Training. More training. Even more training.

I am living in my workout clothes. I've forgotten that I own anything besides work clothes and workout clothes. My laundry basket is full of ONLY gross, nasty, dirty workout clothes. My wonderful sister-in-law, Allie, who is out visiting us for the week, just offered to do some laundry for us tomorrow when she does a load of her own clothes. I told her no, I'm too squeamish at the idea of anyone else touching the disgusting workout clothes spilling out of our hamper.

During these past few weeks, I've started to feel like Ironman training is taking over my life. I don't remember feeling like this during past Ironmans (or maybe I've just forgotten this is how it feels). I literally eat (and eat and eat), sleep (not enough, never enough), swim (I smell like chlorine 50% of the time now), bike (my rear end hurts at the thought of my bike commute tomorrow) and run (no complaints there, strangely enough), and go to work.

And you know what... I love it. I love getting into the office at 9am, knowing that I already worked out for more than two hours. I love getting home at 8pm, because I stopped off at the pool on my way home for an after-work swim. I love being so tired at 9:30 at night that I'm already almost asleep. I love having a goal and doing what it takes to work towards it. Yes, there is always something more I wish I could be doing training-wise. Alot of the time, I feel like there aren't enough hours in the day, or I'm not focused enough, etc etc. It's something I'm working on - I need to become better at time-management, because it will make the whole work-life-training balance a little easier to achieve.

Now I'm off to put on the one set of non-workout/work clothes for the day (pajamas!) and try to get some much needed sleep.

Bike Commute Bonk and Other Adventures

I've been fed up for awhile with the inefficiencies (and high cost) of Metro, so a few weeks ago I started biking to work. My commute now takes less time AND I'm in a much better mood when I arrive at my destination. The commute is about 22 miles round-trip... and this means I'm burning about 800 additional calories a day... which means I need to eat more. I figured this out firsthand when I didn't eat an afternoon snack on Friday and on my commute home, I could feel myself starting to bonk. All I could think about was food and I was rapidly slowing down - soon I found myself being passed by kids, elderly ladies, guys riding stunt bikes 5 sizes too small for them.

Saturday I did one of my favorite bike rides with some good friends - Skymass. The first thirty miles are up, up, up Skyline drive. This is followed by a fun descent into Luray in the valley, which is quickly followed by a steep, terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad climb. But you feel really good when you get to the top. Unless you're like me and fall off your bike when you reach the top... because you didn't unclip fast enough. The rest of the ride is downhill, rollers, and a fast ride back home. We biked in a pace line, which I've never done before. I'm still skittish about riding so close to someone's wheel, but I think I'll get more comfortable the more rides I do like this. Plus, it makes you go FAST - I did this ride 30 minutes faster than the last time I did it. 80 (hilly) miles in 4:56. It also always seems to rain at the end of the ride. We got caught in a downpour about 10 miles from our cars. Oh well, cooled us off. There was thunder and lightening too, so I decided to drive back home and do the remaining 32 miles of my ride in Arlington - good choice because the storms never followed me home.

Today was a long run AND my first ice bath of the season. My legs are still sore from the weekend, but I think they'd feel worse if I didn't do the ice bath. Mark arrived home on Friday night and it has been great to have him home. Not only do I have someone besides the dog to talk to, he makes a mean burger and a mean enchilada - I have missed him (and his cooking :) )

The weather finally cooled off tonight, so I baked up a storm. I've been going through baking withdrawal since our AC broke and it's been so hot - the last thing you want to do is run the oven. I made my mom's strawberry bread recipe (but in muffin form). These muffins have ALWAYS reminded me of summer. We (my mom, really) used to make them in the summers after we went strawberry picking. Strawberry season in NH is in June, so we'd always have these muffins around the end of school and when we'd go up to the lakehouse. Lots of good memories associated with my mom's strawberry muffins.

Next week looks like it will be a good week - lots of good training, my sister-in-law Allie is coming to visit, and we're planning on going to a winery and doing some stand-up paddleboarding next weekend!

