It's getting close now!

I can't believe that IRONMAN is right around the corner. It feels like just a few months ago I was signing up. Time sure does fly when you're having fun!

If I were to say I am not freaking out, I'd be lying. We had a fun weekend celebrating Stacy's birthday, which helped to get my mind off the race for awhile, but now that the weekend is over my mind is back ON it, and it's not slowing down anytime soon. I've been making lists, checking them twice, jotting down notes at totally random times as I think of new items I need to pack or bring or buy.

I only have four more days of work before the big race. Next time I am back at work I will hopefully have a new non-IT related 'title'.

Our bib numbers for race day are posted. Mine is:

Hmmm. Those numbers added together equal 17. Which is exactly the amount of hours I HAVE TO finish the race in. Ironic?? I think not. :)

Ironman Wisconsin Encouragement...

Sort of.

I found this fun chart that lists all of the 25 Ironman events and their average finish time. This came from RunTri.com's blog where they give an explanation on how they came up with these numbers, since so many factors come into play at any given Ironman event; weather, altitude, type of course, etc.

I find it amusing that Ironman Wisconsin is nearly the toughest, 2nd to the top, with an average finish time of 13:16. The easiest is Ironman Switzerland with an average finish time of 11:30.

These numbers are interesting, if anything, but they don't mean a whole lot to me. I have the goal to finish under 17 hours to become an official finisher. If I can do that, this entire year will have been worth it.

Our taper started TODAY... we're on the final countdown.

19 days and counting!!

Race Report - Turtleman Triathlon!

Ah, the Turtleman Triathlon... Minnesota's oldest triathlon. A race I've wanted to do for many years. I remember back when I trained on Tri team in Duluth with Rod Raymond. He would do Turtleman every year and more often than not, win it. Coach has even won this Tri a time or two. That was back in the day when the best competition came out to Turtleman, and Turtle Lake still had water in it.

I am glad I finally had the opportunity to do this race. Besides that it turned out to be a perfect day for a triathlon, (versus last year's Turtleman, where a severe storm canceled the swim, and resulted in about 25% of the field not even being allowed to complete the run) this race is in my backyard! I was able to roll out of bed about 5:45am, eat, get my gear together, and arrive at the race site by 6:25am. Now that's my kind of convenience!

Registration was down considerably from previous years, and it was obvious. It seemed really quiet in the transition area. Also, the conditions at Turtle Lake thwarted a lot of people from signing up. Lakes temps were around 83, which meant no wetsuits, and the lake was also very shallow, with complete muck at the bottom. I went out there to feel for myself, and wow, it was no Lake Superior. The lake bottom was literally just like walking through mud, and for awhile you'd walk fine, then suddenly you'd sink in it well above your knee. It was really pretty gross. I wasn't as nervous for swimming through mud as I was for the time trial start. A time trial start means everyone lines up according to race number, then they start you in three second intervals. I have done one Tri like this in the past and hated it. I spent all of my energy trying to get around people. When your favorite event is the swim, it it much better when you can start in a mass wave and line up in order of swimming ability. Nonetheless, the time trial start turned out to be OK. There was always a path to swim in where I didn't bump into too many people. Besides the muck at the beginning and the end... the swim was fine. (Fine, I should say until I got home from the race, took off my sports bra in the bathroom, and watched as mud flung EVERYWHERE. I hadn't thought about looking to see if the lake/mud had encrusted itself IN my sport bra. Ewww... My bathroom needed a good cleaning anyway.)

The race distances for this triathlon were similar to the distances at the Heart of the Lakes Tri. The swim (due to the shallow lake) was shortened to a 1K (from a 1.5K), then we had a 21.5 mile bike, and a 5 mile run. The bike and run were also completely flat. Awesome.

The bike went well. I was excited to bike for only 20 miles. With all of the long rides we've been doing the last couple of months, a 20 mile bike was a breeze. I felt myself kind of lolly gagging along at about the half way point, but then I saw one of my old running buds at the corner cheering for me! Having him there really helped me get my pace up. My average pace for the bike portion was 21.1 MPH, so I was very happy to be above the 20's for once.

Once I got out on the run, I am not sure what happened. I was trying to run, but it sure didn't feel like a run. I did see a couple of teammates cheering along the course, so when I saw them, I tried to make it look like I wasn't shuffling, but once they passed I went back to a shuffle. At about the 3 mile point, one of my training partners passed me. She looked really strong and once I saw her come by, I picked it up to try and keep up with her. From that point on I felt better and actually finished the last two miles strong(er). It's funny that I needed someone I normally run with to come by and pace me, in something as short as a 5 mile. Once I had her in my sights (to chase after) I finally felt in a groove.

