Ten Lessons from Half-Century

Happy Cyclists - Day of Tread morning

1) I enjoy riding with Husband a lot more than riding by myself
2) At about 35-40 miles, I'm ready to be done
3) I'll probably never want to do a full century (see #2)
4) With more practice, it gets easier and easier to fix flat tires (learned during training.  almost.every.time.)
5) Rides without flats or mechanical problems are extra awesome (discovered on day of half century, yay!)
6) The long slow climb up Tramway isn't as bad as I expected

Mid-point Rest Stop

7) The short steep climb up toward Elena Gallegos is worse than I expected and about did me in (ugggh!)
8) Peanut butter sandwiches seem to have magic powers
9) I have more confidence with my bike handling skills than I did a few years ago
10) Riding downhill isn't as scary a it was a few years ago (see #9)

Three Things Thursday: Hills, Plans, Hat

1) My running partner & I finally made it to the hilly course on Tuesday we had planning on running for the past two weeks.  Twice we were rained out.  Not this time, though!  That hilly course is tough, but it was a very satisfying workout.

2) Husband & I took the day off work with the plan of going for one more ride before the Day of the Tread this weekend.  Not sure if we are going to aim for 30 miles on a mostly flat course or if we go shorter and ride the hilly part of the weekend route.  We'll decide in a few hours.  Looks like we're going to have a nice day for the ride.  I'm also supposed to be running 4 miles tonight, not sure how that is going to go, but it's still the plan.

3)  One of the best things about cooler weather is that I get to wear fun hats.  My daughter knows that I like sock monkeys and fun hats and bought me a gift.  That strange expression is me squealing with joy when I tried it on.  I love it!

Rockin' the Sock Monkey Hat

Run, Rain, Run, Ride

THURSDAY: The plan was to meet with the run group in the evening. The plan was: half mile warm up, 1 mile @~10:15, 1 mile @~9:30, 1 mile @~10:30, cool down. Here is the graph by half mile increments (because of the half mile warm up). I did okay through mile 3, had a little trouble holding the pace target for the last mile, and my cool down was too fast. But, other than that, it was a pretty good run, and a good way to practice various paces.

Thursday's run splits in half mile increments

FRIDAY:  We had bought park&ride tickets for the Special Shapes mass ascension Friday morning. Woke up at some ridiculous hour only to find that it was raining. Waiting about an hour, the official status was that the events were delayed, not cancelled. Decided to go for it. Arrived at the park, had something to eat, and got the word that the morning events were now cancelled.  The field was open and balloons had the option to inflate, but no flights.  We saw a grand total of one single balloon while we were walking back to the bus to go home.  It ended up raining most of the day, which is actually a good thing as we really need the rain.  However, it also messed up my plans for a bike ride.  Oh well.

Move along, nothing to see here, folks!

SATURDAY: They have finally opened registration for the upcoming all-terrain race. Yippee!!  Met my running partner at 7:15 to run the course. Since it had rained all day Friday, the single track was slippery and muddy. Lots of puddle jumping involved. The footing on the dirt levee road wasn't too bad, and we had a nice view of the balloons in flight that morning. When I got home, my shoes were a muddy mess, but it was a really fun run. Still very much looking forward to this upcoming race.

Yes! Finally able to register

SUNDAY:: It was chilly in the morning. Husband & I were planning a 50 mile ride and postponed our start time a few hours so that it would warm up. This ride didn't go nearly as well for me as our ride last week. Not entirely sure why. But we got it done. When I got home, my bike computer said 49.8, close enough for me!

Pre-ride Determination: 50 miles or bust!

Wednesday Whine and Love

While I'm generally in a fairly positive mood, I must admit to having a case of the mid-week grumpies.  Here is a list of my current WHINES:

• My run yesterday got cancelled due to rain.  While I'm well aware that most of you would have run in the rain, I did not.  To my credit, I think I run outside in hotter and/or colder weather than some of you do.  But not in rain.  Not by choice.  We really needed the rain, so I'm not unhappy that it rained, but I think the timing sucks.  Why couldn't it have rained on Monday, my rest day?
• Looks like Thursday's run might get cancelled due to wind.  If the weather forecast is correct, they are predicting 40-50 mph winds with 60+ mph gusts.  No thank you.  
• The all-terrain race that I'm targeting at the end of the month STILL hasn't opened registration.  What the heck!?!  Does this mean it's not happening?  It's still posted as a planned event on the organizers website, but no way to register for it.
• I'm interested in getting a pair of Merrell lithe gloves for colder weather.  The pace gloves are great for summer, but as it gets cold, these aren't going to keep my feet warm enough.  I drove over to the local store that carries them and discovered that they had them in pretty much every size in stock except for the size that I need.  I guess I'll be ordering them online.
• I've mentioned the toddler sized quilts that I make for Project Linus before, right?  I go in and out of quilt making phases during the year.  I decided this weekend that I was going to start making another batch.  About one hour into the first one that I was working on, my sewing machine started having problems.  Took it into the shop on Monday and they say it will be about two weeks before they can get to it. *sigh*    

To balance it out, I will list some of the cool things that are going on in my life. In the grand scheme, those whines are nothing but inconveniences. Here a list of LOVES:

• Daughter, who is a senior in high school, is planning to spend spring break on a mission trip to Haiti to do work at an orphanage.  I happen to think that it is super cool that she has a heart to help others and is choosing to do this volunteer work at this time of her life.  This weekend they are doing a fund-raising event for the trip.  I'm very proud of her initiative.
• I am really enjoying the cycling time with Husband.  It's much more enjoyable riding with him than it was riding solo to prepare for my sprint Tris.  I think I will look at doing a charity ride with him next spring as well.
• One of my favorite light weight jackets (by New Balance) had a broken zipper. I considered retiring said jacket, then decided to take it to a tailor to have the zipper replaced.  Yes, I sew, but replacing zippers can be a pain.  $15 later, and the jacket is as good as new.  Yay!
• The temps have been heavenly lately.  And the leaves are starting to turn. I just love fall!
• Booked flights and hotel for a weekend trip to Nashville in November to attend my niece's wedding.  I've never been to Nashville before.  Even though it will be a quick trip, I'm looking forward to it.
• I've been feeling really good on my runs lately.  And my knee is still holding out.  Pain-free running is a very good thing.    

Monday Musings

Technology

• I found out over the weekend that my work team won IPads from a company sponsored raffle related to a project that we completed earlier this year.  Nifty!
• Have you heard about the HTC Rhyme?  That purple phone?  I'm extremely interested in it. Waiting to read actual user reviews before deciding.  I would be upgrading from an original Motorola Droid.  Big question is whether or not I can live without the physical keyboard.

