Silicon Valley International Triathlon

Today’s race has me musing upon many things in triathlon…potential, hard work, pain – you know, all that good stuff. I couldn’t help but think about my first triathlon at this same lake, 3 years ago, the sprint race that they held yesterday. And to come back and do the Olympic distance and succeed in all sorts of small ways, from hydration and fueling to sunburn and chafing…oh that felt very very good. I could not be more grateful for my wonderful coach, who pushes me to new levels of discomfort in order to help me reach my potential – none of this would be possible without her!

I was up at 4am and on the road by 5am. Perhaps a little silly when the race is a 5 minute drive away but I had some ideas about where I wanted to be in transition and I wanted to be there early. So, 5:15 and I was in line to get in transition, which didn’t open till 5:30. By 5:45 I was all set up and had nothing to do but drink, hit the portajohn, drink, hit the portajohn, etc etc.

Jeff arrived just as I headed down to the water about 25 minutes before my wave. And so, you get my thought bubbles to go along with the photos he took (and 1 from my friend Mary, wouldn’t want to leave her out!).

“What have I gotten myself into (again)?!!!”

“I can’t believe people have rubber fetishes. There is nothing sexy about this.”

My wave preparing to start the swim (I’m the 3rd on the left up front). First we swam out to that yellow buoy on the right, then proceeded to zig zag all over the damn lake. People were swimming on both sides of the orange buoys and guess what, it’s not easy to see yellow buoys when swimming into the sun. It felt a bit like chaos out there but I just tried to maintain control of my own pace and breathing.

My swim time was a bit longer than Knoxville but I think looking at other times this might have been a slightly longer course too, with all the turns (Knoxville was a nice straight-line swim). I was OK with it, as I still came in within the range I would expect.

“Run run run through T1”

Transition was set up as a big loop with traffic only flowing one direction. That meant no matter where you set up, at *some* point, you were going to have to run longer. I decided I would rather not run long with my bike shoes and so I set up near the bike exit. I still had to run through all of transition in my wetsuit but I definitely got it off and my bike gear on quick – I was in and out of there in about 95 seconds.

“The wheels on the bike go round and round, round and round, round and round…”

I headed out on the bike course feeling good and excited to see how fast I could go on my local roads that I ride often. For once I was able to stay aero for the vast majority of the race – smooth roads and no traffic make such a difference. There is no doubt I felt a home field advantage today – I knew where every pothole was, I know where the glass winds up on the road, I know where there’s a false flat that is in fact uphill and not to worry about going slower, I know the usual wind patterns – and it paid off in my gearing along the way as well as knowing when to expend the effort and when to hold back. I ended up biking 15 minutes faster than Knoxville last month and averaging a thrilling 17.6 mph.

"Sweet! That was FUN!”

I got my feet out of the shoes before dismount and ran barefoot through transition. I am loving this sockless racing thing! Even with having to run my bike all the way through the transition loop again, I was in and out in 79 seconds.“Wheee! I just passed those 3 guys right out the gate! My legs aren’t feeling all that zippy though…”

The run was HOT, temps were edging into the 80s and most of the course was in direct sunlight. I had a pacing/fueling/hydrating plan in place and just tried to keep moving forward and stick to it. I thought of camp a lot, when Jen Harrison had talked about core strength and how much it pays off late in the race when run form starts falling apart. I focused heavily on trying to maintain good form while it was starting to look like a death march out at the far end of the course. I reached the turnaround for the final out-and-back, practically within view of my parents’ house, and knew there wasn’t much left to go. At Knoxville, I’d come within 10 seconds of my open 10K PR and I had wanted to do that today but I was starting to doubt I could maintain a strong enough pace to get there.

“This HURTS! Almost there…”

Heading down the finish chute, so sweet to finally be there!

As it turned out, I did beat my 10K PR by 1 minute! Sheesh, maybe I should always go ride a bike before my running races because that certainly seems to work for me.

I was pleased with my overall result too – an 11+ minute PR over my time at Knoxville despite a much slower swim. I may finally be learning that not all improvements come easy and that I need to hurt, sometimes a lot, in a race to earn it. I know that sounds silly but…you know…I don’t really like to hurt! Today, it was well worth it though.

Heather and I both raced today with a good friend in mind - when she passed me with just a couple miles to go on the run, she spurred me back into action with a quick “Do it for Missy.” There’s no doubt we were both wishing she could be there today.

“Dear Legs, thank you for cooperating with all the abuse I put you though. I now know you were actually cranky this week looking for more action than I was giving you. I hope that today will suffice for a little while. For the next week, there will be no swim/bike/run for us; it’s time to rest before we gear up for the next challenge.”

Redemption

Yesterday was a special day at the dog show.  For one, I didn’t have to do anything but sit on my butt and watch and appreciate.  The owner of Stanley’s sire was the judge, which means it would appear improper for me to show to her, so I got to just relax and enjoy.

