With just a couple more big events left on the US triathlon calendar, including IM 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, FL on Nov 14 and IM Arizona on Nov 22 (GO TIMEX!), many of us are already well into our off-season.  And if you aren’t celebrating yet, you are probably looking forward to taking a break in the next couple weeks.

I take my off-season very seriously.  It has been over a month since my last race and I have done little more than what even a casual exerciser would call a workout.  I can count 3 times on my bike, 3 jogs of 45min or less, and zero trips to the pool.  And the primary reason for the 3 bikes and runs were simply to enjoy some of the beautiful fall days we have had here in Wisconsin (after all, I love to run, bike and swim).  But instead of hours huffing and puffing, I have traveled to spend time with family, watched several movies (including “Race Across the Sky”, a documentary on the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike race (crazy!) and Warren Miller’s new “Dynasty” extreme skiing movie (crazier!)), slept more than 8 hours a night and spent time with friends and training partners celebrating (and not sweating… unless you count dancing).

It is difficult for some exercise junkies to believe that someone like me can take 1-2 months at the end of a season and cut out exercise pretty much cold-turkey.  However, I know that for me, in order to be ready for the next season, I need a serious physical and mental break.  I am not saying that this is the recipe of success for everyone, I just know that it works for me and I have no shame in telling anyone that I love to be lazy in the last couple months of the calendar year.  I have no guilt in this confession.  And if I put on a couple pounds, so be it (I am not stepping on a scale anyway!) and I am healthier because of it.  And as the holidays approach, I, like many of you, shift my focus to prioritizing more time with family.  When it comes down to it, I’d rather spend time in the kitchen helping prepare the daily feast than trying to squeeze in a little workout before dinner.  But that is just me.  Do what works for you in the offseason, but most of all, give yourself permission to take a break, to try something new, to spend more time with family and friends and to enjoy some rest and relaxation before ramping up toward your 2010 goals.

Three cheers for the off-season!  Cheers!

In the several days leading up to the race, I wish I could tell you that I was excited and happy to be in Kona and preparing for race day.  In reality, however, I have to admit that I was scared out of my mind.  I was grumpy, I didn’t feel well, the heat and humidity were a big concern, and in some ways, I was dreading race day.  However, I continually reminded myself that it was an honor and a privilege to be racing in the Ironman World Championships, that I had gladly accepted this challenge, that I was physically prepared for the race, and I was going to figure out a way to get out of my funk and be ready for race day.  I had no doubt that I was going to cross the finish line, and likely even have a great result, I just knew that it was going to be a tough and painful journey.  Bannink always ‘shows up‘ for race day, I reminded myself.

Race day came with sun and warm in the forecast and I was ready to go.  While getting body marked in the dark, a childhood friend who I had not seen in 15 years called out my name and that short reunion seemed to ease the morning tension and bump up the excitement of the day.  I got everything settled in transition and had plenty of time to find a quiet place to relax before the race.  30 minutes to go and we started to prep for the swim, waved to our cheering section (Heidi, Emma and Chad), found Timex teammates (Tim, Jackie and Mike) and headed into the water.  Based on the layout of the buoys, I decided to start toward the left side of the start line and near the front.  The cannon sounded and the mass started kicking and splashing.  I got bumped around quite a bit at the start, but not the worst start I have experienced, and I was even able to find some clear water to swim my own race.  Even though the buoys seemed to stretch on for miles, it was just a crossing of Devil’s Lake, I reminded myself, and swam steady to the turn around.  Half way, feeling good, and the water opened up on the return trip so I was able to get in a groove.  The coolest part of the swim was seeing the navy ship out in the harbor and noticing that the cadets were surrounding the deck and standing at attention in their stark white uniforms.  I finished up the swim with the entire Aquasphere crew going nuts (thanks guys!), glad that part was over, and knowing that would be the easiest part of the day for me.

