It’s all in the head - 2008 Socorro Chile Harvest Triathlon Race Report
Wow, what can I say, the Socorro Chile Harvest Triathlon was my second triathlon and it went so much better and incredibly more smoothly than my first one (Bottomless Triathlon). I had a good deal of anxiety over the last week because of the way my blood sugars ran during my first tri. But this morning, all my anxiety was pretty much all ironed out. Something about having quite a large team to meet and greet and to chit chat with. I love my Outlaws. Misty brought me a jersey to wear so I was in official Outlaw getup and I think it helped me out, I looked cool, I get points for that, I think 
(A couple of the Outlaws have blogs if you’re interested in their race reports: Cindy, Lisa, SWTriGirl, Sweet Baboo)
I went in with a good attitude and my demons never made an appearance which really made me happy. There were a few hiccups this morning, I had to change the tube in my rear tire, I forgot my socks, I forgot the GU; but I rolled with the punches and everything turned out good.
My blood sugars were perfect, I never went low, and I never went higher than I had wanted. I was able to bike faster than at the Bottomless Tri and I was able to run more than I was at the Bottomless Tri. I’d like to say that the reason everything went so well was because my blood sugars were in line, but in reality, I think it was more about Positive Mental Attitude (thank you Laura). There’s something to be said about doing an event and never thinking in my mind the words “I can’t” and how it relates to my performance.
I didn’t fret over my diabetes and that made things hella easier. I simply did my blood checks before and after every leg of the race and I started and ended well (further diabetes related stuff explanation at the end). Overall, I think my experience was far more favorable than at Bottomless.
The Swim
The swim was different from Bottomless in that it was a seeded pool swim. Seeded meaning that we all went off based on the times we submitted. Since I gave my 16 minute Bottomless swim time, I was pretty close to the end, there were only a few swimmers behind me. I knew I had blown it as soon as did the first 50m because I went out there and swam the 50m as though it was all I had to do. I passed 3 people in that lane, but when it was all said and done, in normal Courtney fashion, I couldn’t freestyle the remaining 350m. I had to breaststroke. Even so, I still managed to shed a little time from my bottomless time. (400m in 14:57)
T1:
I got out of the pool and ran, I checked my blood and put my shoes and helmet on and got out of there quicker than I did at Bottomless, I moved smoothly, in my opinion from swim to bike. (3:29)
Bike:
I had already had to change a flat this morning, so I knew that I couldn’t get another flat because I’d have no way to fix it. Did that concern me, not too much, I just got out there and rode. I felt better about this ride than the one at Bottomless. I was a bit stronger, the hills didn’t bother me too much. I never thought that I wasn’t going to make it through. I averaged close to 13.5 mph, it’s not fast, but considering all the hills, that’s better than normal for me. It was a good ride (20k in 53:33). I spent it listening to Basement Jaxx in my head: (cue music)
T2
The transition from bike to run could’ve gone smoother, the transition area was crowded because most people were finished and they were packing up to leave so when I was running my bike through there, there was a bit of a traffic jam. It was cool though because Outlaws were in there cheering me on. Despite the traffic jam, I was in out and on my way in 2:06.
The Run
I was running on noodly legs. But not for long, because I eventually found them. I was determined to run more of this run than I did at bottomless (where I mostly walked it). Sure enough, I did run a whole lot more. I would pick a point and run to that point, then I’d pick another point and walk to it and I kept doing that until I was at the last turn. Rounding the last corner I decided that I needed to run all the way to the finish. I wasn’t quite able to full out run it, but at the very very end, with maybe 100-200m to go, I full out RAN! And I ran fast. I was very happy that I ran as much as I did (3.1 miles in 41:43)
Overall
I’m much happier with my performance here at the Socorro Chile Harvest Triathlon than I was at the Bottomless Triathlon. I was pretty bummed about my performance at Bottomless, completely unsatisfied actually (even though it was just a “set the bar” race), it wasn’t good enough, not from an athletic standpoint and even worse from me as a diabetic standpoint. Here at Socorro, it was a million times better. I’m very very happy with my performance here, on every level. It was also a whole lot more enjoyable, and that’s what tri’s should be all the time, enjoyable. (total time: 1:55:46.5)
The Diabetes
I just kindof let the diabetes fly. I didn’t worry about, I didn’t micro manage it, I just let it be. I had forgotten my GUs so I knew that if I went low, I had no fast acting anything on me to help. I couldn’t stomach my CLIF Builder’s bar, so I only ate half of it, I didn’t force myself to eat all of it. On the bike ride, as though it were normal, if I needed a drink I alternated between my bottle that had Efuel in it and the bottle that had Nuun in it. During the run, I didn’t run with my bottle of Efuel (because I hate running with my bottle), at water stops I’d take a cup of gatorade and a cup of water. It all went well, better than if I had taken the time to think through what I was doing.
