awesome lady!

Elkhorn and Beyond!

2010-06-16T13:06:00.001-07:00

Several of the Cucina Fresca ladies are gearing up to head to Baker City, Oregon for the Elkhorn Classic Stage Race. Elkhorn is so cool because it's not only an equal distance race for the women (75 mile road race on the first day, a time trial and crit on the second day, and a 101 mile road race on the final day) thanks to the awesome support of Bev at BELLA Main Street Market and others in Baker City, it is also an equal payout event for women. This is so rare for female cyclists, that we should continue to support races that support women. Bev was also kind enough to get host housing for our entire team so that we can actually afford to do this!

In all, we have 6 women going down although all women are raced together, we are scored separately. Eileen will be our sole Cat 4. The Lauren, Amber, Tara trifecta of awesomeness will be representing in the 3s. I will be racing in the 1/2s with a fantastic Canadian guest rider Kristine who can climb my legs off.

After we conquer the 'Horn, I'm heading to Portland for a few days to visit one of my best friends, Katie who is the proud mom of my best dog friend (and Fry's girlfriend) Penelope.

After hanging for a few days with Katie I'm heading to Elite Nationals in Bend Oregon where I will attempt to not get pulled in the crit and not get dropped in the road race.

All in all, no matter how the results shake out, this promises to be a very fun 10 days!

my smiling mug

2010-06-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

Goals for 2010

2010-05-27T10:49:00.000-07:00

- Race elite Nationals
- Race my first NRC (Cascade Classic)
- ~~Upgrade to Cat 1 on the road~~

Tour of Walla Walla (finally)

2010-05-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I've been putting off writing this race report but I'm finally doing it.

ToWW was my first 3 day stage race and was a big early season target or "A" race for me. Since I still have no clue what I'm doing training-wise, I did a half-assed taper for a few days leading up to the race.

Vicki and I flew into Walla Walla on Thursday afternoon and drove the Kellogg Hollow course. Then Vicki and Paul dropped me off at my house and an hour later we met back up and did a lap of the TT course. I liked the course and was feeling good. There was a small hill in it that was shallow enough to stay in the big ring but steep enough that I definitely planned on riding it out of the aero bars.

Thursday night, I ate a bunch of food, drank a beer, and got a massage from one of the Hubbards (I was lucky enough to be staying in a house with three massage therapists).

FRIDAY

Friday was a hard day to plan out. Our first road race, Kellogg Hollow, was rumored to be a really difficult race, likely made harder by the fact that it was only 37 miles long. Also, we didn't start until after 4:00 PM so it was really difficult to plan out nutrition.

I drove out to the start with some teammates and Vicki, Kimberly, and I rolled on the road to warm up. I was feeling more intimidated than I have ever felt at the start of a race. There were over 50 pro/1/2 women registered including several girls that I didn't know from Canada, Idaho, and Oregon.

The pace was fast but not brutal. There were a few attacks but nothing that wasn't reeled in quickly. At the QOM line, I didn't go for the prize ($15 ... not even worth it) but glued myself to the wheels of the girls who were going for it. The hills were hard but steady and it wasn't as windy as it was rumored to have been last year. I just stayed close to the front and tried to conserve energy.

Going into the finish, most of the pack was still together and was feeling really good! I decided I was going to go for it in the sprint. I positioned myself on Cheryl Thonney's wheel since I know she's a really strong sprinter and prepared for the sprint. Unfortunately, Cheryl slipped through a gap that closed before I could get through and went on to win the sprint and get those precious bonus seconds. I wasn't able to do much and rolled in 16th but with the same time as the pack.

SATURDAY

Time Trial

There were a lot of STRONG time trialists at this race so my goal was to make it in with the top 10 and not lose too much time to anyone. With girls like Suz Weldon, Tricia Bailey, Robin Secrist, Wheeler, and several others, this was going to be a difficult task.

I warmed up for about 45 minutes and was careful about getting all of my nutrition. When it was finally time to start I was feeling relaxed and ready.

It's hard to write an accurate report of a 15k time trial since I basically have tunnel-vision the whole time and verge on having to puke. From the gun I went hard and was able to catch my 30 second girl within a mile or two. Up the hill I saw 2 girls grinding away in their aero bars at a slow cadence. I sat up and shifted into an easier gear and was able to pass two more girls up the hill.

Over the top of the hill I started to run out of steam a little bit. It's times like that I wish I had a power meter so I could focus on keeping my power up on the downhills.

After the race I waited for Kimberly and Vicki and the three of us spun down together. I didn't bother going to check my results, I figured I would just see them at the crit that evening.

Criterium

I got to the crit early to watch the Cat 4 women and saw that I had gotten 3rd place in the TT behind only Tricia and Wheeler! This moved me into 4th in the GC and only about 20 seconds out of 1st!

The crit is a somewhat sketchy 8 corner on not super great roads. My goal was to stay safe, sit in, and get the same time as everyone else. The time bonuses for the finish were not much so I wasn't planning on going for anything unless the opportunity really presented itself.

(thanks for the arty farty pic matt)

So the course was sketchy but the riders were even sketchier. There were a bunch of girls (not anyone from WA) that were all over the place and had no clue how to properly corner. It was horrifying. My line got cut around probably a dozen corners and I was trying to stay close to the front just to avoid the sketchiness.

At one point, a drunk woman ran across the road RIGHT.IN.FRONT.OF.US nearly causing a 50 rider pileup.

Then, with two laps to go, my pal and the GC leader Wheeler went into a corner too hot and hit a cone going down hard. It was the scariest crash I've ever seen. Had I not heard her moaning, I probably would have thought she had broken her neck. Thankfully, she got away with some road rash, a few stitches, a concussion, and a broken collarbone and is already back on her bike.

I was so shaken up after the crash that I just hung on and didn't even bother sprinting at the finish. I rolled in 21st and held onto my GC spot.

SUNDAY

Sunday was the final race and likely my shot to move up in the GC or at least hold position. Although I was technically in 4th going into the race, because Wheeler was out, I was actually sitting in 3rd behind Cheryl and Tricia. Only 12 seconds separated me from 1st but 4th and 5th were only a few seconds behind me.

Sunday's race was a 75 mile road race through rolling hills finishing up a significant 3km climb.

The first lap was pretty uneventful. At one point one girl attacked but we just kind of let her hang out there until we caught her. Vicki was awesome and made sure that I was protected the whole lap. She moved to the front at probably sat out there for half of the nearly 40 mile loop.

Going into the second lap we climb the finishing hill. I decided to drill it up the hill since I was feeling good and there was a shot for a break to get away. I was the 3rd girl over the hill and actually managed to get myself a bonus second for the QOM.

The pack had totally shattered over the climb and 9 of us came back together and started working to stay away from the rest of the pack. All of the top GC girls were in the break and we were eventually chased down after about 15 miles. Once we were caught no one would do any work ... like at all. We actually were almost caught by the Cat 4 women. It was stupid but at the same time I wasn't about to do any work and risk losing my GC spot.

Finally, with about 5k to go a girl attacked and we rode a hard tempo to catch her. We got her at the 3k sign at the bottom of the finishing climb.

That 3k was the hardest I have ever worked. Two girls, one of whom was not far behind me in the GC got off the front, and 5 or 6 more of us were chasing her. I was climbing shoulder to shoulder with Robin Secrist who was only 5 seconds behind me in the GC and Tricia Bailey who was only a few seconds ahead of me. My goal was to not let go of Robin's wheel. I was climbing hard and doing math at the same time. At this point, even if she got 3rd she would only get 4 bonus seconds but I was 5 seconds ahead of her in the GC plus my one bonus second meant that as long as we stayed together, I would still beat her by at least two seconds.

At 200m Tricia attacked and Robin matched accelleration. They almost got away from me but I was somehow able to keep up with them. I rolled in 6th place but got the same time as Robin and Tricia.

The girl who won the road race ended up moving ahead of me in the GC but at the same time, I moved ahead of Cheryl so I held on to 3rd place in a very close race!

Just moments after I finished I watched Lauren Roschen, one of our Cat 4 women, win her road race after riding through 1/2 of the pro/1/2 field and catapulting herself from 12th to 2nd in the GC. Kara Nielsen, another Cucina Fresca Cat 4 woman ended up 2nd in the road race and won the Cat 4 GC! Tara O'Brien, after a bad crash in the crit, finished 4th!

Walla Walla had it's bad, hard, and scary moments but all in all was one of the best weekends of racing I've ever done!

Learning how to really race

2010-03-15T09:22:00.001-07:00

This was such a great weekend of racing with my teammates. It was my first double road race weekend of 2010 and my first double road race as a Cat 2.

Saturday was the Tour de Dung road race and Sunday was Mason lake #2, 48 and 60 miles respectively.

Saturday I decided to just put myself out there and try attacks and crazy bridges. The pace was fast from the gun (22 mph neutral rollout ftw). At the end of the first of four laps I bridged up to a break with two of the stronger ladies in the race. I took one other girl with me. We stayed away for a few minutes and when the pack caught us, they had shelled a lot of girls. After that, 2 girls went off the front and stayed away for the rest of the race.

I was feeling really good, going into the last few miles when I pulled a totally rookie mistake. I totally missed the 1km sign (despite passing it three other times on previous laps) and when we hit 200m I wasn't expecting it and was totally boxed in. It would have been unsafe for me to try and move anywhere so I just pedaled it in for 15th out of 37 or so. Even though it was one of my worst finishes, I was totally happy with my race since I feel like I raced safe and smart.

Sunday was even better. We raced with the fast old guys and the pace was again really fast from the gun (a dude attacked the second we weren't neutral). Vicki and I were so good. We covered every break and made sure to have at least one of us close to the front, ready to jump.

Between the two of us, we managed to get into probably 6 or 7 breaks that were chased down and then finally on the last lap I got into the perfect break. I saw one strong woman go followed by another. I chased on and then one more strong woman followed me. It was perfect. There was a well-represented break of men up the road so the men weren't going to chase us this time. Immediately we started rotating and were able to pull away from the pack. I was the least experienced rider and probably weakest sprinter in the group but I was still feeling really strong despite all the chasing I had done in the previous 50 miles.

When we got to 1k, the strongest sprinter was sitting in front and none of us would pull through around her. At around 300m one woman went followed by another. I hopped on 3rd wheel and was able to get around the first woman who went but couldn't quite outsprint the other lady and I rolled in 2nd by about a bike length.

Finishing well was great but feeling like I am finally learning to be more aggressive, work with a team, and put myself out there is the best feeling ever.

In other news, our Cat 4 Cucina Fresca women are doing so well. I even got an email from another Cat 4 woman complimenting them on how safe, strong, and friendly they are and how well they work together as a team. I couldn't be happier.

A story about how I was wrong: Sublime Sublimity Circuit Race

2010-02-22T11:02:00.000-08:00

This last weekend I did my first road race of the year. The Sublime Sublimity Circuit Race takes place in Sublimity, OR and is run on a 13 mile circuit. The Pro 1/2/3 women were run together in the afternoon. We did 3 laps on the course which, with the off course finish worked out to a little over 40 miles.

I had checked out the course profile (see entry below) and looked at pictures from last year's race. All in all, it seemed like a good course for me, two big climbs but only about 500-600 vertical feet over 3-4 miles for each climb so I figured they wouldn't be that tough.

I was totally wrong.

First of all, the roads weren't necessarily "bad" but they also weren't good. There weren't potholes or other real hazards, but almost the entire circuit was run on the coarsest chip seal I've ever seen (made Mason Lake look like smooth asphalt).

Second, when we weren't climbing, we were fighting a stiff headwind or a brutal crosswind. The one really screaming descent was fun but I was in a break every time we hit it so we were still working our a**es off to keep chasers at bay.

Third, there was something about the air or the allergens down in Sublimity that actually made my lungs hurt more than my legs. I was wheezing and coughing after every hard effort even though my legs still felt pretty okay.

On to the actual report.

We start off neutral from the staging area and onto the course. Up the first big climb, Lucy and I are sitting in the front and Lucy goes "we're still neutral, right?" and someone else answered that we weren't. Whoops. A girl attacks.

I chased from the front. Uphill. Into the wind. Now we were really racing. We cruised through the first set of rollers and then hit the big climb (Basil Hill or Basil Road?). The hill was on the same cruddy chip seal and I would liken it to some of the middle steep sections of Zoo Hill. One of the Veloforma girls attacked over the top of the hill and we started to string out chasing her. I'd already done my fair share of chasing in the first few miles of the race and let a couple of other girls pull us back up to her and then I went with the counterattack on the descent.

After the descent we hit another set of rollers and then a straightaway into a brutal headwind.

We'd already shelled probably 1/3 of the girls when we hit Basil the second time. I went for it up the hill, staying shoulder to shoulder with a Veloforma girl and two other ladies who I'd pegged as the strongest climbers in the race. Finally, we were able to break into a group of four.

Two more girls caught us on the descent but were gone once we hit the rollers again.

The rest of the race is kind of a blur of pain. Our group of four managed to stay together and I was pretty sure I could bring it in for third. There was one girl who was riding really strong and one who we kept almost dropping. The Veloforma lady (Rebecka Hartkop) seemed to be in about the same place as me so I was pretty sure she and I could round out the podium.

About 3 miles from the finish, up the last "big" climb, the lady who had been riding really strong (Mackenzie Madison, a pro triathlete) started to pull away from us. Rebecka tried to chase as did I, but we couldn't get her.

I kept chasing, putting a little into her on the hills but losing her on the descents. I did, however, manage to drop Rebecka and the other lady, Heather Hill, who had been in our group of 4. At 1km to go, we went off the circuit towards the finish. The final 1k was like a cruel joke. It was a series of rollers into a headwind with an 18% kicker from 200m to the finish line. I think I almost fell over in those last 200 meters.

All in all, I was very pleased with my 2nd place finish. I think If I'd been paying a little more attention, I may have been able to stay on Mackenzie's wheel up that last climb but who's to say whether I could have taken her at the line.

Also, I managed to get quoted in Oregon Cycling Action which was pretty cool.

See the bottom of the article

I love how I told him that I wanted to cry. Whoops. But seriously. I wanted to cry.

HOLY SHIT!!! It's almost road season!!!

2010-02-16T16:23:00.000-08:00

Holy shit!!! I thought I would be so burned after cross season that I wouldn't want to race my bike for about a million years but I'm totally chomping at the bit to start racing on the road.

I've been semi-injured for the last month or so and totally unable to run so instead I've been putting a ton of hours on the bike. As of this weekend, I have about 1500 miles on the year and one slowly healing saddle sore.

I don't claim to know much about how to properly train or anything like that but I have been having a blast. I've been training with people who are oodles stronger than me and I've finally found some amazing female training partners in my teammates Vicki and Kimberly (as well as several of the other awesome Cucina Fresca women). I'm feeling strong and ready to see if I can keep up with the big girls in the pro/1/2 field.

This Saturday will be my first race of the season, the Sublime Sublimity circuit race in Sublimity Oregon. The course looks like it's basically two giant hills over a 15ish mile circuit, so it should be perfect for me.

My two goals are to race smart, and try one crazy attack in the last lap.

After this, I'm just going to see what the season gives me. I'm not doing any races when the weather is dangerously bad a la Independence Valley last year (31 degrees and snowing) and I am setting the goal of finishing my first NRC stage race - Cascade Classic in Bend, OR.

I'll try to be a better blogger for the rest of the season, but I've promised and failed at that before so only time will tell.

Happy riding!

This is my friend Jess, she runs marathons ...

2009-11-30T20:18:00.000-08:00

Friend: This is my friend Jess, she runs marathons. She's even won marathons.
Jess: I don't run marathons. I've actually never run a marathon.
Friend: No, you totally run marathons, you've done a ton of them, you even won a few, I know you did.
Jess: I've really never run a marathon, I do triathlons.
Friend: Oh, same thing.
Jess: ...

