Off Season

I have been full on off season mode for the past few weeks and now things are just starting to pick up again. The time off was great. The biggest thing that happened was Chris and my wedding in Sayulita Mexico. It was a totally low key affair with close friends and family. The days were filled with surfing, stand up paddling, beach volleyball, margaritas, beer and fish tacos. I didnt even think about putting on my running shoes or cap/goggles for the entire 10 days we were there. Everything was perfect - thanks in large part to my mom! We got a lot of great pictures, some of which I have below. The best ones I have to post later. Like Chris and me surfing in our lucha libre masks.




The railing behind us had no fence and nothing underneath. Except 175 feet below there was ocean and rocks. This kind of building would not have passed codes in the US.

Cutting the cake - again, the work of my mom who found a baker who could make a dia de los muertos themed cake.

Our gift to the guests - a very fun fireworks show.

And the late night parties begin. I am not happy to be carried by a bunch of sweaty dudes. I now know how Chris feels when I try and hug him after triathlons.


Then came my favorite holiday. This was before the turkey trot. Chris woke up sick, but I told him to suck it up because it was his hangover. He promised he was sick. Then 5 hours later I realized he really was sick and caught the stomach bug just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. I still tried to eat as much as I normally do, but that wasnt the smartest thing.

Now it is time to get back into shape and start training for IMTX! Off season officially over.

Austin 70.3 Race Report

Before I get into the nitty gritty of the race report, I have to say that this was by far the most challenging event I have ever done, both mentally and physically. I wasn’t under any delusions of grandeur of coming out on the other side with a PR because, let´s face it, I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been. With 5 of the past 8 weeks on the road, that really left only 2 weeks for heavier training and 1 taper week. I also didn’t have my head in the game as much as I normally do because the season was officially over at the end of this race, I am getting married in a week, I have a big week this week with work, and life sort of piled up. However, I could never have planned for what I experienced. This course humbled me in so many ways. Most of the mental issues were so minor that they normally wouldn’t have gotten to me, but after the day I was having every little thing was piling up. And that whole saying that you need to expect 5 things to go wrong in an ironman and check them off 1 by 1? I think in the future I will expect 10 things to go wrong for the half ironman distance. Luckily I wasn’t the only one who really suffered out there. I saw more pukers, walkers and people who were “quitting” triathlons for good out there than ever before.
For those (crazy) people who are thinking about this race in the future:
The good – great organization, great volunteers – they were dressed up on a lot of the aid stations, a great course to spectate (3 loop running course), the aid stations – I had aid station parties starting at mile 1 and they were great buffets at every stop; and a great city to visit.
The bad – I will caveat this with the fact that I am from Houston, so overpasses on the freeway are big mountains to me, but this was the hilliest course I have ever been on. I waited all day for a flat, and I don’t think I ever got one except for about 100 yards on the run. The wind sucked. I felt like I was riding in Kona and never had a tailwind. The heat – it was 115 the week before, so we got “lucky” with 90 (in October. Really?). The bike course was not sectioned off for a lot of the race, and was pretty dangerous. There were about 20 miles where you were so close to cars that passing was dangerous. The hills. I’m putting that twice, because they sucked that bad.
Pre – Race – we drove to Austin on Saturday morning early and as soon as I got in the car, I realized that I had forgotten my bike. I should have known then that it wasn’t going to be a good race. We got to Austin fairly quickly, found the expo, checked in and then I went back to the car to pack my transition bags. I got on my bike to do a quick check up and noticed some brake issues. So this meant an hour wait in line for mechanics. A first for me, so I wasn’t too bummed about it, but again, sign #2 that I should have packed it in and gone home. Next time I am following my gut. The rest of the day was spent at Whole Paycheck and shopping for Chris’s wedding present.
Race Day – No problem here. We were running a little bit late, and had to catch the shuttle, but I had about 15 minutes to get my bottles filled in T1, which was plenty of time. Then it was a waiting game for all of the other waves to start before us. 1:35 to be exact.
The swim –We had the biggest wave with 205 people, and it was a washing machine. I did manage to get a good line and follow about 6 other girls out in front. They went on ahead at the turnaround and I flew solo on the way back and came out in 8th. This was the best part of the day.
Sausage time


Getting into the water finally.

I think I am the one with really bad form.

The bike – This is where things got bad. A week ago someone told me not to fall because I didn’t want road rash to get puss and blood all over my wedding dress, and I think this went through my mind the entire time adding to my very fun day. I knew it would be rough when the first mile out of the transition had a huge climb. The first 10 miles I had two problems. The first one was going up a hill and my foot came off the pedal. I almost crashed and then realized that my clip was actually falling off my shoe. So I fixed it and started to walk my bike up the hill. As I was cursing myself for not finishing the season with the sprint the weekend before, I saw a dude haul by me and fly out of his pedal too. So we walked together and agreed that if the support vehicle came by we would drop out of the race together. No such luck. The second time I dropped my chain (apparently my bike is ready for an off season as well). Going uphill. I had to walk it up again and guess what – no sag wagon. I then decided that since I wouldn’t have to swim, bike or run for 2.5 weeks, I should just make this a really good last workout. I came into T2 with a PW bike at 3:33. I wasn’t the last one in even though it felt like I was.

