Today is one of those days that the training just isn’t going to get squeezed in. I had a meeting all morning, family coming in to town this afternoon and a pretty messy house to address. Oh, I also need to do my work which is what I should be doing now but when reading an article on reading glasses online just now I saw the following headline:
“Experts say urinating in the shower is not so bad from a health and safety standpoint.”
Seriously, how could I not read that. I know they say urine is sterile, if you’re ever stranded and have nothing to drink you can resort to drinking your own pee, etc., etc. Well it seems that Brazil, in efforts to promote water conservation is recommending folks pee in the shower:)
My husband Steve prides himself on the fact that he has never peeed in his wetsuit. We even lent it to someone participating in the Rattlesnake Tri last weekend and I had to do so with the stipulation that it was not to be peeed in. He actually even needed to pee during his Ironman swim this summer and said he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. So my question is, if going green makes it ok to pee in the shower, does that also make it ok to go in your wetsuit??? Chime in please, I’m curious to know what you all think…….
For the record, I have yet to pee in my wetsuit……. but I’ve only worn it a few times:)
The run was great, the sun was shining, people all around me on the course. I didn’t love that it was all on concrete but I was able to find some packed gravel alongside the path in spots to run on. I could probably spend more detail but a run is a run is a run sometimes, and this was nice but nothing terribly remarkable. Plus….. I just found a better topic to write about for today so look at the other posts:)
OK, post swim as I said in my previous post it is a fairly steep little up hill jaunt back to transition. But jaunt I did, I actually ran much to my surprise and I wasn’t dizzy as I have been in the past upon exiting a swim from the open water. My wetsuit was removed by volunteers which was pretty slick and I moved on in to my bike.
Steve had advised me on methodically setting up my transition before hand for quick changing. I had a sock in each shoe and some arm warmers as well as sunglasses in my helmet…. so organized. My skin was cold and wet so it was not easy to tug my arm warmers on but once I did I must say I loved them. Really LOVED them. I never realized something so small could make such a big difference in warmth.
Two stations over there were two women competing together who were in a full body sunscreen lather fest. I think I probably wasted 30 seconds just staring at the wonder of it all. It was early, the race was a sprint, and one could have easily screened before the race started if necessary. Yet these two gals must have dumped an entire bottle of sunscreen on to one another’s legs and arms and were rubbing it in to one another. Strange Indeed! OK, focus, back to the race.
Once my shoes were on I grabbed my bike and actually ran with it to the exit to get started on the bike course. I was actually acting like this was a race. There was a bit of hustle in me which is not necessarily my natural state. I had ridden the bike course just the week before so knew exactly what to expect and I think that helped me going in to this. I probably pushed it a little harder than I might have if I didn’t know what was in store for me.
pedal, pedal, pedal, huff and puff. This is how it went for the first mile or two as I found my cadence and settled in to my rhythm. I have spent most of this summer on the bike playing with shifting… something I have never been good at before so never fully utilized to my advantage.
The bike portion brought me much joy as I felt like I was actually in the race again. I am a fairly slow swimmer so by the time I got on the course it was nice to burst forward on the bike.
I held my own for the most part with the women cyclists only being passed by one or two- keep in mind that is because all of the front runners were long out of the water. About one mile in to the bike the leading men started coming with their disk wheels and tri bikes buzzing by.
Lots of rolling hills and a sunny morning made for a beautiful ride tht morning, even if a bit chilly.
Alas, the ride was over. I pulled around the corner, saw my Love Steve and our daughter cheering me on giving me the energy I needed to have a strong run. I dismounted at the white line and trotted my bike back in to transition, if only I could find my spot…….
So I’ll start my race recap with the swim. Sunday morning was very cold, upper 40’s when we arrived at the reservoir a little before 6am. This was somewhat troubling to me as I had driven out to the res the Thursday before for a final practice swim and the water was freezing even though it was warm outside.
I must say, surprisingly, the water was quite comfortable. It was almost a relief to step in to as the water temp was in the mid-upper 60’s and warm in comparison to the outside air temp. I was wearing a full body, long sleeve wetsuit so I can’t say how it might have felt if I didn’t have the extra layer on but the temp was really nice.
