Catching Up - The 2012 Lake Pflugerville Triathlon Race Report

After my first trail run, I pretty much chilled out all day. I knew my legs were going to be sore, but it seemed I was really exhausted and felt kind of “off” as well. Monday I went to work and seemed to cough all day. With the Lake Pflugerville Triathlon coming up the following weekend, I couldn’t take the risk of getting sick, so I called to schedule a doctor’s appointment. I went in Monday afternoon and yep, I was sick. I was given a Z-pack, went home and planted my body in the recliner all evening. I knew it would take the Z-pack 24 hours to kick in, so I had called in to work to let them know I wouldn’t be there Tuesday. That is rare for me. I hardly ever call in sick.

I have to admit, it was nice sleeping in Tuesday morning. And knowing I was just going to lay around and rest on Tuesday was kind of nice, but I don’t like missing workouts and that part was bothering me. I was really hoping I would feel better and be back at work and working out on Wednesday, but Tuesday night when I was still coughing like crazy I decided I probably needed another day of rest. I stayed home from work Wednesday and did no workouts again.

Thursday I managed to go back to work, but was still unsure if I should do a workout or not. The coughing was horrible (think bronchitis) and I wasn’t sure if I’d even be able to workout. Packet pick-up for the tri was Thursday, so I decided I’d try to do a little ride after getting my packet just to see how it felt. I managed to ride a whopping 6.92 miles and was exhausted. At this point I was questioning whether I’d be able to complete the tri or not.

The Lake Pflugerville tri is one that I have done every year since it started. I want to be one of those people in 20 years that can say I’ve done every one. The question of doing the triathlon was not an issue. At this point it was going to be “how long is it going to take me to finish?”

Friday when I got home from work I was determined to get my workout done. I had a one-hour run on the schedule. I started off at a very slow jog. It was not long before my lungs were telling me this wasn’t a good idea and my body was going into coughing fits. Let’s just say that the run turned into more of a walk.

Saturday morning I woke up and debated on whether it would be better for my body to rest or if I wanted to try to get in a ride. I knew I wouldn’t get in the ride on my Ironman schedule, but I did want to see if I could make it around the Lake Pflugerville Tri course. I headed to the lake and road the route. I did manage to make it, although slower than usual. The ride at least gave me the confidence that I could at least finish the race on Sunday. I headed home and relaxed the rest of the afternoon.

Sunday morning came and it was time to race. I got up, ate my normal breakfast and headed to the lake. As always, I was there early to claim a good spot in transition. I set up my things and sat by my stuff. I was still coughing like crazy and getting all kinds of looks, but I was going to race. Of that, there was no doubt. When it was time to exit transition I thought to myself, “it is what it is, so just have fun”.

As it got time for my swim wave to go off, I inched my way toward the water. I was worried about the swim from the respiratory aspect. I did not want to have a cough fit in the middle of the swim. I figured I would take it at an easy pace and let things fall where they did. That didn't stop me from getting up front for the start. I was second row on the inside and I used the technique Jessica Jacobs taught me at a tri camp in April - I got horizontal before the start to "claim my space" and sculled to get my body ready to go.

When the horn blew for us to go, I already had my space so I could easily start swimming. I saw and felt many of the women jump ahead of me and for once did not let that get to me mentally. I just kept my line on the buoys and swam.

Somewhere around the 2nd buoy (200 in) I came up on a girl who was swimming about my speed. I knew this because I could see her feet but I wasn't gaining on her. For really the first time in a race I focused on staying on her feet and drafting. It worked wonderfully. I was able to stay on her for about 150m. Once we rounded the turnaround buoy, however, things got congested and I ended up passing her. It was nice while it lasted.

I focused on keeping things smooth and steady and swam until my fingers touched the ground before standing up to exit.

Swim: 10:39

Luckily, the cough did not bother me during the swim. Running through transition was another story. I coughed like crazy and actually had to walk to my bike, which I never do.

T1: 2:09

After last year's race with horrible winds, today was about near perfect for the bike. Winds were under 8mph and probably closer to 5mph. I ride the course all the time in training, so I knew where I could hit it hard and where I may have to take it safe if the cough kicked in.

I left transition and hit it hard right away. I was feeling good and wanted to get speed where I could. I made the first turn which leads into a false flat and a little bit of a headwind. I did slow down a little, but not much, so that was a good sign. The only bad thing is that the course is not a closed course and takes place on 2 lane country roads. During the false flat a truck pulled out of its driveway and got behind a rider who was going about 14-15mph. A few cars were coming the other way so for a little bit there was nothing to do but slow down. When it was safe, I passed the truck and the rider and got on with my ride.

Doing the surge to pass the truck was probably a little much. I started coughing a little and knew I had the part of the course coming that would make me cough if any of it would. I made the turn at the Cele store to head into the rollers. I had already decided to go into the small ring up front for the first of the hills to ease into it. It did help, but during the first part of the rollers I had a cough fit. I thought it would really slow me down and cause problems, but I seemed to get one big cough in there that cleared things out and all of a sudden I could really breathe. I knew this was a good sign and decided to push as hard as I could.

I made it through the rollers and knew I was good. I passed several people and only got passed by a few. (The swim waves had started with men young to old and then women old to young, so I only had younger women behind me coming out of the swim).

