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It is the Nikon D5000 that I’ve been going on about for the last couple of weeks. The only major thing the D-90 (for $200 more) has that this doesn’t is a motor in the camera body to auto focus older lenses. My lenses (AF) are newer and work with this camera just fine. The lack of a motor in the body decreases size, useless weight and is one less thing to worry about breaking.
It’s nice and compact, closer to the (smaller) size of my old D-40 than my newer D-80. It’s going to make an awesome backcountry camera when I finally get my D300 professional model (or whatever replaces it) next year.
A really cool feature is that it has a flip down swivel LDC screen instead of a fixed screen on the back of the camera.
I need to read up on the features; it does a lot more and is more versatile than my D-80. In addition to a faster processor, a better ISO range and more megapixels (12.3) it even shoots HD video.
Good thing I recently acquired a 1.5 terabyte external hard drive; I’m going to need it.
I’m planning on getting a magazine cover shot. I’ve already had the cover story, but now I want the shot.
My first shot was the sugared rim of a (pomegranate) martini glass
I went out to the rose garden at Pt Defiance to take a few shots in the warm low angle light just before sunset.
Check out the bug flying to the right of the flower in this one.
I’m such a sucker for back lighting
These are so cheery
The rest of the test photos are here:
Now, I need to get that hybrid bike sold (I lowerd the price to $190.00 on Craigs List so that I can get it sold and quit stressing) so that I can afford the gas for my road trip next month (Imagine the lovely photos of the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone I’ll take) and to get the truck in for service first. I’m going to check a few jewelry stores/gold buyers tomorrow to see what I can get for my old wedding ring. (it’s not like I’m going to wear it again)
Sunday, my friends Marian, Jody (and maybe Michealene) and I are going to have a public transit adventure and photo safari to Seattle and West Seattle. (taking the Elliot Bay Water Taxi across the bay)
We’re also going to hit Greenlake to visit my friend Lisa (we’ve wanted to go on a photo safari for a while now) and enjoy happy hour at Dukes (I have a gift certificate)
It was the Five Mile Lake Womens Triathlon which is just outside of Tacoma (only 14.4 miles from the house), so it didn’t take a lot of driving and time to get there, which is nice.
I opted not to dive out there last night at rush hour to pick up my packet, and instead chose to pre-print my USAT waiver and do it early this morning. It took about 2 minutes which was great.
The first thing we did was take over the men’s bathroom. It was silly to wait in long lines at 7:00 AM when there was a perfectly good restroom available.
One guy (good naturedly) decided to go use the port-a-potty because as I explained it, “You don’t really want to piss off a bunch of athletic women who need to pee do you?”
“Boyz… We iz in yer park takin’ over yer bathroomz”
I had plenty of time to set up my transition area and wander around.
I’ve got packing and setting up for these things down to a science.
Or so I thought…
I couldn’t find one of my socks.
I KNOW that I had two socks stuffed in my bike shoes when I checked my bag last night.
I had just resigned myself to the fact that this would be the first triathlon I would try without socks (some swear by it to save time in transition) when I saw it…
My other sock was stuck to and hanging off of the velcro on the neck of my wetsuit.
I wandered down to the lake to watch them set up the swim course.
One of the locals didn’t look too thrilled that we were going to be swimming in HIS lake.
We had a pretty bad wind storm last night and one of the buoys broke loose and was lost (most likely stolen after getting blown around) so the swim course was changed to a triangle.
I went back to transition and geared up for the swim so that I could make the mandatory 7:45 meeting.
It was supposed to be a half mile course. I was told that it was a ¼ mile (oly 400 meters) course after the switch.
I decided that I was tired of starting in the back and getting kicked and/or not being able to pass (I’m not going to get any faster if I can’t move) so I started right near the center 2nd from the front.
Of course, the two women ahead of me were slower than me and were blocking me.
That’s when I decided to grow a pair (ovaries of course) and just swim right through the middle. I used to be afraid of being sandwiched, but by golly I was not backing off. I slid right between them with a minimum of getting hit/kicked and took off.
One person tried to swim over me, but I just cranked it up a notch and all she got was my legs.
I was pretty worn out from last weekend’s bike adventures (65 miles with medical gear and 3,800 feet of elevation gain one day and 31 miles with 2,700 feet of elevation gain the next, followed by a hilly ten mile run on Tuesday and a mile + open water swim on Thursday.
I was not fresh or rested and I was not feeling good.
