It's surreal that this Saturday culminates 6 months worth of long bike rides, hilly runs, swim lessons, freezing Bay swims, fundraising, and getting to know my wonderful teammates. It's been a big challenge to balance training with work & life commitments but I'm happy that I stuck to the plan and stayed focused. My teammates and coaches are so incredibly encouraging and helped motivate me to train smarter and harder. It's all happening...

When I first began this triathlon journey in November I literally did not know how to swim freestyle. Saturday (The Wildflower Long Course) I will be swimming 1.2 miles (equivalent of ~85 lengths of a pool) in a cold lake; the longest distance I have ever swam in an open water. It will be challenging and crowded but I have to just trust my training and hard work. Swimming is by far my hardest sport and the one that causes the most stress - thankfully it's the shortest leg! :-) The bike is a hilly 56 miles and the run is 13.1 miles of hills and trails. It will definitely be the most challenging endurance event I have ever done. My time will likely be in the 7-8 hour range but I absolutely do not have a time goal - I just want to finish without suffering from heat stroke or anything else. It's going to be very difficult!

Thank you ALL for your incredible support and generous donations as I attempt yet another crazy endurance challenge. I know I have the endurance to make it through the half ironman, but I'm still so nervous!! Check back next week for a full race recap - hopefully it's more positive than my Lavaman report!

-Carolyn

Thank you again for the incredible encouragement and generous donations to my triathlon fundraiser supporting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (“LLS”). I’m happy to report that I successfully completed my first triathlon in 3 hours and 13 minutes and raised $6,080 and counting! I could not have done it without your support and truly want to thank you for not only helping me get to the finish line but for providing LLS the funding it needs to help find better cures and treatments for patients. If you’re interested, I have included a race recap below. Thanks again everyone!!

The Details

Race: Lavaman Waikoloa

Distances: Olympic Distance: 1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run (~0.9 mi swim, ~25 mi bike, 6.2 mi run)

Weather: hot, humid but thankfully overcast

Wake-up call: 4:00am

No. of Participants: ~1400

Location: The “big island” of Hawaii near Kona

Highlight: Earning my “triple crown” award which means I have successfully fundraised for three different sports with Team in Training (marathon team, cycle team, and now triathlon team). With your support, I have raised over $17,000 for LLS and counting!

Lowlight: Large swells in the ocean made the swim particularly challenging

Race Recap

Our team had a motto this season and it was “I overcome adversity”. This season we had to face less-than-ideal situations, quickly adapt or figure out the best solution, and maintain a positive attitude along the way. Whether it’s biking in the cold and rain, getting a flat tire, dealing with a flooded pool, or keeping up with the training schedule during the holidays, we overcame adversity on many occasions.

Keeping with our team’s motto, I definitely “overcame adversity” a few times during the race. Though these were technically the lowlights of the race, I consider them to be the highlights. So, in chronological order, here are a few examples and how I dealt with them:

1. Debilitating migraine the day before the race

The day before the race our team met at 6am to do a practice swim and run. But I woke up with a horrible migraine and couldn’t get out of bed, much less work out!

How I overcame it: I took some migraine medicine, put a cold cloth on my forehead and by Noon I was feeling much better. So instead of lounging all day, I went out for that practice swim and run with my teammate, April, later in the afternoon. I was so worried that my migraine would return on race day, but luckily it stayed away!

2. 3 foot swells (waves) in the ocean

When I started training for this race in November I was a true beginner swimmer. The swim portion is challenging for me and the open water makes it even more nerve-wracking. So before the race began, the ocean looked so amazingly calm. I was so relieved! But as soon as the gun went off and we got further out, these huge swells appeared. It made it really difficult to see the buoys and to find a good rhythm, and I definitely swallowed a lot of water along the way. After the race I asked some experienced triathletes about the swim and the consensus is that this swim was the hardest swim they’ve ever done.

How I overcame it: I counted my strokes, and every time I got to 20 I could look up and make sure I was going the right way. Instead of focusing on finding the beach or a buoy, I focused on finding other athletes when I looked around. They were more eye-level and it gave me comfort knowing that I had other people around me. It was definitely a difficult swim; my teammates coined it the “washing machine” because you were tossed all over the place.

