Lessons In Confidence, Triathlon Style!

Moving!

I am moving my blog from Typepad back to Blogger. As of December 1 this blog will no longer exist.

You can find me at http://ramblingbydesign.blogspot.com/ or just click HERE

My Silverman race report has been updated there with some pictures. The text is unchanged. I will probably compile another post of additional thoughts I've had since the race.

For now I am happy resting and recovering.

Hope everyone has a great week!

I DID IT!!!!!!

I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I lived my triathlon dream, I achieved my goal of finishing the Half Silverman.

Thanks so much to everyone who followed me yesterday. Of course you were able to do that through the awesome efforts of Glenn,  Sarah and Danielle! Thanks girls so much, you really had me covered. I wondered what was “going on” online during all the flats, wind, rain and obstacles that yesterday threw at me. Thinking of everyone who has supported me in this endeavor helped get me through some trying times out there. I would not have finished the race without Glenn. He followed me the entire bike course, offering support and the best attitude anyone ever had. His attitude was contagious. This is why I married him. THANKS HONEY!!

I was racing MY RACE until about mile 10 of the bike. My swim was awesome! It felt like the best swim ever! After we started an hour late due to weather, it started raining. The lake appeared eerily foggy at times. I would sight and see the bright yellow buoys and the people around me and nothing else. Every time I turned my head to breath, my face would get sprinkled with rain.  It was very, very cool!!

I got out of the water in about 51 minutes which pleased me very much as my goal time was 50-55 minutes.  Also got to meet Macca during the swim delay – that guy is so nice, and HOT! And so nice!

The first flat happened around mile 10. By that time the weather had cleared and I was riding slightly faster than my normal riding times which is exactly what I wanted to do. In short, I was rocking it. The next three flats happened on Northshore Road – thanks Izaac for stopping (by all appearances Izaac rocked it! He needs to post his race report quickly)!

My perspective changed very quickly from I WANT TO RACE THIS BITCH to I AM GRATEFUL TO BE MOVING FORWARD. And trust me I was. Even though I had that many flats (after not having one for six months previously), there was always someone in the vicinity who offered something that allowed me to keep moving. And Glenn was always close. He told me we would do what it took to get me through it even if there were 12 flats.

The fifth flat happened at mile 47 – I had just returned to civilization from the River Mountain Trail Loop Trail where the Three Sisters are. That fifth flat was the only time I thought about quitting. I sat there in semi defeat while Glenn rushed over a new tube that he got from someone somewhere, after a nice volunteer let me use her phone. I rode the last nine miles just praying that fix would hold. I pumped the brakes hard down a nice long fast downhill because I was afraid the tire would explode on me.

By some point everyone thought I was doing the Full Silverman.

YAY YOU’RE AT MILE 100! WAY TO GO!

Um, yeah . . . . try mile 44, you smiling, yelling, very nice, enthusiastic volunteer. But thanks!

Glenn and I laughed hard about this later. Seems this is the story of my triathlon career this year. I’m either doing an Olympic and racing with half iron people or doing a half iron racing with the full iron people! Trust me we laughed! It was funny! And maybe fitting, I don’t know. The way I look at it I was meant to finish this race, one way or another!

I did not look at my watch one time out on the bike course. Mentally I couldn’t afford to. I kept my eye on my trusty bike computer and just pretended that no time had passed between every tire change. This worked well until, within five miles of T2, a full iron guy overtook me. He said something about us being almost done. I said YES! Then he said “yeah I think we’ll make the cutoff.”

UM . . . WTF really??????

I looked at my watch for the first time then and it was a little after four. Bike cutoff is at five. YIKES!!! There’s a situation I never thought I’d be in!! Thank goodness for half/full iron races with the only cutoffs being for the full iron. Yet another sign I was meant to finish come hell or high water.

I really REALLY  REALLY WANTED this race. More than I thought! Yesterday proved that to me.

