I'm on day 3 of a 4 day trip, and needless to say, I'm exhausted. So forgive me if this post is ranty/mumbly/doesn't make any sense, but triathlon has been on my mind a lot lately, for obvious reasons.
Like T mentioned in the previous post before, this tri is going to be no picnic, with lots of hills to deal with, a long swim distance, and added pressure on me (my parents are going to be there cheering us on). It got me to thinking about my training, and like T, I'm sitting here wondering if I've done enough, if I've prepared myself physically for this triathlon. And then, as I sit in my hotel room feeling my ridiculously low heart rate and look at my calves, I don't worry about the physical part of this, but the mental part.
Let me explain.
This race will be the hardest race I have ever done in my life. I will be doing a distance that is both challenging and new to me. I will be taking my first step in expanding my triathlon experience. I'm super excited for it, don't get me wrong. But I'm also a little scared.
I've done a lot of right things this year, and some things not right. I think I've done exceptional in the water compared to last year. My cycling is not as high as I'd like to be, but my speed is improving compared to last year. And my running has been decent. Not great, but decent. Basically, it's me probably being paranoid, but whatever.
Game time on Saturday.
The fitness adventures of two Ironman triathletes
Monday, August 9, 2010
meep!
So. I was on the RattleSnake Web site today looking up all the pertinent information we'd need for Saturday (namely, what time does transition open, what time do we need to get there, etc., etc., etc.).
While browsing around ... I found this fabulous nugget of information:
This route has ~1250' of elevation gain. Most of that gain will seem to be while you are climbing that last two miles back into the park.
(emphasis mine)
To that I say, "eek!" Well, that, and this is why racing in Colorado can suck, y'all. I doubt you Minnesotans get rides like that.
I'm not going to lie to you guys; I'm scared for Saturday. We did our longest OWS ever yesterday and put in 1600 yds at the res which is just shy of what we'll be doing this weekend (though our swim didn't have a random run on the beach in the middle). It was hard. I was crying throughout the entire second half ... but that was more due to frustration with myself/Brandon's swim/other random crap.
I will race on Saturday. It will be extremely interesting to see how it goes as it'll be our first distance at this length. I've stepped up my game this year and, as always, am convinced my training wasn't enough. In past years, in the sprints I've done, it probably hasn't been much of an issue. This year, though, I don't know if I'll be able to fake my way through. Hopefully I will, though, as I don't have much other choice.
While browsing around ... I found this fabulous nugget of information:
This route has ~1250' of elevation gain. Most of that gain will seem to be while you are climbing that last two miles back into the park.
(emphasis mine)
To that I say, "eek!" Well, that, and this is why racing in Colorado can suck, y'all. I doubt you Minnesotans get rides like that.
I'm not going to lie to you guys; I'm scared for Saturday. We did our longest OWS ever yesterday and put in 1600 yds at the res which is just shy of what we'll be doing this weekend (though our swim didn't have a random run on the beach in the middle). It was hard. I was crying throughout the entire second half ... but that was more due to frustration with myself/Brandon's swim/other random crap.
I will race on Saturday. It will be extremely interesting to see how it goes as it'll be our first distance at this length. I've stepped up my game this year and, as always, am convinced my training wasn't enough. In past years, in the sprints I've done, it probably hasn't been much of an issue. This year, though, I don't know if I'll be able to fake my way through. Hopefully I will, though, as I don't have much other choice.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
July Round-Up
To say the least, July WAS better than June. Of course, given how June went, it really didn't have a choice to be otherwise.
There were obviously things I could have improved upon and done better in July that I didn't, but overall, July was a month of bright spots. For example:
* First tri of the season
* First time cracking 30:00 in the Lone Tree 5K
* First 8 mile run
* Highest swimming total month EVER
Woot, right? We also did three open water swims in July (not including the tri) which I think is the most ever for me in a month. Of course, I should have been doing those more often as it is, so y'know.
Anyway, numbers!
Running: 43.27 miles (average went up .3 seconds/mile. seriously.)(second highest mileage month of the year)
Swimming: 6.12 miles (average went up about 30 seconds/mile)(highest mileage month of lifetime)
Cycling: 66.79 miles (average went down about a half a mile per hour)(second highest mileage month of the year)
Lifting: one session (... no comment. *sigh*)
Other: one tri, two softball games
We're five days into August and it hasn't been too bad so far ... although August's numbers may be slightly skewed as our A/main multisport race of the season is in about a week and a half (read: tapering shortly) and we're hoping for a short Minnesota vacation about a week and a half after that to stuff ourselves with crap at the State Fair and maybe, only maybe fit in a workout.
