Trying to figure out something new to do on the treadmill? Ed Clarke has some ideas! www.weraisethebar.com/clarke122810.html
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Cheryl Iseberg's Ironman Cozumel Race Report
Nicely done, Cheryl. J
2010 Ironman Cozumel Race Report
Push your body to the limit. That is what the poster said in Cozumel.
And so it began. As does every week before an Ironman. The arrival. The few days of relaxation. The swim warm ups. The easy spins and recovery runs. The melt down on Thursday. The nervousness of Friday. The OCD that appears when trying to fill your gear, transition, and special needs bags. The complete chaos when you rack your bike. An early dinner on Saturday in hopes of sleep. The 3:30 am get of bed cause you have not slept more then 2 hours because of what you know is coming. The quiet trip to transition. The last run to the porta potty. The last few minutes standing with 2500 others ready to take on the day. Not knowing what that day will bring.
Then it does begin. There is nothing left to do. Everything is in your gear bags and your bike is racked. You’re hydrated and you have eaten the allotted calories that are required and you have said good-bye to your loved one and now it is time to wait for the gun to go off. There are the nervous ones you can see around you. There are the ones who look like they should eat another 10,000 calories before starting. But for the most part, most of the folks who have gathered at the start are staring forward at the water without saying anything. I believe it so quiet because this is when the voices begin…….
This is the start of my 2010 Ironman in Cozumel. I feel pretty good and I am glad that I have done this race before. It is nice not to have to worry about logistics and just race. The venue is still one of my favorites and if you have the chance to race, it really is a must on the Ironman “Best Of” events. The people are amazing and the course is beautiful. Not much else to say really. We decided to stay at the same place we stayed last year and the staff is amazing and very invested in this race. They wish you luck every time you see them and they are anxious for race day so they can watch the race.
The swim is located at a national park where they have dolphins and you can swim with them. I love being in the water near these animals. They bring me a sense of calm. This year there are new editions to the pens on the pier where the race begins. Three manatees that are just amazing to watch. So graceful in the water and purposeful in their movements. Next to the manatees I see what the locals in Maui call a “big fin”. Although this “big fin” isn’t really big I do find it just a strange bit odd that they have a shark in a pen. I don’t say anything to anyone else and I think everyone just ignores the obvious “what the f***” moment.
Time to jump in an empty dolphin pen and await the start. This year there are a lot more participants (I think they said over 2000 but not really sure) and it is hard to get everyone down to the start with a small area to start from. People are clinging to the fence under the pier and the volunteers are yelling to get out from under the pier so more people can come in. I was lucky last year but not so much this year. I was forced under the pier about 12 minutes before the start so I just had to tread water. I then realized what it was going to mean to be one of about 400 women in a race with the remaining being men. It was going to get crazy and it was not going to be pretty.
The gun goes off and I am calm but my fellow Ironmen are not. There is panic and there are waves under the pier and there are a lot of men hitting me from all sides. About this time, another woman and I start yelling “stay calm” but no one appears to be listening. I am trapped in a sea full of men hell bent on getting in front of me. I got my share of the ocean and I didn’t like it. Through the first 800 meters I am just trying to find my way through the maze. Last year I was able to find some faster feet and hang on for dear life with a current that treated us to a ride. This year all I found where people zigzagging their way around with a kick that would take your face off. I decided I had to switch my plan and on the back side decided to swim alone in the inside of the buoy line with one other woman who had enough also. Thus we lost the streamline of being behind someone else at least we were in control of our own destiny but we had to work harder for it. On one buoy we both took one stroke too many and with the current in our favor missed the buoy and had to swim like hell to get back around it. It was very freaky to know the water was moving that quickly but we made. I knew I was going to have a slower swim then last year and I just tried to settle in. The goggles begin to leak and I don’t dare touch them for fear of a complete disaster and I choose to swim with one half of my goggles full. Of course you can’t do an Ironman swim without boats around and thus that also brings the smell of diesel in the water. You will never get used to this smell and it is all you can do to just not think about it. Keep the voices quiet for now because later on they will not be quiet despite whatever you tell them.
