Gulf Coast 70.3 Race Report

Don't really know what to write about since I think I blacked out in the first 2 minutes of the race and can't really remember anything! That's the only reason why I do these things...I can never remember them, thus never remember the pain!...ok, not really...but I can only imagine it's like child birth, you forget the bad and only remember the good!

The morning started with a 4:30 wake-up call. Transition opened at 4:30 for body marking to begin and I was a hop, skip and jump away from transition, so I "slept in." I made my way down, set everything up...sprayed myself with sunscreen which immediately washed my number off...oops! And headed towards the beach!

Swim: I was getting ready to poop myself at the start line. I was so nervous about the swim...just get me to the bike, was all I could think about. The gun went off at 6:35 and we were in the water. I dove under the first few waves and then started my swim. I did "tarzan" style for about 50 yards and realized if I kept it up I would exhaust myself, so I dug down and just went for it. It was almost a zen like experience...I just got in a zone (doing exactly the opposite of everything I have learned and practiced at swim class) and went for it. I swam pretty straight and had no major issues with sighting or masses of people or anything. I did get kicked in the face once, but that's par for the course and my hopes to be a teen model are long gone. My watch said 37:00ish when I got out of the water, but I crossed the mat in about 39 minutes.
Hung out with Ben and Sarah at the starting line getting ready for the big race. I accidentally zipped by Gu in my wetsuit...oops!, Sarah had to undo me so I could reach in and get it.

Again with blogger technology...a mini version I can't seem to get rid of! I've tried 4 times, to hell with it!Bike: What a great bike! SO FLAT! I wanted to "just go!" so bad, but I knew I would kill myself if I pushed the bike to hard. I kept watch of my cadence and kept it high (above 90rpm's) and took a mental check of breathing/heart rate every now and again to make sure I wasn't being crazy. The wind wasn't too bad...at least better than I had anticipated. I felt like the miles were just melting away (maybe they were, it was effen hot!) I felt like all I was doing was eating and drinking while riding. It's like there weren't enough minutes in the hour to suck down all the gatorade I had planned and eat the gels/blocks I had prepared. I never wanted to see gatorade again after that bike! At mile 35ish I started singing myself a song about how I was kicking butt and that I would win Athena (positive thinking people) and I just knew I was going to do well on the run. I was shocked when I passed the halfway point and saw that if I kept pace I would be well under 3 hours. "Barring any flats I will kick this bikes ass!" I thought...well, negative thinking has it's effect too! At mile 51-52 I heard this psssssst. Sh*t, that can't be me can it? Maybe there's a snake in the bushes...damn, it was me. I kept going for another mile and thinking, should I stop to change it? I figured it would take way to long with my un-skillz so I just took a CO2 cartridge to see if I could fill it and have it hold for a little bit...so dumb, I tell ya. Flat as a pancake within .5 seconds. So, I rode in the last 4 miles on a flat...still cruising at about 19mph! I didn't want to lost my sub 3 ride! I came in at 2:54ish...also got a 4 minute drafting penalty...the dude yelled at me, so I looked over and he took my number off my helmet...damn. If I'd have ignored him maybe he wouldn't have determined my number since it was all washed away from sunscreen/water/sweat. Race official: "What's your number?", me turning and looking at who's causing such commotion: "huh?!", official: "never mind, thanks!" Grrr!Run: HOT!!!!! Oh my lord it was HOT! I planned on walking through every other water stop, so every two miles, every 18 minutes or so. Well, as soon as I saw that first stop at mile 1 my strategy quickly changed. There were angels flying around it and choirs singing, with sweet little children handing out ice-water soaked sponges...it would just be too mean not to take them up on their offer! Those stops were what got me through the run. After many strategy sessions with coach, I knew that I could only walk as I got to the stop (not 20 yards before it) and start running again as soon as I went through and got what I needed...I did just that and it worked well. I was holding a pretty consistent 9:30 pace (slower than I had wanted...wanted 9:00's...but given the heat I was fine with it and as long as I was running, even better!). The dreaded park wasn't nearly as hot as everyone claimed it to be and by mile 10 I knew I had sub 6:00 in the bag...just keep chugging along! As I was running in the last .2 miles I looked to my left and saw a fellow blogger/blog follower Chloe and yelled at her...thanking her in my head for her nifty piece of advice to put ice in your sports bra...genius! So fun! I finished strong and saw Coach and his wife cheering me in for the last few yards...I had to pump my fists with joy, what a great race!!! Finished the run in 2:08...

Finish line: I immediately went to the medical tent to get some IV's of fluid...apparently all the cool kids are doing it and it makes for a much easier night of drinking...where do I sign?! I was on such a high and was so pumped about my race. My confidence about the Ironman was soaring! I had a sweet British nurse who couldn't find a vein to save her life. Apparently my man hands with bulging blue veins weren't enough for her... I squirmed and squealed like a little sissy. She asked "didn't you just run a half IM?"...yeah, yeah, lady...find the vein already!

Victory party!: Nashville had a strong showing and Team Tater rocked it! We were all so excited and were happy to be cleaned up and drinking! Got my award and then got a cheeseburger...well played, Athena, well played!

