Monday night Col joined me for a strength work out after work. We did a slew of different stuff - essentially one exercise per muscle group. My upper body is really not very strong - especially compared to my lower body (due to all those years of skiing). So it was kind of funny Col was strong with the upper body stuff and I was stronger on the lower body - I would rather do lower body any day. Then we did a bunch of core work.
On Tuesday I woke up very tired and with a sore throat. I pushed off my 3 mile run and just went into work. Work is really crazy but I dragged all day and just felt horrible most of the day. Kyle told Col how bad I was actually feeling so I was then told not to do my 3 mile run... After work I went home and took a nap. My abs - esp my obliques were especially sore from Mondays strength stuff.
Wednesday day I was still dragging so I took a sick day and did some work from home while also taking naps all day long. It was wonderful. It was really nice out so I did go for an easy ride around Lake Sammamish with Col with the idea that fresh air and sweating a bit would help flush my cold out of my system (and it may be one of the last nice days before the rains start). It was so nice and I mostly felt good. It was really only going up the final hill I could tell I was not 100% and I just did not have my usual power so I spun and just took my time a bit while Col dropped me by a few bike lengths. Once I got home I took a hot shower and took a nap for 2 hours or so.
This morning I woke feeling better - though I also slept in till 7:45a and got in to work a bit late but it was not a huge deal. My sore throat is mostly gone so depending on how I feel the rest of today I may do the 3 mile run that I have not done the last 3 weeks..
Sep 25, 2007
Sep 23, 2007
8 miler
Fall is defiantly here. I planned on running Sunday morning with Steph a nice out and back from her place but I got a text from her that she was bailing - had a bit of a soar throat and stuff. No big deal I totally understand that and I was not really siked about going out in the grey morning to run. So I stalled and took my time to get ready when I finally I had everything on and had no excuse not to go and get it done. I only had a general idea of where I wanted to go so I just kind of did that but just sort of ran and made decisions when I came to intersections. The first 2 miles or so were all down hill - which was a nice easy way to warm up then I decided to run through the lake hills blueberry farms trails to be nice to my foot - even though I was not really feeling any pain in my foot. It was really nice to get off the sidewalks and away from traffic. The trails were great though they have little directional/mileage signs so I would pause for a second of two to see where I wanted to go. I wound up running around the lake and then back up hill. Somewhere around mile 5 - the same time it started to rain - left knee/lower leg got tight and hurt some. I had to pause and stretch it a few time but I was able to keep running through it. Almost the entire last 2 miles were up hill which always sort of sucks. I had to add some more distance so I ran around a park that was on my way back which was almost entirely empty because of the rain. I made it home, stretched out my legs some, had a recovery drink and took a hot shower to warm back up.
In all I'm pleased that I got out and did the mileage but otherwise it was not my best run and it did not make me feel any better about my Seattle time goal. Luckily I have 2 months to go and it seems like I need to keep up a massage scheduled to keep injuries at bay.
In all I'm pleased that I got out and did the mileage but otherwise it was not my best run and it did not make me feel any better about my Seattle time goal. Luckily I have 2 months to go and it seems like I need to keep up a massage scheduled to keep injuries at bay.
Sep 21, 2007
2 out of 3
On Wednesday I got up early and did a strength work out - almost the exact same as last week really - just added some more ankle and pt type shoulder exercises. It felt good - my legs are by far proportionally stronger than my upper body. I held back a bit on the upper body stuff and my shoulder did not really hurt which was nice. Hopefully I can just slowly build some strength to support that shoulder or something. On a less positive note - my right foot hurt pretty bad when I woke up - it did not really interfere with anything but just sort of hurt. Col wants me to go back and see the podiatrists :(
Thursday I woke up at 5 am and it was cold and dark outside so I hit snooze till 7:10a so no time to get a 3 mile run in. I took my run stuff with me to work but never had time there. Considered running before going out to my moms but did not. Needless to say never did the 3 mile run. I was really sore from the strength stuff the day before, my foot still hurt - even though I was wearing good shoes and to be honest I just felt kind of tired.
Now this morning I got up early and got in the pool of all places. It has been a while since I have been in the chlorine water but it felt good. I focused on form and did a bunch of drills. I was not very fast at all but I have time to get faster (maybe). I think the biggest accomplishment of the work out was that I did not use the pull buoy - I have tendency of using it to much sometimes so I felt good about not using it. I swam for about 45 min and 2000 yrds. I also found it hard to get back in the habit of counting my laps and stuff - I got lost a few times - luckily I knew my pace and was able to use my watch to help keep track. I think I may get a few lessons in the next couple of weeks to get some new motivation/focus in the pool.
Overall I feel good - kind of tired I think I need to go to bed before 11p to be able to get up and function well all day but it is hard - so we will see. Also I have been eating way to much sugar lately and I need to stop that so I'm trying to cut back - I don't really need m&ms...
Thursday I woke up at 5 am and it was cold and dark outside so I hit snooze till 7:10a so no time to get a 3 mile run in. I took my run stuff with me to work but never had time there. Considered running before going out to my moms but did not. Needless to say never did the 3 mile run. I was really sore from the strength stuff the day before, my foot still hurt - even though I was wearing good shoes and to be honest I just felt kind of tired.
Now this morning I got up early and got in the pool of all places. It has been a while since I have been in the chlorine water but it felt good. I focused on form and did a bunch of drills. I was not very fast at all but I have time to get faster (maybe). I think the biggest accomplishment of the work out was that I did not use the pull buoy - I have tendency of using it to much sometimes so I felt good about not using it. I swam for about 45 min and 2000 yrds. I also found it hard to get back in the habit of counting my laps and stuff - I got lost a few times - luckily I knew my pace and was able to use my watch to help keep track. I think I may get a few lessons in the next couple of weeks to get some new motivation/focus in the pool.
Overall I feel good - kind of tired I think I need to go to bed before 11p to be able to get up and function well all day but it is hard - so we will see. Also I have been eating way to much sugar lately and I need to stop that so I'm trying to cut back - I don't really need m&ms...
Sep 18, 2007
I thought things would slow down
After Ironman but no not at all I seem to still pack the weekends full - probably even more so.
Saturday Kyle and I swam with Steph in the morning in Lake Sammamish. My plan was to go anywhere from 30 o 45 min total and wound up going 46min. Even though I had my garmin on I'm not totally sure about the distance - it said about 1.5 miles and I know I was not swimming that fast so who knows - I would guess closure to 1.2 miles or so.. I mostly felt ok - as usual I got tired on the way back and felt a bit fatigued - like I was still recovering from Ironman. All the same I kept at it and just enjoyed the swim.
Now on Sunday Kyle was doing the Kirkland Triathlon and rather than doing it myself I choose to be support crew instead. I had to do a 6 mile run though - now since I knew our families and friends would be there and would most likely want to get some food/breakfast of some sort afterwards (and if I ran home it would be all uphill) I decided to run to the race. I left the house at 5:05a and headed out with reflective stuff, a headlamp, long sleeve, and vest. It was very dark and extremely quiet. I run was very uneventful - took a good 3+ miles to warm up. Legs felt good and only saw 6 cars until I got to the race area. I felt good so I kept running and got about 6.5 miles in 57:03 min and had enough time to change into warmer clothes long before the race started.