T1 went just fine, but I wasn’t in a huge hurry to get out of there, making sure I was slathered in sunscreen and had retrieved everything I needed from my bag.  Then it was off to ride ‘The Dutchess’, the absolute fastest, lightest, most comfortable bike I have ever ridden (my new Trek TTX).  We had a long day ahead of us and I was looking forward to the ride.  I keep my effort easy in the beginning miles and just tried to keep my power output and perceived effort easy and comfortable.  Going through ‘hot corner’ I heard my name from several groups and felt lucky to have so many people out here cheering for me.  Then, it was a long ride out of town.  I got passed by A LOT of people on the bike and I was totally OK with that, I wasn’t racing anyone else but myself.  It was a little frustrating when a pack of about 50 guys swallowed me up and spit me out, I couldn’t get out of that mess fast enough.  The weather started to heat up through the lava fields (I heard mention of 100deg) and I doused myself with water at every aid station along the way.  These water stops were a little piece of heaven every 7 miles and a big part of my heat management strategy.  The climb up to Hawi, the turnaround, was much longer than I expected and I enjoyed the challenge, reminding myself how much I like to climb and how much fun it would be to descend on the return.  I made the turn through town, and a couples mile out on the descent I saw JB making the climb.  Yes, he made it through the swim!  This gave me a boost until the most challenging part of the ride, miles 70-100ish and a nice stiff headwind.  This is definitely where the heat of the day, the body fatigue and my waning emotional energy made it tough to press ahead.  I was nearing the end of this ride, so I continued with the self talk “this is a privilege, come on Bannink- you can do this, remember that this is an opportunity!”  And then a gift, as we turned towards town for the last 10 miles, the wind became a cross/tail wind and I cruised in the remaining miles.  Several of the pros were already headed out past the half-marathon on the run and I was looking forward to progressing towards that part of my day.  I jumped off my bike and part ran, part walked, and part hobbled into transition, sat down and decided that this was a pretty good spot to take a little rest.

The cool towel on my shoulders, the shade, the stillness, it all felt amazing… so this is my excuse for my snail pace T2.  I stopped in the potty (my only stop of the day) and I was back out on the road again, taking it easy as I knew this could turn into a very long day if I didn’t pace this well.  I felt surprisingly OK starting out the run and knew my nutrition had been solid on the bike (1600 cals, 1000mg Na+/hour, and as much water as I could drink).  I was put-zing along with plenty of company, taking in water, dumping water on my head, and stuffing sponges in my top at every aid station.  I grabbed a powergel when I felt like I need it, probably 2 per hour and continued to pop the salt every few miles.  This seemed to work well for the entire marathon, in addition to dumping ice down the front of my bra… now that was a good idea.  I hit the first run turn around at 5 miles and saw JB just a little later heading the other direction.  I was concerned about him as I thought he would have passed me by now, but he was positive and much too cheery at 8 hours into this gig.  I got just past 10 miles and took the right turn up Palani drive (steep!), my first ‘permission to walk’ and I did.  I saw Heidi and Emma cheering me on and that definitely helped.  At the top, on the turn back onto the Queen K, my mental/physical fatigue took over and I had a hard time motivating for the run.  This section, from 11-16 miles would prove to be the most mentally challenging part of the day.  The turn to the energy lab could have been over the next hill, or the next hill, or the next hill, and this was getting to me.  I walked some sections of the uphills, battling in my mind, trying to convince myself to keep running and dissolve any excuse I could come up with that would allow me to walk.  A positive along this section was that I got to see all of my teammates (Tim, Mike, Jackie, Sergio) and many friends (Mike, Jim, Mike) as they were in their final miles heading toward the finish.  Some of them looked great, and others not so great, and we all knew that we were out here together, sending some encouragement across the course with just a little nod or a thumbs up.  Then finally, I saw the solar panels at the top of the energy lab and I knew I only had 10 miles to go.  Down into the lab and hit mile 18, only 8 to go, then on the way up and out, the final stretch of the Queen K.  I hit 20 miles, only a 10K to go, and said to the guy next to me, ‘lets get this bleeeep over with!”  I continued to walk the aid stations as I had done since mile 10, but was able to keep running in-between.  My quads and my brain were fried, and I was able to keep pushing, knowing that this would all be over very soon.  I desperately wanted to walk up the last hill, but by the grace of God, I found another nudge of motivation to crest that hill, pounded my quads down Palani, cruised around the block, then down onto famous Ali’i Drive.  I was going to do this thing… the crowd’s cheers were deafening and I was smiling.  I crossed the line in 11:11:37.  What a journey, what a day!

