IRONMAN CANADA 2014

 
When my coach told me that he wanted me to do another ironman before Kona, I thought he was a little overly ambitious. I thought the beauty of qualifying for Kona just over a year ahead of time was that I would have a whole year to prepare for my next ironman. I learned early on that there is no value in arguing with him and I have a lot of faith in his knowledge as a coach. We discussed possible race options and last October I calmly signed up for Ironman Canada/Whistler. As the race date approached I thought we both must be nuts.

At Whistler, my husband Dennis and I were happy to be staying with our friend and ski buddy, Tim, who defected from being one of the Squaw Valley faithful when he moved to Washington and bought a ski condo at Whistler. We felt quite at home since we've stayed with him several times and it was helpful not to have changed time zones when traveling to this race.

It had only been six weeks since Ironman Hawaii 70.3 and the time flew by. My body was completely recovered and I'd gotten some pretty long and intense miles under my belt in those six weeks. My life was just seeming like a bit of a whirlwind mentally, three months into my new job which definitely interfered with some of my mid-week training sessions. I went into this Ironman not feeling quite as prepared as I was for Ironman Lake Tahoe (IMLT) in September. Everyone kept asking how long it was going to take me to finish. That always seems like a hard question to me since each race course is different. Based on my IMLT time and because the race was so far north, I was expecting to be finished before dark for the first time which would have to be under 14 and a half hours, and was secretly hoping for 13 and a half hours.

RACE MORNING

I didn't have any trouble getting up at 4:30 AM and I'm getting a little more comfortable with eating a 700+ calorie breakfast at that early hour. Since my bike and transition bags were checked in the day before, I only had to carry my wetsuit, water bottles, nutrition and two special needs bags with me for the mile walk to catch the shuttle to Lake Alta. There were dozens of volunteers taking transition bags, plenty of buses and no time was lost getting to the start. I had been a little leery of the process since I had heard horror stories about the shuttle buses to the start at IMLT. This was just indication of how well organized and staffed Ironman Canada at Whistler turned out to be. I had plenty of time to get my stuff organized at my bike and get ready for the swim. The only drawback was having to wait in a pretty long line to get my tires pumped up. It would be worth bringing a pump and handing it off to a friend, if you had one willing to get up early and bike or walk the two miles to the swim start.
 

SWIM



Practice swim at Alta Lake earlier in the week.

I swam out to the buoy furthest from shore to line up for the swim start and then I hung back for about 15 seconds after the start to see if I could avoid being totally beat up on the swim. The swim was two laps of a long rectangle, without having to exit the water between laps. I was in with people and able to draft most of the time and only got into the typical slamming, kicking, hitting melee during the first two turns. There were a couple of times where I felt hemmed in but was able to sprint forward and get out before getting clobbered. The swim seemed to go by relatively fast and I noticed my time of 1:17 as I was exiting the water. I took advantage of the wetsuit strippers, grabbed my bag and ran to the far end of the changing tent where a wonderfully helpful volunteer lathered me in sunscreen while I put on my shoes, generally helped me and packed my stuff into my transition bag as I ran off to my bike.



The calm before 1,800+ athletes entered the water.

BIKE

My bike was racked in a special section for Ironman All World Athletes (AWAs) and there were only four of the 31 women in my age group with that distinction. The AWA distinction is a ranking based on a point system derived from the previous year’s Ironman branded race participation. The higher you place in your age group in a race the more points you get. The points are added up from your top three races. So an age group winner who only did one race might be ranked the same as a person who did not place in three races. Therefore an AWA ranking isn’t really an indicator of speed. When I got to my bike I could tell that I was the first of the AWAs to exit the water but I had no idea what that meant compared to the entire field of women in my age group because I wasn’t racked with the majority of my competitors. I prefer having an indication of where I stand in the pack after the swim but I didn't dwell on it for long.

My plan for the bike was to use my heart rate to dictate my pace, aiming for the higher end of zone 3 (Z3) and not letting it drop below the top of zone 2. I made 2 small mistakes in this race, the first of which was getting in my mind that the top of my Z3 heart rate was 5 beats per minute higher than it is. Although my average was in the middle of Z3 for the bike, I was in Z4 for a good bit of time. I may have gone a little too hard on the bike which is not the best set up for the run. My bike time was 6:44:34. My Garmin says that there were 6,312 feet of climbing. There is some climbing early on which isn't much of a problem on well rested legs. There is a nice flat stretch from about mile 60 to 90 where I cruised along at a little over 20 mph. The real challenge began at the 90 mile mark, climbing  the final 22  miles from the town of Pemberton back to Whistler. It heated up into the low 90s in that section and I had some inner thigh cramping that I was able to alleviate by pouring water on my legs and mixing up my pedal strokes. When I got to the dismount area, I could barely swing my leg over the back of my bike. I managed to dismount without falling or dropping my bike but I walked through transition after handing my bike off to another great volunteer. I was wishing my legs felt less stiff but I was very happy to be off my bike.

