2012-08-26
Penticton, British Columbia
Canada
North America Sports
80F / 27C
Sunny |
Triathlon
- Full Ironman
Total Time =
16h 14m 40s
Overall Rank = 2267/
Age Group = F35-39
Age Group Rank = 136/
|
Training
for IM has been less then stellar....injured my glute/hamstring in June
and just lost my mojo for training. This was my 7th Ironman in 4
years. Training became more of a job than a love, Before toeing the
line in Canada my longest ride was a century in June, and a 13 mile run
in June before the injury....yep I think if you looked up
"undertraining" my pic would be there. I had also jammed my pinky toe a
week before and had been hobbing around on it for a week. However, I
wanted that IM Canada medal, so I knew it would be a long, slow, day.
Got up and wrote "Suck it" on my arm, my usual. Mom and I went down to
the lobby to wait for our pick-up to the start. Saw Mark in the lobby
as he was riding down with Endurance Sports Travel to the start. I went
to the Denny's next door and asked for 2 bananas (yes I went into the race so chill I had not even bought my usual race day food the day before). The manager refused to take an money for the bananas, I was floored as this would never happen in US!
Dropped off the bags and took a few pics, said "good-bye" to my mom and
headed into transition. Mark and I wished one another luck as we each
headed off to our bikes. I put my water bottles on the cages and wet to
get in the bathroom line....it was huge!
Chatted bit and Mark found me and we waited in line together. I also
saw Andrew and Todd and wished them luck. After the bathroom break,
time to throw on the wetsuit and head to the water.
Walked
to the water and was amazed at the mass of people on the beach. I
think there were 2500+ athletes starting. Spectators lined the wall and
I was in amazement at how many people were there to support us. Many
people will never understand what drives those of us who chose to race
Ironman, yet they cheer their hearts out and support our insanity.
I stood on the shore and saw a girl crying. I said "what's wrong?" She
told me "I DNF'ed here last year, so being here again is just
emotional" I told her "you are going to finish, just be positive" and I
gave her a hug. I walked into the water and another girl just grabs me
and says "have a great race!" and gives me a high-5, I hugged her too.
Before the start went off I stood on shore and centered my mind, told
myself "today is an amazing day to become a 7x Ironman, you will do
this! Take the day as it comes and just smile" The start went off and I
walked under the start flags and reached up to touch them with 2
fingers and then dove in.
Swim
The
course was full of people and I somehow started with a bunch of open
water in front of me! I was so pumped to have space! I was not far
from the bouy line, so no clue how this happened. I started to pass the
orange bouys and was just staying relaxed, I thought about my stroke
and smiled to myself that I had once again started my journey to another
Ironman.
I continued to swim and then the crowding began....the usual..a few
chops to the head, more people grabbing my ass to remember and getting
my feet pulled. A few people hit my pinky toe, that was less then fun.
Finally hit the first turn at there are 2 scuba-divers under the water!
First I freaked out because I thought they were racers, and then I
noticed the tanks on their backs and they were waving so I waved back,
pretty cool!
Typical log jam at the turn, didn't bother to look at my watch, it was
going to be a long day anyway. A bit more water boxing and then the
next turn, kinda wish there were more divers there as it was pretty
cool! This was the turn toward the shore, yay! Began singing some
songs in my head and started to prepare my mind for the bike. Finally
started to get close to shoe and I could hear the announcer and hear the
crowd, it was awesome! I told myself "another IM swim is done! Woohoo"
Yes I talk to myself constantly when racing!
T1
The
swim exit was a bit rocky, bruised pinky toe was not happy about this
at all. Got out of the water and looked for the wetsuit strippers. I
usually go to the 2 biggest guys I can find, bonus if they are hot :) But I wound up with 2 girls and they did a great job. I got to hear my name announced :)
Grabbed my bike bag and into the tent I went. I went to the very end of
the tent and found a place to sit. I dried my feet a bit and threw on
my bike stuff. Yelled to anyone in my area "anyone need a towel?" The
girl next to me grabbed it right away, so many people forget a towel in
T1 bag.
Nothing, can't help it if there are no guys wetsuit stripping :)
Bike
The
bike out of town is great! Lots of people cheering and it just makes
you feel like a rock-star! I ate a shot block and look down at my cycle
computer and notice it's not working....no speed or cadence! WTF!?
Then I remembered.....when I swapped my race wheels onto the bike I
never moved the sensor over! Uggg dumb-ass! I laughed at myself and
just continued on. I knew I wanted to stay at a relaxed pace being so
undertrained, so this was going to be all about RPE (rate of perceived exertion, for those not in the tri-world) I don't train with heart-rate monitor, I'm a minimalist, lol!
