IM Washington 70.3 Race Recap

7 Hours 13 Minutes 17 Seconds

 
That time is AMAZING!! I really thought I would finish somewhere between 7:30 and 8 hours so YEAH I am happy with this time!

But, here's the thing...
I didn't even realize until yesterday afternoon (Thursday - 4 days after the race) what my time was. I have been so disappointed with my run and that's the feeling I have had this past week - disappointment with tears.

The swim and bike went great!! Both those times were "Dream Times" for me, and even though I was/am happy with those times, the run was soooo hard I just came away from this race with a lot of sadness and disappointment.

BUT (that's the last but)...
The race is finally sinking in - and yesterday afternoon when I realized my overall time was 7:13:17 - I was starting to feel happiness!!! My mind started to do a shift and I am now feeling much better about the race day.

So let's get started with the recap.

Pre Race

I didn't sleep hardly at all the night before the race so I was already awake when the alarm went off at 4:00 AM. I drank some water with electrolytes, ate my breakfast (eggs and rice), got dressed and then Pat and I were out the door by 4:30.

We got to the transition and I started setting up my transition area. This involves putting the drink bottles on the bike, putting the food in my bike bag, setting up the bike shoes and socks, sunglasses, bike gloves, and helmet along with the extra food I carry in my jersey pocket (it all doesn't fit in the bag). And then the run portion includes the race number belt (race # is attached), the visor, dry socks and running shoes. A few extras for this race included a bottle of water so I could wash the sand off my feet after coming out of the swim, sunscreen and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to eat during the T1 or T2 if I was feeling hungry (I just took one bite during T2).

After I got set up Pat and I walked to the swim start. It was a little over a mile and we got there around 5:50 AM. I sat down for a few minutes and then around 6:00 AM I put on my wetsuit (which in case you are wondering usually takes me 10-15 minutes - I am extremely picky about how it goes on so it takes me a little while to get it situated just right).

The announcer told people to start lining up in their designated areas. So I hugged Pat, Jen and my Mom, thanked them for coming and then found my place in line.
 

Ready to go

 

Jen and Mom during my swim

Swim 1.2 Miles - 30 Minutes 

30 MINUTES!!! WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!!!
That is my fastest swim ever! It wasn't all me - the river current definitely played a big part in this swim time. But, I was so happy with this time - never imagined this would even be possible. I went into this swim thinking I would do it in 50 minutes but maybe I could get it done in 40-45 minutes so when I got out of the water and saw 30 minutes I was shocked - biggest smile I have ever had finishing a swim.

This course started 1.2 miles from the swim exit and followed the shoreline. Toward the end of the course, there is a long island that we swim on the outside of (not inside - inside is a marina, outside is the river), and at the end of the island turn right into the marina/inlet to finish out the final part of the swim.

Funny story...
I didn't know where I was on this course. When I lifted my head to sight the sun was right in my eyes and I couldn't see anything except the person right in front of me. I heard a man's voice saying "hard right, hard right, hard right"... I lifted my head, looked around and noticed I was at the end of the island. I actually stopped swimming for a minute and asked the man (he was one of the safety guards in a kayak) - "Am I at the end already?" (I didn't know my time but I knew I hadn't been swimming very long)... He said, "YES, do me a HUGE favor Little Lady and take that hard right!"  it wasn't derogatory - and it made me laugh inwardly.  The safety crew were working very hard to keep swimmers from going past the turn in because if we went too far, we would have to swim back up current in order to finish. So I made the turn and headed for the swim exit!  
I saw Pat on my run out and yelled "30 Minutes I can't believe it!" I was so happy!!

And I'm off - furthest pink cap

Big Smile

 

T1 - 9 Minutes 58 Seconds

It was a long run/walk from the swim exit to my bike in transition. I knew it would take me a few minutes to get there.

Transition was uneventful other than it was only 53 degrees at 7:30ish AM and I was cold and starting to shiver (brrrrr). I got to my bike, put on sunscreen, sunglasses, gloves, helmet, socks and shoes, and then ran my bike out of transition. 

Bike 56 Miles - 3 Hours 25 Minutes 15 Seconds 

WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!!!

