Kate Bruck: To turn PRO for the 2012 Season: Rev3 Knoxville Race Report

Jun 11 at 6:23pm | 0 comments

It’s not often that you do a race where the race director is just as excited about your finish (and every other athlete’s finish) as you are…enter Rev3 Knoxville. My sister, husband, friends and I chose to do the race in Knoxville because we figured it would be a good early-season race to get ready for 2012 racing. I had done the South Beach Tri a month prior, but was very sick and so I still didn’t have a good indicator of where my fitness was. I left South Beach feeling defeated; I wanted an opportunity to really lay it out on the course feeling 100% healthy and give it all I had.

 

We arrived in Knoxville on Friday morning and got checked into the Holiday Inn Worlds Fair, which was within steps of the finish line/expo, yay! We went down to get registered for the race, ran into Gilad Jacobs from Normatec and some other friends and then headed out for dinner. Driving through Knoxville that evening, it was evident that this was not going to be a flat race!!!

 

We got our bikes ready on Saturday morning (day before race) and then headed down to the river for the practice swim. Water temperature was said to be 66 degrees, which meant wetsuits would be a must if you wanted to feel your arms and legs while swimming. With the air temps in the mid to high 80s, we were sweating buckets before we could even get the wetsuits half way on! I dove in, starting block style and WOW IT WAS CHILLY!!! After a nice 15-minute swim, the water felt fine and actually a bit refreshing. We headed towards transition, checked in our bikes and then drove out to the local bike store to pick up some last minute items.

 

Sunday morning came way too soon after a 3.5 hour "nap” on Saturday night. I had breakfast—two pieces of gluten-free white bread toasted with almond butter and honey. I have been dealing with some GI issues and therefore have given a go at a gluten-free diet, which seems to quiet my stomach on race morning. I didn’t feel very nervous; it seems that my race-day anxiety has hushed to nothing more than a whisper, which makes it a lot easier to concentrate on the task ahead of me! We headed down to transition, which was in a parking garage. Going over logistics, it appeared we would have quite a run from the swim to transition and then from transition to bike mount- all on slippery concrete and boat docks! Although, once I was racing both of these distances proved to be less challenging and slippery than what I had anticipated, yay!

 

After getting my transition area set up, my sister, husband and I made our way towards the swim start in the Tennessee River. Since we were starting an hour behind the pros, we were able to see all of the pro men and most of the pro women come in from the swim and start the bike before we had to walk down to the river, which is always so exciting!!

 

Our wave was called into the water and we waded for a very short period before the gun went off for our wave. I had enough time to catch my breath from the chill and do maybe ten or 15 strokes down the river- not much of a warm up, but would have to do!! My constant struggle with open water swimming is finding feet from which to draft. The gun went off and I started digging really hard. I chose to put myself front and center for the start, which proved to be a gutsy move as it was a little fierce there in the beginning 200 or so yards. Elbows, punches (unclear whether they were intentional or not), etc.- another thing that having a few seasons under my belt has helped with- the aggressive behavior no longer intimidates me. I tried and was somewhat successful in hanging onto some feet for a draft until the pace was too slow and moving on to the next one. Once we hit the turnaround, however, I was never able to regain a good draft and found myself alone for about the last 2/3 of the swim leg. Oh well, this is a big improvement from seasons past when I couldn’t seem to find a draft for the whole swim! My arms never really seemed to regain feeling and I found my upper body locking up at times as I navigated up and then down river. I really had no expectations of what my swim time should be as most of my early season training has been so bike-focused. I hit the dock in the high 22 min, which I felt was pretty on par for the effort I had put in so far. I ran through transition pulling and tugging at my Orca Alpha, which just didn’t seem to want to part with me! Argh- the dang thing just wouldn’t come off!

 

Grabbing my helmet, sunglasses and bike I quickly exited transition and ran like hell towards the bike mount having no idea where I was in overall placement. Out on the bike course, I remained very focused on the watts that Coach Cliff had set forth for me. I found the course to be great, with lots of rollers and some really good climbs—although the rollers made it kind of difficult to keep within the wattage range that I desired. It was evident that on this day, I was the passer, not the one being passed! I have been working hard on my bike and felt like it was finally starting to show. As I neared a familiar backside, I passed my husband and he shouted out "I think you are in fourth or fifth place overall!!” as I passed by. Perfect, I just wanted to hold this and make top five overall! I still was averaging about 4-5 watts below what I had hoped for, so I really upped the gas on the pedals for the remainder of the race. I saw the four ladies in front of me as I neared the bike turnaround and was able to confirm my overall placement. As I charged through the last couple miles of the race, I passed the fourth place female charging up a big hill and she hollered out "go get ‘em!” I got a little excited at the thought of possibly making top three overall! As I approached the driveway into the parking garage I took a chance on doing something new (NOTE: DON’T EVER TRY ANYTHING NEW ON RACE DAY). After a disastrous flying dismount a couple of years ago which left me injured for six weeks, I had kind of abandoned any kind of quick dismount tricks and stuck to leaving my feet in my shoes, thereby having to run through transition in bike shoes ever since that accident. I knew that this was going to be a long run on slippery concrete and doing that run in bike shoes was going to cost me precious time because I would need to run slowly and cautiously. I took the chance and slipped my feet out of my bike shoes pedaling the last couple hundred yards with feet on top of shoes so that I could run much faster in bare feet. It worked!! No crashes!! Victory!!! Off the bike in fourth place overall!!

