Hy-Vee Triathlon

The Team Vardo Tri Group (acutally I coach all these folks but Kecia!)

A free entry to the Hy-Vee Triathlon fell into my lap a few weeks ago. The only thing that had been holding me back from signing up on my own was the cost. I’ve done enough big races (and spent enough big money to do them) to know that at the end of the day, it’s still just an Olympic distance race. And, while Hy-Vee does hand out a lot of schwag, the quality isn’t enough to warrant the high price tag. Craig and Jenny put on awesome races with better schwag for half the price!

The original plan was to work the Zoom booth at the expo and take in all the rest of the events of the weekend without having the headache of actually doing the race. I was so excited to get $150 worth of free entry to the race that I grabbed it without really thinking about all the other inconveniences that go along with a race of this size – namely the parking, the athlete meetings, the bike check-in the day before, etc. Reality hit once the weekend rolled around.

On Friday I headed to West Des Moines to kill a couple birds with one stone. I hit the expo, chatted with Matt and Dustin at the Zoom booth for a little bit, then Dustin and I filed into the mandatory athlete meeting to hear a bunch of stuff that we either already knew or turned out to be misinformation! After the meeting and packet pick-up, I went back to the booth and ended up staying there for a couple more hours than I expected. We had a ton of our athletes come by, but we also talked to a lot of folks about who Zoom is and what we do. It seemed to be worth the extra effort to stay and spread the love!

Because Hy-Vee has so many connections in the food industry, there was free food all over the expo. I think that part of my undoing of the weekend started right there on Friday night. It seemed as though I was always snacking on something. Chips from the Doritos booth, granola bars from the schwag bag, “vitamin” water, etc. I spent more time than I had planned at the expo, and that meant I had more time to eat a lot of junk.

After the expo, Cam and I met Matt and some of his athletes for dinner. Pizza wasn’t the greatest choice I could have made (but, man, was it good!). Cam headed out early on Saturday morning for his race in Mankato, so I hung around the house until about 11am, then headed back to the race site to watch the pro races for the afternoon. I took in lots of water, but it was still blazing hot, and sitting in the sun from noon til about 7pm might not have been the best idea either. Kris, Kirstin, Kecia, and Tim were all down for some of the races, too, so we hung out and ate more free food.

Really the amount of food that was given away at this race to the spectators was like nothing I’d ever seen. The green movement meant that there were a bunch of vendors handing out reusable grocery sacks, and the people walking through the expo looked like they’d just done all their grocery shopping for the week. I basically ate lunch and dinner there, plus had tons of free water and other beverages whenever I needed. At one point, one of the vendors just started bringing free sandwiches into the stands and passing them out.

The women’s pro race was a blast to watch, but it was the men’s race later in the day that was the real nail-biter. Going into the last lap of the run, it was a 6-man race. The sprint to the finish was awesome, with the difference between 1st and 3rd place costing the losers over $150,000! Very exciting, and I’m glad I was there to witness it!

At 6pm, they finally let us start checking our bikes in for the night. By that time, I would guess that I’d walked about 5-6 miles in the heat and humidity of that day. Again, not the best idea the day before a big race… I had to get home and to bed early since the raced started at 6am the next morning! I’m so thankful that I was able to stay at Cam’s the night before. The rest of the Team Vardo folks from Ames doing the race had 3-3:30am wake-ups - I got to sleep in til 4!

It was a cool morning, and I tried to do everything the same as I always do before a race, including what I eat. My stomach is usually iron-clad, and I rarely have any sort of problems with it. For that, I am very thankful. I parked and walked to the race in the dark, just as the sun was coming up. I easily met up with my athletes and the Vardos in transition. We shot the breeze, took some pictures, then huddled together on the beach to keep warm!

The swim was not wetsuit legal, and not one of the worst swims I’ve been a part of. My swim training this year has consisted of about 6 weeks of swimming in February and March, then nothing (at all!) until a week before Copper Creek. I managed 3 open water swims before taking on the one mile swim at Hy-Vee. Not exactly what I would recommend to my athletes, but at least all that Ironman training stuck in my brain and allowed me a decent swim.

