By The Numbers

Yesterday, I completed my first century bike ride.  For those who don't know what that is, think: Biker's Marathon.

4:45                        AM Time Alarm Sounded

100                         Miles Biked

39.9                        Maximum mph (it was scary!)

15.6                        Average mph

6:10:04                 Time Spent in the Saddle (my bum is sore!)

4,130                     Calories Burned

1,470                     Calories Consumed

141                         Average Heart Rate

175                         Max Heart Rate

1                               Back Tire Blowout

.23                          Miles from the Finish Line (when tire popped)

57                           Minutes Spent Running Afterwards

15                           Minutes Spent in Ice Bath

How I felt: LIKE A ROCK STAR!



This photo is actually from a triathlon...I forgot to take a picture yesterday!



Jellyfish, Sharks and Gators, Oh My.

I’ve never had an overactive imagination…until you put me in an open body of water.  Then I literally see visions of sharks with mouth wide open, rows of razor sharp teeth headed directly for me.  I guess that’s what I get for being an avid lover of Shark Week.  

I have an irrational fear of fish.  I don’t like them.  I don’t want them touching me.  In fact, I almost drowned on a snorkeling excursion in Costa Rica because a school of vicious, attack fish closed in on me (ok, in reality, they were probably sweet, friendly fish that just wanted a bite of the cracker I was holding). 

I recently learned that jellyfish are a concern on the Florida Ironman course.  During the Gulf Coast Half Ironman, a girl in my tri club got stung multiple times and still finished the race (she’s my new hero).

And now, to top it off alligators have been discovered in 3 metro Atlanta lakes this summer…umm, WHAT?!  I’ve been nose to nose with a gator.  Even with 4 inches of plexiglas separating us, it was still terrifying!  Besides, I’m a Bulldawg…it’s in my blood to loathe Gators.

 I’m the girl who doesn’t like to go into the ocean past my knees.  If I step on anything other than sand, I shriek and high tail it back to shore.  And yet, this fall I will swim 2.4 miles in jellyfish, shark and fish invested waters.  Oh my.

A Day in the Life

The question I receive most often is "how much do you train every day?" 

The answer is not simple so I'll give you the cliff notes version.  I'm following a 37 week training plan by Triathlon Geek (aptly named because you have to be totally geeked out about triathlons to do some of the insane stuff this plan requires).  I log anywhere from 10 - 18 hours per week.

The plan is divided into 8 phases:

This week I begin the ENDURANCE phase.  Here's a snap shot of this week's plan.

Flipping to the back of the plan, I start to get a little freaked out when workouts are referred to as "Mental Breakthrough."  Whoa dude.

140.6 for Clean Water

On November 5th, I will complete my first full IRONMAN Triathlon. 

That’s 140.6 miles of swimming, biking and running.  All in one day.  All without stopping.  

As you would image, I spend a lot of time training for this event.  Which leaves me a lot of time to think and reflect.   I can’t help but be overwhelmed with gratitude for the many blessings God has poured out on me…my family, my friends, my health.   But there are other blessings that don’t even cross my mind.  I take them for granted…like clean and safe drinking water. 

Every day, millions of women and children have to walk miles to retrieve water for their families.   Most of that hard-earned water isn't even clean and can infect them with deadly diseases.  I think about how 45,000 people die each day from waterborne illnesses. And there's nothing they can do to change it.

So, what can I do to help?  

My mission is to raise $5,000 to provide clean and safe drinking water.  I want every step to matter.  I'm asking for pledges per meter, per mile or flat out donations to help achieve my goal.  Would you consider:

$38.62 for the 3,862 meters (2.4 miles) I will swim in the ocean;

$112 for the 112 miles I will bike;

$26.20 for the 26.2 miles I will run;

Or even $140.60 for the total miles I will travel?

Because of charity: water's unique model, 100% of all donations go directly to water projects, and each donation is "proved" using Google Earth when projects are complete.  I aim to raise $5,000 in the next three months.  That's enough to build one well large enough to support a community of 250 people. 

I hope you'll join me in helping them now.

http://mycharitywater.org/nicolemooneyhan

Grateful for your support.

“Hey There Stud”

I glance over my shoulder to see the muscley man behind me.  Only to find no one there.  Horrified, I realized he was talking to me.  Since I’ve signed up for the Ironman, I’m been called a stud.  Three times.  And my personal favorite: Beast.  Said in a low, guttural voice.  You know the one where your nose scrunches up and your fingertips curl into a claw as you say the word.  All comments came from what I can only assume to be well-intentioned men. 

Terms like these do untold damage to the female psyche.  It makes me want to immediately petition Webster to add a feminine equivalent to his good book.  Otherwise, I may be forced to start racing in my pearls to maintain my feminine charms.

It’s funny how those terms irk me but when someone tries to be PC and call me an Ironwoman, I am quick to correct them.  I guess we women really are hard to understand.

My First Marathon

March 21, 2011

To help set the stage for the story, try to image me sitting on my living room floor with ice packs on my knees and ankles as I type this.  The total climb for this course is 1,535 feet…for comparison, the Empire State Building is 1,250 feet tall.

