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I didn’t have the time, energy or inclination to rant yesterday or squee today.
In addition to being super busy at work, and my usual frenzy in the yard/garden, I’m finally getting off my butt, now that the foot/big toe is finally healed and working out again.
Three months off of training has completely kicked my butt, I’m out of shape and weak (and none to happy with myself about it)
I already blogged about my not so smart five mile “run” on the steep evil trails of Chambers creek which left me limping for a few days.
I did take a rest day on Monday. (yard work counts as rest right?)
Tuesday, I joined the Harmon Bike Club for a ride, which was not the smartest thing I could have done since they were trained up for the Courage Classic and I’m in worse shape than I was in February (actually, in February I was kicking ass and taking names)
It was hilly (over 1,000 feet elevation gain) because ALL of Tacoma is hilly. (oh, since I live on the HILLtop, it’s a long uphill slog to get back home)
I was feeling pretty demoralized after I was done (the last person in) but at least I did it.
Yesterday, Gene and I went out the Steel Lake for an open water swim. If I’m going to be a “calming” and “motivating” influence on women (most of them doing their first triathlon ever, many of them cancer survivors, some in active treatment) I’m helping through the swim course at Danskin, I’d better be competent and confident, so I needed to get back out there.
I managed to get through a mile swim. I did have to stop and rest a few times, but that’s no biggie. It’s probably the least demoralizing thing I’ve done since I started working out again.
Today was the Tacoma (Beer) Runners run.
We started out at Woody’s on the Waterfront, ran up and over the 11th St Bridge, around the tideflats and Foss Waterway, back up Pacific Ave and across the bridge of glass.
I was not fast and I was not last (but close)
I did not even stay for the beer (wait? Wasn’t that the point?). It was too crowded and too hot to wait inside in line for one, so I socialized a bit, drank some water and headed home and enjoyed a margarita on my newly screened back porch.
Now, I’m exhausted and need to go to bed.
I have another long work day tomorrow, and then I’m taking Alisa, Robin and Karen (all will do their first triathlon at Danskin) out for an open water swim clinic. I may swim a bit after they’re done to get a workout in. But tomorrow is about them and paying forward all the help Gene and Steve gave me when I was first starting out.
It was a BEAUTIFL morning in Seattle. No rain, no snow (like last year) still cold, but sunny.
I headed over to Gene’s house bright and early to carpool up with he and Michael. (earlier than usual since we just turned our clocks forward for daylight savings time)
We were joking that Michael looked like an “Irish Pimp” in that hat. I just looked crazy in my blinky pin, glasses, mylar streamered deely boppers, bling and snoopy shamrock shorts (more on the shorts later)
We got up there in plenty of time to get parking, check gear and meet up with friends. I very briefly saw Tori in traffic (I recognized her runtoryrun.com logo on their car)
We found Kathy, Jon and Maggie in short order.
Oh, those shorts? The best part is the back. Normally, I make fun of girls who draw attention to their (often really large) butts with lettering on the back.
I could NOT resist the shorts that said “Feelin’ Lucky” BWAAHAAAHAAA
Of course, since it’s all about the butt shot, Kathy decided to be a flasher.
We split up after that, Gene and Michael got closer to the front of the green (first and fastest timed) wave and I got to the back of that wave, wanting to take it easy after running the Tacoma St Patty’s Day run the day before. Kathy got towards the front of the (next) red wave. Jon and Maggie cheered us on.
The starting line was the usual chaos, but we got off and running on time.
Sadly, the route no longer goes through the Battery Street tunnel and up on our ill fated viaduct. It runs up hwy 99/Aurora Ave. (it was nice to not need shuttle buses and to end at the Seattle Center which is a much better place for a party than the parking lot at the stadium.)
There were all sorts of crazy costumes (which is one of the main points of the race)
Here was a pot of gold
and then there were the “underwear boys”
a big favorite was the “green men” (yes, they ran the entire 4 miles like this)
Once again, I didn’t look at time (I only wore the Garmin to track the new course) and just tried not to inure myself. It wasn’t very smart to not run for a month and a half and then do two back to back events.
After I finished, I wandered back to the fountain to meet Gene, Kathy, Michael, Jon and Maggie.
We were treated to a concert and mini parade.
I also made some new friends
After a bit of celebrating, we headed up to the Blue Star Cafe in Wallingford for breakfast. Bill came up to meet us. Kathy was flashing guys in the bar.
