Updates and News - Race reports

Vineman Race Report

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:09:36 -0700

2 Weeks Overdue: Vineman Race Report

It all started 2 weeks ago – packing up for California and Vineman 70.3. While I was so excited to have Davey G coming along with me this trip, it seemed like I was breaking down everywhere else…..Garmin 310 died; back to the shop. Tweaking the Kestrel 4000 to get her working the way she should be; camped out at Fast Splits for the week. SRM needing service; back to the shop. Bike box with wonky wheel, no doubt an excuse for TSA to drag and torture my bike more than usual; 2 trips to the hardware store to find the proper wheel and beg Davey G to fix ‘er up right.

All last minute hassles….part of life and nothing ever goes as smoothly as you think.

I dropped Riley off at “camp” on Wednesday morning, breaking my heart, more than hers, I am sure.

By Thursday, we’d made it to the airport with most of my equipment issues resolved.

No one had told us that it was “first time traveler” day at Logan Airport. You know the ones…..they neglect to take their shoes off before going thru the metal detector. We can all thank Richard Reid for that one…..but seriously? How can you not know that by now?

Then, once they get their shoes off, they go thru the metal detector, not realizing they had all their change and their pocket Swiss army knife in their pockets. Great. Now security descends upon them like flies on poop. Once they remedy the concealed weapon issue, we are slowed once again, in honor of “first time traveler” day because jack-ass forgot to take his laptop out of his backpack.

And that was just one dude….seemed like everyone had their heads up their bums. Thankfully, because I live in fear of missing a fight, we had ample time and could laugh at “first time flier” day and had plenty of time to make out flight.

God bless Jet Blue. 5.5 hours of TV. Love it. DaveyG was engrossed in the British Open golf, while I opted for some great trash TV on MTV; “Teen Mom” marathon and a few episodes of “The Real World”, both of which made me thankful for my stable upbringing!

We arrived in San Fran, had a quick swim at the Olympic Club and drove north to Guerneville. By the time we settled in and caught up with our housemates, Monica and Tim, it was well past bedtime; having been up for 22 hours.

Race weekend went by quickly, catching up with our good friends, and preparing for the race ahead. Before I knew it, we were off and racing. I had a solid swim, trying not to do too much work, but also knowing that the swim is my strength, and every second counts so I didn’t just want to sit in. I exited the water first, but with 2 girls close by. Out on the bike, I had settled in to a good pace, and then suddenly heard a crash. I immediately looked down, fearing I’d launched my race nutrition on a bump in the road. Nope! Thank goodness!! I figured, then, that maybe it’d been the water bottle behind me, but when I reached around, it was still there, too. Huh. Maybe my spare? Reached my other hand around and the spare was there as well.

Perplexed, I rode on and re-focused, glancing down to take a peek at my wattage to make sure I was executing the plan coach Jesse had laid out (for once in my life). Yep….suddenly, I thought, “Hey bump in the road? Come on back and take my race nutrition, or my water bottle ….or my spare, but for the love of GOD, give me back my SRM head unit!”. Suddenly, it’d become a costly bump in the road.

I spent about 10 seconds wondering if I should go back……I was only 40 minutes into the race….I was reluctant to bike blind, not to mention, the replacement cost meant I’d have to race my butt off to earn it back! Ultimately, I pedaled on, figuring DaveyG and I could go back for it later.

I managed to sync my Garmin 310 to read my wattage on my watch. I had no idea how accurate it’d be…but it gave me a line in the sand at least. I knew I wanted to execute my race plan as instructed, so I used the wattage as a relative number, rather than an absolute, and moved on with my business.

T2 was whirlwind. And then we were running. Rinny was gone before I could blink, in a plume of smoke that would make even the Road Runner blush (meep, meeep). I was running with Tyler for a while and we chatted. She’s such a character, and she made me laugh which isn’t always easy to do when I am running, as mostly, I just want to cry. Pretty soon, though, in glancing at my pace, it seemed that I was running way faster than coach Jesse had instructed. Fearful of blowing, as I am known to do, from time to time, I laid up a bit and tried to settle in; checking my pace, running hard, but controlled. At the turnaround, I could see I was putting time into some of the girls ahead who had run the first half perhaps too aggressively.

I kept telling myself “you are a runner” and “you can catch them”. Suddenly at mile 8 or so, the girl who was running just ahead of me multiplied and was two! Out of nowhere, another girl appeared on the course. Who the heck is that? She was dressed in black, and I didn’t recognize her from anywhere else in the run. For the next 3 miles, I put the hammer down, giving it all I had to catch, now 2 girls I thought were in reach.

The girl in black kept looking over her shoulder; I took it as a sign that she was fading and was worried about what was coming. I think I took it that way as it’s something I do……nearly every time I run!

I’d closed the gap to about 10 seconds with 1 mile to go, and suddenly, the girl in black peels of the course and makes a b-line back toward transition thru the residential neighborhood. She ran along the sidewalk for a bit, talking to the girl just ahead. I busted a gut to close that 10 second gap, fueled by even the hint of impropriety, but alas, the tank was empty.

6th place overall. :20 out of 4th. I came out at the wrong end of a very tight race.

Still, I executed my race very well negative splitting both bike and run. Lots of work left to do, but moving in the right direction.

As for the pacer, I am told it was nothing of the sort. Though lines were blurred, it was just a misunderstanding; unfortunate, but reality.

After some light training that afternoon (thanks, Coach Jesse), we said goodbye to our friends Tim and Monica who had to travel home that night and DaveyG and I enjoyed a quiet night with some good wine; hey…when in Rome…….

Vineman is always such a special race for me; it was my first triathlon back in 1997 when I raced the full Ironman. I love traveling back to the Bay Area, home of my beloved Stanford and while we didn’t have time to catch up with Stanford buddies this trip, we’ll be back again soon.

Special thanks to the Vineman crew, particularly Amy Latourette; she takes such good care of us! To all my awesome sponsors – Steve Harad in particular for designing the Kestrel 4000. First time racing it; LOVE IT! Shimano, Di2?? ..... will change your life! and Saucony? One word…..KINVARA! …… Fuel Belt, Trakkers and all my great sponsors…..just a mid-season shout out! .....couldn’t do it without you all!

And an extra special added thanks to my friends at SRM for helping a girl out. DaveyG and I went back and combed every inch of that stretch of road; we recovered some 6 empty gel packets, 2 empty cigarette boxes and a host of other road debris, but (sigh), no SRM head unit. PC7 arrives Wednesday! Thank you SRM!

And of course, my DaveyG! ….don’t have the words. ‘Nuff said. Awesome to have him travel with me this time around! Wish we could do it this way more often!!

Back into training mode. It's go time!

Ironman Brazil 2010

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:07:48 -0700

It’s been a few days since I raced Ironman Brazil. I’ve been waiting for a wave of inspiration for a blog worthy update, but if I am being honest? I got nuthin’. Maybe it’s the exhaustion brought on by 9 ½ hours of racing, followed by 3 nights of little or no sleep, coupled with over 24 hours of traveling, but still…..my mind is blank.

Maybe too, it’s because I have such mixed feelings about the whole trip. It was so great, and so frustrating at the same time, that I think I’ve just come out neutral.

