On a positive note I got promoted at work and then immediately got handed a very large project to manage.  An important project (as are they all ) and I need to  do a really good job.  There goes the training and therefore there should go the racing.  Will I give up?

Race #2 was the Silicon Valley Long Course 66 mile race.  1 mile swim, 56 mile ride, 9 mile run.  That 9 mile run seemed like such a fabulous idea – 4 fewer miles than a 70.3!!   I’d like to say it lived up to my expectations that it would be so much easier but I’d be lying.

Quick race report

Swim - The water, contrary to what I had heard, was very nice.  Good temperature, clean, silky.  The course was 2 loops where you had to get out of the water and take a quick run down the beach and get back in. There’s nothing quite like standing up and becoming very aware of your rapid heart rate and labored breathing to make a swim just a few notes short of totally terrifying.  I was a twee uncomfortable when I started lap 2 but then I started passing people from a previous wave and I felt  pretty good.  Total swim time 36 minutes.  Good enough.

T2 – my usual fumbling to get the wetsuit off, panting, struggling with the shoes blah, blah, blah. It took approximately forever

Bike - The course was nice.  I felt okay and maybe even passed a person or two. Then some passed me. Then  I rode alone for a while and was happy to note that there is some fine agricultural land still in existence in   Steinbeck Country.  I liked it.  Only 1 hill to speak of and lots of nice scenery.  At about mile 30 I traded off for a bit with a sweet young thing in a UC San Diego Tri suit and finally managed to drop her which felt great even though I was pretty sure I would see her again.  I also traded for a while with a 44 year old and a 59 year old until they eventually dropped me. As they sped off saying something or another I said “We still have 9 miles to  run” and the 44 year old said “Ah – I’m not a runner – that will be more a walking thing” and I thought “great – I’ll wave on my way by you”.

I was hurting and struggling and I had dueling songs in my head.  I would start to hear Carole King’s “I haven’t Got Time for the Pain” and then I would think “NO NO – NOT THAT!” and start channeling the Beatles “It’s Getting Better All the Time”.  It got me through in I wasn’t sure how much time.

T2 - I must have looked pretty toasted because my friend Carrie who was volunteering was ever so encouraging. I just knew she could tell I wanted to cry and go off to play in the playground. I didn’t, though. I swapped my stuff and headed out for the run.

Run – As expected it was a  long, drawn out, sufferfest and  I had no juice. That is the inevitable result of not running very often.  I think I had run 9 miles over  2 weeks and here I was trying to run 9 miles in under 2 hours.  Seemed like a long shot.  I walked, I stopped and breathed, I jogged, I took a Gu, I drank some water, I jogged some more and I told myself, “just get to 4.5 miles and you will be on the way back” and that’s what I did.

It was an out and back and I looked and looked for Ms. 59 and she was nowhere to be found.  Not sure about her 44 year old friend but I think I passed her.  My little bud from UC San Diego flew past me at about mile 4 and I called out “I knew you’d get me” and she called “hang on with me!”  Cute kid.   When I was almost done my friend Sharley came along on her bike and gave me a lead bike to the finish experience.  It was very nice.

Just as I got done I heard them announcing 1st place in my division.  ”She did it in 4:11!” they called.  And then they started moving on so I walked up to the podium and said “I race 55-59 and I just finished so I must be #2″. They said they would get the results in a minute and get back to me which they did not do. When they got done announcing winners I went up and reminded them and they looked it up and scowled at the iPad and finally gave me my bottle of wine and a t-shirt identical to the one I’d gotten in the SWAG bag (WTF??)

Total time 6:08 which was not a happy thing but as it turns out Ms. 1st place “winner” bagged the race and just did the aqua-bike so really I won.  How they failed to note her 2 minute and 18 second run time as they announced her win is beyond me.  Anyhow, the other lady in my AG never showed up so I totally dominated! First, Second and Third!  And I only got 1 bottle of wine. Damn.

It hurt.   It hurt a lot.  So the obvious question is what do I do about Vineman 70.3, Folsom Long Course (66 miles) and Big Kahuna 70.3?  The answer is – I will go ahead and make an attempt at Vineman again.  The game plan is to get more running in and just fake it on the bike and not die on the run.  I’ll probably switch to Folsom Sprint although I could probably dominate my AG again in the Long Course  since the competition all goes for the short stuff.  And I will probably roll over on Big K for this year because no one is paying me for this and it’s kind of a struggle.

So The weird math problem of the day is this:  If an athlete starts the season registered for 6 races and turns 3 into 2 how many races will she do?  Answer: Nobody knows.

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I also showed up with my new bike!  New to me – it’s a 2007 Cervelo P2C. I realized 2 days before the race that with a standard double and an 11-25 on the back I was not going to be able to make it up hills (in my head) so I had the cassette swapped out for an 11-28 hours before we left for the race.

The day started as they always do, way too freakin’ early with our group thinking “WHY!?? Why do we get up at 5 AM on a Sunday to do this”?  We all know the answer but the question is inevitable.

