Swimming - Cycling - Running

MS 200 ride

2010-11-17T15:02:00.000-08:00

11/17/2010
This is the longest time it's taken me to write a Ride or Race Report - I usually write them right away... not sure why I'm putting this off so long, but here it goes...

Task: Raise money for MS & Ride 200 miles in 2 days...

While fund-raising, I said I was going to do a 200 mile ride in 2 days... I raised over $800 for the National MS Society and several friends and family donated, so I felt like I needed to do the ride as promised.

The Saturday before the ride, I met up with the BikingLasVegas Team to ride Valley of Fire to Overton. I had ridden some of the route when I was training with Team in Training for the Tahoe Ride... We had gone from the Casino to the Visitor Center and up the road from there, and didn't go to Overton. BUT, I had problems on the hills... we had a SAG vehicle and I ended up getting a SAG ride up the hill from the Visitor Center and again climbing out of Valley of Fire from the Toll Booth to the top of the hill... So, the Saturday before the ride, I was a bit nervous about this hill, but thought I could handle it as we were taking a different route... NOT - I ended up getting to the Toll Booth too tired to go on... and once again, with SAG available, I opted to take the SAG ride up the hill... twice failed... I was determined to ride ALL the way up the Hill for the MS Ride... Lynetta said I can do it... as well as others... I wouldn't consider the MS ride a success unless I made it up that hill, and it wasn't to come til 60 miles into the 2nd day of riding...

Thursday - Veterans Day - Went to McGhies and picked up new tires, tubes, full-finger gloves (I couldn't find my old ones anywhere), a patch kit... I changed both tires - used both tubes (OOPS)... Thursday Night, we had a BikingLasVegas Team meeting, and I found someone to share my room in Mesquite with - YAY

Friday - Day before the ride - During Lunch, Brett & I went to McGhies to pick up the ride packet... picked up new tubes - I'm ready to go! I saw Lisa there, and pointed out the bike that was up for raffle... pretty red Trek... I also saw Jim Matthews there and [jokingly] told him that I would need a ride up "the hill"... Paul Johnson was also there... all 3 southwesters at McGhies at the same time...

Friday Night - Checked weather report one last time - Temps in Las Vegas, Overton & Mesquite on Saturday & Sunday & hourly - ALL said 40*-60* 5mph winds... it's gonna be COLD... pack accordingly ;)

Saturday - Ride day!!! Since it was gonna be so cold, I decided to wear long sleeves, full finger gloves, BLV jersey, and my lavender windbreaker.... I got a bit concerned when I got to the speedway, and I wasn't cold... no time to change things now... At the speedway, they had a nice spread of donuts & muffins with coffee for the riders... the BLV team was called to the track to take a team picture - the team was so large this year, the picture was taken without our bikes... We lined up at the gate and waited a bit... I chatted with the guys behind me - they were from Maryland - came in to do this ride as their co-worker's 20 year old son has MS... how cool is that? The National Anthem was performed (live) while Miss Nevada Outstanding Teen held the American Flag... Some safety instructions were read, and we were off - or so I thought...

We then lined up at the START line of the Speedway Track where a GREAT start picture was taken - Then we got to ride around the track and off we went... It was cool to ride up high on the track and while down low to see the bikes up high... After we circled the track, we followed the red car out of the speedway and onto LV Blvd... and into the WIND...

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11/24/10
This is a good week later than I started writing this... I did a lot this past week - including finding a new place to live, so it's been hectic... I'll try to remember as much of the ride as I can...

The ride went North for a ways and I started falling more and more behind the main group... I grabbed a wheel when I could, but even the drafting didn't help much against the strong head winds... I got to the first rest stop and met up with the Biking Las Vegas group and rode with them for a while... we pace-lined up the hill on the 15 freeway... I worked HARD in the pace-line and literally said that would be the last time on that ride that I would work that hard... like long distance running, it's important to pace yourself on a long ride like this.

Soon we climbed our way into the beautiful Valley of Fire and were rewarded with a LONG STEEP down hill section... it was FUN... But, this was "the hill" that I would have to climb on the way home!

One of the most challenging hills (short but VERY steep) was just after the next rest stop... I gave a thumbs up to the photographer at the top of the hill... I looked at my Garmin, it said 50 miles - YAY halfway there :)

After some more climbing, I arrived in Overton ready to eat lunch - it was noonish and we were over halfway there... I arrive at the rest stop, and there's a BBQ truck next to the rest stop... I said, "Is that ours?" They said "no, lunch is at the NEXT stop" GRRRRR I was hungry! I was tired! I was hurting! I was NOT happy! I grabbed some food and took some advil, and rode out toward lunch... it seemed to take FOREVER, but soon, I got to Logandale and got to eat lunch... I sat with Ken Stein and complained that they put lunch at mile 70... Ken said, um, no, this is mile 63 - WHAT??? my GARMIN IS WRONG.... Apparently, I had the wheel size set wrong - I thought Garmins used the GPS to measure distance, but NOOOOOOOO, it used the wheel size... So, now I had almost 40 miles to go instead of 30 miles... I wasn't happy with that news LOL...

Rested and fed, I set out to the HUGE climbs out of Logandale and onto the I15 towards Mesquite... I was warned about these hills at lunch, so I was kinda prepared... I looked at my Garmin, and noticed that there was no power or cadence info... I guess I inadvertently turned them off while trying to fix the wheel size... so I took a much needed break, fixed the Garmin, took off my jacket, (I had already taken off my long sleeve shirt) and continued up the hill towards the freeway...

I finally got onto the freeway only to find another climb... while climbing, just when you feel like you can't go any more, there was a sign that read "MS takes away people's ability to MOVE"... that sign reminded me why I am riding... because I CAN, and I continued up the rest of the hill...

OK, now we have FLAT - finally! But... it was a WIND tunnel!! Can we get no breaks here? I grab whatever wheels I can grab, but again, it was futile against this wind... I stopped at the rest stops and kept going... at one point, there was a Man changing a tire, and he asked if I had a c02 cartridge, so I stopped and gave him one... I think that helped my Karma as I didn't get one flat on the whole ride!

FINALLY, it was time to exit the 15 freeway and the next Rest Stop was the BEST of all... Cheetah Girls were there giving Massages... My lower back was complaining at this point, so a Cheetah Man worked on my back while 2 Girls worked on my calfs... what a life!

I felt good for about another 3 miles, then the aches came back, I met up with Kevin and Ali and Raf, and rode with them for a while... Raf eventually went ahead of me, and I went ahead of Kevin & Ali... The last 10 miles of rollers were tough to get through... just as you would get to a peak, you would look up and another hill loomed ahead... I FINALLY made it to the finish at 4:34ish... my Garmin reading 107 miles (Everyone else had around 98 miles grrrrr)

Kevin arrived shortly after and was able to get Beer for everyone as he raised enough money to be a VIP... That beer tasted SO GOOD :) I grabbed my suitcase and a short car ride later, was at the Hotel.

My roommate for the night had already checked-in as she SAGGED from Lunch to the Hotel... so she had already showered. It was just about time for dinner, so with no rest, I showered and changed and went downstairs to the Banquet...

The banquet was nice - yummy food, good company, motivational speakers, and a raffle... I spent $20 for raffle tickets (it's yet another donation) I placed my 4 tickets as follows - 1 for a Haircut, 1 for Jersey Boys Tickets, and 2 for the Blue Man Group tickets... when all of those drawings were done (I didn't win any of those) they combined ALL the tickets for the 2 grand prizes... Did you figure this out yet? I WON THE BIKE!!! I triple checked the ticket number - and YEP, she pulled MY TICKET... I still can't believe I won another bike :)

I had brought my laptop with me so I could charge my Garmin with the USB connection... I left it plugged in over night. With so much excitement, it was hard to sleep, but I soon fell asleep and slept like a ROCK!!! For tomorrow, I get to do it all again...

Sunday Morning, woke up and for some reason - even though I didn't feel like it, I put on my riding clothes and Diana and I headed over to pick up our bikes... We rode to breakfast (about a mile)... We were close to the first ones at breakfast and the food wasn't ready yet... so I chatted with Steve, his wife who I found out has MS, and his daughter, Athena; I even explained my fear of "The Hill" and my determination to conquer it... took time to pump my tires, and then when the food was ready, I ate some pancakes and eggs and I headed out... I forgot to say Bye to Diana who got SAGGED to Mesquite...

Back through the rollers to the 15 freeway - somehow they didn't seem as bad this time lol... What a difference a day makes... the wind was now at our backs - how nice! I rode a little with Kevin, then he decided that he needed to go ahead - he sacrificed his ride yesterday for his daughter, but today, he wanted to see what he could do - I didn't blame him... GO KEVIN! Back along the 15 freeway, Back down the LONG Hill to Logandale, Back along the road [that takes forever] to Overton... Back up the hill to get out of Overton... Back up those HARD hills to get to the Valley of Fire... As I was going toward Valley of Fire, one of the guys I was riding with off and on had stopped at the side of the road... I stopped too - I needed a BREAK! About 5 SAG vehicles pulled up to lend a hand... we were FINE we told them, and eventually, we continued our quest to get up the hill... We worked hard getting to the 7 sisters and had a MUCH deserved lunch! Jim Matthews announced that he was leaving and would take anyone who wanted a ride... I jokingly said, "take me" - but I was determined to ride the full 200 miles as I promised the people who donated - so, I let Jim drive his car without me... I still had to climb "The Hill"... I had accomplished so much already, I knew I could do this!

I knew that once I passed the visitor center, it was up hill the rest of the way to the peak, and the visitor came sooner than I thought it would... ok... take it slow... Again, I stopped on the side of the road and that same gentleman stopped with me... again, SAG was AWESOME, and again, I turned them away... I made it to the toll booth, and stopped to use the facilities... I was getting on my bike and voiced out loud, "I can do this"... a lady was getting in her car and she affirmed to me "You CAN do this"... it was cool...

I got on my bike and headed up and up and up... I was getting to the hard part, and Athena and her Mom show up in the car, and Athena yells out the window "You can do this!" It was amazing how so many people believed in me, and gave me the strength to keep going! Then... OMG... the BAD WORDS came streaming out of my mouth LOUDLY... so sorry to everyone who was around to hear me YELLING... MY GARMIN died!!! Halfway up the HILL, and my GARMIN battery went DEAD!!! That made me SOOOO MAD...I'm riding up this hill, and I have NO PROOF... I used THAT energy... and I MADE IT UP THE HILL... At the top, some Volunteers were yelling encouraging words!!! it was AWESOME!!! I made it... for 2 days I was worried about this section and I did it! It felt like it would be ALL downhill from here...

Just before the I15 freeway, there was a rest stop... as I was stopped there, Lynetta & Lisa rode up... I thanked Lynetta for all of her encouragement and I told her that I did the hill... Hugs all around, and I was on my way again...

It always seems like the last 20 miles of a Century are the LONGEST... they are for me anyway... I just want to get there - the hills seem steeper and longer, I found myself struggling... but, I had been riding with this man off and on all day, and we finally found out each others names... So, I rode a while with Mark, then we met up with Andy, and the 3 of us pace-lined for a while... up the last significant hill, Andy and I were riding together - he started to go ahead, and I told him I needed him to get up this darn hill... he stayed back with me and we made it up that hill together! Thanks Andy!

As we turned onto LV Blvd, Jorge joined up with Andy and I, and the 3 of us turned into the Speedway together... 200 miles DONE... I think I finished a little after 3:30... almost a FULL hour less than Saturday's Windy Ride...

I racked my bike and sat and ate with friends and Lisa, Lynetta, and group pulled in about 5 minutes after I did...

Rumor has it that only 13-15 people finished the FULL 200 mile ride without any SAG... I'm thinking that number is low, but it doesn't matter - I'm one of however many that rode ALL 200 miles... I stopped at every rest stop, and even made my own rest stops when necessary - but I didn't walk my bike and I didn't take a car ride... I rode slow, took the time I needed, and I did it!

2010-11-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

I'm at work today, and since we had yesterday off, hardly anyone is here - made for a GREAT parking spot... I haven't ridden my bike all week... but, tomorrow and Sunday I'll be riding 200 miles... still makes for a HUGE week for me. After work, I have to go pick up my packet at McGhies, and get new tubes... I changed my tires on my bike last night, and got a pinch flat in one tube, and the other tube I left in my old tire... so I want to get at least 4 new tubes... I was told that this ride is brutal on tires...

I'm reading the conversation on the Penguins thread about people going stir-crazy when they can't run... I'm still a couch potato at heart, because I don't get that reaction... will that ever change for me? I mean, I sat on the couch all week, and I'm not going stir-crazy...

As I'm looking at the HUGE hills I'm attempting to climb in the next 2 days, I'm reminded that I CAN ride my bike, when I think about the people who sit in wheelchairs because they have MS, suddenly the hills don't seem too High... I'm fortunate not to have MS or any other crippling disease... OK, I lied... that one hill freaks me out... I will consider this ride a success if I can make it up THAT hill!!!

Lost Cell - Again?

2010-11-08T09:14:00.001-08:00

Had a pretty good weekend, rode 62ish miles on HARD terrain on Saturday, took it easy on Sunday with a nice FLAT 25 miles... but, I overate on Sunday, so any weight that I had lost during the week came right back on... will I ever learn?

