2013: A Year in Review

This time of the year, it's comon to see countdowns and reflections of what happened in this past year.  So I thought it would be fitting to take some time to reflect on my year of athletic accomplishments.  It was quite a year!

Overall, I did 5 sprint, 1 Olympic and 1 half ironman distance races.  I got an age group award in 2 of these races.  I completed a Century.  But the list of completed events doesn't really describe the year I had.

I started 2013 with a desire to do triathlons but not much else.  I bought the "gear" I needed, including a new road bike.  I enrolled in training programs like Spin90, Anne's open water swim clinics and my swim class.  I joined Mid MD Tri Club.  I did all the things I thought I should do in order to successfully compete in triathlons.

It took a few races to realize that physically preparing and mentally preparing are 2 different things.  My head helped and hurt me at several points this year.  I haven't really been a big resolution maker in the past...but if I had to make a resolution for 2014, it would be to be mentally tougher.  While I have a stubborness that won't allow me to quit a race, I tend to allow my head to let me give in on the run.  I slow down and I don't push hard enough.  So 2014 is going to be the year where I stay stronger mentally.

2014 is going to be a different kind of year because it will start with the foot surgery.  But I am determined that I can still accomplish some good things athletically.  I am looking forward to facing the challenges that the year will present.  Happy New Year everyone!  It's going to be a great one!!

It's on the Books

I just got all of my doctor appointments scheduled.  My surgery is set for Feb. 19th.  This way, I'll be finished with all the travel for Ryann's auditions before the surgery.  So the schedule is as follows:

-Surgery Feb. 19th.  In a boot.
-2 weeks with no driving - can drive after March 5
-4 more weeks in the boot - April 2nd released from boot
-can swim immediately
-can bike if comfortable after 2 weeks - April 16th
-can run after 4 weeks - April 30th


I will definitely need at least 2 months to get race ready...no races before July 1.  Just to be safe, I will probably avoid signing up for races until I have started training again in late April.  Who knows what my recovery timeline is going to look like!

I wish I didn't have to wait until February to have the surgery, but it doesn't make sense to try to do it before all the travel for Ryann's auditions.  It's better to be a little bit patient...of course that is a trait that I am lacking.

I have decided that during my "boot" time, I am going to focus on my core strength.  I'm going to work with Clara to design ab exercises that don't have any stress on my feet but that will develop that area.  Hopefully with some focused attention on the core, I won't have the back issues that I had this year.

The other goal is to get as much pool time in between now and the surgery.  Swimming doesn't hurt my foot like cycling and running do...so I'm going to swim to stay in shape.  I can't just be a lump like I have been for the past 2 weeks!

Foot Doctor Report

Yesterday I had my appointment with the podiatrist to see what is going on with my foot pain.  I brought my running shoes and wore my black boots so he could see the shoes that I wear the most.  I walked into the office a little nervous but excited to find out how to get rid of my pain.

The receptionist was gruff but efficient.  I had missed one thing on the new patient forms that I had filled out ahead of time...this seemed to annoy her...but I fixed it right away.  I sat down and waited about 90 seconds before they called me back. 

The nurse asked me a bunch of questions about my symptoms and entered the info into the computer.  Then she went to get the doctor.  Another 90 second wait and in walked Doogie Howser...I mean the podiatrist.

I made sure to tell him that I am a runner and a triathlete.  He is too...so I knew he would understand my desire to get rid of whatever was going on and get back to training.  As we talked about my pain and he pushed on my foot in many painful ways, he asked me if there was anything I did that alleviated the pain.  I said that a glass of wine does the trick.  He laughed...a good belly laugh...I consider it a personal victory that I got a foot doctor to belly laugh.

So he sent me with the nurse to get some x-rays.  When they were done, Doogie and I looked at the x-rays.  He said that he didn't see a fracture.  I said "that's good, right?"  He said "yes that's good".  But then he showed me a small dark area right on the side of the bone.  He said "you've got a bunion".  My response, without a moment's thought was "I thought only little old ladies got bunions".  He laughed again and said that anyone can get a bunion.  He said that he just did a surgery on a 16 year old girl with a bunion.

Along with the bunion, he explained sesamoiditis.  My sesamoid bones in the ball of my foot are causing irritation which is exaggerated by the pressure of the bunion.

So he went through a very detailed description of how we can pad my shoes and create special orthotics that have a cut out in the area of the bunion so that I can run.  He said that the eventuality is probably surgery to get rid of the bunion.  He said we could do what we could to prolong that.

The whole time Doogie was talking, I was thinking, why would I go through all that effort just to "manage" with the bunion?  Why wouldn't I just get rid of it and be done with it?  So I asked him.  He said "that's the athlete in you.  You're aggressive.  Most people don't want to take the aggressive approach."

So he switched to describing the surgery and what was involved.  I will be in a boot for 6 weeks.  Considering that it's my right foot, driving will be an issue.  He said that after 2 weeks I can take the boot off to drive.  I asked about running.  He said that I can probably start running again 4 weeks after I get the boot off.  I can swim right away, bike probably 2 weeks after.  But the bunion will be gone.  It only makes sense to me that instead of "managing" the pain, we get rid of the source of the pain.  Right?  I just don't understand why anyone would want to prolong the inevitable.

He fitted me for orthotics and sent me on my way.  The coordinator will be calling me to set up the date for surgery.

I'm trying to figure out the best time to do this...Ryann's college auditions are late January through February.  So if I schedule the surgery for mid-February, I will be finished with the travel required for those auditions.  I'll be in the boot until roughly April 1st.  Then I'll be running by May 1st.  He told me I wouldn't be half Ironman ready in 2014 but by the end of the season, I'll be in great shape to do some sprints and olympic distances. 

So the question is, do I trust Doogie to do this?  He told me that he has done hundreds of these surgeries and the practice came highly recommended to me.  But he seems so young!  So I'm putting my foot in his young hands. 

Run for Abby

This morning I woke up with the intention of running with Abby.  I have known Abby for almost 14 years.  She has been a co-worker, friend, mentor and support.  She is the kind of person who would do anything for her friends.  I'm lucky to be someone she considers a friend.

Abby has to have surgery on her ankle/foot on Tuesday.  She was originally told that she would not be able to run again.  Luckily she got a second opinion who has a different prognosis...only about 6 months of no running.  She was relieved.

So this morning a group of Abby's friends got together to run with her for the last time before her surgery.  I tested my foot a little bit in the neighborhood before heading to Centennial Lake to meet the group.  I knew almost immediately that I wouldn't be able to run.  I was so disappointed but I know that staying off my foot is the best thing until I know what's going on with it.

When I pulled into the parking lot and saw everyone, I really wanted to run.  I didn't...but I really wanted to.

Cassandra was there.  She has recently gone through a foot injury and was in a boot for several months.  I talked to her about my foot injury.  She was concerned that I was seeing a podiatrist and not an orthopedist.  I guess I just assumed that if it's a foot problem, you should automatically see a podiatrist.  I'm going to see what the podiatrist says, but keep an open mind about getting a second opinion.

I am anxious to see what happens on Tuesday.  I have a feeling that there might be a boot in my future...

Derailed by a Foot

So I have failed in my running every day in December.  As the title of this entry states, I was derailed by my foot.  It hurts...and running makes it hurt even worse.

It's funny how some things happen.  My foot started hurting really badly and 2 days later the MMTC email chail had a topic about good foot doctors in the area.  So I took the recommendations made on that email chain and made an appointment.  Unfortunately I couldn't get in until Jan 6th.  I'm going to see if another doctor can see me earlier than that. 

My biggest worry is this Sunday.  I am participating in a run for my friend Abby who has to have surgery on Dec. 17th.  She won't be able to run for about 6 months.  So a group of us are joining Abby to celebrate her love of running.  Abby plans to run 6 miles.  I am worried about whether or not I will be able to run the entire thing because of my foot pain.

I have googled my symptoms but I haven't been able to find anything that really fits the kind of pain I've been having.  Rest hasn't seemed to help...I haven't run in a few days.  The only active workouts I've done have been swimming and cycling.

I am disappointed that I didn't complete my December challenge, but I'm even more worried about the foot pain.  I hope it's not anything too serious...

Three Workouts in One Day

Last Tuesday I did three workouts in one day.  It was exhausting and I was so sore the next day, but it felt great!

Workout #1:  In the morning I did my swim class.  It is getting toward the end of the session and, while I love this class, I don't think my finances will allow me to continue with it.  Anyway, we ended up doing really fast intervals.  The pool had been drained because of a pump issue, so the water hadn't had time to warm up.  They said the temperature was 77 degrees, but it felt a lot colder than that. 

I have not watched the movie "Miracle", but several people in the class said our class was like that...when the coach made them do drills and kept yelling "again!"  We didn't have much rest time between our intervals before Pam would make us go again.  I was able to keep up until the very last interval of the class.  It was tough, but I kind of liked the workout.

Workout #2:  Then in the evening, I had my Spin90 class.  We did one legged drills for 5 minutes on each leg.  I felt pretty strong the entire time!  Considering how awful I was at one legged drills just a few weeks ago, this is a major improvement. 

