My facebook status last year on this date was that I had "biked 955.17 miles, run 533.7 miles, and swum 91088.08 yards since January. Ready or not, here I come! Cedar Point Rev3 or bust!". That feels like a different lifetime. Not in an entirely bad way, but it just feels very far removed from my current day to day reality.
Last year my entire summer was focused on training, training, training. It often felt like a part time job. A mostly fun job that I didn't make any money at (and was actually spending a lot of money ON), but the effort I was putting into planning my training, training, and reflecting on my training (not to mention recovering from my training!) was tremendous.
This year, my entire summer was focused on my children. And it feels like a full time job... and I'm definitely not making any money at it! Today as I got back on the road after my run I was surprised to realize I hadn't thought of either kid for the entire hour I had been gone. I was even more surprised at how GOOD that felt. I have been breathing baby & toddler spirit twenty-four hours a day around here (literally), and am starting to feel very burnt out. I wish I could find more time to myself.
So my run today, though it didn't make me feel anything like the athlete I was this time last year, was still so needed and so wonderful. I went out on my favorite trail again and just breathed as evenly as I could. The first mile was tough and the last mile was tough, but that middle mile was pure bliss. No deer sightings, but today I got divine inspiration in the form of a lady cardinal (my high school mascot) and the multitude of cheery butterflies (my son's only word in Japanese). It was very peaceful.
I'm so close to my 5k next weekend that I'm getting eager to race again. For comparison and inspiration, I'll share my race report from a year ago. Let me warn you, it is incredibly long. But, you don't do a half ironman triathlon and summarize the experience in a paragraph. At least, I don't.
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| Ready to Go! |
From September 12, 2010:
Pre-race routine:
Where to begin? This is super long so feel free to skip to the Event Warmup, but this was definitely a crazy pre-race day for me.
I'd wanted to come down Friday night and crash with my parents at their RV so I could be on site first thing on Saturday but in the end never mentioned this to Tom. Instead I got an additional night sleep in my own bed and woke, walked dog, fed boy and hopped in my pre-packed car for the drive to CP (leaving Tom & Oren to head down over Oren's lunch time nap). The drive would've been straight forward but my Garmin got creative once we got to Sandusky. The drive to Sawmill Creek for the course preview had been super easy so I was so frustrated that the last leg of Saturday's drive ended up totally messed up. I was sooooo frazzled when I got to the hotel FINALLY! I immediately called Kimm who told me to get back in my car and go to transition and bike drop off which I "should've seen!!". The conversation was ridiculous and I was getting increasingly stressed when I thankfully saw Andrea/Traveljini. I let Kimm get back to it and then Traveljini talked me into *riding* our bikes to transition. So back to my car, got my bike out, put the wheel on and decided I ought to pump the tires so I wouldn't have to worry about lugging my pump to transition. Noticed my front stem was a little crooked. Sure enough, when I popped the pump head off it snapped right off and voila!, a flat tire. All I could do was laugh. Guess I wasn't riding to transition!!
I packed my bike off and Andrea said I could follow her. We set out, me in the car and her on her bike- well not even half way there she got busted by the CP folks for riding in the park. Ooops. I continued on but couldn't find the tents. I pulled over into one of the parking lots and called Kimm again. Kimm couldn't figure out what my problem was and told me to head back to the hotel. Gah! Headed back to the hotel and watched the MI BT underwear run. I was way too frazzled to enjoy it.
We had our Racing Greyhounds pre-race run at TGIFridays at the Hotel Breakers and thankfully my parents arrived in time to join us. Lovely run and I was settled down a bit to be there, be with my teammates and parents and my dad assured me he'd go with me to find transition.
After lunch I'd checked in so I left my mom in our room to wait for Tom and Oren to arrive and Dad and I took off for my 3rd try at finding transition. We still floundered a bit and finally, THANK GOD, found it.
Checked in and got my number, my cool Rev3 shirt and visor, and got my tube changed by one of the bike tech people. I did not want to deal with it considering how stressed I already was. I was so very thankful that I'd busted it the day BEFORE the race. Stopped by the Trakkers table just to confirm there were no trakker devices and was told that no, sorry there are not but you can have a visor. Cool- Two brand new headsweats visors in 5 minutes! :) :) Still a bummer about the trakker devices though, my family would've loved to try them out.
I was *starting* to feel better and wheeled my bike into transition, admired the AWESOME set up and my very awesome easy to find spot right in the front, the 2nd rack back. Headed back to the hotel and onto the beach with my mom and my son. I had called the hotel to ask if we could walk from the hotel to the transition and the guy told me no. As I looked at the beach and tried to work out the details for pre-race... I was getting more and more confused. There was literally steam coming out of my ears trying to figure out if we were supposed to drive to transition and then back to the hotel or wha...??? My mom was getting worried about me.
