This race plaques me. It plaques me due to this one tiny little section where you have to roll over a couple of, literally, 4" drops, maybe 6". I bailed on the 3 laps I had to do it last year and this year I was determined I would conquer the damn thing this year. If you don't want to read the rest, I didn't conquer the stupid little drops.
Pre-Race
Set up T-area. Make snappy remarks about some of the bikes people had - there was a Hummer Bike (sadly, he beat me)! Nearly died from trying a Gu. I'll never like those things. Complain about not having breakfast and the fact my husband was still sleeping when I left the hotel. He showed up about 20 mins before the start. With no food.
Swim
This is by far my best swim! Everything felt great, I just got in and swam. I caught up to and passed a significant amount of Flag swim caps - those guys started 8 mins before me! My goal was to be within about 2 minutes of Elaine out of the water and I was surprised to see her in transition as I was headed out. The girl who got first in my AG swam 4 minutes faster than I did. Nothing I could do about that!
T1
Could have been a little faster. Transition was on the sand volleyball courts so running was out (I don't do sand). Plus I ended up with tons of sand on my feet and I tried to wipe some off, didn't want blisters after all, but it would have taken too long.
Bike
Erik and I had gone over to the course the night before to scope out this stupid rock "drop" (It is like all of 6", but there are rocks you have to roll over before it and it is mildly steep). Last year I bailed the 3 times we had to do it. This year I bailed the 2 times we had to do it. The first time I was almost there but there was too many people on the course (going too many ways). The second time, I started to get there and just chickened out. The rest of the course was fairly uneventful. There are 2 steep climbs, the first time I had to walk the first from about the halfway (too many people walking and only 1 clean line), rode the 2nd one and then promptly laid my bike down on the next hard left by getting just a smidge out to the right and my bike hit some loose sand and just skidded out. I stayed standing so that is key. The 2nd time up the hills, I made it about 5' from the top when I hit a rock and just got stopped. I made the 2nd hill. They added an out and back along the canal that was fantastic. Easy to cruise at 12-13 mph (we're mountain biking remember) and pass people. On the rolly downhill stuff on the backside, I heard the medic talking about someone going over the handlebars....oops! Easy to see how that could happen in that location. I made it up all the rocky stuff on the 2nd lap. The first lap was fairly congested which made sections difficult. Since this is a good newbie off-road tri you get a lot of people who don't realize they need to get off the rideable section of trail for those us trying to ride.
T2
Again with the sand so I walked through transition. Off-road tri's are easy for me since I ride platforms on my mtn bike - no shoe change required!
Run
Yeah running still blows. I was trying to keep a 1min walk/1:30run going in the beginning to get the legs going. I thought I actually should have been doing better than I was. They changed the course a bit to add another rocky climbing section which is where I got slowed down. Steep uphills = walking. Once I hit pavement I moved to running between light poles 1-3 and walking 3-4. Then once the sidewalk turned downhill I tried to keep a steady (slow) pace to the aid station. Walk the aid station, run to the bridge, walk in the shade, do a little running, a last walk and then take it to the finish. Near the finish this girl passed me going not much fast than I was and I noticed she had 27 on her leg. Rather than pass her so early before the finish, I just sat behind her and went nearly her pace. With about 100 yds to the finish I said screw it and really picked up my pace and crossed about 6 sec in front of her. I'm happy to have passed someone in my AG while running. Small feats.
My goal was to A) not leave T1 w/a flat this year - success; B)Take 30 minutes off last years time - took about 22 mins; C)Have there still be water on the slip'n'slide when I finished - success.
My run was longer than last year which I'll chalk up to their additional rocky section. My bike was slightly shorter even with 1 less lap due to the easy out and back, last years bike was about 10 miles, this was closer to 13. My swim was phenomenal, nothing more I could have hoped for.
Pictures: PBR Urban Dirt Tri
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Tour of the White Mountains 15 Miler (Oct 3); Volunteer/Sweep Report
So last year, in my first year of mountain biking I was talked into being a sweep for the Tour of the White Mountains (the 15 miler mind you, I didn’t plan to die out there). It was a fun experience and allowed me to ride the course, chat with people and most importantly, go at my own pace. We finished last year in about 4.5 hrs so I was targeting that again for this year (we’ll forget about the 6.5 hrs it took to do a similar distance at the Whiskey). For once the weather looked like it would actually be a good day, a little windy, but nothing like last year’s torrential rains, the year before with 50+mph wind gusts or the year before that with the rain & mud. I headed out a little behind the 15 milers, just cruising at my own pace. I didn’t have sweep partner this year so either I would be riding with whomever was in back, or alone. I soon caught up to a girl who would be my back of the pack buddy for nearly the rest of the day. She was entertaining and I found out the friend she was riding with (who was ahead of us) was going to be proposed to when she finished by her future fiancé who was racing the 35 miler (they started an hour before us and he was fast, so the timing would be ok). I thought that was kind of cool although you better be sure she’s going to say yes in that kind of situation!
Todd from Epic had warned us that someone had stolen an SUV and crashed it on the trail a couple weeks ago and they hadn’t gotten it out yet. Sure enough, crashed SUV with a copy of Tucson Lifestyles on the steering wheel was found a couple miles into the course. You can see some cool stuff on the trail. There is one big problem with being a sweep – you are probably a better rider than whoever is riding in the back. You start to notice this when the BOP is walking up or down rocky sections and you really want to ride it. You learn to hold back and slow down so you can get a run at it without passing them. Or you ride it, pass them and then wait.
