New plan, new title

I have changed the name of my blog, for now.  Not sure what I want to name it.  I should come up with something a bit more catchy, but for now I will leave it as is.

There are some things I'd like to change about what happened in New Hampshire.  One thing is more training.  The next thing is a better plan!  & finally a better bike.  I have a road bike & I know it's not properly fitted to me.  I know that it's not super fast & I don't feel that confident on it either.  I'm not looking to get into a $5,000 Cervelo, although if someone was to buy me one or if it fell off the back of the truck, I certainly wouldn't turn it down, but I am sure that's not going to happen.

For now, I have to just deal with the disappointment of not finishing & be happy that I even got as far as I did.  Easier said than done.  I know that if I come back next year, or move on to another 70.3, I will be successful.  It was a big learning experience.

I do still have my sights set on Alcatraz.  I am wondering how difficult it will be to actually get a lottery spot.  I believe the lottery opens in December, so I am going to keep my eyes open for that to happen.  If I do get in, I'm going to have to focus on the swim.   1.5 miles in the San Francisco Bay is probably like 3 miles anywhere else.  I will have to seriously figure out a swim plan.  Maybe I should consult with people in the know!  Now all I have to do is figure out who those people are!  Kidding.  I know I can ask a few friends who have done it for some advice.

On to the next adventure.  Trying to escape!  From the Rock!!!  Stay tuned peeps!

63 Miles

Well, it's over.  All of that training & it came down to 7 hours & 9 minutes.  The hardest part for me to accept is that I did not finish.  I don't even know where I should start so I guess I will get right down to it.  After a long 8 hour drive to New Hampshire, we finally arrived at the hotel on Friday night.  It was chilly, 57 degrees!  I couldn't believe it.  When I left New Jersey it was 95.  Lets just say I prefer the latter.  After a decent night's sleep we got up & went in search of food.  & I am not joking when I say search.

New Hampshire definitely is not New Jersey & there aren't diners & eateries as far as the eye can see.  We decided that if we headed up towards Ellacoya State Park (the location of the triathlon) we'd find something.  We did come across Donna Jeans's Diner.  It was a quaint place that served champagne & peach  schnapps for breakfast.  Interesting.  It was packed & we had to wait for clean knives, they were all in the dishwasher.  Again, not at all like home.  Someone would have definitely gotten smacked in a NJ diner if silverware was not readily available.  But, I had to remind myself that we were no longer in Kansas & if I clicked my heals together, oh wait.....that wasn't going to help this time.  I should have know by the sign in the parking lot, that it was a sign that things would be amiss.

After our breakfast with the locals, we ventured over to pick up my race packet, then back to the hotel to get my bike & then back yet again to drop off my bike at the transition area.  In larger races, it is customary to rack your bike the night before so as to make getting to the race easier then next morning.  Makes sense.  Here's my lonely bike, yes we were like the 1st people to arrive.

After finding a good place to eat (thankfully) & stuffing myself with some Prime Rib (not the dinner of champions, but hey it's my fave!) we got to bed early.  

Early Sunday morning I woke up & we were off.  Mike was a smarty & found a place that was charging $20 to park, avoiding the 25 minute ride to the drop off area.  Go Mike!  I went in & started to get ready.  Luckily at dinner the night before I met Mark from Monmouth Beach (love Jersey locals!) & he persuaded me to definitely wear my wetsuit.  OK, wet seal outfit on & I am ready.  & yes, here is the one & only time you will see me (unless you are up at 7 am on a race day) in this awful outfit.  Oh the above pic is of me applying wetsuit glide, yeah I didn't put enough on.  Ouch, rash!

As I waited, I started to get nervous.  Not with the swim, but with what was to come after that.  Then I realized that my wave was the last wave.  That was troubling to me, as I had always experienced starting in the middle of the pack.  I knew the cutoff times & I knew that if I had started in the middle, it would give me about an extra hour.  In the race packet, I read over & over that 8 1/2 hours was the cutoff.  I knew that I could make it, but I wanted that extra cushion.

