GO PURPLE!!!
Got the last coates of polish on for the race, now I need to do the kids. It's so fun to be in a race and hear the crowd screaming out GO PURPLE!! for all the TNT racers.
AWESOME NEWS ALERT: Michael is officially in REMISSION!!!!!
THANK YOU GOD!!!
I LOVE THIS PICTURE! How awesome is that?! My dad and brother climbed Mt. Shasta this weekend. Dad is THE MAN - he's also doing the 1/2 Iron Duathlon with me in Sunriver this weekend - 58 mile bike/13 mile run - everything but the swim. I can't believe he's doing this climb and the duathlon on back to back weekends. So 5 more sleeps until race day. I can't believe it is actually here. We had our last group training this weekend - an 8 mile race pace run on the waterfront and then a 33 mile ride yesterday. It was actually warm and humid for us on Saturday - one of our very very few workouts that resembled anything like we'll face at Sunriver. This is probably one of my biggest concerns about the race - just how will the weather effect me after all this cool weather training?Yesterday's ride was cool and flat and easy - a ride out to Sauvie Island for one loop and then back home. We had a great ride until about mile 31 where Sheryl got caught up in one of the many sets of railroad tracks in that area. She took a bad fall. Her entire left side was all cut up and bleeding from shoulder to ankle. Thank goodness she was wearing gloves because they took a good beating and I wouldn't want to see what her hand would have looked like without them. She also hit her head pretty good. I can't believe this happened a week before the race. She's going to be so stiff and I can't imagine pulling a wetsuit on over all those injuries. She's tough, though, so I know it won't stop her. Everyone is getting really excited about meeting up in Sunriver. Some people are already there and the whole gang will be there by Thursday. It will be 100 teammates and coaches and all the support we bring with us - Watch out Sunriver - Purple and Green are arriving! We have a busy schedule Thursday and Friday - a couple of group swims at Lake Wickiup which I've heard has warmed up quite a bit so I think I'm not going to worry about getting a neoprene cap. We have a group ride, a group pasta party and we're all going to watch our future triathletes at the Splash and Dash (Jack and Mai are both doing this). The olympic team will cheer us on Saturday and the 1/2ers will cheer them on Sunday and then there's a big team afterparty Sunday night - which should be a blast hearing everyone's race reports while we let loose a bit (or a lot).We had our Send off Party after our Group Swim at Klineline on Thurday but we had to leave early when Mai fell at the park and hurt her arm. We were at the ER until midnight, but thank God it wasn't a broken arm - it was a dislocated elbow that once fixed felt immediately better.We had our Send Off Dessert at Couloir's last night - just our little mentor group and not everyone could make it so it was nice and small with the addition of one very talky 3 year old (In the car on the way there, Mai told me "mama, I love you so much and I love that you take me to parties with you" awwwww- what a sweetie). We decorated our singlets with the names of all the people we are racing for and then had a flat tire changing clinic. I FINALLY figured out the exact recipe for my fat tires to get them up to the perfect pumpituity - one 16g C02 cartridge and one 12g. Seems like someone at one of the three bike shops I proposed this question to would have been able to help me, but not. Oh well, now I'm a pro at it.Our team has raised the most ever out of any other Oregon TNT team ~ drum roll.....over $317,000!!!!!!!!!! Unfortunately I still haven't made my goal, but I have another couple of weeks to keep trying... So this number can definitely go up!Well, only three sleeps until we head out, so this will probably be my last post until after the race! Expect a race report on July 7th :o)
What a great weekend! Our TNT teams signed up for the Blue Lake events this weekend. Our Olympic team did the Sprint distance on Saturday and everyone went out to cheer them on. I took the kids and it was a great day! Yesterday our 1/2 IM team participated in the Olympic distance Tri as our last big workout before Pac Crest. If anyone who reads this has thought about joining up with TNT for training for an endurance event - DO IT!! I had so many people cheering me on - yelling out my name at all portions of the course and people slapping my hands as we passed on the run. It is an amazing feeling to have that kind of support.
This was my first "official" triathlon. I had a taste of it all at our "mock" tri two weeks ago and this one went even more smoothly. I was in the next to the last wave at the swim and that played a bit of a mental game on me knowing that I would be one of the last out of the water and definitely one of the last off the bike course, but overall I had a pretty great attitude. My swim was HOT AWESOME! I couldn't have been happier. I passed a couple people in the waves ahead of me and for the most part stayed in my pack of gold caps without falling behind. My time was 31:42 for the swim portion and I was in in 312 out of 436th place after the swim so that fear is over ~ I am not the slowest.
I decided not to try to put on socks over wet feet at T1 so I rode sockless and the only problem was my toes never warmed up - I hoped this wouldn't cause problems at the start of the run and it didn't. I passed three people on the bike. That's it. Now, I know you're getting all excited for me ;o) ~ wait, it gets even better. Of the three people I passed, two were not even in the race - in fact they looked like they might have just slept one off and hopped on their bikes to stumble home. The third had a flat tire. Hmph. As usual, I was passed by many but this is just my fate at this time. At one point I could see no other bikers and it occurred to me that I was taking this all at a rather leisurly place and realized I had forgotten I was in a race at all. That got me to pick it up a bit and I think I did actually pass one racer at the end. After the bike portion I was in 415th place out of 436 (yikes!).
I felt great on the run. My legs warmed up pretty good after mile 2 and although I thought I had about a 9:30 pace, the timing chip said more like a 10m/m.
