This morning rather then heading into the office I got on my single speed and rode to the Lake Sammamish State part to join the rest of my org from work in volunteering to help restore native plants at the park with the Mountain to Sound Greenway folks. To be completely honest my main motivation in participating was the fact the park is only a few miles from my house and I could ride my bike there and back and spend the day outside. Brady, the other big triathlete guy in the department obviously thought the same thing and rode his bike - but he rode from Seattle which was way longer than me.. But still :) I got there a bit later than I planned because I got distracted watching the Tour so there were already a TON of people gathered and ready to go so I quickly changed out of my bike clothes and ready to pull some blackberry bushes out. I wound up in a group with a lot of the people I work with on a daily basis and we had a great group leader Holly who walked us though how to use a shovel and clippers without hurting ourselves or other just in case lol. And just like that we grabbed ourselves a shovel and we got started. The main area we worked is actually along the Lake Sammaimish sprint tri run course which was kind of cool - though it felt weird not running lol. Everyone started off at break neck speed. It was pretty amazing how quickly everyone worked. The piles grew quickly and some people pulled out some enormous root balls. I quickly regretted not bringing more than one bottle of gatorade endurance with me. I can't believe I did not bring any snacks or more Gatorade.. it was very toast and even though they told us to wear long pants I was getting way to hot so I snuck behind a tree and changed into my sugoi capris I road in (I considered changing into my tri shorts i brought for the ride home but thought that might be a bit much). Kim and I took a short water break after an hour or more. But quickly got back to work...
In all we worked for about 4 hours and cleared out a LOT of blackberry bushes. I think someone said there were something like 200 people that showed up to help out and if we all worked 4 hours that is a TON of volunteer hours (you can do the math it is not really my thing ;) ) . It really made me feel very proud of the company I work for and all the people who took time to do something for the community/environment. It also reminded me of being in teh Earth Corps group in high school. It was amazing how much area we were able to clear in only 4 hours. Not to mention it was fun getting to know people from work outside of the office setting. Even found out another girl in my org is getting more into triathlon and is doing her first olympic next weekend :)
Anyway they had lots of sanwiches, fruit, veggies, treats and lots of water waiting for us when were done for lunch. Which was really good because I was feeling a little light headed from sweating so much and only having 1 bottle of gatorade - oh and I still needed to ride home. It was not totally clear what we were doing next but to everyone's pleasure they told us to head out and enjoy the rest of the day off and start the weekend early. (Both of my bosses had already told me to do that but it was still cool).
I got back on my bike and headed home. The ride home was more of a challenge then usual - especially the last mile that is all uphill. I was kind of surprised how tired I was. I guess I will spend the rest of the day trying to rehydrate... But really the day has been pretty great and a wonderful way to start the weekend.
Yesterday while Tivo was recording the 1st stage of the Tour de France I headed out with a great group of people from Pauole Sport Team - Laurie, Greg, Jodie, Deanna, Darren and myself - all but me are training for Ironman Canada in August. Laurie was our trusty navigator and she planned a great route on back roads with a good mix of hills and flats. The best part was at 7a it was warm enough to wear just a sleeveless jersey - no arm warmers or anything :) We headed out from Laurie's house and within 3 miles Darren got a flat - since I knew the route pretty well I held back with him and Deanna. He fixed it really quickly and we were back at it. I guess Greg and Jodie rode past the first turn off and Laurie was questioning how to deal with a the group splitting. We all grouped back up together at the turn up the plateau for the long climb on Thomson Road. Once up the long climb we turned toward Beaver lake poor Darren his aero bottle broke loose and all his fluid poured out.. He was just getting everything out of the way early.. So we stopped a mile or so down the road at Beaver lake Park to refill water bottles.. We headed down one of my favorite climbs - stair step hill. I'm happy to say I have gotten a lot better at downhills and was able to stay in the middle of the group. Greg and Jodie led and missed the turn so they got a little bit extra milage again (this happened a few more times esp to Greg). We took back roads up past Snoqulamie falls and up to the truck stop in North Bend with some good climbs and a lot of false flats. At some point the sponge in my aero bottle slipped down and no longer helped block the gatarade from splattering all over the place - I found this out after refilling the bottle and quickly taking a gatorade shower until I stopped and fixed it.. I had no plain water with me so I wound up licking my hands as much as I could to help get rid of the sticky feeling. Now I had a good sugar coating to go with all the salt I was sweating so as we passed the Snoqualmie river a few times I was very very temped to jump in and rinse off. As we headed back down into the valley we had to take a short detour through Carnation for a 4th of July parade. We got to see horses and it smelled of festival food.. mmm pure torture while I ate "yummy" gel... We rolled through Carnation valley and a short out and back to the the climb back towards Redmond via Union hill. I actually loved this part. I had not dropped everything on the erst of the climbs just so that i could redeem myself from last weekend where I hit the wall on these hills. So this week I was so happy my legs worked with me and climbed really well. I pulled a bit away from the group until the downhills where they caught back up as usual. Just reminded me how much I like climbing :) Next up was a final 20 miles around Lake Sammamish just to finish off the century with nothing to hard. I was just sop happy to be able to rinse off my hands a bit at Marymoore park. Deanna and Darren separated and finished off there ride on the trail. Around mile 90 the stickiness of my bike and everything finally broke me of any desire to drink gatorade which quickly led to me hitting wall.. I did not want to eat or drink anything other than plain water. So the last 10 miles I dropped back from Laurie, Greg and Jodie and just chilled the rest of the way around the lake to Laurie's house. Laurie and Jodie head out on a :30 run off the bike while Greg and I jumped in the lake to cool/rinse off with recovery chocolate milk in hand.
