So I did!
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Some results from this weekend
I had the race of my life last weekend and wanted to share a
little history. Maybe if you are looking at your first 5K, first bike ride that
involves driving somewhere to start biking, or first “all together in one day?!”
triathlon this season, you will see yourself somewhere in my history/trajectory
and get excited about what might end up happening in your future.
This weekend’s huge PR and podium has been a long time
coming.
After swimming for years, I started trying this jogging
thing in 2005, but it took many times starting Couch-to-5K to make it off the
couch all the way to a 5k.
2007: First 5k race
2008: First sprint tri
2009: Joined Team Z, first 4 mile run, first 10K, first 40 mile ride
2010: First half-marathon
2011: Half-marathon improvement, first running injury
2012: First 60 mile bike ride, first 20 hr training week, first half-ironman
2013: First Skyline ride, First sprint tri under 2 hours, Half-iron improvement
2014: Bike VO2Max testing & training & improvement, 45 pounds lost since the beginning of the year, Half marathon PR , Kinetic Sprint PR, 5K PR, Half-iron PR and podium!
Some of these things came easily, some were terrifying, but
they are my accomplishments now, and I’m super proud of all of them. My 2007
self doesn’t even know what to make of where I’ve ended up this year :)
Now, a little bit about this race
2013 WBurg Result
|
Rational Goal
|
Crazy goal
|
2014 WBurg Result
| |
Swim
|
0:49:45
2:35/100m
Bad current
|
0:40:00
2:04/100m
|
0:38:28
<2:00/100m |
0:38:27
1:59/100m
|
T1
|
0:07:50
|
0:05:00
|
0:05:00
|
0:04:51
|
Bike
|
3:40:35
15.2 mph
|
3:35
15.6 mph
|
<3:30
16 mph
|
3:24:33
16.4 mph |
T2
|
0:02:38
|
0:02:30
|
0:02:30
|
0:01:10
|
Run
|
3:20:08
15:15 min/mi
|
2:43:39
12:30 min/mi
|
Whatever it takes to break 7
|
2:42:56
12:27 min/mi
|
Total
|
8:00:56
|
7:06:09
|
<7:00:00
|
6:51:58
|
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Short Race Report: Shamrock Half - epic PR
The short race report is in the title. The rest of this is not short :)
What a great weekend! Yay you! Yay me! Yay us! Hooray for racers! Hooray for cheerers! Hooray for internet results stalkers!
Go team!
Why are you in such a great mood?
Because I had an epic PR this weekend, and took 17 minutes off of my half marathon!
I can hardly believe how far I've come, and hope that any new Z's who feel "too slow", but who are motivated to show up and get the workouts in can feel some hope at my progress.
In 2010, I ran my first half marathon. Every winter as we build the miles back up, I flash back to how unbelievable it felt that *I* could run 7 whole miles! 8 whole miles! (etc, etc)
Finish time 3:16, for a 15:00 min/mile pace.
In 2011, I took 11 minutes off, to finish at 3:05 with a 14:10 pace. 2012 I continued to improve, taking 8 minutes off to finish at 2:57 (sub 3!!!) with a 13:32 pace.
For all of that training, I ran my long runs at or below "Z2". Z2 is in quotes, because I was cheap and scared and hadn't been tested in a long time. I was and am proud of this progression and totally believe that social running that is easier than you might run on your own can lead to improvement.
Last winter, I started trying to use VDOT results. Except for a little bit of over-active brain getting in the way of my 5K performances, I love the VDOT tests because I can earn the right to train faster with a free run around the track, and I got to try again frequently. (I also hate the VDOT test because I have to try hard and suffer). In 2013, With a bit of pace-based training runs, I took 5 minutes off my time to finish in 2:52, a pace of 13:09.
After last year's run, I had a goal to run a half at a 12:30 pace this year. I put a lot of training in and had some great races in the 2013 tri season and started winter with that as an achievable goal.
After Kona last year, some triathlon team mates gave a great talk about what sort of things they do to perform at that level, and their comments were in line with the idea that 2 hours of training a day is great, but there are 22 other hours a day that can also influence your results. Rebecca Mohning (Expert Nutrition) said similar things at her Advanced Nutrition clinic last winter.
I decided I was finally ready to try to add daily nutrition to my training focus. Since starting to work individually with Rebecca in December, I have been super successful at losing weight, and dropping time in my running. In January, I'd dialed my goal pace back to 12:15/mile, and after a 5K PR at a VDOT test in late Feb, realized that I would need a new goal.
