You heard me. 9 day streaker. I have worked out 9 days in a row and its cause for celebration because the last time I did that was over a year ago. I feel tired - but good tired. Plus seeing all those little green boxes in training peaks makes my OCD super happy.
I pulled out a 1:30 trainer ride and hour swim on Wednesday - I was exhausted (still getting back into this training thing...) but I was riding that lovely exhaustion where you just want to eat and chill on the couch and relax but not pass out in a post-workout-coma. Other notable workout - 2:30 trainer ride on friday and it felt good. It was hard but I pushed it and felt pretty damn decent. so, yay.
workouts from last week:
swim (2): 7050 yds
bike (3): 110 miles
run (3): 14 miles
(I missed my Saturday "flop" swim after the run because a child pooped in the pool... which I was legitimately sad about because it was a short and sweet splash in the pool and I was super sweaty from the run.)
So - training is good - I love the specificity of the workouts with intervals (thanks Sonja and RTTC!).
Snowstorm is apparently coming this weekend. Even if I'm holed up in my apartment, I've got a few training rides on the books and I can always run on my beloved treadmill...
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Thursday, January 14, 2016
Oh hi. It's me. I'm BACK.
Let's try one more time to stay on top of all things in the online world, shall we?
So we left off early November in a real slump. Its improved - in ways different than expected, but its improved.
My body is not 100%, lets admit that fact. Thanks to that good ole boot from weeks back, the left side of my body decided to stay jacked up - we're working on it. Hip flexor needs some lovin' - PT style. Don't be gross.
My motivation is back. Hello! New year, new you? Yea, I'm not buying that crap either, but in the spirit of new-gym-memberships-and-weight-loss-goals-and-improving-oneself, lets jump on the bandwagon and get this training show on the road, shall we?
I hired a new coach (happy dance). I will miss Taneen and her spirit and motivation - she and I had a great year and I learned a lot - about myself, about things I like and dislike in triathlon and training and 2015 was a great stepping stone to lead into 2016. I have 2 more Ironmans under my belt, I've been pretty consistent but its time to leap off that plateau and climb the next mountain. Its going to be tough and, let's be honest, I'll probably cry... because, you know... me... - but I'm ready.
I'm a week and a half into the first block of training. I did the first swim workout last monday and then promptly came down with some nasty virus that nearly killed me for three days. Jumped back on the horse friday with the first run in weeks... did 3.7 whole miles and felt awkward but the leg is *marginally* getting better. Is it all in my head? Maybe. But I think its better, so I'm going with that.
Saturday was a off day since we were doing a threshold test the following morning at off-season-spin. So - that threshold test eh... After having a few cocktails and staying up a tad too late at a party (with other triathletes, so I think that makes it legit), I showed up to OSS and kicked my ass. But I got it done and done effectively.
At that point is when my body decided it had had enough for the day. The intention was to follow OSS with an easy 40 minute run. And I'm going to say this out loud for accountability sake - I need to learn to to run easy when it says to "run easy". EASY. Especially with other people.
I started running and my leg felt even better than it had on Friday. So - I ran too fast. After a mile and a half or so, I felt my legs start to die and I knew the next 28 minutes were going to be quite uncomfortable. And they were. Even when I slowed down to an embarrassingly slow pace that a 3 year old could sustain, my heart rate was in the 700's and I was watching my legs move but they seemed to have a mind of their own. I mean, the heart rate *might* have been a shade lower than that exaggerated number... but lets say new numbers were showing up that the 910 has never witnessed.
I was grumpy (sorry to running partner...) and hangry after that brick workout. Though the bloody mary that followed put me in a much better mood and I recovered with tacos (thank you District Taco!) and How to Make a Murderer all afternoon/evening... As much as some workouts can suck - I love being in training again!
So we left off early November in a real slump. Its improved - in ways different than expected, but its improved.
My body is not 100%, lets admit that fact. Thanks to that good ole boot from weeks back, the left side of my body decided to stay jacked up - we're working on it. Hip flexor needs some lovin' - PT style. Don't be gross.
My motivation is back. Hello! New year, new you? Yea, I'm not buying that crap either, but in the spirit of new-gym-memberships-and-weight-loss-goals-and-improving-oneself, lets jump on the bandwagon and get this training show on the road, shall we?
I hired a new coach (happy dance). I will miss Taneen and her spirit and motivation - she and I had a great year and I learned a lot - about myself, about things I like and dislike in triathlon and training and 2015 was a great stepping stone to lead into 2016. I have 2 more Ironmans under my belt, I've been pretty consistent but its time to leap off that plateau and climb the next mountain. Its going to be tough and, let's be honest, I'll probably cry... because, you know... me... - but I'm ready.
I'm a week and a half into the first block of training. I did the first swim workout last monday and then promptly came down with some nasty virus that nearly killed me for three days. Jumped back on the horse friday with the first run in weeks... did 3.7 whole miles and felt awkward but the leg is *marginally* getting better. Is it all in my head? Maybe. But I think its better, so I'm going with that.
Saturday was a off day since we were doing a threshold test the following morning at off-season-spin. So - that threshold test eh... After having a few cocktails and staying up a tad too late at a party (with other triathletes, so I think that makes it legit), I showed up to OSS and kicked my ass. But I got it done and done effectively.
At that point is when my body decided it had had enough for the day. The intention was to follow OSS with an easy 40 minute run. And I'm going to say this out loud for accountability sake - I need to learn to to run easy when it says to "run easy". EASY. Especially with other people.
I started running and my leg felt even better than it had on Friday. So - I ran too fast. After a mile and a half or so, I felt my legs start to die and I knew the next 28 minutes were going to be quite uncomfortable. And they were. Even when I slowed down to an embarrassingly slow pace that a 3 year old could sustain, my heart rate was in the 700's and I was watching my legs move but they seemed to have a mind of their own. I mean, the heart rate *might* have been a shade lower than that exaggerated number... but lets say new numbers were showing up that the 910 has never witnessed.
I was grumpy (sorry to running partner...) and hangry after that brick workout. Though the bloody mary that followed put me in a much better mood and I recovered with tacos (thank you District Taco!) and How to Make a Murderer all afternoon/evening... As much as some workouts can suck - I love being in training again!
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
It turns out I don't suck.
Keep it appropriate kids. This is a PG-13 blog with occasional profanity, not sexual interludes.
One of the cool things about the triathlon world is being part of a team. Whether its the local tri club, an ambassador program, a racing team - triathlon accepts any and all people and encourages participation regardless of ability.
This past year, I had an awesome opportunity to represent SOAS - a women-specific brand created by women. The company is amazing, I love their vision for active women - just being a part of it this year and seeing it grow by leaps and bounds in 2015 alone has been exciting! They constantly seek our input and take our ideas into account - and make them happen! Our private facebook group is a safe haven for the "SOAS sisters" and is a constant go-to source for inspiration and motivation. I feel like I know so many of them through our interactions on facebook, messages, texts, etc. This past year, I had multiple opportunities to meet some of the fellow ambassadors and have even stayed in close contact with some of them - plus the fact that one of my best friends is on the team is incredibly awesome. I've even found an awesome teammate that lives local that I've ridden with and become friends with! I wouldn't have had these opportunities without SOAS and I'm so grateful.
This being my second year of racing (and the first year of having some semblance of knowledge about the sport), representing SOAS increased my confidence level which pushed me to apply for a local "elite" team, the Snapple Tri Team.
Lo and behold, they actually accepted me. Whaaaaaaat!
*happy dancing all around*
Despite the annoying, nagging, OBNOXIOUS injuries plaguing me - I'm pumped and excited for 2016. I get to hang with a team of awesome people and hopefully their awesomeness rubs off on me!
(Plus District Taco is a sponsor... HELLO, WELCOME TO MY DREAM WORLD.)
And look, I even became famous in the online world.
Cheers to an amazing 2016!
One of the cool things about the triathlon world is being part of a team. Whether its the local tri club, an ambassador program, a racing team - triathlon accepts any and all people and encourages participation regardless of ability.
This past year, I had an awesome opportunity to represent SOAS - a women-specific brand created by women. The company is amazing, I love their vision for active women - just being a part of it this year and seeing it grow by leaps and bounds in 2015 alone has been exciting! They constantly seek our input and take our ideas into account - and make them happen! Our private facebook group is a safe haven for the "SOAS sisters" and is a constant go-to source for inspiration and motivation. I feel like I know so many of them through our interactions on facebook, messages, texts, etc. This past year, I had multiple opportunities to meet some of the fellow ambassadors and have even stayed in close contact with some of them - plus the fact that one of my best friends is on the team is incredibly awesome. I've even found an awesome teammate that lives local that I've ridden with and become friends with! I wouldn't have had these opportunities without SOAS and I'm so grateful.
This being my second year of racing (and the first year of having some semblance of knowledge about the sport), representing SOAS increased my confidence level which pushed me to apply for a local "elite" team, the Snapple Tri Team.
Lo and behold, they actually accepted me. Whaaaaaaat!
*happy dancing all around*
Despite the annoying, nagging, OBNOXIOUS injuries plaguing me - I'm pumped and excited for 2016. I get to hang with a team of awesome people and hopefully their awesomeness rubs off on me!
(Plus District Taco is a sponsor... HELLO, WELCOME TO MY DREAM WORLD.)
And look, I even became famous in the online world.
Cheers to an amazing 2016!
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Choices.
This is the most severe post-season funk I have ever been in. Depression even. The injury hasn't helped (some sort of stress fracture/tendinitis that resulted in a walking boot), but I have lacked any and all motivation to be active or even just to complete the small, everyday tasks that need doing. Example - I forced myself to wash my sheets. Then I waited 9 days before making the bed and chose instead to sleep on the couch. I had laundry in piles on the bed that I refused to put away for over a week. I have bills that need paid - this involved less than 5 minutes of my day, but its this 5 minute task that I haven't actually had the will power to complete. I refused to go to the grocery store until I had no milk, eggs, bread, or ANYTHING edible left in the house.
It was ridiculous and I'm almost ashamed by how much life was getting away.
I've been on an emotional roller coaster since the race. Actually, it started well before the race, but I've let it get the better of me these last few weeks. I've said things I'm not proud of; harsh things, mean things, stupid things to friends. I've reacted to situations in ways that are unlike me. And though I've forced myself to step outside and stop floundering in the comfort of my living room - deep down I just wanted to *be* alone, though not *left* alone. It makes no sense...