So, yesterday morning, I woke up and got ready to go to my ride... left for the ride without my Garmin oh well... used mapmyride and figured out mileage... but I didn't have that handy autopause to figure out my riding time... so, I get back to my car, and I took my cell phone & nuun out of my pocket - I was thinking of putting it on my car, but I also wanted to put the top down, so I put it on my bike rack... then I put the top down, put my bike on the rack, took off shoes, helmet, etc... put them in the trunk, and drove off... my cell phone is GONE I have insurance on it.. but still.... I swear I'm having an Alzheimer's week... this is the 2nd time in a week I lost my cell phone - the first time they found it at the POST OFFICE - HUH??? If this forgetfulness continues into January, I'll go to the Doc and get evaluated, I'm serious... it's scary!! But, My Mom is on Medication, and she's doing amazing... so there's hope for me yet... I wish my Dad was taking that medication - his Memory is worse than hers, and she's the one with the diagnosis.

2010-10-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

busy, busy, busy here this morning sheesh!!!

yesterday, I woke up feeling lousy, it was FREEZING in my house as my Heating is broken, and my allergies decided to act up... so I took the day off of work, and ended up just curled up on the sofa all day with my book... My eyes didn't like reading so much, but I finished the book anyway... didn't do my Drainer work-out last night either... did NOTHING but sit around, read, eat So, this morning, I come into work, and find out that there was a problem with some software yesterday - of course! When I'm here, I don't have issues - but if I'm gone, the S hits the F...

Tonight, I have a Service Awards dinner to go to for work - they have these every year, and each employee gets invited every 5 years... this is my first one - can you tell I'm sooooo excited about this

Tomorrow morning, I'll go out on a 40 mile Costume Ride as a Bumble Bee... I'll take pictures...

Have a good Friday! it's NEVADA DAY... The actual Nevada Day is Oct 31... but we (in our infinite wisdom) have voted to celebrate it on the last Friday of October...

2010-10-22T09:32:00.000-07:00

Last night, I did 1:09 on the Drainer while watching Grey's Anatomy... today is a SRD as tomorrow I have 50-60 mile ride planned... Subaru is sponsoring the ride, so they are providing Bagels & stuff after the ride...

After my reunion yesterday with Alison, Jocelyn & Valerie, I woke up this morning being ok with my weight and where I am in life... my daily affirmation: eat healthy today

2010-10-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

45 minutes on the Drainer last night... (the Drainer is related to the Dreadmill) it was the first work-out of a 16 week plan that a coach on BT is giving us for free... the first work-out was HARD, and it just keeps getting HARDER from here on in... I ended up soaked with sweat with a puddle on the floor... next time I'll put a towel under the bike...

I used my Garmin so I can measure my watts/time... but for some reason it messed up on my speed/distance... it showed 33+ miles in 45 minutes - that's 45mph average I'm wicked fast!!! I either have to figure out how to fix it, or I'll just guestimate my mileage...

Pinky was driving me nuts again last night...it was raining with thunder, she gets so nervous... she ended up going in the closet - what a mess!

This morning I didn't go swim... with no swim races coming up, I'm cutting myself some slack...I'll probably do the Drainer again tonight... it was hard, but kinda fun!

Today I have a "coffee" date with friends from HS whom I haven't seen in YEARS... oops, erase that... I have a Dr appt this afternoon I've never been so excited about a Dr appt

This day will go SLOW til then...

2010-10-20T08:21:00.000-07:00

I said I would write here daily, and then yesterday I already messed it up lol... well, here's my Monday posts:

Monday Morning:
Did an hour long swim lesson this morning... we did Sprints - didn't do anything for my endurance confidence... I have until tomorrow to sign up for the AquaBike on November 7... it's a 2000 meter Open Water swim... And the bike is 56 HARD miles... decisions, decisions...

Monday Afternoon:
I have officially decided to NOT do Silverman AquaBike... it was a tough decision, but I just don't feel like I'm ready to race it - sure I can go for the finish, but that's just not good enough for me... if I was fully prepared to race, and came in last place then so be it... but I don't want to even take 1st place when I'm not bringing enough training to the race... so, I'll save my $$$ and prepare better for next time...

I'm working with a swim coach (I paid for 5 lessons, so I have 3 left) I'm not liking what she's teaching, but I'll finish this out with her, then I'm hoping to join a Masters Swim class...

Now my dilemma - I want to do Jorge's winter cycling plan which starts this week, however, I have the MS 200 bike ride on November 13 & 14... should I go ahead and start the plan and do my long rides on the weekends, or should I wait until after the long ride and be a month behind everyone?

I'll start running again after the MS ride... I figure my cycling time & energy will be cut WAY shorter after the ride...

Today:
It's raining, it's pouring... the old man is snoring... and Pinky is FREAKING... I skipped my normal Wednesday morning ride due to rain...

1st place in Dragon Boat Races - oh yeah

2010-10-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

I hardly ever write in my Blog unless it's about a race or something... but as I was writing in the Penguins Thread this morning, I decided to copy it to here... I think I'll do that daily :)

Saturday afternoon, My company participated in Dragon Boat Races to raise money & awareness for Breast Cancer... we had 2 teams this year... The format of the race was that everyone got to race twice and the 6 teams with the best times would race-off at the end... We went into the finals with the 2 best times of the day! So, our two teams raced each other in the finals, and our boat won... we took 1st place! our other boat didn't do so well and took 6th place overall... still, I got to add another medal to my collection - it's getting rather large.

Sunday, our local biking club had an anniversary ride and all of the proceeds went to the MS society. We had a choice of 20 or 40 mile rides - I chose the 40 miler (of course) I did pretty good considering the challenging hills... after the ride, they provided a yummy lunch with cake and sodas and of course good friends... then they raffled off many, many prizes - each participant got 3 raffle tickets with the chance to purchase more - I bought an extra 12 tickets for $10... I won twice! I got a $15 gift certificate for a RoadID (about time I got one - you think?) and I won a $200 bike light that I'll sell because I already have a light that I like... all in all a good day!

Last Night, we had thunder & lightening & rain, my dog FREAKED out and kept me up half the night...

Viva Bike Vegas

2010-10-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

I signed up for this ride when they announced the Century Ride will go over the Hoover Dam bypass road BEFORE they opened the road to regular traffic... I thought "How cool is that?" and I had a feeling that the ride would sell out... and indeed it did - not as soon as I thought it would, but they capped the ride at 1500 riders, and with VERY little notice, they closed the registration, and some of my friends did not register in time :(

I didn't put together a rigid training plan for this ride. Since I did the Tahoe ride, I had confidence that I would be able to finish this one - although this was an extra 15 miles! I just tried to keep my mileage between 125 and 150 miles per week... I thought that would do it.... Looking back, I think I was better prepared for the Tahoe ride...Although, my average Power for this ride was WAY higher than my average for Tahoe... hmmmm maybe I improved afterall?

Night before the ride, I went to McGhies for last minute items - got a bigger Bento Box and got some new cleats as my old cleats were pretty old, and I was having trouble clipping in & out with them... then I went to a 7-11 to get bandaids as I got a paper-cut opening the mail... I threw $10 into a machine and got a Royal Flush!!! Put me in a GREAT mood for the ride :)

I decided to wear my BLV Jersey so I could wear the RTC jersey on Sunday's ride... it was fun to see so many BLV members out there... we had a plan to meet by the front before we lined up... I took a couple of pictures, not sure if there was a big group shot at that point, but in my nervousness, I went and lined up by myself - and I bumped into some TnT Friends... so I rode out with them for the first part.

The starting shoot was LONG, and they had the music playing "Viva Las Vegas" with Elvis and show girls - only thing missing was Oscar... a brief count down, the horn, and we were off

I took this picture at the end of the ride... but this is the starting shoot:

Down the streets of Vegas we went - with Police Escort so we didn't have to stop at any traffic signals - how cool is that? soon enough, we were at the first big hill (of many) My strategy was just to put it in an easy gear and spin... success... made it up to the top and was rewarded with about 6-8 miles down hill...

We came to the first Aid Station and it was a mess! Bikes all over the place, lines about 20 deep for the port-a-pots...I had to go, but I could wait... so I navigated around the crowd and rode on... up the road a ways, there was a turn-out and a car was stopped with a man setting up some equipment (looked like a tri-pod) I stopped there to eat my first PB&J sandwhich (Nutrition plan was to stop & eat half a sandwich every 20 miles and to munch on pretzels & sports beans in between, plus NUUN tablets in my water bottles)... turns out it was the Bike Mechanic from REI - he took a look at my brakes for me (they had been making noise) and gave me a cold bottled water - PERFECT! After about a 5 minute break, I rode on... my TnT friends were long gone by then... What goes down must go back up, and the climbing started again... I stopped and took a picture of Lake Las Vegas - it was a beautiful view on a beautiful day...and I hardly ever have my camera while riding out there...

I climbed up out of Northshore Drive and onto LakeShore drive... got up the "hill from hell" and I knew there was a restroom soon, but when I passed, there was a line - Boulder Beach it was - whether there was a line or not... At Boulder Beach, I stopped at the restroom - nobody else was there - at first I thought maybe the door was locked, but nope, I got to go with NO WAITING - SCORE!!!

I got back on the road, and started the steep climb up past the visitor center to the main road, turned left and headed to the Dam... There was another Aid Station there, and I quickly filled my bottle with water, then continued - past the check-point and onto the Brand New Road... it was smooth and since it wasn't open to cars, we had the whole road to ourselves! Soon, I was on the Bridge - the only way to tell was that the Volunteers were there with Cow Bells and cheering us on... You really couldn't see anything because the walls were too high... but they had a Camera Set-up to take your picture with the Dam behind you... as I rode up, the whole BLV group had just taken their group shot - I was told I was about 2-3 minutes late for that... but the Volunteers let me cut in line for an individual picture so I could be with my group... I had my picture taken, and the group rode off... I stayed there for a bit... I looked over the wall at the Dam, but because I'm so short, it was hard to see anything... I don't know if we rode into Arizona, but when I was coming off the Bridge, there was a "Welcome to Nevada" sign, so I stopped to take a picture of that too...

Now that the exciting part of the ride was over, it was hard to get motivated for the next 75 miles - especially as now the hard climb to Boulder City was about to start. Since that was an out-and-back section, I got to see that there were TONS of people ahead of me, but that there were also a lot of people behind me... I stopped half-way up the hill to Boulder City to eat my 2nd PB&J sandwhich... a little late at around 45 miles... it's all good...

finished my climb and got on the River Mountain Trail - the volunteers were AWESOME again, making sure we went the right way and warning us of the hazards. I've gotta say that this course was VERY well marked, I never questioned which way to go, never had to take out my map! The RMT was a fun part of the ride - mostly down-hill but a few short steep uphill parts... We turned off the RMT onto this street where I had never been before - I'm thinking it's where the Silverman Route goes that I missed with Jen when I rode with her last week....

It seemed to take forever, but at around mile 60 was the turn-off for lunch... I debated going down the hill to the park, but I needed more water, and I could use the break... when I got there, there was a LONG line for food/water.... but I waited in line, refilled both of my bottles, and ate the turkey wrap and a pickle... then got back on the road... when I tasted the water, it tasted HORRIBLE... the first place I could, I stopped and bought some bottled water and continued my ride.. I'm thinking I would have been better off eating my PB&J and getting water at the store - which I did anyway... I think I could have cut off about half an hour to 45 minutes off my time... about 5 more miles, there was another aid station, but I didn't need to stop...

The roads were GREAT going through Henderson & Southern Highlands, and I hated that we went up Jones to get to Blue Diamond Highway - I had driven down it once looking for a bike route and decided it wasn't good - no shoulder, no bike lanes, and heavy traffic... But it was the course, so I went up that street... my left foot was REALLY hurting - not sure why... But I unclipped it so I could move it around hoping that would help the pain... as I was trying to clip back in, I looked down to the left, and I swerved to the right and went off the road - there was about a 4" dip from the road into the dirt, and I fell road side... I was VERY lucky that the car that was behind me stopped before I got run-over (that's always been my biggest fear)... she got out of her car to check on me... nice lady! There were also some other cyclists that stopped to assist... I lost about half of my Sports Beans & pretzels in the fall.... and when the cyclist turned my bike over to put the chain back on, I lost the rest of my afternoon snacks... oh well... so, now my hip and back were hurting, my adrenalin was high, and my pride hurt, but I didn't feel the pain in my left foot any more... and after about a 5 minute break, I rode on...

The Road on Blue Diamond Highway was LONG & HOT and all uphill (of course) and I was hurting... and I ran out of water!! It was along this stretch that I took out my "Dory" chant - "Just keep pedaling, Just keep pedaling" I didn't even care if anyone else heard me... I think I was delirious at that point lol - I figured I'd stop at the Gas Station at the 159/160 intersection... about half mile before there, I had to stop and rest for about a minute... but I made it to the Gas Station and bought some more bottled water - ate another PB&J sandwich... I saw my friends Kurt & Donna there. They were on their Tandem bike... They told me that they each won 8 gold medals in the Senior Olympics Bike Races last week - CONGRATS!!! I told them about my crash... then I rode out... I didn't need to stop at Blue Diamond as I had just refilled....

As I was going up the HARD hill before the overlook, my left foot was hurting again grrrr... there was a man stopped at the side of the road resting... so I stopped next to him and gave him some encouragement... then another rider came up and stopped to rest, so I told him what I had just told the other gentleman... I said, "see that there, it's the top of the hill... then there's one more hill to climb to the overlook - it looks worse than it is, then it's down hill from there except for 3 itty bitty climbs - we can do this!" I don't know if I was talking to them or to myself, but after my speech, I rode on... btw, while I was stopped, Kurt & Donna rode past me, as I expected them to pass me at any time...

