that up in fear of botching my still-working-just-fine-thank-you-very-much nutrition. I passed a lot of people out there, and was passed myself by faster racers, too. I saw E, Beth, many of the women's pro field, Sandy Cranny, and offered encouragement and cheers where I could. And I focused. I knew I was moving much slower than I had hoped for, but I was moving, and did not stop once, not one step, to walk and let my tummy settle. I ended up taking in 2-3 salt pills between miles 18 and 23 as I noticed some crusty residue on my clothes, and I felt good, just tired and sore up until mile 24, then I was getting really cold, tingly, and my arms got stiff and my hands stopped working.
Just before mile 24 I grabbed a cup of Gatorade, then nothing more for nutrition until after the finish line. The turn and hill up to the loop in the golf course parking lot was not too bad the last time through, but the decent back to Diagonal Road and the long straight away to Main Street were PAINFUL. I was progressing to zombie status and knew I needed to get to that finish as fast as possible. I was glad Diagonal road was all a gentle downhill and I tried to pick up my feet and float down hill as fast as I could. The turn onto Main Street was blissfully sweet as the finish line was now in sight and the grade became steeper, almost letting the road propel me there with no more effort required. As I headed into the finish chute, I pumped my fist twice in triumph of a race executed as planned. What JOY!
Total: 11:40:30
After crossing the finish line, all I wanted was a massage. My lower calves were trashed and my back was uber-tight. My catchers asked for my t-shirt size and I said "small" which has worked 5 times before, but this time they were giving out synthetic-fabric shirts that are sized smaller than the normal cotton ones and a small is really, really, really small. I think it is women-specific in cut, so I should probably have a large. This one might be going to my nearly 2-year-old niece for dress-up, as it won't fit on any adult I know. Then I walked on towards massage and food. I got on the massage list and grabbed two pieces to cold pizza (I thought it would be hot, it was not, ugg). Then I spotted E and I melted. The day was done. I was tired to the core (and wondering how all my gear was getting back to our hotel, a mere 3 -4 blocks away).
We eventually made it to the hotel, dropped our stuff off (and made a mini-tornado in our room, at least that is what the evidence suggested), showered, and headed to Nielsens for Frozen custard Concretes before they closed. Best. Post-race. Food. EVER. Especially the chocolate-almond concrete (like a DQ blizzard, but WAY better). Then we headed back to the hotel and I napped lightly while E puffy-panted in the NormaTec MVP.
He told me I was 7th in my age group, less than 12 min out of third, and I started to get sad. Could I have gone harder? Should I have biked faster? Could I have "given it" more on the run? Luckily, I have one more chance to go for it at Lake Placid in July.
It has been over a week now and my recovery is going well. I bounced back faster than average for every-day-feeling-good kind of activities, but still detect an endurance cap on my run and cycle fitness. My swim is going well (maybe even faster than before the race?) and the run/bike are coming around, I just feel no need (nor have any need) to go very fast right now, at least for another few days.
And that, my friends, summarizes my race pretty well, right down to the after-effects of elation, then self doubt, then motivation to go "no holds barred" and give it my all at Lake Placid in a few (10.5, but who's counting) weeks.
Finally, St. George was a great town, with great people, for an Ironman. We have planned to take a break from Ironman for a bit after 2010, but both agreed that we would be willing to race here again. It was fair, hard course, and we both felt that we have some unfinished business with the course and want another chance at the challenge it offers.
This race I have had trouble sleeping, and only got one good, solid, over-7-hour night of sleep in the 5 nights before the race. I was feeling fresh and fairly rested, but was slightly unnerved by this unusual turn of events. It is something I'd like to prevent in the future, and may even consider OTC sleeping pills if it happens again. Normally, once my head hits the pillow, I'm sweetly dreaming nearly instantly.
Race Morning:
Anyways, when the alarm went off at 3:30, I was not as fast to rise as I might be with better sleep, but soon I was dressing in my chosen race apparel, sloshing on the first layer of sunscreen, and donning my warm, warm, warm warm-ups while downing some instant oatmeal, coffee, and apple juice. I pocketed a large banana and a peanut butter packet, and grabbed my transition bag, which was already loaded for the 4 drop-offs I needed to make: special needs bike, special needs run, T2, and stuff for T1. Luckily, I also remembered to stuff my wetsuit in there the night before, it had almost been left neatly hanging in the closet.
We got onto our school bus, got a seat together near the front, then were moving out into the dark morning on the ride out to Sand Hallow State Park. I was a bit wound up and the chatter of the other passengers was making me a bit nervous, but soon the bright lights of the transition area came into view and we were unloading into the cold morning air. Bathroom, air in tires, bottles/fuel on bike, more sunscreen (including sharing some with a QT2 girl and Beth) and it was time to shimmy into the wetsuit and drop off the morning clothes bag. Then we joined the other racers and moved towards the beach.