Gotta love those tan lines


God bless the volunteers. Especially the ones who put on sunscreen. But as you might guess I have some nice hand prints all over my back now.


The Run – the best part of the run was watching a guy puke on a sign that said puke and rally. And he did just that. After I left T2 I realized my hair was flying in my face. I had started the race with two rubber bands and now had none. Good thing my visor was able to hold up my hair for the most part. Then I realized I forgot my nutrition. Which normally wouldn’t matter, but today it was enough to make me cry. The run was a fun game of trying to get from one aid station to the next. When I was running, I was running between 9 and 9:15, but then I would stop and chat at the aid stations knowing that when I left I would have to run again. At 1 point I started getting some bad IT pain so I started to shove ice down my shorts. Then the ice would move around and I looked like I had crapped my pants. There were lots of fun people to talk to on the course, which sort of made the last miles fly by. And then the end came and I couldn’t even muster enough strength to pick up the pace at the finish line.

I dont remember this. All I remember is that Chris had a nice huge bag of food waiting for me when I got in the car.


Although I will never do this race again, I am glad I did it because it probably will come in handy when I am doing IMTX. It was good training for what to do when you feel like ass and want to pull out of a race, but you cant because the only way back is to finish the race.
Now it is the off season. There will be another post about what I plan to do during this time. It will include a whole lot of eating, drinking and sleeping. Oh, and getting married!

Lots of things going on.

So apparently something is going on with my header image, and since I have been lame-o and not on here a lot, I don't know how long it has been like that. I will have to get my blog guru Chris to fix it. The past month has flown by. I thought we were still in September and then whoops, it was my birthday, and then an engagement party, and then Chris's birthday. Last time I thought about it our wedding was 3 months away and I could relax. Now it is less than three weeks away and unfortunately am still relaxing. It is too late to get to wedding weight (very similar to racing weight but without the back and shoulder bulk), so all i can hope for is that the swimming I have been doing 3x a week has kept my arms strong enough to paddle out in Sayulita. It will be our fist time on surfboards since moving from Hawaii, and really I think we are more excited about that then about the actual wedding. My mom is thankfully still going strong on the wedding planning or else there wouldn't be much else besides patron and food because let's get real, that is all I really need to have a good time.
Being back in town with friends and family has been amazing, but also busy. Gone are the days when I can just work and train and sleep and eat. Now I have to actually plan my training around other things. Like happy hours and day drinking for the football games. I have kept at the training and racing sporadically and am seeing some improvements on the bike and run, but I have to say I am really looking forward to that 2 week break that comes after next weekend's 70.3 in Austin. I am nowhere near the shape I was in for IMTX, but I think I can fake it through. After the break I start up again with Vegas 1/2 marathon in December and then it is full on IM training again. I have tried to make this trip for the past few years but work got in the way. I am hoping that this year will be the year I get on that plane. Chris has never been, so this can be like a post mini-moon, mini-moon as long as we aren't sick of each other.
Here are some photos of the past weekend since blogs without photos suck, even thought I do that often.

Pre-Race engagement party. We stayed until the margarita machine was out of juice. To make it last longer we mixed it with the beer from the Shiner keg. If it was anything like our wedding will be, my liver is in trouble.



There is no race report from the race because it ended before I really woke up that day, so I cant remember enough to write anything other than I was first out of the swim, got passed by 4 people in transition and on the bike, and never saw another person in my AG on the run, so I stopped paying attention and came in 5th. Here are some photos that I snagged from yoursportingimage.com.
The photog on the bike happened to get me right when my foot snapped out of place. I almost crashed into him. Could have been the alcohol from the party.


On the run - running for my post race beer and pizza. Maybe the often consumed pizza and beer is why I didnt get to wedding weight.



And just for fun - more pictures of my perfect neice. I get some almost every day and I am obsessed with her. Luckily they are heading to Austin this weekend so I will get some quality babysitting time.

I forgot how to blog

It has been ages since my last blog! I just realized that I have been a total blog stalker and have neglected my own blog. Not because there isnt anything going on right now, but because there is too much! August flew by and included the following:
1) Moving to Houston and settling into a house where the dogs can spend the days in the backyard learning to share.

2) The move from Mexico required us to have a car, so we bought a car! The first I have owned in over three years. Plenty of space for the dogs, bikes and my workout clothes for the week! Plus we have a little Hawaii in it with some wet Okole seats!


3) Visiting my new niece - she is the first grandchild of our side of the family and has greatly taken the pressure off of Chris and me for the time being. Im in love!


4) Visiting Columbia for the first time ever. It was an interesting experience. I was there for work so we had about an hour the entire time to sightsee, but the people are incredibly nice and the place is gorgeous. Plus it probably has the best security of any airport I have ever been in.
In front of what I can only assume is the Louvre of Columbia.