RUN

Although the aid stations are placed approximately one mile apart, I like to carry my own water so I can ingest and wash down a gel every half hour and rather than having to time my gels with aid stations. I made my second mistake of the day by leaving my water bottle in transition. I was well out of the transition area before I realized I had left my water bottle behind. I made due, eating a gel as close to a half hour apart as aid stations allowed. I drank water at every aid station and also drank electrolyte drink or coke at about half of them. I saw Dennis about two miles into the run and he told me that I was in 7th place after the swim and 3rd place after the bike. That was good news and it buoyed me up for a bit. I really wanted to hang on to that 3rd place. I wasn’t thinking about moving up to first or second place.

I ended up doing a lot more walking during this race than I would have liked. I was having a hard time willing myself to run, especially up all of the little inclines. I had some mental low points and wasn’t able to keep that positive mindset that I pride myself on. I thought "I must be really been moving down in the ranks" but I just couldn’t get myself to go faster. Around mile 16, I noticed a woman in my age group pass me and I thought I would try to stay with her but she pulled ahead after just a half mile. About three miles from the finish I asked someone what time it was and thought I might be able to break 14 hours if I could just keep “running” for three more miles. The crowd support was spectacular throughout the run and the aid stations were all well-staffed and well-stocked. When I got near the finish I could see the clock and tried to pick up my pace to make it under 14 hours. I was thankful that the very last bit was slightly downhill to the finish and I made it in 13:58:56. My run time was 5:42:41. I was glad to be done and happy to at least come in under 14 hours. I was unhappy with the amount of walking I did on the run and thought I had surely lost a lot of ground to my competitors with that run.

Always happy to see Dennis and Tim along the course!



THE AFTERMATH
After making my way through the finish area, I met Dennis and Tim at a pre-designated spot. I had intended to walk the mile back to the condo after the race but Tim had scoped things out and found a nearby parking lot where he could pick me up. I had given him and Dennis each a ticket that would allow one of them to pick up my bike and transition bags. Tim told me I should make my way over to the parking lot with Dennis and Tim would pick up my bike and bags, drop my bike at Tribike Transport, walk back to the condo for the car and pick me up. I was in no shape to argue with that plan. We hadn’t purchased a phone data plan for Canada and we were not in a wireless area, so Dennis didn’t have any idea of where I was in the rankings at the end of my race. Once we got to the parking lot and I laid down on a bench, he texted our friend Katherine who we knew would be following my progress. Much to my surprise I had finished with a fourth place podium spot. I laid on the bench truly spent, aching all over, cramping, shivering although I wasn't cold, and at the same time sort of deliriously happy. As it turned out I had been in fourth place after the bike and although I had been passed by the woman who ended up in third place I also passed a woman who ended up in sixth place, managing to maintain the fourth place position that I was in after the bike.

The main takeaway for me after this experience is that no matter how much I feel like I’m suffering on the run, everyone else is suffering too, so don’t give up, stay positive and continue to push with everything I’ve got. My coach was right in having me do this race. It boosted my confidence, it reminded me how difficult ironman races are and it was a great experience in and of itself.

Awards ceremony first through fifth from left to right. Sporting My Soxy Feet Sole Long knee socks. A portion of the sales are donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
"You don't have to match to be a pair."

 

Why Keep Going Back to Honu?

I participated in Ironman Hawaii 70.3 (aka Honu) on May 31^st this year for the sixth consecutive year. There are currently 72 Ironman 70.3 races (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run) associated with the World Triathlon Corporation’s Ironman brand; I keep coming back to this one. There are Ironman 70.3 races at other alluring vacation destinations like Cozumel and St. Croix; I keep coming back to this one. Why?

It’s definitely not for the run! My coach, who has done this race more often than I and has even won the race outright, gave me this pre-race advice for the run:

“Just keep telling yourself that the heat will end but feeling good about your race result will not - so keep chugging along. Once you hit the road and do the out and back fingers in the lava fields - keep moving and running - just don't stop running. HR is through the roof, body is miserable and pace is out the window - just keep running and getting closer to the finish line. THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE THE PAIN AND HEAT END, IS BY GETTING TO THE FINISH LINE AND YOU DO THAT BY RUNNING, NOT WALKING!! This is a hot and VERY hard run. Keep surviving. There is no reprieve and it just is hard - keep drinking and keep drinking..”

It was oddly comforting to know that my coach felt this way about the Honu run. Every year during the run I say to myself “I’m never doing this race again!” and “Why would anyone want to do the full Ironman here?” It is just so…HOT, HOT, HOT. Then I cross the finish line, cool myself off in a beach side shower of cold water, take in the atmosphere and think “well maybe I should do it again next year and see if I can do better on the run...”



This portion is actually steeper than it looks!

