Democratic National Convention - Final Night

Enjoy the photos! One of these days I'll get around to summing it up. It was awesome!

Change is Coming

3.5 mile run

Okay, if you haven't figured it out, this isn't really about the run. The quick recap: it was a very easy Z2 run. Nothing of interest happened. Nothing profound ran through my head. I'm not even going to try and make things up.

I'm sitting at home on the couch (where I hardly spend any time) watching the DNC and getting excited. For the change that is coming. For the change that seems inevitable. With all the energy put into the primaries, towards the end, it seemed like everyone was just getting sick of it dragging on. There was fear that this energy was gone and that we used it all up in the primaries. But it's starting to seem like that energy is picking back up again.

It actually started for me on Sunday morning at the start of the race. There was an announcement that the mayor of DC had joined us that day. It was funny because I had seem him earlier in transition and he seemed so familiar. His parents own the Fleet Feet store in DC and I lived around the corner. It was definitely my running store, and then grew into my triathlon store as well. He wasn't the mayor when I lived in DC, but I've still found him to be inspiring. DC needs a mayor like this and it was a honor to be in a race with him. And Matt was luck enough to finish with him. I later went to a private event at Red Rocks on Sunday that was primarily for the sponsors. But there were a handful of delegates that had already arrived and there was definitely excitement in the air.

Of course, maybe it's because I'm here in Colorado where everything is taking place. Or maybe it's because I need to believe that this can happen. This is history in the making and we need to do everything we can to make this happen. November 4 is right around the corner. How many lives have been lost in the last 5 years? How much money have we thrown away (or borrowed from China) to pay for this unjust war? How many national problem have we ignored? How much money do the experts say it will take to pay for universal healthcare? How much for fixing education? And how much do we spend monthly on this war? Change is absolutely needed. I'm watching Biden accept the nomination right now. I'll be there tomorrow at Invesco when Obama accepts his nomination. The Obama/Biden team is here and are forging the way. We need to join in. We can do this. Yes we can.

The Little Engine That Could

6 mile run, 22 mile ride

I'm trying to get back in the game. It's only for another few weeks. But it's really hard to stay motivated. I'm tired. I want to be lazy. But I can hang in there for another few weeks.

I ran at lunch today and was still a bit tired from Sunday. My main set was 8x100 striders, 2 miles of Z4 with 4:00 recovery walk, and finally .5 miles Z4 with 2:00 recovery walk. It seemed pretty warm and definitely humid. What's up with this humidity? I thought I left all of that behind. Anyhow, I took it pretty easy on the striders and probably got up to high Z3. It's just too short of a distance for me to really get my HR up there. The hardest part of the striders was keeping track of how many I had done. I think I did 8...

I think because I was feeling so tired, I didn't overthink the Z4 set. I certainly wasn't looking forward to it, but I wasn't dreading it either. I started at a good pace and didn't go out to hard. In fact, throughout the first half mile or so, my HR was frequently dropping back into Z3. Towards the end my HR was getting a little high and I had no problem slowing it down. I wasn't going for time. It was hot and I was tired, so I was just going to stick to the plan. I finished the 2 miles and enjoyed my 4 min recovery walk. The problem was that it was really hard to get started again. My legs felt like they were done and it was quite a struggle to get everything going again. But I made it through and finished the workout. Success. And I was quite surprised with my times - 7:50 pace for the 2 mile bit and just under 7 for the half mile. Not sure where that came from.

I got home with the plan of riding. Matt had said he would ride with me so it didn't seem like it would be that hard. But I got home and we took the dogs for a quick walk and neither of us really wanted to go. We started talking about how nice it would be to have a Computrainer right now. The thought of leaving the house just seemed ridiculously hard. And Matt wasn't making it any easier. Despite wanting to, I couldn't give in. We got dressed and headed outside. Once we got started it wasn't nearly that bad. Getting started is always the hardest part. We did a quick out and back on 36 to get in some rollers. I was supposed to do a steep hill, but skipped it since my hamstring was pretty sore after the run. I figured the rollers would let me still get in a decent workout and wouldn't aggravate my hamstring too much. I ended up doing about 30 minutes in Z3/Z4 and tried to just spin my way through the rest. In the end, I was glad I got on the bike, but it was an even better feeling to get home.

Only a few more weeks. I can hang in there.

Steamboat Race Report

3/4 mile swim, 20 mile bike, 4 mile run

Matt and I headed up to Steamboat early Friday afternoon. We took the scenic route through Estes just because we could. I haven't been through the park in probably at least 15 years. It was really beautiful, although it's horrifying to see the destruction by the pine beetles. We rolled into Steamboat just before 6 and got settled into our condo and spent the evening watching the Olympics.

We slept in on Saturday (no dogs to wake us up early) and eventually made our way to packet pick-up and the pre-race meeting. Matt forgot his goggles, so we made a quick stop at Sports Authority and then drove the bike course (and here he was making fun of me about how much stuff I brought. I had 2 pair of goggles, but they were too small for him). We then decided to go for a short ride to stretch out our legs. We rode along the back part of the course since it was so close to where we were staying and we figured it would be better to ride the rollers rather than the flat stretch because what exactly would that give us. The road was a little rough with the recent chip seal, but nothing too uncomfortable other than a slight tickle along my forearms from the vibration. The rollers weren't so bad. And then we turned around and hit the wind. Let me rephrase that. And then we turned around and I hit the wind. Matt just kept on going. I battled the wind for a few miles wishing with all my might that it would not be windy on Sunday. But I can say that at least I'm getting a little better in the wind. We headed back to the condo to meet up with Mike who was going to stay with us that night. He and Matt went for a quick run and we headed over to Safeway to buy some stuff for dinner. After a yummy dinner of pasta, bread, salad, ground beef for the boys, and meatless balls for me, we settled in to watch the mens marathon. I also had a glass of wine, which I never do before a race. I also had about 20 gallons of water to counteract any affects, but it still straying quite a bit from my pre-race routine. It was a symbol that this race was supposed to be fun and no pressure. It was also an attempt to get me out of my current mindset of being done for the season - maybe if I enjoyed this race, I'd be more excited going into Harvest Moon.

