I don’t know why my husband and I chose to race IM AZ, because being from Minnesota, we knew it would mean training indoors all winter on the bike. If nothing else, we figured it would be a great experiment to see if Computrainer miles are as good as outdoor miles. It also turned out to be a great experiment in finding out what to eat the night before long indoor rides in a closed-off, steamy room. Through trial and much error, we found that kebabs were the “cleanest-burning” fuel. Chipotle or Pizza = bad news! And my husband was the offender.. definitely not me.
The night before the race we had our clean-burning-fuel kebab dinner, I had my good-luck bottle of beer, and we fell asleep by 9. I slept like a baby and got up when the alarm went off at 4:15. We ate breakfast, made coffee, and grabbed all of our crap and headed out the door. The morning flew by. We jumped in the water with about 10 minutes to go, and swam out to near to front of the line. We ran into a big group from MN there, and it was nice to see familiar faces.
Swim
Worst case, 1:10. Best case, 1:05. Actual: 1:11
My husband decided to put baby wash in the goggles to prevent them from fogging. I don’t know if it was that or something else, but my eyes stung like m’f-ers during the swim. I was bummed to see my swim time coming out of the water but didn’t let it faze me too much. What did faze me was my wetsuit not coming off – the zipper jammed!! I had two volunteers working at it for a minute, and they finally got it to open. They were great.
T1
Got my stuff, headed to the transition area where for the first time, a volunteer was standing with my bike! Yay!! I ran past the mount line, tried to get on my bike, and… I don’t know what happened – I crashed hard! It was surreal – I could hear all the spectators react to my crash and subsequent remounting of the bike. It was too funny and I couldn’t stop laughing. Then a guy yelled out at me: go get ‘em, tiger. I have since christened my bike “El Tigre”. It fits – my bike is orange w/black accents and I had white grip tape on it.
My leg now looks like it’s been mangled in a piece of farm equipment. I have three massive bruises and a whole bunch of scratches from that T1 wipeout. I’m just glad I didn’t take anyone else out with me.
I was off to a very rocky start.
Bike
Worst case: 6:00. Best case: 5:40. Actual: 5:26.
Throughout the ride, I felt like I was pushing a solid pace, though I wasn’t sure if it was too hard or not. I felt like I was riding within my ability, so I kept the pace steady. I don’t use a HR monitor or a cycle computer or a watt meter. I go by feel, so I really had no clue of what time I was posting. I think that was good, since I would’ve made myself slow down had I seen my pace. My eyes still stung life m’f-ers.
During the ride, I set my watch to go off every 15 minutes. I had a potent bottle of Sustained Energy with about 1200 calories in it, and I had a tic tac container of salt. When the watch would go off, I’d swig some of my drink. About every 30 minutes (though I kept losing track), I’d take a salt tablet. I also took some Gatorade from the aide stations once in a while. Early on, I started feeling nauseous, so I stopped drinking my SE for a while. I felt better after about 30-45 minutes and started back up again. I had a jersey full of candy including Katjes sour current berries and Haribo Pico-ballas, but I was too lazy to take them out. What a waste of good candy.
I finished the ride feeling strong, but having no clue what my bike time or overall time was at. Passing people is a good ego-booster, especially when they’re men wearing aero-helmets and riding disk wheels. ;)
T2
Had to pee like a mofo, which knocked at least another 1:00 off. It was like the pee scene in the movie Austin Powers. I changed into running shorts. I was wearing a brand-new top, but it was comfortable so I kept it on. The only thing I carried with me was a tic tac container of salt.
Run
Worst case: walking. Best case: 3:45. Actual: 3:40.
My run went a lot like my bike. I felt like I was holding a good, steady pace, but was just waiting to hit the wall. At each aide station, I would grab 2 cups of water and a cup of either Gatorade or coke depending on what I felt like having. I think by the end of the run, I was dehydrated, but I really slogged down as much fluid as I could. I took salt tablets sporadically.
It was tough to keep running, especially after the first full loop. By that time, many others were beginning their run too. I thought it would be nice to have a little more company, but it seemed like everyone was walking. That made it very tempting to walk, but at least most of those I passed shouted out encouragement. That helps so much! And there was this really hot European biker dude hanging out on the little loop section on the north side of the river. He always shouted my name, so I had to keep the pace up and looking good for him, right? Ahh.. I loved how he pronounced ‘catherine’.. My sister-in-law and her boyfriend were also on the course watching, so I knew I would see them twice during each loop. Spectators underestimate how much their cheering helps. Then there was KestrelKerri. No one cheered quite like her – she was great!
Towards the end of the run, I could see I was catching another woman, but it took me until I was right behind her to see that she was not in my age group. I don’t think she knew what AG I was in, so she kept a pretty hard pace. I eventually passed her with 2 miles to go, but she really pulled me along for a while. In a way, I didn’t want to pass. I was afraid to pass. I picked it up the next couple of miles (it hurt) because I didn’t want to get passed back. I ended up running every single step of the run, even through the aide stations. I crossed the Mill Ave bridge for the last time, curious about what my time would be. I hadn’t looked at my watch once during the run. I didn’t know what pace I was running. I didn’t even know what my overall time was.
Finish
Worst case: Crash & burn. Best case: sub-11:00. Actual: 10:27
Holy moley! I turned the last corner and for the first time saw my race time. I was elated. It wasn’t until later that I heard I won my AG. I was very, very surprised. I went into this race hoping to maybe podium, but nothing more. I couldn’t have had a better day.
I think overall, I went into this with the right mindset. I was ready to race and ready for the pain, but willing to be patient during the bike and run to make the race happen. Now I hope I can recover fully (my knee is still screwed up from the T1 biff) and start some solid training again for Kona. I may have to keep up the long Computrainer rides. They seem to work.
