Harbor Lights Sprint Triathlon 2009

800 Meter Swim - 11:49
T1 - 4:40
13.2 mile bike - 44:34
T2 - 2:39
4 mile run - 46:23
Total - 1:50:03

Overall
Great day for racing! It was cool and cloudy. It took me over an hour to get to Waukegan and there was a one mile trek to transition from parking, so I didn't have a very relaxing set-up and pre-race experience (my own fault). Everything was well organized and run.

Swim
The swim waves were divided into big groups and we started from the beach. When there was one minute to go-time, we were ushered into the water to wait by a buoy. The water was 59 degrees Fahrenheit. I was a little nervous but ready to kick some butt! I was in the front and on the right outside to start and took a while to get my rhythm, once I settled in I was pretty good. I wound up finishing in the back of the group that finished 4 mins ahead of us. I think it was a combination of my being quicker and those individuals being slower. Very pleased with my finish, but I would have been much faster had I gotten there earlier to warm up!

Bike
Holy hell was this ridiculous. The start was covered with rough rode that was filled with potholes, uneven pavement, and more potholes. After about a mile or so that turned into smooth sailing for two loops along a closed expressway. I desperately need a new bike fit - my piriformis was murder after about 3 more miles. I tried to keep a steady pace but was wavering between fast and medium. I kept up with the same people for most of the time so I was pleased with that at least. The route back was the same potholey piece of crap that it was when I set out on the course.

Run
My legs were tired so I did a run/walk the first mile, ran the second mile, ran walked the third mile, then as I walked through the water station a woman ran past me and said "Come on, get running - come with me!" I ran with her the fourth mile. The run was not very scenic except for 2 miles on Sheridan through a residential neighborhood.

Lessons Learned

• I need a new bike fit - like majorly. My handlebars are causing my hand to go numb, and my hips hurt after just a few miles.
• I need a sports massage - my piriformis is bugging me & it needs whatever it needs to get right.
• More bike - run bricks, or at least do the ones on my schedule religiously
• More speed training for my runs
• More speed training for my bike

And most importantly

• Need to lose more weight so I can move faster

Lucy Still Needs a Permanent Home

This is Lucy. She is a Jack Russell Terrier & needs a home. She is sweet to people, but can't be around small kids or other pets. I know it sounds like a tall order, but she would be great for a DINK couple or an older couple with a yard. She is 6, potty-trained, and walks on a leash. Her info is here: http://tinyurl.com/LucyJRT

(We can't take her bc we already have 2 Jacks that are our babies.)

Please? :-)

Last. Dead Last.

Today I "raced" the Capital View Triathlon in Madison, WI. I did the Olympic distance and had a blast. Oh yeah, and I came in last. Not just last in my age group, I was the last person to cross the finish line. Most people would probably be disappointed or angry, I actually am still giggling about it. I have to tell you first that it was my first Olympic distance and it was just a training race. My "A" race is the Chicago Triathlon in August. This was to prepare me for what to expect as far as distance and highlight my areas that need work.

Before I get to the race report, it's important that you understand that this race is not an accurate representation of my personality or general racing style. I wasn't treating this like a race (as evidenced by my complete lack of nervousness pre-race, which surprised the h-e-doublehockeysticks out of my husband btw). I am still the same old overly competitive, type-A crazy that my friends and family have come to know and love. I am just looking at things a little differently since my half-marathon.

I have come to the realization that not one person outside of myself truly cares what my race times are. They are excited if I meet my goal (in this case: Finish), and make a sad face if I miss it. Mostly people just respond to my mood. So far, since I have been laughing about it, people have found my last place finish pretty amusing as well & I get "but that's awesome that you finished it." And that's absolutely true.

If nothing else, I have the tenacity of a something or other and my leg could have fallen off and I was going to finish that race. So, while I may have come in last place, I kind of still won in a way (yeah, that's cheeze n' rice, I know). Anyway, if you're still with me, here is how the race went:

Overall Review
Very hilly, nice & sunny, it got hot - perfect morning though & the water was smooth as glass. Sa-weet! The race itself was really well run & I was very happy. Tons of water stations on the run & there were swim buddies all over. This one I'd definitely do again (and plan to actually)! I have a bone to pick with that race now, haha.

The Swim
I am not a strong swimmer yet. This swim was kind of a triumph for me actually. I swam a continuous 1500 meters (.9 mile for my fellow Americans). I did it in my Blueseventy Sprint wetsuit. At first I was spazzing, my breathing was irregular, I couldn't get a rhythm. I was a mess. A girl next to me asked if I was OK and my response was "Yes, thanks - I always freak out at the beginning of swims." I front crawled, breast-stroked, and (mostly) back stroked my way to the finish. By the last 2/3 of the swim I was front crawling and breathing every third stroke. Unfortunately this was too late the leg fatigue damage was already done. I was, however, freaking STOKED that I swam the whole way!

