Black Diamond Sprint

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

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

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

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

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

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

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%