Once I finally arrived in Brazil, travel traumas behind me, the race week itself was pretty quiet and uneventful. I got the most awesome-est chance to visit with my dear friends, Hillary Biscay and Amanda Balding, and their respective honey’s Maik Twelsiek and Luke McKenzie. Maik was there supporting Hillary, as he’d raced IM-Lanza the week before (as did Hillary, the freaking beast, but we all know they broke the mold on her, so Maik did NOT opt for back-to-back IM races!) and Luke went on to very quietly and confidently smash the course record, become the first non-South American male to win IM-Brazil in like a million years or something and then party the night away on Monday night in a battery operated shirt. Truly impressive.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

Race week was quiet and as usual, as the race day approached, I was filled with that tortuous mixture of excitement and dread. Excitement to see how all this new training was going to work out for me in the end, and dread because let’s be honest, while we all love the sport, there is a fair amount of dread and anxious build up that comes with the territory.

One of the ironies of the week; WTC had asked me and several of the pros to be guests at the Executive Challenge dinner during the race week. I had agreed, but was kind of dreading it for a lot of reasons. But, because I knew it was the right thing to do, and because, in my heart, I care more about the athletes in the sport and less about the politics and the proverbial BS, I agreed to go.

It ended up being the highlight of the trip, as I met some truly fantastic athletes who I am now, proud to call friends. I think we, as pros, were inspired by these athletes, their entrepreneurial spirit (many working for companies they started themselves), their ability to juggle challenging roles in business with the demands of Ironman training with family life, etc. I think they were wide eyed to get a look behind our lives; the sacrifices we’ve made to make a career of this sport, the effort and attention to detail we put into our training and some of the challenges we face as pros in a small, still fledgling sport.

But back to race week.

I had a couple pre-race massages during race week. Now, I am not that shy, as lord knows, I’ve done more than a million deck changes in my life, peed along many sides of a road, more standing beside a shrub than actually hiding in it. However, stripping down completely naked and being massaged sans draping was a new experience for me; and not altogether relaxing, if I am being honest. By the second pre-race massage, I was at least prepared for the experience, but when my female massage therapist willingly invited a male massage therapist into the room for a quick consultation, I must say, ……it was an experience definitely filed in the “new” folder. Parts is parts, I suppose. We all got ‘em.

As for the race itself, well, I’ll be honest; it was disappointing not to defend my title. I’ve come to love IM-Brazil over the 3 years I have done it. I wanted nothing more than to defend my title there. I fought hard, raced my race to the best of my ability, but I got beat. It broke my heart just a little, but I could not have done more on the day, and so for that, I can not be disappointed. It wasn’t a perfect race for me, so from it, I take away a valuable learning experience that will help shape the second half of the year of training and racing.

As for my trip home? Well, it’s over; for me, anyway. My bike is still MIA. If possible, travel home was worse than travel down, but I am just too darn tired to re-live it all.

I’ve got a light week this week of training, get to eat what I want, when I want (but if I am being honest, I am already sort of over it), and we’ll be back to work on Monday and start the road toward Kona.

Obrigado e adeus!

PS – if anyone knows how to resolve this toe issue I have going on, I welcome your input. And yes, DaveyG is a lucky man!!

Square Peg, Meet Round Hole

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Mon, 10 May 2010 08:18:26 -0700

So I haven’t blogged in a while. Been either too busy, or too tired and as my mother used to tell me, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

I won’t tell a lie….it’s been a bear of ….well, a 6 months! Lots and lots and LOTS of training. All good though. And making me a better, stronger, more durable me. Or so the theory goes.

I had 2 huge overload weeks coming off of New Orleans 70.3. Some big miles, some good intensity, and a lot of naps! We debated and debated the value of doing the Rev3 Knoxville race. At least I debated it. Coach Jesse was fairly set on the idea, but I took some more…..persuading, so to speak.

My training, you see, is not very specific to Oly distance racing, and anyone who knows me knows that natural speed does not come easy to me, if at all. So given the fact that I’d done very little quality oriented work, going to an Oly distance race seemed…..well, silly. And that in doing so, I’d be something akin to a square peg trying to fit into a round hole.

My email exchange (aka, Hail Mary pass attempt) with Jesse on Wednesday before the race pretty much sealed the deal. “Jesse, Before I start packing, I just wanted to make sure that you thought this Oly distance race was really a good idea.” It didn’t take long before I got is extremely chatty reply. “Pack it up.”

Swing and a miss!

So I packed up and readied myself for Knoxville. I arrived late Thursday afternoon with a bike, but no bag. In that, I learned a valuable lesson.

Lesson 1: As an American Airlines Gold member, those little orange “priority” tags they stick to your bag have no value whatsoever. None. Oh, sure, they may make you feel good as you leave your bags to the TSA beasts; like they might show you a little more love and respect than they might otherwise, as a loyal and frequent flier. Nope. Quit deluding yourself. They don’t mean sh*t. Life is hard. Get over it.

So I arrived in Knoxville without so much as a toothbrush.

I made my way to the Avis counter to get my rental car. A very nice Southern woman tried to talk me into upgrading my rental to a “fully loaded, leather interior SUV for a mere $15 more per day.” “No thanks. I’ll stick with my beater.” After a few clicks on her keyboard, she prints out my contract and says “Well, we don’t have any beaters so I’m going to give you the upgrade for free.”

Lesson 2: Never fall for the upgrade offer! They are trying to steal your money!

Since I had no bag, and therefore nothing to sleep in and no toothbrush, I decided to make my way to a Walmart in order to procure said necessities for the next 12 hours until my bag made its way to me. I got into my leather seat in my fully loaded SUV, and asked my Droid to navigate to Walmart. It found one 8 miles away, and supposedly en route to my homestay, so I followed the mysterious voice coming out of my phone, which promptly led me to the middle of a condominium complex. Not to Walmart.

Lesson 3: Droid Does. But does not always.

I did manage to find a sporting goods store where I bought a $2.99 t-shirt and a $4.99 pair of shorts adequate for sleep. Then I found a CVS and invested in a travel toothbrush. Mission accomplished, and luckily Droid did manage to get me to my homestay in one piece.

I met my homestay, Fred Smith at his gorgeous Knoxville home and was thrilled to meet his lovely wife, Ali, and his furry children Sam, and Lily, 2 golden retriever fluff balls, and the perfect Riley stand-ins for the weekend.

On Friday, I joined Fred for a Master’s swim workout at the University of Tennessee in their gorgeous swim facility and then headed out to drive the course. The decision to drive the course was both a blessing and a curse; I then knew what I was in for and …..I then knew what I was in for!

In a word, the Rev3 Knoxville course is hilly! No monster climbs, but some good, honest chunky hills, and twisty, turny narrow descents. It felt like a roller coaster thru some country towns! It was going to be a good, and fair bike ride. I started to get excited, though still felt like a fish on dry land!

Saturday morning, I got the chance to swim with the UT Lady Vols and their coach, Matt Kredich who was one of my coaches at Stanford. I hadn’t seen Matt in years, and it was so great to meet his team and get to catch up with him. He introduced me to his team and also managed to point out that I’d swum on the US National team before any of them were born.

Lesson 4: The truth hurts.

I had a fun swim (I just warmed up) and then a quick bike and run while Matt finished the workout with the girls. I then had a super fun breakfast with Matt, followed by a couple hours meeting his kids, and catching up with his wife Kim, about whom I could write an entire blog. Kim is awesome! And after hearing all that she’d been up to these past years, I could only look and marvel and think “Wow, not a lot of butt prints on the Kredich couch!”

By Saturday afternoon, I started to realize I had a race the next day! Time to get serious! I had an early dinner and was in bed by…..yep. 7PM. Wasn’t even dark out, but I was tired.

Woke at 5, gulped down some pre-race breakfast and then put on every piece of clothing I had, clean or dirty, to head out into the 45 degree morning. Got thru my pre-race ritual and before I knew it, jumped into the muddy Tennessee River, to “bask” in the 69.4 degree relative warmth.