Finally hit a course marker and it's in Kilometers since we are in
Canada! Darn, now I'm trying to ride my bike and do KM to Miles
conversion and I suck at math! I abandon the math, friggin metric
system....it's getting to annoying, and starting to give me a headache.
Then, in the distance.....i see it...a MILE marker! It was my oasis!
It was the 20Mile mark and I see that I have been riding for a
hour....yikes, hitting 20miles within the first hour is too fast for me,
but I'm loving the course!
The course is amazing! The water, the cliffs, the climbs in the granny
gear to the awesome, saki-bombing descents! IN my first Ironman I refer
to the downhills as "saki-bombing" no clue why, but 7 Ironman races
later it still applies. Tons of people passing me on the bike, I was
amazed at how any people got out of the water after me!
We get to Richter pass, which goes up in steps. Lots of blocking going
on, but I tried not to get frustrated. This is the first race where
most people were not yelling, "on your left" as they went by, but I used
my tri-racing manners and always yelled out "on your left"..made me
feel like a rude American, but it's what you should do when cycling!
I was eating my Clif Blocks, drinking water and popping a few
Enduralytes and grabbing a half of a banana at each aid station. My
tummy was not feeling great...just had this feeling of being full. I
popped some Tums, but the feeling would not go away. I knew I had one
more big climb at White Lake, so I ate a Chocolate #9 (a sport gel)
and was still not feeling great. I looked down at my bento box and
realized I had only eaten 470 calories the entire ride, plus a 300 or so
from the bananas, with about 20 miles left to go! Yikes, not good!
Started to hit a bunch of head-wind and then the last climb. I was
getting tired of being on the bike, my butt really started to hurt and
my left shoulder and my back started to tighten. I really considered
just grabbing the SAG wagon, I mean 90+ miles in and I felt cooked. I
told myself "you only have 10 miles of work left. After the last climb
it's basically down-hill the end. You can do this! Don't disappoint
yourself or mom who came all the way from NJ to be here!"
I push myself over the climb and smile from ear to ear :)
Finally make it back to town and it feels like a head-wind/false flat,
ugggg! I get to transition and see that I had been on my bike for 7.5
hours....my longest IM ride ever, yikes!
TRAIN!!!!!!
T2
Getting
off the bike and handing it to a volunteer is a blur. I grabbed my bag
and headed into the tent. I remember seeing the massive amount of
nutrition I DID NOT eat on the bike and became worried that a serious
bonk was awaiting me on the marathon course.
I got into the tent and grabbed 2 chocolate chip cookies, I may have
swallowed them whole, as I suddenly felt extremely hungry! I grabbed a
seat and my volunteer in T2 was amazing!!!! She kept asking if I needed
anything and I said "you just need to be honest with me, do I have snot
on my face?" She said "nope, looks fine." I said, "seriously, you can
be honest, I dont want to hit the marathon course with a cliff-hanger"
She laughed and said "I promise you honey, it's all good."
I taped up my toe and then put some type of Icey-Hot on my legs, my
glute/hammy was feeling super tight. I put on my deodorant and she said
"wow, never thought of that! Is this your first?" I said "7th" and
she looked at the volunteer next to us and said "this girl is a stud!"
LOL
One again she asked if I needed anything and I said "a back rub" and she
did it! SIMPLY AMAZING!!!! This was a long T2, but so worth the extra
time for the quickie....massage that is :)
Nothing, the additional few minutes for the backrub was soooooo worth it!
Run
I
knew this was going to be a looooong marathon, so mentally I was ready
for countless hours on my feet. I headed out on the out-n-back and saw
David ad gave him a big hug! The out-n-back is such a mind game as you
need to do it on the way out and right before the finish! UGGG! My butt
was killing me....basically what I can only describe as diaper
rash....OUCH! I walked in the beginning, trying to test out the
glute/hammy..it was so-so at best, so I started to shuffle. I would
pick a telephone pole and tell myself "run until you get the next
traffic light" and then I would walk a bit and pick another land-mark
and do it again.
I passed a girl walking in a Team-In-Training shirt, her head was down
and she was walking very slow. I said "come run with me Sharon" (names are printed on race numbers)
and she said "I can;t." I said "yes you can, catch me"....at this point
I'm going slightly faster than a speed-walk, but it was enough to push
her to "chase" me. I started to walk again and she said "thank you so
much, I was about to cry. I'm in a dark space right now" I said "stay
with me, we will finish together. Just do what I do" She followed my
land-mark run/walk method with me for 5-6 miles. We chatted, she was a
Leukemia survivor from the Bay Area.
