Cheryl Atkins

Endurance Sport Mind: 3 steps to help tame the fear of failure

2018-04-27T20:02:00.001-05:00

From personal experience as an age group Ironman athlete to observing endurance sports as an industry, I believe it is important to help shape a safe and supportive environment as an industry for athletes and those new to sport to help reach their goals. As a graduate student at Northwestern University studying Information Design and Strategy (IDS) I have two articles that will help someone experiencing fear of failure take the next step and industry to help better support these individuals.

In this Tedtalk, What I learned when I conquered the world's toughest triathlon, featured speaker Minda Dentler describes how she tackled her fear of not making the cut off times during her second attempt at completing this race. Minda talks about how she focused on one stroke at a time in the swim, and then took the enormity of the 112-mile bike and broke it down into 7 - 10-mile increments. She then recounts the focus she had with each push to the finish line to complete the 26.2 mile run. She achieved her goal of being the first female wheelchair athlete to complete the Ironman World Championship, but not without confronting fear along the way.

https://www.active.com/triathlon/articles/how-to-train-for-a-sprint-triathlon-6802

In the article 5 Excuses People with Fear of Failure Make by Guy Winch, PhD in Psychology Today, Dr. Winch breaks down 5 common excuses we give ourselves when we are faced with fear of failure. He identifies what we feel, what our minds tell us, and how to overcome it. Acknowledging fear, recognizing the challenge, and setting appropriate expectations will help decrease your chances of failure and optimize success.

As a part of my graduate studies at Northwestern University and my passion for endurance sports, I recommend three action items that both athletes and industry should be aware of when fear of failure occurs.

1- Acknowledge your fear - Creating awareness will help you learn and approach from a more knowledgeable place.

2- Understand the challenge - Know what efforts are needed and the reward at the end.

3- Set reasonable expectations - Focus on what you can control, break it down to one step at a time.

As an industry, it is important to support and provide resources to help would-be athletes, and seasoned athletes work through fear of failure. By doing such it will not only help promote the endurance sports industry as a whole and grow the number of participants but also help encourage and nurture athletes as they realize their goals.

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Cheryl Atkins is a seasoned creative professional who enjoys working collaboratively to make life experiences and the world a better place. She is pursuing her Master’s degree at Northwestern University in Information Design and Strategy. Cheryl is also an endurance athlete when she is not studying she can be found swimming, biking, running with her family. You can reach Cheryl on Twitter @atkinscheryl2

Numbers Game

2012-06-11T21:35:00.001-05:00

When I was training for Ironman, numbers were important. Heart Rate, Zones, Pacing, etc. I think I put too much emphasis on those numbers. I focused on the data before, during and after sessions. It wasn’t until my coach Jen, had me start training based on FEEL that I saw big gains. In some ways I think the data held me back mentally. I had already determined in my head what my max was, instead of just going with my feeling. I pushed myself harder based on feel. Don’t get me wrong, I still had my Garmin on, but I didn’t look at the data until after my workout.

Now I’m in a completely different numbers game. It’s all about Estrogen, Progesterone, FSH, lining numbers. Again, one can become obsessed with these numbers. I found myself in the same situation. We are now entering attempt number three for baby number two. The first IVF cycle failed, and the second one was canceled and moved to an IUI based on low Estrogen numbers. Truth be told, this has been very, very hard on me. It has been almost 9 months since Ironman. In my mind, I would be ready to pop right about now with baby number two. Not starting on cycle number three. You know what they say… if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans. A sobering reality that I am not in control of creating the miracle of life no matter how many supplements I take or if I live gluten and sport free.

In my last appointment with my doctor we talked about a new protocol to try. If it doesn’t work I was told we would need to think about another route (meaning donor eggs). My heart sank. I’ve done everything under the sun to increase my chances. I’ve given up Gluten, Swim, Bike, Run, and I take enough supplements to win hands down a pill popping contest with a 90 year old. All of this, and still we struggle. Tears forming at the corners of my eyes, I asked my doctor is there ANYTHING else I can do to increase my chances? She said I am doing everything that I can, and doing it right. But then she said something that shocked me. She told me for the next month (while I’m not on stimulation medication) that I should eat my glorious gluten filled pizza, go for a run, swim or bike- BE NORMAL.

Jack ready for the Running Race!

Now the tears were really threatening to flow. I was scared. What if this ruins my chances? She must have read my mind, she reassured me it was okay for the next month, but cautioned that I couldn’t do anything crazy like Ironman training, but a little here and there and dropping 5 lbs. would be just fine. I need to go off of FEELING again, and drop the numbers obsession. Since that appointment, I’ve gotten out to run a handful of times. I like to do this with Jack, as he LOVES to run with me. In fact, the week after that appointment, Jack and I ran our very first 5k together. Now, I must tell the whole story... I was going to do the 1 mile walk because I only ran once (the day prior) since Ironman. I had NO intention on doing the 5k. I was there to support a friend, and an all around amazing organization, Wellness Place in Palatine www.wellnessplace.org. They provide education, counseling and support for those affected by cancer for FREE. So Jack and I headed to our running race which he was looking forward to all weekend. I stopped to get a coffee along the way. We signed up and listened to the opening ceremonies and then they announced all those doing the 5k to line up. I started to see a ton of people with strollers, super fit folks and the not so super fit. Something came over me, and I found myself saying I’m an effing Ironman! I can do this. So I jumped in line and we were off. Jack was so awesome! He was the best cheerleader :) Given my, ahem, training, and the fact that Jack is 26 lbs PLUS the stroller and it was in the high 80s that morning... I did stop and walk 2 times... each time Jack said- you can do it Mommy, you are doing a great job! AND EACH time, I welled up with tears. This race was above and beyond the best since I was there doing it with my son.

Jack and I after our first 5k together! He was awesome!

He is truly awesome and I am so lucky that God picked me to be his Mommy. 35 mins later, we crossed the finish line, had our bananas and juice, and then it was his first trip ever into a Porta Potty. (I have to say it was the cleanest porta potty I have EVER been in) Jack was too funny, he was perplexed since there was no flusher ;) I love this age where everything including a porta potty can be magical. He got to jump in the big bouncy and then we watched the balloon release. He loved watching the balloons and was very upset with me when we left. But the post-race pancakes more than made up for it. It was a GREAT day!

This past weekend I managed to get on my bike for an hour. I got out early on Sat morning and I forgot how I much I love morning training. Swim, bike or run, in the AM there is something so special about it. I feel sorry for those who miss out on the magic of the world waking up around you. The soft hum of the sprinklers, the birds chirping away, and the sun just rising... truly God’s work. I feel so blessed to be out taking in it. I love seeing the animals, Cows and horses, the previous weekend while out on a run with a great friend, I saw a bald eagle perched on a large branch in the middle of the Fox River. I also saw a giant turtle resting on a rock. Magic. Back to my ride, it went well... I wasn’t pushing too hard, but managed to get almost 17 miles done in an hour averaging 15.5 mph. Humbling considering what I was doing prior to my IVF hiatus. But as my husband said, it is better than the ride I did the month before. Point taken. Then Sunday morning I was blessed with getting into the open water with my Mom, brother and my brother's friend Ryan.

Jack ready for the beach!

My awesome sister in law, Ana, was on the shore playing in the water and at the park with Jack. I swam a mile, and had a few hiccups here and there. Since I am not in shape, there is NO way I can fit into my wetsuit I wore for Ironman, so it was back to my oldie but goodie... heeelllooo stuffed sausage. We started off and about a quarter mile in I remembered why I didn’t like that suit. The neck comes up too high and makes me feel like I’m being choked. All last year with my TYR I never had that issue. Then because of our mild winter the seaweed was Out. Of. Control. Holy smokes, I panicked a good couple of times, seaweed right in my face and getting tangled in my arms and legs... I pressed on after rolling on my back. Humbled again, I felt like this doesn’t look anything like an Ironman... but I remembered what Chrissie Wellington said... You need to adjust your expectations based on where you are at in your life. I was back to going off of FEELING, and got out of the weeds and back to shore where my cute little Jack was busy playing.

Until next time....
Keep smiling and have fun racing and training.

Post Ironman Life

2012-03-29T09:12:00.000-05:00

I’m probably the only person who was not excited about the early summer weather. You see, I was hoping my next post after Ironman was … guess what I’m pregnant! We’ll that has yet to happen, hence the reason for my lack of posts. It was a struggle to get pregnant the first time, so I should have known better than to expect it would be easy the second time around. After all, the fertility doctors had the formula of what worked… so this time it should be a piece of cake, right? Riiiight. So now I’m faced with the daily reminder that I am neither pregnant nor a triathlete. I see the oodles of pregnant women come into our building to see the OBGYN. I get to see all the runners soaking up the warm weather. I hate them all. Not really, but I am insanely jealous that I don’t have either right now. I feel like a fraud with my 140.6 sticker on the back, and feel like all eyes are on my ever growing stomach and fading fitness. If I were pregnant I would care less about these things… but I’m not, and after all the hard work put into Ironman it kills me to see my fitness just fade away.

My approach to getting pregnant this time around was to follow exactly what I did last time. I go to a holistic office that covers nutrition, acupuncture, massage, yoga and more. They helped me to get and stay pregnant with Jack so I follow their advice (along with my fertility doctor) to the T. They say no gluten, then no gluten, they say no running, then no running, they say no swimming then no swimming. All of this since Ironman. It is making my skin crawl, really. For those who have struggled or are currently struggling to get pregnant you know all the stress that comes with this task. Then top it off with no outlet to alleviate the stress. It can really wear on you. The last time I was going through infertility, I did yoga and really embraced it. For some reason, I just can’t do it this time. I suck at trying to get in a ½ hour session of yoga. I often wonder how the heck I got 3+ hours in when I can’t even do one bloody half hour! Maybe I’ll find my love for yoga again? BS – what I need is a nice long run.

So life after Ironman has been a struggle personally since I am unable to do the things I want. We have one shot left at IVF, and then insurance doesn’t cover the procedure anymore. So I am giving it all that I have until April, when we try again with the medication and doctor’s visits. I leave the results up to God. If we are meant to expand our family then it will happen. If we are unsuccessful, I will be sad, but will start doing the things I love again and continue to try on our own in hopes that one day God will bless us naturally. In the meantime, it’s no gluten, running or swimming. I will learn to like yoga again and I will endure the endless needles and doctor’s visits for the last time. At least there is a deadline to which I will then know what journey my life will embark upon next.

Jack putting his big boy bed together

Even though I complain, I’ve had lots of time to spend with my son, who is just the love of my life. Every day he has me rolling on the floor with laughter. We are potty training now and he is moving along fast. He is such a sweetheart and feels the need to remind me occasionally what comes out of which end. Along with potty training, Jack has moved up to his big boy bed and his independent streak is in full bloom. I have also been able to tend to our beautiful new house. I’ve been painting a room every weekend which keeps me inside and less likely to see the runners in my neighborhood. Probably best for everyone this way.

Ana- smiling with a PR finish; Mom - waving to Jack; Dave- making it look easy

Last weekend we went up to the March Madness ½ Marathon. It is the unofficial kickoff to the season. My Mom, brother and sister-in-law all ran it. I won’t lie, it was so hard to be on the sidelines, but also very fun to cheer everyone on in the warm weather. What a change from the previous year- 40s and freezing cold rain! I loved seeing all my triathlete friends out there. While most everyone looked miserable, I just kept telling them to enjoy the run. I would have killed to be out there working hard. I had to remind myself that this is temporary and that I will be back. And when I am, look out- I have a fire in my belly! Or maybe it’s just the gluten free bread I ate.

So to all of you embarking on the 2012 season, enjoy the journey. I will be out there cheering you on- HOPEFULLY with a big pregnant belly!

If not, I will be back and maybe do some late races this year.

Train Happy, Train Hard – but most important enjoy the journey
(whatever that is)!

Cheryl

Ironman Race Recap

2011-10-04T16:34:00.001-05:00

Im very sorry for the delay...I needed a mental break from Ironman, which is why this race report is a little late (plus I was waiting for my photos). It is also pretty long, but so is the race :)

The week leading up to Ironman was electric. Surprisingly, I was not nervous until dinner on Saturday night (the eve before the race). In true historic fashion, during the week of the race Jack decided to catch a cold, and would wake up off and on during the night for several nights. I also felt, and perhaps this was pre-race angst, a little achy and sore throat… oh no! I scrapped my last open swim and a small run to get rest, which proved to be the best move. By the weekend I was back to feeling 100%.

Wednesday night I packed my gear. As I looked at those 2 bags, I kept thinking this CAN’T be it for the full day of racing!!! Im proud to report I didn’t under or over pack… it was just right. Helpful tip: I made a list before race week containing all that I would need based on what was going in each bag… I was way more focused the weeks leading up to the race! I also sent the list to my brother and coach, just in case I forgot anything. Thursday night, pulled the car into our garage for the first time and packed it up as Jack was fast asleep. Friday morning, was bittersweet. It was SO HARD saying goodbye to John and Jack, I think I cried for about 5 miles. Silly I know, but I wasn’t going to see Jack until Monday afternoon, and that had me so heart broken. He was one of the main reasons why I took the Ironman challenge. I wanted to show him (and prove to myself), you can do anything, if you work hard and put your mind to it. By 8am I arrived at my Mom’s and my Mom, Dave and I put all the gear into one car and we were off to Madison!