I made it up to the overlook and stopped to use the restroom for only the 2nd time during the ride... this time, I had to wait about 30 seconds - not bad... then it was all down hill except for the 3 itty bitty climbs - When I got to Alta, there was another Aid Station, but I rode right on by that one too... I saw Eric there and gave him a shout out... it was 3:30 - I had about 12 miles to go - all down hill... It was advertised that they were serving food til 4pm... Me and the group I was with started chasing the clock to arrive before they stopped serving... it was the best part of the ride... unfortunately, we hit almost all of the traffic signals on Alta - some of them LONG, and I arrived at the finish at 4:08pm... turned in my chip and got my medal and headed over to get food - they were still serving :) had yummy chicken, salad and rice by Outback... I went over and sat by Ken who was volunteering... he went and got me a cold water - what a guy!

After I ate, I saw Deanna (CyborgQueen) who was there volunteering - we chatted a bit, and I said, I wanted to talk with a lady that I had ridden with... as I was making my way over there, I noticed the massage tent - so I got a MUCH NEEDED massage! never did chat with that lady :(

After my massage, as I was walking out, a man came up and gave me a HUGE hug - I didn't know who he was at first... he said, He wouldn't have made it to the finish if it weren't for me... then I realized, he was the one who came up when I was stopped and I gave the speech to... we took our picture together - he thanked me... it felt good :)

I went over to the finish shoot and cheered some people in... and then got back on my bike and rode to my car... When I got home, I was already late for the BLV get-together at Islands, so I quickly showered and got dressed and went out again...

Today is 10/10/10, and I got up and got back on my bike - I'm more hurting from the fall than I am sore from the ride... but I wanted to do 10/10/10 right... so, I rode with the group, ended up at 26.1 miles, I sat and had a bagel and juice, then got back on my bike for another 3.9 miles, so I ended up with 30 miles for the day... I think I'm done riding for a while - well, at least til Wednesday

Garmin Give Away? Think I can win more stuff?

2010-08-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/08/garmin-forerunner-310xt-giveaway.html

Running Again?

2010-06-18T08:12:00.001-07:00

I decided, after much deliberation, that I would try one more time to run... so, I looked up the c25k program and decided to follow that... so I set out on my first walk/run (wog) on Monday and didn't remember what I was supposed to do... so I did 90 sec walk/30 sec run... turns out I was supposed to do a 60 sec run... oh well... so, I'll call it week 0... did all 3 days of week 0 (Mon,Wed,Fri) week 1 starts Monday!

My shins feel a bit tight - but no pain so far... I'm going to Doctor Evil next week - he'll keep my shins good :)

My first Century Ride (I can't believe no disasters)

2010-06-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

I know this is long, but a century IS long...

Training:
For the last 6-7 weeks, I increased my cycling mileage up to between 100 - 170 miles per week... I was riding 25 fast miles on Tuesday, 15 miles of HILLS on Thursday, Long Ride with HILLS on Saturday, and a nice 40 mile recovery ride on Sunday. Also, if I found something not working for me, I got it fixed...

I got a compact crank & new cassette to help with climbing. I also started taking Optygen HP, yes I think this REALLY helped me!

Pre-Ride:
This ride was a Charity Ride to raise money for Leukemia/Lymphoma Society and I did it with Team in Training... so, before we left for Lake Tahoe, I changed out my handlebar tape to green & purple (TnT colors) it was a constant reminder of why I'm riding. On Tuesday before we left for Lake Tahoe, we dropped our bikes off to be Trucked up to the Lake... it was hard to let Hoke out of my sight, but I trusted TnT to take care of him!

On Wednesday night, I took my other bike out for a ride as I just needed 1 more ride that week - to fulfill my 4 rides per week goal... I knew it wouldn't make or break the BIG ride ;) Friday came all too soon, and I awoke VERY early to catch an early flight to Reno... I had been warned that I couldn't pack C02 cartridges in my check-in luggage, and I couldn't carry them on either - so I went through my saddle bag and removed the 2 cartridges that I keep in there... well, guess what? I guess I carry 3 of them, because the security scan found one... I was embarrassed, but I explained that I was a cyclist to the security guards... told them where to find the cartridge, and they took it out of the bag for me, holding it between 2 fingertips as if it were a bomb... re-scanned my bag, checked my ID & wrote it up... and let me go...

We arrived in Lake Tahoe, checked in to the Hotel and picked up our bikes from the truck... I immediately took my bike to the mechanic as I was having trouble in a couple of gears - he explained to me how to avoid the rubbing by moving the derailleur without changing rings... but, he also cleaned & oiled the chain for me :) A little while later, our team decided to go out for a short ride... my bike was working GREAT for our 13 mile ride around South Lake Tahoe...I ended up going to dinner with new friends I met at Happy Hour - we had Sushi Dinner - Yummy!

My team decided they wanted to ride Saturday, but I never rode the day before a long ride, so I opted out of that ride... (Smart!) looks like I missed out on a great ride... still the best decision for me!

Saturday afternoon, I had a bit of time between planned events, and decided to fill up my water bottles and do a little prep for the next day's ride... for some unknown reason (I NEVER do this!) I took the pre-filled water bottles and placed them in my bottle cages on my bike... one of the bottle cages came loose - I looked around, and I couldn't find the screw - soooo... back to the bike mechanic I went... he had a screw and fixed the cage for me no problem - whew! Disaster averted! How did the cage come loose between yesterday's ride and today???

Saturday Night, after our Pasta Loading Dinner Party, our team spent time together to decorate our Helmets (each chapter in TnT decorates for their location - we did Royal Flushes & fuzzy dice - everyone knew we were from Vegas!) and prepared our ribbons that we pinned on our backs that had the names of our people that we would be riding for... I rode for Michael Aurich who died of Brain Cancer at the age of 9; His brother Ben Aurich whom after a two year battle with mental illness and 6 failed suicide attempts, took his own life at the age of 16 just this past February. My Aunt Marilyn who suffered with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma for over 20 years before she succumbed to the disease. Jenny & Paulette from the RunnersWorld Forum. They are the REAL Heroes...

After I got back to my room, I did something else that I NEVER do... I started up my Garmin so I could delete old rides off of it - making sure I'd have enough storage for this ride... it gave a message of "low battery"... unreal... I had to bring it to Stacy's room to charge it over night as her DBF had the only laptop in the group... another disaster averted! Went back to my room and tried to get some sleep...

The Ride - Sunday, June 6, 2010 - The day is finally here :
Woke up extra early, and went to breakfast... ate oatmeal and had a cup of OJ & some Hot Tea... Shane pumped my tires... I remember that I had to run to my room to get my jacket (that I didn't think I would need) and something else - I don't remember what... turns out, I handed off my jacket [to SAG] before the ride as it was pretty warm already...

This is us outside of our Hotel in California before riding to the Start Line in Nevada

We decided to ride to the Start Line (some people left right from the Hotel) but I didn't start my Garmin til the Start even though I knew the ride wasn't a full 100 miles... We got to the Start line, and somehow while trying to get in a good start-up gear, I dropped my chain... I acted like a girl [hey it worked!], and Shane put it back on for me - thanks Shane! Shortly thereafter, we were off!

6 of us rode together and stayed in a group for the first 20ish miles... then Emerald Bay... This is one of those climbs that you do, you think... wow, that was hard, and then you look up, and realize you just started the climb! I was determined to keep riding and not stop - which I did! I also passed many people on the way up the hill (I love my new cassette!!) And... I was passed my many others, but I made it to the top [Thanks to the training I did at the Red Rock Loop] and was rewarded with a FAST & FUN downhill... Pretty scary as the roads were very uneven and had a lot of pot holes and trenches.

I made it to the first Support Stop - found Blake and told him I needed to use the port-a-potty... I couldn't find a place to set my bike, so I laid it on the ground...as I came out, I saw Shane, then I picked up my bike and my chain dropped off - again - luckily, with a couple of pedal strokes, it found its way back on - I didn't have to get my hands dirty or be rescued - but someone else needed rescuing... I look up, and a woman came tumbling down the hill still clipped into her bike...I called for Shane, and he went running over to help her... she had dropped her chain going up the hill and couldn't clip out in time and fell... she was laughing when she was helped up, so all was okay!

Shane & I found Kim & Todd... I lost Blake, and never saw Stacy... I waited while Kim, Todd and Shane did the stuff they needed to do, we took some pictures, and off we all went... not sure how, but I got separated from the group again - probably another uphill part (I'm not as strong on the hills as I'd like to be) I remember the roads being real torn-up, and lots of ruts and dangerous sections... It was relatively flat & fast around here, and I found a pace-line to join in on... I stayed with them for a few miles and then one of their teammates got a flat or fell or something so they stopped and I went on alone thanking them for the great tow.

I met up with my team at the next Support Stop - filled my water, used the port-a-potty again, and we all went out together again :)

Soon, we got to the Truckee turn-off and our whole team is still together - we decided to go up the bike trail that follows the river - beautiful trail by the way... but it's a teeny trail, and we had a pace line going, and we're passing many people on the left... If anyone was coming towards us, it could have been bad... we got out of the trail and back onto the street, and our pace-line continued... in fact, I believe we joined in on another pace-line... I did my best to keep up, but I was working hard to stay on the back. Then we came to a traffic signal, and my start-up just isn't fast enough, and I fell behind. This man rode up to me and said he didn't feel right in joining in on the pace-line - I said "I let it go, I can't keep up" He said "I'll get you there, are you ready to sprint?" I said "Let's GO"... he got me there! It was AWESOME!! Then he gave a wave and fell behind... wow I don't know who he was, but a big THANK YOU!!

Todd & I fell behind at the final traffic signal before the support stop, we turned into the parking lot and couldn't find the team... when we finally found them, I just kept saying how unnecessary that pace-line was... I felt it wasted sooooo much energy and we still had over 50 miles to go and Spooner Summit was still a scary thought to me. My team still insists that it was FUN to push it, and pass lots and lots of people...

We were finally ready to get on the road, and Kim finally got a hold of her parents (our SAG team) so, we took another 10 - 15 minutes with them, and more pictures, etc...

then we were off... we stopped at the Olympic Rings (halfway back to the lake) to take pictures... when we finally got back to the lake, it wasn't long til our lunch stop - I was STARVING by then ;)

I ate a turkey sandwich, baked lays and a brownie provided by Subway - yummy...Todd had some Advil, and I decided that I would take 2 since my back was hurting - probably because of that Truckee ordeal - I'm glad I did, because I had no more pain the rest of the ride! We had a nice rest and then Kim said she was having trouble breathing, so someone went and got her breathing machine and we waited for her to get her breathing treatment - well worth the wait! I don't know how she rides so well with the breathing issues she has... she's AMAZING! Then we walked to the pier and took some awesome team pictures, and we were off again... I was worried about getting back on the bike after such a long break, but I had no problems.

There was a short climb out from the lunch stop, and of course, uphill means I fall behind... then we got to Incline Village - one of my favorite spots on the ride - the Homes were beautiful and the Streets were shaded with trees... only thing, is that we had to stop with one foot down at each stop sign... I would just get to the stop sign as my team was just pulling out.. I saw them, but couldn't catch them... finally, just out of the Village; I caught up and rode with them til Spooner... I've gotta say that the roads in Nevada were MUCH smoother than the roads in California, and I was happy to be back in my home state :)

Spooner was another animal... tough tough climb, and it was HOT by then, and there were no trees or shade at all... I started the climb thinking I'm not gonna stop, I'm not gonna stop, then I see the water stop and passed the entrance to it, but then I saw the port-a-potties and I decided to stop - so I went in the exit... After using the facilities, I walked over to the water and had them pour some over my head and down my back - ahhhhhh that felt so good!

Then I was on my way again... shortly after that, I saw Kim who was taking a break, so I passed her... then I saw Shane who stopped to take pictures of us coming up the hill (he did that on all of our training rides) I told him Kim wasn't far behind... then I saw Shane's family, and stopped and gave them all high fives and thanked them for their support, Then I saw Todd who was riding slow to give Kim a chance to catch up with him… then I climbed the rest of the mountain... when I got to the top, there was a Support Stop, and I tried to stop - I always unclip my right foot first, and my right foot wouldn't unclip... I tried and tried... I finally tried my left foot, and it unclipped, and I managed to lean the right way (to the left) and came to a stop without falling – amazing! Someone had to pry my right foot out of my pedal for me... then I found the rest of my team and I started breathing badly.. I felt myself hyperventilating - I felt like a black-out coming on - finally Todd told me to breath into cupped hands - that did the trick, and my breathing became better... Hard part done... I'm gonna make it to the finish!

So, I climbed Spooner and expected my reward of going downhill FAST... but there was a head wind WTF?? The tunnel was like a wind tunnel...

It was still a fun beautiful ride down - the lake looked pretty inviting at that point... We had 4 short hills to climb, they didn't feel short... But soon, the finish was in sight...

What was cool is that as we got closer to the finish, our team came together and we decided to cross the finish line together... I don't know how we did it, but we climbed that last driveway all together, and all 6 bike wheels crossed the finish line at the exact same time... how cool is that?

I stopped my Garmin - it was only 98+ miles - riding time 6:26 - ave speed 15.0 mph (not bad!) - just shy of 9 hours total time... oh crap! Not a full Century!?!