Kyle, Col and Futa all did the race - well Futa did the bike as part of a relay team. They all did great and Bryan and I had fun being cheerleaders. (pics are in my photo album)
I was exhausted on Monday - not really because of workouts but more due to early morning and lots of stuff going on so no work outs. I did however go to rei and exchanged my garmin that had gotten water in it and was doing weird things for a dry new one.
Tonight after work I met with Col and did a nice 5 mile run around greenlake. I got out of work a bit later than I expected, then traffic was bad so we got a later start but it was still plenty light out. It was a great night for running and even though the clouds were dark we did not get rained on. The hills were tuff - as usual but I think they have felt worse. It was kind of weird because it really reminded me of last year at this time when I was just starting to get into running and training. I can fully say that even though the conditions and the route are the same I am defiantly a stronger runner now then a year ago - which feels great. Anyway Col and I chatted most of the way about next steps and so forth. My largest goal for the fall/winter is to do a sub 2 hour half marathon (probably Seattle though I would love for a flatter course) - which we both think is do able. Somehow I did not get my new garmin to the synce with the heart rate strap right and it got confused so it said I had a 074 bpm which was so wrong. Oh well it still got the distance and time - 5.01 miles in 43:37 min.
Saturday Kyle and I swam with Steph in the morning in Lake Sammamish. My plan was to go anywhere from 30 o 45 min total and wound up going 46min. Even though I had my garmin on I'm not totally sure about the distance - it said about 1.5 miles and I know I was not swimming that fast so who knows - I would guess closure to 1.2 miles or so.. I mostly felt ok - as usual I got tired on the way back and felt a bit fatigued - like I was still recovering from Ironman. All the same I kept at it and just enjoyed the swim.
Now on Sunday Kyle was doing the Kirkland Triathlon and rather than doing it myself I choose to be support crew instead. I had to do a 6 mile run though - now since I knew our families and friends would be there and would most likely want to get some food/breakfast of some sort afterwards (and if I ran home it would be all uphill) I decided to run to the race. I left the house at 5:05a and headed out with reflective stuff, a headlamp, long sleeve, and vest. It was very dark and extremely quiet. I run was very uneventful - took a good 3+ miles to warm up. Legs felt good and only saw 6 cars until I got to the race area. I felt good so I kept running and got about 6.5 miles in 57:03 min and had enough time to change into warmer clothes long before the race started.
Kyle, Col and Futa all did the race - well Futa did the bike as part of a relay team. They all did great and Bryan and I had fun being cheerleaders. (pics are in my photo album)
I was exhausted on Monday - not really because of workouts but more due to early morning and lots of stuff going on so no work outs. I did however go to rei and exchanged my garmin that had gotten water in it and was doing weird things for a dry new one.
Tonight after work I met with Col and did a nice 5 mile run around greenlake. I got out of work a bit later than I expected, then traffic was bad so we got a later start but it was still plenty light out. It was a great night for running and even though the clouds were dark we did not get rained on. The hills were tuff - as usual but I think they have felt worse. It was kind of weird because it really reminded me of last year at this time when I was just starting to get into running and training. I can fully say that even though the conditions and the route are the same I am defiantly a stronger runner now then a year ago - which feels great. Anyway Col and I chatted most of the way about next steps and so forth. My largest goal for the fall/winter is to do a sub 2 hour half marathon (probably Seattle though I would love for a flatter course) - which we both think is do able. Somehow I did not get my new garmin to the synce with the heart rate strap right and it got confused so it said I had a 074 bpm which was so wrong. Oh well it still got the distance and time - 5.01 miles in 43:37 min.
Sep 14, 2007
back in the gym
Once again I slept in this morning till 7a so I pushed my work out off till after work. Kyle had a massage at 5:30p so while he was doing that I went to the gym and did a circuit work out of sorts. It was really weird being in the gym - the last couple of months I only went to the gym once a week to do a pool swim and that was it - no weights. I have been doing some maintance exercised for both my foot and shoulder issue but I could do them at home and did. So I asked Col to give me a suggested work out.
I started with a 10 min (all I could stand) warm up on the EFX machine then stretched out a little bit. Then into the strength stuff - I did 2 sets of 20 on everything with instructions to stay light on the weights.
Chest Press on the ball with 8lb each free weights
Flies on the ball with 5lb each free weights
Lat pull down (45lb cable)
Single arm bent rows 5lb
Triceps
Shoulder external rotation with band
Squats on bosu while doing bicept curls (8lb each hand)
Hamstring curls with ball
Heel raises
Single leg squats on bosu
Clams
Bicycle crunches
Toe touches
Crunches
Then stretched out my legs especially. I mostly felt good and still pretty strong except my left should hurt on most of the upper body stuff. I went easy so it was not to bad but that annoying little pain was still there. I thought it had gone away since I have not felt in swimming in quite some time now but low and behold it is still there. Oh well I lived and in the end it felt good to do some strength stuff again.
I started with a 10 min (all I could stand) warm up on the EFX machine then stretched out a little bit. Then into the strength stuff - I did 2 sets of 20 on everything with instructions to stay light on the weights.
Chest Press on the ball with 8lb each free weights
Flies on the ball with 5lb each free weights
Lat pull down (45lb cable)
Single arm bent rows 5lb
Triceps
Shoulder external rotation with band
Squats on bosu while doing bicept curls (8lb each hand)
Hamstring curls with ball
Heel raises
Single leg squats on bosu
Clams
Bicycle crunches
Toe touches
Crunches
Then stretched out my legs especially. I mostly felt good and still pretty strong except my left should hurt on most of the upper body stuff. I went easy so it was not to bad but that annoying little pain was still there. I thought it had gone away since I have not felt in swimming in quite some time now but low and behold it is still there. Oh well I lived and in the end it felt good to do some strength stuff again.
Sep 13, 2007
not quite back yet
I'm not sure if it is because it takes me forever and a day to recover from things but I did not do my planned 5 mile run today. I meant to do it in the morning when Kyle got up early to ride his single speed into work but it was dark, foggy and the bed was much to warm, comfy and I felt tired so I stayed in bed till 6:30a and then just got ready and went to work.
Work is beyond crazy right now so there was no chance I was getting out early to get a run in before meeting with my mom for our weekly visit and garden time. Even though I did not run I did prune a huge box hedge in the back yard which required a lot of upper body strength - but not the same I know. It was dark at 8p and we put the garden stuff away around 8:30p. It is not to late to run but it is dark and I don't really like running alone in the dark at night so no run today.
Other things for today was that I required 3 shots of espresso to function and my lower back kind of hurt if I moved the wrong way or something (it did this same thing for a couple days in Maui last week).
So I think that is a great list of excuses but oh well I will see what Col says - probably be in some trouble since we are supposed to be starting to ramp up my mileage again to be ready for Seattle and skippinga run does not help.
Work is beyond crazy right now so there was no chance I was getting out early to get a run in before meeting with my mom for our weekly visit and garden time. Even though I did not run I did prune a huge box hedge in the back yard which required a lot of upper body strength - but not the same I know. It was dark at 8p and we put the garden stuff away around 8:30p. It is not to late to run but it is dark and I don't really like running alone in the dark at night so no run today.
