Reviving the Blog! - Catching up....

As life has continued to get busier, my blog has sat lonely and mute.  My last post was after Ironman Arizona in November 2011.  A painful character-building day where I completely blew up on the run and brought home a finish time much slower than I had hoped for...but the good news was I managed a podium finish with an AG 3rd place.  Sometimes you still catch a break when you least expect it.

2012 brought another busy year of life and racing.  With a 2 week trip to Australia in the spring, hosting several international triathletes in our home and feeling a little frazzled by the busy pace of life, my husband Warren and I decided we’d take a break from Ironman racing.  I wavered between missing the feeling being very fit and of working in a disciplined manner toward an Ironman goal race, and the feeling of enjoying not having that big training burden hovering overhead.  It was a good year of racing shorter events, with a couple of 70.3’s thrown in just to enjoy the distance.

The Baker’s Team Era

As a member of the Erin Baker’s Triathlon Team for the past 4 years, I had the opportunity to represent a great company and be associated with a wonderful and talented group of athletes.  The Baker’s team mission includes a strong “give back” directive, and its athletes raised money for different chapters of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. The Club I chose to fundraise for was our local club in Fort Collins.  I helped organize a special “Day for Kids” event, and recruited college students from the triathlon clubs at Colorado State and University of CO to volunteer that day. The college kids seemed to enjoy the experience as much as the little kids! I got to visit the Clubs on several occasions and interact with the kids and the staff.  It was such a pleasure to be able to help them financially and to see the money help them in their work that is so important to families and communities.

Newest Chapter begins!

This year I am thrilled to get the opportunity to join and help manage the new Ironman Foundation/Newton Running Ambassador Team. I just love the idea of making my triathlon effort and experience about something bigger than just me and my athlete ego.    I’ve found that triathletes are generally fun people who get that life can and should be an adventure. I love that us mere mortals share the course with the triathlon gods and goddesses and that we understand the journey we share.   Triathlon training is both time-intensive and energy-intensive, and Ironman training can be close to all-consuming, especially when placed on top of a busy work schedule.  I’ve found that after crossing over to the sunny side of 50 years old(that’s my spin and I’m sticking with it!), it’s not as easy as it used to be to crank out lots of training miles and yards on land, wheels and water - and be able to bounce back the next day ready for more.  Mental and physical recovery is as important as any training done. I’m FINALLY learning to respect this fact, so I’m becoming less likely to toast myself day after day even though I’m feeling run down, or skimp on sleep by staying up til midnight working.

My coach is Tim Reed, a young Australian professional triathlete who first did a homestay with us back in 2010.  He is quite a student of the sport, and wisely advises me on all things triathlon and talks me down from the proverbial ledge when I lose sight of reason and take myself too seriously.

First Race of the Season

My first race of the season was Ironman Texas 70.3 in Galveston Texas, last weekend. The whole trip to TX is a long sad one; here’s the condensed version.

I was looking forward to spending it with my daughter....had a couple of business meetings planned, but it was to be a girls’ road trip weekend, hanging out and having fun and me racing.  

However, things didn’t go at all as planned..

Thursday: flew to Austin, stayed overnight with daughter Erica

Friday: customer meeting in Austin; then drove with Erica to Texas City between Houston and Galveston.  Dinner with E that night, laughs looking at Facebook posts on my iPad.

Saturday: 2:30am call from hotel management informs us that E’s car was among many that had been broken into in hotels around the area.  Window smashed, Erica hysterical, big mess.  TX City Police reports, general mayhem for a couple of hours. Back to sleep for maybe an hour eventually. Woke up tired and stressed.

Off to the race site to check in and pick up my bike from TriBikeTransport.  Quick 45 minute ride to check out the bike. 
Took a look at the water; calm and nice.  Swimming can be a source of anxiety for me, but this looked just fine.

Drove back to Texas City, then drove an hour to have Erica's car window replaced. 
I had realized Saturday morning that I had left my iPad in the car, so it of course had been stolen. Another call to police to amend report.  Realized I could track my iPad using the Track my iPhone app, and found it on GPS two hours north of where we were.  Reported it to TX City Police, who said it wasn’t their jurisdiction, and that I should report to Houston PD.  Reported to Houston PD, but they said it wasn’t their jurisdiction, should report to Harris County Sheriff.  Reported to Harris County, who said we had to drive up there to meet with the deputy and show him the tracking.  We did that.  The deputy knocked on the door of the house where the iPad was, the resident denied having it - and the officer had no authority to take it any further.  He could not enter without a search warrant, which, of course, you couldn’t get til Monday from a judge.  Of course by then, the iPad would be long gone somewhere else. The whole thing just seems so wrong. What good is knowing where it is if you can’t get it?

So, knowing I’d never see it again, I remotely wiped the iPad clean and digitally kissed it goodbye.  The good news is that AT&T was able to blacklist the iPad as stolen, and make it so that if anyone ever tries to set up a data plan on it, it will flag law enforcement. 

Saturday evening: returned to Texas City, grabbed a sandwich(oops, realized we never got around to lunch) and started gathering up my things to race the next day. Off to bed way too late, then too wired to sleep. Oh, yeah, and what’s with this cough that started on Friday?  Nope, not thinking about that anymore.

Sunday: Race Day  3:30am wakeup, off to the race at 5:00; feeling a bit tired but adrenaline is kicking in.  Feeling like I can do this after all.

