The Race Of Many Names

The Myrtle Beach Triathlon, The Halfmax Championship, The USAT Long Course National Championship.... all sorts of fun, rolled into one 70.3 mile package. Or actually, 69.1 miles, but I'll get to that.

The Venue: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. One of the best beaches in the US. I had thought the swim was going to be in the Atlantic, but it was actually planned for the Intracoastal Waterway. That ended up meaning that although I spent 4 days in Myrtle Beach, I never did see the ocean.

The Trip: 832 miles each way in the El. My first long road trip in the new car, and it was a champ. 13 hours? Piece of cake! I was accompanied by 2 Cervelos- Hazel of course, and fellow NOLA racer Dann's P3, who would be reunited with his owner upon arrival. I was also hoping to be accompanied by a certain pit bull, but that didn't end up working out. No dogs at the host hotel. Boo.

The Crew: My mom, my Aunt Denise and my 7.5 yr old cousin Cecilia. This would be Denise and Cecilia's first experience as spectathletes so my mom supplied them with lots of useful info on what triathlon is and how to watch one. They did great. They made some awesome signs:



My coach was there too but I can't really count her as 'crew' since she was there for the race herself. She did provide tons of great help and did make me feel a little like a rock star though, so that deserves mention.

Thanks, Jen, for tolerating my crazy!!


The Hotel: Or should I say the palace? I found myself in a two-bedroom suite with two full bathrooms, three balconies, and a full kitchen. It's a good thing I ended up having some crew come stay with me, or that would have been a very lonely place to stay in by myself!! Also, it was a VERY good idea to stay at the host hotel. It made packet pickup, bike checkin, race morning and everything else sooo much easier.

And now, the good part- The Race!

Prerace: Rehearsed my T1 and T2 run route. Since we were only assigned to a rack and not a particular spot, I was able to put my bike stuff on one side of the rack and run stuff on the other. I really liked that setup. After a little of my usual routine of 'staring at my stuff trying to convince myself that this is more complicated than it really is', I left it alone and went out to wait. I was about to put on my wetsuit since I was in the 2nd wave. A lady walked by saying something about the swim being canceled. My mom, Denise and I all thought that it was her way of trying to be funny. We acknowledged that it was a stupid joke and went on about our business. Imagine my surprise when about 2 minutes later, I heard the race director on the PA system saying- you guessed it- the swim was canceled. Too much e.coli in the water due to all the recent heavy rains. The race would now start at 7:50 and would be a time-trial start, beginning at swim exit. OK, slight change of plans! I called Jen, who was chilling in her room and who thought I was kidding at first when I told her. If I had been kidding about that at that moment, I hope she would've slapped me because that would've been a really dumb bad joke.

Swim: So yeah, no swim. Instead of swimming, we got to pack in like sardines on the concrete walkway where we would've gotten out of the water. There was no order to it at all. At 7:50 they were supposed to start letting people go, one person every 3 seconds, to start their run up to transition. We couldn't wear shoes, it had to be just like we were getting out of the water. They did let us wear socks though, and I also wore my arm warmers and my Garmin. That would save time in T1. To give an idea of how packed it was and how long we stood there, there was one girl who was sitting on the ground and asked up to the girl next to her, "have they started yet?" The girl replied, "yeah, they started about ten minutes ago." We weren't even all that far back and we hadn't moved an inch yet. All in all, I stood there waiting, on concrete in socks, for about 45 minutes before I finally got my turn to go. Great warmup!!

T1: My support crew was waving and cheering as I ran past on my way to transition. Having the arm warmers, socks and Garmin already on helped me to be speedy. Helmet, shoes, go! We had to run across grass in our bike shoes and mount on a little bit of an incline, but it went fine. I was off!

Bike: The bike course was shaped like an uppercase letter "i" and we did two loops of it. That meant that there were seven 180-degree turnarounds, but most of the rest of it was straight. It was also flat except for a couple of onramps. It was also VERY WINDY. I knew it would be, and I wasn't looking forward to it. I'll take a hilly course over a windy one any day. Jen had told me the day before that a windy day is a mental game- if you're not mentally tough, it'll break you. And if you are tough, then you can take advantage. I know that being mentally tough is one of my strengths, and I tried to tell myself that, but I couldn't help being a little intimidated by the wind. It was fortunate that the wind was at our backs for the longest straightaway on the course. But the section just before that was where the headwind was the strongest. That meant that not even 10 miles into the bike, my legs were burning and my HR was sky-high. Not good! I told myself I could use the tailwind to regroup and get my legs back a little. But of course I wanted to take as much advantage of it as I could, so I didn't want to slack off either. I ended up going 23-24+ for most of the long straightaway. Sweet!! It felt SO much better than that damn headwind!

