Ironman Lake Placid - Am I Strong Enough?

Ironman USA 2007.. ALISA YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!!!!!

2007-07-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

BIB NUMBER 1999 OVERALL PLACE 1927/2051 TOTAL TIME 15:53:25
DIVISION PLACE 62/71 SWIM DIV PLACE 62 SWIM OVR PLACE 1843
SWIM TIME 1:26:44 SWIM 100M PACE 2:17
T1 13:16
BIKE DIV PLACE 69
BIKE OVR PLACE 2119 (I only beat 14 people )
BIKE TIME 8:29:01
BIKE PACE 13.2
T2 8:05
RUN DIV PLACE 50
RUN OVR PLACE 1608
RUN TIME 5:36:22
RUN PACE 12:51

Throw-your-bike-at-me Joanna, Carol Camel and I headed out Thursday night to my parents for an overnight stop on the way to Lake Placid. Upon arrival, we pigged out on Korean food, washed up, got up 6 hours later, and made our way to Placid. As soon as we arrived, we headed straight for registration. Got all my transition/special need bags and then headed back to the our rental on River Road.

At 2, we met up for a Team Z swim. On the way there it absolutely down pours. I see Manu and Joanna take cover in someones car. I think , 'we'll, if they're gonna hop in this random car, so will i'. I hop it, and its EB & Ryan! Haha. THey also were taking cover in the car!

We took a quick picture, and everyone thought it would be funny to take a photo of me wearing everyone’s goggles.

We swam together down the bouy line in Mirror Lake, which is awesome, you don’t have to sight for the entire swim! We were going at a good pace, then 20 minutes in, Joanna, picks up her head. “Whats up Joanna?” She replies “Uh, I just don’t feel like swimming anymore.” That’s cool, because I didn’t feel like either. She and I bob up and down treading water right where we were. Chainmaster Helen soon comes upon us and joins in our tea party, soon after followed by EB. We treat water and laugh and chat for a good 30 minutes? while everyone else swims down and bouy lines and back. We wait for anyone on our team so we can pounce on them. I had the grand idea to pounce on Ryan by hiding behind the bouy, which of course he could totally see us underwater, but for some reason, we didn’t even think about that. Anways, Roy comes by, EB tries to drown him, but instead, he sinks her to the bottom of the lake..

Friday, 7.30, mandatory atheletes meeting..

Ok, fast forward. Saturday, my plan is to do a 20 minute bike and 20 minute run. I do my bike and set out for a run. 5 minutes in, I just don’t feel like running anymore, so I turn around and walk back home. Oh well…

Saturday early evening, team comes over for big BBQ. Coach Ed cooked up meat skewers, corn, it was awesome. We had alittle drama at the bbq, but we don’t have to go there. Anways, I was really upset about it, and cried myself to sleep..

Momma Joanna or rather Throw-your-bike-at-me-Joanna made sure everyone in the MTV house was quiet so that I could sleep. I actually thought everyone else went to town and partied, because I didn’t even hear a peep downstairs..

Race morning. Alarm goes off at 4.15. No biggie, I’m used to waking up this early from swim practice. Wash up and pile into Throw-your-bike-at-me-Joanna’s car, with the other girls.. I drop off my bags to special needs, pump up my bike tires, drop off my water bottles and power bars and make sure my bike computer is working.

Head over to Team Z tent. I see Holly Head First and Jerry Curls waking up. These crazies left DC at like 6, drove up all night and slept outside under the tent. Hardcore.

The morning went by so fast.. Even at this point, it still didn’t hit me that Id be moving and moving for the next 17 hours…

We watch the pro women go off. The girls tell me its time for me to put my wetsuit on. Put my cap on, say bye to the girls.. Actualy, it was a pretty sad moment. All these smiley faces from the girls that I trained with all season.. I was hoping to find Annie and walk into the water with her, but couldn’t find her. They send me off, and I walk into the area that are for athletes only. For an instant, I felt really really alone.
My plan was to swim left of the buoys until I get to the turn around, and then swim on the proper side of the swim course. I got this tip from my friend Dang, who I watched last yr. There is a bunch of us hanging off the peer. Apparently my idea of starting at the pier, to swim on the left side of the buoys, was known by many. There were at least 40 people doing the same as me.

I didn’t even hear the gun go off. I kept looking at my watch and shivering, trying to make small talk with the guys around me.. Suddenly, people start swimming. OMG, I guess the race is starting. Ok, 1 lap at a time..

I didn’t get kicked too bad when the gun went off. My plan was to swim along the buoy line so I wouldn’t have to sight, but I was too far left. I didn’t feel like sighting, so I just swam without looking.. After 5 minutes, I picked my head up and I saw some kayakers trying to push the swimmers over to the right, where the buoys were. The swim course is rectangular, and the swim is counter clock wise.. I was soooo far left of the buoys, I was closer to the left buoy line than the right. The kayakers were pushing us right, probably because they were afraid we’d crash into the pro’s swimming on the way back!

I was warned by Dang that the only time he got kicked was the buoy turn, so I was alittle anxious about this. I started to swim closer to the buoy line, so I could be on the proper side. I started getting kicked. Once right in the goggle. Ouch.

I looked at my watch. 17 minutes and I was almost at the last buoy. I quickly calculated, 20 minutes to go up, which would make an 80 minute swim. Which would give me 9 hours on the bike. I had this weird sensation, “hey alisa, you’re gonna make the bike cut-off”.

Nothing too exciting about the rest of the swim. Between laps, you actually get out of the water. I placed a Gatorade at the swim entrance, so that I could take a swig between laps. I was happy my bottle was there, as I get pretty thirsty while swimming.

I was getting into a groove on the 2nd lap and started to enjoy myself. The best feeling is when you are nearing the shore, you actually see the rocks and plants on the ground, and you know your almost done! I get out of the water, and I see Joanna and the girls cheering for me right at the swim exit! Funny thing, is that Joanna said she wasn’t there, she was at the other side of the swim shute. Oh well. I was seeing things..

Looong run to transition. I knew I forgot to pack a towel in my T1 bag, no biggie. But as I put body glide on, I realized, damn, its not sticking to my wet body. Thanks goodness they had a box of Kleenex on the table. I took my time, I didn’t want to be anxious and forget something. My transition was ridiculously long though, 13+ minutes..

Come out of the changing tent. Yey! There is a volunteer with my bike.. I ended up being of the last 300 or so people out of the water, so there were plenty of volunteers to fetch my bike. And off I go, to the leg of the race that I was most worried about. I saw a few Z’s on my way out of the Olympic oval.. The area to get on your bike is really really narrow. I couldn’t imagine having to hop on my bike with a crowd of people. And there is a hugie bump right after you get on your bike, alittle dangerous. I play with my bike computer to set it to viewing distance. Oh crapers. My computer isn’t picking up anything. I’d have NO idea what my average/current speed was, or my distance.. Oh well..

