Fall!

And suddenly, it’s about that time of year where everything seems to feel like it’s in fast-forward!  It will be the holidays before we know it!

 

Cabo is now officially in less than 4 weeks!!  That is CRAZY to me!  The training is funny—I haven’t really had to “build” up to any of it so I’ve just been doing stuff but not like before, where the swims, bikes and runs would all progressively get longer week after week.  I’m just kinda there, and I guess there have been a lot of “speed” workouts and not as many “base building” and “endurance” workouts ;)

 

This means that really, there’s only a couple “big” weeks left, then “taper,” although I’m guessing it won’t really be too much of a taper since it’s only a 70.3… but still!  Knowing it’s almost about to wind down is so strange.  I’m not really sure how I feel about this race, I kind of go back and forth….

 

The different distance is so strange to me.  Sprints and Olympics, I go ALL OUT, ALL THE TIME.  Well, Olympics I will go at about 105% instead of 110% on the bike ;) but essentially I’m pretty maxed out the entire time.  Ironman was obviously WAY different, and the whole point was to stay as easy as possible (while still moving).  Obviously, the half IM will be different, too.  I think I need to think of it more as a shorter race—even 5-6 hours is a BIG difference, compared to 12+ hours.  Maybe not 100% on the bike, but I still need to be pushing it.  I know I can.  I know my biking is back up and I can do it—so I just need to go for it.

 

I think I’ll be able to take a bit more of a risk, too.  Even if it gets ugly, it’s only 13.1 miles, not 26.2…and we all know that a half marathon is a whole different beast than a full marathon!

 

So, there’s that.  Trying to wrap my head around it all, and YES, I absolutely respect the distance… but I also can be a little bit more sure of myself, too.  I don’t have to save as much.

 

Before all that, though, we have the Long Beach Half Marathon coming up!!

 

Katie, Mel and Eric will be doing the full marathon (Katie’s first!), and Allen, Mac and I will be doing the half (Allen’s first!).  Just 2 weeks before Cabo, and only being a half…we’ll see how it plays out ;) I will talk to Shawn and see how he wants me to approach it (race vs. training run) but let’s be honest.  I’m going to race it.

 

I still feel like I struggle on my long runs, though, and honestly a 13.1 feels like a really long run to me still, these days!  :-\ I don’t think I’ve really had a good, solid, feels-good long run since CDA.  And that is frustrating.  My 13.1 PR is something like a 7:18/mi average and I honestly can’t even fathom that right now—so that is rough.  I know I “need” to be faster but it’s just so darn difficult!  On the other hand, I haven’t been racing much this year, and I seem to have forgotten that I always (so far, for shorter than IM stuff) race much faster than I train.  So maybe I just need to see what happens.  But I was still running a little faster in training last year (and feeling MUCH better).  But, Cabo is more important.  Ahhh, so conflicted.  I just want to be fast at running again!

 

Ok, so I just looked back at all my strava run logs.  Now I’m depressed.  I definitely was faster last year, and I distinctly remember it feeling a whole lot easier.  HMPH!

Duathlon Debut is in the Books

Whew!  What a weekend.

 

Let’s back up—earlier last week, I received official word that the sprint triathlon I was doing on Sunday was going to be a duathlon, due to poor water quality.  Well, hmph!  After having my own little pity party, I decided to suck it up and race anyway—after all, when else am I ever going to choose a duathlon over a triathlon, so may as well make the best of it and try something new!

 

I continued my schedule as planned; because of the race, my long ride (actually, it was a long brick) was pushed back to Friday, and long run pushed out to Monday (today), leaving Saturday with just a quick speed workout and nothing but the race on Sunday.  So I got on the bike on Friday and……..no.

 

I had woken up with a sore throat for the last few days but was general feeling pretty OK…but as soon as I got on the bike, it was a big NO.  I was having trouble barely keeping any speed, I had absolutely no spark, and most of all, my head just wasn’t in it.  I didn’t want to be on the bike, and I didn’t even want to try to go any faster.  My heart rate wasn’t very high, but any time I tried to put in any effort, I felt ridiculously out of breath.  I finally called it at ~3 hours (instead of 3:30) and decided not to do my run off the bike.  Just..no.

 

I wrote some notes in my training peaks log.  Shawn must have seen it.  Woke up Saturday morning to a text saying “no training today..REST!!” After a little back and forth grumbling…I gave in.  And slept.  And slept some more.  And then finally dragged myself out of bed, to the couch, where I totally vegged out for another couple of hours.  By the time 1pm rolled around, I realized I was actually feeling…ok??  Not cured, but definitely better than I had felt in the morning.  I was starting to think about other things I could do that day, which was a good sign.  So I showered and dressed, which made me feel even better, and headed to packet pickup.  I guess I’m doing this thing.

 

Once there—it was a mess.  They were talking to one guy, making it sound like he was getting a refund??  After making it very clear that NO refunds would be granted.  I was so tired of the back-and-forth at this point that I didn’t even want to consider that as an option, and just let it go.  But I did hear the lady say something about a 1.5 mile run first, to the guy in front of me.  When it was my turn, I waited to hear what she told me..but she basically just gave me my  packet and that was that.  So I asked, since the email had stated it was a 5km run first…and she proceeded to tell me yes, all the sprint registrants were automatically changed to a duathlon which was a 1.5mi run to start with—but if I wanted, I could change to the full duathlon (that was already scheduled) and that would be a 5km run to start.  I asked if I had to decide then, but she said I could change in the morning.  So, fine.  Texted Shawn and thought about it.  Honestly, a 1.5 mile run before the bike sounded better (especially if I wasn’t feeling 100%!) but now for the last few days I had been alternating my thinking from a swim first, to a 5km run.  And now I had to change it again!?

 

So I went and got a doughnut.

 

And then generally didn’t think about it.  I spent the rest of the day relaxing, working on things around the house, and by the time dinner rolled around, I was more than happy to go meet Mac, Mic and Kyle and hang out and generally felt better than I had in a while.  Apparently taking a full day to REST is actually really good and helps you get better faster!  ;)

 

By the time I got home and was packing my things, I was more-or-less resigned to the 1.5mi run to start.  For one thing, it would be one less thing to worry about in the morning.  And besides, why did it need to be any longer?  And I knew I would start out running too hard, so may as well do the shorter distance, where hopefully going too hard for 1.5 miles would do less damage than going too hard for 3.1 miles…right?!  Logic!

 

So I packed my bag (very empty and seemed very odd to not have swim stuff… I was convinced I was forgetting things?!) and that was that.

 

Anyway, that’s the big long story about the build up to this silly little race.

 

 

Race morning. Early alarm.  UGH!

 

But on the plus side, as I rolled out of bed, I realized that…I felt ok.  I was sleepy and my  nose was a little stuffed up but NO sore throat and…I mean, it was fine.  I heard some branches on the side of the house outside.  Huh.  It must be windy.

