Titanium Trixie

My Ironman Arizona experience was...IMAZing! Thanks, Es, for coming up with that! I did not mean to take so long to post about Ironman Arizona, but since I returned things have been busy! Following is not my race report but just everything thing up to that point...race report comes out next!

My bike left for Arizona nearly a week before I did! I dropped Titanium Trixie (her upgraded name and an explanation to follow later) with her newly applied stickers off at Bonzai on Friday, November 11. Trixie was getting transported with some other Z-mates bikes! Then I was heading out to get Carol and go to Richmond. The next day I was doing the 8K and Carol was doing the full marathon – her 25th! The 8K was pretty flat so I just ran somewhat easy and after the nice downhill finish tried to get back up to the marathon start to see Carol off. I missed her but ran into a Masters swim friend, Ron and his wife, who were there as spectators for their daughter as she ran her very first marathon. I got to see Carol around mile 19 then made it back to the finish so I could see her finish her 25th – with a cold Diet Coke waiting! After she had a bit of recovery we walked to the car and made good time back home. After dropping her off I headed home to clean up and head to see some family for a dinner.

The next week I managed to get all my last workouts in before flying out to Phoenix/Tempe on Thursday, November 17. It was AUsome because Carol dropped us at the airport – yay! We flew on Frontier and at National they are situated at one gate in the old terminal. I have not been there in AGES! Brought back memories of my first airplane trip up to Boston with my mom when I was little, and even before that meeting my mom at the gate when she returned from a trip visiting her family up there.

Anyway, we arrived timely and had lots of time to spare for getting a latte and for potty visits. We left on time and our connection was in Denver where we had a long layover but I was glad for the time and did not feel stressed. There was plenty of time for lunch and relaxing. At that point wished we would be arriving earlier in Phoenix so I could get my bike, but it was all good.

Fun Note: Frontier Airlines uses a different animal on the tail and wing tips of each plane – and they name them, too. Animal Tales! Flying to Denver we were on Thunder the American Buffalo. From Denver to Phoenix we were on Lobo the Gray Wolfe. On the return we had Flip the Dolphin from Phoenix to Denver and back on Thunder the American Buffalo from Denver to DC. Cool!

Once in Denver I claimed my one checked back (we had carried on two – one each) and got the rental car quickly – there was no line at Thrifty! I’d arranged for a small SUV so I could load the bike in it as needed. The hotel was very close by and we were there in no time and got checked in on the top floor (6) and had a nice view out the front that over looked a portion of the run course. I joked that Jeff could come hang out on the balcony till he’d seen me go by the third time then just head over to the finish...

I received a call from Tina who was staying at the same hotel regarding meeting up for dinner that night. We did and it was a lot of fun. We met her guide, Caroline, and Tekla the guide dog went with us, too. We shuttled it over to PF Chang’s and got seated right away. Dinner was delicious! We shuttled back to the hotel, too.

Friday - there was a LOT to do! I had to do a short run – just 20 minutes. Then after breakfast in the lobby and getting a latte at the Starbucks coffee bar it was off to athlete check in! I was SO excited! I remembered that two years ago at Lake Placid I just kind of went through everything blindly and did not really pause to take it all in. I did not want that to be the case this time! We were off to the Athlete Village! When we arrived there was little to no line at check in – yay! I saw IronSally and Priscilla the HalfFanatic while in line – we took some pictures! Jeff could not go in the check in tent but there was a place for him to wait. I don’t think I was in there for too long and took a few pictures as I went along.

After check in we visited the merchandise tent. I wanted to see what cool IMAZ stuff I could find ahead of time: water bottle, technical tee with all athletes names printed on the back, men’s tee with all athlete’s names printed on the back (for Patrick), AUsome TYR backpack, 16 ounce beer glass (yeah, for all the beer I drink), IMAZ sticker for my bike rack.

