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thejerkstorecalled · 6 years

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Leaving on a high (low?) note [Ohio 70.3 Race Report]

My favorite episode of one of my favorite shows - also the inspiration for my blog title – resolves around a main character leaving on a high note. If you can’t read between the lines or haven’t been blessed to watch, we’re talking about Seinfeld.

That was the goal: leaving on a high note. I found, fortunately or unfortunately, that it’s easier to leave on a low note. You don’t have all the “what ifs”; e.g., what could happen if I put in just a little more effort?

That was Ohio 70.3 for me. I knew this would be my last 70.3 for quite a while, and now I’m really, really okay with that. Before, part of me was ready for a triatus while part of me was bummed not to be threading together another race schedule.

My journey of all these crazy events started ten years ago, with an experimental sprint tri – that sparked an interest I stewed on for five years before really swimming, biking and running – and my first half marathon. It’s been a good run, but maybe it’s run its course?

Pre-race: the pre-race logistics snafus and tight timelines were something special, so I’ve put them at the end because they nearly deserved their own post.

The swim: there’s a reason I don’t do non-wetsuit swims. I’ll preface what I’m about to say by noting that I’ve attended a handful of masters and tri swim groups over the last five years and have had individual and team consulting from swim coaches. I’ve also continued to pour more effort into improving in the swim each passing year by having a longer swim focus in the off-season, increasing swim frequency with bonus swims, etc. The only other non-wetsuit 70.3 I’ve raced was my very first 70.3 - 5.5 years ago when I didn’t have a coach, a training plan or a fancy swim skin. And I briefly stopped swimming and stood on a sand bar during the event; there’s actually a photo of it somewhere on the internet. I only swam :16 faster in Ohio (47:08 vs 46:52) … It’s incredibly frustrating to love a sport that doesn’t love you back. Just kidding - I hate swimming like Cleveland hates Lebron, so I mean that it’s a complicated and estranged love-hate relationship.

The bike: I didn’t feel great, I didn’t feel terrible, but I did expect a faster bike split. I only bested my old bike PR by :14 (2:37:32 vs 2:37:46 though GPS reflects course as a tad long and my Strava segment time for the course was 2:35:57 though it doesn’t count since it’s totally not official) which was set three years ago. I also raced St George 70.3 three years ago, and then rode 13 minutes faster on that course this year… I forgot to pack my aero bottle for this event, so I had to modify my nutrition, and maybe that was off, too.

The run: Oh, how I wanted to DNF. I was mentally checked out, and to be fair, I’d already had a conversation with my coach about how I want to shift to a pure cycling focus, pun sort of intended. Now that we live in Austin, road cycling in the shiny thing. I also didn’t feel like I was having fun although adding about 75 mg of caffeine in the first few miles kinda helped. I’ve really lost my fire for running lately; I’ve been feeling that way on and off for a couple years. Maybe it’s a flicker that goes in and out and it’s just really out right now. Running is my most competitive discipline, both within triathlon and as a standalone, so I hope the flicker comes back someday, eventually. As much as I wanted to quit, and I did sort of phone it in, three things kept me going:

1. Michael and I have a map where we pin new states [where we’ve raced a half or full tri or marathon] and I really wanted my Ohio pin – I haven’t gotten any new pins this year!

2. My friend Kirby was waiting and I didn’t want to keep her waiting all day, I was ready to get back to the fun stuff!

3. If I could have at least a decent finish, I could get a high enough USAT score to average in and lock up All-American for a fourth consecutive year, my only real chance to finish on a high note at this point.

A few bullets reviewing the actual race [event]:

· For a two-transition race, this was easy breezy! The transitions were only five or six miles apart and a pretty easy drive.

· Generally speaking, the whole event was a compact experience and didn’t feel like a hugely produced WTC race, in a good way: Our hotel was right on the town’s main street where we were a quarter mile from Ironman village and the finish line, a moderate walk to the morning shuttles to the swim start and a lovely walk from local restaurants and the cute downtown of Delaware.

· It was a neat town and we enjoyed the local spots. Everyone was super-friendly.

· Transitions were short, and T2 was in Ohio Wesleyan stadium, though my watch-out would be the stadium grass and material, as I got a lot of it all over my feet as I was putting on my socks for the run and it was a bit painful to run with those beads stuck to the bottom of my feet for 13.1 miles!

· The swim was warm (79.25*) and I was surprised how choppy the water got. It was also VERY murky, there was no visibility, but it didn’t taste too bad (I got a lot of it in my mouth via the chop, so can confidently confirm).

· The roads on the bike were pretty good and traffic was light and well-controlled, so I felt pretty safe. The first 1/3 or so had almost no turns, so was very fast. The second 1/3 seemed a bit windy or false flatish to me, which I thought might be me getting tired but I was leap-frogging with the same group throughout that stretch while we were trying to stay legal as we continually entered each others draft zones. I’d also note that there were a lot of course marshals out monitoring drafting. The last third was hilly* and had a lot of turns, so was a bit slower, but I was able to drop the group I’d been leap-frogging with when we hit this section. *the hills were generally short and shallow, I’m pretty sure I only broke aero twice and never once had to shift out of my big ring, I was riding in pretty big gears all day

· The loops on the run seemed to go by more quickly than I thought they would, which made me like the format. There were gentle rollers on the run. Some up-hill within that, but nothing major, just nice undulations to break up the monotony. There were also some very well-shaded portions, and I was surprised how many spectators were out on the loop, presumably locals since it was rural-residential. It was a neat community. The finish was on the university track, which was pretty cool!

The pre-race ordeal that was so chaotic it’s almost un-believable:

· I booked my flight in May on Allegiant instead of Delta because the price was hard to pass up, and it was a quick, direct flight – those are hard to find out of Austin. When I did this, I was under the assumption that Tri Bike Transport would be servicing Ohio 70.3 and I would be light on flight baggage. That was not the case.

· I ended up booking a Bike Flights shipment to get my bike to Ohio and having it shipped to a Trek store to be rebuilt. I find it stressful to do myself when I’m short on time and it needs to be done right so I can race on the bike.

