Always bet on RED

This is a really late race report from Ironman 70.3 Silverman that took place October 5th, 2014...

Henderson sunset

Yes, there is something wrong with me... I packed my best RED outfits and hopped on a plane to Vegas (baby Vegas)... to do a triathlon?


Someone decided Ironman Silverman 70.3 would be a fun team event, so I signed up and got excited to race with everyone from Red Performance Multisport (RPM)!  I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to visit family  and get my race on too.


The weekend was full of firsts for me:

• first time traveling with TSA pre check (which is totally worth it if the lines are open?)
• first time flying with my bike and the excitement that accompanies that adventure
• first time racing with my coach there doing his coaching thing (& not racing himself)
• first "ironman branded" 70.3
• first time racing a former student (who crushed me of course!) 
• first time I felt so sick during the race I was almost in tears  :(
  

Bike parts all in their places after the flight!

Bike case rented from Sports Basement.

Here are my favorite stories about these firsts and the entire event weekend!
 

Livin' large: bike cases come out on the regular carousel in Vegas (baby Vegas)!

Assembled! Mug says it all!

One you get the hang of it, disassembling some of your bike to fit it into a travel case is not a big deal.  I made some comical mistakes (to be expected - who needs straight handlebars?!?) and showed off some new wrestling moves to remove the pedals after the race, but I managed to do it all!  I cannot take complete credit though - I did have a little help on both ends:  Larry advised on the packing and Coach Jim checked my assembly work.  Many thanks for all the tips!  I rented a Thule box from Sports Basement for a week ($45 - decent deal!) and they gave me a few accessories to help with the packing too.  Unfortunately it flies as oversize luggage, but I was on Southwest, so the fees were much more reasonable than other airlines.  (You can get some really cool cases that pack your bike in normal sized bags - check out the armored hen house, for example).

Race turtle helping with gear bags

1st Branded Half: more than half the hoopla as a full branded race
Yes this was my first "ironman 70.3" race.  I have raced the 70.3 distance, but never one run by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) (ie, Ironman the company).  The branded 70.3 had a lot of the same hoopla you would find at a full distance IM event - similar check in, gear bags (1 for morning clothes, 1 for bike gear, 1 for run gear), people with m-dot tattoos... After helping them sort out the swim cap color for my wave*, I quickly exited the athlete village according to my usual plan at these types of events.  I knew I would spend plenty of time here for gear check and racing over the next few days, so spending time with family sounded a lot better than hanging out at the race village.

so many bags... the post-race mess

These WTC folks do know how to organize a race, and they have everything worked out from check in to the post race massage.  Having been through a few other events like this was a huge help in terms of pre-race & race-day anxiety.  I will be the first to admit I have been intimidated by the entire check in / pre-race shenanigans that goes on at these events.  This was the first time I genuinely felt comfortable through all the check ins, gear drop (at 2 separate transitions), and pre-race prep.  It was also the first time I looked calm enough that a few fellow athletes asked me a few questions, and I helped settle some nerves about their first 70.3!  

nice view from T1

This race confirmed that my coach was totally right (of course!) to have me do a bunch of shorter races leading up to my 2014 goal race, IM CdA.  The more of these you do, the more confident and comfortable you become.  Seriously - take a look at the pros at these events - cool as cucumbers through all the pre-race stuff.  These long tris are not the most beginner friendly experiences, so I highly recommend checking one out as a spectator or volunteer prior to racing if you can.  Most people racing are really cool and will help you if you need anything - always ask if you need advice or help!  It is awesome to have a race buddy / coach there for support too if possible.  Sometimes you need someone to remind you to ignore the loud mouths around you (don't worry about their IM conquest stories, flashy gear & general douche-baggery) and that you belong there as much as they do!  This is where mantras help too - they can be used through the entire process not just during the race!

  (*thought I was about to have another accidental registered bandit race when I was handed a blank light blue cap & all the "official" signs had my wave wearing a different color cap?).

all smiles having the correct cap!

team cheers from my cap!

If your belly is unhappy before a race...racing will not make you feel better
The week leading up to the race, I was having some GI issues, that I hoped would leave my system by Sunday.  No such luck, so race day was somewhat of a pain in the a$$ (literally).
I knew the day was going to be rough when I had already made multiple trips to the restroom, and I hadn't left the house yet.  I still needed to drive to the finish line parking area, walk to find a shuttle, ride a bus for 45minutes to T1, walk about 1/4 mile down a hill in the dark, get my body marking on, get my bike gear setup, wrangle my wetsuit on, ...and then propel myself 70.3 miles in the desert.  A handful of Tums later... and off I went!!!

distant view of T1 from where the shuttle dropped us off...glad I remembered the head lamp for a change!

I managed to get all the way to the start without any GI issues (even had a banana on the bus).  I was thrilled! Felt good after hanging out with my coach and started the murky Lake Mead swim no problem... The first sign of discomfort came about 3/4 way through the swim... Oh no, here we go... What is the proper race etiquette for getting sick during the swim?  Luckily as I slowed down the belly felt better because I seriously didn't know what to do.  I know what to do if you vomit while scuba diving but I wasn't sure it was helpful for swimming in a crowd?

view from T1 toward the bike course

Next up the bike...where things went from ok... to UH OH somewhere around mile 25.  I started out riding fine and according to the race plan.  I was eating and drinking and riding in a controlled effort up to mile 15 where the aid station was... missing...then it came up a few mikes later... and I was back on track. Then I dropped my chain once, got yelled at by some DB (who was riding close to another dude who made sure clarified that he was not the one yelling - pretty funny), and started not feeling so hot (although by this time it certainly was hot out).  I kept eating & drinking as planned and was maintaining a decent pace, until I started feeling really sick at the turn around where I was supposed to pick up the pace.  That rumble in my gut I felt during the swim was back with a vengeance, and I could no longer eat or drink anything without feeling like I was going to decorate the course with my stomach contents.  The tums I packed were not helping either.  The rest of me actually felt pretty good, but I was now faced with one of the 2 things I know that bring my body to a screeching halt no matter what I am doing: stomach issues (other is a migraine headache).  Although I have plenty experience throwing up during sporting events, I knew I probably didn't have the bike handling skills to do this while riding.  I also really didn't want to end up alone in the desert puking my guts out in the hot sun.  I somehow got myself to the mile 40 aid station in a hunched over haze and decided I needed an intervention.  No way was I quitting, but I was almost in tears because I felt so horribly.

