Rhoto Ironman Boulder 70.3 Recap

Holy crap. That was One. Long. Race. That’s all I need to say about that. The End.

Okay, okay, here’s the play-by-play…

Preparation

It was a tough training season for me:

• I shopped for a house (using Wes Hobson, a world-renowned triathlete, as a realtor – he is also an actual realtor)
• I bought a house
• I moved into the house
• I had about a hundred job interviews
• I switched jobs
• I went to Mexico for 4 days to lay on a beach, drink cocktails with umbrellas in them, and eat some very yummy food between jobs
• I had a cyst on my knee drained
• I had knee surgery to remove the remaining scar tissue from the cyst
• I had a weird pain in my shoulder that lasted for almost a week

In short, I could have trained with a little more… focus… and discipline.

Sleep and Waking

Of course, I got absolutely no sleep the night before the race. First of all, I had to get up at about 4:45 in order to get to the course and have everything set up by 6:20. I went to bed about 10pm and woke up every hour from 12am to 4am wondering if it was time to get up and start moving. Second, I was very well hydrated so I got up to use the restroom every hour, on the hour, all night. It was ridiculous.

4:45am came way to fast. I stumbled down the stairs in the dark, pulled on my tri suit picked up my bag and headed out into the cool pre-dawn air. I rode my bike to the triathlon course, you know, because it felt weird to have only a 56 mile ride planned later and I figured it only made sense to make it an even 60-mile day.

On my way to the course a cab and another car both pulled over and offered to give me a ride, but I actually felt like being on the bike was a good warm up. I also noticed, just as I rounded the next corner, that cars were backed up about a mile and a half to get into the reservoir parking lot. I cruised right by them, pausing just outside of transition to let someone write my number on my arms with a big Sharpie: 1448, and my age on my calf: 30.

There is some strategy around choosing your space in the transition area. You can set up your bike, shoes, food, and other supplies by someone who looks nervous, someone who looks friendly, or someone who looks like this is not their first triathlon. I opted for a veteran and racked my bike next to a guy who obviously knew what he was doing. I asked him questions and organized my space just like his. Towel on the ground, gear sorted by discipline. Running stuff together, biking stuff together, swimming stuff in plastic bag to take to the beach, food and liquid everywhere.

Swim

Once my transition area was set up I headed down to the shore to find someone to talk to. Chatting with other athletes and spectators helped me get my mind off of the 70.3 miles that stood between me, a shower, a nap, and a decent breakfast… or dinner… actually. I tried to eat a cliff bar but gave up a little over half way through. I was so nervous and excited I could barely choke it down.

I was sitting on the ground, with one foot in a plastic bag and pushed through the first leg of the wetsuit (see my guide for putting on a wetsuit) when someone started singing the national anthem. I paused in my struggling to listen and contemplated the ridiculousness of the whole event. I couldn’t help but smile. I was a little surprised that, despite the fact that 4 months ago, I struggled to swim 10 laps in a pool, I was at the start line of a half Ironman.

Once the wetsuit was on I went down to the water to watch the pros start, get water inside my suit and check out the course. The buoys looked really far away. Seriously, very far. I asked a girl next to me if it looked far. “Yeah, it looks really far.” She agreed. Here’s the map of the swim. That little triangle is much bigger in person.

My wave (women 30-34) started at 7:30. I wadded into the water with the other athletes. We wished each other luck and I heard several, “oh no, you go first, I’m slow,” and “please, don’t kick me in the face or swim on top of me”s. So polite!

Finally, the gun went off and I wadded out until I couldn’t touch the bottom anymore. My wetsuit helped me stay on the top of the water and I started my stroke on the outside of the group. It was about the time I reached the first buoy (going clockwise) that I realized that I was kind of tired. I took stock of my body and found out that I wasn’t actually physically tired, I just realized that all my training in a pool prepared me to get a break every 50 yards when you turn around and go the other direction. I started trying to get into a rhythm where I would take 20 strokes and then take a few side-strokes or flip onto my back and count to 10 before flipping back over for another 20 strokes. This gave me a rhythm to get into and worked until the second buoy where the wave of men who started behind us began to catch me.