Thanks to Liz, I was so well prepared, it’s not even funny. Seriously! Taper week was not that fun for me but everything I have done over the past year under Liz’s guidance paid off in SPADES yesterday!  Every time I got back on that bike after the latest tire fix I felt great! My legs were strong, my lungs felt awesome, I was in my zone! When the rain and crosswinds/headwinds hit and blew my bike to the side or smacked me in the face coming up that long hill out of Northshore, I was just so grateful to still be in the race that I didn’t care!

I made it ¾ of the way up the first of the Three Sisters before unclipping. Glenn was there to take a picture. It was raining and the trail was slick. I had never ridden in rain before. Oh well! I made it all the way up the second Sister and felt very proud of myself!  Elected to walk up the third sister, and walk down the backside too. That downhill on the backside was very steep and it was still raining and it was slick . . . . I figured better safe than sorry! There was another downhill shortly after that with a sharp turn at the bottom that I also walked. Felt like a complete dumb ass for walking that second one but then a girl rode down, made the turn, slipped and biffed it at the bottom. She was fine, she got up and got back on her bike but suddenly my decision to walk down was totally validated. The River Mountain Trail Loop was very isolated. After the sisters it is a slow, gentle incline for miles where I got down into the bars, rested, and spun as best I could. Saw one ranger ride by on an ATV, a handful of full iron peeps and that was IT.

Someone upstairs did not want me to have my fifth flat on the River Mountain Trail Loop. Someone waited until mile 47 when I was back in civilization and could call for help. I am very grateful for that. A flat on the River Mountain Trail Loop would have ended my race.

My bike computer read 5:10 when I got into T2. Some of that time was spent walking the bike waiting for Glenn or someone else to come by!

My nutrition plan worked flawlessly. I had loaded up my bike with five hours worth of nutrition, never dreaming I would actually need that much, and was able to absorb the extra time spent out on the bike course with no ill effects. My stomach (after being such a f*cking bitch during taper and demanding all sorts of food) fell in line, didn’t growl once, and I was able to eat every single calorie that I planned to eat on the bike and on the run. All of my salt tabs, water, Gatorade, gels, Perpetuem, Clif Bars, gels (oh did I say that twice? I had gels on both the bike and the run). Every aid station on the run had my raspberry Hammer Gels.  I decided to carry a water bottle with me as a last minute decision made in T2. It was a good one. It sort of helped to hold onto it and I sipped from it the entire run. At the aid stations I took Gatorade and had the volunteers fill the bottle to ¼ full. The aid stations had their usual buffet of goodies, but I stuck to my plan and it paid off for me. I ditched the water bottle in a trash can at about mile 12.5 so it would not show up in my finish photo!

At the same time things seemed to be falling apart on the bike, everything else came together. Sounds a bit strange, but it’s true!

I ran the entire run, and felt really good until about mile 8. Started feeling like something the cat dragged in by mile 11. By the time Glenn and Danielle saw me in The District (mile 11) I was hurting pretty badly but kept running!

My run time was slow for sure, but I FORCED MYSELF TO RUN THE ENTIRE WAY. I kept telling myself:

This is Silverman.  .   . YOU RUN AT SILVERMAN!  This is Silverman, it is SUPPOSED TO BE HARD (got that one from Sarah).

 I also sang the ABC song several times in my head (especially up the hills) and counted my foot strikes. Counted from 1-20 backwards and forwards and back again. Zoned out, cleared my mind, and just stayed within myself. All of this helped me to keep running.

The finish line was awesome! The clock read 13:xx!! Subtract two and a half hours from that and that’s my finishing time. HELL YES! That time is all MINE, BITCH! (I put my official results below, check em out!).

