McMinnville City Triathlon

My only goal for this race was to have fun.
Mission accomplished.
I got to the race site at about 6:00 Saturday morning and got a text from David right away. I found him and his wife parked right down from me.
I got my transition area set up. Then found Mike, Don, and Tim.
This race is a pool swim. Your start position is based on your estimated swim time. I used last years time and therefore was number 187. Mike had changed his time and as a result ended up number 27, right up front with all the really good swimmers and serious athletes. We got some good laughs about it before the race. Mike managed to sweet talk his way into moving back to 200.
The race started late and then it took forever to get everyone in the water.
Team Magic has gotten a new timing system and they now have a mat at the swim start. Therefore, you have to jump in when they say "Go".
My turn finally came. I stood on the mat and when they said go I jumped into the pool.
I don't know if it was all the pre race laughing or just the fact that I was there just to have fun, but I was very relaxed in the water. I caught up with the person in front of me pretty quickly. Then the next person and the next...I continued passing people and never got passed.

I ran out out of the pool and into transition.
350 yard swim = 7:15
T1-I got my helmet and bike shoes on, grabbed my bike, and was out of there.
The mat at the exit must not have been working because T1 time is lumped in with the bike times.
While waiting on the race to start we commented several times on the wind. It was strong. The bike course is rolling and the first half was into the wind. I noticed after the first several miles I was riding just over 3 minute miles. Hmmm...could I pull off a 20 mph ride?? I started to push a little harder. I continued to pass people and still had not been passed by anyone. After the 8 mile marker we turned and had a cross wind. I was able to pick up some speed but was still 2 minutes off of a 20 mph pace. We made another turn and got the tail wind. Time to make up the time. I pushed but was feeling Friday's run in my quads. I made the final turns, saw the 15 mile marker, did the math, and had my 20 mph pace.
15.25 mile ride + T1 = 47:22
I put up my bike and changed to running gear. I grabbed a Gu and was out of transitionT2 = 1:11
I was off on the run. I passed more people and then someone passed me!!!! It was the girl who went into the pool 2 people ahead of me. I had passed her in the pool. She came into T1 just behind me and must have been right on my tail the whole ride. So at about a half mile into the run she passed me. I checked out her left calf and was relieved to see that she was not in my age group. The run is more rolling hills. I drank water at each of the aid stations. No one else passed me. I made the turn into the park and made the final push to the finish line.
3.1 mile run 23:52 (7:58 pace).
I found Tim right away. He had forgotten to start his watch so had no idea how he had done but felt good about his race. I saw Mike cross the finish line. Then I found David and his wife. We chatted for a while then I went to see if they had results posted. I saw Don and he said they had Mike as the overall winner!!
Sure enough there was Mike listed at number 1. Don and I went to find Mike and congratulate him.
Too bad results were updated and Mike was no longer in the top spot.
We hung out for the awards.
Tim snagged 1st place beginner.
I got 3rd place age group.
Mike got 3rd place Mater Clydesdale.
My final time was 1:19:39
The overall female winner had a time of 1:13:42 and the first place female in my age group was 1:18:02. I was less then 6 minutes behind the winner and a minute and a half behind my age group winner. Not too bad! And I got a really cool mug for my trophy shelf.

Puppy

I am a dog person. I love dogs, especially puppies.
But when I am on my bike or running, I am not such a fan. On the bike I am worried about getting knocked over and ruining I worry about tripping on the dog (I have done this and it is not fun).
This morning I got up at 3:20. My alarm was set for 3:30 but for some reason I just woke up a 3:20. It wasn't worth trying to sleep for 10 minutes, so I went ahead and got up.
I ran the required 1:50. For the last 2 miles I was joined by a puppy. He was super cute, but he wanted to play. He kept jumping up at my hands and feet. I just knew I was going to trip over him. Lucky for both of us, we made it home without incident.
I went inside and changed then went to the pool. Puppy chased my car down the street to the stop sign.
I swam the required 1700 yards. I actually enjoyed this swim. Slow swimming was required for most of it.
When I pulled into my neighborhood, I saw Ronnie out running and guess who was tagging along?? Cute little puppy. He ran all 6 miles with Ronnie and still had energy to jump all over me when I walked down the driveway.
The puppy was gone by the time I got home from work. Hope he made it home safely.

Sunrises

I have seen some beautiful sunrises this week.
I have been up before dawn everyday. Sunday it was for a 43 min bike and 35 min run. Monday was a 3000 yard swim. Tuesday 40 min run, weights and abs. And today an 1:17 bike followed by a 2500 yard swim.
Tomorrow is finally a rest day. I will still do ab ripper but I am sleeping past sun rise.

Week One is Done

While I finished my first week of ironman training, there are others preparing to toe the line tomorrow. Good Luck! Look forward to spending the day tracking.

