Journey to IMMD - Six Pillars

I decided to do Six Pillars because one of the course routes was the 56 mile Eagleman course (which I would have to do for IM70.3 Eagleman in June) and cause my coach said so. My mother, The Queen Momz decided she wanted to start riding again and decided to join me by doing the 37 mile family fun ride...that don't even sound right, does it?

Well I put Momz through the paces on a trainer and found someone who would ride the 37 mile course with her while I knocked out 56 miles. My classmate and good friend, Connie, came in town, rented a bike and crushed it out with my Momz.

I came and did what I needed to get done for my training day. Nevertheless, I am super proud of my Momz, 75 years young this November, that has the tenacity and resilience to do something epic and outside her comfort zone. Where do I get it from?...The Apple don't fall far from the Tree.

Thank you, Connie for joining us for the weekend. What a blast.

A “Do Epic Shit” Weekend

What does a “Do Epic Shit” Weekend look like? It starts with a drive to the Poconos for CIGAR FEST followed by going to West Point to the Athena Arena: 40 Years of Women at West Point and sealed up with a 40 mile bike ride through New York City at the FiveBoroBikeTour. Whew!

 

Thursday morning (April 28th), The Queen Momz and I leave out to go to CigarFest and attend some of the free events at the Cigar International Stores. We went to the Drew Estate event in Hamburg and then over to the Perdomo Event in Bethlehem.

  

We met up with some other Lodge members for the Loyal Order of the Water Buffalo Cigar Club, hung out for a while, spent a lot of moolah and then we hooked up with Lodge 19 (I am the Grand Poobah of Lodge 19) member, IlaGator. Lodge 19 moved the party to Split Rock Resort where CigarFest was being held and attended the Daniel Marshall “Modern Day Campfire” Event.

  

I was sure that one of us was going to win one of the awesome prizes, but alas, it was not meant to be. I still have my Daniel Marshall Gold Cigar and plan to take it to Puerto Rico with me to celebrate my 29th anniversary.

 

Friday, Momz and I were up early to get to the breakfast for the VIP CigarNUTs (yep, that’s us) and scored one of the nice large ceramic ashtrays, although I thought I was going to have to build a defensive perimeter around it or go all ham on some guys who thought that two women smoking cigars would need an ashtray. Beat it, bub. MINE!

 

We picked up our great military style back packs filled with CigarNut goodies and made our way into the “tent” to go around to meet, great and pick up a cigar from over 50 different Cigar-makers and brand owners. IT WAS AWESOME!

            

So, after we made all of our rounds and had spent all of our monies, we loaded up and made our way to West Point to meet up with the Class of 87 Women for a get together and then the conference on Saturday.

 

It was fantastic to spend time with women grads and to hear from some phenomenal speakers including hearing from the 1st Women Ranger Graduates – all of whom are West Pointers. It was a glorious day for a conference, a parade, Spring Football & Class of 87 Tailgage. Just Simply The Best!!!  

 

After the tailgate, we (me, ConnieB and Momz) drove down to NYC…and that was an adventure itself – missed a turn and ended up having to go across the Brooklyn Bridge where I made a U-Turn where I probably was no supposed to causing a tad bit of havoc on the road, but I got back across and to our hotel which I would say was not really in Chinatown but actually China. It was GREAT! We picked up dinner at a carry out (yes, Val…it had an A on the door) and Connie and I had to spend a little time reading over the menu and trying to figure out what to get – there was no General Tso Chicken or Schezuan Beef anywhere to be found. What we did end up getting was SLAMMING though. Connie and I pulled our stuff together, debated on whether we should even do the race as it was calling for some serious rain, decided we would play it by ear, and went to bed to get ready for our 40 mile FiveBoroRide.

