Ironman Eve

It's the day before my first Ironman and I am overloaded with excitement and nerves,

Stephen and I were set to take our mopeds to T1 for a practice swim, it was finally it open and safe for us to experience the water. 

So, here we go, right... well... sorta. :-)

I woke up that morning and had breakfast and of course it was good, after all, I trekked my cereal and almond milk all the way from Los Angeles.  Anyway, hee hee, I hopped on my moped and met Stephen at his hotel.  When I arrived, he was slightly frustrated as his moped was basically doing what mine was doing the day before.  Turning on and stopping for no reason. We figured it may need gas, despite the fact that the gage said it had half a tank.  As we made our way to the gas station, Stephen's moped completely died. It was awful.  So I went a head to get gas for mine and bring some back for him.  After trying to navigate the city, I finally found a gas station.  I filled her up and then filled up a water bottle of gas for Stephen.  When I get back to where he was suppose to be, he was gone?  Was I really that lost, I thought to myself? Nah... so I head back to the gas station and see Stephen is there.  (He was able to get his running.) As I make the U-turn from across the street, my moped goes bonkers.  I try to slow down and break but the damn think won't work and the moped takes off. I go crashing into the other end of the gas station parking lot and flip completely over the handles and land flat on my bike.  They moped stops.  I am in shock and as I look up to see a few very nice Mexican gentlemen try to help me up and Stephen. It was so scary. With that, Stephen and I decide to take these death traps right back to the store and take a taxi to swim practice.  Holy Sh#t, I really thought I was done. My dreams to become an Ironman were over because of a faulty moped! SCARY!!!

The picture below does not give the massive bruise on my knee and leg justice. 

 

After we drop the mopeds off, we immediately jump in a taxi and haul it over to the swim start where we quickly change and learn that they are closing the swim in 20min!  WHAT!?!?   With that, we jump in the water.  My goggles immediately start to leak, like they were doing in the pool.  But I fixed them, so I thought. After all, the water was so clear I wanted to see it all! 

  

As we are swimming and splashing around, I notice on the bottom of the ocean the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life "Never, Never, Never Give Up." I mean seriously, how cool is that?  How can you NOT get pumped after seeing that and it is at the bottom of the ocean!! That is how clear it was.  Unreal!!  Reality was definitely check in.

 

This is really happening we say to each other. Tomorrow we will become each become an Ironman! As that settles in, we wrap up the swim and head back into town.  We still have quite the day ahead of us.  We still had to drop our bikes and special needs off at T1 and our run and special needs at T2 and I had to get back to meet Dad, Marc & Christy, my IronCheerers.

So the taxi drops off Stephen and then me.  I head up to my room to pack and repack and repack again each bag.  I have to tell you, it is really quite funny. I only took this one pic.  Why I did not take a pic of my bike, bike special needs, and run, I do not know.  The below pic is my run special needs.  I have everything and anything you can imagine. Extra sneakers, socks, visor, sunblock, Vaseline, snacks, medicine, garbage bag, glow stick, the list goes on and on.  And I was never a girl scout! LOL... but you damn well better believe I was prepared!

After multiple efforts, I take a break and head down to the lobby. Marc, Dad & Christy should be arriving anytime and so should Stephen to take the shuttle from my hotel to T1 for the bike drop off.

Sure enough, there they are.  The IronCheerers have arrived! I am so excited they are here. It means soooo much to me.  We get them settled in and head upstairs.  Marc and Christy of course are laughing at me because of all my supplies.  I finalize my last bag and realize that I have not attached the power of the unicorn to my bike! Meredith from my TNT team is a true sweetheart and supporter.  She is the unicorn and happy thoughts and support from here and the TNT team beam through this unicorn and I am so happy it is with me. Thankfully, Marc was able to help me out and secure it to my bike. With that, O am now all set and can head to T1 to drop of my bike.  --- and Yes... I am starting to freak out a little in pure excitement.  