I ended up 2nd in my age group and was 20th woman overall, out of 114. I'll take a 2nd place age group finish! The prize was a Turtleman mug. It was special to me that I was able to take something home when this is a race I have wanted to do for so many years.

Ironically, a fellow triathlete/blogger I recently "met" via our blogs, and who is also doing her first Ironman in WI next month, made the podium at Turtleman too! Her family took this picture, so she let me 'borrow' it to post on my blog. Thanks B, and nice race!! :)

I'm sad that Turtleman was my last 'normal' distance Tri of the season. It seems like just yesterday I was adding my race schedule to this page, looking forward to all of the Tri's I had scheduled and how far away the BIG day seemed. At least the regular season ended well. Now we're onto the 'playoffs'! (I guess I have football on the mind with #4 coming back into town today and all.) :)  

25 days and counting until Ironman Wisconsin!

My book of inspiration...

If it hasn't been glaringly obvious, I am a huge fan of quotes, sayings, and poems. I find inspiration in simple words that relate to life, love, and the pursuit of... whatever you may be pursuing at the time.

I started saving quotes and sayings from a very young age. When I was about 11, my Mom bought me a cute notebook with smiley faces on it (I was a huge smiley face fan back in the day) and I thought that would be the perfect little notebook for me to write down all of the quotes and sayings I'd saved.

I worked hard on this book for many years, using markers and stamps to decorate each page. I almost filled the entire thing; all pages, front and back. I worked on it through high school, but once the college years came, I found I didn't have the time to do much more with it. Nonetheless, I was pleased with the results. It's something I have looked at many times throughout my life to get inspiration from. The words in this book helped me through the initial shock of leaving home my freshman year of college. It helped me get motivated and inspired for swim meets. It helped me get over breakups. It helped me grieve. And now it is giving me inspiration and motivation for Ironman.

I find it ironic that I wanted to post a YouTube video of one of my favorite poems, then realized I had this same poem in similar form on page 2 of my book. It's titled 'Don't Quit' and the author is unknown.

Another one of my absolute favorite poems is called 'A Winner's Creed' which happens to be on page 4 in my book. I also kept this one on a little card in my wallet for many years.

Finally, I love this song and the quotes that are included in this video are some of my favorites. Enjoy. :)

Bring on Ironman.

Last weekend 10 teammates and I made the trek down to Madison to ride the bike course.

I've been hearing how this bike course is very hilly, very techincal, and VERY tough. I was so nervous to find out for myself. My opinion of the course after riding 126 miles of it last Sunday: it's totally doable and I LOVE the course! I know now that I AM ready for the big day.

Our first stop on the trip down Friday was Devil's Lake to get in a 2.4 mile swim. What a super gorgeous lake! I can't wait to swim there again. I have now found my 2nd favorite lake, aside from Lake Superior. :)

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to start our ride. Our plan was to do 3 loops of the 'loop' section of the course. The IM bike course heads out from Madison about 16 miles to Verona, then from there it goes on a 40 mile loop. After completing 2 loops you make your way back into Madison and that completes the 112 mile bike course. The loop is the most technical part of the course and where you encounter most of the hills. For this reason we wanted to get most of our miles in on the loop. We figured doing 3 loops was also going to give us a mental advantage. On race day as we're getting tired heading out onto loop 2, we can think "I have done 3 of these loops, I can easily do 2!"

The course is challenging, but it has so much variety that you never get bored and you never get sore from being in the same position on the bike for too long. I felt really good after 126 miles. We went for a 30 minute run after the bike as well and surprisingly that also felt good. It was a very successful day.

I did get out my camera as we were going up some of the big hills. Trying to climb and take pictures is a feat in itself!



On Sunday we got in a 2 hour recovery run before packing up to head back home. That felt pretty good besides that it was in the 80's with about 97% humidity. That's a little too hot for me. We realized how lucky we were that Saturday was nice weather and there was even some cloud cover so we didn't get 8.5 hours straight of blazing sun.

Until we meet again Ironman Wisconsin bike course... in 38 days!!

Race Report - Chisago Lakes Half Ironman!

