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Chronicles of a fish: the days of surf and turf
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Wow. Okay....here we go....Bone Island TriathlonHalf Iron Distance
Key West, Florida
Saturday, January 25th, 2014
For those of you who might have wandered into my log by accident, you may not realize that this is my very first half iron distance triathlon. In fact, I've only ever done two other triathlons that weren't relays, and both were sprint distances. Add to that the fact that I hadn't been in a pool for over three months, had only started training on the bike in November, and hadn't done a training run longer than 12 miles since DCM, this made for an interesting adventure....but an adventure I really wanted to go on to prepare myself for Eagleman in June by understanding how the body would react, and to learn what I need to do to get through Eagleman in the best shape and position as possible. Did I accomplish that goal? Absolutely.
Pre-race odds and ends:
Even though I had been on the island since the Saturday before the race, I did not really allow myself to think too much about it until the Thursday prior for two reasons - 1) I kept pretty busy with the half marathon, shopping, snorkeling, eating, and swimming..and 2) to safely keep my anxieties at bay due to my inability to visualize and fathom the mechanics and all the working parts that go into an event such as this. But come Thursday, it was time to get my head in the game.
Thursday consisted of the following: race check-in, meeting Peter from County Cork and his sidekick Gilbert (both live on the island and became my chauffeurs and hilarious pals for the next few days), bike pickup, and a really solid night's sleep. All good.
Friday consisted of the following: race briefing, checking out the swim course, eating an eyebrow raising quantity of pizza and gelato at Duetto's, dropping off my bike at transition, organizing my gear, and getting a so-so night's sleep. All still good.
Race Day:
The alarm went off at the ungodly time of 3:45 in the morning, but I hit the snooze button a few times to squeeze out as many additional ZZZs as possible until I finally got my rear in gear at a much more respectable and closer to daybreak hour of 4 o'clock. :rolleyes: Breakfast was my usual fare of Honey Nut Cheerios, milk, oj and banana. I headed out of the hotel at 5 as we were told to be there between 5:15 and 5:45 due to body marking, setup, and the mile long walk to the beach for the swim start. It was dark when I arrived at transition, all but for the display of dancing light beams coming from the head lamps of athletes putting their finishing touches on their Ferraris and Lamborhginis in the black of morning. The place was abuzz with energy, and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. My two new friends (who were doing the full) were particularly animated - Peter chatting constantly with nervous energy and dropping the f-bomb frequently (good morning!!!), and Gilbert with his near suitcase full of gear he was laying out, complete with a container of snuff to dip into during the event. !!!! OMFG....a Skoal dipping ironman! He might as well take a smoke break while he's at it out there!l But enough of the laughs, time was near, and the adventure was getting ready to begin!
The swim:
The sun was just coming up over the water as we strolled the one mile to the swim start, and it was an absolutely, positively gorgeous view to be taking in before such an endeavor. Quite calming to the nerves, actually. When I stepped onto the beach, I was struck by the contrasting images and tones of skin, lycra, neoprene, and colorful swim caps that filled the aqua-green ocean and cool-blue sky canvas, and it seemed that the artist used every inch of available space by filling the gaps with appropriately loud music. The scene was thick with everything triathlon. And it made me smile.
But by now it was time to wade on into the water, and perfectly timed it was for Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose was giving it up for me and my wave with his best rendition of Welcome to the Jungle to get us ladies in purple caps into the right frame of mind for the task at hand. After a few waves and kisses to the cameraman who was trying his best for us to give his lens some love, we were given the 1 minute warning, then 30 seconds...then ready, set, go!! We were off with the sound of the hooter. It was go time, baby!!
Job number one was to get out of the madness of my wave and get into clearer water, which I did. Our path was to head out to sea at a right-diagonal for about .3 miles, then turn right for about .5 miles swimming parallel to the beach, then turn another right-diagonal back into shore for the final .4 miles. In reality, that first .3 miles was not at a diagonal at all, rather it was perpendicular to shore, and I was immediately struck with how choppy the water was. :eek: So choppy, in fact, that I quite literally thought I was going to be sick.