 

Got dressed.  Gathered things.  Wandered the house a bit.  Finally headed off to the race.  It was odd going alone, with Allen being gone..but oh well.  At least this was a small local race that I’ve done before, so I knew the logistics and didn’t feel like I really needed “help” with anything.

 

Only a few other cars were there when I got there.  A good sign.  I got to the transition area, and only a few bikes were there.  All right where I wanted to be, but there was an open spot next to the bike out, so decided to take that one.  Briefly considered taking the second spot, to be closer to the…other entrance/exits??  My spot seemed so far away!  Wait, where do we run in after the first run?!  It was all very confusing.  Decided it was fine, and left my bike where it is.  This whole thing is silly anyway, it’ll be fiiiiine.

 

Remember that wind?  Yeah….it was windy here, too.  Like, really windy.  After racking my bike to claim a spot, it was approximately 5:15am, and the race didn’t start until 7:00am. But it was so windy that my bike was swaying on the rack, threatening to knock it over, and I really didn’t want to unpack anything else.  I didn’t want things flying away!

 

So I wandered a bit, went to the bathroom, went back and sat in the truck for a while.  Checked back a little later.  A few more people were there…finally set my stuff up but it took a whopping 30 seconds because, guess what, all you really need to lay out are your bike shoes, and helmet/glasses!  It was so weird.

 

Things were very disorganized.  This was my third time doing this race, and this year was very noticeably less organized.  They were just setting up tents and the big finish arch about 10 minutes before the start.  They didn’t even do body marking.  All so weird.  My parents arrived at around 6:30, so they milled around with me.  It was good to have someone to talk to.

 

After a brief meeting, where they confirmed race distances and did an awful job trying to explain where the course went for the first run, and where to run in/out/etc…  We lined up.  I figured I’d just follow people and figure it out, since it was even more confusing trying to decipher what they were telling us (plus having multiple races with multiple distances going on at the same time was just…bad).

 

It started like a run race, of course…I put myself way up front.  Like, maybe 3^rd or 4^th in line, but there were only a few people across.  The guy next to me started chatting for a while, asking about the course, etc.  After a lot of delays, we very suddenly—were off!!

 

Run 1 - 8:06

Yup, immediately went hard.  I knew putting myself in that first group would do that, but I knew I needed to be near the front, not stuck behind people that put themselves too far ahead.  It worked out alright.  I stayed with a couple other girls, trying to pace myself off of them, a few steps behind.  Another girl came barreling down on us, and I (and they) let her go…. The turn-around came very suddenly—at just over half a mile!  Huh?  This is less than a 1.5 mile run….  Oh well, no complaints.  Started heading back to transition, trying to keep up the pace, which by now I was very much feeling.

 

Of the two girls I was pacing off of, one split off and went ahead, while the other slowed down a bit.  I passed her, and tried to keep running strong. She had a funny gait, but it felt good to pass her since I’m a jerk, and she had been bragging at the start about winning some award in a 10k last week.  Whatever.  I started wondering how I would feel getting on the bike—I obviously do NOT working that hard when I swim!  I was already breathing hard and my heart rate was sure to be sky high.

 

Well, time to find out.  Because just like that, the mad dash was over.  I saw my parents there yelling for me, and raced into transition as the 3^rd female.

 

T1 – 00:31

Turns out, we ran in to the bike out!  Which means I ran in, and my bike was right there in front of me.  I threw off my shoes and hat, shoved my feet into my shoes (riding with my socks so I wouldn’t have to mess with them later—WEIRD), threw on glasses and helmet and..oh wait, that’s everything?  Ran another couple feet to the bike out and I was OUT of there.

 

Bike – 45:42

The mount line was….non-existent.   There was a big line of cones right after a turn to get out, so I thought that’s where it was.  I was following some other guy.  Struggled to get on the bike, very ungracefully.  Wasting time.  Then someone yelled at me and pointed saying to mount over there.  So I got OFF the bike, ran over, and got on AGAIN, and then struggled very ungracefully again.  I don’t know what my deal was.  Oh well, whatever.  Now that I think about it, I wonder if that was how we were supposed to get on the bike??  Maybe we were supposed to go around, through the parking lot?  I don’t feel like it was that confusing last year.  I don’t know.  I was on the bike and it was time to see what would happen.

 

This bike course is stupid.  Seriously.  And yet, I always want to race it again and think “nah, it’s not that bad!  I like it!”  I think because in hindsight I realize I have one of the fastest bike times on it.  But racing it, I ALWAYS start cursing it and swear I hate it and will never do it again.  The entire thing is uphill….except for the monstrous downhill.  But the downhills are super steep and scary, and I swear they are shorter.  Like, there is more up than down, I don’t know how it nets out!

 

Anyway, it very fittingly starts out with a loooooooooong climb.  And it’s really not that gradual, I mean it’s a pretty decent climb.  And it goes forever.  And then it turns and gets steeper and KEEPS ON GOING.  It’s just stupid, really.  Anyway, I was caught trying to go hard/smart, while keeping my heart rate under control, but of course it was already super elevated from the run…bleh.  Tried to drink some water but I was breathing so hard it was difficult.  Managed about 2 sips.  Keep..on..climbing..go..faster..Rosanne!!

 

I didn’t really know if I was the first female.  I had my eyes open, and tried to pick people off.  I realized my transition spot was in the perfect place, really (better than the spots I had wished I had, earlier!) and it dawned on me that I may have actually gotten OUT of transition before the other girls….huh.

 

Then finally, there was a downhill.  I went barreling down, stayed in aero…and another girl went blazing past me.  DANGIT.  So there is now at least ONE girl ahead of me..and how is she so fast downhill!?  I stayed behind her for a bit, trying to gauge her and how she was riding.  She was strong.  But I was gaining on her and as soon as there was a slight incline, I easily passed her.  The course wound through neighborhoods, etc etc etc…finally we reached the big, terrifying descent that would take us back to Juanita, where we would start our second lap.

 

I hate that descent.  It’s long, it’s steep, it’s windy…ok it’s really not that bad, but you pick up a lot of speed fast, and it really scares me!!  I went as hard as I could, just on the edge of being uncomfortable (ok, I’lll admit it, I was past the edge of feeling uncomfortable but…whatever).  And suddenly again, the same girl went absolutely FLYING past me, as if I were standing still.  I let her go.  I don’t even know how I could have sped up to go that fast, even if I wanted to (and I did NOT want to).

 

Last few stretches and turns to start the second lap, again slightly uphill and then some flats…and I was catching up to her.  I didn’t really want to play this game of riding scared the whole time, and passing back and forth, but I also knew I couldn’t just let her go.  By this time, I had a hunch we were probably 1^st and 2^nd female, since I didn’t think anyone could have been THAT far ahead of us.  And we did have that giant hill about to start again…so right after rounding the corner to start the second lap, and right as I passed my parents who were absolutely SCREAMING my name, I went for the pass and barreled by her (after a quick “you are fearless!!”).