Running

• As I mentioned in my September Summary post, I want to spend some time on single track this month.  Started off the month with a 5.3 mile run that included 2 miles of single track.  I'm off to a good start!
• I'm also planning to continue running hills.  I'm going to try to run the Live.love/Patriot aka killer hill course once a week.  Hills makes us stronger, right.

Cycling

• Our 44 mile ride went MUCH better than the 40 mile ride from the previous week.  I felt better.  We went faster.  It was more enjoyable.  Next weekend, 50.
• This weekend we finally got the Yamika RailGrabbers and bars for my Jetta.  We already have the bike mount pieces from use on our 18+ yr old Explorer.  Haven't installed yet, but the idea for the short term is that we will be able to mount Husband's bike on top of my Jetta, with my bike inside the car.   This allows us to leave one mount on the explorer as well.  I'm all kinds of excited about this.

Fiesta

• The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a HUGE event.  Broke a world record on Saturday by launching 345 balloons within one hour.  There were over 550 balloons total in the air yesterday.  It's crazy.
• We have mixed feelings about it when the wind brings the balloons our way.  On the one hand, it is neat to be able to see them.  On the other hand, it makes Bandit very unhappy. Stymie is unfaze, but Bandit highly dislikes them. Poor doggy.

Garden

• Well, it's October and my watermelons are still growing, but several plants are starting to die off.  Harvested quite a bit this weekend.  It's been a good year.  I'll be making more changes next year, constantly seeking the perfect mix of stuff to grow.  Fun times.
• Discovered that Stymie likes cherry tomatoes.  Bandit won't touch them, but Stymie acts like they are candy.  Whenever I go into the garden, he now sits by the gate waiting for me to bring him a snack.  Cute.

September Tally

Numbers

• 64 miles by feet (40.0 running, 24.0 walking)
• 144.9 miles by seat
• 1800 yds in the pool
• 5 hill workout
• 5 yoga workouts
• 3 planned rest days
• 3 unplanned rest days
• 1 race (sprint tri)

Thoughts

• It doesn't make sense to pay for the gym just for pool access in October - I need to either save my $$ or spend more time at the gym, probably the former rather than the latter.  
• I'm glad to see my cycling mileage go up.
• Tried yoga a few times at the end of the month.  Not excited about it.  
• I hope my tolerance for the bike increases so that the end of the 54 mile charity ride isn't miserable.

Plans

• Spend some time on single track
• Keep running hills at least once a week
• 44-50-54 <-- planned long bike rides
• Day of the Tread half century (54 miles)
• Bosque Boogie 10K (all terrain run)
• 
  

[edited to add:  so far in October I have had one run with a few miles on single track and completed the 44 mile bike ride.  I'm off to a good start!]

Going with Plan B

Tuesday I was supposed to meet my running partner for a hilly 5K run.  I really wasn't feeling well at all that day (allergies?). I ended up coming home early from work and taking a nap.  Plan B was a solo 2.2 mile run on Wednesday instead.  It wasn't what I had planned, but it was nice because I ran a route that I haven't run in a few months.

Thursday, I was going to meet said running partner at the same place to get the hilly run in that we missed on Tuesday.  She texted that she was stuck at work and couldn't make it.  Plan B was a group 4.0 mile run instead.  It wasn't what I had planned, but it was nice because I ran with the group for a change; I haven't been running much with them lately.

So no hilly run so far this week, which is a bummer, but Plan B hasn't been so bad.  Sometimes it's about going where life takes you.

"The bend in the road is not the end of the road, unless you refuse to take the turn" - unknown.

Three Things Thursday

1) Short Long Runs - Can you believe it?  It's been six weeks since I've done a run longer than 5 miles!  I'm actually okay with that.  This is another tactic toward keeping my knee happy.  But it is really sinking in right now, because for several years, I've run the Duke City Half marathon in October and this is the time of year when I would normally be out there for 10+ mile runs and here I am doing long runs of 5 miles instead.   Anyway, I finally have a 6 mile run on tap for Saturday.

2) Delayed Registration - The 10K that I want to run at end of October hasn't opened registration yet.  This is the all terrain race that is partly on single track, partly on dirt levee road, and partly on road.  I guess they are waiting until October 1st.  It's a local race and very popular; doesn't it seem odd to anyone else that you can't register for it quite yet?  It makes me wonder if it's actually going to happen this year or not.

3) Fiesta Traffic - Balloon Fiesta starts this coming weekend.  There will be hundreds and hundreds of hot air balloons in the air. On the one hand, it *is* pretty spectacular.  On the other hand, it also means lots of traffic and bunches of drivers that get distracted by the pretty balloons in the air.  Makes it extra *unsafe* to be a cyclist out on the road.   Good thing the bulk of our scheduled 44 mile ride will occur on the multi-use trail rather than out on the road.    

Riding, running, and more riding

Knowing that I had a 40 mile ride on the calendar for Sunday, I went out on my bike Friday with the goal of at least 10 miles.  11.3 miles later, I was back home and feeling pretty good.  Short rides like this always leave me feeling refreshed.

Saturday morning, met with a running friend for 5 miles on a dirt trail.  Ahhhh, heaven!  It's no secret that I am a fan of running on dirt, and I think I've converted her to dirt over the summer.  The prior weekend, she ran a half-marathon road race and one of her first comments to me was how much pounding her body took from the hard surface.  She actually asked me if we could run exclusively on dirt for the next few weeks.  No argument from me!

Side note, it's been about 6 months since my last round of Euflexxa injections in my left knee.  It's considered successful by the doctors if it gives me at least 6 months of relief. I'm hoping to extend the time between treatments closer to a year.  Running on dirt seems to help.  So does keeping my run distance no longer than about 7 miles.  Fingers crossed that this magic combination will keep me going for another several months.  I'm very thankful to have a training partner that is happy with this combination as well.

Sunday afternoon Husband & I went out for our 40 mile ride.  We decided to stop ever 8 miles for just a few minutes for hydration/nutrition/stretching.  Felt good at the first stop, but of course I did.  Those were the easy miles.  Next stop happened about six tenths of a mile ahead of schedule so Husband could replace his rear tube due to a flat.  Third stop was short, and I was still feeling okay.  By the fourth stop (mile 32), we had exceeded our mileage from last weekend I needed a longer rest to get motivated to finish the distance.  I was hurting all over.  Just past mile 35 we came upon a restaurant and decided to stop for a snack.  We were there for about a half hour.  Re-energized, we completed the final 5 miles to home, bringing the total to 40.1.

Next weekend we are doing a loop that should give us ~44.  I hope the small increase is easier on my body than the jump from 30-40 was.  Then we have another weekend targeted at ~50 and after that, it will be the bike event (54mi) that we are training for.