After thoughts:

-My goal was to race 11 hours, figuring on a 1 hour swim, 6 hour bike, and 4 hour run.  I met those predictions within minutes and feel very proud of that.
-I think I ended up 27th in my age group, and to be honest, I don’t even care.  This day wasn’t about placement, it was about achieving a goal, doing something that most people can’t even dream of achieving, enjoying the opportunity to race on the world stage and capping off my short course race season with an IM finish.
-And saving the best for last… Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who supported me on this adventure.  Your encouragement leading up to the race, your excitement for my opportunity, and your desire to share in my day truly kept me motivated and encouraged throughout the day.  Thank you for your inspiration and support.
Thanks to my sponsors: Timex, Trek, Bontrager, Aquasphere, Powerbar, my local Madison Trek Store and the Wisconsin Fertility Institute, I could not have done this (or afforded it!) without your support.
And a special thanks to Heidi for making the trip to be my biggest fan and carry me around (literally!) in the days following the race.

Thanks to Timex management and Teammates for helping make this season so fun and rewarding.  Your support and friendship is amazing.  Thank you, thank you. 

 And now for my my final race report of the 2008 season….

In a race where cheating was embraced by many, I made a personal pact with myself that I was going to hold on to my integrity and race as fairly as I could.  The Clearwater 70.3 World Championships has, over the past 3 years of its short history, acquired the reputation of a draft pack opportunity race.  It also has the reputation of being a very flat and fast race, the perfect opportunity for a personal PR.

After being frustrated by pack riding in my last event, I knew I could not let this frustration ruin another race.  And besides, this was the last race of a very long season and I was ready to end it on a high note. 

My wave went off at 7:20am, just 35 minutes after the first Pro wave.  I didn’t even warm-up, I just swung my arms around to loosen up the shoulders, splashed my face a minute before the start, and when the gun went off I was on my way.  It was a beach start, of which I usually don’t care for as these short legs can’t seem to get over the water very well, but to my surprise, I was out in front after a little running and a few dolphin dives.  Where were all the fast swimmers?  Probably all in a line right behind me, I assumed.  I felt good on the swim, got used to the saltwater taste in my mouth and didn’t see any jellyfish or sharks.  A good start to the day.  Some waves and current pushed us toward Pier 60 (north) so I was continually correcting and sighting pretty frequently.  It was a straight shot out and back, and by the time I was heading back to shore I was mixing in with the stragglers from the waves ahead of me.  I swam in like a beached whale and was up, out of the water, and leading my age group.  After a quick rinse in the freshwater showers, a strip of my Blueseventy by the wetsuit peelers, and I was into transition.  Wow, what service in the changing tents.  Thanks volunteer ladies!  I grabbed black beauty (my trusty Trek) and we were off on our 56 mile journey. 

I didn’t pre-ride the course, but had studied the maps so I knew what directions we were headed.  I knew that the race for my age group would be coming behind me and it was only a matter of time.  I didn’t get passed by anyone for the first 8 or so miles, and then was passed by three girls over the next few miles.  They were riding strong and this early in the race, I would have been stupid to try to hang with them, so they rode off out of sight.  I went through 25 miles in possibly my fastest 40K pace and then just hoping that I hadn’t gone out too hard.  Shortly after mile 25 a pack of maybe 20 riders started coming by me one by one.  After the first 5 wheel to wheel, I looked back to find a whole train of men and women and I realized that this was my race, these are the girls that will be winning awards in my age group… and I let them go.  This was the first of probably 5 or 6 packs of riders that would pass me over the next 30 miles and each time they would start coming by, I would sit up, stop pedaling, hear my free wheel spin, and wait till they all went by before resuming my own race.  I started to get frustrated several times, and each time, I reminded myself that I was going to have a PR here today and I wasn’t going to have an * next to my time saying “ *note: cheated”.  So, as much as I could, I rode my own race and am proud of that.
Throughout the ride I got to see several of my Timex teammates and other triathlon friends as they zoomed by.  That always helped keep me motivated and focused.  By 45 miles I was getting pretty tired of being in the saddle and took every little incline as an opportunity to stand.  Training in Wisconsin, in the hills of the countryside, I rarely stay in my aero position for more than a few miles at a time.  So asking my body to settle in for 55 of the 56 miles was a lot to ask.  I climbed over the final bridge and the crowds of spectators reappeared.  It was great to be done and looking forward to a solid run.

