And so that's my yearly reminder to pay attention when I'm riding.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Annual Bike Spill
My last bike spill was September 12, 2009 so I guess I've been overdue. I was riding with the Rally group this morning on the dirt roads North of Boulder. I don't mind riding on dirt on my road bike, but today I wasn't paying attention. I went for my water bottle and my front wheel hit a big rut and when 90 degs. I went diagonally over the handle bars onto my right side. My head hit hard, that's why I wear a helmet. I have scraps on my knee and elbow and a bruise on my hip but nothing seems to be seriously damaged. I'm going to the chiropractor this afternoon to get my neck adjusted before the muscles tighten, I can tell I tweaked it.
And so that's my yearly reminder to pay attention when I'm riding.
And so that's my yearly reminder to pay attention when I'm riding.
Friday, September 24, 2010
What now?
So I managed to keep my resolve not to do any triathlon related sports for exactly 1 week. Last Sunday was a beautiful day and I really wanted to take my bike out for a spin. I only did 50 easy minutes, but it felt great. I'm so happy that I don't hate my bike!
I did keep my promise to try yoga at my gym, it's still boring. I did two classes on Monday and Tuesday and while it didn't feel like a workout at the time, I was a bit sore on Wednesday. So rather than do more yoga, I did the Rally ride, which I've done on and off this summer. It was a great social ride, like getting coffee only on a bike. That ride was 2 hours long and everything still felt great.
Since I had already ridden my bike, I figured I might as well swim on Thursday. I plan on doing the Monday and Thursday master's class with Grant. I really need to work on my form, and he has a way of telling me how to change what I'm doing in a way I can actually understand and respond to. Thursday's class was great, it's an intro class and there's lots of form and drill work. I have an issue with lifting my head when I breath, and Grant showed me how it's not an issue with my head, but rather how I'm rotating my body to breath and with a few easy pointers I was able to make a big change in my stroke.
This morning Liz joined me at the gym for a Cardio Fusion class, which would be better named Step Class from Hell. Definitely the hardest thing I've done in 11 days. There was a lot of cardio step stuff that was hard to follow and hard to execute, then some weights which were equally difficult. I think I want to try NIA or pilates next week and I'll pretend it's because I want to see what all the classes are about and not because this one kicked my ass.
I plan to ride a bit and swim a bit and maybe even run (I'm going to go to the Newton run clinic tomorrow) and also do some more yoga or other classes but in an unstructured way for the next few weeks. Then I'll get back on a training program for the winter, concentrating on my week sport again, running.
Last night our Ironman group met for dinner to celebrate our accomplishment. Surprisingly, everyone was open to the idea of doing another Ironman next year, and several race ideas were tossed around. I don't know if Western Australia is going to work for me, but there are a lot of cool places to race. This week I did start thinking about next year. I would like to sign up for the Boulder series and the Boulder 70.3, but if a group (this or D3) decides on another destination race, I would rather do that. So I am trying to put a lot of pressure on people in decision making positions to get things rolling.
The group: Me, Dan, Eney - coach for -, Marcy, Alison, Sara
I did keep my promise to try yoga at my gym, it's still boring. I did two classes on Monday and Tuesday and while it didn't feel like a workout at the time, I was a bit sore on Wednesday. So rather than do more yoga, I did the Rally ride, which I've done on and off this summer. It was a great social ride, like getting coffee only on a bike. That ride was 2 hours long and everything still felt great.
Since I had already ridden my bike, I figured I might as well swim on Thursday. I plan on doing the Monday and Thursday master's class with Grant. I really need to work on my form, and he has a way of telling me how to change what I'm doing in a way I can actually understand and respond to. Thursday's class was great, it's an intro class and there's lots of form and drill work. I have an issue with lifting my head when I breath, and Grant showed me how it's not an issue with my head, but rather how I'm rotating my body to breath and with a few easy pointers I was able to make a big change in my stroke.
This morning Liz joined me at the gym for a Cardio Fusion class, which would be better named Step Class from Hell. Definitely the hardest thing I've done in 11 days. There was a lot of cardio step stuff that was hard to follow and hard to execute, then some weights which were equally difficult. I think I want to try NIA or pilates next week and I'll pretend it's because I want to see what all the classes are about and not because this one kicked my ass.
I plan to ride a bit and swim a bit and maybe even run (I'm going to go to the Newton run clinic tomorrow) and also do some more yoga or other classes but in an unstructured way for the next few weeks. Then I'll get back on a training program for the winter, concentrating on my week sport again, running.
Last night our Ironman group met for dinner to celebrate our accomplishment. Surprisingly, everyone was open to the idea of doing another Ironman next year, and several race ideas were tossed around. I don't know if Western Australia is going to work for me, but there are a lot of cool places to race. This week I did start thinking about next year. I would like to sign up for the Boulder series and the Boulder 70.3, but if a group (this or D3) decides on another destination race, I would rather do that. So I am trying to put a lot of pressure on people in decision making positions to get things rolling.
The group: Me, Dan, Eney - coach for -, Marcy, Alison, Sara
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Postscript
First, now that I know my real coach Mike is going to read this, I need to give him a big thank you. I mentioned Endurance Nation a lot in my race report and while they helped me come up with a solid race plan, Mike was the one who got me through a year of training uninjured and Ironman-primed. I'm so glad I found the D3 group to train with this year and I'll be sticking with them for a while.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with how this race went. I survived a mass start swim of 2550. I rode a strong bike leg that, while not as fast as I hoped to be, was strong for the course. I did not have any mechanical issues, nor any crashes with my fellow 2550 athletes. My marathon was only 7 minutes slower than the Portland Marathon I ran in 2000. I ran (jogged/shuffled) most of the way, and that was a big goal for me. I followed my nutrition plan and didn't get sick or bonk. I didn't need IV fluids at the end. In summary - my race execution was spot on.
It's now Thursday and I'm coming down off my post race high. I still am pretty sore in my quads and the past three days I have avoided stairs and need arm support to sit on the toilet. But really, I was thinking I would feel much worse. I've been this sore before, just not this long. I plan to take this week off completely from all exercise, and then next week I'd like to try some yoga classes at my gym. I'm going to take 1 month off from all triathlon related sports. I need a mental break as much as the physical so that when I go back I'm excited and not burned out.
And what does the future hold? I'm not ruling out another Ironman but I also wasn't in the line on Monday to sign up for IMWI next year. Most of my anxiety with this race was my fear of the unknown. Having done it, and seeing all the different types of athletes who completed this race made me realize that Ironman really is open to anyone willing to put the training in and the guts to go for it. Many of the Ironman athletes I saw racing were extremely fit men with 3% body fat. But there were a lot of regular looking people too. There were many women with a little extra curve (and men too) who finished. It may have taken them 3 more hours than I took, but they did the same course and earned the Ironman title. I was even passed by a blind athlete - he swam with someone on a tether, rode a tandem bike and ran again with his Iron helper. Amazing!
I like racing the half Ironman distance - it's long enough to be a challenge and worth traveling for, but not as much training and time commitment as a full. I will probably do the Boulder 70.3 next year, as well as the D3 trip - wherever that may be. I would like to get a triathlon specific bike, I think that will put me in a more competitive position in the shorter races. Liz is signing up for Ironman Arizona 2011 and while I'm not saying yes to that yet, I'm not saying no, either. I love triathlon training and next year I'm going to strive to find a balance between being fit and not being stressed about training.
(And no, that's not a real tattoo. I haven't decided if I'm going to get one or not. But when Jeremy got home he said he was half expecting me to already have one.)
Overall, I am extremely pleased with how this race went. I survived a mass start swim of 2550. I rode a strong bike leg that, while not as fast as I hoped to be, was strong for the course. I did not have any mechanical issues, nor any crashes with my fellow 2550 athletes. My marathon was only 7 minutes slower than the Portland Marathon I ran in 2000. I ran (jogged/shuffled) most of the way, and that was a big goal for me. I followed my nutrition plan and didn't get sick or bonk. I didn't need IV fluids at the end. In summary - my race execution was spot on.
It's now Thursday and I'm coming down off my post race high. I still am pretty sore in my quads and the past three days I have avoided stairs and need arm support to sit on the toilet. But really, I was thinking I would feel much worse. I've been this sore before, just not this long. I plan to take this week off completely from all exercise, and then next week I'd like to try some yoga classes at my gym. I'm going to take 1 month off from all triathlon related sports. I need a mental break as much as the physical so that when I go back I'm excited and not burned out.
And what does the future hold? I'm not ruling out another Ironman but I also wasn't in the line on Monday to sign up for IMWI next year. Most of my anxiety with this race was my fear of the unknown. Having done it, and seeing all the different types of athletes who completed this race made me realize that Ironman really is open to anyone willing to put the training in and the guts to go for it. Many of the Ironman athletes I saw racing were extremely fit men with 3% body fat. But there were a lot of regular looking people too. There were many women with a little extra curve (and men too) who finished. It may have taken them 3 more hours than I took, but they did the same course and earned the Ironman title. I was even passed by a blind athlete - he swam with someone on a tether, rode a tandem bike and ran again with his Iron helper. Amazing!
I like racing the half Ironman distance - it's long enough to be a challenge and worth traveling for, but not as much training and time commitment as a full. I will probably do the Boulder 70.3 next year, as well as the D3 trip - wherever that may be. I would like to get a triathlon specific bike, I think that will put me in a more competitive position in the shorter races. Liz is signing up for Ironman Arizona 2011 and while I'm not saying yes to that yet, I'm not saying no, either. I love triathlon training and next year I'm going to strive to find a balance between being fit and not being stressed about training.
(And no, that's not a real tattoo. I haven't decided if I'm going to get one or not. But when Jeremy got home he said he was half expecting me to already have one.)
