Balance?

Since I have been back in town I have stayed out late, i.e. past 9pm and hungout with friends on a daily basis while not running, biking or swimming! I have worked out a little bit this week, gotten into the gym to lift weights, run and biked once so far. I am chomping at the bit to get back into it, but I also know its better for me mentally to chill out for the time being. Full on training is just around the corner so I am taking it easy and trying to enjoy the balance ;-)

I still don't know exactly what is going on with my car. I recieved the estimate yesterday afternoon in the mail, it was too late to call then so I called this afternoon to see what the heck they are going to do and the guy who did the estimate is out of town until April 17th! WTF?!? So I called another number I had... left a message... called another number who put connected me to another number that didn't work. At that point I ran out of time and had to work, so the questions lingers on.

Yesterday morning I woke up early to meet up with my friends Becky and Kelly. Kelly was running her last 20 miler before Boston and Becky is doing her first 20 miler in building for Rock n' Roll San Diego. Since we haven't had the chance to hangout much since I have been back I chose to ride my mtn. bike with them as they ran. It was fun at times and boring at others, but they both did awesome!

Then last night I went rock climbing at the gym with Jason. I have never done that before and it was pretty cool, even though I was tired from lifting earlier in the day and wasn't up for too much. I learned a lot and will have to go back to do some more... there was one set that I finished on that I didn't make it all the way up, my fingers and hands were too freakin' tired!

Now I am babysitting my dads jack russell terrier, Diddle. Diddle is your typical neurotic jack russel and Cody just LOVES her, although he is VERY jealous of the attention she recieves. And tonight I am staying in for the night and relaxing and sleeping!

Cheers,
E

REALLY?

Things have been going well since I have been back from New Zealand. That all ended around 1:55pm today when a truck stopped suddenly in front of me and I had no where to go but into the back of his vehicle!!! UGH! Cody was in the back seat and my bike was on the roof. Fortunately NO one was hurt, not even my bike :-) And Cody was behaving himself. My door didn't want to open as we were stuck in the middle of a busy intersection and after a couple shoves it creaked open. My airbag didn't go off which I am thankful for, but the passenger seat where no one was sitting went off and man does that stuff stink! The front end of my car was crunched, liquids were leaking out the bottom and steam was coming out the hood. I grabbed Cody out the back and ran to the corner of the intersection as I tried to flag down the cop that was just about 400m ahead of me. Another nice cop pulled up and started blocking off the intersection that my car was smack dab in the middle of - I hate being a nuisance! As I was walking to the corner some old lady in a car rolled down her window and told me "you better ask the cop if you can put your dog in his car because he is going to DIE out here in the heat!" I wanted to punch her, its not like I wasn't worried enough about Cody! He was a good sport, found some shade and hung out there while I filled out paper work and made the cop go back and forth into my car to grab my stuff. I watched my car sit in the middle of the intersection with my bike on top - so I told the cop I needed to get my bike off because its more expensive than my car! He looked at me to see if I was joking - I wasn't! He made the tow truck pull the car around a corner so I could get my bike off.

So as I was standing on the side of the road I was trying to figure out who to call to help me out. My mom was in a meeting and she was getting her coworker to come pick me up, but I was just on my way to see my friend Edgar at the bike shop and I knew his car had enough room for both my bike and Cody. I then recieved a text from my friend Brian H. who saw me on the side of the road and just after I called Edgar to pick me up Brian came by to help out. Both Brian and Edgar were great and helped me get things out of my car, pull my bike off the roof and get Cody some water. Edgar also drove me home after all of it! So thank you both Brian and Edgar for being there for me!!!

My car is now in the shop, I have filed a claim with insurance, I also got a ticket because technically its all my fault and recieved a lecture from my dad (how old am I?). I am sure going to try to get my car totalled when they appraise it, but its not going to be an easy feat! I also don't have a rental car paid for by my insurance and even though my dad gave me a lecture he offered to fly me up to Flagstaff where he keeps my old truck that I had in high school to drive around until things get fixed with my car here. I was just planning on riding my bike everywhere until my car was figured out, but it looks like I will only need to do that every so often to save on gas since I will be driving a big gas guzzler for a while.

