Harvest Moon Race Report

Swim:

I had a hard time finding the buoys laid out on the course because of the sun and the water current created from the wind.  The course was interesting- a small-based triangle, and we were to swim around the end of a straight line of buoys that marked both the out and back of the swim.  The swim back to the beach was rough. Waves were making it tough to get a good breath in without a mouthful of water.  I pressed on and finished the swim in 35 minutes.

Bike:

I knew to hold back on the bike for the first half and save some energy for the hills at the end of the ride, and the nice tailwind helped me accomplish this. Shortly after the turn onto Quincy I got a flat after rolling over some glass on the course.  I stopped to fix it and a course mechanic pulled over and basically did it for me and I was on my way!  Once I hopped back on my bike I saw my husband, Matt, and we were both feeling good but looked forward to getting off the bike.  A minute after he pulled away my chain dropped.  I stopped and quickly got it back on my crank and was off again. At the bottom of one of the hills it looked like a porcelain toilet had exploded and there were shards everywhere.  I managed to get past without any more flats, but about 4 miles from the finish it happened again- another flat! This time I didn't have another spare so I figured I would walk towards the finish until someone could help me. Most of the people who passed me didn't have deep dish wheels so couldn't really help with a spare tube since I needed one that was either longer or could accept an extension. “It could be worse…”

I walked to the turn off to the reservoir and the crossing marshal told me he had radioed for a ride for me.  "But won't that end my race? Will they have a spare tube?". "I don't know the rules.  I just saw you walking and called. You can refuse the ride if you want to keep going though."  "Thank you." “It could be worse…”
A few hundred more feet and a guy stopped and handed me a tube that could accept a valve extension.  Now if I could just get the original valve off…As I was messing with the valve the course mechanic came to my rescue again!  This time there was a guy in the passenger seat and his bike on the rack on top of the car.  His race was over. Mine was finally 2/3 done, and it could have been worse.

Run

“I should have stopped at the Port-O-Potty in transition”, I thought to myself. “At least I know there are some on the race course.” I ran most of the way to the first aid station, grabbed some water and had a few salt tablets and finally found the port-o-potty around mile 2.  I went in, did my business, and as I was pulling my shorts back up I heard something in the toilet well.  I spun around to find a bat that appeared to be lying on the beach of the blue sanitation liquid.  I dropped some toilet paper on him to see if he was still alive and he moved!  Watching the bat closely, I finished pulling up my shorts, got some hand sanitizer and got the hell out of there!  I’m glad I saw it after I used the restroom because I would have had to wait another 2 miles before finding another potty. 

The run was mostly a walk since my calves and what felt like my diaphragm were cramping and my stomach was upset and gurgling. I tried to take in more salt but the cramps persisted.  After 3 hours of walking I made it back to the finish and dove into the blow-up slip and slide.
My husband was waiting for me at the finish and I gave him a hug and a kiss and thanked him for waiting so long for me to finish.  I explained to him what had happened after I saw him on the bike. For most of the run I was thinking about him waiting for me, but I realized it really could have been worse- I could have nobody waiting for me at the finish after going for this long.  If that was the case I probably would have quit after that second tire puncture and taken that ride back to transition. 
Thank you, Matt, for keeping me going.

Night Before the Harvest

It's the night before my next race- the Harvest Moon 70.3- and I am sitting here with an ice cold Ginger Woodchuck Hard Cider thinking about tomorrow's adventure.  The swim should seem really easy since I did a 2.4 mile swim last weekend (twice the distance of tomorrow's race), but the bike...I am determined to not let this one hill get the best of me.  On my training ride of the course I went out way too fast at the start, feeling great, and hit a wall with 3 miles left (after I had FINALLY made it up this one hill in particular). I pulled off to the side of the road.

