One to learn from

It’s that time of the year again, the last race of the season.  When I heard that Ironman was going to hold a 70.3 distance race in NJ, how could I say no?  This would be the first time racing an Ironman held 70.3 and I was curious to see if it was run as well as the full distance. Also, I was born and raised in NJ, proud to be from NJ and will now having a chance to race on home soil.

Training after Ironman Lake Placid had been good, after taking a week off and working slowly back into it, things seemed to be working well.  Swimming was rocking; cycling had been a bit tough but good and running had come back nicely.  Confidence was high leading up to race day.

I drove up after work on Wednesday, enjoyed some time to decompress on Thursday. On Friday, I drove out to the race site to check in. My brother in law Dan had the day off and took the ride with me.  When I stopped to pick him up I got to play with my insane nephew Chase.  The kid is an unstoppable bulldozer; he is a ball of fearless energy and so much fun.  I had a great day with Dan, it was nice to catch up and hang out for a while. Once we got back to his house, I got to spend time with my other nephew Tristan; it was a great way to end the day.

This is secure.

Saturday, I drove out to get a shakeout swim and run in, then check in my bike.  The lake was closed to swimmers for some reason so only I got my run in, took care of some other business and headed out for lunch.  I had to waste some time until my hotel room was ready, my parents live over an hour away from the race site so I decided to get a room close by so I could get a little extra sleep.  

On that note, sometimes taking the cheapest rate is not the way to go, as you can see by the photo this was a big time fail by the Red Roof Inn.  To their credit, after I ripped them on the survey about not only the broken lock but how nasty the room was.  Within a day, they sent me an apology email and a free nights stay came in the mail in less than a week later.

Race morning, I got over to the site nice and early. Hung out in my truck for about 30 minutes, enjoyed my traditional chocolate fudge pop-tart and started to sip on some Osmo Pre-load.  While walking over to transition, I caught up with a Snapple team mate Howie Lee. It was nice to catch up for a few minutes.  

After getting body marking taking care of, I set up transition, took care of my bike and meet up with my parents or my Iron-Sherpa team (t-shirt to be made). Handed off some gear and headed out for a warm up run.  The run, felt great and my confidence for the day was building.  

We headed down to the swim start; I got my Xterra Vortex 4 wetsuit on and had to wait so the lifeguards could get in place.  Once we got in the water, I got about a 10 minute warm-up in, I was feeling good.  Soon after I was getting itchy to get underway, I was in the 8th wave with 4 minutes between waves.  I stood waiting with my Dad, chatting to try and back the nerves down and then we finally moved under the swim arch.

This swim was an in water start, we had to swim out about 200 yards to the start buoys and tread water for just under two minutes.  It is always fun and relaxing to chat and joke with the guys around me before the start.  I position myself in the front, mostly so I don't have to fight through too many people during the first few hundred yards also I can get settled in and establish my breathing.

The plan worked out well, outside of getting kicked in the side of the head about 50 yards in. I was staying long, using in an extra kick each stroke for a little more distance. The next thing I knew I’m in the middle of the wave ahead of me, having to navigate around people. That slowed me up bit each time and luckily I only hit a few more groups.  By the time I reached the turn buoy, I felt really good and thought today may be the day I break 30 minutes.  

I should mention that the swim course is in the same lake used for Olympic qualifications for rowing and all those buoys you see were still in place.  We basically had to swim across the rowing course, but luckily those buoys are so small you barely noticed when you hit one. After the second turn, I noticed a guy in my age group who had been near me the entire time.  I decided to try to draft off him, this worked great until we hit the next group of guys and we separated.  I was able to catch his feet a few more times but the each time ended with the same results.  At about 2-300 yards out, the strangest thing happened and I started to feel tired. This was freaking me out based on what I had been swimming leading up the race and I really was not pushing the pace.

Heading to T1

By the time I hit the sand, I felt wiped out.  I walked up to the wetsuit strippers and when I stood up I was starting to feel better.  

