The ironman world championship is about overcoming adversity and divine intervention..... God wanted me to finish

Well, here it is... my much anticipated race report. Kona is a stunning place, and the water here is the most beautiful water I have ever seen. I was nervous about swimming in the ocean with jellyfish, sharks, etc... however, once I got here and took a practice swim, all that fear went out the window! The water was crystal clear and you could see everything. I could go on about what a wonderful week I had, the incredible people I met, and the awesome swimming with the dophins adventure I had, but I know you all want to hear about the race, and I only have 20 minutes at this internet cafe, so let's get to it.

The swim:

It took about 15 to 20 minutes to make it through the massive line to get into the starting shoot to get to the water. I waited around until 20 minutes before gun time and ended up standing in this line right up until start time. The swim was a floating start, and I swam out to the very back of the crowd and right as I got there the gun went off, and off we went. This was the least jostled I have ever been in an ironman swim. Probably because I was in the back where I belonged and all the other racers were damn fast! The swim was an out and back and swimming out to the turnaround I had this asian guy swimming next to me the whole time who I could not get rid of. He was wearing a speedsuit and wasn't even kicking his feet, so it didn't make it convenient for me to draft off of him, however, he decided to draft off of me and I ended up pulling him for at least a half mile before I finally did a massive kick, turned over and yelled "GET OFF ME" at him. My little tribute to Gilbert :-)

Coming in from the swim to transition was pretty uneventful, took me a while as I had to use the port a potty and slather sunblock everywhere. Plus, they made us run around the entire perimeter of the transition area in order to get to our bags, which just added time. I was super impressed that they were able to fit transition and bikes in such a small area on the pier. The bikes were racked in wood blocks which was super cool. Got off on the bike and out on the Queen K and things are going well. My swim took me a lot longer than I anticipated. Thanks a lot drafting dude.... and I was one of the last cyclists out. The bike was very lonely, as I truly was out there by myself. They had bike aid stations at what seemed like every 10 miles, and I poured water on top of my head and on my jersey and arm sleeves at every single one and that kept me cool. I heard reports that the asphalt was well over 100 degrees, but it really did not feel that hot to me. At just after mile 40 I had every triathletes worst nightmare happen. I got a flat tire. Who knows, how long I was riding on it, I had just made the turn towards Havi, and all the age groupers were passing me to come back at this point. It had gotten really hilly and windy and I felt like I was riding on bumps yet there were no bumps. A single speed bike guy passed me and at that point I knew something was seriously wrong, so I looked down and noticed the flat. I stopped and realized that I did not have a tool to let the air out of the valve extenders and I was freaking out. How the hell was I going to change this tire without that tool. I had practiced changing these race wheels once before and I absolutely had to let all of the air out of the tires in order to get the tire off. Without that tool, I was in real trouble, because the tire still had a little bit of air in it. At this point, a true act of god occurred, as a bike mechanic van pulled up and asked if I needed help. I'm dead serious!! How could I possibly be this lucky!! They stopped and changed the tire for me. No joke! Took them less than 10 minutes and I was back on my way. I managed to catch up to the single speed bike guy and a couple of other people who passed me. At the turn around I had a fierce tail wind which allowed me to make up some time, there were also fierce cross winds as well. Let me tell you, I have never in my life cycled in such fierce winds. I was truly scared that these winds were going to knock me over and cause me to crash. I saw several injured people who this had happened to while I was riding, and it was a very scary experience. Once I turned back onto the Queen K, I was riding into a head wind. The hills were not that bad on this course and I still did a decent time despite the flat tire. At one point on the bike I looked down and noticed that my legs were red. This really concerned me because I still had about 25 miles left to go at this point and I stopped and asked someone who had parked their truck to cheer if they had any sunblock I could borrow and they did. This was the second miracle to happen for me during this race. I wanted to cry at this point as I couldn't believe my good fortune and I was getting emotional. I was blessed to get a lottery slot and any negative thing that happened seemed to have a solution right in front of me. I truly felt that God was with me and wanted me to finish this race. As I reached transition I still had over and hour and a half left before the cutoff time. Yay! I started the run off strong and didn't even need to bring my sunglasses as at this point it was cloudy and the sun was starting to go down. I knew the sun would set around 6 pm and I knew it would get pitch black at that point so I wanted to run as strong as I could before I would have to start walking in the dark. Once I got to mile 5, I got a spurt of energy and was running at a really good pace. Had to have been at least a 10 minute mile pace, which for a ironman is pretty damn good. Once I got to mile 11 the sun had set and it had gotten dark. At that point, I had to start walking as it was just too dark to run and was not safe at that point. It was a lonely last 13 miles as there were so few of us left on the course at that point. I would try to run whenever I would get to any aid station that had light, and at the turnaround, a truly awesome volunteer must have walked half a mile with me holding water and gatorade for me while I walked. He told me I only had 6 miles left to go, even though I had 8 miles left and knew it. Oh well, gotta love volunteers! I started running again in the last half mile before the finish as I had reached the town lights again. I can not tell you how awesome it was to run in and have so many specators there giving me high fives and telling me how much I rock! This was a constant for the last half mile of the race, and what a truly amazing experience it was to cross that finish line. I want to thank all of my friends who offered me encouragement when I needed it, I want to thank all of you for reading this and putting up with me during my training, my breakdowns, and just listening to me talk about nothing but this for the past 6 months. It was an experience of a lifetime and I'll cherish it forever. Thankyou to God for giving me this wonderful opportunity and for pushing me past my limits. Truly, Anything really is possible

I'm leaving on a jetplane.......

