Super Bowl Squares

Once again I'm training for another marathon - Vancouver - and helping to raise nearly $3,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! As a part of these efforts I'm hosting a Super Bowl Square Box fundraiser. It's just $20 per box to play and you'll have the wonderful feeling of knowing you are supporting a great cause! Half of the proceeds will go to the winners and the other half will go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!

Payout Breakdown - $1,000 in Winnings

* End of 1st Quarter = $125

* Halftime = $250

* End of 3rd Quarter = 125

* Final Score = $500

$1,000 to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Rules -

100 Boxes that are $20 each. You will randomly be assigned a box on a 10 x 10 grid. Each box contains two numbers - one for the home team and one for the away team. If the numbers match the score at the end of each quarter, you win! The square assignments will be emailed out the morning of the Super Bowl - February 1st. These boxes will go quickly so be sure to submit your request ASAP!

How To Enter -

1 ) Email me how many boxes you would like. The more boxes you get, the more changes you have to win!

2) Pay for your squares through one of the options below -

- Sent the money via Venmo (kimiko.coy@gmail.com)

- Mail check to Kimi Coy (please email me and I will PM you the address)

- Give cash directly to Kimi or Adam Coy

- Donate directly to my fundraising site; while this is an options, we can raise more money for LLS if you choose one of the previous three choices, as we will be able to get a company match and double our efforts :)

As always, if you would prefer to skip out on the fun and just donate directly to LLS you can do so here - http://pages.teamintraining.org/gba/vancouvr15/runkimirun

Thank you in advance for your support and feel free to share this to as many friends as possible!!

My First Half Ironman: Augusta 70.3 Race Report

Well I did it - some how I manged to survive my first 70.3 Half Ironman...although it's taken me about nearly five weeks to fully process the entire event and begin to convince myself that I'd ever want to do it again :)

Here's the shortened version-

1. Swimming anxiety as expected but finished in 34:18

2. Bonked on the bike but finished in 3:57:15

3. Had a mental breakdown in T2 for at least 5:00

4. Continued to smile the entire race

5. Limped through the run but finished my first HIM in 7:25:16

6. Raised nearly $2,500 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

and for those of you interested the more detailed version below...

Swim Start - 

The Swim (0:34:18)-

In case you had any doubts, 1.2 miles of swimming is a long way! It doesn't matter that there's a current on your side.. you hope to be done in like 5 minutes only to realize you have quite a bit to go in the water! When we took off from the dock I felt great... I started swimming along just fine and counting my strokes...1, 2, 3, breathe and repeat. Unfortunately at one point I let myself think too much and I started pondering the gators in the Savannah River which automatically sent me into a panic! What if one of those things comes and eats me...will anyone even notice?! This resorted to me flipping onto my back a few times to try and calm myself down.


T1 (0:05:44)-

The Bike (3:57:15) - The longest bike ride of my life (well not literally but it sure did feel like it!)

T2 (0:07:32) - One thing that you wouldn't never know from the pictures is what happened once I got into transition. I was honestly so relieved to be done with the bike/mentally exhausted/physically drained that I just plopped down on my mat and started sobbing. I honestly wasn't quite sure at the time why I was crying, but the thought of going on to run this half marathon didn't calm me down. I knew though that not finishing was simply not an option. After a few more minutes of crying, my pity party was over. I put on my ankle brace, slipped on my shoes and headed over to the sunscreen tent. Eventually I was out on the road and no one even knew about my little meltdown since I had gone in and come out of transition smiling. 

The Run (2:40:27) -Well this was painful! The only thing I could think of was how soon can I find Adam to get some Advil. My sprained ankle was in so much pain but I was determined to finish this race.

The Finish (7:25:16) - 

Peak Training Time

Once again I’ve fallen off the blogging bandwagon but simply enough …life has just gotten busy! Between being an Ironwife, joining the Junior League of Atlanta, training during the peak of the season, and working fulltime, life has been travelling at 100 mph! I can’t believe summer is already over and the race that I’ve counting down since March is TOMORROW!

