One of my favorite Midwest races is the Galena Triathlon. Not necessarily because the course is anything spectacular or the competition is steep. In fact the weather rarely cooperates, but it’s the first spring tri within driving distance from Chicago and everyone is always jazzed to race after a long winter of training indoors. Due to a work trip requiring me to travel back to Chicago I decided to extend my stay through the weekend, visit with friends and race Galena for the 3^rd time to defend my title. 

My week in Chicago was quite jam-packed trying to visit with so many dear friends. It including my best friend from college, Lana’s,daughter’s first birthday party. 

My old roommate, Lisa’s going away party as she was moving to London. Dinner and visiting in St. Charles with my family, along with multiple dinners/lunches/drinks with friends. Not to mention my work conferences and of course training. I was able to fit it all in but as the weekend approached my body felt the fatigue. 

15 of us rented a house within the Galena territory. We ended up “getting into the wine” Friday night before the race while enjoying dinner cooked by my great friend and training partner Stacey Izard (sister of Stephanie Izard, America’s top chef).

Race morning was warmer than expected, weather predictions called for thunderstorms all day so we were ecstatic the race started on time. As there is no elite wave, I contemplated starting in wave 1 men’s 25-29. Painting a mustache would have served as my “male costume” although there may have been some questions when I took off my wetsuit so I decided to play by the rules and start in my assigned wave 10. 

Swim: The short 700 meter swim went off without a hitch; I sprinted to the first buoy to get clean water. By the last turn buoy I had caught the men’s wave in front of me and later found out that I swam over my friend Sean Wyatt. Sorry Sean :)

Bike: the transition is on a bed of rocks so running barefoot is never pleasant. After enduring the foot pain I hopped on my Orbea Ordu to head up the first climb out of transition.

The course is a point to point with many climbs throughout. I didn’t feel strong, but not super weak either. About half-way through the rain started coming down, as I was making steep descents I made the conscious decision to sit up and ride my brakes down. The risk of slipping on the wet roads wasn’t worth the time savings.

Run: My bike to run transitions are lacking this year because my swollen foot takes some time to cram into my K-Swiss running shoe. The cooler, wet weather was perfect for running. I felt strong for the first few miles, during my back half of the run my foot started swelling up more and I was limping. I pushed through to finish the race It wasn’t my best performance but I had a good time racing among my Chicago friends.

This is the first Race Henry has beat me at (by 1 second) I’ll make sure to make it the last time as well ;)

The after party is where the fun really began and continued on at our house throughout the evening.  

The first triathlon back after smashing my foot in December is one I’ve desired to do for years. My brother Gavin and I did the Wildflower triathlon up right by driving from Boulder (17 hours each way) and camping among 500 triathletes.

Bob Cranny, my physical therapist advised me to race the Olympic distance race rather than the ½ ironman distance. My foot was not ready for the 13.1 mile run, I would have rather raced the long course triathlon but recovering over 7 months ahead of schedule I was just happy to be back in the game. Because I hadn’t done any speed work on my feet leading up to the race I wasn’t sure how my body, especially my foot would react. I choose to race Wildflower as a “secret race”. This made it a little more fun and relieved much of the pressure I would usually feel coming off such a serious injury.

Gavin raced the long course triathlon held on Saturday so I got to play spectator. This was Gavin’s 2^nd pro race and he didn’t disappoint finishing among the best of the best in 11^th place.

I had a lot of nervous energy leading up to the start of my race on Sunday. I hadn’t competed since October in Kona last year. I tried to bottle up my nerves and use them as energy for the start of the race.

SWIM: As our wave began I took off a bit ahead of the pack. Two girls came with me and we swam together for the first 800 meters. Once we hit the bulk of the previous wave we split up and I swam the remainder of the course on my own.

BIKE: As I hopped on my bike I realized I haven’t practice mounting since last year. So I struggled a bit with my shoes, but soon enough I was off and climbing up the hills of Paso Robles. The women’s waves began behind all the men so I found myself riding on the left the majority of the time passing those from previous waves. In fact I even lost my voice by the end of the bike course from calling out “On your Left” so much. I felt strong on the bike considering I was off it this winter for 3 months with my broken foot. The highlight of the bike was a bee flying into my sports bra while taking a steep descent. (Maybe I need a smaller sports bra from Timex, hint, hint)

RUN: Taking off on the run I felt pretty good, leading the race heading into the run is exactly where I like to be. I tried to ignore my foot pain while running up and down the hilly trails. I twisted my ankle climbing a rocky hill. I’ve had the opportunity to practice trail running often living in North Boulder, running lighter on your feet is the key. This enabled me to come out of the ankle roll with little to no pain after a few more steps.

