Black Diamond Half IM Triathlon - September 22, 2007

Tri season 2007 came to a close on Saturday, September 22nd when I completed my first Half Ironman Triathlon (1.2 mile Swim, 57 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) in 5:57:58 (hrs, not days ;-) I met my goal of completing the distance in under 6 hrs. At age 30, having no athletic background prior to the age of 25, I never imagined as recent as 4 years ago I would complete a triathlon, let alone a Half IM distance. I am thinking back to junior high were I was last picked in gym class (not a cliché, this was my reality) and my high school days when it would take me 10.5 minutes to run just one mile. The end result - doubled over in the locker room in a fainty/vomity state. Being a heavy smoker from the age of 16 to 25 also was not conducive with endurance athletics (imagine that).

Sometimes I beat up on myself for not placing in my age group but then my husband, coach, friends remind me I do have a life outside of tris (full time job, husband, friends, having a few too many drinks more then on occasion etc.) After all, I did cover 70.3 miles in 6 hours. Most Americans do not even cover this distance over the course of a month.

A HUGE thank you is long overdue first and foremost to my husband for being incredibly supportive of all my weekends consumed with long brick workouts/bike rides and him having to endure many nights of Raisin Bran for dinner (since he cannot grill to save his life). The second biggest thanks is a tie. The first goes to all my wonderful, understanding friends who still talk to me, despite my lack of availability over the last 4 months. The second to my coach for making me the best athlete I can be and being proud of me (despite the elite triathletes she has on her coaching roster – I am not one of these) If you ever need a lesson in humility, become a triathlete. 90% of the athletes at any given event are just as Type A, obsessive, and want it just as bad, if not more, then you do.

The night before the event we rolled into Enumclaw (southeast of Seattle) about 10pm; I was sound asleep by 11pm.

Woke up at 6am and ate piece of ham (from the hotel restaurant), oatmeal and an apple. At 6:30am polished off a Balance bar.

Temperature at the event was about 58 degrees and overcast with slight drizzle at times. Perfect Pacific Northwest race weather! Event start was at 9am. http://racecenter.com/blackdiamond/halftridu/index.htm

Swim
I felt good during the swim (although as I was slow as a turtle and frozen by the end) About ¼ way through this woman grabbed onto both my legs (back of my calves) and started pulling me under I turned around, looked her in the eye, and yelled HEY! I would expect this at a sprint distance event but not a half IM. Who the hell does this at a half IM? Had this women not done a tri before? If my feet were not so frozen I would have kicked her in the head. My feet and hands were ice cubes (tried to find the neoprene booties to go over my feet the week before the event but no avail). I would have been hypothermic had it not been for the full body wetsuit I borrowed from one of my tri friends. Low body fat makes for great running and severe lack of warmth in the water.

Bike
For the bike I took my time in transition (trying to get the full body wetsuit off was tough) and I wanted to be extra sure I did not forget anything (such as nutrition and arm warmers). I did not want to mess around with a 3+ hr bike ride. I was sooo cold after the swim the arm warmers were a life saver. Literally. It took me a good 15 miles on the bike to get my body and my legs warm. I did not wear a bike jersey, just my tri shirt/shorts.

I had 2 16 oz bottles of accelerade on my bike and got through the first one and maybe a quarter of the second one throughout the 3 hr ride. I also took 3 powerbars and cut into 1/3's and rolled in balls and put these in a sandwich bag. I wore the bag o powerbar balls in my bosom inside of my race top. Worked for about 1/2 the ride then the power balls became one conglomerated power blob. Coach says next year when I do this distance (yes, I am doing this again) she wants me to use gels so my stomach doesn’t take energy from my muscles trying to digest solid food. I sipped my accelerade every 10 min and ate a power bar "ball" about every 1/2 hour. Ate a total of about one and a half powerbars on the ride. For the first part of the bike kept HR lower z2 (around 145). During the second half did start building to around 150-155. Toward the last 6 miles did mid z2 to a little z3. I pretty much stayed out of z3 (lactate threshold) because I was paranoid about not having energy for the run. Considering I had to run a ½ marathon after the bike, I thought what I cheezed out on during the bike I would have 13.1 miles to make up for on the run. I was on my aerobars almost the entire time (but do not normally train much this way since I like to have full control of my bike when riding in traffic by myself). As a result, my lower glute/upper hams (English translation: butt and back of thighs) were yelling at me but I kept down on the bars and was glad I did, especially when it came to the run.