I think this is a pic of me coming out of the water & then taking off on the bike.  OK, to get down to the nitty gritty & enough about the interesting people, places & foods of NH, I started out ok.  Got in the water & did my thing.  It was weird though, you could see the bottom!  You could see people swimming around you, you could see, oh my god!  A fish!  Eek.  Swimming in the Navesink, or in the ocean is completely different than swimming in some nice clean lake.  Seriously people, murky is better.  No one wants to see fish or the bottom, it's very unnerving.  The water was warm & the swim went ok, but my stupid Garmin watch, which I still haven't figured out, said 5.68 miles when I got out of the water.  Wait, what?  5 miles?  Not possible.  So for the entire race I had to keep subtracting 5.68 miles from my overall mileage, ugh annoying.  I get out of the water, happy to see that I was ahead of many people, including 2 or 3 stragglers from previous swim waves.  I get my bike & off I go.  

Another major difference between NJ & NH......not at sea level.  Lake Winnipesaukee is in the mountains & there aren't many mountains to train on here in the Garden State.  As soon as I get out of Ellacoya State Park I notice my bike computer is gone.  Shit!  It was on my bike, but must not have been clipped in.  Now I won't know how fast I am going or have an accurate mileage count.   Too late to turn back, I don't think I could have even if I wanted to.  As I leave the park I see tons of things littering the road, gatorade bottles, gels, a bike bag, that I almost picked up because I felt bad for the person that lost it, but I look up & see hills.  Time to move.  

The bike part was the hardest, which I should kick myself for always saying oh the bike does all the work.  Yeah, on the flat roads of NJ it does, but on the hills, you & your fat ass have to do all the work.  At about mile 5 I started to have doubts, the hills were getting worse & then it started to rain.  Can we all say a collective F.U. at this point?  Thank you.  

I pressed on & started to feel better at the first aid station.  Ah green gatorade!  Now I personally hate green gatorade, but it was like drinking Dom Perignon, delicious.  I started to feel better around mile 12-15, but then the rain & wind was starting to take its toll.  I was freezing & my skin was icy.  Not good.  I kept trying to touch my shoulders to see if they were cold, nope.  So my core was ok, only my arms were cold.  My legs were burning at this point, so I knew they weren't cold & I pressed on.  I don't even know where I was at this point.  I did pass NH Motor Speedway, which I think is in Loudon, but I could have been in Ohio at this point.  At least going out I could get a view of what the way back would look like.  There were a lot of points where I saw other bikers whizzing past me at what seemed like 100 mph.  Even if I could get up that speed, there was no way I'd be able to go that fast, I was too nervous to maintain that speed.  At the turn around point I was really happy to had made it, but I started to worry, as my knee really began to burn.

On the way back I saw only 2 other bikers & another two broken down on the road.  Holy crap, could I really be one of the last bikers?  I think I was, but I continued on.  At one point the pace car was behind me to give me my cutoff time.  I knew it was 5 1/2 hours.  I was going to make it.  When I pulled into the transition area, I actually found my bike computer, smashed to pieces, but I picked it up because it was mine & I wanted it back.

At this point I was on the fence about the run.  My knee was screaming, but at this point, I wasn't quitting.  I was kinda walking/jogging out of the transition area & off on the run.  It wasn't easy.  It wasn't that I was tired, it's just that my knees were not feeling well & I really had to go to the bathroom.  But of course, I have a thing about going in a port-o-potty, so I kept running.  I was slow, but I had made it to the turn around point at about an hour & 15 minutes & was on my way back.  At mile 5, I was stopped.  I seriously couldn't believe it.  The race official said the time was cutoff at 3 hours & 20 minutes.  Um...I had only been running for about an hour & a half.  The race rules said that the cutoff time was 8 1/2 hours from the last swim wave......which puzzled me, as my wave was the last wave & my time was 7 hours & 9 minutes.  So 7 miles short of the finish, I had to get in the race car & go end my run.

