Kerry's Triathlon Adventures

Kerry Becomes an Ironman!

2010-07-26T03:50:00.000-07:00

Up early and can’t sleep the morning after finishing IM Lake Placid (everything aches and my mind is racing). Here’s my half-awake attempt to capture some memories from this journey.

The days leading up to the ironman were spent enjoying Lake Placid with my family (three boys and Mark, parents, sister and her three boys), friends and doing last minute race training/prep. I also really enjoyed getting to know some other NC triathletes a bit better– Nas, Sophie, Blake, Dave and Monette Williams, Joanna and Ken Younts. And I can’t forget to thank my friends back in NC who sent tons of warm wishes and support and took my calls at odd hours when I was freaking out – many thanks!!

Nerves held up pretty well until night before when I started to crack. This was my first ironman and I was petrified. I played a lot of games of checkers and watched a movie with the kids to take my mind off things.

Race morning. All the pre-race prep went pretty well (tires pumped, body marked, body ‘glided’ – the usual). Walked down to swim start and made my way in to Mirror Lake to join the sea of 3,000 athletes gathered to start at the same time, same place. Luckily, I found two friends, Blake and Sophie and we doggie-paddled to find a spot off to the side and about 6 rows from the start.

The horn blows and we are off. I can’t even describe the craziness that happened then- bodies, arms everywhere. I tried to keep my cool but kind of freaked out for the first few minutes. It stayed REALLY crazy for about 20 minutes and then was just pretty crowded for whole 2.4 miles of the swim.

One guy really was obnoxious and pushed me under and bonked me in the back. “I stopped my swim and said, “Please down drown me, I have three small children”. He looked at me like I was loony (which I kind of was at that point) and swam off. Didn’t realize how much I got pushed around at the time but this morning I am finding several really sore spots on my back from getting wacked.

Ended up having good swim getting out of the water in 1:09 (started swimming 3 years ago so was pumped). Think trying to escape the meanies made me go faster. Felt good the whole swim – kudos to Dave, my coach, for giving me torturous "Death by Dave" swim workouts over the past couple of months to prepare me for this.

The 112 mile, two loop bike course was beautiful. Running rivers, scenic mountain views – amazing. Loved the first loop, felt great. Held back to avoid bonking later. Route has 7 miles of descent in first 20 miles – hit 40 mph and was getting passed by guys like I was standing still. But it was really fun. The last 20 miles is pretty much uphill. Focused on being patient and not overdoing things.

Started second loop and started to feel a little ‘loopy’ and that things weren’t quite right. Couldn’t figure out what I needed and noticed that I couldn’t push as hard as I’d like. Stomach not good as well so didn’t know what food I could take in. Hammer gel, carbo pro and water seemed to sit OK but weren’t pulling me out of my funk. Had planned to go bit harder on second loop of bike course. Just did what I could and ended second loop about 15 minutes slower than the first.

At the dismount line, put foot down and fell over. Felt kind of dizzy. Didn’t want volunteers to notice in fear they’d pull me from the course so I blamed it on slippery shoes and tried to laugh it off. They bought it and I walked VERY slowly through transition.

First few miles of run were pretty scary. Still didn’t feel very good and had no pep. At that point I thought I might not finish the 26.2 mile run. Took guess my blood sugar might be off so stopped at an aid station and got a good dose of oranges and grapes in. I was able to keep jogging – albeit at a slower pace than I had planned.

Hung in there by walking the aid stations and continuing to keep my sugar levels up with fruit and sports drink. About mile 16 a new development occurred – very painful right calf cramp. Told a fellow runner “I feel like sh&t”. Lucky for me he was a seasoned ironman and talked me through it – how I could finish this, how good I was doing, how I’d tortured myself for 9 hours so why quit now, etc. Had been taking salt tabs the whole race but cramps didn’t subside and travelled up my leg to quad.

At that point I was able to partially remove my mind from the present. I pretended I was just on a training run around the Y neighborhood, had imaginary chats with my friends– all kinds of odd things. I didn’t know if I could finish so focused on finishing one mile at a time. Shuffled to mile 23 and at that point knew I had to walk. Pain was too much. Finished last three miles running a couple of miles, walking a couple minutes.

Came in to stadium and was able to jog past the crowds. Crossed finish line to “Kerry Troester from Raleigh, you are an ironman” in 11:25. Happy.

Then the medics spotted me. I couldn’t walk so they grabbed me and asked me all the usual “What’s your name, where do you live?” Passed these questions with flying colors. However, when they asked me my t-shirt size for the finishers shirt I couldn’t remember. That did the trick and I was quickly escorted to the med tent.

