Chicago Olympic 8/2004

August 29, 2004
Chicago, IL
.93 mile swim/24.8 mile bike/6.2 mile run

It's hard to sum up everything so I'll start with the race and my pre-race activities. After all the standing and walking around in the days leading up to the race I was pretty low key on Saturday. I went to the SuperSprint to cheer for Christine and Kate - WOO HOO!!!! After several of us went shopping for grocery items we needed on race day and then the group went out to brunch. After brunch I did a few things at the expo and then headed up to my room to start preparing. I got all my gear ready, laid everything out for the morning, prepped my bottles, took a bath, relaxed, ate some yummy ravioli with my totally awesome roomie Andrea :) (we ordered delivery), watched part of Seabiscuit for some inspiration and then finally went to sleep at 9pm.

Race Day
3:30 am is early, it came way too quickly and before I knew it I was in my tri-suit, eating my pb&j bagel and 1/2 a banana, and heading down the elevator with Andrea where we met Wendy for the 20 min walk to transition. It was cold and windy out and when we got to transition we all got great spots. I was the very last bike before you exited transition for the bike which was great since I didn't have to run with my bike shoes on. We met up with Susan, Jayne (who is totally awesome and definitely a kindred spirit), and Carole as we left transition for the walk back to the hotel. It was about 5am now and the wind was blowing and the announcer had just said the water temp was 64 degrees. EEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!! This really stressed me out as I didn't have a wetsuit and this was my first Olympic distance race so already I was worried about how I'd do. I went back to my room, laid under my covers to warm up, listened to my tunes on my MP3 player and basically relaxed and went to the bathroom 8 times in the next 2 hours, headed down to the swim start at about 7:15 as I was scheduled to start at 8:12am. I'd only brought a long sleeve shirt so I had that on and pulled down over my knees as I watched the waves crash against the sea wall and the wind blow. "Okay, realax, you've trained hard for this, run your own race, the only goal is to finish, you can do it." Before I knew it I had to eat my GU, check my gear at the bag check and line up in the swim corral. I met some really nice girls who also didn't have wetsuits (there were only about 10% without) and we chatted about the water temp and racing etc. Alanna was in my wave and we found each other just before we jumped into the water. I have never, ever, ever felt water that cold. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Swim
Before I knew it we were in the water and I realized when I jumped in my goggles had come off the top of my swim cap and were floating next to me in the water, HOLY MACKERAL!!!!!!!! Thank goodness I saw them and put them on just as the horn blew. We were off. It was a melee, a washing machine on spin, arms and legs and tons of bodies moving pretty slowly through the frigid waters. There was no where to go since the first part of the swim was between a lane line and the sea wall so I ended up sidestroking most of the way to the buoy. The wind was creating a lot of waves on the water and it was really hard to find my swim groove between the water crashing around me, the foliage floating through the water and the people doing back and breaststroke. Hello???? We're doing an Olympic distance triathlon, breaststroke I can understand but backstroke? Danger Will Robinson... Since the swim is parralell to the seawall there were lots of people cheering and that helped take my mind off the fact that I couldn't feel my body, it was so cold and choppy I couldn't relax enough to pee which sucked because I really had to go. I felt like I wasn't making any forward progress so as I breathed and tried to sight I would look to the wall and see the person wearing red and then keep swimming til I was even with them etc.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity I was at the steps being helped out of the water. According to my watch I came out of the water in 42.34 which I was really pleased with since my 1 mile swim time in the pool is about 37 minutes and this swim had such adverse weather conditions. Once out of the water it was at least a 1/4 mile to the transition area which I didn't realize was where our swim time actually stopped. The path was gravelly and I gingerly walked my way up to transition, totally impressed by the people lining the walk on each side :)
Swim Time - 48.26
Swim Rank - 3208

T1
So enter T1 after gingerly walking this long path that was very uncomfortable on the feet. Once on grass I ran to my bike, helmet, gloves, GU in my pocket, shoes on and I was off. It was about 5 yards to the bike mount area from my rack so I ran across the mat and moved to the far side to mount my bike. This was a quick T1 for me considering the size of the transition area.
T1 Time - 4.11

Bike
After mounting my bike we immediately headed up the on ramp to Lake Shore Drive, down shifted to get up it and then tried to remember the keys for this bike course, stay to the left, pass on the right, don't block people and oh yeah watch for road hazards. The wind was blowing about 20 MPH as we headed North, I tried to stay smooth and remember to spin as easily as I could until the turnaround. WOO HOO!!! Traded headwind for tailwind and immediately doubled my speed :) Passed a lot of slower riders but got smoked by tons of speedy dudes with aero bars and race wheels. I also got passed by one of the Para-Olympic athletes - a woman with one leg, that was a pretty awesome moment. You go girl! I got passed by Jen on the first leg and saw Carla and Alanna on the last part of loop 1.

