Bookends

Foreword
2008 was my year of accidents. 2009 was my year of recovery. 2010 my year of letting nothing stop me! Last October I participated in an all woman sprint in San Diego. The race was my first race after my accident; my goal was to do a race within a year of getting hurt. This race seemed to be the perfect one, and it was. This race was my kick-start to the upcoming year. The year is not over, but as we head into fall and I look back at my year I have to say I am very happy. All of my goals were met and some new challenges & highlights were added along the way.

Chapters

• Hiking the Inca Trail and arriving at Machu Picchu on New Year’s Day
• Dessert Tri – Olympic
• CA 70.3 - Half-Ironman
• Wildflower Long Course – Half-Ironman, Paul & I raised over $8,000 for the LLS
• Became a Team Odwalla Athlete!
• Ironman Coeur d’Alene
• Christmas in July 5K, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Fundraiser
• Vineman Aquabike – Half Iron swim & bike, NO run, best race format ever!
• US Women’s Triathlon – Sprint

See previous blog posts for the full chapters above.

Afterword
On the 17^th, a year later, Paul & I headed to San Diego to do the same Sprint Tri as the previous October! Once again I had the best fan ever in Paul. As much as I love racing with him, he is the best race day wingman ever. Calm, supportive, enthusiastic and willing to do all the driving! My friend Trisha raced too, just like last year. With all the racing I had done this year I had high hopes of coming to this race and kicking some butt! Unfortunately IM training burnout and 5 business trips kind of derailed this plan. So the new plan…don’t train AT ALL, have confidence that I can finish, smile and HAVE FUN! Mission accomplished. Maybe not the athletic highlight of my career, I was 30 seconds slower than last year, but I enjoyed every minute, encouraged other ladies along the way, pushed myself and was able to close the book on my year adventure.

From here on out there will be; no more mention of my accidents-old news these days, some non-sporty activities-cocktail Sundays by tiki-mixologist Paul!, new adventures-Cyclocross anyone?, and fun-the Solvang Prelude Wine Ride! My hope is to keep posting along the way. Many thanks to all of you for joining this journey.

Due to technical difficulties there are no photos in this post.

Time Vampires

How did I go from working full time and training 20+ hours a week to barely being able to squeak in a 30 minute run or an hour bike ride?

I could weave a long tale (which we know I am good at) with all the details of everything I have been doing, such as setting the alarm clock to wake up for work-not working out, focusing on work, coming home and chilling with Norman, traveling for work-DC, Santa Fe, DC again, NOT setting the alarm on the weeekend to snuggle with the hubby, launching Explore Your Parks and cool partnership with The North Face and MD/VA State parks, catching up with long lost friends, dabbling in cyclo cross-more on this later, and trying to regroup mentally. I feel like I was doing all this while training for Ironman so what is my excuse?

Time vampires...that is my story and I am sticking to it.

Aquabike-Swim, Bike, Cheer!

One month after IMCDA I headed up to Sonoma, CA with two of my TNT Ironman Teammates, Rich and Mark for the 2nd of the planned IRONTEAM races, The Full Vineman Ironman. A bunch of our teammates were racing their first Ironman! Mark & Rich were racing the full Vineman Aquabike... 2.4 mi swim and a 112 mi bike. They are training for IM Louisville so this was their training day. I had signed up to do the 1/2 Aquabike, 1.2 mi swim/56 mi bike, before IMCDA figuring it would be awesome to watch my teammates race, to have a goal after IM and to race representing Team Odwalla!

Despite the fact that I keep doing these long triathlons I am NOT a fan of running... so it turns out the Aquabike is my dream race. Swim, bike.. NO run! For once I could ride my legs off without having to save anything for the run. What fun this was!!!!

In transition I bumped into a bunch of friends that were also racing. One of them was Tanya the founder of GOTRIbal, an organization created for women in triathlon. GOTRIbal sole purpose it to create a way to empower women through racing and girl-power. Tanya is someone I met 17 years ago while interning at the Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Lab in Hawaii. Over the years our lives have crossed without planning or intention... she is just one of those people who I know will be in my life forever and make it a little bit brighter each time we meet.

