It’s been 9 days since I started my first Ironman triathlon. We spent a wonderful few days relaxing in Mexico, and now we’re back to the grind in DC. I’ve had a TON of people ask about my race, and I’ve given bits and pieces of the story to everyone who has shown interest. Generally though, in terms of a race report, I don’t have much interesting to share. My race went pretty well—nothing great and nothing bad. Instead, I’d like to “Race (report) with gratitude” and take this time to thank all the wonderful people who’ve helped me throughout this adventure. This is a little bit like an Academy Awards speech, but whatever. It’s how I feel. Here we go:
Pre-Race
We got to Mexico without any major issues. The food at the resort was less than desirable, but we made it through. Well, except for Nick who got sick the day before the race. There were several points on Saturday, and even Sunday morning, that we thought Nick wouldn’t race. He made me promise to finish the race, even if I heard that he wasn’t able to. I cried a lot in those 24 hours. I really didn’t want to think about Nick not racing. I didn’t want to do this race alone, this was OUR thing now, not MINE. Nick has been my rock throughout all of this triathlon business (and all this life business). He cheers me up with I’m down, and laughs at me when I’m crazy. We ride together, run together, and laugh together. He’s the most amazing person to be with, and I’m so grateful every day that he’s here with me. I am elated that we’re able to celebrate as IRONMEN together now!!!
<3
Swim
Cozumel has one of the most beautiful swims you can imagine. 80 degree water, crystal clear, slight current to help you out—you really can’t ask for more. Nick and I started a bit too far back for the swim, and we both didn’t really understand it was time to start! In fact, I don’t think it was time to start—I think we all just jumped the gun when the sirens went off for the dolphins. As you can expect, I got hit, punched, kicked, trampled, and beaten for the first 700 meters of the swim. I had to pass a TON of people and I got stuck behind people a lot. I know I could have gone much faster, but whatever, I had fun! When I think about swimming, and that it’s what makes triathlon easy for me, I thank my parents for pushing me through swim lessons and swim team for many years. My parents sacrificed a lot for us to be a part of the swim team at home (yes Mom, I remember you driving me to the Y at 4:45am for Stoga practice) and I’m glad that I’ve been able to continue swimming (a little) through triathlon. I wish my parents had been able to be in Cozumel with us for Ironman, but I know that they just couldn’t because of work and that they were with us in spirit. My parents are awesome cheerleaders and have (of course) always been there to support me through everything. I love you Mom and Dad, and I can’t wait for you to come to my next Ironman!
Clearly this photo is not from Cozumel, but still. My family rocks!
Bike
112 miles is a LONG way to ride your bike! But, I did my best to enjoy every mile of it. The scenery was beautiful, despite headwinds and crosswinds throughout most of the course. It was great to see our cheering squads throughout the race. I am so grateful for our crew that came down to cheer (Nick’s parents Tom and Debbie, Nick’s brother Ben, my wonderful and beautiful sister Amy, and my good friend Payal and her boyfriend Tim). Thank you guys so much for all your support all week. Carrying stuff, cheering your faces off, and generally being awesome even though we were delirious for much of this experience. You guys are amazing.
Cheering crew!
Riding your bike for 112 miles can really make you think.
I thought a lot about how Team Z has really been a great source of friendship and support through this process, so thank you Team Z!! Riding with a group of awesome people, of all ages, backgrounds, abilities, and personalities is amazingly fun. Even though we want to move to CA one of these days, I think I’m going to miss Team Z a lot if/when that happens. Team Z Bay Area, anyone??
I thought about all of the long rides and runs I did with Lauren. We’ve spent the last 6 months or so training together for this adventure, and learning EVERYTHING about each other. This random girl that I met on the internet (creepy, right?) has become such an amazing friend and training partner over the past year. We’ve spent some time in the hospital together, plenty of time in the car together, and LOTS of time on our bikes together. Her family feels like my family (thanks Bill and Theresa), and I’m going to miss her terribly when she moves to CO for good. Luckily, I know we’ll stay friends, because she’s amazing and I often don’t know what I’d do without her. <3 Lauren!!
We had this picture planned for MONTHS! Swimsuits+Drinks+Beach+FINISHERS MEDALS!
The last 10 miles of the ride was a torrential downpour. It kind of make you feel like a total badass when you realize that you’re not only doing an Ironman, but you’re doing it in the pouring rain. So awesome.
