Crossfit Triathlon (Relay) 2012

The story is still the same with my foot, but cycling and swimming have become part of my daily ritual.  I have managed to drop 6#'s and am feeling healthier than I have in about a year.  The idea of training and training for nothing in particular inspired me to beg my mom to do another race with me...

The Crossfit Tri (1/4 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run) . 

She reluctantly agreed to run the 5k after I once again promised we wouldn't be last (unless she walked and took her time). 

I had put in a huge week (for me that is) of swimming hitting the lake nearly everyday for a week and racking up over 9 miles with my guns dragging me back and forth for hours in through the waters of Aurora Lake.  My arms were thrashed by Saturday night after doing a long swim of 1:45, and I was going to pitch an internal fit if I didn't beat my time in the water on Sunday for the 1/4 mile swim. 

Originally, the relays were to start in the last wave with the 50+ men and the clydesdales.  GULP!  I could only hope they would be gentle with me.  I ran a 15 minute warm-up very slow on my tender foot and hit the bathroom while the earlier waves went off before donning my wetsuit and swinging my arms around like I was pro swimmer.  I noticed a few copper colored caps (my color) exiting the water.  OH SHIT!  I jogged over the the RD and asked him if he had changed the relays and he informed me that he had indeed, but it was no big deal I could just go off in the last wave (the 50+ and clydesdales).  Whew!  I was fine with that.  I just wanted to race. Hindsight I wish I had gone off in a faster wave, but I will get to that in a minute. 

Finally, it was my turn and waded into the water and got in 2-3 minutes worth of strokes.  I usually need about 10-15 minutes of swimming before my arms and body get in sync and I feel more fluid in the water, but that wasn't going to happen today.  There was a lane line to my right leading out to the far buoy, but it was crooked and it was going to cause congestion, so I started on the outside giving myself the straightest shot at the buoy.  I jokingly, begged the men not to pummle the copper cap before the horn sounded and then we were off.

I took it out hard.  I was surrounded by men and I need to let them know I wasn't just a floatatin device in the water - I had my own motor, plus I refused to give up my position and get swam over, kicked of wailed on by a stray arm.  It was a fast start with men all around me pulling hard.  I fought to keep my line and saw myself pull through the field in front of all but one swimmer on my left who pulled himself across my line.  I slowed and let him pull right then went by.  I dropped all but one guy.  I thought two men had pulled ahead and dropped the field, so I found a guy just a little ahead of me and kept pace with him.  My heart rate had rocketed and I was gasping for air.  I tried to center myself in the water and calm down as we made the turn.  It was so pleasant.  I had no bodies around me for the first time ever in a sprint!  We headed back and I backed off the pace a little trying to recover what I had spent.  The guy in front popped up way sooner than I did and started running, but I kept swimming (next time I am running too -- he was definitely faster on foot, than arm).  I popped up and ran at a near dead sprint for T1 and I was moving -- I couldn't believe how good I felt.  I had recovered a bit in the water and I was sprinting from the time my toes hit the sand.  All that work in the water got me a 1.2 second PR, but I did feel better than ever coming off the swim. 

T1, I wrestled with my wetsuit struggling to breathe or not and get the thing off.  I ran through the grass and fumbled a little trying to clip in to my pedals at the mount line.  I have looks for flying dismounts, but man they are a pain otherwise.  Also faster than last year by 0:24 seconds. 

I could tell I still had a lot of blood in my arms and I was running on adrenaline in the legs.  Lately, on my longer rides I have noticed I am kind of spent by the end because I have no control throughout the ride.  I spent the first few miles trying to "control" myself and get in a rythm.  At the Twinsburg Duathlon a few weeks ago I had bulldozed my way through the 10 miles out of control with my HR avg at 170 bpm.  I had suffered with lactic acid in my quads for the entire race.  I tried to encourage every person I passed through the 2 loops, except the 4 (dare I say assholes, 2 with ironman tatoos), I saw drafting in a pace line; them I called out as they rode by and dropped a F-bomb for good measure.  I pushed myself, but rode nice and controlled back into the park.  My legs felt way better and as I dismounted I ripped my chip off before entering T2 and ran to my rack.  Third time was a charm as I was 53.3 seconds faster than the year before.  I passed the chip to my mom and my day was done.

