September 19: Last Tri of the Season

Me, Kim and Steph the day before the race, I love these girls! We have the best time training together-biking all summer, training swims in the lake, running, and yoga. Kim drove us to the Syracuse Half Ironman Tri in her "tri-mobile" a fabulous minivan with all the bells and whistles that carries us, our three bikes and all of our race gear. We shared a hotel room and headed to the start in the dark as night, rainy race day morning together.

Honestly, I really had to psych myself up for this last tri of the season. I'm so glad I had a couple of girlfriends to go with to the race and several other friends there racing as well. After the full ironman and training all summer, I was kind of ready for the end of the season. If the weather had been gorgeous for this race, I may have been a little more motivated. The day before the race was beautiful, sunny, near 70 degrees but race day was drizzly rain, dark, cold-you get the idea.

The Swim: Water temp was 61 which is pretty chilly. I actually didn't mind it too much and felt good in my wetsuit. Some people complained that their feet and faces were freezing but I felt decent all through, We swam in a rectangle in a reservoir for 1.2 miles. The water was calm and the way out was really nice, easy to sight and went by so fast. It was a wave swim start so everyone started in their age groups. Before I knew it I was nearing the finish and the best part of the whole race day was the wet suit peelers! No triathlons have this except Ford Ironman's and Ford Half-Ironman's. Volunteers meet you at the end of the swim, you lay on the ground and they strip your wetsuit off for you! This is amazing and if you've ever taken your own wetsuit on and off you appreciate the effort and time it saves to have two people peel your wetsuit off for you in SECONDS!

The Bike: The route was great! We trained on it once and it was a fiasco, pouring rain that day, felt like HILLS for MILES, and we got lost to top it all off!!!! Ended up with almost 70 miles and had a lot of fun laughing at ourselves and created a lot of inside jokes that day! (This was myself, Kim and Steph...) Well race day, the ride went much better! It was a hilly route, but fun to ride. The only downside for me was that it was a drizzly rain and foggy, which made it hard to push and ride hard because I didn't want to slide around or wreck on wet pavement. My max speed on one of the downhills was still 42.4 miles per hour! I wore arm warmers, tri shorts and a tank for the entire ride and was glad to have my arms covered, still cold pretty much the whole ride.

The Run: Uggh!!!! At least the rain stopped on the run. I was not a fan of the route which was a point to point 13.1 mile run that eventually put us on a 4 lane highway that went past all these really attractive strip malls. At least the people in the cars cheered for the runners, or some of them did. The runners had a lane all to ourselves, wow. To top it off, I was pretty tired and my IT band started hurting, I couldn't wait to reach the finish line which I did, FINALLY!

Overall, my friends and I all raced well and enjoyed the day. After I finished the rain cleared and it turned into a sunny afternoon, go figure! Weather affects me so much, I think I would have felt entirely different during the race if it had a been a nicer day. Logistically this race was my least favorite. We had to drive 10 miles or so from the host hotel to reach the transition area and race start. Race morning it took us 30 minutes, and some who left later took even longer, because of the long line of cars full of all the race participants trying to get to the same place. Then because the run was a point-to-point, it ended 13.1 miles from the race start and all of our gear, so we had to take shuttles back to the start to get our things and drive home. But we did get medals for finishing and made a few more triathlon memories together! I'm glad I got to do this race and was able to complete it. I don't want to take for granted that I can be out there doing it. Regardless of weather, you have to tough it out on race day, not just on the perfect day. Besides, when does "life" ever give us a "perfect" day everyday? :)

Overall Finish- 6:13:16

Swim- 39:25

T1- 6:58

Bike- 3:14:37

T2- 3:50

Run- 2:08:26

IM Wrap-Up Pics

Waiting in line for the swim start. The line stretched for more than a mile. nice face, huh? I didn't get to jump off the dock to start the swim until 45 minutes after the official start time.

This is the end of the 2.4 mile swim, the final bouy, and then we swam to the steps to exit the water.

Swim complete-woohoo! Now off to transition to the changing tent to get ready for the bike! During the run from the swim exit to transition, I saw my Aunt Lisa and Rose cheering me on and again as I exited on my bike! Colin actually took these pics but somehow I didn't see him!

