Crystal Lake, IL 2-mile Swim Race Report

Pics are here, but warning you better put on sunglasses first: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600820769985/

Crystal Lake is one of the most beautiful, cleanest lakes in Illinois, and it's almost on top of the Wisconsin border (it's pretty close to Lake Geneva, which is in Wisconsin). I've done this swim a few times before, and last year I noted that the course was short. Oh well, I just wanted to get in and swim, since I've swam every day this week, and this would be my last open water swim before IMLP. Besides, I thought I'd go in a bit aggro just to get my game on.

I had set my alarm for 4:45, but of course, I woke up at 3:30AM like I have been for the last, oh, 4 weeks or so (good practice for Ironman race day, don't you think?). I had my stuff packed, so I laid in bed scrolling for about an hour, and then I finally got up and had coffee and rattled around.

I took some Voodoo Mix with me for the 50-mile drive, and it dawned as a beautiful day--cool and overcast. Since I've been swimming in the cold-ish pool in the mornings, I'm pretty used to being almost naked in the cooler temperatures, so I just had on my swimsuit with shorts over it. The drive was pretty uneventful, leaving about 5:35AM.

When I was about 10 miles away, I spotted a guy I know, Joel Zucco (father of Adam, for those of you who know him), in a vehicle next to mine. He didn't recognize me (the horror!), so I just stayed close and followed him into Crystal Lake. We've seen each other at a handful of events lately, and he's doing IMLP, too.

After getting my swim cap, I talked to Joel and a few of his male friends, each of whom had some sort of myofascial issue going on, so I'm telling them about trigger point therapy and showing them stretches, all while wearing my stunning (at least *I* think it is) pink suit. I have no self-consciousness or shame about how I look no matter what I'm wearing, so no worries.

I talked to some kids who were doing their first open water swim. They were so excited, and I had fun talking to them (they ended up medaling as well). Then I suited up and got ready to go. I didn't warm up, because why would I? I am not that fast of a swimmer to need a warmup for a 2-mile swim.

The start area was a bit packed, but no worries, it's not like there were 2,500 other athletes there! So when the girl shot the starter gun, I just dove in and started swimming. I wanted to get a decent position and get some happy feet to draft off of if I could, but the start was congested, and people were swimming all over one another, so I opted to go for clear water, but what should happen but a small pack congregates behind ME. OMG! That never happens. There was a lot of feet tickling for the first lap. At the turn buoy to start the second lap, my 5 "friends" are crawling up my ass, and I got a little annoyed and stood upright and shouted, "Get the fuck off me!" They were like a bunch of spawning carp or something. So after maybe 300 yards, I just stopped and let them go ahead of me so I could draft off of them. It was pretty tasty staying with that group, and when we finished, one guy said he heard me at the turn buoy and started laughing.

So I'm done and comparing times and thinking I went :50 and that it clearly wasn't 2 miles (we figured 1.8?), and I go change into my running stuff and come back and decide to stick for awards. I didn't think I'd win anything, but I had to see, so I stayed, and when my AG came up, I heard the 3rd place time, and I was like, crap, I suck, but then they called me for 2nd place with a time of :45 something, and I was astonished! I don't know if I fucked up starting my watch or if their timing was off. Some people who allegedly did 2 miles actually only did 1 (there was a concurrent 1-mile race), and I know some people cut the course because the furthest buoy was kind of at an angle, but they said SEVEN and I counted them off and hit them all.

So I'm pretty happy I had a solid swim, considering I'd already swum almost 14,000 yards through Friday, but I'm pissed the course was short, you know? But then I was asking myself near the end can I keep this pace at IMLP? It will be tough with all the bodies, but I feel like I can put forth a good effort and not get caught with the crappy swimmers.

So all's good--now I'm going to lay my ass (literally) outside in the sun and see if I can eradicate a few more tan lines. Oh yeah--I ran for about 1:20 afterwards, and it felt great. Nice to be done working out on a Saturday by 11:00AM!

Number Sixteen

My coach and others encourage athletes to write and publish a race plan. I have a detailed schedule for next week, and I mean detailed. I am not publishing it here or anywhere, but will send it along to the coach in case he sees anything awry on there. I won't write up my fueling plan; I've done this 8 times before and know what works.

Basically, here's my race plan:

I will swim like I know how (steady, good form).

I will bike according to my power guidance, which will be taped to my stem.

I will run with joy and wonder and pure pleasure.

There's my race plan.

