Dragging this out a little longer

I’m still waiting for race photos to do my race report but a few final thoughts on other aspects of the event…

Would I race Rev3 again? Not based on this experience.  Lack of advance information that I’ve already complained about (critical for this organizational freak), timing issues, fairly major course safety issues (I can’t think of another race I’ve done where so many people were hit by cars), and I don’t do races that drag religion into sport (hence why I won’t do Wildflower or any other Tri California races anymore).  Starting the race off with a prayer? Huge turnoff for me personally. 

Would I race in Knoxville or Tennessee again? Surprisingly yes.  It’s a long haul from California but I was awed at how beautiful the state is and won over by how friendly every single local was.  If I was ever looking for another tough scenic race, I’d see what else they had out there.

And that’s all I need to say about that.

Puppy Picture of the Day

Little Al decided to try his momma’s food last week.  2 weeks old is pretty young for that – no teeth to chew with!

Random Thoughts on Tennessee

* It’s all green and rolly here. Seriously in hours of driving all over the place, I never saw a flat spot. Also incredibly beautiful!

* I felt like a true California girl driving through this Southern area belting out Lady Gaga along with the radio.

* Knoxville is an adorable town – lovely downtown area with restaurants and a farmers market I hit on Saturday morning. Scenic greenways for walking, running and biking. River views. And the weekend weather was to die for – 70ish with no humidity!

* The Rev3 race venue was well selected and set up nicely for access to hotels and the race sites. My hotel was an escalator ride away from the expo and finish line.

* The Rev3 timing utterly sucked. As most folks who tried to track us saw, it was impossible to get real-time information after all. My swim time was wrong. My finish time was uploaded HOURS after I was done. And the data is simply not well presented – instead of showing your swim, bike and run times, they are only added to your accumulated race time total. It’s hard to do math after you race. Very very hard. [To add to this, I thought the advertised benefit to Rev3 races was the partnership with Trakkers to provide us with real time GPS tracking data. In fact, this is not currently available, except for the little green people sponsored by Trakkers, and it didn’t even always work well for them.] Disappointing for a race that is sponsored by a timing/tracking company!

* I never thought I’d say it was possible but…the bike course was harder than Wildflower. Yes, such a thing exists. The half course *may* have been similar or easier – I can’t say as I’ve never ridden either one. But the Wildflower course offers at least a few flat areas, as well as longer shallower hills. This was relentless rollers of the likes we don’t even have in California. My hat is off to you, Tennessee! No wonder Missy is such a damn strong cyclist, living out there.

* The weekend would not have been the same without friends, new and old. It was wonderful to see Rachelle, Dave, Meredith and Wes again and to finally meet Ray. And sharing the whole experience with Kate O, who seems to exude enviable grace whether she’s dressed up for dinner or fresh off the race course, made it a blast. Now if only I’d met Missy!!!

* This was my first race going completely sockless and I’m a convert. Other than one little blister from the run – and now I know somewhere else in the shoe to lube up – it was delightful!

* I’m sitting here at the airport waiting for my flight home and really wishing there were pedicure stations here. My tootsies need some pampering and I never seem to find the time to get it done at home. Plus, I’m too scared of what the ladies are saying about my feet that I can’t understand.

Race report, coming soon!

30 Minute PR

Even with a flat on the bike course.  The same course that was 1 mile over the advertised distance.  More to follow when I’m not drop-dead tired.

Training totals for May 3-9:
Swim: 4383 yards
Bike: 39.1 miles
Run: 11.7 miles
Total time: 6 hours

Hitting the Road

Tomorrow I start the all-day trek cross-country to Knoxville.  One flight, then another, then a long drive.  I only just learned today that not all of Tennessee is in the same time zone – I had presumed that Knoxville was in the same time zone as Nashville but it is not.  What this means is that I’ll roll into Knoxville starved for dinner and ready to crash!  I’m glad Kate will get there first to check into our room and scout some food options.

I’ll try to blog Saturday if I get some downtime in between the practice swim, checking in, athlete meeting, driving the bike course, and trying to load some calories into my body.  So just in case…

Here is the relevant info for Sunday morning!

Start time: My wave goes off at 8:15 am EST (5:15 am PST).

Athlete Tracking: Available at the Rev3 Tri Website.  It’s supposed to be quite good real-time tracking.  I’ll let you all tell me if it really is.

Goals: A big fat honkin’ PR.  Hopefully when I scope out the course on Saturday, I’ll get a better sense of how feasible this is.  But here are my 2008 Olympic triathlon times to beat, preferably crush:

Swim 45:58/Bike 1:42:23/Run 1:05:26/Total 3:39:56

And with that, I leave you with a few new puppy photos.  18 days old and getting fuzzier by the day!

Adventures in Eating

As mentioned a couple weeks ago, I am transitioning the beardies back to a raw diet (Max was raised on one, Stan only partially).  In the past, I’ve worked with raw co-ops or hunted down the food in various grocery or discount stores myself – these days I just don’t feel like I have the time for that, or the packaging and refreezing that has to take place at home.

Yesterday our first order from a local company called Feed This! arrived.  Every 2 weeks they come down to our end of the bay to make house calls.  3 boxes were left on our doorstep – inside were individual freezer packs and in those were meals for the dogs, packaged by their daily servings.  OMG, already this is worth it to me for the convenience and packaging!

The first couple days’ worth of servings are thawing in the fridge and we’ll start them up tomorrow.  They’ve already been eating processed raw patties and a few RMBs so their systems should be good to go.

I’ll give them a month or two to adjust and detox and report back on how things are going.  But so far, so good!

Happiness is…

…knocking out the last hard bike ride before the race, on a very hilly course in strong afternoon winds, and knowing you are READY.

…freshly groomed clean dogs!

…a Sunday morning open water swim with a good friend in clear water and sunshine! [Thank you, Shadow Cliffs, for NOT being full of algae like Quarry Lakes – I could even see Nigel’s feet up ahead! And fish swimming around!]

…snuggles with Mr Dark and Handsome

…quiet dogs chomping on their bones in the yard – it’s exercise, teeth cleaning and nutrition all in one!

…finally getting to race week!!!

Training totals for April 26-May 2:
Swim: 6780 yards
Bike: 53.0 miles
Run: 14.3 miles
Total time: 8.5 hours

April Totals: Swim 29,448 yds/Bike 198.1 mi/Run 61.4 mi