Ironman California 70.3 race report

Rich about to go paddle-boarding post-race.

Having watched my husband and so many friends toe the line in Los Cabos just two weeks ago, I was really looking forward to getting my own race season underway this weekend. I was a little slow to get really focused in training since last November’s Cozumel race but I had been having some decent swim and great bike workouts in recent weeks. The run had been looking particularly questionable, but I’d even had some fantastic runs in the last 2 weeks!

The lead up to my first race of the season could not have been much better. Rich and I flew down to San Diego on Friday morning and immediately drove to meet our host for the weekend, Katya Meyers, at the PAC pool in Carmel. After a short, stretch-out swim, we headed to meet Nick Nicastro, the man behind SagMonkey to pick up our bikes for a quick spin and run to shake out the legs. Nick was staying in a house convenient to transition so he offered to keep our bikes until the following morning rather than pile everything into the rental car. I cannot say enough wonderful things about Nick and the service he provides. The rest of the day was chilling and we did not even have to think about dinner as a friend who happens to be a personal chef, Jess Cerra, had generously offered to cook up a pre-race dinner for Beth Walsh, Rich, myself and a few other friends. It was delicious and so nice to not have to worry about shopping and cooking.

 

The alarm sounded at 4:15am and after a lazy 15mins checking email and Twitter, we finally got up and dressed and ate a breakfast of almond butter and bananas on toast washed down with some Nuun-infused water. 

We drove to meet Nick at SagMonkey and picked up our bikes, dropped off our run gear and then headed to T1 to get set-up. It’s great to race with my husband. He came to check on me as soon as he was organized and we spent the time leading up to our race starts together. He was set to start 16mins after me and we figured that I should see him about halfway into the bike, as I am usually 5-6mins slower on the swim and he usually rides 15mins faster in a half-ironman.

My wave departed at 7:17am and the gun took me a little by surprise as I never heard the 10 second warning. It was a smooth start and I was barely touched as I set off swimming. I swam tight to the yellow buoy line and had clear water to the first red turn buoy at which point, I found some feet and never left them for the rest of the swim. I found myself fighting a few times to hang on as the feet seemed to swerve (or I did?) but those feet dragged me to the finish. I was beyond ecstatic to see 31:XX on my watch. Last year I swam 36:XX and the year before was 34:XX. This is the fastest swim I have ever done and I thought to myself right there: “I don’t care what else happens today, I just got a swim PR and I’m happy!”. People have talked about a short swim and that’s possible (my Garmin measured 1.18mi) though Andy Potts only swam 1min faster this year. I think the conditions were much calmer this year with no swells.

Into transition and the run was long and slow as I was stuck behind a few folks on the narrow carpet but I was soon on to the bike and feeling pretty good. I began drinking and fuelling (Nuun and Clif Bloks are my 70.3 nutrition of choice) and was flying past lots of people with no one passing me. The course can be a little tricky with lots of bumps in the first few miles (and last few miles since you return the same way). 11 miles into the bike course, I hit a bump really hard and heard a loud “smack” noise. I continued riding but quickly realized something was wrong, as I was not moving very fast in spite of the 200w I was supposedly putting out. I thought that I had a flat. I pulled to the side and got off the bike to check the tires, review the wheel speed sensor (it had stopped working so I wondered if it was hitting the wheel or was caught somewhere) - all good - and then get rolling again. The issue had not disappeared. I ride a few more hundred yards and then pull over again. A guy stopped (such nice people racing in triathlon!) and asked if he could help. I thanked him and said I was fine, just trying to figure out what was rubbing my wheel. I watched as a few girls in my age-group rode by (Sandrine Micoleau who had exited the swim with me, Polly Crawford and Cherell Jordin, both of whom usually swim slower than me). I was getting frustrated trying to figure out what was rubbing. I did think to myself that my husband would probably be along in a few minutes so if I was still on the side of the road, he’d stop to help me. I was trying to be methodical, checking things on my bike, reviewing the front and rear brake calipers to see if either were catching. The front wheel was causing the problem but however I adjusted the brake caliper, the wheel continued to rub. I was beginning to feel chilly and frustrated but I kept reviewing playing around with the front brake caliper/wheel. Suddenly, as I was spinning the wheel, trying to adjust the brake, the front wheel almost slid out of the fork… the skewer was loose! OMG. That’s why I could not fix the brake… it was the entire wheel that was unstable. I quickly tightened it and got back on the bike and became focused on catching back the ladies that had just passed me by. I was doing a little cursing to myself as I had really wanted to ride a 2:3X:XX bike split (and had told my coach and Rich that was a goal) and knew that with good conditions, it was within my capability. I also knew that with my swim time, I could possibly race close to 5hrs which would be a dream time on this course. I know… I was getting ahead of myself!

I quickly got my head back in the game and focused on re-catching the ladies that had passed me by. Rich rolled up around mile 20 and I gave him a quick recap of the events before he was on his way to a speedy 2:24 bike split (13 days after Los Cabos!). I was riding hard and looking for the Nytro kit of Polly Crawford, as this would give me some confidence I was back in the race. I caught Polly on the rollers after the big hill and we traded places back and forth a few times on this section before I rode away from her on the flats (riding steady watts usually means I pull away on the flats). I continued to fuel well and feel good through the rest of the bike ride and watching my SRM, I was thinking a sub 2:40 bike time would be close! Indeed, I hit T2 in 2:39:40 but of course, that did not account for the time on the side of the road :( My official bike split was 2:46:09.