So, I had the day off yesterday. I woke up at 5 am, sat up on the couch, and turned on the TV. An hour later, I had a chat with myself. It went something like - Self, I said - get your ASS off this couch and choose to do better.
I made a grocery list and went to two grocery stores to complete that list so that I could make a real meal for dinner for the first time in weeks.
I paid bills.
I did three more loads of laundry. And put it all away.
I put my bed back together.
I cleaned out my closet.
I cleaned out my desk and the dresser, I purged many things that I have been holding on to for no reason at all. Things that I should have tossed when I got divorced. Or moved.
I cleaned the kitchen/dining area and did dishes.
In a few words - I actually acted like a normal, functioning, adult member of the world.
And once that was all well and good - I put both wheels back on my bike, loaded it up in the trunk and headed to hains point to enjoy the latter half of an absolutely gorgeous afternoon.
I took off my walking boot and slipped the bike shoes on. I had no expectations - I fully expected to be slow as shit. But I made the conscious decision that today, I wouldn't let that bother me. That being said - I felt a weird little sensation of excitement when I saw a couple dudes fly past me just as I was clipping in.
Rosie wanted to fly - so we did. No warm-up, just balls to the wall for the first mile and a half. No humidity, but it was a little breezy. It felt like a tailwind so we cruised along to the top of HP. Usually this means that as soon as you make the turn, the headwind hits you. We turned, but I still felt like I was riding the tailwind, so we continued to fly along at the same speed. I caught up to a couple of those dudes at the stop sign and hung behind them for a mile or so until the one-way started and I gleefully passed them.
I started timing my laps and began racing myself. This one will be faster, I told myself. And the next one even faster. On the 4th or 5th lap I started daydreaming while stealing glances at the boats to my left. I decided I was done with speed for the day, but planned on doing an easy 2 or 3 more laps before calling it good as the sun was starting to go down.
All of a sudden, a guy in aero (on a very nice bike) passed me. I shook myself out of the daydream and increased my cadence in an attempt to catch him. He stopped pulling away and very slowly I started to catch up. This was at the cost of doing 23+ mph and a steadily rising heart rate, but why the hell was I even looking at my watch? Its an addiction.
Eventually I caught him at the stop sign and he promptly went in a different direction so fate decided I was done racing for the afternoon. I slowed down and caught the sun peeking through the trees to my right as it continued to get lower in the sky. On the airport side, I stopped and took pictures of the sun setting over the airport. An older gentleman was sitting on a bench at the water's edge with his bike leaned up against the fence and I took a minute to watch him (in a non-creepy way); I watched in a sense of admiration about the peaceful way he sat and watched the planes take-off and land across the water. I haven't felt that relaxed in a long time.
As I went to clip back in and finish the ride, 2 dudes flew past. And then it was on, again.
Dusk was setting in as I loaded Rosie back in my trunk. I was happy and at peace and I realized how silly and stupid I'd been acting for the past few weeks.
But it happens to all of us (and if it doesn't ever happen to you, pretend for me). Yesterday, I made the choice to be better than I was the day, week, even month before. Its hard to crawl out of that little hole that I've been hiding in, but I quite literally saw the sunlight and damn it, isn't life great?
Until next time my friends - I'll be around.
(There's also an IMLOU race report that I was half-heartedly writing so I'll post that soon.)
It was ridiculous and I'm almost ashamed by how much life was getting away.
I've been on an emotional roller coaster since the race. Actually, it started well before the race, but I've let it get the better of me these last few weeks. I've said things I'm not proud of; harsh things, mean things, stupid things to friends. I've reacted to situations in ways that are unlike me. And though I've forced myself to step outside and stop floundering in the comfort of my living room - deep down I just wanted to *be* alone, though not *left* alone. It makes no sense...
So, I had the day off yesterday. I woke up at 5 am, sat up on the couch, and turned on the TV. An hour later, I had a chat with myself. It went something like - Self, I said - get your ASS off this couch and choose to do better.
I made a grocery list and went to two grocery stores to complete that list so that I could make a real meal for dinner for the first time in weeks.
I paid bills.
I did three more loads of laundry. And put it all away.
I put my bed back together.
I cleaned out my closet.
I cleaned out my desk and the dresser, I purged many things that I have been holding on to for no reason at all. Things that I should have tossed when I got divorced. Or moved.
I cleaned the kitchen/dining area and did dishes.
In a few words - I actually acted like a normal, functioning, adult member of the world.
And once that was all well and good - I put both wheels back on my bike, loaded it up in the trunk and headed to hains point to enjoy the latter half of an absolutely gorgeous afternoon.
I took off my walking boot and slipped the bike shoes on. I had no expectations - I fully expected to be slow as shit. But I made the conscious decision that today, I wouldn't let that bother me. That being said - I felt a weird little sensation of excitement when I saw a couple dudes fly past me just as I was clipping in.
Rosie wanted to fly - so we did. No warm-up, just balls to the wall for the first mile and a half. No humidity, but it was a little breezy. It felt like a tailwind so we cruised along to the top of HP. Usually this means that as soon as you make the turn, the headwind hits you. We turned, but I still felt like I was riding the tailwind, so we continued to fly along at the same speed. I caught up to a couple of those dudes at the stop sign and hung behind them for a mile or so until the one-way started and I gleefully passed them.
I started timing my laps and began racing myself. This one will be faster, I told myself. And the next one even faster. On the 4th or 5th lap I started daydreaming while stealing glances at the boats to my left. I decided I was done with speed for the day, but planned on doing an easy 2 or 3 more laps before calling it good as the sun was starting to go down.
All of a sudden, a guy in aero (on a very nice bike) passed me. I shook myself out of the daydream and increased my cadence in an attempt to catch him. He stopped pulling away and very slowly I started to catch up. This was at the cost of doing 23+ mph and a steadily rising heart rate, but why the hell was I even looking at my watch? Its an addiction.
Eventually I caught him at the stop sign and he promptly went in a different direction so fate decided I was done racing for the afternoon. I slowed down and caught the sun peeking through the trees to my right as it continued to get lower in the sky. On the airport side, I stopped and took pictures of the sun setting over the airport. An older gentleman was sitting on a bench at the water's edge with his bike leaned up against the fence and I took a minute to watch him (in a non-creepy way); I watched in a sense of admiration about the peaceful way he sat and watched the planes take-off and land across the water. I haven't felt that relaxed in a long time.
As I went to clip back in and finish the ride, 2 dudes flew past. And then it was on, again.
Dusk was setting in as I loaded Rosie back in my trunk. I was happy and at peace and I realized how silly and stupid I'd been acting for the past few weeks.
But it happens to all of us (and if it doesn't ever happen to you, pretend for me). Yesterday, I made the choice to be better than I was the day, week, even month before. Its hard to crawl out of that little hole that I've been hiding in, but I quite literally saw the sunlight and damn it, isn't life great?
Until next time my friends - I'll be around.
(There's also an IMLOU race report that I was half-heartedly writing so I'll post that soon.)
Monday, October 19, 2015
Race Recap: Ironman Louisville... an unexpected lesson in mental toughness.
For those keeping track (this one's for you, my negative 3 readers), Ironman number 3 is in the books. What I realized immediately following this last race is that I have now done 3 Ironmans in just over a year. And folks, I have to admit something that I don't really want to admit... I'm tired. I'm spent both mentally and physically and this off-season can't come soon enough.
Anyway. Grab a drink or two (because off-season, yay) and hunker down because this might get long.
I arrived in Louisville after an uneventful ten hour solo road trip to find that our house was unfortunately located in a less-than-awesome area of Lou. Travis and Kim had arrived earlier that afternoon and helped me unpack the car and settle in. Dinner involved BBQ at the Redneck Jew's restaurant (this is a legit establishment). The brisket sandwich wasn't great, but it did the job and we headed home to relax and watch the Maze Runner.
The next morning, I made waffles (breakfast of CHAMPIONS) and James joined us for breakfast so that we could head over to check-in together. Obtained the key for the weekend - the blue wristband - and had the pleasure of seeing both Erin and Meredith at check-in! Reunited! And it feels good! This would be their first IM (along with Travis), while James also had Wisconsin under his belt. It was raining off and on, so we escaped the rain in the Normatech tent and tried that out - Normatech virgin no more, it felt pretty nice. Yea, yea, that's what she said... or something.
Once the rain cleared for a bit, James and I did a quick bike/run on the course and got covered in mud. Poor Rosie went from sparkling clean to looking like she'd face planted in a pigpen. Headed home to spend the next hour cleaning her up and adjusting the speed/cadence sensor that had somehow worked itself loose. While I was outside riding up and down the street, I noticed that it wasn't shifting correctly (it was jumping gears) so I fiddled with that for awhile until it was running relatively smooth again.
We (Travis, Kim, James, Erin and I) headed out to drive the bike course and check out the hills. The loop is only 30 miles, so we ended up driving 80 plus miles but it was good to see the course - especially the "dreaded" out and back on 1694. That part actually looked pretty fun, but I heard stories about people recklessly descending and that made me a little nervous - especially since it was newly paved and pretty.
Dinner was italian beef which was delicious. We came home to pack transition bags and I tried to go to bed early... which ended up being 11pm (or later), but oh well.
The next morning, we nixed the practice swim (why chance the suspect blue-green algae bloom?) and I finished packing transition bags and headed over to meet a few of the SOAS girls. It was awesome. Jo, Andrea, Erin and I were there (Jenn, we missed you!) and Jo and Andrea's husbands and Erin's mom. We had a great time talking and laughing and before we knew it, it was past noon. I do feel like we are a close team, despite being scattered across the globe. The beauty of social media and our facebook group is that we get a glimpse into who each other is and once we meet in person, its not like we are complete strangers. I love that there is this network of women with similar yet different mindsets and goals and we are supportive and encouraging of each other - plus, it gives us a great sense of belonging.
Mom and Laurie arrived shortly after I returned home from brunch. I can't put into words how much it meant for them to be there. My moms - My MOMS! Spectating an Ironman is not for the weak of heart, its a long day and I so appreciated them coming to support us! I really missed Dad, but I knew that he was doing the supportive Dad thing from back home. We rounded up all our gear and headed to bike and gear check. My volunteer, Teri, was amazing. I gave her a hug, she made me cry, it was all very typical Heather behavior for the day before an Ironman.
