Running with Socks, GWN Race Story 2010

I think most of you know my story. My new nickname “Angie Running in Socks” speaks loads as do the 2 big black marks on my feet. I suppose I should think of them as “badges of a hard day”... maybe I will soon.

The weekend leading up to race day was nothing short of amazing. I loved being in GWN with our team. AT the carb load on Friday I was a very proud coach! Not only for my athletes, but for Richelle and Sarah as well. They are a huge part of the success of this team. Pre-race workouts on Saturday were SO much fun even though the wind was on the edge of tornado force! When a rack with Sarah’s bike blew over and nearly clipped her, it hit me just how hard the wind was blowing. I thought that if it’s that way tomorrow “we” athletes from the South will do better than others because we are very familiar with strong wind! Luckily we didn’t need to draw on that experience as race day had perfect conditions.

Race morning went tickety boo. I changed my breakfast and went away from my standard bagel with a fried egg, cheese and tomato, and switched to my new favourite breaky of oatmeal with a half an apple and raisons, a wee bit of brown sugar and skim milk. On the bike I realized that I forgot my heaping tablespoon of almond butter! I had a brief moment of panic that I was racing without any protein The panic quickly dissipated as I realized it wasn’t really hurting me and if it was, there wasn’t much to do about it by that point anyway! The lesson to take from this little blooper was that I need to not be quite so casual about race morning. I’ve race... a lot, over the years. I find that lately I have a hard time being keyed up doing normal pre-race tasks. The last few races I’ve forgot simple little things that I believe help me work towards success. Do I think that missing almond butter was a key factor in the creation of a challenging day? No... but it was careless.

In the morning I think a lot of us felt like rock stars! Team TriLife supporters were in full force taking photos, candid and posed. Lots of hugs and have a good day. I took off for a few minutes by myself for a run in my keens... no extra running shoes! I also had my wetsuit on up to my hips. I looked like a bit of a freak, but it worked to warm me up and get my brain in race gear.

I stood on the beach with Tanya Salomon. She ended up being second overall woman for the day!!! We chatted briefly and then the gun went sooner than I expected. A quick dive in and I tried to stay on her feet. I thought I was swimming SO fast!!! I felt SO good in the water! If anything, I was a bit warm, but the goop and mud didn’t bother me, and I was very lucky to have very little contact. I found feet, fought to stay with them on and off throughout the swim, and felt I executed well. The hardest part was the run around the buoy to the second lap! Running through knee deep quick sand takes your breath away! I didn’t get my splits at the half way point because my watch was under my wetsuit. I’m pretty sure I slowed down the second lap, but that’s OK. It was still a good swim. Time 32:39. I’m consistant!

Bike: I had a really quick transition and was on my way! I was excited to ride and felt the conditions were ripe for fast times. At the mount line my aerobar pad fell off. There was nothing I could do so I got on and rode up the hill. This turned out to be a major distraction throughout the ride. My forearm was on metal and screws. At times I was grumpy about it, but then I would will away the anger and tell myself “control what you can, let go what you can’t”. I contemplated stopping for help, but honestly didn’t think that bike support would have anything to fix it. I rode in aero mostly, but I couldn’t quite rest comfortably on that arm. Still, my bike time was fantastic. It exceeded what I ever believed was possible. Nothing to complain about there. I did an analysis of my watts from the last 5 races at this distance I’ve done. It’s below in a chart.

• Oceanside March 2009,
o Average watts 165
o Normalized power 175
o Ride time without transitions 2:47:25
o Course... hilly and windy

• Great White North 2009,
o Average watts 181
o Normalized power 184
o Ride time without transitions 2:36:54 with transitions.
(2:34 “ish” without)
o Course... flat, tail wind out, head wind back.

• Sooke Sept 2009,
o Average watts 177
o Normalized power 190
o 2:43:19 for 86km not including transitions
o Course... VERY hilly! HARD!

• Clearwater Nov 2009,
o Average watts 184
o Normalized power 188
o 2:17:35
o Course... FLAT AND FAST!

• Great White North 2010,
o Average watts 172
o Normalized power 176
o Ride time without transitions 2:33:28 with transitions.
(2:30:30 “ish” without)
o Course... flat, slight head wind out, tail wind home.

