The day I thought may never come again finally came and it
was AMAZING!!!!!
Toughman Lake Havasu was about so much more than my final
finish time. It was about beating demons. It was about proving to my body that
it CAN do what the mind tells it. It was about taking the first step into my “new”
training/racing life. The old me is gone. Her body and snarky sense of humor are still here
but the engine has been rebuilt. I needed this race to prove to myself that I
was going to be ok. Right up until the morning of I still had this tiny voice
in my head that said
“What if you fall
asleep on the bike? What if you can’t get out of bed for 4 days afterwards?
What if you blackout? What if the old me is still in here and just needs this
door to open to come back to life?”
Well, the old me didn’t come out to play and I feel positive
that she has gone away forever. I have worked so hard to make sure that I don’t
even look at food that isn’t ok for me to eat, take all the right combo of non-pharmaceutical
meds for my auto-immune and that I stay on top of my daily nutrition and sleep.
And it worked.
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| London Bridge |
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| London Bridge |
Here’s how it went down….
The week leading up to Toughman was the first week of many
Spring Breaks. As a Police/911 dispatcher in a vacation town that means we were
hammered nonstop for days with lots of OT. Mentally I went into my day off
Wednesday completely and utterly exhausted. I was supposed to meet Mary at 1pm
on Thursday to have Erlosung looked at because there has been a strange rubbing
sound coming from the front end. I decided that it was better to sleep as much
as possible and leave the next day instead. This may have been the smartest
decision ever. Anyone who knows me well knows I am famous for packing way too
much into my days and over committing myself to everyone (I have also been
working on this issue of mine for the last year).
So I left at 3:30 am on Friday morning to meet Kochi ( sorry
#bff this is your new nickname thanks to Samsung Voice). We had our pre-race
meeting, I cried (again) and I went to meet Kate while Mary went to work. The
ride to Havasu was so much freaking fun I thought my cheeks were going to burst
from laughing. I am SO SO SOOOO thankful that Kate wanted to come and Sherpa my
butt around. She made sure I ate and drank all day something I get really bad
at doing when I get nervous.
So…remember what I said about Spring Break? Yup… Lake Havasu was packed with the children
all partying and being obnoxious like. And I picked the best hotel ever!!! Well…if
you want to get away with being under age, drinking and smoking weed at the pool and in the hallways and smoking in
nonsmoking rooms and in the hallways and playing your music loud all night it
was the perfect hotel. I ALWAYS pick the worst hotels ever!! I even cancelled 2
other hotels I had reserved because I thought they would be scummy. Whoops.
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| Met up with the speedy Sarah Plant |
Packet pick up blah blah then we drive the course after we
do a short 30 minute shake out ride on our beautiful Dimonds. I heard a few
people in front of me at packet pick up ask if they could change to the sprint
race because they went out on the course and it is really hilly **eye roll**
but this made me think maybe it would be a good idea to have a heads up.
The morning of the race we packed the car and drove to the State
Park that the race was starting from. It was strange. I felt sick at one point
because we could see nothing. As in no cars, no tents, no lights. We finally
get to a large parking lot (still pitch black) and a group of riders comes
across. Ok…. I guess this is it. The transition area is pitch black. The only
lights were from a tent where they were doing body marking and timing chip pick
up. As the sun rose we tried to look at the swim course but there were no buoys.
They were just starting to put them out. I need to know what I am looking at
before I get into the water. Not having a clue what is coming or where the hell
to go on the swim is probably the scariest thing on earth for me. But that’s what
happened. Just before we hit the water the Race Director told us what to look
out for and where to go and we were off.
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| Swim PR |
The women’s field was REALLY small which was great for my
first race back. I had plenty of room to swim my race. IT FLEW BY!!! I don’t know
if the course was short but I had a huge PR. 30:27. Granted I trained for this
swim ~ I have done 2 IM’s and 2 HIM’s on zero swim training. I think I need a sleeveless
wetsuit for the next race. I am not really built like a typical girl and the shoulders/back always
seems really constricted. Note to self.