I got my bag from our SAG, took off my helmet, changed shoes, and walked over and got my medal and ate some cookies...bought my picture that was taken at the top of Emerald Bay - then we had to take our bikes across the street to the truck... so, I put my shoes & helmet back on, and re-started my Garmin... when we got to the truck, my Garmin read 99.6, so I rode around the parking lot for another .4 miles and stopped on mile 100.0 exactly! Century DONE!

FINAL NUMBERS:
Time: 06:41:26
Distance: 100.01 mi
Elevation Gain: 4,159 ft
Calories: 6,203 C

Moving Time: 06:35:19
Elapsed Time: 09:15:33
Avg Speed: 14.9 mph
Avg Moving Speed: 15.2 mph
Max Speed: 40.3 mph

Why is my Time different than Moving Time???

Post Ride:
I went back to the Hotel, showered and went immediately to the Post-Ride party as I wanted to eat some protein ASAP… I had a couple of pieces of BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, a roll – yummy! I had a chair massage… ahhhh felt good! The rest of my team finally got to the party and I sat with them as they ate… then we went back to the Hotel for Happy Hour drinks… lots of drinks ;) (In fact I don't even remember putting on a mask???)

The amazing part of this experience is how good I felt at the end… I remember after our 77 mile ride, I wouldn’t have gotten back on the bike if you paid me, and after 98 miles, I wasn’t done – I got back on til it said 100, and I could have ridden more… was it the Advil I took at lunch? Whatever it was, I was happy that I finished my first Century, and finished it STRONG! I also want to say that even though I always fell behind my team on the climbs, I passed many, many other people... "on your left" was the words I spoke most often during the day... I am MUCH stronger than I thought I was :) Thanks to Coach Shane!!

I appreciate all of the support I got during my training & fund raising … it was a GREAT experience and I will do it again… I already have 2 more Century Rides and the MS 150 on my schedule this year

For the full album, please visit Shane's Album here: http://s905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/hikeparia/Tahoe%202010/ or for the pictures I pulled out of his album, you can see them on my FB page here: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/album.php?aid=8025714&id=1206118161&ref=pb

Thanks for reading, I know this was LONG, but I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it :)

long time no see

2010-06-10T08:24:00.000-07:00

Guess it's been a while... lots & lots going on in my life... can't fill it all in here, so I'll make it brief...

1. running - pretty much stopped running all together - got bad shin splints - again - while training for the LV Half Marathon

2. Triathlons - did 3 triathlons - all of them with shin splints - but figured out that I love cycling

3. cycling - LOVE IT!

4. relationship - I broke up with Jerry... I miss him!

Hoover Dam Half Marathon

2009-10-31T16:04:00.000-07:00

This was the longest distance I have run post stress fractures in May of '08... it feels good to be back!

I have been training for the LV Half Marathon on December 6th, but I wanted to overtrain the distance, so I had 13 miles on my schedule for this weekend, and 15 next weekend, then a taper... so I decided to do this race as a supported training run.

According to my Garmin, 1897 feet ascent and 1853 descent - I don't know why it's so far off since we started & finished in the same place, but you get the idea... it was HILLY... and it was HOT... one of the Volunteers came on FB and complained of getting a sunburn... but it was a beautiful day for a run!

I finished in a SLOW 2:58:16... my goal was under 3:00 (or should I say 3:11:23 - I had a dream this was my finish time) so I made it Still this was my slowest Half ever (PW) oh well... The good news, NO SHIN PAIN YAYAYAYAYAY

Here's a couple of pictures I took on the way...

We headed down to Hoover Dam - this is a picture I took of the new road under construction - the road will sit on top of that arch - I remember when the arch wasn't complete... pretty cool to watch this road being built... it'll be cool to run on that road when it's finished! I took the picture from the switchbacks (no passing on the switchbacks) overlooking the parking lot... you can see that we ran across the parking lot, then down to the next level, where the pro's took our picture with the Dam in back of us... I hope it turns out good!

This is how beautiful the lake looked today... too bad I didn't bring my suit, great day to take a dip!

This is the coolest medal ever!

out on the course somewhere

in front of the Dam

FINISHER with medal

Thanks for reading - and Thanks for all of the support over the past year and a half... I don't think I would have continued running after my injury if it wasn't for all of my support... you guys are AWESOME!

2009-10-18T20:42:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Man
2009-10-17
Las Vegas, Nevada
United States
Sunny

Triathlon - Sprint
Total Time = 2h 33m 26s
Overall Rank = 267/340
Age Group = Athena 40+
Age Group Rank = 1/2

Short Version:

My 3rd and last Triathlon this season - It was a VERY challenging Bike Course, and I never completed it in training without having to stop several times to rest... During the race, my swim went ok, I rode the FULL bike course without stopping, and I had shin pain and an overall bad run... BUT, I managed to come in FIRST PLACE in the Athena 40+ Category!

gender:F
location:Las Vegas, NV
overall place:267 out of 340
division place:1 out of 2
gender place:112 out of 149
time:2:33:26
swim:21:38
t1:4:09
bike:1:23:25
t2:2:02
run:42:13

VERY LONG VERSION:

Pre-race routine:

Friday afternoon, I left work a bit early. Came home and washed my bike and my helmet, then Jerry and I rode the motorcycle down to Boulder City for packet pick-up & expo.

We ate lunch at a cute diner down town and walked over to the park for packet pick-up. I decided that I wanted to change my Division from AG to Athena as I didn't lose the weight that I should have lost therefore more than qualifying for the Athena Category. The lady said, "Sure" and wrote me on the list of "changes".

I put my shoes and my hand-held water bottle in the bag and tied it to the bike rack in transition and wrapped my number belt on top of the bag so it would be easy to spot. My rack was the first one, so it was easy to find too...

I spent some time at the expo and talked to a couple of coaches and bought some NUUN... couldn't find the Sports Beans, so I stopped at the Multi-Sport store on the way home and picked some up... they had a different brand, but I went with it.

Went home and packed my transition bag and got my bike in the car...all I needed to do in the morning was get dressed and go... I tried to relax and tried to get some sleep... set my alarm at 4:30 ugh...

Woke up with the alarm, got dressed, ate an instant oatmeal... and off I went.

I got to the race pretty early - thought I'd get a good parking spot, but they were parking people in rows, and I was WAY at the end of the 2nd row.

It was still VERY dark when I got there... I unloaded my bike and pumped the tires and walked it all the way over to transition... and set-up T1... they would be sending my wetsuit down to the finish when it was done, so I only left what I needed and walked my transition bag all the way back to my car. Then I went and picked up my chip which was WAY on the other side of Transition...

I saw a few friends who were arriving later than me as most of them were doing the Olympic which started Half hour AFTER the Sprint Start... Also I saw a friend from work - neither of us knew the other did tri's... too cool!

Event warmup:

I tried something new on race day - shhhhh don't tell... About 20 minutes before race start, I took a Gu and finished the bottle of water I had...I've taken Gu before my long runs, but never before a swim or tri... I think it helped! I couldn't find a trash can, but a friend said she would throw it away for me... AWESOME, Thanks Kelly!!

I did a short warm-up swim to the green buoy, rounded it and swam about 25 yards north... then swam back to shore... I tried to swim enough that my shoulders got passed the "burn" stage.

Talked to the official about the course, then lined up and it was time to go...
Swimming
00:21:38 | 750 meters | 02m 53s / 100meters
Age Group: 2/2 (17 seconds)
Overall: 254/340
Performance: Good
Suit: wetsuit
Course: Triangle shape course swam counter clockwise
Start type: Wade Plus:
Water temp: 72F / 22C Current: Low

Comments:

It was a wade start, and since the Half Ironmans swim started 1/2 hour before ours, some SUPER SPEEDY swimmers were already coming in before we started... For some reason, they had ALL Sprint women starting at the same time...and we started BEFORE the Men... that was a FIRST for me as my 2 other races, I started in the LAST wave...

I stayed toward the back... there was some confusion and MANY people started swimming during the 10 second count-down... but I waited til the front people were off, then I heard the horn...and off I went

My swim started pretty good as there were lots of people to draft off of...We were told to swim to the left of the Green Buoy, then we were told to swim to the right of the Green Buoy... I just followed the rest of the group...

Siting went ok, we had to swim to the Large Orange Buoy (past the green one), But thankfully, they put a smaller buoy out there for siting.. I sited on it and thought it was the end, then figured out that I had to go further... I swam to the next buoy and rounded it well (except for a small crash with someone else - Swimming is a contact sport??)... then my swim to the next buoy went OK, but no one to draft off of... rounded that one and started the swim back to shore

About halfway to shore, I got passed by one of the speedy men who started 7 minutes after us... I figured I was swimming a good line... but I still sited and corrected when needed... FINALLY got to the shore (it seemed like it took FOREVER) and they had set up a matt so we didn't have to walk on rocks, we had to walk on the rocks anyway as the matt didn't go far enough down into the water, then I tripped over the matt, but didn't fall...

I had trouble unzipping my wetsuit, so I walked slowly up to transition while trying to get the top half of my wetsuit off - as my rack was the first one in transition... my time includes my slow walk to transition.

What would you do differently?:

I just need to work more on my technique, and strength - speed will come

T1
Time: 04:09

Comments:

My T1 is kinda long since my rack was the first rack in from swim - which means I had the LONGEST run (with bike shoes) out to the bike start... didn't take me long to get my wetsuit off and put in the bag, took off my Ironman watch, put on my Garmin, sunglasses, helmet, socks & shoes, grabbed my bike and walked my bike out to the mounting line.

What would you do differently?:

I guess I could have run up the hill with my bike, but didn't want to waste the energy when I knew the bike course was tough...

Biking
01:23:25 | 14 miles | 10.07 mile/hr
Age Group: 1/2 (16+ minutes)
Overall: 191/340
Performance: Good
Wind: Little
Course: A course change was announced the day before the race... but it added about a mile and a half to the ride. I clocked it at 14 miles, but I saw 2 other Race Reports, one had 13.8 miles and the other 15 miles... it'll be interesting if the RD puts the official mileage up - all I know is it WASN'T the 12.5 miles as advertised.

It started up hill out of transition, then made a right turn onto Lakeshore Drive for a few miles... some pretty decent hills to climb there, but got to come back down those after the turn-around... then out past the toll-booth... then we crossed the street to enter the River Mountain Trail... They had to stop traffic for us to pass... once on the Trail, it was some rollers - mostly uphill - up to the wash, up hill in the wash to the tunnel to cross the main street - then up hill to the parking lot - where we rode around it as a flat rest area til we got to "The Hill" (cause none of those other hills counted LOL), then a short flat & down hill to transition.

Comments:

History:
Every Saturday for the last 9 weeks, there was a group swim out at Lake Meade, I went to most of them... after the swim, we would do a bike ride... Of those rides, two of them were practicing the bike route for Pumpkinman.

The first time I tried the ride, I had to stop and rest twice before we got to the wash, then I stopped at the Parking Lot - I was DONE - and waited for my friend to go the rest of the way up the hill...

The 2nd time - it was VERY WINDY, I made it all the way to the wash without stopping, but then had to stop at the wash, had to stop at the parking lot, and stopped at least once on the final hill... I forgot my Garmin, but thought I timed it on my Ironman watch - I thought I timed it at 1:20 to go from Boulder Beach to Governers Park... and that didn't include the first part of the ride ugh...

I had done the 5-6 miles BEFORE heading up to Boulder City, but never put it together with the climb up to Boulder City, and I had never ridden all the way up to Boulder City without stopping... so that became my goal for this ride... Just get it done without stopping! And I did!

The Race:
I walked my bike to the mounting line, and there was Jerry - waiting to get on the motorcycle to escort a race official on the bike course - it was cool seeing him! I realized that I forgot to check my gears, but luckily, I was in the small ring and easy gear - whew... so, I climbed the first hill out of transition and got onto the main road - I was riding along, when Jerry passed me on the Motorcycle - he honked twice and waved - too cool - but that would be the last I saw of him til after the race...

I passed a couple of women, but got passed by some women at this point too, mostly got passed by REAL SPEEDY Men on SUPER cool bikes! One lady and I kept passing each other as she was faster on the ascents and I was faster on the descents - of course she finally passed me for good as we had no more down hills... And soon enough I was at the turn-around...There was a lady going SUPER slow at the turn-around... I think she expected me to pass her on the u-turn? I passed her just after we turned around...all was good til we were passing the street that goes down to Boulder Beach... all of the cars were backed up, and there were traffic cops ahead... then I saw it, a person laying on the ground and emergency people all around... I thought I saw a body bag, and it freaked me out... but as I passed, it seemed the athlete was alive and conscious...I'm assuming from the timing of it that he was a Half Ironman Athlete. I hope he's okay!

**I just got word that the Athlete was a FEMALE, and she's OK

We got past the toll booth and had to cross the street to meet the trail... I had come DOWN the hill this way, but never went up this way, since they had changed the route - we never practiced this... it was a bit confusing on which way to go, one of the speedy men asked which way - then I saw the sign...

I rode part way up with a 38 year old woman (I love having ages written on people's calves) that was fun... I passed a 15 year old girl on a Mountain bike with platform pedals and tennis shoes - I told her she would do AMAZING on a road bike...

The 38 year old finally passed me and went ahead, then I passed her just past the tunnel going up to the parking lot - she had to stop and rest - I kept going :)

In the parking lot, I kept it in an easy gear and just took it easy before the BIG Hill coming up... I took a drink from my water bottle in the cage since I had run out of water in my aerobottle... Rode through the parking lot with a young man who told me this was his FIRST Triathlon - he wanted to stay in shape after he got out of the Marines...I told him this was my 3rd, but I'm still new at this - of course when we started up the Hill, he passed me... WTG ex-Marine!

