Kona 2012- Bike and Run

The Bike

Managed to get my bike stuff together and basically stumble onto my bike. I was thinking "This is awful.. I can't believe I am feeling so bad so soon!" Instead of enjoying the fact that I was at Kona, I felt like I might not be able to finish. I told myself to just spin the out and back section and get myself together. I put my Garmin screen on 3 second average to save my ego a little bit, knowing there wouldn't be any sort of information I'd be happy to see.

This was definitely at the beginning. 

The main  issues were stomach pain, extreme thirst, and being disoriented. I chugged the two bottles of liquid on my bike and hoped it wouldn't be too long before the first aid station. There I grabbed and chugged two more full bottles. The whole ride I didn't absorb anything.. I ate and drank diligently for the first couple of hours and my stomach just got bigger and bigger.. I couldn't throw up and I looked like I was getting closer and closer to my due date. Actually, after the race my stomach skin was really sore from the quick stretching.

To be honest I don't remember much about the course.. I kindof missed the chance to look around.. just had to focus on moving forward. The other issue I didn't mention is that circumstances necessitated that I switch to a new (and different) saddle and adjusted position two days before the race. No one has to tell me how un ideal that is, but I truly didn't have a choice. SO ... in addition to everything else, my poor glutes, more emphasized in the adjusted position, basically fatigued out after about two hours so I had to sit up and spin.

So bottom line is that I felt pretty crummy.. but I still thought I could perhaps finish. There I was.. riding around sitting up into the forty mph winds, with useless glutes, a cranky attitude and a massive gut and unable to absorb any food or water. To put it in perspective, I drank at least 240 ounces and didn't pee the entire race.

I think in terms of a tough ride perspective, I can probably count on one hand the rides that compared to this one. One was the death ride in Cartersville this summer where I alternated crying, shivering with heat exhaustion chills, and hoping that I would see a H and an arrow pointing me a to a hospital on the route. The other one was Ironman St. George which was eerily similar to this one... I felt like crap, it lasted forever, and I fantasized about running off the road into an ambulance so I could have an excuse to rest. Finally, possibly one of the long rides I did going down Fulton Industrial Boulevard several weeks ago where I almost blacked out due to lack of oxygen (trying to get into Zone 3 during the month of bronchitis) So, my comfort was basically that, in some ways, I was quite prepared for this ride! Overall, the whole thing was Not exactly how I pictured it going several months ago, but things happen!

The Run

I was quite happy to get off my bike. I tried to put on a brave face for friends and family but I have to say it was tough. I just kept running over and over in my head.. how did I miscalculate so badly? My race 'plan' was to enjoy the experience as much as possible but it was really tough because I just hurt so much. The thought of walking the marathon hurt slightly more, thank goodness. Also, I thought if any of my friends at home actually stayed up late enough to track, they would totally be cursing me for literally making them stay up the whole night!

Still jogging through this was one of the hardest things I've done. You know the Bob Seebohar approach to metabolic efficiency.. "teaching your body to burn fat as fuel?" Well I skipped all the introductory, intermediate, and any sort of recommended steps and went whole hog straight to no food/no water during an Ironman! I was actually kindof amazed that I could jog.. I have practiced though.. I sure have had bricks where I failed to fuel and hydrate appropriately and have forced myself to complete the time regardless. This is definitely not recommended as an ongoing path to improvement, but I do believe that you have to know that you can run or jog in any circumstances. Practicing that is definitely, in my mind, the only way I got through this run.

So, as I said, I did manage to keep jogging. In the words of a friend doing a recent Ironman who may not wish to be quoted by name " I didn't walk, I just had to stop a lot!" The run was the much awaited return of the puking. Puking felt so much better and I was glad that I could entertain the spectators with a proper display of suffering befitting of the Hawaii Ironman. :) I pretty much alternated every other mile.. one mile I would hit the portojohn and the next I would take some time to hurl, then repeat.

I still was trying to at least drink, but still wasn't absorbing any fluids. In all this time, the whole route was amazing. I saw tons of family, friends and everyone was so supportive. I have to admit though, at times I wished for No spectators because it was really tough to put on a happy face.

So I slogged through with the described pattern till approximately mile 16, when I had to stop and hurl several times again. After I was done with that, though, I suddenly felt a tiny bit different and the twisting gut pain dissipate somewhat. At the next aid station, I took some more water and coke and suddenly felt as though it might stay down. It took a couple more miles after that, but around mile 18 I suddenly felt a little spark in my brain, like after these many hours it was finally getting a tiny hit of caffeine, fluid, and sugar.

