Ironman Chattanooga 2017 - I was the best damned athlete I could be

My apologies, but this is going to be long because its more than just the day of the race, its the entire experience.

Gwen and I flew out of Boston early in the morning , Wednesday, September 20th and we arrived in Nashville, TN long before lunch time.  After we got our rental, we had the opportunity to explore the Nashville area.  We found a great little place for lunch and got some suggestions of places to see before we headed to Chattanooga.  We poked around a bit, went in some truly touristy shops, looked at some leather boots (nope - didn't buy any - no place to put cleats).  We weren't sure of 'rush' hour traffic so we headed off to Chattanooga - which is in a different time zone than Nashville - who knew.

Its about a 2 hour drive between the two cities but its all highway and there are some incredible views along the way.  Once we arrived in Chattanooga our first 'challenge' was how to get into the condo we rented.  It was rather comical but once we figured it out the inside was a lovely surprise.  We were only about 2 miles from Athletes Village and the Tennessee River.

God bless Gwen, I had my first meltdown when we drove to the river and went to check it out.  I started to cry and could barely breathe ( I was assured afterwards that this is normal).  The river looked enormous, far bigger than the Merrimack River, and I think I told Gwen I didn't want to do the race any more, that it was far beyond my abilities and what the hell was I thinking.  We met a couple of girls from Canada that had just gotten out of the water and talked to them for a bit.

Breakfast of Champions

Thursday morning Gwen and & hung out on the deck of our condo - note Little Debbie was part of every breakfast -  before heading to Athlete's Village.  I'm going to blame taper because I was 'wearing' my emotions on my cuff all weekend.  I cried at every table I went to.  The enormity of all of it was overwhelming.  I can't say enough about how wonderful all of the volunteers were.

For my non-triathlon friends, Athlete's Village is more like an expo - but on a much smaller scale.  And check-in - for this race anyway consisted of:
Table 1 - Show your ID & USAT card... tears
Table 2 - Get your wristband - this must stay on until after the event is over... more tears
Table 3 - Pick up backpack containing 5 bags that will be used to prepare for race day.... more tears
Table 4 - Pick up timing chip and have it activated... and more tears

 After we got all my 'stuff' we headed off to pick up Oz from Tri-Bike Transport.  I was really happy to get my bike back.  We brought her back to the condo and then headed out to drive the bike and run course.  It was pretty cool driving thru Georgia knowing that I was going to be spending about 6 hours there on Sunday with Oz.

On Friday I needed to do my shake out ride, make sure nothing needed adjusting.  I had the opportunity to ride with Charlie Catalano, one of Peej's athletes who was also doing the race. It was great to meet him and he's such an
inspiration.  After our ride, I headed back to the condo and Gwen and I headed out to take in Rock City/Lookout Mtn.  We had a great time and it was beautiful.... breathtaking.  Then we headed back to Nashville to pick up Peej from the airport.

Saturday was 'Pancake Day'.  Charlie and I went for a quick swim, just to get a feel for the water and then it was time for pancakes.  It was great to have breakfast with Charlie, his wife Chas, Gwen and Peej.  It was so enlightening to listen to Charlie and Peej talk about what the kept them alive - insulin and how to manage it and still have an active life.  After breakfast things started getting very real - time to pack all those bags and bring them and Oz back to Athletes Village.

Not sure why but I slept pretty good and felt pretty good, nervous, but good.  As I had my breakfast I finished get all my stuff together and we headed off to Athletes Village.  Once there I took care of making sure Oz was ready to go, dropped off the rest of the bags and then we got on the bus and headed to the swim start.

