WildFlower – The Abridged Edition

Posted on May 7, 2007 by 21cm

I met my goal – I finished and I didn’t come in last and I didn’t die although I probably should have taken a trip to the Red Cross tent after I crossed the line – but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

This is going to be a very abbreviated report – just about me. No stories of my meeting tri-bloggers (except for one) but fear not – those stories are coming.

Rookie mistake 1 – I forgot to take a pack to get my stuff to transition. I ended up borrowing the very large and long pack of a guy I met there and it prevented me from riding my bike to the start so I had to walk it – about a mile.

Rookie mistake 2 – when your goggles fog up at the start of the swim clear them – don’t swim blind. It makes it really hard to stay on course – in fact, you won’t.

Rookie mistake 3 – untie your running shoes and have them ready to go in transition – I forgot that part.

Rookie mistake 4 – get your stuff organized – all of it! No digging through packs and forgetting stuff allowed.

The Swim – I never did a chance to test drive the wet suit until the 5 minutes between wave starts. I about died when I got in that water and it seeped through the suit and baby it was COLD! I got out and found FeLady with whom I was toein’ the line and she said that was okay – the water in there would warm up and keep me warm. It did. The horn went off and it was into the washing machine I went – with goggles that were totally fogged up and obscured my vision completely. I figured as long as I had bodies around me I’d be fine. Ha Ha. Let’s just say I had 3 encounters with boats and I probably put an extra 400 – 500 meters on that swim. The good news is that I was comfortable in the water and didn’t feel like I would die if I didn’t get to shore soon. I just swam (Just keep swimming … just keep swimming… (thanks Donna!)). The bad news is that it added a lot of time to my swim.

The Bike – the bike was good. I thought that first hill out of transition was going to be killer but it wasn’t that bad and it was the steepest hill in the course. I was a little naive about how many other hills there were but I handled them just fine and I bombed down the downhill side. I thought the ride would take me 2:30 because of the hills but I got it done in 2:06 (according to my Garmin). I was happy.

The Run – bad… bad.bad.bad. In fact, it didn’t really happen. I mostly took a 6 miles walk in blazing heat with a very upset stomach. My heart rate kept ratcheting up past 150 and I just could.not.run. I tried running downhill when there was one but the run was mostly uphill and I just couldn’t pull it together. Even the last 3/4 of a mile which was the steep downhill we took up on the way out on the bike was only 1/2 run, 1/2 walked. I wanted to be sure I could run down the chute which I did. I did it!

It got my medal and my cold wet washcloth – ahhhhhh…. and thought about going to the medic tent but I didn’t see the tent and I was too bubble headed to ask where it was. I was really ill at that point. I’m glad I skipped the tent though because if I had gone I wouldn’t have been able to tell you the funny story of what happened after the race was over. So stay tuned … more stories to come.

To all of the tri-bloggers I met – you are the best! My stories of meeting you are also to come.

Posted in Wildflower | 23 Comments

Liveblogging from Wildflower

Posted on May 5, 2007 by 21cm

Early Sunday Morning

My race doesn’t go off until almost 11 so I have some time. No big time blogging party fun for me last night. Long story short – this is a big place and getting to the party proved to be more difficult than I thought. I was almost there but there was yet another hill to climb and more searching to do and I gave up. I was tired from all the running around I did yesterday and I have a race today! I will look for people at the swim start and hope I find them.

I’m off to the races!! Nervous but excited. My next update will include a broadbrush picture of my race and my best guess at my time.

Ta!

Late Saturday Update –

I think Roman was mistaken about Suster Madonna Buder. I will post the pic and you be the judge. I don’t think it was her but it was a remarkably attractive woman who got to go out in the over 60 group. I did, however, see The Bachelor run by. Sadly I didn’t have my camera out.

Conditions today were tough. I won’t steal anyone’s race thunder but there were some really good performances in spite of the considerable wind. I saw Jeff finish but he doesn’t know that yet as I wasn’t able to chase him down after he came in and I wasn’t at my campsite when he came by to say good bye.

