Monday Monday – Of Insults and Injuries and The Bounty of Life

Posted on July 7, 2008 by 21cm

It was a good weekend – good for training, good for racing, good for having fun and I was productive, too. In fact I’m feeling so good I’m going to expose myself to you on the internet. Consider it a free treat!

Thursday night I went for a ride with a couple other FMRC people. This is the same ride I wrote the Goofus and Gallent post about only it was just the host and the woman who paced me in my 5K last year. The ride was the same route as last time so I thought it would be a good benchmark of my progress. I thought wrong.

I got dropped instantly – I mean instantly. I could not keep up for a second and I was really struggling and SO frustrated. This was not unlike the last 2 rides I took with the Good Doctor where he rode curlicue – dropping me and then circling back to try to get me to hook on. I couldn’t do it. These guys made no pretense Thursday – they just rode on. And then I got lost. And then I figured out where I was and carried on, up Dog Hill.

I finally see them coming back and they yell “are you going to the top?” and I yell “Yes – just keep going” and on I go – for a minute. Then, just as I’m really working a lot harder than I should need to my rear wheel locks up and down I go – BAM! I get up and see that my knee has a little cut that is bleeding. I really don’t care about that but I’m puzzled by my bike. The rear wheel is crooked in the frame and stuck. I discover that the skewer is loose. Nice. I’ve been riding on a bike with a loose rear skewer for over a week. I monkey around and get the wheel seated better and try to get on the bike only to find that the handlebars are twisted. Yikes. I’ve got no bars on the cell phone and no company. Minor panic sets in but then I think “you have a mini-tool, you have a brain, it’s just a bike – deal”. So I get out the tools, inspect the screws and figure out what to loosen. I get the thing re-aligned and carry on.

My friends rode back up as I was coming down and we all rode to the start together. I had little trouble keeping up on the way home. Hmmm.. interesting.

Friday as I am warming up for the 5K I realize that my butt is sore and figure I must have hurt it falling off the bike. On later inspection I find this:

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Ow. Not “Ow” enough to stop me but ow. Today I looked at it again and it looks like this now:
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Still hurts. I won’t tell you exactly where that spot is but if I had any decency I would not post these pics on my blog. I’m sorry – I’m just a lost soul.

Saturday I rode with the friends I started my cycling days with and it was about time – I miss them. On the way out as I was pushing the bike along my porch the rear wheel locked up. I got it centered with the aid of my face as something to push against while I tightened the skewer wondering all the while, “do bike mechanics use their faces when they repair your bike?” I didn’t have a good feeling about that. Several hundred yards into the ride it locked up again – clearly the face technique was a failure. I almost gave up the ride but not willing to be balked by my bike I finally took the wheel out of the frame and got it in correctly without having to use my face – success! My ride was like being on a new bike. Very pleasant. Especially the part where we stopped and had a latte and a pastry. Best part of the ride, for sure.

That afternoon, in addition to a pain in my a$$, my abs were itching. On inspection I found this:

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Which in close up looks like this:

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It itches like hell!!

Please feel free to hate me for those abs. Did I mention that I’m 53 and had 3 big babies (7 lbs 14 oz, 9 lbs, 2 oz., 8 lbs 10 oz). Yeah – did I also mention how much I LURVE training? Really. It’s the new me but I’m not done yet. By March I intend to have a visible six-pack. Please hold me to that.

Anywho… Saturday night I had dinner at a friend’s house and that was oh so fun and Sunday I did a trail run up Mt. Diablo. We managed 1200 feet of climb. The run down that last part was wee bit dicey – that really isn’t a GPS artifact. It was very steep which made it that much more fun. Okay it might be a little bit of an artifact but still – it was steep. When I stood at the bottom of the ridge and looked up and saw how high we had climbed I felt like Superwoman – it was great.

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After the run we all met back at a very nice house and sat around the pool with our feet in the water eating fruit and treats and chatting. Have I also mentioned how much I love my race club? Love them.