We got there and checked into the hotel. We stayed at the Hilton, which is steps away from the finish line, transition and Ironman Village. Special thanks to Dan for offering his reservation to me and to Brian for making our stay there a top notch experience. We checked into registration and within the hour it was official, #537 was checked in and ready to race on Sunday! My Mom signed up to volunteer that afternoon, so Dave and I went to check out Observatory Hill. I wanted to see first-hand just what this hill was all about. Hill? More like 3 hills in one! I remember thinking this will be a beast come Sunday! We walked back and I proceeded to lay out my gear to pack into my transition bags. Dave was kind enough to look over it all and listen to me walk through it all. I read in my friend Ron’s blog that it is a good idea to have someone look over your gear. Great advice, it put my mind at ease that I had all I would need for the entire day. Friday evening was enjoyed at the Great Dane, minus any beer, it was fun and delicious. My brother discovered the Juicy Brewski, needless to say he is hooked!

Saturday am, Dave, Dan (a family friend and fellow Ironman triathlete), and I went for a 15 min swim. There are some who think this was way weird. But I followed Jen’s plan and it proved to be most helpful to get loosened up and plot out where I would start and what I would sight. This minimized my what if’s? and how am I’s? for the swim start. Awesome! We followed that up with a quick 10 min bike, just to make sure all is copasetic with the mechanicals on the bike. I had strict orders no more than 90 mins on my feet that day. HARD to do, but I gave it my best. One thing I was NOT going to miss was watching my Mom sign up for 2012 Ironman! YEAH GO MOM- you have an amazing journey ahead of you:) SO PROUD OF HER!!!!

Saturday night was super special! Brian and team TFP arranged a dinner in a large suite at the top of the Hilton. It was so nice not to battle the large crowds to try to find a table for a large group the night before the race. One of the best parts about the dinner was the room that overlooked the swim course and bike transition area. Nearly all of my support crew was there which was AWESOME! I was able to chat with them about the race. It was so cool to see everyone’s expression when I told them about the swim, and how many Ironman hopefuls would be in the water starting all at once at 7am. The bike transition is quite a sight all of its own. Rows upon rows of bikes, very cool.

We ate, talked and laughed a PERFECT prerace dinner! I handed out our ultra-cool support crew shirts and thanked everyone for their support throughout the entire year, and for the sacrifices they made to help me along the way and to be there the day of. I have said it before and will continue to say it again and again; I am truly blessed with the best family and friends! THANK YOU everyone! After it was over, we wandered back down to our room and I attempted to be in bed before 9pm (ha!)

I finally fell asleep around 10pm; my mind was racing a bit, and missing my Jack. One of my very best friends, who did Ironman the previous year, came up to cheer me on. She and her boyfriend hit the Madison nightlife, she became very nostalgic and her sisterly love poured through 6 text messages at about 1am. I was very touched, and just slightly annoyed by the 4^th alert – haha! I know her heart was in the right place ;) Thankfully it didn’t take too long for me to fall back asleep.

Four am felt seconds away, and I did what I always do before each race… question why I chose a sport that requires you to get up at the butt crack of dawn to swim, bike and run! In reality, I LOVE it and know I’ve chosen wisely. I’ve had a wonderful year, and was about to cap it off with the ultimate race.

Another tidbit I got from my friend Ron’s race recap was to know there will be problems throughout the day. He said it is how we handle those problems that will make or break us. He went over all the problems he encountered and what he did to correct the problem… totally helpful to an Ironman Virgin!

So here is Problem #1 – I woke up with a pulled muscle on the left side of my upper back into my neck. Lovely! (Hindsight, I would recommend introducing massage much earlier into your overall Ironman training. I had only two sessions, I really could have used more time to get things worked out, instead it just aggravated underlying issues.)

I jumped into the shower and let the hot water beat down on the pull, and then slathered some biofreeze on it, and hoped it was just nerves. Dave, Ana, John and I all went down for breakfast. I had a $14 piece of toast and 4 sips of coffee…. Really, I had my oatmeal, banana and put my piece of toast on John’s plate, but got charged… and due to time and trying to keep calm, I just let go the charge… I didn’t want to mess with it or let it get under my skin.

Dave and I walked over to transition… I can’t tell you enough how HUGE it was to have a 3x IM finisher there, to help me avoid all the first timer mistakes. I didn’t have as much nervous energy knowing that Dave looked over my stuff, and helped me get through the pre-race drop offs and prep. We got body marked and headed back up to our rooms to grab our wetsuits and visit the bathroom one last time before heading down to the water. Once we got back downstairs our race crew was all there!! A first in what just one of the many huge boosts I would get from them throughout the day! They looked so excited to see us, and some of them who were new to all of this looked in awe of the whole pre-race spectacle outside. We walked over to the helix and got into our wetsuits.

I had a surprise, a special swim suit that I would unveil to the crew – it was a Wonder Woman suit! Both they and I needed the laugh, as my nerves were getting more intense and I could tell they were also doing the same for the crew. To someone who has never witnessed the dance one does to get into the wetsuit I sure looked funny! 5 mins later, I was in, zipped up and toasting what would be the first of MANY GU for the day with Dave. (GU and Ironman Perform is basically all I would consume the entire day- tasty!)

I went to each person in our crew and thanked them for coming and said goodbye. I was overcome by emotion and teared up when I said goodbye. It was so emotional! Since the day I signed up, the Ironman swim has been a source of worry for me. Not because I couldn’t swim the distance, but because of the crazy mass start. I guess all the work to get to this day and the anxiety over the swim came tumbling out.

SWIM: Dave and I headed down the helix to the swim start. The air was buzzing with anticipation, first time spectators, first time Ironmen and seasoned athletes talking about their goals for the day. I soon forgot about my nerves and just focused on the moment. Now, I have many “Favorite moments” during my day. But this first moment is something I will hold dear to me, forever. As Dave and I were approaching the timing mat, there was a little last min pep talk, but the thing I remember the most was just as we walked over the mat and put on our goggles we hugged. I’m going to sound corny but I love my brother, and I was never more proud to be his big sister than that moment. With just that hug, I knew we were both going to have a great day. We headed out to the where we were going to start. I was a few rows behind Dave. I rolled on my back and looked up at the clouds. Serene and peaceful, the sound of water bobbling around my ears, and calm came over me. I popped back up in time to hear the canon for the pros go off… it won’t be long now. FUN: a few mins before our gun went off I noticed that Emily and Stacie were in front of me. Super comforting, since it now felt like a normal Friday morning swim, only difference was the extra 2500 people! We chatted for a few and then just like that the gun went off and I was calm as could be. No freaking out... just kept my motto: You can't control what others do to you... but you can control how you react. I kept steady and controlled. My goggles did get knocked off and I rolled over and put them back on... and continued. I had a moment of panic when that happened, but I gained control of the situation and moved on. A few mins, after that I actually told myself that I was proud of how I reacted to that... I felt confident. I stayed wide at the buoys and pretty much about 20 yards off the line for the entire swim. I had open water for most of it... with the turns and the funnel of people heading toward the 1^st buoy, being the only spots where I had contact. I did feel the muscle pull in my neck and back, as I kept breathing to my left to keep the buoys in sight. I was hopeful that the swim would loosen up the pull and I’d be okay for the rest of the day. Overall the swim was NOT bad, and my time was about 3 mins faster than I thought I'd do. I was very happy with the swim. This would be the best leg of the whole day! Figures the thing I was most freaked out about was the best part of the race day! I had so much fun getting my wetsuit yanked off by the volunteers, and then running up the helix in my wonder woman suit was just TOO MUCH FUN! I had so many cheers for me and my suit! I saw Kate at the bottom of the helix and gave her a high five, AWESOME to see her!! I knew just where my crew was at and I COULD NOT WAIT to see them! As I rounded the corner I heard the roar!!! I stopped to give everyone a hug and high five- again more tears… as I stopped and told my Mom … I did it, I did it! I felt like an Ironman already!!! Just beyond my crew was Jen, I was so amped up I stopped and gave her a hug and thanked her for helping me get to the start line!!! I even think I almost kissed her on the cheek as well… I was so overcome with emotion of finishing the swim! :)

T1: Ever have someone BESIDES your mom help you get dressed? I had a super volunteer who helped me with all my things. I brought a towel, but because I was so excited about finishing the swim, I forgot to use it. My volunteer had my shorts held out for me to step into. For those of you who don’t know, you go sans underwear with bike shorts otherwise you face an enormous amount of chaffing. So there I was still wet, naked from the waist down and getting into my shorts. Which promptly got stuck mid-thigh. My butt was hanging out and the volunteer, bless her heart, was behind me yanking up my shorts. Wow. The rest was a snap, I had my running bra on under my swim suit already so I threw on my bike jersey, grabbed my helmet, nutrition and bike shoes and off I went. Ironman is so catered that my volunteer put all my stuff back into my bag. Thank you volunteers!

Bike: I got my bike and went down the other helix… I even yelled weeeeee!!!!! My Mom and John got to see me out and it wouldn’t be until mile 21 until I saw them again. I noticed right away that my pulled muscle never did get any better, but I pressed on. Weather turned out to be quite a bit warmer than anticipated so pacing and nutrition would be key for the rest of the day. On the way out, there was a crash and someone down on the bike path, I couldn’t imagine someone’s day being over before it had a chance to begin. This was a good reminder to me that there were going to be people out there who are reckless, and who didn’t know the course. I had to remember to stay focused and be aware of what was going on around me. This was a little harder as my neck was stiff and turning left to look back was painful. I saw a few friends at the beginning, Karen and Stacie, we chatted for a few and then we were on our way.

I remembered a lot of the advice I got was don’t overcook yourself on the bike. I followed this during my ½ Ironman when the heat index was 115… and it worked so I didn’t want to change anything. I also remember everyone telling me I would will feel like everyone is passing me on the first loop, but I would get them on the second. My plan was to stay in Zone 2 all day. I tried to stay in low to mid Zone 2 but found I was hovering around top Zone 2 and low zone 3 for the first 25 miles or so. I kept telling myself to stay in control… I finally settled in and stayed in mid zone 2 until the hills, which it did elevate when climbing. I had fun on those hills. So much, I was looking forward to them the second time around. You see this is where the party is! TONS of people lining the hills Tour de France style, in costumes, with funny signs, music….

Some funny signs…

Do you believe you actually paid to do this?
Of course it’s F’ing hard, it’s Ironman!
Focused? (this was in front of a guys junk that was wearing only a speedo, so he looked naked!)
Ironmen are honey badgers, Honey badger don’t give a @h!t

All of this, plus seeing my crew and coach out there helped make the second loop back to the hills fly by. On the second loop, I kept thinking, where are all these people I’m supposed to be passing? I started to get concerned that I was going too slow but stuck to my plan. My HR still wanted to climb into the Zone 3 but I held back... I kept up on the nutrition and salt like clockwork, mile 40 I ate a 1/2 cliff bar, mile 80 another 1/2 cliff bar... kept doing body checks to make sure I was aware of what my body needed. Problem #2 hit: Around mile 83 I began to feel a little full after the second half of cliff, so I put off the next GU until an hour later, and kept sipping perform. After the hills, I had a little reflux where liquid came back up but not full on throw up. I pulled the perform and liquid intake back to just water, and small sips of Perform here and there on the connector back to Madison. This actually didn’t seem like a huge problem to me at the time, I felt I had enough time to correct this before the run, but it would later become where Problem 2 caused Problem 3. I saw my crew several times on the bike. Mile 21, in Verona, where I stopped to say hi, give hugs and kisses and then again on the second loop on south beach hill (the last hill on the loops before heading back). In Verona, I remember giving John a kiss and him telling me I was kicking arse. So I thought, maybe I’m not too far behind? I stopped at the bike special needs and pulled out the icy hot back patch I put in there just in case my back was bothering me. This was HUGE, since my neck was getting worse, by staying in aero. I put the patch on my neck and got some relief, and was on my way. The second loop felt harder than it should. Yes, it should be more difficult, but my speed cut down, and the wind picked up. (even though there wasn’t supposed to be much wind at all that day- this proved to be a change in the forecast along with the heat index nearing mid 90s) By the time I got back to the hills, the party pretty much moved onto the run course. Disappointing, since I was so looking forward to it… but here is another ‘best moment’ My Mom running alongside of me up the hill. She was so cute, yelling I love you, and then cheering on the crowd, waving her arms up and down yelling come on cheer for Cheryl! I yelled back I love u Mom, and then laughed for about another mile or so… she is so cute! I saw my dear friend Denise and her two little boys who really wanted to see me again, and I heard them cheer for me as I flew by them at the top of the hill. SO cute, and a reminder on how much I missed Jack.

On the connector, my back was hurting, my neck was hurting and I was feeling full and wondering if that would correct itself in time for the run. There is one more big hill that hits around mile 100 – thank you very much. This hill was a beast, I put my head down and powered through it even though I was in pain. Not too much longer and I would be running… a very welcomed thought at that moment. While I felt my bike time was slower than I know I’m capable of, I was proud of how I didn't let the oodles of people passing me get me down, and I stuck to my plan.

T2: I came in off the bike and made it to transition. Now I know for sure that I was further back than I originally thought I would be. There wasn’t much activity in transition so again I had a volunteer all to myself. I changed my top and bottoms and grabbed my race belt, put on my race shoes and took an Imodium, JUST in case, and I was off.