We walked around the corner to Archie McPhees to check out the rather extensive devil ducky collection.
We dug through the “tub of duckies”, someone would pull one out, I’d say “I already have that one”, Gene would say, “I KNOW” and we’d all laugh. I did add a pink devil ducky, zebra devil ducky, yin/yang devil ducky and a dead ducky to my collection.
After that, I hopped in Bill’s car and we headed up to Magnolia for the bike expo.
I saw lots of friends from Cascade, including Claire who I don’t get to see very often.
and spent some time at the Tacoma Wheelmen booth visiting with Calra, Peggy and Christie
After that, we headed down to the University district for beer at the RAM
When I got home, I discovered just how bad running on that “hot spot” on my arch was.
I had a nasty NASTY blood blister on my right arch.
This is what it looks like this morning; it’s actually already looking better. I plan on leaving it intact as long as possible so that it remains sterile and heals.
I headed over to South Sound Running to show them my blisters and get some ideas one where to go from there.
As it turns out, the arch support in the Asics 2150s is more aggressive than the support in the Brooks Adrenaline GTS that I’ve been running in for the last nine years. The fact that wearing thicker socks and using bodyglide for the 2nd event didn’t help indicates that this structural difference is significant enough that it’s probably not the shoe for me. (and they black ones were so pretty)
I’m back in the Adrenalines. I’d rather have to buy shoes more often than have them tear up my feet.
THIS is why I always recommend that those starting a running or walking program go to a REAL running store (Footlocker, Big-5,etc… are NOT real running stores) owned and staffed by runners to have their gait analyzed and the proper shoes presented for try ons and test runs.
Today is a rest day (for the most part, I have things to do)
~
Today was the 2nd annual Tacoma St Patty’s (yes, that’s the way we spell it in Grit City) Day Run.
Since I haven’t been running much, this is a good excuse to get out there and get back to weight bearing exercise (which swimming and cycling aren’t and my bones need it)
Unlike last year, it was gorgeous this morning; sunny and not too cold.
It was a fine day for the running of the green.
Lots of folks were out to enjoy the day, including Steffi (aka “the other Steph” aka DeRosa)
I met up with Debi before the start.
This photo is evidence that triathlon has forever changed my life. I’ll never have my “runners legs” back; I now have cycling thighs. Strong and big. (that’s OK, remember the Bond Girl that crushed men to death with her thighs? those strong thighs seemed to have worked out well for her
We had our typical up and over the bridge start
I didn’t want to “race” this one. I didn’t even wear my garmin or a watch lest I be tempted to push and injure myself before tomorrow’s race (yeah, brilliant move, don’t run for a month and a half and schedule back to back races)
I stopped and took a few pictures, including this one of the leaders following the pilot car coming back after the turn around.
and this guy (a true Irishman) running with his flask.
I felt pretty good in the new shoes; I had one minor hot spot under my right arch which I’ll put body glide on tomorrow and wear some different socks.
It was also my first run with the new Moving Comfort sports bra. “The girls” are very happy.
I ran into Vornita at the finish
We waited for Cherie and her friends, but never found them, so we just headed over to the beer garden.
All they had was Bud Light (oh no, Oh HELL no) so we headed into the Dock and bellied up to the bar for real beer. (I had a Black Butte Porter and Debi had a Mac & Jack)
I got CARDED. This guy is the first person to card me since I turned 47. I almost kissed him. He settled for a high five.
There are some pictures of some of the other interesting characters I saw today here:
After my Tacoma adventure, I hopped the ST express bus to head up to Seattle to pick up my race stuff for tomorrow’s St Paddy’s Day Dash in Seattle (which is basically a big street party)
I also stopped and picked up some shiny and blinky bling for tomorrow (which I already posted a picture of)
Now I need to get to bed.
Tomorrow will be a long day including the race, breakfast with friends, bike expo, lunch with more friends,etc….
~
Today was triathlon number 13 (number 10 for this year)
Yes, it’s an illness, (or as my friend Linea says, “You can never leave the firm.”)
I was a bit unsure about this one, as I’ve been off training for two weeks due to the ankle I beat and bloodied up two weeks ago at the Bonney Lake tri. Other than some very light hiking (couldn’t do anything heavy, I couldn’t even lace up the hiking boot due to the ankle pain) last weekend at Grand Teton National Park, I have been a complete and total SLUG!