FINALLY made it up "THE HILL" and took it easy on the final way to transition...

Yep, you read it right.. I DID NOT STOP TO REST!!! I MADE IT!!! I'm pretty happy with my time too, being it took 1:15 to go 7 miles in the wind... this was 14 miles with no wind, but it only took 1:23... I know it's still slow, but I'm happy with it!

What would you do differently?:

Train more on hills

T2
Time: 02:02

Comments:

My rack was the first rack coming off the bike... not much time to think... get there, rack the bike, get my shoes & water bottle out of the bag, change shoes, take off the Helmet - check to make sure my Helmet is off - hit start/stop on Garmin... and run all the way through transition to the run - out...

What would you do differently?:

Hit LAP button on Garmin... didn't realize this til I was well into my run... other than that, it went smoothly.

Running
00:42:13 | 03.1099 miles | 13m 34s min/mile
Age Group: 2/2 (4 minutes)
Overall: 308/340
Performance: Below average
Course: Out & Back on residential roads through Boulder City... very slight inclines - can't even call them hills after that bike ride!

Comments:

Why oh Why can I not run after I bike??? Why oh Why do my shins hurt during triathlon races and not any other times I run???

For some reason, I ran through transition, and hit start/stop on Garmin again... I looked at my watch, and noticed it was still on BIKE - WTF? Then I realized I should have hit the LAP button - DUH... so I hit the Lap button and went on with my walk/run...

38 yo (from the bike ride) ran past me, and said "you made it up THAT hill, you can certainly run!" I told her my shins were killing me... she understood and ran on...

It took a good 2 miles til I could run, of course by then I was DONE...I saw a photographer when I was walking, I asked her to NOT take a picture then, but she could get me on the way back... she said she was only pointing one way, but if I called out her name, she'd take my pic the other way... when I was coming back, sure enough I could run by then, I called out her name, and she snapped my picture - all of the photographers on the course were AWESOME... not sure what company they are from, but I look forward to seeing the pictures...

On my way back from the turn-around, I saw my friend Kris from work, I was REAL surprised that I was ahead of her as she's in REAL good shape!

I managed to find the strength to run in the last tenth mile

I'm not sure of the exact splits since the "start/stop vs laps" debacle, but the splits I do have look like this:
mile 1: 14:56
mile 2: 13:51
mile 3: 11:50

I need to "fix" this before next season!

What would you do differently?:

Learn how to run off the bike...

Post race

Warm down:

Crossed the finish line, and again forgot to stop the Garmin... lol... ate some orange wedges and half bagel, drank a bottle of water and walked around a bit...

I was on my way up to the port-a-potties (I had to go since before the bike) I was looking for a place to set my water bottles down, and I came across a couple of men standing around enjoying some beer - we started talking and they offered me a beer - SCORE... I didn't care that it was 10am, I enjoyed every sip of that beer! Then I went to visit the port-o-potty... I waited THAT long, I could wait to drink a beer!

Then I went down to the finish line just in time to see Kris come in... Gave her the High 5's and went walking around a bit more... came across the food booth and got a burger for my "beer buddies" - delivered the burger - they were happy with that... then came across the Massage booth - SCORE! Had a 5 minute Massage - is that all? guess I'll take what I can get for free...

They had just started the awards ceremony right near the massage, so I went over and sat while they read each category and people got up to receive their certificate for their custom plaque... the VERY LAST category was for Athena 40+ and they called MY NUMBER... for FIRST place!! I got excited and jumped up on the podium... (I always wanted to do that)... Then, they called another number for 2nd place! Nobody else jumped up...so I stood there alone on the #1 for a few seconds, then got down... So I didn't get a default medal! someone actually came in AFTER me :)

I walked around some more, found Jerry, then saw Kara (swim coach) we talked about the swim, etc... then I saw Jenn run through transition with her bike... I would have LOVED to stick around to see my Oly friends finish, but I had to go to work :(

I collected all my stuff (they had brought T1 stuff up to the finish) and we got it packed into the trunk of the motorcycle, and I rode my bike down the hill to get my car... I hit "Start/Stop" on my Garmin on "The Hill" again just to see how fast I was going... I was cheering on the HIM athletes who were still trudging up the hill... I can't imagine riding up that hill after 53 miles!

So, even at my Penguin paces, I won in my division... I'll take it :)

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Still stumped about what goes wrong between bike & run... I think I'm going to look for a coach who can help me with this problem. Also, I think I'd do better at the longer distances as I seem to be able to run after a couple of miles... the thought of longer distances scares me though... the Sprint already takes a lot out of me...

Event comments:

They were charging a buck for a beer - while a GREAT deal, I didn't have any money with me as I left it all in my car at the bottom of the hill... They could have given a free beer or two to the athletes.

Overall, I had a GREAT time and wish I could have stayed there longer.

Sorry so long, but I want to remember it ALL...

Thanks for reading :)

Training Swim/Ride

2009-10-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

Question for you guys - how do you turn an Open Water Swim into a HARD Open Water Swim? How do you turn a HARD up hill bike ride into a HARDER up hill bike ride??? Well, just in case you can't answer the question, I'll tell you... ADD WIND!!!

OMG, it was SOOOOOO incredibly windy today!!! The waves were HUGE, but after my bike ride, they were even HUGER, so I shouldn't complain... it was hard to swim against the waves, but it was nice swimming back with them I soooo didn't feel like doing ANYTHING today - I told my friend that I didn't feel like riding, but after the swim, I got my bike ready, and we headed out... The good news, is that I didn't have to stop and walk at the same place I did last time, but I did stop and take LOTS of rests along the way... we FINALLY got to the top of the hill according to my watch it was an hour and 15 minutes... and I was told we had gone 7 miles - It felt like 15!!!

There was a guy taking a rest break where I had to stop last time, and I saw him taking another break on my way back down... at least I'm faster than someone

I felt bad for my friends that had to wait for me at each turn and at the top... I guess they didn't mind the breaks either... 2 weeks til I have to do this route in a race

It was FUN coming back down the hill , but unfortunately, we don't get to do that in the race, the bike is a point-to-point... at least I heard the run is flat... but I've seen some RD's idea of flat, and it's usually different than my idea of flat...
I had taken my running shoes with me, but decided my legs had enough, so I'll save my running til tomorrow's 10 miler...

This isn't the exact route as we took a path that's not on Mapmyrun, but you'll get the idea...

Kokopelli Triathlon

2009-09-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

kokopelli
2009-09-26
St. George, Utah
United States
BBSC
77F / 25C
Sunny

Short Version:

I did my 2nd triathlon - only 2 weeks after my first:

Triathlon - Sprint

Total Time = 1h 59m 28s
Overall Rank = 217/238
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 8/8

Splits:

swim (750m): 22:40

t1: 2:19

bike (20k): 53:14

t2: 1:23

run (5k): 39:54

Yep, I'm in the BOP, but I met my goal of sub-2 hours

Long Version:

Pre-race routine:

This was my first away-from-home triathlon, it was 2 hours away in St. George Utah. So, I left work early on Friday to do the drive and pick-up my packet and check-in to the Hotel. I also had a work-shop on Boundaries in relationships to go to on Friday night at 5-8:30 which was the exact times of the Pasta Party, so I didn't get to go to the Pasta Party, but the workshop was worth it!

After the work-shop, I went back to the hotel and bought a lean cuisine chicken fettuccine dinner and bottle of water... ate the lean cuisine and tried to get some sleep... pretty much tossed & turned all night, then the alarm finally rang, I woke up, ate an instant oatmeal, got dressed, packed up all my stuff and I was off to the races

I got to the race - it was still REAL dark! I got my bike out of the car and had trouble putting my front wheel on in the dark... someone offered me a flashlight and that helped bunches! Thanks! Then, I pumped up my tires and proceeded to the transition area and found my rack, they had us rack our bikes by our race number, so it made it easy... but, I was in the last rack from the bike exit, but closest to the run exit...

As I was setting up my transition, I realized that I had left my sun glasses in my car... so I had to walk all the way back to my car to retrieve them...I had plenty of time, so it wasn't that bad.

I put on sunscreen and had my neighbor spray my back - he didn't want to rub my sunscreen on and get his hands greasy before he put on his wetsuit... understandable..., then I put on my wetsuit - that I hadn't put on since March - it still fit whew - Then I started to head down to the lake, but it was real rocky, so I went back and got my sandals and went down to the lake. The Elite Olympic wave had just started.

Event warmup:

I did a short out and back in the lake... the water was perfect! And my wetsuit felt so buoyant in the water!

I waited til it was our turn to start and chatted with a few folks... one man was 70 years old, and he had been doing triathlons for about 7 years now - yep, he started at 63 years old... AWESOME!!!

It was a LONG time between my warm-up and when I got to go...

Swimming
00:22:40 | 750 meters | 03m 01s / 100meters
Age Group: 4/8
Overall: 188/238

Course: Swim straight to the first triangle buoy, turn left to the next buoy, then turn left and head back in.
Start type: Wade
Water temp: 72F / 22C

Comments:

It was finally our turn to start, we walked over the timing matt to the doc and jumped into the water - it was rocky on that side, so I found a large smooth rock and stood on it til it was time to go... another short woman shared the rock with me, it was perfect! Then we were off...

Yes, I was in the middle of things... that's where the rock was - oops! I tried to find my place while swimming and soon enough, the faster swimmers passed me and I had space to move... but I couldn't move! It seemed SO far to the buoy... I did a lot of breast stroke... and tried to swim freestyle as much as I could... I finally made it to the buoy and was able to swim around it without a problem... I did breast stroke almost all the way to the next buoy... why can't I swim??? I made it around the next buoy, and finally felt like I could swim... I sighted on the Transition sign and pretty much swam freestyle all the way back in - I had FINALLY warmed up and was able to swim...

As I grabbed my sandals, I noticed that there were still swimmers in the water, YAY I wasn't last :)

As I jogged up the boat ramp to transition I unzipped my wetsuit and took off my cap & goggles and the top half of my wetsuit, then I crossed the timing matt... My watch says I did the swim in 22:08, so I guess it took about 32 seconds to get to transition.

What would you do differently?:

I need to take longer on my warm-up and do it closer to race time... It took at least 12 minutes of the 22 minute swim to warm-up... not good! I could do better!

T1
Time: 02:19

Comments:

I found my bike easily - as I was in the BOP on the final wave, my bike was just about the only one left on our rack. I quickly removed the rest of my wetsuit, took off my ironman watch (left it running) and put on my Garmin, put on socks and shoes, helmet, glasses and I was off...

What would you do differently?:

My T1 time was 94 out of 238, and that included jogging my bike all the way through transition with my bike shoes on... I think I did pretty good - I'm not sure what I could/would change...

now that I think about this more, I could get the new 310xt Garmin that I could wear in the water so I don't have to switch watches... some day...

Biking
00:53:14 | 12.43 miles | 14.01 mile/hr
Age Group: 7/8
Overall: 210/238

Course: As described on the race website: Exit T1 at the South end, ride to the main road and make a LEFT hand turn on the main road. (You will have accelerated quite a bit at this point, so please be safe making this tight turn.) About 3.3 miles down this road you will hit "The Hill". This will last approximately less than a mile and it is about a 6% grade. Go all the way to your turn around. You will have your own turn around chute in the middle of the road to keep you separated from the long course cyclists. (You cannot miss it) There will be volunteers and a wide mat at the bottom of "The Hill" going over the cattle guard. Make a RIGHT hand turn back into the park area and get ready for your run!

Comments:

I started out on the bike okay...but forgot to start my Garmin til after the first turn... oh well...at least I remembered now...

Then I see the Hill... Holy Crap!!! The RD's never published the elevation profile for the bike portion, only described the course... I was told it was a 6% grade, it looked more like 10%, and felt like 15%!!! I tried to ride up the hill... there was a woman walking her bike, I thought no, I can do this, but my muscles started shaking with fatigue, my breathing was heavy... so I did the only thing I could do, I got off my bike and started walking it up the hill - grrrrrrr... I was about 1/3rd up the hill when I started walking... I got to about 2/3rds up the hill, and got back on the bike and rode the rest of the way to the top... passing the 2 walkers... one of the walkers said she was impressed with me, I said, "No, I walked some of it too"... when I got back on my bike, somehow it felt a little easier - although still hard... I was glad when I got to the top!

Then on the downhill and flats, I passed a few people who had passed me on the hill - that's always fun... there was one woman who kept passing me and I would pass her, this happened about 2 to 3 times - that was fun! Then we came to the turn around - a tight u-turn and back we went...

I got to the BIG downhill and tried to let loose, but it was a bit scary! There was a cattle guard that they put a matt over while coming down the hill... there was a lady in front of me, but I was afraid to pass her and wipe out on the cattle guard, so I slowed WAY down and let her go over it first... then I passed her wheeeeeeee - I love going fast!

When I got to the bottom of the hill, you could see a nice view of the lake, it was such a beautiful day! I took some time to just enjoy the day and the ride - at that point I wished I had my camera with me... it was beautiful!

I rode towards the transition area, and there were runners going this way, there were riders going that way, and I got confused on where to go... I almost came to a complete stop and yelled to a volunteer - which way??? She pointed straight - DUH... so I kept going straight and got to transition... dismounted and crossed the timing matt...

What would you do differently?:

more Hill work!

