August 2007

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Monday, August 27, 2007
I'm Crazy and Love Chipotle
One Good Run and Chipotle Burrito

Friday night I had NO motivation to ride. It was raining, I didn’t have the right skewer for my trainer, a bunch of things told me to sit on the couch and eat Cheetos. I didn’t eat the Cheetos, but the whole ride thing lasted about 10min. It was a worthless idea.

Saturday morning I got up early and headed to Gary Gribble’s to meet Julie and the Runner’s Edge Army. I had planned to do an OWS race in Arkansas, but saving money won out, so since I already had cancelled swim practice, I figured I would get to run with Julie.

I had a 2:30hr run scheduled, but I have had the feeling lately that my runs (and subsequently rides) aren’t long enough. I was thinking I would run 14-16 miles. I met Jules at 6:00am- she had just finished her first two miles- she was running 20. She was going to run 18, which meant turning around at the 9 mile marker.

We started our run and at about mile 2 the morning constitutional that wouldn’t come out at home decided it was time to say hello. I spotted a Port-a-potty and ran over to it. Upon opening the door I saw that it was recently flipped over. The walls were COVERED I mean wallpapered in poo. That’s not gonna work. But I HAD to go. NOW. So, I meandered back to the woods, dropped trou, and dropped a bomb. I have never crapped in the woods before. It was a learning experience. A mile later Julie and I counted 22 brand new port-a-johns at the local football fields. Figures.

The run itself was primarily uneventful. Jules and I ran the whole thing together and it was awesome. I really have to applaud Eladio (head coach/ owner) and his Runner’s Edge Group. I can’t wait to start training with them- maybe next spring? I really feel like I could benefit from his sessions. I see how it had paid off with Julie’s running, and I want the same.

I had thought to myself I would go 12 miles. Well, the 6 mile turnaround came and went and I just kept truckin. Then the other girls in our pace group turned around at mile 7. I looked down and shrugged. “I will just see how I feel in another mile,” I told Julie. When we got to mile 8 I had made up my mind. “I’m not turning around now- I feel good and I don’t want to run back by myself.” I knew I would pay for it the next day. My longest run EVER was right around 15 miles. That was about a month and a half prior to the Lincoln marathon and before I hurt my hamstring. So, the last time that I ran over 13 miles, was in MARCH. Five months ago.

At the 9 mile mark we turned around. It was getting harder to get going now after each aid station (about every 2 miles), and by mile 12 the sun was turned onto the full shine. At mile 16 I found what I will likely have in my special needs bags- pretzels. They were delicious.

We eventually found our way back to the sanctity that is Gary Gribble’s. Total run time was around 4 hours. I ran at a relaxed pace for me. When I join I will probably run with a faster group, but running with Julie was great, we haven’t done that in a long time. I think having her with me really pushed me to stay in control of my pace- I have a problem of going full blast then having nothing- and we were able to chat most of the way and enjoy ourselves (as best as possible when running 18 and 20 miles).

…We may or may not have divulged in Chipotle Burritos afterwards.
Amazingly, I felt great the next day. The normal soreness after a hard workout, but I wasn't trashed. To me that shows great progress in my base fitness. I am really glad I decided to go the whole 18.



Next weekend I have a 2hr ride 30min run brick, Stephanie’s Bachelorette Party, and Sunday a swim with the Lakewood open water swim group followed by a 4 hr ride. Hey, if I can run for 4 hrs, I think I can ride for 4hrs.

Note to self: Bring Pretzels.



Why Do WE Have to be the Crazy Ones?
So, everyone in Runner’s Edge knows Julie is doing Ironman. Subsequently they knew I was doing IronMan (Eladio said “Hey there Iron..women..” to us when running- pretty cool thing to have people recognize what you’re trying to accomplish). How can people who are training for a marathon be less crazy than we are?

Here we are, Midwestern August sun, and people who just ran 20, 22, 24 miles are coming up to us and saying, “Are you really doing that? That’s crazy!” Um, HEELLLOOO, we just did the same thing you did. We just have to swim and bike too.

My favorite You-girls-are-crazy-who-would-want-to-do-that-moment on Saturday:

Guy from New Zealand: “So do the women just do half of the race?”
Me: “No actually we are doing a half in a couple weeks, but will do the full IM- just like everyone else- in Florida”
Foreign guy: “But the ladies only run a half marathon.”
Me: “NO. Guys, girls, physically challenged athletes, ALL do the whole thing with the same time cut off, 17 hrs.”
Foreign guy and his friend: “You’re crazy.”