The swim was a unique experience... it was in a river... up stream then back down stream in water that I could stand up in if I tried. The bike was great... I hear someone yell GO TEAM ODWALLA and someone slapped me on the back as they rode by. It was a fellow Team Odwalla member! I was sooo excited, this was the first race that I had done with a fellow team member! I ended up meeting Anne Thilges at the expo after.

With Aquabike done the third leg of my day began, Ironteam cheerleader. Those of us done with the Aquabike turned into IronTeam fans! We stayed on course and at the finish until the last of our teammates finished their race. It was amazing. An IronTeam finish line is like no other. Friends, family, teammates, racers who had finished all waited to cheer in every teammate plus those other racers who happened to finish in between. Gordie, our honored teammate, crossed this finish line with both of his daughters. Cancer obviously did not win this one, Gordie showed his cancer was boss over 140.6 miles and the last 10 months of training.

As much as I loved the Aquabike I cannot explain the feeling of relief that came over with me when I was done. I had not realized until I crossed the finish how much the race had weighed on me. Eventhough finishing IM was a huge relief, I still knew I had the Aquabike a month later. Now with Aquabike done, I was DONE! Yay, yippe, yahoo!

OK well maybe not done, done, but close... just one more little race. I have the Women's Sprint Triathlon in October. I did this race last year. It was almost exactly one month before the year anniversary of my accident. I had decided that I need a goal and what better goal than a triathlon. So I particpated in this race to close the book on "recovery" and officially started my journey to Ironman. So this October the race will be purely a celebration! Celebration of an amazing year; broken pelvis a part of my past, 2 1/2 Ironmans and an IM completed and my first Aquabike.

Now I get to "train" for the sprint which really just means I am excerising for FUN!

See you on the trails, in the neighborhood running with Norman, smiling as I ride my bike through the hills of Pasadena and jumping in the pool if I can motivate.

Thanks for reading as always... and stay tuned for some more posts NOT related to Ironman!!!

Finally IM Coeur d'Alene Race Recap!

You ask yourself “why” a lot when training for an Ironman. Why I did I sign up to do this? Why an Ironman? Why not a shorter race? Why opt to sacrifice so much of our time and resources to training. The simple answer, race day. It provides an experience like no other and that is why.

I was dead set that this was going to be my 2nd and LAST Ironman. Too much needs to be sacrificed for this one day. We got to Coeur d’Alene excited that the race was finally here and ready for it to be over! Crossing the finish line would mean goal accomplished and getting our life back. We would be done! Here is the recap of our race experience.

There are going to be two versions of the event… the Cliff notes version and the great epic version filled with all the gory details, at least my gory details. You can choose.

Cliff Notes Version!
We were in Coeur d’Alene for 6 days, that were filled with family, friends, amazing local support, cold and windy swims, great race day weather. During the trip I tried to make Team Odwalla proud wearing my team gear as much as possible and showing it off on race day. Paul kicked butt and beat his previous IM Canada time by over an HOUR! Finishing in 14:14:00, it was 15:15:51 last time, I think it is a sign that he needs to do another one to try for 13:13:00. I beat my Canada time by 3 minutes, finishing in 15:12:05. I was not happy with my bike, but was happy with my swim and run. Actually I have never felt better on a run and overall had an amazing day.

The Blow by Blow Version… you might want to grab a snack and a glass of wine.
Pre-Race: We arrived in Coeur d’Alene on Wednesday, after driving from LA to Seattle the weekend before, spending a couple of days in Seattle and then heading to Idaho. Why arrive into town 4 days before race day? The practical reasons are to scope out the course, get settled, do your last taper workouts on course and enjoy the expo. The mandatory reasons are packet pick-up happens earlier than other races, the athlete dinner is two nights before race day and bike & gear bag drop off is the day before the race. But more importantly… one sacrifices so much of their time training for an event like this that taking the extra days to enjoy the pre-race experience is worth it.

