IM CDA Race Report, Part II

Bike:
I had scouted my route from bike rack to transition exit the day before when I dropped Stella off. It was super easy. I had the third rack from the front, almost all the way to the side. All I had to do once I picked her up was go back to the side aisle and run straight down it to the exit. I got to the mount line, shoved off, started my Garmin, and then it was just me and Stella for the next seven or so hours.



First though, we got to ride through town and all the cheering spectators. I knew my crew was out there somewhere but I didn’t know quite where, and I tried to look for them as best I could without crashing. I saw them within the first few minutes, waved, and immediately ran over a manhole cover and almost wiped out. Well, not really almost, but I made a mental note to be more careful the next time I decided it was a good idea to be waving on the bike.

A moment before near-disaster:


I was in SCR, as my coach had told me to be for at least the first thirty minutes. The first part of the bike course is mostly flat, so it was a good time to just spin my legs, get warmed up on the bike, and enjoy the experience. We headed out to the out-and-back on CDA Lake Drive, which is the part of the course that you both bike and run on. There’s also a really short out-and-back on Northwest Blvd, which I thought was at the beginning of the loop. I realized I wasn’t heading that way and thought I had made a wrong turn somewhere. For a minute, I thought, “Oh no! I’m going off course and I’m going to be disqualified!” But then I realized that was silly, there was no possible way I could’ve gone off course, and that other part must be at the end of the loop. Phew.





I didn’t know exactly where the turnaround was on CDA Lake Dr, but I assumed it was near where this hill by a bridge was. I hadn’t gone any further than that on my training rides in April. So when we got to the hill, I kept thinking the turnaround would be just ahead. It turned out it was a good few miles past that point, which was a surprise. It was mostly an easy ride though, except for one longish gradual hill. When we finally got to the turnaround, I saw all the special needs bags laid out and made a note of where mine was. Then back down the lake road to Government Way.

Heading north on Government Way is still pretty much flat, so I really hadn’t done a whole lot of work on the bike yet by this point. And my swim was mostly an easy cruise, so I was still feeling really fresh. I knew the hills would start by the time I got up to Hayden Lake, and that the hardest one is one of the first ones, but I was surprisingly calm about it (especially considering the total meltdown that I had on my way to Nasty Grade on the Wildflower course that March). I realized I was more eager than anything- I’ve ridden these hills before, I know I can do it, now it’s finally showtime so let’s go!

When I was passing the Albertson’s on Gov’t Way I heard one of the volunteers say, “Here comes the race leader!” I saw the flashing lights of the escort vehicles coming the opposite way, and shortly thereafter was a guy moving VERY fast on a VERY nice-looking bike. It was probably Pontano, looking back at the results, but at the time I didn’t know who it was. After he passed, I remembered the Mardi Gras half marathon, when the race leader passed us coming the other way and us runners on the other side all started cheering for him. I cheered for the next few bikes that passed after the leader. I don’t think anyone else did, and I don’t know if the racers heard me, but it made me feel good anyway.

By this point, it was about an hour to an hour and a half into the bike, and I still felt like I hadn’t really worked yet all day. I knew that was good, since I had a lot of work to do on the hills coming up. I knew that once we made the turn onto Hayden Ave by the country club, that it was about to start. Having ridden the course back in April was a HUGE help all day. Knowing what road I was on and knowing where I had to go next, being able to picture my position on the course map, made it feel so much more manageable. George the masters swim coach made fun of me for taking that April trip (“What didja do that for? You must have too much money to spend”), but I think it’s definitely a best practice!

My Hammer bars stopped being appetizing about an hour into the bike, but I knew I needed to keep filling the tanks if I wanted to be able to run at all, so I stayed on schedule with my eating and drinking and Thermotabs. Other than checking the timing for my eating/salt pill schedule, I didn’t look at my watch at all. I didn’t check heart rate, cadence, distance, or anything. It just didn’t feel necessary. My coach told me that it’s better to go by perceived exertion IF you have a good sense for it, and that I do. So throughout the bike I kept taking a self-inventory, asking “does this feel like a solid aerobic pace?” and “can I run after riding at this effort level?”

We turned on to English Point Rd and got our first taste of the hills. The first one is steep-ish and short. The volunteers at the corner were cheering loud. Gear down, spinspinspin, done. No biggie. Sweet. Then the long downhill- the one where you’re thinking, “hey this is cool, but CRAP I have to climb back up!” It’s a really scenic part of the course, but all I could do was hang on to the aerobars for dear life, stare at the road ahead of me, and try not to go off the cliff at the edge of the road (I’m a bit of a wimp on downhills).

Then came the “big” hill, it’s not huge but it’s the biggest one on the course. I got down to first gear and spun my way up, in the saddle the whole way. My heart rate got pretty high but I got to the top reasonably comfortably and recovered well on the way back down. There’s another hill just after the big one that looks HUGE as you come around the corner, but when you get up to it it’s not that bad.

And so on like that for a while. I realized that drinking one bottle of sports drink every hour in 60 degree weather is different from drinking one bottle every hour in 95 degree weather when I had to stop to pee about ten times. I pretty much knew that would happen, but my body was used to drinking that much so I figured I should do it anyway. The only times it was mildly annoying was when I had to wait in line for one, but it was never long.

On the way back into town from my first loop, I got passed by this guy who was going pretty fast. I saw the name on his bib number said “Pontano” and I realized I’d just gotten passed by the race leader! Cool.

Passing my awesome support crew:




I had a pretty relaxed little picnic at special needs just after the beginning of my second loop- I ate my chips, read my notes, restocked my Hammer bars, and generally chilled out while the volunteer held my bike. I eventually felt guilty that I was keeping him from REAL work and decided to get my butt back in gear. I told him, “Well, I guess I’ll get back at it.”. He replied, “Back to work, huh?” and I answered, “Why not? It’s a beautiful day!” and off I went.

The start of the second loop was probably my low point on the bike ride. That was when I started feeling the effects of the hills from the first loop, and was looking down the road at another round of the same. The thoughts of, “Can I really run a marathon after this?” started creeping into my head. I remembered that Jen told me that there would be highs and lows throughout the day. I had listened to her, but I’d never done a day as long as this so I’d never experienced that to this extent. I told myself that this was just a low, and not to worry about it because I was going to feel better soon, I wouldn’t feel this way for the whole rest of the race. That made me able to calm myself down about it a little bit and just focus on riding. And a little while later, I did rebound and feel good again. The hills the second time around were definitely more challenging, and my legs felt like they had more miles behind them than they had left in them, but staying focused on the moment and the immediate task at hand- this hill, this downhill, this turn, this aid station- helped me to not think about that. I tried to go as easy as I could whenever I could, which wasn’t often out on the hills.