Three Things Thursday

Garmin Love - Wouldn't you know it, after using a Garmin 205 for a good 5 years, I've finally figured out how to use some of the features.  Specifically, I have it now set up to chime every mile both while running and cycling.  I also set it up to auto pause.  The chiming every mile has really freed me from having to keep checking my Garmin on a 4 mile run when I want to turn at mile 2, for example.  I just run and listen for the chime!  I'm finding auto pause particularly helpful on bike rides.  I had a tendency to turn the Garmin off if we stopped for a break, then I would forget to turn it back on. D'oh!  Now it turns itself off and back on if I stop for a break.  I'm sure there are other cool features that I could take advantage of, but this is a start.  And they say you can't teach old dogs new tricks.  Hahahahahaha.

Yoga - After my epiphany about needing more strength/core work, I tried (and failed) to get motivated to go to the gym for some strength work.  I also tried (and succeeded) to get motivated for some yoga.  If you've followed me for a while, you may notice that I go in and out of love with yoga.  Anyway, I've done it twice so far this week.  It's not as intense for strength work as lifting weights, but it helps me work on my flexibility as well as some strength, so it's a good thing to so.  Yoga always reminds me how terribly uncoordinated I am though.

Animal - Doing yoga means being on the floor.  Being on the floor, means being reminded about how much dog/cat fur is on the carpet!  We have two dogs and two cats which means the entire house is basically covered in a layer of fur.  Anyway, we recently bought a refurbished Dyson DC25 Animal vacuum from Woot.  It had good reviews and is specifically meant for animal hair removal.  No, not from the animal itself, from the carpets.  Let me just tell you, this thing is AMAZING.  Yes, I am that excited about a vacuum.  What can I say?  I don't get out much...

This post brought to you by the letter S

Switching Brands: Our local Costco stopped carrying the 12-pack case of chobani greek yogurt.  At first this seemed like a panic situation, but quickly found a replacement strategy to get me through my daily Greek yogurt consumption needs.  Walmart has a large size vanilla Chobani that is perfect to scoop into my granola for breakfast.  Costco now carries a 12-pack case of Fage, which is different, but also very yummy, and perfect for a mid-morning or late afternoon snack.

Strength Training: Husband thought that my downfall on the 30mile bike ride was going to be saddle-soreness.  Oddly, the problem was actually shoulder-soreness.  Which I take as a sign that I need to revamp my core and upper body strengthening.  If my core was stronger, I wouldn’t carry weight on my shoulders.  If my upper body was stronger, I wouldn’t be sore from it even if I did.  So now I’m on a quest to add strength-work back into my routine.

September: September has got to be my all-time favorite month of the year.  It is cool enough to be comfortable for running, cycling, etc without the wind we get in the spring.  I just love it and wish it would last longer!

Speed work:  I'm just not feeling it right now.  I'm thinking of switching out all of the speed work sessions that were on my training plan for the next several weeks with some easy runs.  This is related to my recent decision to take road races off my schedule in the short term. I just want to run for the joy of running right now, and for me, speed work takes away the joy.

Signed Up:  After a successful 30 mile ride, Husband & I are now signed up for the 54 miler in mid-October.  I'm glad to have made the decision so that we could sign up before the rates go up.  We now have a 40 mile training  ride on the calendar for this weekend.  Fun stuff!

Stringing up Lights: All summer I have wanted to get some outside lights strung up on our back patio so that we could sit out there in the evenings and be able to see well enough not to trip over stuff.  We managed to get some hooks up, but never strung the lights because we didn’t’ need them during summer while the sun stayed up fairly late.  Now that it’s actually getting darker earlier, it seems like we might need to get this done sooner than later.  Just need to make time to do it.

Sweet Tooth: This weekend I was craving something sweet, so I decided to make my family famous chocolate/peppermint cookies.  So yummy!  Too yummy, actually, as I can't stop myself from eating them.  Sadly, I'm already thinking about making cookies again next weekend, this time modifying the recipe to make them chocolate/peanut butter cookies.

Swimming:  I have a hard time getting motivated to swim, mostly because I don't like getting up as early as necessary to swim before work.  This week I am hoping to schedule in a run-swim with my tri-training buddy.  I'm thinking that scheduling a workout with a run-buddy will get me to the pool.  Accountability helps!

What's next?

All summer, I was training toward the two sprint triathlons that are now in the past.  So what's up next?

So far this week, I have run 14.1 miles, walked 6, cycled 15.7, and swam 400M. If all goes well, I'll be adding another 30 miles to my cycle total before calling it a week.  I'm hoping to accomplish these 30 miles without too much discomfort.  If that goes well, Husband & I will target the 54 mile ride for Day of the Tread in mid-October and work on increasing the riding distance between now and then.  If it doesn't go so well, we'll plan on the doing the 26 mile course.  I'm really hoping that the 54 is within my grasp, but since most of my rides this summer have been in the 12mi and under category with the longest so far being just 22. I'm just not sure if I can get there in the few weeks that we have between now and the event. [ updated to add:  We did it and it wasn't TOO bad.  Would have been better if we had actually beat the storm.  The last few miles were in some nasty wind and a bit of rain and the threat of lightning.  Otherwise, it went well.]

On the running front, I've removed every running event from my calendar for the next 7 weeks except for the Bosque Boogie 10K.  Originally, I had wanted to shoot for a sub-hour 10K at Duke City.  I've decided that now is not the time for that.  I'm more interested right now in running for the joy of running, not to hit some time goal.  The event that I left on my calendar is an all-terrain run, with part on road, part on dirt levee road, and part on single-track.  It's at the end of October when the leaves have turned golden yellow.  It was my favorite event last year and I'm looking forward to running it again simply for the joy of running, not as a PR course.

So those are my next target events:  Day of the Tread ride (26 or 54 mi, tbd) and Bosque Boogie 10K for FUN!

