Finally...a good run!

This weekend I missed our Saturday Practice because I was up in San Francisco with 3 of my best friends, one of whom is the sister of my mentee Yaz. Despite missing practice, Tas (my best friend and mentees sister) dragged me to the hotel gym and I did a 4 mile run/walk. I had the brilliant idea to run OUTSIDE, but Tas vetoed that due to the fact that SF is entirely made up of mountains, and somehow you always seem to be running UP them. So in the gym, it was kind of a disaster because I forgot my inhaler...I found that I could do a really slow run without walking at 5.2 mph...any faster and my chest would get too tight and I had to walk. It's not so awesome that I still struggle with the asthma, but the good news is that usually it's not such a big issue.

And tonight I redeemed myself. I grabbed my 2 mentees, or maybe begged them to join me so I wouldn't puss out, and we ran 4 miles on the strand in Manhattan beach. 4 miles in 41:41, and we stopped for 2:20, so techncially if we hadn't pussed out for 2 minutes, it woulda been faster than my "typical" pace. Felt good! Then off to Subway for a $5, $5 dollar, $5 dollar footlong. (argh!!! I hate that commercial!!)

Swim practice tomorrow. Goal is to make it 5-6 workouts this week.

Wildflower is in 8 weeks!!! Are you f*in kidding me?????? eek!

A Creaky Start

After about 2 weeks of getting in a few workouts, my body is remembering that it doesn't really love to do all these things. From my neck to my toes, there are a smorgasbord of aches, pains, cracking, stiffness. And it's funny that as much work as I have, that I'm a mentor...I'm sure some of my mentees could teach me a thing or two.

But fortunately, there's this lovely little thing called massage and having had 90 minutes of pure bliss tonight, I'm feeling loads better. Until the next time I decide to move again :)

On the other creaky side of things is the fundraising. I know the economy is tight, but I'm really hoping to get the support that I need so that I can find myself not in a stressed position where I can't be there for my mentees. Every little bit counts, but it's hard to ask when everyone is just squeaking by.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/wildtri09/jimprota

Tis the New Season!

When we last left our heroine, she was completing a half-marathon in December, after a year of moderate training and racing, that included 3 sprint triathlons, 1 international distance (my first in san Diego), and 1 full Olympic distance triathlon.

It was a good year, one that had me say "hmmm, I'd love to help others through similar torture so they can feel as good as I did, competing and raising money for Team-in-Training.

So now here i am, and not only am I participating this year, training for the Olympic Distance triathlon at Wildflower on May 3rd, but i am also proud to say i'm MENTORING for the Summer Season of team-in-training. I'm just barely starting to raise money (i'm aiming for about $3,000), and just barely starting to move my ass again.

I had a rough December and January...and a little bit of February..for some reason I just got hit punch after punch by flu, cold, food poisoning, cold, bronchitis. Seriously.

But now I'm feeling pretty good and ready to go!

I don't think that anyone is reading this, so i feel no shame posting the website where you can donate.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/sdtri09/jimprota

Strawberry Fields Sprint Tri

This past Sunday, I did tri #2 -- a sprint up in Oxnard. It was a 500m swim, 12 mile bike and 3.1 mile run.
All in all it was a fast course and a lot more fun than the pseudo olympic in san diego. I seriously enjoyed it!


Some Highlights and Notes:

1. I will no longer show up the morning of the race. I was completely a mess, trying to find a tire pump (my crappy one exploded on Coach Brad as he was trying to inflate my tires), forgetting to get a race chip (thanks to brad again, I got one at the last minute), and still fitting in my pre-race ritual (don't ask)

2. I ran into a high school buddy of mine -Doug Thaxton -- married for 10 years with 3 kids. It's funny as i'm so old it took me a few minutes to remember his name. THere was also the memory that in high school we 'hung out', but i was so afraid of boys at that point, I would practically run away if he even tried to hold my hand. Ha. Nothing like racing in your backyard...thank god it was him and not some other people I can think of that i want to avoid the rest of my life.

3. O.M.G. the WAVES!!! A group of us, about 5 minutes into the swim got CLOBBERED by a wave that broke pretty darn far out. All of a sudden, I was tits-up, and missing my goggles (thank god i barely grabbed them). I didn't even see it coming and neither did the 10 dazed people around me. Meanwhile, my coach Erika was practically out the other side already, traipsing up the beach on the way to the bike ride.

