Perfect Ending to the Tri-Season - AC International Distance Race Report

After doing my last week negatively sad post (I will try to keep those posts to a minimum), I am happy to report two things:

• I turned 37 and survived
• Had a pretty sweet race
• I got a haircut

I went into this race feeling "blah" about everything, but the pity party was over and decided I was going to CELEBRATE all my training and hard work for the year.  In typical taper fashion, I got slammed with work which ironically helped me to feel super fresh on Sat...Friday night, we met at my parents (got a cute purse from my mommy) and we drove to Atlantic City to stay at my sister-in-laws where Christine gave me my bday present that I could wear for the race...

That made me smile and feel ready then ever to race.  My parents and sister were our support team and they did a great job showing up at random places on the course.

Cutest parents wearing their NJ Metal sweatshirts - REPRESENTING

Bright and Early at 5:30am

Christine and I got to Bader Field at 5:30am (I credit Yasi with encouraging me to be early for races) and picked up our race packets and went to transition.  The race was starting 15 minutes late because many people were caught in traffic...I have NEVER seen a race do this and it just showed how accomodating this company was.  They really did a nice job.  Thank you DelMoSports!

Swim -  1 mile (36:36)

The swim course looked like it could be cold but in actuality it was awesome.  I wore my full-piece wetsuit, I wish I had a sleeveless as I always feel so constricted in my full piece.  Anyway, I think the swim out to the start was good because it forced me to warm up a little.  I stayed in the back-right to avoid the initial crazies, and there was a bit of a current (against) on the way up. When I got to the first left, I got a little confused, I thought it was making a rectangle and think I ended up getting off course, then back on then off again.  Finally on the way back we were able to ride the current and I sighted the rest of the orange and was able to stay on course the rest of the way.  Most of the Olympic distance swims have been 0.8 miles so my time was faster than previous for a longer course...PR!

T1 - 5:16 (REASON BELOW)

I saw Christine in transition - she was doing the sprint and also did a little PR in the swim.  This was a ridiculously long transition - I was quick, HOWEVER, the Garmin registered a 1/2 mile transition....we had to run with our bikes out of transition and across Bader Field up to Rt. 322 where we were then allowed to mount the bike...NEXT time, I will not run in my bike shoes, and run barefoot so I can go a little faster.  I only know I was pretty speedy in the transition area because NINJA Christine had a similar time...haha

Bike - 20 miles (1:03  -19mph)
There was a lovely head side wind on the way up - it was a 1/2 loop course so I would guess about 60% of it you were going into the wind.  I just kept my head down and tried to keep steady, especially when a semi is flying by you on the AC Expressway and almost knocks you down.  The only "hills" were a couple over passes.  My garmin stopped working on the last mile but from what I gather I was doing about 15-17 in the headwind and 20-23 on the tailwind...Overall, a nice little PR speed for an Olympic/International distance.  I know I started easing up the last 5 miles, I think I got a little bored of no one being around me and the flatness....I need to get my head in the game as I think it cost me a little in speed.

T2 - 4:45 (Same as above)
I saw my dad coming off the bike and then right before my run, this put a little kick in my step and he said mom and Theresa were up on the boardwalk waiting for me to run by!

Run - 10k (54:20 8:46/mile)
This was a PR on any 10k whether that is a solo run or part of a tri, so I am quite happy with this and I think it really shows how far I am coming in getting back to the 8 min mile (goal for next year).  I saw Christine on her way in which gave me a little motivation.  I felt really good, the weather was awesome.  The only real complaint I have on the race was being stopped for traffic on the way to the boardwalk....as you watch people go ahead of you....whatever, what is done is done. I got up to the boards and felt real good, I wish I had my Garmin to push me but instead I worked on passing one person at a time.  I saw my sister at Bally's and she said mom was at the Borgata.  A girl I passed on the bike earlier, was running by me so I figured I should try to stick with her.  I could tell my heartrate was getting a little higher, I would guess (since I am a stalker, the girl did 8 min miles) that we were going about 8min pace, after a mile I decided I wanted to have enough gas for the end.  I saw my mom and gave her a high five and went on...I can't tell you how much emotion I feel when I run here, there was so many memories of my childhood with my family and grandparents.  My grandfather worked at Resorts and as I passed it I remembered walking with my grandmom as a 7 year old from the Golden Nugget to Resorts to see him and then catching a tram home.  I remembered watching these casinos being built and torn down, Trump building the most elaborate looking ridiculous casino...good times....as I remembered all of this I just put one foot in front of the other, I felt really good and steady.  When I got to mile 5, I felt good enough to speed it up, although I had to stop 2 more times for traffic...I am pretty sure it only took about a total of 30 seconds of all the stopping so I don't think it would have made a huge difference.

