Race Reports/Encouragement/Kudos - 18 - 20 April

[Big Vic]

Saturday, 18 April

18 - aldisneygrl (Sandi) Cookie Dash 5K, Huntsville, AL
18 – ImMarciK (Marcie) Fun Fun Sober Run 5K, Austin, TX
18 - plutosmyfav (Sunny) Lion's Club 5 miler, Lexington, MA

Sunday, 19 April

19 - blizzard (Carol) Tour de Airdrie 10K, Airdrie, AB
19 - lourodrigis (Lou) Penn Relays Distance Classic 20K, Phila, PA
19 – Steffwalks (Connie) DH, DD and SIL OKC Memorial Marathon Relay, Oklahoma City, OK

19 – thndrmatt (Matt) Ironman China

Monday, 20 April

20 – smileyk8 (Kate) Boston Marathon, Boston, MA


GO! WISH Team GO!

 

[suzannews]

Good luck everyone!

Can't wait to read reports and see pictures, they keep me motivated!!

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

Go WISH Team!
Have all kinds of fun then hurry back and tell us all about it!

 

[hockeygirl]

Good Luck Everyone!! I hope everyone has a great race!

 

[hungrygreenhippo]

Good luck everyone!

Some of those race names are great. I would totally be interested in a Cookie Dash!

 

[aldisneygrl]

I can't wait to run it. Although, tomorrow is my Birthday, and they have my age listed as what I am today. I'm not gonna stress over it though. What does a year matter anyway? I'm still in the same age bracket.

I paid $10 for this race and received a Brooks tech shirt. Also, it is sponsored by a church, and the ladies of the congregation make homemade goodies for the after race snacks! Nothing like homemade cookies to get me running.

GOOD LUCK WISHERS!!! ​

Especially Matt doing the China Ironman! You ROCK!!

 

[dsnyfan21]

GO WISHers!! , Rock your Races!!! ​

Special shoutout to Matt, as I think China is ahead of us and he may be done already!! Hoping he can feel all of his WISH teammates cheering for him virtually to do a great IRONMAN in China. Been loving his daily photos over on Facebook!!!

And last but not least my little fellow Walt's Warrior Kate!! Good luck with your BOSTON MARATHON!!! Have a great time and tell us all about it when you get back!!!

Racey Tracy

 

[WDWFAN9]

Go WISH Team Go

 

[scoolover]

Good luck and have fun everyone!!!

 

[TnTsParty]

Good luck WISHer's.

 

[ironz]

Good luck, all!!!

Special shout-out to Matt....first Ironman!! Can't wait to hear about it. Please post a separate thread for your RR so we can all find it easily! Will be looking forward to welcoming you to the "Ironman family."

 

[aldisneygrl]

Well, I'm back and my tummy is full!!

The Cookie Dash is sponsored by our local track club, but also has a Presbyterian church as it's sponsor, and the start line is at their Family Life Center, which looks like a mountain lodge!!

It was a nice crisp morning, little cool, but nothing unbearable. I got to the parking lot at 7:30. I don't remember when I got there last year, but it was earlier because I found a space easily. When I got there this morning, most of the spots were taken. Well, I drove towards the back and found a spot.

I found the husband of one of my coworkers and we chatted before the race started. I decided this year I was NOT going to use the bathroom facilities. For those of you who don't remember or may not have known me, last year I went the the restroom, and my phone and holder slipped off my shorts and INTO the potty. Yes, I had to reach in and grab it, but luckily it was BEFORE I had gone.

Anyway, we started on time, and I was doing well, but you start off the race going uphill. I kept thinking of it as training for next weekend's CMM race. I did well, and didn't have any significant things happen while running. Although, I did have a game, not intentionally mind you, of cat and mouse with these two guys in front of me. You know the drill, I run behind them for a while, then I pass them, then they pass me, then we repeat. Well, one of the guys had to have been new to running because of the comments his friend was making to him. I heard the guy say he didn't eat much before the run. Well, I've been there and realize that can be a newbie mistake. Well, I passed them at mile 2.5, and never saw them again.