• Swim:  I’m in the first AG wave at 7:10.  Wetsuit swim in the bay at 65 degrees. Swim feels relatively low stress until the waves behind me start to catch up and swim over top of me.  I start taking a wider path to avoid aggressive traffic, and of course, time lost.  Swim time slower than even my usual slow swim.  Shake it off and move on. Heading toward T1, a volunteer directs me down wrong lane even I had a feeling it was wrong.  Lost a minute or so looking for spot. Off on the bike.
• Bike: An out and back relatively flat course paralleling the shore on Galveston Island. Historically quite windy.  I was holding a decent mph the first 40 miles, but stiff headwind appeared the last 16 and made for tough going in last long stretch.  Pushed through harder and adjusted body position on bike to use some different muscles - a decision my body punished me for on the run. Possibly not enough calories in to set me up well for the run either.
• Run: Felt lousy from the first mile.  Nothing left in the legs after the bike ride and maybe the fatigue of the weekend caught up with me.  The run is usually my favorite part of any triathlon, but I literally willed my way through one mile at a time, managing the negative thoughts screaming in my head, but really not enjoying a minute of it.  Well, OK, I guess the last tenth of a mile after passing mile 13 was pretty fun.  :-)  



A Familiar IM Sight!



Swim Course 

• Overall: Finished a disappointing 7th in my age group, waaaay off the podium and further still from a Vegas slot.  However, the race was well-organized and well-executed start to finish; kudos to the organizers.  I think I could improve on my time if I had another go at it...

My Texas Entourage!  (Erica)

Beat myself up for a day or so about performing so poorly, then let it go.  At the end of the day, it’s not life-and-death, it’s sport and I live to race better another day.  I did learn some lessons about preparation, pacing, persevering and nutrition.

I had a meeting with customers in Beaumont TX on Monday, and was to fly back to CO on Tuesday.  However, due to the big snowstorm back home, flights cancelled so I was delayed getting back til Wednesday night.  Great...one more night in Texas!  Gotta say while I love Austin, not so much a fan of the Houston area.  Ridiculous traffic and not a great vibe there.

So, I'm spinning it as I've gotten the bad race of the season behind me already!  Time to get back to work and shake off this trip and this race.

The great part of the trip was hanging with my girl, Erica!

Cheers, everyone!

Ironman Arizona Race Report

Prelude to the big Day:

Last November, I was on the high that follows you when you qualify for and finish the Ironman World Championship in Kona.  So the natural thing to do was sign up for another Ironman, which of course, must be done a year in advance.  Warren and I chose Ironman Arizona. I raced there in April of 2007 and knew it to be a relatively flat bike and run course, but also knew that the weather and water temperature were highly variable. 

This racing season has been a mixed bag of injury management, swim frustration, disaster races and PR races. George and Jane Esahak-Gage provided me with excellent coaching guidance the first half of the year, and Tim Reed has been my triathlon coach since July.  Tim is a professional triathlete from Australia, and has done a homestay with us the past two summers. Because I was looking to bring my performance to a bit higher level and to address some weaknesses, I told Tim I was willing to do the work he thought would be necessary to achieve that. The work he prescribed was different indeed, and it was challenging.  He made me go to Masters Swim workouts that I did not want to go to. I often had 3 workouts a day, and I was scrambling at times but figured out a way to get all the work done with rare exceptions. I developed a lingering fatigue but seemed to find new energy in my last taper week.  

Tim had started following the Paleo diet which seemed to be working for him, so I did too. I was Nazi-diligent about eating well.  I started eating a lot more protein including red meat, in an attempt to get leaner and more muscular. I said “no” to wine and other alcohol and sweets and junk food.  Warren demonstrated the inequity of the genders as he was still eating ice cream many nights and polishing off a bottle of wine - and getting more fit and lean all the way. His body is always ready to forgive his transgressions but mine has never shown me the same margin for error.  So not fair...but I digress.

In the weeks before the race, we checked the weather in Tempe and the water temperature in Tempe Town Lake where we would swim. The water was around 60 degrees and a week before the race, the 10-day forecast predicted a chilly rainy raceday.  I spent too much energy stressing over this before finally just mentally letting it go a few days before the race.

My goals for the race were:

1 - Finish time under 13 hours

2 - Swim time 1 hour 30 mins

3 - Bike time 6 hours

4 - Run time 4 hours 30 mins

Notice I didn’t add “enjoy the day” to the goal list this time.  In the past I have enjoyed my Ironman races - and I haven’t suffered through any of them too badly.  My effort in some races might be characterized as doing a kind of  “lah-de-dah” along and “have fun.” But this time I planned to maintain a lot more focus on keeping my best effort alive all day.  

We left Boulder on Wednesday, splitting the drive to Tempe into two days. We spent Thursday night with Jane and George, and on Friday I took the bike out to ride with them and Warren, to check everything out, including my rented race wheels. The forecast for Sunday was a high of 72, low of 50, with no rain and a little wind. Things were looking up!  However, the water temperature was still cold at 61, so we skipped the practice swim on Saturday.  We were preparing to drop off our bikes on Saturday when I realized I had a flat on my rear tire.  My ever-patient sherpa & bike support guy (Warren) changed it for me and it put a little doubt in my mind about getting a flat.  After dropping off the bikes, we headed back to the hotel and stayed off our legs the rest of the day.  Bedtime was 8:30, and I slept better than I ever had the night before an Ironman race.  The alarm went off at 3:30am and soon we were on our way to the race site around 5am.

Race Day

Swim:

The lake water was still 61 degrees.  That’s not so bad in a short race but swimming 2.4 miles in cold water is a different story.  I’m often cold when other people aren’t, so this was a a huge cause for concern for me. I had swum Alcatraz this year and last, which was about that same water temperature, but that was only 1.25 miles. At Ironman Arizona, it’s a deep water start, so you have to be in the water 5-10 minutes before the gun goes off, which is miserable. I wore a long-sleeve wetsuit with a swimsuit underneath, neoprene cap and neoprene booties.  

