aprilgellatly.com

ughh!  my 2 week ‘break’ flew by!!

not only was i busy with triathlon consults, i love helping new triathletes ease into the sport, but hosted a clinic, announced a race, hosted 2 open water swims.  I haven’t had a weekend or full day ‘off’ since mid-july!

in addition, I spent time moving into ken’s house.  it isn’t a home until the floors are clean and we have a couple pink rugs.

final task of the last couple weeks, welcoming my brother, his girlfriend, and his two daughters to georgia!  i am an aunt!

I love having the family together and being able to spend time with the girls.  madison will turn 3 in october and ellie, the baby, is 5 months old.

BUT the time is upon us, after 2 weeks of un-focused, training peaks free training, it is time to get back in the pool, on the bike, and running strong.  Rev3 cedar point is right around the corner.  I am excited to race at a place I have called home.  I graduated high school just 45 minutes south of Sandusky in Bowling Green, OH.  go bobcats!

in the ironman double digits, lake placid was number 10. wahoo.

(add 10 minutes to time – 10:28.50.  10:18 was AG clock.)

it was a great trip to placid this year and i am happy enough with my race… always want more, but i am still making forward progress and stuck true to pre-race plan.  biggest success of the weekend – ken and i have finally struck a balance in my triathlon race prep, his triathlon training, and travel.  we had a great trip and more than any ironman prior, we enjoyed really enjoyed ourselves.

not much to report of race week, i was a shut in.  quit answering my phone and emails a couple days out, and my most frequently trip was from the bed to the bathroom – very well hydrated!  i quit cheating on my diet race week and i have vowed to come home and continue that behavior.  i felt so much better eating right.

i knew swim would be 55 minutes to an hour.  no wetsuit this year so swim time was a little slower.  i did a great job hanging on to a group that was WAY too fast for me the first lap and came out of the water in 28 minutes on the first loop.  lost them on the second, but settled into my own rhythm, knowing i would be a couple minutes slower, 1:01.  didn’t win me the race, but came out in 5th.

my main focus on the bike was staying inside myself so that i wouldn’t give it all away on the run.  in the future, i think the bike will be one of my biggest areas of opportunity.  it was on odd flip to feel more confident in my run.  it was pearl’s first ironman (new CD 0.1 QR), felt super aero and the bike did her job!  maybe even a little too aero down some of the descents… huge thanks to quintana roo for such a fast ride.

first time racing with an aero helmet – finishing up the bike course

i ran a steady marathon.  until the last 10k, when the wheels started to come off a bit.  those hills eat my quads up!  3:40 is the fastest ironman marathon to date, and i anxiously anticipate my first sub-330 ironman marathon so that i can crush my stand alone marathon PR!

(home stretch – really thought i was smiling…)

great trip, great city, course PR, all good things.  Placid was my ’shot’ to qualify for Kona, and i missed it by much more than a mile…maybe more like 4 miles… i set a real ambitious goal, and i failed.  okay.  i will still keep plucking away @ my consistent bike power, my run speed, and eventually may even put some focus into my swimming.  i am so grateful to have this opportunity in my life to really chase these dreams.  huge thanks to ken, sponsors (TRI – PTC, ais computers, www.all3sports.com, QR, splish), athletes, friends, and family.

it’s been a good month.  it’s been a crazy month, but crazy is good.  crazy means i have work.  while i may complain that i am too busy, i will never complain about having too much work!  keep it coming ya’ll!  (i have a wedding to pay for…)

i picked up some new triathlon consulting work with CNN fit nation.  (http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/category/2010-fit-nation-challenge/)

everyone in the family is born in april (besides myself…ironic, eh?).  so we celebrated ange’s birthday the 15th (little sister turned 24.), momma’s 50th the 19th, and my little brothers birthday the 25th.  pat turned old this year  ;)

we flew my brother in from AZ to surprise my momma on her birthday.  i figured what better way to celebrate than to have the whole family together!