Again a dream time for me! I never imagined I would finish that course in less than 3 1/2 hours. I really expected my time to be around 3:40-3:45.

So again - completely stoked about this bike time!

As I mentioned in earlier blogs that this would be a hilly course and I did a lot of work over the summer riding hills and doing hill repeats.  The training really paid off! 3:25:15!!! AMAZING!

At the start of the bike, I was really cold. I just had on my tri kit, I was still wet from the swim and now I was riding a bike with cool air blowing on me. I was really worried for a few minutes because I was not getting warm and really shivering. I kept telling myself I would be fine - I knew there was a long hill coming up and if I could just get to it, I would warm up!  When I started climbing the hill, I did warm up, stopped shivering and never thought about being cold again. 😀

Also at the start of the bike my left quad and hip flexor tightened up. I noticed it almost immediately and the whole ride my leg felt like it was in a light cramp. But it wasn't really impacting my pedal stroke so I just told myself to keep going and deal with it later.... the "later" becomes significant during the run. 😔

The bike course was a lot of fun. Lots of hills, lots of spectators, and I just felt really good this whole time. It actually felt easy!

I had been watching my time the whole way. I really felt like I would finish right around 3:30-3:40. At about mile 50 I was just under 3 hours with 6 miles left to go and I realized I was going to make the 3:30 mark. It motivated me to pedal faster and faster and faster! It was such a FUN finish to the bike. When I got done I forgot to look at my time so I didn't know exactly how I did but I knew it was under 3 1/2 hours.  YAY!!! Later that night I asked Pat what my bike time was and when he told me 3:25 - HUGE SMILE!!!! AGAIN WOW!

T2 - 9 Minutes 49 Seconds

I got off the bike and my left leg felt terrible. I walked my bike back to my transition spot, took off my bike gear and then put on my running gear. I also took the time to use the bathroom - I was sure I needed it but when I got in there nothing happened. I spent too much time doing this but I really didn't want to stop during the run so I just sat there ... hence the really slow transition time (maybe that's TMI? )  😉

RUN 13.1 Miles - 2 Hours 58 Minutes 14 Seconds

SIGH!!!!! So disappointing!

I really hoped I would finish this run in 2:35-2:45.

I walked for the first few minutes as I left transition. My left leg did not want to move. It wasn't cramping but the quad and hip flexor were so tight I just couldn't make it swing. I stopped at one point and stretched but it didn't help. So I kept walking (kind of gimping). One spectator said to me, "just keep moving they'll loosen up". I nodded at him and said "Ok". I don't know who he was or his qualifications to tell me anything but at that moment I chose to believe him - I needed it!

After a couple minutes I started to run and then tried to follow a 5' run/ 1' walk plan - I think I followed this plan for the first 1.5 miles but, then things started going downhill. My leg got tighter and my feet started cramping. I made it to the turnaround (it was an out and back course), and was happy to be on the way back. I told myself it would get easier because I was almost done. I tried running 2'/ walking 2'... did this a few times but couldn't keep it going. I dropped to 1' run/ 1' walk but couldn't keep this going either. I finally just walked. It was a brisk, powerful walk but I couldn't run. With 3 miles left I was really mad at myself... kept saying "people are waiting for you, get going"...just kept repeating that. It did not help other than to make me feel even worse. I had no doubt I would finish but I was mad and disappointed.  I worked so hard and this run is not how I wanted this day to end. SIGH!

Toward the end of this course there is a big hotel with balconies right on the path we were running - the balconies were filled with spectators. I had about 400 yards left (down a short hill, around a corner and then uphill finish - not nice...). There was a woman standing on the path in street clothes who saw me coming. She came right up beside me and said "Let's finish this out with a run, start running now". I shook my head "no", and then mumbled "maybe up here in a bit".... She didn't accept that... "NO YOU START RUNNING NOW, COME ON, YOU CAN DO IT. WE'LL DO IT TOGETHER". She was yelling this right beside me. Surprisingly I was not annoyed (I think I just didn't care anymore at that point) but she was SO INSISTENT that I actually started running.  And I got the biggest cheer I have ever heard from all the spectators who saw and heard all this happen.  I may have smiled a little bit. I kept running and then another guy saw me and said "It's just another 200 yards, keep running - you can do it." 