Rattlesnake Triathlon has a strange swim start. You run down a little chute one at a time in reverse age order, women first. I actually liked this at the beginning of the race as there was no mass start, fists flying, legs kicking chaos. It wasn’t great in that you couldn’t stand in the water and wait to begin. The other thing that I found, as did a number of my teammates, was that by the time you rounded the corner of the triangle and were swimming back to shore people started to bottleneck. SO…… just when you might have started to fall in to your rhythm of swim strokes you were suddenly getting kicked or water in the face as you came up for a breath. It was just an interesting experience, I’m not sure if it was good or bad, just different.
All in all the swim portion was fine, slow for me, spending 13:40 to cover the 500m, but a success. I didn’t flip out, I didn’t find myself wishing I hadn’t signed up for the race, I just kept returning to some Total Immersion Focal Points I learned over the winter when training with Brian at FDS coaching in Denver. As Yoda might say, Speedy I was not, but calm I was.
A pretty steep uphill exit from the swim beach back towards transition brought me to the wetsuit stripping area which was great. By then the sun was up, it was feeling a bit more warm, and I eagerly entered transition, slid on my arm warmers and hopped on my bike…..
I’ll break own the bike portion tomorrow.
Alas, I am an official triathlete. After training on and off for the sport for three years and staging and participating in numerous variations of the sport for Steve’s training I have officially completed an organized triathlon race. I LOVED IT!
After having run too many running races to count, the idea of getting up to go and run in a pack for various distances is still attractive at times but not as attractive as the lure of a long run in a gorgeous location outdoors with just my husband or a good friend. That being said, the lure to participate in another organized triathlon is HUGE!
Yes, the prep is cumbersome. Hauling all of your gear, tugging on the wetsuit, ripping off the wetsuit post swim(they do this for you at Rattlesnake), setting up all the transition stuff, etc. It makes one question why do it all, until you’re lined up on the beach surrounded by hundreds of other folks all wearing matching swim caps wondering what the rest of the morning has in store for them. The energy is pretty much unmatched.
It is also great to see the number of well rounded (as far as athleticism or endurance sports go) individuals surrounding you. You can’t really participate at a reasonable level unless you have done some cross training. Swimming, biking and running. That being said YOGA and weight training also help.
The other thing I realized while racing yesterday is the little competitive part of me that seems to appear when running in a race presented itself on the bike as well. I do like to pass people! I’m no speedster by any means but with the various divisions and age groups participating it’s always possible to find someone to pass. Shame on me:)
Total time was 1:30:58. I was properly classified as a newbie on the site but somehow they also have me classified as an Athena athlete- this is not correct.
OK, more specifics on the different legs to come.
Sure the training plan was 30 weeks, but the preperation was a lifetime. Granted, I was 33 years old the morning of race day. Therefor about 28 years of my lifetime were part of the experience leading up to the day but most likely had a negative effect on my fitness.
Anyway, this is about that one morning. The one day that I dreamed about for years and trained specifically for 30 weeks to achieve. That morning was my first Ironman. Ironman Coeur D’Alene 2009.
A nice thing about racing in Coeur D’alene is the fact that the sun rises early and sets late. So even though the start is early, the sun is already up and the day is bright. It made starting the day pretty easy. I still felt tired, but it was bright and there were thousands of other people up and about too. It actually felt more like 11:00am then 5:00am. Ofcourse, that could have just been positive nerves as well.
My wife, duaghter, and I arrived at the beach with my special needs bags and wetsuit ready to go. I immediately found a volunteer to take care of my markings. Number 714 on my arms and my age on my legs. I was ready to go.
Oh wait, drop the special needs bags off, put fresh nutrition on my bike, pump my tires, and then I was ready…
The start was not as crowded as I had imagined. Sure, it was crowded with 2,500+ people all jumping in the water at once. But I thought it was a suprisingly calm “chaotic” swim. The winds were pretty strong so the current was choppy, but it was a consistant chop. Easy to get in the groove or flow with. I consider the swim quite nice for anyone who has done atleast a couple open water swims.
I was aiming for a swim time fo about 1:12, given my Iron distance swim time of 1:09 in the Aurora reservoir back home only 5 days earlier. But the chop and crowds apparantly added a little more time than anticipated. Oh well, still a great swim. The water temp was in the mid 60’s and actually felt quite warm.
