Race Report: Vineman 70.3

As is typical these days, I have let too much time lapse between a race and when I actually sit down to write a race report.  So I'll hit the highlights as much as I can recollect.  This pretty much sums it up:

We (Jenn, The Hubs, and I) drove down to Cali, had an awesome visit with my Mom, raced, drank wine, and came home with 6+ cases.  Okay, but seriously, back to the race report.

Race: Vineman 70.3

Date: July 18, 2010
Swim time = 42:35 (pace = 2:13/100m)

T1 = 2:54

Bike time = 3:25:59 (pace = 16.3 mph)

T2 = 3:58

Run time = 3:19:34 (pace = 15.2 min/mi)

TOTAL = 7:35:00

There are two things very interesting, if not slightly disturbing, about those paces.  1) I have been in the pool about, oh, 10 times since Ironman.  LAST NOVEMBER.  Really.  But, my swim was only a few minutes off of my normal half-ironman time when I was swimming 3+ hours a week.  Lesson learned = quit wasting money on a pool membership and wing it.  I'm not joking.  2) Despite running a ton this year (by my standards), this was my worst 13.1 miles ever.  Apparently I need to up my standards.  In my defense, I was coming off an injury at the time.  But I can only use that excuse for so long.

Pre-race:

We had stayed at my Mom's house in Hidden Valley Lake on Fri night, but wanted to be closer to the start on race-eve and moved home base to a hotel in Santa Rosa.  On Sat we did a practice swim in the Russian River (warm, calm water!), went through the athlete meeting and packet pickup (boring), set up T2 (getting tired now...), went for a quick practice run (HOT!  REALLY HOT!), lounged at the pool, finally got checked in, ate dinner, and got our bikes ready.  Nothing like being on your feet all day, running around like a crazy person, and getting sunburned the day before an event.

The morning of the race we hit the local Starbuck's, Ken dropped us off near the beach, and we did our pre-race routines.  I never saw Jenn after we entered transition, and since it was her first half-ironman, I spent a lot of time looking for her and telepathically sending her all sorts of good juju.  Then I hung out with my Mom and Debbie, got ready, and meandered over to the swim entrance.

Swim:

This is the first race that I wasn't nervous as all get out right before the gun went off.  I think I knew that I was horribly under prepared, and therefore didn't have any pressure on me to perform well.  I said a quick prayer to the tri gods for me to remember how to swim, did a goggle leak check, warmed up the river, and waited for my wave to start.  Bang!  The swim itself was uneventful.  Although, it was really curious to see people walking the swim.  The river was really shallow in places so sometimes I would turn to breathe and be staring at someones knees.  At least no one was in jeopardy of drowning at this race.

T1:

After I got over the shock of being under, like, an hour for the swim, I got down to my usual transition rock-starness.  I was fast enough to be happy with my time here, especially since I stopped to say hi to my family, ran down the incorrect bike aisle (thanks a lot Mom!), and had to take the time to bag everything up.

Bike:

I love my Cobb saddle.  Love.  I love it so much that it's pretty much all I could think about during the ride.  Because I was so shocked at how much I loved it.  I'll be doing a full gear review on it soon, so stay tuned.

The Vineman bike course is truly gorgeous.  Some of the most stunning views I've seen from my saddle ever.  Vineyards, hills, rivers, wineries, forest.  It's awesome.  And NOT hilly.  Seriously people?  I was so freaked about this race after reading all the hype on the forums about the "relentless hills" and "super challenging bike course".  And I am so not a climber at all.  Chalk Hill was notable, I'll give y'all that much, but it still only lasted less than 5 minutes.  All that being said, my pace was slow compared to what I'm usually capable of, so maybe it really was hilly.  And I just didn't notice because I was LOVING my saddle so much.

As a bonus, I got to see my Mom, Debbie, and Ken somewhere near Healdsburg.  Clearly, I wasn't taking this day too seriously.

T2:

Gah!  Did I have a picnic or what?  Slow!  It was a long transition I suppose.  My favorite part was getting to see my little brother Joshy-poo and his wife Heather.  Very cool that they came out to cheer!