I really didn't want to run and I felt awful - I know I looked terrible but I did run through the finish line.

Those 3 people made a huge difference for me that day. The guy at the start of the run, the insistent woman and the last man.  I will always remember them!

As I ran through the finish chute I saw Pat and my Mom on one side, then a little further up on the other side I saw Jenny. I think I smiled at all of them but I'm not sure.

I FINISHED!

Finished!

Finished

My true 💖 (tag hanging out for the whole race?)

Post Race

I did not know my run time or my overall time. At that point I didn't even care. I was so disappointed in how that run went, that's all I was thinking about.

When I came out of the finish chute Jen got to me first (Mom and Pat had a longer walk around to get to me). I saw her and started crying but I'm not sure she knew that (sunglasses). I stopped myself and then I started hyperventilating. Jen was very concerned - "What's wrong". I couldn't answer because I was hyperventilating so I covered my mouth with my hands and took some more breaths and recovered enough to tell her what was happening. Pat showed up and I think Jen said something like "Oh good Pat's here" 😃

I stood there for another minute and then started cramping up so we started walking around... I said as long as we are walking, let's walk into transition and get my stuff. And that's how my race ended. We didn't even get a post race picture. I don't think anybody even thought about it at that point - I was just DONE (mentally and physically)!

Final Thoughts

I spent the last few days feeling dejected, disappointed and whenever I thought about the race tears welled in my eyes. That run was so hard and took so much out of me that even though I had a great swim and bike I couldn't even think about that... my mind was totally focused on the run.

But, now, I am feeling better. Writing about the swim and bike have helped me realize how awesome I actually did on those 2 parts of the race and the times are AMAZING - I am so proud of those times. I am also starting to embrace the run. Even though I had a terrible run day, I got through it. Sometimes getting through the mental side of this sport is tougher than the actual physical side of things. I am thankful for the woman who made me run at the end! I got to run through the finish chute and without her, I don't think I would have been able to make myself run - so yes I appreciate her and the effort she put in to make me run! 😀

AND

7:13:17
 

Amazing Time for 70.3 miles!

IRONMAN WA 70.3 I MADE IT!

The big day is next Sunday (9/22) and I am excited!!! Race start time is 6:30 AM PDT. Here is how I think/hope my times will play out:

Swim 1.2 Miles - 50 minutes  T1: 5-7 minutes
Bike 56 Miles - 3 1/2 hours  T2: 5-7 minutes
Run 13.1 Miles - 2 1/2 hours

Total 70.3 Miles - ~7 1/2 hours !!!

I have been in the taper phase for the past week. The number of workouts I have done and the intensity of the workouts have greatly decreased. It has messed with my head. One minute I feel great/ confident/ ready to go! And then the very next minute I will do a complete 180 and be filled with so much doubt, it brings me to tears. Not kidding!  It has been a roller coaster for the mind these past couple weeks. Pat calls it "Taper Brain".  😃
 

 
There are cut off times that I must meet for the swim, bike and run (just like all my other full IMs) but, I am not concerned about missing any of them (I hope I didn't just jinx myself). 😟

Race numbers are assigned when I check in so I will let you all know my number next weekend. You can follow along using the IM Tracker app to check on my progress throughout the day -  https://www.ironman.com/im703-washington-tri-cities. Also Jen and Pat will be posting periodic Facebook updates (probably Jen more than Pat - he tends to get distracted by me).  😃

I definitely appreciate all the cheers and well wishes! When things get hard - I try to remember everyone supporting me - that usually helps calm me down and refocus.

We went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant a couple days ago... This was in my fortune cookie - I like it!

I AM READY!!!  
CHEER LOUDLY next Sunday!!

I LOVE SUMMER

Summer always ends too soon for me. It feels like it just got here and now it's already Fall, Back-to-School, and Football season.  AND - just 3 more weeks to IM Washington 70.3!  The race is on September 22.  I have one more week of intensive training and then we will start to taper.