This, that, and the other

• Daughter went out for a bike ride with a friend yesterday.  I'm thinking they went somewhere between 6 and 8 miles.  I think this is the first she was out on her bike for at least 3 years.  I guess this means I cannot have her bike, but if my interest in her bike had anything to do with her re-sparking her interest in riding it, that's fine by me.
• Tuesday is group run day, but I didn't want to do hills or speed work, so I met a friend and went on a four mile easy trail run instead.  It was perfect.  Being out there running for fun, solidified my decision to take the Duke City 10K off my schedule.  The next run I'm planning on is the Bosque Boogie, which is an 'all terrain' run with a section on single track.  I had so much fun at that race last year! I can't wait to do it again.
• This morning I truly intended to get up and go for a bike ride. Really, I did. But now it is raining, and quite honestly, I'm really not in the mood to ride in the rain.  Maybe after work.  Or in a few days. Whatever.  No pressure, my bike will be ready when I am.
• Planning on going for a 30+ mile bike ride this weekend with Husband.  Depending on how it goes, we will decide whether we are aiming for a half century or quarter century for Day of the Tread, which is about a month away.  I am sure I can do the quarter century route no problem, but not sure where my bike fitness is with regard with the longer route.  And as with all things around here, it's going to be hilly.  
• Still haven't heard from the RD about race shirts, not that I'm too concerned, but I really had expected an email about that by now.  There was also an event photographer on site and I'm waiting to find out where to view the photos online.  I hope they got a good one of me on my bike.  I'm going to order an event photo from the other tri and would like one from this race as well if they got a good shot. Maybe we'll get an email about all that today?
• A while back I won a pair of Brooks shoes from a giveaway on Adam's blog. I chose trail running shoes.  I'm happy to report that soon I will be able to share my thoughts on what I picked out. Yipppeeee!
• Sometime in the last couple weeks, I found a site (and subsequently lost it, so I cannot share right now) that had you enter your current age and weight and then calculated speed for same race if you were a younger, lighter version of yourself (in this case, I think it goes to 23 yrs old and 110 lbs).  Of course, I wasn't running at that age, but it was interesting none-the-less.  I entered by 5K PR of just under 28 minutes from a few months ago and it spat out a time of something like 24 minutes.  I don't know how accurate it is, but somehow that made me feel much better about my running ability.  If I can find it, I'll share it for you other 'older' runners out there.

Patriot Sprint Race Report

Packet Pickup

I arrived at early packet pickup within about 15 minutes of when they opened.  This would be uneventful, except that there were no shirts.  Apparently they arrived late the day before and were still on a UPS truck.  The race director seemed stressed about this, and I’m sure it won’t be convenient for anyone who travelled in for the race, but shirts will be able to be picked up starting tomorrow.  I personally don't think it's a big deal.

It’s a seeded swim start based on estimated swim time.  I was assigned 186.  There were 385 participants.  Came home and put my number on my bike, gathered my stuff, and prepared for the next day.

PreRace

I wasn’t sure whether I was going to be able to do this or not, my back had been going in and out of spasm all week.  I gingerly got out of bed when my alarm went off, stretched a bit, and my back seemed okay.  So I decided that I was going to go for it!

I arrived about a half hour after Transition opened.  They were racking by Age Group, my group (F45-49) was way in the back near Bike In, but not very close to Swim In.  I knew this meant a longer than anticipated T1. 

As I mentioned in my summary, I thought it was very cool that they had a Heros division and that the proceeds were going to local fire and police depts.

Swim 400 yd pool  - 9:13, 74 of 122 women age groupers (not including special divisions and teams)

We lined up by number.  They started swimmers every 10 seconds.  For some reason, I was feeling very nervous and anxious as my start time approached.  My heart rate was up and my breathing was shallow.  This affected me tremendously in the water.  My form fell apart and I had a horrible swim.  It seemed like I was in survival mode.  This was unexpected; my swim is generally my strength and there was no reason to be nervous.   I guess it’s just another reminder that a large part of this sport is the mental aspect.   Even though it was a struggle, I was only 45 sec off my estimated time (and about 25 sec slower than 2008).  That’s really not a big deal for the overall race but certainly not a great way to get started.

Swimming (blue cap)

T1 3:16

Knowing that I had a longer trek to my transition area, I tried to hustle from the pool to my bike.  Put on a shirt, socks, cycling shoes, helmet, and glasses.  Took a swig from my bottle, grabbed my bike, and ran it over to bike out.

Running my bike out of T1

Bike 15.7 hilly miles - 01:03:38, 77 of 122 women

I was out of breath and still mentally defeated from the swim for the first mile.  After that, I got my head back in the game. I made it a point to shout a loud "thank you" the volunteers that were on the course, many of which who were police, fire, and military personnel.  I wasn't passed by a woman until mile 6.  That woman, however, ended up being my race twin.  She had the same color bike as me, same color shirt, was the same age, and similar shorts.  That made me smile.  Lots of guys passed me, as well as a few other women.  I managed to pass a grand total of 5 people (Hey, it’s better than nothing!).  

At the turn point, which was also at the top of the big climb, I was behind my predicted pace, but determined to dig in and give it my all.  I has a strong second half and ended up finishing ahead of my predicted time and also about six and a half minutes faster than my bike split from 2008.  I realized it is all relative, but when I first started triathlon, I was always way back of the pack with my cycling and now I’m working my way up closer to the middle.  I’ve come a long way, and I’m very pleased with my improvement in this aspect of the sport.

Off on the bike!

T2 02:03

I took a 3 yr break from triathlon, and during that time I must have forgotten how to really hustle in T2.  For one thing, no Yanx, so I had to tighten and tie my running shoes.  It seemed to take forever.  Also I put my hat on in T1, should have grabbed it and put it on while running.  Between T1 and T2 I was almost a minute slower than 2008.  Oh well.

T2 - putting on my hat *sigh*

Run 3.1 hilly miles - 33:44, 79 of 122 women

I was exhausted at this point and this run is killer hilly.  I really didn’t feel like running, but I had no good reason not to, so off I went. It felt like I was moving at a snail’s pace throughout the entire course. My pace was actually fairly close to my half-marathon pace and a bit faster than I expected.  I ended up about 4 and a half minutes faster than my 2008 time and I’m happy with the result.

Off and running!

Overall 01:51:54, 79 of 122 women, 14 of 22 F45-49

What can I say? Despite a rocky swim and less than speedy transitions, I ended up about 10 minutes faster than my time from 2008 and a few minutes faster than what I predicted.  There are some things I still need to work on, but overall I’m happy.  I’m particularly pleased with my cycling improvement.

Running through to the finish

Post-Race Thoughts

I’m glad this was the 2^nd of the 2 sprints that I planned this year.  It was a challenging race, much more so than the one two weeks ago, and not as much fun.  I’m guessing part of the ‘less fun’ nature had to do with the fact that this was one of the first races in a long time where I didn’t know any of the other participants.  Everything is more fun with friends.  Anyway, I’m putting a bow on my tri season.  I am ready to move on to some fun rides with no race/time pressure and have my eyes set on a few charity events in October.

Sprint Summary

Holy Heck that was a tough race!  Full race report tomorrow or Tuesday.  I am happy to report that my back cooperated and I was able to participate!  I am also happy to report that my finish time was 01:51:54.   That's a good 10 minutes faster than my time from 2008 and a few minutes faster than the 01:55:00 that I predicted.  Yay!

A few random tidbits from the race:

• I was passed by a 73 yr old man wearing nothing but a speedo on the bike.  Think about that for a few moments.
• I passed a 7 yr old kid on the bike course.  Not a typo.  SEVEN.  Oh, and he passed me back and left me in the dust on the run.
• I saw a lady on the same color bike as mine, wearing the same color shirt, and similar shorts.  She was also my same age. I dubbed her my race twin.  She was faster than me, but it was still cool to have a race twin.
• I thought it was very cool that this race had a HERO division for EMS, police, fire, and military personnel and that the proceeds went to the local police and fire departments.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, folks.  I'm exhausted and ready for a nap!

