I Messed with Ironman Texas!!

This was my first Ironman as  Pro, and my spring race focus for 2012.  One of the huge perks as a professional athlete is instead of a hotel I am given the option of a homestay at races.  Basically this means a wonderful family volunteers to adopt me for the Ironman!!  I was the very lucky winner of John and Cynthia Specht for my homestay in Texas.  I knew it would be wonderful when they said they had several cool dogs – music to a veterinarian’s ears!  Cindy picked me up from the airport and we drove to the Woodlands, TX a beautiful community with tree-lined streets and very specific laws concerning streetlights, signs etc. (they had to be small and very unobtrusive).  I wished Steve could have been with me as I am sure it was an urban planner’s paradise!  We went to the grocery store and I purchased a few things for my race morning breakfast plus some naughty stuff (Hagan Daas and Baked Lays!!  Yum!), oh were you expecting something naughtier??  Sorry!

The next day we went to pick up my bike and check in at the race site.  Tribike Transport again had my bike ready flawlessly, can’t imagine how stressful the day would have been without them!  I discovered some new salt tablets from a local company called EnergyLab at the race expo – nice combination of electrolytes in a solid tablet that dissolves really fast, looking forward to using these in races!  Pro meeting was also fun to attend (I’m still awed by the who’s who in triathlon at these!).  In talking to other “real” pros I was amazed at the amount of training they do, especially for the swim, 5000-9000 yards 7 days a week.  I do 3000 yards 3-4 days a week.  Changes will need to be made if I want to keep up in the swim, clearly!  John took me for a nice 10 mile bike and 3 mile run around the Woodlands to get my legs spun over and ready for the race, I was feeling good!  In the evening I got to check out Market Street as we headed there for frozen yogurt.  WOW, fancy cars galore; Lamborghinis, Austin Martins, Rolls Royces, Ferraris!  Ok, I had to take a couple photos it was just insane!  Little Canadian girls like shiny sparkly things!

The day before the race I checked my bike in and relaxed for a while.  I got hooked on the Game of Thrones books recently.  Nothing like a little savage medieval wartime action reading to get me ready to race Ironman right?  Had a nice pasta dinner with Rodney and Diana Adkison, kibitzing about the coming race.  Rodney and I had a bet going that he would pass me about mile 50 on the bike….not going to stray from my race plan but will be fun to see how that plays out with my 10 min head start in the pro wave!

Race morning was still and quiet, nice temperature and moderate wind.  I got to transition in good time and made sure my tires were aired up and all my nutrition was in order.  The bike was covered in dew so it needed drying off, glad I had a towel to do this!  The swim start was about a 1 mile walk from transition and it was nice to loosen up my legs walking there.  No wetsuits as the water was comfortable – bummed I couldn’t race the TYR Freak of Nature, the warm water legal TYR Torque speed suit is also pretty sweet, and I’m glad I could wear this for some advantage!  The start was in deep water and I did my best to position myself behind some women so I might catch a draft as we started – I sprinted but felt like I lost feet very quickly.  With the murky water and reduced light it was hard to follow people, something for me to work on!  I concentrated on good, correct stroke and sighting well, it was nice not to be in the washing machine of the age-group start but I truly was swimming by myself and it was hard to be motivated until the super-swimmer age groupers started passing me!  My arms became really tired as we started down a long channel to the transition, definitely increased swim miles are in order to rectify this, it was hard to keep my stroke correct and even with the fatigue setting in.  FINALLY I was out of the water and sprinting to my bike!  As I left the transition I saw the clock said 1:14, I was not sure if this was my time or if I needed to add 10 minutes to this…in both cases not a stellar swim but I did beat one male pro (technically not last out of the water, you take what you can get!!).

