I started swimming seriously when I was training for St. Anthony triathlon in April 2009. Around that time, I decided to join Concourse Masters Swim, which had been a great blessing to be able to swim with other triathletes at 5.45AM twice a week (who's crazy enough to do that, right?) and I learned so much from our coach, Oliver.
In the winter, when there weren't too many triathletes showed up for the workout. Oliver had been teaching us other skills besides free style. It was actually kinda fun. We spent a couple of weeks learning breast strokes, back strokes, which was very useful because now I swam back strokes or double-armed back strokes in between hard sets, and butterflies. I could swim butterflies half of the pool length, which was not too bad for a newbie.
Lastly he taught us FLIP TURNS. I know there was no wall in the lake or ocean but it was just so cool to be able to do it. Plus it did shave a few seconds, protect my shoulders from grabbing the wall a little too hard, and the ability to swim continuously, not breaking every 25 meters. I remembered, besides me, there were Leslie and Debbie that morning. Those two could flip with no issues. They just needed little tweaks to make it perfect. I, on the other hand, just couldn't get it. I inhaled water, that was when I learned that I had to blow air out as I attempted to flip. My back almost hit the bottom of the pool as I was pushing off the wall. I got motion sickness from trying too hard and too often. I was over it. Some times, after a few months, I tried it again and made a fool out of myself. I googled and watched a few you-tube videos on how to flip correctly. I still couldn't do it. I gave it up for a while, then early this year, I made doing flip turns as my 2011 goal. I had to be able to do it while I was training for Augusta. Different people gave me their tips after they saw me flailing in the water or under the water, I should say. I was watching kids swimming and flipping at Dynamo while I was waiting for TNT swim GTS. They made it look so easy. At the end of the season, I gave up. That's it. No more flip turns. Forget about it. Who says that you need to be able to flip turns to swim well? I was at peace with my decision.
Last Wednesday, only 3 people showed up at the workout. The other two swimmers were brand new to the group. After we swam around 1,000 meters, Oliver stopped us, reviewed the flip turn theories and of course he demonstrated a couple of perfect flips. I was so over it. I didn't want to try again but I didn't say anything. He told us to swim 6X50 and we had to flip. I told him that I would do a flip at the end of the 50's, so I wouldn't mess up the work out. I told myself to just do it, don't think too hard and remember to keep the feet apart as wide as the shoulder length. I was approaching the wall and I tucked my head, put my arms on my sides and kept the feet apart. I planted my feet on the wall. I pushed off the wall in a streamlined body position. WHOAA... I did it. That was it. I did a flip turn. Did anybody see that? Of course not, Oliver was watching Sarah at the time. I told Oliver that I thought I did it right. He told me to flip this time at the end of the pool and swim to the other end. I was a little nervous because it could be just a fluke. I did another flip turn and felt so natural as my body twisted to the left and took my first breath to the right. After I reached the wall, he was quite impressed and told me that was very good. I couldn't believe I finally got it. The next set was 16X50 with flip turns. I flipped every single time. I ended my workout after flipping more than 25 times. I saw Debbie in the locker room and told her that I finally got the flip turns thing. She was excited for me, even though she probably thought I was crazy being so psyched from doing flip turns.
The next morning I went back to the pool after running 4 miles. I had to make sure what happened yesterday wasn't just a one-day Christmas miracle. The first few turns I was a little bit too deep in the water as I was trying to come up for my first stroke. Something wasn't quite right, then, I remembered something important. Keep the feet shoulders apart. That was it. I tried again and it was much better. Perfect. Bill was in the pool too, so of course I told him about my accomplishment from yesterday. He watched me did a couple of turns and said that I did great. Maybe he was lying but I still liked the compliment. Flip turns are just like riding a bike. Once you do it right, you get it. That was my Christmas present from God this year. Merry Christmas!!!
Meet your coach!!!
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Sometimes I do watch MTV, not the Jersey Shores or Real World... can't stand those. I like the show Made, it's basically MTV following the journey of teenage kids who try to become somebody that they never think they could. Half of the shows are about not-so-sporty kids that want to excel in sports. In the first 10 minutes of the show, they meet their new coach and the journey begins there.