Drive safe everyone :-)

It's OFFICIAL

I have been hinting about the rest of my season since IM New Zealand (which was only 1.5 weeks ago) and now I have discussed my plan with Coach Jen and payed my entry fees. So here it is...

There are a few other races on tap, but most are local and much shorter :-) OH man am I excited!!! But first I am going to enjoy some much needed balance in my life. I get to spend more time hanging out with friends and taking Cody for longer walks even though he doesn't want to because it is getting warmer and he tries to lay down under every piece of shade (its only in the low 80's - LOL).

Bula Bula!

Bula means "hello" in Fijian and Vinaka is "thank you", so VINAKA to everyone as I have been overwhelmed with congratulations emails, phone conversations, facebook messages, etc. And I can't thank you enough for ALL of the support :-)

I had a great time in Fiji! A friend of mine from our IM New Zealand group decided to go with me at the last minute and thankfully he did. When we first arrived it was not pleasant and if he wasn't there I probably would've taken a taxi right back to the airport and tried to book a flight back to New Zealand right away. Since he was there we decided to make the best. After a few hours of planning we found ourselves catching a ferry to an island that is part of the Mamanuca archipelago. We could see the island Castaway was filmed on from our hotel room. It was pretty freakin' cool and the most lux place I have ever been to. The first day I was careful about spending too much time in the sun and after I spent some time swimming in the ocean I layed in the shade by the pool. The next morning I wasn't burned at all so I spent some time in the sun and paid the price for it! I don't think I have ever let myself get that burned, I was dissappointed in myself for that, but it seems to be getting better - at least it isn't painful anymore!
We stayed right on the water and had a ladder that led into the ocean


Im too young to stay at places this nice. Its funny too because I was just so thrilled with having my own room while staying in Taupo and I thought I was spoiled after that! I don't know that I can stay in hostels any longer :-)

Okay so on the training and racing front... I have a rough outline of the races I will be doing the rest of 09' but I still need to talk with Coach about my plans before I post anything. We are talking soon though, so I will have some announcements soon :-) All I can say is that IM New Zealand was the first race I have TRULY enjoyed racing and I am VERY excited about what IM has opened up for me mentally and physically! With that said I know I have a LONG way to go and I can't wait for the journey!