One thing I did notice was I was passing tons of people on the hills. I wasn’t trying to, that’s just how it happened. I thought about trying to go up slower, but it felt like that would actually be more work so I just went with what came naturally. I don’t think anyone passed me on any of the hills, not that I can remember anyway. This one guy who I kept passing on the uphills and who kept passing me back on the downhills yelled out to me one time, “You sure can climb good!”. That made me laugh. Another guy who passed me on a downhill shouted, “This is the one good thing about being fat!”

The wind REALLY picked up for about the last hour or so of the bike. I could see some very menacing-looking clouds off in the distance and was hoping they weren’t heading our way. Or if they were, that they’d hold off at least until I got off the bike. The wind itself though didn’t bother me much. It wasn’t anything more than a lot of the training rides I’ve been on at home. One guy passed me and said something about the “hurricane force winds”, which just made me think- well then it’s a good thing I’m a Katrina survivor!

Another thing that I noticed all day but especially on the bike was how awesome the spectators for this race are. The volunteers are also amazing of course, but I just couldn’t get over how many of the local residents sat out in their front yards cheering for us, in pretty crappy weather, ALL day. You ride the section from 4th Street to Government Way and through town four times on the bike, and I saw all the same people all four times. There was the guy/girl in the Elmo suit playing the drums, the lady in a cow costume mooing at us, a kid dressed as a chicken with some sort of cape on (Super Chicken?), people ringing bells, banging on coffee cans, blasting music, cheering and shouting and carrying on all day long. Old, young, people with kids, groups of friends and people on their own. It was chilly, windy, cloudy, and generally crappy out and yet there they were, so enthusiastically supporting all these athletes who they didn’t even know. It was easy to believe that they really, honestly wanted us to have a great day out there and that they were pulling for every single one of us. It was really touching and inspiring.

Rolling back into town the second time, I couldn’t believe I was almost done with the bike! On one hand, it did feel like it had been a long time, but on the other hand, I was 2/3 of the way to being an Ironman! How crazy! At the end of my long training rides, all I could think was “Get me OFF of this thing!” and I’d read several race reports that described the same feeling at the end of the bike. Don’t get me wrong, I was definitely ready to hand Stella off and get on with the rest of my race, but I was honestly feeling pretty good. When I got to the arrows on the pavement that I passed on the last loop that said “Finish This Way” and “2nd Loop This Way”, it felt so good to follow the one that said “Finish”. At this point, the entire course was lined with cheering spectators all the rest of the way into transition.

About to make the turnaround and come up on the "To Finish" sign:

IM CDA Race Report, Part I

Pre-Race:
I actually slept well the night before. I got to bed a little later than I wanted to because of finishing a few final prep tasks (story of my life) but I got to sleep right away and slept until the alarm went off at 4am. Had my pre-race breakfast of a bagel and peanut butter,



grabbed the run and bike special needs bags and my sports drink from the fridge, and Mick and I headed to the race start. Body marking started at 5am and I was supposed to meet Adam there around that time.

We easily got a parking spot at the downtown lot because we were so early. It was barely 5am so the body marking volunteers weren’t busy yet. I had three ladies do my body marking- one for each arm and one for my leg.




It gets light out up there by 4:30am, so by 5:00 it didn’t even feel like it was that early. It was pretty chilly though, so I got my clothes back on as soon as the ink dried.



Then I had to go put my gel flask, extra bars, and towels in my transition bags and put my sports drink bottles on the bike. After that it was off to drop off bike and run special needs bags. On the way back from doing that, I realized how much more crowded it had gotten since we’d arrived. It was definitely a good idea to get there as early as we did. Adam passed by going the other way, saying he was getting one of his gels and that Stacy was waiting by the big blowup Gatorade bottle. Mick and I met up with Stacy there,



then Molly arrived,



and before long my parents, Rich and Heather showed up and then Adam got back. By that time it was almost time for the pro start, so we stood around and talked and then watched the pros go off at 6:25. There were age groupers filing down to the beach start area but I liked where we were standing for the time being. No need to get down there and get myself all worked up before it was necessary.



After a few more minutes, Adam and I realized that we really better get headed down there soon, so we started putting on our wetsuits and sunscreen.





Somehow all of a sudden it felt like we were late, or maybe it was just butterflies making us hurry. We took a quick picture in our superhero suits,



hugged and high-fived our support crews, and then we were gone. By this time it was an absolute crush of people everywhere, but people were pretty good about making room for us when they saw we were athletes. It was slow going when we got down to the walkway along the lake leading to the opening to the beach, and Adam started worrying that we wouldn’t make it in time. I wasn’t worried, either because there were tons of other athletes around us and I assumed they wouldn’t start with half of us still on the sidewalk, or because I wasn’t wearing a watch. I lost Adam about three times between there and the beach, and oddly enough it is not easy trying to find a neoprene-clad, swim-capped triathlete among a sea of other neoprene-clad, swim-capped triathletes. We never spoke about why we were staying together- we clearly weren’t going to swim together since he’s a lot better swimmer than I am- but I think we both at that moment wanted the familiarity and comfort of each other’s company. There were too many people out there and this was too big of a deal to be alone. So each time I found him again after a few seconds of being “lost”, we were both relieved.

We finally made it down to the beach and then it was decision time- outside or inside? I had talked to my coach about where the best place to start would be, and she wouldn’t tell me what to do beyond giving me the pros and cons of each option. Outside- more swimming room, less crowd, but you have to swim further and angle in. Inside- you get to stick to the buoy line and have a more direct route, but you’ll get pummeled. I knew the reason she wouldn’t tell me what to do was because she didn’t know what it would be like on race day, and she couldn’t know what I personally would be comfortable with. I didn’t really know either, so I decided to play it by ear and decide when I got down there. So as I looked down the beach towards the outside, I saw that if I truly wanted to get on the outside of the crowd, I’d have to go waaay down almost halfway to the end of the beach. The people lined up out there were already SO far away from the buoy line, it was crazy. It looked like most people had the idea of starting to the outside to avoid the crowd, so ironically that’s where the crowd was. So then I looked to the inside, and saw that it was noticeably more sparse, although there were still lots of people. But how badly would I get trampled if I started there? Wasn’t it insane to consider swimming the buoy line unless you’re a really good swimmer? We didn’t have a lot of time to decide, so when Adam said, “So what do you want to do? Outside or inside?”, I didn’t even think and just said “Inside.” He didn’t hesitate either, said “OK”, and off we went.