"How do your legs feel?" I asked my husband between gasps for air.
"They feel amazing!  I could do another loop right now!", He said, as I was remembering he was sitting behind me the whole way with a draft.  I rolled my eyes.  "Can you take my keys and go on ahead if I can't make it (of course I wouldn't dare say the word 'quit')?"  "Sure!  I'll be quick!"  We were both out of water and it had been a really hot, exposed day. We both set off at our own pace for the last 3 miles and I managed to make it back before he started the car to come get me.  It took everything I had to finish that bike loop (45 miles).  Anyway, I plan to hold back at the start of the bike to save energy for the hills and especially the run. 

I had a moment of panic when I took my bike out this evening to make sure everything was working properly.  I discovered my front tire was flat and I only had one more spare tube!  I called Bicycle Village to see if my special-order tubes were in, and they told me: 1) That they weren't, and 2) They had actually closed 10 minutes ago, but they open at 11am tomorrow!  He walked me through how to patch my tube and re-assured me he patches his tubes at least 4 times until he replaces them.--By the way, if this works out, I'll be patching my tubes regularly!  It will save a bundle with Goat Head season coming!-- I found the leak and patched it tonight so I have all night to pray it's not flat in the morning.  Wow.  Bad planning on my part. 

So tonight I'm going to eat some pasta (gluten-free, of course), put my feet up, enjoy a hard cider, and watch a movie. 

Good luck to those doing races this weekend!

Cake and Training

I had a late breakfast today so I figured a small lunch- a few tomatoes from the garden, a protein shake, and a small piece of our Anniversary cake would be a good lunch (of course I did, it involved cake!).  I moved my run to tomorrow to give my legs a little more time to rest from our Harvest Moon Half Ironman bike we did on Monday (45 miles of the course).  The story with that is I put arch support in my bike shoes and the first bike I did with them was a long ride.  I should have known to start off easy with them like you would anything new you change to your training equipment but I was thinking since I have insoles in my running shoes that basically do the same thing I would be ok, right? Nope.  So I have some pretty sore calves and they hurt when I walk. (Crossing my fingers I'll be good for the race!)

There's about 1/8 left :-D

Back to my meal choices.  Apparently what I ate wasn't enough since I was starting to feel hungry so I had a little snack before swim- a Bonk Breaker bar and some GU Chomps (YUM!), which I had on my way to Denver.  The first part of the workout was ok- a few 200's warm up and some drills done at an alarmingly fast pace for a drill set.  The next set is what got me- 3x 100's, 3x 75's, 3x 50's, 3x 25's (FR/BK/BR) all continuous- no rests or stopping, followed by 5x 100's on 1:35.  For those of you who know what the sets mean and can decipher the workout I just mentioned, you know how tough that was in the fastest lane where the first person dictates the speed of the workout.  For those of you reading that don't have an idea, I can break it down a little further into laps- 30 fast laps (lap being down to the other end) followed by 5x 4 laps swam really fast- almost with no rest. 

So going back to what I ate today, this was obviously not enough to fuel my workout.  I guess I was thinking I would be able to get away with fewer calories (and maybe lose a  little weight before my race), but it ended up being a detriment to my workout and I had to hop out, with my head hung, before my workout (in my mind) was complete.

It might have been a blessing in disguise since I'm doing a hilly Half Ironman on Sunday in East Aurora (Harvest Moon) and I will probably need more rest than I have planned to give myself.

Running to Eat

I have hit a bump in the road lately with my running.  I was doing really well keeping up with my runs, getting them in and doing them at a reasonable pace.  I'm not quite sure what happened but it seems I can hit the sprints on the track and get the shorter recovery runs done easily but I've been struggling to complete the long runs without stopping. Maybe I need new music?  Maybe I need to just tough it out and work on my mental toughness?  Whatever it is, I hope it passes soon- I have a marathon to run!  (after a swim and bike, that is).

I have let my nutrition slip as well- not like eating unhealthy, but just eating things my body can't handle such as double stuff oreos (which, by the way, have both gluten and dairy products).  It would probably be ok if I just ate two- as that is probably the serving size anyway- but who can eat just two of them!?  I end up finishing a whole trench of them when I'm in the kitchen 'cleaning up'.