To get back on track with the whole July talk, I think we both realized (but me definitely fo' sho') things that we need to focus on SO MUCH MORE for next year and how to do our training. I already have schemes of what I need to do this winter so as not have to start over from scratch as I typically am wont to do.
However.
First things first: August and RattleSnake. Schemes and other dreams can come later.
There were obviously things I could have improved upon and done better in July that I didn't, but overall, July was a month of bright spots. For example:
* First tri of the season
* First time cracking 30:00 in the Lone Tree 5K
* First 8 mile run
* Highest swimming total month EVER
Woot, right? We also did three open water swims in July (not including the tri) which I think is the most ever for me in a month. Of course, I should have been doing those more often as it is, so y'know.
Anyway, numbers!
Running: 43.27 miles (average went up .3 seconds/mile. seriously.)(second highest mileage month of the year)
Swimming: 6.12 miles (average went up about 30 seconds/mile)(highest mileage month of lifetime)
Cycling: 66.79 miles (average went down about a half a mile per hour)(second highest mileage month of the year)
Lifting: one session (... no comment. *sigh*)
Other: one tri, two softball games
We're five days into August and it hasn't been too bad so far ... although August's numbers may be slightly skewed as our A/main multisport race of the season is in about a week and a half (read: tapering shortly) and we're hoping for a short Minnesota vacation about a week and a half after that to stuff ourselves with crap at the State Fair and maybe, only maybe fit in a workout.
To get back on track with the whole July talk, I think we both realized (but me definitely fo' sho') things that we need to focus on SO MUCH MORE for next year and how to do our training. I already have schemes of what I need to do this winter so as not have to start over from scratch as I typically am wont to do.
However.
First things first: August and RattleSnake. Schemes and other dreams can come later.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
July Recap...lots of stuff to talk about
July. It was a rebound month.
We all know how awful my June was in terms of workouts. I'm not going to rehash it here, but July was my chance for drastic improvement and a chance for me to get back into the game with my first triathlon of the season. Let's take a look at some highlights and lowlights of the month.
First, the highlights of the month:
- cracked 30:00 in the Lone Tree 5K (yes!!!!!)
- completed my first tri of the season, finishing with a very respectable time of 1:42:48.7
- watched my swim times get better and better
- completed an 8 mile run for the first time in my life
- adapted to life on the road, including finding ways to swim in crappy hotel pools
Now, some things that didn't go so well:
- didn't do any yoga :-(
- STILL not lifting as much
- didn't run as much as I wanted to, or cycle as much, in terms of miles, anyway
So...let's move on to totals for the month:
Swim - 9
Run - 7
Cycle - 7
Brick training - 1
Triathlons - 1
Walks - 1
Lift - 2
Off days - 6
I'm very satisfied with the month for the most part. Aside from completing my first tri of the season, I have seen a lot of growth in the swim department. My last open water swim was my fastest of the season and I felt really good doing it. I completed an 8 mile run the other day, which is the longest distance of the season for me, and again, it feels really really good. Even my cycling is getting better, at least the hills are.
On another note, our friend Kris is looking for votes on theknot.com. Her and her fiance are in a contest sponsored by The Knot which will earn her a bunch of goodies if she wins. So please go vote here! Help Kris earn what she deserves!
We all know how awful my June was in terms of workouts. I'm not going to rehash it here, but July was my chance for drastic improvement and a chance for me to get back into the game with my first triathlon of the season. Let's take a look at some highlights and lowlights of the month.
First, the highlights of the month:
- cracked 30:00 in the Lone Tree 5K (yes!!!!!)
- completed my first tri of the season, finishing with a very respectable time of 1:42:48.7
- watched my swim times get better and better
- completed an 8 mile run for the first time in my life
- adapted to life on the road, including finding ways to swim in crappy hotel pools
Now, some things that didn't go so well:
- didn't do any yoga :-(
- STILL not lifting as much
- didn't run as much as I wanted to, or cycle as much, in terms of miles, anyway
So...let's move on to totals for the month:
Swim - 9
Run - 7
Cycle - 7
Brick training - 1
Triathlons - 1
Walks - 1
Lift - 2
Off days - 6
I'm very satisfied with the month for the most part. Aside from completing my first tri of the season, I have seen a lot of growth in the swim department. My last open water swim was my fastest of the season and I felt really good doing it. I completed an 8 mile run the other day, which is the longest distance of the season for me, and again, it feels really really good. Even my cycling is getting better, at least the hills are.