We ended up a few people back from the front, just a few strides away from the water and directly on the buoy line. It was crowded of course- there was nowhere on that beach that wasn’t- but we weren’t packed in there like sardines, like we probably would have been if we’d gone outside. I decided we had made the right choice and I was happy about it. It’s a good thing, because all of a sudden, BOOM! The cannon went off. I heard Adam say something like, “whoa, crap!” and then we were headed for the water. I’ve seen video clips of IM swim starts on youtube, and one thing that struck me was how long it takes everyone to get in the water. It seems like there are swimmers already making the first turn and there are still people on the beach. But because of where we’d lined up, we took about five steps and we were in the water. Easy peasy!




Swim:
I knew I’d be getting pummeled no matter where I started, so I was ready for it. I’d heard stories of people panicking because of all the bodies around them, kicking and punching and flailing, and I was a little worried about it. I was well aware that there’s really nothing in training that can prepare you for an Ironman mass start (well maybe something like this Clif bar ad)



so I wasn’t sure how I’d react. And you know what? It was the weirdest thing. I felt oddly detached, somehow, from the whole experience. Almost like I was floating above myself, watching it all happen. The people around me who were pawing at me, hitting me, swimming into me didn’t bother me at all because it’s like they weren’t really there. Or I wasn’t really there. Or something. I just kept stroke-stroke-breathe-ing, following my own rhythm, mostly unaffected by the chaos around me. And it really wasn’t that bad of chaos anyway. Sure it was congested, yeah I got hit in the face a few times, but it really wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined it could be. It was actually more exciting than anything- I was in the middle of an Ironman mass swim start! How cool is that! Overall, the swim was a very zen experience. It never thinned out totally to where I got my own swimming room. It was more off and on. For a few minutes it would be congested, then for a few minutes I’d have open water. Off and on like that for the whole swim. When we got out after the first loop, got back in and angled to turn at the first buoy, it did get pretty chaotic again but then settled back into the off-and-on pattern. I pretty much cruised easy the whole time. I did use some of my “sprint speed” (Ha Ha) a few times to get out of traffic jams or to get away from someone on my feet. When we made the far turn at the end of the way out, the sun was in our eyes and it was hard to see the next buoy. A lot of us (including me) turned too sharply and ended up heading to the inside of the course until the kayaks got us pointed the right way. I almost hit a kayak a few times. It’s weird how hard it can be to see those things until you’re almost on top of them!

When I got out after the first loop, I heard the announcer calling out times- “36:39” was what he said as I was turning to get back in the water. I briefly thought, wow cool, that’s almost exactly my time from the swim in the N.O. half-IM, I must be moving pretty well out there. There was a moderate chop in our faces going out, but it must have been evened out by getting to swim with the chop on the way in. It wasn’t as bad as it had been on my practice swims on Thursday and Friday, which I was very happy about.

Getting out of the water after the second loop, I almost couldn’t believe that my Ironman swim was already over! One third of my day, although nowhere near the other two in terms of time, was already completed! And swimming the 2.4 miles continuously was way easier than I thought it would be.



I looked for some of my support crew on my way out of the water, but there were tons of people and I needed to concentrate on not falling down while running in the sand and on getting my wetsuit top down by the time I got to the strippers, so if they were there I didn’t see them.




T1:
I got to the strippers and it took a second to find one who was free. Finally a few of them noticed me and called me over. I already had my wetsuit down to my waist so it was a quick pull to get it over my hips and then I was down on the ground. They had it off my legs in a flash and I was back up and on my way to my Bike Gear bag. The volunteers directed me to the women’s changing tent, and once inside a volunteer who was free grabbed me and sat me down in one of the folding chairs. She said, “OK, what do you need?” and it took me a minute to think of an answer, because I’d never been helped before! Finally, she said, “Shorts? Socks?” and I snapped out of my daze and said yeah, socks! I grabbed my towel to dry my legs so I could put on my bike shorts and my calf sleeve. It was sunny and pretty warm out so I decided to leave the arm warmers and gloves, and took my dark sunglasses rather than the clear ones. I put sunscreen on my face while she did my legs. I grabbed my Thermotabs and helmet, she put my number belt on for me, then I sat there a minute reading a few of my support notes. I’m pretty slow in transitions anyway, and to my thinking, what difference are a few extra minutes in transition going to make in an Ironman? So I took my time. My volunteer just kind of sat there waiting for orders, which made me hurry more than anything else. I didn’t want to be keeping her from someone who needed her to actually DO something! I finally told her I was ready, she asked me if I needed anything else, I asked her where the port-a-potties were and headed out. Halfway to the port-a-potties I realized I had passed up the sunscreen volunteers, so I headed back against the flow of traffic to get my arms done. They certainly did their job well, and I spent the rest of the way to the bike racks trying to rub the sunscreen in so I wasn’t a white-covered mess for my bike pictures :)

Race Week, Wed-Sat

As I write this, I'm looking at the IRONMAN wristband I'm wearing. It means that in a few short hours, I'm going to be out there doing something that I've been training for, visualizing, anticipating for so long. It's finally here, and that feels both wildly exciting and slightly surreal.

Fortunately, I'm really not that nervous. I know I'll have some butterflies tomorrow when I get down to transition and swim start, but I've been surprisingly calm all week. I think a lot of it comes from the confidence my coach has in my preparation- she says I'm ready, and she's never been wrong, so I must be ready, right?

I probably walked around a little more than I should have these past few days. I did my best to stay off my feet and rest, but I couldn't resist getting out there into the excitement of it all for at least a little while. It's a good thing I got here as early as I did too, because I found tons of last-minute things that needed doing. Fortunately, it turns out the only thing I forgot to bring was my salt tab dispenser. Not so fortunately, they didn't have any more at the bike shop and I wasn't looking forward to driving all over the place looking for one. Then Erik had the brilliant idea that the canisters for mini M&Ms are pretty much the same thing, so I headed to the grocery store for some. They didn't have any mini M&Ms, but the Mentos gum containers are really similar. So my salt tab dispenser for tomorrow is a Mentos gum container, and there is a pile of Mentos gum sitting in a baggie on the table.