My glutes/hams were not the only thing yelling at me when I got off the bike. My hubby was giving me words of encouragement saying “you love the run” to which my reply was “not after almost 60 miles on the bike” His response “you will love the run”. Everyone around him started laughing; if I had one ounce of energy extra energy, I would have started laughing as well.

In transition when I bent over and switch out of my bike to my running shoes my hams/glutes felt like they were going to jump out my skin. This is where the power thoughts/words come in handy. I thought okay, 13 miles w/ a little pain, I can do this! The absurdity of having to run 13.1 miles in pain was too much for me to handle at that moment; I broke out in laughter as I was reaching down to grab the cliff gel shots.


Run
Did a gel shot at the start of the run. I had to pee so I used the outhouse conveniently placed at the start of the course. The hardcore athletes pee on the bike. Yep, you heard right. They stand up, let it go, then rinse off with water. Beings I am not even coming close to placing in my age group, I would look like the biggest jerk/poser/idiot if I attempted this. Maybe in a few years;-) I did 2 additional gel shots on the run (one about every 1/2 hour). Took water at every aid station (had one about every mile) and walked through most. Kept HR around 155 for the first third then for the rest stayed around 165. Pushed into 170-175 the last couple miles (my running lactate threshold). My legs were fatigued and throughout the entire run in addition to my glutes/hams aching but I somehow powered through it. Part of the run course was on trails; toward the end I tripped on a rock (result of dragging my legs from exhaustion) when I was only 1/4 mile from the finish and went flying. In a semi panicked state (from my heart rate being so high) I still managed to pull myself up and make it to the finish line.

Summary of my Results


More race pics: http://www.finishshots.com/racerresults3.php?raceid=506&bibnumber=67
I loved the half IM distance and will most certainly do this distance again next year! 5 days later I almost have my appetite back and my overall body soreness has almost subsided. I now get to reflect on my season, give myself 6 weeks of unstructured training (run and bike at MY leisure, no training plan) then do it all over again next year. Now I can eat dinner w/my hubby and hang out w/my friends; for a couple months at least ;-)

Hood To Coast - August 24-25 2007

Hood to Coast is the largest running relay race in North America. The race covers a distance of 197 miles starting from Timberline Lodge toward the top of Mt. Hood ending at the Oregon Coast in Seaside. The relay distance is covered by about 1000 teams (12 people each team). Each person on a team runs 3 legs with a distance of 4-7 miles (usually covering a total distance of 14-18 miles). The total relay takes anywhere from 23 to 32 hours to complete, depending on how fast the runners are! I was on a corporate womens team. I was not super fast, considering I was lucky to be running at all beings less then two weeks before I had the blown up quad from the St. Helens climb and was barely even able to walk until about 4 days before HTC!

Each team is split into two vans; van 1 will go through their 6 runners then van 2 will meet at a transition area (we are at Fred Meyer in Sandy) to meet van 1 when their runners finish. The BEST part of the race is the crazy decorating! Some of my favorites...

Somewhere is a really pissed off youngster after their favorite stuffed animal has been confiscated to be used a hood ornament....

Barbie Orgy!! Mom, if you read this, I NEVER partook in such vile behavior with my dolls....

You could only imagine the nastiness of these puppies, thank god we were trailing the crap sucking machine almost the entire race! Being a slower team had its advantages.....

Handing off where one teammate gets the pleasure of running though meth alley (springwater corridor in east Portland). Watch out, don't trip on tainted needle or a passed out transient!

Seaside at the finish, too exhausted to even think about celebrating. Sick thing is, I will do this again, maybe not until 2009 ;-)

Covered Bridge Bicycle Tour - Aug 12th 2007

Two days after the Mt St. Helens climb with a strained quadricep to boot , we were heading down to the mid Willamette valley methopolis known as Albany to the start line for the Covered Bridge Bicycle tour http://www.mvbc.com/. Not sure if this is the Albany mascot? German Shepherd sniffing drugs; Chasing crazy hillbilly's...








Larwood Covered Bridge

First bridge we came across during our 75 mile route...