I got out of the water feeling good, had a great transition, and was very thankful to feel that the temperature had risen enough that I wouldn’t freeze my ta-tas on the bike. Again, I wanted to see what kind of damage I could inflict out on the bike course. There were lots of Des Moines cyclists out cheering (heckling) on the course. I put the hammer down on the first half, making sure I didn’t get passed by any other females. The course was pretty packed, but that is just what you get in a race this size. I was going back and forth with a couple of guys, most notable was the guy wearing his old tri shorts with the spandex rotting out of the rear seam. Yep, the view of his crack gleaming in the morning sun nearly burned my retinas right out of my head.

About mid-way through the bike I started to notice a little twinge in my gut. I thought it might just be from riding in aero, as I’ve been riding primarily on my road bike lately. It didn’t get worse, though it didn’t get better either, so I sort of just ignored it and hoped it would go away. I also decided not to take any nutrition (gels) during the ride so I didn’t upset my gut any further.
After a decent ride, I easily transitioned off the bike and headed out into the heat of the morning on the run. The first mile was fine, but as my effort increased with the first incline, my gut started to revolt in anger. Quickly my race plan turned from finish strong to run the downhills and flats and take it easy (read: walk) on the uphills. Bummer.

I tried drinking water, I tried not drinking water. I thought about trying a gel, but was pretty sure my stomach wouldn’t tolerate that. I ran/walked nearly the entire 10K. Thankfully the last mile or so is all downhill or flat, so I did my best to make it to the finish line without embarrassing myself!

Regardless of how you feel at the end of Hy-Vee, it’s still a pretty cool experience to run on the bright blue carpet through the grandstand area to the finish line. I got my finisher’s medal and ran right into Ric Jurgens (Hy-Vee CEO). I thanked him for putting on such a great race right here in Des Moines.

My athletes all had great races. Their accomplishments actually mean a lot more to me than my failure!

That is probably it for my 2009 triathlon season! Next up is eight days in Colorado with Cam, a week of work, then on to RAGBRAI! Following that will be two and half more months of mountain bike racing!

WORS Cup

Following a surprisingly good return to the sport of triathlon at the Copper Creek last week, Cam and I headed back up to Wisconsin for another gamble with the weather and some more stellar mountain bike racing. We left on Wednesday night, as Cam had some work to do in Illinois on Thursday. That meant I got to spend a day with my parents. The rains followed us east and wouldn't leave us alone! I tried to sneak a run in between storms, but got caught out in a mass of thunder and lightning. Thankfully, I was just running around in the neighborhood, so I wasn't more than about a 1/3 of a mile from home.

Friday morning we awoke to clear skies that quickly turned dark as we approached Dubuque. When we stopped for gas there, the weather radio inside the store was blasting about severe thunderstorms that were headed in our direction. We tried to outrun the storm, but didn't get very far before the horizontal rains were hitting us from every direction. After a long 30 minutes of that craziness, we emerged from the mess and eventually turned away from the storm to head north towards Wautoma.

We arrived at Mt. Norris to find sunny skies and race preparations in full swing. We went out for a lap together, then Cam went around for another as I enjoyed my lunch. The course was in near perfect condition - just a few wet spots that were sure to dry out nicely by race time on the following day. As we loaded up our stuff to head further north to our motel in Waupaca, we felt a few rain drops hit. By the time we were 10 minutes away from the course, we were in our second deluge of the day! Cam was about beside himself and almost wanted to just turn around and drive back to Des Moines. Thankfully, we determined that we wouldn't put to waste all the time and gasoline we'd spent getting there; we'd stay and see what Saturday would bring.

Saturday morning was gorgeous! Nothing but blue skies and sunshine - a perfect day! The WORS Cup has a slightly different format than the rest of the WORS series races. On this day, Cam's race would be the first of the day at noon, followed by the Comp race, then my Cat 2 race at 4pm. This was not great for us, since we still needed to drive quite a ways after my race to get back home, but we would make it work. The skies were clear, but the sun was heating things up pretty quickly. I determined that I would have to seek shade for the whole day if I was going to have any energy left to race with later.

I took a few pictures at the start of Cam's race. He had a great start! I was able to photograph him in a couple locations at the start, then I made my way to the Alterra tent on the hill near the end of the lap. As the first of the riders went through the woods a little distance from where I was, I didn't see Cam, but I just figured that he had moved up a couple spots and I'd missed seeing him come past. No more than a minute later, I looked up to see him riding slowly on a different part of the mountain, not on the trail. I could tell he'd pulled the plug on the race, but that's a pretty rare sight, so I headed down to see what was up.

