I Want to Be an Ironman….Am I nuts?

Thanks for the title idea Joni! It makes a great slogan for a deodorant company, but not a very good slogan for a triathlete!

Sunday July 17th was the Door County Half Ironman, the venue is great – 1.2 mile swim in Green Bay, 56 miles bicycling on the country roads in and around Sturgeon Bay and finally a lovely 13.1 mile run through Egg Harbor. Door County is usually a very nice temperature this time of year, but not this weekend. Along with the rest of Wisconsin and much of the Midwest, Sunday was the start of a pretty miserable heat wave.

The swim was great – a little choppy on the backside of the course but the water temperature was ideal at about 69 degrees. The swim proved to be great practice for Ironman as I started in the last wave and in the middle of the wave so I could experience some arm-to-arm combat! The waves seemed to cause some anxiety so periodically I encountered groups of people backstroking, side stroking and breast stroking. Not usually a big deal as I normally choose the long and less combative route by swimming around them to the outside. Not an option in Door County as they have LOTS of  lifeguards and safety boats and they are in close making it impossible to swim around the crowds! So again good Ironman training – swam right through the middle of the high anxiety swimmers! Again lots of arm and leg contact but I didn’t panic and just kept on swimming. I did add a phrase to my mantra on the backside of the course “I am long, I am lean, I am in control and I am a Torpedo!” (Torpedos can cut through turbulent waters – well at least in my mind and that is all that counts so don’t burst my bubble if it is any different, please!!!) I finished the swim in 42 minutes and 18 seconds, not a bad time for me.

The bike is pretty flat by La Crosse standards so theoretically I should be able to maintain a pretty good speed. Well, let’s just say I have a focus issue on the bike. I will be biking along at a pretty good clip and all is going well and then la la la I am off in la la land – sightseeing or daydreaming or just checked out and before I know it I have gone 5 or 6 miles and am cruising at the breakneck pace of 12 or 13 mph!!!! ARGH!!! As Maggie said in my pre-race email – Stay Focused!!! I really tried but kind of lost my focus as the temps started climbing and then really lost focus when I realized I wasn’t sliding around in my aerobars like I normally do. Hmmm that is weird, kind of nice tho…. Well duh!!! the reason I wasn’t sliding is that I was not sweating! Well that is not good, my arms are as dry as a bone! This was about mile 25. I had been experiencing a muscle cramp in my left hamstring and  nausea, but I thought that was all from the turbulent waters as I have experienced seasickness on the bike after a rough swim. I was eating my Tums and drinking lots of fluids, forcing nutrition and electrolytes in on schedule but still fighting a sick stomach. I decided to stop at the next aid station to use the potty and see if that helped. At the aid station I rushed into the porta-john forgetting I was wearing slick soled bike shoes! Yikes, my right foot hit the floor and slid until it smashed into the wall of the tank! OUCH!!! I thought I broke my big and second toes!!! Oh well I tried to relieve my belly but not much success so I got back on my bike and cruised on. The bike continued to get hotter and I continued to grab an extra water bottle at each station to squirt on my head, back, and front to cool my core temp. I think I did maintain better focus for the second half of the bike as I had to add body cooling to my list of tasks.

Bike Task list:

• Top of the hour – Energy Gel & fluids – squirt water on head, front back
• Quarter after the hour – Electrolyte & fluids
• Bottom of the hour – 1/4 of my bar & fluids – squirt water on head, front back
• Quarter to the hour – Electrolyte & fluids
• Start again at the top…

Soon I came up on my friend and training partner, Libby, she had passed me early in the bike and is a stronger cyclist than I am so I thought something might be wrong. I slowed to ride beside her and she was struggling with the heat and worried about the run. I chatted with her a bit, and shared some of my water/shower with her to help cool her down and told her to meet me in transition and we would do the run together. She must have stayed right with me because she was waiting at the run out for me.

