Dates and numbers. All coming together. I'm not sure if I've said this before, but I'm kind of superstitious. In middle school and high school I used to wish every day at 11:11 that I would become the MN state backstroke champion. My Junior year (11th grade) the section meet was on 11/11/00, and State Finals were 11/22/00. My senior year, I won.
I carry on the Rocky IV tradition. I get new goggles for big swim meets (or triathlons). I put in new contacts. So naturally, I googled my Ironman number. #122. This is what came up:
The 122nd volume of the Iron Man comic. Tag-lined with "In the Beginning"Which got me thinking about my beginnings in triathlon. It just so happens, that on the weekend anniversary of my first triathlon, 2 years ago, I will be competing in my first Ironman. My life has changed significantly since that amazing day. I competed in the Super Sprint on May 4, 2008. I finished a 200m swim, 7 mile bike, 1.5 mile run. It took me 42 minutes and 59 seconds. The swim of my Ironman will take longer than that entire race. My goal was to run the entire run, which I did and I ended up winning my age group and taking 10th overall (male and female). Now I will be attempting a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run. And my goal is to finish. With a smile on my face.
The 22nd episode of the Iron Man cartoon (production #122) was titled "Don't Worry, Be Happy" which is my focus this week. I'm trying not to worry, and yeah being happy is pretty easy. I think I've passed the phantom pains part of taper, and the taper blues. It's happy taper time, and I'm on vacation as of Wednesday afternoon!
My last brick is over (here I am on Soledad). My last ocean swim is swum. (with dolphins! it was amazing). My bags are packed (okay, halfway packed).
I'm ready. Excitement brewing... #122. Five more sleeps.
I have the BEST friends EVER! Not only did I get good luck cards in the mail (thanks, Kari) and facebook messages/posts, but my college roommate, Missy, who I so graciously loved in my last post, list maker... made a rap for me! (Run on sentence much?) There she is at her bachelorette party, dancing to Michael Jackson. (She memorized the entire dance from the video for the Diva Party senior year. Ask her nicely, and she'll perform a couple steps for you.)
I'll post a nice one. Here at her wedding. (obviously) to Gabe, who helped create this amazing gift.
Background: Missy and I were roommates in college for all four years. Our freshman year the senior captains made a rap for us. Let's just say it wasn't to our standards and we wanted to one-up them. Well not to brag, but we did, and we started a tradition for the Sioux Girls. Every year we stole the tune to a rap song and changed the lyrics to Sioux Girl swimming, kick ass, conference domination, lyrics. It was a blast every time.
Here we are, our senior year. Yes I have hot pink hair. Yes, UND's official colors are pink, green, and white. And yes, even though they "retired" the name, I will forever be a Fighting Sioux girl.
Flash forward to now. She, with the help of her husband Gabe, and their sweet Mac Garage Band setup created this for me.
Worldwide release of: Ironman State of Mind by Mi-Z, Featuring Melissa Keys
Special thanks to production assistant and DJ, Gabe Schell.
So. My coach is amazing. He has done quite a bit for me this season, more than he needed to. Weekly training plans of swimbikerun were all that was needed. But every time he put in the extra effort, I noticed, and it made a big difference.
He analyzes the data from every possible angle. He tells me what workouts are key and when I really need to hit my goal pacing/HR/effort/etc. and when I can back off. He tells me what, when and how much to eat. He was flexible when my body wasn't. (Colon, listen. I'm doing my best here, but you need to cooperate) He motivated me through hard, rough, dark patches, and let me know when the light was going to shine in (and during the rest weeks it did). He road his heavy commuter bike alongside me up the steep roads of Mt Soledad during the first half of the longest run(s) of my life, and then he'd run the other half...at my pace. He emailed me videos of proper run technique. He just wrote me a 6 page Race Week plan.
All I had to do was swimbikerun. Easy enough, right?
Until now. Homework time. I won't give away all his secrets, but here are some of the tasks I've been given.
Make a checklist of everything you need to bring to St. George.
Make a checklist of everything you will put in your special needs bags.
