Kat's 2008 Pacific Crest HIM Race Report

Summary

Pre Race
- 4:30 am, 20-30 mins of light core Pilates and stretching.
- 8:10 am, 12 min easy warm up run. Few run drills, light stretching.

Swim 38:53 – 243/420, 57%....PR Baby! I wasn’t in the last 25 either!
- Started in the front row, center. Didn’t realize this until a minute before starting. Lol, this was a double-edged sword.
- Got hit in the face, goggles almost knocked off, water leaking in. Some how water drained and goggles resealed within 5 mins and I didn’t even have to stop and fix them. This was cool.
- Feet were pulled down a few times and almost lost timing chip. In return I kicked a few people pretty damn hard…..from then on I didn’t have anyone grabbing my legs.
- Swim line was on point! Sighting was kept at a minimum and I was never taken off course, swimming over a few diagonal swimmers helped with this.
- Enjoyed looking at the view of the mountain as I came up for air. Really took in the last 15 minutes of the swim knowing it would be the last time I would have a cool core temp for the next 5+ hours.

T1 – 2:47
- T1 was quick and successful. Wetsuit came off quickly; aero helmet went on quickly. Fiddled with shoes for a moment.
- Happy to see mentor Carver and Robbie at T1


Bike 3:07:32 – 210/420, dead middle 50%
- I questioned my climbing capabilities at the summit of Bachelor. Climbing 3400 feet in 38 miles in 80-90 degree weather with limited shade and 4000-6400 ft of altitude is challenging and humbling to say the least. Mt. Bachelor checked my tail.
- I did it! I descended eliminating fear! This was huge for me. The course did not appear as curvy as we had driven the day before. There were two points that my bike started to wobble from cross wind and speed, At those times I thought of all the people I had written in clear tape on my aero helmet, all people whom had cancer. I knew having them with me would protect me throughout my ride. I also happened to see a butterfly/Emily on the descent. Thank you Terry/Bob.
- It is really tough to chew food while climbing.
- It is not ok to temp a girl to join you on the snow while she is climbing a steep hill. I really wanted to stop and make a snow angel.
- Loved my new Giro Advantage 2 aero helmet. Not only did I look like a smoking hot alien but it kept my head pretty damn cool considering the elements.
- It’s an amazing feeling to be climbing in 80-90 degree weather and have snow surround you.
- I’m glad I’ve never ridden a bike with a triple gear….I had no idea what I was missing.
- My face felt burned about 2 hours into the ride. I had flashbacks of seeing Carver at T1 reapplying sunscreen, praying my spf 50 waterproof/sweatproof sunscreen lasted through the swim.
- I <3 the sound of disc wheels. Woosh, Woosh, Woosh….maybe one day I will get over my fear of descending and cornering and get some.
- I successfully climbed ALL of Mt. Bachelor in my saddle. I wanted to save my legs for the run, keep my climb as efficient as possible and try to keep my HR down. In fact I rocked it in the saddle position all but the last 15 minutes, where I got out once on a flat to stretch.
- During the last 15 minutes of the ride post descent/starting the last flat portion I grew tired. I was walking a fine line with my nutrition and I could feel it. I did not enjoy the very last little climb into T2.

T2 4:19
- Oh man I took this slow. I was HOT and in no hurry.
- First thing I did was shellac myself with more SPF 50 sunscreen. I then had a WTF moment as I realize I’m still wearing this hot helmet. Immediately took it off.
- Put on socks and shoes, tightened laces and then popped into my cooler for the frozen water bottles I brought. They were no longer frozen but still really cold. Poured them all over my body, this felt like HEAVEN.

