Timberman Race Report

Let's overlook the fact that this race was almost 4 weeks ago - better late than never, right? This race has been on my bucket list for awhile (and this is the year of the bucket list races). It's in my home state of NH in a beautiful area, they serve ice cream at the finish, and a triathlete by the name of Chrissie Wellington does this race every year. In addition to wanting the opportunity to to see Chrissie race in person, my good friends Tim and Ashley were doing the race and Timberman 2011 was suddenly too tempting to pass up. Signing up back in April, I conveniently forgot about the fact that it was only 4 weeks post-IMLP and, as my complaining in previous posts showed, 4 weeks really isn't enough to adequately recover from 12+ hours of swimbikerun.

Anyways, as much as I was looking forward to the race (I'd get to see my family AND my best friend Erin and her family and my goddaughter), things in the days prior to the race weren't going very smoothly. Work was super busy and suddenly I was going to need to drive up Friday instead of Thursday and drive back on Sunday (immediately after the race) instead of Monday. Plans for a place to stay fell through and hotels and B&Bs in the area were all booked. I was tired, cranky, and not feeling in peak shape for the race. But things have a way of working out in the end. I took Friday off and left DC early in the morning, arriving at my parent's house in southern NH at a reasonable time in late afternoon. I caught up with some of my favorite friends from high school, Heather on Friday night and Kathy on Saturday morning. And my friend Megan - her parents, the Bielawas, who are the nicest people in the world, had a lake house 20 minutes from the race site and opened their home to me for the weekend. Everything worked out in the end and I loved catching up with Megan's family, who I haven't seen in ages. Race weekend was turning out better than I ever could've dreamed.

Pre-race: I didn't sleep nearly enough the night before the race. Maybe 4 hours. I didn't fall asleep until 11pm and then I woke up at 2:45am and couldn't get back to sleep. I finally gave up at 3:45am, got my stuff together and drove to the race site. Parking opened at 4am and I arrived at 4:30 to snag one of the last spots - it was my lucky day! I munched on bagels, set my stuff up and checked and double-checked everything, chatted with the girls on my rack and discovered that one of them, Melanie, lives about 1 mile from me in Arlington and we have lots of mutual friends. She went on to completely rock the race, finishing 6th in our 30-34 AG and snagging a slot to 70.3 Worlds! I caught up with Tim and Ashley right before the swim start and before I knew it, it was 7:40 and time to go for a swim.

The swim:

The water was chilly enough for a sleeveless wetsuit and compared to Lake Placid's mass start, my tame wave of only 30-34 AG women allowed me to find clear water quite quickly. I did a decent job at sighting, and the swim on the way out to the buoys felt smooth and fast. However, the swim back in seemed to take forever and my sighting was less than stellar at that point. I had a feeling it wouldn't be my best swim, and it wasn't, but only by a minute or so. Disappointing, but c'est la vie. I was ready to turn my focus to the bike and run, which was where I really was hoping to do well and make up time.

T1:

Wetsuit strippers are awesome.

The bike:

I drove the bike course the day before the race. It was an out-and-back course. It started off hilly, just like I expected, with the first 10-15 miles being hills, hills, and more hills. Then the middle part of the race was flat, flat, flat, and the last bit of the race had a few hills, but more downhills than uphills. I've never gone sub-3 in a half ironman before and I was determined to go sub-3 during Timberman if it killed me. I would take a 2:59:59 and call it a winner as long as it was sub-3. I had my watch set on Multisport mode so I had no idea of my HR or my pace, just the overall time. I tend to race better this way, keeps the head out of the game. As I headed out of T1 on the bike, my mom, Erin, and my brother were right at the bike mount line cheering. It was especially meaningful to see my brother. He has had some rough times and we've had our differences, and it really is a post for another day, but seeing him there meant the world to me.

