I AM SO FRUSTRATED WITH MY POOL!!!!
**warning... Ironman nerves are coming out... so I'm taking a sarcastic tone with this one! :)
I had a 3650 yard endurance speed workout tonight. How much did I get done? 2000 in 34 minutes. Grrrr....
Here's the story:
I got home from an easy and low key day at work and I decided to swim at night because the morning was getting too busy in the pool. Normally, the real swimmers go in the morning but it gets packed. At night it's pretty empty say for a few kids. I am spoiled and have a pool in my building so all I have to do is get on an elevator and hit lobby. Simple enough for a time strapped gal. BUT, there's 4 lanes and if the pool gets crowded they kick out the first person who was in there the longest after only 20 minutes. When you're training for an Ironman, 20 minutes is the warm up!
I go into the locker room, drop off my keys & dry clothes and from the get go I hear screams of children. Oh dear... at least one lane is filled with kids. I head up the stairs to the pool and there's kids and pool noodles EVERYWHERE. Screaming, misbehaving, loud, obnoxious, upper east side spoiled brats. UGH. And there's a swimming lesson going on. So two lanes down, the third lane has an older woman in it but she gets out. I grab a kickboard and jump in the 4th lane.
I start my warmup which consisted of a 300 swim, dodge pink pool noodle, 200 kick that I turned into a 100 kick, dodge small child in my lane, 6x25 FAST, dodge blue pool noodle, 100 swim, dodge pool ball. After that nonsense I got into the meat of the workout, skipping a 100 kick and 6 more 25's FAST. I figured I could mix in some of the warm up in between my main sets if the pool calms down.
While I'm in the middle of my warm up, a hairy dude in a speedo gets in the last free lane. He decides it would be fun to "race" me every 1 length to my 6 lengths. This was quite annoying 'cause every time I took a breathe I saw hairy speedo man flailing his arms trying to get to the wall before me. Gross.
Meanwhile, the swim lesson is over so another hairy older dude gets in that free lane. I continue on and start my main sets. I feel good and am NAILING my sets. I notice a younger dude waiting for a lane. Technically, since I got in first, I should be the first to get out. But today, I played dumb, aka stubborn ironman in training chick. I asked him if he wanted to share a lane - they are not as wide as a normal pool, but I felt bad. I'm not entirely evil. He politely said no so I kept going. Finally, hairy speedo dude left and kid got in.
The obnoxious, screaming, dodgeballing kiddos left and a woman got in that lane and proceeded to float on her back up and down the lane. No real swimming going on here... just floating.... up... and down....
I keep up with my sets and notice another woman waiting for a lane to open up. By now, I've been in the pool about 30 minutes. I played dumb again and was just gonna wait til the lifegaurd kicked me out. It was a newbie lifeguard and she didn't have the balls to say anything so I kept going. Then another old lady, whom I KNOW was just gonna float up and down the lane, came in. She didn't have much patience and went straight to lifeguard after about 2 milliseconds. I politely asked the younger woman waiting if she'd like to share a lane. She goes, "Are you done??" in a snotty voice. "No, I'm NOT done, but would you like to share?" "NO, not until you are done!" What a biotch. I cranked out 2 more FAST 75's then got out. The old lady was conspiring with the young, wet-behind-the-ears, lifegaurd on how to get me outta there anyway.
Seriously, don't these people know that I am training for a freakin' IRONMAN???? 2000 yards just isn't gonna cut it! I am so pissed off. Little old ladies who float up & down a lane DO NOT need their own lane. They can freakin' share, like ME, the ironman in training, was OFFERING!!!!
GRRRR!!!!
Only 26 days til Placid and I get kicked out of a pool because of 89 year old ladies and KIDS!
**disclaimer... I really don't hate kids or old ladies. One day I will be an old lady, but I darn well know, I will NOT be floating in a pool. I will be swimming my old lady ass off.
** no really, I didn't mean to offend older ladies, kids, hairy men, men who wear speedos or lifeguards. I swear! :)
** 26 days left... and my emotions are running high... can you tell???
** I'm gonna write a nice post about my solid long training weekend and a "try" at Simon's hobby.... being a passenger while he's a pilot in a very small Cessna!!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Fireman Ironman June Camp
I feel like a kid again 'cause I LOVE tri camp! Taking off from "school", driving all the way upstate into the mountains and playing for 4 days! But the adult version of playing is biking 112 miles, swimming 2.4, and running almost 26 miles!
SATURDAY - long bike/brick run day
I woke up and was a little nervous about the 112 mile bike plus brick run. I mean, I knew I could do it, but I was putting pressure on myself to have improved since the last time I was up here exactly one month ago. I biked down to the Olympic Oval and DOH - I forgot my sunglasses! I biked back to my hotel, grabbed my glasses and started the day all over again.
I biked to the Olympic Oval and spotted blogger buddy Mandy and her sweet Kestrel! I wish I got a pic of us and our bikes, cause that's how we knew each other! We took a huge group picture with all the campers, about 150 of us, then we were off!
![]()
The weather was slightly chilly but I knew the sun was going to come out and it was gonna be quite warm. We headed out of town, or should I say climbed out of town, and I felt good. The screaming 10K descent came and I zoomed past more cautious riders. I think I hit a high of 38 which isn't that fast considering what some of the fearless and heavier men hit on that section! After the descent there's an awesome, flat section where you can just sit in aero until the last 15-20 miles of the climbing back into town.
