Kate's Marquee ReCap

OK ladies.  I guess it is my turn.  Here is my race report from yesterday. 

Pre-Race:  I had a great sleep Saturday night, was packed and organized, and woke up right on schedule.  This is a positive for me because I'm usually rushing around or overly tired on race morning.  I picket Annette up at 5:30 and we headed down to the race.  (Annette lives about a mile from me so she is a good car pool buddy.)  We had time to chat, set up, take a rest room break and take in the scene before the race.  We were in the first rack so we thought we'd easily spot Kim.  No luck.  I think we saw every one of our friends BUT Kim in that transition.  We were right on schedule, no rushing and got in line for the swim. 

In line I ran into an old Tri buddy named Debbie.  She did IMAZ 2010 with me but didn't make the bike cut off due to wind.  We got to know each other while training for ironman.  We usually brought up the back of the pack so we would always cheer each other on.  (She is also on our facebook Tri Group.  She runs like a marathon a month!)   It is great to see race buddies again. 

Swim:  The swim always makes me nervous.  I had a horrible swim with Annette the week before.  I'm glad I went with her b/c I was able to get in some deep water.  I was pretty calm.  I don't know why.  I guess at that point I knew it would be what it would be.  It seemed to take FOREVER!  I kept swimming and swimming with no panics.  Good progress. 

My super secret goal was to get out of the water in less than an hour.  Guess what my time was?  58 minutes.  Good I met my GOAL but SAD my GOAL was so ridiculous!   

T1:  I'm usually pretty decent at transition.  No major problems except that I put my helmet on before my shirt.  It worked out ok though. T1 time was 2:48.  I'll take it.  Could cut time off by learning Annette's fancy shoe trick but I'm scared I'd fall! 

Bike:  I always fee pretty comfortable on my bike.  I don't have my aerobars on yet so I had to stay in my drops.  I was slower than I wanted to be.  I averaged a 15.2 with transition.  I wanted to be around 16.  I can do better than this.  I was able to catch Annette on this leg and caught glimpses of Kristin and Kim.  This was the only time I saw Kim the whole day.  One more thing, I had new bike sunglasses on and I loved them.  My eyes normally tear during the ride.  The new glasses protected them more. 

My super secret bike goal was 1:30.  I finished at 1:38.  I can do better. 

T2:  This transition was slower than I would have wanted it to be but I was chatting with a guy who had just finished.  He is captain of the ASU tri team and said he could help me with my swim.  TOO CUTE!  Unfortunately, I was too focused on getting out of there to get his number.  I might have to track him down.  T2 time was 2:27. 

Run:  My legs felt pretty good during the run.  I think it helped I stayed in my drops.  I was able to catch my friend Debbie during this leg.  We chatted and then she told me to go on b/c I was faster than her.  I trotted on by.  Within a couple minutes she was next to me again.  She said, "Kate, you were much faster than me 2 years ago!  What happened?"  UGH!  I laughed and said, "Debbie, maybe you are much FASTER!"  I then had to admit, that I did nothing all last year.  She was right.  I was much faster in 2010.  (A sincere thank you to Debbie for making me admit what I already knew.)  Debbie and I ran together for a while but I had to make a port-o-pottie break.  This is a good sign for me b/c I knew I was hydrating properly.  I usually don't do well in that department.  I ended up walking and running in 6:1s and eventually down to 3:1s and 2:1s.  I slowed down quite a bit at the end and finished 4 minutes behind Debbie.

Run time was 1:18.  This wasn't great.  I didn't know what to expect here b/c I didn't know how tired I would be after the bike. It isn't has fast as I would like but I'm happy I finished. 

Total Race Time:  4:00:37. 

Post Race:  I felt the best I ever felt after the race.  I think because I properly hydrated.  Annette and I packed up our goodies and headed home.  We decided this race was the perfect wake up call before starting Ironman training.  Great timing. 

The Race:  I'm really happy with the race organizers.  They changed up the usual transition, the run course and the bike course.  It was good.  We were able to ride more of the Ironman course.  Best race t-shirt in a long time.   

Pros: 
-  I have been losing weight.  This helps.  I am actually around the weight I was when I raced Ironman 2010.  I'm hoping to drop another 10 before I start hard core training.
-  My bike is better than the last bike. 
-  I am decent at transition.
-  I can fight my nerves on race day.

Cons:
-  I still have a lot of weight to lose.
-  I need my aerobars put back on.
-  I need to check my bike fit.  It feels off.
-  I MUST get more swim lessons and coaching. 

After the race I took my bike to the bike shop, bought some aerobars, some sassy red tape and scheduled a fit.  I'm excited to start Ironman training.  I know I said it before but I really enjoy racing.  I'm so glad I have friends to race with!  Thanks for the support!

PS - My Polar watch must have got moisture in it during the swim.  I could hardly see it the rest of the race.  I need Kim's watch. 

