That new ORANGE TTX is sooooo cool. You HAVE to see them in person!

The good news is that you all have motivated me to get back into training. I am signed up for Lake Placid, so hopefully I can make up some training ground from the past 2 months of lackluster training.

I also wanted to say thanks to everyone for their kind words and support. (Bruce, Carole, Juli, Keith) Life sometimes gets in the way and you have to just step back and deal with it. I am still dealing with it, but will try to deal on the swim, bike and run. Its cheaper than therapy right? LOL!

See you out there!

I had a great race today. Our own Jordan Rapp won this race 3 years ago in its inception. Today was beautiful, I enjoyed every minute of it. If you are looking to get your a%& kicked next year, http://www.americanzofingen.racesonline.com/ is the race for you. Beer afterwards.

I can’t feel my legs and am looking forward to some pull buoy drills next week. Ha ha!

Congrats to everyone who raced Kona, you all did so well! I was glued to my computer most of the day! I was jumping up and down when Alex crossed the line, that was so cool….someday I will be there!

BIKE (30mi) 1:52:17 (2,516 ft gain)

R1 (4.5mi) 52:34       S1 (1.1mi) 33:38

R2 (5.5mi) 1:10:28    S2 (.5mi) 18:48 (long transition before crossing timing mat)

R3 (8mi) 1:41:18       S3 (.5mi) 14:19

R4 (.7mi) 7:16 (300 ft. gain)

TOTAL 6:52:05* the transitions are built into each run or swim segment

 You tube link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JpdpOBXeBE if that doesn’t work, please look under username “GerryPallor”

This race is one of our local gems. This is an unusual triathlon. Many teammates have heard me talk about it, the Survival of the Shawangunks http://www.ulster.net/~sosnyta/index.html is the link. It consists of: 30 mile bike (last 5 miles gain 1000 feet, 4.5 mile run, 1.1 mile swim, 5.5. mile run, .5 mile swim, 8 mile run, .5 mile swim, .7 mile run (300 ft gain). It is the only USTA sanctioned race that starts with the bike leg AND the best part is you have to carry everything with you after you get off the bike. For photos please go to http://www.printroom.com/ghome.asp?domain_name=scottschaffrick you will get the idea. You should check this race out and put it on your calendar for next year, it sells out quickly! FYI, Chris Gebhardt now a pro triathlete used to come here and dominate the race, just ask him how hard it is, but how beautiful too. As someone else said, there is no “shlock” on this course. (shlock = boring miles with no scenery).

As I said, I had a PR race. I had 3 goals. Bike under 2 hours, total race under 7 hours and not be last in my AG. (which is tough when there are only 7 of you!) I rode really well, but since this race has 30 miles of biking and 19 miles of challenging trail running, I never go hard on the bike. The Trek rode really well and I was happy climbing in it. I was going to swap out my cassette for a bigger one, but I’m glad I kept the 12-25. It was unusually hot this year. The norm for the race is starting temps in the 50s with the high around 75. Well, we started at 75 and went up to almost 90! It was really hot out there. The water temp is always, always cold and a real problem. This year the lakes were balmy, 70 and 72 were the first two swims. They were so refreshing you didn’t want to get out and run!

I got off the bike and was feeling pretty good. My “crew” Mary, (you have to have someone volunteer to take your bike) was great and she had everything laid out for my transition with extra water and gels. I made a quick change and grabbed my cap, goggles and Point03 suit. I was off on the first 4.5 mile run which is all uphill. It even has a special hill in it called Cardiac Hill. That thing is a wall! My legs took a long time to figure out what they were supposed to do, I finally felt good about 3 miles into this run.

I got to the first lake and now was the time to put on the Point03 swimskin. I pulled it on, and had practiced this in advance: I took my shoes off and put the heel of one in my crotch area and the other one sort of next to it and zipped the skin up around me.* (I’m sure Tim, Ben and John from BlueSeventy are quite interested in some photos of this…I will try to get them) Just so you all understand, the typical way people do the shoes while swimming is to put one in the front of your shorts in the crotch and one in the back in the butt area. The Point03 skin wouldn’t stretch for me to do that, but this way worked well.