Monday, September 13, 2010
Aftermath
After Jeremy found me, I learned that he had already picked up my bike, but none of my bags. He said he saw the special needs bags out by the capital so we walked a couple blocks over but they were gone. Then we walked back to the convention center to grab my transition bags. My family had found a parking space in the convention center, so I didn't have to walk any farther. Jeremy said I was doing much better than he expected, I think he had been preparing himself to be ready to carry me to the car. I skipped the post race massage (not only did my muscles hurt, but the OUTSIDE of my body hurt, especially my upper arms and abdomen. I could not imagine anyone touching me) and also the post race meal (eat? no thank you).
We got back to my Grandma's house and I managed to shower by myself and eat a few grapes and a cookie. Then it was bedtime. I slept better than expected, but not great. In the morning, my sisters and I headed back to the convention center for the finisher's merchandise and to find my special needs bags. We got there around 9:30. I had to walk a block to get my bags while my sisters held a place in the store line. We also found a really long line and I asked someone what it was for. That was the registration for next year's race and there were a lot of people in finisher's hats and shirts standing in it. We had to wait in the store line for about 15 minutes before getting in. The store opened at 7:00 and most of the stuff was pretty picked over. I found a jacket I liked, but the small was a bit too tight in the shoulders and the next size up was XXL. Probably for the best that it didn't fit, it was $140. I found a spandex pull over for $50 that I got instead. I added some stickers, M-dot temporary tattoos, socks, a t-shirt and I don't know what else that put me around $100.
Our last stop was the official race photography booth. I bought all their digital images, and got two printouts of my finisher's photo. I was feeling pretty good about my time until I saw the two older ladies (51 and 54, ages on calves are handy) in front of me pick up their pictures and they both finished well over an hour ahead of me. I'm not sure what I was expecting, even the 73 year old beat me.
When were were done with the convention center, we headed out of town towards Milwaukee to go to the airport. On the way there, we stopped at Culver's for lunch around 11:30. I was finally hungry for the first time since the end of the race and that was the best hamburger I have EVER had. The Heath shake was pretty good too, but I couldn't finish my fries. I love eating when I'm really hungry. My rough estimate of how many calories I burned yesterday was around 5500.
We got to the airport a bit early and had lots of time to lounge around. We saw several other athletes in their finisher's hats and shirts. I love the unspoken rule that that's just what you wear the day after. Our flight left at 4:55 and we got into Denver at 6:25. I took the RTD bus to Boulder and got in around 8:30. The 3 block walk back to my house was interesting. I had been walking around all day at the airports but any time I had to walk after sitting for a while was extra stiff and occasionally my legs would give away and I would lurch. I took another Advil PM that night and had the best night's sleep in months - I was out for 10 hours.
We got back to my Grandma's house and I managed to shower by myself and eat a few grapes and a cookie. Then it was bedtime. I slept better than expected, but not great. In the morning, my sisters and I headed back to the convention center for the finisher's merchandise and to find my special needs bags. We got there around 9:30. I had to walk a block to get my bags while my sisters held a place in the store line. We also found a really long line and I asked someone what it was for. That was the registration for next year's race and there were a lot of people in finisher's hats and shirts standing in it. We had to wait in the store line for about 15 minutes before getting in. The store opened at 7:00 and most of the stuff was pretty picked over. I found a jacket I liked, but the small was a bit too tight in the shoulders and the next size up was XXL. Probably for the best that it didn't fit, it was $140. I found a spandex pull over for $50 that I got instead. I added some stickers, M-dot temporary tattoos, socks, a t-shirt and I don't know what else that put me around $100.
Our last stop was the official race photography booth. I bought all their digital images, and got two printouts of my finisher's photo. I was feeling pretty good about my time until I saw the two older ladies (51 and 54, ages on calves are handy) in front of me pick up their pictures and they both finished well over an hour ahead of me. I'm not sure what I was expecting, even the 73 year old beat me.
When were were done with the convention center, we headed out of town towards Milwaukee to go to the airport. On the way there, we stopped at Culver's for lunch around 11:30. I was finally hungry for the first time since the end of the race and that was the best hamburger I have EVER had. The Heath shake was pretty good too, but I couldn't finish my fries. I love eating when I'm really hungry. My rough estimate of how many calories I burned yesterday was around 5500.
We got to the airport a bit early and had lots of time to lounge around. We saw several other athletes in their finisher's hats and shirts. I love the unspoken rule that that's just what you wear the day after. Our flight left at 4:55 and we got into Denver at 6:25. I took the RTD bus to Boulder and got in around 8:30. The 3 block walk back to my house was interesting. I had been walking around all day at the airports but any time I had to walk after sitting for a while was extra stiff and occasionally my legs would give away and I would lurch. I took another Advil PM that night and had the best night's sleep in months - I was out for 10 hours.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
The Run
I felt surprisingly good heading out on the run. My legs were working fine and I kept thinking of the Endurance Nation coaches - feeling good? Slow down! The first mile is downhill and lined with spectators and even though I was thinking "slow down" I still ran a 10:30 mile. My race plan was to run/jog/shuffle between aid stations and walk through them taking in something every time. I took my first gel at the last bike aid station, then I took a gel about every 5 miles on the run. I had a cup of water and a cup of Perform fake-gatorade at every aid station for the first 13 miles. The second 13 miles I took water and a cup of lukewarm chicken broth.
I hit a port-a-potty around mile 2, that would be the last time I would need to pee for the next 7 hours. The first 3 miles were perfect. I had a smile on my face and I was feeling good. I was also thinking I was going to finish under 13 hours at that time - in transition I switched my regular watch for my Garmin, which read 2:40pm. I kept adding 5 1/2 hours to 2:40 and coming up with 8:00pm. But then I thought about my swim and bike splits that were close to what Liz did at Arizona last year and she was a bit over 14 hours. I could not make the math work until finally I realized my Garmin was still on Denver time and then it all made sense.
Around miles 4-7, I got some minor stomach cramping, the kind I was getting in some of my training bricks. During this time I got a little gassy as well, but luckily had no need for another port-a-potty. I thought the day was a bit warmer than I prefer for running (we had a clear day and highs in the lower 80's), so I took ice at every aid station the first loop too, and put it under my hat and in my sports bra. I also had a sponge down my back that I poured cold water on. I was carrying my dedicated mile list but after a couple cups of water poured on it, it was a soggy pulpy mess. But I kept it in my pocket and still thought of everyone throughout the race.
The run course meandered through downtown Madison and most of the time I had no idea where we were. It consisted of two out of back 13.1 mile jaunts. Around mile 5, we took a lap around the football stadium.
There were two areas that had a lot of spectators - the mile up the finish (or the beginning of the second lap) by the capitol and then another area on State Street. A bit of the course ran along the lake and in the shelter of trees. It seemed that there were spectators everywhere and since our race bibs had our names on it, hundreds of people shouted, "Go Wendy" all day long. I had to look at these people to check that they were not my family. I heard one racer saying, "The spectators should be wearing name tags too, so we can say, 'Thanks John.'"
I'd say my first 6 miles were pretty good, the second 6 were a bit more uphill and harder. The second 13 mile loop is where I feel like I earned the Ironman race. At the beginning of the second loop we could get our special needs bag. I took my bag of 3 more Advil to take at mile 18 (roughly 4 hours after my first dose), 2 more gels and left the extra socks and long sleeved shirt.
Right after the turn around I saw my family again:
Around mile 15 is when it started getting really hard. A lot of people still racing were now doing more walking than jogging. I noticed these walkers starting to hook up together and talk. It seemed to be a bad situation to get into, much like the woman ranting in transition 1, I tried to avoid them. I heard people talking about how the rest of their race had went, how much their legs/feet/whatever hurt, why they were doing the race in an ACL knee support, etc. It seemed like finding a walking buddy was like getting the perfect excuse to take it easy. There was one girl that talked to me a bit but she was running 4 minutes, walking 1 and I told her I had a different strategy that I needed to stick to for mental reasons. We were pretty much together for 8 miles (she would pass me running, I'd pass her when she walked), then she hooked up with the guy in the ACL support guy and they fell back and I didn't see her again. As soon as I started the run, I knew I had over 8 hours to complete the marathon and I could walk the whole thing if I wanted too and still come in under 17 hours. But did I want to? NO.
So around mile 15 my dedicated mile list contracted to one small mantra, "Keep moving, people are watching. Keep moving, people are watching." And everyone once and a while to spice things up I would think, "You are doing a fucking IRONMAN!" I kept a smile/grimace on my face and kept moving. I did walk a bit more than I planned on the second loop. I walked up some hills, and sometimes I walked a bit farther than the end of the aid station. I kept telling myself that jogging really didn't hurt that much more than walking and to KEEP MOVING. I hit mile 18 and saw the Endurance Nation guys in their pink speedos. There were right, at mile 18 you really needed to dig deep to keep going until the end. And since mile 18 was on one of the out-and-back parts, I saw them again at mile 21, when I really needed a lift.
It's a good thing my brain was foggy around mile 18. I realized that if I walked the last 8 miles, it would take me about 2 hours and 15 minutes. And I did not want to be out there that long! Good thing my brain couldn't do the math that if I jogged at my current pace, it would still take 1 hour and 35 minutes. If I had gotten that far, I might have decided that 45 minutes was a decent sacrifice.
The last 5-6 miles were all in the dark. Running in the dark was almost helpful. It was like the physical manifestation of the tunnel vision I was experiencing in my head. Just keep moving. Just keep moving. I remember hitting mile 24 and thinking I was almost there. A guy ran by and said, "Was that mile 24?" and I answered "Damn straight!" We started hitting the crowds of spectators around mile 25. I told myself I was not walking again and I should give it all I had. I picked up the pace even though it was uphill. I ran past a girl that kept passing me when she was running, but I would pass her when she walked. I told her, "You have a mile to go and you are strong when you run so RUN." And she took off and I never saw her again.