4. A 3 mile run = WAY BETTER THAN 6 MILE RUN!!!

5. Technically I could qualify for the "athena" category. This must be remedied. Call me "Athena" and I"ll shove my sport beans where the sun don't shine. *kiss!*

6. I beat the guy dressed as a giant strawberry!!!! I seriously don't like to lose to fruit.

My "final" email to my Supporters

Well it's been a long time in coming, as I finished the San Diego International Triathlon more than two weeks ago, but I just wanted to let you know that I am in fact still alive. And I finished it -- in under 3 hours, which was my goal!It was an amazing experience and actually harder than I thought it would be, though let's face it, I had dreaded that 6.2 mile run since I started training back in February. The day before the race, we travelled to San Diego, checked in and got our goodie bag. In retrospect, this was probably my favorite part of the weekend - FREE FOOD! ha.

I had a great big pasta dinner with my family that night. I mean BIG. I would train for 5 more months just to eat a meal like that guilt free again. Yay Carbs!!!

After a relatively sleepless night, I woke up at 4:45 and met my team in the lobby, at which point we walked over to the race start. We got our numbers marked in permanent ink on our bodies (i was #963) and did last minute preparations of our transition areas. It was a beautiful day and there was so much energy at the race start, as 1300 people from a range of ages, body types, experience, and strengths waited for their wave (age group) to start. I noted to a friend how exciting it all was....except for the pesky little part of having to swim, bike and run myself. :-)SwimThe pros went off at 6:45 a.m., and my age group was to start at 7:25. All of the 30-35's (holy crap, i'm 30...) in our white swim caps swam out at about 7:20 and were given a one-minute countdown. One girl remarked she liked my pink goggles. I was happy to look to the shore and see that my parents, brother, fiance and friends were on the shore, coffee in hand, all ready to cheer me on. I was excited but nervous and hoping to not come in last like I darn near did at the duathlon I did a couple months ago.
BEEEEEEEEP: I swam and swam and swam and swam and swam....making it one buoy to the next, plodding along. I truly had no idea if I was in first, last, or even necessarily swimming in a straight line. But eventually rounded the last buoy, happy to see that I was even passing several orange caps (people who had started 5 minutes before me in the 25-29 age group). I was also getting passed by some pink caps (35-39), but never mind that. So the Loch Jess Monster stumbled out of the water, exhausted but happy to know I had held my own on the swim. Transition 1 (Swim to bike)Up the ramp (hey, no sand this time!) I ran through the long parking lot till I got to the row of bikes where mine was. I was dizzy and disoriented, but that's to be expected. On with the helmet, socks, and bike shoes, then bike off the rack and running/stumbling it out of the transition area to where I could finally mount and take off. I gave the ole peace sign to my adoring and caffeinated fans before i took off out of T1. BikeI hopped on the bike and took off peddling. We had driven the course the day before, which in retrospect may not have been a GREAT idea. Because I knew it was going to be a loooong slow uphill for more than 3 miles. Of course, slow is different for some than others as several people zoomed past me. Looking at my odometer at the worst points, I was at about 7.1 miles per hour. I sorta figure that below 7.0, I'm walking, so I'm happy I managed to not have to dismount at any point. Once I finally got to the top, it was small rolling hills out to Cabrillo National Monument along the point of San Diego. You have the ocean on both sides and it's really beautiful. This part of the ride was manageable and it was (dare I say) fun doing the loop twice at the top and crossing paths with all my teammates and yelling 'go team!' and knowing we were all accomplishing something together. Some weirdo wearing an old man mask was at the turnaround, not doing much except providing some comic relief for us to keep going. I wonder if he was just a weirdo standing at the turnaround, or a weirdo that the SD Tri people HIRED to stand at the turnaround. The great thing about 3+ miles uphill in the beginning is that it's 3+ miles alllll downhill on the way back. So I had a nice 30+mph pace headed home. I think, though, I actually threw on the brakes a couple times just to avoid the impending doom of the run. I felt strong on the bike after the initial uphill, but you can't believe how ridiculous some of these athletes were and how well conditioned their legs are to handle the bike portion. I spent most of the 5 months ignoring many of the slated practice rides because hey, it's just riding a bike!!! But I realized in the aftermath that my bike was relatively my WEAKEST leg. Coincidence? :)Transition 2I flew down the last hill toward the transition area and saw my mom in pink with the event photographer prompting him to catch me in action (link is below). I have this special thing that happens when I ride after I'm in the water -- my nose runs like crazy -- so I was pleased the photographer could catch all the hot snot action. Seriously, it's like a faucet for the whole 18 miles.