His disappointment was still pretty fresh, so I didn't get any details at the time. But, I could tell that he wasn't hurt (physically) and that was all I really needed to know at that moment. The bike looked okay, too, and he was able to head out for a cool-off ride to sort through the frustration of the situation. While he did that, I watched the rest of the race from a shady locale and tried to stay cool.

When Cam got back, we talked about what happened. He'd taken a bad line, hit a nasty stump in the middle of the trail, took a flier, and skewed the handlebars in such a way that he couldn't get them straightened out without a trip to the Jeep from some tools. He encouraged me not to make the same mistakes in my race!

A couple hours later it was time for me to get ready. On my warm-up, my legs felt terrible. It was almost like I was low on blood sugar, but I knew that was not the case. I think I was having trouble getting excited to rage on the bike because of Cam's situation. I got to the starting line and had a good talk with Kyle Williams, then Robin came over to offer a bit of encouragement and advice. She'd raced really well earlier in the day and had some very helpful tips on how to navigate the trickier (at least for me) rock gardens. I really appreciate her help whenever it is available! Obviously I get a lot of advice from Cam, but having it come from a woman's perspective does make a difference.

There were 17 women at the starting line when Don gave us the, "GOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Per my shaky legs and usual poor start, I brought up the rear of the field. I managed to get myself up a spot or two heading into the singletrack. I was expecting a bunch of climbing, as this was a ski slope, but to my surprise there wasn't as much as I thought. I really don't mind the climbing too much, at least not in the early stages of the race. I followed a woman through most of the singletrack on the first lap. she was taking some pretty decent lines which allowed me to get a better feel on things. Once things opened up, I easily got past her and began working my way up in the field.

By the third and final lap, I was slowing down a little, but thankfully not as much as the rest of the field! The technical sections that got me the first lap didn't stand a chance on laps two and three. It felt good to get my legs under me and power through some of the tougher areas. The heat was also an issue, and for the first time, I felt like I needed all the fluids I had on the bike, plus some. The ice cold water they handed out on the course felt great when poured over my head!

I crossed the finish line fourth place overall and third in my age group. I felt good about my performance, but was still surprised to hear Cam say that he thought it was my best race so far! For the second time in my mountain bike racing career, I got to stand on the WORS podium!

Copper Creek Triathlon

It was with a little bit of reluctance that I signed up for Copper Creek in the first place. I knew that my focus was going to be on mountain bike racing this year and I hadn't been swimming (at all) or running (with any consistency) this spring. I did want to do the race, however, because we got rained out last year and I like to support the races put on by my friends Craig and Jenny. That and I wanted to make sure I did a triathlon at least once this year, if only for professional reasons.

Like last year, I helped out with race preparations on Friday night and Saturday at packet pick-up. The volunteers are rewarded well for helping, plus it is interesting to see a little of the behind-the-scenes of putting on a race like this.

Unlike last year, where it rained cats and dogs forcing the cancellation of the race, race morning was foggy, but otherwise great. Cam's race was cancelled, so he was able to accompany me and help me get everything ready. It was good for my mental state to have him there.

I ran into a bunch of Team Vardo folks, a couple of them doing their first triathlons! Rich and Natalie had both been training all spring and Kecia had done a tri with a pool swim last year, but this would be her first open water race. Also joining in on the fun were Bill, Chris, and Kirstin.

At race site the fog didn't seem to want to dissipate. As the athletes gathered for the swim, we couldn't see across the lake. Craig decided to delay the start of the race by a little bit to see if the fog would burn off a bit. After waiting for a while and not seeing the conditions improve, the race was started despite the fog. It looked to be okay for the first few waves that went off, so I just went with the flow. Soon my wave was ready to take to the water. We were in yellow swim caps, the same color as the swim buoys marking our course. I got in the water and looked out into the fog - I couldn't even see to the first buoy! It was going to be an interesting swim.

The cannon went off and the chaos grew worse. Not only couldn't I spot any buoys, but every time I looked up to spot, all I could see were yellow caps that might or might not be the next buoy! So with virtually no swimming at all for the last few months, I was swimming both dumb and blind...

