Rocketman Triathlon Recap

I woke up without a problem race morning and I was feeling good.  My race day nutrition has been off ever sine Augusta and even more once I got my tri bike -- so I was nervous about feeling good during the race.  I decided that it would be better for me to eat a banana (what I usually eat), hard boiled egg, and 16oz electrolyte drink.  My goal was to consume slowly so I could monitor how I was feeling.  I had been very good drinking electrolytes all week -- I felt confident I was hydrated going into race morning.  My urine color confirmed that race morning (sorry for TMI, but its the truth!).  I think I was more nervous for this race then any other race I have EVER completed.  Honestly, I had high expectations for myself (more on that later).  I skipped my pre-race gu because I was afraid it would upset my stomach, but I did take in two salt sticks.  

Hanging out before the race.  I really thought I was going to vomit.

Because it was a smaller race, each wave included multiple age groups.  I decided not to wear my wetsuit and I soon regretted that once we got in the water and it was significantly colder than a few weeks prior.  I was shivering.  We waited for the wave before us to start and we swam up to the starting line.  Once we were at the starting line it felt really comforting to have my teammates and friends by my side.  I noticed one woman that ran over Marianne as we swam up to the starting line and I alerted Jess so she could swim quickly away from her.  Lorri mentioned that "this was my mass swim start" for Ironman Florida.  If you focus on the people around you, the actual MASS start will not be as overwhelming.  I said -- I could do this.  It always takes me a minute or two to get in my rhythm, but once I did I felt great.  It was salty and wavy, but I feel comfortable in waves.   However, the girl I warned Jess about was zig zagging and constantly running into me.  Once we made the turn at the first buoy, I swam out to try to avoid her, but she still found me.  It was like she was doing it on purpose!  I finally got rid of her once the waves picked up towards the second turn.  The buoys were really difficult to see and frustrating.  I looked at my watch and I was already at 1.1 miles.  I could see the orange buoys by the finish line and I knew at the minute the course was long.  I was really counting on a 37 minute swim -- and that just wasn't going to happen when I swam 1.41 miles!  I converted my frustration to power and swam on.  I completed the swim in 44:59.

Andy got this AWESOME video of me coming out of the water!

I came out of the water and booked it to transition.  Sway immediately said "Jess is only a few minutes in front of you."  I hustled and completed my T1 time in 2:52!

I don't know what has been going on with me and my bike lately, but all I can say is when I ride I just want to be in "attack" mode.  I want my legs to go has hard as they can so I can ride as fast as possible. My goal was to catch up to Jess.  The motivation to catch up with Jess + the tailwind had me FLYING.  I was going 26mph the first 8 miles.  I had a lot of people cheer me on as I passed them.  It gave me more JUICE to keep going.  Once we made the turn into the Kennedy Space Center we had our first hit of wind.  It wasn't that bad, but it slowed me down to 21-22mph.  That's when I spotted Jess' cute KSwiss outfit.  I ALWAYS spot Jess by her outfits.  We played leap frog a little, but around mile 43 Jess passed me and I could tell she had a little more juice than I did.  The wind was picking up and my energy was slowly fading.  I had one salt tab on the bike and I believe I started getting dehydrated then -- which led to my decrease in energy.  I used Jess as motivation.  I didn't want to lose her from my site.  When I wanted to slow down, I looked up and tried to push harder to get close to her.  I truly believe this kept my motivation and pace up.

I hustled up the bridge as I saw more than one person WALKING their bike up the hill.  I flew down the bridge and made the turn.  I kept my eyes on the road, but heard the TWS spectators cheering me on.  Jason was volunteering at the dismount line and grabbed this picture of me!  My official bike time was 2:55:42 average of 19.1mph.  My Garmin and my bike computer measured around 56.5 miles on the bike.  I was MORE than satisfied with that!

I wasn't feeling great, but I saw Jess at transition and she encouraged me.  I told Sway I wiped myself out on the bike.  She said to take my time getting in the groove of my run.  I hustled and had a 2:36 T2 time.

My LEGS felt amazing as I ran.  I ended up running the first 4 miles at around a 10:00min/mile pace.  However, I was CHUGGING water.  I was SOOOO THIRSTY.  The first loop went by quickly.  It was nice seeing so many TWS on the run course -- it was almost like every 1-2 minutes the first few miles that I saw someone.  I made the turn and headed out to complete my second lap.