On the 2nd lap, I was a bit slower all around and my legs were REALLY feeling it. My quads were burning and cramping like they were going to lock up any second. I was worried that I'd get off the bike and not be able to move, much less run, but I remembered that I'd felt a little bit like this on the bike in IMNOLA and my legs were fine for the run, so I tried to just not worry about it. When I realized I was grinding out barely 17 mph into the headwind, I was NOT happy. What was even worse was getting passed by a bunch of girls in my age group all throughout the bike- even when I thought I was going fast! The bike is definitely my weakest area, and I know I've made a lot of improvements in these last several months but I also still have a way to go to get it up to the same level as my swim and run.

Finally, the end of the bike was getting near. I really wanted to go 2:48, which would be a 20.0 mph average for the 56 miles. Looking at my watch, it looked like I was going to miss it by a few minutes. Bummer. But the bright side was- I was about to be OFF of the BIKE!! No offense Hazel, you do rock- it's not you, it's me :)

T2: For the 2nd time in a race, I took my feet out of my shoes before getting to the dismount line. For a second there, my foot was tangled in the strap of my shoe and visions of a faceplant ran through my head. But it all worked out fine, and I was able to run much faster to my spot than I would if I had my bike shoes on. Made a quick swap and was off to the run- how would my burning legs hold up??

Run: The answer- this was easily the best 13.1 miles I have ever run. I couldn't get over how EASY it felt. I kept thinking over and over, "it feels like I'm floating". It was an out and back 2-loop course. I didn't even feel like I started working until the 2nd lap, and even then I was well under control. I went out a little slower than my goal pace, as planned. I knew that meant I'd have to do some time at faster than my goal pace, but I was OK with that.

I loved the way the course was set up- I kept realizing that more and more as I went. There was a veeeery slight downhill for a good portion of the way out. It was barely perceptible, but just enough to get your legs turning over quickly without having to work as hard as you think you would. This worked out really well for the beginning of the run when I was trying to get my run legs under me and settle in to a pace. Then on the first time back, it was a little harder but that was OK because I was settled in. On the way out the 2nd time, I really took advantage of the "downhill" to work my sub-goal-pace effort. Then on the way back the 2nd time, it was harder but that was OK because I was almost done so I just went for it.

I took in more gel than I normally do, and I think this was a good idea (I called it my "fruit punch" gel, because it was 3 different flavors mixed together- hey it's the end of the season, I was running out... that's all I had left!). At one point late in the run I started to feel a bit of fatigue, so I gulped some extra gel and water and felt much better. Usually I put off sipping my gel while running because it's kind of a pain to get it out of my tri top, open it, sip, close it, and put it back... but seeing how well this run went, I'm definitely going to be better about getting those calories in on the run.

There was a weird little dogleg out-and-back section at the end of the loop that you actually did twice per loop. So whenever you were on that short section, there were four lanes of traffic. The volunteers were yelling themselves hoarse trying to tell the runners, "1st and 3rd times on this road, go around the cone and to the left side; 2nd and 4th times, to the end and then the sidewalk"... huh??? There were people all over the road, people crossing traffic, it was chaos. Fortunately I made it through correctly and unscathed.

I really can't say enough how awesome this run felt. Even when it got tough, I was in control. I kept an eye on my average pace for the run and it was right on. I thought I was maybe going to miss my stretch target by a minute or so, but I was going to make my major goal. I cheered on the 2 other GNOTri guys when I saw them, FINALLY found Jen and waved at her, and then cruised in towards the finish line feeling AWESOME. Slapped high fives to my mom, Denise and Cecilia, then across the mats and DONE!

