FirmMan 2011 - Very Short Race Report

My head still isn't screwed on straight after the race, so here is the thumbnail sketch.

Swim

30:44 

Waves were huge and crashing. Current (turns out) was fast. Seaweed was disgusting. Thankfully I wasn't in the water for too long.

look at that mohawk!

T1

2:38

Still dilly-dallying, as usual.

Bike

3:00:59

Was on pace to go sub-3 and was gunning for it but then there was a 6 mile stretch in the last 15 miles of all torn up, scarified highway so I slowed down to be safe. The ride was good, harder than I have ridden before. I love riding during races, when there are volunteers stopping traffic. I only got passed by 2 or 3 women in total - a huge improvement from last year. 

T2

2:16

Run

1:59:39

Crash and burn. Totally fell apart and it was not pretty. Started out with those numb legs that want you to run yourself straight into a cramp. Quickly those legs disappeared. I never found my good strong pace. By mile five I was above 9:00. By mile 9 I resorted to my first walk break. Miles 10 and 11 were very sad and very slow. Whenever I would try to speed up I would puke. I got basically zero nutrition in on the run. I was worried I wouldn't make it to the end. At mile 11 a woman passed me and I latched on to her heels. I was able to hold on for about 2/3 of a mile then I had to let her go for fear that I was exerting so hard that I would collapse (at a 9min pace, wtf?). When I reached the beach for the sprint to the finish I didn't have a sprint in me, just a trudge. 

Total: 5:36:17

I spent the next hour crumpled on the ground, spontaneously puking and generally worrying those around me. After that passed, we went down to the beach to cool off then indulged in a delicious picnic that my mother brought.

Crazy thing is...with so many people racing IMWI, Rev3 Cedar Point, PumpkinMan and 70.3 Championships, the field at FirmMan was small. My 9 minute PR was good enough for me to place 2nd in my AG!!!

(pics are misbehaving but i'll try to get them up soon!)

Mass State Tri Race Report

Pre-race
James and I drove up Saturday afternoon, I picked up my packet and we scouted the course. Looked the same as last year ;-) except that my perspective is a little different. The water was 76F so wetsuits were legal and after wading into the water I decided that I would wear my wetsuit and deal with the increased T1 time.

We went for an early dinner at the Gardner Ale House. Same as last year. Had an amazing appetizer of greek salad, hummus, babaganoush, and pita. I then put away the better part of a cheese pizza and brought the rest back to the motel. Motel was pretty nice, had A/C, microwave and a fridge. I prepped my nutrition and we settled in for the evening.

I didn't sleep very well, seemed to be waking up every hour on the hour. Not nervous, just not finding my sleep groove. I got up just before 5am and had my tradition 2 bertucci's rolls, banana and diet soda. I did some mobility exercises and ran through the morning in my head. We packed up and were out the door by just before 6am. We made the 25 minute drive back to the race venue and I got my transition set up. I then posed for some ridiculous photos:

Muscle shot (kind of) = Getting MANIC!

Last season as a F25-29

New ridiculous pose!

 After the national anthem we all headed over to wait in our waves. The morning was quickly warming up and I was afraid I'd overheat in my wetsuit.

Fake smile much?

Eventually it was time to get in the water and get this party started!

Per my plan I lined up toward the front at the right. I had been talking with some ladies in my wave and it seemed like it was gonna be a speedy bunch. I was hoping for some good feet to latch onto. The cannon boomed and we were off. The speedsters were super fast. The person I was hoping to follow was too fast for me so I let her go and found someone with a nice quick turnover and swim next to her. We swam together for almost the whole course. I'm not sure if she was glad or not to have the company. When we started catching the wave ahead of us she took the most aggressive line, even if it was through me, every time. It was fine with me, I was glad to have someone to swim with. Without a watch I didn't know how I was doing time wise but felt like I was certainly swimming harder than in past races but was nowhere near a red zone. I swam all the way till my fingers hit the sandy bottom and popped up. Ran into transition while pulling my suit down to my waist. Still no idea of my swim time. In T1 I saw James and as I was ready to grab my bike asked him my time. He said he thought I was in the 27's. That seemed impossible. But lo and behold he was right! A good fast (much faster than intended) swim. I tried not to lolly-gag in transition but still had a slow (relative to my competitors) t1 time. I took endurolytes and drank some water before heading out.

