Ironman Wisconsin 70.3

Also known as, Mud Fest, 2018! (Or at least that's what I'm calling it).

June 10th, 2018. Woke up too early to the sound of pouring rain. It was about 0345 and I decided to be a real masochist and look at my weather app. "Road conditions: ponding." As in there were ponds on the road! As if my anxiety disorder doesn't get out of control before a race, let's add ponds to the already technical bike course. Awesome.

I hadn't come that far to only go that far, so I proceeded with my usual pre-race routine. Oatmeal with PB and banana, coffee, water. Seems like a lot, but by the time I get to transition, I usually need a snack anyway. Mixed up my Infinit (I'm not being paid, I just really love it) nutrition in my frozen H2O bottles, packed up the car, and made my way through the deluge to transition.

Mud, mud, and more mud. I'm not sure what time the rain started overnight, but it was enough to make transition a mess. I found my bike, through my stuff in somewhat order in a garbage bag, and grabbed my wetsuit. I was soaked and freezing, so I put it on right away. Sleeves would have been nice. So many goosebumps!! Down to swim start I went, shivering and angry all the way...

Race ended up being delayed until 0730 because of weather, so we all stood around in the rain, waiting. And shivering. And complaining. I was really nervous about my carbon brakes in the rain. Or lack of brakes. But I had to survive the swim first! 0720, they finally start getting us in corrals. Woo! It wasn't cancelled!!

Swim. Felt ok. For how choppy it was, I felt pretty strong. I was passing dudes like crazy! Which is easily one of my favorite things. Oops. Felt like forever, though. I had only 1 OWS prior to this, so it really was a good test swim, I suppose. Popped out of the water onto the beach. Official time 32.25. Not too shabby! Felt faster, but ended up being good enough for 3rd in my AG. I'll take it!

T1. God I hate T1. Wetsuit strippers help, but I'm so disoriented, my breathing and hr are way too elevated, and I'm a mess. It's fine. Run through the mud, find my baby, see the tires still look and feel ok, fumble through soaked garbage bag for bike shoes, sunglasses (it had stopped raining and was almost light!), pop on the helmet, let's do this! I almost fell in the mud going up a hill out of transition, didn't, got to the mount line, and I was off!

Bike. Then I was almost actually off my bike. I was right about the brakes not liking the rain. First turn was a hairpin and I almost crashed because my brakes didn't work. Oh good, I needed a further elevated hr! Snap out of it, woman! You can do this! Settle in. Miles start ticking away. Hills continue to loom, over and over and over again. But, no dropped chains! And I'm not maxing out on every hill. My legs feel ok. Not amazing, but way better than on the training ride. I can do this! I'm getting passed more than I am passing, which stresses me, but I also am starting to accept that that might just be what happens for my tri career. Mental fortitude? Finally, I recognize where I am and know I'm almost back. Yes! The hills are done! Official time of 3:05.02. Dropped to 6th in my AG, but for that insane elevation, I was thrilled.

T2. Oh my God how did it get more muddy?! After removing bike shoes and helmet, it was time to put on soggy socks and wet shoes. Great. And then I almost lost my shoes in the mud! Not the best way to start my weakest leg....

Run. Wait wait wait. I thought the hills were done?! They weren't. The run course was so much hillier than I was expecting. My legs were not prepared. At all. But, I love me some pain, so let's do it. One foot in front of another, breathe in and breathe out. Over and over again. Many comments on my sleeve, which was appreciated, and many comments on my kit and how I looked in it, which were definitely not appreciated. (Men can't even stop with the creepy factor during a race? Seriously?!). Miles were ticking away here, too. Lost my bottle with nutrition, but it wasn't tasting good anyway. Too warm and foamy from shaking. Things to be fixed. All of a sudden, it was mile 12. Really? Oh man, 12.5! 13! 0.1 to go--ARE YOU KIDDING THERE IS ANOTHER HILL?!?! The crowd was quiet, all I could here was my breathing, so I begged them to help me. Raising my hands, weaving side to side for high fives, many pathetic "woos," and I made it up that f#@king hill. The finish line!!! Official time was 1:58.56. I ran sub-2 in a 70.3!!!!!! 7th in my AG!!!!!

Overall time was 5:44.18. Not technically a PR, but easily one of the best and worst races I can remember. I almost DNS, my anxiety was through the roof, and I was unprepared for the weather. But I powered through, had a PR on the run of a 70.3, and was so, so proud of myself. Friends and family joined, the celebration began and ended, and another race was in the books. Bring it on, AG Nationals!!!

P.S. I am in Germany as I write this on a much needed vacation and birthday celebration. The training begins again, 7/1, with 10 weeks to IMWI.

Soldier Field and after

Last Saturday, May 26th, I did my second Soldier Field 10 Miler. It was awesome! Said no one who actually did the race. It was approximately 15 degrees warmer than it had been, and the humidity shot up about 40%. I started way too fast and realized by mile 3.5, I knew I had made a huge mistake. It was rather awful. There was more than one instance in which I almost gave up. I had to walk up hills, walk on flats, just so much more walking than I was used to. My head was just not in a good place. But I did it. I finished. 30 whole seconds faster than last year. It was rather deflating, considering my runs has been so fast, but I wasn't used to the heat (a good excuse, I know), and my headspace wasn't right. That happens. It's what you do moving forward.

Sunday, May 27th. Bike the Drive! After 6 years in Chicago, I was finally able to do this event. It was awesome. All of Lake Shore Drive shut down to cars and open to bikes. Weeee!!! Got in a solid 50 miles on another blistering day. It was surprisingly perfect. I was the asshat on a tri bike, but no one was rude to me, other cyclists were so courteous, and it was just awesome.

Monday, May 28th. First open water swim!! The lake was 57 degrees. I made it a whopping 15 minutes before I decided I needed feeling in my fingers and toes. But at least I got one in? My swim is solid, I'm not too worried about it for WI 70.3, but it would have been nice to have a couple more....

Summer colds are dumb. Allergies are dumb. So much is dumb! The past week was brutal. I got all my workouts in, but felt terrible. Life goes on.

Saturday, June 2nd. WI 70.3 bike course. A friend and I went up to see just how bad these hills are. They are bad. 2700 feet of elevation over 56 miles. Dropped my chain a couple times, but am slowly getting better at learning to ride hills. Worried I'm going to burn too many matches, but we will see. At least I know what to expect. Averaged almost 16mph. Pretty solid considering we got lost a few times, had to stop for traffic, and overall just stopped a few times for breaks. I'm ready.

And then today happened. I had a long run, about 2 hours, on the schedule. My legs were sore, but not too bad, after the ride. Biked 3 miles to the lake and started my run. And it was tortuous. I think it felt worse than Soldier Field. Legs were screaming, lungs were on fire, and horrible headspace again. Now I'm worried. Have I lost my edge? Am I just overtrained? Will taper make that much of a difference? So much anxiety building and I need to find some better coping mechanisms....

Keep. Moving. Forward.