5) Reminding my body how to race again. There are races here just about every weekend and I have been jumping into quite a few of them. Because of the horrible drought we are having here, the swim has been cancelled more often than not. sucks for me, but as my coach reminds me, I am able to work on my weaknesses. I would never knowingly sign up for a duathlon that has two runs, but I have been doing a lot of them lately by default. I forgot to do race reports, so I forgot most about the races, but I do know that the last one I did I vowed never to race in Houston in August again. It was 102 when I started the run at 9AM (108 when I finished) and I saw 2 ambulances on the course picking up fallen racers. I would post photos, but I cant find any that dont suck, so next time I promise.

6) Praying for rain. And really praying for rain for the people in Austin.

Moving Day

Chris and I spent the entire weekend (other than a few hours to train and eat) preparing for the movers. We didnt actually have to pack anything, but we did have to do some major purgeing and cleaning. When we moved to Hawaii, I was moved by my company so we pretty much just had everything moved. This time it is on our own dime, so we had to really limit what we took. We gave away about 15 bags of clothes, threw out/recycled about 20 bags of trash/old papers/etc, and still have another half a room full of stuff we are giving to the driver and maid. It took a long time, but I feel much better now that we went through everything we own and decided what stays and what goes.
The movers came in at 9AM today and we were up at 6 getting everything ready, which included bribing the valets to let the van park in front of our building. I feel bad that I am at work today while Chris is dealing with the movers, but not bad enough to take a vacation day and stay home to help. Moving sucks, moving internationally sucks even worse.

The bad -
- Having to bribe the valet at 6AM to let the moving truck park on the street
- Having to bribe our doorman to let the movers into the building and use the elevator
- Not having a bed for several weeks
- Having to pack a month's worth of clothes in 2 suitcases
- Chris losing his passport which contains his newly recieved Visa in it 15 minutes before the movers arrived.
- Not being able to cook at home for a while, and not being able to have any smoothies
- No bike training for a while and no pool until I get to Houston
- The dogs have no idea what is going on and are therefore completely freaked out

The good -
-The spring cleaning that goes along with the move
-I finally took apart my bike for the first time since moving here and it will be getting a major clean when I get it in Houston
- Chris finding his Passport in a book on the bookshelf before the movers packed it
- No food at home = lots more froyo!
- No TV which means more time to train, but it also means I will miss The Bachelorette and the last episode of Friday night lights.

T-4 days before we touch down in Houston!

More changes coming

I just realized it has been over a month since I blogged anything. Not that there hasnt been plenty to blog about, but it just means I have been extra busy. First for the big news. Chris and I are moving back to Houston! Which means Whole Foods, a house with a yard, biking outside, and most importantly friends and family nearby. WE CANT WAIT! We were home a week or so ago and found a house and signed a lease which happens to be 1 mile from memorial park (great place with running and biking trails and a swimming pool) and a block away from another long running/biking route.
Memorial Park loop - where I used to do 99% of my running before moving


I can finally start riding my bike regularly without having to get on a plane to bike outside. It also means that we can finally get good meat, natural peanut butter, lara bars, coconut water, and weekly triathlons and running races to choose from (it's the little things that get me excited!). Plus the dogs will be able to get treats and toys since all they have here is rawhide. Needless to say I have been busy getting ready for this big change since the movers come on Monday. Last night we put together the dog crates so that they could get used to them before being shoved in them for several scary hours. At first they were running away from us and freaking out, but after giving them treats inside, they both decided to take naps in them a little bit later. I also had to pack up my bags I would be living out of while we wait for our stuff to arrive. It is hard packing for an ironman, but this is way harder. I dont know what I am wearing to work tomorrow, much less a month from tomorrow. Hell, I wont even know what city I will be working from a month from tomorrow!

Enjoy the 4th! I am sitting in my office on a freezing, cloudy Mexico City morning wishing I were at the Floatilla in Waikiki today. But it is Nola's 6th birthday so we will be celebrating for her, we just wont have the usual fireworks, which Liko is very happy about.

Am I reading this correctly?

Vegas marathon is now a nighttime event? If so, sign me up!

Pool time

I am back at it this week. After a full recovery week of doing nothing but sitting on the couch and eating, I was very ready to get back into some sort of a routine. Dont get me wrong, I am not training 20 hours a week, but I am at least doing somthing. I think if I had to take any more time off I would go crazy. I promised Chris that I would be around more for the time being, and I am going to stick to my word. So no big races until October for the 70.3 in Austin, which is exactly 2 weeks before our wedding. I havent mentioned that part to Chris. Im sure he wont be terribly excited about it, but it was an easy way to stay in shape for the wedding! However after seeing my tan lines from the past few races I have done, I might have to rethink this.

