Working just makes me appreciate my weekends a thousand times more.
Today:
Susie wakes up at 8am (YAHOO!), we watch a little They Might Be Giants DVD while I check my email, then we have breakfast and I bake peanut butter cookies. Jamie's still asleep because he spent most of the night at the Australian Embassy watching their version of the Superbowl in Realtime (I think he crawled into bed at 3:30am.) At 10am, we head to Bull Run Regional Park for the Buddy Walk, a festival to raise awareness for Downs Syndrome. The walk is very short and followed by an outdoor concert with our favorite band, Rocknoceros. They also have a petting zoo with a humpback cow, alpacas, donkeys, a huge tortise, chickens, and little bunnies. Susanna is in heaven! 12:30pm we head home, have a nice lunch, and then head to to W&OD for a 15 mile round trip bike ride to the Reston Town Center. At the midpoint, we have the best gelato in the world. We stop at Safeway on the way back, pick up steaks, and grill outside.
A great day.
I love Saturdays with nothing planned and amazing weather!!!!!!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Race Report - My first HALF IRON TRIATHLON!
Well, it's been about 5 months since I updated this blog.... since then, I fractured my foot, had an aircast for 6 weeks and started biking and swimming, figured what the heck why not become a triathlete, and did two triathlons (sprint and olympic) over the summer. Today - September 12 - I finished my first half iron distance tri -- the longest race of my life! Here's the report.
EXPO AND SWIM PRACTICE - THE DAYS BEFORE
The triathlon was located about 7 hours from me and 5 hours from my wonderful mother, who graciously offered to babysit Susanna for the weekend. We arrived Friday night at midnight, and I contemplated sleeping in the next morning since Susie was pretty sleepy and I never get that luxury, but I used my better judgement and decided to get up and do the practice swim since I'd never swam in this kind of open water -- the kind with waves and currents. I didn't want my first time in Lake Erie to be race morning.
When I arrived at the beach and saw the massive waves, I began to wonder if this was an ocean and not at a lake. I asked some of the people coming out of the water how it was and the reponse was "I'm not going to lie. It was terrible." Okay. Not promising. They had two turn buoys to choose from -- one was a quarter mile out and one was a half mile out. I decided to go for the first one. I ran into the water... and the three feet waves kept pushing me back. I could not seem to get over the breakers. I was using an awful lot of energy. After what seemed like eternity, I finally got to the bouy and turned around. About a minute later as I turned to breathe, a huge wave went right into my mouth and I started choking. At this point I was pretty sure I was going to drown then and there. I started treading, coughed up the water, and continued towards the shore. Which seemed to take forever, because a current was pushing me down the lake. When I could touch the ground, I stood up and realized I was about .15 miles away from where I had started. Totally off course.
I started to have this forboding feeling that maybe this half-iron dream was a bad idea. I mean, what crazies swim in scary open water for almost 2000 meters, then get out and bike 56 miles and THEN run a half maraton? I started to wish I could just go home and sleep in my nice warm bed and not wake up at 5am to torture myself. And I had nightmares about those waves.
When we arrived at the lake the next morning, for some reason I started to feel a little bit better. I felt a lot better when I looked at the lake. A storm had passed through that night, and it looked like it took the three feet waves with it. It was a different lake. One I could swim in. Thank God.
I headed to transition and set up. We had to be out at 7:30, and at 7:20, as I went to pump up my tires, I managed to rip out the tube stem and get a flat. Fabulous. I cannot change a tire in 10 minutes. What the heck was I going to do? Plus, I only had one tube, so if I got a flat I during the race I was done. Luckily triathletes are usually the nicest people in the world, and some guy saw me and apparently the look on my face, and told me he could change a tube in 2 minutes. I gave him the biggest smile, and he told me to run over to the bike booth while he did it and buy another tube. He also lubed my chain for me. We were all done by 7:30 and made it out of transition just in time. Whew.
I still had over an hour before my swim wave (the full Iron distance folks started at 7am, and we had to wait til they were well on their way), so I hung out with my mom and Susie for awhile and then headed down to the beach. I was starting to feel a little better. I chatted to a bunch of women in the red wave -- 30 - 45 year olds -- and met many who were also doing their first half-iron. As we lined up to start, I was really feeling good!