I had record setting swims (for me!) I couldn’t believe my watch when I got out of the water each time. Thanks to Melanie who helped me at camp. I caught up to my hubby, who was in the wave before me. I passed him in the water and thought he would draft off me for the swim, but when I got out of the water he was nowhere to be found.

The runs got slower and slower. I guess it was just late season fatigue or just that I hadn’t been running at all since IM Lake Placid, well nothing long distance anyway.

After the second swim in Lake Minnewaska there is a very steep, quad killing downhill that is like almost a mile, which always sets my IT bands off. Oh man, I hit the bottom of that and was in some severe pain. I had to stop and stretch a couple of times. That is when I got passed! Grrr. I hate getting passed. This is the longest run of the race. But after this downhill, its all flat until the end.

So on this last run I had just had it! I was about 5 miles into it and I stopped to walk, I then got really mad at myself for giving up and looked up to see the chick who had passed me earlier was walking. I started to run to go and get her. I never walked for the rest of the race. I didn’t catch her, but I kept going. That was motivation enough for me.

Then I got to swim in Lake Mohonk, where the Mohonk Mountain House resort sits. They shot the movie “Road to Wellville here. You can see how beautiful the resort and lake is in the photo. the second photo shows the end of the swim and the rocks you have to climb out on.

The reason I love this race is I know a lot of people on the course racing and a lot of the volunteers. That makes is so much fun and helps when you are all alone in the middle of the woods on a trail.

I scampered up the final run segment and had a lot of cheers and congrats on the way up from

everyone coming down. I finished at SKY TOP or Smiley Tower as it is also called to a lot of cheers and the announcer, “Jeanne Roth, you are a SURVIVOR!” I changed and waited for the rest of my friends and the hubby to finish. Then we were off to the world’s best post race food! Oh man, that is another reason to do this race, the FOOD! We finish at Mohonk Mountain house a beautiful resort (very high end) that makes some great food.

All in all it was a great day. Some low points, but I overcame them and finished with a smile. The best part is I will do it next year, and try to place in my AG. Gotta keep aiming higher and higher!

Thanks to everyone for a wonderful season, I wish all of you the best in the off season. We are going hiking next weekend. I can’t wait!

I must say this is the biggest transition area I have ever seen! It’s situated on a hill and you can’t ever see all of it! AND after the rain and flooding we have had all week, the hill was a MUD BATH. I took a photo with my phone, but it does not capture the depth of the mud. So I was lucky in that my transition area was pretty dry and close to bike in/out. The less running in transition with the bike, the better!

Swim – Cold, lots of seaweed and a deep water start. I tried very hard when I first jumped in to tread water as fast as I could to warm up. I swam pretty hard for the first 200 yards and then settled down into a good rhythm until the turn buoy. I wanted to keep up with the group and catch the draft. The swim area is very narrow and its hard to swim off course, which is good for me based on my last two races! I had trouble sighting due to foggy goggles, I forgot to lick them, because I was running late to my wave. The biggest issue with this swim is you quickly catch up to all the previous waves slower swimmers. I had to practice defensive swimming. I got kicked in the head a few times when I came up on someone swimming breast stroke. There was so much seaweed and it kept getting caught on my goggles and around my neck. What an icky feeling! I didn’t want to stop every time to take it off so I developed a system of when my hand passed my head in the swim stroke I would just pull it off my face. Worked quite well, I only lost a little momentum doing this. My swim time was 29:00. the timing mats are at the end of the run, right at T1…so the official time is 32:30. That is the longest T run I have ever done. Longer than IMLP! 450 yards, in bare numb feet. And then I had to run to my rack which is on the complete other side of transition.

So this really cool thing happened to me in this race, normally, when I hit T1, a lot of bikes are gone….this time, most were there. So my mind goes and says “they are SO much faster than you, they are already back and on the run!” which I know was impossible. I passed a lot of people on the bike, and I didn’t get passed by to many people, mostly men from the waves behind me, very few women in my age group passed me.