Hi everyone,

Well, I am packed and ready to go and will arrive in Kona on Monday night. I'm excited and ready to do this race!! I am bib number 1162 and you can follow me on race day (Saturday October 9th) at ironmanlive.com. I'm also trying to get my race splits fed to my twitter account, so you can check that barring that ironmanlive doesn't have any issues. My twitter handle is @lauriev. Since, I'm traveling by myself I will not have anyone to feed my facebook profile, which would have been awesome, since everyone of my dear friends is on facebook, but it is what it is, and I'm not bringing a computer with me, so you are stuck with my iphone pics uploading to facebook. I am bringing my camera and hopefully will meet some adopted friends for the week to take pics of me while I'm doing the race. The cool thing is that I have met several people online who have offered to be my friends for the week, so I really won't be alone out there. Did I tell you how excited I am about this? Not to build this up too much, but I have dreamed of this day since I was 21 years old in college watching Mark Allen win the ironman world championship. I'm amazed that I've come this far and am getting a once in a lifetime dream to do this. Yes, people, miracles do happen, and they may not happen at the most opportune time, or exactly when you want them to, but if you want something bad enough it will come. Now, if I can channel that to the rest of my life, I'll be golden :-)

Thank you to all of my friends for your support and encouragement!!! I hope to make you all proud!!

Laurie

Two Weeks away... and I suck at fundraising

Hi everyone,

Well, it's crunch time and my big adventure is almost here. Tomorrow I do my last long run... 18 miler on tap, and then it is taper time! Woo Hoo!! Last weekend, I did a 92 mile bike ride on Saturday, a 15 mile run on Sunday, and a 2 mile swim on Monday. I'm tired all the time and I'm ready to get this over with.

I also have two more weeks to raise money for my charity. My dad passed away in February from Colon Cancer, so to honor his memory, I decided to raise money for the Colon Cancer Coalition. When I first came up with the idea, I had grandiose dreams. Raising $10,000 didn't seem too far out of my reach. Erin Truslow, helped me come up with the idea of asking for $1 for every mile of ironman, which comes out to $140.60 per person. I figured, surely I could get 100 people to donate that amount.... I was wrong. Dead Wrong. This is why I am not in sales, I suck at asking people for money. Except my mom will disagree with me on that, but I digress... Getting my friends to even donate $10 was like pulling teeth. The majority of the money I have raised have come from either friends of my dad's or from acquaintances that I barely see that I have somehow managed to touch with my mission. Don’t get me wrong a few friends have donated and I am extremely grateful for their generosity and a big thank you to all of you. I just wish that I had a better personality. I wish I had the charisma to charm my 250+ facebook friends into donating $10 each. I will never do this again, and I need to stop feeling like I am a failure at everything. In my last post, I posted a phrase that someone had said to me, about not needing to do an ironman to prove that I'm not a failure in life.... Failure seems to be my nemisis. I've been feeling sorry for myself the last two days, because I lost a job to someone who gave a better presentation than I did. The non profit, that I was really excited about, really made me go through a lot of hoops and called all of my references spending 30 minutes with each one, now I get to call all of my references and tell them that I didn't get it because the other girl gave a better presentation than I did. They made us give an hour long presentation to the marketing department, and I did a good job... just not good enough.... Let's hope that I am good enough to cross the finish line in Kona....

"Laurie, you don't have to do an Ironman to prove you are not a failure in life"

Yes, I heard those words this week and boy it felt like a little light bulb went off inside my head. Seriously, is this why I'm doing Ironman Triathlons? For anyone who really knows me, this totally makes sense. The sad thing is that I'm on my third one now, but I have made a promise to myself that it will be my last one. Once this is over, I can take a break, and then find some other way to prove that I am not a failure in life....

In terms of training, I'm about to pull my hair out. I did a 92 mile bike last week, and I'm on tap to do the same or more tomorrow. Training by myself really sucks and it really takes a great amount of motivation and will power to make it through. Sunday, I'm slated to run for 16 miles. I have to give myself mental rewards at this point, and my mental reward for the next two weeks is that if I just get it done, then I will have a whole week of doing nothing in Hawaii leading up to the actual ironman. If I can get through these next two brutal weeks, I'll have a complete week off of working out leading up to the race, and I can enjoy Hawaii. Afterwards, if I finish, I can brag for the rest of my life, and hopefully feel that I am an accomplished human being that doesn't have anything to prove anymore.

If I can complete the Ironman World Championships, what is to keep me from getting a great job, marrying the man of my dreams, and living a happily ever after life?

I fell into a burning ring of fire, I went down down down and the flames went higher, and it burns, burns, burns,... The ring of fire!

Holy Smokes! There’s a reason they call it the Ring of Fire! I can honestly say this was one of the toughest rides I have ever done, but I’m so glad I did it! 70 miles of brutal non-stop hills in 101 degree weather. Yep, I think I’m ready for Kona now! Seriously, this ride is not for the faint of heart. I was good and hydrated and didn’t drink alcohol at all the week leading up to this event. I carpooled to Luckenbach with my buddy Sara and her friend Mary. We all met up at 5:30 in the morning at Sara’s house for the hour and a half ride into Luckenbach. I had my alarm set at 4:40 am. God that is early. I am so not a morning person so anything before 5 am feels sacrilegious to me. Anyhow, I made it to Sara’s house by 5:30 and we were off by 5:45. We had no problems getting there and took our time getting ready. By the time we got to the start line the 70 mile and 112 mile bikers had already started so we were last out, before the 40 mile group took off. No biggie, this was not a race to me and I knew it was going to be a tough ride. I’m so glad that Sara kept me company on this ride. It’s hard for me to find someone to do long rides with and Sara is training for Ironman Arizona and we ride about the same speed so it worked out great.