I was keeping up with them while I was doing the crawl, but would drop behind when I started side-stroking. The water got super choppy, which made it hard to breathe without also inhaling reservoir water. I decided to let the front row of them past me and tried to ignore the headache that was developing due to the fact that my goggles were on so tight to prevent getting water in my eyes or being kicked off.

There were smaller buoys in between the big buoys which kept us on track and gave me little milestones to go between. There were about seven from the last turn buoy to shore. About three buoys away from shore was the low point of the swim for me. I felt like I was so close to being done but I didn’t feel like I was making any progress. I started to swim in little zigzags and tried to focus on just making forward progress.

About that time, I saw Jason standing on the beach and could tell he was looking for me. He waved when he recognized me – still not sure how he did that – about one buoy away from shore. I finally felt my feet touch the ground and stumbled up onto the beach. Jason was able to get right up next the the chute into transition, “That was so fast!” he called, “53 minutes! You are doing great!” I had hoped to finish the swim in less than an hour so I was pretty happy. I meant to thank him for coming. I meant to be excited at this positive news. Instead, I’m pretty sure all I said was, “That swim was really $%&*@ long!” and headed through a little shower and into the transition area.

Bike

It took me a good 5 miles before I realized that I was on a bike. My stomach was a little upset and I had a headache. I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. I tried to force myself to eat a granola bar that I taped to the top tub of my bike and tried not to tip over. “This is the fun part,” I told myself. It took 10 miles before I believed it. I finally started to relax.

One of the many downsides to starting in such a late wave was the pros and early waves had an hour head start on me so they were on their second lap of the bike course as I was just starting out. It made me grumpy to think that they were so far along and I had so far to go, but I tried to keep a good attitude and eventually found it kind of fun to watch them whiz by me. On the second loop, I was all by myself on the course and was kind of lonely.

The volunteers were fantastic. Not only had they mastered the art of handing open bottles of Gatorade and water to moving cyclists, but as the day continued to get warmer, they would spray us with Super Soakers and other misting bottles as we passed through their aid stations. I focused on hydrating, staying relaxed and getting some more food in me. Here is a map of the course and the elevation changes:

When I was about 5 miles away from the finish of the bike leg, the wind started picking up. I was going directly into it and up a false flat. This means that the ground looks flat, but you have to work a lot harder because it’s really a slow ascent. I was tired and wanted to cry just thinking about the fact that I still had to do a half marathon. I considered crying but I felt like I was getting a little dehydrated and didn’t want to waste water – or salt – on tears so I told myself to suck it up, take it one pedal stroke at a time and finish this ride out.

Run

I started the run a little before 12pm. The wind had continued to pick up and the air was hot and dry. I focused on going slow and steady, taking small steps to shake out my bike muscles, and tried to get into a running grove. “Restart.” I told myself. “Forget that you have already been moving about 4.5 hours.”

I saw Jason and my friends Wylie and Mike leaving transition. Jason jogged up to the road and said that they missed me on the bike. They arrived at the course long after I had passed and they had been looking for me ever since. Jason announced that I was, “killing it.” I had forecasted about 4 hours for the bike and I finished in about 3.5. At this point in the race, I was about 30 minutes ahead of my self-projected finishing time. I wanted to pick up the pace, but I knew it was going to be a long, hot run so I kept it nice and steady.

There were aid stations every mile on the run stocked with water, ice water, flat Coke, GU shots, energy bars, and sponges soaking in ice water. Oh, the sponges. I will smile at every sponge I see for years. They saved my life!

My sweat was just evaporating off of me, leaving my skin hot, dry, and salty. I couldn’t keep myself cool. The first time a volunteer handed me a sponge I almost hugged her, but that would have been very, very gross for her so I restrained myself. How you carried your sponge became a funny form of self expression that kept me amused for a mile or two. Some people had their sponges tucked in the back of their hats. Others used them to wipe their sweat off.