After a quick transition, I hit the run course and was feeling pretty good. I clicked off the first few miles in around 7:40 pace (did not eat anything the first 3 miles?!?!) but was pretty disillusioned to see Angela Bancroft leading the AG, quite a ways in front of me (and running fierce! She looked awesome). Rikka Aramo was not far behind her and I spotted Cherell also way ahead of me and looking very strong on the run. I think I gave up right about that point. I walked the next aid station, took in some food and thought to myself that this would be a nice run but I didn’t need to make myself hurt since I wasn’t catching anyone! The miles slowed to 8min+ but I was just fine with that. Polly ran by me but I was fine, giving out a few cheers to fellow OC team-mates and watching my husband back up his recent Ironman AG win with a very solid race here. My stomach was in a good place all day and as the miles clicked on, I picked up the pace a little more, bringing the miles splits back under 8mins. I crossed the line in 5:10:00, slightly faster than last year but not a PR for this course, and it was well off the top 3 in the AG. It was good enough for 5^th place.Rich also scored 4th in AG so we showered and ate Mexican food at Katya's house before heading back to Oceanside for awards.

5th place AG

Women's and men's 40-44 podium

Men's 45-49 podium

Who knows what would have happened without the mechanical, I couldn’t control that part of the race… but I could control how I ran… and the effort was not good enough!

I have a few more running races coming up over the next few weeks before my next triathlon in late May. Time to make myself suffer on the run!

Spring-time mule cocktail at The Pearl

Rich and I spent Sunday morning hanging at the beach with Katya and her husband, Andy, before meeting up with Linsey and Chris Corbin, Steph and Britt Swanson and Luke McKenzie for a late lunch at the Pearl… awesome food and cocktails!

Seal pup

Huge halibut that divers caught off Tides Beach

Ironman Los Cabos: spectator's report

My husband, Rich, and I set a shared goal of qualifying for Ironman Hawaii in 2013. We raced in Kona together in 2010. He also raced there in 2011 while I took a break from iron-distance racing. After some time away from the event, we both wanted to get back there in 2013. Ironman Arizona 2012 was the target qualifying race but that ended badly with a DNS for both of us when we got sick the night prior to the race. I turned my luck around the following week and scored a Kona slot at Ironman Cozumel (race report here) while my husband supported me online from our home in San Francisco. He hoped to make it a family Mexican double by qualifying for Kona at Ironman Los Cabos 5 months later.

Rich and I traveled to Los Cabos last Thursday, joined by our coach, Chris Hauth, and a host of other friends from California. I received a few questions about why I wasn't racing and there are a multiple reasons: it's cheaper when just one of us races, I had already qualified for Kona, I really enjoyed my downtime post-Cozumel and am not even close to IM fitness. Finally, I had committed to Rich that I would do everything I could to support him in his quest for a Kona slot at this race. I was better positioned to do this by allowing my training to take a back seat for a few months and to *sherpa* for him in Los Cabos.

We stayed at a condo complex called Las Mananitas which was located at the mile 2 turnaround on the run course, sharing it with a San Francisco friend, Pia, and pro triathlete, Beth Walsh. The swim start was ~3 miles away at a complex called Palmilla. The course is a one loop ocean swim in a relatively well-protected beach. Waves and swells were minimal the two times that I swam there, however, many racers were slightly alarmed by the beach start.

Here's a photo I took of T1 the day prior to the race:

During the swim, I positioned myself at the swim exit, so I could give splits to pro friends (Beth Walsh and Hillary Biscay) as well as check in on Rich and other friends that were racing. I was also "tweeting" like crazy for friends back home! Chris was the first amateur on the bike course and Rich was about 7 minutes back, having exited the swim just after the hour mark.

After the swim, I took a leisurely bike ride back into town, went for a run and generally passed time until heading out on the bike course to check on the racers during lap 2 of the bike. I positioned myself on the bike course near the Mega grocery store in San Jose del Cabo. It's a two loop bike course which goes out and back to Cabo San Lucas from San Jose del Cabo and then out and back to the airport before finishing in downtown San Jose. We had driven the course two days prior and I could tell that it would not be a fast course... lots of small and medium sized rollers and very little flat ground... not to mention the wind that would pick up throughout the morning.

I was positioned at the intersection of the two legs of each bike lap so I could watch riders traveling in both directions (great set-up for spectators!). I watched the lead men and women pass by and then waited for Chris and Rich to pass, mixed in with the pro women on their final lap (mile 90) before heading down to the run course to start tracking the pro race. It was great to see my husband riding right up there. Rich was having an awesome day, riding among the top 5 amateurs and just ahead of Chris.

After seeing them pass by, I switched to run course spectating. Unfortunately, I missed the lead men (Timo Bracht and Maik Twelsiek) pass by the mile 2 marker during their first lap but I was well positioned to start giving splits to the pro women and keep track of the 15 or so amateurs that I wanted to follow. It was easy to follow along at first, but the 3 lap run course soon got really busy and it began to get hard to track the different races (pro men, pro women, amateur). At the very least, I was able to see the amateurs pass me by before the turnaround and then I had ~90 seconds to check their position at the last timing mat and give them an update on how they were doing when they passed back. This process was further complicated by Ironmanlive's mis-grouping of AG athletes... for example, Rich is 44 but turns 45 in a few weeks so his racing age is 45... however, his results were listed in M40-44 so I had to check 40-44 and 45-49 to understand his AG position. This was the case across all AGs so apologies to anyone who received mis-information from me! It was a fun couple of hours, hanging with Mark Manning, tracking our respective spouses and cheering and helping along everyone we knew!

