(LACK OF) RACE REPORT: Ironman 70.3 San Juan

Arrival in San Juan

    I can’t even begin to convey how overly-excited I was for this race having spent mucho hours of training listening to reggaeton and getting fired up for a great season-opener. Everything went fine in the days leading up to the race.

    My boyfriend and I flew into San Juan early Friday morning using my Ruster Sports Hen House for the very first time. I was a bit nervous as this was the first time I ever had to take apart and re-build my bike. But, that part went pretty well. My bike made it down to San Juan in one piece (without any nasty oversized/overweight fees I might add) and I was able to assemble it relatively quickly and easily.

    When we arrived in San Juan Friday Morning we were able to check our bags at the host hotel for a nominal fee (the angry lady at MY hotel told us that our only option was to leave our bags behind a chair in the unlocked lobby. Ugh, no thanks!). Then we wandered around a bit walking some of the race course, checking out transition, and grabbing a coco frio snack to enjoy while sitting on the edge of a rock overlooking the ocean. Later, after checking into our hotel, we went for a quick swim in the ocean before heading into Old San Juan for dinner at Senor Frogs. The day, in all, was pretty peaceful and nice.

Racking my bike in transition (and in a giant red ant pile)

    Saturday was relatively relaxed as well. I built my bike first thing in the morning before heading over to the beach for another warm-up swim. After lunch I took out my bike for a quick (VERY QUICK) ride just to make sure that bike was put together properly. However, riding on the street in Old San Juan was so horribly frightening that I opted to spare my life and instead pay the mechanic 20 bux to check my bike for me. It was well worth the money. We later headed up to rack my bike in transition before heading out to a nice dinner at Mortons. Then, it was early to bed for out 4:45am wake-up call on Sunday Morning.

Race morning was no different than any other. I was slightly nervous and very excited. My swim wave was the first to go off after the pros and I knew that, being a swimmer, this was my chance to really pull ahead from the start. I had my race plan all figured out. I was going to go out hard and really push myself all the way through the run. I was ready…or so I thought.

The Swim: 

Coming into the swim finish

    The swim went very well. I managed to PR for the 1.2mi swim by over 2 minutes and was the 3rd woman in my Age Group out of the water. I felt fast and energized.

T-1: 

    The run from Swim Exit to Transition was VERY long. I tried not to waste my time pulling off my cap and goggles while running and instead waited until I got to my spot in transition. My transition wasn't fast but wasn't slow. 

The Bike: 

    The first 15(ish) miles of the bike went great. I was averaging around 20-21mph rather comfortably and felt like I could keep up the speed with ease. However, mile after mile, I slowly started to feel a slight pinch in my right thigh. It was sort of a mixture between the feeling of a pinched nerve and a general thigh cramp. I drank some water and ate a package of Chomps. I tried to push through it, telling myself that the cramps would work themselves out.

    However, right after I hit the first turn-around, I got a headwind and the pinching feeling started to increase. I debated continuing to push through it versus stopping for a quick minute to give it a quick stretch. I decided that I might be able to continue stronger if I could just stretch it out. I pulled over to the side of the road, unclipped, and bent forward to stretch the back of my leg. It felt good. But, when I stood up, I felt a very sharp, intense pain shoot up the back of my thigh and into my groin. I could barely stand.

    A few nearby medics came over to assist me while I watched half my competition breeze by me. I told the medics that I thought I was just cramping and wanted to continue. So, they wrote down my information as I hopped back on my bike and tried to continue. I could barely apply enough downward force to clip back into my pedal. But nevertheless, I was CONVINCED it was just a cramp. So, I continued on…for about another 16 miles.

    Between that moment and when I finally decided to pull out of the race, I went through a horrible inner struggle and cried both in pain and in shame most of the way. A few miles from where I finally pulled over, I lost my two seat-mounted water bottle cages. Not only was I cramping (or worse), but now I didn't even have any water to hydrate myself. I knew that was it. Today wasn't going to be my day. So feeling ashamed, and in tears, I pulled over to the side of the road, unclipped, laid down my bike, and waited for assistance.