Swim: 24:10 (58/382)

T1: 2:25

Got out on the bike and spun for the first mile or two. I knew I'd hit the big hill at mile 5 so wanted to bank time but also didn't want to jack my heartrate too much. The bike was relatively uneventful. A fair number of guys passed me, but far fewer than in past races. A few women passed but nothing like in past races. I sort of wondered where everyone was. First and second lap were evenly paced. Both a little slower by my garmin than I was hoping but there were a fair number of small(ish) hills on the backside side of the loop where the roads were very pitted that slowed things down (other than the big hill). Was pleased with my effort and pacing throughout. Both laps felt good. My new Adamo Road saddle was super comfy!

Bike: 1:20:13 (174/377)

 

 Back in transition I took more endurolytes, slid my feet into my kinvaras, messed with my bondi band and got going. Still a slowish transition...not sure why.
T2: 1:51

Not a flying dismount

I look puzzled

Out on the run I could feel the day getting warm but there was a nice tree cover on the run course. James yelled to me "just like our tempo runs" as I headed out. As I got going there was a guy just ahead of me who seemed to be running a good pace (as opposed to a freakish pace like some of the other guys). I didn't think too much about staying with him initially but quickly realized we were well matched. I stuck behind him and just listened to my breathing and turnover. I didn't look at my garmin until it beeped 1 mile and saw a 7:57. Oh my! That's fast! Quick body scan, feeling good. Kept with the same rhythm and just settled in. Lost the guy at the 1.5mi water station and kept trucking. Mile 2 beeped 7:59. Made a mental note of it of the variety "good, I banked a minute for when things get hairy later."

Miles 3 and 4 are sort of rolling hills and where I expected to lose time. I don't know what happened but I guess I got into a zone here. I saw the lead females coming back and started counting women. I cheered them on for a bit then decided to conserve energy (air). I got passed and passed women equally. Few men passed (likely they had all gotten ahead of me on the bike), but I passed my fair share. When I hit the turnaround there were 21 women ahead of me. As I started counting women behind me (them still on the out, with me on the back), there were a lot of them within half a mile of me (like 15). I worried a little about how many people would pass in the last 2 miles. I hit the hill that wrecked me last year and just told myself not to worry about pace and just do whatever I needed to without redlining. The hill...it wasn't so bad. ! ? ! ? As I came to the top there was a woman who had been 50m ahead of me for almost 2 miles who came within my grips. Here heart rate monitor started beeping at her menacingly and she slowed right as we crested. I didn't want to pass (and have her chasing me) but she slowed and I went by. Then a woman in my age group came flying from behind. I could hear her wicked cadence. She passed me easily. Through this whole time I hadn't looked at my garmin. Unheard of.

At mile 5 I was amazed to find myself still feeling good and checked my lap pace 7:58, with average pace also 7:58. I was very surprised, but in a mellow sort of way. I resolved at this point to hold the sub-8 (IMPOSSIBLE!) pace til the end. I didn't want to kick just yet. At mile 5.5 I came up on 3 men and ran with them for a bit. With half a mile left I expected them to pick it up but they didn't. A voice in my head said "Go!" and I did. Not a sprint, just and upsurge. One of the guys yelled "Go get'm!" - it was just what I needed to hear.

It doesn't look like I'm kicking but I've opened a gap on those guys behind me regardless

At mile 6 it was time to really push. And I did. As I came through the chute and stopped my watch it read 49:50. UNTHINKABLE!

So fast I'm blurry ;-)

Run: 49:50 (108/376)

I did my traditional knee grabbing and wind sucking and found James. I felt good! Then I made the mistake of eating a bite of watermelon and my system got very angry. Ten minutes later I went to the bathroom/shed to change and lost a bit of my nutrition. It was nothing that some ice cream wouldn't fix half an hour later.

Turns out that James, in the excitement of the start and the frenzy of photo taking forgot to start his watch, so I didin't know my overall time. Although I knew it was good. Very good for me. We waited for results to get posted.

A real smile, for an awesome PR!

Overall: 2:38:27 (8/28AG, 22/157 Female, 117/376 Overall)

A nearly 25 minute PR!!!!!