Run 2:00:27 – 111/420, 26% - PR Baby!
- Running out of T1 wasn’t bad. First time I think I have ever retained feeling in my feet.
- First 3 miles were slow; as I knew they would be. I was running without a fuel belt and first aid station wasn’t until past mile 2, too damn far IMO.
- Each aid station I stopped, drank 1-2 cups of water, poured ice down my sports bra and in my hat, doused water on myself. This provided cooling for 4-8 minutes at best.
- Kept my HR down between 160-165 during the first 7-8 miles. It felt pretty good. Avg’d 10 min miles with stopping at every aid station for the first ½ of the 13.1 mile run.
- Never experienced leg or tummy cramping, yay!
- I’m passing people, lots.
- LOVED each and ever person spraying me down with the super soakers, garden hoses and spray bottles I don’t think they knew just how much this helped all of us.
- Most people did not want to talk : (
- I came across several teammates of the run. All where suffering through the heat as was I but they were cramping on top of it. I tried to say positive inspiring words of encouragement to help get their spirit back. I think I failed…..
- By mile 6-7 I was feeling pretty good. I had adjusted to the heat and was managing the water and nutrition well. My run was at a comfortable pace, I could have easily finished feeling good….but did I really want to feel good?
- Coach Seth comes up on me around mile 7. It was nice to have someone to run and talk to again. I think the people that were keeping my pace were starting to think I was crazy as I was singing and often talking to myself.
- I’m not sure what mile it was on; I think between 8-10 I saw “Go Kat” written on the sidewalk. The TNT group had our names all over the run path. This simple “Go Kat” did so much for me at this point. I was tired, yet I found a little burst of energy.
- Seth pointed out a butterfly, thanks Emily.
- I experienced the worst/best/longest 3 mile run of my life. By mile 9 I noticed I was growing fatigued. My HR was now around 168 and my 10 min miles seemed to be getting much shorter. Was I imagining things? Anything was possible at this point. Seth then went on to tell me his 4 mile story, which helped distract things a bit.
- Mile 10 is when things started to go to hell. I was HOT, my shoulders and arms were pink. I felt like I was a roasting pig….it was yucky. The water and ice really weren’t working anymore. Seth’s stories started to get annoying. He told me to tell him if I wanted him to leave at any point and he would go. I did, I didn’t only want him to leave I wanted to push him into horse shit we ran by. But somehow I didn’t…I’m can only think that I was too fatigued, or somehow I wanted the pain.
- Mile 11, WTF?! Am I still running? Things started swooshing around in my tummy. I felt liquid in my throat….that’s it, I’m either going to puke all over the course or I’m going to fall over and die. My HR is now 170 and steadily climbing. The days of 10 minute miles were far behind me, I think we were at a sub 9 at this point. It’s really weird because my legs could keep up fine, but my energy was gone…..I was having the life sucked out of me. I felt like my HR monitor was playing tricks on me with time. How am I increasing speed? How am I still standing? I was torn at this point with the overwhelming feeling of crying and puking, neither happened….yet
- Mile 12, I’m still running. How is this possible? I pass a girl in my age division, yet I don’t care. I just want to die at this point. This is masochistic!
- Mile 13, the Red Bull Arches are just around the corner. I hear the TNT group cheer my name. I’m almost done, THANK GOD. I cross under the arches and almost fall over as my timing chip is removed. I then stumble over to the water buckets/bins looking for something to puke in. My HR was now around 185 and the sloshing I experienced for the last few minutes was almost enough to put me over the edge. ALMOST that is, once we found an empty bin the urge to puke went down a bit and instead I was consoled with a cold shower and a hug from my coach.
- So I said that I had yet to puke or cry….well it would have been epic to puke all over Seth as I had envisioned as I was running with him, but instead I cried. I’m not sure why I cried; I was just overwhelmed. It was beautiful to see all my hard training had paid off. I was also a bit melancholy as I had no friends or family come up to see every I had worked so hard for…but I did have TNT. I think was also just overcome with joy.

I did it! I accomplished and exceeded all of my goals. Sub 6 hour ½ ironman, wanted a sub 2 hour run, 2:00:27 comes close enough in my book and I only walked for 30 seconds outside of the aid stations. PR’d my run and swim.


