Rock N Roll Marathon

Nov 15, 2009

26.2 miles

My time: 4:57:41

My first and most likely my last marathon. 26.2 is just too far for me, plain and simple.

Ever since the Ironman my knee had been hurting me when I would run. Like an idiot I ignored this. Big mistake. I think some sort of brace would have helped dramatically.

I was exhausted before the ran start and that turned out to be detrimental to my race. My friend Rachel was doing the half marathon and I wanted to stick with her until mile 10. That quickly changed when I had to hit the port o potty at mile 2. Good thing too because I really would have held her back. She did really well. In fact she finished in 2:02:00. I wish I could have kept up but that was just the begining of the worst race of my life.

By mile 8 I was ready to quit. My stomach hurt and my knee was hurting. When 10 miles had passed and the half marathoners were splitting off I was so tempted to join them. I am glad I stuck it out, sort of. At least I have a finishers medal to show for it. My time at 13.1 was 2:15 so I already knew I wasn't going to get my 4:15:00 goal but I figured 4:30 was still good. By mile 15 my knee was really really starting to hurt. I called Jason and told him I was struggling and I was going to be a lot slower than I had planned. By mile 18 my knee was excruitiatingly painful. It hurt the most to walk and to attempt to get back into a run. I was hobbling along side the rode and crying for the remainder of the race. Several people asked me if I was okay and if I needed medics. I told them I was fine. I am such a liar. I have never felt anything like this pain before. My brain saying "run", well at least "jog" and my knee just wouldn't do it. My jog would quickly turn into a hop and skip before it came back to a limping walk. At 20 miles I sat down and cried. For the first time ever I thought I might not finish the race. I couldn't imagine going another 6 miles like this. I made it to a medic tent at 22 miles and a doctor asked me about my knee. He said it was some tendonitis and all he could do was give me tylenol and ice. I was hoping he had a hack saw and would just remove the whole lower portion of my leg. The tylenol helped a lot or at least it had a placebo effect. I was able to get back to a jog and I dared not stop because restarting was too painful. I did stop a few times for food and drink but at 24 miles I finished the thing out with a jog. At 23 miles I called Jason again and told him I was only at 23 miles and was moving pretty slow. He said "Your almost done!" Ya right. Longest 3 miles of my life. Most of the marathoners were walking after about 20 miles. It was hot outside and very humid. I was so miserable. Good thing I wore Brother's fanny pack :) I was able to carry food, Biofreeze and my pride all in that little bag.

Overall the course was not pretty. We ran along side some cemeteries which had pinatas on some graves?!?! And we ran through the ghetto. Not too scenic. All of the bridges we ran under reeked of urine. There were lots of port o potties for the runners but no toilet paper. Useless. There was lots of water and food along the way but the water was warm. The Ironman provided ICE COLD water and that was really refreshing. Of course warm water is much better than no water.

The finish line finally came up out of the blue and I was too tired to throw my arms up or do some kind of victory dance. I looked for Jason, Rachel and Paul and didn't see them. There were a lot of spectators out there. I felt terrible that Rachel had to wait 3 hours for me to finish :(

I went straight to the medic tent and got a bag of ice and sat down. It felt fantastic. I chugged some water and stretched a little and then head out to find my people. Lincoln had fallen asleep because I took to long.

I am glad I can say I have done a marathon but it almost killed me. I won't ever do one again. Haha, but if I do I won't run it alone. I need someone by my side to share the misery. Its too lonely out there for 5 hours alone. I'll stick with half marathons and triathlons I think.

Longhorn Ironman 70.3

The beast has finally arrived.....

1.2 mile swim
56 mile bike
13.1 mile run

My time: 6:09:05

The National Anthem: Skydivers jumped out of a plane and held an American flag while they floated down. The National Anthem was sung and everyone watched the flag float down in the sky. It was pretty creative.