I now know why those mylar blankets are at the finish line. The temperature had really dropped but I did not notice it until I stopped moving. Can’t believe how warm those things are. I did not get a medal because they ran out of half iron medals. Yes you read that right, they RAN OUT OF HALF IRON MEDALS. I was so non plussed and disgusted that I nearly gave the nice volunteer attitude about this. But then I smiled, thanked her, and walked away. Not her fault, and all of the volunteers that I encountered on the course were awesome!  I got to borrow a full iron medal to wear in my photos. J

So, that’s it in a nutshell. I achieved everything I wanted to at Silverman and much much more thanks to the obstacles that were thrown at me. When I read about people overcoming obstacles during races I tear up and think WOW! That person really has what it takes! Now I think the same of myself and that is a pretty powerful place to be. Thanks so much for reading and for supporting me. Under Liz’s direction I am taking TWO WEEKS off of working out. She doesn’t have to tell me twice!

Official Results:

STEFANIE FRANK      Swim: 51:28  T1: 6:06 Bike: 6:28:26  T2: 4:08 Run: 3:18:27 Total Time: 10:48:33

 

She is most certainly FE...

Wow is all I can say.  I had to hit the hay, so I missed posting a a final update last night. Stef's rockin twitter posting fiend of a friend posted a nice summary of the day here for your reading enjoyment until our dear friend Stef returns to the blogosphere.  She did it!! Girl, you can conquer anything now!!

It was fun, and I now return this blog to its owner!  Woohoo!!!

3:52 PM - Almost there

Just talked to Glenn - she got her 5th flat around mile 47, but she is on her way and is almost there!  It started raining and getting windy again, so she's had every kind of weather you can imagine out there. 

Stef, you are a rock star!!

Edited to Add - She's in T2 as of 4:37 PM! Woohooo!! Thank god, now it's all you baby, no bike to slow you down!

2:07 PM - Update 35 Miles

Apparently the wind and rain are picking up.  Keep going Stef!! You can do this.  You can do anything after this race :)

1:35 PM - Mile 30 Bike

She's at Mile 30 as of 1:35 PM!

Stupid flats!!! and Pictures!

Just talked to Glenn at 12:45PM. Stef has had 4 flats.  They think it's a problem with the rim tape, as the flats keep happening in different spots.  He said that she's staying strong and he'll be out there on the course to check up on her the whole way.  I told him to tell her that she's a rock star and that if she can get off that bike, there is no stopping her.  This is a tough situation to deal with mentally, I can't even imagine.  She's at mile 20 and is going to keep pedaling!

Stef - you rock!!!  So, as our heroine conquers the bike course, I will share some pictures.  She may hate these, but I owe you people the news!

 

 

 

 

Crazy wind!

 

Warmup Swim!

Swim Start!

 

Gettin Peeled!

Swim to Bike Transition -

Stupid flats started after first aid station -

 

great swim, and she's out of the water!

Talked to Glenn - she started the swim around 9AM! They pushed out the swim start due to some crazy weather. She is off and apparently swimming like a robot shark that has been programmed to eat the slow!  Woot! I'm loving these twitter updates!  Apparently it was pouring, but there is no wind.

Update - 9:53AM - she's out of the water and getting her wetsuit peeled! I've got pictures! Appox. 51m swim! Go Stef!!!  Glenn says weather is back to normal.  The sun is out and the wind is down.   She is out on the bike now!

I've got several pictures sent via Stef's cell phone, so as soon as I can get those, I'll update this post with warmup shots and the swim start, as well as shots of her getting her wetsuit peeled and in transition!

guest blogger...

Woohoo!! The day has arrived!  This is Sarah and I'm guest blogging today as Stef tackles the Silverman course in her quest to become a half ironman!

Stef's husband Glenn will be calling me with updates (or I'll call him and bug him. hee.) and I'll be sharing those here with you guys!

You can also check out the Twitter feed --------------------> over there in the sidebar for updates!  We've got you covered!

Stef - I know you are going to have a fabulous day out there.  You've already won the prize for showing up and toeing the line.  Today is just the icing on the cake.  Have fun!

It's Almost Time

Today (Thursday) I went down to packet pick up. I debated waiting until tomorrow but Tony was there working/volunteering and called around noon to tell me he had set aside a red back pack for me (a super slick back pack is part of the Silverman SWAG). They had red and black back packs and I wanted RED! Tony is always doing nice stuff like that for me so I figured I’d go down there and get packet pick up over with before many people got there.