Im riding along and realize, oh man, my neck is totally aching me. I think I swam with my head alittle to high in the water, and it was totally aching me. I took a tylonel hoping it would go away. I’m not really sure what caused it, perhaps I wasn’t as relaxed in the water.. Anwyas.. im biking biking biking.. And a motorcycle/race support vehicle comes up next to me. Uhoh, did I do something wrong. And I see this chick in sunglass and helmet snapping pictures at me. Its EB!!! OMG! I yell out something like ‘hey crazy girl, how did you get a ride?’ We have alittle chat and then another motorcycle comes up to me. Its Chainmaster Helen! She gives me her usually hang signal sign thing, we chat for a bit and they speed off. I saw them probably 4 more times on the course, it was awesome! I felt like a superstar!

My stomach started to get alittle bloated. I had no idea what to do. I was sticking to my nutrition plan. My first (vain) thought was, o man, my stomach is gogin to look huge in my pictures. I layed off the power bars and continued to drink, and that seemed to do the trick.

On every climb, I got passed by so many bikers. But on the 3 or 5? Mile downhill into Keen, I was zooming past a bunch of folks.. A lot of people were sitting up because they were nervous going too fast. Well, thank goodness for the Skyline practice, I tucked in and zoomed down the hills. I saw Annie on the in-and-out, that was cool. I get to the back side of the bike course, the 10 miles of hills. Holy did it go by slowly. I knew that the second lap feel much much harder than the first, so I was trying to take it easy. The hills felt humungous. I didn’t remember the hills being this big when we did the preview ride a few weeks ago. The climbs right after the out and back I think are the toughest. Not that steep, but just long. I ask the other bikers, ‘was that the bears or the cherrys?’ no one knew what I was talking about. I thought it was the end of the hills (I have bad road memory) only to see a sign on the road that said ‘big cherry’ oh, that’s cool, they mark em. The cherry’s aren’t that bad at all… And then come the bears.. I hear a drum in the distance. Over momma bear, over baby bear and I see this huge crowd on the top of poppa bear! It was soo fun seeing all those people, ( I think its Tri-Life) I hardly felt the uphill. Get to the top, and there’s a turn the eventually takes you into town. One more small sorta steepish hill and then I’m cruising down into down. I was SOO excited about getting to Special Needs. I packed Chicken Teriyaki (cooked the night before, then frozen, and put into this cute little cooler I bought just to put in my special needs) and I was soo excited to eat it. (and yes, I did practice this!).. I noticed that on the long training rides, I felt worn out, until I ate a hamburger or chicken sandwich, so I decided that a piece of chicken halfway through the bike would be a good idea. I throw my precious chicken teriyaki into my hugie bento box (thanks Jill!) and a few more power bars and Im off. First lap was about 4 hours and I kept thinking.. awesome, I have just under 5 hours for the next lap.
I ride to the far side of the Olympic oval, over the timing mat, and I hit a big bump and I hear something fall on the ground. Didn’t think much of it at the moment..

Get onto the course, oh man, the wind picked up. There was like zero in the morning, it seemed it was going maybe 5 or 10 miles an hour.. I reach into my bento box for my special chicken.. its not there.. omg. I didn’t close my bento box. My chicken fell out.. I was crushed. Id dropped a lot of stuff on the course that day. One arm warmer, glide, water bottle fell out of the cage.. But I was in denial that my chicken fell out.. I pat down all 3 of my pockets on my jersey ( my mom sewed 2 more pockets in the team z jersey). No chicken. I got over it pretty fast though.

My neck was really hurting at this point. I settled into my aerobars and biked without looking up. I figured, there were no bikers even in sight, and the roads were closed on the right side of the lane, so I’ll just bike without looking..

The out and back felt forever.. I was worried about the last 10 miles of hills, but it hurt about the same as the first loop, which was good, bc I thought it would hurt a lot more..
I pass through Team Z alley, they were screaming so loud, horns blowing like crazy, I felt like a superstar. I yelled back “I’m making the bike cut off!”

Get to transition and I see all the girls there. Our team had volunteered to get the bikes from the racers and rerack them. Later, Carol Camel told me, all 10? or so of the team Z girls that were volunteering stopped working for 20 minutes or so, because they didn’t want to miss me coming in! Camel said “well, knowing my luck, I’l be all the way on the other side of the oval/transition, and you would come in at that moment” Oh man, my friends are awesome.. It was so funny, they were all lined up at the entrance of transition, all screaming at the same time, I had no idea what they were saying. I started screaming, and then I REALLY couldn’t hear what they were saying. Pam grabbed my bike and we had a few seconds of tug-of-war. Hhaa. I didn’t realize that I was supposed to let go and give her my bike, I was so happy to make the bike cut off, I just clutched at my bike and screamed my head off with no sense of what I was supposed to be doing. I wish I had a picture of that. It was sooo funny. I ran to get my T2 bag and change in the tent.

Get my running stuff on and run out onto the course. Sucked down a GU. Oh man, didn’t go down too well. My stomach felt a bit off. This is what I get for making fun of Kim Larson.

Decided to eat stuff on the course, pretzels, chicken broth. I was nervous about this, but ended up being a good move. Man, nutrition at this point in the race is soo tricky. You just don’t train for a whole day of biking and swimming and eating 8 power bars, 10 bottles of Gatorade, who knows what your stomach will be like?!
There are 2 ridiculous hills right near town. I start jogging lightly and I hit the downhill. Most of the people were jogging it slowly, basically putting the brakes on, to avoid tumbling down the hill. I thought back to the Team Z run clinic, of leaning forward, letting the gravity pull you. I remember Ed saying something like , “you’re legs will keep going, you wont fall flat on your face. Think about it, we spend most of our time upright, you’re legs wont give out on you.” So I lean forward and let the hill take me. I ran down the hill so freaking fast. The spectators were shouting, “great pace.” I wanted to shout back, “ I’m not in control of my legs right now!” I prayed that I wouldn’t fall flat on my face, it’s a pretty steep down hill. ..

I pass the horse show grounds, and I knew that I was about to pass our rental, with DJ and Carolyn, Dang and Lisa probably working the aid station. I see them, quick hugs and run along. I couldn’t believe it, but my legs felt great! During the Lake Anna ½ iron, I never got my legs back, and I was worried that id have spaghetti legs for the entire marathon of the ironman. I felt great! I told myself that I would run the first loop (except for the hills) and walk the 2nd. Out and back and back into town.. I see Chris Sexy Legs Wren. I see a couple of girls screaming on the side of the rode, and someone does this cheerleading kick in the air. Omg, its Jenny gun-in-the-bento-box Banks doing cheerleading moves on the side of the road, with Kim I hate Gu larson. It was awesome to see them! proceed into town..