Rev3 Quassy Half Ironman - Race Report

I like hills. In fact, you could even say I love hills. But after Sunday's race, I also believe that hell is paved with hills (you would believe this too if your last mile in a 70.3 race was uphill...). I had so much fun at Wildflower that I didn't want to wait until August to do another half ironman. That 5:40 barrier has been staring at me in the face for the past few years and I wanted another shot at breaking it and I was too impatient to wait another three months. So, I signed up for Rev3 Quassy at the last minute. I read the course description, and there were words like "challenging," "rolling," and "hills," but I still found myself surprised at just how hilly the whole course was when I drove it the night before the race. Visions of big PRs weren't dancing in my head any longer. But no matter, I was there to race hard and test out my nutrition in preparation for Ironman Lake Placid.

In the days leading up to the race, I wasn't as focused and plugged in as I wanted to be. Mark was still out on travel and it had been a somewhat craptastic week (see previous post about Broken AC and Heat Wave). The cherry on top came on the day before the race when, upon my arrival in Connecticut, I found a text from my friend/co-worker who was watching Miles our dog. Apparently Miles had been sick all night, was hacking up a storm, and my poor friend took him to a vet (which was quite an adventure in itself, seeing as she had to take him by taxi since she doesn't have a car - apparently cabbies aren't big fans of sick dogs) and was told by her landlord the dog would have to go. I was almost ready to turn around and head back to DC to get Miles and bag the race - but my wonderful aunt Amy saved the day and took Miles for the rest of the weekend (thank you Amy, you are the best aunt EVER!!). Once this situation was sorted out, I picked up my packet, did my pre-race brick, and drove the bike and run courses. I'm so glad I drove them because it gave me the opportunity to mentally note the hills, condition of the pavement, turns, etc. There would be no surprises on race day. Finally got to the hotel after a fruitless hunt around town for a decent italian restaurant (found none, ended up eating a bagel and bakery breadsticks with hummus from Stop and Shop) and watched tv before falling asleep.

Race morning came and I woke up feeling... kind of like crap. Like I was coming down with a cold. There was lots of nose stuff going down the back of my throat and I kept hacking it up (Miles and I were kindred spirits, channeling each other). I'd had a similar experience with nose crap at Kinetic 2010 and that did not end well at all - but today was a different day and a different race and I was determined to have a different (read: better) outcome. I ate a bagel and drank water, got my stuff together and actually left my hotel EARLIER than I had planned - I had heard the race site parking was really small and I was picturing hoards of Type A triathletes clamoring at the parking gates at 3:30am to ensure they got a spot. Imagine my surprise when I rolled up to the race site, 15 minutes before the 5:15am transition opening, to find that the lot was practically empty. I snagged a spot right next to transition, which was good because I ended up going back and forth between my car and transition about 10 times because I kept forgetting important things like my nutrition and such. I parked myself next to the pro area in transition to put on my sunblock and wetsuit and simultaneously gawk at the pros (multi-tasking). Then headed down to the water in my sleeveless wetsuit (if it wasn't super cold the weekend before in Lake Placid's Mirror Lake, I was pretty sure Lake Quasa-whatever in Connecticut would be too warm for a full-sleeve).

The Swim:

I got down to the lake too late for a practice swim, so I contented myself with dipping my toes in the water and congratulating myself for going with a sleeveless. I started towards the front on the right side. It was a triangular swim and for part of it we'd be swimming towards the sun. My biggest concern was whether or not my fancy goggles would decide to leak, which they have a tendency to do. My wave started and I found some clear water and fast feet pretty quickly. I stayed right in line on the way out, got a little off-the-beaten path when we turned towards the sun, and then stayed on a good line on the way back in. I sighted every 5 strokes or so and focused on shoulder rotation and pulling hard. I couldn't really tell how many girls from my wave were in front of me, and it didn't really matter, I just needed to swim hard. Looking back, I think I could've pushed harder and focused a bit more, but I have come a long way from when I first started doing triathlons and just focused on surviving the swim. I felt like I was out there for awhile, so I was pleased to see my time when I got out of the water.

35:30 (1:50/100m), 13/54 in AG, 57/228 women. Next time I want to break 35.

T1:

I got stuck in my wetsuit again. To add insult to injury, it was caught on film by one of the Rev3 camera guys swooping around transition. He was asking me things like "how are you feeling" and "what do you think about the race" to which I grunted in return and asked if he'd like to be my stripper (wetsuit stripper - get your mind out of the gutter!)

2:22 - better than Wildflower, but pretty much anything is better than my Wildflower transition times.