I've had this conversation about 938792 times in the last several years. It's true, I've never run a marathon (okay I technically "did" a marathon at IMC but I would hardly call that "running" a marathon).

Anyway, last weekend I (stupidly) decided to do the Philadelphia Marathon. The race was sold out so I bought a bib off of a dude who was injured and couldn't run. I felt a little like a bandit but not really since I at least legitimately paid for it. Yes, I did my first marathon as a 33 year old doctor named Ping.

I flew into Newark on Friday and spent the night in a hotel and took the train into Philly on Saturday morning ... okay afternoon. I ended up walking way too much and probably eating all the wrong things.

Saturday night I stayed with my very dear friend Jon who was kind enough to give up his bed for me and my other dear friend Mimi who was running the half.

We woke up around 4:45 AM (1:45 Seattle time) ate a light breakfast and we were on our way.

Mimi and I parted ways around 6:40 so I could pee and line up and so she could find some safety pins.

I managed to find the 3:40 pace group (just follow the estrogen cloud). I had originally thought I could do 3:30 but I didn't want to be too ambitious on my first marathon. Also, I really didn't train very well for the race. I hadn't done a long run in about a month and hadn't been running much over 20 mpw for the months leading up to the race.

Kind of an aside but I've actually trained for an not run 3 or 4 marathons. This time I decided not to train for the marathon but still run it.

Anyway, we set off in the 3rd or 4th wave at around 7:06 AM. The pace felt easy and comfortable. It was a little tight since we were such a huge pace group and I was trying not to get annoyed with one particularly pushy girl ... I'll just call her "pushy."

I just focused on staying with our pacer although pushy liked to be closer to him than anyone, checking the mile splits she had written on her arm obsessively. Around mile 7 we went by a water station and pushy actually f'ing shoved me out of the way to get some water.

Running through the crowds at the half mark was a really nice boost. The pace group was ahead of schedule by about 40 seconds.

Around mile 14 or 15 pushy started to fade and we dropped her ... too bad so sad.

At mile 16 or 17 I started to get a cramp in my left quad. Run it off. By mile 19 my other quad was cramping as were my feet and my calves. Luckily there were people handing out beer on the side of the road. Yes, I took some ... and I took some more after the turnaround.

Little by little I started pulling away from the pace group. I just wanted this thing to be over and I didn't feel like I needed the pacer anymore.

Around mile 23 I realized I wasn't going to make it to the finish without a pit stop. I pulled into an utterly disgusting portapotty and when I came back out the 3:40 pace group was just coming by. I passed them again and rationalized myself through the last few miles ("just a lap around greenlake ... just a jog to the track and back ... just 4 times around the track ... just down to the grocery store and back")

Everything was cramping soooooo bad by the end. Check out my badass pain grimace.

I finished with a 3:38:34 chip time. I would have qualified for Boston if I hadn't been too irresponsible to register on time and actually run under my own name. I guess that's my punishment, if I want to run Boston, I have to do another damn marathon.

The walk back to Jon's house was about 10 blocks and took us roughly 45 minutes including two pit stops.

Almost home.

Jon was also my hero and got me 3 bags of ice and a big cup of tea for my incredibly painful ice bath.

I spent the next few days completely unable to walk. I had to take stairs backwards and was walking at about a 1 hour/mile pace.

I do want to do another one. Maybe next time I'll actually train for the bitch.

Where have you been?!?!

2009-11-19T12:17:00.000-08:00

I've admitted before that I'm the worst blogger ever, it's true.

A lot has happened in the last several months.

After Lake Stevens I raced the Black Diamond Sprint Triathlon and finally won that bitch after 6 years of trying.

I also finished out the road season with a bang, finishing 4th in the Washington State Criterium Championships. It would have been nice to finish on the podium but I'll take it (especially after overhearing a team captain coaching her girls prior to the race, seeing her point at me, and hearing "can't sprint").

I gave track racing a shot and was immediately hooked. Sadly, my first real night on the track was the last night of the season but I am working on getting a bike together for next year!

Miss n Out 2 laps to go

Finally, and most fun of all, I've started racing Cyclocross. I still don't have a bike but my amazing teammates have graciously loaned me bikes all season so I can continue to race. I've done 8 races on 4 different bikes!! Last weekend I had a solid win (by about 1m 20s!!) at the Woodland Park GP on a very very muddy day. I'm about to upgrade to Cat 2 and get my ass handed to me at Elite Nationals in Bend, OR.

Here's a ton of pictures thank you to Kevin Tu

Oh and also, I totally passed the Bar and got a job, so that's cool too.

Lake Stevens 70.3 (belated)

2009-09-02T09:59:00.001-07:00

The decision to do this race was a little last minute. I had been half planning to do it for a few months but kept vacillating between being pretty sure I was doing it and pretty sure I was not going to do it. The race came only 2.5 weeks after I finished the bar exam so I really wasn't expecting anything special.

I waited to register until the Thursday before the race to be sure that the weather was going to be good. Then, in an attempt to totally screw myself, I rode my bike about 250 miles in the 5 or 6 days leading up to race day. I also was careful to barely swim at all for a couple of weeks beforehand.

SWIM

The swim actually got delayed a little bit because it was so cold out that a thick fog had formed over the lake. When we finally went off at around 7:00 AM, I still couldn't see a single buoy. Luckily at Lake Stevens there is an underwater line that you can use to guide yourself through the swim.

When the gun went off, three girls immediately went off the front and I found myself in a chase pack of three more girls. Everything went smoothly until we started picking up the wave in front of us and the three of us were blown apart.

After the turns I found one of the girls I had been working with and just stayed on her feet coming out of the water together.

I really felt like I had had a good swim but my time definitely didn't evince that. I really need to start swimming more.

Swim: 34:02

T1

I definitely screwed up my transitions at this race last year so I was determined not to make the same mistakes this year. My transition spot was really far from the bike out so I opted to clip my shoes in ahead of time even though I hadn't practiced doing this in a long time.

I was out of my wetsuit quickly, had my awesome borrowed Rudy Project helmet on and was on my way out.

T1: 1:52

BIKE

I got my feet into my shoes mostly without incident although I'd had them rubberbanded to my rear brake caliper and when I broke the rubber band it rotated my caliper just a little and gave me some brake rub. Honestly, my rear brake wasn't really working to begin with and I wasn't planning on using it unless totally necessary so I just undid my brake a little to get rid of the rub.

About a mile and a half into the bike I came upon a girl, racer #734, Jennifer Mathe. She had come out of transition just ahead of me and was riding pretty much on the yellow line even though she wasn't passing anyone. I said "on your left" to her ... nothing. I said "#734, on your left" ... still nothing. "on your left, please move to the right" ... nothing. At this point I'm right on Jennifer Mathe's wheel and other racers are telling her to move right to let me pass and she won't freaking budge. Finally, I just shouted "HEY! I'M ON YOUR LEFT, LET ME PASS!" She swerves over and I pass. As I'm passing, she let out a "F*&% YOU C*%$!" I was totally shocked. I mean, did this girl think she was going to block me for the entire 56 miles? Did she think that she should just let me pass at her convenience? I thought about reporting her to the officials after the race but opted instead to just out her poor sportsmanship here.

After that unpleasantness I continued on with my bike. It was really cold (in the low to mid 50's) but I was feeling really good. I was having a little trouble shifting due to cold hands but other than that, everything was golden.

Around mile 30 I went to take my sport legs and some immodium but when I reached into my pocket and took the lid off of my little pill case, I managed spill them everywhere on the road. Crap. I knew I had more sport legs in my bag right in transition and decided I would take the couple extra seconds in transition to find them and take them.

Around mile 40, the wheels started to come off. I started feeling really sick. Up to this point my nutrition was spot on but once I started feeling ill, I started throwing up. I was throwing up everything that I drank. It totally sucked. I slowed down quite a bit and tried to take in more liquids but I just couldn't.

At around mile 50, I made the left turn to go back towards transition. I was feeling so bad at this point, I was considering dropping out. Since the run in Lake Stevens is essentially a double figure 8, I decided to do the first 5k of the run and then reevaluate.

Bike: 2:40:29

T2

I knew T2 was going to be a little slow since I wasn't feeling well and I really wanted to take some more sport legs. Luckily they were right where I thought they would be in my bag and I was able to grab them and run out, grabbing some water in the transition area.

T2: 2:04

RUN

I went out onto the run sitting in 1st in my AG. I was feeling so bad though that I kind of knew I would be giving up a lot of places if I decided to finish the race.

As I was running, I tried to stay relaxed but I just couldn't. No matter how much I slowed my pace, I couldn't get my breathing or my heart rate (don't wear a HRM, I could just tell it was really high) under control. I have a history of asthma and I was definitely having a mild asthma attack. I could breathe, but it was shallow and I was gasping.

Kara Nielsen passed me about a mile and a half into the run (this is a familiar story) and I just couldn't stay on her heels.

I finished the first 5k-ish loop without being passed by any other women. I decided to keep going even though the breathing problem wasn't getting any better (it also wasn't getting worse).

On the second portion of the run, I started to get really sick again. I had to pull over to throw up some more.

At the halfway point of the run, I decided I was going to finish even if it meant walking. I've never DNF'd a triathlon and I wasn't about to start.

At around mile 7, I pulled into the bushes to throw up again and then one more time at mile 8. I made my last pit stop at around mile 11 and then pushed it into the finish.

Run: 1:47:06

FINISH: 5:05:33

This was the first time I have ever cried after a race. I haven't had a real meltdown in a while (everyone kind of melts down in IM so I'm not counting that). I think my last one was the Black Diamond Half in 2007. I was feeling so crappy and dejected that I just talked to a few people (cried at them) grabbed my bike, and left.

I wasn't crying because I thought I did bad but just because it sucked to spend 2 hours totally unable to control your body. Maybe I should have dropped out but I think I would have felt even worse had I done that.

I was already part way home when I started getting phone calls asking why I had left and congratulating me on my race. Unbeknownst to me, I had taken 2nd in my age group (30-34) and had finished as the 5th overall amateur and 18th overall woman including the pros.

Final results were:

2/45 30-34 Women
5/271 Amateur Women
18/286 Overall Women

After the race I went on a memorial ride for Jose and I was lamenting my race with my buddy Shawn who wisely told me "you don't need to feel good to have a good race."

So there you have it, the 2009 Lake Stevens 70.3. The best bad day I've ever had.

...

2009-07-24T19:30:00.001-07:00

Friday, July 24th

Our beloved brother and friend Jose Hernando passed away gently, peacefully and held in pure love this afternoon. His family had the gift of being with him at his side.

I feel sick

Seafair Triathlon

2009-07-22T11:22:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that this was my SIXTH YEAR racing Seafair. Wow!

I went into the race this year not really knowing what to expect. I have been training less and less as I'm studying more and more. My runs have been lackluster to say the least and I've only swam open water probably 4 times all year. I still had myself placed in the elite wave and again set an (A) goal and a (B) goal

(A) finish under 1:10:00 (I went 1:10:26 last year)
(B) don't embarrass myself a la 2007 when I was the 2nd to last woman to finish in the elite wave.

SWIM

The swim was the swim. I never swim too fast and I never swim too slow. We got a little bit of a late start which sucked because it was cold standing in the water waiting. Once we went, we went hard. Even though there were maybe only 50 people in the mixed elite wave, it was so rough, everyone was just sprinting for position. I kept finding feet to sit on and then losing them.

I came out of the water somewhere around the middle of the pack, roughly 3 seconds faster than last year.

800 Meter Swim: 12:11
~1:23/100 yards

T1

I have been doing this sport far too long to still suck at transitioning.

T1: 1:31

BIKE

The bike was fun despite a minor clothing malfunction (note: try riding in your swimsuit before racing in it). It was like it always is when you're a fast female cyclist: pass dude, dude passes you back at approximately 35 mph, pass dude back 30 seconds later never to see him again.

Around the turnaround I passed some snotty 22 year old who had been rude and condescending to me in the transition area before the swim start. He was not having that so I leap frogged with him the whole way back into transition.

Also, I passed a lot of ladies on the bike and came into T2 sitting in 3rd overall for the women.

12 Mile Bike: 31:06
23.15 mph

T2

Okay, I have an excuse for this one. Someone - possibly snotty 22 year old - had racked their bike all weird and I had to do some rearranging just to get my bike on the rack.

My transition still would have probably been slow.

T2: 1:20

RUN

I saw Lucy coming out of transition and she let me know that I was in fact in 3rd. I figured I'd have to run pretty darn slow to get passed by the other 15 or so elite women behind me ... this is always a distinct possibility.

Snotty 22 year old came out of transition just ahead of me and luckily he appeared to be kind of a cruddy runner too so I just tried to keep him in my sights.

Christina passed me just before mile 1, there was no hope of staying with her. I was feeling not super great but I was actually holding what felt like a decent pace. Up the hill I felt slow, I was slow, but the people in front of me were slow too so it was all cool.

At the turnaround I saw two women right behind me, both were really cranking. I recognized one as Stacia who had picked me off in the last mile at Onionman last May. The other woman I didn't know.

About 1/4 mile from the finish, the woman who I didn't know picked me off. I knew she was coming because some guy behind me yelled "go, you can get her girl!" Thanks dude ... really. I did my best to stay with her but there was no catching her, I rolled in 8 seconds behind her for 5th place overall but a solid run PR.

5k Run: 21:41
6:59/mile

OVERALL: 1:07:49
5/16 elite women
5/720 women
48/1458 finishers

Afterward I went for another loop on the run course with my pal Carly who had a solid day with a 9+ minute course PR! Then I went home and hated life a little more.

6 days until the bar - kill me.

Not that I am capable of hate ...

2009-07-18T14:41:00.000-07:00

Vehicle vs Bicycle Collision

On 07-17-09 at 6:36 p.m., an 06, Chevy Van, driven by a 29-year-old male was traveling northbound on Lake Washington Blvd S. approaching S. Orcas St. At the same time a 44-year-old male was riding a bicycle traveling Southbound on Lake Washington Blvd S. also approaching S. Orcas St. The Van started to make a left turn from Lake Washington Blvd S. onto S. Orcas St. and crossed the center line, when it was struck on the passenger door by the bicycle rider. Seattle Fire Department responded to the scene and treated the victim, he was then transported to Harborview Medical Center (HMC) with life threatening injuries.

HMC personnel later gave an update of the 44-year-old male’s medical condition stating; he was critical and still life threatening.

A Drug Recognition Expert Officer responded to the scene and completed an evaluation of the 29-year-old driver for signs of impairment. None were noted during the evaluation.

Traffic Collision Investigators responded to and processed the scene.

I have never hated anyone in my life. I've disliked people and disagreed with people. I've met people who have left a sour taste in my mouth right off the bat, but I have never hated anyone. That said, the closest I have ever come to hate is the feeling I get when I see or hear about careless, selfish, distracted, self-important drivers who are too busy talking on their phones to see a cyclist, who are in enough of a hurry that they are willing to take the calculated risk of taking a cyclist's life just to get wherever they are going 10 seconds sooner.

These are the only people who make me fly off the handle (Teresa has witnessed this ... I've gotten better about it, I promise). I am so disgusted and hurt by them it makes me see red.

Yesterday a friend and teammate of mine was hit and nearly killed on Lake Washington Blvd. At this point, he will be lucky to walk again. The injuries he sustained are going to change his life forever. Lucy talked to the surgeon who initially operated on him and had he sustained these injuries 10 years ago, when the technology was not as good as it is today, it would have been a death sentence.

Please, to everyone, be careful out there and look out for yourself because the drivers aren't looking out for you.

on possibly not sucking at crits

2009-07-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

I don't have time/am too lazy to write up a real race report but basically, I raced a crit last weekend and finished 5th out of 29 giving me some small sliver of hope that I don't totally suck at crits and if I pay more attention to tactics rather than hypoxia, I might actually be okay at them.