Sunday afternoon I started cleaning up my yard in preparation for IronMomJenny’s visit. She has landscape envy but there is nothing enviable about my yard – it looks horrible. I’m working on it, though, but not today. Monday is my day off. No swimming, no riding, no running and now it’s too hot to garden. Oh shucks. What it isn’t too hot to do is be very, very thankful that my rear wheel did not decided to jam itself up against the frame when I was screaming downhill at 30 MPH. A thought like that could be a real buzz kill.

Posted in Monday Monday, training | 16 Comments

4th of July – PR!

Posted on July 5, 2008 by 21cm

Like 80% of every other blogger I read, I ran a 5K yesterday. I had not run a 5K since I did this race last year and last year I did not PR in spite of having a pacer. She was fresh off finishing Coeur d’Alene but she’s young and she’s fast and pacing me at a 9 minute pace was a good recovery run for her. Sadly, it was too hot and I was not fit enough and ran the race in 29:31 which was not a PR off of my December time of 29:29.

Yesteday I was pretty sure I could PR since my mile splist for just going for a run are often below 10 minutes and the whole run will be anywhere from 9:50 to 10:05. I figured if I worked hard and made it hurt a little I could carve into my previous PR pretty significantly.

I was right. My official time was 26:38 – woot! My splits:
8:37
8:56
7:55

not sure about the last .2 because I forgot to turn the watch off in the chute. A little math suggests it was 6:00 which is absurd. This is the problem with races that don’t use timng chips but whatever – I was smokin’!

Full results are not up yet but I was somewhere below 3rd. I expect not too far below and I’m happy – very happy.

Update – The official, official results are posted and they upped my time -bastards! But it didn’t change my place which was 10 out of 32 in my AG (top 10!!) and 63 out of 374 women. I’ll take it!

Posted in Racing | 14 Comments

Hump Day Miscellany – Events

Posted on July 2, 2008 by 21cm

I’ve been listing stuff to include in this edition of Hump Day Miscellany and the list seemd long but as with all things in the life of a triathlete that seem long and hard I will forge on (most all things that seem long and hard, that is).

1). CdA – my sherpa experience in Coeur d’Alene was really fun but also really emblematic of my life. I hung out almost exclusively with my friend DPR who is also a chum. She has a sushi hat and we just need to get her one of these and get her out for Sharkfest and the circle will be complete. But I digress. The emblematic part is that I seemed always to be on the fringe of things. I missed the big party Thursday night and I missed the big party on Monday night (with the tequila and the lovin’) and I missed seeing some people on the course. I did other stuff like volunteer in sunscreen and as a catcher. So ultimately I felt like I was part of the group but not. And that’s very typical for me. I have pictures and stuff but honestly at this point I think you’ve seen it all. Congrats to all of the finishers – you were awesome!

2). My kitty – what a sad day last Friday was. It actually started Monday evening when I got back from CdA and went to The Good Doctor’s house to pick her up (his other nickname has been retired). He looked up at me with her on his lap and said, “you have to have this cat put down”. I knew that was true but didn’t want to face it. He called Wednesday and asked me if I had done it and I said no so he said he would go with me. I couldn’t do it at a time that worked for him until Friday but true to his word he came over after work and he went with me and he rubbed my back while I sobbed over the table as she went to sleep and he hugged me while I cried and he buried her for me. He’s a really good man, hence the new name.

3). The Good Doctor has thrown out his back. It happened this weekend. I’m trying really hard not to blame his digging a grave for it since it didn’t happen until Sunday and since he went on a hike with a backpack and then went to an outdoor concert and sat on concrete steps but I do tend to blame myself for pretty much everything that’s wrong in the world. He has not made that connection. Anyhow, his mountain climbing trip is down the tubes and he can’t ride right now. I’m going to miss him.

4). I’ve started using my own Inifinit formula and I love it. I will have to do a full blown Infinit PSA one of these days – great stuff!