The Bike
I consider cycling to be my best sport of the three. I am pretty good at climbing (thanks mostly to my triple crank). But, I haven't ever swam almost a mile and then hopped on my bike. Oops. Legs were TIRED. Tired legs + hills = BAD. Very, very bad! Right out of the gate, I blew past about 15 people ( it was a slow swim, I had time to make up). But then the first hill came... uuuuuugh. My left hamstrong hurt & my right calf was really tight - and, wth, my butt muscles hurt. I had to stop once to adjust my brakes because the front was rubbing, I lost the people that I had passed originally.

Anyway, suffice it to say I had to push the whole 24 miles & I was so far behind that there were a few times when I considered giving up altogether. That's when I started having a mental 'chat' with myself. The following conversations took place with myself:

• Internal: If you quit, you'll feel like a loser.
  
• External: If you quit, you'll have to tell people and feel like a loser.
• Bribery: If you don't quit, you can stop at the Denny's by the hotel and get the French Slam and eat some &$*#ing bacon!
• Internal again: There is no shame in finishing last, there's only shame in quitting. No one but you really cares about your finishing time anyway.
  

I was slow the whole way, but I pushed through and finished!

The Run
I had little left to give to the run. It was a trail run, and a hilly one at that. I started to run but my legs hurt SO badly, especially my left hammy and my hips. I decided I'd walk the first mile. By the end of the first mile I was still in a hilly section so walked the hills and ran the downhills/flats. Finally, I gave up on that plan because my heart rate was insane at this point and just walked. I then ran all of mile 5 and the last .25 mile of the race. Lame, I know.

What I learned

• Swim form is unbelievably important. It's not just another thing for coaches to bug you about, really!
  
• I need more combination workouts - bricks, as it were.
• I still hate running. If it was a person, I'd want to punch running in the face!
• I need to cycle at higher speeds during training. I need a speedometer, RPMs are telling me nothing and my Garmin GPS is failing with the cadence monitor.
  
• I need a Trakkers GPS because I took so long that my husband thought I had gotten injured & carted off to the hospital. Or I just need to get faster.
  
• I like distance swimming more than I thought I ever could!
  
• Coming in last doesn't feel as awful as I had thought. I figured I'd be embarrassed but it's been kind of a fun story.
  

That said, I can be a good sport about my last place spot. But, don't look for it to happen again. Once is funny. Twice is time to find a new sport. I'll be beyond ready for the Chicago Triathlon & you won't even know it's the same racer.

P.S. My husband thinks I'm tough & is unbelievably proud of me, as are my parents & sister. I try not to let outside opinions affect me, but this makes me :-)

P.P.S. I had a BLAST today! When I was walking (the run portion), I was thinking about how I should sign up for an extra sprint this summer. I'm a sicko, haha.

Ridin' Dirty

Yesterday, I had a great bike ride once I replaced my flat & picked up some spare tubes (again... sigh). I had tons of energy and I was killing – feeling totally ready for the bike portion of my Oly tri in Madison (which is coming up June 14th). For the first part of my ride I took a new route to the place where I ride loops and was almost hit by a stupid student driver making a turn. The teacher in the passenger seat actually gave me a dirty look like it was my fault I was crossing the street with the light from the bike path! Ugh.

Anyway, once I hit my loop, I was flying past people, including two dudes that showed up on the route that I not only lapped but blew past. Ready? Oh hell yeah I am – for the bike portion anyway (provided I make it out of the swim, haha). Anyway, with about 15 minutes left to go on my ride before I headed in - (I don’t count to and from my route in my overall time spent on my bike. Though, I do count it on my runs, haha. Guess which one I like better.) – anyway, with 15 minutes left I got stung in the throat by a bee. Well, really a bee flew into me (or did I fly into it?) and got caught in my helmet strap right where it clips together. AUUUUUGH!! I am not a bug person & now have a bug with a sharp object lodged in my helmet while I am in control of a moving vehicle. I immediately thought of Brett’s experience on the Zen Tri podcast & tried to remain calm. I tried to pull the strap away from my neck hoping while I was slowing that it would fly out. At this point all I can hear is buzzbuzzbuzzzzzzz coming from my neck area & my hopes of emerging unscathed are quickly slipping away along with the bee’s odds of survival. Then, I felt it – STING. OWWWWWOWOWOWOW. Right smack in the front, middle of my throat. And, it hurt. I’m not allergic to bees but I am allergic to pain. Finally, I got stopped & got off of my bike & had a stinging burning sensation on my throat. Now, I don’t’ carry a mirror on my bike, so I was using my TMobile G1 as a makeshift mirror bc it gave off a slight reflection. Took me a few tries, but I finally got the little red stinger out & it felt a little better. The site swelled up a little after but overall, it could have been worse.