Other things for today was that I required 3 shots of espresso to function and my lower back kind of hurt if I moved the wrong way or something (it did this same thing for a couple days in Maui last week).
So I think that is a great list of excuses but oh well I will see what Col says - probably be in some trouble since we are supposed to be starting to ramp up my mileage again to be ready for Seattle and skippinga run does not help.
Sep 12, 2007
nice little ride
Tonight after work Col, Steph and I met up and did the lake samm loop - it was my first time back on the bike since IMC and it felt sort of strange to be getting ready to ride. Though it only took a mile or so for my legs to get in to bike mode. It actually felt great to be back on the bike - I was sort of shocked at how good it felt. The nice thing about the lake loop is it has a bit of everything, a few hills, some flats but nothing to intense which was exactly what I needed. We mostly just cruised along - I never even really looked at my speed just rode how I felt and enjoyed hanging out with Col and Steph. My legs felt great and I was able to climb all the hills on the lake with ease. Since Col and I started up at the top of Northrup hill we had to get back up and I talked her into doing Bell Red road instead of Northrup mostly because there is a mile of recovery after getting to the top. I was able to mostly spin up the hill - though that hill is never easy but it felt good to work hard. In all it was only 21.82 miles with a total time of 1:26:24.
Sep 11, 2007
back to the real world
Sadly I'm back home from Maui. Sunday we spent half of the day swiming and kyaking with turtles. It was really hard to get on the redeye flight back - I got back at 6am on Monday with little to no sleep. On the way home I got stuck in morning traffic, then once home I showered, took a short 30min nap and headed into work. Needless to say no work out on Monday - I had to have 4 shots of espresso just to function.
Today I slept in till 7a so I pushed my run off till after work - Col had 4 miles (no less) on my plan. I was a bit stressed after work so I decided what I needed most was a trail run to take my mind of things. I headed to Bridal trails and did the 3.5 mile loop but decided to add more by jumping onto another trail a bit after the 3 mile mark and wound up adding on more than just the half of a mile I needed but I felt good so I just kept running till I got back to my car. It took me a good 2 miles to really get warmed up and into any kind of rhythm but once I did it was great and totally made me forget about the stuff that was bothering me before. The best part has to be that I had no leg or foot pain to speak of :) In all I did 4.57 miles in a total time of 41:44 min.
Today I slept in till 7a so I pushed my run off till after work - Col had 4 miles (no less) on my plan. I was a bit stressed after work so I decided what I needed most was a trail run to take my mind of things. I headed to Bridal trails and did the 3.5 mile loop but decided to add more by jumping onto another trail a bit after the 3 mile mark and wound up adding on more than just the half of a mile I needed but I felt good so I just kept running till I got back to my car. It took me a good 2 miles to really get warmed up and into any kind of rhythm but once I did it was great and totally made me forget about the stuff that was bothering me before. The best part has to be that I had no leg or foot pain to speak of :) In all I did 4.57 miles in a total time of 41:44 min.
Sep 8, 2007
recovering in Maui
Just a few quick things - Kyle and I have been enjoying a wonderful vacation to celebrate some friends getting married in Maui this week (sadly we go home tomorrow night). So I have gradually started getting back to some sort of exercise. Before leaving on Wed afternoon I ran 4 miles around greenlake with Col. As usual I started out a little fast and came to regret it later. I was sort of surprised I did not feel worse - I mean my legs were sort of heavy and my energy was dragging but I kind of just ran the speed I felt like going and it turned out to be about an 8:23 pace. The the other surprise is later in the day I never hit the wall - I did not require a 2 hour nap like after yoga the other day.
We got to Maui late Wed night so we went straight to dinner and then to sleep.
Thursday morning we got up early and headed straight to the beach for a swim and found out that the beach at our hotel sucks for swimming so it was a short one. Though later in the day we found a better beach and went for about a 30 min swim. Kyle saw a sea turtle and there were tons of fish so it was an entertaining swim. I have to say I love swimming in warm salt water - it is like have a wetsuit on but way better. In the evening we went to the rehearsal dinner on a catamaran - sadly there was no wind at all so never really got to sail but otherwise it was a lot of fun.
Friday morning we ran - we both put on our garmins and just started running down the street in front of our hotel. Even at 7am it was already warm and sunny so we both took a salt and I should have probably ate something before because I was sort of dragging a bit. We took it easy and I was just a bit behind Kyle the whole way. We just did a simple out and back and on the way back I stopped for a second at park and washed my face off which did help me feel a bit better. In all we only ran 3 miles in 26:35 min but my legs felt good - still not back to normal but manageable.
Friday afternoon/evening was the wedding which was a lot of fun. Dinner was amazing and the entire event fit the couple perfectly. By the end of the evening everyone was in the pool. lol Needless to say we got to bed late.
This morning I was still awake early and we went out to another beach near by to swim and check out the fish/turtles. We saw two turtles and ton of fish but it was really crowded and kind of windy so we only swam for about 30 min or so. Then later on we went to a bbq at the bride and grooms house and afterwards a group all went to a great little bay for snorkeling so Kyle and swam. We swam in the bay for about an hour or so. We swam to the opening of the bay and back so the current and wind was kind of strong on the way back in so it was a tough swim. The cool was we saw 2 turtles and swam around with them for quite a while and whole bunch of different fish we had not really seen before. I was thoroughly tired afterwards.
Tonight we pack our bag so we can check out super early so we can go do 2.5 hours of kayaking tomorrow morning before we fly out in the evening. So we may or may not run tomorrow but I can guarantee we will swim again... I would post of pics but I can't seem to find either my camera corn or my card reader so when I find those things I will post pics. I highly recommend Maui as the perfect place to recover from an Ironman race.. The combination of relaxed island time and nice weather are perfect. :)
Other news is that both Kyle and I are registered for the Ironman 70.3 Hawaii on May 30th, 2008 with the goal of doing better than this year (should be easy since I walked the whole half marathon) and hopefully we can talk some more of the crew into jdoing it again.
We got to Maui late Wed night so we went straight to dinner and then to sleep.
Thursday morning we got up early and headed straight to the beach for a swim and found out that the beach at our hotel sucks for swimming so it was a short one. Though later in the day we found a better beach and went for about a 30 min swim. Kyle saw a sea turtle and there were tons of fish so it was an entertaining swim. I have to say I love swimming in warm salt water - it is like have a wetsuit on but way better. In the evening we went to the rehearsal dinner on a catamaran - sadly there was no wind at all so never really got to sail but otherwise it was a lot of fun.
Friday morning we ran - we both put on our garmins and just started running down the street in front of our hotel. Even at 7am it was already warm and sunny so we both took a salt and I should have probably ate something before because I was sort of dragging a bit. We took it easy and I was just a bit behind Kyle the whole way. We just did a simple out and back and on the way back I stopped for a second at park and washed my face off which did help me feel a bit better. In all we only ran 3 miles in 26:35 min but my legs felt good - still not back to normal but manageable.
Friday afternoon/evening was the wedding which was a lot of fun. Dinner was amazing and the entire event fit the couple perfectly. By the end of the evening everyone was in the pool. lol Needless to say we got to bed late.