I got kicked hard enough at the turn around that my goggle flew off. Luckily, I use a kayaker style nose clip (I never want another sinus infection) attached to the goggles by a cord, so they dangled from my nose and I was able to get them back on.
My swim time was 9:28.
If that was 400 meters, it was slower than Issaquah a few weeks ago.
If it was closer to the .59 miles on my Garmin, I rocked the swim (of course a bit of that was running to transition)
I think I need to do a harder warm up swim than I’ve been doing. I don’t feel good or have full control of my breathing until the 2nd half of the swim. I’m not “saving” any energy if I’m sucking wind on the first half of the swim.
I unzipped and stripped the top of my wetsuit off while I was running out of the water and had a pretty good transition time of 2:19, which was a lot faster than the 3:49 I had in Moses Lake two weeks ago.
I ran out of transition with the bike and hit the road.
That’s when my legs started complaining about the ten mile (with nearly 2,000 feet of climbing) run I did on Tuesday. This course was hilly with 926 feet of climbing for two bike loops and a short run loop and my legs were NOT happy.
They were NOT happy at all.
The first loop wasn’t much fun for me (of course, it started out uphill) but I got my 2nd wind on the 2nd loop. I got passed by a few strong riders, but I picked several riders off myself (more than picked me off) so I wasn’t doing too badly, but didn’t want to push too hard.
I did the 14 mile bike in 55:12 which was a 15.21 mph average. It’s not what I would have liked, but I’ll take it.
I had an OK transition from bike to run at 1:07
I felt surprisingly good on the run. I didn’t push too hard, but I did pass at least a dozen women (no one passed me) and I was able to bring the 5K in at 32:01 which was a pace of 10:19. That’s a lot closer to 10 minute miles than 11 minute miles. I felt like I still had a bit left, so it might be time for me to push a bit harder on the run. (I’d feel pretty good about breaking the 10 minute mile barrier after swimming and biking)
I came in at 1:40:25 which was ten seconds slower than Issaquah.
I think the bike was slightly longer and the swim close to the same, so I think I did as well as there or better because my Garmin shows the overall distance here as just a big longer than Issaquah (also including getting in and out of transition areas) I also had better transitions here.
It’s just not easy to compare performance on different courses.
In any event, I felt that I did well and am getting faster.
And of course, I got a shiny thing…
I finally met my friend Lynn’s friend Leslie (the fastest Athena out there)
~
My first Olympic Distance triathlon was quite the event.
What I didn’t know is that it was the first USAT standings race of the year and a whole slew of Ironmen were clamoring for ranking.
Woah doggie this was a fast fast field of competitors.
This race was close enough to the motel (a little over a mile) that it was easier to just ride my bike over than to try to deal with driving and parking. That was really nice.
Annie, Jill, Kathy Gene and I arrived bright and early to get our transition areas set up and sutff ourselves into our wetsuits like sausages.
Here are Katy, Myself, Annie & Jill
and of course, doing the now obligatory butt shot…
Gene broke his goggles at the last minute, so the woman next to me loaned him a pair of pink goggles. This picture does not do their pinkness justice.
I got to meet my (up until today) online friend Lynn. We started reading each other’s blogs some time after one of the Elma triathlons and finally got to meet face to face.
Gene’s awesome parents came out to cheer us all one and take pictures
The swim was rough. I knew that I could swim a mile, but I still had plenty of anxiety over doing it in a group, then hopping on a bike for 22 miles and then running a 10K.
The wind picked up during the 2nd lap of the mens race which was when our wave started. (the sprint swimmers did one 750 meter lap and we did two) The Olympic Distance woman started 15 minutes after the men (we were told to be nice when picking off the slow ones)
There was a lot of chop in the water and some pretty big waves. When I came around the 2nd buoy (there were only two it was kind of an oblong course) I rolled my head to the left to breathe and inhaled a wave.
Luckily, I didn’t panic. I stopped long enough to get my head out of the water, facing away from the waves and cough all the water out. Then I went right back to swimming.
But DARN IT, if I didn’t have the exact same thing happen in the exact same place on the 2nd lap.
I thought I was swimming well, but noticed that I was not in the middle of the pack like I usually am, but rather in the back of the pack.
I swam a mile and got in to the transition area in 32:28 which exceeded my best case scenario of 33 minutes based of my other triathlons this year (40 minutes was my worst case scenario based on the tri I swam last year with the sinus infection)
As it turns out, I swam a faster pace for a full mile than I did for 400 meters; and I swam a faster pace for 400 meters than I do for 250 meters.
