B2B 2013 - The Bike

After my wetsuit stripping and a quick, warm shower at the end of the swim, I ran the 300 yards to Transition.  

Watching My Step. I Can't Feel my Feet.

My time in transition was quick - I was the third fastest woman to get from the swim to the bike! I saved time here by setting up transition as I would for any other race. I put everything at my bike - not in a bag. I dressed from toe to top: socks, shoes, jacket, gloves, hat and helmet. I was shaking from the cold and my teeth were chattering. I managed to dress and get out and into the sunshine in 5:40. 

I Look Worried at Mile One. The Guy in Front of Me Just Launched a Water Bottle.

The ride through town was so much fun. I crossed the bridge and was greeted shortly thereafter by the Spice Girls. They were cheering and screaming as I flew by. I spotted Dottie and Ron on Market Street in Porters Neck and they spurred me on to the next leg: I-140 where I saw Neal twice! 

This Horse's Name is Apocalypse. This is Our Theme Song.

Posters EVERYWHERE on the course.

Off the Beach and Passing the Spice Girls

My ride on i-140 was fairly uneventful. I checked out the scenery. The flowers at the ramp were amazing purples and whites. The traffic of Market Street dissipated on the highway. The worst scenery: I remember there was fresh roadkill early on. It must have been big.  I didn't see the body, but there was fresh blood all over our lane. Gross. 

I was in good spirits, but I worried. I was cold and shaking and had goosebumps. I still couldn't feel my feet.  I fretted - especially in the shady patches - that I would never warm up. Plus, I had to pee! I had to make a decision on whether to stop at the first aid station and so I fretted about that for miles. 

View from the Top of the Dan Cameron Bridge

After I crossed the Dan Cameron bridge and headed north on Hwy 421, I decided that stopping was the right decision. The time that I saved in transition would have to serve as a buffer on the side of the road. I lucked out: No lines for the port-a-john and a volunteer to help me put on my TriStacey arm warmers. Plus, I opened a few hand warmer packets. 

 

Highway 421 was simply passing the time. I felt much better with more clothes on. I sang songs to myself, played leap frog with another rider and looked for people I knew. I saw Dad and Joyce and Renee and Johnny. I looked for signs on the side of the road - planted by the Spice Girls - and thanked volunteers. 

I gave a big huzzah to Erica who passed me at mile 40ish. I was actually very surprised to see her - I expected her to be in front of me! She's a much faster swimmer, but she changed into warm, dry clothes at T1 and I had a few miles on her.

Many people have asked me what I thought about for six plus hours on the bike. The first 56 miles passed quickly. I was thinking about form: cadence, pedal stroke, heart rate, posture, etc. I was constantly checking in on my nutrition - was I hungry, how long had I had a sip of water. Plus, that long stretch on Highway 421 is littered with memories of past rides: Blueberry Road, Johnson's Corner grocery, Malpass Corner grocery, the Sampson County line,  Shiloh Road - all intersected with memories of my summer adventures. I tried to focus on those adventures to keep me busy and to warm me up. 

I was happy to turn left off of 421 onto Willard Road. The midway point was within reach and I was ready to stop. I knew that Anna and Leanne would be there and I was hoping that I had put extra socks in my special needs bag.  Note to self: put extra socks in special needs bag next time.

Erica in the Yellow Jersey. I'm in Pink and White

 

Anna Caught a Kiss at Special Needs

High Five from Leanne

I didn't have socks, but I had more hot hands and tissues. I now had hot hands stuffed in the wrist of one glove and the palm of the other, the waist band of my tri shorts (warming the femoral vein on each hip/leg), inside my shoe covers and in the back pocket of my jacket. The tissues were invaluable. Sniffles are a pain in the arse at 18.3 miles an hour. 

I stayed longer than I needed at special needs but I did a bottle swap and ate some peanut butter. Plus, I got a pick-me-up from the energy from Leanne and Anna. 

Happy Happy Happy

Five miles later, I had my first energy dip. 

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B2B 2013 - The Swim

I realize that I've waited almost three months to publish this, but it's been in the works for some time. Who knew there were so many details - thoughts, emotions, physical cues in 13 hours of an ironman? I want to remember everything - but fear publishing too much. Plus, writing it has been a way to hold onto the AMAZING DAY. 

