Back to blogging about training, with a whole new perspective.
I took a little time off after the half ironman and then decided to get back in gear with a 5K at the end of August. I was ready to nail it, but I wasn’t sure how fast I could go. So the weekend before, my lovely husband accompanied me to the track for a 2-mile time trial. I ran, and he timed me and prevented me from modifying the workout to anything shorter than 2 miles. I hit it in 14:20 so was confident I was ready to race around 22 the following weekend.
Race day, I felt great, ready to go and anxious for post-race mimosas. The pace started off fine, but about a mile and a half in (if that), I started slowing and slowing and slowing. The only thing I was doing quickly was letting my racing partner get further and further ahead of me. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Alas, I finished the race in 23:54. The race wasn’t well marked, so had we gone out way too fast? Why couldn’t I hold the pace I was fine at the weekend before?
The answer came in the greatest news later that night – a positive pregnancy test!
Between the 2-mile time trial and the 5K race, my hormone levels had gone from less than 12 mlU/ml to somewhere around 7,000 mlU/ml, and that flat out messes up your body. Over the next 8 weeks, I was exhausted all the time, and nauseous all the time for at least 3 of those weeks. I did a few short runs here and there which sometimes made me feel better, but my awake hours in a day were literally limited to 12-13. When 10 of those are spent at the office and commuting, it just doesn’t leave any time for anything else. Some days, just getting to the bus and home from work felt like a hard workout.
Now, beginning my 2nd trimester, my energy is coming back and I’m only sick a couple of hours a day (3-6pm to be exact). So it’s back to training and staying fit while pregnant! I’m going to keep running as long as it’s comfortable and I’m sure the pool is going to become my best friend. It’s dangerous to bike because of the risk of a fall, but luckily I have the trainer to use. Maybe some yoga as well? I’m excited for this new challenge as I get bigger and bigger and also for the challenge of getting back in shape post-baby next May!
11.12.2009
11.10.2009
10 Things I Remember about the Half Ironman
I started a race report a few days after finishing the half ironman but just the pre-race section was easily the first chapter of a novel and I realized it would take me forever to write about the whole race. So instead, the ten things I remember nearly four months later…
1. My husband – the most amazing supporter. He drove an hour round trip back to the hotel when I realized I forgot by T2 bag to drop off when we went to pick up my number with no complaints. He drove my mom and sis around during the race. And he biked ahead of me on the run, meeting me every mile to slather me with more sunblock. I am very lucky.
2. My mom and baby sis in town to spectate at their first triathlon. And Tal being so worried I would be upset with my race and inspired that I wasn’t.
3. A satisfying swim – the longest I’ve ever done. 1.2 miles in 38:59.
4. A tree falling across the road on the bike course, just minutes before I arrived, when they were still allowing us to walk our bikes under the fallen tree, precariously tangled with power lines.
5. The panic of a woosh-woosh of a flat tire and the relief to find it was a race sticker I had run over and not a flat (I’ve never changed a flat on my own!).
6. The most fun I’ve ever had on a bike ride. So great to race on roads that I knew very well surprise myself with an average speed of 17.9mph and a time of 3:08. Set me up for an easy run – a 2:07 would result in a sub-6 hour time.
7. A decent pace set for the first few miles of the run, followed by slower running, jogging, shuffling, scuffling, and walking.
8. HEAT and asphalt. Over 100 degrees, no shade, black roads, pure hell. The aid stations couldn't keep up with the demand. I had plenty of fluids but have concluded that I should have had salt tablets and that I simply do not do heat.
9. A mental and emotional state I’ve never experienced in a race before. Just finish (I have felt that before) and happiness about “just” finishing (I have never felt that before – I am usually angry). At some point in the run I realized I could push myself and risk passing out and not finishing at all, or I could just take every step forward, as slow as it may be, to get to the finish line and know I wouldn’t be a DNF in my first half ironman.
10. Satisfaction and no disappointment. I don’t think there was much I could do avoid that trainwreck of a run (slower than the slowest split in my slowest full marathon). I’m left with a whole lot of unfinished business and can’t wait to do another one!
Pictures here!
1. My husband – the most amazing supporter. He drove an hour round trip back to the hotel when I realized I forgot by T2 bag to drop off when we went to pick up my number with no complaints. He drove my mom and sis around during the race. And he biked ahead of me on the run, meeting me every mile to slather me with more sunblock. I am very lucky.
2. My mom and baby sis in town to spectate at their first triathlon. And Tal being so worried I would be upset with my race and inspired that I wasn’t.
3. A satisfying swim – the longest I’ve ever done. 1.2 miles in 38:59.
4. A tree falling across the road on the bike course, just minutes before I arrived, when they were still allowing us to walk our bikes under the fallen tree, precariously tangled with power lines.
5. The panic of a woosh-woosh of a flat tire and the relief to find it was a race sticker I had run over and not a flat (I’ve never changed a flat on my own!).
6. The most fun I’ve ever had on a bike ride. So great to race on roads that I knew very well surprise myself with an average speed of 17.9mph and a time of 3:08. Set me up for an easy run – a 2:07 would result in a sub-6 hour time.
7. A decent pace set for the first few miles of the run, followed by slower running, jogging, shuffling, scuffling, and walking.
8. HEAT and asphalt. Over 100 degrees, no shade, black roads, pure hell. The aid stations couldn't keep up with the demand. I had plenty of fluids but have concluded that I should have had salt tablets and that I simply do not do heat.
9. A mental and emotional state I’ve never experienced in a race before. Just finish (I have felt that before) and happiness about “just” finishing (I have never felt that before – I am usually angry). At some point in the run I realized I could push myself and risk passing out and not finishing at all, or I could just take every step forward, as slow as it may be, to get to the finish line and know I wouldn’t be a DNF in my first half ironman.
10. Satisfaction and no disappointment. I don’t think there was much I could do avoid that trainwreck of a run (slower than the slowest split in my slowest full marathon). I’m left with a whole lot of unfinished business and can’t wait to do another one!
Pictures here!
7.27.2009
7.20.2009
7.10.2009
No excuse
I could try to make excuses for the last six weeks, but there's really no good excuse. Tired, busy, traveling, lazy, on the verge of sick, disinterested. None of those reasons justify that I've completely sucked the last 6 weeks.
There were a few high points here and there - a fast 10.5 mile run, another long ride on the course that included Chalk Hill - but only a few, and that's pretty ridiculous.
The half ironman is next weekend, and there's really nothing I can do about it now. I'll get a few runs and rides and swims in over the next week, but I'll be relying on the base of January through May training, without any fine tuning that I should have been doing over the last few weeks.
I'll finish, and I'm sure I'll be happy, and it's likely I'll want to do another, but it's not going to be fast and it's not going to be pretty.
But, I will have three of my favorite people there cheering me on - Kyle, my mom, and Tal. So I'll do my best to put on a good show.
There were a few high points here and there - a fast 10.5 mile run, another long ride on the course that included Chalk Hill - but only a few, and that's pretty ridiculous.
The half ironman is next weekend, and there's really nothing I can do about it now. I'll get a few runs and rides and swims in over the next week, but I'll be relying on the base of January through May training, without any fine tuning that I should have been doing over the last few weeks.
I'll finish, and I'm sure I'll be happy, and it's likely I'll want to do another, but it's not going to be fast and it's not going to be pretty.
But, I will have three of my favorite people there cheering me on - Kyle, my mom, and Tal. So I'll do my best to put on a good show.
5.29.2009
Sapped of energy
Tried to wake up in the morning yesterday and couldn't.
No spunk in my legs last night after work. Cut the bike workout in half because I was tired and bored and unmotivated.
I think I'm out of the game mentally right now; training alone is starting to get to me.
Tried to wake up again this morning and couldn't.
No spunk in my legs last night after work. Cut the bike workout in half because I was tired and bored and unmotivated.
I think I'm out of the game mentally right now; training alone is starting to get to me.
Tried to wake up again this morning and couldn't.
5.28.2009
Buying a house is tiring
Started off last week with a 40 minute fartlek run on Tuesday morning. And that’s where it ends until the weekend. Seriously. This week we made another offer on another house. And after 4 months and 4 offers, we are finally in contract on a house. So last week was spent writing an offer, accepting a counter offer, signing piles of loan documents, gathering all sorts of evidence for the loan, and trying to suppress our excitement. So not only was the “house thing” time-intensive, it was also a huge emotional drain on energy. I just couldn’t get up in the morning early enough to workout and the evenings were spent going to the house, working on the paperwork, etc. It was a very lame week, but Kyle keeps telling, “It's OK, we’re buying a house!” and I keep saying, “But I don't think they have an I-bought-a-house-during-training shortcut in the HIM.” So from last Tuesday, my next workout wasn’t until last Saturday, a 40-minute run.
On Sunday, Kyle and I drove up to Sonoma so that I could ride on the HIM course. The middle 15 miles or so we’ve biked before unknowingly. Kyle dropped me about 5 miles from the start and then drove to Healdsburg. At the drop-off:
I biked the 13 miles to Healdsburg and then Kyle joined me for another 25 miles. I’m hoping that this time on the course will be an advantage for me. The first 12 miles that I did alone were pretty rolly. There were a couple good downhills that led into turns with big signs for cars to slow down so I did too but I know for the race that I don’t need to slow down as much as I did. I discovered some fun landmarks to use like these two HUGE white horses that were just chilling and a field of “happy cows” and an old tin shed just before a hill that hurts a bit.
Where Kyle joined me, the course is on a bigger road, the ups and downs are longer and more gradual and I’m very familiar with that stretch. As we were coming up to where I knew from past rides that there was a big hill, we agreed to stop at the top for quick water break since it was tough last time we were there (a few months ago I guess?). But when we got to the cemetery that I thought was the top of the hill it didn’t seem like the hill was nearly hard enough. I actually asked Kyle, “Was that IT? I remembered it being so much bigger!” So I guess riding in the Berkeley Hills is paying off. Around mile 35 of the course (~30 miles into my ride), we turned off back to Healdsburg. Total ride was 38 for me, 25 for Kyle. I’m going to try to get to Sonoma at least once more, because I need to do the infamous Chalk Hill at mile 45.
Monday and Tuesday off. What? Yeah, I know. Back in gear Wednesday though. 38 minute run with 3 3-minute intervals that I did on a hill just to punish myself for sucking so much over the last week.
On Sunday, Kyle and I drove up to Sonoma so that I could ride on the HIM course. The middle 15 miles or so we’ve biked before unknowingly. Kyle dropped me about 5 miles from the start and then drove to Healdsburg. At the drop-off:
I biked the 13 miles to Healdsburg and then Kyle joined me for another 25 miles. I’m hoping that this time on the course will be an advantage for me. The first 12 miles that I did alone were pretty rolly. There were a couple good downhills that led into turns with big signs for cars to slow down so I did too but I know for the race that I don’t need to slow down as much as I did. I discovered some fun landmarks to use like these two HUGE white horses that were just chilling and a field of “happy cows” and an old tin shed just before a hill that hurts a bit.
Where Kyle joined me, the course is on a bigger road, the ups and downs are longer and more gradual and I’m very familiar with that stretch. As we were coming up to where I knew from past rides that there was a big hill, we agreed to stop at the top for quick water break since it was tough last time we were there (a few months ago I guess?). But when we got to the cemetery that I thought was the top of the hill it didn’t seem like the hill was nearly hard enough. I actually asked Kyle, “Was that IT? I remembered it being so much bigger!” So I guess riding in the Berkeley Hills is paying off. Around mile 35 of the course (~30 miles into my ride), we turned off back to Healdsburg. Total ride was 38 for me, 25 for Kyle. I’m going to try to get to Sonoma at least once more, because I need to do the infamous Chalk Hill at mile 45.
Monday and Tuesday off. What? Yeah, I know. Back in gear Wednesday though. 38 minute run with 3 3-minute intervals that I did on a hill just to punish myself for sucking so much over the last week.
5.27.2009
Race Report: Morgan Hill (long) Sprint Triathlon
Pre-race:
I was really nervous for this race. Really nervous. I’m not sure why I was so nervous, I guess the added length was scaring me and I wasn’t sure how I’d come out of the race. Kyle captured it:
Kyle and I stayed a hotel in Gilroy the night before so that we wouldn’t have to wake up at 3:30 to get t o Morgan Hill, which is about an hour and a half drive. So in the morning, we were only a 20-minute drive from the race site.
I should preface my report with my expectations that this race was going to be super well organized because the race web site basically said so. This company does lots of races and so I expected they would have everything down to a science. Not so much.
Got to the race site and there wasn’t actually parking, everyone was just parking along the road. Luckily Kyle brought his bike too so we were able to get my bike all ready and then ride down to the course. The racks were unassigned, which I hate, and unmarked, which I hate more. We asked where packet pick up was and it was on the other side of the site so I decided I better grab some space on the rack. People who get there first always totally spread out their stuff initially, so I had to approach some people, and ask, “Do you think there’s space for one more here?” to which they all give you a pissed off look and then slide over a little bit. (And it’s not like I was late, I bet only half the racers were there at that point.)
Headed over to get in line to pick up my packet and the line was pretty long. Stood in it for a few minutes with Kyle and it was literally not moving. So I left Kyle with my ID and USAT card and went back to the transition area to set up. Came back 10 minutes later and Kyle had barely moved (and the line was now twice as long). I felt bad for people who didn’t have someone with them to hold their place in line while they set up. I think they actually delayed the start of the race a bit because of the packet pick up hold up. When I finally made it up there, it was just totally disorganized. It should have been a quick assembly line, but instead it was two people shouting orders to other people who were gathering everything, it was a mess.
Finally back to the transition area to finish setting up and I realize there’s no number for my bike or helmet so I start looking around and half the bikes have numbers and half don’t. I asked a girl near me what the deal was and she’s like, “Yeah, they don’t have bike numbers for a bunch of people so if you didn’t get one then you’re supposed to wear your race belt with your running number on the bike ride. If you don’t and they see you, they’ll pull you over to check your chip in the middle of the bike race.” My response, “There’s absolutely no way I’ll remember my race belt in T1.”