I ripped my wet suit in transition – that was awesome!  Tore a hole about 4 inches wide in the back.  That’s right – the back?  I was following a helpful hint from a fellow racer to bend over and pull on the shoulders to make it fit a little better.  Bad idea.  But I’ve ripped my wet suit before a race before so no biggie. I headed off to the 58 degree water for a nice swim swim.  37 minutes later I was making my way through T1

This is my swim route – I like to post these for the comic value.  Will I ever figure out how to swim in a straight line? Doubtful

It took about 1/2 a life time to get the damned wet suit off .  That was message #2 that it’s time for a new one.  Eventually (3:37 to be exact) I got it off and toddled out to the road to start my ride.

The ride was great.  I still don’t have a computer on the bike and my Garmin isn’t set up to show speed so I went off of perceived effort.  I wanted to see how I was doing.  I did okay. Not great but okay.  Bike split 1:33 which is just under 16mph which is slow for this course but given that these were miles 100 – 125 ON THE YEAR I really can’t complain.  Did I mention that I was under trained?

T2 was going fine until I started to run out and realized I had forgotten my bib – damnit!  I had to run back and get it.  Total time 1:25

The run was, predictably, painful. I managed to end up running with one of those super cheerful cheerleader types who calls out “Great Job!” to every single person on the course. It got old fast but oh well – it’s nice, right?  At about mile 2 I decided  for the 11ty billioneth time that I hate triathlon, I hate racing, I’m an idiot and that I’m just going to cancel out of the 5 other races I’ve already paid for.  That lasted for about 2 miles until I got to run down hill and then I felt a little better because I was still running.  And I ran to the finish.  And then I thought, “Hey – not bad.   You did it and next month you’ll do it better”  Run time 1:07.

Total time 3:24, AG3. Not my best, not my worst.

Shout outs to Threshold Racing for putting on such a fine race.  It was organized, well coordinated, scenic, great traffic control and I got a cool medal and I won a bottle of wine because with 3 people in your age group that’s what  happens.

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Last season I trained as best I could but I was hamstrung with injury (ITB) and a new job that had me on the road and under the gun 7 days a week.  It was kind of brutal and I just didn’t have a lot of time to train but I still had that ‘eh- no big deal… I’ll just put in a few good training days and voila!’

Hahaha…. I spent the race season going on a perpetual roller coaster ride of “I suck.. I can do this… I shouldn’t do this… whatev“.  I don’t think I even wrote about how incredibly painful Vineman 70.3 was, sandwiched in between flights Friday and Sunday (they red-eye).  I did decide, however, that I would never have a season like that again.  That this year I would train and be race ready or not race.

So here we are, Mid-March and I have been on my bike 3 times since the beginning of the year.  5 times since I raced Big Kahuna in September.  My run volume is pathetic- less than 40 miles total since Jan 1.  I have been swimming quite a bit, though.

Yesterday on ride 3 of the year I decided to go up to the junction on Mt. Diablo, a climb of about 2200 feet. It was really hard for me to do. I actually had to get off the bike to get some air at one point.  I spent the time thinking about training and about how all we can do is put in the time, spike up our heart rate, sweat and get stronger.

So as Spring springs I am looking forward to building back my mojo and having those heart pounding, muscle straining workouts that make me stronger.  The good news is that with the shape I’m in getting my heart rate to spike will be really easy.

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There is no better time for self-evaluation and a trip to the internal loony bin than during a race. The rollers on the bike course are no match to the rollers in my head that have me selling my bike and going back to Jazzercise by the time I’m halfway through only to leave me wanting to sign up for another longer, harder race by the time I cross the finish line.

Folsom was the same story. I thought my swimming was just fine and I knew I was not last in my wave and that I had passed people from the wave before so that was fine, right? Oh no. I got out of the water and saw that my swim was long by a couple of minutes and immediately decided that there’s just no hope for me. I will never be a good swimmer and I might as well quit fooling myself. Why do I even do these races anyhow? But Oh well – here I am and my bike awaits.

Then on to T1 where I absolutely could not get my wetsuit off – again. It wasn’t enough that I had ripped a giant hole in the leg pulling it on (yes I know you need to tug on it from the INSIDE). Oh no – it would NOT come off. And then it did and I had on my bike shoes and helmet and off I went.

My legs hurt – they were tired and had lactic acid burn (in spite of eating some SportLegs before the start) and I felt weak. I couldn’t get my speed up. I hated myself, hated racing and decided once again there was NO WAY I’M EVER DOING THIS AGAIN!! And I’m certainly NOT going to do Big Kahuna because races that suck are OFF THE TABLE and it WILL suck!

On I rode, trying to give it my best; trying to speed up. When I had about 5 or so miles left I noticed on my bike computer that my average mph was 15.1 NO WAY! And really – there was no way I could have that pathetic performance on the permanent race record so I spent those miles going absolutely as fast as I could trying to rachet up that number past 16 because really – I MEAN REALLY! And I did. I got it up to 16.1 and decided that perhaps there had been a wind/hill issue going out and I wasn’t maybe (just maybe) well enough trained. Maybe.