The Bike:

I was excited about the bike course. I was also wondering if it would seem as hilly on my bike as it did when I rode it in my car the day before. The answer - yes, it felt hilly, but not as bad as I thought it would be. The three mile uphill from 25-28 wasn't all that terrible. I started off aggressively and figured I'd do what I could to hold that pace through the race. Though, I had no idea what my pace or HR were because I don't have my Garmin programmed to show me that stuff - it's all about keeping my head out of the game; it gets in the way when it overanalyzes data. I took in a gel every 20 minutes and I only had one bite of PowerBar - this is the first time I've done a 70.3 with basically just gels and it worked really well. I tried to drink water every 10 minutes (I remembered most of the time) and I had a Nuun tablet in some of my water, so I alternated that with regular water. The weather was absolutely perfect and I felt really good during all but the last 5 miles (those were slow, uphill, and never-ending). I played cat-and-mouse with two women on the bike (both not in my AG) and was only passed by one girl in my AG - she passed me like I was standing still and I think she won our AG, so I don't feel all that terrible about not being able to stick with her). The bike course was super pretty, well-marked and the volunteers were great. The roads were in decent shape too in most spots. I did a better job at staying focused for the whole bike at Quassy than I did at Wildflower, so I'm pleased with that. I focused on pedal turnover, my goals, why I was there, and catching any biker that looked like a girl. Unfortunately, I didn't get the sub-3 that I wanted, but I blame that on the hills.

3:01:16 (18.54mph), 4/54 AG, 21/228 women.

T2:

2:06. I made it a point to grab my visor and race number belt and put them on while I was running, rather than standing around like a fool putting them on and wasting time.

The Run:

I did my best not to think about the run while I was on the bike. I also tried not to focus on the fact that I had a lot of nose crap dripping down the back of my throat, and was it a bad sign that I was already coughing and spitting on the bike - usually I save that for the run. The first three miles of the run are basically downhill. I ran out of transition and felt... pretty good. I settled into a pace relatively quickly and actually managed to catch two girls before the first mile marker. I expected them to stay with me, but they did not, and I kept plugging along. At mile 2, my Garmin informed me that, unfortunately, my lap database was full and it would now spend the next 11.1 miles beeping and buzzing angrily at me. It was amusing to watch the people in front of me check their watches in confusion when they heard me and my Garmin approaching. I tuned it out and it really wasn't a big deal - I just would have no idea what my mile splits were. Miles 4-8 were mainly uphill. Long, steady uphills. A few flats and a couple small downhills to make it interesting. There was a short out-and-back which gave me a chance to see where I was relative to the other girls. I passed both girls I had played cat-and-mouse with on the bike. The two worst miles in this race were miles 7-8 and then the last mile. All uphill. I drank a little water every other aid station. I started eating a little bit of a gel around mile 6. And every mile I would hack up a bunch of stuff, and while that's disgusting and I apologized to everyone around me, it made me feel alot better, and my pace would pick up until I'd have to do it again. I was surprised at how good I felt during the run. Both mentally and physically. Yes, it was uncomfortable, and towards the end I was suffering, but I enjoyed it. I never had the desire to walk or stop. I was in it - this was how I'm supposed to feel during a race. I was 100% plugged in - I focused only on the positives, not the negatives, and I just kept moving forward. The last two miles were a struggle. My legs were tired and I was ready to be done. That last mile, because of the hill, was the hardest of the day. I could see on my Garmin that, if I pushed it hard on that last half mile, I was going to break 5:30 (!!!!!). So, I ran like heck, told my legs to shut up and work, and I crossed the finish line in 5:28:54, a 15 minute PR! Just like when I qualified for Boston, I went from never being able to break that 40 barrier and then breaking that one plus the 30 barrier.

1:47:39 (8:13 pace), 4/54 AG, 18/228 women. This was one of my fastest runs in a 70.3 race - I think Mooseman 2009 was the only one that was even close.

