Cougar Mountain TT 2010

I am not totally sure how or why I agreed to do the cougar mountain time trial yesterday but I did it. Well actually I know - Eric Kutter was trying to get people to join him and Kyle said he would so I signed him up right then and there(no backing out lol). Then when they sent out an email asking for if anyone wanted early start times Kyle replied yes for my wife and I... Needless to say they were confused since I was not signed up but then I figured why not.

It is about a 2 mile hill climb time trial with an average gradient of 7.2% (L’Alpe D’Huez is 7.9%) ans about 1,200 feet of climbing. This chart says it all...

Anyway yesterday morning we headed over grabbed our bibs and went for a good :30 min warm up ride before the 9:00a start of the race. I felt a bit out of place on my TT bike but since I sold my road bike it was my TT or my single speed.. TT it is. Eric and Kyle both went before me though I was the 1st girl to start and the 8th person. I had no expectations since I have never ridden or even seen the hill I just knew that some of the steepest parts were at the end.

I started up the hill and immediately I was in zone 5 (188 bpm for me) . Since it is steep enough to stand up most of the way I just did a funny game of just 5 rotations standing 5 sitting to mix up the muscle groups. Since I had no idea of what the hill did I just watched my heart-rate and milage and tried to keep breathing. I had to take my inhaler about half way which was hard since I was weesing so bad at that part but luckily it helped and I just kept going up.



I was expecting to get passed but I got passed right away by the guy who started :30 seconds behind me.. Then later by a girl who started a minute (who swims at the same masters group though in a different lane). Before the end I got passed by a couple of other guys.. I just focused on my time and my heart rate and just kept going.



In the end I wound up finishing in 17:44 which got be 91st place overall (out of 106) and 5 out of 5 women.. A bit shocked only 5 women started... but hey I was the only crazy person who did it on a tri bike (that I saw) and I still beat about 20 guys. I will defiantly be adding this hill to may training for Ironman CDA 2011 because it felt like a longer version of some of the main climbs on the bike course and I will do the race again next year but on a road bike...

New Adventure!

The past month has been a blur of Ironman training, work and the start of a new adventure for Kyle and I. After a couple years of dreaming about opening a triathlon store Kyle made the decision to go for it and do it this year. He spent months doing the research and planning and then when he found a great location right by the east entrance to Marymoor Park in Redmond he signed a lease and we were off and painting.


Mr. Crampy's Multisport was born.



After almost a month of "remodeling" we officially opened the doors for the grand opening on Saturday. We got a lot of our inventory (including the bikes) on Friday so it was long night to get everything ready but we had a lot of wonderful help from my Mom, Kyle's dad came into town and most of all our Master Mechanic Matt.
We officially opened at 10a and Kyle was shocked that people were already heading in to check the place out. It was amazing (and surreal after no sleep) how many people came out to check out the store and support use. We figured our team would come out but there were a lot of people who had heard from facebook or word of mouth, or were ridding by and stopped in to say hi.

The Bike Shop Wall


Aaron Scheidies of cdifferentwithaaron - a friend and K-Swiss Pro


Matt, Kyle and I still took some time to play after the opening



We are so thankful to K-Swiss, Argon 18 Bikes, GU Eneregy, Powerbar, Xterra Wetsuits, Tank Cycle/Matrix Wheels, Sugoi Performance Apparel, Stuffitts Shoe Savers, Amphipod, and Speedfil. Who all came through for us and helped us be ready for the opening.

Also a huge Thank You to Blazing Bagels for the yummy bagel plates and Jamie of All Trades for some delicious cupcakes.

Wenatchee Half Marathon

Last night I headed across the pass to Wenatchee to run a half marathon this morning. Kainoa wanted me to run a half marathon as part of my training and this one worked out well with my training - all last week was a recovery week so I actually got to rest up a bit and have some energy to see where I am at.. It was just going to me running but luckily Hallie and Greg decided it would be a perfect weekend to head east to the sunny weather to train and Greg ran the half with me which made it so much more fun.
Ok so the race... I got a hotel room literally a block away from the start which was awesome. When I went down to get my race packet at 6:30a it was already getting warm so I stopped second guessing and went with out arm warmers and just ran in a tank top and running skirt and I would still overheat...
I met Greg at the start at 7:30a and we did a warm up run. Hallie met up with us after she found Tika who went exploring and was luckily found quickly. She made sure to take a quick picture to show our team involvement.