Finally I reach the submarine and I realize I have about 30 more minutes of swimming. I have a bit of cramp building in the bottom of my foot and I don’t know why but I focus on keeping the voices quiet and to get out of the water. The weirdest thing about Cozumel (besides the “big fin” in the pen) is what you encounter around 300 meters out from the exit of the swim. There is this “ginormous” statue in the water. I don’t know how to explain it. When you first see it you think oh my god there is someone in the water down there. Then you realize it is about 12 feet tall and it is a statue of a “person” holding their hands up over their head. I have no idea who thought of this or why it is there but it is freaking odd. I just want to get around this thing and get out. I am done. My new Blue Seventy Swimskin kept some of the jelly fish from attacking me and that is a good thing.
Then it is time to take a number people and wait for your turn to do your best imitation of a seal and leap out of the water and land on a step before 100 of your best friends land on top of you. Now the tricky part isn’t the launching of your tired self onto what seems like a 1” board, but the trick is to launch, land, double twist vertically, land on your feet on a 1” board, and then run up 10 soaking wet steps WITHOUT hitting anyone, knocking over your swim friend, or landing on your teeth. Do not. Let me repeat. Do not try this at home. This is a very dangerous maneuver that should only be done by a professional. Thus, I hold up the Ironman train by actually sitting my fat butt on the 1” step and then trying to shimmy up the stairs.
All and all, not bad and I can’t be too unhappy with a 1:16 swim. Off to the changing tent to change clothes and run right by the sunscreen volunteers. Which will come up later.
I find the girl and we are off on another Ironman adventure. I have my plan and find the highway and start to settle in for the long ride. Some things never change and the front hub of my Mavic Carbones are singing to me yet again. 112 miles of this and I will go crazy but perhaps the voices will remain silent for a bit longer? I find my cadence and now it is time to get moving. The odd thing about this year is that it does feel more humid and on this side of the island there is a head wind. Last year we were lucky that the only head and cross wind was on the east side of the island. I do think the flat, windy, hot venues work in my favor but I don’t know if I like that the wind will be with us the entire time. I push the gas a bit more and find that my first lap is a good one. I feel good and I get a chance to see Rob and Rebecca and some words of encouragement. Of course no one says “hey it looks like your back is a bit red” but hey whatever.
So off to lap 2 and it is for sure more windy then last year. I can feel myself slowing down but try to remain calm. There is a lot of racing to do and I just want to do my best. After another windy lap and another visit with Rob and Rebecca (and nothing still about perhaps the need for sunscreen) I am off to finish this bike ride. I am starting to feel it and the dreaded hot foot has started along with the voices and I realize now there is no reasoning with them. They are here to stay until I finish. This is where the race gets tough and you need to figure out how to deal with both pain and the mental side of this game. I do finally find one other woman in this race on the 3rd lap and we had some fun with the boys back there. They were getting a wee bit tired so we had fun picking them off while we chit chatted and ate while flying by them. I love a bit of revenge and I love it more when they realized they got “chicked” on the bike. Hola, have a nice day.
I realize once I get to the top of the island that I still have about 10 miles to go and I need to get some time going on my side. I decide to drop my friend and put it into high gear. I take my gel and put the hammer down. This is the fun part and I take advantage and pick off more then my fair share of the competition. The wind is still blowing but I want to get back to town so I am pushing. My goal was to try to get around 6:15 this year but with the wind we settled on 6:22 which still is a personal best time for 112 miles so that doesn’t suck J.
I take a few minutes to pull out my Father Damien coin who is riding along in my bento box. A fellow cyclist on Maui gave me this coin of Father Damien who was made a saint last year for his work on the leper colony in Molokai. He found it by the side of the road and gave it to me and told me to take it to Cozumel last year and that it would keep me safe. I kept Father Damien and my bento box last year and he did keep me safe so he came along for another ride. I am not a religious person but I do like the fact that Father Damien is along for the ride.
Off to the changing tent and of course the dizziness begins. The voices have suddenly elevated their game and they wish to be heard. They want me to know that at any moment I can fall over and be hauled off to the medical tent. They want me to know they are in control right now. I have my clothes bag and I sit down. I am thankful again for those sweet women who do not know you but will dump out your bag, lay out your clothes and gear, dress you, give you water, and say good luck. I totally tear my compression sock trying to put in on and that sucks but it is what it is. I then notice that the changing tent appears to well lets just say “wide open for all to see”. Not that I care but there was some skin being shown to the world without anyone knowing or caring at that point.
I see Rob and Rebecca and I think Ben (Rebecca’s husband) is about an hour behind me. I was wishing we could run together. It was starting to get lonely and I was hoping if I found someone to run with the voices would shut the hell up. I hand Father Damien to Rob and I am off for the marathon.