I changed my shoes and jogged over to say hi to my dad before running the looped course through the grass (grass feels so much better on my foot).  My mom was running really well as it took me almost a full lap to run her down.  I jogged with her through the first lap before doing another loop in reverse this time.  When I passed her in reverse I said "I'll see you at the top of the hill," which is less than a 1/2 mile from the finish.  As I jogged up the hill, I hoped she would be there when I got to the top, but she beat me to the top -- YES!!  I could tell she was having a PR day.  Our goal was 1:25 and I checked my watch -- we had lots of time.  I ran with her and encouraged her until we hit the grass then I started telling her "I want us to break 1:25!  We can do it, if you run hard.  It's all on you!"  She picked it up as she got nearer and nearer to the finish.  She was laying it all on the line that day.  I knew we would be way under the time, but I kept yelling at her and she kept going.  She hit the finish in 1:22:19.9.  She may or may not have called me an "a$$hole" for trying to kill her coming into the finish, but she was definitley all smiles when it was over. 

Team Silver Fox and Flash, the Turtle had struck again!  We were the fastest relay time on the day.

They haven't corrected my swim time so it say 22:06.5.  My dad said I was 2nd out of the water in my wave out of 51 (50+ men and clydesdayles).  Sometimes, I am able to draft and I think that may have helped get me a tiny bit more of a PR -- oh well.

Swim: 7:06.5
T1: 1:10.1
Bike: 36:23.5
T2: 0:24.7
Run: 37:14.9

Twinsburg Duathlon (Relay) 2012

Yep, after hundreds of years (well maybe  a little over a half a year) I have a race report! 

My foot is still the same.  I have good days and bad days.  I am still going in for this and that hoping the medical professionals can figure it out.  I can run or run/walk, but it's nothing worth writing home about (but obviously blog worthy as I am typing about it).  If I push myself I can probably run close to 8min/mile for about 5k and that's all I got right now.  Needless to say road racing and even multisport are nearly impossible -- or are they?

I love the RD for Northcoast Multisport and try to volunteer at as many events of his as possible, including the Twinsburg Duathlon.  Last year, I was in "ok" shape on a downward spiral to near couch potato and still managed to put up a 1:06:xx time and win my AG.  This year I would probably have to kill myself just to break 1:10 and was certain my foot would hurt like a mother for days after.  I had just completed "staycation ironman" and was feeling great about getting into some overtraining for at least 1 week and begged my mom to run for me.  She thought it was ridiculous I would want her to "race" with me, but it would give me a chance to crush the bike and compete.  She begrudgingly gave me her blessing and I signed us up.

I got off work Saturday morning and was asleep by 10am, but 1pm rolled around so fast and we headed down to packet pick-up.  We drove the run course in hopes of settling her nerves a little and she kept reiterating we were going to be last.  I proceeded to Ricky Bobby and Charlie Sheen her for the rest of the night saying "If we're not first, we're last" and we had "tiger blood" and team silver fox and flash the turtle were gonna be "winning! winning! winning!"  All my confidence did nothing to change her mind that we would be last. 

Sunday I rolled out of bed packed my gear and jumped on my bike at 5:30 am and pedal out to the race.  My legs still felt tight from the 100+ miles I had cycled that week, and my heart rate jumped into the 140-150 range almost immediately.  I wasn't sure if it was because I was fatigued or because of the added weight of the backpack I had on.  I had to call AH from my bike because I had forgotten my race numbers and he thankfully offered to bring them -- doh!!