Stopped at Joe's Crab Shack for a snack (mmm... lobster...) and they dropped me off at the house so I could hunker down and watch Kona all afternoon.
About an hour later, I was thoroughly immersed in my iPad, phone, and Travis's laptop with Kona coverage. Travis nudged me and said, "I think your mom is here". I looked out the window and didn't see the car so I sat back down. "You should answer the door", he said.
With the neighborhood that we were in, I opened the door and slowly peered around the door so I could see who was out there.
It was Dayle and Kevin.
I broke down. I made some noises that didn't sound quite human. I couldn't stop hugging them. It was pure, raw emotion and Travis captured the whole moment on video. I was thoroughly surprised, shocked... overwhelmed. She knows how important this is to me and when they showed up - I finally felt excited to get out there and race!
We Kona'd for the rest of the afternoon. Mom and Laurie came back and brought food so we could eat together for our "last" meal. After they left, Kevin, Dayle and I lounged in the living room and watched Ironminds and another motivational video. It was bedtime and I laid there for awhile, just picturing how the following day was going to go. Before I knew it, 3:45 am arrived and the alarm jolted me awake.
Half a Thomas blueberry bagel with peanut butter at 4am. 2 scrambled eggs at 4:30am. I dressed, packed my waterbottles + osmo and morning clothes bag with swimming gear and we headed to transition. We actually arrived shortly before 5:15 and the line was long. I checked on my bike, inflated the tires and loaded the water bottles. I saw Andrea, Jo, and Erin in transition and we hugged and wished each other safe and good races. Erin and I met up with Meredith and we headed down to swim start to wait in line. At 6:15 when we arrived at the swim start, the line was already more than 1000 people long. We walked and walked and walked to the end and Dayle, Kevin, Mom and Laurie met us down there. 7:30 was the official start and it was obvious that slower swimmers had positioned themselves at the start to give themselves the maximum amount of time to finish the swim/race - we saw them swim by as our line moved toward the start.
We donned our wetsuits, caps, and goggles and ended up at the start a little after 7:45am.
SWIM:
I jumped in and immediately began swimming past people. The initial 1/3 of the race is an upstream swim in the small channel between an island and the mainland. It didn't feel like we were swimming upstream, thankfully, and I unintentionally made my way toward the island until I hit sand with my hand. I got back on track and tried to swim straight, but it was a little difficult to do while constantly passing people and maneuvering around swimmers. The group thinned out significantly on the way back, though again, I didn't feel the downstream current that people speak so highly about. It was really difficult to spot the buoys, they seemed very spread out - but otherwise the swim was uneventful. I kept a comfortable pace, the water temperature was a glorious 69 degrees and I felt loose and ready to bike. The swim seemed to fly by and before I knew it, I arrived at the stairs to the swim exit.
Swim Time: 58:35
T1:
A bit of a jog to T1 from the swim. I had decided to don a sports bra and tri shorts under the wetsuit so that I'd have a dry top to start out with on the bike since it was likely to be chilly after the swim. I immediately regretted this decision when 1. the weather was only slightly chilly, 2. I got stuck taking off the sports bra and 3. I got stuck putting my tri top on. It took awhile to change clothes which made for another slow transition (someday... I will get better). I nixed the bike socks and arm warmers, though I (regrettably) elected to wear the calf sleeves (again, in the name of warmth) - have you tried to put these on with damp legs? Better yet, have you tried to put these on quickly? Fail, fail, fail! Helmet and sunglasses on, bike shoes in hand, nutrition in pockets and I headed out to see Rosie. Some amazing soul left a washcloth on the ground next to my bike - perfect for wiping some of the mud off my feet... I thank you kind soul... and I'm sorry if your washcloth was sacrificed to the transition gods but surely I was not the only one to borrow it...
T1 Time: 7:58 (yikes).
Bike:
I felt awesome as I rode away from transition. The first flat 10 miles flew by and my average speed was shocking to me since I wasn't putting a lot of effort into the ride. At mile 10.5 was the beginning of some rolling hills and climbs but I kept a good pace throughout. I got really frustrated around mile 20 with the 1694 out and back. People were riding 2 abreast slowwwwwwly on the descents in the center of the lane - i was off the aero bars ready to brake anyway, but this ridiculous situation kept happening and there was no safe way to pass them at the speeds we were reaching on the descents. Once off 1694, a guy rode up next to me and said, "Hey - i really like how you tackle the descents - it shows confidence". Oh tri guy - keep talking dirty to me... I eventually passed him and left him behind, but that comment made me laugh whenever I thought about it later. I started to feel some fatigue after the first loop (mile 60) and rolled into bike special needs in need of some EL Fudge cookies and a swig of dew. They didn't grab the bag the first few times the number was called so that caused a delay and I was antsy as it was. I switched out bottles and grabbed some more food (bonk breaker, GU chomps, and powerbar wafer) and headed out within 2 minutes or so.
I attempted to stick with a couple of salt tabs on the hour and about 250 cals/hour nutrition on the bike. I was not hungry whatsoever, but forced it down nonetheless, knowing my run would suffer greatly if I didn't plan ahead. My stomach held up pretty well, but I was fading on the second half of the bike. I was looking forward to the last 30 miles which appeared to be mainly downhill, but when I approached 80, the headwinds set it and it felt like a continuous uphill climb until the final 10 miles back into town. That part, as you recall, was totally flat, but that headwind was exhausting! I tried to save my legs as much as I could but those 10 miles seemed to stretch into forever and the guys I was trying to chase down disappeared in the distance. The dismount line loomed ahead and it was like a beacon drawing me in. So ready to run - my favorite part!
Bike Time: 5:46:55
T2:
Put on socks, shoes, race belt, visor and grabbed the handheld water bottle. I'm really not sure how T2 took so long...
T2 Time: 5:49 (again, yikes)
Run:
After a few steps of jogging, I knew something wasn't right. My legs were utterly dead. I had no rhythm and my legs felt disjointed, as if one was longer than the other. My left knee was twingy, but not bad - that had been my biggest fear going into the race itself. The first mile seemed to take forever - I squeezed that out in under 8:40 but it physically felt like I'd just run a sub 5 minute mile (as if I have any concept of that speed). I knew my heart rate was high but I honestly felt too tired to do any sort of excess movement (like hit the one button on my watch to scroll to the next screen to show heart rate). Jo passed me between miles 1 and 2 and she asked how I was doing. "I'm hurting Jo", I replied. She said the same, but she looked good as she ran away from me. I willed myself through the next 2 miles because I knew the cheer squad would be stationed around mile 4 and I just wanted to see my people. From a distance, I could see the green and pink shirts and the posters hanging from the umbrella at a mexican restaurant's outdoor seating area. "I'm dying guys", I admitted as I ambled past. They told me to keep it up and they'd see me at 10. A girl in my age group sped by around that time and I had a gut feeling I would be out of the top 5 in the age group.
"Just gotta make it to 10" I told myself. I intermittently glanced at my watch which seemed to take far more energy than I had to give. My pace gradually slowed as the miles crept by. I started walking the aid stations to catch my breath and give my legs a break. I indulged in cola after a single failed attempt at gatorade (WAY TOO SWEET).
Somewhere near the turn around (mile 7ish) I had one of my famous internal chats with myself - Self, sometimes races don't go as planned, and logically, I know you know this, even if your heart does not. If you keep this pace, you'll finish with a 4:15-4:20 marathon and that's nothing to be ashamed of. You can continue to shuffle through this. It's not going to be pretty and it's not going to be fun - but you can do it. If you need to walk, don't be ashamed to walk. Don't just say fuck it and mentally quit, even if every fiber of your being is begging you to. You are not a quitter.
Self and I then shared a mental hug and high five. For a second, I questioned my sanity. But I continued to run.
After that hard-hitting talk with myself, I shuffled through to mile 10 and walked a little past the end of the aid station. A VERY ATTRACTIVE man touched my shoulder and said, "come on, I know you've got this" as he looked back at me. I looked him in the eye and all I could muster was a quiet "thanks". He turned back around and jogged away and I switched into a jog as I approached my people. "How are you doing?" they asked, a concerned look on their faces. I can't even remember what I answered, but I tried to muster a smile as I crept past.
Three more to halfway. Those few passed fairly quickly and I found myself on 4th street staring at the finish line. "Just a couple more hours and that'll be you", I thought to myself as I took the right turn to return back to the beginning of the loop.
As I ran past the now familiar course, I felt a bit of energy creep in. As if afraid to scare it away, I ever so slightly ran a touch faster for that 13th and 14th mile. My gait smoothed out and I started to finally feel more comfortable. It only took a 13 mile warm-up, but I found my legs out there near the finish line. 15 and 16 ticked by as I tried to maintain that pace and before I knew it, I could see the familiar faces. Dayle ran over to my side of the road, "You look so much better!" Oh thank God it wasn't just in my head! I asked them if they were going to the finish line and they said yes, so I bid them good-bye, knowing I wouldn't be seeing them after the turn-around.
I continued to feel better and better. I had my customary GU every 45 minutes and continued to indulge in the icy-delcious-not-quite-flat cola. Once I hit the turn-around, I found a girl with a "32" on her calf and it was on. I passed her, suspicious that she too was on her second loop. My speed continued to increase marginally and I could see my overall pace slowly ticking down. My goal was to be under 9:30/mile (that seems painfully slow) so I increased my turnover a smidge more with each passing mile.
I ran through the final few aid stations (Ain't nobody got time for that!) and realized I had no concept of my overall time. I tried to do triathlon math, I knew what my swim and bike were, knew transitions were slow and my run was slow - I was thinking it was going to be 11:10 or around that time, but I still don't know how to do multisport mode on this watch and I had no idea what time I ended up starting the swim...
Clearly, I utilize the 910 to the fullest extent possible.
Before I knew it, it was mile 25. Time to moveand finish this thing! As I turned onto 4th and could see the finish line and the sign says "left to finish", I felt that familiar creep of emotion and that tingle of tears. I was too mentally drained to have the full out emotional outpouring that I usually feel, but a hint of it was there. As I ran down the chute, I pondered what I would do once I got there. I considered jumping (as per usual) but in the seconds that I had left on the approach to the finish line, I changed my mind thinking that my legs would surely fail me if I attempted a jump.