The bike course was lovely and flat, I tried to keep it calm for the first 5-10 miles, I had lots of age group men to ride with so I did not feel all alone, that was nice.  I was riding over 23 miles per hour and feeling solidly within my power zone of 160-170 watts.  I could tell that I was getting a little fatigue at about 40 miles but I still felt relatively good.  At the halfway point I was at 2.5 hours almost exactly.  I thought to myself, holy shit, if I can hold this I will ride 5 hours!!  Then came the rolling hills, and the heat of mid-morning; my legs started to fray and unravel.  I could see my power numbers fading and I started to watch my data more, setting little goals like “keep it over 22 for another 10 miles” and “just don’t let your average power below 160 watts” ANYTHING to distract myself from the tired feeling in my legs and my chafed places!!  I caught a few pro women and felt comforted by the fact that I was definitely suffering in good company.  The last several miles were downhill and in town, lots of people cheering which was hugely wonderful.  I was delighted to reach the bike dismount line and gave the bike catcher my Valdora (didn’t pee on it this time!!  YAY!!).

In the run tent I was told that I was in the top 10 amongst women, and I was happy and surprised to hear this.  The volunteers were just wonderful.  They had my bag with all my gear and essentially put my shoes and socks on as well as assisted placement of Vaseline in important anatomic locations and a sunscreen slathering extravaganza!  I am sure Ironman athletes in the bike-run transition tent have lower dexterity levels than most toddlers, myself included!  I was VERY concerned that I had not seen Rodney yet and as I started the run I saw Diana and Shanelle, she assured me he was ok and had a bad swim, I felt better knowing he was ok.  Starting the run I clicked off 7:30-7:40 miles.  Rodney went by me around 2 miles in, damn he can run!!  At 10 miles I had averaged 7:43 pace and knew I was doing exactly what I hoped I would pace wise.  

The heat was getting really bad and I started noticing it as well as the thick humidity in the air that made it hard to breathe.  My hip flexors tightened up and I started to feel a dreamy state of emotionless haze descend on me mentally.  I looked at my watch and to my horror I clicked off a 8:30 mile then a 9:15…..  I was emulating a zombie and I needed to be the terminator.  I started walking aid stations and really hitting the ice and cold water to try and wake myself up and snap myself out of my negative hazy state.  I was passed by a pro women about 5 miles from the finish…..but I was unable to respond.  In hindsight, the 1:30 I lost to her was the difference between 8^th and 9^th and $1000 vs. $0.   Sigh.  Everything in me wanted to quit as I knew the run was not the one I had hoped to have and I was absolutely in agony every step (hip flexors so tight I could barely raise my knees, blisters on my feet screaming every step).  As I am sure anyone who finishes an Ironman knows, there comes a time in the race when you care about nothing but finishing.  Time, goals, nutrition and hydration go out the window and all you really want to do is get the thing done!  I hung on and got it done.  I did set a 10 minute PR, finishing in 10:09, and even though the marathon did not go well, the overall time was respectable for an early season race!!  I had an incredible bike leg, now I just need to improve on either side!  I really can’t be disappointed!!

As I finish writing this report two weeks after the race I am filled with motivation to train more!!  I will step up my swim mileage and frequency, continue to ride with quality and produce a marathon at the end of my next Ironman that I will be proud of.  I’ve got a sub 10 in me, I know it!!

A HUGE thank you to the Spechts, my homestay family (pictured below)!!  It was so much fun getting to know Cindy, John, Nicole and Rachel, AND their wonderful dogs (YAY DOGS!).  John is planning on signing up for IM Texas next year, AWESOME!  A big thank you to my sponsors: Endurance Company (I was incredibly prepared for this race and had a 15 minute PR on bike and 10 min PR for the Ironman distance), ABPro sports (I could not have felt more comfortable in such a stellar race kit, truly triathlon couture!), Tryathletics (great swim, bike, run gear helps me train and race!), Valdora (my PHX2 was flawless), XLab USA (the rocket pocket held all my nutrition and the side kick and gorilla cages never dropped a bottle), TYR (I am a weak swimmer but  the incredible Torque speed suit gives me a huge advantage) and  Electrodelytes (yummo race nutrition).  Thank you for believing in me and supporting my first year of professional  racing!  Hopefully the best is yet to come!

Ironman New Orleans 70.3 (First Race as a Pro!)

