Category — 2008 Race Report

Looking forward to the 5k “race” tomorrow morning.  Actually, NOT.  My stomach is feeling kind of “off” today.  I’m going to run/walk with Kathleen or jog with Gretchen and Marie tomorrow.  Just enjoy being with friends.  Why am I not going to race tomorrow, you ask?

I got yelled at by my friend and a local podiatrist.  He told me I wasn’t resting enough after Ironman. That I hadn’t healed enough.  Soooooooooooo I promised I’d be better and this is the start   See, I listen!

So, tomorrow I will enjoy being with friends and out in the fresh air.

Stay strong and happy Thanksgiving!

Yesterday Jim, Marie, Cary and I–yes, I did say CARY– did the Wild Dog triathlon.  This was Cary’s first tri and boy did he get indoctrinated on the swim.  This was the hardest swims I’ve ever done.  The wind was making the waves so big that every time you took a breathe, you inhaled sea water.  There were people hanging off of the buoys holding on for dear life!  I say “swim” loosely because there was no swimming going on LOL  How you did all depended on where you were situated and how many people were banging into you!

The guys were in the second wave, so that was good. Unfortunately for Marie and I, we were in the last wave.  There were bodies floating EVERYWHERE!  I hope someone got a picture of it.  Firm also didn’t have enough life guards, so it was pretty hairy.  ANYWAYS, Cary made it through the swim by side stroking to the first buoy.  Which probably turned out to be smarter than trying to swim like I was doing.

The 10+mile bike was nice.  The slight uphill was only in one location, with the headwind, it made it challenging, but a nice change.  It would have been REALLY fast had I not rode 61 miles the day before for my IM training (LOL- very different throwing in a sprint race while training for an IM).  Everyone had a great bike ride.  I was surprised it wasn’t harder to pass people since all 400 people were on the same 3 mile path at once (it was a 3 loop course).  But except for a few spots, it was pretty much go at your pace.

The run was what surprised me the most.  I felt great on the run and ran it the fastest I’ve ever run 3 miles.  So that was nice.  Cary learned that being a fast runner does not make the fastest runner in a triathlon!  He went out of transition too fast, hit the hill with the headwind and never quite caught his breathe until the water stop where he could walk a little and get a sip of water.   Marie also had a great run.

Jim had a great race too and really cranked on the bike.  He also did well on the swim, considering the conditions.

We had a great breakfast afterwards and it was another fun weekend adventure for our group.

Next stop for me is Cranberry next weekend with Doug and Bruno.  Then Pumpkinman with Jim, Marie, Cary (#2 for him), and Kim.  THEN THE BIG KAHONA!! IT’S COMING TOO FAST.. LOL…

Let’s just say that on mile 8 of the run, I said “what the heck was I thinking signing up for IMFL”. OK, so maybe I said another word instead of “heck”, but what’s the diff

The good news is that I did PR the race, although the bike portion of the race was 58miles this year and was 60miles last year. But even with 2 miles less, I beat last year’s time by 27 minutes. The bad news is that my swim was 6 minutes slower than last year! I felt fine, but I guess swimming a mile yesterday was not a good idea. I also think something is up with my new full wetsuit. I definitely see a sleeveless in my future. I did lose about 3 minutes when at mile 5 on the run I REALLY had to go to the bathroom (as I did last year!) and someone ran in there right ahead of me, so I had to wait. But, there is no way I could have finished without going LOL.

I am so sore already , I can only imagine how tomorrow is going to feel. I don’t remember this from last year, I remember feeling great, but Cary laughed when I said this. He said I couldn’t even drive home last year. And here I am at 7:05 pm and I’m still up, watching a movie, and writing this blog. So, I guess I am better this year. UPDATE: At 5:30am on Sunday, I could go down stairs a little better than yesterday, so I guess today isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I was so hungry I had to get up and make myself breakfast! It’s amazing how little I sleep after a race like this. I’m so tired, but can’t sleep. I guess I’ll be napping today. I might try to play golf to stay loose.

Let’s discuss this IM thing. I had a feeling that I would feel this way, but I’m very worried about doing the IM. I’m trying to stay positive, because I know it is a completely different beast and I won’t be averaging 19.5 on the bike like I did in this race, but really, how DOES one do a marathon after riding 112 miles!??!?!

