Ironman Camp Wrap-up

There's so much to say to wrap up this awesome weekend but let me start with this:

THANK YOU MULTISPORTS TEAM!!!!!!!

Everyone working with you was wonderful, encouraging, friendly and so down to earth it was great to spend a weekend with you all.

Triathletes are so awesome and camp was a reflection of that. Of the 46 people at camp we had doctors, lawyers, moms, business people, older, younger, experienced and newbies and it was so fun to get to spend 3 days interacting with everyone.

To the ladies in my bike and running group - Thank you for being so fun and full of energy and enthusiasm. I loved getting to know you all and sharing our nervousness/excitement about what's to come. Becoming an Ironman with all of you is going to be awesome and I just know we'll all do great come race day.

Issac from Vertical Earth - You rock! I had a blast riding with you :) Thanks for all the tips on descending.

Steve Katai - Looking forward to reading your book. Thanks for continuing to spread the word about the sport. That's awesome.

Roch/Paul - You guys are amazing! I came into camp anxious about my training and how I was doing and you were both so wonderful and encouraging. I feel so much more at ease going into this next month. Thank you!

Driving home last night I was filled with a sense of appreciation and wonder as I crossed the Columbia River Gorge with the sun glistening off the water and a snowy Mt Hood in the back ground. It's amazing that I get to do the Ironman. I'm so lucky and blessed to be able to get out there and soak up all of these experiences and see beautiful places and meet truly awesome people.

One of my favorite songs from the Disney movie Brother Bear says it best:

"Tell everybody I'm on my way, new friends and new places to see. With blue skies ahead yes I'm on my way and there's nowhere else that I'd rather be. Tell everybody I'm on my way and I'm loving every step I take. With the sun beating down yes I'm on my way and I can't keep this smile off my face."

I can't wait for June 24!

Ironman Camp Day 3

Today was an awesome day. I'm going to devote another post to the people and extra activities of camp but the focus of today was the run.

After a quick breakfast of bagels and bananas we headed out for the run course. We stood on the hill overlooking the beach and it was amazing to think we'll be there ready to swim 8 weeks from today.

Everyone had 2 hours to run so we headed out from the Run Out area and onto the course. There were about 6 of us running between an 11 and 12 minute mile pace so I stuck with that group. We ran along the short out and back and then headed up Northwest Blvd and started on the neighborhood section. The course basically winds through the lakefront neighborhoods with a nice downhill on the out part of the course and then once you get to the Centennial Trail we just headed along the lake on that. The course goes about 3 miles up the lake before turning around 1/2 way up a hill. Most of my group stopped at water stop to turn around but I kept on for another .5 mile or so before finally having to turn around :(

Ran back along the course and up that nice downhill from the beginning of the course then back down NW Blvd. Paul was watching for those of us at the end of the group and people were running down Sherman. That's a big no dice for me. I think Paul thought it was funny that I was that superstitious but the only time I want to run down Sherman is when I'm running across that finish line.

Headed back to the starting point and then did another mile section before stopping.

Tough to tell exactly but my running group did 10.6 so I'm estimating with the little extra I ran towards the turnaround and the little extra they ran at the end I probably did about 10.5

WOO HOO!!!! 12 minute miles on the Ironman course. Did my 4/1 run walk strategy and it was working great. Took GU20 in my fuel belt and sang songs in my head to keep me occupied since we were strongly encouraged by Paula to lose the headphones at this point in our training for the run.

After our run we headed back to the hotel for an awesome breakfast. My group (Joanna, Amanda, Zoe and Celeste) toasted our upcoming race and traded stories before zipping off to shower and then head back for the final talk of the day.

Paula talked to us about mental training and it was by far the best of all the talks during camp.

Key Takeaways:

1. Why are you are doing the Ironman?

Everyone has a story, a reason, a driver behind their pursuit of this crazy goal. It's crucial in the days and weeks ahead that each of us know deep down why we're doing it.