I see the Team Z tent. Holy cow, they were going crazy!! Team Z green on both sides of the run course, I slap everyones hands, im screaming, they’re screaming. It was great! Roy runs with me to special needs, snapping pictures.

Special needs.. Ah.. I put Campbells chicken and rice soup on my special needs bag. It was one of those cans with a soda top pull off thing. I grabbed that and my spoon and I was off again. I walked while I ate my soup, omg, it was soo good. I didn’t want to eat too much to give myself a cramp. The next aid station just happned to be about ¼ away, so I walked through the station eating my soup. The volunteers laughed at me, saying ‘hey, were comes campbells chuncky noodles.’ Well, actually , it was rice. Anywas.. still felt good, and continued to run..

On the way back out of town, I see a small sign that says “No walk zone” and these guys on the side of the road. I walk up that way, and they yell ‘no walk’ and I yell back ‘No fair, it’s a hill!’ I continue to walk and they start screaming even louder. Omg. I better run or they’ll come after me..

Went through town again, past the horse show grounds, and I see this person jumping up and down with a halo. Is it.. is it.. an AngelZ??? Haha, chainmaster HH and EB!! I was soo happy to see them. We chatted and I told them I felt great.. we went out to the turn around, EB told me she left me an ‘inspiration note” that displayed on a megatron thing when you ran through a mat that scanned the chip we had on. It said “1999, there are cute boys ahead, run faster” or something like that. Apparently, a bunch of pepele from Team Z left me inspirational notes, but I think they only allowed 1 per racer, so the others got overwritten. I had about 6 miles left. I wasn’t so much as tired, but just wanted to stop moving. I made a stop through the porto potty. I sat down, and had a weird sensation that I was still moving. I thought about how Jess Adelman, the year before, fell out of the porto potty with her shorts down. And had a chuckle. Off again, running with EB & HH. They encouraged me to run when I could. Thank goodness, bc I would have been on the run course for another hour, mentally, I just didn’t feel like running, even though my legs felt relatively good. We chatted, we laughed. We come upon a girl that just started walking. EB says, “hey, u wanna run w us?” and I think that’s just what she needed. She picked it up and chatted with us. Apparently, shes Chainmasters’ twin. They have the same name, and are both getting married next month.

I had a good time for the remainder of the run. We laughed, walked the hills, ran/shuffled into town. I was soo grateful to have EB & HH running with me. While the other runners were suffering for their last miles, we were gossiping and laughing, just like our training runs and bikes. It was great..

I see the sign again “No walk zone” this time its unmanned. Whew. And I see another sign 5 feet after, “Proceed to walk zone” hahha..

Back through Team Z alley. Tons of screaming. I felt like I was famous or something. My new friend, Helen, was shocked at all the people screaming for me. Haha..

EB & HH drop me off, to do the out and back, before the finish, on my own. EB said, its somewhat of a personal time. And its true. Its like.. the corner just before you realize its ALL done. Just before you become an ironman. Helen and I walk to the end of the out and back, and she says ‘its kind of my dream to run the last mile’ ok I say, lets do it. and we do. Back to transition, around the oval, and I hear people at the finish line screaming..

I let her run in first, and then its my turn! I throw my arms in the air and scream as loud as I can! A volunteer leads me through the chute. I see a video camera there, and who’s behind it, Coach Ed! I give him a hugie hugie hug. Roy is there taking shots too, give him a hugie hug. How the heck did they get back there!? I was just thinking of pizza, and what do you know, there is pizza for the finishers. I sit down with the girls, pamzee, camel, EB, HH, manu, and the rumseys for some pizza. Get a quick massage, which was more like a rubbing.. stiff legs.. Joanna gets me back to the car, back to our rental house.. and I sleep soundly…

I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and I hear dang and lisa shuffling around in their room. Rachel, there 10 month old, was screaming all night and they decide to leave (its 5am) so to not wake up the house. I sleep in their bed (its king!)..

I awake the next morning to EB’s smiling face and carol? Joannas? Worried face. They were looking all over for me that morning, bc I wasn’t in my bed.. as promised, EB was over at 7am, to come with me to buy some finishers gear.. We went down and arrived just as it opened. I spent $450 worth of finishers gear, yap, the same price as signing up for next yr, but this was much better spent.

We get back and then Joanna, pamzee, camel and I head back home.. what a weekend..

It ended up that while joanna was volunteering, one of the racers just threw his bike at her, it cut up her leg, and she had to go to medical tent to get stitches! She was limping for the rest of the weekend. we both were walking around like gimps on Monday.

So now its Thursday, 4 days later. Its been a busy week, and it hasn’t quite sunk in. I’m an ironman! All that training in the past yr, paid off. Trust in the training, that’s what Coach Ed said. And he was totally right..

Will I ever do another Ironman? I doubt it. I had a perfect perfect day. My friends that I trained with, were all out there. They ran with me, encouraged me, laughed with me. The weather was fantastic, and I felt great for the whole race.
When I looked back at the results. There were only 14 finishers than biked slower than me. Haha. oh well. Im not much of a climber. But, I’m still an IRONMAN!

colonial beach

2007-07-16T17:56:00.000-07:00

Colonial Beach

I did the bike part of the relay. our team did pretty well. out of 10 teams, we got 3nd place. no thanks to my slow biking tho. kitty got out of the water so fast, and mike ran a ridiculous 6 something mile pace i .

Results:
Team - I Like Cheese!!
Swim Rank 2 Time 14:52.15
Bike Rank 9 Time 1.20 Rate 18.4
Run Rank 1 Time 38:27.15 Pace 6:25/M

swim startin

in transition, waiting for our swimmers to come..

the usual team z crowd
kona stacy, EB and sexy back

leaving in 4 days! omg

2007-07-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

ironman is in 6 days. bad timing for a re-emergence of my drinking and feeding problem. also accompanied by an inability to tear myself away from wathcing tour de france. in fact, instead of doing my little 30 min run for today, i am drinking wine and wathcing rerun of the tour from yesterday. i like watching the replay of the guy going over the road barrier thing, isnt that terrible?

so, getting last minute logistics down for IMLP. helen set up a carpool database, that just cracks me up for some reason. i took a screenshot.

weather forecast for sunday says 76 high, 51 low. showers for sat. boo.

count down....