On to getting body marked – approached where it looked like it was happening, and turned out there was just a box of skinny sharpies and people were just marking each other. Nice. So some people ended up not getting marked at all and lots of people didn’t have their age on their leg which sucks when you’re trying to figure out who to beat. After all that, there wasn’t much time before the start so just headed down to the water.
Swim: 3/4 mile in the UVAS Reservoir
In was an in-water start which I’m not a huge fan of but it was probably good since the reservoir bottom was pretty mucky. The water wasn’t too cold – or at least it was cold compared to the last two swims in the Bay. It was pretty gross though, I think I prefer chlorine or salt water to water that tastes like dirt. I started in the middle of the pack and then cut a bit to the outside so that I had room to swim. I thought there was a decent sized pack that got out way in front of me and by 300-400 meters in, I was swimming all alone.
The swim went around a peninsula which was nice because there were really three straight sections and just turns to make so it was easier to get into a real swim stroke. The second straight away was the longest and when I got around the corner, I could see quite a few swimmers way further out than they needed to be. I was still swimming alone but I just kept as straight of a line toward the buoy as I could and was stunned that these other swimmers were so far off course. I think they must have swam at least 30 yards more than me.
When I came around the last straightaway there was another girl with me who was clearly a great swimmer. We were swimming the same speed but I think she was taking half as many strokes as me. She definitely gave me motivation to really go at the end and we came out of the water together. Overall, I really enjoyed the swim. It felt as long as I thought it would, but in a good way instead of a bad way. The length and the lack of waves gave me a chance to actually swim a solid stroke like in the pool instead of just fighting to make forward motion and not drown.
Swim split: 22:40
Swim rank: 4/16 women 25-29
T1:
The exit from the water was up a concrete boat launch that had traction ridges and that really hurt. I heard Kyle ringing the cowbell on my way up the ramp, and started getting my wetsuit off while I was running. I didn’t struggle with it at all which was great. Also great were the purple socks on the end of my rack to identify it. Best news, I had the fastest transition of my age group, yay!
Transition time: 1:23
Bike: 16 mile rolly loop
Is there any remedy for slippery shorts on the bike seat? That always bugs me until my shorts dry. The ride was a great loop in the countryside. It was full of good rolling hills and when I remembered to look around a bit, it was beautiful. My bike computer thankfully started working about a half mile in after I swore at it a bunch. For the first few miles I cruised around 20-21 mph, then slowed to around 18. I drank lots of Gatorade and water because I knew I needed to prepare for a long hot run. Oh, have I not mentioned that yet? The forecast for the day was to hit 100 by midday. I think it was already 80 or so when we started at 7:15. So I was conscious of hydrating. A few minutes into the ride I realized I didn’t have my race belt, but I figured I still had body markings so hopefully they wouldn’t pull me over (and they didn’t).
At the beginning of the ride I was pretty much alone then about 5 miles in the super fast people from the waves after me start passing me, some really awesome women from the 35-39 wave and then men from a later wave too. Lots of people with the aero wheels that make the WHOOT WHOOT sound. I decided to cruise along at a comfortable pace until after the “steep hill a half mile long at mile 11” that was noted on the course description. Here and there I’d try to keep up with the fast people passing me, but I was mostly concerned with not letting girls in my age group pass me. And it’s always fun to pass slower guys from the waves in front of me. There were some fun downhills, but they usually ended at turns so you’d have to slow down at the bottom. They had volunteers before the turns trying to get us to slow down, but they’d just yell and you fly by them so you can’t catch what they’re saying, so I just started to assume if I saw volunteers, there was probably a sharp turn coming.
When I was approaching the hill at mile 11, I had just been passed by a pack of 6 or 7 fast people. They hit the hill and it killed them and suddenly I was keeping up with them, it was like the hill was the great equalizer. The best part (for me, not the guy) was this guy on a totally stripped down aero bike who was barely making forward motion, his poor wheels were just going whhhoot….whhhoot….. whhhhhoot. About halfway up I passed him YEAH! I don’t care if it was because he probably only had one huge gear, I still passed a dude with an aero bike and that’s awesome. I also don’t care that once we hit the top of the hill, he and his buddies were gone in the blink of an eye.
The hill was super tough, but I told myself to bike hard once it was over and use up all my biking energy. It was right around mile 14 when two things happened: 1. My legs were done and 2. It became hot outside. Most of the ride the heat hadn’t really kicked in, but around mile 14 was probably when it went over 90 degrees and made an impact. I was trying to go, but couldn’t get over 17-18 mph. I just pushed it out as long as I could. I was glad though that I experienced really burning out on the bike because in the past I hadn’t been sure that I was giving it all I could. When I hit the transition, I was just really excited to run and finish.
Bike split: 53:52 (17.8mph)
Bike rank: 10/16 women 25-29
T2:
Pulled into the transition area, ran for the rack with the purple socks, grabbed one quick last drink of water before running out. Second fastest transition time in my wave, holla.
Transition time: 1:13
Run: 5 miles out and back
Run was an out and back along the road. As I mentioned it was now getting hot, really hot. Luckily, the one thing these race organizers did right was have awesome aid stations every mile. I had a Gu just before Mile 1 and took water to drink or pour down my back at each station. My plan was to trudge out getting to the turn around and then focus on picking it up for the last 2.5. The first mile felt like hell of course, I was pretty sure I was running about 20 minute miles, but I was catching some people so it wasn’t that bad. I came through the first mile in 8:45, which I thought was kinda slow, but then I hit mile two in 6:59 - clearly the mile markers were off, so I didn’t give much attention to my splits after that. Since it was out and back, I could start counting women and I figured I was in the top 20 or so of my wave. The run had a few little hills but was mostly flat.
When I made the turnaround I focused on trying to reel people in and got quite a few guys from the back of the waves before me. The best part about the run was that Kyle was on his bike, so he’d pull up, talk to me for a minute and then bike ahead about a mile to take pictures. So I had that to look forward to, and of course I tried to run faster when he was taking pictures, and I even smiled.
The run actually went by a lot faster than I thought it would. Just before the finish, you had to turn and run over this piece of plywood over a ditch and then it was less than 50m to the finish line, but the turn and narrow plywood meant you had to slow down, which was actually kind of great because when I turned the corner I had to slow down a little and that gave me just enough rest to crank out a good sprint to the finish.
Run split: 39:29 (7:54 pace)
Run rank: 5/16 women 25-29
Post-race:
The web site for the race made a big deal about the post race party saying that there would be all sorts of food but there were only bagels and then a little later a bunch of pizzas delivered. Yeah, after a triathlon when it’s nearing 100 degrees, I’m totally craving pizza. Not. The Web site said "free catered food which includes chicken and fresh pasta salad, fresh fruit, hot bagels with shmear, fresh spring water, recovery drinks, beer and more." Humph. There was supposed to be a good raffle, but it wasn’t going to start for at least another hour and it was so hot out, we decided to skip it.
Overall I was happy with my race. I figured it would take me about 2 hours and it did. Now when I do my next race, an Olympic distance, I won’t be so nervous and can try to go a little harder. The HIM is getting closer and closer…
Total time: 1:58:40
Final rank: 4th out of 16 women 25-29, 17th out of women 34 and under, 57th woman overall - yeah, you read that right, women 35+ kicked butt.
I was really nervous for this race. Really nervous. I’m not sure why I was so nervous, I guess the added length was scaring me and I wasn’t sure how I’d come out of the race. Kyle captured it:
Kyle and I stayed a hotel in Gilroy the night before so that we wouldn’t have to wake up at 3:30 to get t o Morgan Hill, which is about an hour and a half drive. So in the morning, we were only a 20-minute drive from the race site.
I should preface my report with my expectations that this race was going to be super well organized because the race web site basically said so. This company does lots of races and so I expected they would have everything down to a science. Not so much.
Got to the race site and there wasn’t actually parking, everyone was just parking along the road. Luckily Kyle brought his bike too so we were able to get my bike all ready and then ride down to the course. The racks were unassigned, which I hate, and unmarked, which I hate more. We asked where packet pick up was and it was on the other side of the site so I decided I better grab some space on the rack. People who get there first always totally spread out their stuff initially, so I had to approach some people, and ask, “Do you think there’s space for one more here?” to which they all give you a pissed off look and then slide over a little bit. (And it’s not like I was late, I bet only half the racers were there at that point.)
Headed over to get in line to pick up my packet and the line was pretty long. Stood in it for a few minutes with Kyle and it was literally not moving. So I left Kyle with my ID and USAT card and went back to the transition area to set up. Came back 10 minutes later and Kyle had barely moved (and the line was now twice as long). I felt bad for people who didn’t have someone with them to hold their place in line while they set up. I think they actually delayed the start of the race a bit because of the packet pick up hold up. When I finally made it up there, it was just totally disorganized. It should have been a quick assembly line, but instead it was two people shouting orders to other people who were gathering everything, it was a mess.
Finally back to the transition area to finish setting up and I realize there’s no number for my bike or helmet so I start looking around and half the bikes have numbers and half don’t. I asked a girl near me what the deal was and she’s like, “Yeah, they don’t have bike numbers for a bunch of people so if you didn’t get one then you’re supposed to wear your race belt with your running number on the bike ride. If you don’t and they see you, they’ll pull you over to check your chip in the middle of the bike race.” My response, “There’s absolutely no way I’ll remember my race belt in T1.”
On to getting body marked – approached where it looked like it was happening, and turned out there was just a box of skinny sharpies and people were just marking each other. Nice. So some people ended up not getting marked at all and lots of people didn’t have their age on their leg which sucks when you’re trying to figure out who to beat. After all that, there wasn’t much time before the start so just headed down to the water.
Swim: 3/4 mile in the UVAS Reservoir
In was an in-water start which I’m not a huge fan of but it was probably good since the reservoir bottom was pretty mucky. The water wasn’t too cold – or at least it was cold compared to the last two swims in the Bay. It was pretty gross though, I think I prefer chlorine or salt water to water that tastes like dirt. I started in the middle of the pack and then cut a bit to the outside so that I had room to swim. I thought there was a decent sized pack that got out way in front of me and by 300-400 meters in, I was swimming all alone.
The swim went around a peninsula which was nice because there were really three straight sections and just turns to make so it was easier to get into a real swim stroke. The second straight away was the longest and when I got around the corner, I could see quite a few swimmers way further out than they needed to be. I was still swimming alone but I just kept as straight of a line toward the buoy as I could and was stunned that these other swimmers were so far off course. I think they must have swam at least 30 yards more than me.
When I came around the last straightaway there was another girl with me who was clearly a great swimmer. We were swimming the same speed but I think she was taking half as many strokes as me. She definitely gave me motivation to really go at the end and we came out of the water together. Overall, I really enjoyed the swim. It felt as long as I thought it would, but in a good way instead of a bad way. The length and the lack of waves gave me a chance to actually swim a solid stroke like in the pool instead of just fighting to make forward motion and not drown.
Swim split: 22:40
Swim rank: 4/16 women 25-29
T1:
The exit from the water was up a concrete boat launch that had traction ridges and that really hurt. I heard Kyle ringing the cowbell on my way up the ramp, and started getting my wetsuit off while I was running. I didn’t struggle with it at all which was great. Also great were the purple socks on the end of my rack to identify it. Best news, I had the fastest transition of my age group, yay!
Transition time: 1:23
Bike: 16 mile rolly loop
Is there any remedy for slippery shorts on the bike seat? That always bugs me until my shorts dry. The ride was a great loop in the countryside. It was full of good rolling hills and when I remembered to look around a bit, it was beautiful. My bike computer thankfully started working about a half mile in after I swore at it a bunch. For the first few miles I cruised around 20-21 mph, then slowed to around 18. I drank lots of Gatorade and water because I knew I needed to prepare for a long hot run. Oh, have I not mentioned that yet? The forecast for the day was to hit 100 by midday. I think it was already 80 or so when we started at 7:15. So I was conscious of hydrating. A few minutes into the ride I realized I didn’t have my race belt, but I figured I still had body markings so hopefully they wouldn’t pull me over (and they didn’t).
At the beginning of the ride I was pretty much alone then about 5 miles in the super fast people from the waves after me start passing me, some really awesome women from the 35-39 wave and then men from a later wave too. Lots of people with the aero wheels that make the WHOOT WHOOT sound. I decided to cruise along at a comfortable pace until after the “steep hill a half mile long at mile 11” that was noted on the course description. Here and there I’d try to keep up with the fast people passing me, but I was mostly concerned with not letting girls in my age group pass me. And it’s always fun to pass slower guys from the waves in front of me. There were some fun downhills, but they usually ended at turns so you’d have to slow down at the bottom. They had volunteers before the turns trying to get us to slow down, but they’d just yell and you fly by them so you can’t catch what they’re saying, so I just started to assume if I saw volunteers, there was probably a sharp turn coming.
When I was approaching the hill at mile 11, I had just been passed by a pack of 6 or 7 fast people. They hit the hill and it killed them and suddenly I was keeping up with them, it was like the hill was the great equalizer. The best part (for me, not the guy) was this guy on a totally stripped down aero bike who was barely making forward motion, his poor wheels were just going whhhoot….whhhoot….. whhhhhoot. About halfway up I passed him YEAH! I don’t care if it was because he probably only had one huge gear, I still passed a dude with an aero bike and that’s awesome. I also don’t care that once we hit the top of the hill, he and his buddies were gone in the blink of an eye.
The hill was super tough, but I told myself to bike hard once it was over and use up all my biking energy. It was right around mile 14 when two things happened: 1. My legs were done and 2. It became hot outside. Most of the ride the heat hadn’t really kicked in, but around mile 14 was probably when it went over 90 degrees and made an impact. I was trying to go, but couldn’t get over 17-18 mph. I just pushed it out as long as I could. I was glad though that I experienced really burning out on the bike because in the past I hadn’t been sure that I was giving it all I could. When I hit the transition, I was just really excited to run and finish.