2. Manage Your Expectations!

The fewer expectations you put on yourself the better day you'll have. We have tons of pressure in our lives already, the last thing we need is to blow up because we're not going X pace or finishing in X time. Do your best and be prepared for anything.

3. Focus on the things you can control.

There's a lot you can't control on race day. Weather, your competition etc. Plan and focus your energy on things in your control like your nutrition, gear etc.

4. Stay Present!!!!!

The most important tip. Don't think ahead to how stressed you are about the run when you're biking. Focus on what you're doing right then. Stay within yourself.

After Paula's talk (which was awesome!!!), the whole crew came out and we all got prizes, schwag and some great photo ops.... picture of Michael Lovato in an amazingly funny Speedo coming soon :)

Watches, t-shirts, hats, GU, helmets, wetsuits and tons of other energy products. OMG it was awesome!!!!

Took some pictures, packed the room and raced to CDA for my massage. Loved getting the kinks out before heading out for the long drive home.

Gotta eat some dinner and do laundry so I'll post my wrap-up tomorrow but I had an AMAZING time at camp. It was fun, informative, I made tons of friends, got a great training weekend in on the course, tons of fun schwag and a good confidence builder heading into my final 5 weeks of key training.

If you're doing an Ironman, run don't walk to your local Multisports.com camp. Their whole team was so wonderful.

More tomorrow.

Ironman Camp Day 2

Before I cover all the days details I've got to give a little background. Before signing up for IM CDA last June I came up to watch my friend Carole do her first IM and ride and swim on the course.

Going into the ride last year I was in 1/2 Ironman shape and I rode 1 - 56 mile loop in 3:33 feeling pretty good so for me this weekend was really all about today's ride because they had changed the bike course over the winter.

Got all showered last night and headed to bed about 11pm. Slept really well and got up around 5:50am for the long day ahead :)

Got sunscreened, dressed, filled my bottles and ate a banana before heading to the group breakfast. Unfortunately the restaurant wasn't prepared for 40 triathletes so it took a little while to get us all fed. I had my usual bagel with PB & J and a few sips of coffee and water.

My awesome group headed out at 7:15am with Issac our ride leader from the local bike shop Vertical Earth.

We started by riding nearly 10 miles into CDA on the Centennial Trail (which is GOREGEOUS!!!). Once we arrived at City Park I took note of our time and away we went for our IM Course loop.

We went pretty slow through town pointing out various landmarks to our group members from out of town, once across Sherman I totally spaced the course and since I was riding at the front of the group I ended up going about 2 miles off course. Steve Katai (who you might remember as the winner of the Everyman to Ironman contest a few years ago) was riding with our group so he came and redirected me. We rode together for a while out towards Higgens Point until we got to the climb where we came upon the slowest rider in our group who had dropped back. Steve hung back with him and I continued up the climb to catch the rest of the group. Not much has changed on this section although I felt really good and was keeping my cadence high. Turned around at the point and headed back to town for the new part of the course.

Once back in town we headed up Northwest Blvd through the residential area onto Government Way. This was a good relatively flat, fast part of the course and will be great for spectating. After heading past all the businesses on Government Way we turned on Kathleen and again great road surfact, pretty easy spinning and mostly residential.

It wasn't too long before we start heading up the mountains. I won't really recall all the roads but we started up the hills and OMG these are some hills.

This course is so breathtakingly beautiful. We were riding through pine forests with Hayden Lake on our right and the most spectacular views. The first 2 climbs were medium length and steady with super fast technical descents including hard rights where I definitely had to get out of the aerobars to avoid crashing. EEEEKKKORAMA!!!!!!

I was riding at the front of our group 95% of the time except on the steepest climbs where most would catch me and then I'd pass them on the descents. I seriously cannot say enough about the views and the scenery. It was too die for. Almost made the hills worth it.

Notice I said *almost*.

