Ironman Arizona 2009
Ironman Arizona - 2009
In June of 2007 I signed up for Ironman Lake Placid. Not knowing how to swim (LITERALLY – couldn’t swim 25 yards, not owning a bike and being a slow runner). I finished the 2008 Ironman Lake Placid in 15:19 and signed up for 2009 in which I finished in 15:02, beating my bike time from 2008 by about 50 minutes (but crumbled on the run).
In September/October of 2008 I asked my good friends Johan and Steve if they wanted to “take it on the road” and do Ironman Arizona……answer, a resounding “yes”. At this point in time my dear friend Marie had not yet taken the Ironman plunge – rather, she did 70.3’s, Olympics and Sprints. I said to her…..well Marie, you now have Johan’s old tri bike, we are going to sign up for Arizona, this would be the perfect opportunity for you to do an Ironman as well. It really didn’t take much convincing and on a Monday in November 2008, we all huddled at our places of work and placed an assault over the internet vying for a coveted slot in the 2009 Ironman Arizona competition.
In January 2009, Ironman training commenced for Johan, Steve and I. The three of us were on a different journey. Doing three Ironman competitions in 16 months. Exhausting…..physically and mentally. Ironvirgin Marie would commence her official Ironman training schedule late spring / early summer.
After finishing Ironman Lake Placid, we each “backed off” for a couple weeks to some-what recover before ramping up again for Ironman Arizona. Mentally, you are ready to be “done” – not only are you tired of following a training plan, but life gets busy as well. Everything you have neglected for the past 7 months – you will continue to neglect for the next four. It’s not easy.
November 18, 2009
The day started off at 3:30 a.m. to catch a super early flight out of Albany. This was to be the worst part of our travels. I had called twice before the trip to confirm the cost of bringing our bikes with us on the plane. Both times, the answer was $100. Well – they lied. $175 each way, each person. What B.S. Yet, golf clubs just count as regular luggage. Loretta, the NWA agent was especially rude to us at the Albany airport. On top of this crazy fee, they kept calling everyone before us – apparently our “check in” at the kiosk didn’t transfer to their system and print off our luggage tags and boarding passes. We were standing there FOREVEVER. Finally – we make it up to security only to be bogged down by a really long line. Everyone got through the security checkpoint except me…..at this point they were calling our names over the loud speaker telling us to get to our gate asap. I told the security people they were calling my name but they really didn’t care. They wanted to see all the triathlon “stuff” I packed in my carry on (I had everything in my carry on to do a triathlon except my bike). What’s this? Wetsuit. What’s this? Aero helmet, shall I try it on for you? No? Well then hurry up or I’m going to miss my plane!
Finally – we are on the plane and the rest of the travel goes smoothly.
We arrive to sun and 75 degree temps. No humidity, no wind. This is the way Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be as well. Race day Sunday? Well – a little different. Johan and I vowed that if it rained on Sunday, we would never race together again.
We stayed at a condo in Fountain Hills. Marie, Johan, Marie’s mom Mariana, Steve, Christina, Erik and I. This was a great place. We were about 30 minutes from Tempe (where the event is held). We had a full kitchen so we could cook our own meals and a hot tub to sooth our tapering muscles.
On Wednesday, arrival day, the guys put our bikes together and Marie and I went to get groceries. The first night we grilled chicken, baked potatoes and salad. Delish! This was followed by a trip to the hot tub.
Thursday:
I knew that I saw somewhere that we could only swim in Tempe Town Lake between the hours of 8-10 a.m. – but I couldn’t find the source of the information. By the time we finally got moving after having a relaxing pancake breakfast, we ended up missing the swim session, but did get checked-in and received our gear bags.
Thursday afternoon we rode our bikes for 45 minutes on part of the bike course. Erik and Christina rented road bikes so they could join us as well. This was absolutely AWESOME!
Friday:
We made it to Tempe Town Lake for a swim. I knew it was to be cold – but really wasn’t “ready” for it. Jumped in and thought “brrrrrrr”……put my face in the water and it just took my breath away – I had visions of my 2008 Mooseman swim (trust me – that’s horrific). Finally after swimming 100 yards, you began to get warmed up (sorta) and can finally get in a groove. Tempe Town Lake is basically run-off. It’s a dirty lake with concrete walls. You can’t see a thing – totally not like the lakes we are used to in Upstate NY. We swam for about 20 minutes. Upon getting out, Johan and Steve pointed out to Marie and me that our faces were covered in dirt. Yuck.