Right before last turn to the finisher's chute I passed 2 guys walking. When I passed them, they started to run again. I ran faster, thinking, "Oh no you don't. I want to hear the announcer say, "Wendy Sweet, from Boulder Colorado, you are an Ironman! and I don't want to hear your names or see you in my finisher photo, you lame guys walking 1/4 of a mile from the finish." And so I took off and I didn't hear their names and they are not in my finisher photo.
The end was not as emotional as I thought it would be. I was just so tired and so glad to be done. As soon as I crossed the finish, I got my own celebrity treatment volunteer. He gave me a space blanket and directed me to my finisher medal. He helped me in line for the finisher photo and then to the family and friends corral to find Jeremy. He asked lots of questions about the race and kept me talking. I'm sure a lot of it was to make sure I was ok and didn't need to go to the medical tent. We found Jeremy and I was handed off.
Run Recap:
Split 1: 11:29 miles
Split 2: 12:10 miles (more uphill than the first section)
Split 3: 11:58 miles (same section as split 1)
Split 4: 12:17 miles (same section as 2, pretty good for how much more walking I felt like I was doing)
Total time: 5:14:08, 11:59 average miles
My rank coming off the bike was 1780 and I finished in 1556 place, meaning I passed 224 people on the run. Roughly 2700 people registered, 2550 started the race and 2398 finished.
Total Race:
Swim: 1:26:17
T1: 12:05
Bike: 6:56:35
T2: 6:19
Run: 5:14:08
Total: 13:55:24
I hit a port-a-potty around mile 2, that would be the last time I would need to pee for the next 7 hours. The first 3 miles were perfect. I had a smile on my face and I was feeling good. I was also thinking I was going to finish under 13 hours at that time - in transition I switched my regular watch for my Garmin, which read 2:40pm. I kept adding 5 1/2 hours to 2:40 and coming up with 8:00pm. But then I thought about my swim and bike splits that were close to what Liz did at Arizona last year and she was a bit over 14 hours. I could not make the math work until finally I realized my Garmin was still on Denver time and then it all made sense.
Around miles 4-7, I got some minor stomach cramping, the kind I was getting in some of my training bricks. During this time I got a little gassy as well, but luckily had no need for another port-a-potty. I thought the day was a bit warmer than I prefer for running (we had a clear day and highs in the lower 80's), so I took ice at every aid station the first loop too, and put it under my hat and in my sports bra. I also had a sponge down my back that I poured cold water on. I was carrying my dedicated mile list but after a couple cups of water poured on it, it was a soggy pulpy mess. But I kept it in my pocket and still thought of everyone throughout the race.
The run course meandered through downtown Madison and most of the time I had no idea where we were. It consisted of two out of back 13.1 mile jaunts. Around mile 5, we took a lap around the football stadium.
There were two areas that had a lot of spectators - the mile up the finish (or the beginning of the second lap) by the capitol and then another area on State Street. A bit of the course ran along the lake and in the shelter of trees. It seemed that there were spectators everywhere and since our race bibs had our names on it, hundreds of people shouted, "Go Wendy" all day long. I had to look at these people to check that they were not my family. I heard one racer saying, "The spectators should be wearing name tags too, so we can say, 'Thanks John.'"
I'd say my first 6 miles were pretty good, the second 6 were a bit more uphill and harder. The second 13 mile loop is where I feel like I earned the Ironman race. At the beginning of the second loop we could get our special needs bag. I took my bag of 3 more Advil to take at mile 18 (roughly 4 hours after my first dose), 2 more gels and left the extra socks and long sleeved shirt.
Right after the turn around I saw my family again:
Around mile 15 is when it started getting really hard. A lot of people still racing were now doing more walking than jogging. I noticed these walkers starting to hook up together and talk. It seemed to be a bad situation to get into, much like the woman ranting in transition 1, I tried to avoid them. I heard people talking about how the rest of their race had went, how much their legs/feet/whatever hurt, why they were doing the race in an ACL knee support, etc. It seemed like finding a walking buddy was like getting the perfect excuse to take it easy. There was one girl that talked to me a bit but she was running 4 minutes, walking 1 and I told her I had a different strategy that I needed to stick to for mental reasons. We were pretty much together for 8 miles (she would pass me running, I'd pass her when she walked), then she hooked up with the guy in the ACL support guy and they fell back and I didn't see her again. As soon as I started the run, I knew I had over 8 hours to complete the marathon and I could walk the whole thing if I wanted too and still come in under 17 hours. But did I want to? NO.
So around mile 15 my dedicated mile list contracted to one small mantra, "Keep moving, people are watching. Keep moving, people are watching." And everyone once and a while to spice things up I would think, "You are doing a fucking IRONMAN!" I kept a smile/grimace on my face and kept moving. I did walk a bit more than I planned on the second loop. I walked up some hills, and sometimes I walked a bit farther than the end of the aid station. I kept telling myself that jogging really didn't hurt that much more than walking and to KEEP MOVING. I hit mile 18 and saw the Endurance Nation guys in their pink speedos. There were right, at mile 18 you really needed to dig deep to keep going until the end. And since mile 18 was on one of the out-and-back parts, I saw them again at mile 21, when I really needed a lift.
It's a good thing my brain was foggy around mile 18. I realized that if I walked the last 8 miles, it would take me about 2 hours and 15 minutes. And I did not want to be out there that long! Good thing my brain couldn't do the math that if I jogged at my current pace, it would still take 1 hour and 35 minutes. If I had gotten that far, I might have decided that 45 minutes was a decent sacrifice.
The last 5-6 miles were all in the dark. Running in the dark was almost helpful. It was like the physical manifestation of the tunnel vision I was experiencing in my head. Just keep moving. Just keep moving. I remember hitting mile 24 and thinking I was almost there. A guy ran by and said, "Was that mile 24?" and I answered "Damn straight!" We started hitting the crowds of spectators around mile 25. I told myself I was not walking again and I should give it all I had. I picked up the pace even though it was uphill. I ran past a girl that kept passing me when she was running, but I would pass her when she walked. I told her, "You have a mile to go and you are strong when you run so RUN." And she took off and I never saw her again.
Right before last turn to the finisher's chute I passed 2 guys walking. When I passed them, they started to run again. I ran faster, thinking, "Oh no you don't. I want to hear the announcer say, "Wendy Sweet, from Boulder Colorado, you are an Ironman! and I don't want to hear your names or see you in my finisher photo, you lame guys walking 1/4 of a mile from the finish." And so I took off and I didn't hear their names and they are not in my finisher photo.
The end was not as emotional as I thought it would be. I was just so tired and so glad to be done. As soon as I crossed the finish, I got my own celebrity treatment volunteer. He gave me a space blanket and directed me to my finisher medal. He helped me in line for the finisher photo and then to the family and friends corral to find Jeremy. He asked lots of questions about the race and kept me talking. I'm sure a lot of it was to make sure I was ok and didn't need to go to the medical tent. We found Jeremy and I was handed off.
Run Recap:
Split 1: 11:29 miles
Split 2: 12:10 miles (more uphill than the first section)
Split 3: 11:58 miles (same section as split 1)
Split 4: 12:17 miles (same section as 2, pretty good for how much more walking I felt like I was doing)
Total time: 5:14:08, 11:59 average miles
My rank coming off the bike was 1780 and I finished in 1556 place, meaning I passed 224 people on the run. Roughly 2700 people registered, 2550 started the race and 2398 finished.
Total Race:
Swim: 1:26:17
T1: 12:05
Bike: 6:56:35
T2: 6:19
Run: 5:14:08
Total: 13:55:24
The Bike
The first thing that has to happen on the bike is getting out of the parking structure and down the double helix. It's a no passing zone and the turn is pretty tight. And almost immediately after there's a section on the bike path that is also no passing with some tight turns to go over bridges or under tunnels. So the first 20 minutes were at a very easy pace with not much else to be done. After we got through Madison and on to the road to Verona, I started my nutrition plan. I was to drink 6 bottles of Infinite (a mixture of carbs, protein and electrolytes) and eat a Clif Mojo bar and a package of Powerbar Gels. I decided to eat the bar first, which I had already taken out of its wrapper and cut into bite sized pieces before the race.
The road to Verona was uphill and I was feeling good. I remembered the advice of Mike my coach, ride the first hour really easy. That worked out well because the the first hour got me to Verona, then there were two challenging loops ahead of me. Most of the bike course is a blur, but I do remember there were lots of hills. On the first half of the loop, the hills were not very steep or very long. I downshifted at every hill and watched my power numbers and didn't let them get much over 140 watts. As I crested the hill, I tried to shift and keep my power even to get more speed going down. I did a pretty good job of that, the end result being that everyone passed me going up hill and I repassed them going down.
I got to Mt. Horeb around 2 hours riding time and it was the perfect spot to stop and pee. A lot of Ironman athletes don't take the time to stop and pee during the bike section, but I had decided long ago that I wasn't winning this race and it wasn't worth it to pee on my bike. And stopping to pee proved very easy. The aid station was on a uphill section so we weren't going very fast anyway. A volunteer held my bike while I went into the port-a-potty. The whole deal couldn't have taken more than 90 seconds. And the fact that I had to go 2 hours into the bike was great, it meant I was keeping up with my hydration (the last time I peed being somewhere on the back section of the second loop of the swim. Yes, I have no qualms about peeing while swimming). I also took this time to switch my timing chip band from my left ankle to my right. For some reason, I start getting a weird pain in my ankle and foot during long course triathlons, but after switching the band to my right, I didn't notice it again for the rest of the race.