On another note, our friend Kris is looking for votes on theknot.com. Her and her fiance are in a contest sponsored by The Knot which will earn her a bunch of goodies if she wins. So please go vote here! Help Kris earn what she deserves!
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Signs of Growth
Given that our "A" tri of the season, RattleSnake, is in two weeks, this past week has been our last hard week of training before gradually tapering down (NOT QUITTING, self) over the next two weeks.
Well, one thing I wanted to do was get in one last long run. So I did this morning. I sacrificed an off day at work today to help out in coverage. I did on two conditions - one, the shift would be short and two, it would be later in the morning. So, I covered from 8:15a-12:45p.
This meant that I woke up at 5 (an hour beyond planned) to go run at 6 (15 minutes later than planned) so I had enough time to get back, shower, change and get to work.
So, on an unusually humid Colorado summer morning that was still nice and cool (mid-60s), I put in what turned out to be 8.2 miles. I checked my watch at two points on the run to check how I was doing and make sure I wasn't going so slowly that I'd need to cut the run short.
At the 5K point - 32:30something
At the 5.05mi point - 53:05
I first needed to walk a little at what ended up being 6.1mi - turned up the last monster nasty hill that I haven't run up in over a year.
Overall, I did the 8.2 miles in 1:26:39 for a 10:34.02/mi pace which I WILL SO TAKE RIGHT NOW. Compare that with BolderBOULDER ... two miles shorter and my pace was 10:33.88. If there wasn't proof I was getting stronger, take a longer run with a nastier week of training already on my legs and ... basically the same pace.
Now granted, ideally I'd be at a quicker pace, but I have to keep telling myself that the pace IS dropping slowly and it's dropping slower than usual because I'm putting in more miles.
Think of it this way: this week, I've put in 15.4 miles of running (not running tomorrow, so that total stays). That is my longest week of running EVER. Looking at last year's total ... my MONTHLY totals were higher than that for FOUR months out of last year.
You read that right: I ran more this week than I did for 8 of 12 months last year. That's just pathetic. Still, that's how one learns and how one grows. We've all gotta start somewhere, right? I'm also going to have to remind myself of this next year when my training weeks for Boulder 70.3 equal my training months from this year. ;)
Well, one thing I wanted to do was get in one last long run. So I did this morning. I sacrificed an off day at work today to help out in coverage. I did on two conditions - one, the shift would be short and two, it would be later in the morning. So, I covered from 8:15a-12:45p.
This meant that I woke up at 5 (an hour beyond planned) to go run at 6 (15 minutes later than planned) so I had enough time to get back, shower, change and get to work.
So, on an unusually humid Colorado summer morning that was still nice and cool (mid-60s), I put in what turned out to be 8.2 miles. I checked my watch at two points on the run to check how I was doing and make sure I wasn't going so slowly that I'd need to cut the run short.
At the 5K point - 32:30something
At the 5.05mi point - 53:05
I first needed to walk a little at what ended up being 6.1mi - turned up the last monster nasty hill that I haven't run up in over a year.
Overall, I did the 8.2 miles in 1:26:39 for a 10:34.02/mi pace which I WILL SO TAKE RIGHT NOW. Compare that with BolderBOULDER ... two miles shorter and my pace was 10:33.88. If there wasn't proof I was getting stronger, take a longer run with a nastier week of training already on my legs and ... basically the same pace.
Now granted, ideally I'd be at a quicker pace, but I have to keep telling myself that the pace IS dropping slowly and it's dropping slower than usual because I'm putting in more miles.
Think of it this way: this week, I've put in 15.4 miles of running (not running tomorrow, so that total stays). That is my longest week of running EVER. Looking at last year's total ... my MONTHLY totals were higher than that for FOUR months out of last year.
You read that right: I ran more this week than I did for 8 of 12 months last year. That's just pathetic. Still, that's how one learns and how one grows. We've all gotta start somewhere, right? I'm also going to have to remind myself of this next year when my training weeks for Boulder 70.3 equal my training months from this year. ;)
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Observations from New York City
Greetings readers from NYC! Yes, this post is coming to you from a Starbucks in Manhattan, 57th and 6th Avenue. I've got a long layover here and figured I wouldn't waste away in the hotel for the day. Yes, I could have worked out in the hotel gym but I figured I'd go exploring instead for my workout today. And that's what is inspiring this blog post.