I got up early today for the first time since May 21st to head to the Y for some easy swimming. Now i dont mind sharing lanes at all, but today it was very difficult. I had one person walking his laps, one person doing water aerobics in the middle of the lane so every time we swam by we had to go into the other side of the lane, a lady who was swimming so slow i finished 100m before she hit 15m, kickboards flying into our lane from the class that was going on, and exactly 4 lifeguards standing around not saying anything. It was very frustrating to say the least. The lady that was going so slow actually got mad at me for passing her and then for accidentally running into her. I had to tell her that she needs to swim like she drives. If she is going to stop suddenly in the middle of the lane, she should check behind her to see if anyone is coming up on her (me) that cant stop suddenly without hitting her. She didnt find that an acceptable answer, or maybe she is actually swimming like she drives. I was glad that I didnt have a set of timed 100s that I had to get through because I was stopped every length of the pool to go around someone or wait for someone to pass. At one point there were 10 of us in the only available lane. It is mornings like these when I cant wait to get back to the US. At least if I were spending the 170 USD a month that I am spending here I can find pool with more than one lane open at a time!

Here is a photo I snapped of my walking friend. He takes up most of the lane, but at least he was moving faster than the swimmer who got mad at me!

Bike and Run

Since I am on my last day of full rest, I figured I better get this RR finished before I forget everything.

The Bike -

Exiting out of T1 I was in a state of panic. I wasnt sure what was going to happen out there on the bike, but I knew that I had to just ride my race and not worry about what anyone else was doing. I had ridden most of the course a few weeks back and the winds were insane, so all I could do was hope for a better day. And boy did we luck out! The entire ride was overcast with almost no winds, so the first half and the last half felt about the same for me. My goal was to never dig too deep so I could make it through the run, and it worked. I got on the bike and started to try to take in my nutrition, but I felt so crampy and sick and couldnt get anything in but water. I think it was from swallowing so much lake water. I was starting to worry, but knew at one point I would feel well enough to start taking something in. There of course were tons of people passing me, but they all had words of encouragement or something funny to say. The miles were clicking off and even though I couldnt take anything in, I wasnt bonking. I got to the halfway point with our special needs bags and stopped. I drank my coke and a rice krispie treat and took off my HR monitor strap (I think that was putting some pressure on my stomach, making it worse), and headed out again. I kept thinking to myself that if I had to I could stop and regroup, but I was feeling much better. I started taking in my carbopro/gatorade/salt tab mix at every mile and that helped too, and I felt so much better on the second half. I just kept waiting for it to get hard, and it never really did. I know I wasnt pushing to where I could have, but this was my first IM and I wanted to do a smart race. The most annoying part of the bike was that I had Lady Gaga's Born this way stuck in my head throughout the entire 112 mile ride. I dont know all the words, so I just had the first part going through my mind over and over again. Finally I just decided to start singing it, probably annoying everyone else around me. I came into T2 and to my surprise I was able to walk.





T2 - I didnt want to leave. Everyone there was so nice and helpful, and if someone had given me a beer at that point, I would have called it a day and hung out in the tent.

The Run -
I thought after I was feeling better on the bike, I thought that I would be able to break 13 hours. I didnt have a goal other than to finish, but at that point, I knew a sub 13 was possible. However, the bad (and good) part of an ironman is that everything changes. I started to run and immediately cramped up and felt like I was going to puke. So I walked. When I walked I felt fine, but as soon as I started running, I started feeling sick. I ran into a group of people who were all walking for the same reason as I was. They werent used to the heat and couldnt take in any calories. I told one of the ladies that if I ran I felt like I was going to throw up, and she told me that she saw two people who got pulled off the course for throwing up. I didnt want that to happen to me. Plus I knew that I only got in half of my calories on the bike and didnt want to throw them all up. At every aid station I took in water, coke and pretzels, and figured at one point I would feel ok to run, and if not, I would still finish and I was ok with that. Around the end of the first lap I heard my name from behind and turned around to see Beth kicking ass in the run on her last lap. And right after that I ran into my family and a few friends. The second lap was about the same as the first with a lot more portapotty stops. I do not recommend going into one during an ironman, as apparently people use the entire thing as a toilet and there was shit everywhere. Even on the toilet paper. Finally at the very end of the second lap they brought out the chicken broth and I had about two cups and instantly started to feel better, which was good because I think hell is having to walk an entire marathon. I started running and didnt feel sick. YAY! I got a lot of comments about how fast I was going, but I think that was an illusion becuase almost everyone else was walking, so my shuffle looked like a run. Now my new goal was to break 14 hours. My garmin was dead, so I didnt know how much time I had, but I knew it would be close. When I got to the last section and saw my family I heard Mike Reilly say Rachel Ryerson from Houston Texas needs to hurry in order to break 14 hours. I looked up and had about 20 seconds left and the crowd went crazy. I sprinted as fast as I could (which was probably a 10 min pace at this point) to try to break 14 hours. I knew the best part of the race would be the finish chute and I wanted to be able to slow down and enjoy it, but breaking 14 hours became my goal, and to do that I had to kick it up a notch. I didnt even hear my name announced as I crossed the finish line, but some nice lady was there to catch me and help me walk around and wouldnt let me go until I found my family and they agreed to take care of me.