Here’s a run down of what I did.
6:53 Pump cut back to 20% of normal intake. 1/2 Clif Builder bar eaten, bolus for 17 carbs (i.e. all that I ate)
8:00 pre-swim check, 1 hr before I actually swam, 201
8:50 disconnect pump
9:16 190 post swim/pre bike check. reconnect pump, set to 50% of normal intake
10:13 159 post bike/pre run check. set pump to 70% of normal intake
11:03 176 post race check
My First Triathlon - Bottomless Lakes Triathlon
When the alarm went off at 3AM yesterday morning I wasn’t in a foul mood about it like I normally would be. It didn’t matter how early it was, I had a big event to get to. I got all my gear loaded into my car and took off toward Roswell, NM. It was a 3.5hr drive.
The event I was heading towards was my first ever triathlon. I was confident that it was going to be my first in a long list of triathlons that will one day be my athletic resume. The event, the Bottomless Lakes Triathlon. Now, I did my research, the lake isn’t bottomless, but it is 90ft deep (that’s scary enough).
I was flying down the highway when I pass a truck with two bikes in the back, it looked familiar, like it may have been O’s truck, so then a while goes by and they pass me, I look and the person in the front seat wasn’t M so I thought, hrm, that’s not them, but then they were waving at me from the backseat and I realized it was them. So I traveled a good 100 miles in their caravan. It was comforting because I knew that they knew where they were going. I wasn’t going to get lost.
When we got there, I got to meet some more members of the New Mexico Outlaws (they’re now my local tri family). GeekGrl showed me around, showed me the transition area, it was a first come first serve set up so I set up fairly close to where we’d take off with our bikes. She showed me the water, where we’d start, what we had to do, which direction to go when we got on our bikes and which direction to go when we headed out for our run. I was extremely grateful at this point to have met her at the NM Tour de Cure. She’s a great asset to have in terms of me doing local events and getting into this whole Tri scene. In fact, all the Outlaws that I’ve talked to are extremely helpful.
Pre-tri setup: 2 hrs before the event was to begin I dropped my insulin take down to 25% of the normal. I knew swimming wrecks havoc on my blood sugars but I didn’t want no insulin in my system. The thought of going into ketosis because there’s no insulin in me scares me more than my blood sugar going low because there is insulin in me. 1 hr before the event I ate a powerbar and took 70% of what I would normally take for it. I needed my number to be around 180 when I started an at this point I was 92. Right before we headed to the water I did one last check and was thrilled to see that I was 196. I was going to be good for the swim.
400m Swim: The water we (fellow Outlaws and I) estimated was about 68 degrees, it was really nice, and as such, I didn’t wear my wetsuit. The swimming was an in water start and it went off in waves. Women first, then men, then the seniors. Just for the sake of not getting run over, I wanted to start with the seniors, but I didn’t. I made sure I was off to the side when I began swimming and that all the women had gone in before me. I didn’t want to get caught in the crowd. It didn’t take but a few minutes before I ran over my first person. That freaked me out. I practically swam over another person. I apologized and swam more towards the side of the group. Then a hand grazed my leg, and at about the same time, my hand grazed a leg. I freaked. It was a reminder of when I was younger and there was an incident in a pool where I got grabbed and held under water. I really didn’t want to be dragged under and drowned. This happened at about 50-100m into the swim. I flipped over at that point and began backstroking. I was in deep deep water (the deepest point being 90ft deep) and I really didn’t want to drown, and I was freaked out now, really freaked out. This is one of those things I’m gonna have to work on. I was not quite to the buoy when I heard the horn for the mens wave go off. I freaked out again because I knew the men were going to run right over me. I quickly got around the buoy and swam to the side where I was sure I wasn’t going to get run over. A life guard asked if I was ok. I said I was and continued on. The next life guard I passed said I had to get back into the main crowd. That freaked me out, the men were over there, they were going to swim right over me. But the guard said they’d rescue me if something happened. I did have one guy run over me, that wasn’t thrilling, but he apologized. I have a feeling that these apologies aren’t normal, when I start getting into the big races I don’t think I’ll be saying them or hearing them. I finally got back to the beginning, my swim time being 16.15.28. It seems so slow to me as I think about it now, but as I was told in the beginning by a GeekGrl, “it’s not about speed, just focus on your stroke” and thus, I was just thrilled that I made it out of the water without drowning.