Of course then it is 3 miles of find a porta potty, get something to drink and eat and shuffle until you find the will to doing anything else. The voices think they are funny now. They think that they have me but they don’t and about 4 miles into it I can feel my body starting to understand that we are in the running state of this event and it is all hands on deck.
I don’t believe there is an Ironman out there that doesn’t have your local drunks on the run course to help make it crazy. It is after 5pm, they have been drinking all day listening to the theme from Rocky, Eye of the Tiger, and the Final Countdown. You can smell the alcohol and they cheer you on. They are having the time of their lives. I actually had one guy approach me and tell me he loved me and wanted to marry me. Huh, wow, I must be looking really good J . The best thing about this race this year was the water stations had these great water freezy things. Think of Otter Pops but with cold water in them. You could grab a few and bite the top and drink the water or pour it over you and it was easy to carry. So much better then a kiddie cup. This truly was an amazing invention!
But Chica is still on a mission. I have the voices at bay cause I am running to all the water stations and only walking the water station and I am on my pace! Hah, voices take that! I hear new voices now. I hear my friends online tracking me and saying “yeah, Cheryl”. I hear Patty and that voice that only a mother can love saying “GOOOO CccHhhEeeRrrYyyLlll”. I continue to move pretty well then the wheels come off at mile 15. Of course I did not realize it but that was also about the same time I stopped talking anything of value for calories. I was walking through the water stops getting Coke and water but not getting any gels. By this time it is too late. The wheels are off and the voices are screaming.
I know now I won’t make my goal for the run but I keep moving. Thankfully Ben was out there to stop and say hello but other then that I don’t know that I talked to anyone else the entire marathon. This has to have been the quietest Ironman ever. Well other then having to deny my marriage proposal out there it was pretty much “aqua”, “coke”, “Hi Ben”.
And so as it begins it also must end. I am finishing up the last miles and it is time for reflection. The voices have stopped screaming cause they know it is almost over and I have won this fight again and I take some time to just “be”. I will come in with a PR for every race this season, a PR for this race for overall time and for the running and cycling. Not to shabby for a 45 year neuro challenged gal.
The finish is as amazing as it always is. Nothing really can clearly describe those few seconds but perhaps that is a good thing. I don’t know that something that special can be described with words. I am thankful for being healthy this year and having the year that I have had. It was amazing to have Ironman do a story on me and post it the week of the race and I am lucky to have made some new friends through that story.
It has taken me 3 weeks to write this race report but perhaps the thing that was holding me back was I wasn’t sure what to take from this race. I did take 23 minutes off my time from last year and that is truly amazing but there has been something that has been missing in my thoughts that I needed to figure out before sitting down and writing this. Some small recognition or voice that hadn’t been heard and I think after 3 weeks I figured it out.
Ironman has taught me a lot of things. To stay strong, be consistent, have fun, and how to do damage control during a race. I have learned how to control suffering. There it is. Controlled Suffering.
I have learned that I can get faster while the calendar and I get older but I want something else now. It is not about a faster time. I realize that each race is different and you can PR a distance at one event and go to another race and it can take you longer because of the conditions or the race attributes. I have PR’d my races this year and know I am faster and stronger but what I am chasing at Ironman? Is it a 12 hour Ironman or an Ironman slot or what?
The reality is I think it is the suffering piece. The voices. They are both controlled. I have done sprint triathlons where I have suffered but only because I know in an hour it is over but I have never let myself go to that place in an Ironman. Why? Probably because you train for 6 months for this and you spend a lot of money getting there so to blow up or DNF doesn’t make sense. But what if I did move past the controlled suffering and for some part of the race do what that poster said “Push my body to the limit”? What would happen? Does that mean DNF? Or does that mean faster overall time? Or ?
Through the pondering I do realize that it is time to move to that next place. I loved doing something different this year and loved doing my first off road triathlon race. In 2011 I will be headed back to Ironman CDA in June and off to Maui for Xterra in October so I have a full plate ahead. A few weeks of unorganized workouts through December then hop on the saddle again.
But this year my goals are different and it will not be about finish times. I have two goals this year. First to compete in races that make me grin and smile and second, to let the voices go uncontrolled for just a bit longer and just see what happens. You just never know what could happen J
And if you were wondering about the lack of sunscreen – well that racer back tri top left me a great burn. Rookie mistake but I guess you just keep learning with every race and the challenge is to keep those mistakes from happening again and to remember how far you have come.