Afterwards I was planning to head to pick up my bike but we stopped by the A.R.T. tents so I could say hello to IronRobin (IM Switzerland, 2009) who also happens to be part of Team Z and my favorite massage therapist! I got a quick ART treatment on my feet and calves. Yay! Robin then walked us over to the bike area – not before stopping for a bag of kettle corn. OMG – delicious! Finally! I was reunited with Trixie! I was so happy to see her! I was happy to get my transition bag, too!

Next it was back into the athlete village so I could find something for my bike chain as I forgot my chain cleaner/lube. I bought a similar bottle at the bike services tent. Then, as we were wandering around the athlete village we saw a “Specialized” tent. I thought – Hey, maybe they can quickly lube my chain for me. Well, this was the Specialized Racing tent but they said they’d look at the chain if I could leave the bike for a few. We did and wandered around a little bit more and maybe ran into more IMAZing Team Z people. (To be honest, parts of Friday and Saturday in the athlete village run together.) I think I spent some time looking for anything related to the Ironman Foundation with no success.

Anyway, I got Trixie back from Specialized. They asked if my name was Trixie...um, no. Then we proceeded to walk back to the hotel – it was a mile and a half! We had planned to meet up with Tina and Caroline to drive one loop of the bike course that afternoon. I also wanted to put my feet up for a bit as I also had to start the process of prepping my gear and special needs bags! And putting race numbers on my bike, helmet, and said bags. FUN! FUN! FUN! This time I took pictures of the process, too!

We met Tine & Caroline a little after 2PM to go for the drive. We had to work around the finish line area since that was closed off but we picked up with course pretty easily after that. One loop was about 37.3 miles with one section of that over 10 miles long – on the Beeline Highway, which is the scene of the ‘climb’ on the course. It’s kind of the scene of the wind, too. It was nice to get a first hand view of what was to come on race day! We then dog-sat Tekla so Tine and Caroline could go for a spin on Tina’s bike and test the fit for Caroline.

Dinner that night was at a little pasty place (had never had that before) and I had a yummy chicken pot pie one. Then a group of us headed over to the ‘mandatory athlete briefing’. That was good but I probably could have managed without – especially since I read the athlete’s guide. But it was fund to be there. We also got a ride back to the hotel – yay! Thanks, Dana! It was nice that the athlete meeting was on a Friday night – two nights before the race, as opposed to the night before like in Lake Placid. I hope that is the case there in 2012!

Saturday - another busy day! The athlete swim practice was starting at 9AM. We headed over there with a good 30 minutes to spare, but by the time I got my wetsuit on it was a tad after 9. I was testing out my sleeveless to see how it fared with the cold water. I got in the cue and when it was my turn I jumped right in and started swimming! I decided to swim all the way to the turn buoy and head back. I think I was in the water for about 25 minutes. One thing I noticed that with the sleeveless suit my left arm kept rubbing on my body and was getting irritated and chaffed. That had happened to me in a race earlier in the year – either Kinetic or Musselman. I decided that I would go with the full sleeved suit on race day and hope I got the shoulders in place well so I would not fatigue!

With the practice swim done it was time to go on a little bike ride! I met up with Es, Timra, and Jodie for this. It was nice to have a little company! We actually did not ride the course but the opposite of it – and it took us right by the hotel! I noticed in a few gears my chain was rubbing on my front derailleur. Boo. What to do? What to DO? How much would I be in those gears and could I stand it for 112 miles? If so, what would it to do the chain and derailleur?

Jeff and I talked about it and thought about the bike services tent. Then we decided to take Trixie back to the Specialized tent and ask them for advice. To make a long story short, Joe, the Specialized tech to the pros, ended up changing out the cable and the front derailleur, and adjusting the bracket it is mounted on. This was not only a change out, but an upgrade to a SRAM Red (from a SRAM Force). I was getting super stressed as I waited as a couple of time he had to take my bike off the rack to do something to someone else’s. All I could think about was that my bike and transition bags had to be racked and in place by 3PM! ACK! We were supposed to pick up Maggie and drive her to the team pasta lunch but it was already noon and we were going to be late. I managed to find her number via the yahoo group and called her with an update.

