STP Ride Report

Yay! I did it! And it was way fun!

I was the most irritable, mean, yucky person on Friday afternoon when I got home from Germany. I yelled at my husband A TON (mostly because he failed to bring my bike in for the service I wanted prior to this 200 mile bike ride - and the reason I didn't do it myself before I left was that I was busy helping him with something else) and I just felt crabby. I chalked it up to needing sleep and went to bed at 9:30, after preparing all my stuff and going through lists of all the things I needed to bring, needed to put in John's car, and needed to do to my bike.

I slept so-so - thank goodness I was actually tired, or else I probably wouldn't have slept at all. I was very nervous and woke often with weird dreams (one of them, about John unplugging my cell phone from the charger to plug his in - and I screamed at him in my dream, of course - actually sort of came true: when John met us at the first rest stop, he took my phone's battery because his was dead. FLAKE). I also remembered a few things that I'd forgotten on my lists (headlight, cleat covers, etc).

So, I got up to the alarm at 4 a.m., showered, and made coffee. I decided last-minute to change my clothing strategy - I was going to wear a bike tank top with regular black shorts - but all that food I ate in Germany was making me believe I looked extra-fat - so I decided to wear my Terry skort and a different pink shirt. I still thought I looked fat in the shirt, but at least the skort hid my tummy and thighs. Plus, it gives me a silly thrill to ride past men all decked out in team cycling gear when I'm wearing a skort, and I did hope for some opportunity to ride well.

For breakfast, I ate a bagel and cream cheese and two hard-boiled eggs, but I was so excited and anxious that I had to force it down - and I couldn't eat it all. But I knew there would be ample opportunity to eat throughout the day.

Jessi showed up at 4:45, and Danielle was a few minutes late at 5:05. Jessi's fiance took a few pictures, and we were off. Matthew was waiting a mile down the road. I had decided we would start from home in Renton, rather than in Seattle, because I didn't want to get up even earlier, suffer through STP traffic to get to Seattle, just to ride back to Renton - and even though this cut a few miles off the trip, I felt - and still feel - that I completed the ride. The course went through my city probably 3 or 4 miles from my house, so we caught up with the earliest riders somewhere around 5:30.

Our strategy was to ride 17 to 18 mph all day on flat roads, and stay together in a pace line. Early on, both Jessi and I were feeling like this is just too easy, we should be riding harder - but Danielle kept reminding us that it's a very long day and we can't let ourselves burn out too early. So, we pretty much stuck to plan. Our plan also included stopping at every rest stop, but briefly - hit the Porta-Potties if we had to, fill up on water, and go. We were pretty efficient for probably the first 3/4 of the ride; towards the end of the day, we definitely slowed down at the rest stops. Maybe that was me, procrastinating. :-)

(Quick aside about Jessi, I just have to announce to everyone who might read both of our blogs that she is SO UNBELIEVABLY STRONG. She hadn't trained for a one-day ride and her longest prior to STP was 70 miles. At the end she was still pushing hard and looked amazing. I was so psyched she decided to come with us and share in the pulling. She is a force to be reckoned with! You can read her report here.)

The first 100 miles is incredibly easy. There's one hill around mile 45 or so, but, as Danielle said, "It's no Lakemont." (That refers to a two-mile climb that's one of the steepest, longest hills around here - that Danielle and I LOVE to climb, mostly because we can. And I like it because you get a 3-mile downhill on the other side.) My hill strategy was just to do it easily - not push hard, not race, just stay comfortable - and my heart rate told me I did, barely breaking 160.

Right after the second major rest stop (mile 55), I got a terrible, sharp pain right in the center of my right knee. Last time I had this pain, I couldn't ride my bike anymore - had to get off and walk. This wasn't quite as bad, so I just sort of tested it and pushed through it. I found that dropping my heel A LOT - more than you're supposed to, so my foot stayed completely flat throughout the pedal rotation - made it better, but pretty much I felt it the entire 150 miles more. Danielle thinks I need to get my bike re-fit for me, especially since any knee pain I feel running is completely different (and seems due to muscle fatigue in my quads, not joint trouble) - so I'm probably going to do that soon (but not until after the half-IM - I don't want to change anything before that).

We got in some good pacelines, sometimes with other riders we didn't know, and made it to Centralia, the half-way point, at 11:40 a.m. In Centralia, we ate big plates of spaghetti, and the sun came out. Up until then, it had been bright but cloudy - what I'd consider perfect biking weather. As much as I like sun, clouds are better so I don't get as hot or sunburn. I still felt very fresh and happy, despite the knee issue.

The miles from 100 until 145 were most definitely the hardest for me. 96 to 108 DRAGGED - I thought time was standing still. I'm thinking my body was busy dealing with the food I'd thrown in it, plus it didn't know that riding more than 100 was possible, so it took a while for it to catch up with my brain that was telling it, time to move! Got another 100 to do!

Also, 100 to 145 gets some rolling hills. Nothing huge - on a regular ride, I doubt I'd even get out of my big ring (but that's because I'm a masher anyway), but after a century, they were hills. And I started to notice how every hill, even slight ones, were taking a lot more out of me than they should. My legs felt heavy and full and I just got tired so easily - but then as soon as we were back on a flat or in a paceline, I was back to being pretty much fine (knee pain excepted).

Actually, here's how I would describe the two halves of the ride: the first half is the easiest century ever. The second half is the second easiest century ever, but when it comes right after the first half, it turns into something harder.

I sang a lot on the way. Some of it was quietly, just for me, and some was for other riders - like for this guy with an Oscar The Grouch shirt who I passed no less than 4 times (I ride faster, but take longer stops, I guess), I sang, "Oh I love trash!" And I sang the Sponge Bob song for people with that jersey on, and I made up my own song - to the tune of "I love to laugh" from Mary Poppins, "I love to draft!" I'm a big dork, but I entertained myself.

I also yelled at a guy for passing on the right. Danielle yelled at him for wearing earphones. He claimed he could hear us, but later, Jessi said that when we were getting towards a rest stop, everyone started yelling, "Slowing!" like we're supposed to, and that guy ripped his earbud out and said, "What's happening?" But I guess he was a fairly new rider and there were no hard feelings - when we saw him at the finish line, he actually wanted to take a picture with us.

At mile 162, we met up with a group called the Green River Riders. We'd seen them a bunch of times throughout the day - one guy had a pink helmet and pink wheels, so Danielle was all jealous, and Jessi rode up to the guy to find out who made the wheels so she could get them too. We left at the same time as them from the Goble rest stop and quickly realized they were keeping a pace just slightly harder than ours - so we hooked on to their pace line and held something more like 19-20, at times up to 22 mph. It ROCKED. They were really cool people - they actually live fairly close to Danielle and me - and although we did offer to help pull, they didn't take us up on the offer. We split off at the next rest stop at mile 175, but then decided we wanted to hang with them a little longer, so we found them and asked if we could. So we continued the great pace until mile 188, the last rest stop. They didn't stop, but we did - I needed to go to the potty. :-)

We definitely took a while at that last rest stop - frankly, I was reluctant to hurry. I was afraid I was going to be slow, and I warned the others that I might only be up to 15-16 mph for the end. Well, that turned out to not be true in the least. We kept the good pace most of the way; for a while we stayed behind a couple of guys going about 17, but for some of it, we were still up between 18 and 22. The last few miles, though, are in the city of Portland - and HILLS! Some of them significantly steep, but all of them pretty short. But again, hills were sucking the life out of me, so I just slowed to something easy and tried to spin up. (John told me later that compared to everyone in every pace line I was in, I was always at a slower cadence, even when first, which says I'm still mashing too much. Drat. I need to work harder on that.)

At the very end, Jessi and Matthew were ahead and they made a light that Danielle and I didn't. Although we'd been riding fairly well alone for these last 16 miles, in Portland there were suddenly a TON of people, so we couldn't really catch back up, and I think it felt good to both of them to just go hard to the end. Danielle and I finished just after they did; my bike computer said 11 hours, 8 minutes. Average speed 17.1 mph. 190 miles completed! (The full ride would have been 204; we cut off 14 by starting at my house. I felt like that was okay, though - I know I could have done another 10 or 14 if I needed to, and I'm calling myself someone who has completed a double century despite the missing miles.)

Here are some other random observations:
-- Number of flat tires Danielle counted: 20
-- Number of flat tires I, the queen of flats, got: ZERO! Really!
-- Number of times I dropped my chain: 1
-- Number of times I passed the guy in the Oscar the Grouch jersey and sang to him: 4
-- Number of beers it took me to lose the ability to talk post-ride: 1 (yes, really)
-- Number of 180-calorie Hostess cupcakes I consumed on the ride: 3
-- Number of times John stopped to offer his floor pump to riders with flats: 6 (isn't that nice of him?)

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to Portland I go!

I'm back from Germany and now it's time to go to sleep...tomorrow I ride my bike 200 miles to Portland! Think happy no-jet-lag thoughts for me!

I'm getting nervous

Yeah. I was really looking forward to STP...and now that it's two days away, I'm really nervous! What if I forgot how to ride my bike?

Okay, that's silly, but still. What if I feel yucky? What if I get bored with riding? What if I'm slower than I thought I'd be?

What if my bike breaks down? What if I get a flat every 20 miles? What if I can't sleep ever again?

Okay, I'm dumb. But still...being really far away from my bike, bike clothes, PowerBars, and everything else is kind of freaking me out.

Food thoughts from Germany

-- Coke Light rocks. It's so much better than diet coke. Can I import it?
-- German food...not good for diets. And frankly, not that good anyway.
-- Ice cream...on every street corner...not good for Jessica. :-)
-- Beer! Lots of beer. Yum yum yum.
-- "Berliner Weisse" is disgusting. It's beer plus some kind of juice or syrup - super-sweet - and it comes red or green. But hey, when in Deutschland...(It's like the time that I ate durian in Singapore. DISGUSTING. But had to try it.)
-- I'm here for work, and we're working in a lab. Here's what the lab provides for food:
in the morning: a tray of cut fruit, whole fruit, and sandwiches.
for lunch: huge trays of food from a restaurant.
for lunch dessert: cake
for afternoon snack: ice cream
for late afternoon snack: more sandwiches and fruit
all day: soda and candy
So pretty much they feed us all day long and they get a little offended if we don't eat. Kind of makes it hard to stick to a reasonable diet! Oh, and they'll make us cappuccinos all day if we want them, and of course they come with a cookie.