It was one of those magical instances where you try to say two things at the same time and it becomes a new mangled word. I thought about jumping and my body got ready to do it, but at the exact same, I decided I would just stop at the line. Therefore, I didn't slow down on the approach. Can you see where this is going? At the line, something spectacular happened - I tripped over my own foot and slammed into the ground on my hands and knees. It was excellent! I looked up, volunteers didn't really look concerned (dudes, it looks like I just collapsed at the finish line of an Ironman), so I stood up, took a bow and heard the announcer say, "she's still smiling!". Another stellar finish in the books.
I headed immediately away from the cameras/live feed and I could almost sixth-sense the texts coming through on my phone questioning what just happened.
Run Time: 4:07:40
Overall Time: 11:06:56, 6th AG
Initially, I was super disappointed. In the minutes and hours that followed the finish, I thought logically through the day and gave myself a mental "get-it-together" smack in the face. It was PR, I did great in the swim and I came back from that awful run to put together a decent negative split (something like 2:08 for the first half and 1:59 for the back half) and I should really be proud of that mental toughness.
So, IMLOU - I can't say I came out and crushed you, but I learned a lot out there on the course that I will keep with me in my back pocket for future training and races.
For now... rest. recover. spend happy times with friends and family. next year will be here before we know it and we can do this dance all over again.
Cheers!
Anyway. Grab a drink or two (because off-season, yay) and hunker down because this might get long.
I arrived in Louisville after an uneventful ten hour solo road trip to find that our house was unfortunately located in a less-than-awesome area of Lou. Travis and Kim had arrived earlier that afternoon and helped me unpack the car and settle in. Dinner involved BBQ at the Redneck Jew's restaurant (this is a legit establishment). The brisket sandwich wasn't great, but it did the job and we headed home to relax and watch the Maze Runner.
The next morning, I made waffles (breakfast of CHAMPIONS) and James joined us for breakfast so that we could head over to check-in together. Obtained the key for the weekend - the blue wristband - and had the pleasure of seeing both Erin and Meredith at check-in! Reunited! And it feels good! This would be their first IM (along with Travis), while James also had Wisconsin under his belt. It was raining off and on, so we escaped the rain in the Normatech tent and tried that out - Normatech virgin no more, it felt pretty nice. Yea, yea, that's what she said... or something.
Once the rain cleared for a bit, James and I did a quick bike/run on the course and got covered in mud. Poor Rosie went from sparkling clean to looking like she'd face planted in a pigpen. Headed home to spend the next hour cleaning her up and adjusting the speed/cadence sensor that had somehow worked itself loose. While I was outside riding up and down the street, I noticed that it wasn't shifting correctly (it was jumping gears) so I fiddled with that for awhile until it was running relatively smooth again.
We (Travis, Kim, James, Erin and I) headed out to drive the bike course and check out the hills. The loop is only 30 miles, so we ended up driving 80 plus miles but it was good to see the course - especially the "dreaded" out and back on 1694. That part actually looked pretty fun, but I heard stories about people recklessly descending and that made me a little nervous - especially since it was newly paved and pretty.
Dinner was italian beef which was delicious. We came home to pack transition bags and I tried to go to bed early... which ended up being 11pm (or later), but oh well.
The next morning, we nixed the practice swim (why chance the suspect blue-green algae bloom?) and I finished packing transition bags and headed over to meet a few of the SOAS girls. It was awesome. Jo, Andrea, Erin and I were there (Jenn, we missed you!) and Jo and Andrea's husbands and Erin's mom. We had a great time talking and laughing and before we knew it, it was past noon. I do feel like we are a close team, despite being scattered across the globe. The beauty of social media and our facebook group is that we get a glimpse into who each other is and once we meet in person, its not like we are complete strangers. I love that there is this network of women with similar yet different mindsets and goals and we are supportive and encouraging of each other - plus, it gives us a great sense of belonging.
Mom and Laurie arrived shortly after I returned home from brunch. I can't put into words how much it meant for them to be there. My moms - My MOMS! Spectating an Ironman is not for the weak of heart, its a long day and I so appreciated them coming to support us! I really missed Dad, but I knew that he was doing the supportive Dad thing from back home. We rounded up all our gear and headed to bike and gear check. My volunteer, Teri, was amazing. I gave her a hug, she made me cry, it was all very typical Heather behavior for the day before an Ironman.
Stopped at Joe's Crab Shack for a snack (mmm... lobster...) and they dropped me off at the house so I could hunker down and watch Kona all afternoon.
About an hour later, I was thoroughly immersed in my iPad, phone, and Travis's laptop with Kona coverage. Travis nudged me and said, "I think your mom is here". I looked out the window and didn't see the car so I sat back down. "You should answer the door", he said.
With the neighborhood that we were in, I opened the door and slowly peered around the door so I could see who was out there.
It was Dayle and Kevin.
I broke down. I made some noises that didn't sound quite human. I couldn't stop hugging them. It was pure, raw emotion and Travis captured the whole moment on video. I was thoroughly surprised, shocked... overwhelmed. She knows how important this is to me and when they showed up - I finally felt excited to get out there and race!
We Kona'd for the rest of the afternoon. Mom and Laurie came back and brought food so we could eat together for our "last" meal. After they left, Kevin, Dayle and I lounged in the living room and watched Ironminds and another motivational video. It was bedtime and I laid there for awhile, just picturing how the following day was going to go. Before I knew it, 3:45 am arrived and the alarm jolted me awake.
Half a Thomas blueberry bagel with peanut butter at 4am. 2 scrambled eggs at 4:30am. I dressed, packed my waterbottles + osmo and morning clothes bag with swimming gear and we headed to transition. We actually arrived shortly before 5:15 and the line was long. I checked on my bike, inflated the tires and loaded the water bottles. I saw Andrea, Jo, and Erin in transition and we hugged and wished each other safe and good races. Erin and I met up with Meredith and we headed down to swim start to wait in line. At 6:15 when we arrived at the swim start, the line was already more than 1000 people long. We walked and walked and walked to the end and Dayle, Kevin, Mom and Laurie met us down there. 7:30 was the official start and it was obvious that slower swimmers had positioned themselves at the start to give themselves the maximum amount of time to finish the swim/race - we saw them swim by as our line moved toward the start.
We donned our wetsuits, caps, and goggles and ended up at the start a little after 7:45am.
SWIM:
I jumped in and immediately began swimming past people. The initial 1/3 of the race is an upstream swim in the small channel between an island and the mainland. It didn't feel like we were swimming upstream, thankfully, and I unintentionally made my way toward the island until I hit sand with my hand. I got back on track and tried to swim straight, but it was a little difficult to do while constantly passing people and maneuvering around swimmers. The group thinned out significantly on the way back, though again, I didn't feel the downstream current that people speak so highly about. It was really difficult to spot the buoys, they seemed very spread out - but otherwise the swim was uneventful. I kept a comfortable pace, the water temperature was a glorious 69 degrees and I felt loose and ready to bike. The swim seemed to fly by and before I knew it, I arrived at the stairs to the swim exit.
Swim Time: 58:35
T1:
A bit of a jog to T1 from the swim. I had decided to don a sports bra and tri shorts under the wetsuit so that I'd have a dry top to start out with on the bike since it was likely to be chilly after the swim. I immediately regretted this decision when 1. the weather was only slightly chilly, 2. I got stuck taking off the sports bra and 3. I got stuck putting my tri top on. It took awhile to change clothes which made for another slow transition (someday... I will get better). I nixed the bike socks and arm warmers, though I (regrettably) elected to wear the calf sleeves (again, in the name of warmth) - have you tried to put these on with damp legs? Better yet, have you tried to put these on quickly? Fail, fail, fail! Helmet and sunglasses on, bike shoes in hand, nutrition in pockets and I headed out to see Rosie. Some amazing soul left a washcloth on the ground next to my bike - perfect for wiping some of the mud off my feet... I thank you kind soul... and I'm sorry if your washcloth was sacrificed to the transition gods but surely I was not the only one to borrow it...
T1 Time: 7:58 (yikes).
Bike:
I felt awesome as I rode away from transition. The first flat 10 miles flew by and my average speed was shocking to me since I wasn't putting a lot of effort into the ride. At mile 10.5 was the beginning of some rolling hills and climbs but I kept a good pace throughout. I got really frustrated around mile 20 with the 1694 out and back. People were riding 2 abreast slowwwwwwly on the descents in the center of the lane - i was off the aero bars ready to brake anyway, but this ridiculous situation kept happening and there was no safe way to pass them at the speeds we were reaching on the descents. Once off 1694, a guy rode up next to me and said, "Hey - i really like how you tackle the descents - it shows confidence". Oh tri guy - keep talking dirty to me... I eventually passed him and left him behind, but that comment made me laugh whenever I thought about it later. I started to feel some fatigue after the first loop (mile 60) and rolled into bike special needs in need of some EL Fudge cookies and a swig of dew. They didn't grab the bag the first few times the number was called so that caused a delay and I was antsy as it was. I switched out bottles and grabbed some more food (bonk breaker, GU chomps, and powerbar wafer) and headed out within 2 minutes or so.
I attempted to stick with a couple of salt tabs on the hour and about 250 cals/hour nutrition on the bike. I was not hungry whatsoever, but forced it down nonetheless, knowing my run would suffer greatly if I didn't plan ahead. My stomach held up pretty well, but I was fading on the second half of the bike. I was looking forward to the last 30 miles which appeared to be mainly downhill, but when I approached 80, the headwinds set it and it felt like a continuous uphill climb until the final 10 miles back into town. That part, as you recall, was totally flat, but that headwind was exhausting! I tried to save my legs as much as I could but those 10 miles seemed to stretch into forever and the guys I was trying to chase down disappeared in the distance. The dismount line loomed ahead and it was like a beacon drawing me in. So ready to run - my favorite part!
Bike Time: 5:46:55
T2:
Put on socks, shoes, race belt, visor and grabbed the handheld water bottle. I'm really not sure how T2 took so long...