Lynette (my new BOP friend) turned out to be an REI manager and we chatted about when the Tucson REI was finally going to open (Spring 2010) as well as what to do with my poor Garmin who’s enter button was failing. We actually stopped in the trail and chatted for like 20 mins a couple times. I was enjoying the ride. The medical sweep kept catching up to us, poor guy. Finally he just went ahead. We ran into a couple of kids near the top of the never ending climb who had been up in front of the 15 milers but got a flat on one tire at the bottom of the climb and then flatted the other tire in the middle of it. Now they were just trying to get the tire to hold air. Tubeless people, tubeless. I felt like we were actually making pretty good time when we hit the top of the hill. I had been giving Lynette tips along the way based on my riding of the course from last year and last month’s pre-ride. We hit the downhill and she was gone! I took it easy, stopping to take pictures because I knew the bottom of the downhill was a blast and I wanted to enjoy all of it without having to slow down for anyone. About a ¼ mi from the aid station my phone starts ringing – the aid station hasn’t seen anyone in awhile (odd, those two kids were just in front of us) and wanted to make sure we were still coming. 3 mins later I said hi to the aid station folks in person. I love aid stations that are stocked with candy bars (mmmm….snickers!). I met up with the 10 mile sweep and he had 2 riders that came out on the 10 mile ride, but wanted to take the 15 mile trail back (10 milers took the road up and back from the aid station, 15 milers got singletrack). I agreed and our now group of 4 took off. Pretty uneventful downhill section, I was having a blast and actually riding stuff I didn’t ride last year. I ran into a guy coming towards me with a number so I stopped and asked if he was done already. He was a 65 miler who had managed to miss the turn off. I got him going back the right direction and continued on my way. I finally met up wth the 35 & 65 milers where we all headed back to the finish together. That was fun for my 10 miler-turned-15 miler friends, being passed at fast speeds on ATV roads. My very last 10 miler charge started getting charley horses as we were headed downhill so I was unable to enjoy the exhilaration of bounding over loose, rocky downhill trails. I'm so disappointed. We eventually got back to the out'n'back section of the course where I knew we had about 2 miles till beer. I'm a mountain biker, I'm in it for the beer. So that was what I used to motivate my back of the pack crew. Beer. I was near beer and they were delaying my enjoyment of it. Well I didn't make it sound that bad, but I know nearly all mountain bikers like their beer. I assume that of these guys.
We had to stop frequently for my BOP buddy to massage his thigh. I don't think I've ever experienced a charley horse so I had no suggestions for him aside from massaging it. With a half mile to go, he wanted to stop again and I nearly had a conniption. 1/2 mile to go, and you want to stop???? This is where you suck it up buddy. He stopped, and being a good sweep, I stopped too. Much to my dismay at prolonging my drinking experience for another few minutes. We finally reached the end. I had missed the proposal of the chick's friend I had ridden with in the beginning, but wished her well when I did see her. I got back to the truck to discover that Erik & co had been done and drinking for awhile now. It only took me 4 hours to get everyone across the line this year, and the guys still beat me.
I proceeded to join the beer line, grab my free food and then head back to the comforts and warmth of our rented "cabin". Which I might add, as a far better idea than camping - any year.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Nathan's Triathlon, Olympic (Sept 27); Race Report
This was going to be my first Olympic and I even had a training plan. I planned to stick to that plan. And for the most part at the end of the week, my hours equaled or exceeded what the plan said to do. The problem was that I didn’t always do what the plan said. And I used mountain biking to fill my biking hours. We all know that mtn biking takes longer than road biking. Still, I went into the race feeling good about the swim (which I was really hoping was going to be wetsuit legal) and the bike. My run was going to poor as usual, but I was hoping, after the first .5 mi or so that I could start running between each aid station.
Bike was racked the night before so didn't have to worry about that. Set up my transition, freaked out about doing the swim then the whole race. Hung out with the other TTG's. I knew I could finish, but I have a personal competitive streak where I hate being passed by people. Minor goals were to stay within sight of Kathy on the swim (Robin if I was feeling super awesome), ave about 16 mph on the bike and finish the run before everyone left.
The swim course was determined to be 200-250m long which is why it has 1914 yds (1750m) in the distance rather than the advertised 1500m.
I did swim a bit off course (into the middle) but certainly not far enough for my swim pace to be as low as it was at the assumed 1500m swim. I started in the back and tried to stay outside. I managed to pass some silver caps (1 wave in front) and on the way back, caught up to and passed a couple green caps (2 waves in front). Only noticed a few yellow caps (1 wave behind) go by, but there could have been more since I only breathe to the right! Out of the water and super disappointed by my time (which is later remedied by the longer distance).
My transitions are always a little slow, I struggle with being a bit dizzy from the swim. Plus you always feel like you should run up the swim out because it is lined with people and then I get out of breath. I got my stuff changed and headed out on the bike only hear to someone yelling at me to "Go get 'em!," turns out Kathy was right behind me at the start of the bike...of course I never saw her again, but oh well. Goal #1 accomplished.
It was a weird course, there were a fair amount of nice straight areas to get aero and try to hammer away but there was a lot of turns, including 2 180's. I got yelled at by some guy for slowing down on a really tight 180. Guess I should work on cornering? I yelled at a guy on my 2nd lap because I initiated a pass, instead of dropping back he sped up, which meant it took me longer than 15s to pass. Then I look back and see him sitting on my rear wheel. So I told him to get off and stop drafting. He later passed me. Loser. :) I averaged 16.3 mph on the bike. Goal #2 accomplished.
T2 was awesome. If I read the results right, I made up nearly 30 spots in T2 among the women. I even took a detour to the bag I put by the fence to grab an extra water bottle since I drank it all on the bike.
This is where everything fell apart. I had been running more (a little), but I get bored with just long runs so I had been doing a lot of shorter intervals and then track workouts on Wed. So I've gotten ok at running at decent paces (for me) for short distances and then recovering. I tried to just run slow, but by time I hit the run it had to be 95 or so and 99% of the run was exposed. My goal going in was, after the first mile (get rid of the lead legs), to try and run/jog between the aid stations. Within .5 mi I was dying out there. My hamstring had cramped up on the bike (probably cuz I messed with my fit during the week) and I kept getting side stitches. I resorted to jogging 2 light poles, walking 1, walking the aid stations, walking where there was shade. My husband had time enough in my first lap to go climb A mountain. Yeah, I'm slow. People began to worry about me on my 2nd lap and were thinking of riding out on the course to find me.
