My Journey to the Ironman…and Beyond

So today at lunchtime I headed down to the pool at the Rec Center for a Nice 40 minute swim. Nothing too strenuous in terms of keeping track of intervals, etc. just continuous swimming at a decent pace (for me). I like long swims- after the initial 10 minutes of “boooooring, I wish I had my ipod” whining, I usually settle into some sort of stream of consciousness continuum of thought that is random and relaxing. Today’s went something like this.

“Hmm, the Fairhope swim team is called the Sharks

In New Braunfels it was the dolphins

Dolphins…whales…ha! remember when Rhonda said scales should tell you to “get off the beach and back in the water” when you had gained a few pounds

That was a fun weekend! Hey, I saw the old Dolphins swim coach at Dairy Queen that weekend

Mmm…Dairy Queen…I love the dude sandwich!

Chicken Fried Steak is GOOD!

Why don’t they have chicken fried steak in Alabama? Everything else is fried! Fried tomatoes, fried candy bars, fried pickles

Pickles…I like sweet relish on tuna

Awesome, I am having tuna with lunch today- and it has sweet pickle relish

Remember when Melissa and I used to go to the pool every day in the summer? Anytime I drank the water accidentally in the Olympic pool, I always wanted to eat tuna fish sandwiches and grape Kool-Aid afterwords

Awesome, i think I have some Grape Kool-Aid powder at the office

This is the greatest day ever!”

And then my reverie and workout was cut short when the life guard came to tell me to get out of the pool- ” We have a Code Brown.” Little turd. Literally.

Oh, well.

Happy post 4th of July! I hope everyone had a great holiday- I went to the Grand Bay Watermelon Festival and ate a ton of fresh picked watermelon, so it was a good day for me!

At work we are in the throes of sending out a huge mailing to past members who didn’t renew (for reasons unknown). With the economy getting tighter, I am afraid non-profits are going to start feeling the squeeze, and I want to cast a wide net for potential funding sources and see what works.

As I was sitting there stuffing envelopes, worrying about whether this method was smart or cost effective, the thought occurred to me that the “Sometimes you just have to try a few different things to see what works” philosophy applies to triathlons as well. Especially when you are embarking on your first race, or your first race at a longer distance. Although trial and error is as good a method as any, sometimes it helps to discuss ideas with someone who has been there, done that.

I guess what brought this on is my friend H (don’t know if she wants her name in blogland, even though only my friends and families have the address to this blog), Anyway, she is doing her first Olympic distance in a few weeks and I have had a good time talking with her over e-mail and sharing the minuscule amount I know about tris with her. And most of this I learned from others (and sometimes from trial and error!). It makes me happy to know that I may have helped her and that she will pass this on to whoever she helps get through their first tri. Its a wonderful circle that I am excited to be a part of.

By the way, H is going to kick some booty at her race!

Workout for the day: a nice bike. On tap for tomrrow is a good swim at lunch and then strength training in the evening.

So far I am making good on my promise to myself to get in great tri shape before the big 3-0- I have picked out a race in Pensacola that is just a couple of weeks after my birthday- it will be my first race in a new age group. We’ll see if I can place in my age group or not. Really I just want to get to a place where my speed gets better. I think that the best way to do this is to focus on some shorter races before I decide to take the plunge into long distance again.

I particularly need to work on my bike speed- that really is a limiter for me. The fact that I am a crappy bike mechanic and that everyone around here seems to ride really fast or really slow makes it hard for me to get motivated to go on group rides.

So on days when I don’t have anyone to ride with or my schedule doesn’t allow for an outdoor ride, I ride indoors. Sometimes I put my bike on the trainer and ride at the house, but I really like to ride at lunchtime, so I end up going to the Fairhope rec Center.

Since my office is not in Mobile anymore, I can’t go to my trusty old “Naughty Spinning” class anymore, so that sucks! Instead I ride on these ancient spinning bikes that are by the pool at the Rec Center. I spin and sweat my ass off while everyone splashes around and looks at me like I’m an idiot. But with an Ipod and a big waterbottle, its actually not too bad.

Plus, there is a mischievious little kid who is always there and sprays me with his water gun which makes me laugh.  It’s the small things!