T1: I hurried to my transition area but once I got there I was a bit disoriented. The first thing I did was check my blood, it was 29. I was in the water swimming for only 16 minutes and my numbers went from 200 to 29. That wasn’t good news. It pissed me off. I knew that I probably should’ve just counted my blessings that I made it out of the water and declare my race done there, but I couldn’t do it, I just couldn’t. I wanted to finish, I needed to finish. Diabetes was not going to get me down today. I ate 2 GUs, washed them down with water that had e-fuel in them, managed to get my shoes on and went on my way. (time spent transitioning: 4.16.80)
14k Bike: I had trouble clipping into my pedals, it was probably a good eighth of a mile before I managed to get clipped in. Early on there was a hill. I had no strength in me at this point to get up and stand to push myself up the hill so I kicked my bike into my lowest gear and pedaled up it. I didn’t find it easy and it wasn’t exactly the worse hill I’ve even ridden up. Even so, I was ok with it, I was going about 9 mph up the hill. When I got up the hill and was on flat road I was staring at it because it was really b-b-b-uuuum-m-m-m-py, so I was watching it. The rocks in the road were speeding at me as though I was in a warp tunnel. If I had to compare it to something, it’s as though I were in the millenium falcon and we had just gone to light speed. You know when the stars turn into bright blue lines, that’s what the rocks looked like to me, except they weren’t blue. And they kindof tunneled, it was interesting to say the least. I didn’t have much speed in me during the ride. My fastest coming down the hills was 27mph which excited me. On average though I was only going about 12mph, that’s not as fast as I can go, if I push it I could’ve done 14-15mph, but at this point, I have to remember, I was setting the bar, time wasn’t a factor. So really, my time of 36.24.21 was good. I was beat though. I could tell during the ride that my numbers weren’t ok. I was just so tired and exhausted, the tiredness and exhausted feeling that only comes from my sugars being out of whack, not from oh, I just rode 75 miles on my bike kind of tired. When I finished cycling, people were already finishing their runs. I had to get on my game if I were going to not be the last one (yes, I have issues being last. yes, I am that kind of competitive. yes, I did break my “setting the bar” rule just so I wouldn’t be last)
T2: This transition went better than the first one. I shed my helmet and sunglasses, and put on my ball cap. I ditched the cycling shoes and put on my running shoes. I checked my blood, holy crap, 360-something. Not happy with that number, I checked to make sure my site was still attached. It was, I bolused half as much as I needed to get that number back into normal range. I grabbed my water bottle (which was dumb, I hate carrying that crap, and I know it, but my meter was in the pocket) and I took off for my run. (time transitioning: 2:15.31)
4K Run: I couldn’t really run, I was sapped of all energy at this point, it was quite pathetic in my book. I was being passed and I couldn’t even run to keep up with the people that were passing me. I was walking, and walking, and walking some more, oh here, I’ll run a few steps, nope can’t do that, let’s walk some more. I did that all the way to the cone that signaled the turn around point. At that point I realized there was lines in the road, you know, the yellow stripes that exist to keep cars on the proper side of the road. I was all, OH! I can do this! And I started running for 5 yellow lines, walking for 5 yellow lines. I did better in the second half of my run than I did in my first. I managed to pass 2 people (which was good enough for me, I wasn’t coming in last). Around the last big corner I could see what looked like GeekGrl down at the end waiting for me, that put a smile on my face. I started jogging because I had been walking. And then there was a small corner where she was and I rounded it and the people there were yelling and one guy was all “come one, let’s see it, give it all you got” so I actually sprinted that little itty bitty part. I passed through the finish line and I was excited. I had just finished my first triathlon. The run took me 39.00.50.
