Dan knew my goal for this block: Do better than last block in terms of getting my workouts done and getting them done right. Well, I did somewhat better, but there were times were there was frustration relayed in the still lacking efforts in this block. It wasn't for lack of trying, it was more because it was also the block leading into my final exams in school. If you've known me for awhile, you'll know that I am a horrendous test taker, so exams are not a great time for me. I'm not awful at all tests, I am great at essay and short answer exams, but when you give me a multiple choice exam, I feel very anxious.
and I was going 3mph, thinking that I would tip over at any moment. I made it half way up before I tapped out and got in the car with Meghan, Dana and Meghan's mom, leaving the rest for Dan to tackle by himself. Once at the top though, the view was worth the pain that endured and then the fastest descent, according to Dan, came after that...I was scared. I was scared during this descent but not the Keene descent on the IMLP course, I think because this was straight down, my brakes weren't great and there was some wicked wind.The next morning we were up middle of the night to walk Meghan over to transition and wait for the swim start. Dana and I ran around together, cheering for Meghan and cheering for everyone, ensuring that we didn't have voices that night. People were definetely hurting on the course, so our goal was to try and bring smiles and joy back to those people, and I think we achieved that!
Overall that weekend was amazing and it fueled me for wanting to do IMLP!
After passing all of my exams, I headed up to New Jersey to stay at my Godparents house for the Friday before the race. It was a great time to get things done and enjoy not working, and not being in school...it was very much a lounge day for me.
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| Ashley's GREAT note to me! |
Saturday morning I left New Jersey and drove the one hour to Shawnee on the River, PA and got a solid practice swim in before heading to the expo and back to the hotel for Olympics watching and final race prep. We went to dinner at the Shawnee Inn with the whole Endorphin Fitness crew, as it was a team race, before heading back to the hotel for more Olympics and an early bed time.
Morning of the race was very strange for me. Both of my hotel mates were racing the half so when I had gotten up, they were already gone. This was my first race of the season where I didn't have a support system there with me. The night before I had planned out when I would leave the hotel to get to Transition 2 before getting on the shuttle...but because I was alone, I panicked and left early. I got to Transition 2 right as it opened for Olympic athletes, put all my run gear at my area and got on the bus to Transition 1 down the road.
Due to the fog, there was a delay in start time by 11 minutes, pushing back all of the start times including the olympics, so I had a LONG time to wait. I set up my area, took my bike for a quick spin, went for a quick jog and spent a pretty decent amount of time in the water warming up and talking. I wandered back over to the start and hung out with Eric, Ed and Elizabeth.
Swim 20:00 (ish)
*Now I say "ish" because there was a timing discrepancy, so all the swim times were combined with T1 time, so I know what my Garmin says, and 20:00 is about accurate.
The swim, like Williamsburg, was an in the water start, with a bit of a current. The start was brutal for me. I got elbowed in the goggle so one of my eyes was leaking river water the whole time, granting a pretty uncomfortable swim. However, we had a few different options of how we could swim this: 1) Close to the shore and have less against the current but more river weed gross stuff or 2) Swim close to the middle of the river and have more against the current, not river weed and less people. For me, and my freaked out nature of anything touching me in open water, I chose option 2. Far less people chose this option, as well, granting me an easier time passing people. I remained in option two ever after we made our turn and headed down the river with the current but found myself being encompassed by so much river weed. I could see it, I could feel it all over me and I was not pleased. I swam even harder. Per usual, I was passing all the colors of the rainbows in front of me, and swam as far as the boat dock would let me before I stood up and had a volunteer help me out of the water. I saw Jay there and he said something like "Great swim, go get 'em" which motivated me even more to go kill my long transition run.Transition 1: 4:15 (ish)
This was a pretty long run from the water to transition and it involved running in my wetsuit and on grass. I tried to take it at a good speed while lowering my heart rate but that didn't go over well. I passed Ed who told me to "go get 'em" and I continued on to transition. I had a GREAT bike location! Because it was an EF team race for the half, I was placed in the EF rack, so by the time I got in, I was the only bike left which made finding it super easy. The one thing I didn't like was the lack thereof wetsuit strippers. I spent probably 45 seconds trying to get out of my wetsuit...TRISLIDE was my next purchase after this.