Bike split: 53:52 (17.8mph)
Bike rank: 10/16 women 25-29
T2:
Pulled into the transition area, ran for the rack with the purple socks, grabbed one quick last drink of water before running out. Second fastest transition time in my wave, holla.
Transition time: 1:13
Run: 5 miles out and back
Run was an out and back along the road. As I mentioned it was now getting hot, really hot. Luckily, the one thing these race organizers did right was have awesome aid stations every mile. I had a Gu just before Mile 1 and took water to drink or pour down my back at each station. My plan was to trudge out getting to the turn around and then focus on picking it up for the last 2.5. The first mile felt like hell of course, I was pretty sure I was running about 20 minute miles, but I was catching some people so it wasn’t that bad. I came through the first mile in 8:45, which I thought was kinda slow, but then I hit mile two in 6:59 - clearly the mile markers were off, so I didn’t give much attention to my splits after that. Since it was out and back, I could start counting women and I figured I was in the top 20 or so of my wave. The run had a few little hills but was mostly flat.
When I made the turnaround I focused on trying to reel people in and got quite a few guys from the back of the waves before me. The best part about the run was that Kyle was on his bike, so he’d pull up, talk to me for a minute and then bike ahead about a mile to take pictures. So I had that to look forward to, and of course I tried to run faster when he was taking pictures, and I even smiled.
The run actually went by a lot faster than I thought it would. Just before the finish, you had to turn and run over this piece of plywood over a ditch and then it was less than 50m to the finish line, but the turn and narrow plywood meant you had to slow down, which was actually kind of great because when I turned the corner I had to slow down a little and that gave me just enough rest to crank out a good sprint to the finish.
Run split: 39:29 (7:54 pace)
Run rank: 5/16 women 25-29
Post-race:
The web site for the race made a big deal about the post race party saying that there would be all sorts of food but there were only bagels and then a little later a bunch of pizzas delivered. Yeah, after a triathlon when it’s nearing 100 degrees, I’m totally craving pizza. Not. The Web site said "free catered food which includes chicken and fresh pasta salad, fresh fruit, hot bagels with shmear, fresh spring water, recovery drinks, beer and more." Humph. There was supposed to be a good raffle, but it wasn’t going to start for at least another hour and it was so hot out, we decided to skip it.
Overall I was happy with my race. I figured it would take me about 2 hours and it did. Now when I do my next race, an Olympic distance, I won’t be so nervous and can try to go a little harder. The HIM is getting closer and closer…
Total time: 1:58:40
Final rank: 4th out of 16 women 25-29, 17th out of women 34 and under, 57th woman overall - yeah, you read that right, women 35+ kicked butt.
5.25.2009
(5.16.09) The rest of the week...
Thursday Kyle and I swam. I don't remember the exact workout but it was 1900, and there were some 100s and some fast 75s in there I think.
Morning run on Friday. Only had time to get 30 minutes in and 6 x30 seconds fartleks and wasn't feeling too great about the run. There’s a guy that I frequently run into on the trail and he’s usually pretty chipper, and today he was giving everyone high-5s. That cheered me up a little.
Saturday, Kyle and I hit up the REI gear sale, which is the greatest event each month. You have to get to REI at 6am and get in line to get a ticket, then you come back at a pre-assigned time to get access to the used gear sale room. Kyle and I are getting pretty good at getting in the first group with access. While we were waiting in line, I did a short jog to pick up breakfast for us. We got some good deals at the sale including two pairs of sporty sunglasses for me and a Timex Heart Rate Monitor for half price that someone returned because they "didn't like the features." Fun stuff.
Morning run on Friday. Only had time to get 30 minutes in and 6 x30 seconds fartleks and wasn't feeling too great about the run. There’s a guy that I frequently run into on the trail and he’s usually pretty chipper, and today he was giving everyone high-5s. That cheered me up a little.
Saturday, Kyle and I hit up the REI gear sale, which is the greatest event each month. You have to get to REI at 6am and get in line to get a ticket, then you come back at a pre-assigned time to get access to the used gear sale room. Kyle and I are getting pretty good at getting in the first group with access. While we were waiting in line, I did a short jog to pick up breakfast for us. We got some good deals at the sale including two pairs of sporty sunglasses for me and a Timex Heart Rate Monitor for half price that someone returned because they "didn't like the features." Fun stuff.
5.13.2009
Blech...
Took Monday off.
Tuesday I ran after work in SF because we were meeting friends to go to the Giants game. 45 minute run. Totally sucked. Only had time to run in the area around my office, which is very urban and where it's not urban, it's touristy. Ran along the water, got annoyed by tourons, and every time I had to stop for a light and then start again, my knee killed.
Wednesday morning bike ride. I'm doing such a poor job keeping up with my blogging lately that I don't remember the ride other than that I noted "blech."
Tuesday I ran after work in SF because we were meeting friends to go to the Giants game. 45 minute run. Totally sucked. Only had time to run in the area around my office, which is very urban and where it's not urban, it's touristy. Ran along the water, got annoyed by tourons, and every time I had to stop for a light and then start again, my knee killed.
Wednesday morning bike ride. I'm doing such a poor job keeping up with my blogging lately that I don't remember the ride other than that I noted "blech."
5.11.2009
Idiot on Grizzly Peak (me)
I had the day off work on Friday, so though I had it off to run a bunch of errands, I was able to do a ride in the middle of a sunny day which was great. I decided to attack Grizzly Peak on my own. Grizzly had a lot of mystique when we first moved to Berkeley, as in, “One day we’ll be good enough to do Grizzly Peak… oooh… aahhh.” But now we’ve done it a couple of times and it’s not actually bad at all. I hadn’t done it in a while though and never alone and I forgot that the hard part is actually getting up Spruce to Grizzly Peak. Toughed that out and then was working on catching some recreational bikers way ahead of me when another biker came up next to me. I thought he was just going to say hi and move on, but it turned out he wanted bike together (evident as he continued onversation). That was fine with me to have some company and he decided he’d bike a little further than he planned to show me the best way down Grizzly.
That brings me to why I don’t do Grizzly all the time – I haven’t found a way down that doesn’t scare the crap out of me. I’m a real sissy on steep downhills. I love a good downhill on a wide unbumpy road that you can really zoom down, I HATE downhills that I have to use my brakes the whole time in order to not end up going 60mph at which speed if I hit one crack wrong I’d fly off my bike. So there’s a good downhill when you’ve reached the top of Grizzly. I knew this guy would cruise ahead of me, but I was having more trouble controlling my breaks than usual, which seemed weird. I thought maybe I’m becoming even more of a sissy than before! Anyway, he waited for me at the bottom, we did some more climbing and then it was time for the real descent. It was steep and it was hairpin turns and I could NOT get my brakes to do what I wanted them to. I was coming around corners and they were not responding and I was sure that I was going to slide out. This poor guy probably waited 10 minutes for me at the bottom thinking I had a flat or something because it took me so long to get down the hill and I was petrified the entire time.
When I got back to Berkeley, I had a little time to kill before picking Kyle up so I rode over to the bike shop to see if they could tell me what was up with my brakes. I told the guy, “I think my brakes are wearing out,” and he looks at my bike and is like, “Well, you know you have to have this down right?” Dammit. The little tab you put down after you put your front wheel on. That entire ride I didn’t have my front brakes fully engaged, which, yes, I’ve done by accident before but usually realize it a mile down the road. I have no idea why I didn’t think of that when I was having trouble braking. I was humiliated. And I have no idea how I made it down those hills alive.
Saturday, I did long run to the dog park and Kyle picked me up. Later in the day, I finally got to the pool. Swam 200 warm up, 1500 straight, 200 cool down.
Sunday, brick workout. My ride went a bit too long - 95 minutes instead of 75 minutes, so I had to cut my run short to 20 minutes so that I could make it to an appointment. Good workout though.
That brings me to why I don’t do Grizzly all the time – I haven’t found a way down that doesn’t scare the crap out of me. I’m a real sissy on steep downhills. I love a good downhill on a wide unbumpy road that you can really zoom down, I HATE downhills that I have to use my brakes the whole time in order to not end up going 60mph at which speed if I hit one crack wrong I’d fly off my bike. So there’s a good downhill when you’ve reached the top of Grizzly. I knew this guy would cruise ahead of me, but I was having more trouble controlling my breaks than usual, which seemed weird. I thought maybe I’m becoming even more of a sissy than before! Anyway, he waited for me at the bottom, we did some more climbing and then it was time for the real descent. It was steep and it was hairpin turns and I could NOT get my brakes to do what I wanted them to. I was coming around corners and they were not responding and I was sure that I was going to slide out. This poor guy probably waited 10 minutes for me at the bottom thinking I had a flat or something because it took me so long to get down the hill and I was petrified the entire time.
When I got back to Berkeley, I had a little time to kill before picking Kyle up so I rode over to the bike shop to see if they could tell me what was up with my brakes. I told the guy, “I think my brakes are wearing out,” and he looks at my bike and is like, “Well, you know you have to have this down right?” Dammit. The little tab you put down after you put your front wheel on. That entire ride I didn’t have my front brakes fully engaged, which, yes, I’ve done by accident before but usually realize it a mile down the road. I have no idea why I didn’t think of that when I was having trouble braking. I was humiliated. And I have no idea how I made it down those hills alive.
Saturday, I did long run to the dog park and Kyle picked me up. Later in the day, I finally got to the pool. Swam 200 warm up, 1500 straight, 200 cool down.
Sunday, brick workout. My ride went a bit too long - 95 minutes instead of 75 minutes, so I had to cut my run short to 20 minutes so that I could make it to an appointment. Good workout though.
5.07.2009
There's a pool calling my name...
...but I can't seem to get to it! I've been doing a lot of work in the evenings and just haven't been able to make it to the pool in the evening.
Wednesday morning I did intervals down the Bay. My bike computer has decided that it will work when it feels like it. Luckily it decided to start working sometime during my warm up and kept working for the intervals, which was good because then I was able to monitor how fast I was going and really push. Most entertaining par of the workout was when a guy passed me who had a done a couple too many rides in his tights and you could see hi butt crack right through them. I would have informed him that he needed to retire that outfit, but he was gone too fast.
This morning I just squeezed in a quick run, so I'll have to tack some time onto my run this weekend to make up for it.
Wednesday morning I did intervals down the Bay. My bike computer has decided that it will work when it feels like it. Luckily it decided to start working sometime during my warm up and kept working for the intervals, which was good because then I was able to monitor how fast I was going and really push. Most entertaining par of the workout was when a guy passed me who had a done a couple too many rides in his tights and you could see hi butt crack right through them. I would have informed him that he needed to retire that outfit, but he was gone too fast.
This morning I just squeezed in a quick run, so I'll have to tack some time onto my run this weekend to make up for it.
5.05.2009
April showers bring May showers
Apparently.
Yesterday was a day off.
Last night, I planned ahead (shocker!) to run outside if it wasn't raining in the morning and at the gym if it was. It rained all night but was just foggy in the morning, so I set off for my outside run. Turned out it was misting and a little bit of mist can leave you soaked if you're out in it long enough.
Nevertheless, had a fun fartlek run and my knee seems to be getting better.
Yesterday was a day off.
Last night, I planned ahead (shocker!) to run outside if it wasn't raining in the morning and at the gym if it was. It rained all night but was just foggy in the morning, so I set off for my outside run. Turned out it was misting and a little bit of mist can leave you soaked if you're out in it long enough.
Nevertheless, had a fun fartlek run and my knee seems to be getting better.
April?
What? April happened? I barely remember the beginning of the month, it seems so long ago, but at the same time it flew by (I guess that means I'm having fun?). I don't really have a recap... the Showdown was fun, I'm getting better at training, and I'm pumped about the summer. That's it!
And already, May is nearly half over...
And already, May is nearly half over...
5.04.2009
Sorry, please play again.
Didn't hit 9 workouts. Only 7. BUT they were all great quality just-as-prescribed workouts, so I'm proud of that. The weekend got pretty jammed up with looking at houses so I only ended up doing one workout a day instead of 2 which would have put me at my goal. There's always next week to try for 9 again!
Friday morning I ran 70 minutes, from North Berkeley to North Oakland and back. My knee didn't hurt on the run (I'm staying away from downhills) but over the course of the day it got pretty sore.
Saturday morning I squeezed in a 35 minute run before helping out at Laura's track meet. My knee was really sore, but sore is better than sharp pain.
On Sunday, I had a solid plan for a long ride, but the weather got me. It was drizzly/rainy and I didn't feel comfortable hitting the road alone in that kind of weather. Instead, I did 90 minutes on the trainer... that's a long time on the trainer.
Also, officially registered for the Morgan Hill Sprint Triathlon in 2 weeks. I'm excited about this one because it's longer than a sprint (and that's all I've ever done) but not quite as long as an Olympic: 3/4 mile swim, 16 mile bike, 5 mile run. And apparently there's a good post-race party.
Friday morning I ran 70 minutes, from North Berkeley to North Oakland and back. My knee didn't hurt on the run (I'm staying away from downhills) but over the course of the day it got pretty sore.
Saturday morning I squeezed in a 35 minute run before helping out at Laura's track meet. My knee was really sore, but sore is better than sharp pain.
On Sunday, I had a solid plan for a long ride, but the weather got me. It was drizzly/rainy and I didn't feel comfortable hitting the road alone in that kind of weather. Instead, I did 90 minutes on the trainer... that's a long time on the trainer.
Also, officially registered for the Morgan Hill Sprint Triathlon in 2 weeks. I'm excited about this one because it's longer than a sprint (and that's all I've ever done) but not quite as long as an Olympic: 3/4 mile swim, 16 mile bike, 5 mile run. And apparently there's a good post-race party.
4.30.2009
Doin' it this week
I'm going for it this week. This is week one of the Build phase of my training plan. I'm going to hit at least 9 workouts out of 10 and I'm going to do all of them as prescribed.
