Trizophrenia Winner & Random Iron Thoughts

KennY, you are the winner of my Trizophrenia book giveaway! Email me your address so I can ship the book to you. My email address is available on my blog profile. (Please reply by Friday, 11/20, midnight eastern or it will go to someone else!)

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This past week has been weird. No specified workouts, no race worries, no concerns about weather. I've eaten all sorts of crap (leftover Halloween candy and birthday cake) and don't feel one bit guilty. I passed on doing a couple of bike and run events held last weekend that I could have done just for fun. Instead, I allowed myself to be slothful and just pondered some things:

- Signing up for 2 irons 2 weeks apart was the best thing I could have done. They kept me honest in my training and gave me a chance to do both races that I wanted to do. I know I recover quick from long races and would have gone CRAZY if I only did GFT and was stuck "all dressed up with no place to go" two weeks later.

- Some folks run/walked to get through their iron tri marathons, I run/pooped. I came across Top 8 Race Fueling Mistakes Made By Ironman Triathletes and Mistake #3: Eating too much (too late) on the bike and Mistake #1: Mixing Sugars (between my bike & run nutrition) look to be the most likely causes of my GI distress. The only way to know for sure, though, is to do another iron tri :-)

- The next 3: Ironman Arizona (11/22), Ironman Cozumel (11/29) and Ironman Western Australia (12/5) are all sold out, however :-(

- Though training for and doing an ironman does require much more effort than a running standalone marathon, I find it them much easier to recover from. I'd heard this before from several others too. I think it's because swimming, cycling and running a slower marathon don't beat your body up as much. Aside: The current world record for most number of ironmans completed in a calendar year is 15.

- For me, the hardest part about doing an ironman was training in 80-90+ deg heat all summer long. Coach advised against me going to Kona to train because he thought it'd be too cool. He was right. Nothing but training in FL could have prepared me as well for GFT, plus doing so gave me a chance to find out about the major bike course change before race day. B2B was 30-40 degs colder and my main concern was just staying warm enough on the bike after the swim. GI issues at both races, while annoying, were not show stoppers. Two very different races, one awesome training plan to get me to both finish lines. Thanks, Coach Bill!

- Top 10 list of the toughest things I've done so far:

1. 1992, Watch my dad die of cancer
2. 2004, Earn my 2nd deg black belt in karate (bruised ribs, very painful sparring)
3. 2001, Earn my 1st deg black belt in karate (1st major athletic achievement, age 40)
4. 2006, Learn to swim (truly *hated* swimming back then!)
5. 2006, Ironman Florida (first rough water swim, survived but missed swim cut-off)
6. 2004-5, Raise $21K for 2 charities (first FR effort, very hard for me to ask people for $$)
7. 2009, Train for 2 iron tris, GFT & B2B (embraced the enemy: heat)
8. 2007, Olathe Marathon (first time I had major GI issues in a race, nearly DNFd)
9. 2004-5, Run 21 marathons in 9 months (my 21 Run Salute)
10. 2005, Run a hot August 5K all-out with no speed training (21:56 min of agony!)

You know the saying: What doesn't kill you ...

And a couple announcements:

Firstly, Team Hendryx is accepting athlete applications for next year. If you have a running, triathlon or fitness goal you'd like help with, they can help whether you're based in Orlando or elsewhere. My coach, Coach Bill, is the POC for Team Hendryx and can be reached by email at cwenner @ cfl.rr.com if you're interested.

And secondly, I'm going to take a BIG break from blogging and training between now and probably my next race, the Instep Icebreaker Marathon (WI) in January. 2009 has been a very busy year for me and 2010 looks to be even busier. I need to get a lot of stuff squared away in the meantime and apologize in advance for not commenting as often on your blogs during this time but will try to follow along as much as I can. Best of luck to everyone racing, esp. Molly and Jen who are both doing their first ironman (IMAZ) this weekend!

2009 Beach 2 Battleship Iron Tri

Official Finishing Time: 12:45:52, 3/10 F45-49.

Where to begin???

First, I must thank all of you who have helped me, supported me, cheered for me, listened to me, put up with me and stuck with me all throughout this year. I could not have done it without you. Thank you!!!!!!

As you probably have guessed, B2B went well for me overall. There were a number of bloggers doing either the half or full iron distance so this event, for me, was probably half about racing and half about socializing. Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet up with everyone I wanted to and of those I did meet, a few (Linae, Skoshi, Dread Pirate, Kevin, IM Able) did not make it into my camera :-( But my camera did capture a number of folks at B2B, including my support crew (thanks Dave and whoever else took the pictures), so this race report will be heavy on photos and not just of me. YAY!

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Pre-race

At the expo (L to R): Vickie, 21st Century Mom, me.

After the pasta dinner (L to R): Me, Vickie, 21st Century Mom, Waddler, SW Trigal, TriSharkie.

After the 12:00 athlete meeting (L to R): Me, Nancy, Calyx, Donna.

Lesson learned: If you want to stand out, wear a high vis jacket. I had people asking me if I was Shirley all weekend it seemed and met the most number of bloggers I've ever met at a race. It was like old friends getting together since we'd been following each other's blogs for so long. Missy and Ryan, I'm sorry we missed meeting up, Ryan for the second time at a race. How is it I can miss seeing a guy who's like 6'5"?

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The Race

The B2B swim was a point to point course with an incoming tide that was expected to result in extraordinarily fast swim times, as in 2008. At the athletes meeting, the race director mentioned that you could probably even stop swimming and float along in the current and still make the 2:20 cut-off. Me likey!



But on the bus ride over to T1 (swim to bike transition area) race morning, the woman in back of me said that a couple folks actually missed the swim cut-off last year because they swam on the right side of the channel where the current was supposedly the strongest and went too far past the first turn and were not strong enough swimmers to fight the current to get back. Yikes! So I made a note to keep my eyes peeled for the "wiggly" man (air filled stick figure on a boat) that marked the turn and start swimming towards it early.