I had a "freak out" moment last week. I have been in denial a bit about time moving forward and in my head it was still the beginning of August - so lots of summer left, and lots of time left to prepare for my race.  Well, imagine my surprise when my coach sent me an email stating he had laid out some workouts for the next few weeks before we start the taper..... ACK!!! TAPER????  It's not time for that yet - IS IT??? Well, my head immediately went into "I'm not ready", "There's not enough time left to get ready", ... basically I was panicking because time moved forward. 😀

I did not immediately recover from that shock/surprise.  I had a breakdown the other night and told Pat I was tired, I didn't want to do my bike ride the next day, and I don't know if I can do this. Pat has ALWAYS been my biggest supporter and cheerleader- he immediately said "Yes you can, I know you can do it"!  💕And then I got on my bike the next day and rode 67 miles! 😀

It has taken me about a week but I am now living in the present and I am telling myself positive things - "I am ready!", "I can do this!".  And if you followed me on my other IM journeys you know I have a thing for all the Rocky movies! So I have been humming the Rocky theme song over and over during workouts, during the day when I start to feel panicked, and just driving in the car.  It is weird - but it motivates me, helps me turn negative thoughts to positive thoughts and decreases my anxiety about the race.  I also keep hearing Rocky's coach - Mickey - "YOU'RE GONNA EAT LIGHTNING AND YOU'RE GONNA CRAP THUNDER!"

What Else

My achilles has not bothered me at all since before the Coeur d'Alene race so I am extremely happy about that. But, it did set me back. We took the running progression slow over the past couple weeks.  We dropped all the way back to just a 3 mile run, then 4 mile run, then 5 mile run, then 6 mile run, then 7 mile run, and an 8 mile run earlier this week. Tomorrow I will do a 9 mile run (which is where I was when the achilles problem started). And then build to 11, 12 and finally a 13 mile run as my longest run before the race. The build is going fine - no achilles problems at all but I can't help think about where I could be with my running if the injury had not occurred. 😟 SIGH!

I feel extremely confident about the swim and bike portions for this race. I have worked hard on the bike this summer with lots of distance rides, and hill workouts! I am strong and ready for the Tri Cities course. 😀  But, the run will be hard and will probably include a lot of walking. So I am trying to stay positive about that but it is hard.  Really hard.... I could use some help/advice here from anyone who has some thoughts on this. I know I need to have positive thoughts but how do I keep the doubt and negativity from seeping in? Or what do I do when it does seep in? This is my biggest stressor right now - I'm stressing about the run, and stressing because I am stressing about the run! It's a vicious circle! HELP!

Ok - Enough of that!

I think I need to have a ROCKY movie marathon over the next few weeks. 😄

 

Coeur d'Alene Triathlon Race Recap

I did my first race in 2 years - CdA Sprint last Saturday. It was so much fun - I have missed racing. If you read "Well Hello There" blog, you know that I had a hip flexor injury that had limited my ability to run these past couple years which also impacted my ability to race. So I am really happy and excited to be racing again!😀

But before I get to the race day recap let me update you on something that happened 2 weekends ago - it has direct bearing on my CdA race and also my big race IM 70.3 in September.

Two weeks ago I was out doing a 9 mile run and about 8.5 miles in my achilles started aching. I thought "oh no, this isn't good" but did I stop??  Of course not! SIGH! Some lessons are never learned. I only had another 1/2 mile to go so I finished out the run with an aching achilles. When I got home I iced it and rested the rest of the day. It was feeling fine by the end of the day so the next day (Sunday) I did my planned workout, which was a 50 mile bike ride with a 10 mile climb up to Hyalite. The ride started out just fine, no sign of anything wrong with my achilles - I was feeling confident and happy to be out on my bike. About half way up Hyalite (~15 miles into my ride), I started to "feel" my achilles - it didn't hurt but I was noticing it. I thought "maybe I should turn around and call it for the day".... Did I do that??? Of course not! SIGH!!! By the time I finished my ride my achilles was really aching and I was so mad at myself. I limped around the house the rest of the day.