Things that went well:
1. Swimming harder. From what I can tell, no negative effects from adding a little bit of pace. May consider this for FirmMan.
2. Even pacing on the bike.
3. No ego on the bike.
4. Nutrition was spot on.
5. Endurolytes! I often don't do the whole electrolytes thing as evenly on long efforts as I should. Some part of me thinks that my great run may have been due to this magical little pills!
6. The RUN!!! I've never been in a groove on a run like this before. Not looking at my garmin and just going was great. Distracting myself by counting woman also seemed to work quite well (perhaps because there were - for once - far more behind me than ahead of me). Had I seen either my mile 3 or 4 splits I think it would have messed with my groove (mile 3 was "too fast" and mile 4 was "too slow") and I would have told myself that I was about to fall apart.
7. Even effort throughout. I am amazed at the difference a year makes. Last year this was my first race. At the time it was a huge accomplishment to finish. I tapered before the race and needed time after to recover. This year my fitness is clearly at another level. My energy was so even. I didn't fatigue. I had a kick at the end. Its not just that I went faster, its that I am able to go at a harder effort for longer. Its very cool to see and feel that.

As seems to be my tradition - today - the day after the race I am beating up on myself for not being better, faster, leaner. While my race kit was comfortable, as the photos attest, it was not attractive. Body composition needs work. Major work. Racing Weight and Thrive are on my immediate to-read list. Also, a weird turn of events. The woman I passed at mile 4 - she is 30. I stared at her calf for a long time. She won the 30-34 AG. I came in 8th in my AG. Do I want to be 30? Not really, but I'm crossing over in 6 months anyway...if only, if only, if only.

Rove the Cove 5K

I have been having some trouble locating my mojo since Mooseman. All my runs have been pretty poor - slow, sluggish, and hard. There have been many sides stitches. My rides have been mixed - some pretty good, but more than the usual frequency of rides in which I just can't get my legs to turn over at even 85rpm in an easy gear. My swims have been okay - actually had my longest swim ever (4400 yards) yesterday.

Last weekend James and I decided to sign up for a local 5K. I was not looking forward to the race. It was a new distance for both of us. We've each done 1 10k, 2 Half Marathons, and then I've done an Oly and two 70.3s. So we had no idea. In March when my running was going really well I ran an unofficial training run 5K in 23:09 (it was truly all out). Given how poor my legs have been feeling I was just hoping to go sub-25. I was frustrated with myself ahead of time for being so slow. Needless to say I was not pumped for this race.

We got up this morning, ate a regular breakfast and headed across town to this local race. It was cool seeing so many families and young kids planning to run. We had looked at the times from last year's finishers and knew that we needed to line up in the front despite planning on race finishes between 20 and 25 minutes. (In fast, last year the female winner ran 26:15.) There were no chips or anything so being up front gave a better chance of your listed time matching garmin time too.

I don't remember all that much from the race. I went out with the first 15 people. There was a woman at the very front. I promptly got passed by two women as we ran through the woods on an uneven trail that made me a little nervous. Just before mile 1 there was a turnaround and I got passed. Shortly thereafter I passed a woman. I ran in this position for a while. It was painful. My legs did not want to turn over. I could feel my pace slipping as I went. I was breathing as heavily as I think I ever have while running. It was good actually to just give in to breathing fast and hard and not trying to control it. Just before mile 2 I got passed. Then we hit a hill and I passed the woman back. Then she passed me back. I don't know if I could have held on to her. I don't know why I didn't try harder. I had in my mind that I was in 5th place and I was pleased with this. The third mile was hard as hell. My pace I'm afraid was quite sad. I actually tried not to look at my garmin at all and just keep moving. With a third of a mile left we turned back onto the trail and through the woods to the finish. I just didn't want to get passed in this last stretch. I tried to pick up the pace. I did, but it didn't feel fast. As I crossed the finish line I was handed a popsicle stick with my rank - #22 overall. I pulled over, sucked wind and grabbed knees. Two minutes later I felt fine. James came in #12. He was not pleased, having blown up around 1.5 miles in (a "learning experience"). There were two women who finished ahead of him. As they hand posted the results I went to check whether I had in fact held on to 5th woman. In the end, I don't know! There was no indication of gender on the results sheets. I was either 5th or 6th depending on whether we think Antolin is a man or woman's name.

We stuck around for the raffle. There were no awards based on time. James won a gift certificate for 3 personal training sessions. Very cool.

In conclusion - 5Ks are not fun. But its nice to race for less than half an hour and then be done and get to hang out. Now I'm off to the pool...

Rove the Cove 5K
Official Time: 22:29
Pace: 7:13
Place: 22/175 overall, 5th or 6th woman

Mooseman Race Report

I find that by the time I have completed the race, told James about it, told my parents about it, told my closest friends who will tolerate triathlon talk about it, and answered numerous questions from people who ask to be kind but think I'm crazy about it that I've often lost some of my steam to blog about it. That being said, I am going to give this a go.

