kaburns1214 and UHCoog's Mentor Group-Closed (Page 56)

Way to gut it out, Scott. I'm sorry to hear things didn't go as planned. It happens sometimes. Take what you learned from this race and apply it to your training and you'll kill the next one!!!

What did you think of the Williamsburg race? Thoughts on the course itself? Did Rev3 put out a good product with this one?

Glad to hear you were able to meet Larkin and Hillary! That's so cool!

How was your race Jen?

Overall the race was really well run. While there was only one section of crappy road the general road condition was dry cracked asphalt and my bike has never shook so much from start to finish. I HATED the swim setup however. The Olympic buoys were too close to the half and the spotting ones the same color. Throw in murky water, a chop that kept you off balance and plenty of contact and I must have swam 1.5 not 1.2. I'm usually a dead on spotter but my goggles fogged so bad I had to stop and clear at least 5 times and really I oculd have done more. Overall Williamsburg is beautiful. I would consider doing another race down here.

Scott - I am sorry you didn't have the race you wanted. Shall we refer back to your post to me about 2 weeks ago?LOL Nah....use what went wrong today to improve for the next race. You are such a GOOD triathlete and you train so hard. It's in there....today just wasn't your day.

I love that Rev3 lets the family run down the finishers chute - I think that is AWESOME!! I hope you got some great pictures that you will share - isn't that what it's all about! I know that a huge part of my training is for my kids - to set a positive example!

And isn't Larkin such a cool dude! Glad you got to hang out with him and Hillary!

Jen - I know you have some GREAT news to share??!!

Jen's race went awesome....I'll let her tell you!!

Podium????

Yes indeed (sorry to share for you Jen).

Scott and I were in Lake Placid this weekend for a training camp. Pretty nice weekend.

Here are the pictures we took -- https://www.facebook.com/SonicEndurance?ref=hl#!/media/set/?set=a.21...

Awwww. I know you have a rough race and its been a tough ocuple of weeks for you. Chin up, take a week to relax and recover and I know you'll be back in good form for Maine.

Looks like a really fun weekend!!!!

Very cool.

Hey everyone! I dropped of the grid and took a nap. Race was crazy but awesome at the same time. Swim was nuts as B-Scott said. I am looking forward to doing this again! I will fill you all on more later. I need a bath and more bed time. Scott it was really cool to meet you and your family! Great job today on a tougher than expected course!

Larkin & Jen Congrats!

Scott - bad races suck, but try and take something away for the next one. You finished which is positive!

I had my Olympic today ... My time was pretty good for me, about a 1/2 hr better than Knoxville and Olympic PR, but I don't know if there is any point in comparing the two since they were so different. Swim was a lot of contact, and very choppy, bike was very windy and hot, run was very hot (will I get good conditions at any race this year? I would take Knoxville conditions over heat any day!). I was almost the last Olympic wave to go which meant not a lot of people on the course, which sucked AND the course running out of Gatorade towards the end which sucked. But I finished with my friend Ali who is a speedy granny who has been dealing with a foot injury and we crossed the finish together so that was really nice.

I don't know how the hell I am going to more than 2 times this in 3 weeks. This was a really hard race for me. Does everyone get this way before a big race or a first of some sort? Constant doubt?

Sorry you had a tough day, Scott, but figure this bad dress rehearsal means you're on course for a great performance when it counts. I bet we'll be hearing some happy results from you in a couple weeks. Congrats also to Larkin, Jen, and Carrie. Don't hold out on us, give us details! Looking forward to everyone's race reports.

There is something about this sport. Another friend of mine had his first triathlon today. This is a guy I knew a little bit from around the Y. He started swimming in the same Masters class back in the darkest part of February. Probably 30 pounds overweight and struggled to get to the other end of the pool. He knew how to ride a bike and of course run, but hasn't done much of either in years. Once he started, though, he didn't give up. He came to Masters regularly, and worked on running and cycling outside, and finally did the Celebrating Heroes sprint distance in Columbia MD this morning. I just looked on their results page and learned that he finished. I'm really looking forward to going to Masters tomorrow morning so I can congratulate him. I guess one of the wonderful things about triathlon is when you realize you're going to accomplish something you didn't think you could do. It's a great feeling when you have it for yourself, but also really cool to see the happiness in someone else's face when they've done it, also.

Great job everybody on the races. Really though I'm just not bummed out at all. I think I have a lot of take aways from the race and just finishing on a day where I was nowhere near my best is enough. I did a basic race report but I'll write something more extensive up for the group.

Great Job Carrie on what sounds like a tough course/day.

Very nicely said Matt. That you can truly be happy for someone else's accomplishment says a lot about you. You are a good friend. That feeling you describe - accomplishing something you didn't think you can do - is what look forward to experiencing at the end of my HIM and keeps my legs moving at the end of a painful run/ride.