I woke up at 4:15am as planned. Transition A was already set up in my closet: tri top, sports bra, heart rate monitor, tri shorts, sweat pants. This time, I didn't dress in the dark. After months of training, I had a routine that I could sorta sleep-walk through: take the dog out, feed her, start the kettle, prep my coffee cup, check the forecast three times. Once on my phone app: 38 degrees and calm, again on the Weather Channel: 41 degrees and 9mph winds and wunderground.com: 38 degrees and 5mph winds.  I looked at the tides once more - as if it would change. 

Nope - Tide Still Switches at 7:42am

I went through the motions of the morning - ate breakfast (mini blueberry bagel, a two-egg fritatta, part of a smoothie and coffee!!). Gathered my special needs bags, my nutrition and my gear and headed out the door. 

Lots of Bags.   Decorated to See in a Flash. Unfilled one Day....Full of Stuff on Race Day.

All the Clothes I Had to Pack

Ace and I arrived at Jen's at 5:30. Erica and Jen were gathering Erica's gear. I foam rolled while Emerson tried to lick my face. We sipped coffee for a bit and decided it was TIME TO GO! Let's put on some spandex and do this thing. 

We parked easily and headed to Transition and handled the admin:

drop off bike special needs bag

drop off run special needs

attach nutrition and hydration to Lucinda

prep bike shoes, helmet and clothing for swim to bike

mentally rehearse the entrance and exit

say a quick prayer  

We climbed back in the truck and headed to the south end. In a way, it felt like any other Saturday morning ride. Jen sang loudly and was more excited than we could handle and Erica asked to turn the music to something else. We parked at the South End Surf Shop to don our wetsuits and look for change next to the parking meter. 

Neal and Jen rode bikes while Erica and I skipped, hip openers, karioked and side stepped down the street to the south end. Did I mention that Jen was excited. She could barely contain herself. Her excitement amped us all up and that one mile was a roller coaster of anxiety and thrills. We met Tina, Leanne and Ben at the gazebo and started our journey to very south tip of Wrightsville Beach.

It was a very eerie. Everyone walked with their heads down and our hushed voices were swallowed by the sand. Once we arrived near the start chute, we stripped off sweatshirts and warm clothes and finished dressing in wetsuits. 

The shoreline atmosphere was louder, but still a little subdued. Tim Bomba cranked the music and announced my name and mentioned my journey from volunteer to relayer in the half, to half competitor twice and now my first ironman.  I jumped up and down! That's me! That's me! I exclaimed. I kissed Neal and hugged Jen and met Erica in the front third of the crowd.


Before I knew it Tim was playing the Star Spangled Banner. Midway through the anthem, I realized my goggles were full of sand so I trotted to the waters edge and swished them around in the cold water. I turned and looked back at the crowd in the chute and a thrill of realization hit me.  I was IN THIS.

Then, Eminem's song LOSE YOURSELF was blasting. There was a countdown and the air horn. Erica and I joined hands and raised them above our heads. We shouted or cheered until we reached the water and then we were racing!

It was not as hectic or chaotic as I imagined. I tucked in beside Erica and behind some strong dude and got into a good rythym early. My feet were cold from standing in the sand, but everything else felt great. I worried about the tide - worried that I'd be fighting the current for a while, but I soon realized that 809 of my best friends were pulling me along. I was past the coast guard station in no time. 

The water was clear and really gorgeous! It was green and I could see every arm stroke. I stayed mid channel and enjoyed the ride. I sighted on some purple caps ahead of me in the first mile and soon passed them. The sun started to rise above the houses as I passed the one mile mark at the seaside club. About that time I could hear the crowds of half iron athletes.

I did a few breast strokes and watched as swimmers around me splashed sunlit strokes beside me. A mist rose just above the surface – the warm bodies causing fog in the cold air.  It was a beautiful sight.

The turn buoy at the Blockade Runner appeared faster than I expected and I was pleased to take a left into Mott’s channel. It felt like the tide picked up right about then and slingshot me through the channel and towards Seapath. 

 

When I reached the swim finish I was amazed to look at my watch and see I was a 13 minutes ahead of schedule! I stopped my watch at 1:04 and had fully expected a one hour:17 minute time. I was nervous that my feet wouldn't work -- I could barely feel them -- but managed to hobble up the second ladder and the ramp before finding a wetsuit stripper to tug my wetsuit off my body. I jogged down the sidewalk with wetsuit in hand towards Transition. I passed the photog and coach on the way. Hi, Coach! I yelled. You're finished already?! she exclaimed back. I grinned in response. 

