Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Ironman Wisconsin Race Report

2010-09-22T21:21:00.001-06:00

A Tale of Triumph and Redemption (with a few inconveniences in between)...

I'd first like to thank all my friends and family who have supported me (somewhat grudgingly in some cases) throughout the last 8 months of training. For putting up with my always changing training schedule, for waiting to see how tired I'd feel after a long training day before committing to dinner plans, for putting up with my constant tiredness, and many other things. A very special thanks to my siblings Adam and Ralena who made the trip out to Wisconsin to tirelessly cheer me on, not knowing what the day would bring other than long hours standing outside waiting. And waiting. And posting many, many updates on Facebook. Knowing they were out there definitely helped get me through some tougher moments and having them there at the finish line completed what turned out to be a pretty good day.

For those of you who don't want to read what will inevitably turn out to be a ridiculously long race report (it was a long day), here are the results:
swim: 1:10:59
bike: 6:53:04
run: 4:51:56
overall: 13:09:55
45/112 in my age group, 1171 overall

And random statistics about the race which I always find fascinating and inspiring:

1270 first timers
2550 athletes that started the race
2398 finishers
21 countries representing. The top 4 being: US, Canada, Germany, Great Britain
All 50 states representing. The top 6 being: Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa (who knew?), and Colorado (with 81 athletes)
The largest age group for men was 40-45
The largest age group for women was 30-34
There were 382 athletes over the age of 50
There were 51 athletes over the age of 60
There were 5 athletes over the of 70
The youngest participant was 18
The oldest was 72 (M) and 63 (F)
There were 3 men that lost over 100 pounds. The man that lost the most weight lost 167 pounds!

Okay, I was nervous. I slept terribly the night before. I think I probably slept between 10 and midnight and then just couldn't fall back to sleep. I kept telling myself not to think about the race, but of course, as soon as you tell yourself not to do something, that's all you can think about doing. I refused to look at the clock but kept expecting it to go off any minute. Just when I finally started to feel myself relax, I could hear other people moving about the hotel and knew that the alarm really would go off any minute. And it did. I got my bottles ready and forced down half a bagel with peanut butter, taking the other half with me. Ralena and I left the hotel and picked up Adam around 4:45. We were about 30 minutes away and weren't sure about parking, so we decided that they'd drop me off and then figure something out. They dropped me off on the ground level of Monona Terrace, but on the side where there are only stairs to take you upstairs (no elevator). I guess when you're about to take off on a 140 mile journey, what are a few flights of stairs. I considered it my warm-up. I first went to check my bike just in case I had a flat tire or something. I then remembered that the special needs drop off was over by the Capitol, about two blocks away. Having no idea what time it was, I hurried off to drop those off. I then hurried back to the building to drop a few things in my transition bags and then back to check my bike one more time. As I was exiting the transition area, I walked right into Adam and Ralena. When the dropped me off, I really didn't expect to see them until sometime on the course. It seemed that the odds of finding someone in a crowd of thousands would be near impossible. But Ironman is all about what is possible, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that we just walked into each other. It was chilly morning (okay, it was cold the entire weekend and I was usually bundled up in sweatshirts or vests, even a hat and scarf one night!) so we headed indoors to wait in the warmth before heading down to the swim start. We had about 30 minutes to kill, so we sat on the floor over by the bathrooms, along with dozens of other people that had the same idea. But how often do you get to use full plumbing before a race?

We headed down to the swim start around 6:15 and got my wetsuit on before leaving the stairwell as I wasn't keen on standing around shivering. It's a water start and the swim entrance is a boat ramp and is literally the size of a driveway. 2500 people don't usher into such a small area very well and they kept yelling at people to get in the water. I didn't want to get too crowded, so I zipped up, said farewell to the sibs, and stepped across the threshold. The water was 68 degrees, which isn't bad once you get started. But the air temp was in the 50s and I was shivering as I stood knee deep in the water. I started feeling crowded and took the plunge and started swimming out towards the start. This kind of sucks I thought. Not only am I cold, but I have to tread water for 20 minutes before we get started. 20 minutes is a long time when you're cold.

I will be honest. I was extremely nervous for the start. After last year's disaster when I really thought I was going to die a few minutes after the race started, well, it seemed kind of normal that I'd be worried (for a refresher, read here). But with so many people still hanging around on shore, I was starting to think that maybe it wouldn't be so bad. The water was calm and there would be no one from behind running me down (swimming me down perhaps, but this couldn't be nearly as bad as hundreds of people sprinting into you as they try and get in the water). I headed up to the front line by the outside buoy. There seemed to be plenty of space. A few minutes went by and now there are quite a few people around me, but there are all these empty pockets beyond that. So I swam over to one of these, and now there are a quite a few people around me again. There was so much room to spread out so I couldn't figure out why everyone wanted to get so bunched up and why they wanted to get so bunched up around me. Maybe I look like I'm fast. Anyhow, I played this game for a while and as they sang the National Anthem, people seemed to settle a little more into spots. I moved again. And finally, finally, the gun went off (and I actually heard it this year!).

I had positioned myself well and there was no one immediately in front of me. I swam hard and with my head up for the first 50 meters or so to try and get a little more clear of the fray. I had people clambering over my legs, and was sandwiched in between people for a bit, but other than that it wasn't too bad. I started kicking hard if people got on my feet too much and swam around people as they got in my way. I had started wide and eventually cut in towards the inside line, but was still wide for the trip out to the first turn. It's called the Moo Corner possibly because everyone stops and no one seems to move. Apparently the kayakers Moo. I intended to take the first two corners a little wide and was able to swim through both of them. On the way back, I moved into the inside line and tried to hold that for the rest of the swim. I was able to catch a draft here and there, but for the most part I was on my own. The course was laid out nicely (and finally a counter clockwise course!). The buoys were numbered, which was awesome because I always knew where I was and didn't have to worry about how much farther I had to go. I felt pretty good. My only complaint was that my hands felt a little numb from the cold, so sometimes my strokes felt a little off. I'd occasionally have to ball my hands up to try and get a little more circulation. But I'd take that feeling over one of thinking I was going to die. And so I swam on. Soon the finish line was in sight and I picked up the pace just a bit. I was ready to be out of the water and onto the bike.

There were helpers in the water to help you get your balance before running off to what seemed like an endless transition. The wetsuit strippers were a little bit beyond the end of the "driveway". I hadn't even gotten the top half off, but hey, that's what they were for. I don't think they completely knew what they were doing as they didn't exactly yank the top half off and instead managed to get both of my hands stuck. The bottom half went much smoother. And then I was off. Through the gates and up the helix with thousands of screaming people everywhere. It was quite incredible. I had been told by countless people to not waste the energy and just walk up the helix. But that was impossible with so many people cheering you on. I did a very slow jog to make it seem like I was running but actually savoring every moment of it.

I ran into the building and grabbed my bag and headed into the changing tent where I couldn't quite decide what to bring. After last years bitter cold, I had put a ton of warm clothes in all of my bags. I finally decided against the arm warmers thinking that I hadn't been cold running up from the swim and it would continue to get warmer throughout the day. It's a long run up to transition, and an even longer run across the transition area. I decided to keep my shoes off until I got to my bike and then just had to run across the parking lot in them - where at least it was level. There wasn't much of a mounting area before heading down the helix, but I found some space and into the spiral I went.

Being not the greatest bike handler, I was worried about riding down the helix. It was a lot wider and less steep than I had imagined, but still I was a little nervous, especially if there were going to be people surrounding me. Fortunately I had plenty of space and the ride down, albeit a little slow, was totally fine. We headed out along John Nolan Parkway for a bit and then cut into the park for a little jog along the bike path. I knew there was a no passing zone, and I knew we'd be on the bike path for a bit, but I was not expecting sharp 90+ degree turns with blind corners. But I took it slow and made it through the technical turns just fine - there really wasn't much time to panic since the turn would just appear. No time to be nervous, just react, and voila, I made it through. The next few miles were relatively flat and straight, which is the only section on the course that is relatively flat and straight. I knew everyone would be passing me and I just tried to hold a steady pace and ignore everyone. About 30 minutes into the ride, I started to get a side cramp, which I've never had on the bike before. I've had it on the run a few times this year, but it was right off the bike and I think both times I had too much to drink too close to the end of the bike. I've never had any issues on the bike. I wasn't really sure what was going on. It wasn't long enough into the ride for nutrition to really be an issue and I had a gel during the transition. I figured it would just eventually go away. But it didn't and continued to get worse. It was right along my side and it was extremely uncomfortable to hang out in my aero bars because it was just putting more pressure on it. But I pushed on and still managed to smile for the cameras.

I think I pushed a little hard on the first lap thinking it would eventually work its way out. And since it didn't, I definitely suffered a bit on the second lap. At one point I almost crashed and almost took down a line of volunteers at one of the aid stations. It was around mile 80 and I was starting to think that maybe I should just stick to water. So as I pulled into the next aid station, I went to toss two of my bottles, both of which were behind my seat. The first one wasn't an issue. Not sure what happened with the second. My finger must have gotten stuck and when I yanked it, my hand came flying forward and knocked my handlebars 90 degrees. Ones first instinct is to try and correct by going 180 degrees in the opposite direction. So now I'm overcorrecting back and forth just trying to stay upright, but I was totally squirrely and just hanging on for dear life. I looked up to see a line of volunteers in front of me, ready to hand out water, gels, fruit, etc. I was about to take them all down (or so I thought). Somehow, some way, I managed to straighten out and stay vertical. Whew. Strangely enough the water bottle I was attempting to toss ended up between my aero bars, resting comfortable through the whole ordeal. I managed to get replacement water without any issue, which is good because I don't think I could have handled much more drama. As I was approaching the end of the aid station, a guy passed me and asked me if I was okay. He said "that was quite a recovery" and I believe him.

Fortunately the rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. The crowds were spectacular and some of the hills were reminiscent of the Tour de France with several people deep lining the roads just yelling and screaming. It was hard not to smile. Adam and Ralena had taken the shuttle bus out to Verona and made me a lovely chalk sign on the rode that I completely missed.

I lost one of my water bottles that I nearly died for, leaving me with about a quarter of one bottle left for the remainder of the ride. Fortunately it was only about 10 or so miles, so I conserved and enjoyed the brief tailwind. Before long I was back at Monona Terrace ready to ride up the helix. Again, another piece I was really worried about and it really wasn't bad until I did about one full rotation directly into a massive head wind that had to filter itself in between the different floors of the garage, which really made the wind force very focused on my little section since it essentially was funneling itself in. I was not prepared and almost came to a standstill. I quickly dropped to an easier gear, at least expecting it for the next rotation. After that, I was at the top, and oh so ready to dismount.

T2 was pretty uneventful. I took my time even though I really didn't have much to do other than change shoes. I put my shoes on only to realize that I had forgotten to put on my compression socks. I was looking at them the whole time and made sure the woman didn't put them back in the bag (along with my countless other pieces of warm clothes that I had packed just in case). One doesn't always think so logically at this point in an Ironman. I got outside and ran to the Sunscreen Volunteers. I turned around so that she could get my shoulders and arms. A woman came up to me and asked if I wanted sunscreen on my ears. Um, okay? It was not a question I was expecting. I don't think I've ever put sunscreen on my ears. I don't think it's ever occurred to me to put sunscreen on my ears. Well, at least my ears were protected out there. And then I was off.

Exiting transition to start the run is another huge crowd moment. If for a second you think you're really just going to dread the run, the crowd instantly changes your mind as soon as you cross the timing mat. They are lined up several deep just going nuts. I saw the time as I exited and I was trying to avoid the clock the whole day, but it was really hard to miss. 8:10. If I had a perfect marathon, I could still be on target. But a perfect marathon I did not have. I was still dealing with the cramp, and it's a little more difficult to run with it that it was to ride. I was forced to walk for bits at a time. It was a little upsetting because when I was able to run, I really felt good. I was actually passing lots of people. But I just had to keep moving forward however I could. I got to the turnaround at about mile 6 where Adam and Ralena were waiting on the curb screaming. I gave them a smile and a high five and continued on. We hadn't really driven the course and I hadn't really paid attention to the map, so that first lap I really had no idea where I was going or where I was in relation to anything. It turns out that mile 6 was only a few blocks from the finish, so Adam and Ralena could just keep walking back and forth between the two. I saw the sign that Adam and I had made a few days before and couldn't figure out how I had missed them on the way out. It turns out that the way out never went that direction so I hadn't really missed anything - it took me most of the run to actually figure out the course. I was starting to feel pretty nauseous at the end of the first lap and heading into lap 2. I had to walk for quite a bit before that passed. My biggest issue (of the entire event across the entire weekend) was that they ran out of cola around mile 4 of the run. It wasn't so horrible on the first lap, but by the second lap, I was at the point where I just couldn't do another gel and I was getting desperate for sugar. I could feel my blood sugar dropping but I was facing the gag reflex with gels. I kept telling myself that I could make it, that I've done this before. About 3 miles to go I started getting a little dizzy and had to walk a bit more. I finally decided to chance it with some orange slices thinking that even if they didn't sit well, there really wasn't much more to go. And I just really needed the sugar at that point.

When I hit the turnaround for lap 2, I heard the clock bells go off and figured it was 7:00. My new target was to come in around 13 hours. I felt very fortunate that this didn't bother me at all. I had definitely made a point all day to enjoy myself and smile whenever possible. Coming in at 13 hours would still be a great time. I had met this woman on the flight out to Madison. Her name was Ann and she was flying out to volunteer. She had told me she'd be a kayaker in the morning and then she'd be a Finish Line Catcher between 8 - 11:30. I was very excited for her - she really did have a great shift. So when I realized that she'd be on shift when I came in, it got me through the last few miles. I might actually know my catcher. That would be pretty cool. And so I just pressed onward. You can hear the finish line area well before you approach it. You can hear Mike Reilly congratulating everyone. And the crowds appear from nowhere. I had the finish line chute all to myself and I clearly heard Mike this time: Jessica Gordon, from Lafayette CO. Jessica, you are an Ironman! And I was smiling the whole time. It really was a fantastic finish.

I was caught by two men and I was definitely a bit shakey. They tried to hand me a foil blanket but I didn't want it touching my skin, which kind of concerned the guys. I was told that my arms were really cold and they were concerned that I hadn't been drinking. I tried to convince them that I was fine - I had been drinking at almost every single aid station. I started to explain the whole blood sugar thing and then realized that I was probably rambling. Finally I just asked if they had any coke. While one guy continued to hold me, the other went to get the coke. He brought it over. It was so cold and oh so good. I told them that it was the best thing I had all day. And then I asked for more. Meanwhile, Ann appeared, poking her head over one of the guys holding me up. She was very excited and congratulated me and it was pretty cool to see her again - it was sort of like a final confirmation that it really was a great day. My handlers finally handed me off to my siblings, making sure that Ralena firmly had me before letting go. Last year when I finished CDA, I was wearing a foil blanket and garbage bag dress. I was soaking wet and freezing. I hadn't felt my hands for much of the day and was pissed off and relieved to finish. And I was coming in around 15 1/2 hours. I don't remember any of the volunteers being even remotely concerned with my well being when I finished that race. And here I was dry, warm, over 2 hours earlier and everyone was acting as though I was going to pass out. Maybe they are just a lot nicer people in Wisconsin. Those mid-westerners.

Anyhow, #3 is in the books. It was a great race. I had a great day despite my setbacks. This was supposed to be my redemption race after CDA. And triumphed I did. Ironman is a long day and odds are that something will go wrong. You have to accept it and move on. I've realized that some things are easier to get through than others - it's a lot easier to push through physical pain than mental anguish. You have to remember why you're out there. And you absolutely absolutely have to smile. It really does help.

Additional photos are here. Enjoy!

Registration...A Pre-Race Warm-up

2010-09-15T17:04:00.001-06:00

Had I known this was going to be so entertaining, I would have photo-documented each step of the way. Had I known it was going to be so intensive, I would have brought water. Registration for IMMOO reminded me a bit like registration for the Sprint. Only more complex and with no lines.

I landed in Madison a little after 1p and immediately headed downtown after some complexities in finding the rental car and in driving the rental car. Apparently I can't follow simple instructions (she did say second row) and ended up wandering aimlessly through the first row of parking lot while all my fellow IMers were casually loading up their cars. And apparently I no longer remember how to drive an automatic. This one had both automatic and automatic-manual and I had inadvertently shifted to the manual mode and couldn't figure out why my RPMs were so loud and hovering over 4000. I tried to shift, but ended up downshifting, slowing the car down, creating even more revving and bumping up the RPMs even higher. God was this embarassing...I finally figured it out (I am an engineer after all) and was on my merry way. After several wrong turns, and several laps around blocks, I managed to find a parking spot a mere 8 blocks away and headed over to Monona Terrace.

Check-in:
I entered the main floor and followed the sign point to the left for "Athlete Check-In". It was a long hallway with 2 tables in the middle. Aside from some people sitting at the tables, there was no one else in the hallway. I was expecting to turn into some conference room (they were called Ballrooms) but never passed an open door. I found myself at the end of the hallway with nothing left but the restrooms. And so I headed back. As I approached the tables, it dawned on me that this was the check-in (the giant board with everyone's numbers that I had somehow missed earlier helped with this deduction). I stopped at the table and discovered it literally was just the check-in. They checked my ID. They checked me off a list. And they put a check on my hand (it was actually an "X" but it kills the flow). I was then directed to the opposite end of the hallway.

Paperwork:
The lack of a line had thrown me off, so at least now I knew not to look for one. They had those velvet rope things out that would be useful if there were a line, but at least it told me where to stop. A volunteer appeared and asked me my number and told me to wait for window #2. Someone was already there, so I guess technically, I was the line. Mind you, no one was at window #1. Finally it was my turn and I was given the two waivers that have become a familiar site after dealing with Corporation Ironman all summer. The first has contact information that was supposed to be verified. I was told there was a screw up with the computers and it misprinted everyone's Emergency Contact info so I'd definitely need to correct that (if not, a Bill Davis would be called if anything were to happen to me. Lucky Bill.). I asked if he had a pen. He told me to proceed downstairs and there would be lots of pens.

Pens:
I headed down the escalator and was greeted by another volunteer who told me to go through a set of doors where I'd be able to correct my info. I walked through the doors into one of what has to be The Main Ballrooms of the Monona Terrace. Half of the room was all windows that arched out overlooking the water. Quite a spectacular site (I hadn't had a chance to see the water yet). Down the middle of the room were a line of tables with lots of pens on them. That's it. That was the room. Me, some tables, and some pens. Seriously. I corrected Bill (resolved of all responsibility) and signed what I needed to and headed out the opposite end.

Weigh-in:
I left Pen Room to find 4 men sitting in chairs with scales in front of them. I shed my jacket and backpack and stepped on the scale. My weight was written down on one of my forms and I was pointed to yet another escalator heading downstairs. Really? It was a little more substantial than then Pen Room even though it wasn't even a room, but I could have done that myself.

Filing:
I was greeted by another volunteer at the bottom of the escalator. At this point, there was a small line. Like 2 people. After telling her my number, she pointed to Pete. There were at least 5 other Filers, and none of them had anyone in their line. Pete seemed to be the popular one that day. Pete triple checked all of my information and made sure everything was signed and then filed the waivers into their appropriate boxes. And then pointed me to guess what, another line.

Everything But the Schwag:
Once again, everything was ordered by number and the Everything Elser Volunteers that served my number range were all busy. Finally I was sent to a table to get everything else but the schwag: wristband, swim cap, bibs, stickers, etc. And instructions on how to use everything. After this, I was directed to another line and table.

The Schwag:
The Schwagster volunteer didn't want to repeat himself to everyone, so he waited until there was a small group of us before giving his speech. The schwag bags also contained our gear and special needs bags, so his speech was about making sure we had all of them now, before we left the table. We'd rather find out now than later.

Corporate Greed:
The escalator that was at the end of the Schwag table dumped you off right at the Ironman store. It almost seems like the intent of the maze was to build anticipation: starting off with "oh shit! why did I sign up for this thing?" and working your way through the Registration Stations, gradually building to "I'm a little nervous, but also a little excited" and ending up with a finale of "OMG! I can't believe it's finally here!" so that you now have all this explosive energy that will cause you to run into the Ironman store and grab up everything with an M-dot logo and spends loads of money! If that was the intent, it didn't work on me (though I did spend loads of money throughout the weekend on subsequent trips). Instead, I was exhausted and really just wanted to lie down. I did have an "oh shit" thought, but it was this: if I was so tired after getting through registration, how the hell was I going to manage on race day?

Feeling Frazzled

2010-09-05T11:39:00.000-06:00

I feel like I have about a million and one things to do and I seem to be getting none of them done. Have I started packing? No. Have I started thinking about packing? Only for the last two weeks. Not much progress has been made. I started making a list. Yesterday. At this rate, I'll make it to Wisconsin with my helmet and not much else. For some reason, I keep thinking I still have so much time. My bike leaves on Tuesday, with me following two days later. Once work starts again on Tuesday, it will suddenly be Thursday in a snap. So, no, I really do not have much time.

And here it is Sunday morning and I'm wasting my time blogging. Well, at least I'm resting. One might think that I'm enjoying tapering so much that I don't want to do anything with all this free time. Certainly not packing. But I'm actually kind of bored. So bored that I spent the evening a few nights ago putting boxes away in my garage and changing the batteries in the smoke detectors. I know, such an exciting social life! Of course, packing didn't make the agenda that night.

And now I have the song Fraggle Rock stuck in my head. Which is a million and one times better than what has been stuck in my head since yesterday morning (seriously, when I woke up to pee in the middle of the night, I was still singing it). So I'll do you the favor...Warning: Adult Content (but damn catchy tune).

Time to get away...worries for another day...let the music play...down on Fraggle Rock.

Okay, now ~~back to~~ time to start packing!

The Ironman Nightmares Have Begun!

2010-08-31T07:53:00.000-06:00

I got to my hotel late-ish Saturday night. Upon checking in, I realize that the race site is actually 5 hours away. There was supposed to be a charter bus to drive us all over, leaving at midnight, but no one seems to know anything about it at the hotel. In fact, they don't even seem to know what I'm talking about. My stepmom agrees to drive me so that I can "sleep" in the backseat. My dad wasn't planning on coming, but at the last minute does due to the midnight driving. My stuff seems to be scattered all over the hotel and it's getting close to midnight and I'm not even close to being ready. It's also not clear how everything is supposed to fit in the car for there to still be enough room for me to lie down and rest. The more I rush around trying to collect stuff, the more I realize I'm missing more stuff. Making it to the starting line at 7 is seeming more and more unrealistic but I've been training so hard and for so long, and so I rush around even more getting slower and slower by the minute.

And then I wake up.

Why do these dreams always involve getting to the race late or not having all your stuff ready or a combination? Well, I guess I should consider it a good thing that at least they're not about crashing or drowning...

Peaking or Breaking?

2010-08-23T06:49:00.001-06:00

Well, whatever you want to call it, it's over and Taper Time is here. If exhaustion is a sign of bluing ready, then I'm ready. Regarless, I'm as ready as I'll ever be. And now I just have to rest as much as possible and not do anything stupid for the next 3 weeks. This will be a lot harder than it sounds...

Long live the taper.

Ready or Not...

2010-08-22T20:49:00.156-06:00

My last long weekend...Since I screwed up my last long brick so terribly, I had the option of attempting it again (75/10) or doing a really long ride (130). The problem was that I wanted to do both for different reasons. I had an 18 mile run on Thursday, so attempting a long brick on Saturday would be tough. I hate doing long workouts on Sunday because I'm dead at work on Monday and I just barely get through Mondays as it is. I wanted to do the long ride because in previous years, I've only done 2 and I felt like doing 3 this year would give me a mental advantage of really knowing that the ride wouldn't be an issue, which I felt I especially needed after last years disaster in CDA. But then again, a long brick is a better simulation for race day.

What to do, what to do? I was starting to wonder if I should just stay in bed and sleep instead. It sounded so tempting.

In the end I went with the long ride. I had essentially done a long brick at 70.3 and that was quite successful. And I have another shorter brick this weekend. And Saturday promised to be the slightly cooler day.

I got off to a later start thanks to being out a little too late the previous night and having one too many glasses of wine with my sister. It seems that 1 is my limit these days and being how tired I am all the time, I really need to stick with that limit. Despite all the talk about chip sealing up around Carter and Horsetooth, I decided to chance it and head up that way primarily because I didn't feel like trying to find a new route. This was a no brainer and I knew where all the water stops were and it just seemed like a hell of a lot of work to try and find something else. And did I mention how tired I already was? It seemed more important that I go to bed rather than spend who knows how long fighting with MapMyRide.com...Does anyone else have this problem where it adds miles on for you, as though it's sending you back and forth on the same section of road 100 times? This only seems to happen for longer routes and god forbid you try and overlap and instead of plotting the point, it decides that you really want to add a marker instead. It can get frustrating to say the least. So braving the chip seal seemed much less stressful.

I got off to a great start. My legs actually felt good. It had been a while and my last few long rides had all started out with me feeling very sluggish and just not quite right. I was surprised considering my long run two days before but I wasn't about to complain. It was still early...Carter Lake came and went and then the oil started. The signs said "Fresh Oil on Road" and I wasn't quite sure what that meant. I had read about it and envisioned something else entirely. First of all, the road was still smooth and I sort of expected the oil stage to come after everything else. Instead, it looked more like a stage 1 thing. The road was just a lot darker and a lot dirtier. There was a ton of what I assume was gravel on the shoulders. I should know considering that I brought half of it home with me stuck to arms, legs, bike, clothes, water bottles, and so on. Fortunately there's not a ton of traffic so I could get away with riding more towards the middle of the road which seemed to have a lot less stuff on it. It was also pretty sticky, but it wore off of my tires quickly - it was just the rest of me that was a mess for the rest of the day.

There's one hill around mile 45 or so that doesn't look bad, but for whatever reason kills me and I immediately have to drop to a super easy gear and still seem to struggle. It didn't help that two people were riding down the hill a the same time and one of them screamed at me to get in the drops. That's easy to say when you're flying down hill, but when you're already in an easy gear and struggling, yeah right. I discovered on the way back that it's a 7% grade, so I felt a lot better for struggling and really just wanted to punch the woman screaming at me.

There was a cute little fair going on in Masonville with a sign that said "Come Meet the Alpacas". I was so tempted to stop. They're my favorite. I decided maybe on the way back (sure) and kept going. Then the chip seal started. It actually was much smoother than it was a few weeks ago - at least the shoulder was. Overall, I couldn't complain. I really had envisioned myself a riding tarball.

And then I started complaining. There's this other hill before the big climb up to Horsetooth that really doesn't look like a hill, but it is a long steady climb and goes on for miles. This is where I started questioning everything. I had planned on coming back the same way, which would be just as hilly, but at this point wasn't sure I'd make it. At this point I was starting to wonder if I'd even make it to Ft Collins. I was getting slower and slower by the minute. I thought I might have to ride back the easy way. I wanted to stop but somehow managed to convince myself that the end was just around the bend, which of course it never was. Until it was. And then I was find. I had no issue with the steeper climbs and soon found my way to my new favorite gas station in Ft Collins. I refilled my bottles and had a coke and part of a bagel. I pepped myself up for the ride back deciding that I needed to go back the hard way - more climbing would be better for Wisconsin.

Heading back immediately starts off with some tough climbs back up and around Horsetooth. But I did actually feel much better and actually passed some people. Yes, passed. And they were riding bikes too. It was final climb before the now long gradual downhill that nearly killed me on the way out that I realized how hot it was getting and I knew then that it was going to be a rough trip back into Boulder. For once the wind didn't really bother me as it was cooling me down a little and I had already resigned myself to riding a little slower. Back over the chip seal. Past the alpacas (I didn't stop). Through the oil fields. And then Carter Lake.

I have never ridden up the back side of Carter Lake and it was sort of haunting me for much of the ride. But since I was actually feeling okay on the ride back I had somehow managed to tell myself that it would be fine. Ha! Clearly I was delirious! It worse than sucked. It hurt like hell. I thought I was dying. I was questioning my sanity. And it really seemed to never end. And let's remember that I am now probably around mile 80 or so of my ride so I'm hot and tired too. I did not see a single other person heading up the hill. I determined at this point that I truly was insane. What the hell was I thinking? Well, I was thinking that I needed water and I really needed to pee and Hygiene was a little too far away.

After what seemed like an eternity (and I'm sure it was close), I made it to the top. I stopped by the marina to fill up and use the bathroom. Only it was locked. There were two rangers there telling me that I really didn't want to go in there. They emphasized "really" multiple times so I took there word on it. They said there was another bathroom way across the really rocky parking lot, the risk of killing myself trying to walk across in bike shoes seemed very likely so I decided I really didn't need to pee that badly. Besides, relatively speaking, I wasn't far from home. And so back in the saddle.

Aside from witnessing the second half of a car crash (I saw the second car go off the side of the road down a really steep hill really fast that in such a manner that you would never intentionally do before realizing what was going on), the rest of the ride was uneventful (which was fine with me as the crash kind of freaked me out a bit as I had to ride over bits and pieces of broken car). I really had no idea what time it was but I was seeing fewer and fewer cyclists (other than those doing whatever ride was going on) so I figured it was probably getting pretty late. I had another quick stop in Hygiene, which is now a required stop for me. It was 3:30 - I was assuming closer to 5 as one tends to lose all concept of time during such a long-ass ride.

And then 10 years later, I was home. Actually, it wasn't that bad. Nothing was that bad after That Hill. I had the world's slowest transition and eventually made my way outside to do a very short, very slow run. And then I was finally done. Whew! I was glad it was over for many reasons. The main reason being that I'd only have to do one more long ride and that would be on 9/12. The other main reason was that now I could taper. I knew I was as ready as I was ever going to be and finally felt like I was actually ready.

So let the tapering begin...

Boulder 70.3 Race Report

2010-08-12T21:46:00.002-06:00

It wasn't a perfect race and of course there were things that went wrong. But all of that went right out the window when I saw the clock as I was crossing the finish line. 5:37. Finally breaking 6 hours. A 26 minute PR!

I had good feelings about the race since I've been putting so many hours into training over the last few weeks. But I was so tired last week and did very little in terms of workouts and by the time Friday rolled around, I was starting to wonder if I was actually ready. I knew I was being silly, but doubt creeps in so easily sometimes. I haven't been sleeping all that well and I was worried it was going to start to affect me. In addition, my stress numbers were getting higher due to increased volume and that had me a little concerned about possible overtraining. Fortunately I was able to put all that aside and had a remarkable race.

