At 335 pounds, I couldn't put on my own shoes. I couldn't fit in restaurant booths. I made excuses to miss meetings that involved walking. At age 60, I started doing triathlons. I lost 200 pounds and qualified for the 2016 Sprint Triathlon WORLD Championship in Mexico as a member of Team USA. I still shake my head in disbelief every day. How did THAT happen!!!
Behind every triathlete, there is a crew of supporters. As my 2015 season closes, I am so grateful for everyone who helped me this year.
My coach, Brant Bahler, is amazing. When I first contacted Brant two years ago, he told me that he was “born to coach.” I believe that to be true. His nurturing and patience were exactly what I needed when we started, and as I transitioned from an exerciser, to a recreational triathlete to a competitive triathlete, Brant’s knowledge of technique and training took me to the next level. Brant saw things in me that I couldn’t even imagine and then developed a plan to get us there. He is the brains. I just do what he says. The nice thing is that in addition to having high expectations of me as an athlete, Brant also has high expectations of me as a person. And . . . he always keeps it fun and safe – even in the toughest workouts.
My husband, Brian, is my rock. His support means that I can spend countless hours training, drag into the house too tired to talk after a tough workout, spend funds on a hobby, and remove all the “fun food” from our house. When I’m discouraged, he provides a shoulder and tells me that he is proud of me. So sweet. During races, Brian serves as a Sherpa, lugging around all my tri gear, and has become a darn good videographer. I am so blessed and so grateful for his love and support.
Our sons, Mike and Andy, continue to play a huge role in my quest to get healthy and my love of triathlon. They raced side-by-side with me in the beginning, and their support means the world to me. They are the BEST sons in the entire world.
My brother, Tom, serves as my triathlon mentor. I love to “talk tri” with Tom. Tom did his first Ironman last year at age 55. What an inspiration! When I did my first Olympic distance triathlon and was having a meltdown before the race, Tom said, “You should be scared. Doing an Olympic distance is a big deal. . . But you are prepared and if will has anything to do with it, I know you will finish.” He has our father’s wisdom.
My colleagues at work - Amy, Nancy, Tina, Debbie - who have made this journey possible in so many ways. I always feel their support during the “weekend reports” segment of our Monday staff meetings when I share my latest triathlon adventures. And I’m so appreciative that we all cover for each other as needed. That means I can flex my hours to get in a bike ride before it rains or take vacation time to do long workouts on Friday afternoons. I work with the BEST group of smart, dedicated, caring and fun people who not only excel at their jobs but also make me laugh! So blessed!
The list goes on and on. Many thanks to . . .
Dave “Rip” Ripley at 51 Speed Shop, who not only provides bike fits for the best pro athletes in the country, but also helps age-groupers like me. Rip made riding my tri bike feel like lounging on the couch, and told me that I was “strong,” a word that I never would have applied to myself. To this day, when I’m struggling in a race, I think about Rip’s words, “You are strong.”
Fred Rose at Bicycle Garage who keeps my bikes mechanically fit and is wonderfully patient when I am afraid of the mechanical aspects of my bike (!).
Tom Mangia at Revolution Bike and Bean who gives me great advice with regard to my bike and gear purchases (but unfortunately, does not sell Cervelos). Tom and his family have become race-buddies as we often compete in the same races. I greatly appreciate the considerable time Tom spent riding with me this fall to help me learn how to ride two inches from the bike in front of me during a draft-legal race.
Dr. Mike LaGrange (sports medicine) who not only keeps me healthy, but also helps me understand when to push through pain and when to pull back. At age 61, everything always hurts so it’s nice to have a doctor to help me understand which pains are ok (so I can keep training) and which warrant my attention.
Dr. Wendy Corning whose patience, understanding and support with various issues related to running at age 61 after having a couple of babies has been wonderful. A cyclist herself, she understands my desire to be active while also supporting my wish to be conservative about safeguarding my health. The best! Brittney Beardon, Sports Performance Dietitian at Indiana University, who helped me transition from a weight-loss diet to a sports-performance diet, successfully building muscle while decreasing my body fat percentage.
Margie Kobow, Lisa Fulkerson, Mark Ochsner who helped me gain valuable experience with pack riding.
Sue Aquila, local business owner, 2015 USA Triathlon Long Distance AG National Champion, and three-time Kona qualifier, who graciously shares her time and expertise with the Bloomington triathlon community. Sue has also been a voice for gender-equity in triathlon especially in the area of pro athlete spots at Kona where men have 50 qualifying spots while women only have 35 qualifying spots. As a business woman, Sue has served as a role model for me, and has provided sound advice regarding the balance of family, work and training.