I am turning 30 in less than 3 months. 30! That seemed ancient when I was in the 3rd grade, but now it seems…well, not so ancient. I love to celebrate birthdays (especially my own) with some sort of pomp and circumstance, and it seems like I should really turn it up for the Big 3-0.

At first I decided I wanted to ride my bike across Texas, but then I realized I really didn’t leave myself enough time to plan an epic trip like that. And since hubby is starting a new business, I don’t have the loose change to go on a fab trip. So here is what I decided to do: I am making a list of 30 things to accomplish in my 30s: things like: riding in a hot air balloon, studying Russian again, etc.

And, of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t have some triathlon goals in there as well:

1. Complete another Ironman

2. Get on the podium at least 5 times

3. Commit to building my fitness level and keeping it!!!

As luck would have it, there is a contest going on for Triathletes – one person is going to be chosen to join Team EvoTri (www.evotri.com) where they will blog about the Tri life and get coaching, etc.

If you are chosen, I think you even get a new bike, which means I can give the one I borrowed from mom back! My own bike, I can’t even imagine it!

Here’s the only fly in the ointment: I wrote about what it means to be a triathlete and an environmentalist- as people who enjoy time in the outdoors, triathletes have a responsibility to be green. All that’s well and good, but literally 2 hours after I e-mailed my essay in, I open up Triathlon magazine and the letter from the editor is about the same darn thing! I am sure the EvoTri folks are going to think I am about the stupidest plagiarizer out there.

But keep your fingers crossed for me!

Summertime has definitely hit Mobile! It’s hot and sticky and unbearable, but I am braving the humidity to get my buns in shape. The Danskin Triathlon was a disaster- well, not really a disaster since I had a great time hanging with Melissa, Mom, Shannon, Vicky and Rhonda, but I really stunk it up out there- literally! Somehow the big meal at Carraba’s the night before did not agree with me AT ALL and I spent more time in the porta-lets than on the bike. Once I realized that I just wasn’t going to have a great race, I relaxed and enjoyed the view from the back.

I think I even helped one triathlete, in my age group, who I picked up crying on the side of the trail with about 1.5 miles to go on the run.

“What’s wrong? Are you ok?” I said. She sniveled, “My…my..my… friends are beating me and…and….and…my time is going to be 3 minutes slower than last time!”

“oh, well, you can’t always have a PR and if it makes you feel any better, my time is going to be about 25 minutes slower than last time.” That seemed to perk her up a little and we ran together for the rest of the race, talking about triathlon and enjoying the scenery. Then somewhere about 200 yards from the finish she decided to kick it in and left me in the dust without a word. Oh well!

The hero of the day was Melissa- she has really stepped it up and gotten into shape! I am so proud of her, even thought she kicked my butt. Well done, Mimi!

Wow! Just over a year has passed since I started this little blog to chronicle my journey to the Ironman! What have I been doing since that wonderful day in November? Working my buns off at my new job at ACF, mainly. But summer is here and the call of the road has once again snuck up on me. Triathlon season is here! I have only a couple of races slated for this year: The Danskin Sprint in Austin in 2 weeks and the Longhorn Half Ironman in October. I did this race last year and it was such fun that I decided that should be my “A” race this year.

I can’t wait for Danskin. Sister Melissa will be racing as well- she and I are in the same age group so we will be going together, which will be a hoot. Mom, Shannon and Vicki are doing the relay- it will be a family affair.

If I am honest with myself, I haven’t been training a whole hell of a lot. Work has been insane this spring, and I have allowed my fitness level to take a back seat- but no more! Its time to get my ass back out there and once again I will use my happy little blog to motivate me (and maybe you?!) to set goals and achieve them. Stay tuned…

What can one say when you have reached the goal you have set your sights on for so long? “What’s next” is the only thing that comes to mind!

 The Ironman was everything and more than I could have hoped for – here are the highlights:

I arrived in Panama City Thursday afternoon and went straight to the expo to pick up my packet and take a stroll around the expo. Getting out of the car I was immediately greeted by a strong wind- not a good omen. A big headwind is one of my race fears and even though I know weather conditions affect all athletes, I still hate a headwind.

