Decision and deferral

It's been a while since I've posted and for the few who are reading, I apologise. I know I should be using this blog as a source to vent frustrations, but I prefer to use it for happier times.

As you guys know, I've been trying to nurse a torn ligament in my knee and hoping that I could get it healed in time to do a the Toyota Olympic Triathlon here in Dallas next month. I've been continuing to ride and swim; hoping that I could be in enough shape to gut out the 6 mile run at the end. I've even been able to so some running on the treadmill. But today I decided to let this one go.

The knee really started bugging me again this week, almost as if I'd reinjured it again. I did a few miles on the treadmill last weekend and it wasn't bad at all. Sure, it twanged in the beginning, but it loosened up well after about 1/2 mile. It still hurts mostly after I wake up in the morning. Maybe it's the way I sleep, but this week, it's gotten worse again.

Knowing that I don't want to screw up a 1/2 marathon I have planned in December with Deeann and Greg, I decided that today, I'd look to see if there was a way to defer my tri entry until next year or even get a partial refund. Thankfully, I'm able to defer it and did. I'm really disappointed because I was really looking forward to this, but it's the right thing to do.

Live to run another day. Now I can start to think about the half marathon in Vegas in December and if that goes well, I'm looking at doing a half Ironman triathlon in May or June next year. Keep your fingers crossed that things will be better by then.

Danskin Triathlon - Austin race report

What a perfect day! The early morning temps hovered around 70, the water temp was perfect and the winds stayed down until after we were all finished. You can't ask for a better day.

This year, I was excited, but not nearly as nervous as last year. I felt like an old pro and even Deeann seemed to be much more serene than last year at this time. We got to the race site, saw the line for the shuttles and decided that hoofing it just over a mile would be a lot less stressful than waiting amongst the squirming, squealing masses. It turned out to be a good decision. The moon and early morning sunrise kept the road light and calmed our souls.

After setting up our transitions, we wandered back to our favorite base of operations under a huge oak tree near the swim start. Just before 7am, we could hear the guys over the loudspeaker getting everyone ampped up and ready to go. The waves, spaced 3 minutes apart, started right on time and kept moving. I was in the 7th wave, one of two for the 40-44 year olds. Last year at this time, I hadn't done an open water swim before and was a nervous wreck, almost to the point of crying. This year, serious focus mode kicked in and I tried to weasel my way up towards the front of the wave. The gun went off and game on! No panic. No fear!

The swim felt fantastic, other than trying to quickly work around the slower people in my wave. The first bouy was nearly impossible to see, but kept following the wave in front of me and staying away from the kayaks. That didn't work, though as I ran into a kayak while trying to pass another swimmer. Damn! I found myself quickly into the wave in front of us, dodging women who were chatting with their friends. Seriously! Chat later and race, dammit! I rounded the first bouy and found myself with only a few light blue caps in front of me, which were other girls in my wave. Sweet! That made me want to push just a bit more. I saw one girl in my wave and tried to get in her wake but soon found myself passing her and moved on. As I neared the second bouy, I was then well into the group 2 waves ahead of me and passing many of them. It was very exciting! I could see the exit, found a chunk of unused water and powered through it. Sure enough, I checked my watch as I got out of the water and I was right on schedule with right at 17 minutes! Woo hoo! It gave me a new boost of energy to run up a small hill to the transition zone.

I was very lucky that my TA spot was right on the main aisle for all the events. It was quick, easy in and out. I'd forgotten a towel to dry my feet off, but it wasn't a big deal. I grabbed my bike sandals, threw them on and ran to the exit. As I ran, I ate 3 Clif Blox to get prepped and put the rest of the sleeve in a pocket. As a side note, the design of the Clif Blox packaging is great! They now come in a long sleeve of blocks so it makes it so much easier to open and put a few in your mouth with one hand. Love 'em.

My heart was racing after the swim and transition. It took a good 5 minutes on the bike for the heart to settle down and get into a better range. I had to keep telling myself to settle because I was so excited. Oh, I saw Doc and Hunter (Dusty's family) as they were walking into the race site. Yay! The bike ride was better than last year. I had hoped to average about 16.0 to improve over last year (15.5), but a few of the hills kicked my butt. On the flats and downhills, I was in the fastest gear I could go, so that helped the average. At the 6 mile point, I grabbed the last 3 Blox to start prepping for the run. As I rode, I didn't see many in my age group either passing me or me passing them. I thought I had a pretty good speed going. Though my bike calculator said I'd averaged 16.2, the official times showed it at 16.9. Nice! I'd taken some time off of last year as well. Yay!

I rounded the corner to head back into the transition area and was feeling really good. I downshifted to start getting weight back on my legs, then ran to my rack. The shoe transition wasn't as smooth as it could be, but as it turns out, the TA time was better than I thought. Though I was feeling good, I decided to grab another sleeve of the Blox in case I thought it might be good to get some last calories in during the early part of the run. I think it was a smart decision.

