I am excited to have finished the 2009, 2010, and 2014 Lake Placid Ironman, 2016 Ironman Mont Tremblant, the New Jersey Marathon, Rock n Roll Arizona and San Antonio Marathons, ING NYC Marathon, Mohawk Hudson Marathon, and the Vermont City Marathon. I have also run lots of other running races and several 70.3 races. I love racing and triathlons. This is a blog about training and racing!
About Me
- Kelly
- I am a biology teacher by day but a crazy triathlete and runner at all other times.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
First week in Keene Valley
What fun it has been to be in Keene Valley. It is my place to de-stress, sleep, and get rid of the end of the school year cold!!! I am finally feeling like myself again after suffering from that horrible sinus infection for about 3 weeks. I am finally feeling strong again which is helping my confidence when it comes to Ironman. It has been great training on the Ironman course. I actually did my 3 hour run on the run course today and found out that 1) it will be lonely on River Road at night and 2) the hill coming back into town is torture, it is short but steep and brutal. This may be a walking hill to save the legs for the later portions of the marathon. Only 1 more long run and 2 more long bikes until I start to taper. 24 days!!! I can almost hear it "Kelly Sullivan, you are an Ironman"!!!!! Oh, the tears that come to my eyes when I think about it.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Tupper Lake Tinman 2009
I am super excited about my race experience at Tupper Lake this year. Last year, this race was my key race and this year since I am in training for IM Lake Placid I was excited to see how my training would allow me to do in the half distance. Last year I had tapered for this race where this year I had a full workout week last week and still did really well. I was so excited by my finish yesterday.
I started my preparation the day before the race when I packed everything up and made my PB&J sandwhiches and Infinit nutrition and then let it go. We even put the bikes on the race the day before the race. This way the only things that had to be done the morning of the race was getting out of bed, getting dressed, eating breakfast, and hitting the bathroom. I then took a bath where I visualized the entire race from start to finish envisioning my pacing, my mental state, and all of the strategies that will be used during the race. I felt very confident in this race before it ever started. That was a first!
First, I slept really well the night before the race and even fell asleep in the car ride to Tupper Lake (about an hour drive). That was a first for me ever that I got a full night sleep before a race - with everything packed up and ready to go the day before the race I think it just made me so much more relaxed. Second, it was raining when we woke up and it continued until I got off of the bike. Third, the sun came out during the run. Wow, that is reminiscent of last year when I fried and looked like a lobster after the race. This year, we were prepared with sunscreen even though I know know that I can't reach the middle of my back and didn't think about my armpit area (yes, some burn but not much).
The swim was ok. I struggle in the swim usually keeping my cool but I tried to find a strategy that worked for me envisioning it just being me, the bouys, and the water and sometimes seeing my cousin Kate's face telling me how well I was going to do. It seemed to work. I had someone else from my heat that was swimming the same pace as I was and breathing in the opposite direction as I was so I was focusing on her the entire time just to keep calm. (I don't think she knew she was my calming factor but I thank her for that anyway.) I swam a 44 min 1.2 mile - this was 7 minutes faster than last year. I was really excited seeing that time exiting the water and carried that excitement through transition onto the bike.
Transition went pretty well. I had an orange and put on sunscreen which wouldn't rub in but I still put it on, it was raining too and I still put it on (4 hours on a bike is a long time if the sun comes out and you don't have sunscreen on). I found out about 10 miles into the bike that my timing chip had stayed in my wetsuit. I wasn't too concerned as all I needed to do was put it back on after I got back and wear it during the run to get a finishing time.
The bike was much easier than last year even though I did go out too fast - the hills seemed really easy this time after training on the LP IM course. It was raining most of the way so everyone was covered in road spray so I spent a good amount of time eating road gook when I drank out of my bottles. My poor bike was so disgusting by the end of the ride that it was making crunching sounds because of all of the road grime working its way into the gears. Yuck. I was making sure my nutrition was going well the entire time - I even ate a few bananas because I was worried about cramping. Infinit nutrition is fabulous and kept me feeling great for most of the bike and run. I rode the 56 miles in 3 hours 47 minutes. This was 4 minutes faster than the bike last year. I wish I was faster on the bike as this is my area of concern when it comes to Ironman. I am hoping that the next 4 weeks of biking on the hills of the Adirondacks will make me stronger for Ironman and make me faster on the course.
I learned last year that if you are in transition and need to use the porta poty, do it because otherwise somebody will see you peeing in the woods. So, I used the jon and still had a t2 time of only 3min 33 sec. T2 was actually pretty quick and I hear my dad has video of me during this time. I haven't seen it but he though I was leaving transition but I was entering the porta potty.
The run started out really well. I ran the hills at the beginning which I didn't run last year. My legs felt really great. The mile markers were off since my last 1.1 miles registered at 3 min 3 secs, this actually made me feel like I was going much slower than I actually was which may have made me go faster. (Or if you want to look at it in a different way, I may be the fastest woman on the earth in the mile) I walked through the water stations after mile 8 because I was starting to feel dehydrated - but my stomach was just sloshing around even though I really wanted more water. I don't tolerate gels and gatorade well so I was sustaining myself at this point on oranges and water and hoped that I got enough solid nutrition on the bike with oranges, bananas, infinit (the only thing that doesn't kill my stomach), and PB&J. This guy ended up running with me from mile 6 to the end - funny though, he could have been going faster but decided to run with me. He talked to me a lot and that allowed me to be distracted enough from the pain that I just kept trucking, plus I was thinking, why is this man running with me and chatting like he has known me for years. I was not much of a chatterbox though, he did most of the talking, for those of you who know me, this is unusual. It was interesting. I did the half in 2 hours 31 minutes (I did the half last year in 2 hours 41 min). I was very happy with this time. It was actually only 6 minutes slower than the Lake Placid 1/2 marathon 2 weeks ago. I am really excited about this time. My legs felt good and my mind was in a good place during the run so I am very happy with this performance.
