Gratitude

When I wrote my Rev3 Race Report last night I intentionally left out my thank you's.  They are so important to me that I feel they deserve a post of their own.

Getting through my first half took a lot of work, work I had to do myself. It also took a lot of support and help from a few others...

Jimmy Z - best friend, husband, sherpa
Last fall, I drank a few pints of Guinness after a sprint tri then admitted to Jimmy that I wanted to train for a half.  He said something along the lines of "hell yeah!" and we went home to sign me up (Ironman Poconos - Oct 2011).  Since then he's been by my side through all of this.  He joins me on my training rides (but not the runs... I've learned better than to even suggest such torture), he politely listens to me chatter away about anything related to triathlon, and he has even given up some really good surf so I can stay home and train.  Probably the biggest show of his support for me was flying to Portland for this race.  He couldn't get any time off work so he flew out Saturday then home Sunday after the race.  If anyone has ever flown back to back redeyes, or been a Sherpa for a long race, or even both... you know this is love.  I love you babes!

John Hirsch - coach, supreme evil leader, maker of breakfast
John has been my coach since I drank those pints, registered for IMPM and then realized what I'd gotten myself into.  I had blog stalked John so I knew he was my kind of people.  When he announced he had openings for new clients, I shot him an email asking if he had any interest coaching a total newbie.  Even though he coaches some bad ass athletes,  he was willing to take me on.  He took me from struggling through sprint tris, to training in the beautiful mountains of southern Spain, to finishing my first 70.3.  I can honestly say that if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have/couldn't have done this.

Christine Lynch - nutritional mentor, SLB chef extraordinaire, teller of silly jokes 
Christine is one of the coolest chicks ever.  Seriously!  We met at stronglikebulltraining.com in Spain where she cooked up amazing, beautiful meals for all of the athletes.  Since then she's helped me with some nutritional struggles and helped me put together my nutrition plan for this race.  I followed her advice, nailed my nutrition and finished the race feeling great.  She also had me giggling all the way up to the race start.

I knew Christine and John were special when they both came to find me on El Torcal (a climb in Spain that had destroyed me physically and mentally) and helped me finish.  They kept saying, just a little further and you will see one of the most beautiful sights in the world.  It was true, the view of the Mediterranean from a Spanish mountaintop was amazing... but what really touched me was their willingness to help out someone when they really needed it.  They turned pain into a party.  These guys are awesome.

I felt like the luckiest athlete in the world having the three of you at my first big race.  If I could assemble a dream team to support me in this, it would be you. 

I owe each of you a big thank you, so here it is...

THANK YOU!

Race Report: Rev3 Portland Half

“You’re so rad” – Bouncing Souls

Grab a cup of coffee, I tend to type a lot…

Pre-Race Freakout

Three weeks before this race I was a nervous wreck.  I had myself worked up into such a fit that I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, couldn't stop worrying about what I had gotten myself into.  (For non-triathletes,what I had gotten myself into is 1.2 mile swim / 56 mile bike / 13.1 mile run aka half ironman or 70.3). My long rides had been too slow, my long runs too painful… I couldn't imagine ever finishing a 70.3.  I don’t even know how many times I emailed my coach saying something along the lines of “Can I really do this?”, “Do you think I’m going to die?”, etc.

Then I had two race simulators (aka death bricks) on back to back weekends.  They were long and difficult, but I didn’t have any pain and I started gaining confidence. The nervousness mostly went away and I finally felt calm.  That calmness lasted right up to the race.

Race morning!

I woke up only 10 minutes before my 5:00 AM alarm feeling rested, grabbed a cup of coffee, packed up my stuff, (forgot something majorly important…), and headed out the door. 

We rolled up to the race site around 7am… Pacific Standard Time!!  With jet lag working in my favor, it felt like getting ready for a leisurely mid morning workout.  There are few things that I love more than the buzz of a race site; it gets me so amped.  I was on top of the world while I chatted with people and set up transition.  Lucky for me, I was racked next to PJ (@peeeeeeeeej) so I set up everything just like her and knew I was good to go.

Christine (@holisticguru) and I decided to lube up (with trislide you pervs) and entertain the race announcer while we put on our wetsuits.  He called us the Suicide Girls of triathlon.  Awesome.

The Swim

I guess I’m one of the lucky triathletes who actually enjoys open water.  Nothing about it scares me and I find it really peaceful even when getting kicked in the face.  I was also really looking forward to swimming in a pretty Oregon lake because lately I've spent a lot of time in a gross New Jersey mud puddle. 

We were lining up for the swim when Christine and I realized we might see John so we ran over to where the pros were exiting the water.  We had just enough time to cheer him on before running into the water.  I’ve only done in-water starts before this and I felt like a total tri-rockstar running into the water all cool like.