As soon as we were able (shortly after the pro start) E and I waded into the chilly water and swam a few strokes away from shore. It was cold, but we soon adjusted and swam some more to further acclimatize and warm up. By the time we had 5 minutes to go, we moved to the second row of starters, all the way out to the left, by the blue kayak. All was well until the guy next to me decided to tread water using a breast-stroke kick and clobbered me with every whip of his feet, I moved left and avoided him. Then the cannon fired and we were off.
The swim: 1:06:14
The course was a counter-clockwise rectangle. My swim was uneventful for the first two sides of the course, but then I seemed to want to veer right (outside of the race course) on the 3rd side. There was also a light chop here coming from the front/right side during this section. By the time I was nearing the island we swam around I had to pee, but try as I might that did not seem likely to happen. Then, as I rounded the island and was leaving it for shore, I was finally able to find some relief, and warmth in my suit, as my bladder relaxed enough to empty itself.
T1: 6:29
Up the carpeted boat ramp, through the wet suit peelers, grabbed my bag, and fast baby steps on my Popsicle feet into the women's change tent. It was already crowded! I glanced at my watch somewhere in between setting out my socks, shoes (already wearing their toe covers), helmet, and glasses and saw 1:11. SLOW! Oh, well, time to try and force the tight knee and arm warmers onto my wet skin and get moving. I got a volunteer to help in the tug of war with my clothing and she even helped me don my full-fingered gloves before I stuffed my feet into my bike shoes, clipped on my number belt, and tossed the aerohelmet and sunglasses onto my head. Then I was running toward my bike. The volunteer there to grab it for me was not ready, but since I was the first bike on the rack, right by the isle, I just grabbed it myself and kept moving. After the mount line I tried a flying mount (practiced all fall during cyclocross) but only managed to knock off my rear water bottle, which I needed for later on. I retrieved the potential escapee, mounted successfully, and rode onward.
The bike: 6:25:38
I got on the bike and started to motor. I felt good, but very chilly in my still-wet race top and shorts. I was safely and legally passing lots of people, and trying to get in some liquids. Soon I found my rhythm and we were out of the park and onto the roads into Hurricane. I tried to settle in and find a strong steady pace since were were in for a nice hard bike ride and I wanted a chance at a good run afterwards. E passed me while we were on the frontage road to I-15 at about mile 20 of the bike (right before starting to climb up Red rocks Parkway). This was earlier than expected, but I had a slower-than-normal swim, so I tried to not let it get in my head and just tried to keep him in sight along with a girl from my age group that had just passed me and was keeping speed with him. They slowly pulled away from me, though, and soon I could not spot E's race suit up ahead. She would come back to me, he did not. Onward we motored.
I was fueling well and my the aid station in Santa Clara I was dropping bottles and picking up water to fill my front bottle and mix into the rotation with my concentrated nuun-carbopro solution. By the time we were passing the village on the Indian reservation I had to pee again, and luckily there is a downhill right after that where I was able to do so.
The remainder of the first loop and the entire second loop were not too eventful. I survived the 4 cattle guard crossings in each loop, picked up a bottle, or two, of water at all but one aid station each loop, took in the right amount of calories every 30 min, got warmer, got chilly, got warmer again, did not grab my special needs bag, and bombed that lovely downhill as fast as I could. We did not race on the disc wheels, and that was likely a good call with the crosswinds on the decent, but the rest of the course could have gone either way, nothing was very, very steep or excessively bumpy (I did not like the bumpy patched sections, but they were no worse than CO-36 between Boulder and Lyons). The most interesting parts were 1) when an older male racer passed me going uphill and exclaimed "you make the scenery even better," 2) climbing the steep, but short, hill after Gunlock and having another racer say "this must be the wall" to which I replied "Oh no, no, no, just wait, the wall is loooonger," and 3) looking at my Garmin at one point and trying to do math which had me figuring on being lucky to break 8 hours on the bike (I biked slow, but not THAT slow).
T2: 3:33
The end came quicker than I expected and I ended up leaving my shoes on my feet and running with them into the change tent. My volunteer was awesome. I tried to pick up my bag of gear as I was running through the isles of transition bags, but she already had it and carried it for me into the change area. I forgot to take off the knee warmers before tying my shoes but was able to bunch them up and get them off in one quick motion. I decided to run in my training shoes (Nike Lunar Glides) and to tie the normal laces rather than using elastic race laces because they fit better and don't move that way. I grabbed my visor, fresh sunglasses, fuel belt with one concentrated bottle of carbopro-nuun, and ditched the heart rate monitor and strap since they weren't reading and since I didn't want them for the run. Then I was off and running.