Finally able to run - bloated stomach and all.


Giving my grandmother a kiss in the middle of the run.


"Sprinting" to the finish.



Realizing that I was about to finish this thing and trying not to cry.


Finishing with just a few seconds to spare


I dont know if it was because the mental image I had of what the ironman would be like was basically a death march, or if I was delirious from lack of sleep, but I enjoyed every minute of this event, and never really got to a point where I felt like I couldnt go on. Even at my worst and sickest, I still was having a great time. This is a huge testament to the volunteers and people cheering out there (especially my family and friends) because they really made this event and kept me going. Any memory of the pain I experienced passed quickly because on Sunday I was begging Chris to let me do this race next year. Congrats to everyone who finished IMTX! Now I am off to enjoy my last day of full rest before I ease back into things tomorrow. No more eating crap and drinking wine every night.

Pre-Race and Swim

The whole week leading up to the race was a nighmare for me. I am not very good in the mental department and I kept having visions of not finishing the bike or getting so sick that I had to pull out of the race, things like that. I was even dreaming about the race nightly and walking up sweating. The mental game is a tough one and I need to get better at it when it comes to racing. Chris and I got to Houston on Wednesday night and headed to my mom's house. I had a complete day off on Thursday so after checking in at the woodlands, I did errands, watched Khloe and Lamar and basically tried to keep my mind off the race. Most people stayed in the Woodlands Wednesday and Thursday nights, but I wanted to stay away from the excitement of it all until the very last minute to keep my nerves away.
Friday AM Chris, my mom and I all drove up to the woodlands to do the bike and gear bag check ins and I had conversations with some very nice people. Most of whom were from places like NYC and were petrified of the heat we had in Houston. We nervously chatted while walking to drop the bikes off, and the rest of the day I spent relaxing in the hotel room and getting things ready for the next morning.
People who say you can sleep the night before your first ironman are lying! I tossed and turned until about 2:30 AM when I finally decided to get up and get going. I checked Facebook, ate and got everything ready and woke up the rest of the crew so we could head down to the race site at 4:30. The walk from the transition area to the start was about a 30 minute walk and I tried my best to just remain calm. I got marked and ran into my coach who I had never met in person. I was so glad I did because she gave me some great last minute advice that I used the entire way to keep me going.
The swim start was sort of a cluster f**k. I was one of the first in the water and had planned to stay to the outside and take a longer line into the first buoy so I could stay away from the mass, but it took so long for everyone to enter the water that I was actually in the middle of a huge mass of people. I got elbowed by some guy in my face and my nose and lip were bleeding so I had to stop and tread water for a while so I could calm down and start moving again. Other than swallowing massive amounts of nasty water, the swim was without incident after the start. The hit to the face cost me some time, but I was also slow because I didnt ever want to push too hard. Not knowing what to expect for the day, I didnt want to die at the end of the bike or run because I had a pushed too hard to have a great swim. So I kept it conservative and was about 10 minutes off what I was hoping to do.

Looking over at Chris wondering what the hell I am doing and thinking I really should pull out and go back to bed instead of doing this crazy thing.


The start - Im in there somewhere

I am an IRONMAN!

I know I am about 3 days late with this, but I finished Ironman Texas! I am going to do a full race recap (dont worry, it will be in parts) over the weekend since I am traveling for work right now, but overall I had the best experience of my life! I loved every second of the race and never once thought that I wanted to sell my bike to the stranger on the side of the road in the middle of the ride and quit triathlon for good. Going into it I thought the swim would be a piece of cake, but after a really bad start and busted nose and lip, it was the worst part of the day. And my nemesis, the bike, is now my friend and I really had no issues on that portion of the race. So I guess it really is true that you cant predict anything in an ironman. I wasnt sure what to expect since it was a first time event, but it was amazing - the directors did an excellent job! The volunteers were out in full force and couldnt have been more amazing. I made sure to chat them up all along the way and thank them even when I felt like crap, and it always made me feel better. The spectators were out there even after dark and there were a few parts along the run where the fans were standing outside of the bars cheering well into the night. I am ready for my next one (and if Chris lets me, I may even do IMTX again).
I had some great pieces of advice that I used throughout the day that really helped me cross the finish line:
1) No matter how bad you feel, you will always get better and no matter how good you feel you will always get worse. This was my mantra throughout the first half of the bike and first 17 miles of the run when I was so nauseus I couldnt get anything down.
2) Take it one step at a time and never think about what is next. When I was on the bike I would not let myself even think about the run coming up. If I had, I think I might have quit altogether.
3) The race is a just three long training days put together. First a long swim, then a long ride, then a long run. All of them I had done before with no problems.
4) SMILE - even when I felt like crap, I smiled and it always made me feel better.