I felt good in the aero section and focused on eating & drinking my nutrition. The sun was out and there's no shade on the course so it was starting to get hot. My goal was to eat 1 1/2 Peanut butter & pretzel bars, gu chomps, 2/3 bottles of perform, water and Gu as needed. I pretty much hit my nutrition goal, except at our fabulous aid stations, where the volunteers treated us like rock stars, they had mixed perform but it was VERY diluted. The lack of electrolytes would come back to haunt me on the second loop.
After the aid station came the 15 miles of climbing back into town. On a good day this section is tough, but that day, there was a vicious headwind the entire climb! The wind whipped through the gorge and came at us head on and it was so depleting! I know I can't control the weather, but I really, really, really hope this wind doesn't show it's ugly head on July 24th.
I finished the first loop is 3:17 which was really encouraging. I felt good, didn't feel like I spent too much energy and I was ready to ride the second loop.
We started off on the second loop and the climbs out of town felt a little harder, but not as hard as when I did them the second time in May. I was excited - I was feeling confident and I went down the 10K a little faster than the first loop.
Once I hit the aero section again I felt a little off. I still had a bottle and a half of the aid station perform and I decided I needed to drink more of that. I also started taking Endurolytes which are like salt tablets because I was sweating a lot in the hot sun. After the out & back, I did not feel great anymore. I was hot, tired, and the headwind was really killing me. I stopped at the final aid station and I didn't even know what I wanted. A super helpful dude, gave me even more Endurolytes with a little plan on when to take them next, ice cold water for my aero bottle and refilled one of my perform bottles with a Hammer product called Fizz. That had electrolytes in it and I think that saved me from a complete bonk.
I climbed and climbed and climbed, not only battling the headwinds but battling my little demons that were dancing around in my head. "You can't climb up this mountain with this headwind!" "Who do you think you are for trying to do an Ironman!" "How are you going to run after this? And why do you think you could run a marathon after this???" Ugh - I got into such a deep, dark place and I just could not get myself out of it. It was so demoralizing. I know I'm better than that. In sports, as well as everyday life, I am 98% positive. But when they 2% of negativity rears it's ugly head... watch out! I faded on the climbs but I finished the 112. I completed two loops in 6:50something. It was still under my 7 hour time goal but I thought I would feel a whole lot better than I did.
I was tired, hot and quite frankly pissed off. I pissed off that I let the demons play mind games. I was pissed off that I didn't drink enough electrolytes even though I nailed my solid nutrition. I was pissed that I had to run now. So I took a quick pee break at our transition area at Cobble Mountain Lodges, put on my sneakers and started running. I should have taken a Gu before I ran, but I just wanted my workout to be over with. I wound up running 1 loop around Mirror Lake for a total of 4 miles. I actually held a decent pace... and clocked in at 35:48.
It's been taking me a while to write up this post because I was trying to make sense of this ride. I know my fitness is there, but I fell apart around mile 80. This is a HUGE lesson for me in mental toughness and nutrition. I now know that I need to make sure I get enough electrolytes in my hydration. I also can't let my demons get to me so easily. I didn't even put up a fight and that's not me. I'm better than that.
Saturday night was our camp dinner and it was great chatting and getting to know the other athletes. There were some speakers but my favorite was pro Karen Smyers. She is simply awesome. First of all she had about three beers throughout dinner (I may have been staring at her!). Then when it was her turn to speak she let us in on her biggest taper secret. Are you ready for it? It's called the 3,2,1 Taper. She trademarked it and everything. Here it is!
Three nights before the race have 3 beers. Two nights before the race have 2 beers. One night before the race have 1 beer. Then taper. BRILLIANT!
SUNDAY - long swim & long run day
I was excited to swim 2 loops in beautiful Mirror Lake! Before we all hit the water, Karen spoke to us about the swim. Tactics, swim form, what to wear... lots of good tips!
![]()
Then we all put on our sausage suits and hit the water for a group picture!
![]()
Now, it was time for a mock mass swim start. We all lined up near the end of the dock, which is where the start line will be. Larry our leader, counted down, then the bullhorn sounded and we were off! I felt fine in the chilly water. I took my time and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I could not breathe. I tried every stroke, then I had to stop. UGHHHHHHHH.... what the heck is wrong with me??? I wound up having to flip over on my back just to get my face out of the water. Finally after a couple of minutes I flipped back over and tried to swim again. After about 300 yards, I was back to normal. This is the second time this weekend where I was pissed off! There is no reason for me to panic at the swim start, especially one that only has 100 people, not 2500 people! I need to figure out what is holding me back here.
When I finished the first loop I looked at my watch and saw 40 minutes... double UGH. The second loop was uneventful. I tried to stay on people's feet but found myself swimming alone a lot of the time. I stayed right on the buoy line so I didn't have to sight much. By the time I swam back to shore, my watch read 1:23. Granted, there was some extra swimming distance in there but I was very disappointed with my time. The other thing was that my arms were super sore from gripping my bike for 7 hours the day before. I plan on focusing on relaxing my grip from now on.
