ChelanMan July 18, 2009

PRE-RACE: Arrived to Chelan on Friday, a beautiful day. We were told it was the hottest day of the year so far at 102. We racked our bikes Friday, the night before. Then, went to teammate Greg's house for a lovely pre-race dinner. What a beautiful lake and nice evening.

Stayed at the host hotel, Best Western which was a great hotel. I only had to wake up and walk a couple hundred yards to the start line. It was the most spectator friendly hotel you can imagine. If you are considering doing this race next year, make reservations now. You won't regret it.

Ate half of a plain whole wheat bagel and a raspberry organic toaster pastry. Had a warm up run and warm-up swim. The swim was spectacular. The lake was sooo clear. It was like water in Hawaii.

I had done one Olympic race prior to this last September, in Black Diamond.

RACE:

SWIM: All women started together. There was a lot of contact at the beginning. I still don't feel comfortable with contact. I felt boxed in for a while, until I couldn't stand it anymore. I looked up and realized I'd have to really make a move to get out of the pack. I had to go sideways for a while to get to a clear spot and was so happy I did that. Yeah, I could stretch out my stroke and loved the rest of the race. This was the greatest water ever and I loved the rope!!! Time: 30.30 beat last olympic race by 6 minutes!!

T-1: Time: 1:55 beat last olympic race by 1 minute

BIKE: The bike course was rolling hills. I felt good on the bike. I got to ride the entire second half of the bike with Jodi which was nice and fun. We encouraged each other along the way. I can't say enough how much fun that makes racing. Getting off the bike I felt good.
Time: 1:11 beat last olympic race by 12 minutes!!

T-2: Time: 59 seconds beat last olympic race by 47 seconds

RUN: I started to run and said to myself...pace yourself, pace yourself. THAT was my mantra. I was starting slow. I was happy that I was following my plan. But, still felt bad. My muscles in my back and legs were getting tight. I was burping. I decided to walk through the aid stations. I hoped to regroup. I felt really bad and really warm. I was slowing and slowing. I thought about giving up many times. Finally, I got passed by a 40+ larger woman who I paced off of to the finish. I felt miserable about this performance. Especially since my family was there to watch.
Time: 57 minutes worse than last olympic race by 1 minute

Overall: 2:42:35 4th in AG of 29 women.

The positives: - I PR'd by 19 minutes.
- I built a lot of confidence on this swim
- Beautiful venue

The negatives: - I felt really weak in the run. I believe I have a hard time in heat both mentally and physically. Triathlons are about overcoming obstacles. This is an obstacle I will need to overcome. I will do this several ways. First, I am going to train in heat. Second, I am going to take a little down time from racing. The half marathon I ran 'took it out of me' and I haven't felt the same since. I am going to have some fun and do some wakeboarding, hiking, and pilates and get myself together. Third, I am going to see a physical therapist about my back. It has been bothering me on the runs and I need to get this taken care of. I already have appointments made with Shelly H. at the Pro Club.

Thanks for the support out there from my family and JFT2 folks. I really had a fun time. Oh, and my daughter loved the Kids Tri. I would recommend this race as it was the most spectator-friendly event I have ever seen!!

Rock-n-Roll Half Marathon June 27, 2009

Pre-Race: The race had 25,000 people!!! Yes, that's right. HUGE. The biggest race in Seattle's history. Most of the people did the half-marathon. 70% of the participants were women. The majority of the women were in their 30s. I guess I fit that demographic!

I signed up for the race back in March after I ran the Mercer Island half marathon. When you sign up it asks you what time you expect to finish. Since I had just finished that race in a 1:47 I thought, at the time, that I could shave off a couple of minutes so I put down a 1:45:30. I didn't realize that this put me in a corral. Out of 40+ corrals I was assigned to corral 4 with the fast people. Yikes.

I got a new bike, as most everyone in the world now knows. So, my running hasn't been too consistent since the purchase of my bike. In fact, it's better pretty minimal. But, my husband still thought I might surprise myself because I'd been swimming and biking a lot.

I woke up at 4:45am to meet a woman in Sammamish whose friends gave us a ride to the start. This was really cool, because otherwise we would have had to wake up even earlier to catch a shuttle from Seattle.

Race:
I lined up with the people in corral 4. We were both marathoners and half-marathoners together at a similar pace. So, the 3:30 sign was nearby. (the pacer for the full marathon). The gun went off and I told myself not to go out too fast. But, but, but, everyone was going so fast. It was like we were in a river and the current was quick. People were whooping and hollaring because it was exciting to run with that many people. I got caught up in the moment and was with that 3:30 sign for the first 5 miles or so.

At about mile 5 there was a hill and I realized my heart rate was up there. I wasn't wearing a monitor, but, I knew it was up there. So, I decided to walk up the hill. I got to the top and ran down toward Seward Park area. I wasn't feeling as strong as I should. I started walking every mile. By about mile 9 I was really hurting and my back was getting tight. I was bummed because the weather was PERFECT, the hills weren't too big and there was a lot of positive energy in this race. But, I didn't feel good. People were passing me. I was passing...no one. I really wanted to stop. But, I paid $100 to do this race and I should not quit because it's LAME. So, I kept going and walking and going and walking. I finally got to the finish and was able to stop. Yeah, it was over.