During the bike to run transition, my biggest concern was checking my toes to make sure they were straight and not deformed from the porta-potty mishap. I pulled my shoe off and stared at my toes. My transition area was next to a fence and a lady said “Do you have blisters?” I said “No I thought I broke my toes in the porta potty on the bike course, do they look okay to you?” She agreed they looked okay so I crammed them into my sock and shoe and then took care of the left foot. Grabbed my race belt skirt, visor and shoved my ziploc of energy in between my bra and sport top and off I went to find Libby. Libby was waiting at the Run Out and we jogged to the aid station table and promptly drank water and got a cup of ice. We shoved the ice into our bras and looked back and both turned around for another cup of ice to use elsewhere! So the ritual began…

The run or more accurately the walk/run (and later the death march…) started off with our plan – 10 min run then 1 minute walk. That lasted through two cycles and we came upon Brenda who was experiencing issues with her blood sugar (Brenda is diabetic) and she needed to walk and get it under control. No problem, we will walk with you! The three of us marched on. Pretty soon we came upon Sarah and she joined our group and about the same time Anna caught up with us and joined us. We were 5 women hot and determined to complete this quest. The volunteers, residents, spectators and motorists were AWESOME!!! They shared every thing they had – ice, water, sprayed us with hoses, set up sprinklers, shot us with water guns, you name it – if it would cool us off or encourage us down the road – They Did IT! Thank you Everyone! At every aid station our little group of 5 would get spread out as everyone did whatever they needed to get to the next station. For me, the key was keeping my core temp down as I was still not sweating. Each member of our group had their own challenges and we monitored and encouraged each other. It was a great support system and kept your mind occupied. Anna noticed my back was SUPER RED, so Brenda smothered my back in sunscreen at the next aid station. Anna was having a hard time getting nutrition in so I gave her some of my electrolytes. We all did and shared whatever we could to keep the group going. Max (Brenda’s husband) and Andy (Libby’s husband) were both on bikes and provided support along the way. Max even climbed the bluff with us!!! We did end up getting separated the last 2-4 miles but Libby and I stuck together. The 2 miles on top of the bluff was a long, straight, shadeless, blacktop and all you could see in front of you and behind you were people walking single file! It was ALMOST comical – it looked like a death march or the Trail of Tears! Everyone was slouched over, staring at the ground, walking. Libby and I discussed it with Max stood up straight, picked up the pace for a minute, laughed and immediately resumed the slouched death march!

Libby and I did run as often and as far as we could. The runs were getting shorter and the time between them longer as we were getting hotter and the balls of our feet were getting more painful. I think we both knew, even though I don’t think we ever discussed it, that we would run from the corner, down the hill and through the finish line – no matter what!!! And we did! Our run time was 2 hours and 52 minutes which was a 13 minute and 11 second minute per mile pace. Not bad!!! considering the temperatures had climbed into the 90’s with high humidity. I haven’t heard the heat index but I would guess it was around 100 degrees or more.

As we crossed the finish line, a volunteer put a cold, wet towel over my shoulders and asked how I was feeling. I said “Okay but I haven’t been sweating for a long time.” I was immediately ushered to the medical tent and into an ice bath. I am not sure how long I sat submerged in the ice water but the medical staff kept coming and grabbing my hand and asking me if I was cold. I said “No this feels great, I could stay here all night!” They came back again, grabbed my hand and asked if I was cold “Nope I am comfortable thanks” About the 3rd or 4th time they did that same routine I said “Why do you keep grabbing my hand?” It was kind of weird because I had a bottle of water in one hand and a banana in the other. The medical person said “Your hands are cold and do you realize you are sitting in a trough full of ice and water? Not just cool water?” I looked around and laughed and said “Nope didn’t realize there was ice in here but it feels good.” He came back with “Well your hands are cold because all of your blood is in your core your body is in survival mode. Let us know when you start feeling cold.” That got my attention. I remained in the ice bath for awhile longer – again I had no concept of time and my watch was still in stopwatch mode and I had my race time showing 7:04. Didn’t think to change it as I didn’t have anywhere I needed to go! I was happy as a clam sitting in the ice bath. Finally I started to get goosebumps on my legs so the next time they checked my hand, they pulled me out and put me on a cot in the medical tent where they took my vitals and got more information. After all my vitals came in normal,  the doctor heard my other symptoms – a POUNDING Headache!!! and I relayed my nutrition and hydration  history, he said “Well we can give you an IV or we can give you Tylenol..” I cut him off and said “Whatever comes with the Tylenol is what I want!!!” My head was KILLING me and had been for HOURS. I would have run another mile or two for a Tylenol or Ibuprofen! Upon getting my Tylenol, I was discharged from the tent with instructions to drink water. No problem!