Laurie was nice enough to send out the elevations graph from the route :)
I am very happy with how I did on my first century ride since doing IMC in 2007 and even better I rode a lot strong and lasted a lot longer than last weekend :) Other than getting tired of sticky food at the end my nutrition did well for me. I have found that I need to eat something "solid" about half way so I tried a mini powerbar and then a mini cliff bar an hour later which were both good because they are small enough to eat in a bite or two and helped keep my stomach settled. But by far the best part was riding with such a fun group of people. Laurie, Greg and Jodie made a great little pack and were really nice to let me tag along :)
I have missed the long rides - no not the 3 to 4 hour stuff but the longer stuff where you hit a wall and keep going and push your self. I love that stuff. On Saturday i joined Laurie and Greg for a 5 hour ride even though I only had 4 on the schedule. We started early and the weather was perfect. A little cool to start but warmed up just right by the end of the ride. Yeah I hit the wall around 4:15 into the ride (guess I should listen to my coach better obviously knows something ;) but it did not matter I had so much fun riding with them and we rode pretty hard the entire way. I fell back a bit for the last few climbs at the end but I kept pushing myself and I was only a couple minutes behind them in the end. The best part was even though my legs hurt and I was tired I kept going :) Now I seemed to half left my legs on the bike because on Sunday they did not show up for my long run but I got through it and even got a few miles in on my new Newton shoes. Today my body still feels achy and sore so I figure I'm paying my price for going longer than planned but it was to much fun at the same time and way to nice a day not to spend a little bit more time outside ;) I'm sure this will wear off in the winter when I don't want to go back out in the cold rain but right now I'm so loving training long :)
Well it happened I turned 29 and I got a lot of tri goodies in my favorite color no less :)
It started almost a full week early when Kyle brought home baby blue shoes laces.
Kyle put a brand new chain on my bike (I think it still had the original one for 2+ years ago on).
I got new smaller aero pads for my bike - now I have room for my hands on the bars when climbing.
And the biggest surprise was that Kyle got me a pair of newton running shoes and his Dad got me a baby blue sugoi running skirt to match.
Last but not least my super Mom gave me the registration fee so I could sign up for Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2010.
The best part was that Kyle and I went over to Coeur d'Alene to cheer for all our team mates and friends that were doing the race this year. We stayed in Spokane with some family friends who spoiled us rotten with good food and lots of cake. And on Sunday we spent the day cheering on all our friends in the race. As is the case with Ironman races it was an inspiring and motivating day of racing and the most perfect way to spend my birthday weekend. So with that let the countdown begin to my big 30 and my second Ironman race! Bring on the training :D
On race morning just like I prefer to do I got up super early so we could be to to T1 with tons of extra time to spare and no need to rush. Kyle pumped my tires, I filled my bike bottles and salt sticks, I made sure my bike shoes had lots of glide in them so no blisters and random other small details. I also realized the best part about getting to T1 early is no lines for the porta potties and they don't stink yet. After getting body marked and another quick review of the bike we headed down to the beach to hang out and get ready for the swim. We got a quick pic of all the people from the team Pauole Sport that did the race. (Eric, Laurie, Aaron, Mike, me) Of course had to get a few more pre swim pics - at least this time I did not cry when my Mom hugged me like in Clearwater. and with that I was off to go get in the water.