 



The shuttle bus arrives and it is just that a bus.  No racks for our bikes or spaces to put our bags.  Everyone and everything is going ON the bus. So one by one, we pile in.  I share the two seats with all my bags and flip my bike long-ways on its rear wheel... we all do.  Marc and Christy squeeze into a row and Dad takes the back row with a few athletes. I can tell that this is definitely not dad's idea of a good time, LOL.  It is extremely hot, humid and crowded. But he is a trooper and had a smile on his face the whole time, taking it all in.

When we get to T1 - my heart is beating.  This is really happening.  Now I know I have said this many, many times, that I am sure you all are like, "we get it, its a big deal" ... but I will continue to say it because holy crap, I am about to race in an IRONMAN competition!??  WHAT! Seriously, who decides that since they are over worked that taking on an Ironman is the thing to do!?!?    LOL.  Crazy pants. -- anyway... back to it.  Marc, Dad and Christy have to wait on the street as only athletes are allowed in.  So Stephen and I head in and drop our stuff, make our final adjustments, kiss our bikes goodbye and head back to the shuttle to drop off our run stuff. THIS IS AWESOME.

 

 

One down, one to go.  We hop on the shuttle and make our way to the back of the bus and settle in for the ride to T2.  We end up sitting to this cool guy, Neil.  He an Indian British dude and very chill.  This is his first Ironman as well.  We are both super excited.  He was talking that he would be finishing in the 14hr-15hr window.  I told him that I was hoping for 15, but I think the reality would be 16.  But as long as I finish, I was going to be happy.  He agreed.  Of course the IronCheerers joked and said they hoped for the earlier time!  :-)

 

 

Once we got to T2, we filed off the bus and headed to drop our gear.  Marc, Dad & Christy headed to the most Mexican restaurant they could find for something to eat, so of course they settled on Margaritaville.  Neil, Stephen and I dropped our stuff.  This was way quicker and easier than the bike drop off.

 

 After we drop everything off, we say goodbye to Neil and walk across the street to meet Dad, Marc & Christy.  Poor things are so hungry.  We get some snacks and a few drinks.  I enjoy a lovely bottle of water, while my they enjoy tasty adult beverages.  I am so jealous. :-) But after a short while, we head back to the hotel and to change and chill before dinner and then bedtime! 

 

 

 

Dinner was set for 6:30 at a local Italian place - Guido's.  I knew I was going to want some chicken and some carbohydrates!  Of course, I pop in to check in on dad and shockingly, he is ready to go and also shockingly, he has a ridiculous room!! Living room and all. It is nuts. My room has two beds, but it is nothing compared to dad's.  Marc & Christy's though is worse than mine.  They are on the street side in what seems like the back of the hotel, LOL.  And the only reason I know this is because we are waiting for them for dinner, calling, etc.. so we go up to check on them and the sillies took a nap!  It is pitch black in their room.  It was quite funny to watch them resurface.

 

Anyway.... they pull it together and we head into town.  Guido's is amazing!! We get some flat chibatta bread that is to die for and a few pasta dishes.  Dad ops for the fish, which, why wouldn't you??! Cozumel is known for its diving and seafood.  Everything was so amazing and yummy.  It was PERFECT!

 

After dinner, we say goodnight and good luck to Stephen.  I am not sure I will see him in the morning.  The four of us head back to the hotel.  I am not quite ready to go to bed yet and of course neither are they.  After all it is only about 8:30 or so. So Dad makes a quick call to Susanne and Marc & Christy get a drink and I run upstairs to get my tattoos -- after all I still need to get body marked.  And of course, since this was my first Ironman, I am going to at least look the part! :-). After Christy braids my hair, perfectly, I might add, I "smartly" ask her to put on my tattoos. It didn't go so well.  5-3-7. Not too hard - right? -- Well...................  My left arm, Christy nailed the 5, then took a 2 times to do the 3 as she did put it on backwards, before finishing up with the 7. LOL.. So after a few tries, my left arm looks amazing.  Which is at least the good arm to show as that is the street side.  My right arm, however, not so much.  The 5 & 7 are the perfect tattoo while the 3 had to be added on with permanent marker since we ran out of 3s. Too funny!  I wish I took a picture. I really don't know why I don't have one. -- apologies!