Run
And…the marathon. After all this, I have to run 26.2 freakin’ miles. But for some reason, it felt totally do-able. I knew when I got off my bike before 4pm that I was going to be able to finish this beast without any trouble. I always have a good sense of what my body can do, and I knew I had it in me to run/jog/walk 26.2 more miles. Woohoo!!
The run was super fun! I saw all my friends out there, and it REALLY helped push me forward. Phil, Ryan, Scott, Whitney, Sam, Kevin, Noelle, Greg, Euge, Austin, Sara, Val, Jay, Marti, Roy, Becca and Ron, AJ, Becky, of course Lauren and Nick, etc, etc, etc, etc. A million thanks to all the Team Z cheering crews out there. Kendra, Holly, Melissa, Katie, Mike, Kathleen, Rachel, etc on their scooters scooting through pouring rain to cheer us on. You guys rock. People throughout the race were saying “Thank goodness the green team is here!! They’re awesome” and I couldn’t agree more.
Team Z=superpower
And, of course, I can’t forget Genia! Genia is an awesome triathlete and is so sweet! I’m so happy I got to run 21+ miles with her at this race. We both had some recent set backs as part of our final training days (Genia=sprained ankle, Me=busted face) but we did it! As she mentioned, we’re always leapfrogging each other in races so it was perfect that we ran together for Ironman. I’m so excited for her and Kevin on their next big adventure this March—gettin’ hitched!
That last loop of the run (8.7ish miles) was pretty brutal. At the beginning of the last loop, I turned to Genia and said “OH F***, WE HAVE TO DO THAT AGAIN!” We implemented a run/walk system and eventually walked the last 2.5 or so miles. It was a hard walk, but it was cool to take the time to let it really sink in. We were going to cross that finish line and become IRONMEN in just a few minutes!
Finish
Yup. That happened. I AM AN IRONMAN! As I mentioned to some people this past week, it actually wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. I’d had some rough workouts after being sick and crashing my bike, and I thought I was really going to struggle, but it went about as well as I could have expected. I know I could go faster next time, but this time was all about enjoying it and finishing. Next time I’ll worry about time/pace/etc a little more. This was for fun! (sick, demented fun)
And just a little while after I finished the race–Nick finished too!! He totally rocked it, and despite being sick as a dog the day before. We are now officially Iron-ified.
I can’t stop thinking about how many great friends I’ve made through this process. I can’t name everyone, but I think back to rides with Bob, Becky, and Dana last year and I’m so grateful for you guys! I’m so grateful to my colleagues at Share Our Strength and Change.org for supporting this adventure and all my crazy training talk. I’m happy that I’ve now dragged Chris into this mess and can’t wait to watch him cross the finish line in Wisconsin next year. I’m thankful that even though our UMD friends can’t understand WHY we’re insane, they still wish us luck and send us messages of support.
As I mentioned, this is sounding like a terrible Academy awards speech, but I can’t help it. Facebook messages, text messages, emails, etc all helped me get through this challenge so… THANK YOU!
Ironman 2013, here we come!
I AM AN IRONMAN!!!
I have now completed this sprint course 4 times. Giant Acorn 2009 (my first tri), Rumpus 2010, Giant Acorn 2010, and Rumpus 2011. Although I know and understand well that there are many factors on race day that make things different each time, I like to try and see how I improve one race to the next.
Only this time, there wasn’t really any improvement. But as you’ll see below, the theme of this is “Keep Your Eye On the Prize”–and that’s what I intend to do.
Pre-Race:
Nick and I decided to skip the camping this weekend because the forecast didn’t make it sound fun. And, as I often have to remind myself, we’re doing triathlon for FUN! 
We drove down early, got things set up, stuffed ourselves into wetsuits, and said our “good lucks.” I totally knew he was going to kick my butt this time around.
Swim:
Well, full disclosure: I was a high school swimmer, and as a result, I often do very little to prep myself for the swim. I’ve done enough triathlons now (this marked my 11th) that I’m not intimidated by open water anymore either. This is a problem. I had a rough start, since some of the girls who started in front of me had no idea what they were doing and I basically had to swim over them. This wasted a LOT of energy and didn’t get me up with the lead pack like I usually try to do. I think I need to start from one of the sides instead of in the middle from now on. Also, overall there was a bit of failure, I didn’t really have a good sighting plan, didn’t really focus on anything, and just tried to get through. This resulted in my slowest sprint swim ever–and instead of being in the front of the pack, I think I was more towards the middle of the pack, which kind of stunk. I could feel that it wasn’t going well, but I hoped I could make up for it with “Dottie,” my new Cervelo P2.