THIS is what my ankle looked like after my crash in the transition area (I STILL can’t believe I ran 10K on this…)
*note it wasn’t sprained, all that swelling was caused by blunt force trauma direct to my skinny little ankle bone.
I knew this would be all about just surviving (I LOVE inaugural races, so I was not giving this up) so I’m afraid I didn’t take it as seriously as I should have. I didn’t eat as well or get as much sleep as I should have last night (total lack of discipline/motivation on both parts)
I got there in plenty of time to get my transition area set up, hang out with my friend Julie and wander down to the water. I’ve never competed on this course before, but I’ve volunteered on the water twice, once as kayak water safety and once as a swim angel for Danskin.
Since this was a new race, it wasn’t overly crowded. Julie and I were in wave 4 and had plenty of room.
I have GOT to quit starting in the back at these races (with the exception of the Moses Lake Oly which is almost all Ironmen competing for rankings). I just get kicked in the head by the people I’m passing I’ve got to suck it up and start in the middle. I ranked 423 out of 815 finishers on the swim today which is obviously middle of the pack. My swim time was 20:56 (would have been faster if I hadn’t started in the very back and far outside)
I’m finally getting a bit desensitized to my “milfoil disorder” (that nasty, invasive aquatic weed creeps me out) after a few tris in Lake Washington.
My transition from swim to bike was nothing spectacular, 3:58 (it was a bit of a run from the water to the transition area and I was at the far end)
I didn’t feel all that great on the bike, but as it turns out, it was my best event, I ranked 418 out of 815.
This course is deceptive because it looks much flatter than it is. Getting on and off the I-90 express lanes on the floating bridge is hilly, almost always windy, and there are some hills on Lake Washington Blvd. There is one very squirrelly section of switchbacks heading up to the bridge. Luckily, no one lost their momentum and fell in front of me. (it happens)
I usually unclip from my right pedal because the switchbacks are narrow and a lot of people don’t make it up without at the very least getting off their bike to push it.
This is where my ankle hurt like heck. When I twisted my heel out to get my cleat out of the pedal. I think it puts pressure on the bone.
OUCH!
I was VERY careful in transition after my crash at Bonney Lake, got the bike safely racked and hit the road running… (OK, wogging) in 2:10.
My time for the 5K was a rather unimpressive 35:39 which isn’t all that bad considering that I was not trained, rested or otherwise prepared for this race and my ankle was not all that happy after clipping and unclipping.
I finished in a rather mediocre time of 1:48:04, which put me 16th out of 51 in my division and 435 out of 815 overall. It also put me almost a minute below the average time of 1:49:02.
I really can’t complain.
The GOOD news is, my ankle looks like THIS (this was before I iced it which is pretty impressive) instead of like the picture above.
Julie and I both got shiny things. I just LOVE shiny things
Speaking of which, here’s an updated photo of my “shiny thing wall” (kitchen)
I’ll have a couple more by the end of the year; they Black Diamond Triathlon next weekend and the Seattle Half Marathon in November (maybe a few Elma races in between)
I was toying with the idea of downgrading from the Olympic Distance to the Sprint next weekend, but I tend to earn a lot more points for my triathlon club when I do an Oly Distance, and I need to make that my standard distance (when available) because I’m shooting for a Half Ironman next year.
What really hurts is the bike, twisting to clip and unclip and I won’t be doing that any more on a longer course.
I am glad that I canceled both my marathons scheduled for next month; I’m not trained up (life happened) and I don’t want an injury from upping my mileage too quickly to plague me for the rest of the year.
Now it’s time to rest, eat, drink and ice my ankle.
It’s days like this when I wish I had a cabana boy to bring me ice for my ankle and mimosas.
~
In an effort to distract myself from recent events by beating the crap out of myself until I collapse from sheer exhaustion engaging in healthy outdoor exercise I signed up for the Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon when I realized I wouldn’t be able to train/fund raise properly for the Courage Classic when things started to go bad (for the final time) with my mother.
I almost didn’t do it.
Taper? What’s a taper? (for those not into marathoning it’s tapering off activity for a week or so before the event to give the body time to heal and rebuild from training-I am not good at tapering)
I backpacked on Sunday, ran around on the beach (beach sand is a hard workout) all day on Monday and backpacked out on Tuesday. I rested on Wednesday and did a 5-mile run (on hills) on Thursday, resting on Friday.
The 5-mile run after only one day after a 3-day backpacking trip was “teh stupid”. My legs hurt yesterday and were still tired this morning.
