Ultraman prep 10 days and counting

All smiles at Hapuna beach

So with 10 days to go before the Triton Trumpet heralds the start of Ultraman I went to Hapuna Beach with Cory and Laurie, it was just a beautiful day to swim there.

Yup we are wearing wet suits but the water was toasty warm compared to California!

Here I am with Ben Fisher who did Ultraman in 1985!

So after the swim I had the pleasure of meeting Ben who did the Ultraman in 1985, he still is incredibly fit too and during his Ultraman experience had to take a fire fighter test!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZyAKs3Ucnw&list=UURAsEeeATiBc0_Po2XDGm3w&index=1&feature=plcp

Had a great morning at Hapuna Beach, and with great friends too.

Swimming with dolphins and planning for the unexpected.

Yeah the Ocean awaits!

It has been 11 days since I had a dental bone graft stitches removed I am itching to get into the Hawaiian Ocean so I venture forth on Veterans morning to the Pier, with my snorkel and mask.
I was SO happy I swam 1.2 miles and met some amazing Kona Peeps who invited me to swim the next day to the Ironman buoy think 2.4 mile swim!

Now they say do nothing new on race day and make all your mistakes in training... mm as I am running late to the pier I grab my brand new never been worn new swim suit I start to put it on and realize it s kinda tight! I look at the size a 32 I am usually a 34 but truwest a 32, I squeeze myself into this suit I look lean and mean no time to change!!
I head to the pier and meet my new Kona friends for an Ironman swim.

New friends at the pier

 My second challenge of the morning was my wet suit, for some un known reason no one could fasten my zip, I groaned at the prospect of doing the swim on no wet suit and luckily Amber came to the rescue after 10 minutes and was able to secure the zip!

Amber was so fast this is the only time I saw her!

SO to the swim....
Swam out to the 1.2mile red ball, was a gorgeous day to be swimming and I was grateful I had my wetsuit on! At the turnaround we waited for our paddler, and suddenly the Ocean came alive as a slither of silver and grey leaped out of the water, wow a baby dolphin how cute then there was dolphins every where I was so excited, I forgot about my swim and we all just swam with the dolphins! There was two pods and a few baby ones in the mix they just stayed around us and I just tried to absorb their positive energy!

Special, magical, wonderful feeling, I just loved the fact they knew we were harmless as they played around us for a long time. I truly love Hawaii and the wonderful Ocean.

Feeling blessed we all headed back to the pier, I thought I had gills growing I had been in the water that long!

all smiles

After 2.5 hours in the Ocean recovered with a new protein Hammer bar.

 Ultra-man Hawaii will be over Thanksgiving weekend and hoping for a safe journey, I now know I need to wear a different swim suit and fix the zip on my wet suit!

A perfect running day on the trails with Hammer.

Hammer runs a long way and on the way back he loves to run past the In n out burgers the smell sends him crazy!!

Life is good this is Hammer my running buddy.

Today I ran 17 miles with my best friend Hammer, he is only a little dog weighing in at 11 pounds on a heavy day! He always does a little dance when he sees me lace up my Brooks Cascadia shoes, he is smart he knows it means a trail run! Running Happy its what we do!

5 miles in and starting a climb soon

He is a little dog with a mighty heart, there is no mountain too big!! And off we ventured up the Garcia trail in Azusa which is a little steep and very dry single track for the most part.

the reward

After a quad breaking heart busting charge to the top we get to relax and enjoy the view.

Hammer enjoy s a raspberry hammergel.

Hammer is waiting for the word GO GO GO!!!

We wondered about running the ridge but I remembered the Mountain Lion and Bear photo my husband took last week so decided to take a rain check ...

Hammer leads the way down the dusty single track

Its always a GOOD day when you can run with your best friend! Sometimes we stop to smell smells....sometimes we do speed work and chase the critters, and sometimes Hammer needs a carry for 3 minutes to rejuvenate but at the end of the day we both get a great work out!

Hammer takes a break....because he can! Its called enjoy the day so we sit together on the grass....