Workout #3:  John had invited a cross training coach to the end of class so I was really excited.  It turns out that it was the same guy that came to our outdoor class this summer.  I really liked him in the summer when he worked with us on our running form.  This time, he was focused on core strengthening...EXACTLY what I need!

He said that the worst core exercise is a sit-up.  I've never done yoga, but the moves that he was doing with us really made me think this is what yoga might be like.  I could tell while I was doing them that they were working and that my abs would be sore the next day.  I was right!

So I did not run that day, but I feel like three workouts totally makes up for not running!

Slow Start

Today was the first day of the running challenge.  I got up early and got my running stuff on.  Then the dog decided that she needed to go out.  OK, I figured I could kill 2 birds with 1 stone.  She needs exercise too, after all!

We went about a mile, although I'm not sure you can count what we did as running.  She stopped at every post, fire hydrant, trash can, bush and twig along the way.  She loves to smell the outdoors...every single thing in the outdoors!  I can't blame her...she's cooped up in the house most of the day and only has these short walks/runs in which to explore the world.  But it's not exactly conducive to running.

So when we actually were running, it was fun.  We were running at a good pace and nothing hurt!  I was actually pain free while running.  My back didn't hurt, my knees were fine and I almost forgot about the pain in the arch of my foot.  Now if I could only keep that going for a few miles, it would be great!

December Running Challenge Day 1: 1 mile.

Running Challenge

I figured out a way to get myself out of this lazy rut.  I'm going to challenge myself to run every day in December.  This is not going to be easy for several reasons...

-it's cold and I hate the treadmill
-I have not run since the half IronMan
-it's cold
-December is a very busy month
-it's cold
-on Tuesdays, I swim in the morning and have Spin90 class in the evening.  A double workout is bad enough...make it a triple and I'm not sure I am up for that
-it's cold
-Today is December 1st and it's 9:21 and I haven't run today...although I've been running up and down the stairs doing laundry all day...does that count?
-did I mention it's cold???

OK, so I'm giving myself a pass for today since I didn't come up with this challenge until now.  But as a consolation, I will include a run even on the days that I have swimming and Spin90. 

For clarification, this does not mean that I will have a long run every day.  Some days it will only be a mile.  Other days it will be a lot longer.  But I will run every day.  I will report on my progress here...this will help keep me accountable.

Yes, I understand the need for a rest day.  I also understand that I need to stop being lazy.  I have a feeling that there will be a lot more 1 mile days than long mileage days.  We shall see!!!

So who is with me?  Are you up for running every day?

Turkey Trot

I've always wanted to do a turkey trot the morning of Thanksgiving.  There are many choices and it's just been pure lack of motivation on my part as to why I haven't done one yet.

This year, my local Y is hosting a Turkey Trot and several of my friends and training buddies are participating.  So there's no reason not to run the Turkey Trot...right???  Well...

There's something that I have to admit...I'm lazy...and it's REALLY cold out there.

I admire everyone who is out there braving the cold weather to get in their daily run.  I have not been out there.  The cold weather came on so fast that I didn't have time to adjust to it...and therefore I've been avoiding it all together.

So when I saw the weather forecast and how COLD it's going to be tomorrow morning, I decided that a Turkey Trot is not going to happen this year either.  Brrrrr.  Maybe next year!

Decisions, Decisions

I know that times are tight for a lot of people, and I'm right there too.  Our financial situation is getting to the point where I need to make some cutbacks.  This means that I have to make some tough choices, which includes my off-season training.

I think I've decided that I'm going to take a break from swimming...maybe one session off.  Although I'm worried that I will lose so much ground by taking off a session.  Pam keeps the workouts up on the board for the rest of the day so maybe I can try to do the workouts on my own. 

I will definitely continue Spin90 as long as possible.  Cycling is still my strength and I need to make sure that I don't lose too much fitness in the off-season.  Because I hate the trainer so much, I know that I will not keep up my workouts on my own.  So this is where I will spend some money.

I am considering a couple of early spring half marathons.  This will force me to be more focused on my running.  Maybe then I won't be so quick to skip my runs.  I need to embrace the cold though...it's already brutal out there.

The one area that I really need to work on is my core strength.  Luckily I can do this for free at home!  I know that I have a lot of work to do and I feel like I will be able to stay motivated with my core work.

I can do this!  The reality is that there are very expensive training options...and they are really great.  There is also the option to train completely on your own.  I am going to try to combine both and see how it goes.  You can be sure that I'll post about the good and bad of my training choices!

Break

I haven't posted for awhile.  I needed a break.

I needed a break from writing for awhile.  I knew that stepping away from the keyboard was the best thing to do.  The race overwhelmed me in so many ways.  I was trying to process the experience and wasn't sure that the processing was worth documenting here.  I hope I didn't lose too many readers by staying away myself!

I also needed a break from all things athletic.  I went to my Spin90 classes and I have gone to swimming, but really I haven't been putting in a full effort in anything.  I haven't run at all.  I haven't been able to ride my bike for very long...but that is mostly due to my continuing back issues.  My swimming has been pretty lazy.

I want next year to be a better year.  I want to be more focused.  I need to figure out how to avoid skipping my runs. 

In order to come back better next year, I definitely need this break. I need the intensity to be light for awhile...for both mental and physical reasons.

But I promise I won't take any more big long breaks on writing again!  So keep checking in!

Race Recap: 70.3 Venice, FL

Race Day:

I woke up feeling rested and ready.  I got into my tri-suit, got my last minute things together, grabbed my transition bag and we were out the door.  We parked the car and walked over to the transition area.  I was nervous, but not overwhelmingly so. 

In transition I talked with several of the women around me while we set up our areas.  For some of us it was our first half...for others, they had done one before.  I bonded with a woman named Angie.  She had done the Augusta 70.3 and actually qualified for nationals at her first half!  Wow.

I met back up with Stephen and we wandered over to the same area where I had taken off my wetsuit the day before.  I began the process I affectionately refer to as the "wetsuit dance"...put one leg in, shimmy around, put the other leg in, shimmy some more, hop as you yank the suit up, stick your hands down the inside of the suit and pull. Finally put your arms in the holes and wiggle around until everything finds its place.

A woman sang a beautiful rendition of the national anthem.  It always makes me think of Ryann when I hear a good version of that song.  I missed my girls. 

I watched the pro men start their race.  There was an area to the left of the swim entry where they allowed swim warmups.  I knew that I should do a warmup. So I timidly walked over to the warmup area. 

I saw Angie in the water and waded over to her.  We chatted a bit and decided that we were going to be great friends.  She has a spark that is contagious.  You can't help but smile around her...which really helped me to calm down and forget about the pre-race jitters.  Thank you Angie!

Finally I jumped in and started doing a short warmup swim.  The pro women went off, then the younger men's age group.  Angie and I decided it was time to get out of the warmup area and walk over to the starting line.

It was a beach start, which I've never done before.  I was so anxious about tripping and falling.  Watching all the other waves helped because no one seemed to have much difficulty running into the water.  It was our time to line up.  Angie and I started next to each other, although that would be the last time I would see her all day.  The gun went off and we started running down the beach.  I just kept telling myself to relax and enjoy the day.

I got to the sandbar quicker than I had expected.  The water was deeper than the day before, but we still had to stand to get over the sandbar.  However, we could drop back down and swim a lot sooner than I could during the practice swim. 

I felt good.  I knew I was going slow, but I also knew that this was going to be the longest swim I've ever done in a race.  I kept thinking, just relax.  I got to the first turn buoy before I knew it.  Stephen had hoped to stand on the end of the pier and get some good shots of me swimming.  But when I was out there and glanced at the end of the pier, I knew we were way too far for him to get anything.

By the time I was heading back into the shoreline, I was feeling good.  I knew I had conserved energy for the rest of the day.  I knew that I hadn't swallowed much of the salt water.  The only thing that was worrying me was an ache in my lower back.  I think between the wetsuit and the salt water, my swimming posture was a bit askew...which was putting pressure on my back.

As I was getting out of the water, I fell.  I started laughing at myself and Stephen took this photo.

He yelled that everyone was tripping getting out of the water. I was still laughing when I ran up to the wetsuit strippers.  This is something else that I've never experienced before.  You just plop down, they pull off your wetsuit and throw it at you as you jump up.  Very efficient!

Of course I still had a ridiculously slow transition time.  There was a VERY long run from the wetsuit strippers to the entrance of the transition area...then my bike was all the way at the opposite end, near the bike out.  It was good to be close to the bike out, but my feet were not happy about running that far on the pavement in bare feet.

I love the volunteers at events like this.  I try to say thank you to as many of them as possible.  They make me smile...this picture catches me in full-on smile from something the volunteer had said to me.  They were really great throughout the whole race.

So I knew that this course was going to be flat, and I expected that to mean fast.  I wasn't worried about the continual grinding of muscles on a flat course...I was trained and ready for that.  There was a pretty healthy headwind...no big deal...just like riding on the Eastern Shore.  Get aero and go Karen.  I did that pretty well for the first 10 miles or so.  There was an aid station around mile 18 (I can't remember exactly what mile they were on).  My back was starting to bother me, so I stopped just past the aid station, got off the bike and stretched.  I also ate my first Stinger waffle and made sure to get plenty of fluids.  Back on the bike...right into the headwind.