3. Falling, scraping my knee after the swim

After I finished the swim, I felt like a total superhero (correction: a delirious superhero) because that swim was really difficult. I got up, started running up the beach toward the transition area with dozens (hundreds?) of spectators cheering me on and taking photos. I had a huge smile on my face and then BOOM I tripped and fell forward (graceful, huh?), scraping my knee in the process. I didn’t even know my leg was bloody until I got on the bike (see photo below).

How I overcame it: I immediately got back up, put my hands in the air, gave a “woohoo!” kept running toward transition and everyone started cheering for me even louder! It was a pretty cool moment in the race.

4. Getting sick on the bike

The swim tossed and turned us and made me particularly nauseous. After I had a bite of a Larabar I threw up a little. Gross, I know. Sorry. But talking with other teammates, apparently that’s not uncommon.

How I overcame it: I apologized profusely to the person behind me and kept pedaling. I also started drinking a lot of water to overcome dehydration and the nausea feeling. Luckily after a few more miles I felt much better.

5. Biking off the road into a sharp, rocky lava field

This was my first triathlon and on the bike course there are all of these USA Triathlon rules about staying 3 bike lengths between you and the person in front of you (to avoid drafting), to stay to the right side of the road and the list goes on. At mile 5 of the bike, I was paying so much attention to the rules and the people around me, that I went right off the road into the lava fields.

How I overcame it: Luckily I had practiced unclipping my shoe from my pedals in these situations, so I unclipped as fast as I could and I didn’t fall over. Then I quickly checked to make sure I didn’t puncture my tire and I safely got back on the road.

Final Thoughts

Despite all of these setbacks, I was able to finish the bike, transition to the run, run strong, and finish on the beach with my hands in the air and a smile on my face. It was such a fun race and I definitely think I’m going to enjoy improving and doing more of these. Now that I’ve worked out some of the kinks, I’m hoping that the above situations won’t happen again! Or if they do, I’ll know exactly how to handle them.

Next up is the Wildflower Long Course on May 4th which is a half ironman distance (1.2 mi swim, 56 mi bike and 13.1 mi run). Wildflower is a notoriously difficult race and I know I’ll have a few challenges to face, but I know I can handle anything, because “I overcome adversity”!!

Thanks again for your generous support everyone.

Regards,

Carolyn

It's a good thing I'm passionate about curing cancer because I would never, EVER swim in the San Francisco bay... in the winter... for fun.

Yesterday was our first open water practice triathlon which consisted of a FREEZING bay swim, an 18 mile bike ride around Paradise Loop and a 4.5 mile run. By far the most difficult part of the 'race' was the swim portion. Holy hell it's COLD! We all jump in the water and start shrieking from the shock of the water. Our bodies tell us "stop! this is unnatural!" and our fight or flight response kicks in. But we prevail, dunk our heads, swear a little, scream a little, and try to avoid hyperventilation. Then our coach yells "GO!" and we're off!!

The number one thing on my mind is to stay calm, avoid panic and try to swim with my head in the water as much as possible. It takes a good 5 minutes to get over the cold and to get my stroke in working order. Then I started counting - I told myself I had to take 20 strokes before I was allowed to sight ahead of me, since bringing your head up slows you down. This 'counting' approach worked and took my mind off of the cold for a bit. The choppy water was another element I had never encountered before. It was tough to navigate the waves and I definitely swallowed a lot of salty water in the process, but I HAD to get through this!

Another thing that helped get me through the swim was simply visualizing I was in the pool. I've done thousands of yards in the pool before, so I can do this. Confidence in my training was really key to success.

The coach gave us all an option to do either 2 laps or 3 laps around the buoys and I'm happy to report that I did all three, even though i REALLY wanted to stop at two.