After navigating my way through the swim, I got out of the water feeling pretty good, had a good transition and got on the bike with no problems. From what I had seen of the bike course the day before, I knew it was going to be a hilly, but fast course. The fog we'd experienced during the swim had only lifted a bit. Before the race had started, I'd asked Cam to look at the sunglasses of the elite wave to see if condensation on the glasses was an issue. He was waiting near my transition area during T1 and said only a couple elite guys were back and they weren't wearing glasses. I decided to risk it and put on my Oakleys anyway. I always feel a little naked without sunglasses on my face.

Since I've really only been working on my cycling this year, I hit it hard on the bike. I was passed by a few men and only 2 women, but not from my age group. Because it was an out and back course, I was able to keep an eye on my competition. I know full well that I am not much of a swimmer, but I only saw a few women ahead of me on the bike, so I must have done okay on the swim... I worked on keeping my cadence high and pushed the effort, especially on the hills, where I knew I was probably better prepared than a lot of my competition. With the bike segment being only 12.4 miles, I was soon back in transition and quickly out on the run.

The run followed the lakefront for about a 1/4 mile before starting its uphill ascent to the turnaround. I knew the hills were coming, but I wasn't totally prepared for how I felt once I hit them! I did walk for about 10 seconds at each water station, just long enough to toss down some fluids and give myself a little mental break. The run was also an out and back, so I kept an eye on what was going on around me. Again I was passed by a bunch of guys and just a few women. Once I'd hit the halfway mark, I was surprised to find that there were actually a few more hills I had to run up on the way back to the lake!

The longer I ran, the better I felt - at least to a point. As we hit the final stretch (around the backside of the lake), I was ready to be done. I continued on with what Cam has kindly named the Vardo Shuffle, and headed for the finishline. About 1/3 of a mile from the end, I was finally passed by a gal in my age group. She flew past me like I was moving in the wrong direction, and I had nothing to give in the fight to chase her down. I managed to get across the finishline with my breakfast in my stomach and a respectable 5th place in my age group.

Looking back, there were a few things I had going for me. First, I had very little expectations going into the race, and therefore very few of the pre-race jitters that usually accompany higher hopes. Two, I was better prepared than most for a bike course of this level of challenge. Finally, just having the amount of experience in racing triathlon that I do, allowed me to make quick transitions and have little fear of the less than ideal swim conditions.

Next up is the WORS Cup race in Wisconsin, then the Hy-Vee Triathlon. In a previous post, I stated that I wasn't going to do Hy-Vee. A free entry fell into my lap a couple of weeks ago, and before I could really think about it, I said I'd take it. We'll see if any of my good luck charms that helped at Copper Creek will help me out at Hy-Vee!

Wausau WORS

After having so much fun last year at the WORS season finale, I've been waiting all season for a chance to head to Wisconsin to take another swing at the cheeseheads. As the date for the Wausau race drew closer, I kept one eye on my training and the other eye on the weather forecast. In keeping with the cooler than normal weather pattern that Iowa has been experiencing all spring and summer, the weather-guessers predicted more of the same, with some rain thrown in for good measure.

So, as Cam and I loaded up our gear, I found myself packing jeans, sweatshirts, wool socks, and my winter jacket so I could survive Wisconsin in June. We left very early on Saturday morning in the rain, drove in the rain, and arrived in Wausau with the rain still falling and temps in the 40s. A full day of rain would leave an Iowa trail worthless for a race the following day, but the Wisconsin soils soak up the water like a sponge, possibly leaving the trails better for racing than when dry. We soon ran into Tyrine and tried to decide if we should go for a pre-ride. I quickly noticed the fire-burning stove in the corner of the lodge and had my decision made for me. Cam and Christine geared up for a lap of the course. Ty took a nap in his car, and I stayed warm by the fire.

The rain continued the rest of the day and into the night. However, the pavement was dry the next morning when we peeked out of the hotel room window! The skies never cleared, but the rain had passed, so we headed back to the course. Cam prepared my ride while I geared up for a cool 45 degree ride in the woods. Thankfully the trees are so dense that the blowing wind was kept from my easy-to-freeze fingers and toes.

As I lined up for the Sport race, I was excited to see 29 other women there next to me. Since I opted out of the pre-ride the day before, all I had to go on was Cam's recon report. I knew there was a good amount of cross country ski trails, some fun singletrack, and the infamous Ho Chi Minh trail - a challenging, rocky section of singletrack. Cam told me it was tough, but doable, and then he followed it up with some very good advice on how to tackle that portion.