Unfortunately, spectators were not allowed at either the swim start or swim exit so I have no photos from either. Nancy's training buddy Dave zipped up my wetsuit at the swim start and I saw Roy, another Orlando athlete I've trained with a bit, and IM Able just before getting into the water. The water temp this year was 67-68 degs and felt nice compared to the air temp which was below 40 when we started 8-O Here's a video from last year's swim that someone took that will give you an idea of what we looked like in the channel. WEEEE!!!



2.4 mi swim time - 1:06:40* (1:34/100 yds), 7/10 F45-49. WOW!!!
*Time includes climbing out of the water on a ladder, getting my wetsuit stripped, going through a fresh water shower and running to a timing mat maybe 100 yards from the water.



So it's a good thing that Dave did not listen to me when I said I thought I'd finish the swim in around 1:20-1:30. He got there early and caught me running to T1 (I am to the right in the above photo wearing a jog bra under my swimsuit). BRRR!!! I was very happy to be wearing swim socks, which were allowed, so my feet could stay warmer before, during and after the swim. They also made running 400 yds from the water to T1 on concrete and asphalt MUCH easier. Thanks Bootchez for recommending those socks!

The women's dressing tent was a lot more crowded than at GFT but I found a chair to sit on in a corner. I took the swimsuit off but kept the jog bra and HRM that was underneath on and dried off as much as possible. Then I proceeded to put on more clothes than I've ever worn on a tri bike segment. Tri Shorts, short sleeved bike top, leg warmers, arm warmers ... I saw Vickie and Dread Pirate come in shortly afterwards. Jacket, bike gloves, ear warmer, socks -- where the heck are my socks???

After searching desperately in my bag and around me for a couple minutes I realized I must have worn them during my test ride the day before and forgotten to put them back in my bag. DOH!! Sockless I go (hopefully the toe warmers on my shoes will keep my feet from freezing). At my bike I pulled on my fully fingered gloves too but wound up taking them off only a few miles into the ride.



T1 was no doubt a new record slow time but due to a timing glitch was not captured. Instead, it would be included in our bike splits. Oh well ...



This race had two separate transition areas. T1, where we started our bike segment, was near Wrightsville Beach and we'd finish at T2, which was by the Battleship North Carolina about 12 miles away. Of course, our ride was wee bit longer than 12 miles and part of it early on was actually on I-140, an INTERSTATE. Ooh, wet cycling dream come true!!!



For the most part, though, the bike course was on rural roads. I thought it was pretty flat as advertised but there were so-called false flats (sneaky inclines that look flat but aren't). The wind was low in the first half and since the pressure of finishing my first iron tri was off, I let my HR hover in the hi Z2 to lo Z3 range early on and passed a lot of folks. A few women asked me if I was Shirley as I went by. Sorry, I'm not sure who you all were but thanks for the words of encouragement!



At mile 30, we passed the first aid station and I was definitely warming up. I had to make a brief full stop to pull off the removable sleeves from my jacket so it could be worn as just a vest. They went into my front pockets along with the gloves I took off earlier giving me a nice tubby tummy look. My arm warmers went up and down depending on whether I was riding in full sun or shade but never came off, nor did my leg warmers or the vest. I don't remember my feet bothering me so they must have been fine without socks.



Around mile 35, a black sedan drove past me with some folks cheering and honking a bike horn out the windows. I didn't know whose car it was but recognized hubby Dave and my step-daughter KT. They'd found me! My son-in-law KV was behind the wheel of a rental car.

Dave's nickname for me is Muffin and it was his idea that they'd all wear orange during the race to make them easy to spot.

They came prepared and cheered for me several times along the bike course, which was great. We also saw a hunter with a bright orange hat and camouflage clothing sitting on a chair by the side of the road in the middle of nowhere watching cyclists go by with either a rifle or shotgun in his lap. Yeah, he motivated me to go a little faster! No, we did not get a picture of him or ask him what he was doing.

Somewhere along the way, Dave got out of the car with his bike to get his workout in during the race. As he hammered along, he encouraged folks and perhaps disheartened a few who thought he was in the race. No race number, not racing! He caught up to me after about 20 miles, said a quick 'hi' and then fell back to be picked up by KV. Must be nice.



The last 38 miles of the bike course were the toughest. Notice on the bike map that nearly straight stretch of road from the topmost part of the course to the bike finish? I'll give you one guess which way the wind was heading. WeatherUnderground said it wasn't more than 6 mph but it felt more like 8-10 mph, especially going up and across this one last bridge that was in the last couple miles. Evil!



T1 + 112 mi bike time - 6:30:47*, 2/10 F45-49.
*My bike Garmin says I averaged 18.0 mph for 107.4 mi (it's missing some miles because it turned itself off a few times and I didn't notice right away) so assuming I rode about the same speed the whole 112 miles, my T1 time was ~15 min, which is about what I expected.

I handed off my bike and helmet to a volunteer and then was totally dependent on other volunteers telling me where to go as I'd never been to T2 (bike to run transition area) before. I found my running gear bag and then almost went into the wrong changing tent. Oops!

T2 time - 9:34, including a porta-potty stop, as usual.



I began the run feeling probably the best I have ever in a tri. Hmm, maybe I should ride 112 miles more often? Looks like KT had taken my suggestion about what could be written on signs literally. (Click for a closer look at the sign).

The run was much hillier than I thought it'd be with 2 bridge crossings and two other short climbs later along the course, all of which had to be done twice since the course was two laps. But at least the temps were really comfy, high 50s to low 60's when I started. In the first few miles, I saw Nancy, Calyx, Donna and SW Trigal, who were finishing up their half iron. They looked strong and gave me a boost. How fun it is to see folks you know during a race!



I got down to the 6.55 mi turnaround in about 1:05 but then got hit with GI issues again, unbelievably, even worse than what I had at GFT two weeks ago. WTF?!?!!! Not sure what was wrong this time (I didn't even take Perpeteum on the bike at this race and there was no Gatorade being offered on the run course) but I took all the meds I had with me (Gas-X, Pepto Bismol and Immodium). Nothing seemed to help. I had to take off my Fuel Belt and carry it over my shoulder again, and make friends with every freaking porta-potty along the course. Thankfully they were at mile apart intervals at this race too.



