Mock Tri

First triathlon of the season: Done.
PRd the race by 18 minutes!!!
I PRd the swim and the bike - the run...not so much.

I woke up in a pissy mood and decided to not rush around. I hadn't gotten my stuff ready the night before, so I had a bit of work that early for my brain to remember exactly everything I would need at T1 and T2. I had my coffee, gathered my stuff and mosied on up to Vancouver Lake. I arrived to a mess of bikes at T1 and since I was one of the last to arrive, I just had to squeeze in where I could. Crystal called out to me to remember to get marked and signed in so I did that and it was time to go. I love that I wasn't stressed. Maybe just because it was a "mock" tri? I hope that carries in to the other races I have coming up. I hate getting that pit of your tummy ickiness on race day.

As I was laying out my stuff, I realized I forgot my body glide and must have muttered it out loud because the guy next to me placed his in my hand. Then he muttered something about no socks. Dang it - wish I could help you out, man. Everyone forgets something. If you don't forget something, you're way too serious about this ;o)

Headed out to the water. Andrea finally arrived - hungover! Yikes...I wasn't taking it that easy (although I will admit to two Vodka tonics Friday night). Found Sheryl in the lake and managed to lose one of my ear plugs while I was talking to her, so I went without. The water was SO warm that I didn't end up needing them anyways. And...

We're off - mass start. Sucky. I can't believe that we didn't spread out at all until after the first buoy (which was Walter in his Kayak). He must have been pretty scared seeing that entire mass of swimmers heading his way with no look of separating. It was the worst start ever. I felt fine, didn't panic, but I was getting no where fast. With every stroke, I caught someone's body. Finally got away from the group and ended up knocking 5 minutes off my time :o)

Headed up the beach and heard my name called out and saw Melanie - my carpool buddy from last year- cheering me on. T1 was a breeze - I'm calling it just under 3 minutes.

Got going on the bike and was so excited to see what I could do getting into my big ring out there...whoops.
Must have messed up my rear derailer when I crashed last week. Could not get into my big ring :-(
Oh well, work with what I've got. I crushed it! Felt great - took 17 minutes off my bike time from last year, even with just my little gears.

Pulled into T2 and had NO trouble transitioning the ol' legs. Getting into my socks was pretty hilarious, though. I passed Tiffany, caught up with Ali and ran with her. I knew Jeb was right behind us and would pass us soon, but I wasn't sure if Tim would pass us or not. It felt good to be in the middle of my pack. Everyone but our group of 10 halfers was doing just one loop of the ride and one loop of the run. Our group had the privilege of doing both loops twice. I don't mind the bike loop so much, but the run SUCKS. It's on pavement and it was hot and I just hate doing out and backs like that - once is fine, twice is grrr.

Jeb did pass us in short order. Then we saw Ricardo and Ilana kicking @ss on their way back from their first loop as we made it just about the 1/4 way mark and then there's Dan right on their heels and Ali mentioned to me that she didn't want to do the second loop. I didn't want to either, but out of everyone, we're the two that needed to finish what we started - Run. Run in the heat. Endure. Get ready for a hot half iron in 4 short weeks. A couple people opted out of the second loop, but away we went. We were actually passing people who were doing the shorter distance of just one loop on the bike and run - "We're doing this Ali, we're finishing what we started!!"
And we did.

Made it home, hung out in the sun with the kids, and rested. Then showered and the family was off to Dan & Sheryl's fundraising Kegger. They had a great spread - crawfish, tri tips (mmm), sausage dogs, tons of chips and dips and a couple kegs of yummy beers and my new favorite hot day (it was 90 by then) drink of Mike's Hard Lemonade POMEGRANATE >>>>> YUM.

Today is all about the relaxation - Have a good one!

