Race Report: Snake River Canyon Half Marathon

Here is a race report from a race I did a couple of weeks ago. This year I'm continuing to work on race pacing, keeping good running form, and having a positive attitude always!!

I've been spending a lot of time in Pullman, WA at the Washington State University Vet School there because my dog is going through radiation (which is going well). When we were making plans for our second trip back I just happened to notice that there was a half marathon going on near there Saturday March 6th. That sounds like a fun thing to do while killing time in the Palouse! Plus, I decided not to do the hilly half I had been planning on (because of lack of training), so I was itching to do one. I was determined to go under 2 hours, since I had come close, but not done it at the Seattle Half last year. And look at the elevation profile from the website!

Start |______________________________________________| Turn around
Finish

Totally flat. 20 feet of elevation gain. I knew I could make my goal!

Saturday morning I got up nice and late (in the day) because the race didn't start until 10:00 - gotta love that! I did head out early, planning on getting to the race start with plenty of time, like over an hour early. I got in the car and put in Cyndi Lauper's "She's So Unusual" CD, nothing like 80's music to get you going! Blasting "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and feeling relaxed and in a good mood, I left the hotel. Except I headed out the wrong way on the highway and ended up in the next town a half hour away. A quick stop at a gas station, verbal directions and studying of the map, I was on my way BACK to Pullman, past the Pullman turn-off, and made the right turn heading down, down, down the canyon to the Snake River.

I ended up getting there about 20 minutes before the race started - ACK! And of course I was parked about a mile away from the race start. So I walked there quickly as a pre-warm-up, and then stood in the mega line for packet pick-up. Luckily that went quickly, but I still had to go back to my car, use the bathroom, and do a warm-up. So, to multi-task I jogged to the car, peed beside it (somewhat out of view), then jogged back to the race start. That would have to be good enough for my warm-up. That and some jumping in place before the gun went off.

This is a small race. 600 people. No timing chip, but not a lot of hassle either. It was great, you can drop your extra clothing off along the way at a water station and they bring it back to you. They had a sports drink on course designed by students at WSU called Raza. I didn't try it because of nothing new on race day, and because I had the yummy but discontinued LUNA Sport Chocolate Smoothie recovery drink for afterwords.

Race start. It was WINDY! Really windy. Luckily, it was a headwind going out, and a tailwind coming back. But the wind made it cold the first half, so I wore and extra layer. My plan was to do the first mile between a 9:10 and 9:20 pace, as not to commit race suicide (as my boyfriend said). First mile 8:45 - oops! It felt easy and so many people passing me! But I have to remember that even though it feels badly to go slow in the beginning and have everyone passing you, it feels so much better to feel strong at the end and pass so many people!!! So I slowed it down and just watched my heart rate and mile splits and kept a steady pace. By mile 5 I was getting demoralized by the wind. It was relentless. But I just kept tucking behind people and keeping a positive attitude. I could see the turn-around coming up, and I knew it would get so much easier at that point. And it did! It was like I was on a different course after that, wind at my back, nice and warm, beautiful view:


I ditched my long sleeve shirt at the next water stop and picked up my pace. Every mile or so raising my HR a few beats. I knew because of my lack of training (esp. compared to how ready I was for the Seattle Half) I did not have much top end speed, so I saved my all out pace until the last 200 yards. And I really focused on keeping my running form - quick and light on my feet! I tend to really slog when I'm tired, stomping my feet and hunching over. But I've found that running the B-52's song "Rock Lobster" through my head really helps, because I match my cadence to the tempo! With 3 miles to go I was picking off people right and left. The big thrill was passing the man with the M-Dot tattoo on his calf! ;-)

And I crossed the finish line with my new half marathon PR: 1:57:37! Yippeeee!

Why I am not excited to do an Ironman

A lot of my friends did their first Ironman this year. This means I've read a lot of race reports, and most of them contain nuggets that reassure me why I am not training for an Ironman.

Here are some funny bits. I've left them anonymous for obvious reasons, and while I laugh and gag at them, I am very proud at the way everyone persevered...No DNF's!


SWIM

When the cannon went off, I started swimming and immediately got pummeled. Within the first few minutes, I got kicked in the right eye and had to stop briefly to release the pressure on my eye. A few minutes later I got an elbow in the left eye. Somewhere else, I had some guy swim next to me and grab my shoulder and push it down. After he did it a few times I slowed a bit to get away from him. A number of times someone grabbed my feet and gave them a slight yank.

Eventually I was able to really start swimming but 5 min in I realized I had practiced the wrong sport.. this wasn’t swimming, it was a cross between rugby and sumo wrestling. I had an advantage in this situation since I grew up playing with my friends in our pool… you know “try to drown your friend” kind of games:)… well that is what this sort of felt like. I felt like a salmon trying to swim up river with a 1000 of my closest fish friends.

I noticed I was getting kicked in the face and people were trying to swim over me. I have been to triathlons before and seen a little bit of this, but this was the first time it was relentless. I got kicked in the face twice pretty hard but it didn’t really hurt that bad. One guy I did kick accidentally tried to push my feet down and then punch me in the side, which was pretty crazy.

The swim was fairly violent. A lot of thigh slapping, foot slapping, and side bumping. At one point I was drafting pretty well behind someone, and suddenly his feet disappeared in the murky water. I was wondering “What happened?” just as he kicked me hard in the face – he had switched to a breast stroke to sight and I had caught up too close.

soon after starting swimming I was getting hit around pretty good. There was one guy who kept head butting my side, and then in the span of 30 seconds I had been head butted from the right, slapped in the face from the left, my ankles grabbed from behind, then my right arm hooked and my head dunked while breathing so I choked badly. I had a panic reaction right then – I was incredibly hot, I couldn’t get any air, and a little devil in my head screamed “GET OUT NOW”!

[L - I could post a hundered more like this, but you get the point]


BIKE

I ran to the mount line and it was like beginner-city. Two men in front of me fell off their bikes trying to get on in a hurry. One lost both water bottles and apparently decided his time was too important to stop and pick them up. Hey, people, it’s a freakin’ IRONMAN, not a sprint, get your crap together, take your time and get on your bike without getting hurt! "What’s with these people???" I thought. How could that guy leave all his nutrition at the beginning of the bike course!???!