After the swim I headed back to my hotel room to warm up (I was a little chilly once out of the water), eat a little something and get my run gear on. We were planning on doing our long run at 12:30 since during race day we'll be running in the afternoon heat.
![]()
We met at the Olympic Oval and took our last group pic of the weekend!
Since I had such a crappy bike and swim, I took the first miles of the long run SUPER easy. I was supposed to run for 3 hours or up to 20 miles. I started running with a woman I met the day before on the bike. We eventually ran with a little group going between 9:45 and 10 minute miles. My heart rate was so low... it was barely zone 1. I knew this was too slow for me even in a long training run but I stayed with them for the company and plus I just didn't want to blow up before my 3 hours was up.
After about 7 miles, I left our little running group and ran at my own pace. I picked it up a bit and felt pretty good. My legs didn't feel heavy despite all the biking and running I did the day before. So I completed one full loop of the run course then ran back down all the major hills (there are 3 large ones) and made sure to run back up. I didn't stop to walk at all and I was pulling off 845 minute miles the last 6 miles of the run! I finished 3 hours with 19 miles on the dot. I could have done more and I was really happy to finally have a good workout completed! What an attitude changer this was. I went from feeling sorry for myself, feeling angry, to feeling like I could do ANYTHING! This just shows that in a long race like Ironman... you're gonna hit those sour patches and it's gonna get better. It will pass. You control how fast you get through them. I unfortunately wallowed in a low patch for 24 hours. I finally pulled myself out of it and knocked out a strong run on tired legs.
I know now that it wasn't my fitness that was holding me back at this tri camp. It was my head. I put unwanted pressure on myself and my performance. When I didn't live up to what I thought were my standards, I mentally bailed. This was a big lesson for me and I am so happy I went through this tri camp weekend like this. I would rather learn this stuff during training than on race day!
holy smokes.... only 31 days til PLACID!!!
SATURDAY - long bike/brick run day
I woke up and was a little nervous about the 112 mile bike plus brick run. I mean, I knew I could do it, but I was putting pressure on myself to have improved since the last time I was up here exactly one month ago. I biked down to the Olympic Oval and DOH - I forgot my sunglasses! I biked back to my hotel, grabbed my glasses and started the day all over again.
I biked to the Olympic Oval and spotted blogger buddy Mandy and her sweet Kestrel! I wish I got a pic of us and our bikes, cause that's how we knew each other! We took a huge group picture with all the campers, about 150 of us, then we were off!
The weather was slightly chilly but I knew the sun was going to come out and it was gonna be quite warm. We headed out of town, or should I say climbed out of town, and I felt good. The screaming 10K descent came and I zoomed past more cautious riders. I think I hit a high of 38 which isn't that fast considering what some of the fearless and heavier men hit on that section! After the descent there's an awesome, flat section where you can just sit in aero until the last 15-20 miles of the climbing back into town.
I felt good in the aero section and focused on eating & drinking my nutrition. The sun was out and there's no shade on the course so it was starting to get hot. My goal was to eat 1 1/2 Peanut butter & pretzel bars, gu chomps, 2/3 bottles of perform, water and Gu as needed. I pretty much hit my nutrition goal, except at our fabulous aid stations, where the volunteers treated us like rock stars, they had mixed perform but it was VERY diluted. The lack of electrolytes would come back to haunt me on the second loop.
 |
| Just doing a little climbing... |
I finished the first loop is 3:17 which was really encouraging. I felt good, didn't feel like I spent too much energy and I was ready to ride the second loop.
We started off on the second loop and the climbs out of town felt a little harder, but not as hard as when I did them the second time in May. I was excited - I was feeling confident and I went down the 10K a little faster than the first loop.
Once I hit the aero section again I felt a little off. I still had a bottle and a half of the aid station perform and I decided I needed to drink more of that. I also started taking Endurolytes which are like salt tablets because I was sweating a lot in the hot sun. After the out & back, I did not feel great anymore. I was hot, tired, and the headwind was really killing me. I stopped at the final aid station and I didn't even know what I wanted. A super helpful dude, gave me even more Endurolytes with a little plan on when to take them next, ice cold water for my aero bottle and refilled one of my perform bottles with a Hammer product called Fizz. That had electrolytes in it and I think that saved me from a complete bonk.
I climbed and climbed and climbed, not only battling the headwinds but battling my little demons that were dancing around in my head. "You can't climb up this mountain with this headwind!" "Who do you think you are for trying to do an Ironman!" "How are you going to run after this? And why do you think you could run a marathon after this???" Ugh - I got into such a deep, dark place and I just could not get myself out of it. It was so demoralizing. I know I'm better than that. In sports, as well as everyday life, I am 98% positive. But when they 2% of negativity rears it's ugly head... watch out! I faded on the climbs but I finished the 112. I completed two loops in 6:50something. It was still under my 7 hour time goal but I thought I would feel a whole lot better than I did.
I was tired, hot and quite frankly pissed off. I pissed off that I let the demons play mind games. I was pissed off that I didn't drink enough electrolytes even though I nailed my solid nutrition. I was pissed that I had to run now. So I took a quick pee break at our transition area at Cobble Mountain Lodges, put on my sneakers and started running. I should have taken a Gu before I ran, but I just wanted my workout to be over with. I wound up running 1 loop around Mirror Lake for a total of 4 miles. I actually held a decent pace... and clocked in at 35:48.