The second half of the loop is where the course got more challenging. There were some great downhills, but they weren't straight. I saw one ambulance loading up a cyclist on one of the downhill curves. And then there were 2 big climbs that were steeper and longer than anything in the first half. On both of these hills I switched to my granny gear, something I reserve for Olde Stage and the top of Flagstaff back home. My power was still at 170 watts at this gear. These hills are great though because a lot of spectators line the roads and cheer all day long. I saw some great signs on these hill, my favorites being, "Holy Shit, you are doing an Ironman!" and "HTFU."
Each loop was 40 miles long, beginning and ending in Verona. Verona puts on a little festival for the race and there are lots of spectators. I was so happy to see Jeremy, my Dad, Alex and Adam cheering for me at the start of the second loop.
Also, the second time through Verona we could pick up our special needs bag. I had to stop for mine because I put my second set of Infinite bottles in it. This had been a source of stress for me some weeks before the race - how was I to carry 6 servings of Infinite on my bike that has room for 3 water bottles? On my training rides I put the powder in Ziploc baggies and mixed with water at gas stations, but that was not a good way to handle it during the race. My coach suggested making 2 triple strength bottles and mixing a 3rd of the bottle with water in my aerobottle. I didn't like that suggestion because I knew the course was hilly and I preferred to be sitting up drinking when I was going up the hills and that's hard to do with an aerobottle. At the race expo I asked the guys at the Infinite tent what they would suggest and they gave me the idea to put the bottles in my special needs bag. I put the empty bottles in the bag, poured one bottle in my aerobottle and put the other two in my cages. Voila, 6 bottles of nutrition, each mixed at the exact right concentrate. I also put some Pringles and a Snickers bar in the my special needs bag. The Snickers bar wasn't doing anything for me, but I took a handful of Pringles with my extra bottles.
Naturally, the second loop was harder to get through than the first. I hit Special Needs at 3:27, so I knew I was looking at a 7:00 bike split. While I had hoped to be closer to 6:30, I felt like I was riding a strong bike without cooking it and I did have a marathon to get through. Still, 7:00 is a long time to be out there riding by yourself. I started thinking of things to say (or, hopefully not say) to all the people I passed, or who passed me. Ironman Wisconsin sold cow printed jerseys at the expo and I did moo at the few people I passed wearing these. They did not moo back. Then there were the same people that would pass me going up hill and I would pass going downhill and I would say, "Hi again, John." I peed again at the Mt. Horeb aid station. That was somewhere around 4:30 hours so again, I was keeping up with my hydration. I did have to wait in a small line of maybe 3 people so this stop might have taken up to 3 minutes. Still worth it.
Somewhere around mile 70 my lower back started hurting. It hurt to stay in an aero position and it hurt to sit up. I shifted a lot between the two for a change, but it never really stopped hurting. I was so happy to see Verona for the last time of the day, but for feeling like the ride out to Verona was all uphill, it was weird to feel like the ride back was still uphill. On one left hand turn I over did the corner and ended up on the dirt shoulder. I didn't panic and I got back on the road ok but it was a good wake up call that I was getting tired and my reflexes weren't what they were 6 hours ago.
I don't really remember getting back to Monona Terrace, other than I had no idea where we were other than somewhere within city limits but not downtown. And then we could finally see downtown and the capital. I saw my family again right outside Monona Terrace and the boys were joined by Becky, Laura and Ariel.
I loved my signs that my sisters made!
Overall, I think I had a decent bike. I could have ridden harder, but who knows how I could have run then? As Endurance Nation says, there is no such thing as a good bike split and bad run split. There's the bike you *could* do and the bike you *should* do. But I could have been a bit more consistent. My first 40 miles average was 16.5 mph, the next 43 at 16 mph and the last 29 miles at 15.8 mph. My total bike time was 6:56:35 for a total average of 16.13 mph.
T2: Riding back up the parking lot helix was a lot more fun and faster than shuffling up it after the swim. I was able to hand my bike off to a volunteer who re-racked it for me, then there was someone waiting with my transition bag to help me in the changing room. I did a complete wardrobe change - bike clothes off, running clothes on. I even changed my sports bra and socks and made sure to put body glide on again in all the relevant places. And lastly, I took the 3 Advil I had waiting for me in the bag. Outside, I went through the sunscreen gauntlet again too. I really didn't feel like this transition was any faster than the first, it must have been that I biked the helix instead of shuffling. Total time - 6:19.
The road to Verona was uphill and I was feeling good. I remembered the advice of Mike my coach, ride the first hour really easy. That worked out well because the the first hour got me to Verona, then there were two challenging loops ahead of me. Most of the bike course is a blur, but I do remember there were lots of hills. On the first half of the loop, the hills were not very steep or very long. I downshifted at every hill and watched my power numbers and didn't let them get much over 140 watts. As I crested the hill, I tried to shift and keep my power even to get more speed going down. I did a pretty good job of that, the end result being that everyone passed me going up hill and I repassed them going down.
I got to Mt. Horeb around 2 hours riding time and it was the perfect spot to stop and pee. A lot of Ironman athletes don't take the time to stop and pee during the bike section, but I had decided long ago that I wasn't winning this race and it wasn't worth it to pee on my bike. And stopping to pee proved very easy. The aid station was on a uphill section so we weren't going very fast anyway. A volunteer held my bike while I went into the port-a-potty. The whole deal couldn't have taken more than 90 seconds. And the fact that I had to go 2 hours into the bike was great, it meant I was keeping up with my hydration (the last time I peed being somewhere on the back section of the second loop of the swim. Yes, I have no qualms about peeing while swimming). I also took this time to switch my timing chip band from my left ankle to my right. For some reason, I start getting a weird pain in my ankle and foot during long course triathlons, but after switching the band to my right, I didn't notice it again for the rest of the race.
The second half of the loop is where the course got more challenging. There were some great downhills, but they weren't straight. I saw one ambulance loading up a cyclist on one of the downhill curves. And then there were 2 big climbs that were steeper and longer than anything in the first half. On both of these hills I switched to my granny gear, something I reserve for Olde Stage and the top of Flagstaff back home. My power was still at 170 watts at this gear. These hills are great though because a lot of spectators line the roads and cheer all day long. I saw some great signs on these hill, my favorites being, "Holy Shit, you are doing an Ironman!" and "HTFU."
Each loop was 40 miles long, beginning and ending in Verona. Verona puts on a little festival for the race and there are lots of spectators. I was so happy to see Jeremy, my Dad, Alex and Adam cheering for me at the start of the second loop.
Also, the second time through Verona we could pick up our special needs bag. I had to stop for mine because I put my second set of Infinite bottles in it. This had been a source of stress for me some weeks before the race - how was I to carry 6 servings of Infinite on my bike that has room for 3 water bottles? On my training rides I put the powder in Ziploc baggies and mixed with water at gas stations, but that was not a good way to handle it during the race. My coach suggested making 2 triple strength bottles and mixing a 3rd of the bottle with water in my aerobottle. I didn't like that suggestion because I knew the course was hilly and I preferred to be sitting up drinking when I was going up the hills and that's hard to do with an aerobottle. At the race expo I asked the guys at the Infinite tent what they would suggest and they gave me the idea to put the bottles in my special needs bag. I put the empty bottles in the bag, poured one bottle in my aerobottle and put the other two in my cages. Voila, 6 bottles of nutrition, each mixed at the exact right concentrate. I also put some Pringles and a Snickers bar in the my special needs bag. The Snickers bar wasn't doing anything for me, but I took a handful of Pringles with my extra bottles.
Naturally, the second loop was harder to get through than the first. I hit Special Needs at 3:27, so I knew I was looking at a 7:00 bike split. While I had hoped to be closer to 6:30, I felt like I was riding a strong bike without cooking it and I did have a marathon to get through. Still, 7:00 is a long time to be out there riding by yourself. I started thinking of things to say (or, hopefully not say) to all the people I passed, or who passed me. Ironman Wisconsin sold cow printed jerseys at the expo and I did moo at the few people I passed wearing these. They did not moo back. Then there were the same people that would pass me going up hill and I would pass going downhill and I would say, "Hi again, John." I peed again at the Mt. Horeb aid station. That was somewhere around 4:30 hours so again, I was keeping up with my hydration. I did have to wait in a small line of maybe 3 people so this stop might have taken up to 3 minutes. Still worth it.
Somewhere around mile 70 my lower back started hurting. It hurt to stay in an aero position and it hurt to sit up. I shifted a lot between the two for a change, but it never really stopped hurting. I was so happy to see Verona for the last time of the day, but for feeling like the ride out to Verona was all uphill, it was weird to feel like the ride back was still uphill. On one left hand turn I over did the corner and ended up on the dirt shoulder. I didn't panic and I got back on the road ok but it was a good wake up call that I was getting tired and my reflexes weren't what they were 6 hours ago.
I don't really remember getting back to Monona Terrace, other than I had no idea where we were other than somewhere within city limits but not downtown. And then we could finally see downtown and the capital. I saw my family again right outside Monona Terrace and the boys were joined by Becky, Laura and Ariel.
I loved my signs that my sisters made!
Overall, I think I had a decent bike. I could have ridden harder, but who knows how I could have run then? As Endurance Nation says, there is no such thing as a good bike split and bad run split. There's the bike you *could* do and the bike you *should* do. But I could have been a bit more consistent. My first 40 miles average was 16.5 mph, the next 43 at 16 mph and the last 29 miles at 15.8 mph. My total bike time was 6:56:35 for a total average of 16.13 mph.
T2: Riding back up the parking lot helix was a lot more fun and faster than shuffling up it after the swim. I was able to hand my bike off to a volunteer who re-racked it for me, then there was someone waiting with my transition bag to help me in the changing room. I did a complete wardrobe change - bike clothes off, running clothes on. I even changed my sports bra and socks and made sure to put body glide on again in all the relevant places. And lastly, I took the 3 Advil I had waiting for me in the bag. Outside, I went through the sunscreen gauntlet again too. I really didn't feel like this transition was any faster than the first, it must have been that I biked the helix instead of shuffling. Total time - 6:19.
