Half IronMan - so glad it's done!

I did my first Half IM on Sunday and probably my only one. I would rank this much harder then any marathon I have ever done. It progressively got more difficult as the day went on. The swim (1.2 miles) was great and I finished faster then I thought I would. I was in Wave 8 and they went off two minutes apart. I seated myself towards the back and outside on the right hand. I was able to relax and swim. I worked on my stroke, sighting, trying to balance my weak arm with my strong arm. I felt great after wards.

Onto the bike (56 miles) - My legs were feeling a little weird in the beginning. My right hip didn't feel very powerful at all. On Wed just four days prior I had a really aggressive chiropractic appointment working on my right him from the top of my stomach down. I think that it inflamed it more then anything. I kept my speed at 18 MPH and if I went over that I coasted. The course didn't allow much coasting at all. It was a slight incline going north and a slight decline going south. At about mile 20 I biked the rest of the race with a nice 20 something year old from Rice Lake. This was also her first half IM. That made the time go by quickly. We finished the bike leg in 3 hours 30 minutes.

The run (13.1) - dun dun dunn! I was suprised how good my legs felt and I was able to actually stride out right away. I ran the first 6 miles in 1 hour and the final 7 miles in 1 hour 30 minutes. I was dragging at the end. The sun was so hot and in the warmest part of the day. Every water stop I poured two cups over my head. I was so glad to finish after the run.

It took me 6 hours and 37 minutes. You can see the agony in my face in the photo with my parents. I thought I was smiling.

A Nice Open Water Swim

Since the Madison ride I have been laying low. I have been really tired with a sore throat that comes and goes depending on how much rest I get the night/day before. I took last weekend off and didn't go for a long bike ride or run. I was going to do a small brick on Saturday and swam about 45 minutes in the pool straight and went to bike on my trainer and my bike was grinding bad. I immediately got on the phone and brought my bike to Penn Cycle. They removed a link in the chain and took off the 'dork disc'. I tried it out yesterday and it seemed much better, we will see on the hills how it is. I went swimming last night in Turtle Lake and Olaf kayaked alongside. Susan swam along the shore and did speed work. I swam about 45 minutes straight. It's so odd how different it is in open water. My left shoulder was getting sore. Next time I would like to go for about an hour. I have my first Half IM on Sunday so I need to really rest up the next few days if I can. It's been so much running around lately that I feel exhausted all the time.

Madison Training Ride

I have had July 11 picked out as the date for the IM training ride for about 8 months ago. I can't believe the day is already done and we had a beautiful day to ride.

Friday about noon Olaf and I headed to Madison to stay with Lynn and Greg. Lynn had a great BBQ on Friday night with some friends and awesome food. Saturday morning at 7 am I met Sue and Erin in Verona at the Firemans Park to ride the 40 mile loop twice.

Something I want to remember (not that I'm going to do this again) is that Firemans park has a really nice small lake and a lot of people do a swim there before going out to bike and there's some trails nearby for running on. There's food, showers and restrooms there. A really nice place to park for the day to train.

It's broken into three stages I learned this week. The first is from Verona to Mt. Horeb and it's a steady climb. The second is Mt. Horeb to Cross Plains and that is mostly down hill...kind of scary big downhills. The third stage is from Cross Plains back to Verona and that is the hard one. It has the "three sisters" or "three bitches"...personally I think there is four because there is a 4th climb that is a killer after the other three hills. Erin joined us for the first loop and was full of so many tips and advice that I could have asked her questions all day. She did the IM in 2007. We met up with Ryan and a friend just before the three big hills and they biked with us for a bit. We dropped Erin off in Verona and did it a second time. The first time wasn't bad at all. The second was hard towards the third stage. The most surprising thing was that you don't get to spend much time in your aero bars. You are either rocketing down a hill 40 MPH I hit or going up and climbing. The other thing is you are always shifting. Always! My hands were pretty sore from this ride. I'm use to shifting for the hills and then relaxing on my aero bars and not shifting the entire ride. We averaged 14.5 for the entire ride. I was happy with that. If I can do that the day of the race I will be thrilled.

Olaf, Lynn and Greg found us on the course which was awesome. They stopped in Mt. Horeb to check on us and then drove the course to check out the hills. Later they were waiting for us in Verona at the park sitting in the shade having subs. Sue went for a run after the bike but there was no way I could turn down a sub in the shade and someone to drive me back to Lynn and Gregs house after a long biking day. It was a great day, now it's time for some sleep!

Did you know your crotch just falls off after biking 108 miles. It's true!

This was something I posted on Facebook. I had a lot of funny comments and had to save this for the laughs so here they are copied and pasted.

I would never make it that far so I guess I would have never known without you letting me know ! lol
OMG, are you going to live?
Your Crazzzzy GIRL!
Ok - that's just funny!!! :)
WOW, I had no idea how dangerous biking was! LOL
LMAO!!
damn
OMG...HAHA
My hypothosis was correct and you are Crazy!
OMG Bridget, thine ears!
sorry to about your loss Olaf
ouch......
Oh my, that hurts. There is chammy butter to help you with "that" issue.
Wow! Didn't know that....that's a good tid bit of information! If I ever bike 108 miles and my crotch falls off, I won't worry I'll just remember it's normal :)

108 Mile Bike Ride!

Last Thursday I went for a long bike ride. I was pretty excited that I averaged 15 MPH. The first half is always much faster but the last 30 miles are what gets me. I went down to Afton and then back on the Gateway Trail heading west to pick up more miles. I got home and went around the 'block' for the last 8 miles. It felt good. My legs were sore. I kind of hammered the last 15 miles. A guy caught up to me and we went pretty fast at the end. I had Friday off and Saturday I did the Minneman Tri. It was just a sprint but my legs were like cement. Only 7 - 8 weeks left until taper! I can't believe how fast this summer is going by.