-- So much other good food! Italian, French, Vietnamese, Japanese (sushi) - that is pretty crazy. We're eating way too well.
-- I can't find German Chocolate Cake on any menu. That makes me a little sad.
-- I can find German chocolate, though...and that makes me happy. :-)

I went out last night until 2 a.m. so I didn't wake up to exercise. I probably will do something tonight.

Hee hee. I find it funny that this post says it's 2 a.m. when I actually wrote it at 11 a.m. I didn't bother to change the time zone of my computer.

Hitting the gym in Germany

All that sleep I got Monday night must have been stored up for future use: I couldn't get to sleep last night (finally forced myself to turn off the lights at 12:10 a.m.) then I woke up every hour! In fact, at 1 a.m. I didn't believe my clock - I had to get up and look at other clocks to be sure it really was 1 a.m. I thought it was time to get up already. At 5, I couldn't stay in bed any longer.

So I got 5 hours of broken sleep, but I actually feel quite good. At 6 a.m. I went to the gym in the hotel. I wanted to do some speed work on the treadmill, then lift weights, but I had a feeling it wasn't going to happen that way - and it didn't. My legs are still very sore. All the pain is in the muscles, though, not joints, so I know it's just going to take some rest to fix this, and I do feel fairly confident that I will be ready to ride STP on Saturday.

So I ran for 15 minutes at 10.0 on the treadmill. Yeah, that's kilometers, not miles, but it made me feel good anyway. :-) Then I did most of my normal strength training routine, with the exception of any lower body work - I skipped lunges and squats for obvious reasons. I also spent about twice as long on really good, deep stretches, and now I actually feel great!

However, my hamstrings and hip flexors are still tight and my quads hurt if I make them work hard. I was happy to see, though, that despite my extremely limited weight lifting over the last few weeks, my arms still have the right stuff.

Oh, one other funny thing! The weights are in kilograms, not pounds. It was pretty fun trying to remember the math - is it 2.2 kg = 1 lb? (I'm online, I could look it up...ah! I was right. So where I normally use 12 lb weights, I did 13.2, and where I normally do 10, I did 8.8.)

Anyway, no meal tracking, but I did eat fairly healthy yesterday, with the exception of an Apfelstrudel (yum!). I am in Germany, after all...

Double sleep

Okay, so yesterday afternoon we walked all over Berlin - which was great. It's a pretty incredible city. However, it was a lot of work to walk. We probably did 5 miles or so. Fun! When I got back to the hotel, I pretty much went to bed (9 p.m. Berlin time) - and SLEPT. I normally sleep six hours. I woke up naturally at 5 a.m., so after a good 8 hour sleep - then read for an hour. Reading made me tired and my bed was cozy, so I went back to sleep - and slept until 10 a.m.! Which was the hour I was supposed to meet my co-workers to head to work! AHHHH!

Fortunately they didn't call until 10:10, by which time I had showered and was half-dressed. I was downstairs at 10:18 with a ton of apologies. But that was 12 hours of sleep!

On the plus slide, I feel great today - no jet lag whatsoever. I don't plan to work out today, but maybe lift weights in the evening if I still feel great.

I'm also not meal-tracking this week - I'm not eating like mad, but it just isn't practical. Half the time I have no idea what I'm eating anyway, so it would be pretty inaccurate.

Seafair Half Marathon Report and other random musings from Germany

For future reference: Not my most brilliant idea, running a half-marathon in the morning then getting on an airplane for a 9-hour trip. It's about 7 hours in, and I haven't gotten out of my seat in a while, and I'm not actually sure I can. Every muscle in my legs is sore, from my hip flexors on down to my toes. Seriously. Nothing sounds better than a massage.

Plus, I can't obsessively check the race results site to see when official results are posted. I want to know how I did!

well, I sort of know. I know that I started out feeling pretty good, especially since I'm not sure when the last time I ran long was. Aleks really really wanted to beat two hours, which I knew I could do when I felt good, and I knew I could do on that particular course, since I did it last year. Hmm. Let me talk about last year for a moment.

I had planned in January to run the full marathon at Seafair in July, but I was completely undisciplined in my training...and then in May, I injured my foot and couldn't run at all for a month. So I decide to do the half-marathon at Seafair; I had done exactly one half-marathon before, and it was in Seattle the prior November. However, I did that race with a couple of friends, and we ran 11 to 12 minute miles for the first hour. I dropped them almost by accident - I meant to run ahead, then walk for a while so they could catch up - but I never stopped running. I did that first one in about 2:26, I think, but probably could have done 2:10 or 2:15.
So I didn't have much time to train between June, when I could run again, and July - I basically did a couple of 10+ mile runs and called it good. I planned to run 10 minute miles the entire way and finish in 2:10. I had no dreams of going sub-two.

But you know, when the excitement of the crowd hits you, something happens, and you just go. I realized immediately, by mile 1, that I was going 9 minute miles, and I thought, hey, I'll just do this until I can't anymore, then go back to plan.

By mile 7, I was at 1 hour, 1 minute, I think - nice! I finally catch up to the two-hour pacer, and I stay with that group for a minute, then I realize we're running downhill and I should just stay ahead, just in case. Because now that I've done 7 miles in nine minute miles, I'm doing the math and realizing I could go sub-two. And that sounds so great!

Of course, I was such a newbie that I didn't know about the need to have GU or some kind of carbohydrate drink on the run - I knew you shouldn't do something new if you haven't trained with it, so I only took in water. And by the 10 mile mark, I was really in pain. I pushed through, knowing the 2 hour pacer was so close to me, but I was not psyched. I also was feeling chafing between my legs and below my heart rate monitor - oh, and my HR was in the 170s THE ENTIRE TWO HOURS.

I got to around 12.8 miles or so - I could see the left turn to the finish - and burst into tears. I stopped short. I just couldn't run anymore. The pacer passed me and said, "You have to stay in front of me to beat two hours!" So I started running again, reluctantly.

I crossed the finish line at 1:59 on the gun clock, 1:58 on my watch. The pacer had been ahead of schedule slightly and was jogging in place before the finish. I was completely bonked - I didn't see my family, fortunately they found me, and they had to get me something to eat. All I wanted to do was sit.

So this year was different: I've run more half marathons since then (though some were trained through, with results of 2:05, 2:06 or so) and I did that one in Kirkland in May in 1:57.
We start out at perfect 9 minute miles, and then basically hold the pace throughout. A few miles were slightly faster - at one point we were about 30 seconds ahead of a 9 minute pace - but pretty much we were on target mile for mile. My fuel/water strategy for today was a new test: Jelly Belly Sport Beans, which I love while cycling, one pack at mile 4, 8, and 11. I actually did 4, 7.5, and 10 because of where the water stations were, but it worked. I didn't choke despite having to chew, and I could eat them prior to the water stations and be okay running without carrying water.

I did the Jelly Belly thing instead of GU because Jelly Bellys make me happy. I'm glad it worked - I think for the half-iron I will carry two GUs and two Jelly Belly packets so I can choose whatever I feel like having. It's good to have options.

The course has to be the best-supported course ever - water stations every two miles (slightly less, in fact), great volunteers, and fun music in places along the way. So every time I felt like maybe I was starting to get thirsty, a water station appeared.

Around mile 11, I could no longer happily keep up with Danielle and Aleks. I'd been feeling like I was working harder than I could sustain for a while, but when my heart rate wasn't coming down on a downhill and was hanging out in the low 170s downhill, high 170s flat, low 180s uphill, that says to me that I'm working closer to 5k race pace, not half-marathon. I had really hoped to be able to pick it up a lot for the last 5k, but when I got there, I knew it wasn't happening. I got behind them from a water station, then caught up, then started falling behind again, and I didn't work to pick back up with them. I went internal to fight my own head and finish the race alone.
By this time, I think my shoelaces were too tight, because my feet hurt in a new and exciting way they've never hurt before. I don't think I've run that distance with my Yankz shoelaces on, and I think they need adjusting. I also was feeling some weirdness in my quads - kind of like the muscle was pulling away from the bone. It was weird and made me think about chicken legs, which was a thought requiring immediate banishment.

The last 3/4 to half a mile is uphill. You can look up and see where everyone turns to go to the finish, and from last year I knew the finish was just 1/10 of a mile from the turn. I could see Aleks and Danielle up ahead, maybe just 1/10 of a mile, and to my surprise, I started passing people on the hill. It was actually kind of weird to experience - I didn't feel slow, really, but I didn't feel awesome. I guess that final hill affects everyone. I did have the thought in my head - hey, I'm not crying this year!

After the turn, it's downhill to the finish. I found something left and turned on the speed - but this time, my head was thinking about all of my race finish photos, where I always look twisted around. I wanted my body to look straight up and down and strong, so I tried to focus on great form while getting a nice long stride to the finish. The gun clock read 1:58:something when I crossed the finish line; my watch said 1:58:10, I think. So I'm fairly certain I beat last year's time by a matter of seconds, not even a whole minute. Hey, nothing wrong with consistency!
The post-race stuff deserves mention for anyone considering doing this race. Man, Seafair knows how to put on a great race! The post-race athlete's food was awesome - it included watermelon, sour patch kids, pretzels, bagels, Oreo cookies, and best of all, popsicles and ice cream sandwiches! Yum yum yum. Oh, and the finisher's medals were cool.

So the race was good, I definitely think it should be part of my summer every year. It was also the first running race I've ever repeated! I can say the course was different, but it was fairly similar. The primary difference between this year and last was that this year was warmer by about 10 degrees. I think it started around 60 last year, and it was 70 this year. Of course, where else can you run a summer marathon and not have serious heat or humidity? Yay Seattle!

So now, on to Germany. My plan this week is to do strength training in my hotel room with my bands and body weight, and do short runs (5k or so a couple of times). I'd love to run to see the city, but I'm not sure how safe that is - I'll have to find out. I'm traveling with a woman from work who runs, but she says she only does the treadmill. (I cannot imagine choosing the treadmill over a run with another person in a new city, but whatever.)
---

All that was written on the airplane. Now I'm here in Germany. It's 4 a.m. at home, 1 p.m. here. I'm feeling like I can stay up until 8 or 9 p.m. Berlin time so that I can get on this schedule, so that's good. Let's look up my race results!

Net time: 1:58:07 - one minute behind Danielle, 35 seconds behind Aleks. 9:03 pace. 44 out of 163 in my age group; 192 out of 863 women. Last year I did 1:58:21, so I was 14 seconds faster this year. I probably spent 14 seconds crying last year, so I'm not any faster. But that's okay - last year it was an "A" race, this year it was a decision I made on Tuesday to run. It's all part of a goal I have for the rest of my life: remain in half-marathon running shape forever.