It was a gorgeous day July 25th for a Half Ironman. The lake was calm, there was no wind on the bike course, the sky was clear as could be, and it was HOT. A ton of teammates and a couple of friends were also doing this race so I knew it was going to be a fun one with so many people I knew racing.

The first thing I noticed when I woke up that morning, before even getting out of bed, was that I was SORE. Great. I had gone to my company golf outing the Thursday prior, and I was actually sore from golfing. Yes, an Ironman hopeful who trains her butt off daily, was battered and bruised from 18 holes of golf. I miss the ball, a lot, usually the first swing of every shot. I think all the swinging and missing was what made me sore. Sad. Nonetheless, I got out there and was determined to give it my all.

The swim felt slow. My arms felt exhausted. All of me did. I usually kick sparingly, trying to save my legs for the other two events, but my arms were so sore I started kicking more to try and propel myself forward. Once I was kicking more, my feet started to cramp. GREAT. I had to ease back up on the kicking and stick with trying to pull myself through the 1.2 mile swim.

Once I FINALLY completed the swim, I was off on the bike. It started off well. I liked the course, very flat with a few rollers. That's just what I needed this day. I managed through it, feeling more and more exhausted as I went and my pace slowing in response. At about the 40 mile mark I was literally thinking about bed, how much I love bedtime, being in my cozy bed, how good my bed would feel, and how I just wish I could shut my eyes and magically be back in my bed. That was making my pace even slower, so I tried to turn the thoughts to "only a half marathon left once you get off this bike, THEN you can go back to bed." ONLY a half marathon, right.

Once onto the run I was feeling ok. Within the first 2 miles I started getting pretty hot so I started taking more Endurolytes. I felt pretty good soon after taking one, but within about 20 minutes I felt like I needed another. I took one every 20 minutes or so. I was running along fine (not fast, but fine) until about mile 8 or 9, then I really started to fade. I was also out of Endurolytes, and the exhaustion had set in. This was a feeling I haven't really felt before. It was not so much "tired" as it was literal exhaustion. My mind, body and every inch of me was just DONE. Coach had actually been biking on the course and was biking along side of me when I started getting this feeling. It helped to have his positivity there and he told me to drink some Gatorade and water, and to dump some water on my head. That was all good, but within a couple of minutes I was back to being a slug. I still wished I could have had ONE more Endurolyte since I still had 3 miles left. I know now for Ironman to bring more than I think I'll ever need, so at least I have them there as an option.

Coach was taking pictures of all of us out on the run course. This one must have been before I got to mile 9, back when I was still smiling.

Eventually I made it back into the park and up the hill to the finish line. I finished in 5:47. That was a 6 minute improvement from the Liberty Half Ironman I had done 6 weeks prior, and a PR! I HAD TO be happy about that. Time didn't matter today though, I was just happy to be done. I just wanted to sit down and stay there for a long, long time. I was able to find all my teammates and friends and find out everybody's results. Lots of people had tough days. Nutrition not settling well in tummies, and there were some with heat related issues. There were plenty of great results too, so all around it was a super fun race to be a part of.

Stacy actually took a video of me crossing the finish line. It's not pretty, but here it is. Like I said, the word of the day was 'EXHAUSTED'.

Sitting down on the grass so soon after finishing the race was the worst mistake of the day. My legs hurt SO badly once I got up. They were tingling and felt like I was going to lose feeling in them. It was nuts. Once that sensation was gone, they started cramping and I couldn't stretch them out enough to get it to stop. The entire afternoon and evening was tough. I'd get a charley horse in my calf, and when I'd tried to stretch that out, I'd get a charley horse in the muscle next to my shin! I tried to take a nap to forget about it all, but I'd get woken up by a leg cramp.

I must have been dehydrated starting a day or two before. The first sign was when I felt some cramping in my feet during the swim. I have never had leg cramps like that and hope to never again. I am on the compression sock bandwagon as a result of this. Not sure I'll be racing in them, but I'll be wearing them after all of my workouts and races for sure. My tight calves were a contributing factor to the plantar fasciitis I developed early on in the season so I probably should have gotten a few pairs many months ago. Who knows, maybe I'll turn into one of those dorks who even race in them. No offense to any of those dorks who may be reading this. :)

Next weekend is BIG. I am really looking forward to it! I am going to take it easy this week so I can be ready and cramp-free for all the miles we'll be putting in next weekend. Ironman bike course, here we come!