Let's recap the last 2 months

Time does fly people!!! Especially when one is busy doing thins like being a mom, working, training and then training some more. Oh, and sprinkle in some racing too! Let's recap the past 2 months and hopefully after this I will be able to keep a more regular blogging schedule (ha!)

Strength training

I am still LOVING it. Group strength has been so much fun! I am starting to see some muscle definition, especially in my arms (hello biceps!) and my back. The workouts are still challenging, most of the people are friendly (with ONE major exception that to this day I can't figure out what I did to piss this person off), the instructor is great at both pushing me and knowing when I need to scale down the weights. I have some new skills, or rather, I have started to be less afraid to make a fool out of myself; which leads me to try new things and realize they are not as bad as I thought they were. I have discovered that despite all the biking/running... my glutes are still quite weak (won't fire up property), and I am working on getting that fixed. All in all, I am still going 3xs a week and hate it when I can't attend a session --> motivation WIN

Swimming

I am still not as smooth or fast as I'd like to; but I am slowly getting there. After my favorite coach left the local YMCA masters program, a massive exodus of swimmers occurred... This left ME being the fastest swimmer in the program... wait.. there is something wrong with that as I am not that fast. I noticed I was not making further improvements, so I searched and found a new masters team. Made the change about a month ago, and have not looked back. The new coach is great, she has given me great feedback on what I am doing right and what I need to change. We swim in a 25 meter pool (at first the wall seemed SO far away!) and my new lane mates are wicked fast! I can sort of keep up when we do short speed sets, but when it comes to long endurance sets.. I end up getting lapped. I am working on learning how to pace my efforts the right way and not fizzle out as the distance progresses. We have also been having fun with "open water" practices in the pool. Coach Patty brings makeshift buoys, lane lines are moved and we swim in packs, practicing sighting, turning (hello backstroke!) and drafting. All in all, a lot of fun. I am up at 4:45 to hit my 5:30 masters practice --> this is commitment!

Racing

About a month ago I had my first race of the season, a nice flat little sprint race. Things went pretty much as expected. It was a wetsuit swim and since I had not worn my wetsuit since IMAZ back in 2012; to say I freaked out a bit is an understatement. I went out hard on the swim... which I never do, and then had a mini panic attack when my chest felt so compressed. Note to self: do not try to go hard for the first time when wearing a suit you have not worn for over a year. Despite the little panic hiccup, I had a pretty fast sprint swim and came out of the water a lot sooner than I thought I would. Biking is always my strongest part, and I was able to hammer down and put down some good watts. I passed some people but was not really looking for the competition. I thought that since my swim was not as good as I had hoped, all chances for placing (which is what I secretly wanted) were lost. So, I just raced as hard as I could and hoped for the best. I rolled into transition to drop off my bike and got to running. Boy, my legs felt horrible. I focused on my turnover and on squashing the walking thoughts out of my head (those thoughts usually come pretty strong on the first mile). I succeeded and while I did not run a 5k PR, I was able to run off the bike only 2 seconds per mile slower than my open 5k a couple weeks before the triathlon. As a nice surprise, I discovered I actually ended up 2nd in my age group. With this being the first time I have ever stood on a podium in a triathlon --> progress!

Sponsors

Coeur Sports: What can I say? Not only this company makes outstanding racing/training gear (hello seamless chamois!), their philosophy and core values are something I can identify with. Kebby, Reg and Hailey have been able to put together an outstanding team of triathlon professionals and age group athletes of all levels, that are inspirational and supportive. I have gained some great new friendships, have received wonderful words of encouragement and connected with like minded gals in a very welcoming setting. I am super excited to have Coeur's support this year and look forward to representing them through the rest of my season.

Osmo Nutrition: Osmo partnered with Coeur Sports and being a member of Coeur's ambassador team has allowed me the opportunity to also enjoy Osmo's support. I have been using Osmo products since the beginning of the year and love them! Right before my first triathlon of the season, I used the Osmo Pre-load formula instead of regular hydration mix in my one bottle before race start; and I really believe it played a very important role in keeping me hydrated during the race. 

What's to come

In about a week I will be racing another 5K, in hopes of improving my time from earlier in the year and perhaps setting a PR. The course for the race I signed up for (a fundraiser for a local athlete that had to have her hands and feet amputated due to severe sepsis) is not disclosed yet, and I have no clue how flat or not the race will be. I will just go and race my booty off.

June will mark the "serious" kick off for my tri season; having one sprint race per month until October. This year I am racing locally, and in the same triathlon series; hoping to rack enough points to place top 5 in my age group --> there I put my goal out in the open.

September will see me traveling to Wisconsin, to volunteer at IMWI so I can sign up for next year. I have not even committed to the race yet and I am already stupidly excited about it.

Great things are coming, I can feel it. Let's go after them!!!

Ironman Florida Race Report

Well, hello everybody. It has been ages since I have posted something. Not many interesting things around these parts; especially since I hit the taper. The workouts just became things to "get through"; and my level of tiredness was skyrocketing. But everyone said that was normal. So I went along with it.

The last couple of weeks pre-ironman were hard. Especially from a focus perspective. It was SO close to the race; but yet so far away. Know what I mean? You are on the final straightaway; but utterly scared of injury or illness. You had made it this far; and the worst thing would be to fall sick; or hurt yourself during taper. So I made sure I was extremely cautious.

About 2 days before we left for Panama City Beach (PCB); I went through my transition bag list and actually packed them. And I am going to tell you; they were organized! You see, I had a system. I had bags within the bags. A big gallon bag with all the things I knew I was going to put on for sure; a bag with my nutrition, and the things I could need or would leave in transition I just left lose in the bag. And it worked wonders. Didn't necessarily have speedy transitions; but I am sure I had faster transitions than a lot of people.

