I did 2 of the 3 trail run races this summer (one on Mt. Lemmon and one at the Wild Burro TH at Dove Mtn.). I figured this was a great way to continue running and it also allows me to be slow because trail running is typically a bit slower paced than road running.
After raining for practically 2 days and the snow the mountains were getting, I was questioning whether this even would even get held. Ott (the RD) assured us that the wash didn't have water flowing and everything was good to go. So I forced myself out of bed at 5:45 am on Sat to get to the TH in time for a 7am start. As I was driving there I really was thinking that I should have brought a headlight and I was trying to remember if it was even light when we get to work at about 7:15?? (I tend to space out in the morning on the way to work.) I get to the TH where it is dark and very cold. Ott's wife is manning the check-in table and I pick up my number and tshirt.
These races are awesome because they are very low-key, usually less than 30 people and Ott takes really good care of the runners. He usually has water & coffee at the start while we're waiting and he sends his wife and kids out to a point along the trail with a water bag as well as a 2nd person if the course needs it.
We headed to the start and determined that only 2 of us were doing the short course (~4.5 miles as compared to 10.2 mi). That is also another perk, Ott will set up a shorter course (usually around 4-5 miles) for people who don't feel like doing the whole thing or those newer to trail running. We got off about 7:15 (it was light) and I had picked a 2 min run/1 min walk for this because I had been experiencing some hamstring pain in my left leg after PF Changs. I also didn't run the whole week so I figured I wouldn't be feeling too hot.
Almost immediately my left leg started hurting but it wasn't excruciating so I kept going and just tried to slow down a bit. Of course I also intentionally or unintentionally started to favor my right leg which would lead to later fun. The first 1.25-1.5 mi is flat winding on a broken up cart path through the wash. I actually chose to run in the wash since the rain has packed a lot of the sand down and it wasn't too hard to run in.
I got to the turnoff and stopped to get some water before continuing. This course was the opposite side of the race I did last year, so we took the Lower Javalina West trail. Most of the trail was pretty easy running with some ups/downs thrown in. I finally hit the rockier section where the trail started to climb from the wash floor and I had to slow down to a walk in most cases just due to climbing up the rocks. It was about this point where I noticed my right hip was starting to hurt. I also noticed that if I wasn't careful and landed a little hard on either side (stepping off rocks wrong, jogging downhills) that I would get a nice sharp pain in either one of my legs. Awesome.
I tried to slow down and just jog slowly on the downhill sections. Thankfully since it had rained the rocks were a little more slick and that slowed me down anyway. As I was headed up another uphill, I heard someone say "good morning" and I nearly jumped a foot because I had been looking down at the trail and a trail guide was coming towards me! After he apologized and I laughed it off I realized just how peaceful this run was. I had no idea where the other woman doing the short course was (she was behind me), and I started to notice that the clouds were dropping down over the mountain and I was wondering if the long course people were going to get caught in them.
I finally got back down to the wash and decided to try out the Wild Burro trail rather than taking the wash back. This was a really fun section where I was able to pick up the pace (and ignore whatever pain I had) and I felt pretty good. I eventually got back to the water stop, filled up my cup (I carried the empty cup in my pocket...where was I going to throw it??) and started the last 1.25 mi back to the finish. By the way, this is the longest 1.25 mi ever! The wash just keeps going and it is so easy to get off track. After taking a wrong turn and adding a bit of distance to my race last year, I switched to the map on my garmin so I could stay near my outbound track. Even so, I managed to miss a turn and had to backtrack a little bit.
I hit the finish in 1:08, which for 4.3 miles isn't too bad given the pain I was enjoying. The finish line food is always fun, we had bagels w/butter or PB, turkey slices, apple slices, cheese wheels, reeses pieces, cinna-sticks, water, FRS, powerbar endurance drink mix, etc. It really is a good, small race. Plus the price isn't too shabby. The only thing about these races is that it is so easy to vary from the advertised distance due to taking wrong turns in the wash or taking the cart path rather than straight back.
As a side note, the guy who won the long course finished in 1:27....10.2 miles in 1:27. On a trail. With lots of climbing. Yeah, that isn't cool. He'd scare me on a road. :-)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
P.F. Chang's Half Marathon - January 17
Ok, I dislike running. It's a chore and I normally don't enjoy it. So I usually get asked why I do it? Well, its a necessary evil of triathlon and someday, I keep telling myself, I will have that moment - runner's high or something - where I like running and it becomes less of a chose. Still waiting.