Results: I finished in about an hour and a half, and that’s all that matters (this race), in the future, I’ll start figuring out how to place, not freaking out in the water is a great place to start, doing something about those darn blood sugars will help too.
It was cool at the end to actually have a good group of people around that I knew and I could talk to and I quickly was pondering my next race. They told me to register for Socorro so, I checked my calendar and I will be joining my fellow Outlaws on August 9th for the Socorro Chile Harvest Triathlon.
I can tell already, that I’m going to have a lot of fun competing in triathlons, plus as an added bonus I’ve got the Outlaws as my local tri family.
Anxiety Dreams Cause Me Anxiety
I have my first Triathlon tomorrow. It’s a minisprint. It’s the Bottomless Sprint Triathlon. It’s a 400m swim, 9 mile bike, and 2.5 mile run.
I can do it, I can do all of it, swim, bike, and run. I’m confident I can do it.
BUT! I had a horrible dream last night. I think my subconscious has lost it’s mind.
I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I was in a building full of people. I was in a panic because I needed to get out of there, go to the house, pack my gear and get to the airport by 1:30 in order to make it to my triathlon the next morning. Somewhere along the line I get passed a child, a little boy with the most beautiful blue eyes and blonde hair. I take him with me as I was headed out, I put him in his car seat in my car and I get in and sit for a moment. Then I get out, run over to another car, look in it for no good reason and run back to my car. Little boy in the backseat is sleeping now. I drive out of the parking lot and the road is covered with people. They’re all walking in the street instead of along side it. I weave in and out of people moving very slow getting very frustrated because I’m going to miss my plane. People are yelling at me for being on the road so I go onto the shoulder and start driving there, and then the people are still yelling at me. I yell back “what do you want me to do, I just want to drive out of here, you’re on the road so I’m on the shoulder” some guy yells back, “you’re going to run over someone” of course I retort, “no one’s on the shoulder in the sand, how am I going to run over anybody, they’d have to be lying down buried under the sand and sit up as I’m coming near in order for me to hit them” guy rolls his yes.
I finally get past all the people and get back on the road. Then all the sudden I’m driving and there’s people running along side the road. They start yelling at me, and then THUNK! a body hits the side of my car and people start yelling. “I didn’t hit him” I yell, “he ran into my car”. I keep driving.
I head to one house, put my bike in a suitcase and throw it in the trunk. Little boy is still in the backseat sleeping. I notice that almost forgot the front wheel so I open up the front flap of the suitcase and put the wheel in there. I hope back in the car and I’m back on the road.
When I get to the next destination, which happens to be another house, I’m frantic, I don’t know how to get to the airport. I don’t have directions, and my laptop is at the other house that I just left. And then I can’t find my tri shorts. I’m picking clothes up off the floor looking for my shorts and finally since I can’t find them I pick up a pair of shorts, smell them, pronounce that they smell clean enough and toss them towards a bag.
There’s 2 other people in this room, women, they’re just watching me with blank stares on their faces. I find my paperwork for my flight to the city where the tri is and at that moment I yell “I MISSED MY PLANE”.
I woke up at that point. I apparently never made it to that triathlon.
I didn’t realize that I was having anxiety issues over this tri. I was happy go lucky, it was just going to be another walk in the park. And then this morning I woke up and now it’s at the forefront of my mind. Usually I get a belly ache the morning of an event. This type of dream is new to me when it comes to sporting events. But I’m fairly sure that my subconscious was just cracked out on something because I know that I’m going to do just fine. Actually, I’m going to do better than fine, I’m going to do GREAT!
I don’t have to do much, I just have to remember 2 words, stroke and breathe.
Worse Than Not Having Sex
Yes, for me, there is something worse than not having sex. Yes, I know, there is something seriously wrong with me. It’s ok, I’m cool with it.
Beyond general irritability just because of stress at work, I’ve got the added irritability of not being able to exercise/train in the ways I’d like to, work is interfering with my training life. And good god, there’s nothing that can make me more irritable than me not doing something that counts as training at least once a day.
Yes, for me, not being able to train is worse than not having sex.
Brick Workout
After 5 weeks of not being on a bike, I went out there today and got on it. For as much as I wanted to do a 30 mile ride, I resisted. Instead, I opted for an 8 mile bike ride and a 2.5 mile run. One immediately after the other, just like it’s done in triathlons. I’m gonna do good next Saturday, I’m confident of it (as long as I don’t drown first).