· When my bike was en route back from Ironman Boulder in June, the front carbon clincher got deeply scratched. I logged a ticket with Tri Bike Transport and they worked with Profile Design to get me a crash replacement for free, all within about a month, which was pretty amazing, but it arrived to my house a few days after I had shipped my bike already.

· Since you have to declare any checked or carried-on luggage well in advance with the budget airlines to avoid hefty fees, I opted to ship my new carbon wheel to Ohio via FedEx, to arrive at Kirby’s house.

· The shipment got screwed up and arrived early and needed a signature. I was unable to edit it for store pick-up, so Kirby had to stay home all day Friday waiting for the wheel to arrive. Aside: I’m never using FedEx again, terrible customer service. All that meant that Kirby wouldn’t be able to pick me up from the airport if she were sitting around waiting on the wheel, therefore…

· I had to book a rental car so that I could pick up my bike and then get to her house, about an hour from the airport. But wait, there’s more!

· The airport that I was flying into on my cheap Allegiant flight was not the main airport, and there were no rental cars or cheap rental car locations nearby, so I had to take a Lyft from one airport to another – the main airport - so that I could rent a car big enough to fit a bike box and a fully built bike!

· I scooped up both amidst my logistical circus on Friday and planned to check the bike and ready the wheel Friday night. I discovered that the seat had been positioned well higher than my bike fit called for and was not ride-able. The tool I needed for that was missing from my bike box, though I know I packed it. I also realized that the wheel needed rim tape, and I was hesitant to do that myself and screw it up, resulting in multiple flat tires (I always like to be able to blame someone else, not that I would, but it’s best to minimize the ways things can go wrong)

· I took the bike back to the shop on Saturday, as they said they didn’t have the tool I had packed, and suggested it fell out during shipping. They noted that the seat was left high so that I could see that the carbon on the seat post had been compromised. At this point, I decided that I didn’t want to invest any more money into this bike since this “race” would probably be the last time I’d ride it outside, so decided to chance it and hope the roads weren’t bad!

· Getting the bike re-readied took some time, so we were crunched to check in for the race and make two gear drops (bike and run bag) for a two-transition race.

· The next few hours were a scramble, and I arrived at mandatory run bag check four minutes before it closed, and the volunteer reminded me that “if you do things at the last minute, then they only take a minute.” I appreciated that validation.

#triathlon #triathlete #ironman #ironman703 #ironman703ohio ohiohalfironman

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thejerkstorecalled · 6 years

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Ironman Boulder 2018: Race Report

This was my fourth full distance triathlon, but the first one I’d done in nearly three years. I felt like I’d changed a lot as an athlete and wasn’t sure if I could remember how to race something like a full Ironman. There were several reasons I’d taken a break:

1. My last full was Ironman Lake Tahoe and the prep and execution for that race was so mentally draining that I couldn’t muster a repeat for quite a while

2. I needed a full that I was really excited about in order to be willing to put in the work and stay focused during training. I loved racing the 70.3 in Boulder but I didn’t want to sign up for the full unless there was a really solid chance that it would be wetsuit legal. When it was announced that the full would be moved from August to June, I knew that was my chance, so I waited until 2018 (I was a little busy getting married in 2017 :) ) and signed up for it. I’m not opposed to swimming without a wetsuit – I actually love my swim skin – but I hate to willingly take such a competitive disadvantage in a big race.

We arrived in Boulder on Thursday for the Sunday race, and had a grand time in the interim. For the sake of brevity, I’ll omit all that and just recommend hitting up Full Cycle for their coffee, brews and snack bar. It’s the most perfect place ever, and if it were in my hood, I’d be a regular.

Nutrition Overview:

Pre-race: Zest Tea black tea; Ezekiel toast and half a white bagel, both with almond butter; banana; a bottle of water mixed with Pedialyte; a chocolate Clif gel

Bike: four Yukon gold potatoes, heavily salted with Himalayan salt; six scoops of custom Infinit; probably six+ bottles of water

Run: two chocolate Clif gels; two cups of cola; two halves of banana; many handfuls of chips and pretzels; endless water

The Swim, 2.4 miles:

I wasn’t super-optimistic about the swim, and was just hoping for a split that wasn’t completely embarrassing. I lined up in the 1:10 – 1:20 group since my last full swim times have been 1:13 – 1:16. I knew I’d probably be on the slower end of that given my recent half times, and that was fine. My written goal was 1:15 – 1:20 and I was hoping for <1:18.

Michael stayed back to start with me even though he’s a much faster swimmer. It was nice to have him nearby right up until we got in the water. I had already decided I would bravely swim in the scrum and risk being swum over and whatnot to ensure I could leverage drafts and try to stay close to the buoy line. I think I did that pretty well. There were several instances where I found a pair of feet and stayed on them through multiple buoys.

The course was a sort of triangle, tackled counter-clockwise. When I reached the first turn buoy, I rounded it super-aggressively. Too aggressively, I did a 180* and was swimming back towards the swim start! Luckily I spotted and noticed that I should not be swimming into a pack of swimmers and heard the “wrong way” shouts intended for me. Good save, ha ha! Ugh.

I was sadly sore and tired by the half way of the swim and it felt like I’d been swimming for sooooo long. While I knew I was being smart with execution, I also felt like I’d been in the water too long. I was bracing myself to see 1:20 – 1:25 on the clock and was relieved at 1:17.

T1: Generally uneventful, volunteers were spectacular!

The Bike, 112 miles:

I headed out on the bike feeling pretty decent despite the fact that I was tired during the second half of the swim. I was excited to pedal hard and use my legs. The first stretch along Diagonal Hwy was pretty fast, and with the u-turn on that, I knew we would be in for a windy day. <10 miles in and already a false flat into the wind. After the course turned off Diagonal onto 63rd, I felt it even more. My legs were burning and I knew I’d spend more time in the small ring on the second loop, especially with the wind guaranteed to kick up more.

There were three stretches on each loop where you’re riding towards the flat irons, meaning false flats, climbs and headwinds. Mentally, that’s how I was breaking it up, the efforts remaining and reprieves to come on each loop; even if that meant battling crosswinds on Hwy 36 in the interim. A lot of this dynamic was from out-and-back sections on the course, there were three u-turns on each loop. That has a slowing effect, but it allowed me to see Michael twice on the bike, which seldom happens when we race together, so I didn’t mind it.