Wednesday: After settling in to the house we were renting, we headed into town where all the race festivities would take place. We met up with our friend Jame from the IronTeam who was also racing and drove the course together. The “ladies”, my mom-Zita, Paul’s mom-Payson & aunt-Jane, arrived later in the afternoon.

Thursday: First stop…a 7am swim-we wanted to get used to the 56 degree water at race start time. According to the locals it had warmed up from 50 degrees earlier in the week and was supposed to keep warming up… fingers crossed. The water was COLD, but calm and clear and after our feet, hands and face were all numb it was actually quite pleasant. Of course the wetsuit and neoprene cap helped! We ran into some other LA friends at the swim who were also racing, Ian, Konrad, & Mark. Then Jame, Paul & I went for a short run as well. After a stop to the local coffee shop we completed registration; got our numbers, wristband, gear bags, etc. At the expo we ran into more LA friends, Jen & Anna. Despite the fact that there are 2700+ athletes arriving in town for the race there is a small-town atmosphere when you keep running into people you know. The ladies were now with us and it was like having paparazzi, cameras documenting our every move! We were the celebrities! Time spent at the expo resulted in some new IM goodies and the paparazzi went to work on making support signs. Jame, Paul & I rode part of the course which made me really excited about the ride. The course was beautiful, two lakeside sections, farmland, windy roads through lush farmland, and rollers… as I would come to find on race day… lots and lots of rollers. Payson took us to dinner at a restaurant floating on the lake. We were able to enjoy a beautiful sunset and some amazing Pacific NW food. I now know why everyone makes such a big deal about the Copper River Salmon…YUM!

Friday: Rest Day… no workouts just chill, kinda. Paul & I wanted to walk the downtown part of the run course as it was a little confusing on paper. We also needed to pick up the athlete banquet tickets for our family… another good excuse to head back to the expo and check out the Pro-panel. The ladies, now joined by my dad, so I guess we will call them “the crew”… met us for lunch and then we all drove the course so they could get an idea of where we would be while we were out on course. After scouting the course, we relaxed at the house for a bit then headed to the athlete banquet. We sat with a bunch of the LA Tri peeps and realized that even more people we knew were racing! Fun! The athlete dinner is part inspirational and part business. They honor a racer who has been chosen as the most inspirational athlete, they call up to stage the youngest (both 19) and the oldest (the woman was in her mid-60s and the man mid-70s!) men and women racers, and they give a prize to the person who lost the most weight training for this race. The guy who won this lost well over 100 pounds! Yeah I lost around 5…no records there. We stayed for the mandatory athlete meeting where they go over rules and regs one more time.

Saturday: 7am swim. One last time to check out the water at the official race start time. One word… wind. The water had warmed up but there was a fierce on-shore wind, the lake had waves and a current! All I kept thinking was that we had done almost NO open water swims because our race was in a LAKE! We got in and warmed up swimming to shore. Deep breath and simulate race day…swim straight out to the buoy. No big deal except every time I looked forward to breath and sight I was getting whacked by a wave. Paul, Jame and I survived the chop and went for a quick run. Back to the house to get all of my race day gear ready. At IM races you have to drop your bike off in T1 the day before, along with your swim to bike gear bag, and your bike to run bag. We got all of our stuff ready, ate lunch and rode our bikes with our stuff to the race start. Back to the house to relax… we had a “last meal” with Payson and Jane, my parents were off visiting a cousin who lives nearby in Sand Point… and then my brothers both arrived. Off to bed early…ish.

RACE DAY! 4am wake-up…quick breakfast…almond butter with banana on whole grain bread. Grab our special needs bags, these are bags you drop off before the race that you can get ½ way through the bike and ½ way through the run. Slight hiccup when Paul’s zipper on his tri suit broke…thank goodness for moms! Payson saved the day…zipper fixed and we were on our way to the race start. Body marking first up… check my bike… tires ok… bottles on the bike. Check my transition bags one last time… sunscreen… porty potty… wetsuit… cap… goggles… time to walk over the timing map and I’m on the beach. Wind is minimal…water calm… quick warm up swim and time to wait for the canon to go off. There is a sense of calm for me at this moment…I am ready. Ready for the day to start, ready to be done, ready for what lies ahead. I am prepared. Just like during my training, I remind myself that I can’t be phased. There is too much ahead of me to start worrying now. Paul and I choose different places to start, so after a kiss and hug I am alone among all my fellow athletes.