The run was fine. I felt pretty good and I ran and ran. Nothing notable. It hurt and I wanted to stop but I didn’t.

And then I finished – 2 minutes off my last year time and 16 minutes slower than I wanted to finish. I was certain that divorcing triathlon was the only solution to how crappy I felt about that. No Big Kahuna, no more racing, no more being a poseur. Done done!

A day later, having really looked at my times and my splits it occurred to me that given the training I had done my finish wasn’t so bad. 5 out of 10 in my AG, right in the middle where I always seem to land. My run was 1 minute faster than last year. My swim was what you might expect when you only swim twice a week, if that. My bike split was truly pathetic but what if I put in more time and trained? What if I did some hard intervals on the trainer? What will happen this weekend when I ride 75 hard ones on Saturday and then do a long run on Sunday?

Hmmmm…. guess I’ll figure it out when I race Big Kahuna.

ps – I have done way more training than you can see evidence of in the side bar. I’m just not the numbers junkie I used to be.

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Last night  in my effort to find something on TV to keep me company while I caught up on Facebook I stumbled on a show on FitTV about Diana Nyad.  Diana was a world class ultra-swimmer.   She attempted at one time to swim from Cuba to Florida and was in the water for 42 hours, covering 90 miles before she had to give up.   She couldn’t repeat that trip because of Visa issues but she did manage to swim from Bimini to Florida successfully.  Makes 2.4 miles seem kind of easy but that wasn’t the best part of seeing that show.

At one time in her life she really wanted to represent the USA at the Olympics. Specifically she wanted to swim in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico when she was 18.  Sadly she had some setbacks including a sexual assault by an adult she knew that strained her emotionally and spiritually  and a cardiac infection that kept her out of the water for 8 months and sapped her fitness.  Those events conspired to keep  her from that goal and she approached her final swim meet in high school with a ‘why bother’ attitude – her dreams a pile of dust.  A friend of hers noticed how laden she looked and said, “look at the nail on your pinkie.  What does that represent as a fraction of the effort you use to swim a race?  Why not go into that race and push off as hard as you can and use every bit of your heart and gut and those muscles you’ve worked so hard to develop and swim as hard and fast as you can and when you get done don’t look to see if you are 1st or 8th, just close your eyes and close your fists and think about how you swam that race so hard you didn’t have a pinkie nail’s worth of effort left in you.”  And that’s what she did.   She came in 6th but it didn’t matter because she was all in on that race and she knew it.

Since then she has filled her life telling stories as a sports caster and she has done many things to inspire others.  She works with women over 40 trying to reclaim their lives and with veterans dealing with any number of  casualties and issues.  She’s done lots of things to inspire and enrich the lives of others.

At the end of the show she talked about how there is so much to do and so many people to help and so much to  experience that no one can do it all – you just can’t. But when her time comes she knows that she will close her eyes  and know that she lived her life  so that she couldn’t have done one pinkie nail more than she did.

And that, as it turns out, is my ‘reason’.    I also do a lot of  “things” – I’m a CASA volunteer (and just signed on to be a team leader and help other CASAs) and I’m on the BOD of my race club and I started the new triathlete program last year and will continue it next year and I “do” stuff; it’s who I am.  This  race and presumably my impending accomplishment in finishing it  is one of many things I am doing not to win, not to be the best, not make someone else  happy, not for glory or fame, but as another component of   living my life with every bit of spirit and effort and joy I can.

Thanks

Getting to a race like this is never a solo effort.

Thanks go to my Coach Tammy Metzer of Tempo Multisport who has taken me from a ‘no way I can do this’  nervous breakdown to feeling 100% confident in my ability to finish. I feel strong and I feel great and she got me here so thank you Coach Tammy!!

My kids have been a huge source of encouragement and inspiration.    That’s one of a bazillion reasons I love them so much and want to make them ever more proud of their Mama.

My friend Sharley took me under her wing and trained with me quite a bit over the last couple of months and it’s been great.  Kelby, too.  Both of them have been great at beating me into shape encouraging me to go a little harder and a little faster than I wanted to.  Dana and Maggs and Kat and Harold and Julie and Christy and Patrick  all get thanks for hours logged training together.  Kudos to Vali for endless cheering and excitement for me (but we really didn’t get much of a chance to train together – baby that knee!)  Chris and Monica are my forever coaches and Joe is my forever font of wisdom and calm.  Thank you to Dana and to Sharely for putting together send off/good luck gatherings for me and thanks to everyone who came – it meant the world. And it means the world to me to know that so very many people are watching me and rooting for me and sending their good vibes.

And on that note – LET’S RUMBLE!!!