 

Socks and running shoes on, I grabbed my hat, race belt and Fuel Belt flask and took off. I had been told that the run portion was "flat and fast”, which did not seem to be the case in my opinion. The run was on one of the greenways that are throughout the City of Knoxville. The greenway had many undulating inclines and declines with an approximate ½ mile big decline at the start of the race (which meant we would be climbing for the last ½ mile of the race). There were enough rollers that it was going to make it more of an effort to maintain a consistent pace. I caught up to the third place female around the first mile marker. It was that point when I really started thinking "just hold onto this, you got this.” With the sun beating down on us and temps hovering somewhere close to 90, I was finding it hard not to feel a bit nauseous with every sip of Ironman Perform- which was unusual for me. As I ran through the miles, my legs went from feeling strong to feeling like they might seize up. I was trying so hard to just hold on and not get passed. I approached the turn around and saw first and second place female and then a pro female that was pacing her male friend- which threw me off for a moment. With about two miles left I tried to pick up the pace and pretty much abandoned the thought of getting anymore Ironman Perform in my system. I started feeling extremely light-headed, which I have to assume was as a result of not having enough calories/hydration. I picked up the pace and turned the corner for the last long climb up to the finish line. It was tough to stay strong, but I approached the finish line and gave it all I had!! I was pretty sure that I had placed third, but I went over to the timing tent to confirm…after a little confusion with another competitor’s timing chip, it was eventually determined that I was indeed third place overall! Shortly after, I saw the race director, Eric, told him my overall placement and he was just as excited as I was!!

 

It was so great to make it to the podium. I was certainly not expecting to do so well this early in the season; I was just hoping for a PR! Also, my placement was good enough to qualify me to race as a pro! After a good long week of talking with Coach Cliff and weighing the options, I decided to apply for my professional license and received my pro card shortly after! Looking back at the path I have walked these past few years, I feel so blessed and grateful to have this opportunity! I certainly don’t subscribe to the belief that my life thus far has just been dumb luck. I am very excited to see how the rest of the season unfolds for me!

 

Things that went right/things that I need to improve…well- drafting for 1/3 of the swim race is certainly an improvement, but I need to be better at this. I am hoping that racing in the pro field will lead to less slow bodies that I have to navigate around and therefore can concentrate on just hanging onto whoever is in front of me. I also need to really make sure the first thing I do when I get out of the water is take the wetsuit off, when I am still slippery with water. Waiting until I get to transition to take of the wetsuit is not good for me and costs me time as I wrestle with the wetsuit. My bike went pretty well, but would have liked to have a little more in my legs that day- but this was not my "A” race, so I gave what I had. My run was not great, about: 10-: 15 seconds per mile off of what I had anticipated and I just didn’t have the "pep” in my step like I usually do; I felt "wonky.” However, I have had very little run training, since it has been all about the bike since January, so I guess I cannot complain. One thing that I cannot control, but that I find frustrating is the constant drafting that goes on during the bike leg. It was evident to me (and a couple of the ladies I spoke with) that there were some people who intentionally drafted in order to get a faster bike split and also save their legs so they can run faster off the bike. To those people a scant two-minute penalty (should an official catch you- which they didn’t) is nothing compared to the several minutes you take off your bike split from sharing a draft, not to mention how much faster you run off the bike. To those people, I say— perhaps you ought to stick to some draft-legal ITU racing and you know what they say about karma…

 

Thank yous…first and foremost—thank you to Foof for being my rock, my manager, my equipment handler, my Sherpa for this trip and most importantly for being my partner in life. None of this would be possible without you! And all of this, plus you had your own great race to do that weekend!! Thank you to my sister, Diane for being so helpful during race weekend and congrats to a great, hard race! Thank you to Rev3—great venue, race logistics went smoothly, great volunteers, AWESOME swag and fantastic crew! To say the least, you all go the extra mile to make each and every athlete feel special and because of that, I will always have Rev3 races on my schedule! Thank you to my FANTASTIC sponsors—Cycles 54 and Breakthrough Nutrition! I feel so incredibly honored to wear your name and promote the business. I am very lucky to have two amazing companies that hold the same beliefs towards life and how to treat people as a major source of support for me! Thank you to Coach Cliff Scherb- without your gift and talent for fantastic coaching, I would never have been able to get this far! And finally- thank you to my healing friends and my cheering/positive/supportive friends—you know who you are and I am eternally grateful to have you in my circle. J Thank you, Universe!

 

Kate Bruck: 'Break Through Nutrition Signs Elite AG'er Kate Bruck'

Mar 21 at 10:52am | 0 comments

Kihei, HI - Breakthrough Nutrition is has signed elite age group athlete and 2011 Ironman Kona finisher, Kate Bruck as her official sports nutrition sponsor.

Kate has been an athlete all her life. She started competing on the track when she was in third grade and was a competitive swimmer and runner throughout her high school years. College offered a break from competitive sports – "it was just way too much fun, and I didn’t want to mess that up,” she joked. But after graduation, she got back into running. She ran her first marathon in 2002 and began displaying significant improvement in her times. In 2006 she ran the Boston Marathon in 3:15:00, a personal best. From there she moved on to triathlon training in order to fulfill a life long dream of becoming and Ironman.

Like all triathletes, Kate had hopes of one day competing in the Ironman World Championships in Kona, HI.

"For lots of people who do triathlons, it’s something you dream about,” she said. The event had called to her long before she ever signed up for her first endurance race. She’d been thinking about Kona since fourth grade, when she first saw the international competition broadcast on TV.



"I was mesmerized,” she said. "I was the classic little kid standing in front of the TV with my jaw hanging open.”



After completing her first Ironman in 2007, Kate threw herself into her passion. She quit her job and became a personal trainer which allowed her to focus on her triathlon training. Over the next few years, Kate began to amass quite a resume', placing 4th female overall and 1st in her age group at the 2010 Quassy Rev3 Olympic Distance Triathlon. She followed that up with a 4th place OA female at the Rev3 Costa Rica Olympic Distance Race.



