The Trifitness Blog: August 2011

Greetings from Bellingham!!

The Pacific Northwest is a beautiful place to live and train for sure. But I do miss tri fitness for the social outlet, training partners, and race support. Your an amazing group of people that have made a huge impression in my life!

I blog a lot, but haven't posted on tri fitness in a while. So for your reading pleasure here is a first hand account of a beautiful race in the northwest.

Lake Steven's 1/2 Ironaman

Washington

August 14, 2011

Another hectic race weekend....

But that's part of the fun right.

From work to pre race athlete registration in just enough time, bike problems fixed roadside before check in, and a lost hotel reservation. Enough stress the day before a race to make me retire from triathlon forever. But nothing a beer won't cure, and a good nights sleep in my own bed. Saturday was a rough one, but Sunday morning I woke up at 4am rested and ready for a new and better day. My typical race morning breakfast of oatmeal, a banana, and green tea. Packed and ready I was on the road by 4:30. Lake Steven's was only an hour away so the mix up with the hotel room the night before wasn't major, it just would have given me some more sleep and less driving :)

Parking at Lake Steven's High School was free, and so was the shuttle to the race start at the lake. The only downside, having to find your own way back to your car.

It was still quite dark when I headed over to transition to set the rest of my gear up, but the sun was rising quickly.

I liked my spot in transition, I was lined up only a couple racks behind the pros. What I didn't like were the number of people in transition. Many of the athletes had friends and family members in transition with them.(not sure if it was actually allowed) With almost 1200 athletes competing it was way more crowded than necessary with the extra bodies. I took my time laying out and setting up my gear. And to warm up I went out for a little jog to find some restrooms with no lines. My age group was first to start after the pros so I didn't have much time before heading to the water. Once in my wetsuit I was less than thrilled to find my zipper had come off the tracks!! In a slight panic I tried to get some other athletes to help me get it zipped. No luck, and my group was lining up on the dock. I ran over and was able to plead for help from one of the volunteers on the dock. He miraculously got it closed, said it wasn't perfect and wished me luck. My group was in the water awaiting the gun for our start. With about 45 in my group I wasn't the least bit nervous, I just hoped my wetsuit would hold up through the swim. The gun went and off we went. I went out comfortably hard at first and with in 5 minutes or so I felt a rush of cold water hit my back. My zipper was slowly peeling open. At this point I obviously had no choice but to keep swimming. The velcro at the top would keep it somewhat closed. I was in a rhythm breathing every 4th stroke. Taking in quick deep breaths and laughing as I exhaled under the water. Silly me I thought for not double checking my wetsuit before putting it on. I've been having trouble with the zipper for weeks now after one of the teeth broke off. But it could be worse, and I had plenty of time in the day for my race to get worse, so I made light of the situation and swam with the "parachute" behind me. Now for my next challenge, the swarms of men swimming diagonally across and over me. They really seemed to have trouble swimming straight. I didn't want to waste the energy fighting it, so I let them all by me and grabbed on for short drafts when I could. Sighting wasn't a problem at all as the sky was grey and cloudy, so the buoys were easy to spot. Rounding the first turn I though I was getting close to the finish, but no, there was another turn and line of buoys heading back.Uhg... I was getting tired and ready to get out of the water. My dragging wetsuit was rubbing against my neck and under my arms and it was starting to burn. I backed off a couple notches until I new I was at the last couple buoys. Then picking up my pace again excited to get out of the water. With a slow swim of 41 minutes I ran into transition.

I rounded my way spotting my area quickly. Stuffing my pockets with 2 packs of honey stinger gel blocks, 1 honey stinger protein bar, and 1 pack of shot blocks with caffeine. I had 5 endurolyte capsules taped to my bike, 500carbo pro calories in my water bottle, and 200 calories plus nuun in my aerobottle. Aero helmet and glasses and I was off for 56 miles on the bike. Turning out and away from the lake up a short climb to the first 15 miles of nice rolling hills and beautiful views. My transition felt smooth and I was going strong on the bike. Mile 20 marked the first big long climb then rewarded with some awesome descents. I got my speed up to 44 mph on one of the longer ones! I was a bit cold on the bike still at this point. The sun was trying to peak through the clouds, but the mountain air was still cool. Another steep steep climb in the distance would warm me up for sure. Not as long as the last big hill, but the get out of the saddle type for sure! Getting close to the end of the first lap I could hear the crowds by the lake. The cheers are always motivation to pick up the pace and that I did as I rounded through the first loop and headed for the turn to the 2nd. I hadn't even gone through 1/2 of my water bottle at this point so I needed to make it a point to drink more on the second loop. I had eaten some gel blocks so I wasn't worried about not getting enough calories, I should just finish my bottle before the bike was over. With the air so cool it was hard to remember to drink, as I wasn't feeling thirsty at all. The second loop I went out a little faster than the first, but as always I'm pretty consistent.