Swim: The canon booms and 2700 athletes all head to the water to start the swim. I am surprisingly calm despite the chaos around me. I focus on trying to find clear water and find a rhythm. This is hard with so many people around you…some are faster and swim over you literally, some are slower and I swim around them, some are a similar pace and I try to draft. This is a two loop swim so I try to think of the first 1.2 mile loop as a warm up. I come to the first turn buoy and find myself forced to start treading water upright with hundred of other swimmers all trying to get past the first buoy. It is a total mosh pit until the next turn buoy and then it clears up as we head back towards shore. A brief run up on shore across a timing map and then back into the water for lap two. The second lap was much less hectic. 1:23 and I am out of the water heading to the strippers! These volunteers help strip your wetsuit. Off to grab my swim-bike bag and head to the changing tent. Amazing volunteers help get you sorted changed and heading it the bike. I remember running to my bike and thinking why am I running? I have all a long day ahead of me!

Bike: I grab my bike and head to the mount line. I hear Sebastian, my brother yelling my name…awesome. On the bike and heading out of town I hear my dad, R-A, and the ladies cheering me on! The bike was two 56 miles loops on a beautiful course of rolling hills. These rollers made for a long day on the bike. I was comfortable, stayed in my heart rate zone, but never felt like I could get in to a groove. The best part of the bike was all of the locals out on the course cheering us on…ALL DAY. The old lady who played Michael Jackson on her boom box, the people who partied ALL day long dressed up in costume, the family playing the Rocky theme song on a loop, the old man with his vintage Penny Farthing bikes and the hundreds of others including our personal family fan club. Overall my bike was slower than I had hoped, but I finished well before the cutoff. Did I mention that I was lapped by the men’s leader Andy Potts who went on to win the race? Yup I was lapped. 6 bottles of Infinit Nutrition, water, 2 power bars and a blueberry pop tart later, I was pretty darn happy to give the volunteer my bike as I got back to transition 7:43 after I had started the bike. The awesome volunteers once again helped find my bike-run bag and get me sorted to hit the run.

Side note: Days of pre-planning and mapping by the ladies resulted in the best fan support ever. They were everywhere and having them cheering at so many different points was such a huge help and highlight of my day.

Run: Sebastian stayed for the beginning of the run and then had to head back to seattle to work first thing Monday. I spent the first half of the marathon pacing myself… staying in my heart rate zone and trying to figure out my nutrition all in the hopes that I don’t bonk later. Anything other than ice water and my Infinit Nutrition drink was not sitting well, especially sweet things. So much for my “Sport Jelly Beans”. I was able to start eating a pretzel or chip here and there… but the chicken broth ended up be the winner. The best part of the run was getting to see Paul and Jame a couple of time. Eventhough they were well ahead of me the loops on the course made it possible to see everyone else out there. I met a couple of nice people who asked about my Odwalla kit and what Odwalla was. The nice thing about my less than speedy case was that I could talk to people and have some interesting conversations. Some nice guy was running with his camera and took a picture of Paul & I as we had a quick hug on one of our passes… still hoping he tracks me down on FB to send me the pic! The kids on the course and at the volunteer stations are the best. They take their “jobs” very seriously and get so excited when you take a second to acknowledge them or thank them. Makes you wonder if they will grow up and want to do this too some day.