The wind was much more pronounced on the second loop, as was the heat. That’s when I started using the aid station water bottles to also – in addition to drinking them - wet the back of my kit and help keep me cool. I was warm, parched and in anticipation of each subsequent aid station well before I reached it.

I tried to focus on getting low and keeping my head down to cut through the wind as best as possible. While I felt like I was significantly slowed by it, I also wasn’t getting passed and was actually passing a lot of other athletes.

This was a big deal for me. I’ve long feared a windy bike course. I’m a smaller cyclist, so I have fewer lbs to fight back with and tend to get pushed around a lot by the wind; it doesn’t help my cause versus the competition and can also be pretty terrifying with cross winds threatening to knock me over.

Despite all the struggles, I was actually feeling really good on the bike and would have been happy to just continue riding my bike all day. The main relief with wrapping up the bike portion is that your race is in your own hands; no worries about a bike crash, mechanical or flat, just you and your own two feet!

T2:

As good as I felt ON the bike, I nearly feel over dismounting and had baby deer legs running into the transition tent. Oh dear…or deer :). I loaded up on cooling mechanisms and run gear and headed out towards the run course, hoping my mind was in the right place to tackle a long and very hot effort. On my way out of transition, I had the volunteers do a thorough once-over with sunscreen because the rays were getting super-intense.

I also heard and saw my parents as I headed out of T2, great to have them on course cheering on such a tough day!

The Run, 26.2 miles:

Once I started running on the first mile, just trying to get into a rhythm, things straightened out and I felt pretty good. Not fast by any stretch, but good enough for an Ironman at altitude on a blazing hot day.

I’ve heard reports that the high was anywhere between 95 – 97* with a “feels like” of 102. The “almanac” figure I’ve seen is 95*, so let’s go with that, noting that the sun is super-intense when you’re 5k feet closer to it in Boulder!

I was on my nutrition, cooling, etc fairly well and feeling like I could keep up a very modest pace and had people near me that were similar paced. I kept telling myself to just keep running what I consider my “guilty pleasure pace” and everything would sort itself out okay.

The race director had made provisions for the conditions, so I was handed a cold, wet towel as I left transition, and around mile 5 or 6, volunteers were giving out tube socks with ice in them. I also had a cooling wrap that I was using as an infinity scarf to keep my neck covered and cool, and as a way to pack wet towels, ice-filled socks, loose ice, etc on my person. I was also putting ice in my hat (actually, I had the ice-filled tube sock in – and hanging out of – my hat) and cold water down my back at the aid stations.

Around mile 11 or 12, my stomach started to revolt and rally against my race nutrition. I had to stop at a porta john. And then again about two miles later. I was not feeling so good. My goals shifted slightly at that point to start walking the aid stations so that I’d have something to look forward to, and then maintaining a “run” in between, even if that run was 10’ miles.

I also started to take chips and pretzels at the aid stations, which took longer to eat and wash down, but I was hoping that would help settle my stomach. And it did, I started feeling less awful.

At that point, I was heading towards the final out-and-back along the most exposed part of the course. I had a travel-sized sunscreen in my kit and was reapplying but it seemed to do no good. The sun at altitude was strong, and my skin was cooking in a major way. I was trying to stay cool and keep marching towards the finish as best I could.

I had seen Michael three times on the course before the brutal turn around at mile ~21. That was a tough one because it takes you back along a very exposed section of the course for a very extended period of time. There was serious suffering on that stretch, a lot of people getting sick – bent over, vomiting, on the side of the course - and most of them walking. I got too many compliments on my pace for running 10’ miles.

I was also able to see Jane and John three or four times. They made a surprise appearance near 10K which was also ~ mile 20, and had a perfect spot albeit in a very hot section, bless them!

I knew my miles were slow with the aid station meandering to take in salty snacks, so was trying to focus on race time and what my finish time could still be. It was a hard day to keep moving, but three things kept me going:

1. It would take sooooo long to finish if I started walking, and I’d told my parents I thought I would be done 6 PM ish, so I wanted to deliver on that and be done in time to get cleaned up and eat dinner. I mean, I know I cleared my calendar to race and all but it might be nice to have a little down time before bed time :)

2. I had so much to look forward to if I could just get beyond this race and sort of do my training some justice – picking up our new dog and doing a goat yoga class the following weekend and then closing on a house the weekend after that. I wanted to rightfully be able to focus on what was next instead of getting redemption for a crap race.

3. As hard as my training was and as many sessions as I had where I wanted to quit, I only did one time. I had a temper tantrum during a brick run on a super-hot day on an exposed ride and run route where I was mostly likely dehydrated. My takeaway from looking at my splits that day was that I was hitting my goals/targets and if I had just kept my head on straight, I would have executed well enough. I had the presence of mind during the IM Boulder run to realize that while my written goals were out the window, I could still PR the distance on a super-tough day, and that would be a cool feat. I wanted that and was ready to chase – err, jog after – it.

As I kept an eye on my watch, I was on mile 24, approaching mile 25, and saw Michael up ahead of me. He was walking. I think he asked me if I wanted to walk it in with him. I replied “no, I can still PR – run in with me!” I could tell he was hurting, but he picked it up and we were at the same pace, pushing with everything we had to run 10’ miles. After the 25-mile marker, there were actually almost 2 miles left to go, and it was the longest two miles EVER! Beyond that mile marker, there’s an out-and-back before you arrive at the finish and every twist and turn revealed that we were still not at the turn around point. A lot of grumbling taking place but also sharing encouragement; I was soooo glad to have Michael beside me to help wrap up a day that was extremely challenging, physically and mentally.

We finally got to the “this way to the finish” portion of the course and rejoiced and found our way down the chute. Seeing that finish line was the greatest thing ever, and made even more amazing by having Michael by my side. We held hands running down the chute and received a lot of cheers for that :) What a day, what a race.