Total time was a 7 hour 11 min race. That is a full 20 minutes faster than last year (not including my bogus drafting penalty from last year which I am still bitter about). I am so excited. I just hope Ironman can treat me as well. I am really concerned about the bike portion of Lake Placid Ironman but I keep telling myself that my legs will be fresh instead of beat up and tired when I start IM because of a taper and that everything will be ok. I really had a great time at Tupper though and hope that that high of doing well will keep me going through the next 4 weeks of training.
I started my preparation the day before the race when I packed everything up and made my PB&J sandwhiches and Infinit nutrition and then let it go. We even put the bikes on the race the day before the race. This way the only things that had to be done the morning of the race was getting out of bed, getting dressed, eating breakfast, and hitting the bathroom. I then took a bath where I visualized the entire race from start to finish envisioning my pacing, my mental state, and all of the strategies that will be used during the race. I felt very confident in this race before it ever started. That was a first!
First, I slept really well the night before the race and even fell asleep in the car ride to Tupper Lake (about an hour drive). That was a first for me ever that I got a full night sleep before a race - with everything packed up and ready to go the day before the race I think it just made me so much more relaxed. Second, it was raining when we woke up and it continued until I got off of the bike. Third, the sun came out during the run. Wow, that is reminiscent of last year when I fried and looked like a lobster after the race. This year, we were prepared with sunscreen even though I know know that I can't reach the middle of my back and didn't think about my armpit area (yes, some burn but not much).
The swim was ok. I struggle in the swim usually keeping my cool but I tried to find a strategy that worked for me envisioning it just being me, the bouys, and the water and sometimes seeing my cousin Kate's face telling me how well I was going to do. It seemed to work. I had someone else from my heat that was swimming the same pace as I was and breathing in the opposite direction as I was so I was focusing on her the entire time just to keep calm. (I don't think she knew she was my calming factor but I thank her for that anyway.) I swam a 44 min 1.2 mile - this was 7 minutes faster than last year. I was really excited seeing that time exiting the water and carried that excitement through transition onto the bike.
Transition went pretty well. I had an orange and put on sunscreen which wouldn't rub in but I still put it on, it was raining too and I still put it on (4 hours on a bike is a long time if the sun comes out and you don't have sunscreen on). I found out about 10 miles into the bike that my timing chip had stayed in my wetsuit. I wasn't too concerned as all I needed to do was put it back on after I got back and wear it during the run to get a finishing time.
The bike was much easier than last year even though I did go out too fast - the hills seemed really easy this time after training on the LP IM course. It was raining most of the way so everyone was covered in road spray so I spent a good amount of time eating road gook when I drank out of my bottles. My poor bike was so disgusting by the end of the ride that it was making crunching sounds because of all of the road grime working its way into the gears. Yuck. I was making sure my nutrition was going well the entire time - I even ate a few bananas because I was worried about cramping. Infinit nutrition is fabulous and kept me feeling great for most of the bike and run. I rode the 56 miles in 3 hours 47 minutes. This was 4 minutes faster than the bike last year. I wish I was faster on the bike as this is my area of concern when it comes to Ironman. I am hoping that the next 4 weeks of biking on the hills of the Adirondacks will make me stronger for Ironman and make me faster on the course.
I learned last year that if you are in transition and need to use the porta poty, do it because otherwise somebody will see you peeing in the woods. So, I used the jon and still had a t2 time of only 3min 33 sec. T2 was actually pretty quick and I hear my dad has video of me during this time. I haven't seen it but he though I was leaving transition but I was entering the porta potty.
The run started out really well. I ran the hills at the beginning which I didn't run last year. My legs felt really great. The mile markers were off since my last 1.1 miles registered at 3 min 3 secs, this actually made me feel like I was going much slower than I actually was which may have made me go faster. (Or if you want to look at it in a different way, I may be the fastest woman on the earth in the mile) I walked through the water stations after mile 8 because I was starting to feel dehydrated - but my stomach was just sloshing around even though I really wanted more water. I don't tolerate gels and gatorade well so I was sustaining myself at this point on oranges and water and hoped that I got enough solid nutrition on the bike with oranges, bananas, infinit (the only thing that doesn't kill my stomach), and PB&J. This guy ended up running with me from mile 6 to the end - funny though, he could have been going faster but decided to run with me. He talked to me a lot and that allowed me to be distracted enough from the pain that I just kept trucking, plus I was thinking, why is this man running with me and chatting like he has known me for years. I was not much of a chatterbox though, he did most of the talking, for those of you who know me, this is unusual. It was interesting. I did the half in 2 hours 31 minutes (I did the half last year in 2 hours 41 min). I was very happy with this time. It was actually only 6 minutes slower than the Lake Placid 1/2 marathon 2 weeks ago. I am really excited about this time. My legs felt good and my mind was in a good place during the run so I am very happy with this performance.
Total time was a 7 hour 11 min race. That is a full 20 minutes faster than last year (not including my bogus drafting penalty from last year which I am still bitter about). I am so excited. I just hope Ironman can treat me as well. I am really concerned about the bike portion of Lake Placid Ironman but I keep telling myself that my legs will be fresh instead of beat up and tired when I start IM because of a taper and that everything will be ok. I really had a great time at Tupper though and hope that that high of doing well will keep me going through the next 4 weeks of training.
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