What I Did('nt) Do This Weekend

1.  I stocked up on Hurricane Irene Suplies which included... a new pink ipod nano, dog food, wine, and a new pair of heels.

2. I did have my first awesome run since Placid in Central Park Saturday morning.  The park was packed.

3. I cooked. I grilled up chicken, made pasta salad and froze water bottles.

4. I cleaned the living room.  If Irene was coming in full force, I seemed to have invited a dozen people to stay in our one bedroom apartment... in case they got flooded.  So I HAD to clean. Notice I only said "living room."  I hate cleaning.  Bedroom is still a natural disaster.  (No one wound up staying over anyway)

5. We sought refuge at the Irish bar across the street at 5pm on Saturday.  It was packed.

6. I cooked a declious ground sirloin, tomato and pasta dish Saturday night.

7.  I may have drunk an entire bottle of wine myself.  Let's not count the beers I had at the bar pre-wine.

8.  I may have had a sore throat on Sunday from howling singing Rock Band tunes late Saturday night. 

9.  I slept through the hurricane until 4am when I heard the wind howling. Sometimes being on the 26th floor has its "perks."

10.  Olliedog and I surveyed the upper east side damage with a nice long walk along the East River Sunday morning.  Not much to report except branches down and a swelling East River.  Ollie did take a huge dump so that was a success in my book.

11. I may have skipped my brick workout to seek refuge in the Irish pub again.  This time it was mimosas and a big burger.

12. I did feel like a Sunday sloth for the second week in a row.  Next Sunday?  No slothness for me... I gotta duathlon to race!

Surviving the Post Placid Funk

IM is one beast of an event.  You spend an entire year of your life thinking about it. 

Dreaming about it. 

Worrying about it. 

Then 7 months out you start to train. 

Training is your life.  You have good training days. You have bad training days. 

You stick to your plan as much as possible. 

You get sick.  More than once. 

You race shorter distances.  You break PR’s. 

You become a cheap date. 

You sleep.  A lot. 

You get cranky.  You get in the best shape of your life. 

Then out of nowhere race day comes... and goes within 17 hours. 

You feel awesome.  You feel relieved that you became an Ironman. 

You celebrate.  You get wasted on 3 beers.

Your body hurts.  Everywhere.

You sleep.  A Lot.  

One month post Ironman…. Where are you? Or the better question is… who are you?

I was Jill “training for an Ironman” Agresta. Now…?

I wanted to be Jill “I’m gonna smash my Olympic tri PR” Agresta. I was gung ho for getting back to training. I was psyched! No one could stop me from wanting to break my own records. But there’s a humongous difference in wanting something and putting in the work to achieve it.

The first two weeks post Placid were really chill. I hiked, walked the dog, ran for 20 minutes, swam, rode my bike for an hour, ran for 30 minutes… and just really started to get active again.

The third week out was my “real” introduction to training again. It was also the week I decided to play field hockey for the first time in over a year. It was also the same week a friend from France was visiting so there were dinners and drinks. I think you can see where this is going.

I nailed all my workouts through Wednesday. I played field hockey Wednesday night and when I woke up Thursday morning, I was in pain. My body seriously hurt worse than the Ironman! It was so sore in so many different places. I guess that’s what happens when you try and sprint for an hour and a half while bending over trying to hit a small, hard ball! Needless to say, I had an awesome time playing and it was great to see my hockey friends. I did complete my “long” weekend workouts though and only missed 1 bike that week. OK, so that’s not so bad.

Last week… my motivation took a big hit. I had 4 BBQ’s planned within 7 days. Yes FOUR within SEVEN days! I had an even bigger week of training. I felt like my body and my mind were just in a fog. I wanted to train, I really did. But I didn’t mentally put forth the effort. The weather was rainy so I did my runs on the treadmill and discovered a nice upper quad pull from my field hockey jaunt. It even hurt when I kicked in the pool. By Thursday, it hurt when I pushed on my bike pedals… yikes… I took an extra rest day.

I skipped my long run on Sunday and I felt really guilty. My reasoning was that if I skip my long run not only will it give my quad one extra day to heal, I’ll also have a start fresh on Monday. Even though I felt like such a Sunday slob, I knew I made the right decision the moment I woke up Monday morning.

I nailed my swim workout Monday am. I nailed my bike workout Monday pm. I nailed my run this morning in the beautiful fall-ish weather. I also got some extra motivation in the mail yesterday…. Chuck Norris anyone??

My amazing Chuck Norris T-shirt!