5). Why is it that no matter how much BodyGlide you slather your neck with you end up with a wetsuit hickey? Sharkfest left me with one on my neck and a couple of little ones on my …. what to call it…. 2nd boob area. You know, just to the side of the armpit and above the boob. Ow.

6). I’m a disco queen and you can see my pic on the blog site of Bay Area weather reporter, Roberta Gonzales. Click here and go down to picture #11. That’s me on the far left. This was taken at the Disco party that was thrown to comisserate the cancellation of the WS-100 but to celebrate life. It was fun.

7). Blogland met Real Life at BSLT when DPR said hello to Joe Foster and Kim Bruce. I love it when my worlds collide! Kim won a Kona slot in that race, too! Go Kim!

Posted in Hump Day | 17 Comments

Chums or Chum? That Was the Question

Posted on July 1, 2008 by 21cm

On Saturday June 28th I met up with FeLady, Mr. FeLady and their friends Mr. and Mrs. Chico to take my second shot at swimming from Alcatraz to Aquatic Park without getting eaten by a Shark. It was the FeLadies 5th swim. Mrs. Chico is the smart one of the group and was just along to socialize and be our sherpa. Her husband is the loony one in the family and was also out for Sharkfest #5.

As you can see, Cheryl and I suited up in sushi just to make things a little more interesting. Were we being chums or would we be chum? That was the question. Interestingly enough, both of us had had fantasies that the event might be canceled due to low visibility. No such luck. The skies were gray and there was wind but you could see just fine.

We suited up in neoprene and headed over to the ferry. This is a fairly long walk that must really amuse the tourists. Where else can you see 800+ wetsuit clad people and 20 or so non-wetsuit nut cases marching along one of the world’s most famous tourist attractions? Fisherman’s wharf’s finest hour if you ask me. Not that it took an hour to walk to the ferries but it does take about 15 – 20 minutes. It’s a good time to take a few deep breaths and get in touch with the reality that you are about to jump off a boat in dark and very cold water and swim for quite a while.

The ride out is the ride out. More time to panic if you don’t mind your mental machinations. I did not panic. I trusted myself and my experience and tried not to think about how badly I wanted to run out of the water at Couer d’Alene where the water temp was at least 1 or 2 degrees warmer. I kid you not. Sharkfest allows neoprene hoods but not booties. I had neither. I did have 2 caps, though.

T-minus no more time left and we are at the door with the guy yelling “JUMP!”. As soon as I hit the water I hear some woman from the other ferry screaming over and over and over “WAHHHHH! WAHHHHH ! WAHHHHH!”. I really wanted to yell “STOP THAT – YOU ARE TIPPING MY WAH”* but I knew she could never hear me over the din of her own terror and besides I figured she was one of the nut jobs with no wetsuit so who was I to criticize?.

We lined up at the kayaks and waited and waited and waited and waited some more for the horn to blow. Finally something happened and we all started swimming and that’s when things got really dicey. First of all it meant that it was time to put my face in the ice bucket – ow. Second of all I soon discovered that it was very, very rough out there.

My last recollection of being tossed around by water was when I was a kid playing in the surf at the beach on Long Island sound. Scary but I could touch the bottom. Not here. The water was sort of roiling and rough and I think there were currents to deal with. All I could do was poke my head up once in a while and try to find the 2 towers I was sighting on. The problem is that I’m not good l at stopping and looking around. I just want to keep swimming and swimming but I have no skill at all in holding a line. Can you spell z-i-g z-a-g?

So the swim went like this – zig, zag, roll, bounce, blub, blub, blub, swim, swim,swim, look up, correct, zig, zag, blub, blub, blub…. you get the idea. I drank quite a bit of salt water. I’d draw you one of those amusing pictures but honestly I have no idea. I just kept going. I was gratified to find myself not all alone after 15 minutes like I was last year. I could always look up and spot yellow caps and boats and that gave me great comfort. In fact, there was a guy in a speedo (crazy bastard!) who I met up with repeatedly. I knew he was making the best time he possibly could for shore so I took that as a good sign.