Four Things Friday

1) Regarding the race this weekend.  Because of issues with my back, it has been iffy all week as to whether or not I will actually be able to participate.  My back was acting up on Saturday, messing up my plans for a long run.  Sunday it was marginal, and I limited my activity to a short bike and short run.  It seemed better by Monday, and we rode the bike course.  Tuesday I had a great run at the track.  Wednesday was rest day.  Thursday, my back started acting up again! Ugg. Canceled my run plans and went to the chiropractor instead.  Also was able to be seen by the PT on site. I have another chiro/PT appt later this afternoon as well.  I really want to do this particular sprint tri, so you can bet I'll be at the race site ready to go as long as my body cooperates.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

2) Already modifying my plans for what's next.  I had originally thought that I would target a 10K mid-Oct and go for a PR.  However, I've really been enjoying my bike a lot recently.  In fact, originally I had some apprehension about signing up for the Patriot due to the hilly bike route, but now I'm looking forward to the bike portion of the course more than anything else!  And with this newly sparked re-interest in cycling, I'm leaning toward adding in a few charity rides instead of that 10K.  That's one of the benefits of triathlon training, allows me to really mix things up however I want.

3) I took the Giant (road bike that I'm thinking of selling) into the shop for a tune up because it was out of adjustment.  When I picked it up, the guy that helped me kept calling me "dear."  I don't know about you, but for some reason I find that horribly condescending.  It's one thing if someone I know calls me "dear," but something entirely different when a total stranger calls me that.  Am I over-reacting??

4) Our garden is coming along nicely.  Remember when the rabbits were eating my plants?  Well, the reinforced gate kept them out and after that, the garden really flourished.  Right now I'm eating some of my cantaloupe from the garden.  I've never grown that before and it really turned out delish!  I'm also excited to make eggplant parmesan this weekend from my first ever eggplants.  My standby veggies (chilies, peppers, tomatoes, watermelon, beans, cucumbers) are doing well too, but these new additions are particularly exciting to try out.  It's amazing what seeds, sun, and water (plus compost and some TLC) turn into.

Predictions and Plans

So I have this hilly little sprint called the Patriot this weekend.  Actually, it's billed as the most difficult (or one of the most difficult, depending on who you ask) sprint in the state.  Lucky me!

Predictions:

I'm going to estimate to the nearest minute, not going to fiddle with seconds

• Swim (400m serpentine pool swim) - 9:00.  This is roughly my time from 2008.  When I do a straight 400m swim, I can do it faster, but this accounts for lane changes.  This is faster than what I did at my last tri, because the seeded swim start should mean very little jockeying for position in the pool (theoretically, faster swimmers in front of me, slower ones behind me)
• Transitions (T1+T2 combined) - 4:00.  In 2008, at this event, my transitions took 4 minutes.  A few weeks ago at a similar event, my transitions took 3 minutes.  I expect something closer to 2008 b/c  a few weeks ago we did a reverse which has faster transitions due to starting in running shoes.
• Bike (15.5 mi hilly route) - 1:06:00.  In 2008 this took me 01:11:00.  My cycling is a bit better since then, but not as good as I'd like.  I rode the course this weekend and it took me ~1:06:00 ride time not counting a few stops to check the map.  This lines up with my performance at my recent tri, so I think it's a good estimate.
• Run (3.1 mi hilly mixed terrain) - 35:00.  In 2008 it took me 38:00.  A few weeks ago, with the run first, I did it in 31:00.  I think I'm going to be tired and slow after the hilly bike ride, so I'm expecting something in between, but a little closer to the 2008 numbers.

What does it add up to?  If my predictions are close, I'm looking at a 01:55:00 finish vs. 2:02:00 from 2008, with most of the improvement coming from the bike.  If I can actually pull that off, I'll be happy.

Plans

• I will freeze half my bottle the night before, and fill it the rest of the way up race morning.
• I will arrive at the race site shortly after transition opens to get good parking and not be rushed.
• I will wear my new tri shorts & a grey sports bra for the swim, and put on a bright green or yellow shirt so that I'm highly visible on the bike route (want to be sure the cars can see me!)
• I will swim easy; I should be able to pull off a 9:00 400 without over-exerting myself.  Save energy for the bike and run.
• I will hustle through transitions; no dawdling!
• I will mount my Garmin on my bike for real time speed/distance feedback and use the Timex sports watch on my wrist for the rest of the race.
• I will smile and have fun and thank the volunteers who are out there.

I think that about covers it!

Monday Meanderings

1. My back hates me.  In mid-July, I experienced a back twinge that preceded two days of terrible-awful back spasms.  It was a good 10 days before I was running again.  Well, Saturday morning, as I was getting out of  car to meet my friend for a 10K hilly run, my back decided to act up again.  Twinge! Spasm! Ouch!  Thankfully, this time it wasn’t as bad as before and I here I am just a few days later and feeling well enough to run.  But I’m on guard.  If my back acts up again this week, I’m probably sitting out of the sprint tri that I have planned for the weekend (see #2))
2. The Patriot is cursed!  Okay, I don’t really believe that, but it sure has been poorly timed for me.   In 2008 I did this race wearing a knee brace shortly after my DNF at a local half-marathon.  The following year, I was signed up to do it again, but the race was just a few days after my dad died and I wasn’t in the right mental place to race safely, so I DNS.  I wanted to do it in 2010, but I had just gotten the all clear to run after having my knee treated and simply wasn’t in shape for it.  Now this year, my back decides to act up one week before the race.  *sigh*
3. I’m rethinking the remainder of my race calendar.  I have three potential events lined up in October, which is cool, but limits my actual training time and puts me into back-to-back races.  I"m now thinking that I may swap out one of my potential 10K races in October with something at the end of this month to spread things out a bit.  Stewing on that for a bit...
4. I love September!  This is one of my favorite months, mostly due to the weather.  It’s starting out great too, yesterday the high was 77.  Can you believe that, only 77?!?!  First time in a long time that it was something other than 90s and many days last week crept over 100.  Of course it only lasted one day, but it’s a sign that cooler weather is on the horizon.  Yay!
5. Husband & I rode the Patriot bike course today, or something close to it (not sure we turned around at exactly the right place, I measured it a little short). I thought the long climb in the middle would be the worst part, but instead, the worst part for me was actually the steep section between miles 12.5 & 13.0. Felt like I needed a grappling hook for that part. Yowzer!
   
