Race Recap

Oh how different the experience is when you are looking back on it approximately 24 hours (this time yesterday I was swimming in lake michigan with about 4000 of my closest friends.. okay there were probably only about 300 at a time... all of which were passing me!) after the fact than it is when you are at mile 5 of the run. I distinctly remember thinking "I am NEVER EVER doing anything LONGER than this... EVER!!" Now I'm thinking.. well... Maybe I could do the 70.3 (half ironman) MAYBE! I was also thinking ... I want to stop... I want to sit down... I want this to be OVER! TODAY I am thinking about other races of the same distance that I might be able to do next year. Oh how just 24 hours can change things!

I was surprised that I wasn't more nervous. When I would start to get nervous I would just check myself and think, "hey, you aren't trying to win this thing! Just have fun." and that would usually do it. I did feel like I was well trained and KNEW in my heart that barring any strange events - like, say, drowning or a bike crash - I was going to finish for sure. I did have a number in my mind - which I can now reveal - I wanted to finish close to 3 hours total. I am VERY pleased with my time. I only wish that I had felt better on the run, but from what I could tell most people were hurting on the run. It was HOT!

So here's the drill.

3:30am wake up, coffee, oatmeal.
4:00am Meet the team (TNT) in the lobby with all gear in tow and walk to the transition area.
4:15-5:30am set up transition area.

okay... now you wait until 9:05am for your wave (for me and 1/3 of the 30-34 year old females) I would say this was tough. You're all jazzed getting your stuff ready... then you get to spend the next 4 hours w/ your nerves and to realize that you are actually kind of tired from sleeping little and getting up at 3:30am.

I went back to the room to relax and snooze a bit. At around 6:30am Tom and I headed out. We got a coffee and went over to the swim start to check everything out and to cheer on the rest of the TNTrs from Wisconsin. The nerves started to get to me a bit here, but I checked myself and just relaxed and watched the Sprint Tri people go by on their run and watched the wave after wave of International Distance triathelets start their swims. I worked on visualizing myself swimming (not dog paddle either), biking and running.

Around 8:30am it was time to slip into my full body neoprene. (Did I mention it was hot) I got in line around 8:50am and stood w/ my group waiting for my turn to jump in the water. I was surprisingly calm. I couldn't believe that May, June, July and most of August were over and here I was standing in line to jump in the water in the triathlon. Like I said I felt ready. I didn't once question my training. I did question how LLOONNGG it would take me to swim a mile - it had been a week since I got in the water, but I felt confident that I could finish it! Then BAM here we were... first in line ... it was are turn to plunge ourselves into Lake Michigan. DAMN that water was cold.

The gun went off.. the speedy gonzales swimmers TOOK OFF while those of us in the back of the pack waited for their flailing kicking feet to get out of our way so we could swim. :)



The swim was LONG! We did an out and back, passed the start and finished about 1/2 mile down from there. It felt like it took forever to get from the start and out and back passed the start again. I didn't mind swimming in a group of people. I didn't mind when they touched me or kicked me - except when some chick kicked me so hard it knocked my goggles off. my only battle wound:



And people doing the back stroke in the middle of the pack REALLY pissed me off. Someone hitting you in the head while doing freestyle isn't so bad. Someone repeatedly smacking you in the head while they are swinging their arm up and around is a totally different story. There was a woman doing the back stroke pretty early on and I was trying - TRYING - to get in a groove... THWACK comes her arm... THWACK THWACH. It took me a while to figure out what the hell was going on. And the saddest part. I couldn't pass her. I tried. I passed her a bit once, but she caught me.. while doing the back stroke. That's how slow I was. I'm not sure if she flipped over or if she and I moved apart, but it went away for a bit. Then close to passing the start and moving on to the last leg. THWACK! I had had it. I popped my head up and said, "HEY!" Whoever it was apologized (it was a different lady this time) and flipped over. Okay, I TOTALLY get being a weak swimmer, being tired and needing a break, but there is a time and place. If you're tired - try the breast stroke (of course then you risk kicking someone) or the every popular side stroke (as my friend Gena pointed out - actually quite effective). It's just too crowded for the back stroke. Try that when the field opens up a bit and your not going to pummel your neighbor. Moving on. So the finish is getting close - THANK GOD! - and so far I haven't been taken over by too many men. (They were starting behind me and they are bit more rough - read if you get in their way they WILL run you over and they WILL not apologize) As I was rounding the last buoy getting ready to go sharp left to get drug out of the water this big dude totally body checked me out of his way so he could get in front. SERIOUSLY! I was GLAD to be done w/ the swim and proud of myself for making it AND for doing freestyle the whole way even though I was slow!