With my track coach, I made a plan last week that would pace out to 11:59/mile, and would let me negative split the thing.
So, finally, enough prep, to the race weekend. My pre-run the day before was terrible. The world was going to fall apart. I was never going to be able to break 13's. Taper had ruined my life. etc etc.
I was supposed to start with 3 miles at 12:30 pace. By mile 1, I had a side stitch. I was hitting my paces, but the world was going to fall apart, I was never going to be able to hit my overall goal, may as well walk, etc etc. Meanwhile, the sane part of my brain knew that it's a long run, things can change, and that I should stop being such a whiner and follow my plan. After having a drink at 20 minutes, I felt much better, and was able to hit the paces without over-achieving too much.
Then 7 miles at 12:00 pace. These were amazing. I was hitting my paces, and I started seeing other Z's. Every too-fast split coincided with cheering for someone as I caught up with them.
I saw John Ch. running with a new Z, I met Rosie (a new Z), cheered for Ruth (a less-new Z), and saw Patty G. up in the fort. The swamp-forest-of-desolation was much less desolate than in 2010 when I had been running a 15:00 pace.
The fort was the only part that was really windy for the half, and I'm grateful that our wind was eensy-teensy-baby-wind compared to the full. For perspective though, at one point the wind let up, and I lurched sideways and wondered if I was passing out because I had so little control over why I was running diagonal all of a sudden.
Leaving the fort, I saw Jen W and it was time to start speeding up. For the last 5K, I descended down to MP, said something unintelligible to Miro (I think I couldn't get out both syllables of his name by that point).
Turning onto the boardwalk, I was running at OP, when Katie W saw me, I tried to do math to tell her how awesome my day was and she said "Just run!". So I ran, and finished with a time of 2:35:10, a 17 minute PR, beating my best-day-plan by 2 minutes and with an overall pace of 11:51.
Epic conclusion to an amazing morning. I've trained consistently this winter, set goals based on my training results, met or exceeded them all, and did something awesome.
Throughout all my time on the team, if asked my pace, I would never have said slow. My long run pace is a noun, not an adjective. If you don't know how to quantify your running, and only call it "slow", then it will feel slow.
Back-of-the-packers, come run with me on recovery weeks! And run your appropriate training paces on work weeks, and we will break into the middle-of-the-pack en masse.
What a great weekend! Yay you! Yay me! Yay us! Hooray for racers! Hooray for cheerers! Hooray for internet results stalkers!
Go team!
Why are you in such a great mood?
Because I had an epic PR this weekend, and took 17 minutes off of my half marathon!
I can hardly believe how far I've come, and hope that any new Z's who feel "too slow", but who are motivated to show up and get the workouts in can feel some hope at my progress.
In 2010, I ran my first half marathon. Every winter as we build the miles back up, I flash back to how unbelievable it felt that *I* could run 7 whole miles! 8 whole miles! (etc, etc)
Finish time 3:16, for a 15:00 min/mile pace.
In 2011, I took 11 minutes off, to finish at 3:05 with a 14:10 pace. 2012 I continued to improve, taking 8 minutes off to finish at 2:57 (sub 3!!!) with a 13:32 pace.
For all of that training, I ran my long runs at or below "Z2". Z2 is in quotes, because I was cheap and scared and hadn't been tested in a long time. I was and am proud of this progression and totally believe that social running that is easier than you might run on your own can lead to improvement.
Last winter, I started trying to use VDOT results. Except for a little bit of over-active brain getting in the way of my 5K performances, I love the VDOT tests because I can earn the right to train faster with a free run around the track, and I got to try again frequently. (I also hate the VDOT test because I have to try hard and suffer). In 2013, With a bit of pace-based training runs, I took 5 minutes off my time to finish in 2:52, a pace of 13:09.
After last year's run, I had a goal to run a half at a 12:30 pace this year. I put a lot of training in and had some great races in the 2013 tri season and started winter with that as an achievable goal.
After Kona last year, some triathlon team mates gave a great talk about what sort of things they do to perform at that level, and their comments were in line with the idea that 2 hours of training a day is great, but there are 22 other hours a day that can also influence your results. Rebecca Mohning (Expert Nutrition) said similar things at her Advanced Nutrition clinic last winter.
