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~ Mamma Gina's Kitchen ~ |
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Mamma Gina's Ironman Coeur d'Alene Training Journal
Nov/Dec - Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun
April 2003 I left for California on Tuesday afternoon (April 1). Spent most of Monday packing for the trip. Started to get excited about racing when I pulled all of our race gear out and started working on my little checklist from last year. Man, this sport takes a lot of gear! Tuesday late afternoon I left for Ashland, my first stop. I stayed the night with my sister in Ashland, normally about 3 hours away. I hit some snow-covered roads over the mountain passes – nothing too scary but enough to make me slow down some. I had originally planned on driving down with some friends but that didn’t work out because of my work schedule, so I was on my own for the drive. I hung out with my sister and her boyfriend Tuesday evening and we headed to the gym before dinner. My sister and I ran on the treadmill while her BF played basketball. We got tired of waiting for him so we played a little volleyball. I could play for hours :). We both played in high school and don’t get to play much (I taught her everything I knew when we both lived in the same house, of course :)). Probably got a better workout from that than from the treadmill! At one point I rolled over my ankle so decided I’d better take it easy before I broke something! We had a yummy dinner at Outback and then got some decent sleep. Wednesday I traveled all day. Left Ashland at 5 AM, arrived in San Diego at Patti’s house around 5 PM. I made 4 stops and managed to get my gas/food/potty stops in at the same time :). I might have been going a wee bit over the speed limit (sorry MadMax). My main goal was to get through LA before 4 PM and to get to Patti’s before dark. When Patti got home from work she took me up to the treehouse her husband built so they could have an ocean view. It was awesome! They took me out to dinner and I managed to get an early start on my carbo-loading (bad Gina). I was very lazy on Thursday – drove over to check out the race site and went over my bike, then rode for about an hour to loosen up. I felt much more at ease about the swim after seeing the boat basin – the swim looked very protected. Robin came over early Friday morning and we headed to the Potato Shack for the TNO breakfast. We met Greg (Kate’s Dad), Gail (TriMom) and her friend from AZ, Stephanie, and Ross (hope I didn’t forget anyone!). As usual, everyone was so nice. I have yet to meet a TNOer who wasn’t just an outstanding individual. I left the breakfast early to pick Jeff up from the airport. He had a pretty good flight but was pooped. We headed for the expo so we could register and Jeff could get his bike set up. We spent WAY too long there, then agreed to meet up with Robin, Stephanie and Patti for a quick swim in La Jolla Cove. I figured I’d better get my butt in some salt water to get used to it before the race. It was COLD!!!! I was so glad we got the full ProMotion wetsuits and neoprene caps for this race. I was really glad I wasn’t swimming alone out there. I would have had a MAJOR freak-out. I’m sure they seemed like nothing to the natives, but they seemed really high to me. I just tried to stay close to everyone to keep from getting freaked out. We had a good dinner at an Italian restaurant there in La Jolla. We all apologized profusely to the waitress because we were super picky about what we were eating – chicken and pasta with NO SAUCE!!! I think she thought we were going to be a lot higher-maintenance than we were. We headed back, got everything ready for the morning and tried to get some sleep, which of course is always impossible the night before a race. Got up bright and early the next morning. Everything was fine except I didn’t quite have my normal…ahem…morning routine, if you catch my drift. Additional details would definitely be too much information, believe me. We’ll just leave it at that and mention that that’s definitely something you’ll want to be prepared to make a habit long before race morning :). Since most of the races we’ve done have been relatively low-key, small races, we haven’t had to deal with crowded race sites. We had to park about a mile from the start, and there was no bike check-in the day before. So it was a long haul that we weren’t really prepared for. Good thing to know for IM-CdA and IMC later in the summer. We were there at about 5 am, then got everything set up by about 6 so we could wait around and freak out with the rest of the crazy people. We managed to find just about everyone we knew to wish them well. The pros took off, and were back before my wave started. The swim was pretty wild. I kept trying to catch a draft but between the chop and my fervent desire not to swallow a belly-full of salt water, I was pretty much spazzing out. I felt calm and was swimming smoothly, but was not paying much attention to my stroke mechanics. Mostly I was just spitting. Lovely way to start off a race. At least I didn’t mind the cold too much with everything else I had to think about. I don’t really know if I was off-course or not, but I’m pretty sure I strayed off a bit. I wish I would have been able to catch a better draft but it just wasn’t going to happen. Finished the swim in 38:17. Quick transition – fairly uneventful. Wetsuit off, bike shoes, helmet and sunglasses on. I always go way too hard on the bike because I feel like once I hit the run, any chance I had to pass people is long gone. I just tried to get comfortable