Final push to the finish of 112 miles of rolling, hilly, gorgeous country side and horse farms galore! Only downside was that is was in full sun with no shade and temps topped out at 94 degrees. Lisa and Rose were out on the course when I hit 70 miles, what a boost to have them cheering! I got to see the whole crew when they took this pic! At the end of the ride I was completely covered in a thick layer of salt. During the bike ride I actually had a headache within the first two hours. I worked hard to drink even more and loosened my ponytail a little thinking maybe that would ease the headache.

This is what the end of a tough 26.2 mile run looks like! I was beyond happy to see the finish line. It was a double out and back run course and we literally ran right up to the finish line at mile 13ish and had to turn right to do the out and back loop again. It was not a scenic run in the least, pretty much torture to run in my dehydrated state! I got to run with several people along the way, chatting some and helping each other through small stretches of the run. A huge upside was getting to see Colin, my cousins Rose and Julia, and my Aunt Lisa all throughout the run. They were fabulous!

Sporting my hard earned medal and chatting about the day at the finish line... :)

I was so much more fatigued after this Ironman than my first one and I think it was because it was so much hotter. Literally felt better to squat then to stand upright! This is me talking to my sister Kellee on my cell, she had been following the race and talking to Colin all day. :) I had to sit on a curb and drink some water before I could walk back to the hotel... Last IM I felt fine to walk around, stand and talk and it was no big deal to get my gear and get to the hotel. This time Colin got me to the hotel and then went out to pick up my bike and all my gear for me, what a keeper!

Julia, Lisa, Me not being able to stand up anymore, and Rose! Julia has done a sprint tri previously, Lisa has run LOTS of marathons including Boston 5 times and counting, Rose is an amazing runner and marathoner with a PR of something like 3:24.

Safely back home again the day after the race, proudly wearing my finishers hat and a t-shirt that says "Ironman Louisville." It was fun but I never plan to do this HOT Ironman race again! Goodbye Louisville! Hello to future IM cities like Tempe, Arizona or Madison, Wisconsin and definitely would go back to Panama City Beach, Florida!

Next up Syracuse 70.2 Triathlon on Sep. 19 and then Marine Corps Marathon on Oct. 31.

Ironman Louisville Preview....Post One

Well, I finished the IM in some seriously hot weather conditions. It was a dig deep kind of day that took lots of prayer, and I was so thankful to cross the finish line. There's really nothing like the sight of the finish line after a seemingly never ending race day! I knew I would be slower then my first IM but I ended up an hour and 45 minutes slower. Try that for your ego!!!! But truly it was the best I could do, it was a completely different race course and city, and the biggest difference was the weather. I will gradually go through the swim-bike-run that took me 15:00:54 in future posts. But first a preview...

HIGH POINTS:

The Finish Line!!!!!!!!!!!!

Colin-my husband there cheering me on, not to mention he went and picked up all my gear and bike post-race, and listened to me about everything all through the weekend...

Aunt Lisa and Cousins Rose and Julia-drove 2 hours to meet for dinner the night before and cheered me all through the entire long race day! They rocked! Took lots of pics too!

Ohio River proved to be easy water to swim in, brown and murky, but not stinky.

Fun rolling hills on the bike course!

Met a few people to chat with briefly along the run course!

Pulled myself through the run by cheering on the other runners in the later darker miles of the course and then got called "Skirt Girl" and asked "How I could be so perky?" by those same runners. :)

LOW POINTS:

That this thing was in AUGUST!!!! In Kentucky!!!!!

That it was 94 degrees and the bike course was in FULL SUN!!!!

An aid station on the bike course ran out of water (just didn't get replenished quickly enough...) so I went without for 12 miles or so, not fun. (I had half a bottle of warm gatorade on my bike, better then nothing.)

Had a headache for the first hour or two of the bike, it was hot out there. Kept drinking gatorade and pushing to get better hydrated.

Cried at mile 5.86 of the run because I felt so bad, dehydration bad feeling in my head, not really muscles. Another runner coming back on the other side of the road said, "It's okay, we ALL feel like that, keep going!!!" So I sucked it up, quit my crying, and kept going!

