Swam the Dam 09

I swam the dam . . . July 18, 09. The picture to the left is my daughter proudly wearing my "I swam the Dam" tattoo! So cute.

Up until the night before I wasn't certain I would do the race. I'd signed up in the post race rush of the Wasa Lake Tri, but realistically with my work/travel (race was on a Saturday, we returned from our trip on Thursday) schedule I wasn't getting in the training. That was reason number one. Secondly, our good friends from BC were visiting and staying with us, so I felt a bit bad about ditching everyone to go to the race. However, a few things were in my mind. I'd purchased my wetsuit and I felt like I'd be "quitting" on myself if I didn't do it, and what kind of message would that be sending to my kids. I would be doing this race "solo" as Stacey had proclaimed earlier "I'm out, it's golf season". Totally cool, I was glad to have had her join me in the two earlier races.

I had really loved the open water swim of the Wasa

ooop I'll be back to finish

Wasa Lake Tri

This was it, my "A" race for the season. It was amazing! Although my performance wasn't stellar, overall the experience was so great that I know I'm hooked!

The race was on Sunday, June 14th (my brother's bday.... happy birthday bro!).
We traveled out to Wasa Lake the Friday before and were able to stay at a beautiful place within walking distance to transition, we'll have to try and stay there again next year :)
So, Larry, the kids and I headed out in our vehicle, and Stacey in hers.
I told my kids, "listen, Stacey doesn't have kids yet, so you be good, you don't want her to change her mind forever!". We stopped in Fernie to grab some dinner and some food at the grocery store.

The weather was gorgeous and Stacey, the kids and I checked out the transition area as well as the beach. On Saturday we watched the kids race, so cute! Later on Stacey and I headed into Cranbrook for our race pack pickup and the mandatory race meeting. Between pickup and the meeting, Stacey and I had a lovely coffee in the cute town of Cranbrook. After the meeting we headed back to Wasa Lake and took a quick ride on the bike course, just a single loop. Then headed back for a nice spaghetti dinner with salad.

When we were checking out the transition area it was pretty clear this race was the "real deal" and that it was going to be very exciting and fun. Real sponsors, really fancy bikes etc.
Headed to bed about 11 p.m., should have gone earlier, but was a bit excited still!
Set alarm for 6, since we were able to walk to transition.

Got up, had a quick bite and some coffee (oh what a disaster this was, ended up buying a new coffee maker for our hosts!). For breakfast I had a peanut butter "sandwich" with rice cakes and added some raisins. I had planned to also have a gu (chocolate mint, my fave!!!!! only available at xmas time.) right before the swim, and I had some more raisins and pecans while we were waiting around for the start. I also had some gatorade in my bike water bottle and a few packs of gu in my bento bag on the bike (which I planned to take when I was about 3/4 finished the bike).
This picture of me is pretending I was still sleeping :)

I was feeling pretty good, but a healthy nervousness, in particular with the open water swim. We'd done a practice open water swim, which was just "okay" and I was pretty uncertain. But my plan was to stick to the back of the group and draft like crazy :)

So here' s a pic of Stacey and I before the race! It was pretty early, so thanks to Lar for being up to take the picture! She looks so calm :)

We ended up knowing a few other participants that jokingly mocked us as we stretched on our wetsuits, but they called us "triathletes" and that was just cool.


The Sprint group was to head out 15 minutes before the Olympic distance.
So here's a picture of me coming out of the water looking very confused. Have to say though, it wasn't so bad, in fact I have to say that after a few minutes of adjustments, I actually really liked the open water swimming. You can see the Olympic group ready to go. Wait, that means I finished in less than 15 minutes!!! Woot Woot! Oh yeah, found out later the course was 200 m less than was expected. Sigh. Oh well. It was still great.


The bike course was AWESOME and I loved it, mostly flat, one slight hill near the end of the loop (3 loops for the distance). I did have some mechanical issues, as my bike seat loosened up and started to uncomfortably tilt up, way up! :( Good lesson for next time.

Run was pretty good, by then it was starting to warm up, but I kept running the entire distance, even the aid stations. Yippee!
The volunteers were great, some people had sprinklers set up to cool us off and then there were the group of "pirates" with their water guns.
Steve King was the announcer and it was so great to have to run past transition during the latter part of the run, as you could just feel the excitement in the air!!!
With about 200 m to go in the run, I gave it all I had left and sprinted over the line. I was done and it felt GREAT!
The best prize of all, a victory hug from my youngest fan.

So for actual numbers . . . . (I'll try not to be embarrased)
Swim: 13:56
Bike: 50:38
Run: 32:07
Total: 1:36:39

So yes, I'm hooked, already signed up for next year (when post was written in November 09). But I have heftier goals for 2010. Now I know I can do it, now it's how fast!!!