 

We decided to go since it was just cloudy and misting a little, picked up some gloves under the Manhattan Bridge from a street vendor (they were Clutch!) as we rode to the start line – we grinned and kept each others spirit and humor up. I couldn’t have picked a better person to ride with in such miserable conditions. Mark Twain once said if you want to know if you really like or hate a person, travel with them. Not only did I travel with my classmate & friend, but we survived 40 mile in the freezing rain together with laughter, good humor and comradery. I wouldn’t have done it or kept going without her there with me. I HAD A BLAST! A perfect end to an EPIC SHYT WEEKEND!

I have been asked would I do this ride again. Probably not. It was so crowded – 40K people on almost as many different bikes and with so much various experience – mostly a lot of people who don’t have the faintest idea of the rules of the road. People would come to a sudden and complete stop in the middle of the road. Stop on the left side blocking people from passing and weaving erratically in and out of the people without saying a word. I saw a lot of unnecessary and/or preventable accidents of which I had no interest in being part of. I was pretty much over it when I saw a guy bite a jersey wall. Yep. No.

 

I put together a little slide show from the ride. Enjoy

Race Report: 2015 Maryland Olympic Duathlon

BREAKTHROUGH!!!!

 

…and I knew it was going to be an awesome race for me after I crested the first big double climb at the 3 mile mark, powering over the top; passing 2 ladies.

 

I didn’t stop grinning the rest of the race.

If your happy and you know it, up your cadence.

If you're happy and you know it, then your face will surely show it
If you're happy and you know it, up your cadence!

I tend to always #RaceHappy, but Sunday was exhilarating for me!

So, here is what I’m all giddy about…I knocked 20 minutes off of last years time. 20 MINUTES!!! (10 on the bike, 10 on the second run). GTFOOH!!!

                  Run              T1      Bike                    T2         Run                     Total

2015     26:18 (13:09)    2:44    2:03:48 (12.6)    3:45      1:02:42 (15:41)     3:39:19

2014     26:08 (13:04)    2:26    2:14:43 (11.6)    3:49      1:12:07 (18:02)     3:59:15

2013     25:52 (12:56)    2:25    2:18:31 (11.3)    3:43      1:16:09 (19:02)     4:06:42

 

I also think it would have be 25-30 min improvement, if the RT97 portion of the course had been paved. I wasn’t taking any chances of blowing a tire – again – so, I took it real slow on this portion. And (SHUT IT) I would gain another 5 min if I didn’t piddle around in transition. Whatever…I’m still not going to suddenly podium by cutting out a pee or snack break. Jill caught me watering the grass in transition…when you gotta go, you gotta go. You can see that I wasn’t about to be like 1st or anything.

RUN: 2 miles 26:18

I set the metronome on my Garmin 920XT to 165bpm and tried to keep up. That pace was comfortable, maybe RPE 3, and I knew I could hold it. The volunteers were awesome and I came into transition ready to go (bathroom and bike) IJS. See pic above – I’m not having a damn sandwich, folks.

 

BIKE: 26 miles 2:03:48

Thank you, Roy, for taking this picture.

 

The Duathlon course is challenging. Steep hills, rolling hills, gradual climbs – not a lot of straight runs. You gonna WERK! and do it twice (2 loops). Plus, this year, about 3/4 of a mile is unpaved and scraped to lay down new surface. It rattled your teeth if you went to fast.

 

Once I was off the rough patch, I took off. After I passed one racer, it was on and poppin then. I set a goal to start picking whomever I could off one by one. One the first look, I over took 4 and on the second loop, I took out 5…and never looked back. 4 years of cycling and I have NEVER passed someone and held it. EVER. Cheshire Cat Grin. I thought for sure I could get it done under 2 hours, but that last 2 mile climb to transition just didn’t cut it for me. I was trying to spin it out and get the legs ready to run 4 instead of mash it out, so it didn’t happen, but damn! 10 minutes off last year. Yeah. I’ll take it!