Or how about a little Punk Rock Racing T matched with a bedazzled Ironman visor?

New duds always cheer a girl up in the early morning hours!

I’m back baby! And I’m ready to ROCK my last tri of the season. Oh and I signed up for a last minute Duathlon in Central Park over Labor Day Weekend. A 2 mile run/12 mile bike/2 mile run. I’m gonna redline that sucker and see how I do!

Happy Training!

Post IM Plans?

Lots of family and friends have asked if I would ever do another Ironman.  My answer?  Yes!  BUT.... and there's always a butt whether it's big or small... I won't be racing one in 2012.   I will be totally green with envy when I hear about everyone else's training and the epic long rides/runs/training camps... but for me, I need a year off from the time suck that is Ironman training. If I am going to do it, I am going to give 100%! 

I don't have any sort of 2012 race plan but I'd love to get faster and more efficient at Olympics and 70.3's.  So that leaves me to the now.  What have I been doing since July 24th?? 

Well, I took two weeks of active recovery.  That involved 1 swim, a couple of bikes and a couple of easy, short runs.  I also proceeded to eat and drink my face off! 

 

This week marked my first week back to "serious" training.  I have one race left on my schedule the MightyMan Olympic Triathlon in Montauk.  I'm looking forward to racing one last time before the season ends and I have a mission for this race.  SMASH my PR!!  Why else have I been training since January?  Yes, to finish an Ironman... but with 7 months of fitness & endurance built up... I have the need for SPEED!! yes, I'm channeling my inner Maverick & Goose here

I know my body is still recovering from the IM, I can still feel the effects of it.  But I am slowly getting back into shape.  My swimming has been decent.  Well, my times are decent but I still have a fatigue type feeling when I'm hitting them.  My running has been decent... even though I haven't ran over 5 miles yet.  I just realized - I kinda don't have to run much more than 5 miles in Olympic training.  Nah nah nah NAH NAH Ironman training! 

What about my biking?  Well, my biking has been glorious!  I had an hour ride Monday morning with 40 minutes in HR zone 3.  I hit up the park for 3 loops and I nailed it!  I averaged 20.1 mph and yes, I was breathing heavy gasping for air at the end but my legs felt awesome.  That was my fastest 3 loops of the park yet.  I'm looking forward to getting faster in all disciplines but especially my bike.  I heart my Roo again!!

So that's what I've been up to.  I'm making a surprise guest appearance tonight at my field hockey club for some pick up... I'm thinking I'm going to be more sore tomorrow after playing hockey for an hour than the IM!  I love the fact I can go play my favorite sport without having to worry about IM consequences.

And here's a little leaving video of my official IMLP finish.  When Mike Rielly says my name look to the right of the screen, you can see my brother in green and mom in pink going nuts next to the finish line!

Ironman Through the Eyes of My Mom

I know I've been dragging this whole "ironman" thing out but I had to share this.  The days after Ironman were filled with lots of eating, drinking, laughing, hiking and taking photos of beautiful Lake Placid.  (I'll write about that soon) When I got home and back to my reality of the concrete jungle my Mom forwarded me literally a dozen emails.  They were from her friends and my extended family congratulating me and her for what I accomplished.  When I scrolled down after their heartfelt words, I saw what my Mom wrote to them.

I thought it was pretty cool to see how my Mom viewed my Ironman day and she said it was fine to share with all of you.

Without further adieu here's my Mom's version of Ironman:

While it's still fresh in my mind, I wanted to share Sunday's experience with all of you who supported and were praying for My Ironman.

PROUD isn't a big enough word for what she accomplished. It was so awesome to see her complete this grueling event.

The swim was at 7 A.M. at which time 3,000 or more (not sure of the exact number) entered the water at the same time. Imagine. I knew it was going to be tough to watch since Jill warned me, but I just started to cry when you saw all those hands & feet going, knowing that she was getting kicked and hit (which she was, but she didn't panic) So the whole time I was just saying to myself, let her be safe that's all I want. So 1 hr & 16 minutes later she emerged smiling at us on the bank of the lake.

Then she started her 112 mile bike event (we went back to the house to eat breakfast). Figured she'd be passing Main St in about 2 1/2 - 3 hrs. Todd kept prodding us to go back down (the house was up a gigantic hill which was challenging for me & Ed) so we went down earlier than we expected and lo & behold 2 minutes later she goes whizzing by with a smile & a wave (she could pick us out because of our Team Jill shirts which she gave us, Pink to match her bike.) At this point we didn't know she had had 1 flat. Simon & the other bikers (some of them missed her because she was so quick on that loop) were so impressed with her time. She was nailing it! We went to a bar to wait for the next time we'd see her. Well there we were on the street waiting & waiting & getting more concerned as the hours passed. Finally she passed, we still didn't know about the other 2 flats.