RUN: I saw my crew right out of the run chute. They were so excited as they thought they missed me due to traffic. Someone asked how I felt? All I could say was TIRED, but with a smile! The first 5 miles my legs felt heavy (as I expected) but then I got into my groove. Nutrition wise, I started from the first aide station with 1 water; 1 Perform. I did not want to get behind, since I pulled back on liquid the last part of the bike. I started looking at my watch thinking ok, the bike time was not what I thought it would be, but I still can make my “worst case scenario” time. By mile 6 I felt pretty darn good. A little tired, but I still had a lot of pep in the legs. I saw my brother around mile 6.5 and we hugged again and Dave said he was very proud of me, he was almost done, looked tired, and sad. I told him “Go get it!” and we were on our way. I wanted to ask him how he was doing in terms of place, but by the look on his face, I knew he thought his day was over. I said a little prayer and thanked God for my day and asked him to be with Dave… Little did Dave know, he was in 6^th place, and on his way to qualifying for Kona! By mile 8 I was on my way to what would be the first of MANY bathroom stops. Not quite the same. Problem #3: I felt like I had gas and kept thinking this would pass, but the jostling of the stomach and the surplus of calories I took in on the bike proved to be a bad combination. I was pissed. I had the internal hemorrhoid procedure a few weeks prior to the race to take care of this very problem. BUT it was not the hemorrhoid issue, there wasn’t any sign of blood… so it was purely a GI issue. It had me perplexed I followed my plan, and did my body checks every half hour, and when I felt full I pulled back! I felt like screaming WTF!!!!!! Every time I had Perform, it would aggravate it more. So I pulled back on the Perform. From miles 10-13 I worried about my stomach. I walked a little on the way to the turn around to see if it would settle things. By mile 12.5 I felt a little better and picked back up running, not as fast I would have liked, but at least running. Mile 13, the turnaround is VERY cruel, since you are lead right up to the finish line, only head right back out. It was here that I had the very BEST moment of the day… as I came into the turn, I saw my crew to the left, cheering. I didn’t want them to know I was having issues, so I put on my best face and knew that just beyond them was special needs and I had an emergency stash of stomach medicine in there. I made the turn, and felt better knowing the next time I’m here would be to finish. I turned the corner and there was everyone with HUGE smiles, cheering and there was JACK! My husband arranged to have my sister, brother in law and nephew bring Jack up during my run. I cried like a little girl when I saw him, and I ran up to him and gave him kisses, and kissed John and told him I loved him (husband of the year!) It was then that I also found out my brother realized his dream of qualifying for Kona!!! How awesome… I found another level of energy to get it done- stomach issues or not! I was going to finish!!

I stopped got my extra Imodium, pepto, and Rolaids. NONE of which seemed to help. My stomach was MAD…. Miles 13-15 were walk and run. I sipped on ice water for most of it until 18 when I switched to coke and water (I wish I would have tried this earlier). I started to feel much better and did mostly coke and ice for the remainder of the run. I did speed walk/run the back half on the bike trail. It was dark and you couldn’t see much. The port-a-potties were spaced out a little further than I was comfortable with. There were times when all I could do is just stand there and hope the moment passes until I could get to another bathroom. I would NOT crap my pants! I saw Dave and a bunch of our crew around mile 19… and that was a huge help. He was soo excited I couldn’t stop to tell him how I was struggling. I pressed on… running for as long as I could and then walking when the stomach felt like it was going to blow up. I recall the sinking feeling looking down at my watch realizing I wouldn’t make my goal time, and then again when I wouldn’t make it before 9pm. About mile 24 I felt good enough to run the rest of the way in without stopping. I felt awesome… my legs were strong. Damn it stomach!!! I am disappointed that my run wasn't what I hoped it would be, but I am proud that I didn't give up and that I kept working through it. As I came onto the back side of the capital I heard Mike Riley shouting “You are an Ironman!” and then it hit me, I was going to be an Ironman. After the long day, and the few problems I had, I was going to do it… I was going to make it. I turned onto the last street before the chute with prob. one of the biggest smiles I’ve ever had glued to my face. I shook my fists and said FU stomach, I did it. I saw my family and stopped to give them all kisses they were SOOO excited and then they were like, what are you doing – GO and FINISH!!! I took my time and ran down the chute, high fiving everyone… and waited for the guy in front of me to have his moment… but he took too damn long, so I crossed just behind him at 14:11:34. Out of 2,449 people I finished at 1530, in my age group I was 72/118. Interesting fact: it was 9/11/11 and I crossed at 9:11pm. Weird.

While I missed my goal time by 40 mins… I learned a lot about myself through the journey leading up to Ironman. I gained even greater understanding and respect for the distance, and what can happen on race day. I fully respect those who take on the challenge with great conviction and push themselves beyond what they thought possible. Ironman is a tough distance, and takes great dedication, personal and family commitment and support. This race report would be remiss without a HUGE THANK YOU to all of you who followed along via the blog, or the GPS tracker on race day. Thank you to Troy for the awesome videos and to John for his stellar photography! Thank you to my family and friends for the love, encouragement and support. Thank you to my coaches for giving me the skills needed. Thank you mostly to my husband who supported me on my dream to become an Ironman, I know it wasn’t easy for you or Jack.

We are missing a bunch of people - Thank you to the ENTIRE 2011IM CREW!!!
You guys ROCK!

We stayed to watch the final people come in, and sadly one woman missed it by 50 seconds. I was told finish the first and race the rest, and I will do just that. I will return to Ironman one day. It will not be in the near future as I need time to focus on my family and perhaps add to the Atkins clan?
Good luck to you all in wherever life takes you. Feel free to drop me a line about your journey!

When one journey ends, another begins, it starts with the first step.

xxxxooo

Cheryl

9 days and counting

2011-09-01T15:50:00.002-05:00

When I started this blog after signing up for the Wisconsin Ironman…I started with this quote:

The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. - Lao Tzu

For the past 243 days:

I’ve taken MANY steps... I've trained harder than I ever have before, experienced a journey like no other, and pushed beyond the limits of what I thought I was capable of physically, mentally and emotionally.

I have learned so much along the way, met some amazing people, and made some great friends.

In 9 days, I will set out to swim 2.4 miles, ride 112 and run 26.2. In 9 days, I will join over 2,800 others who have the same goal of becoming an Ironman. In 9 days, I WILL hear Mike Reilly say “Cheryl Atkins YOU are an IRONMAN!!!"

This last week leading up to Ironman has been strange. The past month left me a little uneasy. Various things prevented me from getting my full workouts in… pulled muscles, poor planning, an outpatient procedure, etc. I was left questioning my training and volume. Am I really ready for this? After a quick conversation with my coach and brother, I was reminded it is about the body of work that matters… and not whatever it was that got messed up, or missed due to circumstances beyond my control, doesn’t matter. It is the BODY of work I’ve put in the past 243 days (really past 2 years) that will make me an Ironman. Earlier in the week, I found myself surfing the web looking for other’s race reports and other tips on Ironman Wisconsin. I was doubting my abilities. I was looking for that magical tip that is going to make the difference come race day. Then I went out for my run and something magical DID happen. It was like God popped into my head and told me exactly what I had to do… DUMP all the podcasts, kill the fulltime Ironman talk, stop the internet searches…. and TRUST. Trust that I’ve done all that I can up to this point. Trust it, trust my coach and trust the plan. My sense of calm came back, a feeling that has been missing for about a month. Now just 9 days out… I know what I need to do, trust. Let the day unfold and ENJOY what I have worked so hard for.

NOW onto the exciting stuff… HOW YOU CAN FOLLOW ME during the race:

Race starts at 7am on 9-11-11.

I found this nifty little device that tracks you while you are racing. For Ironman events, they have the race course and elevation plotted out… so you will be able to see where I am at, how fast I’m going, and what hills I’ve just conquered or are coming up. Ironman Madison is a 2 loop course: 2 loops for the swim, bike and run! The device is not fully submersible so you will not be able to track me on the swim…

http://www.myathletelive.com/

Go to the top right hand corner of the page. CLICK on TRACK your athlete and find me under Ironman Wisconsin.

TIP- this works anywhere you have cellphone coverage, and if you have a smartphone, iPad, or laptop. We found that the laptop offers the best interface when we were checking it out during Louisville IM.

http://ironmanlive.com/
On race day ironmanlive.com has a live feed, where you will be able to see people at key points in the race. Most importantly, they set it up so you can see everyone cross the finish line!

Because there are sooo many people racing Ironman, it is helpful to know what your athlete (ME!) is going to wear, what their helmet and bike look like, so you can pick me out…. So here it is. ALSO IMPORTANT MY BIB #537!!!


Bike

Bike if it is COLD

Run from front

Run from side

I thought I’d close with what may be my final post prior to IM. Here are my overall goals:

MOST importantly, is to stick to my plan, enjoy the day and FINISH with a smile.

Overall goals:
Execute solid nutrition and zones. Run a solid Zone2 all day. Keep big picture in mind, but focus on smaller increments throughout the day. Control what I can; don’t worry about what I cannot.
Enjoy the day… I’ve worked 2 years toward this very day… take it in and do my best.

Time estimates:
(MOST IMPORTANT is staying in Zone 2!)

Swim: 1:20:00
Bike: 6:45:00 and under
Run: 4:45:00

Total time: 13:30:00 and under

(this time adds in transitions, and aide/support crew/bathroom stops)

I’ll see you at the finish line!

Meltdown

2011-08-25T16:57:00.000-05:00

My countdown widget on my home page reads 16 days until Ironman.

Every time I look at that widget I get nervous and my stomach churns. This past weekend was the dress rehearsal, if you will. The last time I would make the trek up to Madison before the big day. Saturday, I swam in the Madison open water swim. This was also the USMS National open water championship, so it was roughly half swimmers and half triathletes. I did this race to get myself familiar with the course and hoped to calm my fears a little more about that blasted swim start!

The plan for the day was to attack this just as if it was race day. So fuel like race day, swim like race day and ride like race day! I woke up before my Mom, Bro and Ana… I don’t like to be rushed and I didn’t sleep well - our room was TOO quiet! So I got up, showered and got dressed. The others started to wake up causally and get ready. I wandered down to the Starbucks in our hotel lobby to get 4 small coffees and some hot water for my oatmeal (a favorite pre-race meal of mine). NOT open for another 10 mins… no biggie. But the woman was behind the counter… surely she could fill a cup up with hot water for me… apparently no. “The machines need to warm up” UM, that the biggest bunch of BS… as I was looking right at the hot water spigot on the coffee machine. Having worked in a kitchen when I was in high school, I KNOW, boiling hot water comes out of there. LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE!!!! So back up to the room I went empty handed, and a little peeved. I ran into another athlete we had dinner with the night before and she mentioned the weather …. Thunderstorms. Just after she said that it thundered as if to confirm what she said AND crush any optimism I may have had that it would just blow over.

We got our stuff together and discussed the plan for after the swim (I honestly think we all thought it was going to be cancelled) and headed down to the car. We pulled into the Monona Convention Center and my stomach just churned. We walked over to the helix (a circular parking ramp… but helix sounds so much cooler!) and I visualized myself running up it after I finish my swim during Ironman. What a difference when there are about 1,000 people lined up on the helix – the sound on race day is so loud and fun!!! This morning it was quiet except for the rumble of thunder. We checked in and got our packets and were told they would make a decision about the start time at 8:30. By this time the wind had picked up and sent a few of the 10 x 10 tents tumbling over and the lighting came. So we headed back to the helix to stay out of the elements. People gathered and we all watched the weather and a few of the DUMBEST people I’ve ever seen continue to swim in the water with thunder and lighting.

So the question came up:

Why can't you swim during a lightning storm? A strike on a lake doesn't kill all the fish in the lake.

"The best answer we found comes from Don MacGorman, a physicist at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla. When Sciencenetlinks.com asked him why fish don't get fried by lightning, Don said it's probably because they're underwater.

"Basically lightning stays more on the surface of the water rather than penetrating it. That's because water is a reasonably good conductor, and a good conductor keeps most of the current on the surface," he said. So, when lightning hits the water, the current zips across the surface in all directions. And if you're swimming anywhere in the vicinity, it'll probably zap you. But below the surface, most of the electricity is neutralized, and the fish are generally spared. Some fish underwater near the strike are probably hurt or killed by electricity that penetrates to some extent...

The National Weather Service sends out these reminders:

• You SHOULD get out of the water right away.

• Outdoors is the worst place to be during a thunderstorm. Quickly move indoors or into a hard-topped vehicle and stay there until well after lightning stops.

• If you're outside, make yourself the lowest point in the area. Lightning hits the tallest object. Crouch if you are in an exposed area. Stay away from trees.

• Don't huddle in a group."
(answer courtesy of: http://faculty.deanza.edu/donahuemary/stories/storyReader$583)

There --- my public safety announcement is done.

At 8:30 someone came up to the helix with an update that the race director was going to wait another hour, until the next cell of bad weather passed through to make a call. So about 10 of us went to the Hilton and had another light breakfast. UM, I won’t be doing this at Ironman, my day is already off track- damn it! You can’t control Mother Nature, and at this point I just wanted the weather to clear up so we could swim. AND clear up it did, at 9:30- just 15mins after we got our food! Luckily I had some fruit, a piece of whole wheat toast and one egg for protein. NOT too terribly heavy, but certainly NOT what I would be eating come race day. Anyway, we got down there just as they were retrieving the buoys that escaped during the storm and reset them. The elites went off at 9:30. We entered the water just after the elites. As we waited in the water more and more people piled into the front, nervous chatter filled the air. I saw Jen, my coach, we talked a little and then the horn went off and it was go time. I was nervous but my main goal was to remain calm, and swim the course. I got hit a few times and run into – but nothing too terrible. I took a breath each stroke until I made it around the full loop and then converted over to every 3^rd alternating sides, which is way more natural for me. 1 hour and 25 mins later, I was done. I was about 10 mins longer than what I wanted to be, but the current was a little strong and I found myself getting pushed out and having to swim back to the buoy line over and over again. I added some extra distance, but I felt I executed the chop on the back half well. We’ll see how it goes when we add about 2,100 more people to the mix. That is not a joke people. There are 2,800 people competing in Ironman this year. Oh my heavens!