T2 Time: 5:49 (again, yikes)
Run:
After a few steps of jogging, I knew something wasn't right. My legs were utterly dead. I had no rhythm and my legs felt disjointed, as if one was longer than the other. My left knee was twingy, but not bad - that had been my biggest fear going into the race itself. The first mile seemed to take forever - I squeezed that out in under 8:40 but it physically felt like I'd just run a sub 5 minute mile (as if I have any concept of that speed). I knew my heart rate was high but I honestly felt too tired to do any sort of excess movement (like hit the one button on my watch to scroll to the next screen to show heart rate). Jo passed me between miles 1 and 2 and she asked how I was doing. "I'm hurting Jo", I replied. She said the same, but she looked good as she ran away from me. I willed myself through the next 2 miles because I knew the cheer squad would be stationed around mile 4 and I just wanted to see my people. From a distance, I could see the green and pink shirts and the posters hanging from the umbrella at a mexican restaurant's outdoor seating area. "I'm dying guys", I admitted as I ambled past. They told me to keep it up and they'd see me at 10. A girl in my age group sped by around that time and I had a gut feeling I would be out of the top 5 in the age group.
"Just gotta make it to 10" I told myself. I intermittently glanced at my watch which seemed to take far more energy than I had to give. My pace gradually slowed as the miles crept by. I started walking the aid stations to catch my breath and give my legs a break. I indulged in cola after a single failed attempt at gatorade (WAY TOO SWEET).
Somewhere near the turn around (mile 7ish) I had one of my famous internal chats with myself - Self, sometimes races don't go as planned, and logically, I know you know this, even if your heart does not. If you keep this pace, you'll finish with a 4:15-4:20 marathon and that's nothing to be ashamed of. You can continue to shuffle through this. It's not going to be pretty and it's not going to be fun - but you can do it. If you need to walk, don't be ashamed to walk. Don't just say fuck it and mentally quit, even if every fiber of your being is begging you to. You are not a quitter.
Self and I then shared a mental hug and high five. For a second, I questioned my sanity. But I continued to run.
After that hard-hitting talk with myself, I shuffled through to mile 10 and walked a little past the end of the aid station. A VERY ATTRACTIVE man touched my shoulder and said, "come on, I know you've got this" as he looked back at me. I looked him in the eye and all I could muster was a quiet "thanks". He turned back around and jogged away and I switched into a jog as I approached my people. "How are you doing?" they asked, a concerned look on their faces. I can't even remember what I answered, but I tried to muster a smile as I crept past.
Three more to halfway. Those few passed fairly quickly and I found myself on 4th street staring at the finish line. "Just a couple more hours and that'll be you", I thought to myself as I took the right turn to return back to the beginning of the loop.
As I ran past the now familiar course, I felt a bit of energy creep in. As if afraid to scare it away, I ever so slightly ran a touch faster for that 13th and 14th mile. My gait smoothed out and I started to finally feel more comfortable. It only took a 13 mile warm-up, but I found my legs out there near the finish line. 15 and 16 ticked by as I tried to maintain that pace and before I knew it, I could see the familiar faces. Dayle ran over to my side of the road, "You look so much better!" Oh thank God it wasn't just in my head! I asked them if they were going to the finish line and they said yes, so I bid them good-bye, knowing I wouldn't be seeing them after the turn-around.
I continued to feel better and better. I had my customary GU every 45 minutes and continued to indulge in the icy-delcious-not-quite-flat cola. Once I hit the turn-around, I found a girl with a "32" on her calf and it was on. I passed her, suspicious that she too was on her second loop. My speed continued to increase marginally and I could see my overall pace slowly ticking down. My goal was to be under 9:30/mile (that seems painfully slow) so I increased my turnover a smidge more with each passing mile.
I ran through the final few aid stations (Ain't nobody got time for that!) and realized I had no concept of my overall time. I tried to do triathlon math, I knew what my swim and bike were, knew transitions were slow and my run was slow - I was thinking it was going to be 11:10 or around that time, but I still don't know how to do multisport mode on this watch and I had no idea what time I ended up starting the swim...
Clearly, I utilize the 910 to the fullest extent possible.
Before I knew it, it was mile 25. Time to moveand finish this thing! As I turned onto 4th and could see the finish line and the sign says "left to finish", I felt that familiar creep of emotion and that tingle of tears. I was too mentally drained to have the full out emotional outpouring that I usually feel, but a hint of it was there. As I ran down the chute, I pondered what I would do once I got there. I considered jumping (as per usual) but in the seconds that I had left on the approach to the finish line, I changed my mind thinking that my legs would surely fail me if I attempted a jump.
It was one of those magical instances where you try to say two things at the same time and it becomes a new mangled word. I thought about jumping and my body got ready to do it, but at the exact same, I decided I would just stop at the line. Therefore, I didn't slow down on the approach. Can you see where this is going? At the line, something spectacular happened - I tripped over my own foot and slammed into the ground on my hands and knees. It was excellent! I looked up, volunteers didn't really look concerned (dudes, it looks like I just collapsed at the finish line of an Ironman), so I stood up, took a bow and heard the announcer say, "she's still smiling!". Another stellar finish in the books.
I headed immediately away from the cameras/live feed and I could almost sixth-sense the texts coming through on my phone questioning what just happened.
Run Time: 4:07:40
Overall Time: 11:06:56, 6th AG
Initially, I was super disappointed. In the minutes and hours that followed the finish, I thought logically through the day and gave myself a mental "get-it-together" smack in the face. It was PR, I did great in the swim and I came back from that awful run to put together a decent negative split (something like 2:08 for the first half and 1:59 for the back half) and I should really be proud of that mental toughness.
So, IMLOU - I can't say I came out and crushed you, but I learned a lot out there on the course that I will keep with me in my back pocket for future training and races.
For now... rest. recover. spend happy times with friends and family. next year will be here before we know it and we can do this dance all over again.
Cheers!
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Its the most wonderful time... of the year.
Taper. The most beautiful, sacred part of training for a race. While some seem to go crazy and get nervous about a decrease in mileage and training time, I embrace this all-too-short stint of relaxation and scaled back workouts with an emphasis on sleeping more.
Taper and I have been buddies since I was in middle school. I was that kid that began bouncing off the walls in the days leading up to big meets... when coach said "rest" I heard "more time and energy to play". I remember sitting in class feeling like I had restless leg syndrome because I legitimately could NOT sit still.
Training for ironmans and the associated tapers have been a little different. I feel more exhausted than anything else though workouts have been pretty spot-on. I did find that little piece of missy franklin-katie ledecky that has been hiding since "retiring" from competitive swimming.
I love swimming again.
Its taken years to be able to say that. I haven't loved swimming since I graduated from college. I liked it, sure. Its always been a strength in racing. But did I enjoy practicing? Nope. Did I love the swim in races? Not really. I found a semblance of speed again and its comforting and motivating and encouraging.
In the past few weeks I did a 5800 yard workout - its been 10 years since I did that! Last week in the midst of the work-out I had 5 x 100's on 1:25. And I did it - with REST. Its awesome to see improvements like that in training. I know that the swim isn't going to win me a race, but to be comfortable coming out of the water and onto the bike is a pleasant advantage.
Aside from swimming, biking and running has been sustainable. Its hard to say how I feel, given a nagging IT band issue, but come race day, I'll be ready.
One week.
Taper and I have been buddies since I was in middle school. I was that kid that began bouncing off the walls in the days leading up to big meets... when coach said "rest" I heard "more time and energy to play". I remember sitting in class feeling like I had restless leg syndrome because I legitimately could NOT sit still.
Training for ironmans and the associated tapers have been a little different. I feel more exhausted than anything else though workouts have been pretty spot-on. I did find that little piece of missy franklin-katie ledecky that has been hiding since "retiring" from competitive swimming.
I love swimming again.
Its taken years to be able to say that. I haven't loved swimming since I graduated from college. I liked it, sure. Its always been a strength in racing. But did I enjoy practicing? Nope. Did I love the swim in races? Not really. I found a semblance of speed again and its comforting and motivating and encouraging.
In the past few weeks I did a 5800 yard workout - its been 10 years since I did that! Last week in the midst of the work-out I had 5 x 100's on 1:25. And I did it - with REST. Its awesome to see improvements like that in training. I know that the swim isn't going to win me a race, but to be comfortable coming out of the water and onto the bike is a pleasant advantage.
Aside from swimming, biking and running has been sustainable. Its hard to say how I feel, given a nagging IT band issue, but come race day, I'll be ready.
One week.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Race Recap: Ironman Mont-Tremblant... Numero Deux
*EDIT - I forgot to hit "post" a couple weeks ago* Whoops.
Currently rocking the recovery week... aka doing NOTHING. So this is what its like to be a normal human being...
First of all, I need to say this - the race ended a week ago and the continued response to my facebook posts has been overwhelming. I am incredibly touched and surprised at the number of phone calls, texts, facebook comments and "likes" to anything race related. You - my dear family and friends - are amazing. Seriously. YOU ARE AWESOME. I can't say thank you enough.
I couldn't do this without you. Self motivation can only take you so far. From my amazing friends that were at the race to the new friends I met there (including a couple SOAS gals!); from my family at home watching my every step from hundreds of miles away and being crazy supportive in the days, weeks, months leading up to the day; from the people that have come in and out of my life that I don't speak to with regularity but took the time to say "good luck" or "congrats" - each of you is important and I hope you know that.
OH CANADA!
On my way to Annapolis for the night.
Arrived at Mont-Tremblant after a long ride in the car Thursday evening. Immediately unloaded the bikes and headed down to the little resort area of MT. Its baby Disney World and its adorable - cobblestone streets, matching colored rooftops, people dressed as insects being socially awkward... All good things. The beauty of the condo was the location (it was a very nice place too), about 10 minutes walking distance to everything that we needed in the little town.
Met up with the group at Casey's - a restaurant that would be the meeting area for the weekend. Met new people from DC Tri that were very cool and enjoyed the traditional "American Burger" and a couple of cocktails then it was (finally) time for a "quick" game of headbandz and bed.
Friday morning was a swim in Lac Tremblant. We jumped in from the swim start and swam straight to the espresso pontoon. NO LIE. Most of us sipped on coffee while floating in our wetsuits and taking in the gorgeous scenery. Who gets to do that? It was awesome!