And amazingly, I was able to pick it up. I had totally (and purposely) lost track of time at this point, the only thing I knew for sure is that it got dark early and I would finish well after dark.  Heading out to the energy lab, the sun was already on it's way down before six. I started doing math in my head just based on the sun and realized that if I booked it, like a lot, I might be able to finish before seven.

The body is an amazing thing. Somehow as soon as I was able to actually get the tiniest amount of food and water, it was like none of that abuse that came before mattered.  It was starting to get really dark as I headed into the Energy Lab, and I just kept running faster and faster.  Just a little sugar and water was all it took for my mood to change, too. I went from really down to totally engaged. On the way back out of the Energy Lab, they were handing out glowsticks and I kept refusing one. Nothing wrong with a glowstick, but I hadn't planned on taking one, so I didn't want it. When a man finally insisted I take one, I carried it for a minute then looped it around a cone.

I was finally having the time of my life.. running down Ali-i as fast as I could, in the pitch black, trying to beat the clock still.. just like the hundreds of people before me as well as the hundreds of people after. My wonderful parents came all the way out there to cheer me on again, and I kept asking them "what time is it" I was so focused on my new goal, the one I made, to be able to do this one aspect of the race like I had planned.



There is nothing like the last few miles of Ironman Hawaii. You can hear the voice from several miles away. And the downhill in the last six miles is sweet! I love running downhill and somehow I ran fast again. I haven't looked at my splits much but I did see that the last 1.2 miles were supposedly a 5:38 average. That seems a little suspect to me, but I don't think it was really that far off. While some people's vision of the ideal finish is doing goofy poses, or high fiving everyone on the sidelines, the only thing I want to do is run fast (and therefore practice for future fast finishes on the run :) ) It was so crowded and the lights were blinding. About half a mile out I saw Paul and Jim running along and yelling  (Impressive that Paul could still run after his own IM) After that it got too bright and crowded and I couldn't see anyone.. I knew John and his parents and everyone else were somewhere in the crowd though. I ran through and tried to do a really good jersey point, but I'm not sure if it really turned out.

Post Race

Lessons learned.. don't drink seawater.. and expected the unexpected as always.


There is no race like this one. Before going I brushed a lot of it away as hype and figured it wasn't everything  that everyone said. It isn't .........in fact, it is Way better. It isn't just the race itself, it's all the activity and the whole scene and history behind it that make it so amazing. I feel so blessed to have been a part of it.. and if anyone every asks I will say it is worth it to go whether it's to participate or spectate.

I should also mention that Bob Seebohar does not condone trying to better 'use fat for fuel' by going fuel-less during an Ironman :)

Surfing a couple of days after

Me and Macca

Awesome supportive cheering section :) 

View from our place

Kona 2012- Pre-race and Swim

Pre-race

The most amazing thing about this race was just absorbing the atmosphere and having such great support of friends and family. My incredibly supportive parents/John’s parents both made the trip and the Lincks were there, Giorgia and Giuseppe, and Klo. It was cool to have other people there who appreciated just how awesome the whole scene was. Way more fun than I thought and all I could say was, I have GOT to find a way to get back here!

Paradise!

Pre-race with the awesome fam

Do I still remember how to ride a bike?

Amazing support from my girls, too :) 

Loved everything about it from visiting the places we’d heard about, to the laid back atmosphere, to the underwear run, where Paul, John, and I made it to the website of Triathlon magazine.

On to the race preparation phase….

Race-wise I have to say I was feeling pretty apprehensive. Eight weeks out to about four weeks out, my training was extremely compromised due to a really intense viral infection where the symptoms included not being able to breath, and my ‘key’ training sessions included barely jogging, swimming with a pull buoy, spinning in zone 1 with frequent rests, and flogging myself for being such a weakling.  There were days when I managed to pick it up a bit, but then I would usually be forced to take consecutive even easier days after.  Four weeks out to two weeks out, my body was able to pick it up a bit on the bike and swim, but my running was all low mileage slogging. I tried to keep a good attitude but I’d be lying to say it wasn’t a little depressing to go to such a big event so unready to race . After awhile that disappointment lost the sting, and then I was just hoping to be healthy enough to to the line.. and make it to the finish.

So needless to say after all that, my expectations weren’t of any personal bests or great performances. My thought was that I would try to  enjoy myself and make it to the Finish!