I flew into Baton Rouge, LA so I could have a fun visit with friends Ted and Shanelle and Tiago and Paula.  I feel lucky to have met such great people through the sport of triathlon!  Staying with Ted and Shanelle was a blast, they have a gorgeous new house and we have a super primo dinner that all of us contributed to (ok Shanelle made the best chicken ever, Ted's garlic bread and asparagus were awesome and I tried to contribute with a salad).

I got to get some sleep during the day (leaving Columbia was hectic and I got only 3-4 hours sleep the night before I left).  We had a nice swim session on Friday morning at Crawfish Aquatics, with some solid sprint sets and Tiago (who is a superstar swimmer) filmed us and I got some really excellent feedback on my stroke, which was especially helpful.  Hilarious how bad my stroke looks compared to true swimmers, lots to work on!!!

As you might imagine, I was really nervous about my first race in the pro field.  I wanted to belong and I didn't want to be racing by myself but I knew this was an honest reality given the strength of the field amassed for this race.  The weather had been extremely windy and lake Pontchartrain was boiling with waves and really scary so they cancelled the swim and replaced it with a 2 mile run.  The bike was also shortened to 52 miles due to debris on the course.  I was disappointed but I knew this would be an advantage for me since I am a weak swimmer compared to the other girls.

We drove down to New Orleans at 4:00 am on Sunday for the race.  Ted, Shanelle, Paula and Tiago all came down (BEST FRIENDS EVER!!).  I felt like I had a posse/hommies/goons/entourage with me, so pro right?!?!  Ted and Tiago (both PhDs in Exercise Physiology) distracted me during the drive with various super tri-geek discussions varying from crank length to power/wattage graphs and I almost forgot I had to race.  See Ted and Tiago pictured with fellow Baton Rouge Tri-club member Doug.  Talk about double trouble !! ;)

I was glad I had discussed my plan with Joe before the race, I was prepared to go out hard to stay with the pack but wanted to cap my pace around 6:00/mile given the length of the race to follow.  There were some serious big-time girls including Mirinda Carfrae, Caitlin Snow, Magali Tisseyre, Heather Wurtele, Amanda Lovato and Amy Marsh.  WOW, talk about some awesome competition!!  They started us in a corner around a traffic circle and I had flashbacks of my track days.  I started at the outer corner so I could run the tangent to the curve.  The run felt effortless and I checked my mile split and it said 5:45, holy SH**!!  I calmed it down a little for the second mile and came into T1 about 30-40s behind the lead pack.  It was the experience of a lifetime to come into T1 that close to the World Champion and multiple Ironman champions, I was giddy!!  

The first 10 miles of the bike course was more windy than any conditions I had ever experienced.  I had a 808 front and disc rear which probably wasn't the best choice but it was what I had, my bike lifted off the ground completely a couple times, YIKES!!  I decided to not put my shoes on my bike and put them on in transition.  I felt like a tool doing this but I noticed a lot of girls stopped during the bike to put their shoes on because of the wind making it so dangerous to take their hands off the bike to get their feet in their shoes.  The most exciting part was I had girls to bike with and they were going for it!!  I thought, well if I stick to my standard 70.3 pace which is 180 watts I will get dropped right away so I'm going to risk it and ride with these girls and stay in the fray for as long as I can....first 20 miles I had 200 watts and ended up with a 189 watt average which was absolutely stellar for me and almost 10 watts better than I've ever done before!  I wasn't last off the bike!!

Starting the half-marathon I knew I needed to be conservative because I had biked really hard.  I started out with 6:40/mile pace and was feeling good but I was careful to really try and stay in 6:50-7:00 range for the whole race.  I caught a few girls and was passed by one in the first 5 miles, when I came around the loop for the first time Ted was yelling that I was only 1:30 down on the next girl (who is really good and I was shocked to be anywhere near her).  I continued to run conservatively and carefully in my goal-pace range and it was starting to get harder to achieve this.  With 1 mile to go I caught the last girl and took the pace down to 6:30 and ran as hard as I could into the finish.  I was really excited to run 1:29 (a PR of over 5 minutes) off such a hard bike and with training focused on full Ironman distance predominantly!!  It was a huge relief to complete my first Pro race 15/20 (not last!!).  I felt like although I wasn't in contention for a podium or top 10 I did belong in the pro field and it gave me an opportunity to get such a great race out of myself due to the incredible talent I had to race against!  Next up, Ironman Texas on May 19th!!  Check out the nice flag behind me in the photo below!!

