Running in the Park

When I heard the run was at a place called Shelby Farm I don't know why but I thought the run would be mostly flat. Looking back I can't even understand why I thought that. Friends had run a relay out there and had told me it wasn't flat. AND the course description on the website says "rolling" so who knows WHY I would have thought it was going to be more flat...

The training runs I did leading up were thankfully NOT flat. I didn't run quite enough miles leading up to race day, but at least I had been running...some...

My highest volume week was 20 miles at the beginning of September and my average was only 9 a week...but at least I was running...some...

My plan for the run was to run 3 minutes/walk 1 minute...the whole time...no matter what the elevation...

And I did that!

For twelve minutes...and then I walked extra at the aid station...and went to the bathroom (even though I had gone just a few minutes before, as I was leaving T2...). Then the negotiations started...I did run more than I expected that I might, but I was on the struggle bus for sure.

I LOVED the course for spectators....I had six people who came out to watch me, and there were 2 friends who were doing the relay that were done with the swim and bike who were out on the course watching, along with 3 other friends who were there watching their runner and other friends who was doing the whole thing.

The course winds through Shelby Farms in an interesting way...If you imagine a clock face...you leave T2 and run clockwise around the lake from "noon to noon"... then clockwise around the upper part of the park from "six to six"...then it goes counterclockwise in an inner circle from "six to six"...then you repeat the whole thing. Spectators have A LOT of opportunities to see their athlete. My sweet friends spread out all over the park so it felt like I was constantly seeing people I knew! It. Was. AWESOME! Not to mention the aid stations were all high energy. On top of that, the intersection where the course came back to a point (noon for the lower clockface and six for the upper clockfaces) was SUPER PACKED with people!

As if that wasn't enough, the course was BEAUTIFUL...truly fantastic...AND...there was on section that they had dedicated to St Jude (who the race was raising money for). They had "before" and "after" banners of patients who treated there.

I SOBBED the first time ...okay, and the second time...

Early on I came upon a guy from Huntsville whose kids participated in my kids triathlon (Kids Fly Tri). I ran with him for just a bit. He really made my day by telling me his kids loved it so much they did (or maybe just his son did) another triathlon the next month! That put some pep in my step!

With only a few miles to go I saw the friend I started the swim with and another Huntsville Ironman who was doing the race...they were off the course with Dwayne....I was STRUGGLING as I was running toward them. I had resorted to counting time (3 minutes is 180 seconds so I would start counting as I would start running 180, 179...and try to get to 0...even if I counted fast...even if I slowed down....it didn't always work but I know it had me running more than I would have otherwise!). When I saw them I heard them say something about how I looked strong. But I thought they had finished and had time to have their post race snack and they were rested enough to be out on the course cheering on friends! I realized not long after that they were just stopped taking a breather....they were still working on finishing the run! That made me feel MUCH better about my time.

See, back in June when training was going REALLY WELL I had set an A goal for myself of 6:30. I honestly felt at the time it might be possible to even get down to 6:15! But for some reason after the end of July the wheels sort of fell off the wagon so my A goal had revised. Realistically I was thinking 6:45-7:00. When I started the run I really felt that goal time was solidly doable.

But, as I mentioned before, I was a little behind on nutrition when I got off the bike. I didn't have a SOLID plan for nutrition on the run other than I planned to take Gatorade at every station and a gel at every third station. I was going to drink Coke when I felt completely empty and keep drinking it after that point.

The only issue was that I didn't feel like eating the gels when I was supposed to, Gatorade really stopped tasting good and I resorted to Red Bull instead of Coke way too early...

But, I kept doing the math and kept thinking 7:00 was doable...until the last maybe quarter.

October 4, 2023...I don't know why I never finished this post but it's been over a year. I wish I could remember the end better....I just remember passing two friends from HSV who were also racing. I thought they had finished so I whizzed by thinking what a slug I was...only to find out later that they had not finished yet-they were still working their way to the finish line....

I also remember how strong I felt. Even with a 7:05 finish (28th by the way...which is VERY FUNNY since I just wrote my IMChoo 23 report...I finished 28th there, and 28th at IMChoo 15!! I will be THRILLED to pieces if I finish 28th at Worlds!!