I have never in my life felt sea sick while swimming, but there is no doubt this is what I was feeling. I also took on a fair amount of salt water during this time, but I rationalized that this extra sodium may come in handy later in the day.
The first two buoys heading out to sea were nice big orange ones, so visibility even in the waves was not an issue....and I kept telling myself that once I turn right I'll be out of the chop and life will be grand once more. Ah, but wouldn't life be grand if things were that simple? To my disappointment, the chop continued, and even worse, the buoys got smaller, forcing me to stop every now and again to try and find the small, green, distant, elusive buoys. Ugh. But on a good note, there wasn't the melee there usually is in the lake swim section of our local triathlon. Happy days!!?? It was during this back section that I got into a rhythm (when I wasn't looking for the tiny, green buoys), and to my sincere delight, I noticed I could see the bottom of the ocean - I could see plant and animal life consisting mainly of sea grass, sponges of all sizes and shapes, random bits of coral, and some pretty cool fish.
There was a bit of confusion when/where we had to turn right back into shore towards the very long pier we were to climb up to. In my opinion, the turn should have been marked with a big orange bouy, but instead it was just a small green one, and you had to look for the pier off in the distance with a yellow buoy marking its location, and there was some starting and stopping here to get my bearings. Once we reached the pier, we had to swim under it from the far side, then skip up a set of metal stairs where the fanny peelers awaited our arrival.
I shimmied my wet suit to my waist...I was told to lay down and put my feet up....then swoosh! The suit was off in one yank. Way cool! Transition was a bit of a jog away, and if I am totally honest I did not push it, but rather I just trotted it to my bike where the Mad One was itching to get going.
T1:
I was already stripped down, so this transition was just about putting on my cycling shorts (no way would my bum survive 56 miles with just a thin little chamois), top, socks, shoes, glasses, and helmet. Oh, and I had some tea.
The bike:
Ohhhh, the bike. My dear sweet bike..don't fail me now!!! I headed out of transition at the same time another gal did, so I followed her out of town along the waterfront (there was appropriate space between us, she was just going at a nice clip, and I wanted some company) and onto the only way in and out of the Keys, Route 1. You folks probably don't know about Route 1. Route 1 is a major (key word, major) highway that runs the entire east coast from Maine to the Keys. It's busy. It's nasty. It's unforgiving. It sucks. But when you hold a triathlon on an island that is basically 2 miles by 4 miles, you don't have much choice other than to use the only major artery available to squeeze out the necessary bike mileage. Unfortunately, the only major artery not only is busy/nasty/unforgiving, but it is also littered with debris, lined with uneven pavement, undergoing construction, includes multiple bridges, and provides a thoroughfare for lots of trucks and bike-hating drivers. In other words, this was one dangerous bike ride. I saw an ambulance speed by at one point, picking up the cyclist who broke his collarbone after being bumped by a vehicle. Good god, what had I gotten myself into??
But that thought quickly turned into heart sinking concern when on mile 5 I heard a loud pop. Dammit!!! Even though I had never had a flat tire before, I immediately knew what that sound meant. Fortunately for me, however, I could not have asked for a flat at a better place in the race as I was across the highway from a medical aid station and one of the EMT guys came over to give me a hand. The bad news was I did not have a pump, nor did he.
So, that meant we had to flag someone down who was willing to stop their race to help me out. It took a while, but one very nice guy did stop and did help, but my EMT guy was not putting the tire and tube together correctly and eventually the cyclist got frustrated and said he had to be on his way. Two other people then stopped and tried to help, but it was a no go for various reasons. Finally, some fella in a high viz outfit with a flashing light on both his helmet and on the back of his seat stopped and took charge of the situation and got me sorted. Thank god, as I was having seriously sad thoughts that my race might be over only 5 miles into the bike portion...and all I could think of was that I had come all this way and stayed in Key West for an entire week and was going to come away without even a finisher's medal. But I thank the stars above for nice people who are unselfishly willing to help out a fellow athlete. And I made a promise as I rode off with my freshly repaired tire that I will pay back this generosity at some point in the future. I will stop and help another athlete in need, for I was the recipient of such kindness, and I am quite grateful. But I won't be paying it back at Eagleman.
