Woodsy

Floating Holiday

All of the holidays in my group at Intel are "floating", meaning you have the option to work that day and take a different day off. Often these are the best days to come to work and get stuff done, since there are fewer people around. In addition, if you work on shift (different than M-F 7:00-4:00), you get all the holidays regardless of whether it is a work day for you or not. So basically today, I am getting another day off AND not working. Some things about my job are sweet. The on call pager, not so much. I have it this weekend.

So I am playing with my new iPhone and l must say it is ALL THAT. Just to test my Typepad mobile blogging capabilities, I'm uploading some random pics of my loaner '09 Audi. Discreet, with the lettering on both front doors. It has a fancy non-key that you push in to start the car. And a button for the parking brake. Fascinating, no? OK- I promise some more interesting blog pics later this weekend.

Oh, my car is just at the shop today for scheduled maintenance. That's not very exciting either.

IMCDA Race Report, part 4

Off and running!  Considering how poorly the second half of the bike went my legs felt pretty good.  I've experienced this phenomena before, it's called "thank God we are doing something different"!  I was cruising along at the pace coach had recommended until I talked him down 10-15/sec per mile.  I knew this but figured since my race was less-than-stellar thus far I had nothing to lose.  Suspected my legs would give up before anything else. 

I'm not sure if going with that pace was the right decision or not; 10-15 seconds per mile may have delayed the stomach upset that occurred at mile 10 but I think it would have happened eventually anyhow.  In hindsight, I'm wondering if that is just how I'm going to feel in an Ironman marathon and should I just HTFU and keep running.  On a hurl scale of 1-10 I was probably about a 6-7, i.e. not in imminent danger of hurling.  Of course that's easy to say now.  I walked through the aid station at mile 10 and took pretzels and coke.  That seemed to help and I ran a couple more miles, then became nauseous again.  More pretzels and coke, probably too much in the stomach at this point.  Now some more running, then walking.  Here's another armchair quarterback observation: I probably could have increased the run-to-walk ratio in the second half but mentally I was pretty much defeated.  In the end I came in under 4 hours for the marathon and with a little more perseverance I probably could have managed a 3:50 or better.  So this is another lesson learned- don't give up.  Around mile 17 I suddenly got ravenously hungry despite all the pretzels and coke and had more pretzels, coke and a cookie.  No way I was touching gel or anything resembling that- my nutrition plan was officially out the window.  Then I saw coach walking up ahead and stopped to walk with him for some real-time coaching advice, something to the effect of "lay off the cookies and finish this thing".  WIth him I probably walked about 4 minutes or so, and that was enough stomach settling to run out-and-back to the turnaround, past mile 20.  Held on reasonably well running with Johan until mile 23, then more tummy disagreement.  

The IMCDA finish is awesome, much more exciting than IMC.  The last ~0.5 mile is a gradual downhill through downtown with people lined up on both sides and standing in the rain at this point, mind you.  Although it started raining about halfway through the marathon, I was fairly comfortable temperature wise.  I would have been more comfortable RUNNING the second half and generating more heat but that's the way it goes.

   
I'm now 2/2 on finishing Ironman in the rain.  Next time- IM Arizona.

 
So excited to have a real finishers photo this time!  

  
Last year's finisher's shot at IMC. 

Tomorrow, post-mortem with coach.  Hoping to learn something.

Food log

Until I can finish my race report, thought I would throw together this food log to make sure I'm not missing anything.

Day of race (it's important to get calories in during the post-race window)
Pizza  < 1 hour after finishing
Latte'  < 1 hour after finishing (thanks Tom and Sarah!)
Beer  < 4 hours after finishing.  With more pizza.

Next day
Cookies- ate one during the race too.  Wait for next blog.
Ice cream - we made stop at DQ on the way home from CDA :)

Week after
Chips- just finished the bag.
Krispy Kreme doughnuts (2)- but since they were eaten right after masters swim practice, they don't really count.
Beer (1) - obviously been slacking on my alcohol intake, that will have to be remedied this weekend.  I have yet to consume my two favorite M's: margaritas and mojitos.  I <3 M&Ms. 