Run:

One word: HOT.  Okay, two words, because it was also: SLOW.  The views sort of sucked too.  Not even close to my favorite run course.  The volunteers were pretty fantastic though.  My biggest regret was not figuring out that my sports bra was the perfect ice holder...until mile 11.  My Mom was waiting somewhere around mile 10 or 11 and ran/walked back with me.  I don't think she was very impressed with my race strategy of "run the downhills and walk everything else".  I, of course, thought it was genius.  Joshy ran with me for the last 1/4 mile.

Finish:

I was so happy that it was over.  HOT!  It was really fun to see everyone at the finish line too.  Jenn was still smiling and we were able to take some finishers pictures together.  After rounding up our gear, we headed to Bear Republic to join some fellow finishers and enjoy yummy Racer 5 IPA.

And, more importantly, the wine-tasting race report will be posted next.

2010 Goals - Progress Report

I have been delaying this post because I am nowhere close to meeting most of my goals this year.  It's been a whirlwind of events, busy work schedule, two stress fractures, and so on and so on.  You know, life.

The original plan:
Swim - 250,000 meters
Bike - 4000 miles
Run - 900 miles

What I've done so far:
Swim - 18,016 meters
Bike - 901 miles
Run - 331 miles

Eek.  The swimming is a lost cause.  My swim mojo left town long ago, and I have yet to lure it back.  I could set a new swimming goal, but I'm not going to.  Because I have no interest in forcing myself to do something that I currently detest.  The biking mileage is on the pathetic side, but it's recoverable.  I likely won't hit 4000 miles, but I think with some determination I can come close to last years distance.  I'm actually proud of the running total.  It may look small to many of you, but with two major injuries, this isn't so bad.  It's only a couple hundred short 2009 overall.  And I have at least 2 half marathons, 1 marathon, and 1 ultramarathon left this year.  And a half ironman.

 

Oh yes, a half ironman.  On Sunday.  If I can get through the swim, then the biggest hurdle of the day will be cleared.  The next big hurdle will be getting to the finish line in under 8 hours.  It's going to be a painful day, but as long as I can go buy the awesome Vineman jersey afterwards, then my goal for the day will be met.  The real reason I'm going down to California -- wine tasting and to pick up my 6 cases of wine that are waiting for me.

New Gear

The solution to undertraining?  Buy new gear!  Here are some of my new training faves and first impressions.  Full reviews will be written after more rigorous testing.

Shimano Tri Shoes

These aren't actually a new purchase, but rather a result of lazy unmotivation.  They have been sitting in the box in our spin room since December.  So stupid, because after a few rides, I really like them.  Roomy, airy, and most importantly, they smell 1000% better than the old ones (which have often been banned from the house).  I hate the color (shiny white/green, ick) and my feet slide forward when standing to climb.  But since they don't stink, and buying a new pair may take me another 7 months of procrastination, I'll make do.

Cobb Saddles
Saddle #3 just hasn't been doing it for me lately.  Actually, it's been heading towards the junk pile since last November when I ended up with a 2-inch saddle sore after Ironman.  I keep hoping it will become comfortable again, but no.  If a saddle causes pain and injury so severe, that scars are still present 8 months later, it's time to try something else.  After seeing some posts on triathlon forums, adverts in race packets, and mounted on the bikes of pros at a couple of races, I decided to call Cobb Cycling and see if they had something they could recommend.  Oh my, they are AWESOME!  I'll save details for a full review, but I wish I could fly down to Texas and hug them.

I actually received two saddles in the mail: the V-Flow Plus and V-Flow Max.  Each saddle comes with a tool kit, helpful tips, and a DIY video.  Within 5 minutes the Plus was perfectly adjusted on the Cervelo.  My first test ride was a quick hop on the trainer at 9:30pm after a long day at work.  I climbed on, fully expecting to hate it.  After 30 minutes in aero position without any adjustments, it felt like I was riding on a cloud.  I seriously could barely feel where my body met the saddle.  I tried not to get too happy until I was able to take it out on the road, but really, I was about to burst with excitement!