[After she flatted just out of T1...] Just then, the boy I sent to get help came back to me and said if I wanted help, I had to go back to transition. WHAT??!?!? Crap. I chose to run back into transition. It was a nightmare. All these bikers were coming out and I was running all the way back in. I was almost run over several times by people who mounted their bikes and were still looking down at their feet as they rode off...they wouldn't even look up until I yelled to them. It was not only embarrassing, it was frustrating. Any lead I had built up on that fabulous swim was now gone....and then some... I saw some men standing under a tent and I asked them for a pump. They pointed across one of the aisles and I saw about 6 bike technicians standing there with a bunch of pumps. I called to them, but then one of the men I was standing by chastised me and said I need to go over there if I want to use a pump. I was like, "Dude, it's much easier to carry a pump across the aisle with all these athletes going by than it is for me to wheel my bike across the aisle!" He was pretty mean about it and told me I needed to wait for it to be clear. And just like Frogger, I maneuvered my way across the streaming flow of athletes and shoved my back wheel towards the technicians... I would later find out that no less than 700 athletes passed me during the time it took me to take care of this flat. Depressing.

Then I noticed I couldn’t see out of my left eye. I kept blinking and sure enough, my contact popped out! At mile 12 or so, I stopped to put it back in. I was a bit embarrassed as spectators asked me if I was OK. Man, I’d BETTER be OK considering as I’m only 12 miles into a 112 mile ride! Sheesh! The contact didn’t feel so good, but it was in and I could see, so I took off. Played more with my watch, not working. Mile 15, contact came out again. WTF! Pull over, tell the spectators I’m fine, and ride off. Now it’s stinging, probably from the salt on my fingers getting into my eye. Whatever, I got a ride to do. Between, mile 18 and 19, contact pops out again. YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! So I rip it out and continue the rest of the ride with just one contact in.

He also mentioned that putting ice in the crotch is the most important because it cools your body down without your body reacting to it. You have arteries that run down there and they don’t inform the brain you are cool and if you put ice on your head your brain can think that you are cool even if you are still hot. [L - my brain would think "WTF? Why are you putting ice in your pants?]

I looked down and the wrong display was on my computer. I must've looked down for too long because by the time I looked up, I was headed off to the side of the road in some deep, loose gravel. It was too late and my reaction to turn the bike back onto the road was too late. I fell less than a quarter mile into the bike course. I hit my elbow very hard and my head lightly tapped the pavement.

I rolled in to get my bike special needs bag and yelled out my number. The volunteer yelled back "It’s not here." I’m like, what do you mean, it’s not there, and I yelled my number again. She ran around, looking like a chicken with her head cut off and apologized, but my bag was nowhere to be found. Dejected, I pulled away from special needs and decided today just wasn’t my day.

I started to swing out around him, but he fell over and I wasn’t able to miss him. I hit him and went flying. I landed on my left shoulder and rolled over onto my right side. My first thought as I lay in the road was “this can’t be happening, it’s just not fair!” I laid there moaning, more out of pity than pain, then decided to stand and assess the damage. [L- OK, most of you know who this is. We don't call her Kollarbone Kris for nothing! ;-)]

I stopped at the top of the descent to retch, but managed to bring up only a little and only felt a little better. Yuck. Time wasted, and I still felt crappy and sloshy inside.

Around mile 80 I was really feeling the seat and i couldn’t get comfortable… I am sure if you were following me you would have thought i had ants in my pants because i just kept moving around on the seat attempting to find something that worked.

Now I'm at mile 90 or so and out of nowhere, both legs cramped up.

Physically I felt terrible and adding insult to injury my bike seat fell off at mile 70 forcing me to ride for an hour without at seat until I was finally able to duct tape it on for the final miles.

On the last descent I was going really fast and my back tire started locking up and skidding. I decided to keep the pace between 15-20 mph that way if I went down I would only break a collar bone or something and not worse. I looked down to see what was happening and then I saw it was my frame was cracked right on the back right wheel and basically my back wheel was about to fall off my bike and I was just like oh $H!t this is just great. I just kept preparing to crash to the right and mitigate the impact as much as possible when and if it happened.

While in the porta potty, I hear an athlete who just came out of another porta potty start swearing. Apparently, he broke his cleat. He’s screaming at the poor volunteer, who really has no idea what to do, nor is it his job, and I am happy I just don’t take myself that seriously.

After a decent swim and an uncharacteristically slow and uneven bike during which I was seeing spots and blacking out, I was pulled off the course before the start of the run and ended up spending several hours convulsing in the med tent with no idea of what was wrong with me.


RUN

My husband saw me immediately as I came out of the changing tent and yelled to me to ask how I was feeling. I was afraid to look at him because I thought I might start crying and I just shook my head.

I don’t think I even made it as far as the timing mat before I had to walk. It was just too painful. Walking wasn’t too painful, so I started preparing myself mentally for a long walk. After walking about half a mile I attempted to run again. I found that if I kept my arm tight against my body so that the shoulder didn’t move much, it was almost bearable. I continued running this way to the first water stop, they gave me some ice to put on my shoulder. After icing for 15 minutes or so, I asked the medical person to strap my arm down. She put it in a make-shift sling and I headed back out onto the course. Shortly before mile 22, there was a spot where we transitioned from a parking lot to a walkway, and for some reason there was a piece of carpet down. I tripped on the carpet and landed hard on my right side. Thankfully, I didn’t seem to have done any additional damage, so I got up and said a few expletives and told the volunteers I was okay, even though I didn’t really feel okay.

Everything was going really good, I was miserable and I felt like throwing up but I was making it.

About 1/2 mile later my stomach rolled and I barely made it to the side of the road to projectile vomit. I continued like this for miles.

As I crossed the bridge on the 1st loop, I watched one of the pros stop and throw up. I stopped and offered him ice, which he gladly accepted.

[I got] the hiccups at mile 18, which lasted (painfully) until mile 22, where I threw up again and got rid of them.

Right after Mile17 and my required gel, I yacked it right back up with a ton of liquid. I HATE PUKING!

Normally, I hate regular cola, but that day, it tasted like gold and I couldn’t get enough. I kept getting an ice and a cola, dumped the ice in the cola, waited a few seconds and chugged the cola like someone was going to steal it from me. After a huge belch, I started to feel pretty good! LOL! It became routine for the next several miles.