On the other hand, Matt and I made some home-made red pasta sauce from our fresh roma tomatoes in the garden.  We were also able to use the basil, a tomatillo, and our green peppers all from the garden.  The sauce turned out awesome!

http://bridgerun.com/uploads/2013/12/running.jpg

6/22/2014 Curt Gowdy Xterra Race Report

Pre-Race:

My race bag is packed so all I have to do is fill up my water bottles and camel back in the morning and load up the van with our stuff.  Last week my husband and I drove to the race location (Curt Gowdy State Park, WY) and biked most of the bike course.  Might I mention this was my 3rd mountain bike ride ever.  The trail starts out pretty easy with packed dirt single track and becomes technical about a mile in.  I'm not sure if it's the flashbacks of my spill going 40mph on my tri bike or that first fall on my mountain bike that left a hematoma on my shin that makes me scared of falling off my bike on the trails.  I am pretty accident prone...with anything from power tools to plant stands.

I will be in the last swim wave so I can take my time on the bike course- especially the trail called "Mo Roka" with rocks booby trapping the easy way across the trail and (one-foot) sheer drops off rock obstacles.

Race Morning:

I decided to give the bike a shot since I was informed there was a cut-off at mile 9 and I would still be able to do the run UN-officially. We found a small spot on the bike racks and set up our transition.  After all my stuff was laid out and I was about to put on my wetsuit a girl on the same rack asked if I could move my stuff to the adjacent rack since that would even out the number of people on each rack.  I was a little put off by this since I had already set up my things.  I talked back to her a little then grudgingly moved my things. 

The Swim:

The water temperature was 60 degrees and literally gave us a brain freeze when we finally mustered up enough courage to dunk our heads under.  We stayed wading in the water until our wave went off.  I positioned myself in line with the buoys and noticed a guy next to me with a snorkel.  WHAT!?  This guy was holding a snorkel and appeared to be preparing it for the swim.  I immediately looked over to my husband to see if he was seeing this.  Since the gun was about to go off and I was a short distance from Matt, I couldn't figure out a way to get the word 'snorkel' across without the guy seeing it.  About this time I was thinking of clever remarks such as, "Is that race-legal?" or "Do you have fins on too?"  Needless to say I kept my mouth shut. 
The gun went off and since I was in a wave of beginners (me being one of them since this was my first off-road), I was swimming alone for most of the course.  After the first loop I noticed my feet were frozen but still awake enough to feel the sharp rocks on the short stretch of beach before the second lap.  I finished the second loop with no problem and was the first out of the water in my wave.

The Bike:

I was pretty nervous as I set off for the bike but after a few people passed me and I saw others stopping at the same rocks I had to step over it seemed this was the way an off-road triathlon works, at least for the inexperienced like me.  I racked myself a few times, or whatever you call it for women, fell a few times...the worst being on top of a cactus, and hit my ankle on the pedals numerous times.  I had to stop at one point to tighten my saddle, and luckily I brought the tools along. 

I got to the midpoint of the bike, and since I didn't have my watch on I had no idea what time it was but no one was stopping me from continuing, so I kept on biking.  The second half of the bike was where I fell on a cactus and I began wishing someone would tell me I didn't reach the cut-off.  It was hot and exposed and I was ready to be back in transition to begin the run I was now starting to dread.  The single track snaked around a hill and I thought I saw the next aid station, but the trail turned back around away from them.  I finally reached the end of the rocky area and found a medic on a bike.  He asked me if I was the last person out there...I hoped I wasn't but told him I hadn't seen anyone for a while.  I kept going the last 3 miles to transition and was greeted by cheers.  I never did see that last aid station.

Back in transition I re-racked my bike and asked if I could still go out on the run.  "Are you sure I have enough time?"  I put on my shoes, grabbed an extra gel and set off.  The run signs were already misplaced- probably taken from the middle of the road to get ready to load back in their truck.  I felt pretty strong in the first quarter mile until I came up on the first aid station of the run...already torn down.  I stood there for a few minutes with Matt, who had just finished 10 minutes before, debating what I should do.  I didn't have any water with me, the aid stations were most likely going to be taken down, and I had a dehydration headache in the making.  I decided to throw in the towel.  I had already made it further on the bike than I thought I could and wanted to get the cactus pins out of my leg. 

