December

I am feeling a little lost right now, again!! I know that after Ironman last year I felt this way but this year it is different - Ironman then NYC made me even less motivated to do anything. I am working out for only 30 min at a time which is fine but I really want to do more. My legs just aren't ready for this yet. I am back in the gym though and I love that! I think today will be the day to get back on my bike and stop punishing it for not cooperating on Ironman day! This should be fun!

NYC Marathon Race Report

Four years after my first application to NYC I finally got in. The more exciting part is that Joe and Ryan knew I was guarenteed entrance this year so they qualified to get in as well so we could ensure that all of us did it together! The only problem with NYC this year is that it was 3 months after the Ironman. The first month after Ironman I took very lightly when it comes to running. The next month and a 1/2 were slow but good and then I got strep throat and was done for two weeks. The longest run before NYC was 13.5 miles. Going in, I knew where I was when it comes to being in running shape.

We left on Friday to go to the Bronx. Saturday we woke up, had breakfast and then headed into lower Manhattan where we were going to spend the night. The expo was crowded and we didn't spend a lot of time there which now, looking back at it, I am a little disappointed that we didn't spend more time there. We did check in, get our bib numbers, and our shirts (they only had large and extra large left so I have a massive shirt that says NYC marathon on it). The slogan on a lot of the shirts was "Hell and back" which I wasn't thrilled with so we didn't buy anything else. We went to dinner in Chelsea and then went back to the hotel to settle in.

The morning of the race, Joe and Ryan were off at around 5 am and I didn't get up until 6:15am - ahh, I actually got to sleep in on race day! I got up, piled on my clothing since it was 38 degrees out, and then packed my bags so I could check out of the hotel. I left the hotel around 6:45 am to go to the Starbucks a few blocks from the hotel. The Starbucks employee came to the door and told me that the person who was opening the store wasn't there yet but she could give me what I wanted on the house since I had to go and run. Such a good start to the day - free breakfast - I kept saying it must have been a good omen for the day! I went to the Staten Island Ferry building in lower Manhattan early and found a mass of people trying to get onto the ferry. It was my first experience with the insane amount of people who would be doing the race - WOW!!

Statan Island - On the ferry, I got to see the Statue of Liberty as close as I have ever been to it. How beautiful!! Then I got to see the garbage on Statan Island - not so beautiful. We were then herded to the bus to get to the "starting villages". The villages made it even more clear how many people were doing this race. The first wave was already in the corrals and getting ready to take off when I got there. The speaker system was broadcasting in at least 6 different languages. They were telling me over and over that I had 10 minutes to check my clothes though. Oh no!!! Found the green village, took off my checked clothing and piled on the throwaways. I had my second breakfast here - a bagel and tea with honey. I got to watch the beginning of the 1st wave and was in awe of the spectacular size of this event. It was being covered by 4 different helicopters!!!

Again the loud speakers told me to go to my start area. I moved in the massive village area to my starting area, saw the second wave go off and realized how much fun this was - who cares that you have to run 26.2 miles - this is amazing!!! I ended up standing next to a woman from Saranac Lake who I have talked to in the past which was so random and then we were off!! The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was cold and windy but, even though it is one of the steepest bridges and there are thousands of people on it, it never felt super crowded or steep! I could hear the bridge moving with the thousands of feet that were traversing it. This was the beginning of my saying out loud how amazing this experience was. I was surrounded by people from all over the world taking pictures, being happy and excited!! How often do you get to be a part of something this big! By the way, the mounds of throwaway clothing was amazing as well.

Brooklyn!!! We were in Brooklyn forever! I saw some amazing things though - hundreds of people out to watch - excited about the people running the race. I saw neighborhood churches having their community breakfasts and lunches outside so that they could be together and cheer for the runners, a woman who was cooking brought the police officers food since they had been there for such a long time, and the police officers smiling, cheering and excited to be there instead of angry to be working this event. These miles felt great and adrenaline was flowing high.

Queens - I kept saying if I got to mile 14 I would have someone cheering for me. I didn't see him there but I did see someone with a sign saying "Go Kelly" and that drove me forward a little further. Only a short time in Queens but that was good since you want to take the run burough to burough and at this point, I am already in unchartered territory from my training. In Queens I figured out that I was running near Jared from Subway because all I could hear from the spectators saying was "Hey, its Jared from Subway - GO JARED!!"