I didn't LOVE the bike course at Memphis, but I think that was a matter of expectation. I expected it to be the glorious rollers like Chatty has-that is the BEST BIKE COURSE EVER-but it was what I would call "hilly". Not hard climbs, but rollers ROLL into the next climb so you get momentum from one to the next. Hilly means you climb, descend, ride flat a bit and then repeat. Plus the road was rough. The run was super fun being contained in Shelby Farm. You get to see people the whole time! I'd definitely do this one again.

Thanks for sticking with me!!

Rolling hills are NOT all created alike...

As I mentioned previously, I really expected the "rolling hills" of Memphis to be like the "rolling hills" of Chattanooga...

They. Were. NOT.

The rolling hills of Chattanooga are LOVELY...they climb a tiny bit, they descend easily and then immediately roll up the next hill...you get momentum from one hill to the next that carries you most of the way up the next hill. It really doesn't feel like a lot of climbing...except for the one hill on Andrews...that's a big climb.

When I did the Chatty 70.3 I was NOT trained. I had not ridden my real bike more than maybe 20 MILES leading up to race day! (Don't do that...it was DUMB.) I wasn't teaching spin more often back then. I definitely wasn't running much then. All that to say I know I wasn't just in better shape then...in fact I was in better shape this year (for sure). 

The morning of the race it was cool outside. I talked with a fellow racer as we were setting up who asked my thoughts on the temperature.....I said I was giving myself options with both a jacket and arm warmers at my transition spot. 

I actually got a little hot in my wetsuit during the swim (probably because I kept stopping!) so when I got to transition I decided I didn't need anything extra. I simply got my helmet, bike shoes and sunglasses on, grabbed my bike and headed out. As I started riding I thought I might have made a mistake because it was a tad chilly, but I just knew I would warm up quickly...and I was right.

As I think back on the bike course (now that it's been three LONG weeks since the race...) the things that really stand out to me are the sheer beauty of the course--it was SPECTACULAR! I thought Chatty 70.3 was a pretty course, but Memphis is even prettier! The hills were NOT wonderfully rolling ... they were hills that made me work just a bit to get up (but NOTHING major at all)...and then the downs were mostly slopes that lead to just enough flat road that zapped all the momentum out...which meant more work to get up the next incline! 

And then there was the road surface. It feels like it was mostly chip-seal (even though it really wasn't). The hardest part about that was that I was relying on fluid nutrition from my aero bullet bottle. It's HARD to drink from an aero bullet when the road surface is so bumpy!

For bike fuel, I had made up a very concentrated bottle of Tailwind (along with a regular bottle of it in the aero bottle to start). The plan was to drink the aero bottle in an hour, then squirt out 1/4 of the concentrated bottle every hour after that, mixing with water I got from aid stations. Thankfully it wasn't too hot early on so I didn't really need much extra water beyond that. 

That worked the first 2 hours...but the road surface being so bumpy (combined with my own fears) really thwarted those plans. So much so that I really got behind on fuel. I think I ended up taking in about 2/3 of what I had intended. And, it started getting VERY HOT toward the end of the bike.

My power plan was to keep my watts right around 115-120. I surprised myself and was just a tad over that. Not so much that I blew up my legs for the run, but enough that I felt like I had given about what I had to give!

When I got off the bike I asked the volunteer if she wanted to buy a bike! The person behind me said "I'll take it if you are giving it away for free!" I laughed and said I might change my mind after the run!

The aid stations seemed to be well spaced and well worked but just a tiny bit cramped. I only stopped once-for a VERY much-needed potty break.

When I finised the swim I was in 44th place in my age group (out of 71)...when I got off the bike I had moved up to 36th. (I moved up 58 places, from 287 to 229, for all females, and I moved up 88 spots, from 946 to 858, overall. I knew I had passed quite a few people but I also know I was passed by quite a few. And, as always, I played leap frog (without drafting) with a few as well.

If I hadn't stopped so much on the swim who knows how that might have shaken out...

Next up...the run...

"You Never Have to Swim Again"

I had been nervous for a while about the swim at the Memphis 70.3. 

I don't really know why but my swim has been the last thing to "come back" since the brain disease/treatment. I don't know why but when I have tried to swim I just feel like I can't breathe. I can't relax. And nothing really seems to have helped...well, except swimming with fins! LOL

I started swimming regularly in April this year....usually three times a week. I started conservatively at about 1000 yards and then ramped up...but most of each swim session was with fins and a lot of each session was drills. 

How much I've been swimming the last 6 months...