I knew the first section out towards Blanco was hilly, as I had ridden it a few weeks before with Erin and crew, and this is also where I had my nasty bike wreck; However, due to my wreck, I had not had the pleasure of climbing the hardest hill on the route . Right before the town of Blanco we made a turn on Crabapple road, and there was a nasty hill. Now, I’ve ridden the Leakey hill and this one felt just as bad. I was wheezing so heavily that Sara was afraid she was going to have to give me cpr. No joke! As I came up to the hill all the other cyclists had given up and were walking it, but I was determined to NOT have to get off my bike, and amazingly I made it up that hill. Everyone thought I was gonna die, doing it, but I did it! I think one of the things that helped get me up that hill was that all of the other bikers who were walking it were there cheering me on, saying you can do it! A short distance after the hill, there was an aid station and I stopped there to wait for Sara, and it turns out that one of the ladies that was cheering me on was a former coach with the very first triathlon training group I joined before doing my first triathlon back in 2002. I was so excited to see her and she told me how proud she was of how strong I have now become. For those of you who don’t know, my first triathlon was not a pretty experience and it has taken me years to get over my fear of open water swimming. It was so nice to run into her and hear her words of encouragement. Yay! Big shout out to Gina Lardon and Tri-Zones Training.

Sara and I took our sweet time at that aid station and I reluctantly got back on the bike for the next leg of the ride. The next leg was pretty uneventful, a few more hills and neverending sun and heat. We made it to the next aid station and I wanted to hitch a ride back to the start with the dreaded SAG wagon, but it was not to be, as Sara wouldn’t even let me think about it. “ It’s only 14 more miles, you can do 14 miles”. Ah, yes, ONLY 14 more miles, ok, as I wheeled out I jealously watched about 7 to 10 people board the SAG wagons. 8 more miles down the road and we came to Eli’s Meet Rack Aid station. Hands down this was the best aid station, as there was chocolate cake on hand. Thanks Eli for taking such good care of us!! That chocolate cake really hit the spot, and Sara and I were off for the last 8 miles of our journey, and I have to say it was the longest 8 miles of my life. By this point it was over 100 degrees out and the sun was beating down. There was a stretch of freshly laid asphalt that made the experience even more enjoyable…. NOT! At one point I crested a hill to see newly laid black asphalt and another neverending hill and I yelled an obscenity at the top of my lungs. I was bonking and wanted the ride to be over. The thought of yet another series of hills on hot black asphalt was enough to do me in. Seriously, it was so hot it was dangerous, and I’m still trying to figure out how I managed to finish this ride, as those of you who know me, know that I do not handle heat well and have succumbed to heat exhaustion on several occasions. We finally finished and Sara and I ate while we waited for Mary to come in. The chicken sandwich I got at the end, wasn’t quite enough for me so I purchased one of the pulled pork sandwiches and potato chips in addition to the two beers that I drank. I told Sara that she would have to stop by Dairy Queen on the way home for me to get my blizzard fix. After that amount of riding in that heat, I can pretty much eat whatever I want and not worry about gaining a pound. This is one of the few perks of ironman training…..aside from getting in great shape….. After tough workouts like this one, I can eat whatever I want and not worry about it.

I can honestly tell everyone, that training in the brutal Texas summer is definitely taking it’s toll on me. I’m not one to advocate doing more than one ironman a year, and there’s a reason for that. After I did Ironman Coeur D’Alene in 2009 I only took 2 weeks off before hitting the training grind again and I quickly burned out . I signed up for Ironman St. George last year to be completed in May of this year and started training for it, never dreaming that I would get one of the coveted slots to Kona. I found out that I got a slot for Kona less than a month out from Ironman St. George. Had I known I probably wouldn’t have signed up for St. George. Also, had I known that St. George was going to be as difficult as it was, I wouldn’t have signed up as well; however, even though I’m starting to burn out, I’m so glad I experienced the toughness of the St. George course, because it gives me the mental will power I need to know that I’m going to be able to do Kona, and everything will turn out alright. I know it’s still 6 to 7 weeks away, however, I’m ready for Kona now!!!

Score: Redneck Trucker 1, Laurie's dream of completing Ironman Hawaii -1

Well, as I say, it's not IF you get in a wreck, it's WHEN you get in a wreck..... I have now had my second serious bike wreck, thanks to an impatient redneck in his pickup truck.

I was previewing the Red Licorice Events Ring of Fire 65 mile bike course with some RLE team mates starting in Luckenbach. We were on about mile 15 on a two lane highway when a very big tractor was coming towards us on the other side of the road as he should be when suddenly I heard shouting. I couldn't figure out why they would be shouting about a slow moving tractor on the other side of the road until I saw what they were shouting about. A big black pickup truck was heading straight at us going the wrong way at least 90 mph trying to pass the tractor. We had nowhere to go, as there was no shoulder on this road and everyone was hitting their brakes and I was trying not to crash into my team mates when I lost control and totally bit it in the middle of the road. Apparently the truck driver swerved, narrowly missing us and just kept on going. I was very lucky. I was lying there on my back in the middle of the road afraid to move, when my team mates came and got me and gingerly moved me to the side of the road while they called 911. I was bleeding from the back of my head and was extremely dizzy. The tractor stopped and several other good citizens stopped to offer help, and unfortunately it took over 30 minutes for the Fredericksburg EMT's to get to me. It's a good thing I only had a minor concussion, as I probably would have died out there had it been more serious. Both Frederickburg and Stonewall sent an EMT and fire truck, however, the city of Blanco which was only 10 miles away would not send anyone! Luckily, the hospital did a cat scan and found no damage to my head other than the four staples that had to be put in to stop the bleeding. I'm still recovering and still feeling woozy, and I do have a bone chip floating from my ankle, so my doctor has told me not to run for 2 to 6 weeks. I'm hoping that the ankle will heal quickly, as I'm not giving up on my dream to do the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii. Hopefully this will be a small set back, albeit a very expensive setback. Luckily, I do have my cobra insurance, however, I'm still going to have to pay several hundred out of my pocket to cover the hospital bills and bike repair bills. I'm just happy to be alive and to not have any serious broken bones. I often forget just how dangerous of a sport I have taken up. I want to thank all of my friends for their support and good thoughts! I get my staples out next Monday and will start up my cycling and swimming again then. Looks like I'm going to end up walking the marathon of ironman, but hey... it's not the first time, I've had to walk a marathon... and I am only getting one chance to do Ironman Hawaii.... Perhaps I'll be the lucky last finisher to cross that line at midnight!