Manhattan - going over the Queensboro Bridge I tripped over a joint in the bridge and fell down. My first reaction was "Get up before you get trampled". One of the people near me picked me up so quickly that I didn't know what happened. Then another person asked me if I was ok so I asked her "If my fall was graceful?" She said "definetly" so it was ok. Jared was still around at this point too. Running down the middle of 1st avenue was amazing! I had made a deal with myself that I had to run to mile 18 without walking and then I could walk/run or just walk depending on how I felt. I was noticing a change in my legs after mile 16 - again, I haven't run this far continuously during training. I was getting nutrition and water but not doing a great job of it. The worst was that the aid stations were so slippery with liquid on the ground, cups, and bananas and peels (yes, those are really slippery).

Bronx - wait, we went through the Bronx!!! This mile of the race was slow and I was in run/walk mode. Still hearing "Go Jared, Go!"

Manhattan - the last stretch and my body spoke up vehemently "NO"!!!!! All of a sudden my legs decided they were done. I walked an entire mile - and it was slow since I couldn't get my legs moving - 18 mins - ugh!! I lost Jared - no more "Go Jared, go". I felt bad. At mile 24 though, I decided I wanted to be done so I sucked it up and started running. I was looking for Joe in the crowd although that seems stupid in retrospect since he couldn't have gotten that far away from the finishing area easily. The finish was amazing. What a huge crowd. I was preparing for my finishing line picture, smiling, being happy, and not looking at my watch and when I crossed the finish line the man next to me puked!!! I started laughing because of the craziness of how I prepared for my photo for the first time ever since both of my Ironman finishing photos are of me pressing my watch and then he puked again. (He was immediately attended to by the American Red Cross people so it wasn't like I was just ignoring him.) Can't wait to see that finishing picture though. What an end to a very unique experience. Hopefully, I can do it again sometime (no puking man at the finish line next time though and more training please).

End note: Joe and Ryan did well (Joe 3 hrs 12 min 21 sec and Ryan 3 hrs 18 min). We all loved the experience. The next few days for me proved to be pretty painful - between the fall and the run I had pains in many places. I am super excited that my year of activity is over and I get to rest and recover completely. Having done 4 marathons, 2 Ironmans, 3 1/2 Ironmans, 2 century rides, and countless 1/2 marathons since April of 2007 has allowed me to feel like I need a break. Next year is my year of speed and I have placed a limit of 1.2 miles of swimming, 13.1 miles of running, and 56 miles of biking as my longest distances I am allowing my body to enduring at one time - no 1/2 Ironmans or Ironmans for me next year, only sprint and olympic distance triathlons for me and a couple of 1/2 marathons. I am looking forward to the rest and recovery!

Frustrated

I am doing the NYC Marathon this weekend. I didn't envision my NYC Marathon attempt to be as it will be. I got sick Oct 16, missed my long run that weekend, ended up struggling through the week at work, was diagnosed with strep throat on Oct 23, missed my last long run, tried to run long on Tuesday and felt like crap so I bagged my long runs for training. (Wow, a long run-on sentence.) I have managed to finally feel good enough to run a fairly difficult 6 miles on Sunday at the Squirrely Six miler but I am really slow. I am finally feeling better though. I was doing well up until Oct 16 when this cold just hammered me. I was lucky to get off of my couch and go to work most of those days. I felt like it was all going as planed and I would be where I was supposed to be. I guess sh$# happens though. So, I am going into NYC grossly undertrained (having only gotten up to 13.5 miles running - 2 hrs 39 min as a total long run) and slightly worried. I have walked a good portion of a marathon before, after 127.5 miles - at least that isn't the case this time. I just have to enjoy it for what it is worth and hope for the best!!! I just hope the best is under 5 hrs 30 min! NYC here I come!

