TAKE TWO: SOMA

Today I completed my second HALF IRONMAN called SOMA at Tempe Town Lake.  I finished in 6:23:24 about 10 minutes faster than Deuces Wild in Septmeber.  It was our big dress rehearsal for Ironman.

We started the day in the mid 60s and ended it in the mid 80s.  The swim was barely wetsuit legal, but it made for happy triathletes.  This gave us an opportunity to practice swimming in Tempe Town Lake and improve my time.  I have been moving to the left in swim practice into slower lanes, but put a wetsuit on in cooler water, watch out!  I enjoyed the swim, but there was a little bit of wind and felt a little tired on the return leg, but improved my time slightly a little bit from the Deuce Swim which we thought was a little long.  I felt comfortable in the water and only the first 30 seconds were a battle for finding your space in the water and then it was time to slowly pass swimmers and see how many different color caps you could pass.  The old ladies (my group of 45 plus) got the best flag caps.  I passed purple, silver and pink caps along the way.

In transition I started in reverse of what I usually do and I put my helmet and gloves on first, wiped my feet off a little bit because the grass inside of my socks drives me crazy, and then shoes and finally bike.  It made for a little faster transition than I typically do and I was at the opposite end of the BIKE OUT exit.

My heart rate was a bit elevated from the swim and running during the transitions, so I spent the first part of the ride trying to get my HR to come down and then keeping it there.  Every time I passed riders, it spiked up and then I settled back to a more reasonable number.  It was hard to stay steady because there were many sharp U-turns on the course and even a few hills.  The water stations were placed in odd locations.  The first one was in the center, so you had to grab the bottle with your left hand.  That was a bit tricky because then I had to lean on my arm rests from my aero bars and switch hands so I could handle the bottle.  I tried to remove my cap to my personal water bottle, dump the water in, and replace the cap, but I dropped the cap.  The next water stop was placed immediately after the sharpest U-turn, but it was on the right side, so it was easier to manage.  I just squeezed as much water out of the bottle and threw it away.  I became more comfortable with the turns as the ride progressed and I just focused on technique, energy management and the 4 areas that Jeff taught me in our last session (CALM:  cadence, air, leverage, and momentum).  There were a lot of officials on the course checking for drafting and blocking.  I enjoyed passing a lot of people on the ride and finishing strong.  I was not sure how my body was going to react when I got off the bike.  Once again, I had to run my bike to the opposite end of transition to get to my spot.  I took my time changing into my running shoes and getting my nutrition and camelback ready.

I started off slowly and had to battle with myself to get from one aide station to the next where I feasted on water, gatorade, ice, and pretzels.  Ofcourse I carried my magic jelly beans and salt sticks.  I was fighting off nausea and cramping again in a milder form with temperatures in the 80s rather than 90s.  The volunteers at the aide stations were amazing.  How to run 13 miles when you are very very tired and your body is dreaming of sleep?  You tell yourself that you are supposed to be an Ironman in 4 weeks and you have to be able to run or you will have the added stress of making cut offs!  You count, forward, backwards, add numbers, subtract, pretend you just woke up and are going for a 13 mile run, a 10 mile run, a 6 mile run, a 4 mile workout, or just a 2 mile cool down.  You know if you can make it one more mile, you can get a cup of ice to pour down your shirt to help you cool down.  You chant people's names that you are thinking about who have faced hardships and you do it cause they have endured discomfort or just to honor them.  You try to stay in the moment and tell yourself how great you feel when you just let your mind wander on a run.  Whatever you need to tell yourself, you say to get to the finish line.  13 miles of SELF TALK and working through the ROUGH PATCHES.

I was satisfied with my swim and bike today.  I wish I could improve my run, but at this point, I am happy to be able to find a way to stay running and realize the challenge of running on a tired body after completing a swim and run.  I made it to the finish pushing through the discomforts of the day so happy to be done.  A wave of emotion hit me at the end for enduring the discomfort and for improving my time.  I felt better at Deuces, but I performed a little better at SOMA, though the Deuces course was a little bit long.  My biggest improvement seems to be happening on the bike.

It was happy day for me and many of my teammates who finished strong.  So proud of everyone who had the courage to start and for those who had a successful race and made it to the finish.  Even the best athletes don't cross the finish every time, but being a triathlete is about never giving up and learning from each race.

The best part about our team is the spirit, support and comradery.  We even won an award today for best team QUANTITY over QUALITY for having the best racer turnout and spirit!  It really helps to have our families and friends present and even strangers cheer you on.  I can't really get used to people telling me that I, the TURTLE, am an inspiration to them.  That is pretty cool if you can have some positive effect on someone else just for your efforts and accomplishments.  We all get our strength from somewhere and if you can't find it, then just DIG DEEP, it is inside of ALL of US!

I am so happy that Ironman is almost here, but I am also happy that there are 4 more weeks cause I am really really tired at the moment!  Now to just relax in my compression armor and hopefully get some extra sleep tonight!

Preview:  TAKE THREE:  AZ IRONMAN on November 18th.  It will be TWICE as FAR as today's race.  I will just sleep on that thought for now!