Cazenovia Triathlon Review

This post is also a little late, but one to share

The Race was 4 weeks after IMLP. I was feeling pretty good going into the race. I was still feeling like I wasn't recovering from my runs as fast as I should, but felt confident in my ability to complete the race.

The only downfall for me was, because I placed 2nd OA at Cooperstown tri, I was asked to try the Championship wave which turned out to be an Intermediate race! I started feeling the negative self talk creep up on me as the race approached. There was a former pro, soon to be pro and a Pro in my wave. How was I to compete with these people?!

I got to the race with plenty of time to spare. I got nervous when my disc wheel wasn't pumping right, but I stayed calm and focused on what I could control at the moment. Luckily, my friend had the attachment I needed to pump up my tires!

Swim 1500m: There was about 12 of us in the wave total. I tried to just get a good position and hold on as long as I could. I knew the people in my wave were pretty fast swimmers! I held onto them for about 1/4 mile and then I was on my own to finish up the 1500m swim. GRRRR!! I didn't sight very well as there was only one cable line and buoys to follow. Still working on that part. Time-30:11

T1: No problems with transition. There was a run up a hill to the mount line, which I liked better in the grass, but hey we all had to do it! 1:03

Bike 25miles: I didn't even have my legs at the start of the bike. I was hoping they would come to me, but I never truly felt good on the bike until the second half. This bike leg has some tough grinder climbs and I just tried to hang on for as long as I could. I did pass one girl on the bike which I was proud of!!
I felt so alone on the course. I knew the better girls probably had a good 3-5 min on me and with my legs feeling like bricks, there was no way I was going to keep up. I just tried to do me and focus on what I could.  Time-1:13:01

T2: Off the bike with shoes still on the bike, run down hill, racked bike. Took a little longer as I put socks on but it was a good move considering I had Blisters from my run the day before. Time-1:03

Run 10k: I felt great on the run. I felt like I was keeping a great pace and kept focusing on forward movement. I saw the other girls ahead of me. I tried to focus on the 3rd girl I saw because she wasn't that far ahead of me. I thought for sure I would catch her, but she must've really put the heat on on the second half because after the turn around, she was gone!! The run is pretty challenging. You are climbing for the first 5K and then down the next 5K. Phew! Time:51:31

Overall Time: 2:36:32
4th overall Female. In a tough bracket. Ill take it.

Ironman Lake Placid In a nut shell.

Now that I finally have time to really reflect on my Race and finally accept what the outcome was, I can begin to write this blog.

The morning of I was feeling pumped and energized. I didn't have any doubts going into the race as to whether I would finish or not. I knew I would. I had time goals in mind, and kept ones I would be ecstatic with and ones I would be ok with to myself.

PRe race meal: 3 hours prior: 2 bananas, 2tbsp Almond butter, 2 Scoops Whey protein, 2 cups applesauce all mixed together in a blender with 1 scoop turmeric, 2 scoops Beetelite. (has always worked for me, didn't change it!) 2 hours prior: Fuelforfire Cocoa banana pouch I got from the Core Diet tent! (Yes I know, Don't try anything new. It really wasn't new. Its all real food!)
Continued to drink Infinit run blend up to showtime, 30 min before swim: 1 GU packet.

I did a pre race swim to shake out the nerves, said good luck to many Tri friends that were up here racing with me and off I went to line up in the 1:15-1:20 pace group.

Swim: I really wish I would've lined up in the wave ahead of me. It got crowded fast and I was getting hit and slapped like no tomorrow. I wanted to find some feet to hang onto but Felt there was no one going my speed around me. I started to get anxious and nervous as people were hitting me and my legs just kept sinking! The turn around to get out of the water and onto the second loop was a washing machine of Feet and hands. I was happy to be out but felt exhausted trying to find good swimming water. The second loop was a little worse than the first. I kept thinking lets just get this shit over with and get onto the bike. Totally over the swim. Went I exited the water, I was so freaking happy!