Last Thursday was my turn. I met my new IM coach. I went to see Mary. This is our first meeting. I was going to wait until she was done with IM AZ, but she had time for me this week. I took the opportunity, the sooner the better. Before the meeting, I had to fill out athlete questionnaires that were long and had many questions about my athletic background, which wasn't much, my current workout, previous race results etc. The questions really made me think about my journey from the first day I picked up running in Feb 2006 (yes I remember that day vividly since I hadn't ran for ages and out of the blue, I decided to run one day) until today, 3 Half IM's later. I had a lot of questions about the training program for IM. I like the facts that each week can have a different focus. One can be a swim focus week or bike or run. It breaks the monotonousness of triathlon training. We also talked about the timing the long run and long ride. Most of the times the long run is the day after your long ride but we would mix it up a little bit during training. The long run may be mid week or a day before the ride. This new concept is to get the feeling of running with fresh legs and minimize injuries.
We are also going to use Training Peak, it's an online software that posts the the training schedule. I will need to log in to enter the length of the workout that is completed and any comments about the training. It's great for accountability and for Mary to monitor my progress.The training will officially start in mid Feb to be exact 24 weeks before the race weekend. For now, I will use her base training schedule to make sure I have a strong base. I'm so glad I started doing P90X 6 weeks ago. I felt I have a good routine for upper body strength training. My pulls during swim are a lot stronger also. For lower body strength training, I'm happy with the combo of Lance workout and P90X. What I need to add right now is riding outside again. Ride 30-40 miles in the cold, which I'm not too fond of because my nose is like a hose. I need to blow my nose every 10 minutes. I will start that soon with the Spring team.
Last Thursday was my turn. I met my new IM coach. I went to see Mary. This is our first meeting. I was going to wait until she was done with IM AZ, but she had time for me this week. I took the opportunity, the sooner the better. Before the meeting, I had to fill out athlete questionnaires that were long and had many questions about my athletic background, which wasn't much, my current workout, previous race results etc. The questions really made me think about my journey from the first day I picked up running in Feb 2006 (yes I remember that day vividly since I hadn't ran for ages and out of the blue, I decided to run one day) until today, 3 Half IM's later. I had a lot of questions about the training program for IM. I like the facts that each week can have a different focus. One can be a swim focus week or bike or run. It breaks the monotonousness of triathlon training. We also talked about the timing the long run and long ride. Most of the times the long run is the day after your long ride but we would mix it up a little bit during training. The long run may be mid week or a day before the ride. This new concept is to get the feeling of running with fresh legs and minimize injuries.
We are also going to use Training Peak, it's an online software that posts the the training schedule. I will need to log in to enter the length of the workout that is completed and any comments about the training. It's great for accountability and for Mary to monitor my progress.The training will officially start in mid Feb to be exact 24 weeks before the race weekend. For now, I will use her base training schedule to make sure I have a strong base. I'm so glad I started doing P90X 6 weeks ago. I felt I have a good routine for upper body strength training. My pulls during swim are a lot stronger also. For lower body strength training, I'm happy with the combo of Lance workout and P90X. What I need to add right now is riding outside again. Ride 30-40 miles in the cold, which I'm not too fond of because my nose is like a hose. I need to blow my nose every 10 minutes. I will start that soon with the Spring team.
World Wind IM FL Trip
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Since I had never been to an IM before, it was a good idea to volunteer at the race to see what was going on. I needed to see how the transition worked since everything seemed to be pretty complicated. Leading up to the weekend, the plan was to ride with Carmen and Raquel to Panama City Beach on Friday afternoon. It would be too late to attend the volunteer meeting held at 5PM but we had to wait for Raquel until she was done with her clinical. On Tuesday morning, Raquel sent me a FB message, she decided not to sign up since her nursing school class schedule would be super crazy next year. I knew it was a tough decision since she was so excited about doing an IM. That left me with Carmen to drive to FL. Carmen then asked me if I could drive. I hate to drive that long, 6.5 hours one way, 13 hours in one weekend. Before I called her back, I talked to Frank to see if Eddie could fit two more people in his car. He said it was not a problem. After talking to Carmen, we decided to split. I rode with Eddie and 3 other people and she rode in a different car since they left at 10AM so she could drop off her kids first before the trip. Problem solved.