 The Swim - 1:15:19 1:48/100 yds.
I am always so anxious about swim starts, once I get in the water and get knocked about a couple of times I'm ok.  When I signed up for this race I didn't realize until after I hit enter that A-the start is a jump into the water and B-last year was not wetsuit legal. But this swim.... OMG .... it was awesome.  The way this start is set up you can't really see the swim start until you're almost on top of it. Once you see it the volunteers are yelling at you to go .... so no sitting down to pop in -you just go!!! And my race was underway.  Another nice thing about this start was that they had a floating "lily pad" - for lack of a better term an inflatable min-dock- maybe 100ish yards from the where you jumped in  This little dock made my race, it gave me the opportunity to get my heart rate down, get the water out and adjust my goggles and find the first buoy and I was off.  When we jumped in, the sun was to our backs and you could see the fog and haze just above the water it was so pretty so I didn't mind that one of the things that was in my race plan was to stop and take in the moment,  and I did just that.  I stopped and took in my surroundings - holy crap I'm in the middle of the Tennessee River - its beautiful. was beautiful.    and the next thought - I'm swimming a friggin' Ironman!!! I got here!!!! Ok - time to get moving.  It what seemed like a very short amount of time I saw the red buoys.... the way out of the river was just beyond that.  As I got closer the buoys - maybe 100 yds - there was a female athlete holding on to a kayak and the kayaker was trying hard to encourage her to finish her swim. As I got close to her I tried to talk to her, I told her we were almost done that the stairs were just beyond the red buoys.... I did manage to get her to start swimming again.  I hope she finished!

I'm ready to go back to Chattanooga because I loved this swim start so much.

The Bike - 102.5 miles 8:06

It never occurred to me that I wouldn't finish the bike portion of this race.  The course was so manageable - not easy - but manageable. During training I had purposely done a lot of hills so that I'd be prepared.  I thought this course, for the most part, was really pretty.  When you cross the state line from Tennessee into Georgia, the Georgia State Troopers are out of their cruisers welcoming you to Georgia - pretty cool. 

Here are a couple of things from the bike that I'm really pleased about

• Grabbing water bottles at aid stations - pouring the water over me, drinking, throwing the bottle away and not falling over or hitting anything
• Watching and following the fast age groupers down a descent - taking the same fault-line and remembering that fault-line the second time around
• Keep my head in the game on the second loop - even though it was very, very lonely.  Said good bye to each hill and the various baby cows and the steer with the humongous horns.

Leaving Special Needs

'Special Needs'  - I finally understand how the heck that works.  I had read a post about freezing your extra water/nutrition bottles the night before and putting them in a throw away cooler.  Boy did that work great!!!! I also put a can of the sparkling cranberry juice in the bag.  That juice never tasted so good and my bottles were slushy -  a win-win. 

This is also where I yelled at my coach for the first time!!!! Sorry Peej! My feet were absolutely on fire - major hot spots on the balls of both of feet.  I was trying to adjust my socks hoping to fix the problem and Peej was trying to be helpful, and was 'strongly' reminding me that I needed to get moving to make the cutoff - my response 'I KNOW - I'M GOING!. 

The hot spot problem continued the remainder of the day unfortunately and it's hard to pedal effectively when you're curling your toes.

In the end, I just ran out of time.  It was hard to accept but I wasn't going to argue with the volunteer when I was told I needed to get in the van (unlike another woman on the course) but I will admit that I ugly cried.  Not a sob but a full out ugly cry.

It took a couple of days to put my day in perspective and I'll readily admit that it was very difficult to see everyone walking around on Monday with their much deserved finishers shirts and medals.  I thought it was going to be tough facing everyone when I came home - I could not have been more wrong about that.  I have wonderful friends and teammates who made sure I understood what I had accomplished - even though I didn't finish I did do all the work to belong at the start line.

So I walk away from race day knowing that I was the best athlete that I could be on that day - no more, no less. 

I also gained more insight to what my 'why' was for doing the race and it wasn't what I thought.  As I headed to the start line my 'why' was to let Walter and Melissa know that I was healing and that I had found a way to move forward.  The reality is,  Walter and Melissa already knew that, I'm the one that needed to know that I'm healing and that I've found a way to move forward without leaving Walter behind.

Ironman Chattanooga - I will be back - and watch out, next time will be for me!!!

My First Swim Race and Only 45 days to IM Chattanooga!!!!