I slept pretty well, especially for a night before a race. I woke up and walked out into the living room where Matt was out on the balcony laughing. According to him, what we were hearing was rain and gale force winds. I think we were all kind of thinking "Hmmm, maybe we should just go back to bed". Or maybe it was just me. The skies started to clear and the winds dropped to just below gale force. It looked like it was all passing over when we headed over to the lake. However, hanging around for the start, it seemed like it was getting worse. The wind was picking up and the temperatures were dropping a bit and the cloud cover came back. So much for no wind on the bike. The thought of just going back to car and sleeping was a very tempting thought.

But before long, the race was underway and inched my way into the icy waters reminding myself that this was the fun race. And we were off. The water was pretty frigid at first, but it wasn't as bad as Show Low and I got used to it pretty quickly. I started out in front and stayed in front. Unlike my last few races where I just couldn't get close enough to the front and had to fight my way out of the pack, things were nice and smooth from the start. I did swim into a few floaties, but I was expecting these. I wasn't expecting the mud pits at the end and sinking to my knees trying to get out of the water. I had a sudden image of Uncle Remus' tar baby - I wanted to put my hands down but then thought they'd get sucked into the mud and I'd end up on my face. Let's just say that it was not a quick exiting of the water.

I ran into transition and found my bike. I was still a little chilled so I decided to go with the arm warmers. And yes, I had also brought leg warmers and knee warmers. I decided to leave my gloves back in the car thinking that that might be overdoing it. I probably wasted about a minute getting the stupid arm warmers on my wet arms. It's kind of like getting into a wetsuit - there's always a struggle of sorts. The woman racked next to me came running up as I was fighting my clothing. Her boyfriend was right off to the side yelling that #1 was about 2 minutes ahead. She swore and then took off to catch her. Wow, I was pretty close to the front of the pack. Not like I had a chance of catching anyone on the bike, but it's still a nice mental thought to get stuck in your head right before your favorite leg.

I headed off on the bike and quickly found what I'm assuming was about a high Z3 pace. It was a little hard to tell with the altitude. I wouldn't say that I noticed it directly, but I did notice the effects of it with it just taking a little longer to catch my breath. I hit the railroad tracks and one of my water bottles went flying. I think I've lost about half of my bottles this year from railroad tracks. I kept going, ready to attack the rollers. Well, I didn't quite attack them - I was having some issues with other riders not riding to the right and trying to get around them without crashing into the cyclists on their way back to transition. I got to the turnaround and then WHAM! The Wind. Negative thoughts started leaping around and I tried to fight them out. Suddenly an old man (70? 90? old) came from nowhere. He had been riding on the bike path along the course and the bike path crosses the course by the turnaround. He was looking to his right at all of the cyclists coming towards him. He started pedaling across the street. I don't know how he couldn't know, but he seemed completely unaware that there were also cyclists coming from his left as well. He starts crossing the street directly in my path. I started to scream "Hey! Hey! Watch Out! Watch Out!" and started to slam on my brakes. He finally looked over at me with a confused look of "huh?". I slowed and swerved around him as did another guy. As the guy passed me he said "that was dangerous". You think? Well, there's nothing like adrenaline to get you going. Except for the fact that yelling had been exhausting and took quite a bit out of me. I was already breathing hard, but the yelling had been like doing some Z5 intervals. I was now completely out of breath. And dealing with the wind. The next few miles over the rollers were tough. I was fighting the wind and just couldn't settle into a comfortable pace. Finally something clicked and the moment had passed. I was on a hill and decided that the person I was behind was just not going quite fast enough. I made the pass and was back in the game. The rest of the rollers went much better, despite the wind. The home stretch was flat and should have been uneventful. But that would be too easy, right? I was getting close to the left hand turn back into the park. A car got into the left hand lane to turn as well. I assumed they were spectators and they had left plenty of room in the lane. The cop waved them through the turn since they weren't cutting anyone off. I was pretty much along side of the car as they started to make their turn. Their turn was really wide, thus making my turn really wide. They started to slow down and were practically blocking the right hand side of the road. There were a bunch of spectators on the corner. They started to yell. The car slowed more. I now had no way to get around them. I started to yell "Move! Get out of the way!" as did the spectators. The car slowed more. I was just about to reach out and pound on the window (yes, I was think close to the car and had maybe a foot of road between them and the side of the road) when they finally veered left and took off. I had been screaming quite a bit more than I had at the old man and was once again completely depleted of oxygen. And of course, I was now heading uphill. I struggled for a bit thinking that this was going to be a long ride back into transition. But I got to the final hill and something clicked again and I powered up the hill back into the parking lot.

I threw on my shoes and grabbed my hat as was off for the run. The leading wave was just starting to finish as I left for the run, so I realized that I was still pretty close to the front. The first half is relatively downhill and I figured it would be super easy. But it was also into the wind and it took me about a mile to fully catch my breath and get into a comfortable rhythm. That first mile I was definitely thinking that I would not be able to keep this up. I was also trying to conserve something for the second half since it would be uphill. Once I finally got comfortable, I was able to enjoy things again and admire the scenery. Suddenly I was at the turnaround and heading for home. The second half of the run felt so much better. I wished I had pushed a little harder. I was expecting the hill to suck, but I hardly noticed there was a hill. By the time I figure out that I still had quite a bit left, there was only about a half mile remaining. I went into high gear and charged over the hill to the finish line. I saw the clock at just under 2 hours. I was hoping to break 2, and I had about 45 seconds to get myself over the line. This turned out not to be a problem - they must have started my wave a little late. Final time: 1:58:49.

swim: 19:36
t1: 2:46 (stupid arm warmers)
bike: 1:02:42
t2: 1:12
run: 32:35

age group: 6/54
women: 23/243
overall: 111

Long Training Days

Tuesday: 42 mile ride
Wednesday: 10 mile run

I asked not to taper this week before Steamboat this coming weekend since it seems to be throwing me off. So instead I get distance and intensity throw at me. Just like I asked for.

