Star Triathlon Race Report

The Star Triathlon is held here in town at the Rec Center, less then 5 miles from my house. It is a sprint, 200 yard swim, 14 miles bike, and 3.1 mile run. This didn't really match my training plan of a 2500 yard swim and a 3 hour bike but I just couldn't skip this race. I knew my legs would be tired from Fridays run, I just figured I would take a public stomping and move on.

Friday morning I ran 13.5 miles in 2:10:55. That 55 seconds is what it took for me to get home. I was having some stomach issues and knew it would get messy if I stopped and walked.

Friday evening I got a voice mail from Lana telling me that I had a good shot at overall female. She would be there to cheer and expected to see me win. Now I had pressure.

So I got up Saturday morning and rode my bike the 4.85 miles to the rec center. I racked next to Tim. I got my transition area set up and got body marked. Then my other buddies started showing up. Amy and her son, Will then Eric, who was doing his first ever tri There were a lot of first timers there and Tim and I did our best to answer any questions. It was fun to see all these new people getting excited about triathlons.
I handed my camera off to Don, who was volunteering not racing. He became my official photographer.
I had mailed in my registration and it did not have a place for estimated swim time. So I got stuck in the back. They were letting people move up but I decided to stay put and went it at the very end. I think there were 4 or 5 people behind me.When I got to the mat for my turn to go in the water, I did ask for a few extra seconds so that I would have a little space. I took me the first 25 yards before I caught up to the swimmer ahead of me. I ended up passing quite a few people in the pool and got smacked in the head once in the process. I pulled myself out of the water after the 200 yards and headed off to T1.200 yard swim 3:44
In T1 I put on my helmet and shoes, grabbed my bike and was outta there. T1 0:53
Now the real chase was on. The bike starts with a few turns in town then an out and back on the highway. In town I had to get past several people while making turns and trying to stay out of their draft zones. I got to the highway. Usually the wind would be a tailwind going out and a headwind coming in. I am hammering along and only seeing speeds of 17, 18, 19 mph. I told myself this is not going to win the race. I continued to try to pick up the pace and chase people down. I finally saw the leader coming back in. Tim was in 3rd and I cheered him on. I looked for women and once I saw three I ahead of me I stopped counting. Right before the turn I saw a female in a blue top heading back, I set my next goal to catch her. I made the turn and tried to catch her. I realized then that the wind was backwards. Now I was seeing much better speeds but still could not catch the girl in blue. I tried but she made it back to transition just ahead of me. 14 mile bike 41:33, 20.2 average.In T2 the girl in blue sat down to put on and tie her shoes while I just slipped my on and was out of there ahead of her. T2 0:44
I was really feeling my Friday long run by this point but I was running on my home turf. I run this route all the time. I made it to about the one mile marker before I saw the first female. I looked at my watch intending to time how much of a lead she had on me. I grabbed a quick drink and went to the turn around. There were only 3 females ahead of me and I passed one of them right after the turn around. Now I knew if I could just hold pace I would finish in the top 3. I forgot to check my watch again to time the lead of the lead female. I made it to the final turn and there was Lana. I said 'There are two ahead of me right??" She said "I think so". I said "I went in last". She said "Well you might have them, push it". I gave my final push to the finish. 3.1 mile run 22:42, 7:18 pace.
Total race time 1:09:34
Hung around the finish talking and cheering in the rest of the racers.
I took my bike inside and went out back to find the official results. I couldn't even get near the results so I grabbed a few orange slices and chatted. Then Lana walked up and told me congratulations I did it 1st place overall female!!! I couldn't believe I did it.
I got a super cool transition bag and a medal.
Everyone did awesome.
Will got first age group
Tim got first age group
Eric got third age group
Amy got first age group

After everyone collected their medals, I went back to the pool. I swam my required2500 yards. I thought about counting the 200 from the race but I need all the time in the water I can get.
Then I got my bike and asked them to hold my new backpack at the front desk. Riding home with one bag was enough. I took the extra long way home for an additional 2 hours to get total ride time for the day to 3 hours.