T1:
Success here! I must be the world’s best wetsuit escapee because somehow my T1s are always AWESOME during wetsuit races. I even felt like I was taking my time here, but definitely kicked butt compared to much of the field. Now–if only I can focus some of my wetsuit stripping skills into swimming, biking, and running.
Bike:
Mud, mud, and more mud. Ed’s warning about mud was totally right on, and I probably should have followed his recommendation and carried my shoes to the mount line. However, I was a little stubborn and figured it would all be fine. Nick didn’t have much trouble with mud during the relay Saturday, so I thought I could just stomp out the mud before I mounted the bike and I’d be fine. WRONG! My left foot was fine, but for some reason I couldn’t get the right foot to clip in at all. I think I rode 2 miles with only one foot clipped in. I was constantly smacking my right cleat against my bike to try and release the mud. Needless to say, the first few miles of my bike ride were really really slow. At one point, I looked down and if I continued that pace it was going to take me over 70 minutes to finish the 12 mile bike course. Yikes! I was shooting for sub-40 minutes, but immediately knew my chances of that were shot as a result of the first two miles of failure. The wind was pretty rough on the bike, but for a change I did do a lot of passing people. Thank you Dottie for that little bit of power. I didn’t drink or eat anything as planned–my tummy was a little full of lake water, and I didn’t feel like adding anything to that mix. Maybe a bad idea, but oh well.
As I came in on the bike, I saw Nick starting the run. He was kicking total ass, and I just looked at him and shook my head. I felt a little defeated, but I was super happy that he was having a good race! Go Nick!!
T2:
The mud pits. Seriously, this was disgusting. I walked most of it, for fear of falling on my butt into 6 inches of mud. As usual, my T2 is somehow always slow–even though I don’t put on socks before the 5K. I guess I need to jog it instead of walk, and I need to hustle my butt out of there!
Run:
The run was alright. I felt pretty good at the beginning, and I was glad to be running on pavement instead of grass, as I seem to remember the course in years past. I brought shot blocks with me, hoping to eat a few halfway through the run to power me to the finish, but again, my tummy was full of lake water and felt a little off, so I just carried the shot blocks the whole way. Out on the run I saw Nick looking strong, my friend Chris, and tons of other Z folk. I was running just about 9min/miles which isn’t fabulous, but about as good as I could have expected since I haven’t been doing any speedwork recently.
Overall:
I felt pretty strong at the finish, and I was very glad to be done. I was a bit disappointed with my time, but I guess you can’t ALWAYS get a PR. The terrain and wind made for a challenging day, and it was my first triathlon in 6 months. Overall, I had a great weekend, and was proud to have finally lost to my better half–who kicked my butt by almost 3 minutes.
I keep reminding myself that my goal for this year is Ironman Cozumel. I know that I’ll have many good days and bad days between now and then (I’m deciding now that the pre-Shamrock night of death will be the WORST day), but if I stay strong, learn from my mistakes, and just focus on my training–Cozumel will be mine!!
| Time | Overall (F) | Age Group | |
| TOTAL | 01:31:00 | 55/251 | 10/32 |
| Swim | 00:15:09 | 41/251 | 8/32 |
| T1 | 00:01:46 | 19/251 | 3/32 |
| Bike | 00:43:50 | 85/251 | 14/32 |
| T2 | 00:02:07 | 120/251 | 20/32 |
| Run | 00:28:10 | 121/251 | 19/32 |
With pressure from Whitney and Lauren, I’m posting!
Saturday the 19th was my longest run EVER. 20 miles. Just a few days before the run, however, I went in for my VO2 max test. I had done the test in April of last year, and I was curious how this year’s results would compare.
To my shock and horror, I have to run SLOWER now to stay in Zone 2! (If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry about it too much). Apparently, I’m getting better at endurance and my slow twitch muscle fibers are getting stronger–but it still feels a little bit like a blow. I was expecting to be able to start running FASTER in Zone 2.
But, I’m pretty dedicated to sticking to the training this year, so I’m going to do it. So, I did my 20 miles by following my new Zone 2. And it was quite a success, actually. I ran the first 15 miles or so with Becky, and let Bob run with the faster folks this time around. I think pace-wise I’m somewhere between Bob and Becky, but it’s better to go a little slower and stay in Zone 1 than to push into Zone 3 by accident. The last 5 miles I was at it alone, since Becky had to walk a bit, and it felt pretty good. I mean, clearly I hurt everywhere, but for the first time I felt like I could have finished 26.2 miles if I had to.