Big Mike, Chris and I are going to need lots of encouragement over the next 4 months. Chris did the race today too. His comment was “I’m glad I signed up for IM before I did a 1/2 or I’m not sure if I would have had the guts to sign up”. Oh boy, we need positive vibes

Oh, and lest I forget, that of course it rained at the race. It is now Sunday at 5:30am (couldn’t sleep- too hungry and sore LOL), and I am looking forward to cleaning my bike–yet again. I’m getting so good at this!

Nutritionally, I did OK.

Here was my plan:

Dinner night before (5pm)- IHOP multigrain pancakes

Dinner actual (5:30pm)- IHOP pancakes, but ate them ALL- too much

Breakfast (5am)- oatmeal, 1/4 cup nuts, banana, G2

Breakfast actual (5am)-oatmeal, 1/2 banana, some nuts, G2-still full from too many pancakes at IHOP!

Bike- 1/4 cliff bar every half hour/gel at 2:30/3 bottles G2

Bike actual-almost 3 G2/ I only did 3 of the 4 cliff pieces/ so I moved the gel to 2:15 because I was ahead of pace and I missed the last cliff piece.

Run- water at each stop with gel at mile 3 and 8

Run actual- water at each stop with (I’m guessing I do about 3/4 of the gel since I do one gulp of it) gel at mile 3 and 9. At mile 8, I wasn’t feeling so well. I thought I was going to throw up. I also started getting cramps in the chest and upper stomach. So I decided to wait on the gel and did it at mile 9 and drank extra water. The cramps went away. I did an orange slice at mile 8 and 11 too and that tasted REALLY good. I also sucked the salt off of some pretzels at mile 12.

So, I didn’t do too badly sticking to the plan, but a few things I noticed:

1. when I am riding the bike, my math skills are a little lacking (scary since I taught math for 3 years). I tend to think I’m doing the cliff pieces on time and I’m not.

2. I need to take in more salt on the longer races. This should be resolved somewhat when I switch to Gatorade Endurance as I plan to from now until IM FL.

3. I need to eat a lot less the night before the big day

At the first race of the season for the WTSC triathlon team had great success at the Sudbury Sprint! Becky Becque, Krista Coiffa, and Sarah Levey placed 2nd, 3rd and 3rd in their age groups, and this was Becky’s first triathlon! Jim Bruce had the best time of the group at 49minutes flat bettering his best swim time by 1min 30 seconds! Most of the other team members bettered their times from last year by many minutes as well.

Everyone did amazing, I’m so proud to be coaching this great group of athletes. The season has just begun, and they are so excited to embark on more triathlons this year. Most of them already talking about racing again next weekend at the Lions Sprint Distance Triathlon in Marlboro, Ma.

Today is May 4th and Jessica just finished her first 5k race. I am so proud of her. I ran with her the entire way and she was a trouper! She beat her goal, and never gave up despite her back tightening up on her. Way to go Jess!!!

Now THIS is a race!  This is mine and my husband’s third time going up to Attitash for the Tuckerman’s Inferno Pentathalon race.  We had teams the first year, and this year.  Check it out at www.friendsoftuckerman.org

It is a crazy race where the first leg is an 8.3 mi run (2mi up/2mi down/ then rolling hills for 4.3 miles).  The runner tags the kayaker who kayaks 6miles down a pretty fast river with rapids, who then tags a biker who bikes 18 miles up to the AMC lodge at the base of Tuckerman’s Ravine (2000 ft elevation), who tags the hiker who hikes up to the bowl of Tuckerman’s Ravine and tags the skier who after already hiking up 4.5 miles with a 40lb pack on his/her back has to climb the bowl of the Ravine and ski down through gates to the finish.    You may think we’re nuts doing this as a team, there are people who do this ALL by themselves!  Can you imagine?  Each leg is pretty technical and not easy.  I can’t imagine doing all of it one after the other.

Anyways, this year there were a lot more teams and individuals participating.  The skill level also increased if you look at the times from the last two years to this year (for example the first runner ran the 8.3 miles in 45min, and the first biker biked in 59 min!)

I was thrilled this year, my biking has really come along and I was able to complete the climb in ~1hr 14min.  I guess I can no longer say that “I’m not a hill climber”.  It’s weird when this happens to you.  I used to say “I’m not a runner” because I wasn’t fast and it wasn’t natural or easy for me.  But now, I embrace what I am able to do and call myself a cyclist, runner, swimmer and triathlete, as should you.

Completing a crazy race like this really does put things in to perspective.  There are so many people that can not, or would not do what we do.  We should be proud!  Look back at all you have accomplished, and each year you get better and better.  This whole process is amazing to me.