After Lake Placid I took some time off to kinda figure out what was going to be next - I love the sport of Triathlon, I love every part of it I love the training, the racing, the structure - just everything but the one this I just wish it had a little more of was a team a community. I mentioned this in my Anderson race report from last season how special that race was to me just because of the amazing team support I got from all the other EC athletes and supporters.

So after Placid I decided to to look at some local North East teams and coaches - I very dominating and impressive showing in Lake Placid came from QT2 Systems - they took the first and second female pro podium spots and pretty much a spot on the podium for every AG so I figured this was a good place to start.

It was not and easy decision to make but I knew that Anne and I had become good friends over the last two year - I would miss her but was happy to know I would never loose her friendship.

After some chatter back and fourth I was paired up and set to start working with my new coach and QT2 - so after making the switched - Tara and I decided it to get one more race under my belt before the end of the season and with enough time to focus on running my first 26.2 at the NYC Marathon - the Pocono 70.3 was perfectly timed and also not too far away.

The next 8 weeks were hard work - very hard work - I have to say that it was a combination of a different workout plan that made me sore in places I didn’t know I had and hours and having a hard time finding the motivation to get back to work after Ironman - but I got through the hours and to the starting line feeling ok… as I would find out from Tara after the race QT2 only tapers for “A” races and the fatigue I was feeling in my legs was totally normal.

My good friend Tim had also signed up for the race so we made a great weekend of. It was an easy hour and half drive from the city - so after breakfast - my favorite part about QT2 the carb loading pre-race pancake breakfast - I head out picked up Tim and off we went - we drove right to packet pick-up then had a quick lunch followed by the race briefing - then off to drop off our bikes at T1 - no offense to this race but man was that a scary lake, it was in an abandon park of some resort the water turned out to be scarier than the Hudson River.

After dropping of our bikes we drove the bike course - which actually got me a little excited it was beautiful with some nice straight aways and some nice climbs so I would say challenging without being brutal. This race had to two transitions and required us to drop our T2 stuff off the night before as well - so we did that and then it was already time for dinner - so the relaxing pre-race day somewhere turned into lot’s of running around and sitting in the car - not ideal to say the least.

Dinner in it’s self was an experience between Tim being a vegetarian and my gluten issues we were quite the pair to find something to eat in Stroutsburg, PA - thankfully Tim had been there the year before to do a marathon and remember a great little place on Main street - we ended up being their only guest for the evening and as we were leaving they had already locked the door because the kitchen had closed keep in mind it was 7pm - after dinner it was right to the hotel and finally time to get those feet up. Since we had pretty much dropped off everything at the race site already there was not much left to do except get my bike bottles ready and think about what I would want after the race because to make things just a little more interesting we had to park at a high school that was no where near T1 or T2 and take shuttle bus to the swim start and then another bus from the finish line back to the car so everything we needed right after we crossed the line had to fit into a bag and had to be the same was what we would be wearing race morning - done and done time to try to get some sleep…

Ironman Pocono 70.3

Date 9/30/12

Results: Swim 31:43 T1 2:58 Bike 2:47:27 T2 1:47 Run 1:40:15 total 5:04:08

Age Group finish 3/50

Pre-Race:

First off I did not sleep - I’m pretty sure I just laid awake waiting for my alarm to go off when it finally did I dragged by self of bed switched on the TV and started making my oatmeal - I was happy to see that the news said it was 50 outside not quite as cold as I thought it would be - this made me happy and I took the jacket I had packed to wear on the bike out of my bag as well as the socks - if it was 50 now it was only going to get warmer right… ?

I had my oatmeal and even jumped in the shower - something I don’t always do before a race but I thought it would help wake me up.

I grabbed all my stuff and off to parking lot we drove - there we got on a bus to take us to T1 it was a 45 min drive and out bus driver didn’t quite know where she was going which had me panicing just a little inside that we wouldn’t have enough time but when we hear that there was another bus that had gotten so lost it had to turn around and start over I took a deep breath - “control what you can and let go of what you can not”. Once off the bus it hit me I had made a stupid stupid mistake - up at the swim start it was only 41 degrees and I was freezing “Scheisse…” now with jacket or socks I knew this was not going to be a fun ride but again focus on what I could control - finished getting ready got my wet suite on packed up my bad dropped that off and down to the swim start.

Swim: ( Wet suite swim )

Just as in Anderson I went into this race with the mindset you have nothing to loose and to leave it all out there - I put myself right in the first row of this in the water start and sprinted to the first turn boi and then settled into a solid pace.

The water was as disgusting as I thought it was going to be honesty the Hudson was crisp clean comparison even more reason to get out as quickly as possible.

The run into T1 was not exactly short nor flat and on a path that they could have cleared of the pebbles but “control what you can” was clearly. T1 times were a little slow since we had to pack up all our stuff in to a bag that would would get back at T2 after the race.

Bike

This is where the misery began - my hopes of things warming up did not happen - the first 3-4 miles out of T1 were down hill that combined with being soaking wet no socks and the temps still at 45 with no signs of the sun I was just holding on - I think I could actually hear the sound of my teeth shattering I was so cold. I’m really not sure what was worse how cold I was or how angry I was at my self for not just bringing all options to the race start. I was trying to just keep myself moving forward keeping my eyes on the target numbers I was trying to hit - the optimal word here is trying because it never happened between the tiredness in my legs and freezing I just was not moving the way I wanted to - I never got the point of finding my grove or being comfortable.

About half way throught he bike the sun did start coming out and the rolls started coming - which was a good thing because they warmed me up - there were no volunteers at the mid way point aid station that were handing out bananas again “control what you can not what you can not” I did not need the banana but then again I would have loved to at least have the option. I can not remember ever in a race counting down the miles and just wanting the bike to be over with as in this race - to top things off I manage to drop my chain on one the last climbs another 30 sec lost it was just not meant to be my day I guess.

I was so looking forward to getting of the bike but as soon as my bare feet in the asphalt things just went from bad to worse - my feet were completely frozen I could barely feel them and what I did feel was just pain - just keep moving B - so grab my bag ripped it open there were socks in there so they would make everything better right…

Run

I don’t mean to and over dramatic baby - but honestly at this point I just wanted to cry - numb painful feet were not letting me move at all to add to the pleasure being cold on the bike had made me tense up my neck and shoulders in a way that I think I was barely running upright. “Just keep moving forward -one foot in front of the other” as cheesy as they may sound but the only thing that kept going to through my head was the amount of pain that Chrissie must have pushed throught at the last World Championships and with the I told myself “suck it up you big baby - this is the last race of the year its time to dig as deep as you can and leave it out there” with that my feet started to thaw and my legs started moving with in the last mile a woman in my AG had passed me I could still see her - I had no idea how the day was going or how she was doing the only thing I knew was don’t let her out of your sight you can run her down and there started the chase just in time at the out at back I got a good sense that she was running in 2nd so passing her way my ticket to Vegas. So to make an already long story short it came down to the last 2/10 down Main Street and an all out sprint I ended up catching her and passed her but she had more left in her legs that I did because as soon as I did she laid it all out there and blew by me and the girl that was running in first - so the top 3 spots in the AG were separated by 4/10 of a second and again for me no ticket to Vegas….

The day came to a much better end than it started and it proved to me that you should never ever give up and you can always dig just a little deeper and even though it may not always feel that way in the moment you can have an amazing race. I ended the season with super cute award and an 11 min PR.

Now time to regroup and get ready for my first marathon.