BSLT Race Report

OMG!!! What a day! First of all – I DID IT!!!! I placed 1st in my age group, 1st overall female age-grouper, 6th overall female, PR’d and qualified for a Kona slot (which I plan to take)!! Here’s how it went down…

The morning started with a 4am wake-up call. All of us at the house got ready and headed out at 4:30am to the race site. You have to park up in this lot and then walk down the 1st bike hill with all of your gear, in the dark. I said good-bye and good luck to the pros (they were starting at 6:30am), set up in transition and made friends with all of the ladies around me. We chatted, shared stories and generally decided we had the friendliest age group. I checked out bike in and out, run in and out and tried to memorize which row my bike was in. The big news was that the water was cool enough to wear wetsuits. I was a bit disappointed because I felt I had a little better chance without the wetsuit, given my poor transitioning ability!

Once transition closed, we headed down to the lake and splashed around a bit. Lots of people were in the water when the male pros started. It kind of happened with very little fanfare. I was surprised to realize the race had started. Things happened quickly after that. My wave was like the 8th wave or something and we went off at 7am. We lined up on the edge of the water…Marti (the race director) yelled go and I sprinted in a few yards and then dove and started swimming. Something did not seem right, however and I realized my goggles were full of water. I took a few more strokes and then was like “there is no way I can swim 1.2 miles without seeing” so I stopped to fix them, got pushed and swam over and then took off again. I got settled into my stroke and figured I was in about 4th place. There were 2 yello cappers right ahead of me and I ended up following them for most of the swim. The swim flew by and before I knew it I was running up the ramp to transition and volunteers were helping strip off my wetsuit.

SWIM: 25:42

With the wetsuit at my waist, I ran along the carpeting to my bike row and found my bike without a problem. I managed to do everything the way Karen and I practiced and headed out to bike out in a relatively short time. At the end of my row I turned right and ran into 2-3 guys coming with their bikes. They all yelled at me that I was going the wrong way. I yelled back sorry and turned around and ran to bike out. Sometimes I wonder if I need to be checked for early onset alzheimers! Made it to the mount area and was on my way.

T1: 1:42

The bike starts with a steep uphill so i had the bike in a low gear and just spun up the hill. It was not bad at all. There was one 35-39 yo woman ahead of me that I could see so I kept my sights on her but tried not to push too hard too early. I was happy the computer on my bike was working correctly since it was not when we did our short ride yesterday. On the first downhill you hit some pretty good bumps and my handlebars dropped down. I guess I didn’t tighten them enough when I put the bike together. I panicked a little because I was already worried about some of the downhills and could just picture myself flying over the handlebars! Fortunatley they were tight enough that I could yank them back into position and they stayed there unless I hit a big bump. I did have to adjust them throughout the ride but it didn’t affect me very much. I LOVED the bike course. Tons of flats that you could really fly on. I passed that girls and 3 others in my age group and was in the lead for about 5 miles before I was passed. I knew who she was and knew she was a good cyclist so I just tried to keep pushing at my pace. Then, another girl came up on me and we battled back and forth for quite a few miles. She would pass me then slow down. So to not be called for drafting, I either had to slow down or pick it up and pass her back. She was absolutely amazing on the downhills, though. I don’t think she touched her brakes once. I, on the other hand, literally braked the whole way down on both switchbacks. I was able to get her back on the uphills and then we hit the last 15 miles, or so, and they were straight into a pretty strong headwind and I finally broke free. This was also the point when it started getting pretty hot out. I noticed I was sweating A LOT and so drank a ton in addition to pouring water over my head and back. Finally I was on the last uphill and then a nice descent back into transition. From what I could figure, I was in 2nd place at this point but I had no idea how far ahead 1st was.

BIKE: 2:36:14

Amazingly enough, I went the right way into transition and had no trouble finding my spot. I threw the bike on the rack, switched shoes and exchanged helmet for hat and I was on my way. As I was running out of transition, I heard Chuck announce Maggie’s name (the girl in 1st) and figured she couldn’t be that far ahead. I waved to the timing guy as I passed the finish line, smiled and headed out onto the course. One event to go!!