We started our trek own south on Wednesday at the crack of stupid. We left before 6 am; because I wanted to make sure I could hit registration on Wednesday instead of Thursday. We drove; and made it there right on time. I remembered things from last year and I had Todd park the car close to where I thought transition/finish/check in/store would be. Turns out this year they had moved most of the stuff another 1/4 mile down the road. So we walked; and walked.

Once there I registered without a problem; while Megan and Todd hit the Janus inspiration station to make signs. Megan went to town! She is a little creative bee. Coach had warned me about not looking at the scale when they weighted me in because it would likely be that I put on a couple of lbs.; and sure enough I did ( i blamed it on the 10 hours of driving, having my shoes on and water retention). It didn't bother me as much as I had anticipated. After that one of the wonderful volunteers explained to me all there was to know about the stuff contained in my athlete bag; where to put my numbers, what to do with my chip; etc. I left the registration tent, found the family and headed to the IM store; where I proceeded to buy a bike jersey and a couple of visors. You might say; I should have waited, but I wanted to make sure I got the things I wanted; and waiting until after the race was a bit of a gamble.

The rest of the day went without a hitch. We checked in to the hotel, and went to enjoy the beach.

Thursday rolled around and I met my friend Melinda for the gatorade swim. I wanted to make sure I swam in the ocean to remind my body of the feeling. The swim was LONG. Even though the sea seemed calm there was definitely a current; that made swimming toward shore pretty hard. Right then I knew, Saturday's swim would be slower than I would like. And I made peace with it. The rest of the day was spent at the beach, at the pool, in the hot tub. Just hanging around with the family.

Friday came pretty soon, and it brought along my in-laws. I was SO grateful for them coming! On race day Todd would need all the help he could get to take care of Megan and spectating my race. My day was pretty boring, I sat and laid down a lot. Then it was time for gear check in. I had my bags all packed and ready to go, so I just rolled into transition and dropped everything off. Then it was time for more sitting and laying down. I became a pro at it. Friday night I got almost no sleep. The bed did not feel comfortable; and my head would not quiet down. Eventually 4 am came along and I was ready to get up.

I got up, had breakfast, got dressed; braided my hair and at about 5 am we headed out. On our way to the start line we got a phone call... The alarm system company; letting us know there was a burglary alarm in our house back home. Trust me when I tell you, that even though it was not a pleasant piece of news to receive (turned out to be a false alarm); it kept my mind off the race for a while and as a consequence I did not get as worried as I normally do. Bonus!

Once the special needs bags were dropped off and the bike set up; all there was left to do was hydrate and wait. So I did. With about 30 minutes to the start, I donned my wetsuit and headed to the beach. And then I saw the crowds. Holy shit! I kissed Todd goodbye and went over the timing mat to take my place at the beach.

As I was standing there, looking around,, getting more nervous by the minute; I saw Megan and my in-laws, they had made it to the swim start! And I just LOVED being able to kiss my little girl before the start of the race. That made a WORLD of difference on my mindset. Next thing I know; they are singing the national anthem; Mike Reilly is telling us we will be Ironmen by the end of the day; and then the cannon goes off.

THE SWIM

I had positioned myself on the outside of the field, far from the buoys and towards the back of the pack. Being that swimming is not my strong point, and that I tend to panic in the water; I decided that little to no human contact would be essential to my swim. After about 1-2 minutes of slowly making my way into the water; I started swimming. There were people all around me; and I honestly felt calm and collected. Yes; I saw arms flailing and got more than one mouthful of water, but I felt like the group was "pulling" me. I did not feel like I was working hard. The water was not calm as it had been the days leading up to the race. There was quite a bit of chop, and I did my best to navigate my way in it. The first turn buoy was interesting to say the least. I don't think people get the easy physics concept that 2 bodies can't occupy the same space at the same time; so I saw a lot of "fighting".. Which reminds me of seeing people wearing snorkels... Hmmmm, strange. Anyhow; i tried to stay out of the "fuss" as much as possible. I got hit a few times; scratched some others; but managed to generally keep moving forward. Little by little I got closer and closer to shore and I was able to hear Mike Reilly's voice cheering people in. And I smiled, underwater. Heck! I was doing IRONMAN. I ran up the beach, crossed the timing mat after my first loop and headed back out to the water, for another dose of salt water. I tried to spot my family, but had no luck. Off I went. The second lap was harder, slower and choppier. There weren't as many people to draft off of, and you could really feel the water pulling; yet the first turn buoy was chaotic again. This time I actually got sandwiched between 2 guys; who pulled me under water. Now, on a regular day, ,that would have scared the living daylights out of me; but not this time. I was PISSED. I got my head out of the water; hit the guys and shouted a very loud "FUCK YOU!". Then I continued to swim. Slowly but surely I made my way to shore. I hit the sand and started peeling my wetsuit off. I had survived the swim; and I knew I could finish the race.

T1

I tired to be as fast as I could here; but a couple of inefficiencies by the organizers; coupled with a very crowded t1 tent, and some not very quick volunteers made for an interesting experience. My transition bag system worked pretty well, except that the volunteer could bot understand what I was saying. I changed, headed out and waited for about 2 minutes to get sunscreen applied. I knew I was not racing for placement; so I had not problems waiting to get my skin properly protected.