2011 was a breakthrough year for Kate. It was also the year her life long dream of competing in Kona came true. She qualified for the Ironman Championships not once, but TWICE! Her first qualifying race was Eagleman 70.3 where she was 2nd in her AG. Then she set a personal record at Ironman USA where she again placed 2nd in her AG, 16th OA and had the 3rd fastest marathon of the day. But she was not done yet. She wrapped up her season by putting in another breakthrough performance in Kona, placing 10th in her AG and posting a 3:23:00 marathon. She also beat her personal record at the Iron Distance by 16 minutes.



Kate has surrounded herself with a quality team of supporters which includes her husband Rich "Foof" LaGala, her coach Clif Scherb, owner of Tristar Athlete and Christian Young, owner of Cycles 54. Now Breakthrough Nutrition is part of this list. "We are honored to have such an amazing athlete represent our company," said Clifton Duhon, President and founder of Breakthrough Nutrition. "Kate brings integrity and class to our sponsorship program and the sport we love so much," he added.

"Our motto at Breakthrough Nutrition is "Push YOUR Potential". Kate's work ethic and unwavering desire for her next Breakthrough performance is the embodiment of that motto. She is coming off of a stellar year and we are anxious to see what the 2012 season will bring for her. Welcome aboard Kate!!

Kate Bruck: Ironman Hawaii - '10th in her Age group and a new PR, 10hr 25min!'

Oct 19 at 9:25am | 0 comments

ALOHA!!

We arrived in Kona on Sunday, October 2nd. As our plane came screeching down the runway in the middle of black lava, I had a little tiny tearful moment. I couldn't believe I was here. I MADE IT!!! I thanked the Universe for giving me this opportunity and we deboarded into the glorious warm salty air. And then I realized, SHIT IT IS HOT OUT!!! We struggled to get all of the luggage and the bike box into the rental- Jeeps are not as big as you would think they are! Our condo was a little over a mile from the race start, which turned out to be a great area- not too far away, but far enough to get away from the nervous energy. Monday morning we (Foof and I) headed over to the outdoor Kona Community Aquatic Center-- for my Monday morning workout. I couldn't find my earplugs, but figured it would be no big deal. I felt a little sluggish at first, but found my stroke a bit snappier when Craig Alexander and Belinda Granger hopped into the lane next to us :) The rest of the day was spent getting my bike built up, grocery and farmers' market shopping and chilling out by the condo pool. I made sure to get right into the Normatec boots and try to get rid of the cankles from the long flight over.


(Photos courtesy of Laurie Glasser)

Tuesday morning I woke up and went to get out of bed, BAM- smacked the crap out of my R heel on the dresser- incurring a big gash and blood everywhere. And boy did that hurt! I grabbed the only bandage I had, my skin suit and headed to the pier to meet Linda, Renata and a couple other swimmers at Dig Me Beach at 7:00 a.m. A south swell from New Zealand had made its way into Kona and had gifted us with nice 8'-10' swells- you could not see from one buoy to the next. Linda gave me some important tips about staying to the right at the swim start, avoiding swallowing too much ocean water and fighting the current on the way back to avoid drifting to Maui. We managed to get a good 45 min swim in and my first taste of the swim course. The swells certainly kept it interesting- still couldn't find where I had packed my earplugs and was hoping that I could avoid getting swimmers' ear despite that. After our swim, I went right over to the King Kamehameha's Hotel to get checked in and surprisingly, my nerves were not rattled one bit while surrounded by all the other Irongeeks. We had a nice brunch at the famous Lava Java and I even got a cup of Kona coffee- hoping I wouldn't regret it that evening. It was so wonderful to sit outside and watch the surf roll in and out. I still could not believe I was there and I was doing THIS!!! Throughout the day I sipped on water with a Nuun tablet in it.



I had been battling some tightness in my big toe flexor (which plagued me throughout the ENTIRE IMLP run) and so I went into Wednesday's run with apprehension. I headed south on Ali'i drive for a nice 45 min run complete with some pick-ups at race pace and my legs felt like two pieces of chewed up meat. Man was it HOT!! How on Earth was I going to withstand this heat for 10+ hours?!?!



We had another pool swim and I still felt very sluggish, which was really starting to worry me. I had been sleeping really well (even without any sleeping agents) so I didn't understand what the hell was going on! Had I pushed too much too close to the race? I had a nice discussion with Coach Cliff- who assured me that this is EXACTLY what I should be feeling right at that moment. It would all come together......  

Seven Inspiring Kona Age Groupers - Competitor.com

Oct 06 at 9:48am | 0 comments

**************Competitor Magazine.com***************


70.3 Qualifier and fundraiser
Athlete: Kate Bruck
Age group: F35-39
Bib number: 1473



I have been racing Ironman since 2007, but I have been dreaming of doing Kona ever since I watched it on TV when I was in the fourth grade. I quit my full-time job to become a personal trainer so I could have a part time flexible schedule to make room for more training time. I hired a coach and got serious with my training with the hope of qualifying last year. Four weeks before Ironman Lake Placid, I sliced my foot open during the swim exit of a tri. After months of extensive medical care to try to reduce the size of the painful plantar fibroma I had developed as a result of the accident, I started running again last December, although I was almost certain I was done with triathlon. I had already signed up for Rev3 Costa Rica so that was my first tri after being inactive since July. Training was going well, the fibroma had been reduced from the size of a large gumball to the size of a cherry pit and the pain had also reduced. Although there will always been some lingering discomfort from the lump on my plantar fascia, it is nothing like it was. I came in second in my age group at Eagleman 70.3 and after waiting around for two hours, I found out that I had earned one of the two roll-down slots to Kona! I hadn’t expected it at all. It was such an incredible moment, one I will never forget. I then continued training and competed in Ironman Lake Placid and placed second in my age group and ninth overall! It was so amazing to stand up on that podium and reflect on how everything had turned for the better!