Thoughts:

I'm really glad I did this race, even though it was a long drive up and back and the drama with the dog. I'm thrilled to have finally broken 5:40, and to have managed to pull it off on such a hilly course. It makes me want to do a flatter course, just to see if I could go faster and by how much. I REALLY want a sub-3 bike. I've never gone that fast before, but I know I have it in me, I just need to figure out a way to coax it out. I'm happy I stayed positive and mentally plugged in during the race - with my gagging and spitting, it could've become a repeat of Kinetic 2010, but I'm pleased with myself that I didn't let it. Besides Savageman, this 4th place is the best I've ever placed in my AG in a half ironman, and it was a relatively large race (larger than Savageman, anyway). Nobody in my AG was in the top 3, so I didn't get bumped up to third - too bad, as there were some good prizes that were being given away. Motivation for next time, I suppose :) I would totally do this race again and I'd recommend it to anyone - it's a super well-run race. Now it's time to focus on Ironman Lake Placid... though I might try to slip in one more Oly race if possible... This season has been so much fun with lots of races!

Placid, Broken AC, Heat Wave

All I've been doing these past few days is think about cold water. Cold air. Cold anything. Having a broken AC during the middle of a 100 degree heat wave will do that to you. I spent all Memorial Day weekend up in Lake Placid, seeing the town, biking the course, running the course, and swimming in Mirror Lake. Apparently Lake Placid is the place to be Memorial Day weekend if you are a triathlete - I was rarely alone on the bike course Saturday and I saw scores of people on the run course Sunday. Spandex, compression socks, and wetsuits were a pretty common sight - it almost felt like a race weekend. So, the course - LOVED IT. The bike course (even with the bad pavement in spots) was amazing. Amazing. The perfect amount of hills, downhills, and flats. This is the first time I've pre-ridden a course before an Ironman and it has given me a boost of confidence. The 5 mile descent isn't nearly as scary as I pictured in my mind, and none of the ascents are too heartbreaking. And it was beautiful - rivers and fields. The group of us rode the course on Saturday and unfortunately got caught in a massive thunderstorm at the very end of the second loop. I'm not going to be surprised if it storms like that on race day. Sunday we ran the course - again, hills, downhills and flats. I can't wait to see what it's going to look like on race day with all of the spectators. And Mirror Lake is gorgeous - the water temperature was perfect for our swim on Sunday afternoon. I wore my full-sleeve wetsuit, but probably could've gotten away with my sleeveless. The whole weekend was a blast, made even better by the fact that there was a great group of us sharing a house together and training together. We were walking distance from a bike shop, ice cream shop, the lake, and the main street.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end - and I traded the clear, cool Adirondack mountain air for a heat wave, broken AC and an 89 degree house when I returned to Virginia. The only upside - Bissell has been too hot and lazy to even be bothered to jump up on the counter. Just when I was reaching my breaking point last night, rain and a cool front moved through and I can happily report that my house is a very comfortable 81 degrees at the moment.

I have lots of pictures I've been meaning to upload, from Tucson to Lake Placid... if I could get them off my camera.

Oh, and a quick random/amusing story. As a married girl about to hit 30, I've been getting some questions on when we're going to have kids (short answer: not anytime soon). The most recent came from the AC repairman. As he's dismantling our AC to figure out the issue (massive leaks, need to get the whole thing replaced), he was making small talk - he asked if I was married (yes) and if I had kids (no) and how long I've been married. When I told him 5 years, a look of shock passed over his face. I thought he was going to say, "oh, well you look far too young to have been married for 5 years already." And I was totally going to take that compliment. But instead he says, incredulously, shaking his head, "5 years and no kids?! That is bad, very bad." and goes back to work.

Everyone has their own opinion, I suppose!

Will Race for Wine - Kinetic Sprint race report

I came. I raced. And I drank. VICTORY WINE. After the race, of course. Last weekend was a racing weekend - Mark did the 1/2 ironman (his first!) on Saturday and I did the Sprint on Sunday. The half course has broken me every time I've done it, so I smartened up this year and opted for the sprint. Truthfully, I wasn't in a racing mood that morning. All week I kept forgetting I was racing - I went to bed too late, overslept here and there, and I wasn't the most careful about my diet. I was on my feet all day Saturday cheering Mark on and when Sunday rolled around, the last thing I really wanted to do was get up at 5am to drive to Lake Anna and race. But I sucked it up, and showed up. I saw the awards they were giving out at the Half on Saturday - cute tote bags and bottles of wine. Who wouldn't want a cute tote bag and wine?? I decided to make it my mission to win some victory wine at the sprint.