Now the fun can begin. I get to ride my bike... oh wait first I have to take my wetsuit down around my waist and run about a quarter mile to my bike in my bare feet on the concrete! :) Okay, it really wasn't too bad when I was actually doing it.. maybe I was just SO happy to be out of the water. I do remember thinking I would do the whole rest of the race bare foot if I could just get out of that lake. ha ha

The bike was AWESOME! It was only the 4th time I had ridden my tri bike. (Yes, Karen P. I was ONE OF THOSE! ha ha It went really well and I felt very confident on the bike. I got out of the aero position to hydrate and do the turns... :D ) I loved loved the bike, but I forgot my second water bottle that I was supposed to put in my back pocket - eh hem Tom, there needs to be a second cage - and I was a little worried about my hydration/nutrition. I felt pretty good until the end where I could feel my lack of hydration. I don't do a very good job of saving anything when I ride the bike b/c I like to go fast - as fast as I can. I tried to listen to my legs and save some for the run, but passing people is so fun! :) It was pretty flat w/ some rollers. I ended up averaging 20.9 mph... that's what I had in my mind when I was thinking about how fast I wanted to go, but looking at my computer I was trying to average closer to 22mph... oh well. I probably wasn't looking at the computer as much on the rollers. It was fun passing the cars at 25 mph. At the end of the bike I was ready to move on to the run... well, at least I was ready to be done w/ the ride. I was spent and hungry (not good). OOPS.

I wracked my bike, took off my shoes and helmet. Put on one running shoe, took a swig of gatorade, put on my other shoe then noticed I hadn't tied my other one.. eek. I grabbed a Lara bar took a bike and took off (after tying my other shoe). About gagged on the Lara bar. Swallowed what I could and threw the rest away. I felt okay on the run getting started... through the shoot... then ugh! I felt like I was going to barf. Not sure if it was the Lara bar or my lack of hydration. There was a water stop right outside of transition. I had some Gatorade and water. Gatorade makes me feel sick when it's that hot. Bummer. I walked some in the run.. maybe twice and through the water stops. UGH! I wonder what my time would have been had I not done that??? I don't think I could have felt worse at the end??? ha As I drank a lot of water before the race and had to PEE REALLY bad ... so bad it kinda hurt. I'm not usually one to stop when I'm racing, but there was a porta-potty at mile 3, no line and it was empty so I peed. Wonder what my time would have been if I hadn't peed? I probably wouldn't have made it! ha At the last turn around of the run (approx 2.5 miles to go) another woman and I started pacing and keeping each other going... until my shoe came untied w/ 1/2 mile to go. DAMN IT!!! Are you kidding? I thought about not tying it but was worried I would trip. Bathroom, shoe tying, walking... ugh! So shoe tied off I went. For those of you that have done TNT before you know that you get a lot of "GO TEAM!" cheers from both side liners and participants. During the beginning of the race I would respond w/a a yell on the bike and at the beginning of the run I was doing devil horns w/ the yell, that then became just devil horns and during the end of the run it became an inaudible grunt! Did I mention that that run kicked my ass!!!??? I was very surprised. I'm not sure why? I should have known. I knew it would be hard, but I didn't expect it to be end of a marathon hard.

THANKFULLY my mental state was decent through the whole race. If it hadn't been I think I might have laid down in the grass and called it during the run. My only negative thought was that IRONMAN completers are CRAZIES! and that I would never do a longer distance than this... and possibly not this distance.