PS- Hi Kris (is it Kris or Kristy?), it was nice to meet you Saturday. Had fun running with you!
posted @ 8/27/2007 8:15:32 AM (0) Comments
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Kept in the Dark Part Deux
So, I had tickets to the Chiefs vs. Saints game tonight…

JMoo won tickets- very very very good tickets to the Chiefs game (Row G, 45 yard line). We gave them away. For over a week we’ve been planning on going, but I am getting tired and cranky from my workouts, and this wasn’t going to be fun. It was going to be another thing to cram into my schedule.

Swimming, biking, running, cooking, eating, sleeping, cleaning, swimming, biking, running, cooking, eating, sleeping, oh and working. So.. Swimming, biking, running, cooking, eating, working, sleeping…

This is my life. I usually don’t mind too much. Until something like amazing free tickets to a Chiefs game with a good gal pal, a weekend at the races with Eric, a happy hour after work, or a float trip with all my friends comes up.

This brings me back to the sacrifices I am making; AND the sacrifices I am forcing those who love me to make- Eric and I hardly see each other (he’s actually started running again and I think it’s his ploy to spend time with me. He is so amazing). I talked to my friend Venecia yesterday, and she said she feels like she does not even know me anymore. I know she didn’t mean it to be hurtful, but damn it stung. I decided to just started telling people “Call me in November, we’ll hang out.”

In any case, the lake loves me still.

At least this morning I had a great swim. I met up with some people that, well really, I didn’t know at all (I thought it was going to be some people from my spin class, but it wasn’t). However it was fun nonetheless. Here’s the link: http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=156943 We swam from the main clubhouse in Lakewood out about half a mile and then turned back. IN THE DARK. (Monica, I thought of you and your phobia of not seeing in the water. I actually saw my hand once and freaked out a bit thinking it was someone else’s hand coming up from underwater!!) We were to meet at 5:30. I was certain I was the first one there (I wasn’t but that’s because the others rode their bikes. But I digress.), so I sat around in the parking lot waiting. Then, someone else pulled up and they figured out that there were other people behind the club house. Perfect. We were in the water at 5:42 am. The leader of the group tried to explain to me where we were going. First off, for those of you that don’t know- I’ve got terrible vision- secondly, as bad as my eyesight is, there’s only one thing that makes it worse- lack of daylight. I told the leader don’t worry about it and I will just swim with you. I started off right on his hip then slipped to his feet so I wouldn’t be elbowing him the whole way. The others swam about 30 yards back. While he was a good swimmer, I kept going faster, and tapping his feet. I HATE when people sit on my feet like that so I moved back to his hip. Then we elbowed each other. I scooted off to the side, but when it’s dark and you’re in the water, things are a tad bit difficult. We finally made it to the turnaround dock. I apologized profusely for slamming into someone when there’s only a handful of people in the entire lake. Thank goodness he recently did an IronMan and jokingly said he was used to it. The others climbed out of the water and chatted for a second. I stayed in. I wanted to keep sculling and continue moving. I would really have liked to keep swimming, but I didn’t know where I was and I needed to make it to work (which I was already worried I would be late to). The group chatted for about 5 minutes, then we started off again. This time the sun was starting to warm the sky, and I had a general idea where I was going. I was pretty much on my own, and when we rounded the point back to the beach I took off. I knew I wouldn’t need someone to lead me back to that at least!

After I got out of the water I “showered” off with the garden hose on the club house, thanked the group for letting me join them, and set off to work…
In my tye-dye swim suit and towel.
I was really worried I would be late, since I didn’t leave Lakewood until 6:35am. I dressed myself in the bathroom at work. :)

Tonight I have a 75 minute run planned. I won’t have to rush now that I’m skipping the game (ok, so that is a huge relief), and maybe Eric will be able to run with me. He says he will run with me for 60 minutes tomorrow morning. I’m not sure if he realizes that means we need to start at 5:15am. He’s seen 5:15am quite a few times lately. Because he’s still up from the day before. I would be astonished if he makes it, but I am so proud of him for putting in the effort and trying. I don’t think he truly knows how much it means to me.

Also, Eric was pretty darn sore yesterday from our medium distance run Tuesday night. He’s tough. He’ll get through it.