The athlete village was really cool. I bought my requisite CDA gear, of course. I also got my mom to buy me a luggage tag that says "CDA 2009 Finisher" with my name on it- I'm not so superstitious that I couldn't buy something that said "Finisher" already, but even so I don't really want to look at it too much yet :) I also went to the "Ford Motivational Zone" and entered some messages for my friends, which they'll display at some point on the run. I didn't realize at the time that they only accept the first message they get for each athlete, so I hope my friends' families didn't try to send them messages, because they're only going to get mine (since I got here first). Whoops!

My parents are super excited. They've never seen me race before, not since high school and not in a triathlon anyway. I'm really happy that Rich and Heather could make it, since Rich is one of my very best friends and it's awesome to have him here to share this (and getting to meet Heather has been awesome too!). Mick has been insanely helpful this entire time, between giving me a flat-changing clinic and helping with everything bike-related, to keeping my parents occupied when I've been busy with other stuff. Molly got here this afternoon too, to stay with us and to cheer for not only me but also the other 98237493827 people she knows who are racing. It's great to talk to her since she's on the same path I'm on and understands what I'm feeling.

Slight drama with the bike, but everything seems fine now. When Mick and I tried to change the tire on the Zipps, we found out that they're insanely tight and neither of us could get the tire back on. We even broke two tire levers trying. We ended up having to bring it to the bike shop and have them do it for me. So, if I flat in the race, I pretty much have to wait for the bike wagon to find me. BUT, that's not gonna happen, right?? Then today, as we were leaving to go to bike check-in, he found a gouge in the back tire. It wasn't super serious, but it was enough to make me nervous to ride on it. So we ran back to the bike shop and had them swap it out with one of the tires on my other wheels. So now the new tire is on, Stella is happily camped out in transition for the night, and all is well.

The athlete's meeting on Friday night was pretty cool. All 2000+ age groupers in one huge banquet tent, listening to all the details, warnings, and rules for the course. One of the guys was really funny. He was explaining how some parts of the bike course are pretty technical and that we really should listen to the posted signs that say SLOW DOWN- he said, "I know you've been watching the Tour de France and the Giro, but, you're not that guy. So slow down." Then when he was talking about how age-groupers aren't allowed to leave their shoes clipped into the pedals for the swim-bike transition, he said, "I know you want to do it and you think you can handle it. But I've seen you, you're not that good. So don't do it."

Right now, my parents and friends are out on the front porch drinking wine and chatting, I just finished my final pre-race talk with my coach, and I'm about to mix up my bottle of concentrate for the bike and then go to bed. Wakeup time is 4am, with the goal of getting to body marking when they start at 5am. Adam is supposed to meet me there. We'll exchange our special needs bag notes for each other at that time too. I still have to write his, but I've been thinking about what I want to say for a while now so it shouldn't take long. I saw Shannon at bike drop-off earlier, WITH his bike fortunately (the airline had lost it when he first got here! Talk about stressful!). On Friday I saw the two guys I met on the plane from Denver who were coming to volunteer and sign up for next year- Joe and John- they're strippers and catchers tomorrow. I also saw John and Karen on Friday- the couple who split the cab with me to the Enterprise rental car place in Spokane when all the airport rental car places were sold out (hooray for not being the only one with poor pre-planning skills!).

This week has been awesome, the whole town has Ironman fever. But I am definitely ready to GET IT ON already! If anyone wants to track me, go on ironman.com and my bib number is 2044. See ya on the other side!!

Packing

I definitely should have started this a few days ago. I still have time, but I'm a little nervous that I'm procrastinating on something that is so important. But I think actually that I'm putting it off *because* it's so important... I guess that makes me nervous, so I don't do it. Or something like that. One thing I hate about packing is I ALWAYS feel like I'm forgetting something, no matter how far in advance I do it. So I know that makes me avoid it a little.

I just finished making out my list- Swim, Bike, Run, T1 and T2. I still don't know what to put in my bike and run special needs bags. Any suggestions? All I can think of is a long sleeved shirt in the run bag in case it gets cold in the evening. But I don't think you get your special needs bags back, so whatever I put in them I have to not mind losing.

On the plus side, it looks like I do have everything on my list. I just have to get it put in one place! In retrospect, I should have sent a gear bag with Stella. Then I wouldn't have to be packing stuff like my helmet, pump, wetsuit, etc in my regular suitcase. Oh well. It should all fit.

Speaking of bikes, look what I got to ride this past weekend!


My friend/spinning instructor/kick-ass cyclist Courtney let me borrow her TT bike since Stella was gone already. We ride the same size bike, so all it took was a few seat adjustments. Actually, this was the very first bike with clip-in pedals that I ever rode. It was probably the first bike I ever rode that didn't have a kickstand :) When I was thinking about getting into triathlon a little over a year ago, Courtney and I went riding on the levee. She took her road bike and let me ride this one. To this day I have no idea how I didn't crash the thing- I had NO clue how to stop and start with the clip-in pedals. By some amazing stroke of luck I stayed upright (or rubber-side-down, as Ariel likes to say). I know it was luck because the very next time I rode a bike like that, which was when I bought Stella, I fell over the first time I tried to stop. I'm glad I didn't know how nice of a bike hers was when I rode it, or I probably WOULD have crashed it just from the extra nervousness!

So I still say this weekend was my first time riding a carbon bike, since I didn't know anything when I rode it that one time. OMG it was so nice! Courtney has always told me that a carbon bike rides so much smoother than aluminum, especially for a smaller person. I was skeptical, but not anymore! If it wasn't for the painful saddle (I'm spoiled by my Adamo!) I would have been riding in crazy style AND comfort! Courtney laughed at me when I thanked her today and said how nice it was, saying that she and Todd (bike shop guy) were saying that after I rode that, I'd be wanting a new bike. Not quite, Stella's still my girl, but damn it was nice!!

OK, back to packing! Quick, someone remind me of something I'm forgetting! Socks? Sportsbras? My race belt? Help me out here!

10 Days!!

Ten days away from Ironman. Ironman is in TEN DAYS!! And I haven't even freaked out yet. Honest. I'm still just excited. I have definitely been having my moments of, "Can I do this?? I CAN do this, right??", but I keep reminding myself that my coach knows what she's doing, and I've done everything she told me to, so I MUST be ready. Even if it doesn't feel like it sometimes.

I read an article somewhere which described the feeling of standing on the beach before the mass start as something like 'wondering whether you belong there', and I can totally see that. Me, an Ironman? Seriously? No way, right? I mean, people who do Ironman are these crazy super-athlete people, and I'm just... me. I don't *feel* like I'm made of iron. I don't feel much different from how I did a few months ago, or even a year ago. But I've done all the training, so I must be different.