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Saturday was long run day – I had to run 2 hours.  It was also a day when many members of my club race at the Back to School 5K or 10K and those not racing go out and volunteer.  Many of my New Triathlete Program people (NTP aka newbies) said they would volunteer and I really wanted to be there to see them the day before our big triathlon and just to be a part of it all.  I also really needed to go see my foster kid for whom I am an advocate through the Court Appointed Special Advocates program (check out the national site to see more).  This child lives hours from me so I had to allocate 2 hours to run and 5 hours of travel time plus the visit plus I had to be up at OMG:thirty on Sunday so I needed to get home early.  I couldn’t work out getting the race in (I guess I could have raced 10K and then run another hour but there aren’t any showers there and racing wasn’t on the plan) so I didn’t go and it felt sort of wrong but very right.  There are things in life that really are more important than triathlon and race clubs and foster kids in need of an anchor is definitely one of them.

My 2 hour run was fine – it felt good and that was exciting because the run and I have not been such good friends lately.  Score!

Sunday was the day of the race I’ve been training the Newbies for.  Most of them had already done a shorter sprint and some had even done an Olympic distance race but this was our big club event and I was so excited.  I didn’t race but I did do the swim with a woman who was very nervous about getting run over by the swim waves behind us (our club gets to go in the first wave en masse and there was quite a mass of us!).  I was there to defend her water space and help her stay calm and I did and she exited the water all in one piece.  After that I ran up to the bike course to cheer people on and then I headed up to the water station to cheer some more and pass out water. Turns out I positioned myself incorrectly and missed some people that way but it was fun.  Then I went down to the finish line to cheer everyone in.

I really wanted o stay and be at the award ceremony and just hang out and talk to everyone about their race  and I wish I had because NTP had people on the podium! How great is that??!!  Alas – I had a long ride on the plan so off I went with my 2 new BFFs and a friend of theirs.  It was a tough, long ride and it was hot and windy but it was great.  There was a moment when I was sure I couldn’t do it and I really worried about how I was going to get out of there but some cold water and a PayDay later and I was fine and rode strong – no problem.

Elevation from gpsvisualizer (top) and from MapMyRide (bottom)

That's it - you ride almost 40 miles and this is what is there

We got back to the park where our cars were right about the time the Challenge Weekend Celebration BBQ was starting but we were sweaty and gross and really needed to get cleaned up.  I had neglected to bring clean clothes but my BFFs had several outfits each with them as well as soap and shampoo and cream rinse so we all used the outdoor, cold water shower and cleaned up in our tri suits and then put clean clothes on (in the privacy of the ladies changing room) and finally, finally headed to the party arriving a mere 90 minutes late to a 2 hour party.  Great.

But it was great because I got a chance to say some words about my fabulous Newbies who stepped up and trained and made their dreams come true.  I’ve hatched a litter of tri-junkies and I couldn’t be happier about it.  I’m so proud of them and so very happy to have played a role in giving them a chance to do something they might not otherwise have done.  I said my words and I handed out a little memento to each of them and then they took the floor.  One of them read a whole story about how there is no “I” in  TEAM and about how great the program had been and how she had made friends and accomplished something wonderful.  Another woman gave a speech about me that made me blush and made me proud and made me feel loved  and then they gave me something to remember this inaugural season with – a Garmin 310XT and a $50 gift certificate to Forward Motion Store, our primary benefactor.  Wow – just wowl  *Channeling Sally Field* -“You LIKE me… right now.  You  LIKE me!”  I’m so humbled and so happy and so very jazzed about my new toy!  But I’m more jazzed that several of the newbies want to ban together to train for an Oly.  Success!

Looking forward, one of the things possibly on my plate is getting a slot for IM Canada when I race Oceanside.  Because it is so early in the year the carrot they dangle to athletes is the potential to get a slot at any of a couple of NA Sports M-dot races and Canada  is one of them (but shhh… don’t tell everyone about this because it’s kind of a secret, okay?).  I have several friends who are going to race and a few more racing Oceanside so they can get slots.  It’s a possibility but one I don’t think I’ll take because this weekend I figured out something really important about me.

My “moment” came when I realized that triathlon is a fundamentally self indulgent endeavor but I am not a fundamentally self indulgent person.  I spend a lot of time volunteering and giving to others because I like it and it makes me feel good.    I feel good about having become an athlete, too but the trade offs cause me stress. This weekend was a great example of that where I was torn between being with my race club and being with my foster kid and being with my race club and getting in my training.  I had to just take a deep breath and let it go but it was difficult.  It all worked out in the end but in the process it made me feel a little crazy.