Took Monday off (that's what I'm supposed to do).
Tuesday morning: 36 minute run including 16x(0:30 hard, 0:30 easy).
Wednesday morning: 70 minute ride including 4x(5:00 hill climb), did the 20 minute cool down on the trainer since the hill climb I did ends at our house and I wasn't interested in adding a 5th one at the end.
Wednesday evening: 2200 swim (actually was supposed to be 2175, but that means you end on the wrong side of the pool!) 500 w/u, 50kick, 5x100 moderate, 50k, 7x75 hard (w/45sec rest), 25easy, 6x25 sprint (w/20 sec rest), 400 c/d -- might have been 450, I lost count so I did an extra 50 just in case.
Thursday morning: Brick workout -- 45 minute ride, 10 min FAST run. Kicked butt.
Took Monday off (that's what I'm supposed to do).
Tuesday morning: 36 minute run including 16x(0:30 hard, 0:30 easy).
Wednesday morning: 70 minute ride including 4x(5:00 hill climb), did the 20 minute cool down on the trainer since the hill climb I did ends at our house and I wasn't interested in adding a 5th one at the end.
Wednesday evening: 2200 swim (actually was supposed to be 2175, but that means you end on the wrong side of the pool!) 500 w/u, 50kick, 5x100 moderate, 50k, 7x75 hard (w/45sec rest), 25easy, 6x25 sprint (w/20 sec rest), 400 c/d -- might have been 450, I lost count so I did an extra 50 just in case.
Thursday morning: Brick workout -- 45 minute ride, 10 min FAST run. Kicked butt.
(4.26.2009) Egh.. what a crappy week of training
Went to the Absolut party and did not do a bike ride Thursday night.
Friday morning: 47 minute run with 13x(0:30, 1:30 jog). Didn't have time to fit it all in per usual, so it was a 35 minute run total, but I got all 13 fartleks in. Best news -- my knee didn't start hurting until the cool down.
Saturday morning: Brick workout 60 min ride, followed by 20 minutes of running. One of the few workouts I did this week as prescribed.
Sunday morning: 75 minute ride. Not as long as I should have gone, but it was a fun ride with my cuz. Oh yeah, and the bike computer works again (randomly)!
So that leaves me with a total of 5 out of 10 workouts completed this week. At least it can only get better from here (I hope)!
Friday morning: 47 minute run with 13x(0:30, 1:30 jog). Didn't have time to fit it all in per usual, so it was a 35 minute run total, but I got all 13 fartleks in. Best news -- my knee didn't start hurting until the cool down.
Saturday morning: Brick workout 60 min ride, followed by 20 minutes of running. One of the few workouts I did this week as prescribed.
Sunday morning: 75 minute ride. Not as long as I should have gone, but it was a fun ride with my cuz. Oh yeah, and the bike computer works again (randomly)!
So that leaves me with a total of 5 out of 10 workouts completed this week. At least it can only get better from here (I hope)!
4.23.2009
Absolut or bike ride?
Slept in this morning and I need to ride tonight.
But then there's this email:
When I tell you we're having a "mixer" this Thursday at 5:15, I mean that [bigwig] at Pernod Ricard USA will be treating [our office] to signature cocktails based on Absolut's new flavors. He's a master bartender and an all-around great guy and he wants to buy YOU a drink...maybe two or three, depending on your level of gratitude and/or thirst!
Now isn't that Absolut-ly the best thing you've heard all day?
What to do...
But then there's this email:
When I tell you we're having a "mixer" this Thursday at 5:15, I mean that [bigwig] at Pernod Ricard USA will be treating [our office] to signature cocktails based on Absolut's new flavors. He's a master bartender and an all-around great guy and he wants to buy YOU a drink...maybe two or three, depending on your level of gratitude and/or thirst!
Now isn't that Absolut-ly the best thing you've heard all day?
What to do...
4.22.2009
The death of a bike computer?
Bike workout Tuesday morning: 60 minutes with 7 hill repeats.
Took off from the house and about a mile in, looked down and saw that my trusty bike computer was flashing 0.0mph. Pulled over, checked that the sensor was in the right place, spun my wheel, still nothing. So, alas, did my workout without a watch or any idea what speed I was going. I literally counted in my head to make sure my hills were long enough. I think my total bike time was short of an hour though. Oh well, time to shop for a new bike computer?
Tuesday night I had a work dinner that went late into the night and didn't wake up early this morning, so I had to run after work. Always a bad idea. Totally a crappy run, but a 35 minute run nonetheless. Some knee pain, not too much though.
Took off from the house and about a mile in, looked down and saw that my trusty bike computer was flashing 0.0mph. Pulled over, checked that the sensor was in the right place, spun my wheel, still nothing. So, alas, did my workout without a watch or any idea what speed I was going. I literally counted in my head to make sure my hills were long enough. I think my total bike time was short of an hour though. Oh well, time to shop for a new bike computer?
Tuesday night I had a work dinner that went late into the night and didn't wake up early this morning, so I had to run after work. Always a bad idea. Totally a crappy run, but a 35 minute run nonetheless. Some knee pain, not too much though.
4.21.2009
OK I'll admit it
I have a little injury. I finally have to admit it because it plays into how my swim went on Monday night. It seems I have Runner's Knee which sounds like the LAMEST injury ever and I think IS the lamest injury ever, so I'm only taking it as seriously as it sounds. But it does hurt. A lot. It's been bothering me since before the St. Patty's day race, so 5 or 6 weeks. Out of the blue my knee will feel like it's going to give out. It hurts mostly when I run downhill or go down stairs. It hurts randomly when I'm walking to work (which must be funny for people to see me walking along and then suddenly grimace and almost fall over). And apparently now it hurts when I swim.
For the swim tonight, Kyle and I were doing 2000. Monday's supposed to be my day off, but I wanted to make up a swim I missed last week. Plan was to do 400,300,200,100,100,200,300,400 - increasing speed up to the 100s then decreasing. Within the first 200, my knee started hurting. So I modified and was basically doing a one-leg kick. After doing that for a while, my leg got mad about doing all the work and my foot started cramping. So I stopped kicking altogether. Sadly did not have a pull buoy, so the rest of my body was just dragging in the water. I gave up on all concept of speed and just did everything at one pace: slow.
The pool is supposed to be the one place you CAN get a good workout when you're injured. Oh well. The good news is that it's probably just that my quads aren't strong enough right now or that my hamstrings and calves are too tight (not surprising since I am bad about stretching). I'm going to continue training and hope that it just goes away if I put a little time into stretching and strengthening. We shall see!
For the swim tonight, Kyle and I were doing 2000. Monday's supposed to be my day off, but I wanted to make up a swim I missed last week. Plan was to do 400,300,200,100,100,200,300,400 - increasing speed up to the 100s then decreasing. Within the first 200, my knee started hurting. So I modified and was basically doing a one-leg kick. After doing that for a while, my leg got mad about doing all the work and my foot started cramping. So I stopped kicking altogether. Sadly did not have a pull buoy, so the rest of my body was just dragging in the water. I gave up on all concept of speed and just did everything at one pace: slow.
The pool is supposed to be the one place you CAN get a good workout when you're injured. Oh well. The good news is that it's probably just that my quads aren't strong enough right now or that my hamstrings and calves are too tight (not surprising since I am bad about stretching). I'm going to continue training and hope that it just goes away if I put a little time into stretching and strengthening. We shall see!
4.20.2009
Weekend run and ride
Saturday morning was taken up with househunting, so I had to do my run in the evening. Surprisingly, I felt great on the run and clipped along at a pretty good pace. I was supposed to run 65 minutes, but I was ending my run at the climbing gym and didn't time it quite right. I ended up getting there in around 60 minutes and since it's not a great area I opted to cut it short rather than draw attention to myself running around the neighborhood to kill time on the clock. Met Kyle and climbed around for a few minutes (literally just a few minutes) before the gym closed.
Sunday morning, Kyle and I drove to the North Berkeley BART station with our bikes, left the car, and set out for the Lafayette station. The ride was really divided into two parts-- part 1 was meandering around really steep neighborhoods in Berkeley and El Cerrito to get to the main road for our ride, part 2 was the real ride on San Pablo Dam Road to Bear Creek to Happy Valley. I was supposed to ride 2 hours and 15 minutes, but the ride we planned was only 25 miles so I assumed I'd come up short. Um, actually it took us 2 hours and 8 minutes. How were you riding that ridiculously slow, you ask?!? See below:
That's some gnarly elevation. At one point going up a huge hill, I realized that I couldn't go any faster, but since I was going so slow, I could manage to take out the camera while riding.
I even got a couple videos, pardon the heavy breathing!
Despite that it was hilly and hot, it was a gorgeous and fun ride.
And eventually we made it to BART in Lafayette to catch a ride back to Berkeley.
Sunday morning, Kyle and I drove to the North Berkeley BART station with our bikes, left the car, and set out for the Lafayette station. The ride was really divided into two parts-- part 1 was meandering around really steep neighborhoods in Berkeley and El Cerrito to get to the main road for our ride, part 2 was the real ride on San Pablo Dam Road to Bear Creek to Happy Valley. I was supposed to ride 2 hours and 15 minutes, but the ride we planned was only 25 miles so I assumed I'd come up short. Um, actually it took us 2 hours and 8 minutes. How were you riding that ridiculously slow, you ask?!? See below:
That's some gnarly elevation. At one point going up a huge hill, I realized that I couldn't go any faster, but since I was going so slow, I could manage to take out the camera while riding.
I even got a couple videos, pardon the heavy breathing!
Despite that it was hilly and hot, it was a gorgeous and fun ride.
And eventually we made it to BART in Lafayette to catch a ride back to Berkeley.
4.16.2009
My first brick
Yes, you read that right, I've been training for triathlons for a while now but today I did my first real brick workout. Previously, I've only done short 10-minute runs following a bike ride. Thursday morning workout was supposed to be a 60 minute ride, followed by a 30 minute run but I only had time for 45/25. I think it went pretty well, except that I sweat so much when I ride the trainer (even though I'm outside on the deck) so I was pretty cold when I went out for the run.
1900 swim after work with Kyle. 400w/u 100k 300 50k 2x150 50k 3x100 100k 300 c/d. It pretty much sucked. The pool was PACKED and the majority of the people there didn't seem to know how to lap swim. Circle swimming was a mess, one guy couldn't swim in a straight line and kept cutting into our lane, at one point someone hit me from underneath the lane line (?!?), and another dude got in front of me in a speedo doing a froggy kick on his back, for real. And I was just plain old slow too and couldn't get into a good rhythm.
BUT! All 3 sports in one day! Pretty fun. Taking Friday off to enjoy time with my hubby on his birthday.
1900 swim after work with Kyle. 400w/u 100k 300 50k 2x150 50k 3x100 100k 300 c/d. It pretty much sucked. The pool was PACKED and the majority of the people there didn't seem to know how to lap swim. Circle swimming was a mess, one guy couldn't swim in a straight line and kept cutting into our lane, at one point someone hit me from underneath the lane line (?!?), and another dude got in front of me in a speedo doing a froggy kick on his back, for real. And I was just plain old slow too and couldn't get into a good rhythm.
BUT! All 3 sports in one day! Pretty fun. Taking Friday off to enjoy time with my hubby on his birthday.
CA is getting to the MN girl
Wednesday morning I needed to do a run with some fartleks, so I decided to hit up the neighborhood track. Seemed a bit cold outside so I went out in tights, windpants, a dri-fit short sleeve and a dri-fit long sleeve. And it was really cold out there. My hands were curled up inside my sleeves and I wished I had a stocking cap (some people did).
It was 45 degrees. I couldn't even see my breath and yet I thought it was freezing. I have officially lost all MN toughness. 45 in MN would have called for shorts. Sigh.
Anyway, still chronically late every morning, I did a 36 minute workout instead of 52, but kept the prescribed number of fartleks in: 5 min w/u, 13x(30sec hard, 1:30 easy), 5 min c/d.
It was 45 degrees. I couldn't even see my breath and yet I thought it was freezing. I have officially lost all MN toughness. 45 in MN would have called for shorts. Sigh.
Anyway, still chronically late every morning, I did a 36 minute workout instead of 52, but kept the prescribed number of fartleks in: 5 min w/u, 13x(30sec hard, 1:30 easy), 5 min c/d.
4.15.2009
Time to get down to business
After the Showdown, I took Sunday and Monday off. My calves were super-sore, but nothing else was. Now it's time to really start training for the HIM.
I added my weekly workouts to the sidebar now so hopefully that'll provide more motivation for me when I can see the whole week laid out. They're in the order that I should ideally do them, but in the past I've messed around with the schedule a little so that I avoid having to run at night or swim in the morning.
So in the sprit of getting down to business, Tuesday morning I was lame and woke up late, so I chose the shortest workout from the list, a 35-minute run because I knew that was all I could squeeze in, and actually I only fit in 31 minutes. Not a good start, but I worked out in the evening too. I was planning to ride outside, but it was super windy (as in a-semi-truck-tipped-over-on-a-bridge windy) so I rode on the trainer instead. Did a 60-minute workout instead of 80 minutes, but included all 11 1-minute "hill" intervals as prescribed by my training plan, just cut the w/u and c/d a bit short.
I added my weekly workouts to the sidebar now so hopefully that'll provide more motivation for me when I can see the whole week laid out. They're in the order that I should ideally do them, but in the past I've messed around with the schedule a little so that I avoid having to run at night or swim in the morning.
So in the sprit of getting down to business, Tuesday morning I was lame and woke up late, so I chose the shortest workout from the list, a 35-minute run because I knew that was all I could squeeze in, and actually I only fit in 31 minutes. Not a good start, but I worked out in the evening too. I was planning to ride outside, but it was super windy (as in a-semi-truck-tipped-over-on-a-bridge windy) so I rode on the trainer instead. Did a 60-minute workout instead of 80 minutes, but included all 11 1-minute "hill" intervals as prescribed by my training plan, just cut the w/u and c/d a bit short.