I showed up to the race site late (eh, what else is new - at least I got there before the gun went off). Forgot my bike pump, couldn't find one in transition, and initially opted for a full-sleeve wetsuit when it was clearly too warm for it. The morning was off to a stellar start. I eventually got myself and my stuff together, decided my tires were fine as they were (like I had a choice) and swapped out wetsuits for a sleeveless.

The swim (750m):

Jen - you would've been proud. I lined up at the front, pretending to be a fast swimmer (ha!). I was hoping my mad dashing skills from the beach into the water at the start would be enough to catapult me to to the lead pack, but alas, within 10 seconds of starting to swim, I was run over by 1/2 of the 30-39s in my wave. It still forced me to swim hard, and judging by the violence of this particular swim, I managed to stick with the pack because I never had clear water. I managed to meet my goal (under 14) and I also stayed focused the whole time (granted, it was a short swim, so that's not all that impressive).

13:22

T1:

You'd think I'd be better at this. 2:25.

The Bike (18 miles):

SO much fun! The sprint course was actually the last bit of the old Half course, done backwards - it was great, I knew where the hills and the turns were and what to expect. And it wasn't a technical course, so you could really just get into your aerobars and be aggressive. I raced on feel - no idea what my heartrate was or my average speed during the race. Hmm, not much else to say about the bike, except it was over really quickly!

49:23 (first in my AG?!??!!)

T2:

Nope, still total crap. And this time I don't even have the "I got stuck in my wetsuit" excuse. 1:33.

The Run (3.1 miles -of hell-):

The first mile was uphill. Bleck. I knew it was coming because I saw the people doing the 1/2 run up that same hill THREE times during their run the day before. I can't tell you how many times I mentally patted myself on the back for choosing the sprint, and thus choosing to run up that hill only once. Mile 2 wasn't pretty either, but at least it was flatter/even a little downhill. Ha, even one of my fellow Z'rs said to me after the race "well, you looked like crap at the turnaround, but by the time you passed me a little while later, you looked better." I knew there was some fast girls behind me and if I wanted that wine and tote bag, I was going to need to move - FAST! Mile 3 was downhill - but waaaay longer than I remember that section of the course being. I just kept telling myself to suck it up and reminded myself that I may be hurting now, but it's better than being irritated with myself after the race, knowing that I slowed down and didn't try my best. You know that old saying, "Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever" (that was totally printed on my XC team shirt sophomore year of high school). I crossed the finish line, having not been passed by any girls (and very few guys) on either the bike or the run. That in itself, even if I didn't win anything, was something I was pleased with. And that my mile splits for the run got faster with each mile (I guess it didn't hurt that the last mile was downhill).

21:57.

Final time: 1:28:39. Even better, I met all of my goals - place in the top 10 overall (just eeked that out with 10th), and win wine (2nd in my AG).

I haven't done alot of short course racing these past few years, and I forgot how much fun they can be. There's just something freeing about doing a race short enough that you can go all out and yet not implode. In fact, you are encouraged to go all out. It's like doing the 100m sprint in elementary school gym class - there's no pacing necessary, just go as fast as you can and see how you measure up.

Happy racing to everyone this weekend! I've already gotten my long run for the week out of the way and I look forward to having one "lazy" day this weekend, with my friend Chelsea visiting from Korea. DSW shoe store, watch out - we are coming!

Wildflower!!!!! Long Course!

This about sums up how I felt about Wildflower - two thumbs up! (I actually had a really great picture to illustrate my feelings, but unfortunately our camera cord has gone missing, so the pictures are currently trapped on the memory card, wah-wah). This race should be on every triathlete's bucket list and if you are ever given the opportunity to participate, DO IT! The beauty of the course and the festival atmosphere more than make up for the fact that this is one of the more challenging 1/2 IM courses out there (I still think Savageman takes the cake on the bike, but Wildflower's run course was brutal. BRUTAL).

Mark and I flew out to California on Thursday and stayed at my in-laws' house outside of LA on Thursday night. Mark, his mom, dad, and sister Allie were all doing the Olympic race on Sunday. Mark has done one tri, but Wildflower would be the first triathlon for the others. There was some nervous pre-race energy in the house and I had my fingers crossed that I wouldn't be ex-communicated from the family for convincing them to sign up :).