The stress of the last week, as well as the (multiple) record breaking 105 degree heat wave had taken their toll on me.
I almost went back to bed when my alarm went off.
I almost decided not to go several times during my getting ready time this morning.
I almost didn’t get on the shuttle in Tacoma because if I had just dawdled a little bit, I’d miss the last one and have an excuse not to do it.
Gee Lisa, unmotivated much?
I paid a crap load of money for this race at the last minute, and I actually paid for it and didn’t run it last year because I got sick.
So I sucked it up. The course was open for a long time so I could walk it if I wanted to. Heck, I had my transit pass with me, I could have hopped a bus.
As we left Tacoma and approached the Narrows (a, you guessed it, narrow crossing of the Puget Sound) we entered a fog bank.
Blessed, semi-cool, moist marine air. This was a good thing! (did I mention that it was a record breaking, miserable 105 degrees here on Wednesday?)
The start line was a the Tacoma Narrows Airport in Gig Harbor. The packet pickup was in an aircraft hangar complete with (you guessed it) aircraft. Personally, I’d be a bit freaked out about it if I was one of the plane owners.
I’ve never had a helicopter at a race start before (well, other than news choppers for big events, but they were in the air)
The only complaint I have about this race (aside from the fact that we had to haul our butts up to Bonney Lake which is nowhere near Tacoma to do packet pickup if we didn’t want to wait in a long line this morning) was the lack of port-a-potties. There were only 16 at the start for 1,000 runners who have been extra vigilant about hydration this week due to record breaking temperatures and most of whom drink coffee. (this is after all, the Pacific Northwest)
Most of us gave up and peed in the bushes/trees near the road or behind the hangars.
The race started nearly 10 minutes late (which is not good when you’re trying to beat hot weather)
We ran away from the bridge for about ¾ of a mile and then did a U turn to head out across the Narrows Bridge towards the City of Destiny (aka Tacoma).
We had a foggy run across the Narrows bridge (we were thankful, it would have been brutal in the sun at this point)
We ran up the (another) hill up the Blue Star Memorial Parkway where the “Blues Brothers” water stop is.
I only got a shot of the last sign (blues brothers in the background)
All of the other signs were there…
It’s 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark, and we’re wearing sunglasses.
HIT IT!
Oh, and there was ONE port-a-potty at this stop; and the line was terrible. I ended up peeing alongside Highway 16 in full view of someone’s house later on when I just couldn’t stand it any longer.
There was a lot of semi-public urination today. The port-a-potty situation sucked! I (and others) am pissed off literally and figuratively.
I ate well yesterday and ate and drank well this morning, but due to “life circumstances” didn’t have any Cliff Shot Blocks or gels with me, and I started to feel a little bit “bonky” just before Cheney Stadium (that’s Cheney with an “eeee” sound like “green” not like the dick)
There was a gel stop at the entrance to the Stadium, and George who doesn’t use gels was kind enough to get one anyway and give it to me. I sucked two of them down, along with water before a loop around the baseball diamond. (Sadly, Rhubarb the Tacoma Rainer’s mascot was not there this year, so no photo op)
It started getting hot about the time we exited the stadium back on to the Scott Pierson Trail which runs along Highway 16.
At the end of the Scott Pierson Trail we started heading down hill; this is where my knees started bothering me and I slowed down. I just don’t “do” downhill after fracturing both knees (don’t get me started on the spine and pelvis)
The last three miles were on concrete sidewalk (the rest of the course had been blissfully concrete free) and that combined with the curbs slowed me down a bit and I moved out to the edge of the road.
I cruised into the finish in 2:54:06 which although slow, is my fastest half marathon time this year (this was my 3rd)
Since this was a training run and done with my body under extreme stress from both emotional and environmental/heat factors (I purposely took it easy) I’ll take it.
We get finisher pint glasses at this race instead of medals.
They are still shiny and are useful.
I hung out at the finish line festival for a while. I almost won the award for the longest hair on a finisher and probably would have if I hadn’t had it cut last week.
My average heart rate was 136 (zone 3) with my highest heart rate hitting 158 in zone 4 for less than 12 minutes. It was a good workout, and I actually ran it faster than I did the 5 miles on Thursday.
