Vineman 70.3 Race Report: Going to Clearwater!

Before I get into it, let me just say I'm savoring the 20-24 female age group. I know what's in store for me as of next season in 25-29 and beyond--believe me I'm terrified--so I'm enjoying the times spent on the podium now because either I improve by 1,000,000% come January, or I'm in store for a rude awakening.

But for now, I'll enjoy the present and fear the future later.

So Vineman 70.3. Here it goes...
Leading up to the race:
My mom and Iflew out of LAX Friday, and wouldn't you know--the freakin bathrooms at LAX broke. We had to use one of only TWO port-o-potties that were posted outside our terminal on the street of insane traffic. Really?

We got into town early, which was nice, but then realized we were stranded at the hotel (which, by the way was a great hotel with the nicest staff ever--I recommend it Vineman-ers). My dad, who was traveling all week for business, wouldn't be coming into town with the rental car until past midnight, so my mom and I worked our magic. We managed to get a $70-something rental car for a mere $17! Thanks Hertz guy at the airport!

Once we had wheels, we hit up the local Trader Joe's and Starbucks, then headed to Johnson's Beach in Guerneville (swim start), but I forgot directions. I have no innate navigational skills whatsoever, nor does my mom, so it took us a while to get there. Unlike dudes, I don't mind stopping at the local liquor store and asking the way. We finally made it to the beach, where I ran into Beth and James. Saturday I got in my last bike/run after picking up my bike from Tribike Transport. Legs felt good. I felt good.

We headed back to the Race Expo at Windsor HS, which was good foreshadowing of how race day weather would be: stifling hot. The whole afternoon was a sweat-fest. But it was still fun mingling with familiar faces, spending too much money on Vineman gear, setting up T2, etc.

Saturday night dinner was random but pretty cool. We met up with a business friend of my dad's and her family. Turns out the husband was an elite triathlete and endurance racer back in the day. We ate a sushi place--I love sushi, but had never eaten it pre-race so at first I decided to limit my raw fish intake. My chicken terriyaki wasn't that great, though, so I ended up stuffing my face with all the rolls and raw stuff available. And of course, I ordered my favorite: seaweed salad, yum! I prayed the wasabi, gooey green seaweed, raw fish, etc. wouldn't come back to haunt me Sunday morning.

In bed by 9:30 pm, asleep by 11-ish. As you can see, I get kinda hyper when I'm super tired or have racing on the brain...

RACE DAY
After a couple snooze hits on the alarm, we were up and at 'em at 4 a.m. Power-protein-oatmeal cooked, coffee brewed, car loaded and in Guerneville by 5 a.m. I am all about being early to rule out any potential stressful situations. Even if I have to stand around for an extra hour. In this case, I just stared at the pros, who were racked right by me, and munched on a Clif bar.
The beach was surreal race morning. It was probably in the 60s out, so steam was coming off the 74- to 76-degree water. (Warmest race swim I've ever done.) I was taking in all the energy and beauty, while feeling the typical pre-race anxiety/anticipation/excitement/confidence/uncertainty.
Honestly, I didn't know what to expect performance-wise. I had calculated two finish times--my "slow" and "fast" time. There was a 30-min gap between them. Ha! My main goal was to beat my 5:40 at Oceanside. Good news: I beat Oceanside, and fell within the 30 minutes.

SWIM (~:35:30 min)
Once again, I didn't get in a true warm-up swim. So the first several minutes were spent trying breathe, rather than gasp for air, and find my pace. I was a little frantic. Then, of all things, my goggles got kicked off. They were down around my neck! Not cool for an already slow swimmer. Got them on and was OK but still didn't find my rhythm until maybe a 1/4 into it. I tried to concentrate on having a powerful stroke but not waste energy, as I'm not the most efficient swimmer. At the turn around, it got really shallow. Like maybe a foot deep. I was scraping sand and rocks for quite a while--I need to work on my dolphin kick. I also went off course a couple times too because I didn't really study where the curves in the swim were. I probably swam at least 1.4 miles. What a rookie. Still, I went about 4 minutes faster than Oceanside.

