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 Swim
Comments: Lined up about mid way down the beach 5 people deep, in an area where there appeared to be some room. Craig, Laura and Kristin opted for the buoy line (it was too crowded for my taste) while Tim went wide right to avoid injuring his already injured hand (due to a bike crash in Sept). So Brad and I were right there in the middle. Gun went off and we had to run in for a couple yards as the water is knee deep for a good distance. Then dove in and started swimming. Got beat up a fair amount in the first 5 mins but then settled into a nice spot until the turn buoy where some guy was swimming closed fisted, and landed one right on my head. The across section was right into the sun and lots of beating. Then we had a nice surf in to the beach. Stayed outside the buoy line by about 5 yards as I did not want to get beat up and any time I inched closer I got a hand to the face. swam until I hit my hands in the sand and then stood for the jog through the knee deep water to the beach. Nate was right there at the timing mat cheering me on, 31.48. Grabbed a cup of water to wash mouth out. Then back in for lap 2. went slow wading back in as I did not want to tire the legs jumping and running in the water back out. Once I was past knee deep, I dove in and started lap 2. This lap was a little better but still found some of the swimmers were out for blood. As I swam I began to process that I had swam a 31.48 first lap and felt like I had taken it easy other then at the corners where I was being beaten. So I took the same approach to this second lap. Rounded the ends and made my way back in. Heard Mike Reily's voice 2 buoys from the beach and started to think about transition. Exited the water and saw 1:04.04 on the clock. Huge smile came across my face. What would you do differently?: nothing! I swam very comfortably and kept the same pace for both laps. what more could I ask for!  Transition 1
Comments: wetsuit strippers did great (but had to sit/lay down in sand). the run to T1 was congested at the showers but otherwise nothing too bad. Heard Brad's sister say I was first out of the water of our group. I thought she was kidding. grabbed my own bag, into tent for socks, shoes and helmet on. Put meds in pocket, did a gu, got sunblock applied and was on my way to bike. Grabbed my own bike and put gloves on as I ran to mount line. What would you do differently?: not much other then the bags and bike were not ready when I got there like they had been at other IM venues  Bike
Comments: Had the ride divided into 40 mile, 40 miles, 32 miles. So started in small chain ring to keep the watts and heart rate down. Right cleat started squeeking about mile 10 but nothing too bad. Felt great and just let the packs go by. Reminded myself of a statement I had read on carrie's blog from canada... "either they are better bikers then you or you will catch them later, so let them go and race your own race". Made it to the turn onto RT 20 with not too much wind issues. But then the head winds started and speed went down to below 18mph. But rode legal and was happy with my progress. stayed on top of nutrition the entire time and checked out the scenery when ever there was something new. Lots of large peletons went flying by, but it really did not bother me as I was happy to be riding well and not having issues. Right cleat started to feel a little funny but thought it was a standard squeek. Made it to the special needs and made a quick stop for extra nutrition and tubes. Right then laura, tim and brad went right by me. I was so happy to see friends. turned right and headed south with a nice tail wind. kept the other 3 in sight but started to feel like I had to pee. no luck peeing on the bike. So kept going, switching off and on with Brad. Then he stopped on the side of the road after we turned west. I wished I could do the same. I was not able to stop until about the 72 mile water stop. When I went to stop my right cleat would not release. So rushed to get left foot unclipped and stopped. Ran into port-o-pot and took about 1-2mins to pee since I had to go so bad. Then looked at cleat. one screw was sheered off. Unable to tighten rest of screws so made a conscious effort to go easy on the right cleat. Finally saw Nate before the out and back. he told me I was 7th in my age group on the swim. That made my day. The out and back had a head wind on the out and then tail wind on the back. Continued with ride and knew that Brad, Tim and Laura were in front of me. caught back up with brad after the 90 mile marker and then Tim after the 100mile marker. The 3 of us stayed within reach of each other and ended up at the dismount line together. This was amazing and awesome. Not only to finish the ride right with them but also to have surpassed any bike ride I could have ever imagined. What would you do differently?: not too much. I was in zone 1-2 the entire ride and maybe could have pushed it harder. But then again, I rode exactly what was on the plan, which I have never done before in an IM. Transition 2