The 1.2 mile swim: The race started at Decker lake (my favorite lake from previous races) and it was wet suit legal. Jason woke up early with me and we went out to the race site and I got all set up in T1. He helped me get my wet suit on then it was wait time. When I saw the buoys out there I got a little freaked out. WOW that was really really far! Swimming laps in a pool looks totally different than, BAM, 1.2 miles out in a lake. My wave was the 8th wave. I was soooo nervous. The water was 75 degrees and the air was about 60 degrees, so it was warmer in the water. They did the count down and off we went. SEAWEED everywhere. Not the slimy kind. The kind that feels like Christmas trees? Anyways, if my body had not been protected by a wet suit I guarantee I would have freaked out and drown. I stayed calm and just waited for the deeper water to come and it finally did. I thought these girls would leave me behind but I kept up with some of them. And yes, I did breaststroke 99% of the time. My name is Laura, and I am a breast-stroker. And guess what? I stay going straight the whole time while the free stylers run into each other and get way off course. So, I think I may have the better strategy. My goal was to do the swim in 38 minutes which is a 2 minute pace. My time was 38:42... so things started out well. Question?: Is it possible to have 2 side stitches at once? Answer: Yes. I had 2 side stitches (one on each side) for about 3/4 of the swim. If that doesn't make you almost drowned then the seaweed will. I never saw Jason when I got out and he waited there for an hour and 15 minutes and thought I had either gotten out or drowned out there. So he called his mom and she had seen me exit the swim online. The wet suit strippers were AWESOME. The dude got my wetsuit off in about 2 seconds and it takes me about 2 minutes!

T1: Wet suit in hand I walked part of the way uphill to T1. So it turns out you feel naked after wearing a tight wet suit for an hour and then having it ripped off. I kept looking down to make sure I actually had clothes on! I seriously took FOREVER in T1. About 7 minutes to be exact. I dried off, put on my shirt, cleaned my feet and put on socks and bike shoes, etc etc. Then it was off for a 56 mile ride!

The 56 mile bike: The furthest I had ever gone before was 50 miles and my average on my training course was always around 14 miles per hour. I had a tune up and I don't know if he supercharged my bike or what, but I felt like I was flying. The first 24 miles FLEW by. My average speed at this point was 17.9 mph. That is my fastest ever by FAR. Thats when I sent a text out. I was pretty sure at this point that I was going to finish in under 7 hours and possibly more like 6.5 hours.

At the first water station my nightmare came true... I made another person fall off their bike. A girl and I hit tires when I was pulling over to get off my bike. She fell and I didn't. I was able to get my clip out in time to catch myself. She was super nice and thought it was her fault and clearly it was mine. We were both okay and went on our way. I still feel really really horrible about that.

I went to the port o potty and then was on my way again I stopped to get some Gatorade from a volunteer who attempted to pour it in my Design Profile bottle. Instead of squeezing the top and nicely putting it in my bottle, she top of the lid and basically just dumped orange Gatorade all over my bike. I stopped at the next volunteer and got water to "hose" down my bike. So, Gatorade girl totally ruined my chocolate chip cookies I had in my front bag. I had a nice soup of orange Gatorade, choc chip cookies, Advil, biofreeze, gu, and trail mix. I didn't care, I kept eating it. And the biofreeze really gave it an extra kick to wake up my mouth. I hope that stuff isn't poisonous to eat.

From here on out the miles stood still. I would feel like I had gone 5 miles and I would look at my computer and see I had only gone .5. Yuck! I started thinking.... some athletes came from other countries and states to do this race. If they had never been to Texas before they are totally gonna think people ride horses to school and all that stereotype - here's why: We rode out to Elgin and back on country roads. There were several people riding horses on the road and there were old hick farmers with hick teeth standing on their driveways telling everyone good luck. If that's not Texas, I don't know what is.

The wind starting picking up and my back and neck started getting tired. But don't worry, I only had about 25 miles to go :( . FINALLY 48 miles came and I sent out another message. My average speed had dropped to 16.9 and then stayed that way. (Hey, much better than 14 mph!!) I was pretty sure it felt like the race should be over after the 56 miles but of course the run was still to be done. But hey, 13 miles is easy, right? WRONG.

When I got off my bike I was so glad to see Jason right there. I had been getting lonely for the last 4 hours since I didn't see him after the swim.