T1
The plan was to throw my wetsuit and goggles at mom & dad instead of stuffing it in the T-bag. Plan worked. My mom said she was amazed at how fast I got off the wetsuit. I think my transitions have the potential to be my strongest legs of the race! I think this one was about 2.5 minutes. (Our swim and T1 times are lumped together on the splits)

BIKE (2:47:00)
This was the highlight of the race, despite witnessing some spine-chilling chaos. Right away there are lots of rolling hills on some bumpy highway, which meant bottles were flying off bikes like no other, and I had to focus on dodging them. Then at mile 6, the accident happened.

Apparently, a tree fell down and took out like three guys, on of which suffered some pretty bad injuries. I got there soon after it happened (I was in a early wave) so I avoided having to stop for 10 min. like others did once firetrucks arrived. I still had to get off my bike and crawl under the tree, though, while looking at a guy all bloody and hearing, "Don't worry, it's going to be ok, help is on the way." So scary!!!

After refocusing on the task at hand--biking--I noticed a girl on a decked-out bike with a rad purple racesuit on, who looked around my age. I had to catch her. Once I finally did, ironically, I recognized her! Her name is Sara Davis and she lives in San Clemente. When I worked for the SC Times full time, we did an article on her because she was winning a lot of triathlons, and I remember being slightly envious/jealous. We ended up chatting a bit, and ended up staying in each other's view for the rest of the bike, maybe 45 miles. It's crazy how our riding ability was identical. Without hesitation, we decided that we are now new riding partners since we live so close in the OC! We've already been in touch since the race and I can't wait to ride with her.

I was pretty happy with my bike split. The course was absolutely gorgeous--and, yes, I take the time to notice the sights, that's one of my favorite parts of being a triathlete logging in miles. I'd say the bike course is easier than Oceanside's, but it's still challenging. I was anticipating a struggle at the infamous Chalk Hill at mile 45--turned out to be steep, but nothing too insane (Oceanside climbs are gnarlier).

All in all, I averaged over 20 mph, went 12+ minutes faster than O-side, did all my nutrition correctly (Bottles of Hammer Perpetuem Vanilla-Orange, Water, Hammer Apple Cinnamon Gels and Vanilla Gu w/ caffeine), felt a little queezy at times, but generally I was strong.

T2
It was so incredibly refreshing to get off the bike, but almost scary because I was weary if I would have it in me to bust out a quality half-marathon. Got on my shoes, grabbed my visor, Garmin and extra gels and was off.

RUN (an embarrassing 1:53:xx)
At this point, my plan was to stick with Sara (even though she is 25-29 and wasn't a direct threat); since she had a soccer background, I figured she was a good runner.
But she got ahead of me pretty much right away, and instead of sticking with her I decided to stay at my pace and not go out too hard. Soon into the run, I could feel an Oceanside repeat coming on. Where were my running legs dammit?! Add to that some nasty rolling hills and temperatures reaching into the 100s, and my run was not pretty. It was awful to say the least. A lot of rolling hills happen right off the bat, which sucked. But I kept on trucking and tried to focus on everything except the pain in my legs. Even my downhill running pace wasn't going well.

Meanwhile, I noticed Crowie heading back to the finish pretty far behind the lead guys, which was very odd! Then I saw Pip Taylor (1st) and the lead women fly by--they looked amazing. Then there's me: I was arguing with myself out loud to push on and not walk quite a few times. I wanted to stop. No joke. My saving grace was aid stations. Something to look forward to and an excuse to slow down a bit. I made a point to grab two waters from every aid station, one to drink one to pour on me. Also, the whole run I always had an open Hammer Gel or Gu w/ caffeine in my hand--I went through about three total. I did, however, forget to take my salt tabs. Thankfully, I never had any GI issues, which was one perk!

The turnaround at La Crema Winery was like a party--it should be, we were halfway out of the hellish heat! While going around the winery's lakes, I passed Whitney Handy. After the race, Whitney I were talking and said she saw me approaching her and was cursing out loud. Once I passed her, I'm not gonna lie--I kind of ran in fear that she'd soon pass me again. We talked about it and agree: we motivate each other. She's a damn amazing athlete. And when she dials in her run--watch out ladies! Here were are chatting after the race...
The last six miles of the run were a blur. Reality was staring back at me on my Garmin, where I saw an average pace of well over 8-min miles. My dreams of getting a 1:40 were laughable at that point! I've worked a lot on my run since Oceanside, but it's clear that I really have to get my act together. Still, it wasn't all bad news.