I only got through this with lots of support from my family, friends, virtual friends and my coach (who rocked out a 2nd place finish at IMTX!!), and of course, most importantly, Chris. He has put up with my crap, taken care of me, cooked my meals, cleaned my clothes, set up my powertap, made sure I got to sleep early, taken care of the dogs, and made sure I was able to function on a daily basis, and for all of this, I am so grateful. It means so much to have someone who supports my crazy habit! Oh, and he is in the process of making a video of the whole event that I will post! Seriously? What a bad ass!

Cold front came too early

This is the weather today in Houston




This is the weather for Saturday


Way back I mentioned that Houston weather in May is unpredictable. This is the second cool front that has come through in as many weeks, and we are just barely going to miss it. At least the high is 90 and not 100! I am also hoping that the weather cooled off the lake enough to make it wetsuit legal, but I think it is just wishful thinking.
We are less than a week away and the nerves and fear has totally kicked in. I. AM. FREAKING. OUT. I leave on Wednesday and Im sure I will be even more nervous then because I will have friends/family asking about the race, how fast I want to do it, etc. I had a long chat with coach and she told me to try and relax and keep calm, and to look at it like three long training segments. Easier said than done. She also told me to pee on the bike instead of actually getting off. I hope I dont get stage fright. I wont tell Chris if I am successful because he will probably be helping me clean my bike post race.
This AM I had the last swim I will have before Saturday morning, and I was thinking how this is all real now. Months ago when I signed up for this race it was a dream. Something that was on my bucket list. But it seemed so far away that I really didnt actually think it would ever get here. Now it is almost here, and I am nervous, scared and excited all rolled into one. All I can do now is trust in the plan coach has been giving me daily for the past 9ish months. I have a time goal in mind, but I am not putting too much thought into that because, really, my goal is to finish and not have to make a trip to the med tent. If the time goal is hit, then great. If not, I wont beat myself up over it as long as I cross that line before midnight. Chris is going to be utilizing his creative skilz and making a video of this ironman so you all can see first hand my suffering/excitement.
And I hope next time I am writing it starts with the words, I am an ironman.

Really?

Im not too sure what I think of this. I thought we would be safe from any scary fish in Lake Woodlands. But I watch River Monsters and should have known better.

Guess we all just have to swim faster.

Almost Taper, but not quite

I am in the last week of big training before I start to slowly taper. Last weekend was one of the longest runs I have done since before the marathon coupled with a ridiculous trainer ride. In addition to that we had a "bodadida" (wedding celebration for one couple - boda - and a going away party for another - despedida). This meant that right after my ride/run on Saturday I actually had to get into a somewhat decent state and put on regular clothes (no compression pants). It also meant that when we got home I spent the rest of the day like this.



Liko was really tired too because he had to wake up early and watch me ride. He does this only to catch the crumbs I may spill from my PB&J while I eat on the bike. Smart guy because trainer riding and eating without spilling do not go hand in hand, so he almost always gets his pre-breakfast snack.

I am heading back home tomorrow for my last weekend on my bike before the race. I have to make sure she is ready for May 21st. There was a cold front in Texas this weekend with temps in the 60s. It will be 90 again on saturday. Maybe we will get lucky with no wind AND cooler temps for the race. But I know that is just wishful thinking, and we most likely will have heat, humidity and wind. And lots of it.


I was reminded this AM by all of my American friends that it is Cinco de Mayo today. So happy Cinco de Mayo! May you all have lots of good mexican food and tequila tonight! It is a much bigger holiday in the US than it is in Mexico. No celebration going on here today. I was just greeted with another group of people protesting something on my way to work. Maybe they were protesting that we dont have a holiday for May 5th.

IMTX Training Camp - Party of 1

Over Easter weekend I decided to use the long weekend to get in a full fledged IMTX training camp. It was the most mileage I have ever put into that short of time and I could definitely feel it at the end, but in a good way. I tried to get some friends to join me, but our schedules didnt match up, so I was solo. Which is definitely good mental training for the race, but not nearly as much fun.

The weekend started with a 3:45 wake up call to get on a flight to Houston. Once we landed I got right on my bike for a 4 hour ride. I took it somewhat easy knowing what I was going to be doing the next day. After the ride I went in to get my bike fit since I had discovered the leg length discrepancy a few weeks ago. I got a lot of tweaking done and it was ready for the next day. I was somehow able to talk Chris into getting up at 5AM with me and driving to the woodlands so he could SAG for me on the IMTX course. I promised him he could ditch me and go shopping as long as he was nearby enough and came and checked on me every so often. So I set out and had one rough ride. We all know houston is hot and humid (it was), but for the past month there have been some crazy winds. I was so sore in my shoulders and arms for holding onto the bike so tightly, and at one point I was going straight downhill into the wind at 6MPH. I didnt know that was possible. It was insane. All I can hope for is that it dies down before May 21, otherwise it will be an even rougher ride than I am expecting. I met Chris back at the start and he was carrying this.



It was the best food I have ever put in my mouth and it was the first time I have been able to finish an entire Freebirds burrito. Best post workout fuel ever!