T2: 1:09

The run did not start out well and it did not end well but I had some good points in the middle! As soon as I started on the course, both quads cramped up. They were really tight and painful. But, seriously, what are you going to do? I just kept running and hoped they wouldn’t get worse. I am not sure why, though because I felt I kept hydrated with enough electrolytes on the bike. I did do my gels every half hour and tons of water and accelerade throughout the ride…much more often then when I ride back home. I also took 3 salt tablets on the ride. After about a mile, they loosened up and didn’t bother me at all. At this point, I could also see Maggie up ahead. I went through the first 2 miles in about 6:40 pace and tried to force myself to slow down. I knew that was going to be too fast but I felt like I was just jogging. I paid for this later!!! Just before 3 miles, I passed Maggie and was in the lead. I headed up the 2 steep hills, passing lots of guys on the way. That’s always a good mental boost! I saw Michelle and Lisa as they headed back in and we cheered for each other. They were so lucky they were finishing! I felt good out to the turn around. As I headed back I saw Maggie was not too far behind so I decided I better start picking it up. I felt really good through 8 miles. I was glad to have a water stop every mile, though. I grabbed as much ice as I could and shoved it down my top…it felt awesome ! The gatorade and water were iced down and tasted amazing! At 9 miles the last hill began and I was hurting. I refused to walk so shuffled up the hill along with an older guy who was encouraging me. We hit the downhill and I felt a little bit better but then at 10 miles, you turn back along the lake and there is a REALLY small uphill that felt like a mountain! I looked back as I rounded that corner and did not see another female anywhere (relief!!). After that, it was just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other. If anyone had passed me I would have smiled and said it’s yours because I had nothing left. I got to 11 miles and convinced myself that anyone can run for 15 minutes and that I would make it. When I hit 13 miles, I finally saw the finish line and did my little finishing kick so that I didn’t look like death as I crossed the line. The clock read 5:14 which I figured meant I had done a 4:44. Not bad…same as Musselman last year though. I was disappointed that I didn’t PR. Later, I found out that the official time was 4:41:37 and you couldn’t get the smile off of my face!

RUN: 1:36:49

I still wasn’t sure if I had officially won my age group until we made it back to the car and to my phone. I had TONS of texts and voicemails congratulating me on my win and my Kona slot. It was an absolutely amazing experience and an amazing trip. Next stop…KONA!

One day to go…

Today, Michelle, Lisa and I headed over to the course to do one last workout before the big day tomorrow. We all decided to bike a little and, although our workouts were all a bit different, we were able to start out together. We rode up the first big hill – a 7.6% grade – not too bad. Definitely nothing as bad as many of the hills on route 80! The downhill was steep and quick and a little curvy. I came out of aero position to be on the safe side. We climbed the second hill – a 6.7% grade – and again was able to stay seated and spin up. At the top we came upon some mountain bikers. As we approached, one of them decided to do a U-turn right as we started to pass. Michelle and I yelled out and the guy tried to swerve out of our way. I was fortunate enough to stay upright but when I turned back, Michelle was on the ground. I rode back to see how she was. She was fine but her aerobars were askew and she was a bit shaken.

After that we each took off on our own. I rode 15 minutes hard and felt very good. My computer was acting up so I’m not sure what pace I was going. I got back to the car, threw my bike in and headed out on a 10 minute run. I felt great and am excited for the run portion tomorrow. I’m a little nervous for the bike because there are some steep downhills and lots of gravel on the road.

When we returned, Paul (a pro from Australia) and his girlfriend had arrived. We went to the pro meeting at 3pm and found out that the water temp read 81 degrees today. If it does not cool off a ton, tomorrow will be a NO wetsuit race. At fist I was bummed but that may actually be in my favor (especially with how I stink at T1!!). They will do a final reading at 3:30am and we will find out at the race in the morning. Michelle and I did a little more shopping at the expo and I found myself a pair of sweet tri bike shoes at half price. I couldn’t resist! Hopefully using them tomorrow will not backfire on me… Michelle got a pair too.

