Somtimes You're the Windshield, Sometimes You're the Bug

My sprint tri at the Louisville Landsharks Triathlon this morning was a very humbling experience. I wasn't really nervous until the few seconds prior to the swim start when it dawned on me that I haven't done this in over three years, and haven't even been in the water in the same time period. Donning a wetsuit (the water temp was 75 this morning) and ready for what lie ahead, I was near the beginning of the pack with other triathletes, which included both the sprint and Olympic folks that all went out at the same time. Off we went with Todd Heady's countdown and, surprisingly, the water felt great. I started out with a freestyle stroke that quickly got a lot more tiring than it needed to be this early in the race. I thought I was holding my own, although I was getting passed by many folks, when I looked back about half-way to the turn-around point to see that there were only 3-4 other swimmers behind me. Still, I wasn't too concerned at this point because I know how slow I am, and I wasn't exactly going for a great finishing time anyway - just looking for a finish. At a few points prior to that turn-around though, I can say that I thought about telling the kayakers that I was done for - just take me in and call it a day. Luckily, my pride got the best of me and I muddled through the remainder of the swim. Sometimes I did a backstroke, sometimes a breast stroke, and often times a doggy paddle just to move forward little by little while catching my breath and relieving my already-tired body. I can't tell you how good it felt to finally be within eye-sight of dry land, and the feel of slimy, slick algae on my little pigs never felt so good walking up that boat ramp. I had an official finishing time of 28:31 for the 750 meters. On the way up the ramp to T1 I felt a little dizzy and light-headed, and that stayed with me for a while. I was pretty tired from that first leg, and sitting down to get my wet suit stripped, as well as to slide into my cycling shoes was a welcome little break. I climbed on the bike and off I went, ready for the somewhat-hilly 12-miler when, in anticipation for the upcoming hill, I attempted to get into an easier gear when my shifters malfunctioned. I hadn't made it to the bottom of the hill yet when I turned around and headed back to transition. I saw my boyfriend and started to cry, telling him that, once again, my shifters weren't working and I couldn't do the race while being stuck in a hard gear. We stood there for a minute or two when I decided, "screw it," I was going to at least give it another shot and see what happens. Off I went again, and I at least got a little bit up the hill when my quads and mindset got the best of me again and I climbed off the bike for a second time walking it, once again, back towards transition. I met up with the bf earlier this time though, and broke down sobbing - I had never NOT finished a race before. Dead last? Sure. Twice. But never DNF. I sat on the ground and wailed like a baby feeling totally defeated and frustrated that my bike was not cooperating. Once again, we messed with the gears/shifters a bit more and were finally (hopefully) able to get them in working order. I blew my nose and, still feeling a bit beat, hopped on my noble steed for the third and final time to conquer this darn leg. Up that hill I went and, despite feeling that my heart was going to pound out of my chest, my legs held strong and my motto became "higher cadence, lower energy" as I peddled my way towards the entrance to the park. Turning right onto the main highway I looked down to see that I had about 4.5 miles or so before the turn-around. I felt fairly well throughout this portion of the race, even though I was being passed in the other direction by several triathletes who were well on their way back into the park to complete the run. A few small but not-too-steep hills gave me a bit of a run for my money, but for the most part I felt strong and ready for the run. Turning back into the park I could see several people nearly finished with the run, but several more were just starting and I felt that, despite my setback, I could possibly finish out the race without a dead last place on my record (once again). Final time on the bike: 1:08:19 - I predict that meltdown cost me about 10 minutes or so. T2 took a bit longer than T1 since I had to pull on dry socks over still-wet feet, down a Gu for some energy, and give the bf a quick update on my mental status - better, by the way. I walked out of T2 and decided to walk up that first hill while working out my Jell-O bike legs. Once I began running a bit though, they loosened up and off I went. My cardio was feeling good, legs a bit tired, but overall a decent run. Once again, lots of folks passing me in the other direction, but with the support I was getting along the way with numerous Landsharks cheering me on, I had no doubt that I could finish strong. The turn-around came and as I headed back towards the finish line I remember smiling - something I can't remember doing much during any other race. I even caught up with a fella that ended up doing an Aqua-run due to his own bike malfunction, and we talked a bit to pass the time during our last mile. Cresting that last small hill and curve, the long downhill came into view and I looked forward in anticipation finishing out this experience. Down the parking lot I came, body feeling great and cheers all around as I finally crossed that mat to collect my medal and much-needed bottle of water - a slow and steady 37:53. Overall, despite the bike issues and struggle-laden swim, I had a great race. It gives me a good idea of where I am with each of the three disciplines and how much work I'm going to need over the next year to complete Ironman. If anything, I need some good coaching on my swim, to get stronger on the bike, and to know that I have plenty of people that will be out there to support me on race day. I'm definitely one of those people that require much kudos and validation to get those mental blocks out of the way. Official finishing time overall: 2:19:24. Not great, but definitely better than the millions of people who decided to sleep in this morning! :)

