The dreaded bike. One day I will be awesome on the bike, until then it's baby steps. I still owe a post on my bike fit, which I will get to after this weekend's race. the details are all pretty cool but because of my injury I haven't been able to fully reap the benefits of the new fit, so I've been holding of on posting about it.
When I started training for this race I had been off the bike all summer playing sherpa to my two little swimmers. So when I got on the bike it was evident that my body and my bike were done with each other. Two weeks in I was in so much pain that I had to stop all training and scheduled an emergency bike fit. After the fit I was excited and nervous to try it out (we raised my seat 3cm) and return to training. I may have been a little too excited and didn't really give my body the time it needed to heal from the terrible position I had put my body through while riding a poorly fitted bike for so long.
Wednesday, following my bike fit I started masters. I was so excited that our pool and my daughter's coach had decided to offer a masters program for the fall and that it was geared to all of us mom's who couldn't get to the pool until 9am. I jumped in full steam and was super excited to be adding yardage to my swims. That's when my body said no more. Having not fully recovered from the back and neck strain of my poor bike fit and increasing my swimming equaled total body failure. I woke up one Saturday morning in so much pain that I took myself to the urgent care. I knew they wouldn't be able to do much for me but I wanted an rx for physical therapy so I could work on repairing my body and continue to train. They also gave me some muscle relaxers to get those muscles to stop spasming at the constant rate that they were. It took about 5 days for the worst of it to pass. We're talking child birth levels of pain and absolutely no way to get comfortable enough in bed to sleep at night.
Sadly my trusted physical therapist has moved and practices in Santa Cruz now. I had to go blindly into PT and hope that I would find someone as knowledgeable as her, but based on everyone's bios I wasn't sure that would be the case. I was asked to not do any activity for 3 days (the horror) which I accepted. It was better to take the time early on then to be in a position where I wouldn't be able to race on race day. When I came back after those three days they asked me to stay off the bike and not swim for 3 more days. I was sulking a little bit but I followed orders. Running seemed to be okay as long as when I got fatigued I remembered to keep my shoulders back and down. When I returned to the pool I kept the yards low and stuck to only kicking, which is entirely miserable for someone who is a puller. I tried to look at it from the prospective of it would make me a better swimmer in the long run. Eventually I added breaststroke to the kicking and even tried some butterfly kicking. The hard part is that holding a kick board is only comfortable for so long, so I had to experiment with different ways of holding the board and not using it at all. Eventually I broke out the fins to help with all of the kicking and then developed blisters on my feet from using those so much of the time. Some days it feels like you just can't win.
Slowly I started adding in some freestyle to test it out. As long as I kept it minimal I seemed to do okay. While I was gaining more mobility in my neck and the terrible spasms had decreased I just wasn't seeing any improvement. I was finally given the go ahead to try the bike. A week ago Sunday I hopped on my bike (on the trainer) to give it a shot. It was miserable, it hurt so bad that I was only able to ride for 10 minutes. I was devastated and running out of options.
I decided to see my sports massage therapist. I felt like my back was still in knots and we just weren't being aggressive enough to work those out in physical therapy. I spent 30 minutes having my back, shoulders and neck tortured. Afterwards, I was sore, but I felt good, I felt like in a couple of days there would be a huge payoff. She said my entire back, shoulders and neck were still really inflamed, but that in a couple of days the tissues should start to repair and it should start to feel better. The next day I hit the pool, which was not one of my best ideas. While she had for sure released a lot of those muscles and I was actually able to lay normally at night and sleep without pain, I think swimming so soon aggravated the most tender spot on my shoulder. I knew though, that I was headed in the right direction. I visited the PT the next day and after I left immediately felt like she had made it worse. Argh.
By Saturday morning I was super depressed and for the first time ever had to consider the idea I may not be able to race. While this is not a super important race for me, I still knew it would make me really sad to have a DNS. I had asked my PT about taping the shoulder but taping isn't anything that she specializes in or has much knowledge of. I knew I had to take things into my own hands if I was going to have a shot at showing up race day. I got out my rock tape and taped up my shoulder. I got on the bike and set out to ride for 30 minutes, which I did. I felt triumphant for sure. Saturday's bike portion will only be a little over 8 miles due to construction so I'm feeling confident that my body will hold up for the shortened bike portion.
On Monday a different PT taped my back for posture. Mostly to insure that I don't fall into a slouched position due to fatigue and cause more pain. I tested it on the swim, bike and run this week and it doesn't seem to hinder anything (we were mostly worried about positioning on the bike) so I'll return on Friday to get re-tapped for Saturday's race.
What a roller coaster. I'm excited to race on Saturday and while I know the bike is going to be tough and I haven't trained in the manner that I had planned, I'm thrilled to actually be able to race and get my last triathlon in of the year.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Let's ROC 5k
My favorite annual run. This past Sunday was my fourth year running this race. Over the years the name has changed, and the beneficiary has changed but it always remains a run for ovarian cancer education and the same daunting flat course.