Hydrated, watched for the huge cracks in the road, yikes, and mostly just enjoyed the fast ride to the turn around where I started loop 2. Super tight turn around so I unclipped 1 foot just in case. Back out into the wind and really started to enjoy the ride even though I was going into the wind. We rode past Navy Pier and under bridges where tons of people were cheering. I spent much of the bike focusing on the road due to the many water bottles, cracks etc that were there just waiting to take me out. Everytime I passed a rider who was trying to change a flat or had taken a spill I silently gave thanks it wasn't me. Started pushing after about mile 18 and saw CJ, Alanna and Carla as I finished the second loop. There was an extremely tight hairpin turn just before transition and again I unclipped one foot for safety. I'd completed one 24oz bottle of water and a 20oz bottle of GU2O plus had 2 GUs (one at mile 10 and one at mile 20) and felt strong going into transition. Bike computer said we went 26.33 miles and my average speed was 16.6 which I was really happy with.
Bike Time - 1:33.48
Bike Rank - 3087

T2
Keep in mind going into to T1 I had to pee, there was no way I was peeing on the bike so I held it to T2. Ran bike the 5 yds to my rack and ACCCCCCCCKKKKKKK someone else's bike was in my spot, tough luck... I made some room, racked my bike and proceeded to pull on socks, running shoes and grab hat/racebelt/GU which were all linked together as I ran towards the portolet. Was about to go in when one of the volunteers said "you can't use that it's only for the Pros..." WTF, okay I asked where I could find one for the regular racers and they didn't know. OH GEEEEEESSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH! So not wanting to waste more time I exited T2 and started on the run.
T2 Time - 4.14

Run
Now here's where we start having fun! Usually I hate the run, it's the part I look forward to the least, it's the part that hurts the most, where I'm the slowest but this was the best run ever. There were people lining the course as you exited T2 cheering, calling out your #, encouraging you to keep it up etc. Since I had to pee I was focusing on finding a portolet not the crowds and finally I saw a bank of them so I darted into the first open one.... no TP, ugh went into the second one..... again no TP, I'm losing time here!!!!! Darted into the third one which again had no TP and I was like "Oh $&% it" so I unzipped my tri-suit, peed and luckily found a water bottle which I used to wash off a little before trying to put damp tri-suit back on. Yikes, big girl, small portolet, damp tri-suit equals a very funny scene. Got myself together and back out on the run course. First mile was 14.44 which I figure included at least 90 seconds for the rest stop. Lots of people cheering, legs felt really good so I stayed smooth and focused on good form which was tough since we were running into the wind. Ran along the sea wall and saw absolutely awesome views of the city and the sun was coming out from the clouds which was nice.

Just before Mile 2, I stopped to get a rock out of my shoe and almost as soon as I started running again Andrea blew past me, WOO HOO!!!!! Ran past the Planetarium and started along the out and back section where I could see people who were almost finished :) Second mile was 14.15 including the rock removal. I stuck with my plan to walk the aid stations and make sure I drank a full cup of water at each mile. Going into the 3rd mile I felt great and was having a blast as many other racers cheered me on and gave me high fives, smiles and positive encouragement. I love this. I know how I am doing and why I'm out there competing but it really makes me happy when others recognize that it's pretty cool that a fat girl is out there racing :) So I ran along and before long I saw Carol J running the other direction toward the finish and we WOO HOO'd. Took a GU before the mile 3 aid station and stopped yet again to take a rock out of my shoe. Mile 3 was 14.25. After the third mile I was feeling good and I knew I was almost 1/2 way done. Jayne blew past me, then Jackie and Carole and before I knew it I was at the turnaround approaching mile 4. Lots of "You Go Girls, looking awesome, keep it up etc" to keep me motivated. I also tried to cheer on as many people as I could and thank the volunteers for being out there for us. Saw Susan and Carla as I neared the 4 mile mark. My plan was to run easy and smooth until I hit the 4 mile mark and then pick up the pace if I had anything left.