Adam Schaeuble at Next Generation Personal Fitness (where I still weigh-in every two weeks) who taught me the concept of food as fuel, helped me understand that obese people can (and should) exercise, provided me with a positive accountability system, taught me how to be coachable (a major mindshift), and told me the one time I fell off the weight-loss wagon, “I will not let you fail.” I truly appreciate Adam and his staff.
Kerri Hojem who somehow convinced me that going to a core cardio class would be ok, and was always there to “talk cardio” or “talk nutrition.”
Jerrilyn Kean, mother and wife, triathlete, friend, and future Ironman finisher who shares my love of triathlon.
Facebook Friends who cheer me on via Facebook and give me so much energy when the workouts are hard or I’m dying in the run at the end of a race. There’s just something about knowing that my family and friends (some who I haven’t seen for 40 years) are supporting. It keeps me going.
All the kind strangers who were there at just the right moment with just the right words. I continue to be blown away by all the kindness that has been showered upon me. The list of kind strangers is long, but as an example, thank you to the man at Lake Louisa in Clermont, Florida. He came from nowhere two days before my biggest race as I stood on the beach afraid to get in the water to do a swim workout. When his assurances that alligators would not attack me failed to calm my fears, he volunteered to stand in the water to protect me from the alligators that were in my imagination. Ignoring my objections, that kind man stood chest deep in the water for almost an hour “protecting” me from alligators while I did my swim workout and his wife waited patiently on the beach. I am simply dumbfounded by people’s kindness.
FINALLY . . .
When I think of the challenges that I have with triathlon, I realize they are first-world challenges. I am so blessed to have the love of my family and friends, clean water, enough to eat, my health, and shelter. I am blessed to have had the chance to go to school. I am blessed to live in a community that embraces freedom and is free from war. While it is just a hobby and really not important, I am blessed to be able to train for and participate in triathlons. I am thankful every moment for all that is right in my life. Thank you God!
November 7, 2015 As a introduction to this post, I need to explain that I am a proud member of USAT and use USAT's member services a LOT. I always receive prompt and cheerful responses to my questions. In addition to outstanding member services, USAT also provides well-managed national championships. USAT just seems to be an efficient and well-managed non-profit organization. When any new situation occur, there is an awkward transition period, I believe the 2014-2015 season was that awkward period as the International Triathlon Union (ITU) changed the sprint-distance triathlon from non-draft to draft-legal. While you may note some frustration in my comments, I believe that USAT is an outstanding organization. -------------------------- A year ago, I mentioned to my coach
that it would be cool to go to Worlds and maybe (emphasize maybe) I
could qualify in 2017 when I age up to the 65-69 age group. That gave
us three years to prepare. My coach said, "Why not qualify this year?"
As someone who deals with goal setting every day in my work, I talked
to my coach about how goals have to be "challenging but realistic." His position was unwavering.
A year ago, when we started preparing, that
meant that I would need to be in the top 18 at Nationals in 2015. I was 28th
in 2014. 18th certainly felt challenging, but not totally realistic. But, that
was my coach's goal, so I agreed to go for it this year. We
worked hard all year, and then in May (four months before Nationals),
USAT announced that the ITU (International Triathlon Union) had decided
to change the sprint distance race at Worlds from non-draft to
draft-legal. In a draft-legal race, people ride bikes in packs to gain
the benefits of drafting. You literally ride with your front tire two
inches behind the back tire of the bike in front of you. The problem is
this:
If one bike goes down, many bikes go down. Most people think it's too
dangerous for age groupers, especially older age groupers. In response, USAT decided to change the qualification criteria for Worlds. USAT decided to only qualify the top 8 at Nationals instead of the top 18. USAT would also add another qualifying race in Clermont, Florida that was draft legal where an additional 10 would qualify. I felt so cheated. For eight months, I had focused every aspect of my day (and night) on training to make the top 18 at Nationals. I had begun to believe that I could make the top 18, but the top 8 seemed impossible. It seemed so unfair to have us go through more than half the year training for a non-draft and then not only change the race to draft legal, but also change the qualification criteria.