The Aftermath:

The muscle soreness was real, but the bigger challenge for me was the systemic stress of pushing through those conditions all day. When I run “fast” I often grunt a lot through labored breathing, and I found myself doing that in the latter part of the run although I was barely moving. After I’d finished and was lying on the grass, I noticed that I was wheezing and very short of breath. I was also really sick to my stomach and couldn’t imagine eating or drinking anything despite being soooo hungry.

I was in pretty bad shape the rest of that night and even woke up in the middle of the night with more pronounced wheezing and shortness of breath, and had to use my inhaler. I remember thinking something along the lines of “I hope I’m going to live” ha ha!

Happy to share that I made it, and I think I’m going to live.

That following day, Monday, temperatures returned to what is expected and normal that time of year in Boulder and were 15-20* cooler. Dern.

Final Thoughts:

The race was interesting. Exercising at altitude never feels that “off” for me but my race times are always skewed. To boot, the sun is pretty intense, being 5K+ feet closer to it; you bake pretty quickly, even at typical temperatures like 80*. In Boulder in particular, there is a wind that comes from the west off the flatirons that can impact a bike course if there are long stretches in that direction.

This particular course was also interesting with three out-and-backs on each loop of the bike and four on the total run course. The bike course was arguably confusing with regards to how entering the second loop is treated and there were more DQs for not completing the proper course that day than at any race I’ve ever experienced. I counted 8 – 9 in my AG, including three in the [original] top ten.

That all being the case, I’ve struggled with whether I’m proud of a 2’ distance PR in the conditions or if I’m disappointed that I was 35 – 45 minutes off where I wanted to be on the day, that I didn’t handle the conditions better and that I wasn’t more competitive. It kinda stings to see that other athletes weren’t quite as impacted, because I felt like I worked SO hard to prepare for this event and suffered through some pretty brutal training conditions in central TX. I kinda just feel like Ironman is stupid and am even more baffled at the people who do multiple of these a year. Maybe I lack discipline because I enjoy balance (read: wine).

Since I’m getting bored with my placements in my own AG (always a top 10, rarely a top 5, seriously every IM brand race after my first year excluding the first time I raced St George and the Worlds races), I’ve started looking at where my time would put me in the M 30-34 and M35-59 age group races. I would’ve finishing in the top 20% at both IM 70.3 STG and IM Boulder, though neraly top 15% at Boulder. Michael and I both observed that the ladies were killing it in the tough conditions and really outperformed the men on the day. I’ll take whatever stats feel best, and right now, it’s these ha ha 😊

My general final thoughts on endurance sports: the most fun, exhilarating endurance “event” I’ve participated in during recent memory is the Coast Ride, cycling 390 miles from San Francisco to Santa Barbara. I was sad when it was over. And I really could have stayed on my bike longer during IM Boulder. It’s an internal conflict because cycling outdoors can be terrifying; it’s pretty dangerous with the threat of crashes, involving cars and even without cars. I’m most inclined to pursue a hobby/sport where there’s a good community, and so far in Austin, that’s cycling. I had a GREAT run training group in the San Francisco Bay Area, and if I were still there, I might be targeting trail ultra marathons and other run races, but I haven’t found that in Austin. I’ve instead found great ride groups; mostly guys and a few women who ride on a competitive/race team, and they’re friendly and I’m really enjoying that. I’m still weighing the fear vs the fun re: outdoor riding and cycling at large, but at this point, I can see cycling taking more of a focus for me in the near/immediate future.

#ironman #ironmanboulder #triathlon #triathlete

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thejerkstorecalled · 6 years

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Race Report: Ironman 70.3 St George 2018

Every time I start a race report, I think that it’s going to be short. I think this one really might be 😊 after I get through the prologue!

The preamble is that I first raced Ironman 70.3 St George in 2015 and got completely Tyson’d (“everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face”). It’s the race performance I’m least proud of, definitely for the distance and maybe ever. I debated whether or not I would ever race there again. After completing fourteen different half-distance triathlons without repeating the same race, options were fewer, especially if you’re looking to fill a certain hole in your scheduled via a North American race. Mid-season in 2017, I repeated a super-tough Olympic in the mountains that I originally raced in 2015 and was able to bike seven minutes faster and even run the super-hilly run course slightly faster. I realized it was time to return to St George for redemption.

I took a look back at finish times – my own at various races, and others at this race – and put together a plan to take at least 20 minutes off my 2015 time. This is what that looked like.

It helps for me to write down my goals, to maintain focus and stay honest with myself. I also like to do weird things, like when it’s time to update all my many work account passwords and I’m out of options, I use race goals. For instance: CIM310 (check) or STG525 (check, check). Of course these aren’t the exact or complete passwords, it would be silly to give way my syntax publicly on the interwebs. With this sneaky and ever-present tactic, you remember your goal every damn day and think about how badly it would suck not to hit the time that you can’t get out of your head.

Okay, onto the race!

Michael and I flew into Vegas two days pre-race, and drove to St George just in time to check in and pick up our bikes before Ironman village closed on Thursday. He noticed a new issue with his head unit, so had planned to hit up bike tech early Friday before driving some loops of the course as a refresher and doing our shake-outs. No big surprises in driving the course, mostly just subbed in a new out-and-back on the bike course.

We arrived right on schedule to Sand Hollow Reservoir where the swim and T1 (swim -> transition area) were set up to do a shakeout ride on the first five miles of the bike course and splash around a bit to remember what 60* water temps feel like. At 1.27 miles, my chain got mangled. Usually I can sort it, but this was pretty bad. Michael couldn’t get it either, so he had to ride back to get our rental van so that we could take my bike to bike tech all the way back in the town of St George where Ironman Village was.

The bike mechanics had to take apart my chain rings to get my chain sorted and let me know that I needed to replace the chain rings (after the race, this was beyond their race venue scope). This was frustrating since I’d had quite a bit of bike work done a month prior, with a full tune-up and new cabling among other things. Bike te also advised me to ride conservatively the next day. Not at all what I wanted to hear!

By this time, it was approaching 4 PM. Our bikes were due for check-in by 5 PM, all the way back at the reservoir. I did a super-short ride near bike tech in case of further issues, and tested the gearing. I was able to shift into my small chain ring, a requisite for riding a course as hilly as this one! I was still super-nervous. By this time, my goal was to ride conservatively enough to finish the bike course.

