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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.

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…

hello new decade.

just checking in.

here we go, for better or worse…

oregon coast 2009.

this one’s for you daddy…

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  )

but getting back on REAL quick and i have great excuses.  

here are 2 of them:

madison kaye.  i keep wishing a handful of french fries put that kind of smile on my face.

and…

miss lily janke, my cousins daughter, who is holding up a “poison apple”  (it was really a trix ceral that i was trying to get madison to eat for snack.)  we were in the middle of watching enchanted and playing fancy nancy.  it was quite the afternoon.  

okay in continuing my excuses…

it was the first time (i believe since my fathers death) that we have all been together SO in the past 6 years.  my brother purposely put green shit in his teeth to be funny.  little did he know that it would be the family photo i posted on the internet.  you have to forgive my mother also.  she is very pretty, but she is very bad a taking photos.  gotta love quality gellatly family time.

okay final excuse, i think…

the beautiful Oregon coast…how could i not relax a little bit?!?!

however, i gained 3 pounds last week  i am home now though and surrounded by good, healthy food and workout equipment.  i was scared to weigh in yesterday and of course disappointed with the result, but i would have been silly to expect any different.  i ate salt water taffy AND chocolate!  i have a real aggressive goal for this week.   plus, i start working out full time again so hopefully with the mixed combo of the 2, i will be back on top after weigh in on Tuesday. 

in conclusion, great family vacation, but it is good to be home and moving again.  Cozumel is a short 8 weeks away…time to do work!

the wedding is tonight on NBC!

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.