Taper is going pretty well this time around, I must say. Normally I feel like crap during taper but I feel alright. Still working on the sleep thing though. Tonight's going to be an early one, I swear! Open Water Wednesday today was fun, they fired up the grill so we all hung around eating burgers and hot dogs in the parking lot after swimming. People were wishing me luck, since it was my last Wednesday at the lake before I leave for CDA. I got asked "so when's your race?" a whole bunch of times, so I got to say "not this Sunday, but next" a whole bunch of times, and it felt so weird each time!

On a not-so-good note, I had a little bit of a rough time on my last long run. It was my longest run, 22 miles, which was preceded by my longest bike the day before (118) and my longest swim the day before that (5500). Everything was going fine until about mile 14, when I started to get a pain in my left quad. I realized after a while that it must have been a cramp, which hasn't ever happened to me before. It wasn't awful, just annoying, for a while so I kept going. Then I was on my last loop with about 4.5 miles to go and it just kept getting worse. It spread through my whole quad and intensified to the point where it felt like my muscle was getting ripped out of my leg every step. But it was my 22-miler! THE big one! I couldn't quit this! It felt OK when I walked, but I didn't want to walk. It was a 22-mile RUN. I figured since it was just a cramp, I wasn't doing any serious damage to myself, so it was OK to push through. I ended up spending the last 2 miles hobbling and crying, it hurt so bad. But, me and my stubbornness finished that damn run. It took all week for the pain to go away, then on my first taper "long" run of 11 miles, it came back again. Bad news. I got a sports massage the next day, which hurt like HELL but the therapist thinks it's going to be OK. I ran yesterday and today and it feels fine. I'm going back for more pain next Monday and hopefully that will fix me up 100%. The other 2 long workouts of that weekend, the swim and the bike, were pretty uneventful. I had to do most of the bike by myself since Shannon had to leave early, but I managed OK. My Garmin actually said 128 miles, but it was reading off of my speed/cadence sensor instead of the GPS and I think its calibration is a little off. So I went conservative and said 118.

Then on Sunday this week, I got to jump in the lake with all my clothes on to fetch an errant pit bull who was intent on following a family of ducks all the way to the Northshore, it seemed.

"Who, me? Naughty?? Never!"


"You must have me confused with someone else. I was just playing with my ball like a good girl."


Pretty sunset at the lake


Rough day for a swim



Training totals, 5/25 - 5/31 (last big week; M & Th off):
Swim- 11940 yards
Bike- 133 miles
Run- 24 miles
Total Time- 16:25

Training totals, 6/1 - 6/7 (Taper Week 1):
Swim- 5380 yards
Bike- 95 miles
Run- 20.4 miles
Total Time- 10:52

Oh and did I mention- TEN DAYS?!?!

TAPER TIME!!

I am officially on day 2 of my taper for IRONMAN! How crazy to be able to say that! I guess there were some parts of me that thought this would never come. Or thought that I'd never get through all those crazy long workouts to get to this point. Peak 1, Week 1 underway. Does this mean I'm at the "peak" of my fitness? I guess it does, that's the idea anyway, but it's kind of weird because I don't really *feel* any different from a few weeks or months ago.

Yesterday I got the official "Athlete Guide" for CDA in my email. I started getting crazy butterflies just reading it. Special needs bags, bike drop-off, pre-race lake swim, transition closing time... it's all getting so REAL. I guess I should buy my plane ticket up there, huh??

I also just found out that Stella has to get dropped off at the bike shop for shipping next Wednesday. That's so close!! I might have to borrow a bike for my last ride or two before I go up there, since Stella's the only one I have. And I get to use the Zipp 404s again! Courtney also offered to let me use her aero helmet, which I politely (though gratefully) declined. I am definitely not cool enough yet to use one of those things.

To recap, it's been a long couple of weekends of training. Jennifer's prediction of "eat, sleep, train" for most of the month of May wasn't far off. Not TOO far, anyway... :P

Sunday, 5/24: How much fun can you have in 8 hours? A lot, if your idea of fun is biking and running, and biking and running and biking and... The agenda for the day was a 20 mile bike/4 mile run brick, four times. I was kind of intimidated, but as I've been doing a lot lately, I told myself "the only way out is through", and got going. I admit, I was a little excited too. Plus I had some training buddies lined up which I knew would help make it fun.

Loop 1- Went with Shannon. 7am and we were off! Bike good, run good but starting to get hot already.

Loop 2- With Shannon again. WINDY on the bike and HOT HOT on the run. The icewater from the cooler in my truck at refueling stops between biking and running was sooo refreshing. Making sure to keep up on salt tabs. Was that thunder I just heard in the distance?

Loop 3- Rode and ran with Erik, who did an awesome job on his first brick. Especially considering he was riding a mountain bike so he had to work 10x harder than me. More thunder, and then some rain out at the turnaround on the bike. It started raining harder and I was scouting out places to stop and take shelter, but then it stopped. Phew. The run was good. Passed by Coach Kevin and Coach Rick's trucks at the shop for what felt like the 85th time.

Loop 4- Did the bike by myself, then rode back into the parking lot to find Erik had come back. Apparently he felt guilty leaving me to do the last one by myself, so he volunteered to ride his bike alongside me for the last 4 mile run of the day. Nice! I'll always take the company. About halfway through the run, I started to really get tired. I held up really well all day, no pain or excessive fatigue or anything. I still felt good, but like I told Erik, "I just would kinda like to stop now". Jen told me that for my last run I should imagine myself at mile 22 of the IM marathon, with 4 miles to go until the finish. I visualized that, like I often do. I imagined how I'd be tired (which wasn't hard, since I was), how I'd want to be done, but how excited and thrilled I'd be to be so close and how I wouldn't want to waste a minute of the experience by wishing for it to be over. That last run was my fastest of the day, and I ended up finishing close to my 1/2 marathon pace. DONE!! I made it! The single longest day of my IM training- success! And I had no pain anywhere, just tired.

Training totals, 5/18 - 5/24:
Swim- 8300 yards
Bike- ~160 miles
Run- 28.8 miles
Total Time- 18:13
(I missed an extra day this week because I was starting to get sick, plus I had an extra scheduled day off to prepare for the big weekend, in addition to my regular Monday off, so this was actually 4 days instead of a whole week)

The Big One, Part I

I knew this weekend was going to be big. Probably my first clue was Jennifer putting "BIG WEEKEND" into Training Peaks. Also her advice that I take Friday off of work. When I first saw this weekend in my training plan, I was scared of it. But as I got closer, I kind of started getting excited for it, and anxious to see how it would turn out.