Breakdown number 1 has arrived

Well, I was feeling that I wasn't training enough a few blog posts back, and now I'm starting to burn out again. This past week felt intense and I'm still nowhere close to where I need to be. This heat is really getting to me and perhaps my general attitude needs an adjustment. I'm starting to question why I want to do this and getting a general apathy altogether towards training. Is this normal? I don't want to get into my personal life here, but I have to admit, I'm hitting a negative spiral and I don't like it. I have no motivation, nothing to get up for, and what feels like nothing to look forward to except a very expensive trip to Hawaii by myself. I think I need my happy shot now.

Last Saturday I did a 2.4 mile open water swim in Lake Travis and I came in last place. I don't think I did too poorly with an overall time of 1 hour 40 minutes. That is only 10 minutes off of my Ironman St George time for which I had a wetsuit on, and only a minute off of my Ironman Coeur D'Alene time for which I also had a wetsuit on. I didn't realize a wetsuit could make that much of a difference, apparently it does. The swim felt like much longer than 2.4 miles and it was hard knowing I was the only one left out there. I had my own personal kayak escort which was kind of nice. I got a couple of suggestions from some people observing my swim on my stroke. Apparently I wasn't catching enough water. Anyhow, the next day I did a 43 mile ride in Luckenbach with the Red Licorice Events team. It was fun and a challenge to keep up with the group. I just have to accept that I am a slow triathlete and that I have been given a huge privilege to compete in Kona, and accept that if I'm lucky I will finish by midnight.

Two workouts a day, training in Houston, and Rednecks oh my!

Ironman Hawaii is only three months away now and my training has started to get a little more intense. My coach is giving me two workouts a day now more often and this week, I get the pleasure of training in Houston, as I'm visiting family. Boy what a difference a three hour drive makes in terms of humidity and heat. Yesterday, I did an hour long run and I burned 626 calories. This is over twice as many calories that I would normally burn on an hour long run in Austin, if that gives you any idea. Today I got the pleasure of cycling in and outside of Kingwood. I only got honked at three times for my hour long ride. Apparently, people in Kingwood do not realize that a road bike is meant to be ridden on a road and not on the greenbelt. Some guy passed me in a truck, honked at me and pointed to the greenbelt and flipped me off. I guess I've been spoiled living in cycling friendly Austin. I really hope I don't have to move to Houston for work....
I also had a lovely experience swimming at the YMCA close to my mom's house. Full of kids and kids peeing in the water. The pool was filthy and a kid peed right next to me as I was swimming laps. Nice! I don't think I'll be going back to the Y any time soon.....

According to Ironman the average age grouper does 7 miles of swimming a week, 232 miles of cycling a week , and 48 miles of running a week…..

Seriously, if the above statement is the norm then I must be a miracle! In the two ironmen that I have done, I can honestly say I did not reach that level of training and have no desire to. Does that make me a bad triathlete? Discuss amongst yourselves…

Well I wish I had more of an exciting life that I could update this blog a little more, alas… it is not to be, I lead an incredibly mundane life right now…. My days are filled with sitting at a computer looking for a job, and training in the evenings. My coach still has me in transition mode, so my workouts have not gotten ridiculous yet. The weekend before last, I actually rode more than what he had down for me. I have a private coach that writes up a plan for me daily. His name is Shawn Bostad and he runs Pure Austin Coaching at Pure Austin gym. If you are looking for a triathlon coach, I highly recommend him. The one thing that I really love about Shawn is how emotionally connected he is with his athletes.

So two weeks ago, I rode with a few Texas Iron athletes and we did the Lost Creek/Barton Creek Dam loop and I have to say it was really tough. I had not ridden the Lost Creek hill since before Ironman St. George, and all I can say is that it was hot, it was humid, and it was tough as nails….but I did it. We ended up riding about 50 miles and the whole time I felt like I was still on my 11/23 cassette. I actually double checked it to make sure I had the 12/27 on there, so I don’t know if that means that I have a long way to go training wise or if the heat was just getting to me. Anyhow, this past weekend was the 4^th of July and I will admit that I was guilty in going to parties and drinking which ultimately affected my training. I went to a really fun party on Friday night and drank a bit too much and paid for it all day Saturday. Due to the rain and me not feeling 100%, I pushed off my long ride until Sunday. I had gone out Saturday night as well, but was good and didn’t drink. One of my friends is loosely related to Willie Nelson’s harmonica player, and we went to see him play at Saxon Pub. We also, got to hear Willie’s son’s band play as well. It was fun, but for some reason, Sunday morning I had the hardest time waking up. I didn’t start my two hour ride until 11 am. Not ideal in this summer heat. I decided to just ride up and down Parmer since I was riding by myself. Going out towards Georgetown was easy, wind at my back; but coming back was a brutal headwind. This is good for me, as I need to practice cycling in strong headwinds for Kona, as I’m told the winds can get up to 50 mph there. So all in all it was not too difficult of a ride, and I tried to make up for the fact that I didn’t do my 55 minute run by doing a 1.5 mile run at 4 pm in the afternoon. …. That makes up for it right????