The next day I was up early to get in a long run. My legs were screaming at me the first 6 miles, but then I started to feel better. The pace varied from 7:30 (with the wind) to 10:20 (into the wind). I lost my visor twice and almost got blown over at a stoplight - it was that strong. I meant to take pictures but I kept forgetting. After the run was a quick ice bath and then a friend's BBQ to top off the Easter weekend. All in all a great weekend.

Just a few notes for anyone racing IMTX

1) If the wind doesnt die down, the race wont be nearly as hot as it could be, but the bike will be difficult. The headwind is on the last half of the bike if the winds stay like they are.
2) The first part of the bike is flat, but dont be fooled. There are some rollers in the later parts, so dont go out too strong so that you are toast for the hills and the last half going into the wind.
3) The bike course is mind numbingly boring. I saw lots of dead animals and smelled lots of skunks. And had a major coughing fit because I inhaled something I was allergic to.
4) I only ran a part of the run course, but it seemed to be shielded from the wind, so that is good.


I put in 180 miles of riding and close to 30 miles of running and came out the other side. Now I have two more hard weeks before I start my taper. Chris is very happy that this crazy ride I am on is almost over. While it is the beginning of the season for a lot of people, it is my end. I have been training solidly for about 10 months and once the IM is over I will be cutting back big time and doing a few olys, sprints and maybe another 1/2 ironman over the next few months before I start with the marathon training. I will definitely be taking some time to hang out with Chris, friends and the family. Oh yeah, and maybe start to plan a wedding!

Happy training everyone!

Is Triathlon a Stupid Sport?

Chris came across this blog post the other day when he was searching for stupid triathlon outfits. He hates the suits that the guys wear for triathlon and endlessly makes fun of them. On a side note, he feels this way just about the lycra. He loves the shoes, equipment, glasses, etc, and has been sporting his yellow zoots that he wears in the yearly Houston half marathon and turkey trot on an almost daily basis. Apparently I am not the only one who cares about what I wear when I train or race. He really wants to do a race, but refuses to wear what the rest of the guys wear. I personally think it would be pretty sweet to have him kicking ass in some quicksilver shorts, but I can see his point. When we go to the triathlon and running stores in Houston there is such a limited amount for guys in mostly boring colors, and there are tons of stuff for girls. Even the lululemon has about 3/4 of the store for women only. I guess it is because most guys dont care about what they look like when they race?
Anyway, back to the point of the post. He showed me this blog post and we spent the next hour having a very in depth conversation about triathlon vs running. Im sure some of you have seen this on slowtwitch as well. While I do agree with some of his points, for example 1) yes it costs a fortune to pay to race a sanctioned ironman event and 2) Yes we have tons of gear to lug around - and I do respect other people's opinions, I of course have many issues with this post. But I found it entertaining/funny to read as well as read the back and forth comments, which is why I am posting it today. If you are bored at work, now you have something to do. Maybe this guy should get out there and actually do a triathlon before making these generalizations about triathletes. I personally love the races, the training (most of the time), the post parties and especially the new friends I have made. If I didnt, I wouldnt continue to do it because it does take a lot of time. And yes there are jerks who do triathlons, but I dont think it is any higher of a percentage than the jerks who dont do triathlons.

RR. The long version

I finally have some time while I am procrastinating from going to the Y to swim, and blogging sounds so much more fun. It is a recovery week and the swim today is 2K. It doesn't really seem worth it to me to drive an hour in traffic and an hour home to get all chloriney and then have to take another shower before dinner. So here goes.

Pre-race - for one of the first times ever I had very little nerves. I am never scared to race, but I always get that pre-race nervous feeling. This day, not at all. I guess I am saving them all for May. I did have a long wait once transition was set up at 6:30, and ended up getting sick about 4 times. I think Chris and I caught something because we were both trading off turns in the bathroom. But after an Immodium I was ok.

The swim - the only other half ironmans I have done are a one wave start or two (one men and one women), so I was not prepared for what was to come. I was in wave 21 out of 22 waves. Yes you read that right. The organizers decided all the men should start first and then the women should go after and 35-39 women were right before the 40-44 age group. I dont know who decided on this seeding, but the last two waves to start were 35-39 and 40-44. IMO both very fast groups. So a note to the organizers, maybe next year we can have a different order? The race kicked off at 7, and we were promptly led into the water at 8:50. The wind had kiked up and the water was choppy, so I was excited becuase it was a great race for swimmers. We took off and I was in the front group with two other girls. After about 300m we started hitting the carnage from the groups in front of us. I tried to swim over them, but it became difficult and I thought it was slowing us down. So I made my first mistake of the day and swam out about 10 meters to get out of the way, which also put me out there to navigate the waves by myself. In hindsite, this was a bad move because the other two girls I was with finished 1 and 2 less than a minute in front of me. I was hoping for a sub-30, and was disappointed in my time, but after the results came out, I realized that noone in my AG finished sub 30 and there were even several pros out there who didnt break 30, so I think the course was just pretty rough.