2,654 athletes started this race.  That’s a lot of people in a narrow canal of a lake. I made the mistake of lining up way to the right by the shore, because this is where I always started when I was a fearful swimmer, taking confidence and comfort in having the water’s edge nearby.  So even though I’m past my swim panic attack phase, I foolishly lined up there.   When the gun went off, I was stuck swimming with all the people who are panicking, stopping, breaststroking, backstroking, and swimming all over the place instead of toward the first buoy. I couldn’t get through the gridlock of people to manage a decent swim stroke for a good 15 minutes or more. Once I finally found some water to really swim, I used Tim’s advice for swimming in a wetsuit: focus on reaching deeper and  rotating more. So far, I was chilly but things were all good.

The IM AZ swim is a long rectangle.  When I was about halfway through it, I looked at my watch and was at 40 minutes, which isn’t fast, but is exceptionally good for me - as my fastest IM swim time was a weak 1:42.   I kept swimming and looked for drafting opportunities instead of avoiding people as I usually do.  Once I got hit pretty hard in the head which stunned me momentarily, and then my legs started to cramp up big time.  I recovered as best I could and focused on continuing to make forward progress. I tried to kick more than usual, in hopes of staying warmer with the extra movement.

At about the one hour mark, I started to get a much colder.  Water was getting into my wetsuit, which sometimes feels refreshing - but not today.  My hands and face were already numb, then my arms started to feel numb.  I started to feel like I was swinging stumps that used to be my arms, and not really feeling like I was able to grab any water.  Nothing to do but keep going and stay out of my head to keep the negative thoughts away.  I counted strokes, tried to keep what Tim calls a “neutral mind” and I focused on getting through it.

At last, the swim finish line.  It’s a deep water finish;  you have to pull yourself up to the ramp steps, with some help from volunteers who try to hoist you out of the water.  I was so cold that I had trouble grasping for the arms reaching out to me.  Somehow I got out of the water.  I looked at my watch and my time was 1:37: 48.  I stumbled up the stairs and crossed the timing mat.  I fumbled with my swimcap and goggles, and one of the volunteers stripped off my wetsuit and I kept moving toward the change tent.  

I had made the decision to completely change into dry clothes in T1, and it was totally the right decision.  However, most of the women who came out of the water near me had made the same decision and it was more crowded than usual in the change tent.  The heat in the tent made you want to sit down and stay awhile.  All the volunteers in the change tent were busy with other athletes so there was no one to help me dress.  My hands were numb and completely useless.  I stripped off my cold, wet swimsuit and was standing there, teeth chattering,  completely naked trying to untie the string in my T1 bag and on the verge of tears from cold and frustration. Then an angel-of-mercy(volunteer) came to my rescue at last and helped me get into my clothes.  After a ridiculous 12:30 in T1, I finally started my bike ride.  Changing clothes took a ton of time but riding cold AND wet would have certainly been counterproductive and miserable. I started the bike ride wearing arm warmers and gloves, as well as a wind vest over my Baker's Team race kit.

Bike:

Immediately, I realized that my rear brake was not engaged, so I had to pull over and fix it.  My fault for not checking it after Warren changed my tire, but what a rookie mistake. 

The IM AZ bike course is 3 out & back loops, a long gradual climb going out, and the same gradual downhill coming back.  The variable factor is the wind.  The first loop was great, wind at your back coming back into town, fast times!  My goal was to hold 18mph for the whole ride.  First loop, I was at 18.4 average.  Good so far.  Second loop, the wind started to pick up, and it was unpredictable - no longer could you count on that sweet tailwind coming back - the wind kept switching around.  Not Kona cross-wind scary, but definitely enough wind to start slowing me down. Grabbed a peanut butter sandwich from special needs bag, and for caffeine, a coke - hit the spot!. Left the vest in my special needs bag as it had warmed up enough to not need it. Third loop, more wind I was working harder and feeling like I going slower - yet I managed to bring my average up a little more over time lost in the second loop. In the third loop, another issue to manage - an optical migraine which manifests as wavy vision and spots before my eyes.  Same thing happened this year in the 70.3 World Championship in Vegas - seems to be brought on by the sun.  Weird and annoying and dangerous when you are riding and trying to get your eyes to focus on the road.

Pushing harder on the bike had worked well for me earlier this year racing at the Olympic and 70.3 distances - I was able to ride faster and still run well, so my plan was to do the same at IM distance.  This was faster than I’d ever pushed for this distance, but so far, I felt good and my final average was 17.7.  This may not seem fast, but a decent job of staying steady.

Run:

I dashed into T2 ready to run; in & out in 4:22.  The run course was also a 3-loop course. The first few miles felt not too bad, the usual Ironman post-bike stiffness but legs started to loosen up and I was still feeling positive. First 5 miles done and I was thinking that a 4:15 marathon was quite do-able - which would give me around a 12:30 finish. Then the wheels started to come off.  I ran past Jane and George just after I finished the first loop, going into the second, and Jane yelled at me that I had come off the bike in 5th place in my AG, and was now in 4th place.  I was encouraged but now worried because I had slowed way down and getting slower all the time.

I’ve experienced bad things running in races before, like cramps, or fatigue, or poor pacing.  Yet what I started to experience about mile 5 this day was completely new to me. My legs started to hurt in a way that I’ve never experienced in a race or training.  It was primarily my quads and hamstrings but later my calves too - it was a stabbing kind of pain and stretching every mile or so did nothing to alleviate it. The good news was that my recurring glute pain that had plagued me the past couple of years, wasn't there. Hmmm. I took in some salt tabs, took in some electrolyte drink, coke....nothing helped.  I needed pharmaceuticals. 