The rest of the bike portion was pretty much the same as what I described above - scary, aggravating and relatively slow. Because of the conditions of the highway, it was very hard to safely pass slower cyclists in a lot of places, so I'd just sit back and make my move only when I felt safe doing so. And because the course was an out and back, that meant we had to turn around after 28 miles out, crossing Route 1 in the process. Busy, scary, angry Route 1. We all had to get off our bikes, and only when the team of police officers had the traffic stopped in both directions could we make our u-turn and continue on. This had inherent issues that I won't bother discussing but you can certainly imagine. Very frustrating in a lot of respects.
Regarding speed on my bike, before my flat I was hanging right at 19 mph, but immediately after the flat I was only averaging ~17.4 mph on the out. I don't know if it was the wind, my attitude, or maybe improper air in my tire (it was a hand pump) but I was never able to resume that 19 mph after that point. Coming back, my speed was a little faster as I averaged ~18.2 mph, I assume due to either some wind assist or perhaps my excitement of being over halfway through the bike portion. I kept the effort way down through the entire bike portion, knowing I did not want to burn all my matches before I got to my run. I also did a superb job <pats self on back> eating and drinking on the bike. I'm very proud of myself about that...even if I had near disaster when I lost most of my gels and bloks due to the jarring of the rugged and uneven surface. Thank god I had loads of extras!!!
When I came back into transition, I felt in great shape physically and mentally, and I was ready to get the running show on the road!
T2:
Racked bike, took off shoes, shorts, helmet....put on nutrition belt packed with gels and bloks, shoes, and my Garmin that did not want to pickup satellites until I was on mile 3. And away I went.
The run:
By this time, I knew all hope of any super speedy finish time was out the window. Oh well. Some quick calculations in my head told me I'd even be close coming in under 6 hours, but there was a small bit of hope in my heart. It was now 12:30, and the sun was out in full glory, and we runners were plodding on heat loving surfaces of asphalt and cement next to a sun-reflecting ocean. Gah. In other words folks, it was blistering hot out there! It was probably best that my Garmin did not kick in until mile three as that forced me to listen to my body and not my watch. The course was an out and back 2 plus times (3 miles out, 3 miles back twice...then a small out and back), and all I can say is god love the lady in blue hair at mile 3 who filled our tri suits with core cooling ice...and bless the little boy's heart who at the water stand at Smathers Beach ran me down to hand me an ice cold bottle of water when there was a mix up on the handoff. It's really the little things, isn't it??
I pretty much ran by feel....kept things super relaxed...and it worked. I hooked up with one fella around mile 4, and we ran in silence together for about 3 miles. I think we both enjoyed the company, but he started to struggle, so I pushed on. The only times I stopped during the run were to get packed with ice twice, to guzzle some coke, and to consume a quarter of an orange, otherwise I kept it moving. I was surpised, honestly, by how many folks were walking as I never felt the urgent need to do so. I don't think anyone passed me on the run - not kidding. Looking at my time, I obviously wasn't super speedy, but I held my own, and more importantly I finished strong and with a smile on my face (final mile was my fastest at 8:11). Job done. My very first half iron distance under my belt! Whoop whoop!! Woo hoo!!! And all that freakin' jazz!!!
Official time and place - 6:01:01, 2nd in age, 23rd woman, 96th overall
Post-race this and thats:
Okay...some final thoughts to wrap this report up...first about the race itself. The swim was long, I think in part due to the way they configured the start with the buoys going perpendicular to instead of diagonally from the beach. I spoke with multiple athletes and they all agreed the swim was more like 1.6 miles instead of 1.2 miles. The run was very hot, but that's circumstantial and not in their control. The ice packing was brilliant, and they had plenty of cold fluids being offered up. But the bike is my deal breaker. Route 1 is in awful shape and way too dangerous for my liking, which is a shame because the people were wonderful in every respect. Maybe they will see how dangerous this bike course is and make some adjustments, but I'm not sure they have any viable options really.