I got reminded this week just how bad my swim is. Wednesday I had to do a 1000 yard time trial. It took me 19:27 and I could NOT have gone any faster. Then Friday I had to do 4000 yards - 500 swim, 500 pull, 10 x 50 on 1:00, 5 x 100 on 2:00, repeat. The 50's and 100's just turned into 500s. I couldn't swim fast enough to get even 5 seconds of rest between sets. I know part of my problem is I don't do flip turns and I lose time at the wall. The only other problem is that I am just slow.

My other workouts have been uneventful, just the way I like them. I logged all the time the plan called for and did all the workouts. Ok some I had to improvise on like the stretching on Thursday. I didn't know what they wanted so I did the xstretch DVD and the ab DVD that came with Ronnie's P90X. I need to do more stretching. I am so stiff and unflexible.

This week was a high swim volume week and it looks like next is a little more running.

Looking Like an Idiot

I am determined to follow this plan as close as I can. I hope in doing so I will arrive at the start line ready and able to finish. I don't understand why I have to do some of this stuff but I am trusting The Plan.

So this morning I ran for 20 minutes nice and slow, keeping my heart rate in zone 1-2. Then I went to the pool to work on form. I swam the 3000 yards also nice and slow. But I felt good doing it.

This afternoon, I did the scheduled plyometrics. I felt like an idiot but I did it. 2 sets of 50 jump ropes. Nothing bad there. I did have to buy a jump rope to do it though. After that it got silly. First I had to skip. 3 set of 50 skips. Ronnie came outside and laughed at me and said I should have waited until dark so the neighbors couldn't see me. After skipping, it was hopping. Two foot hops then one foot hops. I hopped around the pool and was just glad I didn't fall in. After the hops it was bench jumps. I did them on the back step. The Plan said this all should have taken 45 minutes. It didn't take me anywhere near that long. Maybe I rushed too much for fear of being seen??? Next time I am doing them in the dark.

And the Fun Begins

Day One Week One, it has started. 20 weeks of training for the Big Dance on Nov 1st.
I admit I am a little freaked out. It is real now for some reason. Until today, this was something I was going to do but now...I am officially training for an Ironman!!!
So, I got up at 4:44 this morning (can you believe I hit snooze on my very first day of training?). I was on my bike at 5:00. The Plan called for a 75 minute ride and a 40 minute run. I over estimated how far I could ride in 75 minutes so ended up with 25.18 miles in 1:24:00 for an average speed of 18 mph. Off the bike and a quick shoe change then off on the run. I made it 4.51 miles in the 40 minutes for a 8:52 pace. I went right upstairs for 15 minutes of Ab Ripper fun.
So day one is checked off and I feel pretty good about it.

Bonnaroo is here!!!

Yesterday I met my friend Tracy at the Rec Center to ride. She lives on one of the main access roads to Bonnaroo so she figured getting out on her bike Thursday would be the best way to get a workout in. We rode one of our normal routes and other then a few cars and RVs on 41 going out of town??? there was no signs of a major music fest. That is until we got back to town!!! There the cars were lined up on the highway to get in. I dropped Tracy off at her street to fight her way home and I left the traffic again and head to my house. I ended up with just over 31 miles.

This morning I got up and ran the 5 miles to the Rec Center, swam 1750 yards, and then ran the 5 miles home. I was soaked from the swim and must have been looking really rough because one of the ticker scaplers at the interstate asked me if I wanted some ice water. I declined but was sure wishing I had it a few more miles down the road.

I am not going to Bonnaroo but it sure is fun having all these people in town. I love living in a small town but it gives us the "big city" feel for a week. That's enough for me.

Last Chance to Slack

Training starts Sunday so this is my last week of slacking. I took full advantage this morning.
I planned to swim. The alarm went off at 5:30. I got up, peed, took of my PJs, got on the scale, decided I was too tired, put back on my PJs, and slept for another hour.
I am so exhusted from the weekend. One of my friends had her 40th birthday party Saturday night in Memphis. The kids and I drove down Friday. Angie and I stayed up drinking beer and catching up til late. Then I got up about 8:00am with a hangover and ran 7 miles in the heat. Spent the day by the pool and the night drinking again. Sunday I got up early and went to my friend Dawn's house. She was nice enough to keep my kids for me while I partied. Dawn and I hung out and drank wine. We tried to play some Wii Ski but didn't do too good, could have been the wine. Monday morning I got up and drove home.
These two weeks aren't just about drinking and eating. That has been a large part of it but I have done some training too.
The Sunday after the race I did nothing.
Monday evening I did ab ripper and back/chest weights.
Tuesday morning trainer ride 13 miles
Wednesday morning 3 mile run and toning class
Thursday morning 1500 yard swim
Friday morning 10.5 mile trainer ride and ab ripper
Then it was the party weekend with only the 7 mile run on Saturday.
Monday afternoon when I got home I did a 25.12 mile ride. It was 94 and sunny but I loved it!
Tuesday morning 6 mile run and ab ripper that evening.
Today was the skipped swim. I still plan to do weights tonight, maybe.
Tomorrow I ride and Friday I run. Saturday is still up in the air, maybe a final rest day.
I have enjoyed the lack of schedule and just doing a little something whenever I feel like it, but I am ready now. Time to get back to business. I am back on track with my diet and ready to start "The Plan".