Friday evening was the Ironman banquet. This was a great event. Very different than the Ironman Lake Placid banquet. It was at the Tempe Arts Center near the transition area….open air, on the water. Spectacular.
Saturday:
Saturday we got up and grabbed a coffee at Starbucks followed by a short run in Fountain Hills. We then had waffles and coffee for breakfast prior to packing our transition bags and getting our bikes prepped to be checked into transition that afternoon. This was a fun day.
Saturday night Christina made us a phenomenal meal – linguine with pesto, bread, salad. Heaven.
I went to bed about 9:00 but only got about 4 hours of sleep…..again, up at 3:30 a.m.
SUNDAY - RACE DAY!!!!!
Sunday morning...rise and shine!
Everyone was fairly bright and chipper on this morning. We all got up and got going. Ate, loaded up the vans and headed to Tempe.
Transition Area:
It’s pitch dark, the only light is provided by the kind of lights you see in highway construction zones – high powered, lots of shadows, still dark in many place. I saw many people with headlamps on – this was a great idea. The transition area was buzzing when we arrived at 5:00 a.m. Athletes scampering about, putting nutrition on their bikes, pumping up tires, getting body marked, standing in line for the port-a-potties and hugging one another.
Ironman Arizona Swim:
The Ironman Arizona Swim Course is 1 loop.
Goal: Survive without being beat up too much.
Result: Accomplished
It’s twilight now – the sun still isn’t up. The Pro’s start at 6:50 a.m. After they start they start herding all of the age groupers into the water. There isn’t a great entrance to Tempe Town Lake so you jump off this cement landing into the freezing cold water. I stalled until about 6:55 a.m. – knowing it would take me a couple minutes to swim up to the starting line. My strategy was to swim inside the buoys’. This worked PERFECTLY until the kayakers started herding us to the buoy line so we could make the turn. This was absolute mayhem. Everyone was body to body, heads up, everyone saying “holy crap this is crowded. It was totally wild and the current from all the swimmers going the same direction just pulled us around that buoy very quickly. I made it through this part without totally panicking so I was relieved about that. At this point my left calf muscle cramped up, similar to what happens to me every once in a while when I use fins – IT HURTS. I then decided to head closer to the wall (instead of swimming inside the buoys) to try and get away from people. It worked fairly well. Took a couple hits, got blocked a few times, but overall – it was fine. 1:25 was the swim time (same as Ironman Lake Placid 2009).
T1: BBBRRRRRR! I was SO cold! Ever wonder what it’s like when your feet are frozen solid and you need to run on them? I sure didn’t ever think about this – but that is what happened and it REALLY hurts! At Ironman Arizona, you need to run a good distance to the transition bags and transition tents – not quite as far as Lake Placid – but close. Big difference is that your feet are frozen at Ironman Arizona. Not good. I finally made it out of there in 10 minutes plus change.
Ironman Arizona Bike:
The bike at Ironman Arizona is 3 loops.
Goal: To keep my heart rate below 145 so I wouldn’t burn myself out and not be able to run.
Result: Accomplished
It has somewhat of an incline on the way out of town. Today the winds were blowing making the first trip out of town slow……but the speed coming back into town was incredibly cool! NO RAIN!!!!
1st Loop = out = (WINDY!), max hr 152, avg 145, 15.8 mph, 87 cadence, 150 watts avg
Back = 156 max hr, 145 avg hr, 24 mph avg, 91 cadence, 131 avg watts
2nd Loop = out = 154 max hr, 147 avg hr, 16.1 mph, 91 cadence, 151 watts,
Back = 150 max hr, 143 avg hr, 19.7 mph, 89 cadence, 122 watts
3rd Loop = out = 147 max hr, 142 avg hr, 16.7 mph, 89 cadence, 122 watts (getting tired!)
Back = 147 max hr, 140 avg hr, 18.7 mph, 88 cadence, 121 watts
T2: Transitioning from bike to run was uneventful. I had the volunteers mix up my Inifinit and off I went. I believe this was 3:57 (?)