Didn’t need an IV (my weight didn’t drop enough to warrant it) but did the lie down and feel nauseous routine. Had a wonderful nurse that kept me in there for an hour under blankets and released me after about an hour when my color returned and the room stopped spinning.

It was an amazing day but I have an incredible respect for this distance and the athletes that conquer it. This is a race that requires a huge amount of training and support from family. Despite all my training and nutrition testing before the race, things didn’t digest the same way that they do in training and never felt that dizzy/loopy feeling before. But the day was just amazing – to find strength within when things are tougher than tough, to enjoy an unspoiled, beautiful part of our country, to treasure moments with friends and family.

You want me to swim how many 100s???

2010-07-12T10:20:00.001-07:00

I am now 13 days away from my first Ironman. During this training I have pushed my body to do things I never thought possible. Run 22 miles, bike 120 miles and swim so much that my hair is turning orange (hope to change that tomorrow at beauty salon).

One of the things that I am most proud of during this training is that I have NEVER not saved a turtle while biking on the road. Even during my most important training days out on the bike, I have always stopped to help a turtle make it to the other side. If I don't have time to save a turtle then I have lost perspective in all this insanity. However, race day the turtles are on their own :-).

So last week I notice that my coach has put in a dreadful thing on my training plan. A 5,000 yard swim that includes 40 x 100 on the 1:35 interval. Really?? And three days before this workout I come down with bronchitis. Lucky for me I had company - I was joined by my fellow racer and teammate Joanna Younts, along with my coach and his wife, Dave and Monette Williams.

Its an interesting thing to be swimming for over an hour straight at a pace you really can't even hold for 10 minutes. I felt really bad for # 10-20 of the 100s but then started to go numb. Numb is good and I finished somehow. No matter what happens race day I will know that I can now swim 4,000 yards straight and still come home and make pb&j sandwiches for the boys and do 2 loads of laundry. Take that Martha Stewart :-).

Hot and grumpy - part I

2010-05-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

Today was supposed to be a nice 4 hour ride - shorter than some of my past and future rides on this ironman adventure. Not a bad day me thinks. Rescue one box turtle on way so think carma is on our side.

Start out and realize I haven't had any caffeine. Putzed along until my riding partner, Tommy, finally suggested I get some 'juice' if we are ever going to finish this ride. Red Bull does trick. Start to cruise and 'BANG' - get a flat out in the boondocks. Use my handy-dandy tire changing kit but somehow waste my cartridge in the process, only partially inflating my tire. We visit a hardware store, gas station and a friendly neighborhood - none of which have any bike pumps.

Tommy goes in search of a biker to borrow another cartridge from. 45 minutes later he returns, we get tire blown up and start our ride. We have been trying to fix the tire for 90 minutes and now its about 90 degrees. The friendly chit-chat that we began is now gone - silence prevails as we start on our ride.

Realize that we have ridden farther than we needed to at some point. Neither of our odometers are working and my watch stopped. Turtle carma not paying off.

Had some good convenience stops today. Tommy lost his sunglasses at one point and after much searching, we realized they were on his head (do you think the heat was getting to us?). We also ran out of money at one point so couldn't afford more snacks:-(. At one convenience store near the end of our ride, the clerk took pity on us and let us hang out in their walk in cooler. I put all fear of being locked in a random place aside and enjoyed the chill.

Ended up being on my bike for 4 hours 40 minutes today. Will fix watch ASAP :-)

Wild Kingdom on the Bike

2010-05-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

Enjoyed a grizzling 100+ mile bike ride with my friends Lucky, Pat Webster, John Wilkins and Tommy King on May 22nd. All was good in the beginning - lots of banter, friendly abuse and chit-chat.

So begins our journey to the Wild Kingdom of rural North Carolina. John found a dead baby copper-head snake that he put in a bag in his bento box. I did ask why and he replied, "they are cool". OK, its the first time that I've ridden with someone with a dead snake in their bento box.

We are riding along and John drops back for a minute. "I'll catch up," he shouts. He returns and I am afraid to ask what he has been up to. We stop at a convenience store and he shows me the live baby corn snake that he rescued from the road and is now chilling in his empty water bottle. Got to love John for his passion for nature, but I will never take a sip of water from him again :-)

Next we tackled many loose dogs. Seems once you leave the city limits, folks have really big dogs that are loose and just run around chasing stuff all day. Their favorite past time is chasing bikes. We were run down by a dachsund (yeah, kind of embarrassing) and multiple labs. The 8 rottweilers, including one large 'notweiller' were kept behind fences - thank goodness.