 I look good here, but it was soon that I started hearing all the WATER I was chugging in my stomach sloshing.  LITERALLY.  From one side to the other -- I heard it.  I knew then that I was drinking WAY TOO MUCH water, indicating I was dehydrated.  I never want to drink that much when I run, but for some reason it wasn't clicking to take MORE salt.  I only took 1 salt stick on the bike.  I should have taken 6.  It was too late -- I was dehydrated.  I did take about 4 salt sticks during the run -- also not the correct amount.  I tried to stick to ice once I realized I was drinking too much.  I let it melt in my mouth and I chewed on it.  I slowed down  A LOT the second half.  To be honest, I was a little disappointed.  I could have run faster and I didn't.  Figuring out my nutrition before Ironman is on the top of my priority list.  

I finished strong.  

Run time 2:26:29 Average min/mile: 11:11

I felt AMAZING.  Total time:  6:12:27  A 27 minute PR! (compared to Florida 70.3)

Jess and I took some pictures and hung out to wait for the rest of our teammates.  Jess wanted to see if she won an award so we headed over to the results board and I saw this:

HOLY CRAP!!!! I came in third place in my age group.  I NEVER thought that was possible.  I placed 3rd out of 15 in my age group.  I got my award and was all smiles!

Jess won first place in her age group! :)

Me, my medal, my award, and my lady. :)

My wonderful Sherpa and I.  He is amazing. <3

We then hung out and waited for the rest of our teammates to make their way in.  Jason and Jason went to CVS and got some beers to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  

Jason and Bilal hanging out on the hammOCK.

Jess and I celebrating! :)

Jenny, Me, Jess, and Marianne after we all finished!

Ladies + Sherpas

Crazy Picture!

We walked Elizabeth in and to the finish line as a team.  She pushed through and never gave up.  

This is the TRI WITH SWAY way! :)

Jason, Nash, Jason and Miguel (not pictured) volunteered and helped Sway make transition go smoothly!

Same SUN BURN lines! SUNSCREEN!

Some of our group at the end!

We headed to a local Mexican restaurant for a post race dinner, drink, and celebration!  It felt so good.

Back in December, Jess organized a goal setting event for our group.  The main thing I took away was that GOALS should not be EASY.  That is a TO DO list.  Goals should be more like DREAMS.  It made me feel a little uncomfortable.  What if I couldn't?  Jess said: "How do you know if you don't try?"  A few weeks later we had our TWS meeting.  Sway had us write down three goals for the year.  My goals were: complete Florida Ironman, weight X amount, and strength train 2x per week.  I had a conversation with Linda another teammate and she encouraged me to be more accountable with my weight.  

"Keep your goals out of reach, but not out of sight."

That day I decided I wasn't going to make excuses or be afraid to fail.  I was ALL IN.  At the goal setting event one of the Lululemon girls said "everything I do I think about how this will effect my goal."  So, I started strength training, counting my calories (points!), doing weekly weigh ins, telling coach my weekly weight and progress, and working hard EVERY DAY.  I wasn't perfect by any means, but I kept my mind on my goals.  I started to lose weight and get stronger.  I felt better and it showed in my performances.  I was consistently improving.  It really hit me the day I was riding with Sway.  Granted I was drafting, but I was holding 24mph.  I road 62 miles with Sway and then ran 3 miles @ 9:12 pace.  I started to realize that all the hard work I was doing was paying off.  

A week before the race I started thinking.  Could I do a sub 6 half Ironman?  I calculated my time.  YES, I COULD.  I asked Sway and she said yes I could, but it would HURT.  I decided -- what the heck.  I had a SECRET goal for sub 6.  It wasn't easy, but why not.  After the long swim, I knew the sub 6 was a long shot.  I will admit I was a little disappointed, but after I got the age group award I realized that I had no reason to be.  I worked my BUTT off for the past 4 months and I took 27 minutes off my Florida half time on a HARD bike course and A LONG swim.  