Oh well, we can’t all be perfect triathletes… and I’m not going to beat myself up over it. I’ve got plenty of time. Three months to be exact….. By the way, here is an interesting statistic that I pulled from the Ironman World Championship web page Frequently Asked Questions….. The average age grouper in preparing for the Ironman World Championships does 7 miles of swimming a week, 232 miles of cycling a week , and 48 miles of running a week….. My jaw dropped when I read that. I’ve come nowhere close to that in the training that I’ve done for the two ironmen that I have completed. I can say at my peak that I swam no more than 4 miles a week, rode no more than 120 miles a week, and ran no more than 26 miles a week, and that was definitely not the norm. ….

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to volunteer for the Red Licorice Events Jr. Varsity Triathlon for kids and participate in the Champions Triathlon for adults and what an amazing experience it was! The highlight of this event for me was getting the opportunity to help kids as young as 5 years old participate in their first triathlon. These kids were absolutely precious and amazing to me. I remember when I was 6 years old, I was so shy, that I was afraid to ride my bike in the annual 4^th of july parade. To see kids as young as 5 years old doing a triathlon just amazes me. I was terrified of water as a child and to see how brave these little kids were about doing an open water swim, a bike , and a run all by themselves is very humbling. I had so much fun helping these kids set up their transition and cheering them on as they came back in. One little girl had a stuffed puppy in her bike basket, it was just too cute.

After the kids triathlon was finished, we had the adult version of the triathlon, it was a super sprint course, and I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to do a shorter length triathlon especially in this Texas heat and humidity. I have to admit, I was a little surprised at just how short the swim was. At first I though some buoys were missing. I believe the swim was only 300 meters, which is usually a warmup for me during my swim practice. Also, this swim was in shallow water, so there were several times where I walked through the water, Once my hands and feet start hitting the bottom while swimming, it becomes more efficient to walk in the water… Anyhow, it was fun and went by quickly, there was a short jog up the boat ramp to transition and I was off on the 11 mile bike course. It was a pretty flat course that went over the granger lake dam and back. On the way back, there was a bit of a head wind, but nothing too bad. Back in transition, I headed out for the 2 mile run, and it was a hot one. I’m just happy that I managed to run the whole distance in this heat. It must have been at least 95 degrees out, and there was no shade. I kept pouring cold water over my head at each aid station. I can’t tell you what a difference it makes to pour ice cold water over your head. As I came around the last turn, I could see the finish line and I was sooo happy, until I heard Adam say, that I had one more little loop to do before going through the finish chute. What??? So dejecting to be so close and ready to end, only to have to run another quarter of a mile. Ah well, I did it and finished, and to my great surprise, I was first in my age group!! I can’t tell you what an awesome feeling that is! This is my first time ever to win any kind of race and I tell you what, I feel kinda special! Thanks to Red Licorice Events for giving me this wonderful experience!!!

I know it’s been a while since my last post. I started my training officially about two weeks ago with a new coach and we are starting off pretty slow. This past weekend I did a 2 hour bike ride and that went well. Everything else has been no more than a 60 minute workout be it swimming, biking, or running. Most of my swims have been open water swims in the quarry lake at pure Austin gym. I have to say, my allergies have been wreaking havoc on me. I went to my doctor on Monday to see if there was anything she could do about it. She’s put me on an antibiotic as she says I have a sinus infection and we are trying to wean myself off of the over the counter nasal sprays in favor of flonase. In addition to the allergies, I also wanted to have her check my heart as I’ve been noticing a lot of heart palpitations or what feels like constant skipped heartbeats. So today she sent me to a heart doctor to get a 48 hour heart monitor . As I sit here writing this I have 5 different cords attached to my body with a portable button to push each time I feel it happen. I can still workout with this attached, but I can’t swim, so I guess that limits me to biking and running for the next two days. I’m sure it’s probably nothing, and the latest new bodily reaction to the stress I’ve been under. This weekend I’m scheduled for another two hour ride and a 45 minute run. My new coach is not out to kill me this summer, and I greatly appreciate that. I’m also changing my strategy for the marathon portion of the ironman in light of the fact that there was only a 10 minute difference in my marathon times between the two ironman’s I’ve done, in which I completely ran one of them, and walked the majority of the other one. In light of that, I don’t see the need to kill myself by trying to run the entire marathon portion of ironman when I can walk it just as fast. Pretty interesting. What’s kind of weird about it is that I ran the entire Coeur D’Alene marathon of ironman in 2009 and it was a pretty flat run course. I walked the majority of Ironman St George and it was an extremely hilly course, and the difference was only 10 minutes. Amazing! I was walking pretty fast too, so why run, when I can walk faster???? Considering I will be doing Ironman Hawaii through the lava fields in 90 degree plus heat, I think I will plan on walking it. More to come later….

And so it begins….

Yesterday was my first long bike ride and kickoff to my training since completing Ironman St. George on May 1^st. A group of us decided to do a 55 mile route starting in dripping springs and doing a loop through Johnson City. I wasn’t mentally prepared for how difficult it was going to be. I figured I could easily get back into the swing of things. I underestimated the heat factor. To prepare for this ride, I had eaten two healthy granola bars and two tangerines the morning of, and a healthy gluten free pasta dinner the night before. I had a huge milestone happen in that I let Shawn (coach with Pure Austin Coaching and organizer of this ride) talk me into eating zucchini and squash. For those of you who don’t know, I do not eat vegetables at all. I don’t like them, and have serious mental issues with eating them. I’ve been trying to be a little healthier with my nutrition lately, and have decided to try and eliminate gluten from my diet. A few years ago, I had gone to a doctor who runs a blood test to determine food allergies. I did the test and it came back that I was basically allergic to everything that I eat. The thought of eliminating gluten and dairy from my diet seemed impossible and I quickly wrote off the test as “quackery”. Honestly, I don’t see how I can be allergic to these foods and continue to feel healthy every day, but who knows, perhaps that is why I’m slow, have athletic asthma, have had problems with depression in the past etc... I would like to try to see if I can eliminate at least gluten from my diet to see if I notice any remarkable differences, however, there is no way I’m going to eliminate dairy from my life. I like cheese way too much. Anyway, I digress…. The important thing is that I tried two vegetables that I haven’t eaten in the past and …..drum roll….. they tasted kind of bland. I didn’t gag, I didn’t immediately want to throw up, and I didn’t rush for a glass of water to drown them down. I did and still do have to get used to the texture and just getting over the whole mental barrier that hey, I can eat this, and I’ll be okay. A long road I’m sure, but at least I made an inch of progress!