I decided I was finally ready to try to add daily nutrition to my training focus. Since starting to work individually with Rebecca in December, I have been super successful at losing weight, and dropping time in my running. In January, I'd dialed my goal pace back to 12:15/mile, and after a 5K PR at a VDOT test in late Feb, realized that I would need a new goal.
With my track coach, I made a plan last week that would pace out to 11:59/mile, and would let me negative split the thing.
So, finally, enough prep, to the race weekend. My pre-run the day before was terrible. The world was going to fall apart. I was never going to be able to break 13's. Taper had ruined my life. etc etc.
I was supposed to start with 3 miles at 12:30 pace. By mile 1, I had a side stitch. I was hitting my paces, but the world was going to fall apart, I was never going to be able to hit my overall goal, may as well walk, etc etc. Meanwhile, the sane part of my brain knew that it's a long run, things can change, and that I should stop being such a whiner and follow my plan. After having a drink at 20 minutes, I felt much better, and was able to hit the paces without over-achieving too much.
Then 7 miles at 12:00 pace. These were amazing. I was hitting my paces, and I started seeing other Z's. Every too-fast split coincided with cheering for someone as I caught up with them.
I saw John Ch. running with a new Z, I met Rosie (a new Z), cheered for Ruth (a less-new Z), and saw Patty G. up in the fort. The swamp-forest-of-desolation was much less desolate than in 2010 when I had been running a 15:00 pace.
The fort was the only part that was really windy for the half, and I'm grateful that our wind was eensy-teensy-baby-wind compared to the full. For perspective though, at one point the wind let up, and I lurched sideways and wondered if I was passing out because I had so little control over why I was running diagonal all of a sudden.
Leaving the fort, I saw Jen W and it was time to start speeding up. For the last 5K, I descended down to MP, said something unintelligible to Miro (I think I couldn't get out both syllables of his name by that point).
Turning onto the boardwalk, I was running at OP, when Katie W saw me, I tried to do math to tell her how awesome my day was and she said "Just run!". So I ran, and finished with a time of 2:35:10, a 17 minute PR, beating my best-day-plan by 2 minutes and with an overall pace of 11:51.
Epic conclusion to an amazing morning. I've trained consistently this winter, set goals based on my training results, met or exceeded them all, and did something awesome.
Throughout all my time on the team, if asked my pace, I would never have said slow. My long run pace is a noun, not an adjective. If you don't know how to quantify your running, and only call it "slow", then it will feel slow.
Back-of-the-packers, come run with me on recovery weeks! And run your appropriate training paces on work weeks, and we will break into the middle-of-the-pack en masse.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
How did you get your run in today?
It wasn't creative, but got it done on the treadmill. Much sweating
I see a panda, or a scary clown
Monday, February 24, 2014
Swim meet - it's easier than SteveInASpeedo makes it look
I just spent a few minutes laughing at this blogger's swim meet experience:
http://iwannagetphysical.blogspot.com/2014/02/swim-meet-my-50-500-and-100-race-reports.html
You will not be alone if you come to Colony Zones to swim the
1000 or 1650 and want to push off from in the water to start your race! http://iwannagetphysical.blogspot.com/2014/02/swim-meet-my-50-500-and-100-race-reports.html
Actually, you might be the odd one out if you want to take a diving start.
There are still spots open for those distance events, and if
you're feeling daring, loads of other events throughout the rest of the
weekend.Monday, May 6, 2013
Skyline - the mountain, the myth
I never thought I'd go ride Skyline, until my carpool buddy said that we were.
I have to agree with what other experienced people on my tri team said -- the climbs were much more accessible than what I'd had in my head.
Part of what made the ride enjoyable for me was my ability to stop and start on climbs. On the few points when I wasn't able to get my heart rate to stay down, I was able to pull over and take a short break. And I knew that I'd be able to start again because I am very confident in my ability to clip in and get going.
I certainly took my time, enjoying 4 heart rate/informational sign breaks in my 1 hr 20 minute outbound trip. Then, I had a nice PowerbarPicnic (thanks Rev3!) and enjoyed some nature at an overlook before heading back. The return trip was a glorious 35 minutes of zooming downhill.
Next time, I'm looking forward to seeing what the view looks like at an overlook up the next hill!
I have to agree with what other experienced people on my tri team said -- the climbs were much more accessible than what I'd had in my head.
Part of what made the ride enjoyable for me was my ability to stop and start on climbs. On the few points when I wasn't able to get my heart rate to stay down, I was able to pull over and take a short break. And I knew that I'd be able to start again because I am very confident in my ability to clip in and get going.