I arrived a little before 6:00 am and immediately helped start setting up for the race.  Time just flew and before I knew it we were already to start.  My mom nervously lined up and at the horn started her first race in 3+ years.  I was so pumped to race with my mom and tear the bike course up.  I knew I was going to be riding from behind and I wanted to catch as many people as possible to help us out.  AH had changed out my tires the night before -- finally (they were bald as heck and just waiting to blow).  There were a few bangs at the beginning and my dad had to tease AH that those were my tires blowing, which of course had AH in a panic.  I had headed into the gym to warm-up on the track with some really slow jogging for 10 minutes. 

I had told my mom when you cross the mat and enter transition "Come straight to me.  Don't get anything to drink, take off the chip, just run to me."  Transition times were to be built into the bike time and I wanted to be in and out as fast as possible.  However, when she hit the first mats she took water, stopped to try and pull off her chip (sign a few autographs and wave to the crowds I think).  Transition ADD hit her.  I motioned for her to run to me and yelled "I'll get the chip off, just run here!!"  When she got to me I all but ripped her leg off at the ankle grabbed my bike and ran out of T1. 

I was the last bike out.  I had one thought on my mind "get as many as you can."  And I did.  From the first mile I started passing people.  I got up to 13 a little over half way and lost count.  I was in no danger of getting a drafting penalty as I was moving significantly faster than everyone.  I tried to yell a few words of encouragement to everyone I passed.  It started to rain on the back half where you can fly.  I was leaned over on my aero bars for most of the race and I felt my tires shimmy-ing a little -- damn I was gonna have to ride hunched over on the outside.  I switched and kept pushing.  I could tell from the get-go I had spiked my heart rate between the initial climbs and chasing.  I ignored my garmin, opting to just push, push, push.  I wasn't gonna get my HR back down no matter what I did.  I hit the big hill on Glenwood and mistakenly decided to climb it seated nice and easy.  Hindsight there was less than 3 miles (pretty much all down hill) left and I should have blown up the hill like last year.  I crested the hill, turned right and bombed my way back to the fitness center.  When I hit Miktarian (street/blvd) I started sucking some air hard and just grunted and yelled "come on, move motherf*cker!!"  There was a lady walking her dog up ahead and I think she heard me because she turned around.  I got one more guy before heading into the fitness center and I hammered my way up to transition, like I was Mark Cavendish sprinting for the win in the TdF. 

 I ripped off the chip right before the dismount line hopped off my bike and ran for my rack.  I almost slippe on the wet pavement, but managed to hold myself upright until I got to my mom.  I gave her the chip wheezing and spent.  I had ridden the course like a crazy person, being very aggressive on the turns, the downhills and the slick roads.  I had glimpsed my Garmin and seen 33:xx.  I was hoping to be sub-33.  Damn!! 

My mom headed out on her second run and I quickly changed shoes and grabbed some water.  AH was worried I had flatted when I hadn't come back by the 1 hour mark, but extremely happy to see me flying in.  He had been the spotter for my mom since she had her glassess off.  She kept asking him "is that her?"  And he would say "no, she will be much faster than that."  Funny thing when I did come in I guess they were both kind of like "That's her!"  Haha -- I really didn't even ride as great a time as I had wanted. 

I eventually jogged out to nearly a half mile and waited for my mom to reappear.  I saw people coming in that I had passed on the bike and knew we wouldn't be last, barring my mom's back hurting.  She crested the hill and I picked her up at the corner.  We ran together nearly to the finish.  There was a lady in red coming behind her and I was getting worried she might catch us so I ordered my mom to pick it up when we hit the light post and she did.  They had a finisher's tape set-up for her to break and with 1:31:26 on the clock we finished!! 

Splits
Run 1: 27:42
Bike with T1 and T2: 35:28 - pretty sure my mom tried to make me kill myself on the bike by goofing around in transition ;)  Even with her sabotaging me I had the 5th fastest bike split out of all the women racing -- haha.  Averaged HR 170: Max HR 180 for 10.44 miles.
Run 2: 28:15

And we didn't finish last! We beat 14 individuals and 3 teams :)  Pics to come...