Mystery Solved!!

It’s been 8 days since IM WI and I’m still annoyed with the race, although my mystery is solved. My dad’s good friend, Waseem, is a neurologist and my dad happened to mention to him about my poor run due to the numbness in my extremities. And it didn’t take but a moment for Waseem to have a diagnosis. I can’t recall the exact medical wording for this but in lame men’s terms it was compression of my spinal chord that caused the numbness/tingling. Being in the aero position for 6.5 hours and rarely changing positions can often cause compression on the spinal chord, which in turn causes some nerve damage…not serious in the least and it definitely sounds a lot worse than it is.

This again all comes back to me, it’s my fault. When we train around Denver we are often on trails/roads that have many people, turns, and stops, thus you can’t really get aero for too long before you are up on the handle bars pressing the brakes. Whereas in a race you don’t ever have to stop, after all that’s why we pay the big bucks to do these things, so we can have law enforcement and volunteers keep cars off the roads. Thus, my body was just not used to the position, even though I experienced no pain what-so-ever on the bike, it still took its toll. Oh well live and learn right? I’m just SO happy it wasn’t a heart issue, I believe I will live! Haha

And side note: I went running for the first time on Saturday in Pittsburgh, Bushy Run trails, short ones but a favorite of mine, and felt really really good! Pittsburgh is very hilly thus my legs were really tested on how much recovery I really need, and I think I need a little more. I felt great but on the downhills my quads kept giving out on me, not surprising though. So all n’ all I felt great and I’m thinkin’ I’m gonna head out on a short run tonight after work!

PS: Bushy Run's funding has been cut and they can't maintain the park without this money thus they are in need of support, please visit www.savebushyrun.org to help.

Ironman Wisconsin Race Report

This past week I have decided that Ironman racing is a cruel world. You work so hard for nine months or even a year for a day long race and then you are left with… what?

Only three days out from Ironman Wisconsin, I’m thikin’ I shouldn’t be writing this race report as I’m still re-living my mistakes from the race, not my accomplishments. Feelings of accomplishment and pride are too hard to come by when you did not race the way you know you should have and know you are capable of. Oh well here goes…perhaps this will be cathartic and bring out some feelings of accomplishment.

Well we arrived in Wisconsin on Thursday (Sept 10) and met up with our friends Randy and Erica (we were staying at Randy’s place, thanks Randy!!). We had a great cook-out with them with some exciting stories and events, particularly one story of a man drowning that I could not get out of my head…thank you SO much Erica ; ) and of course a visit from the fire department. Needless to say we were definitely starting out the weekend on an interesting note. It was nice and relaxing to spend an evening with our friends and not really worry about the impending doom of our race.

Thursday night we headed to bed rather early, because we wanted to get up and do a practice swim in Lake Monona and then get checked in. The practice swim went quite well, Ryan and I did one lap of the course just to get a feel for the water. Our laps were right on pace for what we wanted to do in the race so we were happy. On to athlete check-in. Athlete check-in went very smoothly and by 11 am we had signed our life away to the Ironman gods.

Following check-in I was anxious to drive the bike course and get an idea of the beast I had been told about. After getting lost and numerous arguments between Ryan and me, we finally managed to find the bike loop we were looking for. Driving the course was a bit intimidating as there were SO many hills on the course; and I’m not talking those measly rolling hills we all like, I mean “get your butt out of the saddle or you are going to fall on your face” kinda climbs. Trying not to get too worried I just reminded myself that I live in CO and we see hills (or mountains as we like to call them in the Rockies haha) like this all the time at home. I would keep this thought with me throughout the race.

Friday and Saturday went by really fast, where all we did was relax and try to concentrate on the task at hand. Personally I was having some trouble concentrating as I was more concerned with the aforementioned drown man. So back to that really quick, a man had drown in the lake that we were to swim in for the race and unfortunately his body hadn’t been recovered. The man drowned on Wednesday night in the area of the swim course. Now it’s said that a human body will float to the surface after a few days. Those few days would put the man surfacing the day of the race!! This, I could NOT get out of my head! I would be swimming in a lake, which I don’t like to begin with, that has a dead man in it, that could float to the surface at any given moment during the race!!!!!!! How could I possibly get that out of my head, yet again Erica I thank you for that information haha. This was terrorizing me throughout the whole weekend and including the race. But anyway I digress, on to the actual race! The alarm went off all too soon on race morning and Ryan and I were off to the race site. Like most races, I’m super nervous the days before the race but calm the morning of the race, this was pretty much the case. Once in the water, treading water for ten minutes, I felt comfortable and ready to race and somehow managed to push the dead guy out of my head. Before I knew it the canon sounded and me and 2,406 of my closest “friends” were swimming (or floundering). Surprisingly doing a mass start with that many people wasn’t too bad. Yea I got pummeled pretty good, but I didn’t panic, I remained confident that I could complete this swim with no problems….but then came the first turn. Nobody could swim the first turn; there were just too many bodies in such a small area, thus we were all bobbing along letting the current take us around the bend. Now during this “bobbing” I had two guys ask me if I was ok, this is definitely strange for a triathlon swim. I said that of course I was fine but I asked the second guy why he was asking me, his response “you have blood running down your face”. Whoa news to me! I did get kicked or hit, not sure which, in the face pretty hard earlier but thought nothing of it, but apparently my face had a different thought. Oh well I though, I’m not gonna let a little blood stop me, after all there are no sharks in this lake. So I swam on, my first lap I was so geeked to see 38 minutes but my second lap I got off course coming into the finish and ended with a 1:21. I think my official time was 1:22 something but I fell face first trying to get out of the water and I had to wait for my severe humiliation to pass before I continued. I really hope they got a picture of that, ya know for posterity sake. Haha ! Either way, not too bad of a swim and 15mins faster than my last race! Oh yea and no dead bodies, SCORE!!!