I certainly took my time, enjoying 4 heart rate/informational sign breaks in my 1 hr 20 minute outbound trip. Then, I had a nice PowerbarPicnic (thanks Rev3!) and enjoyed some nature at an overlook before heading back. The return trip was a glorious 35 minutes of zooming downhill.
Next time, I'm looking forward to seeing what the view looks like at an overlook up the next hill!
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Cedar Point - first half-iron race report
On Sunday, I
finished my first half-ironman. The day started well and got better,
until I finished with a kind of exuberant high that I had never
anticipated.
This race report, or novel, has three parts. I haven't written a race report for a while and apparently have a lot to say :)
First some history, then some reflections on training this year, and finally actual excited babble about Sunday.
1. History
This has been a long time coming. After swimming for years, I started trying this jogging thing in 2005, but it took many tries of Couch-to-5K to make it off the couch all the way to a 5k.
2007: First 5k race
2008: First sprint tri
2009: Joined Team Z, first 4 mile run, first 10K, first 40 mile ride
2010: First half-marathon, first Ironman spectating (Moo!)
2011: Half-marathon PR, first running injury
2012: First 60 mile bike ride, first 20 hr training week, first half-ironman
So that's some history. Over the last three years, I've watched many people ramp up their distances and abilities much faster, and if this were a children's story, now I would say "Slow and steady wins the race," but this isn't a story, and having watched teammates *actually* win, I can guarantee, that they are not doing it by being slow. :) However, "Slow and steady" *is* helping me win against me of 1, 3 or 5 years ago, and that's the race I am competing in at every workout and timed event.
2. Training
Speaking of workouts, apparently, if you go to them consistently, it is possible to get stronger. I'd heard rumors to this effect, and decided to try it out.
When I joined in 2009, Ed told us that there are 11 scheduled workouts per week (when we actually have Sunday swim) but until this year, I'd never actually had an "11" week. This year, I aimed for that, and while I didn't often achieve it, I went to oodles of bootcamp (thanks Kerri, Julie, Jodi, and Iwan!), track (thanks Denis and Tony!), Thursday bikes (thanks Nelson and Kate, indoors and out!), swim practice (with Sherri, part of the few, the proud, the discontinued, GW Rec swimmers!), long runs (thanks Obo!) and long bikes (thanks Leanne, Keri, and Dennis for hanging back with me on the hardest days). I don't have everything in my electronic logs, but what I do have tells me that I've worked out for almost *300* hours this year, and have covered more than 1500 miles.
3. Race Day
Even with all that training, I was nervous about the cutoffs for race day. Since my half was overlapping a full race, I wasn't worried about them taking my chip, but I wanted to actually make the time cutoff that was written down. I expected to have a comfortable swim faster than 45 minutes, I hoped for a bike that would let me meet the 2:30pm cutoff and then I wanted to finish the run.
The race day started perfectly, with a calm lake and plenty of time to warm up since I was in the last wave. Coming out of the water, I was a little sad to not have met my dream goal of a sub-40 min swim, but was happy with my time since I'd taken more than two weeks off from swimming after a terrible ear infection.
I had a slow T1, putting on my socks carefully, but it was worth it not to have a sore foot from a misplaced seam for the last 20 miles of the bike. Two years ago, at Musselman, I didn't finish the bike leg of the half aquavelo. This year, with more training and a better approach to nutrition (ie, take some!), I finished the Musselman bike in a little less than 4.5 hrs. Since this course was flatter, I was hoping to both be faster, and to feel better at the end of the ride. At the end of the Musselman bike, I was very hobble-y and feeble and feeling like that for 13.1 miles would have been a kind of torture. For Cedar Point, I was able to finish the bike in less than 4.25 hrs, which was wonderful. It wasn't a negative split, but apparently there was wind?
I try not to base my success on other people's performance, but it was still super exciting to pass 2 people in the last 4 miles of the bike. (Passing people changing a tire doesn't count, Marie, these were actual biking people that I had to accelerate past!). It was also great to see both of those women make it out onto the run.
My bike to run transition was slow. I had some of the same post-biking pain as I had had from Musselman, so I gave myself permission to walk for a few minutes to get myself together. By mile marker 1, I felt that even if I walked the next 12.1 miles, I would have had an amazing day. Getting to root for the fast full-iron people who were passing me, and the faster half people who were heading back in started a ridiculous positive feedback loop. I would be excited for someone and cheer, they would cheer or smile, and I would feel more excited!