Comments: dismounted and ran to bag. once again had to grab my own bag. into tent to change shorts, put on new socks and shoes. then grab visor and nutrition. Exited transition and Mike Reily said my name and how I was "pretty in pink" :) What would you do differently?: nothing too much. I don't rush transition in IMs as I do not want to forget anything.  Run
Comments: I mentally setup this run as 4 - 10k's. wanted to try to negative split but after the first mile was a 7:49 I knew that was not happening. I was running at a RPE of 2-3 and the first 3 miles were all right at or below 8min miles. Brad past me after mile 2 and we chatted for a minute or 2. Then I told him to go. Stopped at mile 3 for a 48sec port o pot stop. Then on my way again. Saw Brad and Laura right before the turnaround. Made it to the turn around with an average of about 8:20min miles. Realized that I seriously had to slow down or risk blowing up. Continued on the run at a comfortable pace and saw Tim shortly after turning around. Then finally saw Nate at mile 12 right after the hot women in no clothes with whips. The right before the turnaround I saw Brad and Laura again, starting to worry about not seeing Kristin or Craig all day. Then saw Amy and Bennett at the turnaround. Huge smile and high five from Bennett. After turn around saw Nate again at mile 14. Around mile 18 right when I saw Craig my left IT started to hurt. But I sucked it up and ran. As it hurt more, I continued with a mantra of "Maddux hurt more then I do, shut up and run". I just shut to shut the f@#$ up and ran. No mile was over 9.30. As the minutes past, over and over again I said my mantra. Then about mile 21 or 22 I caught sight of Laura and thought I could run with her. but then she disappeared, so I assumed she stopped to pee. I clicked each mile off and just kept going. The last 2 miles I was getting really emotional. Then I cried the entire last mile. I crossed the line and completely broke down when I saw Nate, Amy and Bennett. I could not believe what the clock said. I also was so emotionally exhausted and drained. But I was so proud of myself for shutting the f@#$ up and racing. What would you do differently?: Not go out as fast, but from what I can tell, no one negative splits an Ironman marathon. So go fast when you feel well. Post race
Warm down: walked around, had a massage and then had 3 beers :) What limited your ability to perform faster: nothing, I could never had imagined that I would be this fast this year. Event comments: This was a crowded course and the volunteers did great. But there were things that did not happen that happened at the other IM races I have done. The course has limited crowd support on the bike but the run was fabulous. The finish gear sales started early (we arrived at 6:55am and people were already walking out with purchased gear) and the roll down was over before the 2 different published times (done at 11 am and listed times were at both 11:05 and 11:15). However the event is an IM event and it was as always done overall well. I met Heather Fuhr at VIP check-in and thanked her again for her words during CdA 07. Overall, I am amazed and very pleased with myself. Our group of friends (Brad, Laura, Tim, Craig and Kristin) all surpassed our goals and all PR'd. The distance is always 140.6 miles, but each event has it own highs and lows. Each one teaches you something new about yourself and what you can accomplish. Each one is humbling yet self defining at the same time. Last updated: 2008-10-15 12:00 AM
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United States
Ironman North America
74F / 23C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 481/2255
Age Group = W35-39
Age Group Rank = 11/141
Warning: long RR and might cause some tears.
This is my fourth Ironman (Wisconsin 05, Placid 06 and CdA 07). My PR going into this race was 12:53.13 at Placid. A horrible swim and mechanical issues on the bike in CdA 07, put be 5 mins slower. So going into this year of training I wanted to focus on the things that needed the most improvement and see results when I raced.
My 07 season ended with stress fractures in my shins and derailed a plan for a February BQ attempt. So the early part of the year was focused on getting back to running injury free (50 runs in 50 days), swimming and getting back on the bike to increase my functional threshold. Since biking is what I have the least experience in I knew that building biking legs comes with time and lots of effort. So Jorge setup plans to help me work on all 3 sports while not being too specific to Ironman training as Nov was a long way away.
