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Ironman Louisville 2010

It's been one week since my IRONMAN -- I've had a massage, cooked dinner almost daily, eaten a lot, and watched more TV than I'm used to, so it's about time to properly reflect on the experience.

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I started packing for my trip about a week before I actually boarded the plane; I was THAT paranoid about not remembering something. I woke up in the middle of the night more than once to make sure that my LA Tri Club jersey was in my bag, and that I had my bike shoes. (However, I still ended up forgetting socks which lead me to purchasing 2 pairs of M-dot socks at the expo!)

My dad picked me up at the airport and we arrived at the 'official Ironman hotel', the Galt House, with enough time to unpack and put together my bike before dinner with my LA tri & USC MBA friend, Pete, his girlfriend and the rest of the LA crew. It was great to get some inside info on the race course from Rick who had done IMLV many years in a row, and to generally satiate fears from time with a bunch of IM veterans. Additionally, my friend, TnT coach and IM fiend, Arkady, had told me "Don't listen to others for advice", so I tried to just enjoy their stories as opposed to figure out how to apply them to my race. It was a fun (early) evening of food and friends, and we were back at the hotel by about 9pm.

Friday started with registration, weigh-in (ugh.), and mini-expo shopping (with mom and dad there, I definitely ended up with some solid IMLV product and propaganda!). We drove the bike course (hilly & hot!) with a stop in La Grange for sandwiches. Definitely saw a bunch of riders out checking out the grade and their set-ups, but I was satisfied in the AC comfort of the car and a run when we got back to the hotel. That evening was the welcome dinner where I was inspired and freaked out by the 80-year man doing his 50th IM and the 18 year olds doing their first. I caught up with Katy, from my "new tri club" the RMTC, and we caught up on our pre-race time in Louisville.

The day before the race started pretty slowly -- walked over for a practice swim in the Ohio River -- yum! -- It was a disgusting 86 degrees (or jello temp), and I was content after a few moments splashing around in the algae. Ate a delicious big breakfast, prepped my gear, took a quick spin on the bike, and then walked down to transition with my bags and bike.

Organization! Set-up

The buzz was alive, and I got a tour from this sweet old man who always volunteers while his wife races. It was crazy to see the big changing tents, the lines of clean porta-potties, and the very organized bagging systems before the chaos of Sunday. Mom, Dad and I went to an early dinner at a great Italian restaurant and then I tried to go to bed at 8pm. This "mostly" worked -- I visualized the race and being relaxed and dozed off within a half hour. However, I woke up about 11pm and stayed awake for about an hour... eventually, I got back to bed and woke up at 4am to my alarm. RACE DAY WAS HERE!

I ate my oatmeal and drank my Ensure as I played on facebook and braided my hair, trying to stay calm the whole time. I met Pete, Megan, and the others at 530 and we walked down to transition to pump up tires, place "cold" water bottles, and do the final details. I saw some crazed people freaking out out their bike tires and some calm people just going through what they needed to do. It was already t-shirt weather (at 6am!) and I knew we were in a for a warm day. I started the 3/4 mile walk down to Tumbleweed still in the dark and tried to continue the hydration process with a bottle of water I got from a volunteer at Transition.

sweatshirt = overkill

Swim: Less than 1:17:51 (2:01/100m)

Because of IMLV's unique start, we 'should have' gotten in line at that time, but we just hung out, chatted and took a few pics before using the porta potty one last time... i ended up "joining" the line after the pros went off. I was nervous as I looked around at the speed suits and swimcaps, but I took a few deep breathes and started to walk down the path and the ramp to the water. Rick was pepped up by the crowd it relieved me a little to see his energy as we went past the point of no return and I hit my watch to go and took a jump into the brown abyss of the Ohio. I started to kick (later, I learned that I kicked Brian in a less than comfortable location... oops!) About 50 meters past the start, I realized that my timing chip was REALLY REALLY loose, and I thought about stopping to tighten it but figured that it wasn't "that crowded" so maybe "it'd be ok." A few meters later, it fell off, and as I yelled a few choice phrases to myself and tried to contort my body as quickly as I could to grab it, I acknowledged that I should have probably stopped... but now it was too late and I continued on my way. The path is a dog-leg around an island -- you swim upstream for 3/4 of a mile, and then downstream along the other side of the island and to the main transition. I couldn't really feel the current, but figured it evened out the fact that it's a non-wetsuit swim. I just focused on my breathing and my rotation. 2.4 miles gets pretty boring, but as I passed under the bridges I realized I 'had to be getting close.' Eventually, I could see the crowd and I finally got upright, looked at my watch and smiled that I was right where I hoped.