The race started, and I had a pretty good swim. I was in reasonable touch (not immediate touch, mind you, but reasonable touch) with some of the fast, short course swimmers, and before I knew it, racing toward T1.

I encountered some technical difficulties with the zipper on my swimskin, and thank goodness for Amanda Lovato. Amanda stopped just short of sticking her foot in the small of my back to rip the thing off me. The zipper just wouldn’t budge, but Amanda to the rescue, after about 30” of struggling with it myself, she ripped the thing off me, and I was out of T1, giving up at least 2 spots in the process.

Frustrated, I headed out on the bike and tried to keep touch with the girls in front. As a slow twitch girl, its hard to go from zero to redline immediately like that. I’m more used to building into an effort more gradually, but no time for that.

I held my own on the bike, not feeling like I was biking that well, and having no idea who was in front of me or behind me, but was pretty pleased to reel in some of the girls ahead and come off the bike within site of 3rd place. Not too shabby for a slowtwitcher.

I felt reasonably good running, were it I could feel my feet. The air temperature still had to be in only the 50s and I felt like I was running on stumps, but tried to keep the girls ahead of me in site for a long as I could. Kelly Williamson came running by me like a freight train, and even managed to take out and reset her pony tail, all while putting a good 30 yards into me. THAT is run speed!

I held my place from there, finishing 6th overall, far ahead of my “God I hope I don’t come in last” estimate pre-race! While I didn't contribute directly to the Trakkers team win over Trek/KSwiss, it was still fun to have a team feeling during the race and it added a really fun element to the competition.

Lesson 5: Square pegs don’t fit in round holes, but sometimes, you can fake it well enough to not stick out too badly.

After the race, I had just enough time for some light training to shake out the legs, hit the awards celebration, pack my bike and get to the airport for my 4:30 flight. No time for a shower (sorry seat neighbors). Home in my own bed by 10:45! That never happens in Ironman!

Up next, Ironman Brazil. It’ll be here before I know it! Holy Schnikes!

Quick Kona Recap!

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 08:44:46 -0700

It is still night here, but I can’t sleep. Guess that’s what happens when you consume enough caffeine in a day to fuel Secretairat to a triple crown. Add to that the chaffing, the sunburn and the toenails that are about to fall off and it doesn’t make for ideal sleeping conditions.

I want to thank you all for the notes, emails, facebook posts and texts throughout this race week. I appreciate the support!

I won’t drone on with a huge long race report, but briefly –

I had a horrible swim. Stanford, in fact, called. They want my diploma back. They said that swimming was pretty much the only reason I was there anyway, and since I proved I didn’t learn a darn thing there doing it, they want it back. I came out of the water 10th. Good Lord. I tried to be patient and manage my wattage and nutrition and not try to power my way back into the race in the first 5 miles. By Hawi, I had pedaled my way back into 3rd place. I got passed by 2 girls on the Queen K, and came off the bike 5th.

As a side note, officials were out in full force, and doled out quite a few drafting penalties. Several girls were nabbed, some twice. So that was encouraging that I feel like it was a fair fight.

Karen was stationed at mile 1 of the run and told me that the field was strung out, which was encouraging since I knew 1) I had a nice cushion on at least some of the girls, and 2), I wouldn’t get passed en mass by a group of 8 at one time, because that’s just plain demoralizing.

I battled some serious demons on the run course starting at about mile 10 (the Palani death hill got me started down that spiral). Karen and Dave were up on the Queen K and doled out some tough love, and a swift kick in the pants, which I desperately needed.

Des Ficker was out on the course. She was so positive and could see I was struggling. I totally appreciated her positive attitude and energy. Thanks, Des!

Michael Lovato gets the gold star on the day. He had been reduced to a walk and I caught him in the Energy Lab. I made him run with me for a bit, trying to get him moving. He had to bow out after about a mile, but during that mile, kept talking in my ear, filling my fading brain with such positive thoughts. He is, what we call in the business, a class act. A guy who had a crappy day himself, but still doled out some good karma to the chick’s field. With Michael’s positive chi and the emergency Rocktane gel I had at special needs, I charged out of the energy lab. By this point, I was in 10th place; on the dreaded bubble with just over 10K to go.

Leanda Cave had passed me in the Energy Lab and I had both Tyler Stewart and Sandra Wolenhorst charging hard behind me. I re-passed Leanda, but was passed by Sandra. I held off Tyler, and crossed the line 10th.

Later in the night, Ironmanlive posted that Bek Keat had been DQ’ed. They didn’t say why and while we don’t know for sure, it appears that I may move up to 9th. Kind of a cheap “promotion”, but I’ll take the extra prize money and bonuses that come with it!

Special thanks to “my team” out here; Davey G, and Brian Hughes, and of course to my coach Karen. Loved the tough love, or rather, needed it.

Ironman is never easy. Ironman Hawaii seems extra cruel and I suffered just a little extra out there in honor of my friend, Robert Jr. Robert, 12, lost his life to brain cancer on Friday. I thought about him on the Queen K and could imagine him saying “You aren’t close to your full suffer capacity. ….get moving, Griesbauer”. Robert, that one was for you!

A Spirited Training Day

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 07:28:29 -0700

In the thick of Kona prep, so I’ll keep this update short and sweet, mostly because I am too tired to type much more than that.

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to “race” at the Plymouth Iron-Distance Triathlon. In only its second year of existence, the Plymouth IDT is a fantastic race for both competitors and spectators alike.

Plymouth itself is an idyllic town, chalk full of historic landmarks, and some awesome seafood!! There are some breathtaking seaside vistas, and with the layout of the course, family, friends, supporters (and hecklers) can see their athletes multiple times throughout the day.

For me, the race provided a great “dress rehearsal”/spirited training day in my build toward Kona. There aren’t many options to ride a full 112 with no convenience store stops, no pee breaks, etc, so this would be a great chance for me to execute my nutrition plan, both pre-race and during, and also a chance to execute a race plan, wattage-wise, and have a great training day all in one.

It came at a cost, however….a 4:10 AM wake up! Brutal. We were down in Chatham for the weekend, so I had to be up extra early to get my pre-race nutrition choked down, and get myself up to Plymouth for the 7AM start.

I arrived in Plymouth uneventfully and was treated to a gorgeous sunrise over Plymouth Harbor.

We were taken by bus the ¾ mile or so to the swim start. The swim was a laps, point-to point course where we swam along the jetty for 3 lengths then cut in to exit at the stern of the Mayflower. While the tide was out and the course was a bit shallow in spots, I think we were all thrilled to have the protection of the jetty on race day. The winds were up (20mph sustained, offshore “breeze”) and when we finally peeked out from behind the jetty for the turn-around, man, did it get choppy!

I exited the water first, and had a pretty solid swim. They weren’t quite ready for me when I ran to transition, and I ran right past transition by about 30 yards before realizing my mistake. Oops! There’s a minute I won’t get back! The volunteer apologized for not flagging me in, but at the end of the day, it was my own fault for not knowing the course real well!

Out on my bike, my goal was to build the 4-loop course. I was “un-aero” for this race, sporting my clunky training wheels, un-cool bike helmet, and carrying 4 bottles of liquid for the ride.

The bike consisted of a 5+ mile stretch thru Plymouth to the Myles Standish State Forest, and then 4 loops thru the forest, then the 5+ mile stretch back. I’d biked thru the forest once before during a 130 mile ride from Boston to Cape Cod a few weeks back. Somehow, I’d forgotten 1) the hills, and 2) the bumps! Several sections of the forest had recently been re-paved, but others….were frost heave city. Bump, bump, bump. I managed to keep all my bottles all day, but boy, my junk took a beating!! The pot holes and frost heaves were well marked, thanks to race organizers. That must have taken a LOT of time, not to mention a LOT of spray paint!! The wind, too, became my nemesis, but I kept reminding myself that with 20 more degrees added to the air and wind temperature, it’d be just like Kona, so it was good wind-tolerance training!