 

RUN: 4 miles 1:02:42

It just didn’t matter. I was on cloud nine! I felt good. The metronome was back at it but I also…shhhh…had my “Run to Cadence” mix this time and…C140 rolling down the strip, airborne daddy gonna take a little trip. Left right on your left right left. IT WORKS. I was moving out with a quickness…in my mind. Then there was KimS at the water station with her crew of military volunteers who hung with me up and down that big hill (in my mind it was a mountain). LIFE GIVING. There was ShawnC with his GoPro making sure I get it done. There was the legion of racers that has already finished but waited and cheered as I came in to the finish. EXHILARATING!

 

…and then there was my Coach, Suzy. She was there at the finish…with the BIG A HUG!

   

I don’t know  if the day could have gotten any mo betta!

 

What did I learn?

- Improvements take time (health, no injuries) and WORK!

- Breakthroughs can and will happen. Enjoy the moment. Capitalize on it.

- You ARE enough and awesome at whatever speed.

 

#RaceHappy My Friends

Race Report: Escape The Cape Triathlon

I ESCAPED!!!

 

This had to be one of the most fun races I have done is a long time right up until… I’ll get to that part in a minute.

 

What’s so fun about it? You get to JUMP off a ferry and swim a mile to shore, bike 25 essentially flat & fast miles and then run through Dante’s Inferno of immolation level heat and sand dunes. Exhilarating.

 

FRIDAY

The weekend started off a tad shaky. I pack to the gills my little Hyundai Elantra with all my gear and beach stuff so my Spectathletes & Paparazzi, The Queen Mum and Princess Cara, could had some fun at the beach while I off gallivanting around doing  a swim preview, racking my bike, attending a race meeting & helping set up the MMTC tent. We leave the house around 1pm on Friday and only hit bad traffic when we are about 20 miles out from the hotel. (Traffic was waaaay worse on the way home). We arrive at the hotel and they are like, ummm, when did you make your reservation. GTFOOHWTBS. I ain’t got time for this and…*cue meltdown* – WHY CAN’T I EVER HAVE A DRAMA FREE TRI!!!

 

See, I made the reservation ON @EXPEDIA the same day I registered for the race (Oct 1, 2014) because – hey, bonus money, better spend it on Tri shyt while it’s burning a hole in my pocket. I got confirmations, blah, blah, blah. but apparently, @Expedia did not send my booking on the the hotel – just kept sending me notices that everything was okay and I did not have to contact hotel (I’ll never do that again). Everything was NOT okay. No reservations, no vacancies at the hotel. WTF. Well, the hotel called down to another hotel they are friends with and got me the same type room at same price. @Expedia tried to rebook me at hotel in their system, but when we googled it, there was a bed bug warning. UMMMM NO! You know what I got from @Expedia for my trouble…”Sorry.” Mmmmkay. Well, we had new lodging and we were off. We unpacked, Cara went to the pool then we went to Wildwood boardwalk to walk around and have dinner.

 

SATURDAY

I waited for TriBecca to show up and then we gathered our things and headed over to packet pickup. We got there just in time for the “Swim Preview” which we thought was just talking about the swim, but you actually got to practice as well. We did not practice cause we didn’t bring any gear. Just watched and listened.

                

Afterward, we went to packet pickup, visited all the vendor booths, went to the race meeting, racked our bikes, put up the MMTC tent and went back to the hotel where we maxed and relaxed. Went to the beach for a little while and then ordered out pizza & pasta as we piddled with our gear for Sunday!

 

SUNDAY – RACE DAY

We woke up around 3am to get the car packed and to the race when the heavens opened up with a downpour accompanied by thunder and lightning. I just stood on the balcony, stared for a while, mumbled something about getting wet anyway and “If it ain’t raining, you ain’t training” Army bullshyt as Rebecca gave me the hard side eye as she mumbled something about “maybe they will cancel the swim” *insert glee clap*.