We then were able to see her twice as she passed running at which time she looked totally exhausted, the sun was out big time (there was a heat wave in Lake Placid last week but the heat broke a bit for Sundays start) it was in the 80's when she was running her 26 miles.

We found a shaded bench so Ed & I stayed there while the others went back to the bar (it's definitely a job watching this thing, but we couldn't complain when we thought about what she was going through) We saw her 1 last time then we headed to the Olympic Oval where the Finish Line was. The energy & enthusiasm & the music & the announcer announcing names when people finished was just indescribable. So Simon stayed on the street to see her pass the final time & ran to tell us she'd be crossing the Finish Line in about 10 minutes. Some of her friends were up in the bleachers where they could see her enter the Oval.

Then there she was with the announcer yelling "From New York City, JILL AGRESTA, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN" & with an unbelievable smile & hands raised over her head she came running past us (Todd & I & a couple of her friends were right by the fence at the Finish Line) and over the finish line she went with the timer on 13 hrs. 6 mins.

It was such a moment I'm having trouble describing it, needless to say I was crying. We hustled to where we'd meet her, Simon got to her first then she & I headed for each other, she was crying & said to me "Mommy, it was sooooo hard" So we both cried in each others arms. Are you feeling the chills at this description?

She then told us about the problems with her tire & how the 3rd time she burst into tears at the Aid Station & the guy put a new wheel on. So she was disappointed in her time of 7 hrs for the bike because she feels she would have been able to do 6 1/2 hr or less with no problems.

So, it was just an unbelievable event. If you go on my Facebook you'll see the video of the finish line (unless you already have seen it on hers.

Thanks for the caring & support for her. Love, K

Thank you Mom for being my #1 supporter and letting me share this.  I love you!

 
For my IMLP Run Report click here... Bike click here... and swim click here.
Thanks for reading!

IMLP The Run

RUN 4:36:19

Running with Olympic Ski Jumps as my backdrop.  Pretty cool!

The marathon of an Ironman is an interesting thing.  Did you overcook your legs on the bike?  Did you fuel correctly on the bike so that could physically run a marathon?  As you can see, your marathon performance in the ironman depends on how you handle yourself on the bike.

While I nailed my nutrition on the bike, eating everything as planned, drinking more than planned due to the heat and taking salt tablets, I also decided to punish the bike course for giving me 3 flats.  So yeah... I think you can see where this is going.

Coming into this race, my running has never been stronger.  I knew I could run a 4 hour marathon after swimming and biking.  I just knew it.  I had the fitness to do it.  But my legs had other plans that day.  It may sound like I am disappointed and I'm honestly not.  It was my first Ironman and I overcame and achieved so much on race day.  I am very proud of myself!

Once I ran out of transition I headed out of town on Main Street where there were people cheering everywhere!  I felt a little tired (who could blame me) but I was jazzed to be off the bike and running.  The run course heads downhill out of town so you really have to watch your pacing here and not go too crazy fast.  My first mile came in at 8:44 with an aid station slow down to grab water and ice.  Ok, that's actually perfect for me I thought.  I wanted to hold between 8:55-9:10 minute miles throughout so hitting 8:44 on a downhill was no biggie. 

Honestly, this marathon is kind of a blur!  It's the one part of the race that I'm having a hard time remembering details.  I remember miles 1-8 felt good... miles 9-26.2 not-so-good.   I walked the aid stations and made sure I was taking in nutrition.  The volunteers were awesome and they had everything you wanted out on the course... perform, water, ice, coke, pretzels, bananas.  After mile 9 my stomach started to get a little sloshy.  I grabbed pretzels at the aid stations to soak up some of the liquid and get more salt in me.  The problem was it was too hard to chew them while running so I took longer walk breaks at each aid station as the marathon went on.

Walking is your #1 enemy during this marathon.  Once you let yourself walk, your legs  try to convince your brain that walking just a minute more or 2 minutes more isn't a big deal.  It's a constant battle going on inside and all the while your heart is saying Hurry Up and Finish!!


Legs Vs Mind Vs Heart Battle

I saw Jon, Mandy and Annie looking strong on the run.  I saw my NYC bike training buddy Noel looking great.  It was a such a nice mental break to run over to them, high five and yell out to each other that we were going to be Ironmen very soon. 