The following night I jumped on the trainer for a measly 20 minutes, just to verify that I wasn't imagining things from the previous night.  Awwww, pure comfort.  But the real test was the 7:30am hangover ride (courtesy of Laura's Ironman party, thanks girlfriend!) this past Saturday morning.  Three days in a row of riding, raging nausea, piss-poor attitude, and a bit more mileage.   The end result = love!  After Vineman 70.3 this coming weekend, I'll swap out and give the Max a test ride and see which one I'm going to end up with.

Luna Sandals

My Luna sandals finally arrived in the mail!  I've been alternating between racing flats, vibram five fingers, and totally barefoot since last December.  I have been eyeing the do-it-yourself sandal kits from Barefoot Ted, which are modeled after the traditional Raramuri huaraches.  But he recently came out with the Luna Sandal company, and I was lucky enough to get my hands on the production model as soon as they started shipping.  They arrive in the mail like this:

Less than five minutes after watching a quick video on different tying techniques, voila:

I couldn't help but take them for a test run immediately.  The plan was to go for a short 1-2 mile run.  Almost 6 miles later, I reluctantly returned home.  Aside from a small blister between my right toes and a little heat on the balls of my feet, I had no pain.  I think these can be resolved with a little body glide.  If the blister is healed by Sunday, there is a good chance that these will be sitting in T2 waiting for a 13-mile trial run.

Awesomeness on a Monday

Mondays are always rough.  Especially when they are coupled with being sick, PMS, and 80+ unanswered emails from the weekend.  Oh, and my thoughts were completely preoccupied with a half ironman in 6 days that I sort of didn't train for.  But you know what makes it easier to swallow?

This:

No no no, that's not what you think it is.  Unless you thought it was a really cool bottle of tequila.  Seriously!  Even better?  The name of it is "AsomBroso".  Awesomeness just seems to keep crossing my path lately.  And even better?

No, I'm not an alcoholic.  (If you have drank with me recently, then you know that I actually very rarely drink and therefore am quite entertaining after only 1 beverage.)  A coworker friend of mine recently made a booze-run to Nevada and let me place a special order before he left.  This will probably keep us tied over for the next several years.

And the best end to my crappy-Monday-turned-awesome-Monday?  A fantastic run in my new running sandals (blog post on that to come soon) and a yummy salmon dinner cooked by The Hubs.  And now off to an early bedtime...

Fun In Idaho

There were so many great moments while spectating at IMCdA, I can't not do another post about it.  Here are some of the highlights that we managed to capture.

Julie and I leaving Camas, all set to go with our 'ho hats.

Making inspiration signs on Ironman eve.

Taking a break from our ride for a dip in the lake.

Jeff, aka Hoosee, waiting patiently for three girls to get ready.

At Coeur d'Alene Brewery.

Raising our hands for total awesomeness.  And then being even more awesome while practicing cheering at the finish line.  And then getting kicked out.  But making the guard take our picture first.

Spectating is hard work.  Beer break!

Cheering on the hottie pros on the run.  But they didn't compare at all to the 13-14 hour hotties.

More on Perspective

Balance.  I've never been good at it.  Yes, I can take on a multitude of responsibilities, juggle oodles of events, and book my calendar up to the gills.  But that's not balance.  That's frantically running from one end of the teeter-totter to the other with my arms full and trying not to drop anything or fall off the beam.  And some things do get dropped.  And sometimes I fall off the beam flat on my face.  I don't spend enough quality time with my husband.  My well-intentioned training plans get backed up by half-assed execution and my race performances have been lacking.  I successfully lose weight and then unsuccessfully gain most of it back.  I cancel plans because I'm triple-booked.  My flower and veggie gardens die.  I end up overwhelmed, sick, and burned out.  Not healthy.

So starting now, I will be changing things that don't contribute to my overall well-being.  From the big things: eliminating fast food filled with salt and saturated fats, consuming alcohol only in very limited quantities, and getting enough sleep.  To the small things: turning off the television and computer more often, keeping caffeine to a cup or two a day, and actually taking a break or two during the work day.  As well as the really difficult things: letting go of people who bring me down and suck away all of the good energy, saying no to social events when I'm exhausted, and learning a little bit about the word "moderation".

