Memorial Day weekend

This week is a recovery week. Ride 55 on Saturday and run 9 on Sunday. Seems a light task compared to the previous week (70 and 16) or the following week (80 and 17). Recovery... ahhh! I protested Mary when she put the average speed for the ride, 17 MPH, plus I should enjoy the scenery at the same time. I could ride 15 MPH and enjoy the scenery, but not at 17. Mary said I could take it as easy as I could. The high temperature for Saturday was 91F. Thanks to Tropical Storm Beryl! but I'm thankful there was no rain in the forecast.

I coordinated the group ride. After a few emails back and forth between groups,  there were around 12 people who were going. We met at the Sossebee bike park. The plan was to wheel down at 8AM. At 8AM, Karen's and Katie's groups wheeled down. I was anxious to go. Susan was behind me. Sarah, Eric and Scott were still in the parking lot. I told Susan, I was rolling. I rode pretty slow. After 3.5 miles, at the Busch Drive intersection, I stopped and didn't see anybody behind me. I waited a few minutes, and then I decided to ride back to the park thinking I was going to run into them. One mile... two miles... still didn't see anybody. It was odd. They shouldn't be this late to start. I got to the park, there was nobody there. I don't know what route they took but apparently not the same one that I took. I was annoyed. I should have waited. I was a little nervous riding 52 miles by myself. At that time, it was going to be 59 miles total since I went back to the park. I thought maybe I should just ride the 31 mile loop and made up the difference by adding some stretches. But I hate doing that. I preferred riding a big loop, so when I was back to the parking lot, I was done.

I decided to wait until I got to the church to decide what I was going to do. I was praying for safety. When I got to the church, I saw TNT cycling team. Cindy asked me where everybody else was. I told her what happened. I felt a little better because I saw somebody that I knew. Her group rode pretty slow, so after a couple of miles I took off. Right before one major intersection, I saw a big dog running towards a house. He was backing me, so I was riding silently and hoping he didn't turn around and see me.

I got to the convenient store and didn't see anybody. I was hoping I saw Karen's group but they were at least 10 miles ahead of me. Even though they were slower than me, there was no way I would be able to catch up. From the store, I had only 20 miles to go. I felt better and at this point, it didn't bother me anymore that I was riding alone.

Lonely Ride (minus an awesome view)

I got back to the park safely. My speed was 16.4 MPH. I didn't push hard except the last few miles when the temperature was getting hotter and I was ready to be done. I saw Susan. Apparently they were worried when they didn't see me at the store. Sarah called my cell but I left it in the car. Oh well... lesson learned. Next time, just be patient and wait for your riding buddies.

Since I had to run only 9 miles on Sunday, I decided to try a different running course. Leita Thompson Memorial Park was across the street from me. It had a few options for running trails. The longest one was 2.25 miles. I was planning to run it 4 times. I thought I could handle that. I knew from the reviews, the trail was hilly but I thought how hilly could it be? I'm used to run on hilly courses. Little did I know....
It started off okay. After a mile, I ran on downhill and uphill that were pretty steep. A half mile later, the hills were a bit much. A quarter mile later, they were ridiculous. Running downhill was scary too since the surface was loose gravel, so it was a recipe for sliding down with my butt if I wasn't careful. At the end of the run, I was done. I drove off to Riverside Park and finished the run there.

On Monday, we swam at a quarry in Carterville. I never heard of a quarry before, so I googled the word. It was a body of water where divers normally practice. Eric found this place. It was just a couple of miles away from our bike course. Who knew? I carpooled with Katie. Since the owners wanted us to promote this place to other triathletes, we got to swim for free, otherwise it was $5 per person. The lake was blue, not brown like Lake Lanier or Allatoona. We decided to swim counter clock wise. The first loop I swam by myself. I was a little nervous of sea monsters... seriously! I like swimming in open water as long as I could see somebody by me. The second loop I waited for Katie. It was a good idea. I had somebody to keep up with and I wasn't scared anymore. We swam 5 loops. It was probably around 500-550 meters a loop. I had a great swim. I felt better about breathing every three strokes. I didn't have a problem in the pool but sometimes in open water, I felt the need to breathe every two. We definitely would be back again!

At the dock. Eric is odd ball with a long sleeve wetsuit.