Race Report

The long awaited race report! I am sorry I’ve had limited internet access since I got here and have been having too much fun to sit down and write about my race. I know poor me, right?
I will start out by saying that my first IM experience was AMAZING!!! Things didn’t go as planned, but then again I knew that going into the race and I prepared myself to deal with each incidence (if you could call it that) in a calm manner.
Consistency was my word for the day going into the race. I knew if I could be consistent with my nutrition, pacing and mentality that I could handle just about anything the day threw at me.
The days leading up to the race everyone was on edge as we didn’t know what the weather would throw at us. On Friday we heard several weather reports throughout the day, some good and some not so good, but we all crossed our fingers that the weather would be on our side when we woke up Saturday morning.
On Saturday, March 7, 2009 I woke up at 3:55AM, just five minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off. I took a quick shower to help wake myself up, lathered my skin in sunscreen from head to toe, put my race kit on and some extra layers to keep warm, packed up my bag and waited for Matt and Dan to pick me up and take me to breakfast where everyone from our group was. I ate my usual oatmeal and banana for breakie and then headed down in a van with everyone to T1 where I checked in, got body marked (which came right off from sunscreen), and then turned in my bike special needs bag before checking on my bike. It rained that night, but it was nice and calm in the morning ☺ not too cold so I was stoked! The last thing I wanted to do was get into my wetsuit in the freezing cold and hop into the cold lake before the sun comes up... not my favorite thing to do. The numbers were given out according to age, so my 113 was nice and low meaning that my bike was racked up on the other side of Bella Bayliss, Jo Lawn, Gina Ferguson, etc… And the paparazzi (hee hee) were right there videoing the pros. I checked my tires, my helmet and stuck my nutrition on my bike before heading down to the swim start. On my way to the swim I stopped at the bathroom and noticed a HUGE mens line and small women’s line, it took me a second before I realized why, but the race consisted of 1100 or so men and roughly 280 women.
Swim: The swim start was at 7am and the pro’s went at 6:45am. I got into the water just after the pro’s began to get used to the water, stick my head under, do a couple strokes and head out to the start line. I positioned myself about 4 rows back from the first in line and right in the middle of the pack. I knew I could hang with these people as long as I didn’t freak out, but I wasn’t really sure how the swim would go, as a mass start was a new experience for me. I wanted to give the race all that I could, so chickening out now and hiding in the back of the pack was not a choice I had given myself. The lights were flashing, 3…2…1… the canon shot and we were off! People were clobbering me, left and right - I couldn’t win as the majority of athletes were men. I just swam hard, taking each foot grab, shoulder pull, elbow to the gut, and blow to the head as relaxed as I could. The only way to describe my swim was like being thrown into a washing machine with 1500 other people and getting whirled and twirled around for an hour. Every once in awhile I found myself relatively alone so I would clobber my way ahead and get back into the mix, trying to stay on someones feet as best I could. The swim was over so fast, next thing I knew I was out of the water and running the 500 meters, which included a set of stairs and seemed more like a mile to T1. While I was running I was trying to pull off my wetsuit, I had two bracelets on my right wrist (one for Endurance Sports Travel and the other for Ironman) that my wetsuit sleeve got caught up in and I couldn’t get it out, it took me almost the entire run to T1 to get it out before I could tackle the left arm that had my watch on it.
T1: I ran into T1, called out my number, was handed my transition bag and ran into the Women’s Changing Tent where I poured my bag out on the ground and asked the volunteer if she could pull my wetsuit off. She started pulling the suit at my calves and I was yelling at her to pull from the dangling arms of the suit and just rip it off! I was a bit frustrated by her for not knowing how to strip a wetsuit (there weren’t wetsuit strippers at the race). I stuck my cleats on, arm warmers, race number belt and headed to my bike where threw on my helmet and headed out of T1.
Bike: The bike starts out with 1km flat, then up, up, up a long hill and then another long hill before we finally settle into a false flat. I took in a bar and gel right after the swim, then started my watch so I knew when to take in my calories. The first loop of the bike I had to keep telling myself to back off, settle down and let my HR come down.
One thing about the bike was that the drafting marshal’s seemed relentless, they were pulling people over left and right, which I thought was fantastic! I even had a couple guys (rarely saw women on the course) who got the whistle and pulled over behind me.
After the first loop we ride back up those first lovely hills, once at top we got our first of 2 armbands to show the volunteers where to send us. We ride through a pack of volunteers who have scrunchies (think hair scrunchies) stretched out and we would just stick our arm through them.
I kept waiting for the IM low to settle in, but it just wouldn’t come. However I was ready to get off my bike by the last 20 miles. I had had enough of riding and was ready to run. But in order to pace myself and break up the race mentally I looked at the race as a three day event. The first day was swim, second bike and third run. I knew I could run 26.2 miles a couple days after a hard workout and that’s how I mentally saw the run. It wasn’t ride 112 mile and then run 26.2 miles right after, I had split it up in my mind instead of combining the two, does that make sense? It worked for me and I just kept calm the entire bike ride.
About 10 miles form T2 I started getting tired, my legs just weren’t turning over the pedals as quickly and mentally I was over the bike. My tummy got a bit cramped up and I knew it was time to start my run nutrition and so I grabbed a bottle of coke to help me through the last miles.
T2: I ran in, dropped off my bike with the volunteer, grabbed my bag and headed to the Women’s Changing Tent where I found a seat and dumped the contents of my run bag on the ground. I traded my cycling cleats for dry socks and run shoes, helmet for visor and opted out of wearing my fuel belt as my tummy wasn’t interested in drinking Accelerade anymore. As I was running out of T2 I looked for a porto-jon, but I couldn’t see one in sight and was not about to run around transition looking for a potty to pee in. So I headed up the ramp and over the bridge that took us onto the run course.
Run: The course was filled with spectators, they were the best spectators I have ever seen at a race! But my stomach was hurting and I thought if I could pee that maybe it would take pressure off and relieve some of the cramping. It took about 2km before I finally found a porto-jon and I headed strait for it! Once I peed I got back into the race chugging along, but the pain had not eased. The problem was that my legs were fine and ready to run, I was coherent and happy except for my stomach that was bloated and cramped up. I ran the first 5km of the run before I finally had to walk and walk and walk some more. I knew I would finish the race, that was never a question and to get upset about my race was NOT an option for me. Once I got upset it would be the end, so I kept positive, clicking off the miles or kilometers one by one and thinking about the pro’s who have bad days. Rutger Beke in Kona a couple years ago as he walked most of the marathon was an image that kept popping up in my head. I figured if he could do it, then so could I! I just kept thinking about how great it was that this was my first race, there was no pressure but to finish and even if I had to walk the entire marathon course I would still finish within a fairly respectable time. So I ran when I could and walked fast when I couldn’t run. My stomach was cramped the ENTIRE run, but I didn’t let it get to me. I just stuck to coke and water, that’s all I could handle during the race and I didn’t really know what else to do, but keep moving forward. There were a couple points where I thought I may throw up and I was hoping I would, but no dice.
The run was two loops just like the bike and we wore scrunchies again for each loop just like the bike. So you knew who was just getting started and who was about to finish. I saw many people who looked like they were having a rough day and others who looked strong! On the last loop I crested up a hill and there was Ken Glah taking pictures of the athletes who had travelled with him. He would see us, run down the way and then take pictures and video of us, it was great to have him out there supporting us!
Another great thing about the race was travelling with Ken and meeting so many wonderful people who became a second family during the race. Each person cheered on one another, gave hugs and high fives throughout the race. It was nice, because I after watching IMAZ in November I thought it may be sad not to know anyone in New Zealand except for Marc and Suzanne. But everyone cared so much about one another that it made up for not having my family, friends and coach out there for me.
The spectators were also the most amazing spectators I have ever seen! They cheered for everyone and not just a clap, but said something inspirational and called out our names as we went past. At times my name tag was turned around and on my back, but that didn’t stop people from calling my name out after I passed them! They were absolutely unbelievable throughout the entire run course! I loved every second of that run, even though I walked a little more than 1/3rd of it and my tummy was all cramped up, it didn’t matter, this race was AMAZING and I am completely hooked on IRONMAN!!!
Thank you Coach Jen (I have loved working with you!), Mom, Dad & Teri, Beth S. (Dietician and BAMF triathlete), Marc (Kona Qualifier 09’) & Suzanne, Edgar (bike mechanic extraodinaire), Ken Glah (NZ accommodation master & awesome tour guide) and all my friends and family who have continued to tell me I am crazy – I still love you!