 

Which meant I had to attack that hill HARD, because I wanted to put as much space between us as possible.  I know I was slower this lap, and by now everyone else was on the course so I was passing people constantly.  I tried to keep my mind off of it and stay positive by telling people good job as I passed them.  I kinda felt like a jerk, since I didn’t want them to think I was full of myself…but I reminded myself I was (likely) the first female at this point, and they probably could tell I was on my second lap, and when I was first starting tris, if I had a leader tell me “good job” while they were racing and I was struggling up a monster hill, I would have appreciated it!  So hopefully they took it as a good thing, not a bad thing.  I really was impressed by a lot of them.  I was hating the hill, and iknow they were too!

 

Anyway, I kept pushing.  The wind had picked up even more, and by the time I reached a few spots I could be in aero and make a difference…I kept having to sit up.  I got blown over so hard one of the descents, I honestly don’t know how I didn’t end up on the pavement.  It got worse and worse and by the time I got to that last, scary descent…I just wanted to be off the bike because at least there was less risk of getting (seriously) hurt if you get blown over running, than while you’re going 40mph downhill on a bike!

 

I really, really expected the fast girl to catch me again, but I must have put enough time between us on the uphill.  I motioned to the guy in the parking lot I was coming into transition, and there was an eruption of cheering and applause, which made me about 99% positive I must be the first female coming in…but still couldn’t be totally sure.

 

T2 – 00:39

I came into transition, again, the same place I biked out.  I totally scored with my bike placement!  There were only a couple other bikes there—including a couple on my rack.  Shoved my feet back into my shoes, but I didn’t sit down (maybe because it was pavement?), which was weird for me… I wish I did though, because it was harder to get my shoes on and I shoved the insert a bit in my right shoe and got all wrinkled, but THANKFULLY it sorted itself out by itself.  As per usual, I DID leave my helmet on until the last possible second.  I swear, one day I’m going to run out with my helmet still on.  Even running through transition to the run out, I immediately felt my legs.  Oh boy.  This was going to be rough.  Shoved my hat back on as I ran out, and saw my mom right at the exit of transition.

 

Run 2 – 22:06

The guy in front of me looked confused, and turned around, thinking he was going the wrong way.  Nope, keep going, buddy.  I’m glad I knew this part of the course because apparently a  LOT of people were confused and I think some people accidentally cut the course just a little, missing a turn etc.  Oh well, not a big deal.  In the past they had a little aid station and volunteers directing there, so not sure why they weren’t there this year.

 

Just a few second in, I felt my heart rate strap sliding down.  I tried adjusting it a little, but it was all just annoying me.  I knew my heart rate would be crazy-high, it’s not like I was going to change anything based off of it… so I quickly took it off, hoping maybe I’d see my parents before leaving the park so I could toss it to them…Nope, but I did hear a loud “GO ROSANNE!!!!!!!!” and looked to my left, and saw Francis and Crystal!  Split second decision, and I yelled “hey can you take this!?” and flung the strap their direction as hard as I could, without waiting for an answer.  Hah, hah, hah!  Now you have to pick up my gross, sweaty heart rate strap!  Oh well.  But, now I knew Francis was there and gosh darnit, he won’t let me live it down if he sees me start the run as the first female, and don’t managed to win the darn thing.

 

The guy in front of me was juuuuuust a little too fast.  I wanted to pace off of him, but he slowly, slowly, sloooooowly broke away.  I let him.  Once on the boardwalk, I found myself settling into a rhythm.  And I was thrilled!  It was a hard rhythm, it was fast, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold it indefinitely—but I thought I could hold it for at least a 5k.  And it was a rhythm.  I have very, very much been lacking a running rhythm lately, and I think that’s why I’ve been struggling to I push the pace.  But there I was, in a solid, hard rhythm right on the verge of my ability.  Breathing hard but manageable.  No burning chest.  I could do this.  I was content.

 

I did see two girls come into view ahead of me.   But…..I quickly caught them.  They weren’t going super-fast, and they weren’t really wearing tri kits and – forgive me if this sounds fully of myself – but  they just didn’t really look like they were triathletes.  What I mean is, they were wearing running shorts and tanks, hair in high ponytails, that kind of thing.  Hm.  I tried to remember what the other distances were like, I wasn’t sure if anyone else should be on the course?  I found it hard to believe they somehow ran and biked faster without me noticing.  But whatever.  I passed them.  Wound through the park and into the neighborhoods.  Excellent!  Making progress, and haven’t been passed by anyone yet!

 

Soon, I saw a bike on the return, leading in the overall leader.  And, hey!!  That’s the guy front the start line that I was talking to!  I smiled and waved as he passed, and he did the same.

 

And now, I was getting a view of everyone in front of me.  I should have counted, but I was way more concerned about whether or not there were any other girls in front of me.  None so far.  I was getting closer and closer to the turnaround….But first I had to go up the GIANT MONSTER HILL.

 

Ok so it’s not that long…but it’s a wall.  Every year I know it’s there and I know it’ll surprise me at how steep it is—and once again, I looked at it in disbelief.   We have to run up that thing?!  Baby steps, baby steps, didn’t push it just got up it.  Phew.  Somewhere around here, I think one guy did pass me.  Hmph.  Oh well.  I knew the turnaround was really, really soon now….

 

….and there was one girl, running back towards me.  What?!  Wait.  That was the girl I passed during the first run, the one bragging about her 10k award.  The girl with the really funny gait.  Again, I racked my brain trying to think of what other races there were or how she could have possibly gotten ahead of me since I was on the bike before her, and I knew she didn’t pass me on the bike….

 

Got to the turn around.  It was a net downhill now.  And shortly after, I saw the next girl behind me. The same girl from the bike.  We smiled and exchanged quick hellos, and then I promptly tried to kick it up.  If I was able to push a bit, I knew she would too, and I didn’t know how much she had gained on me (if any) during the first half.  I had a little bit of cushion, she wasn’t right on my heels…but it was probably only about a 30 second gap so I could NOT slack now.

 

Running back down that stupid-steep hill now...  PAINFUL.  It was about as painful to run down than up, since it was sooo steep.  My legs were just about done and were not very happy about that.  But I wanted to gain as much speed as I could so I tried my very  hardest to take the free speed without falling over.

 

Started making it back to the park, and started seeing more and more people, including some other girls.  I was also starting to get nods and “good job!”s from people, and one girl finally gave me the definitive #1 sign and I knew I had it.  Just…keep…going.

 

Except there was that one girl ahead of me still that maaaaaaybe maybe I don’t know…..

