Such a fun time in Canada!!! Sorry for the delay in the race report. I am soaking up recovery right now and it's soooooooo nice!!!! Sleeping in? Check. Staying up late? Check. Eating unhealthy foods if I wanna? Check. No training at all? Check.
It's nice indeed ;)
WARNING: Extremely long blog :) I'll go ahead and apologize!!!
Well, the morning that we departed for Canada was quite interesting. Maybe interesting is not the correct word. We had a friend drop us off at the airport bright and early that morning. As we showed our passports, the lady behind the counter said that we might have an issue with my passport----The passport still had my maiden name on it. The airline ticket had my maiden name, of course. We did not have time to run home and get our marriage license, so we just hoped for the best.
So, we arrive to Dallas airport, without any issues. Great! We thought. We had a little breakfast in the airport and then boarded for the next flight to Seattle. As we got to Seattle and tried to check in for our flight to Kelowna, Canada, the airport lady said that if I got to Canada, they would put me right back on the plane back to Seattle. Nice. What were our options? Well, Option #1 was risking getting to Canada and customs sending me back. Option #2 was purchasing 2 new tickets; One from Seattle to Canada, and one from Canada to Seattle for the trip back home. They would change my name on the ticket back to my maiden name so it would match my passport. You've got to be kidding me? You could clearly see that my photo id on my license and passport was me, and my license actually had my maiden name on it as well. They didn't care. So, $500 to purchase new tickets it was!!!!!!!! :(
Let's back up. Did I mention that Matt had the dreaded "Is there a doctor on the plane?" scenario on our last flight from Dallas to Seattle? Oh yeah. We hear a weird noise towards the front of the plane----didn't really know where it was coming from until the flight attendant came on the loud speaker, asking if there was a doc available. Matt raised his hand and went to the front of the plane to help the man. He was a middle-aged man and it seemed like he was having a seizure in his seat. Matt assumed it was a diabetic issue, and luckily we were landing in 10 minutes from the time it happened. He was hesitant to give him juice, for risk of aspiration. The man was out of it. So, he did what he could until we landed, then explained to the medical crew waiting at the Seattle airport. My husband, the hero :)
We arrived to Canada and still had 1 1/2 hour drive ahead of us; We didn't mind, because the scenery was BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Penticton is known as the "Napa Valley of Canada". 40 wineries within a 20 mile radius-----nice!!!!! When we got to the house we had reserved, the rest of the crew had already made dinner!! We had a great dinner of steak and chicken kabobs, salad, french bread, and baked potatoes waiting for us on the patio, with a pool :) Can it get any better?
The next morning, we arrived at the expo to check out the Ironman Canada apparel and gear (my favorite part ;) We also had to fill out the typical emergency info and pick up our race packets.
Luckily, we got there at just the right time. The longer you wait, the longer the line gets. We took our wetsuits and attempted a swim, but there was a storm coming through, and the water was getting unbelievably choppy--we changed our minds quickly :)
Matt picked me up for a photo, and later on his back started huring. Uh-Oh, this is not good at all, we thought.
After that, we went back home and took a nap, went for a little 3 mile run (his back only hurt a little then), then got ready for dinner. Dinner was the Barley Mill and Pub restaurant. Good stuff!
We went by the grocery store on the way home to pick up some race morning essentials, like bagels, Gatorade, etc. We turned in early for a good night's sleep that night.
Friday morning was the underpants run!!!! So fun :)
We then picked our bikes up from TriBike Transport, made sure everything was working properly, and then tested out the wetsuits. The water was much calmer that day, which made for a great swim. The water was cool, and you could see to the bottom for a great distance! I only swam for 25 minutes, just to get the feel for the suit again. Poor Matt didn't want to risk huring his back worse, so he opted out of the swim. He went to the ART booth, and there was a guy there that worked on his back. He woke up the night before with a hurting back; I prayed hard that it would be ok by race morning. After we swam, we met the rest of the crew, checked our bikes out again, and went for a test ride; I think we were out for around 1 hour? We biked part of the run course; it looked hilly!!!!!!!!
After the test ride, we drove to a little winery and had some great burgers!!! I can't remember the name of the winery.
That night, we ordered pizza and stayed in our PJ's. Another early bedtime!!
Saturday morning, things started to get real!!!! Matt and I woke up early before everyone else, and went to have a big carb-fest at Denny's!!! My breakfast consisted of pancakes with syrup, a biscuit, toast and jelly, scrambled egg whites, and bacon. Yummmmyy!!!!!!
After that, we went back to get our special needs bags all packed up and get our nutrition on the bikes, etc. We took our bags to the race site, maded sure everything was in its proper place, and then went to chill out for the rest of the day and prop our feet up.