The drive up to the race site was something straight out of a Steinbeck novel. If I wasn't afraid of earthquakes or wildfires, I would definitely consider moving to this part of CA. The race site was really remote (40 minute drive to the nearest town/hotel) and most of the racers camped. I don't camp and fortunately nobody else was too keen on camping either, so we stayed in a hotel. On our way to the race site, I insisted we drive the bike course - it's time I started arriving to races better prepared and driving the bike course is rather key. We drove up this MONSTER hill on Nacimiento Drive after we went over a dam and I figured it was the Nasty Grade everyone was talking about (turns out when I actually rode the course during the race, this wasn't the Nasty Grade at all - in fact, it wasn't even part of the course - apparently I need to improve my map-reading skills). After making quick work of packet pickup, we went back to the hotel, put together our bikes (if you told me a year ago that I could assemble or disassemble my bike in less than 30 minutes, I would've called you a liar), ate dinner and went to bed.

Race Morning dawned around 4:50am for me. I ate the usual - bagel with peanut butter and drank some water while I made sure I had everything in order. I was somewhat relaxed - mostly just stressed that maybe I didn't put my bike together properly (cue visions of my back wheel falling off during the ride). I had actually felt more nervous for Rumpus Oly than I felt for Wildflower, though the race plan remained the same: suffer. I think I had a bit more confidence in myself this time around because I managed to suffer at Rumpus and I knew I could do it again. I also wasn't racing for time - Wildflower is not a PR course - I was racing for place. I wanted a top-10 AG spot, which was probably out of my reach, but no harm in trying, right?

The Swim: LOVED IT! We ran down the boat ramp under the ubiquitous Wildflower blowup arch that is in all of the advertisements for the race. The water was refreshingly cold and I managed to find clear water pretty quickly, yet still keep a good line. I stayed much more focused at the task at hand this time around than I did during my last race. I really worked on pulling hard and working hard. I soon found myself dodging the 25-29 AG girls who had started in the wave ahead of me - I caught more of them than I expected. However, I didn't see alot of 30-34 AG girls, so I didn't have a good idea of where I stood in my own group. I was sighting every 5 strokes, trying to take breaths and see the buoys between waves (hello wind - glad you made it in time to make both my bike and swim a little more interesting). About 500m from the swim finish, another girl in my AG pulled up right next to me. I started swimming harder, fully focusing on doing everything in my power NOT to let her pass me. I (barely) finished the swim in front of her - bonus that she helped push me into doing my fastest 1/2 IM swim. I should've been swimming hard like that for the whole race, but I didn't realize I had so much energy left until the end.

T1: My transition time stunk. I need to learn how to already have my shoes on the bike.

The Bike: This was one of the prettiest bike courses I've ever ridden on - and one of the more challenging. The headwind for the first twenty miles only added to the fun. At mile 20 when I made a right turn, it became a heavy-duty crosswind. I was glad I never bothered to get race wheels, I would've been blown off the course and that wouldn't have been much fun. For the most part, the bike was uneventful. Nothing terribly technical, just beautiful scenery. I concentrated on nailing my nutrition (success!) with a Hammer gel every 20 minutes and water every 10, along with a PowerBar thrown in, just for some variety. (A fond farewell to my former bike buffet of cookies, sandwiches, and cheap gas-station crackers with fake cheese) I made up some more time on the bike, passing a couple girls in my age group and lots of young'uns from my old age group. There was one girl, super nice, that I played leap frog with until she left me in the dust on the 9 mile steady downhill portion of the course. Most of the bike course was spent preparing myself for the "Nasty Grade." Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), as previously mentioned, my map-reading skills aren't very stellar and when I was biking the Nasty Grade, I thought it was just a prelude to the actual hill. So imagine my happiness and excitement when I get to the top and learn, that was it! The rest of the bike course was cake (minus the super steep downhill in which I got stuck behind a girl who was wobbling so much, she probably could've used some training wheels - I don't know if it was from fear of bombing down a hill at 35mph or that her back wheel was about to come off - either way, I wasn't going to stick around to see).

T2: I hate transitions - I'm terrible at them.

The Run: Oh holy heck, ignorance is bliss. I'm so glad I had no idea what was coming on that run course. I had deluded myself into thinking it wouldn't be that bad, and I never attempted to actually preview any parts of it - I just went by what the elevation chart said in the event guide - and compared to the bike course, it didn't look that bad! Had I known what I would be doing for the next almost-two-hours, I probably never would've come off the bike course :). Kidding, kidding - but really, had I known, I would've been obsessively thinking and strategizing during the whole bike ride and probably psyched myself out.