By mile 20, I was having some serious pain in my lower back.  I kept trying to change positions to take some of the stress off my back.  But the only position that didn't hurt was sitting as upright as possible.  I did that...which is not ideal for the amount of wind I was encountering.  I was going SLOW and using up a lot of energy.  I tried to just focus on my cadence and not on the speed...although I was being passed by everyone and their grandmother...literally...a lady passed me with "75" on her calf, which indicates her age.  I was SLOW and getting frustrated.

After the second aid station, I pulled over again and did some more stretching.  By now, my knees were in on the action...you guessed it, they were hurting too.  A volunteer ran over to me to bring me some water and make sure I was OK.  I smiled and thanked him for his concern.  I wasn't OK.  I was disappointed...the bike is my strength!  This was supposed to be a FAST bike...not a slow one.  I tried to keep my focus and visualized Daryl in front of me blocking the wind.  It didn't help with the wind, but it made me feel less lonely out there.  I knew I wasn't in last place, but I also knew that there weren't many behind me.  And since it was a small field, there weren't many people to begin with. 

I honestly did not like the bike course at all.  It took us through the city streets of Venice.  Most of them had bike lanes, but there was a lot of traffic and some pretty major intersections we were going through.  I did not feel safe, even with the police directing traffic.  Then we went on some back roads.  The race director had said that the roads were in "great" condition, but I was bumped around more than any ride on the Eastern Shore.  Then there were the U-Turns...4 in all on the course.  One was a wide, sweeping U-turn...no big deal.  The other 3 were tight turns...I was not a fan.

I was so happy to ride back into the transition and get off the bike.  Maybe my back would be better in the run!!!  I took some extra time in this transition to try to gather myself.  Most of the miles were behind me...only 13.1 to go.  Keep it together, relax and enjoy the run.

As I started my run, I stuck with the original plan of run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute.  The first walk break came quicker than I had expected so I ignored it and just ran through it.  The run was an out and back course that we had to run twice.  BORING.  It was pretty the first time I ran by...

During the first loop, I pretty much stuck to my gameplan of running 5 minutes/ walking 1 minute.  I was running slower than I had hoped I would be, but I was OK with that considering the amount of pain I was trying to ignore coming from my lower back and my knees. 

I came upon a nice man named Mike.  I had seen Mike's face everywhere on the course. His family had put up signs the night before. They had his face plastered every 2 miles or so on the run course. His signs had made me smile, and now I got to meet the man in person. We chatted for a bit as we jogged together.  We talked about where we were from, that it was our first half ironman, that his son and daughter-in-law were also competing, that I was on a mini-vacation with my husband while my wonderful parents kept the kids.  He stopped to walk and I kept on jogging.  We wished each other well on the remainder of the race. 

When I was doing my first lap, the majority of the racers were on their 2nd lap.  When I started the 2nd lap, most of the racers were finishing.  That was pretty demoralizing.  I was feeling the effects of everything...the pain, the heat, the loneliness.  That's when I walked...and walked...and walked.  No running, just one foot in front of the other.  I was fighting tears.  This was not the race I thought I would have!  I couldn't run, I couldn't jog...I just walked.  Stephen caught the desperation in this photo.  Notice my hunched shoulders and that I'm not even power walking...I'm just walking.

I didn't stop though...even though it would have been very easy to just stop.  I told Stephen that the 2nd lap might be a LOOOONG one.  He yelled so many encouraging things to me during that brief exchange that I can't even remember.  But the one thing I do remember him saying was "I believe in you".  I thought about how grateful I was to have such support.  Stephen was there, spending an entire day just waiting for me to briefly pass by...then he took great pictures of the moment and posted updates on Facebook for everyone else who was thinking of me.  I thought about all the people who had helped me get to this point.  Abby, Anne, Pam, John, Daryl, Heidi, Instructor Rob, Heather, Meghan, Andi, Katy and so many more.  I can do this...it might be slow but I'm not letting all those people down...and I'm not letting myself down.

I was still walking, but my pace increased ever so slightly and I occasionally pushed myself to jog.  That's when Mike caught up with me.  We walked together for about a mile.  We shared our pains and we prayed together.  Mike is a very spiritual man and when he asked if it was OK if he prayed for me, I thought it might be exactly what I needed.  Mike grabbed my hand and asked the Lord to help us have the strength to make it to the finish line.  Mike told me that his daughter-in-law had crashed on her bike.  She was OK and she pressed on to finish the race.

There was a medic riding around on her bike to check on all of us stragglers.  When she came upon Mike, she got off her bike and tried to stretch his legs that were severely cramping.  After her stretching, Mike was able to jog a little bit.  He would jog ahead, then I would catch up when he took a walk break.  Finally we came to mile marker 11.  2 more miles to go!!!  We walked together for another half a mile, then I decided to do a modified run/walk.  The course was marked by orange cones that were placed without any consistent distance between them.  I decided to run to the next cone, then walk to the following.  I kept this up until the very last water stop.  I ran from that point to the finish.  My "run" was so slow that most people could have probably walked as fast as I was going...but I was determined not to walk anymore.

Stephen saw me when I was at the 13 mile mark.  Just that last .1 mile to go.  Stephen jogged next to me and crossed the finish line with me.  He was snapping pictures the whole time, unfortunately they were not at a flattering angle so I'm not sharing them!  :)

I crossed the finish line and raised my arms.  I did it!  70.3 miles!  It was ugly and painful and slow, but I did it.  I got my finisher's medal and T-shirt, ice cold wet towel draped around my shoulders and an official race photo in front of the Rev3 finisher sign.  I told Stephen about Mike.  We waited at the finish line for Mike to cross.  I gave him a hug and a quick congratulations, then got out of the way so that his wonderful family could celebrate with him.

My overall time was 7:35:35.  Here's how it broke down:
Swim 46:43
T1 6:08
Bike 3:24:00
T2 4:17
Run 3:14:27

I have a lot of thoughts about this race but I will share them in another post.  For now, I'm going to wrap up by saying that I am so proud of myself for this race.  While it was not the experience I had hoped for, I did have a memorable experience.  I pushed myself to finish even when I thought I couldn't.  I respect this sport and I definitely respect this distance.  70.3 miles.  I completed a half ironman! I met some extraordinary people along the way. And I came out with some good lessons.

Thank you to everyone reading this.  I know this race report is lengthy...I appreciate all of you who take the time to read this blog!  THANK YOU!!!

Pre-Race Build Up

70.3 miles...I did that...70.3 freakin miles!  It wasn't pretty and it sure wasn't easy...but I did it.  I have divided the race report into several posts since most of you probably aren't interested in this level of detail.  But if you are, get comfy because I've got a lot to get out there!

Pre-Race:
I was surprisingly calm during the week leading up to the race.  I only had briefly glimpses of freak outs.  Well, that is until Friday night.  My cousin Jennifer and her husband Brooks live in Naples, FL.  I was so excited to meet them for dinner at Sharky's on the Pier which was right next to the swim start.  We got there right at sunset.  It was beautiful, but all I could see were the waves.  They were huge!  OK, not Hawaii surfing huge, but not the "no surf in the Gulf" waves I had been told about.  These waves were definitely what I would call surf!  My stomach went into immediate knots.  Dinner helped...SOOO yummy...and an awesome time with relatives that I don't see very often.  I tried really hard to put the waves out of my head.

Saturday morning was the practice swim.  I was up early and ready to go.  I needed this practice swim...I needed to work out the kinks and to get used to the salt water.  Swimming in the Chesapeake Bay is awesome for open water practice, but it's not salty.  So any time I get in salt water, I tend to freak out a little.  I needed to have that freak out in the practice swim, not in the race. 

The practice swim started at 8 and we got there at 8:05.  Yes, I was really anxious to get in the water.  I got my wetsuit on and listened to the guy with the megaphone describe the swim course and the practice course (which was really short compared to the real swim course). 

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I'm not truly comfortable in any situation unless I'm talking.  So to ease some of the nerves before getting in the water, I walked over to 2 of the guys in official race volunteer T-shirts and just started talking. 

I didn't really have any questions...I just wanted to talk.  So I asked about the waves.  They were significantly smaller than they had been the night before...but the waves from the night before were still stuck in my mind.  The nice men told me that because it was so windy that morning, the waves hadn't really settled...and that since the wind was expected to calm throughout the day, that race morning they expected no waves.  YAY!!! 

After several more questions and reassurances from the men, I thanked them for their assistance and walked toward the water. I took a deep breath to calm the nerves and walked into the water. 

It wasn't as cold as I had expected...perfect temp for my sleeveless wetsuit.  I just kept walking into the water until it was over my waist.  I dove in and did some quick breathing bobs...trying to do everything Anne and Pam had taught me.