I slept horribly the night before the race, as well as the night before that. In addition, there was a massive storm that came through at some point during the night with lots of lightning lighting up my room. I refused to look at the clock, but figured it had to be nearing 4. Would it actually be raining when I got up? It's not that easy to get motivated for a race in the rain. But it had passed by the time I finally got out of bed. I managed to force down a bagel with peanut butter and made sure I got an earlier start to the Res than I did for the Peak. I did, but there was still mega-traffic. I found a spot towards the end of rack which seemed fine at the time but does explain my 3+ minute T1 time. But it just doesn't seem worth arguing for people to move over and just have them get pissy. I got all set up, grabbed my swim stuff, and chose the shorter lines for the porta pottys outside of transition. At this point there were 3 minutes left before they closed transition. At this point I realized that I had lost one of my ponytail holders. I need two because I've been wearing my hair in pigtails the last year in part to avoid the whiplash on my neck during the run, which at this point already is suffering from a little wetsuit chafing. It must have come off my wrist when I took my shirt off. And naturally you could only get back into transition via the bike exit, which was the opposite side of where I was. And I was barefoot. I did a quick and painful hustle back into transition and ran back to my rack. At this point volunteers were going around to the few people left in transition asking them if they were almost ready. I was looking on the ground when someone came over. I said I was almost ready but was still looking around. She asked what I was looking for and I told her. Mental note: keep extra bands in my bag!!! (which I do with every other bag I have, not that that helped me at the time). Volunteer to the rescue (yet another reason to LOVE volunteers). She had one on her wrist and asked if it would do. She said it wasn't great, but it was better than nothing. It was the thickness of the rubber bands they put around broccoli (the wide purple ones) and it was a lime green, but could I really complain? I grabbed it and made my way out of transition, passing a very late arrival who was rushing to find a spot to get set up. At least I wasn't in his position.

I headed down to the beach and decided to skip a swim warmup. I did one for the Peak and then stood on the beach freezing until my start. It seemed like it was a little cooler due to the rain the night before and I had a much longer time to stand around and wait. And so I waited. The swim course was laid out so much better than the Peak so I was a lot less concerned about swimming the wrong way. When my wave was allowed in, I headed to the front. My wave seemed exceptionally small and it seemed like I was going to have plenty of room. The gun went off and we were off. And I had plenty of room. I was actually able to keep pretty close to the buoys and for the first section I was pretty much swimming all by myself. I could see a cluster of purple caps maybe 25m in front of me and just tried to keep the gap close. As I rounded the first bend, I started running into earlier waves. Another purple cap appeared next to me and I hung on her feet for most of the way back. Rounding the final corner we really started running into slower swimmers, so I lost mid way on the final stretch and had to go it alone. Overall I felt pretty good on the swim and felt like I was right where I should be. I exited the water and really struggled to get up the hill into transition - the sand seemed extremely soft and it was hard to run in. Not to mention the trying to catch my breath at the same time.

My transition was slow. Partly due to the fact that I had racked over in Utah. I still had a lot of sand on my feet and wanted to get some of it off before putting on my bike shoes (it was still there during the ride). At the last second, I also decided to have a gel since I hadn't had one before the start and it seems like I've been struggling with becoming starving on the bike. It cost me a few seconds, but I think it was worth it considering I was able to manage my nutrition a lot better this race.

Soon I was off on the bike and immediately felt fatigued. I started to worry that I really wasn't rested and if I was already feeling tired now, what was it going to feel like in 30 miles? I pushed those thoughts aside and reminded myself that the weekend rides I had been doing were significantly longer and I got through those just fine. I also reminded myself that it was taking me longer to feel warmed up and I should just try and settle into a rhythm and then re-evaluate. After 5 or so miles I still didn't feel completely on, but there wasn't much I could do about that and would just ride. And eventually I started feeling a little more normal (finally warmed up?) and just tried to ride at a consistent pace. Not that I had anything to measure that. I decided to go without a watch, HR monitor, bike computer, etc. I misplaced my watch holder for the bike and had been riding the past two months with my Garmin in my pocket, where I would take it out every few hours or so just to see what my mileage was. And I found that just going my feel and not being a slave to the clock seemed to really help me - my bike definitely seems to be improving. So consistency was just a feeling. I was passing a lot more people than I normally do, especially over this distance. I was pushing it, but not too hard, and just tried to take advantage of passing people on the few climbs and trying to recover on the descents. And I made the two U-turns over by IBM with no worries whatsoever. This is a HUGE improvement for me as I usually end up unclipping to make the tighter turns like that. I made a point to keep drinking and finished all 3 bottles I brought with me. I also made a concerted effort to try and stop drinking on the final stretch along Diagonal in the hopes of avoiding cramping on the run, just in case it was due to too much liquids. I pulled back into the Res feeling like I had a decent ride and was ready for the run.

T2 was a lot better and I was in and out in no time. I think they called my name as I exited, but it could have been all my fans just yelling my name. Actually, HEP was working the aid station right outside of transition, so there were many hellos to say as I started the run.

I flipped my bib around to the front shortly after exiting transition only to discover that it had ripped and was now only attached by one corner. Knowing that it would drive me nuts to have it flapping for 13 miles, I managed to attach it to the lower corner (which is not easy to do while running). So although I was running around with a lopsided bib, it actually worked out better for me since my shirt tends to ride up a bit exposing my belly, which I hate, even though I know it's silly, and this angling allowed for the hiding of that. The first part of the run is always tough. There are a few rollers and just getting used to the heat and the fact that its so exposed. Similar to the bike, I didn't feel quite normal at the start of the run, but at least I didn't have the same sort of cramps that kept me from running like at the Peak. I sort of felt like I needed to eat, but I was still trying to determine how "full" I was from all the liquids on the bike and figured I'd give it a few miles before having a gel. I stopped at the first aid station to get lathered up with sunscreen. It seemed like it would be a good day for frying and I've sort of had enough of that. I was slowly passing people and felt much stronger than prior years. As I was approaching mile 5ish, I saw Craig ride by cheering on all of his athletes. I think he was a little surprised to see me as he called out after he passed. At this point I was feeling much better and could just concentrate on running, so when I saw him, I got a little extra boost to get me over the dam. At the start of the second lap, there was another round of hellos to the HEPsters and another little pick me up. Heading up that first hill towards mile 1, Craig rode by again cheering me on. It was around that point that I realized that I had this race. I really had no idea about the time and had purposely avoided looking at the clock at the start of the second lap and tried to avoid anyone talking about time (it's screwed me before because what else are you going to do out on that hot run but calculate and re-calculate things. The last time, there was a woman whose daughter was pacing her on the bike and kept shouting out her time and that she was on track to get a certain time. And I knew which age group she was in and I knew when she had started in relation to me, so I did the math despite trying not to). But it was just a feeling I had. I felt pretty good and it seems like the start of lap 2 is always a bit of struggle. And I was still running strong and passing people so it was just a matter of hanging on. Of course, it's one thing to think this at mile 7.5 and a completely different story at mile 10. A blister started forming at the base of my big toe and my timing chip was digging into my leg with every flex of my foot (same foot), so every step was literally a little painful. And on that long stretch along the death canal, where it sometimes feels like a death march, the feeling of pain can sometimes start to take the lead. I told myself just one aid station at a time. 3 more before the finish. Last hill. And so on. When I got to the dam, I suddenly remember something someone once told me about a visualization technique and so I decided to give it a try. The idea is to pick someone ahead of you and imagine a giant rubber band surround the two of you, so it seems like the other person is pulling you along. And sure enough, I immediately felt a little bit lighter and a little bit faster. On the second dam I came up with some silly little mantra that I kept repeating over and over and before I knew it, I was back on the asphalt and heading home.

As I rounded the final corner, I saw the clock. 6:15. And I knew that I had shattered my previous best. I hadn't even crossed the line and started throwing my arms in the air. There were two other people next to me, with me in the middle, and somehow it seemed like they were slowing down and converging in on me. I pushed through them with a Get Out of My Way! sort of urgency and crossed the line with a huge PR.

I immediately miscalculated my time because race day math never adds up. I have a few bets going with someone I work with and we have to take the other one out to lunch if we make our time goal. On Friday, I had sat down to calculate what I realistically thought I could do. The number I came up with was 5:35. That seemed way too fast, so I told him 5:45, which also seemed way to fast considering I've never broken 6. But I decided to go with it because I've been feeling pretty good about my training. My first attempt at calculating my time post finish line, I came up with 5:35. I went to find Steve, who was enjoying himself at the massage tent. I tried screaming at him and gave him thumbs up, but we decided I should just wait until he was done rather than interrupt everyone's massage with my yelling. I sat down to wait and recalculated. And recalculated. I came up with 5:40. And recalculated a few more times to make sure. I was still ecstatic. We had a beer to celebrate and I finally made my way over to find Craig. He hadn't seen me finish so didn't know how I'd done. I told him 5:40 and immediately shared my excitement. I found my brother and shared the good news. At this point, I was finally getting hungry and decided to make my way back to the food tent by way of the posted results.

I had probably been done for over an hour at this point, so my results should have been posted. I found the 5:40s and started looking down and down and down. Couldn't find my name. And now I was in the 5:50s. Could I have miscalculated again? And by that much? I saw a friends name in the 5:40s and got a little concerned with my math skills. He had said he had finished a few minutes before me, and for some reason I thought he had started after me, so I kept looking down the list. It finally dawned on me to look up the list. And so I looked at the previous page. I eventually found myself at 5:37 and a huge smile broke out on my face and I think I actually said "No way!" out loud. I really surprised myself. And it was a HUGE confidence booster for good things to come on 9/12!

swim: 34:39
t1: 3:14
bike: 2:53:09 (19.4 mph)
t2: 1:40
run: 2:05:07 (9:33 pace)

total: 5:37:58

age: 14/74
female: 89/399
overall: 449/1193

108 is Great! A Journey to Horsetooth and Beyond

2010-08-01T20:39:00.001-06:00

I'm not sure why I was dreading this long ride. Two weeks ago wasn't much shorter but the temperatures were way hotter, so this should have been a breeze. But I've just been so tired lately and the thought of spending all day on my bike was, well, making me more tired. The last few weeks have been intense - approaching 18 hours a week of training. So I guess it's not surprising that I've been struggling to get out of bed in the morning. I had already kind of ruined my long run of the week because I couldn't get up early, so my 16 miles became two runs of 8 each, separated by a few hours. It still mostly counts, right?

Anyhow, no excuses for the long ride. It was the weekend after all. I mapped out a route on Friday afternoon that was roughly 112 miles and the plan was to get started by 7:30. I felt like I owed myself a little bit of sleeping in time. And I had a horrible nights sleep, though I'm not sure why. I woke before the alarm and wasn't exactly feeling awake. But that's nothing new. I took the dogs for a quick walk and tried to force down some food while I waited for Adam to show up. He agreed to do part of it with me.

We were off by about 7:45 and I was immediately sweating. Does anyone else's sunscreen cause them to start sweating profusely as soon as they get out in the sun. I was dripping and it was barely 70 degrees. This was going to be a long, gross day.

We headed north to Carter via the mandatory Wisconsin rollers. Adam turned around at Carter and I was on my own for the rest. I headed up and around Carter and north towards Horsetooth, past the uncharted lands of two weeks ago. I had to stop and consult my map several times as the last thing I wanted to do was get lost in god knows where amidst the thunderstorms that were predicted for the afternoon (and the clouds were starting to look promising). I eventually made it to the L2L bike course, which made me feel better for having a vague idea of where I was. But it was the section of the course that starts the climbing. Fortunately the wind decided to pick up at this time as well. So the long, slow climb was even longer and slower. I've decided that I'm more like Contador and am probably better suited for the steeper climbs rather than the long gradual slogs. At least that's what I told myself. I made it up and around Horsetooth and began the descent into town. The descent is slightly more frightening when it's not race day. There were a lot more cars and I wasn't all that willing to veer too far out of the bike lane.

I made it to some big gas station right before the turn onto Taft and decided to refill and take a quick break. After mixing some more drinks and treating myself to a chocolate gel (yum!), I was ready to start the ride back to my country (it's a little scary up north). I turned onto Taft and was immediately greeted by an extremely pleasant headwind. Of course I did. The winds always turn with me. When I left Adam, he had a tailwind and I was looking forward to that helping me back into Boulder. No such luck. And the clouds were starting to worry me, though it didn't look quite as bad to the south. If I could ride fast enough...

During my two times racing L2L, I remember the stretch on Taft with fond memories. It was here that I was able to finally pass people for good on the rollers. Maybe it was because I was the only one on the road, but more likely because of the wind, but there went the fond memories. It sucked. One hill after the next - they never end. And it's so exposed. There's nothing to block the wind. Did I mention it sucked?

I made it through town and thought I missed my turn. I turned off on a side street to consult my directions, which I no longer trusted. Google maps to the rescue. What on earth did we do before GPS phones? Seriously. Turns out that I hadn't reached my turn yet. I guess it was just wishful thinking to get out of the wind. But nope, the wind wasn't ready to leave me yet and unfortunately I didn't have many options since I had to go south.

It was exhausting. All I could think about was getting to Hygiene. It never sounded cleaner. And still the wind kept coming. I got to that sharp turn onto 75th (north of Hwy 66) where it starts to go downhill and you can usually fly on in from here, and started to feel relief. There was still wind, but I knew it was slightly downhill and I was a mere minutes away from Hygiene, new love of my life. Some guy passed me on the curve (I had passed him shortly before on the slight uphill and I guess he thought it was payback time). But he just wasn't going fast enough and that just wouldn't do. So I flew past him and could tell he was trying to hang on to my wheel. I'd been riding for over 80 miles at this point and I was NOT about to give someone a free ride and so I pushed harder. He finally got up to me at the light and was totally out of breath. But he managed to huff out "You're really strong".

WOW! That's a first! Of course, he was a slightly overweight middle-aged man. So I just told him that it was the lure of Hygiene.

I finally made it and was so ready for a break. It had taken me almost 2 hours to go 27 miles! I felt a break was much deserved after battling the wind for that long. Naturally there was no wind in Hygiene making me think I had made it up. I double checked the weather for verification. 10-15mph winds. I didn't make it up. I hung out in the shade for a bit trying to motivate for the last 20 miles.

The last 20 miles were tough. Not nearly as bad as the 27 in the wind, but by this point my legs were just tired. I was hot and sticky and covered in bugs. And for some unexplained reason my knees were covered in dirt. Maybe the wind was blowing dirt at me? My one break of the day came during the last 3 miles where I have to ride up Baseline. I finally had a tailwind! And I made it over the railroad tracks without losing any water bottles.

I finished at 108.1. A little over 6.5 hours. 2400 feet of climbing and at least 2 hours into the wind. And being exhausted from training. Not too bad all things considering. I was supposed to run 5 miles afterwards and decided to shoot for 3. After about a 20 minute transition, I was out the door. The first mile really didn't feel so bad, but at this point it was close to 95 degrees and the heat was starting to get to me. In the end, I made it 2.1 miles and decided to call it a day. I am definitely feeling better about Sept. 12. For a while I just didn't think I was getting enough distance. The last few weeks have been intense, but I've gotten through them and each week feeling more confident in my training. Which is a good thing because there are only a few weeks left...

Watch out for Snakes!

2010-07-27T16:42:00.000-06:00

On Thursday, I had the misfortune of encountering a snake while out on my bike ride over lunch. The problem was that I didn't see it until it was too late and I ended up riding over it. Yes it was alive. And no, I didn't kill it. But it kind of freaked me out for the rest of the afternoon.

It was towards the end of my ride and I was starting to get hot and hungry and guess I wasn't paying too much attention. But it's not like I always stare at the road straight in front of me. One has to look ahead as well. Anyhow, I realized that the stick was moving and was not actually a stick. I started to slam on my brakes, but then my overactive imagination got ahead of me and I thought that I was going fast enough that slamming on my brakes might actually send me over the handlebars, which would put me on top of the snake. It seems like a better idea to try and keep the bike in between us. This was a big ass snake. It was probably about 4 feet long and about twice as thick as a garden hose. It spanned across the entire bike line. So my options once I decided to not slam on the brakes were to go off road into the dirt and grass, possibly where there were many other snakes awaiting to attack. Or I could swerve into the road, and would have to be well into the lane since the snake was heading towards the center of the road. But this would possibly put in front of a car because I didn't have time to check behind me. Plus it would require me to look, which meant taking my eyes off of the snake, which meant that it might be in a different spot when I looked back. And yes, you can think of all of these options in a split second. And so all that was left was to go over. My first thought was to pull up my legs, but then realized (after starting) that I was still clipped in, so standing up and screaming seemed the next best thing. I had slowed down enough from my attempted effort of slamming on the brakes, so by the time I hit it, it hopefully wasn't such a big impact. There was a distinct bump (front wheel) followed by another distinct bump (back wheel) and then it was over. When I finally looked back, it seemed to be continuing on its way to the middle of the road where it would likely be hit by a car.

It was a bit traumatic. I kept my feet off of the floor for the rest of the afternoon.

96 miles, 96 degrees*

2010-07-17T21:19:00.069-06:00

* Okay, so it was 95.93 miles and it was over 100 degrees by the time I finished, but it doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

The day began early. Very early. It's really hard to set the alarm for 6:15 on a weekend when it's not a race. But the temperatures were expected to reach over 100 and I had a long ride ahead of me. So it was either suffer early, or suffer late (at which point I'd probably be 30 miles from home). So the alarm went off and I snoozed. Fortunately I had factored that in. I finally dragged myself up, took the dogs out for a quick walk, and was on the rode by 7:10. I am not a great rider to begin with, but riding just out of bed is really not my thing. My legs just didn't feel as they had been, but that's what being tired does to you.

By 9am, I was almost at Carter Lake having just done the Wisconsin Rollers. Again. It does really suck that it's such a short section of road. My phone rang. I thought it was weird because everyone knew I had this really long ride and who the hell would otherwise be calling me so early on a weekend. I pulled over and got out my phone. Missed call from Adam (brother). Missed call from Rachel (sister-in-law). Missed call from Lavonne (stepmom). Shit! That feeling of dread hit my stomach like a brick. What the hell happened? And I'm 30+ miles from home. I listened to the first message from Adam, who sounded like my stomach felt. He didn't give me much information other than my dad needed emergency eye surgery and to call him. I won't say that it wasn't bad, because the whole situation did really suck, but I was imagining much worse. My dad has been dealing with eye issues for the last 5 months. He had just had his second surgery a few days beforehand, but I guess something went wrong. One of the options was to put a gas bubble in his eye (he had oil in it before). The problem with gas is that it has to stay at a certain pressure, which meant that he'd have to stay at the same altitude. The problem with that is that surgery was in Denver, elevation 5280 feet and my dad lives in Nederland, elevation 8000 feet. So of course he could stay with me or Adam, or both, if that was the better option. We got the logistics somewhat squared away, but surgery wasn't going to be until much later and so I was off again. Though not quite with the same oomph I was starting to get to before.

The rest of the ride went like this:
* Quick water stop at the bottom of the lake
* Up to the lake and over/around.
* Headed north towards Loveland into unchartered territories
* Started getting nervous about water supplies and not sure what was up ahead, so turned around a little early and headed back towards Carter.
* Did that awful little jog back to the water hose at the bottom of the lake. This was the second time on this painful stretch of road. At this point it was starting to get damn hot and I felt like I was frying.
* Not so quick refill this time.
* Back across the Wisconsin rollers
* Painful hot stretch towards 75th. I think I may have started hallucinating at this point.
* After what seemed like an eternity, I made it to Hygiene where I refilled and sat under the trees for at least 30 minutes. Only 20 miles to go.
* Stopped again at Tom Watson park, which is only like 8 miles away but I already felt like an almost dead man crawling through the desert. 12 miles to go.
* Slowly made my way over to Baseline.
* Even more slowly made the long climb up Baseline to 95th.
* Crossed the railroad tracks 1 mile from home and lost my water bottles. I wanted to cry and I stopped to go back and get them. I might need them for that last little stretch.
* Home sweet home.

After checking the current temperature (100.2), I promptly laid down on the living room floor directly under the ceiling fan and didn't move for 20 minutes. Forget the run I was supposed to do. Even if I had been able to, it just seemed like a really stupid idea to try and run in 100 degrees after having spent 6 hours frying on my bike. But being that I really couldn't get off of the floor, it wasn't much of an issue.

But I did it. I ran a very slow 13 miles the next morning (another morning setting the alarm before 7). My legs were a bit tired but I think I was way more exhausted from the heat. It just zapped everything from me. I'm not quite sure how I pulled it off, but I ended the weekend feeling a lot more prepared for IMMOO. Worse case scenario come Sept. 12...if it's 95 degrees on race day, I can get through it. It just might not be too pretty.

Boulder Peak Race Report

2010-07-11T19:53:00.193-06:00

The last time I raced the Peak was in 2007. I was sick and it was anything but pretty. Getting up Olde Stage is hard enough. Getting up Olde Stage when you're sick and can't breathe is near impossible. On 36 leading up to the turn on Nelson, I ran into Adam, walking his bike because he had a flat and his CO2 cartridge failed. I gave him mine and then desperately hoped for a flat so I could quit with respect. It didn't happen and I staggered on to one of my worst Olympic finishes - right up there with racing in 40 degrees and rain. I expected this year to be drastically different.

I actually felt pretty rested going into this race. At least more so than L2L. I switched out my gearing the weekend before and my final spin up Olde Stage a few days before was so much easier! Wow! 27s are AMAZING! Well, for Olde Stage that is.

I felt like I got to the Sprint insanely early, so I gave myself a little less time. Stupid mistake. Of course there are way more people at the Peak. I got stuck in the traffic line as soon as I turned off of Jay. And I wouldn't say it was moving quickly. Fortunately I've been really good this year about not panicking and I was surprisingly calm. After all, there are only so many ways to set up ones transition spot. I finally was ushered into a parking spot and made the long walk to transition. My body marker was awesome. After I told her my age, she said "I don't believe that for a minute" and made my day. She also happened to be the wave leader for my wave as we were lined up the beach and got everyone going with cheering.

A quick comment about numbering: why the hell to the men get the low numbers and the women get the high numbers? Let's think about this. Our arms are so much smaller, much less surface area, hence much less writing area. So doesn't it makes sense to give us the 3-digit numbers rather than trying to get 4-digit numbers and have it come down past your elbow. I just don't get it.

Anyhow, I got marked and picked up my timing chip, trying to avoid the Bossy Volunteer from last time, who literally does everything by the book. Fortunately she was yelling at someone else. I made my way through transition only to find the racks full. That's what happens when you're sitting in the traffic jam. I counted 7 bikes on one rack and noticed that people had their stuff spread out like a picnic blanket. Why on earth do people need that much room? Maybe this is why we end up with 4-digit numbers. I asked to squeeze in, which would require moving someone's stuff (unless they were really two people wide), and people actually balked. "Well, we don't really have room" and "I don't know who's stuff that is". I tried to explain that there were only 7 bikes racked and there should be room for 8 and the whole time I was in shock that people were making such a fuss. I always seen people be exceptionally nice at these moments, sometimes offering a spot before even being asked. I mean, it's not like it was the end rack. So I just moved on and found a rack with fewer bikes. And nicer people. At this point I probably had about 5 minutes to set up before they closed transition. When I was heading over to my rack, I ran into Adam who was waiting in line for the bathrooms. Him: "Did you just get here?" Me: "Uh, yeah" Him: "What happened?" Me: "Traffic". Mental note: arrive early for 70.3.

Fortunately I didn't need much time to set up and for once I didn't need to use the bathroom. I'm really not sure how I managed that but I'd like to try and work this into my regular pre-race routine, because the last thing I need is to be gagging after I've struggled so hard to force food into my body.

I headed down to the beach and waited for my start.

I was a little disappointed to learn that it would be the same clockwise swim as the sprint. I can handle the sprint because it's short, but the longer distances, I prefer counter clockwise due to me breathing on my left. Another strike against Ironman. When we entered the water, I went to the front line since no one else was. The problem was that I again chose the outside, which is fine if it's counter clockwise because then I can see where I need to be and can eventually start to cut in. Doesn't work so well the other way. The gun went off and I started swimming wide. I zigged and zagged because I couldn't stay straight, but at least I was making forward progress. All of a sudden I slammed into something. It was a very large man from several waves ahead of me at a near dead stop in the water. He had to be treading water because his body was vertical, hence me slamming into to. But my first thought was that I had swam into a manatee. Brains are weird.

Fortunately Ironman decided to explain the swim course after the race started and we were not to do a 90 degree turn at the far buoy. The swim course was shaped like a house (square with a triangle on top). I got to the top of the triangle and started back to shore. Unfortunately, I somehow ended up heading towards the buoy I had just come from. And even more unfortunately, the kayakers decided to let me almost reach this wrong buoy before stopping me to tell me I was going the wrong way and needed to go waaaayyy over there. Thanks. And no, I was not by myself. There were quite a few of us that made this detour. Well, there goes my swim. I finally made it back to shore and didn't have any run-ins with things sticking into my feet like at the Stroke n'Stride a few days before.

Fortunately someone had pointed out a star-shaped balloon on the rack before mine, so I didn't have too much trouble finding my bike (you'd think having a yellow and orange bike would be sufficient, but it's amazing how it blends in). And off to the ride.

I didn't feel quite as good on the bike as I was hoping to. During the sprint, by the time I got to Jay, I was ready to fly. This time around, by the time I got to Jay, I was ready to turn around. It doesn't help knowing that Olde Stage is looming ahead. I pushed the thought out of mine and just continued forward. At least the hill is at the beginning. The climb felt a lot harder than a few days before, of course, I hadn't been swimming or riding hard going into it. But at least I had my faithful 27. I got to the steep part and saw Mike the Devil, who came running over and proceeded to run with me for a bit. That helped except when he asked how I was feeling and I could barely breathe to respond. I think I told him to ask me again when I got to the top. I wouldn't say the top came before I knew it, but I did eventually reach it and started the long descent. I actually got cold on the ride down but that didn't last long. I played leap frog with a few women on the rollers on 63rd - I catch them on the hills and they catch me on the flats. The one downside of the 27 meant I lost the 11. I felt like I was struggling at times but overall felt like I was doing much better than previous years. I got passed by Adam right before the turn back onto Jay and was pretty psyched that it took him that long to catch up. After that it's just that one last hill and then back into transition.

T2 was equally uneventful thanks to the star balloon. I did a quick shoe swap, grabbed my hat, and was off.

I had a side cramp immediately. I don't even think I made it out of transition before it set in. I told myself to just run through it and it would eventually go away. The cramp thought otherwise. It was so insanely painful - I don't think I've ever had a cramp like this before. It hurt to touch my skin. My run slowed to a shuffle and I tried not to breathe. At one point I actually stopped running to see if the pain would immediately subside. It didn't, so I started running again - I mean if it's going to hurt regardless, might as well run. The most comfortable position I could find involved pushing my stomach out. But it's really hard to run and do that at the same time. The two are sort of opposing forces. The cramp finally subsided shortly after mile 2, at which point I was finally able to run like I wanted to. I had a great run at the Stroke n'Stride a few days before and had been hoping for similar. Unfortunately the cramp put a damper on that for 2 miles, but I was able to really pick up the pace after that. My goal was 2:50. I rounded the corner to the finish and saw the clock at 3:10 and change (I started 20 minutes after the start). I had to smile. It was still in the 2:50 minute, so I'd say it counted. Either way, I still PR'd by 6 minutes even with a swim detour and a cramp. I'll take it.

swim: 29:11
t1: 1:55
bike: 1:25:33 (18.3 mph)
t2: 1:13
run: 52:54 (8:32 pace)
total: 2:50:44

age group: 28/105
females: 114/541
overall: 524/1347

And I have to say that Ironman is starting to get it together a bit more. Of course, I went to packet pickup on Friday and avoided the rush, but there were way more volunteers working and the layout made a lot more sense. And although we got the same hideous race bag, at least the t-shirts were technical this time.

Stroke n' Stride #6

2010-07-09T16:33:00.001-06:00

First Stroke n' Stride of the season. I did it more to support a friend and to get in another open water swim before the Peak. And despite some slight mishaps*, it went pretty well. I believe the swim was long, so I believe I am happy with my swim results. My transition was slower than molasses as I was checking in on said friend who was not staying for the run. But I was happy with this as well - it made me feel a lot calmer to be able to chat with friends and took some of the pressure off of myself. I was very happy (and surprised) with my run. It's amazing what rest and an easy week can do...

*slight mishaps:
- Too many jellybeans on the drive over to the Res
- I left my goggles and swimcap in the car and didn't realize it until about 5 minutes before the start of the race.
- Ditto for picking up my timing chip
- During the run over to both the car and the booth, the jellybeans took their revenge. I immediately felt insanely full and about to throw up. This made for a very uncomfortable run between swim laps and an even more uncomfortable run.
- I stepped on a sticker of sorts as I stood up to exit the water. It is a bad idea to try and balance on one leg to examine the opposite foot immediately after swimming a 1500. It is an even worse idea to try and do this while still in the water.
- There is such a thing as too many jelly beans, despite what Ronald Reagan may have said.

swim lap 1: 14:39 (yikes!)
swim lap 2: 16.22 (even more yikes!)
T: 2:06 (I definitely dawdled)
run: 23.58 (7:44 pace)

total: 57:04

age group: 2/7 (kind of funny after my last posting)
females: 13/41
overall: 39/103

Afterthoughts...Appreciation

2010-07-02T20:22:00.000-06:00

So after wavering for some time between being okay and being not okay with my L2L results, I started thinking about why I wasn't okay with them. I mean, considering the circumstances, it was a really good race. I should rephrase - considering my circumstances, it was a really good race. Because let's face it. Many people go into races with their own circumstances. And I'm sure some do much better than me and some do much worse. But maybe they're okay with the results.

Last weekend, as I was heading into the final stretch of the run before heading back into the park, a man was pretty much just starting his run. He was pushing a stroller, with whom I'm assuming was his son. It was very much in the spirit of Team Hoyt, who are nothing less than inspiring. Talk about selflessness. These men are doing these races entirely for someone else. Sure, they get something out of it was well I'm sure. But they are giving up speed and winning for something so much bigger. It reminded me of Vineman two years ago. I was way at the back of the pack, sick and feeling sorry for myself. A wheelchair athlete passed us going the other direction (heading towards the finish). As he passed us, he yelled something along the lines of "You guys are my heros!". That sort of killed the feeling sorry for myself - I had absolutely no right to do so.

So why do I keep letting this happen? Not to be pessimistic, but I'm not going to be winning my age group any time soon. It's Boulder after all. And at one point I thought I might have a chance when I'm 70, but then I realized that I'd still be racing against the same people. I think I've accepted this, but where I'm struggling is the happy medium between not winning, but still doing better. My biggest competitor is myself. At what point is being better good enough? If I'm one second faster, that should be sufficient because I'm faster. It's important to have goals, but it's also important to have fun.