Transition: More than 6:35

I starting jogging up to the ramp, I could see my parents with their "hurray kristin" sign and then realized "F***", I need a new timing chip! I ran back down yelling "chip chip chip chip chip" -- the volunteers were initially thrown (the woman tried to find a pair of eyeglass with the name "Chip"), but after my brain was able to form more words, I was able to get a new timing chip on my ankle and head up to the changing tent. I got into bike clothes, grabbed my trusty Cervelo, and hit the roads of Louisville.

Bike: 7:08:06 (15.7mph)

So, Biking is NOT my strong point, in fact, I'm a pretty horrible biker, so I really tried to focus on being super steady and relaxed. My bike computer had broken a few weeks prior, so I didn't have it's speedometer to make me realized how slow I was actually going, but since the point of the IM is to survive all THREE disciplines, I figured it was better this way. The first 10 miles are pretty darn flat along river road, so I focused on drinking water and finding a happy cadence. Because of the time-trial start, man after man with stupid disc wheels came barreling past and I probably dropped about 300+ spots in the rankings (meh.). The first real hills come at the turn for RT1694, a narrow out and back. This was generally super fun and I enjoyed the wind as rushed down the hills and shifting gears to get up the short, rolling hills. Because of the nature of the race in general: the hills, the narrow-ness, and the fact that most people are better bikers than swimmers, it got a little congested at points. I saw a pretty vicious spill by a woman at the turn around (which I think resulted in her getting carted off by an ambulance)... I made it through with no issues, and continued on my merry way back to River Road.

The loops start about mile 30-ish, and the first pro (on his 2nd lap) passed me about mile 37. Obviously this trend continued as I made my way around. La Grange was a blast, (slightly downhill, lots of cheering) and though I didn't see my parents that first time through, I *think* they were somewhere watching me and the piles of other bikers still pretty happy so early and *not that overheated yet*. The rest of the lap in nowhere near that interesting -- a few horses, some more hills, and some big houses. There was a pretty hilarious dude on Old Ballard Rd who in his Kentucky accent, beer-in-hand was talked to the riders say "You're on your first lap, right? It's hot, eh?" which, though true, was not necessarily invigorating.

112 miles is pretty damn long, and it's amazing that I can't really remember what I thought about other than, "drink gatorade, keep drinking" and "keep moving forward". I played some leap frog with other girls in my age group -- I remember Chrystal who became semi-famous to me because of the signs her boyfriend and family had placed on the course -- and we'd chat every time one of us would pass the other. Otherwise, I just pedaled along... At some point, after I was out of water, and was hating the Ironman Perform they had handed me, I got to a rest station where they had run out of water and they filled my aerobottle with the melted ice from their trash cans. It was nasty, but it was cold and I kept sipping on it till I got to my special needs bags and got more of my own gatorade/carbo-pro mixture. Pedal, pedal, keep moving forward, sip, pedal, sip, pedal. Mile 85 passed and I got excited! These were supposed to be the fastest miles of the course -- 20 miles downhill to almost the end... a renewed vigor in my cadence... and then. What was this? Wind? Are you kidding me? I was conflicted. The headwind did provide a nice cooling breeze on my frying skin, but seriously slowed me down. I actually had to keep the gearing lower than I expected and the effort higher that I wished to make it back. Pedal, pedal, keep moving forward, sip, pedal... the miles ticked by slowly. Eventually I was pretty close to transition, and I tried to pick it up a little bit till the end.

Transition: 6:48

Thank god! I was stoked when I looked down at my bike computer - 7:08 is faster than 2x my vineman 70.3 bike leg! I handed my bike to kind volunteers and started the jog/hobble to the transition tent, where I switched shoes, and spaced out for a moment, lubed up the sunscreen, donned the visor, and got ready for the marathon.