I did the Mighty Merrimack Open Water Swim Race on Sunday, August 5th.  Peej and I decided that this would be great training opportunity.  The only question going into race day was whether to wear my wetsuit or my swimskin. Peej ultimately left the decision up to me and come Sunday morning I left my wetsuit at home so I wouldn't be tempted.  I wasn't worried about swimming the distance without my wetsuit - I was more concerned about my mental confidence of covering the distance in the allotted time for #IMCHOO.

I finished the swim in 2 hrs, 24 mins.and the actual distance ended up at 2.3 miles.  While my swim was 4 mins over my goal, the first mile was upstream and into the wind - who knew the wind could make a difference when you're swimming!!!  In the end, my concerns about time was unwarranted as I had some great positives that I took home - along with a 1st Place medal!!!! Some of my takeaways:

- Never overwhelmed by the size of the river - this was a great confidence boost

- I was able to rein in my nerves and get my heart rate down to a level I could maintain

- Didn't panic when the current kept pushing me out to the middle of the river

- Never once contemplated cutting the course and turning back at the buoy for the 1 mile swim

Boston Triathlon Team representing at the Mighty Merrimack

Having  Janice Biederman &  Jessica Douglas to share the day with was awesome. 

(For my non-triathlon friends - beside providing some warmth, a wetsuit also provides a little extra buoyancy which helps you go a bit faster.  A swimskin doesn't provide any buoyancy but is worn over the top & shorts that you're going to wear for the rest of your race - it just streamlines you a bit and keeps the pockets on your top from filling up with water and making you go slower.  Why is this an important question - the temperature of the water on race morning determines whether or not you can wear a wetsuit - IM Chattanooga is non-wetsuit.)  

A few highlights from training so far - 

I've been riding a lot of different routes in areas that I'm not familiar with.  I do this for a couple of reasons one - I like seeing different scenery but the bigger reason is to help with my race day prep.  I won't be able to ride the bike course before the race so I'm hoping that by riding in different areas it will help my confidence being in unfamiliar terrain and still maintain my nutrition.  So far so good, I've only had one spot that I got off my bike and walked up a hill.  Afterwards I was pretty mad at myself because I could've made it up it - but I'll ride that route again and get that hill.... it was definitely mind over matter.

I think that I'm finally getting much better at my nutrition on the bike thanks to help from Laura Moretti.  I've started using CarboPro in my hydration bottles and it's helping me get more calories in without eating so much.  So far it has not had any ill effects on my stomach so that's a real positive.  Speaking of hydration, we were concerned about needing to stop at the aid stations to refill a third water bottle but I found that I'm comfortable with carrying the bottle in my jersey pocket so I can just toss and go !!!! 

My running is still a work in progress.  Thanks to Jess Douglas I'm having less pain and swelling and have been able to get most of my long runs in with minimal discomfort.  I still need to be careful and when I run hills if they are steep coming down I need to walk.  I've also been practicing timing my hydration, specifically when and how long will I allow myself to walk.  So far, its been a success and is starting to become muscle memory.

That's it for now... next up Ironman 70.3 Maine.... yum ..... lobster dinner

My 3rd Patriot Half Ironman

I wasn't sure how this was going to go.  The weather this Spring hasn't been very conducive to OWS (open water swimming). I was only able to get in 3 swims at Mystic Lake the rest of my swimming has been done in the pool and at my lessons with Stacy Sweetser at Sweetwater Swim..  I knew I had the distance I was just concerned about sighting practice and executing what I'd learned in my lessons with my wet suit on.

Another thing of concern was the run.  I mucked up my knee the beginning of May - no meniscus or ACL damage,  per my ortho  - but I haven't been able to run more than 3.5 miles in prep for the race.

My cycling however, has been going really well and Adena and I rode the course several times so I was really familiar with it and where the turns and hills were.