So things I learned:
1. EAT MORE - both pre race and during
2. If I learned how to swim I might actually have something w/ this tri thing. I placed in the 3000's on the swim. UGH!
3. Tri is HARD, but challenging yourself is good!
4. I'm not keen on the waiting to race thing!
5. I am strong
6. I am brave
7. I CAN do things I set my mind to
8. Preparation is everything

Thanks to everyone that donated and supported me through my training. Thanks to my wonderful husband and pit crew for allowing me to spend so much time training, for supporting me and cheering me on... and for my fantastic equipment. Side note on that.. i was putting my race number on my bike and he stopped me b/c I was about to cover the name of the bike. I said, "wouldn't want to piss off my sponsor!" Thanks for "sponsoring" me! ha ha

I'm already trying to figure out my 'schedule' for next year.... better find a group to train w/!

Quick stats and photos to tide you over...

(my wave start)

..tired.. no time to post. Suffice it to say that DAMN THAT WAS HARD! I would compare the 10k to the final 6 miles of the marathon! I finished within my goal range w/ a time of 2:56:20. You can check out my complete stats HERE. My swim was slow - REAL slow - as I expected, the bike was within my goal and though the run kicked my ass it was a decent split too.. under 1 hour. :) My transition times were despicable, but not SO bad for my 2nd ever race and the WORLD's LARGEST tri - and therefore transition area. I was prepared for the run to be hard, but - for some reason - I wasn't prepared for it to be marathon hard.

My sweet ride care of Tom: The Schwinn Prologue. Their (Schwinn's) first tri bike! :) I rode one of FOUR out right now. They will be out in 2008. (I was going to add a link to the Schwinn site, but this bike is so new that it's not on the site yet!)



Marked and ready to go:



Wetsuit, check. Ready to go get in line.



Game face... Let's DO THIS!


Race finish (the time shown started at 6am when the first wave started... my wave started at 9:05am.)



A picture speaks a thousand words!!!! That was HARD!!!


My 'pit crew'



Post race with my coach Chris and fellow MadCity TNTr Joe.


I'll post a longer more interesting description of the race for those that are interested. :) ha ha For now enjoy the photos.

Land Ho! Ichi-duck and the big race

Here are some cute pics of the kids quick before I get to business!

Tally HO!


Ichi-duck (and a new hair cut)


The weather out here in the midwest has been pretty crappy - along w/ well, the rest of the nation. There has been talk of not allowing swimming in lake michigan due to sewage dumping... blah blah blah... so we just proceed as usual and wait to see what race officials say on Sunday a.m. Hopefully we'll be able to swim.

I got my stitches out today and the doc gave me the go ahead to swim.. w/ antibacterial ointment and a bandaid. I've been instructed to clean it when I'm done and go about my business. It's still kinda open and narly looking, but she said it looks "good".. wonder if she would say that if it was her finger. :)



I'm nervous and excited. Trying to keep it all in perspective - I'm not trying to win. I do have a number (random as it is) that I would like to come close to as a "respectable time", but all in all I know the goal is to have a good time - you know how it is. :)

Okay. I better go get all my gear together. We're heading out of here at 7am tomorrow. We've decided to leave Jason and Lily in Madison with mom and dad - this brings my stress level down quite a bit... okay I'm off to prepare. Check in on Monday for the update!

frankenfinger and the knife.

so here's my finger and the knife that got me here!

New kicks, mommy who?, bread knife and Coconut sorbet

I ordered some new kicks for Jason and Lily from Preschoolians. I was waiting until they were both spending a lot of time outside walking. I couldn't be happier. They fit great and they are SO DAMN CUTE I can hardly stand it!







Mom and dad are leaving on September 2nd and winter is not too far away. The tri is going to be over, the babies are nursing less and winter is coming... could equal one out of shape unhappy mommy so I am on a quest for a new gym.. ANYWAY. Yesterday mom and I went by a huge metropolis of a gym called the Princeton Club to check it out. We rolled in w/ the kids in two umbrella strollers so the lady took us to the kids area first and said we could leave them there during the tour if we wanted to. I said, "Well, okay we can TRY!" Thinking there would be a lot of screaming and crying. WRONG! I opened the gate to that place and they took off (in separate directions) and didn't even look back. Mom?? Mom who? I so don't need my mommy anymore.. I'm going to go check this place out. We even stood there and watched them play (separately) for a while before we went in to get them. There were more tears over leaving than there were for being left... It was bitter sweet. It's good to know they are capable of that, but a bit sad for me that they don't "NEED" mommy anymore.