 

We get to transition and all of us unprepared for a torrential downpour are looking around like lost children trying to figure out how to keep our shoes from getting soaked. (TIP: ALWAYS – ALWAYS – keep at least two trash bags in your tri bag, one for you, one for your clueless rack mate. Just pay it forward…it will come back to you). I ended up putting my empty tri bag on top of my running shoes and it worked out fine.

 

After we were thrown out of transition, we went to hunker down under the MMTC tent until it was time to board the ferry. I can’t believe we all stood there looking like sad boo boo kitties and didn’t take not ONE picture of the club. AGGGGGGGGHHHHHH! And I brought the Paparazzi!.

 

We board the ferry and end up waiting an additional 30-45 min until the weather cleared before we pulled out to start the race.

Time to….JUMP!!!

 

SWIM: 1 mile 36:13 (Garmin says I zig zagged for 1.2 miles)

I didn’t even really think too much on it. I marched up to the line and well, as you can see from my pics, I executed a very dull and uneventful jump. Next time, I go for the FLASH!

  

  

Next thing I knew I was in the water and time to swim. It didn’t seem like a fast current to me, but must have been because that was the fastest 1 – 1.2 mile swim I have EVER done in ANY race. GO ME!

 

When I cam out of the water, I don’t really remember what I was thinking. I know I was trying to decide whether or not to take my wetsuit off right then or wait till I got back to transition. I kept it on for the half mile trek from the beach to transition cause I didn’t want any sand all on me – Everywhere, All around – as I went out on the bike.

 

The other thing that struck me as I watched people come out of the water and dead sprint through sand dunes and two parking lots as I kinda wogged, was that, yeah, I don’t take transition very seriously (I KNOW it’s part of the race so let it go). I’ll get there when I get there. I do try to move out with a purpose and be quick about- get in, get it on, go (especially when there isn’t a road march to get there), but, yeah, no. I ain’t  gonna win the transition. I’ll work on it. Promise.

 

BIKE: 25 miles 1:40:23 14.9mph – Second fastest 25 miles in a race

Here is what I know. I can do at 15mph+ if the course is relatively flat. Throw some hills in there and I’m slower than cold molasses. I watched my MMTC buddies beast up the one bridge with ease and I’m like the Wicked Witch madly peddling while not having a lung collapse.

 

A LOT of people ended up with flats (some with 2). I was really worried that I would blow a tire (like I did when I crashed last October) so I ended up slowing down a lot on the turns and when the road was rough. The 1st loop was pretty crowded, but of course, it thinned out as us slow pokes wrapped up the second loop.

 

I know what I need to work on. HILLS. Nevertheless, I felt I had a great ride and even got to say “on your left” several times – which was exhilarating. Those of you that don’t know the suffering of being slow, there is that moment after the 700th “on your left” is shouted at you that you just want to kick out and say “on your left THAT”. I would NEVER do such a thing, but I admit that evil thoughts occasionally enter my noggin.

 

N.E.WAY – I’m back in transition where, DAMN, it fuggin HOT!

 

RUN: 5 miles 1:33:31 The WORST RUN OF MY EXISTANCE!

I’ve got nothing more to add to that. It WAS THE MOST GAWD FORSAKEN RUN ever. Had it not been for some of the good people of Lower Township bestowing upon us the blessing of the divine hose, I would have immolated out there on that course. It was like running into the deepest, hottest level of Hell and then Satan added thick loose beach sand and dunes for grins and giggles. I slogged, shuffled, cursed, and leaned in for 5 of the hottest, slowest miles on earth. When I saw the flags for the finish chute – all I thought was – YES, SWEET BABY JESUS! And then I saw my family and my MMTC family cheering & high fiving me. GLORIOUS!

 

                                                    I ESCAPED!!!!

 

Would I do it again?! YOU BETCHA! For once I wasn’t last! I beat some demons and bested some other times. I may never podium. I may never get off the bottom of the pack. What I did do was - I went up against me and won!  That was a blast!