Run: 5:36:16 (12:51/mile)

I started the run chanting to myself "5 hour marathon, 5 hour marathon. All you need to break 14 is a 5 hour marathon"... it felt within my reach!

Now, I know you aren't supposed to have expectations for your first IM, but after excessive athlinks stalking of people I trained with in LA, I thought that it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities to be between 13:30 and 14:30 for my Ironman. However, most of the people that I trained with, did NOT do their races in places with 96-degrees of heat and heat indexes of over 100 because of the humidity when their marathons began. As I humbly jogged up over the bridge to Indiana and reached the first water stop and my first of many, many ice cold sponges and drinks of water, I realized this was not going to be a very easy '5 hour marathon'.

The first few miles passed relatively uneventfully. I was "on pace" at about 11:30min miles. The course was mostly flat, but, MAN, it was BORING!! For about a mile you were still in downtown and there were people around, (I saw Megan which was exciting) and then there was a mile of industrial boringness, and then the university for a little bit, a couple neighborhoods, then more boringness. My rhythm was to walk when I got to the water stops, drench myself with ice water, drink as much ironman Perform that I could handle (that stuff tastes like sh*t), cover it up with water, and run to the next stop, and repeat. When I reached about mile 2, I started to see my friends pass me on the opposite side of the road (all of them being 1. significantly faster bikers than I, and 2. faster runners). First Rick, then Katy, Frank, etc. It was exciting to see them and to pass on words of encouragement! I also saw the woman leaders on their second lap. (the first man had already finished before I got to the long loop).

But, I continued to slog along. I started to slow-up a bit after mile 5. The heat and everything was starting to get to me more. Pete came up on me at this point -- crap, he was fast! He was on his way to an 11:11, and though he slowed up a bit after the turn, was generally destroying the course. I was still only walking the water stops, but we only chatted for a moment before he left me in his dust. The flip side was relatively uneventful, and I got back to downtown. At the turn off to start the second lap saw some of the 12 hour people finish and vowed to get faster 'the next time.' I scoured the crowd for the parents, but didn't quite see them. The next lap started about as uneventfully as it could. boring. foot-after-foot heading away from the finish line. The 5 hour marathon was getting out of my grasp. I tried to keep my momentum up, and added in short walking breaks at the mid-points of the water stops (the mile markers). I'd hit my watch at every mile and do the math... I could still get under 14 if I picked it up, and I'd get to the next water stop ready for my walking break. At some point in the second "out lap", a dude in a UCLA jersey started to chat with me because of the LA tri jersey. We had a nice talk and I wished him well "even though he was a bruin", and then he asked if I was on lap 1 or 2. I said "2, obviously" and he lamented he was only on lap 1! haha! Fight on! This cheered me up again, and I picked up the pace for a moment.

Mile 18, I hit bottom again, and had to start a cone to cone walk/run system. There were people literally lying all over the place. The heat and exhaustion having gotten to be too much to handle for a bunch of people. I never stopped, however, remembering the words of many Ironmen before me, "keep moving forward. whatever you do, keep moving forward." It was starting to get dark and people around my started to have glow necklaces... goddamn it. Don't be out in the dark. get home. you can do it. just get back to town. Finally, I could hear the people and the music and I turned the corner to the bright lights of the finish.

Total Time: 14:15:36

The last 400 meters were surreal. I felt like I was swimming through the sound and the people, but that I was going as fast I could, but didn't want to go fast because I wanted to savor it. I ached, but I felt invincible. I thoughtfully made sure that the person ahead of me got through the finish line by herself. I saw the time, I heard the cheering, Kristin Piccirillo, from Denver, CO. You are an IRONMAN!