Call Elizabeth and ask her about using immodium during the race. Also, tell her you're nervous and she will remind you why you shouldn't be.
Write up a detailed nutrition plan.
So the tasks begin. Hopefully this list making/packing will shake the nerves. I'm usually a last minute packer and wait until very late the night before the race to get my stuff together. And yes I forget:
I forgot my custom ear plugs to an important swim meet in college. I've forgotten to bring a swim suit to swim practice. (Actually multiple times...but imagine how many swim practices I've attended in my life, give me a break.) This weekend I forgot socks (thank you Erin!), my liquid nutrition (carbopro 1200), extra salt and sunscreen for my swimbikerun day. Luckily, knock on wood, I haven't forgotten my bike, helmet or shoes since I've been riding.
But seriously, lists are good. My college roommate, Missy, was (is?) a list maker, only because she was obsessed with crossing things off. So she'd include -take a shower -nap -calculus homework -brush teeth -take birth control Okay, maybe that's a little drastic. But she did download the Post-it notes program so instead of having sticky notes attached to her computer screen they would appear on the side of the desktop. We had fun messing with her lists on Vernon. (Pleasure Mikey, Make Rachel's bed)
Random tangents. Packing List for St. George. Started my google doc with earplugs and sunscreen.
Oh yeah, wee! I got a new custom tri top from Splish! I made it because I wanted to wear Brian's coaching logo and the shop logo from Moment Cycle Sport. It's light blue with white sides. I've already tested it out and it's awesome...but I need sunscreen.
Wow, 2 weeks since my last post, and now 2 weeks until St. George. Obviously, I have one thing (or really, 140.6 things) on my mind. Here. Now. Over. Done! Seriously, taper time is seemingly more difficult than the 18 hour weeks!
I have gone through 10 major tapers in my life (7th grade - collegiate senior year) plus all of the mid-season, summer-season, ymca-season mini-tapers. All swimming tapers. I would say I had a 99% success rate. I'm pretty sure I got faster in at least one event every year, luckily ending up "retiring" on top (200 yard backstroke - 2:05.95 - without trying to sound cocky, I just shocked myself remembering how "fast" I was). Anyway, this feeling of taper is all too familiar, and I should trust my past results, but I can't help but freak out a little. It's me.
Signs of Taper: 1) Sleep. Or lack there of. Since I'm not pounding myself into the ground, I'm sleeping like crap! I wake up at 2:50 or 3:50am and think it's time to wake up, but not refreshed.
2) Random Twitching. My muscles want to move. I am not moving them as much. So they move involuntarily. I thought my involuntary heart was annoying (at 207 bpm) but quad convulsions jolting my body awake...not cool.
3) Hunger. It doesn't leave. But again, I'm moving by body less...so maybe I should give the stomach a break. :) Baxter isn't calling nearly as often. Keeping in mind Racing Weight.
4) Movie Watching. On the list: Rocky IV, Rudy, and Ironman. I have watched Rocky IV every year since my first Section carbo-load at the senior captain's house in 1996. There is something about Silvester Stallone's training montage for the match of his life vs the Russian that really got us going. It sounds crazy, but it was tradition. You wouldn't dare suggest anything else. We watched it at my house before my senior year section meet in the fall of 2001. I brought the tradition to college and watched it all four years with my roommate, Missy, who introduced me to the great story of Rudy. As for Ironman, Santa gave that to me 2 years ago as inspiration.
5) Music. On my iPod: Jock Jams. The original. "Are you ready to rumble?!!" Again, not kidding. This was the "soundtrack" to every home swim meet. I specifically remember one meet, where the opposing team got into the office and changed the CD to perform their choreographed pool deck dance. Not cool. We shut them down. You didn't want to mess with the Thunderhawks. Na na na na na na na na na THUNDER! (ACDC anyone?)
6) Doubt. Fatigue. Dead Legs. This is where it gets dark. You doubt your training. You doubt your preparation. You doubt your leg's ability to carry you (or back then, the shoulders ability to rotate). But you manage. You have coaches to tell you it'll be all right. To tell you the training will work. To give you proof. To email your "Training Hours Summary" with pie charts and line graphs.To tell you to trust. To let you know you'll hit your taper. And it'll all be better. At the finish line. With a smile.