Total Time - 2:43:46

Our number 1 fan - Theresa!

After all this, we went to breakfast for my birthday, showered and got back on the road.  Mike was taking care of his dad, so he got home a little later and we celebrated with some cake and beers and a movie with a couple friends.  Sunday, I continued celebrating by spending the day on full birthday mode: reading, wine, sun, and then dinner with Mike.

My presents from Mike came and were wonderful.....

Shoes and watch can't get much better.

I had more gluttony in store this past weekend with a Brewtal beer meeting, a birthday dinner with friends on Sat, and then on Sunday for the grand finale of bday week with field hockey, book club and dinner with my family!  Here's to making the birthday last a full month!

AND just to be sure I am vacation ready, I started my week of detox before I leave 10/2 - which means coming up with some fantastic recipes that are detox-friendly - I think I may be the only one that gets excited for a detox...and detoxes BEFORE "toxing" on vacation.  See this post for my detox (I sometimes add in greek yogurt and eggs since this is not a full vegan detox although I had done it full vegan in the past for detox), obviously everyone is different and here for some relevant recipe lists...also I follow the various nutrition posts on my right hand column - Edible Perspective, Daily Garnish, Gluten-Free Goddess for some great recipes :)

Rest of Summer Happenings...

It's been a while, a long while since I posted something....I just really felt like I didn't have much to post.  Which has been ridiculous because so much is going on...The rest of the summer has been going, I lost a lot of motivation with training.  I signed up for Atlantic City Tri International Distance just because...although I was happy to do a race with my bestie...

part of me was upset that I just couldn't find another half-ironman during a convenient date so I have been just blah from training.  I guess I just wasn't excited about it.  I couldn't quite find a plan so just kept chugging with swimming, biking and running following my normal schedule from half-ironman training.  Life has been crazy with Mike spending most of his time taking care of his dad, which just makes me love and miss the guy even more (I didn't know after 15 years that that was even possible).  He has been self-less and really dealing with a lot until they get nursing care.  For one day while I was there we were able to get him out of bed, it was a great day!

We were able to spend the time we have doing things we love (e.g. beer) so it's been lots of quality time when we can get it.

Trying lots of phenomenal beers

Great quality chilling times

Hanging with the boys before Nick left for Australis

Trying to sell the Brewtal growlers

On our way to a Brewtal meeting

Wedding for some friends

I have had some really good and fun times since my last post...

Running with my mama 

We also started the book club of the CENTURY - CGBC - Cool Girls Book Club - 

yup it's official

And...the 6th Annual Beerathlon occurred and it was awesome with costumes and lots of fun!  Plus I got to play Coach H for not one but TWO HGRC teams.

Left-overs of a party...

Mojitos after party...

Finally, it's a week before the race, and I still can't put a finger on why I am not excited about it, but it could be the fact that the day of the race I will be 37!!  What???  When did 37 happen? But in actuality it was probably training since November with no break.  BUT I put in the work, I know this will be a nice flat race (PR, maybe?).  So I am going to go into this race as a CELEBRATION, a celebration of all the hard work, the highs and lows of the summer, and turning 37.  Oh yeah, and in the spirit of over-achievement I have my first hockey game of the season the next day with my new stick!!!