I was supposed to do 50 yesterday, but that's nearly impossible to get in after a full day of work this time of the year. There's just not enough daylight left. I tried to leave work early, but still didn't get out until about 25 minutes after I had planned. My main set was 11.5 miles Z3, recover, 7 miles Z3, recover, 4 miles Z3. I had written down the distances on my hand. I know, I know. I usually will write it on a small piece of paper and tape it to my stem, but that takes too much time and time is a precious commodity these days. I know, I know. I should have done it the night before. But I didn't. Anyhow, once I got started, I immediately couldn't remember if I was supposed to do Z3 or Z4. It turned out that I really didn't need the distances written on my hand as I immediately committed them to memory. I instead should have written the intensity. I was wavering between the following: it's probably Z3 because I have Steamboat this weekend and Z4 seems like it's maybe too much right before a race OR Z4 sort of makes more sense because he usually breaks up the Z4 sets into smaller blocks and the Z3 sets are more like do 23 miles. So I compromised and did high Z3/low Z4. It was close enough.

In addition to going harder than I was supposed to, I also chose a slightly more challenging course for myself which included 2 times on the Rollers of 63rd, the hill heading east on Nelson between 63rd and 36, and the gradual climb heading east on St Vrain between 75th and 65th. It was a bit more climbing than I usually do. But I guess I knew I wasn't going to get 50 miles in, so I might as well make what I could do count. I tried to plan it so that each interval would have a good combination of up and down, but ended up completely miscalculating on the second one. This one pretty much seemed to be all uphill. I averaged somewhere in the 16s for this uphill interval, which I'm happy with - I'm usually in the single digits climbing. Overall I was able to average low 17s, which I rarely am able to do during a training ride. Go me!

I was very hesitant setting my alarm for 4:30 this morning. I was going to attempt a 12 mile run just a mere hours after my hilly ride. I figured it would be interesting. But it wasn't. I woke up at 4:30 with a killer headache that's been bothering me on and off over the past few days. It was the sort of headache that was not going to help with the run. I quickly figured out if I could rearrange my day and move the run to the evening. I didn't really have a choice though because there was no way I was going to get anything resembling a good run with a pounding head. I went back to sleep and woke up 2 hours later feeling quite a bit better. But it was going to be a struggle to get the run in. I'm having people over tomorrow so the plan was to clean tonight and by clean I mean vacuum the endless amounts of dog hair that just instantly reappears. It's like spontaneous generation. I don't know why, but it takes me an hour to vacuum just the upstairs (which is where we spend most of our time). I have a system too, there's just a lot of hair. Anyhow, I decided it would be a late-ish night and I would vacuum after the run. As if running 10 miles at the end of a long day isn't bad enough, but to add vacuuming on top of this...could I have a more fun evening? This is why I need a personal assistant. Or I guess a maid would work as well. I heard recently on one of the NPR game shows about a survey where they asked women if they could have 2 service-type people available to them, what would they pick. A large majority said a handy-man and a maid. They asked the same of men and surprisingly they answered the same.

Back to the run. I was supposed to do 12 miles, with 6 in Z3. And yes, it was supposed to be Z3 this time. It started off fine but when I went to start the Z3 segment, I found that I was still in Z2. Hmm, tried again. Nothing. Then some cramps started popping up. I wasn't sure if I just hadn't timed my afternoon snack right (I did feel rather full, but I've been starving the last 2 weeks or so) or if it was hydration. I decided to stick with Z2. There was just no forcing the Z3. I turned around after 5 miles since vacuuming was looming in the back of my mind. I'm not sure that I would have been able to do 12 - I was pretty dead after 10. 10 would have to suffice. And considering the problems I was having, it turned out to not be a bad run for Z2. Certainly not my finest run by any means. But for an evening run, it certainly wasn't my worst run either.

I got home and guess what I did? I vacuumed. Wow! It was so much fun. I won't go into detail. You're not missing much. But that was about all I was able to get through. The rest of the tidying up will have to wait until tomorrow where I'll somehow find time to squeeze it in.

Sometimes You Just Need a Break

5 mile run

I had a 6 mile Z2 run on the schedule today. It seemed like a lot after the 9 from yesterday, but it was Z2 and the sun was back out, so I figured what the hell. My relay teammate Deb IM'd me mid-morning asking what I was doing over lunch. She was complaining about how she hasn't run in weeks, but I finally ended up talking her into running with me. I promised her it would be easy. And it was. I had my HR monitor on, but barely paid attention to it, so we ended up running a little slower than Z2. But it was fun and stress-free. Sometimes you just need to take a little break from training. Thanks Deb!

So Ready to be Done

Saturday: 40 miles (trainer), 3 mile run
Sunday: ~2700m swim, 9 mile run

After about 2 days straight, it has finally stopped raining. And although Colorado in general needed it, I did not. After all, I already take 2-3 showers a day...

On Friday I was just supposed to swim. Being that Wolfgang is out and being that it was raining, I had absolutely no problem skipping this workout. I was able to rationalize that walking the dogs in the rain was pretty close to swimming. Instead, I finished off the day, and the week, with pizza and watching the Olympics.

Because I did not have the foresight to check the weather frequently, I woke up to Saturday's rain thinking that the entire weekend was going to be like this. I had planned on driving out to Aurora to do my brick on the Harvest Moon course. It was bad enough to have to drive to Aurora, but driving to Aurora in the rain...no way. Unless I absolutely have to, I don't ride in the rain. The roads are slick and people are stupid. It's just not worth it. Not to mention that it was also pretty cold. Instead, I tried to talk myself into getting on the trainer. Again, let me stress how stupid I was in not checking the weather. Had I any idea that Sunday was supposed to be absolutely beautiful, I would have ridden on Sunday and this post would probably be called something like 'The Ride of My Life'. But no, it was nothing but rain in my mind.

I needed to do 2.5 hours on the trainer. It was early. It was cold. It was raining. The Olympics are on and I'm still several days behind. Given these conditions, is there nothing better to do? Um, yeah, about a million, including going back to bed or having a cup of coffee and curling up in front of the TV. I could not have been moving any slower. I took things in very small steps in the hopes to get motivated. I brought my bike upstairs. I took a little break. I set up the trainer. Another little break. Turned on the TV. Break. Got dressed. Break. And then the thought crept into my mind. I think I'm ready to be done. Maybe today is the day I should end my season. Life has been very hectic and it's been a very long season and I've done plenty of races. Maybe it's time to stop and rest before starting again with CDA training.