So this past week has been full of uncertainty. I talked to my coach and told him if the achilles doesn't get better by race day I won't race. I don't want this to impact my "Big" race in September. I took a couple days off - completely off... no walking, no running, no biking, no swimming... I just sat on the couch and read a book. It started feeling better. On Wednesday I went for a short/easy walk and of course, I also ran for a couple minutes - the achilles did not like the running so I stopped and finished out the walk. It continued to feel better all week and I was hoping I would be able to race on Saturday. On Friday (1 day before the race) I went for an 8 mile bike ride just to loosen the legs and make sure everything on my bike was working right. Following that I went for a 20 minute easy walk. During the walk I decided to test out the achilles and ran about a minute and it started to ache.... 😟  So SAD!! I had been telling myself all week that if it hurt at all I would not race.  I finished the walk and my achilles bothered me the rest of the day. Every time I walked on it, it ached. I kept telling myself "do not race"... I was so uncertain all day. I didn't tell Pat what was going on my head that day.  I needed to figure this out myself and decide for myself what I should do.

I went to bed that night with a sore achilles and had made up my mind to start the race in the morning and see how the achilles felt throughout each event (swim, bike, run). When I got up in the morning, it wasn't hurting to walk on it! YAY!!! Maybe today would be ok!!! 😄

So now with that background - here's the actual race recap.

Ready To Go

 

Swim (600 Yards) 14:28

This race has assigned heats. All men started at 8:00 AM, Women under 40 started at 8:05 AM, and women over 40 started at 8:10 AM. I am telling you this because it becomes significant later in the race... i.e. I started 10 minutes after the men and 5 minutes after the younger women.
When the gun sounded for my heat, I was right toward the front edge of the women. I have NEVER started at the front of the pack for a swim - I usually start toward the back. Being in the back means I get to stay out of the "fray" and find my own line without too much jostling (so I avoid getting kicked and having people swim on top of me).  I have always just been more comfortable with that - but that also means that I am usually one of the last swimmers out of the water. I don't know what made me line up in the front this day... It wasn't really a conscious decision. When I looked around and realized what I had done, I just kind of said "ok" to myself. 

10-9-8-...3-2-1 BANG! We were off.  It was crazy! Arms, legs and bodies all around me (in front, beside, behind, and on top). Every time I looked up to sight on the buoy and to try to find a clear spot to swim (i.e. get out of the fray) there was nowhere to go but straight. I could have stopped and let people pass but it's a race - that wasn't going to happen.  One lady and I kept bumping into each other - she finally got mad, stopped and yelled "Get out of the way!"  HAHA I just chuckled to myself and thought "lady, have you never done a triathlon?  If you don't like the bumping, either find your own empty space, OR swim over me".  I just kept swimming - she disappeared - not sure what happened with her. But the whole swim was like that. Women bumping and kicking me the whole way. I did my fair share of that also - there was one instance where one lady kept swimming up onto my legs - after a couple times of that I had had enough and kicked so hard she had no choice but to move to a different spot.
I finished the swim 2nd in my age group!!! WOW!!!!! 😀😀😀

Transition 1 1:46

I exited the water, ran up the stairs from the beach and then to my bike in transition. I quickly got out of my wetsuit, put on my helmet, shoes and sunglasses, and then ran my bike out of transition. 

Bike (14.7 miles) 51:52

This bike course starts out uphill, flattens out for a couple blocks, then goes uphill/downhill, then uphill/downhill again before the turnaround and returns back to transition. I have been doing lots of hill workouts the past few weeks (I talked about that in this HILLS blog) and I did not have any problems with the hills in this course. They actually felt pretty easy! YAY!! Hill workouts are working. Remember I mentioned that the men, and women under 40 started 10 and 5 minutes before me... I was passing everybody (just a little exaggeration 😀) during my bike ride. I passed men who had started 10 minutes before me and younger women who had started 5 minutes before me. It was so much fun and a great confidence booster. And big YAY - my achilles did not bother me when I went up the hills. FInished the bike and felt awesome!

Transition 2 2:21

This transition was SOOOO SLOW. I racked my bike, took off my helmet, and then sat down on the grass. I needed to put on a calf compression sleeve to protect/support my achilles during the run.  Try to put on compression over sweaty skin... it does not work! I had powder in the compression sleeve which did help a little bit to slide it onto my wet skin but it still took a long time to do this. I only took the time to put the sleeve on the injured calf so it felt kind of weird ot have compression on one leg and not the other.  I finally got the compression on, quickly slipped into my socks and shoes, grabbed my cap and number belt and ran out of transition.  