I’m nervous again. The water is supposed to be choppy and there is a current. I have not had the opportunity to test the wetsuit so I’ll be jumping in and winging it which is pretty typical for me so I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

I’ve met all of the members of team raceAthlete as well as Irongirl. I’m really pooped because the logistics of getting around here are difficult. I am going to try to go to the other camp some of the people are in and see if I can finally meet everyone.

Saturday update –
I found Bold, Triboomer, Greyhound. Roman, Kahuna, TriMama and it seems like a few more in the starting area today and said hello. (pardon the lack of links – I’m on battery) I gave Triboomer a few hugs from Shelly and he was happy to have them.

I also saw Sister Madonna Buder. I told her she was a huge inspiration to me and she was just as gracious and lovely as you can imagine. I will provide photographic proof when I get back.

The guys are probably in on the bike now. I’m about to head out and cheer them on for the run.

Word on the street is that the water is very choppy and the current is running strong. Now there’s something to look forward to! I’m hoping to testdrive the wetsuit this afternoon.

Stay tuned for more updates!!

I’m Here! I got here last night. So far I have connected with Jeff but this place is huge and cell coverage is spotty. I also found Neoiprenewedgie who had the scoop on where some other folks are but so far I have not found them.

It is beautiful here and the atmosphere is very energized. The Long Course people are all getting prepared. I’m going to head down to the T1 area soon and hunt for tri-bloggers.

Stay tuned!!!

Posted in Wildflower | 8 Comments

All Ya Gotta Do is Doodely Do It

Posted on May 1, 2007 by 21cm

When my kids were little we would go every summer to Berkeley Touloumne Family Camp.
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The accomodations are tent cabins with nearby bathrooms, showers built of stone that are open to the sky and a dining room where they served 3 meals a day with more food than anyone should rightfully eat. Arts and Crafts was a major component of the experience for me because although I lack talent I love the activities. There was a different craft every day of the week and our favorite was Tie-Dye Wednesday where would maniacally round up every white cotton thing we could find and take it down to the crafts area to tie dye it. Some people would bring sheet sets, jackets and tableclothes. I still wear a nightgown I tie-dyed at Family camp many years ago.

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There were evening activities, too. There was Bingo night and Campfire night and Table night where the kids would put on plays in the amphitheater.

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A couple of times when we went in July there was a very large extended family who would all come together to spend a week at camp and they put on the funniest shows that always included some crazy prank one adult brother played on another. One year Family A got the Dad from Family B to go out on stage and get on his hands and knees. They then proceeded to do a skit where Dad B was a table in a bar and Family A would come in one member at a time to get a drink which he or she would then leave on Dad B’s back and then leave the stage. The subtext was that everyone was crying in his beer over something. At the end of the show, there was Dad B on his hands and knees with a dozen glasses of soda perched on his back and no way to get up. It was very funny.

I don’t expect to be able to have Table night at Wildflower due to time constraints but all of this was brought to mind when I read the blogs of various raceAthlete team members who tell us that there will be campfire songs sung at Wildflower. One of my favorite songs is called Wada Lee Atcha which has some fairly intricate hand motions and it goes like this:

Wada Lee Atcha
Wada lee atcha,
wada lee atcha
doodly doo, doodly doo
Wada lee atcha,
wada lee atcha
doodly doo, doodly doo,
*Simplest thing, there isn’t much to it,
All you’ve got to do is doodly doo, it
I like the rest, but the part I like best
Is the doodly, doodly doo doo – faster!!
repeat, singing and doing the hand motions faster

I can only hope I have the opportunity to teach everyone the song that has taken up residence in my brain for the last couple of days as I prepare to just doodly do it – faster or slower, it matters not. I could not be more exicted to meet everyone and to race my first Olympic distance triathlon.

Posted in Fun in a tub, triathlon, Wildflower | 11 Comments

Wildflower – the weather report

Posted on April 28, 2007 by 21cm

Well folks – it’s hot out there. If you check weather.com and enter Paso Robles which is 50 miles north of the lake you will see that the temps range from the low 60s in the morning to around 80. It’s hot and sunny!!

I just learned that my wave starts at 10:55 which means I will be biking and running in the highest heat. Good times! I don’t do well in heat but I’ll just have to tough it out. At least we know that leg warmers are entirely unnecessary and that’s a good thing, right?