The run was what I'd expected, and maybe a bit better feeling. I hadn't focused on running hardly at all this year, so I figured I'd just muddle through it again. Last year was miserable and I walked a lot. This year, I told myself that I'd run to the big hill at the end for sure. Though it was tempting to slow down and walk, I kept to that promise. I felt much better than last year and was plugging right along. Several ladies in my age group passed me on this leg and I lost a lot of ground. That damn hill got me again this time, though not quite as bad as last year. This hill is one of those slow rollers that just seems to go on forever, though really it's probably less than 1/2 mile. It's at the end of the race, so you really have to dig deep to get up it. I admit to walking about 1/2 of it, but in spurts. I'd jog to a point, then pick a point to start running again. Finally once I hit the top of this bastard, I knew we were less than 1/4 mile to the finish. I looked at my watch and saw that my goal time of 1:36 was very do-able and kicked it in gear.

I crossed the finish line with a huge grin on my face! I could hear Greg on the sidelines and he greeted me at the end! Yay! I looked at my time and had nailed it! What a great finish! 11 minutes faster than last year and felt so much better! It was short lived though because both of us wanted to make sure we saw Deeann on the run. As it turned out, we missed her on the run, but barely caught her finishing thanks to Kait finding us and yelling at us that she was finishing. She had taken nearly 45 minutes off her time and we were thrilled!

Good:
Food and fluid management worked out really well. I ate a full sleeve of the Blox during the bike, then took another half early in the run. I drank early and often on the bike (and half the of the lake, I think) mainly on the downhills and flats, which helped keep me hydrated on the run. During the run, I only grabbed a sip of water at about the 2 mile point which was perfect.

Running without socks for 3 miles was fine. No blisters or hot spots. Any more mileage than that, I'd use socks.

Improvements:
The swim went really well, though I need to remember to spot an object on the horizon rather than looking for the bouy early on. I've read that and completely forgotten it.

I think I could push just a bit harder on the swim and the bike. Still new to the sport, I was holding back just a little worried about the run. I think I can go out a bit more next time.

I need to figure out a better way of changing into my running shoes. It felt slower than I'd hoped.


Overall, it was a good race. You can see in the post below this the times and placings. Next year, I'd like to shoot for top 10 in my age group, not just top 10%. That's a long ways away, but you never know, right?

Quick Danskin Tri update

I don't have time for a full race report today, but wanted to just grin a bit. Check this out...

About a month ago, I threw out the times I thought I'd do on this race: http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=4264519818016288018

Swim 17 T1 2:30 (different/faster to put on shoes this year)
Bike 43 T2 2:00
Run 31:30 Final 1:36:00

And here's how it turned out:
Swim 17:52
T1 2:37
Bike 42:26
T2 1:40
Run 32:12
Final 1:36:49

Finished 191 out of 1976 in the field and 27th out of 281 ladies in my age group.

Holy crap, that's pretty spot on, huh? Needless to say I'm pretty exstatic. The rest of the girls in our group did well also. Deeann smoked the race and knocked 43 (YES 43!) minutes off her time from last year and probably is still grinning!

More updates to come.

Olympic lenght triathlon

So I'm debating doing my first olympic length triathlon (1500m swim, 40k bike, 10k run).

One of the guys in my circle of former Adventure Team friends has gotten into triathlons the past few years and said that he was planning to do this one this year. http://www.toyotausopentriathlon.com/site7.aspx

So I'm looking at my event calendar for the year and think it actually might fit in well with what is going on this fall. I have 2 major bike events, RAGBAI and Hotter n Hell, in July and August, then the next major event is a half in Las Vegas in December. I'm thinking that by the time I'm ready to start training for the half, this will be the mid-point.

Whaddya think?

Danskin Triathlon - Austin

WE DID IT!!

Deeann, Kait and I all completely enjoyed our first triathlon experience with the Danskin Tri series. What an amazing atmosphere this was for a first-time tri. The race was well run in many ways, from the way the waves were run, the timing, the logistics (for the most part). All-in-all, I highly recommend it to get your feet wet, so to speak.

It was amazing to see women of all shapes, sizes and ages out there. We saw elites, teenagers and even a few ladies in their 80's out there competing. I had to laugh at how many times I heard, "sorry" as ladies hit each other during the swim or got in the way of someone else during another event. It was almost comical, but at the same time, it goes to the spirit of the energy called etsrogen. LOL!

I was so proud of both girls and how well they did! Kait is an amazing athlete and has been training for this for a while. I don't think the heat affected her, since she lives in Biloxi (MS) as much as it did Deeann, who lives in MN. Deeann was such a delight to watch go through the event and finish it. We all were really teary-eyed as she came across the finish line with a big ol' grin on her face. She accomplished so much in such a short amount of time. I knew she could do anything she put her stubborn mind to and do it well. I can't wait to see what she tries next!

So for the three of us, we were all feeling pretty nervous in different ways. After seeing how long a 1/2 mile is swimming, I was scared and kicking myself for blowing off the swim training. I was in the 9th wave of women (elites/teenagers went first, followed by age groups getting younger with each wave). The wind was starting to kick up, so it was an advantage to watch how the current and wind affected the swimmers in the waves ahead of us. I figured out pretty quickly to stay upwind as most women were being blown way off course.