Since I was feeling so happy, I tried to switch to full time running, or 4/1 run/walk, but that wasn't as awesome, so by mile 4, I found myself walking most of the time again, but now feeling some failure everytime I didn't make it to 4 minutes of running.
9 miles of failure didn't sound like fun, so I made a much smaller goal, and made my watch beep every 30 seconds (sorry to everyone who had to listen to that). That meant that every 30 seconds I could choose to continue running, or take a little break. Running for 30 seconds was the goal. If I happened to run for a second 30 second interval, it was bonus greatness and 3 intervals in a row made me feel like a rock star. This approach helped my attitude spiral back up and also helped me negative split the run. By running a little less than 75% of the time, I felt amazing, and was able to shout exuberantly at Linda that I was having the best day ever and mean it when I was about 68 miles into my day. The excitement made me want to high five Cliff every time I saw him, whether he wanted it or not!
I'd made goals to do with time, but I hadn't made a goal for my attitude. If I had, that run would have blown it out of the water.
I ended up running my half-marathon in 3:19, which was pretty awesome. Based on my long runs, I thought a 3:16 was feasible but unlikely, so being so close and feeling that great was amazing. It also was almost as fast as my first stand alone half-marathon in 2010 which at the time represented a kind of exertion that left me feeling ill for hours.
One of the best things I've learned this year is the wonder of clean clothes after the race. After changing and a little free ART, I was ready to cheer for the next 7 or so hours, as long as it didn't involve stepping over anything (poor, sore hip flexors) or standing up/sitting down (poor, sore quads & glutes).
Watching so many other people have amazing days kept me awake and excited through Patti's epic finish, which was amazing to be there for. I also loved watching first-time ironman-cheerers experience how amazingly emotional that epic day can be even from the sidelines. I'm running out of adjectives to describe this, so imagine some more sentences with variations on epic, amazing, giddy, and exuberant.
In conclusion, I am not going to be rushing off to sign up for a full-iron distance race after this, but I can imagine signing up for another half-iron, which I wasn't expecting. I'll need some new goals, since I met all of mine for this race, but I'm sure there are some out there :)
I'm looking forward to cheering for Waterman's "A" racers and expect that I'll be able to jump around again by then :)
Congratulations to everyone else who raced last weekend and thanks for helping feed my unprecedented positive energy feedback loop. Best wishes for people whose "A" races are upcoming and I wish that every one of you could experience a day as awesome as mine (though possibly a little shorter, which just means more awesomeness per minute)
This race report, or novel, has three parts. I haven't written a race report for a while and apparently have a lot to say :)
First some history, then some reflections on training this year, and finally actual excited babble about Sunday.
1. History
This has been a long time coming. After swimming for years, I started trying this jogging thing in 2005, but it took many tries of Couch-to-5K to make it off the couch all the way to a 5k.
2007: First 5k race
2008: First sprint tri
2009: Joined Team Z, first 4 mile run, first 10K, first 40 mile ride
2010: First half-marathon, first Ironman spectating (Moo!)
2011: Half-marathon PR, first running injury
2012: First 60 mile bike ride, first 20 hr training week, first half-ironman
So that's some history. Over the last three years, I've watched many people ramp up their distances and abilities much faster, and if this were a children's story, now I would say "Slow and steady wins the race," but this isn't a story, and having watched teammates *actually* win, I can guarantee, that they are not doing it by being slow. :) However, "Slow and steady" *is* helping me win against me of 1, 3 or 5 years ago, and that's the race I am competing in at every workout and timed event.
2. Training
Speaking of workouts, apparently, if you go to them consistently, it is possible to get stronger. I'd heard rumors to this effect, and decided to try it out.
When I joined in 2009, Ed told us that there are 11 scheduled workouts per week (when we actually have Sunday swim) but until this year, I'd never actually had an "11" week. This year, I aimed for that, and while I didn't often achieve it, I went to oodles of bootcamp (thanks Kerri, Julie, Jodi, and Iwan!), track (thanks Denis and Tony!), Thursday bikes (thanks Nelson and Kate, indoors and out!), swim practice (with Sherri, part of the few, the proud, the discontinued, GW Rec swimmers!), long runs (thanks Obo!) and long bikes (thanks Leanne, Keri, and Dennis for hanging back with me on the hardest days). I don't have everything in my electronic logs, but what I do have tells me that I've worked out for almost *300* hours this year, and have covered more than 1500 miles.
