Kinetic 2011 70.3 Race Report

Alternate Title 1 – So…Nutrition IS Important
Alternate Title 2 – Kinetic Curse
Alternate Title 3 – I’d like a do-over please!

Back Story: I did Kinetic in 2009 in prep for Ironman Switzerland and pulled the tendons in my hamstring. If you recall from that race report I dragged my bum leg behind me for 13.1 miles but by golly I finished. This year, the race was my kick in the pants to start training for Arizona, and my opportunity to overcome the Kinetic Curse.

Pre: We were expecting rain so I had all my gear stowed in big Ziploc bags and under a giant garbage bag. I also got Rock Star parking right next to transition so I could put my gear bag away after setting up transition versus lugging it over to Team Z Central. That caused me to linger in transition longer then norm so I didn’t get my secondary breakfast at the tent (pancake or bagel) so the bowl of oatmeal was going to have to hold me (Mistake #1). Got into my wetsuit (otherwise known as sausage stuffing) and was all ready to go. No fear since I didn’t have lofty goals for this race.

Swim 1.2 Miles – 43:18 (includes run to timer): 5m 28s slower than last time here, but not a PW either. “Easy” swim, no contact and relatively straight line. I think the swim to the first buoy caused the slow time because I couldn’t find a rhythm and was just flailing arms. Or it could be that I haven’t been to swim practice in over a month. Whatever.

T1 – 6:40: What the…?? Last time I did this race my T1 time was 3:07! I do remember telling the woman next to me that at this point my swim was only slightly slower then transition time.

Bike 56M – Ride Time 3:28:18:
A PR at this race but it was a different course then last time so it probably doesn’t count. So I’m riding along, drinking my Gatoraid/water every 10 minutes like normal. When I was on the bike an hour I ate my first Hammer Gel. Almost immediately I started having vision problems. It was raining so I wiped my glasses off and noticed that I had tunnel vision and my head was feeling kind of loopy. I stopped and was standing over my bike when I realized I was about to pass out. I just got off the bike and was laying Penny down when I blacked out. No idea how long I was out but came to and immediately panicked. I seriously thought I had a stroke because it was exactly the way my Mother described hers. I kept trying to stand up and kept falling over so I assumed I lost function of my legs. So I did what any normal person would do – I laid on the side of the road crying like a pansy-ass sissy girl, thinking OMG I had a stroke, OMG I had a stroke, OMG I had a stroke.

After a bit of blubbering I was able to stand, I drank some Gatoraid and soon was able to ride again. My plan was to get to the point where you start the second loop and head to the end instead. Instead, by the time I got there I was feeling better so I decided to keep on going (Mistake #2).

Around mile 40 I started feeling nauseous. Around mile 45 I got sick (lesson learned – stop the bike, there’s no place to get sick while riding without getting it on you or your bike). And again some 20 minutes later and THAT is when I knew my day was done.

So What The F Happened: I’m calling this a nutrition FAIL. I had a small bowl of oatmeal around 4:30 AM. I didn’t eat again until almost 9AM and that was after “pre-race nerves”, swimming, and biking for an hour. My blood sugar had to been bottomed out. The episode happened almost immediately after eating gel which is almost all sugar so I think it shocked my system (causing the blackout). All my food on the bike was sugar based so I think the getting sick was a result of too much sugar on an empty stomach and a bit from drinking nuclear lake water.

So my lessons learned are eat sooner on the bike and be prepared (like I have been in the past) with salty food, sweet food, and some miscellaneous food just in case.

Still plenty of time to TRAIN, practice, and get it together before 11/20/11 – IM Arizona – It’s gonna be IM-AZing!

I would like to say Thank You to all of my Team Z family for checking up on me, both Saturday afternoon and on Sunday. If my Mom only knew how much people watch out for and take of each other she wouldn’t worry about me so much!

PoPT - Power of Positive Thoughts

As I said, I was a “Debbie Downer” for a couple of posts so I went into this weekend’s workouts with a positive attitude. I was going to make the mileage and I was going to have a good time doing it.

Saturday – woke up to cold and rain. Think positive, think positive….
Highlights - Not wussing out for the team run, running with Gina (my perfect Zone 2 partner) and Jackie’s Guinness cake after the run.
Lowlights - Did I mention the cold and rain?!

Headed to the gym with the intentions of lifting and swimming. I couldn’t warm up so I went straight to the sauna and thus ended my lifting plans. From there I headed to the hot tub, swam 2,000 meters, then back to the hot tub to soak/stretch. Really, not a bad way to end a cold/wet run day!