Every time I got out of one, though, I felt fine and was able to run well again until about a mile later. My gut was like a clock! One guy told me he couldn't help but smile every time I passed him (he passed me when I stopped). I hoped it was because of my shirt and nothing that might have shown the problems I was having (like toilet paper stuck in my shorts or worse ...).

Meanwhile, the Team Muffinator B2B Support Crew waited patiently for me along Water Street (miles 3, 10, 16, 23). KV's sign got some laughs from folks.



The sign on the back, however, probably puzzled some. (KV is a Civil Engineer specializing in water modeling and I think this is his way of saying "imagine you're running downhill")

Starting my second lap, it was getting dark and colder so I grabbed my clip-on headlamp and a long sleeve shirt from my special needs bag. Although the race director had said the run course would be well lit the entire way, I wasn't taking any chances and it turned out to be a good decision as parts of the Greenfield Lake Park area (southernmost part of the run course) were very dark, so dark that I once ran off the path and onto a street. Too busy looking at the ground where I was stepping, I had missed seeing a sign and volunteers directing us to turn right. Oops again!

My need to make stops pretty much every mile continued on the second lap, unfortunately. How in the world can I have anything left in my system? But, I was making good progress regardless so after I saw my support crew at mile 16, they took a water taxi to the finish line to make sure they got there in time to see me finish (the lines for them were long!). I kept busy by looking for folks I knew along the course. I'm not sure when I saw them but I remember seeing Linae, Kevin, Skoshi, TriSharkie, Dread Pirate, Vickie, and Waddler. I cheered for them and hoped everyone would make the cut-off.

As I was making my way back, Dave used the Buddy Pass we were given to grab all my gear so I didn't have to go collect it after I finished the race. Thanks Dave! My crew found ways to entertain themselves.

Unlike other races, B2B had runners from a local college escort you in on your last mile if you wanted. Mine showed up about half a mile from the finish and I'd forgotten about this so I tried to outrun him at first. Where the heck did this young guy come from? I'll show him ... Dude then started talking to me, told me I was really moving well (yeah, like a sub-8 pace!) and asked how far I wanted him to run with me. What? Oh yeah, uh, how about just to that T2 clock up ahead. That way I could slow down some and actually make it to the finish without dying. At the clock, he told me I had 300 yards to go and congratulated me.



26.2 mi run time - 4:58:53 (11:24 pace), 3/10 F45-49.
Total race time - 12:45:52, 3/10 F45-49.

We received a nice race medal and I also got a little piece of the original teak deck of the Battleship North Carolina.

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Post-race - Most of these were taken during the awards cruise:

Me and my two favorite post-race treats: hubby Dave and recovery socks.

Vickie and I on the Henrietta III riverboat. B2B was Vickie's first iron tri. Congrats, Vickie!

Poor lil' pancake ain't got a chance against an ironwoman :-)

After breakfast and the awards ceremony, the boat began to finally move.

We got a closer look at the USS Battleship North Carolina. Lots more guns!

Outside in the fresh air, I found Nancy and her training buddy Dave. Nancy completed the B2B half while Dave did the full distance. Well done to both!

Wonderful time with family, gorgeous weather, great race -- what more could I ask for?

Congrats to everyone who raced B2B, Ironman Florida, Silverman or otherwise last weekend. Please forgive me, I am behind on my blog reading but will be catching up soon!

Unofficial B2B Race Time: 12:45

The official results have not yet been posted but that's what the video that Dave took of me finishing said. W00T!!!

Race report to follow in a few days. Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm spending a couple xtra days in Wilmington with my awesome support crew. Photo: (R to L) Hubby Dave, me, step daughter & son-in-law.

Creator of Frazz Giveaway!

My recovery from the Great Floridian Iron Triathlon has been going great! I am raring to go get me a new iron PR at Beach to Battleship. Of course, my body may have totally different plans but I will be there with a big smile no matter how long it takes to cross the finish line. 2 irons in 2 weeks, what the heck is wrong with me???

Well, a new book I've been reading, Trizophrenia: Inside the Minds of a Triathlete, seems to explain it all.

Trizophrenia: Symptoms typically include an obsessive-compulsive need for the rituals of the sport: eat, swim, eat, work, eat, ride, eat, work, eat, run, eat, go to bed early. Delusional spending on expensive equipment, indifference to pain, and hallucinations of future grandeur intensify over years spent in the sport.

Sound like anyone you know?

Well, I had the opportunity to do a Q&A with Jef Mallett, the award-winning creator of the syndicated comic strip Frazz, who in his book unravels the sport's mystery and madness while raising it to new heights of hilarity. To get to know him a little better and have a chance to win a FREE copy of Trizophrenia, read on!

1. When is Miss Plainwell going to do her first tri?
I don't have any plans to get Miss Plainwell into a triathlon, but that doesn't mean a thing. My characters are always doing their own thing without my permission. Seriously, characters do that. Ask anyone who tells stories for a living. You create them, you think you control them, but no. Which raises some seriously disturbing theological questions, if you want to go there. I'll say this, though: Miss Plainwell somehow looks a little like my wife, and she just did her first triathlon this year.

2. As a triathlete in the colder climates, how to you stay in shape and motivated in the dark cold months?
Well, I'm a middle-aged triathlete who's constantly behind on his deadlines, so even dark, cold months whip by remarkably fast. So motivation is not the problem. I have plenty of indoor swimming options, and you can run in just about anything. The one change I've made is that I hardly bike at all over the winter. In recent years, I've found that if I concentrate on the other two, do a few masters meets and aim for a spring marathon or something, the bike comes back almost seamlessly. And my gear isn't all covered with salt (from the road or from me on rollers).

3. If Frazz doubled the value of the car when he put his bike on the rack, wasn't the Chevette over-priced or did he just use his old bike that day?
You know, that's a very good point. Maybe he had his gym membership receipt in the glove compartment.