Kristen and Charlie cooked dinner, which consisted of spaghetti, grilled chicken breast, french bread, and baked potatoes. So good!!!!
We turned in early----of course I can never sleep the night before a big race, so I didn't sweat it too much. I always try to get good sleep 2 nights out from the race, and I'm fine. I actually got 2 or 3 hours that night, so I was happily surprised!!!
On to race morning;
Breakfast consisted of a bagel with peanut butter and honey, a bagel, and Gatorade to sip at the race site.
Got there early----5 am. Got bodymarked and went to the port-a-potty line before it became crazy!!!! Then the rest of the morning consisted of laying on the ground trying to calm the nerves.
Swim:
This was a mass swim start, starting on the beach. I always get so emotional
when we start lininig up; I know most people get emotional at the finish
line, but for some reason, it really gets to me when I realize that it's
no turning back now. The few minutes before the gun goes off, I always start
shaking. I calmed myself down with prayer, and then headed out with the other
4500 athletes. There's nothing like the start of a mass Ironman swim start.
This was the most congested I had ever been in a swim; People were clawing
me, hitting me, pushing me under to swim over me, etc. I panicked a couple
of times when I realized how long I had left in the water, but I prayed and
thought of "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me" several,
several times. I looked up and heard Matt on my left say, "I'm right here.
I'm right here.". This made me feel so good, knowing he was right beside me
for a little while. What a wonderful feeling it is to have the person you love
more than anything partaking in such a huge event with you. It just makes me
smile thinking of him being right there through it all :) It was 65 degrees
at the start of the swim; I didn't even notice the chill, to be honest. I just
started counting from buoy to buoy. There are 26 buoys, just in case you were
wondering :) It was pretty cool to see scuba divers below you watching out
for everyone. Swim was calm waters, thank goodness. I felt really good in the
water, and had my best Ironman swim yet; Matt, on the other hand, realized
about half-way through his swim, that someone had knocked his Garmin 310XT
off his arm; he has the quick-release mounts, and off it went!!! So, he
had no way of tracking his heartrate, pace, or distance for the rest of the
race. Can you imagine??!!!!!! The exit to the timing mat was difficult with
the rocky swim bottom; I actually saw 1:11 on my watch when I stood up, but
it took me 2 minutes to get over the rocks to the timing mat---Dangit!!!!!
Total Swim Time: 1 hour 13 minutes
T1:
T1 was pretty uneventful; the volunteers helped me get on my arm warmers and off
I went.
Bike: I saw our Iron sherpas, Charlie and Kristen as I was mounting the bike.
Charlie told me I beat Matt out of the water. As I started the bike, the main
focus was getting my nutrition in. I was waiting until 15 minutes passed before
I took anything in, to make sure my stomach was settled and calm after the swim.
After 15 minutes, the goal was 1 gel every 30 minutes, and 1-1/2 bottles gatorade
for the first couple hours, or until I couldn't stomach it anymore, and then shoot
for 1 bottle per hour. I pushed on, with the goal of watching my heartrate and
not letting it get over 150bpm, unless climbing a mountain. This was hard, as so
many people passed me. This would also prove successful later down the road on the
run, since I ended up passing 500+ people and got passed by no one (someone on
slowtwitch made a chart graphing this :)
I started getting worried when someone from our crew passed me and Matt still
hadn't passed me; I expected him to pass me at least by mile 40. I started getting
extremely worried that he finished the swim and his back would not let him
continue; or even worse, that something happened in the water. Finally, I saw
him when we did an out and back section; Thank God!!!! I was scared to death :(
But, wait a minute!!!! How did he beat me out of the water??!!!! I'm a faster
swimmmer----Oh well, I don't care; I was just honestly happy that he was ok.
On to Richter Pass---thank goodness we went to Chattanooga for mountain climbing
or else I would have been in for a rude awakening; there is absolutely NOTHING to
compare to those mountains in the area that we live---nothing. My speed was
averaging 17.8 until we started climbing.I watched my heartrate going up Richter and then the "seven bitches", as they call them. I see
why now ;) The crowd support made it much more bearable. I got hit on during the bike!!!!! Oh my gosh, really?!!! A foreign guy came by me, rode beside me for a little bit and said, "Nice bum, where ya from?" lol!!! That's a first ;) I wish that I could say that I took in the view and beautiful scenery, but I was too focused.
As we moved on to Yellow Lake, that's when the skies starting getting dark and
the monsoon moved in; I have never felt like I was going to fly off my back quite
as bad as I did that day. Yikes it was scary!!!!!!!!!! It started raining and I
became terrified wondering how I would make it down the mountain with slick roads.