So I see Kate and ask her to tell Kochi I PR’ed the swim.
She runs towards T1 with me and I am off on the bike. The part and can hardly
wait for!!! But first….I have to get through this dirt trail..
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| I told B I mt biked |
The bike course for the half was an out and back with 2
neighborhoods off each loop. 1 at 3 miles in and the other at the turnaround outside
of town. The 1st neighborhood was hilly but pretty much what I had
expected from Lake Havasu. Long grinders 9 for me) and steep fun as hell
downhills. Now that I have a bike that doesn’t decide it wants to lock its
brakes up on me or that I have to disengage the brakes on it makes both so much
more fun. I really didn’t know what to expect from the day so I told myself I
would just take it easy on the1st loop and get a feel for how I feel. No point
in hammering then feeling like shit in 4 hours. I took full advantage of the
downhills and hammered the hell out of them. Max speed was 44.8 mph. SO FUN!!!
2nd loop I felt stronger than the 1st
loop. The 2nd time through both neighborhoods seemed faster and the
ride back into town was so fun! My average speed was still pretty low for me
but since it was only my 5th time riding this bike I am so ok with
that. I need more time in the saddle and know the power will come back. I hoped
to keep it to 4 hours and did it in 3:40.
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| I had so much fun!!! |
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| On to the run!!! |
Then the run. I have never really enjoyed the run on any
triathlon course. I am not really a runner. And this time round I had really
only been able to run the last 2 months because I pulled my calf twice. Once in
December and once in January. But I felt strong and good at the start. My goal
was to mentally tell myself that I was not able to stop. I had to run the whole
course. I could only stop at aid stations because I 100% had to keep my
nutrition spot on. This worked for the first 6 miles then it started crumbling.
I don’t know exactly what happened but my big toes were killing. Really sharp
painful stabbing pains. I started to walk more and more. BUT it’s ok because I
still felt good other than that. The heat wasn’t really getting to me and my
head space was good. Well… it was good until I saw Kate at mile 12. I may have
cried at that point but it was more because I knew it was over. There was only
1 mile left and the hardest start line I ever had to get too was now coming to
an end.
I finished with Kate running next to me cheering me on and
cried again. Every race from this point forward will be a little easier. This
was the hardest one to get to. This race took 2 ½ years to start. Lake Havasu
represented all the bullshit I had to deal with being punched in the face.
To quote the #bff “Heidi-1, 3 years of bullshit-0!”
One of the biggest things about this race was that I had
ZERO stomach distress. None!!! I never once had bloating or that gross feeling
that we get when food is just not being digested. For that I cannot thank my
Dietician enough. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done but getting
my gut back to a place where it works correctly will be life changing this
summer. I executed my race day nutrition plan flawlessly and it paid off.
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#ltglamourshot #thoseglassesthough
|
So now it’s onto my other goals for this year. IMAZ being
the end game in November but I have another goal for Provo UT in July. I have 4
months to prepare for it. I can hardly wait. Hard work does pay off. It isn’t
easy and never will be. That’s what makes getting to that light at the end of the
tunnel all that more meaningful.
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| BEST ICE BATH EVER!!!!! |
HUGE HUGE Thanks to Kate Lemke for coming with me. I t made
a huge difference having someone who gets it there. Second set of eyes for all
race day prep, laughs all weekend long with too many new hastags to ever remember
and just a good person with a huge heart. Thank you!! And of course the #bff aka Kochi Mary Knott. When I told her I was
going to wear “Finding Kona” on race day she said “Good! It will help you
remember who has your back!” She always has my back and believes in me even when
I am finding it hard to believe in myself. She has pushed me out of my comfort
zone at least once a week in training and I am so excited ( and scared) to see
what the next 8 months brings. I cannot be more grateful for the best life
partner ever, B. Having someone stand by you in really shitty times makes the
good times that much better. I am so lucky. The girl who was never going to get
married had someone smiling down on her when she decided to meet a complete
stranger in the woods to mountain bike that day in October 2006. <3 <3
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