Two days down, one to go. Friday's Longest Swim Ever (5000 yd) was good, followed by a nice, uneventful 10 mile run. Today was an 80 mile bike, which I almost cut short but I'm glad I didn't. I rode with New Training Buddy Shannon again today, and I'm grateful for that because he's the reason I didn't stop after our first 63-mile loop. I know I would've regretted it. It was a WINDY day but we hung in there.

And got water at the same gas station as last week, and wished to jump into the same ice machine again:


Then this evening, sporting the compression socks, went out to the Greek Festival and ate gyros, yum.

Tomorrow's brick extravaganza? Bring it on!!

Milestone Weekend

Two significant firsts this weekend- first time going over-distance on the bike, and my first 20-mile run.

I was lined up to ride with a guy I had met on a group ride a few weeks ago who is also doing CDA, which was great news since everyone else I know is training for short-course races right now. I know it's important to get a lot of solo riding time to simulate race conditions, but I really just couldn't imagine doing my scheduled 110-miler on Saturday all by myself. I think in the race it'll be different too- I won't be riding *with* anyone per se, but there will be people all around, for most of it anyway. And it's not advisable safety-wise to ride alone on the route I take either. I did do my 100-miler alone and it went well, so I do have that.

Anyway, even though we had made plans to ride together, I was worried it wouldn't end up happening. He was scheduled to be on call for his job so the possibility was there that he wouldn't show up. So when the group was getting ready to roll out at a few minutes to 7 on Saturday morning and I didn't see him, I was bummed but not totally surprised. We started out, the group promptly dropped me as I knew they would since they do their shorter ride much faster than my long-distance pace, so there I was 10 miles into it and looking at 100 more miles of solitude. That also meant I probably had to stay on the 25-mile Hayne Blvd loop, since getting on and off I-510 (to get to the rest of the loop) is something I wouldn't do alone.

Then up ahead, I see a bike coming back down the road towards me. It's Shannon, my riding buddy! He said he started off with the group, figuring I was with them (it's a big group), then Coach Kevin told him I had been looking for him and was probably a little way behind. So he doubled back to find me. Awesome! I was really relieved. We settled into a steady rhythm and got to chatting. At first I felt a little awkward thinking about the fact that I was about to spend 7 hours of one-on-one time with someone I'd only met once. But it worked out really well- he likes to talk, and I like to listen :) (OK so maybe I like talking a little bit too, hehe) He was really considerate about going my pace and not pushing it, which I really appreciated. 110 miles of that would have been annoying, to say the least.

We made a gas station stop at 100.9 miles for some MUCH NEEDED ice cold water.

If that ice maker hadn't been padlocked I think we both would've hopped into it at that point. It was HOT out. I tried to lay up against it while Shannon was inside buying the water, but it was too well insulated so it wasn't cold on the outside. Bummer.

The cold water was amazing and really reenergized me. I joked with Shannon that hey, I'm feeling great, why don't we do another loop while we're at it?? Then when we were a few miles from the parking lot he said, "hey, let's go run a marathon!" Even though we laughed about it, part of me was thinking, holy crap I AM going to do that, and not too long from now!!

The best part about the ride though was that the thunderstorms that had been threatening all day started coming down JUST as we were pulling into the parking lot to finish the ride. I got Stella packed up and got in the truck before it got too bad, and then drove home in crazy torrential rain. Perfect timing! The other best part of the ride? Our 110-miler ended up being 114! I guess four miles isn't too big of a difference at that point, but knowing that I covered more than the IM race distance is a huge mental boost!

Saturday night and Sunday morning were AWESOME. Since I was instructed to do my long run later in the afternoon to simulate race conditions and to give me more time to recover from the ride, I actually got to SLEEP IN on Sunday morning! I can't even remember the last time I did that! It also meant I got to go out to dinner, at a real restaurant, like a real normal person, on Saturday night! Add that to the list of "Things I Didn't Realize I Would Appreciate So Much Before I Started Training For Ironman".

Sunday's run was another milestone- my first time doing 20 miles. I figured out a 5-mile loop route so I'd be able to refuel often enough at the truck. I was halfway through my first loop when I remembered why my legs were feeling kind of tired- "Oh right, I biked yesterday!" I got really lucky on the run with the weather. I just missed the thunderstorms again- I started after they were over this time. Usually that would mean that I'd be running in the post-summer-rain steam bath, but it cooled off quite a bit after the rain so the weather was actually kind of nice. The best part of this workout was that I conned one of my friends into meeting me out there to run the last loop with me. I was feeling pretty good, but having the company was still a definite boost.

When we were in the last mile, I started thinking about the progression of my long runs. I remember back when my long run was 12 miles, that miles 11 and 12 had been pretty painful. But that as the distance had gotten longer, it was still just the last two that were tough. So yesterday, it was 19 and 20 that were a little tough and 11 and 12 were no sweat. Isn't it cool how the body adapts? And this morning, I do feel a little bit creaky and sore, but way better than I remember feeling after that first 12-miler. So not only am I able to go longer, but it seems like I'm recovering faster. I'm fascinated by this, in a science-project kind of way.

(Speaking of science project, you should have seen my kitchen when I was trying to prepare my nutrition for this weekend! "OK if I want 600-800 mg of sodium per hour, 150 cal from my drink and 100 from solids, 32 oz of fluid per hour, and I'm going to be out there this long...." Mad scientist territory, for sure!)

So one more big weekend is in the books. Two more left. And because these last two are the biggest, I get TWO days off this week and next! Woot! After anxiously anticipating this month of workouts for so long, it feels really good to be in the middle of it and actually making it.

Week's totals (5/11 - 5/17):
Swim- 8600 yards
Bike- ~145 miles
Run- 30.6 miles
Total Time- 17:06

Becoming...

Made it through another tough weekend. Three more Build weeks before starting my taper. Weekends used to be a time to rest and recuperate from the long week. Now, the weekdays are my downtime that I use to recover from/prepare for my weekends! I actually get up earlier on Saturday and Sunday now than I do during the week. Sleeping in? What's that? I vaguely remember something like that, it seems so long ago...