That reminds me, chocolate is obviously missing here too.  Also, today I was craving a BIG cinnamon roll.  I've still got some boxes to check and luckily, I'll be working out again soon!  Can't add too much mass to that a$$.

IMCDA Race Report, part 3

I lived through the swim and was ready to start reeling people in on the bike.  T1 was slow as my stomach was upset and I tried to take some extra time to get it calmed down.  Didn't work.  As I started out riding, I held back on my nutrition to let it settle down.  That really didn't work either.  I didn't hurl, but I didn't feel much better until around mile 50.  I'm not sure if the calorie deficit caught up to me or if it was something else, but the second half of the bike ride was a downward spiral.  It was fairly windy too.  With a constant perceived effort, I watched my watts drop lower and lower until I was ~30 watts lower than goal in the last 12 miles.  My legs were just dead.  Throughout the second half, I kept thinking about the marathon coming up and how that was going to work out.  I also thought about Ironman Canada last year, where my legs felt AWESOME from start to finish on the bike.  I had no idea how much I had slowed down but knew it was significant, and disappointment set in.  I thought about all the hours spent on the trainer this winter.  I thought about riding down Mt Bachelor in a hailstorm.  But I also thought about how I broke my PR in the marathon last winter and in a bike time trial two weeks ago.  How awesome it will be to have Ironman fitness through the summer in Oregon and becoming even faster for next year.  Friends who I spend long hours training with, and everyone who supported me up to race day.  And then, I was over it.  Over having one bad day.  I realized that if knew the outcome of this race, I would not have changed anything about my preparation.  It's the reason I bailed out of moving to China- can't imagine life without training and racing. 

 
Pigtails are super-aero, proven by wind-
tunnel testing.

Oh and as you can see, I sold out and wore a bowl on my head for this race.  On the dorkiness scale of 1-10 it's about a 9.  Actually, considering I'm wearing a tri top with arm warmers could it be any worse?  Only if I was wearing compression socks.  It's a 9.

Finished the bike in 5:59:09, 10th AG.  Not what I was hoping for; my normalized wattage ended up 15 watts lower than what I'd trained for.  Still not positive what the reason was, my suspicions are around energy drain from the swim and calorie intake.  I ended up with 180 cal/hr vs 240 cal/hr as planned.  Coach's first comment on my power file was that my cadence was low so I might have been mashing for whatever reason.  That might also explain why my heart rate hardly ever came up out of zone 1.  hmm.  We shall figure it out.

IMCDA Race Report, part 2

Back to the beach in Coeur d'Alene, ready to jump in for the longest 1.5 hour of the day- the swim.  Ran into the pdx boys and we lined up near the buoy line, figuring why swim any farther than necessary?  I understand the water will be clearer further away from the buoys but I'm not afraid of some full body contact.  a) back of the pack swimmers usually don't hit that hard and b) the more draft the better.  I positioned myself about 3/4 of the way back so as not to get swum over by too many people. 

Go!

Sarah's video of the swim start, pretty cool.  No cannon firing like at Canada though, kind of disappointing. 

The water was comparable to Friday's conditions, a decent amount of chop but no whitecaps.  Still a lot of motion.  Just tried to relax and avoid getting seasick.  The swim is 2 loops.  First trip out was not horrible, the trip back was even borderline fun as you can kind of ride the waves in due to wind direction.  On the second trip out I was definitely feeling tired.  The turnaround buoy was nuts with everyone cramming into that apex.  I went to sight and all I could see was the sun and spray.  All of a sudden I felt like a real bad ass.  That never happens in the water.  After that turnaround it became clear that I was going to make it without incident, so regardless of time I was relieved.  Came out in 1:35, 91/126 AG.  The time was not a surprise and in talking to others, most came in 5-10 minutes slower than planned due to conditions. 

Obviously the swim is the least important event time-wise, and that is lucky for me.  Still, if I'm looking to take 10 minutes off here and there for my next IM, the swim provides plenty of opportunity.  Plus, I need to get to a point where swimming doesn't tap me out for the bike/run.  The rough water definitely took more out of me than desired.  So now I have 14 months to get my swim up to par for the next IM.  I have already been in the pool this week AND even went back to masters this morning.  I'm on a mission!