But the worst part was that USAT wasn't sure which qualification criteria they were actually going to use. If ITU decided to
add a non-draft sprint, then USAT would qualify the top 18 at Nationals
(including me). If ITU did not add a non-draft race, then only 8 would
qualify from Nationals, plus 10 from a draft-legal race in Clermont. I
wasn't sure what to do. My options were to 1) move to the longer
Olympic distance race which would remain non-draft, or 2) do the
draft-legal sprint distance. My coach had mixed feelings. His
competitive side wanted me to compete in the draft-legal sprint race,
but his cautionary side made him wonder if the non-draft Olympic
distance might be better for someone racing at age 62. After talking to
a lot of people, he came to believe that a draft-legal race with
beginners would simply be a single line of bikes riding and since it
would be the first draft-legal race for almost everyone, people would
not be aggressive. What do to? I contacted everyone I knew to ask their opinion - including coaches I had never met before but "knew" of via their podcasts. Everyone said I should not participate in a draft-legal race. Their logic was rational. Why put myself in a dangerous situation? If I crashed, I might impact my entire triathlon career. But one coach, Adam Zucco, from Training Bible Podcast wrote to me and said something like, "If this is your passion, why not?" Exactly. The hardest part about the year was not knowing what the qualification criteria would be. I contacted USAT and they said they hadn't heard anything definitive from ITU. I finished 18th after the age-ups at Nationals. It was so hard to be excited because while I met my goal that I really didn't think was possible, USAT would only say that the top 10 were going to Worlds. They still didn't know if places 11-18 would be going. They said they'd know by the end of the summer, but when I called in September and again in October, they still didn't know.. To be safe, I raced at Clermont in the draft-legal race. It was not as scary as I imagined. There were a few women in the pack of eight with whom I rode that were experienced in group riding and they set the example for the rest of us by clearly announcing their moves. It was actually a lot of fun and I rode about 2.5 mph faster than I did on the course when I was not with the group. I finished 2nd at Clermont. However, there were so few people entered that almost everyone who finished qualified. It didn't feel like much of an accomplishment. All of this indecisiveness made it hard to focus in training during the year. When the training was hard and I wanted to have a focal point, I didn't know if I should focus on Nationals or Clermont. I was frustrated with USAT and ITU for not making a decision in time for the athletes to set goals accordingly. However, I knew everyone would be in the same boat of indecisiveness. I refused to let my brain think about those things and decided to focus on Nationals as my goal race. If I failed to be in the top eight at nationals, then Clermont would become a qualifying race. If I did qualify at Nationals, then Clermont would become a practice race. Mental challenges!!!
DRAFT November 7, 2015 Lake Louisa State Park Clermont, Florida
RESULTS
2 / 7 (age group)
53 / 78 (female) = Top 68% Finish Time: 1:32.59
1.14 x the first place finisher's time (1:21:49) Weather: HOT !!!!! 88oF, 70% humidity, 5 mph winds
TAPER WEEK
Brian
and I arrived in Clermont on Tuesday so we wouldn’t have two hectic days of
driving immediately prior to the race.
That gave me a chance to train on the course. We were surprised that Clermont has many
rolling hills (about 3% grades). On
Tuesday, I was supposed to do a brief swim.
When we got to Lake Louisa (3,500 acres), it was totally deserted. No laughing kids playing on the beach, no
swimmers, no boats, no lifeguards. No
one but the alligators hiding in the grass that was poking out of the water
about 25 meters from shore!
As I had
been warned, the water had the appearance of coca cola – clean and clear, but
the color of Coke – which made it even harder to see the alligators hiding in
the water! I was
heartbroken that I was too scared of the alligators to do the swim. I went into the bathroom and when I came out
there was a boat on the beach! I asked
the couple in the boat about alligators and was told, yes . . . there were
alligators in the lake but they would leave me alone. I was not convinced. Then the man surprised me by offering to
stand in the water out by the grass while I did my short workout. It crossed my mind that I had no idea what I
would do if the alligators attacked him while I was swimming. But it gave me comfort to know that I would
not be swimming alone with the alligators.
Photo: My rescuer (Greg), me, and Sue
Normally, I hate to put people out, but I really needed to do that swim workout and I knew I wouldn’t have the courage to go in a deserted lake with alligators all by myself. I accepted his offer and he patiently waited while I put on my wetsuit and did a quick warm-up on the beach. Then he stood 25 meters from shore out by the grass while I swam intervals in the lake. I was and still am so appreciative of his kindness and his generous gift of time. On
Wednesday, I practiced racing through transition and the 180 degree turn-around
(more about that in the bike section). I
was pleased that I could get through the curves in transition at 20 mph and
loved taking the curves as fast as I could safely go. On
Thursday, I did all three events (which left me feeling a frazzled since getting all the gear together
for all three events and then going through them takes so much time and energy). On
Friday, my coach (who was doing the men’s age group race and had arrived on
Thursday evening) and I did a quick bike and run workout. I spent time talking to people which probably resulted in too much sun
for the day prior to the race. We
stopped to pick up carry-out dinner for my coach (I always bring my food) and
got back to the hotel way later than we should have because the restaurant messed
up our order. Note to self:
Need to be in hotel room eating dinner at 5:00 pm on the day prior to
the race.
RACE DAY MORNING:
There
were three races on the day of my race.