One more thing:
My dear friend and “postal training partner” Robyn bitch about things to each other constantly. I have decided to devote a section all to her. So, please scroll down to check the new “Robo’s Rants.”

HAPPY TRAINING!


posted @ 8/23/2007 8:55:40 AM (0) Comments
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
I Will Finish IronMan in the Dark
I Will Finish IronMan in the Dark
Last night Eric and I ran together for the first time, ever. First off, let me say how much I wanted to trip him. He hasn’t ran since his junior year of high school (8 or 9 years ago). But, when he was running he was Mr. XC/ Track Star. Ugh. So, though he didn’t even own a pair of running shoes (I had to buy some for him[*]) for over 5 years, he kicked my ass.

We didn’t get started until 8:15- and the light was going fast, so most of our run was in the dark under street lights. There is this section of road near my house where there are no street lamps. It is totally black. The only light is from the moon, which was cloud covered, or from passersby’s cars. Eric was about 15 yards ahead of me in this section, so I could not see him at all (It was completely black out, you couldn’t even see your hand at arms length). I was thinking about all of my training, and what’s still to come. I didn’t have my iPod[†], so the only sounds were my deep breaths, feet on asphalt, and the wind. Deep in thought, it hit me: I will finish IronMan in the dark. The sun will have fully set by 9pm on November 3rd. That’s only 14 hrs into the race. I look to finish somewhere after 15 hours. That means that over one half of my marathon will take place in the dark.

The dark is a place not many people get to. It’s not just the time after the sun goes down- sure, everyone feels the dark by that means. That is not what I’m talking about, though. I am talking about the loneliness, the quietness, the dead tired shuffle of feet to finish 140.6 miles. This is when everything goes black and there is one focus: Make it to the line.

I will go there. I will be in that place. I know it’s coming. I’m not sure if that makes me happy of scares me poopless.

I called to Eric, while in that black stretch, “Hey, wait a sec.” I jogged up next to him. I think he looked at me, but I couldn’t see. “I am going to finish IronMan in the dark.” “You will? At what time?” He hadn’t considered when I would actually finish. “Yeah. It will be dark. I will be out running at this time on race day. I’ll still have a ways to go. It will be at least 10 o’clock. I have to finish before midnight… I will finish in the dark.” The last words trembled. “What’s wrong?” Eric asked. “I have never said that out loud before. I never realized what it will be like.” Silence broken only by our breath filled the air. “Can we just run? Thinking makes my head hurt.” I half sighed, half laughed, “Sure go ahead.” He was off and I continued to finish the last 10 minutes beneath the now sparsely located, flickering, dull street lamps.

[*] I went into Dick’s Sporting Goods, thinking, hey, this is cheap, I know the type of shoe he needs, the size, and the width. That will have to be good enough. WRONG. I walked in and said to the “Dick’s Shoe Expert” I need this shoe (a New Balance 805 I think) in a 10 width D. It is a neutral runner, right?” Him: “Neutral, what do mean?” At that time Shoe Expert No. 2 interjects “She means that there’s color on the outside here” and points to the instep. You’re kidding me. So, I then had to give a clinic on shoes to the people working there. I wasn’t going to say anything, but when the two “Shoe Experts” (hey, that’s what their name tags say) came back and the SE No.1 said “This is a neutral color.” I flipped.
[†] I left my iPod at home, expecting to be able to chit chat with Eric a little bit. I figured he’d need some encouragement, or at least would want to talk. I guess not, huh?

_________________________________________
This Person Is A Moron- She Just Doesn't Get It.
http://www.starling-fitness.com/archives/2006/09/19/you-dont-have-to-kill-yourself-to-win/
9/19/2006
You Don’t Have To Kill Yourself To Win
By Laura Moncur @ 5:00 am — Filed under:
Beware
Sometimes I wonder what is going on in the heads of people who find this kind of stuff inspirational.
This video shows Julie Moss crawling across the finish line to take second place in the Ironman competition. She keeps falling and none of her coaches or anyone else with her has the sense to just tell her that she needs a doctor. No race is worth injury. What is the matter with runners when they find performances like this inspiring?
Guess what, you don’t have to kill yourself to win in the game of life.
So many of us see productions like this from ABC Sports and think that we have to go overboard just to live a healthy life. We don’t need to crawl across the finish line. We need to make the small and healthy decisions every day. Life isn’t a race. It’s a journey. If your body is shutting down from the competition, you shouldn’t keep crawling across the finish line. You get help. Julie Moss shouldn’t be held up as a hero for crawling in second. Kathy McCartney should have been held up as the hero for pacing herself well enough to finish strong.
Via: Via YouTube: Julie Moss Competing in the 1982 Hawaii Ironman Triathlon » Complete Running Network
posted @ 8/22/2007 8:21:13 AM (1) Comments
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Eric is RUNNING with me!!
I am leaving work now to go pick up shoes for eric. He wont go get fit so I have to guess shoes for him. Not fun. OH well. At least he is going to run.