    It was only a few minutes before I had a team of medics surrounding me. They applied ice packs and gave me an IV as I sat in the dirt by the side of the road. The ambulance arrived a few minutes later where I was put on a stretcher and driven back towards transition to the med tent. Much of the next few hours were a sad blur. I was crying because I felt so weak…like I had given up when I might have been able to continue. It did not matter how bad the pain was, or how swollen my muscle felt, I was ashamed of myself.

    I was also scared for my boyfriend who was tracking me via his iPhone waiting at transition. I knew he would see that my bike splits stopped registering and would be so worried that I had crashed, or worse. Being in a place where not many people spoke English, it was hard for me to find out whether or not he (as my emergency contact) had been notified. Apparently he hadn't been. But, I was eventually able to get hold of a cell phone in the med tent (somehow remembered his cell number) and he was able to find me, exhausted and scared.

Race Aftermath:

Hobbling around the Fort in Old San Juan sightseeing

    I'm still pretty disappointed.  But, after still waking up to a very swollen thigh three days after the race, I know that I made the right decision to pull out.  It was definitely not an easy decision to make. I wanted to continue more than anything.  But, after stopping that first time, I knew that my dreams of a medal and Vegas had slipped away.  My only options were to continue on to MAYBE finish the race (poorly) and further injuring myself OR to pull out now, recover, and to look forward to the next race. And yes, I'm really really looking forward to the next race...

Reflecting

RACE REPORT: 2013 Fort Lauderdale USMS Masters Challenge

    Last weekend I had a 3-day SCY swim meet at my home pool at the Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex (Swimming Hall of Fame) in Fort Lauderdale, FL. I signed up for every freestyle event (minus the 50) and the 400 and 200 IMs. Although it sounds like A LOT of swimming, spread out over 3 days, it was not actually that difficult of a schedule. HOWEVER, little did I know the temperature would drop Thursday night and remain in the 50s with a strong wind and little-to-no sun (brrrrrr) over the weekend. Now, 50 degrees might not sound all too terrible to you northern folk. But, standing around on a pool deck, soaked, getting slammed by the wind coming right off the ocean, while trying to stay loose and warm for competition, is NOT the most pleasant of racing conditions. Nevertheless, it was a somewhat successful event overall as I was able to post some quality times regardless of the weather, my tri training exhaustion, and my cruddy flip turns.

Friday Night:

1000 Freestyle: 12:32.24 (note: I wound up beating this time in my 1000 split from my 1650 on Sunday Morning)

Saturday:

400 IM: 5:25.93 (not to shabby for never really swimming stroke)

100 Freestyle: 1:01.04

500 Freestyle: 6:01.68

Sunday:

1650 Freestyle (aka “The Mile”): 20:33.96 (I was pretty pleased both with my overall time and my individual 100 splits. For the most part, I consistently paced the race holding between 1:14-1:60 per 100 and was able to beat my Friday Night 1000 Free time by about 4 seconds. This says great things are to come in my upcoming Distance triathlon events!)

200 IM: 2:34.16

200 Freestyle: 2:14.97 (By this time I was pretty spent from the weekend. Not the best 200 time in the world. But, I got to take a super hot shower afterwards…so who really cares)

GEAR REVIEW: Swim Spray

    There comes a time in ever swimmer's life when you just don't feel comfortable wreaking of chlorine anymore. I admit that I haven't always cared that I smell like chemicals. As a life-long competitive swimmer, I got very comfortable with my chlorine stench. While still in school, I remember that the smell used to keep me awake during boring lectures...one sniff of my arm and I was alert. And in College, I always figured that smelling like chlorine was better than what most kids smelled like in 8am lectures. But, I'm not in college anymore. And frankly, I'm sick of being able to smell myself after leaving a room, of suffocating my colleagues at firm meetings, and of experiencing a burning in my eyes as the chlorine smell emanates from my skin all day long.

So, I got referred to a product that is supposed to cure all these problems....Swim Spray.

The Item: 

    Swim Spray

The Claim:

    "SwimSpray immediately neutralizes chlorine. If you don't want to use shampoo or soap with SwimSpray, simply rinse off in the shower, spray SwimSpray on your hair and skin, and then rinse off the SwimSpray with water. That will eliminate the chlorine and you won't smell like chlorine." - From Swimspray.com

My Initial Reaction: 

    The first time I brought it to the pool I tried to use it after I got out of the shower.  Turns out, had I actually read the directions (aka Swim Spray's ONLY direction), I would've realized that you're supposed to use it IN the shower before you shampoo and soap. Oops. 