Run (3.1 miles) 33:16

My heart was racing when I started my run. I worked so hard on the bike, and transition did not go smoothly so I was keyed up. After about a minute of running, my heart still hadn't settled, I could feel it pounding and I decided I should walk to try and calm myself down. I walked for about 1 minute, felt my heartrate settle and then started to run again.  I kept running and paying attention to my achilles but there was no pain, no achiness and no indication that it was going to bother me. So I just kept running. Got to the turnaround, felt ok - but my legs were getting tired. I walked one more time around mile 2.5 - legs just needed a break - for about 30 seconds and then finished out the run. Achilles was just fine! So Happy about that.

Run Start

Finish 1:43:45

I finished 2nd in my age group.

Coeur d'Alene Sprint Finish 2024

HILLS HILLS and more HILLS

In my last blog I talked about scouting out the courses for IM WA 70.3.  I mentioned that it was a hilly bike course and that my training focus for the next couple months needed to be on hills......
WELL - you get what you asked for.... my coach - Matt - took that to heart and every bike ride since then has had some type of hill workout in it.  :)  YAY!  I am already feeling stronger with the past couple weeks of hill workouts.  Somebody asked me what it means to do "hill workouts".  Here ya go...

Hill repeats - These can be short or long. I have done both types in the past couple weeks. The short hill repeats were about 1.5 miles uphill and repeated 3 times and were incorporated into a long bike ride day (about 50 miles).  The long hill repeats were about 4.2 miles uphill. I did this last week - repeated 5 times.  It was about a 42 mile bike ride day.  And you might think the 4.2 miles going down is "easy"... it's not! By my 5th repeat that day - I was definitely feeling the hill work in my legs.  I have that same workout again this week but it's only 4 repeats - should be easier right?  Doubt it - challenge is to make every uphill repeat be the same time - I'm looking forward to that challenge - 4th needs to be as fast as the 1st. I LOVE challenges built into my workouts - makes them fun and gives me something to think about/concentrate on/figure out how to accomplish as I am riding.

Long climbs - These are incorporated into the overall miles for a bike day and may be done multiple times during the ride. I will be doing a 10 mile climb this week as part of my long bike day (about 50 miles total).  I am looking forward to this day - the long climb is up to Hyalite and I have not been up there on my bike yet this year.

Another important part of my training is nutrition.  I have been focusing a lot on my nutrition and hydration during my bike rides.  I need to consume about 200 calories per hour in food and drink. I have come up with this number after a lot of trial and error.  This amount gets me through the bike rides, and then allows me to start the run without feeling depleted. During the run, I continue to drink some sort of electrolyte drink and if I think I need something more substantial I will eat some gummi bears or a "Waffle Stinger".

Here is a photo and a couple videos from my bike ride last week:

Long Hilly Ride Complete

 

 

Before

 

 

After
 

4th of July Weekend Activities

Pat and I went to the Tri Cities, WA (Richland, Kennewick, Pasco) over the 4th of July weekend to scout out the IM Washington 70.3 course. The race is 9/22 and I wanted to get a feel for the bike course.

We stopped in Spokane for the night on 7/4 to watch the fireworks on the river.  They put on a great show and we were able to sit right under the fireworks as they were fired over the river. It was an impressive display and we were so glad we stopped the night there to watch them.

The high  temps in the Tri Cities over the weekend were in the low 100s.  It was hot!  But, I got to ride the bike course on Saturday.  56 miles of hills (not quite but it felt like it).  I am so glad I did this.  The course was much hillier than I expected - I told Pat I felt like I was going up for most of the 4 hour ride with very little downhill/flat to balance it out.  It was good to know this now - I would have been very surprised on race weekend to find so many hills to climb.  So it resets my training a bit - we will put more focus on hills during my rides for the next couple months! YAY!  I actually don't mind hills - but I do need to prepare for them properly so I am excited for this challenge! 😀

I'm the worst selfie taker :)

Long uphill grade - hot road for miles and miles

I also checked out the run course.  It is a paved path that runs parallel to the river.  Out and back course.  It will be a nice course to run - hopefully it's not too hot on race weekend.