This trip was so not me. I don't know Eddie, I saw him a couple times at the training rides this summer. I never met Brett. The only person that I know was Frank. And I would be stuck with them for at least 13 hours... Nice! Don't get me wrong. I was so thankful that they were kind enough to let me tag along with them. It's just out of my comfort zone since I like to go on a trip with people I know well. The lodging situation was a little crazy also. I shared a condo with 10 other girls/ women and the only people I knew were Carmen and Stacy. I was prepared to sleep on the floor so I brought a thick blanket and sleeping bag with me. I thought about not going for a second but I knew the benefits would outweigh the uncomfortable situation that I would be in. Anyway I wouldn't be spending a lot of time in the condo. Just to sleep and shower.
We all met at Eddie's house at 7.30ish then headed out around 8AM. I took Dramamine less drowsy formula just in case I felt nauseous. It wasn't funny if I got carsick. We grabbed a quick breakfast at Starbuck's. Time flew pretty fast, maybe because I took a little nap. We ate lunch at Wendy's. The weather was windy and cold. I was hoping the temp tomorrow was warmer than today since I didn't bring long pants and a thick jacket. We got to Panama City Beach around 3PM. Well... actually it was 2PM since it was central time, which I totally forgot. We went straight to the Expo. I saw Newton's tri top which I liked and surprisingly they had a special edition tri top for IMC. It was to benefit a non-profit. I would have had bought it but it had an IM logo. I don't want to jinx it. Around 4PM, we headed back and the guys dropped me off the condo where I was staying. Apparently I wrote the suite's door code wrong, so I couldn't get in. I went downstairs to the lobby. Thank God, the repairman was there and he heard my conversation with the front desk. He told me right away what the correct code was. When I got in, some of the girls were there. I found out that I would sleep on the pull-out couch, which was fine by me. The suite was nice. A spacious 3 beds/ 2 baths with kitchen and living room. The balcony faced the beach. The carpet in the bedrooms had some stains. It wasn't the top of the line clean. It was a good thing I bought a sleeping bag and bath towel with me.
We went to the volunteer meeting at 5PM. It was chaotic. My guess was there were over 1,000 volunteers in the ballroom. We split up according to our assignments. When I chose the volunteer duties, I was looking for something related to T1 or T2 so I could work with the athletes and saw what they did at the transition. T2 gear bags was my assignment. Some tidbits about IM.. Each athlete had 5 bags: 1) Morning Clothes bag, where you put your goggles, wetsuit and after you change, you put your sweater/ sweatpants in the bag. 2) T1 Swim to Bike bag where you put helmet, bike shoes, sunglasses, bike clothes and nutrition. 3) T2 Bike to Run bag where you put your running stuff and nutrition. 4) Special need bag for bike, normally it's at the half way point of the course. 5) Special need bag for run which can be picked up at the turnaround point for the second loop. Changing tents were new concepts for me since they were only at IM races.
We didn't get much directions from the captain. I got my volunteer T-shirt and we all went to dinner. I had a small side salad and boiled jumbo shrimps with cocktail sauces. They were awesome. I got back to the suite and not long after that, the girls came back from dinner also. One girl, or I should say woman, drank a little too much at dinner. She was talking about going skinny dipping at the ocean. Her friends told her no. As I was laying on the pull-out bed in the living room, she asked the girls the code for the suite.... three times. It was a little comical. I felt asleep not long after but woke up a little bit when another girl took a shower and blew dry her hair at 4AM. Luckily I could tune out the noise, I felt back asleep. My body got enough rest and I was up at 5.30AM. The pros start at 6.50AM and I wanted to see them start. The condo was about 0.5 mile away from the start, which was convenient. The mass start was 10 minutes after the pro's. It was amazing to see the mass start, the athletes looked like a bunch of seals with black wetsuits on. The water was surprisingly calm, it was night and day compared to Gulf Coast Half IM that I did in 2009. After I saw the pro's finish their first loop of the swim, I called Mike, another UPSer, who came to see his buddy, Billy, race. We met up and hung out by the changing tent. We saw the first pro who came out of the water. The rest followed. A lot of athletes finished between 1.10 and 1.25. I got to see Cheryl. She was surprised to see me and I gave her a high five. Not long after that, I saw Jessica. I was glad to catch her. We then walked to the bike-out. I saw Bob as he was passing through. Great start of the day. Below is the first pro who just finished the first lap of the swim, he was about to swim his second lap. Swim time 44 mins... smoking fast.