This morning I was still awake early and we went out to another beach near by to swim and check out the fish/turtles. We saw two turtles and ton of fish but it was really crowded and kind of windy so we only swam for about 30 min or so. Then later on we went to a bbq at the bride and grooms house and afterwards a group all went to a great little bay for snorkeling so Kyle and swam. We swam in the bay for about an hour or so. We swam to the opening of the bay and back so the current and wind was kind of strong on the way back in so it was a tough swim. The cool was we saw 2 turtles and swam around with them for quite a while and whole bunch of different fish we had not really seen before. I was thoroughly tired afterwards.
Tonight we pack our bag so we can check out super early so we can go do 2.5 hours of kayaking tomorrow morning before we fly out in the evening. So we may or may not run tomorrow but I can guarantee we will swim again... I would post of pics but I can't seem to find either my camera corn or my card reader so when I find those things I will post pics. I highly recommend Maui as the perfect place to recover from an Ironman race.. The combination of relaxed island time and nice weather are perfect. :)
Other news is that both Kyle and I are registered for the Ironman 70.3 Hawaii on May 30th, 2008 with the goal of doing better than this year (should be easy since I walked the whole half marathon) and hopefully we can talk some more of the crew into jdoing it again.
Sep 4, 2007
Ironman Canada 2007 Race Report
This has taken a while and it is just the for the day of race (Sunday). I'll get to the pre and post race stuff sometime soon as well. But for now this is my account of how my Ironman Canada Race went.
I slept till 3am and tried to go back to sleep but could not so instead I ate some cheerios and half a double shot. The rest of the crew started to get moving around 4am and the support crew(parents) got up around 5ish. I felt kind of nervous but not to bad. Though I almost cried when I hugged my mom when we were heading out. We managed to grab a great spot nice and close to the transition area but then I realized I left my garmin at the house - my heart rate went through the roof. Kyle drove me back while every one else went to get body marked. Luckily we were staying in a house less than 5 min from the start. I ran in grabbed the garmin and we managed to get back in time to get the same parking spot.It freaked me out and I was a bit scared - I'm not really sure what of - the lake looked like glass and I knew I was ready to give it my best.
Kyle and I dropped our special needs bags off and got in the long line for body marking - it was probably a good thing the line was so long and slow it gave me a chance to calm down and breath again. We chit chatted with people and slowly but surly I got to the front of the line - they had us stand on a step stool and wrote our number on the front of both arms, front of the left calf and age on the back of the right calf. After that I was ready to get my bottles, gels, computer and random stuff all on my bike and get ready to jump in the lake.
The transition area was buzzing with energy and very very long lines to the few porta potties. The rest of the crew found me and Col helped me top off my tires. We all started to get ready for the swim - lots of body glide on the legs for quick wetsuit removal, and packed up all our dry clothes into the dry clothes bag. We also tied orange ribbon stuff to our wrists in the hope that if we were near each other we could see it - mostly it was for Bryan, Col and Kyle who wanted to stay close together.
Once we were all pretty much ready, I ate a gel, put a gel in the chest of my wetsuit for halfway and we headed out on to the beach right before the pros started (6:45a). I was nervous, excited, but t least i was no longer really scared - I was with my friends and I just reminded myself over and over that I could do this. We milled around the beach - I saw my swim coach Eric and a few other people - wish everyone good luck and hugs. A couple of moments I almost started to cry and worried about fogging my goggles before the swim even started. The beach never really felt crowded - everyone was pretty spread out. We started in the water off to the left side a bit but fairly far forward - no one really seemed to want to be on the front (some of the guys that were on the front line were joking they would change $20 for the draft).
I barely heard the cannon go off but I saw people starting to head out - most moved kind of slowly like they were not so sure about it. I fallowed Col, Bryan and Kyle into the water (Futa started somewhere behind me). I just stopped thinking about anything other than what I had to do. It was crowded but I was able to find some space and just stuck my face down and swam. It was good until the first buoy when everyone decided they should stop and push each other around for a bit. It was sort of crazy - everyone swimming over each other - somehow I managed not to panic or get beat up to bad and just kept moving forward.
I found myself breathing every stroke mostly so I could sight the buoys and the people. I drifted left away from the crowds around the buoys so that I could have some more space and just swim with out stressing. I found that at each buoy on the way out people seemed to stop almost and bunch up so I kept swimming further and further to the left until the people in the boats started to yell at me. I probably added quite a few yards on to my swim but I was able to stay relaxed and just swim rather than fight for a spot so much. I saw the scuba divers a couple of times and they just waved - it was both funny and creepy to see them down there.
About half way I was feeling good - right on track time wise so I took a minute to eat a gel and look around - it was still crowed close in to the buoys but there was plenty of room on the edges where I was. I loved knowing that I was about half way done with the swim and my mind wandered a bit to the transition and bike part as I swam. Unlike Hawaii there was nothing to look at during the swim so I had to entertain myself and tried to focus on my form and staying calm and strong. On the way back I stayed very far left - every once and a while some one would yell at me to move right - but then when I did it always got more crowded or some random dude would swim over me so I kind of just stayed left. At some point I started counting how many buoys were left and I felt good - of course I started swimming right finally towards the 2nd to last buoy. It was getting more and more shallow so finally when it seemed about knee deep I stood up and started walking to shore - then of course it went from nice sand to rocks that hurt... Oh well I was just looking forward to getting on my bike.
The volunteers were great - the wetsuit strippers had me out of my wetsuit in seconds and on my way to grab my bag and into the changing tent. The changing tent was madness - people everywhere - i found a chair, dumped my bag out and started drying off, changed into bike shorts, put my socks and shoes on, helmet on, sun glasses, I put my arm warmers in my back pocket just in case, extra salt and gel went in my back pocket, and put my race belt on, put all my swim stuff back in the bag and I headed out to my bike. The volunteers tried to send me the wrong direction but I knew my bike was on aisle 44 so I ignored them and went straight to my bike. I ran my bike across the timing mat and was off on to the bike course.
I turned on my garmin before I left transition but it had to find satellites and all that - it took a good 3 miles for it get set up and started. I knew my mom and Jerry would be out on main street waiting to see me and that all the crosswalks were bumpy so I had to be careful so at least I would not be taking an accelerade shower - even so I made sure to smile when I saw my mom.
My stomach was kind of sloshy - I think I drank more lake water than normal but even so I started to take sips from my aero bottle full of accelerade and had some gel with in the first 10 miles. The roads were really crowded and it was pretty much impossible to stay the full 4 bike lengths behind - I saw a lot of refs but there was not much any one could really do.
On the first little hill I felt really good - I was more worried about all the people bunching up on the uphill - so I just moved to the left and passed them.
I knew I had Richter Pass coming and I would need energy so I made sure to drink my accelerade every so often and had some more gel - my stomach still did not feel good and my lower back and neck were tight so I just did not focus on it. It is a gradual down hill till Richter which was great - at some points I was up to around 29mph. At around mile 29ish I dropped a chain inside and calmly stopped got off the bike shifted the big ring to the outside and peddled it and the chain came back on (Kyle taught me this trick) and got back on my bike. A few people asked if I was ok and I defiantly was - after that I was less worried about something going wrong - I knew I could stay calm and deal with it (it also helped that the bike barn support van always seemed to be close by).
