Too exhausted to do much of anything yesterday; a 70.3 distance race on shit training will do that to you. So, posting schedule gets a little shifted this week ...
As I posted a bit ago, I was on vacation two weeks ago so my workouts got a little wonky. Still, I had a few that I wanted to share with you here.
Wednesday, August 28, we were up in the northern part of Minnesota to see Split Rock Lighthouse. We hiked around there and detoured to Gooseberry Falls and got even more hiking in there (I'm a sucker for waterfalls).
Upper Gooseberry Falls.
The next day, Thursday, August 28, we decided to explore some of the Twin Cities by bike. It was slow and lazy, but also a lot of fun. We parked at Steve's house on the St. Paul side, rode into St. Paul, saw the capitol building and Mickey's Dining Car and paused by the Xcel Energy Center because they have a statue of 1980 Miracle on Ice (and UofM and SCSU and the 2002 games) coach Herb Brooks outside. Which I somehow never knew about before today. Obviously we took pictures.
"Do you believe in miracles? YES!"
Bikes and Brandon dealing with work stuff.
Picture time!
From there, it was off to the Minneapolis side of things. We stopped by Brandon's old high school and then made our way over to Minnehaha Falls.
Last time I saw these, they were frozen over.
After a few minutes there, it was back on the trail to go further into Minneapolis to Marathon Sports where our friend Lindsey works. Unfortunately, we had just missed her - she saw us while on the bus - so we grabbed a snack at Bruegger's and then headed back to the car. We had hoped to do a bit more riding, but the stops made the ride take a bit longer than planned, we had a lot more stuff to do that day and the rain clouds were rolling in.
So, we headed back to Steve's house, shared with him some root beer and baked goods and then topped off the adventure with some delicious ice cream.
The next week was fairly uneventful, but on Thursday, September 4, we met up with our friend Richard so I could get some open water swim help before my next race. We met at Bear Creek out in Morrison - a place neither of us had ever swam at, but we'll definitely be going back to.
Richard found that I had some inefficiencies in my stroke, making me take more strokes than needed and thus tiring me out quicker. So, I was taught essentially to slow things down - make myself more efficient - which will, in turn, speed me up in the long run. I was also given a few drills - some to help slow down my stroke and some for easier sighting. I made some slow improvement in the short lesson, so hopefully things would pay off for me come race day.
Which is a good place to leave, as that'll be my next post this week ...
Late August and I'm blogging about my first triathlon of the season. This is a first since 2010, and quite frankly, almost makes me depressed. This race came about simply out of necessity; I wanted to do a triathlon really bad this year, we were going to be in Minnesota, and the timing worked out quite well. Simple as that.
As you know from reading the blog, I'm vastly undertrained this year. I've looked at my numbers, and they are nothing if not very sad. Or maybe they make me very sad. Regardless, I knew I was in shape enough to get through a sprint tri. I've done it before and will do it again.
The few days beforehand, I was in Indianapolis attending ground school. T drove up there with the bikes (bless her) and picked me up, and we made the long trek from Indianapolis to Brainerd/Baxter, MN on Saturday. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the upper Midwest, the drive consisted of corn, Chicago, farms, and Minnesota (Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota). We arrived into Baxter very late, checked into our hotel, and collapsed into a sleep. The race was the next morning.
Sunday morning, we woke up, shook our way out of sleep, and drove to the race. It was gloomy, humid, drizzling/raining. In other words, a typical Minnesota morning. We picked up our packets and tried to stay dry. The rain was spotty. We kept our stuff dry in plastic bags and huddled under awnings to stay dry. I eventually decided to take my bike out for a spin to test out the wet roads and came to the conclusion I'd be fine. I got into my wetsuit and went to the water to take a pre-race swim. I noticed the seaweed and smiled, remembering my time swimming in Minnesota lakes when I was a kid.
After that, I got ready to go. I was in wave 1, so the gun called for me.
The Swim
A 400 meter swim was enjoyable, especially with warmer water. Still, I took my time, kept my breathing under control. I passed a lot of people in the water, and felt comfortable. Didn't push it, but could have.