How could a flat course be daunting you ask? Well that's because traditionally this run starts at 5:30pm, in Sacramento, in September. This race is always stupid hot. The kind of stupid hot where you feel like you have cotton balls in your mouth, the kind of stupid hot where you actually have to take water at both aid stations for a 5k distance. I love this race but it's also always the hardest 5k I run every year because of the weather.
You can imagine my delight when I discovered they moved this race to a Sunday morning. It must have made a lot of other folks excited as well, because this year was their biggest with 1300 registered runners.
I've been slightly sidelined the past several weeks as I endured a shoulder/neck injury. Mostly due to a really poor bike fit (I got a great new bike fit - I'll include that in another post) and my sudden fondness of swimming and starting a masters program. I'm working hard (or hardly working as it sometimes feels) to rehabilitate and train for my last tri of the season. So that means physical therapy twice a week, a bunch of neck stretches everyday and reducing my swim and biking.
I have a goal this year of running a sub 30 minute 5k. I know it's attainable but I've been so focused on triathlon this year that I haven't had much time to work on that goal. I knew it would be something I would focus on for the end of the year but I'm so not the patient type.
While I was not certain I could achieve that goal this weekend I figured I might as well try!
When I arrived to the race site at 7:30am it seemed cold, I had on a fleece jacket and was hopeful that the cold morning air would help me not overheat and be able to run a faster pace than what I typically do at this race. About 2 minutes into the run it was apparent that the course was still hot even at this time in the morning. There were no clouds and it was warming up quickly in Sacramento. As I obnoxiously stared at my watch my pace was too fast out of the gate and I kept trying to slow down, which seemed like an impossible task. About a half mile in I managed to stay at my goal pace and was feeling pretty good. Mile one down and my pace was great. I was however hot and my heart rate zone was much higher than I wanted it to be. Which probably took a larger mental toll than it should have. I was fatigued. While my legs were happy and could have carried me on much further my lungs and heart rate were telling me a different story.
Mile two was not terrible but not the pace I needed to be averaging to go sub 30. I don't need the sub 30 today, I know I can get it this year I kept telling myself. How many times have I watched my kids try to beat a swim time and not get it. It takes lots of effort and some failed attempts, but I'll earn it eventually.
Mile three basically sucked ass. I took more water in at the second aid station and tried to just keep pushing through the pain. Once I could finally see the finish line I looked down and saw that the time was about 29:30, realizing I was still under 30 minutes, I thought maybe I could get it (but in the back of my mind doing the math realizing there was still too much ground to cover) so I started sprinting. Very quickly I was introduced to the wall. Oh hell no, you can't sprint that long said my body. So I slowed down and crossed the finish line at 30:41.
Not my best time but a really solid 5k run for me. The proudest point was that I shaved 4 minutes off of last years time. Much of this can be chalked up to the change in the time of day that race is being run, but it still felt pretty good to earn a course PR that big.
I'm looking forward to completing my last tri of the season and to return my focus to running. This race made me realize how much i love running and how much I missed racing in the 5k distance this year.
19/77 AG
243/1030 OA
How could a flat course be daunting you ask? Well that's because traditionally this run starts at 5:30pm, in Sacramento, in September. This race is always stupid hot. The kind of stupid hot where you feel like you have cotton balls in your mouth, the kind of stupid hot where you actually have to take water at both aid stations for a 5k distance. I love this race but it's also always the hardest 5k I run every year because of the weather.
You can imagine my delight when I discovered they moved this race to a Sunday morning. It must have made a lot of other folks excited as well, because this year was their biggest with 1300 registered runners.
I've been slightly sidelined the past several weeks as I endured a shoulder/neck injury. Mostly due to a really poor bike fit (I got a great new bike fit - I'll include that in another post) and my sudden fondness of swimming and starting a masters program. I'm working hard (or hardly working as it sometimes feels) to rehabilitate and train for my last tri of the season. So that means physical therapy twice a week, a bunch of neck stretches everyday and reducing my swim and biking.
I have a goal this year of running a sub 30 minute 5k. I know it's attainable but I've been so focused on triathlon this year that I haven't had much time to work on that goal. I knew it would be something I would focus on for the end of the year but I'm so not the patient type.
While I was not certain I could achieve that goal this weekend I figured I might as well try!
When I arrived to the race site at 7:30am it seemed cold, I had on a fleece jacket and was hopeful that the cold morning air would help me not overheat and be able to run a faster pace than what I typically do at this race. About 2 minutes into the run it was apparent that the course was still hot even at this time in the morning. There were no clouds and it was warming up quickly in Sacramento. As I obnoxiously stared at my watch my pace was too fast out of the gate and I kept trying to slow down, which seemed like an impossible task. About a half mile in I managed to stay at my goal pace and was feeling pretty good. Mile one down and my pace was great. I was however hot and my heart rate zone was much higher than I wanted it to be. Which probably took a larger mental toll than it should have. I was fatigued. While my legs were happy and could have carried me on much further my lungs and heart rate were telling me a different story.
