I did it! PR!!!!!!!

I did it! I set a new personal record on the Boulder Peak Course. I took eight minutes off last year (bike crash year) and 4:14 off my previous PR which I set two years ago!!!!!!!! I also learned some things along the way.

The Swim:

I had plenty of time to stand around before the swim. The transition area closed at 6:30 and I was in the last wave of females that didn't go off until 7:15. I thought my nerves would get the best of me, but it actually worked out well. I had lots of time to go to the bathroom, etc. Before I knew it, the wave before me was just about ready to go off. I jumped in the water to warm up, swam a bit, and felt good! I went over and stood around with all the other nervous women that I'm sure were thinking the same thing, "Can we just blow the horn already?"

I start towards the back of the pack because I'm not a super fast swimmer and I know it. The horn blows and everybody runs, jumps, splashes, we're in the water! Now my coach had told me to chill out the first half, and I could feel my heartrate jumping sky high. Yes, I got kicked in the face, I got hit, all the traditional good stuff, but nothing horrible. I realized I needed more oxygen to settle down. I started breathing every two strokes on my right side. I've been working the last two years on my bilateral breathing, but my heartrate dropped immediately when I started taking in more oxygen and breathing on one side. I worked so hard to teach myself to breath on both sides, but out the window it goes! (I ended up swimming about 70% unilateral and 30% bilateral.)

Now a funny thing happens to me as I'm swimming the first 500 meters or so--I'm truly jockeying for position. All the way to the first turn buoy! I'm in a mess of women! I'm usually left out to dry after the first 25 strokes!!! I'm kind of pumped about this! It's also kind of wavy. I think some boats must have went by or something. It's not ideal, but I'm kind of excited about it because I know this is good Ironman practice! And I'm doing just fine!!!!

I hit the first turn buoy. It's a sharp 90 degree turn. I turn and just swim. By the time I looked up to sight, I realized I didn't cut the turn sharp enough. I made more of a diagonal turn. I saw a school of women swimming upstream in a line farther over and they were now all passing me. That saddened me, but I looked at my watch, and I was making great time. I got myself reoriented and swam straight towards the next turn buoy. It, too, had a sharp 90 degree turn. Did I learn my lesson the first time? Apparently not. I did the same thing again. Only this time, when I realized what I did, I looked over and saw a freeway of orange caps (the men in the wave after me) and I was suddenly quite alright swimming outside the rush hour traffic lane.

I tried to get in a nice groove and even went back to bilateral breathing. There was one more turn buoy, and I DID learn my lesson on that one. I knew I lost some time when I shot past the buoys, and it was now the second half of the swim. I definitely started to push myself. I swam hard from the last buoy into shore. I refused to look at my watch until I hit the timing mat. I ran, I didn't walk up the sandy hill to the transition area! Did I do it???? Did I lose too much time???? Beep Beep went the transition mat. I looked down at my watch.

Swim Final: 35:42. 2005 swim time: 39:52.

I was pumped. I took four minutes off my swim!!! Yahoo!!!!!!

T1: I was able to do a couple of open water swims this year, and that paid off. I made a couple mental notes on how to get my wetsuit off in a timely manner. This was the easiest that puppy has ever come off. AND, there were still a lot of bikes left! There were still a lot of women in the water! Time: 2:21 2005: 2:21

The Bike:

As I left T1 one of the volunteers yelled at me. "Good luck! I worked with you at the sprint!" I didn't stop to look, but recognized the voice. See! Volunteering is just good Karma!!! I waved, yelled hi, and took off. I felt awesome. Calm down... Calm down I had to remind myself. The road out of the rez has some rolling hills. I never expected this out of myself, but I found myself in my aero bars right away. (Used them a lot!) Calm down. Calm down!!! It's all uphill after that. It's a slow gradual hill that has kicked my butt in years prior because I was tired from the swim. This year I just had to keep reminding myself to chill out.

