Bike Commuting > Driving

So Mr. Sweetie is on a golf extravaganza vacation right now (sort of his equivalent of my tri camp vacation in March, only I think his will involve more beer and wine than mine did).  This means that I have the car ALL TO MYSELF.  I started the morning masters swim practices this week at Hains Point, so I decided to drive to the pool and then to work on Tuesday.  In the 2.5 years that I've worked in downtown DC, this was the first time I ever took the car to work.  The ride in wasn't too bad.  But the ride home was stupid slow and frustrating.  And I'll admit it, I was that person muttering to herself in the car, on the verge of yelling with frustration and rage at the fact that it took OVER AN HOUR to drive the 8ish miles home.  I CAN RUN FASTER THAN THAT dammit!  As I sat through 2-3 iterations of every stoplight, I looked longingly at the empty bike lane, wishing I could blow past all this traffic in style on two wheels and a helmet.  I had so much time to sit idly in traffic that I updated my Facebook status:

Caroline L

Drive to work today for the first time in over 2.5 years. Tonight's commute home was like re-living the opening scene of Office Space over and over for an hour.

The only thing missing was the gangster rap, but people with walkers were definitely moving faster than I was.  

I didn't learn my lesson that first time around because I drove into work again today.  I went to early swim at Hains Point and planned on leaving the office at 4pm, a good 90 minutes earlier than Tuesday, because I had to take Miles to the vet (and I didn't trust Metro to be reliable enough to get me home in time and today was not a bike day).  I figured 90 minutes would make a world of difference and I wouldn't spend over an hour trying to travel less a grand total of 8 miles.

Nope.

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  Caroline L

  Opening scene of Office Space take 2. Never driving to work again!

  
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

   I also saw this on my drive.  Ironic, no?  Perhaps a sign from God that maybe my driving days are over.  I think if I drive any more I'm going to need to take a bat to the printer to curb my frustrations.

  
  

2012 = Summer of Swimming

I've declared Summer 2012 to be the Summer of Swimming.  It's been said that you can't win a triathlon in the swim, but you can definitely lose it.  Swimming has always been (and continues to be, though to a lesser extent thank goodness) a liability for me.  I did not grow up a swimmer.  I quit swim lessons at age 6 and for the next 14 years, any swimming I did consisted of dog-paddling around my neighbor's pool.  I did dog paddle/sidestroke for my first triathlon (aaaand maybe for my second and third and fourth triathlons too...).  I'm comfortable in the water, it's always been more of a problem of swim technique (i.e., it was nonexistent) than being uncomfortable in the water.  I started learning the proper way to swim once I joined Team Z a number of years ago.  Then I started swimming more than twice a week and saw more improvement.  And this summer I took the plunge - I heard about the Summer Morning Masters swim program at Hain's Point that goes from Memorial Day to about Labor Day.  Two choices of AM swim practice times, 90 minute sessions 5 days a week IN AN OUTDOOR 50 METER POOL.  I saw that and was like, where do I sign up??!!  Yesterday I went to my first practice.  It was dark when I arrived, but as practice continued on, the sun slowly started to creep above the horizon.  The air and water temperatures were perfect, I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else, it was fantastic.  I think I got in just about 3900m and I loved (almost) every second of it (by the 6th 100 IM, I wouldn't have protested if practice ended).  I'm not going to be able to make it to the pool five days a week, but I'd imagine I'll be there at least 3-4 days/week.  Another bonus is that Hain's Point is on my way to work AND is the perfect place to do biking and running post-swim.  The summer of swimming has BEGUN!!  

Hills, Sweat, and Oh - MORE Hills!

This past weekend did not disappoint when it came to swimbikerun.  And sweat (I know you think nutrition is the fourth discipline of triathlon, but this weekend it was replaced with sweat).  Sunday morning dawned early with my alarm going off at 5am (AGAIN - two days in a row).  I met up with Katie, Mindy, and Sarah in Front Royal and we were on our bikes headed up Skyline Drive by 7:30am.  Within the first 1/2 mile, all of us were dripping with sweat and with a four mile hill staring us in the face (and ridiculously high humidity), there was no chance of relief anytime soon.  We were doing the SkyMass ride, one of my favorites.  You start off with 30 miles on Skyline Drive, then descend into Luray, and then you climb Mt. Massanutten on the other side.  After that climb, you are rewarded with rollers and flats for the next 25 miles.