What's more important to me is my mental state on race day. Last year at Ironman Brazil, my mental state was dictated by extreme grief over the death of my mother--that took care of the mental piece--and my physical state was dictated by extreme sickness. That is not how I like to feel in an Ironman race!

Number Sixteen of the Tao te Ching below pretty much captures the mental state I cultivate in training and in racing an Ironman; beyond that, things like pacing and nutrition are able to run on autopilot (to me that's the easy stuff), and this mental state is precisely why I do Ironman--nothing more, nothing less:

NUMBER SIXTEEN

Empty yourself of everything.

Let the mind rest at peace.

The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches their return.

They grow and flourish and then return to the source.

Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.

The way of nature is unchanging.

Knowing constancy is insight.

Not knowing constancy leads to disaster.

Knowing constancy, the mind is open.

With an open mind, you will be openhearted.

Being openhearted, you will act royally.

Being royal, you will attain the divine.

Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.

Being at one with the Tao is eternal.

And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away.

Number Sixty Four of the Tao Te Ching

...in honor of those tapering for IMLP

SIXTY-FOUR

Peace is easily maintained;
Trouble is easily overcome before it starts.
The brittle is easily shattered;
The small is easily scattered.

Deal with it before it happens.
Set things in order before there is confusion.

A tree as great as a man's embrace springs from a small shoot;
A terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth;
A journey of a thousand miles starts under one's feet.

He who acts defeats his own purpose;
He who grasps loses.
The sage does not act, and so is not defeated.
He does not grasp and therefore does not lose.

People usually fail when they are on the verge of success.
So give as much care to the end as to the beginning;
Then there will be no failure.

Therefore the sage seeks freedom from desire.
He does not collect precious things.
He learns not to hold on to ideas.
He brings men back to what they have lost.
He helps the ten thousand things find their own nature,
But refrains from action.

Namaste!

Peeps Racing Ironman USA Lake Placid

Every year my list of who I know or that someone I know knows that is racing at an Ironman grows, and that is a wonderful thing.

I've been compiling a super-duper, of all things, spreadsheet, of all IMUSA participants, and have tagged those I can based on how/where I/others know them.

For those of you who don't know, I participate in several online communities: Crucible Fitness forum, Slowtwitch forum, Trifuel forum (and I've published a few things there), and the TRI-DRS LISTSERV (sporadically). I know or feel like I know some bloggers (apologies that I write more on my own blog than I spend time reading others'). I also just know local people and am on email distribution lists for a few tri clubs. The world truly is small!

As an example, yesterday while I'm about 7 miles into my ride, I'm at a stoplight and a guy in a car from the cross direction yells at me, "Keep that Bitch rolling." I'm thinking what the fuck, how does some stranger know my bike's name? So I yell back, "Yeah, that's my bike's name, how did you know?" And then he removes his sunglasses, and it's a guy I know and have trained with. I am sure this little incident fucked with people's heads, especially since I was hardly wearing any clothes (swimsuit bottom and teensy-weensy bra top).

I don't claim to personally know everyone on Slowtwitch or TRI-DRS that is doing the race, but in the picture (click for full size) is a list of folks (so far) that I know that are racing, so for those of you who are watching, remember, these are all really important people that deserve your good vibes on race day. So far, I have the HIGHEST bib number!

Some are first-timers, and then there's idiots like me (and yes, when I registered, I listed "Idiot" as my occupation) who are on #9. How did that happen?

I'm still feeling wonderful!

2488

2488

I wasn't too far off the mark with my guess of 2605, now was I?

What's special about 2488? http://www.tascam.com/Products/2488.html Good thing it's a geek-ish toy.

2, 4, and 8 are all powers of 2. 2*2=4, 4*2=8, 8+8=16 which would be the next power of 2.

Now I can REALLY not sleep...

Where's my Fucking Number????

NA Sports or whatever the hell they're called sent an email a few days ago saying that bib numbers would be posted TODAY for IMLP, and guess what? They fucking lied. So what am I supposed to do when I'm expecting a number and don't get one? Let's see...I'll make up a number. Let's play number lottery. My guess for my number is 2605. OH....MY....GAWD...I hope it's not that high. How many athletes can they cram into the water???