I got to hang out with good friends and great dogs.  Like my dear friend Beth, who co-owns Max and bred Stanley, here with Stan’s baby sister Grace

And I got to cry my eyes out with joy at one of the big wins of the day.  Buster is a beardie I’ve loved since he was a young puppy – at the time our household wasn’t ready for me to have a 2nd beardie though I wanted this sweet boy!  Buster’s owner fell severely ill a few years ago and he came back to his breeder last year in quite terrible shape.  Lots of time and food and love have brought him back into condition, and yesterday – handled by another of his fans, my friend Shannon - he finished his championship with a 5-point major at a breed specialty, which is quite an accomplishment. 

I love this boy so very much – he is the epitome of a good beardie.  Unfailingly sweet, smart and eager to please.  And as a younger brother to Max, he too is the spitting image of their father Chauncey.

Today I went down to the San Jose Sprint Triathlon to get my open water swim done – if they’re all there warming up in the water, what’s one more swimmer, right?  That’s us - my friend and my aunt (who actually WAS racing) and me - out there with our hands up in the air.  Gotta love wetsuits.

After all my complaining about the weather, it seems Mother Nature has finally seen fit to let summer arrive. High 80s today and over 90 tomorrow.  Not only am I glad I got all that solid heat training in the Midwest (though thank goodness we have NO humidity), I am glad we start early in the morning so I can be done before it hits 80.  This should be a fun race on “home turf” – I did my 1st ever triathlon 3 yrs ago in this lake (the sprint that took place today), I ride the bike course often, and the run course goes within 1/2 mile of my parents’ house – and I’m hopeful that those factors pay off in terms of familiarity with the course and hills and such.

I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend! 

NCBCF Regional

Today was the second day of our beardie club’s regional specialty – yesterday was herding, today was agility and obedience, tomorrow is the show ring.

I had both my boys entered in the agility trial – our first time making it to the regional in a couple years (last year was a bit busy with training, racing, etc).  I’ve always done quite well at the regional – Max consistently wins at the agility trial and Stan had some great wins in the show ring last time he was there.

I’ve been wearing my “triathlon hat” a lot over the past year.  Today, I tried to wear my “dog hat”…and found that it didn’t fit well.  It was definitely our worst showing at a regional ever.  We still ended up with a 1st place for Stanley in Novice FAST and a 2nd place for Max in Excellent Jumpers, but I felt sluggish and out of it all day and was just not in the right frame of mind to handle my dogs.

Some thoughts on contributing factors:

• I have a race Sunday and I’m very worried about being rested enough for it.  The race was a late addition after I’d already planned on this regional and really 3 days in advance it shouldn’t make a difference but still…
• Our trial was very very small and many people just didn’t pitch in to help.  This meant that often when a dog knocked a jump bar or it was time to change jump heights for a taller/shorter dog, I was dashing out there and running around to reset bars.  It’s common trial etiquette, especially at a small breed show, for everyone to help out – I could not believe how many people just sat on their asses and watched.
• It was sunny and fairly warm.
• I’ve been sniffly/sneezy for days but it hasn’t progressed to a real cold.  Last night I finally realized it was probably allergies (something I’ve never really experienced before) and took Claritin.  Bingo – I woke up without the slightest bit of congestion.  However, mentally I felt foggy all day and I know this affected my handling.  Is this normal?  Makes me wonder which is better to risk for race day.  I will see how I feel after a couple more days on it.
• Because the trial was small and kept the willing workers working, there was never a chance to dash away and find the food booths on the other end of the show grounds.  In the end (don’t hit me, I’ve already beat myself up enough about this), that meant that I went 10+ hours without food.  I was cranky and ready to drop by the end.
• See bullet point #1.  Because I worked my butt off helping out, I freaked out even more at the end about how much my legs and feet hurt and how tired I was.  I came home and took an ice bath and put my compression socks on. 

OK, so the good news is – my dogs still had fun and that’s what matters.  I’ve eaten and I feel a little more human.  I will likely not go the agility trial I entered on Saturday but sit around with my feet up in between my prerace brick at 7am and packet pickup in the afternoon.  I will go watch the dog show tomorrow with my butt firmly planted in my chair and not feel bad about it.  It just looks like I will need to practice a little more with how and when I switch between my dog world and triathlon world.  Training is one thing but combining with races and working a trial is a whole different beast.  My only consolation is everyone else seemed utterly fried too, and I’m probably in better shape than most of them!

On This Day In History

June 9, 2007

Random Monday Thoughts

• I love the farmers market.  I am so glad the summer ones are back in session.  I need my Wednesday night fix of fresh fruit and a sugar crepe!
• I had a faster run split yesterday than the overall winner of the race. Now I just need to learn how to swim and bike like that!
• I went to bed last night all sniffly and worried I was getting a cold but woke up this morning just fine.  It may have just been the SF Bay draining from my sinuses.  I picked up a Coldbuster at Jamba Juice on the way to work anyway – better safe than sorry!
• I’m feeling even better about getting all that heat training in Chicago after looking at the forecast for this weekend.  I will probably be done racing before it gets too hot but if not, I’ll be prepared anyway!
• And…I just got some terrible news about a friend that makes all these items seem stupid.  Please just hug your families tonight and think good thoughts for someone who has been a good friend to me.