Marquee race recap - Kristin

I'm supposed to by writing a paper right now, so naturally I'll take this time to blog about the races this weekend. (It's not the 11th hour, and I've got to keep with this procrastination thing that has worked oh so well for me! ;)

Wednesday night, I decided I'd take advantage of an opportunity to participate in El Tour de Mesa on Saturday for free. I'm such a sucker for free races, I can't turn them down. So despite the fact that I had only been on my bike once that week (and for who know how many weeks prior), I decided I could pull out an easy 28 miles before the tri. This I told myself I would definitely do easy so I could save my legs. Wrong. I couldn't stay at an easy pace. It was sooo cold, and sooo windy, that half way through I found a group of people I could draft off of and since I just wanted it to be over, I pushed myself to stay with them. Dumb.

Tired legs? Check. Saddle sore? Check. Another medal? Check!
So the tri. Duhm duhm duhmmmmm!!!

Well, I pulled out my wetsuit I hadn't worn since last year. For the Rio Salad Olympic to be exact. The tri I got a DNF in. :( Last year I was having an irregular heart beat (determined to be an anemia induced heart block - during exertion my heart rate would just drop in half), and during my swim my heart rate got so low that my vision actually started getting dark, and I had to flip over and float on my back for a minute so I could breath and NOT PASS OUT IN THE WATER!!! It was really scary. When my heart rate dropped into the 60s during the run I called it quits. My first Olympic tri, and I got a DNF. Well that was NOT going to happen this year. I'm on top of my iron and ready to go!

Swim - I struggled!! I think I either need to get a new wetsuit, or I need to cut the neck out of mine. I just kept struggling for breath. I'm sure that this helped contribute to my almost black out last year, and was probably not all the low heart rate thing.

I could get a good rythym going for a little bit, then I'd have to flip over and back stroke while I gasped for air.

But I did try something new. (on race day, dumb I know, but it worked!) I've been having water get in my ears during swimming that would drive me crazy!! So I got some ear plugs, and they were awesome. I highly recommend swimming with ear plugs.

Oh, but I do need to get something worked out for my goggles. I LOVE the Aqua Sphere Seal XPs but the bridge of my nose is so low that unless the goggles are pulled down really low on my nose, water will leak in. I had to keep readjusting my goggles. :(

Bike - I don't love it when 60 year old ladies fly by me on their super sweet tri bikes. I reallllly want a tri bike. Also, I felt my tired quads and super sore bum from the tour the day before.

I have tri shoes that I've been using. They have a big vent at the front of the foot so the water can drain off your feet, and air can go into the shoe to dry your foot off. Supposed to be a really great idea. But not when it's not 85º out, and you're not wearing socks. My feet froze!

Run - It's really hard to put numb feet into running shoes. And even harder to run when the fronts of your feet are numb. Literally, numb!!! It was so crazy. I just had to trust my rythym even though the sensation was all off. And then as the numbness wore off, my toes were throbbing. It wasn't until about mile 4 that I could feel my toes without all the pain.

When I run, I rely heavily on my Garmin. I grabbed it, hit the buttons to search for satellites, and it took so long that it went into power save mode. I tried it again, and the same thing happened. It didn't work my whole run! So I had to just go with what felt comfortable, and then push it a little beyond that. I was sure I was doing close to 10 minute miles. I was SHOCKED to see that I pulled off an 8:26 pace after that awful bike ride! But it was nice to pass some of the 50 and 60 year old ladies who flew by me on the bike.

And when I was running the last 400 meters, I couldn't help but think of Kim and feel sorry for her, having to run another 7 miles, and doing an additional 31 on the bike?! Then I started thinking, can I really do that? And that's only HALF of a full, can I really do a full Ironman?! Then I reminded myself that I've got 7 months to get ready, I won't be doing it alone, and HELL YA I CAN DO AN IRONMAN!!!

That's what I'm thinking in this picture-

I have a special talent for taking really attractive race pictures. But if you look good at the end of a race you didn't try hard enough, right?

So, I need to figure out the wet suit choking situation. And do I need to try different goggles? And my tri shoes, I think they'll be okay for Rio Salad since it'll be warmer, but do I risk it?

Marquee 1/2 Iron Recap



So happy to be finished!

 Let me start by saying that I knew I was under trained going into this race.  And, I could definitely feel it during the race.  The good news is that I finished and have one more 1/2 Iron under my belt in preparation for IMAZ. 

I knew things were not going my way for this race starting at about 3:00 a.m.  I woke up with an upset stomach.  Then, about 45 minutes later, my daughter had to come home from a sleepover due to throwing up.  I decided that my stomach upset was not due to race nerves, but probably something viral.  Despite this, I decided to go ahead with the race.  There aren't many opportunities to complete a 1/2 Iron in Tempe, and I really wanted to finish another one to boost my confidence.