8:40ish -- THE RACE BEGINS! (For the red wave, anyhow.)
We got in the water and ran through the (much smaller than yesterday's) breakers. And then we started to swim. And then I started to get kicked in the face, whacked with arms, and swum over. And then I started to panic. WHAT THE HECK HAD I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO? I quit freestyle and decided I was not going to drown, so I'd just tread water til all these read caps were out of the way. If I lost two minutes there, that was fine. Once I had some room, I very slowly went back to freestyle. And you know what? It was downright pleasant. I kept reminding myself that I did 2300 yards in the pool on Tuesday, which is a little more than the distance I had to swim, so I had in in me to do this -- I just didnt' have walls to hold on two every 25 yards. Eventually the first turn bouy came. As I rounded the corner, my confidence grew. Time seemed to be going pretty quickly -- I could see the second turn buoy! I turned the corner, and could see the finish! Seriously! I was going to make it! The last leg was the hardest as the current wanted to push me back out to the lake, but I just kept on swimming. When I hit the breakers, I stood up... and ran! Leg 1 of the triathlon was complete! I gave my mom and Susanna a big smile as I ran past them and into transition.
I spent awhile in T1, but I figured it was best to make sure I was comfortable for the bike. I used the port-o-john, ate a cliff bar, put on my bike shoes and helmet -- and off I went!
THE BIKE
Now, as you all know, I do not have the best bike handling skills. And I was still a bit disoriented from the swim. As I biked out of transition, I managed to wipe out almost immediately. Into a sand dune. Well, I guess if you are going to wipe out, doing it on a sand dune is the most opportune place to do it. Not a scratch on me! Just a very sandy bike! I got myself up, and then decided I was going to pass all the people who watched me fall. So there.
The first 15 miles or so were very very VERY bumpy! Every time I took a drink, the straw would bounce and whack me in the roof of my mouth. Fluid intake became a bit dangerous :). Once the road smoothed out, it also got pretty hilly. I became very thankful for the insanely hilly (near mountainous) century ride that I did three weeks ago. My pace wasn't nearly as fast on the hilly parts as it was on the flats, but according to the computer I averaged between 17-18 mph total. I started to get a little tired towards the end, but was very excited when I looked at the computer and saw that it was still under 3 hours when I hit 50 miles. Rock on! I really started hammering it.
As I approached the finish, I heard someone yell "Your race number is gone!" I put my hand on my back, and sure enough, it was. I am not sure how strict they are about penalties in this course, but there was no way I was going to risk being disqualified on the run becuase I didn't have my number. I clipped out, leaned my bike against the fence just before the finish, and started running the opposite direction. I yelled "Has anyone seen my race number?" About a tenth of a mile down the way, a police officer had picked it up. A volunteer ran to me and pinned the race number on my shirt. I ran back to my bike, hopped on it for all of about 30 seconds, and crossed the finish. I lost about 6 minutes because of the race number, but oh well. :)
TRANSITION TWO
Again, I took my time, used the bathroom, stretched, and headed on my way.
THE RUN
Susie and Mom were standing just outside T2. Susie was smiling and clapping, so I ran over and gave her a kiss on the lips, which seemed to amuse all the spectators. I started out and what felt like a very easy pace. A man jogged up beside me and fell into step. After a few minutes he commented that we were doing a ten minute pace and just started chatting to me. It felt good to talk to someone after all the solitary feats from the past four hours! Over the next six miles, I found out that he was 44, he had two kids in high school, and he did triathlons in his pre-child years and was just getting back into them. The run was absolutely beautiful, along the shore of Lake Erie. Right before we hit the halfway point, my running buddy started to look tired. I was still feeling really good -- I felt better at this point in the race than I did 2 miles into the run at the Olympic. I just kept running. I then fell into step with a guy about my age and ran with him until the last mile. I had a massive blister on my left heel, but aside from that I was feeling good. I asked him what time it was, and he said just before 3. I told him "Awesome!" - I never thought I'd finish in under 6:30 - and then I started really pushing it. I pretended I was on a treadmill doing a mile interval. Except I was running down a beautiful causeway into Cedar Point Amusement Park. I could feel the adreneline kick in, and as soon as I saw the finish I started to pound the pavement -- it was exhilerating and of course as I crossed the finish and they gave me my medal, I started to cry (just like I did at my first marathon.)