BIKE – I borrowed a bike from my mother in laws personal trainer, thanks Alison! She rides a Trek 1000 and just completed a 150 mile MS ride on the bike, so it was in good shape and broken in! I test rode the bike on Saturday and found that shifting into the big ring was a little tricky, so I left it in the big ring for the race, which I thought was going to be dead flat. WELL, it wasn’t dead flat. The bike out went up a pretty steep on-ramp, and I didn’t feel like climbing out of my saddle and jacking up my heart rate so soon, so I shifted down into the middle ring (yes, a triple) and spun up the hill. Wouldn’t you know it, I get to the top and I can’t shift back into the big ring! Darnit. So I rode the whole course in the 42/12 or 42/13. I topped out at 25 mph. I would have loved to have about 2-3 more gears than I ended up with. My total bike time was 1:16.

I did something totally out of character, I was feeling really great. I passed a guy wearing, of all things, a Purdue University uniform. I yelled at him, “Purdue SUCKS! Go Hoosiers!” and sped off. I am an Alumnus of Indiana University, 1995. I looked back to see him pop out of his saddle and sprint to pass me. He got about 100 yards in front, and he then sat back down. I reeled him in at my steady pace and passed him again, this time not saying anything, but passing very close so he would know I passed him again. I feel bad about that, but in a really good way.

When I came into T2, there were a few bikes on the rack, but most were missing! WHOO HOO!

Run – we went south to the Planetarium and around the Shedd Aquarium and down to  Fireman’s memorial park, which was quite nice. It was hot and I was struggling to get 9 minute miles going. I almost lost my gel at mile 1. I ate it but it didn’t want to stay down. I was able to pass a lot of people in the run, which always helps to keep you motivated. It seems like every time I picked someone to pace, in about a mile or less, they slowed way down and then I would pass them and keep going. Total run time 56:36.

I placed 50/256 in my age group for a PR race that was 2:51. I was hoping for a 2:45, which I think I could have done better on the bike and swim. Oh well, there is always next year! I finished in the top 20% of my AG, which is huge!

Rachel won the Female Elite with a 2:10:33

Kim Dunker won her Elite age group with a 2:27:09

Great job to everyone who raced last weekend!

Sharpie threw down a 48 minute Ironman swim at IMLOU!

I set another PR! 14:09.21. I ran one of the most solid races ever and I am very happy with the whole thing, this course is tough. I did it in 2005 for my first Ironman ever which happed to also be my birthday. (15:18.38) What an awesome day, but what a slow bike split, with a flat tire on top of it all! This year I was out for revenge on the bike course!

The 5 days we were up in Lake Placid was great! I had two friends doing the Ironman for the first time and they were very excited and nervous, but I was sure they would both have great days and finish with a smile! Not to mention the teammates who were racing, Alex M. and Marie, you both rock! Keith, Brook and Jay were also fun to have on the course. Jay, I bet you will do another race!

It rained, and rained and rained some more and was cold. I didn’t pack my rain jacket (DOH!) or enough fleece and paid for it by having to fight off a sore throat on Friday and Saturday. It eneded up hitting me today, Wednesday. I have taken my second nap of the day and I have been taking a lot of Emergen-C! Love that stuff!

Doug, our great mechanic, tuned up and cleaned my bike, which rode and shifted like a breeze, thanks! The practice swims were solid and the water felt cool, but once you got going you warmed up. I don’t think Mirror Lake will ever be called “warm.” I ran once and was pretty tired running the loop around the lake. I got very worried about my fatigue, so I decided to lay very low for the next 36 hours. Whadoyaknow? It worked!

Saturday at Ironman Village we had a TIMEX seminar on Ironman TV. Ben (our fearless manager) emceed the show and Paolina, Alex, Marie, Dave and I were on TV talking about training, racing and our pre race meals and superstitions. My in-laws had come into town and were in the audience watching with my husband. We had a good crowd and the village was full of people! One of the funnier questions from the audience was “Do you pee on the bike?” everyone shook their head up and down, except me!  Guess that is another thing I have to work on. I just can’t bring my body to do that.

The swim, well, I was planning on swimming a 1:15 and ended up with a 1:22. Not what I wanted and it wasn’t for fatigue, but just really crummy sighting. I went way far to the right and ended up all by my lonesome until I hit the first buoy. I was just having a lot of trouble with direction and kept veering off to the right even when I would turn left. I ended up very frustrated and then had to battle the kayaks who kept getting in front of me to steer me back to the crowd.