But somehow, somehow, I found myself climbing on the trainer. Somehow I found myself starting to pedal. Somehow I found myself starting to get lost in watching the Olympics. I'd love to say that somehow I found that 2.5 hours had passed, but time didn't go so quickly and I was more than aware of how much time I still needed to do. Eventually (and not somehow), I got through 2.5 hours. It took a bit longer than 2.5 hours due to my finding many reasons to get off and make minor adjustments. And I still had a 9 mile run awaiting me. But I found myself at least somewhat looking forward to this - at least it would get me outside. I finished the ride, changed, and headed out on the run. It had stopped raining at this point and I was way overdressed. In addition, I had absolutely no energy. I was having a hard time maintaining my regular eating routine while on the trainer, and I just hadn't eaten enough. About 2.5 miles into the run my blood sugar dropped and there was no way I was going to do 9 miles. It just wasn't going to happen since I clearly needed more calories than I was carrying with me. I staggered through another half mile and then walked home. I'd try again on Sunday...

I awoke Sunday morning to sunshine. I figured it was temporary since I was still under the impression that it was supposed to rain all day Sunday. As I headed over to the pool, I noticed that there were not many clouds in the sky. Hmmm, I wonder. Let's just say that I was not happy when I finally checked the weather. I thought I was ready for Jane's class. Ha! She changed my mind almost immediately - we were only doing 25s and I wasn't getting any rest. It was going to be a loooong class. I had to keep moving back until I was at the end. I was close to keeping up, which means that I was nowhere near the person in front of me, BUT I didn't get lapped. I started to feel a little better as class went on and finished with a very small sense of accomplishment. I had made it through the entire class after all.

I got home and ate. In my mind, it must have still been raining as I just could not seem to really wake up. I just felt really sluggish. I decided to lie down for a little before attempting my run. We had dinner plans for my sister's birthday so I couldn't waste too much time, but I figured it couldn't hurt. After about an hour I finally got up. I had to start the run soon or it just wasn't going to happen. It was probably about 2 or 2:30 when I finally left the house. I dressed more appropriately today and brought a little more food, just in case. I had 6 miles to do in Z3 and decided to start this after a mile so that I could get it out of the way. The run was about 200% better than yesterday and not just because I made it past mile 3. It really was nice outside. My legs finally felt like they had fully recovered and I breezed through the Z3 set. Before I knew it, I was back home with another long run under my belt (finally). Maybe I'm not quite ready to end the season...

The Sprinting Snail

8 mile run

As you may have guessed, I didn't get up early to run. I did have every intention to, but since I had eaten way too much last night, I woke up still feeling really full, which is definitely not the way to start a run. I actually felt a little sick (too much dessert) and ended up going back to sleep for a bit and figured I try and squeeze something in at lunch. I wasn't really sure that I'd be able to do 11 anyhow, especially after the long course run - I was only just starting to be able to walk again. I was hoping I could get through 9.

Work turned out to be crazy. My calendar was booked from 10 until 4:15 (this includes the 1.5 hrs I scheduled for my run). Naturally my last meeting before lunch ran long and I got off to a late start. Since I had meetings all afternoon, I couldn't really dawdle. I decided to shoot for 8 and depending on time, could add another half mile out and back once I got back to work. I know, doubtful, but that's what I had to tell myself. I had 4x1 minutes hard with full rest and then 2.5 miles Z4. My 1 minute "sprints" went better than the last time. I decided not to focus on my HR since it never seems to get to Z4 or Z5 until after I stop and just attempt to sprint. With the Olympics in full swing, it was hard for me to bring myself to call it a sprint since it clearly was not anything close. So it was just 1 minute hard. 1 minute is a long time. But I got through them.

The Z4 was a little harder since I was already starting to feel my quads again. I didn't feel completely recovered from Sunday to be able to hold a faster pace for longer than a minute. So I just took a half mile at a time. I'm getting better - I didn't start off the Z4 too hard so I didn't feel like I was going to die after a few minutes. Instead I just felt like my quads were going to strangle me. My hamstring was also tightening up, but I've gotten pretty good at ignoring that. I took full advantage of Z2 for the rest of the run, even though it was about a snail's pace. The Z4's were all at an 8 min. pace, so I could handle being a snail for a few miles.

Happy Birthday!

21 mile ride, 1650 meter swimFor my birthday, I treated myself to a nice, early bike ride. Okay, so it wasn't that early. I dropped the dogs off at daycare around 7 and then left from work. It was an all Z2 ride, so not a bad way to start the morning. And it certainly beats starting a ride at 6. After a lovely day at work, I headed over to the pool. Wolfgang is out this week, and you know how substitutes are. It wasn't a great workout and I got criticized for my stroke and not following through. This is nothing new and as Wolfgang likes to point out, it's something I do when I start to get tired. And I was tired.

I wasn't really planning on doing much for my birthday since I have an early morning 11 mile run tomorrow. I was a little hesitant about going out and eating too much and not being able to sleep or get up super early. Matt and I just talked about getting dessert. However, by the time I had finished swimming, he was just getting home and neither of us had eaten yet. We ended up going to dinner and getting two desserts (the server was new and didn't know the names of the desserts. So what he called the chocolate cake that I wanted was not actually the chocolate cake. When the order came out, he realized that this was not what I wanted, so we ended up getting both. I couldn't complain). And in the end, I ate too much. Should be a good run.

Anything but Comfortable

3 mile run, 34 mile ride

Ouch. I still hurt. Fortunately my run was only 3 miles. It was about the most painful 3 miles I've ever done. My quads are still screaming and do not really want to bend in any direction. I was hoping things would loosen up during the run, but they did not. It was a very slow run, a shuffle really.