I think we were all in good spirits for the Skyline part of the ride.  It was early in the day, the climbs weren't steep, there were some nice downhill sections.  And minus Katie being chased by a deer, no major run-ins with the wildlife population (I'm always afraid of getting knocked off my bike by a rogue deer during one of the descents on Skyline - those deer come out of nowhere).  The climb up Mt. Massanutten was where the real fun started.  I don't remember that climb being so LONG - it starts off gradual after you make a right turn by the river.  Then it gets a little steeper.  Then it gets steep enough that you need to get into your little ring.  Then steep enough that you are cursing.  And praying that you don't 1) start going backwards and; 2) just tip over because you lost all momentum.  The road is also really twisty and around each bend I kept thinking, oh the top is right around this corner.  It never was.  I finally made it after what seemed like forever, clipped out without falling over (not the easiest feat to accomplish when your quads have suddenly turned to jelly), and drank most of my water in record time.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, minus the countless dead snakes I kept seeing all over the road (disgusting) and the fact that I was OVER the Hammer gels by mile 60.  Unfortunately the general store we passed by had no selection of food and they didn't take credit cards so I was stuck with Hammer Gels whether I liked it or not.  The SkyMass loop is 83 miles so I needed to tack on an extra 17 after the ride was over.  One of the hardest things I did on Sunday was roll back out of the parking lot by myself while the others started their T-runs or got custard (I was this close to buying custard to eat on the bike).  I procrastinated a bit longer by stopping at a 7-11 and inhaling a GIANT bag of honey bbq potato chips and drinking gatorade.  I felt much more human after that and continued the ride.  I was originally going to do an out-and-back with a few miles down side streets added on, but the first side street I went down was deceptively flat until it suddenly went into a steep downhill before I could hit the brakes and turn around.  I was DONE with hills and really didn't want to have to go back up that hill I just descended, so I just kept going straight, convinced I'd eventually be able to make a loop.  Which I did (thankfully) and my ride was over almost before I knew it.

Next was the fun part - a 45 minute run in the blazing hot mid-afternoon sun.  I was tempted to skip it (of course - who wants to run in 90 degree weather with 100 percent humidity after biking 100 miles?  That's right - NOBODY).  But Jen had specifically put in Training Peaks Do Not Cut This Run Short and when you have a reminder like that staring you in the face, it's easy to see that skipping the run entirely is out of the question.  The run actually wasn't too bad, I found a cute, non-hilly part of Front Royal that had some partial shade and spent 45 minutes doing loops around that same area.  Once that run was done, I was done.  I didn't even bother to change - I just covered the front seat as best I could in articles of clothing so I didn't permanently damage our car seats with my sweaty self.

It was such a fun training weekend - a big thank you to Katie, Mindy and Sarah who let me crash their smashfest!  150 miles of biking and over 3 miles of swimming!  I feel like this warrants a celebration - I am craving a chocolate sheetcake like it's nobody's business!

5K Race Report - that's 5K SWIM

As far as race reports go, this one is kind of boring.  No drama of flat bike tires.  No hills to run up.  Not even a major battle at the swim start because they sent us off in small, manageable waves that were nicely spaced out.  Basically I showed up, swam 3.1 miles in 1 hour 35 minutes, and when I got out of the water there were giant boxes of Oreo cookies to greet me instead of my bike.  I could get used to this.

In Training Peaks, Jen had told me that a 5K is a long way so don't go out too hard.  FOR ONCE, advice from Jen that didn't include kill yourself to get your goal and suffer like a pig.  I'd never, ever swam this distance before, either in open water or in the pool, so this was unchartered territory.  But, it's not that much longer than an Ironman swim and my biggest concern was that I would get crazy hungry while I was out there.  I tried to avoid this problem by eating two very large bagels before the swim AND I stuck a Hammer gel in my bathing suit in case I needed a mid-swim snack.  I approached this swim as more of a practice than a race - because let's be honest, I am not the world's greatest swimmer and I wasn't going to be winning any prizes today.

The swim was 3 one mile loops in Lake Audubon in Reston.  Small lake, no waves whatsoever, and there weren't too many weeds.  They started us off in small waves of about 15-20 people, there were lots of buoys to mark the course.  I managed to draft off of some feet for much of the first loop and things felt really, really easy.  I could do this forever was my thought.  The first loop came and went and I was on my own for almost all of the second loop.  Before the start I was wondering out loud if it was possible to get lapped in this sort of swim and about halfway through the second loop I got my answer - YES.  It was like these people had grown fins or something and they literally flew by me.  It was also around this point that I started to realize that even though swimming is a low impact sport, it's not exactly painless.  My hips and lower back and rear end were getting sore from kicking, I felt like my quads were lead weights being hauled around in the water by my arms.  My arms were starting to feel tired and my ankles were sore (??).  This went on through the third loop, though my arms got a bit more sore because at that point I no longer wanted to swim forever, I was ready to be done.  I was getting hungry too, but this was a race and there is no stopping to take nutrition, especially when you only have a half a mile left until the finish and you're not biking or running afterwards.