To Be Continued (Nap-o-rama time is over and I need to get back to Camp)

I wasn't paying close enough attention for turn by turn detail but I can tell you a few key observations I had:

There are a lot of hills. Not rollers but hills. For the middle 20 miles it's all up and down, up and down. None of the hills were worse than anything I train on at home but there were a lot more of them (18 in all).

Descending and cornering is key here. I'm not a fast climber, in fact I was the slowest climber in my group but weight is a benefit to me on the descents and I flew down them. Issac, our ride leader who's 6'6 and I rode down the hills together and I was able to keep up with him for the most part :) I lost a good amount of speed braking into the corners and not gearing well enough from the bottom of the hills so I can definitely improve on that.

Pacing yourself up each hill will be invaluable. 75% of the hills are straight so you climb to the top and as you descend you can see the long hill that starts at the bottom. Using the speed you build up on the descent and again gearing properly will help save time and effort.

The hills ended around mile 40 and we headed back down a relatively flat fast stretch near the high school and then before you knew it I was back on Government Way headed for the home stretch.

My legs overall felt pretty good and I could probably have done a 2nd loop (if forced) albeit a lot slower.

56 miles
3:44
15 MPH Average Speed
41 MPH Max Speed

After finishing the loop we headed back to the trail and to a 25 minute transition run. My legs felt good but dang it was a lot hotter than the rest of the day.

I have to say even though this course is tougher, it's so beautiful and peaceful and challenging that it will be awesome to say I finished IM CDA.

After a shower and some lunch with Paul and Michael Lovato (both so super nice!), I checked in on my message boards and tried out some of the cool new Newton Running shoes.

Tapering and swimming discussion followed while people chowed down on bars, Gatorade and generally relaxed after a tough day.

Triathletes are just such cool people that it's so fun to be here with everyone, make friends, swap stories and mingle with such a wealth of knowledge of this great sport.

After a busy day I'm feeling good. I was right where I wanted to be today, my nutrition was dialed in, I ate and drank well and I felt like I could have at least started on a 2nd loop. Mastering the gearing and the descending will help me immensely over the next 5 weeks of training and I'm looking forward to heading out here Memorial Day weekend to give the course another look.

So now I'm off to get my run stuff prepared and a few things packed for tomorrow. I'll have to summarize Day 3 in a short post before I hit the road so I'll end tonight by saying Ironman Camp is awesome. I'm having a blast, learning a lot and most importantly feeling confident about where I am and where I need to be.

8 weeks from tomorrow, I'll be in the water of Lake Coeur d'Alene :)

Ironman Camp Day 1

I'm in triathlete heaven :)

As a major information junkie it turns out I'm extremely well informed and in many ways more prepared than at least 20% of the people here which totally blew me away.

Headed into CDA this morning for Starbucks and to buy a box of Uncrustables then got registered. Totally fun schwag including an Ironman bag, Multisports Visor, T-Shirt, water bottle, GU and various other things.

Lots of talent coaching the camp too. Heather Fuhr, Paul Huddle, Roch Frey, Paula Newby Fraser, Michael Lovato, Steve Katai, Jimmie Ricitello and a few others.

We introduced ourselves, and then broke into 2 groups for the swim.

I was in group 2 so we hug out for awhile before getting into our biking clothes and heading out to ride the 9 miles to the pool. It was so interesting to see what types of bikes were here and what kind of gear everyone had.

I made friends with several girls right away who were doing their first Ironman and so we rode together. There was a major headwind on the trail heading out and we were asked not to ride in our aerobars which basically made me like a windsock. I rode pretty close to the back of the group but felt pretty good in spite of the wind.

Got to the pool and changed into our swim gear. We all had caps with our names on it which was nice cause it helped me to learn peoples names. Got into the pool and divided into lanes based on our projected IM swim time. I got into the slowest lane but wasn't the slowest - WOO HOO!!!