Tried not to collapse, puke or cry. There was pizza at the post race food table - I felt sick looking at it.
I will blame it on the heat. Truth is that I'd like to to think I trained for this; and for the majority of the weeks I put in the total hours required for each sport, but I didn't "train," I went through the motion. My plan for Oct is to get through what I left of races/events based on existing fitness (thank god they are all sprints) and focus on my marathon training. I HAVE to run, I HAVE to stop making excuses. My 10K run took longer than a 24 mile bike. I was nearly 30 mins off my 'expected/goal' time for the run. When I signed up for this race I was thinking with some work I could go around 3 hours. As time went on, I modified that to 3:30. I was 24 mins over 3:30 - 3:30 should not have been hard to accomplish, that was expecting something to go wrong. After I got home I really started to doubt myself on whether my body couldn't take it on the 2nd run lap or if I was mentally shutting myself down. Maybe I didn't push hard enough and I just gave up. Maybe I didn't. This was, overall, a disappointing race for me. I'm pleased with my swim, ok with my bike and depressed with my run. And I think I can do a HIM next year?
Pictures: Nathan's Olympic
Bike was racked the night before so didn't have to worry about that. Set up my transition, freaked out about doing the swim then the whole race. Hung out with the other TTG's. I knew I could finish, but I have a personal competitive streak where I hate being passed by people. Minor goals were to stay within sight of Kathy on the swim (Robin if I was feeling super awesome), ave about 16 mph on the bike and finish the run before everyone left.
The swim course was determined to be 200-250m long which is why it has 1914 yds (1750m) in the distance rather than the advertised 1500m.
I did swim a bit off course (into the middle) but certainly not far enough for my swim pace to be as low as it was at the assumed 1500m swim. I started in the back and tried to stay outside. I managed to pass some silver caps (1 wave in front) and on the way back, caught up to and passed a couple green caps (2 waves in front). Only noticed a few yellow caps (1 wave behind) go by, but there could have been more since I only breathe to the right! Out of the water and super disappointed by my time (which is later remedied by the longer distance).
My transitions are always a little slow, I struggle with being a bit dizzy from the swim. Plus you always feel like you should run up the swim out because it is lined with people and then I get out of breath. I got my stuff changed and headed out on the bike only hear to someone yelling at me to "Go get 'em!," turns out Kathy was right behind me at the start of the bike...of course I never saw her again, but oh well. Goal #1 accomplished.
It was a weird course, there were a fair amount of nice straight areas to get aero and try to hammer away but there was a lot of turns, including 2 180's. I got yelled at by some guy for slowing down on a really tight 180. Guess I should work on cornering? I yelled at a guy on my 2nd lap because I initiated a pass, instead of dropping back he sped up, which meant it took me longer than 15s to pass. Then I look back and see him sitting on my rear wheel. So I told him to get off and stop drafting. He later passed me. Loser. :) I averaged 16.3 mph on the bike. Goal #2 accomplished.
T2 was awesome. If I read the results right, I made up nearly 30 spots in T2 among the women. I even took a detour to the bag I put by the fence to grab an extra water bottle since I drank it all on the bike.
This is where everything fell apart. I had been running more (a little), but I get bored with just long runs so I had been doing a lot of shorter intervals and then track workouts on Wed. So I've gotten ok at running at decent paces (for me) for short distances and then recovering. I tried to just run slow, but by time I hit the run it had to be 95 or so and 99% of the run was exposed. My goal going in was, after the first mile (get rid of the lead legs), to try and run/jog between the aid stations. Within .5 mi I was dying out there. My hamstring had cramped up on the bike (probably cuz I messed with my fit during the week) and I kept getting side stitches. I resorted to jogging 2 light poles, walking 1, walking the aid stations, walking where there was shade. My husband had time enough in my first lap to go climb A mountain. Yeah, I'm slow. People began to worry about me on my 2nd lap and were thinking of riding out on the course to find me.
Tried not to collapse, puke or cry. There was pizza at the post race food table - I felt sick looking at it.
I will blame it on the heat. Truth is that I'd like to to think I trained for this; and for the majority of the weeks I put in the total hours required for each sport, but I didn't "train," I went through the motion. My plan for Oct is to get through what I left of races/events based on existing fitness (thank god they are all sprints) and focus on my marathon training. I HAVE to run, I HAVE to stop making excuses. My 10K run took longer than a 24 mile bike. I was nearly 30 mins off my 'expected/goal' time for the run. When I signed up for this race I was thinking with some work I could go around 3 hours. As time went on, I modified that to 3:30. I was 24 mins over 3:30 - 3:30 should not have been hard to accomplish, that was expecting something to go wrong. After I got home I really started to doubt myself on whether my body couldn't take it on the 2nd run lap or if I was mentally shutting myself down. Maybe I didn't push hard enough and I just gave up. Maybe I didn't. This was, overall, a disappointing race for me. I'm pleased with my swim, ok with my bike and depressed with my run. And I think I can do a HIM next year?