Mooseman. The race I didn't plan to race. The race I didn't know I'd be racing. The race I had 3 weeks to wrap my head around.

Pre:
James and I drove up to Newfound Lake for registration (and Ironman brand shopping) on Saturday morning. We stopped in Manchester just after 11am at a Bertucci's Ristorante along the way to pick up a dozen rolls. These rolls make my stomach happy and since I never know what sort of food I'll find in a new place, we either plan to eat dinner there (like at FirmMan last year) or bring rolls with us. We got to the race site a little before 1pm. It was a little chilly but gorgeous outside. I stood in line for registration and packet pickup. Chatted with the guy in line behind us who was super friendly. He warned that the roads were in pretty bad condition from the hard winter, with a lot of frost heaves in inconvenient places. When I got to the front of the line the volunteer could not find my name. I chose not to freak out. I know I had registered because I saw the $300 WTC charge on my credit card. A staff person sorted it out. They only had me down as Rachel W, not my full last name. It occurred to James that that might mean when I crossed the finish line they wouldn't call out my name correctly. (He was right.) Got my number, chip, and other goodies in the tent. At this point I started to get the whole WTC/Ironman thing. As James would say its a "racket" and I agree. But because of that you get all sorts of cool stuff. Gorgeous tech shirt for the race. A timing chip strap made of neoprene that was so comfortable that I forgot it was on and it left not a single mark on my leg. Fancy booths so ogle. Etc, etc, etc. We went into the Ironman store. I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted the Mooseman cycling jersey. This is my first proper cycle jersey and I was stoked to get my hands on it. It was a little pricey but James bought it for me as a birthday present. I also sprung for a 50% off 2xu tri top. Good deals. I'll take it. We then grabbed my bike and put it in transition. Having registered late my number was high (1106 out of maybe 1200-1300), so I was way in the back of transition, and had to run through trees and over roots to get out and in. We left the park and drove the bike course to get a feel for this 3.5mile 4-16% grade hill I've been dreading. As well as the 5 miles 5% descent that follows. It was not a confidence boost. I'll say that much. I couldn't decide if it was better to know or not know about this hill. At the very least it was better to know about the false flat 2/3 of the way up so it wouldn't break me when there was more hill to come after. After the drove the course we went to the athlete's meeting. We listened in on the the pro meeting and then scooted out shortly after the age-group meeting started. As we got back to the lot there was a pro leaving us a note. She had hit James' car as she was pulling out. Everyone was very friendly but it was a tough and stressful addition to the afternoon. We then drove 30 minutes east to our motel on Lake Winnipesaukee. It was so cute and the view was amazing.

I prepped my nutrition and we headed to dinner by 6. Dinner was not so good. Its hard to mess up pizza (but they managed to). We were back at the hotel by 7:30 and I started to gear down. Reviewed my race plan for the second to last time, played some sudoku and then dozed off as the Bruins-Canucks game started.

Race Morning:
Alarm was set to go off at 3:50am. I woke up before the alarm wondering what time it was and checked my phone (alarm) to see and found it was 3:49. Perfect. Hopped out of bed. Took a Coke Zero, banana, rolls, and sunscreen into the bathroom to start morning preparations.

We were out the door by 5am, for the 35 minute drive back to Newfound Lake. This place was so cute we wanted to stay another night, but alas I had work to go to Monday morning. After a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts for coffee and an unsuccessful bathroom break we arrived 1.5miles from the lake around 5:40. A cop directed us to park on a side road. James was not thrilled to see others driving past but us getting diverted. It was a long walk with all my transition stuff, hydration, bike pump, etc in tow. But on a 45 degree morning it was good to get moving. I got body marked and set up transition. Transition was very tight. I forgot to do some stuff. Didn't pull sunscreen out of my bad for reapplication after bike. Didn't lube my neck or shoulders for my wetsuit. By the time I was standing in the portopotty line in was 6:30 and we had to leave transition by 6:45 so I realized those things just weren't going to happen.

Definitely a pre-poop face

I'm not looking so psyched to race, am I?

Finished in the line and headed to the swim start. Put on my wetsuit and new neoprene cap. People seemed really cold. Lots of blue lips and shivering. I'm generally not thrilled with my "natural insulation" but on mornings like this it was great not to have any trepidation about getting in the water (which was 60 degrees).