The collegiate girls raced at 9:00.
My race was at 11:00. The mens’
age group race was at 2:00. Because the
bike course was on the main drive into the park, we had to be in and parked
prior to 9:00, but we couldn’t set up in transition until 10:15. We were only allowed 35 minutes in transition
to set up. My coach suggested that I put
just the things that I would leave in transition in a separate bag and take
that into transition at 10:15. Good
idea.
I didn’t write my morning schedule
until the day before the race and was still making adjustments the night before
and even the morning of the race. This
last-minute scheduling 1) got me to bed a little later than planned, 2) left me
feeling a bit out of control and panicky, 3) resulted in me mistakenly leaving
out time to go to the bathroom, and 4) resulted in me not knowing what my coach
wanted me to do for the warm-up. Not the
calm confidence that I want to feel on race morning. Note to self:
Need to dissect my coach’s race plan and put it into my words 1-2 weeks
prior to the race.
Florida
was forecasted to have near-record highs on race day. When we drove into the park at 8:15 am, it
was 76% degrees with 93% humidity. It
felt like a steam bath. I went to the
swim start to view the buoys (tiny) and then walked through transition, noting
where my bike was racked and a landmark for finding it. I noticed several other women with 60 tatooed on the back of their left
calf. They all looked really young and
really, really, really athletic. Most
had on USA triathlon uniforms. It was a
little intimidating. Then we went
back to the car and got everything ready to move to transition while sitting in
the air-conditioning. At 9:45, we moved
everything to a blanket that we placed in the shade closer to transition with
chairs and I did a run warm-up.
Transition
opened at 10:15. Because the race was a
qualifier for Worlds, they were going by many Worlds (ITU) rules. We were not allowed to put towels on the
ground because they didn’t want us to have anything that would mark our
space. We had to rack our bikes by the
handle bars at the start, but could re-rack during T2 by the seat or the
handlebars. Another difference was that
we had to wear our bib during the bike.
I decided to hang my bike helmet on one of my brake levers by one of the
helmet straps. My bib and glasses when
in the helmet. That left just two pairs
of shoes and a my race water bottle on the ground.
Next we
had to wait in line on black asphalt in the sun for our timing chips and it was
hotter than blazes. I was totally melted
before I even got my timing chip on my leg – and was drinking water bottle
after water bottle to stay hydrated.
I was following the race-morning
schedule that I had with me on paper and Brian was monitoring. At 10:45, I realized that I had left out time
to go to the bathroom. The pre-race
briefing started at 10:50.
I ran
to the bathroom with my timing chip in hand.
Luckily, the bathroom was at the beach.
As I rushed down the boardwalk that spanned the marsh, I juggled my
timing chip and almost lost into the green gook that covered the marsh. Phew!
I held it in a death grip after that.
Confusion at the Swim Start: As I came out of the bathroom, they were
starting the briefing which was horribly confusing. Earlier in the day, they had changed the
direction of the swim for the collegiate race, and suddenly it was switched
back. Everyone thought the official had
misspoken and a raucous broke out. The
official was quite short with everyone, stating that she didn’t have time to
explain. What! Everyone is confused and you don’t have time
to explain!?! They had also added a buoy
at the start to keep swimmers out of the weeds.
The official said that we had to swim through the buoys nearest the
shore on the way out, but didn’t mention the way back. When I asked the question, the official said,
“I already explained that.” But everyone
around me agreed that she had not. And
then we got a very confusing answer about keeping all the buoys on your
left. But when you swim through buoys,
one has to be on your right. Someone
tried to clarify by asking if on the way back, you swam between the buoy and
the grass. Then I tried to clarify, “So
at the finish, there will be two orange buoys on your left, correct?” We were still confused when the briefing
ended. Later, after the briefing when some
people were perhaps not present, the official announced that on the way back we
should swim between the buoy and the grass, but I wasn’t sure that everyone
heard her. I later learned that one poor
woman was DQ-ed because she swam on the wrong side of the buoys.
My plan
was to do my swim warm-up during the 15 minutes between Wave A and Wave B. Someone had specifically asked if that would
be possible during the briefing the day before and got a yes answer. But the official at the swim start would not
let us get into the water after Wave A.
When I explained that someone had asked that question during the
briefing the day before, the official told me that she didn’t hear that
question. She asked me, “Why didn’t you
warm up prior to Wave A?” I told her,
“Because I was told that I could warm up after Wave A.” She would not let me get in the water.
About
that time, my coach arrived. He gave me
his water bottle and told me to squirt it under my cap. That not only cooled my body, it calmed my
nerves. Kind of.
I did
not feel my normal pre-race calm.