Pictures: Nathan's Olympic
Saturday, June 13, 2009
MBAA #8 Flagstaff Finale (June 13) - Race Report
This was the last race of the MBAA series and was held in Flagstaff, starting at Buffalo Park. No one really knew how long the courses were because they didn’t post mileages. I heard rumors that the sport (thankfully, I was still running beginner) was 15, 20 or 24 miles. I think it turned out to be 24. Glad I’m not them. The beginner course was about 12 – about right compared to the rest of the races. They changed up the start times for this race and had the guys (sport guys) going early, before the beginner women. I went into this race thinking I was close to making the top 5 for the series. I was also hoping that for whatever reason, people wouldn’t show up?? At the start I was chatting with some girls in my category and we counted and came up with 6 women racing in our AG. This secured 6th for me and meant I had to pass someone to get 5th. J
The race starts on a very wide road/urban trail and doesn’t fall into singletrack until about .5 mi after the start. Once you hit singletrack however, you hit the large rocks and boulders that no one in my category wants to ride down. So this immediately meant lots of congestion and giggling girls. Finally we got spread out and I got going and immediately like the trail – aside from the fact I was climbing. Finally we hit the road crossing and beginners were directed across the road and to the left to start the Rocky Ridge trail. It lived up to its name. For the longest time I felt like I was doing an awful lot of climbing as well as the patented ride 20’ walk 10’ method. Yeah this kind of sucked. Finally the trail turned downhill and I could ride for extended periods of time. I had been passed by at least one girl in my AG (among others) and was pretty sure there was at least 1 person behind me. I enjoyed this rocky downhill (mostly since I was tired of tossing my leg over my bike) and was actually kind of sad when I got dumped back on the road. We took the road back UP to where we had crossed the first time and went right instead, to do the other half of the Rocky Ridge trail. This side climbed too! Rocks and uphill are not cool. Luckily this section was short lived and I saw a deer. Entertainment at mountain bike races. The trail hit the road and then turned into Lower Oldham. This was fun, aside from some rather large rocks you had to over. I ran into a guy who had crashed and dislocated his shoulder, sucked. I kept moving and was totally enjoying the flow of the trail. We ended up back on the trail we came out on. This means, if you weren’t keeping track, we are now going downhill and I was having a blast! My fun was stalled by an EMT looking for the guy who had wrecked. I guess someone else was hauling ass down the trail and actually ran into one of the EMTs out there. Oops. I knew this was shortlived and I soon arrived back at the crappy, rocky descent we all walked on the way out. I tried to ride up as much as I could but finally had to succumb to my inability to ride over things and I walked the rest of the way up the hill. Got back to the singletrack and I was home free! Except for a horrible headwind on the finish stretch.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
XTERRA Dueces Wild (May 31) - Relay w/Erik
Swim
This was my 2nd race with my new wetsuit so part of the goal was to make sure my freak out session in Rocky Point was salt water/ocean related and NOT wetsuit related. I also tested out the QRoo Wetsuit sleeves. My other goal for the swim was to get out of the water with Shari in view. This would help me with goal #2 (or 3?) which was to try and hold Shari off as long as I could on the run. This of course assumed that Erik was going to pass Zac (Shari’s relay partner) and gain me a headstart on the run.
Relays went off with the men, so this would be my first swim start that wasn’t a female wave. I got in the water which felt sort of chilly and was a little difficult to stick my face in at first but I just sucked it up and did it. It’s only 800m after all! I hung out to the side, standing on some rocks until we got started. Once the gun went off, I waited a couple seconds to avoid most of the fray before diving in. I settled into a rhythm pretty early and tried to stay to the right on the outside. The only problem with this idea is that I eventually “ran aground” and started to hit the rocks with my hands. I corrected and lined myself up for a straight shot to the turn. I could still see Shari every once in awhile (at least I think it was her…). I hit the buoy and made about the best turn ever, it was nice and clean with zero effort. After that I got back in my groove and headed for the turn that would take me into the finish. I was feeling pretty great as I rounded the last turn and tried to pick up my pace a little bit, feeling confident that I had past quite a few people and while I knew some of the women had passed me, I didn’t feel like there had been too many. I got out of the water and glanced at my watch to see something around 18:30 and I was pretty pleased. I ran up the hill (thankful I wasn’t getting on my bike) and got the timing chip onto Erik who took off. It was only then I realized that I beat Shari out of the water! Goal 1 accomplished. (Well technically since I was in front I guess I failed?).
Waiting
Shari and I hung out with a couple of the TTGs who were volunteering and got our wetsuits off and ready to run in relative leisure. It was kind of odd actually.
Run
I saw Erik coming in, maybe a little longer than I expected him to take for 15 miles, but I had no idea what the course was like. I grabbed the timing chip and jogged out. I had to try and remember to stay slow so I didn’t totally burn myself out! As I would find out later, Erik had given me about a 16 min head start over Shari and I hadn’t seen Elaine or Liane come in, so the plan was to keep moving and try to stay ahead of them for as long as I could. My intent was to try to run 1 mile and walk 1 min or so. The first part of the run wasn’t too bad, slightly downhill. I was doing great until I started hitting uphill and then the Eliminator. That was a definite walking area. Once I reached the top of that the trail leveled out and I was able to keep a fair pace, stopping at the aid stations. After I hit the turnaround I started looking for the rest of the Tri Girls to get a gauge on where I stood. I saw Shari shortly after the turnaround and it was my mission to hold her off. Finally I saw Elaine and Liane, said hi and kept trudging along. Shari finally passed me at about mile 3.5. I had hoped to keep her sort of in my sights, but she’s just too fast for me! I got to the downhill section before the lake crossing. Yes, this race has you run across the shallow part of the lake. It actually felt pretty good and I went slow, knowing that I was going to be walking the uphill after this.
This year they had decided to throw an additional “XTERRA-like’ obstacle into the course. Turns out they had us heading back the way we came out on the course but we made a quick left before the road which took us down a grassy hill and we had to cross basically a 2’ marsh and then go up a muddy hill! I thought I could jump across but I was a little short and it was a little muddy so I ended up getting wet there again, and then the hill was nearly impossible to get up without sliding so I was trying to find branches to hold on to. The run course has you come back by transition and then turn and run down by the lake before looping back the finish. It is really cruel punishment to see and hear the finish line and still be up to a mile from it. The very end has you running up a short flight of stairs to get back to the road to the finish. I walked up the stairs and headed out the road. Once I got on the road (read: where people could see me) I picked up the pace and headed to the finish. I finished the run in about 1:15, which is on target of my 15 min/mi pace estimate. Could I have gone faster? Probably, but overall it was a pretty good race. Erik and I ended up getting 5th with Shari and Zac beating us by a couple mins. Next year!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Tucson Tri (March 29,2009) Race Report
Ok, yes, I'm aware that this race was nearly 2 months ago. I'm slow, sue me. This is my 4th tri and I was using it as a warm up for Rocky Point which was 2 weeks later.