4. How do you train your mind to overcome the pain when you do this silly stuff?
I just watch golf on TV and suddenly everything else seems painless. No, seriously, I would NEVER watch golf on TV. But I have certainly compiled a handy list of bad days for comparison's sake, and that works nicely. Beyond that, it's just habit. Every time you push through pain, the easier it gets. And then there's the real motivator: It probably works the other way. Every time you back off, the easier that gets. And I don't want to experiment with that, so I press on.

5. Frazz seems to have the most problem with the swim. Is that your case too?
It might be. Or it might just be where it's most evident. I can hold my own in a triathlon swim, but I go to a Masters meet and compete against specialists and I'm thoroughly fed my own lunch. There aren't so many casual Masters swimmers, where you go to any given marathon or 5K and you're not likely to come in last, let alone come in last several times in the same meet. Make no mistake, though: I love it.

6. How do you maintain your drive over the years and face the fact that you aren't as young / fast as you used to be?
I'm only not as young as I used to be. I'm still getting faster. That's the beauty of never being particularly elite when you were younger. And it's also the beauty of a sport where there's always somewhere new to improve. I am less fast on the bike. But that's the discipline that had me closest to elite status (which, not close at all) when I was young. And a few years back, I realized I needed to decide if I wanted to be a cyclist with a wetsuit, or if I wanted to back off that and be a triathlete. So I'm not as close to the top of the bike split list anymore, but I'm a little more of a threat by the end of the race.

7. How many bikes are too many?
Well, you can only ride one at a time. But it's nice to have a choice. You know what's the best thing about too many bikes? You can lend them to people to try out. It's the evangelist in me.

8. We have read that Frazz could be cast a grown up Calvin. If that is the case, wouldn't Caulfield be Hobbs?
That gets debated a lot, which, is OK. Like all cartoonists my age, and smart ones of any age, I learned a lot from that strip, and feel no compulsion to hide it -- or copy it. I think Frazz developed Calvin's hair -- messy hair never goes out of style, and it fits his personality -- but I think his personality falls closer to Hobbes's. Hopefully not too close, though. Who could re-paint the Mona Lisa?

9. How do you balance work, family, and training?
With mixed success. I have better days and worse days. But it all ties together. Training makes me better at the other two, and being fit makes me more efficient, so an hour spent training is not necessarily an hour lost in the other areas. And obviously I couldn't race without an income or support from my wife. We don't have children, the cats don't care, and the dog would run with me all the time if she could. Everybody gets 60 minutes an hour, and hardly anybody thinks it's enough, and yet it all gets done. Best I can tell is that when you have time to waste, you learn to waste time. Maybe the inverse follows.

10. What was your parents reaction the first time they saw you in bike shorts?
My parents bought me my first pair of bike shorts when I was a teen-ager. I'm more worried about how they feel when they see me in a tri-suit at 47.

To have a chance to win the book, leave a comment and name your weakest sport if you are a triathlete or were ever to become one (even hypothetically). To get an extra entry, let me know you're linking back to this post (http://humbletriathlete.blogspot.com/2009/11/frazz-giveaway.html). Comments will be accepted until Friday, 11/13, midnight Eastern time. US-based and non-U.S.-based friends are welcome to enter.

Good luck, everyone, and I'll see you on the flip side of B2B!

B2B Blogger Meet-up???

Has anyone heard about one?

If you're going to be at the race, please go to the B2B Triathlete's Blog and leave a comment on the meet-up post. And pass the word to other B2B-ers!

2009 Great Floridian Iron Triathlon

First of all, THANK YOU, everyone, for your comments, emails and encouragement. I really appreciate it!!!

Someone at the race said it best, "The Great Floridian is like box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get." And I'd say I got one of those pieces with a big, hard Brazil nut on the inside. A few weeks ago, I thought of putting it back in the box when I discovered there was a new, much tougher bike course. Instead, I decided to keep it and figured it'd just take longer to chew on. Then at the athletes meeting the day before the race, the race director said to add an extra hour to your expected finishing time. He wasn't kidding!

Ironically, the thing I was worried about the most, the swim, turned out to be the easiest part of the race for me. Thanks to a recent cold front, water temps dropped from 85 degs to 74 degs in a week and wetsuits were allowed. Winds were low making for calm water conditions at the start. It really doesn't get much better than this and I looked forward to a great day.



The swim course was 2 laps around an inverted triangle. Knowing that I have a tendency to veer left, I lined up on the right side of the pack, which also meant I'd also swim a slightly shorter distance than those who started further left. This is not cheating, just lining up smart! And with only a few hundred friends swimming with me, as opposed to 2000 in an Ironman brand race, I knew the contact would be minimal. While I have a second degree black belt in karate, sparring in water is not my thing.



Off we went and this time I was happy to have no problemos with my wetsuit choking me and no worries about losing my timing chip (last race, someone grabbed my foot and almost ripped off the ankle strap so I safety-pinned the velcro strap down). Very early on, though, I almost ran into one female swimmer who was doing the backstroke but going totally the wrong way, like almost back to shore. Strange... By the first buoy turn, the only thing annoying me was my swim cap. It kept creeping up my forehead and I had to periodically use both hands to wrestle that sucka back down. Probably freaked out a kayaker or two as I momentarily just floated face down to do that.



Still, I got done with the first lap in around 45 min, which was right on target for me. I strolled out of the water, tried to fix my swim cap again, grabbed a cup of Gatorade and headed back in for lap two. I have no idea what that guy in back of me is doing in the above photo. Maybe some sort of lap dance? Sorry, that was bad ...

Anyway, on the second lap, more swimming with occasional swim cap dealings and, get this, I, little ol' ShirleyPerly, actually clobbered and almost swam over one guy who had slowed down. Oops, sorry Dude! I've got to stop thinking I have the water all to myself late on swims. All the lessons, hard work and open water swimming practice have put me squarely at the back of the middle of the pack so I am no longer the slowest swimmer out there. YAY!!