T2: Well, I was on aisle "G" at T1 so thats where I went for T2. WRONG. My stuff was on aisle "I". So I had to turn around and go down another aisle. Don't worry.. Jason got this on video. I thought my T2 time was going to be like 2 minutes but it was 4 something. I got my running shoes, on blasted my knees with more biofreeze and started on the run. I had taken my advil previously on the bike because my knee was already bothering me.

The 13.1 mile run: The first thing we did was run through the arena and that was pretty cool. Then the real part began. It was hilly. But not steep/quick hills. Looooong and forever going uphill hills. The good news is that there were also "downhills". Whatever, flat would have been much better. My goal was to keep a 10 minute pace to finish the run under 2:10:00. I had no idea if I was doing that or not because of the hills where your pace obviously goes way up. Jason was there for each lap and that made it sooo much better. Clorissa was there for the start of the 3rd lap too. My pace dropped to 12 minute miles towards the end and I just didn't care anymore. All I wanted to do was finish. I didn't care about my time or anything anymore. Ok, that is totally a lie but all I wanted to do was sit down and STOP MOVING. Finally my 3rd and last lap came and I tried to take it up a notch. I was imagining the time of 6:09:00 and that became my new goal. I was exhausted and I actually have no idea if I started running faster or not. The end of the run was a lap through the arena and then across the finish line. I was so exhausted at this point I didn't even have the energy to look for my family among the spectators. But they were there and I heard them scream for me as I was passing them.
My run pace ended up being 9:17 and my time was 2:01:00. SWEET!

The finish: When my feet actually stopped moving I thought I was going to fall over. I have never been that physically exhausted in my life.

Thanks to Jason, my mom, Clorissa and Caylee, and Elizabeth* for being there at the finish line.

Elizabeth gets an asterik because she actually wasn't there in time because she was expecting me to finish in 7 hours and not just over 6!!!

Will I do this again? Not for awhile.

Run Austin Run Half Marathon

13.1 Miles
My time: 1:57:21

My very first Half Marathon

I talked Jason into doing this with me and that was the best thing I could have done.

My goal was to keep a 10 minute pace but I really really wanted to finish in under 2 hours. And I did the math over and over again to try to make that possible with a 10 minute pace. Darn math.... we had to do it in a 9:17 pace. Ugh. We didn't think that was possible for us.

The weather was perfect and the course was wonderful. Hilly, but wonderful. Jason was the pace setter and we ran fast! I can't believe how fast we ran the entire thing.

The rain: The last 2 miles we were getting poured on. It was FREEZING. We were soaking wet.

The last .25 mile: I told Jason to take off and finish and he did. As he was approaching the finish line he looked back to find me and possibly wait for me so we could finish together. Surprise, surprise I was right beside him! We sprinted to the finish and it was a photo finish. Too bad I started the race 1 second before he did at the starting line. So that means he beat me by 1 second!

My final time was 1:57:21 and that is an 8:57 pace! Faster than my fastest 10k pace.

I placed 15th out of 297 women

Hmmm... I didn't know I liked running.....

Dude Girl Tri Sept 20, 2009

1500m swim, 24 mile bike, 6.2 mile run
Olympic Distance Triathlon
My time: 3:04:47

This race only turned out to be 200 people! I thought it was going to be closer to 1,000. Wow. So my initial thought was "I am just going to try to finish this race and not worry about my time". As soon as I saw that my age group was really small that thinking went straight out the window. I clearly had to try to place. This race was at the same location as the Sweet and Twisted Tri a month earlier.

The 1500m Swim: The lake was still incredibly low despite all the rain we had. The swim course was 2 loops and very near the shore line. It didn't go out and back it just stayed along the "coast". Everything was going well until I was on the last leg of my first lap and saw people swimming to the shore and then running in ankle deep water. First thing that popped in my head: omg what is in the water?!?! I was so scared at first. I yelled up to the spectators to find out what was going on. The response: "Its legal to run in the water as long as your feet are in the water". @%*(#$% $%*Q*$% *%QW*#%*. Are you kidding me? I don't care if its legal or not. That is CHEATING. As soon as I saw that happening - and I mean it was about 80-90% of the people, I knew I had no chance of placing. Since I consider myself a respectable person and athlete there was no way I was "cheating". I stayed in the water and you know me, I hated every minute of it. But if I am going to say I did an olympic distance triathlon, by all means, I am swimming the swim, not running the swim. My blood is starting to boil just thinking about it and that was a month ago lol.