Run course was a double out and back straight shot with no turns, very boring, and we had to do it TWICE! AND at mile 14 we had to run right up to the finish line but instead of going down the chute to the end, we turned left and went back out for the second boring out and back loop. You could see and hear the screaming crowd and the people finishing. good times.

HYDRATION and NUTRITION:

Bike-Drank 4 aero bottles of water, 2 sports drink bottles, 5 hours worth of Hammer Perpetuem (900 calories), 4 mini Clif bars (100 calories each), 2 Clif Shot Blocks packages (200 calories each), half a banana from an aid station.

Run-Drank Nuun (3 tablets worth spaced out, needed more), straight water, sports drink (not sure how much, drank it at the aid stations as needed.), 4 GU gel packs (100 calories each).

[Aid stations had lots of food and choices but I just can't eat on the run which is why I try to really take it all in on the bike.]

WEIGHT CHANGES:

Friday: weighed in at athlete check-in 4 lbs heavier than my normal which was a result of minimal workouts for the two previous taper weeks, not a big deal. Body water was at 50 percent which was good. (anything from 45 to 60 is good.)

Sunday Race Day: CALORIE BURN was 13,020, craziness!!!!!

Tuesday: a full day after the race I weighed 9 pounds LESS than I did at the athlete weigh-in!

Wednesday: back to my normal weight, not the extra 4 lbs. I had at the athlete weigh-in but at what I've been weighing all summer.

RECOVERY:

Feel better than after a marathon, not sure why??? Quads were a little sore Mon-Tues but not Wednesday, left hamstring is a still a little tight. Overall, I feel pretty good. I did NOT feel so great at the finish line, tired and hard to stand up then!

Monday-drove the 9.5 hours home.

Tuesday-3 mile walk plus a 1 mile jog. (hadn't planned to run but was in a hurry to get back and it didn't hurt.)

Wednesday-very easy 1.5 hour slow paced bike ride.

Thursday-went out to bike 30 miles with my friend but felt so great that I biked 5o miles instead! Would not have done it if I didn't feel good, no soreness during or after and pace was decent. (15.8, not bad for a few days after IM)

the rest of the week? lake swim on Friday and a short run on Saturday.

Why am I recovering so well??? I think because it was sooooooo incredibly hot at the IM that I couldn't go all out like I had trained up for and now I've still got some in the tank. Too bad I can't go try again for faster in an upcoming IM but they fill up a year in advance and my husband would flat out leave me! ha! Not really, but he definitely would not be in favor! I mean, I'm definitely doing MORE of these things, I'm hooked and want to get faster, but I won't being doing one in the fall! :)

COMING SOON: Maybe some short posts and more pictures, one about the swim, one about the bike, and a final one about the run. Trying to keep it shorter. But of course this one is completely long. Sorry.

IM Race MOJO!!!!!!

Nerves, Anxiety, Apprehension----ALL at the forefront of my mind this week! Yep, I've been in my own personal world of freak out! I've even gone so far as to be disappointed in a slower finishing time for my second Ironman then I had in my first Ironman, and I haven't even raced yet!!!!!! Pretty funny when I step back and look at myself! But seriously, this will be a much hotter race, different terrain, different swim, no comparison to my first IM. My goal is to finish. The time will be whatever it is, not putting pressure on myself, I want to listen to my body and race smart, fuel well, follow my nutrition plan, and HAVE FUN!

IT'S HERE: Sunday, August 29 is the race day, please pray for me while I'm out there! My number is 427 and it is Ironman Louisville if you want to track me on-line. I so appreciate the encouraging words I've heard from my friends both in person and on facebook. I love being out there and I think that as soon as I hit the water the nerves will settle and I'll enjoy being out there!

RACE DAY FUEL/NUTRITION: On the bike I will have Perpetuem, Clif bars, Clif shot blocks, Gatorade and water. I'd rather have a little more than I might want than not enough! On the run I'll probably just do straight GU gels and water, they'll have tons of stuff at the aid stations but not sure I'll want it at that point. Last time I couldn't do anything but gels by the time I got to the run. Planning to have NUUN in my water bottle on the run.