Anyway, at the end of the bike I saw Erik, my dad, bro, and some family friends, gave another very original 'peace' sign, before I hopped off the bike and beelined towards my running gear. Throwing on my running shoes and hat, I took off for the final frontier, begrudgingly, but determined to not start walking until i was AT LEAST out of eyeshot of the crowd. The Evil RunI ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran and ran....oh, and did I mention I ran and ran and ran some more? And then after about a billion years, I saw it......THE ONE MILE MARK!!!! Holy crap. I mean, seriously, it felt like 10. So then my legs started to come back and I ran and ran and ran and ran and ran. After a few minutes, I figured maybe they were only marking off every odd mile. No such luck. After another billion years, there was mile 2. Around this time, I started getting passed. And not just passed, but PASSED. The fun thing about the body markings is that on your back left calf, they put your age. And there's something very disconcerting about the wind that kicks up as you're getting SCHOOLED by calf after calf passing you, mocking you, with the numbers 40, 46, 49, 39, 55, etc going by. Some of these women were amazing and while I cursed them, I also truly admired their fitness and youth and it gave me something to aspire to. My friend Jihyon, 39 with 3 kids, flew by me, told me to pick up my pace ("YOU'RE SMILING, RUN FASTER"!), and suddenly was only a speck in the distance. I apparently smile when I'm horribly miserable and exhausted, by the way.

I had to walk some. I ran/walked/ran/walked. ran, ran, ran, ran. Dumped several dixie cups of water over my head, just because it seemed like the cool thing to do. Until I realized I was wearing all white. So along the water, through a little marina area, then through a dreaded mile+ asphalt jungle behind a car rental place near the airport I went. It was lonely and sad there. I think I saw a skull and tumbleweed on the ground next to an empty gatorade cup. But I made it and then only a couple more miles to go. It was really hard between miles 1 and 6 (yup, pretty much all of it), but I reminded myself that if my mom could do a year of chemo, I could run for an hour.

After mile 5, it was an eternity, and I wondered if I would see a mile 6 marker, or just the finish line (at mile 6.2), because that 6 marker was nowhere to be found. I did find a homeless man in a wheelchair that yelled 'looking good, honey!' and attempted to wheel alongside me, though. And then there it was. I came around the corner and I saw the balloons and heard music and saw a crowd of people and the finish -- about .1 miles and a minute away. And the weirdest thing happened: I got all choked up and started to hyperventilate -- my chest closed up and i was sure I was having an asthma attack (which was odd because I was fine up to that point) I had to remind myself that everything was ok and try to deepen my breaths to make it to the end. I saw about 20 of my teammates and my family along the side and I put my arms up in victory for a photo record of all the fun I was having, and stomped through the finish line onto the final "X" that records your time...

It was surreal. And then I broke down sobbing and hyperventilating and had the first panic attack I've ever had in my life. Who knows why. Maybe it was the 5 months coming to an end, or feeling like I had accomplished something big, or fatigue, or let down, or excitement. Whatever it was, it was both bizarre and amazing. Once I could breathe, and got tons of hugs from my family and Erik, it hit me. I'M FREAKIN TIRED!!!!!!!!! and?.....and?.......I did it. It's over. I'm a triathlete.

My final time was 2 hours 41 minutes 51 seconds (2:41:51). I finished in the bottom 3rd of my age division, but not last! I came in top 1/2 in the swim, which was a big improvement, and came in within minutes of several other people on my team, even beating a couple I figured would blow me out of the water. I did the run in 1:05, even with all the pissing and moaning. So there were small victories within the overall victory. Not that it's a race, but...well, it is. And I'm competitive. And I know what I need to work on now.