My family did awesome! Dave took 1^st in his age group and 5^th overall, Ana took 2^nd, Mom took 3^rd and I was 11^th in my Age group. I’m not going to lie; I was a little disappointed in my performance. They all wanted to wait for the awards, and I couldn’t really blame them… they did awesome and deserved to be recognized for their effort! Hindsight, I should have brought my own car and head out on my bike right away. So long story short. I didn’t get out onto the bike until 1:30. I was a little unsure about navigating the connector to the loops on the bike course (the course is like a lollipop- the connector is the stick) so I waited for some fellow athletes my brother trains with to follow them out. At this point I was still optimistic that I could get my full ride in. It would be SUPER close, but maybe, I could squeak it out?!

By 4pm I stopped at the half way point to refuel… and ran into the group I started with. They were very uneasy about my intentions to finish the whole course … truth be told I was too. Not because I didn’t feel I had the fitness to do so, but safety wise- it was not smart. There are some parts where you are going downhill so fast that you are doing about 35-40 mph with sharp turns… you really need to be on your game, and have ample light. When I went down the last section of hill before I stopped, it was very shady and I was having a hard time seeing the road. NOT GOOD, and unsafe. So I called it. Texted Jen, and told her my plan to ride one loop with the connector out and back. I want to be sure I actually get to the start line, and home to my little boy!!!

After I made my decision the sky started to darken up, and more storms were heading in. AND that is when my darkest training moment hit. I don’t know what came over me. I felt like a failure, my fueling was off, and the ride felt way harder than it should have been. I was struggling to keep positive thoughts in my head. All the negativity and self-doubt crept in. Thoughts like “what were you thinking, that you could do this?, I’m tired, the swim today was awful, and my legs are trashed, I’ve run out of time, I miss my family, my son thinks his daycare teacher is his mommy, I suck as a Mom and a wife, I failed my coach. YES, this was dark moment AND the FIRST time in my training where the words I can’t do this entered my mind. And as the rain chased me back to the hotel, I held back the tears. I felt awful, the one thing my coach said in our one on one just a few weeks ago, was just give me the next few weeks, don’t miss any of the big stuff because we’ve run out of wiggle room. Now, I realize I couldn’t help the fact the race was delayed. But I could have made sure I got out right after, and I failed on that. On my way home, I called my brother and he talked me off the ledge, and I felt a little better. But just as soon as I hung up the tears flowed. It could have been PMS related or the fact I was so overtired. I got home, and kissed my son and hubbie put my feet up and texted back and forth with Jen… and she ended her conversation with me by saying: “Ironman training is not easy.”

She is so right, I vowed to start fresh the next day as there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about what happened on Sat. In the end I did the 2.4 mile swim plus 65 miles of hill work, certainly better than nothing at all.

Sunday I slept in, got out at about 9am and was nervous about the run. The last run I had was filled with trips to every port-a-potty along my route. I am having some crazy GI issues that I had to get checked out on Wednesday. (ALERT: TMI COMING) I was getting blood in my stool during long runs. It turns out that it was internal hemorrhoids from when I had Jack. The prep for this test was AWEFUL! I swear I felt like I was dying. I had to drink 2 liters of this liquid that is just plain gross, and then follow it up with another liter the morning of the procedure. OH, the best part is I had to fast from Monday evening until Wed afternoon. NOT FUN! I used to suffer from migraines, and guess what, I got one from being so dehydrated. Wednesday am, was filled with so much fun… vomit, diarrhea, cold and hot sweats. The last time I can remember feeling like this it at least followed one heck of good time the night before! Anyway, my AWESOME Mom drove me to the hospital and called ahead to let them know I was coming and the condition I was in. Once we arrived , no questions just whisked in back, IV was put in STAT. It took a good half hour until I was feeling better. As they were getting ready to put me under, I asked if I could have a copy of the video to put up on my facebook page, to show all my FB friends what I did that day. Luckily for all of you, I only got pics, which I will spare you all from seeing.

I am on a small break- no working out until Sat, (only a light swim) and Im not allowed to do any running or biking until Tues. This whole ordeal was prob. another reason for Saturday’s darkness- afraid of the procedure and the time lost during recovery. But I can now feel confident that during the run in Ironman I will not have the issues I was having before, and that my friends is an AWESOME thing!!

OH! Back to my run from last Sunday, it was a beautiful run. I actually didn’t have to stop (figures!!) along the way, a cool breeze every so often, and 17.40 miles done in a solid zone 2!!! Now that is JUST what I needed after Sat, and right before my scary procedure.

I know there are dark moments, we get through them and move on. And that’s just what I did.

Now for a small break, and back to the Ironman taper…. 16 days!!!

Stay tuned next week I will post information on how you can follow me on race day, bib information, etc.

Coming up for air.

2011-08-09T15:46:00.001-05:00

Holy Smokes, it’s been a super busy time since my last blog. I apologize… you will see why I didn’t have a moment to spare to blog…. Here it goes….

Racine ½ Ironman

Can you say heat index of 110??! At one point I felt like my arms were going to burst into flames!
I got to the race the day before and racked my bike, picked up my packet. John and Jack were there, and Jack did well for the most part… but got cranky toward the end. There was a long line to check in, and more than a few people were disappointed with the lack of organization prior to us getting into line.

Here’s a pic of my bike and the sunrise over the swim on race day:

Race morning:
I had a nice quiet ride by myself up to Racine. Found a parking spot and headed down to transition. The sun was just rising and the swim course looked very peaceful.

Once in transition, I set up my gear, gave it a once over and started down to the swim start (about a mile down the beach) The lines for the port-a-potties were long, and I went to the vending area, only 2 people in line, plus no port-a-potty! Yeah! While walking I had the pleasure of chatting with a guy who’s done Ironman Wisconsin for 10 years now… and has been to Kona. It was fun, he asked me what I’ve been doing to prepare for Ironman, and offered a piece of advice which has been rattling in my brain ever since. He said "Don’t overcook yourself on the bike, wait until the second loop to pick up speed." He then told me every race he has a mantra and for his first Ironman his mantra was: “Hey Asshole, you have a marathon to run after this!” I LOVE IT!!! Lots of nervous people chatting, and it was weird but I didn’t feel nervous at all. This was not my A race, this was just another training day in my opinion. My goal was to run a solid race, stay on my nutrition on the bike and in my zones. That’s all. I chatted a bit with some fellow athletes that my brother trains with and just next to us was Craig Alexander (2x Ironman Champion)! In NO other sport will you ever have a professional athlete preparing right next to you! Too cool!!! My wave did not go off until 8:16 so I got into my wetsuit about a 40 mins prior, first time with this suit, as I had to send my brand new one back due to several seams splitting. I got in and the water was pretty cold, but after a few strokes the water felt like heaven… trust me all during the run I thought about how nice and cool that water was!!! I remained in the water until just before my start… just to keep cool in the wetsuit.

Swim: My wave was up and I lined up in the front just to the left. The horn sounded and we were off. The swim was about 100yds out to the first buoy and then a right down a mile and then another right –back to shore. My goal- remain calm, keep my breath under control and just focus on a solid swim. I did just that. Buoy after buoy... they just ticked by. At one point there was a couple of large waves that left me grabbing for air instead of water. Glad that didn’t last too long and we were back to normal. I will say that since Lake Michigan is such a large body of water, it is harder to sight as the up and down of the waves can leave you a little disoriented. But always having the shore along your right was very grounding. One thing I did really hate was the boats and their exhaust… it just hovered on the surface of the water, which made it difficult to breath. But once we got out it wasn’t bad as the boats were more spread out. Coming into the shore, my brother suggested that I take my wetsuit off in the water, since the run back to transition was long and part of it in the sand. It is supposed to be easier to take off when it’s wet. Well, that wasn’t really the case with me… just short of the exit (and outside the photographers view) I plopped down in the water to get the rest of my suit off around my ankles. I just couldn’t do it standing up. I can only imagine what everyone was thinking… although, it couldn’t of been that bad of a choice as I noticed a few others doing the same thing.

Into T1- I flew. No wetsuit to take off, I threw on my helmet, shoes, number…grabbed my bike and nutrition and I was off… but not before I gave John a huge smile for the camera. This is fun!!!

photo courtesy of John Atkins

I mounted my bike and to get out of transition you need to climb a hill. Last year that hill seemed huge and daunting… but after doing the Horribly Hilly Hundred and Galena… this hill was nothing! My Mom said I went up it like the energizer bunny. Hop hop hop! And off I went. I was very very careful about the heat and fueling. So careful, I felt like I was passed by 300 people, most of which I will later pass on the run, while they walk. My coach and brother couldn’t stress enough the importance of holding back and proper nutrition. My brothers words rang through my ears… it will be a DEATH march out there if you’re not careful, and for many it was. I also kept the gentlemans' words in my head that I walked to the swim start with. I thought about what my mantra … what would it be? I came up with “Settle down Beavis, DON’T be a Butthead!!!” Over and over I said that as I watched my heart rate very carefully. I KNOW I could have went much harder. My average on the bike was 17.5MPH… I had more in me, but I did NOT want to be part of the DEATH march. I also kept hearing about how bumpy the course was, and really it wasn’t as bad – perhaps because large sections were repaved? It was only those last 5 miles when the lady bits were tender did the bumps become an issue… but I told myself 5 miles, just finish strong. And I did just that. Along the bike route I made sure to thank all the volunteers and spectators… it was HUGE that they were out there in that heat. I also got a surprise, when my brother popped onto the sidelines about 30 miles in… how great was that!? A HUGE boost as he shouted that I looked great! I came into transition and flashed another huge smile for John, my Mom and Aunt!!! I felt great and was ready to tackle that run.

photo courtesy of John Atkins

Heading out on the run!!! photo courtesy of John Atkins

T2- EASY. Stopped at the port a potty and off I went.

Run: It. was. HOT. And just as my brother said… 70% of the people were walking. NOT me. I nailed my nutrition on the bike, and didn’t overwork it. One change from my orig. plan I walked each and every aide station on the run to make sure I got a full cup of Perform and water. Toward the end the aide stations seemed to come too fast as I was getting full from all the liquid. I passed many, overheard many conversations of people saying they didn’t take enough nutrition and overdid the bike. I felt pretty good. Took sponges and dumped ice down my shirt to stay cool.

This guy didn't follow his plan... Love my sponges?

Each mile ticked by fast, and the people who live on the run course were AWESOME—they had hoses set up so we could cool off as we passed by. Thank you so much to every one of you…. It saved many out there! I came in before the second loop and had a little GI issue and had to make a few unscheduled stops at the bathrooms along the way… booo to that. But all in all it was a VERY solid race, executed well. I listened to my coach and raced the day for the conditions- NOT the time. I finished 6 hours and 3 mins. I did not walk (except for the aide stations) and I finished with a smile—I did it.

My AWESOME support group- PLUS Ana, who was watching Jack at home :)

I love the guy grabbing his hamstring... hmm someone needs salt!

The week after Racine, we moved into our new house. I LOVE OUR NEW HOUSE. I love everything about it. I love that I can turn out of my subdivision and be in farm country. In fact I just finished my 2^nd 100 mile ride out there… just awesome. I love that we can see the storms coming in from our front porch and that Jack has a playroom and room to run and play. I love that we sometimes can’t find each other – and that I have a counter to get ready on in the morning. (little things) We are not all the way unpacked and there are still boxes and stuff lying about … I’ll tackle those come 9-12-11. Until then, I am pounding out the last bit of Ironman training, and enjoying my family and new digs when Im not training. We are blessed.

Training continues for Ironman. I am officially 1 month out from Ironman, and I feel really good about it actually. I logged in another 100 mile ride, several long swims and runs PLUS the solid performance in Racine!

I KNOW I can do this… it is getting exciting now with the light at the end of the tunnel getting brighter every day. Plans are being made for our support crew as I pull through the last remaining weeks of endurance training. As my brother said… the hay is in the barn. Meaning, it’s all but done, you’ve put the time in now it’s just time to race. I’ve been training and building fitness and endurance for 2 years now. It’s been a great road discovering what I am made of – how far I can push, and all the lessons learned along the way. Juggling a full time job, husband, my son, an unplanned move and training should leave me with a master’s degree in organization and time management! I owe a HUGE thank you to my family, friends and coworkers and bosses for helping me out and supporting me and allowing me to be flexible with my time when things got to be too much. Word of advice to anyone thinking of doing an Ironman… make sure you have a wonderful support group- you won’t be able to do it without them.

Also, get a great athletic coaching group surrounding you… I couldn’t of made it this far without

My awesome coach Jen Harrison, JHC Coaching http://www.jenharrison.com/
Strength trainer Kate Galliett, ProKine Performance http://prokineperformance.com/
Beth Shutt, RD for Nutrition http://www.bethshutt.com/
Corinne Grotenhuis, Elgin Blue Wave Coach http://www.elginbluewave.com/

Also important, people you trust to work on your bike
Main Street Bikes http://www.mainstbicycles.com/

AND fit you in proper running shoes
Runner’s High n tri http://www.runnershigh-n-tri.com/

HUGE benefits of having professionals help you navigate, strengthen your weaknesses and fit you and your equipment properly! Thank you everyone!!!