MENTAL GAME: This day is a huge mental game, even more so than the marathon. So it starts in my head. As I stated in the beginning, I've been on the nervous side! Well, yesterday I got this awesome message from my songbird friend from college. Her name is Colleen, we haven't seen each other since we graduated but connected on facebook in the past year. She has done two Ironmans, works for Livestrong, and is an amazing athlete! I LOVE what she wrote, hit the nail on the head, made me laugh, and brought me back to reality! I CAN DO THIS! God is my strength, there are way more important things and far more difficult things in life then a little old swim-bike-run. So Louisville, here I come! Excited!

Colleen's Words: "YOU ARE READY! You have planned your race....now race your plan! Do not deviate one bit from what you know you have worked on in the past 5 months of training." (actually 6 months, but who's counting??)

"Have fun. Don't take it too seriously. Keep in mind it is a long training day – you are not going to win. Eat and drink more than you think you need. Smile and/or laugh every once in a while. Think about people during the race that are in much greater pain than you ever will be. Think about me barfing in the swim on my first Ironman – it was red because I drank cranberry juice that morning (I thought I was puking blood). Enjoy it when they take your wetsuit off for you – that never happens in real-life. Play games with yourself all day. Go easy when it feels hard and go hard when it feels easy. Don't think about the people who will be finishing as you get off the bike. Do something stupid when you cross the finish line. Say thank you to the volunteers. Have a beer after you are done, even if you don't want one. Stay at the finish line until the race is over – you will want to leave, but it will be worth it to see the last finishers. Be prepared to be mauled in the swim – if you expect to get kicked and lose your goggles it won't be a shock when it happens. Don't get an M-Dot tattoo, no matter what."

And there you have it, thanks Colleen!!!

Bad Things Happen in 3's :)

1. Transmission on my car went out 2 weeks ago! Fun times, got it towed, re-built, then back to the shop for the key stuck in the ignition. It's just a car! Been 13 days without it but it comes home today. Pain in the wallet! :)

2. First Solo Flat Tire: Only 6 miles from home on my 52 mile solo bike ride, I got my first flat tire when I was alone! I know how to change them but always have a little help. SO, I was fine, actually kind of glad for a chance to prove to myself I could do it alone. I could do it, not very fast, but changed the WHOLE thing. Don't get your hopes up, it was a failure! I changed it and got all the "hard" parts accomplished, only to break the valve off my newly changed tube when I tried to air up the tire with my CO2 cartridge. Literally the moment I had the mishap a young couple on road bikes pulled up and helped me out. They gave me a new tube and the guy changed the tire for me! I love happy endings, don't you? Free flat tire clinic, here I come!

3. Broken shifter cable on my bike: Yep, this weekend it was my shifter cable that frayed and completely broke making it impossible to shift out of my little ring and into my big ring. I was 3 hours into a 5.5 hour ride with my husband! This makes it impossible to shift into higher gears and ride at a faster pace. Great. He says we'll have to shorten the route or it will take forever. This "type A" addicted to my training girl cannot handle that! Ha ha!!! So, he got out his tools, took off my front derailer and put the chain on the big ring and I rode the next 2.5 hours in my big ring. Yahoo! This is only not fun when you are climbing a hill and don't have your low gears to make it easier to reach the top. There weren't too many hills though so I survived! Bike went straight to the shop when we got home for a repair and tune-up and it will be ready on Tuesday! Yay!

Happy Weekend: It was a great weekend! Got some great hang-out and training time with my husband after having barely seen each other or talked for the past week while he worked over 80 hours and was completely exhausted all week! Logged a 5.5 hour bike ride and 40 min. run in gorgeous weather, a long run the next day, and even grilled out on the deck! I'm all about quality time! :)

Musselman Half Iron Tri: July 11, 2010

Kim and Kirsten, post-race, notice the empty transition area...

I LOVE this race and highly recommend it to anyone considering a half-iron triathlon distance! It's an outstanding, well-organized, family oriented, FUN race. The bike course is flat and fast, the run has challenging hills, and the swim is in beautiful Seneca Lake. This was my second time to participate in this race. They also have a mini-mussel which is the sprint distance, a micro-mussel which is some kind of comical tricycle race, and the Kid's Mussel which is awesome to watch!