Swim time: 1:33:01 (2:12/100 yds), 5/5 F45-49, 26/39 Female. Unofficially, a 53 minute 2.4 mile swim PR!! (I finished the IMFL 2006 swim in 2:26 but since I did not make the 2:20 swim cut-off, the time wasn't recorded.)



Over to the wetsuit strippers and then to grab my bike gear bag from some kind volunteers who'd retrieved it from the rack. For some reason, the women's side of the changing tent was nearly the same size as the men's side even though there were only 39(!) women doing the race vs. over 200 men. HEE! I had my choice of chairs to sit on, plenty of room to spread out my bike stuff and my own iron maiden to help me put my bike jersey on, put away my swim stuff, apply sunscreen on my back/shoulders, etc. A royal treatment in what seemed like a white palace!



So perhaps I enjoyed things in there a bit too long ... T1: 8:09, 4/5 F45-49, 22/39 Female. After all, this is a race, you know.



Time to see if my new bike shoe cleats work. Usually nothing new on race day is the rule but mine were so worn out that I was not sure if my bike shoes would be able to stay clipped in, especially on a hilly ride, so we switched them out for new ones. (And, of course, I did not notice how worn out they were until I went to check my bike in so we had to pay nearly double to get them last minute at the expo. Doh! At least they had the right ones ...)



About a quarter of the way through the ride and not a cloud in the sky. The weather forecast for record high temps seemed to be correct. DRATS!!

At least the new cleats were working fine. Dave took the above photo from the top of Sugarloaf, a well known climb in the area but just one many short steep climbs on the bike course. Interestingly, it seemed that a few guys were always dismounting their bikes and walking up the steep hills rather than even trying to ride up them. I was never quite sure what to say when passing them so I just huffed and puffed extra hard so they'd think I was working too hard to talk.

But, is it wrong to smile while doing so?



Soon enough, though, they'd blow past me on the downhills and Coach had instructed me to only coast to rest my legs. It was like playing leap frog at times with me passing some folks on the uphills, them passing me on the downhills, etc.

On a flatter section, miles 36-48, I'd hoped to pick up some speed but was suddenly transported to Kona and dealing with nasty headwinds much of the way. UGH!! Then I realized I'd made a mistake bypassing the last aid station that was at the bottom of a hill, just before a sharp left turn and then another steep climb (I would've had to make a full stop as I don't have the bike handling skills to grab a bottle, refill, while descending, turning and climbing in a very short distance). The wind on the flats took a lot out of me and when I got to the next aid station, I was dehydrated and completely out of fluids. I ended up having to make a full stop there to refill both my aero bottle and spare bottle. And why not hit the porta-potty too while I'm at it? Yes, you can be dehydrated and still have to pee!

By the time I completed the first lap and got back to the transition area where the bike special needs bags were located (~mile 60, see photo below), I felt like I'd already ridden 100 miles. Not good! My feet were on fire from the constant pressure I was applying to fight the wind (which often happens to me when riding in Kona but seldom anywhere else) and my butt wanted off the bike NOW!

Queue theme music from the Kung Fu TV series.

Me: Coach, the heat, hills and wind are kicking my @ss. What should I do?
Coach: Stay hydrated and fueled, Grasshopper. Race your own race.
Me: But, Coach, how can I possibly get through 52 more miles of torture?
Coach: Release yourself from expectations. Expect only that YOU WILL FINISH.

Music fades.

I really didn't need anything from my special needs bag so I decided not to get off my bike for fear of not getting back on. I cruised past Dave and told him that my bike split was going to be a lot longer than the 7 hours I thought it'd take me, probably somewhere between 7:30 and 8 hours but I will make the cut-off. And just saying that was a huge relief, actually, so I could stop beating myself up for being so slow and just focus on staying in my target HR zone and getting the job done. Besides, I had plenty of company on the second lap compared to my solo training rides, and we all know misery loves company.

To pass the time, I made it my mission to warn folks who did not know the course to save their legs for the last 12 hilliest miles of the course. Some replied despondently that I had to be joking. Sorry, folks, I wish I were! But the funny thing was that I thought those horrible hills were actually easier for me mentally because I knew I'd be going slow there. Being unable to go much faster on the flat sections because of the unseen enemy (wind) was the harder pill to swallow.

Bike time: 7:45:09 (14.4 mph). 4/5 F45-49, 21/39 Female.
OK, I might have been just a little thrilled to be done.



I handed off my bike to another nice volunteer, grabbed my run gear bag and headed back into the white palace. First things first, I had to get my aching feet out of my hard bike shoes and into nice comfy running shoes -- AHHH! I actually had a complete change of clothing in my bag but decided to change only my top and socks. Didn't see any point in changing shorts as the clean pair were just another pair of tri shorts anyway. But since it was going to be a hot & sweaty run for at least the first hour or so until closer to sunset, I wiped off as much sweat and grime from the ride as I could and made sure to apply lots of Body Glide. I did not need any chafing or blisters to make things any more challenging!

Racers were required to have reflective tape or decals on both the front and back of them during the run so I decided to be a little creative :-)

Another stop into a porta-potty and I was out of T2 with a new record long time: 11:31, 4/5 F45-49, 25/39 Female. Holy smokes, did I doze off somewhere in there?!



But once I got on the run course I woke up. The city of Clermont was celebrating its 125th anniversary and there was a little festival going on along part of the lake. Fun! More things to see and it brought out more people. I took a cup of Gatorade at the first aid station right outside the transition area without thinking -- BIG MISTAKE!!!

I totally forgot that Perpeteum, which I consumed late on my bike ride and probably still had in my stomach, and Gatorade lead to explosive consequences for me. Oh sh*t, literally! By mile 3, I knew I was in trouble. Gas pains galore and a dire need to find a porta-potty fast. Sorry if TMI!

Thankfully, they were located nearly every mile and I hit all but one of them on my first of 3 laps on the run course. It was not pretty, my pace, I mean, but I was surely making progress if I was going from porta-potty to porta-potty, right? I mean, who needs mile markers when you have big green boxes?