It seemed to take forever to get to Richter Pass and once I did I haled ass up hill - yes it was difficult but I was able to spin the entire way - I felt great passing tons of people. The road was crowded with both participants and lots of people cheering. The best part is the hill totally forced me to focus on climbing and the thought of how bad my stomach felt disappeared. I enjoyed the entire climb - it was sort of weird and very motivating.
Sadly the hill ended and I had to go downhill - the wind picked up and I don't really like downhills much anyway so I sat up and even though I did not brake I took it easy - I think my top speed was only about 39mph (vs Kyle's 50mph). It was kind of funny my right(rear) brake felt kind of squishy but I thought nothing of it at the time - after the race I found it wide open - oh well. It felt like there was both a side and head wind as I came into the valley. I had to peddle down hill and still never got going very fast especially after the first roller or two.
People always talk about Richter pass and Yellow lake but I think by far the hardest part of teh course was teh rollers - not because they are steep or anything like that but the headwind just took it out of me and it is boring. I do way better when I can focus on something and move on but it was just the same thing for so long. It did not help that my stomach and neck felt worse - I was craving anything that would sort of soak up the sloshy feeling but my special needs bag was a ways off still. I asked for cookies at one of the aid station but they only had power bars so instead I had a banana which stuck to my mouth. All the while my legs continued to feel great and even though I did not feel all together my best I was having fun and was happy with my progress. The next aid station I grabbed some orange slices which burned my already chapped lips but tasted great and helped a bit with my stomach. I also decided to stop and use the porta potty and see if that would help - it was weird being off the bike, my feet were kind of numb and my legs did not have a clue what to do - luckily a little girl who was volunteering held my bike for me while I waited in line. Afterwards I grabbed one more orange and headed out again. I felt a bit better but was ready for my special needs stuff.
At the turn off to the out and back part I heard Col's Dad yell my name and cheered for me _ i was totally surprised but it was great motivation to keep moving. The best part of the out and back part was that you got to have a tailwind for a while which was a very nice even though it was short lived. I got my special needs bag and stuffed my pockets with everything and then tried to eat par of a granola bar. My mouth was so dry I could barely crew it so I tried some cliff bar which was better but not what I wanted anymore. So I went back to my gel, accelerade and orange slices at aid stations. I saw Futa as I was heading out of the out and back - I was not to surprised I had not seen anyone else because I knew they were all faster than me esp in the swim.
I let my self take it sort of easy the 5 miles before the yellow lake climb starts so that I could be ready for it I guess. I stood up a lot, stretched my back some and ate gel. Once I started to climb I felt great again - I focused and went into my climbing position. I was able to get a good spin going with a nice quick cadence and started passing people. Col's dad spotted me first which gave my mom plenty of time to get lots of pics of me climbing the first hill.
The rest of the climb felt good - there were still lots of people cheering everyone on and I got a lot of "nice speed" and "good energy", even a few "wow look at her go" kind of calls. It was funny really and it made me very happy (glad I did all those hills in training).
The rest of the was mostly downhill but the wind was still blowing so I never got going to fast even though it was fun to pass all the cars stuck trying to get back into town. I made sure to keep drinking a took some more gel before I got into town and then once I was with in 5 miles or so I just spun my legs out as much as I could. I randomly saw my mom and Jerry and of course the sign walking towards the run course - I yelled out to them and they seemed just as surprised to see me. lol I headed the rest of the way back to the transition - I was not totally sure about my time or anything but I saw a lot of people already out on the run course.
I headed into T2, grabbed my garmin before they took my bike, grabbed my run bag, headed into the changing tent which was not quite as crowded as last time, I dumped my bag out, changed shorts, sock, shoes, race belt with gels, grabbed hat, put salt on race belt, put small body glide in back pocket, grabbed small bottle of accelerade, and an extra gel, put my garmin on the wrist band. Left my sunglasses, arm warmers and all the other random stuff that was in my back pocket. A nice volunteer helped me get all my bike stuff back in my bag and I was off and running. It is funny I never even really thought about slowing down or stopping or even that wow I was about to run a marathon - I just got my stuff on and went.
At first my feet just felt completely numb from the bike but otherwise I felt good - I was running (not super fast or anything but I was running). The start of the course is kind of crazy the streets are just lined with people so I was kind of distracted looking for my mom even though I knew she would be further down at the park where I told her I wanted her to be. With in a mile or two I tired of carrying the small bottle of accelerade so I tossed it in a garbage can on the side of the street and I ate the gel just so I would not have to carry it anymore. By now my stomach had finally settled and felt much better so I felt ok drinking some water, took a salt and had an orange slice (which stung my very chapped lips) at the first aid station.
I felt good - surprisingly good - within the first couple miles my legs sort of loosened up and I could feel my toes again and there was no real pain to speak of (especially not pain like I had in Hawaii) - my hamstrings were a bit tired but nothing I could not handle. I saw my mom and Jerry around mile 5 (at the park) of course they were right after an aid station and my mom got some lovely pics of me trying to smile and eat and orange at at he same time.
I continued to feel really good. I saw Kyle little bit later - he said he was not feeling very good and I think he was annoyed with me because I was chipper and happy - we hugged and he took off. The best part about the marathon part is that since it is out and back I got to see the whole crew at some point or another. Next I saw Bryan and he looked good, then Col who checked her watch and congratulated me and said my time was good. I just kept chugging along averaging about 10:45 to 11 min miles. I walk the aid stations so I could get some gatorade, or something to eat, I used the sponges just to wipe my face off and to get my hair wet. Every couple of miles I would take a salt or eat a gel depending on how I felt and every other I would take soup - which was always yummy. I also walked up some of the steeper hills but always made sure to start running again once I reached the top.
Every time I saw a mile marker I was surprised at how quickly it had come - I knew my pace was not that speedy but still it felt fast. I kept a close eye on the time of day - I knew I wanted to be across the finish line before 9pm if I could. i have never been good at doing math while running but I sort of tried and thought I could make it if I kept my pace up and did not walk to much.
I made it to the special needs aid station - I put my arm warms under my belt for later, grabbed my little blinky light and reflector strap and threw away the gels. I had two pieces of mint gum - just in case my stomach did not feel good so even though my stomach felt totally fine the thought of a fresh minty mouth sounded wonderful. It was the best thing ever - after a day of gel, accelerade and other sweet/sticky food stuff my teeth felt like sweaters and the gum was so fresh. I also found that it helped me keep my jaw relaxed and I did not clench my teeth at all. The rest of the run I crewed on the gum, at the aid stations I would put it on my bib number while I ate or drank what ever I wanted and then as I moved on the gum went right back in. I saw Futa at some point after the special needs pick up.
At some point I think around mile 16 or something I was walking up a hill with a couple of guys who aid they thought they were going to finish just after 9mp if they kept their pace. I decided right then that I was going to to try my best to finish before 9pm (since that was my goal all day) so I started to run more, I walked on a portion of the aid stations and really tried to keep my pace up even on the uphills. I just focused and stayed positive. My legs were tired and my feet sort of hurt so when ever I could I would run on the soft shoulder of the road which felt much better (or at least enough to make me feel better). It was kind of strange less and less people were running and I continued to feel good and knew I could maintain somewhere around an 11 min pace esp as the course flattened out in town. I passed a lot of people walking and most of the time I was the only one running but I knew I really wanted to finish before 9pm and walking would not help me do that so I ran.
