It was an interesting summer, and now…poof! It is November. Life got a bit crazy in the past few months, I am going to school full time, figuring out how to deal with diabetes (another post for another day) and training for Ironman Arizona. Arizona was my first ever Ironman, at the advanced age of…21, so I dug up my race report from it and realized I was just as smart then (hahahaha) as I am now (hahahahaha).
Ironman Arizona 2006 Race Report:
I will spare you the breakfast details and skip straight to the good stuff. At 645 am I went to work on my first IM. The swim was going flawlessly and I even thought to myself “2000 people in this race and here I am swimming all by myself.” This should have raised a few eyebrows (my own eyebrows) but I continued on swimming alone. As I reached the turn around I realized I was not swimming alone, I was the sucker pulling half of the pro pack. On the way back I tucked in to the middle of the pack and let someone else pull. Swam a 55 which was the shock of my life having been a 31 min half IM swimmer. I think the QR wetsuit is to thank for that one.
After I got out of the water people kept screaming “SIT DOWN.” I had no idea why they were saying this so I kept screaming back “WHAT?!” To all of you iron virgins out there, dont ask why, just sit down and get stripped…it is as fun as it sounds.
In and out of the tent, and I was off on my bike. I hit a bump around mile 4 and lost my gel flask. No biggie, I figured I would just drink my calories. This worked out to 48 ounces of gatorade an hour…sitting here I realize that was an absolutely ridiculous idea for a 5′3″ person. In the excitement of racing, I became an idiot…at least I got over my fear of peeing on the bike. I biked a 530, which was better than expected.
Started out on the run, which is usually my favorite part of the day. After the first mile I looked down and thought “I dont remember being 8 months pregnant.” That was the start of a loooong run (I use that term loosely). I think the ENORMOUS amount of gatorade was to blame. Binge drinking is cool sometimes, but not in an Ironman. Somewhere around mile 19 I started to feel awesome, so I took off sprinting. This lasted about a mile before my gut put an end to it. Kind of a bummer, my legs never got tired, I was just too much belly and not enough muscle. Pulled in to the finish line in 10.40.
Did some chatting and headed back to my room for a shower. Started puking in the middle of Desperate Housewives, yakking would have been much more convenient at the 2 mile marker as opposed to in my hotel room. Headed back to the finish line for some cheering and to collect my sticky stuff. It was so inspirational to watch mothers, grandfathers, youngsters, first-timers, 30th timers, limpers and gallopers celebrating down the finish stretch. That is the beautiful thing about this sport, everyone has to overcome their own demons to get to the finish line, there is no easy way. In a society of instant gratification, we are a rare group…and I wouldnt have it any other way.

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After Lake Placid, I decided to head in a slightly different direction, dictated by a slightly different coach. In preperation for a November Ironman, the new boss gave me a list of things to work on. JD is bound and determined to turn me into a professional kind of professional. Oh sure, I was coached for years by Simon Lessing, possibly the most business-minded professional out there, but I was too busy trying not to die in workouts to accomplish much else. So now, I am working on my “professionalism,” starting with a list.
1. You will run in running attire.
I have been known to run in yoga pants, boxing shorts, golf knickers, I even did Ironman Canada in basketball shorts. Not to mention the race I did in a cape

This first task took me a long time to conquer, but I adapted to little shorts…unfortunately, I have also decided to rock old man socks with my little shorts- I like to call it “business casual.” So…on to the next task.
2. You will get a bike fit.
I have never had a bike fit. Something about it scared me. But, I am here to tell you- if I (girl who runs in cape) can get a bike fit, ANYONE can benefit from a bike fit. I met with Mat Steinmetz from Retul. Dwayne (my orange trek) and I were in for a fixing. I never pass up an opportunity to interview anyone. As Mat set up, I asked him a few questions.
LT: Are these the nastiest bike shoes you have ever smelled?
MS: YES
LT: Should I be riding 172.5 cranks?
MS: NO
LT: In my old position, am I more aerodynamic riding on the hoods, or my aerobars?
MS: For you, even money
*Attention blog readers- if you are just as aero on your hoods as you are on your aerobars, SOMETHING. IS. WRONG.
So, Mat went to work on aerodynmasizing (?!) me. He put sensors all over my body, and then I started pedaling my bike which was on a saris trainer with a built in powertap. Sweet. I rode at 100 watts, 150 watts, and 200 watts while Mat was able to see all of my body angles. The sensors made it possible to watch myself on a projector as I pedaled. From there, Mat lowered my aerobars, moved my elbow pads farther apart, moved my seat forward, and then gave me a talk about how to ride my bike more aggresively. He was also able to watch the path my knee travels in relation to my frame. My knees tend to point in, so he put inserts in my bike shoes (after putting on rubber gloves, hahaha) which corrected my knees. Brilliant!
After the fit, Mat waved a magic wand (I am not making this up) around my bike, and all of the measurements were saved in a pdf file, so the next time I get a bike, it will be easy to recreate my new, aerodynamic postion.
All in all, being retul-ed was a success.
Next on the list is learning how to descend in the mountains. I always told JD that I am a GREAT descender, then I let it slip that my bike could have been without front brake pads for the last 5 years and I wouldnt know. Task #3 may hurt more than the bike fit. Like, a lot more.