Time: 8:09
T1
T1 was steady, aside from my wetsuit getting caught on my ankle. Don't know what happened there. Either way, I was quicker than I thought I'd be.
Time: 1:50
The Bike
I was racing in my backyard essentially. The scene was what I had grown up with; thick forests, country roads, lakes, cabins. It was a pleasant ride for the most part, and the rain had stopped. The road was still wet, but manageable for sure.
The lack of training showed on the bike. I was struggling and feeling every pedal stroke. My breath was ragged and felt like it wouldn't come, even with the lack of altitude. I kept getting passed and just worked to keep steady.
The final stretch of the ride was on a very bumpy road, and I hopped out of aero to save my shoulders. The ride was taxing and I worried about the run.
Time: 45:54
T2
Quick, efficient. I was in my running shoes and off. No hangups.
Time: 1:57
The Run
This is where I was most worried. My running has been awful as of late, and I certainly have done no brick training or any tri-related run training this year. I vowed to just keep steady and do what I could.
Mile 1 was very slow, which didn't surprise me. 10:40. I wasn't discouraged though; rather I knew I was conserving some energy.
Mile 2 I definitely picked it up, but didn't feel like it. I felt strong. Like I was getting stronger. The only downside was the sun was peeking out, which skyrocketed the humidity. 9:20 split on mile 2.
I knew at this point I could get a sub-10 per mile run, which is always what I'm gunning for. I steadily picked it up and saw the finish line. The confusing part was which way you turned. You were supposed to go left, but no one was there to tell you, so I went right. Everyone yelled at me, so I went the other way. Oops. I crossed the finish line and saw my run time, and smiled.
Time: 30:53
Wind down
I grabbed a bottle of water and went to wait for T. She looked good and I ran with her a bit to the finish line. Saw her cross, and we grabbed some watermelon and cookies. We quickly packed up our stuff and trekked back to the hotel. Couldn't play in the water park due to 2/3rds of it shut down, so we packed and headed to the Twin Cities.
Race Thoughts:
It was an okay race. Definitely showcased my lack of training and fitness. I also know mentally right now I do not have a strong mental mind this year. I don't know what the deal is with that, but I need to figure it out. I want to train, just cannot mentally get myself to properly do it. I will figure it out, somehow, just right now don't know how to.
This race (for me) evolved greatly over the course of the year. First it was the Milk Run at the Minnesota State Fair. Then it was nothing. Then it was the Minneapolis Duathlon. Then it was back to nothing. Finally, it became the Lakes Country Triathlon in Baxter, Minn.
(Label "new stuff" because racing in Minnesota? Is new.)
We mainly signed up for this so Brandon could get a tri under his belt this year. We were going to be in Minnesota anyway, so I decided to randomly look for sprint tris and this came across my radar. Talked it over with him ... and yay, in.
The lead-up to this was kind of awful. Race was Sunday - I spent the vast majority of Thursday, Friday AND Saturday in a car driving across the country:
Day One: Colorado to Missouri
Day Two: Missouri to Indiana
Day Three: Indiana to Minnesota
(Detour in Indiana to pick up husband at ground school.)
I got in a bit of exercise on day two, but that was pretty much it. We also didn't get that much sleep the night before as we rolled into Baxter (little town up near Brainerd) a lot later than we expected we would. Thunder woke me up race morning - it was POURING. In grumbling and getting out of bed, we got an e-mail from the race director saying the race was still on, so we still had to get ready to race.
It rained intermittently pre-race ... which made setting up transition interesting:
(No trans towel, stuff in bags ...)
Brandon got in a pre-ride to test out the wet roads, but since I'd already raced once in crappy weather this year, I decided I was good. Brandon went back and forth on whether he wanted water on the bike and ultimately decided on it, but I didn't even bother with it.
We did, however, take the fairly obligatory pre-race selfie.
A bit before race start, we decided to get in the lake for a pre-race swim. I'm glad I did because about ... 45? meters from the shore, there was a giant clump of reeds and random aquatic plant life that clawed at your arms and legs. It was very unnerving. I didn't even look into the water when I hit this stretch. Blargh. Other than that, the water was fairly toasty.
A small pre-race meeting, and then we were pretty much off.