It appears I suffered from Heat Exhaustion/Stroke. I was not dehydrated as I had peed twice on course and a large volume at both potty stops (once on the bike and once on the run). My symptoms: no sweating and a pounding headache indicate Heat Stroke. As I am writing this post, I remember muscle cramps earlier in the bike and my nausea (also symptoms of Heat Stroke) I thought they were the result of the rougher water but maybe not?? Anyway I am not sure what I could have done differently in talking with a few medical people – nothing! My body just didn’t like the heat! I do know my instincts to keep pouring water on my head, putting ice in my sports bra and the cold water dunks, hoses and sprinklers on the run probably kept my body temp low enough to enable me to keep going. I hate to think what would have happened without all that manual cooling….

Will/would I do it again? Yep, I will and I have. I did the Spirit of Racine Half Ironman in 2005 in similar conditions (90+ degrees with 115 degree heat index) it was ugly too but I did not end up in the medical tent after that one. So actually Door County was an Extreme Heat Half Ironman PR (personal record) for me! Racine in 2005 my finishing time was 7 hours and 24 minutes. Door County was 20 minutes faster!!!! 7 hours and 4 minutes! Woo Hoo

What did I learn? 1. Listen to my body and follow my instincts. 2. Find a buddy and let them know what is going on. You can watch each other, help each other and keep each other going. 3. Focus sometimes comes in different forms – while I lost focus on “racing” and going as fast as I could. I remained incredibly focused on my physical condition and my body and that of my friends around me. WAY MORE important than focusing on a race and speed! Should I have stopped when I quit sweating? Probably but I didn’t. What would I change??? After a LOT of rehashing and second guessing, I can now say “Nothing! I would not do a thing differently!”

In 2006, I had a serious bicycle accident and was very lucky/fortunate in many, many ways. Up to that point, I didn’t think too much about how quickly a bike ride can go really bad. I was mountain biking alone and then planning to meet up with Maggie who was road cycling. My first major mistake was that after I finished my planned ride, I still had some time before I had to meet Maggie so I decided to go into another area of the woods without alerting anyone. I had no cell phone and no identification. I was cruising down a hill, saw a log at the bottom and realized I was in trouble. That is the last thing I remember…

My next memory is standing next to my bike unable to make it move forward. I then realized my yellow biking jersey was all red??? I touched my face and realized my lip was severely messed up. I started walking as I knew I was losing blood and needed to find help. I was fortunate that I was familiar with my surroundings (I was at my family’s cottage in northern WI) and after about a mile or so walk, I was able to find someone who could drive me to the hospital in Bloomer (15 miles away). We found Maggie on the road along the way and were able to inform her of the situation. To make a long story short, I received over 100 stitches in my lip, had a hemotoma at the base of my tongue and later discovered I had a pretty severe trauma to the base of my brain around the vision center. It took me over a year to recover from the head injury and I still have a few issues with the head injury.

Things I learned that day:

• ALWAYS wear a bicycle helmet – my helmet was the first thing that saved my life that day.
• ALWAYS wear good protective eye wear – I happened to be wearing Oakleys and after rinsing lots of trash (wood, dirt and other unnamed debris) out of my eye the Dr asked to see my sunglasses. There were two huge gashes in the left lenses. Without those glasses, I would have probably lost my left eye.
• If you cycle alone, ALWAYS make sure someone knows your route, your start time and your expected finish and DO NOT deviate without alerting someone.
• ALWAYS have some form of identification on you and easily accessible to someone who may come upon you.

Since that accident I have had a few hangups about cycling:

• I do not like to bicycle alone.
• I am very careful who I bicycle with and I don’t like big groups
• I am a FREAK about helmets!

Well all of that has been workable for me until in June, when my schedule no longer allowed me to do many of the weekday workouts with the others training for Ironman. All of the sudden, I found myself needing to bicycle alone. At first I thought I would be just fine alerting a few friends of my route, my start and expected finish times and then texting them if I needed help. Well in theory that sounded good but my brain didn’t agree. I found myself experiencing what I would call anxiety attacks during my rides. My chest would tighten as I was descending a hill or leaving the city limits. My brain was not ready for this. I then started texting my “bike angels” at key intersections and points along my ride which was better but I still felt very vulnerable.