The out and back on River Road is breathtakingly beautiful.  You have lush green farmland, a winding river and the mountains as your backdrop.  That was one of the things that took my mind off the pain signals my legs were sending my brain. The only bad thing about River Road is that it feels endless because it is super curvy.  Every curve you think you'll see the turnaround but nope, it's a bit further down the road.  Finally I saw the turnaround and it put a little pep in my step!

On the way back into town there are two hills you have to climb.  My plan was to walk them in addition to the aid stations.  As I'm thinking back, I ran most of the first hill by the bridge and only walked a little bit.  On the plus side, the second hill into town is actually fun in a sick, cruel way.  While I was slugging my way up the hill, the crowd is roaring, cheering my name.  There was a person with a microphone telling us runners to get running and playing great music. Once I made the left turn up the next slight incline the cheers from my super duper fan club immediately brought a smile on my face!!  They were cheering so loud and I was so happy to see them!

So excited to see my cheering squad!

I ran out on Mirror Road, past the lake where I swam 2.4 miles many hours prior.  The swim felt like it happened days ago at this point.  I hit the turnaround and headed back towards the Olympic Oval.  Lots of Placid racers talk about how cruel it is that you have to run past the Olympic Oval where Mike Reilly is declaring people as Ironman but honestly, I didn't focus on that.  I focused on knowing I would see my fan club again on the way out of town.  Yes, I would have loved to have turned into the Oval, but it wasn't my turn yet. 

Running down the hills again were a little bit harder. And River Road really seemed endless this time around.  I kept on thinking I would see the turnaround at the end but it would never come.  Until finally it did.   Yes!  At this point, I was walking each aid station and I stopped once to pee in the porta potty.  The only thing that was really uncomfortable for me during the run was my legs.  They would not move.  My HR was super low for me, lower than my normal long training runs but my legs, oh my legs.  I left them on the bike course like a real IM rookie. Oh well... maybe I wouldn't break 13 hours but I am still gonna be an Ironman for the first time!!

I teared up a bit when I had to stop and walk up the second steep hill.  I was so close to finishing, but it felt so far.  I smiled and fist pumped when I saw Simon on Main Street.  The rest of my fan club was already perched at the finish line and he was in charge of letting them know when I was gonna be heading into the Oval.  I had two more miles to run.  Two miles!  I can run 2 miles in my sleep! I tried to quicken my pace but the slight incline of Mirror Road felt like Mt. Everest at this point. I got to the Mirror Road turnaround and decided I was not going to walk the last aid station.  I was going to finish and finish strong.  As I was running I zipped up my tri top, abandoned the nutrition I shoved in my pockets and got "camera ready" for my photo finish!  hah - us triathletes are so vain, aren't we? 

I ran into the Olympic Oval and I could not wipe the silly grin off my face!! I saw Brie and Brendan at the oval turn and I realized that this was actually happening.  I was actually running down the finisher's chute and I was going to be an Ironman!! 

I picked up my pace and noticed I had the chute all to myself.  I raised my arms in a cross between fist pumping, waving and bullhorns and focused on listening for my name.  And then... I heard it.  I heard his magical voice saying those magical words.....

JILL AGRESTA FROM NEW YORK CITY.... YOU ARE AN IRONMAN JILL FOR THE FIRST TIME!

My favorite photo... it has my Mom and Brother cheering to the right!



I heard my fan club cheering but I didn't see them.  All I saw was a tunnel that ended at the finisher's arch.  I did it!  I was an Ironman!!!

A volunteer caught me at the finish and helped me get my medal, t-shirt, hat and finisher's photo. 

#1 for 1st Ironman.... except it kinda looks like I'm giving the middle finger!

I grabbed a slice of pizza and banana and started to cry.  I was so overwhelmed with what I had just done.  Volunteers kept asking me if I was ok and I gave the girliest answer ever.  I'm just emotional!  I saw my family and friends and immediately started crying even harder.  My Mom started crying too and while we were hugging I said, Mommy, that was the hardest thing ever!  Yes, I am a full blown adult at 30 years old.  And, no, I'm not afraid to cry or call my Mom, Mommy, when needed!

My family and Simon rocking Team Jill T's

It was such an amazing day.... I am so lucky I was able to share it with my family and friends.  That made the difference in the world... it made me feel even more special knowing that I had people cheering me on and believing in me for over 13 hours. 

Surrounded by my Fan Club!

So what happens AFTER an Ironman??  Stay tuned for that.... here's a hint: It might include lots of food, wine, beer and laughs!