T2
Time: 01:23
Comments:

Jogged with my bike - with my bike shoes on, all the way through the transition area to my rack, and someone racked their bike right in my spot... oh well, I racked my bike next to it... I removed my helmet and bike shoes, slipped on my running shoes - those Yanks are GREAT, I grabbed my water bottle and off I went... the timing matt was REAL close this time :)

What would you do differently?:

My T1 time was 126 out of 238, and that included jogging my bike all the way through transition with my bike shoes on... I think I did pretty good - I'm not sure what I could/would change...

Running
00:39:54 | 03.1099 miles | 12m 50s min/mile
Age Group: 8/8
Overall: 229/238
Performance: Below average

Course: As described on the website: Exit the NORTH end of the transition area (where you ran in FROM the swim) Cross parking lot and run the length of the parking lot to the desert. You will be running the SGTRI run course in reverse. ( No huge hill to run up on this one!) Aid stations will be at every mile out on the course, you will have HEED, Water and Hammer Gels at each aid station.

As described by me: They are full of CRAP!!! What do they call that HUGE incline if not a HILL??? Not only did we go out into the desert, but it was soft sand! Did they mention that? NOoooooo...

Comments:

After my disaster run 2 weeks ago, I had a new strategy... I was going to walk the first 3 minutes, then run 1 min/walk 30 seconds til I got to the 10 minute mark, then go to run 1 mile/walk 1 minute... I was hoping to do this run in 40 minutes, as my BEST 5k is 34:23 and I knew I couldn't come close to that after swimming & cycling...

So, I started out with a 3 minute walk... and lots of folks passed me... I was surprised at how many people were behind me... but, lots of them were doing the olympic distance... okay... so, I get to the run portion and right away, pain in my shins... grrrrrrrrr... but I thought I could run for a minute!! so I did... when I got to the HUGE uphill, I walked the thing and went back to timing a 1 minute run/30 sec walk... I continued this for longer than 10 minutes as my shins were KILLING me! I felt like crying... ok, I did a few "oooohhh, ouch," whines out loud when I was by myself... I still ran for a full minute when I could... after about 22 minutes, I could finally run! I took 2 more short walk breaks after that, but mostly ran it in... at the last water stop, I tossed my water bottle away - it was almost empty, and I knew I would get water at the finish... it was uphill on pavement after the water stop... I ran up the hill and asked myself if I had any kick left... not much...but I tried to kick it in anyway - and finally crossed the finishing matt - tried to smile for the camera...

They had a clock at the finish, but it was WAY wrong as it was started for the Elite Wave, so I wasn't sure of my finish time... secretly, I wanted a sub-2 hour finish...

What would you do differently?:

I'm at a loss... this shin pain has got to stop!

More Bricks!

Post Race:

Warm down:

As I crossed the finish line, someone removed my chip, and I was handed a bottle of water and a medal - it's a nice medal :)

I ate a couple of orange wedges and mini bagels, and chatted with a couple of people as I cooled down in the shaded tent. Then I went over to transition to pack up my stuff. I picked up my ironman watch and noticed that the time was 2:07... It was nice to see that I got close to my 2 hour time goal... I didn't know the final results til the next day!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I sooooo want to blame the elevation in St. George... but it's not THAT much higher than Las Vegas... the weather was soooo nice, unlike Vegas, it more than made up for the elevation... so, I guess I'm just slow... get over it!

Seriously, I need to lose weight and train more...

Thanks for reading

FINALLY - My first Triathlon Race

2009-09-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

Before I start on this RR, I want to give a little history for those who don't know me:

In May of 2008, I ran my first Marathon and got 2 stress fractures... so, after recovery, in around November, 2008, I started training for triathlons - a new challenge, but less stress on my body... My first Tri was supposed to be in April of 2009, but in March, I started having BAD shin splints and decided with the help of my Physical Therapist, to NOT do the race in April... I took time off, worked with my PT - the minute I started running again - shin splints

Then I found an Active Release Technique Doctor who told me to go out and run, bike, swim... do what I wanted to do... I'm happy to say, that I FINALLY got to my first triathlon start-line yesterday - now to finish...

Lake Las Vegas Sprint Triathlon
Las Vegas, Nevada
Sunset Racing
90* – 100* (all I know is it was HOT - and even HOTTER at the end)
Sunny

Triathlon - Sprint
Total Time = 2h 25m 37s
Overall Rank = 207/226
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 10/11

Pre-race routine:

I had laid all of my stuff out the night before the race, so on race morning, I just had to get dressed and pack the stuff into my back-pack and load my bike in the car.

I woke up early enough to eat a whole packet of instant oatmeal... usually nothing wants to go down that early... I also drank a bottle of water on the way to the race - about a 40 minute travel time.

I arrived at the race and met up with my friend and her roommate, who did not do the race. We walked our bikes over to transition, got body marked and set-up transition and took a few pictures. I thought we were early, but there were hardly any spaces left... I got a GREAT space anyway...

It was kinda funny that my bike didn't touch the ground at all... it's hard to see in the picture, but it was the only one that was just hanging in mid-air... I still love my bike! (It's the one with the pink fork)

This is me showing off my body markings:

My friend Jenn & I before the race: and NO, we didn't go shopping together - we just both like zoot :)

Event warmup:

The oly race started at 6:30 and the Sprint start was at 7:30… I was in the last wave, so I didn’t start til 7:45ish, My friend and I walked down to the beach as we were supposed to be able to start our warm-up at 7:00… but they didn’t let us near the water til about 7:15ish as many Oly swimmers were still finishing. It was fun to watch the swimmers come out of the water after their long swim.

I swam to the nearest doc and back... I felt out of breath, and wondered how I'm going to be able to do this race...

Swimming
00:23:49 \| 800 meters \| 02m 59s / 100meters
Age Group:	7/11
Overall:	198/226
Performance:	Good
Suit:	no wetsuit allowed
Course:	swim under the bridge to the bouey's... around 2 bouey's, back under the bridge to the beach... then run about a quarter mile to transition to where the timing matt is.

Comments:

The race only used 1 set of Bouey’s for both the oly & the sprint, after the Oly, they moved the bouey’s… It was tough to see the actual course from where we were standing, so I just swam til I got past the bridge, figured out where to swim next, then swam to the first bouey, then figured out where to go next, etc. I suppose that slowed me down a bit, but it was better than swimming WAY in the wrong direction…

I surprised myself on the swim. I thought it would take MUCH longer and that I would be the last one out of the water... but that wasn't the case... I sighted well, drafted some, and there were still people swimming when I got out :) Even one of the Volunteers commented, “you told me you’d be the last out of the water” and he gave me a High Five!

My time on the swim looks longer than it actually was since they added most of the transition onto the swim time... I hit the lap button on my Ironman watch after I got out of the water – my actual swim time was 20:32 – not bad, I’ll take it!

What would you do differently?:

I had taken my flip-flops to the beach, I ran with them a little way, but ended up taking them off. I'll just go barefoot next time.

T1
Time:	02:17

Comments:

Take off my goggles and swim cap, put on socks, bike shoes, helmet, sun glasses, race-number belt - grab the bike and go…

During this transition, I talked to my neighbor - who didn't finish the race...he looked fine, he wasn't injured, so I asked what happened... he said he swallowed a bunch of water and had a horrible swim - whatever - there's 1 person I beat to the finish!

We had to run with our bikes past the matt to the mounting line… then I stopped, made sure I got my feet on the pedals, etc… no running or fancy start for me…

Biking
01:06:38 \| 14.44 miles \| 13.00 mile/hr
Age Group:	6/11
Overall:	173/226
Performance:	Good
Wind:	Some
Course:	very HILLY... come out of transition up-hill, and continue to the steepest climb of the course. Then some downhill til you climb again, then an awesome downhill portion to the turn-around... after the turn-around, you must climb what you just came down... then a nice downhill back to transition

Comments:

I had Soooooo much fun on the bike... I was able to pass people and only got passed a couple of times. I like going fast on the descents! My max speed measured 36.7mph… I know people go MUCH faster than that, but that’s my fastest to date J


Lap	Time	Distance	Pace/Speed
1	06m 57s	1.00 miles	8.63 mph
2	03m 37s	1.00 miles	16.59 mph
3	07m 21s	1.00 miles	8.16 mph
4	06m 10s	1.00 miles	9.73 mph
5	02m 11s	1.00 miles	27.48 mph
6	01m 56s	1.00 miles	31.03 mph
7	02m 06s	1.00 miles	28.57 mph
8	03m 43s	1.00 miles	16.14 mph
9	06m 08s	1.00 miles	9.78 mph
10	07m 01s	1.00 miles	8.55 mph
11	07m 54s	1.00 miles	7.59 mph
12	03m 11s	1.00 miles	18.85 mph
13	02m 02s	1.00 miles	29.51 mph
14	02m 54s	1.00 miles	20.69 mph
15	02m 34s	0.54 miles	12.67 mph

What would you do differently?:

I put electrolyte mix in my aero bottle, but didn't put enough. Then I finished that and had to stop to re-fill my bottle. I didn't have any electrolyte mix in my 2nd bottle.

I need to learn how to drink from the cage or at least re-fill from the cage without having to stop for the refill...

T2
Time:	01:10

We had to stop at the mounting line – again, nothing fancy here… just stopped my bike like normal and ran up to the matt with it, racked it and took off my helmet and cycling shoes, put on running shoes and off I went…

Running
00:51:45 \| 03.62 miles \| 14m 18s min/mile
Age Group:	11/11
Overall:	214/226
Performance:	Bad
Course:	Hills, Hills, Hills - started with an uphill out of transition, and then a slight incline to head out to the dirt road. once on the dirt road the hills were very steep! up and down... came back out of the desert portion and ran around the transition area and went another mile down the road to the Village where the finish line was.

Comments:

I expected to have trouble running, but not THAT much trouble! I figured I'd run & walk til I got my legs under me, but once my legs were under me, I started getting shin pain - DARN... I stopped to stretch, loosened my shoe laces, stretched again... someone offered me gatorade... I took a sip, and kept walking. It took a good 2.5 miles before I could run - and then I was out of energy.

The race had advertised a 3.18 mile run… but I truly believe they set-up the turn-around in the wrong place… It even shows it wrong on their map! After about 2.5 miles, there was a sign that said “1 mile to go” the man I was running with at that point and I thought it must be wrong! But, it was right… According to my Garmin, the run was 3.62 miles, so that’s what I’m counting… I still can’t decide if this was the longest 3 miles I ever ran – it’s a close race with the last 3 of the Marathon I did last year.


Lap	Time	Distance	Pace/Speed
1	16m 09s	1.00 miles	16m 09s /mile
2	15m 40s	1.00 miles	15m 40s /mile
3	12m 51s	1.00 miles	12m 51s /mile
4	07m 11s	0.62 miles	11m 39s /mile

Almost to the finish, and I saw my friend walking back to her car… she had an event to go to after the race, she congratulated me on my race and told me it wasn’t much further to the finish – you couldn’t see the finish line til the last about .05 of a mile… I crossed a matt that brought up my name to the announcers, and as I crossed the finish line matts, they announced my name – even correctly (although he did stumble on it for a second) I threw my arms up in the air as if I won the race and smiled for the camera…I actually had to hold back tears of joy and accomplishment... I hope the pictures come out well!

What would you do differently?:

1. walk more out of transition... my body needs more time to adjust.
2. Bring a hand-held with water or electrolyte in it.
3. do more bricks

Post race

got to the finish and grabbed water & a bagel... walked around a bit then went and stretched. As I was walking around, I looked down to the lake… there was my team from work on the row boats – too cool! I yelled to them (I was supposed to practice with them, but I did the race) Then I cheered for the winners in the awards ceremony. I was glad that I finished in time for the awards

It was a LONG walk back to transition (just over a mile), I packed up my stuff and rode my bike back to my car. Came home and crashed!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

my run sucked! I need to practice running off the bike, and see if electrolyte replacement will help with shin splints?

If you read this whole thing

Notch Run - I finished... that's about all I can say..

2009-07-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

What can I say about this race? 2 years ago, it was the first time in my life that I pinned on a race bib... I finished in 1:02:42 and took a default 3rd place in my AG... so, this year, I thought Maybe I could BEAT my time on the course, but it wasn't meant to be...

I met 3 people in town to carpool to the mountain with... It would be my friend Chris' first race ever... He's been running for years, but never got into racing... I like to think I motivated him to race... he's training for his first FULL, so he thought he'd come out to do this race... the other 2 in the car I had never met...

We drove UP, UP, UP the mountain to about 8600' elevation, then parked the car and took a shuttle van back down the hill 4 miles to the start at 7600'... yep... this was gonna be a 4 mile up-hill race with 1000' climb... the only 'good' part about the race is it's nice weather... 60* to start instead of the usual 110* weather we've been having in town.

So I did a little warm-up, they called us to the start-line, and we were off... I knew the elevation bothered me from the race 2 years ago, and from the marathon that I had ran... but knowing it, and experiencing it are 2 different things... I couldn't MOVE!!!

Mile 1: The first mile was a horrid 14:46... knowing it would just get steeper, I was a bit concerned, but I kept going... I was doing a run/walk... someone in a car pulled up and said they were driving up to the pack, I had no car support... I asked if anyone was behind me, he said yes, one woman... I kept going...

Mile 2: just before the 2nd mile marker, SHIN SPLINTS...WTF??? I thought they were gone!!! I thought about quitting... I thought about sitting on the ground and crying... I knew someone would give me a ride... but I kept on going... when I got to the 2nd mile marker, the clock read 31:xx... I knew my 1:02 was gone...