I will post more pictures soon enough... I am in Fiji now and relaxing (not something I do well, its been a bit of a challenge - and I am being serious!).

soon enough

Sorry everyone who keeps checking in for my race report! I will have it up in the next couple days. My internet access is limited while I am here, but I am writing it and will hopefully get it posted soon enough :-) Thanks for everyones support, it means the world to me!!!!

Oh... And I had a blast during the race! Except for some stomach issues that began the last 10 miles of the bike and ruined my run - I walked about 1/3rd+ of the run. Not to mention the rain we had on and off all day.

Okay, more to come soon!

Pics

Here are some random pics from yesterday and this morning. I don't have much time to write as I am about to drop my stuff off at transition and am using Johns plug to recharge my laptop battery - I didn't realize my charge converter didn't take on the 3 prongs my Macbook plug has.. oops! Still having fun, enjoying all the lovely company and ready to race tomorrow :-)

Thursday

This morning I woke up early again with butterflies in my tummy. It only happens in the morning and I am fine with that, as I know I won't have issues getting up at 4am come Saturday morning. At 7am I walked over to the hotel (Tui Oaks) where we have a breakfast buffet each morning, I watch in amazement as the guys down plate after plate and bowl after bowl of food! Since I have been here I noticed there aren't many women racers around and today I got confirmation of that. I have 6 girls in my age group and there are only 285 women racing and 1100 or so men! Anyways, after I had a pre-workout snack I hopped in the van with a couple other athletes and we had Ken Glah show us the run course. The course looks great, I am pretty excited about the run and I am sure that will change come race day, but there are just enough hills to break up the run, let me use some different muscles on the up hill and open it back up again on the down hill. If its windy like it is today for the bike it may be a LONG day and we are supposed to have a few showers throughout the race, but that will be fine as long as the sun isn't beating down. It takes 8 minutes in the sun here before you burn here and as you can imagine it heats up fast. After the run course preview I headed down to the lake with a friend to get a little swim in - which was lovely by the way :-)