The Dash: Yet again another dash due to the lake being incredibly low. This time I ran it in tennis shoes and that was much better than flip flops. Don't get me wrong... it was still uphill and on rocks. Horray drought.

T1: Wow, now I have started texting during transitions. No wonder my time isn't great

The 24 mile Bike: It was 4 laps, so it was very spectator friendly. I had no spectators but thats okay. It was very hilly as I knew it would be. My speed was 1mph faster than it was at Sweet and Twisted so maybe there is something to clips after all :)

T2: Dreading the run with lead legs.

The 6.2 mile trail Run: My goal was to have under a 10 min/mile pace. I felt good and I passed a lot of people and only 1 passed me. I ended up with an 8:59 pace and I was THRILLED about that. That was my fastest 10k pace by far. The run was fantastic and felt really really good.

My final time was 3:04:47. My goal was 3:30 so I blew that out of the water.

I felt so good after this race that I decided I was going to sign up for the Half Ironman.

Dreaming of the Longhorn Half Ironman

This weekend I successfully ran (jogged) 10 miles on Saturday and then rode 46 miles on Sunday. It felt really great. For the first time I rode without my knee hurting. I am thanking, Karen, for fixing all my problems. I can just taste the Half Ironman and it tastes delicious! Better see if I can finish the Olympic distance Dude Girl Triathlon first. Being in the lake for 45 minutes does not sound appealing to me. BUT the good news is if I can swim a mile in the lake for Dude Girl then I can swim 1.2 miles in a lake for the Longhorn half. So my goal for right now is to do Dude Girl in 2 weeks, then run my first half marathon in early Oct. Then do the Longhorn Half Ironman in mid October and finish out the season with my first marathon on November 15th. Then I will never exercise again ;) Ya right.

Wurst Tri Ever August 23, 2009

300m Swim, 14 Mile Bike, 3 Mile Run
My time: 1:31:50

Well I saved the Wurst for last, thats for sure. This statement is mostly true because I was sick. There is nothing like swimming 300 meters, riding 14 miles uphill, and running 3 miles on a Texas August morning while being sick. My original thought was "I paid for it so I have to do it but I won't go all out". Well we all know that doesn't work. Its go big or go home. So, I did my best. My lungs burned so incredibly bad and I could tell my oxygen consumption was very diminished.

The Swim: Landa Park Pool. YUCK. Never have I been in a pool where seaweed was my biggest fear. It was grabbing me from all directions. Landa Park Pool is a spring fed pool and lets just say its very natural. Naturally disgusting. There is so much algae and other disgusting things growing on the bottom of the pool that it was actually scarier than a lake. In all my lake races I never once had seaweed grab me. GROSS. The water was clear but I wished it wasn't so I couldn't see all the grossness. Also, this is part of the comal... that means the water was a nice 72 degrees. That was the least of my worries.

T1: Wow, like 5 minutes. I suck. Also my first time doing the bike shoes.

The Bike: So the clips and shoes were nice. I still had a hard time on the bike though. I wonder how bad I would have been if I did it in my sneakers. There was a hill so big on this course that they actually gave out an award to the person who could ride up it the fastest. I actually thought this hill wasn't too bad. There were about 3 that were worse on that course. Anways, I did not get that award but I actually didn't do too bad. I came in 22nd place on the hill out of about 150 women. After 10 miles, like an addict, I reached for my gel with shaking hands. I was so hungry. I squeezed it too hard and brought it to my mouth too quickly and got it all over my chin. oops. Not to mention a mouth full of raspberry goop. Gels are better in small doses, not one big mouth full.

T2: Under a minute. Thats more like it.

The Run: I didn't let anyone pass me on the run but I was still running at an 8:30 pace. I thought was going faster but it turns out I wasn't. On the run I finally caught up with the people I couldn't catch on the bike. And I experienced the meanest course yet. I was coming up to a turn and I could see the finish line and hear the mc announcing people as they crossed it. I keep following the course and we ran right by the finish line! It was a total fake out and I hated it. I had pushed myself and was going all out and then I found out I had another half mile to run. Thanks for the trickery, that felt awesome.