I could keep going on all about the next 24 hours of extreme fatigue, and the relative lack of activity since then. But instead I'm going to leap forward a little to say that I'm doing a mini-Tri in Oxnard this weekend with many of my teammates. I'm still lightly training, and planning to start hitting it harder in order to do a full olympic distance in September (LA Triathlon September 7th). And while I don't expect to turn pro anytime soon, to be able to start competing against myself, and make positive strides, is exciting to think about. Because, you know I'm a triathlete now! (as opposed to someone who did one triathlon,heh).

To anyone who thinks even SLIGHTLY that this is something you'd want to do, and you have a nagging voice telling you you can't do it...WRONG. You can. You just can! I strongly strongly recommend the Team-in-Training program. If you have any questions, you can ask me anytime. To be trained in the way they train you, to have the support of coaches and to make a whole new set of like-minded friends, is a gift. To be able to also give back while doing it is a bigger gift. To know you have people like YOU offering support and donations to the endeavor is yet another amazing bonus. So Two Thumbs Up for TNT.
And for you.


So now maybe my next blog will have to be named bigredDIDatriathlon.blogspot.com?

Race Results!!!

Well, I did it! I am officially a triathlete. This past weekend I did the San Diego International Triathlon, a 1000meter swim, a 30k bike, and a 10k run. (translated that is a .6 mile swim, 18.6 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) I'm going to write a whole play by play on the experience in my other blog (bigreddoesatriathlon.blogspot.com) when I’m not quite so hungover from an insane karaoke night, but I really for now just want to report the results, that weren’t as slow as I had anticipated!

In my age group , I finished 50 out of 68 women…ok, so it was definitely in the back of the pack, but there are good things to report within that stat, that I’m proud of, and it also gives me a way to see where my weaknesses are for further training.

First off are the numbers.

Overall time: 2:41:51 (773^rd place in the entire field – out of about 900 doing the full distance)
Swim: 19:26 (663rd place)
Bike: 1:08 (764 place)
Run: 1:06:58 (785 place)

My transition from swim to bike took 3:52
My transition from bike to run took 2:59 (these figures include running all the way into the lot where the bike rack is and back out)…

The good things to report are these:

My swim time was in the top half of my age group and I even passed some of the people in the wave before us (they send us out every 5 minutes based on our age). I finished 3+ minutes faster than the last swim race I had done 2 months ago, in under 20 minutes!! You can see that if I had kept up the pace of my swim thru the bike and run, I would have finished 663^rd instead of 773^rd (I lost a bit on the 2^nd 2 legs, ahem….).

The bike was ok – I had no idea how I would rank in the pack. The run was about as horrible as I expected, but to finish 6.2 miles in just over an hour, doing slightly slower than 10 minute miles is really cool, considering I couldn’t run a full mile 4.5 months ago when I started all this.

Compared to my teammates doing the race, I was surprised to learn how close in time I was to some of the people I thought were in considerably better shape.

Overall, I finished, I survived, and I can see that I need to start hammering it harder on the bike and run – building my legs and fitness up for those events, as well as improving on my swim strokes to be more efficient and strong when I emerge from the water.

Anyway, I’m proud and happy to have accomplished this goal and milestone and am looking forward to keeping at it!! Thanks for the support from those of you who have watched me on this journey!

Games Coaches Play

"Ok, now do 5 x 100meters."
Hey WAIT, that's 500 meters...
Yeah, that 10 seconds rest in between doesn't really delineate anything to me. A wolf in sheeps' clothing is still a wolf!

6 x 25 = 150meters
You can't fool me!

5x50 = 250
mmmhmmmmmm

TAPER WEEK & Last Swim Practice

I just got back from our last swim practice of the season. Four and a half months flew by and all that's left between me and my first triathlon is a few 'taper' days of light workouts before I take off for San Diego.

Last week I wrote about some trepidation about my training, but after this weekends workouts, I'm sure I'll get through it, maybe even with a smile on my face. On Saturday, we did a light swim, practicing the in-water start. This race doesn't start from the shore, rather, we go out a distance and all bob around in the water until our wave (age group) is signaled to start. So after a light 10 minute swim, we did about 18 miles on PCH on our bikes, practicing transitions, and then did a 2 mile run. It was hot as HELL, and we didn't start practice as early as maybe we should have either. 9 a.m. was when we got in the water so by the run around 11, it was boiling and that 2 miles was really really rough. A quick dunk in the water was sooooo nice, and after I left the beach at noon, it already felt like a full day.