As I was coming to the end, I was running with an older gentleman, and we ran to the finish line together. He was nice to let the BIRTHDAY LADY finish before him! Of course, he didn't know it was my birthday. I didn't PR, but I did finish with a time of 36:46. That is only about a minute off of last year's time.

Once I finished, I headed to the water/gatorade table, then went and stood in the line for the homemade goodies!! Wow, was it a line too! Let me just say that the food was well worth the wait. I got a banana, seven layer bar (that was DELISH!!!), a white/milk chocolate chip cookie, and a cupcake with cream cheese filling. I believe that the cupcake was homemade and NOT a box mix. It was heavenly!!!

I stayed around and watched the kids do their fun run. One of my previous Sunday School boys came in 3rd place with a time of 8:45!!! I was so proud!! His mom missed it because she had gone back to the car to get the camera.

Anyway, it was a great start to my birthday!! Now I can have cake!!

Now I'm ready to conquer CMM!!!!

 

[frankenpooh]

Congratulations on what sounds like a fun race, Allie! Hope the rest of your day is just as good!

 

[dsnyfan21]

OK everyone, you can track the live update for IRONMAN China here http://ironman.com/coverage/?race=china&year=2009.

It's already Sunday morning in China and the race has been going on for almost 3 hours.

Go MATT!!!!!!!!!!

 

[aldisneygrl]

Thanks for the link Tracy!!

GO MATT!!!!!

 

[TEK224]

Good luck everybody! Have great races this weeekend!

Terri

 

[thndrmatt]

Earlier than expected race report for a shorter than expected race.

Ironman China

Arrived at the start healthy and uninjured, and had no mechanical problems during the race. The swim was in a river, and the current was very strong across the course. This meant not just the weaker swimmers like me, but everyone struggled to swim across it. The second buoy about 10 min into the race became an endless pool for me. I went from taking it easy not using my legs to having to kick like crazy to swimming at maximum speed thrashing and was only able to keep my ground about 20 yards from it. Any time I went to breaststroke or flipped onto my bag and frog kicked I just lost ground. After about 30 minutes of this a jet ski came up and told the ones at the back to just turn left downstream and cut the corner. So I did that, and sailed down to the bottom of the course and that turn buoy, but as soon as I did that instead of swimming straight towards shore and the swim finish I was blasted diagonally downstream. Eventually I made it to the mud and rocks and hiked through about knee deep rocks at least a quarter mile back up to the swim exit. I had wasted so much time I was now behind pace for the swim cutoff and wasn't sure if they were going to do a first loop cutoff, so I rushed over all the rocks and really tore up my feet and then hands when I would fall over one.

Eventually making it out of the water in about 1:13 after the first loop, I saw Cheryl and headed to the timing mat expecting to be told to just move on to the bike or have my chip removed or something, but they just pointed the way back into the water. I was so dejected, I knew I hadn't even officially completed the first loop and there was no way I could do the second. But I went in, and instead of fighting for the second buoy just retraced my steps. Ended up at an almost identical position along the rocks, and finished the second loop in about :54, an impossibly negative split just because I cut the corner. 2:07 meant I made the 2:20 swim cutoff, but had expended more energy swimming than I have ever in my life.

Stopped in first aid to bandage up a dozen cuts or so, and did a pretty smooth transition including just gobs and gobs of sunblock. Took about 10 min, grabbed the bike and off I went.

There are various signs I get to tell me I'm running out of gas. Heart rate is a good one. On my training rides I would maintain under 140. In races it tends to sail a bit and get to the 150s. The 160s tend to mean I'm climbing, going through an energetic crowd, or pushing too hard. 170s means I have a varying amount of time usually about an hour at that heart rate and then I'm going to be unable to maintain any kind of reasonable pace. To start the bike I was in the 170s, and it stayed there. Only after about a half hour did I get it down into the 160s, and even that was a prolonged length of time and took about an hour to even get to the high 150s.

There was literally .0001% shade on the bike course. Apparently the thermometer in the shade at transition said 110. Humidity was quite prevalent. Within that first hour, my neck was already really sore. Maybe because of the swim thrashing, but it felt like it normally does several hours in towards the end. At about mile 20 I got my first thigh cramp, which normally happens about mile 90. I wasn't even maintaining that strong a pace as the first 10 miles were into the wind and the next 25 or so were crosswind. So I was basically maintaining a pace to make the cutoff. The cramps worsened, the stops at aid stations lengthened, the heat intensified, and the number of ice water bottles poured over my head increased.