I figured this would not bode well for the bike ride, but decided to try it anyways. It was significantly better than the run, even joyful. My legs felt fine spinning - so it appears that any form of walking is what I should not be doing right now. Of course, I had some issues controlling my HR as I am clearly not completely recovered from the weekend. My other issue was my saddle. I just could not get comfortable. Let's be clear. I've had plenty of experience with saddles - I think I'm on number 10 - so I know what discomfort feels like. The way I choose a saddle is by how less uncomfortable it is than the last one. To go by what feels the best is just wishful thinking, so I've accepted the what feels the least uncomfortable as the standard. I've had some saddles that I could barely stand to actually put weight down (this one went right back to the bike shop immediately after my ride. I walked in and just said "take it off"). So, when I say that I could not get comfortable, I really mean that I just could not get less uncomfortable. I don't know what it was - everything felt great (relatively speaking) on Friday. It's sort of like when you have a wrinkle in your sock and it just doesn't feel right in your shoe and no matter how you adjust it, it just doesn't seem to go away. I guess there are days that no matter what you do, you're just not going to settle in.

I did 4x1 min. in Z5 (the attack, out of the saddle set) and I had no problems getting into Z5. The attacking and out of the saddle feel were a bit lacking. My poor little legs couldn't quite handle being out of the saddle for so long. I did my best though and did all 4. I then had to do 5x5 min. in Z4 with full recovery. These went surprisingly well, and it probably helped that I could get into Z4 almost immediately. It may not have been my fastest effort, but it was definitely full effort.

I finished in just over 2 hours, which I was completely fine with. I was really happy that I was able to do the entire workout, despite being so tired and sore. It's time to start pushing a little more. And now I'm one step closer.

Reflections

Day Off!
What I found most interesting about yesterday was that 13.1 miles seems just as hard as 70.3. You'd think it would be way easier. But it's sort of like difference between Engineers and Physicists and the concept of being able to divide 1 inch and 10 inches into the same number of subdivisions. The real joke is that you have a two people sitting on opposite ends of a couch. The question is that if they keep halving the distance between them, will they ever reach each other? The Engineer says no, because there will also be a distance the be reduced, minute as it may be. The Physicist says that for all practical purposes, the answer is yes. I was an Engineer in school, so I'm allowed to make fun of myself.

Anyhow, it seems that regardless of the distance, your mind assigns a definitive starting and ending point. You push yourself accordingly based on the distance. When you start to reach that breaking point, depending on how close you are to your ending point, you then react accordingly to how much more you can push yourself. It seems like some of the biggest struggles are towards then end of race and the end just can't come soon enough. Had I done the rest of the race, if I started tiring on the bike, I'd likely react quite a bit differently knowing that I still had a run to do. Like at Vineman, the last 15 miles on the bike were about the worse imaginable. But there were no thoughts of "I don't know how much more of this I can take" or "I don't know if I can do this". There were no thoughts about being almost done or any of the other things that pop into my mind when I'm so close, but still seem so far. I knew there was still a run to do and I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but there was no way that I was done. My start and end point were for 70.3, not a 56 mile ride. Well, that's my official theory anyways...

Or maybe it's because I didn't really train much for this. Let me just say that my quads are killing me! Stairs are my biggest enemy right now.

The Other Side of the Fence

5430 (Short) Long Course

Well, let's just start off with saying that my relay team placed 2nd out of 16 in the all women category. Let me also point out that the first place team had a professional cyclist/Olympian doing their second leg. Deb was awesome on the ride and only let her have a 9 minute lead. Unfortunately it was a little too much for us to catch up. But I'll settle for 2nd, especially since it will probably be my only time up on the podium. Besides, first place didn't stay for the awards ceremony so were were the only ones up there so it made it seem like we were first.

The day started out a little strange. I actually slept most of the night. There were no nerves waking up. In fact, I felt like I didn't even have to really wake up. I didn't even try and force myself to eat - just threw it in a bag and was off to meet the girls. We met up at Vics at 5:30. Deb and Blake (thanks for driving us, Blake) picked us up and drove us off the res. We headed off to body marking where we managed to find a rather clueless body marker. We walked up and I said that we were a relay. He asked who the swimmer was. Lauren stepped up and he marked her arms and put our bib number on the back of her leg. I asked about the "R" and he didn't know what I was talking about. He said this was all we needed. Lauren asked about her hands and he said that we didn't need it. I was up next and told him I was the runner. He said, "Oh, I don't think you need to be marked". I told him that I thought that everyone should be marked. He hesitantly agreed and said that he'd just make them small. And that he did. We were #58. The entire number couldn't have been more than 1.5 inches. And again, no "R". I decided that maybe this was a good thing since if there was no "R", maybe no one on the run would know that I'm part of a relay and thus I would no longer be the person that everyone hates on the run. He marked Deb as well in his same minimalistic style. Oh well. I later saw a woman who must have given them the wrong number initially because she had a huge black mess on her arm where they crossed it out and then wrote another number next to her (yes, both arms). So I guess it could have been worse.

We headed into the transition area and I started to ask a volunteer about the rules for the relay teams. She didn't know and suggested talking to a ref. One just happened to walk by and I stopped her. She basically said that it was simple - hand off the timing chip at our transition spot. Yes, I knew that part. I asked her "But we're not actually expected to hang out in the transition area for 3 hours" and she said yes. So I asked how we got back in when we needed to - did we need to go in through a certain entrance and would the volunteers let us in. She actually didn't know the answer regarding the entrance and told me I'd have to ask Barry. So I tracked down Barry who agreed to talk to me as long as I walked with him as he is a busy man and was in the process of doing several different things. I told him I had a question about the relay rules. He asked if I had gone to the meeting, to which I replied yes but that I hadn't heard anything specific to the relay teams. I always go to the pre-race meeting and have attended about 10 of these over the past few years (all 5430), I can't say that I've ever heard them give specific instructions for a relay team. He seemed to accept this and said the same thing as the ref - just make sure you're in the transition area when your teammate comes in and just had off the chip. So again I confirmed that we didn't have to stand in the transition area for 3 hours. He laughed and said "Nooo." So again I asked if there was a specific or preferred entrance we use to get back into transition. He thought about it for a moment (I don't think anyone has asked this question before) and then finally said no. He kind of looked puzzled as if wondering why I was asking, so I finally said that I didn't want to get in anyones way since there would be athletes coming in and out at the same time I would try and get in. He seemed to appreciate my concern and actually thanked me for asking the question. As I walked away, I decided that most relays must be made up of non triathletes. Triathletes as a rule are pretty anal people. So naturally, when you put triathletes onto a relay, they are going to be just as anal. I was just being normal.