On the way back into town it was really great to there were still people camped out on their driveways cheering - I watched the a really nice sunset start to come down and just kept going.
The last little gradual incline into town was hard to keep running - my hamstring were tired and sore from all the climbing on the bike earlier but I was not totally sure if I would beat 9pm so I kept trotting along. Somewhere coming into town a spectator yelled "MacBeth you are an Ironman!" and it hit me for the first time during the entire day that I was going to finish and that I had had a good day - I was sooo close to bursting out in tears but it also motivated me even more to keep running and to finish before 9pm.
I was so focused it sort of became a blur I knew I would finish and I thought I really could make my goal time so I ran faster. My stomach started growling with 2 or so miles to go so I grabbed more soup and some gatorade but kept running through the aid station. I saw my mom when I was probably a little more than a mile to go - it was dark so she did her best to get a pic.
I heard Kyle cheer for me as I turned onto Lakeshore Drive. On the final out and back I finally knew I was going to finish before 9pm and I was just so happy I picked up my pace and kicked the final half mile. I heard Kyle cheer again as I came into the finish but all I wanted to do was finish as fast as I could not because it was painful or I wanted to be done but because I could. It was so weird my legs no longer felt tired or heavy and I ran to the bright lights of the finish. I did not want to wait for the people in front of me so I ran past them so there was no ribbon to run through but I was so happy. I archived my goal of finishing before 9pm (a whole 10 min) and I finished happy/well.
After I crossed the line a "catcher" was right by my side and helped me get my medal, a foil blanket thing, my finisher hat, shirt (which I was very concerned about not being a small so she helped me find out they were out of smalls), then to get in line for my finishers photo. All the while she chatted to me and made sure I was doing ok. First Kyle found me and then Col and Bryan so I told the nice volunteer I would be ok my friends would take care of me. I was just so happy :)
I got my picture, and a yummy powerbar recover drink, and they were out of pizza, next Kyle went with me to get my dry clothes so I could get warmer and my feet hurt so I wanted to put my crocks on - I figured out my entire baby toe on my right side was a blister weird how it did not hurt till I was done. We met Col and Bryan back at the finish so we could see Futa come in though none of us really knew where her was - I thought he was a lot closer than he was - I guess he spent some extra time in the porta potties along the run. He finished and was happy though. Cole headed home to get warmed up while the rest of us stayed to watch the final athletics finish and see the fireworks at midnight. I kept my foil blanket but used it like a skirt to keep my legs warmer. The finish area was full of people dancing and cheering for the final finishers to come in. I think that last hour is the most inspiring time of the race.
After the last racer finished we headed back home to try and sleep. My legs were getting tight and my feet defiantly hurt so I was slow.
I was sort of surprised at how hard it was to sleep - I tossed and turned and every time I moved my muscled ached. I woke up so many times - but each time I knew I was an Ironman and I was happy :)
FINAL TIMES BREAKDOWN
TOTAL SWIM 2.4 mi. (1:33:32) - 2:27/100m pace - 2252 place
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE (6:50)
FIRST BIKE SEGMENT 40 mi. (2:23:14) - 16.76 mph pace
FINAL BIKE SEGMENT 72 mi. (4:43:41) - 15.23 mph pace
TOTAL BIKE 112 mi. (7:06:55) - 15.74 mph pace - 1966 place -
Bike Data
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN (6:06)
FIRST RUN SEGMENT 13.1 mi. (2:26:20) - 11:10/mile pace
FINAL RUN SEGMENT 13.1 mi. (2:31:09) - 11:32/mile pace
TOTAL RUN 26.2 mi. (4:57:29) - 11:21/mile pace - 1691 place - Run Data
OVERALL (13:50:52) - 1691 Place Overall
I slept till 3am and tried to go back to sleep but could not so instead I ate some cheerios and half a double shot. The rest of the crew started to get moving around 4am and the support crew(parents) got up around 5ish. I felt kind of nervous but not to bad. Though I almost cried when I hugged my mom when we were heading out. We managed to grab a great spot nice and close to the transition area but then I realized I left my garmin at the house - my heart rate went through the roof. Kyle drove me back while every one else went to get body marked. Luckily we were staying in a house less than 5 min from the start. I ran in grabbed the garmin and we managed to get back in time to get the same parking spot.It freaked me out and I was a bit scared - I'm not really sure what of - the lake looked like glass and I knew I was ready to give it my best.
Kyle and I dropped our special needs bags off and got in the long line for body marking - it was probably a good thing the line was so long and slow it gave me a chance to calm down and breath again. We chit chatted with people and slowly but surly I got to the front of the line - they had us stand on a step stool and wrote our number on the front of both arms, front of the left calf and age on the back of the right calf. After that I was ready to get my bottles, gels, computer and random stuff all on my bike and get ready to jump in the lake.
The transition area was buzzing with energy and very very long lines to the few porta potties. The rest of the crew found me and Col helped me top off my tires. We all started to get ready for the swim - lots of body glide on the legs for quick wetsuit removal, and packed up all our dry clothes into the dry clothes bag. We also tied orange ribbon stuff to our wrists in the hope that if we were near each other we could see it - mostly it was for Bryan, Col and Kyle who wanted to stay close together.
Once we were all pretty much ready, I ate a gel, put a gel in the chest of my wetsuit for halfway and we headed out on to the beach right before the pros started (6:45a). I was nervous, excited, but t least i was no longer really scared - I was with my friends and I just reminded myself over and over that I could do this. We milled around the beach - I saw my swim coach Eric and a few other people - wish everyone good luck and hugs. A couple of moments I almost started to cry and worried about fogging my goggles before the swim even started. The beach never really felt crowded - everyone was pretty spread out. We started in the water off to the left side a bit but fairly far forward - no one really seemed to want to be on the front (some of the guys that were on the front line were joking they would change $20 for the draft).
I barely heard the cannon go off but I saw people starting to head out - most moved kind of slowly like they were not so sure about it. I fallowed Col, Bryan and Kyle into the water (Futa started somewhere behind me). I just stopped thinking about anything other than what I had to do. It was crowded but I was able to find some space and just stuck my face down and swam. It was good until the first buoy when everyone decided they should stop and push each other around for a bit. It was sort of crazy - everyone swimming over each other - somehow I managed not to panic or get beat up to bad and just kept moving forward.
I found myself breathing every stroke mostly so I could sight the buoys and the people. I drifted left away from the crowds around the buoys so that I could have some more space and just swim with out stressing. I found that at each buoy on the way out people seemed to stop almost and bunch up so I kept swimming further and further to the left until the people in the boats started to yell at me. I probably added quite a few yards on to my swim but I was able to stay relaxed and just swim rather than fight for a spot so much. I saw the scuba divers a couple of times and they just waved - it was both funny and creepy to see them down there.