4.13.2009
Race Report: Vineman Showdown
Pre-race:
The Vineman Showdown is an afternoon triathlon, which was a strange adjustment. We woke up in the morning and it was hard to know what exactly to do until leaving for the race. So we took the dogs for a long walk and picked up bagels and coffee then walked home and leisurely packed up our tri stuff. We thought we had everything but decided to run down a list quick before we left and realized Kyle didn’t have his race belt. We couldn’t find it and he had a makeshift sort of one anyway, so we decided to stop at the bike store on the way to the freeway and pick one up. Well, the bike store didn’t have one, so we had to go down the street to REI, and by the time we did that, we were running a bit behind. When we got to the race course, the main parking lot was full so we had to park in one that was about half a mile from the transition area. We pulled out our helmets and repacked (read: stuffed) our bags and rode to the start. I’m not really serious enough about triathlons yet to do much of a warm up, so it was good to be forced to ride before the race.
The race was really well organized and the racks were labeled by your number, so there was no arguing over space on the rack which was good since we were late (and it made it easy to for me to find my stuff during transitions). We set up our areas and pulled on our wetsuits and it was time to head to the start line. I didn’t feel overly rushed but also wouldn’t have had any extra time if something had gone wrong. I did leave the transition area feeling like I had forgotten to do something, but I couldn’t place what it was.
It was a super beautiful day, warm and sunny, so it was hard to believe the water was going to be cold, but it was (not as cold as a month ago though!). I got in and swam around a bit; I don’t think Kyle did, but now I can’t recall. Anyway I swam around and then got out and watched Kyle’s wave start. People started talking about rumors that there were jellyfish, but the bay is like swimming in a lake -- you can’t see more than a foot in front of you -- so I don't think we avoid them even if they were there.
Swim: 400m swim in the North Bay
The swim was a half-moon shape with 3 buoys to keep on your right. Our wave was pretty big – all women 34 and under – so there were probably 100 women. I’m not sure if it had something to do with the immediate arching to the right of the swim course or what, but it was a totally crazy washing machine swim. Usually I’m rumbling around with people for the first maybe 50 yards but for this one, I was fighting people for the majority of the swim. Elbowing, kicking, punching – at one point I’m pretty sure someone was just riding on top of me. I could NOT get a good rhythm or stroke going. The crowd was swimming a bit wide so I found a little space on the inside, but it didn’t last long. I kept sighting the buoys and each time I would see way too many fluorescent orange swim caps in front of me. When I came out I figured I was about 20th.
Swim split: 6:55
Swim rank: 13/47 women 25-29
T1:
I was feeling pretty bummed jogging to the transition area, I was expecting to come out of the water so much better than that, and the swim usually gets me into a good position, but obviously not this time. It cheered me up a bit that I passed a couple people just on the jog into transition though. Then transition went really well, I was pretty quick and there several women sitting down, taking their time, so that was a good sign.
Transition time: unknown
Bike: 9 miles, out and back
The first thing out of the transition area was a super steep hill out of the park. There were numerous warnings in the course description and race reports about making sure your bike was in the easiest gear so that you could make it up. I was totally ready for it. What I wasn’t ready for were other people who were not ready for it. About half way up the hill, the person in front of me swerved and cut me off, and I was forced to clip out so that I wouldn't fall. I had to run up to a semi-flat part as fast as I could and remount, but I definitely lost some time there. I was mostly mad though because I was so prepared not to let that hill get me! Up another steep section and then it was a long downhill out of the park. I was all set to tackle the bike course now that I was out of the park and when I looked down at my bike computer and DANG IT that’s what I forgot when I was setting up my transition area! So no bike computer to help me figure out how fast I was going or how far I was into the ride. Oh well.
Two girls passed me just as we were going out of the park which I was really excited about because I would have some people to chase. One girl kept passing me on flats but I’d pass her on hills, which I’ve decided means she just had a really great bike. The other girl stayed just out of my reach – her name is Emily.
The bike portion was awesome because it was hard. It was all rolling hills and turns and it was really fun. To add to it, it was really windy. The whole course was all about changing gears, up hill, down hill, short flat, up hill, down hill – all you could hear was click click… click click… click click… click click – everyone shifting all the time. One downside of all the shifting and fun ups and downs though was that it was hard to find time to drink water – I usually do my best to drink as much of my water bottle as possible, but there was a lot left after the race:
I was feeling really good about my ride because I hadn’t let any other women pass me since coming out of the park and I was hanging onto Emily. Then about three-quarters of the way through the ride I looked down and noticed there was no chip around my ankle. I was stunned. I nearly stopped biking. There were tears in my eyes (maybe that was the wind). I swore a bunch. I was so angry. I’m not sure why times and places are so important to me, I guess I’m just a numbers person, and the thought of finishing this triathlon and not really knowing how I did really made me angry. It probably took a half a mile for me to get over my anger and rationalize that it probably came off with my wetsuit and I could probably put it back on and if I couldn’t find it I could just try to figure out how I did if I could keep up with Emily and look at her time. I got back to focusing on the ride, but that definitely broke my concentration and speed and spirit for a mile or two.
Coming back into the park was a long uphill and I passed Emily which really surprised me because I had been trying to catch her the whole time. Then we came to the steep hill that we had biked out, but we had to dismount at the top and run down with our bikes. I had read about this, too, so I knew that it would be easier to take my bike shoes off and run barefoot than try to run in my bike shoes (I’m not advanced enough yet to try getting my feet out while riding). I know I definitely would have fallen on my butt if I had tried it with my shoes on because it was hard even in bare feet.
Bike split/rank: unknown (maybe 16-17mph?)
T2: 3 miles, out and back
Emily passed me somewhere on that downhill run-with-bike thing, but I was still feeling good because I saw that I was the first bike back on my rack. My main focus though was finding my chip. Changed shoes, grabbed my wetsuit and shook it and nothing, more swearing, rustled around everything and couldn’t find it, more swearing, and made the decision to go with out it, turned to run out of the transition and there it was on grass! Strapped it back on and ran out.
Transition time: unknown
Run:
Again we had to get out of the park on the run so we were faced with another version of the steep hill. First, it was a couple sets of stairs. I totally nailed them. People were going up them all gingerly one step at a time. Not me, I grabbed the handrail and bounded up those suckers, only to be faced then with another steep hill. I did my best to run up it, but it was steep, really steep. I’ll admit it, I walked. After conquering the stairs, the hill conquered me. I was truly trying as hard as I could to run, but my legs refused. Finally, I made it to the top and ran the long gradual downhill out of the park. I let gravity do the work and cruised down the hill but I was aware that the out and back meant I’d have to run up that long hill at the end.
The run course was nothing special, just an out and back on the main road outside the park. It was just as windy as being on the bike course though. I couldn’t really tell how I was feeling so I decided to tough it out the first half and then kick it up a notch after the turnaround. I could also see Emily in front of me so I wanted to keep her in reach. About a quarter mile before getting to the turn around I saw Kyle on his way back to the park and realized I could potentially catch him. I decided to pick it up a bit but then my head said, “No, don’t go faster, it hurts so much to run after biking.” It was almost an automatic reaction that my head said no, and I think in the last 3 triathlons my head was right, but for some reason this time I was like, “Wait a minute, my legs don’t actually feel that bad, I think I can pick it up!” This was a huge revelation for me that perhaps I’m getting strong enough the bike to run doesn’t kill me as much as it used to. So I picked it up. (And, yes, I talk to myself like that in my head when I run.)
When I got to the turn around the volunteers were all hyped and said I was among the top 10 women. That gave me another little boost. I was still keeping my eye on Emily and picking off men from the first wave in the process. As we were nearing reentering the park, suddenly I started catching Emily. I’m pretty sure though that it was her slowing down, not me speeding up. I passed her just before getting to the long uphill, but now I had to hold her off. I needed some motivation to get up that hill, and there it was in black shorts and a blue shirt – Kyle! I didn’t focus on the hill at all, instead I focused on catching Kyle. I was working my butt off to get to him, breathing really loudly. I really wanted to just yell, “Hey Ky! Wait up!” but I couldn’t get it out. I definitely owe getting up that hill to him. I caught him just as we got to the top, and said something like, “You have a sexy butt,” to get his attention, and I’m pretty sure this other guy thought I was talking to him. I thought there was about 200 left, just a downhill to the finish, so I took off going pretty hard but it turns out it was more like 400 so that was not as much fun as I wanted it to be.
Swim split: 24:02
Swim rank: 8/47 women 25-29
Post-race:
Kyle finished right after me, so we got some water and went right to the food. I was not at all hungry but by the time we got some food and I finished rehydrating I was totally down with eating a burger. Sometimes it’s amazing how not very good food tastes gourmet after working out.
I would definitely do this triathlon again, it was a fun course with some added challenges and it was really well-organized. My times seemed a bit slow, but I'll chalk that up to the tough course, added challenges, and strong winds. We hung around for the results and awards, I was hoping maybe, just maybe, I was in the top 3 in my age group, but I was 6th. Next year!
Total time: 1:09:02
Final rank: 6/47 women 25-29, 17/216 women overall
The Vineman Showdown is an afternoon triathlon, which was a strange adjustment. We woke up in the morning and it was hard to know what exactly to do until leaving for the race. So we took the dogs for a long walk and picked up bagels and coffee then walked home and leisurely packed up our tri stuff. We thought we had everything but decided to run down a list quick before we left and realized Kyle didn’t have his race belt. We couldn’t find it and he had a makeshift sort of one anyway, so we decided to stop at the bike store on the way to the freeway and pick one up. Well, the bike store didn’t have one, so we had to go down the street to REI, and by the time we did that, we were running a bit behind. When we got to the race course, the main parking lot was full so we had to park in one that was about half a mile from the transition area. We pulled out our helmets and repacked (read: stuffed) our bags and rode to the start. I’m not really serious enough about triathlons yet to do much of a warm up, so it was good to be forced to ride before the race.
The race was really well organized and the racks were labeled by your number, so there was no arguing over space on the rack which was good since we were late (and it made it easy to for me to find my stuff during transitions). We set up our areas and pulled on our wetsuits and it was time to head to the start line. I didn’t feel overly rushed but also wouldn’t have had any extra time if something had gone wrong. I did leave the transition area feeling like I had forgotten to do something, but I couldn’t place what it was.
It was a super beautiful day, warm and sunny, so it was hard to believe the water was going to be cold, but it was (not as cold as a month ago though!). I got in and swam around a bit; I don’t think Kyle did, but now I can’t recall. Anyway I swam around and then got out and watched Kyle’s wave start. People started talking about rumors that there were jellyfish, but the bay is like swimming in a lake -- you can’t see more than a foot in front of you -- so I don't think we avoid them even if they were there.
Swim: 400m swim in the North Bay
The swim was a half-moon shape with 3 buoys to keep on your right. Our wave was pretty big – all women 34 and under – so there were probably 100 women. I’m not sure if it had something to do with the immediate arching to the right of the swim course or what, but it was a totally crazy washing machine swim. Usually I’m rumbling around with people for the first maybe 50 yards but for this one, I was fighting people for the majority of the swim. Elbowing, kicking, punching – at one point I’m pretty sure someone was just riding on top of me. I could NOT get a good rhythm or stroke going. The crowd was swimming a bit wide so I found a little space on the inside, but it didn’t last long. I kept sighting the buoys and each time I would see way too many fluorescent orange swim caps in front of me. When I came out I figured I was about 20th.
Swim split: 6:55
Swim rank: 13/47 women 25-29
T1:
I was feeling pretty bummed jogging to the transition area, I was expecting to come out of the water so much better than that, and the swim usually gets me into a good position, but obviously not this time. It cheered me up a bit that I passed a couple people just on the jog into transition though. Then transition went really well, I was pretty quick and there several women sitting down, taking their time, so that was a good sign.
Transition time: unknown
Bike: 9 miles, out and back
The first thing out of the transition area was a super steep hill out of the park. There were numerous warnings in the course description and race reports about making sure your bike was in the easiest gear so that you could make it up. I was totally ready for it. What I wasn’t ready for were other people who were not ready for it. About half way up the hill, the person in front of me swerved and cut me off, and I was forced to clip out so that I wouldn't fall. I had to run up to a semi-flat part as fast as I could and remount, but I definitely lost some time there. I was mostly mad though because I was so prepared not to let that hill get me! Up another steep section and then it was a long downhill out of the park. I was all set to tackle the bike course now that I was out of the park and when I looked down at my bike computer and DANG IT that’s what I forgot when I was setting up my transition area! So no bike computer to help me figure out how fast I was going or how far I was into the ride. Oh well.
Two girls passed me just as we were going out of the park which I was really excited about because I would have some people to chase. One girl kept passing me on flats but I’d pass her on hills, which I’ve decided means she just had a really great bike. The other girl stayed just out of my reach – her name is Emily.
The bike portion was awesome because it was hard. It was all rolling hills and turns and it was really fun. To add to it, it was really windy. The whole course was all about changing gears, up hill, down hill, short flat, up hill, down hill – all you could hear was click click… click click… click click… click click – everyone shifting all the time. One downside of all the shifting and fun ups and downs though was that it was hard to find time to drink water – I usually do my best to drink as much of my water bottle as possible, but there was a lot left after the race:
I was feeling really good about my ride because I hadn’t let any other women pass me since coming out of the park and I was hanging onto Emily. Then about three-quarters of the way through the ride I looked down and noticed there was no chip around my ankle. I was stunned. I nearly stopped biking. There were tears in my eyes (maybe that was the wind). I swore a bunch. I was so angry. I’m not sure why times and places are so important to me, I guess I’m just a numbers person, and the thought of finishing this triathlon and not really knowing how I did really made me angry. It probably took a half a mile for me to get over my anger and rationalize that it probably came off with my wetsuit and I could probably put it back on and if I couldn’t find it I could just try to figure out how I did if I could keep up with Emily and look at her time. I got back to focusing on the ride, but that definitely broke my concentration and speed and spirit for a mile or two.
