THANK YOU!

Logan Pass

My two weeks of no training is up.  Have I indulged these past two weeks, or what!  We had a great trip to Glacier National Park and my brother's house in Whitefish, Montana, after the race.  For those of you that have never been, you have to get out there.  It is just the most beautiful place in the summer time.  We had a wonderful visit.  And I always leave Montana wanting more, and wanting to stay longer.  This stay held true to that fact.  My brain and thoughts started planning the next trip before the wheels even left the ground at the airport in Kalispell, MT.  The kids got a long so well, and played great together.  Poor Mark broke his glenoid rim on the scapular portion of his shoulder joint the day before we arrived and had surgery the day we left.  It was a bad fracture with multiple pieces --- poor guy... his shoulder was constantly slipping out of joint, naturally as there was nothing to keep it in place.  We Chace's, when we injure something, we injure it with passion!  He is okay now and back to work as the one-armed bandit,  for awhile.  He has a lot of rehab ahead of himself for awhile.

At the end of Trail of the Cedars.



On the bridge over Avalanch Creek

There are so many people that I have to say thanks for getting me through the Ironman.  Many family and friends and I hope not to leave anyone out.  So many people thought I was crazy and were not shy about telling me to my face.  A lot of friends and colleagues at work were interested in my training and cheering me on right from the get go:   “Cath, it’s quiet today, did you get your swim in?  Go get it done and we’ll page you if we need you.”  There was one anesthesiologist at work that was always making sure I ate... “You’re training for an ironman, go get a bite to eat; I’ll watch the case, but be fast!”   But I rarely worked with him so that didn't happen often, nor did slipping away early for a swim!!  To you my friends and associates at work --- THANKS!!  My family and relatives  were  always praying and supporting me on what they thought was a crazy endeavor.  So many comments, cheers and prayers to me on my facebook wall, truly overwhelming.  It would be impossible to list everyone individually, but know I appreciate each and every one of you.  You know who you are!!!  Thank you everyone!!!   My children sacrificed a little bit of mommy time and had to have patience on numerous occasions for me to get home from training.  A lot of my training was done during school hours, but there were some nights when I know they could hear the bike trainer or the treadmill whirring late at night or before the crack of dawn, so that I could get workouts done before or after work, keeping them from their slumber.  This spring a few lacrosse matches were not watched due to peak training hours and even some swim meets were not watched as well.    Many late arrivals to places because of me, you kids are iron kids for sure! 

Emily in the hollow of one
of the Cedars

Kevin never lost any sleep, as he can sleep through everything, but he had many sacrifices of his own.  He was not keen on the whole IM philosophy from the beginning, but he gradually came around and at times when I needed him most, he was truly there.  Many friends supported me from the beginning --- everyone on KBTC and some new friends on the OA tri team, too.  Thanks, you all were super at supporting me and getting me to where I needed to be.  To my neighbors, you dodged me running and biking at any and every hour up and down the road, not knowing if I would be out there on my bike or on my feet… sometimes cheering me when I got back.   I’ll never forget the Pow kids saying, Boy Mrs L’Heureux, you’re not moving very fast today, are you!”   I have to thank my surgeons Dr. Murray for fixing my knee, Dr. Asherman for the care of my gastroc tear and also Dr. Oeullette for the injections in my other knee to keep me going.   To the physical therapists at Orthopedic Associates for being there for me during the rehab of the knee and my calf injury, THANK YOU.  Owen Lennon did a good chunk of my initial therapy until he moved away before my first ironman attempt.  Jared Buzzell was very helpful with my bike fit, lots of hours of therapy on my knee, shoulder (from last year’s crash) and various other joints, as well as a  run gait analysis.  I have to tell you, I am really comfortable on my bike, I’m pretty aero and pretty fast when I want to be!!

Charlie.  I miss him so!  He's not back from Cd'A, yet
I hope he is enjoying rest and his trip around the country.