FINISH
I crossed the finish line at 5:20. That's 20 minutes faster than my first half-Ironman, and I shaved time off all three--swim, bike, run. Plus, I didn't feel utterly dead when I crossed the finish line. Just half-dead. Ok, so I was delirious and hurting, but not as wrecked as O-side left me. Look at that face! Ridiculous hahaha Turns out Sara had finished just two minutes before me. So we sat there and hurt together for a while. Seriously, what are the odds that out of 2,000 racers I'd see her out on the course. Talk about meant to be! That guy on the left is hurting worse than we are it looks like... Here's me thinking "Get me out of this sun and ino some shade with a big ol' plate of food!!"
But before loading up on post-race food, I checked the computer to see my results: 3rd place in 20-24 age group! Another podium! Yaaayyyy! I missed 2nd place by a minute, missed first by like 40 minutes.

After eating some excellent post-race food and making a new cute friend, I had to get out of the heat and shower up. My cute friend and me....And my other, more handsome, friend...
It was right back to Windsor at 4 p.m. for awards. There I saw the typical podium peeps: Ian, who got 1st in 25-29 males, 2nd amateur overall, and Charisa, also 2nd amateur overall for the women. She's unbelievable--I want some of whatever she's got!

As for me.... getting 3rd in my AG earned me a spot to the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Fla. this November! I can't even describe how stoked I was/am!!! It was like Christmas came early. Thank God my mom remembered her check book cause I didn't remember anything on the trip--no debit card, no check book, only $20 cash and a credit card. The crowd laughed a bit when I ran up the bleachers to borrow money from my mom. Me and Ian sharing race stories... he had some good ones, check out his blog.
With the awards and good news, it was time to celebrate. I was not about to poop out and go to bed. So my parents and I headed back to Guerneville yet again to join Ian, his parents and the whole crew for dinner at their house. What a fun group of people! I swear, having good triathlete friends to share your experiences with really makes the sport that much better. Not to mention, they had some killer Mexican food. I of course had some wine, but between the race, drinks and just all the energy expended that day, I was fading quickly. Guess my plan to celebrate late into the night wasn't going to happen. I felt the eyelids getting heavy at like, ohhh, 8 p.m. Not quite a rockstar just yet.

After the race, it was so nice to have that extra million pounds of pressure disappear. Being done with a big race is the best feeling, and now having another 70.3 to train for is the best outcome I could have asked for.

We woke up at 4 a.m. again on Monday to catch a flight back home. My dumbass wasn't thinking straight and tried to smuggle my winning bottle of wine and CO2 cartridges on the plane. That created a bit of havoc. Airline people must think we triathletes are just insane with all the crap we lug around--I also had my seatpost, saddle and Carbon Wing in my carry-on bag, which put quite a puzzled look on the security guard's face. And as soon as I got home, I repacked and headed down to San Clemente within an hour to get back to work and house sit. As demanding as work is right now, I'm on such a high that it's impossible to be in a bad mood. Thankful a big workload will make for forced time off from working out. But guess what? I'm racing again this weekend in Newport Beach--the Pacific Coast Sprint Triathlon.


Hopefully this blister (which continued to grow 3x the size after this pic) will be all cleared up by then.

Journalism San Clemente Style

Well I'm back at it: 10+ hr work days, no sleep, lots of caffeine, extreme multitasking, etc. Yup, I'm working at a newspaper. Temporarily at least. I started this blog after I resigned from my newspaper job, so I've never really talked about how absolutely crazy and hectic it is to work at a place where deadlines rule your life. It doesn't matter if you have a Tuesday night workout planned, if you have work to do before Wednesday deadline, then suck it up. (You can probably see why I decided to change careers...)

But it wasn't all bad. I loved my coworkers, the stories I wrote and where the job was located--we put out three small, local weeklies for the cities of San Clemente (SC Times), Dana Point (DP Times) and San Juan Capistrano (The Capistrano Dispatch). My favorite part about journalism is that there's always something new going on. New stories, fresh topics, etc. I learned about everything from running an organic farm to synchronized swimming to city politics to dory-boat racing, meeting some fabulous people along the way.