You see, if I lived in a city this size, I would love it. I'd love the opportunity to walk to the office, to walk home, and to get what is, to me, a good amount of exercise. But I wonder if these people that live/work in New York City even consider what they do exercise. After all, why would they? It's routine. It's the normal part of their day. They probably burn an insane amount of calories going to/from the office, to lunch, etc. It's easy to understand why there are so many fit people in this city.
Conversely, I see McDonalds, Burger King, Sbarro, and other gut busting places every other address. While there is a great amount of exercise and fitness that can be had in a place like New York, there's sabotaging places everywhere. Gotta be careful is the key, I guess.
On that note, I'm outta here. It's time to go explore some more, and find a deli sandwich that my mom told me about. :-)
You see, if I lived in a city this size, I would love it. I'd love the opportunity to walk to the office, to walk home, and to get what is, to me, a good amount of exercise. But I wonder if these people that live/work in New York City even consider what they do exercise. After all, why would they? It's routine. It's the normal part of their day. They probably burn an insane amount of calories going to/from the office, to lunch, etc. It's easy to understand why there are so many fit people in this city.
Conversely, I see McDonalds, Burger King, Sbarro, and other gut busting places every other address. While there is a great amount of exercise and fitness that can be had in a place like New York, there's sabotaging places everywhere. Gotta be careful is the key, I guess.
On that note, I'm outta here. It's time to go explore some more, and find a deli sandwich that my mom told me about. :-)
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Race #4 of the Season: Cheyenne Sprint Triathlon
Sorry about the delay in this one, folks ... I just finally got the rest of my photos uploaded online about ... oh ... two minutes ago, so here we go!
Exactly one week ago at this time ... I was at work. Probably just off of lunch.
After I got off work, I came home, packed, had Brandon help me pack up the car, and we headed up I-25 ... through Denver, north Denver, Erie, Loveland, Fort Collins ... and soon enough, past enough fields, farms, buffalo and cows, we hit Wyoming.
Woo, Wyoming.
We continued on the next 11 or so miles into Cheyenne to our exit. Rather than stopping at the hotel first, we quickly went over the park where our race would be the next day. We dipped our toes in the water (kinda cold), wandered around a little bit and talked to the few race people still around after some meeting we missed to double check and verify the locations of transition and the swim start.
Afterwards, we checked into our extremely ghetto Rodeway Inn. Seriously, the place was falling apart. We were thinking about heading back to Fort Collins (and delicious famous dave's) for dinner, but ultimately decided not to given on time. Instead, we drove around Cheyenne. Where there is nothing really to eat. We saw a Denny's on our way in and decided on that ... but sadly, it was closed until the 11th (the next day). Which helped us a lot. So, we drove back into town and settled on Village Inn. We're so classy.
After dinner, we went back to this Taco John's Event Center we had passed by for a little relaxing mini golf.
Mini golf was not nice to me.
In walking around after mini golf, we realized that the Taco John's Event Center also housed a rink ... go figure. We find the one ice rink (albeit one not in use) in Cheyenne. It was currently just a hard floor for inline/roller skating, but still.
Obviously we took pictures.
I think I look more excited than Brandon.
At that point, it was time to go back to the ghetto Rodeway. We dragged the bikes into the hotel room, got ready for bed and curled up with some TV before sleeping. We did have an early wake up call, that is.
Night night, bicycles!
Well, 4:45am came a lot sooner than we would have liked, but oh well. We got up, pumped up our bike tires, filled our water/Gatorade bottles, got dressed and generally got everything ready. As it was only a sprint and I don't really do nutrition on races (something i reeeeeally need to get out of), I tossed the smallest member of Team Baby Dino, Ivan, in my bento box.
He's so cute.
It was then time to head downstairs for the continental breakfast ... which I was hoping would be like most of the continental breakfasts I'd experienced at other Choice Hotels ... cereal, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, toast and perhaps some waffle batter.
Yeah, no. First of all, breakfast was out a little after six when the dude at check-in said it would probably be out by like 5:40. Secondly, apparently due to budget cuts, breakfast was some sketchy looking pastries, boxes of cereal and packets of oatmeal. And nothing else. I'm a girl who needs her protein in the morning; specifically, her eggs. I can handle hard-boiled eggs in the morning if need be. Instead, my pre-race breakfast ended up being ... half a glass of sketchy orange juice and a packet of Quaker's instant maple and brown sugar oatmeal. Mmmm.
