Race Summary – Race #1 of 2012 is Complete
April 1st I completed the Lavaman Olympic Distance Triathlon on the Big Island in Hawaii. Below is a summary of my time. I beat my time from last year by a little over 6 minutes, so I can’t complain as it was better, but was 2 min off my ultimate goal of breaking 3 hours. (Rumor has it that the swim was long however, so I don’t feel bad, the PRO that won was one was a minute off his time, so a minute in Pro terms could be several in my ‘normal’ world
Swim Time (.9 mile swim in beautiful clear water checking out seat turtles and cool fish – kind of forgot I was in a race – oops that may have been another reason I didn’t hit my goal) – Time: 34:26 Bike Time (40K) - Avg 18mph – Time: 1:22:30
Run time (10K) - Time: 59:59
I have to say that distance is so enjoyable and the location was amazing & likely can’t be beat. THE BEST part of the race was that our team honored hero DOUG was able to join us and be at the finish line when we came in. I was on a mission to not give up and get to him there as he hasn’t given up in his battle with cancer!!!! (More on Doug in my ‘overall’ update below) Now that this event it over, I have to come to reality and realize that I became insane in August of 2011 when I decided to give myself the ultimate challenge and register for an Ironman in 2012 – what was I thinking, I still don’t know. I am scared to death. So the ‘enjoyable distance’ I hope to remember as I am training for the scariest thing to date in my life. To get there, I will be doing a half ironman in June in Boise and then the big day is August 26th in Canada, so let the hard training begin….. or training in general
Well …..This is the part I need to get better at. Training and I do not seem to go hand in hand. Maybe partially because I can be lazy, but also work travel gets in the way. Some people that are insanely into this sort of thing may say “rent a bike, or bring yours with”, where the “not so insane” person (aka ME) says. “it is Singapore why would I do that, too hot and crowded to bike there and too much work to bring a bike” and there is my downfall. However my friend Mike H, would likely say right now.. “don’t worry don’t train until 2 weeks before and then just pull it out of your ass like you normally do” – makes me laugh, but for this distance, I think I should refrain from that strategy!!! Since January of this year I have been on the road more than I have been home and again I will be on the road almost all of May. Running is about the only thing I am able to keep up with and sometimes that is even hard as I HATE a treadmill & at times that is my only option. HOWEVER, reality hit today when my good friend (and coach) sent out a ‘Reality check’ email kindly reminding me that my ½ IM was in 7.5 weeks and my full was in 17.5, not sure if she was trying to make me wake up to reality or throw up in the middle of a work meeting when it popped into my inbox scaring the shit out of me to put it mildly! So let the training begin, yes May will be a struggle, but June and July my butt will be on a bike a TON and swimming more than I ever have before. So this may mean diapers to cushion my butt, so no picking at me at the bar (oh wait maybe I should stop drinking to be able to get up and train – GEEZ this is a lot of work), a lot of screaming in the shower from chaffing and pruned fingers from all the swimming --- sounds attractive doesn’t it… .. I am DETERMINED to do this and achieve the biggest personal challenge of my life just shy of my 40th birthday! (Yep because that won’t be enough of a challenge for me mentally, turning 40)….
Overall Updates & REASON I keep on “Tri’ing” and Training….
Some of you that have read my previous posts know that I did Lavaman through Team in Training (TNT), a branch of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I fundraised along with many others on my team and throughout the country to raise $$ for those with blood cancers! I am very proud to say that for this event alone TNT raised 2.5 MILLION dollars – that is amazing…. I also have an update on my earlier post this year on Doug. We found out that they have found a donor match for him and the process will begin in May – So happy they found a match and praying that all goes GREAT and we see Doug back out with us and next time training and feeling great. In addition, another teammates Dad who also was struggling from his blood cancer had his transplant a few weeks ago and so far so good. Watching how the $ we raise benefits others is so cool & is why I continue to work hard to train and fundraise to save lives!! We WILL kick your ass cancer!!!
So this one is long enough, but beware I am taking the summer off school to train and focus, so I will be trying to do weekly or bi-weekly training blogs.. you are WARNED you may hear about butt chaffing, crying, complaining and less than attractive things about my days… but all of it will be worth it… RIGHT?