Immediately prior to a race, I like to go within myself and have a few
minutes of mental solitude among all the craziness around me. I think that had to do with the last-minute
development of my morning race schedule.
I just did not feel centered. I
did take a few seconds to look out across the water, but it was not with the
normal calmness and resolve that I normally feel at the race start. I felt chaotic.
SWIM
(non-wetsuit)
Looking a little unsettled!
Trying to get into game mode.
Garmin Data:
Swim data was posted by the race organizer but then removed from their
website.
2nd in AG
2:21 / 100 m – Garmin (for the
portion where there was cadence)
2:26 / 100 m – Official
Ave Cadence = 31
Start:
The 78 women were split into two waves.
The first wave had 53 women from ages 15-49. The second wave had 25 women from ages 51 to
77. I’m sure that the uneven split was
done to 1) put more of the younger and presumably faster women together so they
could draft and 2) create a safer environment for the older women. But, I really would rather have been with the
younger women for drafting purposes on the bike. After much confusion and conflicting
instructions about the direction of our swim and which side of the start /
finish buoys we were to swim, we lined up in the sand and the horn sounded.
Per my coach’s instructions, I lined up a little to the right of middle
in the front. When the horn sounded, I
took off but being a slower runner, several women were in front of me when we
got to the water. But in the water, I
made up the distance by high-kneeing and kicking my heels to the sides. Then I dolphin-dived and caught almost all of
the women who had passed me on the run into the water.
The swim quickly spread out, probably due to some of the women entering
slowly while others charged in. My
instructions were to go out hard for the first 25-50 meters so I did with what
seemed like a quick stroke and a big kick.
My coach also wanted me to look for a draft ASAP so instead of sighting
on the buoy, I looked for green caps. I
found one swimmer who was about 10 feet in front of me and tried to reach her
but was struggling to do so. Then I
realized that I had swum quite a distance without sighting the first buoy. When found the buoy, I realized the woman I
was following was swimming off course so I just started heading toward the
buoy.
Main Swim: After the morning heat, the run down the
beach, the quick start and trying to catch a draft, I was pretty tired. I settled into a strong stroke but I sensed
that my cadence was not quite as quick as normal. There were a lot of women in front of me
which kind of freaked me out. I just
tried to keep a strong stroke.
At this point in the race, I always start thinking about form (head
down, pull to hip), but I noted that I wasn’t focusing for some reason. I was just trying to keep my stroke
strong. I also noted that my tri shorts
were too loose and I could feel the drag as the water went down the back of my
shorts. This was the first race I did all season without a
wetsuit. I should have checked to make
sure my tri suit still worked in the water without a wet suit - especially since
I am 35 pounds lighter than I was at the end of the 2014 season.
I caught the woman in front of me right after we passed the second buoy. I was pleased to get a good draft this time
and was swimming in her bubbles. I sensed
that the effort was a little easier. But
more than that, it was just fun to swim through a bunch of tiny little bubbles! LOL! I
followed her for about 100 meters but then she was swimming off course too so I
left her.
Exit: Per my plan, I swam as far up the beach
as I could before standing in water that was less than knee deep. I ran up the boardwalk with no one in front
of me. When I turned the corner, I
looked back. There was no one running
behind me. I would not be starting the
bike in a group as my coach had hoped.
T1
Data Not Provided by Race Organizer
T1 was a 0.2 mile run on a wood boardwalk (with nail heads sticking up)
and concrete. I think I ran pretty fast
but fast in normal weather and fast in heat are two different things. I passed no one. No one passed me. I was pretty much alone. When I got to the bike racks, it looked like
all of the bikes in my age group were still there. Good.
No problem with transition. As I
was running out, another person in my age group arrived at her bike.
Bike
Data Not Provided by Race Organizer
Garmin Data:
Lap
Splits by COURSE LAPS
HEART RATE
SPEED
WATTS
CADENCE
TARGET
ACTUAL
TARGET
ACTUAL
TARGET
ACTUAL
TARGET
ACTUAL
Lap
1
140
144
20-21
20.1
185
167
92
91
Lap
2 (in pack)
140
146
20-21
21.7
185
167
92
92
Lap
3
140
146
20-21
19.5
185
163
92
92
Lap
4
140
142
20-21
19.0
185
150
92
94
Lap
Splits by HALF MILES
My heart rate was 144 when I got on the bike, but I didn’t know it at
that point.
Bike Course: The bike course consisted of 4 laps
including racing through transition.
There was a row of cones down the middle of transition. People running in and out of transition were
on one side while speeding bikers were on the other. It sounded horribly dangerous on paper but it
worked rather well.
