[podcast src="https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/5641824/height/90/width/480/theme/custom/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="480" placement="top"]SWIM: AG wave start, off the beach, standing waist deep start, buoys on your right, sunny on one side
BIKE: Not flat, maybe not fast, a bit of a challenge
RUN: Unpleasant. Mostly dirt roads and can be incredibly hot. Well supported.
Boulder 70.3 Race Review, Report and Fun stuff
[Disclaimer: I'm in AG 40-44 .... If you didn't National Lampoon's Vacation funny ... )
Let's just start off my saying that I pride myself on my most practiced and excellent snot rockets. It's taken me years and one nostril is better than the other, but most of the time they are good and I don't end up with snot on my face, shirt or glasses. So during some portion of the Boulder 70.3, I went to blow a snot rocket and I hear this "grunt" to my left. There is this dude there ... kind of hanging out in the draft zone. I giggle a little and say,"hey you, shoot man. Totally didn't mean to snot on you." Which I don't. If I'm riding with my training partner and she's behind me I'll just snot in my hand and wipe on my shorts. (yeah yeah, glamous.) So I said, "Dude, you totally wouldn't have gotten snotted on had you said 'On your left.' and I proceeded to giggle for about a minute. I don't think he was assumed. I was. Hahahaha.
For this race report, let's go back to the beginning. There was light .... AH! Just joking. There was a hot mess chic rolling through one life crisis after another. Divorce. Heart issue. Heart surgery. x2. blah blah blah.
[Disclaimer #dos: this blog will represent all my voices and both personalities as I am a Gemini]
So this race starts with heart meds all over the place, serious weight gain, this and that ... cardio doc dude saying to do "more normal stuff" and me being super stubborn and living life on my own terms. So I came up with my #hearthealthyplan with some rules and stuff. So I show up, not really sure how much of the race I would do. But I DID SHOW UP.
TRIP TRAVEL: (no dead grandmas on the roof story)
So Karla and I drive. With a 2 bike rack. Easy peasy. Except this former mentioned person, having had a vehical/bike accident in Feb .... got a new Cervelo. So ... car packed up (truck) and the dog living in the backseat .... who would have thought that the new Cervelo wouldn't share the bike rack with other bikes. Not real surprising. And said bike wouldn't fit in the truck either (with both wheels off). Seriously. So the car unpacked. My bike goes in the truck, with everything fit in around it. One bike on the rack. Boom. Done. Presto. On our way.
Pretty awesome trip, was gonna work on training plans which Karla drove until she said "Hey, I'm hungry, I need food now." Then a minute later pulled over and threw up. Which continued for 3/4 of the trip. I felt really and for her and considering on the plate was a HIM .... not good.
We get to Boulder. We've rented a lovely house which is dog friendly. The owner is awesome, living upstairs. Life is good. We get settled. Prepare for Athlete Check in, bike check in and all that fun stuff.
Boulder 70.3 is a very friendly race. Tho getting to the Boulder Reservoir can be fun race morning everything else is super awesome. There is a lot of community support and what not. Last comment for now .... the website says "fast bike" course and what not. While I would still say this is a good beginner race, it's NOT easy. The bike course can be tough in some places. The altitude can be a big factor. And it's usually hot. The run course can be .... a sole sucker. All that being said, it's a real good race. The volunteers are the best, the RD is awesome, the bike and run stations are perfect and well manned. And the "back of the pack" support is solid.
Thoughts for a FB post:
I wish I could describe for you the feeling of toeing up to the line of Ironman or 70.3. Simultaneously facing your best and worst parts of yourself. Being BRAVE. Not perfect and kicking ass anyway.
Fear doesn't stop us. Suckage doesn't stop us. Pain and disappointment doesn't stop us.
I feel ALIVE. That's what we are addicted to.
Bike Check In: Very uneventful. This race is organized well. And again, all the volunteers are great. One of the reasons why I keep coming back to this race. I really want to do the full here but heart meds and altitude DO NOT go together. More on that later. #nmf
Funny side story and a new experience. Sooooo, when you have a heart ablation you get put on blood thinners and I chose to be on one that's older and more researched. Tho it comes with checking your INR (a measure of how fast
your blood clots and you stop bleeding), managing your greens consumption and blah blah blah. Soooo, I decided to get back on my garlic pill kick a while back with that blog on how good garlic was. Soooooo, when I had my INR
tested before we left for out of town, it was 6. Ha. Which is a BIG DEAL. At 6 your kind of at risk for just spontaneously developing a bleed. Sooooooo, you imagine eating a lot kale and multiply that by some number BK would do to thicken the blood. ;) Sooooo, I had to have it retested in Boulder as it would be incredibly unsafe to race (bike) and have an accident. Meaning if you hit your head you would be at a real big risk of your brain bleeding and turning into a green veggie. So one of the rules was ... whats the INR and there CAN NOT be any bike accidents. So what happens. We go out for a warm up bike.... and they forget or don't turn off the reservoir gates thingies. And Karla helps with great enthusiasm .... "OH WATCH OUT WATCH" as the gate almost comes down on my head. HA.
Travel to Boulder Reservoir race morning: GET THERE EARLY. LEAVE EARLY. So, you really need to play on leaving 30 minutes before transition opens if you are staying close to the race. I've done with race 4 or 5 times, this time was odd as the race was delayed 45 minutes due to traffic. Not sure what went on, but this was an oddity. I think something to do with a traffic light misbehaving.
[Disclaimer #tri :Only one F bomb dropped. Once.]