I’d like to do the NTP next year again and I’d like to help organize this year’s newbies to train for an Oly and I’d like to train with them.  This year my direct participation in their training fell off because I signed up for Beach 2 Battleship and if I raced Canada I’d have a worse problem because it is in August and the training would consume my whole summer.    So again – the opportunity for conflict and stress is huge and I’m a ‘want it all’ kind of gal.  I’m a problem solver, too so here’s the solution:    I’m going to race Oceanside which means training up  a 70.3 on  March 27.  I’ve also decided that  I’m going to attend IM St. George in some capacity.  If I love 140.6 after B2B I might do a fund raiser and buy a community slot for 2010 (I’d pay my $550 and raise the rest) and attend IM  St. George as a participant.   If  I don’t want to do that I can just go be a Sherpa and then sign up for 2011 on-site.  Either way my IM training and season will be over in early May at the latest  and I can get on with the business of playing, training  newbies, and racing shorter distance races.  Brilliant and perfect and what a great Monday it’s been.

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Folsom Olympic Distance Triathlon

The night before the race I went to the Mexican restaurant next door and ordered  a chicken burrito, expecting to get a normal burrito.  No.  I got this ginormous thing (note the burrito is as wide as my laptop and that’s not a netbook) and was pretty stunned.  I gutted the thing and by the time I was ready to toss out what was left it looked a bit like something you might find on the side of the road after it got run over several times.  ew.  Tasty, though!

The swag I got.  Another ‘interesting t-shirt and some samples. Not bad.  By the end of the race I owned 2 more water bottles, too!

A composite of me across all 3 disciplines.  Do I look a tad dead on the run?  And the elation coming out of the water says, “yay!  no cramp!”

Podium!! AG 3 out of 8.  Best podium finish ever!

Sharkfest 09

Is this the shore??  Am I alive??  Oh miracle of miracles!

That dark stuff on my face = sea smutz.

Tour of Napa Valley Century

As we were going up the first big hill the woman behind said, “Is that death or is that bagpipes?”  I was too winded to answer but I’m happy to say it was bagpipes.  This guy was a really welcomed addition to the ride.

Groovin’ at the first aid station with Dana and Kelley!

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Race Day  –

Setting up – One of these things is not like the other:

We got to T1 to set up and I unrolled my socks to discover that one was the kind that goes just to the top of your shoe and the other one was an ankle sock.  I should have taken a picture but I didn’t.  I did decide that the mis-matched socks were a good luck charm and carried on.  I didn’t have a lot of time before my wave went off so  I went through the normal pre-race port-a-potty panic (I was still in line with 14 minutes until my start) but it all worked out and I was on the beach in my wetsuit, cap, goggles and wearing my chip with moments to spare.

The Swim – Is for Fish    

Meh.  I swam.  As always I spent the entire time wondering what the hell I was doing in the water.  Water is for fish – people don’t belong there and OMG will I NEVER get to the turn around???!!! When I finally got there I felt something hit my foot and realized it was the bottom of the river.  I could see the bottom of the river and I could touch it. Absurd.  I stood up to take a look around and then dove back in, being careful not to scrape my nose,  and finished my swim doing my normal crazy zig zag  in my normal 45 minutes which was okay because I have not been swimming much lately.

T1 -  Bikes!

There were bikes still in the rack!!  I was very excited and uplifted by that.  I had a hard time getting my wetsuit off (nothing new there!) but I got it all together, stuffed my wetsuit and towel and cap and goggles in the plastic bag and took off.

The Bike – What Scenery?

When I first got going there was a woman with a 59 on her leg ahead of me.  I decided I would just pace off of her for while but then I felt like I was going too slow and it bugged me so I passed her.  We played cat and mouse for a long time and I came to know her as “59″ because I didn’t make nice and exchange names with her.  I was killing it on the hills and she would pass me on the flats.  I finally got tired of 59 and just dropped her at about mile 40, before Chalk Hill.  I didn’t see her again for a very long time.

I noticed a few interesting things on this bike ride. First of all I noticed every once in a while I would look up and think “oh – it’s so pretty out here” which was a distinct difference from last year when I found the race so annoying for disrupting my sight-seeing time.  Last year as I got near Chalk Hill I found myself in the center of a lot of chatter about the hill and this year I was annoyed at the prospect.  But  I wasn’t cruising with a steady crowd all around me.  I was riding and either passing people or getting passed but no one was tittering about a hill that really isn’t that big a deal.

I had wanted to have a 20 minute PR over last year’s bike split of 3:37   As I got to the top of Chalk Hill and looked at my watch and saw 3:45 I wanted to cry.  How COULD that happen??? I was so much faster.  Then I looked again and realized that was 3:45 total – including the swim and T1  and I looked at the other time on the watch which was 2:53 so I was happy – oh so very happy because in my head T2 was down the hill and around the corner.  Only it wasn’t. The ride kept going and going and going and I started thinking “give me some chute – this distance is killing my time!!” and then I thought “oh – yeah – that’s how this goes. PEDAL FASTER!”

Total bike time was 3:19 which was 2 minutes longer than I wanted it to be but it was still great.  According to my favorite pace calculator 56 miles in 3:19 is a pace of 16.8 mph which made me very happy.