This weekend ended up being tougher than I thought it would be. I knew Sunday's long brick was going to be a challenge and I'd been psyching myself up for that. I figured the long bike on Saturday would be OK since it was shorter than the previous week's long ride, which had gone well. So when I could tell within the first few miles that Saturday's ride was going to be a struggle, I wasn't quite prepared for that. Nutrition and hydration worked out fine, the wind was there but it wasn't terrible, I just wasn't feeling it. My legs were tired and I was sleepy-tired too. I remember when A told me how he crashed his bike on the levee a year or two ago. He was training for either Ironman or Ultraman, was on a 6+ hour ride, and fell asleep while riding and crashed. It was a funny story but I really didn't "get it" at the time. Well, I get it now! It didn't happen to me but it was close a few times.

I was bummed out that the ride hadn't gone very well, because it worried me that maybe I was doing something wrong. Was I eating right? Sleeping enough? Getting enough sleep has been a struggle for me for a long time but I'd actually done pretty well that week leading up to the ride. Then I thought, well, I *am* in the biggest month of training right now, doing the most volume I've ever done- maybe I'm supposed to feel a little bit like this? Maybe I just have to get myself through these next few weeks, and then I'll get a bunch of energy back during my taper. Or maybe it was just "one of those days".

An interesting thing occurred to me as I was biking/running this weekend though. I was thinking about the tough time I was having and I was mentally going over the next few weekends' workouts, trying to imagine what it would be like and how I'd get through them. I admit I was (and am) a little intimidated. Then I thought, wait a minute- if I can get through these next few weekends of training, I CAN do Ironman. I'm doing approximately an Ironman or more over the course of the weekend each of the next three weeks. So if I can do that three weekends in a row, with no taper and while still doing my regular weekday schedule of training and work, hey- I can handle CDA! Wow, what a thought. It was one of those light-bulb moments. My ratio of excited:terrified for June 21st just jumped up on the side of excited. It's going to be a LOT of work to get there, and it's going to be a ton of work once I do get there, but for the first time I think I actually feel like I might show up prepared. Yes, I know my coach has told me over and over that I would be, and yes Jen I do trust you! But you know me, if I'm not worrying about something, check my pulse.

The sleep thing is going to be my biggest challenge over these next few weeks. I know that if I can get my body enough rest, the workouts can only feel better. So far this week I've slept more, but still not enough. It's a start.

Last week's training totals (5/4 - 5/10):
Swim- 7960 yards
Bike- ~125 miles
Run- 28.9 miles
Total Time- 15:18

Run Naked!

Ah, those hot, still, sultry New Orleans nights. When the temperature doesn't go down just because the sun does. Summer is just about here. A perfect night for a naked run. It was my first "no gadgets" run in a long time, and I was excited as I put on my run stuff and left the HRM strap behind. Since it was a short easy run, and because I was so into the naked idea, I even decided to... are you ready for this? go WITHOUT my calf sleeve! I'm not trying to wean myself off of it per se, but I am interested to know if I actually *need* it or not. A few minutes into the run, I started getting a funny feeling in my shin. Stopped and stretched and it went away. Phew! It was probably a complete mental thing anyway.

I had to laugh at myself as I walked out the door. As I was stepping outside, I had a brief moment of, "wait, how do I do this without my Garmin??" I quickly reminded myself that you run with your legs, not your wristwatch, and all was well. It felt GOOD actually! Liberating! Running without the calf sleeve, I felt like a little kid trying to get away with something just so slightly naughty. And after just having a good swim workout where I surprised myself both with my times and with how good it felt, I was definitely enjoying my night. So, try it! Run naked! You'll like it :)

In other news, I did my first century ride on Saturday! 100 miles, in the bank! Coach Kevin rode with me on the first 25-mile loop, but he and the rest of the GNOTri crew were racing Crawfishman the next day so the other three loops were all by my lonesome. I didn't plan ahead very well and found myself out of water on the third loop with no money to buy more. I stopped at a convenience store that I figured would have a fountain soda machine that I could get water out of, but no luck. They didn't have one. And there's not much out there on Hayne Blvd so options are limited. So I was totally thrilled when, just as I was leaving to find another place, a nice lady offered to buy me a bottle of water. She went in to the store, leaving me with Stella outside, and brought out a big bottle for me a minute later. Thank you, nice lady!!

In keeping with the "longest-ever" theme that my weekends have become, I then did my LRE (Longest Run Ever) on Sunday. Three loops, with some speedwork on the last loop. Although I was tired by then, I was excited to do some faster intervals since it means my coach must be pretty happy with my base level at this point which is encouraging. Both the ride and the run definitely felt long, and it was hot for the run, but really I didn't feel too bad. Also encouraging.

Unfortunately I had to miss Jazzfest, for the first time since I moved here. Where I was running in City Park, I was able to hear some of the music drifting out of the Fairgrounds, and I saw lots of people walking and biking over that way. So at least I got to share in the excitement a little bit :)



Last Week's Training Totals (4/27 - 5/3), Swim-Focus Week:
Swim- 10500 yards
Bike- ~135 miles
Run- 21.5 miles
Total Time- 16:01

IM CDA Training Camp For One

I've been back from CDA for days, but just getting the chance to write about it now! What an awesome trip. I am SO glad I went. George the swim coach gave me crap about it, saying basically that he thought it was a silly idea, but I don't care. It was really important to me to be able to see the course before I got there for the race. I think that alone reduced my anxiety factor by about a hundred. Which means it's still at around eight zillion, but hey that's just how I roll.

I was really anxious to see just how killer the hills would be. I had gone back and forth in my mind between "OMG I'm never going to be able to make it" to "maybe it will be kind of fun?" and back again. Coach Neil did say that CDA didn't have anything as scary as Nasty Grade on the WF course, but I didn't know if he was just trying to boost my confidence.

There was a bit of a setback- at the last minute my training buddy couldn't go and I had to scramble around to find someone to go with me. My good friend Mick was sooo gracious to offer to go with me a different weekend even though he really didn't have time for it, but for my schedule this weekend really worked out best. Luckily, after some convincing/coercion/bribery I had Erik lined up to be my sherpa and SAG wagon driver. Phew. Got Stella packed up and I was on my way.


Sing with me now- "It's my bike in a box..."


First impressions- wow they aren't kidding when they say this place is beautiful. That barely begins to describe it. Mountains, trees, lakes, well-kept small-town city blocks, friendly people, sun and sky as far as you can see. Just walking around the town and breathing the crisp air was getting me excited for June 21st.