I’ve been asked by several what I plan to do after Ironman… and I tell them… I need to first FINISH Ironman, and then I will think about after. I’ve heard from some others it’s hard to remain focused this close to the race… but I am finding it to be the opposite… I'm more focused than ever. Each ride, swim or run I am thinking about the race, thinking about what I’ve done, where I started and why I am doing this. For the remaining weeks I will focus on rest, nailing my zones, eating well and not stressing.

It’s almost go time.

Race recaps and Ironman Training

2011-07-13T15:19:00.000-05:00

Hello All!

Well my Pleasant Prairie Olympic Triathlon went well… I had a ton of fun racing with my Sis-in-Law Ana, Mom and Brother!!!

NICE LOOKING TRI tops and bottoms- HUH? That designer must be super talented! ;)

That Saturday was a busy day, John and I worked out our list of things that need to be done prior to moving. I had all my things pulled together and just got started on Jacks things… he was doing an overnight stay at my sister’s house… when I heard John say something’s wrong with Jack… my heart stopped. I came running into the kitchen… what’s wrong??? Look at his neck. Panic set in, there was a huge lump on the side of his neck and was hard when I touched it, although it didn’t seem to bother Jack … I immediately determined we were heading to the emergency room!!! As I was rushing around, I had a brief moment of sanity and decided to call his doc. They told me it’s prob an inflamed lymph node and they recommend just watching it. My response: Um right, can we come in anyway just to be sure? Being a first time parent is full of worries – WAY more than I EVER imagined. So onto the unscheduled trip to the doc and it was in fact what they said. They also noted that he could be on the verge of getting sick or just getting over something. No sleepover for Jack.

I could only imagine if he did spend the night, he would end up sick. So he stayed home with John- which meant a change of plans for my poor husband who had to miss his hockey game in the morning. I felt really bad about that.

Once we were all settled at home, I headed over to my brother’s house. I stayed overnight and we all went out for a nice dinner with some of their fellow peeps that they train with. It was fun to just talk TRI, and hear all the nervous chatter about the race and future races. I like to hear what other people are doing in terms of race prep, race plans, etc. its fun to hear what works/doesn’t work for others. We got home and watched an episode or two of Modern Family… now that is some funny stuff!!! Then off to bed for an early wake up at 4:30am.

Race Recap.

My Overall goals:

Swim: 28 min

Bike: 1:10 and under

Run: 50-55 mins.

We got there and set up transition, and there was only 15 mins left of swim warm up and until transition closed. Left and jumped in line for the bathroom… (was ungodly long!) I had just enough time to put my wetsuit on slam a GU and get in line – my wave was up next. No warm up- BOO!

SWIM: I positioned myself in front and to the left to avoid the crush at the first right turn around the buoy. I went out strong breathing every stroke- and much to my surprise- no panic. I jumped on a set of feet and the gal was heading out nice and strong and then slowed down and stopped to sight. Nope, not going to follow behind that. I looked for some other feet close by but couldn’t find any. So it was me and the gal pacing alongside each other pretty much the whole way. I think a few times she tried to get ahead of me to cut me off… but I just kept my sights on the next buoy and stuck to my cadence and stroke. I was very proud of myself for doing this… the old me would have stopped or wasted too much energy trying to get ahead or around. (Thanks Dave for the extra help!) I broke from her between turn two and three. I was passing a lot of swimmers from the wave in front, my navigation was strong. On the last turn, I found a guy’s feet that was going a tad faster than me and hooked on. I worked harder on the last leg and was out of breath when I came out, but felt really good about the swim. SUCCESS! Was hoping for 28mins and came in at 27:47.

T1: I struggled a little with the new wetsuit- I just need to get used to taking off a one piece. Still T1 came in at 2:00 exactly. Grabbed my bike and off I went.

BIKE: Legs didn’t have the usual pep. I think they were still a little fatigued from all the climbing the week prior at the Horribly Hilly Hundred. My HR was pretty much at 175 the entire race. I was breathing a little hard for the first 10 miles or so on the bike and then finally settled in. My brother gave me a front hydration bottle and I found it much easier to stay on top of drinking with it in front. Wanted a 1:10 or less on the bike and came in 1:11:59.

T2: was a little faster 1:51—need to get another pair of shoes just for racing so I can put the speed laces in and go. (after we close on the house!)

Run: I felt like I was going sooo slow! The first two miles I had that annoying slosh going on in my stomach. GRR. I kept my cadence up and focused on good form. I am not sure where the 3 girls who came in ahead of me at 2:34 came from? I was watching, and honestly didn’t see any (except the girl right before me) go by? She was moving at a pretty fast clip, and my legs were not responding. No excuses… I should have pushed harder to try and stay with her the last half mile. I was hoping for 50-55 mins and came in 52:02 for the run.

All in all, I PR’d by 5mins for that distance, so I was happy. I honestly thought I was closer to the top 5 than where I actually came in at (13^th). Not going to lie, I was a little disappointed, but it was a beautiful day with my family, I had fun, and I couldn’t ask for better weather! PS- Last time I did this race in 2008 my time was 2:55:06- That is a 20 min difference!!!! Thanks to everyone who continues to help me get stronger and faster!

Ironman Training.

Coach Jen sent out a nice Ironman training cheat sheet filled with things to remember and things to do/not do. It is really official now--- we are training for Ironman! Whoo hooo! First up on the schedule: 100 mile ride. It was HOT and HUMID on Sat. I was very fortunate to spend the morning with the Ironman crew: Emily, Karen, Stacie and Mia. We rode from Hampshire up to Sharon, WI and back. Here they are at the State Line!

We took our time heading up, it was nice to catch up with the girls (my schedule doesn’t allow me to hook up with them for training too often.) On the way back we were all business. It didn’t take long and Emily was a speck in far distance ahead and then gone. She is so fast on the bike! The rest of us broke up into groups of 2. Around mile 80 I was ready to be done. Back and neck would ache off and on, and the lady bits were a tad angry to be biking for 5 hours. We pulled into where we started but I was 7 miles short… so I kept going. I didn’t want my first 100 mile ride to be short… It took all I had to continue, I so desperately wanted to get off the bike and stretch the legs. But, I felt good when I finally rolled in with the triple digits on my bike computer! 6 hours and 2 mins! All in all, I did well, nailed my heart rate and nutrition. I did manage to make a rookie mistake and not take any fluid with me on my T run. DUMB DUMB DUMB! I got about ¾ of the way through and then goose bumps, chills, and no sweat. BAD sign! So I walked for about 5 mins and got my heart rate back down. I managed a stupid slow shuffle for the last quarter mile. Emily who had a T run also was heading toward me with a nice cold glass of water as I finished up… she looked like an angel! Thanks Emily!!! It was a fun day and confidence booster, knowing I handled myself well in the heat, and wasn’t destroyed at the end of the bike. For the T run, I learned a valuable lesson: don’t get too cocky and always follow your nutrition/hydration plan! When I got home, I inhaled a sub sandwich and several glasses of water and spent the rest of the day and weekend packing. Lucky me!!

This PAST Saturday: My Mom and I participated in a 2 mile Open Water Swim Race. It was a nice morning and water temps were at 82 degrees… I was debating not wearing my wetsuit but in the end decided to do so. Here is a pic of my Mom and I pre-race.

As we got in the water, the race director told us the course. There was supposed to be 2 platforms - 1^st platform was to be at ¼ mile, then a lane line connecting to the second platform ½ mile out. This race had both 1 mile and 2 mile races. So for us doing the 2 mile we had to do the loop two times. We started off, I felt good and strong. My goggles fogged up a little, and I was a slightly warm but all in all pretty comfortable. I kept on course, and let me say that the person selecting the cap colors should have stayed away from neon orange, since that is the SAME color as the buoys! I couldn’t tell if I was sighting off of someone’s head or an actual buoy! HAHA. As I’m swimming I’m wondering where the heck are these platforms??? I got to the last buoy and was slightly confused- No platform? No lane line? weird… so I just continued. It felt like I was swimming FOREVER! As I was rounding the last buoy and started on the last leg of the swim I noticed a platform way over by the shore. My first thought was “that’s cool those people are out here to watch the race” Then it hit me … those people were the lifeguards on the platform they never could fully secure. I continued on, and finished . When I looked down at my watch it read One hour and twenty-five mins. WHAT THE??? One of my friends who did the mile saw my look of disappointment (it should have only take me about an hour!) and told me the course was long… about a mile long. HMMM big difference 2 miles vs. 3… NO WONDER why my shoulder was hurting and it seemed to take forever! My Mom was thinking the same thing as she got out of the water… It was a great confidence builder as I now know I CAN do the Ironman distance, but a real shoulder killer- ouch it is still sore today!

A nice surprise as I got out of the water was my hubbie and son cheering me on! I guess, Jack was cheering all the swimmers in, and as I was swimming in he said Mommy and pointed to me… how did he know it was me? John told me he didn’t say that to anyone else... what a sweetie! We finished the morning up with a great breakfast complete with French toast and coffee!!! Plus a few laughs over the distance discrepancy.

Next up: This Sunday Racine ½ Ironman… It’s supposed to be a lovely 95 degrees! Think cooling thoughts for me please ;)

Building Fitness

2011-06-24T15:57:00.000-05:00

Since my last blog I’ve been gearing up for some sizable training. The bulk of my training is now picking up. I ran the fox trot 10 miler on Memorial Day. This is a favorite race of mine, since it goes right past my house, and is a pretty challenging course. It was a very hot day out and I just knew on my warm up run down to the start, it was going to be a tough one out there. Hello who put that 100lb weight on my chest? It was humid and hard to breathe. Funny because just two days prior was the Solider Field 10 miler and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. My Mom, sister in law and brother all did that race and did very, very well I might add! What a difference a day or two can make. I pushed as hard as I could and my legs slowed down on the back half and got heavy on the last mile. I noticed around mile 8 that I had an annoying little pain in left foot on my pinky toe (turns out it was a huge blood blister- YUCK! I placed 10^th in my AG and although I didn’t get the pace I was hoping for, I was still happy that I placed top ten, and beat my time from the year before. Also, two of John’s Aunt’s did their first 5k… so kudos to them… it was a rough one out there- you girls rock!

June has been NO LESS than crazy!
Lots of training and STORMS! (BOO! Open water swims canceled!) Normally, we’d all have been in the open water for about a month now… but the weather has just been very uncooperative! So only one open water swim to speak of so far… and let me tell you THAT was an interesting one.
I got there a little behind schedule, was busy talking to my good friend Maureen, who has graciously offered to watch my little monster on Wed nights until John gets home so I can go to Stroke and Stride.

Stroke and Stride is an open water course with lifeguards and is a ½ mile loop. You can do the loop as many times as you’d like and then after they have a 5k course set up to run. It is great open water training in a safe environment… (in a not so nice lake… but I’ll take what I can!!!)

There were soo many people there – way more than normal! I got a new wet suit and this is my first time using it. It is 100 degrees out - no joke- flippin hot!!! I struggle to get into this thing and after a good 10 mins, finally jump into the water. New suit equals a whole new feel in the water; I took my time out to the first buoy and stopped just short of it to adjust my wetsuit. I heard someone behind me saying help, help. So I turned around and see what was going on … and confirm if they needed help.
The guy looked to me like he was having a panic attack, which happens to nearly everyone first time out in the open water, in a wet suit. Open water swimming is very different than pool swimming and the first few times can be a very humbling and frightening experience. Anyone who asks me if I have advice for their first triathlon… I always tell them make sure you get in the open water a few times!
Back to my story: So I looked around for a lifeguard and couldn’t see any?! I swam over to him and you could tell he was freaked out so I told him to roll over on his back and take a deep breath. I asked him if this was his first time in the open water and he said yes. I told him the good news is that the wetsuit he had on was one of the best floatation devices he could have. So he rolled over onto his back and I towed him into the beach just beyond the first buoy. I could feel his heart pounding! I reassured him that this happens to everyone… and it happened to me too. I got him over to where he could touch the bottom and asked if he’d be alright and he said yes. I felt bad leaving him, but I could also see he was also a little embarrassed. So I continued on and when I found the lifeguard, stopped and told her what happened and asked her to keep an eye on him just in case he panicked again on the way back.
Crazy first open water swim! I continued on and did 1.5 miles and then a 5k… I felt awesome on my run… and according to my watch finished it in 21 mins… which is CRAZY fast for me… so I must have miscalculated somehow.

First week in June:

I completed a 75 mile ride with my Mom and Ana, we had a blast! The weather was perfect and the ride went well. The following weekend was my first long brick- 4 hour hilly ride with a 4 mile hilly run after. It was cold and drizzling out – not my idea of fun. But I did it and felt pretty good; I averaged about 16 mph in the hills… not too terrible. I can tell though that my neck and back need some more time in the saddle… toward the end these longer rides start taking their toll and the neck, shoulders, and back start to burn… not to mention the lady bits get a tad tender! Weekends are getting the BIG workouts while weekdays are filled with runs, rides, strength and swims as well. We are inching up into the 10+ hours a week mark.

Ironman training is starting!!!!