Reconnecting

I've been away from the blog for awhile because I've been reconnecting.  With my husband, with my friends, and with myself as I try to get motivated again.  After the last year of craziness I needed some time with my husband.  And my friends.  And I sort of lost focus with my fitness and triathlon training.

Hawaii

After a particularly rough day, I came home, plopped on the couch in tears, looked at Ken, and knew that we needed to get away.  So we rearranged some schedules and finally booked our honeymoon.  A week on the warm beaches of Kauai is exactly what we needed.  We stayed in the southern area of Poipu, at an amazing boutique hotel called The Koa Kea.  We took a helicopter tour of the island, snorkeled on remote beaches, ziplined over gorges on private property, and ate at 5 star restaurants.  Even if the luxury was short lived, it gave us a chance to spend time together and focus on just being happy.

Our hotel room, the view from our lanai, and the beach less than 50 feet from our door:

The Na Pali coast from the helicopter, and Ke'e Beach (we snorkeled here the next day):

Us getting ready to head down the first of seven ziplines,eating dinner on the beach at sunset, and swimming with the sea turtles:

LIVESTRONG Challenge Seattle - 70-mile ride

Jenn, Ken, and I participated in the LIVESTRONG challenge this year.  After originally signing up for the 100-mile ride, I had to drop down due to lack of training, the stress fracture, and just a feeling of not being able to fit it all in.  After the ridiculous weather we experienced, I was sort of hoping that I had dropped down to the 40-miler!  But we raised a lot of money for the foundation, and I was reminded that I can do just about anything with a little determination and my amazing support system.

Ironman Coeur d'Alene - Spectating and Sign-Ups

This past weekend we made the trek to Idaho to cheer on our friends (Cory, Ian, Jason, and Josh) and so that I could sign up for next year.  The weather was perfect and everyone finished in amazing times with huge smiles.  There were so many adventures and inside jokes that will not be understood by most, but I'll list them for posterity...'Ho Hats, total awesomness, HooosEEE, cooling off in the lake, get SOME backSIDE, and Confuscious saying many things.  Race day spectating started for us at 6am, I watched the swim start (I will always be in awe of the starts), volunteered as wetsuit peeler from 7am-9:30am, cheered the bikers and then the runners, volunteered in the women's change tent from 3pm-5:30pm, then cheered in the finish line bleachers until midnight.  You can't watch the finish line of an Ironman and not be touched down to your core.  And the last hour will make your heartache.  There's really nothing like it.

I came away from Idaho remotivated, reminded of what is important to me, and with fresh perspective on many things.  More on that later.

Good Things

In spite of a stressful and overly busy year, I'm trying to stay focused on the positive. And remind myself of how very blessed I am. Some of the recent "good things" that I am very grateful for:

1) Getting this blasted clunky annoyance off my foot. Perhaps a bit earlier than recommended, but it's off!

2) An extended weekend of camping for our annual trek to the Lochsa in Idaho, where I got to spend time with my favorite boys, ride my bike in the sunshine next to gorgeous scenery, watch sillyness on the river, and hike/trail run to the hot springs.

Ken blasting through Lochsa Falls:

Some of my favorite photos from the weekend. From top-left, clockwise: the trail on the way to the hotsprings, Nate making his shaft sticky while the guys spectate (hehehe), and Eric and Kelly putting in on the Fish Creek/Lochsa confluence on their river boards.

3) PASSING MY PE EXAM!!!! Washington state results were issued just after 5:30 this morning and thankfully my letter began with "Congratulations" (which I was able to barely read by peaking through my hands covering my eyeballs), my Mom sent me beautiful flowers to the office, and Ken came home with a sweet card and then took me to a celebratory dinner. Not to mention all of the wonderful calls/texts/emails/posts from my amazing circle of friends and family. Thank you!

4) Cute boots. Not the healthiest obsession as far as my wallet is concerned, but hey, at least I'm not smoking crack.