Also, kind of a quick aside, but a bunch of people have asked me why my blog url is "jesslover."

It's actually a not too interesting story having to do with me posting on an internet messageboard using the handle "hey lover!" which is a reference to an Aislers Set song that was released on a Split 7" they did with a band called "The How." As a result of me using that handle for several years, people who I knew from the messageboard would sometimes call me jess lover.

As to "Hey Lover," I recently reacquainted myself with this awesome song and thought I would share it with all 6 or 7 of my loyal readers. I really do recommend listening to it, you're in for a real treat.

The Aislers Set - Hey Lover

Enjoy!

#1

2009-07-01T15:57:00.001-07:00

Last weekend ended up being pretty special for a lot of reasons.

It was the final race in the Carnation Time Trial Series put on by Neal Goldberg of Footworks Cycles. I won't lie, I went into the final race with a pretty hefty lead in the points series. Since I had crashed the weekend before a bunch of people suggested I just soft pedal may way into 5th or 6th place but yeah ... that wasn't acceptable.

Long story short, I won the 27.1 mile race by exactly 1 minute taking home my biggest purse ever, $700, and a $150 gift certificate to FSA.

Here's what was really special though. Since I was the series leader, Neal gave me bib #1. It was the first time in my life I've ever gotten to wear #1. I thought this was especially cool since, at least in my experience, #1 is usually given to the male leader or the previous year's male winner. Also, I got to be the last woman to go so I had 20+ carrots in front of me to chase. :)

I cannot recommend these Carnation races enough. They are so well organized, Neal gets excellent sponsors and prizes, and he is super accommodating to any questions or concerns. The races are truly a labor of love on Neal's part.

Welcome to Cat 2*

2009-06-24T17:50:00.000-07:00

* it wasn't a bad crash and no one was at fault, although i do feel a little like the fates hazed me into the 2's :)

Methow Valley Stage Race

2009-06-15T15:11:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the Methow Valley Stage race. It was probably my last chance to get a large number of points towards my Cat 2 upgrade so I really was motivated to do well.

The race was 3 stages in 2 days. A time trial and a hill climb (in lieu of a crit ... awesome) on day 1 and a road race on day 2.

Time Trial

The time trial was hard and demoralizing. It was almost nothing but hills which generally I like but I just felt SLOW on this one. Luckily, I had a bunch of carrots in front of me and I just concentrated on picking girls off the whole race. I think I passed 3 or 4 girls. I finished 2nd behind Robin Secrist. I'm proud to say that I'm the only woman who finished within a minute of her.

Hill Climb

The hill climb was so hard but so fun. About 1/2 mile after we started climbing, Robin and Sally Fraser started pulling away and I did my best to stay with them. I never quite got their wheels but I kept them in my sights until Robin dropped Sally. I caught Sally on a flat section and realized that I too had broken from the pack. Sally and I worked together taking long pulls to the top. We weren't able to put any time into Robin but we kept her in our sights almost the whole climb, finishing about a minute behind her. At 200 meters I gave it what I had left and got 2nd place over Sally by about half a wheel.

Road Race

The road race was not exactly my kind of course, more rolling than hilly but I was excited nonetheless. I went into it 2nd in the GC 4 points behind Robin and 7 ahead of Sally and another girl tied for 3rd. We all agreed to take the first lap as a warmup which was really nice.

So here's what I'm really proud of ...

Going into the second lap, right before we were going to "really" start racing, I flatted in the rear. The wheel car stopped for me and quickly gave me a new wheel. I was really upset and said to the mechanic, "I'm not going to catch them, am I?" The mechanic was so nice and just told me "go! I think you can get them!" The pack was probably a minute up the road from me. I had flatted at the bottom of the only decent climb, right in town. I hammered up the hill and just as I crested, the wheel guys pulled up next to me and offered me a pull. I paced the car for a few miles which was scary and fun at the same time. Finally, we got the pack in our sights. I kept hammering behind the wheel car until I was about 100 feet behind a truck that was stuck behind the follow vehicle. The guy in the wheel car waved me through and I jumped and caught the pickup truck. I sat behind him for a second before passing him and catching the follow car. the driver of the follow car waved me through and I jumped again, catching Tamara who was hanging off the back of the pack. Tamara and I worked together and finally, about 4 or 5 miles after flatting, I caught the pack again.

The rest of laps 2 and 3 I just sat in. I was really hurting after chasing back on. Liz from Starbucks was awesome and helped me through the rest of the race so I would have a shot at holding on to my GC place. at 1k she gave me what lead out she could and I gave what little I had left in my legs. 3 girls went off the front and I managed to barely out-wheel a girl from Valley for 4th in the RR, holding onto my 2nd in the GC.

All in all a really fun weekend and as an added bonus, I think I finally earned that Cat 2 upgrade ... updates will be forthcoming.

Ravensdale Cumberland Road Race (aka another win)

2009-06-08T18:29:00.001-07:00

I raced the Ravensdale race yesterday. I don't know why, but I'd totally psyched myself up for this race. I'm really familiar with the course since the Black Diamond Triathlon is run on a large portion of it so I knew what to expect around almost every corner. Also, I'm only 7 points away from my Cat 2 upgrade and man ... I just really want to join Travis and Chris and all the other Cat 2's living the luxurious life of a 1/2 tomato.

The 3's were supposed to be raced alone but there wasn't enough of a turnout so they ended up combining us with the 1/2 women. At first I was kind of bummed but then I got excited since racing with the 1/2 women tends to be more fun and can give me faster wheels to sit on if there's a break.

The pace started out easy but that didn't really last. little by little attacks and counter attacks started happening. I chased maybe half of them and sat in for the ones that I knew wouldn't stick. Around 10 or 15 miles in Cheryl from Blue Rooster went off the front alone and just kind of hung out there. For me it was kind of NBD since she's a Cat 2 so I didn't really have anything motivating me to chase her. I guess no one else was feeling motivated to chase her either because amazingly, she stayed away the whole race. I later found out that it had something to do with the Washington Cup and the Wines women not wanting Michele Conrad to win and make up points on Tricia ... I don't know ... it doesn't really matter to me as a 3.

Once it was clear that we weren't catching Cheryl (by the beginning of lap 2 she had 1:30 on us and at 40 miles it was over 2 minutes) people started attacking again. When it was a faster woman attacking I chased since I didn't want anyone else to get away, when it was someone who I knew couldn't stay away, I just sat in and let everyone else chase.

We really started pushing the pace up that hill after the hard left (corner 2?) and I was definitely working to stay in. Gina from Wines was just hammering up the hills and I just tried to stay close to the front so I wouldn't have to waste any extra energy chasing back on.

When we made the left to the finish Gina attacked and took me and one other Cat 3 with her. I stayed in the saddle and on a wheel to save myself for the final sprint. 200m came faster than I was expecting and I put my head down and started hammering. I realized as I was sprinting that I was spinning out ... still in my small ring ... crap. I was leading but there was another 3 right on my wheel ... crap. I took a risk and shifted into my big ring at full tilt. Luckily no jammed chain or shifting issues. I pushed it across the line, winning the field sprint by what I was told was a decent margin and getting the overall win for the 3's.

Sadly, there were less than 11 women in the 3's so I only got 3 upgrade points. If there had been a few more women I would have gotten the 7 points I need for my Cat 2 upgrade. Oh well ... c'est la vie. I may put my request in anyway and see what Martha says :)

Enumclaw Stage Race: an exercise in pain

2009-06-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was my first stage race since my failed attempt at the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic as a Cat 4 in 1999 (I dropped on day 2). I raced the Enumclaw Stage Race in beautiful Enumclaw, WA (horse f*$%er country).

SATURDAY

Saturday was a 10k (actually 6.5 miles) TT in the late morning and a 40 minute crit in the evening.

Lucy and I rolled up to packet pickup to find out that our start times had been pushed up about 20 minutes so we had to scramble to get dressed, pinned, and out to the TT start. Once we got out there I was unable to get air into my front tire. Travis and I both tried to get it to work to no avail and neither of us wanted to pull the valve extender off and screw with it anymore. Luckily my awesome teammate Tim came to my rescue and loaned me his HED Stinger for the race. I warmed up for approximately 3 minutes before heading over to the start tent.

I had never done a TT this short so I just pushed it until my lungs burned the whole time (this was not hard considering the heat and the pollen count).

The course was flat to rolling with one little kicker at around mile 4. I crossed the line in 15:08, comfortably over my goal pace of 25 mph although slightly slower than my reach goal of a sub-15:00 TT. This was good enough to win the Cat 3 TT by over 30 seconds!

After the TT, we had about 7 hours until the start of the crit. I hid out in a room in the hotel and studied while Lucy watched the crits.

It was still hot by the time the 1/2/3 crit started and I wasn't feeling super confident. Unfortunately, I got a really bad start position in the back of the pack and had to fight my way back on as girls were getting shelled.

The crit was like a 40 minute drag race. It made me realize how much I need to work on my accelerations and cornering. I think I just get a little timid in these races and won't fight for a place closer to the front.

I finished a disappointing 12th out of 25 or so Cat 3 women moving me from 1st to 5th in the GC.

SUNDAY

Sunday was the road race. the 1/2/3 women didn't go until the afternoon which meant two things (1) that I got to sleep in and (2) that it was HOT.

We did 4 laps on a 14+ mile course for a total of about 58 or 59 miles. about half way through each loop we climbed mud mountain, a decently brutal 3k climb with two or three 10%+ kicks and slogs.

Lap 1 we shelled a few women and about 4 women got away from the pack. We chased them down, catching them a few miles into lap 2. Same thing happened the second time up the climb.

Lap 3 I was able to stay with the lead pack. The 4th time up the climb, a few women just totally took off and I ended up in a chase pack of 5. We never did catch the lead pack but thankfully there were no other Cat 3 women in that lead pack so I was able to sprint across the line for a 3rd place finish, moving me into 4th in the GC and winning me a total of about $150.

All in all I'm pleased with my performance. I wish I could pull it together in the crits but I'm still pretty new to this so I have a lot of time to learn and improve.

My first win on the road + Onionman Triathlon

2009-05-28T15:33:00.001-07:00

I guess this post is kind of a two-fer.

On May 9 I raced the Market Street Road Race in Ravensdale, WA. The Cat 3 women raced with the 1-2 women in this race but were scored separately. The race was 5 loops on a rolling 9 mile course.

We started with about 22-25 women. There were a bunch of Wines, Group Health, IJM.com, Blue Rooster, and even a few Hagens women. I was an orphan as were two other women. The pace was decently fast for the first lap and I think we shelled a few women. The second lap was pretty pedestrian. There were a few half-hearted attacks but nothing stuck.

Then, at the beginning of lap 3 a Group Health girl attacked and took a few other women with her. This break of 5 just kind of hung in front of the pack for a few miles. After a little while, I noticed that the break had a girl from almost every large team in it which is why no one was chasing. Right as I noticed this, Martha, who was also racing alone, made a move up the side of the pack. I jumped on her wheel and when we got to the front I attacked and started chasing the break. It took me a couple of minutes to catch the break and once I did, I realized that I hadn't taken anyone else with me!

I sat in the back of the break for a few minutes while I caught my breath before rotating in to take some pulls. One other girl from the pack caught us making us a group of 7 before the follow car was finally behind us.

The pace was manageable for the rest of laps 3 and 4. On lap 5, the wines girls (who had 3 in the break) started attacking and counter-attacking. I just did my best to hold on. It was during this last lap that I noticed there was only one other Cat 3 woman in the break so all I had to do for the win was beat her.

On the final climb before the 1k mark, we really pushed the pace and dropped one girl. We let off a little bit over the top and then 4 of the 1-2 women took off. I stayed with the other Cat 3 woman and let her pull me to the 200m mark where I sprinted around her and one of the other 1-2 women who had taken off. I finished 4th overall and 1st for the 3's. Not as glorious as being first across the line, but I'll take it.

Last weekend was the Onionman Triathlon in Walla Walla, WA. I did this race once in 2007 and ended up with a really disappointing result, barely finishing in the top 10. This year, I wanted revenge.

SWIM

The swim is 2 laps in a small reservoir just outside of downtown Walla Walla. It's a small race so we do a mass start. Just like last time I did this race, the start was rougher than an Ironman start. Just tons of clawing and dunking and punching. Not much fun.

It took me probably 300m to find a comfortable space to swim in. I was in a pack with a few men and one other woman and I managed to stay with them for the whole swim.

About 3/4 of the way through our 2nd loop, I passed a woman who was still on her first loop. More power to her but man, I couldn't imagine having an hour+ 1500m swim.

I was disappointed with my swim time but when I compared it to other people's I realized that I actually swam really well, the course was just probably long.

Swim: 25:15
4/75 individual women

T1

T1 was uneventful. The transition area is kind of steep so i did more of a shuffle than a run out of the water and onto the bike.

T1: 1:29

BIKE

This bike is what destroyed my race in 2007. I was determined not to let it happen again. The bike is an out and back but it's a false flat the entire way out. I've heard that you gain somewhere between 800-900 feet in the 12.5 miles out to the turnaround. It can also be windy as heck. Sunday was no exception. It was so windy out that when I took my bike out of the car and put the disc wheel on, the wind nearly blew it out of my hands.

The bike was fine for the first few miles until I hit a crosswind near an onion field. I definitely got blown over a foot or two but managed to keep it upright and keep moving.

I passed a few women right off the bat and kept just powering away knowing that after the turnaround it would get a lot faster. At the turnaround, I realized I was in first place although Kara N. was right behind me. I made it my goal not to let Kara pass me until I was off the bike (girl can run) and this was my motivation not to slack just because I was going down hill.

I came into transition feeling good but not super confident in my current run fitness. Kara came in seconds behind me.

Bike: 1:08:34
2/75 individual women

T2

T2 was also fast and uneventful. Kara's T2 was faster than mine and she passed me in transition. Dang.

T2: 0:51

RUN

I know I said I fell apart on the bike in 2007 but the run was where I had really paid for it. I think I ran a bit over 50 minutes last time I did this race ... really disappointing. My goal for this year was to run somewhere in the neighborhood of 48 minutes. My running has been going pretty well although I have been slacking lately so I wasn't sure that I could do it.

Since Kara was just a little in front of me heading out on the run, I did my best to keep her in my sights. I won't lie, I felt like shit. It was windy and hot and my feet hurt and *complain complain complain*.

At the turnaround, I could still see Kara, she had put some time into me, but not too much and no other women had passed me. After I turned around I saw two women right behind me. One was closing in fast and the other was still about .2 miles behind me but was running really fast. I tried not to think about being run down by these women and kept trucking.

A little before a mile to go, one woman passed me. She had definitely picked up the pace and I knew I just didn't have it in my legs to chase her. I tried to stay on her heels but once we hit a hill, I just couldn't.

I kept wanting to look behind me to see if that other woman was going to pass me as well but I made myself just keep focusing on the finish. I could tell that I had blisters on my arches (txs new balance) and I just wanted to be done running as quickly as possible.

With 200m to go, I was pretty darn sure I wasn't going to get run down. I rounded the corner to the finish and saw 2:22:xx on the clock. Awesome! a 10 minute improvement over 2007.

I crossed the line feeling very pleased with myself.

Run: 46:28
6/75 individual women

Overall: 2:22:37
3/75 individual women

All in all, very pleased with this race. I'm happy that all the bike racing I've been doing hasn't killed my triathlon mojo and I'm extra special happy that I got revenge on this race!

pushing on

2009-04-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

I've had a really trying couple of weeks due to school and illness (I'm a GIANT baby about being sick). I can't believe I only have 2 more weeks of law school left. holy crap!