Silly Spice

Look at my leg muscles!

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Ironman Heroine

A quick congrats to Mareen Hufe, my favorite triathlon pro! She placed second in yesterday's Ironman Asia Pacific in Busselton, Western Australia. I "watched" via TWITTER (@IronmanAsiaPac) between a movie (Catching Fire) and a birthday dinner with the Spices last night.

 

Here She Is: Mareen Hufe in Kona 2013

Mareen Hufe on the Queen K 2013

I had the fortune to meet Mareen in November at IRONMAN Florida. Yoga Spice, Boss Spice, Dirty Spice, E-Spice and I were rehabbing in the outdoor hot tub with our next-door neighbors. We were sharing race stories with them and she told us that in the first few waist-to-chest-high rolling waves of the swim, she feared she had lost her goggles! Fortunatley, she realized they had only slipped around her neck. We made some off-hand comment about the mass swim start (3300 swimmers!) She admitted that she "got to start with the pros". Which meant she WAS a pro. This was the women's pro start:

We saw her later on the beach and she shared her story. She was a tennis player and equestrian prior to her tri career. Amazingly, she was not a runner until 2006! She joined a group of friends for marathon training. She did well and later added the bike and the swim. She became a pro in the past few years and qualified for Kona this year. Unfortunately, she had TWO punctures on the bike and dropped out of the race. 

Pros qualify for Kona through a points system. The top 35 female pros at the end of each qualifying year qualify to race in Kona. So, she added Florida to her schedule and told us she was racing Ironman Australia to gain points. We've been pulling for her ever since. Her humility and her sense of humor endeared us immediately. Her amazing iron prowess was icing on the cake. We snooped later at the results and realized that she finished fifth overall in the women's pro division at Florida. Dude! She beat Miranda Carfrae - the World Champion of Kona!

Rinnie! She High-Fived Erica at Mile 22 and Signed My Shoe Pre-Race! I think she was getting hitched this weekend to Hottie Tim O'Donnell

  

I Promise this Story Was Not Just an Excuse to Feature a Picture of T.O. on my Blog.

Yesterday, Mareen finished second overall in the women's pro division. She finished fourth in the swim in 59:49. According to twitter, she passed the leader in the bike at the 80 mile mark. She finished FIRST on the bike in 4:47:53 with the second place cyclist (Lisa Maragon) more than three minutes behind.

The Bike Leader in Ironman Western Australia!

First Out on the Run!

In the first 10K (6 miles), American Liz Lyles (@lizlylestri) passed Lisa Maragon and closed in on Mareen. At the 11-mile mark, Liz passed Mareen and held it to the finish. Liz finished in under NINE HOURS! (8:59:44) and Mareen finished second at 9:08:00! So amazed by her.

Podium Glory

Keep an eye out in future IRONMAN events for Mareen Hufe! Maybe she'll be an athlete profile right here in 2014! 

Goofy Golf: The Conclusion

And now for the thrilling conclusion of Goofy Golf: Lost in Spiceland! If you missed the prequel, check it out HERE and HERE! At the end of round one, it was Dirty Spice: 1, AllSpice: 0. We decided that it would be a shame to miss out on course number two. Good Life Choice. The only thing better than Course No. 1 and it's walk-through cave, Russian roulette wheel, giant anaconda and the belly of a brontosaurus was........

Spice Girl & Tiny in the Belly of the Brontosaurus

...COURSE NO. 2!!!!  It may have been because I MASTERED the course and also.........did I mention that there was a mimosa involved? Either way, this course was awesome. It started with the aforementioned Allie-Gator, whose mouth opened and closed thanks to us. The second hole was a castle, guarded by a bearded ogre that opened and closed the castle gate!  And by ogre, I mean one of us opened and closed the gate.

This course also included a windmill, the Buddha, a T-Rex and what we deemed must have been Herman Melville's inspiration for Ahab's ship.

The monkey at the foot of T-Rex moved side-to-side

Tiny Melville recreating scenes for us on Ahab's ship. Did I mention there were mimosa's involved?