It's been taking me a while to write up this post because I was trying to make sense of this ride. I know my fitness is there, but I fell apart around mile 80. This is a HUGE lesson for me in mental toughness and nutrition. I now know that I need to make sure I get enough electrolytes in my hydration. I also can't let my demons get to me so easily. I didn't even put up a fight and that's not me. I'm better than that.
Saturday night was our camp dinner and it was great chatting and getting to know the other athletes. There were some speakers but my favorite was pro Karen Smyers. She is simply awesome. First of all she had about three beers throughout dinner (I may have been staring at her!). Then when it was her turn to speak she let us in on her biggest taper secret. Are you ready for it? It's called the 3,2,1 Taper. She trademarked it and everything. Here it is!
Three nights before the race have 3 beers. Two nights before the race have 2 beers. One night before the race have 1 beer. Then taper. BRILLIANT!
 |
| Karen filling us in on her litte racing secrets |
I was excited to swim 2 loops in beautiful Mirror Lake! Before we all hit the water, Karen spoke to us about the swim. Tactics, swim form, what to wear... lots of good tips!
When I finished the first loop I looked at my watch and saw 40 minutes... double UGH. The second loop was uneventful. I tried to stay on people's feet but found myself swimming alone a lot of the time. I stayed right on the buoy line so I didn't have to sight much. By the time I swam back to shore, my watch read 1:23. Granted, there was some extra swimming distance in there but I was very disappointed with my time. The other thing was that my arms were super sore from gripping my bike for 7 hours the day before. I plan on focusing on relaxing my grip from now on.
After the swim I headed back to my hotel room to warm up (I was a little chilly once out of the water), eat a little something and get my run gear on. We were planning on doing our long run at 12:30 since during race day we'll be running in the afternoon heat.
Since I had such a crappy bike and swim, I took the first miles of the long run SUPER easy. I was supposed to run for 3 hours or up to 20 miles. I started running with a woman I met the day before on the bike. We eventually ran with a little group going between 9:45 and 10 minute miles. My heart rate was so low... it was barely zone 1. I knew this was too slow for me even in a long training run but I stayed with them for the company and plus I just didn't want to blow up before my 3 hours was up.
 |
| Leaving the Olympic Oval |
I know now that it wasn't my fitness that was holding me back at this tri camp. It was my head. I put unwanted pressure on myself and my performance. When I didn't live up to what I thought were my standards, I mentally bailed. This was a big lesson for me and I am so happy I went through this tri camp weekend like this. I would rather learn this stuff during training than on race day!
holy smokes.... only 31 days til PLACID!!!
Friday, June 17, 2011
The Most Magical Place on Earth
I'm baaaack in the most magical town on earth... not Disney World... Lake Placid!
I made pretty decent time in the car despite leaving almost an hour later than I planned. (It may or may not have had something to do with 3 glasses of wine last night. Seriously? Only 3 glasses of wine? Yes, I am officially a cheap date)
I drove up solo which I was a little nervous about cause it's over a 5 hour drive from NYC. But the trip went by in a flash! Random radio stations, Lady Gaga's new album & techno king Benny B. kept me going. Bump! Bump! Bump! *insert fist pump here* Jersey Beats!!
I checked into the Mountain View Hotel and here's my view from my little balcony... Not too shabby!
I'm right on Main Street in the thick of it all. And when I say thick I do not mean the people! I'm seeing a ton a super fit people running, biking & swimming in Mirror Lake. Wait, you mean I'm not the only one training on the course this weekend?!? I can feel the Ironman nervous energy in the air and I am trying to swat it away like a fly! Am I intimidated by all these light, muscular, spandex clad tri peeps? heck yeah! Am I gonna show it? heck no!
If I think this energy is bad now, I can't even imagine what I am going to feel like during race week. I have to remember that this race isn't about "them." It's only about me, my capabilities, my perseverance. Now that's its getting closer to race day all those annoying questions are popping into my head. Did I get enough long rides in? How many long rides can I fit in before taper weeks? Will my swim be as mentally disastrous as Rev3? Is it silly to think I can hold a 9 min pace in the marathon on race day and break 4 hours, even if it's 3:59:59, even if I haven't done it in a stand alone marathon??? So many questions and a lot of them I can't control. I have been doing the work since January 1st. I have to trust my training.
Tomorrow is going to be a really fun day! I get to bike 112 miles on the Lake Placid course then run for an hour. I'm excited to compare my fitness from a month ago when I was up here. I'm crossing my fingers that there will be no mechanical issue, or "crashes with myself" this time! Cheers to Ironman Training!!
I made pretty decent time in the car despite leaving almost an hour later than I planned. (It may or may not have had something to do with 3 glasses of wine last night. Seriously? Only 3 glasses of wine? Yes, I am officially a cheap date)
I drove up solo which I was a little nervous about cause it's over a 5 hour drive from NYC. But the trip went by in a flash! Random radio stations, Lady Gaga's new album & techno king Benny B. kept me going. Bump! Bump! Bump! *insert fist pump here* Jersey Beats!!