Sunday – 72.9 Mile Ride – Boyce, VA – This is one of my favorite team rides and this week was no exception.
Highlights: Riding in zone 2 with Kate, Lindsay, Mary, + 5 or 6 others (who are usually ahead of me), Team Z picnic, seeing Dude out and about, Marlene the Easter Bunny, and finishing my longest ride to date (and for the record I DID go all the way to the turn around point)!
Lowlights: Launching my water bottle at Lindsay (twice), thinking the final 18 was flat (boy was I wrong), seeing Jason and Lindsay and thinking I was moving in slow motion because they had put over 3 miles on me like that (snap your fingers). Turns out, they did NOT go all the way out to the turn-around point so they cut the ride short 2.9 miles.

Lesson learned on the bike ride: I still need to work on nutrition and drinking. I don’t know where my mind was but for the entire ride my nutrition was 2 PowerAde Endurance drinks, 2 Hammer Gels, 2 individual Shot Blocks, 2 individual Luna Moons, and 2 Reeses Peanut Butter cups. NOT NEAR ENOUGH!!! 5 hours –I took in 1,336 calories (1,080 in liquids) and burned over 4,000 calories. I paid the price that evening – started feeling really bad around 5 – hot, pounding headache, racing heart rate, could feel my pulse throughout my body, couldn’t clench my fists. Apparently it was dehydration (thanks to Dude for figuring that out – I thought I was having a heart attack). Four glasses of ice water later and I felt much better!

Monday – woke up exhausted but not in any pain. Had no energy all day but managed to make it out for $.50 wings and beer with the gang.

Aside from the nutrition (I'm working on it) I deem this week and the end of the 3 week build a success.


Two swims, two runs and one bike and it’s race weekend! I am relaying the Oly on Sat (Bike 24 miles) and doing the Sprint on Sunday 750/12 miles/5K.

TGIRW! Thank God It’s Recovery Week!

Much Better

Finally got in most* of the training during a build week. The * is for the fact that strength training does not count. I missed track (weather) and my Mon/Tue runs were what could only loosely be defined as run/walks – more walk then run because my legs were still hurting from the 18 miles last Sat.

So here comes the weekend and the training plan calls for 10 miles but I was really disappointed with myself after last weekend and I want to get in between 14-18.

I thought all week about what caused my muscle breakdown last week and it came down to liquids. In a 10 mile run, I usually drink 4 fuel belt bottles. In the 18 last weekend I only drank 5. Hmmm, perhaps I was slightly dehydrated?! So this week I vowed to drink on a more regular schedule.

And it worked. Yes, there was still some pain but that’s expected after running 18 miles. But I was certainly more mobile afterwards then last week. Changes I made:
- Drank 9 fuel belt bottles during the run, plus a big bottle both to/from
- Did not rest in between loops for near as long
- Took a cold bath as soon as I got home followed by a hot shower

So I don’t know what exactly made me feel better but the combo of all the changes have me feeling pretty good. Finished the weekend with 2 hour spin on Sunday.

So now it’s Monday, 12 Jan 2009 which means I have exactly 6 more months till IRONMAN Switzerland. And yes, every time I think about it, I get a little nauseous.

Ahhhhh

Week Three:
Recovery week! What this means is shorter/easier workouts all week, no strength training (not that I’ve been so good at that!), and, a team Happy Hour on Thursday (skipped due to sleepiness).

I had my first appointment with a nutritionist this week. I’m trying to figure out what and how much I should be eating/drinking before/during/after exercise. As it turns out my diet is good but I’m not drinking or eating near enough while exercising. She recommended losing about 3% body fat (she said something about cutting out alcoh…that’s all I heard, then blah, blah, blah). I get my official plan next week which means this is my last week of eating like a free woman. Can you say take-out, drinks, and French fries?!

This recovery week we also got a special sale at Conte’s and Potomac River Running (PRR), our team bike/running stores. They offered us free beer, pizza and discounts on all items in the store. In all, my two beers and one slice of pizza cost me close to $450! Have I ever mentioned how much this addiction is costing???

The week ended with a nice 5 mile run in the rain and a 30-mile bike ride that turned into 40-miles. Lesson learned - follow the cue sheet not the people you are riding with! On a side note, I am much faster on Grace (Sue's husband's bike that I’m borrowing – named after his daughter Leah Grace) then on Ruby (my Specialized Ruby comp) so the 40 miles took about a ½ hour less then it has in the past two weeks.

In summary: Missed 1 work-out (40 min bike), burned over 5,000 calories, exercised for over 6 hours.