   So, the next day I went swimming, I actually followed the directions and used the Swim Spray while in the shower.  Then I changed and headed off to work as usual.  I admit, I was originally doubtful as to whether or not this stuff would actually work.  However, after trying it out  and sitting through meetings all day, I was convinced...Swim Spray ACTUALLY WORKS!

    For the first time my office didn't smell like chlorine after I had already left it.  For the first time, none of my colleagues commented on whether or not they could tell that I had been swimming that morning.  And, for the first time, when I went to do my afternoon bike trainer workout, I didn't sweat out the chlorine that had been trapped in my pores all day.

My Opinion Now:

   I'm glad to have found a product that actually does what it says.  My only gripe, however, is that I find that I have to use a lot of sprays in order to cover my body.  This means that each bottle might not last as long.  However, considering the fact that I also like to splurge on expensive shampoos and $30 bottles of leave-in conditioners from Sephora, I think that paying the price for a product that actually works...is definitely worth it. 

Price Tag: 

$12.95 for a 4oz bottle from SwimSpray.com OR SwimOutlet.com

New Year, New Plan

    After ending my 2013 racing season on a bit of a high note, I was extra excited to get a jump on my training for 2013. I didn’t have much of an offseason. It was only a month-or-so in total. However, I thoroughly enjoyed some time away from my more focused training. I swam to have fun with my teammates. I biked to enjoy just getting outside during some cooler Florida weather. And, I didn’t run once...I never even picked up my sneakers from my shoe stand.

    However, come Christmas, it was time to take what I learned from 2012 and figure out how I was going to approach 2013. I had some good races at the tail-end of last season. But, there were also some major problems in my performances that desperately need to be fixed. So, I thought about how I trained, tried to be realistic about my analysis of my training, and came up with two resolutions for the new year:

1. I would seek training workout guidance from an outside source 
2. I would keep up on my running throughout the season

    In regards to Resolution #1, I can honestly say that I put in as much time and effort last season as I could probably handle. However, as seen in my performance results, this was not good enough. Yes I’m limited on the amount of time I can train since I do have a full-time job. But, I don’t think that I can really improve my performance any more without some coached help. Up until now, I’ve been exclusively trained by myself in all three sports.

    After years of swimming, I think that I have a pretty good understanding of how to generally shape workouts. However, having never been a runner or cyclist, I’m pretty limited on how to include variety or specified training. So, I decided that I needed outside help.

    The first step was in joining a Master’s Swim Team. Although I didn’t need the help creating or completing the workouts, I decided that I needed the “push” in pacing that can only be had by swimming with others. At recent workouts my 100 LCM pace times have steadily decreased to slightly –above my college pace times. There is NO WAY I could’ve been able to do this by training solo.

    My next step was to look for some coaching guidance online or in the area. However, I’m very financially limited and just can’t afford another large monthly expense. So, I applied to win a free year of coaching from a well-known coach online. Although I wound up being a finalist, I didn’t actually win the prize. So, I did some research, asked around a bit, and wound up purchasing a Training Plan book on my tablet. I’ve heard pretty good things about these training plans. So, after reading through much of the book, I picked a specific Ironman Training Plan and intend to stick with it as much as possible. So far, I’m doing pretty well with keeping up with the plan’s demands.

    I know that a standard plan is not as good as personal coaching. I also know that there is a possibility that the plan might not even work for me at all. But, since I felt so stagnant in my training, I think it’s worth a shot. And presently, I’m feeling pretty strong and not yet over-trained. Here is to hoping the plan is a success!

    In regards to Resolution #2, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that I really missed the boat last year in my run training. Prior to getting my job in May, I was doing pretty well with keeping up my mileage. But, as the mileage was supposed to increase, I got lazier with my running. I planned most of my running workouts for the mornings. However, I slept through half of these workouts since running doesn’t motivate me out of bed the same way swimming does. So, this year is going to be different. Now that I’ve joined my USMS Team, I am able to have better morning pool access. Thus, all my swimming workouts will now be done in the morning and my running workouts will be done at night.

