General Smallwood Olympic Relay Race Report

Back Story This was a complete last minute, “sure, I’ll ride the bike in a relay”. Found out my pal Becky would be my relay partner – cool! To make sure I did not get roped into doing the full race (it’s been known to happen) I did not bring running shoes, goggles, or a wetsuit. Just me and Penny!

Pre: The race was less than an hour away so I got up at 4 and headed out. Pop Tart breakfast with a bottle of water plus I had time to have a pancake at Team Z Central. This was a very small race venue and by appearances, Team Z made up a good 80% of the field.

Swim (Becky) – ~29:25 minutes Becky has been having issues with nausea when swimming and with (stupid) Cozumel coming up, she’s testing new things and trying to get more time in the water. She had no issues during the swim. YEAH!

T1 – 2:50 There was a 1/4 mile run from the swim finish to transition. I was waiting in transition and had a “she looks familiar, doh, that’s Becky, it’s time to go!” moment.

Bike 25M – Ride Time 1:23
First I will say there was absolutely NO DRAMA during this ride. I ate, drank, and stayed upright through the whole thing!!!! I wanted to do the ride at this race because it is the same venue for Waterman in October and I have to say I really like the course. Only two “I F-ING hate hills” at the beginning and the rest were rollers. I rarely came out of aero and only shifted to the small ring twice.

T2 – :32 Now THAT is what a transition time should look like!

Run 6.2M (Becky) – Run Time 1:11
Becky was grousing about being such a slow runner but I think she did a FINE job especially since it seemed like the first half of the run was uphill!

Final –3:07
In typical “Es Relay Fashion” I missed seeing the finish (unless I was the runner, I have never seen my team finish). All in all a fun time, beautiful day, great relay partner, fabulous Team Z burger (with hand-cut shoestring fries), and a single serve box of wine (due to the whole “no beer” resolution).

Oh, wait, there is one small detail I forgot to mention.


Yep, Team “10 Less” (there’s a story behind the name, but I don’t want to type it out) came in 3rd place. BOOYA!

5+ months until 11/20/11 – IM Arizona – It’s gonna be IM-AZing!

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!

Beach 2 Battleship 140.6 Race Report

Alternate Title 1 – What happens when a relay turns into an Ironman (screw you WTC, I’m using the term Ironman, it’s easier to type then Iron-Distance or Ultra-Triathlon)
Alternate Title 2 – Hey Rocky, Watch me pull an Ironman out of my hat!
Alternate Title 3 – Seriously, don’t try this!

Package Pick-up/Back Story
Many months ago I signed up to ride the 112 miles in an Iron-distance race. Well, I had a feeling that my swimmer was not going to show since I hadn’t heard from her since June and she never replied to any email that CH or I sent. So I packed my wetsuit, just in case. While at packet pick-up I finally heard from her, and sure enough, she wasn’t going to show.

OK – I’ll swim (I mean, the swim profile says it’s with current, how bad can 2.4 miles be??), bike, and CH will run.

CH and I start texting and I notice signs that she doesn’t want to run. She has been plagued with injuries so after some back and forth I tell her it’s OK if she doesn’t want to come down.

OK – I’ll swim, bike, and call it a day.

I went to the pre-brief and started thinking, I wonder if I could do the whole thing. I called Iron-Jason to see if he thought I could pull an Ironman out of my A$$ and he said go for it, what’s the worst that can happen.

I go back and forth in my brain and decide WTF, I’ll be a ROCKSTAR for trying, and a ROCKSTAR SUPERHERO if I finish.

I went and picked up the run portion of the packet, changed from relay to individual, and bought all kinds of gear and nutrition required for the race.

I got a decent night sleep, at least until 3 A.M, then the nerves kicked in. Alarm went off around 4 A.M., ate something and headed to the start.

Pre:
Got all situated and found the Team Z-er’s that were going to swim. We put on our wetsuits and got on the bus to the start. It seemed like a very long drive for a 2.4 mile swim, then we got to stand in the cold waiting for the start. As we walked to the water (and the nerves were in high gear) I realized not only was I going to attempt an Ironman, I was about to get the crap beat out of me for about 15 minutes with the swim start. AWESOME! They corralled us up and blew an air horn, and the fun begins!

Swim 2.4 Miles – 1:30 in water, official time: 1:32:46 (includes run to timer)
Once again, I had an “easy” Ironman experience. I wasn’t hit, punched, swam over, nothing. I found my space and just tried to get comfortable. At first my goggles were leaking and they were driving me nuts. I finally got them situated and got into a groove. I did stop (way too often) to find the next buoy, but I still managed to stay in the groove. 2.4 miles is a very long way but I was never in pain (surprising since I only swam about 10 times, once being on Tuesday). The current wasn’t as strong as I was hoping and the water was very choppy but I’m pretty darn happy with my time.

T1 – 12:03
My first experience with a changing tent. Got out of my wetsuit and into my bike gear (it’s just as hard to get spandex on in a tent as out in the open). But I did take some time to really dry off, get some lube on, and to make sure I had everything. Grabbed Penny and headed out.