I checked into the Mountain View Hotel and here's my view from my little balcony... Not too shabby!
 |
| Swimmers in Mirror Lake |
 |
| Nice view minus the ugly green hotel awning |
If I think this energy is bad now, I can't even imagine what I am going to feel like during race week. I have to remember that this race isn't about "them." It's only about me, my capabilities, my perseverance. Now that's its getting closer to race day all those annoying questions are popping into my head. Did I get enough long rides in? How many long rides can I fit in before taper weeks? Will my swim be as mentally disastrous as Rev3? Is it silly to think I can hold a 9 min pace in the marathon on race day and break 4 hours, even if it's 3:59:59, even if I haven't done it in a stand alone marathon??? So many questions and a lot of them I can't control. I have been doing the work since January 1st. I have to trust my training.
Tomorrow is going to be a really fun day! I get to bike 112 miles on the Lake Placid course then run for an hour. I'm excited to compare my fitness from a month ago when I was up here. I'm crossing my fingers that there will be no mechanical issue, or "crashes with myself" this time! Cheers to Ironman Training!!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Rev3 Quassy Race Report
I managed to pull off one amazing Half Ironman race! Woohoooooooo! Here's the nitty gritty:
Swim = 37:57
T1 = 3:21
Bike = 3:25:59
T2 = 2:34
Run = 1:57:12
Total Time = 6:07:04
30-34 Age Group = 24/53
Women Overall Place = 81/226
I was only 7 minutes off my pre-race goal and I'll take it with a huge grin on my face! Kinda like the one below... with none other than 2010 Ironman World Champ... Pro Mirinda Carfrae!!
This race was stacked with pro's and I swear, this is the ONLY sport where you can go up to the pro's, have a chat, get a picture and not be shooed away by some handler. Mirinda was nothing but nice, even when I made her drop her registration stuff when I was trying to shake her hand! heh - whoops.
So on to the race.... after an eventful night of NOT sleeping... (now that story needs a post of it's own. Let's just say getting woken up to a drunk man kicking your hotel room door is not the best pre-race sleep) ...the alarm went off at 4:30. I ate my breakfast of a plain bagel, banana, water and then some gu chomps in transition. Simon was our super trooper fan and drove myself and my friend Enrico to the race start.
I set up my transition pretty effortlessly and I was nervous but I kept telling myself that it's just another training day. It's always hard to trust your training... you just never know if it will all come together or not. For 2 out of the 3 sports it did.
SWIM:
I talked with my Coach on the beach before our waves went off (she rocked Rev with 2nd in her age group and 8th woman overall!!) and we both decided that I should start the swim in the front and just get in there! I was nervous but I know I need to work on swimming surrounded by 2500 "friends" for Lake Placid.
I lined up in the front and to the right a little bit. I still had a clear line to swim so I was ready to dolphin dive my way to the front! The announcer counted down and yelled go! I immediately starting running following some girls into the water.
"Holy cow, I'm doing it! I'm actually getting near the front and not getting pummeled. This is great!"
Until IT happened. What's IT? Well, all of a sudden I couldn't breathe. My chest felt like it was constricted. I had to breathe every stroke. Finally, I had to stop. I watched as my nice front of the pack spot slipped away and all the women swam away from me. I had to get control of my breathing or else I was gonna be in some trouble. I took a minute, calmed myself down and started swimming again. I had to breathe every stroke then after a couple of minutes I got comfortable in my normal 4 stroke breathing pattern. From there on, I knew my swim time was going to be longer than 35 minutes. I don't understand what happened here! Last weekend I felt awesome swimming 2.4 miles and this weekend all my confidence disappeared. I had to have been a mental thing because I haven't felt this way in open water swimming for a long time. I think I actually fare better when it's an in water start and there's no running or dolphin diving involved.
Anyway, I was bummed during most of the swim so I didn't really enjoy it as much as I had during the 2.4 swim. I just focused on breathing and sighting. The sighting got a little hard after the first turn bouy as we were swimming directly into the sun. I just followed some feet until I saw the big red and final turn bouy.
My goal was to swim in 35 minutes and to keep Coach Jenn at bay in the water. Her swim wave was 4 minutes after mine so if I actually swam in 35 minutes I would have reached both my goals. Yes, she beat me out of the water!
T-1 I was 21 seconds slower than I planned. I'll take it! I'm spoiled because the last few races I've down have had wetsuit strippers so my legs of my wetsuit got a little stuck on my ankles. (No, I don't have cankles, incase you were wondering) Other than that, it went smoothly.
BIKE:
This bike course is NO JOKE! You are either going up, going down, turning, then going back up again. So this is perfect Lake Placid training for me. Bring it HILLS! I started out well but my heart rate was a little too high for the first 5 miles. Finally, it went down to my normal bike heart rate between 140 & 150 and occasionally spiking on the climbs. I felt super comfortable on my Roo and the first couple of hills within the first 10 miles I stood up to get over them. Probably not the smartest idea but I felt like I needed to get more blood flow to my legs and this worked.
My garmin clocked 3,692 feet of climbing over 56 miles. That's a lot of hills! There were a few good things about this course. One was that even though the hills are relentless there's really only one long steep climb. The rest are rollers. I can handle that and I think the rollers are the type of hills I need the most work on. I don't mind a short steep hill... but give me a gradual 5 mile climb... like the climb past Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid? No thank you! Whenever I felt crappy on the bike, which actually only happened about 2x, I thought back to all the climbing I did at the Zof. I climbed two freakin' mountains 3 times!! This is nothing!