I flew back a few hours after the race as I needed to be at work first thing on Monday, still do love my day-job!!  It was awesome using Tri Bike Transport so I didn't have to take my bike box to the airport, they transported my bike from the site directly to a partner shop in St. Louis!  So convenient!

Training, Sponsors and Going Pro!

In the last few months I have been hard at work getting a good base and preparing for two spring races (Ironman 70.3 New Orleans in April and Ironman Texas in May).  Balancing a career as a veterinary ophthalmologist and an athlete is always a challenge and my time away from my real job (a vet) is mostly spent training.  I feel so lucky that this training time is also my social outlet, I have such awesome training partners and friends making the hard days so much less of a chore!

I have a great group of people who are into doing long rides (such a pleasure to have people who want to do this and not look at me like I have rabies when I say I want to do 100 miles twice a week!!).  My very good friend Stephanie Essman did an epic ride with me out to Glasgow from Columbia recently (110 miles with 5x30min intervals at 70.3 pace).  The pie in Glasgow at the Bakery made it all worth it!!  I am so sad that Stephanie is moving to San Diego this week, I will miss her as a riding partner very much but look forward to visiting her and getting a cycling tour of San Diego when I go out to lecture at the American Veterinary Medical Association Conference in August!!

Kate Chettle, my superstar running training partner has also had some great success racing this spring.  I am so lucky to have her to run with and push me in workouts and keep me honest with a really solid interval set every week on the track or trail!  She is a true talent and I am really excited to see her success so early in the season, she recently ran 17:37 on the track beating a whole load of college girls!!

Sponsors!!

I am so, so lucky that several companies believe in my goals and are willing to help me this year, for a first-year pro sponsorship opportunities are truly a gift and I am so grateful for the ones who have trusted me with their brands in 2012!! Endurance Company coaching provides me with superb guidance in my training and provides me with realistic plans that coincide with the time I can realistically commit to training since I do have a full-time job!  Valdora cycles has helped me obtain best tri-bikes (yes I own two, and they are awesome!!) on the market!!  I have ridden other top-level brands and my Valdora PHX2 is by far the stiffest, best climbing, super primo amazing bike I have ever been on!  The guys at Tryathletics are simply awesome and constantly help me make good decisions on gear, keep my bikes in order mechanically and drink lots of beer with my husband Steve!  I hate to think how fast Steve woud be without all that beer, I would never keep up.  I am excited to have some super top-notch carbon hydration bling from XLab USA, a company that sponsors some goddess-level triathletes who are the leaders of our sport!  My cat Gidget is shown below, clearly as excited as I was about the new XLab pressies!  I will be racing in TYR Freak of Nature wetsuit this year and using TYR gear for my swimming.  People, this wetsuit is AMAZING!!!  No more sore shoulders when you swim long distances.  The best was when I was out swimming at a local lake and upon exiting the water over heard a kid asking his mum if I was a superhero, due to the graphics on the suit which are quite superhero-esque, it made my day!!  I'm fueled by Electodelytes (these are the equivalent of turkish delight with electolytes in them), so yummy and delicious, even when I don't feel like eating during a race I want to eat them!  I am using Gu energy gel for training and racing (they are now the official gel of Ironman events).  I am glad to have continuity with products I successfully train with being available in races I am doing.  For those who know me well, I do have a fashion diva streak in me, my new race kit from ABPro Sports is simply awesome!!  The fabrics are technically elite and the completely custom graphics and design satisfy the diva in me too!

Making the decision to go pro in 2012 was a difficult one, I will trade success as an elite amateur for hardship as a pro in terms of placings at races.  I know with my primary career as a veterinarian, I will never be able to give the time it will take to be an elite professional in the sport of triathlon but I do think it will be an incredible experience to race as a professional and see what I am capable of with truly tough competition.  It has already increased my motivation to train at a higher level and I look forward to some really cool travel opportunities and adventures it will also open up in the next year.  As a mere mortal in a field of immortals at races it is daunting but what a great experience it will be to race alongside world champions and heroes of triathlon right?!