Trying to finish 140.6

2010-05-21T13:04:00.001-07:00

About 10 months ago I registered for Ironman Lake Placid scheduled for July 25, 2010 in Lake Placid, NY. Its a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a very hilly/mountainous 112 mile ride and then you get to enjoy a 26.2 mile run afterwards. Keep reflecting on why I did this. Was I dropped on my head at some point during my childhood? Am I missing some critical brain chemical that causes me to do strange, painful things to my body? Did some boyfriend dump me at a formative period of my life and I want to prove something to society?

I think the answer is simple - I wanted to see if I could do it. I've run 7 marathons and done 7 half-ironmen. Wanted to see if I could finish/live through the big daddy/momma of them all - the full ironman.

So I've decided to start a blog part way in to my ironman training for several reasons...

1) If I ever decide to do this again, I can look back and remember how ridiculous the training really was and re-think the decision :-)

2) Reassure my friends that I have not dropped off the face of the earth. Rather I am living in a surreal world training, eating, working, kid caring, eating, not enough sleeping, whining and training, training, training. I've found I spend a lot of time talking to other triathletes because no one else would find this existence very interesting. (Not that my tri friends find it all that exciting but they are stuck out on a bike ride for the next 6 hours with me so pretend to listen)

3) Have a place to capture the random thoughts that float through my mind during the long hours out on the bike and running in the woods.

So far I have a love/hate relationship with the training. For example, next week I will bike 200 miles, run 30 + miles and swim about 10,000 yards over the course of 7 days. That adds up to between 17-18 hours of time, with the longest training day being about 6 hours.

My first 90 mile ride was about 3 weeks ago and I remember actually enjoying it for the first 2 hours - words uttered out of my mouth included 'what a beautiful day', 'ironman training isn't that bad', 'its nice to catch up with friends'. Then the temperature hit 90 degrees and my mood did a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde switcheroo. I found words such as 'I hate this sh*t', 'What part of this is remotely fun?' and various tirades about how much my bootie hurts.

So tomorrow I get to start riding at 5:30 am and do another 90ish mile ride with a few tri friends. Will try and capture any memorable moments and bleep any curse words.

Cary Long Course Duathlon

2009-05-05T13:51:00.003-07:00

This was my second year racing the Cary Long-Course Duathlon. I started off the run feeling fresh and settled in to a good pace. I ended up with a nice split of 32 min. for the first 5 mile leg in second place behind just turned pro Anne Basso.

The bike started smooth and I felt strong. Alicia Parr passed me on the bike but I kept an eye on her to try and catch her on the second run. At mile 28, things took a turn for the worse. A volunteer on the race course left their spot and about 20 riders – including myself - missed a turn and got off course. After riding a couple of miles, we all realized that we were a bit lost and turned around. We added about 4 extra miles on the bike but finally made our way back to transition.

A few of our ‘lost pack’ dropped out of the race but I figured I’d get the workout in and finish the event. Ran through t he last 5 mile run and ended up with a 3rd overall female place.

MAP Sprint Triathlon

2009-05-05T13:51:00.001-07:00

So sprints are not really my thing. I did MAP this year because of the great cause and to get good practice for upcoming races. I enjoyed some good laughs with fellow teammates Kristin Villopoto, Stacey Richardson, Jackie Miller, Wade Laufenberg, Ken Younts, Tom Clifford and Nasrin Azari before the race.

Fumbled through the swim and then started the bike. From the get-go, I felt like I was riding in to a very strong headwind or riding through a big mud puddle. Had on a heart-rate monitor that day and noticed that my heart-rate was very high but my bike speed was very low. Saw my competitors and everyone else pass me despite hard efforts. Mmmmm…..

At about mile 12 on the bike, my ride started to feel a bit bumpy. Put-putted in to transition and realized that I had a flat tire. I would later learn from a bike mechanic that I had a slow leak in my tire, explaining the feeling of riding through mud through-out most of the bike today.

No podium for me but a fun day with my teammates.

USAT Long Course Duathlon Nationals

2009-05-05T13:50:00.001-07:00

After a relatively mild spring, I was not ready for the 90 degree heat that descended upon Richmond, VA just in time for the USAT Long Course Duathlon Nationals. As I found myself running for shade and chugging water during packet pick-up, I knew the race might not be pleasant.