I decided to start out in the water rather than on the beach so I swam out into the masses and found a sport in the middle of it all. The current kept pushing everyone past the start line so they moved us back a couple of time till finally the cannon went off to my surprise lol. I remember thinking "oh ok was that the start already".I felt pretty good. There was a little chop on the water but nothing worse then the pool at masters swim. I love how clear the water is - you can see all the people around you and avoid getting kicked most of the time. I do have to say that the people(seemed to be mostly guys) that stop and breast stoke suck. They all of sudden start kicking sideways and I got a few kicks in the ribs and sucks. The only other annoyances/issues was that my swim cap kept sliding back off my forehead so I had to pull it back on a couple times.. Anyways I felt good and just swam my best. I stayed mostly on course and felt like I was more in the middle of things than in previous years. The waves mostly brought me into shore and I still felt happy about my swim overall. Then I focused on trying not to fall on my way up the beach.. Then I ran up the hill to the rest of T1, pulled the speed suit off, shoes on, helmet, glasses, race belt and I was off.. I am so glad no one I knew saw what happened next - after peddling for a minute I thought it felt like my rear tire was flat or low and tried to look at it. Now coming out of the water I don't always have the best balance so I acted like a total clutz and rode my bike off the pavement and into the gravel almost tipped over.. and stopped and checked my tire all the while feeling like a total dork when it was fine.
I started the bike with a little bit of fear that my leg/hip would hurt and have issues so I focused on smooth circles, just getting into a rhythm and start getting in the nutrition. Before checking my bike on Friday Kyle had move my seat back just a little bit and by the turn around at Mauna Lani I could tell my hip was not getting as tight as it had been. so I picked up the effort some but at the same time my legs felt alright but not super perky. I felt good through the rollers and continued to be surprised and happy my leg did not hurt but i did find that I felt the climbs more in the glutes than normal.. and stayed with it. I took a salt every :30, sport legs every :30, a gel every hour and drank frequently.. I had started with 1 bottle of acceleraid and at the second aid station I tossed it and grabbed another bottle of gatorade. I am done with it - it was upsetting my stomach. So the rest of the race I just drank gatorade endurance (I could hear Kyle cheering - he hates the stuff and how it leaves gunk in bottles afterwards). Laurie passed me at some point and we cheered for each other - I think she even said see you on the run.. The climb up Hawi was not to bad till got to the final climb and the headwind that joined in on the fun. The best part is I finally felt warmed up and found my rhythm so I passed a lot of people on the climbs which always feels good :) Thank you hill repeats. I faced one of my biggest fears on the way back down and I continued to stay in my aero bars and no touching the brakes :) (teeth chattering smile). Mostly I was just soooo happy that I made it up to Hawi with no leg pain. I was a bit bummed to see that I was a bit off my desired time but at that point i did not care to much just knowing my leg did not hurt. So I stayed focused and kept up on my nutrition all the way back to T2. On the turn off from the Queen K I found it funny that most people seemed to act like the bike part was over even though there was 3 more miles - so even though I was not supposed to not pass I did.. a bunch. and just like that I was in T2. I came in dropped the bike, grabbed my run bag, switch shoes, switch helmet for hat and grab gel bottle. I looked for volunteers putting sunblock on but did not see any, considered the porta potties but did not want to waist time so off I went on the run.
And it started on the grass of course... (got to love the gel packet hanging out of my shorts) I started off easy just get my leg under me and see how things would play out. I actually felt pretty good, a little bit of a sloshy stomach but nothing the heat would not burn off (or so I hoped). They changed the run course so having done the race the last 2 years did not help out a ton.. I knew the parts of the course that were on the road but the other 6 miles were a mystery on grass. By mile 2 or so my stomach started to settle and I focused on keeping my temp down. I walked the aid stations and made sure to drink gatorade, toss cold water on my head, grab ice, sponges, and if they had them orange slices (mmmm). I kept going back and forth with one gal, we would pass each other then be walking the aid station - so started talking.. We wound up running and chatting and just kept running together. It was great - made the run fly by even though the course was so difficult. I was not even paying attention to time, we just ran between each aid station, got what we needed and kept running. Only once or twice we walked up a hill or something. It was funny it was not till after running together for a couple miles we asked our names. lol And in no time we were heading down into the long out and back into the lava (mile 9ish). As always this sucked and seemed longer than in years past but we ran down and were able to run all the way back out. I passed Laurie from Pauole Sport at some point on the way back up (she seemed to expect it was going to happen) and we cheered each other one. Once at the top we started picking up the pace as much as we could knowing that we would be done sooner that way. It was great to see T2 and the turn to the finish line. I still felt pretty good but mostly was just ready to be done.. As we turned toward the finish Joy (#1242 in the pic) wanted to kick it in strong and in that she out kicked me and beat me by a couple seconds lol.
And just like that it was over - I was done..
Overall finisher 637/1057 Age group finish 24/44 Overall time 06:27:55 Swim 41:10 T1 3:32 Bike 3:24:45 T2 2:39 Run 2:15:50
A few post race photos as well
Love the sponge still in the back of my top.
Yeah I am sooo strong
James and I
Mom and I
Best of all the ice bath (Kyle finally pulled the sponge out of my jersey)