Anyhow, Shawn was a wonderful host in putting together this training day. He went over the bike course with us and had put together a run course for those who wanted to get a long brick workout in. I opted to just do the 55 mile bike ride, being my first major workout since St. George. We probably didn’t get started until around 8 am and off we went. I had not ridden this particular route before and didn’t know really what to expect. I packed three bottles of liquid nutrition, a granola type bar, and my aero bottle full of water. I knew there was one gas station at mile 25, and knew I could refill my water there. I figured I would need three hours of nutrition and skimped on the one bottle of normal water. The first 25 miles weren’t that bad. It was a hilly course and somewhat challenging. I got to the 25 mile mark stopped at the gas station and refilled my aero water bottle. I had not yet finished my first bottle of nutrition, so I didn’t refill that one. I was also not doing a good job of drinking my full bottle of nutrition per hour. I’ve got to get better at this. I decided to try something new, which is to supplement my liquid nutrition with real food, so I ate my granola bar. I was riding very slow and taking it easy. Things started to get tough in the last 25 miles. It started to get really hot, and there was no shade at all. I think the temperature was around 93 degrees. The humidity was around 30%, but it felt more humid than that. I did have to pull out my inhaler at one point. I was really starting to bonk and very low on water, when thank god, Shawn drove up to the rescue. He refilled my water bottles and then went off to rescue some other riders who made a wrong turn. I almost made that wrong turn too, and thank god I didn’t because those last 10 miles almost killed me. All up hill and had to get out of my saddle a couple of times to make it up the switchback at Hamilton pool. The heat took its toll on everyone in that we were all starting to bonk at the end of the ride, and those who opted to run afterwards ended up cutting their run short, or not running at all. A wise decision as it was just too hot. I overheat more than the average person, so I know my symptoms really well. Once I start to get goosebumps that is my sign to stop working out. Luckily, I didn’t get any; however, my energy level was really starting to fade. Lesson learned, now, that for 55 mile rides, I need to take more than just one bottle of plain water. I guess I’ll just have to start bringing the nutrition powder with me to mix for a third bottle instead of packing three bottles of nutrition. Definitely need at least two full bottles of plain water in this heat. I need to get better at forcing myself to drink the nutrition hourly. I’ve been having problems with bloating, so I think I’m going to try to alternate the liquid nutrition with real food. Anyhow, it was a good ride, and I learned that I need to be a little more careful with the heat factor. I was so exhausted that I had to come home and take a nap before going out later that night. I missed a going away party that I was supposed to go to, but I just had to have that nap…This heat just zaps it out of me. It’s gonna be a long hot summer…and I can already see it now, that I’m not going to have the energy to do anything else on the weekends besides my ironman training. Bye-Bye social life….

Hi everyone,

Well, it's been over a year since I've been blogging and have decided to start again to document my upcoming training for Ironman Hawaii. For those of you who don't know..... I received the news on April 15th that I am one of the lucky lottery recipients for a coveted slot to compete in the Ironman World Championships in Kona this October. This is huge for me and definitely one of the highlights of my life. I started the sport of triathlon back in 2002 and sporadically competed in sprint level triathlons. It took me a few years to get comfortable swimming and to really get into the sport and I'll tell you my first attempts at half ironman distances were not pretty. But, lets go back even farther so that I can attempt to explain to you what drew me to this sport and what drew me to even dream about Ironman....

I can't remember the specific year, but I want to say it may have been around 1991 or 1992 when I was a college student, I was watching tv one day and I was bored when the Ironman World Championship came on. I was immediately riveted and glued to the set watching adults compete in a triathlon with unimaginable distances. I will never forget watching Mark Allen take command of such a difficult feat, and I continued to watch year after year, Mark Allen, taking down that course and bringing home a first place medal. I was astounded that anyone could manage something so difficult. It inspired me, and I eagerly awaited every year to watch this emotional tearjerker of athletic events. At the time, I never imagined that I too would one day be able to call myself an ironman. I was just happy to sit on the sidelines and watch, and watch every year as they replayed the snippet of Julie Moss crawling to the finish line. Wow! just Wow! was all I had to say or give.

Fast forward to the year 2002. I was working at 3M at the time and they frequently had lunch seminars and they had one on doing a triathlon, so I went. I figured if I could just get the swimming part under control that this would not be a difficult thing for me. I signed up for my first triathlon and signed up for a training program. I quickly learned that I desperately needed to hire a personal swim coach, and it took several years for me to get comfortable with the mass swim starts and swimming in open water. I had always had the desire to do an Ironman, I just didn’t think I had the time or stamina for one, and it wasn’t until the year 2008, I was watching a friend complete her first ironman and I got inspired to go for it. At the time, I had a job where I was working from home, and the feat of combining the rigourous training needed with a full time job seemed feasible. I signed up for an ironman and gave myself a year to train for it. I’m now happy to say that I have two ironman finishes under my belt, and I am ready to take on the training for Kona. I just completed Ironman St George on May 1st, and I’m giving myself a month long break before I go into serious training mode again.