I have a new appreciation for Xterra races.  Road triathlons are completed and won based on endurance and fitness whereas off-road triathlons are more based on technique of bike handling and trail running.  I saw some guys out there that didn't look very fit but were blasting over the rocks.  I also saw fit guys walking their bike over the rocks.  I will definitely give off road TRIs another chance next year.  For our next one I will do the research before signing up for the race.  Curt Gowdy was supposedly the toughest and most technical off-road- which I didn't find out until we rode the course and talked to some people.

New Gadget!

My current GPS watch ends workouts if I pause it for too long (to use the restroom) and there is no way to add to the workout once it decides you are done.  I have a motoactive and they have discontinued it.  Going onto the forum you can see many people are upset about it since there were lots of kinks to work out, and it is a really cool watch. 

Before the motoactive I had a Suunto watch that had a memory belt (HRM) that could store data completely separate from the watch.  This was pretty new technology at the time it came out since it's largest (I think) competitor is Garmin and they didn't have a way of recording data in the water yet.  The only problem with the Suunto watch I had was it used a footpod to calculate distance on the run.  The footpod was pretty inaccurate and looking back I don't know how far I was actually running when I was training with it!

The new watch I (FINALLY) received in the mail is my new Suunto Ambit2s.  It has some pretty cool capabilities and can connect with the sensors from my old Suunto watch.  I've been having fun playing with the settings and customizing the workout screens.  The software used to analyze workouts is much better than the one I used to use a few years ago- they now use Moveslink (Movescount.com) where there is an app store and training calendar with all the training log goodies.

I haven't used it yet but I'm looking forward to obsessing over the numbers soon and watching myself improve!

Mountain Bike Trail Report: Betasso Pass (4.25.14)

We had originally planned to explore Heil Valley Ranch and we were unaware, until we arrived, that the trail had been impacted by the Lyons flood.  We found another trail that looked similar in South Boulder- Betasso Pass.  We arrived, mapped our trip, and headed out with our camelbaks and snacks. 

The ride started out slow since this was our first mountain bike ride on our newly (self) built bikes.  For me, it had been at least a decade (man do I feel old now) since I had even sat on a mountain bike let alone feel the bumpy ground beneath my tires.  My first fall was more of me tipping over as I stopped to let a runner by on the very narrow trail.  The second spill was the exact opposite.  I tipped over the handlebars, getting my legs caught between the components of the bike which left a nice indent on my shin.  I’m sure there were a few extra crashes between that one and the last, where I managed to fall in the only stream there was on the whole trail.  This was the point where I wanted to call it quits and turn around- only one mile into our ride.  I worked up my motivation and determined I would finish the 3 mile loop.  This was the point where Matt exclaimed, “OMG- look at your shin!” and began laughing at its novelty size.  The location where the divot used to be in my shin was now golf ball sized and didn’t hurt until I looked at it.  Great.

Matt went ahead to see if the trail condition was any better- less rocky outcroppings maybe?  After he came back we decided to keep going to the end of our loop since it couldn’t get any worse- and I believe the trail was meant to be a one-way loop for cyclists.  The last section of our journey was, lucky for me, less eventful than the first mile and we made it back to the car without any blood loss. 

The last two miles of the ride were actually fun after I got the hang of riding up hill on loose rocks.  There weren’t as many rocky drops as there were in the first mile of the ride and I didn’t fall any more after landing in the water.  

You’d think that with this experience I would sell my mountain bike and vow never to ride one ever again, but in the end the ride was fun and the scenery was cool- very different from road biking.  You could smell the moisture in the air and fresh oxygen from the trees that surrounded us. 

I will eventually go back and try that trail again, but in the meantime I will stick to the ‘bunny slopes’ of mountain biking.  They do actually use the same coding system as skiing and when we looked up the difficulty of the Betasso Pass trail we rode it was blue (intermediate) and not a green (beginner), as we should have started out on.