Luckily, I had experienced this GI issue in training before and actually had brought some stomach meds with me. I just didn't remember I had them until around mile 4 and after I took them it still took a while for things to settle down. I had to take my Fuel Belt off and carry it over my shoulder as any extra pressure on my gut was dangerous. But carrying it was surprisingly easy, even comfortable (like a sling for my right arm to rest on), so when I finally, FINALLY, completed my first lap (~9 miles) about two hours later, I decided to continue carrying it. That way I could still have my gels, other emergency meds, water bottles and my cell phone* with me.

*The cell phone was really important as it allowed Dave to track me using Sprint's Family Locator Service. This race did not have any athlete tracking and even if it did, it wouldn't say where I was, just that I'd passed a certain point at a certain time. With the GPS tracking of my cell phone, Dave pretty much always knew where I was on the bike and run courses, which made it a whole lot easier for him to spectate and take pictures.



Before heading out for lap 2, I stopped at the run special needs station and exchanged visors for the one that I'd attached a Nebo clip-on cap light. I'd thought I'd only need it for my third lap but the longer bike ride and slower first lap meant it was already getting dark. And, man, was I glad I had it. People often talk about going to dark places during ironman races meaning in their minds. This race had lots of them outside simply due to limited light!

We only had a quarter moon that night and although there were some spotlights along the run course it was impossible to light the entire course. Along this one tree canopied trail we ran on, it was virtually pitch black except for glow rings the athletes were given to wear around their necks and near the turnaround where an aid station was located. Eerie! A few folks ran with me for a while because I had a light, but I actually preferred running alone. My GI issues were improving but I was not-so-silently at times releasing a fair amount of gas along the course. Better that no one be near me ...



Around the lake again and back to festival area for the second time and in the darkness it looked even better. The rides were now all lit up and there were lots more people around. A number of them were lined along the path cheering for the athletes going by, which was really nice as there were only a few pockets spectators on the course elsewhere and I'm sure some folks really needed the encouragement. I stopped at the run special needs station again to grab more gels and saw Dave. I happily reported that I was doing much better now and was actually getting faster with each lap :-)

On my last one, temps were now in the 70's with a nice breeze which felt just right, not too cold or hot. Most of the folks I saw were walking and I tried to encourage everyone I passed and only asked those who asked me what lap I was on what lap they were on. Our answers were the same (last) but I suspected many who didn't ask were probably not on their last lap and would not finish by the 17:30 cut-off :-(

I was running well now but continued to stop briefly at the aid stations to eat a few pretzels and down some water. There was no sense in changing the routine that had gotten me thus far and it also gave me a final chance to thank the wonderful volunteers at the aid stations for all their help. The only aid station I didn't stop at was the last one. It was only about a half mile from the finish and I saw a woman and man running ahead who also looked to be on their last lap. Ooh, what have we here, a little spark of racing adrenaline after all?

I took a quick swig from my water bottle instead and just gave a quick thank you to the volunteers before beginning my final kick to the finish. I was amazed to find how much energy I still had left in my legs after being out on the course for so long. It didn't seem much different than running a standalone marathon, actually. Maybe I've practiced finishing strong so many times in the past that it just comes automatically? Who knows, but it made for a pretty nice first-time iron tri finish.



Run time: 5:23:25 (12:21 pace). 2/5 F45-49, 15/39 Female
Final race time: 15:01:13. 3/5 F45-49, 16/39 Female.

WOOHOO, bye-bye iron DNF monkey on my back. And, remarkably, I have very little post-race soreness which should make for a fast recovery for Beach To Battleship, another full iron tri, in 2 weeks. DOUBLE SAH-WEETNESS!!

Other numbers for those who love numbers:

4500 - Approx. feet climbed on the bike course per my Garmin
199 - Entry fee for this race
140.6 - Miles covered during the race
89 - High temp (F) for the day per WeatherUnderground.com
46 - Number of times Dave tracked my cell phone during the race
25 - % folks who DNFd (and this race does not attract many first-timers)
14/16 - Max wind speeds/gusts (mph) per WeatherUnderground.com
8 - Number of times I used a porta-potty/restroom during the race
2 - Number of race shirts I got (participant and finisher)
1 - Awesome, supportive hubby
0 - Times I thought about about quitting

PRICELESS!!!

15:01:13

Holy Moly, what a tough race!!!

I finished, though, and that's all that matters to me. But I suspect there may be a LOT of DNFs when the final results are posted :-(

Full report to come soon. Must get some sleep!

Next Saturday: The BIG Dance

How in the world could 9 months have flown by so fast? Or, for that matter, 3 years?

It seems like just yesterday I was dabbling in tris, learning how to swim and trying to stay upright on my bike. Yet, here I am less than a week away from the Great Floridian (GF), an iron distance triathlon that I would never have considered doing not long ago. Heat plus hills? NO THANKS!!

But GF has a rich and storied history. This year marks its 25th 19th anniversary and it's challenged many of the best triathletes long before Ironman became a household name. In fact, I'd heard it was a Kona qualifier at one time and used to sell out with over a thousand participants. Now the race director would be lucky to have a few hundred. Why???

Two words: Ironman Florida (IMFL).

Two weeks later, usually cooler and a whole lot flatter, IMFL now attracts most triathletes in the area who are seeking their first ironman finish, ironman PRs or a Kona slot. A large part of it is also probably the brand name marketing, i.e., getting called an "Ironman" when you cross the finish line of an Ironman brand race.

Me? I'm actually the type of person who would do an iron distance triathlon when no one is looking. What I wanted this year was a new challenge, not a new name. I already knew how to swim and could swim long (though not as fast as I'd like). I'd ridden 80-100+ miles several times and had run over 50 marathons. So just doing any ol' race with a 2.4 mi swim, 112 mi bike and a 26.2 mi run didn't stir those butterflies like it did back in 2006 when I was brand new to the sport. I needed more!

With the help of Coach Bill, we devised a plan so that I could tackle one of the toughest iron distance tris around and another one two weeks later that was similar to IMFL. This year I'd learn how to ride hills and handle extreme heat like my tri heroes, and I'd also have a shot at finding out what I could do on an flatter, cooler course. Both within the same training cycle and for about the same price as one Ironman brand race. Now we're talking!

