November 9, 2009
I am an Ironman. And I am still in pain! Thank you so much to everyone who supported me. It helped me stay focused to know so many people were cheering me on, both in the blogosphere and at the race site. Special thanks to my family who were there cheering me on and helping me at the finish line when I was completely drained. And to Ginger who came out to cheer me on and take pictures! Alot of folks shouted my name out on the run course and I didn’t even know who you were. I hope you had a great race! And to a blog reader named Neil – I hope you finished well! I did not quite make my 12 hour goal, but I feel really great about my race. I made my desired pace on each leg of the race, but I wasted alot of time in Transitions. Plus I got a drafting penalty due to a moment of inattention not dropping back quickly enough. The run was extremely painful. At mile 7 it felt like there was stone in my shoe. I took it off and there was no stone – just a hard lump on the ball of my foot. I saw Ginger at mile 8 and she said I probably got a bone bruise during the long run on cement in bare feet from the swim to T1. She said don’t worry about it, that Ironman was supposed to be painful. It took every ounce of mental toughness in me, and then some, to keep running through that pain. It was like 3 hours of ‘ Suffer Section ‘. I kept trying different things to get through it. When one thing stopped working, I’d try another. At some point, I wondered how @GoSonja would have handled it. Then I thought I will just imagine she is running and not me. So, that is how I got through the last 13 miles, by imagining she was doing the running. It worked. Thank you Sonja ! I think the pain during the run made me forget about hydration. I was drinking every mile when my Garmin beeped at me. But it must not have been enough. A few minutes after crossing the finish line, I felt dizzy. I tried drinking some Pepsi. That made it worse. I asked my husband to take me to the medical tent, where I spent 90 minutes being treated for dehydration. I had planned on my final tweet of the day being my favorite quote , “When you like suffering. When you like the pain in your legs and all your body, it means you are good.” But when I finished the race, I did not like all the pain I had suffered from mile 8 onward. I hated it. But I was still good. Official results are up at the Setup site (not the B2B site)… Swim: 01:00:27 T1 + Bike: 06:16:30′ T2: 00:13:26 19 Run: 04:34:07 Drafting penalty: 00:06:00 Total Time: 12:10:28 I went to the awards cruise…and got 1st Age group Two women my age were faster (including the one I wanted to beat), but they got in top masters. That’s fine by me! After the race, I wanted to congratulate the woman I was chasing down all day. I saw her both times in the changing tent. But I only just saw her as I was staggering to the medical tent, and was not coherent enough to stop and talk. I don’t think she reads my blog, but in case she does, CONGRATS – you were amazing out there! Picture of me getting my award: …if you found this post inspiring, buy me a coffee! Here is no comments yet by the time your rss reader get this, Do you want to be the first commentor? Hurry up
October 20, 2009
I swam for 1 hour tonight at Lake Jordan with my friend, Russell, who is also doing B2B. We had planned on swimming 4000 m, or about 6 laps of the cove. But it was way too f’ing cold, so we bailed after 1 hour (4 laps). I wore my neoprene booties, so my feet were fine. I skipped my neoprene cap because I hate the way it digs into my neck. As soon as I put my face in the water, I wanted the cap. But it was such a long way back to the shore to get it, so I decided to just suck it up and start swimming. I figured I’d warm up soon enough. WRONG! The cold was such a shock that my whole body became tense. My hands, ears and face were incredibly- uncomfortably – cold; and, I couldn’t wait for the workout to be done. I breathed every two strokes, rather than the preferred every three, because I wanted to get my face out of the water as much as possible! I kept thinking about my friend, Rebecca , who did B2B last year in 37 degree air temperature. She did not have warmer air to bring any relief from the frigid water. After 45 minutes, my fingers were so numb that they became useless in catching the water. They would not stay together like a paddle no matter how hard I tried. My stroke completely degraded. I tried fist swimming to see if that would help, but that seemed slower. I ended up just forgetting about my fingers, and thinking about my palm and forearms doing the work to catch the water…that helped. The last lap was pure agony and I just wanted it to be over. I kept thinking about how hard it is going to be to get on a bike feeling that cold. Cold to the bone. Walking back to my car, I looked down at my hands…they were BLUE! I was so glad for the neoprene booties – at least my feet felt perfectly comfortable. Next week I will try to tolerate the neoprene cap…it will be worth the discomfort of the chin strap if it keeps me warmer. For B2B, I was planning to breeze thru transitions as fast as possible, even considered skipping the changing tent and wearing my tri suit under the wetsuit . But now I think the primary goal of T1 will be to warm up and make sure I am warm for the bike ride. I hate being cold! And cold muscles do not perform nearly as well as warm muscles. So, hopefully, a few minutes lost in T1 getting warm, will pay back in a better bike performance. Cold was my friend today. I am always glad for adverse training conditions. They help me learn how to prepare, mentally and physically, for the challenges I will face on race day. And if I am better prepared for adversity on race day than my competitors, that that gives me an edge. Water temp: 68 degrees. Air temp: 67 degrees. Air sure felt alot warmer! The Garmin 310xt does not work too well in water. That cove is only 750m per lap max, so I swam about 3000meters. Garmin is saying that I swam 3.7 miles in 1 hour. No way! And, if you click the link below, you’ll see my zigzagging… no way I am THAT bad at sighting! http://connect.garmin.com/activity/16757539 …if you found this post inspiring, buy me a coffee! Here is no comments yet by the time your rss reader get this, Do you want to be the first commentor? Hurry up