Urban Bike Adventure

It was a chilly morning when I woke up and let the dogs out as I thought, "Man, if it's this cold at the beginning of September, how cold will it be for my Ironman in October next year?" Never fear, IMLOU is more than a year away and I had more important things to worry about this morning - like getting to Bicycle Sport to get a new battery for my long-dead bike computer, making a quick detour before heading downtown to get a long-sleeve shirt for the race since all I had brought was a tank top, and convincing myself that, despite the cool breeze in the air and having biked no more than 10.7 miles in the past year or more, I could actively compete in this downtown bike race. Ah yes, the Urban Bike Adventure. This would be mine and Alicia's third consecutive year doing this race, and typically find ourselves early-registrants due to the good times that we've had in the past. Not to mention that some friends of ours, Bill and Lisa (aka Team Nowax), have also competed in the race the past three years and we've since had a friendly little competition going on with these two. 2012 was only the second year that the race was held in Louisville, so it proved to be rather small. I'd say 20-30 teams of 2-4 people. The size, mixed with mine and Alicia's competitive nature, meant that we took home a second place overall win, as well as the first-place female-only team win in 2012. Last year the race was A LOT larger, and looked to be inundated with more kids and families, however, the distance that we had to bike (going from Downtown to Cherokee Park to Germantown and back to 4th Street Live again) must have scared some folks off because for 2014, we were back down to maybe 20-30 teams tops. Shortly after arriving and signing in we met up with Bill and Lisa to get in our annual "smack talk." They finished before us last year, so today's race was to be the tie-breaker for our two teams. The premise of the race: Each team gets a sheet of clues, which you have to decipher and then bike around town collecting photographic proof that you have either visited or achieved each challenge. A few examples of this years race were to convince random strangers to 1) strike the Heisman trophy pose, 2) play "war" with Alicia and I, 3) give either one of us a piggy-back ride, and 4) engage in a fake kung-fu fight. Beyond this, the challenges that my team-mate and I had to conquer were to take pictures at various locations around town such as The Brown Hotel, The Lincoln statue on the Riverfront, the Desert Storm memorial in Jeffersonville and Vernon Lanes Bowling Alley just to name a few. We also had to take video of us singing the Big Mac theme song in front of an actual McDonald's restaurant. Good times. Most of these challenges we took care of right away, as the folks we passed on the street were more than accommodating to our strange requests. This means we knocked out half the list before even getting a mile down the road. Our Achilles heel during the first part of the race was trying to figure out where the Desert Storm Memorial was. Neither of us had heard of it, and Google wasn't much help (yes, you can use any source to help figure out the clues). So we continued to head to the places we were sure of, hoping that we weren't unknowingly passing by this memorial in the interim. And this is where Alicia and I differ on strategy. She likes to hurriedly figure out the clues and haul-ass to the site regardless of if we know for sure where everything else is. I like to calmly take my time, figure it all out, and logistically plan where we should bike so that we're not constantly back-tracking. After making our way to the Big Four Bridge for a ridiculous cookie challenge (after each of us carrying a golf ball on a tee held in our hands for probably 50 feet, either of us had to get an Oreo from our forehead to our mouth without using our hands - just as hard as it sounds, BTW), we peddled to Jeffersonville to get a pic with a candy store before heading back to the 'Ville and up River Road to Frankfort Ave. and over to Story Ave. to "strike" a pose in front of Vernon Lanes. It was only here, after getting some much-needed and kind assistance from another team, that we found out that the memorial is, in fact, in Jeffersonville. So guess who's going across the Big Four Bridge for the second time that day? At this point we had only biked 6 miles, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but the fact that we were still trying to beat Bill and Lisa, coupled with the hills that we would have to bike up, yet again, on both sides of the bridge, tarnished my momentum just a bit. As I made my way onto the Louisville side of the bridge I saw that our frenemies had just begun the "cookie challenge." Not knowing if they had already made their way over to Indiana or not, I hauled butt up the curved structure for my second Jeffersonville visit. By the time Alicia caught up with me just 30-45 seconds later I had still not figured out where this place was. To top it off, while looking around I spot Bill coming off the bridge with Lisa falling in not far behind. Luckily, the four of us put our heads together and biked along the Jeffersonville waterfront to eventually find, salute, and photograph our respective teams in front of the memorial. Making our way back, Bill and Lisa thought we were kidding when we said we had already gotten our picture at the candy store, so their surprise when we made our way back onto the bridge was an astounding "Oh!" With only one more monument to visit, Alicia and I were feeling pretty good that we would win back both our title, and bragging rights, from Team Nowax. Making our way back across the bridge, Alicia spotted our target and we quickly made our way over to a statue of Abraham Lincoln for one last click and then back to Fourth Street Live. Still not knowing for sure where Bill and Lisa were in their quest, we maneuvered our way through downtown traffic trying not to get hit, and found ourselves pulling up to the Sports and Social Club in no time. We got checked in and showed our lovely photos to the official, then stuck around outside to cheer Team Nowax in. When it was all said and done all of us agreed it was a great time. We all enjoyed the race being smaller again this year, and as the weather warmed up and the "catching up" commenced over the unhealthiest of lunches, it turned out to be a great day for an awesome race. Alicia and I ended up coming in 6th overall, while Bill and Lisa took home a 10th place win. Regardless of place or finishing time, this is a really fun race that combines some of my favorite ways to spend a weekend afternoon: biking, racing, laughter, friendly competition, and memories. Until next year....