Totals for the week
swim 5200 yards
bike 105.7 miles
run 29.79 miles

Don't Do Anything New on Race Day

This is a rule that I am bad about following. I have raced with new shoes, new socks, new tights, and new shirts. I tried my aero bottle for the first time at a race. And I have eaten new foods on race day.
But for some reason riding my new wheels for the first time at a race has me all freaked out. I had planned to ride them this week but all three of my rides ended up inside on the trainer. So today I put them on my bike and me and Casey rode around the block. My computer didn't work. Oh yeah, the magnet. Lucky for me, I have a spare since I had to get a new computer a while back. I put the magnet on and took another spin around the block. I shifted gears all the way around and it appears all systems are go.
So Saturday at the race, I will be riding my new wheels. Hope this isn't the time the rule bites me in the butt.
For TJ:
And Phil, don't worry it is just a sprint. Only 14 miles on the bike.

Make up Hills

The Plan called for 4x2 minute hills on Sunday. There aren't any good hills near my house, but I knew I would be running from the Rec Center today and jail hill is there. So today I ran jail hill 4 times. It was early and I was tired (read slow). Got just over 4 miles before heading inside to do weights. Did all the required sets then went downstairs to the pool. Today's swim was suppose to be sets of 50 on 1:00, 250 on 4:30 and 100 on 2:00. Well those are great times for me so I pretty much ended up with a continuous swim. 2500 yards.
As soon as I can get these kids to bed, I will be right behind them. I am exhausted. But tomorrow is a rest day, so I get to sleep until 6!!!!

Riding Inside but Running in the Rain

Well the weather man was right and it was still pouring this morning. So it was right back on the trainer. Without the structure of a planned workout, I didn't get the mileage I got yesterday. I watched a movie (and the rain) and put in the time. 24.5 miles in 1:40, but I looked like I had been riding in the rain by the time I finished.
It was still pouring when I got off my bike, but I threw on a hat and went out to run. I have never had a problem running in the rain it has always been starting in the rain. I think it was pure laziness this time, I didn't want to drive to the Rec Center. So I sucked it up and ran in the rain. It cooled me down. I finished my 30 minutes with 3.58 miles, a 8:32 pace.

More Trainer Time

Today's workout was designed for the trainer, so that is where I did it. Plus I needed to get started at 4ish so that I could get it and the swim done before work.

I got up at 3:50. I had my Garmin all programed with the workout.

9 x 3 minutes starting in big ring and easiest gear and dropping a gear each interval.
in hardest gear 10 x (30 seconds grind, 30 seconds all out, 30 seconds grind, 30 seconds stand).
still in hardest gear 5 minutes grind.
9 x 1 minute working from hardest to easiest.

Time flew doing this workout. 18.25 miles in 61 minutes.
Then it was off to the pool. I was really stiff starting out but I felt ok. I did the required 3150 yards but didn't go as fast as I should have. I really didn't want to push it too hard.

I have plans to ride with Tracy and Eric tomorrow at 8 but it is raining right now and is suppose to continue all night and tomorrow. I just might be getting even more trainer time.

Stiff

My bike incident yesterday had left me very stiff today. My left arm and neck are very sore and it hurts to rise my arm above my head. Swimming tomorrow is going to be very interesting.
But can't let a stiff, sore arm slow me down. I have training to do. Today's plan was 1:15 bike followed by 50 minutes of running.
Last night at dinner when I was asking Ronnie his plans for today he said "You just rode 100 miles today , now you have to ride again tomorrow?" I told him "This is Ironman!!!"
I decided to sleep in and wait on Ronnie to get home. It rained off and on all morning. I hoped that the rain would stop for my ride/run. But it was raining pretty good when he walked in the door so I opted for the trainer. I watched a movie and just put in the time. My left hand hurt if I tried to sit up and my left elbow hurt to ride aero. I did what I could.
The rain stopped while I was riding, but it was still muggy for my run. I got in 5.57 miles at a 9:00 pace. I feel pretty good about that.
I am going to go lay on a heating pad now and see if that will help my stiff neck.