I started to ask for medical at every aid station to see if I could score some ibuprophen - none to be had.  I asked the EMT’s I passed at the ambulance and they offered me aspirin which I didn’t think would help so I declined.  I had some ibuprophen in my run special needs bag but unbelievably I was so out of it, I missed picking it up in the 2nd loop so had to wait til I passed it again on the 3rd loop.  At that point I was at about mile 21 after hobbling through 15 miles of the worst suffering I’ve ever had in a race. I was running but so slowly it was not much faster than a walk. I felt angry and frustrated and on the verge of tears many times.  Any hope of reaching my goals were surely gone now. I’m sure I looked like the poor crippled people you see on the Hawaii Ironman NBC coverage every year.   

When I finally got to my special needs bag, I took ALL my ibuprophen that was in my bag (a megadose of 1000 mg ) and within 10 minutes it was a miracle - I had my legs back.  By this time I knew I’d probably dropped way down in my age group - it’s hard to tell ages because so many people wear compression sleeves or socks that cover up the age marked on the back of their leg. Plus I had stopped to pee twice and you never know who sneaks past when you aren’t looking.  Yet, in my last four miles I was able to gradually increase my run speed, to the point that my last mile was probably my fastest of the day.  I crossed the finish line in 13:21:04, short of my goal but a 35-minute Ironman PR for me. 

I found Warren in the finish area and he told me I’d finished 3rd in my age group, so I passed another 55-59 girl somewhere out there on the run.  I couldn’t help feeling frustrated about being 13 minutes behind the #2 girl who didn’t have a great run.  The crazy psycho Pam feels like she gave it away in the run, and is frustrated that she didn’t get to run that girl down.   Ah, coulda woulda shoulda....if I’d just gotten hold of those drugs at mile 14 instead of mile 21....

Post Race Reflection:

During the race, I’m afraid was quite the bitch.  Instead of happily enjoying the day as I usually do, I took a different mindset.  I put my head down and did not speak to any of my fellow athletes, barely acknowledged the good people spectating who yelled encouragement to me, and made a real effort to keep sharp focus and not give away an ounce of energy.  After the race I apologized to the people I knew who yelled happy thoughts to me, or tried to engage me in conversation during the race, cuz I was far from cordial during the race.  During that train wreck of a run - the middle part when my legs were screaming at me and I had to keep willing myself to run not walk - it was all I could do to focus on the task and block everything out.  People tell me they were calling out to me as I passed on the run and for much of that time I have absolutely no awareness that they were even there.  I was in a weird place in my head and my soul, and I had to dig pretty deep inside myself during those middle 15 miles of the run.

Lessons Learned:

1 - Strength still a huge limiter for me.  I don’t look strong, and in general I don’t feel strong.  I can’t rely on just my good endurance anymore if I want to continue to improve my times.  I have to back it up with a stronger body head to toe.

2 - I am improving my ability to manage my head when things get ugly.  I’m proud that I managed to fight back the demons and get to that finish line.  I can suffer and not quit. When you think you can’t go on, do it anyway. Your head tells you lies about what your body can or can't do.   Channel the negativity into determination. 

3 - I need to check my equipment and nutrition carefully before race start and remember to execute the plan as the day unfolds.  

4 - I’m feeling like I need more training at higher intensity on the bike to be able to successfully push harder on the bike and still run well.  My race pace strategy worked for me at Olympic and half-IM distances this year, but apparently it doesn’t transfer well for me yet at the IM distance.

5 - If you get third place, you’ll regret that you didn’t get second place.  If you get second place, you’ll regret that you didn’t win.  If you win, you’ll feel like a failure if you don’t win again.  This is silly and keeps you from enjoying and appreciating your successes.   Third place in my age group is my best finish ever in an IM race.  Though I spent some time beating myself up about not being able to run down #2, I need to get over myself and realize that this is a huge step up for me.

So did I reach my time goals?  Nope, not any of them.  Yet, looking back, it was a pretty great day.  Both Warren and I walked away with PR’s, and an agreement that we would skip doing an Ironman race in 2012.  Woo hoo!  :-)  Time to find some speed at the shorter distances next year, and have a little more free time to play. 

And I'm going to paint my laundry room.  DIY therapy.

Time:  13:21:04  - Age Group Third Place

Swim: 1:38:04          T1: 12:30           Bike: 6:20:04           T2: 4:22           Run 5:06:02

Sustainable Fitness in Real Life

It's now almost six weeks post-Kona and life has again become routine.  Now is the time to deal with all the stuff I put off for the months I was so hard at work training for the Big Race.  I've got a bigger case of Post-Ironman depression than I've ever experienced after other IM races.  


I know it's all part of a larger stress of life in general, with much up in the air with work, the economy destroying the industry in which I work sharply reducing my income, holidays coming, blah blah blah. When I had this structured training plan waiting for me every morning, I was focused on that because I was so motivated and so excited, and I let a lot of other things slip a bit or did just enough to get by, knowing that after Kona I'd get back to all that.   


Now I have no structure to my training, and some days no desire to even do anything physical. People tell me it's ok, that it's actually good - the offseason is a time that your body needs a break to heal, rebuild, rest.  You should do things for fun - take my dogs out to play, hike, mountain bike, yoga.  And I am, but something just doesn't feel right.  


While being in the best shape of my life this summer and fall was great, I'm finding it so challenging to maintain long-term in real life, both mentally and physically.  And once you've achieved it,  there's pressure to keep it,  and nagging guilt and letdown when it starts to slip away when you aren't training 20+ hours a week anymore.  A couple of pounds creep back and you feel like you are nearing that slippery slope of having another piece of chocolate, spending another hour wasting time on Facebook and blowing off still another boring swim workout. It's twisted and I know that on an intellectual level, yet I wonder....