The run course is fairly difficult to describe. About half of the 13.1 miles meander around on a golf course alternating between a squishy thick carpet of grass on the fairways, slightly more solid grass golf cart paths and concrete paths in the steepest areas. The other half is on asphalt roads that run through lava fields. These halves are not first and last half, rather the course goes from golf course to road - to golf course to road - back to golf course. Did I mention that it is HOT? The only shade on the run is when the golf cart path goes through tunnels under a couple of roads. The tunnels provide shade but the air is still and stifling hot. It’s difficult to get into a running rhythm with the changing surfaces and the randomly intermittent steep little hills; especially when all you really want to do is walk and pour ice water over your head.
On the plus side for the run, there are plenty of very well stocked aid stations with fantastic volunteers. The numerous volunteers spend their day in the blazing hot sun and amazingly their encouragement and enthusiasm never waiver.  I’m repeatedly pleased by the abundance of cold beverages, cold wet sponges and ice available at the aid stations even during the later hours of the race.

I signed up for this race the first year because I wanted to experience a taste of what it would be like to race on the big island of Hawaii and ride my bike on part of the course of the Ironman World Championship (aka Ironman Kona.) The second year I raced to redeem myself from the first year. The third year I raced because it was one of only five half ironman races that were offering qualification slots for Ironman Kona. By then I was addicted to this race.

Ironman Hawaii 70.3 is in its 11^th year and is extremely well organized starting with registration and bike services provided on site by Bikeworks http://www.bikeworkskona.com/, which is a dream bike shop for a triathlete.  Registration, the bike to run transition (T2) and the finish line are all at the beautiful Fairmont Orchid Hotel http://www.fairmont.com/orchid-hawaii/ . The accommodations and amenities we have enjoyed in condos we rented at the Fairway Villas and the Kulalani have been luxurious and just a short walk to the Fairmont Orchid.

Shuttle service is provided on race morning from the Fairmont Orchid to the swim which takes place at Hapuna Beach in crystal clear warm water. I LOVE this swim! The water is clear enough that the bottom is in sight even at a depth of 70 feet. The swim starts in waves with the pro triathletes heading out first, followed by the men and then the women who start seven minutes after the men. The bike course is on half of the Ironman Kona course going from Hapuna Beach south to the entrance to the Mauna Lani resort complex, making a u-turn and heading north to the turnaround at Hawi (the same turnaround at Ironman Kona) and back to the Mauna Lani resort and the Fairmont Orchid hotel. The difficulty of the bike portion varies from year to year dependent on the intensity of the wind and the wind gusts. One constant is that there is always a head wind for the 18 miles after the turn at Kawaihae until the turnaround at Hawi. 

 

The run starts and ends at the Fairmont Orchid right on the ocean. The setting is beautiful and they know how to throw a party. There are Hawaiian dancers and music, lunch featuring hamburgers or chicken burgers, and three free beers for athletes. Greg Welsh (Aussie and Ironman Champion) provides commentary at the finish line and the award ceremony, with his witty and entertaining humor.  The competition at this race is fierce. The race attracts a high percentage of top age group athletes who are either looking to qualify for Kona or who are using it as a training race since they have already qualified for the big dance in October.

 

I can’t forget to mention that the Kohala Coast on the big island of Hawaii is just a great place to vacation with beautiful beaches and perfect weather. Sitting at the pool or on a beautiful beach sipping Mai Tais is a relaxing way to recover the day after a half ironman. This is one race location to which my husband actually enjoys going. So WHY NOT keep going back?

TRIATHLON TRAINING CAMPS

Why go to camp? 

For me there are three compelling reasons:

1. Camaraderie
2. Coaching
3. Conditioning

I’ve been able to participate in two tri camps this year. In February, I went to Tucson for my second time at the four day Tucson Camp. In April we had a three day “mini-camp” in Marin County.

Camaraderie

Ironman training ends up requiring a lot of solo training time, with specific workouts tailored to address individual weaknesses and specific race schedules. The lengths of workouts for Ironman training are longer than the average person - who isn’t training for an Ironman - wants to do, week in and week out. That coupled with the fact that each workout has an individualized specific purpose makes it difficult to find consistent training partners. On the plus side, these long solo workouts aid in the mental preparation for a long day of racing and especially for the 112 miles of the non-drafting bike portion of the race. As the training days, weeks and months roll by; I start to feel like I’m the only fanatic out there that doesn’t have a balanced life. Then I go to camp! Like minded people from all over meeting up to put in long swims, rides and runs. We don't all swim, bike and run at the same pace and aren't necessarily working on the same weaknesses. At camp we are all on the same schedule, swimming, biking and running together, sharing the same passion and talking about it over dinner and the snippets of other free time. The camaraderie continues after camp; sharing information and encouraging each other.