Splash Pedal Gasp May 09

Will include details soon.
May 10, 2009

Who knew how important eating was?!?!?!

Yes, I know it sounds silly. Even as I sit here looking at the title I know it makes no sense. Of course we all know how important it is to eat. But really?!?!?! It wasn't until this week when I seriously couldn't eat that I realized how LOW energy I was. Not to mention dehydrated.

I will try to not dwell on it, but I'm really trying to get my energy up so I can get back to my training. WAAAAAAA

And, I just got my winter bike trainer on the weekend and haven't been able to use it :(

I'm having my snack now (almonds, thought they'd be pretty bland) and there's only minimal cramping so that's good right?!?!?!

I'm hoping for a mild workout tomorrow, maybe a "gentle" spin. Time will tell.

14 weeks and counting!!!!

I had a frantic look at my calendar yesterday just to see how many weeks until the big day! How cute that the event is on Mother's Day :)

Yesterday was bike day!
Found a cool def'n:

velocitize: (vuh.LAWS.i.tyz) v. To cause a person to become used to a fast speed. —velocitization n

So I took my heart rate monitor to make sure I was velocitizing and I started counting rotations so I could see how I was doing. About 80-84 rotations per minute. Not sure if that is good, considering the chart below. Maybe I need to lower the resistance on the spin bike??

You can see a definite up/drop at about 25 minutes, no doubt that was my blood pressure rising as I was SO annoyed that the seat on the spin bike kept moving back, then I hopped off to adjust it!!! argggg I must have looked psycho because I was VERY annoyed, had to do it just after the 10 minute mark too!!! I basically hopped off, sweat spilling from everywhere, reefed on the knob and then with a look of indignation, hopped back on.
It will be good to get out on the road to ride, so I can actually see my speed (from the Gamin).

Very exciting news, I ordered a treadmill :) Hoping the happy delivery arrives before the start of week 12 (prior to race day). This will help with getting in my long runs since it is still winter outside.

My only concern is getting it down to the basement. Oh well, I'll worry about that when the time arrives!!!!

Today is swimming day and I plan to really work on my kick . . . can't let Ron's advice go to waste! Will see how that goes!

Really?!?

Yup, so true. I finally had what I felt was a productive training session in the pool!!!!
I'm sure it has to be my new found desire to not hate it so much! Swimming is such a technical sport, and in a way that really should be something I like . . . . a challenge! I'm stubborn, so you'd think I'd be enjoying the chance to be neurotic about itsy bitsy details. Trouble is, it's SO technical that it's difficult for me to manage all the thoughts in my head at once!

Well, it was just my luck that I got some really great tips from a retired Professor I know. I suppose it's true, some people really have a gift for teaching, even outside their discipline :) So thanks Ron for the tips! I'm going to try out the new skills during my next swim. One of my major challenges is that my rear end drags through the water! Talk about drag! So Ron evaluated and then gave me some corrections for my kick (or really told me I was doing it completely wrong, and then re-taught me)! He told me to "shake my bootie!". I'm not kidding.
I was surprised how odd it felt, so I'll be needing to work on it a great deal so that it becomes more natural, as "natural" as a land animal can feel in water.

On a side note . . . holy crap, was I cranky this morning! I had 8 hours sleep, so what gives?!?! Is it possible I was dehydrated from my run yesterday (I know I didn't drink enough yesterday)? So at about mid morning, I forced down a few bottles of water, chomped down a protein bar while working, and then I went for a swim. By the time all that was done I was in a great mood. How bizarre, but I'll take it!

TGIF!

Yup, it was a LONG week.
But I had good workouts everyday this week.

Mon: Bike
Tues: circuit + swim
Wed: run at track (walk 200 X jog 200 X run 200)
Thurs: swim
Fri: run on treadmill 30 min

I'm continuing my trial of the Garmin watch with HRM. Here's what a steady run, with an increase in speed near the end looks like. The first 5 minutes was walking . . ..oh yeah and then I accidentally forgot to turn it off, so then it captured my stroll to the change room!


Today wasn't even supposed to be a running day for me, but I just couldn't resist because I arrived at the gym early and it was the first time all week there were actually treadmills available. My hope was that I could see what speed I would have to maintain in order to do 5km in 30 min. Sadly that's going to be 6.0 Wondering how it would be if I weren't having that pain in my lower back/hips?!?!?!?! But it felt good (when it was all done) and I actually felt good this afternoon!!

The weather is supposed to be +14 on Sunday(what???? are you sure, since it is mid-January), and the thought of taking a bike ride crossed my mind when I drove home since the shoulders are all clear. There's probably a lot of gravel though.

The weekend is here and I'm so ready to do some relaxing and take my "days off".