The Swim
Alison, Dan and I started heading down to the water a bit after 6:30, I think. We quickly got caught up in the traffic jam on the helix that we were warned about. When the pro's gun went off at 6:50, we were still not in the the water. We hit the boat ramp right at 7:00 and I was right next to the gun and felt the blast of air from the discharge. In theory, I would have liked to have been there about 10 minutes earlier so I could have placed myself where I wanted to start and warmed up a little, but hey, at least we were in the water. I started swimming on the outside of the course, like planned. There was a bit of jostling and such, but no more than I usually feel at the beginning of a race.
My family didn't take pictures of the swim, so I shamelessly copied this from another blog. It's not even from this year, but it's not like you were going to see my swim cap in that mess anyway:
And this is from this year, you can pretend I'm that closest person in the red cap, only mine was white:
It was pretty cool to be swimming in a lake in the middle of a city - all the other races I have done have been out in the country. On the first leg of the swim we swam by Monona Terrace and it was fun looking over at all the spectators. The first turn of the race is called the Moo Corner, all the swimmers lift their heads and moo at the kayakers wearing cow shirts and hats. Being on the outside of the course, I had a pretty good look at all the support boats through out the race.
On the back half of the first loop, I started to make my way in towards the buoys a little more as it seemed to be getting less crowded. I was in my own space and zoning out a bit when I got my goggles kicked off. They didn't make it off the top of my head, but I had to stop and tread water while I put them back on and it messed up my flow. It was like being slapped in the face or having someone pour cold water over your head. I immediately headed back out to the edge of swimmers again, I would rather swim 5-10 minutes long than be pummeled in the washing machine that is the Ironman swim.
It didn't take me long to get back in my zone, stroke stroke stroke breath stroke stroke stroke breath..... The second loop was uneventful. I still enjoyed taking a breath and seeing the city skyline with the capital building peaking over. I got a few more minor kicks and hits, especially after the last turn when the course narrowed to get back to shore.
When I got out of the water and looked at my watch and saw 1:25 (officially 1:26:17), I was perfectly happy with that time. There is no doubt in my mind that I could have swam faster if I hadn't done the extra yardage, but I finished the swim unscathed and feeling great. As the Endurance Nation coaches said, the swim is just your ticket into the rest of the race. Next stop, my first experience with the wetsuit strippers - you get the wetsuit over your butt and lay down and they pull off the rest of your suit. As I shuffled up the helix, I was so happy to see my family, I gave Alex a big high five.
T1 - Before the race, I talked to several people about how Ironman races work. They told me it was like magic - you show up in the changing room and someone is already holding your transition bag and then they help you go through the bag and get what you need. Apparently this only works when you aren't coming out of the water at the same time as 1,000 other people. I had to find my bag in the transition room (they were lined up in order, but that did take a certain amount of thinking - What number am I again? And where would that be relative to say, number 1500???). I eventually found my bag and headed into the changing room without a special volunteer helper.
I found an empty chair in the changing room and began my business. I was next to a woman who was ranting her head off, "This is my 5th Ironman and I've never done a swim that was so congested and this transition is too chaotic and blah blah blah." I looked at her and shut her off. I did not need any of that negative energy. I tuned her out and kept thinking, "You did the swim exactly as planned, you didn't get hurt, great job." And Alison was in the changing room too, one of about 4 times I would see her all day long.
I wore a swim suit under my wetsuit and stripped that off for my bike shorts, sports bra and jersey. I took the time to put body glide in all the relevant places and grabbed my race number, helmet, bike shoes, gloves and sunglasses. Outside the changing rooms was a line of volunteers with sunscreen and I made sure to get all my skin covered. And lastly, I was expecting to jog over the the Bike Out and grab my bike from a volunteer, but again, my bike was still on the rack and I had to get it myself. Total time: 12:05.
My family didn't take pictures of the swim, so I shamelessly copied this from another blog. It's not even from this year, but it's not like you were going to see my swim cap in that mess anyway:
And this is from this year, you can pretend I'm that closest person in the red cap, only mine was white:
It was pretty cool to be swimming in a lake in the middle of a city - all the other races I have done have been out in the country. On the first leg of the swim we swam by Monona Terrace and it was fun looking over at all the spectators. The first turn of the race is called the Moo Corner, all the swimmers lift their heads and moo at the kayakers wearing cow shirts and hats. Being on the outside of the course, I had a pretty good look at all the support boats through out the race.
On the back half of the first loop, I started to make my way in towards the buoys a little more as it seemed to be getting less crowded. I was in my own space and zoning out a bit when I got my goggles kicked off. They didn't make it off the top of my head, but I had to stop and tread water while I put them back on and it messed up my flow. It was like being slapped in the face or having someone pour cold water over your head. I immediately headed back out to the edge of swimmers again, I would rather swim 5-10 minutes long than be pummeled in the washing machine that is the Ironman swim.
It didn't take me long to get back in my zone, stroke stroke stroke breath stroke stroke stroke breath..... The second loop was uneventful. I still enjoyed taking a breath and seeing the city skyline with the capital building peaking over. I got a few more minor kicks and hits, especially after the last turn when the course narrowed to get back to shore.
When I got out of the water and looked at my watch and saw 1:25 (officially 1:26:17), I was perfectly happy with that time. There is no doubt in my mind that I could have swam faster if I hadn't done the extra yardage, but I finished the swim unscathed and feeling great. As the Endurance Nation coaches said, the swim is just your ticket into the rest of the race. Next stop, my first experience with the wetsuit strippers - you get the wetsuit over your butt and lay down and they pull off the rest of your suit. As I shuffled up the helix, I was so happy to see my family, I gave Alex a big high five.
T1 - Before the race, I talked to several people about how Ironman races work. They told me it was like magic - you show up in the changing room and someone is already holding your transition bag and then they help you go through the bag and get what you need. Apparently this only works when you aren't coming out of the water at the same time as 1,000 other people. I had to find my bag in the transition room (they were lined up in order, but that did take a certain amount of thinking - What number am I again? And where would that be relative to say, number 1500???). I eventually found my bag and headed into the changing room without a special volunteer helper.
I found an empty chair in the changing room and began my business. I was next to a woman who was ranting her head off, "This is my 5th Ironman and I've never done a swim that was so congested and this transition is too chaotic and blah blah blah." I looked at her and shut her off. I did not need any of that negative energy. I tuned her out and kept thinking, "You did the swim exactly as planned, you didn't get hurt, great job." And Alison was in the changing room too, one of about 4 times I would see her all day long.
I wore a swim suit under my wetsuit and stripped that off for my bike shorts, sports bra and jersey. I took the time to put body glide in all the relevant places and grabbed my race number, helmet, bike shoes, gloves and sunglasses. Outside the changing rooms was a line of volunteers with sunscreen and I made sure to get all my skin covered. And lastly, I was expecting to jog over the the Bike Out and grab my bike from a volunteer, but again, my bike was still on the rack and I had to get it myself. Total time: 12:05.
Friday, September 10, 2010
48 Hours to Go
I got a great night's sleep Thursday night and awoke to an empty house. My 92 year old Grandmother walked 2 miles to her part time job at the temple and left me the car for the day. I didn't feel too keen about stranding her at work, so after breakfast I drove to the temple and Al and Dan picked me up and we headed over to the Ironman Expo.
We arrived just in time for the Endurance Nation Four Keys talk. I've been getting Endurance Nation emails for about 2 years and Rich and Patrick have great long course racing advice.
Brief Four Keys Summary:
1. Execution, not Fitness. Of course you have to have some level of fitness to complete an Ironman. But even the fittest athlete can blow up his race if he doesn't execute it well. And someone like me, who is not the fittest athlete, can have a solid race with proper execution.
2. The Line. If you execute your race properly, it should not get enomously difficult until mile 18 on the run. Everything you do before that should be setting yourself up to keep going and not slow down at mile 18. That means not cooking the bike, not starting the run too fast, staying on top of nutrition.
3. The Box. As long as you can during the race, stay in your box of things you can control. When you are swimming, focus on swimming and not what's coming up next. On the bike, think about the bike and how much power you are pushing versus how much power you should be pushing. Everything you do should be setting yourself up to get to The Line.
4. The One Thing. When things get hard (hopefully not before mile 18), make sure you have rehearsed in your mind telling your body why you are making it do this.
I had watched the Four Keys video before and had read about it, but it was great to hear it all again right before the race.
After the talk, we went to athlete check in. Since I had done Boise, I was familiar with how Ironman ran their check in process, ie as complicated as possible. We followed a maze all over the convention center showing our ID, getting weighed (I guess if a medical personal pulls you off the course during the race, they can weigh you to see if you have lost too much weight due to dehydration), and finally picking up our race packets. I think the whole process took about half an hour, we heard later that it was taking over 2 hours. At least it was all inside and out of the sun.
Next, I convinced everyone to join me at Chipotle for lunch. Today was supposed to be my big eating day, eat as much as possible to store up some calories for Sunday. So I had a burrito AND a Sprite.
After lunch we hooked up with Loretta, a teammate of Dan's who lives in Chicago. She had ridden the bike course several times this summer and volunteered to drive the course with us. We drove the loop once and it was great to finally see it in person. No part of the course was flat for very long, but the hills didn't seem that long or steep. There were a lot of sharp turns, some of which immediately turned into a steep uphill or downhill. I could not believe how many cyclists wearing race bracelets were out there riding the course. Even riding out and back to Verona would be over 30 miles. I wanted to shout out the window, "What the hell are you doing?" but everyone in the car vetoed me.