There were so many people crashed out on the side of the road and ambulances racing by. It was like a battlefield. I have since found out about 9 percent of the field DNF'd for various reasons. Not sure if this is typical or not but there were a lot of bodies scattered about for sure!

I continued trying to run as much as I could but I had to stop at every porta potty along the way.

Even "inspiration station" wasn't very inspiring. It was just one woman with a megaphone, yelling "Go runners" every minute or so.

My face was covered with salt. I’d take a sponge every few aid stations to wipe off my face, but then I saw them recycling sponges. That ended that little ritual.

My legs felt heavy and the sound of my feet shuffling on the pavement irritated me. I just didn't have the strength to pick them up high enough to not make that noise any more.

Thanks to leg rocking cramps, it became war out there.

In the second loop, I got supper dizzy and started walking again. At this point I knew I was in trouble. I figured I was pretty dehydrated and because of the goosebumps, close to heat stress. Rubbed ice on my face and neck to try to keep from passing out.

Once I got to 21 miles my body started sending me a lot of different signals that I had never felt before, I knew they were not good at all. My stomach I could tell was completely turned off, it wasn’t hurting anymore it was off. In fact nothing was hurting that bad anymore except my knees. I started to feel cold and I knew I was hot. I also noticed that I wasn’t producing saliva anymore so I would try to hydrate but I knew that my body just wasn’t taking in water.

The last 5 miles people kept yelling you are almost there and I kept thinking to myself damn it you don’t understand no I am not, this is a long way for me still considering the way I feel. In fact it started making me angry when people would say you are almost there because my body was getting weaker and weaker. I felt like blurting out, “you guys keep saying that this whole time!”

I started getting really tired on the last half mile to the finish and this lady passed me and this guy yells “don’t let that chick pass you!” and I was thinking man I should let her pass me just because it is so rude to say that and I know she heard that, but then I am like no I am not going to let her pass me, not because of what the guy said but because I know I can beat her and I should beat her to the finish, so I started to pass people.


POST-RACE

When I arrived at the finish I just stopped and then I look to my left and right and two ladies are holding me and I was kind of frustrated they were holding me and I was like, “I am fine,” but then they said you think so and they let go for a second and I started to fall over and then I realized I was not standing up on my own. They informed me that I fell over at the end and that they caught me. They were asking me simple questions like what size shirt I wear and I couldn’t even answer the questions, so they plopped me down in a wheel chair and I was under supervision. I tried to get up and they wouldn’t let me go. Finally they convinced me that I really couldn’t walk on my own and it turned out to be true. It was about 5 minutes that I really wasn’t doing very good and then I started to feel really bad and when I started to feel really bad I knew that I was okay.

We sat and talked for awhile and I asked if it was ok to lie down and I think he said ok. That is about when I passed out I guess I got into a wheelchair and I remember hurling copious amounts of vomit first on myself and probably XXX and then into a ziploc. My blood pressure was taken and registered a whopping 73/60 and that was my golden ticket to an iv. I had 2 liters put in and was finally able to sip enough gatorade to be allowed out of the med tent 90 min. later. I was so cold it was unbelievable!

The Finish was in this order: Cross the line, a few tears, Leg collapse, Sit in front of heater under blankets, and a waddle to the car

The doctor in the medical didn’t even look at the shoulder, he just told me to go to the nearest emergency room... I had lots of company in ER. There were a number of dehydrated athletes there and we chatted about the race while waiting for our turns. I got x-rayed fairly quickly. Then I had to wait a bit to see the doctor. When he came in, he asked what happened and told me my scapula was broken. He said that because it takes a lot of force to break a scapula he needed to check that I hadn’t also torn my aorta! He didn’t really think I did, since I’d run a marathon afterward, but said he needed to be sure. [L - she didn't tear her aorta.]

XXXXXX convinced me that I shouldn’t sleep in the street and finally we got to a place that she could drive the car to. I found a nice rock and layed my head against it and a guy walked by and told me that a pillow would feel a lot more comfortable then that rock. I remember being really surprised at how there were actually some people that seemed to be able to walk after the IronMan, because I wasn’t one of them. I was done.

After that I went with XXXXX and my parents to Denny’s which was the only restaurant that was open that we could easily find. I kept falling asleep in the restaurant and was spilling my food.

My last surprise of the day was next. The girls had spent time in the SUV reading and staying out of the rain, and the story was: ”Uh, Dad? I know you told us not to, but we turned on the lights so we could read, and now we think the battery is dead.” So my post-race time was spent calling CAA and waiting for a jump, and that took long enough that all the restaurants in town had closed.

In spite of drinking a lot of water and Gatorade after the race, it took almost a full 24 hours after the race before I urinated.

__________

YIKES! See what I mean? Lots of stories of crashing, barfing, cramping and passing out. And these are just the stories in print! Verbally I've heard:
- People would just get off their bikes in the middle of the race and lay down on the side of the road.
- My friend had such bad heat exhaustion in the middle of the run that we put him in a cooler of ice at the aid station.
- My knee really started bothering me about halfway through the bike, so I did 60 miles riding with one leg.

Yet at the end of all of these reports, the people say how happy they are to have finished, how proud they are of their race, and how they can't wait to do it again. And in all their picture they are smiling! So the suffering must all be worth it! And with that said...never say never. ;-)

Resolution Run

Start the New Year out right with a Resolution Run! The one in Seattle at Magnuson Park is a blast! Plus it has an optional 'Trip -n- Dip' Polar Bear Dive! Check out the website for more information and to register.

Heather G and I did it two years ago - ran the 5K plus submerged in Lake Washington! It actually felt great! Check out the video - we're coming out of the water at 3:25 - H is in the black swimsuit in front of me and I'm in the LUNA top!

My half marathon race report

Thanksgiving weekend I did the Seattle Half Marathon. I thought I would share my race report with you!

First, a couple of things I wanted to write down right away so I would have them in my notes for next year:

1. I am not going to die during my taper. My body might feel like crap, my legs might feel like stumps, and I might feel like I'm getting a sore throat, but that is normal for me. I will be stressed to the max before the race, but everything will be fine. I am going to live.