So, I did what any triathlete would do... and stuffed my face with bananas, drenched myself with water, drank my gu brew, and got back out there.  I saw a teammate at that aid station which helped me tremendously, too!   

A few more hills and I made it to T2... I still couldn't eat anything but managed to drink a little more GU Brew.  How the heck was I going to run?!?  The run was a hilly 3 lap course where you headed downhill from T2 about a mile, then uphill for 2.5ish, then back down toward T2 to repeat two more times.  

I ran really conservatively (ie, snail pace) at first.  My focus was to fuel up and hydrate as much as I could especially on lap 1, because I knew I had drained all my fuel on that ride.  I made some friends as usual - a chem post doc from Texas kept me going as we chatted a little about science to kept our minds off our guts for a while!  One of my transition setup friends also recognized me, and I ran with her a while which was great too!  Any and all cheers were most welcome and running with other athletes definitely keeps you moving forward during any race!  Thanks, ladies! 

I also made quite a few people laugh as they saw me grab several cups at a time and made jokes about the buffet I was helping myself to (coke, ice (for hat/clothes) water, pretzels/ banana).  Buffets are a Vegas treat of course!  After 2 laps I was actually able to run faster, so after all this  insanity, I actually ran my fastest on lap 3.  Better late than never!  Good evidence that proper fueling is certainly the 4th, and possibly the most important, discipline in triathlon!

Other awesome run memories included shouting at a former LMC student that he was doing great (and schooling me on triathlon of course!), high fiving a teammate each lap, cheering for a fellow Blazeman Warrior out there rocking the #179, and giving high fives/updates to my coach who was out there in the crazy hot sun cheering for us!  I also was honored to Blazeman roll across that finish line after such a tough day!  After the race it was great to talk science with a UC Davis grad student in the food tent (yay science!) and chat with/cheer for teammates and their families too.  

a sparkly medal... only in Vegas!

My RED team is awesome
One thing that blew me away from this entire experience was how great my team is.  I don't know many people from Red Performance Multisport (RPM) since I live in Nor Cal and many of them are in SoCal, but everyone I have met through races or social media has been great.  Such a supportive group and I have been really happy all year to be part of a team of such excellent people!  Here are a few things that stood out as being really awesome at Silverman:
No one judged you based on speed or ability or how many of these events you have done or not done before - or if your bike accidentally flew out of the truck & landed in the fast lane on the way to the race (true story).  This bunch of really friendly athletes just showed up to race together, hang out, cheer each other on, and congratulate each other no matter how fast, slow or sick you were.  Really good people who were all happy to be part of the same team.  One athlete (Robert) and I kept crossing paths on the run and the high fives were a huge morale boost!  The family member fans who cheered for us were fantastic (awesome cheers, Julia!!!)!  Thanks so much!!!  I can't wait to race with this group again - always a really positive experience with the RPM crowd!

The coaches were fully supportive all weekend too.  I try to come to as many RPM events as I can because I genuinely appreciate the team experience they are trying to build.  In an individual sport like triathlon it is hard to get a true team going and Coach Jim and Coach Bob are on to something really good here.  Plus they really know what they are doing as coaches - I highly recommend them both!

race morning view from T1

I definitely want to give a shout out to my coach (Coach Jim) for being such a good ambassador for the sport.  He is a pro triathlete (so being a professional is his job), but not all pros have the same dedication to the sport.  Coach Jim did everything from cooking us a pre-race dinner for our Saturday meeting to pumping up my tires and checking my (self assembled) bike on race day.  Seriously - how many pros do you know who would go to transition, in the dark, when they were not racing, and pump up their athlete's tires?!?  I offered to do it myself, but he insisted!  He also was out there on the same run course corner in the blazing hot sun the entire time we were racing.  Getting high fives, race tips, and smiles made a huge difference, especially in the rough condition I was in at that point.  After all the exceptional support I received, I felt really bad I didn't perform better out there on the course.  At least my last lap on the run course was decent and made coach smile! :)
Overall being part of the team for the weekend was truly awesome! Thanks so much RPM!


 


Since every race is a learning opportunity... Here are my top

Lessons From the Race

* Traveling with a bike is totally do-able.  Not the most convenient way to travel but with practice I am sure this gets easier.

* Have a backup to your backup nutrition plan for when your gut revolts.  This may seem excessive until you need it.  Tums won't help. Bananas are your friend.  (learned that one previously - also highlighted as survival technique on the excellent podcast Jim and the Other Guy)
 
* Ice in your sports bra keeps your core body temp down as everything else heats up.  This really works - and lots of us were doing this.  Ice in your shorts / hat / random garments - all good.
 
* Smile regardless of how the day is going - it will make you and those around you feel better!
 
* Have something to keep you going when your race plan derails - sometimes you may need to adjust your goal, and that is ok!  There are always more races...
 
* Thank everyone who helped you along the way and gave you the opportunity to have a race day.  Thanks to my family for the race weekend support and for being understanding when I wanted to head to Vegas with my favorite spandex outfit (my RPM race kit of course!).

Lake Mead a little low on water