After that, I decided it was time to head home. The air burned my sting but the worst part of my trip home was the awesomely jerkish fartknocker that decided to buzz me in his white workman’s van while simultaneously honking at me. Man, I was angry – and startled. WHY DO PEOPLE DO THAT?! What if I got scared and jerked my handlebars to the left, right into his path? The road wasn’t crowded, he could have easily moved into the left lane, and I wasn’t even over into the lane any more than normal. He was just being a tool.

So, then I was all flustered and totally sure I needed to get home. You’d think that would be the end of it, right? You’d be wrong. This is me, after all. About ½ mile from home, I stopped at an intersection. I guided myself over to the crosswalk button and unclip left and stand up with my right foot still clipped into the pedal (normal for me). I hit the button and start to angle my bike to the left to point myself across the street and – OOOOOH NO – falling to the right. Right in front of a crowded intersection, and of course, right on my rear derailleur. Luckily nothing more than my ego was bruised. As soon as I stood up and checked my derailleur, I started laughing. This ride was such a comedy of errors, I couldn’t do anything but laugh.

My First Half-Mary Ever!!

Race: Flying Pig Half-Marathon
Date: May 3, 2009
Sport: Running
Distance: 13.1 miles
Completion Time: 2h 41m

Pre-Race
Friday
Traveled on Friday - dinner was at 8 PM and I didn’t get to bed until after midnight.

Saturday
Didn’t feel great - ate a pasta dinner, went to bed about 10 PM
Tried to figure out what I could do about breakfast for the next morning but the bagel place was closed so I couldn't grab something for the morning & the hotel was less than helpful.


Sunday
Race morning - slept like crap, woke up with a headache, no breakfast to be had so I ate a Gu and a packet of Shot Blocks and a half cup of coffee. This made me nauseous. Woo! Headache subsided on my way to the race. I was NERVOUS!

Race
I was very cognizant of the need to be at an 11:27 pace average in order to meet my 2:30 goal. I figured if I could maintain a slow 11:00 pace, I would be in good shape. The weather was in the 50's (Fahrenheit) with a drizzly rain which stopped about 1/4 of the way through the race - pretty much what I had been training in anyway.

With the first two miles down, I started to feel a little nauseous on mile 3, so I walked a bit. After that it was a run/walk combo most of the way based on my heart rate (when I’d hit 190, I would slow down or walk). Once I hit mile 6, the hills started. My heart rate was spiking like I haven’t seen in a long time. My immediate thought was my total lack of any decent fueling pre-race, including Fri/Sat. And a lot of restaurant food the two days prior, which I am sure had tons of sodium, probably didn't help. Usually I handle hills a lot better, sometimes my smaller steps cause my heart rate to drop on hills. So, this kind of freaked me out.

I ate a second Gu at mile 8. By mile 10 I was pooped from the hills, so when mile 11 came and it was all downhill, I just let go and flew as fast as my legs could carry me - a 9 1/2 minute mile. At that point I think I had gotten back to being within 8 minutes of my goal time - but there was no way I’d keep up that pace this far into the race on the flats.

The rest of the race was me talking to myself, my body was fighting to walk and I was mentally fighting to run. So, I’d run for like 30 seconds and then would just start walking, then would run again. I had lost focus and was walking a lot at the end of the race but managed to pick it up for the last 1/3 of the final stretch. Hitting the finish line at the race was amazing. This was my first race where I completed it and there were tons of people full on cheering - it was totally charging. I hit that finish and felt a sense of accomplishment, which was quickly stymied by the fact I missed my newly set goal time.

I was also bummed because I hadn’t seen my husband or anyone else that I knew at this point, I walked back to the hotel by myself. I was still upset about my time. My husband was waiting for me at the hotel, he was ecstatic and so proud (after having driving 5 hours the night before after working a full day because he is just that awesome!!). I was still being a baby and he explained that even just 6 months ago that I had never expected to do this and that I should be extremely proud. I was still acting like a brat, but he still was really proud of me and very excited for me. I called my parents too and they were proud and excited and my dad kept telling me not to be upset & that I should enjoy it. I don’t know if it was my sugar level, the fact that I was exhausted, or what but I couldn’t shake the overwhelming feeling of failure.