Shimanek Covered Bridge
Bridge #2

The falling bikes lunch stop. Everyone got their bikes knocked over in our group except for me. The worse was when some pre-pubescent boy was aimlessly wandering and knocked over an older gentleman's $5000 Scott. The owner was noticeably PO'd, I am not sure if I had a $5000 bike if I would have been as calm. The boy showed no remorse when scolded by his father. The offenders sister was then crying (for 20 minutes straight) about what I assumed to be nothing. Suddenly I remembered to pick up my birth control prescription on the way home...

Gilkey Covered Bridge

The third and final bridge (we were supposed to see 5 in total).

My competitiveness came out and shortly after I got excited trying to catch a woman who consequently turned off to do the 100 mile route. Result was unexpected climb (which quads needed like a hole in the head) and bike rest stop in Deliveranceville...

Not sure what the yokels in Lebanon thought of the cyclists passing through (note to self - do not EVER, at ANY cost pull off I5 to stop in this town while by myself without toting one or both of the following - Rottweiler and/or hand gun); one guy came up to scroy and angrily asked "is that your bike with the flashing lights". It wasn't but I wanted the light to stop flashing for I could sense a nam or LCD flashback coming on...

Thanks to shortcuts we only ended up adding 7 extra miles to the planned 68. We borrowed hubby's truck, sent on our way with the instructions "to not to lean up against the truck for it might dent the sides". As we were discussing this the guys next to us were making fun of my hubby in his abscence commenting "trucks are meant to be beat up". When we arrived back from our ride this was left as a present for the beloved truck. Happy early b-day Nick!!!

No better place to advertise cock fighting then off the main west coast traffic artery otherwise known as I5..

Stuck in 2 hour traffic jam on the way home; good thing I had my muscle toothbrush.

5th Annual 80's Party Sat August 11th

What an amazing tradition this has become amongst us 30 somethings. Brings back nightmares from Junior High. Do not forget to Double Click all images for a full view of like the totally tubular pictures!! I tried to get hubby to leave the house in the cutoff jean shorts but it was a no go. At least I got him to sport the mullet wig and pornolicious historic woodburn tshirt. Sorry Tonya, I think Chad Kroeger has another hair twin ;-)

sHEEMAN, Sheera, and some other random character from the 80's.

Had a 70's party to attend beforehand so went for a late 70's/early 80's theme. Terry cloth and attempted feathered hair were my contribution.

Mt. St. Helens - August 10 2007

After living in Portland for 10 years I finally ventured up to Mt. St Helen's! Steph had some passes she had pre-purchased months ago (there are only 100 people allowed on the mountain per day). I thought "12 mile hike no big deal". I quickly learned, and am still learning 4 days later with blown up quads that being a reasonably strong runner and cyclist doesn't mean crap when you are ascending over 4000 feet of elevation gain, climbing over boulders, then using muscles you never knew you had to break and descend down the same 4000 feet. am clearly not outfitted for hiking (I am wearing cycling shorts with gator and hiking boots). Nick thought I looked dead sexy!






Started the climb 2 miles from where you see the trees in the picture. At this point we were barely an hour into the hike.












So much energy expended after an hour and a half we had to stop for a snack.








Where the true mountain climbing started. No, the rocks are not background, this is what we crawled over for a few miles as we pushed upwards. I thought I had turrets bad until I met Mark! He couldn't hold back with the comment "Yea, there is a lot of cows up here" as an urban cowboy passed on on the way down (some random guy in a cowboy hat). He retorted with some disparaging remark about my cycling shorts ;-) Another guy was coming down the mountain and when I told him I was from Portland Mark replied "she's from Tigard" I then fictitiously told the man Mark was from Coeur d' Alene Idaho. Since I incessantly joke about "white trash North Idaho" the inner circle laughed as expected. What was disturbing was the 10 year old boy who overheard also started laughing. They must have had white supremacy week during his history class that week.



Here is one of those volcanic movement monitoring thingy's. I was trying to simulate kissing my ass good by in the event this started screaming/flashing while we are on the mountain. For those of you still wondering, Mt. St. Helen's is indeed still an active volcano.











Finally reached the summit about 4.5 hours later. Above the clouds (not steam).












Another amazing view from the top.

Bull Lestor (double click on image to view name)

Found this little treat posted on the window outside of Fat Jacks (where we call the place we sign in/sign out). If you ever bear witness to the area between the Couve and Mt St Helen's running across characters like this is not the least bit shocking. This particular catch had an affinity for 15 year old girls in wheelchairs. Nice.

One of 5 people we saw stop and look at the sign within 5 minutes. We were all hoping this woman was not looking for a baby sitter.