I'm down to the Final Four weeks of training. The time hasn't really flown by. It's been an eventful past five months. This is it. One more hard week and then I'll be tapering! The last time I actually had a real taper (that worked) was Four Years ago, finishing my collegiate swimming career. The seasons were longer back then, but the anticipation is the same. I wish it was here, now, over, done. I have enjoyed the journey though, and I should continue to enjoy this block...as it is the easiest, right?
It's no surprise that I haven't updated in a while. I just got done with a huge three week training block and my rest week is coming to a close. Thursday included a successful IM simulation day. Next week brings my longest run, longest brick, and longest ride on top of the tempo workouts, swims, and the San Diego Custom Bicycle Show that we are having a booth at. Fun times. But there is a light.
First ride picture from my new iPhone. :) Straight down my straw. Solo Swami's loop on my IM simulation day.
Here are some fun moments that my busy weeks brought:
Season opener for the Monday night La Jolla Shores TCSD swims. Big group, perfect conditions, fast friends and fast swimming.
Kyle came out to play.
Sunset at the ocean. What a great place to be.Enjoying my backyard. I don't get to do that very often.
What a nice view.
I had some Mt. Laguna adventures. The first one wasn't horrible, but it was a wee bit cold and windy so we didn't make the entire 102 mile loop for fear of getting blown off the backside. I think that day it ended up being around 90. Super duper fog on Laguna. Sunrise Hwy wasn't so sunny today.
Fun times with new riding partners. Liz and Whitney; crazy girls who don't wear enough clothes.
A couple weeks later Jen accepted my offer of GWL+Laguna (I had some unfinished business), and we made it out for a perfect day. Full circles here. This was the same loop where I did my first century, also with Jen. She was training for IM Arizona and I was a week out from Soma Half IM. Now the tables have turned and she's training for Wildflower half and I'm the crazy girl needing long ride partners. Good times battling the headwinds on the way out, and yes, on the way back. Just our luck. Although we thought we were lucky, spotting a Radio Shack rider, and thinking it was Lance Armstrong on our way down from Cuymaca...but apparently it was Chris Horner. Skinny white dudes in Radio Shack kits...they all look the same. Here is my tweet from Moment Cycle and our retweet from Lance.
And his response back. Yeah, Lance Armstrong tweeted back at us!! Holla!Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's 4 more weeks to go!
It's no surprise that St. George is a hilly course. Everyone is talking about it and most are freaking out. I was peer pressured into signing up for this race...before looking at the course profile. 5700ft on the bike + 2200 on the run = almost 8000 ft of elevation gain over the duration of this Ironman. After calming down from the hype I knew I'd be putting in some serious time in the hills of San Diego. This is how serious it's become:
First off, a little history: Alongside my triathlon hobby I am also a rock climber. I was introduced to the sport by Kyle, back in 2006 when we both worked at a summer camp in Maine.Here we are with our color war shields. We were assigned to opposing teams because of an unwritten camp policy on couples. I was on the green team (Green Revolution) and he was with White Ice; I won. :) I continued climbing when I moved back to Minnesota and met some awesome people at Vertical Endeavors. I was lucky enough to be mentored through the sport and went on some amazing trips across North America. I moved to San Diego with great intentions of climbing, but I couldn't get into the gym scene here and didn't have a steady partner...and I also found triathlon. I'm not as strong as I used to be which in turn makes me a more timid climber nowadays. So that's the history.
When I tell people I climb, the most common first question is, "Are you going to climb Mt. Everest someday?" And always, the answer is no. There are many forms of climbing. I'm not into alpine climbing for these reasons and many more: cold, expensive, long days of hiking, altitude, rain, snow, storms, frostbite, sickness, fake food, winter camping, long hard (epic) adventures, and oh yeah it's cold. I was a weekend warrior. I like bolted sport climbing. I like to climb in a tanktop and capris. I like easy approaches. I like when my arms get "pumped." I love the balance it brought to my life. Learning to be graceful is what I miss the most.