Swim:
The elite men and elite women went off. My wave was 4th. I lined up toward the right just behind the first row of swimmers. It was hard to know where to position myself. I figured I would rather get swum over than have the wiggle past people right away. Given the modified rectangular route I had to swim in toward the buoys  to get a good line but this wasn't too hard. The announcer counted down and we were off. I swam comfortably. Got my bearings. Quickly realized that this was the most gorgeous lake I had ever been in. Reveled in the clarity of the water and the brilliant morning sun. Oh wait, am I racing? Rachel, are you racing right now? Okay, back to business. I took the first 800 relatively comfortably. Picking people off who were ahead but mostly just looking for feet to follow. By the back of the rectangle we were catching the male wave ahead of us so things got congested a little. It occurred to me that maybe I wasn't swimming as hard as I should be. Although I was breathing every stroke (which I never do in the pool) I was hardly kicking and my RPE seemed moderate (at most). I decided that with 500 yards to go I would pick it up a bit (hopefully to get feeling back in my numb feet). In the intervening 500 yards I focused on stretching out my stroke and finding red caps to pick off ahead of me. It felt good to swim harder. Maybe next time I will take the whole swim out harder to see what I can do. I came out of the water and crossed the mat at 34 minutes. I was pleased with this. Maybe if I swam harder in the future I could hit 31? That would be good. [Sidebar - the 30minute time in FirmMan doesn't really count in my mind given the current for the majority of the swim.]

I pulled off my cap and goggles and ran toward the strippers. Dropped my neoprene cap but wasn't going to turn around for it. As I lay down to get stripped a volunteer had retrieved the neoprene and gave it to me (awesome). I jogged into transition and tried to get my frozen feet into my socks and shoes. Race belt on. Garmin on. Glasses and helmet. This takes me a long time.

Compare the determination on this face to how I look in the similar shot post ride...

Off I go!

 Bike:
The bike leg was as advertised. Double loop: rolling, 3.5mile killer hill, 5mi descent, rolling, hill, rolling, repeat, then rolling to finish. I was proud of myself slogging up the big hill. I stayed on my bike and stayed moving. I was very glad to be riding a triple. Those baby gears are money for keeping spinning (is it spinning at 50-60rpm?) on a tough climb. The descents were wild. I've never gone that fast and the roads were winding. I was a little afraid that I would lose control. Saw guys go flying by me on the descents and don't know how they do it. Kept a good effort on the rolling back stretch although my pace wasn't very even. Kept to my nutrition and hydration plan well (4 bottles - 2 w/G2+200cal carbo pro each, 2 water; 4 large dates, honey zinger chews, 1 gel). The gel didn't sit well with me. I think in the end gel is not my best bet [foreshadowing...].  I had been hoping to come in at 3:40. I know this is not a good time. I was figuring that with the hills anything less than an hour slower than my flat FirmMan time (3:09) would be acceptable. I do believe I am a stronger rider now (and want to go sub-3 by the end of the summer), but haven't done any work on hills, so I was going into this blind. I ended up finishing around 3:25. I was pleased with this. I was in T-2 as the winning men were crossing the finish line 100 yards away (ridiculous how fast they are!).

Not looking so great, huh?

 I took my time in transition. I wasn't feeling great so I wanted to give myself a chance to regain a little composure and maybe have my heartrate come down just a smidge. My stomach wasn't very happy with me. Not an all out revolt, but I was immediately nervous about nutrition on the run.

Off I go. That hat didn't last more than a mile...

 The run was gorgeous. Flat to rolling, with a more sizeable hill in the first half of each of the two loops. It was weird running on a double loop because you couldn't really tell who was on their first and who on their second lap. Well, with the fast people you could tell ;-)  The scenery was gorgeous. I tried to take that in.

 The weather (objectively) was perfect. Maybe 70 degrees and we got some cloud cover quickly so the sun wasn't too hot. Regardless, I got to overheating almost immediately. I took sponges at each aid station and choked down my carbo-pro and G2 as best I could. Didn't take any gel or chews on the run like I was supposed to. It was a hard run. From the first mile I couldn't find my target pace. I know there are people who can start slow and pick it up. But for me, if I can't find it in the first 1-2 miles, it generally isn't there. I didn't find it. There were no 8:30 miles. I stopped looking at my garmin and just ran/jogged/shuffled/slogged. The fantasies I had been harboring for the past week of doing an Ironman at the end of the summer (I told no one this) VANISHED. A large part of me wanted to stop. Well, not stop, but not be running. I kept telling myself that walking would just prolong things. So I kept going. My miles ranged from 8:42 (first) to 9:40 (8th - on the hill); mostly they hovered right around 9:00-9:08. When I saw James here at mile 7.5 I told him to expect me 5 minutes slower than my goal sub 2:00 run split.