 

So with that and a few laughs, I have to go to bed.  I will be up at 3:00 / 3:30 to eat change and get mentally prepped.  The shuttle leaves starting at 4:00... I try to convince the IronCheerer's to do the same, but they are not quite ready to call it.  Which I know will make for a slightly harder wake up for them, but I know that they will be fine.

 

Night Night!! Oh boy!

RACE WEEK!! OH-MY-GOD! IT’S HERE!

Ok.. so I am freaking out.. and I mean A LOT.

I know that I am ready. But it is still so surreal that it is here. I mean I signed up for this a year ago.  So mentally I have been prepping for a year while loosely physically training for the first 4 months and then kicking into gear crazy time after Marc’s wedding.. Mid-April / May I was in it.  I cannot believe how time flies.

Monday of this week i squeezed in my last PT session.  This time we threw in a little acupuncture. Why Not, right?!?!  Any little bit can help. I also had to time check my swim.  2500yards. 300 warm up easy… clock 1000 60sec break clock the next 1000 then 200 cool down easy.  No problem. 50 min total!  18:30 for the 1^st 1000 and 19:07 for the second with crazy annoying goggle issues and earache issues. I will take it!

Tuesday was bananas.  I still am not feeling well overall and now I think I have a slight earache from the swim on Monday.  Work is CRA-CRA, especially since I am out of the office for the next week for the race and I had to haul it to get to the Orthopedist... hoping and praying he would give me another cortisone shot for my knee.   At this point, I need all the help I can get and the last shot I felt like it really didn't do too much. That being said, my knee was also super-duper inflamed that I probably only reduced the outer swelling and wasn't able to get into the actual swelling.   Anyway, he checked me out, test after test and concluded it needed another shot. THANK GOODNESS. And this one, to be honest, I felt go in, so hopefully I will work.

That being said it was 5:45 by the time I was done.  I still had to pack and the thought of going to the gym to do a Swim-Bike brick was not in the cards on many levels, one – timing, two – earache from the night before & 3- still somewhat sick. I feel like I am still fighting that cold/flu, I have that overall yucky run down feel.  So I popped a few me DayQuil and EmergenceC and opted out of it.  The last thing I want is to get worse and then be on a plane. UGH.  So I spent Tuesday night packing and freaking out and packing and repacking and freaking out.  I texted Lilias and Steph to make sure I wasn’t insane with all that I was packing and then called my family to check in and probably have them calm me down. :-)

Wednesday.  Travel Day.  I was able to book this flight, thankfully, with all my miles from traveling for work. So I am in first class on US Air/AA for this journey.  It  makes all the difference, especially since I had to check two bags. One is a hodgepodge of thing, clothes for the week, bathing suit, post-race clothes, etc.. and who knows what else, LOL. The other bag is my Tri-life.  Food, extra clothes, celebratory champagne from Tina, and of course my Snorkeling gear.  After all, they do say that Cozumel is the best place for diving and snorkeling.  The other bags I have are my “sanity” bags.  My Tri bag as all my race gear – no food- but my helmet, bike shoes and clips, sneakers, watch, socks, tri kit and speed suit, etc.  I originally had it in the food bag, but then of course I freaked out wondering what I would do if my bag was lost, so I repacked! LOL. And my other backpack is my laptop, book, pillow, all in all good travel bag.

The flights so far have been pretty great. My first flight to Phoenix was only 1hr, so it was breezy and I slept.  This second flight is about 4hour and has been great.  There is a guy sitting in the row behind me, Guneet,  who is doing to the race as well. This will be his 7^th race!  Crazy. Guneet, the super nice guy that he is, offered me to jump in his private car to the ferry.  Thank heavens as I had no clue how i was going to get there.

Now, do you want to know what is hysterical!?! See the difference between a veteran Ironman and a newbie! Me with my FOUR bags and Guneet with ONE medium size suitcase and a briefcase.  So funny!