The Swim:
I was looking forward to this swim. Only a quarter-mile? This works out well for the slow swimmers (that is, me). The reedy area sucked going out but not so much on the way back in. The start was a wave start starting on the beach which was new for me. I think I still prefer in-water starts, but this was much better than a time trial start.
As weird as it sounds, I feel like I got beat up more in this little tri than I did at IMAZ. Maybe because it was such a small area or maybe it was because it may have been filled with more newbies, but I didn't get any free space to myself until I passed the final buoy heading to shore.
Which came quickly because the swim was SO AWESOMELY SHORT. Sighting actually wasn't bad, either.
Time: 10:36
T1:
I felt sluggish heading into T1. Up a hill, down to the end of the parking lot, fighting the plastic bags for my crap ... Not one of my better transitions.
Time: 2:03
The Bike:
The bike course was 14 miles on wet pavement. With a somewhat damp seat and a wet ass from the swim. All this dampness made me feel like I was sliding around on my bike seat for a good chunk of the ride.
I pushed the bike a decent amount. Not 100%, but probably more than I should have. I had no problems with the wet roads. It was really weird riding an unfamiliar course though in a place where I have NO sense of direction - I know logically we rode some sort of loop, but it definitely wasn't around the lake (on our right) and I feel like we took no left turns. Disorienting.
In any case, I passed some people, got passed by fewer people and pushed it in to transition.
Time: 45:25
T2:
Better than T1, but not by much. Transitions for this race sucked for some reason.
Time: 1:52
The Run:
Run course was a tad longer than the usual sprint tri for Colorado - 3.2 miles. I got off and ran a bit to start off, but the three days in a car came back to bite me and my legs started protesting fairly early. The rain had also stopped making it insanely humid which I am definitely not used to racing in.
Still, I managed to run when I could and tried to run more than I walked which I think I was overall successful with.
I was in a group of about three when I came on the finishers chute. A girl said something along the lines of, "Hey, let's pick it up to the finish!" She and the guy took off; I held off until I actually hit the chute and then took off on my usual sprint. I almost passed the guy, but I think he got pissed at me and found some extra gear to stay in front of me. I was maybe a second behind him crossing the line. Maybe.
Time: 31:41
Overall Stats:
Time: 1:31:35
97/152 overall
44/82 gender
4/9 age group (F30-34)
We knew we pretty much had no chance of getting a podium spot, so we ditched everything early to get back to our hotel and check out its water park ... which was a giant FAIL because the two really fun, more "adult-like" things we would have wanted to do were closed since some kid decided to crap in one of the slides that morning.
So checked out, grabbed lunch, and headed to the Twin Cities.
Looking at the official results later, I saw that I was fourth in my AG. I looked to see how close I was to getting on the podium ... Yeah, 10 minute gap between me and third. Dangit.
Still, the time makes it technically my fastest sprint tri ever, but that's skewed due to the shorter swim. It also shows me how much time I lose in the water. I really need to become a better swimmer ...
A little bit of radio silence on the blog, I know ... but it's hard when traveling. I sat down to write a post last week, actually ... but I didn't really want just an "I'm alive, no worries" post because reasons. Also no one really cares.
The good news is, I now have a couple good posts forthcoming. Here's the tentative schedule:
Today: August recap
Wednesday: Lakes Country tri recap
Next Monday: Last week's workout highlights
Next Wednesday: Harvest Moon recap
Anyway, August's numbers:
Running: 29.35 mi
Swimming: 6702.34m (4.16 mi)
Cycling: 96.45 mi
Lifting: five sessions (1:31)
Other: two hikes (2:11), one stint race volunteering (6:30), two walks (3:25), one white-water rafting trip (1:30), one session Wii Fit (:29)
Did I do something non-S/B/R related?: Yes! Even if you don't count race volunteering, I did go rafting. And hike. So definitely yes.
Am I strength-training regularly?: I am. I'm also doing more body weight stuff to make sure I keep getting it in, too.
Am I injury-free?: Still, yes. Woo.
I had two races this month - GtIS was an awesome surprise and gave some much-needed confidence. Lakes Country was what it was (you'll see soon). August wasn't bad and I know that September will be better. Now, to attack with renewed focus ...