On the plus side, I made a Target (or Tar-zhay, as we like to call it) run today and picked up some ACTUAL CLOTHES (i.e., not swimwear, biking or running clothes) to take with me to Lake Placid. I found 2 BARBIE shirts!!!!! And I got a top for some PJ bottoms in the LITTLE GIRLS section, size 10. What the fuck is up with that??? I guess I *am* small. Oh and a pair of white kick-ass low as hell jeans, size 2. And they aren't even tight. Here I thought you could only get scandalous whore pants in Brazil, but now I have white ones from good, old Target. So I'm only wearing scandalous clothing in Lake Placid. I gots the tan and the figure to do it now, so why not? Besides, I'll have my pimp with me. Something tells me I'll be participating in the UPR...do you think they'd let me wear a thong?

I WANT MY FUCKING NUMBER.

Free Webinar for Ironman USA Lake Placid Participants

I'm feeling great, and very fit. A lot of credit for it goes to my coach, Rich.

Any of you readers who are racing--this is a golden *FREE* opportunity, which I suggest you take advantage of. Rich is my coach, and Patrick has raced IMLP numerous times. Please follow instructions below.

FREE Webinar: Racing Ironman USA , Thursday, July 12, 7:30pm EST

Presented by Rich Strauss and Patrick McCrann of Crucible Fitness, Performance Training Systems, and IronCamp.

Ironman coaches Patrick McCrann and Rich Strauss will host a FREE webinar for all Ironman USA athletes. Patrick and Rich will discuss the pacing, nutritional, and mental strategies they’ve used to bring over 400 coached athletes across Ironman finish lines. Athletes interested should visit this URL to register. You will be sent instructions for how to attend the webinar. During the session you will see the coaches' desktops as they deliver their presentation to you live via your phone line. Rich and Patrick will answer questions afterwards, submitted by the audience via webchat. The webinar will be made available as a podcast afterwards for all those who can not attend.

The webinar will cover the specifics of racing the challenging Lake Placid course including a blow-by-blow of the bike course presented by Patrick using GoogleMaps. However, the majority of the talk is applicable to all Iron distance races and will be a valuable resource for all Ironman athletes.

The Coaches
Patrick McCrann has been a long-distance triathlon coach for over five years, and recently published his first book: "Competitive Triathlon in 10 Hours A Week." Patrick has raced IM USA four times, will race next weekend, and with more than 40 laps under his belt could probably ride the course in his sleep.

Rich Strauss has been coaching Ironman athletes exclusively since 2001. He has delivered his pre-race talk at seven Ironman races, most recently at IMCDA ’07, where over sixty competitors gathered to hear his talk.

Between them, Rich and Patrick have eleven years of Ironman coaching, fifteen successful Ironman finishes, over 400 successful Ironman finishers, and thousands of hours teaching age-group athletes how to race a successful Ironman.

Weekly Workout Totals 07/02/2007-07/08/2007

But first, some pics. The first is of a Crucible Fitness bomb that went off in my living room today (more on that later). You can also see remnants of my 80's record-spinning incident from last week. The second is things I have received from several friends lately--the garden gnome is from Brett, the wood and tiny bike (now sporting a Crucible Fitness logo as well as skeleton man who has been training as much as me lately--yeah I know his seat is too high) are from my friend William in Texas (the wood is a good luck charm--touch wood), the books are from Cindy, and the Fuel Belt hat and cell phone holder are from Rich. I'm very fortunate to have so many people who are so good to me.

Talk about your steep taper...get a load of this:

Weekly Workout Totals 07/02/2007-07/08/2007
Swim: 12615 yards (7.16 miles) in 4.4 hours; 21% of weekly workout time; approx. 1540 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 196.62 miles in 10.97 hours; 53% of weekly workout time; approx. 5009 calories burned
Run: Approx. 29 miles in 4.51 hours; 22% of weekly workout time; approx. 2032 calories burned
Strength: 0.77 hours; 4% of weekly workout time; approx. 193 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 232.78 miles in 20.65 hours; approx. 8774 calories burned
Sleep: 6.71 hours avg./night
Stretching: 1.2 hours. Massage: 0 hours

Funny thing is, I had planned on swimming 16,000 yards...oh well. Not much sleep, not much stretching, no massage, but I survived, and now I am having trouble sitting still. So I've got clearance to swim every day this week, and as long as it's nice weather, it will be at the outdoor pool, where, believe it or not, Rich actually swam today. He alluded to wanting to do it yesterday while we were driving home from Madison, but I figured I wouldn't hold it to him until about :45 before we'd need to leave this morning. First I got the "I don't have goggles" deflection. That was pretty weak. I have a bag full of different varieties, so I came to the rescue and he found a pair that fit. I grabbed towels and fluids, and we were off. I had to share a lane with crazy breaststroke lady and some other not-so-good swimmers, but since it was already pretty hot by 8AM, the pool felt really great (and they don't charge the early swimmers!).