Sag Monkey - Providing Professional Support to Athletes

Coaching

Coach Chris Hauth

Camp provides ample opportunity to get personalized attention and critique from my coach. He limits his camps to about 12 people which makes the logistics easier and enables him to provide personalized attention. Not only is my coach a wealth of information that can’t possibly be absorbed in any one sitting, my fellow campers have a lot of experience from which to learn.  At each camp I received additional individualized input in all three disciplines from my coach. Being coached is a progression and a process of continual improvement with constant tweaking along the way. Spending several days with my coach gives me a chance to try out his suggestions and check back to see if I’ve gotten it right or at least if I am headed in the right direction. Spending time with my coach and getting to know each other also helps with our routine communication which is mostly through email.

Conditioning

LR Photo by Nick Nicastro

In addition to the individualized attention, several days in a row of quality training provides a big fitness boost. It’s not just the quality of the workouts as there is also a large volume of training during camp.  With the peer pressure of other athletes and my coach watching, I put a lot more into the training than I do when I am just slogging through it on my own. It is a luxury to set this time aside and not have the distractions of my normal life, to concentrate on training, eating right and getting enough sleep. 

The Tucson camp ended up being over 18 hours of actual training time. The Marin mini camp was a little over 14 hours of training. The camps were structured like this: (the bike miles are what I could do in the allotted time)

Tucson	Swim	Bike	Run
Day 1	1:00	4:00 – 50 plus miles to Kits Peak	0:30 transition run
Day 2		5:20 – 90 miles to Patagonia	0:45 transition run
Day 3	1:45		1:45 + drills
Day 4	optional	3:30 – Mount Lemon	Optional transition run
Marin	Swim	Bike	Run
Day 1	1:00	4:00 – 58 miles	Short transition run
Day 2		5:00 – 80 miles	5 mile transition run (0:53)
Day 3	1:30		9.6 mile run (1:43)

I liked the Marin mini-camp because I didn’t have to travel so it was less expensive, I could sleep in my own bed and I wasn’t away from my husband for several days. Even though I train in Marin County quite a bit, I rode somewhere I had never ridden on each of the bike rides and both runs were routes I had never run. With thanks to Rachel Melick we got to swim in the Tiburon Peninsula Club pool, which was very nice.  On the other hand, when I was at camp away from home I enjoyed being immersed in the topic of triathlon and spent more leisure time with my fellow campers soaking in their enthusiasm for our sport. I also preferred the four day format over the three days although I was absolutely in need of a rest day at the end of a four day camp. 

Scenes from Tucson (Lower right (LR) photo by Amy Kaup)

Scenes from Marin County

 I'm looking forward to the next camp!

WHO WOULDN'T RUN FOR CHOCOLATE?

A race in January with a Hot Chocolate theme; now that is an event that caught my eye. The Hot Chocolate 5K and 15K series came to San Francisco for the first time this year after being established in 2008 with the inaugural Chicago Hot Chocolate 15/5K. At first I thought I was going to have to pass up what looked like a fun run with a very tempting reward at the end because I would be off skiing in Tahoe. It turned out that the weather/lack of precipitation didn’t cooperate with the ski plan but it provided perfect running weather in San Francisco.
 

I’ve had both bad and great experiences when it comes to first time events. There was that inaugural triathlon in Napa when the weather was in the high 90s and they ran out of cups on the run course. They still had water and the volunteers were picking up used cups from the ground and refilling them. Almost 100 degrees 2 and a half hours into a race, I didn’t really care, I just needed water. That’s when I learned it’s always a good idea to carry a bottle of some size. Then there was Ironman Lake Tahoe which had its glitches but it all worked out well for me. Given the fact that there was the promise of chocolate at the end, I thought this inaugural event would be worth the risk.

The Hot Chocolate run series is put on by RAM racing which I had never heard of. Since I was optimistically praying for snow, I waited until three days before the event to register. The on-line registration process was easy although they were out of hoodies in my size.  I opted for a men’s XL and if I wasn’t able to exchange it after the race I could give it to my husband. The packet pick-up was at my all time favorite store, the Sports Basement. Packets could be picked up either Friday or Saturday before the Sunday event. Packet pick-up was very organized, no waiting, and I was able to exchange the men’s XL hoodie for a woman's in my size. They were serving marshmallows dipped in warm, gooey, and thick chocolate fondue just to get us primed for reaching the finish line. 
 

The organizers were very conscious of the impact 10,000 runners could have on the neighborhoods around Golden Gate Park, so they had two shuttle options from two different ends of the city.  One from a BART and MUNI stop and the other from a large parking lot. There were some grumblings in social media about the costs and suggested early arrival times of these options, but I think it offered a nice alternative and was well utilized.

I opted to drive my easy to park SMART and car pool from my house with Roberto.  We met up with 3 friends of Roberto's at the race.
 