Fans were lining the course along the campgrounds, as the day progressed so did the beer consumption. During my run I was offered two marriage proposals and a beer bong! I passed on both and chose to finish the race pleasantly surprised with my performance.

We loved everything about Wildflower Triathlon. The huge expo, VIP tent, awards ceremony, camping, race course…It was all executed flawlessly. We’ll definitely be back for years to come. We’ll probably fly next year though…It was a long drive home.

Post Kona I finally got an MRI on my groin. The assumed groin pull was not reacting to the ART I was receiving; pain persisted from mid July through October. I avoided getting an MRI in an attempt to remain ignorant, I had a hunch it could be a stress fracture, although the result would not have held me back from racing so I choose to wait. The results came back as healing stress fractures in my ischial tuberosity and pubic ramus. We’ll never know for sure but the doctors predict that I had badly strained my groin while running with my collarbone brace and throwing off my gait (yes I know very stupid) .Although I completely stopped running, the strain eventually resulted in stress fractures by August. My MRI results showed no recent cracks, therefore running in Kona had not worsened the injuries. Rest and recovery over the winter should be sufficient for both bones to fully heal. The plan was no running until 2011.

 I made my big move to Boulder over Thanksgiving weekend. One week afterwards I had a work trip to Oakland, California with my new Government Western Region Sales Team. On Tuesday, December 7^th we were playing a friendly game of basketball as a team building exercise. Of course I was the only female playing. Coming down from a rebound a co-worker landed directly onto the side of my left foot. Immediately I knew it was broken as I tried to stand up. What I didn’t know was how badly it was broken. As I limped around I noticed it was a different pain than I’d had with my previous 2 metatarsal stress fractures (10 years apart). This new pain was in the center of my foot. 

We went to the emergency room in Oakland. Over the duration of 6 hours spent in the ER I found that my cuneiform and metatarsal bones were fractured in 6 places and dislocated (tarsometatarsal joint dislocation). Basically my foot was a hot mess.

 Upon return to Boulder and numerous doctor appointments it was determined that I required surgery should I ever want to run again. The plan was internal fixation/arthrodesis, the main concern is the ligaments growing back. Somehow my co-worker landed on my foot just right, all doctors compare the severity of the fractures and dislocation to my foot to being crushed in a car accident.  So I went under the knife on December 14^th. The surgery went well, 4 permanent screws were placed in my foot along with one pin which will be removed on January 10^th.

 For now I can only take it one day at a time. I was in a hard cast for a week after surgery. I am now in a removable boot and continue to be non-weight bearing for 6 weeks and will then be in a walking boot for another 3 weeks. Over the past 2 weeks I’ve been doing a lot of pilates and core work, this week I began lifting in the weight room. Today I began swimming, although have limited kicking ability and only push off the wall with my good leg. I will begin biking once the pin is removed and swelling goes down. Running will depend on my ligaments growing back which can be a timely process. I’m optimistic about the 2011 season; I’ve proven time and again I heal in half the time of most doctor’s predictions. My race plans will change from early spring races to summer/fall races.  

I’m very lucky to have so many friends and family out to take care of me. My dad flew out the night before surgery and stayed for a week. One of my best friends Paula flew out the weekend after surgery, my aunt came out to act as caretaker for the 2^nd week after surgery and one of my best friends Ashley is coming out this weekend to ring in the New Year. Not to mention my brother, sister-in-law, nieces and friends in Colorado who have worked to entertain and take care of me while healing.

one week post surgery once hard cast and stitches were removed

two weeks post surgery, swelling and bruising have gone down considerably.

The good news is throughout this forced rest and recovery my pelvic stress fractures have fully healed.

2010 was my year for fractured bones, a total count of 9 throughout the course of the year.

Therefore my New Years Resolution for 2011:

 NO BROKEN BONES!

 The infamous Kona Ironman World Championships, I made it to the start line. I was still fighting a torn groin muscle from my bike wreck in July but was prepared to push through to the finish regardless of my lack of run training. Because I was entering this race injured it took the pressure off, my only goal was to finish the race. I didn’t even have a “secret” time goal.

As this was my first trip to Kona, I wanted to participate in ALL the events leading up to the Ironman. I stayed with fellow Timex teammates and friends in a 6 bedroom house up the mountain. We went to the welcome parade, welcome dinner, practice swims with multiple stops at the floating espresso bar, PowerBar team brunch, underpants run, expo, etc. It was a blast just to soak it all in. While finishing out my taper on the big island, attending all the events listed above took my mind off the race and actually calmed my nerves.

THE RACE….