Me & My husband in Scottsdale before the race:
Congrats to everyone on their race. We had a great time in Tempe!
The night before the race we had our clean-burning-fuel kebab dinner, I had my good-luck bottle of beer, and we fell asleep by 9. I slept like a baby and got up when the alarm went off at 4:15. We ate breakfast, made coffee, and grabbed all of our crap and headed out the door. The morning flew by. We jumped in the water with about 10 minutes to go, and swam out to near to front of the line. We ran into a big group from MN there, and it was nice to see familiar faces.
Swim
Worst case, 1:10. Best case, 1:05. Actual: 1:11
My husband decided to put baby wash in the goggles to prevent them from fogging. I don’t know if it was that or something else, but my eyes stung like m’f-ers during the swim. I was bummed to see my swim time coming out of the water but didn’t let it faze me too much. What did faze me was my wetsuit not coming off – the zipper jammed!! I had two volunteers working at it for a minute, and they finally got it to open. They were great.
T1
Got my stuff, headed to the transition area where for the first time, a volunteer was standing with my bike! Yay!! I ran past the mount line, tried to get on my bike, and… I don’t know what happened – I crashed hard! It was surreal – I could hear all the spectators react to my crash and subsequent remounting of the bike. It was too funny and I couldn’t stop laughing. Then a guy yelled out at me: go get ‘em, tiger. I have since christened my bike “El Tigre”. It fits – my bike is orange w/black accents and I had white grip tape on it.
My leg now looks like it’s been mangled in a piece of farm equipment. I have three massive bruises and a whole bunch of scratches from that T1 wipeout. I’m just glad I didn’t take anyone else out with me.
I was off to a very rocky start.
Bike
Worst case: 6:00. Best case: 5:40. Actual: 5:26.
Throughout the ride, I felt like I was pushing a solid pace, though I wasn’t sure if it was too hard or not. I felt like I was riding within my ability, so I kept the pace steady. I don’t use a HR monitor or a cycle computer or a watt meter. I go by feel, so I really had no clue of what time I was posting. I think that was good, since I would’ve made myself slow down had I seen my pace. My eyes still stung life m’f-ers.
During the ride, I set my watch to go off every 15 minutes. I had a potent bottle of Sustained Energy with about 1200 calories in it, and I had a tic tac container of salt. When the watch would go off, I’d swig some of my drink. About every 30 minutes (though I kept losing track), I’d take a salt tablet. I also took some Gatorade from the aide stations once in a while. Early on, I started feeling nauseous, so I stopped drinking my SE for a while. I felt better after about 30-45 minutes and started back up again. I had a jersey full of candy including Katjes sour current berries and Haribo Pico-ballas, but I was too lazy to take them out. What a waste of good candy.
I finished the ride feeling strong, but having no clue what my bike time or overall time was at. Passing people is a good ego-booster, especially when they’re men wearing aero-helmets and riding disk wheels. ;)
T2
Had to pee like a mofo, which knocked at least another 1:00 off. It was like the pee scene in the movie Austin Powers. I changed into running shorts. I was wearing a brand-new top, but it was comfortable so I kept it on. The only thing I carried with me was a tic tac container of salt.
Run
Worst case: walking. Best case: 3:45. Actual: 3:40.
My run went a lot like my bike. I felt like I was holding a good, steady pace, but was just waiting to hit the wall. At each aide station, I would grab 2 cups of water and a cup of either Gatorade or coke depending on what I felt like having. I think by the end of the run, I was dehydrated, but I really slogged down as much fluid as I could. I took salt tablets sporadically.
It was tough to keep running, especially after the first full loop. By that time, many others were beginning their run too. I thought it would be nice to have a little more company, but it seemed like everyone was walking. That made it very tempting to walk, but at least most of those I passed shouted out encouragement. That helps so much! And there was this really hot European biker dude hanging out on the little loop section on the north side of the river. He always shouted my name, so I had to keep the pace up and looking good for him, right? Ahh.. I loved how he pronounced ‘catherine’.. My sister-in-law and her boyfriend were also on the course watching, so I knew I would see them twice during each loop. Spectators underestimate how much their cheering helps. Then there was KestrelKerri. No one cheered quite like her – she was great!
Towards the end of the run, I could see I was catching another woman, but it took me until I was right behind her to see that she was not in my age group. I don’t think she knew what AG I was in, so she kept a pretty hard pace. I eventually passed her with 2 miles to go, but she really pulled me along for a while. In a way, I didn’t want to pass. I was afraid to pass. I picked it up the next couple of miles (it hurt) because I didn’t want to get passed back. I ended up running every single step of the run, even through the aide stations. I crossed the Mill Ave bridge for the last time, curious about what my time would be. I hadn’t looked at my watch once during the run. I didn’t know what pace I was running. I didn’t even know what my overall time was.
Finish
Worst case: Crash & burn. Best case: sub-11:00. Actual: 10:27
Holy moley! I turned the last corner and for the first time saw my race time. I was elated. It wasn’t until later that I heard I won my AG. I was very, very surprised. I went into this race hoping to maybe podium, but nothing more. I couldn’t have had a better day.
I think overall, I went into this with the right mindset. I was ready to race and ready for the pain, but willing to be patient during the bike and run to make the race happen. Now I hope I can recover fully (my knee is still screwed up from the T1 biff) and start some solid training again for Kona. I may have to keep up the long Computrainer rides. They seem to work.
Me & My husband in Scottsdale before the race:
Congrats to everyone on their race. We had a great time in Tempe!