I rode today at a leisurely 12mph for 45 minutes and then I ran for 30 minutes and I actually went 2.58 miles. When I was all done I really wanted to get back on my bike, but I resisted the temptation and took an ice bath instead.
During the run, I did a walk run. I’d run two minutes walk one minute. I actually manage to go faster this way than just full out running. If I full out run, I’m exhausted before a mile and I can’t breathe (yes, I know, I’ve got to work on this). Well, actually, I take it back, it just about evens out, but I’m not exhausted in the end if I run/walk in 2:1 min ratios. I can full out run for 3/4 of a mile and then I gotta walk for the last quarter and that last quarter is not enjoyable. I prefer my “proper” run/walks.
The diabetes notes: 2 hrs before the bike/run I dropped my basal to 50%, I started at 220, when I was done I was 124. I liked those numbers.
Mailing Applications
I don’t think I’ve mailed in an application for anything since I was applying for college. Today I had to mail in my application for the Bottomless Triathlon in Roswell, NM next Saturday (July 12). I got it taken care of though, I went to the post office and mailed it in instead of dropping it into the mailbox outside of the house (yes, I’m that insecure when it comes to mailing stuff).
It’s a mini-sprint, I suppose. Not quite a full sprint. It’s a 400m swim, 14km bike ride, and a 4km run. I’m just setting the bar with this triathlon, it’s my first one, and I can’t compete in it, if for no other reason than I haven’t trained in the last month. My goal in the swim is not to drown. If I don’t drown in the lake then I’ll be all good because the bike and run will be a walk in the park for me. My goal on the bike is 30-45 minutes (it’s 9 miles), and my goal on the run (2.5 miles) is 30 minutes. That’s really not pushing it for me. I can do it. Really, my goal just needs to be to complete the race, but hey, it’s me…
The biggest thing that I’m going to have to deal with is the need to compete, I know that when I’m out there I’m going to want to be passing people and I’m going to want to go as fast as possible. I can’t afford to do that this time around. That will be my biggest battle I think. I’m just so dam competitive, I can’t help it.
My strategy for the blood sugars is to turn my pump to 25% of my insulin intake 2hrs before the swim (I’m afraid of having no insulin in my system, I’m not yet ready to swim with no insulin in my body). I’ll remove my pump during my swim and eat a GU just before it. I’ll put it back on for the bike and run and have it going at 60%. I’ll check my blood during transitions (which I hate the idea of, I’m going to lose time there). I’ll have my meter on me during the bike ride, but not the run, I’m not wearing my running belt during the run because I hate it, I hate the idea of having to have anything with me during the run. I will have a GU in my pocket and maybe run with one bottle of water (which I hate the idea of that too).
I’m all excited for next Saturday, it’s like counting down the days till Christmas!
First Open Water Swim
I haven’t swam in 11 years, like swam swam, laps, distances. Really, when I did swim, the longest I could go was 800m at a time but that was better than nothing, I liked short distances better (50m), they were what I was fastest at, breathing didn’t matter that much, I was sprinting, when I was done, I was done. Like running where I’ve had to stop running on my toes (because I preferred sprinting there too) I’ve got to relearn a few things. Actually, I’ve got to go relearn quite a few things. And then, I’ve got some new things to learn. I was a bit pompous about swimming and figured, hey, it’s gotta be like bike riding, once you’ve learned, you never forget…HA!
I went swimming today, I went swimming up at Cochiti Lake with several members of the New Mexico Outlaws Triathlon Team (GeekGrl, Sweet Baboo, M, O, and as usual I’ve forgotten a name, I’ll refer to him as forth guy).
Sweet Baboo, M, O, and 4th guy swam all away across the lake and back, 2.2 miles, one day, my goal is to be able to do that, preferably, that and a little more before November of next year.
GeekGrl went out to the grassy knoll and back and then pretty much out and back again. The grassy knoll is 800m from shore.
Me, I went…optimistically 200m, realistically 100m before I panicked and had to stop. My heart was beating in my head. I practically almost couldn’t breathe. And of course, I couldn’t touch the ground. I had left that behind me. I rolled over onto my back. And floated for a minute, I could float. I decided that I wanted to be able to go out to the grassy knoll and back, so I back stroked a little ways and then flipped over back to my belly to free style swim, and then I panicked again so I breast stroked, but then, I decided I wasn’t ready to swim 800m and back again, so I picked out a buoy, but then I couldn’t get there either, so I headed towards where I could stand.