I warned him. I'm running 90 minutes tonight. I dont think that he realizes that it will be somewhere around 9 miles.

He's gonna be hurtin.

:)
posted @ 8/21/2007 2:31:50 PM (1) Comments
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Pluck Yew. History of the Middle Finger

A History Lesson:
Now that I know this, I feel compelled to send it on to my more intelligent friends in the hope that they, too, will feel edified. Isn't history more fun when you know something about it?

Before the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the French, anticipating victory over the English, proposed to cut off the middle finger of all captured English soldiers. Without the middle finger it would be impossible to draw the renowned English longbow and therefore they would be incapable of fighting in the future. This famous English longbow was made of the native English Yew tree, and the act of drawing the longbow known as "plucking the yew" (or "pluck yew").

Much to the bewilderment of the French, the English won a major upset and began mocking the French by waving their middle fingers at the defeated French, saying, "See, we can still pluck yew!" Since 'pluck yew' is rather difficult to say, the difficult consonant cluster at the beginning has gradually changed to a labiodentals fricative F', and thus the words often used in conjunction with the one-finger-salute! It is also because of the pheasant feathers on the arrows used with the longbow that the symbolic gesture is known as "giving the bird."

And yew thought yew knew every plucking thing.
________________________________________________________________________________
Julie was just dying to ruin my fun. http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.asp
edited 8/23
posted @ 8/15/2007 10:15:11 AM (0) Comments
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Countdown...
80 Days
Until IronMan!

WWWHHOOO HHOOOOO!!!! (puke puke puke) WWWHHHHOOO HOOOO!
posted @ 8/15/2007 8:05:22 AM (0) Comments
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The Revolving Door
Let me make this disclaimer: I love my friends. I love that people come over and hang out. I love that my house is always full of laughter and good people.

That said….

I fully believe my house has an effing revolving door. These people this week, those people next week, he’s here tonight, she’ll be here in the morning. In the last 4 months Eric and I have not gone longer than 10 days without having an overnight guest. Also, at least once a week we have people over to hang out.

How we do this I don’t know. Usually, they just have to deal with me training and have to entertain themselves. In other instances, I have to modify my schedule.

This week is one of those instances and it’s driving me batty. But, alas, it’s fun. Tues- Thurs one of my gal pals Stef Tor is in town. It’s great to see her again. Then Thursday we get two guys. They’re Eric’s motocross buddies and I will tell you who they are after they have left because, well, I doubt they (especially one of them) would want their whereabouts known. Here’s a few hints though :) ..(hey, I can’t name drop so we’ll do it this way) … they are cousins; X-Games Gold; mx; rally.

So, they will be a hoot. We had one of them here for River Fest staying with us, along with George Daniels (wake skater). I think I am going to do like Pink’s in LA does: Have a headshot taken of each person, so they can sign it and we can have a “wall of fame.”

The furniture always seems to be decorated with “Who’s Who” of wakeboarding, snowboarding, motocross, and the like. There’s never a dull moment.

However, I encourage the spinn-yness of the door. I invited some girls to stay Saturday night (and we had a hoot). Jimmy, Tits McGee, Alygator, JMoore, JDub, and Tattoo Ashley are frequent guests (although at some point I stop calling them guests and it’s more like space heaters because they are permanent fixtures in the house). We have our own version of Cheers- only it’s in my living room, not a bar (like there’s a difference).

Anyhow, come one, come all, we have plenty of room. Even if you’re stacked on top of one another or sleeping with bunny in his cage. I am so glad that my friends find our house the best hang out spot and I love all the memories and good times we share there.