Pre-Race:
Got there early to drop off the TTG tent and setup my stuff. We had a TTG bike rack going until some clueless guy decided to invade our purple space. Watched the first couple waves go off and then headed to the dive pool to warm up.
Swim:
I got out of the warm up pool kind of early and froze my patooty off waiting to get in the pool. Finally they started letting us in when the lanes were clearing out. I discovered the warm up pool was much warmer than the competition pool. Swam a couple lengths to try and get warmed up again. Finally our wave started and naturally I went out a little too fast. I slowed down quickly and got comfortable. I had put an expected finish time of 19:00, but was hoping I could bring that down closer to 17:00. I finished in 18:32, got pulled out of the pool and headed off to T1.
T1:
Nothing too exciting. Jogged to my spot and got my bike stuff on. Paused for a minute to contemplate my windbreaker, started to pull it on, realized it would be too difficult and took off without it.
Bike:
Headed out with the goal of eating a CarbBoob block & drinking at every other corner. I'm terrible about hydrating (and eating) on the bike so I figured this would help at least a little bit. Thanks to being in swim wave 3, the bike course was actually fairly empty while I was out there. I had no real issues and took up a mountain biking style to get through Euclid. It wasn't quite as terrible as some people had made it out to be, but still bumpy. I suppose part of this was because there were so few people out there, I was able to manuever around the bike lane a bit more without worrying about people coming up behind me. Bike time was 47:55, just over my goal of 45 mins.
T2:
In and out, nothing to worry about at this point since I was dry and warm.
Run:
This is where I really wanted to see how things played out. I wanted to beat my Rocky Point time from last year (1:42:34) which had a shorter swim and bike. I also had finally figured out that I could run for more than 1:30 at a time. So my goal was to run 1 mile, walk 1 min. And walk the aid station of course. The first lap wasn't too bad except it was getting hot and since the mall is exposed - I was getting hot. I was very excited when I rounded the corner by Old Main and got a bit of shade. Saw lots of TriGirls out on the run (some who passed me....), which gave me some motivation to keep going. I hate walking in front of people who know me! The second loop seemed REALLY LONG! But I pressed on and managed to keep jogging for a mile at a time. I did take a little bit longer to walk on the last section before you turn left to the finish. Partly because I couldn't remember quite how far it was to the finish and lord knows you have run the finish. People can see you! Total time - 35:13 - Fastest 5k in a tri and 2nd fastest 5k overall
Overall:
Good race. It was great having all the purple out there. Especially in Tucson, lots of people recognize our purple jerseys and offer some encouragement.
Pre-Race:
Got there early to drop off the TTG tent and setup my stuff. We had a TTG bike rack going until some clueless guy decided to invade our purple space. Watched the first couple waves go off and then headed to the dive pool to warm up.
Swim:
I got out of the warm up pool kind of early and froze my patooty off waiting to get in the pool. Finally they started letting us in when the lanes were clearing out. I discovered the warm up pool was much warmer than the competition pool. Swam a couple lengths to try and get warmed up again. Finally our wave started and naturally I went out a little too fast. I slowed down quickly and got comfortable. I had put an expected finish time of 19:00, but was hoping I could bring that down closer to 17:00. I finished in 18:32, got pulled out of the pool and headed off to T1.
T1:
Nothing too exciting. Jogged to my spot and got my bike stuff on. Paused for a minute to contemplate my windbreaker, started to pull it on, realized it would be too difficult and took off without it.
Bike:
Headed out with the goal of eating a CarbBoob block & drinking at every other corner. I'm terrible about hydrating (and eating) on the bike so I figured this would help at least a little bit. Thanks to being in swim wave 3, the bike course was actually fairly empty while I was out there. I had no real issues and took up a mountain biking style to get through Euclid. It wasn't quite as terrible as some people had made it out to be, but still bumpy. I suppose part of this was because there were so few people out there, I was able to manuever around the bike lane a bit more without worrying about people coming up behind me. Bike time was 47:55, just over my goal of 45 mins.
T2:
In and out, nothing to worry about at this point since I was dry and warm.
Run:
This is where I really wanted to see how things played out. I wanted to beat my Rocky Point time from last year (1:42:34) which had a shorter swim and bike. I also had finally figured out that I could run for more than 1:30 at a time. So my goal was to run 1 mile, walk 1 min. And walk the aid station of course. The first lap wasn't too bad except it was getting hot and since the mall is exposed - I was getting hot. I was very excited when I rounded the corner by Old Main and got a bit of shade. Saw lots of TriGirls out on the run (some who passed me....), which gave me some motivation to keep going. I hate walking in front of people who know me! The second loop seemed REALLY LONG! But I pressed on and managed to keep jogging for a mile at a time. I did take a little bit longer to walk on the last section before you turn left to the finish. Partly because I couldn't remember quite how far it was to the finish and lord knows you have run the finish. People can see you! Total time - 35:13 - Fastest 5k in a tri and 2nd fastest 5k overall
Overall:
Good race. It was great having all the purple out there. Especially in Tucson, lots of people recognize our purple jerseys and offer some encouragement.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
MBAA #7 Flagstaff Frenzy (May 16)
This was race 7 of the MBAA series and was being held on the awesome trails in Flagstaff. I had gotten in from the Netherlands on Friday afternoon, Erik picked me up in Phoenix and we headed to Flagstaff that night.