There was a sandbar about 100 yards out where the water was so shallow that you had to stand up and walk across it.  I tried to dolphin dive, but it quickly got to shallow to do that.  The water was below my knee when I stood up!  Crazy.  When I got across the sandbar, I encountered my first volunteer on a canoe.  I stopped swimming and began treading water.  She was an older lady, probably in her mid 70's, but very physically fit.  We chatted for a few minutes before I swam on.  Again, getting comfortable in my environment by talking!

I was in no hurry.  I stopped and talked to every single kayaker, canoer and paddle boarder out there on the practice swim course.  I thanked each of them for being out there to support us.  I was amazed that most of them were older...then I remembered that we were in the retirement capital of the world...Florida.  I'm just used to the swim support being so much younger than me.

I slowly completed one loop of the practice swim course.  The guy with the megaphone had said you could do as many loops as you wanted.  I was happy with my one slow loop.  I had done what I needed to do...work out the kinks, get comfortable with the salt water and get my mental state ready for a good swim.

I got out of the water knowing that I could swim in this water.  My only concern was how much water I had swallowed when I was trying to sight.  Anne's swim clinic had taught me to sight like an alligator but I guess I was trying to breathe and sight at the same time.  That results in a mouth full of water.  I've heard of people having serious GI problems after swallowing a lot of salt water...I definitely didn't want that!  Note to self - keep your mouth shut when sighting.

I got out of the water and Stephen was patiently waiting for me on the beach...and taking pictures of course!  We walked over to Sharky's where there was a perfect area for me to sit and take off my wetsuit without getting it too sandy.  Plus there was a shower where I could rinse off my wetsuit as well as my sandy feet.

As I was getting myself together, a young guy and his father walked up.  They were talking to each other, but asking questions about the course.  We struck up a conversation and I explained the swim course and the difference with the practice swim course.  We chatted about the challenges of traveling to an event and they gave me some really good advice on flying with a bike.  He has some kind of fancy case that he uses to pack his broken down bike.  He says that the airline workers always ask what's in it and he says that it's sporting equipment...because it's a $100 charge to fly with a bike.  Since it's broken down, it's technically not a bike, so the kid is telling the truth! 

Stephen ran into the father during the race and found out that the guy was 20 years old, in college, and had been invited on several occasions to get his pro card!  His father wisely advised him to finish college first.  This kid is really going places in the sport of triathlon.  I'd like to follow his career...can't remember his name though...that might take a little bit of research. 

I guess I thought the practice swim would take longer, because Stephen and I ended up sitting around waiting for the packet pick-up to open.  Finally it opened and I went to get my packet.  We went through the expo and I was surprised at how small it was...I guess I expected more vendors like there are at the Baltimore Marathon.

After packet pick-up, Stephen and I headed back into the little downtown area of Venice.  I wanted pizza for lunch...so we ended up at this place called A Taste of Italy.  It wasn't the average pizza slice I was craving, but it was SOO much better.  After a nice, relaxing lunch, we headed back to the race venue.  I checked in my bike and then headed to the mandatory athlete's meeting.

I got there in time to hear the Q&A session with a panel of pros.  That was really interesting...although Stephen fell asleep at least once.  I guess you have to participate in triathlon in order to find a Q&A session with the pros interesting! 

We headed back to the hotel...a nap was in my future after sitting in the sun for so long!  Quick naps and then dinner.  We had dinner at a really nice place called the Venice Inn.  The table next to us had 3 racers...I could tell from their arm bands!  Dinner was so good - we ate really good food on this trip.  I had some sort of chicken dish with a very light sauce with a glass of red wine.  Perfect pre-race meal for me!  I'm not sure if anyone else in the world has a glass of wine before every race, but it's a tradition that works for me.

Back to the hotel for a good night's sleep...we were in bed before 9:30.

I Am Ready!

Stephen and I leave for our drive south tomorrow.  Today is running around and trying to get everything ready for us to be gone.  But realistically, I've done my last workout before the race.

Yesterday I had my last swim workout in the morning, and my last Spin90 class in the evening.  Today I will work in a short run at some point, probably 3-4 miles at an easy pace.  Physically there isn't anything I can do to get ready.  Now it's just staying loose and not getting hurt.

So the question is...where is my head?  After my last few workouts, I have an enormous amount of confidence that my head is in a good place.  And really, if my head cooperates, I will have no problem finishing the half IronMan distance. 

I am excited to start this journey.  The training is done and the logistics are all planned.  Let's do this thing!!!

Confidence Boosting Run

So my running has recently been one of 2 things:  non-existent or a total struggle.  I have been a little worried about this with my race being a week away. 

When I ran in the Baltimore marathon relay, I did 7 miles and felt great.  I was so inspired by the people around me and the overall race atmosphere.  But the running I've been doing on my own has been a mental battle.  I can't seem to figure out what is going on.

Daryl and I had originally planned to meet for a short ride on Sunday morning.  Short was meaning in the range of 30 miles.  However, the weather was really cold...too cold for riding in the early morning hours.  So we bagged the ride.

Sunday afternoon turned out to be really beautiful.  I decided to lace up my running shoes and have a really good run.  I went into it thinking that this was going to be a good run. 

The first mile was a challenge.  My ankles took turns hurting.  My knees were aching.  My shoulder felt funny.  Ugh...here we go again.

After my watch chimed at the one mile mark, I decided just to enjoy the day.  Who cares about the run anyway...I'm out here doing it...I might as well enjoy it.  My run route took me up a long hill.  When I got to the top, I looked to my right and saw a beautiful landscape.  The trees were so colorful and stretched out as far as I could see.  It was pretty.  The air was crisp and the breeze was light - perfect running weather.

I stopped thinking about my run.  I stopped thinking about my pace.  I just ran.  And it was great.  Oddly enough, all those aches and pains went away. 

After 3 miles I decided to try out a run/walk because I'm seriously considering a run/walk strategy for the race.  I ran for 5 minutes and walked for 30 seconds.  I did this for the remaining 2 miles of my run.  It was hard to walk at first because I didn't feel like I "needed" to walk.  But the last mile of my run is all uphill.  Halfway up the long hill, I was looking forward to my 30 second walk break.

This was exactly the run that I was needing.  My head is now in a good place.  My confidence is back.  I can complete this race!  6 days to go.

Taper Torture

For 14 weeks I have been loosely following a half ironman training plan that I found on the internet.  This is week 15 which begins the taper.  The intensity and the distance of all of my workouts are beginning to ease a bit.  This messes with my head.

I saw Anne last night at Spin90.  She was asking about my remaining workouts.  I told her that the plan called for me to run 10 miles on Saturday. She declared that 10 miles was too much and that I shouldn't do more than 6 or 7.  I like her plan better than my internet plan!!!

Swim class was a tough one today.  We did a ton of 100's.  I was thoroughly exhausted at the end of the session.  I talked to Pam about race strategy and she gave me the best advice ever:  "Just relax and enjoy the experience." 

I keep reminding myself that I am physically ready for this and all I need to do is keep my head together.  I keep coming up with all these reasons why it's going to be hard.  Of course it's going to be hard! It's a half ironman for God's sake! 

So since I don't have the intense training to focus on, now I have all my worrying to focus on.  All the little details of the trip, the race, etc. are stressing me out.  If I can survive the next week and a half, I can definitely finish the race!!!

I HATE INSIDE!!

With the onset of chilly weather, the idea has occurred to me that it's going to be a long winter inside.  I hate the treadmill and I hate riding on the trainer.

I can certainly run outside in all weather conditions except rain and snow.  So hopefully I will be able to keep up my running despite colder weather.

However, the bike is a different story.  When Daryl, Tom and I rode the W&OD trail last weekend, it was chilly.  It was bearable but chilly.  Temperatures this weekend will again be chilly to start, but should warm to a comfortable level.  However that won't be the case for long. 

I don't mind my Spin90 classes.  I find doing those classes on the trainer to be fun actually.  However, spending any time on the trainer by myself in my house is total torture.  The last time that I tried it (when it rained for days the week before last), I couldn't last more than half an hour.  It wasn't physical...it was totally a mental struggle.

There was an email that came out on the MMTC email chain that offered 3 hour Sunday rides indoors.  You bring your own trainer, bike and water and ride for 3 hours.  I think I will try that once they start in December.  But riding on a trainer for 3 hours sounds truly horrible.

I am just hoping that this winter I can get enough work in that my decline in performance is minimal when next spring rolls around.  I really hate inside.

We Were Climbing?

Since the Osprey, I've been doing quite a bit of reflecting on my progress over the past year.  There have been many examples of things that are quite common now that I couldn't have imagined doing a year ago...like riding for over 3 hours at a time.  Now I do that every weekend.

This Sunday Daryl and I met up with his friend Tom in Reston VA.  Daryl has told me many times how nice it is to ride on the W&OD trail, so I was looking forward to the ride.  The morning was COLD and I was wondering if I had enough layers on as we drove down there.  At the last minute before leaving the house, I had thrown my running tights into my bag...just in case.  Well when we arrived in Reston and the temperature had not gone up at all, I decided to put on the tights. 