And the excitement has seemingly made time fly. I never got really burned out from training this year. I was never more dedicated in getting myself to the pool or getting outside to deal with the horrible FL summer heat. Embrace the heat my @ss, it was more like try not to let it kill you! I never lifted weights and stretched more diligently. I never watched my diet and weight so closely. Critical when training long in serious heat!

So very different than back in 2006 when I trained myself for IMFL. Then, I basically got so that I could swim 2.4 miles, but only in the best water conditions, and I could get by on the bike and run. Unfortunately, Mother Nature would produce the worst water conditions making it a short race day for me -- Oh well!

Thus, it's ironic that the big question this Saturday is also what will Mother Nature throw at us? Namely, will the water temp be wetsuit legal (78 degs or less)?

Well, in its 2519 year history, GF has been not wetsuit legal only once before. Last week, someone measured the lake temp and found it to be 85. UGH! But then a cold front blew in over the weekend and that same person said the lake temp this morning was well below 78, perhaps even too cold and too rough for the swim to be held had the race been today. Later this week, the weather should be warming up again and the winds dying down some so who knows what it'll be by Saturday morning ...

Ahh, the uncertainty of ironmans.

Wish me luck. There's no athlete tracking available so I'll update you all after the race either late Saturday or on Sunday. Hope you all have a great week!

Epic Weekend!

First of all, CONGRATS to everyone who raced last weekend! I know it was a big weekend for many and look forward to catching up with everyone soon. The last few days I have only been on my computer to do 3 things: work, answer email & deal with my Iron Dilemma. And thanks to all your great input, I was able to come up with a way to ride some flats with Dave, then ride some hills on my own *and* still have him close by and comfortable while he waited 3-4 hours for me to finish.

How could that be possible when flats/home and hills are located about an hour apart and it's 90+ freaking degrees outside?

Tadda, enter our favorite home away from home: Hampton Inn.

In fact, one is located only a few miles from the Great Floridian course and we've stayed there the night before other past events in Clermont, FL (like the Assault from Sugarloaf Ride and FL Challenge half iron). For training, however, we've always gotten up early and just driven out there in the morning and driven back home. Why not stay there after the big Saturday brick workout and drive home after my long Sunday run?

The night's stay would be FREE anyway using Dave's Hilton hotel points and he'd been home all week so surely he would not mind spending one measly night in a hotel this week. Worst case, I'm sure he could be easily bribed ;-)

He'll get to control the thermostat the whole weekend. (I usually set ours at home to 82.)

He'll get to watch History Channel shows, Myth Busters, Dirty Jobs and other stuff he likes on cable TV. (We don't have cable at home.)

We'll eat dinner at the restaurant next door after my long brick workout. (We rarely eat out together unless we're on travel or it's a special occasion.)

Free breakfast Sunday morning. (Need I say more?)

Lunch at Panera, which is also next door, after my long Sunday run.

Plus, lots of attention and cuddling all weekend when I'm not working out. (Partly because I'll be ffffreezing in a 65 deg room!)

So the plan was to ride a 45 mi flat-ish route together and then I'd do another 60 on my own for a total of 105. My favorite route mapping tool these days is Bike Route Toaster. It provides a nice elevation map and you can also download the course directions to your Garmin, something that Dave likes (I prefer knowing the course in my head). I had let go of the notion of riding the actual GF course (the first half is definitely not flat!), but there are plenty of hills I could ride on my own to make for that.

(Side note: Coach said I could ride flats when I told him that I didn't think I could get Dave to ride in Clermont again after the fire ant and heat exhaustion episode. He did not direct me to ride flats specifically and probably would have preferred that I ride some hills.)

But Mother Nature (MN) had other plans ...

That B*tch produced record high temps this past weekend. And, of course, I had the "brilliant" idea to start our ride about the same time I'd be riding on race day after my swim, 9 am, and by then temps already felt like 86 degs. Bleah!

Dave fared well in the heat this week on the flatter course even with temps soaring to 102 with the humidity factored in. YAY, Dave! Unfortunately, I had 60 more to do by myself :-( and I gotta say that heading out on my own for the rest in that heat was beyond tough. To make it a bit easier for me mentally, I decided to do 2 laps, as some of you suggested. That way I could also get more water from a park with restrooms and never be more than ~15 miles from Dave who was heading to the hotel after his ride.

MN was having none of it, however. She was determined to break me down and decided to see if some rain might dampen my iron spirits. Ha, I'll take rain over heat any day!

But did I bring my little blinky light so I could be more easily spotted on the road by cars in limited visibility conditions? Doh!

So I rode on a nearby bike path instead of the narrow, shoulder-less roads for a bit. Now I am not a big fan of riding on bike paths but in this heat and rain, there was NO ONE to dodge on the path and it was much safer than tempting fate on a narrow road with a fair amount of traffic in the rain. A few miles later, the rain stopped and the heat index skyrocketed up around 100 again. I was back riding on the roads again now that I was further out, which was nice so I didn't have to slow down at every intersection, but somewhere along the way I lost my desire to hit all the steepest hills on the GF course. I settled on riding only the nasty ones at the end of the GF course at the end of my ride. The rest of the ride would be only rollers, which in this heat was going to be plenty for me.

Lap one was done with little fanfare. Not sure what my average speed was but I know I was going faster than only 13-14mph last time I was riding on what was supposed to be the easier part of route. WTF??? Is it the heat? Am I dehydrated? Did I eat enough? Did I push too hard early on? Another slow leak in a tire?

It was hard to tell at first riding in a fairly barren area, but then it became obvious when I turned and got to an area that had some trees.

WHOOOSH! Yes, leaves were blowing off trees and coming toward me. Not a good sign. The skies had clouded up again and then huge water drops began thudding on my helmet. I knew what was coming ...

CRRRAACK!!! Crap, thunder.