After I had qualified at Eagleman, I felt so blessed to have been given the opportunity that I wanted to do something to give back. It was that following Monday that I found out my friend Megan was fighting aggressive liver cancer and with overwhelming expenses drowning her and her husband, I started a website with a fund attached for friends to donate. I have raised about $1,000 and am hoping that I can generate at least another $1,000 by race day.

I have been working with Coach Cliff Scherb (TriStarAthletes.com) for my coaching—he focuses on quality, not quantity, so I usually peak at about 25 training hours before the biggest races. Training has gone really, really well and both he and I are pretty excited for me to race Kona

See you in Kona!

Aaron Hersh is the senior tech editor for Triathlete magazine. Follow him on Twitter: @TriathleteTech.

Kate Bruck: 9th at IM Lake Placid!

Aug 14 at 1:45pm | 0 comments

Kate Bruck's Lake Placid Report; 16th Female, 9th place amateur. 10hr 41min

...In 2009, I had a bad accident six weeks before IMLP and had to withdrawal from Placid...in 2010, had a bad accident four weeks before IMLP and I had a very disappointing 10th place finish secondary to residual injury complications...2011-- third time's a charm?  This is the first Ironman I have done with amazing training/coaching in my pocket and no injuries to foul things up.

 

 We waded in after the pro's went off and I positioned myself towards the right side of the lake in the front-ish. My swim times were sickly fast in March and April, but for some weird reason, I just hadn't been hitting the numbers the way I had wanted in the last month or two- so without a wetsuit- I was hoping to come in around 1hr 3min.  The gun went off and I immediately started searching for feet to draft off of...bam- a punch the the face...pow-- a kick in the jaw.  Holy crap, this is the craziest start I've had yet- hope it calms down!  No such luck-- the entire first loop was filled with punches, kicking, men LITERALLY grabbing my shoulder and using it as leverage to climb over me-- what the f*ck was going on?  Was this an IM swim or a bar fight?  I had NEVER experienced such violence in the five other IM swims I had already done.  What I was doing out there couldn't really even be classified as swimming-- it was more like thrashing.  Before the turn-around, I took a kick to the ribs which knocked the wind out of me and when I stopped to catch my breath, I got punched in the eye, which dislodged my goggles just enough to send water into my right goggle.  Dang it- I'm not kidding- this was VIOLENT!!  I got to the beach, looked at the clock and wanted to barf-- 32 minutes, FUCK!!  I was screwed...hopefully things will clear up with the second loop and I'll be able to swim a bit smoother...NEGATIVE!  The second loop was just as much of a nightmare as the first!!  No relief whatsoever.  I just wanted to be done so badly, forget about trying to draft.  I hit the turn around and with about 500 yards to the beach to go, I got kicked in the ribs AGAIN and had to stop to get my breath.  I hit the beach- looked up-- 1hr 7min.  MOTHER SON OF A...what kind of shit was that?!?!  Getting so beat up out there really defeated me coming into T1-- thank goodness for Alison McKenna for talking me down off the ledge-- I grabbed my gear and headed out the tent.  grabbed my bike and off I went!  It was very reassuring in speaking with several  athletes in the days following that they too found it to be the most violent swim they had ever been in and that their times were also very off!!

 

Total swim: 1:07:41, Transition 1: 5:16

 

Within the first mile of the bike, I was all the way to the right side of the road, with two dudes riding next to me.  Some flaming asshole came blowing in between the two dudes next to me and managed to take BOTH of them out as well as himself in a bloody crash.  

Evidently he didn't get the memo that passing on the right is illegal.  How I managed to stay upright is beyond me- but I would just like to give a shout to my angels on that one.  The first 15-20 miles were meant to be easy- and I had the Garmin AKA "wrist bitch" vibrating every time I got out of "easy".  After about 20 minutes, I took my one and only gel of the day- a Hammer Espresso gel.  From that point on, I was sipping on one aerobottle/hour of: 1 Salt Stick electrolyte tab, 1 Nuun lemon tea tab and 300 calories of Carbopro in addition to some water from the course.  For the most part-- my nutrition worked-- and I only had brief moments of bloat and nausea (not including the other GI issues that were plaguing me that morning).  Throughout the first loop, I was feeling a LOT of fatigue in my legs- which I have a feeling was as a result of my bathroom issues earlier that morning- so I drank a TON-- to try to prevent being dehydrated going into the run.  First loop definitely was much more sluggish and slower than I had hoped for-- and it didn't help that I sat and waited four minutes while they tried to locate my special needs bag.  First loop: 3:00:13 (was expecting to do around 2:50:00).  I headed back out on my second loop feeling a little better- but that was short lived and the fatigue in my legs came back even heavier right as I started climbing out of town.  The temps that day were suppose to be a high of 82-- I looked at my Cycleops Joule at one point and noted a temp of 87 degrees-- whew!  I got to the last turn into town (with still no mechanical issues, yay)-- and it was time to turn it up just a little- even though my legs really didn't want to.  I was a little concerned that this was going to be the same issue on the run, but tried to push it out of my mind.  As I headed towards Whiteface Mountain, I remembered that little Psalm and asked for some help-- which definitely came to me!  My legs started to feel better and I was actually able to pick it up beyond what I had expected- which even though it was kind of too late to make up significant ground- mentally it felt good to be blowing past people the whole way in.