 Jared  socked it to me straight, reeled me in when I was getting antsy to do more than I should and really explained to me what it all really came down to.   I bugged him endlessly on a lot of things and he was just unbelievably patient and helpful - way above and beyond the call of duty, as was Owen when he was there.    There were many people that were involved in my training, giving me tidbits of information, workouts, advice and help.  From the trainers and professionals at Parisi Speed School including Scott Fleurant, Stephanie Chase as well as Stan Skofield, the athletic trainers and the entire physical therapy department.  Scott had done a lot of one -on- one strength training with me which proved to be very helpful.  Had I not had a firm base of strength that he had established for me, those mountainous climbs would have been walked instead of ridden for sure.  We just don’t have climbs like that near me in Maine.  The pro athlete that won for women said that the bike course was one of the hardest she had ever done.  Believe me, there were people climbing VERY SLOWLY, and struggling.   The bike trainer workouts done at OA with Stephanie Chase were a key for my bike strength as well.    I need to  line up more time with Steph for sure!!   Thanks, Steph!!!!  And two very important people in my triathlon specific -training were: Doug Welling, my very first coach who molded me from a pile of clay into one that could swim, bike and run with confidence and knowledge.  He gave me so much courage to go places that I wouldn’t have otherwise gone; patience to try new things, knowledge and know-how of equipment use and the art of training, just a truly amazing individual, athlete and coach. I still hear his voice at different times giving advice and instruction.    And lastly, one of my childhood friends who was both friend and coach to me through the last two years of training and ironman build, very tough times both physically, mentally and emotionally:  Angela Bancroft. 

Here's Ange on her way to win at the Pirate Triathlon,
 a local sprint race.

Angela tactfully fulfilled the friend and coach role which must have been really hard, but she did it with much grace and professionalism that many probably could not have done.  She is a true inspiration that words can just not describe.   Ange really understood me as a mom, a person, working professional and athlete.   I think it actually was helpful for her knowing me as a kid because she knew inside what my true potential was, and she brought it out of me.  From the first time I told her 4 years ago that I was going to do a triathlon she was behind me giving encouragement, advice and support.  I could have not made it to the Ironman finish line without her.  She kept me from hurting myself while recovering from my injuries and rebuilt my fitness back up essentially from ground zero.  She developed my athleticism, with exhausting grace and smiles.  Even though I didn’t exactly run to my potential on race day, we all know that race day can always throw some unexpected curves and that’s part of ironman for sure.  And truly, getting to finish, you can’t always expect your best because there is so much more that influences the day, things beyond your control.  Ange taught me that tactfully, and really on Ironman day, you focus on the training that you have in the bank and roll with the punches.  That’s how you become an ironman.     Thanks, Ange!  You are the best Ironman I know!!  Sorry about the picture, but I thought it would be better to use this instead of your first grade picture!!  

One of the many vistas in Glacier Park from Road to the Sun.

 

A few random pictures from the trip, scattered around!  Now, tomorrow, it's time to get back to training. I'll be in the pool for my first swim before work.   My next planned race is at the end of August.  A local, half-distance race (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run).  Let's hope the hip is okay to do that one or I may have to switch in to the aqua bike category if there is one.  it's in Old Orchard Beach.  It's the Revolution 3 branded race.  There will be some of the awesome local talent  and some pro's from around the country racing.  It'll be a great race and I sure hope that I will do it.  I really want to!!  It should be a lot of fun to see the local people that have superior talent and the pro's head it off.  THis is the first year of the race here in Maine.   I can't wait!!!     TO End, here's a couple more pictures.  One of Mary Anne and the kids, from left to right: Lucia, Gustavo, Angelina and Alonzo!  What a great bunch!! It was so fun being out there visiting  them.  I truly can't wait for the next trip!!!!!!!!

 





 