And - the swim.... I wasn't going to write about this because I am actually embarrassed for myself but here goes...

I chickened out of doing a practice swim in the river.  Why? Here's what I told myself at the time:

1. I don't know where to swim (boats and jet skis in the river)
2. I don't know the river, is it safe to swim in it (I didn't see other swimmers - just people playing in the water near the shore).
3. I'm scared

Ok - so there are my reasons.  Yeah -they are dumb and that's why I am embarrassed for myself. 

1. So what if there are boats and jet skis in the water.  I'm not swimming in the middle of the river - I'm swimming parallel and close to shore.
2. So what if I don't know the river - of course it's safe to swim in - I could have easily found a place to at least jump in and do a few strokes.
3. So what if I'm scared! It's ok to do scary things.

So there you have it - I can't go back and change the weekend swim / lack of swim but I can move forward.  I will do plenty of OWS (open water swims) over the next couple months and my confidence for OWS will come back.  I know come race weekend I will be fine and I won't even be worried about the swim.  It will be fine!
 

Lastly, we also got to have dinner with Pat's sister Coleen. She lives just 50 miles from the Tri Cities and she met us for dinner Saturday night. It was nice catching up with her and all her family activities.

 

 

Around 50 miles

SWIM BIKE RUN

What have I been up to lately? 

SWIM

The Bozeman Swim Center closed at the beginning of May for another renovation which is scheduled to last until mid-November. The City opened the outdoor pool earlier than usual this year and I have been swimming outside since mid-May.... can you say BRRRRRRRR!  They actually keep the water temperature pretty toasty so I'm not usually too cold when I am swimming. But when I am done with my workout, making myself get out of the water to walk back to the locker room takes a lot of effort.  You can usually find me crouched down at the end of the pool (with my whole body submerged) trying to get the courage to get out and face the cold! :)  I am not the only one who behaves like this... pretty much everyone is doing the same thing when they are done.  I have also been known to scooch under each lane rope and "crouch-walk" to the edge of the pool in order to stay in the water a little bit longer before having to get out into the cold air (again - I am not the only one doing this). 😀

BIKE

I have been on my bike A LOT the past couple weeks - more days on the bike, than off the bike lately! I have had some really great workouts and can tell I am getting stronger (and maybe a teeny bit faster) on the bike!  YAY! 

I need new tires - I was hoping these would last a little later into the summer so that when I got new tires it would be closer to my race but, they aren't going to make it. I have been checking them pretty frequently this past month, and yesterday when I checked the rear tire, the tread looks too worn to continue to ride safely so I will be ordering new tires today! 

Fun workout story (at least it has been fun for me - so sharing with all of you)...

A couple weeks ago, I did a 35 mile ride north of town in the Glen Lake and Springhill areas.  It took me 2 hours 14 minutes (2:14) to complete it. I rode at an even pace and effort during this ride - it was comfortable - not too extreme, and not too easy.  Then when Matt created my plan for the next week - he said ride the same course and do it 10-15 minutes faster.  ARGH!!!  WHAT???  HOW WILL I DO THAT? So, I did some math, tried to figure out where my time should be at specific points on the course, and what my average MPH needed to be.  I knew 15 minutes would be impossible for me to hit, and getting the 10 minutes would be extremely challenging.  I rode as hard as I could for this ride (I should mention this is NOT a flat coutse, lots of hills).  When I got to 25 miles and checked my time, I had exactly 30 minutes to complete this ride in order to meed the 10 minute time goal... I KNEW this would be really hard but, I rode even harder - when I checked again and had 3 miles left, I knew I would miss the time goal - but, then my personal goal became "how close can I get".... and again if possible I rode even harder!!!  I finished in 2 hours 7 minutes (2:07) - 3 minutes off. Sweating, breathing hard, heart pounding and SMILING!  That was SO MUCH FUN! Not disappointed that I didn't meet the goal - satisfied knowing I tried as hard as I could to meet that goal! 😀