the video surprise was beautiful, but i am not sure i can upload video onto website yet…  (JOE?!?  w/  http://www.aissolutionsgroup.com/)  everyone @ the table was crying.  momma was shocked.  it took her 5 seconds to realize her son was standing in front of her.  beautiful.

i hired a triathlon coach, matt russ with the (http://www.thesportfactory.com/site/index.shtml) the sports factory.   so now i just listen to the boss and do as i am told.  the boss changed the race schedule slightly.  check it out under tab marked 2010.

all3sports.com has stepped up as a sponsor and i will be riding a NEW QR CD 0.1 for 2010.

save 15% @ www.all3sports.com.  use the discount code - aprilref.  in advance, appreciate your support and support of the sponsors that aid my efforts within the sport.

ken and i have yet to set a date for the wedding.  (i wish people would quit asking, but i guess that is the natural progression.)  we are enjoying the present, our time together, and trying to take steps to merge our lives together.  tough under the circumstances, my silly pursuit of a triathlon career, our current residence an 1.5 hour apparent WITHOUT traffic, NO MONEY, no family support on my end, not really ideal wedding planning conditions…

in conclusion, the end of april finds me busy, happy, working within an industry i enjoy and believe strongly in…  i feel like i have taken myself outside of the little box i kept myself trapped in for so long.  i am creating different kind of opportunities for myself, and i can reach my definition of success even without a ‘normal’ job.

i hereby announce my intentions to make it back to Kona as a professional triathlete, i do, declare!  (i also obsessively watch the office and as a Southern, it is my obligation to declare important topics so that i portray a southern image.)

the view from Lava Java

i’ve always said i wouldn’t go back to Kona as a pro until i was ready.  it is time…time to get ready.  i still have a 30 minute gap to fill in this year, but continued improvement, focus, proper diet…blah, blah, blah.

in related news, it is also time my buddy tri-glen gets to Kona!

www.oldschoolironman.com

oh, this will be an exciting year in Kona indeed!  Tri-glen and I go way back to (www.eperformance.us) triathlon training camp.

(oh, you didn’t know, it’s name dropping Tuesday.)

back on track, when i met tri-glen, he was still struggling to pave his way.  in those days, he’d ride a tri bike in ironmans (wearing soccer shorts).  ha.  i had hope that he’d conform and adapt some of the gear that aids us in an ironman.  As I had known, that only a few year ago, i struggled with the concepts of bike shorts, bike helmets, and most all the tri gear.  i felt it was all overrated and too high maintenance.  that year at triathlon camp (spring 2004 or 2005), we actually staged a triathlon intervention and created a 12 step program for Tri-glen to become a ‘real’ triathlete.  the final step was that he renounce his given name and forever be known as Tri-glen.  i never envisioned that he would create his own path…the road less traveled…on a bmx bike…for 112 miles.  i am proud of him.  he is a great person and has been a good friend over the years.  in a sport where people commonly take themselves WAY to seriously, Tri-glen stands for everything that is right in triathlon.

i hope to bring some of that into my 2010 season, although i’ll still ride a tri bike, and somedays i may have to take myself too seriously.  BUT this is fun, damn it!

kona or bust 2010.  (i do, declare)

the best is yet to come…

i shut down a couple weeks ago and haven’t been very active in my blogging.  it was all the same stuff, new day.  i didn’t feel like i was getting to train enough.  it all seemed like travel, vacation, travel, flu…blah, blah, blah.  my anxiety can be stifling SO best form of action seems to shut myself down.  so it’s been a few weeks.  missed ya’ll.  i missed myself to be real honest.

the past week was the worst of it.  i read the pro interviews on ironman.com and got myself all freaked at the talent i would be racing against.  my dog, bella, is actually named after bella bayliss, and it would be my first time racing her.  i tried to stay quiet, stay focused on the small tasks, and just fake it through the week.  i know i am as fit as i have ever been, but more importantly, i have gained experience this year.  i still have a long way to go, but i made steady progress, and i feel like i know myself and the steps i need to take towards continued improvement with a more realistic view.