So, I should be happy with being 15th (the Sprint), or 10th (L2L) in my age group. And now that I've had some time to think about it, I am. I'm a lot closer to the top than I am to the bottom and that definitely counts for something.

Training Through...Lake to Lake Race Report

2010-06-25T16:10:00.000-06:00

I'm not using this as an excuse, but I do need to preface this report with a disclaimer. Craig asked me last weekend if I was okay with training through Lake to Lake. And since Wisconsin is what I'm focusing on and since Wisconsin is right around the corner and since I don't feel like I'm close to being ready, I said yes. That was before I got my training schedule. *Since the disclaimer is really long, I put it at the end so that this still seems like it's a race report as opposed to a history of my week. Read at your own discretion.

The nice thing about this race was that it was on Saturday, which meant that I could still enjoy part of the weekend. The bad thing about this race is that it's on a Saturday so I felt like my pre-race routine was all thrown off. So after coming off of a full day of work, I had to get up at 3:30a on Saturday morning. Yes. That's really early. I tried to force myself to go to bed early, but when it doesn't get dark until 9:30 it's sort of hard to do. I wouldn't say I slept great, but I did sleep for a bit without the horrible OMG I forgot my bike sort of dreams. I woke up at one point half convinced I had overslept. But I was pretty sure I had set the alarm correctly and was afraid that if I looked at the clock, it would say that I only had 15 more minutes to sleep. In which case I would have not gone back to sleep and have just counted down the minutes. But on the other hand, if I had not set the alarm right, then I might oversleep and miss the race. Of course, it's insanely early, so maybe I'd be okay with that. In the end I talked myself out of checking and the alarm went off as planned however many minutes later.

When we did this race 2 years ago, we were one of the first to get to the site and had no line to contend with for packet pickup. Except that they didn't have Matt's registration for whatever reason. And we had to wait until Someone Important showed up to clarify everything. Well, Someone Important was really late and by the time he finally got everything squared away, the transition area was pretty full and we had to squeeze our way in. I didn't want to run the risk of dealing with that again, so I was out the door at 3:45.

Which was way too early.

I got to the race at 4:30. There were all of 2 other people there. At least I got a good parking spot. But packet pickup didn't open until 5 and transition until 5:15. I tried to sleep for a bit, but it wasn't really working. Around 4:50, people were starting to see if the building was open, so I headed over as well. There were no lines and no issues and I was back at the car 10 minutes later. I dawdled for quite some time getting stickers on and what not, so by the time I headed over to transition, all of the front racks were taken. Knowing that I would have a very difficult time finding my bike (since racks were not numbered, not that that helped me last weekend) so I headed towards the middle so that I could get the end of a rack and be able to see my bike as I was running up the aisle. It did mean that I'd have to run more with my bike, but I figured that was still better than running around looking for my bike. I got everything set up and put my running shoes on for a light warmup. It was already getting hot and it's wasn't quite 6 am. It was going to be a hot one. After one last pit stop, I double checked transition, grabbed my wetsuit, and headed down to the beach.

Okay, so here was the problem. If you've read previous race reports, you know that I really struggle to eat in the morning. I had brought a plain bagel with me, thinking I'd have plenty of time to wake up and struggle through it before the race. Well, getting up at 3:30 threw me all out of wack. Or maybe I hadn't eaten enough the night before - I was so tired making dinner that I almost gave up. I don't know. But I started picking at the bagel during the drive, maybe around 4. Only I wasn't really picking at it. I was actually eating it. I had eaten most of it before I had gotten to the race, finishing up the rest of it while applying stickers and dawdling. By 6a, I was starving. I had a gel and figured that would do the trick. It did for a while. About 20 minutes into the ride, I was starving again. And since the first part of the ride is all uphill, I really needed to eat now rather than wait. I had a few Honey Stinger fruit chews and some water. Wasn't doing it. I had some Hammer Perpetuem. Still wasn't doing it. I didn't want to eat too much at once, but I needed something. I finally broke down and had another gel and lots more liquid. All of this caught up with me on the run when I really thought I was going to throw up. *Grossness alert* At one point, something started to come up and somehow I fought it but I had just passed a water stop and now had to wait another mile with this awful taste in my mouth. Lesson learned: eat before a race, but not 2.5 hrs before a race. Find a happier medium.

The Swim:

The waves weren't so much age groups rather than age buckets. They squeezed a whole lot of people into 6 waves. I was in the first wave (nice and early at 6:30), with all the other 35-39 (men and women) and the elites (men and women), and possibly some others thrown into the mix. It's a beach start and I don't remember how I worked it two years ago, but I couldn't figure out where I wanted to be. Starting with the elites, I certainly wasn't going to be front and center. And not knowing where the elites ended and the age groupers began, I ended up hanging back a bit. So I was stuck in the chaos up until the first buoy. I found someone to draft off of, but they were a little too slow so I kept running into their feet. Unfortunately my wetsuit was really rubbing against the back of my neck and it was starting to get painful. So I stayed with my draftee so I wouldn't have to turn my head so much. Heading back to shore, my swimcap felt like it was coming off. I reached up and sure enough, half of my head was exposed. So I kept trying to pull it forward, thinking I didn't have much farther to go, but clearly it was bothering me. I slowed down even more (as though that would keep it on). It was also really hard to figure out where we were supposed to get out of the water until we were pretty close to sure, so for a while, I really wasn't sure where I was going and decided to leave all my trust in the swimmers ahead of me. The problem with this particular swim course is that it's about 1/4 mile from transition, so it's a really long run up the beach, across the field, and then into transition. So not only are you going suddenly from horizontal to vertical, you now have to run 1/4 mile in a rubber suit. But so does everyone else...

T1:
I didn't have any issues finding my bike this time (I would have felt really stupid if I had). I've been practicing my sockless rides and this was going to be the inaugural race. I figured it would save me so much time because I wouldn't have to dry my feet and try to put socks on wet feet. However, my feet were covered in grass and I felt like I had to get most of that off before putting shoes on or something was going to start poking me. I think I saved a total of 5 seconds. Maybe a little more because the transition area is on grass, which is awesome, because you can actually run on it in bike shoes and not really have to worry about wiping out. The thing is that you exit down a short little hill and then onto the parking lot to mount - so you can't be going too fast or wipeout is inevitable.

The Bike:
I remember the bike course being awful for the first half. It took me a while to get into a rhythm. But I was hoping for something different this time. Things seemed to start of better. The first few miles are some ups and downs and I seemed to be handling them okay. But once out of town, there's a long gradual climb until you get to the two big hills. This is where I died. I just couldn't find a good pace and was being passed right and left (well, left and more left). This was also where I got really hungry. My legs ached and I really didn't feel like I had it in me. My "training through" had caught up with me. I was really hoping that I'd be able to pull through and get at least the same or faster bike split during this race. I really wanted something to show that I was improving (my 1 second PR from last weekend wasn't quite what I was looking for). But I felt like I was starting giving up, and I just couldn't get my legs to move. I kept reminding myself that I was tired and that I had a really long week, but it just seemed like an excuse. And so I plodded on with this argument in my head. Once I got to the big climbs, I did feel better and was able to pick up my cadence and eventually my pace. I remember passing people on the climb two years ago and put that image into my head. I don't remember if I actually made it happen again, but I did get passed towards the top of the final climb, but I was sort of expecting it. The rest of the ride was much better - maybe because it's mostly downhill. But even the rollers felt pretty good. I wouldn't say I felt strong, but stronger than I had started. There would be no PR today - it was just a matter of hanging on. Once past the rollers, the rest of the ride is fast and the testosterone kicks in and the guys go flying past. It's a little weird on the final stretch because they close the entire lefthand side of the road. So do I ride on the right, which is actually the middle of the road, or stick to the curb. It wasn't quite as much of a dilemma as before, but it does make you think. Someone had crashed on the turn into this road and we had to swing wide around them. It's sort of unsettling to see someone sprawled out on the ground with paramedics on their way. It's also not a good picture to have in your mind. So I backed off a bit and let the testosterone through and started mentally getting ready for the run.

T2:
The dismount was fine, though a little slippery. But I struggled trying to push my bike up the short little hill into transition. Tiredness had clearly set in. I had put my bag at the front of the rack facing outwards so I'd know where to stop on the run back. I knocked one of my water bottles off while racking my bike and had to pick it up. I know I should have left it, but it was all of 5 seconds. I did have to take a little extra time as well to put on socks - I'm not sure I'm ready to try running sockless anytime soon. And then off again.

The Run:
The run starts off cutting across the field and down a steep hill out of the park, with the steep hill sort of catapulting you out of the park and onto the road. It's an out and back course, which is great because you get to see and cheer on the winners. And it's no so great in that you can see everyone that is ahead of you, but that really doesn't matter for me as there is always someone ahead of me. I don't really love the course. The options are to run on the road, which is banked, or to run on the sidewalk, and deal with all of the ups and downs of people's driveways. The last little bit by the turnaround is the only level surface, but a good deal of it is totally exposed. But it's only 6 miles, right? Things started off well - better than last week with no cramping. But I was really full at this point. Big surprise considering all I had eaten. I saw Adam around mile 2 and he was heading home. Suddenly 4 miles felt like a lot. I made it to the turnaround without any issue, but heading back, I started to feel like I was going to throw up. If you're reading from the beginning, you already know what happens so I won't go into it again. But it wasn't pleasant. I just took it one step at a time and soon I was back in the park, approaching the world's cruelest finish line. Recap from two years ago: as I was entering the park, a volunteer directing us was cheering everyone on and said "only 1/2 mile left". And I thought "yeah, right". She doesn't how far a 1/2 mile is. Besides, we're back in the park, close to the beach, so it's what, maybe 1/4 mile. Time to start kicking it. Well, she was right. Every bend I went around, there was always a person still in front of me. I could hear the finish line, just couldn't see it. At one point, we ran along this waterway and I looked across it and saw people still running, but the other way. Needless to say I was dying - when would it end. And then, shortly before the actual finish line, they put a timing pad and then have someone standing there yelling at you not to stop because it's not the finish. And then you finally hit the finish line gasping for air. End of recap. Well, even know what the finish is like didn't make it any less cruel this time around. And this time, the announcer and spectators were trying to get races to sprint finish. If they were anywhere near someone else, they'd be goaded on to try and beat each other. I picked up the pace a little on the final turn, but didn't really have it in me to go much harder. It's one thing to almost throw up somewhere out on the course. It's entirely different to do it right at the finish line. So I let the older guy that I had been tailing go flying past me at about a million miles per hour and gave him the "win". And then I saw the clock turn over from 2:59 to 3:00. Aaggghhh! If only I had known sooner, I would have tried to find something.

swim: 30:19

t1: 1:33

bike: 1:35:31 (18.8 mph)

t2: 1:19

run: 51:49 (8:21 pace)

total: 3:00:34

age: 10/64

female: 72/317

overall: 282/715

*Disclaimer

When I got my schedule, I almost cried. Monday off. Tuesday 25 mile ride, 13.5 mile run. Wed 4 mile run, 3200 meter swim. Thursday 18 mile ride, 7 mile run. Friday off. Saturday race. What?!? Um, I wasn't exactly sure how all of that was going to happen. But somehow it did. Most of it. It works out better for me (and the dogs) if I take Tuesdays off, so I decided to swap Monday and Tuesday. But of course, Monday was the day after the Sprint, so it was the ideal rest day. I decided that it was only a sprint, so I'd be fine. So Monday I rode at lunch and it was actually a really good ride. I felt really solid, and actually started to think that I could get through this week. I was going to run after work but around 3:00 or so, I started getting stomach pains. I think I had bad salad dressing. Anyhow, they were getting worse throughout the afternoon and all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball. Running under such conditions really didn't seem like a good idea. It probably wasn't even possible being that I was struggling just to walk. So I set the alarm for 4a Tuesday morning. I woke up and still felt sick. But Tuesday was supposed to be really hot in the afternoon (90s) so the odds of me going after work would be slim. I felt exhausted, and I needed to get this run in, so I decided to take a Wellness Day and called in sick. I slept for another few hours and then headed out for my run around 8:30. It was 75 degrees. It quickly heated up and it was high 80s when I finished. It didn't quite go according to plan. I had to stop a few times and run through some sprinklers as well as stop to walk for a bit. At one point, I figured I'd just stop and then try and get in a few more miles later in the day. But I decided that it would be better to just get it over all at once and so I plodded on. Overall I finished faster than I was expecting, so I was pretty happy with the results. I wasted the rest of the day buying new running shoes, running errands, and other general nothingness. It was a much needed day away from work, even though I did have to put in a few hours from home. Wednesday's 4 mile run went fine. I was surprised how okay my legs felt. Of course, I had been living in compression socks since Sunday's race (and would continue to do so for the rest of the week). The combination of compression socks, my massage stick, arnica, and some cooling metholy creme seemed to help tremendously (and there was an ice bath thrown in there after the long run). I was pretty dead for Wednesday's swim and just tried to hold on, which I can't really say I did. It was a good effort though. Thursday was another long run, but at a very easy pace, which was good considering I went out in the heat of the day at lunchtime. I ran with 2 people from work, which was probably a good thing as I may not have done the whole thing without them. It was getting damn hot out there, but fortunately Boulder Creek was right there and I stopped twice to dunk my hat (which felt SO GOOD!). The run ended up being roughly the same pace as my long run, which was decent considering it was much warmer out and I was way more tired. I also rode to and from work, not quite getting in my 18 miles, but pretty close. I was going to go longer, but figured Thursday night was my important night of sleep and figured it would be better to get home and rest instead. Friday was the long awaited for day off. It would have been great had I not had to work. But I guess I have to to support this lifestyle. Anyhow, I made it through the week and was just hoping for the best on Saturday.

*End Disclaimer

Lines...A 5430 Sprint Race Report

2010-06-20T20:31:00.001-06:00

I've raced the sprint 5 times. During the first 4 races I never waited more than 10 minutes to get my packet. But this one, I spent more time in lines than I did actually racing.

~1 hour to get checked off a list
~35 minutes to sign waivers and get the important stuff
~5 minutes for food
~20 minutes to get back into transition to get my stuff
~10 minutes to get out of transition with my stuff
plus the typical wait time to get out of the Res

But that's the pre-race report (see earlier posting)...

Leading up to the race, I was surprisingly chill about the whole thing. I guess it is a sprint. But I was totally organized hours before I went to bed. And I slept really well, waking only because Mobi required some attention (he had to be re-covered). I woke up before my alarm and was out of house right on schedule. I tried to get down a plain bagel, but it wasn't working out so well for me. I made it to the Res and parked without much waiting at all. My biggest concern was my foot. It's been bothering me for about the last 6 weeks, and is now being called sesmoiditis. Fortunately it doesn't bother me when I run, but the week before it was killing me when I walked. I was dreading walking around barefoot, which hurts the most. Due to poor planning or not paying attention, I ended up doing a lot more walking around barefoot before the race than I would have liked. My foot was incredibly tender as I was lining up for the swim start.

The Swim:
Fortunately the water was a little on the colder side and I think that helped numb my foot (it's been interesting that swimming is the one activity that I do feel the pain. Running and riding it's fine). Anyhow, it didn't bother me for the rest of the race. Phew. I started on the front line of the swim (first time), but to the outside. People were actually backing away from the line so when the gun went off, there wasn't really anyone coming up from behind and I had a straight shot. Unfortunately, it's a clockwise course and I breathe to my left, so I believe I swam a little wide. The swim was otherwise uneventful and before I knew it (it was a short swim afterall) I was back on the beach. I had managed to forget all about my foot and didn't really mind the run up to transition - but I was grateful for the carpeting they had laid out.

T1:
I ran past my rack. I sort of figured it would happen since every time I tried to find my rack, I ended up passing it. So much for quick transitions.

The Bike:
My fastest bike time on this course was set the very first year I did the race (2005) and on my old "tri" bike when I didn't really know what I was doing. Every year I don't even come close to beating it, despite a much nicer (lighter) bike and having a slightly better idea of what I'm doing. That being said, I've been trying to work on my cycling and feel like slowly, very slowly, I'm starting to improve. If there was ever a year to PR on the bike, it would be this year. I came out of the Res feeling pretty good and just started passing people. This is a big deal because I'm usually the one that gets passed and passed and passed. But I guess that's the one nice thing about having all of the guys starting first (and starting towards the end) - there weren't that many people behind me to pass me. But despite this, it felt different this time. I actually felt like I was riding well and passing a lot. I just hoped that I could keep it up. I thought I was going to get penalized on the first hill off of 36. It was right after the downhill stretch where everyone is flying, but then they get to the hill and sort of stop. Someone had just passed me, so I had to drop back, but then we were coming up on a few people that were a lot slower so both of us had to pass. I was starting to catch up with the person that had just passed me and turned to look behind me to make sure I wasn't about to cut someone else off. The ref was right there on the motorcycle, so I pulled back in - I wasn't about to throw myself in front of a motorcycle. But they didn't ride by, so I looked again and they were still there just watching. At this point I felt like I had to pass because I was getting way too close to the people in front of me. Since they weren't really moving, I pulled out. And because I thought they were watching me, I felt like I had to fly by everyone to make it look like I was trying to pass and had valid reason to. Fortunately it was towards the top of the hill so I didn't have to kill myself for too long. I was able to power on the rest of the ride and felt pretty good coming back into the Res. If I didn't PR, I had to be pretty close.

T2:
I'm not sure why I didn't notice it on the way out on the bike - maybe because I was still catching my breath and orientation from going from horizontal to vertical. I got new cleats this past week since mine were WELL beyond their prime. And like a seasoned triathlete, I didn't bother trying them out before the race. When I got off the bike, I felt like I was running on reverse heels - they were so high and clunky. I had to slow down for fear of wiping out. Maybe it's time to start practicing leaving my shoes in my pedals. I swapped shoes, grabbed my hat, and was off.

The Run:
I drank a little too much on the ride and immediately had cramps on the run. They were severe enough that I couldn't run hard. So I plodded through the first mile until they eventually subsided. I was able to pick up the pace at this point and just tried to focus on getting faster over the last 2 miles. I'd like to this that I got faster each mile, but I can't say for sure. I certainly felt better each mile, and maybe that's more important. I finished strong despite being 3 minutes slower than my goal time.

swim: 14:06
t1: 2:01
bike: 51:01 (20.2 mph)
t2: 1:20
run: 25:22 (8:11 min/mile)
total: 1:33:48

age: 15/97
female: 79/553
overall: 395/1277

I did PR on the bike by 1 second. I'm still trying to figure that one out. I went from 20.1 to 20.2 but that only yielded a second faster. But oh well, I'll take it. And considering I was coming off of working 12 days straight, I'd say that overall, it was a pretty good race.

What? Another Line? A Pre-race Report

2010-06-19T20:06:00.000-06:00

I have never stood in so many lines for anything in my life. Here's a recap of packet pickup - an event in itself.

Line 1: The Big Black X

I got a call from Adam around 10:30a telling me I should get to the Res soon because the lines were already insane and there were only 2 people checking people in. So I got up from the couch and decided to go. Only I couldn't find my USAT card, which I just recently renewed. I know I put it in a good place, but that's my problem with my superb organizational system - it's such a good place that I can never find it. And usually when I do find it, I suddenly remember why I thought it was in such a good place the first time. I had no problem finding last years card - both the card and that keychain thing they give you as well. Maybe it's a hint that I should actually put it on my keychain. So after going through everything imaginable, I decided I just needed to print out a temporary card. I always have problems logging into the site - for some reason it just never recognizes my username and password and I have to find some backdoor approach. Well, I couldn't get in and I couldn't find the backdoor until I realized I was on some US Tennis site. After spending way too much time on this (I also had to hook up the printer), I finally had my temporary card. I got to the Res and the end of the line started at the finish line, then wrapped around the fencing, around the audience area of the stage, along a row of expo booths, and then around the corner. Thankfully I had sunscreen with me - I put it on immediately. Exactly what you want to do the day before a race: stand around in the hot sun. We were moving very slowly. As we got closer, we realized there was a second line. But for something else. We weren't allowed into the second line without first getting to the end of Line 1. It probably took an hour to get to the front of the line where a guy asked me my name, looked at my IDs, checked my name off of a list, asked where Adam was (since his name was right before mine), and then put a big X on my hand and told me to go to the other line. Seriously?

Line 2a: Waivers

Line 2 at least looked a lot shorter when we first discovered it. However, by the time we got in it, it had grown. By a lot. Everyone was complaining. The guy behind me had his two kids with him. The younger one was maybe 3. He did great. Right up until we were about to enter the tent (the end is near) and then just lost it. I really couldn't blame him. As I entered the tent, I was asked for my number. How the hell was I supposed to know that? I just got a X on my hand. Well, apparently we were supposed to look that up prior to entering the tent, only no one was communicating this. I found my number (1017) and got to the table. I gave them my number, showed them my ID again, and they gave me 2 pieces of paper. The first one was mostly pre-filled in and I was told to make sure it was accurate and to fill in the missing pieces. The second had my name and number printed on it, but was otherwise a standard waiver that had to be signed. I can guarantee you that almost everyone in the lines would have foregone the pre-filled forms and would have been happy to fill out all pieces of information, while standing in line, thereby reducing the number of stations for which we had to stand in line.

Line 2b: Filing

Papers were signed and delivered to the next station. Apparently at one point, you were not permitted to move to the next station until after they filed your papers (hence the pre-numbers???). Fortunately they realized that we'd still be standing in line well beyond the end of the race if they kept that up.

Line 2c: I must be a moron

The next stage was the big one. This was where I got what I had been waiting for all along - bib, stickers, swimcap. I was first asked for my ID. Really? It would have been nice if they had at least warned you to keep your ID out and available. I kept putting my back in my wallet and then my wallet back in the bottom of my bag. And then had to dig around for it later. I turned to the woman next to me, who was also very close to a meltdown, and sighed that we had to show our IDs. Again. She turned to her volunteer and asked if she needed her ID. When she said yes, she just threw her ID at her. She was done. Anyhow, after confirming that once I again I was me, I was handed a bag and swimcap and I started to turn to leave. I was stopped. I was told that I must listen to this woman who would go over instructions quickly. Before she started, she held up a piece of paper and said that if I forgot anything she said, I could refer to this piece of paper that had the SAME EXACT INFORMATION that she was about to go over. Do I really need to listen to you if 1) I've done this before and 2) I can read it for myself in the comfort of my own home where I'm out of the heat and off of my feet? The answer was yes. And she was anything but quick. You have two bibs, one for the bike and one for the run. Do you have a race belt? Oh you do, well, then you'll have an extra bib. Okay now, this number is going to go on your helmet. And this number is going to blah, blah, blah. Got it. Can I go now? Finally I was excused to...

Line 2d: I paid for what?

All this money. All this time in line. And I get a crappy cotton t-shirt.

Welcome to corporate racing. I'm bringing a chair for the Peak.

Something Good in Between Rain Drops

2010-06-14T21:35:00.000-06:00

I have never seen so much rain!!! My backyard is a sponge. You sink into about an inch of water stepping into the grass. Needless to say Mobi won't go anywhere near it and his been walking along the edges of the yard (Mobi really needs to have his own post one day). I had to work all weekend, which kind of sucked, but I have to say that I couldn't have picked a better weekend to be stuck at work. If I hadn't been working, I probably would have been sitting on my ass, watching the World Cup, and eating my way through the weekend. So maybe it was a good thing - we really did get through a lot.

I tried to squeeze my workouts in between working a full day and the rain. I figured that I might have a shot of getting out a little early on Sunday, so I saved my brick for then. Which meant that I headed over to the pool around 5:30 pm for a Saturday night swim. I know, lame. There were a few other people there, but after about 15 minutes, I was alone and in the rain. I left work with a headache and wasn't expecting to make it through my swim. But there was something about being in the pool by myself on such a dreary day that made me want to swim. Besides, what else was I going to do being that I have such an exciting social life (Matt and I ended up watching a movie, which is probably what we would have done had I not had to work). My headache went away and I had a really good swim.

Sunday was much of the same. Work. Rain. Rain. More rain. Work. And so on...I didn't get to leave as early as I thought and ended up getting home around 4:30 or so. Technically my workout should have been something like a 2.5 hr ride and then an hour run. Technically the timing of that would have worked out. But I move a little slower through "transitions" when I'm at home. It took me a while to get set up on the trainer - I never thought I'd be on the trainer in June! I got stuck in the storm on Thursday (really bad idea!) and had to clean my bike off before it came back into the house. I had to get a movie set up, get water, get food, etc. So I didn't start riding until around 5. The movie ended after 90 minutes. I decided to call it good and try and get in part of my run. With two races around the corner, the brick seemed more important than a long ride. Surprisingly it was still raining. And it was 6:30. Anyone in their right mind would have been jumping at the opportunity to go out for a run. You can sense my lack of motivation here, but you probably can't blame me, especially if you were in town this weekend and lived through The Weekend of Sogginess. I dragged myself out the door. I realized once I was outside that I had forgotten my iPod, but I had a feeling if I went back inside to get it, I wouldn't be coming back outside, especially having felt the conditions. I also had to keep my Garmin under my sleeve because I was worried about that water (I've had to send a Garmin back before because of water getting in under the glass). My sleeve was kind of tight and it would be difficult to keep checking the time. So I decided, well, I have no music, I might as well have no watch either. I decided to try and do the run in what I thought was a mid-Z3 pace and would see how well I did when I finished. I took off and by the time I got to the end of the block (about 6 houses), I realized that I felt pretty good (possibly due to being cooped up all weekend at work). I settled into what I felt was my desired pace and just ran. Even the hills didn't seem that bad. 5.2 miles later I was back. And soaking wet. When I finally checked my watch I saw that I was right where I thought I was, averaging 149 bpm, and just slightly slower than my BB pace (more proof that I had a crappy BB). I sort of surprised myself with this and it turned the weekend around. Though I didn't get to do much over the weekend, I still managed to end it on a really strong note. I'm actually starting to feel prepared for racing the next two weekends (note that I said starting to feel prepared...not there just yet).

I Think It's A Carrot

2010-06-06T20:34:00.003-06:00

Okay, I'm not really sure what it is, but it's sprouting up roughly from where I planted carrots. Of course, it could be a weed. I'll let you know in a few weeks.

But the garden is coming along. Everything is officially planted and the sprinkler system is all hooked up. I still think I have a few more weeks of adjusting the sprinklers and times to make sure everything is getting enough water, but so far, so good. And if I must say, my tomatoes are looking a lot better than my neighbors.

I have my first pepper, which was not planted from seed...

And my first green beans poking through, which were planted from seed...These guys are really determined. Four of them worked their way up through the dirt yesterday while I was out riding.

Bolder Boulder Race Report

2010-05-31T22:45:00.001-06:00

The year is 1999. It's my first BB. My bib number is J233. I was coming from sea level - Washington DC. And yes, I had to go look all of this up. My goal was to beat Adam. I was young and not really sure what I was thinking being that he lived here at 5400 ft. and thus had much better odds of beating me. But again, I was young. 3 age groups ago in triathlon years. But this was before my triathlon years. It would be the year of my first marathon though. I believe I ran a solid BB considering it was my second 10K since the Great Race in Pittsburgh, which I believe I last ran in 3rd grade and am not even sure if I really "ran" it. I finished in 50:54, about 5 minutes after Adam. (I made up for it the following year by narrowing the losing gap to 40 seconds.)

Flash forward 11 years (wow!). My bib number is C036. And let's just say that this was my worst BB since that first one. And being that I now live here and am actually acclimated to altitude, you could so far as to say that this was my worst BB ever. I'm not really sure what happened. It could have been that I didn't feel all that prepared. But I had a great 7 mile run a few days before which made me almost reconsider. It could have been the 2 glasses of wine the night before (why ruin a good dinner when I already wasn't feeling prepared?). It could have been the complete incompetence of the bag drop people who couldn't figure out how to manage the single-file line of thousands of people waiting to drop off their bag, thus causing me to have to cut the line so that I could make my start time, and thus making me feel horribly guilty for having just cut in front of thousands of people, and thus making me have to run to the start and push through hoards of people that had the good sense to get to their wave with plenty of time to spare, and thus making me get to the C wave just as it was moving to the starting line, thus making me completely out of breath when the gun went off.

But these are just excuses. I haven't felt well rested for a while. Work is insane. Training is coming second if it comes at all. I have been skipping workouts right and left and September is right around the corner. Let's face it, I was screwed before I even got in line for the bag drop. I don't want to say that I gave up somewhere around Mile 3, but I did slow down and ask myself why I'm trying to kill myself somewhere around Mile 3. I noticeably slowed down and guess I just hoped for the best.

Things didn't get much better at the finish. The completely incompetent bag drop people hadn't gotten any better on the other side. I went to the Truck 4, whose numbers corresponded to the numbers they pasted on my bib - 2398. You'd think with the amount of waiting that people did to drop their bags off that they were doing something useful like putting the bags on the truck in numerical order. But no, that would have been too logical. 2391, nope. 2393, nope. 2400, nope. Well, maybe your bag is on another truck - it happens sometimes I was told. They told me to check Truck 5. This seemed pointless being that Truck 5 wasn't even opened when I cut the line to drop off my bag. They were only serving Truck 3 and 4 at this time. But I went to Truck 5, who took a look at my number and kindly told me that my bag would be on a different truck and to check the numbers. Yes I realize that my bag SHOULD be on Truck 4, but it doesn't appear to be. So I went to Truck 3. Again, they told me to go to a different truck. And again I tried to inform them that I wasn't a moron but could they maybe check to see if they had other bags accidentally on their truck. I must have started getting a little irate because Someone Of Importance came over to reassure me that they'd find my bag and that it's probably just on another truck. I started to ask, so what am I supposed to do, just hang out and wait for them to try and unload 20 trucks and see if mine is accidentally on one of them. But she walked away because she was Someone Of Importance and had Important Business to attend to elsewhere. Truck 6 or 7 pulls up and suddenly bags start coming off of that one and are brought to other (correct) trucks. Aha! This could be the magic group of bags that made it on the wrong truck. I went over to check and AGAIN was told that I need to go to a different truck. YES I KNOW WHICH TRUCK MY BAG SHOULD BE ON BUT NO ONE CAN FIND IT!!! Another Person Of Importance comes over to try and assuage me, asking if I had a phone in the bag. I really had to struggle to refrain myself from saying why on earth would I actually put something valuable in a bag that clearly can be so easily misplaced. But she actually said it as though a light bulb went off in her head with this brilliant idea that she seemed convinced would find me my bag. No such luck - we couldn't try and call my bag. Finally the guy that I had originally asked on Truck 4 pulls out a bag from way in the back from amount the 2200s or something and calls out my number. This process seemed to take as much time as it took me to finish the race. Beware of bag drop.