I start my training on June 2nd, and I’ll keep this blog going to tell you all about my adventures and breakdowns while training for the Ironman Hawaii, which has been my dream. If you are interested in donating to my campaign for the Coalition for Colon Cancer, please follow the link to my donation site. As a thanks for this opportunity, I am raising money for the Coalition for Colon Cancer in honor of my dad, who passed away this past February after a 4 year battle with this disease. I’m thrilled to have this opportunity and would like to give back as thanks, so any amount is greatly appreciated!! Here is the link to my fundraising page: www.active.com/donate/ColonCancerCoalition/laurieviault

Ironman St George Race Report

I’m finally getting around to writing my race report for Ironman St. George, and what a race it was…. I don’t even know where to start. A little over a year ago, I was deep in training for Ironman Coeur D’Alene. I was excited to participate in my first ironman and had heard rumors about a new Ironman Course in St. George Utah. This immediately piqued my interest, as Zion National Park is one of my favorite national parks. It is astoundingly beautiful and the thought of doing a race there was something I was ready to jump on. A few weeks later, the rumors were confirmed and as soon as I saw the announcement that registration was open, I jumped on it and registered. Keep in mind, they had not published the race course yet or any of the elevation profiles. Note to self….. NEVER sign up for a race without looking at the course profile first! As I was soon to find out, I had just signed up for one of the most difficult Ironman courses.
I signed up with Texas Iron and hired Jamie Cleveland to be my coach in November of last year to prepare for this ironman. Little did I know at the time, that I was about to encounter a lot of setbacks in my training. A brutal Texas winter, the death of my dad, the death of my cat, the loss of my job, getting off of anti depressants after over 15 years on them (and dealing with all the side effects including 10 pounds of weight gain), and the end of a relationship were all factors that affected my training; however, I did the best that I could as life is unpredictable and you can’t control everything. Just as you can’t control the weather…You have to pick up the pieces, work with what you have, and continue moving forward, so that is what I did. Leading up to this race, I had only managed one 100+ mile ride, and I only had one 20+ mile run under my belt, but I had continuously trained from June of 2009, so I felt that I could do it.
As mentioned it was not an easy road and I certainly had my breakdowns. At one point, I had an emotional breakdown and Jamie actually brought up the suggestion of dropping out of the race. He told me I should take a day or two to think it over and get back to him. It only took me a few hours to text him that I was NOT quitting, and thank god I didn’t, because I was about to have another surprise and it was a good one. On April 15th, World Triathlon Corporation announced the 200 lottery slot winners for Ironman Grand Championships in Hawaii, and guess who was on the list!!!!
Yep, yours truly! I had bought that lottery ticket last year and never dreamed that I would get picked my first year of trying. Ok, I lie, I did dream I would get picked and that’s why I purchased the ticket to begin with. I just had a funny feeling that on my first try that this would be the year to get it, and with all the crap I’ve gone through recently, it was a welcome win!! All I had to do now, was validate that slot by completing either a full or a half ironman by August 31st. Anything I did prior to October of last year doesn’t count, so I had to prove that I could compete in Hawaii, so I absolutely had to walk across the finish line for Ironman St George within 17 hours. If that doesn’t motivate me to finish, then I don’t know what will….
I had heard that wind could be a factor in St. George, so was mentally preparing myself for it. I however was not prepared for the up to 48mph winds the night I arrived. Driving from Las Vegas to St George, I could feel my car being blown on the highway, good lord, I had concerns now that the swim might be called off. On Thursday and Friday I went out to the lake for some practice swims. Unlike, Ironman Coeur D’Alene, they did not have a Gatorade practice swim course set up. There were some buoys to mark off a swimming area, so I got in wetsuit and all and swam. I had no difficulty and did not feel that the water was that cold; however, I’m an anomaly. I hate cold water just as much as the next person; however, I have been blessed with the ability to handle cold better than others. On one hand that is good and I’m sure I was the envy of many; however, what a lot of people don’t realize is that I do not have a high tolerance for heat. I overheat more than the average person, and I get athletic asthma in extreme heat and humidity. That is why I choose destination races that are in cooler environments. I did worry that Southwestern Utah had the potential to get hot, but I was blessed with cooler temperatures for this race, as with this course, as so many others can tell you, I don’t think I could have handled it, had it been hot. Anyways, back to the practice swims. The water temperature was said to be in the upper 50’s. I had a neoprene head cap so I wore it; however, I really do think I would have been fine without it. A lot of people were wearing neoprene footies but I don’t have any and honestly didn’t need them.
On race morning I decided to go ahead and wear my neoprene head cap. Once I got in the water, I was immediately fine. My feet never got cold and I swam out to the far left of the race start. It was a floating start. A lot of people opted to stay on the beach, but I didn’t want that swim to the start line to figure in to my time, so at about 5 minutes to the starting gun, I swam out to the far left of the starting buoy. The start was not as bad as Coeur D’Alene was, probably, because I had swam out instead of holding back with the masses. I did get hit pretty hard in the head and swallowed some water and had to stop and choke it out. I had my little moment of panic and then just kept swimming. I don’t know who had the genius idea of giving everybody the same color swim caps as the buoys, but it made for difficult sighting. The men had orange caps and the women had yellow caps, and the buoys were, you guessed it, yellow and orange. Once we made the turn around into the sun, the sighting got even harder as it was hard to see the yellow buoys heading into the sun, luckily, I always had a pack of people around me so if I couldn’t see the buoy, I at least had a lot of people to follow. I’m pretty happy that I stayed spot on the buoy line and did not swim off course. I probably sighted more than I needed too. I was feeling the urge to pee but couldn’t manage it and that was making my swim uncomfortable and I was very ready for it to be over. I kept thinking I was getting close to the end, only to find it was another turn. I did a good job at trying to draft off of other swimmers. Jamie would be so proud. I was really hoping that he noticed me drafting off the swimmer in front of me in the last few hundred meters of the swim. Once I got out of the swim, it was nice to see my coach right there at the swim finish cheering me on. I immediately rushed to a line of port-a-potties trying desperately to find an empty one. No small task which was to be an omen for the rest of this race. I got into transition dried off, and put on my bike clothes. Transition was pretty uneventful, I had a lady helping me, and I spent a lot of time slathering on sunscreen, which was good, because I did not get sunburnt at all during this race. I highly recommend wearing white long sleeves and using special sunblock. The sunblock I use smears on pure white and it’s natural and organic. It’s called JASON Sunbrellas. Good stuff!