Over the winter and spring I ran 2 half marathons and a full marathon before Memorial Day - all injury free. And although I still have a long way to go to get true biker's legs, I was starting to see improvement with my bike watts on the trainer and as I moved to outdoor rides. And finally my swim started to show marked improvements during the summer, getting my 100s consistently under 1.30.
This year, I have seen new personal bests in my marathon, half marathon and 5k. I also set a new personal course best at a hilly 1/2 Ironman in New Hampshire this August, even with GI issues. Then in September I setout with 2 crazy weekends in a row: Survival of the Shawangunks (30 mile bike, 4.5 mile run, 1.1 mile swim, 5.5 mile run, 0.5 mile swim, 8 mile run, 0.5 mile swim, 0.7 mile run) on Sunday the 7th and then on Friday the 12th, went on to participate on a 6 person Ultra team at Reach the Beach, personally running for a total of 32.5 miles during the next 28 hrs.
As the year progressed and I was progress I was eager to see how it all would play out on Saturday, November 1 in Panama City Beach.
Going into the race I felt the following were realistic but reach goals:
1:10-1:15 swim (ocean factor puts me slower then Lake Placid and current training pace but faster then other 2 IM swims, but no reason to rush as I still have 138.2 miles left to go)
0:07 min transition from swim to bike (once again, don't want to rush it too much as 112 miles is a long way to go if I forgot something, especially some much needed sunblock or lubrication)
6:15- 6:30 bike (being a flat course and with new race wheel I think this is very doable and keeps me with fresh legs to have a stellar run. But really have not clue as I do not every ride flat courses)
0:04 min transition from bike to run (take time to make sure I am ready to fly)
3:59 run - now this is where I will not hold back. I am going to try to pace a negative split, which will be hard as I have already covered 114.4 miles in the day. But when mile 20 comes and I am feeling fabulous I might even try to push it harder : )
Finish time of 11:45-11:55 - A goal.
Now being that it is a 140.6 mile race, having B and C goals are crucial.
B Goal = finish sub 12:52.13
C Goal = finish with a smile on my face
Jorge was great with my training plans, adjusting throughout the year as life threw me some curve balls and I wasn't always able to get all the workouts in. When I read Tom Evans report from CdA about his training and intensity of training as opposed to quantity of training, Jorge agreed that I was be ready to move to more intense workouts (quality/intensity over quantity). So going into the race I knew that I was ready for improvement.
The week before the race, our son/dog Maddux (11yr old black lab) took a turn for the worse and I was starting to worry about us not being able to go. Then the Friday before he no longer was able to walk on his own and told my husband and I he had had enough. So at 3am on Saturday Oct 25 we had to set him free of his pain. This was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life and I ached all over. I could not even think about the coming week or the race.
I tried running with our other dog that day and was winded and ached all over. The next day I could not do anything. Finally Monday, I was able to do an easy run and swim. Although I still worried about what I would feel like and if I would be able to do the race without breaking down. Over the next 3 days of driving 7-8 hrs each day Nate and I made our way to Florida and we worked out a lot of our emotions that we were feeling over the last few days, weeks, month and even year.
Once in Florida, I made the decision to not stress and focus on the things I could control. I wanted to use this pain I had for good. I decided that I would do what I could to achieve my goals without being my normal neurotic self. Being around Kristin, Brad, Laura, Tim, Amy, Craig and Bennett helped keep me relaxed.
So on Saturday morning, November 1, I arrived at the starting line with a different perspective on what I was doing and why I was doing it.
up an hour before the alarm and then finally out of bed at 3:45am. Ate a bagel dry, 2 bananas, a cup of coffee and drank gu2o.
to the race site for the special needs bag drop, body marking, check bike, and pump tires. port-o-pots and then sat for 15mins before putting on wetsuit to head to beach. It was strange, but I did not cry before this start. I was ready to go no matter what the day threw at me.