The race organization was pretty impeccable. Timing
chips were in the number bibs, there was a large tent for sweat check at the start, an abundance of porta-potties, and there were starting corrals. The corrals were lettered and each bib had a corresponding letter based on the estimated pace we put in at the time of registration. All 5 of us were in the same starting corral, which was not planned. Given the early hour and nearby neighborhood there wasn't any blaring music at the start. The announcer sounded like he could have been a DJ at an easy listening radio station. They started the race in waves, allowing a few minutes between starting corrals which spread us out enough that there was room to run as soon as we crossed the timing mat. There were timing mats along the course and at the turnaround keeping it an honest race. 
 

This was the first time for me running a 15K distance race. My training plan called for an hour run at an easy aerobic pace. I knew I wasn't going to be able to run 15K in an hour even at my fastest pace, so I told myself I'd at least keep with the easy pace part of my plan rather than running it as a race. I started out nice and slow allowing Roberto and the others to go on ahead without me. About two miles into the run I saw another woman who is also coached by Chris Hauth and she introduced me to the women she was running with who had all been at Ironman Lake Tahoe. I had fun chatting with them off and on over the next four or five miles, although I had to up my pace to keep up with them, passing and being passed by Roberto and friends at different points along the way. All in all, I liked the 15K distance and loved the chocolate reward at the end.
 

I was expecting to get a ceramic mug of hot chocolate and somehow having to compete with my fellow runners to get a few bites of chocolate fondue. Although I was a little disappointed not to get a ceramic mug, what they did was ingenious. There were enough stations and volunteers that we didn't have to stand in line to receive a large plastic mug. It was partitioned so that it held a cup of hot chocolate, a well of delicious warm melted chocolate and various things to dip into the chocolate: a marshmallow, banana, rice crispy treats, pretzels and a wafer cookie.
 

Overall, I'd give this race an A grade and recommend it. By the way it doesn't matter if you do the 5K or 15K, everyone gets the same goodie bag and post race chocolate. If you like the idea of running for chocolate you can even be a Chocolate Ambassador. Ambassadors agree to promote the race and get rewards based on the number of people they get to sign up with their code. RAM racing is still taking applications or be an ambassador for the Seattle race which will be on March 2. This is the link: http://www.hotchocolate15k.com/seattle/61-2/

Time for Resolutions and Reflections

Resolutions for 2014

I have been thinking quite a bit about the year ahead.  It could be a big year of change for me as I will become eligible for full retirement from my day job, after 32 years of service.  However, it is the opportunity to race in Kona at the Ironman World Championships in October that has me most excited about 2014.

I’ve thought about the many things I could resolve to do in order to be healthy and happy not only in 2014 but in the years to come.  I think it is better to put these thoughts as positive to do’s rather than negative don’t do’s.  I’m sharing them to get the creative juices going. I’ve thought (in no particular order) about resolving to:

·         Get back on my daily vitamin and pro-biotic regimen
·         Plan meals/feedings ahead of time, so that I eat protein and vegetables every three to four hours
·         Get my first workout done in the mornings
·         Leave work on time in the evening
·         Set aside some time every week to spend socializing with friends
·         Get a monthly massage
·         Do something nice for my husband every week

I’m not sure which I will pick, or maybe I should choose them all.

I had a conversation with a co-worker today and she is following a suggestion of choosing a word for 2014 rather than a resolution. The word will create a vision for the year and be the focus. An example that stands out to me would be something like “intentional” or “mindfulness”; I will make all of my activities intentional, versus going through the motions.

Some other things I know I’ll do for my health and happiness so fortunately I don’t need to ponder them:

·         The workouts assigned to me by my coach (typically 6 days per week, sometimes 7)
·         Monthly chiropractor visits
·         Wellness medical appointments
·         Take vacation time off from work

Reflections on 2013

I aged upped!  I turned 55 in 2013 and moved into a new five year age group (AG) in tri racing. Another thing I love about this sport is that it actually makes me look forward to getting into the next older group.  I’m not saying that it is necessarily easier to do well in the sport as one progresses through the age continuum. There are some wickedly fast women in the age groups above 50 who continue to be faster than many women even half their age.  There are however less of us, due to the fact that this level of training gets harder as we get older as the body takes more time to repair itself.  Among the women over 50 there is still a high degree of competitiveness but a sense of camaraderie dominates the interactions.

The year 2013 was my first full year of having a coach and it paid off as evidenced by my race results:

·         Ironman Hawaii 70.3 – AG 4^th place
·         Donner Lake Half Iron Distance – AG 1^st place
·         Ironman Lake Tahoe – AG 2^nd place
·         Tahoe Trail Run 10K – AG 2^nd place
·         East Bay 10K – 3^rd place

I enjoyed spending time in Hawaii and Tahoe around these triathlons and the company of my husband and friends.  I had a great weekend in Monterey with Cecile when we rode in the Sea Otter Classic Gran Fondo and were challenged by the hills and head winds of the last 20 miles.