Time: 1:50:09. Avg. Pace 8:24

Post Race: Had fun in the beer garden for several hours after the race. Fun! I also got a sunburn.

I did get one good race photo... here is the link. http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=45933&BIB=4481&LNSEARCH=1

5 Mile Lake Tri June 13, 2009

PRE-RACE: Spent the night in Auburn at my parents' house. My dad got up and came to the race with me. My mom came later, bringing Emily and Katie. Abbey was in California with Eric. It was nice for my dad to want to come early and see what it was like behind-the-scenes. I had told my Dad that this wasn't a big race so I had a chance to place and that I wanted him to tell me how many girls were ahead of me at transitions. TMI - had tummy issues before the race. (However, of note, whenever I have a good race, it seems like I have tummy issues.) I missed a warm-up swim because I was back and forth from the bathroom.

RACE:
SWIM - Missed the warm-up. But, the lake was warm and nice. It was a dark lake, but, I liked it. There were only 2 waves. This wave was the first wave...20-39 yo. I tried to draft off of some girl who blew ahead of me so fast I don't think I drafted off of her for a single stroke. I didn't draft off of anyone the whole time. Swim felt fine, and was over quickly. I got out of the water and my Dad had that look on his face. That look that told me I was so far in the back of the pack he couldn't even count how many people were in front of me. That's OK though, I knew I'd be slow on the swim. 7:08

T-1: uneventful. But, felt better than my last race. 1:05

BIKE: Got on the bike and felt good. This was a 2 lap course. I had been told by someone that there were small rollers...no big hills. I passed a bunch of people and then got to a few girls and we played the back-and-forth game for a while. There were 3 of us in this game. It was fun for a while, but, got old. So, at the start of the second lap I decided to go ahead because I was feeling pretty good. I never saw them again. I picked off two more girls. Then, I only saw men. I was feeling good, but, didn't want to blow it all and be tired for the run. I was coming toward the end and I saw a girl and she had a '39' on her leg. So, I caught up and passed her just before the end of the bike. (see photo) I got off the bike and people were yelling "you're the 2nd girl in". I saw my dad as I was headed into transition. He had a big grin on his face and was showing me the '2' sign. 40:09 20.9 MPH

T-2: I felt OK here. I had a lot of adrenalin because of what people were saying. That girl I had passed on the bike was heading out at the same time as me. 44.4 seconds

RUN: I was excited, I had a race against a 39 yo for 2nd place. Then, whoosh...my number fell off. In fact, the 1st photo below shows me just after the number fell off. The course volunteers said "You better get that". So, I ran over and picked up my number and tried to get it back in the little holes of my race belt. This was so hard, I think because of all of the adrenalin. I got passed by ~ 4 girls. UGH!!!! So, I finally got it on and started running. I passed one girl back and was feeling good. Then, whoosh...two younger girls that looked like superstar runners passed me and I knew there was no chance in he11 I was going to catch them. Oh well. I kept going and finally got the 39 yo in my sight. Those two girls blew by her too. I kept the 39 yo in my sight, but, just couldn't catch her. 22:59 7:24/m

Time: 1:12:03, Sprint Tri PR!! 3rd in AG, 8th female

Issaquah Triathlon 09 May 30, 2009

Pre-Race: Ahhhh, 1st race of the season! Woke up at 5am. Ate a bagel with cream cheese and OJ. Arrived at race site. Ran about a mile or so to warm-up. Swam a little...nice warm water. Felt good. I had planned to eat a pop-tart, but forgot. I drank a bottle of water. Oh, and the weather was perfect. It was beautiful.

Swim: We were off. Feet kicking, people pushing. Craziness. I did this tri last year, but, swam on my back. This year...the crawl! I have been in swim class nearly a year to learn how to swim. And, Yay, I did the crawl the whole way!! Since this is my first swim with the 'big pack' of swimmers I learned that there is an awful lot of pushing during this part. I need to think of a different strategy for next time. I want to be more in front next time, and probably to the side. Time: 6:54

T1: OK. Time: 1:59

Bike: I got a new bike ~ 20 days ago. I love my new bike. I loved this part of the race. I had fun!! Only downside was the no-passing section at the end. Even before the no-passing zone I got stuck behind a fat guy with gas. This really stunk in more ways than one. Time: 39:38
















T2: Struggled here with being smooth. Time: 1:18

Run: Now I know that this is a sprint tri and nutrition should be a non-issue. Yet, somehow, I made it an issue. I had put Cytomax in my nifty new aerodynamic sports bottle. I drank a lot of it (it's so easy to drink now in my aero bars). I usually drink water. But, I thought, I didn't want to eat a gu, so, I'll put Cytomax in my sports bottle. Well, that was dumb. My stomach was a sloshing mess and I felt like my run sucked. Bummer because I even like the uneven surface of the trails instead of pavement. But, my stomach was not havin' it. Time: 23:44








Time: 1:13:33. 8th of 88 in AG. Waaaaay better than last year (like by 14 minutes) which makes me very happy. But, not the run part of the race that I was hoping for. It was, however, nice to be part of the Jill Fry Tri Team and to see my friends from swim class out racing.