Bike 112M – Bike computer ride time 6:36 - Official Time (includes stops) 6:47:58 -
Mind-numbingly boring! Me no-likey 112 mile loops. Including the volunteers (who were awesome and I thanked whenever I remembered) there were less than 100 people out there cheering. Add the F-ING headwind for the first 80 miles and I was not a happy camper. Hydration was not an issue - I stopped at every porta-potty except at special needs (but stopped 10 minutes up the road at a mini-mart) and at the last stop.
For the first 30 miles I was convinced I would finish the race.
Miles ~31-60 I thought I’ll just stop at the half-way point on the run.
Miles ~61-75 – F-This, I’m stopping after the bike and drinking beer (I got screwed up on my nutrition for a bit and this was my bonking/crying in the porta-potty phase).
Got back on my nutrition track and started doing math, and for the rest of the ride I thought “Wow, at this pace I have plenty of time to finish this race”.

Oh, and notice the PR on the bike?! BOO-YA! (OK, it's 100% due to the lack of hills (mountains) compared to Switzerland).

T2 – 10:42
Absolutely thrilled to get off of Penny and I may have asked bike catcher to “throw that b!tch away”. Got changed, asked the volunteer to talk me out of heading out. She told me I was awesome for even trying so I headed out to the run. Another stop at a porta-potty (stupid hydration) and off I went.

Run 26.2 (or Not)- Time: ~3:00 (obviously not)
I s-l-o-w-l-y jogged out of transition and down the road until I rounded the corner to get on the overpass. I stepped on something that was jabbing into my foot so I took a moment to figure out what it was. Hmm, a nail, good thing I checked! I basically walked any incline and “ran” the rest. I had to stop at every other porta-potty, so maybe I’ll wear a diaper for my next Ironman. The crowd support was great through downtown Wilmington, but aside from that there was barely anyone out cheering. The sun set around mile 7 and it started getting chilly. By now, it felt like I was getting stabbed in my lower back with each step (car accident in the beginning of October) so between the pain, cold, and lack of crowd (oh, and the fact that I was only partially trained for the bike portion) I decided I was calling it a day at the ½ marathon point.

Overall: DNF I circled the cone at the turn around to ensure I did the whole ½ marathon and headed to the side of the finish area to turn in my chip and immediately burst into tears. I’ve only DNF’d one race (and I ended up in the hospital with pneumonia, bronchitis, and strep throat). I stopped and tried to talk myself into finishing at least 10 times before I got to where I could hand someone my chip. I gave my chip to a volunteer and said take this before I hurt myself. Went to the team tent, grabbed a steak and ate it caveman style. I soon realized I was exhausted so I caught a ride with Marie back to the hotel.

The following days
Quite honestly, I’ve been beating myself up. I still had 5 hours until the cut-off – I could have finished. Two days later there was no pain, which in my head means I should have pushed myself and finished.

But I’m putting this behind me and getting back on marathon training this weekend.

Oh, and signing up for Ironman Arizona on Monday – this one I will train for!

At long last...Musselman 70.3 Race Report

I am officially the worst blogger in the universe. And just so you know I’m only writing this race report so I can get to the cool picture at the end. Without further ado…

Package Pick-up Since nothing is popping to mind, I’m assuming it was uneventful.

Pre: Per the usual, Team Z rocks, pancakes with Nutella! We were also set up along the start/finish line so it was nice to be able to just hang out with the team before getting in the water.

Swim 1.2 Miles – 40:34 You could walk to the first buoy and that was my plan until I heard a guy talking about his brother’s best-friend’s cousin’s babysitter (or some strange relationship) that walked last year and fell and broke his ankle. DOH! So I swam. And I swear the course was lllooonnnggg. It felt like I was in there for an eternity and at one point I said if that next buoy is not the finish line I’m stopping. And I did, until someone ran into me and made me swim again. That swim SUCKED!

T1 – 3:10 So I put on the skirt to change and was shocked at how easy the bike shorts went on. I continued to get ready for the ride and when I went to put sunscreen on my legs I realized I still had my tri shorts that I wore during the swim on under my bike shorts. Clock was ticking so I decided to ride with both tri shorts and bike shorts. Would I pay for that later???

Bike 56.2M – 3:28 The answer is NO!!! It was actually quite comfortable. The bike ride ROCKED! I was cruising along thinking this course has NOTHIN’ on Mooseman, this is EZ-Peazy! Then I turned a corner and saw a steep wall disguised as a hill. The hills continued but overall it was a great ride and the scenery was GORGEOUS.

T2 – 4:53 This time I really did take off BOTH pairs of shorts and donned the compression shorts. No extra layers this time.

Run 13.1M – 2:31 My calves/ankle hurt at the beginning so I did the 10/2 run/walk. There was a lady that kept passing me and would chirp “you’re doing good” which got VERY annoying so I eventually passed her and never saw her again. The course was hilly and there was a soul-crushing gravel hill that lasted about a mile around mile 7. After that I ran everything except a couple of hills. The locals who were out cooling us off with their hoses are my new BFF’s – true saviors! Overall, I’m happy with my time but I do need to figure out what the heck is wrong with my calves/ankles though!

Overall 6:48 I thought I was going to PR this race and I was SOOOOOO close – two minutes to be exact! Dang-it!

SWAG Best ice-cream in the world, really good juice, a metal thermos, and a cool finisher medal made out a bike cassette (that I would later use as the outer ring of my tattoo).

Yep, you read correctly, I now have my Ironman tattoo. Instead of the MDOT I went conceptual to represent the sport instead of one race.



And now you know why I finally wrote this damn race report!