Mile two was not terrible but not the pace I needed to be averaging to go sub 30. I don't need the sub 30 today, I know I can get it this year I kept telling myself. How many times have I watched my kids try to beat a swim time and not get it. It takes lots of effort and some failed attempts, but I'll earn it eventually.
Mile three basically sucked ass. I took more water in at the second aid station and tried to just keep pushing through the pain. Once I could finally see the finish line I looked down and saw that the time was about 29:30, realizing I was still under 30 minutes, I thought maybe I could get it (but in the back of my mind doing the math realizing there was still too much ground to cover) so I started sprinting. Very quickly I was introduced to the wall. Oh hell no, you can't sprint that long said my body. So I slowed down and crossed the finish line at 30:41.
Not my best time but a really solid 5k run for me. The proudest point was that I shaved 4 minutes off of last years time. Much of this can be chalked up to the change in the time of day that race is being run, but it still felt pretty good to earn a course PR that big.
I'm looking forward to completing my last tri of the season and to return my focus to running. This race made me realize how much i love running and how much I missed racing in the 5k distance this year.
19/77 AG
243/1030 OA
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Bad blogger
Have I really not blogged anything all summer?
I guess that's because we were super busy having fun and the kids were home which makes typing out cohesive sentences nearly impossible.
Here is what our summer looked like.
And in between that there was some of this.
We're back in the full swing of school and fall swimming, Which means back to training for me. I've been sidelined by an injury but I'm doing PT and anxious to get back at it!
I guess that's because we were super busy having fun and the kids were home which makes typing out cohesive sentences nearly impossible.
Here is what our summer looked like.
And in between that there was some of this.
We're back in the full swing of school and fall swimming, Which means back to training for me. I've been sidelined by an injury but I'm doing PT and anxious to get back at it!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Mermaid Series Sprint Tri
I have been lagging in writing a race report. I was waiting for photos and I finally got some. Instead of boring you with another recount of race day, I'll just let this be a visual race report.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Summer!
I've been a bad blogger, but the good news is it's because I'm busy being a good Mom, I hope.
As for most with children, the past month has been a whirlwind of end of school events, pre-season swim team practice and for us squeezing in Mini Mermaid Running Club. I have been so excited for summer vacation to start, until I realized I am more tired after our first week of vacation than I was in the end of school madness.
We started out our first weekend of summer with the fabulous folks at Mermaid Series. Friday night, I volunteered at packet pick-up, Saturday night we ran or rather walked the 5k with the girls and Sunday morning I completed the sprint triathlon.
I was very worried with the high temperatures on Saturday about the girls running a 5k. Lucky for us it was about 30 degrees cooler in Alameda than it was at our house. Not so lucky for us was that Sydney had a fever and a headache. She decided to go and give it a shot anyway. I told her no pressure, it should be fun and she could walk if she needed to. With this being Kylie's first 5k, I figured there would be lots of walking anyway.
They were all smiles before we started. As we waited at the start line we danced and had fun. Then we were off. The girls ran the first little bit of the course and then Sydney decided she needed to walk. I have to say, she was miserable, but she really wanted to give it a shot. There were times she wanted to turn around and head back but we just talked the entire time so that she would be distracted from her headache and the fact that she felt lousy. Scott walked with Kylie and she brought up several times the Boston Marathon bombing. We talked a lot about Boston after it happened but haven't talked much about it lately, so it didn't cross my mind that she might be nervous about crossing the finish line.
Sydney and I crossed the line and were welcomed back with cheers by Coach Heidi and Coach Meagan. I was super proud of Sydney for preserving and finishing on a day when she didn't feel well.
When it was Kylie's turn to finish, I thought she was being shy about hearing her name on the loudspeaker. For as outgoing as she is, she does have moments of shyness. I went out to run in with her only to find her in tears. She was really scared to the cross the finish line. I picked her up, gave her a big bear hug and we ran in together.
She seemed to get over her fears quickly when she realized there were cupcakes.
It was another great experience with the Mini Mermaid Running Club and the girls have even more shwag to add to their collection of mermaid gear.
As for most with children, the past month has been a whirlwind of end of school events, pre-season swim team practice and for us squeezing in Mini Mermaid Running Club. I have been so excited for summer vacation to start, until I realized I am more tired after our first week of vacation than I was in the end of school madness.
We started out our first weekend of summer with the fabulous folks at Mermaid Series. Friday night, I volunteered at packet pick-up, Saturday night we ran or rather walked the 5k with the girls and Sunday morning I completed the sprint triathlon.
I was very worried with the high temperatures on Saturday about the girls running a 5k. Lucky for us it was about 30 degrees cooler in Alameda than it was at our house. Not so lucky for us was that Sydney had a fever and a headache. She decided to go and give it a shot anyway. I told her no pressure, it should be fun and she could walk if she needed to. With this being Kylie's first 5k, I figured there would be lots of walking anyway.