We made the bike check deadline with a bit of time to spare, and I was able to squeeze in a short run on reservoir trails and a swim to the first buoy and back. A really epic four-minute shake-out swim!

It was time to get cleaned up and eat something before bed time. For simplicity, we just decided to eat at our hotel bar knowing that it likely wouldn’t be crowded and we wouldn’t need to get very fancy or drive anywhere. We ended up having tasty bites and drinks with two guys from Normatec – one of which was the guy who raced all the Ironman events wearing fireman gear on the run and the other was a former pro who still dabbles heavily in extensions of the sport. A fun way to shake off a stressful day.

BTW would highly recommend out hotel: Hyatt Place. It was nice and new and smelled of fancy lotions like the hotels in Vegas usually do. The staff was super-friendly and helpful. The breakfast was legit. The snack options were delicious. The gym was on point. No complaints. I’ll also share the hotel tip that I imparted upon Michael from my semi-frequent travel experience: always carry a water bottle and refill it with the cold, filtered water in the hotel gym/fitness center to be eco-friendly and cost-efficient.

Race Day!

Up at 3:30 to get to the hotel-provided race breakfast at 4 (the bananas usually go fast). Since that leaves four hours until getting in the water given where I’d seed for the swim, here’s what I ate:

Ezekiel toast with almond butter

Banana

Zest Tea’s High Octane Green Tea

Chocolate Clif Gel and water (~30-45 min before swim start)

We parked near Ironman Village so that we could access T2 and take the Ironman shuttles to the swim start. We had to turn in our run bags the day prior but pro tip (from a total amateur): get in on race morning and remove your run gear from your bag, set it up to support a faster transition from bike to run.

Bike set up went quickly and was great to hang out with Sherpa Courtney and Competitor Mike before we filed into the start chute.

The Swim

I optimistically started right around the 36/37-minute swimmers. To be fair, I’ve had swims in this range and my pool times have been solid the last few months.

I jumped in the water without hesitation and was feeling pretty good. I thought I might be passing people but then I also realized I was too far to the left…again…so this might be me and not my sleeved wetsuit 😊. There were a lot of waves splashing me in the face and I was taking in a ton of water, woof. The second half of the swim, I definitely felt like I was getting passed, and for the final 3 – 4 buoys I knew I’d been in the water a long time and was expecting to see 38-40 on my swim clock.

This is wildly frustrating. I keep putting increasing effort into my swim training year over year, and I’m see gains in my pool times and enjoy swimming so much more than in the past. What used to be my all-out-and-Im-probably-drafting 100s are now my steady-race-paced-just-slower-than-Z3 100s; I was stoked when I – two or three years ago – was able to hold this pace for 200-300 yards at a time and now I’m holding it for 1000 continuous. But it’s not translating to open water swimming; my OWS times are not moving, and may even be digressing. I’ve been obsessing over if this has to do with a certain wetsuit or whether I breathe bilaterally or if I’m not swimming straight whereby adding on lots of distance and thus time. I have no idea; the results are far too mixed with no clear patterns:

The Bike

The bike went by fast. This course has a lot of different-feeling sections that are easy to mentally parse up and digest. It was fun and scenic, and the roads were good. I wish every bike course was like this!

I had to change gears pretty gingerly and less often than I wanted to in order to avoid a race-ending malfunction. This meant that I was often not in the gear I wanted to be in or in the gear that would help me ride faster for that section of the course, but I was in a safe/lower risk gear that meant I was more likely to get to T2 and the run portion.

I was proud of myself for smiling a lot, encouraging fellow competitors and riding bravely (I’ve been riding like a real pansy in training, on my tri bike, and wasn’t sure if/how I’d be able to “race” on it). And for remembering how to use my behind-the-saddle bottle holder and take bottles at the exchanges, things I haven’t practiced in about eight months! I think I put my helmet on weirdly because I had much less front-facing visibility that I usually do, and had to pick up my head more than was comfortable or optimal for aerodynamics, to ensure I wasn’t about to roll into anyone or anything. Otherwise, a smooth ride! I was elated to dismount without incident.

Bike Nutrition:

Two bottles each containing two scoops of custom Infinit and ~5 oz of Red Bull (mixed w water obvi)

Two lightly salted Yukon Gold potatoes

I took a water bottle at each of the three aid stations, chugging some and diluting/filling my bottles with some

The Run!

I took off out of T2 trying to just get relaxed and into an easy rhythm. Most of my training runs recently have been directly off the bike or weights where I needed a couple miles or a couple minutes to feel “normal” which was good precedent for this race where you come off a hilly bike course into a run that starts with 3 miles of real climbing. During this easy start, I mentally collected myself and devised a game plan: the more miles of “up” at the outset meant the less miles of effort and pain at the end. So in my mind, it was a ten mile run since the last 2.5 – 3 miles are downhill. I like to lie to myself and I always fall for it, ha!

I also planned to manage the climbs with a strong but controlled effort and then hammer the descents, pushing the cadence and high foot turnover as hard as I could. If you’ve ever run alongside me, you know what this must have sounded like because my feet literally pound the pavement. I hammered down loud and proud! I passed a lot of guys on the descents who were putting on the brakes and being timid about pounding and rolling down the hills – I know they’re carrying more lbs than I am, but guys, your quads will forgive you in a few days!

I was actually feeling good and happy and all those weird things. I was even called out by other racers for smiling stupidly on a dead-ish area of the course, just to myself! Also: science, smiling relaxes you and makes you go faster, so sometimes I force it in the name of science. Maybe it’s because I’ve done so many tough training runs/intervals on the treadmill getting serious mental training and zero air circulation. The breeze I felt from running outdoors, even in the exposed desert sun, was quite a treat.

I wasn’t watching my splits because on a run course like this, it’s just demoralizing. I mostly record for post-analysis. My watch band actually spontaneously broke in half and my watch fell off while I was running, and I almost didn’t go back for it. What a great excuse for a new watch for a girl who still uses a 6 YO Gamin 910 that’s on it’s third(?) band!