We tried out these cool pace things that you put in your swim cap and they beep at you and you stroke off the beeps. I totally loved it! Will definitely be buying one. Did an easy warm up then a bunch of 50s to set our pace timers and see ourselves in the lane. I felt great and the interesting thing for me was that while I'm not fast I am completely consistent. I caught up to the person in front of me easily and just relaxed and sat on her feet. The first part of the workout helped me work on drafting which I am not that good at.

Started swimming sets of 400 then 4x100 intervals then 400 etc. Our lane did a few less yards then the first lane cause we were slower but all told I ended up with just under 3000 yards and felt great the whole time. Came out of the water, showered and got back on our bikes.

Headwind turned to a tailwind and negative split the way back.

After getting back into our street clothes, we spent the next few hours talking about nutrition, pre-race, during, after. What types of nutrition plans we were using (if we had one - a lot of people don't)? How many calories can we absorb per hour? Troubleshooting in the case of yarping and other GI issues.

Lots of fun and then we had a good dinner and got assigned into our biking groups for tomorrow. I'm in the first group but I suspect I'll either have a very relaxed ride with my group or decide to move up to the 2nd group since we are grouped into 6 groups based again on projected IM time. I projected between a 7 and 7.5 hour split so I'm in the 7.5 hour group. Based on today's ride we'll see but I think a lot of people seeded themselves agressively.

I'm having a ton of fun and getting to share information, experience and make new friends who are just as excited, nervous and crazy about Ironman as me.

Off to mix my bottles and get some sleep before a busy day tomorrow.

I'm sooooooo excited to finally see the new bike course. We're doing a 5 hour ride so they're expecting our group to do about 75 miles and at least one complete loop with some of the extra hills which I'm hoping we do.

More from camp tomorrow :)

Twas the night before Ironman Camp...

... and all through the hotel not a triathlete was stirring not even Roch or Paul :)

Got to Post Falls, ID (about 10 min from Coeur d'Alene) for Ironman Camp today and can hardly believe the weekend has finally arrived.

Coming into camp I definitely have a lot of conflicted emotions. On the one hand I'm sooooo totally excited. I *GET* to spend the entire weekend swimming, biking and running alongside the best of the best in the very place where I will be toeing the line 8 weeks from Sunday. On the other hand there are those old demons that whisper "you're going to be the slowest person at camp, the fattest, etc etc".

Ironically I think my journey towards the starting line of the Ironman has made me care less about those whispers. Part of the reason I did the Danskin as my first triathlon was because I was guarenteed not to be the final finisher. There's no such guarentee at Ironman. In fact being the final finisher is celebrated at Ironman and the closer I get to lining up for the big day the less I care about what other people think.

When I look into the mirror I still see the fat girl. I see the girl that shouldn't be wearing spandex and even thinking about a crazy thing like Ironman nevermind actually training for it. But I'm here. It's like part of the Ironman journey for me is facing those demons and kicking their ass because I deserve to be on the starting line as much as the next person.

The more I train the more I realize that becoming an Ironman really is about the journey and not about the destination. It's about finding yourself and facing challenges. When I'm riding my bike in pouring rain or running towards the back of the pack I'm not thinking about whether I'm going to be the slowest or the fattest. I'm thinking about what I need to do to finish that workout and get to the next one.

Tomorrow I am not the fat girl or the slow girl.

Tomorrow I'm just an athlete on an adventure.

Bring it on :)

Today, I put some hay in the barn

With Ironman just 8 weeks away, a friend of mine on BeginnerTriathlete.com said every workout he did between now and race day was putting hay in the barn that he could draw from during the race.

I love the analogy and it served me well today when I put my own hay in the barn.

After spending the week at altitude in Denver I came home to a surprising weigh in yesterday (down 3.4), an excellent evening with my husband and a good night of sleep so when I woke up to the sound of raindrops I was like "well it could be worse".