They were all smiles before we started. As we waited at the start line we danced and had fun. Then we were off. The girls ran the first little bit of the course and then Sydney decided she needed to walk. I have to say, she was miserable, but she really wanted to give it a shot. There were times she wanted to turn around and head back but we just talked the entire time so that she would be distracted from her headache and the fact that she felt lousy. Scott walked with Kylie and she brought up several times the Boston Marathon bombing. We talked a lot about Boston after it happened but haven't talked much about it lately, so it didn't cross my mind that she might be nervous about crossing the finish line.
Sydney and I crossed the line and were welcomed back with cheers by Coach Heidi and Coach Meagan. I was super proud of Sydney for preserving and finishing on a day when she didn't feel well.
When it was Kylie's turn to finish, I thought she was being shy about hearing her name on the loudspeaker. For as outgoing as she is, she does have moments of shyness. I went out to run in with her only to find her in tears. She was really scared to the cross the finish line. I picked her up, gave her a big bear hug and we ran in together.
She seemed to get over her fears quickly when she realized there were cupcakes.
It was another great experience with the Mini Mermaid Running Club and the girls have even more shwag to add to their collection of mermaid gear.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Wolfpack Mother's Day Run
May has been crazy in our house, which is why I am a little slow in writing a race report. I typically like to celebrate my birthday by running a 5k, so this year I figured why not celebrate Mother's Day by running a 5k. There were a ton of great races to choose from, I had a difficult time narrowing down which race I wanted to run. Ultimately I decided on Wolfpack Events Mother's Day Run. This was a new event for them and since all of their races are in my backyard I could hardly resist. I also knew this would be a small crowd. Most of their races are on on the small side but have a really nice feeling of community. When I peeked at the list of registered runners, I was able to see that there were only about five people registered in my age group. This gave me hope that maybe I could win my first age group award.
The night before the race was very unpredictable in my house. I had planned a sensible pre-race meal but my family had other ideas and came home with Chinese food for dinner. I even had a Mike's Hard Lemonade. I got a look from my husband that said "what the hell?" I never, ever have alcohol the night before a race. I explained that I wasn't expecting to do anything spectacular the next morning. I've been exhausted ever since the Moraga Triathlon. I've barely been able to keep up with my training and had even been fearful of running or pushing it hard after all that severe cramping I experienced. I knew I was in no shape to go out and earn a PR on an unfamiliar course. Thus, the Mike's and Chinese food. The course description said the 5k was all paved straight out and back. Notice it said, straight, not flat. At the least I was expecting some hills.
Race morning arrived and it was weird to not have to be up super early, but that's the bonus of racing a small, close to home event. I arrived at the race site only to find a set of steep stairs between me and the start line. I didn't think much of it as I headed down to collect my bib and t-shirt. As usual San Pablo Dam Reservoir is beautiful in the morning. The issue would come as I had to hike back up those stairs before the start of the race to put my t-shirt and goodies in the car. Ouch!
There is only one timing mat which is at the finish line with Wolfpack events. I placed myself close to the front of the pack, knowing we would all have the same start time. As we headed out the front of the pack really took off. Strangely, I wasn't getting passed by anyone behind me. The first half mile was downhill so when I looked at my watch and saw I was running a 9:17 minute mile, I just let it be. I knew it would be a sufferfest on the way home so I figured I'd enjoy the fun part while I could. I still hadn't been passed by anyone which seemed odd to me. I wasn't at the front of the pack but clearly I wasn't at the back so I felt good about that. There was an older gentleman in front of me who was wearing a USCG shirt, I tried to just hang with him. Then all of a sudden we hit trail. And by trail I mean rocky, uneven trail. It became a huge effort to just be sure I avoided the largest rocks on the trail. Then the rocky trail turned into uphill rocky trail. Not exactly what I was expecting but I stuck with with. This is the point where I lost the retired Coast Guard runner. As I got close to the turn around I had to slow to a walk. It was hot, dry, rocky and did I mention uphill? I got passed at this point by a woman who appeared to be younger than me. Damn, okay. I grabbed some water at the turn around, drank some and poured the rest over my head and tried to enjoy the downhill section of the trail before I would hit the uphill pavement section again. I was grateful to exit the trail and be back on pavement even if that meant having to run uphill again. I was passed by a few more people who I would later find out were the 5 miler runners who had started ahead of us. I knew the final stretch to the finish line would be flat but the half mile of uphill was taking it's toll. I took another a short walk break before I started running again. Ahead of me I saw the woman that had passed me on the uphill portion of the trail, she was walking. It was so tempting to slow down to a walk behind her and catch my breath. Damn mental games! "You are fine, you don't need to walk!" I told myself. So I passed her and pushed up the hill. As I approached the crest of the hill I looked behind me and saw literally, no one. I breathed a sigh of relief and thought that everyone else was struggling with the course as well. I kicked it in to high gear to sprint to the finish line.