I felt the relief as I finally went past the end of got "caught" by the people on the other side. The woman that helped me through handed me my medal, made sure I got a picture with it on, and checked to see if I was coherent enough to make it to the other end of the finisher chute without a wheelchair or other help.I got out and started looked for the parents. I knew I should keep moving, but I had been going for 14+ hours. I didn't really want to move any more. I sat for a moment on a curb and borrowed someone's cell phone to try to call my parents. Obviously, my mom's cell phone had run out of batteries, and I couldn't remember my dad's off the top of my head. I tried my sister Amanda, but she didn't answer. Ugh.Luckily, I had placed my own cell phone in my "morning clothes bag" and went to go retrieve it so I could call them. I walked down the street to the recovery area, grabbed 2 pieces of cheese pizza and 2 cookies and got my bag, but no dad cell phone number! (new phone). I called my sister Katie who said congrats and that she was already coordinating with my parents who were "worried something had happened" and checking the triage area. I got her to call them, and found them shortly after. We hobbled together back to the hotel.The next day, as I waited in line for my finisher gear, swapped stories with friends and other finishers, and gorged on more food, I realized the power of what I did and just wanted to relish in it. When I went to the finisher/awards lunch, I realized how crazy it really was -- 15% of people that started didn't finish! A friend of mine had a crazy/freak bike accident and had spent the night in the hospital! We congratulated on another on joining this elite club that so few people will themselves to join.A week later, I'm feeling the high, but I'm also asking "what's next?" and I'll do it again. It's definitely addictive, and amazing, and a feeling that I want to feel again (but maybe not for a little while).

Western Vista Sunflower Classic

Jim Millensifer used to be a TnT coach until moving to Kanadas. Kanadas is a tiny Canadian protectorate located in mid-Kansas and home to Jim who was race director for the Inaugural Western Vista Sunflower Classic. Passport in hand Jim drove the 3 miles to Oakley, KS early this morning to make sure we all had a great century ride. It was early for the RMTC contingent also owing to the VIP treatment we received just across the border in Kanadas Friday night. With Matt and Charley driving, Maria, Julie, Mick and myself crossed 200 miles of plains land and met Jim at Mittens truck stop. Jim had arranged discount hotel rooms in the finest lodging establishment in the area for those of us who wouldn't fit in his lovely home. Then we convoyed to said home for dinner. Jim had veggies from his wife's garden to complement the venison and pheasant he had recently hunted. The case of Sierra Nevada dwindled nearly as rapidly as the daylight until we found ourselves seated on the deck looking up at stars. As part of our team sponsorship, we are required to take down a minimum of one (1) case of Sierra Nevada at each club event. So we did. Late in the evening we abandoned Jim and the girls to return to the hotel for a few hours of sleep. The hotel breakfast buffet was laid out early just for us and off we went to Annie Oakley park for the ride.

It was a chilly morning. The race director showed up wearing his RMTC shirt. How often does that happen? The course directions were fairly clear. Go a long way, turn around and come back. And off we went. Maria was in for the 75 miler so she got to wait some more. Mick is just Charley's neighbor so we dropped him straight away. Next off the back was me. Julie hung onto Charley and Matt until ! Lost sight of them. Pulled over at Sag Alpha, enjoying home baked cookies while Jim held my bike, the female record holder South-to-North Kansas crossing passed on her Bacchetta recumbent. ! Had another cookie. Sarah Kay and her entourage took breaks on the road side to save time. ! Got by them there. Shortly she was approaching my 6. She slowed as she pulled alongside. Her record ride was about 12 hours and 28 hours on the West-to-East record. She hopes to do team RAAM in 2012 then solo. The grade was rising and she couldn't hang on. ! Dropped her. Sag Gamma was 7 miles before the turn-off to Scott Lake. One descent to the lake was depicted on the profile as a rappelling section. Into the lake area the road was smooth and shady. Sag Beach House had still more cookies and popcorn. Matt and Charley had left about 45 minutes before ! Got there.

Outside the lake park, ! Came upon Mick who was not in good shape. He was low on water, had been lost already and couldn't find his way into the park. ! Dropped him. Soon after ! Found a large snake lounging on the shoulder. Mick caught up and photographed me holding it. Jim had promised us a tailwind the last 35 miles. We were approaching the main road and the wind was out of the South. It looked good for a high velocity return to Annie Oakley park. Just a few miles in Matt and Charley had used up all the tailwind. Before today, ! Had done 3 training rides this year. Each a bit less than 45 miles. The most recent was 6 weeks ago. ! Was not in shape for this. My quads were starting to ache. It was 90* and dry. ! Had been through nearly 2 gallons of gatorade and ! Was still dry. Back to Sag Alpha to re-supply.