I came out of the water after my third loop and started running up the ramp past the timing mats, then I slowed down and stopped - what was I running for?  What's the rush?  It's not like I need to have a speedy transition time, there IS NO transition.  So I walked over to the food table and ate Oreos instead.  I came in 7th out of 10 in my division - haha, swimming is obviously not my sport, even though I love it.

I did actually ride my bike later.  After we got all the lake muck washed off, we headed out to Purcelville, VA to do about 50 miles of riding in hot, humid weather.  Besides being a sticky, sweaty windshield for bugs, the ride was uneventful.  Good company, lots of talk of ice cream and slurpees, and quiet country roads in a beautiful part of the state.

What IS Ironman training?

 Ironman Lake Placid is two months away.  This will be my sixth Ironman so I feel like my life today is the new normal - I've been doing 100 mile bike rides and eating like a human garbage disposal since 2008.  Nothing new, totally normal, right?  So, exactly what does it mean when I say "I'm training for an Ironman"?  What does Ironman training involve besides living on your bike, racking up huge grocery bills, and being cranky most of the time?

- It's choosing to bike to work from the pool without bothering to change out of your bathing suit.  You do enough outfit changes in one day and you don't have a Lycra wardrobe large enough to wear yet another bike jersey just to ride 10 miles to work.  Bathing suit top is sufficient.

- Speaking of Lycra, it is possible to wear tri shorts often enough that they become indecently see-through.

- It's dropping a $50 money bomb at REI on a weekly basis... on Hammer Gels and PowerBars, NOT something fun like those new Lycra shorts you really should be buying to replace that indecent pair you are currently sporting on the bike path.

-  It's not remembering what it's like to sleep past 7am.

- It is not being able to fit your dinner plates in the dishwasher because your eight waterbottles from your weekend workouts are taking up too much space.

- Ironman training means you rarely stay up past 10pm on the weekends because you have to get up at the crack of dawn to ride your bike.

- It is being a cheap date because one glass of wine does you in since the last time you drank more than a glass was during the off-season in 2011.

- It is thinking about food every second of every hour of every day.  Suddenly it becomes impossible to eat too much.  You can't remember what it's like to feel full because that, too, last happened sometime in the 2011 off-season.

- Ironman training means you smell like chlorine to the point where even perfume can't save you.

- Ironman training means forgetting where you put your makeup and then not caring because it's not like it's worth wearing anyway - you're just going to get sweaty and gross at least twice a day.

- 90 mile bike rides don't phase you.  Neither do weekend brick workouts that are only 4 hours long.  Must be recovery week is what you think instead.

- Ironman training makes you suddenly realize that you are a stronger person than you ever thought possible, both physically and mentally.

- Ironman training means that the distances, paces and speeds that once seemed impossible at the beginning of training are now easily exceeded.

- It means your regular clothes wardrobe is in danger of being eclipsed by the size of your sweat-wicking, Lycra-infused workout wardrobe.

- It means a permanent bike shorts tan.  Permanent.

- It means that the pool or the track is the new hangout spot for happy hour with friends.

- Ironman training also means that you are on the road to one of the most unforgettable experiences - Ironman race day.  And when you cross that finish line, all the chlorine stink, lycra, and REI money bombs will suddenly feel very, very worth it.

Chrissie Wellington's "A Life Without Limits"

Just over a week ago, Chrissie Wellington came to Arlington to do a promotional book signing for her new book A Life Without Limits.  Chrissie Wellington is basically triathlon royalty, with that whole never losing an Ironman thing going for her.  I will freely admit that the possibility of getting my finisher's medal from her at Timberman 70.3 last year constituted at least 50% of the reason I signed up for a half Ironman scheduled for four weeks after my Ironman.  So it was a no-brainer that I was going to go to this book signing.  As fate would have it, my friend and fellow triathlete Tim was coming in town that day for a last minute business trip (he, too, did Timberman for the sole purpose of getting a finisher medal from Chrissie Wellington), his flight perfectly timed to arrive at Reagan National 30 minutes before the book signing.  I even got to the airport ON TIME to pick him up, that is how dedicated I was to getting to this book signing event.