Swim: 31:25, AG 10th 105th Overall

The first transition was great, got right to my bike, and everything went on quick.  Took a big bite of a Bonk Breaker bar and headed out.  I have gotten much better with the flying bike mount since my first race this year and shortly after the mount line I was on the bike, my feet in the shoes and I was cranking out some watts.

T1: 2:28

The plan was to hold back early on the ride and this turned out to be an even better idea since the first ten miles of the course had some horrible road condition.  That would probably be my one of my only negative comments on the race by the way.  This also worked out well with how I felt coming out of the water.  Once I got to mile ten, I was feeling better and was holding low numbers in my power range.  

This course as it turns out was quite technically, almost fifty turns in all and some unexpected climbing throughout the middle of the course.  So glad I drove the course on Friday!  I stuck to my plan for Placid on the climbs, spin up hill and work the downhills.  My nutrition and hydration was spot on but since it was cool day, I was not hitting my e-caps (salt pills) as I would have on a warmer day.  

Right before the dismount line

Things were going well; I was right where I wanted to be through mile thirty in both speed and power but by mile forty-two things started to change.  A bit of a headwind picked up, not much but for someone of my size, a little makes a difference.  Also, my left quad started to get sore. When I would straighten my leg or stretch the muscle, it would cramp up.  This progressively got worse over the next fifteen plus miles (yes fifteen, by my Garmin the bike course was over two miles long).  Every time I would turn right and my left leg would be straight it would cramp, as well as my legs were feeling tired.  The last ten miles were over the same horrible pavement as the first so I slowed up a bit over that and was hoping that would help my legs recover.  By the time I reached the dismount line and swung my right leg over, the left cramped horribly.  It was so bad I could barely walk into T2.

Bike: 2:40:39 AG 20th 109th Overall

As soon as I got under the “bike in” arch, the pain in my left leg was unbearable. I could hardly take a step and I basically limped/hopped my way to the back of transition area to my rack spot. Once I racked my bike I dropped right to my butt. I could hear people cheering me on and it could have been a family member or some random stranger, I have no idea, but it helped push me on. I got my socks and shoes on, helmet off and my awesome new orange SweatVac Snapple tri visor on and attempted to stand up.  I was feeling better, the cramps were gone and I walked to end of the rack while putting on my Amphipod hydration belt.  I slowly jogged out of T2, testing my legs and hope started too resurface.

T2: 2:49

The run started off well, I was right in my pace range, legs felt ok.  I got to about to the half mile mark and my right quad seized up, bad.  I stopped right away and started to massage the muscle.  Then I made the mistake of bringing my foot up to do a quad stretch and my hamstring seize, dropping me to the ground.  I dragged myself across the path to a nearby bench, tried to massage the muscles and remembered I had e-caps and popped two.  I sat there for almost four minutes and started to think that my day was over.  I could not let that happened, my family was there and I was not going to let them down or let me nephews see me quit. I got up and started to walk, felt good, started to jog, felt better, then I got into pace. I got up and made it another half mile or so before both legs cramped. Walked for a minute and then I was able to run again for most of the next three miles. Then just after the mile four mark, the pain was back.

Smile 

This went on for the rest of the run, once I got close to the turnaround point I forced myself to run.  I didn't want my family to see me walking and I put on the biggest smile I could.  I actually ran a little over a mile and made it past the spot where the first cramp started when I was forced to stop again, stretched, took two more e-caps and was back running.

About mile ten and half, I was passed by a few Snapple teammates Andrey Yunusov and Oliver Mellet.  Both offering up encouragement, which helped get me moving again.  About mile eleven, I saw Andrey up ahead, at the pace I was holding I was able to catch up.  It was great motivation as I thought to myself, how cool would it be for two Snapple team members to finish together.  We ran together until mile twelve, when not only my quads cramped up but now my calves.  Andrey pulled ahead and while I stood there stretching, this woman comes running up and says “Don't let this girl beat you”. She made me laugh and I started to run with her.  