My only issue with the swim was the guy I was drafting on the final stretch went from a smooth freestyle stroke into a breastroke. His abrubt change into a frog kick cought me right in the nose! It hurt, it hurt alot. I think the chillish water helped sooth the pain. I learned quickly to stay away from that guy.
Out of the water in 1:20:14. I think I could do better, but let’s be honest. This was my first ironman and I am not qualifyeing for Kona (this year…) So who really cares if it took a little longer than I anticipated…
Out of the water, I didn’t know about the awesome volunteers that help with wetsuits and finding bags. It rocked! Transition at Ironman is like a full service, 5 star, accommodation. In a bit of a hurried voice I heard “714 (that was my name that day), lay down here, we’ll take care of your wetsuit” So I did, and they did. My wetsuit was off my legs and being handed to me. At the same time I hear volunteers hollaring “714″, they were getting my transition bag for me. The new yorker in me wanted to give them a tip, but the Ironman in me grabbed the bag, said a very appreciative thank you, and was on my way to change.
The weather was much colder and windier than expected, so in addition to my shoes and helmet, I slipped on some arm warmers and was on my way, being ushered towards the bikes. Lucky for me, I remembered exactly where my bike was. I ran towards it when I heard the best sound I could ever dream of hearing.
“Go Love!” “Your An IronMan Steve!” “Go Daddy GO!”
My support crew was right outside of the fence by my bike. Of course I diverted my course towards them rather than my bike. I wanted to tell them all about how great the swim was. But alas, a quick hello and a couple kisses and I was back to my bike. The volunteer at the bikes actually smirked and asked “you do remember your in a race?” He helped me find my bike and off I went.
The bike started off a little more windy than I had expected. In hindsight, the first jount is flat, but along the lake. OF COURSE IT WAS WINDY! Next time I’ll know.
The bike course in Coeur D’Alene is a beautiful and hilly course. Due to a strained calf muscle, I was not able to do a recon ride prior to the race and had to settle for a course preview in the car. There were not many steep climbs, rather long and steady climbs with a couple technical downhills.
Overall, not too bad. The unexpected part for me was the wind and cold. My goal on the bike turned into “get to the run before the rain starts”.
At the end of the first loop, we passed through town. It seemed everyone slowed down a little to enjoy the cheers as this was the first time in about 20 miles I had to use my brakes to avoid other riders. I was paying attention to see if my support crew was hanging out. To be honest, I did not expect to see them. With three kids in tow, it must be hard to hang out in one spot and think, ‘he should pass through here within the hour…’ And just hope they spot me. On the flip side, that is exactly why I chose to wear bright yellow. So I would stand out to my family in the sea of other triathletes.
Towards the end of town, I heard it again: “Go Love!” “Your An IronMan Steve!” “Go Daddy GO!”
On the bike, I can’t stop to say hello, but a quick wave and a smile was perfect. It was great to see them all. It made me feel incredible.
On that day, the bike was my weakest leg by far. Next Ironman it will be my strongest leg, but that is next year. All was going well on the bike untill about mile 70, then my legs started to hurt. My left knee started to feel a pull, a pain I have not felt since I tore my IT band in 2004. My first thought regarding this injury was “what the!!!! where did this come from??” Then I adjusted my posture so it was most comfortable and kept moving forward. “Keep moving forward”, that’s the name of the game.
Then, my right foot started acting up. The foot pain is one that came up in training quite a bit and was a big unknown for me come race day. When this pain starts, it hurts. It hurts to the point that I can not push down on my pedals, It is a very strange sensation in that as soon as I am off the bike, it vanishes. I am going in for a bike fit soon, hopefully we can get to the bottom of it.
Nursing these pains led my quads to feel like they were on fire too. My strategy of breezing through the bike and saving my legs for the run was fading away. Now my strategy was turning into get through the bike and deal with the run when you get there. I kept telling myself, these were bike specific pains, I will still feel great on the run. (I partially believed myself. I had to..)
The volunteers and fans out on the bike course were awesome! Even though I was in pain, they made the day and the course so much fun! I don’t think the smile ever left my face.
Next time into town marked the final miles of the bike. Once again, my crew was there cheering me on. I don’t what I was happier about, seeing my family out there supporting me, or the idea that I was about to get off my bike.