Race Day Morning - As always the begins really early - 3:00 AM.  I was picking Adena up and I wanted to make sure I was on time.  The weather was rather dismal as we headed out and there were those little lightening bolts on the weather app that had me a bit concerned.  As we were setting up it started raining and was foggy.  This is the first triathlon I've done where it was raining.  I've done running races in rain and snow but all 3 sports.... this was going to be something new and had me a little unsettled.

Swim - 54:06 - This was a 3 mins 26 second course PR and a 53 second overall PR!!!!
The swim start for this race is time trial start which means that you start 2 x 2 every 5 seconds.  Adena went in ahead of me and I tried to stay behind for a couple of people - just so she could get going.  I knew she'd be fine after that and would probably finish ahead of me.

I was really surprised that I PR'd in this swim - I felt like I was really struggling and that it just wasn't going to be my swim day.  But, I kept trying to use the things that Stacy taught me.  I tried the 'Mississippi' - that's one of the strategies she gave me to help with my breathing, that wasn't working so I just kept talking to myself.  Reminding myself to sight.... it was really hard - and I got kicked in the head a few times which was a little unsettling.  And of course, the doubt crept in... would I be able to swim an Ironman distance... ok... no time for that.  And then another strategy Stacy gave me came to mind... keep moving forward.... don't just take a stroke but take it to move forward.  That seemed to really help me get back on track and finished up.

T1 - 6:26 too long
This year we had wetsuit strippers so I should've been able to get in and out of transition faster but with everything being so wet it was really tough.  And I got my socks on but then had to take one of them off again because there was sand and stuff in them.  But I didn't dawdle and went as quickly as I could.

Bike - 3:44:31 An overall PR... not by much but a PR!
This went really well and I was able to accomplish a few things that made me really pleased.  I keep my gels in a flask and last year my tri-top had pockets similar to my bike jerseys so it was easy.  My new tri-top has different type of pocket that you slide things in from the side.  I only had one short ride pre-race to practice on so I put more gel packets in my bento box, just in case.  But I was able to grab it easily and even use both sides of my jersey.... YAY - I'm getting more comfortable and confident letting go of my handlebars - even when its windy.

It was great to see my Somerville RoadRunners, E3 friends and my new Boston Triathlon Team mates and friends on the course.    I was really happy when Jana Richtrova went by me and I was almost finished my first loop - in the past I was further behind.

T2 - 6:32 - again too long
Again, I think a lot of the trouble  was because stuff was everywhere.  My things were under a bunch of other things, mine and others.  Again, did my best and didn't dawdle and headed out.

Run - long
As I headed out Peej joined me for the first little bit to check on me and my knee.  We chatted for a few minutes and we were running at a slower pace but one that we decided I should stay at ... but most importantly - to be smart about it, if my knee started to hurt I was to stop.

While I'm really happy about the PR in my swim and bike, I'm equally as happy with my run, even though I had to walk after mile 8ish.  Up to that point I ran continuously - walking only thru the aide stations.  At mile 4ish, I did walk a little longer to talk to another athlete that was having a really bad run.  She was to the point that she couldn't hold down any fluids and she wasn't sure about continuing.  We chatted a bit, and the only advise I could give her was what my coach would've told me - sometimes its important to call it day so that you don't end up in the ER or ruin the rest of the season.  But then I picked it back up and kept going.  Around mile 6ish my knee started to talk to me a little and by mile 8ish I decided that this wasn't my A race and that I needed to preserve my knee and not do anything stupid - or as my coach and ortho  said 'Be smart'.

Overall, I'm really pleased with everything about my day and the improvement I see and feel.  And I was so happy that Adena had a great experience - I love my chosen hobby and was glad to share the winter training with her.

Ironman Chattanooga is 14 weeks away

Dream Big
Work Hard
Cherish the Journey!!!!!

Assessments, Race Wheels, Pee Sticks and other happenings.. 21 weeks until Chattanooga

Well, I think spring is finally here and that means that most of my training is now outside.  I run outside year-round but now I can move my long bike rides outside too.  There is however, a good and a bad side to being outside..... the bathroom, fridge, and extra food are not in the other room.  Its easy to forget, as much as I hate riding on the trainer, how convenient it is to have your bike in your kitchen.