With the loops format, we were able to get a look at the competition throughout the ride, and while I was wattage constrained (coach’s orders), it was fun to see who was where. By the 3rd, and especially the 4th loop, I could see that fellow pro, Tim Snow was closing fast. Since it was the 4th loop, I was “allowed” to let it go and get after it…..though with the training week I’d had, and 75 miles in, there wasn’t much left to let go! Still, it was fun to try to stay ahead of Tim, who I know was trying to reel me in, though still probably trying to stick to his training plan as well!

In the end, I won the Aqua Bike race (for women), staying ahead of a hard charging Lisbeth Kenyon, and I did manage to keep ahead of Tim, though barely!

I had a quick transition run along the run course out to the Team Psycho sponsored aid station and back, then was back in the car to the Cape for a well deserved nap!

Many thanks to all the organizers of the Plymouth IDT. It’s a really awesome, organic race worthy of checking out!! The race is gaining traction and getting bigger each year, and with good reason. They are small now, but do a remarkable job with the great team they have. This race is a keeper and I hope it builds appeal more broadly and not just locally.

Thanks, too, to Pat, Courtney and Cait for cheering, and to Tim for pushing the pace out there. Congrats too, to all the Team Psycho folks out there who busted out a full Ironman, Arnold, Seth and Robin...you guys are awesome!

All told, way more fun than a 6 hour solo training day!!

Davey G's Big Day!

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:37:43 -0700

Good morning on this morning after Timberman 70.3!

We’re back in Boston after a whirlwind trip to Guilford. Our weekend started on Thursday when my good friend, Terra Castro arrived in from Austin. Terra stayed with us a night here in Boston then we all headed up to Guilford on Friday.

The weekend promised to be epic. Not only did we have an exciting race on tap, but it would be Davey G’s first half Ironman. Eeeek!

Our first obstacle would be packing….how to get 3 adults, plus their luggage, 3 bikes, 1 dog into 1 Jeep. Required tools: 1 crowbar, 16 bungee chords and pretty soon...

….we were off.

We stayed with our very good friends, the Jones’, the greatest hosts ever!! EVER! They have a beautiful home on the lake and a wonderful family we’ve gotten to know very well. They open their gorgeous home to our whirling dervish of chaos each Timberman weekend and for that, we are eternally grateful!

We got off to a bumpy start to the weekend on Friday night. Riley ingested an entire rawhide bone on Friday night. Given the aftermath, it may have been in one bite! There was an 11:15 wake up call to go poop her brains out. Then a 12:40 wake up call where she barfed her brains out (on her bed, and not on the Jones’ white carpet (good aim, Riley!)), and after she barfed, she pooped (outside). Then there was another wake up call where I just couldn’t even be bothered to look at the clock. I just nudged Dave for that one. In all, not the most restful night sleep.

With Riley looking somewhat slimmer in the morning, we figured she couldn’t have anything left in her to barf or poop out, so we left her with our friends Beth and Michael and headed into the race expo. Drove a bit of the course, went for a bit of a spin then hit the pro meeting, pro panel and did an autograph session with Saucony (got to check out their new lineup of shoes too….HOT!!!).

During my autograph session with Saucony, I met the one person who reads my blog! A very cheery guy came up and said “Hey, I read your blog!”….so to my one fan, THANKS, MAN! It’s nice to know you’re the one!!

We left the expo and made it back to the Jones’ by 4 or so in the afternoon….where did the day go!?

Had some time to pack up for Sunday morning, grab some grub and hit the hay EARLY in preparation for our 3:45 wake up call.

Luckily, Riley cooperated and there was no pooping and no barfing all night. Well done, girl. We got up, had the scheduled breakfast and were in the car rolling ON TIME. We arrived at the race site, or rather 1 mile from the race site and got stopped dead. The line of cars to pull into the parking lot??....

Hideous. We sat for 40 minutes. The VIP Parking pass that the race director had given me since he wasn’t putting me up or anything…..worthless. I nearly blew a gasket, but finally, we got into transition at 5:30 AM. Still loads of time, but still, stress we didn’t need.

My stress level was higher than usual, I think mostly because Davey G was racing. He had trained so hard, had been so diligent, had even let his handicap slip slightly so that he could train for this race. I knew the hard work he’d put in and I really just wanted his day to go smoothly.

We made it to the swim start in time for what I thought would be a 10’ warm up. My 10’ warm up ended up being a 40’ warm up thanks to an unfortunate car accident that delayed the start of the race.

Gun went off, and we were finally at work. I had a reasonably good swim and emerged first from the water, made it to my bike and was off. Had a sloppy time getting my shoes on properly – that first uphill section makes it hard to carry your momentum, so after nearly careening into a highway barrier, I had shoes on and was well on my way. During the first climb, I managed to drop my chain…..Oy…was this going to be one of “those” days??

Long story short, I moved from 1st to 3rd on the bike. Never really felt that good. My legs ached, I felt out of sorts. My wattage was fine, but I just never felt good. I just focused on my nutrition and kept telling myself that you don’t have to feel good to go fast.

Made it into T2 and headed out on the run. A small plume of smoke went by on my left side at the top of the park before the turn out onto the road.

It ended up being Catriona Morrison. She gave me a little pat on the back and a smile as she went by. Nice girl. I tried to reciprocate, but she was running so fast, I accidentally patted her ass instead of her back. Sorry for the ass grab, there Catriona; I know we’d only just met and all!

Unfortunately my run didn’t turn out much better than my bike. I felt labored, and heavy, never quite finding my rhythm. So again, I stayed focused on my technique and my nutrition. It would be what it would be.

And it was. I stayed in 4th place, turning in a less than stellar run, even for Dede “Runs Like a Mule” Griesbauer. Still, 4th in an outstanding field on a day where I was not as good as I felt I could have been is OK by me. A stepping stone to the future…..

Davey G was the hero of the day for the Griesbauer Family (though Riley did manage to make it thru Sunday with out barfing or pooping uncontrollably, so she was a close 2nd). Davey G: 5:04 for his first ever half Ironman. Well done!!

So now, a day of rest, then back to it tomorrow. 7 weeks and counting……good times!

Special thanks to Dave and Brian from Fast Splits, to Saucony, and to all my sponsors. A special thanks to the Jones’ for putting up with us, yet again and to my folks for making the long drive to come out to support me and Davey G in his first ever half Ironman!

Peace out, and thanks again to my one fan who reads my blog. A shout out to you, man!!

Vineman 70.3 - Will Race for Vino!

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:11:00 -0700

I am just back from my trip to the San Francisco Bay Area where I raced Vineman 70.3 this past Sunday. I was totally psyched for this trip, as any trip to the Bay Area gives me an excuse to pack on a few extra days to visit with my Stanford pals and enjoy all the great memories from the 4 years I spent out there.

I must say, this trip was more difficult than others to enjoy as, logistically, my weekend was FUBAR.

We landed in San Francisco on time, and as we made our way to baggage claim, things started to unravel a little. I collected my suitcase, and then breathed a sigh of relief to see that my bike had in fact, arrived as well. Score!! And again, so far so good.

Now starts the un-glamorous part of my life. People tell me all the time how lucky I am for getting to travel so much to so many cool places. OK. True. But here’s the fact of it. I travel alone because it’s too expensive for Dave to travel with me and if we’re being honest, Dave’s got a pretty serious job and with that job comes a nice paycheck, which we appreciate very much, but with that job also comes not an unlimited supply of vacation time. As such, jetting off to a race every couple of weeks just isn’t in the cards for us. This is our life and we deal with it as such, but the fact remains, I travel alone.