The second good thing was that the course was stunning!! You biked on small country roads past farms, mansions, and apparantly an emu farm but I missed that one. During my two "low" periods on the bike, I would lift my head up, take in the beautiful scenery and remind myself how lucky I am to be doing this!
Last, but certainly not least, the volunteers at the aid stations were awesome! They were enthusiastic, yelled out to you and they made it super easy to pick up water, gaterade or gu. Those people deserve a medal!
By the time I was about 5 miles away from the finish I was ready to run! I came in off the bike at 3:25:59. It was less than 5 minutes under the "slow" goal so I was happy with that. Honestly, I was just happy to still have running legs after that course!
Oh wait, I forgot to add the most important thing about the bike... Did I pee on my beautiful pink camo Roo?? A little bit! I definitily had to pee but since the course was either up or down there wasn't really any good chance to stop pedaling and focus on peeing. I was able to release enough that it held me over til I got to the run.
OH! One more biking tidbit! What goes up must come down so there were a couple of descents that were pretty fun! I am so, so comfortable on my Roo in aero that I rode every single descent in my aerobars with no brakes! It was such a rush! I would pass people, mostly dudes, and I would feel great! Don't tell my Mom, but I went a super fast 41 miles per hour!!!
T-2 Again I was just 34 seconds off my goal time... so that's ok! No real issues here... I must just take longer to put on socks and sneaks that I thought!
RUN
I took off out of transition and my running legs felt pretty awesome! My bladder was mega-full so I knew I would have to stop at a porta potty within the first mile. I don't mind peeing on my bike... but peeing on myself while running is a different story!
I was feeling so good that I clocked my first mile in 7:55!!! Um, back off cowgirl, you still have 12.1 hilly miles to run. 7:55 is faster than my 5K pace.... so yeah. I stopped at the first aid station to use the porta potty. This cost me about 2 minutes as the girl in front of me went in right before I did. The second mile split came in at 9:44 so I know I was still running too fast for the first miles. After the pit stop I felt SO much better. I think I lost about 2 pounds in pee!
I settled in to a nice 8:20ish pace and my heart rate was around 145-150. Again, this is a comfortable zone for me so I just held it until the hills hit. After 3 miles... the hills come 'atcha every which way! I think the second to worst hill on the course is at mile 4. It's super steep and I was shuffling up so slow that I decided it would be faster for me to walk. This would be the only hill of this tough run course that I would walk. I am really proud to say that. The rest of the run was like the bike course... up, down, turn, up, down, turn.... around miles 8-10 or 11 maybe it got aslightly flatter and I was able to pick up some time there. I really, really wanted to break 2 hours on this run. This is the strongest I've felt since I started "real" running in 2004 and this run was showing it. Every person I passed or passed me I made sure to say "Nice job" or "Keep it up!" It not only helps other people but it helps me to chat with the other competitors too! At least for those few seconds I wasn't focusing on my race or how much it hurts.
So I mentioned the second to worst hill on the course at mile 4. What's the absolute worst hill on the course?? The race organizers thought a steep hill at mile 12.5 would be fun!! Mile 12.5 - seriously?? It was a killer hill and there were people walking up it. There was no way in hell I was gonna walk with less than a 1/2 mile to go! I charged up the hill... well maybe it was more of a fast shuffle... and sprinted my way to the finish line shoot!
I heard Simon and my blogger buddy Jon yell my name but I was too focused on breaking 2 hours in my run. And... I did it!!!! I negative split the hilliest half ironman run I've ever done and came in at 1:57 - woohoo!
Overall I am super happy with how the race turned out. As I said in my last post, this was a no pressure race for me... just a training day. I exceeded my run goal, pretty much hit my bike goal (even though I want more improvement before Placid) and well, the swim? I got more open water experience but my actual swim wasn't that great for me. It was still a 2 minute PR in a half ironman swim... but I know I am better and faster than 37:59!
After two weeks of being on an Ironman low with being sick... I'm now on an Ironman high!!
47 Days Til Lake Placid!
Swim = 37:57
T1 = 3:21
Bike = 3:25:59
T2 = 2:34
Run = 1:57:12
Total Time = 6:07:04
30-34 Age Group = 24/53
Women Overall Place = 81/226
I was only 7 minutes off my pre-race goal and I'll take it with a huge grin on my face! Kinda like the one below... with none other than 2010 Ironman World Champ... Pro Mirinda Carfrae!!
This race was stacked with pro's and I swear, this is the ONLY sport where you can go up to the pro's, have a chat, get a picture and not be shooed away by some handler. Mirinda was nothing but nice, even when I made her drop her registration stuff when I was trying to shake her hand! heh - whoops.
So on to the race.... after an eventful night of NOT sleeping... (now that story needs a post of it's own. Let's just say getting woken up to a drunk man kicking your hotel room door is not the best pre-race sleep) ...the alarm went off at 4:30. I ate my breakfast of a plain bagel, banana, water and then some gu chomps in transition. Simon was our super trooper fan and drove myself and my friend Enrico to the race start.