Anyone know where I can get a new door bell? Ya know, one that plays “You spin me right round baby right round, like a record baby, right round, round round…”
posted @ 8/15/2007 8:02:53 AM (0) Comments
Monday, August 13, 2007
2nd Annual KC Women's Tri Recap
KC Women’s Tri Recap
8/11/2007
587 yard swim/ 10mile bike/ 5k run

I will post pictures and send to sponsors etc as soon as I can.

Saturday morning J-Moo, Alygator, and myself hoped in the mustang and cruised up to Smithville for the 2nd Annual KC Women’s tri. Here’s how it went down:

Warm-Up

Julie and I rode out to the 3 mile marker. I hopped off the bike and scribbled with chalk WWW.DEFINEDFITNESSTRAINING.COM and GO DFT! on the other side. I know Jules and I were the only two there, but at least the other 350 women would see the name again. Meanwhile, I gave Jennifer and Alyson about 150 DFT flyers and cards, and about 50 TriSports.com flyers plus my cards to hand out. By the time the race would be done, they would hand out ALL of them. They both rocked DFT shirts w/ TriSports.com stickers on the front. What a great support crew!

Swim 8:58 (6th oa)
The even starts in a time trial fashion, one person going every 3 seconds. I started 19th, and passed all but 4 girls that were in front of me. I felt like I kept drifting off away from the bouys and I was surprised with all the wind chop. Same as last year, the water was very very shallow. This time I ran (with high knees and side kicks) for about 20 feet then dove in. There was the MU chick there that Nancy said would out swim me, and I’d be damned if I’d let some girl from MU beat me. :) I swam in probably farther than anyone because I was passing people that were trying to walk in while I was still swimming.

T1 1:11
I had a fast TA. All I had to do was put on my helmet. I was OFF!

Bike 30:50 (15th oa)
I have learned how to band my shoes onto my bike, then run and jump on. Well, I have to admit I haven’t practiced this lately and it really showed. About 4 feet from the mount line I ran, jumped, and … missed my cleat. I put my heel firmly on the toe of my shoe, not on the top, so I waded it bad. Yes, I fell. My first thought was, MY BIKE!! So I got scraped up- my knee, hands, hips. Bruises on both knees and my right bicep. Classic.
I was so irate with this little incident that I rode like a banshee. I have never pushed that hard before. After the turn around when you have to go up one of the few hills and I felt my self slowing I stood up to hammer, when I did I just yelled AAAAHHHH it felt so good to just let everything out. The couple girls that were headed in the opposite way were like WHOA. Then, there was the Official-tried-to-kill-me incident. At this point I have passed enough people back that there was only 2 gals in front of me again. The official that shall remain unnamed (but is one of my good gal pals and a local tri legend in her own right) had gone to the other side of the road with her back to me. She picked up a water bottle and walked to the side of the road that I was approaching at oh, let’s say 24mph! She started pouring it out with her back still to me, at which point I yelled her name about 4 times. She turned to see me just as I squeaked past her on the white line of the side of the road. There’s no shoulder so it was going to be me in a ditch or me and GoldMember on her. Thankfully I stayed on the road and kept cruising.
As I was approaching the T2 there were all kinds of people crowding the road and people were screaming at me “They’re right there, they’re right there! GO GO!!” I flawlessy got off my bike (to make up for the getting on) and ran like hell to my rack.

T2 00:35
I was looking at the bikes still on the rack I saw about 5 but the first four I went by were on the last rack- this meant they had to slowest seed time. I looked towards the water and there were still people getting out of the lake! I heard the announcer call out my name and something about “40 min 4 seconds” I was like, dang, this could be a fast race. The only other bike in the ta was on my rack. I had passed the other girl when we were turning back to the lake and I hadn’t even thought of it. I pulled on my shoes, and grabbed my DFT tank, race belt and visor. I had one of the fastest transitions I have ever had. As I was running out I heard I think Sarah Jones yelling “she’s 56 seconds up!” or something to that effect.

Run 32:54
Well, this is where the race kind of falls apart (like usual). My run wasn’t that terrible, I just couldn’t get my legs to go. I have been running long only, so it takes me quite a while to get warmed up to run. Unfortunately here, I only had a 5k to go, so building the run wasn’t an option. I started to hear people ticking past me. I could hear their footsteps, then their breath, then they were gone. WHY! WHY!? WHY CAN’T I RUN!? I was making it hurt. Usually in a race, I back off to where I’m comfortable and then just a little past that. This was full on heart beat in my ears, lungs throbbing go go go. After the turn around I saw a pack of about 5 girls coming at me. I felt them get on me so I started to surge. One gals stayed with me. She was about 6 foot tall, incredibly slender and basically looked like Marla Runyan. Just what I needed. We passed the 2.5 mile marker and I thought to myself This chick can’t do this. I won’t let her go with out a fight. I turned it up we ran side by side for a half mile, elbow smacking. I kept my breath controlled while hers was rapid. I was trying to make it sound like I wasn’t suffering, but I was. Bad. She surged. I countered. She surged again, and I was done. I kept what I could of that pace and took it on into the finish.

