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.

Just doing a little climbing...

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!

Karen filling us in on her litte racing secrets

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.

Leaving the Olympic Oval

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!!!