Now That's What I'm Talkin' 'Bout

Had an awesome open water swim finally!! The first swim - blech. The second swim, still not so much awesomeness - We did three loops on Tuesday and before the end of each one I had to flip over on my back and gather myself. Last night, though - I was back in my groove! We did 4 loops at Vancouver Lake and it was a gorgeous night. The water was warm, no choppiness in sight and I got in a good sync with 3 teammates and it just felt perfect. I'm baaaaaaack - and it feels so good!! Just in time for our first tri on Saturday :o)

I also decided to see if my knee could handle a run yesterday. I waited until it hit 90 before heading out - I need to get in as much hot weather training as I can. Although I love Summer and wouldn't mind if it was 90 every day, I am not such a hot weather worker outer- it sucks the life right out of me, which was proven at Pac Crest last year. So I headed out in the heat and although it sucked, my knee felt pretty good and I was able to finish 4 miles before deciding not to push my knee. I'll run 5 today in the heat again and then we have our Mock Tri tomorrow. It's not a race, just something the Portland Tri Club puts together each year. It will be a sprint length swim and then a little longer than olympic length bike/and a 6 mile run. I checked my time last year and it was as follows:

(all times approximate - just keeping an eye on my watch)
800m (.5 mile) swim ~ 18 min
T1 ~ 3 min
27.20 mile bike ~ 1:42:47
T2 ~ 3 min
6.2 mile run ~ 1:06:00

So that is the time to beat: 3:20:00

The Girls at Oaks Bottom

I had a long post planned but I'm running behind this a.m. so it will have to wait. Mai and I took advantage of a great sunny morning yesterday and hit a trail with Ki that is right by a client's office. We had to be at the office at noon so we got our hike on beforehand at Oaks Bottom.
First pic is of Mai standing on Dave's gravesite in our front yard. We'll work on a tombstone this weekend. Second pic is Mai on the trail and the last pic was a sweet little family we found. There were actually two other little ones but they were trailblazers - brave and bold they left Mama behind and were forging out on their own and I couldn't quite get them in the picture.

Memorial Day with Family

Got a last minute Memorial Day call from MIL, Gloria that we were going to meet out at Steve's older sister's new house in the country and head out for some wine tasting. So we headed out to Dan and Caroline's and dropped the kids off with Cousin Carley and her bestest goat Ernie. Then we headed to St. Josef's Winery where we must have tried about 12 different wines! I almost bought a bottle of their 2006 Pinot Noir but decided to save my money for the next stop. St. Josef's said they were kid friendly but I kept seeing signs like this:














Although I'm not sure how the kids will fare, we've made plans to attend some concerts by the li'l pond this summer. We then headed to Alexeli Winery and the very gorgeous brother/owner, Philip, poured us 4 wines that I rarely/never drink: Riesling, Gewurztraminer, a semi-sparkling Chardonnay and Sangiovese Port style (with chocolate....mmmmm, just like dessert!)
I actually really like the Riesling (which I normally don't - it wasn't too sweet) and so I bought a bottle. Below is how MIL looked to me after the wine tasting ;o)














Then we got back to the house to find Mai spending most of her time doing what all girls love to do: SWING THEIR LITTLE HEARTS OUT!






































The men drank beer and tended to the goats:














Mai helped:














Ernie tried to eat the game:














Jack fed Fred:














After we stuffed ourselves, the girls made S'mores and the boys just played with fire and then we called it a day :-)

My "Oh $h!t" Moment of the Weekend

This picture might remind some of you of the Terrible Treadmill Debacle of 2004. My scars will now have scars. I guess it feels worse than it looks 'cause this picture doesn't look that bad now that I see it.

After our Totally Wicked, Dude run on Saturday, I was feeling all high and happy, then we decided to tempt our fate with the industrial area railroad tracks again. Sheryl and Dan and I were supposed to make up our 50/10 brick we missed last weekend, but after mentioning it to our coach from last year, Seth - he said we would be crazy to do it after a 15 miler up at Wildwood, so we confirmed with Coach Scott and he said NO. Don't make it up. It's a brick that is unnessecary training wise, it's mostly for us to mentally be able to realize that we CAN actually do the race distance and since Sheryl and I already know we can, we should skip it altogether or just add a little run to the end of our scheduled 35 mile ride for Sunday. We decided to keep it to a flat ride around Sauvie Island and run 5 miles on the waterfront after that.