The word for 2013 had to be “FUN.”  Trips to Mexico with family, ski trips to Whistler with friends, the rides to Davis with Mike, Lori, Cecile and others, as well as the training camps in Tucson and Tahoe with my coach.

“FUN” might be my word for life.

Running is a FUN way to explore a foreign city.

THE PRE-SEASON

This time of year is generally considered the “off season” for triathletes in North America.  For those of us with high aspirations or big goals, like racing at the Ironman World Championships, my coach calls it the pre-season.  There is no real break from swimming, biking and running, the focus just shifts primarily toward working on strength and form. The goal is to build on the fitness gained in the previous season, rather than losing it and having to build it all back up again.

My recovery from Ironman Lake Tahoe consisted of one entire week off while also recovering from a cold with an incessant cough. Over the next two weeks I continued to get quite a bit of rest incorporating low intensity workouts, every other day. I really appreciated the luxury of being able to sleep in and to do things I rarely had time for over the past year such as going to brunch on a weekend with my husband. After those three weeks of relative leisure, I got back on a regular training schedule. The first two weeks back into consistent training, I planned some end of week highlights as a treat; a 10K run and a 100 mile group ride.



Last 200 Yards on the Turf

This is a great season for running and there are lots of nearby running races to choose from. For a 10K, I participated in the inaugural "Let's go 5-1-0" 10K which took place across the bay from San Francisco at the Golden Gate Fields race track. It was organized by Brazen Racing and the last 200 yards to the finish were actually on the race track. Brazen Racing does a great job of organizing their races and this one had the added luxury of not starting until 10AM. Of the triathlon sub-disciplines, running is my weakest link. I planned to set a pace between 9:15 and 9:30 minutes/mile. The first 4 miles felt pretty easy with my splits all being 9:21 or under. For the last 2.2 miles I had to focus quite a bit and my pace slowed such that I ended up with a 9:23 overall pace. That was a personal record (PR) for me and put me in 3rd place. I haven’t had many high placements in running races, so I was pretty stoked to get an award. My fastest 10K race which was back in June of 2000 was at a 9:27 minute/mile pace and that was the year I trained for the Paris marathon. I also felt good about beating my previous PR from 13 years ago, proving that just like wine we can get better with age.

Once or twice a year, for the past few years, I've joined a friend and anyone else we can gather together to ride 100 miles from the North Berkeley BART station to Davis and return on the Amtrak train. This year we had a group of 12 riders and the best matched group to date. We stuck together pretty well and the pace was good enough that were able to catch the earlier return train. It was great fun, I met some nice people and it was the easiest time I've had doing the ride.



The Gang



Fall Follage



Goofing off at our 80 mile rest stop

Planning some low stress, group activities is a great way to get energized and revved up again to get back at it and into the “Pre-Season!”

IM LAKE TAHOE: WHAT A RACE!

Unhealthy levels of combined smoke from the American and Rim fires forced me down the mountain and dashed my dream of training at altitude for five weeks before the race. About two weeks before the race, the smoke cleared enough to make it worthwhile to return to Squaw. My coach Chris Hauth and a number of his athletes met back up in Tahoe for a final group training weekend on the course two weeks before the race. I felt really good and hoped that I hadn’t peaked too early.

My husband Dennis joined me on Friday night a week before the race, my sister the following Tues., my sister-in-law and brother-in-law on Wed. and my friend and best training buddy Cecile, the day before the race. So my cheering section was set.

I did my last workout on Friday: A one-hour bike during which I tested Zipp 404 race wheels rented from Tri Bike Transport. This last minute decision was fueled by a look at the USAT rankings of my competitors versus mine. Of those with a ranking, I was ranked 6^th; podium spots go to 5^th place, so I asked myself, “What was there to lose?” My bike felt a little different with the wheels, but it only took about 15 minutes to get used to the feel. On Saturday, it poured rain, the temps dropped, and snow fell above 7000 ft.  Good thing I finished my last scheduled workout on Friday!

IMAGE FROM SQUAW WEB CAN ON DAY BEFORE THE RACE 

Race Morning: At 4:30 am, I drove to Cecile’s place located less than a mile from the swim start and left my car there until the next day. Cecile drove me to the start, took my morning clothes and saw me off before she headed to Squaw to volunteer in the medical tent. 

Even before the start I knew that Ironman Lake Tahoe was going to be a different kind of race. My bike, protected from the rain by plastic bags, was now covered in ice. Even the little puddles of rain water in the dimples of the plastic bags had formed ice cubes and, where the bike wasn’t protected, it needed defrosting in order to tape on my electrolytes. One of the best things I did was put “Hot Hands” inside my gloves before hanging them on my shifters so that they would be warm when I started the ride. As there was not a bike pump to be found, I stood in line in freezing temperatures at the air compressor for my tires to be pumped. After re-racking my bike I headed over to the transition bag area and put toe warmers between my bike shoes and neoprene toe covers.

