Race day in a triathlete's world

I'm posting this because I know others from around the internet may see this and relate and chuckle a bit because they've been through it, or it may inspire others to do something like this. So enjoy, it's a bit lengthy, but you might get something out of it, who knows! Besides some of my friends wanted to know what happened in my Florida race. So here goes......

First let me start by saying that my husband, his brother and myself (well I got lucky) got spots through Vineman back in July to go to the World Championships in November. So the three of us would train more to get ready for this race.

Well, my family and I left for Clearwater, Florida on election day. The Ironman 70.3 Championships would happen on Sat. 11/8/08 in Clearwater. Traveling there was good, no problems, no lost luggage, that's always a plus. Athletes from all over the world would come and participate in this race. Athletes from 53 countries were participating in this race. I felt very honored to be doing this race and felt like a celebrity at the same time.

In the mean time, my husband looked up the weather before we boarded the plane on his lap top in Florida for race day, thunderstorms were in the forecast, great!!! We got there and it was sprinkling, it felt like Hawaii weather, wear shorts in the rain, how much fun is that. Temps would be in the 70-80's along with humidity to keep you wet! And as you know, Florida is all flat, no mountains whatsoever. Only bridges, causeways would be the only thing with some hilly stuff. I've been told that the flat terrain would make for a very fast bike race and that there would be lots of drafting going on (this is considered cheating!).

As the days went, the weather only got better. On Wednesday, we drop the kids off at a mall and guitar shop so they can shop their hearts out, while we checked in at athlete registration. This is where you receive you "athlete packet", which would hold you time chip, a race t-shirt, race numbers, sponsor handouts, race maps, etc.

On Thurs. we did a practice swim, which Gatorade was holding a tent where you bring your belongings to them, they bag it. You go swim the course, which was already marked with buoys. Come back they look at the number written on you hand, they hand your belongings and a gatorade to you. How sweet is that! Later on we checked out our bikes, which were driven by truck to Florida. We check them out and test ride them to make sure everything is in order, gears running smooth and brakes and tires are race ready. Okay, we run through our checklists to see what we need to do and prepare the equipment for race day. This day would end with a pre-race banquet dinner for the athletes and their families. Tables, chairs and lights were set up on a beach, Sand Key Beach. With Ironman boards and sponsor labeled decorations, the atmosphere was exciting. The food was delicious, from chicken, pasta, salads, fruit, breads and the highlight, was the desert--sugar cookies with the red Ironman symbol on each and every one of them! As we went back for seconds, family members would snag about 3-4 cookies to bring back to the motel. I think in all, we took about 15-20 cookies back, they were so yummy and there were alot leftover! Shhh, don't tell on us!

Friday, you rest, stretch, watch a funny movie and make sure all equipment is ready for the big day. On this day, we get our equipment ready to do a switcho-chango from one sport to the next and quick as you can. You get swim stuff ready, bike stuff and run stuff. Throughout the day, athletes go down to the transition area to be greeted by one of the 3,000 volunteers. They would escort you to your spot by the number you got. Mine happened to be #155. We had a Blue bag for Bike stuff, and a Red bag for Run stuff. See the connection?! Anyways, you hang the bags on marked pegs that were on isles of wood posts, like shopping in the grocery store. They showed us which way to run in after the swim and which way to go out on the bike and back and back out to run. Sounds easy, but it can be a bit confusing on race day, so you have to pay attention to these little things. So there's nothing laid out on the ground, like in a common tri race. Everything is clean, bags on pegs, bikes on racks, nothing to trip over, what a concept!

So that night, the whole family, the 12 of us, walk around looking at the transition area, it was a sea of bikes. Not a soul was in there, and guards would be walking around all night making sure nothing would happen to any of the bikes. Then you see the rows, and rows of bags waiting for the next day to be grabbed by their owner. The streets were quiet and you could tell that athletes turned in early to get a good night rest before the chaos would start the next day.

Moving now to race day. It's Saturday 11/8 morning at 4:30 am. Steve and I get up and try to eat something to top the carbo. stores for the day. Stomach is a little nervous, which is obvious, in light of what's about to happen in a couple hours. The pros start out at 6:45 am, and I go at 6:55 am in the F45+, with other age groupers going every 5 minutes after me. There's about 10 different age groups. So I'm in the first age grouper wave. Oh great, well at least there's not a lot of time to get nervous. At 5:00 we head down to the transition area, we get marked with big number stamps, then proceed in to transition to make last minute changes before the race starts. Athletes start coming in, there's a low hum, a light chatter between people, putting air into tires, putting their choice of sports drinks in their bottles on the bike, getting gears in place, and helmets, and nutrition in the form of solids or gel packs on the bikes. Our family is all up and we talk to them, take some pictures and try to quiet the nerves trying to come out of the body in a form of a scream! Everyone is getting excited. then 6:30 comes around, the sun isn't even up yet, another 30-40 mins, before light peaks over the horizon. I've got my wetsuit, swim caps, and goggles ready to go. Take a warm-up swim, it's a bit chilly, around 70 degrees, but you don't even notice it. You don't let it!

