Adrienne Amman - Lane 4

The water is rough, the wind is strong, and the sky is dark. I'm in, are you?

2009 Whistlestop Half Marathon

BUUURRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was a race in Ashland, Wisconsin that Matt and I did very early on in our running career (2003). Matt's brother Mike had recently moved to nearby Washburn and started his career as a forester for Bayfield County. We loved the race because of the beautiful fall colors and the race course being a converted railroad track. We finished together in 1:36.

This time we went to visit his brother Mike again, who still lives in Ashland but is married and has a dog, Nelson. Matt and I arrived at his brother's house late Friday night. We planned to wake up early and head over to the race start (about 15 miles from Mike's house). Matt's Uncle Bob had also joined us for the weekend. We planned to leave for the starting line around 7:15am as the race started at 8am. About 7:10am I realized that we did not have race packets. We hadn't printed out any race information. Luckily Uncle Bob was organized and had printed off race information. Packet pick-up had closed at 7am. We decided to run over to the packet pick-up area anyway (just a few blocks from the house). The volunteers were running late and we were able to get our packets--thank goodness!

Once we got to the race start, we stayed in the car becuase it was FREEZING!!! There was an inch of snow on the ground that morning, the temperature was around 20 degrees and the wind was blowing like crazy! All we had packed for the race was shorts and t-shirt. I froze while waiting in line for the bathroom, and noticed that many people around me were wearing timing chips. I asked the girl in front of me where she got her chip and she told me. I headed that way after using the bathroom and ran into Matt, who had picked up both of our chips. While I was waiting in line for the bathroom, I heard an announcement that the race was delayed 10 minutes.

We decided to go to the starting line at 7:55am anyway (just in case...). It was a good thing that we did because they started the race at 8am anyway! We had not warmed up because it was soooooo cold. We ran on the road directly into the wind for about the first 1.5-2 miles. Parts of the road were icy, and I ran cautiously. There was a lead pack and I was in the 2nd pack back. My group started to pick up the pace at around mile 1. I felt like I was pushing it already and decided not to go with them; so I ended up bucking the wind alone for the next mile. Finally we turned onto the path and the trees provided some shelter. I seriously thought about dropping off because I couldn't feel my legs or feet and my fingers were red and painful. Thank goodness I didn't see Matt's brother and his uncle until around mile 6 because I probably would have dropped out if they had been spectating earlier in the race.

I finally started to warm up (physically and muscularly) around mile 4. I was then able to turn myself around mentally and focus on the race rather than the cold. I picked up the pace and held close to my target pace of 7-7:15/mile. The last 2-3 miles my stomach started sloshing very loudly, but it didn't slow me down. I just felt badly for those around me who had to listen to it--very gross! I finished in 1:37, which was not as fast as I had hoped to go (the first 4 miles were slower than my goal pace, and this cost me about 2 minutes). I had also just finished my first Ironman 4 weeks prior to the race and was still feeling a little tired from that as well.

Overall, I was satisfied with my race given the weather conditions and my condition (physical and mental). Matt and I laughed at ourselves...you'd think we'd never done a race before--forgetting to pick up our race packets and timing chips!

Things to remember for next time:
1. Bring a variety of clothes for different types of weather! (Hat, gloves, pants, etc. would have been helpful at this race!)
2. Look at nutrition to prevent stomach sloshing.
3. Use my brain to think about things like registration packet pick-up and timing chip!
4. Warm up if possible so that I am able to run the 1st 4 miles at goal pace.

2009 Ironman Wisconsin

IRONMAN WISCONSIN
September 13, 2009
Madison, WI

Adrienne Amman 11:36:20
11th Age Group
381st Overall

Swim: 58:56
T1: 6:09
Bike: 6:01:13
T2: 3:21
Run: 4:26:44

PRERACE:
On Sunday, a week before the race, I went over to Pat Toft's house to practice changing tires, using PitStop, and using CO2 cartridges. I inflated a tire with a CO2 cartridge and ended up freezing my left index finger. This later turned into an annoying water blister, which I stupidly decided to pop 2 days before the race. It hurt even more then and I worried about it getting infected.

Normally I am a good sleeper, but I had trouble in the days leading up to the race. One night I was up from 3-4 am reading all 33 pages of the race packet cover to cover and highlighting sections while I obsessed over the weather. I looked at 3 different websites, trying to convince myself that none of them were correct...it couldn't be 65 and rainy on race day! Finally I was able to sleep towards the end of the week--exactly opposite of what I thought would happen.