I think this helped Alyssa Godesky, Rachel Melick, Kelly Hansen, Kerrie Wlad, Hailey Manning, Pia Scaroni, Chris Hauth and, of course, Rich to fight on for their top 5 AG places. It was also great to see Alyssa, Hailey, Kelly, Kerrie and Rich accept Kona slots.

Rich had gotten off the bike in first place in his age-group and he didn't really believe me when I said he had a 15min lead off the bike... it was really closer to 25mins but I didn't want to tell him that! So he did read me correctly, I wasn't giving him the whole truth... LOL! He was completely composed on the run and I waited out on the run course in the same spot as he passed by me two more times, still holding a 10+ minute lead before I rode back to the finish line to watch Beth, Chris and Rich and other folks finish.

Rich did indeed win his age-group and is now the Ironman Los Cabos M45-49 AG champion and course record holder. The latter is default since it's a first time race ;)

We hung around the finish area for a good couple of hours, waiting for friends to finish,  swapping stories about the day... there may have been some beers involved! We then showered up and relocated to Zipper's just outside of town for some *dirty* Mexican food and margaritas with Hillary, Maik, Hailey, Mark, April, Beth, Chris, Pia and Alyssa.

The next morning, I went for a run (I had discovered a little estuary trail in San Jose and ran there every day) and we had a group breakfast before Rich whisked me off to Todos Santos for a fancy lunch. It was quite a drive and not much to see in Todos Santos but we found a fantastic place roof-top restaurant for lunch and it was nice to get out of town for a few hours and to spend some time together, celebrating Rich's successful race.

We made it back to town just in time for the Kona slot allotment/rolldown and the awards ceremony, held in Cabo San Lucas (kudos to the tourism board on including the sister town!). Unfortunately, not many slots rolled down. The women's AGs had two slots each for AG 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49 and 50-54 and one slot for the others. Only two female slots rolled down as no one claimed a slot in women's 18-24 (reallocated to 35-39 and taken by #3 woman) and one slot rolled to #3 in 50-54.

On the men's side, there were a few more roll-downs as Chris did not take his slot in M40-44 (2 slots of 7 rolled down and were accepted by #8 and #9) and the #2 racer in M45-49 (total 4 slots) did not take his slot. I think there was a rolldown in each of M30-34 and  M60-64 as well.

Here's our merry band of athletes at the awards ceremony before and after they picked up their HUGE trophies... what a haul!

I was super stoked and proud to see Rich execute his race so well and enjoy his 30 seconds on top of the podium. Of course, he accepted the Kona slot and now we have both attained our goal and are set to race Ironman Hawaii in October!

Next stop is Oceanside for the California 70.3!

First race of 2013

I ran my first ever timed open 10k this weekend! I think I ran a bunch of 10ks in Battersea Park (London) right after I graduated college but I have no idea what the times were so this really goes down as my first ever 10k since I know the result. So I ran a  10k open PR :)

However, the result was not fast (47mins) as I have run much faster in Olympic distance triathlons in the quite distant past... but I'll take it as a mark to improve upon as I go through this season. In fact I have two more 10ks and a half marathon lined up during the next couple of months as I finally begin to work on my run endurance and speed. The goal will be to run the 10k sub-45mins by mid-April and target a half-marathon goal of 1:35 by May. I said it here...

Sunday's 10k run/race probably does not bode well for the run portion of Oceanside coming up in just over two weeks. But I consider California 70.3 to be a *cobweb* race... dust off the cobwebs and get a starting point to build upon for the key races of the season (Vineman 70.3 and Ironman Hawaii). I think my swim and bike should be solid but the run legs will not be there... yet!

My husband and I also made the decision that we did not want to race Vegas 70.3 this year so I am not trying to qualify for that. This decision has altered my race schedule compared to recent years. I am excited for us to do a few more local, shorter races rather than the 4-5 half distance races that we have done in the past 2-3 seasons.

It's going to be fun to be done with a race by brunch-time!

The Coast Ride 2013... some numbers...

2013 was my 6th edition of the Coast Ride so I knew exactly what to expect heading into the weekend. Thankfully, the weather gods delivered spectacular sunshine and warm weather (mid 60s to mid 70s) for our trip down the coast... and this forecast seemed to tempt even more people than usual on this 3 day cycling trip down the California coast. When I first did the coast ride, there were maybe 20-25 people making the trip. This year's group numbered about 125, with a second group of 50 cyclists also making the trip. That's a lot of people for an informal ride... kudos to the *organizers* for making the trip happen.

What is The Coast Ride? It's riding your bike from San Francisco to Santa Barbara over the course of three days... 375 miles and about 18,000ft of climbing.