    Hopefully this will allow me to keep up on the run training a bit better. Additionally, now that I have an actual training plan which requires that I run certain workout an “X” number of times per week, I feel a bit more obligated to keep it up. Essentially, I’m more than willing to admit that if it were up to me, I’d never go running. Last year it WAS 100% up to me. So, I really never went running. But, this year it’s not entirely up to me. And hopefully that will be enough to keep me motivated. So far, I’m doing extremely well with it.

A Time for Reflection: 2012

Celebrating the end of my season after Miami Man

     My offseason is in full swing (although only 2 weeks from being over) so I decided to sit down and really think about last season...both the good parts and the bad. In all, my 2012 season was pretty great...I set up my tri blog, I got my first full time attorney job, I completed my first full Ironman, and I got myself a super speedy new TT bike. I might not have had all the great performances I was hoping for. But, that's okay because this was the first season where I actually had to budget traing time with being a real life adult. And, since I ended my season on a higher note with some good performances on my new ride, I'm 10x more excited for next season than I otherwise would have been.
 

    The only real downer of my season, regretfully, was something that happened to me in reaction to a post-ironman blog post I had made. I haven't commented on it anywhere...until now. But, after reflecting upon my year, it's still really bothering me so I've decided to comment on it.

     A few months ago I made a somewhat jocular post about my new Ironman tattoo. The post was up for a few weeks until one day I was at work and received a random, mean, comment on the post. Then, as the day progressed, my inbox got flooded by many more cruel comments and personal attacks on my character and my representation of the sport. Then, when I took the comment feed down, I started received e-mails with even more personal attacks. Not knowing why this was happening (and thinking it was possibly just spam) I looked at my viewer stats and eventually found a few forum feeds on various sport-related websites. And, what I saw on these feeds, was horrifying and cruel. The comments ranged from laughing at my race times, to name-calling, to jokes on my appearance, to actual threats. I wouldn't actually have cared so much about the feeds themselves, had they not instigated the nonstop e-mails of hatred. Receiving an e-mail that says "typical arrogant white american. disgusting. you're nothing special, yet your entitlement is vomit-inducing." (yes that was an actual e-mail) as I get into bed doesn't exactly give me a warm feeling inside.
 

   To cut this very hurtful story short, these feeds were eventually taken down (thanks Dan from slowtwitch) and the active participants went on with their lives (I hope). But, what's sad about the situation was that I never totally moved on. The incident really ruined my joy for having this blog and, admittedly, even tainted my love and respect for the sport of triathlon itself. So, to the people who were involved in the harassment, I just wanted to say this: 

You don't know me. But if you see me at a race and want to say hello, please do. I'll be the girl swimming over you.

And on that note....here is my end-of-season highlight/lowlight lists...just in case you're curious.

Best Memory of 2012 Season:

Feeling like a super star with all the spectators and volunteers cheering for me as the first Age Group Female out of the water and through T-1 at Ironman NYC

Worst Memory of 2012 Season:

The run at Miami Man Triathlon where I was so horribly sick and could barely breathe

5 Proudest Season Accomplishments:

1) Crossing the finish line at Ironman New York City

2) Holding off my toughest competitors until the run at Escape to Miami

3) Managing my new full-time job with training for my first Full Ironman

4) Buying my dream bike

5) Placing 10th nationally in the USMS 1500m LCM Freestyle rankings

5 Biggest Season Regrets:

1) Letting a bunch of bullies on Triathlon forums ruin my joy for writing on my Tri Blog

2) Not getting in enough run training before Ironman New York (or any of my races this season)

3) Not joining my Masters Team until September (I REALLY do enjoy it!)

4) Not knowing enough about bikes to have been able to fix my brakes mid-race

5) Not being grateful enough to my Boyfriend for suffering through a season of Ironman training (plus the 15 plus hours he spent with just my mom and dad while I was actually doing the race)

RACE REPORT: Miami Man International Triathlon

Swim Start

    I was originally registered for the Miami Man Half-Iron Triathlon on Sunday. However, starting last Sunday while I was out biking and preparing for my race, I begun to notice a slight heaviness in my chest. I was getting sick. My illness gradually increased as the week progressed until my throat finally closed and I was forced to stay home from work on Thursday and Friday. I was extremely nervous about racing a Half-Ironman on Sunday if I still did not feel well (and even if I felt better since I knew I still would not be 100 percent), so I asked the race directors if I could possibly downgrade to the lower distance. Luckily, the amazing people at Multirace allowed me to downgrade to the international distance race at bike check-in on Saturday. And THANK GOD that they did!