Ironman Arizona Run:
The run at Ironman Arizona is three loops.
Goal: To run the entire marathon
Result: Accomplished
The first 30 minutes of running after riding 112 miles is tough. Mentally you are trying to convince yourself that ”it’s ok to walk”. I made it through the first 35 minutes successfully and knew I would be able to run the marathon portion of the race! This is a HUGE accomplishment for me. I have had two unsuccessful runs at both of the Lake Placid Ironmans.
I was on pace to negative split the run and to break 13 hours, then about mile 23 I started feeling really nauseous. Marie caught up to me at about mile 24 – it was nice to see her smile and to know she was still feeling good. We ran together for a bit and I slowed down and she kept her steady pace. At about mile 25 I puked near a guy sitting on a bench. I said to him – geez, it’s only 1 mile to the finish…he said – get moving, this will be the best mile of your life.
Total run time 5:11
Total Time: 13:13:30
There is SO much more to write – but I’m sure by now you all know enough and are wondering when this story will be done.
Thank you for all your support – it was a great day!
Crystal Lake Triathlon - 2009
The night before the race Liz, Linda and I drove over to pick up our packets. Excitement was in the air as we figured out which size race shirts we should have, counted the people in our swim wave and Liz debated which flavor of gels to get and browsed the Hammer Nutrition section. Liz had in her hands Perpetuem (which contains protein and is designed for lloooonnnngggg rides/runs) and Linda says to her "What are you going to do - start riding super long distances?". This threw Liz for a bit of a loop as she looked at me for guidance. I confirmed - yes - protein is for longer distances. Linda and Liz then started discussing what they would do for nutrition during the event as I just listened. I exaggerate when I say they were talking of having four bottles of liquid on their bikes, their bento boxes with sandwiches, etc - but you get the point... They then asked me what I was using and I said "water". The look on their faces was interesting to say the least as I've been preaching "nutrition nutrition nutrition" - but I was planning on being done with the race in under two hours so I didn't think I needed to eat anything.
On to the race...
I was racing, Erik was to have a booth. With the rain - we weren't exactly sure how good of an idea the whole "booth" was....but we brought some items anyway. Friday night was spent rushing around, packing the car and falling to bed totally exhausted. The alarm was set for 4:30 a.m. with a "leave time" of 5:00 a.m. in order to get there and get the booth set up prior to all the racers arriving.
So we arrived and it's drizzling, gray, and really foggy over the water. I was remembering the Harriman triathlon in May in which is was SO foggy that they cancelled the swim and made us run two miles (ugh - I was NOT looking forward to additional running). Thankfully - they didn't cancel the swim.
Since we arrived so early, I got a GREAT spot in transition. Right next to the first and third place females (little did I know at the time).
It was very fun to be set up early and just be able to chat with everyone prior to the race. Two guys that I have been giving tri-advice also competed. For one this was his first tri, for the other, his second tri. It was fun to see the excitement, anxiousness, and anticipation on their faces.
The swim was about to start so we all made our way to the water. We found another friend of ours, Christina, and we had the event photographer take a picture of us in our super-suits. The first wave (some of the men) went off at 8:00 a.m. Four minutes later our wave was set to go off. Group hug, well wishes and we parted ways in order to get the start position each of us was comfortable with. The swim is a counter-clockwise triangle. I decided to start way up front and on the left side so I could be as close to the buoys as possible and since I breath to the right, I'd be able to keep my eyes on all the other swimmers so I could steer clear if I needed to. I started next to the two ladies that were right next to me in transition and with Christina. The four of us would end of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place.
Swim swim swim, fog fog fog, strange.
Passing the men that started four minutes before us was a great feeling. The swim was uneventful. I did end up swimming over Christina at the buoy that marked the final turn. Whoops - sorry buddy!
Came out of the swim and sprinted to my transition area. T1 took a little longer than I hoped for - but considering I had my shoes covered etc (due to the rain) it wasn't that bad.
The bike...