Really quick, before I do a half marathon and go to Germany

Seriously, that's what I'm doing tomorrow. What in the world was I thinking? Hopefully I'll have a minute to tell you whether it was a great idea or horrible once I'm in Germany.

Today I rode a little over two hours with John, in what passes for heat in Seattle (I think it was around 80 degrees). But riding with John sucks, because his blood sugar gets low (he's a type-1 diabetic), and he gets tired, and he actually decided at two points to WALK his bike. WHATEVER! I'm okay with "recovery" rides for me, workout rides for him - but walking the bike? That's giving up, and I don't deal with that very well.

Anyway, I'm really tired, so heading to bed. And I really am doing a half-marathon tomorrow, and I really am getting on an airplane a few hours later to go to Germany. Don't tell me I'm an idiot, my family has already done that many times today. :-)

The miracle worker

Three posts in one day, I know. But this really does merit its own entry.

I went to the "miracle worker"shiatsu guy today. He took one look at me and knew that my right knee often bothers me and I lose feeling in my toes and feet when I exercise.

He rubbed on me in all different places, made me drink baking soda and water, and cracked every knuckle in my fingers and toes and cracked my neck and back. Then he pronounced me healthy again and told me not to eat cherries, strawberries, or orange juice.

Amazingly, I do feel better! We'll see how I feel tomorrow and for how long this lasts, but hey - it felt good (and painful) and clearly the medical doctors couldn't help me.

A question about swimming...

Every time I swim, I get a stuffy nose for hours afterwards. It's incredibly annoying. It happens in the pool and in open water. Does anyone have any idea of how I can prevent this, or fix it afterward? Today I tried a nasal decongestant, which doesn't seem to be working. I've gone through half a box of tissues already this morning...

If this is addiction, I don't want any 12-step

I'm no fun to be around when I can't exercise and I'm not feeling well. So rather than continue feeling miserable, or fasting again to try to have my blood drawn again, I decided to do a full-on hard-core workout this morning. And now I feel awesome!

I still have the lump on my forehead, and the back of my neck still hurts slightly, and I'm sneezing as I always do after a long swim, but my heart and mind feel joyful.

(Oh, the title of the post: John keeps telling me I'm addicted to exercise. Okay. I'll accept that. Just don't try to fix it. It's a better addiction than food, and I am also capable of taking a rest day or two in order to exercise better.)

Here's what I did: I woke up without an alarm to ensure that my body was fully rested. I went back to getting my coffee first-thing - I think changing my routine at this point is stupid, and I don't know why I did it. I went to Idylwood to swim (there were a zillion people there again, which was nice) and did three laps - just over a mile. Then I chatted for a few minutes (I wasn't working on fast transitions), and then took off for a 23 mile ride around the lake. I'm not psyched about the lake route, because I've done it a zillion times, but I just hate the Sammamish River Trail (so boring) so I figured the lake would be better. I went comfortably hard for the first half, then for the second half, the east side of the lake, there was this guy who stopped at a light I was stopped at. He was probably 6 feet tall, 175 lbs - looked very strong. Big guy, but not fat. He was a commuter, probably, based on the fact he was carrying a bag, but he had a nice bike and was dressed to ride (real shoes, bike clothes).

He started out behind me, and I just wanted to go fast...I guess I wanted to make it hard for him to pass. I kept it around 20-22 mph. There's one little hill on the route, and he got ahead of me before the hill and beat me up it, but I got in the aero bars and sailed past him on the downhill (which surprised me, based on our weight difference). He passed me back and picked up the speed - now we're going 24-25 mph on a slight incline - and I don't want him to think that I am only keeping up because I'm drafting, so I hang back about 5 bike lengths. And I stay there, and I stay there when the hill gets steeper, and I get a little closer on the flats (there's really no downhill on this part of the route), and I catch up all the way at a light, and then at the end we're going 24-25 still and flying past cars that are standing still in traffic. At the last light I catch him again, and then our routes split off. It was about 10 miles of hard riding - at one point my heart rate was 182, and I think it was hanging out in the high 160s on the flats and slight grades to the high 170s when it got steeper. On the flats, though, I felt like I could push harder - if it were a race, I could have overtaken him.

So after not riding hard for quite a while, this was great - I guess I still have it. :-)

I didn't run because it was just getting too late. I felt like I could, though.

So I'm happy! Yay!

Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: 1 Vitatop, 100 cals
Breakfast: Alternative bagel, ham, cheese: 215 cals
Lunch: Yogurt, granola, fruit: 400 cals
total so far: 715 cals I should eat a snack

Exercise:
Swim 1 mile
Bike 23 miles
Calories burned: 1200

Truly, I am not a hypochondriac

My brain is coming out from my forehead. I think finally, I've come to the last straw, and all those '80s song lyrics that have been filling my brain are going to be pushed out to make room for other, more important things. At least I hope that's the part that will come out.

Okay, seriously, I woke up with a huge bump on my forehead - it's the entire length of my forehead and about 1.5 inches wide - slightly off center to the right. It's very definitely visible by other people (like, I know I analyze my face a lot more than others, but this is not some tiny wrinkle only I can see: it's obvious). It hurts like a bruise, but it's not discolored.

Then I went to the lab to have blood drawn - no workout of course, I don't even think I heard my alarm this morning, and I did go to bed early and planned to run - and they fussed with a needle for a while, in one arm, then the other, then the first again - but no blood came out. At all. So they told me to try again later.

So I'm still fasting, which makes meal-tracking quite easy!

Ugh

I feel exactly like I did yesterday. My doctor's office opens at 8:30. 10 minutes until I can call. Man I hope I can get an appointment today and there's some magic pill that makes me all better.

On the other hand, maybe I've learned something finally: I didn't work out this morning! I even went to the Pro Club to meet the woman I was supposed to lift with to tell her I wasn't going to be there (I didn't have her phone number).

---
Later: Got back from my doctor's office. It seems my random collection of symptoms leads nowhere. I'm so frustrated I almost cried. I'm going to hide in my office the rest of the day and pout.

Meal tracking:

Breakfast: "the alternative bagel," ham, and cheese: 215 cals
Starbucks: Cranberry granola bar, milk in americano: 475 cals
Lunch: Lentil soup, turkey breast, oyster crackers: 300 cals
total so far: 990 cals

I'm famous, and in pain

Okay, the first part isn't exactly true. Last September or October, though, I wrote up my experiences with dramatic weight loss for a friend of a friend at MSN. They wanted to start this new story type on MSN Health about personal stories of weight loss, and it was supposed to be a "New Year, New You" sort of thing and launch in January. Well, it's July and they finally published the thing - and here it is: http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/WeightLossStory.aspx?cp-documentid=100139066

For some reason, the pictures are broken today. Hopefully they'll fix that. I love my before photo, because it is just so awful. Seriously, it's got to be one of the worst pictures of me on record - so it's perfect for a before, because it's so real, and actually makes me happy: it reminds me of my accomplishment and where I could be again if I don't watch it.

So, now for the pain. I have no idea what is wrong with me, but I have to see my doctor tomorrow. Here is the list of pains:

-- Pain in both sides of the back of the base of my head (back of my neck), especially when looking up or when touched
-- Pain in my obliques
-- Pain in my chest
-- My tongue feels too big for my mouth
-- Pain in my throat, specifically on the left side. It feels like there's a hole from behind my nose way back there to, well, the spots on the back of my head/neck that hurt
-- Pain in the left side of my nose, mostly right on the hard part in the middle
-- Pain when I swallow
-- Hurts to cough (expand chest/belly)
-- Ears are itchy

And this morning, my lower lip was swollen and my mouth didn't want to close - the lower lip wanted to flop open, and my chin and upper lip all sort of felt like I was on novocaine.

Is this some sort of sinusitis? I don't have a runny nose or other cold symptoms, though. It's really weird...and because I can't diagnose it and haven't felt this way ever before, I'm going to let my doctor have a crack at me.

I'm traveling for my job to Germany on Sunday; I need to be healthy. Plus, I return Friday (the 14th) and do the STP ride on the 15th, so I really need to get and stay in perfect health through July.

In exercise news, I ran a nice six miles this morning on the trail (55 minutes). And I'm not talking about what got eaten today at the Fourth of July party we attended, but it most definitely did not involve brownies. Definitely not at all. Nor did I eat chocolate-chip cookies - homemade of course. Ha.

How to make donuts, by Camille

This isn't about diet, or exercise. I just wanted to write this down.

Camille, age 3: "You just get some brown sugar and white sugar, then you mix it up, and then and then and then you put the sprinkles on, then you put it in the oven. And then you eat it! And then you put chocolate on it." (Most of this was exclaimed while jumping up and down.)

Gabriel, age 6, and very practical: "How do you put chocolate on it if you already ate it?"

Camille: "Uh, you have to buy chocolate first."

Gabriel: "This is how I do it. I get a piece of bread, and then I cut it into a circle, and then I - I'm making a sprinkle donut - and then I put chocolate on it, and then I put the sprinkles on it, and then put it in the oven, and then take it out, and then eat it."

Camille: "That's not how you do it. That's not how you make donuts. You just get some brown sugar and some white sugar out, and then you mix it, and then you put it in the oven, and then you get it out of the oven, and put chocolate on it, and then eat it all up!"

A gorgeous ride

Days like today are the answer to "How can you live in Seattle with all that rain?". Man, it is gorgeous - and a perfect morning for a leisurely ride. I felt like one of those girls in the video for Corinne Bailey Rae's "Put your records on" - she and a bunch of girls are cruising along through a park or something under all these trees and with sun peeking through - very romantic looking. Of course, those girls aren't wearing helmets in the video, and I think they might be wearing skirts, and probably traveling at 6 mph, but whatever. I was with them in spirit today. :-)

I didn't pay attention to speed, cadence, or anything except leading my group. For some in the group, I think it was a good workout; for others, including me, a recovery ride. And I discovered that I didn't mind it at all! I couldn't ride like that every time, but I guess it doesn't need to be push-push-push all the time.

I still burned 1100 calories and averaged 13 mph. There were a couple of long, shallow hills and I think two areas that required a granny gear (including one short, out-of-the-saddle climb). And truth be told, I couldn't have gone my normal hard pace today - I still don't feel back to normal. In fact, I feel really bloated and fat and slow - although I checked my weight today (after a big lunch after the ride) and it was 140.2 - which I can't understand at all. I expected to see 147.