T1- 12:46. I know, I know. What was she doing? Eating pancakes? I HAD to use the porto potties! It’s also a long run from the lake to the oval!

Bike – I was trying to get a 7 hour bike split. I had done 7:11 in Coeur d’Alene. So the first lap I hit in 3:29 I was very happy. But a headwind crept up on the second lap and killed me. I was passed a lot more on the second lap too. I got to the out and back and I was very spent with a lot of climbing to go. My second lap was 4 hours. Ugh, would I have legs to run??? Total bike 7:31:49

At the aid station in Wilmington, the volunteer made a comment about a lot of crashes. They had sent 3 ambulances to the hospital and needed a 4^th! There was also a very bad crash on the downhill to Keene. People, be careful out there!

T2- 5:45 Much better! Coming off the bike I hear this woman screaming my name. It’s my mother in law. My in laws stopped me and took my picture before I ran off to change for the run. It’s really fun to have your family there in the crowd. It made a difference for me and my race.

Run – I felt pretty good. I saw Paolina in the first mile and she said I had good turnover. I never lost that turnover. I ended up running a 4:56:21 marathon. Not quite as fast as Alex, but great for me! The best part is I finally got my nutrition under control and that really made the difference in my run. I had energy and surprisingly fresh legs. (Hmm, maybe should have ridden harder?) I kept expecting to run out of gas, but I picked up a buddy, Joel and we ran together for quite a few miles. This was Joel’s first Ironman race and he was hurting on the run, but had to beat his buddies time of 14:23. I said stick with me, I am trying to break 14 hours. It really helped me to run with someone. Sometimes we would chat, and most of the time we would just run. We would wait for each other after the aid stations and kept each other going. This is the first marathon I didn’t want to quit or slow down, even though the last 10K was so very painful. Alex asked me at lunch how do I run for 5 hours? Well, that is how. I now ask him, “How do you run a marathon under 3 hours?”

I really wanted to break 14 hours…but I saw my family on the sidelines and my friends and husband racing I would stop for hugs and a quick chat. For me it’s about the experience first and foremost, and then it’s about the clock.

My husband was a hero. One of my friends was having trouble on the marathon. She had nutrition trouble on the bike, which is very bad. That means no energy to run. Not to mention the temperature drops quickly at Lake Placid when the sun goes down. She became hypothermic and was walking from mile 17 to the finish. He walked with her the whole way and they crossed the line together.

Check out my photos on ASI. I’m #2156. I’m also in the DVD everyone got from Janus on my pretty blue TREK bike! (hint: I’m in the TIMEX uniform)

For fun, check out this page: http://www.northeastcycling.com/Global_Climbs.html   I did the Whiteface Climb in June.

I borrowed my friends mountain bike, because mine is so old it only has 7 cogs on the back. Not 10 like new bikes, so I couldn’t put a larger casette on the back. On my friends bike I had a 22 (smallest gear in front on the cranks) and a 34 (largest gear in back) I test rode the bike up Platte Clove Road in Saugerties, NY. Also better known as Devil’s Kitchen. The headwalls on this road are 18-25% I went up the first 3 headwalls (it was pouring out and I didn’t want to go down the road) which were all 20%. I was able to spin pretty well. Her bike doesn;t have a computer, so I don’t know how slow or fast I was going. But it was pretty slow.

This week, I am in Phoenix on business. OH MAH GAWD is sooooo hot. Jess, I have no idea how you live here! The pools at our resort are pee warm…. you HAVE to finish your run by 6am or you will melt. Literally.

I have seen humming birds and a jackrabbit! The resort borders some wild horse range and I can’t wait to go run at 5 am and see them at the watering hole.

Tapering for IMLP….see you in Placid!

Keep on….