I told myself that once I was done climbing and everything left was downhill (about mile 10.5), I could check my watch to see average page and get some motivation to cut that down with some high cadence descending. The math was much better than I expected! The last 1.5 miles were tough, I was nervous that I might collapse or pass out and not make it to the finish line. I could see my pace petering a bit and kept trying to force the turnover because I knew I was staring down a run faster than I thought possible and wanted to see how low I could get it.

Run nutrition

One 25 mg caffeine Strawberry Clif gel

Water from aid stations; usually I like Coke on the run but I could tell that my body probably couldn’t handle any more caffeine without some kind of intestinal implosion or explosion

BTW – because it was hot, a lot of spectators were out with super soakers, spray bottles, etc and there was a mister on course. I know some people avoid these because they’re scared of blisters. Guys, just get better socks. The cold water is a lifesaver! I got a free pair of SmartWool socks in the swag bag for a trail race I did a few years ago and wore them in a 50k that included multiple stream crossings. Nary a blister. I’ve bought more of these socks and wear them when I know I might want to get wet 😊

Epilogue

I was happy to come well-below my goal time for the race overall and hit a time that I really didn’t think was possible even though my swim goal was off. I noticed that it was offset by faster transitions, so while I didn’t swim a lot faster, my increased swim fitness allowed me to feel super-fresh coming out of the water and “race” the transition to kick off the bike with gusto. Secretly, I did want to break 2:50 on the bike, so rode just where I wanted to despite not doing it exactly how I would have liked due to gearing issues. I would have been happy with anything <1:50 on the run, thinking that a perfect day would yield 1:45 on this course, so am pretty stoked with the run.

For my first 70.3 of the season each of the last three years, I’ve had some specific goals I developed in the preceding off season, and always hope to race near the top of my age group. I did that at Oceanside in 2016 (dern I miss the 30-34 AG ha ha!), and had designs on doing that at Coeur d’ Alene in 2017 and now this race. In both instances, I achieved a finish time that seemed like a real stretch and one that would’ve put me on the podium the previous year. Not sure if I raced in better conditions or against stronger fields each time, but dang, can a girl get a break? Maybe next time…

#triathlete #triathlon #ironman #halfironman #halfironmantraining #ironman703

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thejerkstorecalled · 6 years

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It’s Time for Everybody to Start Talking about Kona-Qualifying

The North American Ironman season officially kicks off next weekend with Ironman Texas, and not far beyond that is Ironman Santa Rosa. With pals doing both and training for many others this year, all the Kona qualification chatter is in full force. I’ll go ahead and caveat that this is not my goal, never has been my goal and probably never will be my goal. Also, it would require that I actually race the Iron distance [more than once every three years] heh heh.

At any rate, over the years I’ve had a lot of thoughts about KQ as a goal. I recently listened to a podcast that I felt best articulated the crux of my thinking towards this goal. It was the Ironwomen podcast, and you all should be listening to it regardless of your gender identification - it’s good stuff.

The guest I listened to on the Ironwomen podcast was a sports psychologist, and for context she was discussing conversations she’d had with her athletes regarding their feelings towards social media such as Strava and Instagram. Some athletes feel that it makes them batty to constantly see other athletes’ training, making them nervous if they’re doing enough or the right work. They essentially throw up their hands and declare that they’re quitting the socials. She recommends against this because a) for rookie pro athletes, this is a big part of doing their job for sponsors and b) this is a band aid for a bigger issue. That bigger issue is comparison, or comparing yourself to others, and the dangers therein.

When friends targeting Kona talk about their efforts and goals, it’s almost always in respect to others. Because it has to be. KQ isnt’ just a goal that relies on you working hard, achieving all your targets and doing your best. It’s also contingent upon who shows up and how they perform. First of all, I think it’s kind of sad to grow and develop as an athlete and person, execute a tremendous race, and then still feel like you’re falling short and having that interfere with your happiness and self-satisfaction. It’s also weird to me to have a goal where you basically hope that nobody else shows up on race day, or if they do, they have a crummy race. That’s effed up. I’ve long said KQ is not a goal, it’s luck, because it largely is.

However, if everybody only set goals based on what was probable instead of what was possible, only a handful of elites would ever toe the start line at marathon majors and Olympics. That would not be very interesting to spectate, to say the least. The “possible” is why athletes like Des Linden and Shalane Flanagan “keep showing up.” The world would be far more dull and far less inspiring without people who dare to dream big. Thus, I encourage you all to dream on you brave fools, and I will continue to admire that you dream big, put yourself out there and go for it - because I don’t. Perhaps because I have the self-awareness/lack of faith in my abilities to realize I’m not really in the mix lol.

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thejerkstorecalled · 6 years

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The Final Sprint: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Whew, it’s been a CRAZY six weeks! And got down to crunch time: shipping my goods, selling the convertible (thank you, Jesus) and flying away from the Bay.

Naturally, Murphy’s Law ran it’s course and nearly everything that could go wrong did.

I packed up alllll the things for LuggageFoward to ship via UPS:

BTW the fan was *not* being shipped, that went to the trash pile, but I did have the pleasure of carring that silly fan all around San Francisco, Napa, Sonoma and Livermore so that I could exercise with a cool breeze #priorities

Luggage included: 2 bike bags (one w the frame, one w the wheels), a 50 lb Wahoo Kickr, a roller bag, a large back pack.

UPS was scheduled to come pick up the luggage between 3 and 7 PM on Friday, and I was ready for them and looking forward to literally dumping some heavy baggage.

Automobiles

I had some work to blow through in the morning and a press interview at noon, so decided if I left at 1 PM to get Michael’s car appraised at Carmax ahead of selling it to them on Sunday and also pick up the bike I was renting to ride all weekend that I’d surely be back by 3. Right? Right????!!!!

As evidenced from earlier posts, Michael’s car is a tiny convertible that I’ve been constantly tetris-ing all my s#it into for the last six weeks. On top of that, the radio hasn’t worked in approximately two years. The windows don’t align fully to the car when rolled up, so they create a wind tunnel unless you roll them down and then back up every time you get into the car. But they have to go all the way down before they go back up again. And most recently, I discovered that the roof leaks on both the passenger and driver side. Have I mentioned that we’ve been having apocolyptic rain lately in the Bay Area? So to say that I have a hate-hate relationship with that car might be an understatement.