The race was broken up in to age groups. My wave - the 40-44 year old women - did not start until 9:30 a.m. It was already quite hot when we began our 10K run. The women took off and the lead group was doing a sub 6 minute pace for the first mile. I held back and hoped folks would drop off from this pace. Lucky for me, the group slowed things down and I was able to pass quite a few people and end up in 2nd place at the end of the 10K.

The bike was a three loop 38K course. The first two loops went well despite the technical nature of the course (and I’m not a technical rider). The heat was really starting to build at this point and my aero helmet seemed very hot. I ran out of water and couldn’t find a water stop on the course. At that point I made the decision to slow down a bit to try and avoid a trip to the medical tent.

The last run was a blur. I was so hot and miserable but somehow ended up running a zippy fast (for me) 3 mile time of 18:20. Ended up fifth in my age group and got a slot to Long Course Worlds in September. Overall a good, but hot, day at the races.

White Lake I

2009-05-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

Only six days after racing the long course duathlon nationals in Richmond, VA, I was dreading the start of the White Lake Half Ironman on May 2nd. Why had I signed up for these races so close together? Three days after the duathlon, I was still hobbling and walking down the stairs one step at a time. I was also on antibiotics trying to recover from a sinus infection. Could I really race and complete a half-ironman? We’d find out!!

After sharing some laughs with teammate Jeanna Chain prior to the start, I started my swim. No records were broken but I made it through the swim without coughing. Felt good on the bike until I hit some headwinds on route 210. Fought the wind most of 210 and part of 53. Definitely felt the effects of my race 6 days before on my legs but muddled through it.

Lucky for me, the sky was cloudy during most of my run. I settled in to a steady 7:20ish pace and just tried to hold on. I ended up with a half-marathon run time of 1:36:50 and an overall half-ironman time of 5:01. This earned me first place masters open female and a 6th female overall spot. I was happy to stay out of the medic tent and am looking forward to some R&R before Eagleman in June.

Ironman World Championships 70.3 and Me

2008-11-10T03:08:00.000-08:00

Raced the Ironman World Championships 70.3 this weekend so wanted to capture some of my thoughts.

Drove down Thursday from Raleigh to Clearwater, FL for 11 hours with 3 kids in the car with choruses of “are we there yet, Mommy?”. Cut out alcohol this week but could have used a strong drink after that ride.

Went to race expo on Friday and checked my bike and gear bags. Race helmets, race wheels, cervelos everywhere. Athletes speak lots of different languages, have no body fat, shaved legs, big calves, etc. I have never seen a group of athletes like this before!!

As background, the past couple of months have been crazy from a health perspective. I couldn’t train much for two weeks in September because I had some skin cancer removed from my back and ten stitches to hold things together. Also, came down with bronchitis two weeks before the race and just finished up my antibiotics. So I had no idea how this would pan out for my race day. My goal was just to race against the clock.

Go down to practice swim Friday morning. A side-note for my girlfriends – the American guys wear their tri suits under the wetsuits but the European men wear little speedos. Hubby refused to hand-over camera :-(.

Practice swim felt good. Between the wetsuit and the salt water I actually stay on top of the water like real swimmers do. No scary sea creatures appeared during swim.

Race morning

Woke up at 3:45 and couldn’t fall back to sleep due to nerves and excitement. Get on shuttle bus at 5:20. No one on the bus was speaking English - wished I had my tri buddies with me to calm me down. Heart pounding and breathing shallow. Am I having a panic attack? Oh dear.

Get to race start, do body-marking, tire-pumping, etc. See Joanna Younts from the NCTS circuit. We hang-out together until the race starts – watch the pros start, chatter, check morning bags, I slide in to my too tight wetsuit, do short warm-up swim, etc. Having company calms me down – thanks Joanna.

The swim

Our swim wave was the biggest wave in the race making for a crowded swim. They combined females 18-29 with older ladies 40-44. In addition, the 45-49 year old males went right behind us.

The gun goes off. Run off beach in to water in to a mass of bodies, staying to outside to avoid massive crowd close to buoys. I didn’t go out too hard to try and get breathing under control due to cold water and overall frenzy.

Get out to turn-around and here come the fast, older men. Some dude swam over me and elbowed me in the back and head. Swallow lots of salt water. Yuck.

Despite the mean men and crowds of ladies, out of water in 34 minutes (that is fast for me).

The bike

Navigate through gear bags and changing tents and get to bike. Got on bike and felt fresh from the get-go. Felt great on bike the whole way and tried to keep my speed up. Didn’t look at heart-rate much but checked it a few times to make sure it didn’t get too high. Had a tail-wind for the first 10 miles and kept saying “wee!!” like I was on a roller-coaster.