We were meeting Tom by the fountain in the Town Center.  Daryl and I rode down to the meeting point and I realized that I had forgotten to put my water bottles on my bike!  Oops...so we headed back to the car and intercepted Tom.

Now Daryl had described Tom as an accomplished triathlete and a phenomenal cyclist. I was excited to meet him and maybe pick up a few tips.  But since the air was so cold and we all wanted to get moving to warm up, I decided that chit-chat could wait for later.  So off we went...

I knew almost immediately that this was going to be a fun but challenging ride.  The trail is pretty flat, so it was really good training for my race in FL.  Tom is fast....REALLY fast...he left me in the dust almost from the first pedal stroke.  Luckily there were many road crossings in the first section of our ride so I caught up with him there.  Daryl was somewhere in between Tom and I.  Sometimes he was just as fast as Tom and sometimes he was as slow as I was. 

Now let me clarify...when I say slow, I mean relatively slow compared to the 2 guys I was riding with...we were keeping a pretty good pace the whole time.  So none of us were really slow.

At our first rest stop, Daryl and I decided to take off our jackets.  The sun was warming the air and sitting in the sun, I was warm with my jacket on.  Plus Tom told me that for the next 5 miles we would be doing a steady climb.  So I knew that I would be exerting more effort and thought I didn't need the extra warmth of the jacket.  It only took about a half mile before Daryl and I both changed our minds and put our jackets back on.  BRRR.  The trail was mostly shaded and the air was still chilly.

Tom didn't realize that Daryl and I stopped for the wardrobe change so he kept on going.  Before long, Daryl turned back to me and said "we're almost done with this climb".  I was shocked.  I said "we were climbing?"  He shook his head and laughed at me.  This was a moment of realization for me.  I had been waiting for the climb to start.  A year ago, a 5 mile continual, gradual climb like that would have been very apparent to me.  This time it was barely noticeable. Interesting...

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, except for me dropping my chain.  I tried to do the quick fix that John showed me but couldn't.  Luckily Daryl was able to fix it for me so I didn't have to get my hands greasy like I did when I dropped my chain on the solo ride in Betterton.

The most fun we had was when we left the trail and went out on a back country road.  It was a gently curving road, mostly downhill...but gradual downhill so it didn't scare the crap out of me.  I was going 35 MPH at one point! 

All in all we rode 51 miles. Tom had ridden to and from his house, so he did an additional 20 miles.  Wow.  Daryl mentioned that I was struggling with my transitions.  So in about 3 minutes, Tom gave me at least 5 great tips on quicker transitions.  I will share in a later post...

Baltimore Marathon Relay

First, an apology...it has been a crazy week and I have not made the time to write any blog entries.  I have several started, but have not finished any of them.  So I sincerely apologize to anyone who has been checking my page and been frustrated with no updates.  I will finish the other blog posts and put them up...I promise! 

Last Saturday I participated in the Baltimore Running Festival on a relay team.  I've never done a relay, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  It was fun and provided an experience that I never would have had otherwise.

On Friday I had a very enjoyable lunch with a business associate at a Mexican restaurant...I won't name which one.  For the rest of the day, I was in the bathroom every 30 minutes or so.  I don't know if it was food poisoning or a touch of the stomach flu that had been going around, but either way, I was not feeling well.  I went to bed with my stomach still rolling.  If I wasn't on a relay team, I would never have set my alarm to get up in the morning.  But I knew that 3 other people were depending on me, so I got all my stuff together before going to bed.  There was no way I was letting them down.

The alarm went off at 5 and I laid in bed for a few minutes trying to assess my health.  I was definitely tired and felt a little weak, but my stomach felt OK.  I got up and got myself ready to go.  Stomach seemed good to go, even after eating breakfast. 

Every time I've run the Baltimore half, I've taken the metro into the city since I didn't have to be there at the start of the full marathon.  It's quite a long walk from the metro stop, so I decided to drive in.  I parked in the garage behind 250 W Pratt.  I knew it would be expensive but convenient.

The relay team was to meet in front of the Johnny Unitas statue by Ravens Stadium.  Now this is the tricky part...I only know 1 member of the relay team...Andi.  I've never met Gwen or Chad.  So I was a little nervous about missing them since I don't know who they are!  Anyway, I got to the statue first.  Gwen messaged that she was running a little late and Chad decided not to meet us since he didn't have to catch the bus to his leg until an hour later.  So Andi and I met up.  It worked perfectly since she was able to find Gwen.  In photo from left to right, me, Gwen and Andi:

Gwen was running the first leg, I was second, Andi was third and Chad was fourth.  The 2nd and 4th legs had to ride a bus up to the exchange point, and the 1st and 3rd legs had to ride a bus back to the finish area.  I was really glad that I didn't have to ride a bus back.  I got on my bus and found a seat next to a very nice lady who also has 2 kids that are Ella and Grace's ages.  We chatted the whole bus ride, then wished each other luck and went our separate ways when we got off the bus. 

My first priority when I got to the exchange site was to get in line for the porta-pot.  This is where things got crazy.  The first porta-pot line that I got in formed into the street. The race official at the site made us move the line onto the sidewalk.  I was about 6 people from the porta-pot before we moved.  While we were moving, the lines got completely out of order and when it was all settled, I was about 20 back.  Ugh.  Someone told us that the porta-pots up the hill had shorter lines, so I decided to go up there and try my luck.

I was definitely in better shape up the hill...only about 12 back.  This line also gave me a better vantage point of the race course.  After awhile, they announced that the first wheelchair athletes were about to come through.  Because I was at the top of a hill, it was evident to see how hard they were working their arms to get the chairs up the hill.  These men were amazing to me.  Some of them had lost one or both legs.  All of them were inspiring to me. 

Then the marathon runners started coming through.  Because Under Armor had pulled out as the title sponsor, there was no prize money available.  This meant that the professional athletes did not come.  So no Kenyans this year.  But it was really cool to see that a local man won the marathon. 

Finally I was able to go to the bathroom and get down to my exchange zone.  I had been stressing out that I would miss Gwen while in line.  Luckily I had about 5 minutes left once I got down to the area.  She handed me the timing chip band, I slapped it on my ankle, handed her my bag and took off up the hill.

It's hard to start a run going directly uphill, but the adrenaline was definitely pumping through me.  The inspiration from the wheelchair athletes, the stress of thinking I would miss Gwen, and the general excitement at the exchange zone carried me up that hill without much of an effort.  I quickly settled into a comfortable running pace.  After my watch chimed that I had hit a mile, I finally glanced at my pace.  8:45 for the first mile!  Wow!!  And I didn't even feel like I was working that hard.  Note to self:  you have 6 more miles to go...might want to make sure you can keep it up.  I slowed until my watch said I was running 9:30 and figured that was a more reasonable pace to maintain.

At the 2 mile mark, I was amazed that I was barely breathing hard.  I was having such an enjoyable run.  I had never run this part of the course before, so it was nice to have a change of scenery.  The group around me also seemed to be running between a 9 and 9:30 pace so it was pretty easy to just run with the pack.  Most of them were full marathoners.  I started thinking that it was amazing that these people could keep this pace going for 26.2 miles.  I was in awe of the effort of all the runners around me.

By the third mile, we were very close to the harbor.  The roads became extremely familiar and the crowds got thicker.  It is so cool to run while people are on the side cheering and holding up signs.  It didn't matter that I didn't know any of these people...or that they weren't yelling my name.  In my mind, the crowds were all cheering for me.  Now I remember why I love running half marathons! 

The funniest moment of all happened when I was running near the start line of the half marathon.  Because I've run it before, I understand how stressful it is to cross the marathoners' path to get to the starting line...I wish they could figure out something to make it so that this doesn't have to happen.  But when I was running, there were masses of people crossing the route in front of me.  I didn't get upset even when I had to slow down or sidestep to avoid someone.  But when a couple was crossing and holding hands, the girl decided to go behind me and the guy decided to go in front of me.  They dropped their hands literally a half a second before I would have crashed through their arms.  I laughed.

The neighborhood support of the Baltimore marathon is amazing.  We ran through Federal Hill and so many people were sitting on their front steps cheering.  There was a man handing out orange slices.  I took one and it was a welcomed change from my water bottle.  Others were handing out gummy bears and you could see gummy bears all over the streets.  People had pompoms, megaphones, bells and horns.  It was like the entire city turned into one big cheerleading squad.  I loved it.

We ran by the Under Armor facility and there was so much excitement there.  They had a water stop, music blaring, an announcer talking the whole time and tons of people cheering for us.  It was at about the 5 mile mark of my run, so it gave me the boost I needed to finish strong. 

With about a mile to go, I saw Alana just ahead of me.  I hollered to her and sprinted to catch up with her.  We ran the last mile together and chatted about our runs. At the exchange point, I handed the band off to Andi and was done.  Alana and I walked back toward the harbor looking for a water stop.  Finally we found some water.  We walked to the finish area and picked up our medals and beer tickets.

I reconnected with Gwen and we stood and watched the finish line for awhile.  Unfortunately I couldn't stay long enough to see Chad finish.  So I still have never met the 4th leg of my relay team! 