Time: 1:19:52

Bike: The bike course is no joke. It is a gradual incline, followed by a good decent, rollers than more climbing towards the back side. Do that twice and your legs are fried. I tried to keep focus on spinning, keeping a good cadence, and Hydrating well. The first loop went off without a hitch. When I got to the Bike special needs station, I was down a bottle of hydration. I knew I was in trouble if I didn't start picking up the drinking. I stopped to pee at the next port a potty and continued on. I tried so hard to pee on my bike, but couldn't! The second loop got very hot and all I could think about was how hot I was feeling. Every aid station I grabbed water and tossed it on me and drank a sip and tossed it. Going back into town was just mind crumbling. Going 10 mph for most of the ride wasn't fun. I felt like there wasn't much energy left. I hit the town and my energy came back. The crowd was great and I was ready to rock the run!
Nutrition: 5.5 bottles of Infinit nutrition, 2 Carmel Macchiato Gus for different flavor, Water on the last loop when needed.
Time:6:25:28 Ave pace 17.43 mph

Run: As I went through transition, I just stopped and sat in the chair for a minute as I was feeling so hot. I was so glad to be off the bike and onto the run!! I changed socks and shoes, put my hat and sunglasses on, Fuel belt and was ready to tackle the run! On the way out of transition, I waited to get sunblock on which took more time than I wanted it to as I had to wait!! ugh. It was only a few minutes I know, but time is everything in Ironman!! :-p  I kept thinking about how hot I was. I tried to focus On positives, worry about nutrition, Ice in my bra, anything to keep my mind from going negative. I forgot about my mantras and just kept focusing on getting to aid station after aid station. River road is a lonely place and I saw so many people struggling to run, I didn't want to be that person struggling but found myself getting to that point fairly early on. At the Run special needs, I saw the first place persons body shut down and she was almost incoherent. I took a step back and thought, I am not winning this race, I will give it what I've got from this point on. I did what I could. I ran 5min, walked 1 min until I got my feet again in the last mile. When I came into the oval, I was so happy I was finishing my dream race and that my Honey would be at the finish line to greet me!

Little did I know, He had my medal waiting for me!!! Thanks to my friends at Ironman who made that happen!

Run:4:41:11- 10:53min.mi

Total Time:12:41:35

When It was all done, I was happy, then cried for about 5 min as my goal of 12 hours wasn't there. I tried my best! I went home, showered, ate and came back to watch Mike Reilly in the last hours bring home the Ironmen!!!

Kristin, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!! Woot!

I still have a goal. That goal is under 12 hours. I will try to Catch that goal at my next IM!!! Ironman Mont Tremblant 2016!!!!

Happy training!

Ironman Lake Placid Recap #1

I have been absent from Blogging for the last month because something had to give! Being a Busy mommy of 2, work demands and of course training for one of the biggest races was super time consuming.

I am back to document the journey to Ironman!

We arrived the Thursday night before the race. I wanted plenty of time to Get to the venue, scope it out and feel the energy from this small town. If you have never been to Lake Placid, NY, it is worth a trip.  Between the beautiful views of mountains, ample water and swimming, Hiking and biking, there is plenty to do there!

It was when I saw the Ironman Village that I got super excited to be there and enjoy the experience. Nothing gets you going than seeing those flags and arches in the Ironman village announcing that Ironman is in town!

 

Seeing all the people in town going to the village and all the excitement surrounding this area was infectious!

 

We then went to our cabin to get checked in. The cabin was a minimum of 5 night stay, but we figured we would stay for a week since my mother offered to watch the kids! We were in for an awakening when we saw this cabin. In no way would I say go cheap in Lake Placid unless you really do not care! The cabin was nestled by Mt Vanhovenberg and it was not what I pictured it/expected it to be. We made light of the situation as it was supposed to sleep 4. How, I do not know! It was tiny and our bags, bikes and us barely fit into this cabin! It was dusty and full of cob webs. I was ready to leave and go get a hotel near the venue, but I knew the rates would be higher, so we sucked it up and tried to deal with what we had. We knew we wouldn't be in the cabin for long. Or so we hoped.

No TV. The mister was mad he couldn't watch Tour De France

He likes his bike better than me..LOL!

The pictures here look very deceiving. It really wasn't all it was cracked up to be for the money we paid. No refunds either, of course!

We got to the cabin pretty late, so we decided to grab some groceries at the Local Price Chopper and then head back to the cabin and eat. I have some pretty serious intolerance's to food, so I have to be careful even with traveling! When we got to Price Chopper, I had to chuckle! No bananas and No Avocados!!! You knew athletes were in town! Ha ha!