Total time 5:53:58
Placed 133rd out of 420 athletes = Top 31%
4th place women's age divison 25-29
18th women out of 124 = Top 7%

* There was a girl that I conversed with pre swim, she was in my age division and it was her first ½ ironman. I wished her all the luck and told her to keep her thoughts positive and chin up when things got hard. I played cat and mouse with this same girl during the bike ride but did not know it was her. We stayed within 1-2 minutes of each other during the bike. She picked up speed on the descent, go figure and I lost her….thought that would be the last I’d see of her….until I run up on her on Mile 12, in which I passed and conquer by 1 min at the end. Post race we talked. It was funny, we talked pre swim, during the ride and saw one another on the run….yet we had no idea we were the same person each time, you look so different at each leg of the race. I later learned she lived in Bend and although it was her ½ ironman she had good experience at the course/weather and altitude. She was a fierce competitor, great athlete and had a kick ass good attitude. I was happy to have the experience of racing with her.

THANKS
Thanks to Carly and Jane for the swim PR. I kept thinking about Carly telling me to reach long and roll with my hips and Jane reminding my to keep my elbows facing out and to pull my stroke in, grabbing the water. Thanks to all of my friends and family for the courage to conquer the Bachelor descent. Thanks Chris, Crystal, Jane and everyone who soaked me in water during the run. Thanks to Don for the pre race words of wisdom involving the heat and run. Thanks to Darrell for the pre race talk, you were a big part in helping me achieve my goals; I’ll always remember your “excuses” analogy. Thanks to Bob, Terry and Emily for picking me up when I was down. Thanks Joe for the tri/run wisdom. Thanks to my kick ass housemates; you all made the best race weekend. Thanks to Steph for the Pepsi post race, it helped the shaking go away. Thanks to all my friends and family who donated, believed in me and believe that; one day we will find a cure for cancer. And thank you Coach Seth for all the training, support and the worst/best/longest/most painful 3 mile run of my life. Without those miles I would have had a badass ½ ironman, with those 3 miles I had a bad ass unforgettable epic adventure. You can now quote me Seth, You were Right, about almost everything. I can’t thank you enough. I am excited to see what my athletic future holds…..

And of course I couldn’t write a race report without my OCD documentation of fuel….

Nutrition/Supplements
-Breakfast # 1 5:10 am
Home made l/f mocha
Steel cut/5 grain oatmeal
Banana/Brown Sugar (approx 450 kcal)
3 Hammer Endurolyte tabs
1 sodium/potassium/calcium tab
Multi-vitamin w/extra iron

-Breakfast # 2 8:15am
½ PB and Banana sandwich (approx 250kcal)
2 Hammer Endurolyte tabs
1 Immodium (just because I want to go-go-go during the race doesn’t mean I want my bowels to go-go-go)
1 150mg acid reflux
3 advil (stupid monthly women pains)

-Post swim warm up, pre start Power Gel approx 8:45am
1 PowerGel vanilla (110kcal)

T1 approx 9:50ish- 2 Hammer Endurolyte tabs

Bike approx 10:05am – 12:20pm Worked on mound of PowerBar log. 2 vanilla Power Bars mushed into one big log. This eliminated fighting with a wrapper and made it very easy to access and consume. The heat melted the bar a lot which was a double edge sword, it made the bar softer and easier to chew and process, BUT ¼ of my log melted into my bento box so I lost an approx 100 cal. (Approx 320 kcal total)
-Drank 48 oz of water mixed with 2 ½ tabs of NUUN electroytes
-Drank 24 oz pure water, poured 12 oz on myself (approx of course ☺ )
-Took in 1 sodium/potassium/calcium tab
-3 Hammer Endurolytes
-Two tabs of Maloox
-Consumed 1 Tangerine Power Gel within last 20 minutes of bike ride. (110 kcal)
-Total Bike caloric intake = 430…..a little short. I grew mildly fatigued during the last 20 minutes of ride.