Every time a cramp would hit, she would keep me going.  The downside was the cramps in my calves would cause my knee to buckle with each step and the pain was getting worse since I wasn't stopping.  As we made the turn heading towards the finishing chute, she tells me to pick it up she is not going to let me be the reason she doesn't break five hours. Then she would look over her shoulder and tells me there were no other girls coming, I was lucky she could stay and push me on.  Again, I laughed, picked up the pace.

Ouch

Once into the chute my legs were shot, I was limping horrible and the pain was so intense but the finish arch was right there in front of me. Since Ironman 70.3 uses the same type of arch used in a full Ironman, the sight of it gave me the same chills.  It pushed me over the line.  My new friend, finished a bit ahead of me and she was waiting there.  I gave her a big hug, thanked her and told her that I really needed the push and laughs.  This is what I love about this sport, people always looking out for you and encouraging.

Run 2:00:27 46th AG, 218th Overall

Total Time: 5:17:48

Afterwards, I went right to a chair. Spoke to my family for a bit and then saw Andrey, went over to chat with him and congratulate him on his race.  We spoke for a few minutes, telling each other about our day. He then suggested we go for an easy 10 minutes cool down run. He was right on point, my legs started to feel better right away.  Then we got some food, talked to our families some more and headed over to the massage tent.  

Now that it is all said and done, issues during my day could have been a combination of things.  It is possible I had not fully recovered from Ironman Lake Placid, earlier in the year. A slight change in my diet to slim down for the race may have caused me to not take in enough leading up to the race.  Also, I place a ridiculous amount of pressure on myself in these races lately; I don't want to let anyone down. The stress can play havoc on an already tired body. I know, stupid and I need to get back to having fun and relaxing. I will re-examine what I did leading up to the race and everything on race day to learn and grow from this.

During the 2014 season, I made some big breakthroughs in running this year, taking 2nd in my AG in a 10K as well as a big PR.  Taking 2nd overall behind my buddy Steve Smith in a 5K.  I finished my second Ironman with a PR on a very challenging day and had some good results in a few 70.3 races.  Also got in some great climbing rides on the bike. Now it is time to relax, re-focus and start to lay the groundwork for next season.

A big thank you to my coach Adam Otstot and my swim coach Steve Hennessy. Thank you to the Snapple tri team and their great sponsors: Osmo Nutrition, Rudy Project, Xterra wetsuits, Louis Garneau and SweatVac.  A big shout out to Point2 Running Company and Bike Beat of Newport News.

To my family back in VA, thank you so much for all your support as well as helping me to do

Happy Birthday Addie!

what I love. To my Granddaughter Addison, I am so sorry I missed your birthday party. 

Thank you to the entire Hampton Roads endurance sports community.  The support for one another is like nothing else, I am really lucky to be a part of it.

Lastly, everyone in NJ.  I was very touched and honored by everyone who came out to the race and reached out in support. 

Thank you so much, to my Dad and Cheryl; the best tri Sherpa’s anyone could ask for and thank you Cheryl for the awesome cake.  The Ice Cream shop of Manahawkin, did an amazing job!! Mom and Geoff, it was awesome to have you guys there.  Karl, I hope this inspired you to crush the Marine Corp Marathon next month and hopefully you will be doing one of these with me soon.  A big thank you to Dan, Tricia, Tristan and Chase, as promised the sign you made me Tristan is hanging in my office, Dan and Tricia thank you so much for the after race party at your house. I am glad I got to catch up with everyone, that my niece Ava is feeling better and that I got to meet my new nephew Dax.

Tristans Artwork-SO cool

Awesome Ice cream cake

Most of the nieces and nephews

Meeting Dax

It is time for a few more beers and then to re-focus on getting to work for big things in 2015. Up next, the Newport News One City Marathon, March 2015.