A couple hours later I went out again and picked two points and I swam between the two points, of course, at each end of the two points I could stand. I swam between those 2 points for a while, then I found a 3rd point that was a little bit further and swam to it back and forth for a while. Based on today’s swimming, I know that I can’t do a consistent 400m freestyle swim in open water. That is something for me to improve upon.
I’ve also go stroke issues, and along with that stroke I’ve got breathing issues. Stuff to improve upon. This is good for me. Goals.
In the diabetes arena, swimming is going to be a bitch, of course, it was when I was younger so why I thought anything would have changed is beyond me. At 6am I pushed back my basal rates to 50%. I had breakfast of 2 fried egg whites and oatmeal. I bolused my usual amount. At 8am when I was getting ready to swim I took my pump off. My blood sugar starting was 243. Regardless of my blood sugar I drank a quarter bottle of cranksports efuel (13.5 carbs) After a half hour of kicking around in the water, my blood sugar was 78. I ate a GU, and washed it down with half a bottle of the efuel (total of 52 carbs). I went and just sort of chilled in the water, I didn’t swim or anything. An hour and a half later, that’s when I started swimming for round two, my blood sugar was 220. I had no active insulin in my system. The next time I came out of the water, after swimming for maybe a good 30 minutes, I was 164. There was a nasty spike an hour after the 164, even with a bolus of a half a unit to lower that number to 100, I spiked to 248.
I have to test my theory but after today, I think I have to start at about 200, and have no active insulin in my system. This will take care of me for 30 minutes of swimming and keep me in the 100s.
Notes for the future:
Whatever amount of sunscreen I put on, it isn’t enough. I got a bit red today. Not too bad on my face but my shoulders took a beating. I’m gonna up my sunscreen from 30SPF to 80SPF and follow advice GeekGrl gave and put some on the night before events (i.e. triathlons) and rub it in good and then reapply in the morning. Apparently being sunburned is bad times because it affects the body’s ability to perspire and then your body’s ability to cool down is affected, not good.
The lake temp was 65F, while I can swim in that with just my swim suit, I prefer to use my wetsuit. It does keep me warmer, but I also float, I won’t drown.
My pump site didn’t fair well to several hours in the water. It started peeling off and it hurt extremely as insulin was being pumped into me. I can tape it down to take care of the peeling, but I’m not sure I can handle it if I had to go several hours through an event with pangs hitting me every time insulin was being pumped into me.
Better Than Pole Vaulting
I don’t think that I’ve ever been so anxious to see a blog post be posted (and as of this posting, the post I’m waiting for hasn’t yet been posted, but I’m so excited that I’m going to talk about it). My friend Laura, who’s on the DiabetesSisters Triathlon Team with me, completed her first triathlon today.
I got a txt message early this morning that put a smile on my face (6:47, that would usually get a persons head bit off, but not today). The txt simply read “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever done…way cooler than pole vaulting! :)”
I had commented earlier this week how cool it was that she had done pole vaulting, it’s one of those things I want to do. Something about flying through the air, it excites me. She had commented that it was cool. But to get her txt this morning. If she had called me there would’ve been all kinds of excitement in her voice. Having not yet done a triathlon myself, I’m excited to get back to training and get out there and complete one. In the meantime, I’m waiting on her blog entry to hear all about her first tri.
Outlaws at the Ironman Coeur d’Alene
It was a sit and watch sports day unlike any other. When I think of watching sports I think of going to a game, be it baseball, football, basketball, hockey, etc. Or maybe even going to a track meet. Or perhaps if it’s on TV, I’ll watch tennis or golf. Or the olympics, I’ll watch the olympics.
When I watch sports, there’s usually a favorite, a team at a minimum or perhaps an individual person. Baseball is A. Rod. Football is the Seahawks (simply because I grew out of my Dallas and Denver stages and Seahawks is as close as I can get to a home team, stupid NM…I digress). Basketball I don’t care about much. Hockey, I like the ducks. The mighty ducks, they’re a real team right, the one from the disney movie from when I was a kid (can you tell I really don’t watch hockey either). Golf is Tiger Woods, he was the man all the girls fell in love with when I was a sophomore in high school. If tennis is on, I really only know Venus and Serena. Ok, so truth be known, I really don’t watch sports all that much.