Since racing Ironman Cozumel in late November, I went into serious off-season with barely any exercise for 3 weeks after the race, and then very light and short workouts through the holidays and into the first few weeks of the New Year. I accidentally rode 5hrs the Saturday before the Ride but all other rides had been 3 hours or less. This made me nervous about tackling the three successive 7hr days, especially among a group of very fit, hard-core cyclists. We had several pro cyclists and pro triathletes along for the three days... it's a talented group!

Coach Hauth had me do a lactate test a few days before the Ride so we would have some baseline numbers to help me stay as aerobic as possible (goal is base-building) during the Ride. The magic number was 200w... and the instructions were to ride the flats in the 140-170w range and 180-220w on the hills, but to really avoid spending too much time above 200w. I haven't been working on any top end power so it would hurt me to spend too much time in the 230w+ range.

With the numbers in mind, I developed a plan. The plan was that my husband and I would push off 20-30mins early each day so we could get on the road, warm up our bodies and get into our own rhythm without the pressures of getting caught up in group cycling dynamics. I figured a group would catch us at some point, but I hoped that the 125+ riders would be broken up into smaller groups by the time we were caught and we could jump in the group if the pace/effort was appropriate.

Day 1 took us from the Golden Gate Bridge to Seaside on the Monterrey peninsula. 127 miles (including the ride from home) and about 5,000ft of climbing in just over 7 hours. Surprisingly, no groups ever caught us and we were the first to arrive at the hotel. I averaged 155w for the day and spent just 10mins about 220w. I felt fantastic at the end of the day and was psyched that I had stuck to the plan.

Day 2 took us from Seaside to Morro Bay, including 80+ miles of coastal scenery on highway 1. The views are stunning and the terrain is leg-breaking. Once again, hubby and I pushed off early with another friend, pro-triathlete Beth Walsh (californiatraining.blogspot.com). Again, the goal for me was to ride well within myself using power as my gauge. A couple of groups of riders passed our trio while we were dawdling over coffee and scones at the Big Sur Bakery (so delicious!). As we got back on our bikes, my husband slipped off the front while Beth and I hooked up with a group four, including friends Barb (http://energizerbanzo.blogspot.com/) and Hailey (http://haileyintraining.blogspot.com/). Our group of six worked together for the next 40 or so miles until the lunch stop at Ragged Point. My husband was waiting there with Hailey's husband and we were thankful that they had ordered up some salty ham and grilled cheese sandwiches and cokes for us to share. Nice work, boys!

We had just enough time to scoff down those calories when one of the guys in the lead group announced they were leaving in 2 minutes. Now, having done this ride before I knew that the final 45 miles to Morro Bay were relatively flat... some rollers and only one real bump of a hill in the small town of Cambria. It would go REALLY FAST in the group of 40+ riders... BUT it would also be very challenging since you have to STICK the rollers to stay with the group and you need to pay close attention at all times, riding two abreast in a double paceline. I decided to try and ride with the group, even though I knew I probably did not have the top end power to get over all the rollers, especially if the guys pushed the pace at all.

The first few miles were stressful but I was hanging in there even as we lost a few riders off the back of the paceline. I had a death grip on my handlebars as I sat in the group, riding my line and trying to maintain my front wheel 6 inches back of the rider ahead. The boys in the group were chatty so it helped take my mind off the miles remaining and the *stop-go power* that I needed to apply to my pedals to maintain that 6 inch gap. One cyclist asked me what I did for a living. I responded back ("finance") then asked him the same question. His answer was simply: "this". It turns out that it was Ken Hanson (USA Cycling Pro Criterium National Champion) of the Optum Kelly Benefits team.

The paceline was rotating and as we reached the *bump of a hill* in Cambria, I found myself sitting third wheel with at least 20 riders behind me. I had figured that I would be off the back of the group by this point but now I saw an opportunity... maybe I could *pull off a Thomas Voeckler* and hang on to the tail end of the group over the crest of the half mile hill. As we started climbing, I was riding 260-270w but I was sliding backwards through the group. Just as I was sure I would pop off the back, another pro cyclist from the Optum Kelly Benefits team came alongside and whispered to me to stay seated. He then gently pushed me up the hill... my power plummeted to 160w but I was riding with the group! It was pretty awesome... and I was so thankful not to be staring down 20 solo miles when I was already over 100 miles for the day.

I ended up making it to Morro Bay with this group and I have to confess that I was pretty stoked, even if I did get an *assist*! There were about 5 other women in the pack of cyclists but four of them race with a pro card so I was beyond happy to be in their company.

The last 45 miles changed the numbers for day 2 quite considerably: 124 miles, 7hrs and 165w average power but I spent 45mins above 220w and many of those minutes occurred in those last two hours of riding.

Celebrating day 2 with Jess, Sonja, Christine, Beth and Hailey... before I got sick!

Unfortunately, this year there was no day 3 of riding for me. I got food poisoning overnight and was unable to start the day. I hitched a ride to Santa Barbara and spent most of the day napping and waiting for my friends to meet me in SB.

Looking back as I prepare to move forward

I’ve seen a few folks posting their 2012 training totals online recently so it made me curious to check out mine. Since I am a data junkie, I decided I would also compare to other years.

Below are the results: I cannot believe that I have 9 years of data… that’s dorky! It’s also hard to draw any particular conclusions between volumes and how I raced each year. Sorry that it's hard to read...

