Yes I know it has been 2 weeks sicne Patriot's HIM and I have yet to finish the race report - I promise I will get to that.
Tomorrow I am doign the longest race to date.
Chesapeakman Aquavelo.
This is a local (well 4 hours away) Iron-distance race, that is not produced by Ironman.
The timing of it is perfect to use the Aquavelo division as a training race for those fall IM's.
2.4 mile swim inthe Choptank river.
* i have been told it's called the Choptank for a reason. It's Choppy.
* I have been advised to wear a long-sleeved wetsuit to avoid the stinging nettles.
* this swim questions why I am doing this particular event.
112 mile ride through Maryland
* well I rode 97 mile about a month or so ago.
* I hope I like my new saddle now that it is postitioned correctly.
I have a fever blister.
I have a stye.
I am all packed and ready to go.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Patriot's Half Iron: A Comedy of Errors
Half Ironman #4 requires just as much attention as #1.
Night Before...
Plan:
Leave work around 5:00.
Ride for 30 minutes.
Run for 20 minutes.
Bring bike to IronGreg's so he can clean and lube the chain.
IronGreg to kindly make Chicken and Rice pre-race dinner.
Go home and pack.
Bed at 9:00.
What really happened:
Left work around 6:30.
Rode on trainer for 25 minutes.
Call IronGreg to give him the "get dinner ready" call as he asked em to do.
Ran 2 miles - about 18 minutes.
Bring bike to IronGreg's about 8:15 - behind schedule.
Dinner has not been started.
9:00 - eat dinner.
9:30 - get home and pack. almost forgot what to pack...like a race belt!
10:30 - finally go to bed.
Race Morning...
The Plan
3:30 - wake up, eat oatmeal
4:00 - pack car
4:15 - leave
4:30 - meet Zona to combine cars and hit road to race. eat bar.
5:30 - arrive at race site. packet-pick up.
What Really Happened
3:45 - wake up, eat oatmeal.
4:15 - pack car
4:20 - leave
4:45 - get on road to race. eat bar.
5:45 arrive at race.
It was SOOO dark. Grass in parking was cold and wet in my flipper floppers.
I get my packet and my chip. I will put my stuff down then come back for body marking.
I find my rack and set everything up. Perfect. Then I realize the rack next to me is higher numbers than mine. Hmm I am on the rack for 145-150. Oh but I am 144. Darn it!
One row down - other end. Drat! the guy next to me offers to help me move my stuff, but I put on my big girl panties and deal with it. Set up at my new spot, fortunately still ont he end of the rack. I go to put my aerobottle on and hmm I am missing a rubber band. well I had it earlier. Must be at the other biek rack. but i can't see anything because it's so damn dark! I'll get to that later. I keep setting everything up. time to put my ship on my strap. Hmm where's the chip. I must have put it in my packet. SherpaLynn took that to the car already - ack! She brings back the bag. It's nto int here! Insert expletive. Sherpa Lynn plays the part of Favey and is able to get me a replacement ship - shew. disaster averted. now I can go to the bathroom. I am SO behind schedule now. Oh and I found the rubber band at the other rack. Everyone is heading down to the stat - sheisty I don't even have my wetsuit on! I get donw there and realize that I left my pre-swiim shot block at my bag - oh well, too late now. I am talking with my friends when IronLynn tells G and I that our wave is in the water - insert expletive. Run down and make it in with about 30 seconds befor ethe gun goes off - so much for warming up!
The Swim...
The Plan
Swim around before the race to warm up.
Work on pushing it harder than I usually do.
Draft.
Sight. Trying nto to tred water to get my bearings, but keep it going smoothly.
What Really Happened
I got int he water in jsut enough time to start the race.
No warming up.
I kept up a good pace and was in a pack - never swam in quite a pack before, since I usually try to pull away to find my rhythm without getting knocked around. I kept telling myself that's not going to be possilbe at IMAZ so I need to practice now. And so I did.