  

After driving home nearly 6.5 hours from Louisville to Atlanta, I had about 30 minutes to relax then it was off to swim practice.  I was definitely exhausted from all the walking we had done the night before but I knew it was an important swim night. Sure enough I get there to find out that we’re doing a 1.2 mile “continuous” swim. The entire team had to start in lane 1 to simulate race conditions and then we were to snake up and down the lanes from one end of the pool to the other (16 lanes total) get out of the pool, walk to the other end and then repeat for a total of 5 times. I guess you could say it was really a 5x400 swim but either way it was long! It took me probably 250m before I had gotten into a comfortable area without fighting for my spot. I found a great person to draft behind and I did everything I could to stay behind him. It was a nice distraction from thinking about the swim details and soon enough we were done! It took me about 46 minutes (including the time to walk to the other end) but I was one happy camper! I had done that without a wetsuit or current and proved that I could complete the swim distance at Augusta!

That upcoming weekend was Labor Day and I knew I needed to get my long run in so I opted to go to GTS with Team on Saturday then we planned to do our group ride on Monday. Saturday I managed to get in 11.5 miles and for the most part felt great. I was having some GI issues and finally come to the realization that my peanut butter, honey and toast option needed to be replaced and I needed to find something else that better worked for me. After getting up early Monday morning to go for a ride, we were forced back inside due to rain. Because of the early morning start, I naturally planned to go back inside and to bed but Elise had other ideas. She headed over to my hosue and decided we’d ride on the trainers together. Sure enough we sat there for 2.5 hours then went for an hour brick run! I definitely earned my naptime that day!

The following weekend consisted of a 62 miles bike ride, which was easily the longest of my career!  I headed out with the same group of girls that I rode Augusta with and we had a great time! We decided to ride the 31 course twice and surprisingly I felt great by the end. One thing Courtney did call me out on was the fact that I had barely drank 2 water bottles in the almost 4 hours we were out there. While I felt fine, this was a big no no!

As a result the following week we had a 60-70 mile ride and I adjusted the setting on my Garmin 210 to beep every 15 minutes to remind me to drink. Additionally I broke up my Honey Stinger Waffles ahead of time and put the bite sizes pieces into a separate bagging and in my bento box and I managed to eat more too. Those two factors helped me to have a much stronger ride and is the strategy I’m going to use for Augusta

My last long ride of the season was in the books and all that was standing between taper time and me was one long run and one long ride.

Unfortunately my clumsy feet had other things in mind. After the ride I headed out on my brick run, only to trip and fall 0.25 miles into the run! I wish it had just been a little stumble and recovery but no… This was a full on trip, roll over my left ankle, splat land into the road, and look back in hopes there wasn’t a car coming. Luckily there was no car but I quickly got myself up, as I couldn’t just lie there in the street. My rolled ankle hurt and I knew this was bad!!

I hobbled back to the car because it was only ¼ of a mile away and I was struggling to put weight on it.  A few minutes later Adam came by on his bike as he was finishing his ride and walked back with me. I slowly was able to put more and more weight on it and was determined to still run the 15K I had signed up for the next day. After following the RICE method, it was clear that this wasn’t little and I had sprained ankle two weeks before Augusta.

I ended up taking three full days off and by the fourth day I decided to go for a swim since it pretty much felt better. I forgot how much movement occurs with the ankle while kicking and that was quickly a disaster of a plan! I knew I needed a few more days of RICE but at least the swelling had gone down.

Luckily enough we had a trip to Colorado already booked so it was the perfect time to take some days off. It's a bummer that taper turned into a lot of off days but my ankle needed to recover.

After nine full days of rest I finally was able to run almost pain free and began my journey this week to ensuring that I'll find my way to the finish line. This morning I got my bags all backed and we headed off to Augusta. We arrived just in time for me to try out the wetsuit for the first time and hop in the river for a quick practice swim. The water was cold but better than I expected and the current helped with a confidence booster! At this point I'm now super excited for the race and excited for tomorrow!

Adam will be posting tickets via Twitter and Facebook and you can also track my results on ironman.com My only goal for tomorrow is to get to the finish line with a nice big smile on my face and to have enjoyed the day! Wish me luck and GO Team!

                                         

Being an Ironwife

When I last updated, we were preparing to head off to Louisville for Adam’s first Ironman. His race weekend recap is coming up soon (sorry that minor thing called med school has been keeping him busy lately) but overall it was a wonderful weekend!!

This time around I brought my bike along and managed to still get a ride in on Saturday morning. I searched online for a group ride and came across the Louisville Bicycle Club. I met up with them on Saturday morning and was able to get in almost 40 miles and see the highlights of the city. It was great getting to meet some new people, explore a new city, and still maintain my training.