So there I am in the San Francisco airport, with my150 lbs of luggage in tow and I start the journey toward the rental car center. 3 elevators (one of which a fellow traveler closed right in my face, thank you very much), and conservatively, ½ mile of walking. No worries. One step at a time.

As I finally board the Airtrain to the rental car terminal, I notice the little kiss of love the wonderful TSA employees gave my bike box. Thanks guys. And feel free to ignore that “Fragile. Handle With Care” sticker. I just put it there for decoration anyway. I opened up the box on the train platform, and all was fine…..well done TriAll3 Sports case! Well done, indeed.

I sealed up the bike box again, and rolled down toward Hertz. It only took a step or two to realize that the 300+ people who were clogging the rental car center were all in line for Hertz. Happy day.

Here’s where traveling alone comes in handy. I called Dave who was busy working back in Boston. He got on the internet for me to scout out other rental car rates. Foiled. Seemed the deal I got with Hertz was some $200 cheaper than any other company, so I would sit in line and wait.

But wait….it gets better. There’s a self-serve kiosk. Perfect! I have my confirmation number handy, so I plunk in all the information only to be met with “We’re sorry. We are unable to process your request. Please see an agent at the counter.” Really? Are you really sorry?? Somehow, I think not.

So back in line I get. 2.5 hours later, I make it to the front of the line. “Thank you for your patience. Welcome to Hertz. How may I help you?” (said with the enthusiasm of a dead snail).

“Here’s my confirmation number. You guys giving cars away today? From the looks of this line, it seems so,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.

“Semi-conductor conference in San Francisco this week,” he said.

“So you much be the official sponsor of semi-conductors I guess?”

“Something like that,” he responded with out so much as cracking a smile.

Then a look of despair came over his face and he glanced up from his computer and said, “We are on a bit of a wait for SUV’s at the moment. You’ll have to wait over here,” he said, gesturing to a sitting area, filled with some 50+ people and no more seats.

“Um. No,” I said. “I had a reservation to pick up an SUV at 12 noon. It is now 2:30 and I want my SUV.”

“Like I said, we’re out of them right now. All we have is compact cars. Would you like a compact car?”

Glancing at the 150 lbs of luggage, “No,” I said, “I would like the SUV that I reserved. What is the point of a reservation if you don’t pay attention to it?” I went on to explain to the man what the word “reservation” meant and how ignoring reservations was, in my opinion, and likely in the opinion of others, not quality customer service.

By this point, he was either exasperated, confused, or both. He says, “Well, I have this one car…it’s kind of like a little SUV. This should work for you.”

Exhibit A: A “kind of like a little SUV”.

I stood for 10 minutes looking at my bike case, looking at the car. Looking at the bike case, looking at the car. For a while, I was pretty sure the bike case was actually bigger than the car.

I found a manager who said he’d get me a “better car”.

Exhibit B: “A better car” (which was not really all that much bigger than the first car, though with leather seats, I suppose he was right; it was a better car).

After some debate as to WHY IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY I couldn’t have one of the 8 SUV’s that I could see with my own little eyes just there in row 2 at the Hertz station, I just didn’t understand. When I asked that of the manager, he said that it was because they had been reserved by other people. So again, I explained the meaning of the word reservation and inquired why it applied to some people and not to me.

10 minutes later, I was off in my Kia Sorrenta. Hot. That only took 3.5 hours. Just an hour shy of how long the race would take me. Something told me the rental car experience would be more difficult.

Things got slightly worse before they got better. When I assembled my bike that night, all appeared to be well. It wasn’t until the next morning when I went for a ride that things got bad. In the first 100 meters of my ride, I learned that lightening does, indeed, strike twice. Busted right shifter.

A quick call to my mechanic Brian back in Boston, and he had me hooked up with a tri shop in Palo Alto. Three cheers for Jasper at Front of the Pack who swapped out my shifter lickety-split, and off I went.

All was not terrible, though it would seem otherwise. There were many highlights too. Being at Stanford is always such a treat. It’s a beautiful campus, and I welcomed the opportunity to swim with the women’s team for a couple practices. (thanks, Lea!!). I had a gorgeous ride up in the foothills and ran campus drive remembering “the good old days.”

I visited with friends, got to meet their kids and loaded up on just a couple of pieces of Stanford apparel from the Track Shop.

Before I knew it, it was Friday and time to head up to Sonoma County. It is a truly beautiful part of the world. As I rode the bike course on Friday afternoon, I was struck by how truly gorgeous this race course is. Rolling hills, vineyards, all winding along the Russian River….it was almost a shame to have to race thru all that beautiful country!

The race itself went OK for me. I got tangled in the swim, as I often do, and wasn’t aggressive enough and found myself on the wrong feet; feet that decided some 600 meters in that they didn’t want to go anymore. I swam around to discover that the feet had lost the lead pack, and there I was ….in no man’s land. I would stay there thru most of the bike, getting passed by 2 men in the first 10K and then not seeing a soul for the rest of the bike until the last 10K when I caught glimpses of the second place woman.

We would enter T2 together and exit the way we entered, about 10 seconds apart.

Out on the run course, the race got interesting. I went from 3rd to 4th to 5th all by mile 6. Seemed like another typical “Dede run”. I tried to maintain my rhythm, focus on my technique, which I’ve been working TIRELESSLY on, and most of all, I refused to give up until well past the finish line. By mile 7, I’d re-passed to move back into 4th, then passed again to move to 3rd and 3rd is where I would stay.

At the end of the day, it was a solid day on tired legs. And the best part of Vineman?? A magnum of La Crema Pinot Noir as part of the prize!! LOVE IT!

Huge congratulations, too, to my friend Mark Castleman and his Iron-support, Laura on Mark’s first Half Ironman. Well done, Mark!!

Thanks to my friends for a great visit to the Bay Area, and a big, fat PTHTHTHTHTHTH to Hertz and to American who canceled my flight home. Travel…..grumble!

Ironman Brazil 2009

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:25:03 -0700

I was excited to return to Floripa for Ironman Brazil this year. I had to miss the event last year due to injury. Being 2nd here in 2007, I wanted to try to come back and do just a little bit better!

I arrived on Monday. While it's only an hour time difference from Boston, it's a long trip and I wanted some time to recover from the long travel. Ken Glah and his team at Endurance Sports Travel took excellent care of me all week. I can’t say enough about their level of professionalism and support. In fact, at one point during race week, I got some of the best advice I could have gotten from one of Ken’s staff. I went in to ask for help and Gaby looked at me and said “You look stressed. You should go eat some dessert.”

I settled in quickly, but my bike had some other ideas. It started to freak out on me; a broken shifter, a tire puncture and lastly, a busted stem, all in the days leading up to the race. It seemed the race would either be dynamite ...or a disaster!

I had some fun in the pre-race week as well. I met the entire team from Saucony in Brazil. They became my adopted family for the week and took care of me as Dave would have if he’d been there. Rodrigo got me to a pool so I could pool swim just once; as Karen says, better for my head than my body….but it all counts! I got to do some promotional stuff with them as well and had a blast meeting tons of Brazilians attending the expo who were excited about the race, and hopefully excited about Saucony!

I tried to put all the stress of pre-race week behind me as my feet hit the ground out of bed on race morning. My friends at Kestrel had done a fantastic job in helping me to resolve all of my bike issues and now it was time to race.

I feasted on my pre-race meal of unsweetened applesauce, a banana, and some Infinit drink at 4AM, followed by a Zone bar at 5. Got to transition and took care of all my business and before I knew it, we were at the start line.