~
* It’s taken me a while to get to this race report because I had to make a heartbreaking decision on Monday and am having a hard time with it. I am having to force myself to write this. (those who read my blog know why I’m so sad)
** I had a great race and thought the event was well organized, I did however have a very bad experience trying to volunteer which is also chronicled here. (warning, I say some things that aren’t nice because 5 days later my blood still boils thinking about it)
I drove up to my friend Julie’s house up on Queen Anne Hill and rode the bus down to Qwest Field to go to the expo and pick up my packet (traffic and parking down there suck pond water). Julie had driven in to work across the lake in Bellevue and caught a bus downtown to meet me.
This is where I met “The Medical Director” of the event.
In his case, the “MD” on his badge should have stood for “Major Dick” or “Master Douchebag” (sorry if that’s crass, just be grateful that there wasn’t an “F” in his title).
The leader of the bike medics had posted a plea to the Cascade Bicycle Club’s message board needing volunteers to ride medical support on their bikes. I figured that I could run the half, then hop on my bike (just needed a spot of chainlink fence near the medical tent to lock it to in the morning) ride the course in reverse out to the turn around on I-90 and then ride the full marathon course. It would be a brick workout and would keep me from getting stiff after the run.
The nice lady who I emailed said she’d check on how to work that.
It seemed simple to me, I’m local, I can get anywhere on the course I need to be on my bike.
The bike support folks at the Seattle Marathon ride back and forth on a specific section with their ham radios.
Seems simple right?
Wrong!
I walked up to the Medical booth at the Expo to check in and was greeting by a nice young doctor who was the start line doctor. He gave me my information with a smile and appreciation for volunteering.
I joked that I was psycho for running a half marathon and then getting on my bike, but I was a sucker for an event that needed medical bike help.
That’s when the “MD” went off on me.
He was a short, paunchy, balding rude little man from New York (no offense to my lovely friends from New York, but this guy was a stereotype in the worst way)
So there I sat, thinking I was doing a good thing getting my ass chewed by “Archie Bunker” about how it was a stupid idea and wouldn’t work and I couldn’t do it unless I could start with the runner waves because there was no way to get on course.
What a load of crap. Perhaps this nasty man should have sought out the advice of races who use bike support and locals before making that ignorant proclamation. Bike riders trying to stay upright going slow enough to stay with a wave is ineffective and pretty ridiculous.
Nice way to treat a highly qualified volunteer with local knowledge asshat!
That type of behavior may fly where he’s from but not among people that actually have manners.
I restrained myself , did my best to smile, and simply said “All-righty then” and started to walk off.
The very nice Start Line Medical Director appeared somewhat mortified by this jackasses behavior and said, “Do you have medical qualifications?” to which I replied, “13 years as a paramedic, ACLS, BTLS, flight training and incident command.”
He said, “Wow, that’s great; would you be interested in working in the medical tent at the finish line, you’d be wasted on the bike away.” (the bike folks were there mostly to call to activate the EMS system)
He was so nice and so sincere that I said “Yes” despite my desire to tell the rude, arrogant, egotistical MD sitting next to him to piss off.
* more on that bad idea later
Packet pickup went smoothly, we checked out the expo and then headed to dinner at Buca Di Beppos.
We met Daria & her husband, Syliva & her partner Franci (a 78 year old Ironman) Robert, Alice, Laura and Kay for a fun filled dinner (and a trip to visit the men’s room to see the art work)
We all went home early in hopes of getting a good night’s sleep before boarding a shuttle at an ungawdly hour to get to the start line. Julie and I wanted to get there extra early because there were problems with the shuttles at the inaugural Rock and Roll Arizona race in 2004.
yeah, that sleep thing… It didn’t happen. We stayed up a bit late chatting and giggling, then Mr Katz (her feline companion) woke us up in the wee hours of the morning, not once, but twice hacking up what must have been the biggest hairball ever. (oh the joy of long haired kitties)
There were no problems with the shuttles at this race, the process ran like a well oiled machine.
We were at the start line way too early and were very cold (I hate messing with bag check and go minimalist) so we got some discarded shrink wrap from a pallet of water and wrapped up in it to stay warm.
The starting line was very well organized. The corrals started a couple of minutes apart so when yours went there was room to run. It still took almost 40 minutes to get to the start (I was in corral 22 where I never found Kay or Daria) but once it was our turn to go we were actually able to run.
I didn’t find Laura in the corral either but she caught me on the course and greeted me with a friendly tug on my pony tail.