Overall I finished 5th in my age group out of 25. Eh. Not too bad for being sick and whatnot. Top 25%.. can't complain too much but I probably will anways :)

Thanks to my wonderful husband, my son and Pam and Paul for coming out to support me. That really means a lot to me :)

Sweet and Twisted Triathlon August 16, 2009

500m Swim, 15 Mile Bike, 3.1 Mile Run
My time: 1:41:37


First of all.. there wasn't anything sweet about this race except for the ice cream at the after party.

My mom and I left Round Rock a 4:30am to head out to Spicewood. It was quite dark out there. And my friend Terri was there so I was thrilled about that.

The lake: Supposedly it had half the water its suppose to have. Here's my thought. If a million fish live in the nice big lake.. when all the water dries up where do the fish go? Please tell me they aren't all condensed in the remaining water. Gross.


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The Swim: Needless to say I was not comfortable in the water. I didn't like it one bit. I didn't do a single stroke of freestyle. I did breast stroke the entire time. Gotta say, I must rock at breast stroke. I came in 9th out of 81 people on the swim. The swim was not out and back it was point to point and as I was about half way done I thought "I wonder if my mom is walking along the shore following us". Sure enough, I look over to the side and there she was. So I waved. She could easily pick me out since I was the only fool doing breast stroke. I saw something every interesting on the swim...I saw a girl actually swim over another girl. For some reason they were crossing paths despite us swimming in a straight line. They were both right in front of me. They ran into each other and did the thing where you dart back and forth because you dont know which way the other person is going. Finally, one girl just basically climbed over the other girl. The girl that got swam over had a look of disgust on her face. I decided to breast stroke right passed them. I figured I better get out of their way before I get swam over. Oh, at the start I got slapped on top of the head by someone. It was funny. Wouldn't have been funny if she knocked my goggles off though. I would have swam over her if she did that.

The Dash: What is a "Dash" you say? Its what occurs when the lake is so low that you have to run 1/2 mile to get to transition. Not only that, you have to run uphill on rocks and what used to be the bottom of lake. This triathlon was definitely a 4 sport event. The 4th sport being off road / rock climbing / sand running. ALL IN FLIP FLOPS. This is no easy task. I actually walked for a few minutes and I try to NEVER walk during a race. But the swim killed me and then running up pile of rocks in flip flops was the kicker.

T1: The transition from Swim/ rock climbing into Bike. I ranked 223 out of 495 overall OUCH (16 out of 81 in my age group). Turns out I shouldn't be wasting time putting deodorant on. Who knew ;) I also had to make sure I got every grain of sand off my feet because I wasn't about to do the run with a beach in my sneakers. Oh ya, I threw some Bengay on my back before the ride to try to mask the massive back pain the bike causes me. Worked for awhile. I actually thought a small fire broke out on my back because I thought it was reacting with the sunscreen. Plus the sun beating down didn't help. The good news is that my back only hurt somewhat.

The Bike: Ok so I totally got whooped on the bike. I thought I was doing great for about 10 minutes and then everyone started passing me. I was in the first wave (ages 29 and under) so when I saw 40 somethings passing me I knew I was in trouble because they started the race about 15 minutes later than I did. I have been trying to convince my wonderful husband to let me get aero bars and bike shoes and clip pedals - this should increase my time considerably. But, as usual I was one of the only fools out there on my bike in running shoes. I guess that makes me appreciate my final ranking more knowing that I worked a lot harder on that portion of the race. But, I seriously got WHOOPED on the bike. It was sooo hilly. My last 3 races were in Houston and I had forgotten what hills were. Hills = not fun. Don't get me wrong, I can run up a hill but biking is a different story. I really need to start training. Seriously. I gotta stop winging it race to race. Actually it might have been a good thing I wasn't in 1st place on the bike because the volunteers were actually yelling at people to dismount after one lap. The course was 2 laps, 7.5 miles each. So, some people got screwed because of that. But they probably still beat me despite dismounting and whatnot. Oh, when I finished the bike I actually missed the turn for dismount because no volunteers were telling me what to do- so I had to turn around. Ugh. Bike result = 58 minutes, 15.4 avg pace. I ranked 145/495 overall and 18/81 in my age group.

