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.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
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.
USAT Long Course Duathlon Nationals
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.
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
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.
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.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Ironman World Championships 70.3 and Me
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.
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.
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