Cozumel was a beautiful island.  the mexican culture is different than ours and in the tourist island of Cozumel, i understand they have to be more aggressive to make money.  however, i find the aggression off putting and i spent more time than i should have looking towards the comforts of home, starbucks, chicken, ron jons, the list continues…SO i am sure i missed many of the great aspects of the island, but it was just so exhausted walking by shops and being hustled in.  i had to be equally as pushy and borderline rude to get my point across, but when in mexico…

i wanted to go sub-10, but i counted on being about to bike somewhere around 5 hours – 5:15.  yeah this bike course wasn’t near as fast as i hoped.  the winds on the east side of the island were so strong.

the swim was fast…strong current or short.  relatively, not a great swim for me, i was a little too fast for the draft pack i ended up in.  i like to be the slowest in the pack and hanging on for dear life.  not the case…we broke down to a group of 3, and i was too strong to just sit on feet, the 50 minute swim time, however, awesome!  i don’t have a bike computer when the power meter comes off to race SO i have far less numbers than the typical triathlete would prefer, but it doesn’t bother me so much.  it was a lonely ride for me.  i passed one girl, got passed once, and got passed by handful of the age group men.  if the race turned into a draft feast, i missed it.  i did almost get hit by a bus though…towards the end of the first lap when the public transit systems hadn’t caught up with the correct traffic flow.  i had to serve into the oncoming traffic lane while the bus rode down past me…good times.  Ken got a new camera for the trip…and for our other future adventures.  he was VERY protective of his camera.  he was pissing me off worrying about whether the damn camera was in the safe or if the safe was working… one time we left the room, he actually took the camera bag with just one of the “lenses” in it and left the camera in the room unprotected.  i should have been tipped off at this point.  BUT he took great race photos…some of his work:

my bike in transition.  these have been voted the BEST PRO RACKS of my 2009 season.

t1.

steady on the bike…

running my solid 8:30s.

the face of relief.  2009 ENDS!

i put a lot into the bike, but you can always run, and really no 3rd option here.  i needed another result this year..for myself more than anything.  it felt shitty in the beginning…real shitty.  not running sounded so much better than finishing a marathon, but i ran steady on…8:00, snuck up into the 8:30s at some point, but held it steady there most of the run.  there were 2 tbb girls behind me and chasing hard, my spirits were low, but i just kept steady on it.  of the races, i have done this year, this was probably my favorite pro field.  the girls were nice and rooting for each other in a way that was healthy and positive, but didn’t take away from their day either.  major props to all the ladies.  it was a pleasure…even if it hurt pretty badly.  i have to give it to our hosts also.  they embraced ironman race day like nothing i have ever seen.  they were so excited about the race and they were cheering for everyone the whole time.  this is so commonly lacking at ironman…but the crowds were there, lining the streets the whole bike, all 3 loops of the run.  there were some draw backs to cozumel, but the race support and the fan fair was my favorite of the year.  props to Amy Kloner, our race announcer, she did a great job, and i felt commonly went ABOVE and beyond on behalf of the race organization.

the 2009 race is over!!  and as Ken eloquently on the empty beach, under the almost full moon, we’re starting a new chapter… so in the camera bag, that i ragged on him about all week was the ring that he was waiting for the right moment to give me, so that final night in Cozumel, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  i said yes…or well more shook my head a little bit speechless and my eyes got a little watery.  we are engaged!

bring on 2010 bitches…    (i’ll be a better blogger in 2010…follow along…i am sort of a big deal  )

i need to update, but this is going to be a short version…

the weight loss challenge is over.  i didn’t win, but i have held my weight at 145.