Eventually I got over it, especially when I looked at my mile by mile times - I am pretty proud of how I did - especially since my longest training run of 12.84 miles took me 2h49m. My legs did awesome carrying me through and I didn’t give up - but I am totally requesting a rematch.

What I learned

• Sleep, sleep, and more sleep must be my second priority. I got too caught up in this as a social visit that I lost sight of my initial purpose of being there & paid for it. Fun is fun, but not doing what I was supposed to do probably cost me the meeting of my goal.
• Correct food & fueling must be my first priority, especially on race weekends but definitely day to day. We initially were supposed to stay in an apartment but there was a cat issue and my husband is deathly allergic, so to the Westin we went!
  
• No more slacking on my training, if I am going to succeed then I have to put in more work and make my training more of a priority
• I need to lighten up & not be so hard on myself, which is easier said than done. My personality is that I am very hard on other people, I am 10 times harder on myself. Just the way of a Virgo, I guess :-)

My First 12 Miler

So, first of all, I hope you all had a lovely Easter, Passover, or whatever it may be that you celebrate this time of year. I had an excellent Easter. I went for a swim in the morning then headed to the family brunch at a golf course where I watched my aunt accost the Easter Bunny. Really. The Easter Bunny walked past and she grabbed his rear. It was all very demented. But, if you know my family, unsurprising. Greek Easter is next Sunday and is usually much more civilized. haha

The Saturday before Easter, I decided I was going to run to my parents' house. They live about 12 miles away. This seemed surprising to me seeing as (A) the week before I had a massive fail at a 9 miler and (B) I had never considered this before. At all. Ever. For some reason, I woke up that Saturday just like any other. I noticed it was sunny and going to be warm, so I decided to take advantage and run. Then, I got the email that said "Flying Pig Half-Marathon is 23 days away!" Something in my brain snapped. It can't be just 3 weeks away - I hadn't even run 9 consecutive miles yet!! How was I ever going to be ready for 13? So, I took the advice of my friend and nemesis, Nando, and said, "Well, then I guess I'll just run it." (Nando had told me after my failed 9 miler that I should just pick a longer distance, like 10 miles, and run it. I rarely do something in a small manner. So, of course, I jump from 9 to 12.)

Some people might say that this is a recipe for disaster or injury. I say it was a recipe for being awesome. Here is pretty much how it went:

3.2 miles I was at my normal 5 K finishing pace. This leads me to believe that I don't push myself hard enough during 5 K races.

5 miles - Feeling pretty good, have done some walking.

8 miles - Walking some more, getting tired, and my left pinky really hurts. I have no idea why.

After that I didn't pay attention to mileage for a while, I was just feeling out how I was feeling. At some point I got a burst of energy and took off at about a 9:45 pace (about my 1 mile pace). I did that for 1/4 mile and then returned to a walk.

At mile 11 I got kind of emotional because I was so excited that I was actually going to do it. It was so cheesy. This excitement was interrupted at about mile 12 mile when I was across from the Polo Fields. A stupid suburban house frau slowed down her giant red SUV and shook her arms at me and mouthed, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I was on a lesser traveled road, running (barely) on the gravel side. It was not anything odd, unless you are an idiot maybe. I tend to suppress my natural inclination to yell and flip people off when I'm alone since confrontation with drivers is rarely the safe choice. So, I gave her an odd look and kept going.

I made the turn into my parents' subdivision and, even though running was a dream at this point, I hit my watch at the drive - 12.84 miles on my own two feet! (2:49)

Hoping for a better half-marathon time, but we shall see!! At least I know I can make the distance. I clearly need to work on pacing though.

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down

So, I am taking a rest day because I had the worst run ever yesterday. I'm not sure what was wrong with me, but Javier (Twitter friend and new coach ) thinks that it may have been a lack of fueling before the run. This is the most likely the correct answer. I did make up a few of my own which included:

1. I forgot to refuel after my 2 miler the day before
2. I took an Advil the day before
3. I didn't eat a cookie or any refined sugar that day <--- my pick

Anyway, so the extra time I have tonight is being dedicated to lounging on the couch, cleaning up around the house, and trying to get the word out about a Jack Russell that used to live down the block from us, named Lucy, that is up for adoption. Lucy was passed to a couple that live down the block by their son who had to get rid of her for some reason or another. Then they gave her away because she didn't get along with their existing dog. It's my personal crusade as both a JRT lover and a neighbor to find this girl a home. She has a ton of personality and is hilarious. She is sweet to people, but can't be around small kids or other pets. I know it sounds like a tall order, but she would be great for a DINK couple or an older couple with a yard. She is 6, potty-trained, and walks on a leash.

Lucy's adoption information is located here: http://tinyurl.com/LucyJRT Please help!