I was off the bike, handed it over to the volunteers (such service!) grabbed my gear bag and into the women’s changing tent.  Again, the ladies there were great and put sunscreen on my shoulders as I slipped into my running shoes and I was off.  I felt surprisingly good and was running solid, clicking the lap split on my Timex to check my pace.  Right on target.  I took water and a sponge at every aid station to stay hydrated and cool, it was working.  I rounded the 180 after my first lap and headed back out for round two.  Checking my overall time, I knew that I was having a great day and could certainly post a PR, even if I didn’t maintain my pace.  I took a gel at 8 miles, felt like mile 9 lasted forever until realizing that I just missed the 10mile sign, and then checked my time again at the 11 mile mark.  I was doing the math, and if I could hang on, I could not only meet my goal of going in the 4:40s, but in fact, I could break 4:40.  Holy crap!  Those last 2 miles hurt pretty bad and I was pushing as hard as I could.  As I passed mile 12 I said a prayer, thanking God for the opportunity to be out there, competing with the best in such a beautiful place, and for the ability to push my body to the limit.  I came through the final stretch, checked my watch one more time and knew that I would make it under 4:40, I still couldn’t believe it.  I smiled at the line, then nearly collapsed.  I had just put forth one of my best competitive efforts, the perfect culmination to a long and fulfilling triathlon season.

In the end, it didn’t matter what place I took.  As a competitor, we always care about our place to some extent, however, today, it was about personal achievement and I far exceeded my personal goals.  So really, I could have come in 10^th or 30^th and I would still feel like I had won… because, in my mind, I did.  

Total time: 4:39:12, 10^th 30-34 age group

Age Group Nationals - Haag Lake - Portland, OR - 9.20.08
1.5K swim - 40K bike - 10K run

The Portland, Oregon area is absolutely beautiful.  After having raced nationals here last June and experiencing a challenging, scenic course, I knew it would be a great opportunity to come back this year.  USAT did not disappoint with putting on a top-notch race, including the amateur age group nationals as well as the professionals national championship race.

Weather on race day was perfect.  Some might have considered it cold, but 50s* and cloudy was a great start to the day.  I got in a good swim warm-up in beautiful Haag Lake and was ready to go.  We lined up along a long dock and when the horn sounded we pushed off, all 53 of us in my age group (30-34) and started thrashing for position.  Almost immediately I was in clear water (this never happens!) withCathy (the eventual victor of my AG) right beside me.  I found some familiar feet of the lead girl andfell into position.  On the back stretch, feeling like I could push the pace, I pulled out around the lead but didn’t seem to be swimming any faster so I fell back in line, finishing up the swim with our lead pack of 3 girls.  A long run UP hill brought us to transition and it was time for the bike.

I felt pretty good on the bike, being motivated and energized by the hills, descents, views of the lake, giant trees, and some friendly competition.  Two loops of the bike course around the lake and I came off the bike in 2^nd.  What this meant was that I knew Cathy would be way ahead and I didn’t know what the situation was behind me.  Time to run scared.

I exited transition, trying to build into the run.  However, the first ¼ mile is UP hill out of the park and will put you in the red zone pretty quick.  The run course is just like the bike, all up and down.  It is an out and back route and encouraging seeing other participants running the opposite direction.  I pushed through the miles with my legs feeling fatigued and continually reminding myself that slow is not an option.  There is a whole group of girls behind you that would love to take over your position in the race, so with a ‘suck it up Bannink’ to myself, I pushed through the hills.  After the turnaround I found that I was being heavily pursued and was eventually passed by the girl that would end up 2^nd in our age group.  ‘Ok, Cindi, how bad do you want this, push, push, push.’  I raced in through the finish (are my legs going to fall off?) and was greeted by several guys from my Timex team.  It felt awesome to be done.

After reviewing the results, my time was pretty close to last year with a slightly faster bike and slower run (pretty much par for the course this season).  I came in 3^rd in my age group and the 13^th woman overall.  I’ll take it.  The timex team was well represented with Bruce breaking into the top 10 overall, and Roger, Chris and Ian all claiming an age group podium spot.

After the race, I spent an additional 3 days in Portland to attend USA Triathlon’s Art and Science of Triathlon coaches’ symposium.  This seminar was packed with speakers who are ‘experts’ in their field, many of whom work with our Olympic team and top athletes in the world.  I definitely learned new concepts and ideas that I will implement into my coaching and my own training.  Thanks to USAT for an excellent race and education seminar.

Additionally, I’d like to say a special thanks to my Timex teammates for all their support throughout the weekend, my childhood friend, Ryan, who came out to watch, athletes Ed and Ben for being part of the event with me, and my family (Jeff, Marcia & Kids) for a fun vacation (and I can’t wait for my next visit so we can finish our Lincoln-Log Ranch).