Less than 30 miles to go. It was going to be tough. Jim has been miffed at me for a few years now. Back in the day ! Beat him in the 5430 ½ by 1 second. He was doing this on purpose. It was a long, rolling ride back to town. Matt and Charley were already done. They finished in 4:50 to set the course record for the best ever Western Vista Sunflower Classic. ! Came in 5:45. !'d have surely beaten them except they cut through town instead of going around town like ! Did. Lunch and a shower and we were ready to head back to Denver. We pulled into the gas station next to the world's largest prairie dog. Girls are so silly. ! Got some ice cream for the trip. Maria asked me if ! Was actually going to eat a whole pint. It didn't last 15 minutes. Made it back to Matt's house safely and that is the end of the story. Perhaps next year you can go.

Doug!

Loveland Lake 2 Lake Race Report

First I must confess that I have never blogged so this is new to me, so here I go.

As we all know every year there is the Loveland lake 2 lake triatlon in June.
Well this year the organizer of lake 2 lake, decided to also put together a sprint distance triathlon in July.
Being as this was my first triathlon, my views on it might be sort of skewed.
Personally I thought there was good organization (although the "chip" guy was a little late),
the water temperature was optimal in my opinion. Coming out of the water and trying to get a wet suit
off while running to transition zone was difficult, but then again first time ever in a wet suit. One thing
that I did find discouraging was the distance from the lake to the transition zone, I thought it was sort of long
but then again I haven't done other races to compare it too.
I took longer than I would have liked to at the transition zone but I guess practice makes perfect, so one of
my goals is to take less time at transition in my next triathlon.
The bike route was mostly flat, a few small hills here and there but overall a nice ride. In some of the streets
traffic was closed on the lane we would be riding in so that was nice :)
When the time came for the run, I was already pretty tired, but what's 3.1 miles right? Well at least that is what I thought.
When I hit mile marker two I was like "no way that means I have another mile and a bit to go!", but I did meet my goal which
was to finish the race. I must admit for as little training as I have done this year I felt pretty good finishing this triathlon.

Where were you RMTC members???? I was there and there was one more member that I could see. Where was everyone else???
As I said this was my first triathlon and I thought it was a good experience for a beginner.
Although I think they should have provided more food at the end but other than that I had fun.
Hopefully more of you will sign up for the Loveland sprint triathlon next year.

I will expect to see some of you at Rattlesnake!!!

Maria I. Wong

RMTC et. al. Club Championship Dip 'n' Dash

This team has a problem. Something ! Heard Matt said sums it up well. “I slowed down because there was no one to chase” Is it possible for a club to be too totally awesome? If it is RMTC could be getting close.

! brought a wetsuit along just in case. ! Was thinking ! Might go without to save some time in such a short race. ! Thought !'d be a little chilly. After wading in to the bath water pond ! Knew the neoprene would go home dry. Sean noted he was getting drag from his jersey pockets so most of us decided to go topless. In we went for the start. Pete fired the air horn and we churned away. For some reason ! Had expected to be up near the front of the pack for more than 50 feet. Not sure why.

Stunned that ! Didn't win the swim, ! Crawled out of the pond and hustled up to transition. There were even some Arvada and Parker people there already. Fastest transition ever. All ! Had to do was put on the shades and shoes. No socks. No sitting down and no tying. There were lots of shirtless RMTC guys on the sidewalk. Lots of RMTC girls all wearing shirts out there too. ! Was nearly a mile out when ! Passed Matt on the way back. He was hard to miss in his bright orange Uglies.

That run was hard. Not as hard as last year 4 days after RattleSnake. Hot and dry. ! Should have had some water in transition. Several blocks from the turn-around ! Spotted Dr. Betty Bang Bang up ahead. Letting her beat me would be too embarrassing to imagine. Along the lines of being on an elevator with Yon in his blue and purple Uglies and having the door open just as he reaches across in front of you to push his floor button. And having everyone who picked on you as a small child there to see it. As you can see, ! Had to push harder. It wasn't looking good. Great news. ! Got past her. In my mind she was still right there behind me. Always a threat. ! Couldn't see far down the road. ! Had to estimate the distance to the breathing line by how bad ! Felt. ! Felt pretty bad. It must be close.