We got back in town around 4:00 and I got dropped back off at Granny Shirley's house. My family arrived a little bit later after their 2 day drive with my bike. I ate dinner with everyone, then headed back over to the convention center for the Mandatory Athlete's Meeting at 7:30. The meeting was as I expected, a lot of explanation of drafting penalties and a high emphasis of no public nudity, urination or defecation. Though I do think that if you are publicly defecating, you probably didn't have a whole lot of say in the matter.
That night, I stayed over at cousin Sally's house to ensure that I got a good night sleep (aka did not get awakened by my kids at 6 in the morning). I have only met Sally a handful of times, but we had a nice chat about my race and the family before I went to bed around 10:30. And I did get another wonderful night's sleep, probably thanks to Advil PM.
I woke up around 7:30 on Saturday to the sound of rain. Jeremy and Dad came and picked me up and we stopped at Starbucks on the way back to Granny's. I tried the toffee mocha and I give it two thumbs up. It lightly rained until about 9:00. Around 10:00 I rode my bike for just 15 minutes to make sure everything was still working correctly, then I ran 10 minutes, mostly so I would be warmed up to stretch afterward.
Next I had the very important task of packing all my transition bags. There were 5 bags total:
1. Morning bag - a bag to take with me to the race that I could put all my clothes and whatever else I was still hanging onto before starting the swim.
2. Swim to bike bag - a bag to put all my bike gear in, including helmet and shoes.
3. Special needs bike bag - a bag I could get half way through the bike loop. I put a spare tube, 3 water bottles of Infinite nutrition, a snickers bar and a small can of pringles.
4. Bike to run bag - for all my running gear
5. Special needs running bag - I put in a long sleeved shirt, extra socks, advil and gel.
Here's all my gear pre-bagging:
Around noon, Jeremy and I went back down to the convention center to drop off my swim-to-bike bag, bike-to-run bag and bike.
All the bags went into a room in numerical order:
Our bikes had to checked in Saturday and they were racked outside. I covered my seat and computer with plastic bags on the very slight chance it might rain again:
We got home around 1:00 and had lunch with my Granny's cousin from Chicago. Then Jeremy and Dad took the boys to miniature golf while I stayed back and relaxed. I would not have found putt putt relaxing.
At 4:00 Dad and Granny drove to Milwaukee to pick up Ariel from the airport and my family was left to fend for itself. I convinced everyone to go back to Chipotle for dinner, despite Adam's protests. After dinner, we had a scavenger hunt to find Mix 1 (Whole Foods) and a Snickers bar and Pringles (Walgreens). Then Jeremy dropped me off at the Double Tree hotel to spend the night with Alison. We had decided that it would be too hard to get the family up and going as early as I needed to be going and Al's hotel was only a mile from the start.
Al and I had a quiet evening. We watched Knight and Day with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. At 10:15 I set both my watch alarm and cell phone alarm to go off at 4:15. It shocked me when my cell phone read, "Alarm to go off in 6 hours." What? 6 hours? That's not enough sleep time! Little did I know, I would not be getting anywhere near 6 hours of sleep. In fact, I lay on that comfy bed wide awake for hours. I made myself not look at the clock, even when I got up to pee twice. Finally I checked, it was already 12:30. I rested some more, and at 2:00 I took the Endurance Nation coaches' advice and had my big breakfast. I wasn't too excited about eating, so I drank 2 Mix 1's, about 400 calories. Then I lay there some more, occasionally burping Mix 1. I know I saw 2:33 on the clock, I think I finally drifted off for a bit around 3:00, and was awake before the alarm went off.
Both alarms did go off on time, then it was time to get ready!
I ate my peanut butter sandwich and drank Gatorade while I mixed up my 6 bottles of Infinite. I also had a cup of crappy hotel coffee. Al, Dan and I had the inglorious idea of taking a cab down to the race start and it was waiting for us at 5:15. Definitely the best $5 Dan ever spent.
Here we are outside the capital:
When I get back to here, I will be an Ironman!
We got down to the race start and were able to go to our bikes to put our water bottles on and check our tires, and get into our transition bags for the few things we had forgotten or wanted to check. We got body marked (when the guy asked my age, I said 31? How out of it was I??? 34 might be excusable, but 31???), then hung out in the convention center waiting for the race to start.
And now, boys, please feel free to skip this part. Just go to the next entry, there's nothing but gross girl talk left here.
.
.
.
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Warning - gross girl talk ahead -
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.
So at my last bathroom break at 6:30, I discovered that I had started my period. This was something I had been worrying about (along with 57 other things I couldn't control such as but not limited to the weather, mass swim starts and forest fires in Boulder) and I was prepared but not happy. I complained to Al and she reminded me there was nothing I could do about it and to put it out of my head. And so I did, though I did shake my fist at my stupid body and its ridiculously short 22 day cycle.
We arrived just in time for the Endurance Nation Four Keys talk. I've been getting Endurance Nation emails for about 2 years and Rich and Patrick have great long course racing advice.
Brief Four Keys Summary:
1. Execution, not Fitness. Of course you have to have some level of fitness to complete an Ironman. But even the fittest athlete can blow up his race if he doesn't execute it well. And someone like me, who is not the fittest athlete, can have a solid race with proper execution.
2. The Line. If you execute your race properly, it should not get enomously difficult until mile 18 on the run. Everything you do before that should be setting yourself up to keep going and not slow down at mile 18. That means not cooking the bike, not starting the run too fast, staying on top of nutrition.
3. The Box. As long as you can during the race, stay in your box of things you can control. When you are swimming, focus on swimming and not what's coming up next. On the bike, think about the bike and how much power you are pushing versus how much power you should be pushing. Everything you do should be setting yourself up to get to The Line.
4. The One Thing. When things get hard (hopefully not before mile 18), make sure you have rehearsed in your mind telling your body why you are making it do this.
I had watched the Four Keys video before and had read about it, but it was great to hear it all again right before the race.
After the talk, we went to athlete check in. Since I had done Boise, I was familiar with how Ironman ran their check in process, ie as complicated as possible. We followed a maze all over the convention center showing our ID, getting weighed (I guess if a medical personal pulls you off the course during the race, they can weigh you to see if you have lost too much weight due to dehydration), and finally picking up our race packets. I think the whole process took about half an hour, we heard later that it was taking over 2 hours. At least it was all inside and out of the sun.
Next, I convinced everyone to join me at Chipotle for lunch. Today was supposed to be my big eating day, eat as much as possible to store up some calories for Sunday. So I had a burrito AND a Sprite.
After lunch we hooked up with Loretta, a teammate of Dan's who lives in Chicago. She had ridden the bike course several times this summer and volunteered to drive the course with us. We drove the loop once and it was great to finally see it in person. No part of the course was flat for very long, but the hills didn't seem that long or steep. There were a lot of sharp turns, some of which immediately turned into a steep uphill or downhill. I could not believe how many cyclists wearing race bracelets were out there riding the course. Even riding out and back to Verona would be over 30 miles. I wanted to shout out the window, "What the hell are you doing?" but everyone in the car vetoed me.
We got back in town around 4:00 and I got dropped back off at Granny Shirley's house. My family arrived a little bit later after their 2 day drive with my bike. I ate dinner with everyone, then headed back over to the convention center for the Mandatory Athlete's Meeting at 7:30. The meeting was as I expected, a lot of explanation of drafting penalties and a high emphasis of no public nudity, urination or defecation. Though I do think that if you are publicly defecating, you probably didn't have a whole lot of say in the matter.
That night, I stayed over at cousin Sally's house to ensure that I got a good night sleep (aka did not get awakened by my kids at 6 in the morning). I have only met Sally a handful of times, but we had a nice chat about my race and the family before I went to bed around 10:30. And I did get another wonderful night's sleep, probably thanks to Advil PM.
I woke up around 7:30 on Saturday to the sound of rain. Jeremy and Dad came and picked me up and we stopped at Starbucks on the way back to Granny's. I tried the toffee mocha and I give it two thumbs up. It lightly rained until about 9:00. Around 10:00 I rode my bike for just 15 minutes to make sure everything was still working correctly, then I ran 10 minutes, mostly so I would be warmed up to stretch afterward.
Next I had the very important task of packing all my transition bags. There were 5 bags total:
1. Morning bag - a bag to take with me to the race that I could put all my clothes and whatever else I was still hanging onto before starting the swim.
2. Swim to bike bag - a bag to put all my bike gear in, including helmet and shoes.
3. Special needs bike bag - a bag I could get half way through the bike loop. I put a spare tube, 3 water bottles of Infinite nutrition, a snickers bar and a small can of pringles.
4. Bike to run bag - for all my running gear
5. Special needs running bag - I put in a long sleeved shirt, extra socks, advil and gel.
Here's all my gear pre-bagging:
Around noon, Jeremy and I went back down to the convention center to drop off my swim-to-bike bag, bike-to-run bag and bike.
All the bags went into a room in numerical order:
Our bikes had to checked in Saturday and they were racked outside. I covered my seat and computer with plastic bags on the very slight chance it might rain again:
We got home around 1:00 and had lunch with my Granny's cousin from Chicago. Then Jeremy and Dad took the boys to miniature golf while I stayed back and relaxed. I would not have found putt putt relaxing.
At 4:00 Dad and Granny drove to Milwaukee to pick up Ariel from the airport and my family was left to fend for itself. I convinced everyone to go back to Chipotle for dinner, despite Adam's protests. After dinner, we had a scavenger hunt to find Mix 1 (Whole Foods) and a Snickers bar and Pringles (Walgreens). Then Jeremy dropped me off at the Double Tree hotel to spend the night with Alison. We had decided that it would be too hard to get the family up and going as early as I needed to be going and Al's hotel was only a mile from the start.