Athletes start to get corraled into portions of the fenced areas. The pros are right in front of me getting ready to go at the sound of the horn. The men go, then the women go. Then I go with all the other women 45 and over, to start in 10 mins. The swim will be 1.2 miles long. Steve and Mike won't go until 7:40 am. During the test swim, my mirrored goggles don't work well, I'll be swimming into the sun when it peaks, but nervously I switch to my dark goggles, and they wind up doing the job. Sweet! The announcer counts down to take off, OMG, here it goes. This is what the last few months have been preparing me for, am I prepared, we'll see?! 5-4-3-2-1, the horn goes off, we run from the white sandy beach into the water, I dive in and start to swim. I stroke and see others still running in along side me. Again, OMG, I'm in the water, the race is on, then I started to do my self talk that I do. Okay, "find the groove". It's the first race where I'm in the 45+ group, otherwise I'd be in the 40-44 group. The M50-60 (men group) will be bringing up the rear behind me. I'm glad it's not the M30-34 (the young-swim-over-everything-group!).

the swim goes well. The water is calm until you get out further past the 10th buoy marker, then it gets a bit wavier. Small swells going up and down, oh my, don't think about it! Ten more markers to go! I find the groove and all goes well, I wind up with the same swim time as Vineman, 40 mins. I know, I know, need to work on the swim! No change there, I'm fine with that. I run up the nice white beach with a crowd that's enormous and loud. After all, 53 other countries, with their families are here representing their space on earth. Oh, also there's helicopters everywhere, this will be televised on TV sometime in April. What a treat.

I run through the shower to get any sand off and meet the first volunteers of the day, 3 of them to help take off my wetsuit, about 7 seconds to pull it off! Right on. Run into to transition area to grab my bike bag and run into a white tent to get ready to ride. More volunteers are in the tent coming to me with a gatorade, water and waiting to put anything I don't need, from the bag I dumped on the ground, back into the bag where I'll find it hanging on the pegs nice and neat, when I get done with the race. I run out the tent, another volunteer sprays some sunscreen on me, with my approval, as I run by to get my bike. Got Lucy (my bike name) and head out around a couple of curves of the road and head up the first and only hill (a causeway). Feel great, the swim portion is done, and can't wait to get some pavement rolling under the bike wheels. This is my favorite part of the race, 56 miles of biking. The first probably 10-12 miles we meander through residential area, with people on the sidewalks cheering athletes on! And here's where the "draft fest" is about to take place. Not so much older guys, but I'm almost sure most the culprits were the younger guys. All of a sudden, swarms of guys (with a girl or two in the bunch) are flying by on their pricy tri bikes, disc wheels and aero helmets, just flying by! I've never seen anything like it. Just the day before, race officials were briefing and warning all athletes that bike officials would be out looking for the criminal drafters and making good use of the penalty tents if needed. Well indeed, the tents got used that day, saw about 3-4 guys in each of them, AS I WENT BY! There is some justice!! There were even lone bikers out there getting upset at these swarms going by, and yelling that they were all cheaters! But nothing you could do about it. The day was going great, the ride felt good, almost too good. I was able to stay aero the entire time on the bike, for which I would thank my chiropractor, Dr. Grund, for helping me through my previous neck issues. I felt great!!! The last part of the bike leg, maybe into the 5-6 miles, it was starting to get very windy, tough getting back. The causeway was in sight, that means the transition was near by and the run portion would be next. Can't wait.

I run into transition are again, and a volunteer takes your bike and racks it for you. Well if you were tracking me, which I know of some who were, you could see shortly that things start to go wrong in my run. As my coach, Jen, would later tell me, "well, it looked like you had a good time on the bike!" Even though I had my fastest bike split yet, for me, this would all bite me in the butt for the run! I run to get my run bag and back into the tent to change and be greeted by the friendly volunteers. I sit in the chair and start to change, my body was shaking at this point, then it crossed my mind--the run is going to be hell for me!! Now, I did drink on the bike, took the required salt tablets, ingested my gels, etc. Did everything I was suppossed to, but it would do no good. I was in trouble. Got the running shoes and hat on, brought around my race number in front of me. The volunteers gave me another sports drink and sent me on my way. My legs started to cramp up a bit, oh no, don't fail me now sisters! I saw the whole family cheering and yelling my name. I heard my mom-in-law say "the guys hadn't come in yet"! But I know they're not far behind.