Today I am going to wait until it gets hotter and then ride some ferocious hills and go for a good run. Taper schmaper – I need to test drive this thing. Then I’ll taper. I’ll be really good all week.
—

Okay – I did it. I test drove this heat. This is going to be very tough, people. I rode some hills and then I went for a run and I remembered something really important. When it’s hot and I exert myself I turn beet red and I look like I’m going to die. If you’re out there on the course and you see me in this condition don’t be alarmed. I promise not to die. I may actually wear a HR monitor just to assure myself that I’m okay. I don’t usually wear one and I don’t have my zones dialed in but I know that going over 180 for long is not a good thing.

I’ve downgraded my goal yet again. At first it was break 3:30 but that seems quite preposterous now. Then it was break 4:00. That’s a maybe. Finish and don’t be last is where I’m at now. That would be fine.

I’m also going to start packing today. Packing is what brings it all home, right? It’s happening – it’s really, really happening! So, Wildflower peeps – don’t forget to pack sunscreen!

Posted in training, Wildflower | 15 Comments

Time for the Movies – The Flying Scotsman

Posted on April 25, 2007 by 21cm

Premiering May 4 (that’s just before you-know-what – I’ll be on my way)
This guy figured out that if you go aero you go faster. He took some heat for that.
Watch the trailer:

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Hump Day Miscellany – The WF Obsession Edition

Posted on April 25, 2007 by 21cm

Unless I am working or actively engaged in conversation about something else, my brain is fully occupied with thoughts of Wildflower. Any conversation I get in to soon turns to that topic.

“Did you hear that they are insulting each other in the Senate over the troop pull out plans?”
“I did and It reminded me of how concerned I am about my lack of training for Wildflower”

<img src=”http://www.tricalifornia.com/wildflower/2007/images/25WF_Color07.gif&#8221;.?

Seriously. It’s all Wildflower, all the time between my ears. Mostly my thoughts are good, they are just chronic. So I’d like to welcome you to my brain as I cut a virtual peep hole in my skull with this post.

1). Placing – I’ve obsessed about showing up last in on the list published in my race club’s newsletter because that would make me 3 for 3 coming in last. But it won’t! In this last newsletter I ended up second to last but with AG/4 next to my name and I just beamed with pride. The pressure not to be last is off!

2). Swim – My masters swim team had no practice on Monday because the coaches and much of the team were recovering from the Pacific Masters Championship meet so I took the opportunity to do a 1000 yard time trial. I didn’t swim that hard and managed to cover the distance in 20:55. So if no one kicks my goggles off, if I don’t panic in the water, if I don’t veer off course IF THE GOOD LORD’S WILLING AND THE CREEK DON’T RISE, I’ll be out of the water in 30 minutes. I feel good about that.

3). Tapering – eek! It’s taper time – right when I was warming up to train. Drat! I was talking to someone in the locker room at swimming on Monday about my training and saying I was planning on doing a brick this weekend to simulate the actual race and she said, “Oh no – you should be tapering”. I explained that I was under trained and she said it didn’t matter – I needed to rest. Then she said, “My best Ironman races were when I had been sick for a couple of weeks before”. I, of course had to ask how many Ironman races she had done. “26. 10 in Kona”. Whoa. If that woman says taper, who am I to argue? I’m tapering. I will still do a little brick this weekend but I won’t spend more than 30 minutes on either the bike or the run.

4). Butt munch – Tuesday I spoke with another woman in the locker room (did I mention I’m obsessed??) about how I still hurt from my 45 mile ride on Saturday and how that just isn’t right. I said I thought I needed a new seat and she just shook her head. “You don’t want to change anything right before a race. You’d hate to have a sore nu nu half way though the event”. Nu Nu is my new favorite word. This saddle sore is a drag, though and it isn’t normal and I realized finally that I was sore in a particular spot on one side and that it is from dropping my bike (finally got THAT out of the way) and having the pointy part of the saddle jam me in my lower, inside, right buttock. It was such a hard hit that the seat was crooked when I picked up the bike. Owie. I do need a new seat but I will wait because other than that pain I’m okay.