Hangin' with the Boys

Here are some more pics from pre-race day when I went out with the fellas to do some open water swim practice. I was having orders barked at me from every direction, everyone knew the best, better, easiest, fastest way open water swim...love hanging with the dudes, it's always a "you know what" contest!

When looking at the waves in the pictures I feel like such a wimp...but I'm pretty sure anyone that was there will tell you they were not fun and impossible to get into any kind of rhythm in out there.

Coach showing me the way, back to shore that is!..."see that big tall building, swim towards it!"...uh, thanks.

Suitin' up for our practice swim...Chris (who is balancing on one foot) is about 2 seconds away from busting it...we all just stood there and laughed.
Reluctantly putting my wetsuit on. I hated wearing tights when I was little because I always felt like the crotch hung down to my knees...I have similar feelings towards my wetsuit...hike it up there!

I can't figure out how to delete this picture...damn technology!

Winner, Winner...

...chicken dinner!

This past weekend was the Gulf Coast Triathlon, my first half IM.  After a painstakingly long drive to Florida (hello 8 hours solo, blech) I arrived on Thursday night.  I woke up Friday to meet Coach and some other fellas from Nashville to test out the waters, spin for a short ride and take to the streets for a quick run.  We met around 8am and the water was already rough and the sun was blaring...I just knew we were in for quite a treat on race day...HOT, HOT, HOT!  After what seemed like an hour of stalling on the beach, I strapped on my wetsuit and gingerly stepped into the ocean.  Coach rolled his eyes and told me to get my ass in there...ick, barf, gag...I HATE swimming in the ocean, it freaks me out!  I don't know when I went from it being fun for childhood swimming/playing to having it scare me to death.  We were only going for 10 minutes or so, and I'm not even sure I actually did more than four strokes in a row without coming up for air while choking on mouthfuls of salt water...the water was super choppy with big rolling waves.  I knew I was going to be in for a treat the next morning with a 1.2 mile swim looming ahead of me.  It was good to get in there and test it out but it almost made me more nervous than I already was.  

I will post a full race report once I get some of the pics from Mrs. Triswami who was so cool to come out and take pics of Coach's athletes and friends (it was great to have a cheerleader on course!)  However, I had a GREAT race, much better than anticipated and I WON the Athena division...whoop, whoop!  Yay!!  5:50:08, plus a 4 min drafting penalty for an official finish time of 5:54:08 (boo-hiss penalties)!

This was the view from my room...my stomach dropped when I opened the door Friday morning, the swim start was right there greeting me!  Prepare to drown Tilly!

Some peeps getting ready to test out the waters!

The other Athena's that placed and me (about to get bitch slapped by the amazon next to me...luckily she just wanted to high five!) on stage getting our awards.  All the guys were afraid she was going to beat me up!  

With my award...yes, I am really an Athena (I had to answer that question many times)...I have a handicap and it's my ass, it's big and it slows me down!  Let's just say the brothas love me!  Believe me, I will GLADLY not race in Athena when I am not one...it's not something I'm super happy about! ;)

I LOVE My...

WETSUIT!!!!

Holy mackerel...this thing is amazing!  I haven't taken it out of the box since I bought it...weather has been too sketchy to go outside and I haven't wanted to look like a complete tool box at the pool.  Buuuut, with the Gulf Coast Half Ironman this weekend I HAD to put this puppy on and take it for a spin to see if it worked, where it might rub, if I could get it on in less that 45 minutes, etc.  I made Katie come to the pool with me tonight (after we already has swim practice this morning...she's awesome!) to zip me in and swim a cool 800 with me.  After a little struggle (not near as much as purchase day), I had this bad boy on and was in the pool.  Oh my god, this thing rocks!  I floated the 800 with hardly more than a twitter of a kick...absolutely fabulous!  I did feel like a stuffed sausage, but also admittedly a little bit like a super hero...thus the pose!  "It's a bird, it's a plane...it's an Orca whale...no, it's Super Tilly!"

So Hungry!

Is this normal? I went to sleep last night and awoke to what I typically call the "Sunday night demons," you know, the list of things that you have to do for the week start creeping into your head and keep you awake with worry/anticipation/excitement, whatever. I thought that was what woke me up, but I couldn't shake it...then I realized it wasn't my brain that jolted me from sleep, but my stomach! I went downstairs chugged some water and slammed some cheese and crawled back in bed and was out within 30 seconds. I don't think this has ever happened...I physically had to eat something in the middle of the night! Don't get me wrong, I'm not depriving myself of any calories right now. It seems that all I am doing is eating...I find myself eating my afternoon snack my 10:30 in the morning and praying that we can go to lunch at 11:30 instead of 12:00! It's probably the best thing ever because even though I'm eating like a hog, people keep saying "you look like you've lost weight"...I mean, someone pinch me, my dream has come true! ;)

Since I overslept on Friday and couldn't work my day to make it to the pool I decided to make Friday my off day, switching with Sunday. So, yesterday I rocked the 4,500 meters I had planned to do on Friday. It was a great swim! Did a 600 warm up, then 1x800, 2x400, 4x200, 8x100 and then a 700 cool down. My lane was on the same interval as the "fast lane" so I didn't get much rest at all...most rest between sets was about 15 seconds. So, the swim was pretty continuous and almost non-stop on some sets...2.4 miles, here I come!...maybe that's why I was so friggin' hungry!!