I struggled a little again once I turned on to the false flat before the s-curves, but when I noticed my speed I kicked it up again. And once I got to the toll road, I let loose. I knew I didn't have much more to go.

My efforts paid off. I'll have to double check, but I think this may be my best bike split ever on this course. I was very happy.

Bike: 44:56 for an 18.69 average

I got off my bike and headed into transition, again, coughing along the way. The run is what is really affected by the cough, and it hurt me today.

T2: 1:29

Having been sick, I was very cautious today. I did not want a repeat of Friday night’s “run” where I would have to walk a lot. I wanted to "run" the whole thing if at all possible.

I started slow and just kept my feet moving. I tried not to take very deep breaths. Luckily it was pretty over cast and there was a slight breeze blowing in the beginning, so I wasn't getting real hot. I drank some gatorade and just focused on putting one foot in front of the other. One of my competitors (who usually beats me on the run every year) passed me about half a mile in. It was tough to watch her go, but I knew that today there was no way I'd keep up. Steady gets the job done and steady is what I did today.

I did manage to run the whole way and was happy with my time considering how I have felt the past week. I crossed the finish line happy to be done. And immediately started coughing again. I grabbed a cold wet towel and some water and stretched a little bit while waiting for friends to finish.

Run: 28:12 for a 9:24 pace

Total Time: 1:27:27

I managed to keep my streak going and can still say that I have done every Lake Pflugerville Triathlon and I’m happy with that. I knew there was no way I would even be close to getting an award, so I packed up my stuff and headed home.

My First Ever Trail Run - The Ranch 10K

I have been a long time subscrber to Runner's World magazine.  A few months ago, they published a special edition devoted to trail runs.  I enjoyed reading the magazine and thought it would be fun to try a trail run at some point.  A few weeks later I needed some new running shoes.  While I was at the store getting my repacements I thought "what the heck" and asked about trail shoes.  I ended up walking out the door with two new pair of shoes that day.  My new trail shoes were the Brooks Cascadia.  I have to admit that I am normally a Saucony wearer, so walking out with Brooks was something new.  It helped that they are lime green.  :)

Now that I had the shoes, all I had to do was find a race.  I wasn't really looking since my big focus this year is Ironman Arizona, but then someone mentioned The Ranch 10k on June 10th.  Hmmm.  In looking at the training calendar, it would work.  My run scheduled for the day was for 1:15 and I knew it would take me longer to run a 10k on the trail than it does on the road.  So I signed up.

The Ranch was actually the third race in a 3 part trail series put on by Rogue Running, one of the local run stores in town.  The first one was called The Maze, the second one The Loop and this one The Ranch.  They were all at different locations.  When I picked up my packet on Saturday, I realized that maybe I should have started with the first one.  It appeared from reading the description of the race course that this one was the more difficult ones and had some technical aspects to it.  Oh joy. 

The shirt was nice.  A pretty color blue and a dri-fit that came in men's and women's cut.  I love races that offer women's cut shirts.  However, I did notice on the back of the shirt it said "get dirty".  Hmmm.  Was this a sign of things to come?

This mornng I got up super early.  The race site was in the hill country about 1.5 hours away.  When I got to the race site, this was the beautiful sunrise in the sky.

I headed down to the race start to pick up my chip and hit the port-a-potty.  I could tell right away that trail races (or at least this one) have a different atmosphere than road races.  The start line was nothing fancy.  Just a timing mat and a timing clock next to it.  Everyone seemed really relaxed.  A few people were warming up a little, but not like at a road race.  Many people were bringing chairs and coolers down - either to spectate or for the party after the run.

There was a 30k race on the same course that started at 7:00.  When it was time for that race to start, a lady simply counted down and said go.  She didn't even have a megaphone.  Most of the 30k folks took off, but some were late.  They didn't seem to care.  They got their chip, put there stuff where they wanted it, walked on the other side of the timing mat and began their race.  No big deal.

Thirty minutes later it was time for us to start.  I knew I wouldn't be super fast (I'm not even super fast on the road), but I didn't want to be at the very back either, so I seeded myself kind of in the back of the middle.  The same lady counted down and told us to go.  And we were off.

I have to admit that I'm not one for doing warmups really before any race and this one was no different.  However, once we started the race I kind of wish I had done some warming up.  The race started right off the bat with a climb.  That will get your heart rate going real fast.  It wasn't a short climb either.  That may have been a good thing, however, as it kind of separated people into appropriate pace groups.  After we got up and over that hill the race narrowed into what I think of when I hear trail race - a single file narrow trail through the woods. I only hoped that I was running an ok pace and not holding anyone up behind me.  I was very careful about watching the feet of the guy in front of me.  The trail was fairly smooth, but there were definitely rocks and branches to watch out for.  I made sure to let the people behind me know that if they wanted to go around me, I wouldn't be offended.

The trail stayed single file for a while but would occasionally open up onto some open faced rock.  These areas were a little tricky, but did allow for the faster runners to move ahead.  I was feeling fairly happy with the progress I was making.  So far, I was managing to "run" the whole way.

The interesting thing about the trail run for me was that I had no concept of how far I had gone.  When I do a road race or even a training run around the neighborhood, I'm fairly good at knowing when a mile has passed.  Not out here.  And I didn't even look at my garmin.  I was too busy watching the ground beneath my feet.