The buoy placement was a bit odd. The first turn buoy was not straight ahead of the start line, but far to the right. As it turns out, the turn buoy moved further and further right as we swam toward it. On the beach, race officials decided to abandon the swim cut off time because we were all chasing a moving target for that first buoy. How's that for an added twist?!

Water conditions were quite difficult as well. Very choppy! I felt great in my BlueSeventy Helix, however, and with the added work I'd done this season on the Vasa Ergometer, I felt like I was powering thru what were less than ideal conditions.

I ran from the water into T1 and was greeted by my motorbike escort who pointed at his bike marker which read "1 Lugar" (first place). He gave me the thumbs up as if to say "good swim". And we were off. My goal was to have “1 Lugar” follow me the entire ride!

On the bike, I had some nutritional problems. My Infinit drink mix splattered everywhere on the cobblestone section and I lost, maybe 100 calories. About 15K into the bike, I noticed my gel flask which housed another 300 calories was gone. The Velcro had slipped off the flask due to the condensation and was lying somewhere on the road.....well behind me. So I pretty much had 300 Infinit calories to tide me over to special needs. I'd have to switch to Gatorade to make up the deficit.

At the first aid station, I grabbed a Gatorade, but 5-thumbs Griesbauer here dropped it almost instantly. Next aid station, I was going way too fast and launched 3 bottles, grabbing none. Finally, the third aid station, and final before special needs, I managed to grab a Gatorade and get it down.

And then it came right back up, all over my beautiful Kestrel.

Relieved to finally get to special needs, I reloaded my Infinit inventory, and pressed on. Monitoring my wattage, I felt strong on the bike, but well under control. I could see that the women behind me were....well, still behind me. My lead seemed to have grown to somewhere around 6 minutes by the end of the bike.

I knew that there were some great runners in the field; Heather, Lisbeth, Charlotte, Sara, Fernanda; all tremendous athletes and fierce competitors. They'd be coming for me until 20 yards PAST the finish line.

Running had never been my strength, but I have been working tirelessly on it with Karen, with Alex, my running coach, and with Jesse who helped me with some very useful gait analysis. I was determined to have a good run.

My pacing was on, but the hilly section definitely took some wind out of my sails. After the hills, I struggled to regain my pace. I was off about 10 seconds per K than from before the hills. My lead was increasing, however, so I did my best to maintain form, monitor nutrition and not do anything stupid!

In the end, I came away with the win. I savored every second of that finish chute; high-fiving the spectators, blowing kisses to the crowd, waving and giving a little fist pump. In the end, I celebrated just about 11 seconds too long. I wound up missing the course record by 11 seconds. Apparently the announcer was shouting "She's going to get the record if she can just get across the line". My friends from Saucony Brazil who were there as a major sponsor of the race were yelling at the announcer to "Say it in English...she doesn't understand Portuguese". But it was too late. I came up 11 second short....but it gives me every reason to come back and do it just a little better next time.

Tremendous thanks to all my sponsors; Saucony, Kestrel, The Zone, Fuel Belt, Team Psycho, BlueSeventy, Oval, Infinit and Vasa. And to my coach Karen who puts up with my endless BS and makes me laugh when I want to cry. To Eric, Alex and Jesse for making me stronger and leaner. To my Team Psycho training mates who push the pace early and often every day in training. And to my husband Dave for whom I don't have the words to thank enough.

Stay tuned for "Ironman Brazil, Part Deux, the Aftermath".....coming soon!

St. Anthony's

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:36:06 -0700

As with many of my race updates, it’s usually never much about the race! Why should this be any different?

After only about 5 days at home, I ventured back to Logan Airport to head to St. Anthony’s Triathlon in St. Petersburg, FL. Home feels a bit like a revolving door these days, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little remorseful leaving home again after only such a short “visit”.

Flying on trusty Jet Blue (I dig TV), I was super excited to learn that “Marley and Me” was a movie of choice. Now I know how it ends. I read the book. I tuned into the movie hoping, maybe, things would end differently. I drew quite a bit of attention to myself, belly laughing out loud at some of Marley’s antics. It reminded me (too much) of my dear Riley. Then came the end where my gregarious laughs turned to full on sobs. There I sat in 9B full on sobbing. Get it together, Dede. It’s a movie!

While I was sorry to be away from home again, the sunshine was nice in Florida! I felt a bit like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole at an Olympic distance race. I had promised myself after a few disastrous performances at the Oly Distance that it was probably best for me not to race it in public. Past performances had been shockingly horrifying to spectators, and St. Anthony’s, above all, is a real family event and I didn’t want to make children cry in horror.

I stayed with the greatest homestay ever. Monica, you rock! And I had 2 extra special roommies….Pre and Princess. Princess in particular, took a liking to me…..she jumped up on my chest any chance she got. Now I don’t fashion myself as a “cat person”, but these were some really sweet cats!!

Onward to race day……St. A’s does an awesome job and treats the pros really well. It’s a reason I am loyal to this race (despite my Olympic distance reservations). On this race day, however, they dealt us a blow by making us swim. That’s right. After canceling the amateur swim leg due to treacherous water conditions, they ordered all the pros to the swim start. Gulp!

Now I am a swimmer, and perhaps better than average. I have no problem saying that during the swim, I was crying like a school girl on the inside! Sure, the first 5 minutes seemed fun/funny/hysterically funny. But then I realized that it was entirely possible that due to one’s lack of ability to site because of the waves that I could likely end up in Cuba. I know Fidel is on the decline and relations are improving between our countries, but I am partial to America and like I said…I’ve been away a lot lately, so I preferred to at least stay in the US!

I survived the swim and emerged from Tampa Bay with Brooke Davison. GO-OLD-FART-PAC-10-SWIMMERS!!

Once on my Kestrel, I was determined pick off as many girls as I could. “Fleet footed” I am not, so if I wanted to be in the hunt in this race, I’d better show up on the bike. I felt great, in spite of some hefty Ironman training volumes of late and in spite of virtually no speed work. I reeled in a few and was within site of 2nd place coming into T2.

Now it’s never good to look back in a race. You should always look to who is ahead and try to pick them off….but in this particular case, I found it not that helpful to know that I was 2 minutes down on the lead. Moreover, what I was interested in was how far back were the likes of some really fast-ass runners!

In the end, my work in the swim and on the bike and my growing comfort with running scared on the run yielded me a 7th place finish. My best finish there ever, a 2:00 bike split PR and over 1:00 run split PR. Not bad for this slowtwitcher!

More pleased that I was able to travel home the same day (that NEVER happens in Ironman!) and get right back to training on Monday morning!

Many thanks to the race organizers at St. A’s. What a great race! And to my homestay. And to my Team Psycho teammate Dave. We had a great time paling around!

Less than 5 weeks to Brazil. Bring it! Holla!!

My "roomie", Princess

This bike....I LOVE THIS BIKE!

Charging for the finish

In honor of the Blazeman!

California 70.3

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:23:52 -0700

So I suppose I should write a brief update about my trip to Oceanside this past weekend.

I love to race in Oceanside – the venue is simply spectacular. Race organizers do a fantastic job and the volunteer Marines from Camp Pendelton keep the racers in check from start to finish!

True story – race morning the portaloo line was a mile long and with only 20 minutes before having to be in my wetsuit and heading for the start line, there was no time to spare. I spotted 2 unused portos in the lane where the athletes would be exiting the swim and heading toward T1. Clearly, these 2 special potties were for en route T1 athletes only, but I figured….just this once.

Just as I discovered the lone unused portaloos, an age group guy had the same idea and he was climbing over the fence some 10 feet ahead of me. Just as he had the first leg up and over, a volunteer marine bellowed, “Sir? I need you to cease and desist.”