Just before the Huntsville Sprint Tri I swam my first straight 400 yards without fins. I did that about 3 times before race day. I was VERY shocked and pleased that I did "okay" at the race. (9:16 for 400 is not great by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a congested swim and I didn't stop to hang on to the wall so I counted it as a win!)

Not only did I feel like I couldn't swim, swimming was also WIPING me OUT more than running or biking.

My last two 70.3 swims were Chattanooga in 2021 (downstream, point to point) and Augusta 2017 (FAST downstream, point to point). The Memphis swim was in a small lake. The good thing about the swim is no current...the bad thing is no current!

But going in I reasoned that all I really had to do was keep moving forward. With a 70 minute cutoff time, that is a 3:18 pace. Surely I could manage that.

I've never watched the weather hoping for a wetsuit swim. Ever. Until this year. Even though I only practiced twice, and even though the suit chafes my neck a little, I hoped and prayed for the race to be wetsuit legal. I wasn't going to wear it if it was optional because I think it gets too hot if the water isn't cold enough to be wetsuit legal. (Although I SERIOUSLY considered wearing my floaty pants if it was wetsuit optional...)

I was very happy to find out the water cooled down the week of the race to make it wetsuit legal!

I walked down to the swim start with my friends...two of them seeded much faster than Coach R and I did. We talked about how our swims had really tanked in recent years and we lamented over the loss...and we realized we were both signed up for Coach Tom's "swim school", hoping it would help. 

The closer we got to getting the water the more nervous I got. At one point I "jokingly" said "Nope, I changed my mind...I don't want to do this..." (Sure, I was "just joking"...sure...sure I was.) We inched closer and closer and all I could think was "okay, finish this and you never have to swim again...but you have to finish this swim...just keep moving forward and finish this swim..." I told Coach R if I finished in under an hour I would be happy...and then revised that and said if I finished in less than the cutoff I would be happy...

Before I knew it, it was time for me to walk in that water. It was warmer than the air temp which was nice. It was MURKY...REALLY REALLY MURKY. But I expected that because people had been talking about it on the Facebook page. I immediately moved out of the way to gather my wits and try to relax.

"You never have to swim again....but you have to swim now...you have to finish this swim..."

As I slowly started moving forward telling myself to "JUST RELAX FOR CRYING OUT LOUD" I saw a woman treading water...she looked panicked a little bit. I asked if she was okay. She said the water was just so cold she couldn't breathe. I encouraged her to focus on her exhale and to relax...really I was talking to myself-she just happened to be there to hear it!

After I made sure she was fine I started telling myself to just swim buoy to buoy. At the briefing they said they were about 100 yards apart. So I made a deal with myself...swim 100 yards then take a breather.

That didn't happen...it was more like swim 25 yards, take a breather, swim 5 strokes, take a breather, swim 50 yards, take a breather.

I am not kidding when I say I stopped every few yards!

SO MANY kayakers asked if I was okay. I would just give a thumbs-up and then start swimming again. 

It was only about 200 yards in a guy just ahead of me quit and took a ride to the shore on a medical boat....

"You never have to swim again, but you have to keep swimming NOW...you HAVE TO FINISH THIS SWIM."

There was a fog on the lake much like there was when I did IM Lake Tahoe (but the water, and the air, was MUCH warmer). It made seeing the next buoy a little challenging. The beauty of that was that I certainly couldn't see PAST the very next buoy so I really couldn't tell how much farther the turn was. When I got to the different colored buoy I was thinking that meant it was 1/2 way....I took a peek at my watch and saw "45"..."well, crap...if that is 1/2 way I'll NEVER finish in 70 minutes"

"You never have to swim again, but YOU CAN NOT QUIT....PERIOD..."

I realized if I missed the cutoff I wouldn't be pulled off the course because there were TONS of people behind me...I would "just" get a DQ for the race...but I'd be able to get on the bike and would be able to finish the race, cross the finish line and get a medal....so I stopped looking at my watch and I stopped trying to do the math of how far I had to go before I could stop swimming FOREVER...because I was sure I was never going to swim EVER again AS LONG AS I LIVE...

I FINALLY made it to the turn buoy...and then the next turn buoy.....and then just beyond that was the only right-hand turn on the course...and BAM....right into the sun. I knew it was coming but I wasn't fully prepared for the blinding light searing my eyeballs! 