Back to work

About 2 months later and about 6 weeks out from the New York City Marathon. I am feeling positive about running right now, although when I have to run I think I would rather be biking and when I decide to go for a bike ride, I think I would rather be running. Notice how swimming is not even in my mind. I am recovering from runs well this year without the major pain that I felt last year. I think I did a good thing for myself by laying off of everything in August. My longest run in August was probably 4 miles. This time I didn't rush my recovery and thus feel better about everything. It still feels surreal that I did Ironman again - it is so funny how you are in the best shape of your life right before Ironman, Ironman day feels like a really long dream, and then the next day your body is a complete wreck and for months later, your mind doesn't want to do anything. I am still a mental nightmare in that I don't really feel motivated to actually go for a run or anything really but once I get out running, it generally gets a little better. It is funny how I usually love to workout - the gym is my home away from home usually - but for a few months after Ironman I have to bride myself to workout at all and I just don't feel like the normal me.

My long run this weekend was 2 hrs long (10.2 miles - Holy Slow). I didn't wonder if I could do it (which is a great feeling after many months of questioning my abilities and generally feeling concerned about my fitness level), I was more upset by the fact that I had to start using Gatorade on the run as I felt really happy for myself that I hadn't had to drink or eat any of this factory made crap in my body for the past 2 months and my intestines were thanking me for it. I also didn't like having to wear my fuel belt again. But, alas, I needed to start getting in fluids on the run. (I haven't even started eating gu blocks yet - makes me want to barf thinking about it.) I started running in low 60's and cloudy weather. I was struggling to get into a rhythm at the beginning and I looked down at my watch to see when I felt comfy, I was surprised to realize it was 51 min into the run (that is absurd, I have to run for 4.5 miles before I warm up - crazy). I felt invincible for the next 15 min and then felt not so great. It was spritzing a little in the middle of the run and was the best running weather I could have asked for on a long run. I felt ok for the next 20 min and then hit the big hill leading up to Main St. in Lake Placid and felt like I was going to die. But I finished a 2 hr run without feeling too horribly. I am happy with this progress. I actually felt like I still had some of my Ironman fitness in me.

Next week I will be at my cousins wedding in Phoenix so I will only be running for 1 hr but the 3 weeks after that will see a 13 mile run, 15 mile run, and between 17 and 18 mile run. Not exactly the best marathon training plan but not a bad one after doing an Ironman in July! I am hopeful that I will be able to run more than half of the marathon and will be carried along by the crazy crowds that line the marathon course in NYC! I am excited to be a part of this wonderful event which is a feeling I have been waiting to experience. I feel like, if all goes according to plan, I will have the experience I have always wanted to have at NYC and enjoy the experience.

One week later

One week out from Ironman and I keep remembering some random things along the way. I am running again as I want to keep moving - my body doesn't like to stop moving - plus, I have a marathon to do on Nov 7! I got on the bike again - not as much fun as I wanted it to be. We are planning on starting to kayak more now that we have time to do it and we are really excited about it. We are also planning on visiting some friends in the Boston area for a couple of days which should be fun and a different pace for us. I remember more of the good things from Ironman day now that I am farther away from the pain and stomach problems. I also now remember some random things - like I saw a Santa on a motorcycle while I was biking (another sign that I was delusional maybe, but it was real, I swear, just like Michael Phelps*). I also remember bouncing off of the swimmers who were all around me - I recognize that if this was my first Ironman swim, it would not have been a very good experience but because I had done it before it wasn't as bad as I knew that it could have been. I remember the ATVs offering volunteers rides back to their cars and I kept telling them that they should offer me a ride too! I am still in awe that I completed 140.6 miles in a day, twice for that matter!!! I still dream of the finish line and know that it was an amazing experience both times. I remember why I do this: because there is nothing better than accomplishing the impossible. What an amazing journey I had and I really do love that I have been able to accomplish this.


* BTW - I have decided that Michael Phelps should have to appologize to me for making me think I was delusional on the course!!! I wouldn't mind actually meeting the swimmer Michael Phelps - maybe he could teach me better swim mechanics.

My July stats:
Swim 12.15 miles
Swim time 8 hrs 16 min
Bike 406 miles
Bike time: 30 hrs 15 min
Run 77.1 miles
Run time 15 hrs 23 min

Total miles: 495.25 miles
Total time: 53 hrs 53 min

Total miles to date for the year: 2137.67 miles
Total time to date for the year: 238 hrs 28 min (about 10 days)

We will see what I can pull for numbers for the rest of the year.