T2 – bikes, damnit

I found my spot easily and switched my stuff.  Nothing interesting there except there were alot of bikes in the rack. I put that out of my mind because it was women 45+ so that was 3 age groups below mine as well as my own so big deal, right?  I did my best not to dwell on the obvious and just got the hell out of there.

The Run – My Journey Through Hell 

I started out running and thinking “oh my – it’s hot” and found myself really pushing to keep running to the first aid station which is just after mile 1.  Not a happy thing.  In fact I found myself walking very early on and thinking “come on – just run. You can do it – just run” but it was really hard.  It also occurred to me that the race was going to take a very, very long time if I kept walking so I did my best to run when I could.  Every time I saw someone in FoMo team kit I tried to pick it up and whoever saw me would say “You look great!” When my friend Joe said that to me I responded,  “Is always better to look good than to feel good” because I did not feel good.  I felt wrung out and limp and hot… so very, very hot.

I tried to focus on short term goals – the next aid station, that cow up there, the next house, “run the flats you can walk the hills” but it was a death march from the get go.  I forged on  just waiting to get to the winery which gets you to the half way point.  When I got there I convinced myself that the irrigation ponds and the moisture from the grape plants  made it cooler and that it was easier to run on the dirt. That worked and gave me a good mile’s worth of running and then I made a decision to stop at the porta-potties as I came out.  Big mistake.  Huge mistake.  It was even hotter in there, I didn’t really need to go that badly and when I got who should I see right ahead of me but 59.  DAMMIT!  I started running and I passed her and said, “and so we meet again” and made some comment about the heat but pretty soon I found myself walking again and she passed me and I just couldn’t muster the energy to take her.  I let her go.

With about 4 miles left, after walking for way too much of the race, inspired by 2 men who had decided to walk the whole thing, I got sick of it all.  I also got passed by a woman with 55 on  her calf and I thought “oh no – I’m losing another place.  This is no good at all” I picked it up and ran and passed her and then I started to walk and she passed me. I started thinking I would let her have it and then I thought “OH NO YOU DI’NT!” and I started running and she started walking and I kept running.  I had no idea where she was but after considering letting her take my place a couple more times I resolved to hang on and keep her behind me and I did.

The Finish

I forced myself to run from one light post to the next…. run to the mailbox and you get to walk from 1 light post to next and then run, run for 3 light posts and you can walk for 1 and then finally, finally I was at the point where people were cheering and ringing cowbells and I ran.. I ran and ran and ran because the Vineman has the most torturous path to the chute of any race in the world and you hear “almost there – just 5,000 meters to go!” over and over and then finally you are running on the grass and you run some more “just 100 meters to go!” and finally you hit the first mat and you know the guy is looking up your name and then you hear you name and WOO HOO!!!! you smile and give a little what what arms in the air and finally, finally you are DONE!

I was more than done  I was cooked to well done.  Charcol briquet done.  Don’t even stick a fork in me because I’m so dried out  it will just blow a hole in me.  Done.  And just after I crossed that line 55 came in behind me – 11 seconds off my time – woot!

My run took a whopping 2:50 and more than eroded the bike PR for a finish time of 7:02 over last year’s 6:55.  On the plus side I didn’t die  – I didn’t even quit.

In Conclusion

The biggest thing I learned, and I’ve learned it before which is why it was such a big lesson this time. is that I never, ever, ever want to finish another race wondering if I could have gone harder.  I feel that way about this race.  I know it was very hot but I’m not convinced I worked as hard as I could have and I hate that feeling.  This isn’t the first time I’ve felt that way but I intend to make it the last time.  Oh yes I do.  And you know what?  The next time is a new race.  There’s always a new race and another day and you can always try again and tri harder.

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The ’Now’ was taken today, Nov 13, 2008.  Although the baby has changed, the Mama, the pants and the sweater are the same. 

Then and Now

So what does this picture prove:

1).  I’m a pack rat

2).  I have a dewlap thing going on – oh well

3).  Triathlon rules!

4).  Somebody has too much time on her hands.

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The Tri for Real in Pleasanton, Ca is my “A” race because this is where it all started for me. I don’t have pictures of me doing it in 2000 on a Schwinn Varsity 10 speed but I do have the official results and my time was 2:31.05 and I placed 254 out of 260 women. 3 “men” came in behind me. One was 11 years old, 1 was limping pretty badly and the other one was grossly overweight. I hated that race and swore that I’d rather run a marathon every day of my life rather than ever do another triathlon.

In 2005 I started blogging and I bumped into Jeanne’s blog and that lead me to Bold’s blog (he retired so no link) and consequently a whole host of triathlon blogs and that opened up the world of triathlon to me again and so in 2006 I decided to give this race another try. I was cool – I had a hybrid bike, spd pedals and I owned a cycling jersey. I finished in what I was sure was 2:11 but there was no entry for me on the results sheets. I spoke with the RD and ultimately they decided I finished in 2:08. Whatever.