In transition 2, the service was excellent again. I dismounted my bike, crossed the dismount line and somebody took my bike so I didn’t have to worry about it. I was again ushered to the changing tent and handed my transition bag.
In the changing tent, volunteers were there to help change shoes, massage out cramps, organize gear. It was pretty cool. I didn’t want to spend too much time in there as the bike already took me a full hour longer than I expected. That’s right, an HOUR LONGER than my target. Winds, cold, and strange pains led to the slow time. But again, I am not going to Kona this year, so really, I didn’t care. I was still out there to have fun.
My goal now was to run the Marathon in 4:30. I put on my running shoes and at the last minute decided to wrap my jacket aroung my waist, that storm was still threatening us all.
As I left transition, guess who I saw again? My family was right there at the start of the run. Now I truly fealt awesome. I was done with the Bike and on my feet. My legs fealt ok, not great, but ok. I was ready for the marathon.
My strategy was to run the race with an average pace of 9:30/mile. I started off the first six miles with a target pace of 10:00/mile to get in the groove and loosen my legs. The strategy worked great, six miles down and I fealt ready to run. So I upped my pace to a 9:30/mile.
About 30 minutes into the run, the rain started and I was thrilled to have my jacket. It was cold, but certainly manageable. The run course is an out and back X2, which leaves 4 opportunities to see family and friends. I just could not believe they all stayed outside in the cold rain to chear me on! They ROCK!
On one pass, my daughter ran out to me with her arms up, I immediately scooped her up for a super hug and gave my wife a kiss. I believe in life it is important to stop and enjoy the things you love, even if it is halfway through the marathon portion of an Ironman. This moment may have taken 15 seconds off my time, but in reality it re-energized me to finish this thing.
The run actually felt fine, as expected my legs were in a bit of pain. But this is Ironman, it is not supposed to be comfortable. I ran through most of it, and walked the aid stations. As it got colder, I started to craving the warm chicken broth at each aid station.
I ran it one mile at a time, some miles were faster than others, and a few were very slow.
Over the course of the run, aches and pains came and went. One thing that stayed constant was the ear to ear grin I had. Knowing in a short time I would see the finish line and hear those words “Steve Cogger, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN”
As I turned the final bend and saw the chute to the finish I got another surge of energy and picked up the pace. I attempted to space out the guy in front of me with the guy behind me so we could all hear our names and enjoy our moment.
As I enetered the final chute I saw my family in the bleachers, still braving the cold and wind (and now dark) to be with me as I crossed the finish line. I blew some kisses and absorbed the moment as best I could. My family is awesome!
I am a big fan of team blaze and respect what John Blaze accomplished. One thing I was not expecting was the guy 20 feet in front of me to slow down to a walk as he approached the finsh, lie down, and roll through the finish. Again, respect to John Blaze, but I nearly tripped right over this guy as I crossed the finish line.
So, rather than a photo of me with my arms raised victouriously crossing my first ironman finish line, I am hopping over some guys feet.
After that little hop, I got my medal, finishers hat and shirt and photo.
Grabbed a couple slices of pizza and found my family. My two year old daughter said “Daddy, you a ionman” and then asked for my Pizza, which I gladly gave her a bite of.
Given the race this weekend I decided to take today off from any crazy running or biking activity. Being the spose of an Ironman I almost feel as if a taper isn’t even legitimate for a sprint race, but heck, I took it anyway.
What I did do is take the opportunity to sneak away from our Friday Play Doh Happy Hour with our daughter and go sneak in a yoga class at Qi on Colfax. Dawnelle, owner of Seasons Fit/Qi, was guiding the class and boy was it awesome. Many of the folks present wre racing this weekend in one form or another of the Rattlesnake Tri so we focused on a Yoga for Runners type flow.
Hip openers galore! Just what I needed. Today I actually received an adjustment from Dawnelle in pigeon that sent me deeper in to the posture than I’ve ever been, and I LOVED IT!
Full disclosure, I also teach yoga at Qi. Regardless of that I can honestly say I can’t think of a better class or better flow sequence to have opened me up and prep me for this weekend’s event!
If you’re reading this post and wonder how you can find some sequence in yoga postures similar check out yogadownload.com. Dawnelle actually has a few Yoga for Runners sequences posted, as well as yoga for cyclists. It can’t compare to a studio class but is also good in it’s own right.