The Swim

I was really apprehensive as it was about to start. I talked to this nice girl on the shore who didn’t speak good English but it was nice to share a little empathy. She said “ I am afraid” to me and it was nice to not have to feel like I was the only one feeling a bit overwhelmed. She indicated that she had done the race once before and I asked her the swim was and she said ‘it is war’ Something haunting about her accent and the way she said it .. I really just wanted to survive the swim.

Half the people were just standing on the shore in no hurry to get into the water, and the other half were dutifully warming up between the shore and the start. I kept standing there and finally I figured I would go find my place near the start. The water is strange in that it is actually kind of chilly near the shore and warmer farther out. I gradually began to wade out and was relieved that I felt like I was floating easily. Like I said, I had been having some respiratory difficulties and my greatest fear was that they would surface during the swim and make it impossible to keep swimming. I had been planning to move as far to the left as possible and I looked for this large multiperson giant canoe thingy so I could hang on and stay chillaxed before the start. It’s always the case for em that the course and route look so obvious from above but become disorienting as soon as you enter the water. I was asking one of the paddlers on the boat which way to go and she indicated that I would be pulled towards the other shore if I went far to the left as many swimmers were doing. I asked her advice and she pointed towards the middle .

Well she seemed like she knew what she was talking about so I was going to listen… I reluctantly went towards the middle and the back third of the pack. For some reason the cannon didn’t go off and so everyone just started going.  I was expecting 'a war' and was surprised that, at first, there wasn’t  much contact. I had seeded myself far enough back so there was really no one behind that wanted to pass (or clobber me), but not far enough up so that I was around swimmers worth drafting off of. At kona the swimmers are condensed.. they don’t spread out much like at other IMs and pretty much everyone is between 55 and 1:20 or so. So basically there is nowhere to go. Fine for me at first, like I said, I certainly was being cautious and felt like I was moving slow but no problems for the first few minutes. It was pretty choppy and of course made choppier by the mass of bodies so one thing I noticed is that I was swallowing some  amount of water. I really didn’t think much of it.. obviously I know that drinking seawater is not a good option for those lost at sea, but I’ve never had an issue with it before in my few ocean swims.

So there I am just cruising along.. trying to stay calm and not freak out at the masses.. I start to feel nauseous  after awhile.. no worries. I’ve just swallowed some air and need to burp. Happens all the time.  Anyways, I just start feeling more and more uncomfortable and strange.  I had to stop a couple of times, which I generally don’t do for obvious reasons. I finally make the turnaround and feel like I am moving in slow motion. Now I know my swim fitness was not the best going into the race, but despite my limited training  I  had certainly done enough to make it through a little IM swim! More time passed.. I stopped more.. I treaded water, I started puking up the saltwater, I got dizzy.. stopped puked again… I was starting to think I had been out there a long time. It was very strange.. I have never felt quite like that. I felt like I was hot and feverish and dizzy and like I must have been carrying bricks in my hands.. it was quite difficult to keep swimming. I was cursing what I thought must have obviously been extreme out-of-shape-ness and then I started fantasizing about a glass of plain water. That was what pretty much got me to the end.

I got out and started staggering around. Seriously.. it was so weird. Also, I wanted to cry.. I just felt so bad. 

I actually had to walk instead of jog through transition and I stopped at the aid station and drank several cups of plain water. I heard the announcer say.. “We’re 1:12 into the age group race” and I thought maybe I was hallucinating.. I thought there was no way I wasn’t in there for 90 minutes or more. 

We are in Kona, and I am not leaving....

Timeline of events so far in Kona...


1.En route-  I downloaded the wrong "as the crow flies" Instead of the biography of Craig Alexander, I read a fictional account of a wanna-be grocery store owner born in 1900. From selling fruit door-to-door to owning a grocery empire, I successfully got through all 800 pages despite battling through a complete lack of interest. What an achievement!

It actually wasn't a  bad book...

2. Caught up with friends and family. John's parents, my parents, Paul, Kim, etc. Much more fun to hang out in paradise than anywhere else.

Cookout on the first night..

3. Toured the sights, dig-me beach, where John accidentally told Chris Lieto "good luck" even though he knew he isn't racing Kona this year. Also, two trips to the coffee boat, where I managed only one head-on collision with another swimmer.

Coffee boat.. only have to swim half a mile out for this...

Random expo pic.. the expo goes on and on for blocks...

4. More hanging out with friends and family at our awesome digs one mile from the pier on Ali-i Drive. Bikes and runners go by at all hours of the day and night, and the waves literally come up to our doorstep.