This morning got off to a bad bad start. I have been making my own bread.. which is great.. we were at the end of the loaf this a.m. and I was cutting the butt of the loaf off to squeeze another slice out of it. Well, after $30, 1.5 hours at urgent care and 5 stitches I'm thinking I should have just eaten the crust. I cut my finger pretty bad. Spent some time on the kitchen floor (b/c I felt like I was going to barf and was having cold sweats) while Jason and Lily screamed at the gate and Tom doctored my finger. Mom and dad came over and mom watch the kids while Tom went to work and dad took me to urgent care. Good times. The verdict is that my finger hurts like shit.. at least where it's not numb. Oh, and it's my index finger on my left hand so typing this is taking me a while. :) I go back in 5 to 7 days to have my stitches out. I can't swim until they are out - for risk of infection. I'm not willing to risk it by swimming in the sketchy lake I swim in. So hopefully I'll get at least one swim in before the race. I'm running a 10k tomorrow and I suspect that when my heart really starts pumping this thing is going to throb... and it probably won't feel great shifting on my 2.5 hour ride on Sunday. At least it's on the left and I don't shift as much on that side. :)

And on a side note. I have to share my new favorite dessert... Coconut Sorbet. I've found some ice cream maker recipes online, but have yet to try them. Right now I am enjoying the Coconut Sorbet from... yes you guessed it... Trader Joe's! If you ahe a Trader Joe's close by Go NOW and get some. It's SO good! and vegan! yea!

More videos...

they say more than I could ever type!

Boots boots boots: (sorry for the bad angle)


We play blocks. Thought it was funny how Lily would put them on the table and Jason would put them back in the box.. Lily walks away and he screams and eventually returns those blocks to the box as well.

Fashion show

We were trying on some things (coats, socks and boots) to see if they were going to fit for winter... here are the pics...Lily didn't want to take stuff off...

Classic Lily in her red coat being cute!


Take down: (modeling our socks)


and then...


Sweet boots. They are actually Jason's, but he wasn't so excited about them. They are huge on Lily, but she managed to clomp around in them.

I needed my girls today...

crappy crappy work out week this week. Tonight I just walked.. I just didn't have it in me to run tonight... no real reason.. just couldn't get in my grove. Blah! I'm having a very unmotivated week... I feel like the wind has been taken out of my sail this week. Hopefully this will get it ouf of my system and I'll be all set for race day in two and a half weeks..

I'm not real sure what's going on with me. Maybe my hormones are returning to their normal wacked out selves and that's why my mood sucks so bad.

The kids are still working on their top FOUR teeth. Lily's two middle teeth are through and the two side ones are working their way through. Jason has one upper middle and the others are coming. They both are being very clingy lately (and pretty whiny) and are giving out lots of hugs and kisses (and cries).

Mom and dad are heading home to Texas on Sept 2nd... EEK! I think I'm in for a rude awakening when mom isn't coming over every day anymore. I'm quickly searching out new play groups for this winter.

Here are some cute videos from today. One of Jason doing some of his signs and another of Lily doing her new move in her high chair. Enjoy.

Friends, photos and monkey slippers

My friend Kelly and her son John Michael came to visit us for a quick over night this week. I think I need a 3 year old!!! JM wore my kids out. They were on their best behavior (READ: mesmerized by JM) and slept through the night for the first time in WEEKS!!! It was great to see Kelly - even though the trip was short.

Here's a pic of Jason and JM.. Jason followed him around most of the time he was here.



We love to play in the toy bin.


Our neighbors put up a new fence and Jason and Lily thought that was pretty cool...



Lily has been really clingy lately.. and wants me to hold her all the time!



Lily saw dad's sun glasses and HAD to wear them.. then Jason - of course - had to wear some too!





Today Dad (aka Papa) and Tom took the babies out and about while mom and I cleaned out the basement (before we have another big flood like last year). How does stuff pile up like this?? It's insane!



During the big clean out I came across these monkey slippers that Suzanne gave us. Lily just loves them. You could tell by the way she was cruising around the house that she really felt like hot stuff in them!