The finish line was semi bustling with set up activities but not many athletes were there checking in. I got in, got weighed, signed everything and got my paperwork and SWAG. It took about three minutes. Then Tony and I went over to T2 (the majority of which has yet to be set up) and looked at the bike dismount line, the changing tents, and the run out chute. Tony introduced me to a couple of his buddies – he knows SO MANY people! The Expo was not set up yet.

Then I took a couple of photos:

 

I’ve been on this side of the arch for the past two years, watching athletes finish and getting inspired.

 

I wanted a preview of the other side for Sunday . . . . that’s Tony holding the British flag.

Then I went home.

And promptly proceeded to get antsy again.  During the past few days I’ve been more STARVING than I have EVER been in my ENTIRE LIFE. Fortunately for me Coach wrote a post on tapering which I read this morning and was grateful for. I know everything I’m experiencing right now is normal and I am very proud of myself for keeping things in perspective – I am so excited I can hardly stand it!!!!  I have 100% confidence in my preparation and my ability to FINISH this race strong!

I have not devoted a lot of time or energy to thinking about a time goal, because I think a time goal is not where my focus needs to be for this race. I need to RACE THIS BITCH to the best of my ability. For me, this means staying in the moment, every moment, picking myself up out of the tough spots, and letting NOTHING get in the way of that finish line! 

It means swimming up to the capabilities I have shown recently in my race swim PRs and the open water practice swims.

It means attacking the down hills on the bike and taking advantage of the “flats” to go as fast as I can go.

It means reminding myself that I love the hills – I love the challenge of grinding up a long hill, I draw energy from being able to do that!

I want to ride faster than I’ve ridden out there before – on a good day this is totally possible.  On a bad day, I have all of those hard, windy training days in my bank to draw from. 56 MILES BITCH! Here I come!

It means running the entire run, no matter how much it hurts, no matter how slow I think I am going, and no matter how badly I want to stop and walk. How I handle the run will be KEY to my success. Once my feet hit the ground at T2 the race is mine to win.

All of that being said, I would love to break eight hours on this course. I would dearly love that. Regardless, though, of what my final time is, I will have done it. I will have overcome the low confidence that I started this season with and, with perseverance, a lot of work and quite a few ups and downs, I will have reached the pinnacle of my triathlon experience thus far, by completing one of the toughest damn courses out there! I have wanted this for two years. Only two more days to wait.

Also, I will be wearing this:

 

Thanks to the generosity of a lot of people, including a lot of YOU, I was able to raise $1,500 for the Challenged Athletes Foundation/Operation Rebound! There will be ten wounded military veterans racing on Sunday. I am so proud to have been a part of fundraising for CAF and to be able to wear this suit to race in! Thank you to everyone out there who has supported me in this endeavor, either by giving funds or by kind and encouraging words – your support has mean the world to me.

Special thanks to Sarah for taking the time to respond to my taper emails this week (who better than someone who just completed her first HIM a mere two weeks ago) and for being a guest blogger for me on Sunday! I thought it might be overkill along with Twitter, but guess what: I DON’T CARE!

Glenn will talk with Sarah several times on Sunday and hopefully provide some good details that can complement the tweets from Danielle (and BEB and WBG)!

Special thanks also to Wes who started commenting on every one of my posts about a year (or more?) ago. Once I figured out he was not a creepy stalker, I followed his example and started reading and commenting on his and other blogs and that is how I now have all of you as friends.

I feel pretty sappy and sentimental right now. I will probably start bawling at the swim start, between making it to the starting line, seeing the CAF athletes there, along with Dave Scott and Macca (Macca is racing, Dave Scott is not racing this year), and achieving a dream that I dreamed up two years ago that at many different times I wondered if it was even possible. But you guys understand. Thanks so much for reading my blog and for offering your support along the way.

Not sure that I will post anymore until after the race. If I think of something cool and/or random to say I will be back but this may be it until after Sunday.

I CAN’T WAIT!