FINALLY, Trixie was ready! I took her for a quick test ride to check the shifting. No rubbing. Yay! Major waves of relief washed over me. You have NO idea... Even Specialized Joe could see it. I must note that they replaced the cable and derailleur for me at absolutely no cost. It was all free. That was also IMAZing! Oh, and the SRAM Red front derailleur is made of titanium – so now I ride Titanium Trixie!

Finally, bike and bag drop was done. Whew. I let a little air out of the tires and headed on my way. We drove back to the hotel and got cleaned up as quickly as possible so we could head over to the IMAZing Z party that Bob’s daughter had generously offered to host for us!

To be continued...

Happy and Healthy Training!!

Next Up: Hot Chocolate 15K!

One brick closer...

Last week was a recovery week, starting out my taper. Yay for both! I even got all my recovery workouts in – double yay! Saturday was another brick – 30/8 – that I decided to do out of Wakefield Park in Annandale. I arrived at about 7:20 and it was just getting light out. Met up with Carol who was going in to swim then run 4 miles first before meeting me for my 8 miles. Pam could not join us this time. I think I got moving on the bike at about 7:34. Not too bad. I did manage to gouge some skin out of my right hand while trying to remove my bike bump thingy off the valve of my tire. That’s what I get for not putting the air in at home! Was this a sign?

The bike ride went fairly well. I started off pretty chilly – especially my hands and feet – but I pretty much warmed up except for my feet. I saw a few runners and the only other crazy biker was someone who was riding their bike to get from point A to point B. I did the usual loop in North Springfield/Ravensworth with extra looping here and there. All in all I got in 29.1 miles. On the last mile or so of the ride I was going down a hill and nearly had heart failure when Sammy Squirrel ran across in front of me. Thankfully he kept going and did not do one of those crazy change directions moves...

Back at the car Carol was waiting having finished her swim and the first four miles of her run. I had a pretty fast transition (probably faster than race day – ha!) and we were off! We just did a straight out and back to Lake Accotink and back. We actually ran towards the dam where we turned left and went up the park access road. At some point along the way my feet were completely warmed up! We were planning to pick up the path at the end of the access road, but there was a couple getting married on it! So we excited the park on to some ‘other’ road till we hit our four miles. Then turned and did the reverse. All was going well till about a half mile left when I tripped (over my own feet I think) and fell. On the same knee as two weeks ago. This knee was still healing. Can I just say – ouch! I tore the scab off it and re-bruised it. It’s very pretty now. So happy I kept my bike tights on over my tri shorts!

After we finished it was FIVE GUYS! I love their pickles!

I picked up an additional burger to take home to Patrick (War Eagle) who was visiting for the weekend. We later had dinner plans to meet some friends for Japanese style steak house food – yummm. After dinner we went back to their house to watch the ‘game of the century’: LSU v. Alabama. We stayed for about an hour of the game as then I dropped Patrick at the mall to meet up with a friend for movies and visiting. I watched the rest of the game at home...

Sunday was a training day OFF! I did a few things around the house and drove Patrick back to the airport and basically just chilled with the dog and watched movies. It was a lovely day!
Now, I’m trying not to count days to Ironman Arizona...but it is hard not to! YIKES! I’m nervous but super-excited! Fortunately this weekend I have the Richmond 8K – which is really an zone 2 training run – to look forward to. That will sort of keep my mind off things. (Other than the fact that before I leave for Richmond on Friday I have to drop my bike off so it can get transported to Arizona! Yeah, my mind will be pretty preoccupied!) After I'm done running I will then cheer on Carol in the marathon. It turns out I’ll know a few others running the full and look forward to cheering them on as well!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Next Up:

November 20 – Ironman Arizona – Holy Cactus!