 

Total bike: 5:58:56 (argh), Transition 2: 2:24 (yay)

 

As soon as I hopped off my bike, I felt the tightness in my left foot that I was afraid of and knew was going to cause a problem-- as it had been for every run off the bike in the last three weeks.  I slipped on my running shoes, grabbed my 8 oz. flask of carbo pro (300 cals worth), Salt Stick electrolyte tabs and my hat and took off.  From the moment I started running, I had that stabbing pain on the bottom of my L foot.  It was certainly nothing like the unbearable pain I went through last year- but still bothersome and gait-altering, nonetheless.  I just hobbled through, trying to keep my biomechanics as efficient as possible.  My "wrist bitch" was giving heart rate, but no pace- somehow I pushed something and screwed it up!  Oh well- at least I had heart rate- and was wearing a second watch for back up.  First mile out of transition was about a 7:35 pace- which was a little higher than Coach Cliff and I had discussed.  The strategy was-- first 13 miles- very easy, miles 13-20, take it up just a little and miles 20-26.2-- take it up a little more-- pushing at the end if it was there.  I started out feeling pretty solid- and was pretty sure that the massive amounts of hydration that I slurped down on the bike was worth it-- albeit a bit of a sloshy belly, it was good.  At this point in the race- I usually have a good idea what place I am in, as Foof is usually able to tell me how many girls are ahead of me- but there was no way of knowing who was or wasn't wearing a wetsuit that morning in the swim (and therefore, their placement didn't count).  So I just plugged along and hoped that my effort was good enough.  I was keeping my miles nice and easy- in between a 7:50 and 8:00 pace-- even up the hills- everything felt easy except for the stabbing pain in my foot.  I wanted to stop so badly and stretch it out, but knew I had to keep going.  All of that hydrating also meant I now had to go to the bathroom, REALLY BADLY- but I just knew if I took the :30 to stop and go, I would regret it, so I just suffered through. I was sipping on ~75 cals of Carbopro every half hour with ~two cups of Ironman Perform and one cup of water per aide station.  I saw Coach Cliff around the five mile mark and he said I looked good.  Other than the foot pain- the further I went into this race, the better I felt-- and it certainly felt good passing so many people each mile I ticked off.  I am truly in bliss when I am running- and today was no different from that.  I hit the turn around (mile ~6ish) and headed back up into town, sticking to my nutrition and race pace plan.  I was relieved that 7:50/8:00 pace felt so easy.  As I hit the half way mark- I knew it was time to pick it up  just a little- so I did- but still keeping that heart rate comfortable.  I saw my sister and Foof and told them both I needed a couple prayers from home to catch some more ladies and to help relieve the foot and R hamstring pain I had developed.  Obviously the prayers worked, because the hamstring pain went away and as I hit the 20 mile mark, I soared past a girl with my age group on her calf and she said "wow, you look strong- you're now in third place".  I held out until I hit about the 23-24 mile mark before I really picked it up, and felt really good!  It is so motivating when people are yelling such things as "look at how strong she looks" as you go past!  I hit the last turn around at mile 25.5-ish and really kicked it up- saw coach one more time and jokingly said "see you in a few minutes!".  I was about a quarter mile to the finish line when I saw a "38" on the girl's calf in front of me- and her stride indicated that she was hauling to the finish line.  So, I came right up behind her, shadowed her until right before we made the turn into the Olympic Oval and the I TOOK OFF LIKE A BAT OUT OF HELL!!  I ran so damn fast through that last 200-400 yards that I passed five or six men!  I hit the finish line without that woman in sight and gave the camera my "W" for the Woo!! ;-)  I wound up taking 2nd place in the last minute or so of the race-- I beat her by only 12 SECONDS!!!  Good thing I didn't stop to pee!!!!!

 

Total run time: 3:27:09-- ave pace-- 7:54/mile  

 

TOTAL IRONMAN TIME: 10:41:26, a PR of over 33 minutes!  

 

Placement: 2nd place AG, 9th amateur, 16th overall (I beat two pros, woohoo).  3rd fastest marathon run

 

What a great day!!!  Even though the swim was quite a challenge and my bike legs just weren't there, I was able to pull it all together enough for the run and a second place finish AND ANOTHER KONA QUALIFYING SPOT!!  (too bad I can't carry it over to next year).  It was so great seeing my family, friends, my adorable nephews, my adoring husband and Coach Cliff- it made such a difference in my mental state!  We cracked a bottle of champers, had a quick bite to eat, grabbed some Ubu Ales and headed back up to the finish line for the most rockin' midnight finishers party I have ever been to!

 

I woke up Monday morning feeling pretty good-- very little soreness!!  Foof, my oldest nephew- Jacob and I went to the awards banquet, where I proudly marched myself up on the stage and got to hear Mike Reilly announce my name :-)  What a great feeling-- I had already qualified for Kona- but this made it real- I got this one without a roll-down and didn't have to beat myself into the ground to get there!

 

It is amazing what a difference a year makes.  I cannot stress how beneficial it is to manifest what you want in your life; don't ever give up and don't ever lose hope- even when it seems like it is impossible...don't stop believin' :)

 

I cannot finish this report without a big bunch of thank yous...Firstly, and most importantly- thank you to Foof- the most wonderful, supportive husband-- without whom none of this would be possible, I am the luckiest girl in the world!  Also- thank you to my sisters Diane and Ingrid-- especially to Diane, Ryan and those three little monkeys that I have the pleasure of calling my nephews- for making the trek up to Placid for this one.  Thank you to all of my other family-- both on the Bruck side and the LaGala side-- your support is felt out there!!   Thank you to Coach Cliff Scherb-- you are so supportive and such an amazing coach, I can't imagine ever being able to do this without you!  Thanks to Drs. Stu, Pete and Jeff for keeping me in ship-shape those couple days leading up to the race-- and thankfully it didn't require any graston :)  Hugs and thanks to my  guyfriends and girlfriends that are motivational, inspirational, and uplifting-- there are many of you-- but you know who you are-- you keep me going (xoxo)!  Many many thanks to Brian, Mike, Christian and the whole Cycles 54 team for keeping me clothed, keeping my bike in such great condition and being such a big support of my racing-- I am so privileged to be able to wear the Cycles 54 name!  Of course- I have to also thank and send hugs to Dr. Liz Perez (ART), Karen Foote (reiki/spiritual healing) and Leanne Arcuri (Bodies 21 massage)-- who keep my body, mind and soul healthy :)  Thanks to Darren for a last minute mechanical issue diversion and Kathleen for all of your "behind the scenes" help and to both of you for such positive support!  Thank you to Alison McKenna and Meghan Helwig for your awesome support in transition!  If I have forgotten anyone else- please know it is not because I am not grateful, just forgetful, haha!

