Did it, Done!

For those that know me, you know I never sign up and pay for something unless I know I will be as prepared as I can be.   If  I am going to pay a ridiculous fee of $200 (the early fee), I really want to know that I have given it my all, be as prepared as possible, all the while feeling good.  As was the case with Lake Stevens 70.3, this was something I signed up for not even knowing if I could make it the distance in a swim, but figured if I signed up for it, I'd have to learn.  Seemed like a great goal to learn how to swim, while improving my cycling, running and endurance.  Not wanting to spend on anything I didn't need to, I found a free 16-week plan online.  Had a great base going into it with skate skiing and biking, and a little swimming  to get comfortable in the water.

I really didn't know what to expect as far as time, so I set my goals reasonable to what I knew I could do each leg in, the swim my goal was to relax, NOT get competitive, use it as a warm up and finish in under 50 minutes (which is a SLOW time for this leg), the bike is known for being hilly, this doesn't bother me so my goal for the 56 miles on the bike was to try to be at 3 hours, the 13.1 run I knew it would be slower than my last half marathon of 1:46,  and knew this was also a hilly course planned for  2:05.  Transition time I really didn't care about, wanted to make sure everything was on right had a bite of my mochi and drink of my skratch.
My goal was to come in around 6 hours

Race break down: 

Swim: Outside temp was high 50's burr, water temp 70's ah!  Downside I wore mirrored goggles, because all my open water swims had been in sunny Lake Chelan.  Morning of this race the lake looked like it had steam coming off of it, but this was just the insanely thick fog.  The buoy's were set 100m apart, and you couldn't see them.  I guessed the light shining in the very far distance was the turning point.  As I said before my wave was the first after the pro's, you jump off the dock and wade in the water and then the horn sounds and you are off.  The first 500m I was thinking this may have been the worst decision ever, I couldn't see anything and ended up so far right (buoy's were on my left) had to try to get back, got back into a rhythm and the men were there, felt a bit like being in a washing machine, and now I've lost the buoy line and can't see the next.  At about buoy 7 I  started feeling pretty good, I am a competitive person, and not once did I feel the need to try to go faster, I just wanted to get a groove, rounded the buoy's at 9 stayed close to the buoy line and never looked up or stopped again until I started smelling something horrendous and seeing a lot of scary moss.  What do you know I had 100 meters left.  Funny thing, the 2nd half I fell into such a great rhythm, I was actually dreading getting out and sitting on the bike for the next 3 hours.
Made it out of the water in 44 minutes, and I was thrilled with that time and felt super fresh

Bike: from the get go on the bike felt fabulous.  I love to time trial, the bike, the position, my new Rudy Project Wingspan helmet (had the giro advantage II and was NOT a fan), it was by far some of the most beautiful 56 miles I have ever ridden, fabulous, downside was a lot of turns, and people not knowing how to corner, so you'd lose time every time you approached a corner, the hills were a tad relentless, nothing horrible, just constant, up to mile 54 even, but the roads were great and I felt wonderful.  I never exerted myself to threshold, just kept a pace I was happy about and could sustain, cruised in a 2 hours and 56 minutes, and was pleased with this time.

Run:  Not a lot to say about the run, after bike I was feeling so good, I kind of dreaded having to run 13.1 miles.  Took off first lap felt good, was holding between and 8-9 mm, my garmin died after the first lap.  The first 2 miles were uphill, then you had a nice downhill for about a mile, then up again, then down and so on....it was hilly.  Nothing horrible, just at that point I was tired and a little hill felt like a very BIG hill.  Had no idea what I was running, but felt quite comfortable out there, cruised in at 1:56 (this is the slowest time I have done 13.1 miles in a race, but also was the most pleased with this time ever), also took time, twice to hit the porta potty!

I finished Ironman Lake Stevens 70.3 in 5 hours 43 minutes, 17 minutes faster than my goal time.  Felt great the entire time, and after.  Today with the exception of a few blisters and my quads are a little tight I feel great.

Not bad for a girl that started running in 2008 (and I mean started, never ran before other than when I had to in tennis), started biking in 2007 (thank you Arlberg Ladies rides) and swimming last year.  I truly believe ANYONE can put their mind to ANYTHING.

Would I do it again??  Not sure, I am glad I did it.  I didn't like all the money spent leading up too it, or the stress and hassle of thinking out every detail to pack for each leg.  I also did not like the time it cut into my summer.  If I did another one, it would have to be all done while the kids are in school and perhaps right after summer starts. 

Thank you Rick for capturing some great photo's as well as be my constant calm!

Here we go.  Women's 35-39, a little like walking the plank

That's about it for visibility

T2 the bike was nice cool temps, but my toes went numb, getting into my shoes I couldn't feel them

That hand in the picture is Steph or Alicia.  This was not spectator friendly, but at the run I saw them each loop and this was going to the finish, they made me so happy to see and hear them!

We did it!  My friend Erin also rocked it, along with our support girls!