Anyhow, we set up our rack, which was a little weird. I have my routine of placement of things, but this didn't apply because I really only had my running shoes and bib number. It was a little weird. There wasn't really anything to set up. It took all of 3 minutes. We quickly reviewed again with Deb the exit and entrance as well as repeated the rules. Lauren and I are triathletes, but Deb is a cyclist and has only done bike races. The rules are obviously a little different. We actually figured it would be in our favor when we emphasized the no draft rule.
We figured she'd panic about the 3 bike lengths rule (we said to err on the side of more than 3 bikes) and just feel like she'd have to pass everyone. I think it worked pretty well.

We then headed down to the swim start. It was really weird to still be in sweats and a long sleeve shirt. There was no wetsuit to struggle into. And no rush to get into the water or down to the beach. I found Rachel and some friends and we watched all waves go off. It's kind of cool to be right at the swim start. Deb then headed off to transition and the rest of us headed over to the swim finish. Also very cool to see swimmers exiting the water. There are so many different routines. Some people don't even try to get their wetsuit off. Others are quite successful. Many people struggle, running with their arms trying to reach down their back or trying to get their arm free (it helps if you don't have your goggles and swim cap in your hand). Some people walk all the way to transition. Others run. Some people are super happy and smiling. Others are either in the zone or just in a bad mood. We headed over to the bike start and watched many near crashes as people crowded along the mount line to get on their bikes. I can't figure out why people feel like they have to rush this part. It's probably the most likely place that you'll fall off your bike and do you really want to run that risk before you've even started the ride? Anyhow, it was really quite fascinating to be on the other side of the fence spectating. It's a different world. Some of the highlights...2 hot air balloons came in for a landing. The first one was right over the road between the grassy hill coming off of the swim finish and the swim entrance to the transition area. It was really low. Everyone kept looking up at it since it really looked like it was going to land in transition or right on top of us. At one point, the announcer actually said "Somehow that just doesn't seem safe". The other one slowly drifted over the transition area and I'm sure the same thought was going through
more than one persons mind - they're going to hit
the bikes! But clearly these balloon people know what they're doing. They probably enjoyed messing with us. It was very Wizard of Ozzy.

Other highlights included learning the McDonalds is compostable and that some idiot dropped their iPhone in the porta-potty and called the police. I guess the announcers need to amuse themselves as well. I figured the sitting around and waiting would feel like forever, but it went by really quickly. Of course, we did have people to talk to the whole time. But it went by so much faster than I expected. Deb had been gone a little over 2 hours on the bike and I had to start thinking about getting ready. I finally started to get nervous. The funny thing is that I wasn't nervous about the run (well, maybe a little bit), but I was more nervous about the timing of the transition. I was thinking Deb would do a 2:30 on the bike, but Lauren was thinking faster. Finally around 2:15 I decided to just go into transition. It was better to just stand and wait around inside than to be late. She came in a little over 2:30 and I have never seem someone sprint so fast in a transition area. I couldn't figure out how she didn't feel like she was going to kill herself but then I remembered that she wasn't wearing road shoes and she had SPDs, so she had a bit more grip that I usually do. The transition took 37 seconds. She took off the timing chip, I put it on, and then off I went.

I'm pretty sure that I started out faster than I should have. I would occasionally glance down at my watch and every time I looked, I was in Z4. I tried to slow it down a little, but then I'd hit a hill and feel like I'd have to charge up it, thus making it hard to reach Z3. I felt pretty good the first lap and saw Matt and Ralena (my sister) just before heading over the dam. I could feel my hamstring getting a little tight, but it wasn't consistent and I didn't worry about it. Heading into lap 2 I started getting tired. I just haven't been doing much distance and I was starting to reach the point where I was beyond my training. Since Vineman, I've done one long run of 14 miles and only a handful of other runs, with the max distance being 5 miles. So I think it's an accurate statement to say that I haven't really been training for the distance and it was starting to tell. Not that this was a surprise, it was more just a matter of time before this feeling would kick in. At this point, I just started telling myself to take one mile at a time. I'd worry about the next mile once I got there. This seemed to work up to a point. It definitely got me over the rollers at the start of lap 2. I was also working on the mental mind flip. When I felt myself thinking about how tired I was and how I didn't think I could get over a hill, I'd turn it into I can get over this hill because I currently am getting over this hill. It does make quite a difference. Around 10 miles I hit my limit. I was several miles beyond what I'd been training and I really had to push myself to get through those last 3. I kept trying to remind myself of Vineman and that last mile. I was determined to make this last mile just as strong. But I was just feeling weaker and slower. It didn't help that at this time the sun came out for a bit. But I kept going, putting one foot in front of the other. I thought about the wheelchair athlete from Vineman and pushed a little harder. So, trying to keep these thoughts in the forefront of my mind, I just kept moving forward. The last little stretch where all the crowds are and everyone is cheering, there were a bunch of little kids in a line with their hands out. It was very cute, so I had to run over and slap them all 5. And before I knew it, I was heading around that last turn into the finishing chute and across the line.

Okay, so it wasn't exactly the run I had in mind, but considering the season I've had and what I've felt to be a lack of training, it really was pretty good. My hamstring held up and was only a little sore afterwards and this was what I was the most worried about. So for this, I was grateful. Lauren and Deb were awesome relay partners and we accomplished what we had set out to do - make the podium. It was totally worth it!
Swim (Lauren): 40:22
T1: 0:33
Bike (Deb): 2:34:21
T2: 0:37
Run (Jessica): 1:55:33

Total: 5:11:23

Other photos can be found here:

5430 Long Course Relay 2008

Pre-race (Non) Routine

3 mile run

Okay, so I wasn't supposed to do anything today except rest. But I woke up and felt a little anxious about having not run since Monday and expecting to do a 13 mile run tomorrow. My hamstring was not feeling great for much of the week, so yes, I'm a little hesitant about how it will go. I did have a good acupuncture session yesterday and I'm hoping that we're now back on the road to recovery. But I'd be absurd to think that everything was all better. 13 miles is kind of a long distance.