• What do other people know that I don't know with regard to building a body that stays lean and reasonably fit all year without much maintenance?  I can get there but for me, it takes a TON of work and sacrifice.  Is it all a myth that it's possible?  I don't want to spend 20 hours a week exercising my whole life.

An attitude adjustment might help me. But I do wonder how others manage their heads in the offseason after the high of a really special racing season.   Living with the same discipline I adopted this summer and fall doesn't seem to be sustainable in the absence of tangible goals like a race which is a few months down the road.  I have so many things I need to be doing right now to get stronger for next racing season, and even more important re-focusing my career energies.  I know I need to expand professionally as well, but that project has its own set of issues with regard to freedom and passion.  Career focus is obviously more important right now but as I step back from training a bit I'm losing that precious fitness and leanness which was achieved only with great effort.   It's such a crazy mind game that sometimes leaves me feeling bad, yet paralyzed and doing little about either fitness or career. 


There.  I vented and shared my dark musings.  In the big scheme of things, I'm still very blessed in so many ways and things could be a lot worse - I know that and try to let that perspective buffer all the poor-me thoughts.


Ok, time for a mind shift...instead of thinking of issues as problems, I need to think of them as PROJECTS.  Problems = negative; projects = positive, with potential and achievable. 


Love to hear comments from anyone who's "been there."

Race Day, here at last!

The alarm went off at 3:30am and I had just fallen asleep an hour or so before.   I had random stuff going through my head all night long, but it wasn't the usual anxiety of this or that thing going wrong on the swim/bike/run.   Here I was preparing to go into what was by far the biggest athletic challenge of my life, and I was more calm and relaxed than I've ever been going into an Ironman, Alcatraz Swim or any other race.  I could not wait to get this thing underway.


Warren dropped me off in the car near the transition area(he's been awesome with support this whole week and this whole journey...more about that later!) about 5:15am.  I had to walk through the area where the finish line is, and as I looked up at it I got a little misty thinking that the next time I came thru there it was be as a finisher.  Got my number stamped on my arm by the awesome volunteers who were kind enough to take the picture that is a dead giveaway identifying you as a Kona first-timer....


Dropped off my special needs bags and headed over to the transition area where we'd left our bikes the day before.  Pumped my tires.  Taped my written nutrition plan(an hour by hour breakdown) to the handlebars. Placed a bottle of EFS energy drink on the bike.  Taped the Power Gels onto the bike frame.  Attached my EFS flask to the holder.  And thought I was done.  What is missing from this picture?  Mistake #1: forgot to fill my Speedfil container with water. (oops) I had put a neoprene sleeve on the bottle to keep the fluid cold, so I didn't notice that it was empty.   


Found Warren again, took a few photos & climbed into my new BlueSeventy WTC-legal skinsuit and of course, had another photo taken. The professionals went off at 6:30, and the amateurs were scheduled to go at 7am.  I didn't see the pro's start, but heard their start announced. 
Time to get into the water!  I'm feeling relaxed and good - a start contrast to how I usually feel before an Ironman race.  I'm usually playing all kinds of mind games at this point and going to my happy place in my head, and convincing myself that I am way past the panic attacks I used to have swimming open water.  The other difference, I am usually wearing my own personal life perserver, a wetsuit.  The Ironman Hawaii race does not allow wetsuits, so this is a first for me.  However, the practice swims in this ocean since being here have felt not only comfortable, but wonderful.  I'm counting on that same love in the water today, and feeling just fine.


About 1,850 athletes from all over the world enter the water.  They are here because they earned the right to compete here, except for a lucky few who got in through the Ironman lottery.  I have seen some real studs walking around and training here this week.  It's a very humbling experience just to be here.  Yet, I also earned the privilege of being here, and I can't wait to get going.


Some athletes are warming up, some are standing around in the water, others are in the water but hanging on to the seawall.  I think this is a pretty good idea, hanging on to the seawall in water over your head - near the start line but not in the thick of the crazies who will be crawling all over each other's backs when the gun goes off.  We are warned that there are sea urchins in the water attached to the seawall, so we shouldn't put our legs or feet on the wall.  Useful information!  My coach George suggested that I might want to hang out on the beach til the others got going to avoid the congestion and contact of the more agressive swimmers.  However, the start line was pretty far away from the beach and I didn't want to have to swim all that way AFTER the gun went off.


The national anthem is sung.  There are literally thousands of spectators lining the area around Dig Me beach where the race starts, cheering loudly.  Helicopters hover overhead, Mike Reilly's voice in the air - I am so excited and can't believe I'm here getting ready to do this thing!  Then at 7:00, the cannon goes off and my race is underway.  


The 2.4 mile swim course is a long rectangle which we followed in a clockwise direction,  with two turns then straight back to finish where you started.


I started swimming.  In just a couple of minutes, I saw a scuba diver underneath me.  He waved and gave me a thumbs-up.   The water was churning around a lot, and I was thinking it was because of all the swimmers kicking up turbulance.  But as we got further out, there were swells and this really annoying current coming in.  I was swimming calmly and steadily, thinking this is gonna be fine!  I can see the bottom of the ocean most of the swim.  Not too many fishes - we must have scared them away with all that splashing. 

There were over 200 volunteers out in the water on paddleboard and surfboards.  I've never felt so safe and so supported in a triathlon swim.  I could always see someone and sighting was easy because you just stayed between the surfboards.