Drivers and Dogs

Today I had a 100 mile ride scheduled. It so happened that the HOT100 was also today. But I have claimed next Saturday morning for the Star Tri and the following for the HOW100. So I passed on the HOT and let Ronnie play golf this morning. Gotta keep the peace just in case I ever want to do this again.
I head out at 12:30.
10 miles into my ride I was riding along and got up next to a pick up parked in a church parking lot. I heard a car behind. Then all of a sudden that car cuts me off to turn into the church. I slam on the brakes and over I go. The girls in the truck were putting out yard sale signs and came over to make sure I ok. Then another pick up comes up and asks if I am alright. I pick up my water bottle, assure the people I am ok and went to find the black car. One old lady was still getting out and I lit into her. Another women walks out of the church and the women I was informing she almost killed me points at the other lady and says "She was driving". So I let her have it to. She said "I didn't see you. Were you in the ditch?" I told her no I was on the road and she cut me off. And you know what she says?? "At least I didn't hit you." I was shaking I was so mad.
I put the anger to good use and hammered out some miles. My hand and elbow were killing me but no blood.
I must have missed a turn due to the lack of road signs so my pre planned route had to be adjusted on the fly. I had dog run in number one (of six) on the adjusted route. I learned that my 23 miles per hour to out run a dog theory was wrong. It took a good stretch at 25 to drop him.
I was almost home but still needed 4 miles, so I decided to add a loop. I heard a car behind, looked and saw it was pretty far back. So I stuck my arm out to signal I was making a left. I start into the turn and the car comes flying by me. I managed to stay upright that time.
I made it home without any more dog or driver encounters. 100.09 miles in 5:38. 17.7 average speed
totals for the week
swim 8500 yards
bike 140.81 miles
run 20.8
14:30 hours

Easy Spin and Racing Heart

Yesterday's easy spin must have done my body good.
I met Tracy at the Rec Center at noon when I got off work. It was a very social ride and I did the whole thing in my little chain ring per plan. I ended up with 22.5 miles in the hour and a half that I rode.
Then this morning I got up at 4:00 for a 50 minute run and 3600 yard swim. I felt great on the run. It just felt right again. I ended up with 5.87 miles, 8:32 pace. Wow, I need more easy spin days!! Funny thing is my heart rate average was 201 with a max of 240. Think something is wrong with my HRM??? I noticed this for the first time earlier this week while on a flat part of the greenway. I happened to check my heart rate and saw it was 238. I knew that wasn't right then forgot about it until today. Guess I need to try to figure out what is wrong with Garmin now.
After my run, I went inside to swim. I ended up getting to the pool at 5:20 and it was already open! I love when they open early when I have a long swim. This workout had lots of kick and took FOREVER, 1:27. So even though I didn't have to be at work until 9, I was still rushed getting the kids to school.
Tomorrow is a 100 mile ride. There is an organized ride in the boro but I have already claimed the next two Saturday mornings. So I am going to wait until Ronnie gets home from golf at about 12:30 then head out on my own century.

It's Not the Shoes

This morning I got up at 4:15 for my 40 minute run. Once again, I was stiff and could not get a rythem. Differrent shoes so can't blame them. Guess it is just time to admit, I am getting old.
So the 40 minute run was slow. Then I went inside for a 2000 yard swim. Only 1000 yards were free style, so the swim was extra slow too.
Good news is that tomorrow is an hour and a haf ride that is suppose to be slow. That I can handle.