For several miles I just shoved one right down my top. The water would run out and soak my shirt and the top of my shorts. Unfortunately, the water warmed up and I couldn’t feel it so I found it worked best to grab two sponges and shove them under the straps of my top near my shoulders.

My stomach started cramping near mile 7 so I started walking once in a while and jogging when I got fresh sponges. I tried to eat my Honey Stingers, but I couldn’t stomach any more gooey sugars and carbs. At mile 11 I spotted something that made me happy. Pretzels. I wanted solid food. And salt. I wanted salt so much that I picked up a handful, shoved it in my mouth grabbed another handful to go and a cup of water. This did not leave me a hand to get my sponges out so I stopped at the end of the aid station, where a volunteer (God bless her) took my sponges out from my top, dunked them in ice water and bravely put them back in my top. She then removed my visor, dunked it in the ice water and put it back on my head. As I started trotting away, she followed me, running a sponge over my back. This woman was a saint.

About the same time, I started feeling blisters on my pinky toes. I wasn’t able to get all the sand off my feet after the swim and still had some in my socks. My toes hurt when I ran, but my hamstrings hurt when I walked so I switched awkwardly from one gait to another before finally settling back on running. “I would get there faster,” I figured. But not by much.

The last mile was miserable. The wind was blowing 25-30mph and it was about 97 degrees. I jogged it in, but I felt like I had to steal every breath I took from the wind that was trying to pull it out of my lungs before I could use it for fuel. Finally, the finish line, and my friends, were in sight. I don’t know how I picked up the pace through the chute, but I finished. 7 hours and 33 minutes after I started. (The clock in the picture says 8:33, but I started an hour after the first gun went off)

It was the slowest half marathon I ever ran, but I had never swam and biked that far before starting a half marathon. I’m usually done with half marathons when restaurants are still serving breakfasts.

My friends, M.E., Seth, Wylie, Mike, and of course, Jason were there at the finish, supportive and amazing. I didn’t really know what to say to them except for, “wow, that was a really long race, thank you for being at the end of it.”

And now, I am half an Ironman.

Recipe for putting on a wetsuit

Ingredients:

• A wetsuit that is the right size for you
• At least one plastic bag
• Rash guard or skin suit
• Body Glide
• Very short finger nails
• Arm muscles and flexibility

Instructions:

1. Start with a wetsuit that fits. If your wetsuit is too big, it will create drag and cause you to have to work a lot harder to swim. It will also not keep you warm. If your suit is too small it will try to strangle you.
2. Put on your swim suit, rash guard, or skin suit. Your wetsuit will slide over this suit much better then it will over your skin.
3. Cover your exposed skin with Body Glide. Pay extra attention to your joints: ankles, wrists, knees, elbows, hips, shoulders, arm pits, neck opening. This will keep the wetsuit from chaffing as you are churning through the water and will make it much easier to pull the suit off after the swim.
4. Sit down or you will fall down later.
5. Make sure the zipper on the wetsuit is all the way down. The zipper goes on your back.
6. Put your foot in a plastic bag and push your bagged foot through the first leg of the wetsuit. Pull the bag off once the ankle of the suit is in the right place. Repeat with the second leg.
7. Work both legs of the suit up to your knees, then stand up and continue working the suit up over your hips.
8. At this point, reach down and take all the wrinkles out of the suit from the bottom up. Be sure to use the pads of your fingers because your nails can tear the top layer of the suit. Holes in your suit look unfashionable and will not make you go faster.
9. Once your suit fits around your hips work it up over your torso, wait as long as possible to put your arms in. You may want to do a little stretching before the next step. My suit is really tight around my arms (probably because I have such huge muscles from swimming) that this next part is pretty difficult for me.
10. Use the bag again to push your arms though the arm holes on the suit.
11. Arms are the same as legs, work the suit up from your wrists over elbows and make sure it fits snugly in your arm pits. If it does not fit snugly in your arm pits then you won’t have your full range of motion in your swim.
12. I always need someone else to zip me up but you might be able to zip yourself with the string that should be attached to your zipper.
13. If you need some more room around your shoulders and neck, you weren’t aggressive enough pulling the suit up at the beginning. You can probably still get some extra room by starting at your waist and working the suit up. If you still need extra space get to work starting on your ankles and working up again.