... for the most part.
Monday, August 11, I didn't take any pictures, but we did get in a solid 30 mile ride with Richard and Carlos. They were going from downtown to Cherry Creek State Park and back; since we live that way, we rode downtown, met them at REI and rode to Cherry Creek. We then went our separate ways.
Fairly easy ride, but it's fun to ride with others. I need to keep telling myself this.
On Thursday, August 14, we went hiking up in Golden at Mt. Galbraith Park. It was a good, fun hour of tromping around.
Brandon staring at the vast.
Heading down the trail.
Brandon on a rock outcropping, like usual.
Standing tall, modeling my SkirtSports Boulder skirt.
Then, for Brandon's birthday (which was the 16th), I bought us a white-water rafting trip which we did on Friday, August 15. It was the trip that almost didn't happen, thanks to crazy ridiculous traffic (made worse by rain).
Neither of us had been rafting in a few years - since my birthday in either 2008 or 2009, but this trip made us both realize how much we miss it. Next year, we want to go more often. And do a full day excursion. And some Class V rapids, baby.
(These photos are courtesy of Clear Creek Rafting. Apparently they give you free raft photos, which is AWESOME because they're usually uber-expensive.)
We're the two in sunglasses.
Coming out of a rapid.
Then, of course, Saturday, August 16 we went up to Leadville which was a workout in itself. Insider's tip: if you're going to be tromping around most of the day at or above 10,000 feet ... stay hydrated. Or you will feel hungover the next day.
Not too much tri-related this week, but it was still a lot of fun and a lot of activity. Rafting is a hell of a workout!
This past Saturday, we went up and cheered at the Leadville Trail 100. One of our running friends just so happens to be a professional runner - went to the Olympics in Sydney, has won the Denver Rock 'N' Roll Marathon ... he's good. He's currently on the ultra scene, running for Mizuno (and helped design the shoe he runs in).
In any case, he was running Leadville and was gunning for the win after coming in third last year. It was Brandon's birthday, but both Mike and his wife Nic wanted us up there ... so we went. After getting in a swim/lift and gambling a bit, though.
We missed him on his way back through Twin Lakes, but caught up to him at the Outward Bound aid station. While waiting for him to come through, we met and talked to two of his pacers - Andrew Letherby and Patrick Rizzo.
(Nic's in stripes, Mike's in black)
Mike was in second place at that point and was a little out of it, but doing okay.
After Outward Bound, we headed to May Queen (by Turquoise Lake - BEAUTIFUL area) to wait for him to come through. We chatted more with Rizzo - dude's hilarious - and celebrated Brandon's birthday with a bit of cake.
We also sang to him, embarrassing him horribly. Payback for my birthday.
We saw leader Rob Krar come through and then Ian Sharman ... and then Mike right behind him in third.
Mike in black; Letherby in blue; Rizzo in gray.
From that point on, the next time we'd see him would be at the finish.
We moved on back to town to grab dinner, getting periodic text updates from Nic as well as our friend Mitch who'd been up there for a few days. We had a general idea of when the clear winner, Krar, was coming in so we made it down to the finish for that.
Medal table.
Krar, with the second-fastest time in course history.
After he finished, we were able to meet up and talk with a few more of our friends that had come up to cheer Mike on. Then, about 30 minutes after Krar crossed, along came Mike, solidly in second place. We found out later that Mike had the fastest split ever from May Queen to the finish - fastest by about eight minutes.
Ghostly looking Mike - stupid camera.
Although he didn't win, I think he finally found redemption on that course from the few previous times he'd run it.
It was awesome to watch and awesome to spectate ... but it is also something I am NOT interested in ever doing. At least for a good looooong while.
I leave you with this photo of Mike talking to ... somebody ... mainly because Rizzo's face? Is hysterical.
This was a weird race.
I signed up for this race because it was a bucket list item; a race I'd heard about for years and always wanted to do ... but never signed up for. This year, I finally signed up for it. It's a point-to-point race from - surprise, surprise - Georgetown to Idaho Springs, two mountain towns. You also lose about 1000 feet of elevation over the course of the 13.1 miles.