Swim: By the time I got to the beach most of the competitors were already lined up. I wove through the tight crowd to line up for the swim at the back of the 1 to 1:10 group, thinking I could do the swim in an hour and 15 mins. The sun had just come up and fog was rising off of the warm lake into the 32 degree air. I couldn’t see any of the buoys as we entered the water and started to swim, so I just started following people. With all my effort to not let it happen, my heart rate soared and I actually felt a little panicked as I got pummeled, elbowed in the mouth, and especially when one guy actually put his arm around my waist and pulled himself over me pushing me under to get to the other side of me. My heart was racing until the number five sighting buoy, where I finally managed to get my breathing under control. 

With the course shrouded in fog, I couldn’t see from one buoy to the next and never saw the course from shore. I felt amazed that I was able to execute my plan of swimming to the inside of the sighting buoys and turning tightly around the turn buoys. I felt like I was just surviving on the first lap and couldn’t really concentrate on swimming well. 

On the second lap I was able to stretch out a bit and focus on my stroke.  At this point, every time I drew a breath, I could appreciate the view of snow capped mountains in the distance with trees in the foreground dusted with snow. This alternated with the crystal clear view to the bottom of the lake, which was sometimes obliterated by bubbles from hard kicking around me. I came out of the water thinking it was a pretty slow swim. I couldn’t tell by the clock because we had a rolling start and I didn’t know what time it was when I crossed over the starting mat. I learned after the race that my swim time was 1:20 – I was expecting 1:15 or a little quicker.

T1: I took advantage of the wetsuit strippers, retrieved my transition bag pretty quickly and went into the inadequate changing tent which was packed with women struggling to put on dry clothes. With no chairs available, I dropped my stuff on the ground and put my helmet on right away so it wouldn’t get kicked or stepped on. It was pure chaos as women stepped all over my stuff and I struggled to put my jacket on, so I grabbed everything and went outside. Although it was significantly colder, I had some room which I used to sit down on the ground to get my socks and shoes on.  I put on a stretchy tight jacket, tight fleece vest, knee warmers, socks, a neck gator, shoes, sunglasses, and a headband that covered my ears; plus I stuffed a few Bonk Breaker Bars in my tri jersey pockets.  I had worn arm warmers, a dry fit tee, tri jersey and tri shorts under my wetsuit and kept them on even though they were now wet. My transition time was 12 minutes and 16 seconds. It seemed ridiculously long but was very much in line with many other competitive participants and probably less than the average for this race.

Bike: I felt cold for the first lap of the bike but thanks to the chemical warmers, didn’t have frozen or numb hands or toes. It took a long time for my legs to feel warmed up and on the first two climbs (Martis and Brockway) I wasn’t able to produce Z4 watts or Z4 heart rate very often. At the time I was thinking that I probably went too hard on my three hour Wed. ride earlier in the week. I also thought about what my coach said about just getting over the hills, so I tried not to get mentally hung up on the seeming lack of power. I felt like I took the entire first lap fairly easy. On the second lap, my Garmin turned off in the Comstock area; I turned it back on and saw that the battery was fine and hoped it would stay on.  I kept my eye on power and heart rate, realizing about nine miles later that I hadn’t pressed start! I’m missing data from Truckee to somewhere in the Martis area. On the second loop the Martis climb didn’t feel difficult but the top half of the Brockway climb felt extremely difficult. I enjoyed the final fast descent back to Kings Beach hitting a top speed of 47 mph.  Then came the start of the home stretch, I wished I knew from my computer how much time had lapsed on the bike ride so I would have some idea about how I was doing compared to my pre-race expectations. At the start of the last Dollar Hill climb I noticed two guys squatting off of their bikes; Just as I was wondering what they were doing, my right inner thigh got a major cramp. Ah ha, they were stretching out cramps! I downed the rest of my water bottle, took two salt tabs and tried to emphasize a different part of my pedal stroke and the cramp went away pretty quickly. Which leads me to what I ate and drank on the bike:

On the first loop, the first two Bonk Breaker Bars were almost frozen and it took me a half hour toget through each one. At this rate, I thought I’d be eating constantly during the entire bike ride. Also my bottles were so cold that they were almost impossible to squeeze. All in all, I ate three bonk breaker bars, two gels, and one package of Power Bar Energy Blasts. Plus I had 100 cals of Roctane Energy Formula in one bottle. In total this adds up to approximately 1290 cals on the bike. The bike took 7:08, so this is 187 cals per hour ingested. My target was 200 cals per hour; not perfect but not terrible. Where I fell short was in drinking. I had three bottles on the first loop, all with one Nuun tab in them and one with the addition of the 100 cals of Roctane. I stopped at special needs and picked up an additional bottle with one Nuun tab in it. I took 2 water bottles from aid stations after that and thought that there was another aid station between Carnelian Woods and the turn into Squaw Valley, but there was not. That made the total number of bottles only six, well short of my target of seven to 10.  Since I finished my last bottle at the bottom of the Dollar Hill climb, I entered T2 on the thirsty side but I also needed to pee.