Coming back into the park was a long uphill and I passed Emily which really surprised me because I had been trying to catch her the whole time. Then we came to the steep hill that we had biked out, but we had to dismount at the top and run down with our bikes. I had read about this, too, so I knew that it would be easier to take my bike shoes off and run barefoot than try to run in my bike shoes (I’m not advanced enough yet to try getting my feet out while riding). I know I definitely would have fallen on my butt if I had tried it with my shoes on because it was hard even in bare feet.
Bike split/rank: unknown (maybe 16-17mph?)
T2: 3 miles, out and back
Emily passed me somewhere on that downhill run-with-bike thing, but I was still feeling good because I saw that I was the first bike back on my rack. My main focus though was finding my chip. Changed shoes, grabbed my wetsuit and shook it and nothing, more swearing, rustled around everything and couldn’t find it, more swearing, and made the decision to go with out it, turned to run out of the transition and there it was on grass! Strapped it back on and ran out.
Transition time: unknown
Run:
Again we had to get out of the park on the run so we were faced with another version of the steep hill. First, it was a couple sets of stairs. I totally nailed them. People were going up them all gingerly one step at a time. Not me, I grabbed the handrail and bounded up those suckers, only to be faced then with another steep hill. I did my best to run up it, but it was steep, really steep. I’ll admit it, I walked. After conquering the stairs, the hill conquered me. I was truly trying as hard as I could to run, but my legs refused. Finally, I made it to the top and ran the long gradual downhill out of the park. I let gravity do the work and cruised down the hill but I was aware that the out and back meant I’d have to run up that long hill at the end.
The run course was nothing special, just an out and back on the main road outside the park. It was just as windy as being on the bike course though. I couldn’t really tell how I was feeling so I decided to tough it out the first half and then kick it up a notch after the turnaround. I could also see Emily in front of me so I wanted to keep her in reach. About a quarter mile before getting to the turn around I saw Kyle on his way back to the park and realized I could potentially catch him. I decided to pick it up a bit but then my head said, “No, don’t go faster, it hurts so much to run after biking.” It was almost an automatic reaction that my head said no, and I think in the last 3 triathlons my head was right, but for some reason this time I was like, “Wait a minute, my legs don’t actually feel that bad, I think I can pick it up!” This was a huge revelation for me that perhaps I’m getting strong enough the bike to run doesn’t kill me as much as it used to. So I picked it up. (And, yes, I talk to myself like that in my head when I run.)
When I got to the turn around the volunteers were all hyped and said I was among the top 10 women. That gave me another little boost. I was still keeping my eye on Emily and picking off men from the first wave in the process. As we were nearing reentering the park, suddenly I started catching Emily. I’m pretty sure though that it was her slowing down, not me speeding up. I passed her just before getting to the long uphill, but now I had to hold her off. I needed some motivation to get up that hill, and there it was in black shorts and a blue shirt – Kyle! I didn’t focus on the hill at all, instead I focused on catching Kyle. I was working my butt off to get to him, breathing really loudly. I really wanted to just yell, “Hey Ky! Wait up!” but I couldn’t get it out. I definitely owe getting up that hill to him. I caught him just as we got to the top, and said something like, “You have a sexy butt,” to get his attention, and I’m pretty sure this other guy thought I was talking to him. I thought there was about 200 left, just a downhill to the finish, so I took off going pretty hard but it turns out it was more like 400 so that was not as much fun as I wanted it to be.
Swim split: 24:02
Swim rank: 8/47 women 25-29
Post-race:
Kyle finished right after me, so we got some water and went right to the food. I was not at all hungry but by the time we got some food and I finished rehydrating I was totally down with eating a burger. Sometimes it’s amazing how not very good food tastes gourmet after working out.
I would definitely do this triathlon again, it was a fun course with some added challenges and it was really well-organized. My times seemed a bit slow, but I'll chalk that up to the tough course, added challenges, and strong winds. We hung around for the results and awards, I was hoping maybe, just maybe, I was in the top 3 in my age group, but I was 6th. Next year!
Total time: 1:09:02
Final rank: 6/47 women 25-29, 17/216 women overall
4.10.2009
Need... more... sleep...
Good swim to stretch out last night, somewhere between 1100-1200. Not really sure how long it was because Kyle and I couldn't be in the same lane and I am not a good counter. First we did an easy 500, Kyle thought I swam 550 by accident though. Then 100 kick. Then another 500. I was pretty sure I did 500 but Kyle thought I did 450, so I swam another 50 just in case. I'm really bad at counting past 4 laps.
Something must be blooming in Cali now because a little while after we got home, after the dogs had been running around in the backyard and were back inside, my eyes started itching. An hour later I was stuffed up and sneezing and ready to tear my eyes out and I ended up tossing and turning in bed until at least 3am when I finally fell asleep. Slept until 7:30 and then late to work. Since I didn't work out this morning, I probably won't end up working out today -- maybe take the dogs for a long walk this evening.
On the bright side, tomorrow is the Vineman Showdown! I'm super excited to race again, though I don't expect much improvement from Stanford. I'm even more excited for Kyle to race again -- yay!
Something must be blooming in Cali now because a little while after we got home, after the dogs had been running around in the backyard and were back inside, my eyes started itching. An hour later I was stuffed up and sneezing and ready to tear my eyes out and I ended up tossing and turning in bed until at least 3am when I finally fell asleep. Slept until 7:30 and then late to work. Since I didn't work out this morning, I probably won't end up working out today -- maybe take the dogs for a long walk this evening.
On the bright side, tomorrow is the Vineman Showdown! I'm super excited to race again, though I don't expect much improvement from Stanford. I'm even more excited for Kyle to race again -- yay!
4.09.2009
Evening ride
17-mile ride after work yesterday. No specific purpose, just trying to get on the bike before Saturday, so some good hills, some fast flats, and some meandering as well. It was fun to ride in the evening, but next time I have to remember to wear yellow lenses, I kept thinking it was getting dark on me, but then kept realizing I had dark sunglasses on.
This morning I was planning on running a few miles but again overslept and could barely drag myself out of bed for work. Hopefully this is just a remnant of exhaustion from the month of March and a reaction to the stress of househunting. In other words, hopefully I'm over it soon!
This morning I was planning on running a few miles but again overslept and could barely drag myself out of bed for work. Hopefully this is just a remnant of exhaustion from the month of March and a reaction to the stress of househunting. In other words, hopefully I'm over it soon!
4.08.2009
Birthday blunder
Planned to swim last night and then meet up with friends for my birthday, but Kyle was feeling a bit under the weather so we skipped the pool and proceeded directly to dinner and drinks.
Went to bed early, slept a lot, and barely squeezed in a 2 mile run this morning before getting to work for an early meeting. Seems like I need a lot of sleep lately.
Went to bed early, slept a lot, and barely squeezed in a 2 mile run this morning before getting to work for an early meeting. Seems like I need a lot of sleep lately.
4.07.2009
A sleepful night
Slept 10.5 hours last night and it felt great. Really needed that, even though it meant I slept right through morning workout time. Planning to hit the pool tonight after work (likely in the rain!).
4.06.2009
A sleepless night
Kyle and I both had a terrible night of sleep last night and I could not get my body up to workout this morning. I was hoping that I'd snap out of it and be able to go for a ride after work but I've been battling a killer headache all day and it's showing no signs of letting up. I think it's going to be a day off today.
4.05.2009
The last multi-day recap
Recapping the beginning of April and then I swear I'm going to start posting daily again!
Wednesday AM: 4.5 mile run, felt great
Wednesday PM: Bouldering
Thursday: rest
Friday: Crappy 2.5 mile run, likely due to 8 pitchers of Dos Equis consumed at happy hour the night before by a table of 6
Saturday: 60 minute run down by the bay
Sunday: 1600 swim in the gorgeous sun with Kyle (550 w/u, 4x50med w/5 sec rest, 450 easy, 4x50 (25fast,25med) w/5 sec rest, 200 c/d) - long easy 450 in the middle was nice, going to start incorporating those more to get the yardage and endurance up
Wednesday AM: 4.5 mile run, felt great
Wednesday PM: Bouldering
Thursday: rest
Friday: Crappy 2.5 mile run, likely due to 8 pitchers of Dos Equis consumed at happy hour the night before by a table of 6
Saturday: 60 minute run down by the bay
Sunday: 1600 swim in the gorgeous sun with Kyle (550 w/u, 4x50med w/5 sec rest, 450 easy, 4x50 (25fast,25med) w/5 sec rest, 200 c/d) - long easy 450 in the middle was nice, going to start incorporating those more to get the yardage and endurance up
4.02.2009
March was madness...
The month really turned out as I expected it to -- I knew that I wouldn't be able to stick to a hardcore training plan because I just had too much going on. My mom and aunt were in town, then Kyle and I were in DC, then I was in Portland, then Tal and Maria were in town. The month flew by. I did manage to stay pretty active so hopefully I haven't regressed but I also know that I didn't make any progress. So though I had hoped that the Stanford Tri in early March would launch me into HIM training, it turns out it will really be the Vineman Showdown in early April that will be the kick off to 14 weeks of HIM training.
In April I really need to get back into posting every day. The power of accountability is not as strong when I am playing catch up on posts -- it's a lot easier to say I missed a workout a few days ago than it is to say I missed a workout today. I also completely dropped the sit up and push up challenges, so I'll start those again on April 12th (after the Showdown). Looking forward to PROGRESS in April!
In April I really need to get back into posting every day. The power of accountability is not as strong when I am playing catch up on posts -- it's a lot easier to say I missed a workout a few days ago than it is to say I missed a workout today. I also completely dropped the sit up and push up challenges, so I'll start those again on April 12th (after the Showdown). Looking forward to PROGRESS in April!
4.01.2009
Finishing off the rest of March
Saturday AM: 55 minute run -- one of those runs where you just kinda tough it out the whole time and never get into a good rhythm and you finish and don't really feel like you've done anything. Meh.
Sunday AM: Our first real "group" ride! Kyle and I met up with Ben and Mical for a 22-mile tough ride around Tilden. Check out the elevation:
Sunday PM: A new bouldering gym just opened not too far from where we live, so we went to the grand opening and climbed around a bit and got a 2-month promotional membership. The gym also has yoga which will be great for nights when Kyle has more endurance for bouldering than I do.
Monday AM: Since Tal was in town, we wanted to hit the track together. We went to our local gravel track and were running a warm-up when the middle-schoolers came out for gym class and we got kicked off. So we drove over to the Cal track, warmed up a little more and then ran 4 400s (88,85,85,88) and quick cool down. Super fun to run with the little sis, though I'm sure she would have like to go a lot faster.
Monday PM: After the track workout, Kyle, Tal, Maria, and I hung out at Strawberry Canyon pool and then Kyle I did a swim workout. We planned to do 1600 but we didn't realize how late it was and our meter was running out so we cut it a bit short -- 1100 METERS swim (500m w/u, 200m mod, 200m mod, 200m - first 100m hard, last 100m c/d). It's amazing how much longer meters seem than yards when you're in the pool, even though the actual difference is pretty minimal.
Tuesday: Rest
Sunday AM: Our first real "group" ride! Kyle and I met up with Ben and Mical for a 22-mile tough ride around Tilden. Check out the elevation:
Sunday PM: A new bouldering gym just opened not too far from where we live, so we went to the grand opening and climbed around a bit and got a 2-month promotional membership. The gym also has yoga which will be great for nights when Kyle has more endurance for bouldering than I do.
Monday AM: Since Tal was in town, we wanted to hit the track together. We went to our local gravel track and were running a warm-up when the middle-schoolers came out for gym class and we got kicked off. So we drove over to the Cal track, warmed up a little more and then ran 4 400s (88,85,85,88) and quick cool down. Super fun to run with the little sis, though I'm sure she would have like to go a lot faster.
Monday PM: After the track workout, Kyle, Tal, Maria, and I hung out at Strawberry Canyon pool and then Kyle I did a swim workout. We planned to do 1600 but we didn't realize how late it was and our meter was running out so we cut it a bit short -- 1100 METERS swim (500m w/u, 200m mod, 200m mod, 200m - first 100m hard, last 100m c/d). It's amazing how much longer meters seem than yards when you're in the pool, even though the actual difference is pretty minimal.
Tuesday: Rest
3.27.2009
Transition week
(Not at all related to triathlon transitions)
This week I've been gearing up to really start training again. I've been having some odd aches and pains so after two weeks of on and off running and traveling, I wanted to be very careful this week and ease back in with low volume workouts.
Monday AM: 2 mile run, followed by lots of stretching (which I'm not usually good about)
Tuesday AM: 3 mile run
Tuesday PM: 1300 swim (400 w/u, 100kick, 5X100 mod w/ 5-10 sec rest, 100K, 200c/d)
Wednesday AM: 3 mile run
Thursday AM: 30 minute ride on the trainer
Friday: rest
This week I've been gearing up to really start training again. I've been having some odd aches and pains so after two weeks of on and off running and traveling, I wanted to be very careful this week and ease back in with low volume workouts.
Monday AM: 2 mile run, followed by lots of stretching (which I'm not usually good about)
Tuesday AM: 3 mile run
Tuesday PM: 1300 swim (400 w/u, 100kick, 5X100 mod w/ 5-10 sec rest, 100K, 200c/d)
Wednesday AM: 3 mile run
Thursday AM: 30 minute ride on the trainer
Friday: rest
3.24.2009
More traveling
The last week has been a mess of traveling back from the East coast, traveling up to Portland and back on business, and just trying to catch up on sleep. A couple jogs in there, and lots of walking at the National Gallery of Art, but literally nothing worth enumerating here.
Finally, today is Day 1 of back to training, more on that later!
Finally, today is Day 1 of back to training, more on that later!