Rock 'n RollMan Race Report

I got up early, before my alarm even went off. I hadn't slept well. I ate a Prue Protein bar and some Fig Newtons.
I got to the race site plenty early. I got body marked and set up my transition. Water temp was announced to be 77.5, wetsuits would be legal. Finally some good news.
I walked down to the beach and found a table to sit at. I sipped G2 and talked to some other racers. Before I knew it the race started. I was going out in wave seven, the last wave of the half. We had a fairly small wave and when the gun fired we were off. It was a single clockwise loop in a lake. When I practice swimming I breathe every third stroke so I am breathing on both sides. But in a race I panic and breathe every other stroke, on the left. It makes it hard to site on a clockwise course. I am sure I looked like a turtle when I looked for the markers. But for the most part, I just counted on the other swimmers and sighted off of them. The good thing about going out last is I never had anyone coming up from behind and was really excited when I started catching people from the waves ahead of me. I finally relaxed and thought about reaching and rolling. It was full contact swimming but at least there were no jelly fish and the water was smooth as glass. I made the final turn and swam for the beach. I caught up with the sprint distance racers and it got pretty crowded. I got out of the water and saw a 38 something on my watch and knew I had a PR swim. It is a pretty far uphill run from the beach to transition, so final 1.2 mile swim time was 40:00.
Of course there weren't many bikes left in transition by this point so it made mine easy to find. I got out of my wetsuit and into my bike shoes and helmet. I grabbed my bike and ran for the exit. T1 time 1:46
I quickly discovered that another advantage of going out in the last swim wave and only being a so-so swimmer was that I didn't get passed on the bike. I did all the passing. I knew the course was going to be hilly. I am not a strong cyclist and hills are not my friend. So I just told myself to do what I could. I ate shot bloks every 10 to 15 minutes and drank water. At the 15 mile water drop I grabbed a water and filled my aero bottle. I was disappointed that the water wasn't cold. I continued passing people. I had my computer set to show cadence and time. I never checked distance or average speed but I could tell from the mile markers and my time that I was on my way to a PR bike. But the hills never let up, it was one after the other. I have never said the f word so much in my life. The 30 mile and 45 mile water drops went smooth, well except I dropped the first bottle at the 30 and had to grab a second. But it didn't slow me down any. I finally saw the 50 mile marker and by my computer had 6 minutes to get a sub 3. I just kept saying push and pull. I made it to the dismount line. 56 mile bike 2:58:53
I ran my bike back to my rack. helmet off. hat on. bike shoes off. running shoes on. grabbed my gu and was out. T2-1:36
I took a Gatorade as I started the run. Ewww too sweet. The race site described the run as "a one loop course with 3 out and back sections. A rolling course with no serious climbs, it is the heat that makes this course difficult." And boy did the heat make it difficult but the hills were nothing to ignore either. My plan was to "run" from aid station to aid station. At each aid station I stopped and got a fresh wet towel that I kept around my neck, water, and ice to dump in my bra. I got orange slices and heed at a few stations. I got heed once thinking it was water (it was clear too) and dumped it over my head. Great now I am hot and sticky!!! I walked while I drank/ate. My mile splits were looking good. Could I PR this run too??? The heat was starting to get to me. I was getting a headache and my face felt like it was on fire. My shoes were soaked and I could feel blisters forming on my toes. I ran past a guy and he said at least I had the frogs in my shoes to keep me company. The walk breaks at aid stations got longer and so did my splits. I final got to the park entrance. Up the final hill, then the finish line was in site. I got to the chute and crossed the line. 13.1 mile run 2:06:26

I got my medal, an ice cold towel, and a bottle of water. They had a sprinkler tent set up and I stood under it for few minutes then went and found the beer tent. Best beer I have ever had!!! I hung out and talked for a while waiting on official results so I could get my official time. Results were posted.

Official time 5:48:38
I was the 22nd female to finish. Hmm I looked at the ages. I was 3rd in my age group. I decided to stick around for the awards. I went and put my bike and stuff in the car and got a fresh beer (or two).
The awards started. They went 3 deep in masters. Hmm even better for me. They did age group awards and I started to wonder how I would fair. 40-44 females. 1st place...Michele Emerson. Shocked I went and collected my award.

I left after that and went back to the hotel. My room key didn't work!!! Took it to the front desk to get it reprogrammed. I took a quick shower then got a beer and went to the pool. After a few more beers I decided to order pizza (I forgot to grab an Outback chicken sandwich at the post race party).
It was a great race. Very well run with lots of great volunteers. The aid stations were well stocked. It was hot and the course was tough but it was a great time. The best part...there is a race for everyone. Don't want to run? They have an aquabike. Don't want to swim? They have a duathlon. Just want to do one sport? They have a relay. Don't want to go long? They have a sprint.
I will be going back to Georgia someday and I will be riding lots of hills before I do!!