I focused on one buoy at a time, swam to and then went to the next one.  I tried to draft off people whereever I could. (right, George?!)  A couple of times I tried to take a breath of air but instead caught a swell and ended up with a mouthful of salt water.  Once it made me cough and I had to stop in the water to regroup for a minute or so.  I was going to look at my watch to check my progress but decided I would just swim the best I could and not look at it.  I was getting a little frustrated with the current because I wasn't making as much progress as I wanted to, as fast as I wanted to.  


Then I reached the boat where we took a right turn, then we swam a little ways and took another right turn at another boat to start the stretch back home.  I decide to look at my watch, and it says 1:03...an hour and 3 minutes!  Yikes, really?  That current was stronger than I thought and I was apparently going much slower than I thought I was!  OMG, swim faster Pam! 


I keep on swimming buoy to buoy.  One surfer who is to my left (the direction to which I breathe) is going along with me making it very easy for me to sight...I'm just following him!  That almost feels like illegal assistance, but I'll take it.  Then he shouts at me "you're doing great...you have 25 minutes to finish!"  what?!  it's 1:55 already?  I did not look at my watch, but since the swim cutoff is 2:20 it must be!  Holy crap, not making the swim cutoff is not something that even crossed my mind for this race!  I started swimming faster then going thru my mind were a million thoughts like "oh no, all this time, all this support, all this buildup and it ends with a swim DQ???!!!...NO!"  I really picked up my apparently-leisurely pace and swam as fast as I could the rest of the way.  When I got to the swim finish line, the time on the clock was 1:57.  That volunteer must have thought that the swim deadline was 2 hours.  I was 30 minutes slower than I had hoped to be, but I was not even close to not making the cut-off. Here I am coming out, and I was feeling incredibly relieved having this task done, ready to move on to the next one.

Had a shower with the hoses hanging just outside the swim exit.  Wanted to get as much salt water off me as possible, as it's a long day to wear the ocean water.  Then off to transition changing tent where the volunteer was all disorganized and I could have helped myself better than she helped me, but she tried anyway.  I asked her to dump my transition bag out completely, but she didn't.  So my compression sox and Zoot arm coolers got left in the bag, and I didn't realize til a few miles down the road that I had not put them on. Augh!!  Ran to to my bike, clipped on my helmet,  and dashed outta there - off to ride 112 miles.

The crowd was cheering wildly on the way out and life was good!  About a mile out on a rough road, my bottle on the bike with the EFS liquid in it got launched off when I hit a bump.  Now I not only had no water, I had no drink at all, and the first aid station wasn't for 6 more miles.  And I was already thirsty.


We were on our way on the Queen Ka'ahumanu highway, the "Queen K" as it's called. There was a breeze but it felt good as it was already starting to heat up.  Got to the first aid station and got some fluids and felt better.  Nutrition plan a little behind but not too bad and I felt I could catch up no problem.


We took a left turn off the Queen K somewhere around 35 miles into the ride and had some nice rolling hills....the winds kept switching around so they were behind us then in front of us and a few times to the side, but manageable so far.  Then everything changed when we were on our way to the town of Hawi.  OMG.  I have never been so afraid on my bike in my life.  We have windy days in Boulder where the crosswinds are mean and I struggle to keep my bike upright - but these winds coming off the ocean were even worse.  I did a lot of talking to God. I also kept remembering what Karen Smyers had told me in a conversation a couple of days before the race here - imagine the wind as a sail and go with it, and lean more heavily on the side of your handlebars from the direction the wind is coming - that will give you more stability and control.  I also remember George saying that if you keep spinning your pedals you have more control, and the FASTER you are going you have more control(which is the opposite of how I'd approached windy conditions before that).  All of this was good advice.  Several times I was afraid I was going to be blown into the path of oncoming riders as my bike was physically moved across the road and I was fighting to bring it back.  The wind changed direction constantly, so you never knew what was coming next and had to be constantly on your guard.  I watched the riders ahead of me, to see which way their bikes were leaning, as a sign of what was coming my way, and I watched the trees ahead of me to see how far they were bent sideways.  To say it was scary was putting it mildly. 


I finally reached Hawi, the turnaround point on the bike. It was windy there too.  The course then took us back the same way we came so I knew I had more of the same ahead of me.  It was a little more manageable on the way back, but still very challenging and you really had to pay attention.  When I got back on the Queen K I was coming through an aid station when a little mini-cyclone(we called them Dust Devils in TX) came thru out of nowhere and knocked over a table full of cups of water and a medal cart - then the cart started coming coming toward me, skidding on the ground like a mad twisted piece of medal!  I was able to just miss it, but was really glad I didn't get caught in the actual wind of the cyclone.  It would have been a disastrous take-down on my bike for sure.


There were a few short stretches of tailwind on the way back where I could at last get a great rhythm and let my AirFoil fly. Then, just as quickly as the tailwind appeared, a headwind appeared and it was hard riding again.  Crazy stuff!!


Even though the bike ride was hard, I still found myself smiling through much of it, taking it all in and remembering how thrilled I was to be there.  That wind, the brutally hot conditions - they are supposed to be there....this is the Ironman World Championship and it's supposed to be hard. :-)


The last 5 miles of the bike I felt like I had a ton of energy.  This bike ride was almost done and it was time to do the fun part...running.  Wait, a marathon - aw you bet - let's do it!


The first 10 miles of the marathon were great.  The crowd was great, my legs felt good, I saw Warren and lots of other spectators and racers I knew and my nutrition was adequate for good energy. I headed up the Pilani hill, planning to walk it because George said it was a good idea to do that.  I walked a little bit of it then picked it up to a run, just cuz it felt better to run than walk.  Then a left turn on the Queen K highway again to start that long stretch to the Natural Energy lab. The sun was still in the sky and beginning to set as I ticked off a couple more miles, still feeling fine.  