The bike portion was pretty uneventful. I did my usual nutrition of a gel every 20 minutes, sip on water with Nuun every 10, and take a salt tab every 30 minutes. It was a warm day and I wanted to make sure I got enough salt and electrolytes in me. I also wanted to make sure I was properly hydrated so I wasn't dreaming about water and beverages on the run, so I took in extra sips of water between the alloted 10 minutes. I passed girls and a couple would pass me back and we would play leapfrog. I actually enjoyed the hills (usually do), but the one at mile 10 was a little excessive. Once the course flattened out a bit in the middle and had fewer sharp turns, it was easy to settle into the areobars and go to town. The course was actually pretty crowded with racers, I was never alone out there. On the way back in from the turnaround, I really focused on concentrating on the race and making sure I was doing my best to pedal hard and work hard. Sub-3 or bust, right? I actually had no idea how I was doing time-wise, but when I rolled into T2, I was pretty sure I met my goal. When I talked to Mark that night and had him read off my splits to me, I was shocked with my bike split because it was faster than I thought I was capable of for that hilly course. Mission accomplished!

T2:

Nothing terribly exciting to report, except that I chose to pee while I was sitting in transition getting my run shoes on rather than go to a port-o-john (whatever, we are triathletes and we are disgusting when we race). In the end, this proved to be a wise decision because I eeked out a 1/2 Ironman PR by only 30 seconds. If I'd taken a proper pee break, that wouldn't have happened. It also proved I was hydrated, yippee! It's the little things, right?

The run:

I felt really good and strong out on the bike. Ironman, what Ironman? During the bike, my legs felt fine. And then I started to run. Oh, that Ironman. Apparently legs are like elephants - they don't forget. I wanted to start off with run splits in the 7:40s, but when my watch chirped at mile 1 it showed a split over 8:00, and proceeded to just get slower from there. I drove the run course the day before the race and it didn't seem too hilly, but when I was actually out there running, there were a number of gradual hills that weren't as noticeable from the car. Even though it felt like I was running at a decent pace, my splits were actually pretty slow. I never imploded on the run or walked, or dreamed about water, or cried uncle. So, in that sense, the run wasn't a total wash. I simply wasn't fully recovered from Placid and it manifested itself on the run, that's all. The course was two out-and-backs, and I saw Chrissie cruising to the finish as I was starting my run. She was smiling like she was out for an easy jog and her competition was pretty far behind. I was watching my overall time and as I got closer to the finish, I knew it would be close for a PR. In the end, it was only by 30 seconds, but I'll take that. Besides the legs feeling really tired, I didn't have any other major issues, nutrition and hydration were spot on. It was only during the last mile that I started to feel sick, and the whole way down the finishers chute I talked myself into not tossing my cookies. Chrissie Wellington was passing out finisher medals and now was not the time to toss cookies. I held it together, got a finisher medal and hug from Chrissie (she is COMPLETELY awesome - posing for pictures with anyone who asked and hugging sweaty, stinky triathletes), briefly chatted with blogger Frayed Laces, who totally had an amazing race, and took a quick swim in the water to cool off. Tim and Ashley both had fantastic races and while Tim said he was never going to do another 70.3 again, I know he is probably researching future 70.3s as we speak.

I really had no idea how I was going to do in this race - I didn't come into it completely expecting a PR, but at the same time, obviously that's something I wanted. And while I am really happy with my bike time and how much I have improved since my first 70.3 back in 2008, I really need to do something about my run. I don't know if it's a mental block or physical, or a combination of both, but I need to stop allowing myself to take it easy on the run, I need to stop allowing myself to make excuses and stop feeling like slower times are acceptable. This may be something I'll be focusing on in the off-season. Mental toughness on the run.

So, Timberman race weekend was great. Which was good because the following days were a bunch of crap, with my wallet being stolen from under my desk at work (WTH!!!), an earthquake, a hurricane, and a crazy schedule at work. Fortunately, however, another race (and a vacation to Ireland) was looming on my schedule, which is a post for another day!

Thanks for reading!

10 Years

Oh, that's right, I have a blog. And I used to be pretty good at keeping it updated. I have two big race reports to post (spoiler - they involve Chrissie Wellington AND 70.3 Worlds) but yet haven't made the time to post them. I guess that's what happens when you have your wallet stolen, an earthquake, a hurricane, turn 30, celebrate your 5th wedding anniversary, do two half ironmans, and go on vacation to Ireland, all in a matter of weeks. So much to write about, I hardly know where to begin.