One week ago I was chatting with Andy Winga and he showed me a GPS tool he and Libby had on their phones which allowed them to locate where the phone was. The option they have is only available on my phone between phones on the same plan. I started looking for an application that would allow anyone (of my choosing) to follow me online. After a lot of searching and questioning of my cell service provider, Best Buy and friends, I found an application, GPS Tracker that did exactly what I was looking for. This app can be downloaded for FREE onto any GPS enabled cell phone and anyone with your username and password can track you online on their web site. The only downside to this application is that it is a HOG – both data and battery. Andy, Libby and I tested it on Tuesday night and it worked great until my battery died! Much more accurate than Andy and Libby’s tracking device on their phone. I tested it again Thursday night with my brother watching and it lasted the entire 30 mile ride, however we discovered the default of sending a signal every 5 seconds was a bit overkill for a bicycle, so I set it to 120 seconds, hoping that would save both battery and data.

Screen capture of the Instamapper tracking map.

Saturday, I did a 100 mile solo bike ride and was a little worried my battery wouldn’t last the entire time, so I took my Dad’s cell phone as a backup. The battery died at about 85 miles into the ride – about 5:30 hours running time. However, that was 85 miles of anxiety-free riding knowing that someone was watching my progress and knew where I was and even how fast I was going.

The GPS tracking can be turned on and off on your phone so you are not always being tracked. While I will still use my “bike angels” to text my route, start and finish, I will now also provide them with this information so they can check in on me if they don’t hear from me in a timely fashion.

My last suggestion for safety is to encourage everyone to purchase a RoadID. Going back to my accident, I did not have any form of identification on me or my bike. Even if I had ID on my bike, I left my bike at the scene of the accident so it would have done me no good. I now have a RoadID that I wear every time I am exercising. I also have added my emergency contacts into my cell phone under ICE.

If this information encourages at least one person to add one of the above safety measures, then my mission is fulfilled!

Safe cycling.

Every week it seems I learn a new skill/pain/frustration, always something… This weekend, I learned how much I CAN Do on tired legs. It has been a heavy week of training and a tough week emotionally. So after a quick trip to Minneapolis on Friday, I set out on a run in the WI humidity (nothing compared to Louisiana where I grew up but way more humid than normal here). I tried to pick a fun and lively route – which it was, but the week and the weather got to me. I felt sick most of the run, stopped at a park and visited with friends for awhile and then took off for the last 3-4 miles. Well about 4 blocks later I was nauseated, started dry heaves and I decided it was time to trudge home with tears streaming down my face. Not a good warmup for the long brick on Saturday.

Saturday morning everyone met at my house for a 6:30am departure. We started off on our 85 mile bike ride and as we hit the first climb I knew I was in trouble. My legs were DEAD!!! Great! The route included another big climb and I knew that would do me in so I announced I was taking a flatter route to Brice Prairie where we were doing a 26 mile time trial. Since I had been so slow on the climb, we were running behind schedule so everyone went flat with me. We got to Brice Prairie and I tried to refuel before the time trial. First lap was great, but the legs continued to fade on each lap and Angie had to do more pulling and I was barely hanging onto her wheel. We had some laughs out there but it was painful.  I was SOOOO glad to see that finish line. Whew. Lunch was awesome, as usual at BPTT, pork, beans, potatoes and brownies!! Now only 21 miles back to La Crosse and then a 13 mile run…..Argh….

We took a flat but somewhat windy route home, luckily Paul and Angie pulled so I could draft and save some energy. We arrived back at my house and I think everyone was dreading the run. We transitioned and set off for the first 10 minute run. That seemed to take forever! We are all planning on using a 10 minute run followed by a 1 minute walk method for the Ironman run. I felt I could BARELY make those 10 minutes of running and was soooo happy to walk. But wow a 1 minute walk goes quickly. I had forgotten my Garmin, probably a blessing, so I had no idea how fast or slow I was running. We ran from Kwik Trip to Kwik Trip to get water, Gatorade, ice and use the bathrooms. We even used their walk-in Beer Caves to cool down our overheated bodies.