 

On the boardwalk, I FINALLY CAUGHT HER.  At around the same spot I passed her earlier that morning.  I knew this last mile was looking to be my fastest, and was now running a sub-7:00/mi again.  I just needed to get out of the park, round the corner, get to the parking lot, and make it to the finish line.  I didn’t want to look back and see where the other girl was, but I was terrified she would pass me at the very end…

 

Finally, finally, FINALLY made the last final turn into the park, and alllllll the cheers told me I really, truly, without a doubt was the first female to come in.  I saw Francis and Crystal there still, plus a ton of other spectators who seemed genuinely happy to cheer me on!  So cool.  I was way too out of it crossing the line just wanted to be DONE, so got over the line and…..YES!  The announcer said my name and finally confirmed it—the first female finisher!

 

The finish line was just as unorganized, I kinda stood there like “ummm now what” and finally figured out where to put my chip but of course couldn’t get it off myself because hello, I just ran my little heart out...finally someone noticed and ran over to help me.  Hah, oops.

 

The next girl came in about a minute after me.  I went over to congratulate her and again tell her how she was crazy to go that fast downhill on the bike!  She asked about the other girl as well, and I finally learned that there WAS a shorter distance—the runs were the same, but the bike was one loop instead of two.  So THAT’S what that other girl was doing, and suddenly it all made sense.

 

Anywayyyyyyy we waited forever for awards.  It got windier and windier.  The finish line arch started to blow away.  It was all crazy.

 

In all, I’m really happy I still raced—I don’t like to back down, and just felt bad not doing it just because it wasn’t what I wanted.  It was a great opportunity.  I’ll likely never do a duathlon again (didn’t really feel like a race… I mean I raced it, but it just felt like a short brick workout with a super short, intense warm-up run)..so it was a good thing to try J  I also really, really need to learn to swim faster.

 

Total Time:  1:17:02

1^st Female Overall

12^th Overall

Duathlon??

Soooo about that triathlon on Sunday…

 

Jk, it’s gonna be a duathlon!

 

But no, the water quality is so bad that I guess the park has been closed to swimming for the last three weeks.  Yikes.  I looked up the water quality data to see for myself and…yeah, it’s bad.  As in >6x the “safe” levels of bacteria.  So, the swim has been cancelled (finally got the official email today from the Race Director, though it’s been rumored since yesterday) and the race will just be a duathlon.

 

What does that mean?

 

Honestly, I don’t know.  I’ll be honest, I’m bummed.  Really, really bummed.  Like I said before, this was the very first triathlon I did 2 years ago, so it has that special, sentimental value.  I was also really stoked to do a short fun little race!  So much fun!  And now…it’s not happening.

 

But there are no refunds (I mean, I guess I get it) so I really “should”  just suck it up and do it as a duathlon.  I don’t want to quit just because something isn’t going my way—although to be fair, a duathlon is not what I paid for so I don’t think it’s quite the same as “not going my way,” but I digress.

 

I quickly texted my coach; he kind of said the same thing.  He didn’t tell me to do it, and didn’t tell me not to do it.  Discussed a bit.  We already re-arranged my workouts this week to accommodate racing Sunday… at this point, I’ll assume I’m doing it, and if I decide to be a baby last minute and back out, I’ll just do my long run Sunday instead of Monday.

 

I’m trying to be positive, really.  Stuff happens.  It’s not the end of the world.  I mean, at least it WAS only this short little sprint.  When there were rumors about the course changing for IMCDA...THAT was a problem.  That would have been worth getting upset over.  This?  Really not a big deal.  Just a fun morning, not like it makes a difference overall.  I always say my favorite thing to do is “new things,” so why not go for it.  I don’t really plan to ever do a duathlon ever again, so why not just try it out when I have this (somewhat forced) opportunity?  May as well embrace it as a new experience…right?  If nothing else, this kinda takes away some of the pressure, I guess.

 

But I mean, how do you even race a duathlon, anyway?  How do you run on fresh legs?  And then bike?  And THEN run?..again??!!  It’s all just so weird.

 

So yeah, there’s a whole lot of disappointment and “whyyyy?! Ughhhhh but I don’t WANT to do a duathlon!” and self-pity going on over here, but I’m trying to chill out and just accept whatever happens.  If there’s one thing triathlon has taught me, it’s that things never quite go according to plan ;)

45 Days to Go!

Kind of crazy, but the Los Cabos 70.3 is now 6.5 weeks away!  Ironman was always such a long thing, signing up a year in advance and focused training for 6 months... So it’s just kind of funny to be training for something so close!

 

Things have been...happening.  Overall, very much recovered so that’s good, and mostly just learning where I am right now.

 

Swimming: Actually, pretty good!  I’ve been slacking, I kind of let myself start skipping occasionally, etc etc… and ironically, it seems to have helped!  (or maybe it’s a coincidence but I’m going to go ahead and assume that the correlation indicates causation, there ;) ).  The last couple weeks, I’ve been having, well, good swims!  For me, at least.  Feeling good in the pool, putting up faster 100s than ever before, pushing myself and forcing myself to stay out of my comfort zone (and prove that I won't, in fact, die), even a couple good open water swims where I actually swam strong(er) instad of just paddling around slowly trying to stay alive.  So, I am cautiously optimistic that my swim is actually improving a bit.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s still pretty dismal, but I’ve seeing average 1:50s for my entire swim, or even 1:47, instead of 1:58 or over 2:00.  I know I’ll swim slower in Cabo than in training, but I’ll take any improvement I can get :)  (Also makes me feel better about skipping sometimes haha).  Still hate it though.  Hate hate hate.  Swimming is stupid.

 

Biking: BACK.  I think I can solidly say I have my bike legs back, and then some!  Like I said before, after a pretty dismal CDA bike time, I think I was left with something to prove.  I really wanted to focus on getting stronger on the bike for Cabo, so I’ve been trying to stay disciplined and riding strong and really fulfilling the point of my workouts.  And it’s paying off.  It takes a bit more focus, I think, to keep myself accountable and to keep pushing, but it’s worth it.  It’s all mental, and the other HUGE thing is that 56 miles is a big difference compared to 112!  I can hurt for 56 miles and come off and run a half marathon, but I can’t hurt for 112 and then run a full marathon ;)  So, there’s that, and I think knowing that has helped in training—instead of wanting to come off the bike feeling fresh, I now want to come off the bike feeling like I gave it everything I had.  I don’t want to feel like I could go do it again ;) My coach has been giving me lots of bike time too, so that’s good.  My climbing is getting back to pre-ironman ability, and I’m TTing it a bit more too and sustaining slightly higher speeds.  Still working on descents, although even that is improving a (very small) bit!  Really loving how strong I’m beginning to feel on the bike again :)   Ok, enough bragging!