2. Listen to my coachl, she knows what she is talking about. Trust her. (picture of me pretending to listen to her pre-race pep talk)

3. Follow my race plan. It was developed for a reason.

4. Only carry 3 Gu's, I really don't need any more.

5. Wear a short sleeve shirt. No matter how cold I am in the morning, if it's around 50 degrees I am only going to want to run in short sleeves.

6. Do not doubt my ability level. This ties is with number 1 and 2. I can do it if I have a positive attitude!

7. Do a proper warm-up, otherwise I will feel sluggish the first couple miles of the race.

8. Position myself at the race start as close to the front as possible! 5 minutes to get to the starting line is way too long!

RACE IN A NUTSHELL: My best race ever!!!! Even though I did not make my goal time, I felt great and I finally PR'd my half marathon time from the Seattle Half in 1999!

But let's start from the beginning. Grab a cup of coffee, get a gingerbread cookie and relax....

After taking a quick break after tri season, I really started focusing on my running. Hill repeats, tempo runs, speedwork. It was tough and exhausting. But it paid off and I had PR's in my 5K and 10K distances! This training continued up until the beginning of November. But when I started my two weeks of tapering, I began to feel like crap. Absolute crap. My left hamstring and calf were hurting and feeling very tight. My runs were terrible - they felt like I was going really hard, but actually only 11 min/miles. I did massage, acupuncture, chiropractor, and stretching (thanks Marianne!). Everything helped, but nothing solved the problems. After my Worse Workout Ever it was time to break out the big guns and see my PT. He determined my leg problems were actually caused by my back and hip, and lack of strength on the left side. The only hope before the race was to get my back loosened up. So three more trips to PT, two days of limited activity before the race, and things were as good as they were going to get.

I also had a bad attitude the week before the race. I had been stressed out because of something at work, and I could not shake the anxiety from that. So that just moved into pre-race anxiety. I was convinced that I had run too much during my taper and that my body was not going to cooperate and I was going to have to drop out of the race. This relates to Note #1 above. I was a bundle of nerves. And I knew I needed to relax and not worry, but I could not, which made me worry even more. And I was convinced I was not going to meet my goals for this race. My ultimate goal was to beat my PR time from 1999 of 2:03:something. And indicators showed I would beat this - based on my 10K time. But I was doubtful. My coach really thought I could beat 2 hours, which seemed like a real stretch for me. I thought this not only because my body felt like crap (and did I mention my throat hurt?), but it would mean taking 19 minutes off of last year's time. 19 minutes seemed impossible! Obviously, I really do need to work on being positive and believing in myself. See Note #6 above.

Packet Pick-Up - I invited myself to go along with some friends because I needed people to distract me from my stress. We got our packets, did a little shopping, and picked up a cool belt that would hold my gels from SPIbelt.


Race Day!!!!! I carpooled over with friends. We got to the race around 6:15, which seemed early for a 7:30 start, but gave us enough time to check our bags and meet my coach and the team for a quick chat. A big thanks to her for the course tips, advice, and a slap in the face for me to get me going! :-) She was a great cheerleader for me as a reminder that I can meet my goals because I've worked hard for them! We all had a good laugh about my pre-race panic, which did seem rather silly but deep inside I was still really afraid of failure. After a quick warm-up consisting of easy jogging for 15 minutes, we headed to the start. Now is the time to re-read Note #8 above.

I had positioned myself what seemed to be a decent way back based on my pace, but I need to remember that most people don't do this. It took me about 5 minutes to get to the start line, and then I had to pass a bunch of people. Luckily I jumped on the uncrowded sidewalk, so that helped.

I was hell bent to follow my HR plan (Note #3). Usually I get impatient, pick the pace up too early, and then burn out towards the end. But I felt so crappy I figured "What the hell, I have nothing to loose! And then I can blame my failure on someone else." Such a bad attitude! Mile 1 was at a little lower HR than I wanted to be at. I felt sluggish and slow. And I was slow. The first mile was at 9:45 - yikes! I won't make my goal at a 9:45 pace! But rather than panic and speed up, I made a mental note for next year to do the pick-ups during my warm-up I had planned to do but did not. Some running at race pace effort is good before you race! Note #7 for next year.

By mile 3 I was actually feeling really good and on the HR plan. Imagine that! Mile 4 I picked up my HR (as planned) and kept very steady for the next 6 miles. I still felt good! At mile 8 I looked at my actual time vs. under-two-hour goal time (written on my arm), and found I was about 4 minutes off. That seemed impossible to make up, and I was too scared to go off my HR plan to pick it up 2 miles earlier than planned.

I continued on, keeping a strong steady pace. I didn't hammer up the hills, but hammered down the hills, attempting to make up time there. And compared to last year, I felt FANTASTIC on the hills! Madison hill felt easy! And I felt so strong at the arboretum hill, where last year I thought I was going to die! My quote from last year "My legs were hurting and I felt like I was going to barf and pee my pants." I did not feel that way this year at all! I was tired, but felt good, and knew I would have enough energy to pick it up the last 3 miles.

At mile 10 I did a time check again, and was closer to my goal, but new it would be tough. The PR was within my reach, though! Once we got off the hill it was time to hit it! I found people I wanted to pick off - women running with her coach trying to motivate her, girl with pink headband with hands on top, dude in tights that looked like jeans - they were all mine! I saw two friends volunteering at an intersection near the end and high fived them as I went by, motivating me to work harder. I was so tired but kept pushing. Finally into the stadium.

Chip Time: 2:01:45! Yeah, a PR!!

I am so happy to have PR'd! My body held up well too! Thanks to my friends, family, coach and medical people who had to listen to all of my whining leading up to this!

I am done with serious training and racing for the year. Phew! Time to heal the body and have some fun!

LUNA Pro Terra Castro's Ironman Arizona Race Report

Pro LUNA Chix triathlete Terra Castro is a wonderful and inspirational woman. Read her race report below. Congrats Terra!

Ironman Arizona 2009- Being Bold in Battle

The last race of the year on my schedule finally arrived, Ironman Arizona on November 22, 2009. I went into this Ironman knowing in my heart I had done all the work for a BOLD race. Racing all year with the focus of BEING BOLD, I desired to have the race that would put radiate exactly that. I have learned so much from the life challenges this year- my friend’s coma and my Papa’s kidney cancer. These experiences have made me stronger as a person. It intensified my hunger to achieve my goals in this sport.