My assigned spot in transition, when you register they ask you to give them motivational slogans and they put them on your sticker at your spot in transition. Mine says "I love this stuff! Ride it like you stole it! Never give up!" Of course I only had time to read that before the race started! I love the idea though. :)

My Race:

The SWIM felt great, my goggles were a bit fogged so I felt like I had to work harder to stay on course but it was decent. I finished the 1.2 miles in 37:28, about 30 seconds faster then last year. Yay! Then it was out of the lake, a run down the path to transition while getting my arms out of the wetsuit and into biking shoes/socks, helmet, gloves and sunglasses. Did I forget anything? No! Out of T1 in 2:55, a huge improvement for me!

My spot in the transition area with everything set exactly the way I wanted it, you should see the mess it becomes as the race progresses. :)

My BIKE computer wasn't working immediately when I started at the mount line, nice. I stopped (can you believe it?) to try and fix the sensor on my front wheel which had gotten knocked out of place. Of course I couldn't fix it and I'm ultra dependent on watching my speed and time to know how hard to push and when to take in nutrition. Well, I couldn't fix it and didn't want to waste precious time so off I pedaled deciding to ride totally on feel, what choice did I have? Honestly, it was good for me even though I took a little while mentally to get over it while I was riding! I love the bike course, it's awesome, fast, you can really fly! We had a head wind for the first 14 miles so perceived effort was up but I kept pushing. Then it was a fabulous tail wind! I saw all kinds of people passing me while drafting (against the rules), a few people blocking (also against the rules and quite annoying when you want/need to pass them!!) and it was incredibly gratifying to watch the official motorcycle pull up beside people and take down their numbers to apply penalties. Yes! I loved that and it made me even more cautious to not accidentally break any rules myself. I finished the 56 miles in 3:07:36 with an 18.0 avg. speed.

Pre-race transition area with athletes setting gear for their races.

Into transition, my legs were tired when I walked/jogged my bike to my spot. Quick change of shoes and shedding of bike gear, grabbed my water bottle and I was off! T2 about 20 seconds slower than last year in 2:52. The RUN was so hot and hilly, I completely struggled through the course in full sun with little shade. (Yes, I still love this race!) Spectators were out in their yards with hoses spraying us and I ran through every one of them! I sponged cold ice water all over my face, neck, arms and poured water over my head. I took in several Gu gel packs and drank water. I would have loved some gatorade, the course had Heed, which I don't care for, such a snob! I also would have done well to take in salt tablets. About a mile from the finish I passed my friends cheering me in and felt so bad I almost cried! In fact, I did cry a little. I was so HAPPY to cross the finish in line in 2:18:38 for 13.1 miles, even though it was 14 minutes slower than my run last year! Uggh! So, I ended up with a total time of 6:09:29 which was only 7 minutes slower than my overall time last year. It could have been much worse if I hadn't improved in other parts but it could have been so much better if I could have run better. But it is what it is! I'm thankful to have completed the race and it was frankly the best I could run on that day. :)

The LOOT: We got arm warmers, gloves, a nice long-sleeved tech shirt (made from recycled material), and a finishing eco-friendly water bottle and finishing medal which is a chainring. (basically a recycled bike part) This race really goes all out to be environmentally conscious.

There's the "stuff" and Kim made the awesome keepsake clipboard as a surprise!

Place in the Race: I got 22nd out of 53 in my age group of 35-39 year olds. I came in 423 out of 794 overall. I do wish I had run better, running is supposed to my "thing," I remember when I used to pass everyone on the run in tri's, not that day! Life goes on, I'm learning to be thankful that I can have health and fitness to do these things that I love, and appreciate that God gives me the desire and ability to do it, regardless of finishing times. It's for his glory anyway that we're even on this earth. And so as the verse says in Col. 3:23 "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men." So I will do it with all my heart and be thankful and happy that I can!