Death Valley Training Camp

We arrived in Death Valley (Furnace Creek Resort) on Sunday afternoon.  Put our bikes together and went for an 18 mile easy ride.  I had had a couple bad falls on icy bridges a week ago so had not trained for a week waiting for my knee to feel better.  The knee was a bit painful but overall, biking was comfortable.  Beautiful scenery, breathtaking mountains and desolate landscape.  Plus I could wear shorts!!  LOVE.

Pete Olson at Valdora Cycles helped me upgrade my PHX2 to Di2, he painstakingly drilled the frame and routed everything internally.  Absolutely phenomenal shifting quality and the ability to shift in the bull-horns increased my comfort level a lot.  This ability makes it easier to ride in groups and adjust gear during climbs.  I now am the proud owner of a super-bike!!

The swim venue was incredible, a spring fed 25y pool with no chemicals with complete water turnover every 6-8 hours.  Absolutely heaven.

We rode 350 miles for the week.  This is by far the highest mileage week I have ever had.  Great base miles and fun groups to ride with.  We had a great time sharing a room with Rodney and Diana!!

The pinacle (in more ways than one) of the week was climbing Dante's View (25 mile climb, a HC climb according to STRAVA).  Steve and I had checked out the STRAVA records the day prior (yes we are such competitive little bitches).  We thought we could take down the mens and women's records and we were successful.  The last 1/2 mile of Dante's is >15% grade and after 24.5 miles of climbing with no rest it felt impossible.  I kept telling myself....just don't fall over, pedal just enough to keep yourself upright.  Success, finally we were at the top and just a breathtaking view was the reward, totally worth it.  True respect to the Tour de France riders who hammer the fuck out of HC climbs, it was hard enough just getting up it for me!!

We did a century (well, 108 miles to be exact) to Scotty's castle on the Friday, uphill for 56 miles (I was riding with Rodney and Steve, the skinny boys so they turned the screws on me) and then the ride back was lovely, as I was a wheel-suck the entire time, no shame!

The desert is a great venue for winter training and the lack of automobiles and people in general made it a great vacation.  It is a peaceful place and the desolation allows true relaxation.  The night brought us beautiful star viewing and of course we indulged in a tub of Ben and Jerry's between the four of us at least four of the nights, we deserved it!

Kona 2011 Race Report

I arrived in Kona on Wednesday evening.  The flight from St. Louis was long, almost the entire flight from LA to Kona was filled with triathletes, really, really fit looking triathletes.  I was meeting my friends Rodney and Diana (both experienced triathletes) as they were attending a conference in Kona on exercise and sports science.  I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to stay with them and Rodney was a brilliant advisor as he had done Kona before.  I also got interesting snippets from the conference, ideas for training and racing in the heat.  I was lucky to travel to Hawaii many times as a young girl, this taught me all about the good food it has to offer.  I absolutely love Hawaiian Sun guava juice and papaya with lime, breakfast of champions!

The atmosphere in Kona is second to none.  I knew we would be wined and dined, but I did not expect the fanfare that awaited us.  So many fit, talented people and tons of free stuff!!  As my mum would say, “these people are specimens”, lots of vein poppers and super tanned muscle-bound bodies!!  There were tables set up all along the road down to the race start and every time we went out for a run, bike or swim we would arrive home with more free swag!

Highlights were the amazing Hawaiian tropics Gu Roctane flavor and a new Gu Roctaine energy drink (both not on the market yet) and cute silicone swim caps with animals on the from Biestmilch.  I also got to check out the new Garmin powermeter in the pedal spindles,  the Garmin 910XT watch and the LeMond fluid trainer.  Pretty neato stuff.  I am such a gadget slut.  I had a nice swim on Friday before the race, looked at the beautiful fish.  There was even a catamaran out in the bay giving out free coffee (Coffees of Hawaii is one of Chrissie’s sponsors).  I spent some time getting my nutrition all organized and put my good luck donut in the freezer overnight for the transition bag tomorrow morning. 