I took off on my rocket (LOVE MY BIKE) and powered up the first hill out of transition. I am the queen of data and now with my new power meter (anniversary gift from my husband.....nothing says "I love you" like a power meter!), I can analyze the entire time I'm riding. Whoa - mental overload indeed. So I keep track on this thing my watts (power), cadence (how many times your pedals revolve in a minute), speed, and most importantly, my heart rate. During shorter distance triathlons (Olympic and Sprint) you really want to push yourself and be in zone four for your heart rate, which for me is in the 160's. So that's what I did. I was flying and passing everyone like they were standing still and sipping coffee - it was SO MUCH FUN! The look on the men's faces that are riding high-end bikes as a female smokes them - there is nothing like it....
(ok - that was evil Tami - but I'm being honest here - it was fun!). This course is incredibly challenging (HILLS!) and is a blast. This course is an out and back so I could count the number of females in front of me. I believed I was the fourth female at the turn around point and soon became the third as I passed one of the ladies that was set up next to me in transition. I LOVE MY BIKE!T2:
Uneventful - again, a bit slower than I hoped for, but with the soppiness of the transition area, having my shoes covered to keep them somewhat dry etc - it was ok.
The run...
Man, running is tough. Running to me is a "social" event that is meant to be done with friends at 6:00 a.m. in the morning. It's not mean to HURT! lol! So I started running, and running and running and I had to pee pee pee pee pee SO BAD! And I couldn't find any bushes! Finally - bushes near the school wear the course turns left....as we turned left, I glanced to see who was behind me and it was the lady from the transition area that I passed on the bike. I knew she was a runner and I knew she would pass me regardless of whether or not I stopped to pee. So I did. Happiness is an empty bladder....
The finish...
Yeah - the finish! I hit my time goals and as an extra bonus placed as the fourth female overall, won my age group and had the fastest female bike split. I couldn't believe it and am still in shock.
So standing there recovering, all of a sudden someone puts their arm around me and gives me a great big kiss on the cheek! It was Linda! She had just finished and was SO excited!!!!! She hit her goals and DID SO SO SO AWESOME! But wait - where is Liz - AH - HERE SHE COMES TO - ALL SMILES DOWN THE FINISH CHUTE!
What a great day!
Tami
Crystal Lake Triathlon - 2009
The night before the race Liz, Linda and I drove over to pick up our packets. Excitement was in the air as we figured out which size race shirts we should have, counted the people in our swim wave and Liz debated which flavor of gels to get and browsed the Hammer Nutrition section. Liz had in her hands Perpetuem (which contains protein and is designed for lloooonnnngggg rides/runs) and Linda says to her "What are you going to do - start riding super long distances?". This threw Liz for a bit of a loop as she looked at me for guidance. I confirmed - yes - protein is for longer distances. Linda and Liz then started discussing what they would do for nutrition during the event as I just listened. I exaggerate when I say they were talking of having four bottles of liquid on their bikes, their bento boxes with sandwiches, etc - but you get the point... They then asked me what I was using and I said "water". The look on their faces was interesting to say the least as I've been preaching "nutrition nutrition nutrition" - but I was planning on being done with the race in under two hours so I didn't think I needed to eat anything.
On to the race...
I was racing, Erik was to have a booth. With the rain - we weren't exactly sure how good of an idea the whole "booth" was....but we brought some items anyway. Friday night was spent rushing around, packing the car and falling to bed totally exhausted. The alarm was set for 4:30 a.m. with a "leave time" of 5:00 a.m. in order to get there and get the booth set up prior to all the racers arriving.
So we arrived and it's drizzling, gray, and really foggy over the water. I was remembering the Harriman triathlon in May in which is was SO foggy that they cancelled the swim and made us run two miles (ugh - I was NOT looking forward to additional running). Thankfully - they didn't cancel the swim.
Since we arrived so early, I got a GREAT spot in transition. Right next to the first and third place females (little did I know at the time).
It was very fun to be set up early and just be able to chat with everyone prior to the race. Two guys that I have been giving tri-advice also competed. For one this was his first tri, for the other, his second tri. It was fun to see the excitement, anxiousness, and anticipation on their faces.
The swim was about to start so we all made our way to the water. We found another friend of ours, Christina, and we had the event photographer take a picture of us in our super-suits. The first wave (some of the men) went off at 8:00 a.m. Four minutes later our wave was set to go off. Group hug, well wishes and we parted ways in order to get the start position each of us was comfortable with. The swim is a counter-clockwise triangle. I decided to start way up front and on the left side so I could be as close to the buoys as possible and since I breath to the right, I'd be able to keep my eyes on all the other swimmers so I could steer clear if I needed to. I started next to the two ladies that were right next to me in transition and with Christina. The four of us would end of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place.