I felt strong and confident during the swim.  I took it pretty easy because of the long day I had in front of me and just enjoyed myself.

I probably had a big stupid grin on my face the entire swim. 

Swim Time:  46:23

T1

There was a 0.4 mile run between the swim exit and transition.  Rev3 is awesome and gave us bags to keep our shoes so we wouldn’t have to run barefoot, but I decided to keep it simple and get a barefoot run in.  Turns out running barefoot on concrete isn’t the foot massage I’d expected and so my run was slow and ugly.

Once I got to transition, everything went smoothly and I was off on the bike in no time.

T1 Time:  07:37

The Bike

The bike course was a beautiful 2x out and back along the Columbia River with views of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens (when she decided to peak out from behind the few clouds).  The ride was flat and straight, but the view made up for what may have otherwise been a boring ride. 

I get really excited racing so I had to concentrate on keeping myself under control.  I was tempted to take off but I knew from my race sims that I needed to keep a certain pace if I had any chance of running afterwards.  I stuck to my plan and let people pass me.  It was cool how many people offered words of encouragement as they past.  The best was my coach John (@j_hirsh) yelling “Venga! Venga! Venga!” as he flew past me (dude is fast).  It reminded me of training in Spain at Strong Like Bull. Stoked.

At one point towards the end of the ride, most of the cyclists had finished and there weren’t many of us on the road.  Because it was an out and back, I knew exactly how many people I had behind me.  There was even a few times when I couldn’t see another athlete at all.  It was really demoralizing and I spent a lot of time prepping myself for being last.  Triathlon has been really good for me because it’s something that I’m not good at.  I excel at a lot of things, but not triathlon (yet!).  It puts me in my place, makes me mad, and makes me want to work harder. 

Even though most athletes were out on the run already, I think they were all secretly jealous of me because I had the best cheering section of the entire race!  My awesome hubbie Jimmy Z, Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother and Sister in Law were all still out there cheering me on.  They even made the best sign ever…

Bike Time: 03:35:55

 

T2

Got off the bike, couldn’t walk, laughed at myself, realized that I FORGOT TO PUT ON DEODORANT (IDIOT!!!), grabbed some gels, started my run… all with friends, family and my coach cheering me on.  Yay!

T2 Time: 01:38

The Run

It didn’t take me long to find my legs and I felt really good.  I chatted for a quick minute with a girl I’d been playing cat and mouse with all day, then said “Oh, that’s my coach up there, I need to run faster, c-ya!” and I was off.  Skull # 1- filled.  There weren’t a ton of people on the course but enough that I could concentrate on picking them off one by one.  The first 9 miles flew by like nuthin’. 

I have to give Rev3 a huge shout-out for putting on a really well run race.  Even when the last runners were pulling through the aid stations, they were still fully staffed and had anything I could have needed.  It was amazing having 10 volunteers at each station excited to cheer me on, especially after they had been on their feet in the sun all day.  I made a point to thank each one of them when I could. 

What some people might not realize is that there are some amazing stories going on at the back of the pack.  I high-fived a 70 year old man named Bob who was so determined to finish the race and had a group of dedicated people helping him through it.  I cheered on a very overweight man who was kicking ass with the support of two friends.  I met a woman who was cramping badly, but refused to give up.  Seeing the pros race is inspiring and motivating, but nothing like these back-of-packers who were all really fighting for it.  It made me proud to be one of them. 

During the last mile or so things got ugly.  I went into the pain cave and closed the door behind me.  It sucked, but it didn’t last long. 

A volunteer yelled “Turn here and the finish chute is right around the corner.  Less than a tenth of a mile and you’ve done it!  Enjoy!”  I’m not sure where the energy came from, but I got my legs under me, and ran to the finish line.  The announcer yelled “Strong Like Bullllllllllll”.  What an amazing feeling!  I had a pack of people waiting for me and it was awesome.  There was dancing.  There was a picture of me on the jumbo-tron.  There were burritos.  I couldn’t have been happier. 

I said to my coach “We need to make me faster”…

Run Time: 02:31:19

Total Time: 07:02:53

#i8this and won!

My friend, CREWmate and nutritional mentor Christine Lynch (aka @holisticguru) is throwing a party on twitter/facebook called #i8this (I ate this).  The idea is to cook up some awesome food over this 4th of July weekend and post photos online for everyone to see.  Check out Christine's blog to learn more.

The BEST part is she's picking a winning photo every day... and yesterday I WON!  I threw together a quick, beautiful salad and Christine said it 'hypnotized' her.  That's one of the biggest compliments ever!

There's still time left, so fire up that grill and show us what you've got!

Here is my now-famous Grilled Tofu Salad. You can get the recipe here.