THE BIKE

After I got on my bike I immediately started drinking. I still had salt water taste in my mouth and that made me thirsty. About 1/2 mile from the start of the bike, the course went past our condo; so I got to see and wave to my family. I would not see them for another 6 hours. After that I started executing my plan. I took it easy the first hour; but we had a tailwind; which helped me go quite fast. I was just taking it all in. Pedaling; drinking; eating my nutrition; being passed by people; passing people. I was having a blast. Then we turned on to the headwind; which would stay would us for the better part of the bike; and I saw my speed drop. I was still staying in my zones; maybe a bit under where I should have been. I just wanted to make sure I did not blow myself up. My nutrition plan was mostly working. Most of my calories came from EFS liquid shots; with about 75 calories and hour coming from Carbo pro. The 75 calories of carbo pro started giving me stomach issues; so I stopped taking it. I never felt low on energy; but I did feel my stomach get hungry. After we had passed the roughest part of the course (the out and back section was a false flat; with a headwind and horrible pavement, at about mile 70) I decided to try bananas to make up for the calories I was behind on. They totally hit the spot! They made me feel "refreshed" and I took a couple of them over the next 20-30 miles. I kept pedaling; stretching my back and my neck every so often; and just moving forwards.

I did have a couple of snafu's along the course. I stopped to use the porta john handed my bike to a volunteers; and she promptly dropped it, breaking my bike computer (so I rode more than half of the course without cadence and speed data). About 10 minutes after that as we are going on one of the few uphills in the course; I made the rookie mistake of switching gears too fast and I dropped chain. As I got off my bike I told myself "Breathe" ( I took a deep breath) "now fix it"; so I did. It took me a mere 30 seconds and I was back on my bike.

The last 5 miles were the longest ever. You hit front beach road and you know you are close to transition; but it still takes forever to get there. Not to mention the beautiful tailwind we had at the beginning of the bike was now a headwind; and a pretty bad one at that. Eventually I took the last turn towards transition. Took my feet off my shoes; waved to my family and rolled in.

T2

This transition was faster than the first one, but still not as efficient as it could have been. I had another whole outfit change, and also took time to apply sunscreen; as well as hit the porta potty on the way out.

THE RUN

As I had rolled in to T2 I took a couple of tums; as I always have stomach issues when I transition to the run. I don't think they had much of an effect. Upon exiting transition we took a left turn and ran to a turn around point for about 200 meters. At the turn around is where my family was waiting for me to see me. As I get closer and closer, Megan sees me and she took a straight line to run to me in the middle of the course. Luckily no one was coming so we didn't block anyones way. I got the best hug and kiss; and the biggest "awwwwww" from the crowd. It was awesome! After a few I love you's I headed out to run. At this point I was still feeling pretty good; trying to hold back my pace, making sure I did not go out too hard. By the time I reached mile 1 I was already walking. My stomach was completely clogged, I had a rock sitting on it; and I felt nauseated and disgusted by anything I tried to eat or drink made me want to gag. I hated having to slow down to a walk; but Liz and I had gone through this scenario many times before. So I knew what to do: Walk like I had someplace to go; and not give anything up. And I did, I walked, and tried jogging, then running... until my stomach could not take it anymore; so then I would walk again; and repeat the cycle. I hit a couple of low points here; where I was so mad with myself and my stomach. Never once I thought of giving up though; but I did think I would have to walk the entire marathon. I was looking sort of pitiful; and then a spectator told me something that renewed my hopes; she said: you have all the time in the world to let your race come back to you. And that was exactly what i needed. It took me almost 3 hours to finish the first 1/2 of the run course; but by the time I hit the turn around point in front of the finish line; my stomach had calmed down enough so I was able to run a bit more. And I did. And I started passing people, and I started drinking, and eating. And my run came back to me. And I felt AWESOME. I was doing Ironman, and I had the race in the bag. I was not going fast; but I was running and I was smiling again. And that my friends was key. The miles slowly went by. And I never hit the "wall". Yes, my legs hurt and I could feel the overall fatigue; but at no point i thought I could not continue. My mission on that day was to stop at nothing but the finish line. And that was exactly what I did. Upon seeing the sign for mile marker 25; I set a little challenge for myself: to make the last mile my fastest. There would be no stopping, there would be no walking the aid station. Just a steady effort to the finish. I pushed, and I passed people and I heard comments: " Great form" "You look awesome" "Strong finish". And I believed them all. I took them all in, and made sure to feel proud about it. I ran my way through the residential neighborhood, and took thee last couple of turns. The closer I got, the louder I heard the cheering and Mike Reilly's voice.. The last left turn; the home stretch. The lights, the people, the noise. Completely surreal.

The chute gets really narrow right before the turn around; and I was "stuck" behind a girl. I could have attempted to pass her, but I did not want to trip and fall; or make her trip and fall. So I slowed down and let her go. This race was not about placing. This race was about getting there and enjoying the experience. We took the last turn into the finisher's chute and I just cannot believe my eyes. Here I am about to become an Ironman. Little 'ol me; an IRONMAN.

I cannot contain my smile any longer; I just want to raise my hands and celebrate the accomplishment. As I am approaching the line I heard Mire Reilly say "Danni K. you are an Ironman"; arms up, smile big. The line, the volunteers. And then, I was done.

My entire year of work had came to fruition and I had the race of a lifetime. Could not have asked for a better day.

Conclusions coming soon....

Augusta 70.3 RR or How I fell in love with triathlon all over again

I know it has been a while since I have blogged. IM training, family life and work have kept me busy. As my training hours ramped up I tried to spend as much “free” time with my family as possible; putting less essential things in the back burner big time; with blogging being one of those activities. Also; after the last “disaster” race I had back in May I realized I had become too dependant on what blog world thought of me and my training and decided to take a step back. That proved to be a very smart decision.

Last weekend I raced Augusta 70.3. It was my third half ironman but my first “Ironman brand” race. I had never been part of a race of this magnitude. The transition area was HUGE and slightly intimidating.