The first leg of the swim, I was a complete mess. I was wound tight, had a tough time breathing and ended up doing a sizeable chunk of it doing backstroke. Once I rounded that bouy though, something in me calmed and the body just kicked back into the mode of when I swam in HS and I felt pretty good. About 1/2 way to the swim finish, I remember looking up and seeing that there weren't many red caps ahead of me, which told me that I was probably doing better than I thought in my wave. In fact, I noticed that I was passing some of the people in the wave in front of me as well. Whew!

The transition was a little slower than I'd expected, as I forgot about the run up the hill to the bikes. I got out of the water and walked for about 10-15 seconds probably, then realized I needed to get my butt moving. Lesson learned and noted. I started to run and heard someone yell at me (or my number), "Great job and get moving 987!". I'm usually the one cheering to others like that so to me, that was a huge boost and it added to the excitement.

I did get on the bike well and was happy with my time on the 12 miles, considering I'd only started riding a little more seriously about a month prior to the race. I passed many more than passed me, and those who passed me were either younger or on a really great bike. The ride was hilly, but not overwhelming. There were two good hills, one short and steep; the other long and slow. Both I made it up. Yay!

The transition to the run wasn't bad, but could use a little improvement. If I get bike shoes that are a little more conduicive to easy on/off, I'll do better. I took the gloves off as I was riding in and mentally prepped for the run.

The run, which should be my best leg, was by far, the worst. The legs were really tired and I felt as if I was doing the gramma shuffle for about the first mile. The heat was kicking in, adding to the misery. I really struggled to get my breathing down and get the legs to make longer strides. I need to do more runs after a hard ride to get through this. Lesson learned and noted.

Kait's wave started about 1/2 hour behind me and I knew she could potentially catch me during the race. Sure enough, during the first 1/2 mile of the run or so, I saw her coming in for her last mile or so in the ride. She hollered at me and it was one of the best parts of my race! :) It's great having people you know out there!

At about the 2 mile point, there was a long, shallow hill. Really long. About 1/3 of the way through it, I ended up walking it to the top, but power walked it the best I could. It was discouraging, but I was certainly going faster in the walk than I would have if I'd tried jogging it. I worried about Deeann getting through this chunk as the heat would be worse for her.

Finally, I made it to the top of this damn hill and started jogging. I HAD to start jogging as there were a ton of spectators in that last 1/2 mile as you approached the finish line. Ego kicked in, you know. LOL! Thankfully that part was flat. The crowd was motivating as well as the loud music and the announcer calling each finisher's name. It felt great to be finished and see Deeann's hubby, Greg, waiting at the finish line!

Kait finished about 20 minutes behind me. She did really well and was grinning out of excitement as well. Looking at her times overall, she finished in the top 10% of all 2900+ women. Wow! Remember, this was her first race.

Deeann started about 1/2 hour behind Kait. Greg had been running between each of us girls, trying to get pictures of us as we started or finished different legs. I think he was able go get a great workout that day as well (thank you, Greg!!). After Kait finished, we hustled over to where the transition area was, near the run beginning. Greg caught her in the transition between the bike and run. We sat close and watched her hit about the 1 mile mark. She flipped us off, in true Deeann running fashion, but did it with a smile.

The amazing thing about this race is that everyone out there supports everyone else. I can't tell you how many times I heard "woo-hoo" and "go girl" shouted to the athletes as they went through their personal ordeals. The crowd and the competitors each helped each other. There were times where the bike and run legs passed near each other where the encouragement was huge. Then again, the way the run was set up, there were many places where you would see the athletes ahead and behind you as it snaked through the woods. What an incredible experience! For anyone trying their first tri, I suggest doing a Danskin one.

In the end, we anxiously awaited Deeann's arrival. Sure enough, we saw the periwinkle blue shirt in the distance and looked like puppies waiting for their masters to come through the door as she approached. She finished well and looked as if she was spent. I'm so proud of all of us for doing what we'd set out to do, as we did it!

Yay Team Hurricane Hunters!!!!

Lessons and notes for next time:
Swim -
1. Watch the water and swimmers from early legs to see the current/wind.
2. Wait a few seconds to let most people go, breathe, then head out.
3. Relax and channel the techniques you know.
4. TRAIN, dum bass! :)

Bike -
1. Save a little for the run or at least ease up on the legs for a minute or so before transition
2. Eat a gel on the way out and if time, a few Clif Blox on the way in to have some energy for the run. Worked great!
3. Consider training/racing without gloves for 12 miles.

Run -
1. Hmm...

Transitions -
1. Run between events as much as possible. Get quickly to the bike. Get quickly off the bike.
2. Bring a better towel for drying the feet quickly.
3. Get a good way to ID the bike space quickly. It looks so much different when returning.
4. Orient yourself before the race even begins so you know the different entry/exit points.

Spectators -
1. Bring binoculars to spot your athlete in the distance. Makes it easier to pick him/her out for photos as s/he approaches.
2. Bring a camera, sunscreen, water and a lightweight chair.
3. Scout out the race area to see where some of the best viewing spots may be. There might be several closeby to make it easier on you.
3. Cheer hard!