Around 9AM, Mike, Doug (Billy's friend) and I went to eat breakfast. We didn't want a long wait so we drove to a diner about 5 miles away from the start. We sat and ate. I wanted some pancakes but felt guilty since they were too much sugar. I opted for an omelet instead. We killed time a little bit after we ate. I still had an hour before I started my volunteer assignment at 11AM. I found out that Doug did several IMs before, but it had been a while since his last one over 15 years ago. He also volunteered this weekend so he could sign up for IM FL 2012 when he turned 50.
I went to the transition area around 11AM. I saw some other volunteers but their assignment was changing tent. There was nobody at the T2 gear bags. But since the first pro wouldn't get there until around 12.30PM, there was no hurry. I just waited around and finally around noon, the captain showed up. There were a lot of high school kids that volunteered also. I don't know if it was required or not. I stationed myself in the front rows. I was in charge of 1201-1250 and 1601-1650 bags. As the athletes came in, somebody at the front yelled his/ her numbers and if the number was mine, I had to grab the bag and hand it to them. It sounded easy but when they came in every 2 seconds, I had to concentrate hard not to miss my athlete's number. We were slammed for 3 hours and it slowed down a bit after that. After standing for 4 hours, my feet were killing me, I wanted to take off my shoes so bad. My shift ended at 5PM. Right before I left, I saw Bob and he saw me and smiled. He seemed to have a great day. I left T2 to get some food. I still didn't know who won the race. Bree Wee finished first in swim and bike, and she had 4 minutes lead time out of T2. I remember last year's winner was Jessica Jacobs but I didn't know if she was defending her title this year. It turned out that she did and she won again. I guess I didn't recognize her when she came in to T2. She was amazing, an ex-Army who turned pro, and her husband was still in Iraq. I think 2011 IM FL was her first IM win. She also won IM Wisconsin in September. This weekend was her third win.
I was tired and cold after I ate... It was pathetic... I was tired from standing for 5.5 hours and there were 2,800 athletes out on the course that had swum, biked and finishing their run at the time. I met up with Mike again and we walked to the turn around point for the second loop of the run. Not long after that, Billy passed us. I was spectating until around 7PM, then I decided to go back to the condo, which was right in front of the turn around. Out of nowhere, I saw Bob again. Unbelievable... God put me there for a reason. I yelled "Go Bob, keep it strong". He smiled and waived. I crashed after I took a shower. It had been a long day.
The next morning I was up around 5AM, it was Fall back Sunday, so we got an extra hour to sleep. The girls were up also. They were planning to go to the 2012 IM registration at 6AM, three hours before the registration opened. One of their friends was already there at 5.30AM and said there was a line already. I called Frank. Luckily he picked it up. I told them that they'd better got ready and go. Last night when Frank told me that they were going there at 7AM and I thought they were crazy. After they left, I went for a run. I ran a few miles on the IM run course in a residential area. There were sponges and cups on the ground, but not that many. It was a beautiful weather to run. I ran a little over 5 miles and got back to the condo to take a shower. I got my stuff packed and we headed back to ATL at 8AM. It was a world wind weekend. I'm so glad that I went. It was so motivating to see. I will play this weekend's scenes in my head when the training gets hard. Keep my focus on the prize. With God's strength, I cross the finish line in Penticton on August 26, 2012.
