Wednesday, August 22, 2012

pro results archive

2009.

IM China. 11:08:10. 8th pro woman.
1:29 + 5:35 + 3:55 = an ironman PR by exactly an hour, 1 of 3 women to go under 4hrs in 110+ heat.
1st time under 6hrs on the bike and under 4hrs on the run!

Jeju Irondistance, Korea. 11:21:56. 1st pro woman.
1:28 + 5:48 + 3:55 = first prize money, first win.

Embrunman, France. 12:11:51. 5th pro woman
1:05 + 7:25 + 3:33 = huge swim and run PR's. huge prize $$$ = 2000 euros
bike was extra hilly and extra long (188km vs 180km?)

GreatMan irondistance, Korea. 9:55:20. 1st pro woman, 2nd overall (only 1 guy beat me)
1:07 + 5:09 + 3:33 (run includes T2) = first time under 10hrs, huge bike PR

IM Florida (2wks later). 9:54:27. 10th pro woman.
1:18 + 5:00 + 3:27 = first USA pro race, first double IM in 2 week-span

IM Cozumel (3wks later). 10:37:16. 8th pro woman.
1:05 + 5:28 + 3:58 = first pro race where I imploded, stumbled home and still in the prize $$$


2010.

IM Malaysia. 10:20:32. 5th pro woman.
1:18 + 5:20 + 3:37 = went off course on the bike, but still, first time called up to stage

IM China (2wks later). 14:37:23. 6th pro woman.
1:11 + 7:37 + 5:40 = media darling who got sick race morning and really shouldn't have raced.
too stubborn to quit...slowest IM ever?

IM St. George. 11:04:28. 7th pro woman.
1:17 + 6:02 + 3:34 = tough & hilly course...amazing badass run.

IM CDA. 10:42:37. 12th pro woman.
1:22 + 5:46 + 3:29 = horrid swim and mechanical probs on bike. still a stellar marathon despite wanting to poop during this run but holding it in.

IM Lake Placid. 10:22:30. 9th pro woman.
1:14 + 5:28 + 3:33 = dropped chain and blew up last 10-20mi on bike...

IM Louisville. 10:44:47. 6th pro woman.
1:12 + 5:30 + 3:53 = blew up on bike, IMPLODED on the run. ouch.

IM Wisconsin (2wks later). 10:34:43. 8th pro woman.
1:15 + 5:30 + 3:39 = felt Louisville in the legs during the run, my only paycheck for 2010 (measly $500).

IM Arizona. 10:04:39. 12th pro woman.
1:06 + 5:16 + 3:34 = fastest race all season after 2-month swim focus and minimal bike & run training. Mom came. hooray!


2011.

IM Texas. 10:50:50. 17th pro woman.
1:26 + 5:17 + 3:58 = head not in the right place, mentally checked out 10mins into swim.

IM Korea. DNF.
1:02 + CRASH.


The things I used to do, just a short while ago ASTOUNDS me. I'm packing for Louisville and racing on much less training than I've done in my past pro triathlete life. I figured I need to put it down on paper (or electronically?) because I never gave myself enough credit for how awesomely ridiculous I was.

After an epic 2009, I was disappointed at the end of 2010 for hardly making any prize money and not even improving on my race times. Now I look back and can't believe I raced 8 ironmans in one year. Of course I would have bad races. But throw out the bad splits as the outliers (IM China bike + run, the bike at St. George, bike mechanicals at CDA, imploding on the run at Louisville) and what am I left with?

Bikes of 5:16, 5:20 (going off course), 5:28, 2x 5:30's.
Marathons off the bike of 3:29, 3:33, 3:34 (hilly), 3:37 (uber hot), 3:39.

(Swims were always all over the place and more indicative of my mental state rather than fitness.) For the most part though, pretty solid and consistent. And how did I do 8 Ironmans in one year? Amazing! If anything, I probably would've gone faster if I actually focused on a few races and not lived out of my suitcase bouncing around every few weeks, which the travel sponsor had pointed out several times. Live and learn.

The name of the game for this weekend is...MUSCLE MEMORY. It will be Ironman #22, I've done all the training I can so let's see what my body remembers. MUSCLE MEMORY!!!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

building up momentum

2 weeks to go! and I almost feel I jinxed myself from my last post, as a string of various events lead to going the wrong direction in terms of building up my training. Ha! an 11-hour week followed by a pathetic 4-hour week! Oops. Then I was starting to feel sick, then this, then that...then...lame, lame, lame. So many excuses.

But never fear...I sent my favorite mentor, the incredible Beck, an SOS and with 3 weeks to go, she set my head back straight.

Made me realize and appreciate the power of momentum:
a body at rest stays at rest.
a body in motion stays in motion.


Beck gave me the push I needed to get the momentum back. She's the best.
    It is totally ok to ask for help sometimes! Thanks Beck!

I am now essentially cramming for Ironman. 2 weeks to go, is it taper time yet? Not for me. You can't taper if you've barely trained. I am on Ironman Cramming Lockdown. I'm even limiting my Facebook time. Although ironically I probably will "share" this link on FB...but I did remove the FB app from my phone and have banned myself from going on FB except maybe a bit on the weekend. It's a timesuck!

Then there's the ecstasy and the agony of the Olympics. Which cuts into my sleep. And recovery is important!! I've been mesmerized by the synchronized swimming and TEAM RHYTHMIC GYMNASTICS?! I didn't even know they had that!! Watching the rowers makes me think I want to take it up again after my little stint in grad school, and triathlon was awesome to have my ex-TBB teammates racing (go Manny!) and WINNING (Nicola!). (Oh, then of course having my ex-teammates duke out the top 3 women at Ironman NYC today was pretty crazy too.) Watching race walking kind of confirmed that it's not quite for me.

As for track and field, now that has always been my absolute favorite, my first love. I feel so gutted for Morgan Uceny in the 5km and Lolo Jones in the 100m hurdles. Those hurdler chicks have the best abs, btw. And OSCAR PISTORIUS. WOW.
    I've been a fan for a long time, and happy he has many more fans now. All the girls at work are in love with him! Anyway...it is great to feel motivated through others but it also feels good to be in a hard training routine. My plan is to do the best I can on what training I can get through. The end is near, and then I can have KFC and bourbon, and an ice cream cake.

Just gotta focus, keep the momentum, and stay in lockdown mode!