On Track

Yesterday morning it was cool out when I started my 30 minute run. I was still half asleep and stiff. I thought to myself "Oh boy, this is not a good way to start the week". I didn't feel like I was in any kind of rhythm, my form just felt off. It was my second run in my Omni 7's, I wondered if it could the shoes. I ran the greenway and town and ended up with 3.27 miles. Then I went inside to the pool. I wasn't feeling any better in the water. I finished the warm up and started my 100's. I started feeling better. Then I did my 16 x 25 and I hit every one of them at 24 seconds, fast for me. I was happy by the time I wrapped up my 2900 yards and left the pool.
I was off work today so waited until after dropping the kids off at school to start my workout. At 8:00 I went out on my bike. I did a basically flat route in big gears. I had to do two loops of my neighborhood at the end and even then was 30 seconds short of the hour but I rounded up and called it done. 18.22 miles. Then I changed shoes and grabbed my fuel belt with two 6 oz bottles of Nuun water. Plan called for 70 minutes of hills. I ran the rollers over to Cracker Barrel hill, up the hill, then turned around and headed home. I am glad I took the fuel belt. It was sunny and hot. I am not use to running in daylight. I had to loop my neighborhood again to get in the required time. 7.57 miles.
Diet is also back on track. I will get this vacation weight back off before the race.

11 Weeks to Go

Only 11 weeks????!!!! How am I going to get ready in just 11 weeks???
Vacation and my "summer birthday" have totally thrown my diet off plan. Eating junk and drinking WAY too much. I am getting back on track now.
Then to top it off, I didn't do a good job on following my training plan Saturday. How do I expect to be ready if I skip workouts? Especially swims.
At least Friday I did what I was suppose to. I got up at 3:30 Friday morning and ran in the dark. Plan called for 2 hours of "pretty running" . I kept my heart rate down and got in 12.68 miles in 2 hours.
Saturday the plan called for 140 minutes on the bike "anything goes just put in the time", 2500 yard swim, and stretching/core. I did the ride on the trainer while watching TV. Lots of bigger gear work with lower RPM. Ended up with 35.81 miles. I got a late start on the ride and didn't have time to do anything else before taking Casey to a birthday party and Bryce the movies. I thought about making up the swim and stretching today since it is a rest day, but next rest day isn't until Thursday Aug 28th. I am going to just enjoy my rest day today, spend time with the kids and get ready for what is on the plan this week.

Lot of Swimming

I have spent a lot of time in the pool this week. I think I am growing gills.

Monday morning I did a 24 mile ride with Eric followed by a 3600 yard swim. It was the same workout as Friday and just as hard.

Tuesday I did a 15 mintue run, weights, and a 4000 yard swim. The 4000 yards took less time then the 3600 since it was all free style. Throw in back stoke or kick board and I get even slower.

Today I did a 3000 yard swim and a 18.6 mile bike with Tracy. Today's swim had 500 kick board so was slow.

I am ready for rest day tomorrow!!!!