We had gotten emails earlier in the week of some people who were not happy with the fact the MBAA race was going on and that the trail markings were being torn down, the trail remarked and things being used to block the trail. Even on race day, these events were still occurring and people got lost, took a wrong turn, etc due to these people.
My race was pretty uneventful, only 1 loop. I have issues with looped courses because I can only seem to focus on the crappy parts of the loop. This course started with some fun rolling sections but then turned to a fairly long, gradual climb that was rideable except when people in front of me got off. This was the part of the course where I was pleased I only had to do this once. We finally reached the top (and I caught my breath, I hate elevation) and made the turn on to a gas line road. It had 2 hills that I would liken to the bitches on the 24 HOP course. They sucked and I walked. Once I got to the top of the 2nd one, I was home free. This course was a blast. This is the part that I would be thrilled to do a 2nd time. It was fast, but not too fast, gradual downhill and swoopy. Nothing technically difficult, just a few little rocks to bump over. I actually felt like a mtn biker and I was having fun. Sadly this part was only a few miles long and was over much quicker than I would have liked. I rolled across the finish line in 1:18 which put me in 5th place in my AG. Sweet!
Pictures: MBAA #7 Flagstaff Frenzy
We had gotten emails earlier in the week of some people who were not happy with the fact the MBAA race was going on and that the trail markings were being torn down, the trail remarked and things being used to block the trail. Even on race day, these events were still occurring and people got lost, took a wrong turn, etc due to these people.
My race was pretty uneventful, only 1 loop. I have issues with looped courses because I can only seem to focus on the crappy parts of the loop. This course started with some fun rolling sections but then turned to a fairly long, gradual climb that was rideable except when people in front of me got off. This was the part of the course where I was pleased I only had to do this once. We finally reached the top (and I caught my breath, I hate elevation) and made the turn on to a gas line road. It had 2 hills that I would liken to the bitches on the 24 HOP course. They sucked and I walked. Once I got to the top of the 2nd one, I was home free. This course was a blast. This is the part that I would be thrilled to do a 2nd time. It was fast, but not too fast, gradual downhill and swoopy. Nothing technically difficult, just a few little rocks to bump over. I actually felt like a mtn biker and I was having fun. Sadly this part was only a few miles long and was over much quicker than I would have liked. I rolled across the finish line in 1:18 which put me in 5th place in my AG. Sweet!
Pictures: MBAA #7 Flagstaff Frenzy
Saturday, April 25, 2009
The Whiskey Off-Road Volunteer (Sweep) Report (April 25)
So I like volunteering for Epic Rides events, you get the swag, you get to ride the course and you go at your own pace (usually...read on). Everything one could want - but without paying for it. This is the second event that I've swept for them (Tour of the White Mountains 08).
Erik was doing the 25 proof again so he headed out about an hour before the 15 proofers did. Now, being an Epic Rides event, the 15 proof meant that we were really going like 18 miles. 18 proof just doesn't sound as fun.
I lined up in the back and chatted with a few people who swore they were going to be last. I laughed and let them know they certainly wouldn't be last as that was my job. The weather was kind of chilly and I had forgotten my knickers so I only had my mtn bike shorts. I figured I would get warmed up quickly. I did take a jacket which I started with, took off and then put back on later.
We headed out and within the first 2 miles I knew this was going to be a long day. There was a woman who was off her bike and walking - and we were still on the pavement!
We made it slowly onto the gravel road and then finally started heading up the climb to the singletrack. I found it was easier for me to just ride very slowly (in my granny gear - to go slow) and stop frequently to let her catch up. Or spend some time chatting with the medic sweep and then try to ride as slow as possible before I caught up to her again. As we rode I learned she had just started mtn biking about 6 months prior and had been a former swimmer. I believe she said she had qualified for the Olympics but as she put it, that was 20+ yrs ago.
We actually did ok on singletrack as she could descend fairly well. We finally got to the first radio check (who were quite worried!). Unfortunately, this also signaled the beginning of the horrible climb that is the 15-proof Whiskey. Again I kept the with the idea of making really slow, S's across the road. I would ride about .25-.5 mile out in front and then wait. I just couldn't possibly ride my bike to go as slow as she was walking and I had no interest in pushing my bike up that hill. Every time we would go around a corner the road just kept climbing. I swore it would never end. I'm not sure, personally, how I would have done at this race if I was racing; but sweeping I was feeling fairly good and while climbing at elevation was taking some effort I wasn't dying.
We finally got to the point where the 25's & 50's meet up with the 15's. From here it is more climbing up to the aid station. I finally arrived at the aid station and my charge arrived a few minutes later. The aid station is set near a top of a hill at a vista point. It horribly windy and I was afraid to get to close to the edge! I snacked on some pretzels and helped out the volunteers for a few minutes. I watched my sweepee head off to start what I thought was the downhill part of the trail. I gave her a good 20-30 mins head start in hopes that she would make it a ways before I caught her. I think I rode a couple miles before catching up to her - and most of it was downhill! We eventually came up to a loose, rocky jeep road that didn't look I wanted to ride down so we trotted down and got on our way. I was beginning to wonder, as people passed us, just how few people were behind us? We discovered that we still had more climbing in front of us before we could call it a good day on the bike.
I started to slow down after the aid station which actually helped me stay with my new friend a little better. We finally got back on some single track that had a couple little stream crossings and we were finally having a good time. We rejoiced when we hit the last section of trail before you get back to the road. Of course, this section of trail is really rocky (large rocks) and we both spent good chunks walking. When we hit the road, we chatted with the SAG guys for a couple minutes and found out that there was about 4 people total behind us. 4. From the 15, 25 AND 50 races. We set off on the pavement which was pretty much all downhill. We took so long that most of the cones had been taken down and we had to navigate traffic on our own. When we headed back into the residential section of town we realized we didn't know where the left turn was that took us back to the finish and we missed it which caused us to do a bit more climbing than originally planned. The medic sweep caught up to us and I got directions from him. We turned around and made a right and started heading back to the square.