As you can see over the year last year my bike fitness grew. Oceanside was done on indoor training. Average watts is set on my powertap head to only count watts when I’m pedalling. If I’m descending and not moving my pedals, the zero is not averaged into the watts. Normalized power is a way to compare one ride to another regardless of terrain or wind. It’s calculates your effort to create a wattage that you would have had WITH that effort on a totally flat course. As you can see Sooke the highest. That is because of the hills! It was a tough one. I knew that even though this ride was my fastest at GWN, it was not my best effort in the “Angie compared to Angie” mode of comparison. I could not have rode any harder. It was my best effort for the day. Nutrition went well; I consumed a bottle of infinit per hour. (Mind you, I wore a fair amount of infinit because the top of my aerobottle came off! I HATE it when my fingers stick together! At every aid station I would grab water and try to release the goo... it didn’t work, but I kept trying!)

One other interesting analysis... in 2010 I had the 65th fastest bike split. In 2009 I had the 96th fastest bike split. That is a really interesting comparison that surprises me. It makes the lower watts in 2010 a bit off. Hmmmm.... now I’m thinking.

The BEST thing about my ride was my dismount! For the first time in my racing career I did a gliding dismount It was SO fun and fast!!!!! THANKS to the TTL Tent Dwellers for all their cheers at the end of the bike. I loved seeing the orange and purple jackets on the course as well! It very much brings you back to focus when you hear cheers from teammates and friends!

T2 went well. Nothing much to talk about. I got in, and got out.

Run: This is where my challenges began. Let me prefix this by saying that if one of our team had a run like I did, I would discuss the following points with this athlete. I believe these points, and if nothing else, this has been a very good learning experience that what I say does make sense and I need to apply it to myself.
1. You learn more from a hard race than a race that goes well. Next time you toe the start line you will have a reference for how much you can hurt, and how much you want to not give in to the demons that make you slow down. This was a learning race... the harder the race, the more epic the learning.
2. You toughed out a very tough day. A lot of people would have quit, and you didn’t. You are an amazing athlete committed to your trade of racing at the edge of your abilities. Some days are diamond, and some are coal. You pulled out a pretty amazing finish of a really hard day.

OK... so that is what I would say, and actually, typing it out helps.

Stats first... I always hit my interval button at km markers. It’s part of my post race analysis. Below is what is on my watch from the run. I’m showing you this mostly because it’s how I analyze my race.
• Km 1 4:42
• Km 2 4:25
• Km 3 4:46
• Km 4 4:59 (walked to drink out of plastic cup)
• Km 5 4:40
• Km 6 4:48
• Km 7 4:53
• Km 8 5:19 (bathroom break #1)
• Km 9 4:36 (making up for bathroom break)
• Km 10 4:46
• Km 11 4:36
• Km 12 4:51
• Km 13 4:54
• Km 14 4:56
• Km 15 4:54
• Km 16 and 17 10:00 (bathroom break #2 in here I think)
• Km 18 5:06 (foot pain pretty bad)
• Km 19 4:48
• Km 20 – 21.1 9:56 (took off both shoes and ran with my socks)

What happened...

When I started the run I knew that I felt tuckered. Last year GWN was my zen race! I started to run and had to tell myself to slow down! I had a hard time keeping my pace back in a reasonable range. I felt SO good. This year it felt like a grunt from the start. Still, I was running well according to the km markers. Stay focused Angie. This is your job today. Get it done.

Early in the run my left lower leg went numb. It was like running on a stump... almost felt like I was dragging it along. I wasn’t, but that’s what it felt like. I did frequent “body scans” and would assure myself that as long as it doesn’t hurt, you can run through it. Pain is one thing, a numb limb is another. Keep running. The km’s were clicking off at a pretty good rate. I was surprising myself based on how my legs felt. All good.

Then... grrrr.... this NEVER has happened to me in a Half Ironman IN MY LIFE!!!! My bowel started to gurgle and brew. The pressure was mounting. I didn’t have gut issues, I just had to go! WHAT THE ....???? Into the bushes at about 8k. I’m not sure who could see me, and to be honest, I didn’t care a whole bunch. When I gotta go, I gotta go NOW! I don’t have much wiggle room. Thankfully there was a treed area for me to step into at my “moment of need”! Back to the run, I caught the fellows I was running with and continued on. My leg / foot were still numb but that’s OK. I knew that Sarah was working hard behind me, and I was motivated to stay in front. I timed her at the turn around. She had gained about :20 on me. That’s OK. I took :30 for the bathroom break. I can hold this. I had to walk thru a few aid stations to get water. Those darn plastic cups. I think you all know what I’m talking about. Sarah was the hand on my back pushing me. This was hard.