So Robin was turning 40 on race day and wanted to do her first marathon. The gullible friend I am, I signed up for the marathon with her and then set out to find a training plan with the least amount of training required. I faithfully went to track practices and even attempted to run on other days. I raced a lot and did mountain biking and other stuff which I believe should help my running. Yep.
Robin conned me out to run with her one day because she believes I'm not training enough. Pffft! So we head out and she goes at my pace (a good 3+ min/mi slower than her pace) and we tough out 12.5 miles in about 2:30. I'm feeling ok about this but then continue to not train. I did about 7 days of the Dec runathon and then maybe another 5-6 miles between then and race day. I'm ready!
So Friday, Robin and I head to Phoenix to do some damage at the expo and pick up our RV for the weekend. Damage was done and I am enjoying my plentiful supply of new running shirts. We raced across town (what should have been a 20 min drive was more like an hour) and picked up the RV. We headed to the RV park for the night and got things set up. Mea was flying in and we decided to make a quick trip to Costco before we got her. 12 mins - and we got more stuff than planned. The zen of Costco. With Mea collected and all of us starving we headed back to Apache Palms to drop off the car and change. We hopped the light rail to Mill Ave and headed to P.F. Chang's. They are sponsoring the race afterall. So we all get our drinks and head to our table. 1 small & 2 tall PF-X's later and I'm pretty happy. We head to a local drinking establishment where we proceed to be hit on by college guys and dance. I also made it through 2 more beers. I feel awesome. We get to the light rail and realize we'd bought all-day passes but it was now past midnight thus rendering our previous pass invalid. We finally get back to the RV and go to sleep since we have spa appointments in the morning. I'm dizzy but rarely get hung over any more so I don't worry about it.
Get up in the am and we're getting ready when I start not feeling well. So I make a visit to the RV toilet...great to sit in the shower be right next to the toilet? I feel better so we head out. Halfway to the spa I start to feel sick again (I'm driving mind you). Robin dumps out her bag of clothes and I manage to puke and drive. I'm multi-talented. We finally get to the spa, right on time, and I end up switching with Mea so I could sit around for an extra half hour. So I sit around in the bathroom and make friends with the spa toilet. Fantastic. I head to my massage and all I can think about is "please don't puke on the table, please don't puke on table." There were a couple iffy moments, but the massage was fantastic and I did actually feel a bit better. I grabbed some water and ended up falling asleep on one of the chairs. After I woke up I hit the shower for a few and then ordered some lunch. Food was a godsend by that point and I really did feel a ton better. We headed out to go get Mea's packet from the expo and buy more stuff!
We headed to dinner after that, but as expected everywhere was packed so Mea and I ended up having dinner by ourselves with some tasty bread & pasta. Got back to the RV and got our stuff together for the next day.
Race day is here! I'm oddly not nervous because I had no goal. I didn't train, why should I expect anything? I just wanted to beat last year (2:53) on improved fitness alone. Secretly, I hoped to get closer to 2:40. The purple posse assembled, took pictures and then headed downtown. Shortly after arriving the gun went off and we started moving up in the corral chain. Our group stayed together for 4 minutes after the start. :-) I stuck with a 4 min run/1 min walk and hoped that would be good enough. Let's just say, I wasn't moving super fast (my 5k was ~38 mins), but I was feeling good. Relaxed, I could breath, my HR was holding pretty steady. This went on for the first 10 miles. At this point, I was starting to see that 2:40 was a real possibility, and if I was a little faster, 2:30-2:35 could be in my future. This is the part of the race where my legs magically become lead. I kept telling myself to turn my legs over faster but I couldn't. Last year at this point I just gave up on myself and started walking more. Not this year, I wouldn't let myself quit. I just told myself to slow down a little - keep pushing - but I could back off just a bit and I was going to make it. I kept this up until we turned on to Rio Salado and I was within .5 mi of the finish. At that point, I literally couldn't keep my legs moving so I walked the last minute of a run interval and started running on the next beep. I think, I ended up running the rest of the race although I wanted to stop badly. Back with .5 to go I saw I had 2 mins to make 2:40 and knew I couldn't do it. After the fact, I realized that my pace actually picked up on the runs in the last 3 miles and I was moving faster than I thought at the finish. I crossed the finish in 2:42:45....exactly 11 minutes faster than last year - and I felt better longer.