Results: I ended up placing 23rd in my AG out of 39. Doesn't sound so awesome, but considering this was the national championships and there was some SERIOUS talent there, I think that's OK. I ended up getting a PR both for the bike and run legs, which was cool but also made me super bummed that we didn't have the swim so I couldn't get a 70.3 PR. Argh! But that aside, I was very happy with my results:

T1: 1:41 (fast, but bc of me having socks, arm warmers and Garmin on already)
Bike: 2:48:43 (I got my 2:48 after all! Sah-weet!)
T2: 2:48 (that's more like it for me.... sigh)
Run: 1:44:47 (I MADE IT! I got my 1:45 and 8:00/mile average! I really didn't think I did! Totally happy about that)
Total: 4:37:59 (...not that that means much, since it was 69.1 and not 70.3)

So about Team USA- the top 20 get automatic slots. The slots will roll down to the top 25 if anyone in the top 20 doesn't claim theirs. Also, since Worlds is next year (which is what we're qualifying for), they have to score everyone against the age groups they'll be in NEXT year, not the ones they're in now. This doesn't affect me directly, but it does affect how many people will be in my AG for scoring purposes. They said they'd send out emails within 2 weeks or so, notifying you if you got your slot. So keep your fingers crossed for me! Nevada 2011, baby!!

Oh and I almost forgot- after the race, Cecilia really wanted to go swimming. She and I both thought this would be a great idea, since I didn't get to go swimming that morning. We had a great time. So thanks, my Cecilia Buddy, for making my triathlon experience complete!

Snake Bite Tri

Three words best describe this race: Hot, Hot, and HOT. By the time of the 8 AM start, it was easily topping 90. The heat index for the day, which is measured in the shade, was at least 105. You have to get yourself to just not think about it. At least that's what I do. Because if you dwell on it you'll just be miserable. And it'll still be just as hot!

Swim: There were 3 waves. All females were in the 3rd wave (it was a very small race). The water was almost as hot as the air! It was like a bathtub in there. Fortunately it was also as calm as a bathtub, which made sighting easy even for me. There was one girl who insisted on swimming into my butt the entire way around. I got an elbow to the goggle one time too which was nice. She seemed to be trying to get me to move over. I'm sure she was frustrated, but hey I was just swimming in a straight line, I wasn't about to alter my course just because she wanted me to! If she wanted to swim to the inside she could go around me. But she seemed to prefer my butt. Oh well. I think the swim was quite long. My friend, who was an NCAA swimmer, looked at all the times and thinks it was at least 100yds too long. For a 400 meter course, that's pretty significant. I heard them say "3rd and 4th women coming out of the water!" as I got out, which was very cool (that would be me and Butt-Girl).

T1: I opted to wear socks, which I would later regret. Other than that, I was pretty fast for me, although that's still not fast. I think I lost 2 spots by the time I got out onto the bike.

Bike: 13 mile straight, flat, out & back course. A bit of a headwind on the way out provided some challenge, but I knew the way back would be sweet. I chased down some women in front of me and tried to keep a mental note of my position. I passed a coworker of mine to get into 3rd place. She passed me back and I got to watch another girl draft off of her for about a mile until I passed them both again. On the way back, a few miles from the end, I found myself in a back-and-forth duel with two other women. We were trading the top three spots back and forth. I was leading the race two different times, though only briefly. It was really exciting. We were zooming by other riders like they were standing still. Eventually, one girl pulled far enough away that I knew I wouldn't catch her, but I kept her in my sights (not hard on a straight road) and finished the bike in 2nd place.

T2: I opted to not take my feet out of my shoes before dismounting the bike, another decision I would come to regret. Again, fast transition for me but still not that fast.

Run: Whoa, this was the longest 2 miles I've ever run! I could see the girl in 1st ahead of me. She wasn't pulling away, but I wasn't gaining much ground either. By the time we passed the first mini-aid station, which was two people handing out icewater towels, I was well in need of some cooling off. I reached out and received... a dry washcloth. What a tease! The next aid station was a water stop. A little girl was handing out water and Gatorade. I was about to ask for water, when the guy right in front of me took the cup of water she was holding. I passed by as she was turned around to get another cup. Foiled again!

Then we turned off the road and entered a shaded section of trail. I guess the shade was nice, but the real thing I noticed was we were running on a thick pad of pea gravel. As if my legs weren't heavy enough, now I was running on what felt like sand. "Turnover!" I kept telling myself. "Just keep running!" I thought about what it would feel like if another woman came blazing past me, putting me into third. I might not be able to catch the girl in front of me, but I certainly didn't work this hard to lose my second-place spot! After we finally exited the woods, there was another mini-aid station. I reached out for water, but all he had was Gatorade. 0 for 3!