2007-07-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

9 days.. well, weather.com will forecast the weather 10 days out..
Partly Cloudy, high 76 low 52. hm. alittle warm for my liking.. global warming stinks.

we got our numbers yesterday. I'm 1999. just like the song (thanks helen!)
you can track me at
http://www.ironmanlive.com/ironmanlive

people keep asking me if im ready or if im excited. i think it hasnt hit me yet because i've been suffering post partum CDA ironman.. maybe while im driving up it'll hit me that im goig to be participating in a 17hour race next sunday.

oh, here's my goals, in order of importance

1. make the bike cut off
2. make the bike cut off
3. make the bike cut off
4. finish before midnight
5. not to end up in the hospital
6. no mental break down .. maybe i should have chocolate in my bento box
7. no stomach problems
8. not to get kicked in the face during the swim
9. have fun
10. for my friends to have fun
11. no dogs chasing me
12. to make a boyfriend during the race
13. to make 2 boyfriends during the race, one on each arm, just like Jen Stewart did at CDA
14. to have 3 guys following me, and beat Jen at making boyfriends on the race course

oh, i had another sortof, but not really, funny conversation

thisguythatalwayssaysthewrongthingtome: hey, want a piece of candy?
alisa: yea! gimme candy!
(thisguythatalwayssaysthewrongthingtome drops it on the floor)
thisguythatalwayssaysthewrongthingtome: oops. well, hey, you eat things from the floor, just eat that one

if you see me on the race course, and it doesnt seem like im goign to make the bike cut off, feel free to scream things like 'pedal your fatt ass faster'.. i actually get motivated by things like that

some random photos for those that dont read text

boston marathon, 2003.. i was so burned out after this, i didnt run for a WHOLE year..

my favourite beaver in arusha, just before we slaughter the poor things :(

ngorongoro crater, tanzania

team z 4th july party

2007-07-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

Oops. actually, i only took 1 picture, of our favourite kickball player..

Coach Brian fell asleep on the couch, probably bc of the morphine he was on from surgery the day before. doesnt he look so peacefuL? we swapped out the beer that he was tightly grasping in his slumber, with this bear/rabbit

Lake Placid Course Preview

2007-07-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

Epic Weekend II

Not quite as EPIC as Epic Weekend I, at least in terms of volume, but was still an epic training weekend..

Dj & Carolyn opened there house up to us, again, so we spent the weekend doing the usual, biking, swimming, running, with some hot tubing and drinking :)

alittle strange not riding with the usually angelZ, but i discovered this weekend, that annie is hilarious and has had a crazy life that included or rather not included hot water, plumping growing up.. manuela likes to swing on branches and do the tarzan aoohhoooo..

me, annie, manu, we did 2 loops of the IM course.. all was well during the 1st loop, and i quite enjoyed our special needs 45 min break between loops.. hills definitely felt harder the 2nd time around, but i was looking forward to singing my song at mile 80. annie was none to thrilled with my singing and dropped me and manu for hte last 30 miles.. so it finally occured to me, maybe thats why the AngelZ always finish last, bc our noise makes everyone else bike faster to get away from us? hmmmm..

well, taper time from here. thank goodness. im burned out

im going to retire in 3 weeks unless...

2007-07-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

aloisus wrote:

Anyone doing Colonial Beach? Yes, I'm thinking of doing it.

Joanna

Alisa Rhee wrote:

is colonial beach in august? the only thing getting me out of triathlon retirement is if a VERY hot guy asks me to do colonial with him.. or maybe if all the angelZ do it too :)

aloisus wrote:

No, Colonial Beach is the weekend before Placid so you're not doing it. :)

We can arrange for a very HOT guy to ask you to do a tri.

J-

Helen wrote:

Love, Mike Phelps

IMCDA 2007

2007-06-26T11:26:00.000-07:00

omg, i cant stop crying..

2007-06-21T17:51:00.000-07:00

i just read helen's entry right before she left for IMCDA..

http://ironhelen.blogspot.com/2007/06/my-ironman-usa-2006-race-report.html

it is a journey.. and i know.. whether i make the bike cut off or not.. its about the journey, the great friends i made, the shared tears, the hugs, seeing my teamates all over the race course, cheering each other on, the encouragement...

some of my favourite moments this season

black hills, after taking the short cut, which really only shortened the ride by 5 miles, and Ed made us shorten the ride bc he said by the time we finished the entire ride, it'll be dark.. and helen almost fought him on this, bc she wanted to do 70 miles.. anwyas.. EB sagging for us.. and then drafting off her car to the finish.. blasting "Are you strong enough?" which made us all cry because we didnt feel so strong
alisa: girls, so im thinking about crying (this was at mile 30 of 70 mile bike ride)
eb: alisa, that is totally acceptable to do during ironman training
alisa: (starts crying.. and cant stop.. until matt brings us chocolate)
river crossing at black hills.. seeing johanna fog up her biking rain jacket, bc she was so cold and she had to cross the river twice
crashing into helen. at mile 4.6. how do i know that? bc my odometer stopped working after that..
watering the apple blossoms.. picture 10 girls.. all at the same time.. linda ops for butt out, but i like butt in.. then you can see whats around you. but she had a good point, you could wind up with poison ivy in a very uncomfortable place
having a very long coffee w EB after one swim practice
having a very coherent conversation about our s*x lives (or lack thereof), between 10x50 swim sets
sitting in the whirl pool with Pamzee, after a tough swim workout
being chased by carl, the rotweiler
doing the last loop of a 100 mile ride backwards, so we could scream out at the Z'ers going in the opposite direction. doesnt sound so funy, but if you were there, youd think it was
laughing until my stomach hurt and i couldnt breath and i thought id fall off my bike... which happend on pretty much every bike ride
alisa: hey girls, 'would you rather' eat another power bar right now, or a bowl of grass
girls: omg, id rather eat a bowl of grass.. ive already had 10 power bars
stopping at mile 110 of the 120 ride.. it was 100 degrees.. i insisted on stopping, bc i saw roy's car and wanted to complain.. helen gets off the bike 'omg, i feel sick, omg i feel sick, omg im motion sick' .. 'helen, go over there and throw up on those flowers' she doesnt through up, we pluck the lillies that she almost threw up on, and put then in our helmets so we looked like we had horns.. helen had her hair sticking out at all angles, as were the flowers. i think it ws the funniest thing i ever saw
singing 'this is the ride that never ends' with all the girls
at lake anna preview, while i only meant to ride 3 loops of 75, did another, just so i could sing my 'this is the ride that never ends' because helen wouldnt let me sing it on *their* 3rd loop, it was only ok to sing on the last loop
the naming of carol camel
gossiping in depth and imagination, about every guy on our team..
playing dirty games on the rides.. hehhee..
dating briefs from marlene
hitting meagans wheel, on my very first bike ride, falling off my bike, jill ran over my head, she flew off her bike, i think talia ran me over too, and thinking.. holy moly, this is the start of ironman training...
when i first got my speedplays, practicing onthe trainer for over an hour, to get it on and off.. and couldnt get them on.. and coudlnt believe that i was goign to do an ironman and not be able to get my feet clipped in.. then crying..

waiting to go to CDA

2007-06-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

so.. the rest of the team is off to Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, and I'm flying out there tomorrow.. I just saw Jerry's website and saw his pictures of packet pickup and Ironman logo everywhere. im so excited to meet the rest of the team out there.. excited .. and sad.. that we've been training so hard and now its almost over..