Then it was back to our transition area where i stripped off my wet suit, quickly put on my helmet, jacket, gloves and sun screen and started the beautiful loop. I absolutely love cycling and there are few places more pleasant to cycle than Tiburon in Marin County. What a perfect little ride. Then I quickly dropped off my bike in the same transition area, slid on my running shoes and started running. My feet were still numb from the swim and windy/cold bike ride and my legs felt weird, but after a few minutes my stride was at my normal pace and I felt awesome. I crossed the finish line, slapped hands with my teammates with a huge smile on my face, and ready to take on Lavaman in Hawaii in less than one month!

I had such a high at this point and made me realize that yeah, the swim portion was brutal, but it makes you tougher, stronger, and ultimately happier. I know it was only my first triathlon ever, but I think I'm really going to enjoy these :-)

LAVAMAN OR BUST!!!!

Anne, April, Trish and I after our practice triathlon! Way to go ladies!!

That's us swimming! Don't let the sunny sky fool you, it was sub-50 degrees in the water.

I've been playing tennis ever since I was a little girl. It's a big passion of mine and I truly love the sport.

What I didn't realize, however, was how much tennis has helped me with my endurance sports - marathons, century rides, and now triathlons. It wasn't clear to me at first becuase tennis involves sprints and quick burts of energy. But it all comes down to one powerful thing: mental focus.

With tennis, you're usually on the court for several hours grinding it out with your opponent. What's crucial to success in a match is to maintain a positive attitude, to not bog down after losing a point and to keep fighting no matter what. As soon as you show your true emotion to your opponent after losing a point, the opponent feeds off of your negative energy and starts playing better. So the key is to maintain a positive mental focus that can last the entire match, and sometimes the entire 2-3 day tournament. My coach used to describe it as being very 'even keel' - never get too excited after winning a point, and never show emotion after losing a point. Just keep a positive mental attitude no matter what.

Without even realizing it, I use these principles regularly to help me power through 10 hours on the bike, a 13-mile run, or even a short swim workout. When you're out there pushing your body to the limits, a positive mental attitude is absolutely critical. As soon as your attitude slips, you might as well just stop because negative energy multiplies, builds up, and leads to a terrible performance.

This morning was our first swim workout in the open water (i.e. not in a pool) and it was awesome! Well, now that it's over and I'm in my nice, warm, comfy apartment I can say it was awesome, but the swimming portion was difficult and freezing! The only time I've ever been colder in my life was during the ice bath obstacle at Tough Mudder. Big thanks to my swim buddy, Kelly Johnson, and coaches HB and Nancy for their support today!

I have never swam in an open water environment before without a life jacket and I've never actually worn a wet suit before, so it was a morning of 'firsts'. Open water creates a lot of anxiety for people and panic in some cases because you can't see the bottom, you don't have a ledge to hold on to and the cold temperature can overcome you. I honestly didn't know how I was going to react.

My swim buddy, Kelly, and I jumped in the water and immediately I started swearing like a sailor - it's the only thing I could do to take my mind off of the cold! She told me to get water into my wet suit and dunk my face under water - more swearing. But getting water into the suit actually makes you warmer.

So all ~60 of us started swimming out in the Bay (an area called Aquatic Park) in a triangle formation. Team in Training is amazing and really focused on safety - they had 4 or 5 people on surf boards watching everyone in case of an emergency or panic. We did 1 triangle loop, ran out of the water and started doing calisthenics on the beach to warm up. My whole body was numb!! Then back in the water to repeat that 2 more times.

The first loop was definitely the hardest. The water was so much colder than I ever expected, even with the wet suit. And not having swim lines or lane markers throws a whole new element into the equation - you have to 'sight' in front of you to make sure you're not going off course. And I definitely got kicked a few times. But again, it's all great practice for the triathlon where all of these elements come into play. We're forunate enough that we're able to practice open water swimming, unlike those in the Midwest and East coast right now.

After our swimming was done, I was totally on Cloud 9. Wow. That was one of the most intense, cold and freaky experiences, but our motto on our team this season is "I overcome adversity" and we all did today. Our coaches are amazing and they gave us hot coffee and muffins after our workout. What a successful morning! Go Team!!