This trip was so not me. I don't know Eddie, I saw him a couple times at the training rides this summer. I never met Brett. The only person that I know was Frank. And I would be stuck with them for at least 13 hours... Nice! Don't get me wrong. I was so thankful that they were kind enough to let me tag along with them. It's just out of my comfort zone since I like to go on a trip with people I know well. The lodging situation was a little crazy also. I shared a condo with 10 other girls/ women and the only people I knew were Carmen and Stacy. I was prepared to sleep on the floor so I brought a thick blanket and sleeping bag with me. I thought about not going for a second but I knew the benefits would outweigh the uncomfortable situation that I would be in. Anyway I wouldn't be spending a lot of time in the condo. Just to sleep and shower.
We all met at Eddie's house at 7.30ish then headed out around 8AM. I took Dramamine less drowsy formula just in case I felt nauseous. It wasn't funny if I got carsick. We grabbed a quick breakfast at Starbuck's. Time flew pretty fast, maybe because I took a little nap. We ate lunch at Wendy's. The weather was windy and cold. I was hoping the temp tomorrow was warmer than today since I didn't bring long pants and a thick jacket. We got to Panama City Beach around 3PM. Well... actually it was 2PM since it was central time, which I totally forgot. We went straight to the Expo. I saw Newton's tri top which I liked and surprisingly they had a special edition tri top for IMC. It was to benefit a non-profit. I would have had bought it but it had an IM logo. I don't want to jinx it. Around 4PM, we headed back and the guys dropped me off the condo where I was staying. Apparently I wrote the suite's door code wrong, so I couldn't get in. I went downstairs to the lobby. Thank God, the repairman was there and he heard my conversation with the front desk. He told me right away what the correct code was. When I got in, some of the girls were there. I found out that I would sleep on the pull-out couch, which was fine by me. The suite was nice. A spacious 3 beds/ 2 baths with kitchen and living room. The balcony faced the beach. The carpet in the bedrooms had some stains. It wasn't the top of the line clean. It was a good thing I bought a sleeping bag and bath towel with me.
We went to the volunteer meeting at 5PM. It was chaotic. My guess was there were over 1,000 volunteers in the ballroom. We split up according to our assignments. When I chose the volunteer duties, I was looking for something related to T1 or T2 so I could work with the athletes and saw what they did at the transition. T2 gear bags was my assignment. Some tidbits about IM.. Each athlete had 5 bags: 1) Morning Clothes bag, where you put your goggles, wetsuit and after you change, you put your sweater/ sweatpants in the bag. 2) T1 Swim to Bike bag where you put helmet, bike shoes, sunglasses, bike clothes and nutrition. 3) T2 Bike to Run bag where you put your running stuff and nutrition. 4) Special need bag for bike, normally it's at the half way point of the course. 5) Special need bag for run which can be picked up at the turnaround point for the second loop. Changing tents were new concepts for me since they were only at IM races.
We didn't get much directions from the captain. I got my volunteer T-shirt and we all went to dinner. I had a small side salad and boiled jumbo shrimps with cocktail sauces. They were awesome. I got back to the suite and not long after that, the girls came back from dinner also. One girl, or I should say woman, drank a little too much at dinner. She was talking about going skinny dipping at the ocean. Her friends told her no. As I was laying on the pull-out bed in the living room, she asked the girls the code for the suite.... three times. It was a little comical. I felt asleep not long after but woke up a little bit when another girl took a shower and blew dry her hair at 4AM. Luckily I could tune out the noise, I felt back asleep. My body got enough rest and I was up at 5.30AM. The pros start at 6.50AM and I wanted to see them start. The condo was about 0.5 mile away from the start, which was convenient. The mass start was 10 minutes after the pro's. It was amazing to see the mass start, the athletes looked like a bunch of seals with black wetsuits on. The water was surprisingly calm, it was night and day compared to Gulf Coast Half IM that I did in 2009. After I saw the pro's finish their first loop of the swim, I called Mike, another UPSer, who came to see his buddy, Billy, race. We met up and hung out by the changing tent. We saw the first pro who came out of the water. The rest followed. A lot of athletes finished between 1.10 and 1.25. I got to see Cheryl. She was surprised to see me and I gave her a high five. Not long after that, I saw Jessica. I was glad to catch her. We then walked to the bike-out. I saw Bob as he was passing through. Great start of the day. Below is the first pro who just finished the first lap of the swim, he was about to swim his second lap. Swim time 44 mins... smoking fast.