I grabbed my water and medal and got in line for my picture. I tried to keep moving my legs since as soon as I stopped I could feel them tightning up. I got through the food line and met up with Jess & Andrea and finally made my way to the UPS truck where I smartly chose not to sit down to change my shoes this year. Last year I could barely get up and I wanted to cry. I trudged back to the RV with my legs starting to stiffen up - I didn't realize the extent until I tried to climb the steps into the RV and then later try to sit down!
This was a good race, better than last year because I finally felt ok. I had a few moments where running was fun and I considered doing more of it. Those were fleeting. I think the massage the day before did actually help because my shoulders weren't as tense as normal and that probably helped my breathing quite a bit.
So here I am, 3 days post and I can sit down with holding on to walls, bars or door frames for dear life. Monday was painful but I think Tuesday was worse. Got a trail run this weekend so we'll see how I far. Now to start not training for the Mt. Lemmon 1/2 in Oct. I think I'm taking the day off after that race!
So Robin was turning 40 on race day and wanted to do her first marathon. The gullible friend I am, I signed up for the marathon with her and then set out to find a training plan with the least amount of training required. I faithfully went to track practices and even attempted to run on other days. I raced a lot and did mountain biking and other stuff which I believe should help my running. Yep.
Robin conned me out to run with her one day because she believes I'm not training enough. Pffft! So we head out and she goes at my pace (a good 3+ min/mi slower than her pace) and we tough out 12.5 miles in about 2:30. I'm feeling ok about this but then continue to not train. I did about 7 days of the Dec runathon and then maybe another 5-6 miles between then and race day. I'm ready!
So Friday, Robin and I head to Phoenix to do some damage at the expo and pick up our RV for the weekend. Damage was done and I am enjoying my plentiful supply of new running shirts. We raced across town (what should have been a 20 min drive was more like an hour) and picked up the RV. We headed to the RV park for the night and got things set up. Mea was flying in and we decided to make a quick trip to Costco before we got her. 12 mins - and we got more stuff than planned. The zen of Costco. With Mea collected and all of us starving we headed back to Apache Palms to drop off the car and change. We hopped the light rail to Mill Ave and headed to P.F. Chang's. They are sponsoring the race afterall. So we all get our drinks and head to our table. 1 small & 2 tall PF-X's later and I'm pretty happy. We head to a local drinking establishment where we proceed to be hit on by college guys and dance. I also made it through 2 more beers. I feel awesome. We get to the light rail and realize we'd bought all-day passes but it was now past midnight thus rendering our previous pass invalid. We finally get back to the RV and go to sleep since we have spa appointments in the morning. I'm dizzy but rarely get hung over any more so I don't worry about it.
Get up in the am and we're getting ready when I start not feeling well. So I make a visit to the RV toilet...great to sit in the shower be right next to the toilet? I feel better so we head out. Halfway to the spa I start to feel sick again (I'm driving mind you). Robin dumps out her bag of clothes and I manage to puke and drive. I'm multi-talented. We finally get to the spa, right on time, and I end up switching with Mea so I could sit around for an extra half hour. So I sit around in the bathroom and make friends with the spa toilet. Fantastic. I head to my massage and all I can think about is "please don't puke on the table, please don't puke on table." There were a couple iffy moments, but the massage was fantastic and I did actually feel a bit better. I grabbed some water and ended up falling asleep on one of the chairs. After I woke up I hit the shower for a few and then ordered some lunch. Food was a godsend by that point and I really did feel a ton better. We headed out to go get Mea's packet from the expo and buy more stuff!
We headed to dinner after that, but as expected everywhere was packed so Mea and I ended up having dinner by ourselves with some tasty bread & pasta. Got back to the RV and got our stuff together for the next day.