We crossed the line 6:30 (ish) after we had set out that morning. For 15 (17ish) miles. Longest day ever. I did end up getting a thank you email from the lady I rode with. Erik finished before me. So far before me that he went back to camp, napped and then came back to town. Awesome. I rewarded myself with some fish & chips and a cold beer. :-)
Pictures: 2009 Whiskey Off-Road
Erik was doing the 25 proof again so he headed out about an hour before the 15 proofers did. Now, being an Epic Rides event, the 15 proof meant that we were really going like 18 miles. 18 proof just doesn't sound as fun.
I lined up in the back and chatted with a few people who swore they were going to be last. I laughed and let them know they certainly wouldn't be last as that was my job. The weather was kind of chilly and I had forgotten my knickers so I only had my mtn bike shorts. I figured I would get warmed up quickly. I did take a jacket which I started with, took off and then put back on later.
We headed out and within the first 2 miles I knew this was going to be a long day. There was a woman who was off her bike and walking - and we were still on the pavement!
We made it slowly onto the gravel road and then finally started heading up the climb to the singletrack. I found it was easier for me to just ride very slowly (in my granny gear - to go slow) and stop frequently to let her catch up. Or spend some time chatting with the medic sweep and then try to ride as slow as possible before I caught up to her again. As we rode I learned she had just started mtn biking about 6 months prior and had been a former swimmer. I believe she said she had qualified for the Olympics but as she put it, that was 20+ yrs ago.
We actually did ok on singletrack as she could descend fairly well. We finally got to the first radio check (who were quite worried!). Unfortunately, this also signaled the beginning of the horrible climb that is the 15-proof Whiskey. Again I kept the with the idea of making really slow, S's across the road. I would ride about .25-.5 mile out in front and then wait. I just couldn't possibly ride my bike to go as slow as she was walking and I had no interest in pushing my bike up that hill. Every time we would go around a corner the road just kept climbing. I swore it would never end. I'm not sure, personally, how I would have done at this race if I was racing; but sweeping I was feeling fairly good and while climbing at elevation was taking some effort I wasn't dying.
We finally got to the point where the 25's & 50's meet up with the 15's. From here it is more climbing up to the aid station. I finally arrived at the aid station and my charge arrived a few minutes later. The aid station is set near a top of a hill at a vista point. It horribly windy and I was afraid to get to close to the edge! I snacked on some pretzels and helped out the volunteers for a few minutes. I watched my sweepee head off to start what I thought was the downhill part of the trail. I gave her a good 20-30 mins head start in hopes that she would make it a ways before I caught her. I think I rode a couple miles before catching up to her - and most of it was downhill! We eventually came up to a loose, rocky jeep road that didn't look I wanted to ride down so we trotted down and got on our way. I was beginning to wonder, as people passed us, just how few people were behind us? We discovered that we still had more climbing in front of us before we could call it a good day on the bike.
I started to slow down after the aid station which actually helped me stay with my new friend a little better. We finally got back on some single track that had a couple little stream crossings and we were finally having a good time. We rejoiced when we hit the last section of trail before you get back to the road. Of course, this section of trail is really rocky (large rocks) and we both spent good chunks walking. When we hit the road, we chatted with the SAG guys for a couple minutes and found out that there was about 4 people total behind us. 4. From the 15, 25 AND 50 races. We set off on the pavement which was pretty much all downhill. We took so long that most of the cones had been taken down and we had to navigate traffic on our own. When we headed back into the residential section of town we realized we didn't know where the left turn was that took us back to the finish and we missed it which caused us to do a bit more climbing than originally planned. The medic sweep caught up to us and I got directions from him. We turned around and made a right and started heading back to the square.
We crossed the line 6:30 (ish) after we had set out that morning. For 15 (17ish) miles. Longest day ever. I did end up getting a thank you email from the lady I rode with. Erik finished before me. So far before me that he went back to camp, napped and then came back to town. Awesome. I rewarded myself with some fish & chips and a cold beer. :-)
Pictures: 2009 Whiskey Off-Road
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Las Palomas Rocky Point Triathlon Race Repot (April 18, 2009)
This was my very first tri so I was hoping to improve greatly over last year. Of course, they decided to double the distances. Last year was 400/9/5k, this year was 800/16/5k.
As always, the Palomas is a fabulous resort and if you don't go to race there are plenty of pools to spend your day toasting by. Like last year there was gender specific tee, this year they were tech tees. Erik and I went into town for dinner at a Mexican place we ate at last year. I tried to get into bed at a decent hour. The race doesn't start until 9am, but transition opens at 7 or so and I wanted breakfast. This would be my first race with my wetsuit (previous races, I borrowed one).
Swim:
I was feeling pretty good about the swim given the progress I had made in the pool. I got in the water and got warmed up and hoped that I wouldn't repeat the freak out from last year. Yeah, good luck. The horn went off and we waded out (this swim is awesome in that you can *almost* walk to the first turn), I finally dived in and started swimming. I don't know what happened but I was doing so well and then all of a sudden my mind went haywire and I started panicing. I flipped over and tried to catch my breath. I kept trying to keep swimming and my mind kept freaking out on me. It was a miserable swim and I just wanted it over. I could breath, I could swim, but I couldn't do it all at the same time! Looking back on it, I think it has to do with the salt water. My throat and lungs start to burn after I start swallowing water that is getting kicked up, so I have to assume that is what it is. I made it out of the swim and started the slog up the sandy hill. Naturally the timing mat is in the transition area so my time includes the walk up the hill.
Swim = 20:50
T1:
I had my wetsuit half off by time I made it into transition, but I still struggle with getting it off over my feet. Nothing exciting here. I managed to not forget anything. Grabbed my helmet, gloves, garmin and I was off.