The bad thing about this course is the many, many packs of riders. People got into groups of about 10-20 riders and formed peletons. Is this illegal? Yes. Did anybody seem to do anything about it? No. This was a very well-run, Ironman event so I was surprised there were not more referees on the course.

The dangerous thing about these packs of riders was when they flew by you at 26 miles an hour and were a few people wide. At one point I almost got pushed off the road by a pack of Italian riders. Suddenly the speedo dudes were not so cute.

I ate every 15 minutes on the bike (Gatorade endurance, couple bites of power bar early in bike, hammer gel and carbo pro) for those interested in food details.

The tail-wind turned in to a head-wind for the last 15 miles. ‘Wee’ turned to ‘uggh’. Finished the bike in 2:37ish. I would describe my pace as steady but not hammering (zone 3 for HR geeks like me). Volunteer took my bike from me as soon as I entered the transition area – pretty neat.

The run

The run transition went well due to the amazing volunteers. I had one volunteer spraying me with sun-tan lotion while I was putting on my shoes. The other was packing my bike stuff back in to my gear bag. I would like to volunteer at an Ironman event one day.

I wore racing flats during run – this REALLY helped since they are lighter weight and my legs felt heavy from the ride. Started off easy just trying to get my run legs moving. At about mile two I started to pick up the pace. Didn’t eat anything on run for the first few miles except water to avoid tummy trouble (an issue with me on run part).

The run was really a mental exercise for me. I was tired and it was hot and sunny (no-shade). The first part of the run was hard because I knew I had 10 more miles to go but was ready to slow down. Tried to stay in the moment and focus on running from landmark to landmark (lamp-posts, stop-signs, etc) instead of thinking about the total distance left in the run. Watched heart-race to try and keep it up. Played songs in my head, imagined my tri buddies cheering me on, tried to smile, counted people that I passed – anything to take my mind off the pain and tired state of my body.

After the first few miles, I ate oranges, water and gatorade along with some gu (with lots of water). Put wet sponges in my tri-suit at every water station to try and cool my core temperature down. May look a bit like Pamela Anderson in the race pictures – I will frame these :-)

At about mile 11, I ran by an Ironman message billboard and I saw, “K. Troester You Rock”. I can’t tell you how great that was to see – thank you to whoever sent that to ironman.com.

My kids and hubby were out on the run course. The kiddos were great and rang little bells and screamed “Go mommy” every time they saw me.

Ended up doing a 1:34 half-marathon and finished in 4:53 – a BIG PR for me.
It was a good day.

Putting it all in perspective

2008-09-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, September 23rd I had some minor surgery to remove a squamous skin carcinoma (i.e., mildly aggressive kind of skin cancer) on my back. I had a biopsy 4 days before and got the results on Monday. Doctor didn't recommend waiting so I went in the next day. I now have 10 stitches on my back and can't run or swim for 12 days.

As it is only 6 weeks until The Ironman 70.3 World Championships, this is kind of a bummer. I also can't race the Pinehurst triathlon on Oct. 4th, putting me out of the running for any local NCTS awards.

Hate to say it but BFD - I am so glad to be healthy. I have a new inspiration as I sit on the ^*%&%( elliptical machine and spin bike - so glad I can do something. Worlds may not be as speedy as I'd hoped, but I will race it with a new attitude and zest for the day.

The good, the bad and the Wilmington

2008-09-21T18:16:00.000-07:00

There are good races...and then there was the Wilmington Sprint Triathlon this past weekend. I knew race was going to be ugly because I trained through it (i.e. didn't rest or taper) and it involved a long ocean swim.

I'm not sure where to start with what went wrong....

- swim - A big 'thanks' to Dave 'Diesel' Babson who informed me on the bus ride to the race start that I would be swimming during shark feeding time (i.e., dusk). Cold and scared of large fish with fins, I 'putzed' through the water and swam off-course in an attempt to dodge any lingering man-eaters.

- bike - took wrong turn out of transition then couldn't get my shoes on. It doesn't sound like rocket science to get your shoes on but I tried to be fancy-schmancy and put my shoes on while riding the bike. In theory, I thought this would save me time. In reality, I battled with gravity and shoes that didn't want to go on my feet. During the ride my HR monitor didn't work and my legs hurt (note to self, avoid blue moon ale the night before and squats 2 days before race). Fell off the bike while trying to do fancy-schmancy move of taking off shoes while on bike. Note to self - I have failed coordination test of putting on shoes while on moving bike. Go old school and put shoes on while on stable ground.