Mile 3: I walked the WHOLE 3rd mile... by the end of the 3rd mile, my shins were feeling better, and I figure I needed to salvage what I could of this race...the car kept coming to check up on me, and I kept asking if that woman was still behind me.. he assured me that she was.... he was feeding me gatorade too... what a nice man!

Mile 4: back to run/walk... could I actually catch up to the girl in front of me? I had been chasing her the whole way... I finally caught her when we could see the finish line... she was YOUNG...barely a teenager... she of course took off and beat me by a few seconds... then I reached the clock... 1:07:24??? I finished! It was AWFUL, but I finished!!!

The woman that was behind me came in at 1:11 something, I ran her in and thanked her for coming out! They took her picture for the newsletter, and she got all the applause... hey, no fair Actually, she was awesome!!!

So, we go to the awards ceremony... they announce the top runners... The man in our car whom I hadn't met came in 2nd place... of everyone! He got a trophy... did the race in 30 minutes, a 2 min PR for the course, then they announced the woman who drove, she took 2nd place in her AG... then they announce ME... with a time of 1:19:24... WTF??? If last place was 1:11, how did they get my time at 1:19? I happily took the 3rd place medal, and had them correct my time... My friend Chris was the only one in the car who didn't medal... unreal how competitive the 40-44 Mens AG competition is... he had run in 42:xx and didn't place

So, a special thanks to Joanne (Proofreader) who I thought of while I wanted to stop and cry and take a DNF... who I thought of while I was walking as fast as I could to beat that Hour marker... If SHE can do it, if she can beat those wicked Hills that had defeated her in the past, I certainly could finish this race... anyway, thanks

Start of race

I can see the clock

Running #60 (last person) in

Getting called up for award

My medal

I joined "The Club" today

2009-06-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I joined the club! Yep, I unclicked on the right, and fell over on the left... nothing I could do but start laughing!!!

OK.. I do things in style... it was toward the end of a LONG HOT bike ride, and I was at mile 18.9...where I stopped to catch my breath... looking at a HUGE hill, and I had about 2 - 3 more miles to go, but I was SOOOOO done! So, I said, if I could make it to 19 miles... so I clipped in... just then, my friend came riding down the hill to see if I was okay... she turned around... I decided I wasn't gonna make it, unclicked, and fell over RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FRIEND AND ANOTHER RIDER... AND a Truck pulled up and gave me a ride to the top... I was SOOOOO DONE!!! got back to my car, it was 98* out...

so I guess I had a couple of firsts today - first time I fell, and first time I quit on a ride... nothing is broken but a bit of my pride... I'll live

Sometimes it hurts to be a Parent

2009-06-25T13:19:00.001-07:00

The strange part is, the one who needs help doesn't ask for help... therefore getting deeper and deeper into trouble... when if he asked for help first, he would be in less of a Jam, and it's help I could and would be willing to give... the one who is complaining is the one who is a self-sufficient college student who also works... He thinks I should help his Brother, and is Angry that I don't... I don't help him, why does he demand that I help his brother??? I told him yesterday that if his Brother had to go to jail, then that's what he'll have to do... will I be happy? NO... but it's his own darn fault, and I'm not gonna "fix" it for him! So, what did the kid do? He drove a motorcycle without liability insurance... got a ticket, and let it go to warrant... STUPID!!! And of course I didn't find out til yesterday... now he's driving a car with no license plate, and if he gets pulled over, he'll go to jail... I tried to get it registered yesterday, but there's a problem with the title. It's just a MESS...But, I'm not gonna pay the ticket that has a warrant, when it would have cost next to nothing to insure the motorcycle or prove to the court that he only had the thing for 2 days... HIS problem!

So, which one is more adult? The one who takes care of himself and asks for help when he needs it? Or the one who doesn't ask for help and gets himself into trouble... LOL... either way, they ARE adults, and I intend to keep them that way... just sometimes it hurts to be their parent...

My first EVER swim meet for Corporate Challenge

2009-06-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

I've been swimming a little bit since around December... Just like in running, I'm a slow swimmer, but I'm a beginner and that's life. Then I don't know what came over me, but I signed up to swim for Corporate Challenge... WHAT WAS I THINKING??? But, my team convinced me to go out there anyway - I mean, what do I have to lose? A bit of pride maybe, but nothing else...

Well, I did it! I swam in a swim meet for corporate challenge... I got to the pool and barely warmed up and went off the blocks a couple of times to practice (I had never done that before)... Only 4 people showed up for our team, but we sat around and got to know eachother a bit. then it was time for the swim.

They started with the 200 freestyle... I found out there were only 2 people in my AG, so I was guaranteed a medal! I think it took about 3 seconds for me to get off the block once the horn sounded, then I went out WAY too fast and after 100, I was done... but I kept going and finished the swim in 4:22:70...Fastest 200 I ever swam, but I didn't find out my time til later...As expected, I took 2nd, and got a silver medal...

then it was time for the 50 breast... I missed the sign-up for it (I think I was swimming the 200 when it was announced) so, the judge let me be a write-in (Thank You Judge!) 5 people were signed up in my AG, 4 of them swam in heat 4, and then I was in heat 5.... I didn't notice their times... just went when it was my turn... I came in 2nd in my heat, but it wasn't good enough to place, I came in 5th for my AG with a time of 1:00:70. Still took 3 points for my team, but didn't get a medal.

The 100 free was fun - I was a pro by now ;) I swam it in 2:01:30!!! I was soooo excited to find out that I swam that fast! I know it's still slow, but I've been averaging 3:00/100 meters... yes this was a yard pool, but still a FAST swim for me!!! I took a default silver medal - I'll take it!

My last event was the 50 free... I swam in heat 4, and the rest of my AG swam in heat 5... so I swam in 50:84, then got out of the pool and watched my AG swim... 4 of us all together... did I see that right? Did I? Yes I did! I came in 2nd place out of 4 people!!! A LEGITIMATE Silver Medal! No default!!! I DID IT!!!

So all-in-all a good meet... I took 3 silver medals... 2 people on our team took 4 golds, and the 4th guy took 2 silvers & 2 bronze... not bad for a 4 person team! Unfortunately, Because we had such a small team, our numbers were only good for 8th place overall, and they only give points up to 6th place, but we had FUN, and I'd do it again next year - I hope to beat my times.

Another DNS (Did not start)

2009-05-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

Last night I had an appt with my LRS to buy new shoes... my salesman, James, has followed all of my injuries/frustrations with me for 2 years... so, when I walk in, he had someone there waiting for me with a consultation - what a guy! This man was a MASTER Personal trainer... REALLY knows his stuff, knows about muscles, etc. First thing he noticed is how swollen my right leg was... I had noticed that yesterday morning too, and felt some tenderness where I had my sfx last year... he started pressing on my legs and I went through the roof! (something my PT didn't do in the eval ) He suggested that perhaps my sfx isn't healed??? OR maybe I have another one??? (The MRI was negative a year ago) Then, he turned me over and started massaging my calfs... again, I went through the roof - PAINFUL!!! I even yelled "UNCLE"... Then he watched me run, and said I run very unevenly from my right side to my left side... hmmmm

The 3 of us came to the conclusion that my PT was NOT done as I am NOT recovered enough from the injury to participate in ANY running or cycling yet, nevermind a race! I'm just gonna add this DNS to my collection of DNS's... I think I have more DNS than Finishes!!!

There was GOOD news... he said I'm fixable!!! It'll be a VERY painful fix, but doable! The other good news, I got new shoes!!! Asics Gel Kayanos

Swim/Bike at the Lake

2009-03-28T17:40:00.000-07:00

I have pictures from todays swim/bike ride (I'll be brave and show what I look like in a wetsuit)

This is just after the swim, I could barely stand up straight - My coach suggested ear plugs... Oh yeah, hard to avoid the rocks with bare feet too - OUCH... Nice day at the Lake!!

Ready to ride, but still have vertigo... it was interesting for a while...and yes, I was still SOAKED! oh, all of those people still getting their crap together were out of the water WAY before me! I was FAST in transition

So, this is what I look like down on the aero's

I was ahead of this woman at the turn around, but I stopped to refill my aero bottle and she passed me... I ended up passing her shortly after this hill

My first practice "Mini Tri"

2009-02-14T18:32:00.000-08:00

I've been training a while with Team in Training, but this was the first time we would be putting it all together - 10 min swim, 30 min bike, and 30 min run... this is how it went...

This morning, I slept in a bit, and I had this dream about the Mini Tri... I forgot my Bathing Suit...So, I had to swim in my running bra, and tri-shorts... what a sight! Then, I couldn't find my cycling shoes, and had to dig through my car for them - and when I say dig, I mean, tearing the seats apart down to the bottom to get to them... then, well, let's just say everything went wrong, then I woke up... yeah, I guess I'm having a bit of anxiety - and this is just practice

The day started with a nice breakfast with our Team in Training Honored Heroes..

This is Laura, she lost a 5 year old daughter to Leukemia shortly after she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. She’s been in remission for about a year… she’s going in for more tests next week… in the meantime, she has realized her life long dream of being an EMT.

This is Jacy, she’s the honored hero for our team. She’s a Leukemia survivor as she just celebrated 5 years of remission. She has done a kids triathlon, and she loves to play Softball… last season, she hit 5 home runs!

This is Jenny, a Leukemia Survivor… her 13 year old brother was her bone marrow donor… he doesn’t remember it much, as he was MUCH younger at the time.

The baby in this picture has Leukemia, his older brother (who NEVER poses for pictures – but we got him this time) was his bone marrow donor in November.

It was cool to meet the people that are benefiting from the money that we are raising…I am making a difference in these people’s lives, and I wish them all the best.

Then we went out to do a bike clinic, we learned how to change a tire, and we each got to practice, so that was good. Then....

We go to the group swim... first we warmed up a few laps, then the coach had us all in one lane - it was a wider than normal lane, but with 9-10 swimmers, we all got kicked, and ran into... but I survived the 10 minute swim... all the ladies got to go to the locker room to change... it was VERY challenging trying to put a bra and tri-shorts on a wet body... good thing we won't do that for the race... so, I get all dressed, and left my bathing suit in the locker room (I guess my dream was prophetic) So, one of the girls picked it up for me (Thanks Florence!) Then, we go outside and get on our biking shoes, etc... and go for the bike ride...

I decided I like riding... I got sooooooo into riding, I forgot one of the turns... DUH...(glad I heard team mates yelling to me) so I had to get off of my bike, and walk it back across the street to resume riding ... and if that was the only thing that went wrong it would have been fine... I'm almost back in, and I get a flat tire! So, I continued to SLOWLY ride it in, but I was the LAST one back in transition...

Now comes the run... I get my bike shoes off, one glove off, I have one shoe on... and the coach is yelling at me to go Then he goes, oh, you only have one shoe on... so I get my other shoe on, get my other glove off... and he's saying GO... NOOOOOO I still had my helmet on - hehehehe He thought he would catch me running off with my helmet on... haha.. I remembered!

So, I start to run... slowly! 7 minutes into the run, shin splints! GAH... I walked for the next 15 minutes or so, and ran it in... did 2 miles in 30 min... I was the last one back in....

Then I came home, and I'm TRYING to change my tire... still haven't gotten that darn thing off of the wheel grrrrrrrrrrrr...

At least I got the disaster over with... next time it'll go better??? I can only hope!!!

My first Dirt-Bike Ride

2009-01-04T15:16:00.000-08:00

Jerry took me out to the dry lake bed where we thought it would be nice and smooth riding... well, he was partially right... there were parts that were smooth.... but I found a few deep ruts that I went over... It was a bit scary, but I did it!

I had fun! All of the pictures are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Cardholic/MyFirstRide# The good news is that I think I'd do that again... it would have been awful if I bought that bike and hated riding ;)

I'm glad that I had fun, and even got dirty doing it!!

My new Motorcycle

2008-12-30T21:49:00.000-08:00

I bought it new tonight... now I have to learn how to ride it... it's sweeeeeeeeeet - It's a 2009 Kawasaki KLX 140L Monster Energy

Clipless pedals

2008-12-19T14:37:00.000-08:00

I know you think clipless pedals are the "easy" kind of pedals that we all have had on our bikes since we were kids... but Noooooooooooo... they are the kind of pedals that you attach your feet to, then you're stuck to the pedals until you can somehow get out of them... you can learn more about pedals here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_pedal

Well, I got these installed on my bike and actually tried them last night - and I DIDN'T Fall!

Today I joined the Hebrew High Ulpan 1978 group on Facebook... this picture was posted on the group, can you find me?

Starting again

2008-12-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

Official Team in Training Olympic Triathlon training started yesterday with a 20 minute run. I did 1.65 miles in the morning - felt strange to be running in the morning, but felt good that I woke up and did it! Today I have 15 minute swim on the schedule. Last time I swam, I did 30 minutes - all 50's with a 30 second break between laps... so today, I'm going to try to swim all 15 minutes with no breaks... I'll probably rotate between free & breast... see how many laps I can complete.

I bought cycling shoes and clipless pedals last night... I haven't gotten them installed yet... we'll see how I do when I try them, I'm thinking I'll fall at least once... hey if I plan on it, maybe it won't happen??? one can hope.