Swim swim swim, fog fog fog, strange.
Passing the men that started four minutes before us was a great feeling. The swim was uneventful. I did end up swimming over Christina at the buoy that marked the final turn. Whoops - sorry buddy!
Came out of the swim and sprinted to my transition area. T1 took a little longer than I hoped for - but considering I had my shoes covered etc (due to the rain) it wasn't that bad.
The bike...
I took off on my rocket (LOVE MY BIKE) and powered up the first hill out of transition. I am the queen of data and now with my new power meter (anniversary gift from my husband.....nothing says "I love you" like a power meter!), I can analyze the entire time I'm riding. Whoa - mental overload indeed. So I keep track on this thing my watts (power), cadence (how many times your pedals revolve in a minute), speed, and most importantly, my heart rate. During shorter distance triathlons (Olympic and Sprint) you really want to push yourself and be in zone four for your heart rate, which for me is in the 160's. So that's what I did. I was flying and passing everyone like they were standing still and sipping coffee - it was SO MUCH FUN! The look on the men's faces that are riding high-end bikes as a female smokes them - there is nothing like it....
(ok - that was evil Tami - but I'm being honest here - it was fun!). This course is incredibly challenging (HILLS!) and is a blast. This course is an out and back so I could count the number of females in front of me. I believed I was the fourth female at the turn around point and soon became the third as I passed one of the ladies that was set up next to me in transition. I LOVE MY BIKE!T2:
Uneventful - again, a bit slower than I hoped for, but with the soppiness of the transition area, having my shoes covered to keep them somewhat dry etc - it was ok.
The run...
Man, running is tough. Running to me is a "social" event that is meant to be done with friends at 6:00 a.m. in the morning. It's not mean to HURT! lol! So I started running, and running and running and I had to pee pee pee pee pee SO BAD! And I couldn't find any bushes! Finally - bushes near the school wear the course turns left....as we turned left, I glanced to see who was behind me and it was the lady from the transition area that I passed on the bike. I knew she was a runner and I knew she would pass me regardless of whether or not I stopped to pee. So I did. Happiness is an empty bladder....
The finish...
Yeah - the finish! I hit my time goals and as an extra bonus placed as the fourth female overall, won my age group and had the fastest female bike split. I couldn't believe it and am still in shock.
So standing there recovering, all of a sudden someone puts their arm around me and gives me a great big kiss on the cheek! It was Linda! She had just finished and was SO excited!!!!! She hit her goals and DID SO SO SO AWESOME! But wait - where is Liz - AH - HERE SHE COMES TO - ALL SMILES DOWN THE FINISH CHUTE!
What a great day!
Tami
Ironman Lake Placid - 2009
This is a very very long summary of the day - but could have been even LONGER....
So as I’m reflecting on Ironman Lake Placid 2009, I initially was extremely disappointed at not hitting my goals….mainly improving my run time. Then, after having a pity-party all day on Tuesday, a friend, that also competed shared several important tidbits with me:
Here is a portion of the email:
You (we) raced 140 miles in one day (let that sink in), and the crowds/fans are none the wiser and just want to project and receive sheer joy for our accomplishments =) new experiences and new learnings each time we step up to the plate.
For me(the person that sent me the email):
*100% relaxed before start
*Learned new start strategy for the swim (and loved it)
*Nailed T1 & T2 (but quicker still next time)
*I nailed my bag & bike locations with no guess-work
*I rode harder and smarter and am more confident in my bike ability (especially on new one whenever that
happens)
*I learned a valuable lesson on tire pressure (I think it blew as the day heated but just a guess based on how it literally blew up) but also another valuable experience settling down, not freaking out (totally anyway), and getting back on the road in about 5 minutes (even with added pressure of the TV guy running over and filming me like 12" from my face
*I learned that 26 miles can be a very long distance when you're alone in your own head and I need more work in heat and addressing hydration/sodium needs for the run
*I reaffirmed how important it is to make this whole crazy lifestyle about the journey and not the destination -- I leave this weekend behind with tremendous memories of which the actual race makes up only a small portion
*I rejoice in knowing what others have done has inspired and motivated us to achieve what we may not have thought possible AND that we by our actions, pay it forward by inspiring others whom watched all of us in amazement Sunday and are now thinking that they now too can achieve this monumental goal -- we are all prophets for our lifestyle!