2012 = 426,088yds swim; 6,000mi bike and 917mi run
One ironman race (Cozumel)

2011 = 418,202yds swim;  6,926mi bike; 1,015mi run
No ironman races

2010 = 442,259yds swim; 7,681mi bike 1,043mi run
Epic Camp and two Ironman races (St. George, Hawaii)

2009 = 479,548yds swim; 7,552mi bike; 1,129mi run
One ironman race (Hawaii)

2008 = 390,937yds swim; 6,359mi bike; 1,259mi run
One ironman race (Arizona)

2007 = 370,264yds swim; 6,796mi bike; 1,030mi run
No ironman races

2006 = 279,064yds swim; 5,861mi bike; 1,153mi run
One iroman (Arizona). London for 4 mths w/ no bike. Broken hand

2005 = 349,596yds swim; 8,531mi bike; 1,239mi run
2 ironman races (New Zealand, Hawaii)

2004 = 566,135yds swim; 7,540mi bike; 854mi run
1st ironman (Lake Placid). Running injury (ITB) for most of year

The only things I will say about the above data is that I have accumulated a pretty big base of cycling miles over the years and I think that helped me get away with fewer miles in the legs (just 5x 5hr+ rides to train for Cozumel – all the rest were sub 4hrs or less). Secondly, I need more run miles… I ran out of endurance at Cozumel and some of my better running came in 2008-2009 when run miles were above 1,100/year.

As I look ahead to 2013, I have 3 races currently on the calendar: California 70.3, Vineman 70.3 and Ironman Hawaii. There will be other local races but those are the main ones. One of my main goals is better running so my coach and I have already talked about more frequent running throughout the season, as long as I can remain injury-free.

I also decided to review and reflect on my training for my last Ironman (Cozumel 2012), to make sure I was not forgetting certain elements of the training that I found challenging as well as the areas of training that were successful.

Here are my notes for the 10 weeks of training that I completed for Ironman Arizona Cozumel… I’ll be looking back at these notes when the going gets tough this season as I juggle my job in finance, a construction project (building a house), supporting my husband (also works full time and is training for Ironman racing) and stay in touch with friends and family

Training period was September 10th to Race day = 10/11 weeks
Observations:
• After some very consistent swimming throughout the season, I slipped to swimming only 1-2x week in the build-up to the ironman
• Overall volume was quite low with peak week of 19hrs but with 15hrs being more the norm
• Run volume was low and there was not a single run longer than 1:45. I didn’t even do many easy 30-45min runs.
• Even with the low volume, I still seemed to get very tired
• I had to travel a lot during this timeframe – 3 cross-country work trips (2x NYC and 1x Miami) and one personal trip (Maui)
• I never run very fast in training. Barely any sub-7:30 pace.
• While there were only 5x5hr rides, there appears to be a big bike focus in here, which indicates why the bike was my strongest discipline by far

Week 1
Week after Vegas 70.3 was all about recovery. 9 hours total training where the longest ride was 2.5hrs and power was generally below 160w. Longest run was 1hr (7 easy miles).

Week 2
My back was bugging me post Vegas so running volume/frequency needed to be managed carefully. Things began to ramp up in week 2 as total training hours jumped to 16+hrs and the weekend consisted of a 115 mile ride (6hr 45min) and a 12 mile run (1hr 43min) but only one other run of 30mins.

Week 3
I had to travel to NYC this week so no swim/bike during the week but I completed two x 1 hour treadmill sessions with pace work and another easy treadmill session during the week in NYC. On my return to SF, Saturday’s big workout was a 100 mile ride (6hrs) with 2x 1 hour of power sections (toggling between 5’ at 190-200w and 5’ at 160-175w for an hour). I followed this ride with my best ever t-run from a long training ride… 6mile run in 47mins. I only managed one swim the entire week :( Total training time was 15hrs.

Week 4
I was back in the SF office all week so it was a fairly standard training week except that I missed a swim workout. I did 2x 90min computrainer sessions on the bike where I aimed to spend a good chunk (30+mins out of the 90mins) of time riding 200w+. I also did two 80min aerobic runs during the week. The weekend was noted by coach as a *big bike weekend*. Saturday was a 4hr ride where the goal was to increase watts each hour for 3 of the 4 hours (1st hour was 155w, 2nd hour 166w and 3rd hour 175w). Sunday was an aerobic 3 hour ride and a long swim

Week 5
Due to the Columbus Day holiday, the *big bike weekend* continued into week 5 with another 5hr ride with 2x 1 hour of power sections (once again, 60mins of toggling between 5’ @190-200w and 5’ @160-175w). As I wrote in my training log “my legs were tired and screaming at me most of the time on climbs... heart rate was low... I was tired!”

After the Monday holiday, it was also another travel week for work as I headed to Miami for a conference. I swam one day. I took one day off and only managed a 45min treadmill run on the third day of the trip. I was rested for the weekend which brought on another fairly big effort. I rode 6hrs aerobic on Saturday (included 6x 70secs at 240w) with a 4mile/30min run off the bike. Fast for me! Sunday was a swim and a 90min aerobic (?!?) trail run.

Week 6
No travel this week but I still took it easy for the first two days with a rest day followed by a light spin. The weather was scorching in San Francisco and my mid-week 5x1mile progression run (descend from 8:30 to 7:30 over 5 miles) was a disaster but I seemed to make up for it with a strong computrainer class the next day (lots of time above 200w!).