Molly’s right, the shorter races seem harder because I’m not warmed up yet.
My transition was quite mediocre. It took 03:49 to get out of the wetsuit and into my bike gear. Of course the fact that I forgot to take my Garmin off the strap of my swim cap and put it on my wrist didn’t help. (it’s only rated water resistant for 30 minutes, so I wear it on my strap to keep it out of the water but hadn’t done it in a race yet) I know I shouldn’t have, but I ran back across the transition area to go get it which cost me some time.
The bike did not go well at all.
First, one of the pads on my aerobars flew off at about mile two of the ride. I had to lean my forearms on bare metal and bolt heads. My forearm is swollen and it feels like the bone is bruised. I expect to be able to see the imprint of the bolts by tomorrow. Since there was no shock absorption on that side, my shoulder and neck really started to hurt.
It was a fairly steady hill going out with some rollers. There didn’t seem to be as much downhill on the way back as I expected.
And it was windy; very very windy.
At one point on the bike ride when I was out there all by myself, I wanted to cry.
It was my worst triathlon ride ever, I was behind everyone (seriously, I was the last rider in the last wave and got the motorcycle escort in) and felt like I didn’t belong out there. I finished 22 hilly windy miles in 1:28:39 averaging only 14.89 mph.
How in the heck was I going to run a 10K after getting my butt kicked in that choppy water and doing so poorly on the bike ride?
After a 1:44 transition, I waddled out onto the trail for the run.
I had eaten well the day before, the morning of and I kept eating Cliff shot blocks and drinking Heed the whole time I was on the ill fated bike ride.
I ran slowly, it was only about finishing. I knew I was not going to do well.
Instead of the heat that was forecast, a gentle rain began to fall.
It was delicious, glorious wonderful coolness from the sky.
There is nothing quite as sweet and magical as desert rain.
When I got to the turn around for the 10K mark, I finally got brave enough to look at my watch.
“OMG! I could actually finish this in under 3 ½ hours. My best case scenario finish time was 3:30 and my not quite worst case (just being slow at everything) was 3:47.
I came in at 3:25:22 which may be slow, but it was faster than I was expecting to pull this off.
And heck, it was my first Olympic Distance Tri, any finish time was a PR.
There were 4 DNFs, three after the swim and one after the bike.
Only after I felt like such a slow loser, did I learn that this was a big race for Ironmen looking for rankings for the year and that it was an insanely fast field.
One woman who I swam with (and got passed on the bike by) was no other than Sister Madonna. This woman, a Catholic nun, is 78 years old (born the same year as my mother who refuses to even go walk more or less exercise or take care of herself) and has completed FORTY Ironmans and set age group records.
You really should click on the link, Sister Madonna-Iron Nun. to read her story; this woman is an amazing inspiration.
I had no idea that the lady I was standing around in the water joking around with at the start line was a legend until Kathy told me.
Since there weren’t a lot of Athenas, I got 2nd place (and a bit of extra hardware)
The Icky Boy was kind enough to carry my bag back as I walked my bike next to him.
As we were crossing the bridge these GIANT fish (carp I think) were leaping out of the lake. I swear, these things were big enough to take off my arm. And to think that I was swimming with them. [shudder]
After the race, we sat on the balcony of the hotel watching a thunderstorm enjoying a beer. Then we met up with Gene & Joanne and Gene’s parents for Pizza. If you’re in Moses Lake and want Pizza, Chicos is the place (but get there early)
~
Yesterday (Monday) is what I thought was the one year anniversary of my first triathlon.
I think I may have over done it before this tri. Yes, I took a rest day the day before (when I was actually down with a horrible sinus headache that threatened to go migraine so I didn’t eat enough) but I did a 71 mile bike ride on Saturday and a five mile run and open water swim on Friday. (I guess that really doesn’t count as a taper)
I went down to Elma to do the Memorial Day Triathlon and compare my performance not only to this time last year, but to unrealistically compare it to my PR time on the same course at the end of last season (never mind we had a nasty winter and even nastier spring that has be behind on biking and running, and that even with a wetsuit and neoprene cap the bigger lakes are still way too bloody cold to get into so I’m not up on my open water swimming yet)
For those who don’t engage in this crazy sport (or don’t do it up here in the frozen Pacific Northwest where water is in the 50 degree range a good portion of the year) open water swimming presents many challenges.