Around 9AM, Mike, Doug (Billy's friend) and I went to eat breakfast. We didn't want a long wait so we drove to a diner about 5 miles away from the start. We sat and ate. I wanted some pancakes but felt guilty since they were too much sugar. I opted for an omelet instead. We killed time a little bit after we ate. I still had an hour before I started my volunteer assignment at 11AM. I found out that Doug did several IMs before, but it had been a while since his last one over 15 years ago. He also volunteered this weekend so he could sign up for IM FL 2012 when he turned 50.
I went to the transition area around 11AM. I saw some other volunteers but their assignment was changing tent. There was nobody at the T2 gear bags. But since the first pro wouldn't get there until around 12.30PM, there was no hurry. I just waited around and finally around noon, the captain showed up. There were a lot of high school kids that volunteered also. I don't know if it was required or not. I stationed myself in the front rows. I was in charge of 1201-1250 and 1601-1650 bags. As the athletes came in, somebody at the front yelled his/ her numbers and if the number was mine, I had to grab the bag and hand it to them. It sounded easy but when they came in every 2 seconds, I had to concentrate hard not to miss my athlete's number. We were slammed for 3 hours and it slowed down a bit after that. After standing for 4 hours, my feet were killing me, I wanted to take off my shoes so bad. My shift ended at 5PM. Right before I left, I saw Bob and he saw me and smiled. He seemed to have a great day. I left T2 to get some food. I still didn't know who won the race. Bree Wee finished first in swim and bike, and she had 4 minutes lead time out of T2. I remember last year's winner was Jessica Jacobs but I didn't know if she was defending her title this year. It turned out that she did and she won again. I guess I didn't recognize her when she came in to T2. She was amazing, an ex-Army who turned pro, and her husband was still in Iraq. I think 2011 IM FL was her first IM win. She also won IM Wisconsin in September. This weekend was her third win.
I was tired and cold after I ate... It was pathetic... I was tired from standing for 5.5 hours and there were 2,800 athletes out on the course that had swum, biked and finishing their run at the time. I met up with Mike again and we walked to the turn around point for the second loop of the run. Not long after that, Billy passed us. I was spectating until around 7PM, then I decided to go back to the condo, which was right in front of the turn around. Out of nowhere, I saw Bob again. Unbelievable... God put me there for a reason. I yelled "Go Bob, keep it strong". He smiled and waived. I crashed after I took a shower. It had been a long day.
The next morning I was up around 5AM, it was Fall back Sunday, so we got an extra hour to sleep. The girls were up also. They were planning to go to the 2012 IM registration at 6AM, three hours before the registration opened. One of their friends was already there at 5.30AM and said there was a line already. I called Frank. Luckily he picked it up. I told them that they'd better got ready and go. Last night when Frank told me that they were going there at 7AM and I thought they were crazy. After they left, I went for a run. I ran a few miles on the IM run course in a residential area. There were sponges and cups on the ground, but not that many. It was a beautiful weather to run. I ran a little over 5 miles and got back to the condo to take a shower. I got my stuff packed and we headed back to ATL at 8AM. It was a world wind weekend. I'm so glad that I went. It was so motivating to see. I will play this weekend's scenes in my head when the training gets hard. Keep my focus on the prize. With God's strength, I cross the finish line in Penticton on August 26, 2012.
