Well, I managed not to gain any weight over the weekend. In fact, I’m one or two pounds down, back to where I was for my previous “New Low” of two weeks ago. I’m attributing some of that to mild dehydration, as I didn’t nearly consume enough water on Sunday or Monday considering the temperature.
The other good news is that I ate relatively well today, which is always a challenge for me after a positive weigh-in. I just have to keep it up the rest of the week now.
Before I stepped on the scales this morning I was feeling quite “thin”, so I was happy to see that this was not all in my head.
On Exercise:
Friday was my off day last week as I was traveling to Lake Placid. On Saturday, we got a bit of a late start to our ride (we were watching the Tour in the morning), so we didn’t start until the heat of the day was at full force (1PM). This was the first time that I had ridden the loop of the Ironman course since I did the race two summers ago. Last summer I rode part of it, but half of it was in reverse. This year, I got nearly the full experience (some of us opted not to do the “out-and-back” section as it was an extra 20K that we didn’t really need to do). In the end, we cycled 68K (43 miles) in just under 3 hours (of actual cycling time – we had little breaks in there that made the entire trip about 3:15-3:30). After a long bit of climbing, we had a lovely 9K descent where I got up to 71.5kph (48 mph) on my bike. Weeeeeee! I even managed to speed past some of the guys, however I outweigh most of them, so that’s not saying much (weight allows you to carry speed down a hill). There were six of us riding together (4 men, 2 women) and we had this lovely 2x3 pace line going on for about 15-20K of the ride. Each pair took a turn setting the pace (and breaking the wind) at the front, so we managed to go an average of about 30kph (19mph) for that stretch. It’s a far cry from the 45-55kph that the boys in the Tour will do, but it made for a very enjoyable ride.
On Sunday, we were up early (5AM) so that we could get to the race site to cheer everyone on. After the swim was over (more on that later), I went for a 40-min run with one of the girls. This was also on part of the run course I had done two years ago, so it brought back lots of memories.
No exercise on Monday as it was a travel day (more on that later, too).
On Food:
If I never see a $ubway sandwich again it will be too soon! I ate there three times in two days. Considering the amount of exercise (even just all the walking we did), I ate pretty well. I did cave and have B3n & J3rry’s on Saturday night and I did have an ice-cream sandwich on Sunday, but other than that I ate pretty well. Oh, except for some Hint o’ Lime tortilla chips. And Baked L@ys - couldn’t get enough of those! I think that was in response to all the salt I lost from sweating so much.
On the Race:
It was a very emotional day. We managed to see most of our friends in the water before the race. We had giant fluorescent signs with photos and slogans for each of them, which they really appreciated. Once the cannon went off at 7AM, I got a little choked up seeing all 1,988 athletes swimming at the same time. There was one woman who, when the cannon went off, started to panic and couldn’t continue with the race. Her coach jumped in the water to try to calm her down and help her out, but to no avail. How heartbreaking to go all that distance in training only to be pulled out of the water before you even get started. It was a two-loop course, so we did manage to see some of them running across the beach to start their second lap. After that, we moved over to the side of the beach where the swimmers were exiting to cheer on the last few swimmers. There is a time limit of 2:20 for the 3.8K (2.4-mile) swim. All the spectators (hundreds of us) were cheering on the last few people. The last guy was really far out with only 20 minutes to go. All the kayakers doing support for the race were following him in and every single person on the beach was screaming and encouraging him. He finally rose from the water in 2:17 (three minutes to spare) to the roar of the crowd. By this time, I was in a full-blown blubbering bawl; it was so overwhelming. Here's a shot of him coming out of the water:
This is me (on the left) with my friend V. We're holding signs for our friends who were in the race.
I then went for a run and made my way over to the halfway point of the bike called the “hot corner”. This is a series of quick turns where the athletes have to slow down a bit to make it through. We screamed like fiends for our friends as they all came through with smiles on their faces. After poking around the merchandise tent, I got changed and then met up with the rest of the group on the bike course. We stood half way up the final climb (nicknamed: Papa Bear) with a CD player and signs of encouragement. My sign read: “Remember, you paid for this!” and it got quite a few laughs and smiles, which was what it was intended to do. All the athletes seemed energized by our presence. Many of them said, ”Thanks” or “You’re the best” as they rode through. The most inspiring guy was riding up the hill using only one leg! Something must have happened along the way that made it impossible to use his other leg, so he just pedaled along with one – and that’s mighty hard to do on a flat road, let alone on a hill! The bike course is a two-loop grueling and hilly course totaling 180K (112 miles). The cutoff time for the bike is 10 hours and 30 minutes from the start of the race.
We stayed there for about two hours in total and then went over to watch the folks begin their run. We sat half way up a short, but very steep, climb that the athletes do on their way in from their first loop of the run course (it’s a two-loop course). There was a guy at the top of the hill shouting encouragement at athletes through a megaphone. They all had race number bibs with their names on them, so we could cheer on total strangers by name, which was cool. We saw all our friends a couple of times and they all looked to be having a great day.
We then went to relax for a bit until we were within 30 minutes of our friend Paula’s predicted finishing time. It was a good thing we got there early because she had a blazing fast race and finished within minutes of us getting there. Her finishing time was 12 hours and 37 minutes – a full 25 minutes faster than she did the race last year! Michael, a first time Ironman, finished only a few minutes later in 12:45 – he was ecstatic! Then came Sarah at 13:33 and John (Paula’s fiancé) at 14:00. At first we thought he must have had a bad day, but as it turned out, he had sacrificed his own personal time by staying with a friend on the run who was struggling. John was on his second lap while Ron was just starting his first. Ron had just made the bike cutoff time (by a mere five minutes), so he only had six hours left to finish the marathon (i.e., by midnight). Unfortunately, when he completed his first loop in three hours and saw that he had a mere three hours left to finish, he called it a day. He had been having stomach problems and knew that there was no way he’d be able to finish in time. Although devastated, he’s vowed to sign up again for next year!