Mount: I ran with my bike shoes on my feet to
the other end of transition, ran well past the mount line and got on the
bike. The next challenge was to merge
with bike traffic. The officials were
doing a GREAT job of yelling and blowing a whistle when bikes were coming through
transition so I knew it was safe to enter the bike lane. The route out of the transition area was a
series of short S turns. After I had
ridden around one or two curves and was getting up to speed, someone passed me
and I heard my coach yell, “Catch her!!!”
He sounded excited which excited me!
Lap 1: My mission for the first lap was to catch
the person that my coach told me to catch.
I was closing the space between us but ever so slowly. I wondered if my watts and/or heart rate were
above the limits that my coach had set but when I went to check, my bike
computer had somehow gotten on a weird screen and I had to try to adjust the screens
while pedaling my legs off to catch that woman.
When I finally got the right screen, there were no readings for watts or
heart rate!! Shoot. I turned the computer off and on. Still no readings. Luckily, I did have a speed reading and was
going just over 20 mph which is where we thought I’d be so I continued to
push. Shortly after the turnaround,
I remembered that I could see watts on
my Garmin watch. I checked and did see
both HR and watts displayed. Watts were
high, but not too high.
End of Lap 1: Toward the end of my first lap, a
well-established group of eight40-year-olds from the first wave
passed me and I caught them. Bingo! Just like my coach told me to do. I loved it!
The women were working as a team and communicating well. Women pointed out slow riders that we were
passing or when they were changing positions in the group. However, they sometimes weren’t rotating in a
way that made sense. Sometimes, the lead
rider slid out to the left and then slowed like I expected while we passed on
the right. But other times, the lead
rider would yell and then slow down without sliding over to the left. That forced someone to pass the leader on the
leader’s left to take the lead. No
sudden moves were made, though, and it felt safe.
I just followed the bike in front of me for the most part, but at one
point, I found myself on the left slightly ahead of the fourth bike. She had allowed a 3-4 foot gap between her
and the third bike. I yelled, “COMING
IN,” and slowly moved to the right. I
was the fourth bike! Not the third
position where my coach wanted me to be, but close enough.
We were going around 22 mph and for the most part, it was easy. I had to stop pedaling several times to keep
from running into the person in front of me.
But it wasn’t always easy. At strange
times, the leaders would speed up and I’d have to pedal pretty hard to keep
up. But I knew I had to or I’d get spit
out the back. At some point, my bike
computer started showing HR and watts again (go figure). My HR was too high. My cap was 140 and I was showing
144-147. But it felt manageable for the
entire race and I hoped that the speed in the pack was worth it. I just couldn’t imagine dropping out of that
pack.
It was really, really cool coming into transition for the first time
with that pack. I heard the PA announcer
say that a big group of well-organized riders were coming into transition and
that we were all working really well together.
The group slowed just a little and we all put more space between each
other’s wheels and got into single file.
Like my coach said, it just happened naturally. We whizzed around the first three S curves
and as we entered the straight through transition, we accelerated (I
stood). The we took the second set of
four S curves.
I knew my coach was standing in the middle of the second set of S
curves and I couldn’t wait for him to see that I was fourth in a pack of
eight. He had worked so hard to teach me
what to do in a pack and answered all of my million questions about every possible
scenario that I could think of. The time
and effort that he invested not only helped me know what to do, but just as
important, gave me the courage to execute what he taught me during the race. As I passed him, I heard him yell in a voice
that sounded excited, “Good job Sue.
Right there, Sue! Stay right
there!! Good work!!!” I don’t think I have ever been happier or
prouder. I wanted to yell back, “It’s
working, Coach! You’re a genious!”
Lap 2: As we started my second lap, I heard several
of the women yell, “Last lap!” and realized that I was riding with a pack from
the first wave. Shoot. If we had all started the swim together
instead of in two waves, I could have possibly ridden with them for all four
laps instead of just one and a half. Oh
well.
The second lap was a blast. I
made it my goal to stay 2 inches behind and 2 inches to the left of the bike in
front of me. It was easy to do when we
were on a straighter part of the road. I
stuck to that tire like glue. But in the
turns, I back up a little (maybe two feet).
Just not quite brave enough to go around a sharp turn at 2 inches.
I did note that when coming out of the turns, I had to accelerate to
keep up with the group. I think I only
stood coming out of the first set of S turns in transition and at the 180
degree turn-around. The other times, I
just hammered my quads.
I worried that I’d not be able to keep up when the group rode up the
hill before the turnaround, but they actually rode slower than I would have
ridden. The turnaround was no
problem. As my coach said would happen,
we all just somehow got into a single file line and took a fast but safe turn
around the cone. There was a lot of comradery. It was like we were all best friends wanting
to help each other. I found myself
shouting back warnings that the lead rider gave and pointing out things we
needed to be cautious of (mainly slower bikers). It was just super, super cool.