Congratulations, you are in your wetsuit. This is probably as difficult as the swim (at least I’m hoping it is) and it’s all downstream from here. I seriously should have trained for getting into the wetsuit. I was exhausted after I figured this out. Best of luck.

By Lindsay Brust

What to Wear for a Half Ironman?

It seems simple, but it’s a complicated question. What can you wear under your wetsuit that will stand up to the wear and tear of a bike seat and not get in your way on the run? I posed the question to the BeginnerTriathlete.com forum and here’s what they had to say:

• It really just comes down to personal preference. I see most athletes in two pieces, tri shorts + tri top. I like that combination personally for a few reasons. First I don’t think anyone looks remotely good in a one-piece tri suit  and second it’s much easier to use the bathroom with the 2-piece ensemble.
• I second the two piece, I had GI issues my first HIM which put me in the porta potty each mile of the run, a one piece would have annoyed the heck out of me!
• I’m a two piece guy. Also, it needs to be tight(er).  I bought my first outfit too big and ended up rarely using it.
• I like to rock the onesie.
• I just started wearing a one-piece this year, and really like it.  I agree they don’t look as good as the two-piece, but I’m getting over that.  I have worn it at a few sprints and an olympic and am likely to try it for my upcoming HIM.  For a full IM though, I really think I would go with the two-piece for two reasons: 1.  The porta potty thing 2.  At T2, depending on conditions, it might really be nice to quickly trade in that tri-top for a clean, dry, and perhaps loose-fitting top.  Wearing a 2 piece, and keeping that spare top in your T2 bag, you have that option.

I decided to try out the two piece ensemble. I splurged and ordered Pearl iZumi’s Pro Tri Singlet and Shorts:

If you are near the Boulder Reservoir on Sunday, August 7th and you see an exhausted girl with short brown hair wearing this, start cheering, because it’s me!

by Lindsay Brust

Working Hard vs. Overtraining

I woke up this morning and did not want to go workout but couldn’t go back to sleep. As usual, I started thinking. I thought about how my triathlon is about 3.5 weeks away. I thought about how I just missed 5 days of workouts because I had knee surgery. I also thought about how I just purchased a plane ticket for 4 days in Mexico.

This last thought was most motivating to me because:

• I’m going to be lounging at an all inclusive resort in Cabo during what should be my last week of high volume training so I need to get some work in now.
• and it also means that I will be spending the better part of four days in a bikini.

I got out of bed and headed to the gym.

I hopped on a bike in the cycling studio, reset the power meter and started pedaling. The power meter informed me that I was pushing about 85 watts. I usually push about 120 watts when I’m warming up. After playing with the resistance a little, I figured the meter must be calibrated funny so I switched bikes. Same thing. 80-90 watts. Class was starting though so I figured I would just have to deal with it and stayed put.

The class was an ladder-based interval class where you increase your resistance but hold a consistent cadence throughout the intervals. By the third interval I was finally pushing 120 watts and the resistance dial was in a place I recognized as correct for my cadence and effort… and slowly… I realized that… gasp!… I don’t think the watt meter is off. I think it’s me. I felt like I was working as hard as usual, but obviously I wasn’t nearly as efficient as I usually am.

I started to wonder if I’m overtraining this week. So, I did what I always do when I have a question. I asked a few people what they thought and then Googled it.