My bowel struck again! NO!!!!!! This can’t be happening! This one was quick! In and out of the trees. SORRY to residents of Stony Plain. Back on the run. Come on Angie... keep going.

At about 16k my leg lost the “stump-ness” and a pretty incredible pain went into my foot. I’ve race through a lot of “foot pain” having had a mortons neuroma removed. This felt worse, but my memory might have faded. I tried to walk and wiggle my foot to see if it would let go. It didn’t. I’d run, walk, run, walk. Sarah was right there. At this point it was hers. She blew by me like I was standing still!!! She was breathing harder than I’d ever heard her breathe, and I knew she was having THE RACE OF HER LIFE!!!!! As a competitor, it was a place lost. As a friend first, coach second, it was an amazing demonstration of what you an athlete can do with not only amazing fitness, but amazing determination and resolve to dig deep and ask your mind to allow the “push” when it’s SO hard! I was proud of her! I still am.

Just past the 19k mark I was walking. I was on a hill, and JoZ was on her way down. That darn JoZ yelled at me and told me to get running! After she apologized, but she was just what I needed. I’d seen Richelle, Ally, and Jeff and John, Cindy on the course. All I could say to them was “rough day”. They told me to stay strong, I felt like I was crumbling. For some reason when JoZ told me to pick it up, a light switch went off. At that moment, I took off my shoe, and the relief was instant. I tried to run with one shoe for a few steps, but that was a BAD idea, so the other shoe came off. Once I started running in socks (thus the name) my legs came back, the pain was gone, and I found the determination to finish strong that I had lacked the last several km’s. Sarah was in site, and I was pushing with everything I had to make gains. I carried my shoes for maybe 800m, and I dropped on right before an aid station. I threw the other one at the volunteers and asked them to please save them for me. (Amazingly I got my shoes back from a wonderful volunteer within minutes of finishing! THANK YOU!)

As I turned the corner and saw the TTL tent, and heard the cheers, my emotions started to build. I was going to finish what I would call the run from hell. I heard Annie say “where are your shoes” and I think I had a wee bit of a smile... inside... at that moment! Thank you Annie! I crossed the finish line, I think I hugged Sarah, and I started to cry. I’m still emotional typing this right now.

I kept thinking “it shouldn’t be that hard”. The pain in my feet and ankles hit me as soon as I stopped, and emotionally I was done. I ended up with medical for a few minutes which was OK. I’m still emotional as I type this.

I expected my run time to be much slower than it was. I was shocked to see I was only :15 slower than last year. When I was running I must have ran pretty fast... my suunto graph tells the tale well... run / walk/run / walk in the last 5k.

This feels a bit like Clearwater did. If I had finished in 4:48 with a 1:42:?? run AND I’d raced well, I would have been thrilled! At my age, PR’s are hard to come by! I’ve been at this game for quite a few years now, and to be honest, a PR is a gift. I am so attached to execution though that a fast finish time has very little meaning to me if I don’t race well. On this day I can say that my issues were not necessarily execution issues. I think I paced well, nutrition went well, my mental state was down and that is a negative that I can control, but apart from that, the aerobar pad, bathroom breaks and feet issues were pretty much bad luck. I can’t fix that. I did learn though about what I can push myself through although I hope not to go there again anytime soon!

I talked to Chad a few days after the race and was telling him my tale. He put me in my place in about 2 seconds. He said “at least you can race”. How true is that? At least I can race. That is a perspective that I needed to hear, and Chad and John are both examples of athletes overcoming incredible obstacles to get back to a start line. How much would Terry have loved to be at this race.

Perspective is everything. This was a rough day at “my” office, but there are better days ahead. I am so blessed to have triathlon in my life, mostly because of the people, and also because I get to challenge myself on a daily basis with training. The races are the proverbial icing on the cake. A tough race is not a season ruined, and yes, my finishing time was really solid.

I think that’s all I can tell you. Thanks for reading. Angie