Summer Birthday

My birthday is December 19th. I HATE a December birthday. You get the combo gift, the "oops I forgot, better pull something out from under the tree" gift, gifts wrapped in Christmas paper...I have aways wanted a summer birthday. Back in May of 06 I did the GJCC Triathlon and per the “age up” rule; they wrote a 38 on my leg. I figured since they considered me 38 I might as well have my birthday. It was great, I got to sit by the pool and enjoy a few cold beverages. No one else bought into this summer birthday thing, just me and the USAT. Ronnie was totally against it and told me I could not do it again. So I had my 39th birthday in December of 07 even though they had been calling me 39 all year.
This year is the big one, four oh. I had to say it for the first time at Memphis in May. I wanted to celebrate turning 40 then but knew Ronnie wouldn't go for it so didn't even bring it up.
I haven't really thought about my birthday since then.
My friend Angie came in town this weekend. Angie and I have been friends since high school. She is also my drinking buddy, I can always count on her to keep on drinking with me.
This weekend was also a hard training weekend. Thursday was an hour of stretching and 15 minutes of abs to get ready. Friday I had 90 minute run followed by 3600 yards of swimming. Then I had to shop and clean house to prepare for Angie's visit.
Saturday morning I got up at 4:45 for my long ride. I wanted to get started at first light so that I could be home before Angie arrived with her boys. The plan called for 4 hours but I am concerned about the number of long rides on this plan so I wanted to extend it to 5 hours. I rode for an hour and a half, met up with Tracy and rode a nice slow loop with her, then I was off on my own again. I had a sitter until 11 so decided to see how many miles I could get in. 90.3 in 5 hours and 25 minutes, and I felt GREAT!!! I got home got cleaned up and ate just before Angie showed up. As soon as she got unloaded I said, "time for a beer? I am in need of a recovery drink". We sat by the pool drinking all afternoon. She wasn't keeping up and then announces that we have "got to get the kids fed". No one had said they were hungry. But what the heck, we were going to the Mexican place to sit outside and they have beer there too. I went in to tell Ronnie we were going but he had a headache and didn't want to go. I trash talked him the entire dinner. Angie still wasn't keeping up on the beer and then when we were leaving she took FOREVER in the restroom. Finally we head home.
We pull in the driveway and I said "What the heck is going on? Ronnie has people over. I thought his head hurt!!!!" We go in the backyard and everyone yells "Happy Summer Birthday". I was shocked. I never saw that one coming.
I had the best birthday ever. And to make it even better...Ronnie gave me a note that said "Happy Birthday. Buy your bike Wheels"
Getting up this morning was tough. Angie finally started keeping up on the beer last night and then I had to keep up with her. I really didn't know if I would be able to run to the end of the driveway much less 70 minutes. But I laced up my shoes and headed out. Run went fine. Legs felt great. I got just over 9 miles, slow but done.
Next rest day isn't until Thursday and I will be over due by then.
***edit that should be just over 7 miles run on Sunday. As Lana pointed out, 9 would have been smoking, 7 not so much.

New Orleans????

Back in May when I did the half iron in GA, all the talk down there was about the new 70.3 in New Orleans this year. Got me thinking. April in New Orleans will surely be cooler then May in Florida or Georgia. April is a much easier month to get away during. Then I started seeing lots of bloggers talking about going. Then TriSaraTops hypnotized me.
So I got on line again to look it up.
Next price increase is Sept 1st. yikes!!! I am going to have to decide soon.

In the meantime, I have this little thing called ironman to worry about.
Today was suppose to be all about speed. 50 minutes of running with 10 minute warm up, 5x5 intervals with 1' rest, and 10' cool down. Didn't happen. I ended up just running and running slow. Sure Garmin beeped at me after the warm up to let me know to pick it up. But I just didn't have it in me. I rationalized it by saying that I had run fast on Saturday so it was an even swap. Does that work?? After my not so speedy run, I went inside for a time trial swim. The plan called it a "fitness assessment". I did the warm up first. Lana had pointed out to me the other day that I had something haywire going on with my kick. I really worked on form for the entire warm up and therefore was extra slow. I felt good during the 1000 yard TT, but ended up SLOWER then the last time. Am I less fit now???

Tomorrow is a rest/stretch only day and boy do I NEED it!!!

I am Behind

I saw Eric at Sunday School Sunday morning and he asked me if I was sore. "Nope, not at all". Well, that was until I got on my bike Sunday evening. As soon as I sat on that saddle, I realized that I was in fact pretty darn sore.
I did a nice easy hour forty ride, it was suppose to be 1:50 but I was home and couldn't think of a way to add a couple miles to the loop.

Monday, I got up at 4:00 for a 45 minute run (again nice and easy), weights, and then a 2600 yard swim. I got home at 7, got the kids packed, ready and dropped at school. Then I came home and got myself ready for work. I have changed my work schedule. I am going in a 9:00 instead of 8 and working 4 day instead of 3. I am a lot less rushed in the morning and therefore everyone is a lot happier. On the other had, my house looks like a pig sty. Guess I will clean it in Nov.