But I was starting to have some random numbness in my right leg, related to a nerve impingement due to a piriformis issue.  I'd take a step and find a numb leg, which is counter productive to a good running rhythm. Another small problem that had started on the bike was getting worse...some really uncomfortable chafing in my trishorts.  Mistake #2:  forgetting to use the butt butter (for you non-cylist people, it's lubricant to keep you from getting chafed in sensitive areas where you really DON'T want to get chafed by your bike shorts).  Nuff said on that.  Ouch and getting ouchier.


I'm starting to fatigue a little now, I started partaking of the cola they offered at the aid stations, which were located 1 mile apart on the course.  A little caffeine would be a good thing right about now and a lot would be better. Mentally I was just taking one mile at a time, then "working on" the next mile as an immediate objective, outside the big goal of finishing the race. Once the sun went down, it got really dark out on the highway, which was closed to traffic, and had no streetlights.  The only lights were the occasional passing race support vehicle, and the lights of the aid stations.  


I reached the Natural Energy Lab around mile 16.5, a left turn into a valley off the Queen K, which is renowned for being brutally hot in the middle part of the day. However, I was there in the dark - and it still seemed hotter down in that section. 
It was even darker there and the road not in great shape, with some uneven patches.  I felt like I was running in the dark very tentatively, hoping I wouldn't step into a hole and turn my ankle.  The Ford Motivational Mile was in this section - this is a place where they have music playing, volunteers celebrating and a giant marque that lists your name, numbr and a motivational message like "Go Pam, you are a rock star!"  I came out of the Energy Lab and was told that "there is only 10K left to the finish line." A lie - probably closer to 7 miles from there.


I had started to slow, but was still moving forward and had not had to resort to walking.  It's very dark and I see figures with glowsticks coming toward me - that's the only way you could keep from running smack into your competitors coming the other direction on the road.  A car passes and I can make out a figure on a bicycle who almost hits me.  He says sorry, I say it's OK, and he goes on the other direction.  Then he returns.  It's Warren!  I didn't recognize his voice and he didn't recognize me in the dark when we almost collided.  He had borrowed Bob Cranny's bike to come out and visit/motivate me on the lava fields for the last few miles of the run.  There is a video of this section on facebook that he shot from the bike.  Having him out there the last few miles was awesome and helped me keep a steady pace and good attitude.


By this time I was still taking just one mile at a time, trying to keep the fuel and fluids coming. Before I knew it, I started to hear noise from the finish line, Mike Reilly's voice announcing athletes crossing the finish line and knew of the party that awaited me just a few miles down the road.  Amazing how one finds the energy and the life in the legs to pick it up when you know the end is so near.  My last 2 and a half miles were at a great pace and happy indeed.


At last I reached the last stretch that leads to the glorious finish line.  It really does defy description how it feels to run along Ali'i drive with thousands of people cheering for you, just as they cheered for the world champions a few hours earlier.  The energy is electric.  I crossed the finish line in 13:55:10, and though my time was over an hour slower than I had hoped for, it will be a moment I'll remember for the rest of my life. Mike Reilly called my name and proclaimed me an Ironman once again.  They put a lei around my neck and two volunteers walked with me toward the massage tent.  Warren appeared and congratulated me with a big hug and kiss, and that was wonderful.  I could never have completed this journey without his unwavering love and support.  I collected my finisher's medal...it's beautiful and commemorates this year's theme "Way of the Warrior."

I felt really good afterward, and in hindsight I scolded myself a little for feeling just a little TOO good and not going hard enough.  :-)  I had a post-race massage, chatted with Jodee and Barry Siff(way to go, Barry!)  Warren and I had a photo taken together, and I had one by myself.   We watched some people finish, collected my bike and bags, dropped my bike off at TriBike Transport to be shipped back to CO.  And by then it was somewhere after 10:30 and he was starving as he'd not really eaten much all day and had been running around so much.  Thanks to him I have literally hundreds of photos of the day to remember it by!

We went looking for food and were surprised that the restaurants around Ali'i stopped serving food after 10, and just became bars!  We found one place that served appetizers and a few food items, so we decided to order some.  My food was unappetizing - I had hoped for a burger and fries, but had to settle for something else that just didn't go down well.  My legs were starting to stiffen up and I was dying for a shower and to get out of those chafing shorts.  I headed back to the condo leaving Warren to finish his dinner.  We had hoped to go back to the finish line at midnight as I'd always heard that they sing and officially close off the Ironman day - it is my biggest regret of the day that I did not do that.  By the time I walked back to the condo, got showered, tended my wounds  and dressed again, there just wasn't time to get down there.  Next time, for SURE.


And it looks like I probably came in 6th in the Janus Charity Challenge, just behind a guy who raised $30,000.  The first place finisher raised $125,000!  Very impressive and tough to beat.  Thank you again for all of you who supported me with donations!!


Here I am with the lei they give you at the finish line - beautiful huh? I need to shout out a word of appreciation for the volunteers in this race.  If you've done other Ironman races, you know the love they give you out there, but I gotta tell you that in THIS race, that love and support is way over the top!  It's amazing.


I will have more retrospective thoughts to share in the coming blogs, but in a nutshell, I loved the day start to finish.  My expectations were high, and the experience even exceeded them.  Meeting so many other athletes, hearing their stories, sharing this experience with my Baker's teammates and other athletes I knew down here, and feeling the love and support of my friends and family both here and from all over the world.  I love the power of the internet, especially Facebook that enabled me to stay in touch so much through the journey.


Aloha and love to you all, and Mahalo to the Big Island for serving up a wonderful day for me on Saturday!