RESULTS:
Total time: 6:28:10
Overall Women: 94/267
AG: 24/39
Swim: 45:11
Bike: 3:16:13
Run: 2:17:20
EXPO AND SWIM PRACTICE - THE DAYS BEFORE
The triathlon was located about 7 hours from me and 5 hours from my wonderful mother, who graciously offered to babysit Susanna for the weekend. We arrived Friday night at midnight, and I contemplated sleeping in the next morning since Susie was pretty sleepy and I never get that luxury, but I used my better judgement and decided to get up and do the practice swim since I'd never swam in this kind of open water -- the kind with waves and currents. I didn't want my first time in Lake Erie to be race morning.
When I arrived at the beach and saw the massive waves, I began to wonder if this was an ocean and not at a lake. I asked some of the people coming out of the water how it was and the reponse was "I'm not going to lie. It was terrible." Okay. Not promising. They had two turn buoys to choose from -- one was a quarter mile out and one was a half mile out. I decided to go for the first one. I ran into the water... and the three feet waves kept pushing me back. I could not seem to get over the breakers. I was using an awful lot of energy. After what seemed like eternity, I finally got to the bouy and turned around. About a minute later as I turned to breathe, a huge wave went right into my mouth and I started choking. At this point I was pretty sure I was going to drown then and there. I started treading, coughed up the water, and continued towards the shore. Which seemed to take forever, because a current was pushing me down the lake. When I could touch the ground, I stood up and realized I was about .15 miles away from where I had started. Totally off course.
I started to have this forboding feeling that maybe this half-iron dream was a bad idea. I mean, what crazies swim in scary open water for almost 2000 meters, then get out and bike 56 miles and THEN run a half maraton? I started to wish I could just go home and sleep in my nice warm bed and not wake up at 5am to torture myself. And I had nightmares about those waves.
When we arrived at the lake the next morning, for some reason I started to feel a little bit better. I felt a lot better when I looked at the lake. A storm had passed through that night, and it looked like it took the three feet waves with it. It was a different lake. One I could swim in. Thank God.
I headed to transition and set up. We had to be out at 7:30, and at 7:20, as I went to pump up my tires, I managed to rip out the tube stem and get a flat. Fabulous. I cannot change a tire in 10 minutes. What the heck was I going to do? Plus, I only had one tube, so if I got a flat I during the race I was done. Luckily triathletes are usually the nicest people in the world, and some guy saw me and apparently the look on my face, and told me he could change a tube in 2 minutes. I gave him the biggest smile, and he told me to run over to the bike booth while he did it and buy another tube. He also lubed my chain for me. We were all done by 7:30 and made it out of transition just in time. Whew.
I still had over an hour before my swim wave (the full Iron distance folks started at 7am, and we had to wait til they were well on their way), so I hung out with my mom and Susie for awhile and then headed down to the beach. I was starting to feel a little better. I chatted to a bunch of women in the red wave -- 30 - 45 year olds -- and met many who were also doing their first half-iron. As we lined up to start, I was really feeling good!
8:40ish -- THE RACE BEGINS! (For the red wave, anyhow.)
We got in the water and ran through the (much smaller than yesterday's) breakers. And then we started to swim. And then I started to get kicked in the face, whacked with arms, and swum over. And then I started to panic. WHAT THE HECK HAD I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO? I quit freestyle and decided I was not going to drown, so I'd just tread water til all these read caps were out of the way. If I lost two minutes there, that was fine. Once I had some room, I very slowly went back to freestyle. And you know what? It was downright pleasant. I kept reminding myself that I did 2300 yards in the pool on Tuesday, which is a little more than the distance I had to swim, so I had in in me to do this -- I just didnt' have walls to hold on two every 25 yards. Eventually the first turn bouy came. As I rounded the corner, my confidence grew. Time seemed to be going pretty quickly -- I could see the second turn buoy! I turned the corner, and could see the finish! Seriously! I was going to make it! The last leg was the hardest as the current wanted to push me back out to the lake, but I just kept on swimming. When I hit the breakers, I stood up... and ran! Leg 1 of the triathlon was complete! I gave my mom and Susanna a big smile as I ran past them and into transition.