Mermaid Sprint Triathlon

I haven’t done a Mermaid triathlon since my first year doing tris, 2007. Let’s revisit that fine day before we talk about what happened today….

Oh, there’s Molly, 2nd to last out of the water. Not in my wave, OVERALL.

Ow, those bike hills hurt. (Notice that I'm returning to transition with a full bottle of sports drink too LOL)

At least I knew how to run!

Well, so it seemed like a fun idea to do another Mermaid this year – it’s a small local race series for women and a number of my friends were going to do it. I was looking forward to getting to push myself over a relatively short distance and just see how it went.

0.25 mi swim (but actually ended up being 0.35 mi swim): 12:18 2007 time: 23:32

T1: 1:07 My fastest T1 ever! And it included wetsuit removal!

12 mi bike: 40:09 (17.9 mph – the fastest I’ve ever averaged in a race!) My instructions were to ride like I wasn’t running after – a nice experiment to see if I could push well! 2007 time: 11 miles + T1 + T2, 50:29

T2: 0:51 My fastest T2 ever!

2.5 mi run: 19:49 (7:55/mi) 2007 time: 22:36 (9:02/mi)

Finish time for ~14.75 mi: 1:14:25 2007 time (13.75 mi): 1:39:33

So, a 25 minute race PR!

Post-race I was still completely drenched from the swim! It was foggy out and I never dried off the whole race.

I spent a little time visiting with Mermaid friends and then headed home to ice-bath, eat and relax.

I had to focus on recovery for the rest of today – tomorrow begins another race week! After Knoxville, we decided to add another Olympic to my schedule – I’ll be racing the Silicon Valley International next Sunday. So light and easy this week to recover and prepare.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Final Post-Camp Thoughts

In completely random order because that’s about as well as my brain is functioning on little rest.

Wind: I may not like wind, and I may become an incredible crankypants knowing I have to face it for 30 straight miles (though I was crankier about the 5+ miles of VERY bumpy road), but I proved again I can keep going and get through it anyway.

Bugs: The Illinois bug population threw a hoe-down in celebration upon my arrival.  Jen Harrison said they don’t have any bugs right now.  The bite marks all over my body beg to differ. 

TRX: It was great to find out I’ve been doing my TRX moves correctly, as well as learn new ones.  Turns out my core strength is pretty good these days!

Pacing: Makes all the difference.  I didn’t think I could get back on my bike the 2nd day but using the ride as an easy spin/recovery ride ended up being a blast.  The surroundings of the Morton Arboretum weren’t too shabby either.

Heat vs Humidity: I got a solid dose of heat acclimation this weekend.  It’s always good to get a chance to practice hydration and fueling in extreme conditions.  I remembered again though why I like Arizona and California so much and that’s our low humidity.  I spent enough summers in the Midwest and East Coast to know I do NOT enjoy the high humidity days, but I hadn’t been an athlete when I lived there.  I can’t believe how much trouble I had breathing on this trip.

Hills: We may have been walloped by the weather conditions but I’d argue the California girls had no qualms about riding/running the hills.  We’re lucky to have them everywhere here!

Camps: Going to camp has multiple functions for me…I get to train with my coach in person and there’s nothing as valuable as that kind of feedback.  I get technique reminders/corrections/adjustments in all 3 sports.  And I get a good dose of “overtraining” to push my limits and get me to the next level.  If there’s a camp out there you are considering and you wonder what you will get out of it, go for it! There are so many things that can help you, plus the intangibles – like making a group of new friends, surrounding yourself with swim/bike/run for a concentrated period without annoying your family with it (haha), and so on.

Food: The only way to survive camp is to eat, eat, and then eat some more.  I also possibly drank the most water I’ve ever had in one day on Sunday (swim-run-strength in 90 degrees).

Swimming: Hmm, I seem not to have mentioned swimming.  I guess that’s because my swimming wasn’t the dramatic horrify-the-coaches stroke it was last year.  I enjoyed the open water swim, if a little more slowly than everyone else, and I did the pool workout.  Liz’s feedback was helpful and something I can incorporate into all my swims, but we agreed it’s come a long way.

Trashed: Pretty much sums up my body right now.  Or even my body yesterday before running 3.1 more miles.  All the good soreness has kicked in today though.  I’ll be working out the kinks at yin (yoga) class today and then letting my wonderful massage therapist (nicknamed Raccoon Fingers for her ability to dig) deal with the rest of the mess tomorrow (anyone have some heavy duty painkillers I can borrow to get through that?).  If past experience is any measure, all cylinders should be up to speed and firing by Sunday’s race.

Totals for May 2010: 23,913 yds swim/236.25 mi bike/55.83 mi run