I looked around and seemed sort of surprised that there were not too many people around. I had managed to keep two thirds of the field behind me. I was hoping for maybe 3rd in my age group, so I patiently waited around for results. Wolfpack is awesome about posting results super fast at their races. Sadly, they were having technical difficulties and so we waited around for quite a while to see the results.
I tried to wait for the crowd to dissipate once they finally posted results, I had to look three times because I was sure I was reading it wrong. 1st in my AG! I almost cried (that's not hard to do). I have never placed in my AG, while I've worked on speed over the years and I have seen some great improvements, I'm just not that fast. But on this day I was the fastest of the five women in my AG. Obviously, I should be racing more Wolfpack races to boost my self esteem :)
As a special Mother's Day treat we all got mugs with coffee and biscotti!
1st in my AG
9th in the women's division
22nd overall
The night before the race was very unpredictable in my house. I had planned a sensible pre-race meal but my family had other ideas and came home with Chinese food for dinner. I even had a Mike's Hard Lemonade. I got a look from my husband that said "what the hell?" I never, ever have alcohol the night before a race. I explained that I wasn't expecting to do anything spectacular the next morning. I've been exhausted ever since the Moraga Triathlon. I've barely been able to keep up with my training and had even been fearful of running or pushing it hard after all that severe cramping I experienced. I knew I was in no shape to go out and earn a PR on an unfamiliar course. Thus, the Mike's and Chinese food. The course description said the 5k was all paved straight out and back. Notice it said, straight, not flat. At the least I was expecting some hills.
Race morning arrived and it was weird to not have to be up super early, but that's the bonus of racing a small, close to home event. I arrived at the race site only to find a set of steep stairs between me and the start line. I didn't think much of it as I headed down to collect my bib and t-shirt. As usual San Pablo Dam Reservoir is beautiful in the morning. The issue would come as I had to hike back up those stairs before the start of the race to put my t-shirt and goodies in the car. Ouch!
There is only one timing mat which is at the finish line with Wolfpack events. I placed myself close to the front of the pack, knowing we would all have the same start time. As we headed out the front of the pack really took off. Strangely, I wasn't getting passed by anyone behind me. The first half mile was downhill so when I looked at my watch and saw I was running a 9:17 minute mile, I just let it be. I knew it would be a sufferfest on the way home so I figured I'd enjoy the fun part while I could. I still hadn't been passed by anyone which seemed odd to me. I wasn't at the front of the pack but clearly I wasn't at the back so I felt good about that. There was an older gentleman in front of me who was wearing a USCG shirt, I tried to just hang with him. Then all of a sudden we hit trail. And by trail I mean rocky, uneven trail. It became a huge effort to just be sure I avoided the largest rocks on the trail. Then the rocky trail turned into uphill rocky trail. Not exactly what I was expecting but I stuck with with. This is the point where I lost the retired Coast Guard runner. As I got close to the turn around I had to slow to a walk. It was hot, dry, rocky and did I mention uphill? I got passed at this point by a woman who appeared to be younger than me. Damn, okay. I grabbed some water at the turn around, drank some and poured the rest over my head and tried to enjoy the downhill section of the trail before I would hit the uphill pavement section again. I was grateful to exit the trail and be back on pavement even if that meant having to run uphill again. I was passed by a few more people who I would later find out were the 5 miler runners who had started ahead of us. I knew the final stretch to the finish line would be flat but the half mile of uphill was taking it's toll. I took another a short walk break before I started running again. Ahead of me I saw the woman that had passed me on the uphill portion of the trail, she was walking. It was so tempting to slow down to a walk behind her and catch my breath. Damn mental games! "You are fine, you don't need to walk!" I told myself. So I passed her and pushed up the hill. As I approached the crest of the hill I looked behind me and saw literally, no one. I breathed a sigh of relief and thought that everyone else was struggling with the course as well. I kicked it in to high gear to sprint to the finish line.
I looked around and seemed sort of surprised that there were not too many people around. I had managed to keep two thirds of the field behind me. I was hoping for maybe 3rd in my age group, so I patiently waited around for results. Wolfpack is awesome about posting results super fast at their races. Sadly, they were having technical difficulties and so we waited around for quite a while to see the results.
I tried to wait for the crowd to dissipate once they finally posted results, I had to look three times because I was sure I was reading it wrong. 1st in my AG! I almost cried (that's not hard to do). I have never placed in my AG, while I've worked on speed over the years and I have seen some great improvements, I'm just not that fast. But on this day I was the fastest of the five women in my AG. Obviously, I should be racing more Wolfpack races to boost my self esteem :)
As a special Mother's Day treat we all got mugs with coffee and biscotti!
1st in my AG
9th in the women's division
22nd overall
Saturday, April 27, 2013
I left my legs in Canyon
Seriously, I underestimated today's bike. But we all know the bike is my weakest link. Those hills did not look so bad when I drove the course or when I reviewed them in my Garmin Connect account.