5). Wetsuit – I had a blinding flash of insight the other day that about 1/2 my bad mood about Wildflower had to do with the fact that I still needed to go get fitted for a rental wetsuit and I just didn’t want to do it. I have really, really bad body image and the thought of squeezing my pudgy hindquarter into a wetsuit was bumming me out. I figured I would need a large and it would be totally humiliating. It wasn’t. I will be wearing a QR Superfull size small. I didn’t have much trouble getting in to it (except for the part where I put my foot in the wrong leg to start and got the whole thing twisted around) but I had a hellish time getting it off. If that is representative of how it will be in the race, T1 will be about 22 minutes. I need to work on that or make sure I have a wetsuit stripper lined up.

6). s’mores – The only thing I really like about camping is s’mores and I so wanted to sit around the campfire with my fellow bloggers, toasting marshmallows and squeezing their burnt outer crusts and sweet gooey innards between 2 pieces of chocolate and a couple of graham cracker squares. And then I had a sad realization. The Long Course peeps are not going to want to eat them Friday night and I certainly don’t want to eat them Saturday night. Houston, we have a problem. Unless we can all agree to a late Sunday Brunch of s’mores it just isn’t going to happen. *sniff sniff* I can be coerced into singing campfire songs, though and having spent 14 summers at Family Camp I know a couple.

7). I can hardly wait to meet you all. I’m not sure how we’ll find each other because this place is quite large. I did some looking around and my club camps in the Redondo Vista area as shown on this map (although not in exactly that spot). If you have any idea where you will be please let me know. Maybe we can all agree to end up at the raceAthlete RV city at some point. Regardless of planning or lack thereof I WILL find you – I must.

Posted in Hump Day, triathlon, Wildflower | 11 Comments

Harder, Faster!

Posted on April 22, 2007 by 21cm

Children of the 21st Century are sort of notorious for having a lack of respect in general and toward adults in particular. I think most of that is poppycock and comes under the heading “In MY day we had to walk 5 miles to school in the snow and it was uphill both ways!” but once in a while something happens that I find stunning in it’s blatant display of cockiness. Friday was one of those days.

I went for a run and as I ran past 7-11 which is across the street from a little mall area I noticed 3 boys just sort of hanging out. I didn’t think anything of it until something crash landed near my feet and exploded. I think it was an apple. I stopped dead in my tracks, looked across the street and realized that one of those kids had lobbed it at me. They were hooting and in hysterics with laughter. I wasn’t quite sure what to do but there was no way I was going to ignore it so I started running across the street straight at them. I think those boys were about as stunned as I was when the apple hit the ground and they started to run away then they stopped, looking furtively over their shoulders. I had no idea what I would did if I caught them so I just yelled “Keep Going! Don’t Stop!” and they did. And then they stopped and looked over their shoulders and there I was, still standing in the street. I yelled at them again “Don’t stop now! Keep moving!” and they did, finally jumping a fence and heading behind a building.

I felt pretty powerful putting 3 young teens on the run. They clearly had at least a little respect or they would have just gotten in my face. If they try lobbing anything at me again I will keep chasing them until they puke.

Saturday I went for a bike ride with my friends. I picked a relatively flat course because one of my friends has a ruptured disk and the hills make her back hurt. I learned something really valuable on this ride. Try not to laugh when I tell you this but I figured out that if I start falling behind, all I have to do is put the bike in a higher gear and push a little harder on the pedals and I can catch up. IT’S A MIRACLE! Really. That whole ‘harder, harder, faster, faster!’ thing is good in more ways than one.

On the way back we stopped for coffee and a scone and then we finished the ride – 45 miles in all. I put the bike in the house, changed my clothes to running gear, checked my email and headed back out the door for a 4 mile run. I had thought that I would head straight up a steep hill but part way up I decided I couldn’t do all of my catch up training at once and hung a left which put me going in the downhill direction. I knew I would have to go uphill at the end and that was soon enough. I covered 4 miles. It wasn’t fast (45 mins) and it wasn’t pretty but I got it done!