So, the run starts and this one girl (not in my AG) takes off like she stole something. For a hot second, I thought that maybe I would try to keep up with her; I quickly realized my running limitations and stuck to a more reasonable pace. The first few miles weren't that bad - some rolling hills, pavement, lots of cheering volunteers, some shade. I was decently content - working hard, but not dying. No, the dying part came around Miles 4-5 when I happened upon the uphill that NEVER ENDED. I finally cried uncle 3/4 from the top when my side vision started to go black, and walked a minute to get my HR under control. I had no plans on walking, but that hill just broke me. I kept it together for the next 4 miles, even feeling a second wind around mile 8 when we rolled through the campsites and cheering crowds. Then I got to Mile 9 and saw another stupid hill. Physically, I felt fine, but mentally I just momentarily gave in to a pity party and walked. I did the same at Mile 10 when I turned around and had to run up the backside of that same hill. It was all mental, I physically could've kept running - and after my 30 second pity-party, I did. At that point, I swear I got passed by the same girl twice (looking at the results later, turns out a set of twins passed me, a few minutes apart from each other). The whole run, I just kept urging myself to get to Mile 12 - after Mile 12, it's literally all downhill to the finish line. Miles 10-12 were a slow, uphill slog. With no turns, so you could see EXACTLY how far you needed to go and how high you needed to climb. I don't know if this course was more physically grueling or mentally grueling. Probably equal on both sides. Right around Mile 11, I let myself look at my watch. And I realized that if I didn't fall apart over the next two miles, and I worked really hard, I might actually get a PR. At Wildflower!?! And so that's exactly what I did. It was only a 4 minute PR, but I will take it, especially because this isn't a very fast course (the winning amateur female time was 5:04 - and even the pro women didn't average more than 20-21mph on the bike course).

So, I've gone back and forth about writing down my times in my blog. I don't want to seem full of myself, but it would be nice (for me) to see the times next to the race report, so I can connect them with how I was feeling during a race. So, here are the splits:

Swim: 35:27 (1:50 pace)

T1: 3:44 (bleck)

Bike: 3:09:06 (17.7mph)

T2: 3:03 (what was I doing??)

Run: 1:52:13 (8:33 pace)

Overall time: 5:43:33, 16th in my AG.

Someday, I will break that elusive 5:40 mark. Someday. I was really happy with how the day went. I was even happier that evening when I ate a gigantic amount of ice cream with no worries. And I was even happier the next day when I was just cheering, while the rest of my family raced :) Everyone did wonderfully - no drowning, no major fails on the bike, and I wasn't excommunicated from the family :) In fact, my in-laws enjoyed the race so much, they are joining their local tri club!! I'm so proud of them! (I'm also savoring the fact that I still have a faster Oly time than Mark - I'm reveling in it while I can, because I know he's going to catch me. Someday. Competitive? Us? Nah!)

Don't be stupid

With Mark being out of town, I was craving the chance to talk to someone other than my dog. So this morning, since I couldn't find anyone to run the trails with me, I opted to go to the Team Z group run on the bike path. I haven't been to too many Team Z events lately, besides swim, so there were alot of unfamiliar faces. We started running and a group of 4 people pulled away from the pack rather quickly. I don't know what I was thinking, but I decided it would be a great idea to join them. Turns out, it was a bad idea - when your workout says a 90 min run Zones 1-3, it's a bad sign when your first mile is a 7:08 and you are huffing and puffing while the other four people around you are strolling in the park at that pace. Throw in my stupid pride (I won't be dropped, I won't be dropped, I won't be dropped...) and some disillusionment (they are probably only running 6 miles - I'll slow it down when they turn around) and a 12 mile run suddenly turned into an ugly sufferfest. I made it ten miles before I completely imploded. I still managed to finish the run at a semi-respectable 1:29, but those last two miles were a slow slog through hell. As Jen said in her feedback to my TrainingPeaks entry - this was not one of my brightest moments. I'll know in the future NOT to do a stupid fast tempo run less than a week after a 1/2 ironman (Wildflower race report forthcoming, honestly).