As you know, we’ve completed the Ironman and what better way to share our experience with you than a video clip inspired by the world cup.  (made with a mac)

Also, here is an article (Hebrew) I wrote for bonk.co.il

Enough rest and now it’s time to share my IM experience.  Actually I am getting tired of telling the tale and figured posting the story is much simpler and a way for everyone to get the same version.  Having said that, lets summarize with the following:

1. Days leading to the event were miserable as I was sick as a dog.

2. Swim: Huge swells, extreme current, some sharks were spotted in the area

3. Bike:  Rain would not stop, wind constantly blowing people off the road, hills that never ended

4. Run: hills that never ended, freezing cold, not enough aid stations

5. Spectators: through tomatoes as you pass by

6. Almost did not make the finish cut off

Now that I got your attention let’s get a bit more on my experience. 

Monday night the 3^rd wheel team got on the direct flight from Tel Aviv to Sao Paulo.  All seemed to go to well up till the announcement was made letting us know of the 2 hour delay due to a failure in the entertainment system.  For a normal passenger  this is a well justified delay, after all this is a 15 hour flight.  For a soon to be Ironman you don’t really care for entertainment during the flight as all you want to do is catch up on the much needed sleep.  For us it was even worst as we had to make a connecting flight from Sao Paulo to Florianopolis.  Our short connection became a very long one and we found ourselves stranded for 9 hours in an old airport terminal with not much to do.

Landing in Florianopolis we anxiously waited for our bikes and Endurance Sports Travel (EST) were anxiously waiting for us.  Having booked all our travels with EST (through Issta Sport) all our hotel, meals, mechanic, and transportation were all taken care of.  What was left for us to do was unpack in our ocean front apartment and stare out to the ocean to the sound of gentle waves.  A sound that sadly disappeared as the race weekend approached.

The very next day, Wednesday, my pre-race relaxation turned hectic.  Knee pains, fever, and sore throat hit me hard.  Not leaving anything for chance, I found a pharmacy next to the hotel and got myself some antibiotics.  Smart, not sure.  Took care of the problem, it sure did.  To top this, the mechanic that went over my bike informed me that the metal piece which connects the wheel to the frame was bent.  Nearly 3 hours of stress and the problem was solved.  Now came the next big balagan (mess in Hebrew).  My trusted Garmin 310xt decided to play two tricks on me.  The first was simple, my cadence sensor stopped working.  The second was a bit more complicated, the hand strap broke.  Without getting in to the drama I will just say that Anat came to the rescue and took matters into her own hands.  She magically became a Megaiver and fixed the plastic strap.  Finally we could all “relax”.

Thursday was a day for training.  Jet lag helped us wake up early and get on our bikes.  We rode for about an hour to make sure all is in order and check out the transition area.  Most importantly we got to check out the short but steep wall we will be climbing during the marathon.  Later that morning we put our bikes with the mechanic for a last tune up and went for a swim practice.  The practice took place on the course itself with only one difference, there were no waves during the training.  On the way to the practice we met some interesting people that stayed in the same hotel.  Some making us feel completely unprepared (K-Swiss sponsored athletes who place in the top finishers) while others were building up our confidence (a Harvard & Stanford graduate who’s wetsuit looked like it was chewed by a great white shark and then spit out to swim an Ironman event). 

Later that day we hit the expo to pickup our race kits and spend some extra money.  I was really impressed with how well organized everything was.  We got a bag for each part of the race.  White for prerace, black for the wet stuff after the swim, green for the bike, blue for the bike special needs, yellow for the run, and red for the run special needs. The sponsors were generous and we got lots of goodies including race shirt, IM colon, deodorant, IM sun screen lotion, etc…  To top this off, my parents and sister arrived in Florianopolis to be the best ever support/cheering crew.

Enough of the boring details.  The night before the race we were in bed early and got a solid sleep of about 5 hours.  3:30am the alarm clock went off but its sound was muffled by the sound of crushing waves.  All that was going through my head from this point forward is the countdown to becoming an Ironman.