Speaking of the sun...I got SO HOT I briefly considered taking my wetsuit off and giving it to a kayaker....but I realized that might be only thing keeping me on top of the water....

Let me take a step back here.....usually in open water swims I try to find someone who is going about my speed and someone who is sighting well and I draft off them. It's perfectly legal to draft on the swim...but it's a little risky if the person isn't sighting well. That was IMPOSSIBLE in this race because it was IMPOSSIBLE to see feet in front of me...I couldn't even see my hand in front of me!

When we turned into the sun I realized there was someone on my right side who seemed to be sighting well, so I tried to just stay with her...which worked for maybe 20 yards... 

(No idea what the blip to the shore is...probably my watch picking up on my wishful thinking!)

Thankfully it didn't take long to get to the ramp...and I was done swimming FOREVER and EVER....

Just after I got out of the water I clicked stop on my watch and saw "53:??"....and then I heard Dwayne's voice yelling my name saying "YOU MADE IT"! I knew some of my other friends/family were there but he was the only face I really locked onto...and I said in all sincerity "I DIDN'T DIE!"

I mean I wasn't REALLY afraid I would die...but I have NEVER been so happy to be out of the water.

Then I ran to transition to get on the bike...

Spoiler alert...I did swim again... I am submitting myself to Coach Tom's tutelage hoping it will help my swim improve. I know it's going to work...there is something almost magical about someone else programming workouts for you. His workouts are similar to what I've done before (CSS swimming) but he has added snorkel swimming which I've never done before. It's only been four sessions but I think I like it. 

It's a really good thing I'm liking it because the day after Memphis I registered for IMChoo 144.6 next September! I guess I will actually HAVE TO swim more...

Stay tuned for the bike and run recaps...

The Lead Up...

Sometime prior to the race I rented a house for friends, family and us to stay in and I lined up the dog sitter. I didn't pay attention to the fact that October 1st (race day) was a Saturday (instead of Sunday). I was thinking we could leave early evening Friday, check in for the race on Saturday, race on Sunday, hang out on Monday then go home Tuesday. It wasn't until I saw a post on the Memphis 70.3 page saying check in was closing at 4 on Friday that I was jarred into reality! I'm "sure" I would have realized it at some point, but maybe not! The main thing that had to change was when the dog sitter was getting to the house, so we could leave earlier.

Dwayne and I ended up driving separately because my brother-in-law was flying into Memphis (from a work trip to Arizonan) and needed to drive from Memphis home. We ended up talking on the phone most of the way there. It reminded me of when we were dating. We talked on the phone A LOT...especially after he would leave my house (or I would leave his) to go home.

Dwayne drove to pick up by BIL while I drove to Shelby Farms to Ironman Village. After finding a place to park (NOT in a "DO NOT PARK" spot as many people did) I headed over to check in. On the way over I ran into Rick-a local triathlon legend, coach, and friend. Just as I got to the bike rack outside of check in I ran into the crew I run with! One was there to do the whole thing (just 2 weeks after a PR performance at IM Maryland), three others were doing the relay. It was good because checking in together meant we got to rack our bikes together. We shopped a bit (HOLY MOLY-$78 for a Finisher shirt!? Yes, it was LuLu, but $78?! No thanks!) and then we headed over to bike check-in. When we left there we went over to the swim start...that's when I started to doubt that I had made a sound decision in signing up for this race. The swim looked LONG. Like REALLY REALLY REALLY LONG. It was set to be in a little lake with different in and out points. 

I didn't have a lot of time to panic because we had to get over to the athlete briefing.

At the briefing they asked how many had been doing IM for 10 years or more and I realized that was ME!! I did my first 70.3 (NOLA) in the spring of 2012....well the swim was canceled for that race so it ended up being a 67.1 duathlon instead, but it counts. It's crazy to think it's been that long! 

When the briefing was over we headed over to the house to meet up with friends that came into town to cheer me on! We got settled in just a bit and then headed to dinner. Somewhat by "chance" we met up with the other crew (I say "somewhat" because I knew they were headed to that same location-but there were multiple places to choose from at that location...); we ended up eating with them which was nice.

Then it was time to get all my stuff lined up for the next day.

I had planned to wear my favorite tri kit but looking at the weather I thought it might be cold at the start of the bike so I also packed a jacket and arm warmers. I packed both my floaty pants and my sleeveless wetsuit. (NO idea why I thought I would opt for the floaty pants over the wetsuit, but Friday night as I was getting ready it seemed like a perfectly reasonable option!) 