I have a new plan for post-70.3 race. I'm going to go on a hard-core strict diet. I will eat perfectly every day - the right balance of fat, carbs, and protein, and the right number of calories - for two months. And I will exercise two hours a day (with appropriate during-exercise fueling, of course). This will be through September, and at the end of September I will weigh 130 or less. And I'm thinking about whether I should weigh 120. That would rock.

Oh, I forgot one thing: It doesn't rain all the time in Seattle. :-)

Random triathlon thoughts

I did my Friday mini-tri today, and kept my distances and intensity down.

I had no training partners join me today, so I had a lot of time to think. And here's what I thought:

Swim: .7 mile, approx 30 minutes (nice and slow)
-- The water is now too warm, or at least it was today. I was uncomfortable in my full wetsuit. Maybe time to break out the Costco shortie?
-- The parking lot was FULL when I got there at 6:35 a.m. - which meant the water was full! It was cool - there were enough swimmers that it actually felt a little like a tri swim.
-- My goggles fog up after two laps (each lap is about 1/3 mile). Anyone have ideas on how to prevent goggle fog?
-- Swim transition: I walked. My HR skyrockets during the long run uphill to the parking lot, and I didn't want it to do that today.

T1:
-- My light but full-finger gloves will never work in a triathlon. Going to have to start trying the fingerless ones.
-- I need to ride my bike before I rack it. For some reason, my front brake always moves around and ends up rubbing - it's easy to fix, but it's annoying and requires that I pull over and stop. I think this happens because of where I put my bike in the van.
-- A polyester bike jersey doesn't slide on easily over a wet tri suit.

Bike: 10 miles, 40 minutes
-- I tried a new thing: always be able to accelerate (from BettyBetty's suggestion). So I kept the bike in a lower gear than I normally would use.
-- I also tried to keep my cadence over 90 at all times (the route is really flat, so it was a good test).
-- I noticed that when I was in the aero bars, it was MUCH harder to do a fast cadence - but sitting up, it was easy. Hey cyclists - I'm new to aero bars. Is this normal? Should I have my bike in a harder gear when I'm in the aeros and keep a lower cadence? That feels right, but since I never learned anything about how to use aeros effectively, I just don't know.
-- Some tiny dog almost got flattened by a woman who was walking on the right side of the trail, but letting her dog stray to the left. She pulled the dog to the right to let two cyclists ahead of me go by, but right as I was about to pass, she let the dog go left again. I yelled, and fortunately she reacted quickly enough. But seriously - there are TONS of bikes on that trail in the early morning, and it really bugs me when walkers/runners think they can go three abreast and take up the entire trail.

T2:
-- Nothing interesting to note here, except if I'm going to use an MP3 player on my training runs, it would be good to untangle the earphones before starting my run.

Run: 15 minutes (no idea on distance)
-- Oh my goodness, my legs felt AWFUL. I did not want to run. I felt like I was shuffling along!
-- My feet (some toes and patches on the bottom of my feet) went numb. They weren't numb on the run, though - so that was weird. And it was hot out by now, so I had no right to be numb.
-- I don' t know what's going on with my running. I feel like I forgot how or something. Blah.

So, here are today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana, 80 cals
Breakfast: Bagel and cream cheese, ham and cheese: 450 cals

Exercise:
Mini-triathlon, 700 cals burned

Still feeling a little off

I did not want to get out of bed this morning, but my resting heart rate was normal, so I did. I met Nancy for an alleged run at 5:30 a.m. (later than our usual 5 a.m. run), but I was tired and food sounded disgusting so I hadn't eaten on the way like I usually do, so we ended up walking four miles in an hour. So that was good.

Then I did go meet people to swim, and I swam for about 45 minutes. That felt very good (somewhere between the walk and the swim, I got my appetite back and fueled up on half a bagel). I practiced unilateral breathing on my less-comfortable side and found that I got dizzy from rotating in the water.

My eating is completely whack: I haven't had any protein, and I really don't want any. I am trying to make myself have protein, but it might have to wait for lunch time.

Today's data:

Food:
Random during the morning: 1 bagel, 1/2 small container cream cheese, banana, peanut butter: 450 cals
Lunch: Salad (no dressing): 250 cals
Ugh: Stupid Hostess cupcake. They're not even that good. 180 cals
Afternoon snack: PowerBar (trail mix kind) 250 cals
total so far: 1130 (okay fine not so bad even with the dumb cupcake)
Dinner: Chicken breast, carrots, cheese, crackers, blueberries: 500 cals
new total: 1630 cals

Exercise:
Walk 4 miles
Swim 1 mile
Calories burned: 675

Yay Sammamish Valley Cycle

I am in love with this store: http://www.sammamishcycle.com/

After all the difficulty I've had with my bike's shifting, I took it to Sammamish Valley Cycle, and the first guy who saw me (RIGHT AWAY - no waiting!) took my bike back into the shop area, threw it up on a lift thing, and fixed it. Not only that, he also dug out all the glass and gravel that had become embedded in my tire (he called them "future flats"). And while this guy was fixing my shifting problem (the thing that holds the derailleur on was out of place or something), he gave me lots of good cycling advice and was just super-friendly and fun.

AND THEN - when he went to ring me up, the charge was $10. Yes, $10. I would have paid, oh, I don't know, my first-born child to make my bike work properly again, or at least $40 or something. I wished the credit-card slip had had a tip place, I would have given him a big one! So I need to figure out something to do to express my appreciation.

I did this on Sunday (after church, before I went to the hospital, using all the energy I could muster - so strong was my desire to get that bike fixed), and today was the first day I rode on the happy-shifting bike. Well, it was lovely - it shifted better than it ever has. BUT, I need to remove the 34-tooth chain ring I put on the front because I was being a weenie and put the 36 back. It's never going to shift perfectly with that 34 on there, and that was a crutch that I really don't think I need anymore.

That said, I'm not 100% yet. I felt good enough for a decent ride in, but Danielle and I kept the pace down and chatted the whole 22 miles. I also lifted weights when I got to the gym (in my cute purple plaid cycling skort!), then came on to work.

So I'm happy. I missed my bike. I love my bike. I'm a little obsessed with my bike. But, I really am going to cut the volume and most of the intensity, because Sunday scared me a lot and I don't want that to ever happen again.

Addendum later on: I rode to Redmond Town Center with a girlfriend to go out to lunch, then was halfway back up the 520 hill when I realized I needed to pick up my car from John - at the bottom of the hill. Lest my friend think I was weenie-ing out of finishing the hill, I completed it with her, then turned around and flew 30 mph+ back down. :-) John yelled at me when I got to the shop that I was supposed to be taking it easy...but that's my hill! Plus, the downhill part makes it worth it. Plus I did eat bread at lunch. Plus I should stop making excuses and remember: training volume needs to be lowered or I will not race well.

Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Vitatop, 100 cals
Workout: Sport beans (my new favorite biking food, too bad they don't have protein): 100 cals
Breakfast: Small piece banana bread, ham, cheese: 405 cals
Snack: Fruit, 60 cals
Lunch: Salad from Cosi with fat-free dressing and a piece of bread: 490 cals (the bread alone was 265, but totally worth it)
total so far: 1155 cals
Snack: Apple (when I wanted a brownie, but seeing people I know in the cafeteria stopped me. Yay for not eating in secret) and two little chocolates: 140 cals
Dinner: Sauteed shrimp, jasmine rice, asparagus, berries: 600 cals
total today: 1895 cals Woo!

Exercise:
Bike to work
Lift weights
Calories burned: 900
Bike to go out to lunch, including the 520 hill: 250 cals (est - wasn't wearing HRM)
total burned: 1150

Much better today

Wow, it felt awful to be weak and exhausted!

I'm feeling a lot better - the difference is amazing. I did get up to go swim this morning, but just did about 1/4 of a mile or so, mostly just to get wet and get ready for real workouts again.

I plan to cut my volume down significantly and a lot of the intensity. Danielle thinks this is a good idea and won't affect my racing. So I'm willing to try it.

I'm back to meal-tracking; the last two days I didn't bother because I didn't eat much. Today I'm not super-hungry, but I did just have a big (healthy) lunch.

Oh, and I'm dropping caffeine and soda from my diet. And beans, and some of the dairy. I've had stomachaches for a while now and I'm not sure why, so I'm going to work on figuring that out.

Today's data:

Food:
Breakfast: Vita-top and nectarine, 160 cals
Lunch: Salad with chicken and raspberry vinegar, 8 oz soup, crackers: 400 cals
Snack: 1/2 Clif bar, 125 cals
Because my admin has them: Two small chocolates, 80 cals
More snack: Cherries, 90 cals
Dinner: Pork tenderloin, rice, green beans: 500 cals
Bad: Two ginger cookies, 210 cals
Total: 1565 <-- Wow. I almost didn't finish writing this all because I thought it would be really bad. That's actually acceptable!

Exercise:
Can you call a 1/4 mile swim exercise? I burned 150 calories, but most of it was probably walking to and from my car. :-)

Evening update

Well, I'm back to fairly normal eating (not very much, though - I'm just not that hungry, which is good because I'm not that energetic!), and while I don't feel normal, I do feel better and I folded like 8 loads of laundry.

John and I agreed tonight that I wouldn't do IM Coeur d'Alene next year. Instead, my "A" race will be Pacific Crest half IM, because Danielle says it's just so much fun and it sounds like a good vacation.

I feel disappointed and relieved. A friend called tonight - they live literally half a mile from me - and I haven't seen them in months. That's so wrong. That's the price of this level of training - and until I no longer have to hold a job, I just don't think I can pay it. I will continue to race and compete and have fun with triathlon, but it's not time to go for the big one.

Not dehydrated. Behind on fluids?

Okay, so after my ride Saturday, I took the kids to the beach, went out to dinner with the family, then came home and in some weird burst of energy, cleaned part of the garage (which was disgusting). So it was a pretty big shock to wake up yesterday completely exhausted - after eight hours of sleep, too - and with a stomachache. Things got worse when we went to church - I couldn't even stand up for the parts you're supposed to stand for - and things got even worse later on. It was too much effort to even keep my eyes open or talk! My heart rate was racing just trying to walk, and sitting it was in the 80s (usually it's in the low 50s). I was so thirsty, so I thought I was dehydrated. John took me to urgent care and they did give me an IV - two bags of saline later and I felt perkier, but I still had muscle aches and the stomachache.

Oh, and whatever tests they do to determine whether you're dehydrated came back negative - so the doctor decided I was "behind on fluids" and diagnosed me with "fatigue."