Google tells me that you are overtraining if you are suffering from the following:

• Sudden drop in performance and decrease in training intensity
• Washed-out feeling, tired, drained, lack of energy
• Moodiness and irritability
• Depression

The problem is that I have many of these symptoms once in a while when I’m not over training. Everyone has a bad day once in a while. I’m tired, but doesn’t that just mean that I’m working hard? I’m moody, irritable, and a little depressed today but there are plenty of other factors that play into that.

So how else can you tell if you’ve overtrained? Heart rate monitor. If you track your resting heart rate upon waking up every morning then an increase in that heart rate may mean that you need a little more rest. I’m going to definitely start doing this.

Do you have another way to tell if you’ve over trained? How do you relax and recover without feeling guilty?

Lindsay Brust

Women’s Adventure Magazine Blog

Hi everyone, I have some great news! Women’s Adventure Magazine has invited me to blog for them and my first post just went live. It’s called One More Mile and it’s about my ride to Jamestown. Hope you enjoy the read!

Women’s Adventure Magazine is the only sports, travel, fitness and lifestyle magazine published specifically for active women. It is published in Boulder, CO. Lindsay Brust

Swimming Drills

A big thanks to my friend Mary, a swimming instructor at the Colorado Athletic Club in Boulder, for these amazing drills that helped me transform from being scared of drowning to a slow and slightly more confident swimmer. They also keep me from getting to bored spending hours in the pool.

All joking aside, these drills are gold. Enjoy!

Here are Mary’s Notes: 

*Perform drills slowly at first and then with varying speeds. The goal is to work on technique, going faster and ultimately holding the same technique while going faster!

*No matter what drill you are doing, follow it with at least a length of full stroke swimming!

• kick on side w/ one arm extended – maintain high, long body position and keep head down (except to breathe). Switch sides by 25.
• 4 count – building on the last drill… start on one side with your arm extended, hold for a count of 4 then take one full arm stroke to rotate to the opposite side. Hold there for 4 counts and repeat. Execute quick switches, work on rotating shoulders and hips and maintain proper body positioning.
• gallop – building on last drill… instead of one arm stroke for each switch, do 3. Focus on long strokes, quick hips and full rotation.
• single arm breath – stroke with the extended arm while keeping the other arm by your side. Remember to keep rotating your body fully to both sides and drive with your head.
• sculling – sweeping your hands through the water. The goal here is to feel the water and learn to “hang” onto it at every stage of the pull. Try front scull, mid scull and back scull while using a pull buoy to minimize the kick.
• head up, underwater recovery/tarzan drill – advanced doggie paddle! Focus on your catch.
• tennis ball/closed fist drill – Tennis balls are preferred if you can use them, but tightly closed fists will work too. This will teach you to use your entire forearm when pulling underwater and will help you feel the water better when swimming with open hands.
• fingertip drill – swim normally but graze the top of the water with your fingertips as your take each stroke. Make sure to do this for the entire length of the stroke!  The goal here is to practice high elbows.
• sighting – essential for open water swimmers trying to maintain a straight line. Try raising your head every couple of strokes to mimic searching for an object and resume swimming normally with minimal interruption to your rhythm, balance and speed.
• long-axis combo – freestyle and backstroke are both long-axis strokes (head-to-toe rotation). Alternate 3 strokes of freestyle and 3 strokes of backstroke. Drive the rotation of strokes with your hips instead of “muscling” through the water with your kick.
• hypoxic training – works the lungs. Try swimming a 100 (4 lengths of the pool) breathing every 3-5-7-9 by 25.

Lindsay Brust

Jog.fm

Without music, I can run about a 5K and about an 11 minute mile and be exhausted. Give me a fully stocked iPod and point me in the right direction and I’ll run a marathon. Probably still at about an 11 minute mile pace. I have a tendency to get a little tired of my music seeing as how I hear Audioslave’s “Show Me How to Live” approximately once a day on my runs (it’s currently my power song on Nike+) and twice on the radio. So, I’m always looking for new good tunes.