It's strange, I've been training with the same girls, basically since January.. I havent seen them in 4 days, and I'm getting way sentimental.. im so sad, i feel like my dog just died or something.. My friends Joanna, aka Alisa, EB, Double Chain master Helen, Pamzee, Linda Evangelista, marlene, carol camel, jess adelmen.. I'm pretty burned out from the training, and i promised myself, if i finish, i would never ever do another ironman, but when i think how much i miss the girls, i mite think otherwise july 23 morning.. i told EB to hold me back and not let me sign up for IMLP next year..

so i bought a mini pharmacy yesterday, bc i want to run in all my Angelzzz and make sure they're comfortable.. electrolytes, combos, bandaids, acetemenophin, tums, chap stick, you name it, i'll be brining it along.. im going to bawl watching them all cross the finish..

as for me.. whats our workouts now for Ironman Lake Placid?? Well, its peak week next week.. last long ride..

Monday - 60 min zone 2
Lift upper body
Tuesday - 90 min swim
bike 65 hilly
Wed - run 6x1200
lift lower body
Thurs - swim 60 min
Bike 60 min zone 2
Friday off
Saturday - bike 120
Sunday - swim 2.5
run 3 hours

whew.. and then we'll be at taper! wahoo..

You know you've been training w team z for too long if...

2007-06-15T18:41:00.000-07:00

You running buddies want to get our 14 mile run in at 4.30 am on Friday (which means waking at 4), so Sunday we can watch our friends do an 1/2 Ironman. They *reluctantly* push back run start at 5am (wake up time 4.30am) because Alisa is whining that she doesnt want to wake up before 4.30 for the 3rd time that week, for a Team Z workout
Pay your bills on recovery weeks
Biking 4 centuries in 2 months is a piece of cake
Ask our friends to have their wedding on a Saturday, so we dont miss the long bike rides on Sundays
Spent thanksgiving, new years, mother's day, father's day, independence day, memorial day, presidents day with the team. Oh wait. spend EVERY weekend with the team
Alternate a pint of beer with 2 glasses of water, just to be properly hydrated
Goes to see Kerri Kramer 2x a week for your ankle, foot, hip, AND neck injuries accumulated through the season
More likely to check out a guy's bike, before you check out the guy, as he rides by
Sleep at 9pm on weekends
Eating 4000 calories in one day is normal
you think that biking on the W&OD is for wimps
the only thing hanging on your work cubicle is Team z monthly workout, team z ride location sheet, team z bumper sticker, and a picture of the girls you bike with
you 've come to expect, (along with the regualr power bars, gatorade, water) candy, chocolate, twizzlers, blasting music and funny signs on your long rides
you've come to expect rotweilers on the bike rides and dooleys (sp?)
when you see pure bikers whizzing by, and you think 'well, they obviously arent training in the proper heart rate zone'
you own alot of ski gear even though you dont ski.. nothing like ski mittens for those january bike rides, neck gators to keep the chill out..
you go to a party (team z of course, because you have no social life outside of it) and it starts at 6pm and party is over by 9pm because we have to get up to bike at 5.30am the next day
you make jokes about getting your heart rate to zone 10 and everyone thinks its funny
you've gone to ken merky numurous times to get your V02 max test. you then become a slave to your heart rate monitor and walk your bike up the hills to stay in zone2

funny convo

2007-06-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

heres a funny conversation i had over instant messenger today:

alisa: all the good guys my age are taken already
myguyfriendthatissingle: yea, only us retards are left

angelzzzzzzzzzzz

2007-06-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

Angelzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.. I love this picture.. i love this pictures, bc these are the girls that I rode with all season, and i really really could not have done all this training without them.

i also like this picture bc my pretty bike is in the middle, and the gatorade in my aero bottle matches my bike :)

Where did 'angels' come from? The trio of girls and 1 lucky boy that rode together last season.. And then it grew to 9 of us gals this year.. Helen designed the shirts, Marlene somehow put them on.. I think Jerry mistook us for Victoria secret angels.. that sounds fine to me too.. Missing from this photo :( Pamzee and Joanna (aka Alisa)

as for ride report, nothing too significant to post about. i got poison ivy from prancing around in the woods. that seriously sucked.. oh, i also cried at the end of the ride.. it was so hot. the next day we were swiming 2 miles then running 3 hours.. and i knew that id have to do this all again in a few weeks. i just cried.. like the.. my shoulders are heaving up and down, snot running down my face, crying...

This is really funny

2007-06-08T15:14:00.000-07:00

im *realy* not a fan of youtube, but this clip is sooooooooooooooooooooo funny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bK63uSTTNs

Some pictures i stole from helen...

2007-06-05T19:03:00.001-07:00

Some pictures I stole from helen's blog..

Some people call this picture Team Z Ironman CDA team, but I like to call it Team Z Ironman 2007 team :) Although, I am the only person in the picture doing Lake Placid..

This is a photo of Team Z Ironman Lake Placid 2006, at the swim start. This picture makes me cry for some reason. . I just wish Id have my girls with me, when I'm panicking at the swim start. Ok, Annie, Kate, you guys may have to hold my hands and calm me down..

Me and Helen @ Covered Bridges

So what now???

2007-06-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

Peak weekend is over for the team.. but not for me, Annie, and my MIT triathlon club buddy Kate.

We've still got 2 120miles left.. A course preview... I need some inspiration.... I'm still tired from last weekend. 120 is 100 degree weather. lost some fluids and some sanity that day.

Oh, best quote from last weekend, "Well girls, you know that the bigger the bento box, the smaller the.. bento" Oh.. classic..

Triathlon Season '06

2007-06-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

..which really only comprised of 2 races. 1 Sprint 1 oly

My first race was in Hyannis, Cape Cod. The waves were kinda crazy, swim was shortened to 1/8 mile.. and I was still pooped when I got out.. My dad and my sister also did it with me, since it was the day after graduation. All in all, successful day, we didnt sleep much, since i realized at 8pm the night before that we have to get up at 3.30am to get to the race. Oops.. OH, I lost my racing chip. So I got a big fat DNF. Poo. But i think i was pretty fast :)

New York City Triathlon

here's my stats:

104 Alisa Rhee 27 Freehold NJ

Swim 24.37

T1 7.59

Bike 1:34:52

T2 2:42

Run 53:58

Total 3:04:06

There was major current in the water (yap, hudson river) and the trash floating at 10 knots per mile made it obvious that once in the water with our buoyant wetsuits, we'd be moving pretty fast. My swim.. kinda sucked. I cant swim straight. And I was tired ater 400 m. Thank goodness, since then I've had alot more experience with open water..

Some pictures from workouts.. and around..

2007-06-04T13:20:00.001-07:00

Ride reports..

2007-06-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

March 4 Middleburg 60 miles..