Racing has been going well. I took last weekend off because I had a huge school project/performance due on Saturday the 18th. However, my awesome little sister Lucy went to Walla Walla and raced her first stage race ever and finished 9th in the GC for the Cat 3 women! So proud.

Lucy and I both upgraded to 3 a few weeks ago and our first race in the 3's was a crit with the 1/2 women ... awesome. I raced 2 crits in two days and learned that I'm still not very good at crits which is not surprising. I did manage to take one prime at the brad lewis memorial crit and took home an 8g Zune which was pretty cool!

Today was the Green Valley TT in Auburn. I managed to finish the 12 mile course in 28:08 which was good enough for 3rd in the 1/2/3 race. Tomorrow is Vance Creek, a 53 mile RR which I am told is my kind of course (hills) so I'm excited!

Also, I acknowledge that I'm a bad and inconsistent blogger, I'll get better about it soon. I promise.

finally, a breakthrough

2009-03-22T20:34:00.001-07:00

So I'm obviously more of a triathlete/cyclist than a runner. Running has always been really hard for me. Doctors and my PT have told me that I'm just not built for it (really short stocky legs) and I'll never be very good at it. I can accept that I'll never be like ... great at running but thought I could be at least "respectable"

I've always really struggled with longer distance running. Anything over like 5k and my speed totally drops off.

I ran Mercer Island this morning, a tough half marathon, and decided I was going to "jog" it since I raced my bike yesterday. My previous best was 1:47:33 or around an 8:13/mile pace so I just wanted to go a little faster than that. I started off at what felt like a comfortable pace. At mile 5, I asked a guy next to me what our time was, 36:40, way faster than I expected ... probably a little too fast but it didn't feel hard. I crossed the 10k line just under 46:00 which is actually a 10k PR for me. Around mile 10 I started to feel a cramp in my left hamstring but I ran through it even though it slowed me down a little bit. at 12 miles I gave it what little kick I had left in my legs. As I crested the last hill just before the finish I saw 1:39:xx on the clock and was like "holy crap!" and sprinted across for a chip time of 1:39:24 or a ~7:35/mile pace.

A funny aside, my old running coach was watching at the finish and was so shocked to see me she said "Jessica! What are you doing?!?" I was like "running faster than we thought I could I guess!"

In other news, I'm pretty sure I earned enough points to upgrade to Cat 3 in cycling! I want to wait until Lucy gets enough points to upgrade with me. It shouldn't take her too long though, if our calculations are correct, she's only 2 points away!

Back in the Saddle

2009-03-03T14:22:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I was never really OUT of the saddle but I have started racing again. I joined a cycling team (Cucina Fresca for anyone who cares) and have started racing road. Okay, so I haven't done a real road race yet but I have done a couple of time trials.

I did the Frostbite TT on Sunday, February 22 and the Icebreaker TT on Sunday, March 1. Both races went really well for my (sort of) roadie debut.

Frostbite

There's not much to say here. This was a 9 mile out-and-back on a totally flat course. The road was wet and dirty so by the end of the race I was also wet and dirty.

I started out hard and just kept repeating my mantra "leave it all out on the course, you don't have to run after this."

I finished in around 22:00 (~24.5 mph) which was good enough for 2nd place (behind the inhuman rhae shaw) in the Cat 4 women. My teammate's wife was kind enough to take some pictures.

Icebreaker

I made a small mistake at this race. The day before the race, I went on my first ride on a tandem. My teammate Z and I rode 56-ish miles (him on the front and me on the back) the morning before and then I ran 4 or so miles on Saturday evening. I knew I was kind of blowing my race but it was TOTALLY WORTH IT!

Sunday morning I could still feel the burn in my legs, oh well.

Icebreaker was a 10 mile rolling out and back course that is slightly downhill on the way out and ... of course ... slightly uphill on the way back. I felt kind of like crap the whole time, like my legs weren't really there but I still pushed it as hard as I could. In hindsight, I probably was pushing a bigger gear than I should have as I kept it in the 53x12 for most of the race and my cadence was probably closer to 75-85 as opposed to 90+ which is where it should be.

Either way, I finished in 25:07 (damn, wanted to break 25:00) for an average speed of just under 24 mph. This was again good enough for 2nd (behind rhae again) in the Cat 4's.

This weekend I have two road races, both out on the peninsula. This will be the real test. I have been feeling strong but I'm not strong enough to TT off the front for a win (especially if rhae is in the pack). I'm going to just do my best and try not to live up to the triathlete reputation of not being able to ride in a straight line.

Snow!!!

2008-12-21T21:06:00.001-08:00

Today I said, and I quote, "I am going to eat my face if it doesn't stop snowing soon."

I have barely been able to train although I've been lucky enough to be able to get out of the house every day at least a little. For those who aren't from here, you should know that it almost never snows in Seattle so this city is woefully ill equipped for any kind of inclement weather.

Last night Lucy, Brandon, and I got out of the house and went to the awesome Triumph Multisport holiday party which ended in a bunch of us, drunk, trying to sled down a street on garbage bags. Long story short, we failed.

The other fun thing that's gotten me out of the house is Fry T. Dog who has gotten his first taste of snow.

He didn't like it at first and wanted to be picked up.

but after a few minutes he was a little snow bunny.

He even made a new friend!

So yea, the snow kind of sucks but we are making the best of it.

Also, I'm sick. Booooo.

Clearwater

2008-11-20T13:30:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to finally write this race report. I guess I have been thinking a lot about this race and whether I was really pleased with my performance.

Being as my first IM was just last August, and was the focus of my season, by the time Clearwater rolled around I was took a pretty apathetic approach to the whole race. Don't get me wrong, I was psyched to be there but I also wasn't stressing myself out over my performance and training.

My Clearwater adventure began on Tuesday November 4 when me and my bike, Lucy (not to be confused with my sister Lucy) packed ourselves up and headed to a red eye flight to Orlando. As you can see, I also painted my toenails.

I had decided to fly into Orlando instead of Tampa because Alaska Air flies direct into Orlando and charges $50 each way to bring a bike as opposed to the $175 each way that Delta would have charged me. It was worth the extra drive to fly into Orlando to save $250 on bike shipping.

In the days leading up to the race I just tried to work out a little each day to acclimate to the weather. Training in 45 degree rainy and hilly seattle for the last several months hadn't really prepared me for 80 degree humid weather (and a dead flat course).

I swam a few times to get used to swimming in salt water. Even though the added buoyancy is fun, I still think it's gross.

Friday morning Brandon arrived and we checked into our hotel (I had been staying with my friend's lovely parents in Seminole since Wednesday) and went out for a nice pasta/beer dinner. By the time we went to bed, I still wasn't really feeling nervous, more just ready to give the race a go and be done with triathlon for the season.

Race Morning

Race morning was hectic. Of course I was running about 30 minutes late. Rather than having pen marking, they were using stamps to do our body marking which looked really pro.

I had already racked my bike the day before so all I had to do was get my nutrition set up and put air in my tires. I got all my nutrition on really quickly but was unable to get my front tire to take in any air. I run a 404 on the front with a valve extender rather than a long valve stem and even though I poked something through the extender I couldn't get the valve to open up. At this point I had about 10 minutes before they were closing transition so I took my wheel off and ran over to a bike tech who was so nice. she had me leave my wheel with her while I went back to my bike to finish setting up. She brought my wheel back to me like 3 minutes later and helped me top off my rear tire as well since putting air into a Renn 575 is a pain in the ass with only one person.

I quickly exited transition just as it was closing at around 6:30 and went to wait for my wave start. The pro men went off at 6:45 quickly followed by the pro women. My wave (18-29 & 40-44 women) wasn't going off until 7:50 so I had a bit of a wait. I hung with Brandon and Erica and gave my legs a quick shave since I'd forgotten to do that for like ... the last two weeks.

At around 7:20 I suited up and went for a quick warm-up swim before getting into the corral with my wave.

SWIM

This was seriously the roughest swim start I have ever had. I should have started closer to the front but everyone wanted to be up front so I had no choice. We did a beach start but the problem was that the water was about knee-deep for like the first 50 meters. Half of us were swimming and the other half were still trying to high step through the water.

By the time we were all swimming it was a serious boxing match. I tried to get myself into a good position slightly behind and kind of between two strong-looking swimmers. Unfortunately, some really rude lady wanted to be where I was and no amount of kicking or moving would get her off of me. She was clawing at me and trying to dunk my head under water. totally totally unnecessary but whatever. I decided I didn't want to fight her so I moved out of the way and ended up sprinting past the two women I had been trying to draft to find some more feet.

By about half way to the turnaround I was in a nice little pack and was having not too much body contact. I made the first turn and then the second and somehow managed to lose my pack. Whatever.

Coming back in was a little hard because we were kind of swimming into the sun. I looked for feet to sit on but was a few meters from anyone. Pretty soon thereafter I was also catching dudes in the wave ahead of mine so I had to be careful to make sure I wasn't sitting on slow feet.

A small note on my mental state. After my tough start to the swim I was feeling pretty upset and like I didn't even want to race. Maybe I have unrealistic expectations about this sport wherein I expect everyone to be as nice and civil as possible. I don't want to change my attitude but I also don't want to be naive about how over-competitive a lot of triathletes are.

After what felt like a pretty slow swim I came out of the water in what felt like about 35 minutes, luckily, I was a bit off.

Swim: 31:30 1:39/100m

T1

T1 starts with a 100m long run through sugar-like sand and a tunnel of showers. I stripped down the top of my wetsuit and opted to utilize the wetsuit strippers. When I sat down to have my suit stripped I sat down a little too hard and knew I would have a glorious ass bruise by the next day.

I ran through the transition bag racks and grabbed my bag without a problem. All I had in there was my race belt, two gels, and a small pill bottle with sport legs and Imodium (I was not going to have another run like IMC).

I got through the change tent quickly, grabbed my bike, and ran out.

T1: 3:19

BIKE

So ... the infamous Clearwater bike. I have to say, I was nervous about this bike. I'm so much stronger on hills and this bike is pretty much dead flat.

Things started not so smooth as I nearly did a header off the bike trying to get my feet into my shoes. This was lame since I'd spent 20 minutes the Thursday before practicing getting in and out of my shoes when they're attached to the pedals. After a couple of tries I managed to get both feet in and secured and was on my way.

Immediately I was passing girls from my AG on the bike. I was thinking "oh, maybe I'll be okay at this flat stuff."

I stuck to my nutrition plan and was alternating drinking from a water bottle and my nutrition bottle. I also was doing a caffeinated gel every 40-45 minutes. I was steadily picking off girls on the bike until about mile 20. That's when the first pack passed me carrying a girl that I had passed like she was standing still 15 miles earlier. Little by little, more and more draft packs continued to pass me, each carrying a girl or two that I recognized from earlier in the bike.

I have to admit, I definitely toyed with the idea of hopping into one of the packs to pick up a couple of extra minutes on the bike and save my legs a little for the run. The fact of the matter though, is that even on my best possible day, I'm not going to run any faster than about 1:45 off of the bike. Even if I threw down a stupidly fast bike, there is no way that I could hold on to any girl who is going be running 1:30 or under. Also, I came to Clearwater just to experience racing against a really fast group of people and to see if I could finally get under 5:00. I knew I could get my PR here, I wanted to do it on my own legs.

So I let the packs pass. I'm sure I got some advantage as they passed me but I made a conscious effort not to draft and to just keep my own pace and race my own race. As the race went on, even though I wanted to just race my race, I grew more and more disheartened to the point that I thought about dropping out at T2. I went into the race knowing it would be a draft fest but I wasn't prepared for how bad it would make me feel to see such blatantly poor sportsmanship.

As I hit the last aid station at around mile 40-something I popped my sport legs and my Imodium even though I wasn't sure that I was going to finish.

Bike: 2:24:39 23.23 mph

T2

I came into transition and handed my bike off to a bike catcher. I had gone balls out on the bike ... a little too balls out, and my legs were definitely paying for it. Also, my back hurt from spending almost the entire 56 miles in the aero position (unlike some people who were able to sit up for their whole ride). I shuffled through the change tent and headed out on my run.

I honestly still felt like I wanted to drop out just because I wasn't having as much fun as I usually do but I made a pact with myself to do at least one loop of the run and then reevaluate.

T2: 3:02 (definitely taking my time here)

RUN

As I was heading out on my run I took a glance at the clock, 4:07:xx. Since I had started 1:05:00 behind the first wave that meant I was about 3:02 into my race meaning I just needed to run 1:57:xx to break 5 hours. A friend of mine had told me that I would probably run 5 to 8 minutes slower than Lake Stevens just because I would probably go too hard on the bike (he knows me so well). I had run 1:48:xx at Lake Stevens so I was thinking I would probably run 1:55:xx here, barely making it in under 5 hours. Yes, slow runner, I know.

I saw Brandon on the run out and he let me know I was doing well. At that point, I decided that I was going to finish. My whole family (including Brandon) has been so supportive of me in my racing and I wasn't going to drop out just because I was feeling a little sad. My dad had let me use his frequent flier miles to get my ticket and Brandon had paid out of pocket to come out and support me, dropping out for anything short of an emergency felt like it would have been the most selfish thing in the world.

The first loop was uneventful. I grabbed iced sponges at every aid station and stuck one down the front of my shirt and one on the back of my neck. I drank water at every station and Gatorade at every other station. I also ate a couple of gels, maybe 2 or 3. After the first loop I grabbed a quick glance at the clock and saw that I had finished that loop in about 54:00, nice. Brandon yelled I had an hour to make it under 5:00:00. Actually, I had like an hour and four minutes. In my head I was thinking "dang, I could run 10 minute miles and still make it." I was actually tempted to slow down and just cruise to the finish but instead I just kept up my pace.

The second loop I was starting to get a little tired. I did, however, have one funny encounter. Around mile 10 at an aid station I shouted to a volunteer that I wanted 2 iced sponges (the volunteers said they appreciate me telling them how many I wanted ahead of time) and right as I was going to grab them some a-hole from the wave behind mine (45-49 men) ran between me and the volunteer, shoving me out of the way and tried to grab the sponges. I was like "what the #&*# dude?!?" and he flipped me off and shouted something back at me in German. Then another dude made some derogatory remark about Europeans being rude. So much hate on the course! I kind of wanted to find the guy afterward and just be like "dude, mile 10, ain't either of us winning this thing, chill out." I laughed the whole thing off and continued on my way.

Finally, 1 mile from the finish I started to have fun. the crowds were so nice and I knew I was going to meet my sub-5 hour goal. As I approached the finish like I saw 5:56:xx up on the clock meaning I was going to finish well under my goal. Awesome.

Run: 1:49:17 8:20/mile

Total: 4:51:47
26/52 25-29 women
92/~360 amateur women

AFTERTHOUGHTS

I am definitely pleased with my performance. I had my fastest swim by nearly 3 minutes, a stupidly fast bike (but so did everyone), and a run that wasn't as slow as I expected it to be. I achieved both of my goals by finishing in the top half of my AG and breaking 5 hours.

I'm still bummed about how much cheating there is at this race. Clearwater drafting discussion is such a dead horse but it doesn't make it any less of a bummer for people who really want to race clean. My AG ended up being the fastest women's AG at the race. I would have placed higher in both the 30-34 and the 35-39 AGs even though they were much larger and are usually a bit faster. I think this is due, in large part, to the fact that my AG started directly in front of the 45-49 men and the 18-29 men. Last year, my AG didn't start in front of those groups of men and surprise surprise, the bike splits and overall finish times were significantly slower! freaky! In fact, the girl who won my AG last year, wouldn't have even been in the top 10 this year with the same time.

I know that as Clearwater gains popularity, it's going to get faster and more competitive but this was just ridiculous.

Also, I want to be clear that I'm not complaining because I feel cheated out of a place or something. I knew, given my slow run, that I wasn't a contender, but it still would have been nice to actually know where I, as well as everyone else, stood.

