A lot of my success in this race happened before the first swim wave even began. I have been blessed with an extremely supportive team - E3 Training Solutions Tri-Team, this includes not only my coach, Patricia Brownell, but the Head Coach and founder, Jorge Martinez, the swim coach - Karen Vasso, Jana Richtrova, a tremendously talented tri-athlete who always has time to answer my 6 million questions and my training partner Jerome Lang.
Then there's Stephanie Feltman and Brett Richardson who joined me for my long ride the week before the race. Prior to riding with them on my long rides, Jerome and I always stop for nutrition and water breaks - which made sense to me, since we weren't in a race. Well, I forgot that similar to when I'm training for a marathon, I need to practice fueling. The ride with Stephanie and Brett was great - we did a Charles River Wheelman's route - so we just had to follow the 'coat hangers' which was fun - but I forgot to take care of my nutrition and BOOM -I hit a wall when I had to run right after that. So, that experience gave me the week to come up with ideas and solutions of how to make sure I took in the calories I need so that I'd be successful!
I also met with Coach Karen, Jorge and Jana to help me get ideas on how to get past/around - what has become known as 'my floater'. This was the person from my Sharon tri that decided the middle of race was a good time to 'float' sideways across the swim course. Karen suggested that I pretend the buoys at Walden Pond were 'my floater' and 'move' them out of my way (Jana - she meant push ;-) ).
And lastly, Jana, Jorge, Beth and Peej for keeping me grounded the night before the race. I was having a lot of doubts that I could complete the distance. I was so nervous that I was walking aimlessly through my apartment with my checklist in my hand. When I got to my race belt - that sent me over the edge. It sounds silly, and I realize that now, but at the moment whether or not to use my fuel belt and carrying my own water vs. just getting it at the aid stations was overwhelming. In hindsight I think part of that has to do with past experience in road races. As a back of the pack runner there has been many races of varying distances that would not have any water or gatorade by the time I would get there, leaving me to run without adequate hydration. I decided that I would use my fuel belt - it was my 'security blanket'.
And now for my race - Jerome and I had decided that we wanted to get there early so we could hopefully park on-site and avoid long lines to get our race packet. We got there to find that they had grouped Beth and Stephanie next to us in the transition area.
As a bonus my friends, Carrie-Ann, Urvi and Kimi from the Somerville Road Runners were racked in the next row. I got my gear set-up, drank my Beet-It juice and tried to make sure I didn't have more than I needed laid out. It was time to head to the swim start.Swim - My wave was next to last, just before the Beginners wave. This was nice except it gave me a lot of time to get nervous. They did the swim wave in a time trial format which meant they had the swimmers start 2 at a time about 3-5 seconds apart. The first wave started at 8:00 am - I didn't get into the water until 8:21 am.... lots of time for nerves. Because this was going to be my longest race swim I kept reminding myself to stay calm and swim my own race. The pond was very low so there were a couple of times early on that I touched weeds which I didn't like but - oh well. I was trying to stay focused and keep my eyes on the buoys but there were a few times that I had to 'move' other swimmers out of my space. I didn't punch or elbow anyone it was more a part of my stroke except my catch was a gently push because they were going to hit me. After about 10 minutes it started to thin out a bit and I was able to get into a rhythm. As I was going along I thought about Coach Jorge who was doing his first Ironman that day and in all likihood doing his swim at the same time. I thought about the task that lay ahead of him and it made my swim short in comparison and helped keep my mind occupied as I moved from one buoy to the next. I finally reached the far end of the pond and had to change direction to head back to the shore - I surprised myself and I did a buoy turn - Coach Karen -I managed an actual buoy turn. We practiced these in swim class and I practiced them at Walden but never thought at this stage I'd be able to execute it in a race and then BAM - I did it. That gave me a boost of adreneline and I picked up my pace a little - but still being conservative. The exit from the water at this race consists of a steep set of granite stairs and then a long run back to tranisition. When I spotted the exit I picked up my kicking to get the blood flowing into my legs to help make me steadier when I stood up to head up the stairs - which I held on to tightly because I had this vision of me doing a face plant - and headed back to transition.
T1 - I got to my bike and got my wet suit off - again trying to stay focused on one thing at a time but making sure to drink some Coke - at Jana's suggestion regular not diet. I grabbed my Bonk Bar and put it down my bra put my helmet on (not backwards this time) took another drink and headed out of transition. I managed to run most of the way to the mounting line, clipped in on the first try and headed off for my ride.
Ride - Peej had given me a pace that she wanted me to keep and I set off with that as my goal. I also reminded myself that I really needed to make sure that I paid attention to my nutrition. This was going to be my longest ride in a race and then I had to run, if I didn't take in enough calories I was going to hit a concrete wall on my run. With that in mind I settled in and was focused. I didn't see another rider for about 5 miles and would've thought that I had missed a turn somewhere but the race director had done a nice job of making sure there were many volunteers on the course directing traffic. After mile 5 I started to see other riders. It was nice to have 'rabbits' but I was having a hard time trying to stay at the pace Peej wanted me at. I wanted to go faster - I had the legs but was really trying to stay on my plan. I also was making sure that I stay hydrated and took in my nutrition. There was one funny moment - I had just ripped a GU from my crossbar and I hit the section of the road that was under construction - the pavement was milled. This was quite a sight.... the GU was hanging out of the side of my mouth because I had to hang on with 2 hands. I kept letting go to try and get the GU in and not have it fall to the ground - this went on for about 3/4 of a mile before I was able to finally finish the packet. I had to chuckle about it. As I got closer to the end of my ride I saw Denise and Stephanie finishing their run. It was nice to see them and cheer them on - I knew I was getting close. I took the final turn of the ride, shifted into a lower gear and picked up my cadence to get more blood into my legs and help them be ready for my run.
T2 - I headed into transition to get ready for my run. I got my sneakers on, drank some Coke, grabbed my visor and fuel belt and headed out for my run. I'm getting better at this part.
Run - As I headed out on the run I heard Urvi call my name as she went past me - its always nice to see someone you know. I tried to settle into a comfortably hard pace that I would be able to maintain. I came up on one runner who seemed to be having an issue because she would run and then walk so I asked her if she was ok - she was ok - she was doing a 30 second walk- 30 second run for her run. So I went on. My concerns about there not being water or gatorade for the back of the packers turned out to be a lot of worry for nothing. The race director did a nice job of ensuring that all of us had sufficient support on the course and it was wonderful. I passed a few more runners and continued on my way. I ran by feel a lot and pushed a little harder. I was surprised when I saw my final 10k time - I thought it would be slower than my normal times but it was actually a little faster.
As I made the final turn I saw the finish line chute as I got closer to the finish mat I saw my E3 team mates along the sidelines waiting for me - it was great to see them and do high 5's along the way. Crossing the finish line is an amazing feeling and one that is hard to put into words.
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