Alisa wrote…
hi gals!
thanks for the company on sun, that was really fun ! :) i gotta say, this ironman training is so much more fun than i expected. thanks for waiting for my 5x potty breaks. btw, it was me that wanted to cry. haha, not johana.
im looking forward to the next long ride!!
alisa

Jessica_Adelman wrote:
How could I forget the freaky peeper who lived in a house that wasactually built for either a Great Dane or St. Bernard?BTW - I got home and late at night I was complaining about being in painfrom the ride. Doug asked what hurt. I replied, "My throat fromyodeling. Also, I sang so loud at some point I gave myself a headache.My shoulder -- I might have been bike dancing. And my toes from clompingaround in some mud on some farm in Middleburg." He replied, "You realizethat none of those injuries have ANYTHING to do with riding a bike???" Tee hee. We just do it our OWN way...

From: Honeywell, Helen
You ladies were all so inspiring!!!I need to also add to the list below, let's not forget the peeping tomsat the rest stop. I don't think I have ever been busted so many timesfor squatting. Sorry to anyone who had to listen to my tone deaf singing. Ahhhhh yes - and new lyrics: "do you take bones? One rib or two?!?!?"(Jess - I am still cracking up to this one - that's bad). Pam - thank you for the high fives and the power bar :) Your enthusiasmto so awesome!Hugs! Helen

From: Jessica_Adelman

Some of my favorite quotes/things from yesterday...-Alisa, around mile 45: "So, I'm thinking about crying..."-The Wooly Mammoth carcass-The bloodstain that went for like 50 feet, deemed the Water BuffaloRoadkill (ok - this is getting gross...sorry) -Drafting in a little bluecho-cho train of Angels -Hearing about Bachelors 1-3 from Marlene-Susan, Helen and I getting busted at what seemed like the perfect peestop -Singing a new version of "Barbara Ann" to the cows, that went likethis: Cows, cows, cows...cows, cows, cows, cows....-Knowing Pamochka was there and all of the great jumping around she didfor us, especially that last stop when she then drove behind us thewhole way home -Hearing the girly squeals of "eeeeeeeeeekkkk" when areally strong crosswind would hit us, and we all felt like we might blowaway (and, well - we are SOOOO petite and thin that it COULD happen)-The amazingly strong -- both mentally AND physically -- women I havethe privilege to ride with and know!Rock on sistahs - Big hugs, JCA

April 8 Skyline substitute.. Black Hills, 90 miles.. and the hillsy were black and many…

On 4/9/07, Barton, Elizabeth wrote:

Hi All,

I just felt obliged to write a ride report this week as tears and hilarity ensued!!

We started the ride feeling cold but pretty good. Sometime after crossing the water our feet went numb but it was worth it getting to see Jeff Dyer cross the river while on his bike. Way too soon in the ride (around mile 20) Helen taught Alisa the "Ride that Never Ends" song. Alisa continues to sing this even after being warned it was way too early for this song to be sung.

After the first loop it occurred to me that my lack of motivation that has dogged me through the past week was sneaking into this ride and I was tired, hungry and pretty much over "it." Somewhere around mile 40 and I found Matt and said "take me to the parking lot I'm going to Dunkin Donuts." But it was after he kindly recognized a woman who was clearly done and on a mission to find a Dunkin Donuts that the tears and hilarity started.

Picture 5 ladies on the side of the road taking a very cold restroom break. Johanna was recovering from being lost and visibly shaking from the cold. Alisa had said about 10 mile back she was going to cry and Helen reminded her that was perfectly acceptable and expected while training for IM. Alisa proceeded to tell everyone she was going to cry then burst into sobs. All the women immediately went to her asking how are you? Is it the ride? Is it the boy? Alisa sobbed, "It's everything and then tomorrow is Monday!!" Hugs and kisses later Matt stood being the only man and not knowing what to do so he said, "want a Peep?" "I have Peeps." He then showed us how to put them on our top tube.

Part 2 by Helen and Joanna

We were lucky to have Carol Camel Carol Camel ("she doesn't drink, she doesn't pee" – that her tag line) on the second part of the ride. In pure angel fashion though we made frequent pee stops and made sure she drank up. The 4 of us found ourselves being chased by a Rottweiler at some point and it bite my leg and chewed off Alisa's shoe. Okay, maybe not, but it came close. Joanna and Carol were simultaneously being chased by the owner, who exclaimed, "don't STOP! HE'LL HURT YOU!!!" – or so we all though we heard so we kicked it up zone 10 and got the hell out of there. It took us a little bit to recover from that and at the next point we saw -------. I almost --- we needed to keep him on our side as he had the peeps and Godiva. We were informed around mile 50 or so that most all teammates were dropping like flies and being picked up due to the hills, wind and cold, but we made the decision to carry on and finish this ride. Ed even caught us at one point to tell us at mile 66 we would be given a secret cue sheet that would magically transport us back to the cars 10 miles away. When we got to "mile 66" – it was more like mile 73 thanks to all the rerouting. Carol Camel decided that mile 73 was good enough for her OLY schedule training (she rocked!!!) and she and EB decided to lead the remaining crazies in the beauty parlor vehicle for the last 10 miles. I think I cried the entire way back in – if you couldn't tell. The song "Are you strong enough" by Cher broke me. When we came in I was greeted with a big hug from Susan, who I tried to strangle, but decided not in public. Roadkill side note – this ride had NOTHING. It wasn't until the last 5 miles I think that I saw the rib cage of a deer. Who know though – it could have been the other Dyer brother.

From: aloisus
Hi there-

So far the report is reading well. What you're missing is the CARL incident - the massive Rottweiler chasing after Helen and Alisa.

I was riding behind them and saw Carl playing in the front yard with his owner. Carl had a stuffed toy in his mouth. Carl saw Helen and Alisa ride by and IMMEDIATELY dropped the toy and ran after Helen and Alisa. Carl's owner proceeded to yell his name. She called his name over and over again until she was SCREAMING at the top of her lungs. This whole time I was praying that Helen and Alisa would just keep riding and make it up the hill. The owner also screamed something like "Just stop riding. He won't hurt you" but I couldn't swear to that in court. Because Carol thought she said "he'll hurt you". Luckily Helen and Alisa made it to the top of the hill, looking calm and collected. I could have sworn that they never even knew about Carl, the way they kept riding up that hill. In the meantime, Carl turned around and started riding towards Carol and I. A thousand thoughts went through my mind about what to do and how maybe I should start riding with my gun, but luckily the owner finally caught up to Carl. A side note: If you're going to have a big-a## Rottweiler, I sure hope you can run better than this woman could.

Alisa will have to tell her story about the nickname of Carol AKA Carol Camel.

There was also random laughter, lots of singing and great people (Matt, Pam, EB) who stopped to feed us Peeps, chocolate and pretzel combos. ;) I was very sad that my Peeps did not make it the whole ride. It dissolved and fell off!