I was careful about organizing my race day nutrition.  Since the 300 calories per hour worked in Canada, I was sticking with the same routine plus some additional salt tablets taped to my aerobars.

Racking the bikes was a pretty amazing experience.  Never before had I been witness to so much bike porn.  Simply amazing amassment of beautiful machines, none as beautiful as my Valdora PHX2 of course J

Race morning was early as usual, Rodney and Diana drove me to the race site (they are the best friends ever!!) and  I went into transition.  The volunteers were weighing all the athletes, I did not want to know my weight.  Taper week is a bitch.  There was a lot of media and video cameras and choppers overhead.  Pretty amazing experience.  I took everything in and was looking forward to the race and getting underway.  The pier is a small place and they essentially herded everyone onto the beach for the start, I felt like a cow.

I knew Joe had told me not to go out into the open water too early so I waited until 10 minutes until the start to swim out to the line.  I had practiced treading water without expending energy the week before.  It was pretty chill and I talked to a few girls as we were waiting for the start.  The cannon went off and wow, what a washing machine.  Way worse than IM Canada.  Salty washing machine this time and major aggression.  The swim felt long and I was glad Rodney had told me about the ship out in the bay that was the half way point, it was helpful sighting this.  There was a lot of contact and I took in a lot of salty water, my mucus membranes felt pickeled and I was thirsty when I came out of the water.  Not a great sign this early in the race.

The changing tent was insane.  At IM Canada I had two lovely volunteers doting on me and in Kona there were 250 athletes in the tent and it was standing room only.  I got a little claustrophobic and just froze.  Suddenly I realized the race was still on.  I grabbed my bike gear, put it on and dabbed some sunscreen on my face.  I was afraid my hands would be too slippery if I applied it to liberally.   Got off on the bike and tried to get some fluid into myself.  The sun was hot and everything people told me about the bike ride in Kona was true.  The lava fields loose their allure after 20 miles, they are beautiful but the beauty is the same.  The pros were on their way back as we were making our way to Hawi.  Julie Diebens was riding with the pro men, what a stud!!  I was surprised Chrissie was so far back, this was going to be an exciting race!! The cross winds up to Hawi blow your doors off and the 3 miles before the turnaround were murder (horrible headwind and all uphill).  On the way home I was really starting to expire in the oppressive heat and my fanny and the soles of my feet felt like they were on fire.  My wattage was starting to decrease despite the fact that my effort felt high.  My legs were feeling the tax of two Ironman races 6 weeks apart, I could tell that today wasn’t may day to break records and it became about survival more than anything.

It was thrilling to see the men’s race unfold as I was coming back into town on the bike.  Craig Alexander was absolutely killing everyone in the run, he was on his way into the energy lab when I rode by.  I was so glad to see the transition and to get out on the run.  Once I was running I could tell I didn’t feel as invincible as I felt at the run start in Canada, the heat was taking its toll.  I could see my sunburn on my arms was really bad, and my wrists were starting to swell from the heat……I got the first 6 miles under my belt in 8:00 pace and as I started up Palani drive hill the wheels started to fall off.  It helped give me some motivation to see Chrissie followed by Miranda run down the hill to the finish, I could tell Chrissie would win but she looked like she had battled and really conquered some demons.  I walked aid stations (slow walking, not the kind of walking that is planned) and lost the will to be a competitor.  Once I was out of the energy lab I knew I would make it and got my second wind, picking up the pace and walking aid stations at a respectable pace.  The runner in me was a little embarrassed that I was acting like such a triathlete J

After going down Palani hill I could pick up the pace as I knew the finish was close, the speakers were blaring and the choppers were loud.  Going across the finish line was more special than I thought it would be.  I was so proud to finish Kona.  It was something that I would have never dreamed possible this season and I felt truly lucky to have the experience.  My time was slower than I had hoped but it didn’t matter, I was a Kona finisher and that was what was important.  