T2 – 1:05pm – 3 Hammer Endurolytes

Run
-Mile 2.5 – 1 Tangerine Power Gel (110 Kcal)
-Mile 5.5 - 1 Tangerine Power Gel (110 Kcal)
-Mile 9 - 1 Tangerine Power Gel (110 Kcal)
-Mile 10 – Aid station electrolytes (approx 4-6 oz…no idea of caloric intake)
Every aid station I walked through; drank a cup or two of water.
Run Summary 330 kcal

Caloric summary, 870 kcal during race, approx 700 before race/real food.
100+ oz of water. Tons of sodium and Potassium. Caloric expenditure based off of Vo2/HR monitor – 3549 kcal

Pacific Crest HIM here I come!

Time to bust some ass! What doesn't kill kill you makes you stronger, or leaves you dead on the side of the road.....

“A” Race Goal Re-evaluation

And to start off with a quote to my oh-so favorite movie Kill Bill.

O-Ren Ishii says to The Bride “You didn’t think it was going to be that easy did you?” And The Bride replies “You know, for a second there, yeah, I kinda did.” O-Ren Ishii’s witty response is “Silly rabbit.”, The Bride –“Trix are” O-Ren Ishii – “For Kids”.

Lmfao, how hard does this hit home right now? It’s an out of the ballpark grand-mofo-slam! What the hell was I thinking?! There is no such thing as a perfect race and if there was would I really want to do it? My masochistic tail says not! So my “A” race now has a few more complications that I would have liked. I am now going to come face to face with that scorching fiery “orange ball” up in the sky at very high altitude. Come race day we are now looking at 90-95 degrees, WTF, why not ask for 100? Jinx! Last night I was reading The Ultra Marathoner and during Dean’s run in Badwater the soles to his shoes melted after an hour of running and his PB and J sandwich turned to toast, he was covered head to shoe in a white reflective suit and mask. So after reading that I guess we really don’t have it that bad. Running in 120+ would be a lot worse. So as some of my team mates like to say I’m going to “Toughen The Fuck Up” and hit this race with everything I got. What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, or lying dead on the side of the road :p

Taper day 17- 45 min spin. 35 min in a did 4 x ;30 intervals pushing Z3 to dance with the devil and keep my legs peppy. Tomorrow will be my regular Pilates, Friday will be a short 20-30 min swim in Wikiup and then Saturday it’s Game On!

Ah yes, as for the “goal re-evaluation”, what does that mean? My original goals where A. to finish in sub 6 hours, B. not walk on the run and C. Finish the run in sub 2 hours. Not sure if any of those will be accomplished due to the heat but I’ll be damn if I won’t give it my all. I’d be happy with just one out of the three.
At least I exceeded my fundraising goal of $5,000. I’m now at $5,355…and there’s still time to donate. : )
http://www.active.com/donate/tntor/tntorKJordan1

Taper day 16 - WTF???!!!

Morning swim
200 warm up
2 x 100; fins; rest 15
6 x 50 drills; A-ok, Fist, Karate; rest 10
2 x 100; fins; rest 15
1 x 200; paddles; rest 15
1 x 100; fins; rest 15
1 x 400
2 x 100; fins; rest 15
Cool down
25 x 25 wall push ups.
50 x 25 wall push ups.
50 x 25 wall push ups.
50 x 25 wall push ups.
50 x 25 wall push ups.
25 wall push ups.
Total yardage 2050
Frick me! Had my first major freak out. Not only do I have to deal with the wrath of PMS on race day but I also get to race in 90 degree weather. Couldn’t fall asleep last night and when I finally did hit slumber I woke up 2-3 times throughout the night in cold sweats. WTF? Why is this happening? My mind is in a VERY bad place right now. I have a long history with passing out from heat exhaustion. It has a way of sneaking up on me and there I find myself waking in a haze with people staring at me. It’s seriously messed up. I don’t know what happened; all my positive energy has eluded me. I had so many goals for this race and just feel like they have all been stomped on. Not only stomped, but spit on and then kicked to the curb like a bad boyfriend. I really need an escape from my mind right now…things are not good.