 

Running: …..meh.  Hah, ok, it’s not that bad.  I’m definitely back to my ironman-training running form, but just can’t quite find the speed I want.  I think I need to let go of my “old” 13.1 race pace and accept the fact that 6+ months of endurance training over speed training has actually slowed me down.  :P  Not to say I can’t get it back, but I’m just not there right now and that’s ok!  Running long is still a little rough, but I know it’s slowly getting better.  6 weeks and some change will at least get me closer, even if I’m not quite as fast as I’d like to be on race day.  The good news is that, being a half, I can easily run the actual race distance every week in training (as opposed to the silly full).  Somehow, that helps because I feel like I can actually guage things.  But it also makes is harder because I ran a bit longer this weekend, and still averaged only 8:11.  On the other hand I wasn’t really pushing it and wasn’t racing.  So there’s that.  Maybe I’m over-thinking it.  (Me?  Never.)  Anyway, I need to focus on the positive, and the positive is that I’m running again, my chest doesn’t always feel like it’s going to explode (only when I try to sustain a 7:15 for more than 2 miles, apparently, dangit, that was not a fun time), and I know I’ll finish the dang thing!

 

I’m getting pretty excited about this race, actually.  I’ll actually race it, and push it, but it’s longer than anything else like the Olympics I’ve done.  It definitely has the potential to become my new favorite race distance, I think, because I’m also loving the intense training for it!  Good mix of speed but a little more endurance than shorter/"normal" stuff.  It’s also a big unknown and we all know that new things are my favorite things EVER!  More pre-race obsessiveness regarding time, pace, etc will come but for now I’m trying to only look ahead a week or two and focus on getting faster and stronger in every way I can.

 

In other, but related, news: I’m doing the Kirkland sprint on the 20^th!  That was my first tri ever 2 years ago, so it holds a special place in my heart.  Plus, I just kind of love the course, even though the swim is long for a sprint (0.5 mile?!), the bike is just a big dumb hill plus hilly neighborhoods (x2!), and the run is fine EXCEPT for the stupid-steep hill at the turn-around.  But I love it all the same.  Maybe because it’s in Juanita and all so compact.  I just love it :)

 

My mom was going to race too ,but I told her to try swimming first to really see—and she decided to wait :( I’m sad, because I really got excited about being on the course with her and seeing her, but at least she’s super excited to start training and do some next year!  And she'll be there to watch.  So that’s cool.

 

Really looking forward to a short course, actually.  They are so silly but sooo much fun.  Getting that triathlon spark back and am excited to just go have a fun morning doing something a little different.  I need to resign myself to the fact that I may not be as fast this year, due to the aforementioned ironman endurance issues :P but will still be fun to go go go go and kill myself for an hour + a bit. 

Getting back into it...

Well, I’ve been kind of…silent.

 

Things have been..busy?  But not.

 

Honestly, I’ve been trying to find my rhythm again—both the rhythm of training etc, as well as things like being able to run.  I was doing pretty well post-IMCDA and recovering, and feeling pretty good, but just not quite all there.  And running—oh, running.  I really wanted to run.  I kept looking forward to my runs and really wanting to get into it, but I found that every time I got laced up and out there door, it just didn’t feel good.  My heart rate was still on the high side, and my chest burned as though I were gasping for air.  And that was at an easy pace.  After a while, I started dreading my runs.  Not because I didn’t want to run, but because I DID want to run, but anticipated it feeling awful.  After being used to feeling so strong and comfortable running, it was getting so disheartening to run slow and have it hurt way too much.  “Is this what people feel like when they tell me they don’t like to run?  No wonder.  I don’t like this either!” Granted we have had unusually high temperatures but STILL!!  The heat really shouldn’t be affecting me soooo much anymore, right!?

 

I also found I was dreading the bike.  Mostly because my bike ability seemed pretty dismal, and let’s just say my CDA bike time did not exactly inspire confidence.  I mean, the bike is my thing, so why am I so slow?!  Yes, the natural thing to do is bike MORE and therefore get better, but I was letting it stress me out too much (and after a couple less-than-stellar rides, when I wasn’t quite recovered, I let them get to my head).  But then I started to notice—I was actually feeling ok.  And the funny thing was that I wanted to run and ended up feeling miserable, and didn’t want to bike but ended up feeling great.

 

In any case—in the past week I’ve really noticed my bike is, well, back.  I can climb again!!   I feel comfortable on the bike.  I’m finally enjoying it again.  And THAT is what is most important to me right now.

 

I had a double run this weekend.  Nothing crazy, but I would be lying if I said I was a bit apprehensive, especially considering how running has been feeling.

 

Run #1 was an hour, with 20x0:40 intervals (0:40 fast, 0:20 easy).  I started out, and my legs felt flat.  I figured it was from the trainer workout I had the day before, but still…annoying.  I tried to settle into a good pace before hitting the intervals.  I was ok, just not really feeling very into it.  Intervals hit—and I wasn’t exactly explosive with them.  I didn’t run them all-out, I just didn’t really feel I had it in me (and when you have 20 of them, you have to either be smart about effort or else you burn up quick).  But I ran them strong—they were fast and strong, and as I was finishing them, I noticed they were staying pretty solid and consistent—so that was a good sign.  I ran the last 20 minutes back at a faster pace than I went out, which was also a boost.  It was feeling better.

 

Since I was right next to the gym, I decided the smartest thing to do would be to go and lift, and not worry about it on Sunday.  Yes, “smart.”

 

Run #2 was about 7 hour later…decided to run from the track and catch some racing afterwards.  Just 0:40 easy.  I think I was supposed to keep a certain heart rate, but as I was driving over I realized I forgot my heart rate strap---oooops?  Oh well, I hate that thing and lately it has been driving me NUTS and not being accurate, so honestly, I didn’t really care.  I was expecting it to be a bit rough, since I haven't done a double-run-day in a loooong time, my run has been hurting lately anyway, AND I had gone to the gym earlier.  Low expectations set.  Just an easy run, right, so no need to get worked up over it...


I got started, and tried to remember to keep it easy.  Yes, I glanced at my watch to make sure I was running an acceptable pace, but I felt good!  First mile hit, and my split wasn’t bad.  For an easy run, that’s fine.  Kept running, feeling good, second mile was a bit faster.  Hm…  turned around at 2.5 miles, and realized I was feeling really good, and I think I was running even faster.  I was a bit hesitant to really admit it, I was hoping it wasn’t a fluke, but… sure enough, when the third mile hit, I was down to sub-8.  Most importantly, I was speeding up without really trying, and I still FELT really good.

 

Of course, I think the last two miles I may have paid a bit more attention to my pace, but since it felt good I think it’s ok ;)  Progressively got down to 7:15 for the last mile (and 6:40 as I raced around to make up the last minute and a half haha) and finished up feeling amazing.  I was finally feeling GOOD running, again!  Sure I started going a bit harder by the end when I realized I felt good—but it was a “good” hard, not the painful-hard I have been experiencing lately.  I felt light on my feet, and just wanted to keep going.  YES!  Is my run finally back?!   Best.  Feeling.  Ever.