After my morning ride it was back to one of my favorite roles… triathlon wife! After nearly six years of supporting Adam in triathlons, I think I’m starting to become a pro at this spectating and cheering sport. That morning we walked down to transition to drop his bike off then enjoyed the day as he prepared for the upcoming day.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner at Parish and attempted to go to bed around 8PM.

Honestly I think I tossed and turned more than Adam did that night! Because the swim still gives me a lot of anxiety, and is his weaker of the three sports, I naturally worried about him.

What if he drowns? What if something goes wrong? 

This should have been the least of my concerns, but I kept thinking lets just get him through that then things will get better. After that I’d toss and turn about what happens if he flats on the bike, or crashes, or something breaks on his bike. I felt like I was becoming my mother for worrying so much about him, but I just wanted him to do well and come out smiling like many of his other races

On race day I was lucky enough to be able to spend the day with one my Augusta teammates as well as her sister and niece. Her brother-in-law and Adam managed to get into the water within 30 seconds of one another so it was perfect because they were expecting to swim similar times and allowed us to head out to the bike course around the same time.

I had read most of the forums regarding spectating the Lousiville course and figured out that it would be easiest if I drove out to the corner of Highway 393 and 146 on the bike course and I’d be able to see him twice and avoid the traffic. Sure enough this location was perfect!! Adam had such a big smile on his face both times I saw him and I knew he was enjoying himself!

Getting back to our hotel was a bit of a challenge since all the roads were closed for the race but I managed to find a parking spot at the host hotel and walk back to my room for a quick recharge of my phone before catching him at T2.

At this point he was starting off onto his favorite part of the race – the run! He had such a happy look on his face and you could tell he was ready to dominate. While Kona contention was already long off the table, he was looking to come in with a very solid time on his first ironman.

Around mile 6 or so his run split dropped into the 9:08 range (which for me would be an incredible time in a normal marathon) and I knew he must be either hurting or trying to back off because he realized he started too hard. By the time I saw him at mile 13 he was in pain. I ran with him for about half a mile and he was struggling but still running. As I continued to track him on the course his run splits started to drop into the 13:00 range. I headed to the finish line because I wasn’t going to miss that, and oddly enough ran into a girl from my sorority who came and watched the finish with me!

Finally after 10:58:12 my Ironman crossed the line!!

I ran down to go meet him, he wrapped his arms around me and said, (with tears) “I’m NEVER doing that again, I’m in so much pain”. Nevertheless he had finished and was crowned an Ironman and I couldn’t be more proud!

                                     

An Ironman in 10 Weeks {Guest Post:Adam Coy}

This week is a special guest post from my lovely husband, Adam, as he gets ready for his first Ironman this upcoming weekend!  

Adam Coy

************************************************************************************
My initial plan this year was to do Duathlon Worlds in August, Augusta 70.3 in September and the Marine Corps Marathon in October. I was particularly excited about Duathlon Worlds because it would be my first race outside of the country and I would get to race against a very strong field and represent my country. These plans came crashing down when I tried to register for Augusta 70.3 and it was sold out. 

I had been back swimming for about a month (after about a 7 month break) and I didn't really want to have that go to waste because I really do not enjoy swimming so I felt like I needed to find another triathlon for this fall. After I found out that Augusta was sold out, I scoured the Ironman and Rev3 websites to find a race to fill gap. Nothing really fit into the hole that Augusta had left except for Ironman Louisville which was twice the distance…

Ironman Louisville was a race that I had always had ZERO ambitions to do, it is not a wetsuit legal swim and more importantly it has been historically a very HOT and HUMID race, two things that I hate. Last October I had toyed with signing up for IM Arizona but ultimately decided against it because it was in the middle of residency interview season so signing up for this Ironman was not a huge leap mentally. While I was still considering it, I texted Kimi with the idea. She laughed it off as a joke but said "sure, just as long as I got my coach Mike Ricci to approve". I then texted Mike to see what he though… Again I got laughed at, apparently a trend was forming. Mike told me I had to get Kimi's permission (which turned this into a very circular approval process). After I talked with Mike about what my current base was like, we decided that I probably would be fine ramping up my training to the IM distance. 

Mike Ricci - D3 Multisport

Training started off well. The first few weeks my long rides were at 4 and 4.5 hours which was not too bad and nothing out of the normal. At that point though I was riding on my own because my normal riding crew was not really into riding super long. 

Because my swim was pretty behind where it should have been, I was playing some catch up in the pool but I could feel my swim starting to improve (I am still VERY slow in the water). My run volume actually went down considerably from what it had been. This was because I had a strong base of running already so I could go easier on that to focus more on my swim and bike.