Ready to Race!

Another short blog as it's almost time to try to get some sleep.


The race for which I've been training for the past four+ months will begin in about 11 hours.  I'm feeling good and know that I have done the work to prepare for it.  The goal now is to execute the race day plan, and make my way through the swim/bike/run wisely allocating energy while maintaining my best effort through a very long day.  Every Ironman race I've done has been good...yet this one already shines as something special even before it begins.


Today I went out on the Queen K highway where we'll be biking and running, and stacked rocks to honor Madame Pele.  Other Ironman veterans tell me it's a bit of a tradition to acknowledge the power and sanctity of the Island.  The wind was indeed blowing pretty steady out there, and may be the same or worse tomorrow.  Whatever the day brings, I am excited and ready - as always, drawn to that finish line.

Here's what I built.  It's hard to see....kind of blends into the background, but it's there. :-)


8:00...bedtime!  Alarm goes off at 3:30~!


Aloha, all!

Most Fun Day Yet!

I promised to write every day, and I'm keeping with that.  But today will be short & sweet with followup to the highlights later.  It's getting late & I need to sleep more than I need to blog!  (Right, George?)


Nice short run, followed by watching the Underpants Run.  Yes, athletes & friends running in their underwear & assorted costume accoutrements down Ali'i Drive.  Facebook pictures will shock you.


Women's Masters Ironman Breakfast....by invitation only to women competing who are on the sunny side of 40 years old.  Karen Smyers was our speaker...a fun gal & inspirational(hit by an 18-wheeler truck on her bike, 2 miscarriages, severed her hamstring by falling thru a glass door, then got cancer)....she's back racing this year and she's WAY into her 40's.  I have video to share of the talk.  Lots of great stories shared by women on their journeys to this race. Loved it.


Took a ride on the Queen K highway, the main part of the bike course.  The gods were happy today; the wind was manageable.  A great ride actually.  If the conditions are good, I might like this ride a lot.


Possibly spent too much time hanging out at various places around Ali'i Drive....ran into old friends, made some new ones.  SO fun, so much to see and do and learn about people and their lives and experiences - as well as all the cool new stuff related to swimming, biking and running.


Got Active Release Therapy(ART) on my niggling little ankle wierdness as well as my ongoing-but-better-this-year piriformis issue.  Found out I'm hyper-elastic, but not in a good way.  They used to call that double-jointed and apparently it sets you up for certain types of injuries particularly if you are a runner.  Need to do some rehab on this in the offseason.


Went to the Ironman Welcome Dinner.  Fun & inspiring.  This year's theme is "Way of the Warrior."  I can get behind that and find some strength in the imagery and attitude there.


That's it....out for the night.  More to come soon.  


Aloha, all!

Fun and Games

Got a much better night’s sleep so felt rested when waking today.  Sleep is a beautiful thing.

Headed down to the beach and found that the water gods were agitated, bringing us some rougher water and swells.  I made friends with the Pacific yesterday and we did agree to peacefully co-exist and play nice from that day forward.  I swam for about 25 minutes, and it was fine.  The fish still swim around whether the water is rough or smooth...and so do I.  

My friend Klaus said that I should stack some rocks to honor Madame Pele.  I never heard that, but I’m gonna do it!

After swimming, I and my friend Kerrie from the Baker’s Tri Team, had the privilege of taking a ride in the “Kona Cash Cab.”  No, not the same one that is on TV from New York City, but the Kona version which is actually a Ford Ironman vehicle, hosted by Roman Micah and Ben Greenfield(that's Ben on the right with their Cash Cab).  They asked us Ironman-related questions as we drove along - and a very cool special -edition Timex Kona Ironman watch was the prize if we got enough questions right. We ROCKED it and both got watches.  Now, we’ll see if we actually make the cut to show up on their website, everymantri.com!  

And it appears that it was my media day....a pre-recorded segment of me talking about my Ironman Charity Challenge as well as talking training and competing in the Hawaii Ironman - was on the radio today on “Your Time with Kim Iverson,” a syndicated radio show.  Listening to yourself on the radio is painful! (at least for me), but I seemed to come off ok without sounding too scattered.  She even put the link out there so people could donate to the Charity Challenge if they were so inclined.  We still have about 36 hours to collect those last few dollars for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Larimer County!

www.wix.com/ptcpam/jcc  is the link if you haven’t donated and would like to.  Mahalo!

By the way, I saw a quote on Kim’s website that I thought was very cool - we are “Presidents of our own lives.”  I like it.

This afternoon I was off to the airport to pick up poor Warren, who had a 4 hour layover in Honolulu.  So close to the Big Island, yet so far away!   He was absolutely exhausted after getting up at 2am this morning to make a 6am flight out of Denver.  He had my complete permission and blessing to start drinking at the Honolulu airport.  If I had been a really good wife, I’d have rented myself a boat and gone over to Oahu and picked him up, right?  

Before picking up Warren, I went by the Ironman Village and saw Bryan, our fearless leader...Baker’s Tri Team Captain, and another Baker’s teammate, Jeff, who’s from Montana and also racing.  Tonight we had our team dinner at the house Bryan is renting....mmmm...tasty chicken and pasta.  I met some new friends, like teammate Elizabeth from Monterrey CA shown here, who just had her appendix out on Monday and is still considering racing on Saturday.  Baker's Team athletes are tough "cookies!!" (get it, Baker's cookies?  ha)

Spotted an eye-catching t-shirt on an athlete guy down here....”PR or ER.”  Since PR is a race slang for Personal Record(meaning your best time ever), do ya think this guy's gonna race hard on Saturday or what?  

Back again tomorrow!  Aloha...