T2: I threw on my race belt which would later be malfunctioning through the run and I headed for the run start. Good thing I heard my mom yell "HELMET"! Ooops, I started running with my helmet on. I had to run back to my transition and put my helmet back. I attempted to throw it to my spot and of course failed so I had to run over there and nicely place it on my spot. How embarrassing would that be to actually have started the run and realize like 1/2 mile that you are still wearing your helmet. That would make some hilarious pictures :) My T2 time was 1:08. 99 overall and 23 in my division. Looks like besides the bike that transitions are still my weakest link. Stupid helmet.

The Run: Helmet free I started running. Man was it HOT. And I teach boot camps at 5:30pm and it doesn't bother me. So you know its HOT when I say HOT. I didn't realize this wasn't a road run but more like a trail run. There was no even ground to be found. The choice was to run on loose sand or very very bumpy compacted sand/rock mixture. I did the scary ankle roll thing twice. The hills on the run didn't bother me at all but the uneven ground sure did. So did the dusty air. I have some nice shin splints complimentary of the Sweet and Twisted Tri. 3 people passed me on the run and I passed about 10. I think only 3-4 of which were in my age group. When I finally saw the finish line I tried to pick up my pace and I knew at that moment the asthma attack was inevitable. But I also knew it wouldn't hit until I came to a stop. So, I just cranked it up and finished strong. Then BAM the wheezing began. But luckily it was a small attack and didn't last too long and I didn't FULLY loose my breath, just about 3/4. I actually finished 2nd in my age group on the run and 22nd overall. I can't believe the run is my best event because I am so not a runner. I know I have room for vast improvement in all 3 events. Like the swim especially ;)

My goal was to finish the race in 1:34 but once I saw the distance from the swim to the transition and saw the bike hills I knew I wasn't gonna get that goal. I ended up at 1:41 and got 6th place in my age group and 53rd out of 495 overall. So, if you see Jason tell him I could have placed if I had bike shoes, clips and aerobars.

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, was Sweet and Twisted 2009 at Pace Bend Park.

More of the same in Sept except twice as far? Dude Girl 2009 out a Pace Bend Park, do I dare sign up for you?

Wurst Tri Ever next weekend in New Braunfels.

Until the next finish line,
Laura

Bridgeland Triathon

The race was exactly a 1/8th Ironman.
482meter swim
14 mile ride
3.28 mile run

My time: 1:27:06

The Swim:
Was in a neighborhood man made lake- I wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing. I was in the very last wave so I knew all the critters would be long gone before I started. But I knew it was shallow and therefore everything lurking below wasn't that far below. There were people who actually stopped and walked during the race. The water was up to their necks and I thought they were just treading water because it looked weird. Its been awhile since I had done the lake thing so all my training went back out the window. I mostly did breast stroke but did put my head under water. I did some freestyle but not much. I can tell you that the water was pretty clean because I got 3 big mouth fulls and it didn't taste that bad. Unlike Texas Ski Ranch where I nearly gagged to death.

The Bike:
I think this race should have been called Road Kill Race. There was dead animals smeared all over the road. It was quite disgusting. There were 2 big snakes, 1 opossum, 1 large dog and 2 animals that I could not determined because they were so grotesque. The 14 miles went by quickly, 45 minutes to be exact. My average pace was 18.4 mph. The wind was a factor but not near as bad as riding on 1431. And of course no hills. My knees had been killing me on my bike so I had adjusted my seat before this race. I raised it 1.25 inches and moved it back and tilted it up. The good news is that I didn't get the shooting pain in my knee but my lower back hurt sooo bad. Also, during the bike ride an ambulance went to the race site to get someone... not sure what happened there. I still don't have clips or bike shoes and all that fancy stuff....I know my time would improve if I wasn't handicapped by my pedals and shoes... hint hint to my husband.