My final placing in my division was 17/19 and for the total placing I was 397/436.
I feel good about the race and I woke up this morning thinking that I might actually become addicted to triathlons. I think a road bike is in my near future. This is FUN!
Swim 31:42
T1 3:33
Bike 1:32:42
T2 3:27
Run 59:52
Total Time 3:11:16
Watch out! I have the tri bug.
After the race we headed out to Willamette Park to have a Father's Day picnic with Steve's family. The weather was perfect and we all played baseball and the kids all rolled down the hill getting grass in every nook and cranny of their bodies before we headed out to the river for some boat rides from Uncle Dan. The kids were in heaven with the wind whipping their hair around and the sun shining off their sweet faces. Perfect day! We are so lucky!
Yesterday's 68 mile ride had 3800 ft of elevation gain and 3800 ft of descending. Abby's side comment of "What doesn't kill you makes you more prepared" ran through my mind often. I guess the main thing that sticks out in my mind about this ride is that constantly thinking about crying and/or puking is not the kind of thing I need to focus on. I needed to turn my brain around and keep those other thoughts out. I think I was successful. I know I was successful because I FINISHED the ride!!!! It was one of my proudest moments. Probably the hardest physical thing I've ever done. My dad asked "Harder than a marathon?" - answer is Yes. With the marathons you can at least slow it down to a walk and you can almost always keep stumbling forward but on a bike - going UPHILL - you have no choice but to work. No stumbling forward in this activity - you MUST keep working. It was tough. Puking tough.We had a staggered start out at Edgefield. Slower people at 7:30, next group at 8 and fastest at 8:30. My group of 4 ended up starting at 7:45 (and we still ended up being the last group to cross the finish line...of course...). Abby, Sheryl, Kelly and I had a nice start- waking up and getting going with a little conversation until the first big hill which I took nice and easy and felt GREAT about. I didn't realize then how many more (and longer ones) were to come. As we made our first big descent we were so happy and hollering and then it turned bittersweet as the thought hit us that this was an out and back and for every descent from here out it would be a big climb coming back.Although it was the toughest ride I had done, by the 1/2 way mark I still felt pretty good. Things went downhill fast....or uphill, I should say. WOW! Although Dano and Kelly had advised me to raise my seat up 1/2 inch before the ride I still ended up with quad cramps at about mile 40. Sheryl gave me a salt tab and that seemed to help a bit, but the ride home in the truck was miserable. My legs hurt so bad I was crying and I couldn't believe that within minutes of getting home the pain subsided like it did. My legs feel great today!The ride itself was sure pretty. It would have been nice to have sun and a little warmth but it was rainy and cloudy the whole day. A couple of great views, lots of animals - cows, BIG pig, lots of dogs, chipmunks, ponies, the cutest baby goat that came out to visit with us at one of the aid stations, lots of birds flying in front of me - on descents it would scare me that they were going to fly in my face, and one horribly smelling dead skunk.At about mile 51 Sheryl said she was done and was going to look for the aid car. We found it - Abby was already there to catch a ride due to a painful knee. Sheryl asked me if I was stopping. I wanted to. I wanted to SO BAD, but there was no way I was quitting. My nerves were getting the best of me though, because there were only about 5 other people going on and they were way faster than me so I would get left behind and I just knew I would get lost - it's just the way I am - can't follow directions for anything! There were two people behind us but I didn't know how far back and if I waited much longer I thought my legs would start cramping up too bad. I guess I kind of guilted her into keep going as she got all re-fueled and we set off again. Fortunately by this point there was only one big hill left and LOTS of descending so for me it was the right choice to continue on.68 miles - 5 Hours 50 Minutes. Everything hurt when we were done. Even my armpits. My back - oh man. Wouldn't take it back for a minute. What Doesn't Kill You Makes You More Prepared.
I'm so ...(yawn)....tired.....Either I'm coming down with something or this last week of workouts is catching up to me or both. I had a great 10 mile run yesterday - met up with Tracy at Oaks Park to run along the Springwater Corridor. We did 2.5 miles out and back so she could stop at 5 and then I turned around and did it again for a total of 10 miles. At about 3pm I hit a huge wall - just exhausted. I managed to make it up to Washington for the group swim even though it was raining and Melanie decided she would rather go on a date with her husband than carpool with me (what's wrong with her ;-) ???We swam at a new place in Vancouver - Klineline pond and it is TOTALLY EASY TO FIND yet I was so exhausted and dazed and confused that I drove by it twice looking for it - Um...Julie? It's a big wet pool of water right off the side of the road. See where there are docks and people fishing and fellow teammates in wetsuits? Ya ~ THAT place right there. Ok Ok.I surprised myself with a strong swim twice around the pond for a total of 1000 meters before heading home and crawling into bed. A group of people went ahead and did another lap after our clinic but I squeezed myself into the park bathroom with about 10 other girls who wanted out of the rain and had fun listening to this funny group of people changing from wetsuits to street clothes. Much better than the last couple of weeks of having to change out at the lake in front of everyone trying to hide at least some bits and pieces under towels and such until they open up the bathrooms there. Today I am just plain pooped. My head is cloudy and my ears are just on the verge of hurting. I feel like I'm in a dream and need to just go to bed ~ alas that is not to happen today. Work. Kids. Laundry. - in that order. I'm completely surprised there is no workout on the calendar today but I'll take it!! Sleep...I need sleep. A full 8 - no make that 10 hours of sleep...