This past weekend, I did one of the HARDEST training rides ever. I did the Horribly Hilly Hundred and let me tell you it lives up to its name! Lesson learned for me was to spring for a hotel room close to the start line the night before. 4.5 hours of sleep; getting up at 3 am and 2.5 hour drive up north is NOT the best start to this ride! I got there about 6 am and it was a little chilly. The forecast called for rain and thunderstorms. So I packed up my bike accordingly. After the weekend prior of the cold and drizzle, I wanted to be warm. I threw my arm warmers on and toe covers – packed my wind breaker and off I went. The first few miles were all downhill… Scary downhill, upwards to 35-45mph, downhill. (remember what goes down must go up) By mile 10 we were making our first significant climb… which I latter found out we’d do again at the end – thank you for that!! Holly Hell that hill was tough! At one point I looked down and was doing 3MPH!!! I started to panic a little, thinking I don’t have any more gears to make this easier, can I go any slower and get to the top? I’m overheating! So I stopped half way up and took off the arm warmers and toe covers and started back up. I could feel my lack of sleep was catching up with me. I pressed on, and spent the next 4 hours and 50 mins climbing and winding through some beautiful American countryside. Thank you God, for giving us such a beautiful place to live. The race ended with the same climb we did at mile 10 only it was longer. (4 miles of continuous climb). I was on the smallest gear the whole way up. Talk about willing yourself up and playing mind games. As I struggled and pushed up that last hill, I passed many who opted to walk it. I did not walk any other hills and I’ll be damned if I walk up the LAST one! So I pressed on, and about ¾ of the way up, the lovely race people posted a sign “Beer Ahead!” Which I thought Thank you God- I’m almost there… not realizing I still had some super significant incline to get through first. This climb was one of those where you can’t see the top. When you get to what you think is the top, it just keeps going, and going. With 150 yds left (I DID NOT know that at the time) I opted to stop and gather my legs. They just about quit on me. When I started back up, I got hung up on clipping in my left foot and tipped over... HOW dumb! THAT’s when I heard a spectator say “Only 150yds left!” I got pissed, collected myself clipped in and charged those last 150… Everyone was saying WOW you look great, strong, etc. Umm yeah, you didn’t see me 150 yds back lying on the pavement! It was a great ride, challenging and super confidence builder. Ironman course is hilly but not THAT hilly. Of course, Ironman is a different beast entirely but nonetheless, I did the Horribly Hilly Hundred, I am building fitness and have the pics to prove it! You prob. can't see the huge grimace on my face but it's there!!!

So this weekend is very special it will be the first time my Mom, brother, sister-in-law and I will all race together! We are doing Pleasant Prairie Olympic Triathlon on Sunday so stay tuned for the race report and photos…

Last but not least, I have some exciting news… we have purchased our dream home and are moving in July! We are going from a 900sq ft house to a 2500sq ft house! We have been looking at this house for the past 4 years, so when we were finally able to get things lined up to actually purchase it, we jumped at the chance. While the timing with training is not ideal, we are truly blessed that we were able to make things work. So the next month will be a true test of my organizational and time management skills. More to come!

Happy training all!

IT’s RACE Season!!!!

2011-05-25T15:37:00.000-05:00

Let the PR’s begin :)

Mom finished her first ever marathon at 4:43. I’m so very proud of her. She worked so hard and looked awesome the entire time! She should have no problems taking on the half Ironman this year!!!

My brother did his marathon in St. Louis, and with some freakishly HOT weather! It was so hot they closed the full marathon course at a certain time and made everyone finish the with half. Dave finished just under where he was hoping to be. His goal was to qualify for Boston, which I have no doubt he will do, it just wasn’t in the cards this time around. Dave also just competed in a half marathon and came in 4th overall and 1^st in his age group. Speedy!!!

My awesome sister-in-law, Ana, did the St. Louis Half (same day as the full) and pulled a really great time. That heat was tough- but Ana is tougher!!! She is gearing up for her first marathon on her 30^th birthday this Oct in Chicago- GO ANA!

Way to go team BARTO!!!! We are a force to be reckoned with this year.

Training

I have continued to work hard and battle through illness that seemed to plague our household the ENTIRE winter. My coach, Jen, suggested a nutritionist and I started with her about 4 weeks ago. I wasn’t far off of where I needed to be, but was deficient in some major areas like carbs! It is so easy to get sucked up into the thinking that carbs are bad for you in our carb-free world. In fact, I was keeping those to a minimum unless I had a big workout or race the following day. A big NO –NO… Carbs are a triathlete’s fuel! I also found out that my fruits and veggies were pretty low. (2-3 servings a day) That was my first homework assignment, to increase those to 5-10 a day. Now, I’ll admit that number seemed impossible. But after 4 weeks of fruit and veggie bliss… I’m happy to report- It’s NOT that hard! See my lunch salad below…. 2 veggies and one fruit… in just one meal. Add the fruit from breakfast and the mid-morning snack, by lunch my fruits are done! I only have 2-3 more veggies for the rest of the day. Easy to do if you have a veggie with your afternoon snack or with dinner (think salad or an extra serving of veggies) pretty easy. Next on the list was adding some nuts and fish for some much needed Vit D and E and lastly adjusting my recovery meal after my workouts. I was doing pretty good with the recovery meal… but needed to perfect the Carb/Protein balance. Been working on making sure this meal happens 30 mins after my workout- no matter if it is a light day or hard.

All these nutritional changes have left me feeling more energized and ready to hit the next workout! Knock on wood my frequent bouts of illness should go away!

In addition to the awesome workouts Jen has been giving me. I’ve also been working hard with trainer Kate! She busts me up once a week. I usually leave her studio with a swagger in my walk, because I know I worked hard and got to do some pretty cool stuff that continues to test my strength. See photo of my jumping pull ups! Good thing she didn’t take this from the front… you’d see me grimacing!!! My core continues to get stronger and my whole body is feeling more finely tuned each passing week. It is something I look forward to!!

Masters Swimming is coming to an end this week. I had a breakthrough moment (thanks Corinne!) with my stroke that has made a HUGE difference. I am getting a lot more distance from each pull without a lot of work. Efficiency is key! I will admit, I was hesitant to join the swim team. I had the "been there done that" attitude and honestly I didn’t want to do flip turns. (when will you ever do a flip turn in the open water? - I’d say) Well I’m very, very glad that I joined. I am a MUCH stronger swimmer, made some great new friends, and have a swim coach who under her watchful eye was able to help me perfect my stroke and efficiency in the water. So thank you to Jen, my hubbie, and all the others who told me I should really join. I’m glad I did and will be back next year!

SO all this leads up to this past weekend, where all this hard work over the winter has shown the promise of great season.

Galena Triathlon

Now, I’ve avoided doing this tri for one reason and one reason alone. The water is effing FREEZING! This year I was told it was warmer than last. I quiver at that thought! This year, the water was 59 degrees. My Mom came down to watch and I suspect scout it out for herself next year ;) I soo enjoyed having one on one time with her… it is hard to come by these days with all our training ramping up.

We got into town and went straight to T1 which was at Apple Canyon Lake. This race is different, in that, it is a point to point. So we start in one place and finish in another. For the first race of the season, this had me a bit frazzled since your gear is spread out into two different locations. I checked in, and racked my bike. They were calling for some crazy thunderstorms that night and into the next morning. From the way the radar looked it would take a miracle for us to actually race. I covered my bike and said a prayer for it to be safe. Nothing like leaving a few thousand dollar bike out all night in a T-storm. See my photo below- pretty snazzy huh? We left and drove the bike course to T2.

HOLLY HILLS! Is all I have to say. This course made Madison look like a warm up. At least that is the way it felt in the car. We got to Eagle Ridge Resort (site of the finish) and had dinner with several others, including Jen. What a trooper- she was sick and still seemed to be in good spirits and answered all my silly worrisome questions. We had a few laughs and talked a little about the course and then it was off to our hotel. When we got there, I went over all my gear, and placed everything I would need for the swim in one bag and everything for T2 in another. Double checked it and then felt hungry. So did my Mom… so we headed down to the Irish pub in the hotel and split a paddy melt. I also had a Guinness… NOW this is NOT, I repeat NOT my usual pre-race meal. But I was hungry and needed to feed the machine. As for the Guinness? We’ll we were in an Irish pub… and that’s all I have to say about that.

I slept well. Only woke up once because it was too quiet. The alarm went off and I went to the window and peeked out… DRY and I saw some sky! Thank you God we will race today! My Mom and I headed down for breakfast and then she dropped me off at the finish line so I could set up my T2 (running shoes, hat, GU and race belt with number) I saw Jen and the Ironcrew (Stacie, Karen, Emily and Mia who are all doing Ironman this year too) and we got on the bus. I thought Jen was going to end up driving the bus since our driver didn’t quite know the route.

We arrived and it was a little windy. I went and checked on my bike…all good. Then I got marked with my race number on my arm and age group on my leg. I was then off for a warm up run 20 mins with some pick-ups… felt good! I’m ready to race.

Once back, I went to go in for a swim "warm up". The water was soo cold it took my breath away and I looked as if I never swam before. YIKES! I’m glad I did this as it gave me a chance to learn how to catch my breath, remember how to swim in open water, and test the wetsuit I borrowed since my old one is too big (thanks Maureen!).

During the time between my warm up and my wave start, I tried to focus on my game plan for the swim. Slow and steady out to the first buoy, let my body get used to the cold and then pick it up for the rest of the swim with a push around the last buoy and swim as far as I can into the shore. All of this went well, and as planned. I did have a few seconds of momentary panic - but did a great job of calming down and re-focusing. I did try to get on a few feet but they were all to slow, so it ended up with me going around people. It was good practice in navigating. Also, glad I got a chance to test out a one piece wetsuit. I think I like it much better than the two piece and I really like the long sleeve, couldn't feel any seaweed, so no panic there.

Out of the swim: Took off my wetsuit before I got into transition. Wetsuit got caught on the giant timing chip they gave us... but I suspect that happened to most as well. I had my extra running shoes I wore that morning along the fence and slipped those on. (the lot where our bikes were racked was all gravel- not nice on bear feet) The shoes were a great idea (thanks for the tip Doug!) Got to my bike and was able to slip on my bike shoes no prob. Took my time so I didn't get flustered with packing the wetsuit into the bag (normally you just leave it in your area). All went well and I was off to the bike.

ROOKIE MISTAKE, I checked my bike to make sure it was in the smallest ring, smallest gear when I checked in on Friday. I should have looked closer because it was in the smallest ring, biggest gear- UGH! Right out of transition is a huge hill. I couldn't get my left foot clipped in, so up the hill I went - frustrated with how HARD I was working, I thought for sure my brakes were rubbing... I stopped to check –and couldn’t get re-started- the hill was too steep and ultimately ended up running up half the hill to the top. Lesson learned: always, always triple check the gear!!!!

On the bike, I worked those down hills... only a few of those hills I found I had to work in the smallest gear/ring... so that was good. I was a little freaked out by the rain and speeds I was going, but kept reminding myself to keep it steady and under control. I ended up averaging 17 miles an hour! Not bad for this course. After about mile 10 (when rain was getting stronger) I was a little more cautious on downhill and feathered my brakes on a few of those. The very last downhill I had a jerk pass me on my right as I was getting over... and we came VERY close to crashing! Thank God that no one was on my left passing me at that moment... I weaved back out around the cone and gave him a very BIG piece of my mind complete with F-bombs! Took everything I had when I passed him toward the top of the hill to not lay into him again... at that point I just wanted to concentrate on what I had to do when I got to T2.

T2- I had nice and dry shoes (thankfully I put them in a plastic bag) and off to the run I went. It was nice, Stacie and I started out of T2 together. First hill was slow but steady and the rest of the run I felt solid! There was only one small part where we had a small hill into a right turn and up another small hill where my legs felt heavy. But I kept focused and tried to keep the cadence up when I felt I was slowing down.
At mile 4 I increased speed and then sprinted into the finish. I averaged an 8:04 pace for the run! I am very pleased with this… I feel a sub 8 min mile pace coming soon!!!!

I really thought I was super far behind, because of the wetsuit and bike issue back at T1. I started to get concerned during the run that I wasn't seeing anyone from my AG but figured I will just run MY race, and whatever happens, happens. Little did I know I didn’t see anyone because there were only two girls in my age group that were in front of me! I never had that before… so that was something new. I knew I had a good race, as it felt good. But I didn’t know my final time, or how I did. So when my Mom asked if I wanted to stay for the awards, I said no, and we headed home to see Jack and John. It wasn’t until about 45mins into our car ride home that I noticed I had a text from Stacie… telling me I got 3^rd in my age group. My first podium finish and I wasn’t there to get my medal! BOOOO! I was really bummed. Jen grabbed it for me and I will get it tonight at masters… NOW that is something to look forward to!!! Photo to come! :)

Stay tuned for more: This weekend I am doing the Fox Trot 10 mile race. I love this race because it goes through my neighborhood. Bonus this year is that my husband’s Aunts are running their first 5k!! I am looking forward to racing with them.

After in June is a 75 mile bike ride at the Udder Century ride, Horribly Hilly Hundred Ride (67mi), Pleasant Prairie Olympic distance Triathlon

Happy training all - Be safe!

Don’t be afraid.

2011-04-15T14:45:00.000-05:00

This past weekend my masters swim team and I competed in the Illinois state swim meet. Over 400 swimmers came to give it their all. Our team took 3rd! Congrats to all who swam!

It was over 2 months ago that I signed up for my events and was a little nervous about my selections. You see at state, swimmers come out of the woodwork, and there are some amazingly fast times for the short distance events. So our coach encouraged us to race in the longer distance races.

If you know about swimming I apologize, but Im going to break it down for those of you who are unaware of what the distances are.

Laps = down and back , lengths = just down
50 meters = 1 lap (down and back)
100 meters = 2 laps (down and back x 2)
and so on….
IM = Individual Medley (Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Freestyle are all swum during this one event. Distance varies but is broken up evenly among all the strokes)

These are the events I signed up for:

1650 Freestyle (that is 66 lengths!)
50 Fly
200 IM (50 of each stroke)
100 Backstroke
400IM (100 of each stroke)
200 Freestyle
100 Fly
100 IM
I was also in 2 relays-
200 Mixed Medly
200 Freestyle Relay

10 events in 3 days…. Coming off of being sick and donating blood. Whoa boy!