Taper Day 15 - easy run

Monday evening run - easy 30 mins
First I'll start off with the run since there is not much to report then hit a few other things.
Easy 3.5 miles around the 'hood. First mile was slow and easy, second one I picked it up a bit and my HR started to climb as I hit some hills. Some jackass scared me by cat calling as he drove by. Times like this I wish I was wearing my Ipod. But no Ipod for me today, I wanted to be alone with my thoughts. This would be my last run until race day.....this taper has really made me miss my time running. My right ankle has decided to turn bitch and give me a little bit of streaking pain, so the taper is probably a good thing as will be my week of vacation post HIM. Back to the run, last 1.5 miles I did with drills mixed in, ass kickers, strides and side strides. Got my HR into Z3 and danced with the high aerobic energy for awhile.

*I have been able to successfully cut down my caffeine. I still have my shot of espresso in the morning but I'm either caffeine free for the rest of the day or have a cup of green tea. Not bad considering I was up to an additional 2 cups of black coffee or black tea a day. And I **** you not I have more energy....must be this taper thing.

*I found our who my generous donor was. Same guy that won me at the disco date auction for $500. Turns out his company was able to match his donation. So my 2 hour date was valued at $1000, talk about the luck of the draw.

*Each night for the last week or so I have managed to come home and get a 45-60 min nap in. It feels soooooo good. It is really nice to be able to sleep so much, funny how when I train a ton I have issues sleeping, one would think it would be the other way around.

*I was sitting in a meeting today fully alert. Yea, I know, can you believe it? Usually I'll end up trying to dose off or start drawing when my ADD kicks in (not diagnosed but pretty damn sure I have it). Each day I wake up with out fatigue or pain...is this what it feels like to not train? My body does still crack just about every time I move, does this mean I'm aging faster? Hmmmm

Unspoken Kindness

Words can not express enough how thankful I am. During our last Saturday workout Audrey our Campaign manager for TNT had notified me that I had raised enough funds to receive a TNT vest. I asked her how much you we had to raise to receive the vest, $1000 over minimum so for me that was $5000. Now my fundraising goal this year was set at $5000 but thus far I had only documented receiving $4855. I was still short $165. Audrey then informed me that I had $5355 in my paycor account. Huh????? How could I lose account for $500 in donations? This morning I received a detailed copy of my donation report, and there it was a $500 donation from Symantec received on 6/13/08. I Googled Symantec and found it is an anti virus software company but can’t think of knowing anyone that worked for them. I’m so grateful yet taken back that someone would anonymously donate so much money. If the mystery donor happens to come across this blog please let me know who you are. I’d love to thank you for your over whelming generosity.

Kat

Taper day 14

I have lost my sanity. I have sat around my house alone all day. I'm bored out of my ming yet I have no energy or desire to do anything. I won't be documenting my nutrition for the next 2 weeks...this first week will be to make sure I eat enough to load up for race day. I usually have 2-3 days of cutting and not documenting will be the only way I will surely get the extra calories I need in. In return I expect to gain 3-5 lbs (hydration and fuel).....this is the goal; yet scares the **** out of me. I have all my foods picked out for the next week. I'm eating lots of brown rice, sweet potatoes, multi grain bread w/o hfcs, salmon, shrimp, lean chicken, whole grain pasta, avocado, spinach, oats and red peppers. Of course there will be other things, but those are going to be the main staples for the next 6 days. I will also be very low on sugars and caffeine until race day.
The second week will be post race and I will be traveling back home and then out to Vegas...who counts macro's in Vegas? So this will be interesting...first time I have not doc'd my nutrition/macro's for more then 5 days....my OCDness will not like this. Plus I'm PMS'ing...yea I know, you really didn't need to know that, but it's going to make me feel like I'm putting on 10lbs instead of 5lb, which will suck.

Boredom is killing me. I'm trying to stay positive with reading inspiring endurance athlete books, blogs and articles. The weird thing is that I am not yet nervous. I am not scared of this 1/2, in fact I feel like I'm going to eat it alive, which could be a good or a bad thing, not quite certain. I hope this lethargic gross feeling goes away soon.