Ironman Arizona had a very competitive women’s field. The weeks leading into the race, I had numerous people say I should race a different Ironman to obtain a “better result”. I kept to my plan knowing that one must not shy away from competition. I was prepared for battle and wanted to toe the line with the best, because it pulls the best out of you. I knew not to doubt what my heart said to do and what I physically was prepared for from training.

Race day was awesome. Things came together the way I had visualized. The swim was a bit frigid at 62F which lead to stumpy ice block feet as I got on the bike. I came out of the water with the eventual race winner, so was in perfect position going into the 112 miles. The bike was 3 loops, with a bit of wind the first 2 loops. I held steady, but lost a few positions near the end. I came off 11th though I biked a 17 minute PR. I handed off my bike to the amazing volunteers and knew I had work to do.

I kept telling myself to BE BOLD IN BATTLE because the race isn’t over till the finish line. I had my time goals for the marathon based on training and started clipping off the miles exactly where I needed to be. I started passing girls as the miles passed by, finding myself in 7th by mile 22. I remember Zane yelling at me that 6th wasn’t too far ahead, to GO! I dug deeper and passed 6th on a hill, and promised myself not to look back- the race is always IN FRONT OF YOU. At the mile 23 aid station Zane screamed 5th place is about 2 minutes up- BRIDGE THE GAP. I saw the excitement on his face, I threw my gel flask down as if it was WAR TIME and dug even deeper into that well to accelerate. I kept pushing forward, trying to see if I could see the 5th place mountain bike leader up on the path. I was using that as my carrot.

Unfortunately, I ran out of real estate by the time I got to the finish, crossing in 6th place. At that point it all hit me. I ran a 3:16, another HUGE PR, and crossed the line in 9:33- a 35+ min PR. I broke through a few barriers out there, I fought BOLDY the race before me and I could not be happier.

Once I crossed the line, USADA had me heading to drug testing, so I missed out on my finisher’s medal and t-shirt. My poor family had to wait awhile but we celebrated later with In and Out Burgers and milkshakes.

I sit here today on the Tuesday after the race more than grateful that I didn’t shy away from competition. I went to battle this past Sunday, and came out a better more BOLD Warrior. A warrior who is already craving the next battle.

Thoughts the night before her first marathon

I used to think people who ran marathons were completely crazy, a bunch of nutsos with something "weird" to prove to the world. I told myself that not only couldn't I do it, I didn't want to do it. Uh-uh. No way. It isn't even healthy to run that much, I would proclaim. That gave me an easy out to not even try. At that time, I also thought triathletes were a whole different class of crazy. Who has the time? Who has the money? Again, very convenient excuses. I think I did protest too much. But if I was honest with myself, the reason I took the time to list all the reasons I COULDN'T do it was because I really secretly WANTED to do it. I wanted to be one of those automotons gliding through the water, spinning through the air, pounding out those miles. In the back of my mind I remembered how good it feels to swim, bike, and run.

So all it takes go from dismissing the crazy people and becoming one of the crazy people is to get a little inspiration and encouragement. Mine came when I met a friend for sushi one bright August day. She had black numbers on her arms and legs from the Danskin triathlon. "You did a triathlon??" I asked. I was so impressed. She said, "Yes, and you can totally do one, too." And that is when the seed was planted. It was all women, the distances seemed doable, training groups are all over the place for practice and I started to actually see myself doing it.

I wouldn't admit that outloud, and I was certainly not going to sign up for a triathlon of all things, and NEVER a marathon. But it did get me to sign up for Bloomsday for the first time in 10 years. Once off my butt and forcing myself to run a whole half a mile in a row on a regular basis, all kinds of good things started happening. It started to actually feel good after about 6 or 8 months of running.

It is a slippery slope from there. If you train for a 12k, you're more than halfway to a half-marathon. If your half-marathon training schedule includes cycling and swimming, why not go ahead and sign up for that all-women sprint tri? Once you can do a sprint triathlon, it isn't that much of a stretch to go for Olympic. Why not do an Olympic anyway? You do all that training, it is better to make the race experience last, right? I said I would NEVER do a marathon, and one day last fall I found myself signing up for, and LOOKING FORWARD to - a marathon.

Tomorrow I'm going to run a marathon. The amazing part won't be when I cross the finish line. It will be when I cross the start line.

LUNA Chix Pro Athlete Tyler Stewart's Ironman Hawaii Race Report

Ironman Hawaii

I think there are a lot of people out there who have some sort of athletic goal that they want to accomplish before they “kick the bucket”. I didn’t sign up for Ironman as a lifelong goal but rather a lifelong lesson. I had things to teach myself, lessons to learn before I “kick the bucket”. After my fifth time racing at the Ironman World Championships I can say that I have achieved my goal of teaching myself some lifelong lessons.

What are these lessons? Well, they aren’t about to stop wars, cure AIDS or eliminate cancer but they are my little goals. When I started doing triathlon 6 years ago I did it as a way to teach myself to face fear. As a child growing up I had ridden horses and played a number of team sports including lacrosse and field hockey. I was quite good at all of them. In fact, I was one of the best at both field hockey and lacrosse up until the 8th grade. But when I went to high school I gave up team sports. There would be a bunch of kids coming from all different schools and what happened if I wasn’t one of the best anymore. Instead of find out, I just quit! What a loser!

When a dare got me into triathlon I couldn’t turn it down. This was a way for me to play sports after a 12-year hiatus. This was my chance to nip fear of failure in the butt. So what if I wasn’t the best, so what if I didn’t finish, so what! People weren’t going to think any differently of me whether I won or whether I lost.

I’m now 8 Ironman deep, 5 Ironman world championships in and I am confidently going to say I have faced my fear of failure! I have raced as an amateur, I have raced as a professional, I have been 6th in my age group, I have won my age group, I have been the last professional to finish, I’ve won an Ironman and now the 10th best in the world. As a kid 10th in sports would have made me quit. Today 10th feels like a huge victory to me!

About my race:
Every morning of a race I wake up and say to myself, “Why do I do this?” When you are about to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles and run 26.2 miles you better have a good answer to that question. I recently read an article asking the same question. Many people said things like, “so I can eat what I want” or “it keeps me fit”….let me tell you when you are out on the Queen K running towards the energy lab with the wind in your face, 100 degree heat, blisters on your feet, you better have a better answer than that!