On the plus side, I had to do a 30 mile ride later in the day and for whatever reason, it turned out to be a really good ride. Don't get me wrong - it hurt like hell and my legs were on fire for most of it. But I rode pretty well despite this and was even able to charge up the hills almost as though I hadn't run a 10K that morning. Of course, now that I'm writing this I realize that I barely ran a 10K that morning and the fact that I was able to ride so well just further confirmed the fact. Oh well, so much for being a plus.

Oh, and just like in 1999, Adam beat me again by about 5 minutes. If history really does repeat itself, I'll be ready to almost crush him next year.

Old Stage Kicked My Ass

2010-05-24T21:24:00.000-06:00

Oh the plans I had for the weekend. Get my brick out of the way on Saturday and spend Sunday finishing up the garden. It was going to be glorious (here's where the sarcasm kicks in).

I was out way too late on Friday and had a little too much to drink. It was a guy from my team's last day and I was very sad to see him go. I had to drink my sorrows away with everybody else. I woke up early on Saturday and wouldn't say that I felt well rested. But part of me thought I could get started on my ride early and miss the winds. Um yeah. No so luck. It was windy by 9, and gale force shortly after. Matt strongly advised me to not ride outside. I agreed, partially for safety (I don't exactly like being blown into oncoming traffic), but mainly because it's so friggin discouraging. There's nothing worse that someone flying past you on their bike, facing the same head wind as you, and riding effortlessly and as though they have some giant force behind them pushing them along. Where's my giant force?

So instead, I spend all day in the front yard picking weeds, pruning bushes, and mulching. There were a ton of leaves left over from last fall that I never got around to cleaning up. It just seems like a much better day to wait until the windiest day of the year. There was crap blowing everywhere. I could barely move later that night - one would think that gardening is an endurance event based on how sore I felt.

I woke up early Sunday and was determined to get an early start since I had my family coming over for dinner. Something inspired me to ride Old Stage. The first ascent of the season. It seemed like a good idea at the time. It actually seemed like a good idea up until I got to the section where Lee Hill breaks off. And then I couldn't breathe. I huffed and puffed and huffed a lot more. I was at the really steep section right at the top when I realized why this felt so impossibly hard. Last year I switched my rear gearing to an 11/23. I can't remember what I had before: either 12/25 or 12/27 - I kept swapping. Anyhow, I like to leave 1 or 2 gears in reserve in case of an emergency (and also because it makes me feel a little bit stronger to know that I didn't have to go to my easiest gear). I was at the point where I felt like any second I'd fall over or start rolling backwards. I was going so slow and doing the side to side waving that I knew I'd fall over if I attempted to move my hand from the handlebar to the shifter to hit the panic button. And so I had to continue as though I was pedaling through almost dried cement and did make it to the top in one piece (though my lungs would probably disagree). The rest of the ride seemed easy in comparison, even with the wind that kept cropping up. Old Stage sucked, but that's what makes us stronger. My run off the bike didn't go so well, but I did have the Old Stage card so I played it and cut the run short.

Old Stage may have kicked my ass, but I think I kicked right back. In the end I realized that sometimes you just need to have that emergency stop out there, sort of like a safety net, even though you know you're not going to use it.

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face...You must do the thing you think you cannot do. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Happiness is a journey, not a destintation...

2010-05-22T10:02:00.000-06:00

for a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. but there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. at last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. this perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. happiness is the way. so treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one.

~ souza

Partial Victory

2010-05-18T20:04:00.000-06:00

I don't want to go so far as to declare victory on the War on Birds, but there was no hosing down needed today. So maybe I'll just say that I'm in the lead of this little battle.

The goop was gross. And extremely sticky. Not super glue, just really gooey sticky. Imagine a gooey sticky vaseline - that's what I was dealing with. There are warning labels all over the tube about it being hazardous, so I wore gloves. I tried to spread the goop out, but it immediately stuck to the gloves and then the fingers of the gloves immediately stuck to each other. I got some on the top of the light but had to wait until later to apply it to the top of the door because it was supposed to be dried. I went to check several hours later, and looking out the window and the light, I could see feathers stuck on the light. The feathers were at such an angle and were multiple colors that I thought it was an entire leg. The goop warns of this and it would be just my luck to have amputated a bird. I finally dared myself to take a closer look (I'm a wimp. Ask me about my mice story sometime.) and discovered that it was only a few feathers. Of course, in the process of taking a closer look, I actually had to go out on the porch and when I peeked out of the front door, sure enough, birds on top of the doorway. I had to shoo them away (with a broom of course with me standing inside the house - I wasn't about to get that close). It was finally time to goop up the door. It didn't stick very well, but I managed to get a bunch on. I did the glove thing again thinking that the fingers might not stick together this time. Not sure why it would be different the second time. Anyhow, I went back in and then re-read for the 20th time the instructions. There were a lot of details regarding the thickness of the bead to lay down, which varied by bird. Swallows were 1/8 inch. And the instructions specifically yelled DO NOT apply more than the specified width (birds could get stuck). The problem was that the opening of the tube was at least 1/2 inch thick. So I got all panicky that I was going to have stuck birds so I went out with a popsicle stick and spread it out, which by the way, worked so much better than the gloves. And then off to bed.

I was more than a little nervous waking up this morning. I had managed to convince myself that I had applied way too much goop and that my doorway would be covered with dead birds, now stuck in the goop. I was very relieved to discover this was not the case when I took the dogs out. However, the true test lay ahead and what would happen throughout the day since the birds don't actually do anything at night.

Big sigh of relief when I got home to discover that there was nothing above the door except the sparkly ribbon and the goop. No nest materials. No feathers. Nothing. Current score: me 1, birds 0.

Goddamn Birds!

2010-05-17T20:57:00.001-06:00

I hate birds! They're after me for some unknown reason. I'm a vegetarian so that's not it. No seriously, they really are out to get me (see supporting evidence below).

They are back with a vengeance. And I'm determined to win this battle. Last spring, I didn't really use my front door much as I went in and out through the garage. So I never really noticed that swallows were attempting to build a nest over my front door. And then I left for Idaho and when I came back, there were several eggs and I knew they were going to be there for a while. This made it so that I really couldn't use my front door, even if I had wanted to (see Exhibit E). Finally the birds hatched and learned how to fly and I promptly destroyed the nest. They're ba-ack. I noticed them last week and saw to my surprise that they were starting to drag nest stuff back. So I hosed it down. Next day, more nest stuff stuff. I hosed it down. They liked to sleep on the lamp so I'd go out at night with a broom and scare them off. Only I never really scared them because they'd be back the next day. Well, the ante was upped this weekend. I woke up on Saturday and they had started bringing over the mud to hold everything together. I hosed it down. I then went for a 2 hour run and when I came back, they had rebuilt. I hosed it down. Again they rebuilt. Again I hosed it down. By Sunday they were really picking up the pace and managed to get quite a lot built during my ride. Hosed down before and after ride. I went to McGuckins and begged for help. I can't do the spikes. As much as I hate birds, I can't deal with the pain and suffering. I once saw a bird stuck in the spikes. It wasn't pleasant. Anyhow, they suggested this holographic ribbon. Apparently birds don't like sparkly things. So we went out and hung sparkly ribbons and they stayed away for the rest of the day. But by nighttime, they were back on the light. I turned on the light thinking it would make the ribbon sparkle, but I guess they close their eyes because it didn't do anything. For good luck, I put a few more strips of sparkles up before I left for work. You can imagine my complete surprise to come home and find a half-built nest (the horror!). Fortunately I went back to McGuckins at lunch. It's not that I don't trust the sparkles but I wanted to be prepared. So I bought this goop that you spread on whatever it is that they're trying to land on. It's sticky so they don't like to land on it. However, it's only called a deterrent, so I was hoping that maybe it would go great with sparkles. Hosed off the nest and started to apply the goop. It is really sticky. This better work! Otherwise I think I'm going to have to stake out on the porch all day with the hose, which I don't think work would really go for.

Exhibit A:
When I was 4 I got nipped on the butt by a turkey, who then proceeded to chase me while my dad watched and laughed. I'm an animal lover and when I was 4, turkeys apparently were no different than fluffy, furry animals like dogs and cats, or so I thought. My dad's friend was raising them (no, I don't know why), so I wandered to the backyard to check them out. One of the birds started to come towards me as I approached. It was roughly the same height as me from what I remember. It was a lot bigger than I had expected and a LOT uglier and definitely not fluffy. It started getting closer and closer and I decided that I really didn't like animals all that much and was starting to get a little scared, so I turned and headed back down the driveway to the front of the house. The turkey started to follow me. I picked up the pace. It picked up the pace. I started running. It started running. It caught up and pecked me on the butt. At this point, I'm pretty sure I screamed and started into a full on sprint. I ran around the porch and up the stairs and the turkey tried to cut me off by taking the shortcut - it bypassed the stairs and jumped directly onto the porch. (This is the part where my dad decided to "rescue" me by watching the episode from the window and laughing. But as you can see, I've gotten over it.)

Exhibit B:
My dad raised chickens, ducks, and geese which were allowed to wander free during the day (they lived up in the mountains where you pretty much had to drive to get to the nearest neighbor). I had the distinct privilege of herding said beasts into the chicken coop at night. It was a task that terrified me nightly. In fact, I finally wrote my dad at the beginning of one summer and told him that I would only come to visit him if I didn't have to deal with the poultry. I wouldn't say that this was exactly how things turned out. My other criteria that summer was that I didn't have to take naps and I didn't really win on this end either). Herding them into the enclosure wasn't such an issue, though I wouldn't go so far as to say that I had in entirely under control. The real problem lay in ushering them into their pens. The ducks and geese went into a small plywood box (there were "windows" so they had plenty of air) and the chickens went into an A-frame coop. Both were then closed up and bricks were piled along the outside board so unwanted visitors (fox, coyote, etc) couldn't get in. The geese and ducks didn't have a ton of room, and they probably didn't love the lack of freedom. They would often reach their skinny little necks out of the "window" and bite my wrists. This usually sent me running for the highest ground, which was atop the fence between the pen and the garden, which of course meant that I was now trapped atop of the fence and the geese and ducks could then run amok.

Exhibit C:
I once got yelled out because I was carrying a chicken (the way you carry chicken is upside down by their feet) and the stupid bird reached up and pecked my wrist, causing me to drop it and it then ran away. Guess who had to go catch it.

Exhibit D:
Many years ago I was driving on I-90 from Rochester to New Jersey. I had my cat Utah with me in the car and she was peacefully sleeping on the front seat (she was always a good traveler). We were cruising along at 70 mph minding our own business, singing out loud, whatever else one does when they are alone in the car with a cat on a long road trip. It was a divided highway with a big green strip in the middle. There were lots of flocks of birds out. You know that thing that flocks do where they all suddenly turn at the same time and somehow don't crash into each other. Well, there was a lot of that going on. At one point, they all swooped towards my side of the road and I remember thinking that they better get out of the way and as I thought it, they all swooped together back over the green strip. And suddenly they swooped towards my lane and being that I was still going 70, I was now upon them. Wump! Wump! Wump! Wump! What seemed like hundreds and hundreds of birds were now just flying into my front windshield. I screamed because what else could I do. I may have closed my eyes, which you are probably thinking is pretty dumb, but you try keeping your eyes open when hundreds of birds are flying straight at your face with nothing but a glass windshield (that you don't necessarily see when all you see are birds) between you. We finally drove out of the mayhem and I looked out my rearview mirror. There was a pile of dead birds lying on the road and my car was covered in feathers, and other parts. And Utah? She slept through the whole thing.

Exhibit E:
About 10 years ago I was visiting Scotland and we took a boat ride over to Inchcolm - a historic island and abbey in the Firth of Forth. It was nesting season and the gulls were everywhere "trying to protect their young". Some of the pathways on the island were closer to nests than others. We started walking down one of the paths with the gulls swooping down at us and screaming and squawking. With each squawk, I started crouching lower until I could go no further as I had pretty much turned myself into a ball.

Training and Gardens

2010-05-16T20:14:00.001-06:00

Garden beds are ready!!!

I tried to play catch up this weekend and was somewhat successful. I know I'm not supposed to do this, but it's not like I tried to get all the missed workouts in. I just traded some for others. So my easy run this weekend was traded for the not-so-easy long run I was supposed to do. Besides, I had to rearrange in order to ride on the better day.

Naturally it all kind of sucked. Another late start on Saturday and I didn't get out the door until around 1:00. I made it 3/4 through the long run and then suddenly felt like I just wanted to stop and go to sleep. Trying to make up for lost sleep last week? I muddled through it and followed it with a 30 minute recovery swim which felt great. Then dinner, a movie, and bed. Ahhh.

Today I did get things off to a much better start and was out the door on my bike shortly after 10:00. The ride was alright. My legs were screaming for most of it, but I pretended not to notice. However, I could no longer pretend once I got off the bike and started my run. It was a slow crawl if anything and there was nothing I could do about it. I may have been able to walk faster. But it was such a nice day so it helped keep me motived to finish the whole thing. Success!

Even more success was finishing up the raised garden beds. Now everything is ready for planting. I was a little hesitant to put things in the ground after last week's snow, but I think I can start this week and definitely next week. I'm so excited to have a garden of my own. Patio tomatoes have been okay but I've been waiting many years for this. I'm sure not everything will turn out, but the ground work is all in so it only gets easier from here. Veggies waiting to be planted: lots and lots of tomatoes, carrots, beets, peppers, lettuce, rapini, beans, and basil. I still need to get a zucchini and pumpkin plant. And the big experiment will be quinoa. A friend from work told me that Colorado is the ideal place for growing quinoa and he bought a bunch of seeds in anticipation of buying a new house. Unfortunately the house fell through so he has no garden this year and a ton of seeds. So he gave me some and I thought I'd give it a try. It turns out that it's quite an attractive plant and I found the perfect spot along side of the house by the front porch where there's full sun. Plus it adds some color to the front.

Weekly totals:
swim: 3900 meters
bike: 76 miles
run: 21.5 miles

Great Start, Poor Finish

2010-05-15T12:43:00.000-06:00

I finally started getting on track last weekend and managed to follow my complete training schedule and then some (I know, overachiever). I stuck out a 60 mile ride in the cold, which I deserved because I started late. And of course the sun came out again about 10 minutes after I finished, and again I deserved because I started late. I didn't skimp on the run off of the ride. It was such an accomplishment that we opened one of those Special Bottles of Wine that one saves for Special Occasions that when they come never seem to be Special Enough. Well, I deemed a successful ride as Special Enough. The wine agreed.

But things started severely lagging by mid week. I blame work, which seems to be getting in the way of training a lot lately. I lost yet another member of my team and one of my favorites. I spent a good deal of time trying to do damage control and it totally wiped me out. I went to be around 9:30 on Thursday and fell asleep immediately (which never happens) and didn't even wake up when Matt came to be roughly 30 minutes later (which also never happens as I am the worlds lightest sleeper). Needless to say, I still was not well rested the next day and the return of winter did not help matters. I've now done nothing for 2 solid days. Here it is Saturday afternoon and I'm still in my PJs trying to muster up the energy and motivation to do something.

It also hasn't helped that I managed to injure the ball of my right foot by siting at the table at book club. I have no idea what happened but it feels like I bruised the bottom of my foot. I did run once and it didn't bother me, but walking has been a little painful at times. Naturally it is not consistent. And on top of that, I walked into the plywood platform that sits underneath my trainer. I now suffer from Fat Purple Toe and of course it's the same foot. Let's just face it, I'm falling apart.

So, it's time to start over. Again.

The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible ~ Arthur C. Clarke

Another Excuse

2010-05-05T21:09:00.003-06:00

I find it so hard to get started again after a day off. Should I be well rested and ready to go? I'm not. In fact, I think I'm more tired than before. Of course, it doesn't help when you spend 4 hours power interviewing people and trying to remember who's who. It doesn't help that after a 12 hour day at work, you come home to a dog that was sick everywhere (primarily carpet because pets only get sick on carpet). It doesn't help that instead of relaxing after a mentally draining day, you spend another hour scrubbing said carpet. And it doesn't help that you can't sleep after such a day.

I did get up and swim this morning, which actually felt pretty good. I don't usually swim well first thing in the morning (races are an exception) and typically go after work. But I went last week in the morning and felt great afterwards. I remember having so much energy at work and just felt wide awake. That came to a crashing halt by mid-afternoon, but still it seemed worth it. So I tried it again this morning and voila! Not quite the same magic as last week, but I did feel better than before I had started and it's great to start off the day feeling like you've accomplished something. Of course, it also meant that I was supposed to ride after work and it also seemed like there was a good chance to ride outside. But it didn't really happen. I left work late, felt cold and tired, and jumped on the trainer for 45 minutes instead. A cop-out I know. But at least I did something.

Tomorrow will be better. I'm heading to bed shortly and plan on leaving yesterday and today completely behind me.

totals:

swim = 2600 meters

bike = 15 miles (trainer)

Ouch...I'm Hurting

2010-05-03T22:03:00.003-06:00

Sooo, I am unbelievably sore after yesterday's adventures in the yard. I honestly think I'm worse than I was after CDA. Everything from my waist down hurts. I woke up wondering how I was going to get through the day. Considering I could barely get up and down the stairs, running seemed daunting. But fortunately work was crazy enough that I just had to get away at lunch and a run was desperately needed by noon. I was hoping it would loosen things up. I wouldn't say that it happened, but at least I didn't really feel sore running. I guess I got into the zone and stopped feeling it. This was not the case when I got back to my desk. I tried to move as little as possible, which is not easy for The World's Most Fidgety Person. But I had constant reminders to be still. I decided to numb myself with a lovely Zinfandel when I got home (after riding of course, but all the more motivation). And now I can dream of my day off tomorrow.

So, does this mean I'm getting old? Not at all!

But it does mean that I have learned from my mistakes and will NEVER again go another full winter without de-pooping the yard. It was my first winter with a yard. How was I to know? It's not in the Homeowner's Manual.

Time's Up, Break's Over

2010-05-02T18:20:00.002-06:00

Well, it's been months and it's time to start posting again. There has been lots of procrastination and not much to show for the last few months. I'll just blame it on life - last year was tough. But now it's 2010 and a start of a new decade, so no more excuses. I'm now about 4 months into training and well behind where I think I should be. Motivation has been tough. Work has been insane. And this weather has been, well, less than desirable is putting it mildly. But I ran into Cisco yesterday during my ride and he promised me that we're done with winter and that it's only going to be good weather from here on out. Power of positive thinking - if you think it, it can happen. Even when you're up against Mother Nature.

I'm about to head into another stabilizer week. I feel like I sort of need it but sort of don't. I've been working pretty hard during the week, but I having been slacking a lot on the weekends. And let's face it - when you work full-time, the weekends are what really count. But since we're only going to have nice weather, next weekend will already be better. In general things are coming along, but slowly. I ended up taking about 2-3 months off in the fall and it's taking a while to get back into shape. My swim and run are definitely getting back to normal. And I guess since I still suck on the bike, I'm back to normal there as well.

I've wasted yet another weekend, but at least I made progress in the home front. I have two garden boxes now built and the yard has finally been de-pooped! This is by far the best part of having dogs. To try and put it into perspective, Matt ran home to get tools, came back, and built the 2 4x8 foot boxes in less time than it took me to sift through the grass looking for smelly presents. And I started the other night, too! My back is killing me and I will never again go the entire winter without doing this. If I can get someone to change around the sprinkler system this week, we can have the boxes in the ground next weekend, and I can hopefully start planting after that - right on schedule.

Mud Hen 5K...Longmont CO

2010-04-24T20:50:00.004-06:00

I decided to do this race about an hour and a half beforehand. After some logistical problems surrounding how I was going to get there, I didn't leave my house until 45 minutes beforehand and really had no idea where I was going. I arrive about 5 minutes beforehand and still had to register. Thank god for small races. I was able to accomplish all of this and still had about 2 minutes to spare.

Results:

24:59: pace of 8:03 per mile
52nd out of 338 finishers
11th out of 191 women
3rd out of 25 for 35-39 women
21:24 was the winning time for women
22:39 was the winning time for 35-39 women

All things considering, it wasn't too bad. I wouldn't say I pushed myself super hard. It was more for fun and I have to admit that I had fun.

Boulder Spring Half Marathon

2010-03-14T19:30:00.064-06:00

A freezing cold day. There were many people in shorts and I'm not sure how they did it. I was in tights, hat, gloves, and two long sleeve shirts. I had a really rough week leading up to the race with very little sleep. I had done one 10 mile run and one 11 mile run in the weeks preceding, so I didn't feel completely prepared and it was just going to be one of those Let's Just See How It Goes...

It was something I felt like I had to do mentally to help get over CDA. It was still only my second race since and it had been months since my last race. I was hoping it would help jump start my brain to get back into training mode and back into distance mode. It was also a course I had done twice before and was hoping I'd do similar times, even though it had been 8 or so years since I had run the course. By the time race day arrived, I was just hoping for sub-2, but recognized that this might be pushing it.

I wasn't expecting as large of a crowd (what was I thinking...it's Boulder!). The last time I ran this course, the start line was out on the road outside of the Res. I assumed that was where it still was. We parked in the field. I wanted to use the port-a-potties before the start and headed over to the parking lot with all of my warm clothes still on - I figured the car was midway between the bathrooms and the start so I could drop them off on my way back to the start. About halfway over to the parking lots, I realized that the start had moved to inside the Res by the parking lots and bathroom. Being that there were only about 10 or so minutes to the start, I had to run back to the car to undress and then back to the parking lot where there was naturally a long line for the bathrooms. By the time I finished, it was pretty much time to start. People were already packed into the starting chute. I had barely squeezed in along side of everyone when the gun went off. I was way at the end having no time to push myself up towards the front, and so I was stuck for the time being. It was like herding cattle. We'd run a bit and then slow down. Speed up, slow down. Stop, go. Repeat. The pathway narrowed a lot in the section that led out to the road and similar to the first turn in an Ironman swim, everyone stopped. It was a great start. I finally got out to the road where we were able to spread out a bit, but still, it was pretty packed and there was a lot of weaving. My first mile was over 10 minutes. It took another two miles before I was able to run a straight line. So much for time goals. But that wasn't what this was about, remember.

In the end, I had a really good race. I didn't break 2, but had I started closer to the front, I like to think that I would have. My Garmin also recorded an extra .15 miles, so there's that to consider as well. But the best things were actual "did haves" rather than "could haves". I stuck completely to my race plan, which is a first. I stayed right in mid-Z3 until the last few miles. I felt really good the entire race. I never reached the When Is This Going To End? point. I never reached the I'm Starting to Get Really Tired point. I just felt like I could keep going like this for a while. Which probably means that I didn't go hard enough, but it was only a half marathon and there would still be another half to go come Wisconsin, so it was good to have that sense of control. And most importantly, I think I did get past that mental barrier and was finally able to put CDA behind me and start anew.

Results:

Start    08:02:00.6

Official Finish 02:02:59.3

Chip Finish    02:01:13.1

Overall   506/1026

Women 204/570

F35-39   38/99

Surprises...5430 Long Course Race Report

2009-08-10T21:51:00.003-06:00

I really tried to go into this race with no expectations. I've been feeling like crap and haven't really been training. Actually, it's more like I've been feeling like crap and trying to train and as a result have gotten no worthwhile training in. CDA took a lot more out of me that I would have thought. Going into this weekend, it was starting to become obvious that I'm still quite physically and mentally exhausted. Three years ago, this race just happened to be on my birthday and a friend came in from out of town to cheer me on. About 5 minutes before the race, she told me to hand over my watch. I had never raced without a watch and looked at her like she was out of mind. She reminded me that it was my birthday and that I should go out and just enjoy the day. And so I gave her my watch and then went on to do my fastest half-Ironman. I was going for the same sort of thing...no heartrate monitor, no watch, no expectations. Just enjoy the day...

And so, with no expectations, I spent the Saturday before the race doing all the things one shouldn't be doing before a race. I went to the Farmer's Market. I ran a few errands. I went to packet pickup. And then I came home and painted my fence for a few hours. Yep, nothing like being out in the hot sun doing hard labor the day before a race. Painting a fence is not easy, nor is it fun, but I got my warning letter and so it must be done. After last week's lame attempt at brush painting, I broke down and got a sprayer which made such a difference. But it left my arms aching. Like too much swimming. Towards the end it was taking one arm to hold the other one up. Needless to say, I was quite sore by Saturday evening. At about 5:30 I realized that I had none of my race technical food and drink. So off for more errands. Then dinner and an attempted movie. And by around 9:00 I realized that I still hadn't packed or started to get my bike ready. Okay, so I was a little too relaxed. But you know what, I actually slept pretty well. I realized Sunday morning that I had forgotten to map out the course to figure out when I needed to eat and drink. Having no watch meant that I couldn't rely on that to tell me. And fueling is one thing I don't really want to go by feel unless I've eaten too much. Otherwise I know I won't eat enough. And so here it was at the crack of dawn and I'm trying to figure out mile markers. Definitely not my standard pre-race routine.

I got to the Boulder Res and had a lot less time to set up than I thought. I was convinced that I had forgotten something being that I was so lax about everything, but it seemed like I had everything I would need. There was a massive line for the portos. I don't understand the point of putting so many in the transition area where we can't access them. At least it gave me something to do since I had so much time to kill before my start. I headed down to the water and started struggling into my wetsuit. I went to test the water but couldn't bring myself to actually get in until it was time for my wave. I started a bit farther back than usual and didn't try and push my way up front. I was a little hesitant after the CDA near death swim, but the water was so ridiculous calm. I couldn't complain. The swim felt really fast. No waves and no one kicking me in the jaw - quite a relief. I was cruising along (or so I thought) and suddenly I was finished. I usually reach a point where I'm just tired and ready to be done. That didn't happen and so I thought I had rocked the swim (not quite I found out later).

I made my way into transition and had to pee badly. Unfortunately it is not possible for me to pee while swimming and it didn't seem like it was going to go away during the ride. And so I opted for a pit stop after getting out of my wetsuit. The good thing was that I got it out of the way. The bad thing is that it sucks to try and pull up spandex when you're wet. It's a struggle in the same way that putting a wet suit on is. I got reassembled to the best of my ability (seriously, it's like you're suddenly 3 and trying to dress yourself and nothing lines up quite right!) I eventually made it back to my bike and headed out. Certainly not my slowest transition time, but it wasn't quick.

I headed out on the bike and could feel my legs immediately. I was hoping that it would go away once I got going and for the most part it did. I have been feeling a little bit stronger on the bike and though I had no expectations for the day, I was hoping that I would at least have a good bike split. It seemed unlikely, but it I figured I'd rather be optimistic. I can't quite say that I felt fast, because it's hard to feel fast when everyone is flying past you (at least I said hi Kristina even though you didn't know who it was), but I did feel a bit faster and like the swim, I never quite reached the "I'm ready to be done" phase. Maybe I did get something positive out of CDA - after so many hours and hours this, this really was nothing. AND, I made the turnarounds. Both times. This is HUGE for me. I usually have to clip out because I'm not comfortable doing such tight turns. But I had been practicing - we have this ridiculous sharp 100 degree (roughly) turn from the bike path to work and I've consistenly been making this turn and had told myself that I was going to ride through these. The first time I took it really wide and must have been so slow because someone actually passed me on the inside. Show-off. Whatever, I got a smile out of myself both times. The second lap hurt a bit more, especially on the hills. I could feel the ache in my quads everytime I stood up. I ignored it as best I could and just reminded myself to have fun. I was just out for a bike ride, with 1000 other people, that just happened to be timed. No big deal. Before I knew it, I was back at the Res and back in transition.

T2 went much faster though I wasn't exactly sure where my rack was. Another thing I forgot to do with my no expectations race. I hadn't counted racks so I was sort of meandering through. There were no mishaps at the rack this year - 2 years ago was a bit of a mess - and I made my way out to the run.

The run start off really slow. I mean really slow. Like I possibly could have walked faster than my shuffling. I started cramping right away, which has been the norm after my last few rides. I've done 3 bricks since CDA and all 3 have been failures. I would make it about 2 miles at most and then completely fall apart. A lot of it was nutrition related. This "brick" wasn't much different except that I didn't really have the option to fall apart and turn around and walk home. And so I kept pushing through it. I was concerned about the heat and at the first aid station started to trying and cool myself down with water and ice. I think this turned out to be overkill since it never really got all that hot. At least for me. My last run was in about 95 degrees and I could feel my skin burning. So this was nice in comparison. Anyhow, I kept grabbing ice and would carry the cup to the next aid station and then exchange it for more ice. The ice chewing was keeping me occupied but was also probably slowing me down. I kept shuffling along with occassional (long) walking breaks. I still wasn't feeling great, but I wasn't feeling done either. I did remind myself of CDA and what I had gone through and this really was nothing in comparison. I got to Coot Lake where Matt and my sister and the dogs were waiting. I went over to say hi and stopped to pet the dogs. Remember, no expectations. After a few pets, I was off again. At the next stop, I grabbed some more ice, and somewhere over the dams I realized that I really didn't want to be carrying cups with me the whole run (I'm sorry, but I have a problem with just tossing it in between aid stations). After the next garbage can, I told myself that lap 2 would have to be different. It definitely was nicer to run without the cups. As I ran past the finish, I saw my coach, Craig, who having finished in an insane time, asked if I needed anything. Water? Gaterade? I said legs. I needed some new legs. I'm not exactly sure what he said but he rubbed his and said something about seeing what he could do. Well, he must have done something, because I did start picking up the pace. Lap 2 is where everyone starts to slow down and I was gaining speed. I was starting to feel okay. The hills hurt like hell but I kept going, holding a steady pace. When I got to Matt/sister/dogs I waved and told them that I couldn't stop this time because I wouldn't get going again. The last few miles were tough. My legs were on fire. I can't remember my legs ever aching like they were and each step was a struggle. I'd tell myself that the feeling would eventually subside and that I had to just keep going. The feeling didn't really subside and I had a few moments of starting to falter especially out on those damn dams. But once I hit the pavement, that crossing the finish line force took over and got me through.

I knew going into this race that the run would suck. My legs just aren't ready for it. I was expecting a lot of walking. At some point, I started wondering what my time would be. I was the second to last wave so there weren't a ton of people behind me. Being in the last waves does this, so at least I was expecting it, but it gives the feeling of being really slow. I figured I'd have an anti-PR (my slowest race yet). But again, that would be okay because there were no expectations. But somewhere else along the run, I started calculating finishing times. Race math never adds up so I should have known better, but I did it several times and always came up with the same answer. What I came up with was if I crossed before 6:45, I'd have broken 6 hours, which I have never done. So here I was going between PRs and anti-PRs but really having no idea where I was. I purposely didn't look at the clock as I started lap 2. I started picking up the pace on the downhill towards the finish line. I passed another woman in my age group. About 10 seconds later, she kicked in and passed me back. She sprinted ahead a bit and kept looking back. I wanted to tell her that she had it, I had my pace and wasn't about to race her to the line (I mean, what if I were to trip or something?). Anyhow, you can imagine my surprise when I rounded the corner and saw 6:45 and change on the clock. I actually said something out loud - I think I said No Way! in disbelief. I almost started crying and then kicked in the sprint (the risk of tripping was no longer a concern). I crossed the line and immediately normal math kicked in as I remembered that I started at 7:10, not 7:15. I confirmed later that this was my second fastest time, which was quite the surprise. It seems like not wearing a watch really works for me.