Sunday was equally as eventful. I went to bed early, or actually my body forced me into bed early b/c I could barely hold my head up...and was up at 6:30 to go down to Manhattan beach for my first LA Tri Club swim. About 100 people were there, and I was happy to finally find some TNT'ers to buddy up with. Jihan and I ended up swimming a bit over a mile together, slowly but surely, around the manhattan beach pier and back to the beach. It felt great afterwards. It was just such a beautiful day, amazing really, and I can't imagine why I had never done that swim before. Now I had 'accidentally' forgotten my running shoes for a 'fun run' afterwards. But being the incredible athlete and slavedriver that she is, teammate Jiyhan convinced me a 4 mile run barefoot along the beach was the best thing to do. So we did it.
Normally I'm not a huge fan of running around in my bathing suit, or RUNNING in my bathing suit, but i did it. 4 miles with 3 of my teammates to the hermosa beach pier and back, in the boiling hot sun, with a couple quick dunks in the water along the way. Breakfast at Uncle Bill's pancake house afterwards was the perfect chaser.

So after a great weekend of training, and a light run yesterday, I am now in taper. Granted, I have sorta been tapering for 6 weeks :), but this time it's on the schedule. And I'm actually getting excited. On top of that is some bittersweet sadness. I found out Coach Brad won't be at our race and that truly is sad news because he has been so instrumental in all of our progress. tonight my teammates are at the bar, but honestly I couldn't bring myself to go. It just seems too soon and kinda sad to be reminiscing already.

But it really was an incredible season and as I start to slow it down in order to be ready on race day, I will reflect, as Brad suggested in an email today, on how far I have come...from not being able to run a mile to being able to run 6...from not being able to breathe left in swimming to being able to breathe in both directions...from having major saddle sores biking, to building up calluses :)....

more reflection to come...

It's all coming to a head...

Hopefully that head will be crossing the finish line.

But to give a quick update b/c i'm too tired and hot to elaborate too much.

I graduated from grad school a week ago. I would say that my workouts have been less than stellar if they happen at all.
I ran 6 miles with my brother Dan last Saturday and had a blast though was so SO tired the next day.
This past week I was in New York. I ran a couple miles one day and walked a lot, but there was no swim, no bike ride and quite frankly I feel pretty guilty about it. This was our final build week and i've blown it.

Tomorrow we'll have our last Saturday team practice. I feel sad, disconnected, and wonder where the last 4.5 months went?!? We are doing a mini-triathlon, and then if I don't feel too antisocial, will be hanging at the beach with everyone. It's hard not to feel a bit out of it when most of our team went to, and had a ridiculous blast, in Maui for their triathlon. But It'll still be nice to be around some new friends again, after several practices away.

Sunday, hopefully i can do the Manhattan beach morning swim and whatever else is on the schedule and then things wind down till the race next Sunday. Mellow practices and 'recovery', though I've done so little in the past 2 weeks, and the prior setbacks with my neck that if anything, I need to recvoer from all the crap i've been eating.

Anyway, I'm getting nervous and just hoping my body can hold up. Today i'm going to go spend a $200 gift certificate at my favorite women's sports store and maybe the retail therapy will get my head back in it.

Quickie...

I'm busy trying to finish the one thing that stand between me and graduation -- one STUPID little paper that I abhor more than anything -- so this'll be quick. I''ll send a good update monday.

I started working out again last saturday after 10 days off due to neck issues. I did the swim tuesday, a 45 minute run (4+ miles) yesterday, and today did a 60 minute spinning class followed by a 10 minute run (6 mph). We had our final team dinner and a majority of our team headed off to Maui today for their race on saturday. So now it's just our l ittle pack of San Diego people left for one more month...no wait, LESS. :)

I'll elaborate o n all of the above in a few days.

peace and loose necks to all,
Jess

Tomorrow will be One Month Away

I haven't worked out in a week -- my neck is finally feeling somewhat better and I will get back out there tomorrow and do SOMEthing... but something is lost when you take this much time off. You doubt yourself, your commitment, your body's capacity to perform. I'm scared that the athlete who I used to be has faded away into the oblivion of getting older. If my neck is like this at 30, what will it be at 60? It's a frightening prospect, especially since I hoped that all this working out would strengthen things, not make it worse.