The swim also started badly for me.  I jumped in and hit the bottom scraping my foot.  I have never hit the bottom of Tempe Town Lake before and I suspect it had something to do with the new swim start set up, but I can't be sure.  This swim was also my first race in a full sleeved wetsuit.  While I was happy to be wearing a wetsuit (the water temp was a chilly 64 degrees), I am not accustomed to swimming in one.  Also, I never really felt like I warmed up during the swim, which made me feel stiff throughout.  About 1/2 through the swim, I felt like I was hitting my stroke--then came the turn around.  I really felt like I was swimming against a current (though I shouldn't complain--Tempe Town Lake is really about as calm as they come).  There were also 2 swimmers who were swimming at roughly the same speed as me that were particularly frustrating (actually they were probably swimming faster than me, but weren't swimming straight).  One swam next to/on top of me for about 1/2 the race.  Finally, I said to her, "SERIOUSLY!!!" and she apologized and then moved to the outer edge of the course for the rest of the race.  The other swam in a zig zag from the inner edge to the outer edge for the whole race.  This meant that she plowed into me each time she zigged or zagged the other direction.  I think I swam by one or both of these ladies when I did Soma--I recall the zig zagging particularly.  My new swim goal is to improve my swim speed so that I am faster than these ladies in future races.  Now, how can I be sure that I wasn't the culprit?  One of the highlights of this race is that it was my first tri with my new Garmin 910XT--so after the race I pulled up my swim and I could see that I swam a pretty straight course.  :)  It's a great toy and I got really accurate splits and transition times with it.  Also, I spot throughout the swim (probably too much, but I'd rather slow a bit with spotting than swim a bunch extra by veering off course!!).

Then, it was time for the bike.  Let's just say that I was significantly under trained.  I didn't feel good at any point on the bike.  My shoulders and back were sore after the first 12 miles and I was so tired of being on the bike at the end that I could have just screamed.  What did I learn from this?  Well, if I am going to under train in any event--DON'T under train the bike!!  One, it put me significantly far back in the pack and two, it put more pressure on me for the run.  I need to get some serious miles in if I am going to finish the 112 during IMAZ and feel good about it. 

Finally, it was time for the run.  I have to say that this went better than expected given how terrible I felt after the bike.  Now, by this time, my stomach was truly unhappy.  I was taking Coca Cola at the aid stations in an attempt to settle my stomach instead of for energy.  Still, I managed to run a large portion of the course, unlike during Soma where I walked most of it.  One of the best parts of the run was that the temperature was still pretty cool.  Red Rock Company does an awesome job of keeping aid stations stocked and staffed for everyone still on the course.  I know that I (and probably the few racers that finished after me) truly appreciated that they still had plenty of supplies at all of the aid stations until the bitter end.  And, I was motivated to keep going because there was a racer in my division still behind me that I didn't want to catch me.  I still managed to finish with a nice padding between my ending and the course cutoff, which was a good feeling. 

This race was largely about perseverance for me.  There were so many points where I wanted to quit (or not even start).  I kept thinking that no one would fault me for giving up since I wasn't feeling well or under trained, but another part of me kept telling that part to "shut the f*%$ up!" and keep going.  I can't help it--I just can't quit--it's not in my DNA.  So, I've kept up my streak of finishing every race I've ever started--and I don't intend on ending it any time soon!

I was completely exhausted after the race.  I took a nice long soak in  a Dr. Teal's Epsom salt bath (thanks again to Fit this, girl! for hooking me up with that).  I had met with the nice folks at South Mountain Nutrition on Friday who set me up with a test run of Herbalife 24 products to use before, during, and after the race, which I think really paid off.  Other than my stomach bug, I could tell that I felt pretty good in terms of energy and endurance.  As a result, I am feeling pretty good today (still battling the stomach thing though).  I can even walk up and down stairs like a normal person! 

I'll let the other Ironmoms update you on the Marquee Olympic race--they all did great!  One of the bummers with the way the race was set up (with the transition areas staggered as well as the start times--though I have to say I really appreciated this as it kept all portions of the race less crowded and more organized) is that I didn't get a chance to see them before the race--though I did catch Annette and Kate in passing during the bike.  I think Kristin was going too fast--I am sure she passed me in a blur of speed.  :)

April!

I can hardly believe it's April!! I have a few big races on the calendar that I feel undertrained for...the story of my race life! I am signed up for the Marquee 1/2 iron distance tri next (yikes!) weekend, the Tour d' Fire 139 mile bike ride at the beginning of May and the Medcity marathon at the end of May.
I am hoping for cool weather for these races--with that I am certain I will make it.
Also, April marks the "official" start to Ironman training. I am looking at ways to get in 2 workouts a day. I am also committing to drinking a green smoothie to start out each day! This is probably my biggest challenge as I am not a morning person and we're usually scrambling to get out the door as it is.
Here's to iron training!!