First, even in a full wetsuit the water is insanely cold for all about a few short weeks of the year. The cold water compresses your lungs and makes it very difficult to breathe.
The wetsuit that keeps you from just up and dying from hypothermia further compresses your lungs making it even more difficult to breathe.
Oh,and then there’s the general excitement of a traithlon swim.
To get an idea of what it’s like, you can check out THIS video…
OK, it may “seem” exaggerated, but not that much.
Apparently, I’m getting braver because I didn’t start at the back and outside of the pack, I started right in the middle.
I got kicked in the head, kicked in the teeth and kicked in the chest.
It’s not as horrible as it sounds because water greatly retards motion and inertia, so kick in the chest is just annoying.
I’m going to have to learn to be more aggressive because I didn’t just swim over the kickers, I backed off and let them go (and they were slower than me)
I came across a guy that was doing some sort of demented dog paddle around the boat (it’s an out and back swim along the buoy line course) and I did finally get the ovaries to just smack him with my stroke until he started to move (hey, he also could have gotten the heck out of the way) so I’m not a big weenie the whole time.
I’m certainly not as afraid as I used to be.
I finished the 250 meter swim in 5:26 (should have done it more quickly than that, but I backed off when I got kicked)
I was very disappointed that 250 meters seems so far in open water. I have to do over 1500 meters for the Olympic distance triathlon on June 5th. As in (OMG!!! That’s in less than two weeks, I’m never gonna make it) At that pace, it will take me over 33 minutes to complete the 1500 meter course.
What in the heck was I thinking signing up for an Olympic distance tri at the very beginning of the season?
Ugh!
I slogged out of the water and was halfway out of my wetsuit by the time I got to the transition area. I still managed to screw up my transition and take too long. I had a case of “teh dumb” and take forever to get out of the wetsuit. I was just showing Annie and Jill the fast way to do it on Friday and couldn’t pull it off on the tri. T-1 was 3:31, way too long and I know I can do better. (on a positive note, I know how to cut a minute or two off my time the easy way)
I did the 13 mile bike ride in 45:01 which finally but me above the 16-something mph pace. I was at 17 mph.
The bike course is rough nasty chip seal and most of the course has a nasty cross wind. The head wind on the way back was brutal, exceptionally brutal, even for this course. I guess I really can’t complain about a 17 mph average.
I did rock my 2nd transition. I got my bike racked, got my bike helmet and gloves off, changed out of my bike shoes and into my running shoes in 52 seconds.
The fast 2nd transition was a good thing because my run sucked pond water. I ran the 5K in 35:39 which is well over 11 minute miles. (yeah, well I had swam and biked first)
It’s difficult to tell how fast you’re going after you get off a bike and start to run because you’re disoriented by the change in speed and perspective, as well as the fact that your legs feel like rubber.
I came in at 1:30:29.
It’s not what I wanted.
I wanted to at least come in under 1:30.
I was hoping to beat my PR on this course of 1:28:23 (I improved 8 minutes last season)
Even though there were things that went well, (such as the fact that my right calf did not cramp up on me during the first part of the run and that fast T-2 time) I was bummed.
I kinda felt like I sucked and that I’d never get any faster.
I have to remember that these little events are “training” not the “end result” or I’ll get very frustrated. (I most certainly didn’t taper before this one, I beat the crap out of myself the week leading up to it because I’m training for bigger events in three sports)
I’m training for a double century bike ride, a half marathon (maybe a full marathon later this year) and an Olympic distance triathlon.
Not only did I feel like a slug on the swim, I was 2:03 under my PR from last year.
I went home licking my wounds and feeling like fail, only to discover, this wasn’t the one year anniversary of my first triathlon.
When I looked up my race resluts on line, I discovered that I hadn’t even completed my first open water swim at this time last year.
My first triathlon was August 10th, 2008. Gene and I did our first open water swim was the week before that. My PR wasn’t until my 3rd triathlon on September 1st.
So if I compare this performance to a year ago, it’s off the charts. (oh, because I wasn’t even doing this at this time last year)
And I did come in 3 minutes faster than last time.
I’m feeling a bit cranky, out of sorts and over trained this morning, so I’m staying home and resting.
Thursday, Gene and I are doing an open water swim after work.
Friday I’ll have to rest again or do a very easy run because Saturday is another triathlon (just another little sprint) up in Issaquah.