But I digress. What does this have to do with St. George?
Well besides the fact that when you are a triathlete, everyone asks "Are you going to do Kona?" which resounds the same annoyance ("No, my goal is to finish this one"), I've climbed Mt. Everest by foot and bike. I have gained over 30,000 ft of elevation during this month alone. (I love Garmin.) Since day 1 with Brian, I've climbed Everest three times. (And that doesn't include the snowboard trip to Mt. High).
I've braved the storms. I've camped at a race. I've had long days. I've spent too much on fake food. I've gone adventuring. I've ran and rode through rain. I haven't worn a tanktop. I am not graceful. This is not an easy approach.
But this is the approach I'm taking to survive IMSG. Really looking forward to my long run tomorrow. On the Mountain of Soledad. 2 random loops. 17.5 miles. 2000+ ft elevation gain. 1/15th the size of Everest. Then the 102 mile loop of GWL + Mt. Laguna on Saturday. The "climbing" journey continues. (Kyle is going out to Valley of the Moon for some real climbing this weekend.)
I would like to add, that I got on my trainer for the first time this season. YUCK! I started out my what was supposed to be 45 mile ride and almost got blown off my bike by 35mph winds. I wasn't able to stay aero and it was supposed to be a recovery/slave to aerobar ride. That wasn't happening. So I went home, put on the latest roommate netflix, Mamma Mia, and pedaled no where. No mountains. Only sheer boredom and bad acting.
Rest week/Race week! What a change. 95 on the bike, 20 cranked out on the run, 1 measly swim mile. Under 10 hours. I cannot believe how fast this is going...yet how much more is left! 8 weeks, 2 more training blocks, 1 rest week and taper time. Now is when I have to dig in and get it done.A couple weeks ago the Triathlon Club of San Diego had the 2009 awards. I was very honored to be named the most improved female triathlete. I worked hard last year, coming back from injury even better than before...but I feel my time has yet to come. This year I can only hope to be better. Thanks to Coach Brian for the kind words...and so much more. He knows, I am putting in the time and now finally...seeing results.
Desert Triathlon Results: 4th AG, 13th Overall. 2:11.10 15:59 swim (2nd argh!) 1:06.16 bike (22.5 mph) 46:01 run (7:24/mile not really*)
Kyle and I arrived to the desert Saturday afternoon after a glorious morning of sleeping in and making french toast. Mmm. Checked in and headed to the campsite/race area. We met up with TCSD and LA Tri for a pasta dinner and back to camp to get set up. Tried our best to stay up past 9 so to get a good nights sleep. Had a nice campfire and jumped in the tents for a forecast of rain. Woke up to grey skies, but not a drip of rain all night. Sweet.Made our way to transition, set up and hung out. The sprint waves started an hour ahead of the international; annoying. No pictures to document, but Kyle set up the camp stove and made me oatmeal, in transition area. It was awesome! I love my sherpa. :) Wetsuit on and ready to go. 8:36 and my wave was off. Not an eventful swim. Not hard, not easy. It was the usual run over the wave(s) ahead of us, turn the buoys, swim hard, find people to draft off, fail, find people drafting off me, turn buoy, hammer in. Run like hell to the timing mat, where I'm sure I'll get beat anyway. Why do they include run times during the swim? Took Kermit out for a little spin. The rain started, and it didn't stop. Tried to keep pace during the ride. The wind wasn't bad at all. Pelting rain was a different story. It was a very flat/fast course despite the wet conditions. Had a gu and 200cal drink. But seriously, rain. Again? It's not even epic anymore. I think it'd be epic if it was sunny for once. Kermit parked and Garmin on. Out for a couple loops around the lake and running. I felt good. For the first time ever, I felt good and almost great while running. I was shocking myself, and wondering when it was going to end, and how long I could hold this pace (that was faster than the coach and I agreed upon). Well it didn't end. *Pace according to the results was 7:24, but the run was short. Garmin came in at 5.78 miles (7:58pace). 8:15 was the goal pace. :) I was happy after the race. Not puking. So I guess I didn't try hard enough. :) But in all seriousness, it was a great race. Almost perfect actually. Looking forward to racing this distance with appropriate training. I had a rest week, but it was probably longer than a normal week for non-Ironman training.A big wet mess to pick up. Rain. Transition area was soaked. Towel weighed 10lbs. Walked back to the car to get into some dry clothes, pack up, head out and get some food. Thank you thank you Kyle, for yet again sherpa'ing me through a rainy adventure. Congrats to all the TCSD'ers out there! And thanks again for the award. :)
I was reading professional triathlete Bree Wee's Blog (as the closet blog stalker in me tends to do). She is a regular poster, and always has amazing pictures of her life in Hawaii...and I'm always so jealous of her gorgeous underwater ocean shots (where it's warm enough to not wear a wetsuit!). Anyway, she's going through a hard training block getting ready for Ironman South Africa. In a recent post she ended with "Keep going...because you want to."