5) Running! I had my first post-fracture run this evening. In the weird sunny rain that is notorious around here lately. It may not have been endorsed by the doc, but it didn't hurt, so I'm going to start slowly ramping back up. It's like I've taken a 1 month break from really important therapy.

6) Very very soon, I will be lounging here with hubby. If you haven't heard from us in about a month, it means that we did not come back.

P90X - Initial Thoughts

About a month ago I started the P90X program. It's a 90-day full body fitness program and a coordinated nutrition program. With an incredibly annoying trainer/host person. It consists of a huge packet of DVDs, some books, and requires weights and/or band and a pullup bar. All you have to do is set up the minimal equipment somewhere in the house, pop in a disc, and hit play. And have nothing planned for an hour or two. I took my "before" photos and took my starting weight, body fat, and measurements. Wow, depressing. And then I did only a week of it, but I didn't have the pull-up bar yet, and I didn't even crack open the nutrition program. The workouts were hard, but I wasn't that into it. Probably because I had a marathon the following week. So I put it on hold until after the race.

After the marathon, I restarted the program. This time with the pullup bar (of which I can do a whopping total of zero unassisted pullups), but I still disregarded the nutrition plan. I was getting good workouts in, but was still half-assing it. It was also extrememly hard to juggle swimming (haha who am I kidding), biking, running, AND 7+ hours of P90X per week. Not to mention this thing called work. I hit 17 hours of training that week. The week AFTER a marathon. Apparently, my I left my brain somewhere in Eugene. Burnout City was just around the corner. But then...then I found out I had a stress fracture in my left heel and my refuge of running was yanked away. About 6 hours per week of "free time" magically opened up.

So I re-restarted the program on Tuesday. This time I'm using the nutrition plan. I have never seen an eating program THIS CLEAN. So clean in fact, that after only 4 days, I feel like I'm cheating by eating 1 tsp of chocolate chips. One flippin teaspoon. I used to knock back an entire bag of those without blinking. This plan is time consuming, both in the matter of preparation and cooking, but also as far as eating 2400+ calories per day of whole foods, and then logging said calories into the online calculator. Do you know how much lean protein and veggies it takes to equal 2400+ calories? Here is a sample day:

Breakfast: 6-8 egg white scramble with veggies and maybe some grilled chicken, turkey bacon, cup of strawberries

Snacks: protein shake, maybe some cottage cheese, whole wheat bread with almond butter if I'm still hungry (I haven't been)

Lunch: salad with grilled chicken and veggies, maybe some soup, maybe some sweet potatoes

Snacks: string cheese or soy nuts, apple with almond butter

Dinner: salmon, lemon-dill sauce, asparagus, wild rice, roasted red pepper soup, protein powder in the soup
Other: recovery drink after workout(s), whatever carbs/calories I need during workout(s) if over an hour, and whatever else to get me above 2000 calories. Because, seriously, the above list doesn't get me to my target amount. And I'm so full that I'm almost puking.

I'm either working, working out, cooking, or eating. And sleeping a solid 5 hours a night. What, 5 hours is not enough? No, no it's not. I'm working on that. But aside from not getting enough sleep, I feel fabulous. My digestive system is perky and happy, my muscles have that hurts-so-good sore and fatigued feeling, and I was able to do 2 big-girl pushups today. Go me. And I've lost SIX pounds. I was able to button the top part of my jeans this morning and I didn't have to undo them after lunch. Small victories. Only 2 pounds until I'm at Ironman weight, 7 pounds until wedding weight, and 23 pounds to my goal weight. Woah, 23 pounds? Ack, I'll just focus on losing only those 2 pounds for the moment.

Now if only I can get Ken, aka Mr. Mega-meat-eater, to enjoy the squash soup, turkey bacon, protein shakes, and soy sausage as much as I do. But even if he has no interest in trying it, at least he isn't complaining about ME eating it. I'll report back on my progress and thoughts next week. So far, so good.

2010 Eugene Marathon

Ken and I arrived in Eugene early on Saturday afternoon, navigated the crowded and overheated expo/packet pickup at the Hilton, met up with Rondy (Rusty), Skully (Sondra), Jeff (Jeff), Tom (Tom), and some other girls for dinner, then settled in for an early bedtime. Side note: there are lots of evil ducks, geese, and nutria roaming this town...beware.