The amazing thing about an event like this is that all you can do is keep trying to move forward no matter how totally unnatural it is and let me assure you, clawing at water from a horizontal position to gain forward momentum and trying to breath and not panic is about the most unnatural thing I’ve ever done. That’s the part I love. It is positively surreal – no drugs needed!

At some point I realized that I could see the porches on the building I was sighting on and then I could see the orange buoy on the lead boat and I knew I was actually making progress. Then I could see the seawall and the masts of the C.A.Thayer and I swam harder and there was the speedo guy. I probably headed more to the left of the entrance to Aquatic Park than I needed to but there is a current that will pull you back toward it so it’s better to head left than to try to hit the thing dead on.

Finding that opening and getting through it was a kind of relief you feel only when the traffic jam you are stuck in breaks up in just enough time for you to make your flight. It’s just like that. In that moment you know you will get to the shore and get out of that water and you will live to tell the tale. Last year I was so knocked out I couldn’t even find the buoys that mark the exit but not so this time. I saw those buoys, made a bee line and finally realized that my hand was hitting sand and I was in about 12 inches of water. HUZZAH! I stood up and ran out on the stubs at the end of my legs. My feet had checked out of service about 10 minutes into the swim.

As soon as I stood up I turned around and was elated to see the waters of Aquatic Park chock full of swimmers who were coming in behind me. My time was not so great and I was 15 out of 18 in my AG (FeLady was 9th – TOP TEN!!) but I was 171 out of 223 women (FeLady was numbah 100!) compared to last year when I was 162/209. So I moved up a few slots. The important thing is that I lived, trust me.

There were really 2 great lessons in this experience. The first lesson is that if you just keep going and don’t give up you can get there (absent any medical issues like hypothermia or broken bones). I used that thought extensively on Sunday when I decided to climb Mt. Diablo after riding 35 or 40 miles. I wanted to quit and just head down the hill but I kept envisioning orange buoys and shore and I kept pedaling and I got where I needed to be. The second lesson is that FeLady and I are chums. Not chum – chums. We had a great time together.

*ShoGun reference. I think that was the phrase. Does anyone else remember?

Posted in community, Fun in a tub, Swimming | 22 Comments

Monday Monday – Never is a Very Long Time

Posted on June 30, 2008 by 21cm

I have so much stuff to write about that I think I’ll have to do a giant Hump Day Miscellany. I have yet to say anything about my version of CdA and then there’s the bittersweet experience of having my kitty sent to the great yarnball in the sky and I think there’s some other stuff. It can wait.

For today I’m going to write about the amazing thing I did yesterday because I did something I would never have done 2 months ago and this speaks to the power of training. Almost everyone who reads this blog trains for stuff so you can relate and if you are not an athlete maybe you can derive some inspiration to reach for something you’ve always said you could never do.

I missed my long ride 2 weeks in a row due to going to Canada and Couer d’Alene. I would have missed my long ride yesterday had the WS-100 not been cancelled but it was so in honor of the athletes that got aced out of their big event and in an effort to stay strong I wanted to do a really, really good long ride.

I started out with the FoMo Foxes as it’s known which is the Sunday Ladies Ride. The Ladies ride sometimes includes men but no matter. The point of the ride is to be sociable and to provide an opportunity for people who can’t hammer out the miles at 18 – 20 mph (which is what the Saturday ride is about) to go on a group ride. It is lead by one of my favorite riding partners who has also done quite a lot to help me get stronger and more fit (and she doesn’t even know it!).

She asked what people wanted to do and I said I thought the air was kind of bad so we shouldn’t climb Diablo because it made me engage in too much heavy breathing so we headed out for a relatively flat 34 mile ride out to Livermore. It was awesome. This area is nothing but cattle farms and brown hills and open space and there were almost no cars on the road. I felt that I was riding well, as opposed to my awful ride on Thursday. As it turns out my average speed was no better but I felt better and I’m pretty sure that my moving speed was much faster.