So, the swim. I was swimming on Friday and had some major freakout sessions, I went back into the water Friday afternoon with Bruce (man is he fast!) and tried it again. Saturday I had more freakout sessions with the cold water, waves and chop, but listened to Carole’s advice of “just keep swimming” You can freakout, but just keep swimming. Once I figured out how to relax and let the waves go over me I was fine. Actually the swim in the race wasn’t that bad. I lost my chip the moment I got in the water. I was able to save it and put it on my wrist. The bad part was all the people who didn’t know how to swim in water like that. They would get hit by a wave and stop and then I would stop and then get trampled by the person behind me who didn’t stop. I was working to hard for to little and decided to hang out on a kayak for a minute so I could look around and figure out where to swim. I ended up going on the inside of the buoys to get out of the fray and had a great swim. I still took it easy and had some trouble sighting. When I made the first turn the waves were tossing me around like crazy. I was trying so hard not to get seasick. Luckily I didn’t! Lap 1 was 43 minutes. Lap 2 was uneventful.

T1 – Thanks to the great wetsuit strippers. When I got out of the water I saw Carole and gave her a big hug. I was happy with my swim time. 1:29. I was expecting a lot slower with the conditions and how bad my sighting was. I didn’t take my suit off at all while running on the beach, I got to the strippers and they spun me around like a piñata. It was really cold without the suit on! My T1 time was 12 minutes. I know, what did she have a hot breakfast? Well, I was really worried about hypothermia. The high temp of the day was 68 and the water was 61-62 ish. I didn’t want a repeat of Harriman. I had my Timex jersey that was then buried under a cycling jersey, arm warmers and a wind jacket. I took my time and dried off as much as possible.

BIKE – The course is great! I like the climbs. Not rollers, climbs. I would have preferred a 27 in back instead of the 25, but I survived the climbs. What killed me on the last 20 miles was my shorts got bunched up and started chafing. OUCH. Nothing new on race day, especially new tri shorts! OUCH. I had some nutrition issues too. I got tired of eating and drinking and I stopped. I know, really stupid, Jeanne! I got my act back together and started hitting the Power Gels which perked me up. I caught up with Bruce at the end of the bike leg and we rode into transition together. Actually I let him get a head start on me since I was gonna fly by him!

T2 – So glad to get those bike shorts off. I put on running shorts. I’m a big believer in the “be comfortable” mindset. I like to bike in cycling clothes and run in running shorts. Takes more time in the Ts but that is ok with me.

RUN – I saw Carole again and got a big hug! I passed Bruce about mile 1 and took off. I felt pretty good and was running along. My plan was to have a gel every 4 miles and have Gatorade and some pretzels or a banana in between. That started to not work very well. I started slowing down about mile 11 and the fruit was not a good idea. My stomach was so unhappy and I was slowing down and getting really depressed. I have learned in racing long course that when I get depressed and a defeatist attitude, I need SUGAR! It’s the beginning of the bonk for me. If I can see it coming I can pull it out, which this time I did. I met a nice guy to walk with as I ate some gels and get my energy back. He was a local resident and had a broken metatarsal, which is why he was walking. I started to feel better and took off running. I ran the rest of the marathon, while walking the aid stations to eat.

FINISH – This race has the best finish! You run downhill for 2 blocks in town that is packed with people. You see this huge bright light and automatically you get a feeling of relief & excitement, and a big surge of energy. It’s awesome. The kids have their hands out so you can give high 5s all the way down the street! There is nothing like finishing an Ironman, no matter how long it takes!

Check out my photos on ASI. I’m #2178. Watch my finisher video.

I am planning on racing Lake Placid on July 22. See ya’ll out there!

So my last Half Marathon was a 2:09. That race was awfully cold and I was under-dressed. My IT bands also kicked in for that race and I was reduced to a hobble for the last 3 miles.

ANYWAY…..I set a big goal. I wanted to run under 2 hours to see if I could do it. I had my Bodylink on and the GPS unit on my arm. So by monitoring my heart rate and my real time pace I was going to go for it, or go at that pace for as long as I could! The first couple of miles I was in a big pack of people. Then it started to thin out. I was never really alone and I was trading spots with a couple of people depending on who stopped at what aid station. I have to say the station volunteers were great and I was out of character and a little rude to one person. VERY SORRY! I am not used to pushing myself like that and I think it really got to me towards mile 9. I also couldn’t understand what he was telling me. Totally my fault. EVERYONE – thank your volunteers!