And today I don't really feel better - I made it in to work to go to a couple of meetings, but pretty much I need to go home and go back to bed.

Is this a sign? Today is the day I could sign up for IM Coeur d'Alene 2007 - and yesterday morning, before I started feeling miserable, John actually had agreed that I could sign up. Now I'm afraid to...I still feel weak and awful and I never want to feel this again. What did I do to myself?

Seven Hills of Kirkland: The hardest metric century ever!

This morning, I went out with a group of women triathletes from the Pro Club to ride the "Seven Hills of Kirkland" metric century. WOW. What a ride. Who knew there were mountains right in this area?

So basically, the seven hills form a 39-mile route; the metric century has by their count 11, and by my count 12 big climbs - in 59 miles (so not quite a full metric century, but whatever). The ride was seriously the hardest ride I've ever done - harder than the Daffodil Century, way harder than the Flying Wheels Century. In fact, I think if I had ridden Flying Wheels at my pace the entire time (rather than the group's slower pace), I could have finished the 100 miles of Flying Wheels in about the same time it would have taken me to finish the Seven Hills metric century ride.

I say would have because my bike is being mean to me. Somewhere around mile 46 or so, it decided to start ghost-shifting again - and while I could tolerate it a few weeks ago when I knew the route well, with all these hills, I needed all my gears and I needed to know that it wasn't going to shift on me in the middle of a climb or descent. So we cut out the last two hills (on the cue sheet - in my opinion, there was one more significant climb at the end that wasn't marked on the cue sheet) and ended around 55 miles.

So let's see, ride details: I felt great on almost all of the climbs. A couple of them I did in my big ring just to see if I could (even though I was in the big ring in the back, too - which means I should have been on the small ring in the front and a middle one in the back, but I've never bothered to learn the ratios anyway). Matthew argued with me that you should never ride in the big in front and back, and I disagreed because I feel like in a race, if I know I'm going to crest a hill and start a major descent, I want to be in my big ring already towards the top of the hill so while I'm giving it that last hard push to the top, I can already be shifting the back to make it harder so when I start the descent, I'm ready. That was the longest sentence I ever wrote, and I'm not editing it so it's no longer a run-on. :-)

A couple of the hills did make me wish they were over - particularly Novelty Hill in Redmond, which just goes on and on and on and the shoulder is full of gravel and glass and cars go by in their lane at like 50 mph. Apparently it's a three-mile climb, with a couple little flat parts but then going up again. Wow. But I stayed strong until the end, although I did need more food. I brought with me a PowerBar, two GUs, and two packets of Sport Beans (yum!). Matthew forgot to bring food (I've since forbidden him to ride with me without food, because we just ride too far and too long not to eat), so I gave him one of the packages of Sport Beans and that didn't really leave me with enough calories. Actually, I can't blame Matthew - I didn't bring enough calories to begin with. If I'd eaten everything I had, I would have eaten 620 calories - and I burned 2400. Not okay. I thought there were more PowerBars in my saddle bag, but I guess I had removed them.

So: gotta bring more food. I think I want to try some kind of carb/protein drink in my water bottles; I don't think I can eat enough to sustain myself well on that kind of ride. Other than that, I was happy with my performance. My average speed over the 55 miles was 13.6, but I also held myself back on some of the steeper descents to stay with the group and because I hadn't ridden those hills before, so just in case something unexpected were to happen. I also had times when the group wasn't pushing (like for a few miles on the Burke-Gilman trail), where we could have. So I guess I could have had a higher average speed, but I'm frankly not unhappy with a 13.6 on this route. Not at all.

Other hills of note: The winery hill was steep, and longer than I thought it would be. At one point, I was going something like 4.9 mph and I saw the hill continue up for a while, so I decided to give myself a little break by turning left off the course onto a flat road, pedaling around for a minute to catch my breath, then started back up. I don't think anyone else I was riding with even noticed - Matthew was ahead of me at this point, everyone else was behind, so I don't think anyone saw me do it and I caught right back up to Matthew. This was interesting, because even though I added distance that little break gave me a tiny bit more energy so it made my push to the top stronger. That might be a good strategy for a race; however, I don't really think there's any place like that on the Lake Stevens half-Ironman.

When the ride was over, I was HUNGRY. I ate enchiladas for lunch and a hamburger and fries for dinner (actually, half my burger and half my fries, but that probably doesn't count anyway because half of a Red Robin hamburger is still a lot of calories). But I'm feeling okay about my eating today - we went to the beach to play in the afternoon and I didn't eat candy, soda, or ice cream there.

Anyway, after this ride, I feel completely ready for both STP and the half-Ironman. Danielle raced Pacific Crest half-Iron today; the results aren't out yet, but I hope she kicked ass! I was a little bit sorry this morning to wake up and know she was racing and I wasn't. I don't think I made the wrong decision to stay home with the family this weekend, but I'm so ready for my half-Iron race and I just can't wait, so it might have been fun to do it this weekend!

Oh, one year from now: Ironman Coeur d'Alene. I've got a year to train. No sweat. :-)

(What a dumb statement! Lots of sweat! Yeah!)

Triathlon Friday, plus accusations that I'm insane

I love my Friday workout!

I swam for 30 minutes, really comfortably. The sun was coming up and skating across the water; it was lovely, but it hid the buoys from me and made it very hard to do unilateral breathing on the sun-coming-up side. So I practiced both unilateral breathing on my uncomfortable - left - side, and bilateral breathing.

It felt really good to swim though - when I woke up, I really didn't want to go, and only the thought of meeting my friends got me out of bed. My glutes hurt, too - hill repeats! From now on, hill repeats need to happen earlier in the week. I'm glad we did them, but owwie! (Aleks told me her behind hurt too.)

In my "transition," I'd forgotten to set out my socks, then I couldn't find them in my bag. We took I think seven minutes! Yuck! But hey - I won't make that mistake again. I guess that's the point of training: make all the mistakes now, so we don't later on.

Biking was fun, but I was COLD. Oh, I also learned that trying to put on gloves with full fingers over wet hands isn't very effective. Now I definitely need fingerless gloves. I didn't ride all that hard, but it was enjoyable, and I managed to stay more in my aeros than usual.

My bike to run transition was fast, but my friends were done and didn't want to run, so I just went by myself. I grabbed my mp3 player and looped the park five times - it's downhill and up, only a little bit flat, and mostly on trail, so it's nice. But I remained cold until more than 20 minutes in - so much so that my toes and the bottom of my feet were numb. Darn Reynaud's Syndrome.

Then I went to switch cars with the hubby and got a lecture on why I'm insane. It went something like, when we discussed your schedule x months ago you didn't say you were going to exercise three hours a day, and you are, and Camille is wearing SpiderMan underwear because she didn't have any clean underwear today. And everyone I talk to says exercising three hours a day is more than excessive (mind you, he doesn't talk to anyone who is remotely athletic).

Okay. I can solve the underwear problem. I can lay out her clothes the night before, I can make sure laundry is always done (I usually do - I've done laundry this week, so I'm surprised she doesn't have clean underwear. I think she does, I think he just can't find it.) I can solve breakfast if it's hard to get the kids ready in the morning, I can be a better wife if John tells me what that means. But "you're insane" is meaningless and not actionable, so I can't do anything about it.

I think I balance my responsibilities well! My house is clean, dinner is always made, laundry is usually done, the kids are bathed, I'm fairly successful at work - I don't know what else I could do. But I would do it if someone told me what to do and I agreed.

One of our mutual friends recently told John, "Jessica always needs a mountain to climb." Okay, fine, maybe I do, and maybe this is it. So why would John be complaining? Triathlon is just this year's mountain.

Next year, I want to climb a real mountain though. Mt. Rainier. Hmm. What was it John was saying this morning?

Oh, today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: VitaTop, banana, milk in coffee: 200 cals
Breakfast: Cookie, yogurt, granola: 450 cals

Exercise:
Triathlon practice
1000 calories burned

Hill repeats and avoiding boats

This morning Aleks and I did a 7, 7.5 mile route with a bunch of hill repeats. The "Boot Camp" class at the Pro Club just happened to be there at the same time, which was entertaining. We ran up 40th to the dead end three times, then walked down. I think this was the first time I was able to do three full running up repeats - usually I have to walk part of the way.

Then I met a group for swimming at Idylwood Park. I did just over a mile, which was nice. When I first got to the park, I didn't think I could swim: I was cold!!! It was about 55 degrees this morning. But when I got my wetsuit on and got in the water, everything was good. In fact, I felt great - strong and comfortable, and I even did one length (1/6 of a mile) doing full bilateral breathing. Only thing was, a boat came into the swimming area and came too close for comfort to one of my swimming companions!

On Tuesday there was a heron perched on one of the buoys we swim between. I thought it wanted to eat me. Today, boats. What will be there tomorrow? That's why open water swimming is just so much better than pool swimming. Well, one of the many reasons.

Um, I don't want to meal track today. But here goes anyway:

Food:
Pre-workout/workout: Banana, milk in coffee, GU: 200 cals
Breakfast: Banana bread, milk in coffee: 400 cals
Lunch: Salad with chicken, mozzarella sticks (yum): 800 cals
Snack: Luna bar, 180 cals
Um, another snack: Two cookies, 300 cals (bad bad bad, no discipline)
total so far: 1880 cals

Exercise:
Run 95 minutes
Swim 45 minutes
Calories burned: 1300

Weird transition dreams!

I had the weirdest dream last night. Danielle and I were at some sort of training camp where every day you do a triathlon for practice - but you treat it like a race. In one of them, I was in a bathing suit at the swim start, and I managed to find my wetsuit, but then I panicked because my transition area wasn't set up properly and I didn't have all my stuff and I wasn't sure what I was going to wear for shorts since I was in my bathing suit and pretty much I was completely flipping out. I had a good swim, but my T1 was going on six minutes when I woke up.

Wow. I think I'm a little obsessed with triathlon, huh?

Today I rode around Lake Sammamish with Aleks and Regan. We went at a comfortable pace - my schedule didn't really call for an easy ride, but I'm glad we did it. I think a little extra recovery this week is a good thing. Friday I plan to push hard, and Saturday do a long bike.

I'm listening to VH1's "Jump Start" program and it's full of songs I could run to. Of course, I haven't done any running outside of races or with friends in I'm not sure how long...well, I guess I ran alone in New York, but I forgot my mp3 player. I love running with friends, but I miss listening to music too!