Food groups update: currently blogging from Krispy Kreme.

 
Getting the hell out of the water and down
to business!

IMCDA Race Report, part 1

Finally getting around to my race report, after having to work for two whole days when I got back.  But they were long 12 hour days.  And of course, I've been busy covering the food groups that have been missing over the past few months.  Beer and pizza were covered within hours of finishing the race.  The next day, cookies.  To be honest, a cookie was consumed during the race too.  Yesterday I bought a bag of chips for the first time in as long as I can remember.  Ok, two bags.

Ashley and I hit the road for CDA on Wednesday with two bikes on top of my car/bike launcher: my Fuji and her brand new P2C.  Not gonna lie, I was feeling a bit of deja vu here (for those who know the story).  We arrived in CDA seven hours later without incident and checked into the Budget Saver Motel.  Not to be confused with the Coeur d'Alene Resort down the street.  Actually our room was huge- plenty of room for bikes, groceries, wetsuits, shoes, wheels, bags, blah blah blah.  After a couple days of getting acquainted with our fellow racers, Ashley noted that our motel was an Ironman dorm.  On our first day of school, we walked around and asked where people were from, is this their first Ironman, who are they training with, etc.  The motel is shaped like a U so looking out our window we could see the frat boys sitting on the balcony across the way, ordering pizza the night before the race.  Not sure if there was beer.  Most of the people staying there were from Portland, including Coach Mark and Jerry.

On Thursday we hit the lake for a swim.  Whitecaps at 8 am- not a good sign.  Although we kept the swim really short, it still felt like a struggle to me.  I knew this was a possibility, but was hoping that race-day conditions would turn out like last year and we'd have calm waters.  Needless to say this was quite a confidence-buster, but what can you do.  Hit the expo and shop.

I picked up a mean new swim accessory.  Can't wait to wear it to the pool.

 
Modeling the pink camo shark swim cap.  You can't see here but it has a fin.  It's a jr
size- hope it doesn't limit circulation to my head.

Ashley and I with my shark cap and her "I Don't Horse Around" night shirt- ha!  That's
right- there's no horsing around at Ironman!

Remainder of the day on Thursday was filled with packet pick-up, an easy bike ride and team dinner.  Friday my parents showed up from Montana.  My dad's Father's Day would be spent waiting around for his daughter to swim, bike and run 140.6 miles- yipee!

On Friday afternoon we did a 4-mile easy run when the rain let up.  Oh yeah, it rained.  After obsessing over the forecast for days, we decided to ignore it until Saturday night.

Sporting white hot compression socks for a sushi dinner with Tom, Ashley and Sarah.  We saw Michael Lovato there, so figured it was good enough for us.

Race Day!

Crammed in breakfast and headed downtown with a quick stop for coffee, toting 3 separate bags.  This becomes important later.  We dropped off our bike special needs bags, I didn't have any run special needs (or so I thought at the time).  Back over to the bike to drop off my water bottles etc.

The Fuji, raring to go in T1.  I swear that's not my coffee cup.

On to T1/T2 with backpack and dry clothes bag, that also contained my wetsuit.  Met Ashley by our bags to don wetsuits.  Then I realize I don't have my dry clothes bag- you know, the one that has my wetsuit.  WTH happened to my dry clothes bag?  Panic ensues.  I tell Ashley I'm headed back to my bike, since I must have left it over there.  It's not there.  Panic becomes shock.  Ummm, I'm not doing this race.  My bag, with wetsuit, has disappeared.  So I'm standing there like a deer in headlights, kind of unsure what to do at this point.  My phone rings.  Ashley found my bag where I set it down among the thousands of other white plastic bags in T2.  It became the Where's Waldo of transition bags, since the dry clothes bag has a different color front panel and Ashley found it.  Damn, I'm going to have to get in the water after all.

Original plan was to meet our supporters by this moose pre-race, but that didn't happen after my race day blonde moment.