After picking up my packet and heading to the condo to check in, it started to hit me: I am registered for an ironman and there is no turning back now!

I met Keith and Randy for dinner at the athlete’s banquets Thursday evening, where we heard from the oldest participant in eh race (a 78 year old man) and watched some rather humorous videos. They had packed the athletes in really tight into the ballroom- there is no way that many people could have squeezed in if we weren’t all skinny.

I tried to go to sleep, but nerves were keeping me awake, so I heard the door open at 1030 pm when mom, dad, Mim, Ned and Shannon arrived. The fact that they came all this way to watch me run around all day meant so much, and just seeing them helped calm my nerves.

Dad and I left Friday morning for a test swim in the ocean with my wetsuit, meeting up with Keith and Randy again. The swim felt awesome- smooth and fast. I started to get excited. And even better, the wind had died down! After a quick shower, we went down to the athlete pancake breakfast and toured the expo, where I bought some M-dot gear (a total racket but I don’t care!)

After lunch on Friday the anxiety set in, but I tried to alleviate it by thinking about getting my gear sorted into their proper bags and reading the race plan I had come up with that had some mental training aspects as well as pacing guidelines, etc. I felt a little better after going through everything one more time.

Friday night came too soon and after a great pre-race meal cooked by mom, I had a little bit of a cry as the nerves started to overtake me. Thank god Alex talked me out of it and I was soon asleep with visions of Ironman dancing in my head.

The Race!

Saturday dawned and was a great day to become an Ironman: the air was cool but not cold, the water was flat and there was very little wind. WOOHOO! The gang headed down to transition where I proceeded to uncover my first problems of the day: No Gatorade to be found (oops, guess I should have brought one of the 20 bottles in the fridge at the condo.) But remembering what someone told me about Ironman being about how well you can adapt to unexpected problems, I shrugged it off and decided that I would refill my bottles at mile 10 and live off water and gels til then. Crises averted, I turned my attention to airing my tires and lubing myself up with body glide not only to avoid chafing in sensitive areas but to aid in getting the wetsuit on. (The wetsuit is another story for another day, and although me and the wetsuit became fast friends, the first time I put that sucker on I thought I would die of claustrophobia).

I headed down to the beach out of transition about 6:40 am and saw mom and Shannon on a dune. I came over to them, so relieved to see a familiar face. My fans will never know how great and energized I felt seeing them out on the course. It made for such a special day. Anyway, the cannon went off at exactly 700 am and suddenly all my nerves disappeared: I knew at this moment that I would finish. I jumped into the water with 2500 of my closest buddies and was immediately boxed in the ear so hard that my head rang for a minute. I shook it off and tried to get into a rhythm. I refused to let myself freak out about all of the people, and I managed to come out of the water for the first loop in 35 minutes. Whoa! That was unexpected. I had figured about 45 minutes, but the combination of the wetsuit, the draft and a good taper seemed to be paying off. The second loop wasn’t quite as physically brutal and I finished the swim in 1 hour 12 minutes.

TI

After the wetsuit strippers pulled my wetsuit off, I headed up the ramp into transition where I saw all of my fan club. I quickly rinsed the sand off me and put on my shoes before heading to the bike where I strapped on my heart rate monitor and put on my gloves. In what seemed like no time I was off on a 112 mile tour of the countryside. I heard the folks cheering and wished Matt could have been there to see me clip in with no trouble, unlike my last race!

The Bike

The bike ride was surprisingly uneventful. I focused on staying in my target heart rate ranges and focusing on nutrition. I had printed my two mantras for the bike: TRUST (the training) and COMMIT (to the distance) on stickers to put on my bike race morning, but the bike was wet with dew and nothing stuck so I put them in my bento box and wrapped the sticker with my target heart ranges for the ride around my chap stick tube where I could check them often. 

The first 10 miles flew by. I got off the bike at the first aid station to take on Gatorade and use the portapotty but was back on the bike in about 3 minutes. I tried to look around and enjoy the ride and the beautiful day while it all felt so easy. After I got my heart rate down, I started taking on nutrition- a gel and a bite of power bar every 30 minutes and at least a half bottle of Gatorade and water every 40 minutes or so.

