The Bike & T2

The Bike: The bike course in Madison is 112 miles long - consisting of a 16 mile stretch out to a town called Verona, then it is a 2 loop course (roughly 40 miles per loop) and then back from Verona into Madison again for the last 16 miles. For those that are not aware...this course has HILLS! This is considered one of the most technical Ironman bike courses in the U.S., including Kona. You are constantly on rolling hills or turning at 90 degrees, or climbing (what I affectionately call) the "Bitches" - the 4 major hills on the loop that you have to do twice. Plan for the bike is to go out super easy, take the first loop very conservative and keep it steady for loop 2...then the stick back to Madison, just do it (remembering I had to run a marathon after I got back)! Key goals for the bike was to keep my hydration and nutrition on task. I had my watch set to beep at me every 10 minutes to remind me to drink something. My liquid food was to be taken in every half hour, and my supplement pills, at the top of the hour. It is a science!

Jen & Pink Lightning on the course

I started out on the bike just like Jonny said to - in my low chain ring and spinning it out nice & easy out to Verona. Kim (a girl I train with) passed me on the bike in Madison and was cruising! I felt pretty good going out to Verona, and was holding about 19-20 mph. Leg and foot weren't even numb! Awesome!

I little before Verona, I went into my large chain ring and decided to keep it there...I was feeling great and was trying to keep telling myself to actually slow down. Don't get too excited here...it is a long day out on the bike. I was holding a pretty fast pace, but it felt really easy.

In Mount Horeb (~30 miles in), Noelle passed me on the bike. We chatted briefly and she was off. I half debated to try to keep pace with her, but that lasted 2 seconds when I scolded myself and remembered that this was my own race, and to keep pacing myself nice and easy. It is a long day to go still! At about mile 45, the "bitches" #2 and #3 came up - as I had attempted standing briefly on a couple of the short 90 degree ascents earlier in the ride, my legs felt super rubbery in that position...so on the big hills I kept in the saddle for the whole ascent (#2 is about a mile long!). With all the people, signs, chalk, etc - the hills didn't seem as bad as when we were there for training. Thank god for adrenaline!

On the last "bitch" (#4), the TCMC crew was a waiting towards the top. Was awesome to see them there cheering and jumping up and down. At this point, I was about 30 minutes faster than my predicted pace. So was feeling pretty good.

Coming up Bitch #4 - Smiling & Waving!
I got back to Verona for the completion of Loop #1 and got to see my awesome cheering crews #2 and #3! Mom, dad, and Stacy were waving and yelling as I flew by, and Team IronJen did the same. Jake did his job and yelled out to me to "Eat!", in case I had forgotten. (Nope! I was on task!) I stopped at the special needs bags at mile 56, and all I wanted out of that thing was my wet naps. My aero bars were SO sticky with my Carbo-Pro (food), I could barely get my fingers off of it! So I wiped those down, grabbed a swig of Coke, and took off in no time at all. On to loop #2. On this loop, I was slowing down a bit...I knew I had a ways to go until I might see any more of the people I knew on the course. And those darn "bitches" again....augh! Well, I hit the hills again and made them all without standing. On the last hill, with the TCMC'ers - Ironman Jim ran me up the hill and talked to me until the top. I SO needed that boost! I knew once I made that last hill, that the rest of the course would just fall into place and be fine.

 

Gotta Make It..Up...The...Last...Hill!

Ironman Jim, Steve G. & Jonny J running Jen & P.L. up the last hill

Heidi, Jonny J & Val on the hill (Go Team!)
Back in Verona, for the last time, I got another glimpse of Mom, dad & Stacy and as I went by the IronJen crew (and Jake), they started singing "Somebody call 911!!!", which made me laugh! Jake had filled them in on this little 'joke' and they wanted to make me laugh as I went by this last time on the bike. It definitely worked! Those cheering crews of mine were the absolute best on the bike course! By far my favorite part of the day out there!!! On the stick back to Madison, I was slowing down a bit more still...but I didn't care. I only had a little bit left and wasn't gonna kill myself. I was WAY ahead of my expected split and was going to make it back into town soon. My feet were hurting a bit, so was curious how that was gonna feel when I got off the bike. I also think I got stung by a bee somewhere on this stretch... whatever. I didn't care at this point. Back in Madison, I got back to the helix and rode 'er up to the transition area. The bike takers took Pink Lightning from me and I headed into the Terrace. Bike time was 6:39 - I wanted to get in around 7:00 or under. Was very happy about that...as I knew that since it was 3:00 PM at this point in time...I could walk the whole marathon and make it in by midnight. No problem, this Ironman thing was going to be mine! T2 Transition: In transition 2 I grabbed my bag and heard Leann, Erica and Corrine yelling at me and cheering me on (they are friends of mine that were volunteering in there). I was so excited to see those guys! I ran into the changing area and had a lovely volunteer help me get all set. I changed into a running outfit, took my supplements, grabbed my running belt, and then quickly stopped at the restroom before heading out on the run. Only 26.2 miles to go!!! 

Leann, Erica & Corrine in T2