The way we were
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The IMC gank met with Mark H for dinner. Mark has been to IMC 9 times, 5 of which he was racing. That was insane. Why would somebody want to do the same IM 5 times? but at the same time, it was reassuring that IMC is a race of a lifetime. A few things that I learned from that night: Spokane is the best place to fly in to from Atlanta and from Spokane, we would drive 4.5 hours to Penticton. Our hotel reservation is from Wed to Tue following the IM. We can fly to Spokane Tuesday night, spend a night there and drive on Wed morning. Tribike transport can carry our bikes so we don't have to worry about losing our baggage at the airport. Bike Barn is a great local bike shop. It's actually where we will need to pick up and drop off the bikes. It's really close to the start/ finish area. The swim course is a rectangle as we swim out, we can sight the top of the mountain, whoo hooo! This will help a lot as I suck in sighting. By the way, that's not the mountain that we will be riding to. A couple of turns and head back to the beach. The bike course has 3 climbs. The first one is relatively short and not too steep. The second one, Richter Pass, is at mile 40. The third one is Yellow lake which is long and steep. Between the last two climbs, there were seven rollers. After getting to the top of Yellow Lake, then you start heading home downhill. The special need bag is at mile 75. The run course is out and back. We run 2 miles heading West/ East, which we will run by our hotel, Shoreline Motel, before we run South, through downtown Penticton, parallel to Lake Skaha. We were talking about glow sticks. I don't know if it's necessary to bring a head lamp, in case it's way too dark. Mark said not to worry about that. Eric checked out the moon forecast and it will be full moon that day. Too funny.
Before we parted ways, we took a picture in front of Jason's Deli. Here's the winning team: Sarah, Eric, Susan and me.
Before we parted ways, we took a picture in front of Jason's Deli. Here's the winning team: Sarah, Eric, Susan and me.
How it started...
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Everybody has a bucket list., "things to do in life before you die" kinda list. Honestly I really didn't have any. It seems like when I think of something cool to do, I almost jump on it right away. Like running a marathon, I started running in Feb 2006. I started with 2 miles on a treadmill twice a week and then it grew to 4 miles. It felt great. Running became more frequent and longer when I got a job transfer from Des Moines to Atlanta. It was a huge stress release. Moving to a big city (well... compared to Des Moines) by myself, a new job, and the fact that I didn't know anybody in Atlanta, except a couple people from work, were pretty stressful. I didn't have a friend who had done a marathon before until I moved here and met with Colleen. That's when I started entertaining the idea of running marathon, which I found out that the distance was 26.2 miles or 42KM. That's a long way to run. Fast forward 5 months later... I ran my first marathon, ING Atlanta, in March 2007.
After ING, I was tired of running and wanted to do something different. Welcome to triathlon world. After I bought my first bike in July, I completed a sprint tri in August. My bike speed was 13-14 MPH. It exceeded my expectation since my goal was not to fall off the bike. It was a great experience but I went back to running and training for Rock 'n Roll Arizona Marathon in January 2008. Late that year, I signed up for another season with Team in Training and this time the event was St. Anthony's Olympic Distance tri. That was my first season training seriously for a triathlon. I was hooked since then. I did many tri's including 3 Half IM's in the next 2 years.
I thought about Ironman when TNT had a team for IM AZ last year. I wanted to do it but I just knew it wasn't the right time. I just got a new job in the trading room and I wanted to take CTP in 2011.
At the recommitment party for the Fall season, Susan shared why she joined TNT and she also mentioned that she would do an IM next year. I was impressed. I didn't know that she was interested in doing one. So, when I saw her at a training ride, I asked which event she signed up. It was Canada. The registration was in August. She planned to sign up when it opened. I was pleasantly surprised when she asked if I wanted to do it too. I never thought I was an IM material. After the ride, I went home and checked out the bike course. Holy Molly! There were two mountains on the elevation chart. There was no way I was going to sign up for IM Canada. The next time around I saw Susan. I told her that I wasn't going to sign up. She said, the course was beautiful. She was there before spectating for Ellen's brother. Then, I found out also that Mark Helton did that course 5 times. That was nuts. I know the course was pretty but if I couldn't get up those mountains, who cares how gorgeous the course was? I wouldn't enjoy myself laying on the side of a beautiful apple orchard. Canada was off the list.