With a "GOOOOOOOOOO!" we were off. I took my usual sweet time getting clipped in and up to speed. Again I found myself bringing up the rear of the field as we left the start area. Different than most races, the Big Ring Classic starts with some of the ski trails, rather than dumping riders immediately into the singletrack. By the time we reached the singletrack I had passed most of the field and was probably about 7th wheel. We had a quick taste of singletrack before hitting Ho Chi Mihn. At about that same time, we women had caught up to the tail end of the Clydesdale field and were trying to work our way past them. The wheels really came off my fast-moving bus at this point. Between the fact that I hadn't had a chance to pre-ride any of the course, the challenging nature of these rocks, and all the other folks falling into the abyss, I was like a bull in a china shop.

I maintained my position as best I could for as long as I could, but eventually, a couple women sneaked past me when I had to dismount for a quick hike. Once off the Ho Chi Mihn, I did the best I could to keep up with the other females, passing when I could, and disposing of some of the guys. I rode with a couple girls, alternating the lead. We never really seemed to make any headway in catching those ahead of us.

The rain didn't seem to affect the trails too much in the singletrack, but out in the open things got a little squishy. If you stayed on the worn path, the mud kinda sucked you in, but off to the side a bit was much faster. I was fast on the doubletrack, but I didn't seem to want to test my technical skills on the slippery, rooty singletrack. I finished the first lap in about 11th place, closely following the next girl back out for our second lap. We had a similar trip through Ho Chi Mihn and the surrounding trails.

At some point in that second lap, I seemed to run out of gas. I wasn't bonking, and I wasn't particularly tired; I just didn't go fast. I was just out there spinning my wheels, trying to get to the finish line. Two more women went past me and I had nothing to give them. A couple clydesdale guys followed me through the last section of trail. I crossed the finishline and was just thankful to be done. I ended up 5th in my age group and 13th overall. Not great, but a good workout nonetheless.

I rode around for a few minutes, and as I was getting back to the Jeep, I heard Don introduce Cam and the other pros for call-ups. I grabbed the camera and made it to the starting area in time to see him off. I gave the bike a quick hose-off and got out of my sweaty clothes and into my jeans, hooded sweatshirt and jacket as quickly as possible as the cold was quickly invading my bones.

I found a good place to watch - the Alterra tent. The start/finish area weaves around for a mile or so giving spectators many chances to see their riders. Cam's race broke into groups pretty early on and he hung around between 8-12th place for the whole race. A sprint at the finish put him to 10th overall and just in the money.

The other fun part of the day was watching Kim Eppen and Robin Williams, two women from Iowa City, go 1-2 in the Cat. 1 women's race. Kim's husband Brian took 4th in the men's race. A good day for Iowa, though I didn't have much to do with it...

Vardaman, PI

Although I could barely walk after Dam to Dam on Saturday, my pride didn't really want to let me out of doing the mountain bike race the following day. I hobbled around the house in the morning trying to decide if I would feel better or worse if I rode. The final decision was to get out to Banner and see what I felt like after a warm-up lap, then sign up if all was good.

Having ridden the course once with Cam and Squirrel on Friday, I knew the race would be far from a cake-walk. Half of this course is as technical as I have ever ridden. Lots of off-camber, tight turns and challenging terrain requiring strong bike handling skills. The other half is flat and fast. As we took to the trail on Friday, I made a mental note of how bright and green everything looked as we entered the trail. We've had good rain:sunshine ratios lately, making the color of the flora jump right out at you!

Sunday was another bright, sunny day. I rode around on the pavement for about 30 minutes to see what the legs thought of moving again. Once they were a little warm, I headed down to the entrance to the singletrack. As soon as I got moving, I was reminded of just how challenging this course would be. Add the fatigued, sore legs and I was in for quite a ride.

After signing up and having Cam make a few minor adjustments to the 'Goose, I made my way to the start line and found two other women ready to go. Kim Hopkins and I would race in the Cat. 2 race and Cara Hamann would go for it in the Cat. 1 race. Cara is getting ready for Ironman Coeur d'Alene in a couple of weeks and just wanted a little longer effort to replace her typical training ride on the road. It sounded a little risky to me, but she was ready to roll...

All the Cat. 1 and Cat. 2 men and women were on the course at the same time. I knew that Cam and some of the other faster guys would lap us at some point, so I made another goal of not getting lapped twice! The females were doing 3 laps and Cam's class was doing 5. The starter said, "GO!!" and I told Kim to take the lead into the singletrack, as I had no idea what kind of effort I would be able to put forth with such wrecked legs.