The first aid station was probably somewhere between mile 1.5 and 2.  I did glance at my garmin around this point and note that I had  been running over 20 minutes so far.  I knew my pace would be slower today so I didn't really care.  I just kept going.  Running when I could, walking when I needed to because of a steep uphill climb or because I was afraid I might roll an ankle.  I did not want to risk any kind of injury with a tri next weekend and IMAZ as the main goal this year.  I will admit that a couple of times my ankles did "roll", but I rolled with them and did not hurt anything. 

Somewhere in there was also an "unofficial" aid station.  It was just a cooler with a jug or two of water and a trash can to throw empty water bottles.  I had managed to drink my gatorade by the time I reached this point (which is unusual for me as I normally don't finish a full bottle on a 1.5 hour run), so I bent down to throw it in the trash.  As I was turning away to get back on the trail, my right leg hit the cactus next to the trash.  I looked down and could see a few of the cactus thorns sticking out of my leg.  It wasn't a big cactus and they were not real sharp, so it didn't hurt.  I pulled out what I could and continued on.  It wouldn't be a trail run without some kind of brush with nature, would it?

I did stop a couple of times to take pictures of the kind of path we were running on.  It doesn't really do the trail justice, but here are the pictures.

I made it to the next aid station, grabbed a gatorade and headed toward the finish.  The first part of the course had been mostly uphill, which is hard on the lungs.  The second part was a lot of downhill, which is hard on the legs.  There were a couple of places where the drops were about 3 feet.  It was also about this point in the race when I began to get lapped by some of the 30k folks on their second lap.  Obviously some of these folks do this kind of racing all the time, because they were flying.  I'm not sure how they go so fast and avoid injury.  When I would hear them behind me I would find a place to move to the side and get out of their way.

We also had a few spots of low water crossing that we went through.  None of the water was high and there were usually rocks you could "jump" on to get across.  The fast folks - they just ran through it like it wasn't even there.

As we got closer to the end you could hear the voices of the people at the finish, but you couldn't see it.  And of course, we kept weaving this way and that way. I thought I'd never get to the finish.  Toward the end, I actually thought I might have taken a wrong turn.  There wasn't anyone in sight in front of me and I saw someone running on the road instead of the path.  But then two of the 30k folks came past me and I knew I was ok.  I was very happy to know I was headed downhill and across the finish of my first trail run.

I crossed the finish and checked my watch.   Ouch.  My slowest 10k ever.  The garming also said I had run 6.87 miles.  Just a little more than a 10k.  But, I had no injuries and I had finished, so it was a success.  I had kind of hoped coming into the race that it would be small and I might have a chance to place, but that was not to be.  Especially since they only gave awards for open division (39 and under), Masters (40-49) and Grand Masters (50+).  When I checked at the aid station I was 18th of the masters women.  I don't know if that is official or not.

However, they did have burgers (and veggie burgers for me) and beer ready at the finish.  It was kind of weird eating a burger at 10am, but it tasted good.  While I was sitting there eating it the winner of the 30k came in.  They also started giving out the 10k awards.  The 10k winner time was in the 50 minute range.  That's what I do on the road.  Again, I'm assuming they run on trails alot.

I did really enjoy the trail run and will definitely do more in the future.  I think it would be fun to go and camp the night before and then hang out after and swim and relax before heading home.  My new shoes seemed to work, so that was good, and I made some notes for next time.  Number one is bring a cooler with an ice cold coke for the finish!!!

While I may not have gotten in as many training miles today as I would have had I just run at home, I definitely got the time on my feet and a good workout it.  And because of the trail and having to have quick feet and alter my stride to miss rocks, etc., I have a feeling I will feel some muscles tomorrow that I haven't felt in a while.

Happy trails!!

Team Red, White & Blue

Through my involvement in triathlons, I became aware of an organization called Team Red, White & Blue. I know a couple of people who race for them and became interested in them myself. Team RWB’s mission from their web site (www.teamrwb.org) :

Team Red, White & Blue’s (Team RWB) vision is to transform the way wounded veterans are reintegrated into society when they return from combat and exit their position.

While much has improved since the post-Vietnam era, some polarization between veterans and our society still exists today. Strong relationships between wounded veterans and their fellow Americans are critical to veterans’ reintegration into civilian life as well as our nation’s success. That’s why Team RWB’s mission is to enrich the lives of wounded veterans and their families. Team RWB works toward this mission by focusing on three key areas:

1. Personal connectivity between Veterans with invisible wounds and citizens in the community where they now live
- Community-building events that bring Veterans together with citizens
- Formation of friendships and natural individual relationships

2. Reintegration through physical fitness
- Physical: rebuild the body, give structure to life and bolster self-esteem
- Psychological: help to process experiences from Iraq/Afghanistan
- Social: connect with people to run, bike, workout and be active

3. Galvanization of esprit de corps and team membership
- Bringing back the feeling from the military of pride and being part of a unit

I decided a while back that I wanted to race for Team RWB in 2012 and raise money for their cause. I ordered a tri kit in the fall so that I could race all year as a Team RWB athlete. And then early in the year, I was asked to step up and do something more.

One of the ladies I know who is in the Army and is in charge of the triathlon portion of Team RWB asked if myself and a fellow local triathlete would be interested in helping to put on a triathlon camp for about 20 veterans. Not really knowing all that we were getting into, we said yes.