The weekend ride was an interesting one… 4 hours at Ironman watts! I have never really ridden such a steady state training ride before so I was worried when I did not feel so great. I was on a new bike and we rode the Silverado trail in Napa so we could TT as much as possible. I managed 170w average for the four hours but felt uncomfortable a lot of the time. I also bagged on the run, completing only 30mins of the prescribed 60mins. Thankfully I made it through the week, wrapping up with a 12+ mile interval run on Sunday (1hr 42mins) that left me feeling much better about my running.

Week 7
Once again, the first two days of the week were all about active recovery with swimming and easy spinning. Wednesday was a treadmill session but I got through it happy, able to hit the prescribed paces. The end of the week brought more travel! This time it was a personal trip to support my husband and friends racing Xterra Maui. I packed my road bike and the highlight of our four day trip was a 5hr ride up and down Haleakala… 10,000ft of climbing! I also managed a little running and swimming during the trip but the travel ate into training time so I logged just 13.5 hours for the week.

Week 8
Another chill start to the week to recover post-travel but midweek brought about a hard treadmill session that lasted 90mins backed up with a hard computrainer class the next day. Ouch! I also completed two Purplepatch swims during the week but missed a weekend swim.

The weekend brought more biking: Almost 6hrs and 105 miles in the East Bay (Del Puerto Canyon ride) followed by a 7mile/60min run that built in pace by 2mi segments. I was supposed to back that up with a 3 hour ride and 2hr run the next day but I was tired and completed only a 2hr ride and 1:15 run. I was not happy that I had fallen apart so badly, especially after a successful day of training the day prior.

Week 9
Day off on Monday and just a swim on Tuesday but found my legs halfway through a Wednesday morning bike class. I had to fly to New York (again!) for 24 hours that week so I included a NY Plaza hotel treadmill session of 5 x 1 mile build, descending from 8:30 to 7:30 pace by mile. Thankfully, I had reached taper week so it was a very light weekend of training and I was able to recover from the travel. I was supposed to ride 3 hours on Saturday but somehow only managed 1 hour but I cannot remember why! Rain? The rest of the weekend’s training went as planned.

Week 10 (pre-race week Arizona)
Light-ish week kicked off with a 2hr spin on Monday and then shorter swim, bike, run workouts sprinkled through the next few days.

Week 11 (pre-race week Cozumel)
I got food poisoning the night before Arizona and never made it to the start line. I switched plans and scored an entry to Cozumel the following week. I eased myself into this week to ensure my body recovered from the illness. I did some harder bike efforts on the Wednesday with an easy run off the bike. Once in Mexico I just did easy sessions to acclimate.

Ironman Cozumel Race Report

Welcome to my Ironman Arizona Cozumel race report!

What happened in Arizona:
Wow... what a crazy couple of weeks it has been. For the past year, I had been planning on Ironman Arizona 2012 as my return to Ironman racing after taking two years off. I volunteered at IMAZ in 2011 in order to gain entry for the race. I knew the course well, I had previewed my competition (I wanted a Kona slot) and I knew what it would take to complete the race in 10hrs 15-20mins or so and I thought I was capable of that time, depending on conditions. I completed this race and won the AG with a time of 10:33 in 2008.

My husband and I were staying with his younger brother in Scottsdale and his parents (my in-laws) were also in town for the race. With the family gathered, they wanted to cook an early Thanksgiving dinner on the Friday night before the race. I figured two nights before the race, it would be fine. The following morning, my husband, Rich, and I headed to transition to rack our bikes and hand in the bike and run bags. I remember telling him that I felt *off* and that I thought it was just a little bit of nerves. Neither of us felt hungry so we headed to the movie theater and planned to eat a bigger meal immediately after watching Skyfall (new Bond movie). Unfortunately, we barely made it through the movie as we both got sick... projectile vomiting and diarrhea. We barely made it back to my brother-in-law's house as we were both feeling pretty nauseous. In the meantime, my brother in law had taken his 5 month pregnant wife to ER as she was experiencing the same nausea and diarrhea... the entire family was sick. Rich and I spent the rest of the evening barely moving from the couch and then to bed... the room was spinning around us :(

We set the alarm for 4am and decided we would reassess the situation at that time... if we could eat some food, we would try and race. However, we both continued to be sick throughout the night, and after one of my visits to the bathroom, I turned off the alarm. There was no way either of us was in a state to race... and certainly not race to our capabilities and goals.

The next morning, we gravitated from our bed to the couch but barely moved from the couch all day and we were not able to eat until later that night. Over 24 hours with no food. All day, I watched the race online/twitter updates but my personal disappointment in not being out there seemed to add to my nausea. I was psyched to see friends doing so well out there but I was intensely curious to know how my current fitness would have fared. It was much harder to deal with no race than a bad race... at least a result of some sort would have provided me some fitness data!