What I learned was that if you make goals that are DIFFICULT to obtain your potential to succeed increases ten fold.  You know my goal for Augusta is?  SUB 6... okay 5:45. ;)  

This way of thinking has improved the way I treat myself.  I used to be SO HARD on myself when I didn't meet a goal despite my effort.  Now, I realize that goals shouldn't be EASY to accomplish and that is OKAY.  Progress not perfection.  Once I excepted that, my vision and goals kept getting bigger, because I trusted and believed in myself.  

We can do anything we put our minds to.  I have always believed that.  It's not until we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and believe that we can be something we never thought we could be -- that we reach our FULL potential.  

167 Days until Ironman.

ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES.  LET'S DO THIS.

Rocketman Training: Week 17

TAPER week.  Ugh.  Taper.  I really don't like you, but you are a necessary evil.

Monday I did a nice easy swim before I road at the airport with Marianne, Jenny, Jess, and NooNoo.  NooNoo had us doing some crazy intervals and I was a little worried we were going TOO hard, but I did it anyway.  My legs were definitely burning.

Tuesday I woke up and headed to track.  It was drizzling which was no big deal, but than it started raining hard and lightening.  Track practice cancelled.  I put my big girl pants on and headed to the gym to get my run in.  I decided that having to use the treadmill a few times a year is better than having to use it  constantly from November-February.  I had a great run and did 1 minute pick ups.

After work, I went to David's in Casselberry to get new tires for my bike.  Jason and I were putting the front tire on when I spotted this:

Yes, that is a crack through my real wheel.  I had a MILD freak out and called Eric at David's.  He told me to bring my bike in and he'd take care of it.  Jason took my bike in for me and called me to let me know Eric highly suggested I also got the cables fixed.  My aero bars were too long and needed to be cut, but somehow I didn't know until it caused a problem.  Basically my cables for my shifters were too taught and the extra pressure caused the housing to break.

If it got any worse I could potentially not shift my gears.  Eric assured me he'd have it done by the next day (because he is awesome!) and I agreed to have them fix everything.

I was still anxious about my bike.  I was tapering.  I was nervous.  I had butterflies in my stomach.  My lower leg was hurting, my back was hurting -- some phantom pains, some real (bad posture at work = back discomfort).  I wanted to work out long and hard -- and I couldn't.  I wanted cookies and wine.   FULL ON TAPER.  All I could think about was --- how the heck am I going to be for Ironman tapering.  Thank GOODNESS we go up to Panama City on Wednesday.  Hopefully the ocean will keep me calm.

Another thunderstorm ruined the mini-brick I had planned on Wednesday with the ladies, but I was able to stay at David's for a VQ event and get 30% off of nutrition.  I love sales, especially for stuff like eload and carbopro which I will go through like water this summer.

MORE RAIN on Thursday, but I found a small window where I could squeeze a quick ride in to test my bike.  It was shifting better and felt better -- not sure if that was the new tires or the tapering.  I cut it short because it started raining, but went out for a run and felt great.

Swim was cancelled because of RAIN so I had to swim at the pool.  I was going to skip it, but Marianne convinced me to meet her and I was really glad that I did.  We got it done and could just rest Friday.

I am a big believer in getting my list ready early in the week and starting to lay everything out mid week.  It eases my mind when I finally pack it all up.  I KNOW I have everything.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling great.  I headed out for my quick bike check and run.  I had enough time to shower, get ready, and go over my list again before I packed.  Jason, Jess, and I headed over to Titusville early to pick up our packets.

Sherpa Jason made this fork mount x 2 for our bikes!

We got some publix subs and headed to the hotel.  I was able to lay out all my stuff out and go over my list again (OCD MUCH?!).  I was able to lay down for awhile and it felt great.

We headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner.  I was a little apprehensive about this, but I wasn't hungry anyway.  I got chicken with a sweet potato and a salad.  I ended up eating two small pieces of chicken, a sweet potato, and a biscuit.  The chicken wasn't good, but everything else exceeded my expectations.

Biscuits and Jason's nasty gravy

By far the BEST service we have ever had for a pre-race dinner!

We took some pictures and hung out for a bit, but I wanted to relax as much as possible.  I headed upstairs to take a shower and get in my pajamas.  I kinda felt bad for not socializing as much, but my race was my priority and I reassured myself what I was doing was best for me.

I am proud of myself for the calmness I feel the day before the race.  I owe 75% of it to Sway's coaching, 20% to Jason and 5% practice.  Now... if I only could work on race morning.  ;)