Thank God for Trish M & Traveljini, both of whom I reached by cell phone and they explained that yes, we could and would walk and it would all be FINE. :) I was so so so exhuasted by all the stress and confusion and getting lost that at this point I just left my mom with Oren on the beach and went back to my room to unpack and put my feet up. UGH. I was feeling a bit better by the time they came and got me for dinner.
But then! We tried to go to Perkins for dinner and there was NO pasta and NO service. We walked from our table and headed to TGIFridays but when we got there (me lugging Oren on my hip), there was a 35 min. wait and Oren was already tired and fussy. We walked all the way back to Perkins (btw, Hotel Breakers was massive!) and no one had touched our table so we just decided to have breakfast. First time I did pancakes and eggs to carbo load but it was quite tasty! :) By this time the skies had opened up and I was anxious about my bike getting totally soaked. I knew it would be fine but at the same time... Suzy has never been in the rain and I'd never ridden on my bike wet!
Skip to bedtime- I was exhausted and went to bed early but unfortunately Oren woke us up around midnight coughing. He's got a cold and is teething and I was awake until 2 am getting more and more anxious. Tom tried to tell me to "just go to sleep" but of course the more irritated I got the less I could relax. I kept thinking what a disaster the entire day had been and how STUPID I'd been to do a huge race with a toddler in my room. Woke at 5:30 before my alarm and decided to get up early so that the alarm didn't wake Oren (again). Ugh... felt sooooo sleepy.
Got dressed, did the potty thing and then went to grab my breakfast. For once I'd remembered my instant oatmeal and we'd popped for a suite so that I'd have space to use kitchen without waking kiddo and Tom up. I even had access to milk since we had it for Oren. Unfortunately, the kitchen was only supplied with styrofoam cups. So.... no microwaving and no spoons. @#$%. I ended up having my oatmeal made with water and drinking it with a stir stick. Fab.... ;)
That taken care of I got in my car and drove to transition so my car would be there for post-race bike transport. Got to transition and took my time laying everything out. It was dark, dark. The ladies around me were really friendly which was nice. My elbow pads were positively juicy but there was nothing to be done. Next time, I'll take them off when I take the computer off. :)
After I was done, I found Kimm and KL and we walked up the beach where we met Trixie and Smoak and waited to watch the pros and the Full athletes start. SO. COOL. I was pumped. We still had tons of time so I went back up to my room... it was that or stand around in the chilly breeze. Of course, I wasn't sure how hard to knock and with the suite set up Tom couldn't hear me so I stood in the hall just knocking and knocking... Oh boy. Finally got in and was just in time to change a poopy diaper. For some reason, changing my son's pants as I was dressed and ready for one of the biggest athletic events in my life really brought it all home for me. I was finally happy and ready. Was so glad to spend a little time with my guys pre-race. We went together downstairs and I climbed into my wetsuit as I waited for them to grab some breakfast and then we went out to the beach.
Event warmup:
Pushed Oren down the beach in the BOB till I realized what I was doing and let/made Tom take over. ;) Took some photos and then suddenly freaked because they announced there were 5 min. before the first wave left. Ran into the water to pee and heard them give a 2 min. warning. EEK! Ran back out of the water and hung out with Tom & my teammates until it was Time. Saw my mom and dad about 30 seconds before we left. :)
SwimComments:
The lake was shallow for a while and for some reason I did a bit of dolphin diving even though I've never done it before even in practice. It worked but totally jacked my HR up so that when I started swimming I suddenly couldn't breathe. I was kind of panicked so I just stood up and walked a few more steps before starting to swim again. It still took me a bit to settle down so I just swam with my head up for maybe 30 seconds. Then I was fine. The rest of the swim was great. The water was definitely choppy in spots but nothing awful. I felt lots of grabs at my feet and wasn't sure if it was different people or the same but a couple times I was getting a bit annoyed! I didn't see many other women after the first buoy and that is always encouraging.
By the second buoy I was in my fishy zone and having a good ole time. I love swimming! I was flying by all the guys and having no issues at all even though I felt like a speed boat when they are slapping up and down across waves "whap! whap! whap!" with the waves. I got *really* excited when I could clearly see the shore. The temp got much colder as we got into the shallow water. I swam until my fingers touched and then stood and started taking off my suit. I'm such an idiot about getting out of my wetsuit that I wanted to take it off in the water so I wouldn't fall over or cramp up. Too bad I decided to do this sitting down in water that was still a little deep... as I tried to get my feet out the rest of me was starting to float away. This took SOOOOoooo long. I have no idea how many places/minutes I lost to wetsuit removal. What a nerd.
What would you do differently?:
Practice getting out of my wetsuit. I'm also going to strongly consider hacking off some of the calf of the wetsuit. I'm short anyway.