Pre Race: So, had PLENTY of time to get things ready, meet all the peeps, get copious amounts of pictures and then still PLENTY of time to have a minor meltdown. This race I had a lot on the line. I was using it as a deciding factor if I was quitting endurance racing. Can I train safely with my heart issues. Can I race safely. blah blah blah. Because despite what most think about ironman triathletes being a crazy bunch that doesn't do "normal stuff" .... I am a very dedicated yogi and try to do all things in balance. #namaste or #nmf.
Plus I have this #hearthealthyplan that have all these rules and blah blah blah. My educated response to the cardio doc saying "go do more normal stuff". ;) (Listen to that podcast for more)
So I had my minor (#minornotsominor meltdown, my identity as a HIM/IM racing was on the line).
So I listened to "My Name is Human". Over and over. For like .... 60 minutes.
"No one is better an anyone else here"
"Need some time to think it over"
"Must be joking if thinking either if free here"
"Get up off your knees girl"
"Stand face to face with your God"
"and find out what you are"
"HELLO! My name is human"
"and I came down from the stars"
"I'm ready for love and I'm ready for war"
"but I'm ready for more"
"I don't know if anyone's been fucking this ready before"
"Need some time to think it over"
"So figure it out, I'll figure it out"
"I figured it out"
"The bigger the river, the bigger the drop"
"I'm face to face with myself"
"And I know who I am"
"Hello, my name is human"
"I stole the power from the sun"
"I'm just than just a name"
"I came down from the stars"
Seriously folks, if that doesn't get you fired up to face your demons and get your ROCK IT OUT hat on .... stop ready this post. DUDE, those stupid heart meds turned me into a Phillsbury dough girl and my wetsuit was TIGHT. Coach told me to wear his speed suit. But I still have this thin tether to it .... so I got into it. And darn it if it wasn't tight. And I was a little ramped up. STOP THE FAT TALK! Thoughts from the run. We are sooooo attached to aesthetics. It drives us crazy. YES. Being thinner than thicker is better. Health wise that is a fact. But seriously, lets give ourselves a bit of grace. If it's a bit out of your control, more grace. And give EVERYONE else grace. ALL THE TIME. Because you have ZERO idea whats on their plate. Judgement is toxic. Self judgement. Judging others. GRACE. (And that doesn't mean to have a healthy drive to lose weight. Just stop the fat talk and do your best to drop the extra in a healthy and graceful way. #namaste)
YOUR PLACE IS BY YOUR FRONT TIRE
With your bike hanging towards you by the front part of the seat
DO NOT EVER EVER EVER
EVER
Touch someone's bike or transition stuff
EVER
#nmf
ever
As I was saying before that tirade ... I basically washed my hair with the extra water. It's my way of resetting mentally and cooling off. One of the #hearthealthyrules for this race (all races) was I could NOT get sun burnt or too hot. Or get dehydrated. My DeSoto long sleeved cooling shirt to the rescue. T2 was a bit long as I washed my hair, changed from my bike jersey to the DeSoto shirt, put my camelback on (fully loaded up with stuff) and sort of took some time deciding if this was actually something I was going to do. Then I thought of my friend Kim, who inspires me to stop whining and get moving, dig deep and go for it. I had probably ran ... 10 times in the last 4 months. No joke. The two heart episodes and subsequent meds really got in the way. One foot had been struggling a bit with some over pronation so I had decided to try out some black super feet. Yes. New for the race. Yeah yeah. But I had the regular shoe inserts in my camelback. Off I go.
YEP BK
YOU CAN DO THIS
FOR REALS
and
Followed all the #hearthealthyrules

Praise Everyone
Encourage Everyone
Be a bright star that shines the way for them
#namaste
#nmf
I wanted to do negative splits now that I had paced well and knew that I could push a bit more. HOWEVER, my left hip was starting to killllllll me. And dudes. My feet were really starting to hurt. I was strong walking like a boss, passing a lot of people and moving my arms like nobody's business. I had been experimenting for 2 hours how to walk the fastest. hahahaha. And my wings were getting tired. ;) I did accomplish negative split.s for the bike and run. FORKING FANTASTIC! Finish was awesome! Two of my fav people at the end! Got me a BA finisher pic. This might have been the best race for me personally. I followed all the #hearthealthyrules, coming out of this race knowing that I can do this distance safety. The lessons that I've learned in the last 6 months have been hard ones. But good ones.Namaste
Don't just yourself. Don't limit yourself. Don't let other tell you want to do.
Being slow doesn't matter.
Showing up does.
Create your own path.
#backofthepack #showup #bravingkarma #neverquit


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Ironman Lake Placid Race Review
[podcast src="https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/4883485/height/90/width/480/theme/custom/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="480"]
Moira Easton Horan, Amy Stone and and Kristen Larimer chat about the logistics and everything to do with Ironman Lake Placid.
Coach BK offers free athlete health assessments, which includes an online form to fill out and a 30 minute rockstar chat on the phone to go over the form results. Coach BK will provide 3 action steps to help you get to the next level of your training. START HERE >>> Athlete Health Assessment Form
#46 Ironman 70.3 Steelhead Race Review
[podcast src="https://html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/4833834/height/90/width/480/theme/custom/autonext/no/thumbnail/yes/autoplay/no/preload/no/no_addthis/no/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="480"]Coach BK and Mandi Twist chat about the logistics and everything to do with Ironman 70.3 Steelhead.
Coach BK offers free athlete health assessments, which includes an online form to fill out and a 30 minute rockstar chat on the phone to go over the form results. Coach BK will provide 3 action steps to help you get to the next level of your training. START HERE >>> Athlete Health Assessment Form