The book signing was uneventful, she was super nice and full of smiles, gamely posing for photos with each person and signing a few hundred books.  I saw a bunch of other triathlete friends, so all-in-all, a good afternoon.

I really enjoyed the book, I was surprised at how honest she was during parts of it, especially about other triathletes and her coaches, and how she felt during the early days in the sport. She didn't say anything mean or bad, but rather provided a very honest look, it seemed, at how hard it was to fit in, to find the right coach, etc.  And how to deal with the pressure of winning triathlon on the biggest stage in the world, especially when she went from being a nobody to a somebody in between the 9 hours when she started the race and when she finished it.  She also shared some of the things she does to keep herself mentally focused and in the game, both during races and during training.

Unlike Chris McCormack's book, she didn't just talk about her life in triathlon - she spoke about her various travels, her time in Nepal, her interest and work in International Development.  Before she won Kona at age 30, she had already lived a pretty full and amazing life. She was also self-deprecating, from the book, it sounds like she is pretty accident-prone, which isn't really convenient in triathlon.  She went into most of her races with some sort of nagging injury or health issue and it's just amazing how she was able to put it out of her mind and push through it all and win Every. Single. Ironman. she's ever done.  I was on the edge of my seat reading about her 2011 win, which is the only one that really came down to the wire.

Anyway, pick the book, it was an enjoyable read for sure.

Columbia Olympic Tri Race Report

So let's start this race report off with a PSA: If you deflate your tires the day before the race, REMEMBER to put air in them the morning of the race.  Preferably before you begin the bike leg.  That is all.

I signed up for this race a couple of months ago when I was thrown in a tizzy about my race schedule because a work trip was forcing me to miss the Rumpus in Bumpass oly in April and I wanted every possible chance to qualify for Age Group Nationals this year.  I had some friends doing this race and registration was still open back in March - it was a sign so I forked over my credit card and I was in!  I did this race once before, back in 2008, as my first-ever olympic distance tri (though this race is slightly longer with a 25 mile bike leg rather than 24 miles).  I think my time was 2:50ish back then and I remember thinking to myself that I liked the oly distance MUCH better than the sprint.

Unlike the Monticelloman triathlon, I actually showed up to this race feeling healthy and well-rested (despite the fact that my alarm went off at the unholy hour of 3:30am.  It was so early, I wasn't even hungry for breakfast).  My friend Janine and I carpooled up to the race, the race officials were super organized and the volunteers kept traffic flowing into the parking areas and there weren't any big backups (this could also be due to the fact that we arrived at 5am, almost 2 hours before transition would close, which is unheard of for this procrastinator.  I wanted a good parking spot).  We took our time setting up transition, I helped Janine pump up her bike tires, brought the pump over to my transition area, set everything up, checked my brake alignment, made sure I had all my nutrition.  We had so much time, I even went back to my transition area twice to double-check everything, I kept thinking I was forgetting something.

This Columbia Tri is a decent-sized race, I think there were over 1,500 competitors, and with it being a 5150 US Championships qualifier, it attracts a decent field, both pro and amateur.  That meant ALOT of swim waves.  The wave of 25-29 & 30-34 girls went off over an hour after the first pro wave went.  So this was a little tricky when it came to timing my nutrition and making sure I ate, but not too early and not too late.  The upside of the long wait - PLENTY of time to wriggle into the wetsuit.

The Swim:
It was an in-water start and for at least the first quarter mile, we were directly facing the sun.  I'm not the fastest swimmer so I just followed the bubbles and bobbing heads in front of me and didn't concern myself too much with trying to see the buoys.  It took awhile to get into a rhythm and for awhile I was worried it was never going to happen.  I was so busy trying to avoid errant, drunk-looking swimmers and feeling like swamp thing with all of the weeds stuck to me (please note, even when I got home hours after the race, I was still finding dried weeds on me.  I've never needed a shower so badly).  Finally, something clicked and my pull felt strong, I hit a turn buoy and was no longer facing the sun, and I found my rhythm.  I was able to keep a good straight line for the rest of the swim and even managed to find some slightly faster feet to draft off of during the last quarter mile of the swim.  I got out of the water and realized I had my fastest oly swim to date - granted, the swim is still a major liability for me in a race of this distance, but it's becoming slightly less of one.