One final little note, I did have one really nice thing brighten my day after the race. I got to see my high school buddy and training partner Timothy who is now a super-fast pro triathlete. We hadn't seen each other in 10 years so it was really nice to catch up. I was also thrilled for myself that he beat me by less than an hour (finishing 59:57 ahead of me).

So peace out to the 2008 triathlon season. It's definitely been a good one. I won't be racing much next year because of the bar exam but I'll still try to squeeze a few in.

In happier news ...

2008-10-15T17:26:00.000-07:00

After my last post, I was feeling a little negative and aggro, not something I like to be.

So, I would just like to report that I have a new running buddy. He's everything I could ask for. Energetic, friendly, tireless, and can run in a straight line ... sort of.

His name is Fry, named for:

He can already run 3.5 miles with me and usually only has to stop and poop once, which is sometimes less than me.

He can also be used for crucial cuddle therapy ...

... and his snaggle tooth is not only aerodynamic but also makes a killer can opener.

So even when life isn't all hugs and flowers, I'm psyched that I have both of these dudes to come home to every night.

Flipping the &%$# out

2008-10-13T20:38:00.000-07:00

*I edited out the bad words.

Yesterday, my sister and I were going over to my dad's for his birthday and we had about 45 minutes before our ferry left (he lives on an island) so we decided to go for a run while we waited since I had run to the ferry and she had her running stuff with her.

We set out running along the downtown Seattle waterfront. We cannot run ONE *$&^ING BLOCK without some *##hole harassing us, honking at us or even grabbing at us. We were kind of joking about it but it was really starting to bug both of us.

So we get back to the ferry terminal and we're waiting to cross the road back to the terminal and this guy gets right up next to us and was like "how far did you run" we ignored him and crossed the road. He starts following us and asks again "how far did you run." we ask him to leave us alone and he kind of gets right up in our faces and is like "oh, I guess it wasn't that far then." My sister then snapped at him "you know, we really don't feel like being hit on right now." Then, right as she's saying that these two other dudes descend on us and start harassing us and grabbing at my arm. We continue to walk away and then the guy who grabbed at me said something else, I wish I could remember what it was but it was *@&%ing lewd and degrading.

I snapped, I totally (*@%ing snapped and charged the guy with closed fists until I was about 2 inches from his face and yelled at him for about 30 seconds while he was kind of cowering in the corner of the hallway we were in that goes up into the ferry terminal. I told him that I am so *&%@ing sick of *#&%ing dumb *&@holes thinking that they can say whatever the *&#$ they want to me and try to cut me down and degrade me just to make them and their ____________ feel bigger. I told him to stay the *&@$ away from me and my sister and to *(#& the *&#@ off. I don't think I've ever used more foul language in my life.

After I yelled at him I turned around and walked away with my sister. The best part, while I was flipping out on the dude, the other dude who had been bugging us about how far we had ran tried to hit on my sister AGAIN.

Even though I was proud of myself for standing up to this jerk, I spent the rest of the night feeling totally small.

In conclusion, FTW

Black Diamond Sprint

2008-09-17T07:56:00.000-07:00

I was a little nervous going into this race three weeks off of Ironman Canada. My left hip flexor has been bothering me and I haven't been feeling terribly motivated (despite Clearwater looming overhead). that said, I do this race every year and decided f it, I'm going to just go and have fun. I even ordered myself a new "fun" outfit to wear in the race to ensure that I didn't take myself too seriously.

I had also noticed that several very fast ladies, including Karin Gardner, Patty Swedberg, Ann Ciaverella, and Anne Jensen, who have beaten me in the past were signed up. This made me a little nervous because hey, I kind of would like to win this race some day, but also took the pressure off a little bit since I knew I was probably not in a place to beat these ladies right now.

Race morning, we got there around 7:00 AM. The race didn't start until 9:00, but I had two buddies with me who had never raced before as well as my mom doing the duathlon and my little sister, Lucy, doing her first olympic triathlon. My mom and Lucy were fine on their own but I wanted to make sure that I could answer any questions for my first-timer buddies.

Everyone was set up with plenty of time to spare and we headed down to the lake for the start.

SWIM

The swim was a diamond-shaped loop in Deep Lake. Usually, this is one of the coldest swims of the year. In 2005 the water was in the low 50's. This year, however, given the warm weather we have been having, the lake was really comfortable.

I went out hard in the swim to get away from any over-enthusiastic people who would just fade in the first 200m. I sat on Anne Jensen's feet for as long as I could until she pulled away from me around the first buoy when we started catching some of the slowest male swimmers who had started 5 minutes ahead of us. From here, it was a game of keep pace/dodge slower dudes.

I've been working on swimming hard for these shorter races since I tend to just have one gear when it comes to swimming. By the last 200 meters, I was swimming shoulder to shoulder with another lady until some dude backstroked perpendicular to my path (dude! come on!). I swam over his legs which I think kind of bothered him, oh well.

I came out of the water right behind Ann C. and ran up the steep little hill into transition.

Swim: 12:44 1:27/100 yards

T1

T1 went surprisingly smoothly for me (I usually have notoriously bad transitions at this race). I got kind of stuck behind a big slow-ish dude on the run out although I doubt that cost me more than 5 seconds.

T1: 2:02

BIKE

The bike was great. It's a straight rolling out and back. I think it's 11.4 miles but I'm not entirely sure.

I started out hard with the goal of going balls out for the entire ride (since I knew my run was going to be a little slow). Immediately I was passing dudes and by about mile 3 I was able to pick off Ann C. although she was riding really well so I knew I wouldn't put more than maybe :30 into her on the bike. At around mile 4 I passed a dude who said "go get them girl!" so I knew there were at least 2 more women ahead of me.

By mile 5 I had passed two women and at the turn around I realized I was the first woman. I hammered it back into transition and even managed to get my feet out of my shoes before the dismount.

*I also wanted to add in a little note here. Dudes, it's okay to be passed by a girl on a bike. If a girl passes you, let her complete the pass. If need be, you can pass her back later but them's the rules. I really don't appreciate when I get yelled and cussed at by some dude who starts pacing me when I'm half-way through a pass and I ask him to please back off.

Bike: 30:07 22.71 mph

T2

T2 was again fast and uneventful. Since my shoes were still attached to my bike I was able to just rack it, throw on my running shoes and run out while putting on my visor and race belt.

Right as I was running out I saw Ann C. racking her bike and another lady not far behind, so I knew I wouldn't hold onto the lead for long. I also knew that there were some other speedy ladies not far behind her who could likely out-run me.

T2: 1:12

RUN

The run is 2 laps on a rolling trail around Deep Lake. That said, this is NOT a fast run. The path is well-maintained but there are a lot of roots and fast and steep ups and downs.

Since the run is only 2.8 miles and since I didn't feel like I had anything to lose, I decided to again, just go balls out for as long as I could.

As predicted, Ann C. passed me like I was standing still about 1 mile into the run. I figured the speedy Ms. Anne J. would not be far behind. From here on out, it was just a game of don't let too many women pass me.

After the first lap I was just like "this sucks!" and I didn't want to run hard anymore. But I'm stubborn and probably more competitive than I'd like to admit so I kept running hard even though my left hip flexor as well as my adductor were really tight and screaming at me.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, I came around the final bend and saw the finish line. I took a quick look behind me to make sure I wasn't about to be run down in the last 100 meters and then ran it in.

Yes, this is in fact a picture of me running, look closely, it's kind of like a game of where's waldo.

Run: 20:45 7:25/mile

OVERALL RESULTS
Total Time: 1:06:50
11/211 Finishers
2/104 Women
1/18 25-29 Women

All in all I was really happy with this race. I didn't expect to be able to hold off 3 of those 4 fast ladies and I certainly didn't expect to be able to run as well as I did.

Even though I didn't win, there were a lot of big positives about this race:

- I went there to just have fun and I did
- I actually threw down the third-fastest female run split (not counting the woman who supposedly went 19:00 but, who looking at her other splits, probably only did one lap)
- I had the fastest female bike and the 8th fastest overall bike
- I had good transitions
- I didn't take myself too seriously as evidenced by the constant smile on my face and my outfit as seen below.

Because I am NOT A WIENER!

Memories

2008-09-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

In the last week, since finishing my first ironman, I've reflected a little on the last 4 years since I started racing triathlons. It's strange to think about who I was just 4 short years ago. I'm pretty sure that most of my current friends and colleagues wouldn't recognize me so I thought I would share a little bit how triathlon has changed my life.

up until early 2004 I was on a bad track. I had dropped out of college in my last semester at Boston College and had been in a downward spiral ever since. I was a bit of a ... party person/bar person. Not only was I a problem drinker and occasional drug user, I was also a smoker. So gross and so weird to think about. I had also gone from about 135 lbs to closer to 185 in just 2 short years.

I found these pictures of myself on my friend matt's flickr page. It's weird for me to be sharing this but I thought posting these could be a somewhat cathartic exercise.

In the first picture, my right eye is almost shut, an indication of exactly how drunk I was.

In early 2004 my parents, for chanukah, bought me a membership to a gym where I had the good fortune to meet the lovely Teresa Nelson who got me to join a beginner's triathlon training group. I had never run before but had a background in swimming and cycling.

In June, 2004, one month after quitting smoking, I did my first triathlon. The Vancouver Women's Triathlon in Vancouver, WA.

By this first triathlon, I had dropped nearly 30 lbs and somehow managed to win my age group. I was totally hooked.

It may sound silly, but after realizing that I could finish a triathlon with some modicum of skill, I felt like I could do anything. I managed to finally finish my BA and got myself into law school. I extricated myself from the destructive social circles that I was running with and either made new friends or reconciled healthy old friendships.

I think the reason that this sport means so much to me is that it changed my life. Triathlon has played a huge role in making me who I am today. I don't think I would be in law school right now let alone have even graduated college had I not become a triathlete. I would have never quit smoking and I wouldn't have gotten my drinking under control.

I love winning and placing in races, but even more I love every minute of every race I do. Even the ones that are the most physically and mentally challenging.

From year to year and race to race, whether I win or lose, knowing that I can finish these races with a smile on my face is why I will stay in this sport for as long as I am able.

Ironman Canada

2008-08-27T10:01:00.000-07:00

I don't even know how to begin this race report. I guess I should really start by saying that I never ever thought I would attempt an ironman. When I started racing triathlon in 2004, my goal was simply to finish a half ironman and call it good. I guess I got swept up in the madness last year after watching the 2007 race (not really a surprise) and signed myself up for 2008.

Leading up to this race, I had been plagued by injuries. I injured my hamstring in March which kept me from running for 2 or 3 weeks and then injured my foot in May which kept me from running for another 6 weeks. Needless to say, I went into this race a bit undertrained on my run. I have never run a marathon and my longest pre-race run was 16.5 miles ... last March. In the months leading up to the race, I had two runs that were longer than 13.1 miles.

PRE-RACE

My boyfriend Brandon and I headed up to Penticton on the Wednesday before the race. On the way up, we hooked up with my training partner, Gerry, in Chelan and then caravaned up to the border. After crossing the border, we stopped to take some pictures of me and Gerry looking tough in front of Richter Pass.

We continued on to Penticton and got all checked in at our lovely little studio in Summerland. The problem was, I was feeling really out of sorts. Not just nerves, but really really dizzy and nauseous. I made the executive decision to go see a doctor at the walk-in clinic in Summerland. She checked my ears, BP, temperature, etc. and said nothing was wrong. Then she had me lay on my back and turned my head quickly from side to side. This gave me the spins and made me feel like I had to throw up. She told me that I had "benign positional vertigo" and that I shouldn't do any strenuous activity for a couple of weeks until it goes away. I told her I was still going to race IMC and she just told me to take an extra minute in transition to get my bearings and make sure I'm not going to fall over.

The next few days leading up to the race, Gerry and I went swimming every morning. I would feel dizzy when I came out of the water but as long as I chilled for a minute and focused on a point, I was able to get moving again pretty quickly.

I tried to stay relaxed in these days, even taking a small hike up to the top of a mountain with Brandon. Here's me looking thrilled about going hiking.

RACE MORNING

Race morning I was up at 4:00 AM and we were on the road to Penticton by 5:00 (Summerland's about a 10 minute drive from Penticton). Brandon dropped me off near the transition area and I grabbed my stuff and headed out.

About 30 seconds after Brandon drove off, I realized that I had forgotten all of my nutrition in the back of the car. Brandon didn't have his phone on and I didn't know how I was going to find him. I went into full on panic mode and walked over to the beach to see if he was standing near where I knew my dad was going to be. He wasn't there. There were, however, some really nice spectators who saw me in a complete tizzy and asked what they could do to help. I told them what had happened and described Brandon to them. They told me that they would look for him and to stay calm. Amazingly, they found Brandon and sent him back to the car to get my bottles. When I came back to look for him again, he was just arriving with my bottles. He walked me back to the transition entrance and I went on my way.

I was a little short on time at this point so I quickly dropped off my special needs and finished getting everything ready before heading out to the beach.

SWIM

On the beach, I was looking for Gerry but I couldn't find him. My plan had been to start with him and maybe sit on his feet for the first few hundred meters (not that there weren't 2200 other feet to sit on). I had also wanted to wish him luck and give him a hug before the race started. When it got down to 5 minutes before start time I knew that finding him was a lost cause so I just positioned myself way to the outside of the crowd about 3 rows back from the front.

Finally, the cannon went off and I was able to start swimming within 10 seconds. Amazingly, I had very little body contact. I mean, there were people everywhere, but I didn't get punched or kicked or beat up at all.

I didn't bother sighting much for the first 800 meters or so, I just kind of went with the crowd. Once it thinned out a little, I made sure I was on course (I was) and just kept concentrating on my rhythm and breathing.

Then, something amazing happened. I was swimming along and I looked to my right and there was Gerry! Swimming right next to me! I couldn't believe that after not being able to find him on the beach, I ended up swimming right next to him! I gave him a little smack on the head and he said something to me (I can't remember what). We then swam together for almost the entire rest of the swim.

The swim was much easier than I thought and when I came out of the water I was surprised how good I felt. I was also surprised that I managed to come out around the same time as Gerry since I had expected him to out-swim me by a good 5 minutes.

2.4 mile swim: 1:04:48/1:42 per 100m

T1

I came out of the water a little dizzy but not too bad. I took off the top of my wetsuit and laid down for the wetsuit strippers. On the strippers' first attempt my suit got caught on my butt. I was like "yeah I got some booty!" which they thought was funny. The second try, it came right off.

I ran and grabbed my swim to bike bag and went into the changing tent.

My new buddy Michelle was working the change tent and was a total saint. She helped me load up all my pockets with food (I had decided to forgo the bento box) and got my shoes on and got me out the door. On my way out to my bike I got slathered in sunscreen and was then on my way.

T1: 4:07

BIKE

I cannot describe how much I loved the bike. The crowds were amazing, the course was amazing, and my family was amazing.

The bike starts out fairly flat until you hit the first climb at McClean Creek Drive. I couldn't wait to get there since I knew I would see my family. Brandon and I had gone out to McClean Creek the day before to write some encouraging notes on the road, but they had rubbed off by the time I got there.

(I was #1831 and Gerry was #180)

McClean Creek is the steepest climb in the race but there was so much energy in the air, it seemed like a walk in the park. I couldn't wipe the smile off my face when I saw my family.

My dad is on the left here.

And some more pictures from McClean

This was also the first time I got to see the "Ironman Canada 2008 Go Jess!" t-shirts that my sister had made everyone. I did not, however, get to see the back of them until after the race.

From McClean Creek we continued South almost to the U.S. Border before turning and heading over Richter Pass, a roughly 7 mile climb. Until we hit Richter, I was really holding back. Letting people pass me and just conserving my energy for the hard part of the course.