In the home stretch (3 miles) it occurred to me that I hadn't been running this whole time. I was never in my stride. I was watching other people suffering (or others flying along seemingly effortlessly) and doing the same (suffering). I asked myself, could I be running harder now? It seemed that perhaps I could. I pushed a little harder. And it didn't seem worse (just equally painful). I saw a woman with a 28 on her calf ahead of me and had the thought to catch her. I have never passed anyone in my age group on the run. I swear. Never. At the next aid station she walked through and I passed. I didn't see her again. Then there was another 26 up ahead. I wouldn't say that I took chase, but I certainly did something (stalking and chasing at 9 minute miles seems absurd). And I caught and passed her. I am 90% sure they were both on their second laps so these were true passes. The last mile I pushed. And the last 300 yards I opened the throttle. Garmin says last mile 8:37, fastest mile of the day.

"Sprinting" to the finish

Came through at what I believe will be just over 6:05 official time. Pulled off to the side. Grabbed knees. Sucked wind. Saw stars. Hacked up a lung. Got my medal. Hobbled off to find James.

As bad as the running feels, the stopping sometimes feels worse. I get super nauseous. And do a lot of uncontrollable hacking. And feel dizzy.

After 2 bottles of water I was feeling a little better. Then I got in the lake in my race gear. Instant ice bath! This made things much better. I love this lake! Then James and I got food and ice cream and hung out for a bit. I met the fabulous Mary of Mary: IronMatron. She rocked it with a 3rd place Age Group finish.

 Having not posed for ridiculous pre-race "Manic" photos, James grabbed one as I was rebounding after my dip in the lake, food and soda.

Rolldown was happening by the lake so I swing by to see if I might get a glimpse of what had happened in my age group. I saw something like 45 women in 25-29 and my name was listed 15. Unofficial top third!!! I'm still awaiting results to be posted.

Then we packed up transition and headed home.

It was a great way to spend my birthday. I have a long way to go. But I like the journey.

Officially:
Swim 34:00 (AG rank, 13)
T1: 3:37
Bike 3:25:23  (AG rank, 20)
T2: 3:49
Run 1:58:27 (AG rank, 15)
Total 6:05:16
Age Group Final 15/45

FirmMan Race Report

After throwing a little pity party for myself this morning I am ready to have a crack at my race report.

James and I woke up Saturday morning planning to head down to Narragansett, RI first thing to register and drive the bike and run course. Instead we stumbled upon what sounded like a squirrel trapped in our chimney. This led to many phone calls and lots of rushing around. We still made it out the door by 9:30 and arrived by 11. Nice little expo and an athlete's meeting which provided lots of useful info (e.g. for the beach finish the flags line the shortest route but this is through the "death sand" and if you take a slight detour down toward the water the sand becomes firm and packed...much easier to run on). Then we headed out to drive the run course. I wasn't sure how much time we had before a work function of James' we needed to go to for a few hours so the run was the priority. It looked pretty good. A few rolling hills but nothing too bad (except on step hill around mile 10.5. When I saw that hill I gave myself permission to walk this hill without shame. I also started using this as a carrot/bargaining chip about running the rest of the race ("if you run to mile 10.5 you can walk this glorious 600 yards...").  The run route ended up not taking that long to scout so we headed out on the bike course. This ordering was probably a mistake before I was mentally exhausted from imagining the run and it made all the bike hills (rollers really) seem quite large and the hills seem impossible. The majority of the course is on Rt 1, a highway with a wide shoulder but a good deal of debris/gravel. I tried to minimize worry about flats but thought there was a good chance of one. We then headed to this work thing for a few hours and then checked into our hotel and out to Bertucci's for a earlybird dinner.

mmm...carbs

We got back to the hotel around 7 and I transitioned straight into sleep mode. James caught me practicing.

i love a good face plant.

I set my alarm for 4:00am and actually slept pretty well from 8pm-3:45am. I got up, got caffeinated, hydrated, and fueled. All systems were not go, however. I got a little worried about this. We were checked out and on the road (20 miles) to the race site by 4:55am. It was still pitch black when we arrived.

We headed to transition and I got my stuff set up, in the dark. Only then did my GI tract wake up and was I am to do my business. I immediately felt more ready to race. It was in the mid 50's and people were walking around with quite a bit of clothing on.