Overall time 1:14.28 I had a goal to go under 1:15, so this was great. I secretly was hoping to go under 1:10, but I just didn’t have a 27 min run in me. :( Maybe next time. On the whole, I am please with my race.

Results: 3rd age group, 23rd overall

I will post pictures as soon as I have them!

Coming up: HalfMax/ USAT Club Nationals September 15, 2007
IronMan Florida November 3, 2007
posted @ 8/13/2007 11:26:18 AM (2) Comments
Friday, August 10, 2007
Sad day to be a cyclist
Thank goodness I have two more sports!!

I heard this would happen a couple months ago, but was still surprised.
Team Discovery Channel Splits. Team disbands.
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/Discovery_to_disband_P1435066/
posted @ 8/10/2007 11:21:32 AM (0) Comments
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Packet Pick Up, Sponsor/Team Promotion
I'm heading up to the Trek Store to pick up my packet for Saturday's race, hand out flyers for DFT, sell some DFT T-Shirts, and to hand out some coupons for TriSports (most of that will be done on saturday though. I don't want to be promoting one place while at another, that's just rude).
Anyway, I'm excited for the race. Can you tell?

Then it's up to the hospital to see Tom, the grocery store, run for 45 minutes, and hit the tanning place. I haven't tanned in a while because of how i've been doing the burn-white-burn thing. Anyway, they are also a sponsor of mine and are TERRIFIC.
If you're in Eastern Jackson Co, check out Tropical Xtreme Tanz in Blue Springs, MO. They're the best!

posted @ 8/9/2007 2:22:17 PM (0) Comments
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Quintuple Bypass Surgery??
I haven't said much because I have been a little freaked out and didn't want to talk too much about it. Eric's dad had a massive heart attack Thrusday morning. He was lifeflighted from Clinton to St. Luke's in KC. He's been feeling good all week, especially with the blood thinners, etc.
The surgery was scheduled for this morning. Originally they ("they" meaning dr.'s etc) thought it would be a triple bypass. Then it became a quadruple. While they were in there rootin' around, they saw that it would acutally require a ..well I guess it's a QUINTUPLE bypass.. (that means FIVE)!!
Anyway, good news is he is out of surgery! Things seems to be going okay so far, so that is great news.
posted @ 8/8/2007 12:36:15 PM (0) Comments
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Upcoming KC Women's Tri
This Saturday is the KC Women's Tri and I am so looking forward to it. I only have three races left for the season, this race, HalfMax, and IronMan Florida. Seems crazy!!
I am really looking forward to this race- it's such a blast! And the good news is, they had to close registration early because ALL the entry spots (350) filled- i think there were about 220 last year! This doesn't seem like that many, however, I went through the entry list and as of August 2, 2007 61% off the entries are FIRST TIME TRIATHLETES!! Usually in my age group we'll see 4-8 women. In this race there are at least TWENTY TWO! How awesome is that??
In honor of the race I am posting last year's recap. After this weekend's is posting we can do a little compare and contrast!

Rose Brooks Women’s Triathlon- Courtney
08/12/2006

Warm-Up
Best warm-up I’ve done. I took my bike out instead of just running. I got to see a lot more of the course, and I was able to really get my heart rate up with out over doing it.

Swimming- 587 meters 9:05
This race started oddly. We lined up one by one, all 260- some women and did a run-in time trial start. The time I had entered with seeded me to start in 16th. It was a run in start at Sailboat Cove at Smithville Lake. The lake was down so low, that it was too shallow to swim for the first 40 yards. And that’s not an exaggeration. The course was a big rectangle, which I liked. I swam as far as possible coming back in. I had to take really wide arm strokes to no my sticking my hand down in the mud. Then I stood up and attempted to run to shore. Bad idea. I should have gone slower, because running in knee deep water with a mud bottom for close to 30 yards shot my heart rate to 192. So, my highest HR reading was coming out of the water into T1! I came out of the water in 9th.