We arrived at the ferry at 8:20pm, missing the boat by 20min.  Ugh.. The next one wasn't until 10pm.  So Guneet and I grabbed dinner and waited. It was delicious!

That being said, it was not delicious the 30-45 min later coming back up.

That is right.  The ferry ride over to Cozumel from Cancun was horrendous.  The wave were so rocky and choppy the boat was rocking so hard, I thought it would tip over. I thought I could handle it, but I was a million percent wrong.  I tired to run upstairs to get outside and I was denied.  No one was allowed outside because of the rough waters, so luckily, I was able to get to a bathroom at the back of the boat where I spent the next 35min throwing up.  It was awful. You would have thought I was hit up by the exorcist.  It was not pretty.

Thank god we landed and I got my land legs back.

Thursday -- Happy Thanksgiving!  I woke up super early and was super excited. I am so close to this race I can taste it. So I spent the morning checking out the town, getting a little lost and soaking it all in.  I went to the expo Ironman expo to pick up my BIB number and bag and to check out the store.  So much fun stuff in there, but I didn't want to jinx my race, so I only bought a Ironman Cozumel Mug and a longsleeve shirt with the M-Dot on the back with everyone's name on it, including mine!!

After the expo, I met up with Stephen and Guneet to pick up our bikes at TriBike and chatted about doing our training ride.  The plan was to meet up in about 1hr, but out of no where, I got extremely light headed and nauseous on the bike ride back to my hotel to drop off my stuff.  I think it was remnants from the ferry ride or i was dehydrated or hungry. I have no idea.  All I know is that that i was NOT in a good place.  So I texted the boys and bailed on the training ride and I forced myself to nap for a couple of hours and then I went out for a 30min run.  That felt good.  No knee pain. It was great.  That night, I had a very chill dinner and went to bed.

Friday, was a busy day.  Stephen and I wok up know that our swim start would be canceled.  The storms that rocked the ferry so hard and had me puking everywhere was still lingering and the rip tides and waves were so bad the swim was canceled. 

But that did not stop Stephen and I. Instead, we rented mopeds to check out the bike course.  First stop was Chakannab - T1.  We were able to see the set up of the bikes and where our Swim/Bike bags were and where my bike was going to be set up.  It was super cool and exciting.

 Rack for my Bike Bag for out of the swim

 Bike Spot!! 

After the tour of T1 -- we headed out on the mopeds to do the bike course.  The beauty of this course is indescribable and the pictures will not do it justice.  I cannot begin to tell you how amazing it is.

But what I didn't expect to see was how windy it really was.  Everyone has said that the course was windy, but holy moly,... it was WINDY!!!  So, the scary thing was it took us 2hrs to do the bike course on a moped going at 35mph.. .. how long was it going to take me on a bike?? 

After the ride, we made our way to the athlete meeting.  It was pretty cool.  There were a few athletes there that had done 20-30 Ironman races and one guy he, this IM Cozume race would be his 182 race!! It's crazy and what else is crazy is 3/4 of the room also was first time Ironman athletes. Kinda cool! 

 

After the initial meeting, I head up tot the front to reintroduce myself to Mike Lovato.  He WON Ironman Cozumel and is currently coaching my friend Lilia for IMAZ.  He is awesome.  As I say hello, he reminds me that he already knows me.... "Party Rachel" (Vs Burning Rachel, another friend that Lil has... not that she is boring or that I am a party animal, but I think I have a little more personality than her, so when Lil and I first became friends, it was a way for her to distinguish between the two). Needless to say, it was great to get a little last minute advice from him.  He joked and said he will make sure to say my name when I crossed the line.  I interned joked back and said, if you are still awake! I will be towards the end, given my bum knee, I know I will finish but it will be into he 15th/16th hour.  -- he quickly said, doesn't matter your time. If you finish under 17:00 you are an Ironman - don't forget that and don't forget to have fun.  GREAT ADVICE!!

