CANCUN 70.3



Finishing Cancun 70.3 2010



6:40:35

SWIM  :51

Absolutely beautiful bay swim, a few big waves and a few fish- did not push myself at all on the swim as you can tell by my time. I totally loved it.

BIKE  3:18
Flat course, windy on way back which decreased my avg speed. My nutrition worked well except I broke up my bars & mixed in baggie w/ sports beans & shot blocks. The heat melted everything together. My hands got really messy & slippery causing me to drop my perpetuem fuel bottle at mile 6 :( I had hammer gel & other stuff so I was fine without it. I will open my bars prerace but leave it all in original packaging next time. Also, I will do more speed work next time on trainer if the course is flat.

RUN 2:18

Very HOT & HUMID run. I walked every water stop & poured water on my head & ran with ice in my hands.  It was the hottest 13 miles of my life.  My hands were swollen and my skin was dry because of the wind & sun drying my sweat immedialtely. 
I am pleased that I never stopped during the entire Half Ironman!

Countdown 8..7..6..

It's FRIDAY, one week from today we will be on a plane to Cancun.  Today is the first REST DAY I've had in a while.  I'm not sure what to do with that. :)   It's been a long journey of training both mentally & physically as I've said before.  Today I'm reflecting on the past months of training.  Reflecting about all that I have learned as well as how I have changed as an athlete and a person. This phrase comes to mind "Patience Grasshopper"; I have been tested many times to slow down and follow the plan. I have learned to 'Trust the Training" for sure- to slow down when the training calls for it even though you feel like going fast, to rest when it's time even if you feel like working out (no cheating), to eat when you're not hungry because your body needs fuel, to know mentally that you are strong even when your body aches....Trust the Training! 
Today is list day. I am tweaking my plans; race plans, travel plans, nutrition plans, packing plans, and after race plans! You'll see all my plans soon!
Happy Tri-ing

Taper Time

Two weeks from today we will be on a plane to Cancun!  It has been such an adventure to this point and I'm so excited to celebrate months of training by actually doing the event!  I'm trying not to call it a race since, I'm told, you don't 'race' an edurance event. Whatever you want to call it, it's gonna be awesome! 

Plans are in place: 

Weekend itinerary is set & btw it is very busy couple of days before the race.  Plan includes, touring bike course in vehicle, practicing swim course, expo, meetings,  bike check in and transition area set up night before, body marking night before,  pre race pasta dinner....so much excitement.

Race plan is in place as well.  I have detailed my goals, my nutrition, and my gear checklist.  It puts a different spin on everything since we have to pack everything for flight. 

Race numbers are obtained for tracking during the race:  

Rhonda Pearsall  #258
Holly Hair #321
Susan Lynell Harber #118

Happy Tri-ing

Bike/ Run Brick & Tree Swing

Lynell and Me

climbing tree

3 hour Bike and 30 minute Run on schedule for this weekend.  Started  later than normal so  it was super hot the entire way,  Enduralytes & Salt tabs helped with that though.  Rested under the most awesome shade tree ever. It was decided that it would be a great climbing tree.  About half way through the ride, Holly, this time gets stung by a bee- OUCH- right in the middle of the forehead! What is up with all the bees?!?  There is maybe an inch of space between your helmet and your sunglasses, what are the odds?? We are about 5 miles from the end of our ride when we pass the BIGGEST & COOLEST tire swing ever.  Of course, we had to turn around for a pic!

Lynell and Holly

70 Mile Adventure Ride

I just realized that I forgot to tell you about the adventures on my longest ride!  It was about a month ago on a  Sat morning B Ride with the RB Cyclery Group.  Lynell and I were pumped up to do the 70 mile route. The first half was an awesome ride in the country.  The second half started out with a flat on Lynell's bike.  Rod, the owner of RB's, was the leader of the ride and was able to fix the flat pronto!  About 10 miles later the 2nd flat on her bike got everyone a little discouraged.  Seemed the tire was fine but not sure what kept happening to the tubes.   At this point, we are cruising along at a good speed when a bee gets trapped under my sunglasses and stings my eyelid not once, but twice. I am so lucky I didn't wreck or cry.  For that matter, I didn't even stop!  I figured there was nothing that could be done at that point since I'm not allergic.  It felt like getting a shot in my eyelid......ohhhh, did it burn for about an hour.  So at the next stop we ice my eye and change Lynell's 3rd flat of the day.  Are we done yet.... seems lots of drama has got us behind schedule and the heat is really increasing quickly.  We have about 10 miles to go when the 4th flat occurs on Lynell's bike, we have used all spare tubes & cartridges from everyone at this point.  Finally, Rod borrows someone's reading glasses to really check the tire & found a tiny piece of glass.(who would have thot you'd need reading glasses on a ride).  Once the glass was extracted ...you got it...no more flats!.  (Lynell has since purchased a new tire as well)!!!  As for my eye, it got worse the next couple days so I wound up getting a shot, antibiotic, and steroids which quickly healed it, Thank God!!!