Mile 4 was 13.30, WOO HOO! Took another GU just before the 5 mile mark and before I knew it I had passed the 5 mile mark in 13.37. YES YES YES!!!! 1.2 miles to the finish. At this point I allowed myself to look at my watch. Double WOO HOO I knew that if I kept a steady pace despite the wind on the bike and choppy water I could still break 4 hours which was my goal all along. YEE HAW!!!!!!! Started to pick up the pace and before I knew it I could see a bridge up ahead, people around me were saying the finish line is 1/4 mile past the bridge. GO SPEED LEOPARD GO, I could hear the finish line announcer, there were tons of people lining both sides of the course with cow bells and noisemakers and homemade signs. I wasn't expecting this at all but I felt like a rock star running with all those people cheering. As soon as I exited the tunnel I was in the chute and I could see the finish, I turned on the jets and started sprinting. I saw the mass of yellow to my left and I could see our whole team cheering me on, it was awesome. As I ran the last 100yds I started to get a little choked up as I realized that I had survived the day, achieved my goal of finishing in under 4 hours and felt strong the whole race. Unfortunately I didn't get to see Kathleen handing out the medals but what an awesome treat for all that got their finisher medals from her :)
Run Time - 1:26.52
Run Rank - 3541

Final Time - 3:57.34
Final Rank - 3450

This was an amazing race, the crowds, the course, the energy was just invigorating and it absolutely made me understand why people do this triathlon year after year. I was thrilled to have broken 4 hours and feel really good about where I'm at going into the 1/2 IM in 2 months. What really made this an awesome race though was our team. Everytime I turned around I saw one of our group out there, WOO HOOing, having fun, smiling. It was incredible to do a race with so much support. I loved every minute I was with all of you, this was an absolutely incredible experience that I hope everyone on our board gets to experience.


On a personal and super cool note, I came in 3rd out of 4 in my Athena division and got a cool bronze medal that says Winner on it. I was also suprised to find out that the Team Clydesdale World Games were happening at the same time as the regular race and it turns out I set the World Record for Women under 29 and over 180lbs with my time (Beating out another lady who was also looking for the record). WOO HOO, Jayne also broke the previous record in her category so we both will get Trophies and $100 prize.

So that sums up the race, I'll post more about the experience and meeting everyone etc later but I wanted to try to get the race report done while it was fresh in my mind. I went into Chicago with a lot of nervous energy and doubt about how well I'd do and how this race would translate into my 1/2 IM in a few months and I am really happy with the outcome and how good I felt after the race. Can't wait for next year!

Train Hard, Race Fast, Be Safe!
Bonnie

Danskin Seattle 8/2004

August 15, 2004
Seattle, WA
.5m swim/12.5m bike/5k run

Some background first, I did the Seattle Danskin last year as my very first triathlon, it was incredible! I cried when I finished and so did DH. I finished weighing 280lbs after losing about 78lbs. Finish Time was 2:06.38

Fast forward to this year. I've now lost 132lbs and weigh 226. I have a road bike. I've done other sprint triathlons and a whole bunch of other running and biking events. My goal was to take 15-20min off my time from last year.

Friday:
Bush and Kerry are both in Portland today so we leave at about 12:45 to beat the highway closures for the motorcades. Stop for a quick bite and leaving Vancouver at 1:30pm, turns out Bush went from PDX to Seattle so after sitting in traffic for nearly 4 hours we get to our hotel in Bellevue.

***DISASTER STRIKES***

After checking in and enjoying a diet Roy Rogers at the free happy hour, I realize I am beginning to come down with a yeast infection, ugh! Wearing a damp trisuit all day on Sunday doesn't sound fun. Off to the store for water, medicine and to pick DH up after he biked to the path that he'll be riding on race morning. Stopped at DQ and enjoyed a small PB Cup Blizzard - YUMMY! Watched Opening Ceremonies, stayed up til Midnight but was super excited about the expo on Saturday.

Saturday:
Up at about 8am, delicious breakfast of french toast and banana. Got 2 bagels and pb & j packets for race morning, packed up my bike and headed to the race site. DH biked to the race site to double check his route. Infection felt like it was subsiding, got on my bike and practiced "killer hill" a few times. The hill isn't that bad in a low gear but it's narrow and at Danskin it's a cr*pshoot whether someone stops in front of you so I wanted to make sure I could unclip fast enough.