My race plan was to start out around 8 min/mile pace and depending on how I felt I would try and run negatives the second half or at least the last couple miles. I had my nutrition plan that I use at most races - I took sport legs and a salt pill since it was so warm. Then I usually eat a gu at teh start and every 3 miles (mile 4, 7, & 10). I ran with my hand bottle since it is easier to actually drink out of then cups (and at this point it feels weird to run with out it). Seemed doable based on where I have been in training.

It was obvious this was a low key race when they were setting up the timing mats less than 5 min before the start. Greg and I knew better than to start on the front line so we hung back a couple rows. Once the "gun" went off it only took a couple seconds to cross the mat and we were off.
The first mile felt way to easy I just ran and did not look at my garmin... Mile two was similar even with a few small uphills. It was not till mile 3 that I realized my heart rate was already up at 189 bpm when I usually race mostly at 181 bpm and only hit that high going for the finish line. ouch! and I realized I completely messed up my race plan. I also looked at my average pace which was 7:45 at that point. My focus immediately went to get your heart rate down.
It would have been a lot easier to recover from going out to fast if the rest of the course was not constant up and down hills. So at this point I ate a gu at 3.5 instead of 4 mile mark and I was already getting really warm. It is so much dryer on the east side of the mountains that my mouth felt constantly dry even if I just drank.
I did not really know the course so I just tried to keep my heart rate around 181bpm and just stick to my nutrition plan through the rest of the race. I kept drinking from my hand bottle and tossing water on my head to try and cool off. At one of the water stations I took a cup of "sports drink". Within the next mile my stomach started to feel upset and sloshy...

At the turn around Greg was only a minute or two behind me and he looked strong so I fully expected him to pass me at any time. Sure enough around mile 9 or so he passed me. I tried to stay with him for about a mile but he ran so strong up the hills and by mile 10 I let him go. My stomach was really upset and I tried to burp or something but instead wound up throwing up. At least my stomach felt better almost immediately after and I just kept going. I even managed to eat my gu a little while after and it felt fine.
At this point I knew the last couple miles back were mostly uphill so I kind of just tried to keep Greg in sight and finish as strong as I could. I mean it is just a couple miles...
So I ran the last bit and then up and over the bridge to the finish and I was done.

The stats:
Gun time - 01:52:28
Chip time - 01:52:21
Pace - 00:08:35
Age group F2529 - 9/55
Average heartrate 184 bpm, Max 191 bpm

Garmin mile splits (13.24 miles)
1 - 7:14, 2 - 7:48, 3 - 8:00, 4 - 8:09, 5 - 8:40, 6 - 8:21, 7 - 8:15, 8 - 8:55, 9 - 8:25, 10 - 8:57, 11 - 9:08, 12 - 8:49, 13 - 9:09, .24 - 2:36

The red line is my heart rate and the green is the elevation.



Overall I am content with my effort and it was great training race to remind me to pay way more attention at the beginning of the race to actually fallow my race plan and not go out to fast. I did not ever think I could run a 7:15 m/mi right now lol. Luckily after a swim and bike ride I am much better at pacing myself ;) I also loved how low key the race was and it had a fun local feeling to it. It was perfect weather and now that I know the course I would even run it again. Sure there is not a lot of elevation change but really there is no flat - it is either up or down.

time is flying by

It is the end of another recovery week so of course I feel like capturing a bit of what I have been up to..

I actually went up to Snoqualmie Pass and went snowshoeing with some team mates. I had so much fun being back in the snow that I really did not want to go home and just wanted to keep playing in the snow...

Lots and lots of swim, bike, run training but I actually feel like my biggest gains have been in strength training. I have been very consistently going to the gym twice a week with Kyle and pilates once a week so I am so happy that I finally feel like my legs are getting back to where they were when I skied all winter. I am now back up to being able to do the 3 sets of 12 of single leg press with 2 (well 1 on each side) 45lb plates.