The hill starts to get steeper... And steeper... Huff and Puff... Still getting steeper! Oh my goodness, did the road move this year????? Perfect Circles. Perfect Circles. I do okay on hills, so I'm passing just as many people as there are men passing me, which makes me feel good, but it's really hurting. My husband and I didn't get any training rides in up here this year... I've done some hills, but no serious hill training because Florida is FLAT! Near the top there were a bunch of people with cowbells and even some guys dressed up as devils cheering people on. That was really cool. I'm huffing and puffing so loud at this point!!! I looked down and suddenly see that I'm going 5.5 mph (at one point I was going 3.5 mph!!! Yes, it is possible to still stand upright at that speed!) Now I'm going 5.8, 6.0, ALRIGHT!!!! I'm gonna make it!!!! Old Stage plays some little tricks on you though. You think you're at the top, but you still have to travel uphill for awhile, just not at such a steep grade.

I skip the aid station at the top. I had some Clif Bloks tucked in my jersey (thanks to the Hubbardusky Athletic Supporters) and took in some water. Time to fly.... I pass the 35 mph police radar sign... I was going 35 so I slowed down to just under 30 (I get scared that fast anyways--they have a speed limit here because somebody was badly injured on the course a couple years ago.) Anyways, I'm flying. I pass the "Bear Crossing" sign (yep, somebody hit a bear flying down it last year!) I throw it in my big ring even though I haven't trained in my big gear this year. I'm feeling good.

There are some beautiful flat, flat sections after that, and after going uphill for so long, you feel like you're still flying. I don't know how fast I was going, because I switched my cycle computer at the top of Old Stage Hill. If I were going to PR I had to get it to 16.1 mph average pace. I did 16.0 the last two years, and I know that I always get tired on the last stretch, so I needed some cushion when I slowed down. (In retrospect I should have just left it recording time. What was I thinking?)

At the top of Old Stage I had an avg. of 10.5 mph. I just watched it climb the rest of the ride. I made sure to drink a lot and eat the rest of my Clif Bloks. I ended up yo-yoing with another girl on the course. She'd pass me, I'd pass her. After about the 4th time, I got a kick and yelled "Tag! You're it!" As I passed her. You never know how people will take that, but she was a good sport. She yelled something back when she passed me next. I beat her into transition, but she arrived shortly after. I told her at T2 "The run is all yours!" It's pretty typical for me to pass people on the bike and then see every one of them pass me on the run.

So, I'm riding strong and feeling good, eating, drinking. I'm coming up on Aid station #2. My goal was to grab some Gatorade at this station and make sure I drink it!!!!!! I am not bonking on the run today!!! I grab it, I squeeze... Nothing is coming out!!! I squeeze again... Nothing... NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! The volunteer pulled off the plastic wrap, but he forgot to pull off the styrofoam cap under the lid! NOOOOOO!!!! I need this! This is the first year I've actually gained enough bike handling skills to take my water bottles in and out of the bike cages, but this is too much for me to do while riding! Do I pull over? I try to twist the cap while it's in my cage, but the whole bottle just spins with the cap. Ugh. I need that Gatorade! So veering all over the road, I managed to get the lid off, pull off the styrofoam thingy, and put the lid on. I managed to keep riding while I did it. I didn't stop! I was so proud of myself!!! That was a big achievement for me!

After getting something to drink, I'm feeling good. My coach told me to push the second half of each event, so I decide to really push it. And I push it. And I pass people. And I pass more people. This is great!!!! I watched my avg. mph slowly go up and then it just kind of stuck at 15.9. Oh well, I PR'd in the swim, I'm okay if I don't PR on the bike. I get to the section of the road near the end where you ride along the highway. It's always windy, and while I don't think it's uphill, it always feels like it is. Only... I'm still flying on my bike... I'm not tired in the least! I'm feeling great! I'm still passing men right and left!!!! 16.0. I hit it! Then 16.1, then 16.2, and just before getting back to the rez, it says 16.3 mph! (Official came in at 16.4!) I PR'd on the bike!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bike Final: 1:35:19 2005: 1:37:25

T2: I had a Nalgene with some water in it. I drank a sip and then dumped half the bottle on my head. Ah, that felt good. Time to go! I added a minute to my T2 time this time, but I also had the farthest bike rack from both the bike entrance and run exit. So I'm not too worried about losing a minute here. Last time I had the rack closest to the bike entrance and run exit. It was more logistics than me sitting around in my lounge chair. Time 2:36 2005: 1:27

The Run:

I was absolutely pumped as I started the run. I PR'd on both the swim and bike and I was determined to do well on the run today. Slow down. Coach Eddie told me to especially make sure I start the run sloooow. At mile one I look down, 11:15. That's actually a really good race pace for me. If I can keep that pace, I'll PR on the run, too! And I'm forcing myself to go slow! Yahoo! About 1 1/2 miles I get little chills. Yeah, it's hot out. I see my husband running at me. I yell to let him know I PR'd on the swim. He slaps my hand but doesn't say anything. He's almost done and very tired at this point.