    I was not feeling too great on Saturday morning at bike check-in. However, come race day, I was feeling relatively coherent with just a slight cough. I figured I was close to normal and tried to pump myself up for my shortened end-of-season race. They closed transition pretty early to send off the Half-Iron athletes. However, I still had about 2hrs of waiting before my start wave would go off. So, I walked around the park a bit, and held onto my long sleeve shirt and shoes in an attempt to keep warm.

    About 45 minutes from the start of my race I went for a warm-up swim in the lake. People kept asking me how cold I was, since this was a wetsuit-legal race and I was just about the only person not wearing one (I opted not to wear a wetsuit since the swim was so short and any advantage by wearing one would be counteracted by the amount of time it would take getting it off post-swim). The water was a little cold when I first got into it (colder than I remember for this race). But, I figured it wouldn’t be a problem since I have been swimming regularly at 6am outside in a competition pool over the past few weeks. I swam a few hundred yards and then went back to shore to wait for my race.

RACE BREAKDOWN:

The Swim (.6mi):

Swim Split: 16:12
    The swim wave did not go out very fast even with everyone wearing a wet suit. I noticed two girls ahead of me at the first buoy but did not pay much attention to them since most people tend to take out the swim too fast for them to maintain. In fact, I never pay much attention to others on the swim since I am pretty aware of how fast I am capable of swimming. I try not to let others distract me from my own pacing. My goal, in this race, was to take the swim out just about as hard as I could. I knew that being sick, I might have more difficulty as the race progressed. So, I wanted to get out in front as far as possibly. Or, that was the goal anyways.

About half-way between the first and second buoys, I passed one of the girls in my wave. However, I never saw the second girl and did not know if she was behind me or in front of me. It was especially hard to tell where she was since we were THE VERY LAST wave. This did not help much with keeping up a strong swim since I had to swim over literally every other person in the race to maintain a strong speed. Nevertheless, I had a pretty good swim and wound up having the fastest swim in my Age Group by over 3 minutes.

T-1:

    Transitions were an interesting situation for me this year. This race always racks each age group together, which is nice because you can figure out who is in front of you whenever you reach transition. However, since I had downgraded at the very last minute, I was racked over with all the 25-29 Half-Ironman athletes instead of the International athletes. I was not quite sure how this would play out. On one hand, I had absolutely no idea whether or not I was the first one on my age group to come out of the water. But, on the other hand, all the other people I was competing against would have no idea that I was even out there. I figured, since I knew I would be one of the first out of the water, that this would work to my advantage. I knew that I would start the race ahead (as usual). But, they wouldn’t know that I was out there to catch…

    Nevertheless, I assumed that there might have been one girl still ahead of me….just to be safe.

The Bike (22mi):

Bike Split: 1:06.00
    My body felt okay until I clipped into my bike pedals. I immediately felt exhausted. I can honestly say that I tried my best notwithstanding the fact that my legs felt very heavy. The bike course was EXTREMELY windy which used to be a big problem for me both mentally and physically. But, ever since I got my new bike, I feel far more compact and streamlined making the wind much easier to slice through.

    So, although my body was tired and crampy, I really tried to push through the wind on a high gear knowing that my run was probably not going to be all that fantastic. With the wind I was going upwards of 26mph. Against the wind, I was flying by people at an amazing speed of 16.5mph. The bike was tough, but I suffered through and somehow still managed to have the fastest bike split in my age group.

T-2:

    My transitions weren’t all too fantastic. To be honest, I felt a little ‘out-of-it’ due to my cold and had a tough time rushing transition as needed. I lost a little bit of time in transition. But, I wanted to make sure that being a bid dazed, I wouldn’t forget anything.