T1=2:51 (I think most of the time was centered around my wetsuit. And walking to the line)
Bike:
Finally! Something I can do and go faster at. Thanks to mountain biking I've noticed my road biking has gotten stronger. Last year it was a 1 loop course, this year it was doubled. They shut down 1/2 of the road (it's a divided road, bikes on one side, cars on the other) so that helps with some of the traffic issues. The course is 3 legs, 2 with a roundabout, 1 u-turn. I passed lots of people on the bike. I hauled on the slight downhills and tried to get up the uphills with as little effort as possible. My goal had been about an hour for the 16 miles. I came up a little short, but not I'm not terribly disappointed by this.
Bike = 63:49
T2:
Again nothing exciting. In, out, done.
T2=1:16
Run:
My least favorite leg. I'd like to say that I spent lots of time running in prep for this. But I didn't. And I paid for it. As well as changing up the course the nearly doubled the beach run. I had tried jogging part of it the night before and nearly died. I tried to just keep a slow pace, with the option of walking on the uphills. I had hoped to run .75 mi and walk for a min. Ideally, I should go a mile and then walk (aside from aid stations). There seemed to be a lot more uphill on the course than last year. These are not gradual uphills either, its the golf course cart path so it can just up because it fits the course. The Olympic had a similar course, but took a different turn than the sprints. I guess there was some issues with people doing the oly who took the wrong turn and this made the course almost 2 miles short. Oops. The run was really hot and I was doubling up on water at the aid stations so that I could dump some on myself. I finally made it to the last part of the course that led to the beach run. I made the decsion to walk the beach in front of phase I and then start running when I hit phase II so that I would have some energy to run across the finish line and hit the slip'n'slide!! I barely made it, even walking Phase I. The sand was very soft and at least ankle deep. I saw a few people stop and take off their shoes and just finish barefoot. This probably would have been a good idea. I finally crossed the line and hit the slip'n'slide, but again there wasn't a ton of water on it and I didn't go very far. :-(
Run = 39:59 (2 mins faster than last year)
Total time = 2:08:31
Not the best overall race, but it wasn't terrible. This is a fun race for me in a fun locale. We'll be back next year if anyone wants to come!
As always, the Palomas is a fabulous resort and if you don't go to race there are plenty of pools to spend your day toasting by. Like last year there was gender specific tee, this year they were tech tees. Erik and I went into town for dinner at a Mexican place we ate at last year. I tried to get into bed at a decent hour. The race doesn't start until 9am, but transition opens at 7 or so and I wanted breakfast. This would be my first race with my wetsuit (previous races, I borrowed one).
Swim:
I was feeling pretty good about the swim given the progress I had made in the pool. I got in the water and got warmed up and hoped that I wouldn't repeat the freak out from last year. Yeah, good luck. The horn went off and we waded out (this swim is awesome in that you can *almost* walk to the first turn), I finally dived in and started swimming. I don't know what happened but I was doing so well and then all of a sudden my mind went haywire and I started panicing. I flipped over and tried to catch my breath. I kept trying to keep swimming and my mind kept freaking out on me. It was a miserable swim and I just wanted it over. I could breath, I could swim, but I couldn't do it all at the same time! Looking back on it, I think it has to do with the salt water. My throat and lungs start to burn after I start swallowing water that is getting kicked up, so I have to assume that is what it is. I made it out of the swim and started the slog up the sandy hill. Naturally the timing mat is in the transition area so my time includes the walk up the hill.
Swim = 20:50
T1:
I had my wetsuit half off by time I made it into transition, but I still struggle with getting it off over my feet. Nothing exciting here. I managed to not forget anything. Grabbed my helmet, gloves, garmin and I was off.
T1=2:51 (I think most of the time was centered around my wetsuit. And walking to the line)
Bike:
Finally! Something I can do and go faster at. Thanks to mountain biking I've noticed my road biking has gotten stronger. Last year it was a 1 loop course, this year it was doubled. They shut down 1/2 of the road (it's a divided road, bikes on one side, cars on the other) so that helps with some of the traffic issues. The course is 3 legs, 2 with a roundabout, 1 u-turn. I passed lots of people on the bike. I hauled on the slight downhills and tried to get up the uphills with as little effort as possible. My goal had been about an hour for the 16 miles. I came up a little short, but not I'm not terribly disappointed by this.
Bike = 63:49
T2:
Again nothing exciting. In, out, done.
T2=1:16
Run:
My least favorite leg. I'd like to say that I spent lots of time running in prep for this. But I didn't. And I paid for it. As well as changing up the course the nearly doubled the beach run. I had tried jogging part of it the night before and nearly died. I tried to just keep a slow pace, with the option of walking on the uphills. I had hoped to run .75 mi and walk for a min. Ideally, I should go a mile and then walk (aside from aid stations). There seemed to be a lot more uphill on the course than last year. These are not gradual uphills either, its the golf course cart path so it can just up because it fits the course. The Olympic had a similar course, but took a different turn than the sprints. I guess there was some issues with people doing the oly who took the wrong turn and this made the course almost 2 miles short. Oops. The run was really hot and I was doubling up on water at the aid stations so that I could dump some on myself. I finally made it to the last part of the course that led to the beach run. I made the decsion to walk the beach in front of phase I and then start running when I hit phase II so that I would have some energy to run across the finish line and hit the slip'n'slide!! I barely made it, even walking Phase I. The sand was very soft and at least ankle deep. I saw a few people stop and take off their shoes and just finish barefoot. This probably would have been a good idea. I finally crossed the line and hit the slip'n'slide, but again there wasn't a ton of water on it and I didn't go very far. :-(
Run = 39:59 (2 mins faster than last year)
Total time = 2:08:31
Not the best overall race, but it wasn't terrible. This is a fun race for me in a fun locale. We'll be back next year if anyone wants to come!
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