Pre-Training Begins

I managed my first bike ride in over a year today and I must say, although there are certain parts of it that I love, it was not without its struggles. Firstly, I have never been hugely knowledgeable about how to work the gears. For instance, I simply go by "feel" rather than knowing exactly what gear to be in during a downhill, uphill, flat surface, etc. So as I climbed my first big hill visions of my second Olympic-distance tri flashed before my eyes. You know, the one where I couldn't get enough momentum going up the steep hill and became increasingly slower over time to the point that gravity took over and I dumped myself off my bike, ego and all? Yeah....so..... as I was making my way up this hill today I started messing with my gears and, unknowingly until it was too late, found myself in the hardest gear imaginable, mashing my pedals just to keep up enough speed to get up this darn thing. At one point I really thought I was going to fall over - and right in front of a golfer nonetheless. But alas, determination and quad-strength prevailed and I was able to crest the hill and finally catch my breath as well as a small break - able to change gears in the process. As I rounded the corner onto a long stretch of flat land I attempted to mess with the gears again, however, I found that they wouldn't budge at all. Neither one. So now I'm stuck in a relatively easy gear (again, I couldn't tell you what rig (derailer?) the chain was in because I'm a total dunce when it comes to bicycle anatomy - full disclosure, I just Googled "parts of a bicycle" to find that word "derailer"), but suffice it to say the remaining hills were relatively easy to maneuver, while my cadence on the flats was now much faster than it needed to be as my torque was too much for this easier gear. I decided to continue on though since I was only a few miles into my ride at this point (Oh yeah, the battery for my bike computer had also gone kaput over the last year so I could only guess how far I'd gone or what my mph was). Coming out of a relatively flat part of the park I could have turned left and headed home, giving me about a 5-6 mile ride, or go straight and muster up the strength (both mental and physical) to conquer the rather large hills I knew were lying in wait like a soccer-mom at the Grand Opening of a Starbucks. Surprisingly one of my nemesis hills ("Dog Hill" for those of you familiar with Cherokee Park) was rather easy to climb and I felt nice and accomplished when I found myself at the top. The long, steadily-inclining path up to Hogan's Fountain wasn't bad either, but I found my heart-rate took a little longer to slow back down by the time I completed that doozy. As I made my way back towards the final home stretch I found myself feeling optimistic about this ride, as well as the upcoming triathlon in a few weeks. It seems like I have to get past the first 5 miles or so before my body gets used to the ride and then I'm fairly comfortable and confident after that. It's the same with running and swimming too. As long as I get past the first 3-4 miles of a run, I'm good. Prior to that my entire body feels like lead and I question my ability to go on. And as soon as I get into a good groove swimming laps in the pool, I feel like I could swim all day. Slowly, of course, but endurance is what I'm going for here, ya dig? Anyway...back to the bike ride. I turned my last corner onto PeeWee Reese to head back towards Taylorsville Road and ultimately home when I came upon my last two hills. The first one was a killer. Of course I knew it was coming as I had just come down the backside of the darn thing not 40 minutes prior - but the fairly steep grade was still enough to take my breath away and grip my chest like a vice. The second wasn't nearly so bad and I recall being thankful that everything from then on out was a straight, flat ride in. After logging my route on Map My Ride I discovered that I had accomplished 10.75 miles. (I had to stop myself from typing "a mere 10.75 miles" just now since I'm trying to not be so hard on myself and at least give myself SOME credit for starting over somewhere.) As I've written in the previous post, the triathlon in two weeks calls for a 12 mile bike, so getting out and doing this mileage after not being out for a year, and managing to do it with some killer hills at that, gives me a sense of confidence that I can do this thing - even if my legs did feel like Jell-O afterwards. So on the agenda for the coming weeks - get the bike looked at to find out what's going on with the gears, get at least 3-4 swims in to get used to the water and working on my form, and have fun doing the Urban Bike Adventure next Saturday (three years running) with my bestie Alicia.