Way to go willing yourself to the finish! Lots of people were complaining about the difficulty of the swim yesterday and tons of people got pulled out of the water to DNF.

Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you - hubby had a good experience with his first Oly...although the post-race REV3 issues were enough to make us insane. (Probably not so big a deal for folks doing the half - the food and the bags from T1 took multiple hours post-race to be delivered.)

Congrats to everyone on their races this weekend!

I actually felt quite wistful. This is the first year hubby is doing tris...usually I'm the one racing, not cheering (and waiting and waiting and waiting)...and I'm so jealous he got to run in with the girls. The finish chute was awesome with the family participation.

I think the story of this race really began when I made the decision to not train at all in Disney back in late April / early May. Couple that with a mistake of coming back and doing full volume week one and aggravating my ITBS which had not bothered me at all since PumpkinMan back in September. The weather and the kids schedules didn't help either. Even with the ITBS my run volume was enough for a good race. My bike volume while OK wasn't what it should have been and really what I missed the most was quality long rides. Last year going into my first half I had at least a half dozen 3 hour plus rides and up to 3.5 with a couple of those at race intensity. This year I had one.

So really going in I knew I wasn't peaking Had I trained straight through without Florida I would have hit all those things. So lesson learned. You cannot take a week off and come back and do full volume and expect your body to accept that.

Those of you who have been around the group for a while know we lost a child 3.25 years ago. In many ways training helped me survive when really I just want to die. With most things their never as good or bad as you think they'll be. With child loss it's so much worst you cannot comprehend it. Emerson passed in her sleep unexpectedly and I went to get her after a nap. Her sisters and mother were home and life will never be what it was. Our house also will never be the same. It's not a safe place where nothing can go wrong. So we've talked about moving but individually we both came to the conclusion we just have to at this point. There's just too much negitivity associated with the house. This of course isn't without sadness and guilt since it was Emmie's house. So the stress of making these decisions has been tough. My det has been absolute crap from stress eating. I cam into this race 5 pounds over what I weighed last year.

So with the prelude done as to why I knew this wasn't going to be a banner race the thing that made it worse.

I woke up race morning and the hotel bed had done my lower back no favors. My back which never bothers me was really stiff and tight. I tried but couldn't loosen it up. I packed some Advil to take just before the race. I feel asleep at 9:30 and woke up at 2:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. 5 hours is plenty though since I got 8 hours the night before. It was pouring out which had not been in the forecast. The cab picked me up at 4:30 and I was at transition at 4:40. I had my run stuff in a water proof bag and dropped it at T2 and was on the first shuttle to T1.

At T2 the rain was really coming down and there were no tents to hide under and it was a cold rain. I was freezing which is odd for VA in June. Pre-race I had a luna bar, apple, 2 bananas and 40 oz of gatorade with a Nuun tablet added to each bottle of gatorade. I got air in the tires since the bikes were left overnight at T1 and put lube on my chain. My stomach was a little off and I had to use the bathroom 4 times before the race. I found Larkin and Hillary and we hung out, did a practice swim and took pictures. When the first waves went off I sat in the shallow water and watched.

The first 150 yards of the swim were a walk before you were deep enough to swim. I paced well here as it is a lot of effort once the water gets above the knees and it stayed right there for a long time. Once in the water I hit the first buoy perfectly. I was straight on. We caught the wave ahead of us at the turn and it was a washer machine. I was just getting kicked and hit from every direction. After the turn my goggles started to fog and the traffic was really heavy with the two waves merges. I couldn't get any free space. Between the first and second buoys was where my swim went to hell. I had to clear my googles 5 times and really should have done it more. I kept spotting off of the Olympic buoys and was all over the place. Once I made the turn I was on target again since I could use the tunnel to spot on the shore. Once I got to the shallow I made a great decision and completely took off my wetsuit in the water. It was a 100 yard walk to shore and I've gotten really good at going under and taking my wetsuit off in 3 seconds. On shore it would be at least 15.

The worst part about the spotting was it cause a lot of bad body position and took a further toll on my back.

The run up to T1 is fairly flat minus this one 5 foot bump that's really steep and you have to be careful. I really don't know why I was so slow. I would have guess I was about 4 minutes not 5.5

My heart rate was spiked as I started the bike but I showed really good patience and let it come down over the first 4 miles. I have my Garmin record in 3 mile segments. The first 3 I was at 164 but the next 3 only 152 which is where I wanted to be. While not at the speed I know I can do fuly trained I was sticking to my heart rate plan and was having a decent ride through mile 24. Then my back started to seize. I was still trying to push for the next 6 miles but the level of discomfort was intense. The first 24 miles I was averaging little over 19 MPH and 152 HR. The last 32 miles I averaged 17 and change per mile and 143 HR. I get a lot of my power normally by having a good back stroke in my pedal and by being efficient and it just wasn't there for me. I did do a great job on my nutrition. I had 80 oz of gatorade with a Nuun added to each and I had 6 gels all taken at exactly the half hour marks.