Race morning was just as uneventful as the prior evening. I slept like crap as is customary on race-eve, decided to finally just get out of bed around 4:30am, showered, ate a skimpy hotel continental breakfast, and then sat in the car near the race start trying to stay warm as long as possible. Ken was dropping me off and then heading back to the hotel to have a leisurely morning of packing back up and checking out. With about 30 minutes until go time, I made my way to the porta-potty lines and then the starting corral. Unlike my last stand-alone marathon (Portland Marathon), there was no wandering anxiously between pace groups. I saw the 12:00 sign and parked it right there until the gun went off. Based on my training lately, I wasn't fooling myself or anyone else by shooting for something faster.

Apparently the national anthem was sung and someone said enlightening and significant things over the PA system. Back in the 12:00 pace group, you don't hear any of this. I didn't even hear the start gun. Right around this time Jeff wandered up nonchalantly, as if there wasn't even a race starting. He was doing the half marathon, and this was a nice, calming aura to be around at this moment. Thanks Jeff! He ran with me for about a mile or so, and since he typically runs about 3:00/mile faster than me, I finally told him to go start running.

Miles 1-8 felt great. I was running ahead of pace, the crowd was energizing, and the air was cool and crisp. And I got to see Ken a couple of times. Miles 8-11 were still fun, but I was starting to think "I could just split off at mile 11 with the half-marathoners and then let the officials know". When mile 11 showed up, and every single last person around me split to the left, I continued right to complete another 15.2 miles. It got pretty lonely here, but the sun was starting to peak out, I had some nice tunes on the iphone, and I was falling into my groove. That "groove" is why I love to run. I can't say that I ever really experience the "runners high". But when my feet fall into a rythm, my breathing matches the foot falls, and my mind gets quiet, not much else compares to that.

Miles 11-20 were great as well. I had the biggest ear-to-ear grin on my face and didn't ever want to stop running. The crowds along the course cheered so loud, which made me smile even wider. Usually, the loudest cheers are for those who look strong and also for those who look like absolute hell. I like to think that these cheers were not due to the latter. I was also on track to have a smashing PR by over 20 minutes.

I should mention that by this point, I had taken in about 3 gels (100 cal/gel), 1/2 banana (50 cal), and maybe 4 oz of gatorade (less than 50 cals). So yeah, less than 400 cals over 20 miles. Nothing sounded appetizing, and I wasn't able to force myself to eat. I wish I had that problem ALL of the time... Anyway, it was no suprise that I started to lose steam here. My short-lived dream of a huge PR disasppeared, and I was forced into salvage mode.

From miles 22 through 25 I ran when I could and walked when I couldn't. I was still having fun, but I was fighting hard against that famed trip to Bonk Town. My legs still felt okay, my feet hurt a bit, but I was getting really sleepy. Ken gave me a little pick-me-up at mile 23, and then it was up to me to bring it in for the last 5k.

Finally, mile 25 appeared. 1.2 miles to go. I started crying here. I don't usually cry in races, but sometimes endorphins have a way of triggering the waterworks. I was also extremely thankful that I would be able to take off my shoes soon. The final stretch of the marathon takes you into the entrance of Hayward Field, one of the most historic track and field venues in the country. Being towards the back of the pack, I pretty much had the entire track to myself. The stadium seemed enormous at that moment and it was a little overwhelming. The finish line is half-way around the track. Cross through, get a medal, get a space blanket, get your chip off, and then pancakes. Yes, pancakes. They were awesome and the first thing that sounded appetizing all day.

After moseying around the finishers area, I wandered behind the grand stands to meet up with Ken. As we were walking back to the car, I could not think of anything more marvelous than laying in the shaded green grass next to the sidewalk. So I did. And within 5 minutes I was asleep. Ken came back with the car, loaded me up, and took me straight for salty food and recovery drinks. But only after helping me change out of stinky clothes in the middle of a busy parking lot. What an awesome husband.

Final time = 5:16:11 (12:05 pace), for an almost 2-minute PR