The first part of the course ran along the Green River. I think they missed a great promotional opportunity to let participants know that this is the very river where the infamous serial killer Gary Ridgeway (aka the Green River Killer) dumped his bodies.
One of the great things about the Rock and Roll series races is the energy and the music, bands, cheerleaders and more bands.
The energy was amazing throughout the entire race.
We ran down the Boeing access road and then made our way over to Seward Park and Lake Washington. I had a bit of deja vu as I ran the same course as I rode at the LiveStrong Challenge the weekend before.
I ran into Tory along the Boulevard…
We had a Bald Eagle (who ruined a lot of people’s time because they had to stop and look/take pictures) watching us from his or her fishing perch along side the lake. (at least this one didn’t drop a salmon in the road, getting hit by/tripping over eagle dropped salmon is a hazard here)
At about mile 9 the concrete started getting to me. Most of the roads up there are concrete and it starts to beat the body. Especially someone like me with a lot of scar tissue from the fractured spine and pelvis and who hasn’t been getting the running time in.
We had a short but steep pull up to I-90 where the full marathoners did a short out and back across the bridge and the half marathoners continued on through the tunnel.
It’s interesting that I’ve spent more time on the I-90 express lanes in that tunnel running or riding my bike than driving.
OMG, that tunnel is long, hot and has no air.
The worst part of the tunnel is that someone thought it was a good idea to put an amplified band IN the tunnel
The roar was so deafening that I first thought the Blue Angels were practicing for SeaFair, but it was a band, amplified in a closed area. It actually hurt my ears.
Please do NOT put a band in there next year.
We finally escaped the tunnel and headed into Seattle.
By this time, the lack of sleep, lack of long run training and concrete was taking it’s toll and I was hurting.
We had to run past the stadiums up into town and then make another climb, this one up to the lower level of the viaduct. We were grateful for the short bit of shade.
I crossed the finish line with an unimpressive time of 2:58:10.
I grabbed some water and a bit of food, stretched out and reported for my volunteer shift at the finish line tent where I was told my medical skills would be put to good use.
They didn’t have my information, tossed me a blank medical credential and a double XL shirt and then pretty much ignored me.
I tried to ask what the procedures were and what I should do, but no one could tell me.
One nice doctor finally suggest I go out towards the finish line to “sweep” (ie bring sick/injured runners in) that’s where they put the people without medical training.
So there I was after running a half marathon, stiff, hurting, having been treated like crap by the medical director the day before and now ignored by the people I was volunteering for.
It was grossly overstaffed and the finish line announcer even joked that the huge cadre of medical people looked really really bored.
It was hot, my legs were sore and I was not amused.
I lasted about an hour and half at it until I realized it was stupid and harmful for me to be standing there like that after my race and just gave up and left.
After having such good experiences and being appreciated at other events for my willingness to help and my highly specialized skill set and experience, I was pretty unhappy.
I will not volunteer for these people ever again.
But it was a great, well organized race, I had a blast, spent (not enough) time with friends.
~
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)
~
The great adventure starts the day before when I had to pick up my race packet in Issaquah between 2:00 and 7:00 PM on a Friday.
For those who don’t live here, trying to drive from the East Side down to the South Sound where I live at rush hour is pretty much the worst thing ever. It can take 2 ½ hours, especially on a Friday.
I was going to try to dash in and out (which as it turns out, would have been a grave mistake as everyone was hitting the roads because the weather was nice and traffic was a nightmare before 3:00 PM.) and take a back highway home.
But my wise friend Julie thought it would be a better idea to meet for Happy Hour in Issaquah. It would have been rude for me to force her to twist my arm to have a beer, so I obliged. Our friends Claire and David joined us as well. (pictures posted yesterday)
I got off work at 1:30 and made it to the packet pickup by 2:00 PM (I work about half way between where I live and Issaquah) and so did everyone else. It was a long line for ID/USAT license checking, packet pickup and body marking, bit it ran smoothly.
I then headed off to Target to get a few things on my shopping list and some cash.
Then I headed over to REI for some electrolyte solution/cubes and to visit. I noticed that there was a GNC in the same shopping center, so I grabbed a few of the 42 gram New Whey protein shots (they REALLY help recovery after a hard workout or race and at only 3 oz, they go right down even if you’re not hungry/thirsty.)