I could tell there wasn't anyone immediately about to pass me because I didn't hear any cheers for anyone else after I passed a group of spectators. Coming up on the water-and-Gatorade aid station for the second time, I could see they were handing out water bottles. And they looked COLD. Sweeet. I reached out for one... and a guy right next to me (where did he even come from??) grabbed it. And that was it, we had passed by. Are you kidding me?? At this point I let out an audible "AAGH!" I was passing a guy who said, "here, you want some of mine?" I managed an "I love you!!", guzzled some precious H2O and gave him the bottle back. I then came up on my friend Clay, got out a quick "missed EVERY aid station!" to him, and he mercifully splashed me with some water from his bottle as I passed. Then, up ahead- the finish line! So close, but so far away... had it really only been an hour since the swim start? One hot, tired foot in front of the other, and I made it to finish 2nd overall. And promptly drank 2 bottles of icy cold water. Aaaaaaahhhh, finally.

Results: I was 2nd overall, which is way cool! (remember though, it was a small race, something like 46 women total, so it's not quite as impressive as it sounds) But looking back over the results, what do you think made the difference? Yep, you guessed it, transitions. The girl who won was about 25 seconds ahead of me, and that's about how much faster her combined T1 and T2 were than mine. Our other times were startlingly identical (I outswam her by one minute, she outbiked me by one minute, and our run times were 0.2 sec apart). Guess who needs to do some transition work?? Talking to my coach though, I realized a few things. 1) This is not unexpected, since we've never really worked on transitions before. For the half and full IMs, they don't matter as much and I've always had bigger things to work on. She gave me some good tips that I will be practicing. 2) This is a good problem to have! For a race to come down to transition times means I'm making some good progress.

My bike average was good, 21.1 mph. I was a little concerned that it was the same average that I had in Heatwave a few weeks back, where the bike course was almost twice as long. But Heatwave was a slightly rolling course, so I was helped out by some downhills. This one was pancake flat. Heatwave, despite the name, was also nowhere near as hot. But in any case, my biking has definitely improved just in the last couple of months, and that in itself is a major victory.

My run pace was 7:46, which was slightly disappointing. I ran 7:10s for a longer race not even a year ago. But, I hadn't biked nearly as fast, nor was it nearly as hot. And I went into this last month or so of training knowing that the strong bike focus for this phase was going to take something away from my run. I've hardly done any run speedwork at all in the last month at least. So I do understand it. But of course I want to be faster, who doesn't, right?

And in the end, this race was for fun of course, and I had fun. So I was more than happy with it.

I almost forgot the best part of the race- the Headsweats visor in the goodie bag! Seriously, that was the main reason I signed up for this race.

Lots of great GNOTri performances, including several AG wins and places. Congrats to all! Now go find some air conditioning :)

One Year Ago

A year ago today, I woke before dawn in a place far from home and prepared myself for the biggest physical challenge of my life. Actually, the real preparation had been going on for the last twelve months in order to get me to that predawn morning.

I remember the first triathlon I ever did- a sprint called The Grandman on May 31st, 2008. I rode a commuter bike with my running shoes. It was my first open water swim. It was the first time I'd run three continuous miles since my injury the previous winter. And I LOVED it. I remember crossing the finish line and thinking to myself, "I am a triathlete!". It was the biggest feeling of personal accomplishment I'd had in a long time. I knew I had to have more of this sport.



In the days that followed, I thought about what I wanted to do next. I was looking around on the internet, talking to my new triathlon friends, and learning about this whole new world of sport. Sure, I had run before, but this was different- the sense of community, the oppenness and welcoming of other triathletes, how much FUN everyone seemed to be having. I started reading about Ironman. Wow, I thought, that is a whole other level. But I talked to some people who had done them, and they were very... normal. They didn't wear capes like superheroes, they went to work and had lives just like I did. I started thinking- why couldn't I do that? That turned into "I bet I could do that" and then "I wanna do that!". I talked about it to my friend/coworker Adam, who happened to be contemplating his first Ironman at the same time. And that was enough to put it over the edge. At the stroke of noon on a June Monday, the instant the general entry opened, he and I both signed up for the 2009 Ironman Coeur d'Alene. Twelve months to get ready- the countdown was on.