When we got back to Danville I still had about a hour on the plan and was trying to figure out what to do. Monica gave me a route that is flat and easy and works well to fill the time. And then I said, “or maybe I should go home via the junction”. Monica lit up and said “I would be SO proud of you if you did that” so really, there was no turning back.

For the uninitiated, ‘the junction’ is where the roads leading up the south side and the north side of Mt. Diablo meet. It’s a 2200 foot climb with the grade going from 6 to 12 percent most of the way. There are a couple of flat spots and a little bit of down but it’s a climb, for sure.


artwork by John Finger

A couple months ago there is no way in hell I would have attempted this. I would have been sure I couldn’t do it. I would have said my legs were too tired. I would have thought it would make me too tired to train the rest of the week or I would get injured or blah, blah, blah. Yesterday I knew it would be a challenge, and it was, but I was determined.

I was alone – I had no peer pressure – it was hot – my legs had almost 40 miles on them by the time I got to the base of the hill, I was having stomach issues and yet I was determined and so I just started climbing. There were many, many times when I thought about just stopping, turning around and heading down the hill but I did not. I pushed on. I stopped once at about 1500 feet to let my heartrate go down. I stopped at Rock City to use the restroom and was moderatly alarmed that I barely needed to pee in spite of having consumed 3 water bottles full of either water or Infinit but I wasn’t sick or light headed so I didn’t worry about it. I stopped at about 2,000 feet to ingest a Gu because my legs were on fire. And then I headed up. And then I was there!

I was pretty wrung out and there were a couple of older guys there so I said “Ta Da! Made it!” they said something about it being a tough climb and of course I just HAD to mention that I’d already ridden out to Livermore from Walnut Creek. They were appropriately impressed – mission accomplished! I got some water, drank some Nuun and then headed down the North side reaching a maximum of 32.1 mph which is very brave for me.

Total round trip was 60 miles. Total boost to my confidence was 100% – at least. Thursday was a horrible training day and I felt dead and incapable and it made me worry a lot about my ability to do Vineman in a reasonable timeframe. Yesterday’s ride was yet another reminder that some days you are the dog and some days you are the hydrant. The ride wasn’t fast but it was hard and I know it will make me a stronger, better rider. It reminded me that with determination and focus and a willingness to suffer a little bit the things we could never do come into reach and then fall behind us. Mostly it reminded me that never is a very, very long time and you just never know where your limits lie until you reach out futher than you ever thought you could and turn ‘I could never….’ into “I used to think I could never….”. Chances are, you can.

Posted in Cycling, training | 16 Comments

Hump Day Miscellany – Some Good, Some Not So Good

Posted on June 25, 2008 by 21cm

1). I am blogstipated which is to say I’m full of stuff to say, none of which wants to come out.

2). CdA was a blast and I have pictures and I will post them soon. So many have posted about the experience already I feel like I’m not contributing much but then again there is my story of the weekend and it is bound to be a bit different.

3). I’ve got no sprint in the pool. Seriously. My first 100 warm up today was a 2:22. Much later in the workout we were to swim 4 100s with 1 and 3 being sprint and 2 and 4 being easy. My first sprint was a 2:26. I was winded and exhausted and it really sucked. I just splash and flail instead of sprinting. I guess that gives me something to work on, right?

4). Califorina is on fire. There are literally 100s of wildfires and the air is foul even where I live and there are no fires near me.

5). The Western States 100 Endurance race has been cancelled. Poor Donald. All that training down the tubes. The runner for our club is bereft. I was supposed to run the aid station at mile 85 and that isn’t happening either.

6). This means that instead of busting a move from Sharkfest Saturday morning I can go have lunch with FeLady and that’s good – for me. It doesn’t, however, help Donald at all.