 

Good Luck Video from my nieces and nephews.

Taper Week Two and FIGHTING the Cold & Flu with Everything That I Have.

I am off to ChiTAG in Chicago. Ugh.. 

20 Degree weather the week before my race. It is not ideal, but I have to go. This is my event. I love it. It is the #3 market for press, the event is amazing brand exposure, fun for families, and you can sell products on site??! WINNING!

I am on every cold and flu pill you can imagine.  DayQuil, NyQuil, Zicam, EmergenceC, Advil and I have enough hand sanitizer you could probably swim in it. I am putting up a fight.

Thursday, morning I am up early to hit the gym.  1hr on the bike.  I got this. I take a shot of EmergenceC and head to the gym.  This gym is AWESOME. The Hyatt in downtown Chicago on Wacker for those of you ever looking to go to Chicago.  I am staying in the East Tower and the gym is in the West Tower. I don’t mind.  I throw on my hoodie and walk over. Upon entering, I notice they have 10 treadmills, 10 elliptical, tons of bikes and even TriBikes! Granted they are still stationary bikes but they have arrow bars and resistance changers.  It was nice!  I actually felt like I was getting in a proper ride.  I didn't want to leave.  But alas, I did. I had to shower and head over to the PR News Conference for the day. It was an awesome conference.

Later that night, we headed over to ChiTAG to see how set up was going.  Our booth was awesome, BUT our samples were stuck in warehouses and our live Shark Mania game was in pieces in the middle of the country somewhere, but we were looking good!  Such is life, right!?!?!

That night, I switched hotels to be with the team.  The W Hotel on Lakeshore Dr. It is a gorgeous hotel and smells like the SPA when you walk in.  Bliss is their partner and it shows.  Josh and I had dinner at the bar.  He enjoyed a lovely beer that looked amazing and we shared a few pizzas… they were yummy!  And then it was off to bed. It was 8:30. LOL.  Luckily for me, I have been sleeping by 10:00 or so regardless, so this wasn't too bad, but still the thought of a wake-up call for 3:00am to be down and ready for 4:00 is always a hard pill to swallow.  But it is the job.  So.. I climbed into bed at 9:00 took my NyQuil and played Words with Friends and got cozy to fall asleep. At 9:20, I pulled down my eye mask and started to drift until everything went wrong. 

DING! DING! DING! Is as if everyone wanted to get on or off my floor. The elevator bell was so loud.  Then my toilet started running, so it sounded like the sink was on the whole night and then the icing on the noisy cake... the toddler next door yelling at his parents or babysitter or someone so loud that someone called security, because the next thing I hear is walkie talkies with static and 'OVER' and Call outs... it was awful.  So I think it was probably around 10 when I fell asleep and like clockwork, I was up at 2am. It must have been when the NyQuil wore off. And of course I could not fall back asleep. So up I was.  Shot of EmergenceC and I took that time to repack all my stuff, shower and get ready.  I was in the lobby by 3:45 talking with the front desk when Josh emerged. 

He felt so bad for me and my night, but it is what it is.  We had 6 Live TV Segments to get through and I was not going to let it get to me.  SEGMENTS were a SUCCESS!  4 on CBS and 2 on FOX – Good Day Chicago.  By 10:00 we were finished.  It felt like 4:00 in the afternoon.  Josh and I headed to get breakfast, it was so good. When I got back to the hotel, I fired up my laptop and worked for a few hours before ultimately taking a power nap.  I was out for 1:45.  I should have with done 4hrs or 20min because I was out of it for quite a while when I woke up. But all is good.  I headed to the gym for another session. 1hr bike 15min run.  I was great. Another episode of Switched.  I was a happy girl. Plus Rob, one of my co-workers, popped in so we were able to catch up.  It was fun and the treadmill was no knee pain! Granted, it was only about 1mi, but I will take it! 

That night was a small team dinner, Susie, Josh, Maria and I and it was heavenly!