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Lake McDonald



IronMan Coeur d'Alene: Race Report Part II/II

In loop two of the bike,  we soon hit special needs at the turn-around point along the lake.  Some athletes are able to not stop at all, or grab and go, just slowing the bike down.  Me, however... I actually had to stop, straddle the bike and paw into my bag.  All I really needed to do was exchange my empty nutrition bottles with fresh ones... Well, not that they were "fresh" because the sun had come out and they were warm, but FULL bottles of nutrition.  Warm didn't taste terrible. It was EFS, so that doesn't taste bad warm.    I grabbed my bottles and gels that i needed and headed off with trepidation.     Right after this turnaround point was a short climb and then an aid station.  This was the time and place of last year's bad crash.  They had the same aid station in place and it gave me chills to come upon it.  I went wide of the station and chills went up my spine.  When the station was gone, I knew I had overcome a major thing.  I was okay!  I was smiling.   The little red letters that I had on my forehead that only I could see (DNF) were starting to fade.   Time to head through town and climb up onto I-95 and head for those huge  climbs again.  My legs felt good.  i was ready to tackle the climbs again.  There was Kevin and the kids again, cheering me on.  It was so good to see them.  It was getting hot.  The sun was out and what moved all those clouds away, was strong wind.  I was going to be climbing this second time through into the wind.  I felt ready.  I had done a lot of riding in April in the wind.  Many others had succombed to their trainers on those windy, cold days.  I went out in it.  And this knowledge gave me the confidence to know, that I would be just fine.  On the first long climb, I passed a guy that was dying on his bike.  He was weaving and practically falling over.  "You okay?"  He was fine.  He explained that he was very tired and was sick of the climbing.  Poor guy.  So I asked, "is this your first Ironman?'  "Well, technically no," he shared, " I just did IM St. George in Utah, but I didn't finish!"  Oh, that's too bad!  " Do you mind me asking what happened?"    He said, "Not at all, it will help put my mind on something else besides this climb!"  He went on to explain that he did the swim,  (and he had a faster swim on the treacherous conditions of St. George, BTW), but his nutrition plan fell apart and he died after the bike and could not run due to GI distress.  I felt badly for him.  I pushed on a head.   I wished that his nutrition plan was working better for him today.   But he wasn't climbing so well.  I was still feeling great with 3 more big hills to conquer.  Some people were walking their bikes up hills.  I just kept plugging away, tackling the climbs and eventually got to the 90 mile mark.  From mile 90 -112 was pretty much down hill, with only one longish climb.  I came down off that climb and down off I-95 and onto the main streets, flat to transition.

Riding into transition feeling home free. 
I knew this race was in the bag, no matter what.

My time was just as I had expected, maybe even a little bit faster.  I still had one gel left (peaking out of my top) which was a "just in case" I went long on the bike.  I grabbed it at the last food station, but didn't need it.  Here I was going into transition, feeling on top of the world.  I knew I had this race in the bag, no matter what.  It was only 3:30 in the afternoon!   My bike split (7 hrs) put me in 44th place for my age group (Iwas 66th after the swim).  Not bad at all!!

I handed off the bike and ran into transition.  Earlier I was Ms. conservative and now I was ready to just run, run,  run!  As I ran into transition and my run bag was handed to me, my left hip did it's little "catch" thing.  OH My GOD!!  The sharp pain was agonizing.  When it does this, I have to do a wiggle thing and it would release.  I had nothing to lean against to wiggle it free.  UGH!  I try not to wince and just keep the smile on, not letting anyone know.  I didn't want anyone see me limp because I was afraid they would take my timing chip away.  I sort of tip toed into transition and got my run sneakers on, put on my trimoxie visor and grabbed my gels and EFS and headed out to get sunscreened up and head out to the run.  There was a tree next to the sunscreen station so i leaned into it and did my wiggle to get my hip unkinked.  I figured my hip would be set for at least half of the marathon.  Little did I know that it was a harbinger of how the run would play out.

getting sunscreen on. Ouch! they put it on my
jellyfish sting from last week!

 Within the first few steps of the run, my hip started to catch again.  Eeks, I was frustrated.  It should be set!  I leaned up against a tree, did my wiggle and it freed.  There!  It felt better because it even cracked and popped a little that time so i figured that now it was really set for at least half of the marathon.  Again, across the street and up the hill I went.  My legs felt pretty good all and all.  My heart rate was in check and I felt good with the pace that I was running.  there were already people walking so I had to weave in and around a couple people.  I dropped a water bottle with EFS and it started to roll away.  I quickly stepped to the side and twisted and snatched it up off the ground.  Yup, you guessed it, my hip snagged.  Well a big sigh!  I was getting frustrated.  I bent over because there were no posts or trees I could get to because of all the spectators.  So I bent down on the ground like I was trying to stretch my calves, I stretched out into a pike/plank position and did my hip wiggle.  I didn't think it would release, but it did.  Phew!  Carefully stood back up and pretended to stretch a little and started running again.  I am not even a mile in to the run and my hip had done this three times.