One of the managers at the store had told me earlier in the day that he was going to be grilling burgers (I had asked for recommendations for happy hour, bonus points for a good burger) for bike commuters and that if I stopped by, he’d cook me up a burger. I did, and it was good. I visited with him, Kelly and some bike commuters, and then headed over to the Brewhouse (Rogue Brewing Company) to meet Julie, Claire and David.
It was a gloriously beautiful day and we scored seats outside.
I hit the road around 6:30 PM and took Highway 18 home. It was a breeze, probably the easiest drive I’ve ever done from there.
I was home in plenty of time to fine tune my packing for the triathlon and get to bed early.
This is where things went bad.
As I was thinking about giving my poor congested allergy ridden sinuses a flush with the neti-pot, I could feel my nose running. That was odd because I was congested. The first thought that ran through my mind was, “Oh, crap, I’ve got a sinus infection from the few moments I was in that damn lake without my nose clips on.”
That’s when I saw that I had blood on my hand.
UGH! That’s (a nosebleed) what you need when you’re trying to finish race preparations and get to bed early.
The next “incident” involved my Garmin.
I KNEW I put it in my race bag. I SWEAR I put it in the bag, THAT night, I took it off the coffee table, took the cradle off of it, and PUT IT IN THE RACE BAG.
Guess what wasn’t in the race bag?
You guessed it. I dumped the contents of the bag (and every other bag/pack in the house) out no lesss than four times. I scoured every room.
I glared menacingly at the BadKitty and pleaded with the house faeries to return it.
At 10:00 PM (I had to get up at 4:20 and should have been in bed by 9:00 at the latest) I gave up.
I tore the apartment apart the next morning, and it was apparent that the Kitty and/or the house faeries weren’t giving it up.
That’s when I noticed that my bike computer was dead. (my bad night was turning in to a less than stellar morning)
Planning on taking solace in a mocha, I loaded up the espresso machine, poured the milk in my cup and YUCK!!! It plopped out like cottage cheese.
No Mocha, no place open that early to get one.
I was not amused.
I got out the door on time and arrived at the park to set up my transition area.
I thought this would be a small local event; Wrong! It was BIG!!!
It was VERY well run.
Notice that the splash guard is not on my areobottle? I was so tired from lack of sleep and no mocha that I stuffed it in my bag instead of putting back on after I filled the bottle… DOH! I wore a lot of that electrolyte drink.
When I pulled my wetsuit out of the bag, what did I find way down at the end of my sleeve?
My Garmin. At least that went right.
I wandered down to check out the lake before the mandatory pre-race briefing.
You can see the buoy for the final turn through the arch (this is where we exited the water)
My wave (the old lady wave) was 2nd to the last wave so I had lots of time on the beach to chat and do some warm up swimming. We were joking that we were having a “geezer party” down there. I had to get back in twice to get more water in my suit because I was drying out (and to answer the call of nature-if you think you’ll never pee in your wetsuit, you’re wrong-if you keep doing tris, you will)
The women in my wave here hilarious and lots of fun. We had a great time getting lined up for our wave and were joking about designating “kick free zones”.
We were a fairly small wave and we really didn’t swim over each other much. I had a challenging time passing one woman who was dolphin kicking. It got a bit crowded around the first turn (there were two) but after that, we all had plenty of space. One woman occasionally touched my leg to let me know she was there, but it didn’t bug me like the woman that kept grabbing at me last year in the Subaru triathlon.
I swam a solid crawl stroke the entire way and felt good when I got out of the water. I’m still a bit freaked out about my Oly distance tri next weekend, but I’ve already done one full mile + swim and will do two more next week.
I swam the 400 meters (& got out of the water) in 8:45 (I did 250 down in Elma on Monday in 5:26) which still puts me at being able to swim a mile in 33+ minutes.
My transition wasn’t so great; it was 3:59, of course it was a good long run from the beach to the transition area and since I was near the back of the TA, it was a good long run out with my bike, so I did transition faster than in Elma.
The bike was much more difficult than Elma because this course does have hills and I had get down in my lowest gears to get up one of them. There was also a no passing zone in the park, and of course, on the way back in when I wanted to make up time, I spent way too long behind a very slow person (I was going batshit crazy, but didn’t want to get disqualified). The other thing that really slows down the bike segment is a couple of nasty speed bumps. I heard something crack on one of them, I’m just not certain if it was my bike or my spine.
I came in at 51:05, which is a very disappointing 15.26 mph average. Of course, the big hill, the no passing zone and the speed bumps made this more challenging than other races.