The Run (6.6mi):

Run Split: 1:00.14

  This was where my race completely fell apart. I felt TERRIBLE. I knew that the run would be a bit of a struggle so I hoped that my swim and bike would have been good enough to keep me in award position. The first 2 miles, although slow, did not feel too terrible. But, as the sun started to come out, I started to have some difficulties breathing and staying focused. So, I zoned out knowing that I was in no shape to ‘race’ the run. My only goal was to make it to the finish line. I hoped that I wouldn’t get passed by too many people. But, it was a bit out of my control at this point.

    I felt worse and worse as the run progressed. And, I HATED the fact that this run was 6.6 miles instead of the typical 6.2miles. That extra half a mile felt like it took forever. I still figured that I might have had once girl come out of the water ahead of me. Not a single girl passed me on the bike course though. So, I knew, worst case scenario, I was in 2nd going into the run unless somebody had snuck by me somehow in transition.

    Around mile 4 of the run, I got passed by a girl in my age group. I did not want anybody else to pass me so I tried to pick up my pace. However, I was coughing a whole lot and just couldn’t get my body moving any faster (I also couldn’t seem to run straight either). Then, without about half a mile left to go, I looked behind me and saw a few girls. I picked up the pace, not a lot, but just enough to be able to build into a sprint for the last few hundred yards before the finish line. The girls behind me (who, as it turned out were in my age group) never caught me and I wound up getting second.

My awesome stuffed tiger award

    As it turned out, I had lost that other girl somewhere during the swim and had led the entire race with the fastest swim and bike splits. I slid into second place when that girl had passed me on the run course. But, I’m not very upset about it. After all, had I been healthy, I wouldn’t have even been competing in this race distance.

   So, I closed out my 2012 Triathlon season with a second place finish while sick. Not a bad way to go out…

Overall Time: 2:26.24
Place: 2nd in AG

RACE REPORT: Tropical Splash Dixie Zone Open Water 5k Championship

Me and my Teammate before the race

    I've never done an open water swimming race before (unless it was attached to a bike and a run).  But, I decided I wanted to try one out.  So, this past weekend I competed at The Tropical Splash Dixie Zone 5K Championship in Siesta Key, FL.


    I woke up Saturday morning pretty exhausted after having woken up at 4:45 am, having done a 1 hour swim practice, suffered through an-all day work seminar, and driving 4 hours in the rain the day beforehand.  Nevertheless, once I was up and moving around, I got pretty excited for the race. I arrived at the race site about an hour before the gun.  I picked up my swim cap and timing chip, met up with a fellow swim team member, and walked down to the water for a quick warm-up swim before race-time.
 

The Race:

    Although the beach was beautiful and I've been feeling very comfortable in the water, the race didn't exactly go as expected.  About 250m into the race course, we entered deeper water where, apparently, there were a bunch of small jellyfish.  I was just starting to get into my 'groove' when all of a sudden I felt some sharp pinches all down the insides of my bathing suit.  I tried to convince myself that I was just feeling slight 'rubbing' from my brand new suit.  But, as my skin grew itchier and itchier, I knew what it was...sea lice.      

    I know that sea lice isn't too big of a deal.  But, having never gotten stung by a jellyfish before, and having not even contemplated their existence in the ocean this time of year, I panicked.  I tried to keep it out of my head as long as possible.  But, as the current started to pick up as the race went on, the stings got more frequent.  I kept imagining myself, running out of the water towards the finish line with giant red slashes all across my face and body.  And, just like that, my mind was lost. I think it would have been different had I known about the jellies ahead of time.  But, with something that unexpected, it was hard to stay mentally focused.
    Additionally, no matter what I tried, I could not stay on course for some reason.  The sun and the fact that I had lightly tinted goggles was partly to blame.  Otherwise, I'm not sure why I was drifting so far off course.  Perhaps it was exhaustion.  Perhaps it was just the distraction of the jellies.  I had my Garmin on and was keeping track of how far I had swam.  And, I have to admit, it was a bit disconcerting to look down and see that I had technically swam an entire 5K when I was still several buoys away from the finish line.  

I wound up swimming (according to my Garmin) 3.67 miles- over half a mile more than the actual race.

   My time wasn't the greatest and I'm a bit peeved about that.   Even though the conditions weren't what I was expecting, I know that I could have done better.  So, this definitely was not my first and last open water race. Next time, I'll just have to be a bit more prepared.

Finishing Time: 1:32.02
Place: 3rd in Age Group