I was having more issues with the run as the diaper rash made me feel
like my but-crack was on fire! I know, more info than anyone needs to
know, but these are the joys of Ironman racing. I walked more and told
her to go ahead without me. Stopped at a porta-pottie and applied
Vasoline....liberally!!!!! With my butt-crack feeling slightly better I
was able to run more, my running segments got longer....I was enjoying
the people who came out to cheer.
I was taking in the beauty of the lake. People would say "you look
great"...haha, I knew I probably looked horrible, but at least I didn't
have snot on my face! :) I saw David and Todd on the course,
always great to see familiar faces. I was hurting but knew I would
finish before the cut-off. Finally reach the turn around, yay! Start
walking with a guy who was doing his 25th Ironman! His goal is to race
Ironman all around the world! He has just raced Ironman the weekend
before!
I ran on and at every aid station I would have some water, chicken broth
and some watermelon.....OMG Canada has AMAZING watermelon! One
volunteer had a shirt on that said "free hugs", I saw her 3 times on the
course and took advantage of each hug. Even when I'm a sweaty mess,
I'm touchy-feely!
I continued on my march toward the finish line and one woman yelled out
from the side of the road "Sweet Jesus, you are going to make it!" I
wanted to tell her "if Jesus would propel me to the finish line right
now, I might consider converting"
At mile 20 I feel it, mega-blister on the pinky toe! Now I'm really
compensating for it and trying to walk-shuffle, whatever I can to keep
going forward. I start chatting with a girl who was racing her fist IM.
She was cramping and hurting worse than I was. I said "you have
plenty of time to finish, just keep putting one foot in front of the
other" She thanked me and told me to get ahead of her and finish
strong. So I high-5ed her and continued on.
Then I shuffled upon 4 guys walking together and one yells "is that
Abbie who kept re-passing me on the bike?" I laugh and walk with these
guys almost to the finish line. We joked and pushed each other along.
Finally hit the last out-n-back and I'm so thankful that I'm going to
finish, I'm going to be a 7x Ironman finisher! I give my glow-stick to a
kid and head for home. I hear my name announced, slap hands with the
crowd....take a pause before I cross the tape, and do a small bow and
hold up 7 with my fingers.
Post race
A
wonderful volunteer put my medal around my neck and congratulated me.
He was walking me over to get my finisher's pic taken and I saw my
mom....I hobbled over and threw my arms around her and cried as did she.
The volunteer managed to capture the moment of pure emotion.
I was not that hungry, and just grabbed some watermelon and a Maple
cookie. I also made the mistake of grabbing a slice of pizza right
before turning my bike in at Tri-Bike transport. I have not eaten
cheese in 16 years, and I mad the stupid decision to not remove the
cheese!
Within minutes I was feeling very sick to my stomach and I thought I was
going to pass-out. Mom looked at me and said "you ok?" and I said "I
need to sit" and the guy at Tri-bike transport grabbed a chair for me. I
sat down and started sweating, thought I might vomit and then the grass
started to glow florescent yellow! I drank some water and poured it
over myself.
Felt slightly better and I could tell from the look on my mom's face
that I looked really bad. I tried to stand and sat back down to drink a
bit more. Eventually stood up and it was almost impossible to put one
foot in front of the other. It took forever for me to walk the 2 blocks
to the pick-up location. My mom went to find the driver for us and I
ducked behind a car and got sick. Finishing the Ironman was painless
compared to the way my stomach felt....uggg.
Lack of training and injury
Wow, Ironman #7 is done!!!
Ironman is a crazy thing, it draws some to it and causes others to stand
in awe. For those of us who race Ironman, there is something in our
soul, in our spirit that says "yes, YOU can do this!" There is a need
and a desire that can only be quenched by the Ironman finish line. I AM
AN IRONMAN, it is not something I do, but part of who I am. There is a
special bond among us that are part of the Ironman family, not one of
superiority but one of respect and a common thread of understanding what
it takes to get to the finish line.
If you managed to read all of this, I'm impressed! I would like to thank
my family, you may never understand why I race long, but you support my
choice of insanity. To my computrainer class, group suffering rocks!
To coach Neil and Felicity at TriMore Fitness, thanks for making class
fun and for letting us race IM Canada on the screen during class. To so
many of you that have followed my training and life online, your
support and laughter mean so much to me!! A big shout out to my
chiropractor and ART guru, Heidi Law for putting me back together again
as best you could before this race!
Any finally my mom....words can not express how important it was to me
that you were at the finish line. When parts of my race were in the
dumps, I thought of you and raced toward you. Thank you for coming to
Canada for an amazing Mother/daughter trip!
Swim
Bike
Run