heading out of transition and the first tree I used for my hip

  Well the third time was a charm because now it seemed like I was good.  I was off running again.  My legs felt good, my body felt good and I took in a gel and drank some water.  It was all going to be okay from now on.  The route took us through a little residential area that was full of spectators.  It was a cute part of the course and all the families were out on their lawns cheering on the runners and having basically a street party wth music, all sorts of entertainment and offers of vaseline or anything else.  You could smell the grills running in the backyard with steak, chicken and burgers being grilled.  It smelled really good!  Then the next thing I know, I am at mile 4 and my hip catches.  Darn it.  This time it was a very sharp pain simulataneously.  I went to the nearest tree and did my little wiggle.  It wouldnn't release.  I kept trying.  oh shoot.  how come this keeps happening??!!  It was happening  about once or twice a day in the hotel room, maybe once a week for the past couple weeks and maybe once a month for the previous few months.  But I had been doing my hip exercises religiously, and it seemed to be better until that absolute last big week of training.  I figured it would calm down during taper.  It seemed to have.  What is different??!!  I had therapy in the IM village a few days before the race and had a gentle massage two days before the race.  It seemed better!  At mile 4 I was forced to hobble for a few minutes.  At the next tree I tried to wiggle it free... SUCCESS!  I was able to get it loose.  I started to run again.  And within 50 yrds again, it got stuck.  Again, i couldn't bear weight, had to tip toe and tried my wiggle routine.  It wouldn't release.  I was starting to get mad.  But I really was still smiling, but it was turning into a little bit of a sly smile.  I had just passed fireman dude (he does the marathon at a walking pace in full Firefighter's turnout gear), he is the pacer for the marathon.  If you stay ahead of him, you are set and will finish without a problem.  Fire dude saw me doing my dance and wiggle... must have looked crazy what I was doing.  "You okay?"  Totally fine, I had answered... I didn't trust him... he just wanted to take my timing chip away, I just knew it.  "Well," he offered without solicitation, "If you maintain a 16 minute mile you will finish with plenty of time."   My hip released again and off I jogged.  I did a systems check.  I feel okay, my quads/glutes/calves seem okay.  Does my back hurt?   Everything seemed fine.    I made it to mile 5 and then it started to catch but didn't and then  close to 6 it did.  It wouldn't release for what seemed like a long time.  I felt like i had to make a decision.  Do I keep trying to run and have this thing continue to catch and potentially prevent me from finishing.  Or, do I maintain a 16 minute mile and maybe jog here and there if I can and finish intact with plenty of time to spare.  Not finishing didn't even remotely enter my mind.  The choice was easy.  I was not going to take any chances, walking it would be.  The name of the game was to be conservative and finish intact with a smile on my face.  My race goal had been to finish with a smile on my face by 16:59:59.    As time passed, and the miles came so slowly, I kept smiling, kept thanking volunteers and kept moving forward.   It seemed silly to be walking so early of a marathon --20 miles of walking.  But that really was the safest thing to do.  And, I was in good company.  I did occasionally jog, but not often.



Mile 10 and few people are running.



this guy had "hip" issues and
couldn't run.  They tried
manipulating on the side of the road.