Molly and I arrived on Friday evening; me by car, Molly by plane. I picked her up from the Augusta airport and we headed to the hotel. We chatted all the way to the hotel and then some; but soon thereafter it was time to get some sleep. Friday was the “most important” night of sleep according to Coach. I slept really well. Woke up without an alarm on Saturday and we headed to the river for some swimming. The current was quite strong and we were swimming upriver… Let’s just say we did not cover a lot of distance. Out of the water, walk back to the hotel, and off on a quick spin. Once the pre-race brick was done; we tried and tried to find some food. Downtown Augusta is not as cute as I thought it would be. Most of the storefronts were closed and there was nobody on the street with the exception of the athletes in town. We finally found some food (and coffee) at the host hotel and headed to the pre-race meeting and athlete check in. All I am going to say is that I expected this to be better organized. We stood in lines for at least 40 minutes; and we all know that the day before a race that is not super smart. We went through the expo and I scored a VERY nice TYR tri top for 50% off (I wore it on race day). After all that mess we went out to drive the bike course. The elevation chart posted on the website makes it look a lot hillier than it actually is. We also saw a LOT of people riding the entire bike course the day before the race. Not us!

The rest of the afternoon went by fast. Lunch, a quick trip to starbucks for some real coffee, and back to the hotel to put my feet up. Around 6 pm we headed to transition to drop off my bike and then we met up with Wes, DeeDee, Kevin and Kathy for dinner at Carrabbas. Again, not the smoothest operation around…. We waited close to 2 hours to be seated and then about another 30 minutes to put our food orders in. At this point; my head had kind of checked out already; but the company was AWESOME. While we were at dinner it started raining, quite hard actually; and for a slight bit I worried about my bike. Minutes later I realized; there was nothing I could do, so I let it go. We said our goodnights and Molly and I headed back to the hotel. I got all my nutrition ready and went to bed.

Race morning started at 5am. Woke up, ate my breakfast; drank the horrendous hotel coffee and started getting ready. I got dressed, body marked myself, Molly helped me with the sunscreen and I left. I walked to the host hotel to catch the shuttle to transition; and once I was on it I started chatting with people. I know most of you already know but the triathlon community is awesome. ‘Nuff said.

When I got to transition I set up pretty quickly. The space between the bikes was awfully small and I did not like that fact one bit. That paired with the fact that all the people from your same wave were set up next to each other made for a pretty tight set up. Coming out of the water to T1 would certainly be interesting. Anyhow; I think I have become really efficient at setting up my transition as I have learnt from past experiences what I tend to do and in what order. After setting up I headed to use the “facilities”. The line was long. Once I made sure I had done everything I needed to do in transition I headed to the swim start. Since it was 1.2 miles away they had shuttle buses; but those lines were long and out of control, so I walked. Molly was going to wait for me at the start and take my morning gear bag so I wore my spare sneakers. At this point, I was getting slightly nervous, your typical butterflies; but at the same time I felt calm. I knew going into this race that this was not a performance about time; but about executing my IM plan and making sure it worked. Upon arrival to the swim start I was delighted to see they had A LOT more porta potties J I picked up my chip and started my search for Molly. I found DeeDee really easily and we made a back up plan for my gear in case I did not see Molly. Shortly thereafter I found my Sherpa Extraordinaire. We hung out, watched the pros go off and too soon it was time for me to get ready. Wetsuit on, body glide applied, swim cap, goggles… Off to stand with the rest of the pink caps. When my wave was called we walked to the pier from where we were to start and since I was towards the end of the line I had to stay on the pier until everybody went off.

The swim

The horn went off and as people started moving away from the pier I lowered myself into the water, found some space and started swimming. I was unusually calm. There really wasn’t anything to sight off so I followed the other pink caps. I did my best to swim as straight as possible and I think I managed. There was one thing that surprised me about this swim (other than my swim time); I never freaked out, I never thought “what am I doing?” which is a common occurrence for me. I think knowing that this was NOT my BIG race helped me stay calm and focused on having a good swim and having fun rather than worrying about time. I never looked at my watch; but the swim still seemed long. You all know the water and I are not exactly friends; but I am learning to embrace our relationship J At one point I did think that I was going to have another sub par minute swim because I felt like I was not really going “faster” (there was all this hype about how much faster you’d go because of the current; and we did indeed swim faster -a lot faster- but when swimming I really couldn’t feel the current’s assistance). I just swam, and swam and swam. Eventually the swim exit came into view and I picked up my pace. As we were getting closer to the exit someone tried to grab my legs and swim over me. NOT COOL. I kicked hard so that whomever was trying to swim over me would at least get a kick in the face J You don’t mess with me on swim exit!

T1

The run to T1 was long; but I had my legs with me. I am not sure how fast I ran, but I felt calm and able to push it. They had wetsuit peelers and that was awesome. Only bad thing is that my feet were full of grass and I had no way of cleaning them. Like I said before, transition was packed tightly; and when I got to my area; both the ladies to my left and right were there as well. Not much space to move around. I got my gear and headed out.