I was freaking out about some of the events I signed up for… 1650? 400IM? Just who did I think I was – Michael Phelps? Ha! The week leading up to the state I was crazy nervous. I did not get the practice in that I needed in order to feel confident on the 400 IM, which is the event I ended being most worried about. Earlier in the week I received a newsletter that had a little excerpt about fear.

From LIVESTRONG.com

[During a sleepless night back in February, I sat at my desk and scribbled three words repeatedly:

“Don’t be afraid.”

That moment was a catalyst for change. The next morning I decided to press the restart button on my life. After years working as fitness editor for Men’s Health magazine, I found myself drawn to LIVESTRONG.COM. It was a chance to help even more people establish a healthy life balance. But before I could move forward I had to learn to embrace the uncertainty of a new challenge.

In many ways, my story is your story. Maybe you’re not considering a new job, but at some point we all realize that taking action is the only thing that separates where we are from where we want to be. For me, leaving Men’s Health meant abandoning an amazing job, selling my home, and saying goodbye to friends and family. But I relied on my firm belief that new beginnings are always a step in the right direction if you have passionate intentions. And that the real secret to success is finding support, and recognizing that fear is nothing more than an illusion designed to silence confidence.]

I pulled two small phrases from an e newsletter:

DON’T BE AFRAID.

FEAR IS NOTHING MORE THAN AN ILLUSION

DESIGNED TO SILENCE CONFIDENCE.

I printed these two phrases out large and hung it on my wall at work and in my bathroom. Every time I got freaked out – I repeated this to myself.

Friday night was the 1650, and surprisingly it came and went without much nervousness. I got to chat with some of my swim friends that I don’t see very often. Cheering each other on, being supportive and talking “shop” about triathlons and swimming. This is what I like best about meets. LOVE IT!

My main goal for my first ever 1650 race was to make sure I held a steady pace and flip-turned every time. 26:00 mins, and only 1 missed flip turn. I’ll take it. Next time, I know I can push harder and NOT to tighten my goggles down so much- eegads my face still hurts! Friday night I got home late and went straight to bed- I was tired and knew I had a long weekend of races ahead of me.

Saturday’s line up was filled with ups and downs, good races and not so good ones. My body was still tired from the previous night.

I had a few PRs – 50Fly; 100 Back and my freestyle relay team took 1^st. All in all it was a pretty good day. EXCEPT for the knot in my stomach about my first race on Sunday- the 400 IM… I kept asking myself – WHY did I sign up for that??? One of my line mates signed up for it as well, and we were a bunch of nervous nellies all day Saturday. In fact, I am willing to bet that we burned more calories and energy worrying about the race than ACTUALLY DOING it!!

Sunday morning: I talked to my coach again, still unsure I could do it… hoping she’d say don’t race (yeah right!) She encouraged me and told me it’s all in my head, I can do it…even if I needed to stop and rest along the wall --- I would finish it. We’ll that was that, and I knew I had no other choice but to just get in and see what happens. Chevy Chase from Vacation kept popping into my head “This is crazy, This is crazy, This is crazy!” My heat was next… and up onto the blocks I went. Stomach in knots, I took a deep breath in and said a quick prayer for God to give me the strength to get through this. And we were off. The first 100 was butterfly. Now I’ve really only done a 75 of this in practice not a full 100 so I knew the last 25 would be hard. And it was… I felt like the commercial where all the swimmers jump into the caramel and just stay there… I got super tired and ooops I did a single arm drill followed quickly by my other arm once I realized what I did! I saw my teammate looking around frantically to see if the judges saw… All I kept thinking for the rest of the race was “Dear God, please just DQ me now if you’re going to do it- DON’T wait until the end!” Nothing. I continued onto backstroke where I took my time and caught my breath, and then came breaststroke. This is not my strongest stroke, but I’ve gotten better at it. I was so freaked out that all my technique flew right out the window… it was ugly and costly, in terms of time. By the time I finished up with freestyle, I was breathing really hard and did not filp turn once (Shame on me!!!) I finished with a blazing (actually slow) time of 7:20. (Yep, 7 mins and 20 secs!!) I have some work to do next year, but as much as I freaked out about this event… I MIGHT just do it again to vindicate myself. The best news was – I didn’t get last place in my age group!

The rest of Sunday was fun! I did well in all my events… even did the 100 fly, 
which I know next year will be my focus to slow my fly down. 
I only have one speed for fly and that is fast. I don’t know how to slow 
it down…so I’m going to work on that one ;) 

When all was said and done John, Jack, Mom and I all went out for Pizza 
and a few beers…. I earned it. It was so nice to be able to say thank you 
for their support, it's not easy spectating a swim meet (booooring)! 
Thank you also to my ultra cool nephew, Devin, who came on Sat!


Event Recap: 

1650 Freestyle - 26:14 – 9^th place

50 Fly 34.00- 7^th place

200 IM 3:10.85 – 13^th place

100 Backstroke 1:26.92 – 5^th place

400IM 7:20.91- 6^th place

200 Freestyle - 2:40.90 7^th place

100 Fly 1:25.82 - 5^th place

100 IM 1:21.38 – 11^th place but PR’d

200 Mixed Medly - 2:10.52  - 6^th place

200 Freestyle Relay - 1:56.41- 1^st place

10 events in 3 days…. Valuable lessons learned by being pushed beyond my comfort zone, and dealing with fear. Now I know that I can do these events. Next year I'll know what to expect. Hopefully, I won’t be sick for 2.5 weeks prior to the state meet and decide to donate blood the week before. All that really drained me!!!

All valuable lessons I can apply to Ironman. My focus now turns to Ironman.

I'll leave you with a quote and a short video about the Ironman journey- enjoy!

“Ironman has always been about finishing what you started. About being able to do what you’ve set out to do. Maybe not as fast as the person in front of you, but certainly faster than the person who never started.”

– John Collins, co-founder of the original Ironman.

PS- Thank you for your continued support!

GO BIG!

2011-04-07T09:49:00.000-05:00

It is a BIG weekend… State Swim meet for the Elgin Blue Waves.

I am slated to compete in 12 events in 3 days. My Brother and Sis in law are running St. Louis marathon and ½ marathon respectively.

So in honor of the BIG weekend… I leave you with these lyrics from the Bosstones……

Mighty Mighty Bosstones Go big Lyrics:

Do you wanna go big? Do you wanna go back?
Do you wanna get way ahead of yourself
With your integrity intact?
Do you wanna go on? Do you wanna go out?
Kicking and screaming while they drag you
Will you let them bind and gag you?
Do you wanna go big or not?
Give it one more great big shot
Do you wanna just give in
Or give it everything we've got?

Do you wanna go big? Do you wanna go home?
Where it is safe and it is sound
And where the safe and sound are found
Do you wanna go there? That's nowhere
Or do you wanna just go at it?
Are you telling me you've had it?
Put on your big boy pants
Tighten your grip and adjust your stance
You may have messed around
And missed your chance
You've got a safety chord
You've got the luxuries most can't afford
You may be grateful or faithful
Or jump when you're bored
Maybe I am losing my mind
Maybe I'm not and maybe I'm fine
Maybe I do, or don't give a damn
Maybe I'm not but maybe I am

Do you wanna go big
Do you wanna go big or not?
This might be our final shot
Do you wanna just give in
Or give it everything we've got?

Do you wanna go big?
Do you wanna go home?
Where it is safe and it is sound
But I won't be around
Maybe I am losing my mind
Maybe I'm not, and maybe I'm fine
Maybe I do, or don't give a damn
Maybe I'm not, but maybe I am
And maybe I'm scared when baby's not here
Maybe it's not a legitimate fear
Maybe it doesn't need to be shared
Maybe it does, and baby I'm scared
Maybe I am losing my touch
And maybe I miss my baby too much
Maybe I can't hear her, baby when I'm near her
Maybe I can't, but maybe I can
And maybe my past has made me this way
Maybe it'll last, or maybe it'll go away
Maybe I'm losing my mind
Maybe I'm not, and maybe I'm fine

GO BIG!!!!

LATE Race Recap and Inspiration

2011-04-04T13:04:00.000-05:00

Cary March Madness Half Marathon is what many consider the start to their race season, and was the start of mine. This was my first time participating in this race, and the name is spot on… it was MADNESS!

The weather is usually a gamble in March… I was prepared for the weather, I brought long tights, a windbreaker, two kinds of gloves, thermal cap, arm warmers, etc. My aunt and uncle live about 1/2 mile from the start/finish. They were awesome and opened their home to us that morning! (thank you --and thank you to our awesome cheering section that braved the cold and rain- YOU GUYS ROCK!) My Mom and brother raced that day also. We did a 15 min warm up in my aunts neighborhood and then finish the warm up with a nice jog over to the high school. During my warm up I was fine, felt good. So I made the decision to race in shorts, t-shirt and arm warmers… thinking if I get too warm, I could take off the arm warmers. Race day forecast called for 45 degrees and rain. While checking in my gear I decided that I wouldn’t need my gloves either. (a brilliant decision, I will regret about 3 mins into the race!)

Yeah, Im goofing around trying to stay warm!

The gun went off and and so did the rain. Seriously? It stopped for a few miles and then started back up again around mile 4-5…. The wind was relentless, when it blew it just chilled you to the bone. I grumbled all the way until mile 4 about my choice in clothing , but had to stop the negative talk – and realize there isn’t a damn thing I could do at this point about my clothes. OH WELL time to suffer.

Now, on this course the first half is pretty easy, mostly downhill. By mile 5 you are hitting the first hill. I pumped my arms and moved my legs – felt good. As the miles ticked off, the hills kept coming and so did the rain. By mile 8 my hands, arms and knees felt frozen. Mile 10 brings on the biggest of the hills… and it is really a mental challenge to will yourself to the top, especially in the conditions we were given. I buckled down and powered through…. Knowing I didn’t have but a 5k left-- this is where I was supposed to turn it on and go faster. Um, yeah - no. Legs wouldn’t budge being frozen and all… it took all I had to maintain the pace I was at. There are a few sneaky hills the last 3 miles, and on tired race legs these are really rough. Again, that mental aspect of just getting to the end was what kept me going. An Ironman wouldn’t stop… and you won’t either. KEEP GOING and GET OUT OF THIS COLD!

By the time I hit mile 12 the rain was coming down pretty hard. I made it up the last little incline and rounded the corner to the finish line. I gave it everything. I swear there was a river running down the road up to the finish chute! Just as I finished the thunder and lightning started. I thought about my Mom as she was behind me… It always feels SO WEIRD that we start the race together and then that’s it. I am a worry wart, and protective. So it feels weird to say have a great race – see you at the end. But in my family we wouldn’t want it any other way, we support each other. I was so nervous for her being out there and was so very glad when she came in.

My Bro, He makes this look so easy.

My AMAZING MOM!!! Great JOB!

My brother did well and got a PR for the course, and I was happy with my time too. My Mom had a PHENOMENAL race! She took 10MINS off her last ½ marathon. She is truly an inspiration! (Im going to brag about her for a min here, since she would never do it herself) My Mom just 2 short years ago could not run 2mins on the treadmill! She is running her first marathon Mother’s Day weekend… AND competing in her first ½ Ironman this year! GO MOM!

So for all you who say impossible… take the first step and get something on the calendar. Giving yourself a goal to work toward is so huge and often just the kick in the pants to get you started! I look forward to planning my race season and registering for my races in December… it makes me accountable and gives me goals to work toward. So get your first 5k on the calendar. There are sooo many to choose from. (see links below)

Second step: have a plan. You can find plans like from couch to 5k…. it is doable. Set up a Google calendar and block out your workout time, send yourself a reminder… you will get there… You just have to take the first step and keep at it.

These websites are good starting places to find races along with some articles on training. Active.com has all kinds of things from baseball training to triathlon tips PLUS you can find running races to organized group bike rides in your area.

http://www.cararuns.org/Racing/Find%20a%20Race.aspx

www.active.com

http://www.fromcouchto5k.com/articles/training/the-couch-to-5k-training-plan/

Even the smallest victories

2011-03-16T10:29:00.000-05:00

First I apologize for my mini hiatus from my blog.

Training in the winter gets old… and boring. Didn’t want to put you all to sleep or whine too much about cold, dark days.

Even the smallest victories help fuel the mind.

These past weeks were weeks of skilled scheduling, and hard workouts.
I had to double up a few workouts to accommodate other commitments and conflicts.

As I prepare for my first official race of the season this Sunday I am looking back at some of my small victories and hard work since November. Part of my positive mental training is to pull all the things that I’ve done well to help fuel my mental race.

So here are some of my small victories (in no particular order):

Getting ALL my workouts done as scheduled in a single week
Having a clean house and bills done
(This and #1 didn't happen every week - but I'm getting much better at it)
Doing a non-masters swim workout that back in Nov would have seemed hard, is now manageable and even, dare I say, easy?!
NOT stopping during computrainer class when all the other guys in the class stopped during the toughest parts
Running my half marathon course averaging 9 min miles during my TRAINING run
Running that same course thinking the hills aren’t as bad as everyone made them out to be. (we’ll see how I feel about that during the race this weekend)
I can see my abs! Thanks Kate!
Did well in both swim meets
Ran in 8 degrees with a wind chill of -2
Learned how to drink a Gatorade slushy while running
Learned how to warm up my Gu
Got my 5k pace down to a 7:45 minute mile! (granted this was only for 5 mins- but still!!)
Ran with a hangover (found out wine is no good for me!)
Since mid Dec: 22.5 hours of swimming; 24.5 hours of biking; 19 hours of running; 20 hours of strength training- phew!