This event was something that I would have slept through if I wasn't running the relay since I had felt so awful the day before.  I'm so glad that I made myself go.  It was a great experience.  The relay was fun and I got inspired to run again.  My running has been a mental challenge lately, so I know that this will go a long way to helping with my confidence.

Osprey Race Recap: One Year of Tri's!

Quick summary for those who don't want to read this very long post.  I crushed last year's time...by 16 minutes.  The swim was tough only because of the jellyfish - they freaked me out.  The bike felt good but my average MPH was slower than I had expected.  The run was HOT and my pace suffered as a result.  However, overall I am very pleased with my performance.  Plus I got 2nd in my age group!!! That was amazing.  When I look back at my very first triathlon last year, I am simply blown away by how far I've come.  I am very proud.

Keep reading if you want all the details of the day!

There are a lot of reasons why yesterday was a special day.  (1) It was the one year anniversary of my very first triathlon.  (2) Colleen was doing her first event since her accident.  (3) I just love triathlons.  So I woke that morning with some extra excitement about the day.

Matt picked me up at the hotel so that Stephen and the girls could get some extra sleep.  We got there pretty early and were able to grab a very good spot on the bike racks close to the bike in/out.  I set up transition quickly...I am getting pretty good at the set up.  Colleen and Keith got there shortly after we did.  She set up her transition area right in between Matt and me.  

I was freaking out about the jellyfish.  Colleen and I walked out the pier to check them out.  They were HUGE and scary looking.  And there were a lot of them.  I was really starting to get nervous about them.  I had purchased some Safe Sea lotion which is supposed to have a jellyfish protectant in it so that if you touch the jellyfish, you won't get stung.  I lathered up and hoped it would repel those suckers!

Before long, it was time to walk down the road to the swim start.  I put on my wetsuit and tried to get the jellyfish out of my mind.  I wished Matt good luck as he entered the water for his wave.  He had his game face on and looked really ready.

After his wave went off, it was time for Colleen and I to get in the water.  She is a very fast swimmer and I had hopes of drafting with her.  She wanted to start in the front of the pack and since it was a small wave, I was OK with starting up there with her.  I did my breathing bobs and tried to stay calm.  My heart was already racing and I was still thinking about those damn jellyfish.

The gun went off and we started swimming.  I tried in vain to stay with Colleen.  She quickly left me behind and I was just struggling to get my breathing in check.  The water was super salty.  I am not used to swimming in salt water and that always messes with me in the start of the swim. 

I had forgotten to start my watch which really annoyed me when I thought of it about halfway through the swim.  I broke my stroke and hit the start button on my watch.  I figured that I had been in the water for about 5 minutes...so I would have to add 5 minutes to the running time on my watch the entire race. 

As I got closer to the pier, I had in mind that the jellyfish were really prevalent in that area.  I saw a jellyfish and even though it wasn't even close to me, I picked my head up and screamed.  Then I immediately laughed at myself...there was no need for that.  But from that point on, the jellyfish were in my head.  I couldn't put my face in the water so I did the same stroke I did last year...a glorified doggy paddle.  Luckily I was only about 50 yards out from the pier so it didn't totally mess up my time.  But I got out of the water very disappointed; knowing that I could have done much better.

Colleen was about to leave transition as I was running in.  She did well on the swim and was a little nervous about the bike.  This was only her 2nd time riding a bike since she was hit by the car.  It takes a lot of courage and strength to get back on the bike after what she went through.  I was so proud of her and took a moment to wish her luck as she left transition.

I tried to go quickly after that with my transition.  I had already wasted some time celebrating Colleen's courage so I needed to get busy and get out of there!  Wetsuit off, dry feet, socks and shoes on, throw on the helmet and glasses, and go!  As soon as I was on my bike, I felt better.  It's time to rock and roll!!!

Heading out of the transition, there are a few tight turns to get out on the main road.  That gave me the chance to warm up my legs a little bit before I really took off.  Once I got on the main road, I geared down, dropped into aero and focused on keeping my cadence high.  I was flying and passing a lot of people...mostly guys from the wave right in front of mine.  It wasn't long before I saw Colleen.  She looked good and I cheered for her as I passed. 

Not long after passing Colleen I noticed that there were 3 men that I was playing leapfrog with.  Sometimes they would pass me but I would hang with them...sometimes I would pass them and they would hang with me.  I tried very hard not to draft.  It's illegal in triathlons, but it's commonplace in cycling events.  With the steady headwind, I really wanted to draft but I didn't.  The last 2 races I've done were IronGirl races and were all female.  As I was riding with these 3 guys, I realized that I had missed racing with men.  I like the fact that there are more competitors who are my pace on the bike.

The wind was constant for the bike.  It was either a headwind or a sidewind.  I kept waiting for the tailwind.  As I made one turn, I finally found the tailwind.  My speed went up to 27 MPH and it felt easy.  Unfortunately this section of the road was very short and we made another turn...right into the side wind.  I was holding a good pace and ended up averaging 19.4 MPH, however I had really wanted to hit 20 MPH as my average.  Again, got off the bike feeling a little disappointed.

Transition went well and I was off on the run.  I had forgotten my Garmin watch so I had no idea what my pace was.  I had my watch with the total event time (estimated to be 5 minutes short) but that didn't give me my pace.  I felt slow and sluggish.  I had a cramp in my side and just couldn't seem to get going.

 

I really wanted to finish in 1 hour 35 minutes.  I kept looking at my watch during the run and calculating how much time I had left.  I knew with the pace I was running that I would not be making that goal.  I was about halfway out to the turnaround when I saw Matt.  He shook his head like he wasn't happy, although he looked like he was running pretty well. 

I hit the turnaround and just tried to keep my feet moving.  As I was running back in, I saw Colleen, then Dave, then Gail.  I cheered for each one as I passed.  I yelled to Colleen how proud I was of her. Here she is in the pink:

I crossed the finish line and remembered crossing that same finish line a year earlier.  I remembered that feeling when the first thought that went through my head was "I can't wait to do that again!"  Here I was a year later doing it again...and I've done so many races in that year.  I have come SOO far since that first triathlon.  I cut off 16 minutes from my time last year.  Even though I didn't hit some of the performance goals I had set for myself, it was really hard to be disappointed with anything when I look at the race as a whole and remember where I was a year ago.  My official time was 1:40:06.  And an unexpected surprise...I got 2nd in my age group!!!

Going Fast in the Slow Lane

I don't often post about my swimming since there's not a lot to say.  Really you don't have as many "adventures" in the swimming arena as you do in biking and running...at least in my perspective.  However, today I am going to talk a little bit about my swimming.

I have been taking a swim class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 6:15.  There are typically 3-5 swimmers per lane.  We split up into lanes based on how fast/slow we are...so depending on who shows up on a given day, I am either in the slow lane or the next to the slow lane.  My class has a lot of really fast swimmers.

Today I was in the slow lane.  I was definitely the fastest of the 3 women in that lane.  It was a good confidence booster since swimming is my weakest leg.  As a matter of fact, I was keeping pace with the fastest swimmer in the lane next to me.  As I would breathe on that side, I kept looking over to see where I was in relation to him. 

Because my class has so many fast swimmers, it can be a bit disheartening to be so slow in comparison.  However, I keep reminding myself of where I was a year ago.  When I did my first triathlon a year ago, I was so freaked out by the chop of the water that I did a glorified version of the doggie paddle the whole way.  I can guarantee that this year, regardless of the chop, I will not be doing the doggie paddle!

So while swimming intervals and drills doesn't provide much fodder for the blog, when I analyze my performance improvement, there is a lot to say.  I am a much more confident, stronger and faster swimmer than I was a year ago.  My class has a disproportionate amount of fast swimmers so it's hard to put things in perspective. Because even those of us in the slow lane are faster than a lot of other swimmers out there!

Scheduling Issues

I am a detailed scheduler.  If you look at my calendar, there is a ton written on it every day.  And even if it's not written on the calendar, I have a daily schedule in my head which includes family, work and training responsibilities.

The problem I've had this past weekend is that my schedule and my family's schedule didn't align so that I could fit everything in.  Unfortunately because of childcare issues, the training portion has suffered and I did not get in my long run this past weekend.  On Saturday, I was supposed to run 13 miles according to the official plan.  Since I haven't hit a double digit long run yet, MY plan was to do 10 miles.  However, I did none since I didn't have anyone to watch the little ones while I ran. 

Since I couldn't run, I made it my rest day which is normally Monday.  So the idea was to get a long run in today (Monday).  Well, last night when I was looking at the schedule for the day, I realized why I originally made Monday the rest day...it's jam packed with stuff already!  When am I going to find 2 hours to run? It just isn't there.

This is crunch time in the training plan.  These next 3 weeks are the crucial time to get the mileage in.  I know that one missed run is not going to ruin my entire training, however I need to make sure that one missed run does not turn into more missed runs. 

I have no doubt that the training I've done so far has put me in a great place physically and mentally for the race.  I'm trying really hard not to freak out about the missed run and the fact that when I run today, I probably won't have time to run the full 10 miles.  I need to realize that one training session does not make or break the race results.  Plus my running has been feeling really good lately which has boosted my confidence.  Since my running performance has always been very dependent on my mental state, it's great that I've had positive runs lately.