I knew I couldn't do it by myself. I knew I needed help. I had only done one tri, I could count on one hand the number of times I'd swum laps in the pool, I didn't even have a bike besides my hybrid, and I was just coming off of an injury that had sidelined me for a few months. I didn't know how to find a coach, but I knew I needed one. It ended up happening mostly by accident. I read an article on Beginner Triathlete that I liked, and I clicked on the link at the end for the author. I found the name Jennifer Hutchison, read a little about her, and thought she could be a good fit. We scheduled a chat, I told her my story and what I wanted to do, and did she think this was possible? She told me yes. We must have talked for about an hour. It totally clicked- I could tell right away that she "got" me. My Ironman roller coaster ride was starting, and I was strapped in and ready to go!

Over the course of that year, I did a few more races, bought a bike, eventually was healed enough to run faster than Granny and her walker, faithfully rode with GNOTri on the Saturday Rides of Pain (I only cried a few times), figured out how to fit more and more training time into a week, made a lot of friends, and had a lot of fun.







There are many memorable moments that stick out:

-My first 100 mile ride, which was by myself in the blazing heat, doing four 25-mile Hayne loops (I HATE Hayne loops).

-Running 16 miles (at the time my longest ever) at the crack of dawn so I could be ready in time for Easter brunch.

-Almost getting run over by drag racers on Hayne at dusk. I had started my ride too late and was running out of daylight, when all of a sudden headlights across the whole road were screaming towards me. That was probably my scariest bike experience ever.

-Finally breaking 1:30 for 100m in the pool, after it had eluded me for a long time.

-My super-brick workout of 4 x (20 mile bike/4 mile run), also in the blazing heat, which ended up taking me about 8 hours.

-My training trip to CA, on the Wildflower course. So much fun, even though just the thought of Nasty Grade made me cry before we even got there.

And there are many more.

So back to that morning. It's June 21st, 2009, and I'm standing in the kitchen of our rented house in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, spreading peanut butter on a bagel. It's barely 4:30 AM and the sun is already coming up. I can see the predawn glow through the window over the sink. I'm ready. My transition and special needs bags are packed, my bike is checked, my swim gear is by the door. And more importantly, I have the training in the bank and I know it. I've done the work my coach has given me and my trust in her plan is complete. If she says I'm ready, then I am. I don't know exactly what will happen out there today, but unless there is some major accident I know I'll finish.

And right about now, back here in NOLA around 11 PM Central time, is almost exactly one year to the minute since it happened. I did finish. I am an Ironman. I'm still moving forward- there's been a lot more racing since that day and a lot of changes. I've set my sights on some new goals, gained more experience, and I continue to have a great and rewarding relationship with my coach. But that day one year ago is a day I will always remember.

Stupid Criminals: Triathlon Edition

Two weekends ago was the Heatwave Classic Triathlon in Ridgeland, MS. I headed up there along with several GNOTri teammates.

The race was great- it's almost an Olympic distance but with a short swim (0.5 mi). The bike ride is along the scenic Natchez Trace Parkway, and the run is on a paved trail through a shady wooded area. It was my first race with the new bike so I really wanted to tear it up out on the bike course. I managed to do pretty well on the bike- YAY- but then had no legs getting out on the run. I felt like Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump. After the turnaround on the run I realized one other reason for that- the run was mostly uphill the whole way out, but so gradual that you couldn't really see it. It was just enough to make you a little miserable. On the way back I was able to open it up a little and take advantage of the slight downhill, so at least that was good. And for once I didn't end up way out in the middle of the lake during the swim, with the race going on waaaay over there... I need to remember that whenever I think to myself, "oh I'm getting some swimming room, this is good", that it's actually NOT good because it probably means I'm veering off to China. So the fact that I managed to swim mostly straight on a right-turns course (I'm better on left turns) was good enough for me. I even took home some hardware!



But the real story of the day happened before the race even started. I was jogging around the parking lot warming up, about ten minutes before I was going to head down to the water. I saw some cops standing over by the side of the parking lot. I didn't think anything of it, since there are normally cops at races for traffic control. But when I ran by, I saw them putting cuffs on the kid who was standing with them. He looked youngish, early 20s, and was all dressed up in his triathlon gear, body marked and ready to race. As I passed I heard one of the cops say, "they have some pretty unique serial numbers, you know, especially those fancy carbon ones". Wait, wha?? I had to find out more...

On my way back around the parking lot, the cops were putting the kid in the car. I got the scoop from two ladies who were standing nearby- the kid stole the bike from packet pickup the night before (which was held at the local bike shop). Then in his infinite wisdom, he brought it to the race and tried to race with it. How on Earth did they find him, you ask? Perhaps because the race number attached to the bike was the same as the number WRITTEN ON HIS BODY. The bike shop people showed up, found the bike by make, model, and serial number, and then found the kid. (I heard he was going to parade around with a neon sign saying "I STOLE THIS" but he thought it would mess up his aerodynamics.)