I had thought about why I do this a lot before I came here to Kona this time around. In the last year I’ve had some seriously bad luck and unfortunate events and I didn’t even think I would be racing this year. I came here strong, healthy and ready to race. I came here to race for my friend and training partner Monique Petrov, who was suppose to race with me but 3 weeks ago was hit on her bike by a car going 45 mph. She’s alive but with 8 broken vertebrae, a shattered patella, a punctured lung, the list goes on and on she couldn’t be here. I came here to race for my step-dad Don that was suppose to be dead 3 years ago from lung cancer but is still here stomping around my races and giving me splits as I bike and run by. I came here to race because last November I came dangerously close to heart attack during IM Arizona after an ignorant doctor incorrectly – and dangerously—medicated me for a thyroid disorder. I came to Hawaii to race because I could and a lot of people would kill to be racing this race. I am now healthy, I am now strong and I am fortunate, so I toed the line at 6:45 am on October 10th and the cannon went off.

For the first time in my triathlon career I spent the entire swim with a pack. I have been working a lot on my swimming and it has been getting a lot better. I felt like the swim was easy, I sat on feet and just got pulled along. I was a little disappointed in my swim time cause I know I could have done better had I found some faster feet! But I was still 2 minutes faster than last year so at least I’m improving.

The bike is always the fun part. Every time I get on my trusty Orbea I feel at home. My coach, Matt Dixon, and I had decided that this year we were going to go about the bike course in a different way. I took the entire ride up to Hawi easy. I felt awesome. On my way back down from Hawi I planned to pick up the pace a little bit and own the back half of the bike course. I was flying. I am pretty sure I passed at least 35 girls on the bike. By the time I hit mile 80 I had not been drinking enough and the damage started to set in. For the first time in a race I had not peed on my bike which had me a little worried and in the last 30 miles I felt terrible. A wretched head wind coming back on the Queen K, dehydration and a left foot that was bugging me, I think I lost about 10 minutes in that last 30 miles. But hey, its all part of the race and all part of the day. I had very negative thoughts in my head as I was getting off the bike.

Onto the run and immediately I was in trouble. I have never been passed by that many girls right off the bat. I’m pretty sure in the first 8 miles 6 girls passed me that I had passed on the bike. I was running like a slug just doing anything I could to get through mile by mile. I still had not peed and for a girl that usually pees 5 times on the bike, I knew I was in trouble. There’s not a whole lot that I can say about the run except that I ran from aid station to aid station, ice cups to ice cups, cold water to cold water, hose to hose. There was nothing I could do about my pace as much as I tried to motivate myself by thinking about all the reasons I was here to race, my legs just wouldn’t move. It was hot out there! There seemed to be no wind at times, no mercy and all just survival mode. As awful as I felt some of the girls that passed me in the beginning had slowed down and I was able to pass them back and hold them off until the end of the race. (picture from slowtwitch.com)

I learned a lot out there last Saturday. Often times when you don’t feel well its easy to give up, but if you just keep putting one foot in front of the other its amazing what forward motion will bring you. When I talk to my friend Meredith about this race I often find myself describing it as a race of attrition. Sometimes if you can just hang on, just keep moving, you will do better than you think. I ended up in 10th place last Saturday. Am I happy? I am happy to be 10th in the World. Does it make me wonder what I could have done had I had the race I wanted, sure does! But that is part of this sport. Aside from Chrissie Wellington, the athletes that finished in the top 5 last year either DNF’ed or placed way below where they did last year. It’s not because they are not as fit as last year, it’s just that this sport has such a huge x-factor that we cannot control. At the same time I think that is also what makes it so much fun!

Now my season is over and I couldn’t be happier to get back to the more normal part of my life. Back to hanging out with all my friends who I have neglected over the past 2 months, back to hosting our annual costume party, and of course our annual mechanical bull riding night.

As much as I love this sport I will never give my life to it. There are so many great things to do in this world and for me I now have the wings to explore all those other things. I can’t wait to go skiing, run the Dipsea Trail, do my first 50k, go snowshoeing, have another Saturday at work where we wash 35 dogs and to sleep in on a Sunday with my husband and not get out of bed until noon!

If you do this crazy sport of Ironman make sure you thank all of those that support you. It may look like a one-man sport but it is a team sport and couldn’t be done any other way.

I was 4th at Wildflower this year, won my first Ironman at Coeur d’Alene, was second at Vineman and was just 10th in the World at the Ironman World Championships, I think I will call that a good year. Accomplishing my life long goal of “no more fear of failure”, I’d call that a great year!

Tyler

Check her out on teamlunachix.com!

Ironman Perseverance

aka "Why I Don't do an Ironman!"

In keeping with the Ironman theme, I thought I would share part of my friend's race report from her first Ironman. With her husband having an almost fatal bike accident a few months before her race, getting to the race start was an accomplishment in itself. But what happened during the race made finishing challenging. She is an inspiration to never give up!

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I needed to figure out the cramping issue before attempting an ironman, so I went to a sports doctor to talk about my nutrition plan. She did a complete blood workup and discovered that everything was out of whack – my iron, B12, and D were low, and my leptin and testosterone levels were low too. She suspected overtraining syndrome, or celiac disease (gluten intolerance). I was a little surprised by the latter because I didn’t have the typically GI symptoms. The blood test came back positive for Celiac disease, and I was put on mega-doses of B12, D and iron. I was told to keep eating gluten before having a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. The biopsy was definitive, so by the time everything was confirmed, it was only 3.5 weeks before Ironman. Boy, did that mess with my nutrition plan!

I immediately went on a gluten-free diet and started trying out every gluten-free bread and pasta I could find in the hopes of finding something I could eat pre-race. Somewhat counter-intuitively, I was having more GI issues on the new diet than I was before. I saw a nutritionist and she said my gut was inflamed and the bacteria were out of whack, so I started taking a priobitic several times a day. By then, it was less than 1 week to IMAZ!
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[Race Day]
I wasn’t sure where to seed myself, but based on a perusal of past IMAZ results decided I should be relatively close to the front, so I started working my way forward. When the cannon went off, I started swimming and immediately got pummeled. Within the first few minutes, I got kicked in the right eye and had to stop briefly to release the pressure on my eye. A few minutes later I got an elbow in the left eye. Somewhere else, I had some guy swim next to me and grab my shoulder and push it down. After he did it a few times I slowed a bit to get away from him. A number of times someone grabbed my feet and gave them a slight yank. Whenever that happened, I kicked more vigorously and that seemed to scare them off. The pummeling continued for quite a while. I didn’t look at my watch, but I would guess that it went on for about 10 minutes. After that, I mostly swam without incident to the turnaround point.
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The bike is a 3 “loop” (really an out-and-back) course with a slight elevation gain as you get near the turn-around point. On the first leg out, I felt like I was flying. Even though there was a slight head-wind, I was averaging between 17 and 20mph for most of the way – way ahead of my expected pace (I was hoping to average 16mph overall) – and, best of all, I was staying in my aerobic zone!