As a group of us started up one of the first challenging climbs, the guy in front of me made a statement about how he really shouldn't have gone out to the bar the night before. I replied (and trumped his discovery) with a reply of how I really shouldn't have raced Dam to Dam the day before. He groaned and quit his whining after that!

I was all over the place during lap one, and what made things worse was that there were some singlespeed guys coming from behind, having started after the rest of the Cat. 2 riders. I did my best to get out of their way, but many times that meant taking a little side-trip into the greenery on the side of the trail. At one point I heard some dudes coming up behind me, so I tried to pull over. I was coming around a corner a little too hot right at that point and ended up off the trail at an unfortunate location. I'm sure it looked a lot worse than it was - in fact, I thought I was going to be taking the 'Goose on a long trip down a steep bank - but thankfully, I had things under more control than anyone (me included) thought.

Once I had me and the 'Goose back on the right track, I just continued testing myself through the rest of lap one. Challenging terrain doesn't scare me - I can just take things slowly (sometimes very slowly) and get through it. However, another little goal I had set for myself was to avoid a dip in the drink by staying steady on the couple little bridge crossings. If you are off by just a little bit, you take a swim. Remembering where the bridges were from my recon laps, I made special effort to slow down and take a deep breath both before and after each crossing, so I could keep things rolling in the right direction.

Lap 2 was much better. I was warmed-up and my mind was ready to conquer a few of the areas that had kicked my butt on lap one. Kim was out of my sight, so I turned this race into more of a training ride and technical riding lesson. Traffic was still an issue, as the nature of the trail was apparently kicking the butts of some of the guys in the race, too! We went back and forth a lot throughout the course. About halfway through my second lap I heard a fast bike coming up behind me, and I figured it was Cam. We were in the midst of a really fast, fun section of trail with no time or place for me to let him through, so we got to ride together (for a few seconds, anyway). I was really pleased to find a couple photos of this rare occurrence. I was even more pleased that I was in front of him at the time...

The rest of the race I just tried not to lose any more ground. I was pretty sure I'd never catch Kim and her fresh legs. The tone in my head alternated between swearing at Squirrel for creating such a highly technical course and thinking about what a great time I was having, despite the pain.

I crossed the finishline about 1:30 back from Kim, and was really happy to see Maria sitting by the finishline cheering. She was fresh out of the hospital, recovering from a significant crash in the Melon City Crit the week before. She looked great, even though she'd left her spleen (and a bunch of skin) in Muscatine. Cam finished a few minutes later, in first place.

My legs were truly cooked now. Sore, tired, and dirty. That was pretty much me in a nutshell. I wanted some dinner, a shower, and then a long, long night of sleep. Although I didn't know it at the time, tired legs were not to be the worst lingering reminder of the race.

Having spent a little time off the trail, I figured I had probably gotten into a little bit of the vast amounts of poison ivy along the way. I did my best to clean off my legs as soon as I finished, but was not too surprised to find a little bit on my legs in the following days. I was, however, surprised that it didn't stop there. I ended up with a pretty nasty case on both legs - it's gonna take a while to get rid of that...

That Darn Dam to Dam

Like every spring for the past 7 years, I have led a 10-week training program for Dam to Dam. Beginner runners extend themselves to tackle the 20K race held in Des Moines. This program and this race are always highlights of my year. The time always go by so quickly... one day it is March, then I blink my eyes for just a second and suddenly it is Memorial Day and the race is only a few days away!

This year, instead of leading the whole thing myself (which doesn't allow for any other activities on Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings for 10 weeks), I decided to hire an assistant coach. We ended up sharing the Tuesday/Saturday coaching responsibilities 50/50. Not only did that make everything more manageable, but it also made the time fly past even more quickly!

The only downside to all of this is that I didn't get to run with the group every week, especially the long runs. Plus, the rest of my focus has been on cycling this year, where in past years it was triathlon, so I was still getting plenty of run training accomplished. This year, I managed to squeeze in one each of 6-, 8-, and 10-mile runs, all done prior to four weeks before the race. That meant I literally did nothing over 4 miles/week in the 4 weeks leading up to the race. If you haven't already figured it out, that is not anywhere close to what I should have been doing to prepare.