The next day, We decided to make our way to the Athlete village and get checked in. Needless to say we had to walk through all the vendors and I did end up buying some new Newton Gravity 3s! Yes, I have a weakness for running shoes! We also decided to take a Dip in Mirror Lake. I was surprised at how warm it was! 70Degrees! The swim was uneventful and I was feeling confident going into Sundays swim. That sealed the deal. I knew I could Swim it and be fine!

We then watched the Opening Ceremony/band for a bit and met my training partner for Dinner at the Pub.  If you haven't eaten there while in Lake Placid, You should! Its a great atmosphere and good food!

We then went home to get my bags ready for the drop off the next day. This is no easy task to decide what you should put in each bag. Thankfully I had it all bagged away prior to our travel, so all I did was transfer it all to the bags. Made it so much easier than to think about it when I was there!

Saturday- We road the run course for a quick ride to get the legs moving, then I racked Norris, looked around the transition site as to the ins and outs, put my bike and run bags on the rack and was out of there! I didn't want to think about it and wanted to just relax and focus on hydration.
We went back to the cabin, took a nap and then decided to enjoy the town for a bit. We got into town and there were many Fire trucks heading into town! We looked up and saw smoke coming from Main street! We watched the Fire Fighters try to put this fire out for at least a hour. We decided to walk around Mirror lake to get a view of it and then head home. Nothing like watching a fire. Devastation and pure heroism all in one. Very moving.

Sunday- The day I have been training for since November was Finally here! All I worked for and all I sacrificed to get to that starting line was finally coming to fruitation on this day! I said goodbye to My honey and off I went to gather my thoughts, get body marked, Drop off my Special needs bag and get my nutrition together for the bike and run. A friend of ours is apart of Ironman and it was great he was there assisting me and calming me down before the start. I met up with my training partner in transition and we headed to the swim together. It was going to be a great day!!!!

 

Cooperstown Triathlon Recap

This past Sunday I competed in my first Triathlon of the season. I wanted to do a sprint just to nail some transition changes prior to Syracuse 70.3.

ATC Endurance puts on some pretty superb races and I was grateful to Bike Loft East to offer a entry for me. 

 The fifth annual Cooperstown Triathlon moved to a new venue at Glimmerglass State Park, just outside the village of Cooperstown.  The scenery of the park and the beautiful rolling landscape of the surrounding area did not disappoint!.
The race begins an 800yd swim in beautiful Otsego Lake. It is followed by an 18.8 mile bike ride through the rolling hills and beautiful countryside of the surrounding community. The race finishes with a 3.1 mi run pretty much within the park

I was nervous the days leading up to the race as I had a extreme asthma attack in the water 4 days prior that required Nebulizer treatments and a injection of Steroids into the tush. The water was cold and I couldn't get my breathing under control. As the days crept up, I kept messaging the race director for the water temp. I hope he wasn't too annoyed with me asking everyday!

I told my honey I would decide the day before the race if I was racing. Of course I had a meltdown the night before about my wetsuit, my asthma and everything in between.

The morning of was a little hairy. We drove the 1:40 to the venue and it seemed like the longest ride of my life. Through Rain, Fog, Almost running out of gas, Not being able to see, MapQuest directions being wrong, I was ready to throw in the towel.

We got there with moments to spare and of course there were little bumps with getting my packet and bike off the rack of the car.

I decided to get into transition, set up , get out and try to go for a warm up swim. Well, that really never happened because as soon as I put my face in the water they called us out of the warm up swim. I started to get really nervous, but I knew the water temp was in the 70's so it made me a little less crazy.

I did pre game with Sudafed and a puff on the ol' Proventil inhaler in hopes that things would settle down.

Calm but nervous as hell

I decided to seed myself in the front and just see what I was able to do. A little caotic at the start of the swm, but I was able to find some decent swimming space and just take my time and sight as best I could. The water was semi choppy, not too bad.

I got out of the water in about 14 min, but on paper it was 15:43!! wth! I knew there was some fast swimmers in my group but I was just happy I didn't panic or drown in the water!

Transition- Quick in and out 57 sec

Bike- Now I love to bike!! This is my strongest leg and I was determined to make up some time on the bike. It was a sprint afterall and I could push hard. It needed to hurt! The bike had a few false flats followed by a fast back half x 2. I got a little over 19miles on my watch, but it was supposed to be 18.8 miles.

Bike time- 55:22 Ave speed 20.4 mph- FASTEST BIKE SPLIT for the WOMEN!!!

