Left.Right.Repeat - CLoSED for the season - will reopen Jan 2013 (Page 37)

I watch all of you!!!

Amy, good job.  One question.  Did you have a proble on the bike?  I noticed one of your splits was a lot slower than the others.  I was just curious.

Very proud of you!

I'll be racing IMAZ this year, but I can really only handle one IM every other year at most, so no IM for me in 2013.  However, I could probably be convinced to come back in 2013 as a sherpa!

Amy was absolutely amazing!! got to see her and hug her quite a few times and got to run last .3 miles or so with her (ahem, on the sidewalk, so i was just out for a run, in flip flops hehehe) to the finish chute.  I had to fight back happy tears every time I saw her, and I swear, after I saw her finish, I thought she had stopped and freshened up her make up at mile 25 or smth-the woman looked fresh as a daisy after racing for 16 hours!!!!  And so gracious and smiley and just amazing! SUCH an honor to have had the chance to support you, Amy!!!

We WILL race together!

Be back with photo report later on.

My oldest one started First Grade today (*sob!*) and little one is in preschool, so I have a couple of hours of ME ALONE time.  I need to enjoy that right now hehehe

Ok, people! Here are some pics from the amazing Ironman Wisconsin!

The whole setup was weird and awesome.   T1 was on rooftops:

We estimated that the cost being $2500-10000, there was approximately $15-18 million worth of bikes parked. Whoa.

After the athletes came out of the water, they had to run UP the park garage ramp to the roof top, get the bike, then bike down the second ramp to the bike course.  Bizarre.  But kind of cool, too.

We got to meet Amy the night before at her hotel and it was so nice to put the name to the face!! She is the sweetest lady and seemed completely unfazed by the upcoming Extreme Fun the following day.  We were at the start early, but never did find Amy before she went into the water. 

I have to say, I was impressed that even though the swim start area was fairly small, they managed to get 3000 people into the water by the time the gun went off at 7 am (promptly).  And then it was like a washing machine!  Complete spine chilling view:

After they came out of the water, the strippers were there to help them out of the wetsuits:

We went up the ramp and were watching for Amy and several other people that my friend Nancy and I knew.  I looked and look who's running!! Sorry only got the back shot, Amy came out of nowhere and I started yelling for her like crazy heheh:

Now that I know how the whole thing works, next time I will run with the athlete all the way to the transition.  We tried to catch Amy before she went on the bike, but weren't able to, and her tracker wasn't working right in the beginning, so we weren't able to connect.

We volunteered at Run Aid Station 2 from 3 to 7 pm and it was a completely cool experience.  Tried our best to put humor out there and make the athletes smile as they went on... Love that Ironman prints first names on the bibs, I was able to call so many runners by name!  I certainly appreciate it when I'm the one running, and I think a lot of people appreciated personal attention as I handed them "the best water on the course, and with free refills today!".

Again, didn't think it'd be possible, but saw Amy!!!!! Hugged her as tight as I could and she was off on her way! Right before then, her tracker was stuck on 111.2 miles for a while.... I was obsessively tracking people on IronTrac (thanks for that tip during Kat's race, Bryan!!) and MyAthlete.  Ironman updates retartedly slow, so we never knew where anyone really was, and Amy was the only one with live tracking, and hers was malfunctioning (I think you should ask for a refund, girl!).  Anyway, I kept checking and for like 10 minutes, it was stuck on 111.2 and I thought, "oh no.." and I see her tracker moved to run, and shortly after, here she comes!!!! I was SO happy to see her!

After our shift, we walked up the course a bit and I was trying to figure out the map, and couldn't! everything was completely off on the printed map, and we couldn't figure out how many laps people were running.  Amy was around mile 10, and we figured we were close to there and thought we'd stay a few minutes to see if she came by. It was getting dark quick and I didn't think we'd see her.. and then I see this:

It was as dark for us as it is for you in this pic, so I said, "I think that's Amy!" and we both start yelling, "AMY?????? IS THAT YOU??" and she starts waving at us and we went a little nuts again   She looked good and strong every time we saw her... "I do?" she goes lol  She was keeping a nice sub 12 pace and I told her she looked great and to keep going..

We were sitting on the Capitol steps waiting for Amy and if you walked on the road (the course), you would see waves of people coming up a slight hill and since it was dark and they were almost done with 140.6 miles, they moved as such and it kind of looked like Zombie Apocalypse.  We yelled our lungs out for people and it was absolutely amazing to see the emotions and stories on people's faces as they were on that last mile....  We finally saw Amy coming:

I asked her if I could run with her and she nodded... so we took off with her (on the sidewalk).  Note to self-do not wear flip flops while at Ironman.  It was SUCH an honor to run that last half a mile or so with you, Amy.  I kept choking back the tears and telling myself I can't break down just yet I took last couple of pictures and my phone promptly died (and those pics didn't take, apparently)... We ran with her until she entered the Finish Chute and then just watched her cross that sweet Finish Line!