Sighting was going well. I thought the buoys were a little far apart, but I was able to keep in line with them.
I passed two orange buoys and then came the yellow one - time to turn left.
I love making turns, it's like I hit a mini-milestone or something. I breathe a sigh of relief.
I saw a could more orange buoys and kept them on my left. The pack was thinning out some, but I was still in a good group. Someone was all up in my feet - I mean we all want to draft, but damn stop pulling my feet under. Kick. See ya later. Okay here's comes the next yellow buoy, another left turn.
And where do I go from here? Hmmm.
Everyone is everywhere.
Well the buoys are way to my left and people are way to my right AND to my left. Expletive. Expletive. Expletive.
Okay right before the race Coach G was telling a new open water swimmer how you shoudl nto follow people but stay on course yourself, so that's what I should do - glad I heard that reminder. I will swim over to the orange buoys.
I felt like Dory in Finding Nemo. Swimming Swimming Swimming.
then I realize the fate of my swim.
Thsoe buoys to my left - yeah those are the ones we used to get out for the first leg of the swim.
Insert major expletive.
Keep pushing hard. (err pulling hard)
Finally I see the yellow wiggly man on shore.
Then some kayaker tells me I should move for a boat. yeah F-you woman, I am swimming here.
I stand up and look at my watch.
I will not repeat what I said.
There was a guy from the race production company on shore - I let him know how I felt.
So guess how many buiys directed you back in?
ZERO!
I was running up towards transition and saw 2 of my girls, Lou and KO. It was all I could do to hold back the tears as I gave them the thumbs down with my best pouty face.
I am STILL spitting nails. I have worked so hard on my swimming for this?!
Official Swim Time: 55:09
A/G: 25/29 86%
* This is the LONGEST HIM swim I have done. I recently swam a lap of the IMUSA course in 38 mintues WITH my coach messing with me. Now I know this course has current. People I usually swim with hit 41-44 mintues. So I assume I was about 10 minutes off.
The Bike...
The Plan
The plan was simple. Push it harder than I am used to.
Night Before...
Plan:
Leave work around 5:00.
Ride for 30 minutes.
Run for 20 minutes.
Bring bike to IronGreg's so he can clean and lube the chain.
IronGreg to kindly make Chicken and Rice pre-race dinner.
Go home and pack.
Bed at 9:00.
What really happened:
Left work around 6:30.
Rode on trainer for 25 minutes.
Call IronGreg to give him the "get dinner ready" call as he asked em to do.
Ran 2 miles - about 18 minutes.
Bring bike to IronGreg's about 8:15 - behind schedule.
Dinner has not been started.
9:00 - eat dinner.
9:30 - get home and pack. almost forgot what to pack...like a race belt!
10:30 - finally go to bed.
Race Morning...
The Plan
3:30 - wake up, eat oatmeal
4:00 - pack car
4:15 - leave
4:30 - meet Zona to combine cars and hit road to race. eat bar.
5:30 - arrive at race site. packet-pick up.
What Really Happened
3:45 - wake up, eat oatmeal.
4:15 - pack car
4:20 - leave
4:45 - get on road to race. eat bar.
5:45 arrive at race.
It was SOOO dark. Grass in parking was cold and wet in my flipper floppers.
I get my packet and my chip. I will put my stuff down then come back for body marking.
I find my rack and set everything up. Perfect. Then I realize the rack next to me is higher numbers than mine. Hmm I am on the rack for 145-150. Oh but I am 144. Darn it!