I also wonder if my head is just too big for my neck. But then I think I have a thick neck, which should be able to accommodate such a large pumpkin head. :-)

I've got a major stiffie...

My neck is still pretty bad - it's painful and stiff. The chiropractor definitely helped but i would say that it'll be at LEAST one more day and maybe the whole weekend before i try to work out again.
Maybe I can do something light tomorrow; we'll see.

Huge Pain in the Neck

I suffered a pretty big setback today. Last night a s I was adjusting my pillow in bed, my whole neck just seized up. It's not the first time it has happened, but every time it does it just throws my whole world into 'pause'. It's excruciating and incapacitating, not to mention expensive (already went to the chiro this morning for a cool $95).

I'm about to begin the ice/heat/ice/heat process for the rest of the day. I have made myself as comfortable as possible on the couch, but it is all relative -- the pain hasn't stopped. I guess I will use this time to continue to read/work on the worst paper of my master's program yet, and pray that the adjustment today helps enough to get me back out training in a day or two. Thank god there's leftover vicodin in the house. I may also go in for some lidocaine injections if my stupid HMO orthopedic doctor can get me in within the century.

UGH. UGH.

Beached Whale

I seem to be missing a little thing called the "whoosh". Coming off a somewhat disappointing swim on sunday, Brad kept close track of my swimming today and well, it turns out I just am not that aerodynamic...or hydrodynamic....It's kinda like pushing a fire hydrant thru the water -- speed is not exactly the result.

My main issue is breathing. I know...small detail. But seriously, though I've learned to breathe in a systematic way every 3 strokes, both to the left AND right, it is a huge gasping desperate attempt for air every single time. Sometimes there's a wheezing noise that accompanies it. Occasionally, I drink a fair amount of water...and whether it has chlorine or salt as the primary ingredient, they both suck.

Turns out I'm a flat swimmer, or at least I just coined that term. I tend not to rotate and because of this, I'm lacking graceful, smooth long strokes, turning to the left and right with ease to get my face fully out of the water to take in oxygen. I lack the "whoosh".

So today Brad kept telling me to keep it smooth, to lengthen, to turn and keep my reaching arm out instead of windmilling desperately to make it to the other side of the pool. Finally at the end of the workout, I was told that I have to now start every practice with 400 meters of 1-arms/regular stroke...not my idea of fun. But I must be broken of my bad habits.

Now to add insult to injury, Brad had me get up on the deck. I asked "are you about to publicly humiliate me?" He said "no". But then he had me lay on my stomach on the deck and practice rolling on each side one at a time, practicing my stroke. Yeah, there's nothing quite like being ass up in broad daylight. Not that i don't LOVE my ass (dripping sarcasm), but I am kinda that person that yells 'HEY LOOK, IT'S ELVIS!' and when everyone turns to look, I rip off my clothes and cannonball into the pool. So I wasn't thrilled, but i picked up what Brad was putting down. And I realize that the bad form is only holding me back.

I think I might start a new olympic sport. Power deck swimming. Ass up.

Reality Check

Yesterday I competed in my first multi-sport race. I spent about 1/2 hour in bed between 6 and 6:30 a.m. debating sleeping in till noon, or getting down to the beach by 7 to register for the 9:00 a.m. Aquathlon. This one time, ambition won out and the comfy bed lost its bid to seduce me.

So I arrived for the event, wetsuit and running gear in tow, exhausted but also kinda...just KINDA...excited. This event is called "Playa Del Run" and consists of 1000m swim and a 5k(3.1. mile) run. Encouraged by the fact some of my teammates would be there, I thought it would be a good practice thing to do, to experience swimming in the water with 150+ other people, something I haven't done yet.

Around 8:45 a.m., after chitchat, nervous talk with some of my other fellow novices, and readjusting my transition area 67 times, we walked over to the start on the beach. I was squeezed 1/2 way into my wetsuit and oh MAN was it boiling hot in that sun. I actually couldn't wait to get in the water. In the little holding pen, I saw Erik running towards me, looking for me in the sea of people...I was happy he had made it to witness this hot mess compete in her first race.