Race day is here! I'm oddly not nervous because I had no goal. I didn't train, why should I expect anything? I just wanted to beat last year (2:53) on improved fitness alone. Secretly, I hoped to get closer to 2:40. The purple posse assembled, took pictures and then headed downtown. Shortly after arriving the gun went off and we started moving up in the corral chain. Our group stayed together for 4 minutes after the start. :-) I stuck with a 4 min run/1 min walk and hoped that would be good enough. Let's just say, I wasn't moving super fast (my 5k was ~38 mins), but I was feeling good. Relaxed, I could breath, my HR was holding pretty steady. This went on for the first 10 miles. At this point, I was starting to see that 2:40 was a real possibility, and if I was a little faster, 2:30-2:35 could be in my future. This is the part of the race where my legs magically become lead. I kept telling myself to turn my legs over faster but I couldn't. Last year at this point I just gave up on myself and started walking more. Not this year, I wouldn't let myself quit. I just told myself to slow down a little - keep pushing - but I could back off just a bit and I was going to make it. I kept this up until we turned on to Rio Salado and I was within .5 mi of the finish. At that point, I literally couldn't keep my legs moving so I walked the last minute of a run interval and started running on the next beep. I think, I ended up running the rest of the race although I wanted to stop badly. Back with .5 to go I saw I had 2 mins to make 2:40 and knew I couldn't do it. After the fact, I realized that my pace actually picked up on the runs in the last 3 miles and I was moving faster than I thought at the finish. I crossed the finish in 2:42:45....exactly 11 minutes faster than last year - and I felt better longer.
I grabbed my water and medal and got in line for my picture. I tried to keep moving my legs since as soon as I stopped I could feel them tightning up. I got through the food line and met up with Jess & Andrea and finally made my way to the UPS truck where I smartly chose not to sit down to change my shoes this year. Last year I could barely get up and I wanted to cry. I trudged back to the RV with my legs starting to stiffen up - I didn't realize the extent until I tried to climb the steps into the RV and then later try to sit down!
This was a good race, better than last year because I finally felt ok. I had a few moments where running was fun and I considered doing more of it. Those were fleeting. I think the massage the day before did actually help because my shoulders weren't as tense as normal and that probably helped my breathing quite a bit.
So here I am, 3 days post and I can sit down with holding on to walls, bars or door frames for dear life. Monday was painful but I think Tuesday was worse. Got a trail run this weekend so we'll see how I far. Now to start not training for the Mt. Lemmon 1/2 in Oct. I think I'm taking the day off after that race!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Tour de Cookie - January 10
So, I'm sure I've missed some races at the end of last year - well tough cookies. Time to start over in 2010, hopefully I can keep up better! Tour de Cookie became a favorite event last year when the weather was cold and the cookies plentiful. I talked Erik into riding with us this year and signed up a team. No idea what a team got you, but it was cheaper so we went with it. We got to Brandi Fenton park on Sunday morning and got a great parking spot right by the start/finish line. I had put some purple ribbons on my bike & helmet, had my basket w/Elmo ready to go and was dressed in purple fashion. If purple fashion includes a TTG jersey, black cycling capris, knee high black/purple striped socks and a purple tutu. Yeah, I'm high class fashion! 
We set off on the course that had been mapped out for us. This year that meant the first stop was Body Central up on Oracle/Magee. We took 1st up to Ina and then over to Oracle. I amazingly got up the hills without feeling like I was going to die, in fact in many places I was spinning pretty happily. Damn training. Our little group passed Elaine & Co heading south on Oracle and they were yelling something about no cookies. Since we weren't far away, we continued on to discover that there was no one at the Body Central stand. No cars, no people, no clue. I pedaled up hills for cookies damnit!
We headed down Oracle to hit the next stand at River (Children's Park). Now, we weren't moving nearly as slow as last year, certainly not super quick paced as this is a fun, social ride and there were tons of people still behind us. We got to the Oracle/River stand and they had run out of cookies. This running out of cookies became a common theme. So now quite hungry as I should have consumed many cookies by now, we set off towards Stone and the next stand. On the way down Stone I get splattered with something wet. I look up and discover the rows of birds sitting on the power lines. Seriously? A bird pissed on me? This may not be a good day.