The other thing that happened at that race was that the volunteers were from Forward Motion Race Club and they seemed like such nice people and it seemed like it would be really fun to race and train with locals so I joined. That was a good move because in 2007 I did 6 triathlons (Wildflower, Tri for Fun, Folsom International, Tri for Real, Bethel Island and SOMA quarterman). I was hooked. In early 2007 I bought a fancy carbon bike, I bought team kit, I bought a wetsuit and so it goes.

This year I raced less but I raced better finishing my first 70.3 (Vineman) in 6:55 with a little help from my friend Jenny Moore who watched the time and made sure we came in under 7 hours. I had way too much fun at that race (see last set of pics). I also did Tri for Real again with the goal of coming in under 2 hours. Mission accomplished – with a smile on my face.

I’m already signed up for Oceanside 70.3 for April 4, 2009 and there’s really no telling what next year may bring.

Tri for Real 2006 - ROOKIE!

Tri for Real 2007 - In Team Kit!

Tri for Real 2008 - More Fun, Less Fat!

Vineman 70.3 2008

Vineman Finish

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As usual this will not be your standard “work up at 4, had a cup of coffee, pooped, loaded the car….” race report. I leave those to Steve Stenzel (if you haven’t watched his latest video you must) and Amanda Lovato. When it comes to poop posts they are the pros!

So here’s my race report:

Night before Prep: 2 Sammies from Quiznos (Sonoma Turkey and Bistro Steak Melt) and a cup of broccoli/Cheese soup) Perfect.

Pre-Race:

1).Did the packet pickup, put numbers on bike and race belt and forgot to put my number on my helmet – oops. I guess I’ll have to find my pictures in the lost and found section when they come out. I think we all know that for me, the race is all about the pictures. I WILL find them.

2). Why is is so damned hard to get a wetsuit on? And why is it that no matter how much BodyGlide I use on my neck I always, always, always get a wetsuit hickey? So annoying.

Swim:
1). I used anti-fog spray in my goggles for the first time and could see the WHOLE TIME! I didn’t have to stop once to clear my goggles and I didn’t bump into a single kayak. So awesome!

2). At this race last year I had a major cramping problem when I came out of the water. You have to run over river rock to get out and once I stood up my right leg cramped up so painfully that I fell down and sat there screaming for help. I got none and it took 2 attempts and 2 or 3 minutes to be able to use my leg and get out of there. I was SO hoping that didn’t happen this year so I took extra Potassium the day before, drank a double dose of Nuun on the ride up and ate a banana in the morning and was very careful to keep my feet relaxed during the swim. I felt fine as I got to the finish but alas….

3). My swim went well. I let the pack go at the beginning so I didn’t freak out or hyperventilate going too fast but I caught up to the middle of the pack by the turn around and passed a few people on the way back. My legs were relaxed and I felt good and as I came out the water I just stood up and started to go for it and then… next thing I knew -KABLAM! I had a giant cramp and fell down. ARRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!! I sat there pulling back on my toes with people running around me asking – “are you okay” and saying “whoa – look at that!” because my foot was so contorted. Fortunately a course marshall stepped in and gave me a hand up so that I could stand without putting pressure on it until my leg was straight. I thanked him and off I went.

Time 29:00 compared to 33 last year. I hit T1 happy as could be under the circumstances.

T1: good enough and I’m out of there, minus my Garmin. I did have a stop watch with laps so I could capture my time (sort of). I only show 35 seconds. So Swim + T1 = 30:07. Not bad.

Bike:

1). I had forgotten to re-set my bike computer so I attempted to do that while on the ride. The problem is that because of my clip on aero bars it’s hard to get both buttons at once and it’s kind of a 2 hand operation. I almost biffed it big time and started to run off the bike path into the weeds. It was a perilous, wobbly moment in which I could have crashed and had a very bad start to my race. I left well enough alone and just focused on riding.

2). Last year I got passed often and constantly. This year, not so much. My goal was not to get passed by anyone in my age group.

3). No such luck. It took them about 10 and 12 miles to do it but I got passed by 2 women in my division. One of them had the audacity to pass me going downhill and say “Whheeeee!” as she did it. I wanted to kill her. I tried to stay on her and even passed her at one point but alas, she got away from me.

4). You know that old rule about always have your own water? It’s a good one. Last year they handed out water bottles at the 1/2 way point so I counted on that. I had my aero bottle full of Infinit but that was all. This year – no water. So that was a drag but since I had the Infinite I was okay and I did take in the entire 300 calories on the ride. Lesson learned – always take a water bottle.

5). Aero bottles with those mesh things suck. I wore at least 50 calories of Infinite on my glasses and handlebars so make that 250 calories downed on the ride. I need a cap for my aero bottle.

6). I saw a woman fixing a flat and I called out “do you have everything you need” and she called “my pump is broken” and I started to stop and then, for some reason, I decided that she said she was fine (I swear I heard her say “I’m fine- thanks”) and I kept going. I know that wasn’t true because after the race the announcer said “to the guy who gave up his bike pump -you can pick it up at the stage”. I feel like such a heel and I’m so sorry. I should have just stopped and handed her my pump. SORRY! I hope that next guy, the nice one, wasn’t too far behind me.