My coach instructed me not to lead.
I hoped that they all saw the 60 on the back of my calf and were
tolerant of me not leading. However, if
I had been them, that 60 would not have made a bit of difference. If someone is going to benefit from the pack,
they need to contribute to the pack, regardless of their age. Toward the end of the lap, I was considering taking a 30” pull (limit
set by my coach) but suddenly, the two riders in front started taking off their
shoes and slowing down. I wouldn’t have
minded taking a short turn, but I had not really practiced that scenario. I knew what to do (pull to the left and slow
down), but wasn’t confident about my ability to communicate my intentions.
As I finished lap 2, the women in the pack started taking off their
shoes. As I pulled to the left and
passed the two in front of me (I was third at that point), I yelled, “Good
luck!” and sped through transition.
Laps 3 and 4: I didn’t find anyone else to draft with
during the last two laps. I passed a bunch
of people but they were going way to slow.
One person I passed yelled, “I’m on your back wheel” as I rode
past. But I was going too fast for her
to keep up.
Without all the people around me, I had more time to look at my watts
and HR. My watts were low – 160 (185
target). But my HR was too high – 148
(140 cap). Yikes! I tried to slow a little and way able to
bring my HR to 145. I decided to just
keep up that effort – and hoped that I wasn’t sacrificing my run. I also really worked to get fluids in. I drank much more than normal (about 12
ounces), but probably not enough. The
volunteers at the turn-around were yelling to everyone to hydrate. I also totally forgot to eat my Shot Bloks!
Dismount:
As I approached the place where I planned to take off my shoes, there
was a somewhat fast bike in front of me.
I decided that I wanted to be in front of her when we dismounted so I
could do a flying dismount without having to worry about where she was, so I
sped up and passed her. I yelled
“Passing Left” as I approached. She
yelled back, “You got it.”
I took off my shoes where we planned.
Or at least I tried to. My right
foot came out fine. But, my timing strap
had become attached to the Velcro on my left shoe. When I tried to take my foot out of my shoe, I
found that my ankle was tethering my bike!
Here’s a picture of me trying to un-teather myself! The bike behind me probably wondered what the
heck I was doing as I pulled my left leg away from my bike and started shaking
it! Luckily, I got untethered, but I was
trailing a six-inch section of timing strap from my ankle, and I was afraid the
entire thing was going to come off! I
raced around the curves to the dismount line and hit the ground running.
Unfortunately, the race results do not show any bike times so I’m not able
to compare my bike time to the other women.
That would have been interesting.
All in all, I have to say that this bike was one of the most fun things
I’ve ever done in my life.
T2
Data Not Provided by Race Organizer
In T2, I quickly racked my bike, took off my helmet and googles, and
changed shoes. Then I tried to quickly
figure out what was going on with my timing strap. It seemed that it was still attached securely,
but the extra strap that was underneath the attached part of the strap had just
unwoven. I stuffed it under the attached
strap and took off. I hoped I wouldn’t
be tripping on a timing chip strap during the run.
Run
Data Not Provided by Race Organizer
HEART RATE
PACE
TARGET
ACTUAL
TARGET
ACTUAL
1:00
149
9:45
10:27
3:00
155
149
9:20 *
10:29
5:00
155
150
9:20 *
10:32
Top
of hill
155
158
9:20 *
10:48
2.5
miles
155
160
9:20 *
10:25
Last
½ Mile
Delayed to last 1/3 mi
n/a
163
(ave)
Sub 9:00
9:35
Finish
155
168
Sub 9:00
9:06
* or
better with a 155 HR
When I started the run, the temperature was 88 degrees with 70%-ish
humidity and virtually no wind. It was HOT. As we came out of transition, we approached a
water station. I dumped a glass of water
over my head, and then reached for another but the volunteer couldn’t get it in
my hand. As I past, he dumped it on my head. I can’t express how grateful I was for that
extra glass of cool water over my head!
Thank you volunteer!!!
My HR at the start of the run was 149.
I was supposed to run 9:45 for the first minute and then build my HR to
155 (bottom of z5) within the first 3-5 minutes which my coach thought would
give me a 9:20 pace or better.
I wasn’t getting to 9:45 in the first minute. I’m not sure if that was because of the heat
or the bike or both. It just wasn’t
happening. So, my goal was to just to
keep my cadence consistent and hope that I got a second wind after the first
3-5 minutes like I often do. The second
wind didn’t come – so I just tried to keep my feet moving and hoped that the
second wind would come later.