   I now know that It's not going to be speedy, but I can do this.  I’ll post later this week about my expected splits and goals and such for the race.  
6. Three day weekends rock!  Not only do they make the long weekend special, they make the upcoming weekend arrive even faster.  I might even like the 4 day week after a 3 day weekend more than the 3 day weekend itself.  Is that strange?
7. I think orange Accelerade is my favorite because it reminds me of an orange dreamsicle or push-up treat, the kind I used to get from the ice cream truck when I was a kid.  Anyone with me on that?
8. Discovered a new Chobani flavor that I love - black cherry.  Have you tried that one? Totally yummy!  I didn't even know they made that kind until Husband brought one home after seeing it in the store.  Love it!
9. Sometime in the last month, I lost my camera.  Finally broke down and ordered a replacement, same model refurbished.  I was sure that ordering a new one would mean that the old one would turn up, but no luck.  At this point, I'm fairly sure I left it behind somewhere.  Bummer.

That's how I roll

This weekend I decided to invest a little time in a bike project or two.  My first bike project involves getting an old 20+ yr old heavy, stiff Rockhopper ride-ready and eventually commute-worthy.  I haven't ridden this for a very long time, in fact, the last time it was ridden was by the kids when they were little.  I had to adjust the seat quite a bit to get it into a somewhat comfortable position for me.  I also think that I need to raise the handle bars.  Anyway, I took it out for a test ride after wiping it down, filling up the tires, and adjusting the seat height.  Wasn't a very comfortable ride, and I think something funky is going on with the front brakes, but otherwise, it seems to be in good condition and shifted smoothly.

1990 ChroMoly RockHopper replaced knobbies w/ Hemisphere EX tires

My daughter got a bike when she was maybe 12 yrs old (maybe younger) that has been sitting in the garage ever since she learned to drive.  I put air in the tires and took this out for a test ride also.  I don't like how it shifts compared to the bike above, but the brakes are better and the ride is much more comfortable, probably due to the front shocks.  I'm thinking about asking her whether she ever plans to ride this again, if not, I may abandon the project above and work to make this my commute bike.

Daughter's 2005? Women's Aluminum Hardrock Sport

The second project that I have going on involves my Giant OCR3.  This is the bike that I did my first 3 triathlons on (back in 2006-2007).  It needed new tires and the bike computer hasn't been working. I replaced the tires Friday and Husband figured out how to get the battery out of the computer (replacing it should fix the issue).  I have a friend who is potentially interested in buying this bike so I'm getting it ready to sell.  I was thinking that I would list it on Craigslist if she doesn't want it because I haven't ridden it at all for the past year and a half or so, but now I'm not so sure.  Getting rid of a bike is like getting rid of a good friend.  Anyway, I took it out for a test ride today and it needs a tune up.  Can't get to the small ring in front and it rattles on the large rings in back.

2006 Women's Aluminum Giant OCR3

Finally, the bike I like best.  In the photo below I had replaced the front tire (have since also replaced the rear).  What's funny is that I wasn't really bike shopping for myself when I found it; I was out shopping with Husband for a road bike for him.  They had this in one of that stores that we were shopping at, I took it out for a ride while he was test riding something else, and fell in love with it. He didn't end up buying a bike at that particular store, but I eventually went back and bought this one for myself.  This is the only bike that I truly love riding.

2007 Women's Carbon Lemond Versailles

So that's how I roll.  How about you??

August Tally

By the Numbers

• 83.2 miles by feet (37.0 running, 45.2 walking)
• 100.4 miles by seat
• 1200 meters in the pool
• 12 hill training days
• 8 vacation days (Maui, baby!!)
• 4 planned rest days
• 1 unplanned rest day
• 2 races (5K, sprint tri)
• 1 child now a Senior in HS
• 1 child off to CA for Sophomore year in college
• 1 friend newly hooked on triathlon

Thoughts

• Happy with my bike training, especially given the week long vacation at the start of the month
• Happy with my performance at the sprint tri
• No good excuse for such little time in the pool other than it doesn't interest me that much
• I really need to be more consistent with my running

Plans

• Keep training hills!!
• Try to get in more running/swimming volume
• Another Sprint Tri

Live.Love.Tri Race Report

Pre Race

I went to packet pickup the day before the race and was assigned my race number, 27. The lady who handed it to me said "first wave." First wave? The pre-race packet said it was a mass start?!?! I immediately began to freak out. The only redeeming quality about a reverse triathlon, in my mind, is that it allows as many of the fast people to get out of my way as possible. Now I find out I'm in the first wave, which means said fast people will be chasing me down and passing me along the way. Why is this a problem? Because it means the pool is going to be even more clogged up than I thought. Great. Just Great.

My friend texted me when she got her number. She was in the first wave too. That was good, we could start together and would have some company out on the course.

Got all my stuff organized and packed up the car. Put a bottle of accelerade in the freezer. Tried to get a good night's rest.

Side note: I've had several pairs of tri shorts over the years, but I like to swim in them and chlorine isn't kind to them. Before the race, I was down to one pair, my least favorite and most uncomfortable. The night before the race, I realized that I should have bought another pair. Oh well.

Race Morning

The race was sold out with over 300 participants and the only available parking was going to be on the street. I didnt' want to end up parking far away, so I planned to arrive right when transition opened, at 5:45. Got a nice parking spot.

The pre-race packet said it was going to be first come first serve with regard to transition spots, but when I arrived, I found that transition spots were assigned based on number. My location was near the run-in, but near the middle of the rack.

When my friend arrived, I showed her how to rack her bike, and we went to get body marked and pick up our chips. Then we attended the pre-race meeting and got lined up for our wave 1 start.

Run

We had run this course 4 times before the race, so were very familiar with dreaded hills and the off-road section. My plan was to go easy up the hills, and power down them when I had gravity on my side, saving my legs for the cycle portion. I felt like I did a good job running this according to my plan.

Run time: 31:13

T1

My stuff was really close to the run-in entrance. So close that I over-ran to a different rack and then had to back track. Darn it! Changed my shoes, got my helmet and sun glassed put on. Grabbed my bottle of accelerade to take a drink only to find that it was still frozen solid. Drat! Grabbed the bike and headed out of transition.

T1 time: 1:28

Bike

I had driven the course, but never cycled it before. Started out okay, managed to pass a few people in the first half mile or so. Then I passed a few more and was feeling pretty good about how my legs were feeling. Then we got to the first real hill. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't fun. Started hearing "on your left" as stronger cyclists from later waves started catching up. This would be a theme for the rest of the bike course. At the turn-point, we got to go downhill for awhile. Wheeeeeee. Then another uphill. Ugggh. Finished with a short downhill then uphill into transition. Overall, I did okay, but I'd say this was more difficult than I expected. Definitely would have helped to bike the course at least once before the race. Lesson learned.

Bike time: 44:00

T2

Racked my bike, took off my helmet, shoes, socks, sunglasses. Grabbed my accelerade bottle once again, this time it was thawed. Yay! Went over to the pool. I feel like I was moving really slowly at this point, should/could have been moving faster here.