*i am thankful to be blessed (oh, oh, maybe the Southern Baptists at the breakfast Saturday morning put something in my pancakes) with such a great group of friends, teammates (sp?), and racing-mates and for the great new people I meet at every event!
*...and if I didn't mention it earlier -- 140.6 miles to travel in one day powered by nothing more than our bodies is just mind-blowing!
So, that being said, I probably don’t need to give a race report J but I will give you one anyway…
We arrived in Lake Placid on Wednesday. This was great. The goal was to “find Zen” and relax until race day. Johan, Marie, Steve and I did a short swim in Mirror Lake, we saw Hillary Biscay go in for a swim (pro triathlete). Erik went for a bike ride. In the evening the Bosman family, Steve, Christina, Erik and I had a picnic by the gazebo at Mirror Lake. Turned out the Lake Placid Band was also playing so we were able to enjoy music, good company, and good food. This was a perfect evening. We could see the Ironman swim course from where we were sitting.
Thursday morning Erik went out on another bike ride (we were calling this Stage 2 of the Tour de Erik). Marie worked, Claudette and Gerhard slept in, and Steve, Christina, Johan and I went for a 30 minute run around Mirror Lake, went to Starbucks, then checked-in for the Ironman.
Thursday evening the gang met up with Tim and Christine Feeney, Paul and Mara Fronhofer and Jason and Nicky Chlopecki at an outdoor BBQ place called “Tale o’ the Pup”. It was great. Good food, great company, perfect atmosphere. After dinner we went to the Northwoods Inn to watch the Tour de France.
Friday Erik did Stage 3 of the Tour De Erik. Steve, Christina, Johan, Marie, Gari, Jason, Paul, the Feeney’s and I swam a loop of the course (1.2 miles). Beautiful morning. We saw Paula Newby-Fraser (another pro-triathlete). Then to Starbucks, then to the Pro-Panel. There were 6 or so pro triathletes were on a panel that the media could ask questions of and so could the audience. This was a fun event.
Friday evening was the Ironman Banquet and athlete meeting. This is always so inspirational. My friend Gari won the biggest loser. He lost 125 pounds.
The skies opened up on Friday evening and just POURED during the banquet.
Saturday morning Erik and Marie hit the roads at 6:00 a.m. to ride one loop of the Ironman bike course (56 miles). From what I understand, they had a great time. Stopping for breakfast, stopping to take scenic breaks to enjoy the local beauty AND they had a great workout.
Saturday morning Steve, his kids, Christina, Gari, Johan and I went to the free pancake breakfast at the Olympic Oval. Kevin and his girls and Paul and Mara were there as well. This was fun. At 10:00 Coach Kevin had a meeting with all of his athletes to go over any questions and to give final tips etc. This was great to get together. I believe Kevin had 10-12 athletes doing Ironman this year and I was the only female (last year there were two females).
After meeting with Kevin and his other athletes, I headed back to the hotel to start packing my transition bags and special needs bags and to do a last minute check of my bike. The transition bags and bike had to be checked in by 3:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. I was getting a little nervous at this point and even called Marie to hear her "calming" voice (she didn't know I was "using" her to calm my nerves !!!!).
5:00 on Saturday Liz and Tina arrived. Erik and I had dinner with them at a pizza/pasta place – we got balcony seating overlooking Mirror Lake. The food was excellent, the company even better! We had such a great time. After dinner we went and got fudge at a candy shop then drove Tina and Liz around the lake to show them where the swim starts, where the run goes and some of the bike climbs. This was fun and I was getting really excited about the upcoming event!
Saturday night – SLEPT GREAT!
Sunday morning, got up at 4:00 a.m., ate a peanut butter sandwich and a cup of coffee, headed over to transition.
When walking to my bike I ran into Chris Feeney, gave her a big hug and told her I’d see her later, she starts walking away, I start crying. WTF? I didn’t even cry during my first Ironman. So I make it to my bike and get everything set. I then make it to the body marking area and a gal I know was volunteering so I looked all over for her and finally found her. Gave her a hug and burst into tears (again, WTF?). I don’t think she knew what to do! Here I was – blubbering. I was so excited for the day! I was so ready!!!