Here's a pic of the paper featuring one of my cover stories that was on a dude who swam the Catalina Channel. Amazing stuff.
And, just for fun, for those unfamiliar with dory boat racing, here's a glimpse at the guys in action. Usually there's around 10 or so of these boats in a race, and it gets intense! In fact, this weekend, they'll be at it in the annual Ocean Festival.
Anyways, I still do freelance for Picket Fence Media and am in close contact with the staff. Recently, my former boss, Norb Garrett, asked me to come in and be the Editor while he went out of town (I was honored!), as well as house-sit for him--sweet! Not an easy job at all (the editor gig, house-sitting is more than pleasurable), but I was up for the challenge. So, since last week I've been back in the mix down in San Clemente. I haven't even had time to think about Vineman until today. And literally hours after the race, it will be straight back into work mode. But it's worth it...

Since being back, two things have particularly left an impression on me:

No. 1:

Last night, as tired as I was after already working nonstop all day, I attended a BBQ put on by a group of friends & teachers from San Clemente High School who will soon be participating in the Relay for Life, a 24-hour walk/run event that raises money for cancer. The group formed in honor of one of their fellow teachers, Jeff Spear, who passed away from non-smoking lung cancer last October. Oddly enough, I remember writing a story on Spear when he was initially diagnosed last year. It was sad to learn of his passing, but an honor spending time with these people last night, you could just feel the love (as lame as that may sound).

I almost started crying when talking to Spear's wife, Ruthie, who was the most optimistic, positive person. She's left with three small children and the memory of a husband and dad, but has the best attitude imaginable. She's trying to make the best of things, and is doing a damn good job and has a smile on her face. She just got back from taking the kids to Yosemite, cause "that was the next trip Dad wanted to do."

I learned that the team is also racing for other loved ones who had cancer--some survived, some didn't. For some team members, it was the impact that Jeff Spear had on their lives that led them onto the team, like the mother of Taylor Martin. Taylor is suffering from a rare disease and had Spear as a teacher. Taylor's mom told me of the bond that Spear and Taylor formed. Talk about getting teary-eyed!

As I left the BBQ last night, I realized how easy I have it. Seeing the hardships that others have endured makes you appreciate your health and that of your loved ones. I may get frustrated with things in my life, but I have no reason to complain.

I'll be writing the cover story on Team InSPEARation for next week's issue. It will be a scramble to get it done with Vineman 70.3 taking priority as of now, but I'm honored to do it.




No. 2:

This isn't such a grab-the-kleenex topic. I went swimming at my old stomping grounds (Ole Hanson Beach Club) during my lunch break Monday and it turned out to be reunion time/social hour. I ran into a good friend, Ernie Polte, who's 82. (Picture by me!)I wrote a story on Ernie when he was 80 simply because this guy's life is gnarly. He has been swimming every single day of his life for as long as he can remember. Literally hasn't missed a day. He's been in countless swimming races--long-distance ocean races, swim meets, you name it--and he says he's podiumed in all of them. Broke records back in the day and all. He was also a successful swim/water polo coach forever, and he inspired me to start the 6 a.m. swim class I've been in for the last year because the guy who coaches it, Byron Reidenbaugh, was one of his students. Ernie is simply amazing and I was so glad to reconnect with him--and see that he's still in the pool! He gave me the best compliment, telling me that my swimming has improved by leaps and bounds since the last time he saw me. I was looking back on the story that I wrote on Ernie and noticed a major mistake (in my eyes at least). I said he did the Escape from Alcatraz, but it should have been Alcatraz Invitational Swim. Unacceptable!!!

Anyways, this is the Ole Hanson pool (from san-clemente.org):

It's beautful and very popluar at noon.... probably why I ran into so many people I know, even coach Byron! He tried to get me to swim in the fastest lane, no thanks! With all the time spent talking with friends, lap count suffered a tad. But whatever, I'm tapering.

Ole Hanson's is overlooking the beach, so after the swim, I threw on my Newton's and went for a 30-min run on the SC Beach Trail. It was absolutely gorgeous out and literally made me want to move to San Clemente right then and there. Just something about that place.