Back in February, I had an athlete ask me if I thought someone could bike their way to run fitness (he'd been doing a lot of riding (but little running), and was signed up for a marathon in the spring). Apparently, I'd decided to put this theory to the test, with me as the test subject!

I have never in my lifetime toed the line of a race with so few expectations. Truly, the only goal was to finish, regardless of time, with as little damage to my body as possible. With a mountain bike race the following day, I honestly just wanted to get the 12.4 miles done and over with! I had no pre-race nerves. In fact, as I stood on the Saylorville Dam waiting to take off, I was having trouble even getting excited about being there. Usually, I love this race, and it always gets me excited, but that was not the case this year.

I also had another unwelcome detail present itself in the days leading up to race day. My right rotator cuff had been bothering me - probably something that I did out on the challenge course earlier in the week. I didn't realize that it would be a problem until I ran with Team 12.4 two days before the race at our annual Team 12.4 / Team Vardo pasta feed. As we took off down the road, I realized that the forward and back swinging motion of running was nearly impossible and very painful with my shoulder in its current condition. The best I could figure out was that I was going to have to run with my shoulder basically held static for 2 hours while I ran! I spent the rest of Thursday and all day Friday alternating between icing and exercising my shoulder as best I knew in hopes of a miraculous recovery somehow by Saturday morning!

I woke up Saturday morning with a little improvement, but no miracle. The day was beautiful, but I knew it was going to heat up in a hurry. I found a bunch of Team 12.4ers, past and present, and some Zoom athletes at the start. I decided to run by myself, as I didn't know what to expect from either my legs or my shoulder. The gun went off, and I quickly discovered that if I swung my right arm directly in front of my body (such bad running form!!), the shoulder would tolerate it. So picture me, a running coach, running the big event of the year, with the worst form of any of my students! The day started warm and only got hotter as the day progressed. So, I took off slowly and decided to let my legs make all the decisions of the day.

Miles 1-6 are all downhill or flat. Easy. I felt good, kept up with my nutrition (I love caffeinated Hammer Gel!), my hydration, and tried to keep my heart rate in Zone 2-3. I maintained a steady 9-9:30 pace, and was using my HR as a gauge until the stupid monitor gave me the black screen of death at mile 4. So much for that training/racing tool! I was pretty much on my own from that point on, with no HR data to provide feedback.

The hills were next, which lead us into town. I felt much stronger on the hills than I ever would have expected, and didn't stop to walk as I had feared I might need. Around mile 8 I noticed my right trapezius was getting tight and fatigued from holding my shoulder in such a foreign position for so long. I thought that might be the beginning of the end for me, but kept pushing. I knew that mile 10 was usually the valley of darkness for me in this race, so I wanted to cover as much ground as quickly as possible before I arrived there. Like Pavlov's dog, I made the turn towards the 10-mile mark, and I felt everything get sluggish. I was ready to be done. It was not more than a minute later that I heard a familiar voice from behind ask me how things in Ames were. It was Ian - I'd trained his wife a few years back, and had the opportunity to get to know him a little as well. We ran and talked all the way to Birdland Marina, and kept each other moving. When I pulled ahead a little on the hill, I hollered back for him to catch up with me; I think we both needed each other more than we thought. Another half mile down the road, we stopped at an aid station for a sip of water. While I wanted to walk and drink, Ian made me throw down the water and get running again. We bypassed the champagne at mile 11.4 and just pushed our way to the finish line. Ian dropped off at mile 12 for another sip of water, but I kept cruising.

When I ran my first two marathons, I found myself getting a little emotional as I neared the finish lines. It was hard to breathe and my eyes would well up a bit. All the emotions of training and accomplishing something like that came to a head in the final miles. I would be near-hyperventilating as I crossed the finish lines. That never happened in my Ironmans, so I thought that silly female stuff was behind me. Not so. As I ran across the river for the final 1/4 mile to the finish line of this Dam to Dam, the same emotional thing hit me again. I did my best to contain it, and crossed the finish line with a big smile on my face. Final chip time was 2:01. Not a PR, but certainly in the Top 3 of my 8 Dam to Dam finishes!

I could barely walk, my legs hurt so bad; in particular, my right leg was the worst. I blame that on the goofy gait that my shoulder forced upon me. I found some water, some Gatorade, and eventually all my runners from Team 12.4. On a day with so few personal expectations, it turned out to be an awesome day!