This morning the plan called for 1:15 bike (I did 1:18, had to get home). I decided to try out some utter cream and see if it would help with some of the soreness. I guess it helped. I got to see a beautiful sunrise and discovered that it takes a speed of 23 mph to out run a dog. Got to test this theory 3 times this morning.

I did the ab ripper DVD this evening for the first time since before vacation. Might be paying for that tomorrow.

Going to go try to catch up on blogs. I have read some at work but haven't been able to comment. Lots of great race reports from the weekend.

Staggerwing Duathlon Race Report

My training planned called for a 3:30 bike and a 0:35 run. But it was Staggerwing Race day. I don't have many races that I don't have to drive 60+ miles to get to so I hate to miss any close to home. Plus this race has free beer at the finish.
So I came up with a plan. I would ride my bike the 20 miles each way to and from the race, plus the 18.6 miles for the race. The 2 4k runs would more then cover the 35 minutes of required running.
I called Lana and let her know my plan. She was in too.
We met at the bank at 5:45. It took me 20 minutes to ride the 5 miles from my house to the bank. Then Lana and I rode the remaining 15 miles to the race. We made good time and got there with time to spare.
I picked a spot in transition, got my packet, got body marked, and set up.
I walked up the hill to the start line. Made a port-a-potty stop and waited for the start.
I was number 11 so I went out in the first wave.
There were only a few other females in this wave and I was in the lead right off the bat. I didn't feel like I was running fast but at mile one I was sub 8 (very fast for me). For the run course, it is an out an back on the taxiway, down a gravel hill, and then out and back on a greenway. So you get to see who is in front of you and who is behind you several times along the way. I cheered for all my peeps as I saw them. I finished the first 4k run in 20:49.
In T1 i changed shoes, swapped my hat for helmet, and was out of there in 0:55.
The bike course starts out flat then is mostly downhill to the turn around then mostly up hill back to transition.. As soon as I got on my bike, I started drinking. I had my aero bottle full of Nuun water. I have never had it before but loved it. Eric went out of transition just before me and I could see him just up the road. I pressed to catch him. Once I did, I looked for the next person to catch. I didn't like being in the first wave to start. I like chasing people down not running from them. I knew Lana was in the second wave and I was waiting on her to catch me. I had hope to make it to the turn around before she did, but she caught me a little before then. She yelled "come on and keep up" as she went by. I tried but she is just too darn fast. I made the 180 at the turn around and headed back. I tell myself every year I am going to go ride this course before the race. I really wish I had, it would have paid off. Going out there was a nice downhill that I knew we would have to climb coming back. Problem is, I didn't recognize it when I got there. I climbed the whole thing in my big chain ring. At the top Holly and Flash were there, and I yelled "Is it almost over" thinking I still had the hill to climb. I hit the flat and realized what I had done. I pushed it back to T2. 30k bike time 56:17.
In T2, I made the swap back to running shoes and hat. Out in 0:36.
Run 2 is the first run in reverse.I saw Lana on the greenway and there was still no other female between us. I didn't see any females closing in on us either. I drank water at each of the water stops along the way. It was HOT. Out and back on the taxiway then up to the finish line.

Second 4k run 20:34
Total 1:39:10.
I crossed the line and got my cold towel. Then I found the beer truck. Hung around eating pizza, drinking beer and chatting.

Results were posted
So I hung around for the awards and collected my first ever overall award.

I helped fold up a tent then decided it was time to make the ride home. Lana was going the long way to get in even more miles but 20 was enough for me. So I headed out alone. I had a good ride home. I didn't get three and a half hours like the plan called for but close enough.
Special thanks to The Flash and Holly. Y'all did an awesome job as photographers. I have a ton of pics. And since race pics are never good, it is nice to have several to choose from. Thanks also for all the support out there, it really helped. Holly did't get to race due to a run in with a dog, details on her blog. Hope you heal quickly girl.
Also congrats to all my friends that raced. Lots of hardware collected and awesome times posted.