Although I didn’t know it at the time because my computer had malfunctioned, my bike time was 7:08 – just eight minutes over my goal time of seven hours. My average HR was 134 (zone 3) max 155, and my average watts 139 (zone 2).

T2: It was pretty uneventful. I did have to duck into a porta potty before I left T2. My transition time was five minutes and 35 seconds.

Run:  A lot of the run is pretty much a blur to me. There are moments that stand out but mostly I was focused on two recurring mantras: “You don’t get on the podium by walking” and “Don’t let all that training go to waste.” Soon after T2 at the end of the parking lot, just before heading onto the Squaw Valley Road bike path, I thought I should have taken more time in the porta potty. I had to stop again. Fortunately my stomach wasn’t upset.

Shortly after getting on the bike path I saw my coach who was also racing and we greeted each other. I immediately thought about my running form. Then I kept thinking he was going to lap me on his second loop and critique me on my running form. The fact that he might run up behind me, kept me concentrated on my form until I passed the second turnaround which was about four or five miles into my first lap. It took about three miles for me to get my legs on the run. They started feeling more normal after I turned the corner at the Resort at Squaw Creek heading back toward Squaw Valley Road. Until I stopped at special needs, which I think was at about mile 15, I ran without walking except for up the short hill behind the resort. At special needs I picked up some gels, a long sleeved shirt and exchanged my Fuel Belt bottle for one filled with Gatorade. Throughout the run I ate a gel every 30 to 40 minutes and drank something to wash each one down. I think I skipped one gel at about the four hour mark. I also took two Endurolytes every hour for the last three or four hours.  I took water at every aid station and after special needs, walked through two or three where I also got Coke.

One of the nice things about the out and back section along the Truckee River was seeing some of my fellow AIMP training friends on the run course. On my way to the first turn-around, I first saw Dora who said, “Brenda, you are awesome!” I retorted, “You are awesome!” and a guy behind me said, “You are both awesome!” This cracked me up. Soon after Dora, I saw Faith and then John. On my way back, I recognized Byron and Rachael in time to give a shout out.

When I headed back into the parking lot after the first loop of the run I stopped in the porta potty again! I felt much better after that, although I was disappointed that I was losing time with three porta potty visits.

My legs felt achy after about 14 miles and I took two Advil. It was dark by the time I turned the corner to head up to the Resort at Squaw Creek for the second time. Again, I allowed myself to walk up the hill behind the resort.  When I turned off of Squaw Creek Road onto the bike path, all I could see was an unending line of racers’ headlamps coming toward me in the darkness. About a mile later, the course took us down a short dirt hill between Hwy 89 and the bike path which I walked down on this second loop.  Although it was well lit, I felt like my quads couldn’t take the steep downhill running. It was only a short distance from there to the second turn around and my spirits lifted once I made that turn. Sortly after the turnaround I had to walk/stagger back up the dirt hill. My legs were feeling pretty uncoordinated for that short climb. At the top of that hill when I started running both the volunteer at the top and the guy running behind me voiced concern that I would stray out into the street, so I must have looked pretty wobbly at that point. From there it was only about 5K to the finish and it felt like I was able to pick up my pace. I was even able to run/shuffle up the hill by the soccer field behind the fire station.

Finish: Finally the finish line! When I distinctly heard Mike Reilly say, “Brenda Bettencourt, you are an Ironman!”, I felt a huge surge of excitement along with a sense of accomplishment and pumped both fists into the air. I was still a little wobbly after the finish and didn’t notice my finish time. My average HR on the run was 142 (Z3) and official run pace averaged 12:34 minute miles.

I hobbled over to the food, skipped the massage, went to my sister’s room in the village and looked up my results, learning I had finished in 2^nd place with a time of 14:15:51. That re-energized me and I literally did a happy dance. After wolfing down some chips heaped with delicious guacamole that my sister-in-law made for me, I showered and went back to the finish line with my sister and Cecile. We were there from about 11:30 to midnight, cheering in the final finishers. I was so happy to have Cecile and my sister there with me to enjoy the atmosphere and positive energy that is Ironman.

Monday morning, I found out that by coming in second, I earned an Ironman Kona slot. NOW I CAN DO IT ALL AGAIN! Ironman World Championships, October 2014! I had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming.

It would be impossible to do an Ironman without a significant support section. In addition to my husband who supports this obsession despite the hours and hours of training on top of my long work days, it takes a village. I appreciate the support of my training partners, new AIMP friends, and those that cheered me on and encouraged me.

Special Thanks to:

My coach – Chris Hauth (AIMP Coaching)
My chiropractor – Dr. Marshall Luck (Rincon Chiropractic)
My nutritionist – Dr. Rich Stagliano (Live Fit Medicine)