Livestrong,
Cheryl
Monday, December 20, 2010
Holiday Swim Tonight!
Anybody else want in to the holiday lap swim at the Covington Pool? 7PM - a few slots left! Meet at the Rock after for refreshments!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Beginner Swim Technique Class and other stuff....
We’ve got a Tech class planned for January (includes some underwater videotaping!). Also, the Jan/Feb swim session is open for sign-ups. And if that isn’t enough, Patty wrote an article about swimming, so if you’ve nothing better to do this holiday season…… http://weraisethebar.com/swimswedberg120910.html
Cheryl Isebergs' TriLanai report
Can an Ironman be an Off Road Triathlete?
TriLanai Race Report
My goals this year were to stay healthy, injury free, complete my first off-road triathlon, and try to improve my time at Ironman Cozumel. Although it has been a long season for me, it has been one of my best. I was lucky to PR every race this year and even luckier not to break any bones in my first off road race!
I chose for my first off road race, TriLanai. It seemed perfect. A nice dip in the Pacific followed by some riding on some pineapple roads and a 4 mile run and I could knock this off the bucket list. Hah, I could do that in my sleep! This required of course a mountain bike so my buddies at Old Town Bicycle put together a wicked Specialized 29’er. It actually makes me giggle to ride that animal. I did absolutely no off road riding on that thing and that made me a bit nervous going into the race. Rob and I took the ferry from Lahaina to Lanai a few days before the race and the bike got a lot of looks and bike envy was everywhere. Of course she was clean as a whistle with a white saddle and white cables. The red dirt of Hawaii and all that white were soon set to collide.
We stayed at the resort that hosted the event and that was a nice treat. Cocktails at the ocean side bar to watch the resident Spinner dolphins come into the bay to treat the tourist snorkelers to a free show. It was great watching this pod come in and jump and leap and you could hear the laughter coming from the people in the water. I wondered if this group of amazing animals would show up for our race day swim but knew they probably would not want to hang around to watch a bunch of us thrash through their lovely bay.
Race morning was perfect and we walked the short path to transition. The folks who put on this race are all volunteers and are amazing (they also have some amazing prizes like Maui Jim sunglasses). They purposely have the race the weekend after Xterra Worlds on Maui in hopes of getting some of those athletes over and I think they succeed after taking a quick gander of the competition in transition.
Patty and I volunteered at Xterra Worlds the previous Sunday and we were treated to an amazing event. Of course I got the off road bug immediately watching these athletes. The most amazing swim venue followed by a torturous climb up the side of the volcano then a death defying; hold on for your life, 8 mile downhill through rocks, kiave stickers, dirt, and lava. Once you finish that, dust off your trail shoes for a trail run that on its own will set you back for a few days. Of course Xterra is nothing without a little blood right? Watching one gal come into T2 with her arm bandaged and to find out her brake shifter was now a permanent part of her arm was let’s just say “interesting”.
Either way, it didn’t matter. I got the off road bug and told the CEO Challenge group to sign me up for next year. I have raced with this group a few times and I knew this was the time to make the commitment. Why not right? I was doing my first off road race in a week – I have a year to train J for it!
I really thought TriLanai was going to be a bit like a walk in the park. I was in my peak training for Ironman how could I not do just little sprint on pineapple roads? After getting my gear set up in transition, I took the bike out for a quick spin to make sure all was ok. Of course about 15 seconds into riding on soft red dirt with large boulders made me start to think perhaps this was not going to be as easy as I thought. That and along with some pre-race banter from my fellow competitors indicating the climb was around 5 miles and the pineapple roads had major rocks in them along with red dirt and sand. The descend would include a part where I probably wanted to get off my bike and walk down unless I wanted to get some new teeth. Ok, that was not on the website when I signed up.
So panic sets in and I start to wonder what the hell am I doing here? These people are crazy. Their bikes are full of red dirt (of course the gleam of my white cables is truly amazing to see) and the athletes look like the typical triathletes with zero body fat but they look like they eat road triathletes for breakfast.
After roll call to make sure we are all accounted for at the start of the swim and a Hawaiian prayer for the group the race is off and I am ready to pee my pants cause this seems really dumb now. I have an Ironman in 30 days what am I doing out here? What if I fall, what if I break my leg? What if I can’t finish this dumb race? What if my amazing white saddle and cables get red dirt on them? WHY DID I SIGN UP FOR THIS!!!