So, in order to come in under 2 hours I had to maintain a sub 9-minute pace for the whole time. I was doing pretty well and my splits were really great in the beginning. I ran 4 miles in 32 minutes, then 7 miles in 1 hour. For me, thats pretty quick! I knew it would float up towards the end and it did, but by pacing myself this way I was able to buy time for the last mile or so that is mostly uphill. I hit mile 10 at 1:27. So I thought to myself, even if I run 10 minute miles, i will make it under the 2 hour goal! Phew. BUT I didn’t let up, and that was the big lesson I taught myself this weekend. Push yourself, you don’t know how far you can go and what you can withstand.

For those of you who have run the Ironman course there, it is about 85% the same course. A little different for the start and finish (ugh, that finish) but the majority is the same. A lot more pounding downhills in this course that I thought would be the end of my knee! (Big shout out to Cassidy and the TP roller!)

So the finish is this big ugly hill with SWITCHBACKS. When I hear that word, that can only mean one thing. STEEP. Oh man, they were steep. I was reduced to a jog, but i kept running. Then I ran the oval to the finish with very dead legs, trying to hold off anyone from passing me. I had a little over 1 minute when I hit the oval to make my sub 2 hour goal. My husband had finished ahead of me and came back to run the oval with me. He was giving me a countdown as I was trying not to blow up too soon. I paced it very well and had a kick at the last 100 yards. I always like to do that no matter how hard it is or how much it hurts. I made it! 1:59:18. WHOO HOO!

My other PR I did last night was a time trial. The Trek Equinox 7 WSD rode great for me. 10 miles, rolling hills. A month ago I did a 32 minute race. Yesterday was a 29:20! That was the first time I had broken 30 minutes on that course. I am so happy!

We are going up to the Whiteface Uphill Bike race Saturday June 16 and Ironman Coeur d’Alene June 24. Come and join us for some climbing pain! (I have a compact and a 27)

Harriman Half Ironman, 5/19/07 – My first DNF;  air 55 degrees F, water 60 degrees F, rain, wind 

I had an awesome swim! Thanks to Ben B. for the Helix wetsuit and Melanie for working on my swim stroke. I dropped almost 4 minutes from my last 1.2 mile swim time! Swim 33:29 (my watch time) That’s huge! I also felt awesome, I sighted really well with my Blue Seventy goggles and held great lines. The swim was the warmest and unfortunately the shortest part of the day. 

Now here’s the fun part: running on cold sand into a parking lot and my feet were like little ice cubes. So I get to T1, and its raining. It started during the swim. I didn’t realize it was going to rain so soon, so the garbage bag I had planned for my transition area was under my stuff since I got the end on the grass full of goose-poop. ICK. 

My stuff was appropriately soaked. Wool socks, cycling hat, tights, 2 jerseys and a wind jacket. I put it all on and walked carefully to the bike out. Got on the bike and heard a rubbing sound. “Darn it!” I got off, and checked the front brake pads. Nope not that. Got on and pedaled again, heard it some more, realized it was my race number hitting my tire. Phew! I can live with that. There is a sketchy descent on this course, so the 30 second stop for a safety check is well worth the time spent. 

So, I get out on the course, and started spinning…. “hmm, I’m really cold.” Let’s have some of my drink. That was a challenge. My mountain bike gloves had no grip or traction and my bottle was very smooth. (Note: they were not Spenco and have been promptly thrown out!) So I very carefully got it out and drank. I cranked the bike up to some higher gears and tried to warm up. Nothing was happening. My legs hurt, the cold air really hurt, my toes were still there, but man they were just numb. The small climbs had me reduced to my easiest gearing. I was getting passed like I was standing still. I didn’t understand why my legs weren’t coming around. 

On the downhills you can easily hit 30 mph, but it hurt so much to go that fast. Then I hit the big descent, 5 miles of winding, wet road. I rode the brakes the entire time. I’ve ridden this course before and love this descent! It ends at a hairpin turn, which you basically have to come to a complete stop to navigate. Then comes the 2 mile climb, usually a tough climb for me so I spin up it, since it’s not a one lap race. I was looking forward to that climb to warm up. So were a lot of racers. 