One row down - other end. Drat! the guy next to me offers to help me move my stuff, but I put on my big girl panties and deal with it. Set up at my new spot, fortunately still ont he end of the rack. I go to put my aerobottle on and hmm I am missing a rubber band. well I had it earlier. Must be at the other biek rack. but i can't see anything because it's so damn dark! I'll get to that later. I keep setting everything up. time to put my ship on my strap. Hmm where's the chip. I must have put it in my packet. SherpaLynn took that to the car already - ack! She brings back the bag. It's nto int here! Insert expletive. Sherpa Lynn plays the part of Favey and is able to get me a replacement ship - shew. disaster averted. now I can go to the bathroom. I am SO behind schedule now. Oh and I found the rubber band at the other rack. Everyone is heading down to the stat - sheisty I don't even have my wetsuit on! I get donw there and realize that I left my pre-swiim shot block at my bag - oh well, too late now. I am talking with my friends when IronLynn tells G and I that our wave is in the water - insert expletive. Run down and make it in with about 30 seconds befor ethe gun goes off - so much for warming up!
The Swim...
The Plan
Swim around before the race to warm up.
Work on pushing it harder than I usually do.
Draft.
Sight. Trying nto to tred water to get my bearings, but keep it going smoothly.
What Really Happened
I got int he water in jsut enough time to start the race.
No warming up.
I kept up a good pace and was in a pack - never swam in quite a pack before, since I usually try to pull away to find my rhythm without getting knocked around. I kept telling myself that's not going to be possilbe at IMAZ so I need to practice now. And so I did.
Sighting was going well. I thought the buoys were a little far apart, but I was able to keep in line with them.
I passed two orange buoys and then came the yellow one - time to turn left.
I love making turns, it's like I hit a mini-milestone or something. I breathe a sigh of relief.
I saw a could more orange buoys and kept them on my left. The pack was thinning out some, but I was still in a good group. Someone was all up in my feet - I mean we all want to draft, but damn stop pulling my feet under. Kick. See ya later. Okay here's comes the next yellow buoy, another left turn.
And where do I go from here? Hmmm.
Everyone is everywhere.
Well the buoys are way to my left and people are way to my right AND to my left. Expletive. Expletive. Expletive.
Okay right before the race Coach G was telling a new open water swimmer how you shoudl nto follow people but stay on course yourself, so that's what I should do - glad I heard that reminder. I will swim over to the orange buoys.
I felt like Dory in Finding Nemo. Swimming Swimming Swimming.
then I realize the fate of my swim.
Thsoe buoys to my left - yeah those are the ones we used to get out for the first leg of the swim.
Insert major expletive.
Keep pushing hard. (err pulling hard)
Finally I see the yellow wiggly man on shore.
Then some kayaker tells me I should move for a boat. yeah F-you woman, I am swimming here.
I stand up and look at my watch.
I will not repeat what I said.
There was a guy from the race production company on shore - I let him know how I felt.
So guess how many buiys directed you back in?
ZERO!
I was running up towards transition and saw 2 of my girls, Lou and KO. It was all I could do to hold back the tears as I gave them the thumbs down with my best pouty face.
I am STILL spitting nails. I have worked so hard on my swimming for this?!
Official Swim Time: 55:09
A/G: 25/29 86%
* This is the LONGEST HIM swim I have done. I recently swam a lap of the IMUSA course in 38 mintues WITH my coach messing with me. Now I know this course has current. People I usually swim with hit 41-44 mintues. So I assume I was about 10 minutes off.
The Bike...
The Plan
The plan was simple. Push it harder than I am used to.
Friday, September 11, 2009
HIM
tomorrow I am doing Patriot's Half-Ironman.
I haven't done a full triathlon since Timberman 70.3....OVER A YEAR AGO!
this will be interesting.
I am looking forward to it.
i kept forgetting about it until a few days ago when it started looming.
So last night I decided I should unpack from vacation so I can pack for the race.
That's a good start.
I would also like to take a moment to reflect on this day.
We will never forget.
I haven't done a full triathlon since Timberman 70.3....OVER A YEAR AGO!
this will be interesting.
I am looking forward to it.
i kept forgetting about it until a few days ago when it started looming.
So last night I decided I should unpack from vacation so I can pack for the race.
That's a good start.
I would also like to take a moment to reflect on this day.
We will never forget.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Here and There
I haven't posted any animal sighting recently.
Why?
Because I haven't seen any.
I rode in Williamsburg. Nothing.