Saturday morning I was up bright and early again – 5:00am.  This time I had to get in 3miles on the tread (no solid pain, only a little towards the end), before the Blogger Breakfast we were hosting at 8:00am and the doors opening at 9:00am.   It was brutal, but I managed.  More EmergenceC and DayQuil and I was good to go.  

The show, it was great.  We doubled our sales goal for the day. Our real-life dinosaur from Erth’s Dino Zoo Live was a smashing hit and the toys and games in our booth were phenomenal.  Everyone was having a blast! 

That night our entire team, 18 people went out for a fun Italian dinner. Everyone was laughing and telling stories it was pure team bonding at its best.  It was awesome.

Sunday. I flew home. Thankfully, not any sicker than I was when I left.

Taper Week One

I love taper. I think I also love being lazy, LOL. So taper allows me to chill a little but still gives me a little pep in my step.. yet it is funny, when I think of lazy it is in a completely different mindset from what it was a year ago.  The fact that I only have to swim 1500-2500yards instead of 3500 or elliptical for 1-2 hours instead of 3-4 or my favorite only 30-50 miles on the bike instead of 100.  Ha ha. It’s like I have a life again.

My last “outside” ride was a taper ride and it was amazing. Kevin and Kitty joined me for 30 miles up the PCH.  We started at OSV and headed north just above Pepperdine.  It was great. Very chill and great conversation and advice from both of them as Kevin as done 4 Ironman races and Kitty has done 2! Extremely impressive.  So I was really appreciative to hear what they have to say.  NOTED: Coca Cola and Chicken soup on the run is a must!

Sunday night was my Send Off party that Kelie threw me.  I was blown away by the support. Almost everyone from TNT as able to stop by and my coach Adrian, Detra & Erick from LA Tri and Stephen, my new friend that is racing Cozumel as well as Glazer, Jason, Liz & Erick.  I almost cried.  The support from these guys is amazing and the support from all my family and friends and friends of friends on Facebook or elsewhere is shocking. I am so blessed to have everyone in my life.  That night was great.  I actually enjoyed 3 beers!  Can you believe it.  I have not drank since September, so it was a nice treat. I got some final words of wisdom from the IronMen and Women in the room.. and the hugs and cards were amazing.  The goodies were a nice plus, too! Extra snacks for the ride and run, emergency kits, an awesome flower so I can find my bike and a bottle of champagne to crack open the fam when I cross that finish line.  Pure awesomeness from everyone.  I seriously am truly blessed.  (I sound just like my mom)  :-) 

My amazing support team!!

The ONE and ONLY Amazing Coach Adrian!!!

Beauties... Meredith, Angela, me and Christy

The hostess with the mostesss... the fabulous Kelie!!!

IM Cozumel 2013 Finisher and Best Advice Triathlete... Erick!!

Almost 20yrs strong friendship... Glazer!! XOXO

Amazing support friend!!Liz!! Thank you!

The Last Major Training Weekend.

This weekend was also a friend’s bridal shower.  So I had to swap training days, which I actually preferred.

So Saturday, I woke up bright and early to get to the gym in Long Beach to work out so I would be closer to the shower.  3hrs on the elliptical and 3 episodes for Switched done.  It was great and the bridal shower was really nice.

And now it is Sunday. This is it. The final big push. I was set to do 112miles and 3mi run.  From Zuma North to Los Posas, hang a right and for a few miles and then head back… and I was to clock each loop.  No problem.  I was well rested, ate well in the morning. I was ready!