I guess the most important question is did I come away from this experience with something of value? Some lessons learned? Some idea of what I need to work on and what I am capable of? What my potential might be? A hunger to do better? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. All the above and more. In many ways, I feel having had a thing or two go wrong in this event will pay me dividends in the future - those things will better prepare me for Eagleman and make me a stronger/more confident competitor.
Am I disappointed with my time? Well....you know. Sort of, but I'm okay with it. After analyzing the data and going over in my mind a few things, I think once again the mighty Griffin was actually dead on predicting what I was capable of on the day - 5:30 to 5:40. Take away the puncture and the long swim, I think I would have been right around 5:40. I also find comfort in the fact that I have had basically zero swim training in 3 months, just started cycling in November, and have not done a training run over 12 miles since DCM. I've got much work to do, but I'm at a good place for where I am.
And just very quickly I'd like to say that I honestly would have never considered doing a half iron distance event without all you folks around me. Whether you feed me my training sessions, write on my log, click on the "thumbs up", plant seeds, message me, viber me, or send me an amazing email on Wednesday night suggesting how I might want to tackle this beast, I would like to say thank you.
Okay...I'm done....oh, except for one little gem....something to consider...something to perhaps inspire and carry in future races when things don't feel so easy....
"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."
~Khalil Gibran0 -
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+1 on the change a tyre thing. And bring co2 with you! Next time, strangers may not be so generous!
Another point that may or may not be strictly enforced, is that outside assistance can get you dq'd.
But other than that, I think youre bloody awesome. You did a great bike off little or no real bike training, and you run well off it. That shows real kona potential right there, for when you go long. 0 -
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Yes, LOTS of lessons learned. Good experience for me in that respect....in lots of respects, really.
5:35:50 was the gal's time who came in first in my age. Even without puncture, I would not have caught her. Interesting, though....I beat her on the swim and run, but she beat me on bike and in both transitions. A quick and dirty bit of math, and perhaps without the puncture and if I don't stop to make tea on my transitions, just maybe I could have taken her. Wow, my transitions suck.
Edit: She still would have beaten me by about 5 minutes. Oh well. But my transitions really do suck!!!
Fanny peeling...also known as wetsuit stripping. Strapping young men ask you to lay down while they yank your wetsuit off of you in one go. Brilliant!! And sort of fun.
Woo hoo!!!!!!!
From what I can gather you have only start to train on the bike the last month or so. That should be kept in mind.0 -
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good report, you make it sound so easy, im still putting it off for a year or 2 though
great cycling for so little bike training..
Hey, woody! You know, it really wasn't that bad. I think the two keys for me were proper pacing and sufficient nutrition/hydration on the bike. If I can do it, you can do it no problem! 0 -
Another point that may or may not be strictly enforced, is that outside assistance can get you dq'd.
You are absolutely correct! Something I hadn't even considered as my tire crisis was unfolding, even though this point was gone over in the race briefing. So I guess technically I should not have been awarded my prize. I've already contacted my man at the bike shop to have a little one-on-one class regarding changing a tire when I pick up the Mad One at his shop after it arrives there from Key West. Thanks for this reminder. The need to be self-sufficient...just one of the many things that I came away from this event with. And that's why I did this race. !!!! 0 -
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Wednesday, January 29th, 2014
Run plan: loosely, the plan was to do 5 miles in the am and 5 miles in the pm, but this week is unstructured and about recovery, so.....
.....so, because I could not break away from work at lunch today, I settled on one easy treadmill session this evening. I had planned on doing 6 miles, but I felt so good and was enjoying it so much I stretched it to 8 miles. All good in the hood.
Actual run: 8 good-feeling easy miles on the treadie0 -
Thursday, January 30th, 2014
Bike: no plan, really
Just some easy spinning with low resistent surges choreographed to music. All is still well with the body. No repercussions from the half iron distance 5 days ago. Whoop whoop. I suspect a little intensity will be added to the training in a few days.