But yesterday, was a different kind of sports day. It was the Ironman Coeur d’Alene. I wanted to watch it, I wanted to have people that I was rooting for. The thing is, it was in Idaho, and I’m in NM. But that didn’t stop me. I had the little news ticker thing open and they were talking about this years favorites (I guess those were the pros) and who was going to win it. That really meant nothing to me because really I’d only heard about the Ironman say, in the last I dunno, 5-7 years or something. It (Ironman) hasn’t been in my sights long, so I don’t exactly know how they work beyond the swim, bike, run part.
Anyhow, I had the athlete tracker page going and I kept refreshing the pages every half hour to an hour. Which I know is probably more than I needed to refresh it, but I was so excited and I wanted to know when the peeps I were watching were passing the time mats. So I checked and checked and checked. And at one point I panicked, because I thought for sure a time should’ve been posted, and I wondered, what happened, where was the time, and then I continued to check and check and check and I think the time was just delayed.
So, who was I watching, well, I was watching a couple of the Outlaws. I didn’t really have anyone else to watch. And being that I had met (if only briefly) GeekGirl during the NM TdC, I figured that if I was going to track anyone, she was the best to track, because I could say I knew her. And then of course, that led to me tracking Baboo, her husband. And of course, since I had been reading GeekGirl’s blog, I was also keeping tabs on SWTriGirl, Mighty and Sluggo (who are also Outlaws).
I was very excited for all of them, they all finished. And that is just such a huge accomplishment. 140 miles in 1 day. 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of cycling, and the a whole marathon (26.2 miles of running). It’s extraordinary. If you asked me today what I wanted to be when I grew up, I’d say that I want to be like them when I grow up.
One day…I’ll do an Ironman.
Meeting Gale Bernhardt
There’s a whole different world out there for me as an athlete vs me as a non-athlete. That world also contains a whole different way of thinking.
As a child, when going to baseball games with my family and especially my great grandmother (who loved the Dodgers) I knew the famous players, the ones that were always spoken about. Those are the ones every kid wanted to grow up and be like, those are the ones who’s autographs we wanted.
It wasn’t until recently, this week in fact, that the thought of the coaches behind the athletes even entered my mind. It’s kindof amazing that this kind of thing escapes you. It used to be that an athlete was great because they were great, I couldn’t describe it, they just were, that was my non-athletic way of thinking. Now as I’m growing into this role of being an athlete, the thinking that comes to me is “behind every great athlete is a great coach” (I mean, if the coach isn’t great they get fired, right? just like in the movies?)
Well tonight, (thanks to Mari paying attention to email sent out by the Bolder Boulder peeps) I got to meet and listen to Gale Bernhardt as she answered any questions we had.
Me, Gale Bernhardt, Mari
Gale is a renowned Olympic athlete trainer and I learned so much from her. People had great questions and that lent to her giving us great answers.
I learned the concept of the negative split; which is to start out going slower than you think you ought/want to in the beginning half and then plan to finish fast.
I learned that carb loading the night before an event isn’t exactly ideal. (Like duh *eye roll* where’s all that food the next morning…)
She talked about tapering training the week before an event (which would require that I had really been training in the first place, but still, I listened and got an idea of what I have to do to go from running a 10k to biking 75 miles 6 days later).
She talked about what to eat the morning of an event and when to eat it (which will depend on each person, like for me, protein before an event doesn’t bother my system, but for others it may).
I asked her what she tells her athletes when they’re getting discouraged during training. She turned around and asked me what was discouraging, I kindof hung my head and straight up said “I hate running” and gave a little giggle. She told me to get a dog or to find someone to run with. One of the other girls said that running with someone made all the difference for her. That she too used to hate running and now she enjoys it, but now she runs with someone.
I’m so glad that Mari was paying attention to what was coming through her inbox because I saw the “3 Days 13 Hours Until the 30th DICK’S Sporting Goods BolderBOULDER” email and just kindof shrugged it off. Skimmed over it and didn’t think much of the information that was in it. I mean, I’m running in the Bolder Boulder, I’m in the KBCO wave, and it starts at 8:15 or something, what more did I need to know?