Met up with DH, headed to expo. Expo was a madhouse. Way too many people, way fewer booths, long lines, chaos abounds and outside so standing in the hot sun for most of it, ugh! Carol P and Tina came and I hung out with them while I waited to get my #, packet, bodymarked etc, found out I was in the WORST transition area.....

Tory - You were truly blessed to be in A, I was in H as far away as you could be from the Swim Finish, Bike Start and Run Start. Yuck!

Met up with Erickado, Prlgrl, Carol P, Tina at Mentor/Mentee booth, chatted cruised the expo a little and then DH and I took off to rack my bike. I mean sheesh if I have to have the suckiest area at least I can get a good rack spot.

WAS SUPER IMPRESSED WITH TANK TOPS THIS YEAR! Woo Hoo, Cool Max tanks that I can actually wear to exercise! Yahoo! Thanks to Ericka for letting me try hers on so I could determine what size to get. I'm wearing mine to spinning tonight :)

Racked my bike, got a good spot, talked to some newbies who were confused about what to do in transition and was happy I could help. Headed back to hotel. Packed up all my gear, doublechecked everything and then met Carol P and PrlGrl for dinner. Not as good as last year but the Chocolate Fondue was awesome as was the company so it was a great evening. Got back to the hotel just in time to watch the Olympics (cycling and swimming), shared some steak fries with DH and finally went to bed just before 11pm.

Raceday:
4:50am came all too soon, got up quietly, got dressed, mixed up my GU20, ate a banana, bagel w/pb&j and headed out. Carol P's friends live 3blks from the park so I parked there and walked to the transition zone. Glad I could do this! Thank you Carol P!!!!

Set up my zone, talked to some people, walked around, went down to the water for the swim start. Horn sounds and they're off. Last year it took the elites less than 8min to exit the swim, this year when my watch said 15min had passed and the first one wasn't out I knew we were in trouble. I happened to see Maggie (the VP Sports Marketing from Danskin) and asked her about the time difference, she said last year the swim was short and that she didn't know about this year but yes it did seem like it took a long time for the elites to finish.

Watched the Team Survivor wave go then walked back to BFE to drop my sweatshirt and sandals and carefully walk back to swim start. OUCH! All the gravel was hurting my feet. Saw Ericka just as her wave was about to start, wished her luck and then I went to the warm up area. Got my feet wet, talked to a few more newbies before I knew it I was on deck.

Swim:
Got into the water with the rest of the powder blue caps (it was warm and I was soooo happy about that), our secret word was Stupendous and we high fived Sally, counted down and then we were off. I have taken a cue from Puddy and worked on improving my swimming in the last few months. Also I'm swimming further as I am training for the Oly and 1/2 IM. I started in the front to the side and after making my way through the initial melee I found clear water and started to swim. I did freestyle the whole time except as I rounded the buoys which were very crowded. I felt really good about my swim but I knew something was wrong when I passed the first cap from 2 waves ahead of me before the first buoy. Hmmm okay that's odd, worked hard to avoid the breast and back strokers who were increasing the closer we get to the 2nd buoy. By this time, I'm passing swimmers from 5 and 6 waves ahead. Uh oh. Still feeling really good and swimming strong and fast. Had I not known how long it took the elites I would have exited this swim thinking that was easily a personal best swim time. Got to shore, look at watch and WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 29.11 WTF, saw Carol P and I'll I could say was "that swim was long" as I ran into to T1.

Swim Time: 29.11
Swim Rank: 1237

T1:
Into T1 and was super frustrated because I had all these time goals and this long swim has just made comparing this year to last year impossible in that department. Considering how far I had to go in T1 I was quick and off on my bike.

T1: 5.03

Bike:
Started on the bike and really hammered the first 2 miles til the killer hill, got in front of many more novice shaky cyclists who I thought may inadvertantly cause me to tip over while trying to unclip and powered up the hill. Saw DH on the side of the hill looking bewildered as to how long it'd taken me to get to said hill.

Got up killer hill, passed a ton of people as I literally flew down the hills :) Being big does have it's advantages. Made it to the turn focusing on keeping my speed high and HR low. Said good job and way to go a lot to women who looked like they were having a tough go of it. Back down killer hill and then into big ring to hammer back to T2. Bike was a bit short according to my computer it was 11.75.