The bike

Molly and I had driven the course the day before and it did not look as hilly as the elevation chart showed it. I left transition; clipped in and off I went. I took it extremely easy for the first .25 mile because there were A LOT of bikes on a very small space. Once we hit the open road I got aero and started pedaling at the cadence I would hold the entire bike leg… Above 85 (this was my strategy and my goal). The first part of the course seemed really fast; I was going at about 20.5 mph and I did not feel like I was working hard at all. I really tried to bring my HR down; but my watch kept showing me zone 4 (I had set my watch to show me the zones that I had pre-programmed and not the actual HR number). The funny thing is that I did NOT feel like I was riding Z4. My breathing was easy, my legs were not burning and it felt relatively “easy” to go. I decided to go by feel rather than worry about HR. I followed my nutrition plan as I am going to do for IM (goal #2 for this race) and luckily I never got tired of my “food”. I found the bike course extremely enjoyable, and honestly just had a FUN time out there. People passed me, I passed people. I was not concerned about placement at all. As coach instructed me, I spun up the hills and made sure my HR did not go too much out of control (the key to letting my stomach digest my food to ensure a good run). I felt strong the entire time. On previous races I normally hit a “low” point at around mile 48 where I want to be done and my legs are toast; my cadence drops significantly and I slug my way back to transition. During this race, that never happened. I kept getting myself mentally ready to fight through it; but the low never came. I think the nutrition plan might have been responsible for it; I think I was more consistently fueled and my energy levels remained more constant than in previous races. I was just having a lot of fun; and I think that was key. I had my best bike split on a ½ IM.

T2

Rolling into T2 I could not believe my bike split ☺ I was HAPPY. I jogged/walked my way to my rack being very careful not to step on the potholes on the way or lose footing. I put my bike back on the rack, changed shoes, grabbed my nutrition and left.

The run

I started the run feeling really good. My legs were there for the most part; definitely better than on previous races. The run for me is usually a mental challenge. I get overwhelmed by the distance I have yet to cover and I start slipping slowly. Knowing this, I started working on that right away. I kept repeating my mantras and just focusing on myself and my own race. I ran the first 2 miles non stop (maybe slightly faster than I should have.. but I can’t really judge my pace off the bike as it always feels like I am running slow and it turns out I am not) then my stomach got a little bothersome. Some burps, a little bit of reflux. I took water at the aid stations, mixed a couple of walk breaks here and there and little by little my stomach started to settle. Here is when I started seeing Molly at regular intervals on the race. She was AWESOME! Giving me encouraging words, taking pictures, relaying messages from coach. THE WORKS. Totally rocked the spectathlete, Sherpa duties during this race. I hit the 7 mile marker a little slower than I wanted; but after that my stomach finally felt better and I was able to run more. I could still not tell how fast I was running; but I kept running as long as I felt good. I would run about 8/9 minutes and then take a 30 second walk break to “relax” my stomach (harder efforts make my stomach tense up… weird, I know). I was so unattached to a time goal that I was just focused on feeling good and nailing my IM strategy. I had a smile on my face the entire time. Yes I was sore, I had a huge blister on one of my toes on the left foot but I felt AWESOME. Never ONCE did I question what I was doing on the race course. On the contrary; I was inundated with the feeling of loving this sport and being SO lucky to be able to do this. The spectators were awesome and hearing people cheer for you made you want to go harder/faster. With about one mile to go I allowed myself to look at the total elapsed time and could not believe my eyes! I was on pace to break 6 hours!

Crossing that finish line was awesome. For the first time I allowed myself to “celebrate” as I was crossing the line. I had finished the race and I felt like I could have kept going. I glanced at my watch; did a double take and started laughing. I had not set out to beat the clock; or even set a PR. Coach and I took a look at how my training has been going; what bumps in the road I have encountered and we agreed that a sub 6 was probably not achievable this time around. Especially because I was not racing at my HIM pace; but more like practicing my IM pace. And there I was; sub 6 and feeling awesome. Completely speechless.

I walked out of the finish chute; found Molly and headed towards the food/drinks. I had asked her to bring my recovery drink so I could take it right away; and I think that helped my recovery tremendously. We hung out to see Wes finish and then it was time for me to get my stuff and get on the road.

I learnt a lot of lessons during this race. The biggest ones: when I “let go” I can achieve big things; and it is definitely all in my head. Here it is to hoping I will be able to remember these lessons on November 7th.

Century!

I honestly do not know where time has gone. It has been over a week since I posted my last little update and so much has happened ever since. Here are some little snippets:

- I improved my OWS time for the one mile by 3 minutes
- That same weekend I went on a riding adventure and ended up getting lost; taking longer than expected and loving my iphone and its map application
- I participated in another 10 mile TT with my bike; and not only did I cut almost a minute of my previous time; I also came in second AG (not a lot of people in my AG; but it still counts J )
- I realized that of all 3 sports, I LOVE riding my bike; and think that during the winter I need to do a better job of working on my bike fitness
- I have become totally addicted to the TDF; and suffered withdrawal symptoms on both of their rest days
- I realized that I only have 3 months left until Ironman (holy cow!)
- I went on my first century ride and I am still able to walk! Ha!

I thought I’d expand on the last one since it was quite the occasion. Last year I did this organized ride called “Lake Norman Excursion” if you look at my posts from last year; you will see that I had done the 65 mile option and was considering doing the 100 mile this year. Since I knew that long rides were coming; I ran the idea by coach. I mostly wanted to do my first century on a “supported” environment. What does that mean? With potties along the way; with water stops and with the peace of mind on the back of my head: should I need someone to pick me up; there would be vehicles doing exactly that. I didn’t exactly take advantage of all the stuff they had at the rest stops; after all I was experimenting with new ideas for my IM nutrition; but it was nice to not have to carry a gazillion bottles of water.

I got there early; mostly because I thought the ride started an hour earlier than it actually did; I got set up and started socializing with different people. I saw some old “friends”, some new ones, and just hung out until it was time to roll out. The first couple of miles were slow. You can imagine, about 600 people all starting at the same time; it is not exactly a recipe for fast, fast, fast. I was riding with a group of 3 other people and we were just keeping a conversational pace with some bursts of speed here and there to pass people that were going a little bit too slow. One thing that made me laugh early on: we had been riding for all of 15 minutes and we passed a couple, just as we were passing them the lady said: The first stop is at what 12 miles??. I thought to myself… there is someone who is really not enjoying herself on this ride; and who is having a hard time already. I did not want to be in her position.