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I will start from the beginning. I had eggs and corn tortillas for breakfast. The swim went well. My good buddy Michael Lovato told me that my song of choice, “Black Betty” would be playing when I came out of the water. Unfortunately, I swam 5 minutes slower than expected, so I missed it. I swam less in the month leading up to the race in favor of running more. I probably wont make that mistake again, because that just leads to my Timex teammate, Denny, swimming my face off. Never good.
In my first two Ironmans, my plan for the bike was to ride as hard as I could for as long as I could. This time around I played it safe, possibly too safe now that I look back on it, but I got off the bike feeling like a million bucks. So, I was ready to run. My guts felt good, my legs felt good, my hair looked good, I was ready to roll. I ran a 6.35 first mile…I dont know, I just got excited. So, I used my banked time to stop at the loo, pee, and give myself a talking to. From there I ran a controlled first half, coming through in 1.45- perfect. My goal was to run 3.35, so I was on track despite the arch incident. Arch incident? you ask. I was running under a huge inflatable “FORD” arch at 9 miles when I saw an ambulance coming. The ambulance was too tall for the arch and hit the top of it. The arch popped and collapsed on me. Then I heard people shouting “get her out of there!” and I was like, “yeah, get me out of here!” I swam out of the collapsed arch and carried on. At mile 14 I picked up the pace, and for the next 7 miles I felt like I was flying. I came through 21 miles thinking it would be possible to run 3.20. Then, at 23 miles I remember looking at my watch and thinking “I could blow up and still run under 3.30″
And then…the lights went out. My stomach was so distended I wondered if I would be left with permanent stretch marks. I shuffled a mile, walked a mile, and then was given my very own volunteer to stumble the last mile with. That last mile took 40 minutes. 4-0. Actually it was more than a mile, because I turned around and walked backwards on the course in my disoriented state- that is how a person wins themself a volunteer escort, I suppose
I set all sorts of PRs after the race, a temp of 95 degrees, a blood pressure reading of 50/39 and 3 IVs…not exactly the PRs I was going for, but its Ironman, you take what it gives you. It was awesome to see my Timex teammate Tamara demolishing the women’s field, and our Team Manager Extraordinaire Tristan holding down the Timex biz.

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5 years ago to the week, I was laying on my friend Fisch Face’s couch when she said “the Boulder Peak was today, Paula did it.” And I said “two hours of racing…why would anyone do something that dumb?!” Then we watched the Ironman on TV and decided to do one. A year later, we both completed Ironman Arizona. My only plan for nutrition was “drink gatorade if I get thirsty…and put a diet coke in my special needs bags for the run.” No one has ever accused me of being too smart. After 10 and a half hours of misery in Tempe, I retired from Ironman racing. Thats a lie, I enjoyed the swim and T1, so it was really only 9.20 of misery. But anyway.
2 years later I discovered one of the greatest joys that life has to offer, riding a bike down a mountain. In the process, I also learned to appreciate the ride up. To justify my new found addiction to riding up and down big hills all day, I decided to sign up for another Ironman. I enjoyed the first 7 hours of the race until I had a cookie at mile 3 of the run. I have celiac, but didnt know it at the time (despite popular belief, celiac is not a std, it is a disease of the small intestine). After 3 hours of puking and stumbling, I again retired from Ironman racing.
Then I started working with a coach who told me I was too young to do Ironman, he said my next one would be in 2012. Oh my. I understand the reasoning of getting fast before you go long. However, having swam and ran track from preschool until my junior year of college when my ticker stopped working (thats another blog for another time) i had tapped out all of my “fast.” To be perfectly honest, I did the fastest running and swimming of my life at the age of 14…before i discovered boys, I suppose.
Then the dark and scary year of 2008 happened (remember when I mentioned my ticker and celiac?) and I realized how short this life really is. Too short to sweep your dreams under a rug and pretend they dont exist. So, I decided to give the Ironman another go. I am racing lake placid next week, and I couldnt be more excited. To think about where I was a year ago today, and the fact I am still here, still fighting, the actual race is just icing on this crazy looking cake.

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This weeks interviewee is Matt Reed aka Matty aka Boom Boom. Born a Kiwi…not literally…like, a New Zealander, Matt raced for the USA at the 2008 Olympic Games. In 2008 Matt also won the Haul to the Great Wall series, St. Anthonys, Boulder Peak, Miami International, the Escape to Bermuda, and was 5th at the ITU World Championships.

LT: Being a Boulder resident, I have to start the interview with the obligatory first question…it is kind of like having a celeb throw out the first pitch at a baseball game, you know, getting things started properly. So anyway, have you ever run over a prairie dog while riding in Boulder?
MR: Yes. I think I broke its back and it rolled into the middle of the
road and got squashed by a truck.

LT: What is at the top of your Christmas wish list?
MR: A leaf blower. I don’t care for presents anymore as long as my son has a smile. That will be at the top of my list.

LT: If you were to train, taper and shave your legs specifically for a beer mile, what do you think you could run?
MR: 5.45, I am just guessing as I am not sure how fast the beer can go down.

LT: As a father of two, what is the biggest life lesson you hope to teach your kids?
MR: Put your entire heart into it and you will achieve your dreams,anything less and you have only made excuses. Also pick a job with a big pay check, and choose at a early age and give it everything.

LT: Living in Boulder, have you ever considered growing your hair to your butt and wearing it in dreads?
MR: I would have an afro so it would go straight up, and no.

LT: Have you ever been arrested? Feel free to elaborate.
MR: Never arrested… Should have been but they never caught me, hehe. I did get caught when I was 12 for stealing candies from the super market.
They had to call the police. I think it was $1.20 worth.

LT: I hear you are running the Carlsbad half marathon in January, so is Joanna Zeiger, does that worry you at all?
MR: The only thing that worries me is having a bad stomach like I did last year… then if I sat in the john for 10 min, Joanna might beat me.

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