Swim: 58:11

I’ll never forget the sound of the bongos while entering the swim…One thought dead triathletes walking. I was given advice not to start by any friends because you’ll beat the crap out of each other. (ask Jackie and Cindi) Therefore I entered the water alone. It makes sense that athletes are more serious at Kona than other Ironmans, but I wasn’t expecting this. I was up near the front ten minutes prior to the canon and everyone started pushing. As the paddle boarders pushed us back, we were literally on top of each other. I changed positions in the field at least five times, realizing there was no perfect spot. FINALLY the start canon shot. Swimming is my strength so I usually sprint out ahead of the field. Not here, everyone is fast in Kona. So I went with it, for the first time in my life I caught the sweetest draft off other swimmers. Yes I got in some fights; one guy ripped my shoulder out of the socket, a few jabs here and there, but nothing too terrible. I’d made it through the swim start.

As we swam along in the ultra salty waters of the Pacific Ocean, I felt buoyant, strong, and fast. I stayed with a pack of twenty swimmers to the turn around. By this time in the course I was swimming with strong and seemingly friendly people, they kept to themselves and so did I. We separated at one point but I sprinted for ten minutes to catch up pulling a line of swimmers behind me to reach the rest of our pack. The last half mile of the swim was effortless; we were in two single file lines in a perfect draft.

Transition 1: 3:15

As I ran into transition I was the third amateur female. To my surprise I felt no pain in my groin…good sign!  I received tons of support from the volunteers. They dressed me including struggling with my cooling arm warmers. My transition was a little long because of the difficulty we had getting these on while I was wet. Soon enough I was out on my bike riding through the screaming crowds on Ali’i Drive.

Bike: 5:34.40

Riding out onto the Queen K, my legs felt great, the taper had worked. My biggest fear was burning out too early. So I held back and rode through consistently. I got to ride with Wendy for awhile until she took off ahead of me. I threw up a few times riding out, my stomach was beginning to get upset, I continued eating to ensure I had enough energy for the run.

As we neared Hawi I saw how tightly the pros were gripping their bars coming back. Uh oh, I was warned how windy Hawi can be and I was about to enter. WOW!!! The cross winds in Hawi were the strongest I have ever ridden through. I was riding on an angle, my wheels were skipping across the road and I was afraid to take my hands from aero to base bars. I decided to put my head down and hope for the best, while doing so a guy came by passing on my right. After apparently riding there for awhile he asked me if he was helping block the wind. Just as I was responding to ask him not to I was given a red card. Needless to say I was super upset, but decided to use the penalty time to my advantage. At the turn around I picked up my special needs bag then pulled over to the penalty tent to serve my four minutes. I went to the bathroom, stripped off the cooling arm warmers, took in some fluids and loaded my bike up with more nutrition. Soon I was back in the saddle and riding angry, I got the opportunity to ride with Jackie for awhile. We laughed at each other getting blown around in the wind.

At mile ninety I started to hit a wall, funny thing about the Ironman distance, mile ninety seems close to the finish, but you still have almost an Olympic distance bike left. I continued on slower to finish out the course. As I turned back on Ali’i drive the crowd was fantastic, it was great to see so many cheering fans and get off that bike.

Transition 2: 2:49

I got just as much support in T2 with my wardrobe change. This was the first tri I’ve ever changed into running shorts and what a great idea. Felt amazing to run in a fresh pair of shorts.

Run: 3:49.40

Heading out my groin didn’t feel bad, I remember thinking; hey I might have a shot to put up a decent time here. The first ten miles on Ali’i drive were amazing; running through cheering fans seeing so many familiar faces was awesome. Those running next to me even commented on how many fans I had in the crowd. All part of being on the Timex team ;) These same runners gave me a new nickname “Hot Timex Girl”

My stomach was bubbly to say the least but I was able to run through it and put on a smile for my fans. I even managed to run at an OK pace.  At the five mile turn around I counted woman and was in twelfth overall. At mile ten I was leading my age group but my stomach was not agreeing with me. After running just a few miles on the Queen K my body forced me to stop for a bathroom break. Unfortunately there were no port-a-potties available…yes it was me and the lava rocks. This happened three more times including twice in the energy lab. Many fellow athletes talk about getting sick in an Ironman and I never knew what they were talking about. Well, now I do…not fun.

My speed decreased significantly although I never stopped running. Many passed by, now it was a battle just to make it to the finish line. I still managed to put on a show for friends, family, and fans. There were two people who saw me struggle.

1)      Thomas Gerlach at mile fourteen running the opposite direction, I gave him the puppy dog eyes as he cheered me on.

2)      Tom Schuler at mile twenty-two rode up to me and saw how much pain I was in. He gave some words of encouragement as I just nodded and continued on.