Huh?

My fellow potty-sneak and I exchanged glances and I smiled and said “Dude, he could probably kill you with his hands. I wouldn’t go in there if I were you.”

So he gave up and headed for the line.

I, on the other hand, refused to give up. I walked over and smiled kindly at the young marine and said “But sir, I need to be in the water in 15 minutes. Can I please just sneak in here for one second? I won’t tell your superior officer. And thank you for your service and for volunteering today.” (gotta butter ‘em up any way you can…..these were desperate times, after all). He smiled back and said “You gotta go? You gotta go!” Thanks, young marine! You saved my day!!

So finally in the water, it didn’t feel as cold as I had expected. Expect the worst? Reality is usually better than that!

I had a pretty good start and was right at the front with the lead girls at about 500 meters. Perfect. Then suddenly…..I wasn’t. Lapse of concentration, perhaps? Complacency in that I thought I had the feet I needed and I let up some to fall into pace? Yeah….maybe that too. Whatever it was, it cost me.

I was gapped, and wound up in no man’s land for much of the bike. I could catch glimpses of the leaders on some of the longer climbs, but I just couldn’t seem to close. My legs felt heavy on the bike – in part because Karen has secretly been trying to kill me these last few weeks in training. Oh, sure. She says she’s just trying to get me ready for Ironman Brazil….but I think she’s trying to kill me!!! SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP!!!!!

I think, too, I had a tough time going on the bike because coming out of 58 degree water into 47 degree air temperatures….my quads felt like frozen slabs of meat! It took a good 25 miles for them to thaw, I think!! So in short, the bike was solid. Not stupendous and I am capable of more, but solid.

On to the run. I love the run course at Oceanside. It’s reasonably flat, and always cool and right along the water. LOVE it. This year, we were back ‘in the sand’ and had 4 sand sections to run. ARGH! I took a header on the first sand section….still think I have sand stuck in my teeth from that graceful maneuver. Maybe a spectator caught it on video and it will appear on YouTube some day soon…..yep, I can only hope.

My fun felt strong, but it was a little frustrating to get passed by 6th place with less than a mile to go, and then to fight to over take 7th, only to come up short by :01…..but that’s what keeps me fired up to keep working on that run!

So all in all….not my greatest day. Not my worst either. I think it was a solid start to the season, and there’s much more to come! Two more weeks of kicking it here in Austin, then it'll be weather-safe to head back to Boston to join my partner in crime, the dispenser of pain, the chief whip-cracker, my coach and training partner....Karen Smyers for my final push toward Ironman Brazil!! Holla!

Thanks to my sponsors: the new Kestrel is simply awesome. Still love my Saucony Fast Twitch; the best race shoes going! Great to be hanging with my Team Psycho peeps, too! Thanks to Fuel Belt, Infinit Nutrition and everyone at the Zone!! We’re off to a good start!

And of course we had to celebrate the season opener……just a little! …but straight back on the diet the next morning!

Now That the Dust Has Settled.....

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 13:11:20 -0700

The last several days have been sort of a blur, but the chafe marks, sun burn and still occasional muscle zinger are reminders enough that Ironman 2008 has officially come and gone!

I am home now, and while the idea of sitting by the water’s edge in Hawaii, sipping mai tais is rather appealing, I still have work to do as I am planning to race 70.3 Worlds next month and hope to be recovered enough to actually race it and not just participate. Time will tell.

Race week in Kona was busy, as always. We did our best to avoid town and lay low, but the Ironman hype is unavoidable. Every year is the same, with a start list that reads like the who’s who of Ironman racing and while this year had notable names like Karen Smyers, Michellie Jones, Lisa Bentley and Sam McGlone missing, it seemed like there were twice the number of ridiculously fast women there at the ready to fill their shoes. Reading down the start list, every name seemed faster and fitter than the last.

The morning before the race, I woke up, rolled over, then immediately sat stick straight up in bed and thought “Oh, Crap! It’s only a day away now.” No matter how prepared you know you are, those doubts always creep in as race day approaches. Am I really ready?

I went to my email and there, in my inbox, a message from Karen; my coach, my training partner, my friend and the voice of reason in times of sheer panic. She’d have something to say. A final pep-talk, perhaps. The motivating words that would have me march down to bike check in with confidence and poise as if to say “That’s right. Here I am. Check me out.”

I opened the email and read, “SERENITY NOW.” Perfect!!

Dave and I enjoyed a wonderful pre-race breakfast at our traditional spot (I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you as it’s such an awesome place, and is usually scant of the typical Ironman crowd and we like it that way, so I’m keeping it secret and I am not even sorry about it). After stuffing my gut full of pancakes and eggs, we made our way home and down to bike check. All smooth. In fact, all week had been smooth sailing; no broken bike, no mugging, no broken bones….none of the traumas that had plagued me before other Ironman races in the past. I feared my ‘payback’ for a quiet race week was going to be trauma on race day!!

Race morning arrived and we made our way down to the King Kam. The sea wall was already packed with spectators and there were athletes milling around. I love the nervous energy of race morning! I breezed thru body marking, transition and even hit the port-o-potty 3 times before the lines formed. It was 6:30 and I was ready to do with 15 minutes to spare. I said my final good bye to Dave and sort of just waved at my parents; too emotional to really say much of anything. The Ironman start is always emotional; saying goodbye to your support crew for a good 9+ hours, getting ready to face all that the day will bring. Once the cannon fires, I am usually fine, but that last 15 minutes makes me want to cry, spit up, curse, laugh at the absurdity of what I am about to do, curl up in the fetal position and a host of other emotions all battling for top billing.

I got in the water and warmed up and tiny bits of excitement and exhilaration began to peek out from behind the wall of apprehension and fear. As I was floating out in the water past the start line, trying to find the relaxation for a last minute pee, I saw something out of the corner of my eye…not another swimmer, but ……WHAT THE HECK? IS THAT A FREAKING FIN? I started to hyper-ventilate and back away from the mysterious marine life only to have one of the surf board officials laugh at me and say, “It’s only a turtle”. Nothing like a little heart attack to get your adrenaline going 3 minutes before an Ironman!

Before I knew it, the cannon had fired and we were off. In spite of the fact that we pros get a 15 minute head start on the amateur field and as such, have a relatively calm go of it, it’s still chaos at the start. There’s a lot of money on the line and as such, all the “pro weaponry” is out in full force; elbows, feet, knees, ……claws. The first two strokes, someone grabbed my foot, pulled me under and then with their other hand, shoved my shoulder even further under water. So much for smooth sailing!

After those first two strokes, though, I found myself in an awesome spot. I could see I was swimming with the usual female swim leaders and felt comfortable in the water. Easy even. Aside from nearly losing my swim cap 5 or 6 times and having to stop and yank it back on a few times, I had a pretty easy, solid swim. No course records and I still believe I haven’t come close to having my pool speed transfer to open water swimming, but for Ironman purposes, I was right where I needed to be, and that was good by me.

Out on the bike, I quickly moved to the front with the usual suspects. I settled in out on the Queen K and focused on the 2 things I could control; my nutrition and my wattage. It was a calm day, just as the forecasts had called for…….until we got just past the Scenic Outlook. Then, in an instant, it was like someone turned on the wind. At first, it wasn’t so bad, but as we made the turn at Kawaihae and started the climb to Hawi, I swore I saw Dorothy, Toto, and several of the munchkins, flying thru the air on their way to Oz. Man! Was it windy!

I am sure there have been windier years; ’95 is legendary for being especially brutal and then again in 2001 or 2002 was another notable one, I am told. This was not that, but it was by far the most challenging conditions I’d faced in my 6 years of racing in Kona.