We rolled past the first rest stop; we had plenty of water and food so we could skip it. We were keeping a nice pace; and I was focusing on my nutrition and hydration. I decided to try a combination of Carbo Pro 1200 and EFS liquid shot. Even though the Carbo Pro tastes like cough syrup; I found it quite enjoyable (I am one of those freaks that likes the taste of cough syrup) and the EFS liquid shot tasted like vanilla and was going down nicely. One of the things that I struggle with the most when fueling/hydrating during long workouts; is the taste that remains in my mouth after drinking sports drink. I can only drink so much of it; after a while it makes me gag. So I decided to get my calories from “food” and my salt from salt tabs, and stick with water as my main hydration source. This worked quite well for me. When we got to the second rest stop I already needed to use the potty (good sign of hydration spot on). So we took about 5 minutes to refill water bottles, stand in line and use the “facilities”. Then we rolled on.

At about mile 30 the routes split; and the group I was riding with chose the shorter distance. Here started my solo riding. I will say that it was not as mentally hard as I expected it to be. I was able to always keep people in sight and I think that helped. I would catch up to a group, ride with them for a few minutes and promptly get dropped on a climb. My strategy was to spin up the hills to try to keep my HR as steady as possible. With this being my first century I did not want to take the chance of pushing too hard too soon; and then be left with no energy to finish. Coach’s instructions were: I do not care how long it takes you, just FINISH the ride. And I was going to follow that to the T.

My nutrition was working great. I was getting a bit dehydrated perhaps; so I upped my water and salt intake. Within 30 minutes I was back on track. Around the fifth hour; my EFS liquid shot had ran out; so I reached for the first gel I could find. It happened to be a Chocolate power gel. I ate it; and within 15 minutes I could tell that it had messed up my stomach. It just felt like a rock; sitting there. I forced more water down; and made sure to keep eating and drinking as close to schedule as possible. The heavy feeling never went away; but it also did not get any worse. And I was able to get through that.

The route was H-I-L-L-Y; and I would be lying if I said that my hear did not sink a couple of times when after turning a corner I looked up and saw yet ANOTHER climb. But I put my head down, spun up and got through them. One thing that I noticed is that my cycling fitness has tremendously improved since last year. The 65 and the 100 mile options of this ride share a good part of the route; and I was able to realize that some of the climbs that last year “killed” me; this year were barely leaving me winded. Score!

The hours ticked by and then, I was done. I rolled back into the campus we had departed from; located my car; dismounted my bike and, even though I was tired, I noticed I could run. I got my running gear on and set on to my 10 minute run. My legs felt strangely ok. Sore? Yes. Painful? No. I could do this! Then, I noticed they were putting away the post ride food; so I chose to stop running to go eat. I wanted to eat something other than a gel. Man, a muffin never tasted so good. And ice cold water. Ahhhhh!

What did I take away from this experience? I think 2 things: I CAN ride the 112 miles in IM; and perhaps I need to revise my goals for the race. I was not as fast as I would have wanted to be; and I am not sure I can quite get there by race day in November; so it is time to take a good look at myself, my fitness and my progress; search deep in the heart and come up with goals that challenge me yet are attainable. Am I giving up on my “top secret” goal? Heck no! I just think that fixating myself on THAT particular goal; is just a recipe for disaster at this time. It might not be this year; but I WILL get there.

Mid week check!

Well, it is not exacly mid week; but it's as close as it's going to get.

Training has been going well; not superb, not bad; I am getting the work done. Week one of IM build found me with the lovely company of "Aunt Flo" and that ALWAYS makes me drag and feel out of sorts. I am a bit tired but nothing a few more hours of sleep this coming weekend won't fix.

I have also been paying close attention to my nutrition and logging in my food intake on an online tool. I think I have been doing well in that regard too. With the exception of yesterday.

Yesterday was a "special" day since I went to lunch with a woman I met at my last OWS. It turns out she is training for IMFL too and lives close to my house! I have not trained with people for a very long time and this is a much welcome change. Anywho, we got together to talk about training, triathlon, injuries and all that goes along with being an athlete. Even though we met at a healthy place, you never know exactly what is IN the food they make. So all I could do is guess amounts and nutritional values based on what I saw my food contained. I did not go crazy and ate like a mad woman; but I did not act all concerend about it. I tried to keep it as natural as possible. And I think I did well.

Today I am working from home and the best thing about it (besides being able to wear my pjs all day) is that I get to watch "le tour" as it is happening. Yay Versus!!!!

Tonight I have a bike ride with some hill repeats thrown in there for some flavor. I think I have pictured what hills I will be riding, but it will all depend on how traffic is behaving. The ONE thing I need to work on as far as bike handling skills go; is making U turns. I am SO scared of them that each time I have to do one I end up unclipping and turning my bike around. Silly, I know, but the last time I attempted a U turn fully clipped in I ended up falling off my bike and having a bruise/ bump the size of a watermelon on my left butt cheek. Thanks, but no thanks.

And that is how my week is going so far. A couple of more days and then the weekend is here; which will bring me an OWS and a 4 hour bike ride. It is time to start building my endurance back up. I am armed with a new nutrition plan (thanks Cat!) and I am ready to give it a go.

Let's get this show on the road!

Ironman build starts today

And I am ready to tackle it head on.

On tap: longuish run after work. Followed by recovery and ice bath; so I can get up and run again tomorrow.

Yeah.... Bring it!

The game is ON

I am not quite sure what happened yesterday during and after my bike test. Something inside me changed. Maybe it was the good results I got from the test (which hurt like crazy) or maybe it was Coach's comments about my performance; I am not sure what, but my game mind is ON.