On Saturday (the day before the race), I took my bike out for 1 last spin before checking it in to transition. My plan was to ride out 5 minutes, turn around, and ride back to the car. I stopped at 5 minutes to turn around, unclipped 1 foot, lost my balance and went down in front of a ton of people. Of course I was wearing my aero helmet while doing this, which made me look even stupider! Other than a few bruises I was ok and the bike was fine. Despite this, I was on the edge emotionally. A nice guy stopped running and gave me a pep talk "Don't worry, that happens to everyone" (yeah, it probably does...just not the day before a full IM...really I DO know how to ride a bike...or not.)

Race morning I walked into transition to pump up my tires only to find that my spare was missing off of my bike! We had taped it on really good, so I was pretty baffled. I looked around my bike rack area and found it on the ground. Apparently the tape had melted in the hot sun on Saturday afternoon and the spare had simply slid off the bike. We re-taped it, much more securely this time, and the bike was ready to go!

SWIM:
A few days before the race I decided to cut the wrists off of my wetsuit to make it easier to get on and off as this had been a problem in the past. This ended up being a good decision as I was able to get the wetsuit on and off much easier. I realized that I forgot to put bodyglide on my chest near the zipper of my tri top and on my neck once I was in the water. I knew I would "feel the burn" later from this. I started the swim 2 rows behind Scott Bowe as planned. It was pretty much wall-to-wall people and there was hardly enough room to even tread water. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the cannon went off. I sprinted the first 200-300 yards with everyone else and then eased into a steady pace. There were people around, but it wasn't too bad...until the first turn buoy. All of a sudden as I rounded the first corner something smacked me in the right eye and smashed my goggle into my face. I'm guessing it was an elbow or a heel as someone was flutter kicking. I stopped, said a few explicatives, rearranged my goggles and kept going. A black eye crossed my mind, but I had no idea until much later...

The 2nd loop of the swim was much more spread out. I stopped 1 time as a girl kept swimming at an angle and hitting me. She actually swam under my arm and I accidentally pulled her back with my stroke. This angered her and she came back, dunked me under, and yelled, "Stop hitting me!!" I replied, "You need to swim straight." She then said something mean that I couldn't really hear, I said a few choice words back to her, and we kept going. I wondered what had happened to all of the positive comments before the race (e.g., "It's a long day. Help each other out."). Yeah right. Hit me again. I dare ya. I have a black eye and I can give 1 or 2 to you too! No other issues really after that. Got out of the swim in a decent time, got the wetsuit off, and ran up the helix.

BIKE:
Because of my participation in the Janus Charity Challenge I had a low number (79). Therefore my bike was racked very close to the mount line. I carried my shoes to my bike as I ran, put the shoes on, grabbed the bike from the rack and took off down the helix. I rode out of the aero position with my head up for the first 30 minutes to make sure I took it easy and stayed out of peoples' way. I took my first gel at about 40 minutes and started on my plan to take gels at 20 minutes and 40 minutes with salt at 60 minutes. After about 1-1.5 hours of this I felt like my body wasn't digesting the gels fast enough in 20 minutes. I thought about what I had done in training (gels at 30 and 60 with salt at 15) and decided to go with that plan. Things seemed to go better after that. I stuck to my heart rate zones religiously. This made the bike feel very easy until the last 10-12 miles when I was heading back into the city with a slight headwind. I was really starting to get sick of my gels, and had there been 1 more aid station, I probably would have ditched the water and gone to just Gatorade for the last 10 miles. Total I consumed 8.5 gels on the bike, water, and 5 salt tablets.

RUN:
My biggest fear on the run was getting the stomach pain that I had at Spirit of Racine Half Ironman. (At that race I ran strong until mile 10 when a stomach pain hit me fast and hard, causing me to walk the last 3 miles of the run into the finish line in agony.) I started out running slowly with hesitation and figured I could always build into the run as I built my confidence. No luck. Before I even hit the first mile marker, there was the stomach pain. I started to panic, because I had not been able to find a solution to this problem in the past. The pain was right where it had always been in the past; just to the right of my belly button. I walked the first 2 aid stations, took 2 Ibuprofen and 2 salt tablets. I walked a little longer and then tried to shuffle a bit while holding my side. As long as I kept my hand pressing hard into the painful area of my stomach, I could shuffle along VERY slowly. I started to raise and lower my right arm while massaging my stomach. This seemed to help it out a little bit. Ross, from TriWi, ended up running with me, and this was very helpful. I was able to keep moving and was distracted from the pain. Every aid station I walked and took a salt tablet. By mile 5 the pain was almost completely gone. I was able to remove my hand from my stomach and stop doing the weird arm motion. I continued to run with Ross at a conservative pace just to make sure that it wouldn't come back.