Ron’s story is actually quite inspiring. He’s a friend of Paula’s whom she met when she was a nurse for a supervised medical weight-loss study several years ago. Ron had weighed more than 400 pounds at that time and after losing 200 pounds, he decided to follow in Paula’s footsteps and attempt the Ironman. He was still very hefty at well over 230 pounds on race day, but he was determined to do it. In fact, one of the cable TV channels was filming him for a story they were doing. He felt a lot of pressure to finish for that reason, but he’s a strong guy and I know he’ll be back at it again next year.
On a Stupid Thing I Did:
After our bike ride on Saturday I had the bikes on the rack on the back of my car. I was backing into our parking spot at the campsite and couldn’t see out the window. All of a sudden I hear this loud “POW”. I looked in my rearview mirror to see that my back window had shattered from the pressure of the bike rack as I had been trying to back into a tree! I was remarkably calm in the face of this mishap. I just cleaned it up the best I could and someone gave me plastic to cover it over. That meant that I would have to find a place to fix it before the long (6+-hour) drive home. After much humming and hawing, I decided to drive two hours to Cornwall (across the border in Ontario) and have it fixed there. The first place I called said they didn’t have my window in stock and that I’d have to go to Ottawa or Montréal if I wanted it fixed the same day. The second place I called said that they didn’t have one, but that they could get one for me by 1PM that day – perfect! We left Lake Placid around 10AM and it’s about a 2-hour drive to Cornwall, so that would work out well. I dropped the car off at 12:15 and he said he’d call me when it was done. That caused a 3-hour delay in our trip (and we had to kill three hours in that boring little town) before the final 4+-hour ride home. We were finally back on the road by 3:30 and after dropping my friend Davelle off at home, I got to my place just after 8PM. I was bagged.
On Camping:
This was my second “camping” trip of the summer. We didn’t really camp as we only ate breakfast at the site and never built a fire or anything. We did sleep in tents, so I guess that counts. But I had a lousy sleep the first two nights – the kind of sleep where you never feel like you ever fell asleep (although you must have at some point). Part of it was due to the fact that I was sharing a tent with someone, which I don’t really like doing. Finally, since I was so bagged from not sleeping the first two nights, I managed to sleep fairly well the third night (until my tent-mate woke me up at 2AM when she got up to go to the bathroom). I had been sleeping so well at that point, so I was pissed. And she kept stomping her feet (maybe to get the dirt off before coming back into the tent), which startled me awake.
On The Tour:
Oh, Lance! Congratulations! As if there was any doubt you’d win your 7th (and final) Tour de France. You’ve done so much for the sport. I hope that people will continue to follow the race in your absence.
My friends and I packed ourselves into a small corner of a local hotel bar (along with 100+ other people) to watch the final time trial on Saturday morning. It was a great spectacle and Lance won the stage to cement his victory. Poor old Rassmussen – he just couldn’t get it together after his first crash, three bike changes and second crash. He dropped from third to seventh overall (but still won the polka-dot jersey as the best hill climber).
Note to self: Must get to France at some point to watch the Tour or, better yet, ride one of the stages (not during the race with the athletes, mind you).
On My Upcoming Race:
This Sunday, I have the second of my three planned races for the summer. This one is also a triathlon in Kingston, ON. It’s a 2K (1.25-mile) swim, 56K (35-mile) bike and 15K (9.4-mile) run. The first time I did this race back in 2002 I finished in 4 hours and 44 minutes. Last year, I didn’t finish the race because I bonked on the bike and couldn’t do the run. This year, I have two goals: 1) To avenge last year’s DNF (did not finish), and 2) To beat my previous time of 4:44. Four hours and 30 minutes would be a good goal to work towards. That year, my swim was 51:20 (including transition from swim to bike), my bike time was 2:08 and my run time was 1:45 (including bike-to-run transition). I’ll be happy to keep my swim time the same. I’d love to take 5 minutes off my bike time and I’m sure I can take 10 minutes off my run time. All of this really depends on the weather gods smiling on me. If it’s rainy, my bike time will suffer. If it’s hot and muggy, my run time will suffer.
On My Plans For This Week:
I did not work out yesterday as it was a travel day (although I did walk about 3K while waiting for my car to be fixed). Since I was so bagged from my lack of sleep and long drive this weekend, I opted to sleep in instead of going to the gym this morning. My plan for this evening was to ride my bike, but there are thunderstorms looming, so I think I'll bail. Tomorrow, I’m going to ride to the gym and do 30 minutes on the elliptical before work. After work, I’m going to swim in the lake for about 30 minutes. Not sure about Thursday and Friday yet – it all depends on how Tuesday and Wednesday go (and the weather). We’re leaving Saturday morning for Kingston, so hopefully I’ll be able to get a run in when we get there. It’s CL’s 30th birthday on Sunday (race day), so we’re planning a little post-race celebration. And the place we’re staying is right on a lake, so hopefully we’ll be able to go swimming after the race to cool off.
On What to Look Forward to Tomorrow:
I had an interesting conversation with my friend MS last Thursday night about guilt. I’ll report my thoughts on that here.
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