I guess I should start at the beginning.
I arrived early and was the second person in transition and since the first person took the most ideal spot, I went with my second choice. I set up and wandered around until more folks arrived. First to arrive was Mary Sue who was doing her first triathlon. It's always a relief to see Mary Sue since we do so many races together. Pretty soon my Del Rey Mom's started arriving and it started to feel like a social event. In all seriousness, the greatest thing about this race was that it was in my backyard and there were so many familiar faces. The one thing that I really love about this adventure is the sense of family when you come to an event, we are all in this together and the sense of family and community was strong today.
The swim was in a pool (yay!) so swimmers were sent off every ten seconds based on the time they provided for the swim. I was starting 155th so I had some time to be cold and watch the other swimmers to get an idea of what I would need to do. I would traverse all 8 lanes in the 50 meter pool, which meant you had to swim under lane lines as we zigzagged through the pool. The nice part about being a slow swimmer and starting 155th is that most of the field had cleared out and there aren't many people there to judge your swim stroke! There were no warm-ups allowed so I did my best to stay warm until I needed to get in line to jump in. That means I kept my fleece on until the last minute to get in line. Jumping in the water never felt so good! I waited for the "go" and then I was off. My goal was to swim comfortably, breathe bilaterally and stay calm. The swim was going to be the easiest leg of the day. So I stayed focus on easy breathing. All was going well until I hit the third lane, all of a sudden we were really jammed up. One male was trying to pass me and we caught up to the swimmers in front of us. They were swimming three wide, the guy trying to pass me and was just swimming next to me was swimming breaststroke because he had no room to pass and I kept swimming into the woman in front of me. We all hit the wall together where I had to basically sit and wait for them to swim under the lane and push off. Um, okay. Then I thought this is bullshit, I'm not going to let these people decide my swim time. As the two of us pressed on I continued to hit the feet of the woman in front of me with my hands, she finally stopped turned around and gave me a dirty look. I think at this point she actually realized they were swimming three wide and not allowing anyone else to make a pass. I found a spot and made a move, I'm a slow swimmer so if you are swimming slower than me you seeded yourself wrong and I have every right to try and get past you. Once I got past her I actually passed the others at the wall. This allowed me to swim the last 2 lanes with no hindrance. I even passed the guy who was trying to pass me earlier. Before I knew it it was time to climb out and run to transition. And by run I mean, really run to transition. It was a long run. I got out of the pool in under 10 minutes but my swim time is 10:21 because half of the distance to transition is included in your swim time, the other half is in your T1 time.
The other nice thing about being a slow swimmer is that most of the field was already out on the bike and transition was easy. I was worried because people racked their bikes all in the same direction and the folks next to me had their towels and gear taking up the entire aisle of transition into the next rack. Thankfully, since they were all out already it wasn't too bad getting out. T1 time 2:08, long for not having a wetsuit, but I also need to remember that some of that was the other half of the run from the pool.
As I made my way to the mount line there were two speed bumps so I ran past one before I mounted and was trying to get clipped in prior to the second speed bump, I had some issues getting clipped in, but I managed to push off and clip in once over the second speed bump. As I hit the road iItried to think about when I would take in nutrition, there would be a lot of ups and downs and some intersections to navigate at the beginning. I ate a couple of chews at the start and got some water in after I cleared the intersections. I spotted my friend Stephanie from a distance, or I spotted her dog Gilbert first and then yelled out to her as I approached. It always helps to see a friendly face along the way. As I made my way into Canyon I tried to just get comfortable. Lots of ups and downs and lots of shifting gears. As I started my first decent climb a huge sense of relief washed over me as I crested and prepared for a downhill. That is until I looked over and saw the hill that the folks ahead of me were climbing on the return out of Canyon. Holy hell, I think I may have shed a tear at this point. I had to use my granny gear on that first hill, and the return climb was longer. I thought to myself, I'm going to have to walk that. There is no way I can ride up that, what am I going to do. I tried to put it to the back of my mind. the rest of the way out to Canyon and at the turn around I focused on riding easy so that I would have something for that hill. That planned work as I actually made it up the hill and without tears. A huge sense of relief rushed over me as I felt the worst was over. I did still have a bit of biking to do (that was only half). Let's just say I wasn't too stoked to do more climbing on the second portion of the bike. At one point I looked at a volunteer and begged for no more hills. My legs were toast and I had serious doubts that I had anything left for the hilly run that was too come. The remaining part of the ride along Moraga Road seemed to take forever. Especially the last mile, I wanted off the bike incredibly bad, my legs were so sore. As I made the left hand turn into the school I attempted to navigate those speed bumps again and unclip. Bike time was 1:07:26, seven minutes slower than I had hoped for.