 

Stay tuned...next up: KONA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kate Bruck: Qualifies for KONA!!! Eagleman 70.3! 2nd in her AG

Jun 17 at 6:42am | 0 comments

Eagleman 70.3 6/12/11

Kate Bruck: 1st overall Red Bank Olympic, "my "sacrificial" race to prepare for Eagleman 70.3"

May 26 at 7:17am | 0 comments

Red Bank Olympic distance Triathlon 5/15/2011

I had decided to do this race more as my "sacrificial" race to prepare for Eagleman 70.3 (a half-iron) in a couple of weeks.  I had absolutely zero expectations leading into this race, as I hadn't tapered and really didn't care what the outcome was-- just wanted to "blow out the carbon" so that I was sharp for Eagleman.  Since my race performance was not so great at the Disney half-iron last year, Coach Cliff and I felt it was good to get a race in before my first half-iron of the year.



We (Foof and I) woke up at 4:30 a.m. that morning to heavy, cold, thick clouds and rain.  Outside temp was around 55 degrees-- brrr!  I figured, well, I will just put in a good effort and then after the race, finish up the rest of the work that was on the schedule for the day.  Around 5:15 a.m. I ate a plain white flour bagel with earth balance and plenty of honey.  I usually have a cup of coffee the morning of a race, but opted for a double espresso (note to self-- the rumors are true-- espresso clearly has much less caffeine than regular Sbux coffee).  We headed out- all bundled up in sweatshirts and warm-up pants!

Got to the race venue around 6:15, set up my transition, saw a couple familiar faces, chatted and around 6:45 ate three black cherry cliff blocks (with caffeine).  Headed to the restroom and waited in what seemed to be an endless line-- race director definitely needs to up the porto-potty count for next year :)

Got back to transition around 7:40, struggled to get the wetsuit on- was so cold I didn't want to get undressed!

SWIM: Our wave took off right around 8 a.m. (give or take a few minutes).  It was a deep water start in the Navesink River at Marine Park.  I jumped off the dock into some cold-ass water- but it wasn't so cold that it made me piss my pants and forget my name- so I was pretty relieved.  Gun goes off and I thought-- find some feet, find some feet.  I tried to hang on to the top ladies, but it just wasn't there for me today.  Coach had mentioned about a week or two before this race that my swim times may go down a little (because of the heavy cycling emphasis over the last few weeks), but not to worry because I will get it back.  I pushed as hard as I could and felt like hell.  We hit the turn buoy and I was swimming so hard, yet lousy, that I didn't realize I had completely gotten off course and was practically at the other side of the fucking river-- well son of a bitch.  I turned myself around, got back on course and started seeing people that I had passed a while back.  Dammit.  Got to the dock and looked at my watch...was expecting to finish the swim in the 22 to 23:30 minute range...25 FUCKING MINUTES.  Double damn!!  Coach telling me that my swim might be a little slow certainly didn't take the sting out of that!  How did I go from swimming an average 1:13/100 yard to a 1:31/100 yard.  WTF!!!!?!?!

Total swim: 25:30

Got to transition, was totally disoriented, almost fell over trying to get my socks and shoes on...normally don't ride with socks on, but was afraid I would have toe-cicles if I didn't.  Got the helmet and sunglasses on and took off-- transition time: 1:53.  Good Lord, I think my grammy can transition faster than that...and she's dead...

BIKE: I have had many discussions with Cliff about my bike performance and it seems that I am capable of much more than what my race performances have shown-- so I had decided this morning that I would say to hell with the run- I am not holding ANYTHING back on that bike course, because I want to see what I can put out there and how it affects my run.  I had also decided to not use race wheels, because: A. It was raining and on a hilly course like that, I didn't see the benefit if it was raining, and B.  I really wanted to use my wheel with the powertap so I could see what kind of watts I was cranking out on a race effort.  Initially, I was passed by about five or six men, but I was steadily passing all of the women that had beat me out of the water.  At about 15-20 minutes into the ride, I sucked down an espresso Hammer Gel and throughout the ride I drank a full 24 oz water with two scoops carbo-pro mixed with two scoops of lemonade Ultima.  I felt very strong on the climbs.  The downhills were a little tricky with the slick road conditions, but I managed to keep my cool descending, thanks to all of the tips and training I got in Spain last month.  I was pushing very hard and although I felt some fatigue setting in, acknowledged it and pushed it out of my mind.  As we started to make our approach back into town, I came up on what I had assumed was third or fourth female overall (she was actually 2nd place female overall) and passed her feeling pretty solid. 

bike split: 1:13:04.  Ave speed: 20.67...fastest female bike split...YAY!!

Back to T2-- Forget my overall placement in the race, this was my finest achievement of the day!!!!  Historically speaking, my T2 has SUCKED!!!  In :38 I racked my bike, threw on my shoes and grabbed my bottle, hat and bib number and out the gate I went!  I finally had a good transition, yay!!