In the race on Sunday, they actually said you weren't allowed to use mp3 players on the run. I know on the bike it's against Washington state law, but on the run it would have been nice (they said it could interfere with your ability to hear the course marshalls or whatever). Danielle told me once early in my marathon training that music can make you do things you didn't think you could - run faster, etc - and I agree. :-) I think she might see it as cheating, but I see it as extra motivation.

But I wouldn't trade running with friends to run with an mp3 player, anyway.

So, today's data:
Food:
Pre-workout: Vita-top and milk in coffee, 130 cals
Breakfast: 1/2 Pria bar (yummy! Aleks gave this to me, I thought it would be yucky but it was like candy!), english muffin with ham and cheese, milk in coffee: 350 cals
Lunch: Turkey and swiss on a bagel, 1/2 a brownie (yum): 600 cals
Snack: Mojo bar, 220 cals
Dinner: Chicken breast, green beans, bread, watermelon: 450 cals
total today: 1750

Exercise:
Bike 1 hour 40 minutes (low key), 550 cals burned

What the flat tire did, two days later

As I was getting my bike ready today to ride very early tomorrow, it struck me: I'm now extremely confident that I can replace a tube that's gone flat. I know I didn't do it by myself on the triathlon, but I also know that I can do it. Plus I accidentally discharged a CO2 container, so now I know how to use those too. :-)

So I'm carrying my pump (never again will I go out without it on a race or a solo ride), two CO2 cartridges, and one spare tube. It all fits in my bike bag anyway, so I'm good to go.

This is a great feeling - to know I can take care of myself out there. But still I hope I don't have to, at least not on a race!

A little tired

I wasn't tired this morning, but I sure am now. My fault!

This morning I did an approximate 8 mile run, followed by almost an hour of swimming in Lake Sammamish. I felt pretty good for both. But then I decided to sneak in a weight-lifting workout - the circuit training class - and realized I couldn't run fast without a super-high heart rate and feeling yucky. Hello overtraining! It's been a while since I saw you (it was last just after I did the marathon).

So, no more sneaking in extra workouts - and next week, it was supposed to be a recovery week and I thought I wouldn't bother, but now I think I will. I probably need to.

So, today's data:
Food:
Pre-workout: Vitatop and milk in coffee, 130 cals
Breakfast: Banana bread, milk in coffee, ham and cheese: 545 cals
Snack: String cheese, 60 cals
Lunch: Yogurt with fruit and granola, 3 oz turkey breast: 500 cals
Snack: String cheese, 60 cals
Dinner: Chicken breast, carrots, potato: 600 cals
total today: 1895 calories

Exercise:
Run 90 minutes
Swim 60 minutes
Circuit training 60 minutes
Total calories burned: 1650

Get over it, Jessica!

I'm totally annoyed by my flat tire. I just keep thinking about what could have been. I really need to stop. These things happen, and better they happen now than on my "A" race. I will put it all together by then. And I will practice changing flats so that they never take 15 minutes again. That's pathetic.

Today I just swam in the lake, fairly comfortably. I think even though I feel pretty good - just a little muscle soreness - that I should rest. So just a little half-hour swim.

Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: 1 VitaTop, 100 cals
Breakfast: English muffin with ham and cheese, milk in coffee: 265 cals
Lunch: Turkey breast, 1/2 c steamed veggies, tomato soup with crackers: 340 cals
Snack: Granola bar, 140 cals
total so far: 845 cals
Dinner: Pork tenderloin, broccoli, bread with a little olive oil
Dessert: Ice cream

Exercise:
Swim 30 minutes
200 calories burned

Cascade's Edge Olympic Triathlon Race Report

Update: Race results are in. I was dead last for bike time. Wow. And the time wasted on the flat tire was 14:43. I can't help but do the math to see what would have been, and I know that's horrible negative thinking I need to eliminate. So I won't write it all down here, even though I did do the math and looked at where I would have placed. But no worries - I still wouldn't have come close to winning my age group or anything. :-)

Overall time
3:12:25
Div place
13/16
Swim time
0:30:58
Swim rank
105/162
T1 time
0:02:40
Bike time
1:38:17
Bike rank
162/162
T2 time
0:01:38
Run time
0:58:51
Run rank
129/162
Overall rank
146/162
----

Okay, so maybe doing an Olympic triathlon - my first one ever - the day after a century wasn't the smartest idea. But it was the right thing to do for the following reasons:

1) It fit my no-travel rule (to minimize impact on the family)
2) It offered the right distance (Olympic) prior to my half-Ironman "A" race
3) It was scheduled for the right time prior to the "A" race (one month before)
4) It was an interesting test - can I ride 100 miles one day, and do a tri the next? The reason this test is relevant is that on July 14, I plan to ride 200 miles, and just eight days later, July 23, do the half-Ironman.

But it was the wrong thing to do because of these reasons:
1) It's Father's Day and I was gone all day yesterday at the Century.
2) My knees hurt from the century yesterday.
3) My bike is a little messed up - it's not shifting right.

So, I did it anyway. :-) I didn't pre-register, so Danielle and I got there at 7:15 (for a 9 a.m. start) to register and get comfortable. We saw a zillion people we knew, which was really nice, then headed down to the water for a swim prior to the pre-race briefing.

Oh my goodness! Deep Lake in Nolte State Park is MUCH colder than Lake Sammamish! I was definitely glad to get in the water early, but it was cold waiting around from 8:45 a.m. until 9:20, when my wave started. But by the time they let us in the water, I swam a quick little bit prior to the gun going off, then we started.

My swim strategy was to hang back and just do my thing, by myself. Fortunately, despite the fact that all the women doing the Olympic were starting at the same time, there just weren't that many people - maybe 150? I'll see when the results come out. So I did hang back, but it was also a calmer lake and people were spread out enough that I could actually really swim without getting kicked, swum over, or whatever. I started out counting my strokes: one, two, three, etc - when I got to 15, I figured I had developed a rhythm and stopped counting.

The course was two loops; at the beginning of my second, I swallowed water and started to panic a little. I realized when I do that, I start kicking frantically - so I first stopped kicking, picked my head up, coughed it out, then started counting strokes again until my rhythm came back.

I think I passed some swimmers, but I was probably still towards the back of the pack. I looked at my watch when I exited the water - something like 30 or 31 minutes. Not bad!!!

T1 was okay - it's a long run up from the water, and I was sort of bonking - I needed fuel. I didn't eat right this morning (a VitaTop and a cookie - I meant to eat more, but then I forgot). I dropped my pink swim cap and I wanted to keep it, so I went back for it. Then it was hard to get my socks on and I forgot my sunglasses (but deliberately didn't wear my arm warmers or gloves).

Biking was HARD. This is supposed to be my strong leg, and man, I was feeling the toll of the century ride. My knees hurt and every hill took more out of me than they should have - in fact, on another day I would have told you that the entire course was flat, but today it was hilly. Little rollers, I guess, but it was really hard to get the power to go up.

Then I passed a guy with a flat tire, and I said a quick prayer for him to have peace about his race and his messed up bike split. Not a minute later, I'm going downhill at 30 mph and something sounds awful from my back tire...and I have a flat, too. Oh no!

It took me a long time to get the tire loose enough to get the tube out, and I didn't check the tube to see what was wrong. I did check the inside and outside of the tire and didn't notice a problem. I got a new tube in and actually managed to get the tire back on fairly easily, but then I ran into a snag: no pump. I was carrying CO2, though, but since I've never used it before, I wasn't quite sure how to. Just then, Danielle came flying by, and she stopped, pumped up my tire while I picked up all my garbage, and helped me put it back on. We start riding together (sort of - she hung back so she wouldn't be drafting), and then my chain came off. She stopped AGAIN to help me, and this time somehow I managed to tip my whole bike over and dump out all the water in my aerobottle. I was about to scream when Danielle said she had a bottle of water with Gatorade in it, so she gave that to me and I poured it into the aerobottle. THANK GOODNESS FOR DANIELLE.

I might have quit if she didn't stop, and I'm terribly sorry that she lost 5 minutes off of her race. (I think I lost 15 or 20 - we'll see when the numbers are posted. My bike was in motion for 1 hour, 23 minutes, 34 seconds, according to my bike computer). So it was really a blessing to have her there with me.

We rode as together as you're allowed to in a triathlon for a while, then on an uphill she needed to pass me. I could see her for a bit, but then she was gone. Good for her - I didn't want to hold her back even more!

I think I had a good T2 - honestly, I don't really remember. I grabbed my spare water bottle to take with me on the run. It was good not to be drinking Gatorade.

Oh, nutrition: at mile 5 or so I started eating a PowerBar. I think I ate about 2/3 of it. I meant to eat it all, but the flat threw me all off and all I wanted to do after that was pick up speed.

Oh, and my bike average, according to my computer, was 18. Were it not for the flat, I'd have no complaints about the bike (I probably could have gone faster without the century the day before, but 18 is nothing to be ashamed of anyway.)

My run: I started out really slow, or at least feeling sluggish. I ate a GU right away even though I didn't want to, and it probably helped, because my mood improved after about 1.5 miles. I started passing other runners around mile 3 or so, and I think I was going about a 9 minute pace, although I didn't check. My heart rate was around 150 for the first four miles.

I picked it up at mile 4 to pass some runners, and again around 4.8 - the last 1.4 miles is a loop around the lake, on a trail, with a lot of little uphills. I passed a few runners on the trail and kept a stronger pace so they wouldn't try to pass me back. Oh, before you get to the trail you run by the transition area, so I threw my water bottle back at my bike station so that I could really bust it out in the end without carrying anything else. So I did: I really picked up huge speed at the end, sprint to the finish, and that actually felt good.

My watch said I'd been going for 3 hours, 12 minutes. Since my goal had been 3 hours even, I might have done even better than I hoped had I not had the flat.

So I've got to learn to put it together! My solid swim today plus my great bike at Issaquah plus...well, I haven't had a fabulous run yet, but I might sometime, would make a great triathlon. But that's exactly what makes triathlon so special: so many factors, so many things to deal with, and then you have to be a great athlete in three sports too! Hopefully I can put it together for my A race - Lake Stevens. I know now I need to bike a little less and focus more on my swimming and running - especially running. I need to make sure I'm doing more speed work and maybe less endurance work. It's not a marathon, after all!

Flying Wheels Summer Century Report

Well, it's not a race, but I've got a report anyway.

Yay century! It was awesome!