I was very glad to have my wetsuit and had a little trepidation about the ocean swim. I've never been in the ocean. The water and the waves don't freak me out. I figured I could roll with whatever. But it was chilly and I stayed in sweats until well after six when I changed into my wetsuit. Around 6:30 we started walking the mile down the beach to the swim start. It was a cool scene with a long line of athletes all making their way. The sun was also up by this point and the sky was absolutely gorgeous.

I was trying to stay calm and not get too riled up, knowing that it was going to be a long day of racing.

Actually I looked nervous (and tired).  So I decided it was time to get my race face on. I have two:

They played the national anthem, started the Elites and then it was go time. Older men first then women. It was a beach start (my first). I ran into the waves and dolphin dived into suddenly deep (SALTY) water. I swam a few strokes and then suddenly the water was shallow again. Stood up and high kneed it further in. The next dolphin dive and I was off and swimming. With my blue goggles it was impossible to see the orange buoy guiding us so I just went with the mass of people. It was tough work swimming out into the surf. When I turned the corner around the first (big) buoy suddenly there was a major current. The activity I was engaged in hardly felt like swimming at all. I couldn't see anything. I was breathing every stroke. I didn't feel like I was pulling at all. The waves were crazy. I'd be down below 2 walls of water one moment and then atop a huge platform of water the next. I did NO sighting for almost the whole swim. I couldn't see anything so it wouldn't have helped. At one point I couldn't see any other people and had to correct back toward the shore (I had gotten too far out). Throughout the swim people were bumping my feet and legs but no injuries to speak of (PHEW!). Only in the last 5 minutes did I settle into anything resembling a swimming rhythm and then I saw the final large buoy and started kicking and sighting up a storm to get there. Turned the corner back toward the shore and got carried in. As I stood up the woman next to meet looked at her watch, I asked how we were doing. She said 27 something? Wicked current. I can't swim that fast on my own. I'll take it. I scurried up the beach, undid my wetsuit zipper and got stripped!

Swim  30:35   2/7 age group 122/333 overall

I took my time in transition. Checked my list. Did everything carefully and headed out in 3:01

The bike ride was pretty crazy. I could tell there was a tailwind right away. I tried to get comfortable and just ride easy. My heartrate was totally under control and I felt comfortable. Miles were ticking by...FAST. My average speed for the first hour was 18.5mph. The second hour had all the hills and after driving it the day before I was hoping to hold 15mph for that hour. I ended up doing it at 18.1mph. I don't remember all that much from the ride. I dropped into my small chain ring on two of the hills to save my legs. I chatted it up with people as they passed and as I passed. It seemed like there were a lot of people out in front of me but I also saw a lot of people who were behind. There were stretches on which I saw nobody. I successfully grabbed water bottles at both water stations (miles 23 and 37). My main concern was that my right foot had gone numb at mile 30 or so and even being mindful of dropping my heel and "scraping the dirt off my shoe" on each pedal stroke it did not come back to life. At the turn around (mile 37) the tailwind turned into a headwind. I was a little worried about my foot. And all my lady bits were angry. I had not been on a long ride in my trisuit on Nimbus before and his saddle is clearly much harder than my dad's old bike. I wanted to stand just to give my crotch a break (but didn't). I also wanted to pee but when I tried (triathletes do this, I know they do) I couldn't make anything happen. I decided I must not have needed to pee that bad. At mile 40 I pulled out my swedish fish (calories 700-900) from my bento box. And...uh...uh..oh no!...they slipped out of my hand and flew away behind me. I was banking on those calories. A lesson for next time, bring more calories than you intend to eat. I slowed down quite a bit on the way back into town. I let people pass and dropped 2 gears. Without those swedish fish and with a numb foot (and strangely sensation free legs) I didn't want to push too hard. I wasn't sure how my body was doing. I watched as my average mph dropped below 18 more the first time right as I crossed 50 miles. I spun back into transition.

Bike:  3:09:52 6/7 age group   216/333 overall

I was in transition for a little over 2 minutes I think. For some reason no one's T2 times got registered and they were tacked on to our Run splits. But I think it was 2 minutes, maybe closer to 3. A woman on my bike rack who I had been passing back and forth on the bike was running around frantically - her running shorts had blown away! I saw her on the run course, she ran in her swim suit. Very brave.

On my way out of transition.

I felt pretty good for the first few miles. I ran 8:42's for the first 2 miles and 8:35's for the next 2.