Bike Time: 42.10
Bike Speed: 17.6 MPH
Bike Rank: 1033

T2:
Into T2 and then out again as I was really wanting to get to the finish since my time was messed up anyway. Came up with a new way of linking my race belt, GU and hat together so I'm not picking up multiple things :)

T2 Time: 2.44

Run:
By this time it's starting to get HOT and I am grateful for the water stations as I take 2 cups at each (one to drink, one down my back). 1st mile is 12.58, 2nd mile 13.31 so I'm a bit skeptical on how long the last mile was since it doesn't seem like it took me 16+ min to run 1.1 miles. Oh well. Shouted encouragement to a lot of women on the run, didn't wear headphones this year as I'm learning to run without them during races. Looked for DH at the corner before the final turn (he was here last year, crying as he saw me and I started crying, needless to say it was very emotional) but it was totally different this year so just kept running.

When I got to the edge of the chute I started sprinting as by then I really just wanted to be finished already. Crossed the finish line and there must have been 10,000 people there milling around.

Run Time: 42.55
Run Rank: 2673

Got some water, finishers medal, looked around for DH for like 15 min and decided I'd never find him in this crowd so I went to the transition zone and finally saw him there.
He'd been waiting by my section of the transition zone to watch me do T2 and he never saw me when I came in off the bike so he waited the whole time thinking something had happened on the bike and I was just super slow. What an awesome guy! He just waited and worried, hoping I was fine but figuring something was off since it took so long to get to the hill where I saw him earlier in the race.

I confirmed I was fine, finished and ready to head home so I packed up my gear and hopped on my bike and DH and I rode the 1 mile back to the car. He'd packed the hotel this morning before he left so we zipped home, got showered and the car loaded and then headed for PDX.

Watched Olympics and had some pizza for dinner last night after many minutes spent fretting over the swim and the aftermath it had on my times.

Final Time: 2:02.04
Class Rank: 215/337
Overall Rank: 1800/3426

Still disappointed that I didn't even cut 5 min off of last year's times and being an analyst I started doing some research:

2003 Swim - 18.45 Rank 2635
2004 Swim - 29.11 Rank 1237
Since we figure the swim in 03 was about 600yds and 04 was 1200 yds that's quite an improvement :)

2003 T1 - 6.14
2004 T1 - 5.03
Worse location for 04 so good improvement.

2003 Bike - 49.22 Rank 2713
2004 Bike - 42.10 Rank 1033
WOO HOO! 7.12 improvement

2003 T1 - 4.17
2004 T1 - 2.44
Again worse location for 04 so good improvement.

2003 Run - 47.59 Rank 3561
2004 Run - 42.55 Rank 2673
5.04 min improvement which really should have been better but I'll take it.

2003 Final Time: 2:06.38 Rank 3289
2004 Final Time: 2:02.04 Rank 1800
45% Improvement - WOO HOO!!!!

So even though I didn't technically beat my time. For an apples to apples comparison if I kept my times from this year and cut the swim time in 1/2 to simulate what I did last year my final finishing time would be 1:47.40 which is super close to my super secret goal of 1:45.

They say you can't go home again and I totally believe that to be true! The Danskin Triathlon is a fantastic race filled with memories and achievements for all involved but it wasn't the same for me this year.

The crowds, the mismeasured course and the increasing # of people who do absolutely no training and just show up on race day often put others at risk. There were tons of people who tipped over on the hills, and a couple of full on crashes. Yes this can happen at any race but it's worse at a race like Danskin because there are so many people new to the sport and already unsure on things like hills or for that matter swimming an extra 1/4 mile.

So all that being said, I love Danskin, I will always support their mission of getting women involved in triathlon and I thank God they are around because the path I am on is in large part due to finishing their race as my first ever.

Next year I think I'll be a swim angel and cheerleader for people on this board but I doubt I'll race at Danskin again unless my mom or sister decide to do it. I wanted to race this year to beat my time, the crowds and course pretty much prevented me from full on racing so I think Danskin isn't a good fit for me as long as I'm racing myself for time.

I still had an awesome time but it was tempered by a little bit of personal disappointment at not being able to meet my goals.

Train Hard, Race Fast, Be Safe!
Bonnie