One thing that really surprised me on the bike was that I never had a real moment of “oh my god how am I going to get through this despair.” I had read so many things saying that you needed to be prepared to start feeling really sorry for your self around miles 60-90, but I never had a moment when I wanted to quit, maybe because I had prepared to face these fears head on and release them. After mile 75 or so things got tough as the road got very rough and difficult to ride. I wasted some energy worrying that the bumps would give me a flat, but soon I could see the turnoff to head back over the bridge and the last 10 miles back into town. The buildings on wither side of the road created a wind tunnel and I tried to stay focused on the bike ride and take in a few more calories, trying not to think about the fact that I now was going to be running a full marathon.

T2

I was a little wobbly when I got off the bike, but a volunteer soon found me and handed me my transition bag and that helped me remember what I was here for. I headed to the women’s changing tent where I stripped off all my clothes and a volunteer helped me put on my running clothes. I lubed my underarms, shorts area and feet heavily with body glide, slipped on my shoes, which the volunteer handed to me, grabbed my sunglasses, hat and chapstick and headed out of transition. My legs felt like noodles for about a mile, then I started settling down into a nice rhythm which I was able to maintain for 13 miles. The run course is a little sadistic, it’s a 2 loop out and back course, so you actually have to watch people finish as you head out for 13 more miles. Anyway,  I was feeling great and running strong. I saw the family at the turnaround and that was such a great boost. Then about mile 15 I tripped and twinged my knee and came a little unglued. It was getting dark around this time and I started to walk. I did the ironman shuffle for about 4 miles, then realized that to finish this thing I would have to run. I passed a guy who was walking as well and we worked together the last few miles to run to the aid stations, take on some water and chicken broth (the elixir of life) and keep trucking. As we approached the finish line, I tried to think of all of the work I had done to get where I was and of how supportive my family had been throughout the process and as I rounded the corner and could hear the cheers from the crowd, I felt so lucky to be here on this earth experiencing life in this manner.

In the weeks leading up to the race, just the thought of hearing me called an ironman, or listening to or reading a snippet about the personal struggles of people trying to reach their ironman goals was enough to get me a little choked up, and I imagined that I would cry as I crossed the finish line. But I was so dazed and awed by the whole process the thought of crying didn’t even occur to me. Several hundred feet from the finish, Melissa spotted me and yelled her heart out for me and I felt this incredible surge of emotion, so happy to be finished, so happy the people I loved were with me to be a part of the greatest accomplishment of my life. I crossed the line, clapped my hands, and my journey to the ironman was complete when the announcer said, “Bethany, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!”

It was the most intense day of my life.

More details to follow, but I finished in 13 hours, 31 minutes!

This may sound funny, but one way I psych myself up during hard workouts is to imagine myself in the race, that the 6 mile training run I am doing is the last 6 miles of the marathon, that my success or failure depends on how tough I am right now, at this moment in time. I see the world around me as if I were looking through a video camera, filming the world around me as the star of my own drama – or is it a comedy?

The point is, after months of imagining myself as the star of my own Ironman dream, in 5 days I will be sweating it out to make that dream come true. Months of training, hours and hours on the bike, weekends blurring into one long workout- all of this will converge into what I hope will be one perfect day.

I can’t believe that race day is almost here. It has seemed so distant for so long. The fact that I am reaching out to grab what has been only a dream for so long feels like such a privilege and a responsibility. I only hope I am up to the task, that after hours of toughing it out with mental fortitude I will hear these immortal words: “Bethany, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!”

The weather is shaping up to be a perfect day, so keep your fingers crossed. My wetsuit should be here Wednesday and I am headed to Panama City Thursday morning to get settled before mom, dad, Melissa, Ned, Alex and Shannon arrive to help me live this day to the fullest. These next few days will be spent checking and packing my gear and hopefully getting good sleep every night.

If you have any interest in following my progress on race day, go to www.ironman .com and there will be links to track an athlete online throughout the day. You can track me by my race number: 2157.

It has been such a kick sharing this experience with all of you.