Ironman Canada Race Report

Nutrition

Breakfast: Toasted whole wheat bagel with butter, Boathouse farms smoothie, ¾ banana, 1x Endurolytes capsule, ~750 ml of water between wake up and race start

Bike: 5x GU Roctaine caffeine gels in bentobox, Accelerade and provided IM Perform, 2x Electro Delytes, 4x Endurolytes capsules, 1x apricot Cliff bar @ halfway, ½ Tim Horton’s doughnut and 1 Honey Stinger caffeine gel @ 75 miles.  ~300 calories/hr

Run: 3x Gu Roctaine caffeine gels, drank sports drink at every aid station and coke at later aid stations.  Used copious ice and water.

I carefully checked my bike in the AM (tires to 120psi, brakes not rubbing, quick releases tight).  The rest of the time (about 75 mins) I spent in multiple porta potty lines…. In one of the lines a guy who was particularly hairy was putting sunscreen on and his friend was giving him a hard time, the hairy guy claimed there was a published study showing men with more hair were of higher intelligence! 

Swim

I was most nervous for the swim….I had never been in the water with more than about 500 people at once and the race was 3000 people.  It was an impressive and daunting sight to see all 3000 on the beach in their wetsuits and caps.  Someone sang ‘Oh Canada and everyone sang along, I love that about Canada J  I am pretty sure I heard my mum yell GOOO Jackie in the quiet before the start horn, she is still such a soccer mum and I love her!  Crazy rough swim….I got kicked in the head and pulled under a lot but I could feel the draft from faster swimmers so I tried to be positive….It would be harder to swim this fast alone with no draft.  Once I got kicked in the front teeth…crack.  Didn’t hurt too much though.  I found feet to follow for most of the race and was happy to have some open space near the last 800m.  The buoys kept staying orange and FINALLY there were red triangle buoys indicating less than 500m to go, YES!!!  Shoulders were hurting and I was really ready to get rid of the wetsuit!  The clock said 1:07 and I knew that was a reasonable swim for me.  I hate getting my wetsuit stripped as I have personal space issues and I sort of had to run to the tent with my wetsuit on with a couple of them chasing me trying to grab my wetsuit…..ahhhhhh!! 

Bike

A couple ladies with rubber gloves and a lasagna pan of sunscreen (gross!!!) slathered the stuff on me.  I wanted them to lay it on thick as I hate getting sun but they were pretty ginger about it…..I had put some on myself before the swim so I hoped it was good enough!  Got on my bike and was feeling really good, just my arms were a bit tired but my legs felt awesome.  I was on my best behavior for 35 miles keeping my power at 165W.  There was a massive tailwind so I was averaging 23mph but I knew I was pacing well effort-wise.  People were getting flat tires everywhere as the terrain was a little rough.  I felt really lucky.  We started up Richter pass and I felt very good, I was careful to keep my wattage in the low 200s and I was pleasantly surprised that I wasn’t suffering too much.  An Austrian woman with a suit with her name on it (clearly she had done ITU age-group worlds) was wearing calf guards and I couldn’t tell what age group she was in.  She was riding really well on the hills so I tried to pace myself with her from outside of the drafting distance.  There were a lot of officials and I did not want any penalties.  I asked her what age-group she was in and she gave me a big smile and said “yours”.  We had a good laugh about this and worked together a lot for the next 30 miles trading leads being careful to stay out of each other’s draft zones.  I tried not to be a granny on the descents; this was probably the bravest I have ever been in a race going downhill!!  I was really trying to keep my nutrition properly timed and was proud of myself for doing this, Joe had me practice this a lot so I knew what I needed to do.  It took some discipline and I really didn’t enjoy eating and drinking so much but I knew it was imperative t load up on calories and fluids for later.  The views were breathtaking!!  The Okanagan valley is so beautiful.  I almost forgot about racing sometimes.  At the 75 mile mark I got my special needs bag.  I stopped and rifled through the bag, it probably wasted a lot of time but it was better than eating shit trying to get the stuff out while riding.   I ate my Tim Horton’s doughnut, actually I could only eat half, that is how tired I was.  I love my Timmy’s!!!  I also had a Gatorade in there and had forgotten to take the internal seal off it so I couldn’t drink from it.  I managed to unscrew the lid and then punctured the seal on my brake lever, I felt like MacGyver.  At this point I also had to go pee really bad and I thought to myself, it’s D-day and I need to be a real triathlete.  I waited for a headwind and a downhill and made sure there was no one behind me and then released the fury.  Gross.  My poor Valdora!  The last 30 miles were really hard, my wattage was suffering and my legs were fatigued.  Going up the 7 mile ascent to Yellow Lake I thought I might have to get off and walk but there were walls of spectators cheering, it was like the Tour de France….devil costumes, cow bells, almost naked people running alongside you yelling, signs that said ‘smile if you peed on your bike today’ made me laugh!!!  I got to the summit and was all excited for the descent into town and then the headwind hit…..grrrr  not such a fast descent after all, but it helped me keep the watts over 160!  The last 5 miles in town on rough roads were tough, I was so glad to get off the bike!!  I didn’t pay much attention to any data but my wattage but I knew I was around 20mph which would have put me in the top 10 for bike splits in my age group last year.