IMHO, this ride(now that the hell is over) was fantastic. It just made me confident that I'll be able to tackle that CDA course. After all, unless Idaho experiences a sudden winter storm, it should be easy compared to that.

Thanks for being there to share my misery and to raise my spirits.

Joann

From Honeywell, Helen
Where do I begin? Saturday Ed made us run 4 times around the treacherous Burke lake which was covered is snow. It was pretty, but cold and I think running in circles makes you go a little batty. It was there that I discovered our very own ----- is a real life spy and I am thinking he can not be trusted. Nonetheless, in true Ed fashion we had back to back meetings and clinics that we all re-routed last minute. God know how or why, but I drive around Burke for an hour lost (I swear someone moved PRR) only to catch the tail end of one clinic and then I was off to search out another longwinded Team Z meeting regarding the magazine. I think I got home at 4, bitched and moaned to Noah for an hour and then passed out o the couch. I missed our Angel Jessica’s party (and I feel like crap about it, but somehow I think she might know what Ironman training does to you and may forgive me). After sending EB secret notes via text messaging, we decided to meet as late as possible at a top secret located to carpool for Sunday’s ride. I arrived fashionably late and yet we still managed to arrive to ride early. EB’s truck doubles as a beauty parlor and dressing room if you all didn’t know that already. It took guts to get out and start that ride. We were dissed right off the bat by----, and from our discovery the day before, I think he should be renamed -----. Exiting that park was painful, as Susan through at us with hill after hill and I am sorry, but what the hell – I was in my last granny ring and standing up like lance Armstrong trying to make it our alive. Team Z soon spread out as the carnage was left behind (Alisa, EB and me) but we were all soon reunited as everyone came to a screaming halt at the bottom of some 5 miles screaming gravel road decent. It WAS A FREAKING RIVER. Okay maybe it was just a big creek, but SUSAN!!!!!! Come on!! One by one the team struggled to get across and one Dyer brother actually attempted to ride across but fell over. I think he may have frozen to death because he was never sited again. Soon after that the mini angel trio were playing naughty guessing games and we were led in to victory by Brian Hain as we sang “This is the ride that never ends”. We didn’t like thinking of him as the sag-mobile, but more like the vehicle pulling in us top three female finishers at a race. That was the 30 mile loop. When we headed out for the next expedition, there were some new routes that had to be given to us verbally so we could avoid Susan’s river of death again. When we got to each location we were handed new cue sheets or verbal directions and I began to think we were not on Team Z but the Amazing Race. At about mile 40, EB decided she couldn’t bear to ride in the 20 mph wind gusts and mountains (or were they walls?) and wanted to hitch a ride with the Easter Bunny Matt Wolf - he sagged this ride complete with Jelly beans and Godiva chocolates and it is a good thing. As EB announced she wasn’t continuing on, Alisa broke down. Truly we should reenact this for you all live, but as Alisa was crying her heart out and EB and I consoled her, EB says “is it the training? Is it the guy? Is it the ride? Oh Alisa what it is?” Matt confesses to us the obvious- he’s a guy, he scared, doesn’t know what is happening and doesn’t know what to do. “It’s EVERYTHING!!! It’s the guy. It’s the training…and…and ….tomorrow’s Monday!!!!” – Matt comes back “I don’t. What about a peep???” It put a smile on everyone’s face and we all threw out our nutrition and food and mashed extra Peeps to our bike frames for the ride. That was classic. Around that time Susan drops off Joanna with us and explains that Joanna was forced to come back again through that river from the previous ride. Joanna was shivering and soaking wet – she said it was from the sweat, but I think it was from the river. We were lucky to have her and we collected 4th rider, Carol Camel (“she doesn’t drink, she doesn’t pee” – that her tag line). In pure angel fashion though we made frequent pee stops and made sure she drank up. The 4 of us found ourselves being chased by a rotweiler at some point and it bite my leg and chewed off Alisa’s shoe. Okay, maybe not, but it came close.

Roadkill side note – this ride had NOTHING. It wasn’t until the last 5 miles I think that I saw the rib cage of a deer. Who know though – it could have been the other Dyer brother.

This ride was hard. I should not compare it, but to give you an idea – the conditions were worse than that Gainesville ride a few weeks ago and it felt much more physically demanding than SkyMass. I can’t believe we did it. When I got home at 7:30 p.m., Noah ran out and bought me ice cream ;) YEaaaaaaaaaa.

I’m excited to read everyone else’s reports.

PS if I send this to Joanna and Carol Camel, will I scare them away?

April 15 Lake Anna Preview 100 miles
From: Alisa Rhee
jess, marlene, u guys missed another epic ride..
100 miles.. in the rain...
im trying to think of other highlights besides Chainmaster double H's.
oh, the produce aisle in my bento box.. yap, there were so many peopel out there in SAG with candy and other goodies, i actually came back with more food on my bike, than i left in the morning..
i think bringin extra food for the wild dogs is a good idea.. so are the twizzlers..
and maybe a sign on matt s car that says, 'dont cry wolf, you're not saggy'
oh, i finally washed my biking gloves that i spilled gatorade on... and the gatorate doesnt come out.. alittle scary.. i think its the overdose of gatorade that makes us batty and make fun of people when we hit ~mile 80..
"Honeywell, Helen" wrote:
We missed you!!! And speedy Pam!!! Did you girls have motors on those bikes? We got awfully goofy at the end of our ride and came up with nick names for many of our teammates ;0) ----- and Matt 'Don't Cry' Wolf are my favs. ----became ----(as confirmed by ---) and then we renamed him Marky Mark. Speaking of Marky Mark, I have loaded "good vibrations" and Dee Lite's "groove is on the heart"to my itunes- EB - we're having a dance off. We'll have to fill you in on Bill and Bob - but don't mix them up . Alisa almost stopped after the third loop, but changed her mind when we told her we couldn't continue unless she sang to us the song that doesn't end. Yes, it goes on and on and on and on and on and on my friend. I have decided to carry steak and t-bones next week during the race to feed the wild pitbull and I think Jill is wearing her wetsuit. -Chainmaster Double H

May 6 Apple Blossoms 110 miles

From: Barton, Elizabeth Subject: RE: how did it go ?
I second the "best Charlie" award for Roy. He was AMAZING!!

We survived a swarm of bees and -------club him like a baby seal.

Alisa had her first, "how am I going to run a marathon after this" moment. It was truly special.

As we watered the apple trees we sang the hills are alive with the sound of music and would have frolicked if it were not for the bike shoes. Which brings me to poor Jill. How did you do that!! Jill rode in Barbie bike shoes~she gets the stud award.

Missed you and hope you come back soon!!