After the swim, we parted ways - Lee was off to get tickets for dinner and pick up Kenzie from the airport while Mark, Chris and I headed over to check-in. The line was SUPER long but it didn't take too long to get through, thankfully. We were official, magic blue wristband and all.
LONG registration line.
I met up with a couple very cool SOAS girls for coffee for a short while, but unfortunately with the lack of phone service, the boys and I were supposed to meet 15 minutes later and I had no way of getting ahold of them to let them know I wanted to stay a bit longer - oh well.
Headed back to condo for a baby brick. Dined on a PBJ and set out for a short 30 minute ride on one of the tougher parts of the course followed by a 20 minute run around the water and transition and back. Everything seemed in working order, other than some goofy neck pain that had been nagging me for a few days. With each day, it was making me more nervous, but it wasn't getting worse, so I tried to forget about it. Took a muscle relaxant and called it good for the time being.
Friday evening found us at the welcome dinner and athlete meeting. It was long. And hot. And entertaining for a handful of minutes, but then you remembered you were still hot and people were still talking and it seemed to last FOR-EV-ER. Afterward, we were back at Casey's for beers and fireworks. I don't care how many times I've seen fireworks - they're magic and awesome and my love for them is fairly intense, so that made me happy.
festive dessert.
Saturday morning was a short swim, sans wetsuits (because who wants to put on a wet wetsuit race morning?). The water was BEAUTIFUL - I could've stayed all day... happy place. Most importantly, we had fun goofing around with the GoPro and just enjoyed being out there. We drove the bike course after the swim (got a little intimidated by the hills but the course looked pretty nice). Grocery store. Then packing bags... it makes me SO NERVOUS to pack transition bags and drop them off the day before. Double, tripled checked and crossed my fingers that I had everything I needed. Walked the bags and bikes down to transition, tried to get ART done on my cramped neck/back but sadly, it had just closed.
Lee - NO AWA. Me - AWA superstar.
We had visitors right after - Deb and Andy came to hang out and it was good to see them before the race. It was nice relaxing with the boys and the kids - we got along really great all weekend and the kids were amazing. Dinner was chicken parmesan with good intentions (no breadcrumbs and no baking pan = grilled chicken, pasta, marinara sauce and cheese on top). It was very good and the cookies after were just icing on the cake. 2 beers and a couple of funny rounds of Headbandz followed but eventually it was time to sleep.
By that point, I was getting really nervous and I called a couple of my friends and ended up crying... I was nervous and frustrated for various reasons and I missed them and my family, but talking to them really helped and I calmed down for the most part. I usually don't get stuck in my head like that and it concerned me that I was falling apart hours before starting this race. But finally - sleep. Or valiantly attempted sleep, seeing as the condo was 120 degrees, it was the night before the race and we were sweating our asses off. Woke up multiple times which sucked. I know I slept a little so at least that was better than nothing... right?
3:45 alarm. One snooze and I was up. Ate half a blueberry bagel with peanut butter and double checked special needs bags. I had frozen water bottles the night before and they were perfectly half frozen, half liquid. 2 with skratch and 1 water in special needs, same 3 to put on the bike. Got dressed (LOVE my SOAS kit) and made sure I had everything that I needed in the morning clothes bag. Made a couple of eggs and drank gatorade shortly before leaving at 5:15 to walk to transition. Rocked out all morning to my song for this race - Fight Song - along with a couple others (Hall of Fame, Closer to the Edge) - I was ready!
Got to my bike and found the left brake dangling and the right super loose and swinging around. um... WTF. No, really... WHAT. THE. FUCK. HAPPENED. OVERNIGHT. They were FINE when I left the afternoon before. I was waiting for Lee's pump, but decided to jump in line for the bike guys to see if they could fix at least the left side. Thankfully, 15 minutes later, I was good (ish) to go. I would have to make do with the right brake loose and flipping around but at least it wasn't dangling. Ah... siver linings. It was only going to be a 112 miles. I could make do. Glass half full... just keep swimming... don't freak out.
The boys were waiting for me, Kenzie had left to walk back home with our stuff (she was a trooper for getting up so early with us), so away we went to swim start. Attempted to get in line for the port-o-potties - Mark, Chris, and Stef nearly caused a riot with some confusion as to the way the line was wrapping around so Lee and I stepped out of line because we were running short on time. Yuck. Got the wetsuits on, figured out where to go and bid my friends good luck and good bye. I jumped in (to pee, obviously), swam a few strokes, water temperature was PERFECT, I was happy. Found Deb right away, thank goodness for familiar faces! We chatted and walked at the front of our wave to the water... and continued chatting as we started to wade into the water behind the last mens wave. We got called back right away (amateur hour!) and had a laugh back on the beach.
GO TIME BABY!
SWIM:
Deb and I ran in together and immediately started swimming side by side. After a quick 200m or so, we settled into a nice pace with open water. It was awesome!... for about five minutes until we caught up to the men. UGHHH THOSE MEN! I could see Deb nearly the entire time which was comforting. I know she's a strong swimmer too so I hoping we were on pace for a good time. I got kicked in the cheek pretty hard at one point (why this particular gentleman was swimming nearly perpendicular to the line of sight I do not know) but for the most part I wasn't being jostled around. It was frustrating to weave through the masses - I didn't have this problem at Wisconsin because of the mass swim start (I would MUCH prefer the mass swim start to starting in a wave at the end). Sighting was easy (for once... its hard being half blind) but I lost Deb about 3/4 of the way through the swim - after forcefully pushing her and going full contact swimming (I'm sorry, I still love you, and I have no idea what happened). I had a few openings of clear water where I could speed up and eventually I could hear the announcing and I sped up a touch more. I wasn't feeling tired at all, I felt great and I was imagining a swim along the lines of 1:04 or so. I hadn't pushed it at all, just that short marginally increased turnover at the end, so I figured I was exactly where I needed to be according to "the plan".
Of course, I forgot to turn on my watch at the start of the swim, so when the 0:00:00 stared back at me, I was a little disappointed to have no idea what my time was (running clock was obviously way off due to wave starts). Was I surprised that I did this? Absolutely not. I clicked back to current time while running to T1 and saw it said 7:58. If my clock was actually on time, I had a 1:01 or 1:02 swim. HELL YES.
swim: 1:01:44
T1:
Grabbed my bag and ran into an empty ladies changing area. The guys were having a fiesta on their side of the curtain but the ladies side was like a morgue - very quiet but full of volunteers so I had 3 of them to myself which was amazing. Didn't waste time, threw powerbar wafers and Bonk Breakers into my pockets, pink helmet, sunglasses, gloves, and shoes in hand. Stuffed a strawberry uncrustable in my mouth on the way out to my bike. Shoes on, was positioned right by the bike out/in so away I went. I was still having watch troubles, I couldn't get it to work for the first few miles and it was frustrating. It would get to a stupid distance of 212 feet or 414 feet and quit measuring anything other then running time. I restarted it twice and apparently it just needed TWO restarts to work right. Whatever watch, you suck.
T1: 6 minutes something
BIKE:
2 loops - settled into a comfortable pace on the bike, was rocking at 21mph or something like that for awhile and I felt amazing. No neck pain, just settled into a good pace and enjoyed being out there. Cruising through the sea of men was pretty good for the ego. I saw a handful of women but it was very much just men that I rode with. They were nailing people for drafting and other penalties so I tried to stay aware of my position in relation to every one else. I felt strong on the hills and had no real issues during the first loop. The end of the loop is a BITCH. Climb, climb, three seconds of relief, climb even more. Holy crap, that was rough! The way down was a blast though, I felt like I was soaring. I briefly thought about the fact that we would have to do that again right at the end of the bike but I was feeling so good that I didn't care... then. I saw Lee a few times and screeched out some kind of cheer along the lines of "Yea LEEEEEEEEEEE" - he was killing it and every time I saw him I tried to speed up. When I saw Mark, I yelled the "usual" - "GO NAVY!!!!!!", but I don't think either of them heard me - or at least didn't want to be associated with the crazy girl in pink. I'm sure the guys around me really appreciated the random, unprovoked screaming but it was fun to see them.
Turn around and it was time for loop two. All of a sudden, IT WAS HOT. Sweat started to pour and legs started to tire. Stopped at special needs for a minute, changed out bottles, ate a couple EL Fudge cookies and chugged half a Mountain Dew (I duly trained this way on training rides for THIS MOMENT). Shortly after the turn around, just before the turn onto 117, I started to feel bad. My stomach was cramping and nausea set in. I alternated between burping/hiccuping and dry heaving. My pace slowed way down and I left all those thoughts of killing the 2nd loop 2:40 bike split out there on 117. This continued for 20-25 miles. I zoned out and just tried to keep a reasonable pace - i.e. keep the legs moving. I didn't want to shoot myself in the foot by not eating so I ate a bonk breaker very slowly over the course of 10 miles. Shortly after the last bite, it came back up. Luckily I was way on the right side of the shoulder and no one was really around, but PBJ a second time is not so tasty. That killed my desire for the other PBJ bonk breaker and uncrustable sandwich - thank goodness for my favorite Powerbar wafers and Gu chomps - I would be dining on those later on. Cruised through the aid stations to get water bottles for the sole purpose of dumping cold water on myself. It. felt. glorious.
Chris passed me around mile 85 or 90 - He said, "Hey gorgeous!" and that shook me out of my fog of misery. He continued on and I tried to speed up a touch to keep up but he was slowly getting away. I re-evaluated the state of my stomach - I was starting to feel better and my nausea was gone so I said - Self, this race isn't over, go get that sexy Aussie! So away we went (Self and I). I started to close the gap and once we approached the awful out and back climb, I really gained on him and I got to surprise him with, "Hiiiiii" (thats all I could muster as my heart rate aproached 6000 and my legs were on FIRE). I hung out for a sec with him and then said, "Byeeeeee" as I crept away from him up the hill. Doing this a second time really freaking sucked, but eventually it was over, got to fly down the hill and shoot straight into transition.
Bike: 5:43:56
T2:
Again, it sounded like a frat party on the men's side and a funeral on the women's side because it was super empty. BUT - multiple volunteers! (thank you again!). I tried to hurry through, just taking the time to throw on socks, shoes, race belt, pink visor and handheld water bottle that also carried my GUs and salt tabs in a pocket. Just a marathon left to go!