And of course, after knowing my time, I have since been trying to figure out where the lost minutes went. There was the minute or so pit stop/clothes wrestling. And Matt reminded me later that I had to stop and pet the dogs. This would have given me my PR. And the extra minutes that would have given my under 6...well, my swim didn't rock and was about 2 minutes slower. Had my first lap of the run been like my second, I would have multiple minutes there. But I did negative split the run, which is a first. And, most importantly, I did have my fastest bike split. Not by a lot, and certainly nothing to write home about compared with those averaging over 20mph, but it was big for me.

So after having no expectations and surpring myself with my time and being overall happy with the results, I do have to admit that there is a little bit of disappointment because I was so close to a PR. Had I had an anti-PR, this wouldn't be an issue since it seemed more realistic. But I really was so close (even closer with race math). And though I keep trying to tell myself that had I been fully recovered, I would have made it, but it's so hard to know that for sure since it always seems like there is something that will come up. I will say that I am already excited for next year, whereas last week I didn't even want to think about next year.

And so ends my 2009 season. It had lots of downs, but a few ups as well. I learned a lot about will-power. And I learned that talking to myself to 15.5 hours is maybe not something I should do very often. Many thanks to my family and friends for their support and for putting up with another difficult year of training. End of summer BBQ at my place...I'll make dessert.

To Hell and Back Again...CDA Race Report

2009-06-23T19:20:00.008-06:00

Before I even get started, I'm going to put a disclaimer that this is likely to be ridiculously wordy...make sure you have some time before reading...

The day started out with a clear sky - something we hadn't really seen since we arrived. A good sign? The forecast still called for 30% chance of rain and based on the previous few days, it seemed likely and so it was something to keep in mind. We got to the start with plenty of time to get things set up. Surprisingly, I wasn't really that nervous. I think at this point, I just wanted to get started. I hate waiting. There was also a slightly somber tone for me personally, which I had sort of prepared for. It's the 5th anniversary of my mom's death and I decided that it was in her memory that I was doing this. I wrote a little "in memory" inscription on my inner arm with the thought that it would be a reminder on the bike as I spend hours looking at my arms. Due to the cold, that turned out to be pointless. I was also slightly worried about my arm, which was still bothering me (I had hurt it throwing a stick for my dog. It was a large stick. A log one might say. I pulled something and I really didn't want to think about what I had done.) Regardless, I tried to pep myself up and get ready to enjoy the day that I've been preparing for. With the sun actually visible, by 7am it was starting to loo like might actually be a nice day. And so I smiled for the camera...
The Swim:
I ran into Kerrie at the entrance to the swim start and we headed out to the water to do a quick warm up. It was very quick. The water was cold and choppy, but bearable. 61 degress is what the lifeguard station had posted. I wanted to start off to the side (same approach as Florida) knowing that it probably wouldn't work out, but at least I wouldn't be in the middle. We were standing around yapping and I thought we had 5 minutes or so left. And the gun goes off. We looked at each other like "Oh s%@#" and headed back into the water with 2500 other people. My first thought in those 3 seconds or so was "Okay, maybe it's good to be in the front. I can just get ahead of everyone and not have to deal with pushing my way through.". What the hell was I thinking?!? Suddenly everyone was on top of each other and the swells were just getting bigger and bigger. I was trying to do breast stroke just to see and kept swallowing mouthfuls of water. The cold sunk in and I was having trouble breathing. There was nowhere to go. I've never really panicked in the water - I know how important it is to just stay calm. But let me tell you, I started to panic. I really thought I was going to die. I kept trying to calm myself down by taking deeper breaths, but this involved opening my mouth and more water just kept coming in. I was talking to someone a few days before who told me that sometimes you can see scuba divers underwater - they're there for our safety. However, I told myself that there's no way that they would even see me since there was so much chaos going on - they wouldn't see anything but lots of bubbles. Even if I had wanted to (and believe me, I wanted to) stop and get rescued, there was no way that I could because I was in ths midst of this mayhem. So I really had nowhere to go except with the flow. And then I got kicked in the jaw. I have a bad jaw to begin with - TMJ. With the added kick and cold water, it was starting to ache. I really thought it was going to lock up on me, so in addition to trying to breathe and swim and not drown, I also had to keep moving my jaw, which generally meant swallowing more water. Finally the madness slowed and I was able to get into somewhat of a rhythm. The swells were so bad at times that when I'd go and sight, all I could see in front of me was a wall of water. I got to the first turn and was prepared for the mass stop that happens. I tried to get more to the outside so I wouldn't be boxed in. It was then that I saw a silver wetsuit and decided that it was my friend Steve. I have no idea if it really was, but I needed something to focus on. And so I drafted for a while. The silver wetsuit makes it a lot easier. I eventually lost him, but found someone else and decided that this was what I needed to do to get throw the swim...just focus on someone else's feet. The first lap was over and Kerrie and I got out of the water at the same time. We looked at each other with a look that seemed to say "I'm not really sure how I survived that and now I have to do it again". The second lap was less crowded, but the swells had gotten bigger. There are parts of the swim that you can see the sand at the bottom. I would see this and feel the swells pulling me backwards and really thought that I was going to end up back on the beach. It really felt like I was making no forward progress. I was scared to turn around and check just in case it was true. The buoys weren't any help because I couldn't really see them over the swells. My arm was starting to hurt but I kept telling myself that it was almost over. Somehow I made it to the turns and let the swells carrying me back in this time. Thank god that was over. Aside: I talked to one of the photographers the day after the race. He had been up in the helicopter taking pictures of the swim. He said the chopper was all over the place because of the wind. He said he was actually scared. Now imagine being in the water...

I made my way up the hill to the wetsuit strippers. My big concern with having them help me was that my shorts were a little too big and the waist and they are definitely overzealous in getting wetsuits off so there was a small fear of losing my pants. Fortunately that didn't happen. I grabbed my bag and made my way into the tent to change. I had so much crap in the bag in case it was cold or raining. It didn't seem to bad but the forecast still called for a chance of rain in the afternoon - it was probably to have extra that I could take off if necessary. I had already decided on arm warmers. And the volunteer helping me (I'm extremely thankful for them, but...), but I had my arm warmers rolled up so that I could get them on my wet arms and not have to struggle. She pulled them out of the bag and shook them out for me. So much for that approach. I did finally manage to get them on. I also decided to go with the rain jacket. It was already windy, and even if it didn't rain, the wind was likely to remain as it had been since I arrived. A quick memory of last year's Harvest Moon popped into my head did the trick. And I was off...

The Bike...
I got on my bike and started on the long 112 mile trek. Around mile 4, just at the start of the first climb on the smaller loop, I went to shift and hear a twing and then nothing. I was still in the same gear. I went to shift again and my shifter didn't have quite the same tension on it and I was still in the same gear. I pulled over and saw that my rear derailleur cable had snapped, leaving me with 2 gears: big and bigger since I managed to get stuck in one of the smaller rings in the back. My first thought was that I could do this in a fixed gear. But who the hell was I kidding. I knew there was no way that I'd make it up the larger hills in a fixed big gear. Maybe if it were an easier gear, I might have a shot (but I would have been so totally wrong). I had just passed a run aid station that they were starting to set up. I asked the woman if she could find tech support for me. She called the run coordinator who was supposed to call tech support and send them over. Meanwhile, the woman trying to help me looks up the hill and sees another rider heading towards us carrying her bike. And she says that this person had to be worse off than me. She was right - the rider had lost her rear derailleur entirely - it just snapped off and was dangling from the chain. A station wagon pulls up. He happens to be sag, but we didn't want sag. He told us that someone called for sag. And we said that we'd at least like to try tech support first in the case that there was a chance we could keep going. So off he went saying that he'd call it in. Meanwhile, I was starting to get really cold. The aid station woman gave me a garbage bag to wear to try and keep me warm. After about 45 minutes, a big guy in all black with a big grey mustache on a motercycle rides up. This was tech support. Fortunately he knew what he was doing and had lots of extra cables. Another aid station worked tried to help out while we were waiting and had unwrapped my grip tape thinking he could fix the cable himself. I have electrical tape at the ends because the grip tape had started to unwind on its own last year. He was not very careful in unwrapping this part. Maybe he thought I'd get new tape? Anyhow, tech support gets the new cable on but because of the stretching that was going to happen had to leave me with friction shifting. I said that wouldn't be a problem - at least I'd have different gears. He started to wrap the grip tape back but the electrical tape had sort of lost its stickiness. He didn't have anything so I would have to make do with having to try and restick it (This turned out to be really annoying on the ride especially when I couldn't ride in aero and hold it in place. The wind was whipping and just kept trying to unravel it more and more and I kept rewrapping and trying to hold it in place. And I'm OCD enough that this sort of thing bothers me and I had to keep trying to make it stick.). So, now that I had lost about 50 minutes, I was finally off. But I think the break had gotten to me mentally. I was now closer to the back of the pack and there are a lot fewer people heading the same direction as me. We start to get into the hills and my shoulder started hurting as I was expecting it to do. When I did a test ride a few days prior, I discovered that standing and pulling on the handlebars to get up a hill was what hurt the most. And there's a lot of that when you get to the hills. I was also having a problem staying in any position for too long. It started straining my neck on my injury side (the injury was in my tricep/deltoid region, but I could feel it pull in the back of my shoulder as well as my neck, so there were a few problem spots). The hills just kept coming. It was getting harder and harder to get up them. In addition, my friction shifting was kind of erratic. It wasn't always the same distance between gears, or a shift wouldn't hold, and I was still having trouble getting into my easier gears. But I kept plugging along. At around mile 50, I see Adam on the other side of the road, well into his second lap at mile 75. I think this is where I started to really lose it. He was clearly in the middle of the pack - most people were heading in his direction and a lot fewer were heading in my direction. It meant that he'd be close to the finish when I finally hit mile 75. The winds started to pick up on the second loop. There weren't a whole lot of people around me - I really could only see one or two riders in front of me at any given time and no one was really passing me, so it definitely felt like I was all alone. As we entered the hills for the second and final time, the winds were getting stronger, with gusts of maybe 20-30 mph. I was all over the road. To make matters worse, they were like CO winds where you never seem to be able to get out of the headwind, no matter which direction you're heading. My arms was really starting to throb and I was clearly slowing down. I started cursing loudly each time I turned a corner into another hill and more headwind. I was starting to get really mad and there were a few times that I was seriously contemplating getting off of my bike and throwing it into the cow fields. I would try and tell myself that this should be fun and I should just try and enjoy myself. But it didn't work. I was alone, in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but steep hills surrounding me, very few people remaining to cheer or even direct traffic, and this endless cold wind. To top things off, it started to rain. So honestly, I really can't blame myself for getting mad. Though it was so tempting to stop, I kept going, mainly because I figured I'd have to wait 2 hours to get picked up by sag. I've already done an Ironman, so I didn't have anything to prove. But there was something deep down somewhere that just kept pushing me on even though I knew at this point there was a chance I might not make the bike cutoff. I honestly have no idea where this came from - it was almost like a little nagging feeling saying that I wasn't quite cold enough or wasn't quite furious enough so that I didn't have a good enough reason to quit. There was also a sign on one of the hills that reminded me that pain is temporary and quitting is forever. With about 10 miles to go, I knew I was heading back into town. The rain and wind were picking up and from nowhere I decided that I had to get off the bike soon. And from nowhere, I just took off. From nowhere I started passing people. These were my best miles on the bike but it was too late for me to enjoy it. My mission was getting back to transition, where I eventually arrived.

I was cold at this point and my hands were completely useless. I headed into the changing tent and was completely helpless. My fingers were so numb, that I couldn't grab onto things. I had lost the advantage of opposable thumbs and felt like I was pawing at things. I couldn't even get my shoes on. A volunteer (bless her heart) had to hold my shoe and guide my foot in and then straighten out the heel and tongue. I ripped my HR monitor off - I really didn't need to see more bad news and it wasn't like there was a risk of me accidentally running Z4. I kept my arm warmers and jacket on since it seemed like it was just getting colder. I threw on my water belt (well, the volunteer did most of the work) and I was off again...

The Run:
I really don't think I've ever been more happy to get off the bike. At this point, it almost didn't matter what happened on the run - at least I was off the damn bike. I was about a mile out when I saw Adam starting his second lap and knew that I had a long way to go. The first 8 or so miles went really well and I was just chugging along. But the rain picked up and I started getting colder and my arm started aching again from the pounding. I had to start walking intermittently to give my arm a break. I ran into the real Steve around mile 11 and he was almost done. His knee had started bothering him and he had been walking for a while. And so we walked together in the rain. I entertained him with all of my misfortunes. Since there were so many, it really made the time go by. I asked if he was going to run the finish and he said he was going to try. Before we parted (him to the finish, me to round 2), he handed me his foil blanket (they had started handing these out, but I couldn't seem to find one). So at least now I had something to put over my hands to try and warm them up. But I must have looked pretty bad and really cold because at mile 14, two volunteers jumped in front of me saying that they were going to help me fasten the foil blanket so that I'd be warmer. They fashioned the most beautiful F&GB dress I've ever seen (foil blanket and garbage bag). They turned the foil into a poncho and put that over me. Then they created another poncho from a garbage bag and put that over me. They strapped my race belt around my race and voila! The garbage bags were a light blue and someone translucent so the foil could shine through. The effects were really quite remarkable and I got several compliments on it. They saw me on the way back around and came to check on me again. I mentioned that I was still cold and they gave me more chicken broth. They had already given me some when they dressed me up, but I just tossed it. I didn't have the heart to tell them that I was a vegetarian. But here they were again, shoving some in my hand. I decided to give it a try because maybe it really would help. I took a sip. It was disgusting and I had to spit it out. So much for that...I guess I've been a vegetarian too long. I also must have looked like I was going to cry because they were very positive and kept telling me not to worry and that I was going to make it. So now it was up to the dress. The only problem with the dress was that I no longer had anything to cover my hands. I pulled my wet arm warmers down a bit and tried to use this, but I wouldn't say that it was completely successful. I got to special needs and they opened my bag for me. I told them that all I wanted was my gels but that they would have to get them for me since my hands were useless. They pulled out a long sleeve shirt and asked if I wanted it. I said that there was too much to take off. They said they'd help and it would probably be better if I had a dry shirt. So off went the race belt and then they tried to take the dress off as though it were one piece. The head holes were different sizes and something got stuck. So here I was standing with a bag and foil over my head and they were just struggling and not getting it unstuck. I was a little concerned about breathing at this point, but my hands were useless in helping them. But they finally got it off. We (they) took my wet jacket off but I wanted to keep the arm warmers on even though they were still wet. It was the only thing I had to keep my hands warm. So on went my dry shirt over wet clothes...I didn't see the point either but they were so nice. They got my dress back on and asked what else I needed. I took my water belt off - I wasn't using it and it just felt like it weighed a ton. I just wanted my gels and they asked where they should put them. I told them to put them under the leg of my shorts. They said "but won't it chaffe?". I told them even if it did, I wouldn't feel it since my legs were already numb. Lap 2 was now underway. I ran into Matt on the way out and told him that Adam was just a few miles behind me and that he'd be finishing soon and that they should just take him home since it was going to take me a while to get through the second lap. I also asked for real soup because nothing sounded warmer. Round 2 was a run walk combination. I'd set min goals for myself - run to the corner and then I could walk. Walk through the aid station and then I could run. I realized that despite the pain in my arm and shoulder, if I didn't do any running at all, it was going to take a really long time to finish. It had already been a really long day and the sooner it was over the better. And so I continued with my run walk combo. It was really empty on the roads. The aid stations were starting to shut down and most only had a skeleton crew remaining. Where there had once been large crowds, there was now only a few scattered people still cheering. But for those of us still on the road, there was an unbelievable level of determination and we just kept going. I had a few miles left when they started announcing the last runner to the aid stations. You know you're at the back of the pack when you've seen the last runner. I was determined to run across the finish line and started up running again with about 2 miles to go. Because of my dress material, I was easily heard. At once point, I was coming up on someone and he says "You're still running?" with total disbelief. I told him that I had to finish strong and passed him by. I started thinking that I should probably take off my dress but the thought of stopping seemed like a bad idea since it gets harder and harder to get started again. And so I decided that the dress was crossing the finish line with me. I might as well have one good thing coming out of the day. Similar to my last few miles on the bike, from nowhere, my normal running pace kicked in and I flew towards the finish. Similar to the bike, these were probably my best run miles. It wasn't quite the same atmosphere as Florida probably because it was so late, so I couldn't really get swept away by the crowds of cheering people. I was much more aware of things and actually saw Matt and my sister (one of Matt's first questions: what the hell are you wearing?). As I approached the finishing chute, tears came to my eyes but I forced them away. I had to focus because damn it, I was going to hear Mike Reilly call my name out this time around. Not that I hadn't earned it in Florida, but clearly there was something different about this race that made me feel like I deserved it so much more. This time was so much more than the long hours of physical and mental training. This was about not giving up. This was about of sheer will power and determination that were well beyond what I thought I was capable of. I am an Ironman.

Pictures to come shortly. I know everyone's dying to see the dress...

Also, in case you're wondering about the other woman that broke down with me...She ended up borrowing a bike and made it through one lap. She was then later seen in the transition area volunteering, so things didn't quite work out for her but she made the best of it. I found this out on the run as I started up a conversation with a woman who just so happened to have been friends with her. Small world.

9 Days...

2009-06-12T09:07:00.001-06:00

Crap.

Bolder Bouder Race Report

2009-05-25T20:59:00.000-06:00

This will be my shortest race report ever. Refer to my last posting on why. I have about 3 minutes free each day...

Anyhow, I had a 100+ mile ride on Saturday. Because of the weather, I got about 75 in outside and then came back to the trainer. That is dedication. But whatever, the ride sucked. I'm getting slower with each ride. At some point I should go through my recent LT test results, but since it couldn't explain anything, it may not really make much sense.

My legs and butt hurt on Sunday. It's funny, I usually spend the Memorial Day weekend planting and am always sore Monday morning for the BB. But it's arms and back and things I forget can get sore. But no planting this weekend since I was too busy sitting on the bike. So it was just the legs and butt that were sore at the start of the race.

Like Adam, I did a 3 mile warm-up, way more than I usually do, but I guess when you're used to going so long, 3 miles becomes nothing. I really wasn't looking forward to the race. I'm just not into Z4. If it were Z3, I might not have minded. I actually started thinking that it would be nice to be with the M's or the walkers or some other group that would just mosey through the race to do it and have fun. But who am I kidding...there's no way I could go that easy.

The race started, mass amounts of people started moving, and I just went along with them. This year was the first year I wore a watch with the hopes of actually trying to follow my zone plans. It didn't work. I don't think I hit mid Z4 until the end and I should have been approaching it somewhere between 2 and 3. My legs hurt and I didn't go all out (not sure if I can ever go all out). I finished a minute slower than last year, which means back to the C waves. It was disappointing since my running has been getting better and I would have liked additional confirmation. I know I was coming off the long ride, and I got a work call at 11:30 Sunday night, but I was still hoping for something better.

After the race, I still had another 9 or so miles to do, so Adam and I ran home. My knees and IT band started aching partyway through and I'm hoping it's just because of the massive amounts of activity I've done over the last few days. We'll see...I have another race on Saturday and will be doing a bit more resting.

As for the BB, I guess there's always next year.

One of Those Days...And Then Some

2009-05-19T20:54:00.005-06:00

It was a day for the records. I hate to say that it can't get worse because there's still time for that to happen. I say this in an effort to not jinx myself. If all goes according to plan, I will be in bed soon.

I awoke this morning before the alarm. A good sign because it meant that I was reasonably well rested. After an intense weekend, it was much needed. I got up, took the dogs out, and packed my many bags for the day (it really was an everything but the kitchen sink kind of day). I had a run and a ride to do and the plan was to run at lunch and ride after work. For once, I didn't feel rushed in getting everything ready (I actually got to work at 8!).

Feeling nice and organized, I decided to pump up my tires at home rather than waste time at the end of the day tracking down the pump at work. My thought was that since it would be so hot today, I'd actually store my bike inside the office and therefore avoid the risk of popping a tire with it sitting in the hot car. This happened a few weeks ago and it was an unwelcome surprise at the end of the day when I was dressed and ready to go and then, oh, flat tire. And did I mention that I also got a flat this weekend? That was even more unfortunate as it probably took 5 miles for me to finally figure it out (why is this getting harder and why am I so tired and why to I keep bouncing?). So here I was thinking that I was planning ahead. My rear tire, the one that died over the weekend, seemed to be holding up so I thought I was good to go. I got to the front tire and this thought actually crossed my mind: what is the actual pressure limit for these tires? My pump has a gauge but I just use it as a rough estimate - I have it marked and just go to where it's reasonably close to the arrow. So I pumped it within my designate range and thought, I should just give it one more pump and so I did. It's no surprise that this comes back to haunt me later.

I got to work (at 8!) with 4 bags. I got to my desk and before I even set anything down...shit! I forgot my running shoes. Should I go back and get them? I IM'd a friend to see if she had an extra pair. She didn't, so there should be no lecturing me. I have a really, really old pair at my desk (like several years old). I have them in case I want to go for a walk (we're right on the bike path) and I don't have appropriate shoes for walking (it is kind of silly considering I really only wear podiatry recommended shoes). But this I knew would be stupid. I thought I might be able to run home before lunch and grab them. Ha!

Instead, I ended up doing my first and hopefully only firing. I'm sure if I had a heartrate monitor on, I would have been in Z10. Lunchtime came and went and I had now rearranged things in my mind so that I would run after I rode. I figured I could cut the run a little short since I'd essentially be turning it into a brick. As I mentioned to HR afterwards, I hope I never have to do that again.

Oh, and did I mention another guy on my team gave his two weeks notice on Monday. So now I'm down 2 people.

Around 4:30, it finally felt like the day was finally slowing down. I was starting to get anxious for my ride. I desperately needed to get rid of some very pent up energy. But there were all these emails to deal with as well as some miscellaneous items that I never got to today. So around 5:30 I was finally able to leave. Me and my 4 bags headed off to the bathroom to change and then I went to the bike room to get my bike. I got it off the rack and started to roll it towards the door. It wasn't really moving. It was that broken shopping cart feeling where as much as you push, you just won't budge the cart because the wheel is stuck. So I thought maybe my rear wheel had locked up like maybe the brakes got hit or something. I checked them and everything was fine. I started off again and nothing. I looked down and my front tire was pancake flat. So with all my efforts of moving the bike inside to avoid the heat and the likeliness of popping a tire, I still pop a tire. I now know the answer to my pressue limit question...one pump less than what I had done.

So now it's already getting late and by the time I changed it, it would probably be about 6. I decided that I just needed to go home. I'd go home and just do my run since I needed something. But after taking the dogs out and seeing the weather getting progressively worse, I decided that I really just needed something a little more mellow. So I decided to do an hour on the trainer. I'd at least get part of a movie out of it. I changed the flat - and an impressive one it was. There was probably a 5 inch whole where it exploded. I drag everything down to the basement and started to set up the bike when the phone rang.

Oh yeah, did I mention that I'm on call? Starting today through next Monday. It was work calling about a job that failed. So I had to log on and take a look. It turned out to be nothing - had they just tried to rerun the job, they would have been fine. But for something that was nothing, I had to provide a detailed explanation, just in case it happened again. And since I was logged on, I happened to see my inbox with additional emails that I felt like I had to respond to. At this point it is now 7. If I rode for an hour, I would be eating until after 8 and I've been trying to avoid doing this, partly in an effort to get to bed earlier and partly because I just feel too full and can't sleep.

So here it is, a little past 9 on a hellacious day that I'm ready to end. It's really quite unfortunate that a day in which so much goes wrong is one that I desperately need a work out and can't get one because of all of the things that went wrong.

Open Your F@#king Eyes!!!

2009-05-05T08:40:00.004-06:00

This comes after almost being hit by a car twice in two days. Both by people looking someone other than through the front window. The first came on Sunday. You'd think that during a 98 mile ride, chances are higher than you'll have some sort of run-in with car. Especially going through Larimer County where they seem to pay people based on the number of cyclists they can take out. But no, #1 came during my 2 mile run off the ride. Through my golf-course neighborhood. I was running on the road (on the left-hand side) as I always do. The road is wide enough and it's not a high traffic area and in general cars are going slow enough. As I was about to cross a driveway, a car from behind me promptly turned left into the driveway, cutting me off by mere inches. My torso was maybe a foot away from this woman's driver-side window. She never even flinched. And it's not like there was a lot going on near the entrance to her driveway. There were no trees or bushes that I could have somehow blended into. I wasn't wearing bright cycling clothes, but I also wasn't dressed in camoflauge either. I was visible. If you had your eyes open. I started screaming and waving my arms thinking maybe she'd see something through her rear windshield. Nothing. Of course, this morning when I walked by her house, sort of hoping to find her outside so I could yell at her, I noticed a man outside. He was about 4-5 feet in front of the closed garage door, facing the garage door and marching in place. Clearly the entire household is a few cards short of a deck.

Near death experience #2 came yesterday when I was riding home from work. I was at the 4-way stop at Baseline and Cherryvale. I was coming from the bike path. I stopped at the intersection, even when most people do not. After waiting more than my fair share of cars going through, I started to go. I figured I'd wait until the people on my left and right went since they had less of a chance of seeing me, whereas the car facing towards me really couldn't help but to see me. Or so I thought. I started to go. As did he. He was making a left hand turn into me, the entire time looking over his shoulder to the right - the exact opposite direction that you should be looking when making a left hand turn. He had his window open and once again I started screaming. I didn't have many options at this point to get out of his way. He was probably a foot or two away when he finally heard me, looked up, and said, "Oh". Yes, "Oh". That's all. Not "Oh shit! Sorry!". Just a causal "Oh". My bike is bright orange and yellow. It's really hard not to see me. If you'd just open your f@#king eyes and pay attention!

18 miles

2009-05-01T09:55:00.002-06:00

I wouldn't want to go so far as to say it was 18 miles of bliss, but it was 18 miles of really not so bad. I had somewhat been dreading this run, but mainly because of the time commitment with it being scheduled during the week. I've been struggling to get up early, and this would have had to be ridiculously early to squeeze it all in before work (sudden flashback to training for Florida and getting up at 4 to do a 17 mile run before work). I was also considering splitting it up as I did the previous week - half in the AM, half in the PM. But I knew mentally that I needed to do it all at once. I did have the time after work, and it might end up being my last full long run. But it's a lot to do after work.

My plan was to leave work early - 4:30, which is generally when I've been leaving on Thursday's in order to get a longer ride in. This really wouldn't be much different. Except that I work was crazy and it was impossible to leave. I finally managed to escape and was able to start slightly off schedule at 4:55. I feel like I've been kind of pushing it with the dogs...someone comes to let them out at lunch, which means that I don't have to rush home after work. Initially I would try to get home by 6:30, then 7, then 7:30, and then I started getting close to 8. I just have this fear that they'll get so hungry that they'll start barking. I know it's absurd because most likely they are sleeping the entire time. But I know how they act when I'm home and it's dinner time - it's like a mad frenzy. Why would they do this when I'm not there? They wouldn't. But I still think they might. Anyhow, I figured I'd had to cut the run a little short in order to make it home by 8 since I sort of figured it would take 3 hours. But 16 or 17 would also be close enough.

I started out on the bike path by work and headed over to the Bobolink. A few miles into my run, I started thinking about the mile repeats I had to do. I was just going to go out and back, assuming that I didn't run out of road, but then had a great idea to do the mile repeats on the same stretch of road I did them on about a month ago during another long run. So I start recalculating where I would have to turn around. And then I had another great idea - why don't I run home rather than go back to work. If I did that, the time I would have lost heading back to work and then driving home, I could make up for during the run home - meaning I'd be able to get in the entire 18. I started recalculating again to try and figure out now where I'd need to turn around. It's always a bad idea to try and do math in the middle of a workout. It never adds up. I then started wondering if it was a good idea to leave my wallet and keys in the car overnight. Normally it wouldn't have concerned me since I'm no longer in DC, but we did have a break-in last summer and that was during the day. It was probably safer to just go grab them. Recalculating again to factor in running back to work. It essentially meant that I had to turn around as soon as I decided that I was going to do this new plan. It actually turned out to be a good thing because then I was able to refill water. And I was quizzed by a co-worker who turned mom on me ('does Matt know you're doing this?' (no), 'do you have your phone?' (yes),'do you have a headlamp?' (no, this was sort of spur of the moment and I still have probably 90 minutes of daylight.),'I'm calling you at 8. if you're not home, I'm calling the Lafayette police' (give me until 8:15 since the last 5 or so miles are all uphill). And then I was off...

Of the last 5.5 miles, roughly 4 are uphill. A long slow slog up Baseline...and it actually wasn't too bad. Better than riding it. For a Z2 run, I was making pretty good time and only had one final workout math miscalculation. I had just under a mile to go (this part is all downhill), and I checked the time. Just under 2:45. And I thought "OMG, I can do a sub-4 hour marathon". There were only 6 miles left and even at a 10-10.5 min/mi pace, I'd still make it. I was ecstatic. With just under a half a mile to go reality kicked in...Except that I would have 8 miles to go to make it a marathon. And that would put me over 4 hours. I was bummed for a bit. And then I wasn't, having reminded myself that I had just run 18 miles, 14 of which were in Z2, 4ish of which were uphill, and all of which were 1000 times better than my previous long run of 16 miles. And I made it home by 7:50...plenty of time to spare.

Happy Earth Day

2009-04-22T20:23:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to take a moment and recognize Earth Day. I'll admit that I really didn't do much to celebrate, which is unfortunate. But it just didn't fit in my schedule. I had the dogs with me today so I couldn't bike to work. I drove. By myself. Can't get much worse...

At least I did get outside to enjoy this beautiful weather and admire the greenery. I know it's not going to stay green for long, so I'll enjoy it while I can. I had a long run to do today and I had to split it up because I just didn't have a big enough time slice today to do it all at once. So, 8.5 miles this morning and another 8.5 after work. Surprisingly I did them both in about the same time. I was expecting the second one to be much worse. I always run better in the morning, even if it's all Z2. I think it's because I'm not fully awake and therefore don't recognize pain or discomfort. I also had some Z4 which I saved for the afternoon and I'm always dead after these sets. I have to slow down to an 11 min. pace to get my HR to come down. So it kind of kills any average.