After the breakfast disaster, we said, oh screw it, and biked the mile to the park for the race. Once there, I saw some chick wandering around with some peanut butter and I gave serious thought to paying her for the jar. No joke.
I ultimately decided against it, though, and we went to pick up our packets instead. They had a bit of an issue finding mine until they learned I was an Athena. The girl gave me a skeptical look until she put me on the scale. 179. Yep honey, I made the cut by a whole 29 pounds. I'm good.
After that was body marking, where I got Steve in a Speedo homage #1: the calf smiley face.
Hehe.
Then, off to set up transition. It's funny, but the more races I do (this was tri #4 for me), transition gets easier and easier.
If you look, you can see Ivan in his bento box.
Then, it was off to do Steve in a Speedo homage #2: the port-o-potty shot.
Oh the sweatshirt clashes with the port-o-potty so badly ...
Since there were still a few minutes before the race, we wandered around and took a few more pictures.
Transition.
Part of the swim course. That far yellow blob was one of the ducks we had to swim around.
Soon enough though, it was time to head down to the swim start. One thing this race did that I liked a lot ... and I'm sure only allowed because there were like 200 of us ... was that it let us all in the lake for a quick swim. For me, one of the few people not in a wetsuit, it was nice to help get accustomed to the water. After a quick spin ... time for the race to begin.
The Swim:
This race was the first I've done where it was a ... well, I don't remember the name of it, but each of us got our own start. One swimmer would go, and about five, ten seconds later, the next swimmer would go. I was about the 15th swimmer to go (descending age start). It was definitely ... interesting. The pre-race swim did help a lot; I didn't get that chest shudder that I usually do when I start off in cold water.
As for the swim ... it didn't go as well as I probably would have liked. Looking back on the times later, it was a faster average than last year, which was nice. Still, I got through it with really no hiccups, which is all I cared about.
Time: 16:35
T1:
T1 was not happy. I don't know what it was, but it just did not go well. I felt like I was moving slow, having issues getting my bike shorts on (i put my shoes on first. yeah, stupid), my jersey on ... everything. Still, I got out. Oh well.
Time: 2:27
The Bike:
The bike started off well. And then we crossed the highway and encountered the hills. Oh the hills. I know my cycling hasn't gone as well this year as in years past. In last year's tri, I was passing people on the uphills. This year ... I passed a few people, but very, very few.
Once I hit the turnaround, though, things felt a little better. One of the motorcycle marshals yelled at me saying that I hit 33 mph on one of the downhills (to which I replied, "yeah, i'll be going 6mph up the next hill") ... which isn't true (odometer said 29.something as a max speed). Regardless, it was kind of nice.
Besides all the damn hills, though, the course was awesome in that there were a TON of volunteers - so many it was hard to thank them all, though I tried. Quite a few had cowbells and some were dressed up. They made riding that nasty course a lot easier and I loved having them there.
Time: 51:30
T2:
T2 went a lot better than T1 ... even though time-wise, it didn't go much quicker. I'm a nerd and had to put on my engagement ring (forgot to before the bike) and body-gliding my feet (kind of non-negotiable) took longer than I would have liked. Still, I was feeling ... okay and went off to start my run.
Time: 2:09
The Run:
I got on the run and my legs were heavy. Seriously heavy. Still, I plugged on through. About ... oh, a third of the way through the first mile, I saw one of those bank signs that gives you the temperature. It read 76 degrees. Given that I've started the run portion of some tris when it was close to 100 degrees, it was nice to see and feel.
The first water station was right at the first mile and I actually got both the water and the blue PowerAde. I'm not a blue energy drink person, but damn that tasted good. As far as time was concerned, I was going pretty slow, but it wasn't too bad.
Second mile was honestly just there. Most of it was along the same road as the first part of the cycle and it took us back near the hotel. The water station at the end of mile 2 was disgusting. That cup of water went on my head. Eeewwww.
Mile three I picked off some people. There was a slight hill, but when I went up it I was like, hill? What hill? Pffft ... (running hills around here really does pay off on race day).
As always, I sprinted into the finish, pulling it out of my butt.
