Mission 112 Louisville Ironman Practice: Success

The nice thing about doing an Ironman race close to home is the opportunity to actually practice on the course and get to know it's ups and downs. This past Saturday was an official KY Ironman group practice through iAmTRI. I woke up at 5:15am Saturday morning to the pouring rain in northern KY. The option was to crawl back in bed or go forth to Louisville. The radar called for showers and storms all day. The rain would probably make the Ohio River more polluted and the bike ride slick. Lightening could potentially cause great harm and group training to be canceled. The thought of not going crossed my mind for about 2 seconds and that's it. I jumped in my tri shorts, made some coffee, gathered all of my gear, my bike and nutrition. My friends Dr Rush and Nurse Peanut Butter decided to come along for the big training day too. So if anything should happen on the course, at least I'd be surrounded by medics. Around 6:15am our caravan hit the rainy highway to Louisville. As we traveled closer to le 'ville the rain let off, the sky opened and the sun greeted us for a good morning.

We arrived just in time to meet the group and walk down to the swim start. There were maybe 30 people present for the open water swim practice. Two other Ironchicks, Lady Leonard and Ms K, from back home also made it down for the day. During the swim clinic we learned that we will be swimming in one of the most polluted areas in the country. We were warned not to come down and practice by ourselves, especially after big rains. We were warned to keep our mouths shut and be plenty hydrated before the swim. We learned that it would be a good idea to keep our strokes short while swimming up stream and to kick harder towards the end while swimming downstream to prevent our legs from cramping up. We learned to arrive super early and get in line for the self-seeded start. The start will be time trial style with two athletes entering the water every few seconds. *Note to self bring a bottle of water to sip on while in line. We put our goggles on and jumped off the short pier into the Ohio River. We swam upstream along the side of Towhead Island. We turned around at the end of the island and swam back downstream. It was nice swimming between the island and mainland because it was like a giant lap lane which made sighting easier. During the actual race we will swim around Towhead Island out into the main part of the river. We were told to use the red roof of the Galt House Hotel for sighting on race day. We did not wear wetsuits today since the race is wetsuit illegal every year due to higher temps. The water was comfortable. My goggles stayed on as I jumped in the water, I breathed every three and both up/down stream felt good.

These two piers are where we will jump into the water
for the swim start. We will swim to the right upstream
first.

We will swim in the channel between Towhead Island
and the mainland. We'll take a left and swim around the
island when we reach the end.

We will swim downstream in the main part of the river and exit at Waterfront Park

"The Yellow Lot" where all of the group rides start close to
Tumbleweeds on the river

The guys re-fueling around mile 60 and thinking about
80 vs 112 miles

Time to bike. I was determined to do the full 112 bike course today. Nurse PB didn't really think it was a good idea...but we drove together so he kind of had to do the full. Dr Rush wasn't quit sure what he was going to do. We were almost finished with our first loop around Lagrange and there was some complaining about the hills all over and head wind on Rt 42. When it was time to make the decision between 80 and 112, they both made the right (actually left) turn for the second loop around Lagrange. No turning back...we were all in for the full 112 at that point. The fantastic people from iAmTRI had aide stations out about every 15 miles throughout the course. My chain dropped once as I switched gears at the beginning of a climb. It was stuck and I had a hard time fixing it. I drank about 10-12 bottles of fluid throughout the course and did not pee till we were finished. I ate 3 energy bars, a banana, peanut butter, half of a frozen orange and one packet of perpeptum. I chewed gum most of the ride. Keeps my mouth moist and it's fun to blow bubbles. This was not a chatty social ride. Although nothing is off limits to talk about on our bikes, we talked minimal today. Dr Rush ended up missing a turn towards the end and had a side adventure of his own. We all made it back (eventually) and Nurse PB and Dr Rush did their first centuries (plus) today!!! (with very good times for a hilly course) 112 miles, 17.7 mph ave, 6:18 time, Ave HR 145, Max HR 180. So my goal for race day is to be faster than that. More training, taper, race wheels, aero helmet, weight loss will all hopefully help. I will be mentally prepared that anything could happen...good or bad...on race day.

Post ride, I ran. I was excited to get off Strawberry Fields, put my feet on the ground and run. Yes, my right foot PF hurt but other than that it felt good. There is a nice park along side the river to run through. I ran under the bridges, through the park and downtown, past the Galt House Hotel and turned around a little past 4th St. So now I saw where I will be staying IM weekend, finishing the race and celebrating afterwards.

The Galt House, host hotel for KY IM

'fabulous' as the waiter would have said 100x

Post run, we hit up the riverside Tumbleweeds. Nothing like chips, salsa and a margarita to replenish those sodium levels. Mmmmmm...salt. Then we drove home, jamming to Jack Johnson and Cake. Straight to bed Saturday night and up bright in early again Sunday for Ride Cincinnati. Thousands of bike riders started on the Purple People Bridge to support breast cancer research on Sunday. This course was out and back on Rt 8. I opted to do the 45.2 for an easy recovery ride. There were a couple other options and lots of friendly faces out there on the ride.    

Ride Cincinnati 45.2 mile starters