I spent awhile in T1, but I figured it was best to make sure I was comfortable for the bike. I used the port-o-john, ate a cliff bar, put on my bike shoes and helmet -- and off I went!
THE BIKE
Now, as you all know, I do not have the best bike handling skills. And I was still a bit disoriented from the swim. As I biked out of transition, I managed to wipe out almost immediately. Into a sand dune. Well, I guess if you are going to wipe out, doing it on a sand dune is the most opportune place to do it. Not a scratch on me! Just a very sandy bike! I got myself up, and then decided I was going to pass all the people who watched me fall. So there.
The first 15 miles or so were very very VERY bumpy! Every time I took a drink, the straw would bounce and whack me in the roof of my mouth. Fluid intake became a bit dangerous :). Once the road smoothed out, it also got pretty hilly. I became very thankful for the insanely hilly (near mountainous) century ride that I did three weeks ago. My pace wasn't nearly as fast on the hilly parts as it was on the flats, but according to the computer I averaged between 17-18 mph total. I started to get a little tired towards the end, but was very excited when I looked at the computer and saw that it was still under 3 hours when I hit 50 miles. Rock on! I really started hammering it.
As I approached the finish, I heard someone yell "Your race number is gone!" I put my hand on my back, and sure enough, it was. I am not sure how strict they are about penalties in this course, but there was no way I was going to risk being disqualified on the run becuase I didn't have my number. I clipped out, leaned my bike against the fence just before the finish, and started running the opposite direction. I yelled "Has anyone seen my race number?" About a tenth of a mile down the way, a police officer had picked it up. A volunteer ran to me and pinned the race number on my shirt. I ran back to my bike, hopped on it for all of about 30 seconds, and crossed the finish. I lost about 6 minutes because of the race number, but oh well. :)
TRANSITION TWO
Again, I took my time, used the bathroom, stretched, and headed on my way.
THE RUN
Susie and Mom were standing just outside T2. Susie was smiling and clapping, so I ran over and gave her a kiss on the lips, which seemed to amuse all the spectators. I started out and what felt like a very easy pace. A man jogged up beside me and fell into step. After a few minutes he commented that we were doing a ten minute pace and just started chatting to me. It felt good to talk to someone after all the solitary feats from the past four hours! Over the next six miles, I found out that he was 44, he had two kids in high school, and he did triathlons in his pre-child years and was just getting back into them. The run was absolutely beautiful, along the shore of Lake Erie. Right before we hit the halfway point, my running buddy started to look tired. I was still feeling really good -- I felt better at this point in the race than I did 2 miles into the run at the Olympic. I just kept running. I then fell into step with a guy about my age and ran with him until the last mile. I had a massive blister on my left heel, but aside from that I was feeling good. I asked him what time it was, and he said just before 3. I told him "Awesome!" - I never thought I'd finish in under 6:30 - and then I started really pushing it. I pretended I was on a treadmill doing a mile interval. Except I was running down a beautiful causeway into Cedar Point Amusement Park. I could feel the adreneline kick in, and as soon as I saw the finish I started to pound the pavement -- it was exhilerating and of course as I crossed the finish and they gave me my medal, I started to cry (just like I did at my first marathon.)
RESULTS:
Total time: 6:28:10
Overall Women: 94/267
AG: 24/39
Swim: 45:11
Bike: 3:16:13
Run: 2:17:20
THE AFTERMATH
After dinner, Mom had to go back to Indy, so I was left with a very energetic toddler whose bedtime wasn't for another two hours. Whoah. That was a challenge. I. Am. So. Tired. She is now asleep, and I am about to join her in dreamland, but I wanted to have a written memory of this day while it was still fresh in my head. Of course, the question is, will I ever do a full Ironman? I don't know -- they started an hour before me, and many of them are still out on the course right now at 10pm. In fact, it doesn't close til midnight! That seems like insanity! For now, I think this distance is by FAR a major challenge.. but I'll never say never.
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