I went on my run today - the first run since 70.3 Galway on September 4th. I felt slow and jiggly (thank you Cadbury chocolates) and the weather was MUCH warmer than what I had been experiencing for the past 1.5 weeks in Ireland. But all that didn't really matter. This run wasn't about shaking off the cobwebs or seeing what I was made of. Instead, it was for running the three miles down the Columbia Pike to the Pentagon. And then standing there and thinking about 10 years ago. I think about it anyway, every time I run by the Pentagon and its memorial on my usual weekend run. But ten years is a big deal. Just like it was hard to fathom how much life was going to change after 9/11, it is now hard to remember what life was like before that day. And my life hasn't really been directly affected the way the lives of my close friends in the military have had their lives affected. 7 days before 9/11, I flew to France for my semester abroad. I flew out of Boston's Logan airport and my parents got to walk me through security, all the way to the gate. That's now a thing of the past, like so many other things. And without brave people like Erin, Ashley, and Katie - who have all spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan while the rest of us went on with out daily lives in our comfortable homes - there would be no triathlon, no comfortable, safe life to lead. So to them - thank you (AND a big congrats to Erin who just got her nursing exam results back and is OFFICIALLY an RN).

No More Bike Commuting

So after IMLP, I took a whole week off from working out (and ate lots of chocolate instead). The next week I started bike commuting again and did very little additional exercise. However, bike commuting 18 miles a day did add up - 90 miles that week. The next week, I got back on a regular workout schedule with two-a-days. I bike commuted Monday and Tuesday and by Tuesday evening felt awful. I was tired, I was cranky, I was hungry, and I was sore. In short - bike commuting in no way was helping my recovery from Ironman. Add to that the fact that I (sortofstupidly) signed up to do Timberman (a 70.3 in lovely NH) exactly 4 weeks out from IMLP - proper recovery suddenly became extremely important. Drastic times call for drastic measures - I'm sucking it up and taking the bus/metro as much as it pains me. At least until after 70.3 Galway. Before working with Jen, I didn't fully understand the importance of proper recovery between races and between workout sessions. I'm still learning, yes, and I'm still making dumb decisions here and there (140.6 + 70.3 + 70.3 in 6 weeks) (but hey, it's better than 3 half ironmans in 4 weeks, right?). Racing right, setting myself up for a PR, that's how I need to race from now on. No more "racing for fun" or signing up for an extra race just because my friends are doing it. If I'm investing this much time and energy and money into the sport, then I need to make sure I'm doing everything else right to succeed (i.e. RECOVER). So, next year I will be planning out my season a little more carefully post-IMLP.

However - good news. Within days of giving up the bike commute, I felt much more refreshed, rested, and... recovered. I think we're good to go for this weekend. Cheers to a weekend with great friends, an awesome race, and hopefully a run-in with Chrissie Wellington.

I'm back!

I fully enjoyed my last weekend without structured workouts. Saturday was a bike ride with Jessie, she is on the USC triathlon team and she will be kicking butt and taking names - I am glad I'm not in her age group! We went out for a leisurely spin around the bike path. Unfortunately, lots of other people had the same idea and not everyone is well-versed in bike path etiquette. That's why I save the bike path for leisurely rides, not training rides. I've become a master at the low-speed bike crash and demonstrated my prowess at this activity on Saturday morning when another cyclist and I locked front wheels and went down. It looked uglier than it was, nothing more than scrapes and bruises, and most importantly the bike was fine.

Sunday was an open water swim down in Luray. Janine and I woke up early (OK, she woke up early, I overslept - stayed up too late watching Battlestar Galactica (that's a sentence I never thought I'd type)) and headed down to Luray. I think the course was marked for about 700m or so. We ended up doing 4 loops, which was 2 loops more than I had initially figured I'd do (I was still on the "I-will-only-do-what-I-feel-like-doing" plan). I need to get out and do more open water swimming - too bad Luray is 1.5 hours away, I'd take that any day over the Potomac.