I have never been so disappointed.  If I was thinking correctly, I would have refused to get into the car & told them I'd continue at my own risk, but I didn't know if I could...so I didn't.  It wasn't the day I wanted, nor was it the finish that I was looking for & lets just say I wasn't very gracious about the whole thing.  But for everyone that knows me, I'm not a quitter & I don't like accepting less than finishing what I started.

I can't say that I ever want to go back to New Hampshire.  It wasn't the best race for me & I don't want to go back until I'm ready.  I think I need to regroup & seriously think of a good race schedule for 2011 & reconsider what went wrong, even though I really feel I wasn't the reason this time.

Maybe I am being too harsh on myself.  I did hear a few other gripes & complaints about the management of the race, but I can only think that 63 miles is only 10% short of my goal.  90% is still something to be proud of.  2 years ago I could even run a 1/4 of a mile in Spring Lake.  I guess I have come a long way.

T minus 11 hours

Yes, in less than 11 hours my swim wave starts.  What a day it's been!  But lets start with the trip up here.

Never being to New Hampshire before in my life, except maybe once or twice driving through (which really doesn't count) it was a very long long trip up here.  We left around 2:30 & pulled into the hotel at 10:15.  Thanks Mapquest for the wacky directions, but we also did have GPS, which everyone knows I hate, but it did keep us occupied & laughing since we didn't really want to follow the voice on the TomTom.  I thought at any moment she would ask us if we had any interest in following her directions & boot us out of the truck.

After a few stops, yes one at McDonald's - hey I had chicken nuggets, not a Big Mac!  Check out the pic of what we saw in New Haven, CT.  Let me tell you people, Jersey is everywhere!

One more stop at the drive-thru Starbucks (thank God) in Springfield, MA & we were back on the road.  Sad to say that we did not spot any moose along the way, or any wildlife for that matter, lame!  As we got to New Hampshire we found a Dunkin Donuts, yes we are eating like crap the whole way up here, but I'm going to burn it all off tomorrow, right?  Ah, no.  (Warning, this is not the 70.3 Ironman diet people!)  I get out of the car & I immediately freeze up.  When I left New Jersey, it was 95 degrees on the trusty truck thermometer.  When I opened the door in New Hampshire, lets just say it was almost 40 degrees cooler.  I felt like I was in Canada with a tank top on!  Freezing!

Back in the car we realize we are almost to the hotel, and almost out of gas we roll into Meredith & find our hotel.  Very cute & quite charming & so not New Jersey as judging by this photo:

How nice is that?  Yeah, this store wouldn't last 2 minutes in NJ!  So after a good night's sleep we make our way into town to find toothpaste, yes it was the one thing we forgot, postcards, lottery tickets & breakfast.  We have our priorities you know!  After collecting all of the above we find ourself a diner  without any clean knives (hey we got there in between dishwasher loads), then make our way over to Ellacoya Park to get my race packet.  After a few wrong places we were directed to the pick up spot, just 10 short miles away.  Here I am with my number.

& as long as I finish, I think I'm going to be ok!  We've seen a bunch of people from New Jersey (yay!) 2 from Monmouth Beach & 1 from Belford, so it's nice to be amongst my peeps!  You can track me on race day (I will be the slow moving blip) on www.ironman.com .  Hopefully, if I make it to the finish, I'll have enough in me to blog all about it tomorrow.  Fingers crossed!!!!!!!!!

Thanks everyone for all the texts, facebook posts & well wishes this week.  I will be thinking about you all as I crawl across the finish line, which by the way, I read in the rules is perfect legal & counts!  

Packed & ready to go!

OK I've packed just about everything I could think of into 2 suitcases & I am getting excited!  That's probably why I am awake at 12:15 when I should be asleep!  I hope I am not forgetting anything either.  I almost forgot my goggles.  Oh that would have been a disaster.  But there is a big triathlon festival on Friday & Saturday so I am sure that if I did forget anything, I can pick something up there.