At three minutes and five minutes, I tried to push my HR to 155, but I
didn’t feel like I could sustain that effort for 3 miles so I settled on a 150
HR. I don’t know if that was a smart
decision or a wimpy decision. I kept
remembering my coach saying, “You got this!” when I ran out of transition and I
hoped that meant that I just had to survive the run to make it to Worlds.
I started getting the sharp pain that comes under my lower ribs, only
this time, it was on both sides. I
wondered if it was because I had drunk so much water. I continued to just work on keeping my
cadence consistent. Somewhere along the
way, I burped (ha) and then it didn’t hurt so much.
Although my pace stayed the same, my HR drifted to 155 by the half way
point and continued to climb to the end of the race.
No one passed me the entire run.
I started checking the left calves of everyone going the other way and
didn’t see any 60’s. That was good.
As I approached the 3% grade hill prior to the turnaround, I was
grateful that I had run lots of hill repeats while preparing for the Muncie
Olympic Triathlon in 2014. I shortened
my stride length and kept running. As I
approached the hill, I I noted several women walking down the hill going the
other way.
At the turn around, I yelled ahead, “Two waters!!” The volunteers rushed to get a second water
ready for me and I was able to get them both and pour them over my head. The coolness of that was absolutely
wonderful. Thank you volunteers!
Once I was around the turnaround, I passed a woman going the other way
who had a 60 on her calf. Darn. She was maybe 200 meters behind me. I was going downhill and sped up a little,
but that seemed to send my HR too close to 160 which to me said “danger” since
I was only at the half-way point. I
slowed down and hoped that the woman behind me was also struggling or maybe
walking. I was only going
10:15-ish. There was a good chance
should would catch me.
I was supposed to increase my HR and pace at 2.5 miles. I told myself that it would be the same as
doing an 800 on the track when I was already exhausted from all of the previous
intervals. I was mentally ready to hit
the last half mile. But at 2.5 miles,
the slope was uphill. I decided to wait
until the top of the hill at 2.8 miles before trying to accelerate.
At the top of the hill, I increased my speed to around 9:30. I could hear the music at the finish line. What a sweet sound. I glanced around my shoulder to see if that
woman with 60 on her calf was catching me.
Someone saw me do that and yelled, “No one’s behind you. Finish strong!” Even though I did not see that woman behind
me and was told that there was no one behind me, I wanted to run the end of the
race as though she was there – just in case.
I ran as fast as I could. Then I
could see the finish line. Then I could
hear my coach yelling, “Suuuuuuue!” I
“sprinted” the last 100 meters and crossed the finish line at 8:54.
Finish Line
Post Finish Line: Once again, I wanted to collapse at the
finish line. I bent over but knew that I
had to keep walking or the volunteers would be all over me. Even so, a person ran up and asked if I
needed a medic. I shook my head. Then my coach was there with a steady hand on
my arm. They asked him if I needed a
medic and he said something like, “No, she just gives it everything she has,”
or something like that. Felt kind of
proud at that moment. Pooped but
proud. I found a chair and sat. Brian arrived with ice and we stuffed it
everywhere – in my bra, down the back of my shorts. Then Brian started rubbing ice all over my
arms which felt wonderful.
My coach said he thought I was second.
Cool. I asked him if I had made
the time cut for Worlds and he told me not to worry about that now. How could I not worry about that now? That was the entire reason I was in Florida. I asked him what the first place finisher’s
time was and then did the math to determine if my finish time were within 30%
of the first place finisher’s time. I
didn’t think I made it. I wanted to cry
but quickly came to terms with not qualifying.
I knew I had done my best. I had
no regrets. It was what was. What I wanted to do at that point was cheer
for my coach whose race would start in a few minutes.
Post
Race
I made it !!! Team USA
!!! Cozumel !!!
When we were waiting for my coach’s race to begin, I ran into Carol
Hassel, the amazing woman who
finished first at Worlds this year. She
told me that the results were up and that I was second and had qualified for
Worlds! I couldn’t believe it. She told me her finish time and my finish
time. I quickly did the math. I MADE IT!!!
I was so excited that I started jumping up and down – and then ran to
find the posted results so I could see for myself.
When I saw the posted results, I saw that Carol was right. I couldn’t believe it. I asked another woman to confirm what I was
seeing. She did. Simply amazing! As I walked away, I threw my arms up in the
air in victory and then started crying.
I did it!
AWARDS CEREMONY
The awards ceremony was fun! I
met another one of my triathlon heros, Laurita Samuals, while we waited to
receive our awards. She had finished
third. It seemed so surreal to be waiting
to climb the podium with her after following her races for the past two
years. As I walked to the podium, I was
surprised to find myself raising my forearms and shaking two fists. Yes!