Random updates

I'm 14 weeks away from IM Canada. 3.5 months are going to fly fast. We started training officially since Jan 30. People asked me all the time how my training has been. I always said it's going fine. I like the training schedule. Every 3 weeks I do get a break. One recovery weekend made a big difference. It's recovery but we still ride 40-45 and run 8 on Sat and Sun. But it's a lot less compared to 65-70 bike ride and 14-16 run. I don't have big stories to tell but here are some updates on my training:

Tumble
I rode Up the Creek without a Pedal last weekend. It was a 60 mile ride but we added a 5 mile loop that  equates to Baby Wolfpen gap. Steep climb and technical decent. One mile from the finish, I looked on the ground and when I looked up, the guy in front of me, seemed so close and I panicked. I tried to unclip my left foot and break at the same time. Next second I felt a bump on my head and shoulder, and then I found myself on the ground laying on my right side. I went over the handle bar. This was the first time for me. I heard a guy asked me 3 times if I were okay. I couldn't respond since I was still in shock. Finally I said okay and got up and rode to the finish. I asked somebody if I really flipped over, and yes I did. It happened so fast. When I got up, I remembered checking my Garmin and water bottle, and they were still there. I had a headache but not nauseous. I scraped the top of my left shoulder a bit. I had two big bruises on my left thigh from the elbow pad and handle bar. I'm so thankful that I was okay. No broken bones or sprained muscle/ ligament. God protected me from getting injured.

Not sure why the bike is missing the front wheel, but you got the idea.

Nutrition
I have been trying different shots and solid. I'm down with EFS drink but not sure if I wanted gel or EFS liquid shot. I tried Nutter Butter but felt not 100% sure about it. Yesteday we rode 70 miles and I tried something different. I bought Kona Mocha EFS Liquid Shot. I wasn't sure if I like the flavor so I bought a single serve bottle. All EFS Liquid Shot is super sweet. I tried the wild berry and vanilla flavors. So, I mixed half of the small bottle (200 cals) with 20 oz of water. It tastes like Mocha Cappuccino. Awesome.

For the solid food, I bought Apple Pie Bonk Breaker. I heard about this product and saw this I went to All 3 Sports. When they rang it, holy cow one bar was almost $3. But the guy said Apple Pie tasted really good and it was his fave. I still bought it because it would make my 70 mile ride a little bit more exciting. Believe me, when you train that long, sometimes trying one new thing can put you in a better mood.

I tried it and it tasted so good. The texture was great. It wasn't too gooey like Lara bar and not dry like cookies or crackers. It was in between. They have PB and Jelly flavor. I'm going to get a box of 12, which was cheaper than buying a single bar.

Big Run
Up until Rev3, the longest mileage I ran was 14. Today was 16. Mary said to run at 10 minute pace. That was pretty slow. At first I thought it was really slow. But when I started running this morning, I was so glad that she didn't ask me to run 9:20 pace. Because apparently after yesterday's 70 mile ride, my legs were tirrrredddd. Enough said. I went to Riverside Park to Eves to Martins Landing and back to the park. That loop was 9.75 mile. I was back on Riverside again and ran the remaining miles. My pace was 9:45. Not bad considering it was pretty hilly.

Yoga
On Wednesday, I went to the yoga class at the office's gym. I was so glad I went. My hamstrings and back needed a lot of love and stretching. I'm going to do this every week. I think once a week will make a big difference. It's not on the training schedule but it was so worth it. And the best of all, it's free.

I can also bend over at my waist and put my entire palm underneath my feet

Sleep
I think I'm worse than a grandma. I try to sleep 8-8.5 hours a night. Since I'm usually up by 4.30-4.45AM, that means I go to bed at 8PM. I know that's early but I feel great in the morning after an 8 hour sleep. Chloe, my dog, is a little confused why I'm in my bed when it's still light outside. Just wait, Chlo.... it's going to get worse from here.

Sleep like a baby after a long workout

Racing season
I love following pro's, my friends or people that I don't really know but they're friends of a friend, when they race. Thanks for Ironman Live. It's exciting to see their progress. Sometimes, I wondered if they suffered at the time or held on their race pace. Everybody that toed on the start lines had a story to tell, a lot of sacrifices had been made. They all came with expectation to race well. So inspiring.

