Bear Triathlon: 0.9 Mile Swim, 25 Mile Bike, 6 Mile Run - May 20, 2018 Bear, Delaware

Do you remember the T'Challa and M'Baku battle for the throne? T'Challa won in the end, but he got his butt WHUPPED! Yeah, that is how I felt after finishing today's race. I finished, but it was a hard fought battle of me against the asphalt and my thoughts.


THANKFUL. That is the word given to me by Lisa this morning. We met in the parking lot at 4:45am to head to the park for the race. I began to tell her how I had recently read some old race reports and how I needed to have a good race experience, which means I need to train harder and more consistently, so race day could just be the test for all the hard work I put in while training. She immediately recognized that negative self talk about to come out and nipped that right in the bud. She reminded me that no matter how hard or consistently I train, I never know what race day will bring. She shared that she is going into this race and every race THANKFUL. Thankful for the ability to do this physically. She's right. We are blessed to have the mental and physical strength to get through these challenges. The sport of triathlon is expensive, so we are blessed to have the financial resources, and some of us have family support to make this all attainable. Triathlon is a tough sport, but for many of us, it's therapy and it strengthens us mentally to take on the many challenges in life. So, I carried that word with me today. I was THANKFUL.

The fact that I was able to compete at all today was a blessing. Mid week last week, I felt a vertigo spell coming on. I didn't know if it was from my head injury, as I still get vertigo spells for some reason, or if it was just sinus congestion/my sinuses draining to my middle ear again. I took a few days to take Zyrtec D twice a day and pushed forward cautiously. I went for a swim on Friday night and found that I only felt dizzy if I breathed to my right. I knew the race course had all buoys were to my left, so I would be okay. I have been training, but not as consistently as I need to and I have not been incorporating other exercises in, that will prevent injury. However, I knew that I could swim 0.9 miles, cycle 25 miles and run 6.2 miles, so I headed up to the race site on Saturday after a day of real estate business.

Swim: 0.9 miles
Uneventful. The course was clearly marked and there was plenty of race support on the water. It seemed like it took forever, so I know that I need to work on my swimming endurance. When I saw Layla swimming by me towards the end (she started in the wave after me), I knew that I needed to work on my form and speed again. I reminded myself that today was all about racing MY race. My race, my pace. My day was going to be representative of the training that I put in, and no matter if I was passed by everyone on the course, I was going to finish. My motto is: FINISHING IS WINNING. I finished and was terribly dizzy upon exiting the water, but I pressed forward.

Bike: 25 miles
It was a little tough getting ready for the bike. The dizziness continued as I put on my shoes and bent over to get the rest of my stuff ready. I knew I would be fine if I just kept my head up. My T1 (1st transition) was a little long, but before long, I felt comfortable with pressing forward.  If I am completely honest, I am still very nervous about riding on wet roads. I am almost back to my pre accident confidence on the bike, but wet roads still makes me proceed with a lot of caution. I reminded myself again: MY RACE, MY PACE. It helped that my coach was on the course and I could chase Layla and Lisa, so I was motivated to go at my fastest comfortable pace. The course was fair. It had a few inclines over bridges and false flats, but no real hills.

Run: 6.2 miles
It felt more like 62 miles to me. The course was fair, but my legs felt shot.  There was only a little bump of a hill, but relatively flat and on a shady course. I haven't done any of my scheduled brick (bike then run) workouts, so my legs were screaming at me in the first mile. I wasn't in pain and nothing was wrong out there, except I just wanted to be done. I took many walk breaks and reminded myself that I was a finisher and I would soon earn my medal, and I did!!

THANKFUL. I am most thankful for Lisa and her positivity, and for my coach who pushed me to keep moving every time I saw her on the course. All of the athletes and volunteers were positive and shared words of encouragement. All in all, it was a good day. It showed me that I need to get more consistent with training and other exercises to help make me the best triathlete that I can be.

This was a great race course and venue. The location was a short 2 hour drive from DC, plus the race staff and volunteers were second to none. If you are in the DC/Baltimore/Philly/Jersey area, I would highly suggest you consider this race next year. It had the feel of a Rev 3 race, but on a smaller, nicer and more intimate scale.