But they were good runs. Not much to complain about other than the fact that I had to split them up. But I once read somewhere that the overall benefit is the same. I believe the example they gave was that if you did 6 miles in the AM, another 6 in the PM, and another 6 the next morning, it would yield very similar results as running 18 straight. But there is that whole mental aspect that this doesn't account for. And that's a very important aspect when it comes to Ironman. But, in this particular case, I think there is something to be said for doing long runs after work. I know for me that I start out being mentally drained from work and sometimes just physically tired and I think this is great preparation for Ironman. The run comes late in the day when you're mentally and physically exhausted. So I'm sort of simulating it. I think it's a good exercise to do every now and then.

Complete random comment...I learned today that the word "questionnaire" has two n's. I never would have guessed this and I consider myself to be a good speller. I haven't looked up the reasoning or if there's any rule, but it certainly doesn't apply to "millionaire" so I really don't know what the logic is. And this is probably why English is considered to be so hard to learn. We're so inconsistent...

Spring Once Again

2009-04-20T22:21:00.003-06:00

27 mile ride (hills)

Hopefully this time it will stay. I'm so over winter. Now if I can only do something about the wind...

I was finally able to ride outdoors. Even better, I had to do hills. There's nothing like doing hills after being indoors for weeks to make me feel so out of shape and so unready for the CDA course. There's not really an opportunity for me to feel fast when doing hills, so it really is quite depressing. I'm not sure that I can really find much appreciate from this workout either. I did the back side of Old Stage twice as well as a small stint up Lefthand. Although they were in Z4, they were all really slow and I wouldn't say I felt great. All it really left me with was the feeling that I still have a long way to go before CDA which unfortunately is no longer a long ways away.

My HR seems to be relatively back to normal. It's a little hard to say with the bike since I recently adjusted my zones and brought everything down about 10bpm. My run on the treadmill was normal and the perceived effort was pretty much in line with the numbers, so I guess I'm back on track. Apparently my stress numbers have come back to a more reasonable number (from -40 something to -30 something to -9). I have been making a concerted effort to drink a lot of water. Even if it means getting up to pee 3 times a night. Most likely I'm already getting up to cover Mobi (yes, my very high maintenance dog requires being tucked in at night and several times during the night he'll get up to stretch and shake thereby losing his blanket. He then has to come stand beside me and whine so that I'll get up and cover him again. What better opportunity to take a pee break. Interestingly enough, he does not exhibit the same behavior if I let him sleep on the bed for the whole night. So when I know that I really need sleep, I'll let them up on the bed. Enough digression. Mobi gets enough attention as it is - he doesn't need blog postings in addition.).

So yeah, hydration. I'm trying to stay on top of it.

Time Warp?

2009-04-19T21:05:00.000-06:00

So, supposedly it's mid-April. You'd never know it by the weather we've had the past few weeks. It seems like we're going backwards in time. Perhaps this is why my training seems to be losing ground.

It was a stabilizer week and I certainly took full advantage. I never really got my long run in for the week. I ended up back on the treadmill on Saturday and I always feel like I have to push a little bit harder on the treadmill since it's kind of cheating. Though it is much more mentally challenging. So maybe it evens out. I did a short swim after the run but I was pretty drained, so I cut it short. Very short.

I was hoping that today would be dry enough to ride outside. Perhaps it was and I was just too lazy or just not up for it. Driving around in the morning, some intersections were still pretty messy. I decided that I just really didn't have it in me to face the outdoors so I'll admit that while it was finally sunny and 60 degrees, I headed back downstairs to the trainer. But I did have Return of the King to get through. This might be my only chance. I will say that I was pretty surprised when I went to do my run off of the bike to discover how warm it really was. My excuse about the slushy roads seemed ridiculous. Oh well. Stablizer week. I promise I'll do all my rides outside this week.

Saturday: 8 mile run, 1500m swim
Sunday: 126 min. trainer, 2 mile run

Drowned Rat, but Hard Core

2009-04-17T18:57:00.004-06:00

This picture really doesn't do it justice...I was a sopping mess.

I ended up taking another day off yesterday in the hopes it would cure my high HR woes. Besides, it was rainy and crappy yesterday and it's a little hard to motivate oneself to run. So I saved up my run for this morning. I woke up several times during the night and kept looking at the window. Still no snow. Despite the fact that everyone was claiming 10-24 inches. I was thinking that I might luck out after all - the storm wouldn't come and I'd be able to ride outside this weekend.

No such luck. The alarm went off. Still no snow. But I really didn't want to get out of bed. I decided to reschedule for lunchtime. Since there wasn't any snow, it was pretty unlikely that we'd get all 10-24 inches by noon. It was still raining at 11:30 when I started to psych myself into running. I checked the weather. About 2 miles north of me, there were 20 mph winds from the north. About 2 miles south of me, there were 2 mph winds from the west. Why are there 2 weather zones between north and south Boulder?

My team looked at me like I was nuts. They didn't even want to leave for lunch. I put on all my layers and headed outside. My Garmin could not find a signal and I didn't want to stand out in the wind and rain waiting. Besides, 2 Garmins's ago, I ran in the rain and the whole thing steamed up and started to fill with water. I didn't want to take that chance again (they'd replace it, but I just don't want to waste 2 weeks waiting for the new one). So back inside I went and dropped it off with my clothes. I left the heartrate strap on because it was too many layers to get through to take it off. Finally I was off and just as I started, it turned to snow. I appreciated this. Somehow it just doesn't seem as awful - running in the snow versus running in the rain. I headed south and sure enough, the weather changed. The snowflakes were HUGE and the slush was starting to accumulate. I was kicking up water with every step and could feel it seeping through my shoes. I saw my first partner in insanity around mile 3. Another runner sloshing, slipping, and splashing by. By this time, every step had my foot submerged in slush. I could feel the sloshing in my shoes. But there wasn't much I could do about it at that point. It was really so bad. I wasn't cold, so it was almost a little fun. And then I turned around. I had forgotten the winds from the north thing and was promptly reminded as soon as I turned around. Snow whipped my face, painful at times. It was hard to see and I was starting to get cold. It wasn't so fun on the way back. I only saw 2 other crazies out after the first guy.

Had I been home, I would have weighed my clothes to see how much extra weight I had picked up. I probably also would have wrung my clothes out into a bowl just to have that visual comparison. But I was at work, so I had someone take a picture instead. But it really doesn't capture it. My gloves were so wet at the ends, it was like the tips were weighted with lead. I had to kind of hold my hands up or they would have fallen off. The bottoms of my pants were so full of water that I slung water with each step. All 3 layers were soaked through. My cheeks and chin were red from being pelted by the northerly snow.

But I got almost 7 miles in and at a nice pace (all estimated of course). I have no idea how my HR was behaving but I didn't feel like I was working too hard, so I'm hoping it was back to normal. And because I braved the weather, it made it a whole lot easier to blow off swimming tonight. Especially when it looks like this (it's much nicer to stay inside by the fire and just look at it):

Worries...

2009-04-15T18:46:00.001-06:00

6.5 mile run
27 mile ride

Yesterday was a rest day. So I should have been all refreshed today. I felt fine. Not tired. Everything seemed normal. Until I started running at 6am. It was a Z2 run. It starts going up hill after a mile. It's not a huge hill and not all that steep except for one little section. But as soon as I hit the beginning of the hill, bam! I'm in Z3. I thought it was a little weird. It had only been a mile, half of which was Z1, so it's usually pretty hard for me to get to Z3 without a bit more warmup. Oh well, I just kept going and finished the run in record time for a Z2 run. Maybe there was nothing to worry about after all.

And then...

I went for a ride after work. I was supposed to do 4x1min "Z5" sprints (the ones that I never even come close to reaching) and then a 12 mile TT. I wasn't thrilled about the TT - I just wasn't up for the pain of that much Z4. I started on the Z5 and bam! I'm almost immediately in Z5. Z5! I didn't even hit Z5 the last time I rode up Old Stage. Something was wrong. I did 2 more in Z5 and then stopped thinking it might affect my TT which I started shortly after. It didn't take much to get into Z4 and I probably did about half of it in low Z5. It definitely wasn't Z4 perceived effort. I never reached the point where I start saying to myself "when is this going to be done?" or "am I done yet?" or "how about now?" I never got that burning sensation in my legs and lungs. I ended up not doing the full milage, but mainly because I had to pick the dogs up before daycare closed. But I'm not sure if I would have made it another 12 or so miles that I was supposed to do.

Clearly I'm still tired. Or getting sick. But I otherwise feel fine.

Run-a-cough-atosis

2009-04-13T16:32:00.004-06:00

AHEM...

So, back in college, in Rochester, NY, I decided to stay a summer just for the hell of it (that and there was an internship in there). Surprisingly it gets really hot in Rochester in the summer. We paid $750/month for a 5 bedroom/2 bath house (I know, crazy) with all utilities included. Except that it didn't have A/C. And so we set up a line of fans in front of the TV and a small baby pool out front and lived off of those freezer pop tube things (they come in a box of like 200 for $5). For those of you who know what I'm talking about, a strange phenomenon occurs when you eat them. You start coughing. For no aparent reason. The blue ones are the worst - they generate the most coughing. Beware the blue. Anyhow, this phenomenom came to be known as Pop-a-cough-atosis.

It seems that there is a similar phenomenon when you run hard. Hard like lots of Z4 intervals. I forgot how much I hate lots of Z4 intervals. I've decided that shorter Z4 intervals are a lot harder than the longer ones. I've been doing the longer distances (1 to 2 miles) up until today when it was 1000m, 800m, and 600m repeats. I must start out much faster thinking that they are shorter and I don't have to conserve enough. But 1000m is a lot closer to a mile than not. Anyhow, they sucked. And they came after 8x100 uphill "Z5" repeats. Did I mention they sucked? As a result, I ended up with this tickle in my throat that just hasn't gone away leaving me trying to clear my throat every few minutes (I assume) much to the annoyance of those around me.

Today's accomplishments:
7 mile run
2400 meter swim

AHEM...

3 Day Weekend

2009-04-12T20:05:00.004-06:00

Friday: 16 mile run, 2000m swim
Saturday: 5 mile run, 3900m swim
Sunday: 3.5hr ride (trainer), 2.5 mile run

I took a guess on the weather and I was wrong. As a result, I missed out on my 90 mile ride. I kind of screwed myself. But I blame this winter in April crap weather we've been having as of late.

I ended up taking two days off last week, two days in a row in fact. My stress numbers were getting kind of high (low? they are negative numbers) and the week before was intense, so I figured I could use an extra day. It meant rearranging some things, but I think I got the important stuff in. I couldn't get to my long run until Friday, so maybe it's good that I missed my ride. It would have been tough to do on Saturday with how my legs felt afterwards. I've been running this new route (all of twice) now that I've moved. Teller Farms. It's mostly flat, except for when it's not flat. And when it's not flat, it's really not flat. I FINALLY was able to hit Z5 running. All it takes is running a Z3 set (2.75 miles) starting at mile 7ish and doing it all uphill, including a section with a 7% grade. Yes indeed, that'll get my heart rate up there. I think I hit 165 (my ranges are on the low end of the spectrum). Very exciting indeed. Anyhow, it did take its toll on my legs. I took my second ice bath of the season (ouch!) and then treated myself to a hot bath after that (ahhh!). I love my new tub!

Saturday started out with a visit to the bank for a 2.5 hour discussion with my Financial Advisor. I do not recommend this. Yes it was good to finally get things in order after 10+ years of falling into disarray after a slew of uninvolved FAs. I left our meeting absolutey drained. So what did I do? I headed over to the pool where I felt like I was drowning slowly for 90 minutes. I probably should have just gone home to take a nap. I somehow made it through my swim - it did get better as I got more into it (like after 2000m). I went home, had a quick snack, and then went to bed for that much needed nap. I don't really nap and this was no exception, but I did finally get up feeling more refreshed. But I still struggled to put on running clothes and had to force myself out the door (I kept telling myself that it was the least I could do considering that I was possibly blowing off my long ride). I managed just under 5 miles at my normal pace, which was really surprising considering how much my legs hurt. Downhill was just downright painful. It felt really good to finish.

I awoke Sunday morning to dreariness. Actually, I was awoken Sunday morning by a friend who as going to go ride with me. We discussed the impending rain and decided to reschedule. I made it through 3.5 hours on the trainer before I ran out of movie. I forgot that I had only grabbed the first two LOTR from Adam and had gone through them both over the last two weekends. I gave up - not sure if I could have lasted much longer - and threw on my shoes and headed out in the rain for a small run. I really don't mind running in the rain. But I just can't ride it in. Aside from being absolutely miserable, I also don't feel safe. I finished everything up by 3 and then managed to waste the rest of the day doing who knows what (I did unpack a few boxes...)

I'm beat. And so looking forward to stablizer week.

Does Training Make You Dumb?

2009-04-08T09:18:00.007-06:00

Here's my question of the day... what is the correlation between thinking and training? It seems like as my training increases, my brain activity decreases. I don't want to go so far as to say that it makes me more stupid (because that would be dumb), but it does make me more absent minded.

For example, Wednesday's is doggy day care day. We've been doing this for almost 3 years now. It's a pretty standard routine. And it's not like I ever forget this, especially because I use it as an excuse most of the time to be able to sleep in a little longer since we don't have to go for a walk. And I don't forget - I have always left the house with them on Wednesday mornings. The problem occurs after we leave. And it's also not that I forget to pick them up. It's somewhere in between. There have been several cases where I've left work knowing that I was going to pick them up and somewhere in between getting into my car and going to get them, I forget to stop. The thing is that day care is probably a 1/2 mile from where I work, so it's not like I have a lot of time to forget, but somewhere in those 2 minutes, I forget to turn off into the parking lot and continue driving. I usually remember just as I pass by the turn, but once I made it most of the way home before realizing.

But it's getting worse. This morning I made it all the way to work and was about to pull into the parking lot when I heard some leashes jingling in the back and realized that I had forgotten to drop them off. This is the second time I've done this. A few weeks ago, I actually made it into the parking lot and parked before making this discovery. In fact, it was more than a little embarrassing as someone from my team was pulling in right next to me and there I was with two big dogs in the car, backing out of my parking space.

My short-term memory seems to have all but disappeared. I'll think of something on my way to get water only to have it vanish within seconds. I've found myself repeating things on the way back to my desk (ask X about Y, ask X about Y, ask X about Y) praying the whole time that I don't run into someone and be forced into a conversation that will render my RainMan-esque mantra into oblivion (what was I thinking about? what was I thinking about? what was I thinking about?)

The old fashioned approach of tying a string around a finger is starting to seem reasonable. Except that I then remember the Sesame Street episode with Burt and Ernie and Ernie has strings tied around all of his fingers. Burt asks about each one and each one is a reminder of another finger until he gets to the last one and then can no longer remember what he's supposed to remember. And then I start thinking about Burt and his pigeons and why the hell does he love pigeons. I hate birds. And it goes on and on. And it's really no wonder that I forget...

3 Day Marathon

2009-04-06T21:06:00.005-06:00

It dawned on me during my 10 mile run today that I've run 27 miles in the last 3 days. And just under 4 hours (does that count?) So I suppose it's no surprise that my legs are toast right about now. They hurt. I sort of wish I had my massage scheduled for this week rather than last. I think I need it a little more right now. I'm about to curl up with the foam roller - I can't wait! But I hit over 300 on my stress numbers this weekend, which apparently is a big deal to do in a day. I'm still not sure what these numbers mean - I looked it up online and it made sense for the duration of the session, but it has since vanished from memory. But that's what coaches are for.

My hamstring started bothering me a bit today, not that I can really blame it. I went to Teller Farms today since I keep hearing about it and it is so close. I went straight from work which is always sort of iffy. It's hard to run long after a full day of work. But it's sort of like an Ironman, so it's good training. I did 4x300 in "Z5" (ha!) followed by 4x1 miles in Z4. These sprint intervals are a joke for me. If I really take off in a sprint, I make it about 300 feet and I'm about to die and have to stop or slow down. If I take off slower, I barely get to Z3 by the time the interval is over. Fortunately, Teller Farms had some hills for me just as I was starting my intervals. Unfortunately for me, the hills at Teller Farms are not rolling. They are long and not so gradual. I think I did make it to Z4 on the shorter distances. I didn't time things so well and most of my intervals ended up being uphill. In addition, my first mile repeat was in mud. So, not only am I going uphill, I'm sliding all over the place and have about 20 pounds of mud caked to the bottom of my shoes. I almost went down twice. That would have been a sight. The rest of the repeats were a little smoother, but still a lot of hills and I couldn't quite get into Z4 as my legs were starting to talk back to me. Z3.9 was about as good as I could get.

But the weather was nice for a change. Finally! I know it hasn't been that long, but the past few days have been so bad that it's hard to remember the last nice day. There was a bit of wind, but when isn't there wind these days. At least the gusts were only up to 10mph. It was really nice to get outside having felt so cooped up over the weekend. Overall the run was a bit slower than I would have liked, but considering the conditions and the somewhat technical trail, I suppose it wasn't too bad. It's probably good that I got some hills in since my runs from work are pretty flat.

My rest day has officially begun. I don't need to think of training until about 5am on Wednesday. I am so looking forward to it.

Today's accomplishments:
1300 meter swim
10 mile run

Sleep...

2009-04-05T20:52:00.004-06:00

I'm so looking forward to going to bed. Training is starting to kick my butt. Last week was about 16 hours. I don't know how I got it all in. I vaguely remember something about getting up at 4:45 for a 15.5 mile run. And then of course, it's impossible to forget the 4.5 hours I spend on the trainer and treadmill yesterday to do my brick. It is so much more mentally exhausting than physically. Especially on the treadmill. I think Adam discovered the trick with the trainer...The Lord of The Rings trilogy. It definitely makes the time go by quickly. Unfortunately I had to go to the gym for the treadmill and there wasn't anything that could keep my attention for more than 3 minutes. What I really wanted to do was close my eyes and really be able to listed to music, but it's a bad idea to close your eyes while on the treadmill.

But now I can sleep...And start it all over again tomorrow.

How Is It Monday Already?

2009-03-23T21:00:00.005-06:00

Saturday: 83 mile ride, 2 mile run
Sunday: 18 mile ride, 3200 meter swim
Monday: 5.5 mile run

Well, let's just say that I got no unpacking done this weekend. I'm so ready for this stablizer week. It seems that the intensity has really picked up the last few days. Don't get me wrong, I think it's been great because I finally feel like I'm getting back on track with the training schedule. But I'm tired.

And I really need to water the plants.

Ye Olde Stage...Firsts

2009-03-19T21:07:00.000-06:00

Today I finally got in some much needed hill training on the bike. I did Old Stage twice and then continued up towards Jamestown. I sort of ran out of time, so I only got a few miles up the canyon, BUT I actually passed people! On a hill! Craziness, I know. And these were real cyclists (of course, two of them were on mountain bikes, but the other two were not). Still, I think it's a record for me.

I was surprised that I felt pretty good considering the long run the day before. I was expecting my legs to give out halfway up Old Stage. But they stayed with me and performed some miracles: 1. I was able to ride the second repeat while seated for the majority of the hill. 2. I was able to restart on the steepest part of the hill from a dead stop.

Yes indeed. I usually have to stand for most of the hill because my legs just haven't been strong enough to propel me in a seated position. I'll usually stand for a bit and then take a quick break to spin a few rotations and then back to standing. But I've always had to throw my whole body into it. But this time, I was able to remain seated for almost the entire hill. There were a few times I had to stand to try and get my cadence up a little bit. And then my CO2 cartridge fell off. I heard a click and saw something fall from the corner of my eye. Having heard some rattling earlier, I naturally assumed that my bike was falling apart (the eternal optimist). I stopped (which is really hard to do when you're going so slowly and are at such a steep angle). I saw that it was my cartridge and went to go get it. I checked the other cartridge and adapter and everything was loose - I must be riding some rough road somewhere. I tightened everything up, then hopped on my bike and prayed for a miracle that I could get started again without falling on my face. I somehow managed to pull it off.

So it was almost like I was destined to pass people going up to Jamestown - after my triumphs on Old Stage,
how could I have a bad ride after that?

Short and Sweet

2009-03-18T21:06:00.003-06:00

Exactly the opposite of my day which was, well, I'll just stick with long and sour. It's sort of like a few weeks ago when I was leaving the gym at a time when I'm usually there for masters. On my way out, I ran into a lane buddy who just barely caught himself in time as he whispered "I almost didn't recognize you in your clothes".

Anyhow, it's been a long day. Up at 5 for a 14.5 mile run. Off to work where I was at my desk for a total of about 10 minutes. I actually had to reschedule a meeting just so I could eat lunch. At 2pm! And then off to masters 30 minutes late, which I have to say that after the run, I was okay with missing half the class.

The run went well. My biggest complaint was with how dark it was. I usually run along 30th street when it's dark outside because it's well lit. But now I don't live near 30th anymore. I actually ran from Matt's house because I still don't have a great sense of where to run at my new place, especially for 14 miles. And Boulder I know. I had my headlamp, which was great, but because it was so dark and because the headlamp gives you such a limited area, I was getting pretty dizzy at times. But I got over it and it eventually became light. My other issue with the dark is that I manage to get myself all worked up about what sort of things are lurking out there. Coming from DC, you might think that this is normal, but I'm talking about animals. I'm a little hesitant to run through open space when I can't see what's out there. There could be bears or mountain lions out there. Or even cows, or turkeys, or geese, or other poultry (I'll save this for another time...it's a long and now entertaining story). But I was lucky today and only saw a rabbit this morning. I of course jumped about 10 feet in the air before I realized what it was. But hey, it keeps up the heartrate, right? And in the end, my run was right on pace with where I need to be for a 4 hour marathon.

P.S. The title was actually supposed to represent the size of this posting. I didn't write a dissertation and I didn't analyze. I'm sure it won't last.

T Minus 3 Months...and Change

2009-03-15T21:02:00.000-06:00

What does the T stand for? Takeoff? Time? In my case it stands for Totally Not Ready. Now that I'm no longer in real estate and moving mode, it's time to get back on the training program. No more excuses. No more telling myself when the alarm goes off at 5am that I'll just do it later.

It's amazing what the body remembers. I can't tell you what I've been doing for workouts for the past few months - a little swimming here, a bit less of biking there, and a lot of running. But I end up surprising myself often. Last Thursday, after poisoning myself on Monday, I attempted a 14 mile run. After a 2 mile warm-up, I started my intervals. I couldn't get into Z3 let alone Z4. So much for intervals. Since my Garmin is on the fritz again and I really didn't know a good 14 mile loop from memory, I decided to run for 2 hours instead. In Z2 because that was all I could do. Surprisingly I kept a very steady pace and was slightly faster on the way back. I mapped it out later and (accounting for various mapping errors), was somewhere between 13 and 13.5. That was a shocker!

I headed out this weekend for my longest brick to date: 51/11.5. Since I had skipped half of my workouts during the week, I made it up to myself by doing Old Stage - first ascent of the season. I keep waiting for the day where I get to the top and think "Hmm, that really wasn't so bad". Don't worry. I'm not there yet. But it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. It didn't hurt quite so much. It might actually not be so bad one day...The first hour of the Z3 went really well (and fast for this turtle). The last little bit ended up being uphill and into the wind.

ASIDE because I just have to get it out: Damn this wind!!! When will it end??? END ASIDE

But it was better than the previous weekend where I had a headwind or severe crosswind about 90% of the ride. Seriously, every time I turned, so did the wind. But overall, the ride went well. I had done the same loop the prior weekend (minus Old Stage) but it took a bit longer. Go me! I made it home and changed for the run. This was only the second run from my new house and the only route I've found so far is to my brother's house via the trails. 3 miles to his backyard, but uphill the entire way. In case it is not obvious, it does not make for a very good long brick, when you're first 3 miles are uphill (it does make for a great finish though). My legs were aching from Thursday. I was also dealing with some residual knee pain that I've started getting when it's really cold. It's like it shocks my knee joints and it takes them a day or two to recover. The uphill didn't help. So I ended up not really doing my Z3 stuff, but at that point, it was more of a mental workout that I knew I had to do to feel one step closer to being ready. I did get several miles at the Z2/Z3 threshold at a 9 min pace. I was happy with that. I stopped at Adam's on the way back to refill on water. It ended up being about a 15-20 minute break, but when you have 3 miles that are all downhill, it's not like I was going to get a whole lot out of them.

I finished up the weekend with a short ride and long swim yesterday. Neither were spectacular, but they did what they were supposed to in terms of logging the miles.

I was advised to keep these short and sweet so that I can potentially blog daily. So far I've failed. But I'm trying to keep it in mind. I'm just not sure that my mind works that way.

I'm Back...

2009-03-05T20:02:00.001-07:00

Disclaimer: I am a dork. And I am a bit meticulous. I know this already. You do not need to remind me.

No more excuses. The move is over and done with. The unpacking isn't, but I have way more time to take care of that. And there's no hurry considering I know where everything is. I have already been made fun of by so many people that I no longer have issue with discussing my packing strategy. For the anal triathletes out there, you may appreciate it. Usually I label (and colorcode) boxes based on where they need to end up in the new place. This year, I went several steps further. I had a spreadsheet. So, not only was each box labeled and colorcoded, but each box was also numbered. The spreadsheet then allowed me to put all sorts of details as to what went into the box. Instead of "Dishes", I would put things like "Plates, bowls, serving bowls" and so on. Since I was reusing boxes with other peoples writing all over it, this just seemed like a better idea (at one point a box may have been for bath for one move and office for the next move, and so on). My goal was to try and avoid boxes labeled Miscellaneous because these drive me crazy. This came in especially handy several times:

1. After "thinking ahead" while packing up dry food items, I left out a few things for dinner to cover a few days. This included a can of black beans for quesadillas. Several nights later when I went to make said quesadillas, I realized I had no can opener. Fear not, said the spreadsheet. It's in Box 49. Okay, you're thinking that's not such a big deal because the whole box was probably utensils, which it pretty much was. But how about this...
2. The first night in the new place, Matt and I collapsed into bed. A few hours later we awoke, having not really been asleep due to the screamingly quietness of the place. The humidifier HAD to come out for background noise if we were going to get some sleep. Box 77. We were back in bed within minutes. Perhaps a little more impressive? It's not like I had a whole box full of humidifiers - this actually turned out to be a miscellaneous box (there was a lampshade and cowboy hat as well and you really can't label that anything but miscellaneous). But again, there wasn't a lot of stuff in it since the humidifier did take up a bit of room. So the grand finale...
3. I went for a ride on Sunday. I had a whole box for workout clothes because they are so important. But inevitably something gets left out. In this case, my leg warmers, which I found on the floor in the back of my closet when I thought I had finished packing the closet. These ended up in another miscellaneous box only because it did not occur to me to just open the workout clothes box and throw them in (moving brain will do that to you). But fear not. I knew they were in Box 78 and wasted all of about a minute in getting ready for my ride.

So I'm not too concerned with holding off on the unpacking. If I need something, chances are that I'll know exactly where to find it. I strive for a box or two a night and have fallen short a box or two the past two nights. But oh well. That's just how it goes.

Oh, and by the way, I LOVE the new house! Training has sort of been on the back burner, but I'll try and get to that soon.

The Pros and Cons of "Slow"

2008-12-26T11:16:00.015-07:00

It's interesting that slow can be a good and a bad thing.

Wanting things to slow down...
Here I am at one moment complaining how crazy work is and has been for the last few months and that I can't wait for it to slow down. It seems like we've been going almost nonstop since October and there still isn't really an end in sight. I decided not to take any vacation days this week thinking that not only could I get caught up, but I could even get ahead. Everyone thought this was wishful thinking, but it's amazing how much you get done with no one around bugging you every 5 minutes. I think I may have achieved my goal. January is likely going to be awful so the more I can knock out of the way now, the better I am. I was able to get overly organized on my project from hell and have pretty much documented everything I possible can. I am now almost at a point where I am pretty much waiting on other people for definitions, explanations, or directions and all of that has been sent off to the appropriate people (and cc'd to the other appropriate people so there's no "but I didn't get the email"). I'm almost ahead of the game.

Wanting things to speed up...
And then I switch gears to training and complain that I don't seem to be getting much faster. Or that I'm not getting faster at a fast enough rate. Sure, if I look at the numbers, they are generally getting smaller, but we're talking a few seconds here and there. It certainly doesn't feel any different. Yesterday I had a 10 mile run to do. I figured that this run would show me the improvements. I wasn't rushed into squeezing it in, so there wouldn't be any reason for cutting out a mile or 2. I slept in so I was well rested going into it (or at least supposed to be in theory). It was slightly warmer than it has been so I was less likely to hit my 1 hour freezing joint time limit. And there was the reward of being able to eat whatever I wanted to for the rest of the day. But it really wasn't all that different. I actually felt a little more tired going into it than my last few runs. I even felt a little rushed since I was technically supposed to be at my dad's house at a certain time even though I had already told them that this was unlikely. So it was a pretty slow start and I wasn't sure I'd be able to do my Z3 set without some real pushing. I had 3 miles in Z3, with a 2 minute walk break between each. This is actually one of the easiest Z3 sets there is and I was already dreading it. It is exactly 4 miles from my house to the main entrance to the Res and I usually just keep going onto the gravel for my longer runs - it's a little break from the pavement and there are a few rolling hills to keep me honest. But my first two miles were supposed to be out and back. This meant that the first would be going up the hill past the Res and the second would be going down the hill. This doesn't make for very even splits which is what I was aiming for. It also wasn't helping my motivation. At the last minute, I decided to pull into the Res and just run along the road there. A wise choice. The flatter course was much more motivating. There were some people ice-skating on the frozen Res, which seemed stupid, yet kind of fun. It's been so long since I've been ice-skating, which I used to do all the time. But it was a nice distraction as it was sort of a holiday theme and brought back nice memories. Suddenly I was ready to turn around and head home. And this always gets me. When I turn around, I am now facing the mountains and again, am just awestruck about where I live and how lucky I am to live here. This of course turns into how fortunately I am in general: to live in this beautiful place, to have supportive family and friends, to still have a job, to be able to run. I tried to enjoy the rest of the run as best I could. It didn't matter how slow I was, at least I was running. And you tend to see a little more when you run slow - this is what those fast runners miss out on. Sometimes it's good to be slow.

Sometimes slow can be a good thing. At it seems like right now, this is what I need.