I can do this.  I will be fine.  OK, mental pep talk is over.  You may return to your own daily schedules now!

Tour de Talbot

On Saturday I rode in the Tour de Talbot.  There were 2 route options - 55 miles and 100 miles.  (Actually there was also a 25 mile "family ride", so I guess there were 3 options.)  I originally signed up for the 55 miles, however after finishing my first Century I was toying with the idea of riding the 100 miles for this event.  But as I studied my training plan and thought logically about what my real goal is (the Half IronMan "HIM"), I realized that it would not be wise to push myself to do the Century.

I was running just a few minutes late.  It was not a mass start, but there was quite a mass of people ready to go at 7:30 am.  Daryl kindly waited for me to get myself together and we set out about 10 minutes after the mass.

Talbot County is pretty and flat.  I was looking forward to riding 55 miles of flat...this would be good training for the HIM.  I didn't have any goals for the ride except to just see how taxing the flat ride would be.  I originally thought that a flat HIM was a good idea, until I realized that flat means that there is no break.  At least with hills, you are working different muscle groups going uphill and you get a break going downhill.  With flat it's just constant pedaling.  So I was anxious to see how I would feel at the end of 55 miles.

Daryl and I started out at a fast but comfortable pace.  We rode with his wife for a little bit.  She said she was good and we pushed on.  We ran into more people that Daryl knew and chatted with them as we passed.  We were passing quite a few people.  At the first rest stop we talked with more of his friends.  This was turning into quite a social ride.  As we left the first rest stop, he saw someone else and headed back.  He told me to keep going and that he would catch up with me.

I linked up with an older man and we played leap frog for a little bit.  I realized that I was going 19-20MPH and Daryl would not be able to catch up quickly if I kept that pace...so I slowed down to let Daryl catch up.  It wasn't long before he caught up.  He was riding with a guy named Marcus who he introduced as a triathlete extraordinaire.  So our little pace line of Daryl, Marcus and me quickly caught the older man I was riding with before.  He jumped in on the line. 

I took a turn leading the group through some fields.  The wind was pretty strong at this point and it really zapped my energy quickly.  I tried to keep the same pace that we had been going (18-19 MPH) but it wasn't long before I was exhausted.  I dropped off the lead and let someone else pull for a bit.  I was able to recover almost immediately. 

It wasn't long before we had gathered a group.  I don't know if we joined another pace line or they joined ours, but we were in a peloton of about 10 people.  It's always amazing to me at how I can be riding at 21 MPH with minimal effort in groups like this.  Drafting makes such a difference...it is illegal in triathlons...so while it was really fun to ride in a big group like this, I knew that it was not good training for my HIM.

I only have a few complaints about this event.  First, we had to travel on several roads that had loose gravel.  This is dangerous and definitely slows down the pace.  Second, the road markings were really good except near the rest stops.  We missed the 2nd and 3rd rest stop because they weren't marked well.  This meant that we were not stopping to take fuel...and I know that those who rode the 100 miles suffered because of it.

At around mile 44, it was time to split up.  Daryl was riding the 100 and I was going 55.  At this point, we had separated from the peloton.  When we realized that we had missed the 3rd rest stop, we pulled off to the side to get fuel and water while the rest of the group pressed on.  So at the split, Daryl went left for the 100 miles and I went right for the 55 miles.  I was very excited to have this last segment to do alone.  This would be the best training for the HIM...flat, wind, and no drafting.  I dropped down to my aero bars and set out to finish this thing strong.

I pulled into the parking lot, quickly racked my bike and put on my running shoes.  My training plan called for me to run for 20 minutes after riding 50 miles.  I wasn't sure where to run so I decided to just circle the parking lot and the drive where we came in.  I realized that I could run around the buildings and get an even larger loop in.  I ran past where the free lunch was taking place and smelled the food...my stomach growled but I kept going.  I was running at a pretty fast pace and it felt really good.  That was very encouraging!

Overall I am feeling like I'm in great shape for the HIM.  I still have 6 weeks left and I'm feeling good.  My swimming is coming along nicely, my bike is very strong and my run is finally starting to feel good again. 

I'm On a Team!

For the past few weeks I've been debating whether or not to sign up for the Baltimore Half Marathon.  I have done this race several times in the past and really enjoy the challenging course.  (Well except last year...I had knee issues and really DIDN'T enjoy anything.)

Anyway, in my training plan for the Half IronMan, I only need to run 10 miles that day.  I was thinking that if I could find a relay team to participate in, that would be perfect.  In steps Andi.  She sends me a Facebook message asking if I'm running.  I said no and was hoping she would say she needed a relay team member.  Guess what she said...she needed a relay team member!!! (Can you tell that I'm excited?)

So I will be joining Andi, Chad and Gwen on a relay team.  I don't know which leg I will be running, but most of the legs are between 6 and 7 miles.  So I'll add on a few miles after my leg is over to get to my 10 miles.  I am looking forward to meeting Chad and Gwen.

You Know You Have a Problem When...

I took my oldest daughter to South Carolina on Friday to do a college visit.  We had an amazing time and both loved the school.  What does this have to do with triathlons you might ask...

Well on Saturday morning when we were checking out of the hotel, we saw a cyclist go by.  He was fast so he was really just a blur.  Then I saw another and realized that the cyclists had body marking!  It had to be a triathlon!  I got so excited...I was like a little kid.  I wanted to go see where they swam, how big the transition area was, where the run was taking place...I wanted to cheer them on!  Unfortunately all I had time to do was to check out of the hotel and head to the airport.

But this little encounter just shows me that the multi-sport world is everywhere.  I guess it's like when you just buy your car and then everywhere you look, you see the same car.  Because I'm involved in triathlons, I am more prone to notice when I see one...but isn't it funny that I was only there for 1 night and I happened to stumble upon a triathlon? 

Now if my daughter decides to go to school down there, I have another event I can add to the calendar!  (As if I need another event on my calendar.  I know Stephen will groan if I tell him I'm ADDING to my race schedule next year.)

My Competitive Nature

I have been trying to challenge myself by working out with groups that are faster/stronger/better/more experienced than I am.  I figure the best way to improve my performance is to surround myself with people who can challenge me.

The swimming class that I take every Tuesday and Thursday has some VERY fast swimmers.  I'm not the slowest in the class, but I'm pretty close.  The instructor (Pam) has been telling me that my stroke is good; I just need to get a little more efficient. But the class shows me that I am in the bottom percent of swimmers...at least in that class.

Today I rode with the Crofton Bike Doctor group.  They ride every Sunday.  The last time I rode with them, the lead pack left me in a few miles.  Today I made it about 8 miles before I had to drop off their pace.  I was fine when they were just warming up, but once they hit their true riding pace, I was left in the dust.  Now I consider myself to be a decent biker...almost good...but I'm no match for this group.

Honestly it was a bit of an ego crusher today.  I knew that these guys keep a fierce pace, but I really didn't expect to fall off that quickly.  I wanted to see how long I could keep up with them and I was disappointed that it wasn't longer.

Yes, all of this is a direct result of my competitive nature.  It's very hard for me to go into a situation and be one of the worst.  But when I'm knowingly putting myself into these situations in order to improve, I need to learn to take my lumps...because I am improving...a lot.

Race Report: IronGirl Rocky Gap

The short version:  (Just the Stats)
Total time: 1:46:02
Swim: 20:04 (2:30/100 yd. Good swim for me, but still an area that has huge potential for improvement)
T1: 2:50 (I really need to work on my transition)
Bike: 56:56 (16.9 MPH average - 55th overall on bike.  Yay!)
T2: 2:10 (I blame the long run with bike from dismount line to the farthest rack, but again need to work on transition)
Run: 24:03 (9:37 min/mile pace. Not bad especially when compared to my lousy run at IG Columbia, plus I felt great during the run)
121st overall (out of 901)
35th in age group (out of 202)

The long version: (Don't say I didn't warn you...it's long)
I was inspired to sign up for this race when Stephen and I stayed at the Rocky Gap Resort for our anniversary.  It rained the entire weekend that we were there, but it didn't diminish the beauty of the area.  I looked out over the lake and thought "I'd really like to swim in that lake."  So sitting in the hotel room back in March, I signed up for the IronGirl Rocky Gap race. 

Upon getting to the area, we drove directly to packet pickup.  Our hotel was only about 10 minutes from the packet pickup so we went there to check in before heading to the race site to rack my bike.  The girls were excited about the hotel's pool so we let them play in the pool for about an hour.  There was a pre-race meeting at 5 pm.  We left the hotel at 4.  It was enough time for me to rack my bike, drive the bike course and get back in time for the pre-race meeting.