The Run:
No one passed me on the run. One girl tried and since she was in my age group I could not allow such things. So I ran with her for about 1.5 miles - I am pretty sure this annoyed her. At a water station she stopped and I was like "see ya"! Turns out she stayed pretty close behind me the whole time. Had I known this I would have gone faster. And it turns out my pace went up t0 8:29. The last race it was 7:56. So, I needed to be going faster anyways. I really need to get a garmin so I know how fast I am going at races. The run wasn't bad at all. There were men in their 40s dropping like flies on the run. I passed a bunch. Remember I started in the last wave - so I knew I was catching up with people. In fact all the men started before all the women.

The Result:
There were 600 people in the race. I placed 182 overall. Those boys always whoop my butt. However, there were 26 girls in my age group and I got 2nd! FINALLY I placed!!!! I got a frog trophy. Jason says I am not allowed to display it anywhere in our house. That girl I ran with got 3rd.

Still to come:
Next week- Sweet and Twisted Triathlon out in Spicewood! I can't wait!

Thank you to my dad, BJ and Richard who came out to support me despite the early time and heat. Thank you soo much!!

Till next time,
Laura

Danskin Triathon: Sprint Distance June 6, 2009

Overall Rank

Class Rank

Swim

Swim Rank

Trans1

Bike

Bike Rank

MPH

Trans2

Run

Run Rank

Pace

Final

138 of 1976

21 of 218

00:19:24

193

00:02:39

00:43:53

432

16.4

00:02:04

00:26:28

86

00:08:32

01:34:29

750m Swim, 13 Mile Bike, 3 Mile Run
My time: 1:34:29

My final time was 1:34:29 so I didn't meet my goal of 1:30:00. It was a really good race! I liked it a lot. It seems organized (at least to athletes) and there was plenty of water on the run! Apparently biking is my weakest link, it was last time too. Can't believe I got 432 rank on bike and 86th on run! And of course the dreaded swim... I came in 193 which is way better than the bike! So, I know you are just dying to know how I survived the 1/2 mile swim. I was soo nervous before the race. Just standing in front of the water watching the earlier waves take off my heart rate was 115! lol that is sad!

The Swim: So this swim was almost twice as long as the last swim I did. And guess what!??! I put my face in the water almost the whole time! I still did breast stroke but at least I was able to put my face in the water and not panic. I even kept my eyes open (goggles of course) and let the green become my friend. I even did some freestyle! I am soooo proud of myself. I totally didn't even come close to freaking out. So, this means I can now focus on how to get faster!!!! Turns out the best way to conquer a fear is to face it. I wouldn't say its conquered but its under control. No, I still don't want to swim out that first buoy at lake Pflugerville - that still scares me. The water was crowded and there were lots of people in the way so that was annoying but expected.

The Bike (which apparently I suck at): The course was mostly rolling hills with the exception of 2 big hills. BIG hills - like people had to walk their bikes up them. I sucessfully stayed on my bike but it was hard! At the very end of the race there was the biggest hill you have ever seen in your life and from the distance you could just see the bikes sloooowly climbing up it. For some reason this hill wasn't has hard to climb but it was the most intimidating thing to see. I learned a few things about gears this race. I also did not drop my water bottle this time so that was good. Oh, and I still think eating a power bar on the bike is crucial.

The Run: Ok so the run started out on mulch?!?! We probably ran 1/2 mile on mulch and bark! The whole run was through the park on uneven ground. I had 2 ankle rolling scares. Someone had to have busted their ankle out there. I thought the run was really easy. Of course my pace wasn't super fast but whatever. I think only 2 people passed me the entire time - a 16 yr old and a 29 yr old. Love triathlons for having your age on your calf so you can see if people in your age group are passing you. I couldn't catch that 29 year old - I told her "good job girl" as she passed me. After the never ending slow climbing hill I sprinted to the end having to dodge a whole family that was holding hands and taking up the whole path.

My final time was 1:34:29 and 21st place in my age group.

The 3rd place girl in my age group beat me by 10 minutes. Some day maybe that will be me :)

And this was my 2nd race in a row to have a near asthma attack at the finish. Whats up with that ?!?! This one wasn't as bad as the Adventure 10k though.

Oh, that really good ice cream cart was back. They were at Skeese Greets and I was so happy to see them again :)

I am definitely doing this race again, I loved every minute of it.