34 days to go...*heart skips a beat*

Gotta EARN it!!

My Half Ironman seems to be rapidly approaching...almost too rapidly. 5 weeks from today :)  Things have been really busy with the beginning of a new school year making time seem to go faster.  I have had only 1 rest day in the month of August and I'm beginning to feel it.  I seem to be living workout to workout with sleep and eat breaks in between!  I have named this the "Wet Summer"  between swimming, sweating, and so many showers, I have been wet all summer.
The heat has been miserable this summer with record highs.  I have been trying to keep my endurance workouts in zone 2 but it is really difficult with the heat & humidity.  I have not raced since Mighty Mite (July) and I'm getting a little antsy.  Not that an endurance event needs to be 'raced', but I am excited to experience the race environment in Cancun. 
I am working on making my race plan which includes nutrition and the logistics of getting my gear to the race site.  My bike and I have been bonding really well lately, she has been a faithful training partner. 
I have just realized that after the Half Ironman I will have 7 weeks to train for the New York City Marathon.  Yikes...I was thinking I had longer....well, guess I'll need to be ready to bump up my runs.
I'm excited to hear about my friend Jenifer's first 70.3 coming up in 2 weeks in Utah- I have learned so much from other people during this process. Thanks to all my Tri-mates for sharing your adventures with me.
Say some prayers for me & my 'Ironmates' as we enter the final weeks of our journey!

Let's Catch Up...

"Biker Chick"

The summer has taken a toll on my blogging. Pool rotation to let the kids swim has occupied my days and workouts have taken up the evenings.  The weekends have been a blur with long bikes & long runs.  I'll recap briefly what you've missed in regard to my 'Tri-Training.':)

Training:

Bike:
RB Cyclery weekly 'rides with the boys' (my name for it) it's a drop ride which is a 35 mile 'fast' ride.  There are a couple girls (Melanie & Toni) along w/ Lynell & I- we do our best to keep up then we get dropped & do our own ride...sometimes we get lapped near the end of the ride!  Good times!  Hopefully it has helped us dig deeper though.

Open Water Swim:
I am very thankful for the 'volunteer' family that live on Garner Lake.  They have opened their home & lake up to local triathletes for training.  My fear of OWS has diminished due to this factor.  Me and my Ironmates have been swimming 1.25 miles weekly all summer.  I may not have gotten tremendously faster but I have become very comfortable in the lake. 

Run:
My runs have been nice & easy this summer; Zone 2 Heart Rate to build endurance.  I've worked in some Hill Sprints and Surges of speed to keep the fitness level.

There is room for improvement where my nutrition is concerned.  I have done a decent job of eating healthy foods, but I have included some poor choices in my diet as well this summer.  This is a main area of focus currently.  I am in the process of figuring out my race day nutrition and in the process tweaking my every day nutrition as well.  I am excited that we are having dinner with a couple different experienced "IronPeople" to get their perspectives on nutrition.  After all, experience is the best teacher :)  One of the worst things I can think of, would be to 'bonk' on race day due to poor nutrition or hydration after months of training your body.

Races:

Zoom Through the Zoo (May 27)  beautiful course thru the zoo- extremely hot for the time of year.
Habortown 5K (June 4) wonderful views on this race.
 Ultimate 10K UPS(June 26) race which had to be the hottest race I've ever done, ughhh, and the uphill finish was really awesome!!!
 Mighty Mite Sprint Tri(July 17) Point to Point Sprint Tr w/ 2 TA's which causes confusion on where to put your gear (T1 or T2) quite a bit of stress on race morning.  I enjoy the course though, it's quite hilly on the bike but levels out on the short run.  I PR'd this race by about 10 minutes.  Slight overcast day which helped with the temp.