I had realized after my bike that it was going to be hard to make my goal of finishing under 15 hours, but didn’t want to worry about it too much. So I stuck to my plan on the run, which was to stay in my heart rate zone until about mile 16 and if I hade anything left then I could start pushing. There is somewhere ½ way through the marathon where I think a lot of people have a mental moment. Most of the day is behind you and you know the rest is totally doable, but you still have to finish a half marathon! For me this is where the mental toughness has to take over… cause I knew I could do it but was kinda over it. I was ready to be done. This is where the crowd support is soooo important. My second lap was the hug lap, stopped for hugs from dad, mom, Payson, Jane, Paul… next time I saw any of them would be at the finish. As I was leaving town for the final out and back, I saw the clock on a bank and realized not only was I definitely was going to miss my goal but might not beat my time from Canada, 15:15:51. This totally got me fired up and I went from jogging to RUNNING! The good news was I totally had the legs for it. I had the best negative split ever, the only bummer in hindsight is that I probably could have pushed a little harder during the first half and made my goal. Besides what would be the fun of doing an Ironman if you don’t get the mandatory glow necklace that they give to racers out after dark.

Before this race I was done with IM’s… this would be my last. Too much training, too much time, too much of everything. But as I was out there on the run I came to the realization that race day really is worth everything you put into it. The experience of being able to accomplish something like this is really meaningful and something that I truly appreciate and treasure.

You know you are closing in on the finish because you hear it usually before you see it. Mike Riley, the “voice” of ironman announcing, people cheering, then you see the lights of the finish shoot, and the rest becomes a blur. The atmosphere is a bit overwhelming…running down the shoot little kids were leaning over the bleacher barriers looking for high-hives, of course I obliged, they didn’t care that I was a late finisher, I missed my name but heard “Pasadena” over the loud speaker, I crossed the line arms in the air, smile as big as Texas, to the “catchers”/volunteers waiting for me. They make eye contact make sure you are ok…as ok as you can be and adorn you with your medal, finisher shirt, space blanket and head you towards the finisher photo area. Jame was there waiting, Paul had to figure out how to sneak back in and my family was there, as they had been all day to snap pictures and offer hugs. And that’s it after 8 months of training, training 7 days a week, 2 times a day, and on this final morning waking up at 4am and being in a constant state of motion for 15 hours, 12 minutes and 5 seconds I was done. Grabbed a couple slices of pizza in the finisher tent, headed to meet Paul and the family who was grabbing my bike and transition gear, and then to the car where a cooler of beer awaited.

As promised that was the loooong version. Sorry that it is a month late!

What next? Well I already did a fundraising 5k for the IronTeam which proved my theory that short fast efforts are no fun. And tomorrow I do the Vineman ½ Aquabike, 1.2 mi. swim and a 56 mi. bike with NO run after. This may be my dream event. The real reason I am doing this race is because my Iron Peeps are doing their FULL IRONMAN race and I want to be there to cheer them in!

10 hours until Ironman

It seems impossible, but I am writing this with 10 hours to go until the canon goes off for the start of Ironman Coeur d'Alene. We have had a busy week leading up to the race and I have never got a blog post off...but many pictures have been posted to FB for those of you that are on their.

I promise a detailed recap next week.

To track us tomorrow go to www.ironman.com and use the athlete tracker. All you need is our last name, but my number is 2353 and Paul is 494.

But before I head to be I just wanted to thank my mom, dad, Payson and Jane for providing an amazing support network leading up to the race. Thank you!

XOXO... S.

Who Said Triathlon is an Individual Sport?

Many would argue that triathlon is an individaul sport. There is no drafting, no teamwork, no outside help or support, just you against the clock and of course all the other racers. On race day it is all about you, but getting there is anything but a solo effort.

It is those closest to you, both two-legged and four-legged and even total strangers that can make a difference and help you stay motivated.

I am lucky in that Paul, my husband, has also adopted this crazt pastime. He doesn't question or complain when the alarm goes off at 4:30 am. We try to do as many workouts as possible together knowing that it is so much more motivating to train with someone else, but sometimes work schedules prevent this. Sometimes the support is not being a training partner, but having the bike already on the trainer when you get home or making you an egg-sandwich to take as you rush out the door to work after a morning workout.

Norman, my four legged buddy. Our bulldog has completed every treadmill run with me over the past 8 months. His tenacity and enthusiasm to run with me has helped me look forward to my treadmill runs instead of dread them.