Cash noshing after a nice 8 mile hike last weekend...this is what I feel like, head in my feed bag at all times!

Slippery When Wet

I did the 3 State 3 Mountain Century ride in Chattanooga yesterday.  What a day!  It was POURING rain, thundering and lightning for the first 50 of the 100 miles.  It was a little nerve racking descending the winding mountain roads with wet concrete and wet brakes, riding through puddles and drafting off spraying tires.  It had been threatening to rain all morning but was staying dry.  It wasn't until the starting gun went off that it started to spit on us and then full on pour for the next few hours.  Ugh!  

There were water/rest stops every 20 or so miles.  I didn't plan on stopping at the first one because I knew I would have enough fuel, so I planned to stop at the second one which I was told was at mile 44.  In my mind I kept thinking, "44, 44, 44"...when I looked down at my bike computer and saw "40" I thought "4 more miles and then rest stop."...well, to my surprise I look over and there were hundreds of bikers at the rest stop at mile 40.  I quickly put on the brakes and took a sharp turn into the stop...bad idea.  For some reason the fact that it was pouring rain and wet roads completely slipped my mind and my bike went sliding out from beneath me and I totally wrecked in front of everyone!  Luckily I didn't cause anyone behind me to crash...but I was highly embarrassed bailing in front of all those riders!  I got a little scraped up on my leg but came out pretty unscathed since I had a jacket on to protect my elbow which took the brunt of the fall.  I was more concerned for the fellow riders who had to see my lovely thigh that had been exposed by my bike shorts being pushed up from sliding across the concrete...ick, sorry guys! ;)  This is also the first time ever that I have fallen off my bike...I haven't even tipped over when trying to get out of my clip pedals or anything...I guess after three years of riding I was due!

It was a great ride, all things considered.  The mountains proved to be challenging (the last one KILLED me) and 100 miles is definitely a distance that demands the utmost respect.  I spoke with a fellow Nashville triathlete (whom has completed 4 Ironman races...one being CDA) and she said it was the toughest century ride she'd ever done and that CDA would be like small rolling hills compared to 3S3M....whew!!!  

Coach and me gearing up for the ride.  I had purchased my jacket the day before at the expo (thank you 60% off) and didn't think I would use it until next season...thank God I bought it, I would have died of cold/wet without it!

Rest stop at mile 80, the last stop before the last mountain...I tried not to spend more than a minute or two at the stops, just to refill my water bottles (preparing for IM strategy).  However, I spent a little more time at this one, I was pretty much ready for the ride to be finished at this point!  I also only saw two other women after the 62 mile turn off...woo hoo, girl power! 

At the mile 80 rest stop.  "Excuse me, will you take my picture and help me waste time before I have to get back on my bike?"  This picture does no justice as to how soaked to the bone I am. 

My bike, Orby, was FILTHY!  There is so much dirt, grim and road kill on it...ugh!

YAY!!!  I am finished!  But in reality would have another 12 to ride and a marathon to run...ahhh!!!

Finish Line Photo Op

I was having dinner with Katie and Patrick last night and inevitably we discussed the IM. We were getting giddy (ok, maybe I was getting giddy) thinking about the race and how it will feel to finish. Katie and I were devising a plan on how she could run part of the marathon and how Meghan and others can run legs of the race with me too (mind you they will probably be slightly intoxicated at this point). I immediately said, "don't try to talk to me, I will probably punch you in the face if I can muster the energy!" Like I've said before, zone "B"...it's not pretty. Katie was saying how inspirational it's going to be watching all the athletes cross the finish line and I thought "oh, crap, what am I going to do as my finish line finale?" If I am upright and not pooping myself what will I do? Should I do a little jig? Moon walk? Crab walk? Jump for joy? Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

In other training news, I was so pumped to go to swim practice this morning. I had fully plotted and planned that I was going to go for the gold and swim 4500 meters...long course. To my dismay I awoke to the sunrise this morning...mind you, the sun does not rise and 4:30, it begins to peek it's head out at 5:30-45...I shot out of bed looked and my clock and said "shit"...as simple as you can express yourself at such a desperate time. How did I manage to completely disregard setting my alarm clock? It's not like it's a new practice, I do it EVERY night...it would be like me forgetting to get coffee in the morning, it just doesn't happen (not to mention I'm completely anal, so things like this typically don't get overlooked). So now I have to squeeze in my 4500 solo, ugh. I was so jazzed at this point that I couldn't say "oh well, I'll just get another 45 minutes of sleep"...so I got out of bed, showered and got read for the day. I was ready to leave by 6:45...not ready to get into the office that early, so I headed to Fido with my book and had a nice leisurely breakfast and a good 45 minutes of reading and relaxing...what a great way to start the day...of course rocking 4500 meters would have been better, oh well, I guess there's lunch time for that!