Driving the bike course was good and bad.  I always like to see the course before the race, however I got really intimidated by the hills.  There seemed to be many challenging climbs and it was relentless...constantly up and down.  I walked into the pre-race meeting with my first bout of nerves after seeing the course.  The first person I saw was Heidi.  We chatted and she told me that the bike course was perfect for me.  She also said that the course was easier than Columbia.  I still wasn't convinced.  Here is the elevation for the bike course:  It's an out and back so that's why it's a mirror image:

Race morning!  I hate getting up early except on race morning.  It's the only time that I jump out of bed instead of groaning and rolling over.  The girls got up relatively easily and we were off to the race site.  I took my stuff over to transition but realized that I had forgotten several things.  So I had to go back to the car and get them.  I also forgot to pump my tires so I grabbed my pump.  I felt completely out of sorts at this point.  Transition set up has always been easy for me...why was I struggling so much to remember basic things? 

After getting everything set up and my tires pumped, I went to get marked.  I saw Elliott who was my lucky charm at the IronGirl Columbia race.  So I got in line for her to mark me.  We hugged and she wished me luck.  She recommended no wetsuit even though it was announced to be wetsuit legal.  The water temps were reported to be 76.5 which sounded really warm to me.  I was still on the fence about wetsuit/no wetsuit.  It always takes me so long to get out of my wetsuit.  I wasn't sure that I would gain enough advantage during the swim to make up for the additional time I would take in transition.

I walked back to the car and realized that Stephen and the girls were not there anymore.  We had said to meet back at the car but I figured one of the girls probably had to go to the bathroom or something.  I stood there for a few minutes but realized that I had to go to the bathroom.  With an armload of stuff...bike pump, wetsuit, TriSlide, goggles, swim cap and watch...I wasn't sure what to do.  So I left the bike pump next to the car, put on the watch and carried everything else.  I waited in the porta potty line and realized that my swim cap was gone.  I must have dropped it somewhere!  I immediately panicked.  I got out of line and tried to re-trace my steps but found no pink cap anywhere on the ground.  I went back into the transition area and tried to find Elliott thinking that since she was a volunteer, she would know who I needed to talk to.  She wasn't there anymore but I looked over and saw a pink swim cap laying on one of the bins in the volunteer area.  I figured it was mine but didn't want to just take it without letting someone know.  I found a volunteer and explained my situation.  He said that someone had turned the cap in to them and it was probably mine.  I literally jumped for joy and thanked him profusely.

Crisis averted, I now had another crisis in the making.  I still needed to use the bathroom and the porta potty line was triple the size it had been previously.  But I got in line and prayed for it to move quickly.  Thankfully it did and there were no further crises.

I walked down to the beach area since they were about to start the race and I wanted to see the pros.  I finally found Stephen and the girls.  I finally started to calm down once the race started.  I was enjoying watching the initial waves come out of the swim and run into the transition area.  I saw Heidi and cheered for her but she was very focused and I don't think she heard me. 

Finally it was my turn.  I put on my recovered swim cap and headed down to the edge of the water. 

I saw my friend Joan who was in my swim wave.  She was doing her first triathlon.  We hugged and wished each other good luck.  Then it was time for my wave to get in the water.  There were 8 minutes between waves and they invited us into the water with 5 minutes left before our start.  I wanted to take advantage of that full 5 minutes to get used to the water and to warm up my muscles.  I did several breathing bobs and treaded water.  Then I heard the announcer say "Hey Karen, I have Ella here and she wants to say something to you".  Then I heard my sweet little Ella say "Good Luck Mommy!" I threw my arm up in the air and said "that was my girl!"  I was teary eyed.  Here is a photo of Ella on the shore while I'm one of the pink caps out there treading water waiting for the start.

The announcer started counting down and then we were off.  I typically get a panicky feeling at the start of a race and have to work through the panic in the initial portion of the swim.  But not on this day.  I started swimming and immediately felt comfortable.  I had decided to not wear my wetsuit which was definitely the right decision for me.  The water was not cold at all.  I was breathing well, although I was not able to breathe bilaterally.  I can do that in the pool without a problem but when I try to do it in a race I start getting dizzy.

As I rounded the final turn buoy and headed for the swim out arch, I tried to pick up the pace a little bit.  I normally only have one speed when swimming, but I purposely pushed the pace on the finish.  As I got out of the water and started running to transition, I checked my watch.  It said 20 minutes.  Wait, what???  I was planning on finishing the swim in 25 minutes.  As I ran into transition, I noted that I didn't see Stephen and I figured it was because I finished a full 5 minutes ahead of when I thought I would!  Wow...a good start to the day!

Transition was slow although I can't figure out why I took so long.  I sat down and dried my feet (yes this is part of why it was slow), put on my socks and bike shoes, quickly ate a Stinger waffle, took 2 big gulps of Gatorade, put on my helmet and took off.  I had forgotten to put my bike goggles in my transition area, so I had to ride without them.  Grr...again, why was I so out of sorts with my transition set up?  I had a great rack spot...the first spot on the rack closest to the bike out and run out. 

At the mount line, I pushed off and thought "well here we go".  I was determined not to let my head beat me on the hills.  If there were hard climbs, that's fine, but I wasn't going to mentally get freaked out.  I did that enough yesterday. 

The bike course was fun.  There were only 2 hills that I struggled to keep my speed above 8 MPH.  However, there were a lot of really fun downhills.  I got my speed up to 35 MPH at one point and wasn't scared at all!  I have definitely come a long way with my comfort on the downhills.  Just like IronGirl Columbia, I passed packs of other bikers at a time.  I definitely had to holler for some people to get over...there were so many women riding in the middle or the left side of the lane. 

However, the most frustrating part of the ride was an encounter with a car.  The road was closed to traffic except residents who lived on that road.  So other than the USAT officials on motorcycles, I only saw 2 cars the whole time.  The 2nd car was the problem.  The driver refused to try to go around a slow biker.  The biker was probably going 10 MPH and the car just took up the lane following her at her speed.  I was going around 20 MPH at this point so I came up on the situation pretty quickly.  I couldn't cross the yellow line and there wasn't room on the right side to try to pass on the right, since the car was really close to the biker's tire.  I yelled for the driver to move to the middle of the road so I could pass.  The driver didn't move so I slowed down to try to assess the situation.  What to do?  Ugh...gotta get around this guy or else I'll be going 10 MPH for the rest of the ride.  Finally the car moved slightly to the right side of the lane.  Knowing that this was absolutely the wrong thing to do, I passed the car on its left but avoided crossing the double yellow line.  Thinking back, I really don't know how else I could have handled it.  I will need to talk with some more experienced triathletes to see what they think.

The bike course was an out and back.  At the turn around, I must have bumped something because my cadence meter was no longer working when I started heading back.  Knowing what good cadence feels like, I wasn't too concerned about it.  I switched my computer over to the mileage counter so that I could see how much farther I had to go.  With 1 1/2 miles left, I switched over to my average speed.  It was 17 MPH.  I knew I had one more decent climb to go and hitting an overall 17 MPH average was going to be a challenge.  So I focused on climbing as quickly and efficiently as possible.  Unfortunately my average dropped to 16.9 and I couldn't get it back over 17 even though I was going 25 MPH on the final downhill.  Oh well.  That's still a good average for a challenging course.  The last half mile I focused on just spinning my legs out so that I would have an easier transition to running.

The longest part of T2 was the run from the dismount line to the transition area.  And my rack was the farthest away from the bike in point, so that definitely slowed me down.  Actual transition was pretty quick. As I jogged out of transition, I threw on my visor and smiled.  I still felt great!

Another item that I forgot to put in transition was my running watch.  I was wearing a watch where I was tracking the overall event time, but it doesn't have GPS so it can't tell me my running pace.  I felt a little bit uncomfortable not knowing if I was going too fast or too slow...but once I started running, I actually felt really free not constantly worrying about my pace.  The run course had a few hills but nothing like the IronGirl Columbia course.  And this course was only 2.5 miles, which mentally was really good for me.  I went into it thinking it was a short run.

About 3/4 of a mile into the run, I was settling into a comfortable pace when I saw John Hughes from Spin90.  He was volunteering and doing support on the run.  He was in his Spin90 gear and on his bike so he was easy to spot.  I waved to him and briefly told him that I was really happy with my performance on the bike.  He told me good job and commented that I looked like I was holding a nice steady pace on the run. 

I hit the turn-around and knew I only had a little more than a mile to go.  I was feeling really, really good.  When I passed John again, I was chatting with a woman running next to me.  (I would probably run a lot faster if I didn't talk so much while I was running!  But what fun is that?) John started riding along next to me and I felt myself subconsciously pick up the pace to match him.  This was good!  He rode next to me for a little bit and encouraged me to go get the pack of women that were a short distance ahead of me.  He knows I like a challenge, so I steadily picked up the pace again.  He had to turn back and I waved and thanked him.  I focused my attention on the pack of women.  One by one I went by them until there was only 1 woman left in front of me from that pack.  As I crossed the finish line, I also passed her.  It was a great feeling.  I heard the announcer say my name and I raised my arms in victory.  What a fun race!

Finally I was able to see Stephen and the girls.  They had missed me at every point in the race because I was going so much faster than I had originally estimated.  Stephen was disappointed that he didn't get any action shots from the race, but I loved that I was faster than he expected!