After body marking I headed over to Coach Kevin’s tent that was set up along Mirror Lake Drive. This is where all the athletes were to meet prior to the swim start. So we all “relaxed” a bit…..then it started raining. I seriously thought there is NO way I’m doing this again in the rain all day – NO WAY. Then it let up, then it started again, then it let up. Liz and Tina showed up, then Kevin’s athletes all took a picture and then we headed down to the swim start. I ran into my friend Gari on the shore and gave him a hug and told him I couldn’t stand by him or I’d start to cry – he immediately burst into tears and I said I can’t do this, I can’t fog up my goggles and swam away. Poor Gari. I felt bad leaving him, but I knew I would start crying too.
I decided to start at the line this year – to the far right and swim wide….
Swim:
Last year I started on shore. This year I started at the flags – but way to the right. Swam wide the entire time. Kept getting grabbed on the return leg of the first loop (even though I was wide?). I think I need to have more confidence in my speed and just go for it. I’m always nervous that if I work to hard in the swim I won’t be able to do the 2nd loop so I go slow, but I know I could go faster (ie: when I want to get away from some of the “grabbers” I can just fly by them). This was more of a survival swim J. I think I swam 2.6 miles vs. 2.4 miles.
2 minutes slower than last year…which I was ok with…
T1 = Very exciting with all the people lining the course. Even more so than last year. I saw Kevin standing right on the shore, my co-worker Josh and his wife, Erik, Tina and Liz snapping pictures. I took 5 minutes off my T1 time from last year. I saw Tara when I came out of the transition tent. Heart rate was in mid 150’s while running my bike to the bike exit (ugh).
Bike:
The roads were wet on the way out of town. Socks got wet and hence the beginning of sore feet (although this didn’t happen last year????).
Bike was great. First loop 3:15 (17.2 mph), second loop 15.5, overall 16.3 mph. The wind really picked up on the second loop. This is about 50 minutes faster than last year.
Nutrition was good. Infinit and TONS TONS TONS of water. I filled my aero drink bottle at all but one aid station each loop.
Big toes on both feet were really sore. Really sore.
Weather was “sticky”…thankfully not raining, but pretty much all of us paid for this during the run L
It was fun being the “passer” vs. the “passee” on the bike this year. Passing men on P4’s with disc’s was a great feeling J.
The crowd support along the entire bike course was great! People were everywhere! The most exciting part was coming up Papa Bear and riding into town.
Eric Sanborn was at the special needs bags and got me my bag and off I went. It was so much fun!
T2 = I took 5 minutes off my T2 time vs. last year. I forgot to take off my heart rate monitor so ran with that for the first loop and then dropped it off in the special needs bag.
Run:
Run. Walk. Walk. Walk. Walk.
First half was 12:11 pace. First mile 10:22 pace then stopped keeping track. My feet were SO sore. Turns out both of my big toes have big blisters on the bottoms (ugh). On the second loop, after the turn around on River Road I didn’t feel right. Not only were my feet sore, but I was continuing to have bathroom issues (this had been going on most of the run). I felt like I had to pee SO bad every time I started to run, but then in the port-a-potties, NOTHING would happen. Repeat, repeat, repeat! Focus, focus, focus. Nothing. So along with this issue, I got really chilled, my whole body was covered in goose bumps and I was shivering (and it was such a nice evening) and just felt so “foggy” mentally. Didn’t know which mile I was on – just knew what direction I was going. I took in a cookie hoping to get some sugar to make me feel better but that didn’t work. Started getting worried, stopped at the ambulance and they took my blood pressure, temperature, wrapped me up in one of those silver blankets etc. blah blah blah, my body temp was two degrees below normal…..stopped for about 30 minutes or so 
. Then I hoofed it back to Lake Placid with a guy named Lyle from Tennessee.
Coming up along Mirror Lake Drive I’d say pretty much the entire Adirondack Tri Club was lined up SCREAMING and high fiving….after the turn around and coming back down Mirror Lake Drive to the oval, Kevin yelled “FOLLOW BATMAN – RUN RUN RUN”….so I started running and followed a dude dressed in a Batman costume down Mirror Lake Drive and then into the Oval. Erik, Liz and Tina were standing at the entrance to the oval snapping pictures.
