Timberman 70.3

It's been a while since my last post...I was so busy racing I didn't have time to write and then I was so happy to be done the last thing I wanted to do was write! I guess I'll just start where I left off.....Timberman 70.3
It was not not the race I was expecting. I was a little more than disappointed with my performance. I still don't know what really went wrong. I felt great in the swim. No SIPE. I kept my power exactly where it was suppose to be and followed the plan to the "T" both pace wise and nutritionally. Despite that, I had terrible cramps about 15 miles in on the bike. I've never had cramps on the bike!! Maybe it was the hills? I'll never know but they continued and when I hit the run they we're brutal. The last couple miles of the run I could have sworn I had picked up the pace. I thought I had finally gotten a rhythm going. I looked at my watch only to see > 9 min pace. At first, I thought there was something wrong with the GPS. My perceived effort was telling me I was running at least 7 min mile.... maybe it was the tree cover. But no, not so....my perception was so askew I was truly running 9:45's. It just hurt so bad it felt like 7:00's.
Oh well..... Like it or not, The first one is in the book.
The best part of the race was staying with friends and teammates. We rented a fabulous house for the week and we all just had a great time. I had the pleasure of meeting a Power-Tri teammate Mr. James Lawrence who by the way is now the official world record holder for the most 70.3's in one season.....22!! He does it all to help build dams in Africa. You can check out his website www.triandgiveadam.com
Great guy!! I can't wait to see what he does in 2012. He's planning to break the world record for the most Full IM's in one season. One month he will have to do four in a row....Ouch!!
Thanks to all my friends and family who donated almost $1000 for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Those donations also allowed me pre and post race access to my own private bathroom. Let's not kid ourselves people, we all know this was a huge motivator! But as I was sitting in that deluxe private port-o-potty, I looked around at all the pictures. Sweet innocent children whose last wishes were being granted...It brought tears to my eyes.

Ready for Timberman 70.3

It's been a while since my last post. Training, work and life doesn't leave much time to write. I'm getting ready to head up to New Hampshire after work tonight. And it never fails... the day you want to get out of work early, is the busiest day of the year.
I've worked hard to prepare for this race. It's not easy to do 3 1/2 hour bricks several times a week when you work 10 hours a day and have a 1 hour commute each way. Some of my long bricks have gone exceptionally well. I'm starting to think I may be more cut out for distance than sprints..... but time will SOON tell.
There are so many things that can go wrong!! All the hard work I've put in and if I get SIPE (swimming induced pulmonary edema), my day could be over before I hit the bike. I've made the decision not to wear a wetsuit. I've done a lot of swim tests and I'm only about 12 seconds faster over a mile with the wetsuit...and it takes 20-30 sec to strip it. So it's pretty much a wash. The risk of SIPE is too high for me to wear it.
I'm going to trust my coach and follow the race plan to the "T". He hasn't let me down yet!!
I'm not going to lie and pretend I don't want to win....that's what I'm racing for.... I WANT TO WIN!! Wish me luck!

Minuteman Race Report

Raced local this past weekend, which is great! Anytime you only have to drive 20 min to race, it's a total bonus. Minuteman Sprint is run in-conjunction with the Patriot Half Ironman distance race. And as an added bonus my husband decided to give it a go, he hasn't swam or run in months, so I thought I'd give him a good butt kickin!

Started in the Elite wave, first to go. A bunch of men dressed as minute men (revolutionary war style) fired their guns with no warning guess that was the start, so off we went. Had a good swim. Got on some fast feet and relaxed the whole time. Fast transition and onto the bike. Good bike too, although not great. Flat course, not my strength. I need some hills to spread things out. My husband started 3 min back in the age group field, with about a mile to go on the bike he comes screaming by telling me to push a bigger gear! No worries, I'll get him on the run. Another fast transition, and we start the run together. I feel good and he is behind me struggling. (We are both in the front, I think like 6-7 overall. He then says to me "can I win my age-group at this pace?". He's not a triathlete or a runner, so it was highly unusual for him to be on the front of the field. I told him "yes", but I really thought there was no way he could keep up this pace. Sure enough about 1/2 mile in he says "I can't keep up this pace, if I back off can I still win?". I tell him yes but really... how the hell should I know? We kept going and I started to pull away. At that point, about .65 mile into the 4.0m run, two of the other leaders come running toward us waving their arms- "We missed the turn, turn around!!!". I can't believe it, I didn't know it at the time but we ran 1.25 miles off course!!!! I was little upset but I figured I still had a decent chance for a good result. My husband was pissed! He can barely run 4.0 miles, and has never run 5+ miles, ever! We both lost the race right there. Totally disappointing. Turns out he would have won his age group. He did come in 3rd despite an extra 8+ min's on the run.
I don't know if I would have won. Turns out there was a fast women there and we we're pretty dead even going into the run. I would have had to have a fabulous run. I'm looking forward to racing next weekend in Stamford, CT. First Olympic distance this year, maybe this time the course will be marked and I'll run a real 10k.
I spent the rest of the day volunteering at the 1/2 IM handing off water bottles trying not to complain about my disappointing race.

oh...... and I would never forget to congratulate my friend Tony Thissell for completing his first Triathlon!! I knew you could do it Tony!!