At the transition area we changed into our wetsuits and Brazil colored wigs (so that my parents can identify us from the 1,650 other beached seals).  Making our way to the beach the excitement and adrenaline grow stronger.  Suddenly the sun was rising, the sky turned orange, Brazilian anthem was playing, and the gun went off.  All 1,650 athletes hit the waves and we started our swim towards the first buoy. 

I tried to remind myself of the tips I was told and staying in control.  Not so easy.  The water was murky and it was difficult to see the man ahead.  I got kicked, punched, drunk water, and could hardly see the buoy.  All I knew was to follow the crowed and soon enough I will get to the turning point.  And so it was.  I kept my cool and was not returning punches.  I stayed focused and was soon enough out and back in the water.  The half way point is marked by exiting the swim and then getting back in to complete a second shorter leg.  After 1:11:00 I finished the swim.  Waw, I was 15 minutes ahead of schedule, amazing, lets run to the dressing room and get ready to ride.  Oh the wet suit.  No problem, some hot Brazilian chick grabed me and yanked it right off.  Wait, was it a chick or a chico?  Ahhe, who cares, need to rush to change.

Arriving at the transition area all I could see is a million people and one angle running towards me with my ridding gear.  I was planning on a fast transition but 2 major problems occurred.  The first was the fact that I never put on my riding shorts over wet shaved legs.  Definitely needed to practice that during training.  It took me forever as the ridding shorts got stuck to my skin and almost ripped when I tried to pull them up.  The second was the fruit buffet in the dressing room.  I could not help it and had to eat some watermelon and orange slices on the way out.  12 minutes later I was on my bike.  12 minutes, my god am I going to regret this after I look back at the race clock when I cross the finish line.

Running into the bicycle parking lot I saw that my carbon horse had the company of only one more 3^rd wheel bike, Raanan’s.  This meant that Anat who made it with me out of the water was already on her bike, what a relief.  I wondered if I will see her at all during the long day ahead.  I felt very strong and was pushing my body yet keeping my heart rate at bay.  During the ride all I could think about is how lucky I am to be participating in an Ironman……. “Lucky? Maybe a bit, mostly I was there because for all the hard work I put into my training over the past 8 months.  Now it is time to enjoy the moment.  Look around you, can you believe it? Amazing.  Oh, here is Anat, say hi and bye, she is racing her own race.  Why did I pass her? Am I going to fast? is my heart rate ok? Forget it, just stick to your plan, you will see her during the run.  Was that a drop of rain or did a bird just pooped on me.  Crap, its raining, but only 2 more hours to ride, enjoy the rain its better than sun screen. Opps I forgot to pose for the camera, hope there is another one soon”…. As you can see I was pretty good at entertaining myself.

I have no clue how I managed to ride for 6 hours with only one short stop to empty my bladder.  I have no clue how I managed to ride so hard without elevating my HR to far.  I have no clue how I managed to beat the hills, wind, and rain.  I have no clue how I the hell I did it averaging 30km/hr, no clue!  What I do know is that having my spectators (family) at the U-turn point which marks the start of the 2^nd loop of 90km helped greatly.  What I also know is that I probably paid the price for the fast ride during my run. 

Getting off the bike at T2 was the best feeling ever.  Even though it was still raining, I knew that there is no stopping me and that I will finish the race with a much better than expected time.  OK, again, I took to long, 12 minutes, darned that watermelon. 

Adrenaline kicked up again knowing that this is it, the final leg.  I started the run a bit fast with a pace of 5:45 min/km.  No more than 5 minutes into the run I felt my ITB (knee) hurting.  This pain would last and get stronger as the run progressed. Running the first 15km was done gracefully.  I was smiling, chatting, drinking without stopping, climbing the wall while running, I was superman.  My stomach started to remind me of my sway away from the nutrition plan, darned that watermelon.  I had shooting pain in my gut.  No worries, the special needs bag packs pain killers.  I kept smiling as I passed by my parents, after all they did come for a good show and not to see me sour.  I got to the special needs back and downed the pain killers.  Doubt they helped.  My knee was killing and my stomach needed emptying.  At the 30k mark I emptied my stomach but that did not help much.  Shortly after that I saw Anat, she was looking very determined.  We run together for about 3 minutes and then I decided to walk through the aid station, perhaps some soup would do good, and cake, and bread,… yes I know.  I was happy to know that Anat will be at the finish line waiting for me.  Oh the finish line.  Crossing the finish line did not stop going through my head.  To join that thought was how to carry the 2 bracelets which mark the final loop when I stand in the arch of triumph.  I got my head together and said pain or no pain I must start running again, if not I will have to make another stop at the port-a-pody which I hate.  The lights and sounds of the cheering crowd helped.  I carried the flag which my parents handed me during the final loop and I held it up high as I entered the final stretch. 