I took the car to Carmax, and the staff was friendly and quickly started on the appraisal that should only take 30 minutes which generally involves testing all the features and taking it for a short spin to identify any issues. Since said car is a convertible, they also tested the top, letting it down and then back u..... Oh wait, it’s STUCK! Yeah, the convertible top got stuck going back on and then wouldn’t go in either direction. The car looked like a giant UFO and not something that I could drive around with more rain inevitable over my final two days. And I was on a time crunch! So they generated the appraisal and confirmed I could come back before 9 that night to finalize the check and fortunately we only lost out on $500 - 1000 with that issue. But what was I going to drive and how was I going to get this bike???

The Carmax people (they were all really awesome) drove me to the Enterprise that was serendipitously right next to the bike shop to rent a car for the next two days. Clearly I needed something full sized ‘cause I still had a lot of stuff. In what was probably the best thing that’s happened to me through this whole scenario, I got a free upgrade, though it was a bit lost on me bc I didn’t know what to do with all the extra buttons and there did not appear to be any bun warmers (the only feature that really matters):

I then popped over to the bike shop and grabbed the bike and took it apart enough to fit it into the back. Thank goodness for black leather vs chain grease.

I had ten minutes to get “home” before my 3 PM window started and naturally Friday traffic was a nightmare in full force. I arrived back to my friend’s condo - where I’d been staying most recently - at 3:30/3:40 but there was not sign on the door that UPS had missed me and by calling LuggageForward, Michael and I determined that I had not missed the driver and they hadn’t yet been to pick up the goods.

Now to get back to work and wrap up things, and also I was STARVING. My day had started with a 4,300 yard swim and in all the chaos I hadn’t had time to eat lunch and really hadn’t eaten much at all on the day. This was a good time to test out DoorDash. I was debating between a veggie burger and burrito/enchilada, but ultimatley opted for Mexican. It took just about 30 minutes and the delivery fee was surprisingly not outrageous and the food was in good condition. I would definitely recommend this service and use it again.

6:55 rolls around and no UPS, so I start to get concerned. I call and they report that the driver made an attempt but didn’t have the condo flat # in his log, just the street address. So why didn’t he call???? I waited until 7:30 to hear back from the flurry of customer service phone calls which seemed to have ceased, and then headed to Carmax to wrap up that ordeal. About ten minutes into the trip, UPS calls to tell me the driver just made his last stop and will come back by, so I told them I was out but close and did a u-turn to head home. I get back home and wait. and wait. and make more customer service phone calls. The UPS driver noted in his log that he waited for 15 minutes, though I know he did not because it overlaps with the time I was at the condo... The “resolution” was that I would need to drop off my luggage at a UPS store by 1PM the next day. So it’s a good thing I got a full-sized rental car!

To cap off an exhausting Friday, I went back to Carmax and wrapped up everything with the sale of the car and got to sleep for my last ride with my Saturday cycling crew. For a change, the weather looked favorable and I was excited to pedal outside on a road bike, evidently my current anxiety about riding outside is exclusive to tri bikes?

I woke up on Saturday and rode to meet my crew. I noticed that the clouds didn’t look like dry weather clouds but the weather forecast said no rain, so that had to be right. Right??? We got sprinkled on during the first part of the ride, but nothing major, so went out to the long climb that was the cornerstone of the ride and climbed for five miles or so, which was truly amazing. I would have loved to do more, but needed to turn around to get all my luggage to UPS by 1.

I flipped and started descending. It felt weird, I was having to ride in the little (easy) ring pedaling downhill because the headwind was so wildly strong. And then it started to rain. Not to sprinkle, but rain HARD. With the headwind, it felt like hail in the face. On this day that was supposed to be dry #MurphysLaw.

I made it back to the condo, soaked and freezing, trembling and unable to feel my extremities. I ran around a bit and took a hot shower to warm up, also because I was covered in mud from riding in the weather, and then scurried to get all my heavy bags into the car to trek over to UPS:

That’s my bike in the back seat. Thank goodness for a full-sized car!

I arrived just before 1 and unloaded all my goods. The older lady working at the UPS store started scanning my bags and taking them to the back. And then she picked up the Kickr. And promptly dropped it on my foot and told me that my stuff was too heavy and I’d need to the carry it to the pick-up location myself. Tell me about it, lady, I’ve been dragging these bags around for weeks! And BTW she also let me know that since we were shipping ground, I didn’t actually have to drop the bags by 1 PM because that was only for air, my bags would be picked up on Monday. Okay cool, glad I rushed around for that.

I was happy to spend the rest of the day relaxing and enjoying some wine and a final toast with Carry and Kathy.

Trains

Sunday was mostly as expected. Riding that bike again, with no rain this time! And then cleaning the remnants of that rainy ride off the bike and out of the car to return both.

I dropped off the car and was trying to rearrange my luggage for the flight into just four bags (check two, carry two) but was unsuccesful. Though I did manage to get down to five! I also hadn’t been able to shower yet, so I was gross and dirty and hungry. The fellas at the rental car place let me know they could drop me at BART when I returned the car, but Enterprise was closed that day. Huh?? So I called a Lyft to carry me and my five heavy bags to BART:

Where was I headed? Good question! My dear friend Melissa from ATL was in San Francisco for work and had arrived a day early so that we could hang out, so I was en route to say with her in the city and enjoy some quality time.

I made it to the BART stop nearest her hotel with alllll five of my heavy bags in tow, hanging off my person. I disembarked the train and started up the crowded escalator. The moving stair hit my roller bag sending it sideways, and I was struggling to regain control. The bag touched the lady in front of my on the escalator who then proceeded to make a bitc#y comment to my dirty, hangry, frustrated, stressed out self. This may or may not have escalated into a shouting match that turned heads in the middle of the BART station, between two ladies whose hands were full of bags or boxes and were most likely angry at their situations more than anything else. At any rate, that was the pinnacle - or low point - of the whole situation. I hope.