Then the whistle went off and we barrel-assed towards the sea...the course was straight in towards a huge yellow buoy, hang a right, go down to the 3rd buoy then straight back in. Initially, I started in the back, but dove in with gusto. I'm nothing if not competitive. Turns out I'm also slow. Though around the first turn there were tons of us, by the final turn towards the beach, I suddenly felt oddly alone. I figured I was either kicking everyone's ass, or somewhere in the middleof the ocean about to do a Tom Hanks scene from Castaway. Turns out I was the latter...I struggled out of the water feeling like I weighed about 400 pounds, and turned aroudn to see VERY few people behind me in the water....Erik was there cheering me on as I ran up the beach and I managed to gasp "am i last?"...He said "no"...ok, phew....

Up to transition area, got my wetsuit off, put on the shoes and hat and took off. The 1st 1/2 of the run sucked. It was a 2-loop course so as I came around the end of the first loop, some guy was like '2 MORE MINUTES!!!'. I snorted b/c while i'm sure it WAS 2 more minutes for some people who had easily lapped me, I still had at least another 15. If I had had the strength I would have clotheslined that guy. So I ran and ran and ran some more, but did not stop once to walk, so that's SOMEthing. I finally got to the end and crossed just as I saw the time 55:45 flash. I actually did the 5K in 33 minutes, which considering it was preceded by my first swim race of 22 minutes, is not half bad for ME.

Ok, so Erik put a fake microphone in my face at the end and said 'how do you feel?' Other than wanting to face plant in the sand, I had a mix of emotions. On one hand I was psyched I did it in under an hour. On the other hand, I was really surprised at how slow my swim was. I'm not sure I pushed myself as hard as I could go, because I knew there was a run behind it, but I did think I'd do better. I KNOW I hate the run and suck at it, but I was unpleasantly surprised about the swim. Also, realizing that I would have to do double the run at the tri in june worries me....I think I really need to step up the running practice and improve on my swimming speed.
So preliminarily, I came in 168th out of 178th overall (so yeah, ALMOST last), but that doesn't include some people who didn't finish. I was 150th in the swim and 149th in the run timewise. And I think it was a pretty seasoned crowd of athletes.

The sunny side of the street is that this shows I have lots of room for improvement, which is something to look forward to. I really need to get some weight off -- I"m sure even 10 pounds would help enormously. It's been 3.5 months of training...really getting BACK in half-way decent shape. once the baseline is established, I know I can do a lot better.

The rest of my day consisted of sleep and whining about my sore body. But still, I'm really glad I did it as it helped me see exactly where I stand (and swim and run) in all this stuff.

Sand in the Crack

Today I did my first REAL ocean swim...like, there were waves and everything. The last 2 times we've been in the water it's been in the nasty disgusting Long Beach closed bay -- basically standing water, with the taste and after-taste to match. So it was refreshing and really a lot of fun to go out into the big ocean.

When we got in at 7:15 a.m. for our first 500 m loop, the waves were small. We learned to dive under the waves and hold onto the bottom so we don't get pulled backwards. Then once you're past the surf you swim and swim and swim, realize you're nowhere near the target buoy, double back, and then finally get where you're going. Heading back to shore, with a north-moving current, you have to swim south and you sorta maybe end up where you were supposed to get out of the water. AFter running back to the original spot, we did it again, only this time the waves were large enough that there were surfers everywhere. Four of us manned up and did a second 500 loop (even though we still maintain our guppie status), and finally made it back in. Coming in is the fun part -- there is *some* swimming involved but far more body surfing and baywatch running (in slow motion, of course) through the surf.

Afterwards we sat in the sand for a little while and jumped around in the waves...until mean coach Brad made us go bike and run. Ok, so he's not mean, but maybe was a little grumpy and hungover after celebrating his 40th birthday yesterday. If anyone gives meaning to the saying "40 is the new 30", it's Brad - awesome guy, coach, and definitely inspiring and great to work with.