I looked up and saw 12:22:26.  I’m an Ironman!

Thinking back, the day I bought my first bike marks the start for my Ironman training. The date is June 14th of 2009. Since that date I logged 160Km in the water, 5,589Km on the bike, and 2,106Km in my running shoes. That is 50 weeks of training with slight rest, no social life, and little time with the family.

Now I got my tattoo.

Being in Florianopolis (an Island in the southern part of Brazil) is great. During the week we had beautiful sunny days BUT don’t fool yourself, the race is scheduled to take place during a stormy cold day. We should hit the water at 7am in 20c and choppy seas. Regardless, tomorrow is the day we hope to become an Ironman, even if we need to crawl to the finish. Which is probably not going to be a crawl, if anything it will be a swim to the finish line because there is a 70% chance for rain.

So if you ask us how we feel I can use Anat’s analogy and describe it this way:
Close your eyes and imagine that you are in the middle of the ocean on a boat. The seas are high and choppy. Your stomach is churning and you are about to throw up. All around you are athletes from all over the world, clam as a nursing babies. Some of them professionals others are experienced age groupers. Now open your eyes and see that you are still on land. Only difference between you and us right now is that our stomachs are still churning and the boat has not sailed yet. Storm is about to begin.
OK maybe a bit exaggerated but you get the picture.

If you want to be updated with the action here is how we can be followed:

1. Follow this link or search for it on the Ironman website: http://ironmanlive.com/updates.php?race=brazil&year=2010
2. Use the following information to search for your favorite athlete (so they say):
Tamir Gotfried, bib number 1682
http://ironmanlive.com/tracking.php?rid=286&y=2010&race=brazil&athlete=1682

Anat Kramer, bib number 1683
http://ironmanlive.com/tracking.php?rid=286&y=2010&race=brazil&athlete=1683

Raanan Cohen, bib number 1681
http://ironmanlive.com/tracking.php?rid=286&y=2010&race=brazil&athlete=1681

Our last morning jog on the beaches of Florianopolis

Send us wishes for good weather and call to say congratz

These are my thoughts these days.

Two weeks to go until the big day… and when I say big, I mean long.  There is nothing I can do at this point to improve my performance and my head is full of pointless taper wonders – Did I do enough? am I prepared? Mentally? Physically? Philosophy? For now though, it’s time to relax.  Today is the first day in months that I didn’t exercise.  It’s a strange thought but it feels good.  I actually slept about 9 hours last night. So this is what it feels like to be awake?? It’s wonderful! Why would I ever sacrifice this? Another pointless wonder. 

Tamir and I have pointless wonders together like what kind of tattoo to get after the Ironman? Should they match? What colors? Where? How big? Maybe we shouldn’t get one at all.  It stays on for life… I’m a normal person and I never wanted a tattoo before.  It’s scarier than it seems but so cool at the same time.  I have to get one, I worked hard for it and sacrificed a lot. Will it hurt? I hope I don’t regret it.

How will I feel? Did I pack everything? What if I don’t finish? NO! I will finish. Stop thinking about that! What if I throw up or have an upset stomach? NOPE! can’t think of that either. Whats wrong with me…  Everything will be fine, I just want it to be over or maybe I want to be at the start line.  The truth is that it would be good to just be on that flight already.  Really, I should just go and have a good time, this is a hobby after all.  I mean, there is some competition. I’m sure I can do better than most girls in my age group so it won’t exactly be a day in the park.  I can probably geta Kona slot if those Brazillian girls don’t have money to go.  I’m a strong triathlete.    Nah, that won’t happen, be realistic.  People train for Kona their entire lives. This is your first Ironman so just enjoy… but be competitive too.  I guess, somewhere in between.