 

We’ll see how it goes, especially since it was a cooler evening again so I didn’t have the heat to deal with…but still.   So, so good.

 

Assuming I’m finally feeling better—it’s time to get fast!  Because I did sign up for the Los Cabos 70.3 in October!  I haven’t done a 70.3 so it should be fun.  Definitely looking forward to putting the hardcore endurance on the back-burner, and speeding things up a bit.

Ironman Canada 2015 - The Spectator Experience!

Ironman spectating is…well, it’s something!!

 

Mac raced IM Canada last weekend, and this was my first chance to spectate at an ironman!  Honestly I have really just spectated at the Victoria half earlier in the year, and that is about the extent of my “spectating” experience.  But the full distance was a whoooooole different beast!

 

Ok, right off the bat: I’m honestly not sure what is better/worse.  Racing or spectating?!  I literally changed my mind a million times throughout the day, and everyone kept laughing at me.

 

Racing is hard.  It sucks.  I mean, that’s kind the point, right?  But then at the same time, it’s absolutely amazing.  There is a lot of pressure—but also none at all, since it’s your day and you know you get to be selfish.  And racing is fun.  I really “get into the zone” every time I race, it’s a completely indescribable experience.  Nothing else in the world matters, except whatever it is you’re currently doing.  I’m chronically indecisive otherwise, but during a race I will make snap decisions, never second-guess myself, and they are (99% of the time) always the right decisions.  I know exactly what my body does, and needs, and how it feels, and I am never more in tune with myself than on race day.  Then again, that means I’m in tune with all the pain and misery and stress of racing ;) It’s definitely a good/bad thing, and the pain can linger etc.  If it were easy, it wouldn’t be racing.  But you’ve also spent time, money, and energy putting things into the race (regardless of the distance).  There are expectations, both personally and publically.  It’s a big, open-ended question mark, and you can only hope you live up to what you’re hoping for.  And you always think you could have tried harder.  (I mean obviously it nets out as a good thing, otherwise I wouldn’t love it and do it, but my point is—there are definite upsides and downsides to racing)

 

Spectating, on the other hand…well I mean, it is so FUN!  You have your person (or people) and you can be unapologetically, all-out supportive!  Everything is about your athlete, it’s your job to do whatever you can for them (in the best of ways).  And cheering for other people is fun too—ESPECIALLY at ironman, as I discovered!  Having names on bibs, allowing you to call them by name—so great!  I loved getting them to smile, to momentarily break out of the pain and suffering, to know that others are acknowledging their suffering and believe in them!  They are doing something amazing!  But, then..it is STRESSFUL!  Especially 140.6 miles.  Especially in another country and you don’t all have cell data.  We missed Mac on the bike course and felt AWFUL.  Then she took a little longer on the last little section of the bike, and even though we knew it was “fine,” it was the most stressful, anxiety-laden wait EVER, waiting for her to appear around the corner, heading to the bike in.  We were constantly checking various trackers, calculating times, etc etc etc.  It was incredibly stressful!  Not to mention we got up at the same time, and were out in the freezing cold and pouring rain.  NOT to compare that to the athletes, they obviously had it way worse..but it wasn’t exactly a relaxing, cozy day, either ;)

 

Anyway, all that said—I loved it.  So much!  It was just funny to feel SO many different emotions.  Racing CDA, I was so focused the whole day that I tuned everything else out and didn’t feel much of anything.  Spectating in Whistler, I think I felt every possible emotion multiple times throughout the day.  :)

 

So, here is my own recap of the day.  Much different than a race report, but just as long, and funny that it was such a busy day!

 

Woke up, bright and early (well, it wasn’t very bright but it was early).  Headed down on mountain bikes, out the door at 4:20am.  It was a few miles to the swim start, so we rode over while Mac took the shuttle.  It was DARK, at least for the first couple miles…especially bombing down the hill from the condo.  Kind of scary, but I reminded myself I was on my mountain bike, not my tri bike, so even if I hit a bump I had suspension and wouldn’t go flying ;)

 

Got to the swim start, met up with Mac.  She wated to do a quick 15 minute shake-out run so I joined her for that.  Pretty cool to be able to run with her for that last little bit, although kind of weird knowing she had this big thing ahead of her and I was just there watching!  :)  (but in a good way)

 

The forecast had been mentioning showers all week, and that morning, it was saying scattered showers throughout the day.  It had rained a bit the day before but cleared up well, and that morning was perfect!  Nice and cool, but not cold, and looking pretty clear.

 

She started getting ready, wetsuit on, pictures, etc… it seemed to get a little chillier.  She made her way over to the swim start, as we found spots on the beach to watch.  Huh.  I think it’s sprinkling now.  Watched the pros start, feeling a bit more rain.  Age group in-water mass start (TERRIFYING, I was already incredibly thankful for the rolling start at CDA, and yup, still very thankful for it!) and the skies opened up and it was raining.  And cold.

 

It was a two-loop swim, but they don’t get out of the water like at CDA, so there wasn’t match to see after the mass of people went by.  Especially with the rain coming down more and more, we huddled over to a tree.  People started hanging out anywhere they could get shelter.  Katie and I found a couple big rocks under a big tree and kind of hunched over—I think she actually fell asleep.  I mostly tried to curl into a little ball.  It was still really wet, and we had layers—but I didn’t have rain layers!

 

As it got closer to the time when the pros would start getting out of the water, Mic and Allen and I decided to go check out the bike out.  Ideally, we could watch the swim in and bike out, but once checking out the logistics, there was no way we would be able to do it (too many crossings, and getting around things, etc, don’t think we would have been able to make it).  We decided to station ourselves at the bike out, and watched the first few pros.  Then the age groupers started to trickle out.  It was pouring rain by now.  We moved closer to the mount line, since there was a fence under some trees we could sit under to get slightly less soaked while waiting.

 

Earlier, Mic had looked at the mount area and asked why it was so wide (he had never seen an ironman before).  I told him triathletes just need the space, and there’s lots of people, etc.  He kind of looked at me and repeated “no, it’s a serious question.  I don’t get it…” (note: he is a cyclocross guy, so he just didn’t understand what all the space was for).  I repeated my answer, and told him to sit tight and wait…and sure enough, as the masses started to come out, he slowly started to stare and nod, finally admitting “ooookay, now I understand…..”

 

Being so wet didn’t help.  Lots of people had troubles, some fell over or slid out just trying to get on the bike since the pavement was so wet.  It started to be that every time I cheered for someone in particular, they would have troubles getting started/fall over/etc so I stopped doing that ;)

 

As it got to be about the time we expected to see Mac, I left the boys there (the rest of the group was in the area near the run out with the bike), and ran up the road a bit, so that I could see her once she was actually on the bike and hopefully away from the mass of people trying to get clipped in.  Finally spotted her!  Had just enough to yell at her and take a few photos, and she was off.  She didn’t look thrilled, and I knew it was because the rain was exactly what she didn’t want…but still, she had a great swim time and was time to tackle the bike.