About half way I was feeling good - right on track time wise so I took a minute to eat a gel and look around - it was still crowed close in to the buoys but there was plenty of room on the edges where I was. I loved knowing that I was about half way done with the swim and my mind wandered a bit to the transition and bike part as I swam. Unlike Hawaii there was nothing to look at during the swim so I had to entertain myself and tried to focus on my form and staying calm and strong. On the way back I stayed very far left - every once and a while some one would yell at me to move right - but then when I did it always got more crowded or some random dude would swim over me so I kind of just stayed left. At some point I started counting how many buoys were left and I felt good - of course I started swimming right finally towards the 2nd to last buoy. It was getting more and more shallow so finally when it seemed about knee deep I stood up and started walking to shore - then of course it went from nice sand to rocks that hurt... Oh well I was just looking forward to getting on my bike.
The volunteers were great - the wetsuit strippers had me out of my wetsuit in seconds and on my way to grab my bag and into the changing tent. The changing tent was madness - people everywhere - i found a chair, dumped my bag out and started drying off, changed into bike shorts, put my socks and shoes on, helmet on, sun glasses, I put my arm warmers in my back pocket just in case, extra salt and gel went in my back pocket, and put my race belt on, put all my swim stuff back in the bag and I headed out to my bike. The volunteers tried to send me the wrong direction but I knew my bike was on aisle 44 so I ignored them and went straight to my bike. I ran my bike across the timing mat and was off on to the bike course.
I turned on my garmin before I left transition but it had to find satellites and all that - it took a good 3 miles for it get set up and started. I knew my mom and Jerry would be out on main street waiting to see me and that all the crosswalks were bumpy so I had to be careful so at least I would not be taking an accelerade shower - even so I made sure to smile when I saw my mom.
My stomach was kind of sloshy - I think I drank more lake water than normal but even so I started to take sips from my aero bottle full of accelerade and had some gel with in the first 10 miles. The roads were really crowded and it was pretty much impossible to stay the full 4 bike lengths behind - I saw a lot of refs but there was not much any one could really do.
On the first little hill I felt really good - I was more worried about all the people bunching up on the uphill - so I just moved to the left and passed them.
I knew I had Richter Pass coming and I would need energy so I made sure to drink my accelerade every so often and had some more gel - my stomach still did not feel good and my lower back and neck were tight so I just did not focus on it. It is a gradual down hill till Richter which was great - at some points I was up to around 29mph. At around mile 29ish I dropped a chain inside and calmly stopped got off the bike shifted the big ring to the outside and peddled it and the chain came back on (Kyle taught me this trick) and got back on my bike. A few people asked if I was ok and I defiantly was - after that I was less worried about something going wrong - I knew I could stay calm and deal with it (it also helped that the bike barn support van always seemed to be close by).
It seemed to take forever to get to Richter Pass and once I did I haled ass up hill - yes it was difficult but I was able to spin the entire way - I felt great passing tons of people. The road was crowded with both participants and lots of people cheering. The best part is the hill totally forced me to focus on climbing and the thought of how bad my stomach felt disappeared. I enjoyed the entire climb - it was sort of weird and very motivating.
Sadly the hill ended and I had to go downhill - the wind picked up and I don't really like downhills much anyway so I sat up and even though I did not brake I took it easy - I think my top speed was only about 39mph (vs Kyle's 50mph). It was kind of funny my right(rear) brake felt kind of squishy but I thought nothing of it at the time - after the race I found it wide open - oh well. It felt like there was both a side and head wind as I came into the valley. I had to peddle down hill and still never got going very fast especially after the first roller or two.
People always talk about Richter pass and Yellow lake but I think by far the hardest part of teh course was teh rollers - not because they are steep or anything like that but the headwind just took it out of me and it is boring. I do way better when I can focus on something and move on but it was just the same thing for so long. It did not help that my stomach and neck felt worse - I was craving anything that would sort of soak up the sloshy feeling but my special needs bag was a ways off still. I asked for cookies at one of the aid station but they only had power bars so instead I had a banana which stuck to my mouth. All the while my legs continued to feel great and even though I did not feel all together my best I was having fun and was happy with my progress. The next aid station I grabbed some orange slices which burned my already chapped lips but tasted great and helped a bit with my stomach. I also decided to stop and use the porta potty and see if that would help - it was weird being off the bike, my feet were kind of numb and my legs did not have a clue what to do - luckily a little girl who was volunteering held my bike for me while I waited in line. Afterwards I grabbed one more orange and headed out again. I felt a bit better but was ready for my special needs stuff.
At the turn off to the out and back part I heard Col's Dad yell my name and cheered for me _ i was totally surprised but it was great motivation to keep moving. The best part of the out and back part was that you got to have a tailwind for a while which was a very nice even though it was short lived. I got my special needs bag and stuffed my pockets with everything and then tried to eat par of a granola bar. My mouth was so dry I could barely crew it so I tried some cliff bar which was better but not what I wanted anymore. So I went back to my gel, accelerade and orange slices at aid stations. I saw Futa as I was heading out of the out and back - I was not to surprised I had not seen anyone else because I knew they were all faster than me esp in the swim.
I let my self take it sort of easy the 5 miles before the yellow lake climb starts so that I could be ready for it I guess. I stood up a lot, stretched my back some and ate gel. Once I started to climb I felt great again - I focused and went into my climbing position. I was able to get a good spin going with a nice quick cadence and started passing people. Col's dad spotted me first which gave my mom plenty of time to get lots of pics of me climbing the first hill.
The rest of the climb felt good - there were still lots of people cheering everyone on and I got a lot of "nice speed" and "good energy", even a few "wow look at her go" kind of calls. It was funny really and it made me very happy (glad I did all those hills in training).
The rest of the was mostly downhill but the wind was still blowing so I never got going to fast even though it was fun to pass all the cars stuck trying to get back into town. I made sure to keep drinking a took some more gel before I got into town and then once I was with in 5 miles or so I just spun my legs out as much as I could. I randomly saw my mom and Jerry and of course the sign walking towards the run course - I yelled out to them and they seemed just as surprised to see me. lol I headed the rest of the way back to the transition - I was not totally sure about my time or anything but I saw a lot of people already out on the run course.
I headed into T2, grabbed my garmin before they took my bike, grabbed my run bag, headed into the changing tent which was not quite as crowded as last time, I dumped my bag out, changed shorts, sock, shoes, race belt with gels, grabbed hat, put salt on race belt, put small body glide in back pocket, grabbed small bottle of accelerade, and an extra gel, put my garmin on the wrist band. Left my sunglasses, arm warmers and all the other random stuff that was in my back pocket. A nice volunteer helped me get all my bike stuff back in my bag and I was off and running. It is funny I never even really thought about slowing down or stopping or even that wow I was about to run a marathon - I just got my stuff on and went.
At first my feet just felt completely numb from the bike but otherwise I felt good - I was running (not super fast or anything but I was running). The start of the course is kind of crazy the streets are just lined with people so I was kind of distracted looking for my mom even though I knew she would be further down at the park where I told her I wanted her to be. With in a mile or two I tired of carrying the small bottle of accelerade so I tossed it in a garbage can on the side of the street and I ate the gel just so I would not have to carry it anymore. By now my stomach had finally settled and felt much better so I felt ok drinking some water, took a salt and had an orange slice (which stung my very chapped lips) at the first aid station.