For my bike nutrition, I decided to use Tailwind. I made up one bottle of caffeinated that I would put in my aero bar bullet for the first hour. Then I made up a concentrated bottle with non-caffeinated for an additional 3 hours (just in case I had an issue on the bike). The plan was to have a bottle of water, and the concentrated bottle on the wing behind my seat with the aero bottle between my bars. I would drink the aero bottle in an hour, and squeeze out 1/3 of the concentrated bottle with a bottle of water in my aero bottle for each hour after that (getting additional water bottles on the course). That could have worked...(more on that later.)

I got everything else packed up-race issued swim cap, goggles, bike helmet, bike shoes, running shoes, socks, race belt with my bib attached, sunglasses, Body Glide, Skin Sake, Butt Butter, Desitin (in case of chafing)...and then I remembered that I had forgotten sunscreen! No worries...they ALWAYS have sunscreen at races... And I put my watch on the charger. I got to bed around 9 which would have been fine, if I had stayed asleep...I didn't! I woke up about 12:30 for a couple of hours...I did eventually go back to sleep just in time to wake up!

I had my pre-race oatmeal (brown sugar and cinnamon, with some protein powder, blueberries, and trail mix (walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and cranberries). Before I knew it, it was time to head out...

We had to park about a mile (or more) away from transition but it was an easy walk over with the other thousands of triathletes. I got my tires pumped, my aero bottle filled and attached, my other bottles in place, and then got my spot all set up....bike shoes, sunglasses, helmet, running shoes, jacket and arm warmers (just in case), Butt Butter, and race bib... then I gathered my other stuff and headed to find a toilet.

It was a strange thing-they had A LOT of toilets in transition but they were all "closed" until after the start of the race. I get that they wanted to make sure we had "clean" toilets for the run, but the more important time to have ALL the toilets open was pre-race! It ended up being a good thing because I found a real bathroom that didn't take any time at all to get in....and it was a VERY good thing I had a real toilet...

Before I knew it, it was time to don my wetsuit and head over to the swim start...

Expectations

When I signed up to do the 70.3 in Memphis I compared the elevation gain on the bike course (total of 1696) to that of the 70.3 in Chattanooga (2218) and compared the elevation profiles...

I concluded Memphis really didn't look very difficult compared to Chatty. 

Now, let me be clear...the 70.3 course at Chatty is not easy, but the worst part is the big climb at Andrews. You come down a little hill and then make a sharp left hand turn and IMMEDIATELY go up the biggest climb on the course. But the rest of the course is NICE. It's "rolling". That's how the course at Memphis was described..."rolling".

I expected to love the Memphis course like I love the full bike course in Chattanooga (it's SO much better than the course at the 70.3 because the full course doesn't have that one big climb in it).

My expectations were NOT met.

The rolling hills on the courses at Chattanooga are glorious! You get to gain power and speed when you go down that carries you up the next little incline up. The road isn't super smooth, but it's not terrible.

The "rolling" hills in Memphis aren't really rolling...they are UP and ...slightly down...then flattish then UP again. A good part of the course is chip-seal road which is jaw-jarring rough.

AND...the course at Memphis is BEAUTIFUL!!! I mean TRULY BEAUTIFUL. There were NO major climbs and one nearly perfect downhill section-at least for me. I am a nervous descender. I don't like steep downhill sections, even if they are straight. The one fairly long downhill section on the Memphis course was just curvy enough to make it interesting but not curvy enough to make it scary. I only got up to 36 but by that point I was also pretty tired!

This brings me to the run course...Chattanooga 70.3 has 820 feet of gain whereas Memphis has a measly 470. 

I expected it to be mostly flat. 

My expectations were NOT met.

I was shocked at how "hilly" it really was. There were no big climbs. There wasn't anything that was just awful...but the ups were just relentless. And it seemed like every incline was in full sun!

But, once again, the course was BEAUTIFUL!!! I mean TRULY BEAUTIFUL! And I think one of the most spectator-friendly courses out there! 

I will write up a full race recap later...for now, I can't tell you how much I LOVED the beauty of the bike and run courses. They were (are) ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!

And "hilly". Nothing horrible...no big climbs...but relentless!

Thanks for stopping in and sticking around!!