T2: 3:36
RUN:
A quarter of a mile in, I could tell my heartrate was really high (my heartrate monitor peaced out that morning, so I was just running based on feel) so I slowed my legs down and tried to regroup. It was awesome to hear people cheering in English and French. I loved hearing, "un madame! un madame!" because there weren't a ton of ladies in front of me. I didn't feel great the first few miles, my legs were tired and my sole thought was, seriously, a marathon? Say it ain't so! I started out at an optimistic pace between 8:30 and 8:40. Surely I could hold onto that for awhile and go as slow as 9:00/mile? The heat quickly told me, hell no, you can't do that.
The first few miles were hilly. The legs were a bit weary after the bike and were not at all entertained by the varied terrain. It was hot and I wasn't happy to be running... which is sad because its usually my favorite part. Each aid station involved multiple cups of ice down the front of my top, my back, my head - it was tough to keep from overheating. The handheld water bottle was great though, I filled it as needed around the course. Had the customary GU every 45 minutes, alternating between salted caramel and salted watermelon. Once on the paved trail (roughly 4 miles in), I started to feel better and found my legs for a bit.
Then... I discovered cola. Holy shit. People rave about it and I should have listened when they spoke about this sweet nectar of the gods. Did it make me run faster? Nope. Did it give me something to look forward to in between aid stations? Oh hell yes. I wanted to take all the cola and go into the trees and have my way with it - IT WAS THAT INCREDIBLE. It didn't make my stomach feel all that great after awhile, but my happiness level was dipping fast and unfortunately, cola was the only thing keeping it on the up and up.
This must be before I discovered cola.
I saw almost everyone on the run which was awesome! Ran with Lee for a sec, chatted with Taneeen and Stef for another sec, and even got to run (I sprinted about 10 feet) on the heels of Mary Beth Ellis as she cruised around me to a first place finish. I yelled at Mark, Bryan, Deb as I saw them and toward the end I ran with Darren for a minute.
The last few miles were a blur, I wanted to be done running and the miles weren't passing quickly enough. When I hit that cobblestone street, a sweet feeling of relief passed over me. Then I approached the fork - to the left was the finish and to the right was loop 2. I gleefully took my left and was overcome with emotion. I got teary eyed as I ran down the chute, hitting up some high fives in the process. Jumped across the finish line (because jumping is cool) and it was over.
run: 4:11:06
Finish time: 11:07:02
I got a big ass medal (its a little ridiculous, its like a WWF sized medal without the belt) and grabbed a chocolate milk. I found Octavio and sat with him for a minute. I had no real concept of where everyone else was on the course and I couldn't find the kids so I headed up to get a massage and although I felt absolutely disgusting and my stomach was fairly uncomfortable, it was wonderful and I nearly fell asleep.
Headed onto the balcony to get a better view of the finish and scan for any familiar faces. I found my people and did what needed to be done. There were some medical issues that needed addressing so our group split up and we headed back to the condo.
It felt a little anti-climactic without my family/friends as spectators and without having my phone to track who was left on the course still. Last year, our hotel was too far to go back to so we waited for 4 hours at the finish line and sat around together and recovered/ate/relaxed. However, it was nice to shower right after and feel human again. I wasn't too sore, a little bit of knee pain and a couple toes were sensitive but overall, I felt pretty good.
My phone told me I was 4th in my age group which was completely unexpected. Second after the bike which was unfathomable to me, especially given the issues on the second loop. My run was a mess though and I ended up 4th by 5 minutes.
The rest of the night was awesome - more food and drinks at Casey's - watched the final 15 minutes at the finish line and headed home to pass out after a very long day.
The rest of the trip was amazing. Got an award for 4th AG, roll down for Kona went to 3rd place, I nearly had a heart attack coming that close to Kona at this race that I didn't expect to do well in. While I was relieved, I was also disappointed - how could I not be? It was such a weird mix of emotions in that 1 minute of time that I didn't know what to think or feel. Minutes later, I was just happy with the award, went to have a celebratory beer and immediately dropped the award and broke the corner off. Ehh. Typical.
We had a blast Monday afternoon taking the gondola and walking around, kicking butt on the luge, ice cream, etc. Packing was sad, we had such a good time that I didn't want to go back to real life. I could have stayed in baby Disney World longer, but alas, duty calls.
Looking forward to Louisville...!
Currently rocking the recovery week... aka doing NOTHING. So this is what its like to be a normal human being...
First of all, I need to say this - the race ended a week ago and the continued response to my facebook posts has been overwhelming. I am incredibly touched and surprised at the number of phone calls, texts, facebook comments and "likes" to anything race related. You - my dear family and friends - are amazing. Seriously. YOU ARE AWESOME. I can't say thank you enough.
I couldn't do this without you. Self motivation can only take you so far. From my amazing friends that were at the race to the new friends I met there (including a couple SOAS gals!); from my family at home watching my every step from hundreds of miles away and being crazy supportive in the days, weeks, months leading up to the day; from the people that have come in and out of my life that I don't speak to with regularity but took the time to say "good luck" or "congrats" - each of you is important and I hope you know that.
OH CANADA!
Arrived at Mont-Tremblant after a long ride in the car Thursday evening. Immediately unloaded the bikes and headed down to the little resort area of MT. Its baby Disney World and its adorable - cobblestone streets, matching colored rooftops, people dressed as insects being socially awkward... All good things. The beauty of the condo was the location (it was a very nice place too), about 10 minutes walking distance to everything that we needed in the little town.
Met up with the group at Casey's - a restaurant that would be the meeting area for the weekend. Met new people from DC Tri that were very cool and enjoyed the traditional "American Burger" and a couple of cocktails then it was (finally) time for a "quick" game of headbandz and bed.
Friday morning was a swim in Lac Tremblant. We jumped in from the swim start and swam straight to the espresso pontoon. NO LIE. Most of us sipped on coffee while floating in our wetsuits and taking in the gorgeous scenery. Who gets to do that? It was awesome!
After the swim, we parted ways - Lee was off to get tickets for dinner and pick up Kenzie from the airport while Mark, Chris and I headed over to check-in. The line was SUPER long but it didn't take too long to get through, thankfully. We were official, magic blue wristband and all.
LONG registration line.
I met up with a couple very cool SOAS girls for coffee for a short while, but unfortunately with the lack of phone service, the boys and I were supposed to meet 15 minutes later and I had no way of getting ahold of them to let them know I wanted to stay a bit longer - oh well.
Headed back to condo for a baby brick. Dined on a PBJ and set out for a short 30 minute ride on one of the tougher parts of the course followed by a 20 minute run around the water and transition and back. Everything seemed in working order, other than some goofy neck pain that had been nagging me for a few days. With each day, it was making me more nervous, but it wasn't getting worse, so I tried to forget about it. Took a muscle relaxant and called it good for the time being.
Friday evening found us at the welcome dinner and athlete meeting. It was long. And hot. And entertaining for a handful of minutes, but then you remembered you were still hot and people were still talking and it seemed to last FOR-EV-ER. Afterward, we were back at Casey's for beers and fireworks. I don't care how many times I've seen fireworks - they're magic and awesome and my love for them is fairly intense, so that made me happy.
festive dessert.
Saturday morning was a short swim, sans wetsuits (because who wants to put on a wet wetsuit race morning?). The water was BEAUTIFUL - I could've stayed all day... happy place. Most importantly, we had fun goofing around with the GoPro and just enjoyed being out there. We drove the bike course after the swim (got a little intimidated by the hills but the course looked pretty nice). Grocery store. Then packing bags... it makes me SO NERVOUS to pack transition bags and drop them off the day before. Double, tripled checked and crossed my fingers that I had everything I needed. Walked the bags and bikes down to transition, tried to get ART done on my cramped neck/back but sadly, it had just closed.
Lee - NO AWA. Me - AWA superstar.
We had visitors right after - Deb and Andy came to hang out and it was good to see them before the race. It was nice relaxing with the boys and the kids - we got along really great all weekend and the kids were amazing. Dinner was chicken parmesan with good intentions (no breadcrumbs and no baking pan = grilled chicken, pasta, marinara sauce and cheese on top). It was very good and the cookies after were just icing on the cake. 2 beers and a couple of funny rounds of Headbandz followed but eventually it was time to sleep.
By that point, I was getting really nervous and I called a couple of my friends and ended up crying... I was nervous and frustrated for various reasons and I missed them and my family, but talking to them really helped and I calmed down for the most part. I usually don't get stuck in my head like that and it concerned me that I was falling apart hours before starting this race. But finally - sleep. Or valiantly attempted sleep, seeing as the condo was 120 degrees, it was the night before the race and we were sweating our asses off. Woke up multiple times which sucked. I know I slept a little so at least that was better than nothing... right?
3:45 alarm. One snooze and I was up. Ate half a blueberry bagel with peanut butter and double checked special needs bags. I had frozen water bottles the night before and they were perfectly half frozen, half liquid. 2 with skratch and 1 water in special needs, same 3 to put on the bike. Got dressed (LOVE my SOAS kit) and made sure I had everything that I needed in the morning clothes bag. Made a couple of eggs and drank gatorade shortly before leaving at 5:15 to walk to transition. Rocked out all morning to my song for this race - Fight Song - along with a couple others (Hall of Fame, Closer to the Edge) - I was ready!
Got to my bike and found the left brake dangling and the right super loose and swinging around. um... WTF. No, really... WHAT. THE. FUCK. HAPPENED. OVERNIGHT. They were FINE when I left the afternoon before. I was waiting for Lee's pump, but decided to jump in line for the bike guys to see if they could fix at least the left side. Thankfully, 15 minutes later, I was good (ish) to go. I would have to make do with the right brake loose and flipping around but at least it wasn't dangling. Ah... siver linings. It was only going to be a 112 miles. I could make do. Glass half full... just keep swimming... don't freak out.
The boys were waiting for me, Kenzie had left to walk back home with our stuff (she was a trooper for getting up so early with us), so away we went to swim start. Attempted to get in line for the port-o-potties - Mark, Chris, and Stef nearly caused a riot with some confusion as to the way the line was wrapping around so Lee and I stepped out of line because we were running short on time. Yuck. Got the wetsuits on, figured out where to go and bid my friends good luck and good bye. I jumped in (to pee, obviously), swam a few strokes, water temperature was PERFECT, I was happy. Found Deb right away, thank goodness for familiar faces! We chatted and walked at the front of our wave to the water... and continued chatting as we started to wade into the water behind the last mens wave. We got called back right away (amateur hour!) and had a laugh back on the beach.