7). My cat isn’t going to make it. I am having her put down Friday afternoon. The Good Doctor, my riding partner, took care of her all weekend while I was in CdA and is going to go with me to the vet. He’s a good man.

Posted in Hump Day | 19 Comments

Good Vibes to all you Racers!

Posted on June 19, 2008 by 21cm

Whether you are doing an Ironman for your first or fifth time, running your first marathon (Steve in a Speedo ) or your 9th (his lovely wife IronPharmie) or doing your first ever triathlton (Go Jeanne!) make this your day! I hope everyone has a great race and remembers this day as a fabulous achievement.

REMEMBER YOUR REASONS

REMEMBER YOUR ONE THING!


It’s all about you, baby! You and the things you care about.

Posted in community, Events, Ironman, Racing, Running, triathlon | 5 Comments

Hump Day Miscellany, eh?

Posted on June 18, 2008 by 21cm

Today’s Hump Day Miscellany celebrates – Canada! That’s where I went last weekend. Toronto, to be precise. I had no idea it was just a big, bustling city. Frankly I’d rather drive in either San Francisco or Boston than Toronto because they have wicked traffic and tons of people on the street and they have signs that tell you you can’t turn right OR left. It was tres difficile as some of the people up there would say. Here are some random things about Canada

1). The squirrels are black. Ebony black. Other than that they act just like squirrels
2). Canadians are VERY aggressive about making left hand turns. Right of way? Yield? No way, eh?
3). They call Dunkin’ Donuts Tim Horton and they call donut holes Timbits. We confused the lady at the counter pretty badly.
4). The weather was most unpredictable. One minute sun, the next a wicked thunder storm. It wrecked our play day. I did manage to run 6 miles and swim 920 meters (the pool was 23 meters, eh?)
5). Toronto caters to the homeless and my brother in law’s van was broken into by a crack head on a bicycle. Fortunatly the van had a great alarm system and they were sitting outside having coffee but still – it was a bummer.
6). My daughter picked up a map that showed where all the gay people live by having a drawing of rainbow flags flying in that neighborhood. It was adorable.
7) Gay marriage is legal and that’s why we went. My niece got married to her girlfriend in what was both a traditional and non-traditional wedding. It was lovely and I cried – several times.
8). I learned on this trip to Canada that my little Pookie, having been accepted to the University of Cape Town, SA got a new tat on her wrist that says “Be Brave”. I want one, too.

Photobucket is broken right now but I”ll post pics when it is fixed.

Posted in Events, Family, Hump Day | 11 Comments

Testing and Gatorade – but not testing Gatorade

Posted on June 17, 2008 by 21cm

This is a test of my RSS feed which I think is totally broken,

If you happen to see this and you know the answer could you please tell me about the Gatorade swim at an IM? How many people, how long, lots of boats? Do you need to be registered – do they even ask?

Thanks!

Posted in say what? | 7 Comments

You Know You’re Hooked When…

Posted on June 12, 2008 by 21cm

So I’m off to Canada until Monday night and I’m missing 1 long bike ride, 1 swim and 2 runs. Actually, that would be 2 swims because I’m supposed to do a 40 minute recovery swim on Sundays but I never do because of where I swim. Anyhooooo….. this morning I tacked another 30 minutes on to my ride (big whoop!) and I went to the pool and swam 1500 meters which is less than I should but I had decided just to let it go and enjoy my trip. I figured I could get in a run, anyhow. Maybe 2.

Then I started printing out the “stuff” for the trip – boarding pass and reservations for hotel and car. I took a look at the hotel ameneties and almost peed my pants with joy – FITNESS CENTER!!! LAP POOL!!! Seriously – my heart soared like an eagle. Now I’m going to check out ‘Map my Run’ and find a route in the area where I’m staying.

This is why when someone does their first triathlon I always think, and sometimes say – “Welcome to the crackhouse!”.

Posted in Family, motivation, training, triathlon | 1 Comment