How I got into Cozumel:
Despite my weakened physical state, my A-type personality had already kicked into gear, problem-solving for another opportunity to race. I sent an email to Ken Glah's Endurance Sports Travel (EST) to see whether he had slots left for Ironman Cozumel the following weekend: two close friends - Beth Walsh (californiatraining.blogspot.com) and Brent Lorenzen - were planning to race. I also started looking into Ironman Los Cabos (but I didn't want to train through the winter) and Ironman Mont-Tremblant (it's too close to Kona) as possible alternatives for a race to qualify for Kona. I finally reached Ty at EST on Monday afternoon and he confirmed he had two slots remaining for Cozumel. I was still in a quandary... it would cost $2,000+ that I had not budgeted for, I had not planned time off from work and I knew little about the Cozumel course or conditions... I feared terrible heat and humidity... conditions that do not agree with me. Also, my husband had no interest in going to Cozumel... he wouldn't be able to get the extra time off work as easily as me and he seemed to have moved on from Arizona and was ready to get out on his cyclocross/mountain bikes for some winter fun. After a few texts with Beth and Brent, a call with Kim Schwabenbauer (www.fuelyourpassion.net) and word from my boss to "get my ass to Mexico", I took the plunge and signed up for Cozumel on Tuesday, flying out there solo two days later on Thanksgiving day.

Pre-race:
I cannot say enough great things about EST... everything was taken care of. Normally, I would want to organize everything myself, pick my own place to stay/eat, but given the situation, I was more than happy to hand off all responsibility to Ken and his team. It was a perfect set up for my last-minute situation.

Swim:
The water was choppy and the current looked as strong as the prior day's practice swim. These were by far the roughest conditions the race had ever experienced. However, Kim had given me great feedback on where to line up for the swim and that advice was reiterated by Ken Glah so I was not at all stressed. I lined up to jump off the dock but the line was moving incredibly slowly so I jumped in without any time to spare. However, when I jumped into the water (6ft drop), my goggles flew off and I lost them. Oh crap. I turned into a total drama queen, panicking and asking for assistance in locating my goggles. Thankfully, 3 guys sprung into action and within a minute or so, my goggles were retrieved (thank goodness for the clear blue waters of Chakanaab). It did mean that I was not where I wanted to be when the gun went off but I just had to go with it. The swim is effectively a rectangle where you swim into the current for 800m before swimming with the current for about 2km and then turning back into the current for another 1km or so. I never look at my watch during the swim but it felt like I reached the far buoy at the 2.8km mark fairly quickly. However, when we turned back into the current, I felt like I was making zero progress. I was horrified to see 1:18 on my watch as I exited the water. WTF? Okay, J, just move on and forget about your swim time.

Bike:
Coach's instructions were for me to ride a pyramid of watts by lap (1@ 170w, 2@ 180w and 3@ 170w) so I set off focused solely on my SRM. For some reason my HRM was not picking up my heart rate but I didn't really care since I never focus much on heart rate early in an ironman race. The power targets felt comfortable and I was focused on staying aero, eating and picking off fellow competitors. I was also chuckling to myself that I must be so far out of the AG race, that this was now all about having some fun, enjoying the scenery and putting some *data* into race practice so that I could use it in training for Los Cabos (Blanco had just signed up for the race so I was thinking I'd be doing the Mexican double).

I had read Sonja's race report (gosonja.com) and for some reason 1hr 52 per larger lap (39mi) was stuck in my head as a reasonable target so when I hit 39 miles in 1hr 45mins, I figured I was doing okay. I had not been passed during the lap either... though my interpretation of that information was that my swim *had REALLY sucked* rather than the notion that I might be riding well! LOL. The winds were strong and therefore my speed varied quite a bit throughout the laps. From T1 to Punta Sur (about 13-14miles), I seemed to average 24-25mph (I may even have seen 27-28mph) but once you hit the coast, my speed seemed to be more like 19mph. I recalled from Sonja's report and from talking to Kim that once you hit the orange building and make a left-hand turn back towards town, there would be a strong tailwind and you'd be going 24mph+ again. This was not the case last Sunday. While, we no longer had the strong headwind, the wind didn't seem to give much of a benefit either and I was only able to ride in the 22-23mph range.

The second lap was my only experience with packs of drafters but I did hear from those that swam faster than I, that there was some major drafting going on throughout the race. In my case, a few miles after I hit the coast on lap two, a group of about 8 guys came by hanging on one another's wheel... and I mean right on the wheel... there was no attempt to maintain a gap. They passed me but then seemed to slow so then I had to hit the gas and ride ~260w for 30 seconds to get back in front. I settled back into my watts and I glanced back and then they were on my frickin' wheel. Luckily, bike special needs came up and they chose not to stop while I went in to pick up my bottles with Osmo nutrition and some more Clif Bloks. I was glad to be rid of them because I just didn't want to be inadvertently caught up in their cheating.

The wind seemed to pick up even more on the third lap and all I could think is that I had not seen or passed anyone I know... I had scoped out the ladies in my AG and knew that Susanne Davis, Becky Paige, Alexandra Mitschke, Sophie Whitworth (listed entrant but did not race) and Tanya Houghton would probably be my major competition. I also knew Anne Thilges from San Francisco was a strong athlete in an older AG so if I were to pass her, it could be a good feedback on how I was doing... but I recognized no one and had zero feedback. I did realize that I was going to complete the bike in 5hrs 20mins or so, and that would be considered a decent ride in past years, so maybe I was doing okay.