As I tried to navigate the millions of people wandering around transition (no one watching it to allow athletes only) I racked my bike, changed my shoes and took the time to give kisses to my girls. This is the first race the family has ever come to. Normally, this is Mom time but it was really special to have them there and I wanted to be sure that they knew that! After all, they make lots of sacrifices for me to enjoy this hobby.
T2 time 1:06, kisses and all.
The first part of the run is flat so that helped, but I knew my legs were not happy with me. I had grabbed my Gu and knew I would be taking it early into the run so I just held onto it. I whimpered a little as I passed the 8-11 year old turn to the finish line, never in my life have I ever wanted to be an 8 year old so bad! As I rose up into the neighborhood, I realized I ran the course backwards on my practice run. Oops, okay that through for me a little loop, but it's all the same right? Still lots of hills. I decided to take in my Gu on the first hill, it was a nice excuse to slow down and walk. I started doing run/walk intervals up the hill, that had been my plan anyway. It was such a sufferfest as I reached the first turnaround point but at least it was going to be downhill for a little bit. That's when it hit me, right at that turn around sign. Cramps. I've heard of people cramping up badly before but I have never experienced anything like this. Oh the pain, and right at the downhill, which seemed so unfair. I worked through it and running downhill seemed to be much better than uphill. I knew that meant I would be walking more of the next hill than running it. As I made the turn for the longest hill on the run I took it as easy as I could. When I tried to run it hurt immensely so I just walked. As I finally made it to the top of the hill I was more than ready to embrace that downhill. Sadly, my body had other things in mind. The pain became so bad and it didn't matter if I was running or walking. I knew this was a result of the bike, but I have never experienced pain like this during a race. I truly felt I would be limping to the finish line or that I might actually just collapse and cross the line all bloody, because I was going to finish no matter how much it hurt. I actually stopped and tried to stretch. That didn't seem to help much but someone offered me some Gu which I knew I didn't need as I had just taken some, I just needed it to kick in! I ran with the woman who kindly offered support and finally the pain started to dissipate. As I made the turn into the parking lot I faced the one last hill on the course before I had to run 3/4 of the way around the track to the finish line. The pain started to kick in again so I walked the hill.
that's when I spotted Scott. He somehow thought that saying "come on, is that all you've got!" would motivate me, so I flipped him the bird.
Once I reached the soft, flat track running again seemed nice.
I didn't have much kick left for the finish line but just running on the track was such a huge improvement and I was so happy to be done.
Run time 35:50, 50 seconds over what I expected, not too bad considering the major cramping that was going on.
Overall time was 1:56:53. I was shooting for 1:50 but knew I would be happy with anything under 2 hours. Once again, I need to work on my bike! But I'm happy with how I did on a hilly course and how I continued to dig deep and push and not give up. My mental game prevailed today.
T-minus 6 weeks until the next one.
I guess I should start at the beginning.
I arrived early and was the second person in transition and since the first person took the most ideal spot, I went with my second choice. I set up and wandered around until more folks arrived. First to arrive was Mary Sue who was doing her first triathlon. It's always a relief to see Mary Sue since we do so many races together. Pretty soon my Del Rey Mom's started arriving and it started to feel like a social event. In all seriousness, the greatest thing about this race was that it was in my backyard and there were so many familiar faces. The one thing that I really love about this adventure is the sense of family when you come to an event, we are all in this together and the sense of family and community was strong today.
The swim was in a pool (yay!) so swimmers were sent off every ten seconds based on the time they provided for the swim. I was starting 155th so I had some time to be cold and watch the other swimmers to get an idea of what I would need to do. I would traverse all 8 lanes in the 50 meter pool, which meant you had to swim under lane lines as we zigzagged through the pool. The nice part about being a slow swimmer and starting 155th is that most of the field had cleared out and there aren't many people there to judge your swim stroke! There were no warm-ups allowed so I did my best to stay warm until I needed to get in line to jump in. That means I kept my fleece on until the last minute to get in line. Jumping in the water never felt so good! I waited for the "go" and then I was off. My goal was to swim comfortably, breathe bilaterally and stay calm. The swim was going to be the easiest leg of the day. So I stayed focus on easy breathing. All was going well until I hit the third lane, all of a sudden we were really jammed up. One male was trying to pass me and we caught up to the swimmers in front of us. They were swimming three wide, the guy trying to pass me and was just swimming next to me was swimming breaststroke because he had no room to pass and I kept swimming into the woman in front of me. We all hit the wall together where I had to basically sit and wait for them to swim under the lane and push off. Um, okay. Then I thought this is bullshit, I'm not going to let these people decide my swim time. As the two of us pressed on I continued to hit the feet of the woman in front of me with my hands, she finally stopped turned around and gave me a dirty look. I think at this point she actually realized they were swimming three wide and not allowing anyone else to make a pass. I found a spot and made a move, I'm a slow swimmer so if you are swimming slower than me you seeded yourself wrong and I have every right to try and get past you. Once I got past her I actually passed the others at the wall. This allowed me to swim the last 2 lanes with no hindrance. I even passed the guy who was trying to pass me earlier. Before I knew it it was time to climb out and run to transition. And by run I mean, really run to transition. It was a long run. I got out of the pool in under 10 minutes but my swim time is 10:21 because half of the distance to transition is included in your swim time, the other half is in your T1 time.