My mom got this shot at mile 2. I know I was moving at this point. Looking at my stride just kills me though. I was thinking about bending my knees, I swear. The wheels started coming off around mile 4. Mile 5 was a 9:20 (slight uphill) but my perceived exertion was higher for this mile than the last 2 downhill miles which were each nearly a minute/mile faster. By the time I saw my mother again I was not feeling great. I remember shouting to her "My body is becoming displeased!"

Mile 6 here. At least my knees are bending.

I started bargaining with myself about walking. I told myself I needed to run through the first hour. See where I was and re-evaluate my desire to walk. I was doing well with fueling. Better than usual. I had a 24oz. water bottle I was sipping, I was eating a clif shot block each mile and taking pretzel sticks at the water stations. Around mile 6 I also realized I was getting hot so I started pouring cups of water over my head. The weather was actually perfect, high 60's I think. Since the course was a double out-and-back I saw the speedy women twice. I saw my age group winner and cheered her on both times, she was flying. Miles 7-10 were generally uneventful, just very slow. Each mile was slower than the last as ranged from 9:20-9:50. I also started to need to pee immediately after seeing the mile 6.3 portopotty and deciding I couldn't afford to stop. I was determined to pee while running. It proved somewhat difficult. Like the system didn't want to do it. Eventually the flood gates opened. It was good. I wondered how many others out there were doing it. Finally I came to that dreaded hill at mile 10.5 and as promised I walked. It was hard to bend my knees at this point. I was afraid (as I had been as I contemplated walking for the last 4 miles) that I wouldn't be able to start running again. But sure enough, when I crested the hill I started running (well, all the running was actually a pitiful jog, but whatever) again. Very very shortly after that I passed one of the main intersections and a volunteer yelled "only 1.7 miles to go!" I checked my garmin and there was no way this was correct but then again I had noticed that each mile seemed just a fraction short. I tried to find a groove. I realized at this point that I would be finishing. I had known this all along but when I tried to do the math ( 6 hours? ) I just couldn't quite wrap my head around it. As I turned back onto Rt 1A I knew I was less than a mile from the end. I tried to pick up the pace a little. Then I saw the 2 buildings we had to pass between to head down to the beach to run it in. I made the turn, someone yelled "looking strong" and I got excited. I took the long route on the beach. The "death sand" was brutal and I wanted no part of it. The wet sand was much better. I ran carefully. I don't know if I ran as hard as I could. I did not want to fall. I did not want to turn an ankle. I realized that I was passing two of the people who were ahead of me who opted for the death sand. I charged up the beach and saw James, my mom, dad, Cathy, Jon, Nick, and Nicole at the top of the hill. Into the parking lot, a quick 180 degree turn and through the chute! I looked at the clock as I ran through and it was reading 5:53:something. I had started in the 8minute wave. Math?? Math!?!!? 5:45?!?!?!?!?

Charging up the beach

Final turn to the finishing chute!

There was grabbing of knees and sucking of wind. I don't know how much time passed before I realized I needed to stop my watch.

Obligatory wind-sucking, knee-grabbing shot

Run 1:59ish  6/7 age group  184/3?? overall


Total:  5:45:11 5/7 age group  194/333 overall

How did I feel afterward? I don't know. Is that weird? I was relieved to be done. I was tired. I was overheated even though I could tell it wasn't hot out and those around me were all bundled up. I was glad to see so many people. I wanted to sit down.

I changed into warm clothes and hobbled around for a bit. I congratulated the woman who ran without shorts. I purchased a 70.3 sticker and an expensive but awesome windproof purple zoot shirt. I got in line for a massage but didn't end up waiting. We all made a picnic (thanks Mom!)

Around 2:15 we packed up transition and everyone headed home. On the ride home I gave James the blow by blow. I told him not to let me beat myself up after the official results were posted, not to let myself get caught up in how I did relative to my age group. I had hoped to finish 6:00-6:30. I went sub 6:00. I went way sub 6:00. Okay, so the swim may have been short and there was a crazy current. Okay, so there was a tailwind for at least 20 miles of the bike (but there was a headwind on the return ride). Okay, so the run may be have been .2mi short. Okay. Okay. Okay. But I did it. Start to finish. I didn't blow up. I didn't cry. I didn't give up. I stuck with it. I don't know if I could have pushed harder, but I pushed. I stayed within myself yet went farther than I have ever tested my boundaries to be. I also gave high fives to children, chatted with friendly strangers, cheered on those who were struggling (and those were who rocking it hardcore!) and made new friends.  It was a very good day.