Ironman build starts tomorrow and I am excited to say the least. I looked at this week's schedule and I am picturing in my head which routes I am going to go; which hills I am going to tackle and how successful I will be at completing all of my swim workouts.

Now more than ever I am convinced that my head plays a big role on how I perform my training sessions; and I am very serious about controlling my thoughts and making them work to my advantage.

The game is ON; and I am ready for it.

Here comes 2009... oh no, wait... it's already here!

Wow, 2008 is over. Done. Finished. Left behind.

I'd be lying if I said I did not enjoy it. It was quite the roller coaster ride. Lots of changes, good news, bad news, new friendships, rekindling old friendships, connecting with people, feeling disconnected from the world.

I saw a big change happen within myself. I saw my true colors. Did I like all of them? Not necessarily. But I am embracing this discovery. Accepting it. 

2008 saw me make a big commitment to the sport of triathlon. It was the year I realized I am truly passionate about it, the year I discovered I want to be GOOD at it, the year when I realized that the training is more than half the fun, the year when I signed up for my first Ironman.

2008 helped me realize that people are not indestructible, even the ones we always thought were made of steel. It helped me figure out that all it takes is determination and a strong will to get rid of a bad habit (Dad, I am so PROUD of you for quitting smoking). It helped me make peace with myself; with who I am.

2008 was a great year; full of growth & self discovery. I could not have asked for more.

2009 is here now, and I have a feeling it is going to be even BETTER than 2008. There is much more to be discovered, more adventures to be had, more love to be given.

I hope 2009 finds all of you in good health and excellent spirits. I am expecting another roller coaster ride; after all, that is life. 

Wanna come along?

Whirlwind

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since the last time I updated the blog. I can’t believe it has been almost 2 weeks since my last writing adventure, but life had me busy. Deadlines, responsibilities, duties, you name it I had it. It’s not that I did not have any fun in the past week and a half, but everything went by so quickly! Let me recap the important events that had my head in a daze of sorts these past couple of days.

Last week was spent amidst preparations to my trip to Panama City Beach. You would have thought I was racing IMFL if you had seen the lists I made. Stuff that needed to get done; things that I needed to pack; phone numbers of people I was intending to meet; countless emails and plans on how to spend the 2 ½ days I was going to be away. All much fun, once you realize that you are doing this because you WANT to and not because you have to.

On my to do list for Thursday was the much anticipated run test. You know how it goes… You warm up for 20 minutes and then you run your booty off for 20 minutes, all while wearing a HR monitor to see what your cuore (I think that is Italian for heart) decides to do. Oh yes, and you can’t eat for 3 hours prior to the thing. I don’t know what is harder: the test or being at work in the morning starving already (mind you just 1 hour after breakfast) waiting for the dang test, only to realize you had forgotten about the stupid meeting that is taking place on the time slot you had planned to go to the gym. Anyhow, after said meeting I went to the gym, and let me tell you… a GU never tasted so good and hit the spot as nicely as the one I was allowed to down before the test.

I got on the ‘mill of dread (or Dready like I call it), and started turning my legs over and over. Warm up: check. Reset HR monitor: check. Set Dreadmill incline: check. The test itself was uneventful. I think I must have looked funny to a whole bunch of people since after running hard for 20 minutes, I basically got off Dready and stood still for a minute with a pen and paper in hand to write some all important numbers that coach wanted to know about. When that was all done, I jumped back on the machine and did my cool down. Now that I think about it, I did get some weird looks… Oh well. After shooting an email with the “magic” numbers to coach she replied saying that I had had huge improvements. Not exactly in the form of speed (which is the kind of improvement I like the most) but in the form of overall fitness. Apparently whatever it is we are doing, it’s working like it’s supposed to. Have I mentioned how glad I am to have the coach that I have?? She keeps me focused, gives me the best workouts and just plain rocks. If you are considering a coach, you NEED to give HER a try; once you experience what I have, you will be a believer!

The rest of Thursday went by without a hitch. When I got home from work I packed the bag (and a small one at that) for my Friday trip, had dinner with Megan, did some extra work and after Todd got home from the airport I went to bed. I slept quite well, but I think I was up before the alarm went off. I did my morning routine, shower, breakfast, coffee; and after leaving everything organized for the weekend Todd dropped me off at the airport. I got on a plane to Fort Walton Beach, FL; where I rented a car and drove to PCB. I drove for what seemed like forever and finally arrived at the hotel, the glorious Days Inn. I checked in, changed into lighter clothes and I went to the race expo (just it case you did not guess it by now, I went to spectate/volunteer at IMFL). Holy Bikes Batman! The place was spectacular and a bit overwhelming. I mean, seriously, there must have been at least 4 million dollars worth of bike equipment in that transition area…. The place was buzzing full of people; athletes, spectators, vendors, volunteers. I had never been to a race this big before and was surprised at the level of organization that it seemed to have. Of course I hit the merchandise tent, and after drooling over a whole bunch of apparel and Mdot stuff, I retreated back to the Days Inn.

That is when I got in touch with Mary. We met at the beach and I was able to hang out with her and Luc (her son). We built some sand volcanoes and even saw them erupt clear lava (ocean water); you should have been there it was pretty spectacular. We even buried a giggling Luc in the sand! 4.30 was my cue to go, and as Cinderella would have done I left the beach to head to the volunteer meeting. At this point I was starting to get a massive headache. I did a really poor job at hydrating that day, and my migraine reminded me of the mistake for the remainder of the day. I stayed as focused as I could and after getting my wrist band I left to go get some food and migraine medicine.