Did I mention I mastered this course? I was ahead (finally) by five strokes when we rounded the corner to the last handful of holes. When what to our wondering eyes did appear the most magnificent feature: a model of the Easter Island Moai. 

Dirty Spice Contemplating her Ironness

 

Queen AllSpice: Duchess of Spiceland!

That Moai stole my MOJO! So, by mastered I mean massacred the course. The next hole we faced was OCTOKILLER.  I lost four strokes on the loop-dee-loo and Dirty Spice maintained her score.

That's Me in the Clutches of Octo-Jerk

On the last holes we traded strokes and ended up tied at hole 17! Now, if you know anything about mini-golf, you know that if you play number 18, the ball disappears down the drain and your game is over. In our case, the last hole was down the green, through a gate, up a ramp-slash-tongue and into the mouth of a snake. Any ball within a foot of the snake's tongue was lost forever and no real winner could claim her steak.....I mean stake.......as winner.

The Windmill at Night

So, we improvised. We decided to play: THE WINDMILL. [Insert dramatic duhn, duhn, duhn music here!] I think (did I mention there was A mimosa involved?) we flipped a coin to see who would be the first putter and who would turn the blades of the mill. I lost the toss. Dirty stepped up AND MADE A HOLE IN ONE! I felt the pressure, stepped up to the tee and putted. I hit the turning blade and my ball bounced right back and landed at my feet. Game. Over.  I cursed the Moai and shed a tear of defeat.

We recounted our steps out of Goofyland, aka Spiceland, and back to the parking lot. As we were packing our shovels and not-lost balls into the car, a good-looking family pulled up and realized, to their disappointment that Goofy Golf was closed. We felt their pain. "Did ya'll bring your own clubs to play?" they asked. We grinned and said, "Well, we improvised." 

And with that, we jumped in the car and headed to a steak joint....my treat.

On the way back to THE MOONSPINNER, we happened upon another classic attraction on the PCB strip: JAWS. And by Jaws I mean Moby Dick. This amazing place gave Alvin's Island a run for their money! Not only did they offer beach wear, swimwear, airbrushed items and henna tattoos, they also had live alligator feedings and a shark feeding!

Naturally, we had to stop. 

I fed Dirty Spice to the Whale. Please note the tiny puppet in the apple of Moby's eye.

 THE END

Goofy Golf Two

WW & Tiny Herman Melville

In yesterday's episode, our two iron spices, Tiny Melville and Wonder Woman faced a heart-breaking truth: Goofy Golf was closed. In the midst of disappointment, the mimosa kicked in. And we noticed that Alvin's Island was open next door. [Liiiight. Bulb.] We figured that somewhere, hidden in the millions of beach trinkets and PANAMA CITY BEACH apparel, we'd find golf clubs.

We improvised. We found shovels and Pro Kadima balls.....and hermit crabs and airbrushed string bikinis, PCB visors, coffee mugs and key chains. Fortunately, we left with only the shovels, balls and a visor. We headed back to Goofy Golf, hit a few practice shots, downloaded a score card (there's an app for that) and then Tiny Melville officially started the game.

T. Melville v. Goofy Golf Alien

The competition was.....well.....non-existent. I was TERRIBLE! I was distracted by the scenery:

Holy Putt-Putt! Hit the Ball through the Church.

Herman Melville's inspiration for the lesser-known prequel to Moby Dick. [Ahab's Great GrandFather chases a Large Green Dino]

Hold Me Closer, Giant Monkey

As I mentioned yesterday, because the course was closed, none of the mechanical features worked. Guess what? We improvised! We opened and closed the mouth of the gator, we raised and lowered the the ostrich bill, we turned the blades of the windmill. One would operate the giant machines while the other would golf. 

The best news about the 8th hole? We found REAL golf balls. Regrettably, it did not help my golf game. I lost by about six strokes. Fortunately, Dirty Spice is a good sport and conceded to a death match. Another round of 18 to decide the winner of the big steak dinner.  

Course No. 1 Ate Me Alive

 

Dirty Spice Narrowly Escaped

Tune in tomorrow for the conclusion of: Goofy Golf, Lost in Spiceland. Our heroes climb the Moai of Easter Island, sail the high seas AND find THE WHALE!