3.18.2009
Race Report: St. Patty's Day 8K
Kyle was selected to present his research at a conference in Baltimore, so we decided to add on a little vacation in DC to visit friends and our old stomping grounds. As luck would have it, it happened to be the weekend of the St. Patty's Day 8K, so Kyle, our friend Kelly M, and I all decided to run it.
Pre-race: Kyle and I had some espresso and shared a little breakfast sandwich at Starbucks in Dupont and then jumped on the Metro to downtown. The race had more than 5,000 runners so most of the people on the Metro were runners, too. It was fun to see that everyone was geared up for the same thing on a cold Sunday morning.
Since this race was just for fun and I hadn't been training for the distance at all, I decided to take the opportunity to do something I've always wanted to do but never been willing to take the risk -- I decided I'd just go out hard for the first half, as hard as I felt like I could, and then if I wanted to quit and walk the rest of the way at that point, I'd let myself. Usually I have training invested in a race, so I wouldn't risk a total blow up like that. So that was my goal, see how long I could last at a fast pace, which to me meant about 7:20 pace. I thought I'd do the first few miles around 7:20-7:30 and then the last couple around 8s or so.
Race: Since I was planning this blow up strategy, I parted ways with Kyle and Kelly M just before the start and got up close to the front with some speedy people. The race was a bit delayed, but finally the gun went off and away we went. I got into what I thought was a slightly beyond comfortable fast pace, assuming it was right around 7:20. At the first mile marker, checked my watch -- 6:59. Crap. (I gave up swearing for Lent, so "crap" is a pretty serious word). I knew that 6:59 was definitely going to screw me up, even though I was planning to go out fast, I didn't think I could go that fast and I was sure I couldn not keep that up for 2.5 miles. Sure enough, major slow down, mile 2: 7:21.
At that point I figured I'd just try to get through the next half mile or so to the halfway point and then slow to a jog for the remainder. I came through mile 3 much slower: 7:44. Now with just two miles left, I figured I'd just keep plodding along but that when I could see where Kyle and Kelly M were, I'd give them the signal that I was going to slow down and wait for them to catch up to me. (The course had several turnarounds, so you could see people frequently and I had already seen them twice). I had already planned that I would run my finger across my throat and they would understand that meant it was over for me. Of course though, I kept on running and running and didn't see them! Mile 4: 7:38.
Well, at that point, I decided to just finish it off because coming in under 37:30 was still within reach. I think all of these pictures are from the last half mile where I was just trying to tough it out. Managed to finish in 37:02 (last mile: 7:17), good enough for 71st woman, ahead of 2,303 other women. I can confidently say, however, that it would have been much easier to run 5 miles evenly at 7:27 pace than do the fun little experiment I did going out in 6:59.
Post-race: After finishing, I jogged out to the course and watched for Kyle and Kelly M to finish. They both expected to run around 9s and surprised themselves with faster times! Huge props to Kyle who had barely run at all in the months preceding. We all agreed it was a great race and patted ourselves on the backs for getting out there, then headed out for bloody marys and brunch.
Me 37:02 (7:27 pace: 6:59, 7:21, 7:44, 7:38, 7:17)
Kelly M 39:58 (8:03 pace)
Kyle 41:31 (8:21 pace)
Pre-race: Kyle and I had some espresso and shared a little breakfast sandwich at Starbucks in Dupont and then jumped on the Metro to downtown. The race had more than 5,000 runners so most of the people on the Metro were runners, too. It was fun to see that everyone was geared up for the same thing on a cold Sunday morning.
Since this race was just for fun and I hadn't been training for the distance at all, I decided to take the opportunity to do something I've always wanted to do but never been willing to take the risk -- I decided I'd just go out hard for the first half, as hard as I felt like I could, and then if I wanted to quit and walk the rest of the way at that point, I'd let myself. Usually I have training invested in a race, so I wouldn't risk a total blow up like that. So that was my goal, see how long I could last at a fast pace, which to me meant about 7:20 pace. I thought I'd do the first few miles around 7:20-7:30 and then the last couple around 8s or so.
Race: Since I was planning this blow up strategy, I parted ways with Kyle and Kelly M just before the start and got up close to the front with some speedy people. The race was a bit delayed, but finally the gun went off and away we went. I got into what I thought was a slightly beyond comfortable fast pace, assuming it was right around 7:20. At the first mile marker, checked my watch -- 6:59. Crap. (I gave up swearing for Lent, so "crap" is a pretty serious word). I knew that 6:59 was definitely going to screw me up, even though I was planning to go out fast, I didn't think I could go that fast and I was sure I couldn not keep that up for 2.5 miles. Sure enough, major slow down, mile 2: 7:21.
At that point I figured I'd just try to get through the next half mile or so to the halfway point and then slow to a jog for the remainder. I came through mile 3 much slower: 7:44. Now with just two miles left, I figured I'd just keep plodding along but that when I could see where Kyle and Kelly M were, I'd give them the signal that I was going to slow down and wait for them to catch up to me. (The course had several turnarounds, so you could see people frequently and I had already seen them twice). I had already planned that I would run my finger across my throat and they would understand that meant it was over for me. Of course though, I kept on running and running and didn't see them! Mile 4: 7:38.
Well, at that point, I decided to just finish it off because coming in under 37:30 was still within reach. I think all of these pictures are from the last half mile where I was just trying to tough it out. Managed to finish in 37:02 (last mile: 7:17), good enough for 71st woman, ahead of 2,303 other women. I can confidently say, however, that it would have been much easier to run 5 miles evenly at 7:27 pace than do the fun little experiment I did going out in 6:59.
Post-race: After finishing, I jogged out to the course and watched for Kyle and Kelly M to finish. They both expected to run around 9s and surprised themselves with faster times! Huge props to Kyle who had barely run at all in the months preceding. We all agreed it was a great race and patted ourselves on the backs for getting out there, then headed out for bloody marys and brunch.
Me 37:02 (7:27 pace: 6:59, 7:21, 7:44, 7:38, 7:17)
Kelly M 39:58 (8:03 pace)
Kyle 41:31 (8:21 pace)
3.17.2009
Traveling
Though I'd like to say HIM training is underway, instead I'm just doing my best to stay active since I was traveling last week and am traveling this week, which usually means lots of great (bad for you) food, plenty of drinking, and not much working out.
After the triathlon on Saturday, I took Sunday and Monday off.
Tuesday and Wednesday I got out for a 3-mile run each morning.
On Thursday, Kyle and I spent all day flying to the East Coast (left the house at 4am and arrived at our hotel in Baltimore around 7pm).
Friday morning I jumped on the treadmill at the hotel (not a Woodway) for some quick speed work. My work out was:
800 at 6.5mph
400 at 8.0
400 at 6.0
400 at 8.5
400 at 6.0
800 at 8.0
800 at 6.5
Friday afternoon, we headed down to DC, and I took Saturday off to rest up for the St. Patty's Day 8K.
After the triathlon on Saturday, I took Sunday and Monday off.
Tuesday and Wednesday I got out for a 3-mile run each morning.
On Thursday, Kyle and I spent all day flying to the East Coast (left the house at 4am and arrived at our hotel in Baltimore around 7pm).
Friday morning I jumped on the treadmill at the hotel (not a Woodway) for some quick speed work. My work out was:
800 at 6.5mph
400 at 8.0
400 at 6.0
400 at 8.5
400 at 6.0
800 at 8.0
800 at 6.5
Friday afternoon, we headed down to DC, and I took Saturday off to rest up for the St. Patty's Day 8K.
3.09.2009
Race Report: Stanford Treeathlon
Pre-Race:
The week before the triathlon, Stanford posted that there would be no race day packet pick up – the only packet pick up time would be Friday evening from 4pm to 10pm. This was not good news. I emailed the race director to double-check, but he said race day only and you had to be there in person to sign a waiver. Since I had to work on Friday, by the time I would get home and drive down to Stanford, it would be at least 8pm, so it made no sense to turn around and go home and then wake up super early the next morning to get back down there, so Kyle and I decided to just get a hotel. Even though we had to drop an extra $100, it was worth it not to have to drive down there twice and to be able to be close to the race site in the morning -- or so I thought! When we picked up my actual chip in the morning, it sure looked like it would have been ok to pick up my packet on race day... grr.
Though I was sad that Kyle decided not to do this one, it was awesome having him there to help carry my gear and get set up. My swim wave wasn’t scheduled to start until 8:20 but the transition area was closing at 7:15 so we had to get there early anyway. The transition area was a total disappointment. First, anyone could go in and out, which didn’t make me feel great about leaving all my gear. Second, there weren’t nearly enough racks. Third, there was no organization to the area. So when we arrived, the racks were totally packed and we had to hunt to find a place for me to squeeze in (and there were still more athletes arriving).
It was pretty cold outside for a triathlon, but lucky for me I had Kyle there so I was able to keep my warm clothes on and wait to put on my wetsuit until just before my start. It was about a half mile walk from the transition area to swim start so most people had to ditch their warm clothes a lot earlier. We spent at least 30 minutes in line for the porta-potty which there were not nearly enough of and then arrived at the start about 15 minutes before my wave. Changed into my gear and headed toward the water.
Swim: 500m in the Bay
The swim started in the water, which I’ve never done before – I’ve only done the run from the beach start. I was glad though because the water was FREEZING and it was good to get in and do our best to get used to it before starting. I got in a couple minutes before the start, swam around a bit, did some bobs to get my face and head wet and then aggressive treading water to try to stay warm.
The swim started on one end of the slough and finished on the other, which was nice because there was only one buoy to watch for to turn. Compared to sighting for buoys in the choppy ocean, this was piece of cake. I started near the front of the group hoping not to have to fight with other swimmers but there were a lot of people around me in the first 250. I was diligent with sighting though and the whole pack veered off too far from the buoy, so I was alone for a little while but was swimming the straightest and shortest path to the buoy. By the time we got around it, the pack had started to thin out and I was able to swim hard. The only thing that I remember thinking during the swim was that it felt like I had my face in a snowbank. I really couldn't feel anything except for my freezing face. I couldn't even feel if my arms were getting tired.
The end of the swim was a buoy on a dock that was probably a foot and a half higher than the water. By the time my wave came along, they had figured out that it was hard for people to get out of the water, so they started pulling people up. When I got to the end I just reached up and two people pulled me out onto my feet.
Swim split: 11:32 (includes the long run to transition, too)
Swim rank: 20/84 women overall, 15/33 women 34 and under wave, 7/13 women 25-29
T1:
The swim out was about 400m from the transition area and the ground was mostly rock and gravel, so they had laid out a strip of carpeting to run along. As I was running, I had a hard time grabbing the zipper pull for my wetsuit, I had to try 3 or 4 times before I finally got it, probably because my hands were so cold. I was feeling good because I couldn’t see too many women in front of me, but then when I got to the transition area, it hit me – I had no idea where my gear was.
In the chaos of finding a spot to squeeze into, I had completely forgotten to look for a landmark of some sort to find it again later. I was used to racks that were organized in some way that made it easy for me to find (age groups, letters, numbers, something!). I ran down the racks to the middle-ish area and ran back and forth for probably 30 seconds (which felt like an eternity) before I could find it. So, big lesson learned there – know where your stuff is! Other than that, the transition went pretty well.
Transition time: 2:18
Bike: 20K, 3 lollipop loops, flat
Coming out of the transition area, I knew there were probably women that came out of the water behind me but left ahead of me because of my blunder and I didn’t see them again on the bike course. As I’ve posted before, the bike is my weakest link, but I’ve been working on it, so I decided to just try not to let anyone in my age group pass me. The course was stupid and boring. We did 3 loops in an industrial park, it was all flat, and there were several sharp turns you had to slow down for. I did feel stronger on the bike that I have in the past and I think only one person from my age group passed me right at the end.
Bike split: 38:35 (~19 mph)
Bike rank: 20/84 women overall, 15/33 women 34 and under wave, 7/13 women 25-29
T2:
I was nervous coming off the bike because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to find my spot in the transition area again. I had a better idea than the last transition but still had to run back and forth a bit to find it. Had a tough time getting my bike back on the rack because it was so crowded, but the rest of the transition went well.
Transition time: 1:24
Run: 5K, asphalt path, flat
The run route was almost as stupid and boring as the bike route. It was basically a little loop on one end of the industrial park followed by an out and back on the other end of the park. The woman who passed me coming into the transition area must have taken longer than me there, because she passed me again about a half mile into the run. I tried to hang onto her for a while, but she was really going for it. With about a mile to go, just after the turnaround, a girl in black passed to me and I decided to hang on to her.
With 400m left, I was doing pretty well and was about to kick into another gear to try to catch her. The asphalt path was raised a probably an inch or two above the ground on either side of it and there were a couple areas where it would shift slightly to go around a fire hydrant or utility box. As I came around one of these, I must have cut the edge too short or something and I stepped off the path and did a total face plant on the asphalt. This was not a stumble, stumble, tuck and roll fall. No, this was a flat out skidding face plant, right in front of 2 guys handing out water. No stranger to falling while running though, I jumped right back up and started running again, but catching the girl in black was no longer a possibility. Alas, I finished strong and with humility.
Run split: 23:50 (7:40 mile pace)
Run rank: 20/84 women overall, 17/33 women 34 and under wave, 6/13 women 25-29
Post-race:
Kyle was at the finish and we went over to the first aid people so that I could get cleaned up. One guy guessed that I took a fall on my bike. Nope, I was running. They thought that was pretty funny.
Overall, it was great to get a triathlon in as a kick off to the season and it fit well with my training and was good for motivation. I managed to hold people off on the bike and hold my 20th place rank the whole race. It's hard to compare swim and bike times to the other triathlons that I've done, but I cut about 1:20 off my 5K triathlon time for run, so I am improving! As for the course and set up though, I wouldn’t do this one again. Big thanks to Kyle for being my assistant and photographer, but he'll be joining me as a racer in the next one, yay!