I really don't have much else to say about that. I mean, seriously?? A bike just happens to go missing the night before the biggest sporting event in the area, and you think they're not going to look there? Although, Coach Rick had a good point- "I actually don't know if I'd have looked here, because I'd have thought no one would be that dumb."

So whether it was bold, just plain stupid, or both, it was definitely something I did not expect to see that morning!

Bonehead Move Of The Week

You know your week is starting off well when your Bonehead Move comes on a Sunday. Somehow I just knew I wouldn't top this one the rest of the week.

So I'm doing my 20 min run off the bike. My instructions were to go out at an easier pace for the first 10 mins, then come back a bit faster, sub 8:30. OK. I cruise out for the first 10, then make the turn and start picking it up. I figured I would pick it up gradually, but as I looked at my watch I could see that I was picking it up REALLY gradually. It felt like I would step it up noticeably, but only see a 2 second or so difference in my pace. For the first several minutes, this continued. Noticeable increase in effort, tiny change in pace. What was up?? My mind started thinking of all the reasons why this could be- did I not fuel properly? Did I not eat right the day before? Was I sleep-deprived? I know I've been focusing on my biking lately, riding Saturday and Sunday instead of one or the other and not really doing a long run. I knew that meant my run would suffer somewhat, but was it really going to be this dramatic? I could barely get down to 8:30 pace, and I used to cruise pretty easy at that speed. What's happening to me? My mind was racing.

With about a minute and a half to go, I'm pushing way hard, when something in the back of my mind went "wait a second"... I checked my Garmin again and realized I had been looking at my AVERAGE pace that whole time. I clicked over to my instantaneous pace- 7:06. A-HA! Houston, we found the problem.

Yes, I am that tool who doesn't know how to read her own instruments. Although, I have definitely never made this mistake before.

At least my run isn't falling apart as badly as I was fearing!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Stella Has Left The Building

Meet her new replacement:



I brought her home on Saturday and I've only ridden her once. I don't know her name yet. But she is screamin' fast.

It was a pretty productive Saturday. It started at 4:45 with a drive to the northshore for a 70-mile ride (which turned out to be Stella's farewell tour). It was a really nice ride. The change of scenery was exactly what I needed, and our smaller group of 7 (5 girls, yeah!) was fun and friendly. I *conveniently* stopped by the bike shop on the way home, since it was *conveniently* on the way, and they *conveniently* had a P2 in my size that they had been bugging me to look at. I had told them I wasn't deciding anything before IMNOLA but I'd come by after the race. I had been there the day before just briefly to check it out and get an initial fitting but didn't have time to make any real decisions.

I had recently started thinking that it might be time for a bike upgrade. Stella has been AWESOME, no doubt. But I'd never ridden anything else, and I'd been hearing how carbon is so much nicer to ride- that it wouldn't beat me up so much and I'd be able to run better off the bike. Training for half and full IMs does mean a lot of time in the saddle. And biking is my new Primary Focus Area, since it is my "key limiter", aka "thing I suck at way more than the other two". So to my thinking, if I'm going to be spending a lot more time at it, and I want to really improve at it, it should be comfortable and enjoyable to do.

So to make a long story short, over two hours later I rolled out of the bike shop with two bikes- a brand-spankin-new Cervelo P2 and a slightly forlorn, saddle-less and pedal-less Stella- along with over $200 in free bike stuff (thanks Bike Connection, you rock!) and a significantly lighter wallet.

I then proceeded to go home, wash the car, take Kai for a walk, and then collapse of exhaustion onto the couch.

Sunday I took her out for a quick 30-miler, which was pretty intense on the way out due to a strong headwind. She handled like a dream! I could tell right away that there was a big difference when going over bumpy roads. Much smoother. The one bummer about the new bike is that the only two colors I do NOT particularly like for vehicles (bikes, cars, whatever) are red and white. And you can get your 2010 Cervelo P2 in any colors you want... as long as they're red and white. Doh! But hey, if my bike times start improving, I think it'll grow on me real fast!



*Actually, Stella isn't really gone. She's still here while I decide what to do with her. She still looks sad without pedals and a seat, though.

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: