TEAM RFP (Relentless Forward Progress)- CLOSED (Page 16)

Looks like Tim's swim was at 39:24. Apparently, really choppy water out there this morning.

Looks like Tim was a beast on the bike - 20.6 mph! His first run split was at 9:52 minute miles. It looks like he has a good chance to go under 6 hours!

Awesome race Simone! Congratulations on your first half marathon!

Congrats to Tim, Jen and Troy for your awesome efforts at Racine 70.3 and congrats to KC on your olympic this weekend!! Looking forward to reading some race reports! )

Out. Standing.

Great job on the pace and on the staying cool and collected.

Amazing.

Outstanding job to everyone who raced this weekend!!!! You all kicked some serious butt out there.

Congratulations on a great weekend!

Nice work Simone! - and congrats on your first HIM! Way to hit your goals and have a successful race.

Well despite the extremely choppy waters of Lake Michigan my race at Racine was total success. Finished 5:38 and PR'd by over 45 minutes.

The first 10 minutes of the swim was TOTAL chaos - even more chaotic then the mass swim at IMWI. When I got to the first buoy about 100 yards out - it looked like there were people fighting for spots to hang on to the buoy haha. I thought they were 1-2 foot swells but i have read online 4-6'. There were a couple of times that the waves took me up so high that when I went to my next stroke and I was falling I was swimming in air haha. I got a little sea sick but just fought it off. Once I settled in it was ok. I heard there were people actually crying as they were coming out of the water.

After that I the bike hard and then just gutted out the run to hang on best I could. I had my buddy chasing me down which helped keep me going. I had a 15 minute lead on him after the bike but he brought it down to 2 minutes at the finish.

I will give a full race report later today but thanks to everyone for the support this weekend!

Congratulations on the PR! That is awesome. Amazing how you pulled that off after having not so great swim conditions. I would probably be one coming out of the water crying or holding on to a buoy. I would love to see some pictures of "air swimming".

Hi Team.

First things first:

Simone - great job and I can't tell you how happy I am for you - nice race my friend.

Tim - You Rock - great race and thanks for mentioning how much this group has meant for you. You have no idea how much this group has meant to me - thanks to everyone.

Deb - can't wait to see you in IMLP and if it helps, you can chase my shaved legs around the run course all you want

OK - on to my Oly

Ankle held up great - still stiff but on the mend

Time = PB 2:55:40 with the worst open water swim of my life. For the first time I actually got the goggles punched of my face and I absolutely panicked for what seemed like an eternity. I actually had kayak come over to see if I need assistance. It spooked me real bad but some how I was able to compose myself, get them back on and carry on. My time for the swim was 37:47 and it sucked . Even though I did finish, it was crazy and affected me even into T1 which took me 3:26 - I actually had to sit down to compose myself lol. I also need to mention the water was brutally cold - coldest I have ever swam in. Even though they have been getting some record heat in Toronto it was not enough to warm up the water = brrrrrrrrrrr

With all that I was able to gain my composure on the bike - 1:18:55 which about an average of 30 kmph or 18.64 mph. (great for me) followed by a great 10 km (for me) 53:49.

Total time 2:55:40 and after the crappy swim which was scary and disappointing I am proud I overcame it and managed to finish strong.

Off to Lake Placid on Thursday morning and until then - more house work and more training.

Be safe everyone and thanks for your well wishes.

KC.

PS - that time includes 2 pee breaks

It sounds like everyone is having really great races. Congratulations to all who raced this past weekend. And for those of you racing this next weekend - Fast legs and Strong Heart! Trust your training. You are ready and you will do great!

Got an e-mail that the para triathlete that I guided a few weeks ago is racing this weekend and requested if I was available to race with him at the Wauconda Triathlon this weekend. Pretty cool feeling to know that I made an impact and helped him out that day. So I guess i am racing again on Saturday....

Great Job Tim! Looks like you had another great race.

KC,

Great job hanging in there! Many of us would of called it a day after going through so much.

That is awesome! Let me know how you got involved in assisting paraathletes. I would love to help!

How awesome is that?! Sounds like you made an impression on another athlete.

Congrats again Tim, I am so happy for you that you PRd under 6 hours and under trying conditions too, way to RFP it!! You are a true leader and inspiration!!!!

Hey KC, congratulations on your Oly success and way to RFP after a frightening swim. Wow I would have been freaking out too!! That shows true character to be able to compose yourself and then pull off a great ride and run. I know you don't feel this way at the moment, but you are going to totally rock Ironman Mont-Tremblant!! I have so much faith in you!!! Have fun volunteering at IMLP this weekend.

Wow, that is awesome Tim!! That must make you feel so good, knowing that you have positively impacted on this person's life. I think what you are doing is amazing! As I have said before, you are a true leader!!

So the Cheeky Monkey (Deb) and I have decided we are going to do IRONMAN Coeur d'Alene in 2015. As you guys are aware I live in Australia, so this is a BIG deal for me. I have never been to the US and decided that if I did visit I wanted to do an Ironman while I was there. I have a friend who lives in CdA, in fact the Ironman course goes past her house. She is a fellow photographer and wants to take me to Yosemite and various areas around and also wants to cheer me on during IM.

So anyway, Deb and I thought we could try and con some of Team RFP to sign up with us. We could get a house for the week leading up to Ironman and basically just have an awesome time. I will need some time to save up for flights and accomodation, hence the 2015, but it gives the rest of you guys and gals plenty of notice in case you would like to join us.

Anyway, hope everyone is have a good week, my legs are finally back to normal, need to put some hours in on the bike this week as running kind of took over leading up to my HM. Hoping the weather is good tomorrow for a 40km hill ride.

Pre Race:
Typical, up every hour on the hour. One time, I wake up and the thought that I missed the race completely went thru my head - . Another time , I thought I was missing something, not knowing exactly what tho. Then I wake up at 3AM and cannot fall back to sleep. Plug in ear buds for some itunes and listened to music for an hour. Get up and make coffee and oatmeal at 4AM. Ate oatmeal with 2 eggs. Coffee. Lots of water. Weigh in at 150.7 (buddy's scale)

tldr; spoiler
Spoiler:


Get a ride to the bike-in from the friends that I stay with. My bike is already in transition from day before. Notice I forgot my carb-load juice (Cyto-carb). Meh. Done things without it. Grab a swig of G2 Performance.

Bike Trans/Setup:
Cannot organize my chit under bike. Kept going back and fourth where to put things. Helmet, gloves, sunglasses on bike somewhere so I can just grab bike and go later - get everything on when I get on the bike and riding outside T1 (this screws me later). Bike shoes right below bike. Run shoes, spry belt, sport beans, gu, visor and race # on other side. Put a kiwi, a Gu, some sugar packs and a macadamia cliff bar in my bike bag. Put two G2 perf filled water bottles on bike. Pump up tires. Head to Swim (1.2 miles away up the beach) with wetsuit, pink cap and goggles, leftover G2 and banana.

Pre Swim:
Just sit down. Some people I know say hello and we exchange good lucks. Tom, from run club, comes up and he gives me some advise and says this is his first year not participating in Racine HIM. He's been doing this for years and is living vicariously thru me . The waves are hyooog! Just getting off the beach took effort for the pros who went first. He tells me to get out in the water and take a test swim. Glad he did. Calmed me down a bit. Swam out about 100m, and back. I could still stand up 100m out with head outta water. Cooling feeling. wasn't easy getting back. back on beach, ate the banana, went pee, and had rest of G2. Water about 67 degr. Comfy imo.

Swim (0:55:12) (Goal 48:00):
What a mess. I get moved to the wave ahead (13 instead of 14) because of a screwup. I should have had a yellow cap (40-44 First letter in last name A-H) instead of pink 40-44 I-Z). My age group split into two groups. I'm an "H" and they tell me to go ahead. Meh. Only, when I cross the Swim mat that marks you, there is no "beep", and dood behind the machine says Im not registering. They "reset" it. and it registers me. But I ask, "is everyone else in this wave still registered"? Turns out it cleared em all out. So the announcer has everyone walk back over the swim mat. LOL.

Gun goes off in not even 30 seconds from that fiasco. Im in the middle of the pack. waves seem like they are pulling me out just as much as they are pushing me back into the beach. Tough to get a rhythm down. But I soon see the red buoy to turn 90 degr. right (about 150m out from beach). Take a turn and see people hanging onto it for dear life. 8-10 for all I know. One guy asking someone to bring him in, saying "F DAT CHIT". I stop around the corner, out of peoples way, to get a sight that I can reference to swim toward. Waves so large I lose sight of everything. Take off goggles to get better look. Finally get a sight of a red crane arm leading the way. It was the only thing I could always see btw wave crests. OK, off I go. By the first buoy, I need a break. The current was helping push me from beind, but they were also bringing me toward shore. See another guy at buoy #2 asking to get the heck outta the water. I try to calm him down to no avail. Swim to next buoy (there are 17 in all).

I had the breathing down pretty well, taking a breath each right arm stroke, but it was a slow go. Started to get a feeling of "sea sickness" most likely from the uuuuuupppp and doooooowwwwn waves. 4'-6' people wre saying. A canoe angel was in my line so I swim up to and grab onto his canoe's front. Have a short talk with him as I breath pretty heavy. Thinking "I got 14 more of these to do, no way". Then I remember Barb saying to me (she knows I panic in swim) "Just put your head down and go - TORPEEEDOOO". And I do.

The rest of the way was getting from buoy to buoy. Then, the final 90 degr right turn, toward beach, waves were pushing me in, until we got to shallow, where everyone starts not swimming (you could stand up and the water was just above the knees). Swimming was no longer working so I stand and walk in. Never felt so much relief in my life to be out of the water. F' dat fo sho. Bike is about 500m away. Ironman gives us a blue mat to run/walk on instead of sand. Lots of people surrounding it, don't see any of my friends. Still a long way to get into T1. Happy to be outta water. VERY discombbulated.

T1 (7:33):
WOW!, didn't think i took that long. From beach to bike area was looong! Prolly .25 miles. Ran into my masters swim class buddy who volunteered to rip off wetsuits. Nice to see a friendly face. So I started to come out of the swim-sickness feeling. He and I did the Pl Prairie Oly together this year (training). Got to bike and started to eat an orange and chatted with neighbor - both of us were complaining about the swim. Got my bike shoes on and off I went. My rack was the furthest rack from the point where I could mount on the bike. I reach that spot and jump on bike. Then someone pulls on me to get off my bike to "put on my helmet before I left trans 1". UGH!. So I pull to the side, put on helmet, put on gloves, put on glasses (2x, the first time my helmet didn't go over them - UGHH!). Jump on bike and I notice I forgot to put in a low gear, and guess what, an uphill battle for about 200 feet. UGHHH! See some running club friends and they are shouting at me to "get going, go go go Troy". LOL, hyooog smile on my face.

Bike (2:50:33) (Goal 2:45-2:55)
Felt a little "goofy" from the swim for a good 2 miles. Like I was still on a boat with big waves. I knew at mile 19 there was a friend waiting. Another one at mile 45 at the warning tent (I didn't get one ), she got the bike picture of me. I was in familiar territory in the first 19 miles, fter that I had no idea where I was. I was cathcing up to the F25-29 and F30-34 waves (noticing the ages on back of their legs). Lots of "passing left" comming out of my mouth, but with a smile on my face iykwim. Kept me sane thats for sure. Every now and again, when I remembered to, I'd say "good job, keep going" to some of them. I was expecting friend at mile 19, but I knew she had to be somewhere by 9:30, and I was already 15 minutes late from the transition and swim. I didn't get to see her. First half was more downhill than I thought, notice that I was plugging along at about 21 mph, 1mph faster than I expect but within a range that I could survive. Picking up water whenever I could to drink and splash over my head. Half bananas going down easy during the entire ride. Trying to remember to eat cliff bar/gu/G2 perf every hour for about 300 cals per hour. I ended up stopping at the bathroom at a water station at about mile 45. I just couldn't bring myself to pee in my suit. I notice that I am able to get off and back on bike fairly quick. I thought my back would have been "tired/stiff", not at all. But I did notice that my groin and butt were killing me. Lots of bumpy roads, only to get worse as you get back into the city limits of Racine. Meh, there's a bag of peas in the freezer at home. Approaching transition is the 100 yd downhill and it was tough to stop. Unclip feet and hang my legs off the side shaking them to break up any acids that built up on the bike to get me prepped to run. Friends trying to get quick pix but they weren't fast enough. I got confused and almost stopped to pose, but then they told me to GO GO GO. LOL...

T2 (3:55):
Running with the bike thru what seemed forever thru transition. Again, I am racked furthest away from bike start/end. and the lanes were tight. I get stopped a few times. Lots of "Sorry's". Meh, in no hurry. Get to my rack, the bike next to mine is in my space. I try and move it and it drops on the ground. SRSLY!. Put mine in and pick up his bike and rack it. Then my bike falls out. Luckilly mine was against the divider poles so I leave it. It is propped up good and wont move. Helmet off and throw on seat - it falls off, kicking off shoes, forgot a change of socks. Cannot get bike gloves off. Fidgit with the gloves for a minute. Grab race belt with number, eat kiwi, take some swigs of G2 and off I go toward the run-out. Run-out is near and I get out fairly quick. Notice quads are both burning. Uh oh, did I push to hard on bike hills? 20 MPH was goal, almost 20 3/4 avg. Thought about calling coach Egg, but knew I couldn't. Ignore burn as much as I can.