Run

Had a decent transition and really nice volunteers in the transition tent helped me put my shoes on and get all set to run really quickly.  Back to the sunscreen ladies, the white goo in the lasagna tub was almost half gone!!!  It took my Garmin a couple minutes to load the satellites and I was feeling great running through town with lots of cheering people.  Then I realized I was running 7:30s….naughty!!  I could hear Joe saying “take it easy on the first half of the mary” so I slowed it down to 7:50s.  I thought this was a good compromise since my goal was 8:00s, I like to have money in the bank…..A couple girls ran by me like I was standing still, I forced myself to behave.  I was being an aid station whore, taking ice, water, coke, sports drink and sponges every mile.  It was about 93 degrees by now and I knew I needed to stay cool.  The sports bra is such a great invention; it’s like an ice storage shelf!!  Spectators were out with their garden hoses, hosing us down as went by.  Again, great spectator support and hilarious signs…..one woman had one that said ‘you’ve got stamina, call me” and then her phone number!  A guy in a lawn chair who seemed to be watching in earnest said to me “fifth”.  I said “in my age group” and he said, “age group overall but most of them are 30-34”.  That was the first time I had any idea of my placing, I started to have some hope for a Kona slot at this point.  There were a few little hills and at 10 miles the big hills started but I could tell I was gaining on a couple girls ahead.  I passed one and saw another one on her way back as I approached the 13 mile turnaround.  It took me a couple more miles but I passed her too.  After doing the shitty hills for a second time I was starting to feel like a puddle of organic matter and I really wanted to be done.  I went into my autopilot mode that I do when I start to suffer in races.  It feels a bit like sleeping and I just keep going even though it hurts.  The pain was purely muscular, my cardiovascular system felt fine but my quads were absolutely burning with every step.  Jesus, I thought to myself, I am hitting the wall….I really wanted to walk but I made a deal with myself to only walk the aid stations.  I was hitting about 8:30s but I didn’t care anymore.  I don’t have a lot of memories of the last 6 miles other than that they felt more hilly in this direction.  As we did the final out and back in the last mile I passed two pro women who were clearly not having good days.  I tried to get them to run with me but they waved me on.  As the clock came into view with about 50m to go I saw it tick over from 10:18 to 10:19 and I did my best to sprint in on my now very buckly old lady legs….When I had considered time before the race I had thought a 10:30 would have been the best possible result and would have been happy with a 10:50 so I was pretty giddy with the possibility that I might even break 10:20!!!  I made it through at 10:19:30 and a couple volunteers caught me and took me to the finish area.  They told me I was 8^th overall, I could not believe it!!  I actually felt fine except my legs were cramping a lot.  My parents and Sandy Rosenhauer were running along the side of the chute yelling my name and cheering and I started to cry when I saw them.  Finally I was in the public area and got a big hug from everyone and my tears were freely flowing, I guess I wasn’t that dehydrated!!  Dad was photographing all of us crying girls, thanks dad J.  Had a nice massage in the tent but I could tell my legs would be in agony for a few days no matter what I did.  We all went for dinner and I was pretty happy I was feeling hungry, I thought it must be a good sign!  I was glad the restaurant we went to had lamb, I do like eating little baby sheep flesh.  I know that sounds gross but yum, I love me some lamb!