My least favorite part of the tri - Swimming

3 weeks into training and in the middle of a very hard week, I ran the Peachtree Road Race 10K. 

The Coy's at the Peachtree Road Race

Because I was in the middle of some of my highest mileage that I had ever done, I was not expecting much of a race. It turns out that it may have actually helped me for the race. Usually, I go out fast, often too fast. Because of the long and slow IM training, my legs did not have much speed in them and I ran a slower pace for the first two miles. The year prior I ran my first mile in 5:14 and then my next mile just a little slower. After the downhill first 2 miles, the race starts heading back uphill where my pace fell off track considerably. This year because I did not tire myself out too much I ran much more conservatively and was able to keep my pace in control going uphill. I ended up two seconds faster this year than last year with a time of 35:54. 

2012 Peachtree Road Race

2013 Peachtree Road Race

I was fortunate enough to have some good triathlon friends including Dan, another Team Podium member, who let me ride with him in some of his long group training rides and introducing me to a bunch of other Ironman athletes. 

Also Adam H. who stepped it up for some long rides with me right after coming off IM Coeur d'Alene. 

It was great riding with these IM veterans where I was able to glean a ton of knowledge off of them about pacing, nutrition, and training. My long runs have been mainly done with Ryan, my normal running partner. It's great running with him because he's a much better runner than me and he makes sure that we keep a consistent pace. Whenever I branch off from running with him to go longer, my pace always drops, reminding me how great it is to run with someone like him who can keep a consistent pace. 

Kimi always thought that I should go up to Louisville and ride the course, but since it was a 6 hr drive I really had no ambition. After finding a training group that put on an IM Lou training weekend with a river swim and a fully supported ride, Kimi decided to book a hotel room in Louisville at the Brown Hotel giving me no excuse not to go up there. I would also HIGHLY recommend this hotel to anyone in the future!

Originally, we both were going to go up but at the last moment, Kimi had a funeral that she had to attend so I ended up driving up by myself and she flew in later that night. It ended up being a great weekend and I got to know the course which I am very thankful for. I gained more respect for the bike course than I originally had going into it. The course looks pretty flat on the elevation guide but after riding it, I can honestly say that I may be a bit tired after the 112 miles. 

Now that I am in taper time all that I can do is hope that I have prepared enough. I think Mike has prepared me well and hopefully I can execute on race day. 

Ironman Training in 10 Weeks

As always thank you to Matt at Podium Multisport for all the support you have provided me. 

Matt Cole - Podium Multisport

I am also super blessed to have a wife who has been my ultimate supporter for this endeavor, going above and beyond what an Ironman Wife should have to do so I am so ever thankful for her. 

The big race is this upcoming Sunday, August 25th. Kimi will be posting twitter updates of the race from both her account (@runkimirun) as well as from mine (@adam_coy). Ironman will be providing updated live results on their website as well. My bib number is 976. If the checkpoints are like last year, the site will update my times when I cross the following spots:

• After the Swim (2.4 miles)
• Bike Mile 23
• Bike Mile 40
• Bike Mile 70.5
• After the Bike (112 miles) 
• Run Mile 3.4
• Run Mile 8.2
• Run Mile 13.1
• Run Mile 15.3
• Run Mile 20.1
• Run Mile 25
• At the Run Finish (26.2 miles) !!

Once again thank you all to all of the people who have supported me and helped to get me to where I am today!

AHHHH! Training!

Do you ever have those workouts where no matter how hard you mentally convince yourself it's going to be a good day, it turns out to be one of your worst possible workouts? That's how my weekday workouts have felt lately {I guess to be fair mid/late season is usually when I hit about two or three weeks of just being burnt out and mentally not in the game}

Trying on the TNT wetsuit I'm borrowing for the race

2013 PT Solutions Women's Sprint Triathlon - Acworth: Race Report

After I had registered for Augusta 70.3 I figured I needed to get one sprint and one olympic race in before the big half ironman. On June 1, I went through with my first sprint tri and while I learned a lot... it was a bit of a disaster! I quickly scratched the idea of an olympic tri and decided I needed a race that I would enjoy, build some confidence, and convince me that somehow Augusta was going to be a successful adventure. A few weeks ago I decided the PT Solutions Acworth Women's Sprint Tri would be a great 2nd tri. I had read many different blogs about other women who had said it was a fun, positive, and amazing experience so I signed up and was going for it.