Well, I got to talk to a lot of the people out walking and a lot of them were walking because they had GI issues.  I felt great.  But starting at the halfway point, i had been walking for quite awhile, my appeal to food and nutrition disappeared.  But I am only walking?/!!  What's the deal!  Well, yes, I am still moving forward and that does require caloric consumption.  Soon I had come upon James who was trying to look for me.  I was waaaayyyy behind where i should be.  And I warned them not to be too stuck on typical paces, because anything can happen.  So he yells, "go, Mom, pick it up!  Why are you walking?"  So, I explained to him that everytime I ran my hip would cramp but if I walked it would be okay.  I told him I was afraid to keep stopping and wiggling it to do right.  It was best to walk... not ideal, but my goal was to finish.   I was capable of walking and walking pretty fast. so I did.  But walking a marathon, let me tell you is a lot harder than jogging it.  There were so many times that I just wanted to run.  I wanted to run the flats, I wanted to run down the hills, but every time I picked up to even a jog, I was steps away from pain and a wiggle... that was no way to do the marathon.  It just didn't make sense.  I thought about all my hard training days and none of them were like this...They were so much easier than this.  Then, the other thing I wasn't sure about was my lack of desire for food.  Nothing I held, nothing at the aid stations appealed to me.  I wasn't really prepared for that feeling.   Kevin had been keeping in contact with Ange at this point and she was telling me to just eat anything.  Just keep eating.  Broth, yuck, cookies -- no --- chips --- seriously??  the next gel i ate, I thought I was going to throw up.  I was talking to people as I walked or people would strike conversation first.  Always  the questions were about where you were from, first ironman --- why was your day so bad.  I kept telling people that I was having a good day.  And I really was.  Then some guy said to me, "you know, walking an ironman marathon is not a good day.  I am going to exit the race  at the next aid station"  So, I said to him, "you know, there are people out there that can't even walk that would give their life to walk just two steps, there are people that are dying of terrible diseases and diseases, so terrible that they would change places with us in a heartbeat.  There are people that died and were never given the chance to even an attempt an ironman.  Those people are having bad days!  Me and you?  No, we aren't having a bad day... we are just having a day we didn't expect to turn out the way we had hoped.  We are having a challenging day and why give up on the challenge?  Just because it's not going your way?  You don't give up when things aren't going your way.  When people with bad diseases give up because things don't go their way,  you know what happens?  They die!!"  OOPSIE, I said too much...His eyes got big... I thought he was going to slug me.  My eyes got big!  Then he took a deep breath and said, "you are so right....thanks for telling me this."  I thought I heard a hint of sarcasm and i was just waiting for the comeback.  Then, a few minutes later, he said, "I can't walk this fast, so I am going to sit for a few minutes.  But i am going to catch up with you later.  I am not going to stop anymore.  I am going to hold my head high and smile and thank everyone like you are, because that's the way to be.  I can't believe in the past i pushed all the walkers out of the way and got so furious with my performance if it wasn't always my best.   But I never stopped to put things into perspective like you have.  Here you are in the same boat as me, but we have polar opposite ideas on what a bad day is and you have enlightened me.  There are so many people I just want to apologize to for my behavior in the past, either holding me up in transition, or in my way on the run or whatever... and I kept saying... stupid people doing something they shouldn't.  But really the stupid people are the athletes that are aggravated by the people that aren't as gifted.  Walking and talking with you has given me something to feel good about.  I am not going sub 11 hrs today, but I am out here and I am not quitting, i was going to, because I had the why bother idea.  I like your idea better.  So many people don't even make it to the start line."  We said our good-byes and I never saw him again.  But HE almost made ME cry.   I am not sure if he finished or not.  But I still had little conversations with people along the way.  After my conversation with that guy, I decided to try a cookie.  My New year's resolution was to eat more cookies this year.  How about during an ironman?  I ate half a cookie.  It was okay.  I drank some coke.  Oh Goodness! that was heavenly ---  coke on a race course!!  That did the trick; I was feeling much better a few minutes after that.  Who would have thought coke and cookies would be good out on a race.  It must have been the coke.  So I drank coke at every aid station... and if my dentist is reading this, he is probably falling over in his chair.  So it took me 6 hrs and 32 mins to do the entire marathon.  I did jog here and there, but not a lot.   And every time I did, my hip told me it didn't want to.  That was frustrating.  But that's how it went.  And really the last half of the marathon, I didn't jog, ever.    My finish time was 15:28:15, 88th for my age group and certainly a long way from last.  I did beat my 16:59:59!!



gotta love those sunglasses about to fall off!

Here i was at the finish line, starting to cry.  I wanted to run across the finish line.  I tried, but I just couldn't.  When I finished some guy grabbed me and wrapped a blanket around me and practically carried me to food and my clothes.  I saw Kevin and the kids and I was trying to keep it together but the tears just flowed and flowed.  I went to bed and when I woke up in the morning I looked in the mirrow and the DNF was erased.  I was so proud and so glad that I kept it together.  I still can't believe I walked most of the marathon.  I  can't wait to get back to training again.   And, I do want to train for another.  First, I have to heal and probably visit my  buddy, Jared, the physical therapist.  I was hoping to stay off the clinic tables there for at least half a year!  Next post will be a huge thank you to so many people that helped me get to the start and finish lines!!  Then maybe I'll throw in a few pictures from Montana and my visit with my brother, Mark.    What a great day though, and I will never forget it!!!  I will do another one, but not for two years.   I am going to give my body an ultra-distance break.