Planes

I’m not done yet. I have a full day of flying OAK -> SLC -> DTW -> MDC. And then later to actually get to Austin. Almost done!

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thejerkstorecalled · 6 years

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I know a lot of my #nomadstatus posts and thoughts have been along the lines of “where am I riding my bike?” I swear, I’ve done A LOT more than ride my bike (or swim or run, for that matter). I’ve drank some wine during visits to wine shops, wineries, etc. Okay, maybe that about sums it up :).

In any event, I have swam and ran in some really lovely places the last few weeks, but just didn’t feel compelled to snap a photo, which hopefully means I was “being present.” The pool I’ve used in Napa is quite lovely, a well-heated outdoor pool along the Napa river. This is the community pool in Livermore and it’s surprisingly one of the best, most pleasant pools I’ve ever used. It’s warm enough to get into on a 3X* morning without shedding a tear, but not so warm that you can’t swim hard and hit your paces. The only downfall is that there isn’t a digital pool clock, so remember to wear a watch if that’s your jam.

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thejerkstorecalled · 6 years

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I’m living out of my final #nomadstatus destination. Housesitting and dogsitting for some friends in Livermore whilst they live it up in Hawaii. While it’s tough being taunted by their - delicious and top tier - wine collection while I pedal :), they share my taste in move-watching so I have some great trainer riding material (the entire Underworld collection and a few seasons of Buffy on blue ray!).

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thejerkstorecalled · 6 years

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Multitasking: Mixing Work & Play

When scheduling gets bananas, and you decide to get to work at 6 AM to avoid traffic and ride your trainer at your desk, it looks something like this:

And when it was time to clean up, I could neatly stash everything under my desk:

And I was able to stash my bike - and also shower - in the shower room. We had a shower in our old office and it was well-used so the then-leadership commissioned a shower room in this new office. We’ve had a lot of changes in personnel and culture; the shower room was mostly used by me before we moved offices, and now solely by me. Therefore I took it upon myself to store my bikes in there during this transitional period,living out of a convertible which has no room for bikes. As Michael and I have joked, I have no excuse to ship home a dirty bike :). The shower room is interesting. It’s like a giant storage closet, and reminds me of a one-car garage but is about 3/4 the length and 1/3 or 1/2 the width. The floor and walls are completely covered in tile. I actually find it a bit claustrohopic, but it’s also pretty useful, case in point. If you wanted to off somebody, this is probably a good place to do it #kidding #obvi

I might be storing multiple bikes in the shower room...

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thejerkstorecalled · 6 years

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Bike gear in a tiny car *to the tune of “fat guy in a little coat”*

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This is how I feel - claustrophobic - driving around with all my crap in a little convertible that’s bursting at the seams and leaks when it rains. BTW if you live in the Bay Area, you know how much it’s been raining latelly (hint: a lot).

But at least I’m keeping up my routine and thus maintaining some semblance of sanity, even if it does mean a Wahoo Kickr, bike wheels and my giant exercise fan crammed in the back of the car.

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thejerkstorecalled · 6 years

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#NomadStatus: Weekend Recap!

Because it was a good one, so why not...

Friday

Work was low key with most industry folks at Expo West, so mid-afternoon packed up and headed to Carrie’s. We got CostCo Pizza (and shrimp cocktail and quinoa salad, so not a total fatty party!) and opened a bottle of Sonoma Blanc de Noir, pretty much a perfect Friday night.

Saturday

I continue to have anxiety about riding my tri bike outside. Hopefully this changes in the next six weeks before I have to race it. Kinda sad bc it was actually perfect riding weather this past weekend :(. If I did continue to ride outside, when does it stop? When something awful happens? When I get in a crash that results in broken bones (at best) or a life-changing traumatic brain injury? But I did make lemonade, and had a group trainer session Saturday morning with Carrie, Steve and Shoshanna. It was great to have a social AND safe ride! I did this again Sunday morning, with a shorter bike and longer run, letting Madison help pace the run. My trainer viewing continues to be quite epic. With 9.5 hours of trainer time across eight or nine days, I’ve watched Scream 3 (trilogy = all bets are off), The Descent (I actually really liked it!), The Descent 2 (questionable but could have been worse), Children of the Corn (weird AF), Tremors 5 (mildly entertaining) and Lethal Weapon 2 (not sure how or why this made the cut).

After a morning of sweating my buns off, I got cleaned up and went to meet a co-worker who lives in Napa. We ventured to a Calistoga winery with a couple of her friends. I LOVE wine tasting in Calistoga. More low key than typical Napa, excellent wines for the price and incredible views. A happy place to be sure. If you’re in that area, you may want to check out Venge or Hunnicut.

The sun had started to show through for our tasting and by the end, the fog had burned off and the views were spectacular. Photo fail on me for not snapping a pic.

We decided to not pass up a chance to continue our wine adventures with dinner, so we found an opening at a fancy Italian joint in Yountville that was quite the treat. This dish was not the one I ordered but it was outstanding. A single, large ravioli with a truffle situation that was just perfect.

Sunday

It was cool in the morning, especially with the time change, but quickly warmed up to 70, and was perfectly sunny. Similar to Saturday, I sweated with friends all morning and then got cleaned up for more winetasting, this time venturing to the Russian River Valley; I love this area of Sonoma because the quality of wines, the RRV Pinots are the most reliable I’ve ever had.

Since my friend Jess and I are both moving to Texas (her to Dallas) within the same window of each other, we decided it was a good time to shore up our wine club memberships and shipments. Gotta balance the Bordeaux varietals with some Sonoma specialties: Pinor Noir, Sparkling, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay (sorry not sorry). The tasting was a nice treat, too :)

We followed that up with a farewell meal with our friend Clare who is also departing SF shortly, heading to Reno. We went to Bar Bocce which is a super-cool place on the water in Sausalito. It was quite delicious. The winning food item from our order was a Kale, Ricotta, Pesto and Pecorino pizza – the kale was crispy and perfect and the ingredients played together beautifully. A really nice weekend of food and wine indulgence as I wrap up my time here.

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