As I headed up the PCH, I was in the groove. I was enjoying every turn of the pedal, my elbow was practically healed which was nice, because I was able to get into arrow position where I wasn't the weekends prior and my shin was almost healed. (I gotta tell you, it has taken forever to heal.  It wasn't as deep as the elbow, but I think because of all the pool swims, boots and jeans, it just would not heal.) Anywhooo.. I was seriously cooking.  In the training weeks prior, it was taking me on average 1:23min to get to Los Posas.  Today with the wind and the fog 1:03!!  WHAT?!?! And the return back 1:10!  I was floored.  So I said to myself, let’s do this.  So I stopped at my car and refilled my water bottles, food, threw an extra bottle on my back. I was ready to conquer the last two loops without stopping (normally, I do two loops and then stop to restock).  I was back on the road and cruising!  Made it back up to Los Posas in the 1:23, but that was including the time I stopped at my car.  So I was still on it… as I mad the left at Los Posas and headed down the road, I started to feel a little off, but nothing crazy… a few miles later as I headed back to Los Posas to finish up the second loop I was wonky.  What was going on?  So I pulled out my PB&J sandwich, drank a little more water, popped an extra electrolyte pill and kept riding.  By the time I got to Big Rock on PCH (about 15 miles from my car) I was very light headed, so I pulled over and noticed I had only drank 3 water bottles, I should have been through 4.  So I downed my water and laid on a rock and closed my eyes. I was out.  When I woke up, thankfully only 15min later, I felt a little better, nothing like a quick power-nap. LOL. I hopped back on my bike and cruised back.  I made it to my car. I had to stop.  I unloaded all the stuff I had gone through on my bike and grabbed more water and was still not right, so I went across the street to the gas station where I bought a Coca Cola and sat on the side of the road in the shade for 45min.  That was a damn good Coke!  I noshed a little on a fruit bar and then I headed back out. I had to. One more loop to go.  If this were to happen on race day, I would have to soldier on, so here I am. Struggling to push through when finally, just after Neptune’s (10miles from my car and the gas station) my energy has been restored. I am back in the zone and cruising again. I hit Los Posas, made the right and rode… hit the turn around and cruise back.  This is it. The last half of the loop!! WAHOOOOOOOOOO!!! As I continued on my ride I was at about mile 105 when I felt completely sick again. Headache, tummy ache, overall ache.  I pushed through and made it to my car.  I rode 110 miles.  Not 112.  But I was ok with that.  And it was in 8:40min  I still would have made cut off if this happened on the race. Barely, but I would have. WOW… complete eye opener.

I did not run the 3 miles… but I did run/walk about 1mi.

I drank the rest of my water and chewed on a Pepto Pill and drank my recovery drink and tried to figure out what happened???

As I retraced my steps I realized that stopping after the first loop is what did it.  All my training, I stopped after two loops.  By stopping after the first loop, it messed up my routine. I skipped a meal, because I was supposed to be eating when I stopped and when I refilled my water bottles I lost count of what I had actually already drank, therefore didn't drink enough making me dehydrated.

Thank god Monday was a day off from training.

And It is seriously amazing what the smallest things will do and I for sure and sticking to my routine!

UNFORTUNATELY OR FORTUNATELY, I HAVE NO PICS FROM THIS WEEKEND. 

Mid Week Mayhem

With only ONE more long training weekend left, I really wanted to get outside and conquer more hills and miles NOT on my trainers.  So I opted to take Wednesday Off.  Good in theory but bad when work is bananas.

I am sure all you have seen the America’s Funniest Video (AFV) where the Flutterbye Fairy gets sucked into the fireplace and WINS the grand prize, well, that is one of my toys. To be fair, it was hysterical. But for PR you have to turn “lemons” into lemonade… and while I wouldn’t call this lemon… but we did want to strike while the fairy was hot so to speak, (the fairy went into a fireplace – ha ha)… ANYWAY, we teamed up with AFV to create a “what happened next” video to for them to share out.  Of course, this was happening all week and Wednesday was the busiest day of them all, so while working with the teams to create the video of her flying out of the chimney, my daylight hours for the bike were dwindling, especially since I wanted to get up to Zuma.  

So instead of getting 50 miles in, I got in 36.  Not too bad.  I was able to head up a few miles up each of the canyons and back to PCH.  With the sunset occurring so early now, I didn’t want to get stuck on the other side of the canyons or speeding down my side in the dark… Safety First.

That being said, the ride was great.  I ate about 4 different bugs on the ride and I was able to squeeze a 1mile transition run… my knees were not too happy, but the sunset made all the difference.