Actual: 20 easy miles on the trainer0 -
Saturday, February 1st, 2014
Plan: I am just winging it for now.....
I had planned on heading out after work to get a long, hilly run done....but my bike shop called to let me know that the Mad One had arrived from Key West and was quite homesick, so I had no other choice but to drop everything and go retrieve my trusty steed. While I was there, my man Kyle gave me a very good and very hands on lesson in how to change a flat tire. He showed me some tricks, and some tricky things...then he had me do it all. Four times. Yep, I totally changed my tire four times, and my hands knew it!! Changing a tire is not the easiest thing in the world to do, but now I feel fairly competent at it. And he packed my little bike bag with everything I need on the road with me, including two co2 cartridges. Love that Kyle. Oh, and we talked (and looked at...well, sort of "built" a...) tri bike. :eek:
So, all that bike shop stuff took up most of my day, and that meant I had to alter and move whatever session I was going to do today to tonight after my evening shift at work. It was a gorgeous evening, so I hit the streets and let the body relax into a nice street trot. This felt pretty great. Did some hills, nothing too crazy, but challenging enough. I would say this was more of a true steady effort - and I enjoyed every last step and stride of it. And I had a black cat cross in front of me, so I'm pretty sure that means I've got some really good luck heading my way.
And all this love and joy I had on the run with me today reminded me of a video that was posted on Marthastew's log by pgmcpq. You see, a lot of times when I'm running, I'm actually dancing in my mind ....and this video pretty much sums it all up for me. (Marthastew and pgmcpq, I'm stealing this!!!!!) Oh, and if things couldn't get any better today, I received a slightly cryptic message tonight from his highness about Donadea. Hmmm....do I have an ultra in my future at some point? Cue the music, anto....
Actual: 8.74 "Happy" miles in 1:10:03 for an average pace of 8:01 min/mile0 -
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Oh oh chequebook time again, hope the shed is big, very soon it will be a TT bike, madone for good weather and another winter bike for the bad weather
A trek concept perhaps?
For many reasons it does look like if I bite the bullet that it will be a Trek Speed Concept. But not in that color - mine will be much more stealth as I don't like my competition to see me coming.Odin Drab Firefighter wrote: »Well done Wonder Woman. Lots learnt it would appear, I expect Eagleman will be smashed to little pieces.
The hammer is ready and fingers are crossed. 0 -
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The thing that really has me streamed (wishful thinking) is that it warmed up for the damn Super Bowl so now everyone is on to me saying ... I saw it on tv - it's not that bad :mad:. Meanwhile it's so cold my gps will no longer attach to my windshield. I'm off to the rant thread .....
And we are expecting ice tonight. Freakin' bloody ICE!!:mad::(:mad: How in the world am I to get out in that frozen crap!!!??? 0 -
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Wednesday, February 5th, 2014
Run plan:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - 3 miles easy, 2 miles steady, 1 mile MP
Did the first run sneaky lunchtime style, and because we had an ice storm last night/this morning, I did this on the treadmill. Kept the pace easy (9 min/mile with a 1% incline) and felt fresh as a daisy when I hopped off. Whoop whoop.
Actual AM run: 5 miles on the treadie in 45 minutes at a 9 min/mile pace
Happy days...the sun came out this afternoon and melted all the ice. Thank god, as I hate using the treadmill so much in training. (but thank god it's an option too!) I had checked the time of sunset (5:40) and I was busting a gut to get out of work so I didn't have to do this in the dark....however, when I hopped in my vehicle to take me down to the Greenway, guess what? The damn thing wouldn't start. %$#*&^%$#!!!!!! Yougottabekiddingme. Really? Ugh. So I swiped hubby's truck, but will need to deal with my ride tomorrow. Really???
But the run felt pretty good. After reading a very wise post on boards today that included the query "are you racing to train, or training to race?", I was very mindful of staying on the plan - i.e., keeping my paces disciplined. And I did (with, perhaps, the exception of the 3rd easy mile - was a bit faster than it should be....well, they all look a bit faster than they should be, if I am honest, but when you factor in Garmin inaccuracies, flat course, etc, then I was bang on target!). The wind started kicking up about halfway into this session, but I let it be my tool. No complaints on this one.