Again, even though Richter is a long and tough climb, the energy from the crowds made it seem like a little bump in the road. A guy near me kept asking everyone "is this the top of Richter?" I wonder how he did at Yellow Lake!

Just after summiting Richter I caught Gerry on one of the descents. He was having some stomach problems, which is too bad. I wished him luck and pushed on.

After Richter is a series of rollers which were not too bad. It was a little windy but not close to as windy as the last two times I had pre-rode the course.

At around mile 85 I hit the bottom of the last big climb, Yellow Lake. I was excited since I knew that Brandon and my family would be at the top. Climbing the last part of Yellow Lake is like being in the Tour. there are people lining both sides of the street just going crazy. There were people in costumes and drunk people. It was nuts. I saw my dad at the top and he ran alongside me for a minute and let me know that I was the 14th amateur "WHAT?!?" I knew it wouldn't last through the run, but it was pretty cool for the moment.

Unfortunately (I guess), I came through Yellow Lake 45 minutes earlier than I had predicted so Brandon didn't have the camera ready to take a picture of me and my big dumb smile.

After Yellow Lake and a couple other small climbs I took the long descent into town and took some time to stretch my legs out and get ready for the run.

112 mile Bike: 5:34:53/20.07 mph

T2

T2 did not go as smoothly as T1. My volunteer was great but I was just was a little flustered and thinking "@(#&$ I have to run a marathon, I've never run a marathon." I tried to stay calm and just take my time and make sure I didn't forget anything before heading out.

T2: 4:33

RUN/DEATH MARCH/TOUR DE PORTA POTTIES

I knew the run was going to be tough, but really, I had no idea. I started off slow and shuffled through the first 2 or 3 miles. My stomach was feeling really full and I had to pee like every 3 minutes. I didn't want to eat or drink at the aid stations but I made myself do it.

I started by alternating water/coke at each aid station. I also decided to walk the aid stations to make sure I was putting something in my stomach no matter how much I didn't want to.

At the north end of Skaha Lake, around mile 5, I saw my family. I smiled and gave them all high fives. This was the last time I smiled before the finish.

After seeing them, the run got really lonely. There were very few fans and it got really windy. By the turnaround, my stomach was starting to revolt. It also didn't help that it started raining. I continued trying to run as much as I could but I had to stop at every porta potty along the way.

I also was having an increasingly difficult time putting anything into my stomach. I had to try so hard to not get into a negative cycle of self-talk. I wanted, more than once, to just throw in the towel and get a ride back to the start. I pushed on, even though it hurt.

Finally, after what seemed like days, I hit the 23 mile mark. It was all downhill (literally) from there. I hit mile 25 and saw my family. I almost started crying, I couldn't believe, after that run, that I was going to make it. After a 25 mile shuffle/jog, I broke into my regular run pace for the last mile.

Then, the best thing ever happened. I don't wear a watch when I race. I don't even have a cyclometer on my bike. I just race by how I feel. I know it may not be the best thing, but it works for me and keeps me relaxed throughout the day. When I got to the finish, I was expecting to see something over my goal time of 12:00:00. Then I saw, 11:54:xx, THEN I looked closer and saw that it was actually 11:24:xx. HOLY CRAP! I thought my best possible everything went right day would be sub 11:30:00. I couldn't believe it. It was really hard not to start crying.

Run: 4:36:08/10:33 minute mile

TOTAL TIME: 11:24:29

9/67 women 25-29
49th amateur woman

I may have more thoughts on the race at a later time, but for now, I'm just so glad I did it and I'm so glad I toughed it out through that run. I can't wait to do IMCdA in 2010!

Seafair Triathlon

2008-07-31T15:06:00.000-07:00

After 5 years of racing the Seafair triathlon, the biggest coed triathlon in WA, I had never been able to crack the top 25 women. Last year, I went off in the elite wave and finished as the second to last elite. it was totally discouraging.

i was not going to race it again this year because I am so frustrated with my history of poor finishes and because I haven't been running at all, but then my little sister said she was going to do it as her first triathlon so i registered for the elite race again, expecting to embarrass myself ... again.

The swim went well, I pushed it harder than usual and finished in a little over 12 minutes for 800 meters. not bad.

the bike is my leg of the race so i just got on and hammered as hard as i could. i passed 4 or 5 of the other elite women in the first couple of miles and picked off another woman at around mile 6. At mile 8, my training partner, who was spectating spotted me and yelled "you're in second, hit it hard!" All I could think was "CRAP CRAP CRAP!" I pushed it back into transition knowing that I was having a good race but that the run is my weakest leg. I came off the bike in a little under 33 minutes for a pace of around 22 mph. Surprisingly, the fastest women's bike of the day.

The run actually felt good. I wanted to finish in the top 10 so I was just thinking "don't let more than 8 girls pass you" ... ha. At around mile 1.5 one girl passed me like I was standing still, good for her, she was running really well. Just after she passed me, we ran up a hill, turned around, and ran back down it. At the turnaround, with a little less than a mile to go, I saw about 5 other women not far behind me. I didn't think I could hold any of them off but I just kept running as fast as I could despite my lack of run training.

Amazingly, no more women passed me and I managed to finish 3rd overall! I even won money! I've never won money!

The final results were:

800 meter Swim: 12:17
T1: 1:29
12 mile bike: 32:48
T2: 1:13
3.1 mile run: 22:39
FINISH: 1:10:26

3 out of 15 elite women
3 out of 728 total woman

My little sister also did awesome finishing in a little under her goal time of 1:30:00 and throwing down the second fastest bike of her age group ... she must take after her big sister.

On getting my ass handed to me

2008-07-08T15:51:00.001-07:00

I'm going to Clearwater in November! Yay! I'm going to get so beat there but whatever, it should be totally fun.

I'll post a full report about my qualifying race later!

Heart of the Valley Triathlon

2008-05-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

I decided to do this race pretty last minute. I was hesitant at first because it was in Corvallis, OR, about 4.5 hours from Seattle, and because it was a pool swim which I've never done before. Also, looking at the results from last year, the bike looked really challenging as the fastest women's bike split was over 40:00 for 12 miles ... eep.

Regardless, I really wanted to get an early-season sprint in and I didn't want to do one of the little races in Elma, so I decided that this was my race.

750 meter swim

I ended up being the first person to go in my lane and both of the people behind be were supposedly faster than me. I decided to heed my swim coach's advice and just chill through the first 200, build for the next 200, and really push it for the last 350.

I started off steady and got passed by the girl who started behind me about 200m in. I managed to stay close to her for the rest of the swim though and we nearly lapped the dude in our lane which was neat since he was kind of arrogant. :)

I came out of the water feeling good. I think I was the third woman in my wave to exit the pool. I exited a little slower than I had anticipated but everyone I talked to said that their swim times were slower than they expected ... weird for a pool swim but whatever.

Swim: 12:42 - 1:33/100 yards

T1

Nice thing about a pool swim, NO WETSUIT!

I had to run the length of the pool into transition but was able to get my gear on and get out of there really smoothly.

T1: 1:27

12 mile bike

I was nervous about the bike for a few reasons. First, last year's results definitely evinced that this was a slow bike. The fastest woman had not gone under 40:00 and only a few people had even broken over 20 mph. Second, it was my first race on a disc wheel with a tri spoke in the front. Third, it was cold out and i had opted to do the entire race in a race bikini so I was nervous about keeping my core warm.

The bike was definitely challenging. It was flat for about 300 meters before you started climbing and once you got about a mile out of transition almost all the roads were cruddy chip seal. I also knew that there were two very fast ladies who had exited the water right behind me so I knew I was probably being chased.

I felt good on the bike in spite of the weather. I tried to chill a little on the hills and keep my butt in the saddle since I didn't want to blow up before my run. I pushed it down the hills and tried to stay off on the shoulder of the road since the pavement was actually a little better in the bike lane. The bike was definitely the hilliest I have ever seen in a sprint tri. There was literally no flat land for the entire thing absent the 300 meters leaving and entering transition.

I passed the one individual girl who had exited the water before me almost immediately (the other girl had been part of a relay). I also passed about 7 or 8 dudes and spent the entire 12 miles chasing one guy which was a good motivator. Coming back into transition there were police stopping traffic and they must have not seen me coming because they almost got me creamed by a car in the middle of the intersection. I had some colorful language for them that I won't repeat here.

I came into transition feeling like I had definitely held back on the bike enough so that I could go for a PR on the run.

12 mile bike: 36:01 - 19.99 mph (slow, I know but the next fastest woman went 38:26 and only 3 women broke 40:00)

T2

Totally uneventful. I was off my bike quickly and into my shoes immediately. I threw on my visor and race belt on the run out.

T2: 0:45

5k run

There were two things on my mind going into this run. One, this was a pancake flat course so I could likely PR. Two, there were two girls who can definitely outrun me somewhere not too far behind me.

Starting the run, I felt good so I just decided "@*^& it! I'm just going to go all out."

Because of all of the waves that had gone off before me and the fact that it was a two loop run, there were a lot of runners on the course so I just started picking people off. I would see someone ahead of me and say to myself "I'm going to get them by the next corner." and I would do just that.

My legs were burning. My lungs were burning. Around mile 2 the arrogant dude from my swim lane passed me. I smiled at him and was like "oh hi! remember me?" he mumbled something about me having a good swim and kept running. He was a really strong runner so I tried to keep him in my sights but that only lasted about another half mile.

At the end of the second loop of the run, you go back towards the swimming pool and finish by doing 3/4 of a lap around a track. I seriously felt like I was dying by the time I hit the track but then I saw my boyfriend, Brandon, running towards me letting me know that I was running way faster than normal. I wanted so so so badly to just slow down and jog it in but I knew that I had less than a minute left and I could see one of those fast girls only about 30 seconds behind me so I just pushed it through the finish. It was definitely the hardest I have ever run.

Run: 21:33 - 6:56/mile

So here's the neat part ... the results

Swim: 12:42 (25/187)
T1: 1:27
Bike: 36:01 (9/186)
T2: 0:45
Run: 21:33 (42/185)
Overall: 1:12:27

12th out of 174 individuals
1ST OVERALL WOMAN!!!!

I couldn't believe it! I won I won I won!

yay!

Feeling Flat

2008-04-29T17:52:00.001-07:00

I've been feeling flat for the last few weeks. Unable to complete workouts, feeling sluggish. Constantly thinking that maybe my brake is on when I'm riding my bike.

So last weekend, to add to the misery, my left ear started killing me. I could barely hear out of it and had a rushing sound that wouldn't go away. So Monday morning I went to see my doctor. Ends up I just have an ear infection which he treated with drops.

BUT

While I was at the doctor I mentioned that I've been feeling flat and weak and that I was barely able to make it through a 7 mile run on Sunday. He decided to do some bloodwork and it ends up that I'm "severely" anemic. Now I don't want to hear any crap about me being vegan because I've had my iron tested every year for the last 11 years and it's always been normal to high. He thinks that I have a bit of a predisposition for anemia as my mother and sister (both of whom eat meat) are anemic and that this probably came up as the result of my increased training.

At first I was really upset about this but then I realized that once I get my iron level back up I'll feel awesome so ... yay!

So I'm on an iron/vitamin C/vitamin D cocktail 3 X day for however long my doc tells me to be.

6 weeks until my first race, I just want to make sure I'm 100%

Physical Therapy

2008-04-03T12:06:00.000-07:00

I had a really good PT appointment yesterday. She did all these tests for pes anserine bursitis and she thinks that i actually have/had tedonitis in my hamstring since the pain was localized above and not below the back of my knee. It's still a little tender but feels so much better. She showed me some really good exercises and stretches (some of which I was already doing and are really helping) and gave me a good plan for easing back into running for the next two weeks.

The neatest part though was watching a video of myself running. I carry one arm higher than the other and I also turn my knees in a little so some of the exercises should correct that.

Also, the video was really cool for a totally non-PT related reason. I know I have a lot of issues with body dysmorphia (meaning, in my case, I always think that I'm much heavier and less muscular than I actually am) and when I saw a video of myself on the treadmill it was almost like I was looking at someone else's body at first. I was like "wow, she's really strong!" before I realized that I was looking at myself. It made me feel really good.

happiness is ...

2008-04-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

okay, so i know i haven't been updating but in all honesty training updates are kind of boring (at least as i write them) so i just kind of bagged doing that

for a general update, I was happy do discover that my normal 1:30:00 ride is actually 29 as opposed to 26 miles so I'm training faster than I thought!

in other news, i have managed to injure my knee but i don't think it's too bad. i have pes anserine bursitis in my left leg. i stayed off it for 10 days and i start PT for it today. i ran 30 minutes easy yesterday and it felt pretty okay but i was definitely stiff afterwards. i think it might be in part related to the fact that i had literally run the soles off of my second pair beloved saucony sinisters.

so now, armed with a new pair of slightly more cushioned shoes (asics gel-nimbus) i am hoping to make a full recovery.

keep on keepin' on

2008-02-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

The last two weeks have been a little bit of a challenge. I had minor surgery on the 1st so I ended up not making my goal hours last week. I should have done 17:30:00 but ended up only doing 14:10:00.

Luckily, this week was an "off" week so I only had 9:55:00 scheduled. It was a little challenging just due to weather and what not but every workout felt pretty damn good.

Swim x 3: 6,700 yds - 2:55:00
Bike x 2: 65.2 miles - 3:35:00
Run x 3: 23.2 miles - 3:32:00

Scheduled Hours: 9:55:00
Actual Hours: 10:02:00

All in all a good week. I feel rested and ready for my impending 15:30:00 week. Taking yesterday completely off from training was definitely a good idea.

onward!

* an afterthought, anyone who actually reads this and cares to look, my training log is here

completely complete

2008-01-30T20:01:00.000-08:00

So I completed my hours for last week

Swim: 5.2 Miles - 4:00:00
Bike: 113 Miles - 6:35:00
Run: 25.6 Miles - 4:00:00

Total: 14:35:00

This week I have 17:30 scheduled. It's Wednesday and I've completed 6.5 Hours.

My goals for the week are:

Swim: 3 Hours (2 done)
Bike: 10 Hours (I have a century ride scheduled with my team later this week) (3:05 done)
Run: 4.5 Hours (1:30 done)

I am also having surgery on Friday but it's not too major so hopefully it won't get in the way of being able to ride 100 miles on saturday ha ha.

sick

2008-01-21T09:43:00.000-08:00

so i fell a little short on my training this week due to having the flu but I still feel like i got a solid week in.

Swim: 2 hours - 4700 yards
Bike: 2.5 hours - 45 miles (some on a trainer)
Run: 3.5 hours - 23.9 miles

Goal: 9:55
Actual: 8:00

This week I have 14:30 scheduled. I already wrote out my week schedule so here's to hoping i can stick with it!

Start Today

2008-01-14T11:31:00.000-08:00

My earnest ironman training starts today. I am on an annual training plan (hereinafter ATP) which will afford me the flexibility to fit my workouts in when I can with school and work.

So far I'm off to a good start. After 1.5 years of saying I would, I joined a 7 AM masters swim group at my school and swam this morning at 7:05 (I was late due to a flat tire on the way in). I have really neglected my swimming in the last month so I was psyched that I was bringing in my 100s (yards) comfortably between 1:20 and 1:25.

Anyway, this week's goals:

ATP: 9:55
Swim: ~3 hours
Run: ~3.5 hours
Bike: ~3.5 hours
(lift twice if I can, I need to find out from my coach if this factors into my ATP hours or not)

The swimming will definitely be the most challenging since I hate getting up early but I'm really glad that I paid my money because I know that I will make myself go to anything I have paid for.