T2 time: 1:15

Swim

As I've mentioned before, it's a serpentine swim. You start on one end, go out and back in each lane, then under the rope to the next lane. On and on until you get to the ladder at the end on the other side of the pool. The problem for me with a reverse tri is that many of those ladies who passed me on the bike, aren't strong swimmers, and now they are in front of me in the pool. Anyway....I got into the pool and didn't make it one length at my own speed before being slowed down. Sigh. It isn't easy to pass in the pool when you have folks moving both directions in each lane. The best opportunity to pass is at the wall when you go under the rope. My strategy was to push off the wall, under the rope, and past one or two ladies into the next lane. So that's what I did. My swim time ended up being about what I expected for this situation, but slower than it would have been if I didn't have to deal with traffic in the pool.

swim time: 09:51

total time: 01:27:48, placed 10 of 23 F45:49, 104 of 265 individual age-groupers (that's with athenas, fat tire, and teams pulled out)

Post Race

They gave us a necklace at the finish and I gave Husband a big sweaty, wet hug. Went over to transition and put a shirt & shoes on, then waited for my friend and cheered her on in the pool. I was so proud of her! Here we are after the race, this is what success looks like!

After Thoughts

This was a lot of fun, I'm glad I did it and will likely do it again next year. I had predicted a 1:30:00 finish time; I finished a few minutes faster mostly because I had predicted longer transitions. I'm happy with that. It was good prep for the Patriot (two weeks out). I learned not to put a full bottle of accelerade in the freezer, next time I will freeze half, and fill the rest in the morning. I need to keep cycling hills, the longer and steeper the better. I also need a new pair of tri shorts (solved that yesterday afternoon).

[Edited to add more after thoughts:

I have some more info on my placement in this event. I was 104 of 265 individual AGs overall as I mentioned above. My swim placement was 84th. My bike placement (my perceived weakness) was 112th. Guess where my run placement was?? 128th!! I would have thought it would be in between cycling and swimming. Apparently not. What do I take from this? I think I've improved much more on the bike than I realized. ]

Live.Love.Tri. Race Summary

A proper report later, just a summary now. My actual finish time was 1:27:48 (I had predicted 1:30:00). I had a blast, but man those hills were hard. Shirts are cute and they gave us necklaces at the finish.

A few photos for your viewing pleasure:

Three Things Thursday - swimlessness, sleeplessness, and deliciousness

1) We are now T minus 2 days and I realized yesterday that I haven't gone to the pool in a month. Perhaps I should be concerned about this, but I am not. It's only a 400 m swim and whereas I find that riding a bike isn't actually "just like riding a bike," swimming is.

2) We had thunderstorms roll through last night at maybe 1am. It freaked out the dogs, so they started barking at the thunder. This irritate the Husband, so he started yelling at the dogs to stop barking. Turns out, when this happens, I don't sleep so well. Go figure.

3) I have no idea how I got to the age of 46 without discovering Bananas Foster until last night at the ball park. Oh.my.gosh have you tasted this deliciousness?!?! Perhaps it's better that I didn't know about it until now. Best part? We have tickets to the game Saturday and Sunday. You can bet I'll be back in the Bananas Foster line!

Monday Madness

Oh.my.freaking.gosh, apparently I cannot do simple math. All along I've thought the Live.Love and Patriot were three weeks apart. They are only two weeks apart. Two! Not Three! Ack! Commence freak out!

And now that they've changed the bike route for Live.Love, the only differences between it and the Patriot are that in the middle of the bike route, the patriot keeps going uphill for another 3 miles before hitting its turn point (gulp). Also the patriot is standard order with a seeded pool start vs. reverse (that's actually a good thing, I don't care for the reverse order myself).

Breathe in. Breathe out. Trying to calming down. Two weeks apart and similar course means the first event is simply a very good last long brick workout for the second one. Right? RIGHT?!?

Yesterday, husband & I climbed on our bikes and commuted to a local store for some yogurt. I volunteered to be the pack mule, I figured it was good training. As it turns out, I don't particularly like riding the 4.75 miles home from the store with ten Chobani yogurts in a little triangle bag on my back. The strings were cutting into my shoulders. I should have worn a backpack with better padding. Live and learn.

My friend & I are planning to head back out to the race site and run the course again on Tuesday. This time just once. This is mostly for mental preparedness. As I have suggested to others, I am also going to be practicing transitions this week.

If you haven't yet, please take a look at the bike/run profiles for this weekend. Based on the run profile, I'm revising my time "guestimates"; I think the run will take more like 34 minutes, which rounds out my "guestimated" finish time to 1:30:00 even for this first one.

Reconnaissance Missions

Mission #1: Capture the Bike Profile for the new course for Live.Love.Tri.

Would have been better if I captured it on my actual bike, but instead, I drove the course. They've changed the route dramatically, and it is now "moderately hilly" and shares much of the same course as the Patriot. It looks worse than it is, the y axis is broken down by 10 foot increments, while the x axis is in miles. However, it's definitely a hilly course.

Mission #2: Capture the Run Profile for Live.Love.Tri/Patriot.

This one I got by running the course. Actually ran it twice (the second loop was KILLER). I'm thinking this one actually *IS* as bad as it seems. These hills are steeper than the bike hills.


Thoughts: I think my bike training has been sufficient, but I probably should have run more hills. Not much I can do about it now. The good news is that next Saturdays race is essentially a nice brick workout for the Patriot three weeks later. In any event, I'm ready. Bring it on!!

T minus 11 and counting....

We are T minus 11 days until Live.Love.Tri, a local all women's sprint and my personal return to the triathlon world after a 3 year hiatus. This morning I received an info packet in my email. The main thing that stuck out at me was a course change for the bike leg.

It's a fairly short bike segment, only 10 miles. The new route is describes as moderately hilly. My initial thought was "Crud! This was supposed to be an easy bike route." But my glass-half-full nature quickly kicked in. The course change simply makes it better practice for the Patriot which is a longer and hillier route yet. In any event, I'm definitely going to drive the course in advance and capture the profile on my Garmin later this week just so I know exactly what I'm up against. Information is power, or so they say.

This also motivated me to get out on my bike this morning for my ten-mile-double-hill route before work. While I was out there, I started thinking about what my time expectations might be for this race. These aren't goals, but expectations.

• run - it's a hilly 5K run course so I'm going to say 31:00 although I'd like to see something faster than that.
• t1 - 2 1/2 minutes, just a total guess
• bike - moderately hilly 10 mile course, I'm thinking 40 minutes, will adjust guess once I measure the course profile and exact distance.
• t2 - 2 1/2 minutes, again a total guess
• swim - it's a 400 yd pool swim, up and back in each lane then over...serpentine style. If the swim were first, I'd say 8:45 +/- 15 sec, but it's last which means the lanes will be congested with folks that are faster than me on land and slower in the water. I'm guessing maybe closer to 10 minutes because of that.