- run - couldn't get shoe on before run - note to self, must sit with my kindergartener and practice shoes on and off together. Good run (19:24 5K) despite galactically (again, is that a word?) slow race.

Have been finishing in top 10 in most races - finished 28th in this one and got beaten by everyone. Humble pie for me.

Was bummed out about race and contemplated quitting triathlons. However, went on cool ride with two friends today, Mark Luckinbill (Lucky) and Dave Babson (Diesel). Rode 68 miles and discussed thoughts on zen life-style. Newly infused by the spirit of the Dalai Lama (and two candy bars during the ride), I will continue on my tri journey :-).

BTW, have two sick kids at home (throwing up, sore throats) and feel like #*%(#& myself. Galactically slow race may be due to evil virus invasion - will keep posted.

Jaden's triathlon adventure

2008-08-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

Another triathlon addict is born. Today Jaden did his first triathlon – 50 yard swim, 1 1/2 mile bike, 1/2 mile run. As background, he has been asking to do a triathlon all summer. I finally found one that would let a 5-year old race – the Kids in Training Series. He did a race down in South Raleigh at Eagle Ridge.

Jaden has been very serious about his training. Every day he asked me what we needed to do for training. He has even been turning down the free cookies at the grocery store because “I’m in training”.

So he woke up bright and early this morning rearing to go. At the race, we set up his transition area and he decided just to pin his race number on his little swim suit because “putting on a shirt could take a long time”.

He did a great swim and then raced like a madman to his transition area. Once he got on his bike he was off in a standing climb up the first hill. Mark was volunteering on the race start and said that Jaden was flying and making sure no one passed him. He then took off on his run and didn’t walk for the whole 1/2 mile.

I can’t believe it but he took 3rd in his age group. He was racing against 6 and 7 year olds so this was a big deal. And most important, he had a HUGE smile through-out the whole race and wants to do another one “tomorrow”.

Very cool.

Timberman 70.3 Can Be Fun

2008-08-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

They say it takes a village to raise a child. I think the same goes for a big endurance event. I had the luck to race the Timberman 70.3 this past weekend - it couldn’t have happened without an amazing set of in-laws, great training partners, supportive hubby and my coach. My in-laws flew from St. Louis to watch my 3 kids for 4 days while we went up to the race in NH – I now refer to them as Saint Grandma and Grandpa!!

I wanted to do the Timberman 70.3 race to experience the whole big, Ford sponsored kind of event. I knew I wouldn’t be doing an Ironman any time soon (3 young kids + 1 hubby + 1 bad hip + 1 part-time job = no ironman for this lady) so figured a 70.3 would be a great way to experience it.

We flew up to NH which meant I had to pack my bike and check it on the airplane. Lots of work and lots of $$ to do this. As my hubby and I watched while TSA unpacked the bike box (for airport security purposes) that he had just spent two hours packing, we swore that we’d never do another race that we couldn’t drive to.

What an amazing weekend!! There were 2,000 racers doing the 70.3 on Sunday and the race had a huge expo on Saturday. The venue was gorgeous – a crystal clear lake set in scenic hills and in a quaint New England town.

One of my favorite parts of the expo was the Q&A session with the pros that included Chrissie Wellington, Andy Potts, Michael Lovato, Simon Lessing and Amanda Stevens. They answered lots of questions, including mine that was “How do you deal with the pain of a long race?” Chrissie Wellington answered that she always smiles when she is hurting and it makes her feel better. So I tried that during this race and I think it helped – a little. At least I won’t have Pat Webster and John Wilkins making fun of my grumpy race face 

One of the really cool things that the pros all said is that we need to enjoy our sport. They all stressed taking the time to do rides and runs that are just fun. My favorite of the group was Chrissie Wellington because she showed a real love of the sport. She gave me her autograph on my water bottle and let me get a picture with her (see photo at top of page). She is very humble and inspiring!

The other very cool thing was meeting Dick Hoyt, father of Rick Hoyt, who races with his son that is disabled. You can learn more about his story at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDnrLv6z-mM. He pulls his son in a raft during the swim, pushes him on the bike and run. I met him at the expo and then started behind him in the swim.

So the race:

Pre-race I really focused on my nutrition. I had big tummy trouble at the White Lake Half so wanted to try a different approach this year. Stuck with bland, basic foods for the few days before it, drank Gatorade endurance and snacked on salty, high carbohydrate foods instead of big, heavy carbo-loaded meals. Worked like a charm. Also stuck with hammer gel and carbo-pro mixed with Gatorade endurance on the bike. No solid food on the bike and no tummy trouble.