IronMan Coeur d'Alene: Race Report Part I/II

We have arrived home safe and sound from being out West.  What a great trip!  I can't believe it's been a whole week since race day!!  I have lasting, great memories of it, such a great experience!!  I wrote a poem in my last post about the night before and morning of.  It really was as magical as Christmas Day and so I chose to write it based on "Twas the Night Before Christmas."  Being able to train and complete an ironman is truly a gift... a reward for such hard training.  The training is a lot harder than the actual race is, for sure.  But, you do have to do the training to get to the finish line as so many people that didn't do the training, found out.  Sometimes you do all the training, and you don't see the end result because something happens out of your control (like last year) and always, something unexpected can pop up to put an extra level of difficulty, as did this year... but you know in your heart that you have done the training; it carries you to the finish.



before the canon goes off!



Race morning was cold and drizzling.  It didn't phase me one bit.  Many athletes were complaining, some hadn't been in the water and were fretting about it.  Not me, I was prepared.  I had done cold water swims; I had done cold, Atlantic Ocean swims and the weather just didn't even nudge me.  The water was rough; wind, rain and white caps.  It was very challenging for some people.  Athletes that had just done IM  St. George with a beastly swim were looking for a reprieve--- they weren't going to get it.  Between the 59 degree temperature and the conditions added an element of difficulty.  Standing on the beach with 2500 other athletes waiting for the cannon to go off was surreal.  The sand was cold, the water did look a little scary, but at the start the water was fairly calm.  By this point of the morning, I was calm and ready to go.  I was all the way to the outside right of the course.  My plan was to take my time unless I got cold...it was going to be a zen, serene swim, like last year.   I entered the water and was already swimming in a short time, but within minutes I found my self in the middle of chaos.  The wind picked up and was pushing everyone to the right!  Everyone was way out where I was:



the swim!



 splashing, hitting, kicking.  i was getting yanked under water.  There was no way I could move inside to near the buoys where hardly anyone was swimming.  Darn it!  I wished I had started in the middle so that I could plan to move to one side or the other depending on where the swimmers were.  It was a battle field for sure.  It was ugly and uncomfortable.  For a few moments, I had doubts enter my mind.  This was the only time during the whole day that i had doubts of not finishing.    I quickly regrouped myself and did head above water free style, it wasn't fast, but i had to find the path of least resistance.  The water was choppy and it was hard to see where to go.  i wasn't going to be able to swim rightward across 25 yards of hundreds of bodies just flailing in the water.  I stuck with my plan.  Stay as far right as possible. After the first loop I would readjust if needed or possible.  So to the far right I stayed, swimming over some people myself as gently as possible.  Sometimes in cood down laps at the pool I would swim 3 strokes freestyle and then turn onto my back and do three strokes on my back.  I realized that I could maneuver this way without plowing over people to get where I wanted because I turn on my back on someone's legs and they wouldn't know I was there....Phew!  I was able to move forward and move laterally to clearer water.    So I went left to just outside of the buoy's on the counter clockwise swim.  I never would have expected it to be clearer on the inside of the hoards of people... but it was.  That took time to do and I completed that task by the first turn buoy (which was about 900 yrds in the rectangular swim)  The second turn buoy to head back to shore was 200 yrds away.  I could see up ahead there was congestion around that buoy.  When I got about 100 yrds away from it, I did my little back stroke maneuver over bodies to get outside again so I wouldn't be stopped at the buoy like hundreds of other swimmers.  My maneuver worked yet again because as I rounded the buoy about 25 yrds away from it, I was passing a lot of people that were stuck at the buoy.  There was a race official at the inside of that buoy too watching for cutting...some were cutting out of necessity because they couldn't maneuver themselves to get outside the buoy.  I was starting to feel badly because I knew some were getting DQ'd.  I was on the straight away soon to finish the first loop.  When I got up on the beach over the timing mat, my time was 42 mins and some odd seconds... I was happy for everything I had to do to get there.   Really it was a terrible time, but considering what was going out there in the water, it was a great time.  We were warned that no one has a best time in CDA and really the race tactic for the swim here is to just get through it the best way you know how.  And that's how I was managing it.   I had a huge smile on my face.   I re-entered the water.  The numbers had thinned somewhat, but the conditions became worse.  The wind picked up, it was raining, and harder to see.  I was able to maintain position on the swim  and just stay where I wanted to be.  On the second loop though, I got picked up in the current of the Spokane River (which empties into Lake CdA, carrying lots of fast moving and cold water) and carried pretty far rightward from the second turn buoy.  The choppiness of the water was worse and the wind was terrible.  The press helicopters were too low making the water even more churned up, too.   It was hard to get out of the current.  I was one of many athletes that got swept into it.  We all made it out fine.  As I finished the second loop, I glanced back and saw that there were many swimmers behind me... I was so relieved to get out of the water and was feeling a little sea sick from all the up and down motion.  I was dizzy. Rumors were already passing around that they had removed many swimmers from the water and one was unconcious being flown to the nearest medical center.  I hope he is okay....unbeknownst to me, I would learn more about the swim later on along the bike and run course later throughout the day....