I had a bit of a low the last 30 miles of the bike. There as a bit of headwind, and I found myself alone on the course for almost this entire section. I kept focused on my wattage and made sure to keep on top of my nutrition. Having a strong marathon would be key.

As I got off the bike, my first mile running was a bit rough. I felt horrible and wondered if I’d biked too hard. I was starting to feel a little sorry for myself when I heard a booming voice from the sidelines yell “Cut that **** out. Run you race. You are right where you need to be.” I looked over….it was Dave. Apparently there’d be no feeling sorry for myself this marathon! It was just the kick in the pants I needed and by mile 2, I’d settled in and was feeling much better.

The marathon was the most exciting run I’ve ever had in an Iroman. I’ll be the first to admit – in my entire career as a triathlete, I have only passed one person on the run before. And if I am being honest, the pass occurred when she was doubled over, repositing her gels, energy drink and breakfast on the side of the road; doesn’t really count as “a pass” in my book! So at mile 11, when I found myself “on the bubble” in 10th place, I had to wonder – could I hold on for a top 10 finish?

Again, “the voice” yelled at me from the side of the road “They don’t look that good up ahead. You can catch them. Run your race.” I was sure he was lying to me in that spousal “no, honey, those jeans don’t make you look fat” kind of way, but I played along. I could see a couple women up the road, and I set my sights on them deciding this marathon, I’d look forward, not back as I normally do.

And wouldn’t you know….each time I got passed, I dug deep and re-passed another. I held my 10th place to the finish!

Am I pleased with my performance on the day? Yes and no. I raced my race. I definitely treated the marathon like a dog fight. I didn’t just survive it. I raced it. My nutrition was solid and I felt steady, strong and clear headed all the way thru. Still, after a couple days of reflection, I know I can be better and that is wasn’t my greatest day. That’s not to say I am disappointed, but I know I can be better. And if I can be 10th on a day where I know I can be better, I am excited for next year already!

Big thanks to everyone for all your emails, texts and calls with well wishes ahead of the race. Thanks to Karen and to Dave for everything!!

And of course to all my sponsors; Saucony, Team Psycho, Fuel Belt, Guru, Oval, Infinit Nutrition, Blue Seventy and Reynolds. And to my friends at Fast Splits, Cressey Performance, Vasa, The Zone, Samsung, and CompuTrainer – thank you for a great year!

What Day Is It?

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:18:27 -0700

Race day +2 and while I have the chafe marks, sunburn and occasional muscle aches, pains and zingers to prove that the race is done....the last 3 days have been a total blur. We are sitting, bleary eyed, in LAX having just climbed off the red eye and are waiting for our flight to Boston. I am not even really sure what day it is any more!

I will post a better race report in a day or two when I can think more clearly....going on day 4 with no sleep (pre-race was the hourly roll-over "is it time yet?", then race night, everything hurt and I just couldn't sleep. Ditto Sunday night. Then last night, sleeping in a chair didn't really do it for me....).

Still, I wanted to share another message from home. I think she's a little biased, but she still made me smile! Thanks to you all for your emails, FB posts and phone messages! I really appreciate the support!

AFLAC Irongirl

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:02:26 -0700

Triathlete pays tribute in Iron Girl finish
Check out the link above!

What a great day in Columbia! Rob Vigorito and the folks at TriColumbia never disappoint. With over 2,000 women racing, many of whom were first timers, the Alfac Irongirl Columbia race went off without a hitch! It was a perfect day, a great, and challenging course, and it was truly inspirational to witness the enthusiasm of the entire field; especially the first timers. It was a healthy reminder of why we get into this crazy sport to begin with.

The Blais's were in the house as well. I just adore BlazeMom and BlazeDad! Their determination and dedication, carrying on Jon's memory thru the Blazeman Foundation for ALS, is a lesson to any athlete! I learned only later that Saturday would have been Jon's 37th birthday...... a fellow Virgo!!

Home now, and back to work. Kona is in the air!!! It's time!

Me?? Sprint???

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:21:32 -0700

Two words my brain has a hard time processing together in the same sentence are “sprint” and “triathlon”. Let’s be honest, I am slow twitch all the way, so when Team Psycho made the Cohasset Sprint Triathlon a focus event for the team this year, I searched high and low for a reason I couldn’t race!

With nearly the entire Team Psycho roster out racing, to not show would have been an open sign of cowardice, sure to open me up as a target for banter and trash talk from the masses leaving me little choice but to show up and pretending to know how to sprint!

Several years ago, Team Psycho created a non-profit initiative called the Elite Development Program. The goal of the EDP is to promote excellence in the sport thru sponsorship, initially of ITU standouts with the ultimate mission of getting someone to the starting line of the Olympic Games. In a mere 5 years, the EDP has met its goal, and Jarrod Shoemaker will toe the line in Beijing in August.

EDP does tons to give back to the sport and to the community – you can read more about it at
www.teampsycho.com/program. In addition to several great initiatives, the EDP has expanded to include support of long course athletes as well and I am a very grateful beneficiary of some of that support. To toe the line in Cohasset this past weekend, I hoped to “earn my keep”!

It was a misty, foggy morning, but with over 950 in attendance, the energy level was high and with nearly every Team Psycho member present and accounted for, there was no shortage of trash talking!! Race director, Bill Burnett did an extraordinary job and after some mere 57 minutes of racing it was all over. Not gonna lie….LOVE that!! 57 minutes and you’re done??

Many thanks to race director Bill Burnett for putting on a great event. And a great thanks to Team Psycho for adding their support both to the event and to me. There is no greater team! Psycho Karma, All Day, Every Day.

Eagleman 70.3

nospam@example.com (Dede Griesbauer) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:51:03 -0700

While Ethan and Jarrod were freezing their butts off in Vancouver, I was sweating mine off on the Eastern shore of Maryland at Eagleman 70.3.

Race director Rob Vigorito and his crew to a great job in Cambridge and I was excited to return to the race after a year or two away.

The weekend got off to an interesting start. I traveled to Baltimore with Boston-based Aussie Pro Richie Cunningham. We landed in Baltimore and had to wait some 1 hr 20 min in the Avis, “we don’t actually try harder”, rental car line. When we finally got to the front of the line, they were out of mini-vans, forcing me to have a very one-sided conversation with the agent about what the word “reservation” actually means. We were upgraded to a very plush Expedition. With gas at $4/gallon, I guess they aren’t in real high demand.

So off we went toward Cambridge, delayed another hour by a highway closure caused by a disgruntled husband who took his wife hostage, ultimately shooting her and then himself.

Things got better from there. I had a tremendous homestay; great people, gorgeous home and conveniently located. Thanks so much Daryl and Jane for making me feel so at home and for taking such wonderful care of me! Race day arrived along with a massive heat wave. Race day temperatures were near 98 degrees, with a heat index well above 100 degrees. It was a cooker for sure.

Ultimately, I finished 2nd. I made some strategic mistakes on the swim. I biked well, but some things transpired beyond my control and I lost a bit more time on the lead. I suffered on the run in the heat; especially in the last 3 miles, so 2nd is where I’d stay. In all, an OK performance, but with lots of room for improvement.

Mary Ann and Bob Blais were in Cambridge as well this past weekend, continuing in the War on ALS. I rolled the finish in honor of Jon. The Blazeman Foundation will be participating in the Rhode Island 70.3 Expo Event as well. If you are racing in Rhode Island, be sure to stop by their booth.

Up next, the Cohasset Triathlon where I’ll see if I can locate that one fast-twitch muscle fiber that may be lurking below the surface!