Yep, MN was royally pissed now. She brought in a full-blown thunderstorm with 23-25 mph winds and driving rain to try to stop me. There was really no shelter out there and it'd take Dave 15-20 minutes to come get me (and by then the storm would most likely be gone) so I just kept pedaling. I struggled to keep my speed above 10 mph heading into the wind and rain but the more important thing I was doing was counting the number of seconds between the time I saw the lightening and heard the thunder. Fortunately, that time did not seem to be getting less so traversing those nasty hills late in the course, which are also some of the highest points in the area and where some tall power towers are located, should be OK. I hope!

The funny thing was that I think I climbed those hills the best I ever have. For one thing, the storm had dropped temps down into the 80's so it was considerably cooler than the other times I'd ridden them. But also, my adrenaline levels were red-lining. There was no way in heck I wanted to spend any extra time on those hills with all the thunder and lightening in the area (a lot of people who get hit by lightening are not in the midst of a storm but rather on the outward edges). All the rain, however, created rivers of water in the low areas of the road where I knew some cracks and wheel grabbing potholes were lying in wait so I could not coast downhills as fast as I normally would in dry conditions. And the fact that there were very few cars out on this road in the storm was both a good and bad thing. Good because I didn't have to worry much about them not seeing me or hitting me. Bad because if I got hit by lightening or crashed and couldn't call for help, there was no one around. (Dave would eventually see that I'm not moving on the GPS locator service we have with my cell phone, though, and find me as long as my phone was OK).

So, basically, I could not crash, that's all there was to it. Nothing I could do about lightening except try to stay away from tall stuff. Just don't crash. Don't crash. Don't crash.

I went up the hills and down them almost as slow. I gave myself ample time to brake and made sure to round corners carefully. I finally made it to the hotel with a total of 105.3 miles completed in 6:44:27 (15.6 mph avg). Whew!

By then it'd stopped raining but was still cloudy which was nice for my 5-mile brick run. Towards the end of the run, however, the sun came out again and it felt like 95 degs even at 5:30pm. Ugh ... 5 miles done in 49:25, a 9:53 pace. Better than I thought, actually, and Dave got 3 huge bags of ice for my ice bath to reward me. Thanks Dave 8-O

The next day Mother Nature came out fighting again with temps already feeling like low 80s at 7:45 am. Probably would have been better to run 18 miles in the evening when I'd be running during the race (and when things would hopefully be getting cooler rather than hotter late in the run) but I wanted to get the run over with early. My legs felt sluggish the first 3 miles but got better and I ran fine until around mile 10. Then the heat index was well over 90 again and even running largely in the shade felt so hot with the little wind there was. I envied all the cyclists I saw knowing they were creating their own breeze.

By mile 14, I went into survival mode taking regular walk breaks every mile to keep my HR down and to try to get as much fluids into me as possible. It was not pretty and I definitely did NOT finish as strong as I would have liked but I got 18 miles done in ~3:15 (10:50 pace, including walk breaks). I'll take it! Dave picked me up from where I finished, got another 3 huge bags of ice from the ice machine for my ice bath and today I'm feeling surprisingly good considering all I did this weekend.

I made it to my taper -- HOORAY!!!

----------------------
Weekend workout summary:
Fri 4500 yd swim: 4x1000s with five 100's thrown in the middle.
Sat 105.3 bike (15.6 mph) + 5 mi run (9:53 pace), 80-102 deg HI, 3700' climbing.
Sun 18 mi run (10:50 pace), 81-98 deg HI.

Iron Dilemma

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on Dave. Luckily, he's home this week so I can "monitor" the fire ant damage and help ward off infection. One time he got several bites on his foot and it swelled into a big wiener so he couldn't put a shoe on it for days! Of course, that hasn't stopped him from walking around outside barefoot or sitting on the ground where those buggers may be ...

Anyhoo, I have a BIG dilemma and I need some input from you again.

As I mentioned in my previous post, this coming weekend will be my biggest week in training volume and then I get to taper. To date, most of my long runs have been done a day or so *before* my long rides. This was mainly because of Dave's travel schedule (he usually got home after midnight on Fridays and could not ride long on Saturdays). In an iron tri, however, you ride long and then run long and many iron training programs have you ride long on Saturdays and then run long on Sundays. This weekend will be the first and only time I will do that: Saturday - 105 mile bike plus a 5-mile run, Sunday - 18 mile run.

Now Coach has said I can actually do this last long ride on flats to spare Dave more agony (he really should not be riding hills in heat without a solid nutrition plan). But a big part of me actually wants to head back out to the hills again knowing that a few weeks ago I couldn't even imagine running after riding the new Great Floridian (GF) course and nearly bailed on doing the full distance. Last weekend, I rode 74 miles, the toughest parts of the course, and then ran 7 miles off the bike without too much difficulty, which makes me feel better but I'm still worried, esp. since the swim may very well turn out to be not wetsuit legal. This week's highs are still over 90 degs (~100 deg heat index) -- WAH!

So, here's my dilemma:

If I leave my loving, supportive (and itchy) husband at home and ride the GF course by myself this weekend, I'll get a much better sense of what to expect on race day. However, Dave will feel left out (cycling is the one activity we try to do together every week) and he'll worry about me being out there by myself, although it's fine by me (the riding alone part, not his worrying). More than likely, he'll force himself to come with me and do as much as he can again and, similarly, if he gets into trouble, it'll be hard to modify the route and there aren't many places to rest/refuel along the way. Plus, this weekend's weather looks to be even hotter than last weekend and so even if he does only half of the ride with me, he'll still have to wait 3-4 hours for me in the heat to finish my ride and run (even in the shade, it's plenty hot).

Alternatively, I could ride flats nearby our home with Dave and just hope the training I've done will carry me through the race. Riding flats is much easier for Dave in the heat. We can also do multiple loops passing by multiple places to rest/refuel as needed. He can head home and get out of the heat whenever he feels he's done and still be fairly close by while I'm out riding. However, riding flats is nothing like riding hills to me and doing so will not help my confidence much for GF, although it will help for B2B.

Please let me know what you think I should do!