So that means that I really and truly can do Wildflower. The first 25 miles of my ride took about 1:57 and the run was 45 so I’m thinking I can do WF in just under 4 hours. That puts me at the bottom of the middle of the pack or the top of the bottom of the pack which is just about where I belong.

I had intended to test my nutrition plan for the race, also. I wonder if I could choke down an orange/current scone in T1. If I could, I’d be so money.

My new Wildflower motto is “HARDER, HARDER, FASTER, FASTER” ’cause I know it feels so right.

Posted in training, triathlon | 17 Comments

Rise And Shine!

Posted on April 20, 2007 by 21cm

Jessica of Daughter of Opinion issued a challenge to post a picture of yourself taken first thing in the morning.

So here I am, bedhead and all. No makeup, semi-conscious, bad breath, holding the camera myself (hence the appearance of what seems to be an oddly off-center nose. It isn’t). If you are camping near me at Wildflower this is likely what you will see. Sorry ’bout that but I will try really hard not to breath on you before I’ve brushed my teeth.

In other news – swam and worked out on my trainer yesterday, I ran today and I am riding and running tomorrow. Things are starting to come together!

Posted in Fun in a tub | 11 Comments

Oh, really??

Posted on April 19, 2007 by 21cm
You Are a Ring Finger

You are romantic, expressive, and hopeful. You see the best in everything.
You are very artistic, and you see the world as your canvas. You are also drawn to the written word.
Inventive and unique, you are often away in your own inner world.

You get along well with: The Pinky

Stay away from: The Index Finger

Does this mean I’m destined to end up with a ring on my finger? As if.
ps- I’m the most unartistic person on God’s Green Earth. I can’t draw a decent smiley face.

Wildflower note (yes – it sits right on top of my head and distracts me all day). I forgot to mention that when I was running my event Sunday (4 hilly miles) I was struck by how hard it was. That lead me to realized the run at Wildflower will be really hard. At the time it bothered me but now? BRING IT ON!

Posted in Fun in a tub | 9 Comments

Hurts So Good

Posted on April 15, 2007 by 21cm

I’m back! After a forced rest of 5 days I managed to get back in the saddle yesterday (literally) and I managed to make my race today. My hammy is just fine but my inner thigh hurts – the way it is supposed to hurt after a race. My buns are sore, too and that’s okay with me.

Yesterday I did a 30 minute Spinverals workout that focuses on technique. There were some cadence drills that had you ramp up the rpms every 10 seconds and then rest 40 seconds. Due to my previous experience with the trainer spontaneously falling over I was a little reluctant but Shelly had sent an email that said ‘make sure it is locked in there’ and I looked and realized I had not done that. doh! So this time I was fully clamped down and then I made my son look at me on the bike and make sure I was really straight in the vertical axis and then, just for good measure, I put a little rug under the right side of the stand. And then I spun that baby- I even got up to 150 rpm which was awesome for me! And I did not fall over – it was like a miracle.

Today I had my race. It is a 4 mile run on a hilly course. I didn’t know how I would do but I went out and just did it. I was actually ahead of this other woman on my team until the 2 mile turn around. Then we ran together and then, in the last 1/4 mile I sort of lost it and she got in about 20 seconds ahead of me. Bummer – last in on the team AGAIN! And that’s just the way it is but be that as it may this run was certainly an accomplishment for me because I placed 4th in my age group out of 17! I WIN!!!

I don’t think I have ever been anywhere close to 4th. What’s even more exciting is that the woman I was running in with is in the 30 – 39 age group. Granted – she rode a metric century yesterday but still – I’m feeling pretty good here!! Happiest of all was that my final mile was my best. Official Time: 41:34:7 (34/85 OA for women) Let me just repeat – I WIN!!!

Here are some visuals (click to enlarge):
My pace:

See that??!!! I went sub 10 minute the last mile and it wasn’t ALL downhill although it was largely downhill. But then it went up. See??:

The only issue I’m having is with what my Garmin has to say about energy expended. I really don’t think so:

Do you think my Garmin is giving me a hint to go on diet?

All of this leads up to my current thinking on Wildflower and training but I’ll save that for another post.

Posted in PR!, Running | 10 Comments