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.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
You want me to swim how many 100s???
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 :-).
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 :-).
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Hot and grumpy - part I
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 :-)
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
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.
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.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Trying to finish 140.6
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Cary Long Course Duathlon
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.
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
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.
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.
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