The run: 3:58:36
I had some goals for the run: run the whole thing (no walking), nutrition (and no potty stops), and set a PR. I did all 3! I also wanted to run between 3:30 and 3:40, that did not happen this time, but I gained some major confidence which will roll with me into the next race where I hope to tackle this last goal. I started out thinking of light feet and finding a rhythm for the first 2 miles. Then I just kept plugging away. At the turn around on the first loop, I felt good, and just focused on holding steady back into town and running, not shuffling. I was hot most of the first loop and grabbed plenty of ice-cold sponges at every aid station and drank a cup or two of water at each, too.
At the ~11 mile mark, as I was heading into the Ford Inspirational Mile for the first time up in the golf course parking lot, Sully (Eric Sullivan) passed me on his way to the finish (and an AG overall win) and proclaimed "today, we are LIONS!" With that thought in my head, I soldiered on, strong and fierce.
As I moved through special needs at ~12.9 miles, I grabbed another fuel belt bottle and left the extra clothes. At the halfway point, you swing intoxicatingly close to the finish line as you run a circle around a round-about in the road, then you head back out for lap 2. All was proceeding as planned, and a quick glance at the watch told me that if I held the same pace, I'd break 4 h and PR for the run. With that happy thought, I found my focus and began to slay the final lap of my marathon and my ironman. It hurt. A lot. There were times when my sloshy stomach slowed me a bit, but as soon as I could, I picked it back up. And my body, and mind, let me do it this time. I started to get COLD and stopped taking sponges. I considered the chicken broth, just for warmth, but passed that up in fear of botching my still-working-just-fine-thank-you-very-much nutrition. I passed a lot of people out there, and was passed myself by faster racers, too. I saw E, Beth, many of the women's pro field, Sandy Cranny, and offered encouragement and cheers where I could. And I focused. I knew I was moving much slower than I had hoped for, but I was moving, and did not stop once, not one step, to walk and let my tummy settle. I ended up taking in 2-3 salt pills between miles 18 and 23 as I noticed some crusty residue on my clothes, and I felt good, just tired and sore up until mile 24, then I was getting really cold, tingly, and my arms got stiff and my hands stopped working.
Just before mile 24 I grabbed a cup of Gatorade, then nothing more for nutrition until after the finish line. The turn and hill up to the loop in the golf course parking lot was not too bad the last time through, but the decent back to Diagonal Road and the long straight away to Main Street were PAINFUL. I was progressing to zombie status and knew I needed to get to that finish as fast as possible. I was glad Diagonal road was all a gentle downhill and I tried to pick up my feet and float down hill as fast as I could. The turn onto Main Street was blissfully sweet as the finish line was now in sight and the grade became steeper, almost letting the road propel me there with no more effort required. As I headed into the finish chute, I pumped my fist twice in triumph of a race executed as planned. What JOY!
Total: 11:40:30
After crossing the finish line, all I wanted was a massage. My lower calves were trashed and my back was uber-tight. My catchers asked for my t-shirt size and I said "small" which has worked 5 times before, but this time they were giving out synthetic-fabric shirts that are sized smaller than the normal cotton ones and a small is really, really, really small. I think it is women-specific in cut, so I should probably have a large. This one might be going to my nearly 2-year-old niece for dress-up, as it won't fit on any adult I know. Then I walked on towards massage and food. I got on the massage list and grabbed two pieces to cold pizza (I thought it would be hot, it was not, ugg). Then I spotted E and I melted. The day was done. I was tired to the core (and wondering how all my gear was getting back to our hotel, a mere 3 -4 blocks away).
We eventually made it to the hotel, dropped our stuff off (and made a mini-tornado in our room, at least that is what the evidence suggested), showered, and headed to Nielsens for Frozen custard Concretes before they closed. Best. Post-race. Food. EVER. Especially the chocolate-almond concrete (like a DQ blizzard, but WAY better). Then we headed back to the hotel and I napped lightly while E puffy-panted in the NormaTec MVP.
He told me I was 7th in my age group, less than 12 min out of third, and I started to get sad. Could I have gone harder? Should I have biked faster? Could I have "given it" more on the run? Luckily, I have one more chance to go for it at Lake Placid in July.
It has been over a week now and my recovery is going well. I bounced back faster than average for every-day-feeling-good kind of activities, but still detect an endurance cap on my run and cycle fitness. My swim is going well (maybe even faster than before the race?) and the run/bike are coming around, I just feel no need (nor have any need) to go very fast right now, at least for another few days.
And that, my friends, summarizes my race pretty well, right down to the after-effects of elation, then self doubt, then motivation to go "no holds barred" and give it my all at Lake Placid in a few (10.5, but who's counting) weeks.
Finally, St. George was a great town, with great people, for an Ironman. We have planned to take a break from Ironman for a bit after 2010, but both agreed that we would be willing to race here again. It was fair, hard course, and we both felt that we have some unfinished business with the course and want another chance at the challenge it offers.
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