I hope this is not the swim start in IM Canada

Rev 3 Knoxville

 After reading some reviews on the race's packet pickup and talking to Katie who did the race last year, I decided to leave here at 7AM. My concern was the line for the packet pickup would be super long like Augusta. I didn't want to stand in the line for 1.5 hours. Apparently Rev3 did a much better job and the line was supposedly not bad at all. Sarah came at 6.45AM. We packed the bike and bags and took off 5 minutes earlier than planned. The drive to the K town was 3 hours. It really flew by. We talked about our family. For some reasons I was talking about my dad when he was sick in 2010. My mom took care of him and was by his side 24/7. One morning she called me before work and said she dreamed of me. I came home to visit and she was so happy. She and I were just balling over the phone. I felt so helpless. Sarah told me when his dad was sick and finally passed away. She had to be away for her brother's wedding one weekend and she told her dad to hang on until she came back. When she saw her dad again, he told her he was so happy to see her beautiful face and that he kept his promise to wait for her. I was tearing up while driving.

We got to Knoxville at 10AM. The hotel had our room ready so we checked in early. We went to the expo which was literally at the back of the hotel. We didn't know the shortcut and took the long way to get there. The expo was very family friendly. They had a bounce house for kids. I saw Darren, Heather and their 2 year daughter, Holland. I gave Holland a penguin bath toy for her first birthday. Every time I saw her, Darren or Heather always told Holland that I was the one that gave her that toy. Funny! That kid was a chunky monkey, so cute with her curly reddish brown hair. Heather looked great, she lost 15 pounds getting ready for her first half. I also saw a bunch of other TNT friends. It was nice to see them all.

Nice swag from Rev3. We looked like frogs with those goggles.

There was no line for the packet pickup. We also had to get our timing chip and our picture taken. The line was a little longer but was moving. I asked what the picture was for and they said it would be on the jumbotron when we crossed the finish. Nice! I didn't have my best look (no make-up, pony tail) but who cares. I spotted a BBQ vendor at the expo. I loved a BBQ sandwich for lunch, plus we were in TN, their BBQ was one of the best. After picking up the packet, we went back to the hotel. Susan and Ellen was an hour away at the time. We decided to wait for Susan for the practice swim which was from noon to 2PM. We met up with Susan at the expo. While waiting for Susan, Sarah and I bought a pork BBQ sandwich for lunch. We saved them for after the swim. The plan was to drop off the bikes at the transition and went for a practice swim. The transition was about 0.5 mile from the expo. It was weird that the transition was actually in a parking garage. There was no bike racks, instead we had bike boxes. The rear wheel rested in a slot. I memorized the bike in/out, swim in and run out. Last year I had a brain fart in Augusta. I ran to the bike out at T2 which was the opposite side of the run out. We headed out the swim finish where the swim practice was. We saw more TNTers. Most of them did Olympic distance. The water was nice and not too cold. Perfect for a long sleeve wetsuit. I swam for 15 minutes. I had a good practice swim.

After swim practice. We crossed this track in T1.

We walked back to the hotel. I took a cat nap. Sarah woke me up for the 4PM mandatory athlete meeting at the expo. The race director did a quick overview of the course. As expected, T1 would be long since we had to cross the street and half circle the parking garage. The way they served water on the run course was not on cups but in plastic pouches. At first, I thought it was a bad idea because it would just splash all over as we tried to drink, but I took one to practice, it was actually easier to drink than cups.

Discussing race strategy while hydrating

That night we went to eat dinner at Cafe Four. There was a pork tenderloin sandwich on the menu. Immediately Sarah and I thought of Iowa State Fair's giant pork tenderloin. I had grilled turkey burger. It was delicious. I practically inhaled my dinner. I went to bed early that night. Every hour or so, we heard loud fire truck siren. So annoying. We got up around 4.30AM. Before heading to transition, we checked out from the hotel and put our stuff in the car. We saw Renee at the hotel lobby and we walked over to the transition. I set up my transition area. I thought I had everything but I forgot to lay out my gloves and Garmin wrist strap. I didn't realize about this until T1/T2. I started to get nervous walking to the swim start. This was when you asked yourself why I did what I did. Signing up for a race sounded great 4 months ago, but not that morning. I was still a little uncertain of the turn around for the half. I guess I would find out soon.

Swim start. I was in the front left.