We met with the coach who would be in charge of the training. He happens to be the coach of at least two professional female triathletes, one of which is his wife. We discussed the vision for the camp and then set out to put everything in motion. This past weekend, it all came to fruition.

Thursday Evening

As soon as I left work Thursday afternoon, I headed to the airport to pick up one of the athletes. We went back to Jack & Adams (J&A), the local bike shop that was supporting the camp, and got him started on putting his bike together. Several athletes had arrived earlier and were either putting their bikes together or getting set up and fitted on brand new bikes that they would be able to take home with them. Bikes, shoes, helmets, wetsuits, etc. – if they didn’t come to the camp with it, they would be leaving with it.

When it was time for dinner we headed over to the park where the Texas Beef Council would be providing dinner. More athletes arrived as did the two pro triathletes who would be joining us for the camp – Jessica Jacobs and Jessica Meyers. The Beef Council grilled steaks for those who eat meat (not me) and we all introduced ourselves. Some athletes would be in home stays and went home with their host, while a few who registered last minute headed off for their hotel.


Friday

Friday morning we all met back at J&A. Derick took the athletes and a few volunteers over to a large field and went over some running drills. Then it was time to run. Those who wanted to could do a 2-mile time trial while the rest could just run for 30 minutes. I chose the latter as I didn’t really feel like punishing myself so early in the morning. Let me just say that some of the athletes are really fast, including the athlete who stayed with us.

Once back at J&A, those that still needed to get fit on bikes did that and lunch was delivered. Everyone just hung out, ate lunch and got to know each other better.
The two pros offered a ride for those that wanted to ride with them while the rest of the folks headed next door to the pitch-n-putt for a “closest to pin contest”. I thought I’d go out with the pros, but had my road bike instead of my tri bike and quickly realized that their version of a conversational pace and mine were two totally different things.

After the pitch-n-putt contest, it was time for a bike skills clinic. Everyone took their bike back to the same field we were at in the morning. Derick had everyone practice getting going with one foot clipped in to get a feel for how to start with some motion. Then he had us come back with the opposite foot clipped in. Let me just say that when you’ve ridden for over 5 years and always keep the same foot clipped in, it’s a little hard to do it with the other foot. Many people hit the ground, including myself.

He had us see who could go the slowest without falling over, had us do some bumping drills, had the athletes try to pick up bottles from the ground, etc. It was a very good clinic for first timers.

After the bikes skills clinic it was time to pack up and head north for some swimming. A lesson was given in how to get the wetsuit on (there really is an art to it and the zipper does go in the back). We were split into 3 groups – those with no open water experience, the really fast group and the rest of us. Jessica Jacobs was assigned to “the rest of us”. She went over some tips on breathing and sighting and then people were free to swim the loop.

After the swim, folks were on their own for the evening. I also had one of the volunteers staying with us, so we went home and ordered pizza. We were tired.


Saturday

Saturday morning we met down south for a bike session. Derick went over a quick lesson on how to set up your transition area and how to think when you are packing for a triathlon. Then it was time to head out on the road. Remember, some of these guys had not been on a bike since they were little and we were getting ready to head out in a 2-up pace line on the shoulder of a fairly busy road.



Derick asked me to lead up front with him and asked another volunteer to bring up the rear and make sure no one got lost or fell off the group. We went really slow (like 12-14 mph), but the guys did amazing. I told Derick that day 2 of getting my clipless pedals there would have been no way I would have been out doing that.



After we finished the first loop we could go back out in smaller groups and do more of our speed. I stayed with some guys going out, but I am familiar with the area and did my own thing on the way back in. Once we were all through, it was time for lunch.

After lunch was another swim session. This was interesting as the athletes worked on a beach start scenario with dolphin dives into the water. Most of the triathlons I do have in-water starts, so that was something even I have not really done. After everyone tried it once, we broke back into groups. The group I was in worked on drafting. We were paired up and drafted off each other for the full loop, rotating who was in the lead and who followed.

After the swim, those who wanted to could run a couple of short laps around the quarry where we were swimming. Then it was time to shower and have a nutrition clinic. I thought I drank a lot of water, but after hearing how much Derick recommended and tracking my intake for a couple of days – yikes! I have some drinking to do.

Then it was time to head to dinner and a roundtable discussion with the pros. We were joined by Kelly Williamson and Patrick Evoe. How often do you have the chance to spend the evening with 4 pro triathletes? Awesome.



Sunday

Sunday’s session was just a “long run”. We had about 2 hours of time, so people could do an out and back for up to an hour if they wanted. I did a 5 miler. The faster folks did around 10. Then it was time to break the bikes down and pack them up. I have to admit, I got a little teary eyed thinking about the weekend being over.

There were 14 athletes in attendance, each with their own unique story. Some shared a lot of their story and others were more reserved, but you could tell the camp meant a lot to each and every one of them. It just confirmed my decision to race as a Team RWB athlete this year leading up to IMAZ.

While the camp is over, the mission of Team RWB is not. If you believe in what they are doing and wish to support my fundraising efforts, please feel free to make a donation at:

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/broehling/brianaroehlingsfundraisingpage



Please know that the money you donate is going to the cause. They are not paying for my race entry or any part of my travels this year. I bought the triathlon uniform myself because I wanted to. I want to give back this year and this is my way. My first race in the Team RWB kit was Lonestar 70.3 where someone snapped this picture of me.