Bike: 1:22.16
When I told this time to Dan, he asked what went wrong. I told him it was horrendous. The day before we had driven the course and yes, there were hills, but hills in a car are so much different that hills on a bike. It is for this leg of my race that made this blog so hard to write. In the athlete guide for this race, it states that it is a "rolling hills" course. Understatement of the year. Around mile five, there is a mountain that you just keep on climbing. I was in my smallest gear, alternating between standing and sitting and going 3mph. Very reminiscent of White Face Mountain if you ask me. People were cursing, people were dismounting and walking up and no one was happy. After this mountain, we got a tiny downhill before plenty more climbing. I spent the whole ride playing cat and mouse with a guy on a road bike (he clearly got the memo about the climbing). I was actually really thankful I had him because it gave me something to look forward to every time I went up a hill, someone to pass me on the way down. My thought process is that what goes up, most come down, but I swear, there was so much more up than actual down. However, for the parts of the course that were down, there were not the easy Keene descent that I had experienced earlier. They were fast, pot-hole filled, technical turn filled hills going down...not ideal conditions, especially with squealing rear breaks. Let's just say I was more then happy to be off my bike and on to the run.Transition 2: 0:43
That's a damn good transition if you ask me! Once again, there weren't many bikes back in transition for the half athletes, so I had plenty of space. Bike racked, helmet and shoes off, shoes on and ran out while putting on my race number, visor and nutrition in the back pocket.
Run: 53:28
Can we first just admire the massive PR that is the time I put in! Regardless of my legs feeling awful from the ride, and the hard course that was coming up, I threw down and put a great run in...now if only everything else on that run felt great. After transition, I ran out and took in the cheers from the crowd as I began my run. I knew after Williamsburg last month that I wanted to make some changes and not flop like that month.
Mile 1: 8:39
Really? Was that a mistake, Garmin, are you sure? I must be going too fast, I won't be able to hold this pace. Were all thoughts in my head. I hadn't had a first mile run this fast in a long time, and I didn't want to blow up, but I felt so good.
Mile 2: 8:36
I was using a new flask, one with a twist top and after using it at the aid station at mile 1, I must not have closed it all the way because at mile 2 aid stop, I had nothing left in it. Oh shit. So I was just going to run the next 4 miles with no nutrition, I mean, I do that for training runs, right?
Mile 3: 8:58
It was during this mile that I started approaching signs that warned me of caution, slow down, loose gravel (because we were running on a gravel path), to only see a STRAIGHT DOWN the mountain hill on all gravel. Well, this was going to be fun to run up. I couldn't even go hard down it as I would slip on the gravel and trip and fall (If you know me, you know this is entirely too accurate).
Mile 4: 9:06
I can't remember if this is the mile that I went up the hill. I am assuming it was. I started strong on trying to tackle the hill, but just like the people in front of me, I succumbed to walking up it. I was HURTING really bad during this mile. All I could think was to watch the people going the other direction and keep my eyes focusing on something, as I began to start seeing stars and began getting very disoriented. With no nutrition and only water, I was starting to feel like I would pass out at any moment. Not to mention my knee. The knee pain came strong during this mile, but I knew I was doing really well and I wanted to finish just like the way that I started, so I kept pushing.
Mile 5: 9:29
Margaret, literally all you need to do is finish. I know everything hurts, but you are so close. This was a dark dark place for me.
Mile 6: 8:35
I started to see people on the road beginning to cheer me on and I think I could hear the announcer during this stage. So many stars, feeling so light headed and a throbbing knee on me lead for one motivated girl coming into that finish.
Finish Shoot:
I learned from Williamsburg and my stone cold face that I need to have more fun when I cross the finish line, so, knowing that Ashley was going to be waiting for me with a cold towel and a hug, I put on the biggest grin I could do with the given state I was in, and ran through the finish line...to a cold towel and a hug.
Aftermath: 2:40:43
Immediately upon getting back at home, I sent Lori Strobl, my PT and e-mail about my knee. I'm so grateful for her. This e-mail hasn't been the first in my paranoia and terror that I have about my knee. I asked Dan what I should do instead of running and he told me aqua jog but my fear of ever having that pain that I had last year again shut me down for wanting to do anything running, so I loaded up on PT during that time.
I'm now in overload phase and it's been going a lot better than I had thought it would! The workouts are hard but the time off of school has helped! School starts tomorrow, and I'm back at the hard work: all in workouts, work and school!
Rev3 Cedar Point coming up on September 11!
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