Ok, so we took off on the bike ride, through venice and around the marina -- about a 10 mile loop. Even though I got lost briefly, somehow I ended up back with the pack by the end.
I usually spend most of the ride dreading the run. No matter how well I handle the swim and bike, having that most hated part of the day hanging over my head really bums me out. I am trying to start saying "I LOVE running" as much as possible, hoping it will improve the experience...but goddammit, i HATE running. wait, no...i mean i LOVE running.. :)

We transitioned to the 5K run, which I apparently extended a few tenths of a mile by going too far, but whatever, I probably needed it. I ran pretty much all of it and actually had a thought near the end that I would do just fine at the actual triathlon. So yeah, a good day...er, morning. While I cursed Brad at 6 a.m. for making us be in the ocean by 7, with the heat like it was by 10:00 a.m., I'd say he knows what he's doing.

Ok, i'm tired now. Time for the 4th leg...remember? it's "nap" - no equipment required.
*snore*

The Rock! (and i don't mean my abs)

I'm ENGAGED to the love of my life!!!!!!!

He proposed on one knee in front of my family in the late part of the day sunday (well after the Mother's day festivities). I was shocked, said "yes" and then called him an asshole (mostly for surprising me YET again). It's very *me* and also caught on tape.

Here is the ring for all you voyeurs. :)
yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A good day!

So today we did about as close to the triathlon distance as we've done yet.
First a 3/4 mile swim (slowly and getting used to the water still) -- this is actually longer than I will have to swim.

Then we did a 2 HOUR BIKE RIDE. Granted it was only 1 hour 50 minutes because we had the wind behind us on the way back, but still.

Then an optional 2 mile run. I totally kicked ASS at this part. For the first time, I ran it in 18 minutes - that's 9 MINUTE MILES. not 10...9. I was completely about to puke by the end -- not sure where another 4.2 miles would come from, but I was really proud of my speed for this one. I rocked it.

Somehow I ended up at Renaissance fair in the afternoon and by the time i got home at 8, to have sushi with Erik, I was practically snoozing in my miso soup. It was a great training day, but man, exhausting. TIME FOR BED!!!!

I wish I could say that I'm ready to do the next big workout (tomorrow) on Sunday, but I usually am wrecked a full 24 hours afterwards. Some people are *actually* going to swim and bike tomorrow too. Nutso's. don't they know you must rest on Mother's Day????

Boo-TAY! arrrrrrr

Yesterday, my ridiculously generous and supportive boyfriend took me to Top-to-Top running store. I was completely resigned to running in crap shoes and cut off sweats thru to the end of my Tri training, despite massive chafing and blistering, but for some odd reason, I am a lucky lucky girl. Maybe triathlon wasn't *quite* the best decision for a social work grad student...but I have had a lot of support and help in getting me the equipment I need for this very costly event Seriously, there is so much CRAP to buy....who knew? Don't buy the "all you really need is running shoes, a bathing suit, and a bike" line - it's a big load of hog-hooie.

So here is what I made out with yesterday.

New Nike Running shoes - beautiful red and grey...
"I *heart* Tri" moisture-wicking socks
3/4 length Running pants - the most comfortable things i've ever worn
A new teal running shirt
These shoelace tie thingies so I don't have to lace my shoes, just zip tie them
A water bottle running belt
More gu/gel/shot blocks than you can shake a stick at.

I can't say i was necessarily running faster or longer today, but i definitely was WAY cooler.
Thanks baby!!!!!!!!!

And also thanks to him, and my mom, a little finders fee from Missy and Jason for a real estate referral ,and overzealous personal spending habits, I am also in possession of (or about to be in possession of):
A beautiful road bike
A unitard/triathlon race thingy
Tri shorts
A bike shirt
A bike saddle bag
Odometer
New sports bra
Bike air pump and tire repair kit (that i don't know how to use)
An awesome bathing suit
Silicon Swim Cap
Pink Goggles

Does this give you an idea of what it takes yet??? sheesh. I'm tired writing it.


In case anyone is curious, I still need (want):
- a Bento Box for my bike (*update -- Erik just got me this! weeeee!)
- Aero-bars
- Leg/arm warmers
- More moisture-wicking thin socks
- Sunglasses
- Hand pump
- Deep-tissue massage
- A Job

Some of these things can be found at sporteve.com or at trilabs.com, though I don't think that includes the job.
ok, that's all i got.
Up at 6 a.m tomorrow for a swim/2-hour bike/2-mile run tomorrow in Long beach.

For the first time......

.....I am going to do every required workout this week.

I'll post a sample schedule later when I figure out how to make it fit in this blog.

:-)