Transition 2- Lost my rack for a second but quickly found it. 56 seconds

Run- I went through transition and was told I was Second female by my honey and to keep my lead. I was gunning for the 1st person overall. The run was a 2 loop course with a little steep grinder thrown in there, but pretty much flat and fast. I saw the lead person at the first turn around. I thought I would catch her by the end but she was just too far for me to close the gap. I pushed hard and my lungs were screaming at me, but I knew the 3rd woman wasn't that far away from me.
I came in Happy to be 2nd Female Overall!!!!

Run time: 23:58 Ave speed 7:29 per mile

Total time: 1:36:56

I have been working hard on my running and it is paying off! I am so happy with my performance. Now if I could just get faster at swimming!!

Onto the next adventure- Syracuse 70.3!!!

Happy Training!

IMLP Training Weeks 25 and 26, 2 races and a whole lot of Bling!

I am not going to go all into details about the last 2 weeks, just that training is in Full force that it is getting hard to keep the blog up as well.

I am trying to make some gains in running, which is my limiter, but it seems like the harder I try, I still stay the same pace!! Ugh!

I joined a Track club this week thinking that would help me out. I was in for a treat when it was BIG Hill repeats for 30 minutes! I mean these people are Fast on this team!! I feel like one of the weakest links! But, I know that's what I need to make me stronger. I am going to push myself to do speed work with them and let everything else fall into place. I have been running with another group and just feel its not giving me what I want these days, so time to step up my game!!

I did the Mountain goat 10 miler in Syracuse last weekend. My son did the 1/2 mile kids run and RAN the whole thing!! He is 2.5 years old! I couldn't be a prouder mommy! My daughter then showed her stuff with me on the 3K run too!!


I also raced the Du The Lakes Duathlon today. Good solid efforts on both considering there is no resting. at the Duathlon today! 7th OA Female and First in AG!!

 Now is the time for the big workouts. Next weekend is 85 miles on the bike with a 1:30 brick and the next day back at it with a Run and bike. eeeek!!!

11 more weeks until the Big Day!

Last 2 weeks of training:

14:49:36 for week 25- 8325 yds of swimming, 138 miles of biking, 29.0 miles of running

13:04:45 for week 26 (down week)- 7000 yds of swimming, 125 miles of biking, 25.5 miles of running

Happy Training!

Ironman Lake Placid Training week #24

I am behind on my Blogging big time. Ironman training has taken over and the little things are starting to take a back burner. I give you the quick and dirty version.

I got a lot of riding in and it was a little better with the weather.

I won my Age group in the Springtime 10K! 8th OA female and 1st in AG! I will take it! I haven't had a AG win since I was in my 20s! It was a tough course but I held my own. Especially in the last 100yds when I sprinted to pass a girl that passed me minutes before that! I love a challenge.

I am getting ready to do the Mountain Goat run next. I am planning on doing the 3K nice and easy to warm up, then the 10miler full speed! If I have speed after a 4:30 Bike the day before. Oh the thrills of IM training!

I realized that IM is a lonely sport. I feel no one wants to ride/run with me because I am "too fast" or "biking or running too long" I am sad some days that I don't have a group to run with. I am mentally prepared for a long journey, but it is better with company for sure. I am so grateful to my training partners I do have though.

The last weeks breakdown

Swim: 7625 yds, 2:12:00= 15.2% of training
Bike: 126 miles, 7:25:00= 51.3% of training
Run: 33.7 mile, 4:51:09= 33.5% of training

Total training time: 14:28:09

Happy training!

Ironman Lake Placid Training Week #23

I can't believe I didn't post on last weeks training! I am slacking! Training is Ramping up and it is going so smoothly, I can't even phathom how good I feel! I am enjoying every aspect of training and I am so glad I have a great partner in crime to go on this wild ride with me. I can't even imagine not having his support or my other family's support for that matter! My mother has been a saint and saving grace for us to have "Date day" rides.

Last weekend I finally got out to the Syracuse 70.3 course to enjoy the amazing weather. Sunny and 70 is what I like!

Swimming is coming together nicely. I actually connect with the water the last week and it felt amazing to finally just "get it" in the water. I am riding the wave right now and just going with it!

I cannot just say enough about how good I am feeling so I am going to just stop now and talk about the numbers last week since this is a late post

Week in Numbers:

Swim: 7750yds- 2:15:00
Bike: 127 miles-7:02:19
Run: 30.5 miles-4:24:40

Total time: 13:41:59