At home Hammer heads straight for the water bowl and does a little dance for some food I happily oblige him and I make myself a Hammer recovery drink and some vegetarian corn dogs.....running makes me happy and hungry!

Long Beach Open water 5km swim

Before you say wow 5km swim really...its all about perspective. 

some goodies from the event.

I had spent the Saturday at an Open water swimming conference as a guest of Coach Christine, it was set aboard the Queen Mary which has permanent residence at long Beach CA.

Here I am with Craig Dietz

 One of the motivational guest speakers at the venue was Craig Dietz, if you have ever complained about not being able to do something check out this u tube as Craig was born with out limbs yet does some pretty amazing things 

ESPN....Craig Dietz unsinkable.

So after hearing Craig speak and watching his amazing story I went with renewed vigor to the swim on Sunday.

Here I am with AL at the briefing.

The swim was called making waves, and was all about getting the word out about Cancer. All proceeds from this inaugural event went to

Memorial Care Todd Cancer Institute at Long Beach Memorial which is the Destination for Comprehensive & Supportive Cancer Care

  I am no stranger to Cancer, I lost both my grandparents to Cancer and was involved for 5 years raising money for Breast Cancer for AVON of Puerto Rico.

Covina Aquatics was well represented.

The swim was held at Long Beach Marine Stadium, The stadium was the site for the 1932 Olympic Rowing competition and the 1968 Olympic rowing trials. Marine Stadium was recently designated as an official state historic site. So was an exciting venue to be at!

800 meter swimmers

What made the day was the kids, I say that as there was many different events a 100m, 800m, 1,500m 5km, and 10km with a four hour cut off. As well as Master swimmers there was kids whose first time exposure out of the safety of a pool and a black line; were chattering excitedly about their swim in open water! Laughing, playing tag just enjoying the day, most of the Master swimmers had a more serious look trying to figure out their competition and best tactics!

THE SWIM

Well 5km is 5km, it was broken down into 3 loops and there was a floating island were I wish I had put a bottle of Heed on to but as this was my first time dabbling in an organized swim event was not sure how the feeding zone worked.

The 5km swimmers were in yellow caps also there was blue caps (10km swimmers) and pink caps (1500m swimmers) The swim start has Master swimmers going first as I was wearing a full sleeved wetsuit I was in the second wave of "non swimmers" which is totally the wrong name for this group as there was some serious swimmers in this group!

My tactic was to be conservative and work on my breathing and stroke, as soon as the horn sounded I witnessed a swimmer think piranha feeding frenzy occur, there were arms turning over the water every were and bobbling heads like M&M candy heading out for the first yellow buoy!

On the second loop I was lapped by some very fast yellow and even a few blue caps, I also saw the floating island of water bottles and did think about pretending that one of those bottles was mine as salt water does not taste yummy at all!! I also had to stop in awe to say amazing to Craig as he was doing the 10km swim, any doubts I should call it a day disappeared, keep on moving forward Suzy enjoy the swim and be grateful that YOU CAN!

Despite being one of  the last official yellow caps in the water I finished my 3rd loop and was so happy I had a smile from ear to ear! I am not going to break any records but sure needed to get some fluid into my system 

Finished 5km in beautiful conditions too

Al s youngest daughter Montana was in awe at the swimmers and certainly happy to see me come out of the water.

Very happy to have finished

After I finished we watched the blue caps finishing the 10km swim, and Craig Dietz interview after deciding to do the 5km swim. He is so positive in his approach to life it makes you want to reach for the stars and believe you can touch one.

Below is my heart rate I did not wear my GPS wish I had now!

https://www.polarpersonaltrainer.com/shared/exercise.ftl?shareTag=c2401533ce8ffdda16eb39bab6da2266

It was the end of a great weekend below are a few pics from just a few of the swimmers at the conference which inspire..

Diana Nyad swam with box jelly fish stings for hours!

Diana is an International Marathon Hall of Fame inductee, most famous for her attempts to swim from Cuba to Florida. but also a very accomplished marathon swimmer.

Greta Anderson

 In 1948 Greta won Gold and Silver medals at the London Olympics, and swam the English Channel 3 times is still active and teaches infants and children to swim at the Greta Anderson swim school at Los Alamitos California!