So all the small victories will be with me as I step up to the starting line come Sunday. As those voices of negativity try to creep in … I will pull these out!

I'm ready for my race on Sunday.

Looking forward to racing with my Mom, Brother, coaches and friends- Race report to follow this weekend!

Have a great week!

Schedules- HA!

2011-02-23T11:38:00.000-06:00

Last week, I did well with my workouts. Got them all in, (well all but 20mins of a run). I also got to spend quality time with my husband and son which was great! Victorious!
My weeks usually begin with the giant task of making my master plan on how I’m going to fit it all in. Heaven help me, if something gets thrown into my delicate balancing act that wasn’t planned. Last week it was an unexpected visit to the doctor for my son who had pink eye and a cold. This week it was getting errands done that were not completed over the weekend. Most weeks, I find myself moving workouts around, getting up early to squeeze something in before work or anyone wakes up. I get to the end of the week (and sometimes day) completely gassed from it all. It is very typical that one, two or five things that were on the list still remain untouched. I continue to work on learning to let things go. I try my hardest to not let it bother me when Monday rolls around and there are those tasks that somehow never made it to the completed list. But it does. I took this Friday off to close the books on my freelance business. Sad really, because I enjoyed my clients, but at the end of the day I just couldn’t fit that into the mix as well. Also sad that I need to use a PTO day for this- Yuck.

I question how others find the time to get it all done- without outside paid help?? Impossible I say. Training wise--I’m still in the early season. The Big stuff begins Memorial Day through Labor Day. I have a huge fear that I won’t be able to make it all work without something suffering. Mom. Wife. Work. Laundry. Meals. Grocery Shopping. Housekeeping. Bills. Swimming. Biking. Running. It seems a never ending list, and as race season approaches I wonder, how WILL I get this all done, and still have time for kicking back with the fam? I am starting to accept the fact I will need to ask for more help, and depend on others. I am faced with the task of finding a sitter to watch Jack for a few hours when I have a long ride or open water swim after daycare and before John gets home. This thought freaks me to no end. Not that I’m a control freak, but after all the struggles we went through to bring Jack into this world I have tremendous amounts of Mommy guilt. The thought of spending time away from my little cherub makes my stomach and heart ache. I don’t want him to always see me going, and I don’t want to miss out on spending time with him and my husband. As strong as those feelings are, I also feel strongly about setting a good example for Jack to follow. I want him to know that hard work pays off. Yes, he is a little young for such lessons, but eventually he’ll grow up and I would like this concept to be something he is already used to. Mommy guilt is such an overwhelming thing.

This past weekend, my workouts were eh, just okay. Computrainer class was wicked hard. I struggled the entire time, and Sunday I had my long run. Which could have been really bad, but God blessed me by providing a light sprinkle instead of the pissing rain we had just a short hour before I left. I was really unmotivated, since Jack and John were up having a good time laughing and playing in our warm house… and I was um, heading out into the cold rain to do a run. BOO! I started off slowly and headed down the road, when I saw someone else in a brightly colored jacket running toward me. I felt better… knowing I wasn’t the only crazy person running out in the cold rain. As they approached closer, I noticed it was my coach…NEVER was I so glad to have seen her, it gave me such a boost, and I got the motivation to press ahead and push up to zone 3. I nailed that zone the whole time, and it felt good! Monday was masters swim. Can I just say I hate when they add the chemicals to the pool!!! This is the second time where I thought for sure I was coming down with the flu. I couldn’t breathe and my muscles were so unresponsive from lack of oxygen. I was moved up to a faster lane and after 2 sets moved myself back to my orig. lane. I just couldn’t do it, by the 3^rd or 4^th stroke I was gasping for air. NOT FUN. And NOT a good start to the week. I struggled through, and after practice a teammate called me a lane hussy… I am still laughing; I was like Goldie Locks and the 3 lanes. I just hate nights like that.

In other news….
I had my annual doctor appointment. It’s been over a year since Jack was born and since I had my transfusion. For those of you who don’t know, when Jack was born, we had complications and I had an emergency C-section. Jack was stuck and they had to open me like a T. They finally got him out and he wasn’t breathing for six mins. LONGEST six mins of my life! While they worked to get Jack breathing I was slipping into shock for being open so big and so long. I received 9 pints of blood platelets and plasma. Thanks to the grace of God, everyone is here and healthy. They test a year out to make sure nothing weird was contracted from the transfusion. I am happy to report I have a clean bill of health. Thank you to the donor(s) that donated. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for you. I can now donate blood, and am very eager to do so. It is such a simple thing and truly saves lives- I’m proof!

Red Cross blood collections in the month of January were the lowest seen in a decade. Across the country, severe winter storms forced thousands of expected pints of blood to go uncollected; up to 30,000 and still climbing! Just 1 pint can save up to 3 lives!

Join the Recovery by making an appointment to donate blood or finding a Red Cross “Recovery 2011” blood drive near you!

http://www.redcrossblood.org/

Until next time!!

Fire in the Belly

2011-02-08T21:24:00.000-06:00

Confidence

looks to be a re-occurring theme among some of the tri-blogs I read. It appears that during the off season, it is hard to keep that going. No races to affirm what you are doing is paying off. Just the cold, gray snowy days.

Confidence is something that seemed to elude me on Sunday morning at my swim meet. I looked high and low and it was nowhere to be found until the second half of the meet.

My husband, son and Mom came to cheer me on- How awesome are they??? My husband, John, earned some huge points by helping my son Jack make a sign for me. Did I mention how awesome my family is? My Mom is super, she drove all the way out to St. Charles, right after her masters swim practice and then chased my little one around and STILL had a 4 mile run to do when she got home. Thank you family- I love you all.

I was a little nervous, I wanted to do well for the team, for me and for my family that made the special trip out just to see me. At first it was nothing more than pre-race nerves. I got there and chatted a bit with my teammates and the heat sheet (list of events showing which heat you are in and who you swim against) came out. I noticed that I was in some fast heats swimming with/against some really fast girls on my team.

I was also on two relays with my tri-coach- who is a super fast and strong swimmer. WHY was I so nervous??? I’ve done swim meets a thousand times before. I shouldn’t be this nervous. Confidence where are you? Apparently, it went out to Starbucks for a Chai latte and slice of pumpkin loaf. Grrr, I need you.

First up, 100 IM, got up on the blocks and the gun went off- I was NOT dialed in, I was too worried about God knows what, and I dove in only to have my goggles flip and fill with water. I panicked and basically didn't breath until breast stroke (3 lengths in). UGH, not a great start. I still somehow managed to improve my time from the last meet… but I was disappointed and felt I could have done better.

Next was my first relay… the 200 medley. We had a rockstar line up. I was in for 50 fly – 3^rd position out of 4. You need to be fast, and after the 100 IM I really needed to do well here. Confidence- I could really use you right now. I was afraid I was going to let my relay team down, and disappoint my family. I ended up doing well, and our relay team did awesome.

Upon waiting for my next event, our swim coach asked me “What is it going to take to calm your nerves down?” I stopped and thought about what she asked me. I thought about what I've been reading… I thought about what I wasn’t doing…I wasn’t focused, I didn’t have a clear mind and I wasn’t allowing the positive in. No wonder confidence took a coffee break… there wasn’t any room with all that negativity going on!

Im on the block in the middle.

Next event, I got up on the block with a little attitude. I stayed focused – reassured myself that I am good at this, and that I have worked hard and I WILL do well.

Guess what, the rest of my events went well. Surprise, Surprise.

Out of my 6 events… I walked away with 4 first place finishes, a 2nd and 3rd place. More importantly, I improved my times from the last swim meet, and put into real world practice a valuable lesson on confidence and positive thinking.

Monday night we had swim practice and…. IT…. WAS…. ROUGH!

Lots of drills and streamline kick. I thought my legs were going to fall off… especially only a day after our meet. But I swam with confidence and purpose. I reconnected with an old feeling I haven’t had since the day before my last tri race in Aug. - fire in my belly.

Welcome back my friend, it’s good to see you.

Great post on confidence: http://elizabethfedofsky.blogspot.com/

Clearing away the clutter

2011-01-30T20:16:00.000-06:00

This weekend my son spent the night over at Grandma's and Grandpa's house.
My husband and I spent our entire Sat night and Sunday cleaning up the basement, organizing and basically clearing away the clutter. (my how my Sat nights have changed!) You see, we live in a 900 sq ft house (on a good day) with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. When one thing gets out of place, it feels like the entire house is a disaster. I get anxious when things are out of sorts, I feel out of control.

This got me to thinking how this translates to everyday life and triathlon in particular.

For Christmas I asked for a few books on how to be a mentally strong athlete. I've been reading them and trying to implement where I can... but the main thing I've taken away so far (Im a slow reader) is that in order to succeed you need to clear away the negative talk, and replace with the positive. I wish that it were as easy as cleaning the basement. HA!

This past week was run and bike test week. It was also a very trying week all around. It was one of those Im sure each one of you have had at one point or another. The week where Monday starts off poorly, and you say Tues will be better, I can restart. . . and then it is equally as poor as the previous day, if not worse. Well that was my week... up until Friday that is. Friday I got out for my run test. 20 mins easy followed by 20 mins all out. Of course I had no prob. with the easy part... but as the clock ticked on and got close to my 20 all out, I found myself already with the negative trash talk- AND I DIDN'T EVEN START the test yet!!!!

20 mins hit and it was GO time. I started and remembered something my brother said when we were viewing the Ironman course last Sept. When you are given the orders to start the run easy and then pick it up in the second half it is difficult. But it is really only the first 3 mins of the pick up that sucks. Your body catches up to the new pace and settles in. As I was pushing my body to go all out - I started by thinking "there's no way I can keep this pace for the next 20 mins, there's no way". Then I turned it around to "this is only going to suck for the next 3 mins... then it will be better". Guess what? It WAS better.... and as that happened, I turned to focus on all the things I was doing well- keeping my form, breathing well, enjoying the sun on my face. The next time I looked at my watch, I only had 5 mins to go. You can do anything for 5 mins I told myself. And I pressed on and kicked it up just a hair.

When I returned to running after my son was born it was slowwwww going. Every step, every breath was hard, and felt monumental! I ran a 11:24 min mile. But, I kept at it, followed the plan... one step at a time. My average pace Friday was an 8:11 mm with my max pace at 6:54! Before I signed up with my coach my average pace was somewhere in the 10s.... so I've come a long way baby!!! (Thanks Jen!!!)

I've heard Ironman champions speak, and read articles that continue to repeat these same thoughts: Ironman is 90% mental. It is a battle of your mind, not your abilities. Your mind will quit on you long before your legs ever will.

So going back to clearing away the clutter.... It is a constant struggle to keep those negative thoughts out. With the end goal of crossing that finish line at Ironman... I must be well conditioned, and mentally strong.

One of the books I am reading (The New Toughness Training for Sports by James E Loehr) asked me to rate myself on a number of things, to help me identify where my weaknesses are. To address those weaknesses he has you to do the following:

1- Spend between 10 and 30 seconds each morning and night visualizing, thinking and feeling positive thoughts on what you are trying to strengthen.

2- Write a one page action plan on what you will do to improve each.

3- Track your progress- rate yourself each day on if you thought you made an improvement.
0 if nothing happened; + if you improved; and - if you moved backward.

Then at the end of 30 days recap.

For accountability sake I am posting my 4 current weaknesses that I have identified...and for the next month I am committed to actively working on these:

- Stay relaxed
- Be confident
- Be motivated (this is hard in the winter!!!)
- Willing to take risks

So now that my basement is cleaned and I have a clean place to workout and clean place to work on my computer ---
NOW I must clean out my mind... these weaknesses that I am working on, do not just apply to sport... but to all areas of my life. I challenge you all to try doing the same... curious to see how this works for others.

PS- I re-take my bike test this week. Got to 13 mins of the 20 and the computer that was running the test ran out of battery--- not fun.

Pic of the finished basement. (ahhhh- refreshing!)

Until next week.....

Dedication

2011-01-24T20:38:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my blog!

I didn't think composing my first post would be so hard. Finding the right topic to start this off was challenging. This weekend we had our son dedicated at our church. As they talked about what dedication means as our role as parents, it became clear to me what my first post should be about.

Dedication.

The greatest challenge was having my son. It took much dedication in terms of doctors, medications, diet changes, acceptance of needles and lack of personal privacy to get pregnant. During delivery we met a greater set of challenges that required me to dig deeper and be stronger than I ever thought possible. My son is a daily reminder of God's blessings. Not a night goes by that I don't thank Him for giving my son life, and for saving mine.

Dedication: complete and wholehearted devotion

My family, faith and friends are a huge part of my life, and is what defines me. I know that without these components in my life, this journey I am embarking on would NOT be possible. I am grateful for having you all in my life and give thanks that I have been blessed with good health making it possible to swim, bike and run each day.

Dedication is much more than just being committed to a task.

When I tell people I am training for an Ironman, the first question usually is "What's an Ironman?" (Ironman is a long-distance triathlon: consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run) and the second is "Are you insane?" (yes, very)
The Ironman event is one day, but my journey to get to the finish line will last a lifetime.

I hope:
- to show my son what dedication means by leading through example
- to inspire others to change their habits in ways they never considered
- to make my husband, family and friends and coach proud
- to have an amazing journey

The power of a movement lies in the fact that it can indeed change the habits of people. This change is not the result of force but of dedication, of moral persuasion.

- Stephen Biko, South African nonviolent anti-apartheid activist

Have a wonderful week!