IGNITE SwimRun Maryland: Greenbrier State Park - May 12, 2018

WARNING: This is NOT a "saved" post; this post contains plenty of vulgar language

IGNITE SwimRun is an endurance race that combines the thrill of endurance racing with the beauty of nature. 

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Participants compete as a two-person team. Not a relay. Teams consist of all men, all women and mixed gender. The race begins with a mass wave start. Teams complete numerous swim and run legs ending at the finish line. During the race, teammates must remain within 10 meters of each other at all times. Teammates must complete the entire course and cross the finish line together. Everything we started with, we had to finish with and carry with us. This means we had to swim in our sneakers and carry a first aid kit, tether, GPS, and run with wetsuit, goggles, swim cap, buoy, etc. No easy feat!

Lisa and I completed the short course: (Thank God we decided to change from the long course!!)

Swim - 4 legs: 1.4 mi

Run - 5 legs: 7.8 mi (it was supposed to be 6.2 miles. SURPRISE!)

Total distance: 9.2

Colors: We were given rubber bands at the end of each swim course to tell us what signs to follow on the course. Not tree markings, but Ignite signs. The tree markings will get you lost in the woods.

Run 1:  Red - 0.9 miles 

Uneventful. When we started, My swim buoy started to slide down my leg. I took it off and decided to run with it in hand. {We needed a swim buoy because we had to swim in our sneakers, which would pull our legs down while swimming. The swim buoy helped to keep our feet up while swimming) . We were running on uneven grass, so it took a few minutes to gain our confidence. It was a mass start and we quickly got dropped by all except 2 teams. Forget them!

In hindsight, it just doesn't look like it was an even playing field.This was the start. Do you see me an Lisa? Me either. We were waaaaaaaay in the back. They got a head start! lol

Swim 1: 0.35 miles:

I couldn't keep the buoy between my legs, it kept sliding down and at one point it was around my ankle. I had to summon a kayaker to ask that I hold on while I pulled the buoy up. Lisa's response: GIRL, JUST KEEP YOUR LEGS CLOSED! Ugh. I hated her. Swimming in shoes was hard, getting dragged across the lake by Lisa (we were tethered by a 10 meter cord), who is clearly a much faster swimmer than me, was hard. I couldn't see. It felt like a total shit show to me. We finished the first swim and as we approached the aid station and I saw our coach Danny. He asked how it was. My response, "THAT WAS HARD AS FUCK!". He just laughed and said at some point I will be saying it was fun as fuck. Yeah, that moment didn't come throughout that race.

Lisa is looking at me like, "What ARE you DOING??!!! Why couldn't you just keep your legs closed and not let the buoy go down to your ankle??!!! Come ON! We gotta GO!!!" LOL

Run 2:  Green - Almost 2 miles. 
I'm not sure of the elevation. Lisa was dragging me up the freaking mountain with her words telling to just take 10 steps at a time. "Just 10 steps.... COME ON BECCA!!!!!!!!".

Swim 2: 0.35 miles
Uneventful. I kept my legs closed as suggested and had my buoy the right way and tightened. No cuss words at the end.

Run 3: Blue  - Closer to 1.5 miles
I was feeling totally unfit. I started to tell Lisa how my mama told me that my legs were getting big. I started to talk about how my arms and belly were too, and how I hated it all, but it's all my fault because I haven't done a pushup or situp in months..... she quickly corrected my self hate talk and started to tell me that I don't hate anything about my body. That God gave me this body and I am going to do everything I can to make it the best that I can. She told me that I love my body, because God gave it to me. She saved me from my negative self talk, as it could have brought me down that dark rabbit hole and had me thinking that I wasn't fit enough to finish this race and had no business out there. That Lisa is a good friend. Thanks Lisa! This run wasn't that bad. It was less steep and we saw the lake before we knew it

Swim 3: 0.35 miles
Uneventful for me. Lisa kept stopping and had a tough time going again. I tried to tell her to stay horizontal when she stopped, but I think her sneakers were pulling her to a more vertical position and the swim buoy made it hard to change positions or something. 