I’m looking forward to the marathon, even though it still feels daunting. I’m thinking that once I have this under my belt, I can start to worry (and be excited about) about Ironman instead. Yay!
A long awaited post about Ragnar. Heavy on the beginning and light on the end…since I never finished it. In 2011, I’m refurbing this blog! I promise!
After some crazy last minute team changes and a lot of logistics to get through, we made it up to Cumberland, Maryland around 11 on Thursday night. We had a quick team meeting to review the details before bed. Here’s the awesome crew that I conquered Maryland with:
Being in Van 1, we had to get up around 5 in the morning to make sure we had time to shower, re-pack the van, eat breakfast, and get on the road for our safety briefing. Starting off a weekend like this already tired is hard, but I think the excitement about the adventure ahead kept us going. Though our entire 11-person team was awesome, we had a great group in Van 1. Bill and I from Team Z, Lindsay and Alan from Philadelphia, and Chris my long-time friend from college. It was a great mix! Here’s our van crew, right before Alan started us off:
That morning’s runs were TOUGH! We had hills upon hills, and it was almost all on gravel roads. Usually gravel isn’t too bad, but when you have huge 12 and 15 person church vans passing you for 6.9 miles, you realize how much dust a huge van really kicks up. And it all goes in your face. TMI I know, but I’m pretty sure I’m still coughing and sneezing up dust from those roads.Yummy…
After our first leg (I actually had done 2 legs at this point, since we were short one runner) we swapped with van 2 and we went to Bob Evans. I have never loved Bob Evans more in my life. We all inhaled some breakfast food and then headed back to the next big exchange point for showers, rest, and relaxation.
By the time our next legs were starting it was already dark. The sea of reflective vests at each exchange point was almost comical. Before we knew it, Marta was finishing up her first leg and it was Alan’s turn to start us off again.
Running through the night was interesting. I’d never worn a headlamp before, and clearly had never run in complete darkness–but that’s pretty much what we experienced. My leg was on a small country road without a shoulder, so it was a little scary at times. However, at one point I heard a splashing noise and noticed a pretty brown and white horse crossing a stream (thanks to my headlamp for illuminating the scene). It was actually pretty peaceful, and I pushed the pace a little on this stretch since it was only 4.4 miles. (I had done 11.8 that morning, so morning was no time to push it).
I had two shorter legs on Saturday morning. One where Chris failed to meet me for the hand off (after Bill got lost and we thought he was dead) and then a nice hot one where some ladies sat on their porch to hose us off. THANK YOU TO THOSE LADIES!
Overall, this was an incredible experience, and I can’t wait until American Odyssey in April.
TRON team, here we go!
So, nothing too bad, but had my first bike crash/accident this evening. I was riding home from work and totally following all rules and laws. I was riding in the right lane, and the man turning from the right lane behind me waited for me to clear the intersection before turning. However, one of those smarty-pants drivers decided to go around him to make a right turn. Drivers in DC often try this trick because there are usually so many pedestrians that making a right turn is almost impossible–so they try to sneak two abreast at a time. If you walk around here, you’ve seen it, and have probably been an almost victim several times. I know I have.
I totally just watched her do it, and I was trying to make sure I got her attention, but clearly it didn’t work. Fortunately, I knew she was there and I was going super slow and was able to stop before she hit me. If I had been walking, I would have been fine. However, despite being able to stop, I couldn’t get both feet clipped out before I went down. All of the cars had stopped, so I was almost able to hold myself up on one of the cars, but my bike went down in the wrong direction and I was going down with it. I landed on my right knee which is pretty skinned but not too bad. The worst part is that apparently my crank impaled my left ankle so I have grease-filled puncture wounds on my left foot.
The woman who caused the situation was really nice and stopped. She was super apologetic, offered to take me home, and hooked me up with some napkins and water to rinse myself off. She couldn’t stop apologizing, but I told her it was fine, and just chatted with her a few minutes to help calm my nerves (and hers I suppose).
I rode the rest of the way home, over-cautiously, and now I’m nursing my baby wounds. I swear that SOMEday soon I’ll be able to get back to normal. No colds, no cuts, just normal. Pics of wounds are below for those who like to see the details.