Goofy Golf One

I mentioned in my last post that since Beach2Battleship, I've been working on training of a different kind: endurance goofiness. I'm pretty sure I'd earn a medal for it. The first stop, appropriately, was Goofy Golf in Panama City Beach, Florida. 

On the Monday after Ironman Florida, Dirty Spice and I kicked out all the other Spices and headed down the beach for the most famous putt putt place on the Panhandle (great alliteration, right?). Jen had spotted it on the bike course and insisted that we go.

According to their site, Goofy Golf opened in 1959 and remains a family-run stop that boasts two 18-hole courses. In the heat of the season:

The evening lighting includes the glowing eyes of giant monkeys and dinosaurs! There are giant statues that can be climbed for a view and others you can go inside. It’s mini golf with a bonus play-land!

 

  Let me preface this adventure by admitting that there were mimosas involved. And a wager. So, naturally, our first stop was another PCB attraction: Ms. Newby's. This gem opened in 1975 as a package store and bar. A few years later, Newby's added a drive through feature. 

Ms. Newby's Package Store

Ms. Newby

Ms. Newby's Drive-Thru. This isn't us.

We ordered a bottle of champagne and orange juice from Ms. Newby herself. We popped the cork and mixed both in a Nalgene bottle.  We headed west down the strip and arrived at our destination.  On the way, we formulated our wager: winner, winner, big steak dinner. The L-O-S-E-R had to buy a steak dinner with all the fixin's.

To our utter despair, Goofy Golf was closed. Boarded up. We jumped out of the car and onto the magnificent old-school course. As promised: a playland and golf in one. 

Alligator. In the old days, his motorized mouth opened and closed.

Ostrich. His neck moved up and down. And his wings flapped.

We were devastated. Heartbroken. But, right about then the aforementioned mimosas kicked in and made us smart.  Stay tuned for tomorrow's episode: how to McGyver your own set of golf clubs.

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FOR THE NEXT EPISODE OF GOOFY GOLF: LOST IN SPICELAND

State of the Heart

Many of you have asked about my triathlon training and I think it's high time that I start documenting some of the journey. As of today, I am seven weeks into my half ironman training and 16 weeks away from RACE WEEK!

First a little background: for the first time in several years I'm using a triathlon training plan. My new best friend is Don Fink - a triathlon and running coach and author of Be IronFit. I don't actually know him and I've never seen him, but I am following his advice and his training plan to get me across the finish line on October 29. His method entails heart-rate training. His belief is that "effective heart rate training is the best way to maximize your training benefit and minimize your training time."

I read the book twice before I even signed up for the B2B. I compared the plan to two others I trusted. I asked two local iron triathletes. [Both said, yes, it's a great idea! I've never done it, but it's supposed to work!] I debated, drew straws, thought twice, listed pros and cons and finally committed. Two things sold me. First, THIS ARTICLE by Mark Allen. Second, the picture below of my friend and iron-distance triathlete Renee Griffin! I watched as she crossed the B2B half iron finish line. She was laughing and smiling and practically dancing across with her two daughters. Plus, she was FAST!

My first step: calculate my proper heart rate zones. I started with the standard 220-my age = Max Heart Rate equation. I compared it to Mark Allen's method and tweaked it with the Karvonen method. My next step: stay in the zone. The first phase of the plan is ten weeks of building an aerobic base by staying in Zone 2 -- 75%-85% of my maximum heart rate -- which is about 133bpm - 155bpm. I set my Garmin 405 and set out on my first run. 

 

I learned a lot in that first week on the bike and on the run. First, my runs are a lot slower in zone two. My natural pace for short runs is about 8:50/mile. At that pace, though, my heart-rate jumps up to zone three. In order to stay in the zone, my pace slowed to nearly 11:00 minutes per mile! I also started tracking all the things that make my heart-rate jump:

1. waving to neighbors
2. the hills on Masonboro Sound road
3. nearly hitting a squirrel that has stopped in the middle of the road
4. a flat tire on mile two of my first bike ride
5. negative thoughts [I'm going so slow, this is ridiculous, I'll never meet my goals]
6. positive  thoughts [OMG! This IS working! I feel so much better! I could ride all day!]

I have learned so much in what my training partner calls OPERATION BASE PHASE [thanks, JYo]. Stay tuned for more adventures in the next few weeks, including mind games, racing dogs and getting the drift.

Gotta Run!