The front gate of our house...

The backyard of our house...

5. Participating in the awesome 'underwear run' Some very interesting sights to see.  It was hard to take pics while running, so you'll just have to come see yourself. Our outfits below are painfully tame.

We're supposed to be flexing here... 

Looks like I have temporarily given up on even being able to feign a flex. Paul and John still got it...

6. Being dressed up going to lunch in bike shorts and a jersey. They matched and were relatively clean and new.. it might as well have been black tie

Here I'm actually REALLY dressed up in a tank top

7. Buying the sweetest kit I've ever seen from Zoot and the coolest t-shirt I've ever seen, too

The bike jersey top is even better... can't wait to wear it!

8. Meeting Christy and getting a sweet pic of us with me and my Energy Lab t-shirt!

This basically counts as an endorsement, right? (Note: we did  not tell her "good luck")

9. Planning ambitious events post race, that sound like a great idea right now. They include surfing, SUP-ing, windsurfing, and mountain biking down a volcano. Also, frantically planning how we can come back again whether I race or not! As I told John, "This is a great place for an annual vacation.. heck.. bi-annual".. and "These are my people! I want to stay here!" etc. etc.

10. More to come soon! Tonight is the banquet, and tomorrow I am planning to be mostly boring and lazy, minus a trip to buy the ten things I forgot.

Kona Training Update #1!!!

Just kidding! Ten weeks or so ago, my intention was to blog my training successes and failures en route to Kona. In my mind, the posts would follow the formula, success, minor setback, and more success! See below:

Had an awesome killer bike session! Had five minute, twenty minute, and three hour personal bests this weekend ....again! It was hot.. but then I set some sort of record on my brick run as well! Awesome! (Success, fake setback, more success)

That scenario actually did happen, once,  in early August... aka my first  official week of training. (minus the again) I didn't get around to blogging that week and then, unfortunately, not much happened that fit into my proposed  formula after that. The weeks after that, I hardly wanted to blog "Got sick for a month and couldn't manage to swim more than 50 yards without pulling for two weeks!" It's really not good blog material and no one wants to hear anyone whine about something someone chooses to do that is really, when it comes down to it, a luxury.

Finally got a pic with my way-cooler-than -me Bike!

The other issue was the lack of thinking about the race. The brain likes to be active at all times. For some of us that tend towards rumination, we have the gift of focus. Focus can be called different things... the words "focus, drive, and determination" connote positive images. The more negative descriptions are obsessive and worrying.





Well my focus has been elsewhere...my brain has been busy with other pursuits. Never in my life have I had less 'space' than I do now. Lack of space meaning lack of sleep, time, and energy for any activity not directly related to working and other 'work' projects. This is not necessarily a bad thing. MOST of the things on the plate are positive and things that will grow into something fulfilling and rewarding. But that also means that for the first time since I've been pursuing triathlon, I've been 'not' obsessed with it 24/7. While this can hardly be considered a bad thing, it does make me a little nervous going into the race.

Gettin' it in at Energy Lab

Here I am, I have managed to qualify for the biggest amateur event of our sport, but do I really deserve to be there? Sure I have put in the time, even when I couldn't breathe correctly for weeks, only got four hours of sleep, or was at my absolute wits end, but the nobility of that (often futile-seeming) effort doesn't mean that it constituted 'quality training'

Awesome shirt, courtesy of my #1 supporter :)

So all that said, my expectations are minimal performance-wise. Fun-wise, I am turning the screws here. Big pressure :) I really just want to try to take a real break and enjoy the time. I'm very thankful to have qualified, and I'm very thankful to have so much great support from friends and family. My number # goal is to get some experience, enjoy the ride, and be happy with whatever the day brings. Also, I don't want to finish so late that my friends in Atlanta get too tired to stay up :)

EDIT: I also want to think of something cool to do at the finish line.. I have tested my back and shoulder flexibility and everything is definitely too tight for any gymnastics... unless I can suddenly revive my back layout...

Sadie and her 'Official  Mascot' shirt

Go ATC and now Energy Lab, too :) I'm really looking forward to enjoying the time in Hawaii and all the exciting things to come after with Energy Lab, John's first marathon in December, and Ironman Texas in 2013... and beyond!

Here's a cool interview on mind and others Kona training from Beginner Triathlete, the website that originally was the answer to my endless questions at the start of my affair with triathlon in 2009. http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=2519