Assessments - For most people, coaches refer to this as 'testing', to see where you are, gauge your improvement and set goals and paces for your season.  I have a really hard time with these - so much so that I was able to beg my way out of my swim 'test' last year.  It just seems to get into my head and is a pass or fail.  Logically, I know that's not what it is but my brain just goes to an all or nothing place.

My first thought was to try and beg my way out of my swim test - so I texted Peej and got a very short, simple response - "IM".  That kinda took care of that so I decided that I needed to come up with a better term and way of looking at this phase of my training, especially when it comes to my swimming.  I came up with 'assessment' - to me this is about more than speed.  Its about how did I feel, was I able to keep my form, was I able to stay focused.  This seemed to help and I went into my 'assessments' for each sport with a new outlook - yes, I care if  my pace is picking up but I also care about how I feel and how quickly after the exertion I recover and my heart rate and breathing comes down.

Race Wheels - Over the winter I decided that I would buy 'race' wheels for Oz. For my non-cyclist friends - race wheels are typically carbon and much lighter than regular wheels.  They offer a smoother, more forgiving ride.  But they also offer a challenge, which I found out about over the weekend - the wind catches them and moves the bike more than regular wheels.  Something new to learn.... but they make Oz look a bit fierce!

Pee Sticks - I know - a weird topic.  I've started reading Roar, by Stacy Sims - (thanks Stacy Sweetser for the recommendation).   The premise of the book is that women are not pint size versions of men and simple making things smaller and pink won't meet a woman's unique needs.

One of the first things I read about was 'pee sticks'.  You've all seen them doctor's offices - nothing fancy.  Stacy uses this quick and easy stick to help her ensure that she's hydrated.  But it can also offer extra insight into how recovered you are and even if you need more carbs.  Being the data nerd that I am and former nurse, I'm finding this helpful and another training tool - if helps keep me on my toes and hydrated.

Other Happenings....

Boston Triathlon Team - I went for my first group ride with my new tri team.  These guy were so great and waited for me at every intersection - God Bless them - I'm much slower than they are and add the hills of Harvard to mix and now you're talking turtle slow.

Patriot Half Course - Drove down to E. Freetown and rode the bike course 2 times.  It was an interesting ride - I had 2 Adena/Adina's !!!

Swim Lessons - I 'graduated' from my private lessons at Sweetwater Swim Studio and feel more confident about the Chattanooga swim, with or without my wet suit.  Thank you Stacy for your patience!

Journey to Chattanooga..... 28 weeks to go

It has been a great couple of weeks of training with some surprising successes. I figured this would be a great time to update my blog so when it gets hard and I doubt myself I can come back and read that a good week is possible.

Up to this point training has been similar to previous 'off-season's - a mix of swim-bike-run throughout the week but with the time schedule moved up a bit.  The past couple of years I wouldn't hit the distances on the bike or in the pool until late-March early April.

The past couple of weeks however, the intensity of my bike rides has increased a lot - or so it seems to me.  In a recent cycling class with Peej we were doing short bursts at maximum watts and in the final couple of bursts I managed to hit 446 watts -for me this is huge since my average is around 120.  Needless to say I was anticipating that my legs would feel pretty trashed the next day and possible sore - I was wrong - I felt fine the following day and was able to do my workouts and hit my targets.

 I've also started having 3 days a week with double workouts and seem to be always running on tired legs.  The surprising part is that this week I seem to be able to run and bike at higher intensities than would've thought possible, and even my swims are getting stronger.  I recently did a long swim workout (2,800 yards) and the last 200 yards were at the same pace as the first 200 yards and I was able to keep my form.

I know that my training will have its ups and downs through this amazing journey and need to celebrate not only successful training weeks like the past couple weeks but also the weeks that I struggle thru knowing that those weeks are even more important.  I need to honor those tough weeks and remember - which in the moment is always hard and I count on my friends and coach to remind me - are the weeks that will help make me stronger.