Finally, one Good (Cold) Day

2008-12-23T20:16:00.001-07:00

With work and life all over the place, training has taken the back burner. I'm trying to get it in when I can, but I feel like I'm rearranging my schedule at least 5 times a day. And this %#!&* cold weather isn't helping! Come on, who can deal with -5? There's only so much running I can do on a treadmill (especially since all of my recent biking has been on the trainer) and I swim outside. I'm kind of limited.

Anyhow, in general, most of my twice a day workout days have been cut to once a day and my longer workouts have been cut to shorter. Everything seems to be suffering. I did make it through an 8 but supposed to be 9 mile run last week. It went okay until about 60 minutes in when my joints just had enough of the cold. An hour seems to be my limit in these low double-digit temperatures. And then the thawing out period is absolutely painful. My knees have never hurt more than when warming up after extreme cold. There always seem to be something wrong these days.

I woke up Saturday extremely un-excited about having to do a 35 mile ride/7 mile run brick. The ride had to be done on the trainer once again and it's really hard to stay motivated for over an hour with everything to distract you. But thanks to some dumb movies, I made it through 2 hours and 15 minutes. I was actually looking forward to the run at this point to just get out of the house. I quickly changed my mind when I got outside into the cold and the wind. It did force me to keep running though and I made it through all 7 miles. Finally, a workout in its entirety.

I also passed a man over by the Reservoir who was wearing shorts. Insane! It was 19 degrees factoring in the windchill when I left the house. He apparently is either crazy or doesn't have the same joint and warm-up pain that I have. I vote for crazy.

Anal? Perfectionist? Well, yeah...Triathlete.

2008-12-18T20:52:00.004-07:00

Warning: I need to vent. This is just me ranting about work.

I'm on this absurd project for Merrill Lynch (sorry Kristina). It sucks. It's a HUGE site and a tiny timeline. The project plan is a nightmare. It's complete chaos. They had actually hired temp web developers for a while (they may still be there, but no one tells me much about the project). Oh yeah, and 90% of the project sits in another building, across the parking lot, a whole 2.5 minutes away. Everyone in this other building works off of a schedule posted on the wall. Yes, in this computer age, we have things written on the wall. This schedule changes at least weekly, but often several times a week and is only applicable for that week. It's the "this is what we're delivering this week" list. I can't see the wall unless I make a 5 minute roundtrip walk. But that's okay, because someone emails me the schedule for the week. HA! I wish. No, I'm going off of a schedule I was given over a month ago that I have since been told is essentially null and void. And here's the thing...for a lot of the stuff that the web is developing, they need data from me in order to finish everything. They can't completely code a page without my piece since they need to reference my code within theirs. This means that I should be done with thing before they start. So back to that schedule on the wall...what it really means is that everything listed are things that I would have needed to finish last week in order for the web to start working on them. But I'm not even give then schedule for this week, so how the hell am I supposed to know what I was supposed to have done last week?

That's Issue Number 1.

Issue Number 2. Project management. They have decided to create a ticket (essentially a work order) to track each module. There are often multiple pieces, and hence multiple people, working on a module. However, a ticket can only be assigned to one person at a time. It's a linear process. But we're not developing in a linear fashion - everyone is working on it at the same time and all are doing different things. So I'm supposed to update the ticket when I'm done with it even if someone else is assigned to it and potentially using it for something else. My comments end up getting lost in a huge mess of text. Really convenient for figuring out what's been completed or not. There's no way to filter on this. This means that I need to come up with another way to track my work because I know it's going to come back to me with people wanting to know if I'm done or not. And telling them to dig through a stack of tickets isn't going to cut it. The other problem I have with this approach is that if I run into an issue with my piece of the module, like mising data, where do I track this? Throw it into the ticket that's already assigned to someone else that really can't help me with my missing data and is therefore lost for all eternity within the bowels of a ticket? Just doesn't seem like a good idea. Who the hell is ever going to find this? An analogy: trying to find a word or phrase in a book without a Table of Contents or index. Good luck!

Because I need to be more organized than this, and as a CYA measure, I am tracking my work completely separately. I've given up on trying to convince people of the current method of madness. And of course what I've come up with tracks everything I could possibly track...what issues I have, who is looking into it, which tickets have been updated, and so on. I'm even tracking down to the specific data points that I have questions on. So at least I know where things stand. Actually, I was basically told that this is how they want to do it so I need to do it that way. Seems completely inefficient to me, but what can I do? So then I asked the web developers if they could let me know when I should promote my code to our testing environment. They asked if I could just constantly promote, like as soon as I was finished. I said that I would prefer some sort of confirmation from them that what I had given them worked and they were able to plug it in correctly. Sometimes we have different ideas about how things work and what I give them doesn't always work. I like to make sure my code works before it goes to anyone else. I test it to the extent that I can. When I pass it over to the developer, I also like to test this integration before sending it onto QA. What it really comes down to is that I take pride in my work and I like to do things right the first time. I'm thorough and I find that it saves a lot of time in the end. But they were basically asking me to throw away these work ethics and just go ahead a push it somewhat blindly. Their argument was that I would otherwise be getting hundreds of emails a day from developers asking me to promote my code. I really didn't have a choice and all I could say was that if I worked this way, I couldn't guarantee anything would work and that I would potentially break more things. I personally have a really hard time working this way. Again, I like being right the first time. I don't like being haphazard. I need to be organized.

Most of the people reading this blog are triathletes. You're probably all saying that there's nothing wrong with my way and that this is the way it should be done. That's because there's a certain personality and personality traits that many triathletes share. Being anal, being a perfectionist, being organized...Come one, we can tell you how many calories we need to injest per hour per activity. We measure out drink mixes for pre-workouts, workouts, and recovery. We are organized. We have schedules, routines. We have to plan in advance. And, and this is the big one, we remember every little thing that goes wrong and analyze it and over-analyze it and try and come up with some explanation as to why it happened and what we need to do to make sure it doesn't happen again. (This applies to good things as well, but we tend to not over-analyze them as much...). We do not like failure. We try and learn from our experiences. We are constantly striving to be better. I personally think that this is a commendable thing to want to achieve.

So it's really no surprise that I apply this to work as well. I probably apply this to most aspects of my life. Bu am I wrong for trying to do so? Am I wrong for trying to make things more efficient, to make things better?

I was at the bikeshop once and I was blabbing away to Tim (the owner). This was before my Ironman, and probably shortly after I got my new bike. Somehow I started talking about the movie Wordplay - a documentary about crossword puzzles and the people that do them (it's a good movie). I started to realize what I was saying and suddenly felt the need to follow it up with "sorry, I'm a bit of a dork". He looked at me and said that I was going to fit right into the Ironman world. I now understand.

So, to borrow from the old runner's saying...Triathletes. Yeah, we're different.

TGIS

2008-12-08T19:02:00.001-07:00

4 mile run

Yes, thankfully it's a stabilizer week. A very much needed one. I took full advantage of it already by bagging my swim this evening. Aside from feeling a bit tired, it started snowing and got cold and the thought of jumping into a pool, well, let's just say that it was not such an appealing thought.

My run today was 3x400m hills. Yes, Monday seems to be Hill Day. I went out way too hard on the first one and was about to die after maybe 200m. The road was also covered in gravel from last week's snow, so it was already hard enough. I was not about to make the same mistake the next time around which meant there went my negative splits. I did end up doing the 3rd one the fastest, so at least I felt like I had somewhat redeemed myself. Last week I thought I was starting to like hills. I changed my mind today. Perhaps because I was a bit tired.

And it turns out that I made up for the swim by making applesauce. I think I used my arms more in this: peeling, chopping, and mashing, than I do in swimming. I was exhausted when I was through.

A Quick Week Recap

2008-12-08T16:51:00.004-07:00

Monday: 5.5 mile run, 2000 m swim
Wednesday: 20ish mile ride (trainer)
Friday: 7 mile run (treadmill), 2000 m swim
Saturday: 40 mile ride (trainer)
Sunday: 2500m swim, 16 mile ride

The best day was probably Monday. I did some hill training and that went pretty well. I think I'm getting better on the hills and am actually starting to like them more. I prefer the longer distances - the 200 m uphill sprints still kill me. The rest of the week seemed to go downhill. I had a good ride on the trainer on Wednesday and decided it really comes down to what you're watching. The prior weekend I watched a not-so-great movie and the ride took forever. Wednesday I watched a completely dumb, but very captivating movie, and the time flew by.

I felt like crap most of the weekend. Saturday and Sunday didn't go all that well. I was supposed to ride 50, but was the closest I've come to throwing up on the bike. That was enough to make me stop. My legs have been quite tired the last few days - they were burning like made during the last few rides.

I think it's probably a combination of things. My house is on the market and had its first set of showings this week. It better sell quickly because I don't know how long I can last. It's not like I'm a messy person, but to keep things so excessively neat is just not possible. I'm trying to train myself to put everything away immediately, but then I hit that one night where I'm just exhausted and say "I'll do it tomorrow". And once you get lazy, it's like instant relapse into how you used to live. I've been getting up ridiculously early to vacuum and do dishes. The biggest problem is that you can't just shove things into the closet. So where do you put things like workout clothes which accumulate very quickly over the course of a week. I've started "storing" things in my car if I'm really struggling. The other thing is that I have to un-dogproof the house before a showing and then re-dogproof it later. There's a lot of inefficiencies in this process. Thank god for checklists.

Taking a Break for 27 Miles

2008-11-23T20:04:00.001-07:00

Saturday: 27 mile ride
Sunday: 3.5 mile run, weights

I officially put my house on the market tomorrow, so much of this weekend has been spent getting ready for this. I had to get rid of Matt's canoe that has been sitting downstairs for who knows how many years. It's hard to envision a room's potential when there's a bright red 15 foot canoe in the middle of the room.

I got a storage unit and in went the canoe. And a bunch of my mom's stuff that I've had just lying around, unsure what to do with it. When someone dies, you want to keep their stuff around because makes you think that they're still around and distracts you from the fact that they're not. It's all of her weaving and spinning stuff, which does take up a lot of room. Let's face it, I'm not going to use it, so it's time to sell it. It's time to move on, so into the storage unit it all went.

We finally got to take a break for a ride around 2. It was still a little cool, but a beautiful day and so nice to be outside (and not dealing with the storage unit). Matt hasn't been out on his bike in a little while, but I told him he was free to go ahead anyhow. I reminded him how slow I am. And he was either really tired, really out of shape, or just being nice because he stayed with me for the duration of the ride. I had 3 x 3 miles in Z3. It went pretty well except for the 3rd one where I chose a slightly more uphill section. I did try and make sure it more rolling than last week and mostly succeeded. I certainly pushed myself harder than on my previous few rides. After 20 or so miles, my legs were feeling it. But I did manage to bring my speed up a little, which made me feel much better about both my legs and the ride in general.

I got home and did a half mile run around the block, took the dogs out, had dinner, and then headed off to the Garmin Slipstream team introduction party. And you know what I learned...there are some tiny cyclists out there. And pros at that. I was supposed to win the team-issued bike, but my raffle ticket was given away to some teenage girl on the junior team.

Much of the rest of the weekend was avoiding trying to get the house clean. I had to drive Matt to the airport, which took up a good chunk of time. And I still wanted to take the dogs out - I feel like I have to take them somewhere during the weekend to make up for just walks during the week. We went over to the Res and they ran around in the sand and went crazy for a while. And then they were done. I then went over to the gym to meet Ralena and do our "weights". I can't really call it lifting since there is such minimal weight involved. I also got my run in on the treadmill - not what I really wanted to do, but it was already 6 and cold and dark outside. And then I forced myself to clean. Lots of vacuuming. With the amount of pet hair I vacuumed up, I could have generated at least another dog. But I'm almost there. I think.

Compliments

2008-11-19T08:12:00.010-07:00

5 mile run
2500 meter swim

The day started out with an early 5 mile run. It was really hard to get out of bed. I didn't sleep all that well - one of the cats thought it would be a fun time to play with the humidifier. She likes watching the bubbles and then trying to attack them. I've contemplated putting plastic fish in the tank but then I figured she'd just play with it more. I digress. Anyhow, it was hard getting out of bed.

I finally got started and was moving pretty slow. I had 2 miles in Z3 that were starting to look like they might be a struggle. I was having trouble maintaining mid-Z2. I just kept slowing down. My knee was also starting to hurt in the front, but I think it was from the cold. I stopped to stretch and bit and that seemed to do the trick. It was time for Z3 and I'd just have to see how it went.

In the end, it wasn't too bad. It took me about half a mile to feel like I holding a steady pace and could stop looking at my HR. Before long, I was at the turnaround and only had a mile to go. Just as I was finishing up the Z3 set, a very fit guy came running towards me at a very fit guy's pace. He was moving. And just as I was thinking how maybe one day I'd be that fast, he pointed at my hat and did a sort of hat's off/bow gesture to me. I was wearing my IM Florida finishers hat. It took me a minute to realize what had just happened and when it finally sunk in, I broke out into a smile. It totally made my day.

This Could be IT!

2008-11-18T14:52:00.004-07:00

I think I may have finally found a house! I've been looking since around January. I've found one that I really loved but hated where it was located. I found another that I really liked but had a feature that I decided I couldn't live with (detached garage). And I've seen what feels like hundreds that had one issue or another. Let's just say that I'm a little on the picky side.

Anyhow, over lunch on Friday, I went out with my Realtor/friend (he has to be a friend to put up with me for so long). This place seemed to have real potential. It met all of my criteria. It wasn't perfect, but I've long since acknowledged that this house doesn't exist, at least in my price range. The "faults" were minor and definitely ones I could live with. I went back on Sunday and plan on going again with Matt this evening. I'm optimistic...this could be home.

More Hills

2008-11-17T19:47:00.001-07:00

3 mile run
2000 meter swim

Another hill repeat day. Today was 3x400m. Since this was twice the distance as last week's hills, I had to find another hill. Last week's hill was just not long enough. I drove over to 75th and Jay - that's definitely a long hill and I should keep this in mind for the longer hill repeats. This was way more valid of a hill than some of the others I've been using.

I was expecting the run to be horrible. I felt so dead after the weekends activities. My arms were sore for most of yesterday after the swim. It hurt just to bend my wrists. And in general I had just felt exhausted. But I snapped out of it as soon as I got out of the car. It was so nice outside and it was great to get away from work for an hour. I warmed up for a bit and then hit the hill. I managed to negative split each interval for which I was very excited. And this is my first stabilizer week. It feels funny to say that being that it's week #3. I know the intervals weren't that long, but I was happy with the results. I'm starting to feel like I'm slowly making some progress and starting to get back to where I was a few months ago.

Carol was right. Wolfgang's class was definitely easier following Jane's torturous workout. Even the 100s on 1:45 seemed reasonable. Another successful workout. And tomorrow - REST!

Swimming in Circles

2008-11-16T21:07:00.001-07:00

3800 meter swim
10 mile ride

Actually, it was more like swimming uphill. I went to Jane's class this morning. And yes, you can be sure I got there on time - early in fact. 90

BUT, I made it through the entire workout which is an accomplishment in itself since many people drop out. And another swimmate reminded me how easy Wolfgang's class will feel on Monday night.

I rode 10 miles on the trainer because it was getting pretty windy outside and I was running out of free time. I went to see my house again today and it ended up being sort of the in the middle of everything. I was supposed to do 15 and I chose to round down today.

I also lifted with my sister this evening. We've been pretty good about going - all of 3 times right now. But I figured if I dragged her into it, I'd have a much better chance of keeping it up. We'll see how long it lasts. minutes is a long class this early in the season. She started us off with an easy warm-up of 8x100 on 1:40. Warm-up? HA! On a good day, 1:40 is still a decent effort. And it didn't really get much easier. As a result, I did lots of continuous sets and was just swimming in circles. My 100s because an 800.

At least it's nice outside

2008-11-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

43 mile ride

Well, somehow I did it. I was pretty sure that after last weekend's ride that 45 miles was going to be a stretch. A long stretch. I figured I'd just see how it went and do what I could. I dragged a friend along - thanks Deb. It's the only time I will ever be faster than her. She fractured her scapula a few weeks ago at a cross race, so the fact that she hung on as long as she did (over 30 miles) is impressive. She also hung in there for my 4 x 3 mile Z3 intervals.

It wasn't a fast ride by any means, and I struggled, but in the end got through it. And right now, that's more important than speed. It's only week 2.

Zone 400

2008-11-10T22:20:00.001-07:00

5 mile run
1700 meter swim

I'm not sure which is worse - hill repeats or Z4. I don't think I'm quite ready for Z4 yet. I also don't think I'm quite ready for hill repeats. Today's torture was 6 200m hill repeats. I know that 200m doesn't sound very far, but let's just remember that I'm still at the point where 3 miles at an easy pace hurts. I headed off to the hill behind the ballfields and managed to map out 200m from bottom to top on the first interval. 200m feels pretty far to me. I'd make it about 3/4 of the way up the hill and then be about ready to die. And I let myself feel this way 6 times. I'm actually surprised I did all 6. And #6 was my second fastest. It's amazing how the thought of being done can be so motivating. The rest of the run was done at a snail's pace but I was not complaining.

I missed half of masters and was half wondering if Wolfgang would also kick me out of class for being late. Jane kicked me out of class on Sunday because I got there late and it was too crowded. But Wolfgang just looked at me with his look. Before he could comment on my timeliness, I said "at least I came". That seemed to satisfy him, at least until he started criticizing me for taking a break to rest (His theory is that because I'm late, I'm not tired and should therefore make all the intervals without taking an extra break. A lovely theory. Just not reality.) I barely held on for the part of class I did make. He was having us do 100s on 1:40 and that just isn't very realistic right now. I made 1 and then just did continuous hundreds. My legs were pretty dead from the run so it took everything I had to hang on. It's probably a good thing I got there late.

But so far, Week 2 already seems to be going better.

Getting Hit by a Brick

2008-11-08T18:50:00.004-07:00

brick: 28 mile ride, 2 mile run

The scheduled workout was a 25 mile ride and a 4 mile run. I didn't think it would be that bad. It didn't seem like it would be that bad. Of course, I hadn't done much during the week.

I got started around 12:30, probably about when the wind started. It had been really nice and sunny that morning. It was no longer nice and sunny. I was cold throughout most of the ride. I always forget the booties...The wind held me at bay for a good portion of the ride. Had it not been for my Z3 segment, I may have averaged 10mph. Yes, I was that slow. I had 11 miles in Z3 that seemed to take forever. I finally finished that only to return to my 10mph pace. The ride ended up a little long. I didn't believe the Road Closed sign on 63rd. One of the signs made it seem like the road was only closed during the week, which is how they did it over the summer if I remember correctly, back when I was avoiding 63rd. But the sign was correct. The road was closed and I wasn't about to go off roading on my tri bike. So, turn around I did and hence the extra miles. Normally I don't mind a few extra miles, but today was not one of those days. 25 miles had already seemed long enough. If I hadn't been so cold, it would have been frustrating. I was just so slow. But I was too exhausted when I got home to care. Well, I cared enough to tell Matt that I didn't want to talk about it when he asked how my ride went.

I thought maybe I'd feel better during the run. I figured maybe I was more cold than tired and that I'd wake up with some Z3. Not quite. My feet were numb and I was really just plodding along trying to get some feeling in them. I was still cold and not getting any warmer. I turned around after a mile and headed home, deciding to call it a day. I figured with the extra miles on the bike I was still breaking even relatively speaking.

Getting back into shape sucks!

Week 1, Day 1...Square 0

2008-11-03T16:43:00.005-07:00

3 mile run
17 mile bike

Slow. That's the word of the day. I haven't done much for the last month and a half. I definitely enjoyed my time off, but started feeling like a slug a few weeks ago. Work has also gotten crazy busy and I've started to miss taking a break at lunch to go for a run. It was time to start again. I started swimming about 3 weeks ago and tried running last week. Since Harvest Moon, I've swam 6 times, ran 4, and biked once. Totally out of shape.

I'm glad I did a few workouts before Week 1. I was starting to feel like I needed to get in shape before I really get in shape. And this way, there are no surprises with how slow I am. My runs have been 3-4 miles and the first few hurt. I've gotten a few seconds slower each run. Totally out of shape.

But, as Craig says, now I'm ready to start up again. And I am. Week 1, Day 1 was easy. Everything in Z2, though Z2 feels a little hard these days. I'm not focused on time right now and just trying to monitor heart rate and try to figure out how much I need to readjust my zones. So nothing too exciting with the run or the ride. It was my first ride on the Computrainer and so far, so good. Though it's definitely not as fun as power max. There's something about 7 other people dying along with you that makes you hold out for just a little longer. I'm going to have to get some good movies this winter. But tonight was a short ride and TV was enough to get me through it.

Complete aside: Tomorrow is a rest day. I know, I haven't done anything yet and I'm already getting a rest day. But there will be no resting. Tomorrow is The Day. November 4. The day we've been waiting ALL year for. History in the making. And as nervous as I am, I am optimistic that Obama will pull through to victory.

Starting Again

2008-11-02T20:57:00.002-07:00

It's time to start training again. I met with Craig a few weeks ago to discuss goals for this coming season and a review of this season. My thoughts on the season haven't changed much, so I won't go through that again. I had a harder time setting goals that I thought I would. CDA is obviously the big race of the season, but I'm not sure what my goal is having already done one. Sure, I want to be faster and since it's a hilly course and hills are not my strength, this is definitely a challenge in itself. Craig brought up Hawaii and I said, "Sure, that's always out there." And so it was put out on the table. But this is sort of one of those secret goals that I have, the ones that come after the real goal. And this in itself is kind of silly because usually both of them are revealed. For Florida, my "real" goal was to finish and to finish strong. I did not want to be crawling across the finish. My not so "secret" goal was to finish under 12 hours because no matter what people say, you have a time set in your mind. But this always came after my "real" goal.

Throughout my training, I proved repeatedly to myself that 12 hours was possible. I had many moments of doubting it though, and had to revert back to the Just Wanting to Finish Goal. It probably wasn't until a few weeks before the race that I let myself tell myself that I was ready. Of course, saying this outloud was sometimes enough to make me panic and doubt and revert back to the "real" goal. But then it finally stuck. I remember telling Petra the day before the race that we were ready and that unless something went horribly wrong, there was absolutely no reason that we would not finish before the cutoff. 12 hours was entirely possible. And I absolutely believed it at this point.

My problem is that I don't want to set unrealistic goals. At one point during training, things were going really really well and I was on track for a 4 hour marathon. At this point and after reviewing the prior year's results, Hawaii popped into my head. Maybe, just maybe. It didn't turn into a goal, it was more of a wouldn't this be a pleasant surprise if it happened. Matt didn't think I should think about it because it might get my hopes up. My argument was that it was better for me to have a positive thought in my head of maybe I can do this than to have a negative thought of I can't do this. Positive thinking is always better. I looked at it as getting my spirits up which helped in training.

This year is different. Hawaii still seems like a long shot. Last year's winning time for my new age group was 10:34. There were 5 spots given to my age group, with the slowest time being 10:42. That's a big time difference. I know it's so variable, but that's still a big time difference. So, we decided on 11 hrs, where the extra hour came from shaving 30 minutes off the bike and 30 minutes off of the run. However, then I consider my goal for the season: 30 minutes total off of my half-Ironman. And this didn't happen. In trying to be positive, and reminding myself of the conditions I faced during this year's halves, I have attempted to make this seem reasonable. 30 minutes off of a half, an hour off a full. The math adds up. My full time was pretty much twice my half times. Convinced?

The big thing is going to be the bike. Once again. The plan: 1. We are going to really work on hills. 2. Power max class. We both agree that this really helped me last year. 3. Computrainer training outside of power max classes. My new indoor trainer will become my friend. As for the other two, I don't think I'm going to shave a lot of time off of my swim - I'm going for 2 minutes. I am more than happy with my swim and it's not like I'm really going to gain a lot of time. I will have to work on the run, but also hope that I don't have any weird injuries this year that prevent me from getting in the longer miles. I personally believe I need more interval workouts - more hard interval workouts. I remember early on this season (before I really started racing) how hard my workouts were. I remember thinking they were way harder than IM training. But they paid off, so I want a few more here and there. And then there's transition. I can easily bring down my 10+ minutes of total transition time.

But first, I must start training...

The Big One

2008-10-11T10:33:00.000-06:00

Kona. The Ironman of all Ironmans. It's here.

Good luck to my coach Craig, who is absolutely crazy for racing this with broken ribs and broken teeth after surviving a car crash less than 2 weeks ago. You are a superstar!

Good luck to Uli on her first Ironman. Have a great race.

And good luck to the few other people I swim with that have made the trek.

Reflections on a Season

2008-09-19T16:18:00.005-06:00

The long awaited day is here. The end of the season. I'm so ready for a break.

I've sort of been reflecting on this season all season. But now that I've had a few days of doing absolutely nothing, I feel like it's now appropriate for me to tie it all together and put everything into perspective.

The plan is to take at least 2 weeks off, but I'm sure I'll start getting antsy after a week. I'm not going to jump right in - I need to take some time off to get my hamstring completely back to normal. It's been doing so much better over the last month, but I was to be absolutely sure that it's healed. I plan on swimming and yoga for the next few weeks and then I'll start thinking about hopping back on the bike and heading out for a run. I finally broke down and got a Computrainer (with the CDA course no less) and am looking forward to training with it. I think it will be really beneficial.

So, my thoughts on this season...I don't think it was a great season. I never felt like I completely settle into things. I never felt like I was making progress. I also felt so unsure and unprepared. I felt tired a lot. I felt like I was all over the place. The whole plan of build, build, drop back down, build, build, drop back down never really happened. I didn't feel like I was pushing myself very hard - I didn't feel like my workouts were geared towards pushing me too hard. I don't want to go so far as to say that it sucked, but I was not happy with it. It felt harder to train this year than it did last year for an Ironman. I know I've complained many times about blaming it on the race schedule that I chose. I had 3 races in 6 weeks, followed by another set of 3 that were 3 weeks apart. It seems like most of my season, at least a third of it, was tapering. This drastic change in tempo really threw me off, and I believe this is why I just never felt ready. The pattern of go hard followed by do practically nothing did not have a good rhythm into which I could settle. It was not the same feeling of going hard, going hard, and then followed by a stabilizer week. Tapering is very different from stabilizers.

I didn't reach my goal of bringing down my half-IM time by 30 minutes. In fact, I didn't bring it down at all. In fact, I had my slowest two half-IMs of the 5 or 6 that I've done. Even my full IM time divided by 2 was faster than both of these this season. I don't want to use excuses, though I was sick for the one race. I suppose that's a somewhat legitimate excuse, but who knows.

I know I should be happy with my other results and I am for the most part. My shorter races in general were much faster than previous equivalent races. There definitely was improvement and most of it was pretty early in the season. My bike times over the shorter distances have definitely improved. And my bike time at Vineman was slightly faster then my 5430 time from last year despite being sick. And being that getting faster on the bike was another goal for the season, I guess I can say that I was mostly successful with this. It didn't show in my half, but it was definetly evident in other races. I broke 19 mph in several races. That is an accomplishment. It's just the my big goal was my half-IM and there was nothing even close about reaching that one.

Well, at least I know that I shouldn't do that kind of schedule again. At least I can take that away from the season. Other things to which I am thankful...I never got injured. The hamstring thing was definitely a nag, but nothing that caused extreme pain and something that I could still definitely run through. It was just a reminder that I need to do more stretching and to continue to be aware of how things feel. I am also really happy that Matt chose to tri this season, or most of it, with me. I'm not sure he'll do it again next year, but it was nice to have someone to "train" with (we could at least leave the house at the same time) and to commisserate with, as well as to celebrate with. I still have a few months to try and convince him that he really wants to stick with it.

And now it's time to start thinking about next year. Coeur d'Alene, here I come!

Harvest Moon Long Course

2008-09-15T11:23:00.011-06:00

1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run

I agree with Mike that this should be called Hardest Moon. It wasn't just the course - it was hard in so many ways. I was so ready to be done a month ago. It's hard to drag yourself out of bed at 4:30 for a race you're not thrilled about. It's also hard to drag yourself out of be at 4:30 when it's 47 degrees and raining. Everything about waking up that morning screamed "Go back to bed!" Driving over to Kansas (well, it's practically Kansas) with the both the rain and temperature coming down, Matt said at one point "If it's 47 and raining when we get there, you're not racing". You know what? I didn't argue. I was more than fine with that. So it was almost unfortunate when the rain stopped. Of course, then the wind started. As you can see, I really didn't want to get out of the car.My second mistake of the day (the first being getting out of bed), was to hit up the port-a-potty before the lines started forming. I will reiterate that I got there before the lines started. Meaning that I didn't have to wait. Meaning that not a lot of people had been using them. So how it was to be that this was the most repulsive smelling portable toilet I've ever been in is beyond me. I actually gagged. Twice. Even thinking about it now brings back memories I am trying to suppress. Anyhow, there went my chance at eating anything before the race. I usually have to force something down as it is, but there was no way I was going to get anything to go down other than water.

Shivering and with teeth chattering, I went to set up shop. No one around me was putting out extra clothes and here I was practically with a suitcase of extra clothes: arm warmers, knee warmers, heavy long sleeve shirt, jacket, and gloves. Was no one else cold? Then the guy with the single speed shows up and racks across from me. Matt wondered if he was out of his mind. I told him that I bet he'd pass me on the bike. I put on my wetsuit and sweatshirt and headed down to the beach.

We stood behind a shed to block the wind. I couldn't get warm. The wind had picked up and I didn't think I could actually leave the cover of the shed. They announced that the water temperature was 61 in the cove and likely several degrees colder farther out. I really did not want to do this race. Matt told me to just try the swim and then decide. I knew he was right. I finally went to go check out the water. It actually wasn't bad. After all, it was warmer in the water than it was outside. I think that because I was already so cold and numb, I couldn't really feel how cold the water was.

I found a spot on the other side of the rope, but I was way off to the side of the other pink caps. I was amidst the blue caps, but just assumed that they were also starting. Someone said GO! and none of the blue caps went anywhere. I guess I was on my own. Because of where I started relative to everyone else, I somehow ended up in the lead. I could see the whole pink pack each time I went to breathe and just couldn't figure out how I was so far ahead. According to Matt, it was pretty funny to watch since I was all alone out front for a little while. I settled in behind another pink capper and decided to draft off of her. She probably wasn't the most ideal person to draft off of as she was relatively my speed, but she was right there, so I tried it. The water was relatively clear and she was a kicker, so she was pretty easy to follow. I lost her going by the last few buoys as we started to catch up to the previous wave, so I swam the last little bit alone.