T1 1:49
I could feel my hear beat in my temples. It’s quite a long run from the chip pad to my bike, and once I got there, I was going so slow. I could see the girl that came out of the water behind me grabbing her bike, and I was going just as fast as I could. Looking back, even though the time felt super slow, it really wasn’t too bad.

Bike- 10 miles 32:11
Well, thanks to my high heart rate into the transition, I puked at mile one. I just ducked under my right arm, but I still got some on my shoe. Of course, it was right where spectators were sitting and cops were stopping traffic. I didn’t care though. There I could see the girl who passed me in T1, and the girl that had come out of the water before me about 250 yards up. The woman that beat me out of T1 set the fastest bike split and was untouchable. I passed the other girl. The bike course was an out and back on some nice rolling hills that never required you to get out of the saddle. Just before the turn around the Leader’s Car passed me and I watched the “Fast Girls” go by one by one. I had been counting them to see how far back I was. Then I realized, I was only eight women back from first place! The turn around really messed me up. I am incapable of tight turns. I rode off the road in the U-turn turnaround. Luckily, it didn’t cost me too much time. On the way back I could see a steady stream of women headed the other way for the last 5 miles. I began to see that the way I was looking at the leaders when they passed me in the opposite direction was the way these girls were looking at me. I had never experienced that feeling in a tri before. It was really great to hear all the cheering amongst the ladies. Everyone was encouraging each other.

T2 1:17
As I was heading to exit the transition area, a volunteer grabbed me and told me to re-rack my bike. I assumed it had fallen over or something to that extent... Nnnoooo… the front wheel was turned to the side. Ugh. As I was re-racking, three ladies came into T2. I had lost close to 20 or 25 seconds because of that.

Run- 5k 35:18
I had grabbed my belt and hat and started to put it on as I ran. The announcer called my name and I just kept going as best I could. I could hear footsteps coming up quickly. Everybody and their mom passed me from there. I really need to work on speed now. I can run distances, but I cannot go fast.

Over-All 1h 19m 28s
I didn’t do as well as I wanted to (thanks to my lack of running speed), but overall I was happy. My overall rank was 84th out of 265, and I was 5th out of 11 in my age group.
I would like to say that I was VERY impressed with how well this event was run. It was well organized, lots of volunteers, and the bike and run courses were well marked and had mile markers placed in accurate spots. I plan on doing more Blue Hills Adventures events in the future.
__________________________________________________
Also, last night I repeated the Good Pucking Sleeper thing. Eric made Ashley come check on me because I was so asleep that I would answer the phone. I didnt even hear her almost break the door down. When she got into the house she thought I was dead because I was so alseep. Man, I love sleep.... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
posted @ 8/7/2007 11:14:16 AM (0) Comments
Friday, August 03, 2007
IT'S MY BIRFDAY!!
IT'S MY BIRTHDAY. COME BUY ME A DRINK! :)
posted @ 8/3/2007 1:48:56 PM (0) Comments
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
A pucking good sleeper
“You’re phucking[*] crazy,” he tells me, “Just get back in bed. I hate that you get up like this everyday. You’re wearing yourself down. Do you actually enjoy this?” It is 4:35am, I have had about 3.5hrs of collective sleep, and yep, I’m getting out of bed to go workout. But this isn’t just going to workout. I get to coach. Coaching is the plus in my morning. Eric asks if he can just give me $20 to sleep in. My conventional answer is “Hey, they pay me” when he asks why I’m going. But, it’s way more than that. Coaching at times may be quite frustrating, but by gawd, I enjoy it. I definitely appreciate my coaching “job” because when I leave there I go to my “real job” and everyone knows how I feel about that.

This morning, however, was harder than most. Last night when I got home I walked into Fallajuh, I mean, my living room. There sat stacks, and I do mean stacks, of laundry, a couple dishes, and more laundry. The kitchen looked quite similar. I won’t even discuss the guest bedroom (aka my walk-in closet with a bed). Before the weekend Eric and I had a conversation, if you will, about my lack of participation in the housely duties of late. I am not pulling my weight around the house. I have definitely made IronMan training, etc, a bigger priority than house chores. I’m okay with that, I only have 13 weeks until I can come home and mop the floor everyday. Sadly, the boyfriend isn’t so okay with it. He works about 65 hours a week (one of the pitfalls of running a business) and wants to get to do his “play” time as well. Apparently, we (I) need a wife.