Midsummer Olympic Triathlon - July 22, 2007

On Sunday, July 29th I completed the Midsummer Olympic Distance Triathlon (1 mile swim, 24 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) out at Blue Lake. I was powered by my usual breakfast of Oatmeal, banana, and a Harvest Powerbar . It was the exact same course and close to the same weather conditions as the Blue Lake Triathlon I completed June 10th. I beat my 2007 Blue Lake Tri time this last Sunday by a little over 6 minutes! Thanks coach Julie for your butt, thigh, hamstring, quadricep, calf muscle burning workouts! I guess barf intervals do pay off!

My swim sucked as usual (I am currently seeking out masters swim group to join this fall). Nothing exciting to report on the swim; no violence needed; everyone stayed out of my space ;-). On the bike I managed to keep up with Bridget Dawson, an ex pro triathlete (she is 50 now, but still gives all the 20 and 30 something’s a run for their money at any event she chooses to partake in). My proudest moment of the tri was looking down at my odometer and seeing I beat my previous bike time by about 4.5 minutes! Result was annoying perm grin for the remainder of the race. On the bike my average HR was 160-165 for the first 16 miles (able to maintain a higher HR for longer because I am stronger then I was in June). During the last 8 miles kept in high 160's to 170's. Almost finished an entire bottle of accelerade on the bike.

My run was uneventful and consistent. I started off with an espresso 2x cliff shot and grabbed water at the first two aid stations to wash down the syrupy contraption. I kept my hr about 170 for the first 4 miles then the last 2 wavered between 174-180. I beat my Blue lake time by an entire 20 seconds (I say this sarcastically). My goal was to try to run sub 8 min mile in my run portion this year (close but no cigar – hey, every blog is entitled to at least one bad cliché). I guess I have a new training goal for 2008 in addition to not being a flailing fish in the water. Overall this is the proudest to date I have felt about any of my triathlon accomplishments. Especially when I looked at the race results and beat out two women overall (one by 9 minutes and one by 7 minutes) who have whipped me by 10 + minutes in the past!!!

Results Summary for Midsummer Tri (comparing to Blue Lake) - Double click image to expand

Bike Pace 20:85 mph
Run Pace 8:06 mpm

This is my last Olympic Distance Tri for 2007. I am preparing for my first ever Half Ironman Distance in Enumclaw Washington September 22nd 2007. This is the Black Diamond Triathlon http://www.racecenter.com/blackdiamond/halftridu/index.htm (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13 mile run).

Event Photos http://www.finishshots.com/racerresults3.php?raceid=487&bibnumber=108

Central Oregon Coast Trip

The weekend following the fourth of July my hubby and I were off to the Oregon Coast. Lincoln City and Pacific City; Land O' beautiful ocean meets rows of useless crap souvenir shops. We managed to pass our time by playing "slug tank" (think slug bug when you were a kid, where if you saw a vw bug first you would get to punch the innocent party sitting next to you in the arm). The variation of "Slug Tank" is walking through Chinook Winds Casino and hunting for oxygen tanks in one hand, and a burning cig in the other. Nick had the bruises to reflect my victory.

We also had a contest to see who could find the most white trash souvenir gift for the other person. We had the rule we couldn't spend more then $5; we were to exchange over lunch. We are now net $10 poorer and we are the proud owners of...

Pirate eye patch...

Wolf Dream Catcher

Still in awe this is two hours from our house! Oregon Rocks!

Pacific Crest Triathlon

On Sunday, June 24 I completed my 2nd Olympic Distance Triathlon of the season(1 mile Swim, 25.8 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) in Sunriver Oregon. Nice thing about central Oregon is the chance of rain is almost zero; however the benefits are negated by the extreme drop in temperature at night. It was around 35 degrees when we arrived at Wikiup reservoir! I was excited to swim in a non radioactive, non Portland area body of water. No "Poo Lake" (Blue Lake) or "Vansewer Lake" (Vancouver Lake). Despite the clean reservoir water, I knew the swim was going to be interesting when fellow athletes expressed concern about my sleeveless wetsuit. ..
It was announced the water was 62 degrees and I was one of the few athletes wearing a farmer john wetsuit (full body sans the arms). I think the outside temperature maybe warmed up to 55 degrees by the time we were to start the swim (thank god!) During the last third of the swim my arms and feet were majorly chilled!