Around mile 20, as the road was beginning to rise, I heard a loud pop, followed by a hissing sound. The front tire went immediately flat. I changed it (took about 7 minutes), and checked for anything embedded in the tire. I didn’t find anything. I didn’t take the time to look at the tire, but I’m guessing it burst either from being pinched or old. I was really wishing I had changed the tube with the tire two days earlier! I hopped back on the bike and headed to the turn around.
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When I started the third loop, I was really psyched. The bike was going much better than anticipated, and I still felt great. I rode out to the turn around without any stops, and was ready to fly back to transition. My only concern was that I needed to get some more calories in before the run. I had two choices – stop and put the bag of Infinit Nutrition powder into my aero bottle, or grab some gels along the way back and take them with the water. I opted for plan B, figuring that I wouldn’t lose as much time getting the gels as I would stopping to put the powder in. This turned out to be a big mistake!

At the first aid station after the turn around, I swung in and grab some gels. Right after grabbing them from a volunteer, I noticed a biker in front of me reaching for a bottle from the volunteer ahead of me. I started to swing out around him, but he fell over and I wasn’t able to miss him. I hit him and went flying. I landed on my left shoulder and rolled over onto my right side. My first thought as I lay in the road was “this can’t be happening, it’s just not fair!” I laid there moaning, more out of pity than pain, then decided to stand and assess the damage.

When I stood up, I was a bit wobbly, but managed to walk over to the first-aid table. A volunteer cleaned some road rash on my right elbow (which wasn’t even bothering me), and several people asked how I was. I asked to see my bike and another volunteer brought it over. He said the seat and the aerobars were crooked, and the front tire seemed low. I asked if he had any tools to fix them and he went to look. He fixed the seat and came back to ask what to do with the aerobars. We re-adjusted them as best we could, and I prepared to ride. The sheriff showed up at some point and called an aide car. He seemed a bit incredulous when I said I was going to try to ride. He asked if I wanted to cancel the aide car and I said yes, then headed on my way.

I didn’t ride as aggressively on the way back, partly because I wasn’t sure what kind of shape my bike was in. The front tire looked like it might be a bit wobbly. I regretted not letting the volunteer pump up the tire, because I felt more sluggish on the return. But that could have been any number of things. My shoulder ached on the way in, but the pain was not intense.

When I got to transition, I dismounted and a volunteer took my bike. I hobbled to the bag area to collect me stuff. I felt kind of unsteady. I don’t know whether it was from biking for 6+ hours, or pain, or both. After getting my bag, I headed to the changing tent. A volunteer asked if I was okay, and I said no. I told her about my crash, but said I was going to try to finish. She helped me get ready. The last thing she told me was that there was a medical tent just outside of the changing tent. I opted not to stop because I didn’t want them to tell me I couldn’t go on.

I headed out of the tent and let the volunteers slathered me with sunscreen and then I attempted to run. I don’t think I even made it as far as the timing mat before I had to walk. It was just too painful. The crowd was very encouraging, but I just kept walking and did a mental assessment of my options. Since the swim and bike had gone so well, I knew I had plenty of time (over 9 hours) in which to complete the marathon. Walking wasn’t too painful, so I started preparing myself mentally for a long walk. But the idea did not sit well. I just didn’t want to be out there that long! After walking about half a mile I attempted to run again. I found that if I kept my arm tight against my body so that the shoulder didn’t move much, it was almost bearable. I continued running this way to the first water stop. When I got there, I asked to go to the medical tent. While I was there, they gave me some ice to put on my shoulder, and one of the volunteers keep bringing me food and drinks. After icing for 15 minutes or so, I asked the medical person to strap my arm down. She put it in a make-shift sling and I headed back out onto the course.

Running with the sling turned out to be workable, and I was surprised to find that my run splits were averaging between 10 and 11minute miles, including walking breaks at all of the aid stations. So, I just kept plugging along. The crowd was very supportive, and the volunteers were great. I couldn’t get the fuel bottles in and out of my belt with one hand, so I would carry one until it was empty, then stop at an aid station and have a volunteer swap the empty bottle for a full one. I drank or ate something at every aid station, and felt really good. No GI issues, and almost no muscle cramping.

Everyone was very supportive. The course was 3 “loops”, so we passed the same volunteers and fans at least 3 times. On my second and third loops, I heard a lot of “oh my god, she’s back again”, “way to go”, and “hang in there”. A lot of my fellow competitors were very supportive too. More than once, I heard things like “you are an inspiration” or “you really are an ironman!” It definitely helped me persevere.

After the first loop, I stopped at the same medical tent to have some Vaseline put on my feet because I was getting blisters in my arches. The volunteer who helped me was so sweet. She put on my socks and shoes for me, because I couldn’t do it with one hand. She also hung onto my fuel belt while I used the loo, and then put it back on me because I couldn’t do that one handed either!

The miles from around 9 to 20 were uneventful, and I was feeling good, but definitely ready to be done. Shortly before mile 22, there was a spot where we transitioned from a parking lot to a walkway, and for some reason there was a piece of carpet down. I remember looking at it and thinking there must be some sort of grate or something they didn’t want us to trip on. Well, while I was thinking about that, I tripped on the carpet and landed hard on my right side. I felt it in my left side though. Thankfully, I didn’t seem to have done any additional damage, so I got up and said a few expletives and told the volunteers I was okay, even though I didn’t really feel okay. My shoulder started hurting more, and now my knees hurt too!

I walked for a short stretch after falling and did another mental assessment. It was getting close to 7pm and I only had 4 miles to go. Once again, I considered walking the rest of the way, but didn’t really like the idea, so I started running. My shoulder hurt more, and I was not having a lot of fun, but I was determined to keep going.