Actual PM run: 6.23 miles in 49:10.68 for an average pace of 7:54 min/mile
8:12, 8:09, 7:50, 7:46, 7:40, 7:250 -
Thursday, February 6th, 2014
Bike plan:
10 minutes easy
4 x (1 min high cadence, 30 sec easy)
4 x (30 sec build, 30 sec easy)
10 x (1 min on, 1 min off)
5 minutes easy
Be careful what you wish for. This session might have been short, but it was sharp....and its simplicity deceived me a few days ago. It took my legs a little coaxing and reassuring to get them going on the high cadence, then the build had them saying "wft??". But the 1 minute on...ten times....took on a life of its own. My goal was to push a big gear while maintaining a healthy cadence, and I found I was able to keep my speed up around 25+ mph. A session like this is what you make it.
Followed this up with stretching, core and foam rolling. I've noticed the foam roller doesn't hurt as much as it once did. I'm either getting used to it, or I've been on holiday too long.
Actual: done as above, 13.4 miles in 45 minute0 -
Friday, February 7th, 2014
Run plan: 2 miles easy, 1 mile steady, 1 mile MP, 1 mile steady, 1 mile MP, 2 miles easy
Did this sneaky lunchtime style - gorgeous outside today....chilly, but the sunshine was raining down on me, so I was quite happy to be out of the office and in my own little world for the hour that it was. After I got going, I realized I was a bit overdressed, but there was nothing I could do as I was not about to stop, so I just ran like the Michelin Man.
So, my paces....hmm....were they disciplined? Based on the Garmin, they were not. (And what was I just saying yesterday!!??) But based on Dory-perceived-effort, they sort of were. ?? Fortunately or unfortunately, me and my legs felt great for this little run....so I honestly and truly kept things to where my body felt they should be and within the perceived parameters provided to me. Keep in mind the usual Garmin inaccuracies and the flat course I was on. Oh, and we can't forget the Michelin Man factor.
So, is anyone else totally jazzed the Olympics have started?? OMG...I'm happy as a pig in sh*t, if you must know!
Actual: 8.01 miles in 1:01:06 for an average pace of 7:38 min/mile
7:48, 7:54
7:39, 7:22, 7:35, 7:08 (oops!)
7:46, 7:480 -
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Sunday, February 9th, 2014
Bike plan:
3 miles easy on the road
...nope....or...
3 hour turbo provided session
....didn't happen....next option...
1 hour easy
...nah....so settled on...
3 hour Olympic Games Team Skate Fartlek
A bit of a mess with what to do, to be honest...and it was a cascade of events and emotions that led me to what I finally ended up doing. In a nutshell, after my run yesterday I was plagued with tummy troubles, which made me very nervous thinking about being on my bike for 3 hours today, so that prompted a backup 3 hour turbo session. However, I was told that if I was unwell that I should just spin 1 hour easy. Woke up this morning and I felt pretty good, but it was bitter cold and the weatherman was calling for a mix of snow and rain so I decided I'd go for the 3 hour turbo. Hopped on the bike, and knew within 45 minutes that this was a mistake - that I was not doing myself any favors by trying to claw my way through the plan due to the way my legs were feeling after yesterday's 14 miles of hills, and after the tummy issues. Plus, sleep has not been my strong suit this week. So as I sat on my bike 45 minutes into the session, I had to decide what to do. I didn't feel well enough to do the provided session, but I didn't feel so bad as to only do 1 hour easy, and then it came to me. I was watching the Olympics at the time, specifically the team ice skating competition, and it hit me to turn this into a fartlek - I'd go hard every time a skater was on ice, then easy in between skates. I think all things considered, this worked pretty well....and I managed to go the full 3 hours. Oh, and if anyone is interested, the long programs in figure skating last approximately 4 minutes and 15 seconds.
Did a little stretching, core, and foam rolling post 3 hour stationary ride.
Actual: 49.02 Olympic Games fartlek miles in 3 hours0 -
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