PICTURES: My great friend and training partner, Kim, went through this whole weekend as well, and also our friend Scott, who is married to another marathon training friend of mine. The three of us traveled together in Kim's awesome triathlon Dodge minivan with automatic doors on all sides and room for THREE bikes PLUS all of our STUFF! It's amazing, see pics below... We went to packet pick-up, painted the "Wall of Mussel," went to the pre-race meeting and then met Scott's family for dinner out and all stayed at Scott's family's lake cottage before heading out to the race the next morning. Kim and Scott both had great races and Scott completed his second ever tri and first half-iron distance.

The Van: Lots of stuff and 3 bikes, count 'em!

Athletes painting the mural and their names.

Closer view of the mural...

The three of us in front of the "Wall of Mussel."

Pre-Race shot of Kim and I.

You can add the years on to the wall every time you come back and race. Fun idea!

At a Glance...

Officially I have survived 18 weeks of Ironman training! It started out with an 8 week base phase followed by an 8 week build phase, and now I am in the second week of the 4 weeks of the peak training phase. After that, the long-awaited taper leading to race day. So, peak phase is all that the name implies. Here is what this previous week of training entailed:

Monday, July 12:

Rest day (This was the day after the half-iron Musselman Triathlon)

Tuesday, July 13:

Swim 2,900 yards

(pool workout including warm up, drills, moderate and threshold intervals, kicking and cooldown)

Bike 1 hr. 40 min.

(27 miles, 15.9 avg--slower then usual due to still recovering from the race)

Wednesday, July 14:

Swim 2,900 yards

(pool workout with warm up, drills, moderate and VO2 max intervals, speed intervals, kicking and cool down)

Bike 1 hr. 30 min.

(23.5 miles, 15.9 avg---still in recovery mode...)

Thursday, July 15:

Run speedwork 6 x 800 m repeats, 5 mile total run distance

Open Water Swim (3 loops in Canandaigua Lake, first swim with no wetsuit this season and it felt great, IM Lousiville will not be wetsuit legal due to warm water temps so I must practice in open water without a wetsuit.)

(1 loop equals slightly less then a mile, plan called for 3700 yards so I guess/estimated at the lake, must have been around 2.5 miles??)

Friday, July 16:

Run 6 miles

Bike 2 hours

(30 miles, 15.0 avg)

Saturday, July 17:

Long Run 16 miles (hot and humid!)

Sunday, July 18:

Long Bike 5 hr. 15 min. (76 miles in the wind and lots of climbing made for a slower pace)

Run 4 miles (immediately following bike workout)

Next week is quite similar to this week, there is usually a Brick workout each week but this week was slightly modified due to the race on Sunday. My bike workouts are usually supposed to be at moderate intensity, one on a hilly course and one high intensity bike workout. I just didn't have speed this week mainly because of racing on Sunday. I can feel fatigue settling in and that is normal.

Nutrition during workouts: I've been tweaking nutrition on my long bike ride days to try and figure out my race day plan. Today I burned 3300 plus calories on the bike and 400 on the run! That's a lot of calories to keep up with so I can keep going on the long workout. Race day will be an even longer time on the bike followed by 26.2 miles of running, nutrition is the most important factor to plan. Currently I'm leaning towards a 4 hour bottle of perpetuem on the bike plus a couple packs of GU chomps plus 3 or 4 mini Clif bars. (100 calories each and easy to consume) For the run I"ll likely stick with straight gels and water/gatorade because that was all I could tolerate last time and it seemed to do the trick. I'm no expert and basically just figuring it out as I go along. :)

My training plan: Following Matt Fitzgerald's Triathlon Level 4 Ironman Plan. (love his training book/plan)

Coming Soon: Pictures and a full race report from the Musselman Half Iron Tri on July 11. It was a fun race, hard run, I improved in everything except the run but I blame the heat and sun! I'm just full of excuses in this post...forgive me!

Shout-Out: to several training partners... Sandy and Kim for open water swims and bike rides from time to time, FF running groups for long runs, and the biggest and bestest shout-out of all to COLIN for biking with me on the long endurance rides. He's a strong cyclist and patiently waits for me at turns, he also plans our routes. :) Thank You! I'm lucky he's training for the Highlander, a 125 mile bike ride in September so he needs these long workouts too.