If you don’t wish to donate at this time, at least try and say thanks next time you see someone in the military or someone who is a veteran. You have no idea what their story is, but I can guarantee that they will appreciate a kind word.

Lonestar 70.3

Friday afternoon I left work early, met up with a few other folks racing, and headed to Galveston for the Lonestar 70.3. This would be my second time to race this race and just like last time, I wasn’t where I wanted to be with my training. Despite that, I knew that I would be ok and could complete the race barring no major catastrophe.

We arrived in Galveston, got settled, grabbed a few items from the grocery store and headed out for dinner. Then it was time to get some rest.

Saturday morning I slept in. It was nice as I don’t get to do that often. After grabbing some breakfast it was time to take the bike out for a short spin to make sure all was working properly. We just did a little over 20 minutes, but all seemed well. I was happy that it didn’t feel like much of a headwind either way and hoped for the same on race day.

After the ride, it was time to load the bikes and head to the race site. There are “mandatory” meetings for the athletes and the first one was at 12:30, so we hit that to make sure there weren’t any surprises we needed to know about. One thing they said was that all bikes needed to be racked by the seat. No big deal for me as that’s what I usually do.

After the meeting it was time to register and pick up the race packet. Because of how early it was, there was a big line heading into the tent. As I got close, I noticed there were different lines based on bib numbers. Of course mine was one of the longest AND it was on the end, so people were going around the line and trying to cut. Umm, I don’t think so. The other thing that annoyed me was that lots of people were bringing their bikes into the registration tent and it was not set up for that.

I made my way through all the stops – signing the waiver; getting my wristband, race numbers and shirt; activating my chip, etc. – and then exited through the expo part. When everyone was done, we went back to grab the bikes and head to transition to rack them.

When we got to transition I found my spot and put my bike on the rack by the seat as I had been told. And it just hung there. My front tire did not reach the ground. It was windy (it is Galveston afterall), so my bike was rocking back and forth and looked like if a strong enough gust came along it might just blow off the rack. One of the volunteers came by at that point and she said that the officials told her it was ok to rack the bikes by the handlebars tonight because of the wind, but they would need to be fixed in the morning. No problem. I switched my bike around, took the obligatory “bike rack” picture and left transition.



At the big races they usually have a pro panel and it was time for it to start, so we headed that way. They had six pros (3 men and 3 women) on stage. I knew Tim O’Donnell, Kelly Williamson and Caitlin Snow. I was far back and couldn’t see who the others were. Then I glanced at the big screen. Oh. Lance Armstrong is up there. I know there are mixed feelings on Lance and I won’t get into that here because he is bringing recognition to triathlon, but the whole pro panel seemed to be about Lance and not much about the other 5 pros being up there.

After the pro panel we chilled out for a little bit and then headed for an early pasta dinner. We timed that just right because after we walked in a whole bunch of people came in. We were seated fairly quickly and those behind us had to wait a while.

After dinner it was time to get everything ready for race day. Once all the race gear was laid out it was time to sleep. Or try to sleep. I did good until around 2am. After that, I’m not sure I got much sleep.

The alarm went off at 4am race morning. I got up and dressed, made my race day shake and ate my Lara Bar. I also mixed my Infinit for the bike and double checked to make sure I had everything. It was time to head to the race.

You would think that getting to the race site early would mean good parking. Nope. Parking this year was quite a ways away from transition. Well, that would be my warmup.

Once in transition I began to lay everything out. I’ve tried to simplify my “spot” over the years with just the basics I need. I’m still amazed at how much stuff people bring into transition with them. Some folks had backpacks on that were as big as a suitcase. I’ll never know what they have in there. Anyway, I got my stuff laid out, talked to a few ladies around me (including another one racing for Team RWB), hit the port-a potties and put on sunscreen as best as I could without smearing my body marking.



Transition closed at 6:45 and my swim wave didn’t go off until 8:20, so I grabbed my wetsuit, goggles, swim cap, and my second breakfast of a Lara Bar and Gatorade. The walk to the swim start is a pretty decent walk, but I was obviously in no hurry to get there.

Once at the swim start I found a place to sit and just soaked up the atmosphere. The pros were allowed to jump in the water, the national anthem was sung and the race started. After the pros went off it was funny to watch the age groupers who hadn’t planned well and realized that their wave was about to jump in the water. They would come running through with panicked looks on their faces. Some of them didn’t even have their wetsuits on. This scenario played out over and over again. I didn’t want to be one of those, so around 7:45 I put the bottom of my wetsuit on, found the bathroom again and then found some other ladies in my swim wave. I got the top of my wetsuit up and had one help me with the zipper. I was ready.

When it was time, we lined up and made the march down the pier. It wasn’t long before we were jumping in the water. It’s about a 3-foot jump off a pier into the water. I tried to hold my nose and my goggles, but my goggles actually came off when I jumped in. Good thing I found them before they sank. I got them back on and swam to the start buoys. The water was a tiny bit chilly at first, but I knew it wouldn’t be cold while swimming. We had a couple of minutes before our start, but it wasn’t long before that gun went off and we all went horizontal.