Because I want to.
I want to finish Ironman with a smile on my face. I want this training to become effortless...even if that makes it mundane. In the event of mundaneness, I will mix it up. But it takes effort to keep going. And because I want all of those things, I have to keep going.
If it's going to rain, I have to keep going.
Utah is under 9 weeks away; I have to keep going.
Keep on Keeping on - a usual workout week for Rachel:
Monday: Masters swim session (3500) Tuesday: Brick, 50 mile tempo ride + 4 mile tempo run Wednesday: 50 mile hilly ride
Thursday: Long Run 16 miles, 2000+ ft elevation gain Friday: 2 mile ocean swim + Pannikin hot chocolate Saturday: 6 mile tempo run in rain/wind Sunday: 95 mile long ride + transition run
Now let's add in some fun: Monday: 2x1hr swim lessons after masters Tuesday: Night Snowboarding from 5-10pm at Mt. High for $15 with Chad Wednesday: JCC volunteer swim coach
Thursday: Dashboard Confessional Concert at House of Blues Friday: Olympics watching Saturday: More Olympics/Dinner plans Sunday: Shopping!
Now where does laundry, preparing meals, doing dishes, cleaning and relaxing fit in? I'm not sure I agree with any of those activities.
But I keep going, because I want to. If I didn't have all those secondary activities in my life then I'd just be a girl training for an Ironman. And while I see this is a daunting task, I don't want it to completely take over my life. Granted, I understand the time commitments, as the 17 hour workout weeks are here, but for my sanity, I cannot just swim/bike/run. So here's my fun:
Snowboarding at Mt. High. I swapped the Brooks running shoes and Nike cycling shoes for some Ride Snowboarding boots! Great snow and perfect weather. I also had the perfect shredding (laughing at myself) soundtrack thanks to an ice dance routine I saw during the Olympics. Linkin Park's Reanimaiton.
JCC coaching. I'll say it: sometimes I dread going. I've been up since the butt crack of dawn, worked 10 hours and all I really feel like doing is eating cereal and watching the Olympics. But I go, and every time I leave, I'm glad I went. It's so rewarding to give knowledge and see progression in beginners and returners. I truly love coaching.
Dashboard Concert. Awesome. Got some last minute tickets from a tri-clubber selling them on the list serv. Great concert and even a great opener: Ives the Band. Had fun with Kyle in the upper level, sharing the one seat left...that happened to have an amazing view.
Monday night I did my first F.I.S.T. fit alone! Erin just got a new bike and so we went through the fit process together... hopefully she enjoys it! And now she has no excuse and must beat me! Tonight was catch up night with Nikee. We had dinner at a great little place in Old Town called Blue Water.
So I'm trying. I'm doing my best at keeping up with training, staying relatively injury free, working, and having a life. Balance. It's tough. But I keep going because I want to.
...and getting it done. So I was on facebook (not a surprise) on Friday night (yes I'm a loser), but what I saw was pretty funny. "Changing plans, let's ride on Sunday, looks like rain tomorrow" and "bagging bike plans, dreading treadmill run" and "YOU LIVE IN SAN DIEGO, SO SUCK IT UP!" Okay not really the last one, but that's what I felt like writing.