GO TIME BABY!
SWIM:
Deb and I ran in together and immediately started swimming side by side. After a quick 200m or so, we settled into a nice pace with open water. It was awesome!... for about five minutes until we caught up to the men. UGHHH THOSE MEN! I could see Deb nearly the entire time which was comforting. I know she's a strong swimmer too so I hoping we were on pace for a good time. I got kicked in the cheek pretty hard at one point (why this particular gentleman was swimming nearly perpendicular to the line of sight I do not know) but for the most part I wasn't being jostled around. It was frustrating to weave through the masses - I didn't have this problem at Wisconsin because of the mass swim start (I would MUCH prefer the mass swim start to starting in a wave at the end). Sighting was easy (for once... its hard being half blind) but I lost Deb about 3/4 of the way through the swim - after forcefully pushing her and going full contact swimming (I'm sorry, I still love you, and I have no idea what happened). I had a few openings of clear water where I could speed up and eventually I could hear the announcing and I sped up a touch more. I wasn't feeling tired at all, I felt great and I was imagining a swim along the lines of 1:04 or so. I hadn't pushed it at all, just that short marginally increased turnover at the end, so I figured I was exactly where I needed to be according to "the plan".
Of course, I forgot to turn on my watch at the start of the swim, so when the 0:00:00 stared back at me, I was a little disappointed to have no idea what my time was (running clock was obviously way off due to wave starts). Was I surprised that I did this? Absolutely not. I clicked back to current time while running to T1 and saw it said 7:58. If my clock was actually on time, I had a 1:01 or 1:02 swim. HELL YES.
swim: 1:01:44
T1:
Grabbed my bag and ran into an empty ladies changing area. The guys were having a fiesta on their side of the curtain but the ladies side was like a morgue - very quiet but full of volunteers so I had 3 of them to myself which was amazing. Didn't waste time, threw powerbar wafers and Bonk Breakers into my pockets, pink helmet, sunglasses, gloves, and shoes in hand. Stuffed a strawberry uncrustable in my mouth on the way out to my bike. Shoes on, was positioned right by the bike out/in so away I went. I was still having watch troubles, I couldn't get it to work for the first few miles and it was frustrating. It would get to a stupid distance of 212 feet or 414 feet and quit measuring anything other then running time. I restarted it twice and apparently it just needed TWO restarts to work right. Whatever watch, you suck.
T1: 6 minutes something
BIKE:
2 loops - settled into a comfortable pace on the bike, was rocking at 21mph or something like that for awhile and I felt amazing. No neck pain, just settled into a good pace and enjoyed being out there. Cruising through the sea of men was pretty good for the ego. I saw a handful of women but it was very much just men that I rode with. They were nailing people for drafting and other penalties so I tried to stay aware of my position in relation to every one else. I felt strong on the hills and had no real issues during the first loop. The end of the loop is a BITCH. Climb, climb, three seconds of relief, climb even more. Holy crap, that was rough! The way down was a blast though, I felt like I was soaring. I briefly thought about the fact that we would have to do that again right at the end of the bike but I was feeling so good that I didn't care... then. I saw Lee a few times and screeched out some kind of cheer along the lines of "Yea LEEEEEEEEEEE" - he was killing it and every time I saw him I tried to speed up. When I saw Mark, I yelled the "usual" - "GO NAVY!!!!!!", but I don't think either of them heard me - or at least didn't want to be associated with the crazy girl in pink. I'm sure the guys around me really appreciated the random, unprovoked screaming but it was fun to see them.
Turn around and it was time for loop two. All of a sudden, IT WAS HOT. Sweat started to pour and legs started to tire. Stopped at special needs for a minute, changed out bottles, ate a couple EL Fudge cookies and chugged half a Mountain Dew (I duly trained this way on training rides for THIS MOMENT). Shortly after the turn around, just before the turn onto 117, I started to feel bad. My stomach was cramping and nausea set in. I alternated between burping/hiccuping and dry heaving. My pace slowed way down and I left all those thoughts of killing the 2nd loop 2:40 bike split out there on 117. This continued for 20-25 miles. I zoned out and just tried to keep a reasonable pace - i.e. keep the legs moving. I didn't want to shoot myself in the foot by not eating so I ate a bonk breaker very slowly over the course of 10 miles. Shortly after the last bite, it came back up. Luckily I was way on the right side of the shoulder and no one was really around, but PBJ a second time is not so tasty. That killed my desire for the other PBJ bonk breaker and uncrustable sandwich - thank goodness for my favorite Powerbar wafers and Gu chomps - I would be dining on those later on. Cruised through the aid stations to get water bottles for the sole purpose of dumping cold water on myself. It. felt. glorious.
Chris passed me around mile 85 or 90 - He said, "Hey gorgeous!" and that shook me out of my fog of misery. He continued on and I tried to speed up a touch to keep up but he was slowly getting away. I re-evaluated the state of my stomach - I was starting to feel better and my nausea was gone so I said - Self, this race isn't over, go get that sexy Aussie! So away we went (Self and I). I started to close the gap and once we approached the awful out and back climb, I really gained on him and I got to surprise him with, "Hiiiiii" (thats all I could muster as my heart rate aproached 6000 and my legs were on FIRE). I hung out for a sec with him and then said, "Byeeeeee" as I crept away from him up the hill. Doing this a second time really freaking sucked, but eventually it was over, got to fly down the hill and shoot straight into transition.
Bike: 5:43:56
T2:
Again, it sounded like a frat party on the men's side and a funeral on the women's side because it was super empty. BUT - multiple volunteers! (thank you again!). I tried to hurry through, just taking the time to throw on socks, shoes, race belt, pink visor and handheld water bottle that also carried my GUs and salt tabs in a pocket. Just a marathon left to go!
T2: 3:36
RUN:
A quarter of a mile in, I could tell my heartrate was really high (my heartrate monitor peaced out that morning, so I was just running based on feel) so I slowed my legs down and tried to regroup. It was awesome to hear people cheering in English and French. I loved hearing, "un madame! un madame!" because there weren't a ton of ladies in front of me. I didn't feel great the first few miles, my legs were tired and my sole thought was, seriously, a marathon? Say it ain't so! I started out at an optimistic pace between 8:30 and 8:40. Surely I could hold onto that for awhile and go as slow as 9:00/mile? The heat quickly told me, hell no, you can't do that.
The first few miles were hilly. The legs were a bit weary after the bike and were not at all entertained by the varied terrain. It was hot and I wasn't happy to be running... which is sad because its usually my favorite part. Each aid station involved multiple cups of ice down the front of my top, my back, my head - it was tough to keep from overheating. The handheld water bottle was great though, I filled it as needed around the course. Had the customary GU every 45 minutes, alternating between salted caramel and salted watermelon. Once on the paved trail (roughly 4 miles in), I started to feel better and found my legs for a bit.
Then... I discovered cola. Holy shit. People rave about it and I should have listened when they spoke about this sweet nectar of the gods. Did it make me run faster? Nope. Did it give me something to look forward to in between aid stations? Oh hell yes. I wanted to take all the cola and go into the trees and have my way with it - IT WAS THAT INCREDIBLE. It didn't make my stomach feel all that great after awhile, but my happiness level was dipping fast and unfortunately, cola was the only thing keeping it on the up and up.
I saw almost everyone on the run which was awesome! Ran with Lee for a sec, chatted with Taneeen and Stef for another sec, and even got to run (I sprinted about 10 feet) on the heels of Mary Beth Ellis as she cruised around me to a first place finish. I yelled at Mark, Bryan, Deb as I saw them and toward the end I ran with Darren for a minute.
The last few miles were a blur, I wanted to be done running and the miles weren't passing quickly enough. When I hit that cobblestone street, a sweet feeling of relief passed over me. Then I approached the fork - to the left was the finish and to the right was loop 2. I gleefully took my left and was overcome with emotion. I got teary eyed as I ran down the chute, hitting up some high fives in the process. Jumped across the finish line (because jumping is cool) and it was over.
run: 4:11:06
Finish time: 11:07:02
I got a big ass medal (its a little ridiculous, its like a WWF sized medal without the belt) and grabbed a chocolate milk. I found Octavio and sat with him for a minute. I had no real concept of where everyone else was on the course and I couldn't find the kids so I headed up to get a massage and although I felt absolutely disgusting and my stomach was fairly uncomfortable, it was wonderful and I nearly fell asleep.
Headed onto the balcony to get a better view of the finish and scan for any familiar faces. I found my people and did what needed to be done. There were some medical issues that needed addressing so our group split up and we headed back to the condo.
It felt a little anti-climactic without my family/friends as spectators and without having my phone to track who was left on the course still. Last year, our hotel was too far to go back to so we waited for 4 hours at the finish line and sat around together and recovered/ate/relaxed. However, it was nice to shower right after and feel human again. I wasn't too sore, a little bit of knee pain and a couple toes were sensitive but overall, I felt pretty good.
My phone told me I was 4th in my age group which was completely unexpected. Second after the bike which was unfathomable to me, especially given the issues on the second loop. My run was a mess though and I ended up 4th by 5 minutes.
The rest of the night was awesome - more food and drinks at Casey's - watched the final 15 minutes at the finish line and headed home to pass out after a very long day.
The rest of the trip was amazing. Got an award for 4th AG, roll down for Kona went to 3rd place, I nearly had a heart attack coming that close to Kona at this race that I didn't expect to do well in. While I was relieved, I was also disappointed - how could I not be? It was such a weird mix of emotions in that 1 minute of time that I didn't know what to think or feel. Minutes later, I was just happy with the award, went to have a celebratory beer and immediately dropped the award and broke the corner off. Ehh. Typical.
We had a blast Monday afternoon taking the gondola and walking around, kicking butt on the luge, ice cream, etc. Packing was sad, we had such a good time that I didn't want to go back to real life. I could have stayed in baby Disney World longer, but alas, duty calls.
Looking forward to Louisville...!
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