Orlinda and Henry, hangin' out on the side announced one block to go. ! Still couldn't see it. The guy ! Had just passed was still right on me and he seemed to be picking up the pace. He could be planning an attack. ! Can see something now. More people standing around. ! Want to stand around. That was the end. Hi 5-ing Pete officially stopped the clock at just over 41 minutes. !'ve broken the Len curse. No matter what the race, ! Crush him until 5k to the finish when he comes right by. He was still out there.

By the time ! Could think again nearly a full page more finishers had been cataloged. The first page (which ! Made) had 46 names on it, all in order from Matt to 46. Club affiliation noted to the side. ! Took the easy way and counted the markings that were not us. 12. Parker and Aurora combined had 12 of the first 46 finishers. Arvada got 1st place as non-Matt, but the rest of the top 5 were all us. !'m not sure how many started. ! Heard 78. Even if everyone in RMTC made it onto the 1st page, we would have had nearly half of everyone there. On page one we took 73.9% of the spots. Then on to the fun part. Basil Doc's pizza and beer. A fun event if you were there. If you weren't, don't miss it next year.

Escape from Alcatraz 2010

I am a reluctant tri-résumé builder, so I’ve never felt compelled to do Escape from Alcatraz. However, after having lotteried in a few times and never once signed up, I decided it was time to get it done. I would be tempting the tri gods if I once again passed up the opportunity. Alas, the gods were out for me anyway.

No one can write a report like The Doug, so I’ll keep this brief by making some observations about the race. These observations are presented stream of consciousness, much like the information provided at the pre-race meeting.

· Thanks so much to Tim and Yon and Melissa and Maya, for the spectator support as well as for taking care of me post-race. All the questions were annoying, but my annoyance confirmed that I wasn’t concussed.

· If California-based tri clubs are harbingers of upcoming trends, expect to see a lot of this stuff in the near future: http://www.kinesiotaping.com/. I bet Matt is already working on the RMTC sponsorship deal.

· Most scenic race I’ve done, BY FAR. Riding the curve to Ocean Beach was exhilarating, and I took my time as I reveled in the views of the Pacific. And the run along Baker Beach with waves crashing next to me…such a nice change from Colorado. I loved my Colorado lungs, though!

· Everyone talks about the swim, but the run should get more hype. There is a lot of steep downhill to train for. The sand ladder is a bit overrated (if you ask me) and the single-track with 2 way traffic is underrated. And I’ll be bearing the scars from that part of the run forever. Thank goodness Len has offered to show me how to do a comb over.

· The swim is kind of lonely – people spread out quickly and you can’t see many swim caps between swells. Singing “Elmo’s World” in your head may annoy you just enough not to notice (thanks for that, Melissa!).

· I didn’t much miss my tri-bike, so the road bike was the right choice for me. I just wish I’d remembered to air up my tires. (I don’t have my new FELT ZW4 yet, so I can’t make a sponsor plug here. However, I’m certain I would have been faster on it!)

· Even a woman 5’ 1” in height should duck when running through the tunnel.

· Tim told me to sight Sutro Tower at 1 o’clock the whole swim, so I did and I finished 100 or so yards east of the exit. Perfect. He also told me I’d like the swim booties, and they were awesome. Finally, he told me the race would be a lot of fun. Moral: Tim is always right. Always.

· This is a technical and hard race, with lots of opportunities for injury on the bike and run. Which means you may not want to hear the volunteer doctors and nurses describe medical tent conditions as worse than their last medical mission.

· The worst part of the whole race is jumping off the boat. Once that is behind you, the swim is quite enjoyable, the bike is spectacular, and the run is an oxygen-rich extravaganza.

· Except to recoil in horror, the run aid station volunteers had no idea what to do with a participant who wore a blood stained cap and had blood streaming down her face from a gaping head wound. So, I made my way 2.5 miles to the nearest medical personnel, who happened to be just past the finish line.

· Having appeased the tri gods with blood sacrifice, I can now look forward to next year’s club Ironman – Canada!

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