Ken finished his first ironman!  so proud of him!

we leave for Mexico in a week and a half.  very exciting.  life is good.  just living the dream…

the emotional journey of under performance appears to me to fall in line with similar stages of that found in dealing with grief:  denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally landing on acceptance.  i feel i have moved through the stages fairly swiftly.  i actually got through to acceptance during the 5 hours of the race…

at first, i think i was in denial that i was actually racing.  telling myself…’it’s okay if those girls ride away…it’s okay’  what the hell?!?  it is not okay.  where is your competitive fire woman?!?  if a professional females comes around you on the bike, you fall back 10 meters, BUT you do not just let her ride away!  

anger, i can be angry with my tires for not popping during the race  and allowing me a perfectly acceptable DNF.  i can be angry with all the other women in the pro field for riding so strong.  i can be angry with myself for signing up for the racing knowing i would need a mental break post double ironman.  regardless, i think i have stumbled onto something there, if i am to be angry with anyone, i may as well look in the mirror.  my under performance is not only a direct result of my lack of training, but also due to my attitude during the race.  my attitude wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but i was in cruise control with a high heart rate.  

bargaining, oh this one is easy, i was bargaining all week.  

‘it will be better to race than to sit on the couch,’  metaphorically not physically, it may have been a chair come race day, but point being, it was time for me to get back out there!

depressions, up next, which feels like a revolving door emotion more than any of the others.  it doesn’t take much to get me down.  it’s not that i am depressed with my race result.  it would have been unfair on my part to expect any better.  it’s more that i hate people looking at the performance and comparing my apples to their oranges, and them thinking they have the better fruit.  because, dude, whatever, it doesn’t matter, it won’t ever matter.  i really like my apples and that’s all that matters to me today.  so i picked an apple 9 weeks too early because i had to to be in the contest in augusta on Sunday, but that doesn’t mean that come Thanksgiving weekend, my apple pie won’t freaking ROCK!  (Ironman Cozumel is the weekend of Thanksgiving.)  

and finally acceptance, acceptance that i needed the last month to recoup, to re-gather, and to learn a slightly different way to move forward so that i can continue to grow as an athlete.  acceptance that a 5 hour 70.3 race is the best i had in me on Sunday.  acceptance that good things came from this race and this day, and knowing that i will move forward stronger having finished that run even if it was against my own will.

alright i came across this today, but with that…”the end” of this grief consueling session.

http://www.pbase.com/tombriggs/image/116733707

(i guess we’ll take this as a compliment, sort of…)

the organization of the race went much more smoothly than i expected.  they held a great event.  our tri club, ptc tri, did an AWESOME job of support!  they rock the corner of 10th, and took care of me as i came staggering up, bonking a little more with every step…  so highly recommended, augusta 70.3 2010!  but i, also, recommend training for the event

tri ptc corner in Augusta…those are my people cheering…

although in all reality, luck had very little to do with it, and it has much more to do with the commitment i have made to triathlon but blah blah blah.  i just wanted a catch phrase of a title.  

i won money at an ironman yesterday  not enough to support myself or cover the cost of the trip, but that’s not the point.  it makes me feel like this is legit, all the ironman racing.  i was 8th pro female, and i had an 18 minute PR.  we had great conditions though.  i had hoped for hotter, but i’ll take the PR on a mild day also.

so swimming, yeah, i didn’t think i did that well.  i came out of the water with fernanda keller and another guy and i just hung on to their feet for dear life.  i lost my swim cap along the way.  the stupid thing wouldn’t stay put on my head and in the end, it came right off and i swam in the last 400 yards without it.  swim was just under an hour…i have room for improvement, but we’ll take it.