Oh, and then came the hills. The rural small town section of the course was great because it was the only area with spectators, but it had some tough ones. At the base of the biggest one I stopped for a while to take a gel and get my heart rate down, managed to climb it without walking the bike like others were doing, then collapsed in a heap at the top. It was kind of funny I was sitting there gasping for breath and some local kids came up and we attempted to communicate through the language barrier. Sitting there at the top of the hill trying to stretch my cramps is when I resigned myself to realize I wasn't going to make the cutoff for the first loop. I had climbed all the hills, seen the whole course, but I was never going to see the run course. But damned if I was going to just get a ride back, I wanted to at least make it to that timing mat where Cheryl would be waiting.

Onto the downhills I went, basically resting my elbow on my armrest and holding my chin in my hand because my neck was shot. Once it flattened out I really started cramping in both legs a lot, and having to stop a lot. But realy really didn't want to quit, at least not until they told me I'd been cut off and I had no choice. Well a few miles later someone was walking on the side with his bike towards an aid station and I asked if he was alright, and he asked for some Gatorade. I unclipped from my pedal to hand him some since I was only a half hour from transition or so and wouldn't need all mine, and as I went to put my foot down I had a new experience.

My leg entirely seized, every muscle in my thigh flexing and refusing to bend at the knee at all. I went to put the other leg down to balance and that one seized too. So essentially I collapsed straight legged and crashed in a heap. As he'd reached for it entertainingly enough the same thing happened to him. Even more entertainingly a race ambulance happened to be coming along right then.

I sat in the ambulance for about an hour total, as the other guy tried to regain his strength to continue. He was on his second loop and still had a chance to make that cutoff. He did eventually give it a go. I was in a pretty strong amont of muscular pain for the first several minutes, but eventually was at least able to sit still without cramping. Even after drinking a lot and taking in nutrition and trying to get back to normal I couldn't stretch or walk without cramping and I could just tell physically by weakness if I tried to continue I'd be in a heap a few miles later, and I still had 11 miles to transition.

Thus started my first ever ride in an ambulance. By the time I got back to transition two hours or so had passed due to picking up another athlete, so of course Cheryl had been worried she missed my first loop finish, but it gave me enough time to recover that I could wander around to gather up all the equipment I ended up not ever getting to use. Apparently I accidentally crossed the bike finish mat while walking to turn in my chip so that's why I have an inaccurate bike split time and no loop 1 split time.

So the results, some torn up feet and hands, pretty bad sunburn, and according to the hotel scale 12 pounds lost over 6 hours of racing. At that weight loss rate it wouldn't have been safe for me to continue either way.

Will I ever try again? Never say never I guess, but it won't be anything like this course or this weather. At this body weight, ths fitness level, on this course and in this weather, I was absolutely unable to finish the Ironman distance. I'm watching the live finish camera on the race update page, and even the pros are looking pretty destroyed. And I'm hearnig a lot of bikes being wheeled down the hall outside, meaning a lot of other early endings to peoples racedays. Will be curious to see how it went for others.

 

[dsnyfan21]

MATT ​

WOW that was one interesting race!!

Quote from the live update said, "With temperatures that hit over 110 degrees Fahrenheit (44 C), and a run course that, at times, was completely sheltered from any sort of breeze, today was a tough one for even the world's fittest athletes!"

I am SOOOOOO Proud of you!! You are an inspiration and an IRONMAN in my eyes!! Too bad we all couldn't have been with you to cheer you on, A lime green wave of supporters!!!

Now go rest, relax, take care of those legs, hydrate and eat!!! You deserve some R&R!!!

Tracy

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

Matt, I am sorry about that ugly weather rearing its head at you. I'm glad you are ok. Thank you for letting us know and keeping us in your information loop. You and Cheryl are in our hearts.

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

Allie, congratulations on your event and great event report. Happy Birthday too! See you at CMM!