I felt great start to finish - unlike on the Daffodil Century, where I was doing the fractions to see how done I was (1/4, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 3/4, etc - including the harder fractions, like sixths and eighths) and where I wondered whether I could actually finish from around mile 33 on. Here, I knew I could. I guess there are some differences:

1) I was with a larger group today (five people) and the group contained only one person who was a stronger rider than me, at least today (Danielle)
2) I had ridden half of the course before, and 3 out of the 5 major hills, and I did that last year when I wasn't as strong a cyclist, so I knew I could do it
3) I'm thinking the training I've done since the end of April, when I rode Daffodil, has paid off.

We started out slower than I could have done, but eventually we sped up and dropped two of our five people (we met up with one again at rest stops, but after about mile 50, I never saw the other again). I think that helped, too. There were some amazing, joyful, exciting miles - a bunch of the way had fabulous rollers, net downhill but it feels amazing to be going slightly uphill at 30 mph. I ate A LOT on the route - I think that helped my mood, too (I didn't eat nearly the number of calories I burned) but I ate a bagel and cookies and a banana and a PowerBar and a Pop-Tart and who knows what else - I was keeping track earlier in the day, but then lost track. So how do I know I didn't eat the number I burned, you ask?

Simple: I burned from exercise 3300 calories. Add that to my metabolic rate of 1400 (which I think is actually low - I think my metabolic rate is more like 1800 now), and it would be pretty much impossible to eat that much and a) be able to ride and b) not puke. I was very hungry when I got home, though, and I indulged in Chinese takeout: chicken and broccoli plus fried rice (a treat!).

So, a few things of note:

The route has five major hills. The first comes at mile 4.5. I wish I could do this hill when I've had time to warm up - as it was, I did it and it was fine, but I could have done even better.

The second hill is nothing. I had to convince one of my riding buddies that it actually was a hill. The third was even less than nothing.

I don't remember the fourth. Oh wait, yes I do - again, not significant. Then there was an extra one in Duvall to re-route around an accident (not sure if it was a bike accident or car). We had to make a sharp right uphill from a downhill slope. I was in my hardest gear, and unfortunately decided to downshift in the back, not the front, because I didn't know how steep it would be. Well, it was VERY steep, so I couldn't big-ring it, so I had to unclip and walk for a minute until I got to a driveway, could shift into a reasonable gear, then get back on the bike and go. That sucked.

So, the fifth hill. It comes at mile 80. The cue sheet said it was a three-mile climb. I remember last year not believing the hill was still going up - it's winding, so I kept thinking it was over, and it wasn't! I remember thinking it was absurd.

I was ready for it, but maybe too ready: it was easy! I mean, I did have to use my easiest gear some of the time, but not all of the time, and after the first 1.5 miles there's a 1-mile downhill that was fast and fabulous, then you go up again for another half-mile. No big deal!

Now, because we stopped and waited a lot for people, elapsed time was about 8.5, almost 9 hours. Riding time was under 6 (but I only rode 93 miles - the total route was 97, but John picked me up before I got to the very end because he was late somewhere and I felt worse about making him late than not finishing the ride). I didn't feel I needed my trip odometer to say 100, because I felt so good at 93 that it was so obvious I could have done more. In fact, I could have run a marathon, or at least a half-marathon. We averaged 15.7, but my average speed kept rising for the last 50 miles due to the faster pace we were able to keep (on flats, we were doing 18-20 mph consistently - I pulled a lot, too, and only drafted a little).

I tried drafting in the aero bars. I barely had to pedal. That was cool. But I liked leading better than drafting, but I'm a poor leader on hills. I push too hard and expend a lot of energy. I'm thinking I should practice chilling out on the hills a little more and pushing harder on the flats. But I love hills!

Okay, it's 10 p.m. now and I'm so tired I can't see straight. Tomorrow I'm doing my first Olympic triathlon. Yes, the day after a century ride. Whatever. :-)

My favorite workout

Today I did my absolute favorite workout. Okay, fine, it's not a workout. It's a triathlon. But it's not competitive, which makes it a little more relaxing.

I swam at Idylwood first - about 2/3 of a mile, maybe 3/4 - then did a real transition (running while removing the wetsuit) to my van, which had already been set up with my gear. Wetsuit off, socks and bike shoes on (I was wearing my new adorable Louis Garneau tri suit), helmet on. Biked 8 or 9 miles, then tossed the bike back in the van, exchanged helmet and bike shoes for running shoes, and I'm off. 15 minute run and I'm done!

Aleks did it with me, despite the fact that it threatened rain (and really started coming down when I was in my car on the way to work). Fun fun fun!

Oh, and I'm still sick. Darn it. Maybe I'll have a cold forever. But it doesn't hold me back any, just annoys me, so I can deal with it.

---
Something else I want to say: no more Indian food. It makes me hungry. Yum.
---

So here are today's data:
Food:
Pre-workout: Vita-top (some weird vitamin muffin, low-cal and low-fat), milk in coffee: 130 cals
Breakfast: Ham, cheese, yogurt, granola, milk in coffee: 500 cals
Lunch: Indian food (chicken, some rice, naan, samosas (I know they're fried)) 600 cals?
Snack: Power Bar Nut Naturals: 210 cals
total so far: 1440

Exercise:
Mini-triathlon, 700 cals burned

11.7 excellent miles

I ran 10 miles with Aleks this morning. We did the Pro Club to West Lake Sammamish Parkway route backwards, where we went down the more gradual hill first, and returned up via one of the steepest hills around (51st Street). It rocked, because that was the first time I could run the entire way up 51st. Although, I should admit, I'm not sure when the last time I attempted that hill was - it certainly was at least a year ago, if not longer. On the other hand, it wasn't at the end of a 10-mile run, either, so I was happy.

Then I met Lisa, another triathlete, for a swim workout. We swam at Idylwood Park for an hour, and she was wearing a GPS device that said we went 1.7 miles. Excellent! I felt pretty good - I wasn't able to keep up bilateral breathing the whole time (I mostly breathed on my better side), but I never panicked, even when boats made waves. And it's getting easier every time.

Unfortunately, I still have a sore throat and a bit of a cold. I'm hoping it goes away by tomorrow, but I'm sort of thinking that even though today I was able to run and swim at the level I planned to, that maybe I should have rested another day or so to completely get rid of this bug. It's just so hard to rest!

So, here are today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and milk in coffee, 90 cals
Workout fuel (throughout workouts): 1 GU, 1 Luna bar: 280 cals
Breakfast: English muffin, ham, cheese, milk in coffee: 265 cals
total so far: 635 cals
Lunch: Wrap, 500 cals
Dinner: 1 slice pizza, soup, ice cream
I feel like I ate more, but I forgot what.

Exercise:
Run 10 miles, 1 hour 45 minutes
Swim 1.7 miles, 1 hour
Calories burned: 1550

Back to the bike

Oh I missed my bike so much! It's been a week since I rode! Danielle and I went the 45-mile route to work and it was delicious. I hit 41.5 mph on one of the hills. :-) I'm getting much more brave (or is that stupid?) on the hills.

My knees hurt a little on the way, not sure why. Maybe not getting good exercise for a few days. I feel good now that I'm at work though.

Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: 2/3 Odwalla bar, banana: 225 cals
During the ride: Muffin, 300 cals
Breakfast: Milk in coffee, english muffin with ham and cheese, chocolate covered graham cracker: 405 cals
total so far: 930 cals
Late lunch: Yogurt with a little bit of granola, string cheese: 360 cals
total so far: 1290 cals
Snack: Pretzels with cheese, 150 cals
Dinner: Scallops, green beans, slice of bread: 400 cals
Dessert: 1/2 cup sherbet, 120 cals
total: 1960 cals

Exercise:
Bike 3 hours
1500 calories

Still sick

Man, I hate being sick. I stayed in bed this morning and didn't go run and lift and swim like I had planned because I figured my body really needed the rest. But it sucks - I hate that I'm not going to be at 100% for the week no matter what. Then again, I need to perform well this weekend, so it's better to cut some training out than suck in a race.

But I will meal-track, so here goes:

On the way to work: Half a Clif Mojo bar, coffee in the car, 130 cals
Breakfast at work: English muffin, ham, cheese: 235 cals
Lunch: Miso soup, salad, sushi: 525 cals
Snack: Coffee cake and milk in coffee: 230 cals
total so far: 1120 cals
Another snack: other half of Mojo bar, cheese: 135 cals
Dinner: Beef, potato, carrots, slice of bread: 500 cals
total: 1755 calories

I'm back

And sick. The toll of traveling three out of four weekends plus high exercise has been taken: I have a cold and sore throat. Fortunately, when I exercise I feel better, though I didn't today. I thought I should have a full day of rest before jumping back in to full on workout tomorrow.

I pretty much ate whatever I wanted this weekend, plus I drank alcohol. I did, however, go running twice: once for an hour (I got lost in a place I never knew existed! I wish I had been a runner in college) and once for 45 minutes with the current Vassar cross-country team. It was just a jog for them, but we were running about 8:30 miles, which is fast for me. It felt good, though - I haven't done enough tempo running lately.

I realized why it was so easy to gain weight post-college: in college, I walked soooo much! Everywhere we went, we walked - and every building we went into had stairs, not an elevator, so we had to climb stairs all the time. I was chubby in college, but poor eating (I remember eating cookies and ice cream a lot) should have made me a whole lot bigger than I actually was.

Anyway, tomorrow I'll go back to full-on real meal tracking. Today I just don't have the energy to do it. Okay, fine. Truth be told, today I want to eat whatever I want again and not write it down (but I haven't been too bad so far, and I don't think I will be).

I reserve the right not to meal track

On the first day of that time of the month. I further reserve the right to eat bagels and chocolate, probably not together, but quite possibly.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I will discuss my bike workout this morning. The route was ridiculous. Zoom out on the link about half way and you'll see what I mean: I went way east when I needed to go due north, then back south only to turn around again. 38 miles of bliss, honestly. Ridiculous, inefficient commuting - but fun!

I guess it's not actually as bad as riding into Seattle and going north around Lake Washington to get to work. Next I'll have to figure out how to ride to Tacoma on my way to work - that will be a feat!

I have a sore throat. I hope that doesn't prevent me from doing my long run tomorrow. I have my 10-year college reunion this weekend, and I'm going back to New York for it. I know I'm way different from what I was then, but I was hoping to be even more so. I feel fat. Maybe it's just the time o' month. Oh well. I did burn 1300 calories today in exercise.

144.8

That was my weight this morning. NOT GOOD.

I should stop focusing on training and start focusing on eating properly. My jeans are tight. This is a bad bad thing.

John says I'm obsessing about the weight and that "it's all muscle," but I really believe that's a convenient excuse for the actual bad weight I've gained.