Frustrated, Fed up & Failing Forward Race Report: IM 70.3 Princeton

That smile right there…yeah, it hides a whole lot of frustration, embarrassment and just plain “I should just give up & quit this shit” attitude.

 

I crossed that finish line sobbing, in pain and DEAD ASS LAST….FUGGING AGAIN!! I was just so sick and GAWD DANG TIRED of (in my mind) failing, putting  in so much damn work and choking at game time, of letting all the people that support me/believe in me down. I felt like a big fat ass embarrassment to my friends/family and to the whole damn sport.

 

I was so sick and GAWD DANG TIRED of watching all my tri-friends, MMTC friends, RipIt Teammates crush it and I just bring up the MFn rear with a cheer and a smile. FUG THAT!

 

I was so sick and GAWD DANG TIRED of watching and hearing about people learning to swim and/or ride a bike and then in 9 month bust out a full IM and in 3 years I have a medical DNF and 2 barely finish at a 70.3. SON OF A BEYOTCH!!!

 

Why is this thing – triathlon – so damn hard for me? That type A, borderline OCD/perfectionist in me cried for 2 days, railing at the heavens, wanting to quit – and I have NEVER QUIT at ANYTHING – EVER! I have done well at pretty much everything I have put my mind to doing, so WHY, OH WHY, can’t I seem to put this triathlon thing together.

 

The FireMarshall did his best with giving me space to sob and wallow in my own misery and self-pity for a hot second, but forced me to not make any rash decisions (like sell my bike) until I talk to some people that I respect and have more “perspective” that I could possibly have while swimming in my own misery pool.

 

By Tuesday after the race, I got sufficiently sick and tired of reapplying my makeup every time I burst into the self-pity tears, that I contacted my soul sister, Ovetta, and she helped get me get out of that nasty pool I was swimming in. Funny thing…most of what she said, I already knew :

• This journey is MY journey and no one else.
• STOP looking at, comparing myself to other people. I don’t know their journey. Worry about me and mine – WORRY BOUT YOURSELF!!! YOU DRIVE!
• Set some very specific BHAG’s (BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOALS). No more of those nebulous,non-specific goals like “Finish”.

She also told me I needed to share this story. I needed to be transparent AND accountable. I wasn’t even going to write anything. I was still embarrassed. Who would want to hear about the “Finisher” race report. What lessons about the race could I possible share that would be of any help. She said someone is always watching and someone is out there with similar struggles that needs to know that it ain’t always sunshine, roses and instant success. OH and BTW – define YOUR success. I set the “goal” of finishing and I did. Moving the goal in the middle of the race and then getting all caught up in my feelings is kinda ridiculous, huh.

 

At the end of my “coming to Jesus” talk with Ovetta, she said, “I knew when you called that you had had enough of the just finish attitude. Now you are ready and are going to be a force to reckon with.”

 

I then met up with my RipIt Coaches and they already had some suggestions for attacking 2015 and I laid out my goals. Together we outlined a game plan. So, what are my goals you ask – Here are the 3 MBO’s (Major Business Objectives)

 

• Lose 40lbs – yep, its true. I’m waay over weight. It is a lot easier to haul a small bootie up and down hills on the bike and to have less strain & pain on these old lady knees, ankles and feet. No more wide load flags on the back of the bike.
• Build Strength – I’m a weakling…but not for long. I have the endurance & cardiovascular strength to go on forever like that energizer bunny, but I don’t have the upper body strength or leg strength to sustain those efforts. The upper body and legs muscles just give out to quickly. I knew it at the Rebel Race pulling, climbing and what not on that obstacle course that I felt weak and didn’t have the strength to climb a damn rope…but I ignored it or was in denial. NOT AGAIN!
•  7 1/2 hour 70.3 PERIOD. END OF CONVERSATION

Of course there are Swim/Bike/Run specific goals underlying the three MBO’s, but you get the idea. It is time to GET DOWN TO BUSINESS.