Against my better judgment, I decided to go on an easy 3 mile run. It was more for peace of mind and to just get an idea of how my legs were really feeling. The thing with the hamstring is that it really doesn't bother me when I run. But I still have that fear that it might. Anyhow, I just wanted to make sure that everything felt okay enough. And it did, but I just had to be sure.

I went off to packet pickup at 11 to try and figure out how exactly the relay worked. The people at registration weren't that helpful and couldn't really give us much more information. Fortunately there was one woman at the goody tent that was also doing the relay and she basically said that everything happens at our transition spot. We just hang out there until we are handed the timing chip and then off we go.

I came home and tried to relax but of course founds many ways to waste the day away. I am now starting to get ready for tomorrow, but I'm not exactly sure what to do. I really don't have much to pack. But I do have to figure out what I should be doing for the 3 hours or so that I'm waiting around. Do I eat at 6 like I normally do? I guess I don't really have to worry about trying to force myself to eat at such an ungodly hour. But then I'll have to eat something else before the run. What and when should I do this? What if I drink too much since I'll just be sitting around waiting. Is it okay if I bring a book? Everything seems so far removed from my normal routine that it doesn't really feel like a race. But maybe that's okay. After all, I told myself that tomorrow I'll be out there to have fun.

Storm Chaser

19.75 mile ride

Since I was completely unable to get out of bed early, I took a risk with the weather and decided to wait until after work to ride. It looked pretty threatening for a while, but by the time I actually left work, it didn't seem bad at all. In fact, it looked like everything had passed over. The sun was out and the winds had died. There went my only excuse.

I somehow managed to talk Matt into riding with me. Neither of us were really motivated, but I figured we'd both more likely go if we went together. I told him the weather was fine. I'm sure he was ready to kill me by the end of the ride.

We met up at Valmont and Foothills and headed north on 47th to Jay so we could cut over to 36. The plan was to just do the Neva loop since it was already getting a little late. Technically I was supposed to do a brick with a 15 mile ride and 3 mile run. But I was also supposed to do a 25 mile ride yesterday and only did about 16. So I was actually hoping to do a little bit of a longer ride if I could squeeze it in. Once we got onto 36, the dark clouds that had been hovering over Lyons, suddenly were on the move. There went the sun. We turned onto Neva and kept glancing to the north. The sky did not look kind. Then the winds came. So much for staying aero. I was now doing all I could to stay upright. So much for Z2. Let's just say that I was a little more than nervous about the wind and the likely storm. My HR spiked. Since I couldn't keep it low, I decided I might as well fly as fast as I could in the hopes that I could outrun it. Matt was right on my rear wheel. I'm not sure how I got stuck leading, but I did. There were several other riders struggling and we flew past them. One of them managed to jump on Matt's rear wheel and got a free ride for a few miles. At least he waved/nodded/somewhat acknowledged us when we parted ways. Once we started heading south, with the clouds behind us, my nerves calmed a bit and now I was determined to just outrun it. We averaged 20.2 mph from just before the turn onto Neva all the way back to Valmont on 63rd. The wind helped somewhat, but we had to deal with a nasty crosswind for what seemed like an endless amount of time.

We lucked out. Despite the wrath of its warmup routine, the storm never quite materialized.
There were a few drops in the last 2 miles, but they were so slight that they could have just been drops of sweat. The ride ending up taking a little more out of me mentally than I was prepared for and once I got home, I knew that I wasn't going to head out again for a run. It just wasn't going to happen. I will just have to hope that my hamstring will continue to feel better and that I'll be able to pull through the run on Sunday.

Feeling Lazy

Wednesday: swim 2300m Thursday: 16.3 mile ride

I'm getting a little lazy. I swam. I rode.

Running (and singing) in the Rain

5 mile run, 21 mile ride

Okay, so I guess technically it was more of a drizzle, but considering we haven't seen much in the form of precipitation here in the last few weeks, to me, it was rain. And it was wonderful.

I ran at lunch because I wanted to try and get a few more workouts in during the heat of the day to better prepare me for the Long Course run on Sunday. I'm pretty sure I'm crazy. The heat of Saturday was so far behind me that it seemed totally logical to want to be out running in the heat today. Or maybe the heat of Saturday was just starting to settle in and take over my brain.

Anyhow, it wasn't really all that hot. It's always a little weird when 80-some degrees is not longer all that hot. It's like that point when you start increasing your running distance and 10 miles becomes "not that long". It's the same sort of logic - Athlete Logic. It was an all Z2 run so I felt like I could suck it up for a few miles. The clouds started coming in immediately and I was hearing thunder rumbling within the first mile or so. Things started cooling down a little. When I got to my turnaround point, it started to rain. It wasn't heavy, but it was wet and it was cool and it was such a nice relief. This is what I was living for on Saturday. I knew it wasn't going to last long, but I enjoyed it for as long as it was around. It ended pretty quickly, but the clouds and wind stuck around for pretty much the rest of my run. The sun came out full force when I had about 1/4 mile left (and it suddenly became very hot), so I pretty much missed out on the heat. I know I shouldn't complain...

I was not really looking forward to riding this evening. The weather wasn't looking so great and the winds were really picking up. At one point I had checked the weather and the warning was something along the line of watching out for the occasional lightning strike. That was enough to do it for me. Of course, by the time I got home, it was pretty much sunny skies again and no threat of rain. I no longer had my excuse and so I dragged myself out of the house. I was supposed to be leading a group ride and was sort of hoping that no one would show. But Bob did. Bob always shows. Fortunately it was a very mellow ride and really slow. The wind was a bit rough at times but didn't seem to bother me as much. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'm starting to get used to the wind. Craziness. In the end, I was glad I went. I finished feeling much better than I started. And that's definitely the way to go with workouts.

And even better is that tomorrow is Rest Day! Hooray!

Ending the Weekend Off Right

3200m swim

It is relatively rare that I have most of a weekend day to do something other than training. It seems takes me by surprise, but I try and enjoy it when it happens.