I set up my transition pretty effortlessly and I was nervous but I kept telling myself that it's just another training day. It's always hard to trust your training... you just never know if it will all come together or not. For 2 out of the 3 sports it did.
SWIM:
I talked with my Coach on the beach before our waves went off (she rocked Rev with 2nd in her age group and 8th woman overall!!) and we both decided that I should start the swim in the front and just get in there! I was nervous but I know I need to work on swimming surrounded by 2500 "friends" for Lake Placid.
 |
| In my sausage suit |
"Holy cow, I'm doing it! I'm actually getting near the front and not getting pummeled. This is great!"
 |
| I'm one of those silver caps! |
Anyway, I was bummed during most of the swim so I didn't really enjoy it as much as I had during the 2.4 swim. I just focused on breathing and sighting. The sighting got a little hard after the first turn bouy as we were swimming directly into the sun. I just followed some feet until I saw the big red and final turn bouy.
My goal was to swim in 35 minutes and to keep Coach Jenn at bay in the water. Her swim wave was 4 minutes after mine so if I actually swam in 35 minutes I would have reached both my goals. Yes, she beat me out of the water!
 |
| I'm happy to be done swimming |
 |
| Just heading out on a little 56 mile ride... see ya! |
This bike course is NO JOKE! You are either going up, going down, turning, then going back up again. So this is perfect Lake Placid training for me. Bring it HILLS! I started out well but my heart rate was a little too high for the first 5 miles. Finally, it went down to my normal bike heart rate between 140 & 150 and occasionally spiking on the climbs. I felt super comfortable on my Roo and the first couple of hills within the first 10 miles I stood up to get over them. Probably not the smartest idea but I felt like I needed to get more blood flow to my legs and this worked.
My garmin clocked 3,692 feet of climbing over 56 miles. That's a lot of hills! There were a few good things about this course. One was that even though the hills are relentless there's really only one long steep climb. The rest are rollers. I can handle that and I think the rollers are the type of hills I need the most work on. I don't mind a short steep hill... but give me a gradual 5 mile climb... like the climb past Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid? No thank you! Whenever I felt crappy on the bike, which actually only happened about 2x, I thought back to all the climbing I did at the Zof. I climbed two freakin' mountains 3 times!! This is nothing!
The second good thing was that the course was stunning!! You biked on small country roads past farms, mansions, and apparantly an emu farm but I missed that one. During my two "low" periods on the bike, I would lift my head up, take in the beautiful scenery and remind myself how lucky I am to be doing this!
Last, but certainly not least, the volunteers at the aid stations were awesome! They were enthusiastic, yelled out to you and they made it super easy to pick up water, gaterade or gu. Those people deserve a medal!
By the time I was about 5 miles away from the finish I was ready to run! I came in off the bike at 3:25:59. It was less than 5 minutes under the "slow" goal so I was happy with that. Honestly, I was just happy to still have running legs after that course!
Oh wait, I forgot to add the most important thing about the bike... Did I pee on my beautiful pink camo Roo?? A little bit! I definitily had to pee but since the course was either up or down there wasn't really any good chance to stop pedaling and focus on peeing. I was able to release enough that it held me over til I got to the run.
OH! One more biking tidbit! What goes up must come down so there were a couple of descents that were pretty fun! I am so, so comfortable on my Roo in aero that I rode every single descent in my aerobars with no brakes! It was such a rush! I would pass people, mostly dudes, and I would feel great! Don't tell my Mom, but I went a super fast 41 miles per hour!!!
T-2 Again I was just 34 seconds off my goal time... so that's ok! No real issues here... I must just take longer to put on socks and sneaks that I thought!
RUN
I took off out of transition and my running legs felt pretty awesome! My bladder was mega-full so I knew I would have to stop at a porta potty within the first mile. I don't mind peeing on my bike... but peeing on myself while running is a different story!
 |
| Smiling cause I'm feeling so good! |
I settled in to a nice 8:20ish pace and my heart rate was around 145-150. Again, this is a comfortable zone for me so I just held it until the hills hit. After 3 miles... the hills come 'atcha every which way! I think the second to worst hill on the course is at mile 4. It's super steep and I was shuffling up so slow that I decided it would be faster for me to walk. This would be the only hill of this tough run course that I would walk. I am really proud to say that. The rest of the run was like the bike course... up, down, turn, up, down, turn.... around miles 8-10 or 11 maybe it got aslightly flatter and I was able to pick up some time there. I really, really wanted to break 2 hours on this run. This is the strongest I've felt since I started "real" running in 2004 and this run was showing it. Every person I passed or passed me I made sure to say "Nice job" or "Keep it up!" It not only helps other people but it helps me to chat with the other competitors too! At least for those few seconds I wasn't focusing on my race or how much it hurts.
So I mentioned the second to worst hill on the course at mile 4. What's the absolute worst hill on the course?? The race organizers thought a steep hill at mile 12.5 would be fun!! Mile 12.5 - seriously?? It was a killer hill and there were people walking up it. There was no way in hell I was gonna walk with less than a 1/2 mile to go! I charged up the hill... well maybe it was more of a fast shuffle... and sprinted my way to the finish line shoot!
 |
| I'm almost there! |
 |
| The Finish!! |
After two weeks of being on an Ironman low with being sick... I'm now on an Ironman high!!