The totally completely AWESOME part of this run was that it was the first ever time during a tri that I have not walked on the run. I will add the caveat that I did a tiny bit through the water stations, but that's because I haven't perfected the art of drinking on the run while not a.) choking and/or b.) getting it all over me. Still. NO WALKING.
Time: 33:16
Overall Time:
1:46:00.9
30/54 female (lake swim)
4/8 Athena (my division)
Final Thoughts:
I initially thought I was 13 seconds away from a podium finish as I was 13 seconds off the Athena in front of me ... but then I realized I read the sheet wrong and that I was the fifth overall Athena to finish and the one in front of me was not in my age group. Oops.
I was also not initially happy with my performance (save my run) ... until I realized that this wasn't an A race. This was a warm-up tri for RattleSnake. When I also looked at my averages from My Way or the Tri Way last year ... everything actually improved. So while I'm not necessarily thrilled with my performance, I'm okay with it given all the things I later factored in.
That being said, if I have a similarly crappy swim and bike at RattleSnake, I'm not gonna be a happy camper.
Exactly one week ago at this time ... I was at work. Probably just off of lunch.
After I got off work, I came home, packed, had Brandon help me pack up the car, and we headed up I-25 ... through Denver, north Denver, Erie, Loveland, Fort Collins ... and soon enough, past enough fields, farms, buffalo and cows, we hit Wyoming.
Woo, Wyoming.
We continued on the next 11 or so miles into Cheyenne to our exit. Rather than stopping at the hotel first, we quickly went over the park where our race would be the next day. We dipped our toes in the water (kinda cold), wandered around a little bit and talked to the few race people still around after some meeting we missed to double check and verify the locations of transition and the swim start.
Afterwards, we checked into our extremely ghetto Rodeway Inn. Seriously, the place was falling apart. We were thinking about heading back to Fort Collins (and delicious famous dave's) for dinner, but ultimately decided not to given on time. Instead, we drove around Cheyenne. Where there is nothing really to eat. We saw a Denny's on our way in and decided on that ... but sadly, it was closed until the 11th (the next day). Which helped us a lot. So, we drove back into town and settled on Village Inn. We're so classy.
After dinner, we went back to this Taco John's Event Center we had passed by for a little relaxing mini golf.
Mini golf was not nice to me.
In walking around after mini golf, we realized that the Taco John's Event Center also housed a rink ... go figure. We find the one ice rink (albeit one not in use) in Cheyenne. It was currently just a hard floor for inline/roller skating, but still.
Obviously we took pictures.
I think I look more excited than Brandon.
At that point, it was time to go back to the ghetto Rodeway. We dragged the bikes into the hotel room, got ready for bed and curled up with some TV before sleeping. We did have an early wake up call, that is.
Night night, bicycles!
Well, 4:45am came a lot sooner than we would have liked, but oh well. We got up, pumped up our bike tires, filled our water/Gatorade bottles, got dressed and generally got everything ready. As it was only a sprint and I don't really do nutrition on races (something i reeeeeally need to get out of), I tossed the smallest member of Team Baby Dino, Ivan, in my bento box.
He's so cute.
It was then time to head downstairs for the continental breakfast ... which I was hoping would be like most of the continental breakfasts I'd experienced at other Choice Hotels ... cereal, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, toast and perhaps some waffle batter.
Yeah, no. First of all, breakfast was out a little after six when the dude at check-in said it would probably be out by like 5:40. Secondly, apparently due to budget cuts, breakfast was some sketchy looking pastries, boxes of cereal and packets of oatmeal. And nothing else. I'm a girl who needs her protein in the morning; specifically, her eggs. I can handle hard-boiled eggs in the morning if need be. Instead, my pre-race breakfast ended up being ... half a glass of sketchy orange juice and a packet of Quaker's instant maple and brown sugar oatmeal. Mmmm.
After the breakfast disaster, we said, oh screw it, and biked the mile to the park for the race. Once there, I saw some chick wandering around with some peanut butter and I gave serious thought to paying her for the jar. No joke.
I ultimately decided against it, though, and we went to pick up our packets instead. They had a bit of an issue finding mine until they learned I was an Athena. The girl gave me a skeptical look until she put me on the scale. 179. Yep honey, I made the cut by a whole 29 pounds. I'm good.
After that was body marking, where I got Steve in a Speedo homage #1: the calf smiley face.
Hehe.
Then, off to set up transition. It's funny, but the more races I do (this was tri #4 for me), transition gets easier and easier.
If you look, you can see Ivan in his bento box.