A couple of weeks later, we had a tormentor swim. Basically we were swimming in circle and the mentors were trying to be disruptive. It was to practice open water swim. I didn't swim so I was on the deck. In the middle of the work out, Susan got off the pool. Her blood sugar was low and she decided it was time to eat some gel. She became a type 1 diabetes after her pancreas was removed. I ended up talking to Mary Doyle and Susan. IM CA came up again. I told Mary that I wouldn't do it because the bike course looked so tough. She looked at me and said "of all people, you who weigh 4 pounds wouldn't do IM CA because of the bike course. It wasn't that bad." I just laughed, but it made me think of Canada again. I guess I wasn't sure of my decision yet. The con was tough bike course. The pro's were the bike and run courses were gorgeous, I have Susan as my training buddy who was at my bike pace, this is once in a lifetime thing for me, why not go all out, pick a great place to suffer for 16 hours. I was just looking to finish in one piece within 17 hours. So, there you go. I made up my mind. I signed up for IM CA the day after the race. The registration was open at 12PM Penticton time, which was 3PM EST. I was so nervous sitting in of my computer at work. I hit refresh several times until it let me in a few seconds after the clock turned 3PM. I filled out the form like crazy, typed in my credit card numbers, and hit submit. Then.... I was IN. Is that it? "What have I done" thoughts were in my mind. Yup. That's it. Now comes the tough part, training. This blog is to document my soup to nuts experience during 2012 Ironman Canada training. I know it will be a tough long journey but this is what I sign up for!
After ING, I was tired of running and wanted to do something different. Welcome to triathlon world. After I bought my first bike in July, I completed a sprint tri in August. My bike speed was 13-14 MPH. It exceeded my expectation since my goal was not to fall off the bike. It was a great experience but I went back to running and training for Rock 'n Roll Arizona Marathon in January 2008. Late that year, I signed up for another season with Team in Training and this time the event was St. Anthony's Olympic Distance tri. That was my first season training seriously for a triathlon. I was hooked since then. I did many tri's including 3 Half IM's in the next 2 years.
I thought about Ironman when TNT had a team for IM AZ last year. I wanted to do it but I just knew it wasn't the right time. I just got a new job in the trading room and I wanted to take CTP in 2011.
At the recommitment party for the Fall season, Susan shared why she joined TNT and she also mentioned that she would do an IM next year. I was impressed. I didn't know that she was interested in doing one. So, when I saw her at a training ride, I asked which event she signed up. It was Canada. The registration was in August. She planned to sign up when it opened. I was pleasantly surprised when she asked if I wanted to do it too. I never thought I was an IM material. After the ride, I went home and checked out the bike course. Holy Molly! There were two mountains on the elevation chart. There was no way I was going to sign up for IM Canada. The next time around I saw Susan. I told her that I wasn't going to sign up. She said, the course was beautiful. She was there before spectating for Ellen's brother. Then, I found out also that Mark Helton did that course 5 times. That was nuts. I know the course was pretty but if I couldn't get up those mountains, who cares how gorgeous the course was? I wouldn't enjoy myself laying on the side of a beautiful apple orchard. Canada was off the list.
A couple of weeks later, we had a tormentor swim. Basically we were swimming in circle and the mentors were trying to be disruptive. It was to practice open water swim. I didn't swim so I was on the deck. In the middle of the work out, Susan got off the pool. Her blood sugar was low and she decided it was time to eat some gel. She became a type 1 diabetes after her pancreas was removed. I ended up talking to Mary Doyle and Susan. IM CA came up again. I told Mary that I wouldn't do it because the bike course looked so tough. She looked at me and said "of all people, you who weigh 4 pounds wouldn't do IM CA because of the bike course. It wasn't that bad." I just laughed, but it made me think of Canada again. I guess I wasn't sure of my decision yet. The con was tough bike course. The pro's were the bike and run courses were gorgeous, I have Susan as my training buddy who was at my bike pace, this is once in a lifetime thing for me, why not go all out, pick a great place to suffer for 16 hours. I was just looking to finish in one piece within 17 hours. So, there you go. I made up my mind. I signed up for IM CA the day after the race. The registration was open at 12PM Penticton time, which was 3PM EST. I was so nervous sitting in of my computer at work. I hit refresh several times until it let me in a few seconds after the clock turned 3PM. I filled out the form like crazy, typed in my credit card numbers, and hit submit. Then.... I was IN. Is that it? "What have I done" thoughts were in my mind. Yup. That's it. Now comes the tough part, training. This blog is to document my soup to nuts experience during 2012 Ironman Canada training. I know it will be a tough long journey but this is what I sign up for!
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