If you read my past Chattanooga stories, you know how terrified I am of flying
down a mountain, even without rain. That's when it became survival mode. I was
just trying to hang on to my bike without flying away, practice my nutrition (I
was already nauseous from the gels and gatorade at this point), and just focus
on getting down the mountain alive. I watched my speed drop from 17.8 average to
15.8 average. Not pretty at all. But like they say, "focus on what you can
control, not what you can't control." I couldn't control the headwinds, I
couldn't control the rain on the descent down the mountain. BUT, I could control
my heartrate and nutrition, as well as my mental game at this point. I still had
32 miles left and a marathon; no time to wuss out now!!!!! ( I heard later that
several of the pro's dropped out on the bike----I felt proud of myself :)
The rain slacked off while the winds continued; I got down the mountain at 40 mph
........talk about being scared out of my mind, not to mention freezing cold!!!!
My average picked up, so at least some good came out of surviving Yellow Lake. I
mastered peeing on the bike :) Coach said to make sure I have peed at least once
by 2 1/2 hours on the bike. Try 5 times by the finish of the bike!!!!! lol!!!
Never thought I would feel so proud of myself for an accomplishment like that, but
ya gotta do what ya gotta do!!!! ( I lost 15 minutes time in Ironman Florida for
all the bathroom breaks ;) I saw Matt when I was about 3 miles from the bike
finish---Dang, I've got some catching up to do to hawk him down ;) He will NOT
get the Cassell Triple-Crown award!!!!!!! :D
Bike Time: 6 hours 44 minutes
16.6 mph average
(not the goal, but proud to be alive ;)
Bike nutrition consisted of 12 gels, 1 pack of ShotBloks, and around
8 bottle of Gatorade!!!!! (I'm guessing around 2100-2400 calories?)
T2: Uneventful transition. My main focus was a fast T2, to catch hubby ;)
Run: The run was all about making up time; I felt fantastic for the first 15 miles,
but then the hills started to get to me; Until then, I would have told you I
could have knocked out a 3:45 marathon. Once mile 15 hit, the goal was to walk
for a few seconds at every 1/2 mile. I was also walking through every aid
station (they were spread 1 mile apart). Obviously, this was not the goal, but
you bargain with your mind at this point to get you to the finish; I was
passing SO many people, it was unbelievable; Proves the point that if you
can just restrain yourself and not let your pride get hurt on the bike, it
will all pay off on the run :) It started getting a little more tough around
mile 20---it feels so close, yet so far away; The winds were kicking since we
were running along the lake side; I was really struggling mentally; I kept
thinking of my family and friends cheering me on and tracking me back home; I
didn't want to disappoint them; I looked down and saw, written in chalk on the
road, "This too shall pass." I almost started crying. I am very close to my
mother. This is one of her quotes she has given me through the years, when the
tough roads occurred. I actually gave her a plaque that had this quote on it
when I moved from Meridian and was about to get married. It was like she was
right there with me from there on, every step of the way :)
I kept keeping on
and felt better. I was taking a gel in every 3 miles and alternating Gatorade
with water or Coke every aid station. From mile 22 on, I couldn't take anything
else in; The sugar from the gels and Gatorade was actually starting to make my teeth hurt!!!!!I was starting to feel more nauseous, and I knew at this point, no
nutrition was going to get into my system that quick to the finish line.
I found a girl to run in with; She was from Canada and this was her first IM.
We talked along the way and this really helped me get my mind off the hurting
quads and hamstrings. I saw one of our other crew members, Jackie heading out on the run: She yelled, "Matt's 10 minutes ahead and he walking---go get him!!" When we hit mile 24, the crowds took me in the rest of
they way. You will not find better support in any other Ironman, I don't
believe!!!! I picked it up and finished out with sub-9 minute miles :)
No Triple-Crown award for hubby ;) Although he still beat me overall ;)
26.2 mile run: 4 hours, 2 minutes
And to finish: I saw Matt right under the finish line ;) So happy to see him---crazy to think the last time I talked to him was 12 hours ago in the water :)
We took a finish line photo together, got some pizza and fluids, and waited on the rest of the crew.
It is really amazing what your body can do; It's so much a mind game in Ironman. Your mind can quit on your FAR before your body does; You have to realize this in the midst of the hurt and self-doubt. It's not a matter of if you will doubt yourself along the way; it's a matter of when and how many times those demons will come out. Scare them away with prayer and an upbeat mind and it will take you all the way to the finish line :)
Thank you for the many prayers and good luck wishes along the way----I have the best family and friends a girl could ask for :) I love you all!!!!
Final Time: 12 hours, 11 minutes