Going All Out (Or In?)

So I've been thinking about getting back into triathlons for a while. I enjoy the long distance running, but I didn't (don't) want to stop doing tri's altogether because I really did enjoy them when I was competing - three years ago. Yes, it was May 2011 when I completed my last tri. I had come in dead-last (again) in my third Olympic-distance race, and I think I just decided that training for long-distance running was less time consuming. I hadn't trained well for that last race, which probably contributed to my last-place finish (actually, last place never bothered me much - just being out there doing it was always enough. Besides, I got the same medal as the first place guy, right?) But after reading, seeing, hearing about all of my Louisville Landshark buddies competing in the Ironman Louisville race this year, I decided that it was encouragement enough for me to get back out there. So.... just so happens that the Landsharks are putting on a Sprint/Oly race in a few weeks and I'm already signed up. You see, I'm one of those people that will not get out there and run/bike/swim if I'm not signed up for, and need to actually train for anything specific. (Well, let's be honest - in the not-so-distant past I wouldn't even train for events I was signed up for, I would just go out there on race day and wing it. Something I don't recommend, by the way). But, with my newfound enthusiasm I signed up for the sprint distance race (750 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run) and am gonna get out there and do my best. I feel I've already got a pretty good base going with my Orange Theory workouts, so the run is the least of my worries. I haven't, however, been on my bike in a year and even then only got one ride in. But, again, with OTF under my belt I figure a couple of rides out on the bike between now and race day will be plenty to get me prepared for that 12-miler. Now the swim.....well.... that's a little more complicated. I seriously cannot remember doing any lap swimming since that last triathlon more than three years ago. I still have the concept down - I mean, I remember what I'm SUPPOSED to do - I just haven't done it. So, I went to Mary T. today and got a punch-card for 12 visits, of which I'll probably utilize two per week leading up to the race. All of this combined, I'm pretty confident that I can pull this off. Again, I will not be, and don't expect to be, the fastest gal out there. And if I do happen to come in dead last once again - so be it. I mean, I gotta start back somewhere, right? Besides, it's the perfect comeback race for what I'll be enduring in another 13 months. Ironman Louisville. Yes kids, you read that right. I am planning on (Oh hell, what do I mean "planning" on? I have actually SIGNED UP/REGISTERED for Ironman Louisville.) This will be my first full Ironman distance race. I plan on doing a few Olympics beforehand to get prepared, and maybe even a half-Iron distance as well. I'd like to (and hear that it's beneficial) to get a few Century rides in on the bike beforehand - something I know I'll need if not for physical fitness than for mental preparedness of being on a bike for 6-7 hours. I'm pretty pumped about it at this point, and although I've struggled with just the marathon portion of this race in the past, I feel that proper training and drive will go a long way. Besides, I do have a full 13 months to train - the first 7 of which will probably be more or less building a better base with which to start off my REAL training in April. So, without further ado - let the tri training commence!