I was excited to discover jog.fm, a free site where you can search for music based on your running pace. For example, if you run a 9 minute mile, they will suggest songs that have 160 beat per minute to keep you going. Here’s some of the stuff I found:

Fantastic Finds:

The cover by Fall Out Boy & John Mayer’s cover of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” (10 min. mile pace)

“DOA” by the Foo Fighters (10 min. mile pace)

“Stories” by Trapt (9:30 min. mile pace)

“Unnatural Selection” by Muse (9 min. mile pace)

“Bleed American” by Jimmy Eat World (9 min. mile pace)

“Tears Don’t Fall” by Bullet for My Valentine (9 min. mile pace)

Songs that make me laugh (and sometimes that’s necessary during a run):

“I Need a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler from the Footloose Soundtrack (10 min. mile pace)

“Crocodile Rock” by Elton John (10 min. mile pace)

“Can’t Run But” by Paul Simon (9 min. mile pace)

“Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” by Cage the Elephant (9 min. mile pace)

“Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins (9 min. mile pace)

Rediscovered: 

“Name” or “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls (oh, the late 90’s *sigh*) (10 min. mile pace)

Anything by Bon Jovi.

 

What is on your playlist?

Attention Swimmers: I’m mad at you.

Three words for you. Waterproof. MP3. Players.

WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME THESE EXISTED?! I’ve been swimming my laps in bored silence for MONTHS! How I have wished and hoped and dreamt that I could be groovin’ along to some funky tunes while trashing around in a pool. Shame on you all. You should know better then to keep gems like this from your land-loving friends. I bet you all have been getting together and chuckling to yourselves that I didn’t know about this magical invention.

Just read these reviews and tell me how happy you know I would have been:

• “This little microscopic MP3 player is the best purchase I’ve ever made.”
• “I LOVE IT! It works great and really is waterproof. I just load it up and it makes my workout more fun and zip by.”
• “It is small enough to fit under my cap and I now swim longer.  The music comes out clear.  Swimming with music is great!”

Shame on you.

Half Ironman is One Month Away

Holy Crap. How times does fly. I looked at the calendar yesterday morning to find that the Boulder 70.3 Half Ironman is exactly one month (31 days) from yesterday. Here’s where I currently stand:

• Currently 23.5% body fat. I started at 24% with a goal of 18%, so I have made almost no progress. I even suspect that that .5% was actually the scar tissue surgically removed from my knee.
• 2.75 miles run in the past week. Give me a break, I had surgery.
• Approximately 645 glasses of champagne consumed. I attended a wedding with an open bar and celebrated the birth of our fine country the best way I know how.
• 20 hours spent laying on the couch under the influence of anesthesia and the after effects of that champagne.
• Watched the Tour de France. Does it count when you watch people ride a bike?

Not feeling great about my progress over the past week. I’m going to have to be a lot more disciplined. Here are my goals for the next 31 days:

• Eat whole foods as much as possible and cut back on sugar and alcohol.
• Be disciplined about my training. Focus on strength building and good form to avoid injury.
• Get more sleep to help with recovery and motivation.
• Do a few strength training exercises to balance out these huge muscles I’m developing.
• Get used to my wetsuit and do a couple of open water swims.
• Pick out race day outfit and wear it a few times to make sure it fits in all the right places.

Am I missing anything? Should we start a “Will Lindsay Survive” pool? Which way would you bet? Would you bet differently if I told you I was considering going to Mexico for 5 days?

Lindsay Brust

Post Surgery Run

This morning I attempted my first post-surgery run. It was… okay. My muscles felt fresh, which they should because outside of some relatively tame dancing at a wedding, I haven’t used them for a week. My knee felt a little stiff at first, but it loosened up. My only real complaint was that by the end of a whopping 2.74 mile run, in 30 minutes, the back of my knee was aching a little bit.

Fortunately, I had absolutely perfect 63-degree-and-sunny running weather. I had also enabled the Nike+ on my phone to post to Facebook when I started running. Then, when someone clicks like or leaves a comment on your post, you hear cheers over your music. It’s seriously adorable.

Lindsay Brust