I did get a shiny thing… (and NO, I don’t look anywhere near this buff, it’s just an optical illusion created by the fact that I’m taking my own picture and my arms are closer than my torso)
Here’s a more realistic photos showing that I am in fact, a middle aged woman who jiggles in places she’d rather not….
~
It’s a beautiful sunny day here in the Pacific Northwest (amazingly enough on a weekend, on my four-day weekend even…)
The party last night was so much fun. It was for a guy from the Mountaineers (not the “social” mountaineers, mountaineers who really go out and do mountaineer stuff) who was turning 50.
There was mention on the invite about a trail he made in his back yard and a treasure hunt.
OK, I thought, no fancy clothes, but I’m not showing up in hiking boots and looking like a dork.
“How steep could it be?” I asked myself.
OMG, I wish I had taken a camera.
He lives on acreage, on top of a hill above the Auburn Valley and the trail was pretty darn steep.
I wore some Merrell slip on shoes that did not have appropriate tread, were a bit loose and had not ankle support.
It was probably not the smartest thing I could have done the day before trialthon even if had worn my hiking boots, but in those shoes… teh dumb… I took one near fall when I slipped, (typicaly wet, slimy PNW trail under tree cover) grabbed a big tree branch to avoid going over the side and it broke off in my hands.
When I heard it crack, and felt myself starting to go over, I lurched for the trunk of a small tree, grabbed at and swung around on it on one arm like a demented monkey. Hey, it worked, and it provided entertainment for others on the hike.
Further down the trail I twisted my ankle just a bit, but I think it will be fine for Today’s triathlon.
Speaking of Ankles… The Icky Boy’s is not getting better, it’s getting worse. I (and a lot of his friends) have convinced him that he likely has a torn ligament (or worse) and that he needs to go to the doctor today.
We’re guessing they’ll put him in a boot to immobilize it, and he’s not going to like that one bit.
We understand that he had no choice but to hike out of the Grand Canyon (wearing a heavy pack) on it, but he continued to not stay off of it/take care of it when he got back, so he needs to suck it up and do what the doctor tells him.
Oh, the best part about the trail?
It was a treasure hunt. We all got bags and the point of the little hike was to see the trail, and find the buckets of goodies…
Yes, a bunch of professional adults and family members ranging from their teens to 60′s had a blast finding goodies for their bags.
Here’s what I came back with.
I went back for more shiny things when it got later in the evening (like around 9:00 PM) and there wasn’t going to be a shortage. I had serious shiny thing envy when one of the older guys was more decked out in “bling” than I was.
I’ve added them to my collection…
I’m hoping that the good weather yesterday and today has warmed the water up a bit for today’s triathlon (which thankfully isn’t until 2:00 PM, giving me plenty of time to get ready, eat, and hydrate)
That swim was so incredibly painful and miserable last month (but at least it’s toughening me up right?)
I don’t remember if I posted this before but a friend posted this funny “training” video (actually a Cliff commercial)
On the good news front, I can tell that I’m on the mend. I’m hungry. I’m not just hungry, I’m STARVING. I ate like a pig at lunch yesterday, at dinner last night, and I woke up this morning starving. I even splurged and got take out from the Mexican place down the street for lunch, Camarones La Diabla (shrimp, mushrooms and onions in a spicy red sauce with corn tortillas, rice and beans)
The icky boy is working today which gives me the day to run errands (out in the sunshine) and hopefully pick up my filthy apartment.
I made a grocery run where snow crab clusters were on sale for $4.99 a pound; guess what’s for dinner tonight?
I also needed to return the case I got for my new phone because it didn’t fit.. I got one equally as cheap (also a nice leather one) at Freddie’s. They didn’t have one specifically for my phone (LJ Voyager) but the Blackberry model which is a tiny bit bigger, fits just right. I don’t carry a purse (dislike them intently) so I usually stuff my ID, debit card, gym membership, transit pass, etc…. in my phone case.
You can see the case in this photo (taken with the phone) next to the BadKitty. (she’s blurry because she wouldn’t sit still)
I love Love LOVE my new phone. (and I love Verizon Wireless’s “new in two” free phone every two years)
BadKitty was giving my new phone some love….
In addition to the cool touch screen, the phone has a full QWERTY keypad which makes texting, twittering and surfing the web so much easier.
Now, I’m going to clean this place up, take another walk in the sunshine, (OMG, the sunshine) practice my fiddle and rest some more.
Erik on 
Kevin Van Dyke on 
Randy Weiser on 