Ashland Race Report

It wasn't the best day in New England. It was cool and drizzling. I arrived early and drove the course. Everyone talked about how hilly the course is but it didn't seem too bad. I like hills....on the bike anyway.

After setting up my transition area and a quick warm up on the run (I opted not to warm-up on the bike because of the rain), I headed down to the water.
I had taken a huge risk and broke the cardinal rule. "Never try anything new on race day". The night before the race I decided I "needed" a sleeveless wetsuit. I thought about driving up to Newton to buy one but didn't have time. I did the next best thing... I cut the sleeves off my long sleeve wetsuit. I had never considered a sleeveless because I'd always been told a long sleeve is faster. I think there should be some scientific study on this. David? Maybe your next Tri Talk episode?? I understand the long sleeve cutting through the water faster but over some distance when your arms and shoulders start to fatigue there must be a point you start to lose speed.

With about about fifteen minutes until gun time I started to head down to the water with my "new" sleeveless wetsuit. I wasn't quite sure where the water actually was but there was a path in the woods that everyone was taking. I enter the woods and walked for what seemed like forever over briar's, rocks, wet stumps, mud and a wet bridge. This isn't going to be an easy transition with bare feet. As I'm close to the water here comes Cait Snow fully clad in a wetsuit walking toward me. Hey Cait.. you racing today? She replies "No, I just finished a morning swim". I breathed a sigh of relief. When I finally reach the water all I can think is I sure hope this wetsuit works because there's no way I have time to go back to get my other one. I get in the water and WOW!!! I've never felt better swimming with a wetsuit. I should have thought of this years ago.

The swim went well. I got on some feet and didn't really exert much energy. I came out of the water I think 2nd or 3rd. I ran up the path with no problem. I didn't even notice the rocks or roots and I was out of the woods in no time.
The bike felt great! I had a close call on one of the wet corners and came very close to going down. I really don't know how I kept it upright, some higher being was with me. I was a little skittish for a couple minutes but then I just pushed it out of my head and finished up the bike.

The run felt horrible as usual. It was very hilly and it's apparent to me that I need to work on my hill running. I was extremely happy after the turn around to see how much of a lead I had. I was able to let up a little and felt a better for the last half.

Thanks to my husband and son for getting up early to watch me race and for the clean bike honey! I really appreciate all you do.

Saturday June 12th ~ Tune up Dilema?

I volunteered at Max Performance's new race in Onset today. What a great race! Tim Richmond really does a nice job. It will be on my list for next year. I enjoyed working the transtion area and cheering on my teammates. Everyone did so well! I can't believe how fast everyone has gotten. Congrat's to Kate--- 1st OA female! Way to go. Also congrat's to my friend Gina Newcomb on completing her first Tri.

I got home in the late afternoon anxious to do my tune up ride and run in preparation for the race tomorrow. Watching the race really got me all jacked up about racing. So I pull in and there's my wonderful husband with my bike completely taken apart. He say's..... "I spent all morning cleaning your bike but I'm not quite done. I still have to put on the race wheels and get it back together. I can't finish until later tonight but I'll have it all ready for you in the morning. What's wrong? You didn't have to ride did you"? Ummm... No, No honey thanks for doing that... I really appreciate it and then off he goes. Ughhh!

Plan B: I'll just ride my good old Ruby (I have a race bike, a Ruby road bike and a crappy bike). I don't need the power meter, I can survive without it. I take the Ruby down but she has no wheels or pedals. Ughhh! Ughhh!

Plan C: Out comes my crappy bike... regular pedals and all. No problem it's just a 20 minute ride with a few efforts thrown in. I can handle it. Have you tried to ride a bike with regular pedals latetly? I mean regular....not even toe cages. You get so used pulling up that your feet just come up and off the pedals. One minute into the ride it starts to downpour ....Ughhh! Ughhh!! Ughhh!!! Back to the barn and the drawing board.

Plan D: Zip ties are a wonderful invention! ......I throw my bike on the trainer, zip tie my feet to the pedals and viola...perfect!

The "ride" and run felt great. I'm feeling good. Can't wait until tomorrow. Hope it doesn't rain too hard.

Ashland Tri on Sunday

Looking forward to racing this weekend. It's been a long wait since the fiasco in Hopkington! Rested and ready to go.