Blah.

Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: 1/2 Luna bar, milk in coffee: 120 cals
Breakfast: Ham and cheese (twice as much as usual), small peach, milk in coffee: 320 cals
Snack: String cheese, 60 cals
Lunch: Chicken and bacon salad from Quiznos (no cheese, very little dressing): 400 cals
Snack: Yogurt, 110 cals
Total so far: 1010 cals

Exercise:
Run 75 minutes
Lift weights 45 minutes
Calories burned: 700

Two long bike rides

Yesterday we went out for a 40-mile ride including the Lakemont Blvd. climb. Love that! The only issue I had was that at about mile 14, my bike started refusing to shift! One of my friends spent 20 minutes trying to fix it, and he got it so I had three gears: my hardest, my easiest, and a middle gear (small ring in the front, small ring in the back). You'd that that might be enough, but not quite: some of the time I was either mashing to keep going, or spinning almost out of control.

At mile 38, my husband gave up and started walking. He was really discouraged. And as much as I feel bad about that, I also feel two other things:

1) If you don't train, how can you expect to ride hard?
2) What goes around, comes around.

What I mean by #2 is this: yesterday morning at breakfast, we were talking with another friend about my really great bike results from Issaquah. John said to me, "I want to ride with you today, and I want to do the same course you did yesterday, and see if I can beat you."

I was like, oh my goodness. Is your masculinity that challenged that you have to feel better about yourself by putting me down? I have TRAINED. I earned that great result - and it doesn't come at a cost to John! He could be fast (even faster than me, probably) if he WORKED like I did. So I said no thank you, my legs are a little tired from yesterday (Saturday) but we could ride somewhere else instead.

Then he kept rejecting all the rides I came up with (too hilly, apparently) until I came up with one that only had one huge hill. Whatever. The hill was two miles long, and I beat him up the hill by more than seven minutes.

So today I rode to work the long way (45 miles) and John drove the van with his bike in it. At lunch time, I rode to his work to get the van, and he is supposed to ride home. Hopefully he'll enjoy it.

So, since Saturday I did a sprint triathlon plus about 90 miles. Yay!

Here are today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: 1/2 bagel with peanut butter, 160 cals
Workout fuel: 1 Luna bar, 1/2 bag sport beans, 230 cals
Breakfast: Yogurt and granola, milk in coffee, 430 cals
Snack: 1/2 Clif bar, 125 cals
Lunch: Chicken and broccoli over noodles, 400 cals
total so far: 1345 cals

Exercise:
Bike 50 miles
Calories burned: 1500

Oh Issaquah

Today I participated in my first triathlon of the season, fourth in my life. I don't know all the numbers yet, but I do know this: I was 18th out of 50 in my age group and I finished in 1:31. The distances were slightly off from a standard sprint tri: they were:

1/4 mile swim
14.5 mile bike
3.5 mile run

Okay, so after yesterday's session, I felt super-prepared for this - maybe even overconfident. I walked down to the water, lined up, and was in the front of the pack.

BAD IDEA.

Before the gun went off, I felt awesome - I even thought to myself that I could maybe keep these women behind me at bay for the entire swim, and just be out front. NOT AT ALL. Panic set in after just a few strokes, I couldn't put my face in the water, I swallowed water and couldn't catch my breath - all the usual stuff. A woman ahead of me turned and saw me, asked if I was alright. I sort of choked out a yes, but she didn't believe me, so she yelled to the person watching the swimmers in a kayak "Hey, keep an eye out for her!" Not much of a confidence boost there - but actually, at the time I was more concerned about her race and how she should go and not waste time on me (I never once thought I was going to drown). I did, however, alternate between side stroke and a crawl with my head out of the water. I kept my S-pulls (which I used to lose in stressful situations), but still: I was slow. The numbers aren't out yet to share my shame.

So, lessons learned from the swim:

1) Do not start at the front. I'm not that good yet.
2) Hang back a few seconds, wait until the splashing dies, then go.
3) No more pool swimming. From now on, it's open water all the way. SUCK IT UP. I need the practice.

I was proud that I held my line - about half of the swimmers in my wave got off course and had to re-set, but I was far enough back to see it and I didn't follow suit.

The bike pretty much made up for the swim. As soon as I was out of the transition area (transition was fairly easy and fast; I got my wetsuit off okay, socks and shoes on, a shirt over my tri suit because it was still fairly cool and my helmet on, no sunglasses because my contacts were turned around so it was hard enough to see, gloves were in my Bento box in case I ended up wanting them, which I didn't), I felt amazing (despite a HR somewhere in the 170s). I yelled to the guy ahead of me, "I'm so glad to be out of the water!!!" I actually felt, I'm so glad to be on my bike. I felt at home and comfortable.

As soon as I was out of the no passing zone, I got in my big ring and just hit it. I was above 20 mph for most of the ride, except for the most significant hill (both out and back) - and even then I was going 12-13 and passing people. I ended up near a group of four riders who rode approximately my pace, and we just kept passing each other most of the route. Towards the end, one of the women said to me, "Wow, you're really strong!" in a voice that told me she was impressed - and that gave me a great boost, even though I already knew I was strong. One cool thing: a few miles in, there's one of those "Your Speed" things that tells you how fast you're going. Usually when I pass it I'm going about 18 to 20 - it's slightly downhill, but right after an uphill so you haven't achieved a high speed yet. Today: 23! (And I know it was me, because I was alone when I got there.)

I did have one bad thing happen on the bike: I went to take a drink from my water bottle, dropped it, and ran over it. I had to pull over to make sure my bike was okay (it was - the funny noise I heard was my race number blowing up against my jersey), but I was too far ahead to go back to pick up the bottle. I felt bad about losing it, both because it's now an obstacle on the course for riders behind me, and because I only had one bottle and therefore lost all water 3 miles into the race. NOT GOOD when the sun was already coming out. Also not too good was hitting two cones as I was trying to pass people in a tight area - it may have been a no passing zone, I'm not sure. I ended up with my bike computer saying I averaged 19.5 (that includes the running parts in and out of transition) and saying it took me 44 minutes.

So, lessons learned on the bike:

1) Either use my aero bottle or have two water bottled half-filled in case I lose one
2) Carefully study the course map beforehand to know for sure where no passing zones are
3) Um, I can go harder than I thought. My HR was so high, but my RPE was fairly comfortable (labored breathing up hills and while passing, otherwise RPE of 6-7). I should work harder on the bike in general in training.

The run was so-so. I was so thirsty, and it was HOT by then, and I didn't need my long-sleeve cycling jersey but I wasn't body-confident enough in my tri suit to take it off. So I was warm. A ton of people passed me on the run, but I didn't let that get to me: I didn't feel any weird leg stuff, but I didn't feel super-fast either. At the one-mile mark, my watch said I'd been going for 9 minutes. I didn't see any other course markers until the one that said 1/4 mile left, and I picked it up then. But I think my run only took 30 minutes, which means it couldn't have been 3.5 miles. Not that I wasn't ready to see the end!

There was no water on the run. Actually, about half way in there was a water station set up - do it yourself style, though, and I wasn't willing to stop. So the rest of the way my thirst was really my fault.

Lessons learned from the run:
1) It gets warmer and your body gets warmer as the day wears on. Clothing that might work for bike racing might not for running.
2) Have an extra water bottle at the transition area, for drinking, washing, etc.

So overall, a good day. Plus, my six-year-old son did his first triathlon today! The kids tri (for his age group) was a 75-yard swim, 2 mile bike, and 1/2 mile run. He was soooooo cute!

I might do food data later; calories were somewhere around 1000, but more for the day, because I ran around to watch Gabriel race and later in the day I ran around my neighborhood looking for a lost kid.

Update:
I got my times. Here goes. Oh, and I was 18th out of 72, not 50. I guess the sheet I was looking at had early results.

Swim: 13:00 <-- HORRIBLE. MUST WORK ON THIS.
T1: 2:19. <-- Danielle did 1:25; I could have been and will work on becoming faster.
Bike: 43:40. <-- This is, if my math is correct, a 20 mph average. YES. I will do this again - especially since I did stop once to check my tire, so I might have been even a little faster. This time exceeded my expectations. They say you're not going to race faster than you train. I'm not sure that's true.
T2: 1:06. <-- Could have been faster here, too. I really wanted to check my odometer. Next time I will remember this is a race, and every second counts.
Run: 31:11. <-- Not sure what to say here. I know thirst contributed to this time, which if the race really were 3.5 miles this would be a great time for me, but it wasn't. So, basically, I need to fix the hydration and nutrition issues and be better on the run.

What I'm most proud of, though, is Gabriel's time. He did his tri in 27:06. I had estimated it would take him 40 minutes - after all, he's just six years old! But he was awesome. They don't rank kids, which is good, because apparently a lot of the girls and some of the boys didn't do the required number of laps on the bike. I'm just so proud of him, though - what a hard-core kid!

I might love swimming!

I know I've been a big whiner about swimming, and I have really not wanted to get in the pool. Now I know why: open water swimming is so much better! I got over my fear and got in the water this morning - and it was perfect! It was cold, but with a full wetsuit, I was completely fine. I wore my new tri suit under the wetsuit, which worked out great too. We practiced transitions in anticipation of tomorrow's triathlon - we swam about 30 minutes (to get the open-water experience), biked 7 miles, then ran for 15 minutes. I felt just joyous when I was done - I didn't want it to end!

So now I'm feeling great about tomorrow's race. Yay!

Today's data:
Pre-workout: banana and milk in coffee, 110 cals
Breakfast: 1 egg, 2 sausage links, potatoes, milk in coffee: 425 cals
Lunch: 2 cookies, salad, chili, 680 (darn cookies)
total so far: 1215 cals

Exercise:
Swim, bike, run, transition practice: 600 calories burned

Lotsa exercise

Biked to work, then ran, then swam. My hamstrings hurt. But Danielle told me she's nervous too about the Issaquah tri, so that made me feel a little better (I'm not alone!).

Today's data:

Food:
Pre-workout: Banana, 80 cals
Workout: 1/2 Power Bar, 110 cals
Breakfast: Two eggs, an english muffin, cranberry juice and milk in coffee: 400 cals
Lunch: Chicken breast, white beans, broccoli: 400 cals
Snack: Mojo bar, 200 cals
total so far: 1190 cals
Dinner: two cookies, fried chicken strips, fries (blah)

Exercise:
Bike 25 miles (1 hour 45 min)
Run 45 min
Swim 30 min
Calories burned: 1500