I hope to remember to blog about my adventures this weekend.  I packed my camera as well & I am hoping to get some good pics & maybe even one of me crawling across the finish line.  :)

After this weekend the game changes.  On September 26th, I'm going to be running in the Tunnel to Towers run in NYC.  This is my second year & it is for an excellent cause.  Here's the link to my fundraising page http://www.active.com/donate/SSFDNYCHILDRENSFDTN/jennwoods2010 .  Any contribution (yes I even had people give $1 last year) is greatly appreciated.  A portion of the donations went to this great charity.  Check it out - it's really a heartwarming story, nice to know there are people that really want to make a difference http://www.buildinghomesforheroes.com/hero-stories/brendan-marrocco.htm .

In addition to that run, I am looking forward to my hometown triathlon in October.  Should be a great time & I won't have to worry about parking or getting up super early! http://raceforum.com/redbank/

See you in New Hampshire this weekend!  Thanks to everyone for all the support & great words of encouragement!

Almost There

Wow, this week has flown by!  I should be packing right now, but why not waste some more time blogging & surfing the web.  I am unsure if I have trained hard enough, or if I am ready, but there's no turning back now.  I have to pack up all my things & hope that I don't forget anything.  We are leaving Friday afternoon, so hopefully we will get to New Hampshire & not be exhausted.

I know that I have to pack all my bike stuff, my wetsuit & all my running things.  I'm hoping that I don't leave anything behind, but it will be a big weekend full of triathlon festival at Timberman, so I'm sure if I forgot anything, I can always get something there.  Yes, I know, never try something new the day of the race, but what can you do if you leave stuff behind?

I have been emailing my friends asking them for advice, last minute tips, etc.  Everyone seems to have the same advice - take it one mile at a time.  OK!  I will try my hardest to remember that when I am staring at the lake waiting to start the race.

The other night I did my last mile swim.  At first my arms were so heavy & I thought to myself, how am I going to do this with 500 other people kicking & slapping me as I try to swim next week?  But then after the first 400 meters I settled down & didn't feel so uneasy any longer.  My big decision on the swim is do I wear the wetsuit or not.  I remember my friend Doug's wife telling me that she always wore her wetsuit, regardless of the race.  I may just heed her advice.  & as Doug always says, you can always flip over & float!  Now that's not my plan, but it's easier when you hear advice like that....you don't always have to take yourself so seriously!

I was nervous like this before the 10 mile race in Philly & I did that, so I am sure I can do this.  But after next week, I'm going to have to come up with a new blog name.  Perhaps something Alcatraz inspired?

Stick around, I am hoping to blog this weekend all about the trip & of course the big race!  Stay tuned!

10 days left

Is it possible that 8 months has turned into only 10 days?  It just can't be!  This week I received my information packet for Timerman.  I have to read through it.  I think it's pretty straightforward, tells you where to pick up your stuff, etc.  I have to get one good last run in prior to heading up to New Hampshire.  It's already Wednesday & I know I shouldn't do a lot of hard training next week.

I am wondering if I am ready.  I have been trying new training workouts & I am not sure if that is such a smart idea this late in the game.  I went to the pool the other day & it was closed for cleaning.  & I was too lazy to make the trek south to Wall to swim down there, yeah I am lazy.  I would also like to get my bike tuned up early next week & hope that all goes well.  It looks like the trip will be at least 6 hours up there, which is about 3 hours longer than I'd like to travel, but it's too late to turn back now!

I am going to have to start thinking of a new blog title, as Training for the Timberman 70.3 is soon going to be outdated.  I started thinking this week about Alcatraz & wondering when I will start getting updates about the lottery.  What I do know is this, I will have to put in tons of hours in the pool between now & May.  Maybe I can make that my next focus.  Hmmmmmmmmmm.  Wish me luck because I am seriously going to need it!