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for the race…low to mid 60s and overcast (answered prayer # 1).  I began the race with 4 friends.  The first 13 miles were all fun and games!  I was full of energy, laughing and joking with my friends.  At mile 14, I found myself along stride a woman presumably in her late 50s with her hair pulled up in a bouffant up do, wearing a blue sports bra covered with white stars and red running shorts.  She wasn’t even breaking a sweat.  She had a sign pinned to her shorts that said she’s run a marathon in all 50 states + DC.  So I asked her about it…turns out she is making her way through the states for a second time around.  This was her 65^th marathon (yeah, I know…crazy, right?)!  I asked her how Atlanta compared to the others and she said VERY hilly.  First clue for what lie ahead. 

Greg & I around mile 3...when I was still smiling

Around mile 15, in Decatur, the pain set in.  I’m not talking about a little tweak here or there.  I’m talking pain like I have never experienced before in my life.  With every step, it felt like my left knee was about to explode.  That alternated with my right Achilles tendon.  It felt like I was being stabbed with each step.  I began praying with a new found boldness, pleading with God to numb my pain.  He did (answered prayer # 2). 

 Around mile 17, other runners began sharing what they had heard about miles 23 – 25…and it wasn’t good.  Around mile 22, in Piedmont Park, my legs began to act up.  It felt like my quads and my calves were in a race to see which could make me stop first.  It was a tie…I stopped to stretch.  So glad I did because the hill that waited on the exit of Piedmont park was in a word: Evil.  And that was just the beginning.  The rumors about miles 23 – 25 were true.  By the time I made it to mile 25, I was making noises I didn’t know I was capable of and using my last remaining drops of energy to fight back tears.  My body was rebelling against me.  The toes on my left foot kept curling involuntarily.  My right foot stopped flexing to take steps so I was swinging a limp foot. 

BUT THEN I HEARD IT. 

The loud speakers at the finish line booming C&C Music Factory and welcoming runners as they crossed.  I rounded the corner and saw my friends cheering me on and I got a boost of energy.  Then I saw the race clock and that I was within seconds of missing my time goal.  So I kicked it into high gear…failing to realize there’s no longer a high gear after 26.1 miles!!  My right calf immediately locked up and I came within inches of doing a face plant across the finish line…how’s that for a photo finish?   Thankfully I didn’t and I was able to cross the finish line with at least some of my dignity still intact (answered prayer # 3)! 

After the race with Greg & Kayte

After the race with Jamey who was a life saver that day and drove me home afterwards

I Was Told There’d Be Cake

When you look at me you don’t instantly think ATHLETE.  When I first tell someone I’m a triathlete, without fail, they survey my body head to toe and I see it register on their face: Really?  It’s true, I don’t have single digit body fat or hard, toned, ripplely muscles.  I look like the girl next door.  More like the girl next door who likes her cake.  And I do love me some cake.

Growing up, I was the kid picked last in gym class for kickball.  The girl who played in the far outfield on the youth group softball team.  On the rare occasion the ball actually came my direction, I’d lift my mitt high in the air and shield my face.  Not once did I catch a ball that way.  It’s safe to say I don’t have hand-eye coordination.  You do not want me on your team for any sport that involves a ball.  What I do have is a particular set of skills that make me perfect for triathlon.  I’m disciplined.  Determined.  Downright stubborn.  Basically, I’m Type A.  In college I took a personality profile quiz that gave results in terms of TV show characters…I was Monica from Friends.  If it’s in my blood to be fanatical, why not harness that for good? 

I first heard of this glorious multi-sport in 2005.  I was in awe that people could push their bodies to the limit.  To train and compete in such grueling conditions was mind blowing.  In 2006, I joined a new bible study and met a girl who did triathlons. After hearing her story I was beyond impressed.  She seemed normal enough and yet did abnormal things with her body.   How cool for her.  I could NEVER do that.  I mean, I didn’t know how to swim.  I hadn’t been on a bike since I was 12.  I could barely even run a mile. 

I had no idea how my life was about to change.  Turns out another girl in that bible study did triathlons as well.  My college roommate started talking about wanting to do a triathlon.  My work formed a training group for first time triathletes.  The stars had aligned.  My course had been set.  The time was now. 

I showed up to the first swim practice…OK…lesson.  The instructor instructed us to “see the fishies” and “hear the fishies” while demonstrating proper stroke form and breathing.  We entered the pool.  Our assignment: swim 4 laps.  I almost drowned on the first and shamelessly doggy paddled the remaining three.  My triathlete friend from bible study took my college roommate and me bike shopping.  She said we needed that, that and that.  So we each bought that, that and that.  Yes, folks, we are the biking Bobbsey twins.  We have the same bike, same helmet, same shoes, same gloves, same…well you get the point.  The test drive in the parking lot of the bike shop was terrifying.  That was my first time on a bike in 15 years.  Developing my running legs was a torturous experience.  I fancied myself a “runner” in college.  I was a sophomore the first time I ever ran a mile.  I kept it up and eventually ran 4 miles…one time…on a treadmill…in an air conditioned room.  After that crowning achievement, my interested in running waned.  Fast forward 7 years, I had to start from scratch.

In 2007, I completed my first Sprint Tri.  I felt like King Kong on steroids.  2008, my first Olympic.  2009, my first Half Ironman.  2010, nada.  I took the year off.  And that brings us to 2011 and my first Ironman. 

2.4 mile ocean swim

112 mile bike

26.2 mile run

I am often asked “in one day?”  Yes, in one day.  Yes, without stopping.  Yes, I’m insane.  Yes, I will cross that finish line and hear the 6 sweetest words: NICOLE MOONEYHAN, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN! 

I invite you to join me on this incredible journey that will undoubtedly push me to my limits and beyond.

After my first Sprint Triathlon in 2007