I don't start struggling until I get close to mile 3. I can feel myself getting slower. I'm even telling myself it's okay, I need to slow down so I can maintain. There is a girl in front of me that keeps stopping to walk, then as soon as she starts running she passes me again. She's wearing an outfit from a tri club in my area. I strike up a conversation with her. "We should hook up because we have similar pacing!" She comments, "Yeah, but you can manage to run the whole way!" That made me feel good, but I think she jinxed me. I always walk the aid stations and I'm okay with that. But at mile 3 1/2, my heart rate was just sky high. I stopped for a minute. Problem is that now there are fewer and fewer people on the course. I was the last of the women to leave this morning... Lots of people are walking... I'd push, I'd see someone walking, and my feet just seemed to like the idea. My head didn't and internally there was a battle between my brain and my feet, but my feet were winning.

I made it to mile 5. If I can run a ten minute mile, I'll break even on the run! I tried to push it, but still leave some in the tank to sprint out the end. I started huffing so hard I thought for sure I was going to hyperventilate. I stopped for a minute. The cool thing was that the pros were now into the last part of their race. So I did have the pro's passing me now. Didn't really motivate me though. Another age grouper came by and commented that in a rested sprint she couldn't run that fast. I agreed with her! I tried to pick up the pace again. I tried! I had to stop and catch my breath one more time. There it is! The finish line! People are cheering. I'm pushing, but deep down I know that my legs aren't going any faster. The announcer says my name, I tried to sprint, I really did, but I had nothing left. I stopped just after the finish line to bend over and catch my breath. My hands slid right off my knees because everything is sweaty. My husband yells to back up and pose by the finish line so he can take picture. I stand up, think about this for a miniscule of a second and walk away. Are you crazy? I want water. I want to sit down. Whatever picture he got will have to do. I'm done!

Run Final: 1:15:43 2005: 1:13:05

So... I'm now dizzy, tired, and happy because I knew that I PR'd. I know that I pushed hard and gave it everything I had. I know that when I do my half-ironman in three weeks, I'll attack it totally different. That one is just about surviving. I will go slow in that one (Is it really in three weeks? Agh!!!) Today I was driven to do my best time yet, and I did it. I've thought long and hard about that stupid run. I didn't bonk, I didn't, so why was it so hard? I'm sure the heat was part of it. It got up to 98 degrees. I think I just pushed my HR too high and it was that lactate thing. I gave it all I had. In retrospect, I realize that I only took two minutes off my bike. I thought it was more when I was out there. I can't help but wonder if I wasn't trying to be a rock star on my bike if I would have had more energy in the reserves for the run. Two minutes on the bike was hard to take off! I had to work hard for that two minutes. Losing the same two minutes on the run is reeeeeeally easy to lose. Just stop to walk twice and it's lost forever.

Oh well, I'm not "racing" anymore Olympic distance races this season. From here on out, it's just about surviving. So long as I can drag my butt across the finish line on the next one I'll have a new PR. I will take the bike sloooooow. But I'm pretty scared. No matter how slow I go on that bike, after 56 miles, I'm going to be tired. And 13.1 miles of running--it's going to be hard not to stop and walk. Why do I do this to myself?

Overall BP time: 3:31:44 2005: 3:35:58

And the picture of me crossing the finish line? In my new tri top and shorts that I bought with my birthday money from my mom and grandma? (Thanks mom!) This is it....

Apparently, everytime my father-in-law snapped a picture, he was actually turning the camera on and off. When my husband figured out what he was doing and showed him, I was crossing the finish line... That's why he wanted me to pose at the finish line... Just my luck.