Ride time: 1:23 which works out to 18 mph. GO ME! Last year I DREAMED of hitting 17 and didn’t come close. Much better. 15 minute improvement over last year.

T2: less that 2:29 which is what the watch says but I forgot to hit the lap button for a while. Nothing of note except that not every single person from my race club was done already as was the case last year. I was very happy about that.

Run:

1). It was hot but it was okay. I just kept chugging along and was pulling sub 10 min miles for a while. My Garmin which I picked up in T2 and spent way too long getting on, kept telling me I was running 12:35 or 11:55 or some such nonsense and I’m starting to hate it. I had to hold it up to the sky to get it to register half the time. So annoying.

2). I did slow down toward the end as it starts to go uphill but I did okay and I passed a woman in my age group. I passed a lot of people and I was happy about that. I was also just cooked by the end as in ‘stick a fork in me – I’m done and I don’t think I’ll EVER race again”. However – last year I got passed just before the finish by a woman in my division and I let her go. She beat me by 18 seconds and I was NOT going to let that happen again so I really pushed it.

3). 3 women from my club where at the finish cheering me. I can’t tell you how much that warmed my heart. I’m going to send them an email and thank Julie and Caroline and Kimberly – you’re the best!

Total time: ~1:05 which is not what I wanted but not too bad.

Update – Official results 10 out of 18 in the 50 – 59 division (6 out of 13 in the 50 – 54)

Swim 0:29:29.5
T1 2:20.2
Bike 1:23:29.1
T2 1:29.5
Run 1:05:35.1
Finish 3:02:23.3

I don’t know what I did to my watch but obviously something is off.

Conclusion:

I ran under the finish clock when it said 3:32 and my wave went off 30 minutes after the start. My watch said 3:00:43 and I didn’t really put 2 and 2 together in that moment. I knew I had 30+ minute PR and I was happy but in a second I went from wanting a big PR to wanting a sub 3 hour finish. When I saw my official time of 3:02 I was disappointed because my watch said 3:00 and I liked that better. And then I was disappointed that I spent time messing with gadgets because that alone cost me a minute, I’m sure. And if only I had picked it up here and there I could have had my sub 3:00 finish. The big problem is that I will not do this race next year because that cramping business is just too unpleasant so now I have no chance to redeem myself.

Please – feel free to slap me into reality I had a 31 minute PR on an Olympic distance race and that is cause for celebration not remorse. I guess I’ll just have to make up on the New York Triathlon or the Nations Triathlon next year. Yeah – that’s it. There’s always next year. And there’s Sept 21 when I will do my “A” race which is a sprint and I WILL go all out.

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Thanks for all the well wishes. I really needed them!

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How to Prepare for a race:
1). Go for a 45 minute bike ride on Thursday and find yourself going 15 – 16 mph holding back. Not that it was easy letting those people pass you but you’re tough. Hold back
2). Go for a short brick run and find that even though you held back you were doing 10 minute miles
3). Swap out old ‘bug eyes’ Body Glove sunglasses for new, hot, sexy Rudy Project Rydon II’s

4). Remember that this is FUN! It’s fun!

Things not to do the day before the race:

1). Start freaking out again

I will remain calm… I will race hard… I will have fun!

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Congratulations to DPR, Baboo and Andy from Arizona Tri Club, and Jen from (Swimming, Biking and Running) Stories who went a stellar 6:12 in Barb’s Race, her first Half IM. Condolences to Geek Girl who had a blown out tubular that could not be fixed. To her credit she ran the 1/2 marathon, anyhow and did fine so congratulations on that.

I had 3 jobs at this race. I directed people to turn left at one of the many turns on the bike, I was DPR’s Own Personal Sherpa™ and I cheered for people as best I could. I had a great day and a great time. I hung out with DPR’s Moms and her adorable babies who I ♥ so much, I got in a little riding since I took my bike and spent some time on the run course and I gave back to the Vineman since the Vineman gave so much to me.

The Vineman tooketh away some on this incredibly hot August 2nd. I feel bad for saying the course was so easy and that Chalk Hill was just nothing because it turns out that in 98 degree heat with a headwind at the end of a 2nd loop of an Iron distance race it is something – something awful. A guy from my race club blew up on the bike and quit on the run. The chopped up roads were not such a big issue for me but they took Misty out of the race completely. And there was the heat.

To those who finished the Vineman gaveth a tremendous amount of pride. The mental game on the Full Vineman is not trivial. The run has 3 loops and all of them make you pass the finish line – ouch. I did say there were some hills and so there are but I only had to run them once – not 3 times. Totally different experience. So between the difficult bike and the hot, hard run this was a very tough race and my hat is off to everyone who made it and to those who didn’t but who gutted it out as long as they possibly could. Well done!

I have pictures – lots of pictures. I will post them soon.

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