When I got out of the water to pull my wetsuit off to get ready for the bike my arms/hands were frozen and could barely move my fingers (note to self, wear full body wetsuit with arms if ever do this event again).


After fumbling and grunting for a few minutes I was finally on the bike.





The bike course was mostly a rolling downhill. As a result of being frozen from the swim and my equilibrium being off (symptom of borderline hypothermia), I almost crashed when I went to get on my aerobars. At this point I knew safety was more important then gaining 1 mph on the bike. Other effects from the mild hypothermia included my heart rate registering lower (150 - 155 bpm) while my RPE being the same as the Blue Lake tri I did two weeks prior (with my HR around 160) and not being able to drink my bottle of accelerade on the ride. My hands could barely grab the bottle. When I was able to finally grab the bottle , my mouth and throat were so cold I couldn't tolerate more then baby sips. After about 15 miles into the bike I finally started to warm up! Due to road construction there were a ton of cars on the road. The peak of the frustration for myself and other cyclists involved was when some stupid camper blocked the course by hanging over in the bike lane while being positioned on the road in a fashion preventing us from going around. I didn't have to say anything (disparaging words and hand signals from the fellow cyclists were flying liberally ;-) During the end of the bike I was freaked out from not drinking my accelerade and feared bonking (muscles shutting down) on the run.

Before the run I did a cliff espresso 2x shot and off I went through the lovely 6 mile paved trail stretch through Sun River Resort. I was told by a bystander I had nice running form! This is something I have diligently been working on for the last three years; I naturally run a little bit like Phoebe from friends (legs flail out to the side) but have been working on keeping my feet straight and utilizing some of the techniques out of the Chi running book. Not long after I passed a little girl who stuck her hand out for me to tag; I felt like a rock star. The run is both the most daunting (after swimming and biking first) and most rewarding part of a tri. Being cheered on and supported by spectators gives the extra motivation needed to survive the last 2 miles of the run. This is the point when you think to yourself you may not be able to take another step. On the run HR around 168-170. Pushed 172 to 175ish last two miles.

The race was a blast! There were 800 of us, including the duathletes. I was happy with my results and I cannot wait to go back and do the race next year!

Overall Time 245:07:00
Overall Women 42/186 23%
Age Group 8/39 21%
Swim 26/39 67%
Bike 7/39 18%
Run 9/39 23%

Bike MPH 20:49 Run MPM 8:20

More Photos http://www.finishshots.com/racerresults3.php?raceid=473&bibnumber=164

Columbia River Gorge Ride

On Saturday, June 16th my two friends and I (the same group did the RTB ride in May) set out to do a 38 mile bike loop (about 3000 total feet of elevation gain) in the Columbia River Gorge. The ride started outside of The Dalles and was put on by the organization “Friends of the Historic Columbia River Highway” the http://www.hcrh.org/events.html. It was the windiest bike ride I have ever done (I do not have proof but I believe the crosswinds were 30mph!) Here is a simple math equation

World renowned wind surfing location = sucky road bike conditions


Although the winds were challenging, leading me to almost get blown off my bike no less then 4 times and causing a varity of expletives to fly out of my mouth while repeating “I will NEVER do a ride in the gorge again” the views were absolutely breathtaking and it was worth enduring tornado like conditions (okay maybe I am exaggerating just a little..) to climb and descend Rowena Crest , Mayerdale Estate, Mosier Viewpoint, and the Mosier Twin Tunnels.












View from Rowena Crest
















..what we had to climb to reach the top of Rowena Crest






The rest stop at Mayerdale Estate had the amazing fresh fruit Oregon is known for this time of year. I think I cleaned out half of their Watermelon supply and as a result cleaned myself out the next day.

I remember us girls philosophizing when the ride was over about why they didn’t warn us about the wind and then I had this common sensical epiphany. How is this any more logical then someone doing a ride in Portland then saying “I cannot believe they didn’t tell us it would be raining and the roads would be wet” ;-)



HCRH State Trail

Road biking is almost always an adventure, the conditions rarely perfect but with each ride and new challenging condition, you become that much of a better cyclist and learn something new about yourself not only physically, but as a human being. For me it was being reaffirmed when things get tough (like the wind) you just can’t stop, you have to push through it.







Outside Mosier Twin Tunnels

I am looking forward to my next ride in the gorge toward the end of summer when the winds are supposedly a little milder; maybe there will only be 20mph wind gusts ;-)