Rght now, we are all just hanging out, getting bikes ready, numbers on helmets, etc. All of us are gong to cook dinner together tonight and then off to bed. At 4:30, we will head over together to race! Paul, Michelle, and Lisa will go off at 6:30am and then me at 7:00am. Tune in to www.ironman.com to follow our progress here at Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3!!!

TEXAS HEAT

Well, I have arrived here in Texas. Yesterday my flights went smoothly. I had to pay $100 for the bike to get here but it arrived right with me so it was worth it! After the accident, I contacted the race director with Scott’s story and in addition to donating Scott’s race entry toward his medical bills he offered to help me out with a home-stay. That means that I am staying with someone local along with a few other athletes. The cool thing about all of this is the other athletes are all pros so I have been having a blast!
So, anyway, Chuck, my host as well as the race announcer, picked me up at the airport and drove me to his place. I got unpacked and then he took me over to the local HS track for a run. It was hot! It was 93 degrees when I did my 2×10 minute tempo run. By the end of the second one I was feeling it. The run went well, though – faster than Karen had asked me to do it.
When we got back to his place, I decided to tackle putting the bike back together. Remember, I am not mechanical at all so this was a huge deal for me! Slowly, with only 2 calls to Bicycle Alley, I managed to get all of the pieces in the right place. After dinner, one of the local bike guys (btw, Chuck knows EVERYONE in town!) came by and tightened and tuned up everything.
This morning, Michelle (pro from New Zealand) and I went for a swim in the lake. It was a little murky and very warm but I felt pretty good. After the swim, we drove the bike and run course. On the surface neither look too bad. The hills on the run were nothing worse than in Manlius and same with the bike although there are 8 of them and 2 are VERY curvy when you descend. I’ll have to see how the heat and MINOR elevation factor into everything on race day. We are at 3400 feet here in Lubbock and when I told Karen I thought the elevation was leaving me a little short of breath she laughed at me and basically said “what elevation?”
I took a little nap after that and when I awoke Lisa, a pro from Tuscon, AZ was here. We all headed to the expo and shopped a little and then bought some food for dinner. Tonight we all get to go (yes, even me) to the pro athlete reception. I definitely feel a little out of my element. Being just an age-grouper I am not sure I belong with the big fish. I guess we will find out Sunday…

Corporate Challenge

I figured it was about time I posted a race report for the Corporate Challenge a few nights ago. Every year it is super hot and humid for this race (it was even cancelled one year due to the heat!). Of course the year I need it to be nice and hot to get acclimated for Texas it rains. Not only did it rain but there was thunder and lightning. So bad that the race was postponed 72 minutes.
Here’s how it went down. First of all, I forgot all about the race so I never told Karen to schedule it into the workouts. We decided to replace a tempo run with the race. I did a 10 minute warm-up…got on the line and waited. The race was to start at 6:25pm. At about 6:24pm they announced it would be postponed until 7pm. I was bummed because I was planning on driving down to Virginia after the race. This pretty much screwed up that plan! We all went back to the tent to find the Wegmans chefs cooking up a storm. OMG – the food smelled soooo good! But I knew if I ate anything it wouldn’t be pretty when I started running! Most everyone else started eating – it was so tempting. At 7pm, they announced that the race would be postponed until about 7:30pm. Lindsay (a co-worker) and I milled around the starting line then got caught in a huge downpour under SU’s tent (and we were offered pie ), chatted with another friend and waited some more. At 7:30, they said they would start calling people to the race course in about 5 minutes. Once they called us up, I did a quick jog around and lined up. So finally at precisely 7:37pm (apparently) the gun went off.
After that, the race went by quickly. From the start it was a contest between Eileen and me. I hit the first 1/2 mile in 2:54 and felt good. I was 5:53 at mile 1. I couldn’t really see Eileen and worried I had let her get too far ahead. At the turn around of the out and back course Eileen was 8 seconds ahead of me and I felt like I hadn’t even started pushing it yet. I though I could get her. I hit mile 2 in 5:52. At 2.5 miles, I made my move. I went by pretty strongly but could feel her holding on to me. I was really excited when I got to the 5K mark in 18:19 (fastest in about 7 years!!) – mile 3 was 5:56. I couldn’t believe it – I was finally going to break the 21 minute curse that has haunted me for the past 5 years! I felt Eileen behind me but she didn’t move up so I figured I could hold on to the lead.
I kicked it in to the finish in 20:33 with Eileen on my heels at 20:49. We both had a great race – I think anything under 21 minutes is awesome!!
Afterwards was fun – being interviewed, getting cheers as I walked into the Wegmans tent, getting my award. The delay was annoying but obviously necessary. Dave Oja made the right call holding off on the start. Thanks for keeping us safe, Dave!!
I left feeling extremely confident for Sunday. My running has really improved the last 2 months.
The next afternoon, I called Phoebe from Virginia and she told me how Mrs. Moses brought in the newspaper so everyone could read about Phoebe’s mommy winning the race. She was absolutely ecstatic! She said she was lucky to have a mom that wins races and is in the newspaper and on TV. I am glad I don’t embarrass her…YET!!