Training in Paradise

2008-01-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

I just got back from my trip to Tahiti with my family and I wanted to share a few of the pictures, mostly to prove to any naysayers that I did, in fact, train while I was in 90+ degree tropical heat.

me running with my sister, lucy

me running with lucy while lucy yells at me for letting our dad take a picture of our butts.

me running with dad (picture taken by a pissed off lucy)

me doing a hybrid swim/weight/aquajogging workout

recovery

TriNW

2007-11-27T14:50:00.000-08:00

The 2007 TriNW rankings are in. This is kind of meaningless but whatever, I did well so I'm happy.

Jess's 2007 Rankings

Best Overall Triathlete Rankings (combination of your best performances in a sprint, olympic, and half-iron triathlon)
5th Overall Woman
2nd 25-29 Woman

Olympic Distance Ranking
2nd Overall Woman
1st 25-29 Woman

Half Iron Ranking
1st Overall Woman
1st 25-29 Woman

Pretty cool I guess

Living the dream (or how i threw myself a pity party)

2007-11-03T17:32:00.001-07:00

I fell down while i was running yesterday.

- My knees are two giant scabby swollen bruises.
- My elbow is bruised and covered in road rash
- My stomach is all cut up and bruised.
- I had leaves in my shorts

whine whine whine. please feel sorry for me.

Black Diamond Photos

2007-09-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much to Tammy for taking all these pictures of me!

obviously saying something very important about electrical tape

in transition, setting up or being a chatty bitch

bike

and because we all love to see jess in pain, here are a bunch of run pictures

obviously saying something very important to monique about triathlons

black diamond half ironman

2007-09-23T17:40:00.000-07:00

yesterday was the black diamond half ironman. i was not terribly nervous about this race, i think i was more just ready to have fun and for the season to be over so i can start getting ready for next season.

i drove down to enumclaw morning of the race and for the first time in my 4 years of racing black diamond, got there early enough to get a much coveted spot in the parking lot. go me!

so i get there and pick up my packet and take my sweet time getting all set up in transition. i chatted with some ladies and by the time i was finally set up i still had over an hour to my start. crap. i guess there are some disadvantages to getting there really really early. so i went back to the car and listened to some black sabbath and almost fell asleep. whoops.

anyway, 8:30 rolls around and i wander back to transition and start getting into my wetsuit.

SWIM

9:05 and we're off in the water. this was a rough swim. The water itself wasn't rough but the people were. I had a lot more body contact than i've had all season and i never felt like i really could have an open line in the water for more than about a minute or two. on the plus side, it wasn't as cold as it has been in the past. i mean, don't get me wrong, it was freaking really cold but not TOO bad.

The swim is a two loop diamond shaped swim. by the first 1/4 of the swim, I was passing dudes who had started 4 minutes ahead of us. My swim felt solid but not fast.

SWIM: 36:02

T1

T1 was pretty uneventful. running up from the lake, i had to kind of "excuse me" to a bunch of people who were more trotting than running but everyone was cool and moved aside. I got a little tangled up with my wetsuit and my neoprene chip strap but managed to get untangled and get off on my bike fairly quickly

T1: 2:41

BIKE

The bike was fun. i really love this course. i have raced the black diamond olympic distance race every year since 2004 and have always loved this bike. the half course this year was simply a double loop of the olympic course with an additional small loop added in the middle to make it an even 56 miles.

i definitely held off a little on the bike just because i could feel some twinges of light cramping in my calves and because i didn't want to make my run harder than it was already going to be.

looking at the results it looks like i picked off a few women in transition and a few more in the first few miles of the bike. i think i was also passed by three women on the bike. i hate being passed but i had to keep reminding myself that i needed to just chill and race my own race or i would regret it later.

all in all the bike was fairly uneventful. my nutrition was good although i probably could have taken in some more fluids. i believe i managed to put down a good 700 calories along with 6 thermolytes which is great. the only problem was that by the end of it, my stomach was starting to feel kind of ... not right. this problem will rear its ugly head during my run.

Bike: 2:46:07

T2

T2 i kind of took my time. I didn't want to forget anything. i got my socks and shoes on and stuck some thermolytes and an extra gel in my back pocket. i also grabbed a flask with some E-Max to sip on during the run. i put my visor and race belt on as i was running out

T2: 2:03

RUN

so i'm going to tip-toe around this a little bit because i don't think anyone who reads this blog needs to know the gory details of this run.

i started off easy but feeling good. little by little though my stomach started hurting more and more. i drank a little at every aid station and sipped on my E-Max but nothing was making me feel better. then, at around mile 5, my stomach ache turned into full-blown gastrointestinal meltdown. to put it lightly, i was in and out of the woods roughly every mile. i would run for a little while feeling strong and little by little, i would have to go again. it just ... hurt.

i wasn't wearing a watch so i have no idea how much time i lost with all of my little pit stops but it was definitely a fair amount. every time i started to run at my race pace all the jostling would make me just have to go again. it sucked, it just totally sucked.

in the last mile or two of the run i got passed by two women in my age group who would end up taking 1st and 2nd in the age group. i hadn't even realized i had been winning my AG until i saw the results.

that said, i finished and i'm proud of myself for toughing it out and getting through it.

Run: 2:00:02

OVERALL: 5:26:55

In spite of everything, i have to say i'm actually quite happy with my race. i feel like i did the best with what i had and made it through it. i really wanted to break 5:20 and but for my GI problems i likely could have but that's not really something to dwell on.

POST-RACE

I was not able to eat anything until about 10:00 because my stomach just wouldn't accept food. TR and i did though end up going to the starcrossed cyclocross race which was freaking awesome. i felt bad because i missed the JFT2 bbq due to my stomach issues but i probably would have been no good at any bbq at that point.

anyway, at starcrossed, i was wearing shorts and one of the photographers took a picture of my still bodymarked legs (because i suck at like ... washing myself properly) so here's that for your viewing pleasure.

all in all, a nice way to end the season. power over adversity ... right?

IMC

2007-09-14T16:46:00.000-07:00

... $515 later I am officially registered for Ironman Canada 2008

Danskin

2007-08-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

After 4 years of racing I decided it was finally time to do Danskin. yes, I was ready.

In all honesty though I was just waiting until I was fast enough to go off in the elite wave because I was not about to spend $80 on a race just to get caught in a bunch of bottlenecks. Don't get me wrong. I love Danskin and how it changes the lives of so many women but it's just a hard race to ... well ... race.

Because Danskin is such an enormous race (over 5,000 participants including the relay team members) participants are required to pick up their packets the day before the race and also rack their bikes the day before. So, at 7:30 AM Fawn picked me and my bike up and we headed down to Qwest Field to get our packets. I'm not sure how, but we somehow ended up being first in line which was awesome. We were in and out of packet pickup and the expo in less than 15 minutes. When we left, the line looked like it went all the way to Pioneer Square.

We then headed to Triumph where I gave Fawn's bike a brief tune-up and she took it to go rack it. I headed over to rack my bike at around 1:00 and then headed back to triumph to eat some of the special mixed berry pie that I had made especially for my good buddy Tom.

After work, Tom and I went for a swim, then I went for a run, then we ate sandwiches and drank a beer at the honey hole.

I was home by 8:45 and in bed before 10:00. This was definitely a first for me.

Sunday morning I was up by 4:30 AM and the lovely Sharon Ilstrup picked me up at around 5:15. She was kind enough to drop me at transition before going to park since I had to be in the water at 6:45. I got out of the car, it was somewhere between drizzling and pouring. I didn't mind, I kind of dig racing in the rain.

About 20 minutes before my start, I am setting up my stuff and i hear a pop! my rear tire had blown. CRAAAAP! I pulled my wheel off and ran over to the nice folks at the REI tent and they dropped what they were doing and fixed my tire for me. Interesting thing was that right as I was doing this another woman came to the tent to see if they had a spare helmet. They didn't, but I did. I had decided to race with an aero helmet and also had my regular helmet with me which I loaned to her. Good karma, right?

About 10 minutes before the start I make my way down to the water. There are 16 of us going off elite and I knew about half of the ladies there. It was really nice. Right before the start I gave Teresa Nelson a big old hug and thanked her for being the person who got me interested in triathlon 4 years ago.

SWIM

The swim had been cut to 3/8 of a mile so it was quick. I swam right next to Jill Fry for almost the entire thing. There were about 23984792387 kayaks in the water and I don't see very well so sighting was a totally lost cause. I just swam on someone's heels the whole time and hoped that they knew where they were going.

Swim: 10:33

T1

T1 required us to run up a boat ramp and across Lake Washington Boulevard into the transition area. The elites had a good spot not far from the swim entrance or the bike exit. I was out of my wetsuit fairly quickly and onto the bike with my fancy '08 Garneau Rocket aero helmet.

T1: 1:54

BIKE

The bike was great. I don't know what it is that I love so much about riding in the rain but I just LOVE it. The bike is almost identical to Seafair except we go further onto Mercer Island since we start further north on Lake Washington Boulevard. I actually managed to pick off a few of the other elites who had beaten me out of the water and then I leap frogged with one woman for almost the entire bike.

Coming across I-90 was windy but man, that aero helmet really makes a difference in the wind. coming off of I-90 and back down to Lake Washington Boulevard was wet and a little sketchy but when I looked to my right to see the women trying to get onto I-90 it was a massive bottleneck. Almost everyone was walking their bikes. There was really no other choice. Once again, so glad I went off elite and not with my age group.

I ate a gel about 2 miles from the transition area and started to mentally prepare for my run.

Bike: 32:28 (22.9 MPH!)

T2

Okay, so T2 was kind of a disaster. I got to the dismount area and went to get off my bike and managed to slip coming off the bike on a wooden ramp going into the transition area. I heard people asking if I was okay but I ignored them and untangled myself and got back up, picked up my bike and started running into the grassy transition area.

I made it about three steps before I fell again and lost my bike somewhere behind me. Then I did something that I'm not very proud of. I said a very very bad word and I said it as loud as I could. Sorry to all of those who witnessed this.

I grabbed my bike again and sprinted over to my rack. I got my shoes and race belt on fairly quickly and was off.

T2: 1:56

RUN

The run hurt at the start. I mean, my run always hurts but I had really beat up my legs in my two falls and both shins and my right quad were throbbing with what would become a bunch of glorious bruises by the next day.

The run is an out and back but then on the way back you go up a significant hill and around the back side of the transition area to the finish. About a mile in I heard someone calling my name and it was my buddy Jon who was volunteering at one of the intersections on the run. When I got back to my phone after the race I would find this picture on my phone with a message that said "great job!"

On the run, I was passed by Nichole Jacobson and Karin Gardner but no one else. I was fine with this considering I was hurting and really didn't feel like I could move much faster. I got to the finish feeling strong but my legs were definitely hurting.

Run: 24:23 (crappy)

Overall:1:11:15
7/16 Elite
10/3,496 Overall

All in all I had a really fun time doing this race but I'm not sure if I will ever do it again. I pretty much had to commit two days to doing a sprint triathlon and I just am not sure if that is something I'm willing to do.

Ice Bath

2007-08-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

... words cannot describe ...

Troika Race Report

2007-08-08T12:21:00.000-07:00

Troika

At some point when I was in elementary or middle school I learned about triathlon and about both the ironman and the half ironman. Ironman seemed totally ridiculous to me so I decided that someday I would do a half ironman. I had kind of forgotten about this idea until 2004 when I started doing triathlons. Since I started racing I have continually put off doing this distance because it just seemed SO FAR but this weekend, I finally took a crack at it.

The saga begins on Thursday when I had a massage with a person who was not my regular masseuse. I know massage hurts some time but not one second of this massage was not painful … and not good pain. I woke up Friday morning with radiating pain through my neck, up over the top of my head (?!?!), and down through my shoulders and arms. I was also really really sick all day Friday. Personally, I blame this on the massage (Isn’t there some weird “pukey” nerve that you can pinch?) but it was probably just a bug. By Friday afternoon I was feeling more and more like I wasn’t going to race. This sucked. In all my years of racing I have never DNSed a race that I’m registered for and I have never had a DNF.

I got all of my things ready Friday night amid waves of nausea and managed to get about 7 hours of sleep.

Saturday morning Tom picked me up and we headed out to Spokane. We ate a lot of pretzels, drank a lot of water, and listened to good music … truly a bonding experience. We were in Spokane by around 1:00 and it was thankfully not absurdly hot like it had been in past years. We met up with Adam, Jenny (our awesome race support), Parker, and Jonathan and then Tom and I decided to go for a bike and run. We invited everyone else but they were busy carb-loading (drinking beer). Tom was feeling good and I was feeling like I wanted to puke but I think, at this point, it was more nerves than anything else.

After the most pointless pre-race briefing ever the dudes and I (team sausage) drove out to medical lake and went for a swim. I kicked everyone’s asses in the water because I’m so awesome.

After a lackluster attempt at driving the bike course (the map on the race site was less than enlightening as you can see) we headed back into town to pick up Jenny and eat some food.

Tom, Parker, and I all shared a hotel room and the three of us got all our gear ready and were in bed by a little after 9:00. I slept really well except for one interruption by a certain sleepwalker who tried to battle the curtains in our room with a pillow.

Sunday morning we were up by 4:15 AM. I ate a bowl of cinnamon roll oatmeal, 1/4 of a blueberry bagel with a tablespoon of peanut butter and a banana. I was having a hard time eating but managed to get at least some calories in my stomach. By 5:10 my bike, transition bags, and person were on the bus on the way to Medical Lake for the swim start.

We got to the lake, I set up in transition and about 15 minutes before my start I went for a 5 minute warm-up swim. It was go time.

SWIM

The swim was a beach start. I started in the front to the left. About 30 seconds before we went off Julie Vieselmeyer wished me well and all I could say was, “Thanks! It’s my first time! I’m scared!”

The horn blew and we were off. The swim was just how I like it, totally uneventful. It was one large loop around Medical Lake marked by 6-8 buoys. I drafted off of one girl for the first half but when she started to really pick it up, I just let her go. The swim felt great. I didn’t take in much water and had very little body contact. Because of all of the people in the water, I didn’t really have to spot at all which was great.

1.2 Mile Swim: 35:09

T1

T1 was pretty easy. I knew exactly where my bike was and I was in and out of there fast. My wetsuit came off easier than normal. The only problem I had was mounting the bike. I had just put new cleats on my shoes and they were a little tough getting in but I was clipped in within 20 seconds after crossing the pad.

T1: 2:05

BIKE

The bike was great. I had heard it was “flat to rolling” but in reality it was pretty darn hilly. In other words, it was really my kind of bike course. I was picking people off one by one throughout the bike which was the way I like it. I’m still a little uncomfortable on my bike due to some fit issues (although awesome Tom Price and Tom Roseberry have both helped me a lot on this front)

I was feeling awesome until about mile 40 when I heard that awful sound “pop! pssssshhhhhhhh!” I had flatted in the rear. “CRAP!” This was the first time I have ever flatted in a race and thankfully also the first time I had brought a flat repair kit with me on the bike. I initially thought it was my front tire but it was actually my back one, making it more of a pain in the butt. I took my bottles out of my aquarack, flipped my bike and shifted into the small cog to get my wheel off. I actually got the tube in pretty quick but then I ran into problems. I realized I had no idea how to use the CO2 pump that I had brought with me. It didn’t have a trigger like my normal one and I had no f$*#ing clue how to use it. I was about to throw in the towel and flag down a truck when I finally figured the dumb thing out. I got probably 80 lbs of air into my tire and I was using a butyl tube rather than a latex one but I was back in business. I wasn’t wearing a watch but I would guess that I lost at least 6 minutes changing the flat, not to mention time lost having to use a butyl tube at lower pressure.

I hopped back onto my bike and took off. I tried not to push it too hard, it wasn’t worth it to try and make up for lost time.

I got into town feeling pretty okay. I was actually a little surprised when I got there, kind of like “oh, that wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be! Yay!”