That puts my total expected finish at something like 86 minutes (01:26:00). Guess we'll see how good I am at guessing!

As far as goals, this is what I'm currently thinking:

• Don't crash/trip/fall or otherwise end up bloody/bruised/broken.
• Finish strong with a smile on my face.
• Enjoy the experience and be ready to do it again on a harder course three weeks later.

Ride, Run, & Race Report

Ride - Had a very good 22+ mile bike ride on Friday. I actually averaged 17.2 mph for the first 10 miles. I don't think I've ever averaged that fast for 10 miles, so that makes me super happy. I started getting tired about halfway in and slowed down, bringing my overall average for the ride to 16.2mph. I'll take it! The route was mostly flat, but still this is a good result for me as I'm not a very strong cyclist. I'm convinced that the hill training is paying off!

Run - Met my running partner Saturday morning for an easy 4 miler. Most of the running group was not running at all because of the race the next day (half-marathon & 5K). I was planning to run the 5K mostly as practice for the sprint tri coming up in a few weeks and my running partner wasn't racing at all, so we decided to do any easy run anyway. While running, we also planned to meet up at the live.love.tri site next weekend and scope out the course. This is going to be her first triathlon so she's a bit nervous, but I'm excited about it.


Race Report - Last year I volunteered at the first water station, this year Husband & I ran. The half-marathon started at 6:30 with the 5K having a 7m race start. The location is quite a drive from our house and we expected parking to be challenging, so we needed to get up at 5am.When the alarm went off, I was thinking that it was silly to get up so early just to run 3.1 miles, but did it anyway.


I don't have too much to say other than I thought that the race seemed well organized. The 5K course was well marked, and volunteers were friendly. My race time was so-so for me with an official time of 29:20, 9:26 pace. I think I was 5th in my AG. There is really nothing wrong with this result, but since it was a full minute and a half slower than my last 5K, I admit to being a bit disappointed. However, given that I've only run 6 times in the past 4 weeks due to back issues and vacation, and still pulled off a fairly average 5K result for my abilities, I know that I shouldn't be too hard on myself.


[edited to add: After sleeping on it, I realized that this 5K result was faster than any of the 5Ks I ran in 2008, 2009, or 2010. What seems average this year would have been above average for me in the past. I'm feeling much more satisfied this morning than I was yesterday.]

[edited one more time: offical results are up and I want to note that I finished 23 of 134 women in the 5K which puts me in the top 20%. Happy about that also.]


Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day, but if I feel okay and the weather cooperates, I might ride my bike after work and save the rest day for Wednesday. We'll see...

Tale of Two Rides

I had an interesting discovery this week. After the whole stem valve / floor pump incident on Wednesday, I got a new floor pump, replaced the rear tube, and rechecked the front tire pressure. I found it to be low by 30. Thought that was odd, because I had successfully added air to the front (I thought) just the day before.

Took my bike out on the same ride as earlier in the week. This is is my standard 10 mile, double hill loop that I like to do mid-week.

EXHIBIT A - THE ROUTE PROFILE

Yesterday I had a great ride. My splits seem to be all over the map, but that has to do with the profile more than anything. In this graph, I have it broken down to two mile increments. Just trust me, for me this is a very good result.

EXHIBIT B - A GOOD RIDE

Here is where it gets interesting. I made a graph of my earlier ride on the same route. I haven't figured out how to get my program to keep the scale the same, but what jumps out at me immediately is that the entire ride is roughly 2 mph slower than the good ride.

EXHIBIT C - A CRUDDY RIDE

Yes, there are differences day to day in weather and how I feel and such, but I wonder if maybe, just maybe, the whole stem valve/floor pump thing was a blessing in disguise. What if the gauge on my old pump was significantly off and I've been riding on under-inflated tires all summer? If I find that my rides improve consistently now, then I'd say that is a definite possibility. Time will tell.

Three Things Thursday - dryer vent, floor pump, & tempo run

1) Earlier this week we had our dryer vent cleaned out (the part from the dryer to outside the house, not the lint filter). Apparently you are supposed to do this every two years. We haven't done it since.....uh.....ever. Oops. I'm happy to say that our dryer is now working like new and is no longer a fire hazard!! Will try to remember to have this done in 2013 rather than wait another 20 years.

2) I swear my bike hates me. I was having some issues (other stuff needing my attention) getting out for my ride yesterday. Finally was really ready to go, just needed to add air to my tires to get them up to pressure. As I was doing this, the stem valve from the rear tire broke off and got stuck in the head of my floor pump. Neither Husband or I were able to get the stem valve out of the nozzle head. At this point, I found myself in the situation of needing to replace the rear tube while my floor pump was out of commission. To heck with that! Took the dogs for a walk instead. Today I will stop at the LBS and see if they can help me with my nozzle situation; if not, I guess I'm buying a new floor pump.

This wouldn't be such a big deal, except that I need time on the bike more than anything. I could have used a frame pump or CO2 cartridge to get my bike up and running, but I was so frustrated at that point that it seemed better to postpone the ride for another day.

3) Finally had a decent run this morning. On deck was a 4 mile run broken down as warm up, tempo, cool down with sprint finish. I began to question myself during the tempo portion, but remembered that there is really only one question to ask yourself when a workout gets tough: "How bad do you want it?!?" That was enough to get my head into the game, and I am quite satisfied with my effort. Guess today I must have really wanted it.

Time to buckle down

With Live.Love.Tri less than three weeks away (yikes!) and a 5K coming up this weekend, it's time I get out of vacation mode and back into training mode. Yesterday I went for a 10.1 mile bike ride after work in the hot windy late afternoon. Must have been 98-100 deg and winds at 15-20mph. Yuck. But I got it done.

This morning I was going to run in the cool weather, but my calves were still a little sore from the weekend. I decided to postpone and meet up with some others this evening at the track. Again, it will likely be 98-100 deg, but this time wind only 5-10mph. It's not going to be comfortable, but I *will* be out there running.

[edited to add: I did not end up going to the track, but I DID run 4 miles easy in 96deg.]

In other news, my daughter is officially a senior in high school now and my son is back in California. I guess that means summer is over. Where does the time go??

Back from Maui

Had a wonderful week in paradise with my family. Although I had opportunities for both running and swimming, I did neither. Lots of walking & sight seeing, some hiking & snorkeling, and general rest & relaxation.

Today my calves are killing me, so I know I spent a lot of time on my feet yesterday before our flight home.

Hopefully I'll have some tri training updates soon; the first of my two sprints is under three weeks away! Until then, hope you enjoyed a few photos from our week (friend me on FB if you want to see more).

Catch up with you all later, I'm exhausted!