After swimming, we got the identical breakfast (Denver omelettes, English muffins, coffee), then we packed and labeled a bunch of Crucible Fitness gear to be sent to athletes all over the place. Rich thought he was missing a shipment, and at the same time I was dealing with the company who had cleaned my drapes and installed new shades. He on the cell phone not too happy with a company, and me on my house phone not too happy with another one. Both incidents turned out well, though, since Rich discovered he wasn't actually missing inventory, and my company made good on coming out to reclean the cornices that became fingerprinted while the shades were being installed.

I know you think this is a load of crap that I'm talking about right now, but hey, I'm tapering, so fuck off. Oops--I meant, please don't get on my case. Or maybe I meant please be understanding, as I'm a veritable lunatic right now and I'm not responsible for my actions or vocalizations. Or maybe I meant gee, I wish you could be nicer to me, since I'm experiencing a tiny bit of stress right now. Somehow fuck off is just easier to say.

Anyway, I've just jumped off the training peak and am cascading down into the valley of the taper, and crazy things happen while I'm falling, only to hit rock bottom and then begin the precipitous climb back to the top of the other side. It's been really fun being on top of the mountain for the past 12 weeks, and soon enough I'll begin my journey back to the top. I know that along the way I'll see many friends, training partners and other sources of encouragement. Will I make it? I hope so. Will I climb fast? We will see what the day brings. How will I feel back at the top? REALLY HAPPY!

End of Camp; Beginning of Taper

Wow. Rich and I are finally done with the camp, and are back at my house having a little quiet time. I mean I actually shushed him for a moment of silence, since he's been talking non-stop for 3 days, and then driving back in traffic, we were talking non-stop.

Pictures from camp are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8737154@N04/sets/72157600722611427/

The run clinic happened this morning at Olin Turville Park (same place where we started our ride yesterday), and Rich kept it short and sweet, since it was already pretty hot by 6AM. I only got yelled at twice to do stuff, and it was to help demonstrate some drills, and then I sat on the sidelines taking pictures. Then we drove to Monona Terrace and ran on the Ironman course as best we could, meaning trying not to get lost! I ran out for :45 with a bunch of folks, and most of them were running longer than me (silly me tapering and all), so I just flipped it and headed back. I ran into another woman, JoEllen, who had started a few minutes late, and we ran to the Octopus gas station where I bought some Coke and water. We then took off running, me with Coke in one hand and water in the other, and I kept dousing myself with the water to cool off, while sipping on Coke which perked me up.

After we got back to Monona Terrace, I knew JoEllen was short on her projected 1:30 run time, so I invited her to do "terrace repeats" with me, whereby we ran up one ramp, across the top and down another. We only did 2 repeats (I wanted to do more), but that was fine. I located Rich, who had used my car to place water out on the run course, but who then was riding around on someone's bike looking at us. I managed to avoid being yelled at or told something else that I might be doing wrong by Rich.

After the run, it was obtain food, get back to hotel, pack the car and head back into the classroom for 3 more hours of Rich spouting all sorts of knowledge about this and that, where I took a few more pictures to help him remember what the hell he talked about, and then we got in the car for a looooong drive home. Lots of folks took the entire week of vacation, so Madison being so close to the Wisconsin Dells creates a lot of traffic going back into Illinois on a Sunday afternoon.

I took Rich to Dell Rhea's Chicken Basket for dinner, where, unbelievably, Rich was UNABLE TO FINISH AN ENTIRE CHICKEN DINNER. I mean what's up with that??? The man can eat, I know. Oh yeah--he didn't run today.

And on that note, I am done doing ANYTHING for the day. I've unpacked, and now it's time to try and relax and figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do for the next 1.5 weeks before I head off to Lake Placid. I have already begun my traditional staring at the ceiling while laying in bed for the last few nights, and now I can add becoming paranoid about how much food I'm eating as compared to how little training I'm doing, getting royally bored at work, wanting to chew someone's head off for some slight transgression, and then falling into hysterical laughter changing over into tears at the drop of a hat.

Ah, tapering--I can't wait to be over with you and onto a race which I've trained long and hard for. Nobody gets sick and nobody dies, and I should be good to go!