T1
Comments:
Ran up the beach path and saw my parents first with their bright yellow t-shirts. Then saw Tom with Oren up on his shoulders. Tom bent over so I could give Oren an air kiss... that was sweet. Continued up the path to transition and was really happy to see they had plastic tubs with water to get the sand off. Went in first and second to rinse then off to my bike. They had carpet mats to follow too. Transition area was so nice! Helmet, sunglasses, bike shoes, and then I spent a bunch of time putting on my homemade arm warmers (knee highs from Target) even though I didn't feel cold. I just pulled them over my hands and stretched them out a bit so they wouldn't be bunched and figured I could do the rest on the bike. I'd never practiced with them (because it had always been HOT) and hadn't thought about how tricky this would be with wet arms.
Headed all the way through transition and out the bike out to the mount line, jogged past a biker and over to the side and that's where I slid on my cleats and fell over onto my bike. GAH!! Every one standing their gasped. I popped right up going "I'm ok! I'm ok!" and just felt like a big idiot. As I was getting up I saw my Dad approach with the camera and I asked, "Please tell me you didn't get that on film??". Thankfully he hadn't but asked if I was ok. I said I was fine and took off. Immediately got back off because my brakes were dragging. He shouted again and I assured him I was ok. Post race I saw I ended up with polka dots on my back side where I must've gotten my gearing right in the butt. I can't explain it, but just thankful that I really was ok.
What would you do differently?:
Not bother with the arm warmers as it wasn't really that cold. NOT SLIP!!!! SUNSCREEN.
BikeComments:
Within the first 2-3 miles I had to pull over and get off my bike 2 or 3 times because things felt funny after tipping over. Finally got my brakes centered correctly and got going and was so relieved when I started spinning away to no funny noises. I was pretty excited to be on my bike. I almost didn't sign up for this event because I'm such a non-biker. Thankfully, Coach Kellie really pushed my mileage on the road this summer and I've gained a ton of confidence. I knew after four 60+ mile rides that I was more than capable of completing this ride. Since I'd done the course preview I recognized most of the course and that really helped eliminate my intimidation.
I was really happy for this entire ride, nothing much phased me. I spent the first 30 miles being passed by everyone- that's what happens to us fast swimmer/slow biker types, unfortunately. First Mike W. and then Mike W. again (he'd stopped to use the porta john), then Trish M, then Kimm and finally Dave. It was cool because I got friendly cheers from not just my teammates but two people from other local teams too. Kudos to our Racing Greyhounds team for being the team everyone else is friends with!! But I was super cheery and wished everyone a great day and really meant it. I was out there just people watching and it was really fun! I watched my pacing and did NOT "eat the paste". I nailed all my nutrition and was drinking more than enough. By mile 20 I needed to pee and stopped at the rest stop for that and to refill my water. There were a fair number of folks out cheering from their driveways and a bunch in the little town at the turn around. I had a ton of fun on the hills going up and down. One of the advantages of having done the course before was that I was prepared for the one tricky up hill on the course- you come down this nice, fun descent and right at the bottom you have to slow down to make a 90 right turn and then go immediately up a short/steep hill into a residential area. I was ready for it and carried some speed around the corner so I could get up- the guy in front of me wasn't in the right gear though and as he tried to climb up his chain popped up. Poor guy.
The ride was totally enjoyable until about mile 30-35ish about when we joined back up with the Full course past their Special needs. By that time the riders had gotten pretty sparse and there wasn't a lot of distraction. We were on newly chip sealed roads and that was tough. The wind had picked up and that was tough. We were going up up up and that was tough. My legs felt fine but things were definitely a little less fun and a lot more work. And I had to pee and there seemed to be no more rest stops. There weren't as many people out on this part of the course so I decided to pretend that even the political signage was for us and our race. :) When it got tougher I decided that even the spray paint on the road from previous construction projects was for us and our race! What a loony.
I kept on keeping on and just couldn't believe how quickly we suddenly seemed to be heading back to town. I actually regretted the fact that it seemed my HIM bike was almost over. I recalled a rest stop as we come back into town near the high school and stopped there for the potty so I wouldn't have to deal with it in transition. A volunteer even grabbed my bike and turned it around for me, which was really nice. The final stretch back into Cedar Point took For-Ev-er. For real. And then I got passed by the motorcycle and the pros... whizzzzzzzzzz!. Right after that I passed another biker and told him, "On your left... and I'm not a pro!" just so he knew it would take longer for me to pass.
Finally got back to transition, what felt like one of the last ones in. Oh well, working on bike speed another season. :) I've come a long way and have no regrets with this bike. I stopped to pee twice so my actually riding mph was a higher and during my last few miles my bike computer read 17.1 for average which is awesome for me.