 

We headed back, found the rest of the group.  Quickly got to our bikes (now soaking wet), and rode back.  Just in case I wasn’t thoroughly drenched already, riding a mountain bike made sure every part of me was completely saturated.  At this point, Mic and Allen and I decided to just ride back to the condo (and up the crazy hill) to try to dry off/change clothes—Katie also had an extra rain shell at the condo and I knew I would need it, considering my jacket had completely soaked through.

 

The boys were dragging.  Finally rounded them up.  I had Mac’s phone throughout the day, to take photos and post to her instagram/facebook of course ;) but it also meant I could text, so Kyle and I were texting to try to coordinate things.  As we were leaving, I checked her live tracker (that she got for the day), just to make sure we would have time before she came to the crossing.  All looked good, so we headed down to park, etc.

 

Then, as we tried to find the rest of the group etc, Kyle texted saying we had missed her!!!!  What the heck?!  I looked at the tracker again, and he was right, she was long gone.  How did that happen?!  We knew she would be there 2 hours after the start, but I don’t think any of us paid attention to exactly what time of day she started the bike, so we were relying on the tracker...a little too much, I guess.  Plus, it didn’t list distances or scale, so I guess she was closer than we thought.  UGH even so, what a bummer!!!  We felt AWFUL, especially since on that course, that was really the only time she would be passing by, and we wouldn’t get to see her at all on the bike!  :(

 

We decided to all pile into our truck, and booked it as fast as we could, to try to catch up further up on the course to try to see her.  We finally turned off, after realizing the other direction was closed and we were going slow being held up by the race…and resigned ourselves to the fact we missed her.  She told us later how bummed she was when she went by and we weren’t there, which is totally understandable :( Ugh, really upset about that.  BUT, what can you do.  The Project 13 crew (ie: my coach) was there, set up on the side of the course so we walked up and hung out there with them and cheered on the bikers going by.  That was fun, the first time we were really cheering for people!  Us girls has bright pink tutus on, and people loved them.  Some would smile, some would wave or give us a thumbs up, and a few even sat up on their bars and blew us kisses and shouted “love the tutus, thanks!!”  So cool.  :) I think that is when I started to really have lots of fun, and realize how cool it was we got to cheer these guys on!  I’m not sure if having done an ironman the month prior made it better or not, but it sure felt good to cheer these amazing guys on, especially knowing exactly what they were going through/what they were going to start going through soon.

 

Things started to go downhill, though.  I was so distracted screaming and clapping and dancing around in my tutu (lol), but Kyle was diligently checking Mac’s live tracker….and informed us it hadn’t moved in the last 15 minutes.  Getting a flat or some mechanical issue was one thing, but that was pushing a long time for her to be stuck changing a flat. It also showed her right at the base of a giant, twisty climb…and naturally, Kyle was really worried.  We kept watching it, he went and talked to one of the ambulance drivers that was there on the course and tried to get someone to check on her, etc.  There were ton of aid cars and official sweeping the course, but at that point they were already busy and overwhelmed pulling people with hypothermia off the course, so Kyle was worried they may not get to her quickly and thought it could be something bad.  I tried reasoning, pointing out the inaccuracies of that type of live GPS tracking etc, plus other reasons why it could show that (could have fallen out of her pocket, she could be helping someone else who had a problem, etc etc) but obviously he was super worried and upset the ambulance guy wouldn’t go drive out to check lol…so we piled back into the truck (did I mention we had 7 people, including 5 in the back seat?) and headed back to town so that he could get his own truck, and could drive out on his own to check for himself.  We were almost back, when suddenly—her tracker was working again!  And it showed she had moved way up course.  It was just a GPS signal issue, after all!  This was a time I was very happy I was right :)

 

At that point, since we were basically back near T2 (and where we had parked), we decided to just park, re-group ourselves, and get some lunch.  Did that, then headed back to T2 about an hour-ish before we expected her to get off the bike.  We watched the first few pros on the run out, then scoped out the area.  This time, we would be able to watch the bike in, then sprint across the parking lot and make it to the run out.  We watched a bit and saw Mac’s coach bike in, so tested this plan out (yup. plenty of time to run through the parking lot, since transition kind of wound around and we could take a more straight-ish shot through the parking lot), and watched some more.  Headed back to the bike in, and waited.

 

And waited, and waited.  She had hit the last timing mat, 20 miles out, and she should be showing up any time now.  There was a giant climb at the end, so that was probably all.  The live tracker had long since stopped working, but we knew better than to worry about it yet…so we waited.  And waited.  We expected 6 hours on a good day, closer to 6:10-6:15 on an ok-fine day….by the time 6:30 rolled around, we were all super high-strung, and I think at this point I declared that spectating was WAY worse than actually racing!  Logically I think we all knew it was fine.  There was a big climb, it was nasty weather (although by this point the rain had stopped and the sun was peeking out..but you could see on the looks of all the athletes coming it, it had been a brutal bike ride for the last 112 miles)…but still, where was she?!  It was less worried about why she was taking so long, and more worried about how she would be feeling mentally/physically coming off the bike and into the run, and wanting her to have a good run etc etc etc…

 

THERE SHE WAS!  We all erupted at the sight of her.  I hardly remember how she looked coming in, I was taking photos and cheering and then buckling down and running as hard as I could to the other end of the parking lot.  I knew I had plenty of time, she had to get her stuff and change shoes and get situated, but the LAST THING IN THE WORLD that I wanted was to miss her again!

 

Of course, we made it with plenty of time :)  Katie and Mel held the signs that Josh and the girls had made, and finally she came running out.  She didn’t look thrilled, but more resigned.  As everyone else turned to go watch the pros finish, Kyle realized the course turned back, and we could probably see her once more at the other edge of the parking lot…so he and Mic and I raced over as fast as we could, and got to the crosswalk just in time to take more pictures and see her come through again.  I wasn’t even thinking, but Mic was smart and realized it was a good time to run with her ;) so he chased her up the hill and joined her a bit before the course wound into the trails.

 

Meanwhile, Kyle and I headed back to his truck.  I didn’t know where Allen had gone, to unlock my bike from our truck, so I took Mac’s mountain bike (which Mel had been using) and stripped off some layers (the sun was getting warm), and we decided to try to see if we could catch her on the bikes along the trails.  We mashed up a couple hills, race along some back trails…but, nope, she had already started her loop around Lost Lake.  So, we headed back a bit to a big intersection, where the course crosses a couple times, right by special needs.  Soon enough, we saw her running up, and although she quickly told us how cold and miserable the bike was and didn’t look very happy, she was putting down a great pace and was right on target.