The swim – started out hard the first 100 yards or so to get out of the ‘pack’. Then just got in to my ‘groove’ and looked for folks about my speed to draft/swim with. Got stuck trying to pass slower folks from the group that started in the wave in front of us. It got really choppy at one point but I just started breathing on one side. Happy with swim.

The bike:

So, I didn’t even know this was a very challenging, hilly bike course until the day before the race. The web site said ‘rolling hills’ – ha!! My friend Dave Babson called me on Saturday – he had just done the sprint there the day before – to let me know that this was one hilly, mean course. During the pro Q&A they were talking about tactics to race in a hilly route like Timberman and Lake Placid. I was about to try and get a refund right then and there!! Then hubby and I drove the course. Hubby tried to calm my nerves telling me the hills that we were driving over weren’t big – but I knew better. It was going to be a very long 56 miles!!

And it was. Every time I turned a corner there was another $&#*%(#& hill. This was the hardest bike route I’ve ever ridden. Long, steep, winding – every kind of nasty hill was on this course. So I just turned my HR monitor over so I couldn’t see the read out and suffered through it. During the flats I tried to pick up some speed and then glide down the down-hills. But the uphills were just nasty. My chain dropped a couple of times going up hill – had to get off bike and fix it. Kind of an annoyance and might have cost me a couple of minutes but it could have been SO much worse (flats, crashes, etc)

The run:

What a fun course!! Lots of bands and folks in cool costumes - the crowd support was amazing at this race. There were a couple of decent hills during the run course. I know my legs were tired because I could hear my feet slapping the pavement – good form was out the window. At about mile 6 I realized something really bad was going on with one of my toes. Tried to stay focused on the present moment (thanks for that tip Lucky) and think about doing my best at that very point in time.

I was really ready to stop a couple of times so I basically ate my way through 13.1 miles to keep going. However, got really bad stomach cramps at mile 2 after trying to inhale an ‘espresso love’ gu. Lesson learned – do not inhale a caffeine-filled gu early in the run segment. Wait for stomach to settle before taking it in. Ran through stomach cramps - they went away after about ½ mile. Stuck with orange slices, Gatorade and coke for the rest of the race.

Happy with finish at 5:11. I know I tried my hardest during every part of the race. Yes, chains drop, the stomach may cramp and toes ache but that is just part of this sport. I’ve learned to treasure the things that go well and laugh at minor mishaps. Although my toe is really looking nasty right now…..

Well, off to worlds in November. Thank you so much to my friends, family and training partners for all the warm wishes and support!!

Topsail for Training and Toasting

2008-08-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

Just returned from a week on Topsail Beach in NC. With just two weeks until my Timberman 70.3, I knew I had to get some training in.

The biking was great down there. Despite major headwinds on some roads, it was very flat and the roads had bike lanes (imagine that :-) ). Road almost every day. Running was also good despite the heat.

The swimming...well, it didn't happen. Had on my plan to do 2 open water swims. As many of my training partners may know, I am a bit nervous about swimming in cloudy water. Add to that the possible of having a fish with large teeth in the near vicinity and I'm kind of worthless. So, there were two additional things against me this week. First, it was shark week on the Discovery Channel. I become glued to this show and then my imagination takes over when I am in the water.

Second, and most important, Topsail Beach had become invaded by sharks the week we were there. My dear hubby was trying to convince me that the water was safe. Well, on day 2 of our visit we went out on the fishing pier and learned about all the 6 and 7 foot sharks that had been spotted and caught over the past couple of days. Dear hubby knew there was no convincing me to go way out in the water with him now. And later in the week we saw a tiger shark right in front of our rental house. No way, no swimming.

Anyways a fun week. Lots of wine and margheritas so hoping I detox by Timberman.

2008-07-22T07:50:00.000-07:00

Triangle Triathlon - Swimming in Brown Muck

2008-07-22T07:45:00.000-07:00

Total procrastination takes over. Should be working but thought I'd add a note about my latest adventure at the Triangle Triathlon.

Man, I hate sprints. Since I am not a zippy swimmer, this race doesn't give me much time to catch folks on the bike or run. And the swim was in lake Crabtree - a large body of brown yuck. Got out of the swim and my tri top was permanently stained brown.

Bike went OK - no speed records. Lost contact lense at mile 10. Finished rest of race legally blind.

