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.
World Wind IM FL Trip
Posted in on by
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