I'm a wuss at heart. I've been called a tough soldier, a fearless leader, a bad ass and crazy. Crazy is the only true descriptor. I am either freezing or burning up. I use a heater fan at work. I wear a down jacket when it's 50 degrees. I grew up in Minnesota but you'd never guess it (unless you hear me say MinnesoOOOta). I live in San Diego for a reason.
So signing up for an early season Ironman didn't really phase me. Training through winter? What's winter? And seasons? I have lived in San Diego for almost 2 years and I have forgotten what fall leaves look like, what real snow is, and what the warming of spring reminds me of. It's sunny and 70 for most of the year. Sometimes it rains. But it always ends up nice. At times I miss home, but when I know what's going on there now, I can't imagine setting up trainer sessions in the basement. YUCK!
The reason for the craziness? I don't have a choice. I don't have the luxury of switching my schedule, training or work, at the drop of a hat. When I lay out my week, it's pretty much set. If I miss a workout there's no room for error to make it up. I just have to suck it up. Which has been going pretty well. Thinking back:
102 mile kick off to IM training ride Thanksgiving long run on a brisk 18 degree MN day 40 degree GWL+Descanso day Frozen hilly Arizona Ride. 39 degree long ride and rainy long run 39 degree Joshua Tree long ride+guts 39 degree St. George 90 mile preview ride and my frozen toes:and last weekend.
I am sick of having epic workouts. Why can't it just be boring and uneventful? (and warm!) Again I have no choice but to suck it up.
Last week was all messed up. I went to bike fitting school at the start of the week and was also trying to recover from San Dieguito. I missed swim lessons, doctor appointments and a training run. But I gained so much more. A Fit Institute Slowtwitch Triathlon Fitter certification. And a "recover" 20 mile ride. Wednesday was a brutal GWL beating on tired legs. Thursday was hill repeats in the aerobars. Friday was a fast cove-shores-cove 2 mile swim with Jake. And Saturday was my day off work. I finally had a Saturday off to ride with the normal people, but everyone was bailing.
Chris and Jake were gracious enough to join me for what was sure to be a long ride with a few drops of rain. 10 min in Chris gets a flat. Through a pretty hilarious turn of events we were rolling again, thanks to a dude driving a van prepared with an apocalyptic outlook on life with a spare tube and pump. :) We made it to La Jolla and it started to rain. hard. All the way through the UCSD campus and down Torrey Pines. We got to Del Mar and it was bone dry. However, we looked like we cycled through the ocean. WTF? Suck it up.
Stopped at a shop for extra tubes/co2 and a power bar. Did the Elfin Forest, Del Dios loop and stopped again at the shop for chain lube. Got back to Torrey Pines and decided, hey why not add some repeats? And, I challenged myself to stay in my aerobars. I did it. On the third painful repeat we opted for the inside of Torrey. In aerobars. I did it.
One final challenge. Nautilus on Mt. Soledad. Why not? It's on the way home. Haha, you guessed it. In my aerobars.
Sunday was my long run. It was the longest run of my life (time and mileage). I'm into uncharted territory from now until Utah in that regard. It start out slow and with a low HR. My legs were feeling the effects of the sprint finish from Saturdays end of long ride Mission Bay Drive sprint TT dual with Jake. Did a random route around my house with a lot of hills. 1200ft of climbing over 14.75 miles. Somehow added in Hill St which was 300ft in 5 blocks. Yuck! Oh yeah, it rained too.
Two days of soppy feet. Yummy. Two days of sucking it up and getting it done. Maybe even with a little smirk.
In the thick of my build period again. Looking forward to sucking it up and racing on tired, non-rested legs for the Desert Tri in two weeks. But hey, I'm racing again. I can't wait to put my hard work to use!!
Is it here yet? 10 weeks.
This is what I look forward to every week now. I'm back, earning my hot chocolate, cove swimming on Friday mornings. Join me!
loVe: Kyle. Kermit. Kove swims. Kompression socks. Very much do Not loVe: Running. Hills. Pollen. Pain.
Last Sunday I "raced" my first real running race. A half marathon. Yes, that's right. I've never done a stand alone 5k. I've never done a fun run. (Who runs for fun?) I've never paid to run. Wow.