EB

From: Alisa Rhee
Subject: RE: how did it go ?
i think roy gets the 'best charlie' award.. he came with smiles and inspirational signs.. linda gets the 'has the best husband' award! :)

i dont think Chainmaster helen almost murdered me.. more like.. we were turning around from a wrong turn, and i m trying to turn, i see helen turn around, but for some reason, my feet dont register that i have to get my shoes out... so, i start yellin g 'helen helen' bc thats the only thing i saw.. if it was a fence, id be screaming 'fence fense' as i crashed into it.. so yea, i crashed into helen.. fell on the floor, with my red gatorate spilling everywhere.. and poor helen thought my head exploded all over the ground. but no. it was my fruit punch ..

lets see. what else.. linda cussed on the ride. haha. that was a hoot..

and i whined from mile 85-110.. carol, you should be happy u missed that.. i thought 110 was kinda tough...

so for 120 miles.. im counting on you gals for some juicy gossip to help me along.. and maybe we can make up nicknames for the ENTIRE team... by the way, i have a new one, referring to my 'home wrecker' habit (but i dont do it on purpose!!!))) MGNG -> My Grass is NOT Greener..

From Honeywell, Helen
Carol Camel and SAJ: WE MISSED YOU!

The ride was beautiful and I think we would have missed the apple blossoms had we not stop to water them a couple of times.

Here are memorable moments and kudos:

I accidentally murdered Alisa at mile 4.6 after a t-bone incident. I think the vultures ate her and the rest of the team took the blood splatter in the middle of the intersection for red Gatorade.

Jill wore the tiniest little shoes I've ever seen for the ENTIRE ride. Although her socks were mismatched, I think she deserves the rock star award!!

And Roy - I still can't get over how awesome that he biked the day before so that he could sag us (and entertain us the best signs ever!!) for the whole ride. Roy also gets my vote for the rock star award. Thank you.

Joanna - you too get the rock star award. You made a very tough yet SMART choice about whether or not to ride or rest up. Your body will thank you come this next build cycle.

I had a wonderful time riding with you all. I hope Susan does another ride out there soon!!

Cheers to the angels!!!

Chainmaster Double H

From: L Rumsey
Hi Carol!

We missed you today. The weather was beautiful altho a bit windy at times. The hills were not too bad - we've ridden worse. There were a few dogs that 'greeted us' but all in all I think the day went fairly well.

Roy did a super job sagging. I'm very proud of him. It's things like today that made me marry him.

Joanna --
Roy said you were feeling a little better when he dropped Pam off. I'm glad to hear that. You were in our thoughts throughout the day. Just know that the Angels were thinking of you. Now go to bed and get some sleep!

From: aloisus
Hi Carol Camel:

The weather was beautiful although my tummy was not. I had to bail out on the ride after 9 miles or so because the stomach cramps were too severe for me and I just couldn't pedal anymore. You know it's bad when you're looking at the side of the road as a good place to lie down. Luckily, we have the "Knight in Shining Armor" AKA Roy, Linda's husband who did sag for our ride, who picked me up and took me back. And he also took Pam back when I had to leave early. Yeah for good men like that! And yeah for nice, clean bathrooms like the ones at Sheetz.

I'm feeling better (fingers crossed) and hope to be back in the saddle by tomorrow!!!

See you guys at swim!

Joanna
On 5/6/07, Carol Shuford wrote:
I was thinking about you "angels" today- The weather was beautiful!I hope the ride went well and you all finished feeling good with no crazy dogs, bees, or other wildlife...I am so impressed with you guys-See you next weekendCarol Camel

Lake Anna Half Ironman

2007-06-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

Lake Anna, April 21, 2007

ALISA RHEE
Here are your stats for this race:
1500M Swim: 30:54:00
Transition 1: 8:50
55 Mi Bike: 3:25:40
Transition 2: 4:14
13.1 Mi Run: 2:30:20
Total Time: 6:39:55

Why was T1 so loooong?? My hands were frozen after swimming in 52 degree water. I couldnt get my bathing suit off and my bike shorts on. Once I hop on the bike, my hands were so frozen, I couldnt even downshift. (Oh man, and Coach Ed told us to leave our bikes in low gear, because we start off immediatley going up a hill. oh man.) It was pretty darn hot during the run. I guess not much of an excuse for my slow slow slow run.. Oh well.. here's to my first and only 1/2 Ironman!

Roomate, Tracey Flanagen, thank goodness. she helped me get all my crap together the morning of the race. Although it didnt help that I left my running shoes at home.. oops.

Post Peak Weekend.. but not for me...

2007-06-04T05:21:00.000-07:00

Well, I thought i'd create an ironman training blog because I really wanted a place to vent about the ridiculous amount of training we have done. I think.. at this point, we have biked from California and back and something like, ran the whole east coast.. Weekends are like this: Wake up at 5am, get to Casey's house to carpool, get to the ride location by 6.30, on the bikes at 7am, off the bikes at 5pm, go home, wash my bike and 10 water bottles from the day, go to sleep, and then get up at 7am the next day to go run 15+miles..

A little backgrounder, last year, I went to watch my friend Lisa's husband, Dang, compete in the ironman. Actually, I dont think 'compete' is the word, 'survive' the ironman. July 23, 2006. Such an exciting day, especialy the swim start. Then spent the day volunteering at the run aid station was so tired of standing all day,

fell asleep right before my friend Dang finished, around 11.30pm.

Next morning, I 'pretend' to sign up for Ironman Lake Placid next year, putting in my credit card info, etc, and when all the info was filled out, i sat at my computer ..

(Me pretending to press submit. Dang just laughing at the whole process)

I was thinking, hm, training for ironman is alittle life changing.. well at least life schedule changing.. do i realy want to do this? hm hm hm.. and then comes DJ, who we were staying with that weekend, and PRESSED MY SUBMIT BUTTON!!! HOLY CRAP! I just payed $450 dollars to sign up for this crazy thing called ironman. . !

Next day, just to check if i was 'really' registered. I look myself up on the participant list.. Holy cow. 'Alisa Rhee, Fairfaix Virginia, Clydesdale' OMG. I wrote then an email, PLease please, can you change my registration, im not 200 lbs, and im not a guy either.. After sending this email about 5 times, they finally changed it.. .. OK, I'm registered.. I guess I should buy a bike now..

So now there is much to recount.. I bought by pretty Kuota in Septemeber. I drove from VA to Vermont just to go to FitWerx, where most new england bikers will say its the best fitter in the region. Got a great bike, and all the accessories.. Holy crap did i spend alot of money that day.. Anything to help me get through ironman.. On my way down from Vermont, my very good friend Lisa, had a baby! Wahoo! that was awesome. First time a saw a 12 hour old baby. That was amazing...

Well, i wish i started this blog earlier. Most of the rides in the past few months have blurred together.. But thank goodness I have 'aftermath emails' from the girls that I ride with. And I have to say, when I signed up for ironman training, I had no idea what i was getting myself into, but I have met such awesome people from Team Z, that I feel like, even if I dont finish Ironman in July, I have gotten what I wanted out of training. Had an awesome time, made great friends, and have some crazy memories....