Now - the story continues... The workout showed up again this past week... OK - I asked myself what do I need to do differently this time in order to hit 2:04?  I rode so hard last time, what can I do better/differently....  I figured I could start out faster - maybe I didn't give it my "all" at the beginning of the ride last time.  So, I did the same course... I started out way faster than last time, and kept that pace and effort going. This whole ride, I was watching my time and I knew it was going to be so close... GO C, GO C, GO C...I kept repeating to myself.  With 1 mile left to finish, my time showed that I had 2 minutes to get there... ARGH!! GO C, GO C, GO C, GO C, GO C...... I finished in 2:05!  WOW! Again, sweating, breathless, and heart pounding!  Again not disappointed that I didn't make the time goal!  Actually humming the ROCKY tune in my head. 

So, I don't know if that workout challenge will show up again in my plan but, you can be assured if it does, I will work just as hard to get it!

RUN
 

I don't have much to report on the run front - just continuing to safely build my running base.
So I will brag on this guy...

 

He did Governor's Cup 10K last week and got 1st place in the Senior Division and a nice gift card - real money!! He already used it to buy some new running shoes. :)  Nice work P - Love you!! 💕

Well, Hello There!

I'm Baaaccckkkk! 

I will be blogging again for my upcoming race. I signed up for IM 70.3 Washington on 9/22/24!  I have not written anything for this blog since 1 week prior to my 2017 Coeur d'Alene IronMan race.  After that race/accident I spent about 3 years in recovery and rehab.
 

Then in fall of 2020 I took the plunge and signed up for the IM Arizona 2021! I spent the next year training for that and am happy to say that I was once again an IRONMAN! However, training for that IM was a completely different experience.  I was not completely healed, I had a lot of unknowns (could my body handle the rigorous training), and I put a LOT of pressure on myself - I wanted this so bad - it was like my whole identity revolved around being able to complete this IM.  The training was not fun, and I did not enjoy it like I always had in the past.  I did not want to write/blog about any of the stuff that I was thinking about or going through so I just put my head down and did the training.  The outcome was AWESOME!  But while I did cross the finish line, in the back of my mind these past few years I kept thinking about how hard it was... the joy that I had in my other IMs was just not there.

Then I spent the last couple years (2022 and 2023) nursing a problem with my hip flexor that kept me from doing any consistent running.  So while I kept swimming and biking, my running suffered and I did not race at all these past 2 years.  Then late last summer I noticed I was able to run more consistently and not hurt while doing it.... It kept getting better!!! YAY!  FINALLY!  

So, last Fall a new IM 70.3 was put on the schedule and it was going to be in the Tri Cities, WA (Richland, Kennewick, Pasco).  Pat and I lived in the Tri Cities for 5 years, and this is where I really started doing some serious biking.  The thought of doing a race in my old stomping grounds kept popping up in my mind.  Finally, after talking with Pat, and convincing myself that I can train for this I signed up for it late last Fall!!!! WOOHOO! What a great feeling that was - my immediate emotion was elation followed up with ... I hope my hip flexor behaves, followed up with a little fear and trepidation...  You don't go into an endurance event like this without a little fear and uncertainty.

IM 70.3 is a Half Ironman (so all the distances are halved)
1.2 Mile Swim
56 Mile Bike
13.1 Mile Run

Instead of the 14.5-15.5 hours it takes me to do a full IM, the half IM should take me around 7 hours (that's a rough guess at this point)!  PHEW!! Anybody else nervous yet?😟

So this past week when I was out doing a 40 mile ride, I decided I would start blogging again.  I think it helps me stay positive when things get hard and uncertainty sets in. I am in a much better mental state for this training cycle - I am happy, I am positive, and I am ready and more important physically able to do the work!  I also started working with my old coach again. Since starting up with Matt a couple months ago, he has challenged me with workouts that have already made me stronger and helped me gain more confidence.

So, if you want to follow along with me on this 70.3 training journey, I will provide random updates on how it's going and what I am doing, thoughts I am having, and anything else that might be relevant to this training cycle! 

I'M EXCITED AND READY! LET'S DO THIS!