I started my swim before Jane's class, but I had mistimed the class and it started about 30 minutes after I had. So I ended up swimming half of the class, which is probably a good thing just because it keeps me a little more honest.

The water was insanely cold. I know, I was just complaining about the heat. But this was a shocker, especially in the early morning before you've really had a chance to get too hot. My warm up was truly a warm up. I couldn't believe how cold it was. I was actually glad that my initial sets were long so that I didn't have to stop. I was pretty much doing 200s or 300s at a time for the first 30 minutes. Did I mention how cold it was?

Then class took over. Initially I was the only person in the lane. The instructions were to swim a 250 free followed immediately by a 150 nonfree. We could then rest until the 3rd person came in and then repeat the set again. Since I didn't have a 3rd person, or even a 2nd person, I was wondering if that meant I could wait indefinitely. That is, if it hadn't been so cold. But my lane quickly filled up and it became apparent that I should not be leading. It was a long set to finish up and I vowed to stay ahead for the rest of the set. Somehow I did and then immediately dropped to the back of the pack. As usual, Jane's workout killed me. I was glad I had a valid excuse to get out early. But while I was there, I did the workout and almost made all of the intervals. That's pretty good for me and a Jane workout. And I was able to leave before I felt too broken, so I ended up finishing on a good note.

And it was not even 11. I had the rest of the day to enjoy. And that I did. I went to the Farmer's Market at the 29th Street Mall. It's not quite the same thing as the Saturday one, but there was still a great selection and I was able to get enough veggies to make a completely locally grown dinner. Having recently read Omnivore's Dilemma (Michael Pollen) and just finishing Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Barbara Kingsolver), I'm on this big local food kick. I can't usually get to the Farmer's Market, or at least I can't go regularly, so I definitely enjoyed this one, little as it might be, as much as possible. We took the dogs up to the mountains to let them run around in the cooler air. We thought we'd be able to witness a thunderstorm, but it didn't quite materialize where we were. But the clouds were certainly impressive enough. I also even got in a little cleaning in the form of vacuuming. And, I finally got to the laundry and was able to put away those clothes that have been sitting in a pile all week, leaving me plenty of room to build up a new pile this week.

Heat Wave

23 mile ride, 3.5 mile run brickSo, we have been in the middle of some ridiculous heat wave for the last few weeks. We've broken some 100+ year record. Riding in a blast furnace doesn't even begin to compare to the torture we've been dealing with here. Today of course was no exception.

I had an "easy" workout - a short ride and run, pretty much all Z2. No problem. I even slept in since I figured that I'd be out for such a short time that it really didn't matter when I went. The heat shouldn't be an issue since I'd only be out for 2 hours max. I should have known better, especially after getting into the car and hearing this on the radio: "Do not go outside today unless you have to. If you must be outdoors or are doing any physical activity, make sure you drink plenty of water and stay hydrated". I thought it was a little odd that they were giving us this advice now after 3 weeks of experiencing such temperatures. Did they think perhaps we had somehow managed to escape being outside this whole time? So there I was, taking the whole heat advisory as a joke. Serves me right.

I headed out maybe 10:30 or 10:45. It was hot. I started riding north on 36. It was very hot. There was just hot air everywhere, blasts of it, and there was no where for it to go, so it just sat there on top of you. I totally threw away my nutrition/hydration plan and drank whenever I needed it, which was very often. I had to skip my Z4 intervals (which were only 2 minutes or something) because I was already in Z4, and barely crawling along. It was so very hot. There was no relief. I was daydreaming about the ice vests and ice socks that Slipsteam had at the Tour. When I first saw pictures of these, they looked painful and I shivered just watching the video. Now they seemed like heaven. I ended up doing the rollers on 63rd just because it seemed so much farther to go to 75th and it would mean that I'd be outside longer. About 50-55 minutes into the ride, I got a little bit of a break from cloud cover. The clouds were just slowly starting to roll in. It wasn't much of a difference, but I took it anyway. At this point, all I could now think about was rain. How great would that be? I of course, completely forgot about that last ride that was insanely hot and had ended in a downpour and how cold I immediately became. How could I even conceive of being cold in this heat? I stopped at Tom Watson Park to get more water - who would have guessed that 2 water bottles would not suffice for a 23 mile ride? I think I was delirious - I totally missed Amy riding by waving at me. But can you blame me? She later acknowledged how hot she was, but you just can't miss my bike.

I got home and did the world's slowest transition ever. I don't think I could have procrastinated any more. I headed out at a snail's pace. The winds were starting to pick up and the clouds were getting darker. I prayed for rain. It was no longer even that hot, but the heat was in my head and rain just sounded so good. I could see it coming down to the south and wished for the winds to shift directions to blow it northwards. Of course it didn't happen. After what seemed like hours, I eventually made it home. Matt called shortly after I walked in the door. He asked if I got caught in the rain and I nearly cried "You had rain?". It was so unfair. We live 3.5 miles apart, but in completely different weather zones. There is some strange diving line between north and south Boulder and I swear that we regularly have major weather differences. This was one of them.

After being home for about 10 minutes, I was suddenly cold. Really cold. I had to go take a hot shower. It made me wonder why it seems to only take seconds to cool off when you're really hot, but it takes forever to warm up when you're cold. Why is this? And more importantly, how could I have so quickly and easily forgotten about the heat hell I had just been through? Suddenly I was again miserable, but at the opposite end of the spectrum.

TGI...Swimday

2200m swim

Thankfully all I had to do today was swim. I was still recovering from my run and was pretty tired. My hamstring fortunately was feeling better, but the rest of me felt a little worn out. I was happy to be ending the week with a swim, especially considering the heat.

The swim wasn't anything special. I ended up going with a slightly slower lane, but at least I was able to keep up and didn't feel like I was slowly killing myself in the process. And I wasn't the last one in the lane either. So maybe I wasn't pushing myself all that hard, but sometimes you need a workout that makes you feel better. Since my swim on Wednesday had been such a struggle, I needed one that made me feel stronger and more confident. Sometimes it's not about how fast you are. Sometimes it's just about achieving a goal, regardless of what that is. Today I needed to finish a swim and feel good, even if it meant slowing down. Sometimes you just need an easy day and today was one of those days.