My plan today called for a 4 hour bike ride followed by a 30 minute transition run but I planned to go longer because with Ironman camp next week I really wanted to get closer to 5 hours done today.

I headed out into the rain wearing tri shorts, leggings, sleeveless jersey (on the off chance it got sunny), long sleeved jersey, rain jacket, beanie, socks and double gloves. In preparation for the hills in Coeur d'Alene I've been riding from my house out to Hagg Lake and then looping around the lake which is approx 1400 ft of climbing and then back. Today my goal was out, 2 loops around the lake and then back.

It was only misty with wet roads and I was doing ok until I got to the lake when the rain started getting worse. There were puddles everywhere and my legs and feet were soaked. I focused on drinking and eating since the weather wasn't conducive to either of those things and I knew I couldn't fall down on nutrition. By the time I finished around the lake for my first loop I knew I was in trouble because I couldn't feel my toes at all. I stopped for a water bottle refresh at this Fishing Shop outside of the park and the owner was so nice.

Dried my glasses and socks with paper towels and tried to soak up as much moisture as possible. Refilled my bottles, ate my Uncrustables (portable PB&J) and then bought a package of Turkey Jerky and ate a few pieces before hitting the portolet and heading back into the rain.

As I rode I just kept thinking about all the hay I was putting into my barn :) Finished the 2nd loop just 4 minutes slower than the first one and headed back towards home. I've heard a lot of people say that during the race when you hit a low you should ask yourself "what do I need?" and then take care of whatever the answer was. So as I'm riding into the wind, soaked to the bone with 20 miles to go til home I figured out that I needed to eat my chocolate covered cinnamon bears. So when I found a covered bus shelter I pulled into, got off my bike and ate my bears.

If you have never had a chocolate covered cinnamon bear RUN don't walk to Sweet's Candy. Preston's parents brought us some at Christmas and I was hooked, little did I know the company is in Utah and local stores only carry the sinful bears during the holidays. Hooray, Internet shopping!

Back on my bike after my bear break and I started thinking of checkpoints that I'd come to along the route home. First get to Hillsboro. Check. Then to the intersection where you get onto the road that takes you home. Check. You get the idea. Unfortunately as I pedaled along trying to stay aero so I wasn't like a giant windsock I really started to have to pee. With about 10 miles to go and nowhere easy to stop I was faced with a dilemma. Do I hold it and be miserable for the next 30-40 minutes or do I just go?

Since I was already soaked and my clothes and bike were going to get washed anyway (and I'm planning on doing this come race day) I decided just to go. The wild thing is not only did I feel better but it totally warmed up my leg and foot - an unexpected benefit.

Made it home and immediately hosed down my shoes and my bike, then took the hose to myself before making a beeline to the shower in my clothes so I could wash them off first before I put them in the laundry.

All told it was a great ride, my nutrition plan worked great and my legs felt awesome!

4:56.31
77.11 miles
15.6 MPH

Altitude Sucks!

Just a quick message to share my thoughts on altitude. I am not a fan!

Spending the week here in Denver on business and finding getting my workouts done is tough. Way tougher than I expected. I've managed to workout every day but at a much slower pace than normal to keep my heart rate in check. I'm so glad I'm headed home tomorrow for some fun biking in the rain. WOO HOO!!!!!! At least we're at sea level.

Race for the Roses Half Marathon 4/2007

April 15, 2007
Portland, OR
13.1m Run

Let me start with some background.

I'm currently training for Ironman Coeur d'Alene which is coming up in June. I've been logging miles according to my training plan since January and last week my plan called for a 2.5 hour run so I decided it was a good opportunity to run an organized race.

Pre-Race - Stayed out late with friends on Friday night after a busy week of work and training. Slept in Saturday morning and then immediately got started on my day. Now normally I'd not recount an entire day to you but indulge me because it cracks me up that I did so much on a day before running 13.1 miles.