I need a wife to cook nutritionally correct yet delicious meals fresh for me after every workout, a wife to clean (this includes laundry, the hard scrubbing, the dusting, the wiping, the vacuuming, the dog bathing, the boyfriend back hair plucking, the.. well, you get the point). I still need a wife to take care of the boyfriend. One to dote on him, to play with him, to spend every waking second with him… multiply that by 4 (one for each dog, one for the bunny, one for the boyfriend) and we have a winner. Anyone have a wife for sale? Do you think Cost Co. has a special on bulk purchases of wives?

Since I don’t have a wife, after I got home from work I just left all the crap lie where it wanted to lie. Afterall, I had a 2 hour ride to accomplish. I really wanted to stay indoors so I put the bike on the trainer and pedaled away. Sadly, the dvd “What it Takes” is only about an hr and thirty minutes long. This left me pedaling away in the quiet. Man did I want off that bike! When time was up (FINALLY! What was I thinking? Time goes so slowly on the trainer), I bailed off and met JMoo for dinner[†]. By the time I made it home it was nearly 10pm. I still had things to gather for this morning’s swim and work, so I finished making yet another pile in the living room and hit the sack at 11:15pm. WAY after my bedtime. I was out immediately.

I vaguely remember waking up to talk to Eric on the phone, as he was headed back from a late dinner meeting and would arrive around midnight. The next thing I knew I heard him screaming COURT COURT COURT!!! And heard the house alarm going off. Right then the bedroom door slammed open and the light came on. “COURTNEY! DAMMIT! Court!!” I sat up. “What, what’s going on what’s happening?”

Apparently, in my comatose state, Eric came home to find the house locked like Fort Knox. Which is normal, so he will just call and I will get up and open up the house and turn off the alarm. We don’t have keys to open some of the house from the outside (yet, that’s on the list to take care of this week now), so a simple phone call will let in the person locked out. :) However, I was KO’ed like a I was in a UFC match. He called. He called again. He called about 15 times. I never heard the phone ring.

So, what would any guy in his position do? He freaked the eff out. He hit the storm door so hard the knob fell off. He went around to the side of the house our bedroom is on- he banged on the wall of the house. He yelled. …now I’m sure you’re wondering “where are those big scary dogs you have?” They were sleeping. Sawing zzzz’s. I never heard them. My guess is, they heard Eric’s truck and recognized his voice so neither ever thought anything of it. Great. I should let the attack bunny run loose in the house at night. He’s like a little ninja ready to strike. … Well, Eric was able to unlock the garage door, but that doesn’t get you very far. The door that leads from the laundry room to the garage can only be locked and unlocked form the inside- it has a swing open lock on it (think: hotel room lock). In his frustration, he kicked the door in. …..
….
…
He kicked the effing door in. He thought I was dead or dying.
…
….
I was NOT dead nor dying. I was sleeping, quite well, at that. Once the door in the laundry is opened the house alarm goes off. So, right below me Eric had just kicked in a door, and ran stairs with the alarm blaring. I was oblivious.

This brings us to the “What, huh? What’s going on stage?” I think he was mad I wasn’t dead nor dying. He looked pissssed. He started ranting on how terrible that is I couldn’t hear and that I need to be more aware of my surroundings… Um, Hi. My name’s Courtney. We’ve been together nearly seven years now. I’m sure you would have realized this already, but I guess not. I AM NOT a light sleeper. What the hell am I supposed to do about it? Train my self to sleep differently? I am training enough as it is!!

After that I heard again about my slacking abilities when in comes to the house… and all the reasons why I need a wife, yet he doesn’t seem to pick up on the idea to get me one. Attn. Boyfriend: My Birthday is Friday. Buy me a wife (or better yet make me one).

So, about 3 hours later, I wake up to my alarm clock. It’s a miracle I know it’s going off. “You’re phucking crazy,” he tells me. Maybe I am.

But at least I could sleep through a wedding with the Marching Cobras, drums, tubas, and fat chicks in dancewear…. :)
[*] Okay, so it wouldn’t be spelled “phucking” but hey, I try to be at least slightly less offensive.
[†] I ordered a Caesar salad and the waitress asked “What kind of dressing?” Are you serious!!?
posted @ 8/1/2007 9:39:34 AM (0) Comments