I woke up on Saturday and I was ready to roll! Mary was kind enough to drop me off close to the race site so I could do my volunteering duties. I had picked and was assigned to the women’s changing tent. After checking in and getting my t-shirt I headed over to the swim start. It was a bit chilly, but the ocean looked beautiful. After a few minutes, the canon went off and the athletes hit the water. What a sight! The calm blue water turned white and a sea of colored swim caps started moving towards the horizon. As the pros finished their first lap and headed in for the second one I walked to transition. I wanted to make sure I was on the tent with plenty of time before the first few people started arriving. We got debriefed once more by our “team leader” and within a few minutes the first pros started coming in. I was able to help a couple of them, and let’s just say that not all of them are nice. We got some thank you’s but we also got yelled at.

The age groupers were a different story. At first they were coming about 2 at a time, spaced out nicely and all. I was helping a lady put on her socks and shoes and when I looked up, the place was packed! There was literally no room for us to even help anyone. I limited myself to unpacking and packing transition bags. When things slowed down a bit I was able to help some of the latecomers and got some of the most heartfelt thanks I heard. One lady even called me her “angel” and gave me a hug. It felt mighty good.

After the last participant was out of T1, my duties for the day were done and I headed back out to meet with Mary and Luc. We had breakfast and went to the hotel to rest a bit. At around noon we headed out to the Memphis House. Mary and Luc were going straight there and I hit the merchandise tent one more time to get Megan a cute t-shirt that says “My Mommy is a Triathlete”. That is when I met Marit. She helped me find the right size tee for my little munchkin and I helped her find some things she needed. After our shopping was done, we jumped on Marit’s bikes (she brought both of them so I could borrow one. Thanks Marit!) and headed out the run course. We found the house no problem… Picture this… a whole bunch of girls in sexy costumes, playing loud music and dancing to the beat. We met Laura and a whole bunch of her Memphis friends ( I am sorry I can’t remember the names). We cheered on the athletes, hung out by the pool with Mary and Luc; we saw Curt (Mary’s hubby) go by and even managed to take some pics. Marit and I rode some of the run course and then we all headed to the finish line.

We were there all of 10 minutes when we saw Curt come in. He finished the race in 9:55 and what ensued afterwards was wonderful. The excitement on Mary and Curt’s face after realizing the feat he had just accomplished. It was beautiful to witness how they didn’t even need words to connect; to know what each other was feeling/thinking. Beautiful, I tell you. Behind my sunglasses, I cried. Marit, Laura and I decided to give the Eggers' some alone family time and headed over to the second lap turn around. That is when we saw Damie make her turn and Joy head for the finish. We hung out for a couple more minutes and then found Mary and Luc again.

That night we did dinner at Dirty Dick’s and went back to the hotel. Marit and I had a nice talk, and it was great to get to know her better. By the time 10:30 rolled around I was toast and went to sleep.

The following morning I woke up before the alarm went off. I changed and headed over to the race site, yet again. This time, to start my own journey. I signed up for IMFL’09. Yes, my bloggy peeps, in exactly one year, I will be toeing the line at my first Ironman. I still find it hard to believe sometimes. Me, an Ironman. Ha!

Sunday went by too quickly. After swimming in the ocean with Marit and Mary (THANK YOU both for taking the time to show me things and for your words of encouragement) it was finally time to head back home. We said goodbye to Mary, Curt and Luc; and after a quick shower we were out of the hotel and on our way home.

It was an incredibly intense weekend. The whole race setting was inspiring; not to mention the people…The camaraderie, the ability to strike conversation with anyone and being able to share experiences and tips, making friends. It was all great. When I got home I was beaming with excitement, I am still floating on air and I have been back for 5 days now.

Next year will be exciting, challenging, short and long at the same time. It will be full of achievements, goals, disappointments, sweat and maybe even tears. Whatever it is the training will bring me, I am ready to accept it with open arms. I am ready to give it my all and aim high for my dream. Here I go.

Addiction

Now, just admit it... You were glued to your computer pretty much all day saturday watching IM World Champs live. I know I was. Even though the chair I have at the Mac is hard as heck and it is not the best in terms of back support; I didn't seem to be able to care much about that. All I wanted to do is sit there and watch.

Multiple times I wondered that day why I was so addicted to the event; why I kept putting everything else in the back burner for that single afternoon. And then it hit me. It is about overcoming, about conquering, about arriving. About being left to your own resources and pulling through victorious. About facing tough situations and not backing down. About persevering. About setting our mind on a goal, having a dream and doing everything in your power to see it come true. 

I sat and watched those people in awe. The pros, the age groupers, the back of the packers, the disabled (that truth be told, are more able than a lot of people out there, so I think should have a different "name" to them). And it made me think. Not just about triathlon but about life in general. It inspired me to reach deep down and pull my true dreams to the surface. And trust me when I tell you I have some BIG dreams. And they are about everything and anything you could possibly imagine.

As I grow more and more disappointed at my job; one of those dreams is about finding where my true passion lies. Yes, I do love numbers, after all, I did go to school for economics; but I have an equal passion for letters, and for the english language. You might think it is odd since it is not even my birth language; but there is something about the way it sounds, the way it reads that has me completely enthralled. How some people are able to make you see things just by using words; how they are able to create entire worlds that captivate every single fiber of your being; how once you find their work, the work of these amazing writers, it fills you up inside, it makes you feel whole once again. And I want that. I want to be one of them. But excelling at something requires work, and I have a lot of that ahead of me if I want to become what I dream. 

I cannot afford to quit working; and let's face it, with the economy the way it is this days; it wouldn't be on the smart side to try to make a career change on a whim. There is a lot of thinking that needs to be done. A lot of planning. A lot of searching. But the idea is out there.