47 Days Til Lake Placid!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Race Weekend!
Rev3 Quassy Half Ironman is being served up on a nice little racing platter for me this weekend! This is my first "real" race of the season and I am super excited! I call it a "real" race because well, it's my first tri of the season and even though I raced the Zof... it was more of "survival, can I even do this crazy sort of thing?" race.
So... my bags will be packed tonight, directions are already printed out, and I'll be heading to bed early. I have a short brick tomorrow morning then it's time to drive up to Quassy!
What are my goals for this race?
In the big, grand picture, this is just a long training day. My super A+++++ goal is obviously Lake Placid so I think this takes some pressure off of me. Do I want to kick some butt? heck yeah! but I won't let that lead me off my Placid course.
The Swim: I want to keep up my confidence after the 2.4 open water swim I had last weekend and really try to get in the mess of bodies at the beginning. I know I'm gonna be hit, punched, kicked and all that fun stuff in Placid, so why not practice it now?!
TIME: I'd love my swim time to be around 35 minutes
T-1: Stay calm and just do what needs to be done. Cap, goggles, wetsuit off. Race #, helmet, shoes, shades, gloves on. I will have a towel to dry off my feet a little bit and my bike should be all set up that I won't need to do anything else.
TIME: 3 minutes
The Bike: I feel like this is the biggest unknown for me. This is one tough course with lots and lots of hills so I am not expecting a super fast bike. BUT - I'd like to hold between 16-18mph comfortably. I want to focus on taking my nutrition and tackling the hills! My nutrition plan is 1 or 1 1/2 Mojo Peanut Butter Pretzel bars, 1 package of Gu chomps, 2 Ironman perform bottles, water and if I need them gu's.
TIME: anywhere from 3:10-3:30
T-2: Take off helmet, gloves, shoes. Put on socks, sneaks & visor.
TIME: <2:00
The Run: My ultimate goal is to run comfortably off the bike. Again, this run course is hilly so I'll have to adjust for that. I looked at the past few bricks that I've run in the past month and they've all been between an 8:25-8:50 overall pace. I want to replicate that and keep the number 8 on my watch for all 13.1 miles. I've never broken 2 hours in a half ironman and I'm hoping that'll change on Sunday.
TIME: <2 hours
TOTAL EST. TIME: 6:00 hours give or take
I know there are a lot of factors that will come into play on Sunday... the heat & rain being the main one. As of right now, it's looking like high of 68 with a 30% chance of thunderstorms. This is the northeast, so that forecast will probably change about 3x before the gun goes off! If it stays at 68 - it'll be a faster day for most folks! I'm also not tied to the times above. I know things could go wrong or it just might not be my day and if that happens... I'm ok with it. I'll remind myself that it's just a long training day.... I have an Ironman-sized fish to fry on July 24th!
Good luck to all those racing this weekend!
So... my bags will be packed tonight, directions are already printed out, and I'll be heading to bed early. I have a short brick tomorrow morning then it's time to drive up to Quassy!
What are my goals for this race?
In the big, grand picture, this is just a long training day. My super A+++++ goal is obviously Lake Placid so I think this takes some pressure off of me. Do I want to kick some butt? heck yeah! but I won't let that lead me off my Placid course.
The Swim: I want to keep up my confidence after the 2.4 open water swim I had last weekend and really try to get in the mess of bodies at the beginning. I know I'm gonna be hit, punched, kicked and all that fun stuff in Placid, so why not practice it now?!
TIME: I'd love my swim time to be around 35 minutes
T-1: Stay calm and just do what needs to be done. Cap, goggles, wetsuit off. Race #, helmet, shoes, shades, gloves on. I will have a towel to dry off my feet a little bit and my bike should be all set up that I won't need to do anything else.
TIME: 3 minutes
The Bike: I feel like this is the biggest unknown for me. This is one tough course with lots and lots of hills so I am not expecting a super fast bike. BUT - I'd like to hold between 16-18mph comfortably. I want to focus on taking my nutrition and tackling the hills! My nutrition plan is 1 or 1 1/2 Mojo Peanut Butter Pretzel bars, 1 package of Gu chomps, 2 Ironman perform bottles, water and if I need them gu's.
TIME: anywhere from 3:10-3:30
T-2: Take off helmet, gloves, shoes. Put on socks, sneaks & visor.
TIME: <2:00
The Run: My ultimate goal is to run comfortably off the bike. Again, this run course is hilly so I'll have to adjust for that. I looked at the past few bricks that I've run in the past month and they've all been between an 8:25-8:50 overall pace. I want to replicate that and keep the number 8 on my watch for all 13.1 miles. I've never broken 2 hours in a half ironman and I'm hoping that'll change on Sunday.
TIME: <2 hours
TOTAL EST. TIME: 6:00 hours give or take
I know there are a lot of factors that will come into play on Sunday... the heat & rain being the main one. As of right now, it's looking like high of 68 with a 30% chance of thunderstorms. This is the northeast, so that forecast will probably change about 3x before the gun goes off! If it stays at 68 - it'll be a faster day for most folks! I'm also not tied to the times above. I know things could go wrong or it just might not be my day and if that happens... I'm ok with it. I'll remind myself that it's just a long training day.... I have an Ironman-sized fish to fry on July 24th!
Good luck to all those racing this weekend!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)