My transition from bike to run was 1:54, but a lot of it was a fairly long distance into and out of the transition area so I’m not going to be too disappointed in it. I had hydrated very well and had to pee (yes again) I tried using a technique that a certain Athena triathlete many of you know told me about, but I just couldn’t pee on the grass while changing my shoes while casually chatting with the guy next to me.
I did not feel good on the run. I beat myself up pretty badly last week (this was my 2nd triathlon in 6 days with a 5K race in between) Whatever was spewing pollen just about took me out. I was actually wheezing. It was getting hot and it was a trail run which also slows things down. Oh, and I had to pee, bad.
I swear, it was the longest 5K ever, it’s like it was never going to end. We could hear the finish line but not see it. I had a bunch of people fly past me and was feeling like fail, until I realized it was the 5K and 10K race and they hadn’t just swam and biked.
The first part of the trail was freshly mowed grass (with 3-4 tall grass on the sides) and then it varied from gravel, dirt, rocks, potholes, etc… it was not a fast course, and my IT bands didn’t much care for the lateral movement. I came in at 34:32 which is an 11:06 pace. Given that I was wheezing and it was a rough trail, I guess I’ll have to take it.
I crossed the finish line at 1:40:15 which I don’t think is too bad. Hey, it’s a PR for this course and I won’t have to worry about breaking it until next year.
Of course, I got a shiny thing. (you know how much I love shiny things)
I really enjoyed this race. The narrow no passing lanes are a pain, but with the narrow winding park roads, there really isn’t a save choice. It would have been nice if someone had checked the bike route there was some sand, gravel and even some broken glass in the bike lane (I saw one guy changing a flat tire)
Uh, yes…. you read that right… at WORK (of course we had to do it on our lunch hour.)
I have my good friend and bike/triathlon buddy Kathy to thank for reminding me of this event so that I’d bring my running shoes to work. (after five days off, I didn’t remember much of anything)
Oh, and Kathy ROCKS; she was the 3rd woman in!
Vendors came and we had an expo.
I was expecting much less SWAG than previous years because of the economy, but OMG, I was wrong.
It was the best SWAG haul yet!
I got a great gear bag, shirt, socks (three pair from different companies) two pair of my favorite Yankz elastic shoe laces, Graingers shoe waterproofing product, some awesome Nikwax products for cleaning waterproofing and even cleaning stinky sandals. There was also Cliff bars, shots & blocks, Heed Electrolyte solution and Hammer Gels, Camelback Elixer electrolyte solution, cute little key chains and such, and awesome stainless steel water bottles courtesy of Brooks sports (I wear their shoes)
The run/walk started at 11:00 AM with lots of happy happy employees waiting for the start.
And we were off and running…
It was getting warm and the grass, flowers and that blasted Scotch Broom were spewing pollen everywhere, but I didn’t get wheezy.
I was however quite exhausted from only getting 4 hours sleep last night.
It became apparent quite early on that running a 5K two days after a triathlon (this early in the season when I’m flabby, heavy and out of shape) might not have been the best idea because my legs were definitely NOT happy. They felt like lead, but I didn’t have any pain and I was able to pull out a 31 minute run (I came in at 31:04 but goofed up and hit the start button before I crossed the start line. Hey, I’m happy with 10 minute miles as crappy as I felt.
In the Pacific Northwest, on Memorial Day Weekend.
That never happens.
I’m giddy & positively drunk on vitamin D.
I started out the holiday weekend right with happy hour on the patio of Dukes with Michealene and Tony.
Today, I did a five mile run at Pt Defiance and did it 6 minutes faster than last time.
Afterwards, I went and picked up the Icky Boy and we drove out to Five Mile Lake to meet Annie & Jill for an open water swim.
Tom was fine relaxing by the lake, reading a book and watching us stuff ourselves into our wetsuits.
I brought my lifeguard can in case any of us got a cramp took on water or got into any trouble. (of course, Tom would have dialed 911)
Here we are getting ready to go swim.
and a picture we took just for Bill…
the water was quite nice (if you were wearing a wetsuit)
After the swim, IB and I had a lovely picnic.
I made a nice salad and he brought a Dungeness Crab. (I can neither confirm nor deny that there was wine in our thermos/coffee cups because I’m not sure if it was allowed in the park.)
I bet you’re jealous of our picnic…
And with that, I don’t have time to waste indoors on the computer.
Erik on 
Kevin Van Dyke on 
Randy Weiser on 