T1:
Not great, not awful.  I got flustered trying to put my headband, helmet and shoes on all at the same time.

The Bike:
There were still a bunch of bikes racked all around my bike when I emerged from the swim, leading me to think that I wasn't doing half bad, but I still had no idea where I was in my age group.  The Columbia Tri bike course is hilly.  You could even call it stupid hilly.  There aren't a whole lot of flat sections, but alot of the uphills come right after a downhill so you have some momentum to start the uphill grind.  The roads were in fantastic condition, not too much traffic, the volunteers were stellar, and the course wasn't really technical at all - not a whole lot of hairpin turns or anything so you didn't lose any speed.  The first couple miles just had some mild rollers.  I immediately noticed that I felt like I was moving slowly, especially for the amount of effort that I was putting forth.  And then the thought hit me - did I pump up my tires??  Normally, forgetting to pump your tires on race morning isn't that big of a deal.  Except that I racked my bike yesterday and deflated them ALOT so that they didn't expand and pop in the hot sun.  For the next few miles, I just kept going back and forth in my head - did I pump them, did I not?  I remembered pumping my Janine's tires, but did I seriously forget to do my own?  I remember offering my pump to the girls around me, BUT DID I SERIOUSLY FORGET TO DO MY OWN?  My bike felt kind of bouncy, sort of how it does when I'm getting a flat tire.  Finally, I just decided it wasn't worth obsessing over - I didn't know for sure if I forgot and if I kept thinking about it and how slow I felt, it would just become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  I passed a few of the girls who came out of the swim ahead of me, one or two were in my age group, but that was it, really.  I didn't see any other girls in my AG.  I stayed in aero for most of the time, I enjoyed the climbs, most of them weren't too steep.  I took in two gels during the bike, two salt tabs, and sipped on water about every ten minutes and this seemed to work really well for me.  I got off the bike feeling just right, not too full and not thirsty.

T2:
MUCH better than T1.  I didn't spend any time thinking about not wanting to run.  I just shut my mind off.  Oh, and I pinched my tires and it was confirmed - they were pretty darn flat.  My intuition was correct.

The Run:
My run legs decided to join the party today, hallelujah!  Lately the run has been my nemesis.  When I racked my bike, there were hardly any other bikes already racked around it so I felt like thinsg were going well, still had no idea where I was in my AG.  Just like the bike, the run was hilly, but I felt good right from the start, which was a confidence booster.  I shortened my stride going up the hills and that seemed to help me keep a steady pace and not blow up.  Mentally I felt like I stuck with it, I wasn't focused on time or splits, just doing periodic checks on how I was feeling and what speed I felt like my legs could sustain.  I only saw one other girl in my age group and I caught up to her at mile 4.5.  I passed her on a downhill and then spent the rest of the race running like she was hot on my heels.  I purposely avoided looking at my overall time - I did want a PR, but I knew my bike split wasn't great and the run course wasn't PR-conducive either and it's kind of hard to compare different courses to each other because, well, each are different.  And I got my current PR on a flat, flat course.  Anyway, I didn't take in any water or gels during the run, it was only 6.2 miles and you can do anything for 6.2 miles without bonking.  The last half a mile is where my energy started flagging and my legs started feeling tired.  I did my best to pick up the pace at the end and I was glad to see that finish line.

I finished in 2:35:16, about four minutes off my current oly-PR.  I ended up coming in 5th in my age group out of 79, which made me pretty happy.  Then I saw that only 33 seconds (THIRTY-THREE SECONDS) separated the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th places in my age group.  The girls were just ahead of me at the finish and I had no idea.  I can use the flat-ish bike tires as an excuse, but I do wonder if my bike time would've been 33 seconds better had my tires been pumped up.  Part of me is relieved though that my craptastic bike split was hopefully more due to the hills and the tires rather than a reflection of my fitness.  I did qualify for the 5150 US Championships, but they are a week before 70.3 Worlds, so I don't think I'll be going.

I loved, loved, loved this race.  VERY well-organized, the course was beautiful and I loved the hills.  It was so nice to spend the day hanging out with Janine and she had a really great race.  I also ran into my friend Diane, who I haven't seen since late last year, and it was so good to catch up with her.  I saw a few other Team Z'rs, and Kristen, a girl I work with who also happens to be a super fast triathlete.  Doing races where you know a bunch of people always makes the day that much more fun.  Another bonus - this was a quick race that was close to home - it meant sleeping in my own bed (even though I had to get up at 3:30am) and being home by 1:30 in the afternoon.