3. Race Day
Even with all that training, I was nervous about the cutoffs for race day. Since my half was overlapping a full race, I wasn't worried about them taking my chip, but I wanted to actually make the time cutoff that was written down. I expected to have a comfortable swim faster than 45 minutes, I hoped for a bike that would let me meet the 2:30pm cutoff and then I wanted to finish the run.
The race day started perfectly, with a calm lake and plenty of time to warm up since I was in the last wave. Coming out of the water, I was a little sad to not have met my dream goal of a sub-40 min swim, but was happy with my time since I'd taken more than two weeks off from swimming after a terrible ear infection.
I had a slow T1, putting on my socks carefully, but it was worth it not to have a sore foot from a misplaced seam for the last 20 miles of the bike. Two years ago, at Musselman, I didn't finish the bike leg of the half aquavelo. This year, with more training and a better approach to nutrition (ie, take some!), I finished the Musselman bike in a little less than 4.5 hrs. Since this course was flatter, I was hoping to both be faster, and to feel better at the end of the ride. At the end of the Musselman bike, I was very hobble-y and feeble and feeling like that for 13.1 miles would have been a kind of torture. For Cedar Point, I was able to finish the bike in less than 4.25 hrs, which was wonderful. It wasn't a negative split, but apparently there was wind?
I try not to base my success on other people's performance, but it was still super exciting to pass 2 people in the last 4 miles of the bike. (Passing people changing a tire doesn't count, Marie, these were actual biking people that I had to accelerate past!). It was also great to see both of those women make it out onto the run.
My bike to run transition was slow. I had some of the same post-biking pain as I had had from Musselman, so I gave myself permission to walk for a few minutes to get myself together. By mile marker 1, I felt that even if I walked the next 12.1 miles, I would have had an amazing day. Getting to root for the fast full-iron people who were passing me, and the faster half people who were heading back in started a ridiculous positive feedback loop. I would be excited for someone and cheer, they would cheer or smile, and I would feel more excited!
Since I was feeling so happy, I tried to switch to full time running, or 4/1 run/walk, but that wasn't as awesome, so by mile 4, I found myself walking most of the time again, but now feeling some failure everytime I didn't make it to 4 minutes of running.
9 miles of failure didn't sound like fun, so I made a much smaller goal, and made my watch beep every 30 seconds (sorry to everyone who had to listen to that). That meant that every 30 seconds I could choose to continue running, or take a little break. Running for 30 seconds was the goal. If I happened to run for a second 30 second interval, it was bonus greatness and 3 intervals in a row made me feel like a rock star. This approach helped my attitude spiral back up and also helped me negative split the run. By running a little less than 75% of the time, I felt amazing, and was able to shout exuberantly at Linda that I was having the best day ever and mean it when I was about 68 miles into my day. The excitement made me want to high five Cliff every time I saw him, whether he wanted it or not!
I'd made goals to do with time, but I hadn't made a goal for my attitude. If I had, that run would have blown it out of the water.
I ended up running my half-marathon in 3:19, which was pretty awesome. Based on my long runs, I thought a 3:16 was feasible but unlikely, so being so close and feeling that great was amazing. It also was almost as fast as my first stand alone half-marathon in 2010 which at the time represented a kind of exertion that left me feeling ill for hours.
One of the best things I've learned this year is the wonder of clean clothes after the race. After changing and a little free ART, I was ready to cheer for the next 7 or so hours, as long as it didn't involve stepping over anything (poor, sore hip flexors) or standing up/sitting down (poor, sore quads & glutes).
Watching so many other people have amazing days kept me awake and excited through Patti's epic finish, which was amazing to be there for. I also loved watching first-time ironman-cheerers experience how amazingly emotional that epic day can be even from the sidelines. I'm running out of adjectives to describe this, so imagine some more sentences with variations on epic, amazing, giddy, and exuberant.
In conclusion, I am not going to be rushing off to sign up for a full-iron distance race after this, but I can imagine signing up for another half-iron, which I wasn't expecting. I'll need some new goals, since I met all of mine for this race, but I'm sure there are some out there :)
I'm looking forward to cheering for Waterman's "A" racers and expect that I'll be able to jump around again by then :)
Congratulations to everyone else who raced last weekend and thanks for helping feed my unprecedented positive energy feedback loop. Best wishes for people whose "A" races are upcoming and I wish that every one of you could experience a day as awesome as mine (though possibly a little shorter, which just means more awesomeness per minute)
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