I felt good - surprisingly good - within the first couple miles my legs sort of loosened up and I could feel my toes again and there was no real pain to speak of (especially not pain like I had in Hawaii) - my hamstrings were a bit tired but nothing I could not handle. I saw my mom and Jerry around mile 5 (at the park) of course they were right after an aid station and my mom got some lovely pics of me trying to smile and eat and orange at at he same time.
I continued to feel really good. I saw Kyle little bit later - he said he was not feeling very good and I think he was annoyed with me because I was chipper and happy - we hugged and he took off. The best part about the marathon part is that since it is out and back I got to see the whole crew at some point or another. Next I saw Bryan and he looked good, then Col who checked her watch and congratulated me and said my time was good. I just kept chugging along averaging about 10:45 to 11 min miles. I walk the aid stations so I could get some gatorade, or something to eat, I used the sponges just to wipe my face off and to get my hair wet. Every couple of miles I would take a salt or eat a gel depending on how I felt and every other I would take soup - which was always yummy. I also walked up some of the steeper hills but always made sure to start running again once I reached the top.
Every time I saw a mile marker I was surprised at how quickly it had come - I knew my pace was not that speedy but still it felt fast. I kept a close eye on the time of day - I knew I wanted to be across the finish line before 9pm if I could. i have never been good at doing math while running but I sort of tried and thought I could make it if I kept my pace up and did not walk to much.
I made it to the special needs aid station - I put my arm warms under my belt for later, grabbed my little blinky light and reflector strap and threw away the gels. I had two pieces of mint gum - just in case my stomach did not feel good so even though my stomach felt totally fine the thought of a fresh minty mouth sounded wonderful. It was the best thing ever - after a day of gel, accelerade and other sweet/sticky food stuff my teeth felt like sweaters and the gum was so fresh. I also found that it helped me keep my jaw relaxed and I did not clench my teeth at all. The rest of the run I crewed on the gum, at the aid stations I would put it on my bib number while I ate or drank what ever I wanted and then as I moved on the gum went right back in. I saw Futa at some point after the special needs pick up.
At some point I think around mile 16 or something I was walking up a hill with a couple of guys who aid they thought they were going to finish just after 9mp if they kept their pace. I decided right then that I was going to to try my best to finish before 9pm (since that was my goal all day) so I started to run more, I walked on a portion of the aid stations and really tried to keep my pace up even on the uphills. I just focused and stayed positive. My legs were tired and my feet sort of hurt so when ever I could I would run on the soft shoulder of the road which felt much better (or at least enough to make me feel better). It was kind of strange less and less people were running and I continued to feel good and knew I could maintain somewhere around an 11 min pace esp as the course flattened out in town. I passed a lot of people walking and most of the time I was the only one running but I knew I really wanted to finish before 9pm and walking would not help me do that so I ran.
On the way back into town it was really great to there were still people camped out on their driveways cheering - I watched the a really nice sunset start to come down and just kept going.
The last little gradual incline into town was hard to keep running - my hamstring were tired and sore from all the climbing on the bike earlier but I was not totally sure if I would beat 9pm so I kept trotting along. Somewhere coming into town a spectator yelled "MacBeth you are an Ironman!" and it hit me for the first time during the entire day that I was going to finish and that I had had a good day - I was sooo close to bursting out in tears but it also motivated me even more to keep running and to finish before 9pm.
I was so focused it sort of became a blur I knew I would finish and I thought I really could make my goal time so I ran faster. My stomach started growling with 2 or so miles to go so I grabbed more soup and some gatorade but kept running through the aid station. I saw my mom when I was probably a little more than a mile to go - it was dark so she did her best to get a pic.
I heard Kyle cheer for me as I turned onto Lakeshore Drive. On the final out and back I finally knew I was going to finish before 9pm and I was just so happy I picked up my pace and kicked the final half mile. I heard Kyle cheer again as I came into the finish but all I wanted to do was finish as fast as I could not because it was painful or I wanted to be done but because I could. It was so weird my legs no longer felt tired or heavy and I ran to the bright lights of the finish. I did not want to wait for the people in front of me so I ran past them so there was no ribbon to run through but I was so happy. I archived my goal of finishing before 9pm (a whole 10 min) and I finished happy/well. After I crossed the line a "catcher" was right by my side and helped me get my medal, a foil blanket thing, my finisher hat, shirt (which I was very concerned about not being a small so she helped me find out they were out of smalls), then to get in line for my finishers photo. All the while she chatted to me and made sure I was doing ok. First Kyle found me and then Col and Bryan so I told the nice volunteer I would be ok my friends would take care of me. I was just so happy :)
I got my picture, and a yummy powerbar recover drink, and they were out of pizza, next Kyle went with me to get my dry clothes so I could get warmer and my feet hurt so I wanted to put my crocks on - I figured out my entire baby toe on my right side was a blister weird how it did not hurt till I was done. We met Col and Bryan back at the finish so we could see Futa come in though none of us really knew where her was - I thought he was a lot closer than he was - I guess he spent some extra time in the porta potties along the run. He finished and was happy though. Cole headed home to get warmed up while the rest of us stayed to watch the final athletics finish and see the fireworks at midnight. I kept my foil blanket but used it like a skirt to keep my legs warmer. The finish area was full of people dancing and cheering for the final finishers to come in. I think that last hour is the most inspiring time of the race.
After the last racer finished we headed back home to try and sleep. My legs were getting tight and my feet defiantly hurt so I was slow.
I was sort of surprised at how hard it was to sleep - I tossed and turned and every time I moved my muscled ached. I woke up so many times - but each time I knew I was an Ironman and I was happy :)
FINAL TIMES BREAKDOWN
TOTAL SWIM 2.4 mi. (1:33:32) - 2:27/100m pace - 2252 place
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE (6:50)
FIRST BIKE SEGMENT 40 mi. (2:23:14) - 16.76 mph pace
FINAL BIKE SEGMENT 72 mi. (4:43:41) - 15.23 mph pace
TOTAL BIKE 112 mi. (7:06:55) - 15.74 mph pace - 1966 place -
Bike Data
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN (6:06)
FIRST RUN SEGMENT 13.1 mi. (2:26:20) - 11:10/mile pace
FINAL RUN SEGMENT 13.1 mi. (2:31:09) - 11:32/mile pace
TOTAL RUN 26.2 mi. (4:57:29) - 11:21/mile pace - 1691 place - Run Data
OVERALL (13:50:52) - 1691 Place Overall
Sep 2, 2007
sort of back
This morning in an effort to both get back into the habit of training again and to stretch out I went to Bikram/hot yoga. The instructor was not the best but it still was hot and I got some really good stretching in. I felt pretty good during but about 2 hours afterwards I completely hit a wall. Kyle and I went to breakfast and on our way home I just got so tired as soon as we were back home I layed down just for a minute. So 2 hours later Kyle came in and asked if I was going to ever get up since it was 3pm. It really only felt like 30 min or something but I guess I was asleep for 2 hours. So I'm guess I'm not fully recovered - not that I was expecting to be.
Update on race report - I plan to have it doen by end of day tomorrow.
Update on race report - I plan to have it doen by end of day tomorrow.
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