Then, it was off to do Steve in a Speedo homage #2: the port-o-potty shot.
Oh the sweatshirt clashes with the port-o-potty so badly ...
Since there were still a few minutes before the race, we wandered around and took a few more pictures.
Transition.
Part of the swim course. That far yellow blob was one of the ducks we had to swim around.
Soon enough though, it was time to head down to the swim start. One thing this race did that I liked a lot ... and I'm sure only allowed because there were like 200 of us ... was that it let us all in the lake for a quick swim. For me, one of the few people not in a wetsuit, it was nice to help get accustomed to the water. After a quick spin ... time for the race to begin.
The Swim:
This race was the first I've done where it was a ... well, I don't remember the name of it, but each of us got our own start. One swimmer would go, and about five, ten seconds later, the next swimmer would go. I was about the 15th swimmer to go (descending age start). It was definitely ... interesting. The pre-race swim did help a lot; I didn't get that chest shudder that I usually do when I start off in cold water.
As for the swim ... it didn't go as well as I probably would have liked. Looking back on the times later, it was a faster average than last year, which was nice. Still, I got through it with really no hiccups, which is all I cared about.
Time: 16:35
T1:
T1 was not happy. I don't know what it was, but it just did not go well. I felt like I was moving slow, having issues getting my bike shorts on (i put my shoes on first. yeah, stupid), my jersey on ... everything. Still, I got out. Oh well.
Time: 2:27
The Bike:
The bike started off well. And then we crossed the highway and encountered the hills. Oh the hills. I know my cycling hasn't gone as well this year as in years past. In last year's tri, I was passing people on the uphills. This year ... I passed a few people, but very, very few.
Once I hit the turnaround, though, things felt a little better. One of the motorcycle marshals yelled at me saying that I hit 33 mph on one of the downhills (to which I replied, "yeah, i'll be going 6mph up the next hill") ... which isn't true (odometer said 29.something as a max speed). Regardless, it was kind of nice.
Besides all the damn hills, though, the course was awesome in that there were a TON of volunteers - so many it was hard to thank them all, though I tried. Quite a few had cowbells and some were dressed up. They made riding that nasty course a lot easier and I loved having them there.
Time: 51:30
T2:
T2 went a lot better than T1 ... even though time-wise, it didn't go much quicker. I'm a nerd and had to put on my engagement ring (forgot to before the bike) and body-gliding my feet (kind of non-negotiable) took longer than I would have liked. Still, I was feeling ... okay and went off to start my run.
Time: 2:09
The Run:
I got on the run and my legs were heavy. Seriously heavy. Still, I plugged on through. About ... oh, a third of the way through the first mile, I saw one of those bank signs that gives you the temperature. It read 76 degrees. Given that I've started the run portion of some tris when it was close to 100 degrees, it was nice to see and feel.
The first water station was right at the first mile and I actually got both the water and the blue PowerAde. I'm not a blue energy drink person, but damn that tasted good. As far as time was concerned, I was going pretty slow, but it wasn't too bad.
Second mile was honestly just there. Most of it was along the same road as the first part of the cycle and it took us back near the hotel. The water station at the end of mile 2 was disgusting. That cup of water went on my head. Eeewwww.
Mile three I picked off some people. There was a slight hill, but when I went up it I was like, hill? What hill? Pffft ... (running hills around here really does pay off on race day).
As always, I sprinted into the finish, pulling it out of my butt.
The totally completely AWESOME part of this run was that it was the first ever time during a tri that I have not walked on the run. I will add the caveat that I did a tiny bit through the water stations, but that's because I haven't perfected the art of drinking on the run while not a.) choking and/or b.) getting it all over me. Still. NO WALKING.
Time: 33:16
Overall Time:
1:46:00.9
30/54 female (lake swim)
4/8 Athena (my division)
Final Thoughts:
I initially thought I was 13 seconds away from a podium finish as I was 13 seconds off the Athena in front of me ... but then I realized I read the sheet wrong and that I was the fifth overall Athena to finish and the one in front of me was not in my age group. Oops.
I was also not initially happy with my performance (save my run) ... until I realized that this wasn't an A race. This was a warm-up tri for RattleSnake. When I also looked at my averages from My Way or the Tri Way last year ... everything actually improved. So while I'm not necessarily thrilled with my performance, I'm okay with it given all the things I later factored in.
That being said, if I have a similarly crappy swim and bike at RattleSnake, I'm not gonna be a happy camper.
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