The other nice thing about being a slow swimmer is that most of the field was already out on the bike and transition was easy. I was worried because people racked their bikes all in the same direction and the folks next to me had their towels and gear taking up the entire aisle of transition into the next rack. Thankfully, since they were all out already it wasn't too bad getting out. T1 time 2:08, long for not having a wetsuit, but I also need to remember that some of that was the other half of the run from the pool.
As I made my way to the mount line there were two speed bumps so I ran past one before I mounted and was trying to get clipped in prior to the second speed bump, I had some issues getting clipped in, but I managed to push off and clip in once over the second speed bump. As I hit the road iItried to think about when I would take in nutrition, there would be a lot of ups and downs and some intersections to navigate at the beginning. I ate a couple of chews at the start and got some water in after I cleared the intersections. I spotted my friend Stephanie from a distance, or I spotted her dog Gilbert first and then yelled out to her as I approached. It always helps to see a friendly face along the way. As I made my way into Canyon I tried to just get comfortable. Lots of ups and downs and lots of shifting gears. As I started my first decent climb a huge sense of relief washed over me as I crested and prepared for a downhill. That is until I looked over and saw the hill that the folks ahead of me were climbing on the return out of Canyon. Holy hell, I think I may have shed a tear at this point. I had to use my granny gear on that first hill, and the return climb was longer. I thought to myself, I'm going to have to walk that. There is no way I can ride up that, what am I going to do. I tried to put it to the back of my mind. the rest of the way out to Canyon and at the turn around I focused on riding easy so that I would have something for that hill. That planned work as I actually made it up the hill and without tears. A huge sense of relief rushed over me as I felt the worst was over. I did still have a bit of biking to do (that was only half). Let's just say I wasn't too stoked to do more climbing on the second portion of the bike. At one point I looked at a volunteer and begged for no more hills. My legs were toast and I had serious doubts that I had anything left for the hilly run that was too come. The remaining part of the ride along Moraga Road seemed to take forever. Especially the last mile, I wanted off the bike incredibly bad, my legs were so sore. As I made the left hand turn into the school I attempted to navigate those speed bumps again and unclip. Bike time was 1:07:26, seven minutes slower than I had hoped for.
 |
| You can see me unclipping here and hoping I don't eat it |
 |
| Big smile to see Scott and the girls |
 |
| And then I was off. |
The first part of the run is flat so that helped, but I knew my legs were not happy with me. I had grabbed my Gu and knew I would be taking it early into the run so I just held onto it. I whimpered a little as I passed the 8-11 year old turn to the finish line, never in my life have I ever wanted to be an 8 year old so bad! As I rose up into the neighborhood, I realized I ran the course backwards on my practice run. Oops, okay that through for me a little loop, but it's all the same right? Still lots of hills. I decided to take in my Gu on the first hill, it was a nice excuse to slow down and walk. I started doing run/walk intervals up the hill, that had been my plan anyway. It was such a sufferfest as I reached the first turnaround point but at least it was going to be downhill for a little bit. That's when it hit me, right at that turn around sign. Cramps. I've heard of people cramping up badly before but I have never experienced anything like this. Oh the pain, and right at the downhill, which seemed so unfair. I worked through it and running downhill seemed to be much better than uphill. I knew that meant I would be walking more of the next hill than running it. As I made the turn for the longest hill on the run I took it as easy as I could. When I tried to run it hurt immensely so I just walked. As I finally made it to the top of the hill I was more than ready to embrace that downhill. Sadly, my body had other things in mind. The pain became so bad and it didn't matter if I was running or walking. I knew this was a result of the bike, but I have never experienced pain like this during a race. I truly felt I would be limping to the finish line or that I might actually just collapse and cross the line all bloody, because I was going to finish no matter how much it hurt. I actually stopped and tried to stretch. That didn't seem to help much but someone offered me some Gu which I knew I didn't need as I had just taken some, I just needed it to kick in! I ran with the woman who kindly offered support and finally the pain started to dissipate. As I made the turn into the parking lot I faced the one last hill on the course before I had to run 3/4 of the way around the track to the finish line. The pain started to kick in again so I walked the hill.
that's when I spotted Scott. He somehow thought that saying "come on, is that all you've got!" would motivate me, so I flipped him the bird.
Once I reached the soft, flat track running again seemed nice.
 |
| No longer angry and flipping off people |
 |
| My kids jumping and taking a second to cheer me on. |
 |
| Wearing her Snow Day shirt, love it! |
Run time 35:50, 50 seconds over what I expected, not too bad considering the major cramping that was going on.
 |
| Another race logged int he book with my race buddy! |
T-minus 6 weeks until the next one.
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