Run 4: Orange - about 4 miles - elevation was almost 9% grade
This race was now described by Lisa as some #whitepepo shit. What were we doing out here in these woods?!! Lisa was OVER IT and kept asking, WHEN WILL THIS ENNNNDDDDDD?!!???. All l I could say was, "I don't know girl, let's go find out. Just take 10 steps at a time. Just 10 steps....". I started to remind Lisa that we have finished 100 mile bike rides, marathons, 70.3 races and Ironman competitions, that we have jumped off boats and swam to shore then hopped on our bikes followed by a run. The reminders that we are BAD ASS were needed at this point. We needed to remind ourselves that we could do this, because we have done harder things. Hell, Lisa is a Mother. What could be harder than giving birth and raising an amazing son? HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, LISA!!!

We came up on an aide station. They told us that we just have 2 more miles to "run", then swim again and then it's just a 0.5 mile run to the finish line. This is when the melt down occurred. NO one was saved! Here is a list of people and things that got cussed out. And by cussed out, I mean we very harshly said FUCK them and probably called them a bitch too, for extra effect. Here is an example of the way this fuck fest/complete melt down went: "Yeah, fuck Danny and his lil' friends that planned this fucking course. Yeah, girl, Fuck Danny!.....{Haaaaa! We were OVER IT and the word FUCK just some how made us feel better. We even used the F word when we saw some people out in the woods. They just laughed at us. We weren't angry, for those that don't understand. It was just a way to get through it. Lisa and I can cuss each other out one second and be 10000% okay the next second. Not angry at all. It's a survival technique. Fuck is a stress relieving word in difficult situations. You should try it! lol} Lisa: who the fuck put all these fucking rocks out here?! Me: Mother Nature. Lisa: Yeah, Fuck that bitch too!". Here is a non comprehensive list of people who got cussed out:

• Lisa - yeah, I think that's how it got started. At the last aid station when it was time to get going again. I cussed her out, because it was her idea to do this. I think it went something like, "You know what? Fuck you, Lisa. This shit was all your idea! Lisa chuckled and said, "come on girl, let's finish this race."
• Fellow racer who completed the short course race and came back on the course to run some more. Yeah, fuck him
• Mother nature (see the example above)
• Race director (see above)
• Trees - I cussed them out in my mind, for dropping all those damn leaves and making it hard to see the rocks. I rolled my ankle on a rock, but kept going. 
• All the people back at home tracking us and wondering what was taking us so long. "Yeah, fuck them. They need to get off the couch and come out here and see how HARD this shit is"
• The people that already finished. They better had not eaten up all the Chick-fil-A and drank up all the beer. They know Danny and them ordered that chicken for us!!!
• The people who will think that instead of using the vulgarity in our race reports we should "use our words". Fuck them. FUCK is the only appropriate word to describe our thoughts and feelings during this difficult time. The shit was tough, bruh!

We cussed our way through the end of the last run, swam 0.35 miles again tethered, which means, I was dragged across the lake AGAIN by Lisa. She was swimming HARD this time. Me and 2 kayakers tried to get her to slow down so I could adjust my buoy. This chick was FOCUSED on finishing this last swim. She got me all twisted up in the tether by going to my right and then back to my left. I could tell she was on a mission to get out of the lake, so I just adjusted the tether and my swim stroke to her and we got 'er done!

We look like we are in deep prayer and thankful to the Almighty for getting us through huh? Just a 0.5 run to the finish line!!

Lisa crawled on to the sand at the end of that last swim with a look in her eye that said, "THERE IS A GOD! THERE IZ A GOD!!!!!!!!!". We waddled through the sand, hit the finisher's chute.... and ran like some rock stars to the finish line! My Coach Suzy came over to me looking all gingerly. I said, no worries. I don't hate you! LOL. Lisa and I proceeded to eat all the food and beer and took pictures like we just won 1st place. Haaaa. I had to get up to go home after I found myself putting my head on the table to take a nap.

I must say, Lisa and I ignited our inner athlete! Go get you some. Challenge yourself to do new and harder things. Here is the link to the Ignite series. There are several races remaining this year! If you sign up, let me know. I might try to come out there to race it too. Crazy, I know!

This is how I was feeling about Lisa signing us up for this race.... but we got 'er DONE!!!

.... okay, let me stop procrastinating and go get this 30 mile bike ride done.