Got dressed, ate a banana and some yogurt and went out for a 30 minute (2.5 mile run). Grabbed my stuff and headed out for a bunch of errands. Dropped some stuff at Goodwill, got my car's key fob reprogrammed at the dealership, had a Jamba Juice smoothie, went to the cycling shop to pick up GU20 and new cycling shoes, headed across town to pick up my race packet and got a NF latte and 1/2 a low fat muffin. Then back across town to buy some running socks at the running store and hit the pool. Swam 3000 yards (1.7 miles) then went grocery shopping and headed home.

Whew, long day but wait there's more :)

Had a quick dinner and then went to see the Portland Trailblazers basketball game. The Blazers won and we headed home where I got my gear ready for the early AM wake up the next day.

Race Day
Woke up at 5am, got dressed, checked the weather (no rain and low 50s), ate a PB & J and headed to the train station.

Took the train to the convention center and then walked around, got my fuel belt on, ate a banana, took some Tylenol and stretched.

While I'm doing this I'm thinking about Arizona. Why are you thinking about Arizona, you ask? Well today is Ironman Arizona and my friend Katherine (Tink short for Tinkerbell57) was racing it and it was her first Ironman. So while I'm standing on the starting line waiting to go for what I consider a pretty short run these days, my friend Tink is in the water getting ready to the Ironman. GOOOOOO TINK!!!!!!!

They start the countdown and I start my interval timer and get a little choked up because in 9 weeks I'll be in the water waiting to start my Ironman, I can't imagine how that feel but I was so excited and nervous for Tink. WOO HOO - I sent her some positive thoughts and then crossed the timing mat to start my run.

Since this was a training run my plan was very easy. I set my watch for 4/1 intervals so I would run 4 minutes and walk 1 min for the whole race. I also decided that since this was a training run and I tend to obsess over mile splits that I wouldn't take splits. I'd just follow my plan.

I was running in shorts, sports bra and tank top with a long sleeved running top over the top. My fuel belt was filled with GU20 (about 150 total) and my plan was to drink water at the aid stations, sip my GU20 and take a GU at mile 4,8, 12 and then some yummy Sport Beans at mile 10.

This will be a short race report because I worked my plan. Ran when I was supposed to, walked when I was supposed to and then a few times at aid stations to fill a bottle with water or suck down a GU. My legs felt great, there were actually people cheering and everyone was having fun!

The course had a long steady climb from mile 2-4 then a few more rollers at mile 7-8 and then for the most part it was flat. I took off the long sleeved top at mile 8 and just kept on running. At mile 12 I went to take my last GU and started getting tummy issues. Weird! I've never had problems before but I actually think I took in too many calories. Apparently I need to stick to about 200-250 for the run even though I do 300-350 on the bike. Okay, that's cool. Walked an extra minute to let my stomach settle and then picked up the pace a bit to crest the final hill and run it into the finish.

Finish Time - 2:35.45

That's an 11:53 minute mile average. Holy mackeral!!!! Legs felt great so I stretched, got a bottle of water and headed to the train to check in on Tink. Got some breakfast and did some more errands then spent the rest of the day tracking her progress on Ironmanlive.com

WOO HOO - She finished with 10 minutes to spare in spite of 30 MPH winds on the bike. Way to go Tink!!!!

I'm in my favorite paper!!!!

Many of you who know me well, know that I've been on the road a lot over the years. One of the highlights of travel for me is getting USA Today every morning at my hotel. So imagine my excitement when I was selected to appear in that very paper. WOO HOO!!!!

USA Today is doing a series on people who've lost weight and kept it off. My story is in the Life section (the purple one) today (Monday April 2, 2007) and can also be found online at the links below:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2007-04-01-wlc-crawford_N.htm

There are additional photos after the 3rd paragraph including one very scary before picture.

This link shows my profile complete with exercise schedule and before and after photos etc

http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/07_wlc/weight_loss_profiles/flash.htm

As you might imagine I'm pretty excited about the whole thing.