One little post script about the bike, my nutrition was my saving grace. I did three scoops of GU2O, 7 servings of E-Max, and 6 Thermolytes or roughly 650 calories and 900 mg of sodium.

56 Mile Bike: 2:50:08

T2

T2 was awesome. The volunteers were so great. One guy caught my bike and I gave him my helmet, glasses, and shoes. It was so great. Then a lady was right there with my run stuff. I threw on socks (first time I’ve raced with socks … this was a good idea), shoes, race belt, visor and grabbed my nutrition.

T2: 1:04

The run was hard from the start. It was starting to get pretty hot out and I definitely did the shuffle for the first bit. I actually very clearly remember saying “You have got to be f*%$ing kidding!!!” when I saw the mile 1 sign because it felt like I had been out there for an hour.

Little by little the miles started to come easier and easier. It was getting pretty hot out and there wasn’t a lot of wind or shade on the course. I grabbed iced sponges at every aid station and stuck one down the front of my shirt and one on the back of my neck. Those really helped to cool me off. At around mile 5 I started getting really hot and seeing spots. Not good. I was carrying a flask with a mixture of E-Max, GU20, and Water. A little swig of that got me going again. At around mile 7 I ate my one packet of carb boom which was a godsent. From there on out I started walking the aid stations just so I could suck down a whole cup of water. I didn’t touch the Heed that they had at the stations since I don’t particularly like it and I didn’t want to try something new.

The last half of the run was actually really great. I was passing people which is nothing short of amazing. I even re-passed a girl at mile 12 who had passed me at around mile 4. I felt bad, she looked like she was really hurting, but oh well, one more place for me!

The finish was awesome. I couldn’t help but give a little kick for the last .1 miles. My goal time had been 5:30:00 which I figured I would have missed due to my flat so you can imagine my surprise when I crossed the line and saw that I had still beaten my goal by nearly 5 minutes! With a flat! It was awesome!

13.1 mile run: 1:57:17

Overall: 5:25:43
14/94 Women
4/11 Age Group

I had so much fun at this race that I am going to do another one in September! And not get a flat!

Life Goals

2007-08-06T14:14:00.001-07:00

LIFE GOALS

1. graduate law school
2. ~~race a half ironman~~

race report to follow

panic!

2007-07-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

the NYC triathlon is in 9 days

*panic*

Whoops! (Firecracker 5000 Race Report)

2007-07-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

So I decided to do this race like ... 12 hours before the start. Firecracker is a 5k run at 11:55 PM on July 3rd. I'm usually in bed by 11:00.

I have never done an evening race before so I had no idea what to expect.

Mistake 1: I drank tons of water all day

Before the race I went over to my friend Tina's house and made her some dinner. I made pasta with marinated veggies and garlic asparagus. And then she gave me soy ice cream with peaches.

Mistake 2: I tried not to eat too much but ... I ate too much.

Mistake 3: I had two small glasses of wine and even though I finished my second glass before 8:00, this was probably (definitely) a dumb idea.

Mistake 4: I drank a cup of coffee. I quit drinking coffee 3 weeks ago so I don't know what made me think this would be a good idea.

I get down to the race, register and my buddies Jon, Sherrard, and myself go for a 20ish minute warm-up run.

At the start I felt crummy but I figured it would pass but then ... disaster struck. I had to pee. This slowed me down significantly. At first I just slowed to a jog in hopes that, like, I wouldn't have to pee any more (???) but that didn't work so I ran for another mile being totally slow and uncomfortable. Finally, I realized that I had slowed down significantly and just said "screw it!" and ducked into a parking lot and peed between two cars ... classy. I checked my watch when I went off course and again when I started running again and I had lost about a minute and change ... whatever.

I finished the last mile in about 7:05 which wasn't bad considering.

My final chip time was 23:59 so I probably ran about 22:50 not including the pee break. Also, Sherrard was wearing a Garmin and apparently the run was 3.2 and not 3.1 which made me feel a little better about having such a sluggish time. Also, I totally believe this since my 23:59 still managed to land me 7th place out of 101 in my age group and (I think) 32nd overall.

So, midnight running is definitely not for me but this was a fun experience and being able to go out to a bar immediately following a race was kind of cool!

Pacific Crest Race Report

2007-06-26T15:46:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I raced Pacific Crest Olympic Distance Triathlon. This was a big weekend of firsts for me.

1. It was the first time that I've done back-to-back races on subsequent weekends
2. It was the first time that I've camped the night before a race
3. It was the first point-to-point race that I've done with two separate transition areas.

We left earlyish on Saturday morning from Tacoma. It was four girls (myself, Emily, Fawn, and Tracy), three bicycles, one extra wheelset, 1 metric shit ton of camping gear, and 1 hyundai accent. It actually took three of us to even close the trunk so needless to say things were a little ... cramped.

We made our way down to Sun River, OR arriving around 2:30ish or maybe 3:00 (It's amazing how time has no meaning when traveling with 4 women and their luggage in a tiny car). One funny aside, at a gas station in Sisters, OR one woman was kind enough to point out to Tracy that we should have taken a minivan or an SUV. Too bad we hadn't thought of that before we left Tacoma. Thank you brilliant lady for your insightful advice, unfortunately it was too little too late.

Anyway, we get down to the athletes village and pick up our race packets and I ask three different volunteers how to get to T1 to rack our bikes. No one knows. They all tell us to look at the map but of the three maps in the race packet, not one shows T1 in relation to the athletes village.

We start driving around and find T2 and finally another racer tells us generally how to get to T1. We go to T1, take a look at the lake (breathtaking) and do a cursory racking of our bikes and T1 setup. We head back to the village and T2 and set up T2 and head into Bend for a killer mcmenamin's meal and beer.

At this point it's getting dark and we still have yet to locate our campsite and I am f---ing cranky and wanting to just get a hotel for the night. After about an hour or more (I'm not sure how long ... once again, time had no meaning) we manage to stumble upon our campground, no thanks to any signage. It's probably around 11:00 at this point and we just choose a campground and set our stuff up.

I barely slept. I know I wasn't awake all night but I know I woke up several times throughout the night and I was already awake at 4:30 when my alarm went off. Fawn, Emily, and myself get up and make some oatmeal and are eating until we realize that I have to be in Sun River in like 45 minutes (we're about an hour away) to make my bus from T2 to T2 ... yeah, not going to happen. We made a valiant attempt but then just decided to have Tracy, who was not racing, drive us to T1 and then meet us at the finish.

More havoc ensues but we manage to make it to T1 with plenty of time to spare. Thank goodness we racked our bikes the night before because T1 was CROWDED.

Now the good stuff, the actual race report.

4 minutes before the start I do a little 20 stroke out and back just to get a feel for the water. As we're waiting to go (all men and women under 30 and all relay swimmers) I am just chatting with some girl and I hear "GO!". "okay cool, here we go I guess."

I had been pretty apprehensive about the swim since it was a co-ed start. I know I'm a strong swimmer but co-ed starts always make me nervous. I have to say, this was the MOST civil swim start I have ever had. I took it a little wide but really, there was no congestion and I had almost no body contact. At one point, around the second turn, I was passing some dude swimming freestyle when he decided to do a big breastroke kick right into my ribs ... thanks dude. It didn't hurt but seriously people, stop doing breastroke kicks.

I came out of the water feeling good and knowing I was at the front of the pack for my wave. On the shore I thought the swim looked pretty long and I'm almost certain now it was. Swim: 26:27 (1:36/100m)

T1 was uneventful. I got out of my suit and bagged my stuff pretty quickly. I had to stop on my run out to get a rock out of my shoe because I'm an idiot and forgot to actually wipe my feet on my towel. My transition time was actually comparatively very fast. I'm happy with this. T1: 2:37

The bike was as beautiful as the swim. I only got passed by two dudes and no ladies the entire time. I was definitely working but I was loving it. It was 25.2 miles with a very slight (400-500 ft.) elevation loss. It was flat to rolling the whole way. I was a little nervous only because I know I'm stronger in the hills but man, I just felt great. Bike: 1:06:36 (22.52 mph)

T2 was just as it should be, fast and uneventful. I already had my shoes off when I got to my running stuff so I just threw on my running shoes, race belt, and visor and I was off. T2: 1:26

The run ... well ... the run hurt like hell for the first 2 miles. Like, I considered walking. I was pacing a woman who I belive was Daphne Slife (if I'm wrong, sorry) for the first 3ish miles. We leapfrogged at first but then I just followed her for a while. Thank you so much to her for helping my through those first few miles. I passed her just after mile 3 and then something amazing happened. I was passing EVERYONE. I think I got passed by one guy and one gal (Lis Wilson who ran brilliantly). I finished feeling strong but glad to have it over with. Also, I heard from another racer that the run was actually more like 6.4 miles but, whatever. Run: 49:33 (7:58/mile)

Total time: 2:26:39

So here's the amazing part. I took 3rd f---ing place overall and won my age group by almost a full 2 minutes! I couldn't believe it. I felt like I had had a good race but not THAT good.

Oh, and the other amazing part, aside from a cool medal, I got a pint glass and a free beer! Man, if I could win beer at every race I would work even harder.

All in all, an apparently great race for me.

Now, on a slightly more somber note, as I was sitting at the finish waiting for Emily and Fawn to finish, a gentleman named Gerald Balaban crossed the finish line looking strong in a bit over 3 hours. As I watched, he walked up to the volunteers to have his chip removed from his ankle, paused and then collapsed face first onto the ground. I initially thought he was having a seizure (I'm epileptic so I was thinking maybe I could help) but it became quickly apparent that he was not breathing and that he had no pulse. Medics quickly began CPR as his friends, family, and much of the community looked on. After several minutes the medics announced that they had a pulse and everyone cheered although his breathing was quite labored and he was not awake.

racecenter discussed the incident here

I am trying to contact his family and see if there is anything that they need. Please keep Mr. Balaban in your thoughts as he works his way through his recovery.

Pacific Crest

2007-06-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

On kind of a whim, I registered for the olympic distance race at pacific crest this weekend down in Sun River, Oregon. I'm going with my pal Fawn (it's her first race) and Fawn's friend Emily and I believe Emily's sister. We are going to camp the night before the race which will be a first for me but luckily my dad loaned me his thermarest.

The bike course is different than it's been in the past, (I guess due to some construction) and it looks like the run was 5.8 miles last year as opposed to 6.2 which would be ... nice for me. Also, this will be the first time that I have raced on back-to-back weekends so I'm not expecting any greatness from myself but that is not to say that I won't give it my all. I was looking at the bike splits from last year and the top splits were a little slower than I would have expected so either the course was long or it was really windy. (please don't let it be windy) Also, the bike has been 28 miles in the past which is, of course, great for me, but is only 25 this year. The website says it's fairly flat. Yeah, I've heard that before.

Bike:

The run looks like it's all on paved paths and is also supposedly flat.

Run:

Another interesting thing is that the bike is point-to-point which I've never done before. I'm a little nervous about how it's going to work but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Also, I got a massage yesterday ... thank goodness.

That's my pre-race report. I'm probably going off the grid for most of the weekend so I'll post a real race report on Tuesday (we are spending Monday on the Oregon coast surfing and laying in the sun!)

Cascades Edge Triathlon

2007-06-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

I woke up at around 5:45 and was out of bed by 6:00 for this race. I stayed at a friend Ben's house in Seattle so I wouldn't have to get a hotel or deal with the ferries in the morning. As usual, I spent 30 minutes second-guessing myself and convincing myself that I could, in fact, swim roughly a mile, ride my bike for 25 miles and run a 10k. It's strange, no matter how many times I race, I always have to have this internal argument with myself.

After dragging Ben out the door (he had been out until 3:00 the previous night/morning) we were on our way at around 6:55 (I had wanted to leave by 6:30). Luckily, in 4 years of racing at Nolte State Park, this was the first time I didn't get totally lost getting there. Also, because I'm a card-carrying USAT member, I was able to cut to the front of the 14 mile long packet pickup line.

I got all set up in transition. I was right across from Tammy which was nice, since chatting with someone I know before the race generally calms me down a bit. Due to the 198 mile long packet pickup line, the race got off to a little bit of a late start but I believe I was in the water by around 9:30.

My swim was actually really good. I started in the front just left of the middle of the pack. I was right behind one woman who I believe was Amy Spence and I just kind of followed her feet the whole time and sighted a lot less than normal. by the second buoy I was passing some dudes who had started 5 minutes ahead of us. I never had any breathing issues and I just kind of cruised like I was in the pool for the whole swim. I'm not sure about my pace (It will probably look slow since the course was long) but as far as how I felt, it was one of the best swims I have ever had.

My transition was pretty smooth. I had my wetsuit down around my hips by the time I got to my bike and it came off pretty easily after that. It was raining at this point and my shoes had some water in them but ... oh well. I slipped them on and I was off. I spent pretty much the entire bike leapfrogging with Monique Lance, Amy Spence, and some dude who we kept passing then he would pass us back and die again. While I liked having Monique and Amy there to push me, I was a little nervous that we were going to get dinged for drafting (even though we of course, weren't). The bike was COLD. It was sprinkling the whole time and it was pretty windy in some spots. By about mile 18 (I think) I noticed that I was barely able to push my shifter down with my right hand. I pretty much would have to push it down with the heel of my hand just to shift. With 5 miles to go I needed to eat a GU and I could barely get my trash in my back pocket ... shit. Coming into transition I tried to get my shoes off while I was still on my bike and I couldn't even grip the velcro straps ... shit. Two people crashed right in front of me trying to dismount but I managed to get in around them.

I get into transition and there are a few people sitting around kind of moaning, totally unable to make their hands and feet work to put their shoes on. I got my bike shoes off fairly easily but my hands wouldn't work to get my running shoes on. I ended up just standing and kind of shoving my frozen feet into my shoes. Luckily I had left my running shoes sitting upside-down so they were pretty dry and I had coated the heel with body glide and filled them with baby powder. My transition was definitely longer than normal but I managed to get out on the trail probably in just over a minute.

The run is normally an out and back with the last 1.4ish miles around the lake. Due to some problem or another they decided to just have us do 4 loops around the lake rather than do the out and back. Because of this I was told that the run was 5.7 miles rather than 6.2. This was kind of cool because I love the lake trail but kind of not because on the first lap, every time I'd hit a big hill or a giant puddle I was like "cool, I get to do this 3 more times." That aside, I actually had a great run. I just kind of cruised. On the first lap I actually PASSED PEOPLE which I never do (and yes they were in my race and not part of a relay). The other really cool part was that NO ONE PASSED ME (except for some dudes and they don't count)! The only really sucky thing about the run was that my left foot went numb for about the last 15 minutes. I'm not sure why this happened because at this point my feet were not cold. I'm worried that it had to do with my trochanteric bursitis but I wasn't really having pain in my trochanter. I guess I will just have to see if it happens again.

Anyway, I ended up finishing 5th overall and 2nd in my age group with an overall time of 2:24:41. Less than a minute (59 seconds to be exact) behind Jill and a little over 5 minutes behind Tracy who was the overall winner. I'm really quite happy with this result even though I don't have my splits yet. My run was f---ing hard but it felt good which is what I've been wanting. My time wasn't WAY slower than Tracy's like it usually is (last time I raced her in an olympic distance she was nearly 14 minutes faster than me) and I felt like I was smart on the bike rather than just hammering like I usually do.

Here are some photos taken by Michael and Ben

you can see I did manage to get my shoes undone but was unable to grip the heel to actually pull my feet out. Also, there was a big spill right in front of me which is likely what I'm looking at.

Running

*edited to add splits ... the swim was DEFINITELY long

Swim: 26:16 (11th woman out of the water)
T1: 2:33
Bike: 1:09:37 (2nd fastest female bike split ... jill was 1st)
T2: 1:59 (oops)
Run: 44:16 (6TH FASTEST FEMALE RUN SPLIT!!! HOLY CRAP!!!)