My legs were feeling great at this point. My minor set back in the morning was all in the past now. But yeah, that little thought of things going worse was still lingering in the back of my head as I saw racers on the side of the road changing flats. I didn't have a spare tire with me, not because I didn't want to carry one, but because I forgot to buy one before I left! I was riding tubeless carbon race wheels and only had the fix a flat foam. But I didn't want to dwell on that, or jinx myself for that matter!! After the big climb and into the downhill again. This time I didn't hit the breaks as I knew I could take the turns at full speed, and man is that fun!! I ate my protein bar before the next climb, and hydrated before coming into the finish. The sun was still hiding so I hadn't been sweating much if at all. I didn't take any salt tablets and decided I would probably be fine on the run without them. The electrolytes in the nuun and gels would be enough. So into transition I went. Off the bike in a few minutes over 3 hrs and an average speed of 18.5 mph. In transition I had to weave my way around the back section and finally to my rack. Quickly racking my bike and slipping on my shoes. I went with my inov-8 f-lite 195 with quick laces this time for a speedy transition. There light flat and fast, and super comfy even without socks. I also grabbed my garmin watch. I wanted to try to keep a moderate pace for the run and not burn myself out before Ironman in a couple weeks. I know my body and pace really well, so the watch wasn't necessary just a little extra. I went out at a comfortably fast pace of 8 minutes/mile. The run was 2 loops as well, and stayed closer to town and along the lake shore front. With a good mix of hills I was excited to be on the run of course. My favorite part of a triathlon not only because it's my strength, but you get to talk to other racers! And I love socializing with and encouraging fellow athletes. With my feet quickly hitting the pavement my body just followed right along. Loop courses are fun because you also get a chance to see the pros run by, and even count the other racers in your division. I like playing games with myself as I run and pass people, looking ahead and picking someone randomly and eventually passing them. The first loop went by so quickly and the sun finally came out!!!

Out on the second loop in the same pace. I was running through all the aid stations grabbing water or gatorade and taking in whatever amount of fluid I could manage to splash into my mouth. My stomach was feeling just fine, and my legs even better. I was running all the hills, then with 4 miles to go I picked up the pace a little. With visions of beer at the finish line and a dip in the lake in my near future my pace was quickening with each closing mile. And in 1:41 I was done the run, an average pace of 7:44. Race time of 5:31 overall and I placed 7th for my age group. I was thrilled with my performance! Immediately heading down to the water to take a quick dip, then to find food and beer! I wandered around and socialized a bit. I ran into a volunteer that saw me at the Xterra race just the weekend before. I also met a couple people from Bellingham, 1 who recognized me from a local group ride, and another whom I crossed the finish line just behind at Ironman Coeur d'Alene last year. Starving I headed over to the food tent, the smell of pizza was overwhelming. I asked if any of the pizza happened to not have cheese, with an apologetic shake of her head the volunteer said sorry and off I went in search of beer. None! With no other reason to hang around I gathered my belongings. No beer no food :( Luckily I had made a pb&j and stuffed it in the side of my bag. I scarfed that down in seconds and put my bag on my back and headed out on my bike to find my car. Oh and the fun continued as I looked ahead at the steep uphill climb to the direction of the school and my car. After a few miles of some tough uphill climbing in flip flops resting on top of my bike shoes that were still clipped into the pedals I finally broke a sweat as the sun was out high in the sky and not a cloud to be seen.

This was my 3rd of 4 triathlons this season. It has been hard training and racing alone this year. I still enjoy it, but not nearly as much as training and racing with a club. I have most definitely done a lot less being on my own as well!!

Overall I loved this course. The water on the swim was perfect, followed by a hilly but not grueling bike course, and a run course with manageable hills. Not to mention the spectacular views of the lake and the mountains! Easily a great destination 1/2 Ironman for anyone traveling.

until next time...

kelly bird

Last week was a fun, active, tiring and rewarding week. We had our Kid's Triathlon Camp!

I would like to share with you some of the greatest moments.

We had a lot of children from barely 6 to 14 years old. They all wanted to be there, to learn to be better triathletes. They were all different levels but we managed. We had 3 teams.

Our coaching staff was awesome with Maneesh, Sue F, Steven C, Taylor P, Brian P, Alex C, Kyle H, Emilie B and Pascale.

We would meet every morning on the wall by the courtyard to talk about the day ahead, to motivate each team and to send them off to their different activities. Because we had the whole pool and I would say the whole school groound to ourself the scheduling was easy. They all did everything, every day swim, bike and run!

Between technique, practice and fun games we had lunch and some had lunch high up

some more down to earth

We had different teams, some with lots of girls

or lots of boys

Everyone worked hard and did their best to get ready for race day. We even got rid of training wheels, fear of water and we developed a love for running with our favorite British Bulldog game.

Race day arrived quite quickly but everyone was ready to go