Not much else going on, except I did create some awesome and somewhat attainable 2009 goals (the trick is to make a goal using the number 2009):

Lose 20.09 pounds
bike 2009 kilometers
swim 200.9 kilometers
run 200.9 miles each quarter (Jan-Mar,Apr-Jun,Jul-Sep,Oct-Dec) - total miles = 803.6

Those goals on top of my Level 3 stretches and Star plan... I'll be busy ;)

3 Races last week

2008-12-02T19:47:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am in Utah again. Level 3 starts tomorrow morning.

Last week, I ran a 10k race on Saturday - it's the longest distance run post-injury, and I missed a PR by less than 30 seconds - not bad! Then on the day before Thanksgiving, Jerry & I drove up to Ogden, Utah... I ran a 5k race on Thanksgiving morning. The race course was short, and I ended up only running 3 miles. Then on Saturday, I ran the Santa Run for 3 more fast miles... I didn't do any other training all week, and now I'm out of town again... I'll try to get 2 runs in before the Santa 5k on Saturday. Next week I'll resume Tri-Training while working up toward FIRST Half Training.

Seminar Staffing weekend

2008-11-17T08:35:00.000-08:00

I'm back at work on a Monday morning, after an incredible weekend in St. George... I went and staffed a Level 1 seminar. The group was AWESOME, and I learned a lot. I couldn't help but comparing the Me now to the Me that walked into those rooms about 2 1/2 years ago... wow have I grown!

I am looking forward to doing level 3 & level 4... although I am not quite sure I "need" them, I want to continue to grow. I only wish that those around me who I love would take the seminar.

I am well into triathlon training... I have been doing at least 1 activity 6 days/week... at times I have 2 activities scheduled and I only do 1, but I am moving forward.

Yesterday, I did a body sculpt class instead of my normal strength training... I'm quite sore this morning. I also swam 600 meters. Today is my scheduled rest day.

Triathlon Training

2008-11-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

Yep, I decided to go for it... I have a few to choose from - Rage in the Sage in April, IronGirl in May and then there's one in September... hmmmmmm.... for now, I've got all 3 on my schedule :eek:

WOW, I thought training for a Marathon was hard... I had NO Clue! I have to fit in 3 runs, 3 swims, 2 cycling, 2 weight training sessions in each week... The schedule I put together looks like this:

Monday - off (or bike)
Tuesday - swim & run
Wednesday - bike & weights
Thursday - swim & run
Friday - bike (or off)
Saturday - long run & yoga
Sunday- swim & weights

So far, so good... although last night, I did my run and didn't feel well, so I skipped my swim... I'll be adding it to tonights work-out. At least I allow myself some flexibility!

All of my work-outs are getting recorded on BeginnerTriathlete.com and my runs get recorded on my excel spreadsheet... my Garmin workouts get recorded on the Garmin Software... hmmmmm I'm well documented on this journey...

After the Marathon

2008-11-05T14:55:00.000-08:00

I know, I'm lousy at blogging... I just posted my race report... so much for following training... Maybe some day, I'll get some posts for in between the training & the race, but for now... that's what I have.

The day after the Marathon, my right leg swelled up something aweful... it was difficult to walk on it, it was VERY painful... After several trips to Doctors, and several tests & several weeks later, I was diagnosed with having 2 stress fractures on my tibia...

I did 2 weeks on crutches, and took 3 months off of running.

Now to avoid another stress fracture, I'm adding more x-training to my running. I'm training for a triathlon. Why not? I can run a Marathon, I can do ANYTHING I set my mind to!!!

Ogden Marathon Race Report (May 17, 2008)

2008-11-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry this is going on my blog so many months later... but oh well...

Training didn't quite go as planned, maybe some day I will talk about that, but for now, it was enough to get me to the finish line... here's how my race went:

In the morning, I met up with a friend from online to take the bus to the starting line, she forgot her timing chip... so we asked about it, and they said we can get one at the starting line, so we got on the bus together and chatted all the way to the start line. It was nice to have someone to ride with.

We get off the bus, and ask about the chips, they don't have them... so we go to the Port-a-John... warm-up a bit by the fire...Port-a-john again... then it's time to line-up... she still has no chip...I put my jacket in my bag.... throw it in the truck, take 2 Advil as my ankle/shin is still hurting (been hurting all week) I go line up toward the back, and she stays in front... she FINALLY got a chip and found me in line. And in a matter of minutes, we're off! I think worrying about her chip was a GREAT distraction for me.

I didn't want to go out fast... in fact ALL advice says go out slow... so I did... Where are they all going? Don't THEY know they have to run 26.2 miles?

I still went out a bit faster than planned... first mile: 12:20 and I'm in DEAD LAST PLACE already The sheriff was right behind me... I felt like MickeyD (winner of the Flying Pig Marathon) in reverse... I had my own pace car Slowly, I did catch up with others... I ran with a couple for a while, and they were nice enough to listen to the LONG version of how I got started running.

It was a beautiful run... I stopped to walk and take a picture...

Miles 2-7, I took it slow - TOO SLOW - What's wrong with me? I can't seem to move.. Somewhere, the Sheriff escort passed us and said he was going up to "The Pack" we were on our own... "Stay to the Right and listen for cars" - I'm barely started, and I'm behind the barricade - sheesh

Finally around mile 8-10, I felt like I found my legs, I left the couple, and caught up and passed a couple of people... where did this hill come from? There's only 1 Hill, and it's not til mile 14 I push on...

Around mile 11, my ankle does something strange... OH NO... can I even finish? Whew... pain is over fast... I get to the Half way point at 2:53... a bit behind my 13mm ave... I can still hit near 5:40 if I keep this pace... But, I go to port-a-john, double back for more water and take 2 Advil... 2:57 when I start running again - There goes my 5:40... now to shoot for 6:00.

Around mile 16, I see a guy who stopped to stretch... I catch up to him, and ask if he's cramping... I happened to have 2 packs of electrolyte tabs with me, so I give him one... I hope it helped him! My plan was to take Gu & water only, and if I cramped to pop the electrolyte... I felt GREAT so far, so giving one pack away was OK.

At mile 17, I MADE IT TO THE CUT-OFF... I can finish! I start the REAL downhill part now... It's a beautiful run through the canyon. At mile 18, someone asked how I was, and I said "surprising still good"

At around mile 20, I feel a bit of cramping... so, I break out the other electrolyte tabs, and I can't get it open.. I ask a volunteer to open it, and he can't get it open either, good thing they had bananas, so I had a banana and pushed on...

Mile 22, I got the sense that I was gonna make it...I still felt pretty good, and I only have a bit over 4 to go! I'm running along a river, and I'm thinking of TN Tim (one of my online buds) ... wanting to jump off a bridge at this point... I didn't want to die, but the water looked nice and cool. I come out of the aid station, and look up, and there's the water-fall...

At mile 24, I catch up to a man, we walk together for a few... He says, If I have ANY legs left, I can still make 6... so I start chasing 6... I didn't have much legs left

FINALLY mile 25.9ish...I can see the finish line... Then I see Jerry and his brother and his Nephew! I run up and get HUGS!! They run the last .2 with me - Yes, I ran the last .2 I hear the announcer say, "It's 6 hours and we still have people coming in, They didn't leave us, and we're not gonna leave them" The next thing I hear, "Now finishing, Diane Altschuler from Las Vegas"

I DID IT! 06:02:51.33...

Got my medal, and they took my chip... Lady from the medical tent looked at me and asked if I was alright... through my tears, I said, "Yes, just emotional, this was my first marathon!"I get to the finishers area... and take a couple of pics...

Then, I see Debbie (the girl from the bus) she finished in 5 hours and waited for me

I eat a bit, pick up my bag, stretch a bit, got a leg massage, took more pictures

We're about to leave, and I felt like a black-out, got dizzy and nauseous... I told the guys I didn't feel well, and made my way to the Medical Tent... they laid me down with my feet up...took my BP... it was 88/50, they gave me Powerade... have you ever tried to drink Powerade while laying upside down? It took a while, but my BP came up to 98/60 and they let me go... hey, better to be safe than sorry.

We drove to Jerry's Moms house, I logged on, gave my "I DID IT" posts to the Penguins and the First Time Marathoner's thread... and took a nap

I still can't believe it... I ran a fricken Marathon! I didn't make my 1st or 2nd goal (Goals: 5:40, 6:00, finish), but I FINISHED! And I'm Proud of myself ... and for the first time in my life (45 years) I'm an Athlete! (Athletes run Marathons)

Results:
1534 finishers -
last persons time 06:47:41.74.
17 DNF (Did Not Finish )
22 people finished behind me...including 1 from my AG

Therefore, I passed 42 people during the race - 3 people passed me back right at the end.

For all pictures, please visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/Cardholic/OgdenMarathon#

2008-01-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

I wrote this post on discussions on RW, so I copied it here. I like the RW discussion, but I would like to keep my blog as well. So, now I post to the blog, post to RW, post to my excel log, and track my Garmin miles on their log. Like Jerry says, I spend more time planning my runs than actually doing them.

I'm in the middle of week 3 of my First Marathon training. I Scoured the internet looking for schedules, bought 2 books their schedules look totally different! So... what I ended up doing is taking the one from RW and tweaking it to my liking. I'm still tweaking it! LOL. I only wanted to run 4 days/week because of my knee issue. Then I put in swimming lessons and weight training and whalla, I don't have enough days in the week to do it all!

My schedule is now like this:

M - easy run & weight training

T - swimming lessons

W - Speed or Tempo workout (every 4th week easy)

Th - alternate Weight Training & swimming lessons

F - easy run

Sat - OFF

Sun - Long Run (building miles to 22)

Swim class last night was hard after weight training on monday, but I survived. Tonight I will run 5 miles on Treadmill. 1st mile slow, then 3 miles at 12:00/mile... last time I did 2 miles at 12:00/mile and thought I would die! Then last mile recovery slow. Funny how one pace is killer for one, and easy for others. I am and will always be a penguin!!

Swim Class

2008-01-11T14:14:00.001-08:00

I finished the full swim class last night. Now I know that when I work on my Arms... I should not be kicking... because my kicking form goes away when I'm thinking about my arms. Is that good news? At least I have some kicking form to go away?

Anyway, no running yesterday or today. Poker Run tomorrow :-)

First week of training

2008-01-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

Well, I have really decided to do it! And it WILL happen this time! I have already signed up and paid the money for the Ogden Marathon on May 17. So, I started my training schedule to start on December 31.

The first week of training went like this: I did my 3 mile easy run on Monday on the treadmill. On Wednesday I did my first ever tempo run. I had scheduled myself to do 3 miles tempo after a 1 mile warm-up and a 1 mile warm-down (is that what they call it?). Anyway, after re-doing my schedule several times, I ended up only doing 2 miles tempo at 12 min miles. It was HARD! The speed was based on my 5k performance, and not my Half Marathon performance. I think from now on, I will base my tempo training on my Half Marathon performance. This comes to a 12:30 mile. I'll be trying 3 miles at that pace for my next tempo run.

Then on Thursday, I worked out with a personal trainer. Turns out he worked at giving me a weight training program, and I only did 1/3 of it. I got through it GREAT! I liked him!

On Sunday, I had my first long run with the Roadrunners Winter Group. Woohoo!! I did 6 easy miles... it felt good to be outside! My Garmin was still set for indoor running, but I didn't figure that out until half way through my run. So, it was telling me 0 miles and 0 mph. hmmmmm. I couldn't rely on the watch for pace, etc. When I figured out why it wasn't working, I turned it on at mile 3... Ended up, I ran a bit too fast (According to the charts my pace should be 13:40 - 14:00/mile) I ran it at 12:29/mile. Ended up taking 1 hour 16 minutes! and I still felt good! :-)

So, After a great run on Sunday, I ended up taking an nap Sunday Afternoon... probably because I woke up sooooo early on Sunday Morning to do the run, and didn't get enough sleep. So, once again, I went to bed too late on Sunday Night and had to wake up VERY early on Monday to get Jerry to the airport. I started my 9 day isagenix cleanse on Monday with 2 pre-cleanse days planned. So, after a full day of work, with little food, and even less sleep, I did the full weight training program that Eddie outlined... it was challenging to say the least! Then I did an "Easy" 2 mile run on the track at LVAC. Then I went to do my abs work... did not go well.

My 2nd pre-cleanse day went well on Tuesday, and so did work. Then, I decided to take an "Easy" Swim 101 class at LVAC. It was HARD!! I guess a combination of being sore from my weight training, being tired (I got about 6 hours sleep), and not very much food during the day. I left the class half way through, and I had trouble lifting my arms up to wash my hair!

So, you would think I slept well on Tuesday Night??? Guess Again... I could not put down my book, and I ended up not going to sleep until about 2 am... then woke up early on Wednesday...

First cleanse day... Tired, worn out... work went lousy... hardly got anything done! Wednesday I had my first speed workout (Yasso 800) scheduled. The theory is that if I can do 10 repeats of an 800 at 5 minutes and 30 seconds, I should be able to complete the Marathon at 5 hours and 30 minutes. So, to build up to this, I started at 3 repeats. After some deliberation, I decided to do them on the track instead of a treadmill. I warmed up with a half mile (Of course my schedule calls for a full mile warm up) then I did my first 800. I was amazed that I got right to the correct pace quickly, and I was truly amazed that I kept the pace for the full 800 Meters (1/2 mile). cool... one down... the 2nd repeat went well too... the 3rd one was BAD... I felt like I was gonna puke! I quit after 400 M (1/4 mile). I cooled down for a half mile, and called it a day. 2.6 miles out of the 4 that were on my schedule. Oh well... there will be better days.

I slept like a rock last night... Day 2 of the cleanse... Tonght I will try another swim class. Oy...