RUN: I started off the run with quick turnover (95+ foot strikes) and feeling very strong.  In the first half mile, I came up on what I was pretty sure was the first overall female and had confirmation of that when I saw her friend wildly flailing his hands in excitement saying "you're number one!!!!!"  He he he, not for long, and I quickly passed her.  What a great feeling.  The run course was very familiar to me as I had run these hills a zillion times doing long runs from Bodman.  There were a couple big pushes, but mostly just some nice rolling hills.  I sipped on 8 oz of bottle of Ironman Perform.  I was running a race pace with high turnover, and even though I was pretty sure I would not be caught, I still pushed hard-- this race was all about seeing what I was capable of.  I hit the turn around and didn't see any females until I was 2.5 minutes past the turnaround- yeah, they weren't catching me. :)  I took the next 3.1 miles just as hard as ever and at about mile 4.5 a woman looked at me and said "honey, they are far back, you can slow down".... umm, yeah, right!!  I saw Foof, gave him the thumbs up and then put my finger up and gasped "first place".  I got back into town and hearing everyone screaming and yelling for me was pretty exciting!!  I made the turn to head down to the finish line and became a bit overwhelmed with emotion.  I saw the finish line and knew for sure that I was first female as I grabbed the tape!  Whew!!!

Total run time: 42:51, pace: 6:53/mile.  First place female overall (by 8.5 minutes!!!!)))

What a relief!  I am so happy that I chose to do this race-- I think I needed this both to affirm that I am capable of putting out a hard bike effort and still have my running legs and also for a nice morale boost.  Doug Rice and the crew of Split Second Racing put on a fantastic race-- the bike course was great, the run course was great and despite my own shortcomings, the swim course was great too! I am so grateful for Coach Cliff Scherb and his superb coaching abilities.  He takes a personal approach to each of his athlete's training and because of this, we are all able to excel!  I also would be lost without Karen Foote and her super-duper reiki healing sessions and Dr. Liz Perez, without whom I would not be able to stay injury-free...well, for the most part ;-)  Many hugs, love and thanks to my very good friends-- my TRUE friends and family that support me in so many ways. xoxoxo

Stay tuned for my next race, Eagleman 70.3, June 12

Kate Bruck: Rev3, 4th overall. "The risk of failure is ALWAYS worth the glory of success."

Jun 08 at 2:40pm | 0 comments

REVOLUTION 3 OLYMPIC DISTANCE RACE REPORT

JUNE 5, 2010

Probably should not have run a 2.5hr long run on Wednesday in a pair of shoes that were completely spent...a quick stop in West Chester to get knew running shoes (I know, I know, running sin numero uno) and I was on my way to have a little sushi in Darien : ) and then Quassy on Thursday night. I woke up nice and early to make the 7AM practice swim on Friday morning and did one loop of the olympic distance. I was lucky enough to head into the water the same time as two female pros and one male pro. Held up with the female pros until they kept going to the half buoy (not trying to toot a horn here-- I'm sure they would still kick my ass in a race). Wish I could always go out with the pros instead of getting held up climbing over S L O W age groupers. Everyone said that the water was in the mid-60's...if that is mid-60, then I must have a core body temp of 65. Now I was really stumped...skin suit or wetsuit? Decisions, decisions...

Spent the rest of the day getting checked in, getting some ART from genius Dr. Kevin Maggs and trying to stay cool in that hot sun! I have already boiled away half of my brain at Disney 70.3 a couple weeks ago- so I figured it was time to head back to the Hampton and nap. Sorry hubs-- have fun registering athletes in that heat all day, I'll pick you up at 7P, he he he.

Weather forecast was looking craptastic, so I had plenty on my mind the night before, but managed to snooze for about 3.5 hours the night before the race-- a record for me!!! Up at 4:30, ate a bagel and honey and sipped on nuun. Made it to transition at 5:30...just in time for the rain to start...AWESOME!!! Got transition set up, headed over to womens restroom-- yes, that's right, I said WOMEN'S RESTROOM!!! No porta-johns to have to gag through, woo hoo! Chatted with some of the ladies there, then the convo turned to how annoying it was that even though there was a mandatory day-before check-in, they were still letting people register and check their bike in that morning. One of the ladies walked back to trans with me, bitching and moaning the whole time about everything that had gone wrong for her in the last 36 hours. I tried to serpentine walk to get her away from me, but she held on-- WTF, Debbie Downer, get the hell away from me!!! And this is precisely why I wear an iPod-- I don't like to get caught up in the pre-race bitchfest. Helped my good friend, Wendy-- a first time triathlete at this race (yay Wendy!), get set up, got the wetsuit pulled up (everyone else went w/the wetsuit, so no skinsuit for me) and headed down to the beach. Collected my pre-race triple smooch from the hubs and got to the front of the pack, waiting for our heat to go off. Looked around for the fasties, oh hell, none of these people look like swimmers... Gun goes off...high knees, high knees, high knees, dolphin dive, dolphin dive, dolphin dive...ahhhhhh S W I M. kick, punch kick punch (not me, of course) trying to find feet, trying to find feet. Found some feet and then as soon as I had them, we hit the slow-ass strugglers and then...well, FORGET IT!! I tried to find feet, but we were all doing the same thing-- the crappy swimmer dance/weave. Hit the beach at 23 mins, 15 secs, hit the mat at 24:05

Swim time: 24:05, Overal place out of water: 9th, age group place out of water: 1st, OA place out of trans: 11th, AG place: 3rd

YEAH, MY TRANSITIONS CLEARLY S U C K!!!