I rode in the East End. Nothing.
I rode in Florida. I saw some ocean birds. And a couple dead snakes.
Riding in Florida is hard.
It's flat. Like really flat. the only hills were going up and over the bridges to go from island-to-island. And you would have thought a hurricane was coming with all of that wind. Holy Wind, Batman. That was the longest three-hour ride of my life. IronGreg was a good boyfriend and waited for me to catch up every few miles. He even stopped for me to take a picture of a pretty and historic home.
And just to get himself extra brownie points (you would think he was in trouble!), he even did the 20 minute t-run with 3:00/2:00 intervals with me afterwards.
I did make my long run down there. It wasn't as long (or as fast) as I would have liked, but it is in the books. Mission Accomplished. Now off to the beach.
While I was in Amelia Island, I received a phoen call from United saying that my flight schedule to IMAZ was changed and I needed to call them back. What?! Yeah, I'm on vacation. I'll deal with this next week. So that is what I jsut did.
I called United.
they told me even though I booked through United (thanks to kayak.com), they were IS Airways flights, so I needed to call them regarding the change.
So I call US Airways.
They tell me that since I booked through United I need to talk with United regarding the change.
Um. yeah. NO.
I tell them that they need to call United and we will jsut have a little conference call.
And so they did.
And after about 30+ moinutes of airline drama. The flight change - 3 minutes! Are you f*in kidding me?! you wasted my time for this?!
however, while I was on hold constantly I made my reservations with TriBike Transport. So Diamond is scheduled to make her way to IMAZ. I wish I could attach a camera on her to track her trek.
Friday.
Friday is 9/11. A day we will never forget.
But nto only is it a day to remember those we lost, it is also a day to celebrate.
Celebrate what?
My friend Jason's birthday.
And also my dear gal-pal Lou's birthday.
so to celebrate Lou, tonight we are hitting up the National (cool concert venue) for an AC/DC tribute band. Rock and Roll.
Why?
Because I haven't seen any.
I rode in Williamsburg. Nothing.
I rode in the East End. Nothing.
I rode in Florida. I saw some ocean birds. And a couple dead snakes.
Riding in Florida is hard.
It's flat. Like really flat. the only hills were going up and over the bridges to go from island-to-island. And you would have thought a hurricane was coming with all of that wind. Holy Wind, Batman. That was the longest three-hour ride of my life. IronGreg was a good boyfriend and waited for me to catch up every few miles. He even stopped for me to take a picture of a pretty and historic home.
And just to get himself extra brownie points (you would think he was in trouble!), he even did the 20 minute t-run with 3:00/2:00 intervals with me afterwards.
I did make my long run down there. It wasn't as long (or as fast) as I would have liked, but it is in the books. Mission Accomplished. Now off to the beach.
While I was in Amelia Island, I received a phoen call from United saying that my flight schedule to IMAZ was changed and I needed to call them back. What?! Yeah, I'm on vacation. I'll deal with this next week. So that is what I jsut did.
I called United.
they told me even though I booked through United (thanks to kayak.com), they were IS Airways flights, so I needed to call them regarding the change.
So I call US Airways.
They tell me that since I booked through United I need to talk with United regarding the change.
Um. yeah. NO.
I tell them that they need to call United and we will jsut have a little conference call.
And so they did.
And after about 30+ moinutes of airline drama. The flight change - 3 minutes! Are you f*in kidding me?! you wasted my time for this?!
however, while I was on hold constantly I made my reservations with TriBike Transport. So Diamond is scheduled to make her way to IMAZ. I wish I could attach a camera on her to track her trek.
Friday.
Friday is 9/11. A day we will never forget.
But nto only is it a day to remember those we lost, it is also a day to celebrate.
Celebrate what?
My friend Jason's birthday.
And also my dear gal-pal Lou's birthday.
so to celebrate Lou, tonight we are hitting up the National (cool concert venue) for an AC/DC tribute band. Rock and Roll.
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