Anne Cleveland and Mallory Mead.

 Both Anne and Mallory are internationally recognized and HIGHLY accomplished Channel swimmers.

Jamie Patrick and Diana Nyad

Jamie was honored at the conference and was World Open Water Swimming man of the year 2011.
 

Martin Strel in black with his son Borut.

Martin is known as the Big River man, and is in the Guinness book of records as swimming the 5 greatest rivers in the World!

Mount Disappointment 33 mile trail run

It is 4am on a Saturday morning, already the mercury is 75 F, I meet 3 other friends as we car pool together to Mount Wilson the race begins at 6.30am and we have to pick up our numbers and prepare our supplies for at least 7 hours of challenging trails.

Early hours of the morning we pose under the finish line banner

45 mins before race briefing Hope & I see Andy who just finished AC100 a few weeks ago!

With my race number 6 pinned onto my running skirt, I check my water, perpetuem and Hammer gels, I have two ginger chews, Endurolytes and Ocean Potion sun screen, I feel ready, I spray my feet with Kool n Fit spray and head to the start of the race.

Gary Hilliard Race Director

At 6.15am, Gary caught the attention of all 114 runners he kept the race briefing short but fun as well as serious at the same time. Its going to be HOT. Hydrate, drink HEED, the course for 2012 had been changed and included Mount Disappointment, aid stations every 5 miles!  After the horrible station fire of 2010 the land scape was recovering but still a lot of charred trees, after calling all active and retired service men and women to the front the race began........

After a few miles on Asphalt down hill, we turned left onto Eaton Saddle

I started out on a slow steady jog down the Mount Wilson road it seemed forever before turning onto Eaton saddle, I was expecting to go downhill as in years past but was greeted with a wide fire road (My kind of trail) and to my delight ran through the Mueller tunnel and continued uphill to Markum Saddle, even though early morning I was already drenched in sweat with the humidity but enjoyed the up hill.

Single track.....

After Markum Saddle the trail headed to Mnt Disappointment so called as when it was first discovered by USGS surveyors in 1894, with elevation of 5,960 feet it was believed to be the highest peak, it earned its name Disappointment when the surveyors reached the summit for their next point only to discover San Gabriel Peak a half mile away was 167 feet higher! Gary made sure all runners past both these peaks!

The saying what goes up must come down and my joy of climbing was soon replaced as we started down hill on a single track with loose soil, I felt like a fish out of water as I gingerly navigated the twisting down hill my Brooks Cascadias were blushing with embarrassment at how slowly I was going!  I was so grateful to see asphalt even if it was only for a few feet before arriving at Red Box aid station, I cannot even tell you how many runners past me and left me eating their dust!

5.7 miles and Red Box aid station happy to see good friends there and needed the Hammer Heed

A wide fire road was the beginning of my next journey and it had the potential of being quad busting, as it was nearly all downhill for the next 5 miles and little or no shade. I jogged down and looked at the amazing scenery to detract from the task of down hill running.

Passing a creek I soaked my hat and washed my face

The whole run after West Fork aid station which was mile 10.7 would continue with just amazing scenery, well kept trails thanks to the work Gary had done with other trail runners (note to self to do this next year too)  The up hills were truly brutal but to me the down hill were worse! The sun was just beating down I thought I was drinking enough and took Hammer gels and endurolytes at the stops, As I ran to Newcomb aid station which crests the climb I decided to fill up my water only to discover it was not that empty, I put in ice, and could not believe there was a wide fire road for the downhill I thought woo hoo 14.7 miles nearly half way finished! the down hill did not last for long and as I crossed the San Gabriel river which was the lowest elevation of the entire run, I stopped and submerged my face into the cooling water, as now the challenge begins 7 miles of up hill, no shade and did I mention up hill, in the far distance I could make out other runners they seemed so far away and high up the mountain side! I decided to keep jogging and smiling, I began passing other runners and other runners passed me! It was like running in a furnace, an oasis appeared offering Popsicles, probably not the smartest thing to put into my poorly abused body, and I also took in Hammer gel and endurolytes 

Its HOT!!!! 2 miles from Short cut all smiles before I hit my low spot!