It is too late, I am in the water for the first lap. It is a 2 lap course Xterra style race. Finish one lap get out run down the beach do the lap again. The first lap is weird – almost like a cross current and I am struggling to get my breathing stable. Going into the beach is a complete struggle with a good break set about 30 feet of the beach. This means if you don’t time it right you get pounded and your suit comes off in front of everyone while you trying to claw you way onto the beach. I some how made it in and start running up to the soft sand where we have to run back down the beach to enter the water again. Of course if it was easy, they would have let us run on the hard sand but these guys are tough and they want to make us suffer so soft sand it is. Suffer, suffer, suffer, and then back in the water for another lap.
I don’t have a great swim but it is over and I off to find my bitchin’ off road monster. Quick transition and I am feeling better ok, just stay calm and get this over. I hop on the bike find my way to the dirt and 3 minutes later dump it. Some red dirt, sand, and a hill with boulders and I toss the bike to the left and land on it. How embarrassing is that? I wonder if I can’t make in on the trail from transition to the “real” trail how on earth will I finish this race? I dust myself off and look for blood and get back on. I also make sure I don’t have a huge hole in my shorts on my butt from the fall cause I know that’s next. Photos of a wantabe off roader with her ass showing all the way up to the top of Lanai.
Finally up to the road and I find some good hills and able to just spin and start riding. Perhaps I just needed to get crashing over with and I will be good. I feel better until we make the right turn up toward the top of the island. Then I see it. The top of the f****** island. Wow, we really aren’t going up there right? A few questions to my fellow athletes and they laugh and say “Yeah, once we get up there we get on the pineapple road”.
Huh, perhaps the off roadies have some wicked sense of humor. The serpentening begins. Back and forth, back and forth, and back forth until we reach the top of the island. I am thinking that was the tough part but when we transition to the red dirt combined with sand, rocks, boulders, etc. this is where the game begins. Somewhere on this lonely stretch of road I realize I am grinning from ear to ear. I am still scared to death mind you, but grinning. Oh but wait. What was that? What was that blur running across the trail? Wow, there is again. Then I realize the comment before the race “watch out for the deer” was more then just commentary. There are folks flying down this road and in between them deer are leaping across the road. Yikes this is getting dangerous!
At some point we get to the area where they said - “you may want to get off your bike and walk it down”. We come around the corner and I realize I am “there”. The view is stunning I wish I had my camera (or at least my IPhone but that would have been way to Roadie to take with me on the bike) and you can see forever and the most amazing view of Pacific I have ever seen. As I transition to “WOW” to “OH SHIT” cause I realize there is no way in hell I can navigate this stretch with my smoking hot white bike. This is going to take skill and on a mountain bike I have clearly shown I can fake some of it but not this.
I jump off just as some crazy dude goes flying past me on the right and shows me what mountain bike racing is all about. That dude was truly amazing and he never stopped and never left the saddle. It was a thing of beauty. I then realized it just wasn’t going to be a easy walk down this section because those bad asses behind me saw me as lunch meat on a road bike and I needed to be careful or I was going to loose an extremity.
I watch a girl in front of me navigate and follow her lead and even though she finds a section to mount back on, I still walk a few more feet before I attempt to get back on. I finally am back on the bike and clipped in and then I start the process of full brakes and wind my way down the rest of the mountain. At some point I realize I can barely hold the brakes anymore cause I am hanging so tight! I finally reach the bottom none too early for my hands and off to find T2. Rob is volunteering at the corner and I am glad to see him but make a quote like “these people are crazy” and find my way to my run gear.
If the swim was challenging and the bike was beyond challenging I knew that the run was going to kick my ass. Only 4 miles but back up the hill and in the heat. That run might have been the hardest run I have ever done. It just kept climbing and it was about 100 degrees. I at least had some electrolytes to keep the cramping to a minimum and just kept moving until I got back to transition. Coming into the finish covered in red dirt and sweat was not pretty but I was happy. I knew victory when I finished! That was the most fun I have had in a race in a long time. My finish was good enough for 2nd in my age group and that medal ranks pretty high up there with my Ironman medals. One to keep for sure.
I plan to head back to TriLanai after Xterra Maui in October. It for sure has made my list of most favorite races and hopefully I will keep the rubber side down next year!
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