I don’t like cold water and it hasn’t been real warm yet, so I had not done a practice swim in my wetsuit before this race. In fact, I don’t think I have even worn it since IMFL in November 2010. I could tell in the first few strokes that it was a little more effort to stroke than without it. I was also trying to go a little hard in the beginning so that I could get some room around me and get into my grove. I noticed that I was having a hard time breathing (the wetsuit felt a little tight around the chest) so I just told myself to slow down and just swim.

I got into a little bit of a groove and was feeling ok. I noticed that I was able to pass a guy from the wave in front of us before the first turn. It was also around that point, however, when a guy from the wave behind us passed me. Lovely. I was a little worried about this as we had M55+ and M18-25 behind us. I knew I would get passed, I just hoped I wouldn’t get beat up as they went over and around me.

I managed to keep a fairly good line with the buoys, but there were a couple of times I veered off course. I also had to kick really hard a couple of times because the guys were swimming upon me.

Finally, I reached the final turn to head back in. I had no idea how I was doing. I tried to look at the color of swim caps around me when I breathed, but I didn’t really see a bunch from my wave. I was a little worried as I didn’t want to be the last out of the water.

When I reached the ramp, I stood up. I got a little dizzy at first, but grabbed the bar at the exit and kept going. I unzipped the wetsuit and got the top part off. I didn’t see strippers at first and thought I’d have to get out of the wetsuit in transition, but then I saw them further down. I pointed to one, lay on the ground and she ripped that wetsuit off in a split second. I’d gladly have her strip my wetsuit again. I got up, grabbed my wetsuit and headed into transition.

Swim Time: 44:29
2:18/100
79th in my division of 126

I ran into transition, found my spot, put my wetsuit out of the way and started putting my cycling gear on. I did the socks and shoes first and then the glasses, gloves and helmet. I grabbed my bike and was out of there.

T1: 3:25

I got onto the bike feeling good. I wasn’t out of breath. I don’t wear my HR monitor in tris because my garmin isn’t waterproof, but it didn’t feel like my HR was high. It was time to see what I could do on the bike. I made my way through the grounds of Moody Gardens and turned on the Seawall Blvd. You never know until race day how the winds are going to be, but when I made that turn I felt good. It seemed like the wind was mostly a crosswind but with a slight headwind. Since I was doing around 16mph I was hoping this was the case. If we had a slight headwind on the way out we would have a slight tailwind on the way back.

I started passing several people. The only people that passed me were the fast guys behind me. It was a while before a female passed me. That made me feel good as well. About 10 minutes into the ride, I saw the pros coming back in on the other side. Based on the bike, the lead cyclist was none other than Lance Armstrong.

Since I carry all my nutrition on my bike, I didn’t need to stop at any of the aid stations. I do usually have to stop about mile 20 for a potty break but I was hoping to at least make it past the turnaround at 28. I accomplished my goal. I might have been able to make it the whole way back, but I decided I would rather empty my bladder and be able to cycle stronger than have the full bladder affect my speed. I stopped at the first aid station after the turnaround and felt much better.

As anticipated, on the way back in we had a slight tailwind. That was nice as my speed increased by a couple mph. I did start getting a little uncomfortable toward the end. I haven’t had the long rides I would have liked leading up to the race and I haven’t been in aero for long periods of time either. I would try to stand up every now and then to stretch the legs out, but that’s hard to do on a flat course. I also noticed my right inner quad muscle was a little tight at times. I definitely need to get in more bike rides.

I was very happy to make the final turn off of Seawall and weave my way back through the grounds to transition. Rode right up to the mount line before getting off.

Bike Time: 3:20:25 for a 16.77mph average
first 28: 1:45:50 for 15.87 mph
second 28: 1:34:35 for 17.76 mph
85th in my division, so I lost some ground here

I ran as quick as I could to my spot, racked my bike, took off the cycling gear, got the running shoes on, stuffed nutrition in my pocket and took off out of T2. I have to admit that there was another woman in my age group in transition at the same time and I was extremely motivated to beat her out of there.

T2: 2:14

There is an aid station immediately after you exit transition. I went to grab a drink and realized it was Perform. I can’t stand the stuff, so I dumped it and grabbed a water instead. The last time I did this race I had a little bit of stomach discomfort on the run, so I knew I needed to get and keep fluids in me. I could tell already that it would be a hot run.

I wanted to do as much running and as little walking as I could. I kept looking for the first mile marker so I could check my pace and adjust accordingly. Somehow I missed the first mile marker. This made me start questioning whether I was going the right way or not, but I just kept running. Finally I saw mile 2. I knew what time I had exited transition and saw at this point that I was doing around 10 minute miles. Good. Not too fast and not too slow.

At mile 3 I took my shot blocks. I was alternating drinking water from the aid stations with Gatorade I was carrying. Somewhere around mile 4.5 or 5, I decided I needed a walk break. I tried to keep it short and tried to keep the rest of the walk breaks to the aid stations. When I hit the part of the course that took us out on the airport runway this year, I had to walk more than I wanted. There was absolutely no shade and a good portion of that section went straight into the wind. I wasn’t really looking forward to doing that 2 more times.

I just kept going. Every 3 miles I did my shot blocks. I would walk through the aid stations grabbing water and ice and the cold sponges when they had them. I would even dump a cup of water on my head. I kept checking my watch for a while to see if I was still around 10 minute miles, but somewhere along the way quit doing that. It no longer mattered. I just wanted to get it done.