Pics coming soon! Stay tuned.

Laura

ps- I just looked down the ground at my goggles (I threw all my junk on the floor when I walked in). Of course Toni chewed the strap in half so now I have to get new goggles. These goggles were ones that Elizabeth found at Schlitterbahn hahahaha. I guess its time to buy some non stolen ones.

Cap Tex Tri: First Tri Distance, May 25, 2009

400m Swim, 6 Mile Bike, 3.1 Mile Run
My time: 1:05:21

http://results.active.com/pages/searchform.jsp?posted_p=t&numPerPage=25&page=2&rsID=78758&queryType=division&orgID=216392

http://results.active.com/pages/oneResult.jsp?pID=59183137&rsID=78758&orgID=216392

My division: (The First Triathlon Division- females only). This was the shortest distance - I am still working on my confidence in the water- Still haven't put my face in!)
I placed 6th overall which is decent. Worst part is that the 5 people in front of me beat me in 2 minutes or less. If I hadn't had my brakes screwed up on the first mile of the ride I could have won the whole thing! And I have to admit I didn't push myself super hard on the run- I really could have taken it up a notch. Hind sight is 20/20. It was still fun though. Eating and drinking while on the bike part really is key to having a good run. Just don't do what I did- Put a chocolate bar in your bike bag and let it sit in the sun 2 hours before you get to it. I know I had chocolate all over my face at one point. Hopefully there won't be any pics like that! However, that would be funny to those of you who know about my sweet-tooth.

Also, a note on the swim. While swimming in Town Lake sounds utterly disgusting, it actually wasn't that bad. There was 1 part that smelled like gasoline and I didn't like that too much. The current wasn't too terrible but it was there. Also, I did not have any panic attacks this time. I didn't even attempt to put my face in the water and there wasn't any seaweed, unlike my nemesis Lake Pflugerville. The water was 70 degrees. About half the people wore wetsuits and I wished I was one of them. It took my breath away when I jumped in - definitely not awesome for someone who can't breathe in the water because of fear anyways. But it was a deep water start and I got comfortable in the water before the race started. It was a pretty decent experience but my neck was getting tired by the end of the race from looking up the whole time. As much as I hate turtles I probably look like one out there ;)

Jason and Lincoln came out to support me and I was so glad :)

Well the day is done and my nasty cold is just getting worse.

Thanks for your support
Laura

My First Triathlon: Skeese Greets May 3, 2009

300m Swim, 11.1 Mile Bike, 2 Mile Run
My time: 1:07:18

My FIRST TRI EVER!!

http://results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?orgID=216392&rsID=77549 by age groups
http://results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?orgID=216392&rsID=77548 overall

13th in age group, 53rd overall. Not too bad for my first tri. The announcer said there were over 400 people but this only shows 350 something. Oh well. I finished in the top 16 percent. Too bad I let 3 people blow by me right at the finish line.

So I totally had a panic attack on the swim. I was fine until about 5 strokes in and then my throat just closed and I couldn't breathe. Almost waved a lifeguard down about 4 times. I have got to practice in open water. That was the scariest thing I think I have ever done.

1. Fear of open water
2. People grabbing your feet and you grabbing other people and splashing everywhere= feels like everyone is drowning
3. very claustrophobic
4. Green water is gross and tastes bad.
5. Not being able to breathe means you suck water in! doing the rest of the race with water filled lungs isn't too comfortable.
6. Ugh, and I got stuck behind people slower than me so I felt like I was going nowhere
7. My 2 weeks of practicing freestyle went out the window right away. I had to do breaststroke. As soon as I would put my face in the water for freestyle my throat would close up again. Im sure everyone around me thought I was dying since I was gasping everywhere. lol so embarrassing.
8. And this was just a small man made lake!

Anyways I am proud of myself for going through with it even though I knew it would be disastrous.

lol I cried when I finally got on my bike - tears of "I can't believe I almost just died" lol.

Let me tell you, running after biking at 20mph totally sucks. Feels like you aren't going anywhere!

I obviously didn't practice that before the race. and I only rode my bike once before the race. Oops.

Will send the pics when they are up- Im sure they ridiculous

Thanks for all of your support!
Laura