Anyhow, I started off the bike feeling great. I wasn’t cold at all, and the wind didn’t seem too bad. This was a very hilly bike course and as the day wore on the wind picked up. I had seen a weather report that said winds were going to be from 10 to 20mph the day of the race. The miles seemed to go by pretty quickly at first. My bike computer decided to act up on me and wasn’t recording the miles, all I was getting was my mph. No biggie, I knew there were aid stations every 15 miles so that gave me a good gauge as to where I was. Once, we got onto the loop portion of the course, things started to get much harder. The wind picked up and the hills were brutal. I’d say the hardest portion was once we made the turnoff past the Indian reservation towards gunlock. There are some wicked hills leading up to the switchback which the locals refer to as “the wall”, that should give you an idea of what a hill it was. There were tons of people walking their bikes up the hills. Talk about a mental de-motivator. It’s hard enough to drive the course the day before and see the hills, it’s even harder when you see people ahead of you walking their bikes up the hill, it really makes you doubt whether you can do it. I was determined not to have to get off my bike and walk it up the hills, and I’m proud to say that I did it! I can’t remember the grades of these hills but I know they were above 10%. I’m so glad that I had a 12/27 cassette put on my bike. Had it been super hot, I’m sure my athletic asthma would have prevented me from making it up these hills. I must have been super hydrated too, as I had to pee three times on the bike course and all three times I ended up going on the side of the road. All of the port-a-potties at the aid stations had lines of people 20 deep, and with the toughness of this course, I didn’t want to waste the precious time I had standing in line. I was worried about the bike cutoff, so I just went on the side of the road and quite frankly, once you are doing an ironman, you really don’t care who sees you pee. One funny thing did happen though…. They made it a point of saying in the rules that you are not to pee on the side of the road, and at one point when I was doing so, a race car pulled up, I was scared I was going to get a penalty, but luckily the two guys in the car that had stopped to see what I was doing, looked pretty embarrassed and they just rode on. Lucky me. I was stressed for time, and as it was, I ended up beating the cut off time by only about 35 minutes. The ride back in to town was refreshing as most of it was downhill and it almost made up for all of the brutal hills. Notice I said almost…..
I was so happy to ride into transition 2 but I have to say it was so stressful to pass all the people on the run course knowing how far behind you are. That last 2 miles of the bike seemed like the longest 2 miles ever. I had a lot of time to prepare for my bike dismount. Again, I hope I made Jamie proud by dismounting my bike, leaving my shoes on the bike as he taught me. Anyhow, I ran into transition and some concerned volunteers mad me eat a slice of pizza for my shaking. I grabbed the pizza put on my run shorts and headed out. The first two miles were all up hill. It was hard to get my legs moving and I eventually gave up and started walking. I had 7 hours left to finish the race and I was mentally trying to calculate in my head if I had the time to walk the entire marathon. Luckily, I did, but as stubborn as I am I decided I would try my best to run the downhills and straight aways and walk the uphills. I did a pretty good job of doing that. Let me say that the majority of this course was up hill, so I did A LOT of walking. No biggie though, as everyone was walking this course. It was so wonderful to see Jamie and all the other Texas Iron team mates on the course. Great to see Richard and Ralph from T3 out there and my friend Susan as well. Richard and I got to walk together briefly. I’m proud of him for running in the last 4 miles. Once it got completely dark outside, I opted to walk the last 6 miles in. I just didn’t want to risk spraining my ankle in the dark. I have to say, I am very lucky that we had favorable weather conditions. The highs were in the mid to low 60’s and it didn’t even get too cold once nightfall hit. There was absolutely no humidity on this course which is awesome for my breathing, but awful for my skin. I managed to avoid getting sunburnt, but the dryness wreaked havoc on my skin and lips. My lips were all scabbed up the next day, and are still in the process of healing and it’s been a week. In the last 4 miles of the course I met two really cool guys who had done about 20 or so ironmans between them. We all opted to walk in together to the last 100 meters before running in to the finish line. I’m so glad I met them, Robin and Charles are both very talented age groupers who had some bike difficulties and decided to walk it in together once they realized they weren’t vying for any age grouper slots. Robin, had done Kona, and when I told them about my lottery slot they were very happy for me. He also told me that Kona is a much easier course than St. George!! Hallelujah! However, I’m sure the heat and the wind is what will get me in Kona. All, I had to do was walk across the finish line in St. George to validate my slot, so I opted to walk in with them and enjoy the finish. All in all it took me 40 minutes longer to do this course than my previous ironman, and I’m pretty happy with it. I probably could have run more and cut that time down by half an hour, but I had no desire or need to. I’m just happy I finished and it also goes to show that you do not need to train to the extremes to do an Ironman. I missed a lot of my training days and long rides and I did just fine, however, I did have a high level of fitness from continually training for the past two years. I only took two weeks off after Ironman CDA last year, and this year, I’ve decided to take the month off, before I start the grind again. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this break, and I can’t tell you how excited I am about Ironman Hawaii!!! Thanks to all my friends and family who have supported me!! Stay tuned for details on my fundraising efforts for Colon Cancer for Ironman Hawaii!!!