I finally hit the last loop of the runway and knew it wouldn’t be long until I finished. I pushed through as much as I could and was glad when I made the little turn and had the tailwind behind me. I knew at this point I could run the rest of the way in. When I hit the final stretch for the finish chute, I ran a little faster and crossed that line with a smile on my face.

When I looked at my watch and saw 6:25, I was happy. I couldn’t remember what my PR was at the moment so I didn’t know if I had beat it or not, but I was happy with my time.

Run Time: 2:14:22
10:15 overall pace
70th in my division, so I made up some time here

Splits from the course:
2.9 miles in 28:00 for 9:41
1.7 miles in 15:15 for 9:04
2.7 miles in 29:52 for 11:16
1.5 miles in 15:15 for 9:58
2.8 miles in 30:09 for 10:36
1.5 miles in 15:51 for 10:29

After I crossed the finish line I headed straight for the athletes food to grab a Coke. They didn’t have the real thing so I grabbed and RC Cola or whatever it was and headed back to the finish to wait for everyone else to come through. After that we grabbed the bikes from transition and headed out.

It was a hot race, but I’m glad I did it. I did, in fact, set a new PR with a final official time of 6:24:55.



My swim will probably not improve much since it really hasn’t in 4 years. I definitely have room to improve on the bike and if I put together a solid bike, then I know I can have a solid run at IMAZ. I’ll take the next couple of weeks fairly easy and then start my “official” IMAZ training plan. The first weeks of the plan are light, so it will still feel easy, but just like last time, I will follow the plan and know that it will get me to the start line in good shape.

Cap 10K

After a busy day yesterday doing the Rosedale Ride, driving 1.5 hours to my son’s soccer game, watching the game, driving 1.5 hours back, and going to the rodeo to see Kevin Fowler, I got up early to run the Cap 10K.

Luckily (or unluckily) the race didn’t start until 9am. The race use to be held the same weekend as daylight savings; hence the late start. However, since daylight savings has changed, that is no longer an issue. But after the rodeo last night, a later start was welcome.

It was a little cool this morning as well, but not as cool as yesterday morning. I dressed in shorts and a tank. When we got downtown, I was a little chilly walking to the start line, but I knew that would soon change. I got in line for the port-a-potties first thing as I always do. I still had almost an hour until the start, so I just found a spot to sit and watched the lines for the port-a-potties grow. When they got to a certain length and there was about 30 minutes until start, I got in line again. After that, I headed to my coral to await the start of the race.

Standing in the coral, I knew it would be a tough race. The sun had poked through the clouds and I was no longer even a little bit chilled. I wasn’t expecting a PR today so I just told myself to do my best and have fun.

The gun went off and 3 minutes later I crossed the start line. I was off and running. The first 3 miles of this course are pretty hilly. The first of the race is a slight incline up toward the capital of our city. Once you round that, you have some rolling hills.

Mile 1: 9:09

I thought I might be going a little too fast, but it didn’t feel like a struggle so I just kept going.

Mile 2: 9:06

Hmmmm. I might pay for this later, but oh well.

Mile 3: 9:22

Ok, that hill got me. I flew on the big downhill and settled in for the last 3 miles.

Mile 4: 9:10

Good, I feel back on pace. I was really hot at this point though. All I saw at the aid stations was water (someone after the race said they had Gatorade at one of the stations, but I must have missed it). I could have used some Gatorade at this point. I probably should have brought my own. Instead, I sucked down water at each aid station and dumped a cup on my head as well.

Mile 5: 9:23

The heat is getting to me. Just a little over a mile to go and I’m done. Keep pushing.

Mile 6: 9:24

I can see the finish line, but I don’t really pick up my pace. It’s not a PR so there is no point in pushing it.

The last .2: 1:54.

I came in at 57:28 for a pace of 9:16. It was under an hour, so I’m ok with that. I grabbed some more water, found the bananas and then found some shade for a little bit.

Overall, it was a solid weekend of races and I feel ok going into next weekend’s race.

Rosedale Ride - 42 miler

The Rosedale Ride is a local ride that I like to do every year if I can. It starts not far from my house and benefits the Rosedale school. The Rosedale school is the area’s only school for children with multiple disabilities. I didn’t get to do the ride last year, but was able to at least squeeze in the 42 miler this year.

Since I wasn’t able to do a longer ride, I figured I would actually ride to the start in order to get in a few more miles. When I left my house in the morning, things were looking ok. It was a little chilly so I decided to go ahead and wear my wind jacket even though the sun was expected to pop out. I’m glad I made that decision.

Not long into my ride to the start, the fog started to set in and get pretty thick. I wasn’t overly worried about it as I was on country roads with not much traffic. However, the fog did get thicker the closer I got to the start and at one point I had water droplets hitting me in the face from the condensation of the fog. I don’t think I’ve ever ridden in fog like that.

I made it safely to the start after covering 7.28 miles in 28:24 for an average of 15.38mph.

Since I haven’t been able to ride as much as I would like this year, I was hoping that this ride would be a good one and give me some confidence heading into my half-ironman next weekend. I knew that I had to be back home by a certain time (to leave for my son’s soccer game), so I figured I would push as hard as I could.