Run:
I entered T2 to an empty tent and soon had about 6 volunteers answering to my every need. I speak fairly fluent Spanish from spending time in Spain and Latin America as a student and in my pre-race mental prep, I had thought through how to say everything in Spanish. I think it helped that I was confident in saying exactly what I needed in their language. I was out of T2 in just over 2mins. My legs felt great and I was thinking to myself that the bike seemed to have been well paced and I had not pushed too much at all. I hit the first mile in 8:30 (into a slight headwind) and I thought all was fine... I was just beginning to get my legs under me. My goal was to run as many 8:30s as possible and try and keep ALL the miles under 9mins. That plan did not last long as I needed to pee during mile 2 and hit that mile in 9:21. Same thing on mile 3, had to pee again and the split was 9:39.

This was not going well and I am only 3 miles in... Miles 4,5, 6 were a little better at 8:55, 8:51 and 9:02 but I seemed to be dwelling a little too long at aid stations (it was warm and I was intent on getting cold water and ice each km). I saw Susanne Davis when I was at mile 4 or so, and I figured she was about a mile ahead of me, possibly less, so that gave me a boost that I might be doing okay, but I still had no clue where I was in my AG. I don't think I saw many other AG women but I couldn't really tell who was Pro or AG.

The next next few miles did not improve but neither were they getting much worse with mile 7-9 at 9:02, 9:10, 9:03. I was now on lap two of the run and had started hitting the coke (actually it was Pepsi) pretty hard. I had to go to the bathroom somewhere between miles 10 and 11 and my split times slowed: 9:37, 10:05. However, I felt much better after the stop in the porta-pottie and mile 12 was back under 9mins at 8:54.

I was now in no-man's land... my longest training run was 12 miles (admittedly I ran/shuffled 13miles at Vegas 70.3) and I was really worried about my run endurance. My stomach also began to rebel big time and I visited the porta-pottie and the bushes at least 4x duing the next few miles. Miles 13-17 were 9:28, 9:51, 10:10, 11:16, 9:39. I even had to wait at one porta-pottie because the course was now getting quite crowded. Ugh!

Time for lap 3. Nutritionally, I went into damage control/problem-solving and stopped taking anything besides cold water for my head to cool down. No more coke, no more clif bloks, no more gatorade... NOTHING. I had seen Brent and Beth out on the course (both had lapped me) and I noted the gap to Susanne was also growing as she seemed to be running well but I still had no clue what position I might be in. It could be 2nd place... it could be 10th place?!? I was feeling tired but I knew I was on my final lap. I also took strength each time I stepped over a timing mat since it would send a little signal to Blanco that I was trucking along... it was nice to think about him tracking me from afar.

In town, I remember thinking how slick the concrete pavement had become as water from aid stations/runners was now making the roadway quite damp. Mile 18-20 was 9:56, 9:34, 10:01 (another porta-pottie stop!). By now there could not possibly have been anything in my stomach, so I was beginning to feel a bit more confident about running stronger... though I was barely able to pick up the pace: miles 21-22 were 9:40, 9:22. After rounding the far turnaround with just 4.5miles left to run back to town, I finally saw Alexandra Mitschke (I don't know her but I saw Alexandra as the name on her bib with the German flag) and realized that I was getting run down from behind. Again, I still didn't know what place I was in but I did not want to get passed in the final miles. Time to focus and not look back. I felt like I was moving quickly (faster than most others left on the course) but the mile splits were telling me otherwise: miles 23-26 were 9:31, 9:54, 9:44, 9:32. For those last four miles, I didn't take anything from aid stations, I didn't look back, I was just trying to inch myself closer and closer to the finish line without falling apart.

Post race:
I crossed the line in 10hrs 58mins and collapsed immediately onto a chair after the finish line. I saw Alex finish a minute or so after me and I was pleased that I had managed to hold her off... even if I was fighting for 10th place... I had no clue!

I won't bore you with too many details but I was shuttled off to medical with a temperature of 95f and blood pressure of 80/50 (very low for me). Nurses and red cross volunteers changed me into dry clothes then I was administered an IV and fed some cup-a-noodle soup to try and warm me up. I made it out of medical by around 7:30pm and collected my bike/belongings and met up with Ken Glah's group. I had my phone in my morning clothes' bag so that was my first chance to speak to Rich and confirm I was okay. He broke the news that I was 3rd in my AG behind Becky and Susanne. I was shocked and excited, knowing that last year there had been 3 slots in my AG (thanks again Sonja for the details!) and my AG was also the largest female AG in 2012. I was really hopeful there would be 3 slots.

Slot allocation:
The next day, I attended slot allocation/rolldown with Susanne (2nd W40-44) and Brent (won M40-44) and was mortified when I saw the actual slot allocation.

Only 2 slots for W40-44. However, I did notice that they had allocated a slot to W65-69 and I recalled from my review of results earlier that day that there were no finishers in that AG... so while I was nervous and on edge as they went through rolldown (no female slots rolled at all!), I had a sneaking suspicion that the slot would be awarded to my AG since there were no W65-69. Sure enough, after some confusion among the organizers, trying to figure out what to do with the slot, the British announcer said that it would be rolling to W40-44 and I leapt up and screamed that I wanted it before they even had the chance to call my name... that made everyone laugh!


I handed over $775, gave the organizers all the relevant details and was grinning from ear to ear that I had qualified for my 4th Ironman Hawaii... especially after the drama of the past week!   Time to head to awards with Brent and Susanne to celebrate our triple success!  

3/GO Magazine article: Not Your Average Spin Class