I have a new addiction - I can't get enough O.N.E. Coconut Water especially the new one's with "a splash of juice". I blame Jill who always raves about how great the stuff is for her. I pretty much live on the stuff after training. (this is just to get me through the weekend).

After a week of recovery I had so much fun getting out on a good hilly ride with Cathleen and Greg at our team bike ride and run in the SUN.
It started out pretty chilly but after climbing a long hill I felt good the rest of the ride. It was good I actually felt strong and rested on the ride and then it was great fun to run with Cathleen who really pushed me to pick up the pace off the bike.
Which I immediately fallowed up with a good 12 min soak in the lake - even managed to talk Joe into joining me for part of it.
My training levels have picked up to the levels that I feel like it is time to start taking ice baths again.. So what better way to start the next build with than a chilly soak in 46°F water. My legs feel so much better tonight and will thank me tomorrow night when I have to run intervals...

After starting the next buid phase with a 4k swim at masters I got the ok from Kainoa for my pre Ironman CDA race plans - big no on Mercer Island half marathon but a YES to the 10k. Mostly because I have got hurt on that course last summer and it is better not to risk it. I got a yes for the Wenatchee Half Marathon in April. Since the Carnation TT series is not happening this year due to construction she is going to see if she can hopefully find something else.. I will also do the Issaquah Sprint Tri just for fun since it will be the 1st time in 3 years that we will be in town for it. Since I don't have a half Ironman race on the schedule I will have to do it on my own (well hopefully with help from some great friends but not in an official race) around the end of April. I will also be doing 2 3 days training camps so that I can get to know the course.

Alright time to get to work. Only about 124 days to go and probably about 60+ ice baths :)

getting into the swing of things

I am in the middle of a much needed recovery week so what better time to go over what I learned from the last 3 weeks of building. Though I say learned but it is more of the things I need to remember as the hours training keep increasing.

It took me 2 weeks to really figure out that I have to eat enough all day and all week. I noticed it the most the 2nd week of the build - I felt tired all week and then I only ate 3 gels and 2 bottle of gatorade for a 3:30 bike ride and I did not eat before the fallowing run off the bike. Needless to say I completely hit the wall during the run. I know from all the training last year that I need a bottle of Gatorade an hour and at least 1 gu or something every :45 - :30 min depending on effort and temp. Part of my issue has been keeping enough gu around for the weekends so I finally just ordered a couple 24 packs of my favorite plain gu and a 6 pack of roctain online. They also sent me a couple Blackberry gels and Banana to try...
With my supplies refilled the fallowing weekend I had the same brick workout but actually ate more during the ride especially. I felt so much better during the ride and most importantly I was able to stay strong on the run off the bike.

The second part of the nutrition puzzle is making sure I eat enough the rest of the day when I am not training to both pre-fuel and recover from training better. I stocked up on strawberry recoverite, chocolate milk, O.N.E. coconut water, healthy snacks and even made my Mom's Lentil soup on Sunday night so I could eat it for lunch all week. Mostly I have just been trying to make sure and eat way more food. I noticed last week that I felt more recovered from the long weekend by mid-week.

Other than dealing with nutrition I have been really working on making friends with my bike trainer at least for my midweek rides. Luckily we have a HUGE projector tv to almost surround myself with ironman broadcasts from tivo and Kainoa has been giving me good interval workouts to keep me distracted. It seems to be helping - bike training seems to be going the best out of everything. I feel stronger every week so I just keep telling myself "I love the trainer".... at least until it is light outside in the evenings then I will let forget all about it ;)

Last but not least training is way easier and more fun with friends - I have been very very lucky to have some wonderful people to train with the last couple weeks. From the group at masters swim who help wake me up at 6a to everyone who has been willing to ride outside for all or most of my long rides and the fun team runs (with treats afterwards) every other weekend. Huge thank you to especially Kyle, Sam, Laurie K. , Joe, Cathleen and so many more - having such great friends really makes training fun and I am looking forward to the next 5-6 months :)