I was in the front of the pack, not that I was a super fast swimmer but for some reason, I felt I would not be passed by too many people. As soon as they blew the horn, I swam hard to get away. The swim wasn't brutal and I didn't get hit. The turn around wasn't a struggle either. By the time, I swam with a lot of red caps, they were Half's men that started before my wave. After the turn, I swam a little bit away from the buoys. I had more space to myself but I decided to get closer to the buoys since I didn't want to be off course too much. Pretty soon, I saw a bunch green caps joining the swim course. They were Olympic's men. I chuckled a bit since we looked like Skittles. A bunch of red, green and yellow dots floating around.

Colorful swim caps floating around

As soon as I swam around the green caps, I started swimming defensively. Their limbs were all over the place. Not good swimmers but aggressive. Not long after that, I passed the last bridge. There was no ramp at the swim finish. We had to swim to the dock and either pulled ourselves up or had one of the volunteers to help us. I extended my hand and a volunteer pulled me out of the water. Great!

After a long run to T1, I got on the bike. My stomach felt great at that point. No bloating, thanks to Beano. I even burped in the water, which rarely happened. I don't remember much the first 20 miles. It was hilly but not too bad. At some point, one guy passed me on my right. It wasn't his day because the race official was right behind us. I saw a motorcycle passed me, wrote his number down, and caught up to him.

On top of one of the hills

Around mile 30, I started getting tired and to make matter worse, somebody's helmet sticker got stuck on my front wheel. It made noise every time it hit the ground. Imagine that my cadence averaged 80 per minute. I heard that stupid noise 80 times in a minute. I could've got off the bike and yanked it out but I didn't want to stop. Honestly, the last 26 miles were quite painful. The hills were getting worse. I felt I was riding in the Gaps at times. There was a short stretch where you rode out and back. I saw Susan. She was just 2 miles behind me. She sounded great as she screamed my name.

Susan: "Monikaaaaa!!!"

The last 9 miles were quite lonely and scary because I didn't see anybody around me. I was afraid I took the wrong turn and went off the course. I was happy every time I saw the pink arrows on the ground. It seemed like an eternity but finally I made it back to the transition. The last 10-15 miles my stomach started to bother me. It was acid party in my tummy!!! I didn't have my med with me but I remembered I had it in my transition bag.

I racked my bike, changed to running shoes and couldn't find my wrist strap. I ended up holding it on my hand. The first two miles of the run was excruciating. My stomach was killing me. It was burning hot running with no shade on the street. I felt like a turtle. We entered the park and I saw a TNTer 50 yards in front of me. It was Heather. When I caught up to her, she told me her quads were cramping. I had extra salt pills but she just took some. After I passed her and the Olympic turnaround, I was either up the hill or down, hardly any flat. I saw Scott, he was having a tough time. He had a flat that took him 20 minutes to fix and now his GPS/ HR watch quit working. I thought I could run with him but his pace was actually slower. I took off. After the half turnaround, I saw Susan again. We chatted a bit over the island. She was in great spirit. Not long after, Sarah came. She looked great too. We all did fairly well in this tough race.

Around Mile 10. Pretty good running posture although felt like crap.

I didn't have a run strategy, except hydrate, keep a steady pace and pick my battle, decide which hill I should walk a bit to save energy. The last 3 miles were painful. I was back on the street and there was no shade. It was hot. I passed one guy that was cramping. I gave him some salt pills. After I passed the swim finish, I knew I had to be really close, maybe a mile away from finish. Then, I saw Ellen sitting on the grass. She said this was the first time she saw me the whole day. I wasn't sure how we missed each other at the swim finish.

Home stretch

As I got closer, I could hear the announcer. I sprinted to the finish. Overall, it was a good race.
Swim time 35:35 (I had a great swim, but not this great, the course had to be a little shorter)
T1 6:01 (a quarter mile distance between swim finish and transition)
Bike 3:20 (16.8MPH, not too bad, considering it was super hilly)
T2 3:34 (It was worth to spend 30 secs to dig up some Antacid med)
Run 2:13 (pretty good on this course, especially after 56 mile ride)
Total Time 6:17:59. My first goal was 6:15, my second goal was 6:30. 

Going home. Post race.

I talked to Coach Mary post race. I asked for some kind of feedback. I realized that I always have to keep acid indigestion med with me all times. If I didn't have stomach issues, my run would have felt so much better. I need to take in more calories on the run. Half a cup of Coke and a bite of banana every mile or two was not enough. Again, if my stomach feels good, I wouldn't have a problem taking in more calories. Hammer's raspberry gel always works for me and I'll stick with that.