 

This was a pretty good place to watch for a bit, so we hung out…then realized it really was getting warmer (I was down to just my tank top by then), and Mic met up with again, so we decided to go drop the bikes off at the truck (and the extra sleeves) then walk back to the same spot.  We found the rest of the group along the way at another spot, so we all went back together and hung out.  It was a lot of fun there, you got to see people about halfway on their first lap, starting their second lap, and then about halfway through their second lap.  That’s when we started calling out people by name, and although it was by special needs and most people were distracted, it was fun to see them light up a bit when they heard their names.

 

I did keep accidentally saying stupid things like “almost there” which I smacked myself every time.  I HATE when people say that, especially when we moved down another trail a bit and you could tell people were just starting their first lap.  Why the heck did I keep saying that?!  Other than that, though, I think people appreciated it.

 

Luckily Mac’s tracker seemed to be working better now that it was on the run, so we could tell where she was….but we could also see she was slowing down.  To the point where we knew she was walking at least part of the time.  As she got closer, we moved down to a less congested area, and Kyle back-tracked to try to find her first and run with her if she needed it.  We saw them coming through, and she looked pretty dejected and Kyle kept running with her (he ended up running the entire rest of the course with her).  That was a bummer, I knew she could have had a really good run, but all that time getting freezing on the bike did nothing to help anyone (and hearing later, she couldn’t eat/drink for the first few hours, so that probably played a role too).

 

We were so happy to be cheering for everyone else, but it was pretty dejecting to see our own athlete, the one person we wanted to cheer on the MOST, having a rough time.  But, she was still getting it done.  We moved back up to another spot so that we could see her at the end of that loop.  We walked a bit up the trail, further than before, so we were the only group of spectators on a lonely trail, up near the top of a small include/corner.  That was one of the most fun spots to be stationed!  We were totally in the woods, there weren’t really other spectators there, and you could tell the athletes weren’t really expecting people to be cheering there!  We got a LOT of smiles, and laughs, and thank-yous and some people even asked for high fives!  Um, you want a high five, YOU BET I will give you a high five! We kept the energy up there and it was noticeable what a difference it made for some people, so that was AWESOME!

 

We gave the guys our tutus, to try to see if we could help cheer Mac up when she came around.  Kyle was busy talking her off a ledge by that point, and I don’t think the guys in tutus did much for her, but it DEFINITELY was a hit to everyone else that saw it in those 15-20  minutes!  I mean, the girls wearing tutus got lots of smiles and stuff, but the reactions were even better with the guys wearing them!   We would see people start to crack a smile, trying not to break, whenever they saw the guys wearing bright pink tutus…and as soon as we said “yeahhh we see you smiling!” a huge grin would spread across their face.  It’s amazing what smiling can do during a race, so hopefully it helped :)

 

After seeing Mac, we walked down to another stretch, the last out and back.  She would be back here when she was about 2km to the finish, and we spent the next hour or so cheering from there.  It also started raining again.  Raining a lot.  I had to go back to the truck and put on as many layers as I could.  Ugh!  But, hey, if they were out there racing, I sure as heck was going to cheer!

 

The only bummer was that you didn’t know what lap people were on—so while you could tell them they were “almost there” if they were on the second loop (less than a mile to go qualifies as almost there, I think), you didn’t want to say that when they actually had another entire loop to do.  So, there was a lot of “stay tough” and “look at that pace!” and “be strong, you got this.”  Some people seemed so appreciative at this point, you could tell they were the ones on their way to the finish, and that your words of encouragement actually meant something to them while they were trying to dig deep.

 

The other fun thing was that by this point, we had seen a LOT of these people on their previous loops around Lost Lake!  Some we had seen once, others we had seen twice or more already, just based on how we kept moving around the course and how the trails intersected!  When I remembered them, I tried to say something (“hey didn’t I just see you?! Keep it up!”) and sometimes they remembered us more, with the tutus, and would point and wave and say thanks, etc.  I saw one guy in a Smashfest kit that I think I complimented 2 or 3 times prior, and the last time I saw him I said “yup, I STILL love that kit!” even though he never really showed a response the last few times I said anything, but that time he yelled back “hah, well this is the last time you get to see it!” meaning he was listening, and was now heading to the finish line.  So cool!!

 

Tracking was working.  Mac was close.  We set up in a good spot…and saw her come through!  She still didn’t look thrilled, but she was moving a bit more, and more determined, and this time we really could say she was almost done and RUN HARD SEE YOU AT THE FINISH!

 

We raced to the finish line.  Found our way through the stands and managed to squeeze into spots in the front row.  The clock read 12:50…she could still break 13 hours!  Even though it wasn’t the day she wanted, I knew that would at least be a small win.  We soaked up the finish line atmosphere…so amazing to watch people come in!  I got as many high fives as I could, screamed for everyone (especially cool to see people finish whom we had seen on the course and cheered for over the last few hours), smiled and laughed watching their elation…and the clock was still ticking.  Soon, soon, she had to be there soon…

 

And then, 12:55 after the race began, there she was!   I don’t know how we all managed to scream quite so much and take photos/videos at the same time, but I do know we all had a collective sigh of relief and happiness seeing her finish and looking happier than she had the whole run!

 

I raced over to the side of the finish chute, saw the volunteer talking to her and making sure she was ok and getting her stuff.  I went totally crazy and made sure she (and the volunteer) saw me and was WAY TOO EXCITED but I didn’t even care.  SO HAPPY!  Mac kind of laughed and told the volunteer it was fine, she could talk to me later …but I did have to ask where we went to meet her.

 

The stupid thing was that the athlete exit was out the other side.  And there was NO place to cross, without walking allllllll the way around all the med tents and buildings and everything, or allllll the way up the other side of the finish line where it was a sketchy crossing.  By the time we finally made it all the way around, Mac was already out and talking to some friends, but I still raced up and tried to give her the biggest, and yet gentlest hugs of all time.

 

We all met up.  Waited for Mic and Kyle, who had both run her in apparently, but gotten split up with the dumb crossings.  The rain was coming down again, so we wanted to head back to the condo to get warmed up, instead of hang out there.  Mic and I ran ahead, to go get her gear ticket and get her bike and bags.  Did that, piled everything into the trucks, and headed back.

 

The rest of the evening involved warming up, chatting and hearing all the stories of the day, finding food (ummm yeah definitely didn’t eat enough during the day) and finally collapsing into bed!  What an insane day.  I can only imagine how awful it was racing (seriously, I think I may have quit..and that makes me uncomfortable because I am not ok with quitting! But it was that bad…) but it was so inspiring to watch everyone out there!

 

Anyway, that’s the very, very long story of my first experience spectating an ironman.  It was incredibly fun and rewarding in its own way, especially cheering and encouraging the athletes, and especially knowing so many people have done the same for me (especially in Coeur d’Alene).  The spirit of ironman and triathlon is alive and well, and it was such a fun time getting to be a part of it!!