Al and I had a quiet evening. We watched Knight and Day with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. At 10:15 I set both my watch alarm and cell phone alarm to go off at 4:15. It shocked me when my cell phone read, "Alarm to go off in 6 hours." What? 6 hours? That's not enough sleep time! Little did I know, I would not be getting anywhere near 6 hours of sleep. In fact, I lay on that comfy bed wide awake for hours. I made myself not look at the clock, even when I got up to pee twice. Finally I checked, it was already 12:30. I rested some more, and at 2:00 I took the Endurance Nation coaches' advice and had my big breakfast. I wasn't too excited about eating, so I drank 2 Mix 1's, about 400 calories. Then I lay there some more, occasionally burping Mix 1. I know I saw 2:33 on the clock, I think I finally drifted off for a bit around 3:00, and was awake before the alarm went off.
Both alarms did go off on time, then it was time to get ready!
I ate my peanut butter sandwich and drank Gatorade while I mixed up my 6 bottles of Infinite. I also had a cup of crappy hotel coffee. Al, Dan and I had the inglorious idea of taking a cab down to the race start and it was waiting for us at 5:15. Definitely the best $5 Dan ever spent.
Here we are outside the capital:
When I get back to here, I will be an Ironman!
We got down to the race start and were able to go to our bikes to put our water bottles on and check our tires, and get into our transition bags for the few things we had forgotten or wanted to check. We got body marked (when the guy asked my age, I said 31? How out of it was I??? 34 might be excusable, but 31???), then hung out in the convention center waiting for the race to start.
And now, boys, please feel free to skip this part. Just go to the next entry, there's nothing but gross girl talk left here.
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Warning - gross girl talk ahead -
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So at my last bathroom break at 6:30, I discovered that I had started my period. This was something I had been worrying about (along with 57 other things I couldn't control such as but not limited to the weather, mass swim starts and forest fires in Boulder) and I was prepared but not happy. I complained to Al and she reminded me there was nothing I could do about it and to put it out of my head. And so I did, though I did shake my fist at my stupid body and its ridiculously short 22 day cycle.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Holy Stressball Day
I did not sleep well Wednesday night. I fell asleep around 11:00 and woke up at 2:30 and could not go back to sleep. I eventually decided to get up at 4:15 and did my swim workout at the rec center at 5:45 when the pool opened (after a quick stop at Kings to pick up some Advil PM for future reference). My 1600 yard workout only took half an hour, then I was home by 6:30. I sent the boys to school for 2 hours so I could get in my 30 minute bike ride and shower in peace.
I picked the boys up at 10:00 and we headed over to temple for services with my Dad. We ducked out a bit early to be home by noon, then I did my last minute packing. I got on the shuttle bus to the airport at 12:55 and got on my 3:05 flight without a hitch.
My grandmother picked me up at the airport in Madison. I've debated putting in this next bit for the sake of family harmony, but it did happen and I'm over it. On the way home from the airport, my grandmother asked what I thought about my sisters' crazy plan to run a half marathon in Chicago the morning of my race. This was news to me - no one in my family had breathed a word of it. And while I thought it was pretty crappy of my sisters to tell me they were coming to my race and then duck out for half of it and not even tell me, the part that made me livid was that they expected my dad to drive to Milwaukee Saturday afternoon to pick up Ariel at the airport, for whom we would be responsible for until my sisters arrived Sunday afternoon. I made it known to everyone - especially my dad - that there was no way in heck Jeremy would be in charge of 3 kids while supporting me at my race. My dad had his own plans of riding out to the bike course during the race, and how could he do that with a 4 year old? And my grandmother couldn't watch Ariel, she cannot hear the frequency that kids talk at. After a bit of going around we worked out a babysitter for Ariel in Madison until my sisters could come and take responsibility. And in the interest of family harmony, as soon as we had a solution I was over it (and was probably more upset then I would normally be because I so much nervous energy and no where to put it) but in the future, I appreciate being told the truth.
I picked the boys up at 10:00 and we headed over to temple for services with my Dad. We ducked out a bit early to be home by noon, then I did my last minute packing. I got on the shuttle bus to the airport at 12:55 and got on my 3:05 flight without a hitch.
My grandmother picked me up at the airport in Madison. I've debated putting in this next bit for the sake of family harmony, but it did happen and I'm over it. On the way home from the airport, my grandmother asked what I thought about my sisters' crazy plan to run a half marathon in Chicago the morning of my race. This was news to me - no one in my family had breathed a word of it. And while I thought it was pretty crappy of my sisters to tell me they were coming to my race and then duck out for half of it and not even tell me, the part that made me livid was that they expected my dad to drive to Milwaukee Saturday afternoon to pick up Ariel at the airport, for whom we would be responsible for until my sisters arrived Sunday afternoon. I made it known to everyone - especially my dad - that there was no way in heck Jeremy would be in charge of 3 kids while supporting me at my race. My dad had his own plans of riding out to the bike course during the race, and how could he do that with a 4 year old? And my grandmother couldn't watch Ariel, she cannot hear the frequency that kids talk at. After a bit of going around we worked out a babysitter for Ariel in Madison until my sisters could come and take responsibility. And in the interest of family harmony, as soon as we had a solution I was over it (and was probably more upset then I would normally be because I so much nervous energy and no where to put it) but in the future, I appreciate being told the truth.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
See ya on the flip side
Well kids, this is it. I leave for Madison tomorrow, but as I need to get in a quick swim and bike in the morning, followed by Rosh Hashana services before the airport, this is my last check in.
First, I'd like to reminisces a bit about the last year. I want to give Alison a big thank you for sending me on this journey, no matter what happens at the race, I'm glad I had this year. Al's been an awesome training partner as well and it's going to be great doing this race with her. This year, I think I remained sane (for the most part) and focused and yet pushed myself to new levels. In the fall I was able to improve my running a little (always room for more improvement!) and set new 5k and 10k PRs. During the winter I was enjoy snowboarding with my family while still training. I got hooked on a new sport - riding at the velodrome - and I'm excited to start riding there again this fall. I had a super fun half marathon road trip with my sisters - I'd love to do another trip next year. This summer I finished a very challenging half Ironman and set more PRs in other triathlon distances. I did 5 training rides over 5 1/2 hours, including two century rides. On top of that, I kept my shit together - the house was mostly sanitary and stocked full of food, with a decent dinner most nights.
The year in numbers:
Swim: 196 miles
Bike: 2517 miles (not including the hours at the track)
Run: 861 miles
I would never have accomplished what I did this year without the awesome support from my family and friends. Especially Jeremy, who never did think this was a great idea from the start, but nonetheless has supported me 100% this summer, whether not minding spending an entire Saturday with the boys, or riding 100 miles with me (which is now 2 hours longer than his preferred biking distance).
I saw this on another blog awhile back and thought it was a neat idea. It really helps me to know people are thinking of me on race day (got me through those last 3 miles at Boise without walking). I'm going to print this list out and carry it with me on the run (don't worry, I have to wear my over-pocketed shorts to carry my gels anyway). Everyone gets a mile dedicated to them (somewhat in order of importance, but don't read TOO much into it ;) ).
1. Christina
2. Ginny
3. Abby
4. Sarah A.
5. Ellen
6. Dan
7. Michelle
8. D3 girlz - Courtney, Kathy, Sally, Leena, Erica
9. D3 boyz - Jay, John, Jon, Andy
10. Amanda
11. Liz
12. Al
13. Mike
14. Crissy
15. Grannie Shirley
16. Devon
17. Sarah T.
18. Greg
19. Judy
20. Mom
21. Laura
22. Becky
23. Dad
24. Adam
25. Alex
26. Jeremy
So if you want to check in with me on race day, I think this is the link. And if that doesn't work, http://www.ironman.com should have a link to the right place. So how do you know how I'm doing? I'm going into this race with only the goal of finishing under the cut off time of 17 hours. But I also have a general idea of how I could race if the stars are aligned and I have the perfect day.
Swim: 1:15 - 1:30
Bike: 6:15 - 6:45
Run: 5:00 - 6:00
Both transitions together should be about 20 minutes (I'm doing a wardrobe change, plus you have to run up a couple stories of a parking structure helix). So I should be finished anywhere from 13-17 hours. The race starts at 7:00 am CDT. So for folks back in Colorado, I should be finishing between 7:00-11:00pm MDT.
Tomorrow I fly to Madison, while my intrepid husband, father and sons start the drive (with my bike). My awesome sisters fly in on Saturday and we will all stay at my Grannie Shirley's house. I'll have a great support team on site, which means more to me than they know.
Wish me luck, I'll see you on the flip side.
First, I'd like to reminisces a bit about the last year. I want to give Alison a big thank you for sending me on this journey, no matter what happens at the race, I'm glad I had this year. Al's been an awesome training partner as well and it's going to be great doing this race with her. This year, I think I remained sane (for the most part) and focused and yet pushed myself to new levels. In the fall I was able to improve my running a little (always room for more improvement!) and set new 5k and 10k PRs. During the winter I was enjoy snowboarding with my family while still training. I got hooked on a new sport - riding at the velodrome - and I'm excited to start riding there again this fall. I had a super fun half marathon road trip with my sisters - I'd love to do another trip next year. This summer I finished a very challenging half Ironman and set more PRs in other triathlon distances. I did 5 training rides over 5 1/2 hours, including two century rides. On top of that, I kept my shit together - the house was mostly sanitary and stocked full of food, with a decent dinner most nights.
The year in numbers:
Swim: 196 miles
Bike: 2517 miles (not including the hours at the track)
Run: 861 miles
I would never have accomplished what I did this year without the awesome support from my family and friends. Especially Jeremy, who never did think this was a great idea from the start, but nonetheless has supported me 100% this summer, whether not minding spending an entire Saturday with the boys, or riding 100 miles with me (which is now 2 hours longer than his preferred biking distance).