So – overall….
I improved my time by 20 minutes. Not what I hoped for - but what can you do?
The sun was shining, it wasn’t raining, it was humid. We had all been training in cold and rainy weather all season and on Sunday, Mother Nature decided it was time for summer to arrive. Our systems were “shocked”. Most people I know doing the event didn’t have a good run. Strangers I met the day after the race didn’t have a good run. It was a tough day and a reminder of how much respect this distance deserves….it’s easy to forget how far this actually is when you have a “game plan” in your head that you are trying to stick to and as your perspective changes as you continually do longer and longer distances throughout training. 140.6 miles is a long long long way - I need to keep reminding myself of this. The drive from Niskayuna to Lake Placid is 133 miles….still not the distance of the Ironman.
116 days until Ironman Arizona…..
Tami
April 11, 2009 - 106 days until Ironman Lake Placid...
I was thinking through out the week that I was slacking since I just did one bike on Thursday in zone 1 - but once I hit today. BAM - I'm tired.
April 1, 2009 - 116 days until Ironman Lake Placid...
Woke up at about 3:45 a.m. for no reason. Got up at 5:20 a.m. to head to the pool.
Toda...
1) swam 2,900 yards, much of it with fins so it was a great leg workout.
2) Biked, indoors, 47.5 miles. Yes, indoors, someone please shoot me. Mental toughness...
Heading to NYC for the weekend. Haven't been there in YEARS. Will be focusing on the run while down there...
Monday, March 30, 2009 - 118 days until Ironman Lake Placid
Here are the results:
206 watts (209 last time)
172 HR (173 last time)
21 MPH (20.9 last time)
94 RPM (92 last time)
177 max HR (182 last time)
7.01 miles (6.98 last time)
used my tri bike this time - road bike last time
Not really sure what to think of this. 1 heart beat less, little more speed, 3 watts less.
I will be posting an article in the near future on lactate testing. Stay tuned!
Friday, March 27, 2009 - 121 days until Ironman Lake Placid...
Had a full week of training and working on http:www.steadystatesports.com. Everything is progressing nicely.
On Tuesday of this week I had a 1,000 yard time trial in the pool. After swimming 1,000 yards for a warmup (drills etc). My time was 17:12 or 1:43 / 100 yards. I'm not sure if this is good or what. I guess good considering 1.5 years ago I couldn't swim
Wednesday was a FULL day. HILL DAY for running. Warm up then pick a hill, 100 yards in length and run up it as fast as you can go.....repeat 10 times. Fun.
Wednesday was also spin class at my coaches. 90 minutes of pleasure torture (?)
Thursday I barely got myself out of bed at 5:20 a.m. for swimming (didn't get home from spin class until 9:50 p.m. the night before). Uffda.
Friday - today - had a fantastic ride. 3 hours. First big ride outside for the season. Was awesome. Followed by a run.
Tomorrow I have "off" (at least from working out) and Sunday I have a lactate threshold test on the bike - I can't wait for that! See how I've improved (or fallen backward) since January when I last took the test.
It's a great day at Steady State Sports!
All for now,
T.
Monday, March 23, 2009 - 125 days until Ironman Lake Placid...
That's all for today.
March 22, 2009 - 126 days until Ironman Lake Placid
Living in the northeast, I train indoors for many months of the year (well - on the bike at least - typically I still go outside for running). This past winter we bought a computrainer for cycling. I will be writing an article on training with a computrainer in the future.
Today's workout was 90 minutes on the bike. This was a wattage workout 2 sets of 20 minutes at 97% of my lactate threshold wattage which is 209 so I needed to ride at 202-203 watts.
This was an incredibly tough workout for me. I do well for the first set, then there is a 10 minute recovery and bam, another 20 minutes. My husband came downstairs for the last 10 minutes to "motivate me". It works to have someone yelling at you to "pick it up".
So today's workout:
15 minute warm up
20 minutes at 202 watts
10 minute recovery at 120 watts
20 minutes at 202 watts
25 minute cool down to get rid of the lactic acid.
I'm tired