tough bike and i spent my day controlling my effort.  i kept reminding myself of the lessons i learned in Placid and i’d repeat over and over in my head…ride smarter, not harder.  i was 5th and in lala land for the first half or so of the bike….just rolling along, mostly by myself.  i got more aggressive when i got caught and tried to hold the girls in sight for as long as i could, but by then we were mixed in with age group athletes.  crowded loop!  i know the age group athlete didn’t mean to block, but oh my!  i took to having to ask individuals to move over because yelling on ‘your left’ wasn’t working…especially with the males.  i about wrecked.  a guy cut left onto a dirt road for no real reason without looking over his shoulder.  i sat up, slammed the brakes to keep from side swiping him, and cussed.  i am still angry with him even having no idea who he was, but you look…on a very crowded bike course, you look before you cut left.  there had been a dozen pros or so ahead of me that would have passed him already.  i saw my whole triathlon season flash before my eyes.  most of the bike course, i felt good, strong, in control.

i knew coming off the bike, i had set myself up well, and that i should PR so with that, i took off running.  loving the flat course vs the hills of placid that killed my already tired legs specifically quads.  no real stand out pace, but god i was consistent.  mostly all 8:30 plus or minus a bit in the beginning and in the end.  my over developed quads held on a little longer and i made it to mile 20 before i was in any real pain.  steady was the name of the day.  i saw the clock as i finished and tired to sprint in to be 10:19.50-something, but just missed it and finished in 10:20.00.  it was an 18 minute PR.

i am happy.  it shows improvement.  i have a long way to come yet, but i am moving forward.  major props to ken, who has been the ideal supportive boyfriend throughout this whole thing.  it has been exhausting for both of us (not just this trip, but all of it).  i am glad he is here with me.  to my buddy tom, who spent probably the same 10 hours getting the bike ready to go, and made the trip up here…he and ken were on the run course yelling for me the whole time.  good times

today, i read about staying out of your head ironman race week and i may have mentioned via facebook that i have great coping skills.  part of which comes from a joke from one of my sisters consolers that told her in dealing with my parents ’situation’ at least she’ll have great coping skills.  

insert sisters reaction at 16 while dealing with her sucidal father and mother who won’t quit sleeping with young black men:  wow, way to turn a negative into a positive.  you went to school for how long to tell me THAT, really?!

but it’s a joke now, and we find all sorts of things dealing with death and drugs and rock n’ roll, funny.  funny haha.  when in all reality, they are not very funny.

okay, back on track…ironman race week coping skills:

1.  hay is in the barn.  you have done the work.  

2.  watch what you eat.  reduced work load this week means reduced calorie intake.  it isn’t rocket science…add and subtract calories.

3.  focus on the aspects of the race and your life and you day that you HAVE to.  and then get a book that you are really excited about and when all necessary parts of your day are over, read and read and read because thinking about the present and your upcoming race too much are just going to drive you crazy.

4.  don’t communicate with people that already stress you out.  

5.  try to keep your day as normal as possible.  so if you start your day with a workout and then coffee continue this routine onsite.  or in my case, if you have a thing for obsessively clean floors, buy a thing of clorox wipes and run through the condo cleaning…clean floors are my normal and normal helps me sleep at night.

6.  it’s race week.  you have time off work, you aren’t training as much, ummmm…NAP TIME!!!  Get some extra sleep this week.  the sleep the night before the race is going to be shit (at least, plan on it  be shitty and if you sleep well it will just be bonus.) so get an extra couple hours sleep throughout the week.  

7.  my main focus all week long is simply on taking care of myself.  my goal all week is to feel good, feel strong, feel like an athlete, and to do so, i have to stay focused on taking care of myself.  it sounds easy enough, but i find it is really a full time job.  

8.  i simplify any and everything.  i know i get overwhelmed and stressed out easier than most people so anything i can simplify when dealing with the race, i do.

(I won’t give you examples here because my examples will most likely be bad for most people especially if this is your first ironman.  if this is your first ironman, go to the meetings, go to the pasta dinners, enjoy the experience!

but unfortunately,  for me, at this point those things are all stressers.  honestly, even bike check in stresses me out a little bit…all the people and you are trying to fit through with all this equipment and you see people along the way and you have to stop and be polite and more than likely it’s hot outside and your friend Tom is busy hitting on guys for you…oh wait…but really for me it has to be simple…my pretty little head likes to run in circles.)