What would you do differently?:
Maybe drink less? But I'd rather err on the side of too much and I'm not peeing on my bike. I had first and second half of margarita Cliff shots and 2 gus- I was ready for another towards the end but followed my Coach's wisdom and decided to wait for the run.
T2
Comments:
I didn't run through transition with my bike, given the sliding with the cleats thing. Just walked fast and got my bike racked. There were wetsuits everywhere and I was all, "what jerks!". After the race, I learned one of the suits was actually mine but had blown in the wind so felt a bit sheepish.
Took off bike stuff, put on socks & shoes. Grabbed bib belt, visor and garmin and put them on on the run. Kimm came running back in while I was coming in and had forgotten something so I was looking forward to catching back up to her on the run. Started my Garmin right away but hadn't turned it on in the room so it was stuck on "searching" for the first minute or two. Hate that!
What would you do differently?:
Turn my Garmin on the night before so it can get its act together. SUNSCREEN.
Run |
| Me approaching the finish line (Photo thanks to Dad) |
Comments:
This was a great run and I was in a great mood because I knew now that I was back on my feet I was going to finish. I wasn't sure how painful it was going to be and whether my knee would give out, but regardless I was going to finish. My Garmin read 8:33 min/miles when it finally started and I immediately put on the brakes. I couldn't quite get to 10:30s that I thought I should be at but tried to force myself to slow down at least to over 9:45s. I stopped at every mile marker. I carried my own Cytomax as I hadn't trained with the CeraSport. I was one of the few who did- there were lots of stuff offered often but I'm glad I decided to stick with what I did on my training runs. I took water and a banana at the first stop but after that just did my drink at the mile markers and just got water when I needed it. The miles ticked off pretty quickly. That said this was one BORING, lonely run. I've run a ton of half-marathons and this was nothing to write home about. I really felt bad for the full athletes to have to go out there and run the entire course again. Sandusky was just empty and there was nothing interesting out there! That and I was starting to crisp up and there was NO shade at all.
That said, as each mile passed I was feeling stronger and stronger and my mood kept improving as I got closer and closer. I kept talking to everyone but was getting much less of a response. I passed Mike W., the 3rd time I'd seen him. Unfortunately his stomach was upset. AFter mile 6 I let my pace creep closer to 9:30 and after mile 10 I decided not to worry about it. I stopped to pee again at mile 8ish. It was so quiet out there- hardly any spectators at all. In the last 4 miles I got passed by the pros on their way back to CP, which was cool. I saw Kristin & Andrea and we chatted/high fived which was super fun. The last 3 miles were tough back up the causeway and that damn hill. The entire run, after the first 2 miles, I'd been passing people but at this point it was almost funny. I felt like I was the only one out there with any energy left and I kept picking up the pace. The last couple of miles I think I was running 9 min/miles. Awesome. Saw Smoak headed out on the course and didn't envy her one bit. I started to get all choked up when I got back to the parking lots but then I couldn't really breathe and had to distract myself.
Suddenly I was STARVING and realized I needed fuel pronto. I kept moving. Saw the guy in front of me stop to stretch out his hamstring. When I past him I said, "Come on, we're so close you don't even need that leg!". The next guy I said, "Oh God, we're just soooo close!" and he laughed and said I looked strong and good job, etc. I kept passing everyone and was back to transition. I was literally rolling in on fumes. Was just soooooo ready to eat/drink SOMEthing! One of the volunteers hollered that the finish line was at the Ferris wheel so I just focused on that and gunned it! Every spectator I smiled at and said something like, "Where's the food?!" and that got me cheers and laughs. And then... there it was! What a finish line! Unfortunately the jumbo tron was showing the pros so I didn't get my face up there... but I did see my dad and husband (Oren was sleeping) and ran it in as the announcer said my name. Soooooo very cool. Soooo happy to be done.
What would you do differently?:
Nothing. Oh, SUNSCREEN. I did so well with sunscreen all year and just got burn to a crisp this weekend. Its now Wednesday and I'm still in pain. My temporary Greyhound tattoo and my race numbers are burnt into my shoulders. So embarassed.
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| Mission Accomplished |
Warm down:
Floated through the volunteers and grabbed water, my finisher shirt, got my chip off and passed on the space blanket. I was tanked and for awhile wondered if I was ok. Saw my Dad and Tom and gave them my fuel belt/bottle and said I needed food pronto. My dad was all choked up (he's never seen me do a tri!) but I couldn't hardly talk I was so wobbly. First thing I grabbed was a bottle of the muscle milk stuff they had chilled and I literally chugged the whole thing. And then I really thought I was going to hurl. As soon as I thought I was ok I went and got food and then just collapsed in a heap of happy exhaustion at one of the tables. Euphoria.
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