Around mile twenty-three some guys caught up to me saying hey it’s Hot Timex Girl. Go Hot Timex Girl, as I shot them laser eyes…they responded,”Hot Timex Girl’s not doing too well” immediately they stopped and left me alone.

The last mile I turned back on the charm and picked up my pace. I sprinted as best I could through the finish shoot down Ali’i Drive. It was still an amazing experience crossing the famous finish line, unfortunately my body didn’t allow me to enjoy it as much as I would have liked.

Overall Time: 10:28:25

Proof in case that anything can happen during an Ironman, I was worried about the swim start and my groin giving out during the run. Meanwhile I got a penalty and nutrition issues. All I can do is learn from this performance and be happy I was able to finish, after all that was my only goal.

Post race

Later that night Thomas and I were dissecting our race performances. I was disappointed with my run split but surprised in my ability to continue running through the entire marathon. He pointed out that it’s everyone at home with high expectations which keep me moving forward even when my body won’t allow it.  If it weren’t for everyone cheering/tracking/watching I would have let the lava fields get the best of me.

Special thanks to my Aunt Kim, Paula, Matt and Mike for making the trip to Kona to cheer for me live!

I’ve missed some races for which I was registered for this year due to injuries.

* Great Western Trail half marathon in May (shin splints)

* Steelhead 70.3 in early August (broken collarbone/pulled groin). 

I hate missing races I have planned, approaching Branson 70.3 I toyed with the idea of skipping it completely. This was scheduled to be my Kona prep race and my groin was just not ready to push a 13.1 mile run. After pushing the run in Chicago my groin and hip flexor were very inflamed for over 2 weeks. I didn’t want to risk doing the same by pushing through Branson while I have my A race approaching 3 weeks afterwards. I made the decision to make the trip to Branson but to skip the run. Yes, another Aquabike was in my future. (I’m beginning to hate that word)

This was the inaugural Branson 70.3 race. I traveled from Chicago on Friday after work to Edwardsville to stay with brother Gavin overnight. After a 30 minute lake swim and breakfast we headed out to Branson Saturday morning.

This was a 2 transition race which always takes a little longer to set up the day before. We took a short bike ride to work out the kinks before heading to dinner. Throughout dinner we studied the course maps to ensure we understood all loops on the bike course as it looked a little confusing.

Race morning as expected was hot, and it was only going to get hotter. After watching the pro’s go off it was my turn in wave 5. Tami Ritchie and I took off from our age group from the get-go. We swam together until we reached wave four and then got separated. There wasn’t much congestion to get through as I swam from buoy to buoy. I had used anti-fog spray in my goggles pre-race, which seems to work because I had no problem sighting. I managed to swim straight and was happy with my swim time.

Swim: 26:47

A new rule had been announced during the pre-race meetings. WTC no longer allowed amateur’s to start with shoes clipped into our bikes. As I slowly mounted my bike the cheers died down a bit, then I heard them pick up once fully on. (Not a big fan of this new rule, but they threatened to apply penalties)

The bike course was gorgeous, by far the prettiest I’ve been on in a race. Roads were completely closed to cars. My teammate Erin Kersten compared to IM Canada bike course. As expected it was severely hilly. Hills usually aren’t my strength but I felt strong climbing.

I was leading the amateur race for the first 17 miles of the bike. At this point Gavin came by saying, “get over missy”. Glad to see he was having a great race as well, I pressed on. I saw Gavin a few more times while riding. When there are steep climbs there are equally steep descents. As I was slowing making my way up the largest climb, Gavin came by going the opposite way screaming down.

The course was marked well, and had many spectators cheering throughout. The last 7 miles coming into T2 were almost all down hill. The whole time thinking in my head about what to do about the run. I had increased my lead over the bike portion and now was in a very good position to win overall amateur. I decided to run the first loop of 3 easy. I had told myself before the race I wouldn’t push through the run.

Bike: 2:52.12 

While beginning the run, many were cheering which I appreciated. Although felt like a slacker for running easy while everyone else was racing. As Gavin passed me he yelled at me to stop running, it really wasn’t worth it to jeopardize Kona for this race. I pulled out at the completion of loop 1. I came into the finisher’s shoot with the lead pro male and awaiting Gavin and Erin’s finish. 

This was by far the most difficult race decision I’ve ever had to make. Immediately following the finish I thought I’d made the wrong decision. I hated having a DNF but over the past few weeks my groin has improved greaqtly. I’ve even been able to get some running in. So now I’m sure my decision was correct to pull out of Branson and save it for Kona.

Congratulations to Gavin for placing first overall amateur and Erin Kersten for finishing 3^rd for 25-29 women.