Taper Continues

I seriously cannot wait to get to the race and have an easy day! I am so tired of working all day and fitting in my workouts. It will be nice to just have to race.

Today was another day at Wegmans 8-4 and then I headed out for a ride. Had to use the LeMond because the Trek is all packed up. I really do like the road bike. I think because I have logged so many miles on it I am just super comfortable. I rode hard and still ended up with a slow average mph. By the way, I have no idea what I am doing on the bike. I somehow muscle through it and people seem to think that makes me good at it. I would love sometime to learn some actual technique or something. I hear people talk about their power meters and watts and whatever…I wish I had a clue what they are talking about it. Honestly I don’t even know what a power meter looks like. Right now I am just thrilled I know how to clean the bike and change a tire. That is a big improvement over last year! Anyway, nothing I can do about that at this point (which is what Karen said when she left me a VM). I guess that might be a goal for me after I make it through next week’s race.

So it is now officially race week. The temperature is still forecasting at a close to average 94 degrees for race day. I am working another 10 hours tomorrow, running the Corporate Challenge Tuesday and then taking off for Virginia Tuesday night. I am not planning on taking a computer so my day to day diary may end Tuesday unless I can borrow a computer on the trip. Hoping to spend a little more quality time with the girls tomorrow and Tuesday, get a pedicure and have lunch with friends before saying good-bye. You know, the important stuff

Fun, fun, fun

My sister, Amy, and brother-in-law, Adam, and their three kids are headed to main for a music camp. On the way, they decided to stop at our house for a brief visit. They arrived last night and the chaos began…good chaos, fun chaos! I got home from work at 9pm and the cousins were playing soccer. By the time I parked in the garage, they were headed out to the pool. We didn’t get them to bed until 11pm and it has been go, go, go ever since! There is a 9yo boy, 7 yo girl, 6 yo girl, 5 yo boy and almost 5 yo girl. They don’t get to see each other much but as soon as they get together they are instant bff’s! It is a joy to watch them play. We had a super busy day in the 90 degree heat – mostly hanging out by the pool.

In the middle of the day, Adam and I took Amy and the kids over to the track for a workout. Because of the tapering, it would be a short one and the kids were excited to hang out on the football field and play catch, soccer, football or just run around and be silly.  Adam and I were going to run. We warmed up and then hit 3×1600. I hit the first 2 8 seconds under pace and at least 5 seconds faster than anytime in the last few years!! Then I did the 3rd one. I had to do the 2nd and 3rd repeats alone because Adam’s calf tightened up and he didn’t want to injure it.  The 3rd one was brutal.  I didn’t bring anything to drink with me (duh) and so I was wilting.  I started having trouble breathing and just tried to hold on. I still hit the last one right on pace but it was painful. So, I feel like I failed the workout because I always like to negative split but I did them all at or under pace so was it a success?? I am not sure. I do think it was an eye opener how important it will be to hydrate out in Lubbock.

Other highlights of the day included having my bike packed in the case ready to fly… going to Kimberly’s for ice cream for dessert… getting a phone call from Scott asking me out…getting the pool vacuumed and clean… and just hanging out with my sis. ONE WEEK…8 MORE SLEEPS!!!