Total time: 1:17:41
Final rank: 20/84 women overall, 14/33 women 34 and under wave, 7/13 women 25-29
The week before the triathlon, Stanford posted that there would be no race day packet pick up – the only packet pick up time would be Friday evening from 4pm to 10pm. This was not good news. I emailed the race director to double-check, but he said race day only and you had to be there in person to sign a waiver. Since I had to work on Friday, by the time I would get home and drive down to Stanford, it would be at least 8pm, so it made no sense to turn around and go home and then wake up super early the next morning to get back down there, so Kyle and I decided to just get a hotel. Even though we had to drop an extra $100, it was worth it not to have to drive down there twice and to be able to be close to the race site in the morning -- or so I thought! When we picked up my actual chip in the morning, it sure looked like it would have been ok to pick up my packet on race day... grr.
Though I was sad that Kyle decided not to do this one, it was awesome having him there to help carry my gear and get set up. My swim wave wasn’t scheduled to start until 8:20 but the transition area was closing at 7:15 so we had to get there early anyway. The transition area was a total disappointment. First, anyone could go in and out, which didn’t make me feel great about leaving all my gear. Second, there weren’t nearly enough racks. Third, there was no organization to the area. So when we arrived, the racks were totally packed and we had to hunt to find a place for me to squeeze in (and there were still more athletes arriving).
It was pretty cold outside for a triathlon, but lucky for me I had Kyle there so I was able to keep my warm clothes on and wait to put on my wetsuit until just before my start. It was about a half mile walk from the transition area to swim start so most people had to ditch their warm clothes a lot earlier. We spent at least 30 minutes in line for the porta-potty which there were not nearly enough of and then arrived at the start about 15 minutes before my wave. Changed into my gear and headed toward the water.
Swim: 500m in the Bay
The swim started in the water, which I’ve never done before – I’ve only done the run from the beach start. I was glad though because the water was FREEZING and it was good to get in and do our best to get used to it before starting. I got in a couple minutes before the start, swam around a bit, did some bobs to get my face and head wet and then aggressive treading water to try to stay warm.
The swim started on one end of the slough and finished on the other, which was nice because there was only one buoy to watch for to turn. Compared to sighting for buoys in the choppy ocean, this was piece of cake. I started near the front of the group hoping not to have to fight with other swimmers but there were a lot of people around me in the first 250. I was diligent with sighting though and the whole pack veered off too far from the buoy, so I was alone for a little while but was swimming the straightest and shortest path to the buoy. By the time we got around it, the pack had started to thin out and I was able to swim hard. The only thing that I remember thinking during the swim was that it felt like I had my face in a snowbank. I really couldn't feel anything except for my freezing face. I couldn't even feel if my arms were getting tired.
The end of the swim was a buoy on a dock that was probably a foot and a half higher than the water. By the time my wave came along, they had figured out that it was hard for people to get out of the water, so they started pulling people up. When I got to the end I just reached up and two people pulled me out onto my feet.
Swim split: 11:32 (includes the long run to transition, too)
Swim rank: 20/84 women overall, 15/33 women 34 and under wave, 7/13 women 25-29
T1:
The swim out was about 400m from the transition area and the ground was mostly rock and gravel, so they had laid out a strip of carpeting to run along. As I was running, I had a hard time grabbing the zipper pull for my wetsuit, I had to try 3 or 4 times before I finally got it, probably because my hands were so cold. I was feeling good because I couldn’t see too many women in front of me, but then when I got to the transition area, it hit me – I had no idea where my gear was.
In the chaos of finding a spot to squeeze into, I had completely forgotten to look for a landmark of some sort to find it again later. I was used to racks that were organized in some way that made it easy for me to find (age groups, letters, numbers, something!). I ran down the racks to the middle-ish area and ran back and forth for probably 30 seconds (which felt like an eternity) before I could find it. So, big lesson learned there – know where your stuff is! Other than that, the transition went pretty well.
Transition time: 2:18
Bike: 20K, 3 lollipop loops, flat
Coming out of the transition area, I knew there were probably women that came out of the water behind me but left ahead of me because of my blunder and I didn’t see them again on the bike course. As I’ve posted before, the bike is my weakest link, but I’ve been working on it, so I decided to just try not to let anyone in my age group pass me. The course was stupid and boring. We did 3 loops in an industrial park, it was all flat, and there were several sharp turns you had to slow down for. I did feel stronger on the bike that I have in the past and I think only one person from my age group passed me right at the end.
Bike split: 38:35 (~19 mph)
Bike rank: 20/84 women overall, 15/33 women 34 and under wave, 7/13 women 25-29
T2:
I was nervous coming off the bike because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to find my spot in the transition area again. I had a better idea than the last transition but still had to run back and forth a bit to find it. Had a tough time getting my bike back on the rack because it was so crowded, but the rest of the transition went well.
Transition time: 1:24
Run: 5K, asphalt path, flat
The run route was almost as stupid and boring as the bike route. It was basically a little loop on one end of the industrial park followed by an out and back on the other end of the park. The woman who passed me coming into the transition area must have taken longer than me there, because she passed me again about a half mile into the run. I tried to hang onto her for a while, but she was really going for it. With about a mile to go, just after the turnaround, a girl in black passed to me and I decided to hang on to her.
With 400m left, I was doing pretty well and was about to kick into another gear to try to catch her. The asphalt path was raised a probably an inch or two above the ground on either side of it and there were a couple areas where it would shift slightly to go around a fire hydrant or utility box. As I came around one of these, I must have cut the edge too short or something and I stepped off the path and did a total face plant on the asphalt. This was not a stumble, stumble, tuck and roll fall. No, this was a flat out skidding face plant, right in front of 2 guys handing out water. No stranger to falling while running though, I jumped right back up and started running again, but catching the girl in black was no longer a possibility. Alas, I finished strong and with humility.
Run split: 23:50 (7:40 mile pace)
Run rank: 20/84 women overall, 17/33 women 34 and under wave, 6/13 women 25-29
Post-race:
Kyle was at the finish and we went over to the first aid people so that I could get cleaned up. One guy guessed that I took a fall on my bike. Nope, I was running. They thought that was pretty funny.
Overall, it was great to get a triathlon in as a kick off to the season and it fit well with my training and was good for motivation. I managed to hold people off on the bike and hold my 20th place rank the whole race. It's hard to compare swim and bike times to the other triathlons that I've done, but I cut about 1:20 off my 5K triathlon time for run, so I am improving! As for the course and set up though, I wouldn’t do this one again. Big thanks to Kyle for being my assistant and photographer, but he'll be joining me as a racer in the next one, yay!
Total time: 1:17:41
Final rank: 20/84 women overall, 14/33 women 34 and under wave, 7/13 women 25-29
3.06.2009
Tapering?
This week I tapered sort of intentionally and sort of unintentionally. It was the last week before I officially start training for the HIM and I'm doing my first triathlon of the season this weekend so a taper could be justified, but also my mom was in town and we're househunting so workouts were easily put on the back burner without any physiological justification. Nonetheless, I did get a couple good things in here and there.
Sunday: Awesome 1800 swim in the rain (600 swim, 100kick, 600 swim, 100kick, 4x50 w/20 sec rest, 200c/d)
Monday: PUC#4, SUC#4
Tuesday: 30 min ride on the trainer (10 minute warm-up, 15 minutes hard, 5 minute cool down)
Wednesday, Thursday: nada
Friday: 15 minute jog plus good stretching
OK, yeah, that was a pretty pathetic week.
Oh well, now it's off to the south bay for the Stanford Treeathlon!
Sunday: Awesome 1800 swim in the rain (600 swim, 100kick, 600 swim, 100kick, 4x50 w/20 sec rest, 200c/d)
Monday: PUC#4, SUC#4
Tuesday: 30 min ride on the trainer (10 minute warm-up, 15 minutes hard, 5 minute cool down)
Wednesday, Thursday: nada
Friday: 15 minute jog plus good stretching
OK, yeah, that was a pretty pathetic week.
Oh well, now it's off to the south bay for the Stanford Treeathlon!
3.02.2009
February fizzled out...
Wednesday I woke up late again, so I had to do an abridged version of my bike workout. It still kicked my butt though: 12 min w/u, 7 min hard, 5 min easy, 7 min hard, 6 min c/d.
Thursday and Friday I ended up taking off. I had no less than six significant events happen among family and friends over the past week and a half and I think the emotional exhaustion finally took a physical toll - I just needed to sleep.
Saturday I ran for an hour in some pretty humid weather. I realized as running that most of my running lately has been less than 5 miles, so increasing to an hour was harder than I expected it to be and I was a little sore on Sunday.
Overall, February was a tough month. I felt like things kept coming up to derail my training. My goal for March is to end the month as close to on plan as possible, which maybe doesn't sound that ambitious but with a trip to DC scheduled in the middle of the month that will throw off swimming and biking, I'll be happy to be close at the end of March. I'm also hoping to start dropping some weight in March -- can you believe I haven't lost a single pound in the last two months?! And one last hope is that it stops raining so much here! In a week, I'll start the season with the Stanford Treeathlon and then begin 19 weeks of training for the Half Ironman.
Thursday and Friday I ended up taking off. I had no less than six significant events happen among family and friends over the past week and a half and I think the emotional exhaustion finally took a physical toll - I just needed to sleep.
Saturday I ran for an hour in some pretty humid weather. I realized as running that most of my running lately has been less than 5 miles, so increasing to an hour was harder than I expected it to be and I was a little sore on Sunday.
Overall, February was a tough month. I felt like things kept coming up to derail my training. My goal for March is to end the month as close to on plan as possible, which maybe doesn't sound that ambitious but with a trip to DC scheduled in the middle of the month that will throw off swimming and biking, I'll be happy to be close at the end of March. I'm also hoping to start dropping some weight in March -- can you believe I haven't lost a single pound in the last two months?! And one last hope is that it stops raining so much here! In a week, I'll start the season with the Stanford Treeathlon and then begin 19 weeks of training for the Half Ironman.
2.24.2009
2000+
Woke up late and could only squeeze in a quick 2-mile run and PUC workout #3 before work (yes, I am behind on my push up challenge workouts).
Tonight, swam a great 2050 workout:
2x(500 swim, 200 kick), 4x100 moderate w/ 20 sec rest, 250 cool down
Adding to the workout, they had pulled the lane lines out of the section of the pool where we were swimming, so there were 15 lanes of open water. With all the swimmers, this makes the water really rough, which sucks but is great training for ocean swimming. Half the time you try to breathe you get a mouthful of water, every few stokes your reach gets cut short because your hand plows into a wave, and the water is moving around so much that you never really feel like you get into a good streamlined rhythm (and with all that, it's still not as tough as an ocean swim because you still have a line to follow on the bottom of the pool and the boost of flip turns every 25). I was also satisfied with the swim because I haven't done a swim workout that long in at least 4 or 5 years, back when Kyle and I would swim in DC. So, yay!
Tonight, swam a great 2050 workout:
2x(500 swim, 200 kick), 4x100 moderate w/ 20 sec rest, 250 cool down
Adding to the workout, they had pulled the lane lines out of the section of the pool where we were swimming, so there were 15 lanes of open water. With all the swimmers, this makes the water really rough, which sucks but is great training for ocean swimming. Half the time you try to breathe you get a mouthful of water, every few stokes your reach gets cut short because your hand plows into a wave, and the water is moving around so much that you never really feel like you get into a good streamlined rhythm (and with all that, it's still not as tough as an ocean swim because you still have a line to follow on the bottom of the pool and the boost of flip turns every 25). I was also satisfied with the swim because I haven't done a swim workout that long in at least 4 or 5 years, back when Kyle and I would swim in DC. So, yay!
2.23.2009
An adequate weekend
Friday- 4.5 mile run, and my initial sit up challenge test - about 70 sit ups in a row before they get a little pathetic.
Saturday- Brick workout! 45 minute ride with Kyle and my cousin Joe, followed by a 15 minute run, followed by brunch and a bloody mary... not sure that third event was in the training book ;-)
Sunday- Track workout rained out, so I'm going to have to manipulate my schedule to fit it in later this week...
And officially registered for the Stanford Treeathlon and the St. Patrick's Day 8K, yay!
Saturday- Brick workout! 45 minute ride with Kyle and my cousin Joe, followed by a 15 minute run, followed by brunch and a bloody mary... not sure that third event was in the training book ;-)
Sunday- Track workout rained out, so I'm going to have to manipulate my schedule to fit it in later this week...
And officially registered for the Stanford Treeathlon and the St. Patrick's Day 8K, yay!
2.19.2009
Playing catch up AGAIN
Another week where I find myself playing catch up on workouts. Saturday and Sunday were worthless as I was the victim of some sort of food poisoning (I'm claiming it was salmonella from a granola bar that had peanut oil in it). It was not fun. On top of being sick, it was rainy, rainy, rainy here.
Monday: 90-minute ride using the trainer since it was pouring outside (plus workout 1 of push up challenge)
Tuesday: Woke up late and too tired after work.
Wednesday: 30 min run in the morning, 1750 swim workout in the evening (500 swim, 100 kick, 400s, 100k, 300s, 100k, 200s, 50k)
Thursday: 50 min on the bike trainer (14 w/u, 26 hard, 10 c/d), plus workout 2 of push up challenge)
It depresses me a little when I mess up my workout routine but I'm glad to be facing these catch up weeks now so that I figure out how to deal with them (read: avoid them) before I get into HIM training.
Monday: 90-minute ride using the trainer since it was pouring outside (plus workout 1 of push up challenge)
Tuesday: Woke up late and too tired after work.
Wednesday: 30 min run in the morning, 1750 swim workout in the evening (500 swim, 100 kick, 400s, 100k, 300s, 100k, 200s, 50k)
Thursday: 50 min on the bike trainer (14 w/u, 26 hard, 10 c/d), plus workout 2 of push up challenge)
It depresses me a little when I mess up my workout routine but I'm glad to be facing these catch up weeks now so that I figure out how to deal with them (read: avoid them) before I get into HIM training.
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