FX Multisport Coaching: August 2016

Congratulations Lindsey for completing her 2nd Ironman triathlon at Ironman Vineman in Windsor California on June 30 2016. Lindsey worked hard, training for this race, regaining her fitness after suffering a leg fracture earlier in the year.
We diligently worked out a plan to get her running the distances she needed, without further injury. It was pure joy working with Lindsey as an athlete, she never missed a workout & always had a smile on her face. We are very proud of her and her accomplishment.
Ironman racing can be a fickled beast. Even if you come into the race in tip top shape, there are things out of your control, that wreak havoc on your race plans. Weather, road conditions, water conditions, and sometimes other racers can crack your day. The goal for the day is to be as prepared as possible to handle whatever the universe throws at you on race day.
Lindsey did exactly that!

With grace & style, she tackled Vineman by the horns & smiled her way

to the finish line!

Here is her race report

Race Report: Written By Lindsey Kenny

Vineman was a point to point race which meant we had to drive all over creation, without cell phone service (the horror!) to set up our stuff. The swim was in a very small town called Guernville which had very limited parking so traffic was a nightmare race morning. So if you know anyone else doing this race make sure to tell them to allow twice the time they think its going to take to get there. It was VERY cold race morning, which seems to be the case in almost every IM event i've done. So i skipped the swim warm up and just hopped around and loosened my shoulders instead. There was pea gravel everywhere which made running as a warm up in flip flops or barefoot impossible. And again it was very crowded. The water temperature felt great compared to the air. So I knew when I got in my body would respond well despite not warming up. And it did. The swim was very shallow. About 4-7 feet deep in most places. However there were significant portions of the swim that were about a foot deep. I tried to swim/doggy paddle thru these instead of walking because walking on pea gravel is no fun barefoot. There was also a lot of seaweed and fog covering the river which made seeing anything almost impossible. I had to stand up and lift my goggles off my eyes just to get a sense of where I actually was in the river. The swim course when around several curves despite what the map looked like, so that made it hard to tell where you were going as well. The river was very narrow and all the athletes were very close and smashed together through the whole course. Which actually wasn't that bad because if you didn't know where you were going you just knew you were in the middle of a "school of athletes" and just swam onward. My swim time was 1:20. My watch said I went 5000yds. So apparently I look the long curves of the river. Nice. Oh well. It was a relatively easy swim despite being unable to sight and crowded. And it was my favorite part of the race.

I went through T1 quickly after grabbing my bag and heading up to the changing tent area. I opted not to take the time to change despite it being wet and cold bc I thought it would take too long and being cold would prob keep my HR down. Which worked out well. The mount line for the bike was in the middle of a small, steep hill so I just walked my bike to the top of the hill and mounted there. Most people did the same.

The bike course was absolutely beautiful. But that did not make up for the un forgiving roads and multiple steep hills. My watch said 4660' of elevation gain. IM said it would be 3600'. IM are liars. These hills were awful. Super hard to get momentum on and they were plagued with many giant potholes, rough spots, large gashes, and other hidden objects. The worst part as that a lot of these rough spots were hidden by the shade of trees and were completely impossible to see. You just had to hold tight to your handle bars and pray you didn't hit one each time. Many people hit them and flipped off their bikes. At one point when I thought I was in the clear cruising in the aero bars I hit an invisible hole and was airlift/ejected out of my aero bars, and then luckily landed back in them. Whoooo. By the end of the bike I had a horrible migraine from holding on to the handle bars so tightly. It was like trying to mountain bike on my tri bike, in the aero bars. YIKES, OUCH, PAIN! The course was a lollipop stick with 2 loops of a lollipop. At mile 50 when we got to 2nd loop I wanted to cry and quit. I thought there was no way I could take another 62 miles of this. I was already in significant pain. Oh and I forgot to mention the giant freakin hill you have to go over twice in addition to all the other little hills. The giant freakin hill ranged in grade probably from about 12-15% at times. Most people walked up it the second loop but I was determined to ride to the top both times. And I did. But my HR went to 170 BPM. So much for not going over 155 BPM! HA. Luckily I was able to tell myself to shut up and keep going if only for the bragging rights and finishers jacket. By mile 112 I was so over the bike I didn't care if I ever saw it again. I usually love riding my bike and have never come off of it so tired and beat to heck.

T2 I changed shorts to feel semi-clean again. Slapped vaseline under my armpits that were chaffed from my wetsuit. Put on my shoes and headed out.

The run was 3 loops with several rolling hills, both long and short. Usually during an ironman the run is the worst part because you are so tired and close to the finish, but I think I actually preferred it over the bike on this course (I know you are SOO surprised based on my description of the bike course lol). I tried my best to keep my HR under 140 BPM for the first 3 miles and then I was feeling "good" so I kept my HR under 155 BPM for the rest of the run. By feeling good I mean that I had a severe migraine but I knew this was from my death grip on my handle bars so I ignored it. Also my stomach was very angry and sloshing. I will be switching Nutrition companies after this race I believe. Same thing happened after my first IM, but worse this time. I kept taking in Base salt and gatorade to try to dissolve my belly of fluid. By mile 8 it worked! Yay for the little things. I abandoned my original nutrition plan, like I did during my first IM, and just went with what my body felt like it needed. And what it needed was a sip of gatorade and a sip of water at every aid station as long as Cliff blocks as needed through out. First 2 loops of the run went well.

By the 3rd loop I was in severe pain in my legs, which was expected. At this point I would normally just push through, but since I knew I wasn't PR'ing anything today I just decided to take my time and walk a little bit to see if Jake could catch up with me and we could finish together and have a cute finishers photo. This gave me time to cheer on my fellow Betty's, chat with other athletes, and take in the moment. I ran/shuffled through the last 2 miles to the finish. The finish line energy was amazing as always and I was SO happy to be done.

I will never do this race again. EVER.