Into the first mile, Steve slaps me on the butt, and said better get going! Then Mike passed me and I said, "I'm going to be out here awhile, I don't feel good!" He said don't worry... So I'm alternating jog/walking at this point, making use of every aid station, sipping sports drinks and putting sponges on my shoulders and squeezing water on my head. About mile 5, I start to cramp up really bad, had to walk. Had 1 mile to go before turning around and doing a whole another loop again toward the end. My hamstrings are starting to lock up, my quads are trying to join them. After turning the loop in front of the crowd, I'm able to jog past them all, before returning to the walk mode. I'm almost there, another 6 miles to go, OMG, I'm going to make it no matter what! After hitting every aid station, and enjoying the scenery and eventually coming to the last mile, I see Beau, my youngest 15 year-old son, coming to say "come on mom, you're almost there. Don't talk, just save your energy to walk or run or whatever, just take your time". That's when I almost lost it. My family all knew that something went wrong and that I would be emotional about it. He brings me in and people start to cheer. I see pop-in-law first, he's taking pictures, don't forget to smile!! Then I get closer to the finish line, I take out the sponges, gotta look good for the pictures! I then hear my name, I see Steve holding his arms in the air, can't wait to get to him. I try to sprint, I have absolutely nothing left. I just pray I have enough to pick up these heavy thighs and not to trip on anything like empty gu packets or my own feet! I cross with a smile (for the pictures of course) and Steve greets me, with my emotions choking me, I'm soooo glad it's done. I start to hyperventilate, trying not to cry. If you could read me, you could see it was a type of annoying emotion that said "damn-it-my-run-sucked-and-was-glad-to-finish-that! But Steve said "it's okay, you did it, let's go take pictures!"

So I smiled for the camera, hugged the family, they were all proud of me, and so was I. I got my big heavy medal and at that moment I thought, yep, I did it dang it! The family headed back to the hotel to rest and eat, while Steve and I headed back in the ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, to cool off the legs. It felt so good, and that's were everything started, just about 6 hours and 17 minutes ago. Yep, that was my time 6:17. I was looking to get way under 6 hours, but not today, and that's okay. Steve and I talked about the race and woulda-shoulda-coulda stuff. You know how that goes. But all I know was I was really thrilled inside to be part of such a big production of this World Championship, it was truly an experience that I'll cherish forever. I'm definitely hooked on this race distance, and want to do more. After the ocean cool down, we went to the food area, where we ate cheese pizza, more gatorade (yuck, no more), brownies, fruit, cookies, chilli, baked potatoes, soda, and so much more! After we filled our selves silly, we limped to the transition area for the last time, got our bags and bikes. We checked our bikes back into Tribike Transport, so they haul our bikes back by truck to San Francisco. They were awesome, and we'd use them again. Then Steve and Mike went up to the motel to change, shower and clean up, while I went to the massage area to get a 10 min. rub down of the overworked legs, and start the healing process of my body. It was pure bliss...as I lay there on the table, with the ocean in eye shot of where it all started just a few hours earlier. I was so glad to be there, I was an ironman 70.3 finisher (barely)!

Well there's my day. I hope you enjoyed the journey, some can laugh, some can cry, and some will think I'm crazy, maybe I am, but I'm hooked now!!! Can't wait to see what the next year brings.....

I thank you in advance for reading this book on line, I appreciate it and hope that you may get something from this, what that may be? That's up do you!

Okay, time to turn in.
Luv and good thoughts to all, sleep well.
Loni

Life in the "Tri" lane

Well, here I sit in front of my laptop and thinking about what this year has been like. It's been a heck of a ride. When it comes to this new tri life I've adapted to, I think of the friends I've made this year and how I couldn't have done most this stuff without them. I've managed to do my first 1/2 marathon earlier this year in February, a few 10K's, a couple century bike rides, did 5 triathlons, 2 of them 1/2 ironman distances (one Vineman here in town, the other a slot in the Florida World Championships). Lots of miles, sweat, eating, and resting. All while trying to raise a couple of teenage boys and maintain a house that looks semi clean! Oh, and walk the dog every day. I wouldn't have changed a thing, I love it all. The sense of accomplishment hangs on for days and you feel this glow that makes you just feel plain good. I've met many people along the way, and watched some challenged athletes make their way to the finish line that gives me chills at the same time, wanting to give them a big hug, knowing and not knowing what they have gone through to get there. Can't complain about too much....
I sit here this morning sore as can be, ran a trail run yesterday that was brutal. A 12.7 mile run on Mt. Tamalpais from Stinson Beach. My quads have never felt a burn like this before, but I'm still smiling (along with complaints that I can't lift my leg up on this one step in the house!). Don't tell my coach, she wouldn't like that! I ran with my brother-in-law, Mike, who's my hero in tri. He's done some amazing things, like completed about 4 ironmans this year. He makes it look so easy (I know that it's not!). Back to the run, it was about 2,400 feet of climbing and back down again. But the scenery was amazing, warm beautiful day with glimpses of the Pacific Ocean and wooded terrain, like running through the amazon, not! Through steep hikes up, including a brief climb of a wood ladder, don't think there was flat land anywhere, it was either upwards, downwards, with a lot of cut backs, u-turns, zig-zags, you name it, it was there. But would do it again. Oh yeah, nothing a Drumstick ice cream couldn't fix after a run like that.
I'm happy with my life and where it's going, my boys' are getting a sense of the importance of exercise in their lives from watching their dad and I. You have to balance life out, and exercise is a big part of that. Without it, you can get stressed pretty easily, with all the economic and global issues all around us. So if you say you can't do something, it's just an excuse, just do it as Nike would say, what ever it is. You'll feel better about yourself. I do.
Happy trails and get out and move. Luv all, Loni