T1 - Not bad, but I set up my transition like Chloe does, so I was good to go. In and out.

Bike - I knew this would be rough, but I didnt really know just how rough. We had a 28 out and back course along the beach and it was changing cross winds the whole way. I am not going to even go into some of the slow speeds I saw on my computer, but I knew this would be a challenge, and it was. Even so, I was bummed about my time, but I talked to my coach after and she echoed the sentiment that it was a freaking hard course, so I felt better. I did learn that I could get in enough calories and that my body only wants liquid form (bottle with 100cal of gatorade, 100 of carbopro, and 2 salt tabs every 45 mins). I tried my PBJ sandwich and it didnt want to go down. So liquids it is for IMTX. This led to mistake #2. I stopped 3 times to go to the bathroom from all the liquids. I need to learn to just pee on the bike and it would have saved me about 7 or 8 minutes. I get stage fright and just cant go. Plus I was worried the wind would blow it all over everyone and I didnt want to get yelled at! Since we were almost the last wave i wasnt passed by as many people as I normally am, and I was passing tons of guys, however the 40-44 yr old women were killing it. I was so impressed. These ladies that looked 20 were flying by me and when I read their calf I saw their ages were over 40. Holy huge shout out to them. I hope I can look like that and race like that when I am their age!

T2 - Another mistake. I have no idea what I was doing for close to 5 minutes in there. I honestly cant remember. Maybe I saw someone I knew and decided to chat? who knows, but it was slow as crap. Usually this Transition is my fast one.

Run - I felt great heading out on the run, and stuck to my plan of one cliff shot block every mile with water and then coke if i felt like it. Around mile 2 I started to cramp in my stomach and calf and thought it was time for a salt tab. I reached in my pocket and realized I had forgotten them. Really? 5 mins in transition and I still forgot things? So I made a note to grab pretzels at the stations. In order for me to be able to eat without puking or having GI distress, I have to take it in while walking, so I told myself I would walk every aid station and run 8::40-8:50 pace in between. This was going really well and I was feeling good once I got in a little salt. The course was a 4 loop course and I was able to really see where we were on the course and see Chris a few times. It wasnt until the last loop that I realized I had run out of shot blocks (I had 18 with me in case I dropped some). I then realized that there were about 6 aid stations each loop. I am not great in math, but even I can count that 6 aid in a roughly 3+ mile loop does not equal 1 aid station each mile. No wonder it was so easy! I was only running about half a mile before walking, which really slowed down my run time. I really should pay attention to this sort of thing in the future. That or listen to the alarm that goes off on my garmin each mile.

I was hoping for a much faster time, but I made mistakes that were just dumb. And the run was a pure training for IM to make sure I got my nutrition down. If I werent training for that, I would not have walked the aid stations and probably would have only taken in water, coke and pretzels. I would have felt like crap at the finish line, but finished a little better. Hopefully next year I can do that.

Overall it was a really fun race with a lot of familiar faces. I had a blast doing it and never once thought about quitting triathlon all together. Now it is recover, train and taper for the big one on May 21! Happy training everyone!

Race Recap

There will be a full race report to come in the next day or two, but I have a quick recap for now. I wasnt completely sure what to expect in this race since I was traveling like mad the week prior (I went through customer 4 times in 7 days in Houston), and as everyone knows, 85% of my bike training is on a trainer and I have only had a handful of outside rides. But I was hoping to break 5:45 and I knew I could break 6, however on race day it just wasnt in the cards for me. After thinking back on the race, there are plenty of things that I did and stupid mistakes I made (Um hello LONG transition times for who knows what!) that cost a bit of time, but I am learning from them and moving on to the next race. I had a great time out there on Sunday and will definitely be doing this race again next year. It is also a great race for spectators because the run is 4 loops, and you can pretty much hang out, drink beer and watch your friends and family come by every 20-30 minutes. My coach raced it as well and said that the bike was a really challenging ride, which made me feel a little better about my time. The number one goal for me was to nail nutrition, which I did. I took in about 740 calories on the bike (an increase of about 500 from the half ironman before) and made myself walk all aid stations on the run so I could take in 30 calories a mile (up 30 calories a mile from the last 1/2IM). I know that nutrition will make or break an Ironman so I am feeling much better about where I am going into IMTX. The only thing I would change is taking in salt on the run (i completely forgot to take any of my Salt tabs) becuase I cramped a bit and felt a little sick to my stomach. So I am happy with some aspects and learned from others, and am planning another 1/2 IM after IMTX this year to break the 5:45 time!

Here is where I started the week. My morning run on Playa Conchal in Costa Rica.


Here are a few photos my support crew took...

The support crew with me right before the race


Heading out to the swim. You wouldn't know it from my smile, but all I am thinking is how much longer until we get in the water so I can pee...



Chris catching me out on the run.


Another run. I just like this one because the other girl in the photo has my same watch! Twins :)