I got out and it was cold. I spent several minutes struggling into various pieces of clothing. I figured putting on a long sleeve shirt would be easier than wrestling with arm warmers. I was wrong. I also couldn't really feel my hands, so speed wasn't really my concern. I went with the long sleeve and long knee warmers. I did forget my gloves. I threw my towel down when I grabbed my shirt and the towel fell over the gloves and I immediately forgot all about them. It didn't help that I couldn't feel my hands as a reminder. I was instantly reminded when I got on the bike. It was *&%&!-ing cold. I tried to pull my sleeves over my hands, but it didn't work so well and made shifting difficult. After a few miles, I seriously contemplated turning around. My hands just hurt and didn't seem to be getting any warmer. But then my friend Steve rode up beside me and I cheated by accepting outside support. He asked how I was doing and I started ranting about the cold and forgetting my gloves. He offered me his and I gladly took them. Thank you Steve! I'm not sure that I would have been able to finish without them - I kept them on until the last 5 or so miles. The ride was pretty miserable. I'm so glad I had ridden in two weeks before so I felt a little better prepared. Of course, when I last rode it, it was probably at least 95 degrees and now I was at the opposite end of the spectrum. My feet were numb and my legs were pretty cold throughout the ride. The last set of rollers were the worst. I couldn't really stand because my quads were so cold and ready to give way. I couldn't really push down or pull up on the pedals due to other numbness in my legs. And so I pretty much crawled up the hills. It's usually at this point that I start to look forward to the run and something different and finally getting off the bike. I was not looking forward to the run. I had no idea how my legs were going to handle it. I would soon find out.

Oh, and with maybe 500 feet to go before the dismount line, Mr. Single Speed passed me. I laughed.

T2 was not much better than T1. I put my shoes on my numb feet and then realized that I hadn't take my knee warmers off. I also wasn't doing very well at balancing on one foot, so there was a bit of flailing going on. And I almost forgot to take off my helmet. But then I was off. The first section of the run was on very rutted gravel and goes downhill. It just didn't seem like a good idea to be running on such a course when I still couldn't feel my legs. I shuffled for the first mile because I was afraid to lift my foot on the ground and not be able to feel it when it hit back down again. Around mile 4 I was finally back to full feeling. It was also around this time that the hunger started to settle in. Remember no breakfast? It was catching up with me. Despite following my normal routine on the bike, I never really caught up. I really started struggling just before mile 10 and my blood sugar started to drop. I went for the Coke at the next aid stop knowing that the sugar would kick in immediately. My Hammer gels were not quick in responding. That seemed to help and I stuck with it for the duration. My injured hamstring felt great throughout, but the other hamstring started to tighten up and forced me to walk for a bit. But I was okay with it - I knew I wasn't breaking any records. I was determined to finish strong and stick with my resolution from Vineman of making the last mile count. Thanks to the Coke, I was able to do it. I hardly ever drink soda, but I crossed the line actually craving it. And because of the BBQ lunch, soda was about all that I was able to get.

We didn't stick around for very long - it was still pretty chilly although the sun finally came out. It certainly wasn't my finest race. It was hard and conditions made it worse, so getting through it was a feat in itself. And though it wasn't fun, I'm glad I did it. It probably would have been worse had I skipped it. When I rode the course a few weeks ago and realized how hard it was going to be, I was sort of determined to do it and be able to use it as my baseline for starting CDA training. Since CDA is going to be hilly, I wanted to have a race with a hilly course so that I know how it feels and so that I have a better understanding of how hard I'll need to work so that CDA is a completely different experience. When you're at the bottom, there's nowhere to go but up.

swim: 32:53
bike: 3:20:51
run: 2:16

total: 6:15:27

age: 12/24
women: 40/110
overall: 207/329

More photes...

Where Have I Been?

2008-09-14T20:19:00.000-06:00

I wish I knew.

Democratic National Convention - Final Night

2008-08-29T10:06:00.001-06:00

Enjoy the photos! One of these days I'll get around to summing it up. It was awesome!

Change is Coming

2008-08-27T20:23:00.004-06:00

3.5 mile run

Okay, if you haven't figured it out, this isn't really about the run. The quick recap: it was a very easy Z2 run. Nothing of interest happened. Nothing profound ran through my head. I'm not even going to try and make things up.

I'm sitting at home on the couch (where I hardly spend any time) watching the DNC and getting excited. For the change that is coming. For the change that seems inevitable. With all the energy put into the primaries, towards the end, it seemed like everyone was just getting sick of it dragging on. There was fear that this energy was gone and that we used it all up in the primaries. But it's starting to seem like that energy is picking back up again.

It actually started for me on Sunday morning at the start of the race. There was an announcement that the mayor of DC had joined us that day. It was funny because I had seem him earlier in transition and he seemed so familiar. His parents own the Fleet Feet store in DC and I lived around the corner. It was definitely my running store, and then grew into my triathlon store as well. He wasn't the mayor when I lived in DC, but I've still found him to be inspiring. DC needs a mayor like this and it was a honor to be in a race with him. And Matt was luck enough to finish with him. I later went to a private event at Red Rocks on Sunday that was primarily for the sponsors. But there were a handful of delegates that had already arrived and there was definitely excitement in the air.

Of course, maybe it's because I'm here in Colorado where everything is taking place. Or maybe it's because I need to believe that this can happen. This is history in the making and we need to do everything we can to make this happen. November 4 is right around the corner. How many lives have been lost in the last 5 years? How much money have we thrown away (or borrowed from China) to pay for this unjust war? How many national problem have we ignored? How much money do the experts say it will take to pay for universal healthcare? How much for fixing education? And how much do we spend monthly on this war? Change is absolutely needed. I'm watching Biden accept the nomination right now. I'll be there tomorrow at Invesco when Obama accepts his nomination. The Obama/Biden team is here and are forging the way. We need to join in. We can do this. Yes we can.

The Little Engine That Could

2008-08-26T19:18:00.004-06:00

6 mile run, 22 mile ride

I'm trying to get back in the game. It's only for another few weeks. But it's really hard to stay motivated. I'm tired. I want to be lazy. But I can hang in there for another few weeks.

I ran at lunch today and was still a bit tired from Sunday. My main set was 8x100 striders, 2 miles of Z4 with 4:00 recovery walk, and finally .5 miles Z4 with 2:00 recovery walk. It seemed pretty warm and definitely humid. What's up with this humidity? I thought I left all of that behind. Anyhow, I took it pretty easy on the striders and probably got up to high Z3. It's just too short of a distance for me to really get my HR up there. The hardest part of the striders was keeping track of how many I had done. I think I did 8...

I think because I was feeling so tired, I didn't overthink the Z4 set. I certainly wasn't looking forward to it, but I wasn't dreading it either. I started at a good pace and didn't go out to hard. In fact, throughout the first half mile or so, my HR was frequently dropping back into Z3. Towards the end my HR was getting a little high and I had no problem slowing it down. I wasn't going for time. It was hot and I was tired, so I was just going to stick to the plan. I finished the 2 miles and enjoyed my 4 min recovery walk. The problem was that it was really hard to get started again. My legs felt like they were done and it was quite a struggle to get everything going again. But I made it through and finished the workout. Success. And I was quite surprised with my times - 7:50 pace for the 2 mile bit and just under 7 for the half mile. Not sure where that came from.

I got home with the plan of riding. Matt had said he would ride with me so it didn't seem like it would be that hard. But I got home and we took the dogs for a quick walk and neither of us really wanted to go. We started talking about how nice it would be to have a Computrainer right now. The thought of leaving the house just seemed ridiculously hard. And Matt wasn't making it any easier. Despite wanting to, I couldn't give in. We got dressed and headed outside. Once we got started it wasn't nearly that bad. Getting started is always the hardest part. We did a quick out and back on 36 to get in some rollers. I was supposed to do a steep hill, but skipped it since my hamstring was pretty sore after the run. I figured the rollers would let me still get in a decent workout and wouldn't aggravate my hamstring too much. I ended up doing about 30 minutes in Z3/Z4 and tried to just spin my way through the rest. In the end, I was glad I got on the bike, but it was an even better feeling to get home.

Only a few more weeks. I can hang in there.

Steamboat Race Report

2008-08-24T17:22:00.002-06:00

3/4 mile swim, 20 mile bike, 4 mile run

Matt and I headed up to Steamboat early Friday afternoon. We took the scenic route through Estes just because we could. I haven't been through the park in probably at least 15 years. It was really beautiful, although it's horrifying to see the destruction by the pine beetles. We rolled into Steamboat just before 6 and got settled into our condo and spent the evening watching the Olympics.

We slept in on Saturday (no dogs to wake us up early) and eventually made our way to packet pick-up and the pre-race meeting. Matt forgot his goggles, so we made a quick stop at Sports Authority and then drove the bike course (and here he was making fun of me about how much stuff I brought. I had 2 pair of goggles, but they were too small for him). We then decided to go for a short ride to stretch out our legs. We rode along the back part of the course since it was so close to where we were staying and we figured it would be better to ride the rollers rather than the flat stretch because what exactly would that give us. The road was a little rough with the recent chip seal, but nothing too uncomfortable other than a slight tickle along my forearms from the vibration. The rollers weren't so bad. And then we turned around and hit the wind. Let me rephrase that. And then we turned around and I hit the wind. Matt just kept on going. I battled the wind for a few miles wishing with all my might that it would not be windy on Sunday. But I can say that at least I'm getting a little better in the wind. We headed back to the condo to meet up with Mike who was going to stay with us that night. He and Matt went for a quick run and we headed over to Safeway to buy some stuff for dinner. After a yummy dinner of pasta, bread, salad, ground beef for the boys, and meatless balls for me, we settled in to watch the mens marathon. I also had a glass of wine, which I never do before a race. I also had about 20 gallons of water to counteract any affects, but it still straying quite a bit from my pre-race routine. It was a symbol that this race was supposed to be fun and no pressure. It was also an attempt to get me out of my current mindset of being done for the season - maybe if I enjoyed this race, I'd be more excited going into Harvest Moon.

I slept pretty well, especially for a night before a race. I woke up and walked out into the living room where Matt was out on the balcony laughing. According to him, what we were hearing was rain and gale force winds. I think we were all kind of thinking "Hmmm, maybe we should just go back to bed". Or maybe it was just me. The skies started to clear and the winds dropped to just below gale force. It looked like it was all passing over when we headed over to the lake. However, hanging around for the start, it seemed like it was getting worse. The wind was picking up and the temperatures were dropping a bit and the cloud cover came back. So much for no wind on the bike. The thought of just going back to car and sleeping was a very tempting thought.

But before long, the race was underway and inched my way into the icy waters reminding myself that this was the fun race. And we were off. The water was pretty frigid at first, but it wasn't as bad as Show Low and I got used to it pretty quickly. I started out in front and stayed in front. Unlike my last few races where I just couldn't get close enough to the front and had to fight my way out of the pack, things were nice and smooth from the start. I did swim into a few floaties, but I was expecting these. I wasn't expecting the mud pits at the end and sinking to my knees trying to get out of the water. I had a sudden image of Uncle Remus' tar baby - I wanted to put my hands down but then thought they'd get sucked into the mud and I'd end up on my face. Let's just say that it was not a quick exiting of the water.

I ran into transition and found my bike. I was still a little chilled so I decided to go with the arm warmers. And yes, I had also brought leg warmers and knee warmers. I decided to leave my gloves back in the car thinking that that might be overdoing it. I probably wasted about a minute getting the stupid arm warmers on my wet arms. It's kind of like getting into a wetsuit - there's always a struggle of sorts. The woman racked next to me came running up as I was fighting my clothing. Her boyfriend was right off to the side yelling that #1 was about 2 minutes ahead. She swore and then took off to catch her. Wow, I was pretty close to the front of the pack. Not like I had a chance of catching anyone on the bike, but it's still a nice mental thought to get stuck in your head right before your favorite leg.

I headed off on the bike and quickly found what I'm assuming was about a high Z3 pace. It was a little hard to tell with the altitude. I wouldn't say that I noticed it directly, but I did notice the effects of it with it just taking a little longer to catch my breath. I hit the railroad tracks and one of my water bottles went flying. I think I've lost about half of my bottles this year from railroad tracks. I kept going, ready to attack the rollers. Well, I didn't quite attack them - I was having some issues with other riders not riding to the right and trying to get around them without crashing into the cyclists on their way back to transition. I got to the turnaround and then WHAM! The Wind. Negative thoughts started leaping around and I tried to fight them out. Suddenly an old man (70? 90? old) came from nowhere. He had been riding on the bike path along the course and the bike path crosses the course by the turnaround. He was looking to his right at all of the cyclists coming towards him. He started pedaling across the street. I don't know how he couldn't know, but he seemed completely unaware that there were also cyclists coming from his left as well. He starts crossing the street directly in my path. I started to scream "Hey! Hey! Watch Out! Watch Out!" and started to slam on my brakes. He finally looked over at me with a confused look of "huh?". I slowed and swerved around him as did another guy. As the guy passed me he said "that was dangerous". You think? Well, there's nothing like adrenaline to get you going. Except for the fact that yelling had been exhausting and took quite a bit out of me. I was already breathing hard, but the yelling had been like doing some Z5 intervals. I was now completely out of breath. And dealing with the wind. The next few miles over the rollers were tough. I was fighting the wind and just couldn't settle into a comfortable pace. Finally something clicked and the moment had passed. I was on a hill and decided that the person I was behind was just not going quite fast enough. I made the pass and was back in the game. The rest of the rollers went much better, despite the wind. The home stretch was flat and should have been uneventful. But that would be too easy, right? I was getting close to the left hand turn back into the park. A car got into the left hand lane to turn as well. I assumed they were spectators and they had left plenty of room in the lane. The cop waved them through the turn since they weren't cutting anyone off. I was pretty much along side of the car as they started to make their turn. Their turn was really wide, thus making my turn really wide. They started to slow down and were practically blocking the right hand side of the road. There were a bunch of spectators on the corner. They started to yell. The car slowed more. I now had no way to get around them. I started to yell "Move! Get out of the way!" as did the spectators. The car slowed more. I was just about to reach out and pound on the window (yes, I was think close to the car and had maybe a foot of road between them and the side of the road) when they finally veered left and took off. I had been screaming quite a bit more than I had at the old man and was once again completely depleted of oxygen. And of course, I was now heading uphill. I struggled for a bit thinking that this was going to be a long ride back into transition. But I got to the final hill and something clicked again and I powered up the hill back into the parking lot.

I threw on my shoes and grabbed my hat as was off for the run. The leading wave was just starting to finish as I left for the run, so I realized that I was still pretty close to the front. The first half is relatively downhill and I figured it would be super easy. But it was also into the wind and it took me about a mile to fully catch my breath and get into a comfortable rhythm. That first mile I was definitely thinking that I would not be able to keep this up. I was also trying to conserve something for the second half since it would be uphill. Once I finally got comfortable, I was able to enjoy things again and admire the scenery. Suddenly I was at the turnaround and heading for home. The second half of the run felt so much better. I wished I had pushed a little harder. I was expecting the hill to suck, but I hardly noticed there was a hill. By the time I figure out that I still had quite a bit left, there was only about a half mile remaining. I went into high gear and charged over the hill to the finish line. I saw the clock at just under 2 hours. I was hoping to break 2, and I had about 45 seconds to get myself over the line. This turned out not to be a problem - they must have started my wave a little late. Final time: 1:58:49.

swim: 19:36
t1: 2:46 (stupid arm warmers)
bike: 1:02:42
t2: 1:12
run: 32:35

age group: 6/54
women: 23/243
overall: 111

Long Training Days

2008-08-20T21:22:00.003-06:00

Tuesday: 42 mile ride
Wednesday: 10 mile run

I asked not to taper this week before Steamboat this coming weekend since it seems to be throwing me off. So instead I get distance and intensity throw at me. Just like I asked for.

I was supposed to do 50 yesterday, but that's nearly impossible to get in after a full day of work this time of the year. There's just not enough daylight left. I tried to leave work early, but still didn't get out until about 25 minutes after I had planned. My main set was 11.5 miles Z3, recover, 7 miles Z3, recover, 4 miles Z3. I had written down the distances on my hand. I know, I know. I usually will write it on a small piece of paper and tape it to my stem, but that takes too much time and time is a precious commodity these days. I know, I know. I should have done it the night before. But I didn't. Anyhow, once I got started, I immediately couldn't remember if I was supposed to do Z3 or Z4. It turned out that I really didn't need the distances written on my hand as I immediately committed them to memory. I instead should have written the intensity. I was wavering between the following: it's probably Z3 because I have Steamboat this weekend and Z4 seems like it's maybe too much right before a race OR Z4 sort of makes more sense because he usually breaks up the Z4 sets into smaller blocks and the Z3 sets are more like do 23 miles. So I compromised and did high Z3/low Z4. It was close enough.

In addition to going harder than I was supposed to, I also chose a slightly more challenging course for myself which included 2 times on the Rollers of 63rd, the hill heading east on Nelson between 63rd and 36, and the gradual climb heading east on St Vrain between 75th and 65th. It was a bit more climbing than I usually do. But I guess I knew I wasn't going to get 50 miles in, so I might as well make what I could do count. I tried to plan it so that each interval would have a good combination of up and down, but ended up completely miscalculating on the second one. This one pretty much seemed to be all uphill. I averaged somewhere in the 16s for this uphill interval, which I'm happy with - I'm usually in the single digits climbing. Overall I was able to average low 17s, which I rarely am able to do during a training ride. Go me!

I was very hesitant setting my alarm for 4:30 this morning. I was going to attempt a 12 mile run just a mere hours after my hilly ride. I figured it would be interesting. But it wasn't. I woke up at 4:30 with a killer headache that's been bothering me on and off over the past few days. It was the sort of headache that was not going to help with the run. I quickly figured out if I could rearrange my day and move the run to the evening. I didn't really have a choice though because there was no way I was going to get anything resembling a good run with a pounding head. I went back to sleep and woke up 2 hours later feeling quite a bit better. But it was going to be a struggle to get the run in. I'm having people over tomorrow so the plan was to clean tonight and by clean I mean vacuum the endless amounts of dog hair that just instantly reappears. It's like spontaneous generation. I don't know why, but it takes me an hour to vacuum just the upstairs (which is where we spend most of our time). I have a system too, there's just a lot of hair. Anyhow, I decided it would be a late-ish night and I would vacuum after the run. As if running 10 miles at the end of a long day isn't bad enough, but to add vacuuming on top of this...could I have a more fun evening? This is why I need a personal assistant. Or I guess a maid would work as well. I heard recently on one of the NPR game shows about a survey where they asked women if they could have 2 service-type people available to them, what would they pick. A large majority said a handy-man and a maid. They asked the same of men and surprisingly they answered the same.

Back to the run. I was supposed to do 12 miles, with 6 in Z3. And yes, it was supposed to be Z3 this time. It started off fine but when I went to start the Z3 segment, I found that I was still in Z2. Hmm, tried again. Nothing. Then some cramps started popping up. I wasn't sure if I just hadn't timed my afternoon snack right (I did feel rather full, but I've been starving the last 2 weeks or so) or if it was hydration. I decided to stick with Z2. There was just no forcing the Z3. I turned around after 5 miles since vacuuming was looming in the back of my mind. I'm not sure that I would have been able to do 12 - I was pretty dead after 10. 10 would have to suffice. And considering the problems I was having, it turned out to not be a bad run for Z2. Certainly not my finest run by any means. But for an evening run, it certainly wasn't my worst run either.

I got home and guess what I did? I vacuumed. Wow! It was so much fun. I won't go into detail. You're not missing much. But that was about all I was able to get through. The rest of the tidying up will have to wait until tomorrow where I'll somehow find time to squeeze it in.

Sometimes You Just Need a Break

2008-08-18T21:09:00.002-06:00

5 mile run

I had a 6 mile Z2 run on the schedule today. It seemed like a lot after the 9 from yesterday, but it was Z2 and the sun was back out, so I figured what the hell. My relay teammate Deb IM'd me mid-morning asking what I was doing over lunch. She was complaining about how she hasn't run in weeks, but I finally ended up talking her into running with me. I promised her it would be easy. And it was. I had my HR monitor on, but barely paid attention to it, so we ended up running a little slower than Z2. But it was fun and stress-free. Sometimes you just need to take a little break from training. Thanks Deb!

So Ready to be Done

2008-08-17T17:30:00.001-06:00

Saturday: 40 miles (trainer), 3 mile run
Sunday: ~2700m swim, 9 mile run

After about 2 days straight, it has finally stopped raining. And although Colorado in general needed it, I did not. After all, I already take 2-3 showers a day...

On Friday I was just supposed to swim. Being that Wolfgang is out and being that it was raining, I had absolutely no problem skipping this workout. I was able to rationalize that walking the dogs in the rain was pretty close to swimming. Instead, I finished off the day, and the week, with pizza and watching the Olympics.

Because I did not have the foresight to check the weather frequently, I woke up to Saturday's rain thinking that the entire weekend was going to be like this. I had planned on driving out to Aurora to do my brick on the Harvest Moon course. It was bad enough to have to drive to Aurora, but driving to Aurora in the rain...no way. Unless I absolutely have to, I don't ride in the rain. The roads are slick and people are stupid. It's just not worth it. Not to mention that it was also pretty cold. Instead, I tried to talk myself into getting on the trainer. Again, let me stress how stupid I was in not checking the weather. Had I any idea that Sunday was supposed to be absolutely beautiful, I would have ridden on Sunday and this post would probably be called something like 'The Ride of My Life'. But no, it was nothing but rain in my mind.

I needed to do 2.5 hours on the trainer. It was early. It was cold. It was raining. The Olympics are on and I'm still several days behind. Given these conditions, is there nothing better to do? Um, yeah, about a million, including going back to bed or having a cup of coffee and curling up in front of the TV. I could not have been moving any slower. I took things in very small steps in the hopes to get motivated. I brought my bike upstairs. I took a little break. I set up the trainer. Another little break. Turned on the TV. Break. Got dressed. Break. And then the thought crept into my mind. I think I'm ready to be done. Maybe today is the day I should end my season. Life has been very hectic and it's been a very long season and I've done plenty of races. Maybe it's time to stop and rest before starting again with CDA training.

But somehow, somehow, I found myself climbing on the trainer. Somehow I found myself starting to pedal. Somehow I found myself starting to get lost in watching the Olympics. I'd love to say that somehow I found that 2.5 hours had passed, but time didn't go so quickly and I was more than aware of how much time I still needed to do. Eventually (and not somehow), I got through 2.5 hours. It took a bit longer than 2.5 hours due to my finding many reasons to get off and make minor adjustments. And I still had a 9 mile run awaiting me. But I found myself at least somewhat looking forward to this - at least it would get me outside. I finished the ride, changed, and headed out on the run. It had stopped raining at this point and I was way overdressed. In addition, I had absolutely no energy. I was having a hard time maintaining my regular eating routine while on the trainer, and I just hadn't eaten enough. About 2.5 miles into the run my blood sugar dropped and there was no way I was going to do 9 miles. It just wasn't going to happen since I clearly needed more calories than I was carrying with me. I staggered through another half mile and then walked home. I'd try again on Sunday...

I awoke Sunday morning to sunshine. I figured it was temporary since I was still under the impression that it was supposed to rain all day Sunday. As I headed over to the pool, I noticed that there were not many clouds in the sky. Hmmm, I wonder. Let's just say that I was not happy when I finally checked the weather. I thought I was ready for Jane's class. Ha! She changed my mind almost immediately - we were only doing 25s and I wasn't getting any rest. It was going to be a loooong class. I had to keep moving back until I was at the end. I was close to keeping up, which means that I was nowhere near the person in front of me, BUT I didn't get lapped. I started to feel a little better as class went on and finished with a very small sense of accomplishment. I had made it through the entire class after all.

I got home and ate. In my mind, it must have still been raining as I just could not seem to really wake up. I just felt really sluggish. I decided to lie down for a little before attempting my run. We had dinner plans for my sister's birthday so I couldn't waste too much time, but I figured it couldn't hurt. After about an hour I finally got up. I had to start the run soon or it just wasn't going to happen. It was probably about 2 or 2:30 when I finally left the house. I dressed more appropriately today and brought a little more food, just in case. I had 6 miles to do in Z3 and decided to start this after a mile so that I could get it out of the way. The run was about 200% better than yesterday and not just because I made it past mile 3. It really was nice outside. My legs finally felt like they had fully recovered and I breezed through the Z3 set. Before I knew it, I was back home with another long run under my belt (finally). Maybe I'm not quite ready to end the season...

The Sprinting Snail

2008-08-14T09:40:00.004-06:00

8 mile run

As you may have guessed, I didn't get up early to run. I did have every intention to, but since I had eaten way too much last night, I woke up still feeling really full, which is definitely not the way to start a run. I actually felt a little sick (too much dessert) and ended up going back to sleep for a bit and figured I try and squeeze something in at lunch. I wasn't really sure that I'd be able to do 11 anyhow, especially after the long course run - I was only just starting to be able to walk again. I was hoping I could get through 9.

Work turned out to be crazy. My calendar was booked from 10 until 4:15 (this includes the 1.5 hrs I scheduled for my run). Naturally my last meeting before lunch ran long and I got off to a late start. Since I had meetings all afternoon, I couldn't really dawdle. I decided to shoot for 8 and depending on time, could add another half mile out and back once I got back to work. I know, doubtful, but that's what I had to tell myself. I had 4x1 minutes hard with full rest and then 2.5 miles Z4. My 1 minute "sprints" went better than the last time. I decided not to focus on my HR since it never seems to get to Z4 or Z5 until after I stop and just attempt to sprint. With the Olympics in full swing, it was hard for me to bring myself to call it a sprint since it clearly was not anything close. So it was just 1 minute hard. 1 minute is a long time. But I got through them.

The Z4 was a little harder since I was already starting to feel my quads again. I didn't feel completely recovered from Sunday to be able to hold a faster pace for longer than a minute. So I just took a half mile at a time. I'm getting better - I didn't start off the Z4 too hard so I didn't feel like I was going to die after a few minutes. Instead I just felt like my quads were going to strangle me. My hamstring was also tightening up, but I've gotten pretty good at ignoring that. I took full advantage of Z2 for the rest of the run, even though it was about a snail's pace. The Z4's were all at an 8 min. pace, so I could handle being a snail for a few miles.

Happy Birthday!

2008-08-13T21:49:00.001-06:00

21 mile ride, 1650 meter swimFor my birthday, I treated myself to a nice, early bike ride. Okay, so it wasn't that early. I dropped the dogs off at daycare around 7 and then left from work. It was an all Z2 ride, so not a bad way to start the morning. And it certainly beats starting a ride at 6. After a lovely day at work, I headed over to the pool. Wolfgang is out this week, and you know how substitutes are. It wasn't a great workout and I got criticized for my stroke and not following through. This is nothing new and as Wolfgang likes to point out, it's something I do when I start to get tired. And I was tired.

I wasn't really planning on doing much for my birthday since I have an early morning 11 mile run tomorrow. I was a little hesitant about going out and eating too much and not being able to sleep or get up super early. Matt and I just talked about getting dessert. However, by the time I had finished swimming, he was just getting home and neither of us had eaten yet. We ended up going to dinner and getting two desserts (the server was new and didn't know the names of the desserts. So what he called the chocolate cake that I wanted was not actually the chocolate cake. When the order came out, he realized that this was not what I wanted, so we ended up getting both. I couldn't complain). And in the end, I ate too much. Should be a good run.

Anything but Comfortable

2008-08-12T13:01:00.005-06:00

3 mile run, 34 mile ride

Ouch. I still hurt. Fortunately my run was only 3 miles. It was about the most painful 3 miles I've ever done. My quads are still screaming and do not really want to bend in any direction. I was hoping things would loosen up during the run, but they did not. It was a very slow run, a shuffle really.

I figured this would not bode well for the bike ride, but decided to try it anyways. It was significantly better than the run, even joyful. My legs felt fine spinning - so it appears that any form of walking is what I should not be doing right now. Of course, I had some issues controlling my HR as I am clearly not completely recovered from the weekend. My other issue was my saddle. I just could not get comfortable. Let's be clear. I've had plenty of experience with saddles - I think I'm on number 10 - so I know what discomfort feels like. The way I choose a saddle is by how less uncomfortable it is than the last one. To go by what feels the best is just wishful thinking, so I've accepted the what feels the least uncomfortable as the standard. I've had some saddles that I could barely stand to actually put weight down (this one went right back to the bike shop immediately after my ride. I walked in and just said "take it off"). So, when I say that I could not get comfortable, I really mean that I just could not get less uncomfortable. I don't know what it was - everything felt great (relatively speaking) on Friday. It's sort of like when you have a wrinkle in your sock and it just doesn't feel right in your shoe and no matter how you adjust it, it just doesn't seem to go away. I guess there are days that no matter what you do, you're just not going to settle in.

I did 4x1 min. in Z5 (the attack, out of the saddle set) and I had no problems getting into Z5. The attacking and out of the saddle feel were a bit lacking. My poor little legs couldn't quite handle being out of the saddle for so long. I did my best though and did all 4. I then had to do 5x5 min. in Z4 with full recovery. These went surprisingly well, and it probably helped that I could get into Z4 almost immediately. It may not have been my fastest effort, but it was definitely full effort.

I finished in just over 2 hours, which I was completely fine with. I was really happy that I was able to do the entire workout, despite being so tired and sore. It's time to start pushing a little more. And now I'm one step closer.

Reflections

2008-08-11T13:33:00.005-06:00

Day Off!
What I found most interesting about yesterday was that 13.1 miles seems just as hard as 70.3. You'd think it would be way easier. But it's sort of like difference between Engineers and Physicists and the concept of being able to divide 1 inch and 10 inches into the same number of subdivisions. The real joke is that you have a two people sitting on opposite ends of a couch. The question is that if they keep halving the distance between them, will they ever reach each other? The Engineer says no, because there will also be a distance the be reduced, minute as it may be. The Physicist says that for all practical purposes, the answer is yes. I was an Engineer in school, so I'm allowed to make fun of myself.

Anyhow, it seems that regardless of the distance, your mind assigns a definitive starting and ending point. You push yourself accordingly based on the distance. When you start to reach that breaking point, depending on how close you are to your ending point, you then react accordingly to how much more you can push yourself. It seems like some of the biggest struggles are towards then end of race and the end just can't come soon enough. Had I done the rest of the race, if I started tiring on the bike, I'd likely react quite a bit differently knowing that I still had a run to do. Like at Vineman, the last 15 miles on the bike were about the worse imaginable. But there were no thoughts of "I don't know how much more of this I can take" or "I don't know if I can do this". There were no thoughts about being almost done or any of the other things that pop into my mind when I'm so close, but still seem so far. I knew there was still a run to do and I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but there was no way that I was done. My start and end point were for 70.3, not a 56 mile ride. Well, that's my official theory anyways...

Or maybe it's because I didn't really train much for this. Let me just say that my quads are killing me! Stairs are my biggest enemy right now.