Head out on the bike, immediate uphill, yippee! Anyone who knows anything about Rev3 CT, knows that this and the half-distance is a BITCH of a course, a total ball-buster. I immediately sucked down a roctane gu (that had 2X's caffeine) which, for a girl who doesn't drink caffeinated beverages, is like crack. Seriously, I can feel it surging through my friggin veins. Put together two bottles of some carbo-pro and gatorade endurance. Heart rate was INSANE; I think that it was similar to that of a hummingbird. Gotta CALM THE HELL DOWN, Kate...uh, no time for that!! PUSH! PUSH HARD!!! Don't blow this bike leg like you did in FL!!!! Hills, hills, hills!!! And some sweet ass decents!! I am really crappy at descents, but just telling myself to suck it up and stay aero-- don't negate the benefit of these sweet new SRAM race wheels that I got to break in (courtesy of Cycels 54). Hit the wall (an insane uphill that evidently was so steep that some age groupers fell over), man, what a kick in the ass! Then I came on 'that guy'. You know-- that guy that you wind up going back and forth with for the rest of the ride. Passed one girl, then my "buddy" passed me-- who for a minute-- I thought it was the girl I just passed...and I told him that. Woops! Sorry, dude, didn't mean to say you look like a girl, but-- you're short, and probably weigh less than I do, soooo....Passed one more girl with about 2 miles to go-- she was holding on to me for a while, but gave up. Pull back into transition, was told I was 6th place female.

Bike split: 1:22:05, 18.86MPH, OA place off bike: 5th, AG place off bike: 1st.

Again-- too slow in the transition, BUT I had an AWESOME transition volunteer giving me my stats-- how many ahead of me, how many minutes each woman was ahead of me...thanks, dude!! Started off on what I was told was a beast of a run, hopefully my Bodman runs will help. God knows having fatigued hip flexors, gastrocs and rectus femoris on both sides won't! I felt like I was running a 12minute pace...wasn't really paying attention to the HR-- the chase was on! The first set of rollers? What rollers-- really did't feel them. Then the big ones set in, holy moly-- they were kinda tough. One biggie EVERYONE was walking up, hehehe, everyone but me! Passing dudes like road kill, God, I love passing guys! Passed one girl right before the out and back...ok, maybe I am NOT doing a 12min pace-- she looked like she was HURTING. Hit the turn-around and see two girls on my ass. SHIT!!!!!!! Get your shit together, Kate. Legs started to really fatigue. Hit mile five and only passed by two guys during the whole run leg, no women. I tried so hard to kick it in at the end, ugh it was tough. Hit mile six...realized at this point I would not be passing any other women, but just hoping those girls won't pass me. Finish line ahead, still passing men, woo hoo, SUCKAS!!!

Run time: 45:42, 7:22/mile pace OA race place: 4th, AG place: 1st. Total time: 2:35:17

Waited around to watch Wendy finish her first tri, yaaaayyy!! Got changed and hit the award ceremony-- got a free entry to a Rev3 event for my placing, woo hoo! Did I hear there is a Rev3 in Costa Rica?!?!?! Hmmmm...

Notes: This course is all it lives up to, very hilly! Rev3 puts on a great race-- they are very nice and the venue was great! Hmm, things I would do different? Not do a tough run in spent shoes days before the race; since there was no time to taper for this (I have bigger aspirations than winning the Rev3 oly distance), last week's training was fine-- gotta learn how to push on tired legs! I definitely HAVE to nail these transitions!!! They were awful in this race-- all of the top women had 45-60 seconds on my transition times. Also have to figure out how to tighten up my swim, there is no doubt I could be a little faster if I learned how to navigate the floppers better.

Thanks to Christian and my gang at Cycles 54-- you guys ROCK!!! Thanks to Foofers and my in-laws for coming to see me race, love you!!!! Thanks to friends and family for love and support!!! Thanks to Coach Cliff-- you are a friggin genius of a coach and so supportive!

Next up...KIC it tri on 6/27

The risk of failure is ALWAYS worth the glory of success.

Kate Bruck: 1st Female, 7th overall at the Great Causeway Challenge!

May 01 at 10:00pm | 0 comments

The day was set for a hot race, just like last year.  With 30 seconds before the gun went off, I realized that the set screws in my brand new bike were not set and therefore, my back wheel was pushed so far forward that it was rubbing against the bike frame to the point that it was getting stuck when spun freely.  Gun went off and so did I.  I spent the first two miles weaving in and out trying to get around the large crowd and catch the lead group.  I tried to keep my husband in sight, as I figured he could be a "rabbit" for me.  As we rode out over the Causeway bridge, a girl that appeared to be about my age came up on my left on a bright purple Chrono, race wheels and an aero helmet-- I figured this would be the first of many if it took her such little time to catch us.   We hit the turn-around at mile 15 and hit a wall of wind that stayed with us back through transition.  We were able to drop a couple guys from the wind, but there were still two hanging on.  With about a mile to go, pulled away and pulled back into transition, legs SCREAMING from working so hard trying to overcome the constant friction caused by the wheel rubbing against the frame.


 
30 mile bike: 1:25:45
Transition: :33 seconds
 
Running out of transition, I asked how many women were in front of me and was told I was the first!  First mile I was running well over my target heart rate-- I was in the 160-170's.  I was passing men left and right and hit mile two (or what they had marked as mile two) at 20 minutes!  A 10:00/mile pace???  I don't think so!  Not on my worst day!!  I gave up watching my heart rate and just figured I was going to run as fast as I could feeling like I was not quite sure if I could sustain that pace.  I hit the 3.1 mile marker and 1.5 minutes later saw the 2nd place female and then the 3rd place female 15 seconds after that.  Not knowing whether the 2nd place female was gaining on me, I ran like hell for the last 2 miles.  I came into the finish and heard a friend yell "first place female". 
 
I was not ecstatic about my run time, but I guess it could have been worse...and considering how shredded my legs were from the bike wheel problems...
 
10K run: 44:20
 
Overall: 1st place female, 7th place overall
 
Funny-- as soon as the race was over, I pulled my bike off the rack to pack up and go home and as soon as that back tire hit the ground, "POW", the tire blew out!!!  Perfect timing!  I had worn that tire bald!