 

As for the race…

 

I swam. It was uneventful. A lot slower that I had set for myself, but I got out of the water feeling good about it. There was the usual touching, grabbing, hitting that happens in every OWS race. I didn’t like the approx. 200m swim to the start AT ALL. I loved the wetsuit strippers.

 

 

I biked. A beautiful, scenic course but the road conditions were HORRIBLE. They did mark the big ass potholes and hazards, but the numerous small holes in the pavement and then the resulting debris (bottles, CO2 cartridges, chain pieces) made the course rather scary (for me). I stopped counting at around 15 flats and crashes combined. As a result, I believe I choked on the course and reduced my speed as I didn’t want to deal with a flat or a crash. I let fear get the best of me.

 

I ran. THAT DAMN FOOT! This time it wasn’t my neuroma that flared up. I found out later that I probably have a stress fracture in my heel and that was what the pain was from. GTFOOHWTBS. I have decided to let go of the Army 10miler and MCM to heal…Doing them and making the stress facture worse would not advance my goals. My feelings are hurt, but mission first.

 

As most of you know. I live my life out loud. I will be keeping you posted of my progress and I look forward to you guys keeping me accountable.

 

I AM RELENTLESS –

I will let no setback, obstacle or challenge get in the way of achieving a noteworthy goal.

Race Report: Maryland Olympic Duathlon

This was the redemption tour of this race after last years debacle…if you missed it, read up on it here – Maryland Olympic Duathlon 2013 Race Report -

 

Last year was awful. I felt awful. I was still in pain from the foot injury, I was trying to train myself and it was just not coming together. AT ALL. I passed out at the end of last years race and knew, once I came to and was reassured I had crossed the finish line, I needed help.

 

I teamed up with RipIt Coaching and submitted myself to the rigors of a coaching plan from Danny & Suzy Serpico…and slowly but surely, under their tutelage, I have been making a comeback to the best me!

 

July 13th, 2014 was an EPIC day.

 

First, my BFF from since the beginning of time (40+years) and West Point Classmate who is like back in Oakland Mills Wrestling/Football Team shape (Mike Bennett), threw down the gauntlet and surprised me by signing up to do the race with me. WOW! It made this redemption race all the MO BETTA!

RUN 2 MILES – 26:08 (+16 sec –bout the same as last year)

I took my time. My game plan was to take it easy, constant run, feel good and put it into the bike. I was happy with it.

 

BIKE 26 MILES – 2:14:43

HOT DIGGITY DAMN. Almost 4 min off last years time. You better werk!!! I still need lots of work on hills and climbing but I am so psyched about this progress on a rather challenging course. Those hills are NO FRIGGIN JOKE!!

 

What was different? Spin90, hydration/nutrition and a TIGHT HEAD GAME. I was ready – mind and spirit – for that second look. Just get ‘er done…and I DID.

 

BTW – I renamed my bike…OATH KEEPER (if you are a Game of Thrones fan, you will get the reference). Keeping my oaths, one stroke, one spin, one step at a time.

 

RUN 4 MILES – 1:12:07

Even though it was HOT AS HELL and my legs still felt more like cement blocks than bricks, I knocked 4 MIN OFF OF LAST YEARS TIME!! GO FRIGGIN ME!!! All I wanted was to finish standing up this time and to feel good (pain free) and that is how it went down. Shawn from HardBodies came and got me for the last 2 miles and for a short period I lost it. I got in my head that I was disappointing him, that if I didn’t get it together I would be letting him AND Suzy down. I think he could see me falling apart. I don’t know/remember what he said but just as fast as I was crumbling, he had me calm again – just like that – and back focused. And there was the finish line…

 

VICTORIOUS! with a total of  –9 Min off of last years time. RIPPING IT!

 

As for Mike, He RIPPED IT and RIPPED it good for his first race. AWESOME SAUCE!

UP next…The Ocean City Games 1 mile Open Water Swim – IN DA OCEAN! Stay Tuned.