The Tapering Blues

Tapering just plain sucks. I know very few athletes that enjoy the taper period. I feel so sluggish, bloated and blah. I can never figure out if I am eating too much or too little. I am not one to count calories so maybe that makes it more difficult…I don’t know. Anyway, today was a bigger workout – 105 minutes biking and 30 minutes running. I felt like I biked hard but was disappointed with my overall pace. I followed that up with an incredible run, however. Of course it was a nice, cool 60 degrees during my workout. That is in stark contrast to the 94 hi temp forecasted for Lubbock on June 27th!

I’ll be honest. I am worried about the heat and I am worried about the bike and I am worried about qualifying for Kona. I get very anxious before big races (well, OK, little ones too ). Usually I can channel this anxiety into pure energy at the race. Sometimes the stress is too much. With everything going on in my life right now I hope I do not get overwhelmed between now and next Sunday. I hope I can keep everything in perspective. I expect so much out of myself. Yes, I compete against others, but the real competition is within myself.

One last thing: a quick shout out to fellow tri buds doing Green Lakes tomorrow – have a kick-ass race!!

Counting down…

Today was supposed to be an hour bike ride but when I woke up it was windy and raining and cold. Now granted, I will go out in any weather on any day but going biking in the rain today was not going to further my fitness at all at this point and I could just as easily go Saturday.  So…I took the opportunity to go swim with a couple of my “Choxie” friends that I don’t get to visit with very often.  We swam out at Jamesville Res (sight of the upcoming Syracuse Ironman 70.3) in the choppy, cold water – a hard 45 minutes. It was an absolute blast.  The weeds were overwhelming and at points I was basically crawling on top of the water. Hopefully they will chop some of those weeds down by September. Unfortunately on the ride there I got pulled over for speeding (oops!!) – 53 in a 30. Maybe an omen for my speed out in Texas???

I was surfing the web tonight and was checking out the CNY triathlon page (www.cnytriathlon.org) when I stumbled on their photo link. I came across pictures from the Du the Lakes Duathlon…the race Scott and I did together 4 days before his accident. He looks so strong. I am confident that he will be back in that kind of shape again one day in the not so distant future.

Day Off

Today was a day off from exercise. I felt more tired today then on the days I work out! I hate tapering. I always feel sluggish. My main focus the next week and a half is to stay hydrated! I had some PT on my back again and it felt a ton better at work. We ended the day with a date night (both girls this time!) watching “So You Think You Can Dance”.

Maggie’s Party

BUSY day today. Did you ever have one of those moments where you said to yourself “what was I thinking??” That was me today. It sounded like such a fun idea. Maggie wanted to have a summer party. We invited a bunch (7 … SEVEN!!) of her friends (all 4-5 years old) over for an afternoon party today. We shopped last night and even got a cookie cake that said Happy Summer from Wegmans. Maggie was headed to camp at 9am and then the friends would come over at noon. I went for a quick swim at the Y (4×500 in 6:50) and then an hour run. During the run was when it started to dawn on me that seven pre-schoolers, 1 adult and a pool were a crazy combination! I picked up the pace, finished the run, got something to eat and raced over to the school to get everyone.

Well, despite my fears that there would be temper tantrums, disagreements and general chaos, the party was a huge success. At least one other mom was with me most of the time so things ran extremely smoothly. There were enough life jackets for all of the kids so I was able to remain vigilant yet not be paranoid the whole time. All of the girls got along great…they shared and played happily. They are growing up! Finally 3:30 arrived (yes they were here for 3 and 1/2 hours and it’s not over yet…) and the guests departed while new ones arrived. Now Phoebe’s close friend came over and we hosted dinner for her family. And yes…I did the sliders and grilled zucchini again!! And they were a hit again!! Phoebe headed over to soccer tryouts and made the travel U9 team (yay Phoebe!). She was totally psyched. I watched a little and she played very well.

Now we are all going to bed. I am exhausted and cannot believe how busy a day this was. I can’t wait to get to work tomorrow and rest . By the way, my hamstring felt fine on the run, my numbness seemed a tiny bit better in my hand and Karen and I discussed the heat training and decided against wearing extra clothing. Time to crash…fading fast…

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