Success was arriving back at my house for a celebratory round of Chocolate Milk. We had successfully biked 83 miles and run 12 miles. All of us, were thrilled to not only be done, to have completed the workout but amazed by our average paces especially on the run. I was thrilled with mine, just over 15 mph on the bike and less than 10 min per mile on the run. Way better than I thought I would do that morning! In fact, yesterday climbing up Cty YY I didn’t know if my leges would get me to the top of the hill, much less finish 95 miles in just over 7 hours of moving time and just under 9 hours of elapsed time!

As I have said before, I am amazed at what my legs can do! Now I am amazed at what they can do Tired!!! It may not always be fast; it certainly isn’t always pretty and my attitude is not always positive – but it is Always Moving Forward and that is what I must do Keep Moving Forward…. and let my tired achy legs do their thing because They Can!

Today, as I was pedaling through my “warm-up” bike ride on a desolate road in northern Wisconsin, I was wishing I was anywhere but on that bike, on that road, with 3+ hours of boredom and exercise ahead of me. Wow great attitude huh???? Yep, that was what was going through my head when I thought, “Crap I forgot my Ipod!” Oh that’s right I DON’T own an Ipod!!! I hate Ipods and I hate even more the thought of running or biking with an Ipod but here I am thinking today might be a good day for me!!! Yikes this was going to be a VERY ugly workout!

Frankly the bike wasn’t so bad, I stayed on flat roads and it was only 1.5 hours, it was a beautiful cool morning and my legs were loosening up from the 65 miles yesterday. But the run just loomed in front of me like a final I hadn’t studied for and was not prepared to take! I got off my bike and slowly transitioned to this dreaded run. Well, my right knee has been hurting this week when I run, so I quickly decided – “if the knee hurts, bag the run, best to not get hurt!”

Got my stuff together and since I was in the desolate northern woods I had already placed water along the course and had to carry my cell phone to text my locations and progress to my brother in North Carolina who was relaying my progress and needs to my parents at the cottage because they have no cell service there and you can’t get enough of a signal to call but you can get a text out!!! See??? What a logistical mess!!! Even more reason I should have just enjoyed blueberry pancakes, coffee and the wonderful company at the cottage instead of being out here alone and without an Ipod!!! On top of that what about the bears??? From observing other Ipod-addicted exercisers, I decided that I could have scared the bears away because apparently you MUST crank the volume so everyone within 20 feet can hear your music so that would be a great way to keep the bears away! You know they say “Always make lots of noise when you walk in the woods!” So folks, Is your breathing REALLY that loud that you can’t hear your music over it??? Just wondering….

Hey wait a minute, my knee is no longer hurting – yes, it was painful for the first mile or so but now it is fine! And wow those first few torture hills are behind me and this is going pretty well.  As I approach the cluster of cottages and the lake close to the road I see people launching boats, a few cyclists go by, I wave to all and say Good Morning. I hear a lawn mower and wave at the guy mowing. I listen to all of the birds chirping wondering what they are and where are they?? (I really should learn about bird calls that would keep my mind off the running but it is even though I don’t know the difference between a Robin or a Bluebird call or even it they hang out in the northwoods!) Wow now I am getting thirsty, I see a lady doing yard work and ask if I can drink out of her hose. “Absolutely, would you prefer a bottle of water to take with you?” “No thanks just a few sips out of the hose as I have water up at the intersection.” We chat while I drink and I thank her and off I go….

To make a long run (14 miles) short…. This was how my whole run went! I was thoroughly entertained by my surroundings and the wildlife hanging out just a few feet from the road. I saw several chipmunks, a few deer and a beautiful little fawn! I listened to a “symphony of birds, crickets and toads” (pardon the cliche) as they gathered their friends, attracted their young or whatever they do by chirping away! Again I need to learn about this….

I often giggled to myself as I thought of my bike ride this morning and how much I was dreading this run, so much so I actually “wished” I had an Ipod!!! Yikes!!! Thank God for small favors!!! No Ipod on this head! I prefer to enjoy my natural surroundings!

Rant Over: I will now step off my soapbox and hope one Ipod-Addict will take the challenge “Run Without!!!!” Try it you might find you like it!!!!