Friends like Michael, Ian and Adam who actually agree to meet Paul and I for 6am clip-ins to join us on our long crazy rides, hey guys lets ride to the beach and back, how about climb to Mt Baldy? A special shout out to Michael for riding with me today. Paul didn't get home from work until 4am and was in no shape to start riding at 8. Michael rode with me from Pasadena to Seal Beach and back. My track record for solo rides in the last 3 years is not so good so the company was appreciated. Especially because he is a MUCH stronger rider than I, he and Paul are much more suited for each other as riding partners. I gave Michael Odwalla bars as a thank you! :)

Non-tri friends... these are the people who still love and support me despite the fact that I havn't seen them in months, forget to call them back for weeks and totally neglect our friendships. This is one of the hardest parts about training for an Ironman, unless you live, work, or train with a person...chances are you may not see them for months.

Total strangers. I am always shocked at how much of an impact a total stranger can have on you. I'm that person on the bike path or running by that is always giving a smile or wave, saying good morning or hello. Why not be postive, we are outside enjoying the outdoors, being active, enjoying life. Fast or slow, new bike or old bike, walker or runner, who cares we are all making a choice to not be sitting inside watching TV or being lazy.

A few weeks ago I was plodding along the bike path running extremely slow trying to stay in my heartrate zone. We had just rode for 6+ hours and the brick was what it was. A girl riding by snidley said to her fellow rider, "what's the point she could walk faster." My first thought was, she's probably right I am barley running...then WOW that was soo mean! It really actually bummed me out. Really what is the point of being that negative and making someone feel bad. I can only hope that all of the "Good mornings" and other greetings that I share with those total strangers helps make their day a little brighter and look forward to getting out there again.

Then there are the good stories... I was doing a 2 loop run last weekend and towards the end of the first lap I passed a man wearing a black t-shirt with bikes on it. I smiled and said good morning and he did the same. On the second loop I came upon him again... he smiled and said good morning and then realized we had already passed each other before. His huge smile and "hello again!" upon this realization literally statyed with me for miles. It put a spring in my step and reminded me how much of a positve impact a total stranger can have. My favorite example of this is the "Blinky Man" at the Rose Bowl. He is going to get his own blog post...he is that special to me. Stay tuned.

So to all of the people in my life...thank you! You help make the journey.

S.

Odwalla Girl!

Exciting news, I was chosen to be part of Team Odwalla! This will be the first official blog as an Odwalla Athlete. I will be continuing to write about the journey to Ironman and beyond!

First let me explain... Odwalla makes organic, all natural, yummy juices and snack bars. A few months ago I noticed that they were accepting applications for an Athlete Ambassador Team so I applied. 100 athletes were chosen from 1000's, we are located in New York, San Diego, Orange County, San Francisco and of course Los Angeles. Odwalla's mission is to nourish the body, mind and spirit. They wanted athletes who also contribute in their communities and could spread the word about Odwalla by racing in Team Kits and sharing their product with friends, family and fellow athletes. We have been asked to do at least 3 races in our kits and particpate in a charity race/event.

Wildflower was supposed to be my first official race and charity event in my Odwalla kit, but unfortunately it did not arrive in time. So Ironman Coeur d'Alene will be my first Odwalla Race!

I've been breaking in the kit on our training rides which have been epic the last couple of weeks. We have been in our last build phase and are finally starting to taper towards race day. We climbed over 6000' to Mount Baldy, rode 100 miles on the Pacific Coast Highway spotting dolphins offshore, and joined friends on a ride from Angels Stadium in Anaheim to the infamous Pizza Port in Solana Beach.

Now, just 20 days until Ironman! I plan on posting more often especially as our training lightens up and I have time to breath. I have spent many miles and hours on the bike thinking of things to write about, but would get home and have only enough energy to eat, shower and sleep.

Please sign up to follow this blog and automatically get updates. I hope to entertain, inspire and amuse with the journey and observations of the athlete next door. And there may be chances for free Odwalla goodies...yep that would be a bribe.