In transition I couldn't feel my fingers.  They had wetsuit strippers outside of the tent and the wetsuit was off in a flash!  I remembered the same from last year.  My bike bag was tied so tightly I couldn't get into it because of the lack of dexterity.  There was a wonderful helper in the tent and she was able to undo and open the bag for me.  She put my bike socks on for me, too, latched my race helmet and sent me off to my bike.  I actually walked to my bike.  I wanted to run, but my hip had been hurting and "catching" over the past couple days.  I didn't want to put undue stress on any part of my body to save a couple minutes.  My motto for the day was safe and controlled, watchful vigilance on every part of the bike course.    I was extremely nervous getting on the bike.  I was super conservative on the first loop.  In fact, I kept my watt average at the way bottom end of where my coach wanted me to be.  I just didn't want to take any chances.  I wanted to be watchful of all the going on's.  I didn't want to be anaerobic ever, which I wouldn't be in that wattage zone anyway; however, I wanted to conserve as much as possible for the climbs.  As soon as I started pedaling, my heart rate was way above where it should be for the effort and I attributed that to the adrenaline and anxiety.  For the first 20 minutes I rode very casually.  I wanted to settle my body so that it would accept food and be in control.  Those hills were ahead.  Through town and down along the lake to the first turnaround point and back into town were uneventful.  I felt great!  My smile returned and I was having good feelings.



 First set of hills complete!   Big Smile that never left!
Also note: guy just coming on bridge with "King of the Mountain shirt", NOT!

 I entered the I-95 overpass and was greeted by Kevin, James and Emily, cheering me on.  I had a huge grin on my face.  The next 40 miles were going to be all climbing, but I was ready for it.  I was fueling well at this point hydrated and feeling super!  No sooner than I left the family did the first climb in a series start.  There are no hills in southern Maine that even compare with what I had to climb.  I attribute my strength with climbing to strength training early in the training season with Scott Fleurant and awesome coaching (THANKS ANGELA BANCROFT!)  and doing local hills in a harder gear than necessary.  I knew in training I wasn't being an efficient rider a lot of the time, but I knew I wasn't working on big long hills like I needed to be on.  I just didn't have the time to travel to Northern ME or NH and I wasn't exactly sure where the hills were. I knew a few people that were doing hills out by Sebago and north of there, but it just never seemed to fit in my schedule to do those group rides.   I put faith in what I had done; I stuck to local roads that I knew and increased the difficutly by pushing a harder gear and did them into the wind as much as possible.  The hills in the Berwicks, Lebanon, Limington and  most of York County was what I had to work with and of course the hills  on and around Mount Hope in Sanford.   I can't afford a computrainer either, so I couldn't even attempt to assimilate the hills on an indoor trainer.  Not once on the bike course did I feel under trained or under prepared.    I was climbing those steep, long grades as comfortably as possible.  Eating and drinking well.    It was cloudy, cold and windy... If anything, I was underdressed for the first loop.   The first loop went great!  I was happy and coming down off the I-95 overpass on to local roads and seeing my family, again, I was still very happy.  Onto flats for a few miles and gentler grades.  I poured in more nutrition, fluids and went out along the lake to special needs at the halfway point.  To be Continued.....

James and Emily on the rock outside our hotel.