We have been building our vocabulary since we got down here... Here are a few of my new sayings:
"Good on yah"
"No dramas"
"Pinch it" = steal

I have done so much since I have been here, each day I learn more from the people I am around and am having an overall great experience thus far! Everyone with Ken Glah's group is super supportive, the bike mechanics Dan and Matt (I think) are not only easy on the eyes, but do a great job. Frank and Ty (two Maori guys), Joe (Ken's brother), Stacy and I am sure I am missing some others have been wonderful - IF you ever have the opportunity to travel abroad for an ironman and are looking for an easy, affordable way to do so I would highly recommend using Endurance Sports Travel!!!

Ok.. time for some pictures :-)



These are all taken at the Expo and Registration area

Ken Glah in his speedo at the hot springs :-)


This is the bridge out of T2 they are building. We have to run over it to get onto the run course! Should be fun :-)

Pictures

Woke up at 4:30am this morning and couldn't go back to bed. I layed there getting nervous about the race for about an hour before I gave in and turned the light on, opened my book and read for an hour before I could get up and head to breakfast. After a mini breakie we put our wetsuits on and hopped in the van to take us to the swim start. Once there I had to take my wetsuit off and have it Didymo dipped. Didymo is an algae that has started on the South island and they don't want it contaminating the North Island so we have to have our suits dipped in dishwashing detergent by Didymo Dave before the race. Once its dipped we get a key chain that we show at check-in on Thursday. The water was MUCh smoother today than it was yesterday and we still haven't seen rain yet, which only means that rain is just around the corner!

As I promised here are some pictures...

The town of Tirau and the corrugated lamb

Unpacking in Taupo, we had 3 buses full of people



Some pictures from Tuesdays ride, we rode the last 45km of the 2 loop course and I sucked Marc's wheel the entire time



Kraig, Marc and I (it was windy.. enough said)

TAUPO!

I made it to Taupo :-) The flight over wasn't too bad, although my flight leaving Phoenix was an hour late, but I had a whole row to myself and once I was on the plane heading to NZ I had the window seat and the middle seat was empty! Can't get much better than that. As soon as I got off the plane I started making friends, I have met some wonderful people so far. Once I got off the plane we hopped on a bus that took us down to Taupo (3.5hr ride) and I sat with a guy named Jonathon who is from Vegas. Every time I coughed he handed me a cough drop. Once we got into Taupo there was a little confusion over what hotel I was staying at so I got a tour of most of the hotels before I finally settled into mine and I have to say that mine is pretty awesome in comparison! (I don't have a lot of time to write so this will be a little rambling - sorry about that) Once I settled in I met up with a couple guys to go for a little run along the water and then I FINALLY got to shower and rest a bit. I took a shower and layed down and didn't want to get back up for dinner :-) We met up with Ken Glah and we had a little Q & A before dispersing throughout the town for dinner. I got to see Marc and chat with him as well as meet many more people. About 15 of us headed out to a restaurant where we sat FOREVER waiting for drinks and food. Unfortunately dinner took so long that I didn't get to bed until 10:30pm (we are 20hrs ahead here) which is 2:30am AZ time. Woke up this morning, put my bike together and headed down for a little breaky (we have a breakfast every morning set up), then we headed out for a 30 minute swim. I swam with 3 other guys and felt great. It took me about 10 minutes and I settled right into it - YAY!!! Positive thoughts were floating through my brain as I cruised along from bouy to bouy :-) That built my confidence up a bit! In a little bit I am heading out to tour the bike course and ride the last 45K of the loop.

I have TONS of pictures to post, but I forgot my cord at the hotel so I will have to upload them and post them later. I just wanted to let everyone know I am alive and well!!!

Cheers,

Elizabeth