I was always planning on training through this race. With the way the summer has gone, I went into it with 0 expectations. I think I'd run 5 or more miles ... maybe four? times since the BolderBOULDER (one of which was probably TriRock) so I knew the lack of distance would come to bite me in the ass at some point during the course of the race.
Friday afternoon, I drove up to Idaho Springs for bib pick-up ... and proceeded to sit in traffic on I-70 for over an hour. Made it up to Evergreen just fine, but from Evergreen to just outside of Idaho Springs ... slog. Five miles in an hour thanks to blasting on a tunnel project. I finally got my stupid bib, almost fell asleep on the drive home, forced dinner down my throat and passed out.
Saturday morning, I woke up butt-honking early, because I knew it would take me a while to get up to Idaho - there wasn't any blasting going on, thankfully, but part of I-25 was closed down due to construction, so yay detours.
I got up to Idaho Springs about 5am, got Starbucks, pooped, parked ... and got one of the shuttles to Georgetown early - probably before 6am.
So excited. Also: new Ironman visor!
I rode the shuttle to Georgetown and just ... waited. Waited around until the 8am start. Huddled in a shelter to stay out of the wind and to stay warm. Waited until the last possible minute for gear check (about 7:45).
I also realized that my bib number (733) was the same as it was for Ironman. Told myself it was a good omen.
At the start, I seeded myself around the 2:30 pace group because I told myself if I hit that, I'd be happy. Then I spotted some people I knew from Run Colorado - Jeanne and Leanne, mostly, and ended up starting the race with them.
Leanne, Sade, me, Jeanne, Elina's ... husband?, Elina.
Running with these ladies for the first few miles saved me, I think. We started out by the 2:30 pace group ... and then passed them ... then the 2:25 pace group ... then the 2:20 pace group ... and settled in behind the 2:15 pace group.
I stuck with them and their pace until about the four mile mark when they veered off to use a porta-potty. I told them they'd catch up with me soon.
From that point on, I kept it steady. Kept running. Walked for the first time at about the halfway point thanks to a hill. Walked a bit more after that, a bit more often ... but for the most part, I kept running.
One foot in front of the other, keep on going.
I heard the shuffling footsteps of those around me, thinking it couldn't be good for their shoes (or their body long-term) for them to not pick up their feet. I listened to my own feet, to make sure I wasn't doing the same.
I enjoyed the view, running next to Clear Creek, loved the few mile stretch of dirt.
Surprised when I was able to keep going.
I felt a few pains here and there, but I adjusted gait or walked a bit or told myself, "You're fine," and they disappeared.
The wheels finally started coming off with about a 5K to go. The miles started getting longer and longer. I started walking more and more. The 2:15 pace group, which stayed in sight for most of the run, started slipping away.
There's one hill most people talk about, and it is at about mile 12.8 and it sucks because it's at mile 12.8. I walked up it and then ran it into the finish. I had just started my final kick when I heard my name being called - Jeanne and Leanne had finally caught up to me.
I finished, my Garmin saying 2:18.
I went down into the field, got my t-shirt, got some watermelon, got my medal (which I paid extra for and apparently lost that day. Boo.), got a pint glass that Runners Roost was handing out, got my bag from gear check, called Brandon, heard that Norm came in third in his age group, left the field, saw Norm, got in my car, drove home.
My legs hurt, but I was able to get in some decent workouts on them the next few days.
Final Stats:
Time: 2:18:26
Pace: 10:34/mi
Overall Rank: 1274/2159
Gender Rank: 698/1347
Division Rank: 138/252 (F30-34)
Also, for the curious, the Garmin splits (for the 13.16 miles it said I did):
Mile 1: 11:01.9
Mile 2: 10:32.2
Mile 3: 9:42.3
Mile 4: 9:54.5
Mile 5: 10:08.2
Mile 6: 10:08.6
Mile 7: 10:18.8
Mile 8: 10:37.4
Mile 9: 10:30.5
Mile 10: 10:30.8
Mile 11: 11:06.0
Mile 12: 11:34.2
Mile 13: 11:12.1
Last Bit: 1:09.1
Of note: Look at miles 5/6 and 9/10. My ability to have consistent mile splits lives on!