  9.  there are more than likely going to be BIG, obstacles race week because that is ironman and that is part of the process.  

examples.  on the way to my first ironman, my mom’s truck broken down and we had to call a taxi to get to the race, my first ironman hawaii, my bike didn’t arrive until friday and kona is a saturday race, ironman arizona this past year, i broke a $2,000 dollar wheel 2 days before the race.  

handle these obstacles as calmly as you are able, and deal with the part of the problem that needs to be fixed so that you can race.  laugh at the challenge and use the line, ‘this is ironman.’  i find it helped me to be sarcastic and expect the punches to just keep rolling on in.  

i am going to stop at 10 regardless…i have to cut myself off somewhere.  i am not THAT brilliant.

10.  use your filter.  95% of what you hear around you ironman race week is crap.  it doesn’t apply to you and it should have no impact on your race day.  

so when your new buddy Charlie, who you have dinner with at your first ironman, tells you ENSURE is the thing to drink during the race.  be happy that works for him, but by no means internalize it.

Or when Susie Swimmer tells you she breathes every 4th stroke and that is the best way to breathe and that she is the most awesome person ever, continue breathing the way you would normally breathe.  

Even if it’s a pro, giving you really great advice about your race strategy, and you are rapidly writing down everything they say because it is all genius and they are sure to win this race and save the world all at the same time.  put that notepad away and read it again post race and apply it to your next training block…use that race strategy then.  

However, if you do want my advice for race day, make sure you look good out there.  people are taking pictures every 2 seconds, especially you first timers, you know you are going to buy the picture package, and most likely at least a couple of the photos will be framed.  make sure your helmet is straight, make sure your hair looks good, wear a sexy outfit (that you have practiced racing in…chaffing and blisters hurt!  trust me.)  no sense doing this if you don’t look good.  

take care of you.

it was always a process and in the beginning, i had no idea how long this road would be.  i was the one that set the goals, that kept raising the bar, daring to believe that i was capable of just a little more.  to that point, placid was my second pro ironman, my first semi-successful pro ironman, and my seventh ironman in total.  so numbers, yes, i guess, it all comes back to a bunch of numbers.  i always found i was more of a visual learner though SO we’ll sum the trip up in a tasteful pictorial. 

we landed in Canada, loaded up a couple carts, and headed back south to the New York border.  

i was a good little car rider (i tried not to complain about being thirsty too, too much.).  shelley navigated, aimee drove, and after awhile, i read my book.

we made to lake placid, NY.  i was immediately impressed.  it is beautiful.

we stayed at a pimp condo which i affectionately took to calling the playa house.

we did practice swimming, biking, and running.

here we are on a warm-up bike with the ski jumps in the background… Lake Placid, NY was home of the winter olympics in the 1930s and again in the 1980s.

mostly, pre race, i just read.

i finished one book during the week and had to start another to calm my nerves.  i am a geek.

skip to race morning…

in general, it was a really great day.  my best time, my first top 10 pro finish, i had to walk (hobble) away from the day happy.  the crowds were awesome, congratulating me all the way home, sharing beer, etc.  i had to sign autographs…crazy, right?

here i am with copper, my number one fan in lake placid.

i “recovered.”  still hobbling, and Shelley and i finished the day down at the finish line at midnight.  we watch Matt Long, who had been hit by a bus 4 years ago finish his first ironman since the accident.  he finished in 16:58.  it was by far the best race finish i have been in attendance to watch.  Matt helped me put air in my bike tires earlier that morning.  very inspiring.  i was very careful on to use the phrase “i feel like i got hit by a bus.” post race…

it was a great trip, a great experience, and i only expect improvement.  thanks to all for the support without everyone in my life, my dreams wouldn’t be possible.