and ride. Normally I’m really anal about checking out the bike course beforehand, to know where the tough hills are and all that. This time I was just cruising along, enjoying the scenery. The Marines on the Camp Pendleton base were so awesome! There probably only had a tenth of the number that normally work the aid stations, but there were still lots of them. I was just so grateful for what they represented, and the fact that their sacrifices make it possible for people like me to do silly things like race in triathlons. They were awesome. At one point we were riding in a fairly uninhabited part of the base and I heard several rifle shots off in the woods – some kind of target practice or maneuvers of some kind. I heard someone riding up behind me and, without looking at him, said (in jest, of course), “I could do without the gunshots!” He rides past me and yells, “THAT’S THE SOUND OF FREEDOM!!!!” His bike was covered with flags and he had a big old red/white/blue jersey on. Oops…wrong person to make that comment to, although he was totally right on in setting me straight! So I come around this corner and see a VERY, VERY, VERY steep hill ahead of me. This girl rides past me and says, “now comes the hard part”. Well, we were at about mile 25. I did the math, and it wasn’t looking good. I was about to experience what I now know is called the San Mateo Monster. Aptly named. I rode to the base of the beast and looked up to see people swerving all over the road, standing on their pedals, and, sadly, walking. I dumped everything off my bike that wasn’t nailed down (there was quite a pile of water bottles developing in that location) and headed for the monster. I stayed in my seat and aero as long as I could, but then had to stand or I was going to fall over. It got to the point where my pride was the only thing keeping me from stopping to walk. I was going so slow! Dancing on the pedals like Lance Armstrong I was not. On the way back down to town we went through a 25 MPH zone where Perry Redina crashed a couple of years ago – that was pretty chilling. After that was more of the same (hills, hills, hills) and finally a semi-flat ride back into town. Stephanie passed me about 4 miles from the bike finish – she was looking very strong. I was just glad to be out of those hills. The only other eventful thing was having a guy on PowerCranks ride past me – I never would have noticed except that he was coasting and had both feet in the down position. Wondering why the heck someone would use PCs in a race kept my mind occupied for the remainder of the bike course! Bike split was 3:30:38. I had to pee so bad for the last hour or so of the bike that I just dumped my bike on the rack and headed for the port-a-potty. I got back to my stuff and said something about how bad I had to pee to the girl across from me, who was sitting down. She goes, “Yeah, me too. I peed a little on the bike and I’m just finishing up right now.” It was then that I noticed the puddle forming under her. Um, ewwwwww. Racing around practically naked is mortifying enough for me, thank you. No need for me to share my bodily functions that closely with my fellow tri-friends. I think I can spare 3 minutes for a trip to the port-a-potty. Headed out for the run, which was (of course) straight up a hill. I was feeling okay, but not as fresh as I had hoped. That lack of completing my, uh, morning ritual was starting to become a problem. I had a huge lump in my stomach and was just not feeling like running. Plus, it was HOT. I wish they did the run first so I could get it over with! Run, swim, bike would be fine with me. And something like a 5 minute run would be just right. Anyway, I kept gutting it out and saw Stephanie heading back from the turnaround (the course was a double out-and-back). She said, “I’m sure you’ll be passing me soon.” I told her I was sure I wouldn’t be! Robin passed me about 3/4 of the way into the first lap (she was on her second) and said Jeff finished well. I found out later they ran together and she helped pace him for his second lap. I managed to run most of the first lap but just started feeling like crapola for most of the second. I tried to run as much as I could between port-a-potty stops. With about 2 miles to go I started feeling better and ran to the finish. I caught Stephanie about half a mile from the finish and got convinced her to run it in with me. Finished the run in 2:36:09 for an overall time of 6:54:10. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but I learned some good lessons for next time. My usual performance – MOP in swim and bike, WWBOP (way way back of the pack) in the run. Sunday morning I dropped Jeff off at the airport, then stopped back by Patti’s house to pack up and head for San Luis Obispo. Since Robin was heading north for Wildflower in a month, I invited her to stay in SLO with me while I was doing some training at Cal Poly. I couldn’t stand the thought of her parked on the side of the road, sleeping in her tent! We headed to San Luis Obispo and just mostly laid around and ate at the hotel.
4/7 – 4/13 Friday I managed to get in a 30 minute run and an hour-long swim before packing for my next business trip – a trade show in New Orleans. Flew most of the day Saturday, got a short run in Sunday morning, and then helped set up the booth. Spent about 3 hours on the trade show floor that afternoon…more than enough, thank you.
4/14 – 4/20 I headed back to Bend on Saturday, then got a 2 hour bike/1 hour swim in on Sunday. Felt great to be home and back in the training swing.
4/21 – 4/27
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