So San Dieguito Half Marathon was the obvious choice. Hilly of course. I could've done Carlsbad, but this aligned with the training plan a little better, and it has hills. Why am I such a glutton for punishment? 11 weeks. That's why.
Day started out with oatmeal. And pink compression... it was Valentines Day. Like Beth, I am not a fan of the look but am of the way they make me feel and help with the running and recovery... significantly. They work for me. CEP compression. Check it out. We also now sell them at the shop.
Carpooled with Ian, Noko, Steve and Erin (Thanks Ian!); Kyle was finishing his duty day and wouldn't get off until after the start of the race. Made it to the park after a long hike up hill, and then down a big hill to the start line where Noko and I made it with a minute to spare. Coach gave me a race plan: stick with 9:00min/miles no matter if it was up or down. Ready, go.
It was hard. The only "easy" mile was the first. It was downhill and I had to hold back to stick with the plan. Nothing too memorable. Just hills and hard. Tried to keep the cadence going, watch the heel striking and not waste any energy. I ran with a bottle which was also my GU storage. One at mile 3, 6, and 9. Kyle showed up just as my water was out, so I chucked the bottle at him. By this time I was at the top of the last climb (besides the last 1/2 mile to the finish). My HR was out of control, but I had to hang on. Only 3 miles left. I found someone short with a good pace and just stuck on her feet. Literally. I was stride for stride and just inches behind her. We hit an aid station and she stopped to take a drink. I looked back and said "Let's go! You were helping me!" I was chugging along for a bit, but she overtook me and we started blazing past racers. Orange shirt girl, you kept me going!
Eventually all good things end. i.e. my pace going downhill. It ended on the horrendous uphill finish. I was hitting a wall and I knew it. I was on pace and I knew I just had to hold on for a little longer. Finish! 1:57 something. Garmin had he at 8:59min/miles. Overachiever. Average HR...get ready. 194bpm. OMG that hurt. The last 3 miles it was over 202. I started sneezing immediately. Everything was cramping, besides my calves. Somehow I had to walk back up that hill through the park to get to the car. Not cool. Hey, at least that part wasn't in the race. Kyle got me some Girl Scout Cookies on the way out and spared me some walking by retrieving the car.
Shout out to all my fast friends: Steve, Jake, Evan, Erin, Noko, Beth and all those TCSD'ers representing. Seriously I don't understand it. (running that is). Headed to work for more sneezing and misery. After work us girls had something planned for our men. Noko hosted a Valentines Red Dinner. Red food. Red clothes. and a Pinata. :) I made sangria. Yummy. Erin, Steve, Erin and Evan hanging out after din din. The Pinata fun. Spinning, Swinging, and Sillyness. The climbing helmet was brought out. Great conversation, great food, great friends. I've said it before, but they are the best. Thanks to coach Brian for believing in me, and helping me along the journey. I'm happy that I can make his job look easy...because this is hard for me.
Which got me thinking about my beginnings in triathlon. It just so happens, that on the weekend anniversary of my first triathlon, 2 years ago, I will be competing in my first Ironman. My life has changed significantly since that amazing day. I competed in the Super Sprint on May 4, 2008. I finished a 200m swim, 7 mile bike, 1.5 mile run. It took me 42 minutes and 59 seconds. The swim of my Ironman will take longer than that entire race. My goal was to run the entire run, which I did and I ended up winning my age group and taking 10th overall (male and female). Now I will be attempting a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, and a 26.2 mile run. And my goal is to finish. With a smile on my face.
My last brick is over (here I am on Soledad). My last ocean swim is swum. (with dolphins! it was amazing). My bags are packed (okay, halfway packed).
Now where does laundry, preparing meals, doing dishes, cleaning and relaxing fit in? I'm not sure I agree with any of those activities.
Snowboarding at Mt. High. I swapped the Brooks running shoes and Nike cycling shoes for some Ride Snowboarding boots! Great snow and perfect weather. I also had the perfect shredding (laughing at myself) soundtrack thanks to an 