The swim start with 2,406 people

Transition was long, but oh well, onto the bike. Once I got my land legs back, me and my sexy machine began the looong ride. The first 56 miles of the bike I felt fan-freakin-tastic. I kept looking down at my odometer seeing 20+ mph and kept trying to convince my legs to slow down that I would regret going this fast later, which I kinda did in the end. Thus I slowed up the pace quite a bit, with the help of a very strong head wind, after the first loop of the course, but my legs still felt great and I was in a great mood. Ya see I have a “rainman” type quality to me that I like to count people I pass on the bike and run…so happily I rode counting people I passed (343) and deducting the amount of people that passed me (114 only 20 women). Good ratios in my book, this really kept me motivated to keep going and keep passing people. The only time I can say I felt fatigued and frustrated on the bike was the last 12 miles. I was thinking they would be easy miles, no hills, just coast to the finish, boy was I wrong!! Seriously the spawn of satan mapped out the last 12 miles of the course, I was out of my saddle climbing for like 6 out of those 12 miles. I really really do like climbing and would normally never complain about a hill but come on, at the end of a very hilly 112 mile bike who doesn’t want to just “coast in” to the finish? Well I finished the bike a bit slower than I had wanted averaging about 16.9mph but yet again comparing to my last IM, I was over an hour faster!!! Thus, no complaints here; although, I plan on really really focusing on the bike this coming season

On the bike, not the best picture.

Now onto the run, my favorite part of the whole triathlon….USUALLY. Coming off the bike my legs felt like I hadn’t exercised in a week, they felt so fresh! My first mile I did in 7:45 and I really had to tell my legs that I had 25 more miles left, there is no rush! Thus I slowed down to a very comfortable pace and greatly enjoyed the first 13 miles, I was even singing to the songs that they were playing along the course, my favorite of the day being “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas…very enjoyable! Although as I passed through the half mark I started to notice that my hands, fingers, arms, and feet were starting to tingle, very unusual for me, I’ve never had this before. Thus I stopped at the mile 14 aid station and asked a volunteer about it (mistake number 1). This dude totally freaked me out, told me that it was a heart problem and I definitely needed to walk or I could have a heart attack. This guy figured it was no big deal because even if I crawled the last 12 miles I could finish before the cutoff, grrrrr I didn’t just want to finish before the cutoff, but I also didn’t want to die of a heart attack, thus I listened to this dude and walked (mistake number 2). While I was walking I noticed I had a strong chest pain and started freaking out, but then finally after walking FIVE MILES I realized I had had this pain before and it was nothing but indigestion! DOH! Although my hands, arms, and feet were completely numb at this point. Getting frustrated that my legs felt so good and I was walking I stopped at the Mile 19 aid station and asked for a MEDICAL professional, not just some joe-schmoe, who knew NOTHING!! I was introduced to a doctor who I told my numb issues to and he told me that I was not going to die (imagine that) but it was more than likely that my heart was “overworked and underpaid” at the moment. Meaning my heart wasn’t able to pump blood to my extremities but this was very common and I was fine. Double DOH!!! Although he advised a plan of action of walking a quarter mile and running three quarters mile at a slow pace just to be safe. Him being a doctor and me being a doofus, I listened. It was so hard running a slow pace when my legs felt so good but at least I got the ok to run. The last couple miles I was feeling a mixture of bitterness for having to walk when I didn’t really have to and bliss that I was running again, albeit only three quarters per mile but oh well. Coming around to mile 25 and State street, I decided to screw the doctor’s orders and just go all out! That I did. Finishing so strong was bitter/sweet but I was just happy to be done and feeling great!

The beginning of the run, second runner from right.

Finishing the run strong!

After finishing I admit I was sleepy and slightly sore but I didn’t feel like I just did an Ironman. I felt like I just did a long training day at a leisurely pace. WTH?? UGH!!! Yes I finished my second Ironman, yes I bested my time by 40 mins, but I feel cheated. I feel unaccomplished. I feel like an ass! I'm not sore at all! Gee wonder if that says something. Mentally/emotionally I'm super disappointed and actually quite let down. I am VERY pissed at myself for not doing better. For some reason this year I felt I had something to prove, that I was better, A LOT better than last year, and I know I am but the results definitely didn't show that. UGH I'm just so disappointed. I want to do another race ASAP just to prove that I am better, just to myself though.

Please don’t get me wrong, I am proud of my finish, I am proud of how much work and effort I put into this sport but sometimes you’re your own worst critic and this is definitely the case. Expecting to do about a 12:30, and doing a 13:43, kinda stinks but I know with a little more hard work I can accomplish my goals.

Thank you to everyone who supported Ryan and I throughout this whole process. We are SO lucky to have friends and family that are so supportive.

Ryan and I after the race, do we look tired?? : )