When I finally got to the point where we got to peel off and head to the finish, I heard a volunteer say only 200 meters to go. I was prepared to turn the corner and see the finish, but such was not the case. I zig-zagged through the cheering crowds for what seemed like a long time before I finally saw the finish arch. Several people tried to give me a high five, but after the first one, I had to stop because it was too jarring.

When I got to the tape, I couldn’t decide how to “break” it. I couldn’t put both arms up, so I just kind of reached for the tape with my right hand. I think one of the volunteers let go of it before I actually touched it because I almost missed it. While I was distracted by the tape, I forgot to pay attention to the announcer, so I never even heard whether he made the traditional “..., you are an ironman!” announcement.

A volunteer wrapped me in a mylar blanket and took me to get my chip removed. Then I posed for a photo and headed to the medical tent. I’m kind of sorry I did that, because I missed out on savoring the moment in the finish tent. The doctor in the medical didn’t even look at the shoulder, he just told me to go to the nearest emergency room. I did see the guy who fell in front of me in the medical tent. Apparently he finished not long before me. He had a mangled thumb and his back was hurting. He apologized for causing the accident and asked how I was. We exchanged some pleasantries, and then one of the medics helped me collect my bike and bags. Thankfully, I only had to take my bike back to the transport area. The medic was really nice, and carried all my stuff to the car.

When I got to the car, I decided to go back to the hotel to clean up a bit. I didn’t want to sit in ER in my sweaty smelly togs for hours. Driving was a bit tricky, but there wasn’t a lot of traffic. Getting my tri top off was fun. Thankfully, I had worn a sports bra with the zipper in the front, so I was able to get that off fairly easily. I showered and put on jeans and another sports bra (didn’t think I could manage to get a regular bra on). I was wishing I had some button down shirts to wear, but alas, all I had were T-shirts and tank tops. I picked the loosest tank top I had and awkwardly pulled it over my head. Then I drove to ER.

I had lots of company in ER. There were a number of dehydrated athletes there and we chatted about the race while waiting for our turns. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait excessively long to get called in, and got x-rayed fairly quickly. Then I had to wait a bit to see the doctor. When he came in, he asked what happened and told me my scapula was broken. He said that because it takes a lot of force to break a scapula he needed to check that I hadn’t also torn my aorta! He didn’t really think I did, since I’d run a marathon afterward, but said he needed to be sure. They wanted to give me morphine for the pain, but I told them I had to drive home. I didn’t really want it anyway. Unfortunately, they couldn’t give me anything orally until they had the results of the scan, so I couldn’t even take Tylenol. Thankfully, the pain just wasn’t that intense.

I had to wait a while for the CAT scan, then I had to wait an hour or so for the results. As expected, they didn’t find any damage to my aorta, so they wrote me a prescription for pain killers and anti-nausea medicine and sent me home. By now it was almost 4am, so I skipped the stop at the drug store and went to the hotel. It took a while to get ready for bed. I finally laid down at 4:45am. I really wasn’t as exhausted as I expected to be, so I must have gotten more sleep in ER than I realized.
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Despite the accident, I had a great race and I’m really happy I opted to finish.

The Best Race Report

My friend just did her second marathon (Portland). I love her race report. She has the right attitude and motivation, and she is a true goddess of the sport. I'm posting bits of her report here for your enjoyment!
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This is a very long report! If you want the quick version of what happened, here is my race report in Haiku:

On Sunday I ran
Time: 4:53:50
26.2
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[Here is my favorite part! - L]
As I approached the start line I almost cried. Crossing the starting line is more emotional for me than crossing the finish line. It just brings to mind all the work I put in to just get there. Even the fact that I decided to do this at all is amazing to me. I will let you in on my secret thoughts at this moment. Come close. A little closer. “I don’t look like a runner, but I am a runner anyway. I’m a runner not because I’m fast, but because I love doing it. I can and I WILL run. And I’m running a MARATHON. Me. Eeeek!” I satisfied myself with a strangled gasp, blinked back the ridiculous tears and started running. It felt so good after all this waiting and anticipation to actually be running this race.
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I started appreciating having my name on my bib about this time, and all the people who yelled, “Hey Janet! Lookin’ good!” It is corny and silly, but it helped give me a boost. People who can cheer like a maniac for strangers at an event like this are a special class of people. They win the good karma contest in life. I hope that positive energy goes back to them tenfold.
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I was coming up on mile 20, which is when most people hit the proverbial wall, and I still hadn’t hit it yet. It was so weird, and I certainly didn’t plan it this way on my playlist, but on one beat, I could hear my Garmin beep at me that it was 20 miles, and the next moment “Another Brick in the Wall” came on my iPod. Coincidence? There are no coincidences! It was a good distraction because that was about the time I went by the official 20 mile mark that I saw the 4:45 [pace] lizard dance out of sight, never to be seen again. I decided to just get a grip, stop focusing on a specific time, or a specific pace group with a specific overly-perky pace leader (who I would have enjoyed had I been able to keep up with her) and enjoy the rest of this race. I’m not going to run for three weeks, so I needed to experience every moment of this in a positive way. After that, it was fun again.
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I was certainly taking longer walk breaks at this point, but when I was running, I was keeping a 10:30-ish pace. I ran all the way to mile 26, and came to the finishing chute. I stopped right after the first turn into the chute without even thinking, but started right back up. Maybe that was my wall!! I turned again, still couldn’t see the finish line, and then I heard my husband yelling. I saw him waving and taking pictures. I stopped dead in my tracks and was suddenly overcome. It was the second and last time that day I almost cried. I ran over to him and said with a whimper, “I need a kiss!!!” He obliged, and that kiss helped a lot.
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The worst parts: Hearing that 4:45 pace group right on my heels on the bridge, and not being able to stave them off. Letting that almost ruin my mood between miles 16.5 and 20. Immediately thinking afterwards as I took baby steps through the finishers area, “Oh, I can do so much better next time.” Yes, I am signing up for next year. 10-10-10.

The best parts: Finishing, and finishing strong. Enjoying the race even after it was clear I would need to time travel or get a quad transplant to make my stretch goal. The girl who opened the Quik for me. Enjoying a margarita in my jammies.