Ran a zippy 5K in 19:09 - not bad for a forty-year old mother of 3 boys.

Getting ready for Timberman 70.3 in August. Body starting to resent hard training - hope I can walk upright for another month and get through this race.

Crooked Running

2007-10-24T07:22:00.001-07:00

Ran the Anna's Angels 10-miler 2 weeks ago and came in 3rd female overall. My time was my best 10 mile run ever at 1 hour 9 minutes (a 6:57 pace). Very happy.

However, I am still struggling with chronic hip injuries. My physical therapist believes that this is due to my pelvis being out of alignment (probably due to child-birth). So, I am hobbling around now. Supposed to run the Raleigh half-marathon in 10 days but considering I can barely walk right now, this might be a stretch.

Oh well.

2007-09-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

Notes from first half-ironman (Duke Liver Center Half)

2007-09-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

I wanted to send out a thank you to all my sponsors and training
partners. Together we raised over $1,200 for the Spastic Paraplegia
Foundation that will help find cures and treatments for motor neuron
disorders. THANK YOU.

Click on the link below to view pictures of me at the Duke Half
Ironman (or cut and paste in to browser)

http://www2.snapfish.
com/share/p=421191190219042555/l=313806336/g=51256033/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

So here’s my race report…..

Woke up at 4:30 a.m on the race morning. Glad I was able to sleep the
night before because I was plagued by ‘terrified tremors’ (nervous
jitters seems too calm to describe my mental state) a few days before
the race. Put hair in new style with large barrette to keep hair out
of face – not an attractive look but functional (so I thought).

Ride to race with Shannon and Jon Mixson (two of my training
partners). Must walk about 1 1/2 miles to race start with bike, bag
and wetsuit. End up getting there a bit later than we had hoped so had
to rush to get set-up and have my age written in large numbers on my
calf (note to self: find new sport where do not have to advertise age
on body part).

Try to squeeze in to wetsuit that I have not tried on for about 5
months - will not go over my thighs. Assume gumby-like position and am
able to get it on.

Time for race to start at 7 a.m. Walk down to water and see large
waves splashing on the shore. Not a good sign but submerge self in
water prior to the women’s start. The gun goes off and I start
swimming out in to the waves of Jordan Lake. I try and swim through
them but seemed to be getting pushed backwards. You don’t have to be a
rocket scientist to realize that moving backwards in a race is not a
good thing.

Turnaround at the buoy .6 miles out and now the waves are pushing me
along. I have flashbacks to my 8 years living in California and kind
of body surf to the finish. Dig this. Still swallow a lot of water
but have Beach Boys songs going through head.

Out of water after 1.2 miles. Transition to bike. Am able to get
very tight wetsuit off of body. Put on bike helmet and notice sharp
pain where my large barrette is sitting on my head. Never mind -
think
it will go away.

Start off on bike trying to keep heart-rate low so that I don’t bonk
later in race. Fifty-six miles is a long time to be on a bike. Run
out of songs to run through head. Payday candy bar in food pouch
provides some excitement, along with a couple of other power bars and
shot blocks.

At about mile 40 the wind picks up and I’m starting to get grumpy.
Barrette is causing stabbing pain on head. Not sure how I am doing
since I forgot to start my watch. Note average speed has been 21.6
miles per hour so assume I am doing OK. Last six miles of ride seem
VERY long.

Transition to run. Since I nearly drowned on the run and am almost
blown off my bike by the wind, assume run has to be better. Then I
hit
the first hill that goes on for about one mile. Proceed to run up
and
down hills for 13.1 miles. Realize that the folks who warned me that
this was a VERY tough course were VERY right.

Start to see some friends from tri club on the run course - we cheer
each other on. Keep self going by eating anything I can grab on the
course – tons of water and cytomax, 3 GUs, salt caps and lots of
jelly
beans on the run.

Legs start to really hurt around mile 10. Try to have zen-like
thoughts and move mind out of body. Not working so I resort to
wimpering and swearing under my breath.

Finish the race in five hours and fifteen minutes. Got a two minute
penalty for not displaying my race number in the proper position at
finish line – it was 4 inches too far to the side. Whatever!! Still
am the sixth women to finish and first in my age group (and qualified
for half-ironman nationals – whatever/whenever that is). Psyched but
may consider selling wrapping paper or candy for next year’s fund-
raising initiative.

Spend next two days hobbling around unable to go down stairs.
Children find this amusing and try new naughty things since mommy can’t
catch them.

Thanks again for all your support.

Kerry