After settling in at the house on Friday afternoon (if anyone needs a place to stay when visiting CDA, I'll give you the name of the people whose house I rented- fantastic!) and putting Humpty Dumpty, I mean Stella, back together again, it was time for an easy spin ride of the run course. Erik came along, riding one of the bikes the people left for us in the garage. The run course winds through town, zigzagging through the city blocks down to the lake and then up to the Centennial Trail, which runs alongside a main road and winds up down next to the lake again. Almost the whole way on the Centennial Trail, you've got the lake immediately to your right (left on the way back) and you can look out at the mountains and forests on the other side, the misty clouds hanging in the trees, the boats on the lake. Gorgeous. Then the rest of the run is through town, where you can look at the nice houses and cute shops. Much better than my usual run on the levee down here, where the view practically never changes. A trip to the grocery store to get some food for the weekend rounded out the day. Day One- success!

Saturday, the plan was to ride a loop of the bike course (it's a 2-loop course, like the run) then run an hour on the run course. Since I was by myself, the temptation to sleep in was strong but I knew I didn't want to be going until late so I got out there around 9am or so. It was chilly!! Leg warmers, arm warmers, jacket, and gloves were very necessary. I piled my extra water, SE concentrate, extra food, pump and assorted other goodies into the rented Vue (which was a trooper all weekend) and took off. The plan was to meet Erik for the first refuel/map check on the way out of town, about 45 minutes in. I only had two maps. One was the course map from the IM CDA website, which had the route on it but not all the street names. The other wasn't even a map but a list of all the streets you had to turn on. I didn't think to print out two copies of each and there was no printer at the house, so Erik took the route map and I took the street list. Over the course of the ride we met up several times to compare maps and make sure we were still going the right way.






For the first 15 miles or so, the course was flat and I was just spinning easy. So far, so good! I saw some other bikers out and I wondered if they were locals or if they were doing the same thing I was. Or maybe both. After heading north and getting out of CDA proper, I entered Hayden/Hayden Lake area and got my first taste of the hills. A few SCR climbs but nothing bad yet. Approaching Hayden Lake, the roads and scenery started reminding me a lot of the Finger Lakes region of New York, back up at home. There were the cottages along the shore, narrow winding shady streets and awesome views across the lake to the other side. I wanted to stare out at it but quickly realized I better keep looking at the road. I turned onto English Point Rd and started going down, down, down. It was kind of nice going downhill, but all I kept thinking was that every foot I went down was another foot I had to eventually climb back UP! From looking at the route map and profile, I knew that the big hill, called The Wall, was coming up soon. I was nervous but not panicked like I was at WF, for whatever reason. A few more SCR climbs and then I turned a corner and found myself on a pretty long, fairly steep climb. I got down to my easiest gear and cranked up it. Towards the end I stood once, then sat again, and wow I was at the top! Was that it? The Wall?? No way! I didn't even feel like crying! I met up with Erik at the parking lot of the trailhead at the top of the hill, refilled, and headed off again. Made the turn on to Lancaster and started down a sweet downhill. I settled into my aerobars for what I figured would be a nice rest to catch my breath and get my legs back under me. Came around a turn and was smacked in the face by what seemed like a vertical wall of road in front of me. Holy Crap! Oh well, just suck it up and pedal, I told myself. It turned out that as I came up on it, it really wasn't as impressively vertical as it seemed from far away. It was tough, but I didn't even have to get out of the saddle once. There was also a small stretch near the top where it leveled out slightly before continuing to rise, giving me a nice little mini-break. A lot of the hills on the course turned out to be that way.

For a while, the course was pretty similar to that. Some climbing, some flats, some downhills. Nothing killer, but they did keep coming. I counted at least 7 SCR climbs, about half of them requiring my easiest gear (I'm riding a 27 cassette right now). The toughest roads, after English Point, were Dodd, Rimrock, and Hudlow. There were also a few technical parts where you had to make right-angle turns right off of a downhill. If it rains, some of those might be sketchy. After turning back onto Government Way, the road that leads back to town, I was back in the BCR and stayed in it the rest of the way. So almost all of the climbing is in the middle section, and you get a nice breather at the end of the first loop and beginning of the second before you have to start climbing hard again.








Back at the house, I was fairly tired but thrilled at how bad I DIDN'T feel! Quick change and then out to run. Erik took (another) one for the team and accompanied me on a bike. An hour later and wow, my first training day was done! And it was only around 3:30! We went out to dinner that night at a pretty nice restaurant in town called Brix, then I turned in to get some sleep before an even bigger day on Sunday. Day Two- success!

Sunday came around, and due to not feeling so great after waking up I ended up getting started later than the day before even though I'd wanted to start earlier. Oh well. I took some advil and lay around for a while, then was good to go. The agenda for the day was another loop ride then a two hour run. The ride this time went even better than last time. We didn't have to stop as often because we pretty much knew where we were going. It was definitely hard work, but knowing what to expect did help a lot. Coach had said that today was going to be tough, so I did have some worry in the back of my mind about the run even though I was feeling fine so far. Nutrition and hydration worked fine, as it had the previous day. I'm really happy with my nutrition plan. I didn't take too many Endurolytes though because it was pretty cold and I wasn't sweating excessively.

Back at the house again, time for the second half of the brick. I was tired, but not dying. Erik again graciously volunteered as my gel-flask-and-Endurolyte-holder for the run (or at least succumbed to my guilt trip). I kept waiting for something to happen, like my legs to totally die or to hit some kind of wall or something, but it never did. I had been envisioning today to be a day of gutting it out, getting some really hard training in the books, but I ended up just having another nice run. The weather wasn't perfect, it was cloudy and rained a little, but I was feeling fine. After both of the bike loops, I was feeling OK but not sure about being able to do another one. After almost an entire run loop, I was definitely feeling like I could do another. I took that as a pretty good sign.

And then, I realized- I had made it through my weekend! Still standing! And I didn't even cry once! Day Three- success!! I felt SO much better now that I had a pretty good handle on the bike and run courses. Even the tough parts didn't seem as scary now because I had done them and knew what to expect. And even just walking down the streets of CDA, knowing I've been there before and recognizing the sights, is going to have such a calming effect on me come June. And at that point I will need ALL the calming I can get. I'm still partially terrified, but I think I can say that my excitement is actually starting to outweigh my terror. And for me, that's huge! It would've been nice to be able to get in the lake, but the water's still in the 40s so that didn't happen.




Weekly Training Totals (4/20-4/26):
Swim- 7150 yards
Bike- 135 miles
Run- 28 miles
Total Time- 16:31