I started at the back of the folks doing the 60+ ride so that I could leave the start line a little early. Most of the folks in this pack are strong and fast cyclists. Since there are so many at the start, you kind of get caught up in everything and at one point I noticed I was doing about 20mph. That’s not unusual for me at times, but I knew I could not sustain that over 42 miles. I was happy when the crowd thinned out and I had some space.

I did stop for a quick potty break at the second aid station, but was quickly on the road again. The fog did not let up for a long time and the temps were colder than expected. Once again, I was glad I had my jacket on.

Around mile 30 we were routed down a road that is currently being repaved. It had a layer of black top down, but was pretty rough. I lost about 2mph for that 3 mile stretch of road.

I followed the route back to my cutoff to go home and then made my turn. When I pulled into my drive I noticed I had gone 42.24 miles in 2:32:42 for an average of 16.6 mph.

Overall, I was very pleased with this ride. I was riding 16+mph with very little effort even into the wind. There was one long stretch in there where a guy even latched on and sucked on my wheel for a while because he was having a hard time. No offense guys, but anytime a guy has to draft off of me makes me happy.

Hot Chocolate 15K

Well, it appears that I haven’t been good at updating my blog on a regular basis; nor have I been good at picking races that have warm weather.

When I did the Chicago marathon in October, I saw lots of advertising for the Hot Chocolate Run. I thought it sounded pretty interesting. You got a cool windbreaker jacket in your packet instead of the normal t-shirt and the goodies at the finish line included chocolate – lots of it. What more could you ask for? The only problem was that there was not a Hot Chocolate race near me. Or so I thought.

I got an email one day and noticed that Dallas was offering a Hot Chocolate Run this year. Hmmm. We have volleyball tournaments in Dallas. I checked the calendar and believe it or not, the Hot Chocolate Run was scheduled for the same weekend my daughter and I would be there for volleyball.

We never know the actual time of her games until 2-3 days prior to the tournament, so I asked her if she would mind if I signed up for the run knowing that if she had early morning games I might have to miss one or two. She was ok with that, so I signed up.

It turned out that she had afternoon games the day of the race so there was no issue of missing her games. The issue was the weather. I woke up on race morning to find that it was 20-something degrees outside with a wind chill factor of 17. Good thing I brought lots of layers. I dressed myself in Under Armor tights and shorts on the bottom and 2 Under Armor long sleeved tops, a short sleeve top and a sleeveless fleece vest on top. Of course I had the gloves for my hand and a headband to cover my ears. I also had the runners secret – a garbage bag – for the starting line. I got in the car and headed to the start.

Once I got there I sat in the car for quite a while. I just couldn’t bring myself to get outside in the cold and wind. The thought did cross my mind to just start the car and head back to the hotel, but I paid my money and I was going to do the race.

When it got closer to the start time, I ventured out. Luckily the “expo” hall was open and people were allowed in there to stay warm before the start. I used the bathrooms in there instead of going out to the port-a-potties and waited until just before race time. When it was time, I headed out to the start. BRRRRRRRR!!!!

Luckily the race started just a few minutes after I got into the coral. It was hard to run at first because I was so cold. I had the garbage bag over me to protect me from the wind, but my feet were numb and my face was numb. At this point, I didn’t care about time at all. I just wanted to get moving and get warm.

By mile one I was at least warm enough to ditch the garbage bag, but I was still somewhat cold. The sun had started coming out so that helped.

Mile 1: 9:38
Mile 2: 9:44
Mile 3: 9:39

Since this was a 15k, I was practicing my long run strategy of eating 2 shot blocks every 3 miles. At mile 3 I squeezed the shot block into my mouth and knew right away I’d have to let it sit there for a while to warm up some so it would be soft enough to chew. It was pretty hard from the cold.

Not knowing the course I had no idea if there were any hills or not and, if so, how bad they were. I just kept chugging along at a pace that felt comfortable to me. After all, I would obtain a PR today no matter what since this was my first 15k race.

Mile 4: 9:29
Mile 5: 9:08
Mile 6: 9:30

The was a bit of a hill between miles 5 and 6 as you can see from my slower time on mile 6. Oh well. At this point I knew I had just over 3 miles to go. That meant 30 minutes or less. I felt good so I picked up the speed just a little bit.

Mile 7: 9:06
Mile 8: 9:07
Mile 9: 9:09

Just before mile 9 there was an uphill on an overpass. I pushed through it and finished the final .3 miles in 3 minutes flat for an overall time of 1:27:29. I was happy as I had wanted to do this under 1:30:00.

I walked through the finisher chute and grabbed some water. Then I realized how far of a walk I had to get back to the “expo” are and inside the warmth. I started jogging again. I didn’t care that I had just run 9.3 miles, I wanted to be warm.

Once inside the building I grabbed the “goodies” that awaited me. A container with half a banana, a pretzel stick, a marshmallow, several slices of apple and lots of warm chocolate to dip it all in. Yumm!!!

I found a spot to sit down and eat my goodies while I warmed up. Then I braved the cold back to the car so I could get back to my daughter.

When I checked the official results I was happy. I was 117th in my age group and 1116th overall. I’m not sure how many people ran. But the thing I was most happy about was that I negative split the whole race.

My first 5K was 30:03 with a 9:42 pace
My second 5k was 29:01 with a pace of 9:22
My last 5k was 28:25 with a pace of 9:10

My overall pace was 9:36.

This is definitely a race I would do again if I had the chance and it worked with my schedule.