Tapering is fun, but it also sucks. I have to eat less because I’m not working out as much and now I have more time to eat. Don’t think about that.  You need to be fed so that you can perform for this race. I need a piece of chocolate, just a small one to calm my nerves.  OK, I should be calm now and relax until the race…

What time is it? Oh.. 19:30 and I’m still at work… I have to train two hours tomorrow. That’s a lot… how did I work out for 7 hours when I wasn’t tapering, 2 days ago… Those were crazy times back then. 2 weeks of this? really? I think I’m forgetting something…

the man who rode with Ben-Gurion

Just finished the 1st week of the peak period.
The weeks with the highest training volumes of my trainig plan.

The week started with my first ocean swim of the season. Puting on my wetsuit I was thinking how all the winter leg weights workouts paid off, “this is so tight”, till i realized i forced my right leg into the arm sleeve… after fixing my suit i met Gadi the TI-Zen-man and his freinds that kindly invited me to join them for a 4k swim in the super flat ocean. was great!

Saturaday, while Anat was swiming with the Zone3 no-smilin’-while-trainin’ team, Tamir & I had the honor of riding with one of the courages 26 that did the first Israman race (Back in the days the dinesores walked the Earth). Roni (“we used to ride into Gaza, eat humus & ride back” ) came carrying a modest nutrition plan – 2 bananas & few dates, and while we were swallowing 300-400 calories per hour he was kicking our asses climbing the hills on the way back. Overall was a great 140k ride (Roni did 170 riding from home… ) to Emek Ha’ela with perfect weather and a 30 min run around Einat for desert.

My weekend concluded early Sunday morning with a 30k run.

To summerize – feeling good, no pains/injuries, just very very tired…Next weekend, bike peak with a 180k ride.

5 Weeks to IRONMAN BRAZIL!

and Tamir… you must get some sunshine on your white shaved legs…

The four weeks of the 2^nd build month are behind me. Ah… recovery week…

This weekend, ending this training block was an “Iron weekend”. Doing an Ironman distance in 48hours.

Friday 4k swim+11k run

Saturday 200kride+5krun

Sunday 32k run.

The main reason for this Iron weekend was of course low self-confidence. It worked! As stupid as it sounds, after the 200k doing 180 seems no big deal. Doing the 32k run 14 hours after getting of my bike was definitely not the best injury prevention practice… but also contributed to the confidence build up. And surprisingly, overall feeling great, no injuries (hamsa, hamsa…), and ready for a nice relaxed recovery week before the final-push month toward the training peak.

7 weeks to go!…

7 weeks since the half Israman, finished the 1st build period of my IM training, and now recovery week!…mui kef & mui rest…

The period ended with a heavy 12hour training weekend which included my first 180k ride. I actually didn’t plan on doing a 180k ride (160 was the plan) but Ariel-“the handsome coach”-Heller that spontaneously joined our ride, easily convinced me with the “you already killed your Saturday morning so why stop at 160?…”. Very happy I did it. Great confidence boost (although the “how do I complete a marathon after this” demon is still very much alive…)
Felt good during the ride, like with every run/ride I do, no matter how long it is, the last 30 minutes are tough. I finished feeling relatively good but definitely not enough to take on a marathon.
I practiced handling the nutrition load on the bike (=eat till you feel sick test) with ~380calories/hour consuming 2,700 calories in just under 7 hours:
6*0.7L Gatorade (900), 3*0.7L water
2*PowerBar Bites (600)
6*gels (600)
2*bananas (200)
1* PowerBar blasts (200)
1 Cliff Blocks (200)
8*salt caps

This (with the 21k run the following morning) concluded a 17hour week and the first BUILD period of my training plan. My (amateure-self-made..) training plan structure consists of the following periods:

Jun, Jul, Aug – PREPERATION – learned the basics of swimming & riding, did my first Sprint & Olympic triathlons, total 8-10  weekly hours
Sep, Oct, Nov – BASE 1 – long runs/rides increased to 21-24k/80-100k, total 10-12 weekly hours
Dec, Jan – BASE 2 – rides of 100k, more hills, preps for the ½ ISRAMAN, total 12-14 weekly hours
Feb, Mar –  BUILD 1 – increase swim to 3k, first 30k run, first very long ride, total weekly hours 14-17
Mar, Apr –  BUILD 2– increase swim to 4k, several 30+k runs, several very long ride, total weekly hours 15-19
May – TAPER – training volume reduction toward race day May 30th

Overall on track according to plan, slightly exceeding original volume targets and most important no major injuries! (hamsa, hamsa, hamsa!)

11 weeks to go!..

Last weekend we celebrated Inbal’s half Israman.

From “i cant swim” to half Ironman in less then 6 month!…

Good luck with the London Marathon!

Tattoo... Cake... same-same

- Flights to Bangkok – CONFIRMED

- Flights to Samui – CONFIRMED

- Hotels Samui & Pangan – CONFIRMED

- Baby sitting – CONFIRMED

7 days to Israman, 9 days to sawadika!…

You may or may not know that we weren’t officially listed on the Ironman Brazil website until yesterday. As a matter of fact, Israel wasn’t even listed as a country in the drop down list. We committed to Issta and patiently waited for instructions. When I say patiently, I obviously mean that we took turns calling Issta every single day to check what’s up. The answer we always got was “Eeye Beseder” meaning “it will be alright” which should probably be Issta’s catch phrase since it’s the only answer we ever got. After wiring about $750.2 to an unknown in Brazil through Western Union and many weeks of waiting, we were full of anticipation. All we wanted was to choose “Israel” from the drop down list and see our three names; but every time we tried, we ended up searching “Italy” instead and getting 55-59 year old Roberto Zanotto. Good luck Roberto…

A few days ago Tamir and I went to get my stem changed on my bike. As mentioned in the post “Fit me”, I needed a shorter one. As I was riding on the trainer to try out my new position, Tamir receives an email that looks something like this:

“Hi Tamir Gotfried,

We have you confirmed for Ironman Brasil 2010!

Race number 1682…..

Train safe.”…

I yelled to him “Give me my iPhone!!” (In the Kramer/ Gotfried world, we need to specify iPhone or Blackberry because we both have each of them) I had to see my own email confirming that I’m in. I clicked on the circular refresh arrow on my iPhone email program and waited…. But nothing… well, it takes a few seconds after you send it and maybe they weren’t done with the copy/ paste and changing the name and number… I clicked refresh again… again nothing… and again….
Ooohh , Amazon has a sale on Clif bars. How did they know that would interest me? Cool… but not the email I was expecting.

Scenarios filled my head.

1. Sitting in the office tracking number 1682 on my screen, ripping my heart out and eating it.

2. We do have the same bike size… with a few props; I could totally be Tamir for the day. I just need to take his clothes, get a haircut and run a bit slower. (Babe, you wanted me to write this part   , it’s all out of love)

3. Standing in the finish line, 20 depression pounds heavier, holding a sign saying “Go 1st and 2nd wheel…. We all know who the 3rd is”

Reality sunk in as we were once again taking up Amos’s sleep time. We left and I thought about how it would be ok. I’ll get the email soon.

A few hours later, we all get an email from Raanan. He got the official email just like Tamir and only I’m left in the unknown. It’s not a big deal though, maybe tomorrow…

I admit, I was getting nervous but I continued to let Tamir be optimistic for me and finally I got it… number 1683. I’m in! The 3rd wheel team is all in!

Now we can really start panicking. Before our name was on the website, our panic wasn’t justified but now we have reason to worry. Now we can start thinking about the waves and the weather and our equipment and nutrition etc. Now its official – The 3rd wheel (Anat, Tamir & Raanan) are signed up for IM Brazil! I’ve never done this much to justify a tattoo