 2 miles to Short cut, I was so close, I urged my self to keep moving forward, my stomach was not feeling great and felt lethargic and nauseated, I knew I was in trouble, I started to walk the uphill and tried to eat a hammer bar I chugged down water and was so grateful to see the aid station at mile 23 I could easily have quit right there and then!

Not my fave photo captured by my friend Rainer at Short Cut, but I was hurting, felt weak vomited and had stomach issues that quite honestly I do not believe I actually continued but did because of the amazing volunteers!

Just 10 miles left all I had to do realistically was run down the historic silver moccasin trail, follow the dried up river bed, negotiate the rocky trail and get to West Fork, I decided it prudent to walk this section of single track down hill for two reasons, one, I am no mountain goat and two, I needed to get a few calories into my body and re hydrate. 

Not sure why I am smiling maybe because I had puked and used the toilet paper I had packed, as the mountain in the distance is my final destination! I just thought it would be easier to smile and focus on the now!!

The downhill trail was sketchy and running was out of the question, as soon as I approached the dried up river bed the skill needed was not to pop an ankle joint, keep up right and focused, and sure enough before long I was entering the final aid station.
I had smiles all round it was as if I was getting a second wind!! It was great to see the Sierra Madre search and rescue team, not so great to see them having to use their skills.
I only had 5.3 miles of trails left before going through the finish line banner I joked a little with the volunteers and actually needed my back pack filling with water, I took a perpetuem tab and headed off with a spring in my step to the Gabrielino Trail, I followed this beautiful trail for a few miles before getting onto the Kenyon Devore trail, which boasted 1910 feet of elevation gain in 3.1 miles!

The Gabrielino Trail

I passed quite a few other runners on my way to Mount Wilson, I just wanted to finish, I would shout out words of encouragement and tell them to keep moving forward, it was hot and the heat and humidity was showing on ALL our faces, I truly thought I would never see that finish line even though I covered the final 5.3 miles in 1.30 hrs, it seemed like an eternity, especially when you could see the towers and still had more up hill single track switch backs to run!

so near yet so far!

Finally I was on the home stretch ever so nice of Gary to put in a few extra feet of climbing to the finish line banner for all the other runners who had finished to see you suffer! I had the biggest smile I was SO super happy to have conquered and even though my time was over an hour and 45 minutes more than I aimed at I was one happy camper.

nothing Disappointing about the finish line or the medal!

This trail race is just hard! but such a feeling of accomplishment, my time was 8 hours 32 minutes I had hoped to finish in around 7 hours and 15 minutes but was happy to finish up right! Jorge Pachero finished in first place with 5 hours!!!! that was flying on all cylinders!!
 Below is my down load from my Polar RCX5 it was 33 miles,
 https://www.polarpersonaltrainer.com/shared/exercise.ftl?shareTag=011d1dd42f84667deaa0dc5d45fcba69

Thanks Hammer Nutrition!!

 Thank you to Hammer Nutrition, Brooks USA (my Cascadias took a beating at this run!) Rudy Project USA, Polar USA, Kool n Fit spray, Ocean Potion suncare, More importantly Gary Hilliard for a great trail challenge! This was my third time and was just as hard as the first time!

Gary and Pam Hilliard, two great people great Race directors Thank You

Scenery was charred landscape and new growth

HEED..yummy

Two amazing people Hal and Fred

My friend Rainer volunteered at Short cut

Good to see George out there too

oh my a little shade???

HAM Radio volunteers tracked all the runners.

Andy in green and Vinnie who finished his 8th Mnt Disappointment!

Thank You Hope for letting me car pool with your friends.

Next year this trail run which I think is Southern California most difficult 33 mile trail race will be held in July and the 50 mile option will return too. So trail runners signed up for the AC100 will be able to use it as a training for the AC100 which will be switched to August!!!Great Race, Great Aid stations, Great volunteers. Be Prepared to be HUMBLED!

Thanks for the pic Jimmy