Amy's family and friends were there and she was SO sweet to introduce me to everybody and we had our pic taken with her phone (i assume it was yours, Amy?).. and let me tell you, I actually thought she stopped somewhere in the last mile and put makeup on, because she looked SO GOOD after going non-stop for 16 hours!  WOW. 

CONGRATS, Amy!!! YOU ARE AN IRONMAN x 3!!!!!! So very impressed!  You are PURE AWESOME!

I know if you were on the IMKY course you would had put a smile on my face. What you were doing out there for the runners is more then what you can image. Unfortunately, we don't always say thank you at that moment but it is volunteers like yourself that helps us achieve our goal, our dreams.

The big question is did you sign up for 2013?

Thank you, Bri and IronKat I know how much a kind word or a cheer lifts me up during the race, so I try to do the same thing when volunteering...

Kat, no... I can't just yet.  I'm not there with fitness. I need a new bike.  I need to plan for money that Ironman will take... and probably most important is making sure my family is on board.  I know Damon will support me, but since it's like a 9  month commitment, I want to show him the respect and consideration of making this a family decision.  In another 3 years, I think it'll be a good time.

For now, I will continue doing 70.3s and continue to get faster.  I am very good at endurance, but need to work on speed.  Want to get my 70.3 time close to 6 hrs, which hopefully would give me a 14 hr IM projected goal, with 3 hours to spare for whatever else may happen.

So that's the plan

Amy congratulations!

Wow, we have quite a few ironpeople...

I will be catching at IMFL between 3-6pm, just got my tickets to get there and back and I am leaving too early on Sunday to sign up for next year's race.  

I am slowly getting back into the swing of training after my HIM.  I obviously do not have the drive for all of this that you have.  My goal is to do 2 HIMs next year and then maybe a full when I turn 50 in 2014....  Unless I do IMAZ with all of you next year if I can get in with the mortals when registration opens

Congratulations Amy for another Ironman finish!

My coach asked for me to write up a race report for her files and I wanted it to be detailed enough so years later I can remember the weekend.  After writing the report she asked if she could post it on her coaching website.  So......... here is a very detailed race report and Billy you are mentioned in it twice.  I even mention Amy and Billy's friend Rhonda.  http://dreambelievetri.com/articles/kathy-thuenman-you-are-an-ironman/

Thats one of the best race reports I've ever read.  congrats again on your first IM finish.

Hey all.  I've been silent for a while but I am here.  (Just sooo busy!!)I haven't posted in a while but have kept up with all the goings on.  First of all congrats to first time Ironman KTC!  You rock.  What an inspiration.  Billy, you did it again!!  So awesome.  SOme of my local tri buddies where at IMKY.  One didn't finish.  Got stopped at mile 22 on the run.  So sad for him.  (Ran out of time)  Amy, with quiet elegance, you did it again and what a treat to have amazing Lena with you.  So jealous.  My apologies to anyone I am forgetting. 

I did my last event 2 weeks ago, an Oly in the Hamptons.  Had some issues.   The swim was nice but brutal.. Got hit at least 3 times and the last time gave me a black eye.  The bike was nice, but I finally got in aero at around mile 15  and noticed my front tire was catching.  Thought I was working way too hard.  Then, my chain fell off on a down hill of all things!!  So bike time, not good.  Had a nice run.  Did 4 :1, picked up some tired women along the way and intoduced them to Galloway.  They were so grateful.  So all goals met, I finished and wasn't last, helped some people, and didn't get hurt.  (The black eye didn't hurt afterward, only at the time)

Wore a halter monitor for 24 hrs.  Did a challenging 10 mile bike, 3 mile run and 10 miles home.  Doubt it is going to show anything except Tachycardia which is so limiting!!  and frustrating!!  We'll see.  I so want to try a full but my times are too slow and I don't think I would finish.  I am planning a HIM for next year.  Plan on strength and yoga in the early off season.  Maybe that will help.

Bryan, how is your recovery going?

Hugs to all.  I will get a race report in for my race soon, I hope.

Its great to see how well most of you are doing. The recent Ironmen/women is so cool to see. One of my ex-athletes finished the wisc. ironman so exciting.

I haven't done much tri training all year and cant wait until I can get started. I have put all my eggs in the Long Beach Marathon basket and do to a dumb choose I now don't think I can reach my goal. I let somebody talk me into a basketball game and messed my ankle up. The crazy thing I have only hurt an ankle once in wrestling because my foot stuck in the mat. I missed 4 1/2 days which equaled 8 runs including a long run. Since then I just haven't been able to run the pace I needed. My father in-law died last week and its been hard to get my runs in let alone sleep or eating right. My goal was sub 3hrs now its to finish and hope to quail. for Boston again. Not sure if I want to do another one but then again thats what I said after my first one. I am going to do shorter stuff until my HIM in May.   

Has anybody else felt they had a hard time getting faster on the run after their IM? I still feel slow compared to how fast I was before it. If so what did you do?