I saw this on another blog awhile back and thought it was a neat idea. It really helps me to know people are thinking of me on race day (got me through those last 3 miles at Boise without walking). I'm going to print this list out and carry it with me on the run (don't worry, I have to wear my over-pocketed shorts to carry my gels anyway). Everyone gets a mile dedicated to them (somewhat in order of importance, but don't read TOO much into it ;) ).
1. Christina
2. Ginny
3. Abby
4. Sarah A.
5. Ellen
6. Dan
7. Michelle
8. D3 girlz - Courtney, Kathy, Sally, Leena, Erica
9. D3 boyz - Jay, John, Jon, Andy
10. Amanda
11. Liz
12. Al
13. Mike
14. Crissy
15. Grannie Shirley
16. Devon
17. Sarah T.
18. Greg
19. Judy
20. Mom
21. Laura
22. Becky
23. Dad
24. Adam
25. Alex
26. Jeremy
So if you want to check in with me on race day, I think this is the link. And if that doesn't work, http://www.ironman.com should have a link to the right place. So how do you know how I'm doing? I'm going into this race with only the goal of finishing under the cut off time of 17 hours. But I also have a general idea of how I could race if the stars are aligned and I have the perfect day.
Swim: 1:15 - 1:30
Bike: 6:15 - 6:45
Run: 5:00 - 6:00
Both transitions together should be about 20 minutes (I'm doing a wardrobe change, plus you have to run up a couple stories of a parking structure helix). So I should be finished anywhere from 13-17 hours. The race starts at 7:00 am CDT. So for folks back in Colorado, I should be finishing between 7:00-11:00pm MDT.
Tomorrow I fly to Madison, while my intrepid husband, father and sons start the drive (with my bike). My awesome sisters fly in on Saturday and we will all stay at my Grannie Shirley's house. I'll have a great support team on site, which means more to me than they know.
Wish me luck, I'll see you on the flip side.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Turkey Toe Weekend
I haven't had much time to take mini vacations this summer, so the opportunity to go to Westcliffe the week before my race (and during taper) was perfect. We had a couple cool days in Boulder last week and I was expecting Turkey Toe to be cold (it's at 8,000 ft) but we had a clear warm weekend:
On Saturday, Jeremy and I rode from Mackenzie Junction (below) to Bishop's castle:
That road happened to be part of the Bike with Pike Century ride. Initially, we were worried about riding on the same road as an organized ride, but apparently when you have an organized ride through the Wet Mountains, you still have fewer riders than any given road on any given weekday in Boulder. But because of the ride, we got some road signs and support vehicles looking after us, which was nice since cyclists are more rare down south:
The ride to Bishop's castle was surprisingly difficult. The road starts up a 4 mile hill, then there are 2 more 2 mile climbs and then you turn around and do it again. So we were climbing for 10-25 minutes and had a 3-5 minute break on the descents. I'm really hoping the Wisconsin hills are shorter than that, I only averaged 13 mph for the whole ride.
And the end of the ride - crazy Bishop's Castle (hand made by Jim Castle over the last 40 years or so - this website gives the warning, "Bishop's Castle may look like Hogwarts, but Jim Bishop is no cuddly Dumbledore. He's a tough-talking man with strong, extreme beliefs, and sometimes he expresses them bluntly and loudly. If you or your children want to avoid potentially offensive rants (involving politics and race), you may want to steer clear."):
I had a 20 minute run after our ride and when I trotted past the century ride's aid station in my bike kit, I got some funny looks.
I took Sunday off, while Jeremy, Sarah and Devon had adventures climbing Horn Peak. I did that hike about 11 years ago and it's pretty challenging. I was happy to loaf around the ranch.
Sunday night we had a big fire. Everyone had turns with the cattails soaked in diesel (this picture does make it look more dramatic than it really was):
And then we lit firecrackers (the firecrackers were way more cool than the picture makes them look):
On Monday I had a short run which Sarah joined me on. I don't know if it was the altitude or the screaming winds, but it was not an easy 40 minutes.
We came home Monday night to the Four Mile Canyon fire raging in the mountains above Boulder:
And here's a time lapse video from the top of Flagstaff last night:
The fire is about 7 miles from our house and we are not in any danger, but thousands of Boulderites have been evacuated. The air quality is really bad, so I will have to do my hour bike ride inside today.
Weekly Totals:
Swim: 9400 yards
Bike: 75.3 miles
Run: 17.1 miles
Total: 11:30
On Saturday, Jeremy and I rode from Mackenzie Junction (below) to Bishop's castle:
That road happened to be part of the Bike with Pike Century ride. Initially, we were worried about riding on the same road as an organized ride, but apparently when you have an organized ride through the Wet Mountains, you still have fewer riders than any given road on any given weekday in Boulder. But because of the ride, we got some road signs and support vehicles looking after us, which was nice since cyclists are more rare down south:
The ride to Bishop's castle was surprisingly difficult. The road starts up a 4 mile hill, then there are 2 more 2 mile climbs and then you turn around and do it again. So we were climbing for 10-25 minutes and had a 3-5 minute break on the descents. I'm really hoping the Wisconsin hills are shorter than that, I only averaged 13 mph for the whole ride.
And the end of the ride - crazy Bishop's Castle (hand made by Jim Castle over the last 40 years or so - this website gives the warning, "Bishop's Castle may look like Hogwarts, but Jim Bishop is no cuddly Dumbledore. He's a tough-talking man with strong, extreme beliefs, and sometimes he expresses them bluntly and loudly. If you or your children want to avoid potentially offensive rants (involving politics and race), you may want to steer clear."):
I had a 20 minute run after our ride and when I trotted past the century ride's aid station in my bike kit, I got some funny looks.
I took Sunday off, while Jeremy, Sarah and Devon had adventures climbing Horn Peak. I did that hike about 11 years ago and it's pretty challenging. I was happy to loaf around the ranch.
Sunday night we had a big fire. Everyone had turns with the cattails soaked in diesel (this picture does make it look more dramatic than it really was):
And then we lit firecrackers (the firecrackers were way more cool than the picture makes them look):
On Monday I had a short run which Sarah joined me on. I don't know if it was the altitude or the screaming winds, but it was not an easy 40 minutes.
We came home Monday night to the Four Mile Canyon fire raging in the mountains above Boulder:
And here's a time lapse video from the top of Flagstaff last night:
The fire is about 7 miles from our house and we are not in any danger, but thousands of Boulderites have been evacuated. The air quality is really bad, so I will have to do my hour bike ride inside today.
Weekly Totals:
Swim: 9400 yards
Bike: 75.3 miles
Run: 17.1 miles
Total: 11:30
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Where *is* my taper?
Yesterday, I rode 38 miles. Today I ran for 90 minutes (8.7 miles) and then swam a master's class for an hour. It sure doesn't feel like a taper! But even though my volume is still a bit high, it feels fine. The 90 minute run (at a 10:23 pace) still came out with an average heart rate of 147 (my zone 1) and everything felt fine. I did have an adventure where I really needed a bathroom around mile 5 in a non-squatting-behind-a-tree-way and planned on using the East Boulder Rec center. Which was sadly closed for their yearly cleaning. Making it home without crapping myself was quite the achievement, I'm very happy there will be port-a-potties every mile in the race.
I got my first full body massage of the season this afternoon and am feeling very relaxed. On the plan for tomorrow - a 4800 yard swim. Speaking of swimming, I always count my yards during masters and log them in training peaks. So that way I know in the last year, I have swam 192 miles! Doesn't that seem like a lot??? Especially since I've only run 850.
I got my first full body massage of the season this afternoon and am feeling very relaxed. On the plan for tomorrow - a 4800 yard swim. Speaking of swimming, I always count my yards during masters and log them in training peaks. So that way I know in the last year, I have swam 192 miles! Doesn't that seem like a lot??? Especially since I've only run 850.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
And etcetera
I've always maintained that the most difficult part of the Ironman is not the hours of training, but rather signing up a year in advance, in essence saying, "Yes, in one year from today I will be healthy, fit and ready." A lot can happen in a year. A lot can happen in two weeks.
On Sunday Alex started complaining of a stomach ache. He wasn't having any other stomach bug symptoms and the pain started to get worse. Eventually I decided to take him to urgent care to rule out appendicitis. After numerous test including a strep culture (because apparently sometimes strep presents as a stomach ache in kids) and a blood draw, we were sent home with the diagnosis of "tummy bug." But a day later we got a call back that while the instant strep culture came back negative, the 24 hour one was positive. Alex missed 2 days of school but after a day on the antibiotic was feeling back to normal. So now my main goal is to also not get strep. In fact, as a precaution I got a strep test myself yesterday, though the doctor rolled her eyes and assured me that since I wasn't actually sick and my throat looked fine, I was probably good.
So with 11 days left, things are looking good. I did my training. I have a race plan. I appear to be healthy and uninjured. I need to stop worrying about the weather, that is out of my control. I have three more training days left that have volume in the 90 minutes to 2 1/2 hour range and then it's easy taper time.
On Sunday Alex started complaining of a stomach ache. He wasn't having any other stomach bug symptoms and the pain started to get worse. Eventually I decided to take him to urgent care to rule out appendicitis. After numerous test including a strep culture (because apparently sometimes strep presents as a stomach ache in kids) and a blood draw, we were sent home with the diagnosis of "tummy bug." But a day later we got a call back that while the instant strep culture came back negative, the 24 hour one was positive. Alex missed 2 days of school but after a day on the antibiotic was feeling back to normal. So now my main goal is to also not get strep. In fact, as a precaution I got a strep test myself yesterday, though the doctor rolled her eyes and assured me that since I wasn't actually sick and my throat looked fine, I was probably good.
So with 11 days left, things are looking good. I did my training. I have a race plan. I appear to be healthy and uninjured. I need to stop worrying about the weather, that is out of my control. I have three more training days left that have volume in the 90 minutes to 2 1/2 hour range and then it's easy taper time.
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