So we had a great ride - I even got into my aerobars for awhile a couple of times. It was a beautiful day and the ride was uneventful until we got about 6 blocks from Sheryl's office where our cars were parked. We had made it over about 20 sets of RR tracks - including the one Sheryl bit it on last year a week before the race. At the very end of this last set, I caught my front tire in the track. I have no idea how I did it, but I had gotten cocky over the last 20 sets and apparently just went too fast and at the wrong angle.

I think my aero bars took the first hit and then I don't know what happened. I managed to hit my head (thank God for helmets!! - THAT would have hurt!) and my left shoulder and both knees and BOTH sides of my hands??? I'm not sure how that happened, although I do remember thinking to myself "oh crap, you couldn't find one of your gloves today, your hands are bare - save them, woman!!" - so I think after the initial hit, I turned my hands over. OR my knuckles hit first and I just don't remember that part. My head was last to hit - bonk, bonk - so I think that saved me a good headache.

So I ran screaming obscenities as I rushed off the road and leaving Sheryl to deal with my bike. I was in a bit of shock, but knew if I sat down I would throw-up or pass out - I felt so dizzy - So I just kept upright and was throwing my arms up the air walking along the sidewalk. I think to shake out the pain?? I don't know, but it must have looked hilarious. I got the dizziness under control, got the chain back on my bike and we very slowly rode the last 6 blocks.

I feel fine except for my left knee which is totally swollen and stiff. I still can't lift it up enough to get up the stairs easily, but hopefully it will be ready for a run by Wednesday.

I never told Sheryl this, but last year I was behind her when she fell and my first reaction was a little giggle and then total horror as I realized what was happening. I felt so bad that my first thought was to giggle, but now I can't stop giggling over how I must have looked to Sheryl from the back view. What a dork! Call me graceful...

Totally Wicked, Dude

Totally wicked, Dude. Mai's sentiment on everything these days - but especially about her new bike gloves and pads!!
I had a totally wicked run in the forest yesterday on Wildwood. Sheryl and Leslie and I had plans to beat the team to the trailhead at 7:30 and get a bit of a good start since we had a 15 miler to do and didn't feel like being out there all day, but in the end the whole team started together and we had a good little group of happy laughing people running through the woods together, high fiving and enjoying the beautiful sunlight filter through the trees. Ali joined our sight seeing group (slow runners) at the start and so the four of us stuck together pretty much to the end. I ran the first 7 1/2 miles sharing life stories with Ali and hearing about Leslie's recent half iron down at Wildflower and then second 7 1/2 catching up with Sheryl. It was a great run!! I felt strong!

The kids and I spent the rest of the day mostly hanging out in the backyard taking in some sun. Steve took us out for burgers at the Ram for dinner. JUST the thing I had been craving since my run in the morning and after that the kids and I headed down to the park a block or so past our house so Mai could practice riding without training wheels. This is where the Dave saga gets even worse. Across the park I could hear Jack whizzing on his bike back to me and yelling that he found part of Dave. Oh God, no!

He lead us back to find our beloved cat's face. Yes, his poor face!...lying out at the park on the sidewalk, his whiskers still white and strong and beautiful. What was really weird was that there were open and emptied cans of cat food in the grass right by him, set up in a triangle. I almost wonder if someone whose house backs up to the park tried to poison the coyotes. Steve said this proves there is a pack and not just a solitary coyote up here, because they each would have taken "pieces" and gone off to eat their portion. Oh man, I'm so nauseated.

Anyways, I couldn't leave his face there! So we went home, got Steve and the metal lunchbox we're using for Dave's casket and we gathered his face and headed home. Today we'll write out loveletters and bury him in the front yard - it's past time, I HAVE to do this. I guess I just kept thinking maybe he was still alive and although I knew all that fur was his and his collar told me the truth, I thought just maybe the rest of what we found in the common area belonged to another cat. I know it's silly, but I've been checking for him out on the front porch every couple of hours since Thursday.