The stand at Stone had cookies, they were running out quickly, but cookies were had and they were quite tasty for having waited as long as I did. We headed off towards downtown and the Roller Derby stand. Those girls are awesome! They knew how to have fun and someone can bake! Their cookies were probably the best and the brownies were phenom. From the Roller Derby girls we headed towards the UofA mall to visit the TTG tent. Even our tent was running low on cookies and had to make an emergency Safeway run for more. I stocked up and we headed east to visit the women's rugby team. Got my milk shot and played a hand of blackjack (I won!) and we were back on the road towards Craycroft.
The next stop had cool cookies shaped like bikes and fresh lemonade. Plus if you bought $3 in cookies you could spin the wheel and some volunteers would do some funny gags - sing like opera singers, make animal sounds, etc. From there we headed up Craycroft until Anne got a flat. Seems I'm always around for her flats. She got it fixed (while Erik and I watched...such good friends) and by then another group of TTGs had joined us and we decided to head back to the start, making a quick stop at another stand on the way. When we got to McCormick park, we discovered the stand already packed up and unwilling to dish out any cookies. So sadly we headed back to the start/finish in hopes that unlike last year, the finish line would still be standing! With great luck it was, but the TriSports booth was already packed up. We all got our cookie medals and then someone mentioned a stop we had missed that was just down the river path.
So a few of us set off for the elusive stand and were pleased to discover that they were still open and still had tasty cookies. We then headed back and crossed the finish line a second time. To make up for last year of course! A couple of us packed up and then headed off to Brushfire BBQ for some well deserved lunch. Even though this race lacked some organization this year (stands not showing up, running out of cookies) it's still a favorite ride and I'll be back next year!
We set off on the course that had been mapped out for us. This year that meant the first stop was Body Central up on Oracle/Magee. We took 1st up to Ina and then over to Oracle. I amazingly got up the hills without feeling like I was going to die, in fact in many places I was spinning pretty happily. Damn training. Our little group passed Elaine & Co heading south on Oracle and they were yelling something about no cookies. Since we weren't far away, we continued on to discover that there was no one at the Body Central stand. No cars, no people, no clue. I pedaled up hills for cookies damnit! We headed down Oracle to hit the next stand at River (Children's Park). Now, we weren't moving nearly as slow as last year, certainly not super quick paced as this is a fun, social ride and there were tons of people still behind us. We got to the Oracle/River stand and they had run out of cookies. This running out of cookies became a common theme. So now quite hungry as I should have consumed many cookies by now, we set off towards Stone and the next stand. On the way down Stone I get splattered with something wet. I look up and discover the rows of birds sitting on the power lines. Seriously? A bird pissed on me? This may not be a good day.
The stand at Stone had cookies, they were running out quickly, but cookies were had and they were quite tasty for having waited as long as I did. We headed off towards downtown and the Roller Derby stand. Those girls are awesome! They knew how to have fun and someone can bake! Their cookies were probably the best and the brownies were phenom. From the Roller Derby girls we headed towards the UofA mall to visit the TTG tent. Even our tent was running low on cookies and had to make an emergency Safeway run for more. I stocked up and we headed east to visit the women's rugby team. Got my milk shot and played a hand of blackjack (I won!) and we were back on the road towards Craycroft.
The next stop had cool cookies shaped like bikes and fresh lemonade. Plus if you bought $3 in cookies you could spin the wheel and some volunteers would do some funny gags - sing like opera singers, make animal sounds, etc. From there we headed up Craycroft until Anne got a flat. Seems I'm always around for her flats. She got it fixed (while Erik and I watched...such good friends) and by then another group of TTGs had joined us and we decided to head back to the start, making a quick stop at another stand on the way. When we got to McCormick park, we discovered the stand already packed up and unwilling to dish out any cookies. So sadly we headed back to the start/finish in hopes that unlike last year, the finish line would still be standing! With great luck it was, but the TriSports booth was already packed up. We all got our cookie medals and then someone mentioned a stop we had missed that was just down the river path.
So a few of us set off for the elusive stand and were pleased to discover that they were still open and still had tasty cookies. We then headed back and crossed the finish line a second time. To make up for last year of course! A couple of us packed up and then headed off to Brushfire BBQ for some well deserved lunch. Even though this race lacked some organization this year (stands not showing up, running out of cookies) it's still a favorite ride and I'll be back next year!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
PBR Off-Road Tri (Oct 10); Race Report
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
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 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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