T2 was my highlight. I banged in and out in rought 2.5 minutes.

I started my run thinking I wanted to play it safe with the heat and my back so I went out at 8:45 pace. First mile was fine. At about mile 1.5 the ITBS started acting up. My pace for mile two had slowed. At that point I made a conscious decision that I wasn't going to PR the race or even the run so I was going to dial it back and not risk and injury. My average HR for the entire run was only 155 and that was with the hot and humid day. I might have been able to take 2-3 minutes off my time had I pushed it but at that point I really just wanted the day to be over. I made a conscious effort to really support other athletes at that point. A lot of people who were in marginal, to be nice, shape who were doing the Olympic were really suffering with the heat so I was trying to encourage them. A guy running the half went down in serious pain with a hamstring cramp or pull and I happened to have a full cup of ice so I stopped and told him to put it on the muscle. You could tell it had a positive effect. His race was sadly over though. I walked every aid station which I usually wouldn't. Nutrition was once again very good. I had over 24 oz of gatorade, several cups of ice, two salt pills, half a banana and a gel. I saw Hillary coming up the final hill and she offered encouragement. Larkin's wave went off ten minutes before me and I knew I hadn't passed him on the bike or run so I thought oh he had just as much fun on that damn swim as I did.

When I came up to the shoot the kids were ready to run with me. Cayden carried Blake and Reese helped Avery and we all crossed together. Pretty cool. The medical tent only had one person in it which surprised me. They did have two huge ice baths in there and I asked if I could dunk. I've only done the plastic kid pools filled with ice after a race and those are cold. These were aluminum medical untils covered in rubber. I've never felt water so cold. I went to my hips and could only stay in for 30 seconds. I got out and couldn't feel from the waist down for 30 seconds. I took the towel they gave me and submerge it and threw it back over my shoulders. Then submerged my head and soaked my hat in it and it felt so good.

The system they had for getting everybody their wet and dry bags from T1 sucked. All the bags were thrown in a mass and they were picking them up and calling out numbers. One guy when I got there said he had been waiting for 20 minutes and so had a lot of others. I happened to spy some bags close to my number by the edge of the mass and then saw one of my bags and reached in and got it. Then I saw one face down and asked somebody else to flip it and sure enough it was my second bag. I got in and out in about two minutes which was a total score since the wife and kids were well done at this point.

So my take aways for this experience. Don't schedule a family vacation and a race so close together. If you have to take time off don't come back ful volume. You can't serve two masters. Anti-fog the goggles. I had never had a fogging issues but why chance it. I also should have taken the time to swim all the way out to the first buoy in practice to get a visual. You can't let life's stress affect your diet .That 5 pounds hurt. I really think I race that race in late April and I crush it. Still I'm not upset. I knew coming in I wasn't peaking at the right time. During the race I just wanted to quit so badly so many times that just finishing was enough. I read this Pro-Woman's blog a month ago about her experience at Los Cabos IM and it was her 36 IM I believe and she had been injured and was sick the day of the race and it's funny now because I so get even with her experience how finishing on that day was the victory even though her time sucked by her standards.

So where I'm at now is we are moving and I need to get my body healthy with the ITBS. So I'm going to take two weeks off just doing core work which got me right at the end of last year. I'm going to have to bag my second half. We just have too much to do to get the house on the market. Really even if we weren't moving I think I was going to have to choose a race later in the season. I'm going to see where I'm at in two weeks before deciding if I'll do a late season half in October or perhaps a marathon. I may do a couple of local sprints for fun this summer as well that I wouldn't have before because of focusing on the halfs.

If you made it through all that, you are an Ironman! Thanks.

Thanks and sorry we didn't meet. I posted about the T1 bags. What a nightmare. I know this was the inaugural but really that's something they should have worked out since I know at least one other of their races has a split transition. I did a split transition in Stamford CT Olympic and they kept all the bags on a truck. You walked up and gave your bib and they went to the bin with your stuff and retrieved it. The average wait in line was less then two minutes.

Scott, holy schit Bro, that story makes me all choked up, i could not imagine living if something like that happened to Morgan.

Way to tough out a race, it shows your fortitude, sometimes results are not all that important. Hell in the last 6 months, i have learned that racing is not all that important.

But as the journey of life continues, we get through our daily/weekly/monthly struggles and we persist.

Congrats on the great results everyone, race times really aren't all that they are cracked up to be.

Stories like this is why i missed this sport and people.

i remember my first and most hellacious experience like it was yesterday.