Run (1:50:08) (Goal 1:45)
It is a double out and back, so split into just over 3 mile legs. Support for me everywhere at the beginning. Friends from run club right at the start, family and friends on hill a half mile ahead. Notice my quads are getting tighter and I approach the first hill from beach area to the route. I decide to walk up it for about 150 feet then start in on the run. At the top of the hill my family and friends are a huge crowd. Big cheers, so I start off kinda fast pace (740s the first three miles) with the burst of their cheers. They see I am feeling good. People running next to me notice I have a lot of support and say something to me ("Boy you have a lot of support"). I tell them to use it as much as they want. One of them, I notice, stays pretty close most the race. Hit the first 3 mile mark in 23 minutes (a bit too fast there), so decide to hit the water stop and fill up shirt with ice and take sponges and cool down. Eat an orange and 1/2 banana. Was going to try the cola, but never did that before. I wondered why I didn't see more of my other buds doing the HIM on the run yet. I rub and punch my quads and they start to feel better. Back toward the finish/turnaround I run into a run club gal. She's on her last lap of run and is 1/2 mile away from finish. I say "hey", and she says back "pull me in before I puke". I tell her "then lets go". She's a multiple IM and very strong, obv, because she then blows ahead. so much for my help!
I saw family and friends one more time before the turnaround and hill. Comming back around, I decide to walk up hill again. Then run again and there is my family one more time till the finish gate. Started to feel that "marathon-like tiredness, humidity tiredness". Then I hear someone say "Dig deep". Not to me, but it helps a little. Cannot remember much but the heat, so just tried to stay hydrated. No more eating as my stomach feels a little bit tight. About half way out they are letting cars for locals go thru. A lady in a black excursion pulls out in front of a few of us. I am now in the left lane of run traffic and people running toward me, and there is a frikin black buss with a big black woman in the driver seat giving ME a look of "WTF you doing boy"? I pick up the pace and get in front of her, then slow down. If she beeps my fist is going in the hood. Lucky imo. Gives me another jolt of energy. Laugh it off in a few blocks when she's gone. At turn around walk thru H2O station again, grab a few oranges and down them for the last 5K. Half mile to go I see a run club buddy. I am walking up a hill out the zoo exit and he's holding up camera. Well, I cannot be seen walking so it gives me that last push. run till the end I say. It is pix # 3 above - there was a team of three people in front of me were holding me back. i couldn't pass them in the run path and spectators . Meh. Big smile and finish is near I think to myself. In the finish gate lots of people cheering, I see my familiy and friends all in a line ahead holding out for a high five. I don't feel the need to pick up the pace to finish strong, I am finishing either way. High fives all around then my name announces. Cross finish line and felt like an asthma attack was comming on, but another buddy (the one who ripped of wetsuit) at the finish line with a water for me. That cooled me down. Start to really feel quads burning so off to the food and ice tent.


5:47:21 T - VERY VERY happy with that!
Post race weight 145.7#s
I don't ask for trouble, somehow it always finds me


Edited by t-royboy 2013-07-25 12:40 PM

Sorry I didn't know there was a HIM Tracker. Dang! I was #1455.

http://www.actuarialoutpost.com/actuarial_discussion_forum/picture....

http://www.actuarialoutpost.com/actuarial_discussion_forum/picture....

http://www.actuarialoutpost.com/actuarial_discussion_forum/picture....

Great race report KC. I am still a little scurred of the swim myself. PP Oly I did the back stroke entire first 1200m cause I got anxious.
Congrats Tim and all the rest who had races! This team sure did help.

Edited by t-royboy 2013-07-24 3:08 PM

Simone,

Potentially, I may be interested. I have targetted 2015 as my first IM. I need to do some more research and finish this tri-season, before making a decision.

Todd

Sounds like a good idea. I am planning for my first IM in 2015. I'll have to look into it.

Troy - Very complete and great race report. I enjoyed reading it. Way to gut it our on the swim. It was definitely a mental challenge as well as a physical challenge. I am wondering if you have too much stuff going on in your transitions. My T1 was over 6 minutes but then I studied Craig Alexander from last years race and cut out almost everything and it was so much quicker and less stressful. I had my shoes clipped in, helmet with sunglasses inside sitting on the ground and my Hammer gel flask next to it. I was in and out the fastest ever for me and it was great. I eliminated HR monitor, GPS watch, GPS race tracking belt, etc... and it was great. Great job on the race!