I have never been so cold in my life, but I thought I would “stick it out” for one more lap, so I would do 2 out of 4. I had warmed up a little on the “big hill” but my knee was really hurting. Not good. I couldn’t get my nutrition either, the bottle kept slipping from my full gloves. So I decided to bag the race. My friend rode by me and I told her what was going on. She said I should do the next lap with her. “Thanks, but no” I said. I knew I was done. I wished her good luck and I rode into transition. I found a race marshall and turned in my chip. She had a lot of chips in her hand! I felt better about my decision. I flagged down my friend and she helped me get my stuff into the car. I was standing there looking at my wet stuff, and I started violently and uncontrollably shaking. Long story short: I got changed into dry clothes and warmed up in the car with the heat blasting. 

A little later I went back out on the bike course with a friend and we were cheering on the racers. Our friend rode by us and about a minute later she came back. She was shaking more than I was. She couldn’t get her hands off the bars and we couldn’t get her clicked out. I was a little panicky, because I have never seen someone that bad. We helped her to the car and got her changed into dry clothes and blasted the heat again. She took a long time to warm up. Like 10 minutes before her muscles stopped shaking. Another friend was taken away to the ER. It was a bad, bad day if you weren’t dressed properly. 

I still am trying to figure out what I could have done to make that race manageable. This is what I have come up with: 

1. Keep your transition stuff dry. Bring a bin or waterproof tarp. Use over and under! Even garbage bags would work. 

2. Bring more clothes than you possibly think you will need. 

3. Get out of your wet clothes from the swim. Wet + cold = bad

4. Keep your head warm.

5. Block the wind at all costs. I have wind panel tights sitting at home in a cozy drawer. Along with my warm jacket!

6. Make sure your gloves have grip.

The Timex PR team met with: Christine Bucher, Fitness & Exercise Senior Editor, Bicycling Magazine
Joelle Junior, Fitness & Exercise Assistant Managing Editor, Prevention Magazine
Warren Green, Jogging & Running Editor, Runner’s World
Jennifer Mack, Editorial Assistant, Bicycling/Mountain Bike Magazines  

We introduced the Fitness Series of heart rate monitors. They have three models with different features, all very simple and easy to use:
The Easy Trainer is ideal for the regular exerciser looking for a simple heart rate monitor.
The Personal Pacer is perfect for the active exerciser who enjoys various forms of physical activity from bike riding to running on the treadmill.
The Zone Trainer, in a variety of styles for men and women, has a comprehensive range of functions geared to the more intense exerciser interested in maximizing training. Each is an invaluable tool for those trying to achieve a better level of physical fitness.Each of the Fitness Series HRMs recalls the average and peak heart rate and exercise time. Analog transmission allows the Easy Trainer and the Personal Pacer models to work with treadmills and other HRM-enabled fitness equipment. Digital transmission in the Zone Trainer eliminates interference and cross talk from other HRMs.
 

After the presentation, I was talking with Jennifer Mack who writes LAB RAT for Bicycling magazine and she had just tested a new recovery drink from PowerBar. My ears perked up as I am shopping around for a recovery drink. She gave me a sample and I couldn’t wait to get home to try it after a big workout.

Out in the parking lot I met Bill Strickland, from Bicycling Magazine, who was just coming back from a lunchtime ride. Bill said, “If you don’t ride, you can’t write.” The employees get to run and ride during the day. They have full locker rooms! How awesome would it be to work there? For me, a true dream job! (I’m a graphic designer with loads of printing and editorial experience…. hint, hint, HINT!)
 

Monday – I used it yesterday after a bike workout. I liked it, and I feel pretty good. It tasted like a vanilla shake. YUM! Next to try is the chocolate flavor. We will see how my run goes today, 2 hours! Gotta love Ironman training.
Tuesday – So it’s the day after my long run. I had the recovery drink again. Chocolate is a good flavor too!  Lets see how my time trial goes tonight. Maybe we have a winner!

Wednesday – OK, the TT went well. I felt really good. Another recovery drink tonight, chocolate flavor. These are getting pretty good.