Guess what was waiting for me on Monday - workouts in Training Peaks! I'm officially back. Swim and TRX on Monday with a swim and run today (along with bike commutes both days). There may or may not have been a little happy dance in my office when I laced up my running shoes and put my HR monitor and Garmin on for the first time since Lake Placid.

The happy dance abruptly ended once I started running. It. Was. Hot. Even though it was past 6pm, the sun was still beating down on the Mall. My legs still had alot of Ironman shuffle in them and the run quickly became a slog. Thank goodness my Garmin battery ran out right about the time things started to get ugly. I'd rather not have digital evidence of the ugly run. But I got it done, got the bike commute done, and I'm going to bed before 10pm. Victory on all fronts.

Random musings...

- At least once a day when riding my bike to work, the background music for the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz starts running through my head. Da-da-da-da-da-daaa, da-da-da-da-da-daaaaa....

- Today's bike commute was full of pleasant, cordial, polite people. They warned you when passing, people I passed said "thank you" when I let them know I was on their left. Cars did not try to run me over when I was in a crosswalk. The sun was out and the birds were singing. This was in sharp contrast to yesterday's commute where I was almost run off the bike path by some guy who magically veered to the left as I warned him as was passing. I was also almost run over by a lady in a mini van when I was in a crosswalk (WITH THE RIGHT OF WAY) - she then proceeded to gesticulate with her hands, making it seem like it was all my fault, being in her way and all... There were no birds singing yesterday, but a bird may or may not have been flipped...

- I've already started thinking about this year's Christmas card. I KNOW it is only August, but last year's card will be hard to top. Besides, I start listening to Christmas music this time of year anyway.

- I went for my first post-IM swim this morning. Hello muscles I haven't used in two weeks!

- It only took me a week to eat the 1 pound bar of chocolate.

- I like my dog. No, I LOVE my dog. Sound strange? Ask Mark, it has been a long process for me to get to this point. He's a very sweet dog; but, for a time it was hard to focus on his sweet personality when he was eating all of my Banana Republic clothes on a daily basis and my running shoes two weeks before Ironman...

- Hehe, take a look at the labels for this post.

Paranoia

Does anyone else have odd things they are paranoid about? Alot of mine have to do with appliances. I refuse to leave the house if the dishwasher is running, if the washing machine is on, or - heaven forbid - the dryer is in use. The dryer, especially the dryer - I always picture it getting so hot and catching the lint in the lint trap on fire. Mark says he cleans the lint trap whenever he uses the dryer; but being the paranoid wife that I am, I don't believe him most of the time. I refuse to leave my computer plugged in to the outlet when I'm not home and thunderstorms are in the forecast. Power surge! I don't know how well my Mac would handle it and I don't want to test it and find out. I also don't leave lamps on if we leave the house for any reason (you never know, a cat could knock them over and start a fire). Fortunately, Mark puts up with me and (usually) indulges me in my requests (though, I picture him turning on all the appliances and then gleefully walking out of the house when I'm out of town - freedom! Kind of like how he makes a giant steak wrapped in bacon every time I'm out of town).

We're not even going to touch race-week paranoia or stomach virus paranoia; that's just a WHOLE other can of worms and worthy of several posts of their own.

Back in the (bike) saddle again

Yesterday I got a sign from God. A sign that said, "stop eating Oreo cake and get on your bike." I dropped a paper on the floor in my office, bent down to pick it up, and... I RIPPED THE LINING OF MY DRESS. Hey, I know I indulged a bit after Ironman, but don't you think that's a little extreme? I burned at least a week's worth of calories on June 24th, right? Can't we save my rear and thighs busting out of my clothes for next week if I continue down this path?

Alas, it's too late. Time to put the cake away and dust off the bike for some bike commuting (and I mean, dust off the bike - I meant to clean my roadbike since it's full of mud from a messy commute weeks ago, but I got lazy).