By mile 7-8 I was feeling a little bit better and was able to pick up the pace a little bit. Ross stayed behind and I continued on. When ever I would feel the pain start to come back I would take 1-2 more salt tablets and within 5 minutes or so the pain would reside. I continued to walk every aid station, alternating coke and water and gatorade and water. I started to get a bloated stomach and overall yuck feeling (probably related to my sudden increase in salt intake). I continued on and continued to walk the aid stations and take in fluids.

Around mile 14-15 my body started to feel a lot better and I was actually able to start running at a decent pace. I continued to build into the run, and with 7 miles left had a good amount of energy to start pushing the pace. I figured I had about an hour to go and needed to do as much catch-up as I could. Every mile got faster and faster. The more I ran the stronger I felt. I continued to walk the aid stations and take in fluids (and salt as needed). Finally I rounded State Street and headed up to the capitol square. I hustled down MLK and through the finish line. It was awesome!

SUMMARY:
I had a ton of fun. The spectators and volunteers were a blast. I think I cheered them on and thanked them almost as much as they cheered for the athletes. I never hit a "dark place" anywhere in my race where I wanted to quit. I was very positive the entire time and never felt overwhelmed or tired. I have a ton of respect for everyone who does this race, probably more so for the people who finish between 16 and 17 hours (and even after that, although unofficially).

Inspirational thoughts:
Before the race Pat Toft said to me, "Remember, people do this race pulling other people behind them (The Hoyts)." I remembered that going into the swim and throughout the day. And before the swim I saw a man getting into his wetsuit. A volunteer was next to him...holding a prosthetic leg. He caught up to me on the bike and passed me--with his biking prosthetic leg! I eventually passed him back on the bike, but later saw him running with his running prosthetic leg.

Thank yous:
-Paula Skoy and Travis Evenson--came all the way from Onalaska to cheer me on!
-The Conohan family (including Cheryl)--Cheered me on just outside of Cross Plains with huge signs!
-My parents--free lodging and meals, cheering, laundry, etc., etc.
-Matt--gave great training and racing advice all year, emotional support, cheering, rode his bike around the run course all day rooting me on!
-John and Bandit Lancaster--great cheering on the run by the limnology building!
-Dennis, Mary Pat, and Michon Olson--cheering by the Memorial Union, and good luck wishes the night before!
-Ted and Rose Amman--awesome race support before, during, and after the race as always! They are always there and very dependable cheerleaders!
-Pat and Hilary Toft--great food, great fun, pre-race perspective, and bike mechanics practice!
-Ross--I wouldn't have run as much as I did the first 7 miles of the run without you. You are awesome!
-TriWisconsin crew--your song request station ROCKED!
-Mike Karbouski--great advice at the IM clinic just before the race! Thanks for cheering as well!
-Michelle Lanouette--Thanks for letting me tag along and suck off your back wheel on training rides! Also thanks for punishing me on runs...I think I may need more of that this winter...
-All the people who donated to my charities. You guys are fantastic!
-Friends and family who rooted for me from afar...Aunt Nancy, Aunt Mary Lou, Uncle Squeek...the list goes on and on!
-All the supporters from Greyhound Pets of America-WI
-Scott, Mary, and Jim (canine) Bowe--great advice, good training, and good times as always!

I'm sure there are others that I have forgotten, and I apologize for not mentioning you, but you are flippin' sweet as well!

Things to Remember:
- Breakfast food 3 Luna bars was okay; try Powerbar Smoothie bars instead; keep the RedBull; Add one salt tablet to breakfast
- Swim start near turn buoy was hard, but I doubt it matters
- 2 gels on 30/60 minute cycle worked wash down with water
- Used only 5 saltstick tablets on bike; try 10-14 next time
- Heart rate guide of under 125 for first 30 miles worked
- Heart rate guide of 125-135 for bike worked; hill cap of 145
- Lite-weight Nike Trainers (Skylons) fine; Drymax teflon socks fine
- Bike: Planet X Stealth; Wheels: PX 50-50; Tires: Bontrager XXX tubular; Tire pressure F 115 R 117
- Spare tubular taped to seat worked fine but do it morning of race otherwise it slips off during the night b/c of condensation/heat. Electrical taped spare with 2 Co2 cannisters and release value to seat. Razor blade taped to seat post
- PitStop taped to top tube near seatpost worked fine
- Consumed 8.5 Chocolate Powergels on bike; no gels on run
- Alternated Coke/Gatorade on run, worked fine