Today will be burial day. A friend told me to plant catnip over him and I think I'll do just that :o)

RIP Dave

Wow, what a busy couple of weeks. First I'll start with the horrible news of the death of an old friend. Yesterday after a night and morning of no old cat on our front porch waiting to be let in for his ham and pineapple, Mai and I went looking for him. He's old - yesterday we were to celebrate his 16th birthday. He's old and so although he used to leave us for days on end, as of late, not so much. He's in and out of the house many times throughout the day. I figured he was locked in someone's garage but we went looking up in the common area of our neighborhood just in case he was sick and had wandered away to the woods. As we came to the end of the trail Mai spotted the first set of clumps and clumps of Dave's fur. Next, I found his collar and nametag and then more fur and then a few obvious signs that he was gone.
After a good cry and boxing up his fur and collar for burial, I googled coyotes in our area and come to find out there is a pack that has taken many pets -one guy just down the road from us has lost a cat and two dogs :-(
On my bike ride yesterday I noticed an abnormal amount of "missing cat" signs in the neighborhood. Grrr. I wish I had known - I would have tried to make sure he was in each night. This cat has been with me since I was 25!! That was a loooooooooooong time ago!! He's been with me since before I moved to Portland, through 3 different apartments, many jobs, a wedding, a new home, two kids, two dogs. He was the meanest cat you would ever meet. But for the past several years he mellowed, let kids pet him with only a few attacks and I'll miss him greatly. Good Bye my old furry friend.
tears...

So onto training - not so much during the week, but my weekend long workouts are still happening. Life is just so busy this year compared to last. Both kids just finally finished up Spring Soccer and Mai is done with school as of Wednesday, so things are easing up a bit this week. I did a long brick two weeks ago and was so slow on the run that Michele kicked my butt wearing her Crocs (she forgot her running shoes) and my MO seems to be "slow" right now. I'm just waiting for race day and hoping it is at least minimally less of an ordeal than last year. During the run portion of yesterday's brick I realized my upper back was having spasms just like in the race last year. I didn't experience any of this at all on my 12 mile run (no bike ride) last weekend, so it's got to be from moving from the bike to the run. I need to figure out some exercises/stretches to do in the next 4 weeks to get my back in better shape.

Tomorrow we have a 15 mile trail run and then on Sunday, Sheryl and I are making up the 50 mile bike/ 10 mile run BRICK that we missed last week. Should be a painful weekend :o)

I missed the big group brick last weekend because I had my TNT fundraiser garage sale - which was totally profitable!!! We made about a $1000.00!!!!!!! The total on our bottle/can drive was over $200.00!! We are slowly but surely reaching our goal for the season. If you are planning on donating, I have until June 12th to reach my goal of $4000.00. Donations can be made here: http://pages.teamintraining.org/or/pctri09/jarts

Oh - and our first open water swim of the year was this week. If you'll remember back to last year, I had to be towed to shore at the first swim - then I cried for two days straight and thought life was ending as there seemed to be no way I would ever be able to swim 1.2 miles in open water on race day. Well, as the swims progressed, I got used to the wetsuit and it ended up being my favorite (and fastest) part of the half iron! Well, I thought for sure that the first open water swim of this year would be a piece of cake and I was going to "be there" for all the newbies who might experience some open water difficulties, but once again - there is Julie hyperventilating in the middle of the lake and needing someone to hold her hand as she floated on her back trying to regroup! OH BROTHER!
Thanks to Ali, I calmed down and was able to continue swimming - slowly, and very near the shore :o)
Some things never change.
Have a great day and hopefully I'll live to tell you about our long workouts of this holiday weekend.

RACC - Thanks Coach Scott

I did my second RACC (Ride Around Clark County) again yesterday. Last year it was the longest ride I had ever done and I mostly remember that I had horrible quad pain from about mile 40 and on - major cramping. This year the time seemed to fly by and I felt super strong. It's a 67 mile ride - mostly flattish but with a couple mean hills.

My morning started with me waking up at about 3 or 4am to major downpours pummeling my roof. Not a good sign. I SO did NOT want to ride in the cold and rain. Really thought I might put this ride off until the next day and just figure something out on my own, but when the alarm went off, I got up, got prepped and headed out the door. The rain seemed to have slowed down and to my surprise, when I arrived at registration, Sheryl was coming out the door. She and Dan and Coach Scott and Ilana were doing the 100 mile option of this ride and although invited to join them, I had declined. I thought they were leaving at 7am, but they said, no 8am. I wished them well and BSd with Randal for awhile and realized while I was talking with him that I was REALLY warm, so I made the decision to leave my ear muffs and fleece jacket behind. I thought it might be a bad decision but went back to the truck to drop them off. On my way back, I ran into Sheryl and Dan again and they STILL weren't on the road and since the rest of my group would be taking off shortly and I knew they would catch me, off I went with Sheryl and Dan.

We led the pack until Ilana got a flat and then when my 67 miler group caught up with us I took off with them while the 100s fixed the flat. Whoops...bug in my eye - MUST remember to buy new glasses! While I'm trying to dig the bug out of my eye with my glove on, I realize I have a flat tire. DANG IT! Just when I was whizzing along KEEPING UP WITH EVERYONE. Do you guys hear that?? I was keeping up with no extra effort with everyone else!! Having a road bike ROCKS!!! Unfortunately, I had decided to be at the end of the chain of everyone and so only Tiff heard me stop. Also unfortunately, she needed to get this ride DONE so she could get on the road for the Eugene half on Sunday. I told her I would be fine and to go ahead. I got the tire off and the huge piece of glass just did NOT want to budge from my tire. Took me forever to get it out and by then, Dan and Sheryl caught up with me. Shortly after, Scott and Ilana showed up, so the girls went on ahead and Dan and Scott finished up with me. "We'll catch up with you girls" they said. Ya right...they will catch up with them, but now I am officially at the back of the pack...as usual.

So I got the tire on and off I flew - leaving Dan and Scott in the dust. Felt kind of rude, since they just stayed with me for my flat, but dang it...I'm going to stay out of the back for at least a minute or two. Finally (I should really say shortly), Dan caught up with me and said something about how fast I flew out of there and then I could feel Coach Scott behind me for some time before he pulled up beside me and complimented me on my cadence and how fast I was going. He said I was really strong and basically made me feel like the best rider and then he asked me the ill-fated question to get into my big ring. Now, I'm not afraid to get in my big ring but honestly, I rarely do - simply because with this double crank, I just don't use those big gears that much and I've gotten lazy about shifting into my big ring on the flats and downhills. So I tried to get into my big ring but my shifter wasn't working. I explained to Scott that it was stuck and I've had troubles with it before (I really have!) and that it just wouldn't work. I tried for about a mile to get it to shift before he pulled up beside me and asked me to do it again and then in only a way that Scott can do - informed me that I was using the wrong shifter, but that it's ok, it's an easy mistake that lots of people do and that I shouldn't be embarassed. HAHAHAHA. Right! I just looked like such a fool! I must have turned 40 shades of red. Anyways, I caught up to Sheryl and Ilana just like the boys said we would. THAT has never happened before!! Then at about mile 40 or so I had to split with those four crazies that were doing the 100 and I was on my own again until I caught up with everyone at the 2nd aid station. I rode the rest of the way with the rest of my team and I felt really really really good about my strength increases from last year's ride! And really really great about the confidence talk that Scott gave me.
GO ME!!

And...the choice to leave all my fleece behind turned out to be the right one. Although it rained on us off and on the whole ride, everyone was way too overdressed and people were running out of room trying to stuff all their gear in those teeny pockets on the back of our riding shirts. Everyone looked like the michelin man - all stuffed and puffed.

Now I have a 10 mile run I need to get done sometime today...
but when?