Here's a glimpse of the beach trail by T Street from a photo I borrowed:



As for now, it's time to switch into race mode. I need to stop procrastinating and finish packing, ugh! But... I'm thankful that I'll have a couple new memories to think about and inspire me as I take on the Vineman course Sunday!

And if anyone is ever in San Clemente, be sure to pick up the SC Times.

Wow, That's an Unexpected Surprise! ...and a Shark Attack Too!!??

So Vineman. This Sunday. I'm ready. Let's get 'er done. It's on.

That's all I need to say about that.


In other news, I got a completely unexpected, random and extremely thoughtful gift in the mail today from Koz Enterprises, the group that puts on the San Diego Triathlon Series and other races. It has to do with the San Diego International Tri.

Check it out:

First of all, thank you Natallie and Koz. That was above and beyond nice.

Two things come to mind:

1) After the race was over and after I blogged about my feelings regarding the transitions, I dropped the subject and moved on. I don't dwell. In the grand scheme, it really wasn't that big of a deal to me... after all, who am I? Just an age-grouper. It's not like anything was riding on the race. I was happy with my performance and happy for Whitney's win. She's a rad chick--if she were some b%$&#, I may have thought differently, ha ha j/k. But honestly, I didn't lose any sleep over the race outcome.

2) Whatever reason Koz felt inclined to send me this letter and medal is beyond me. Maybe someone else spoke up about the transition issue? I have no idea. The extent of my blabing is in my blog. But whatever the reason, I think this gesture shows that Koz is doing a great job and has the triathletes' best interest at heart. They just want to see honest, fair racing. And in a world that's corrupted with performance-enhancing drugs and/or any form of cheating, I appreciate and respect the principles of Koz.

I'm grateful such caring people are behind the races we all enjoy so much.

Just thought I'd share.

ONE MORE (FREAKY) THING....


Du Da du da du da dudadudaduda (Jaws music)


~~~/\~~~ (a shark fin)

Ummm, yea... there was a shark attack at San Onofre (where I surf weekly+) on Saturday, July 11. No bites, but there was physical contact between a standup paddleboarder and a white shark, which appraently deems it an official "attack." AHHH. The best part: I was out surfing/swimming in the very spot where this happened merely hours later!! Holy crap! Check out the story here.

There have been quite a few shark sightings in SoCal lately. Super scary. But honestly, it's not going to stop me from getting in the water. When David Martin was killed at Solona Beach I was upset and distraught for a long time. But I came to terms with the whole shark thing, realizing that I love being in the ocean and I'm not going to stop doing what I love. If I get attacked, and that's my fate... well at least I'll go out being famous in some whaky way!

4 for the 4th and a PO'd Achilles

My last weekend of big training has come to an abrupt stop. Starting Thursday, I noticed a nagging pain in my left Achilles going up into my calf muscle. Something I've never felt before. It didn't really start hurting noticeably until after my 10k run Thurs, so I iced, massaged, etc. I had run every day since the Saturday before SDIT (of varying intensities and lengths), so clearly I would do no running, just swimming, on Friday to save myself for the weekend.

The the 4th of July plan was to spend four hours biking and running (couldn't--actually, didn't want to--do the celebratory 4,000 swim, 4hr bike, 40 min run like some people were planning!).

I planned a ride with lots of climbing and got 'er done... no Achilles pain at all. So 62 miles later (legs hating me, hot as hell), I set out on my T-run and pretty soon in--ouch! Achilles was pissed! Since I was already out and away from home, I ran until I nearly reached the four-hour mark, then walked/jog to cool down a bit. Iced after and no pain for the rest of the day.

The 4th was great... my friend invited me to join him at a BBQ in Huntington Beach at an apt right by the beach. In true American fashion, I enjoyed a couple beers and hot dogs with all the fixings! Our group was super mellow (thankfully!) compared to some of the mayhem going on. I swear, after the sun went down it was like controlled rioting on the streets of HB. Fun to observe, no desire to participate. It amazes me how many people had fireworks, not just little sparklers and screamers but real burst-in-the-sky fireworks, and they were shooting them off all night from their homes. Call me a goody-goody, but I could never do that--I'd be so scared to get in trouble!

I stayed up way past my bedtime but had a blast. When we finally left, Stuart and I forgot where we parked in the HB mess, but it was actually really fun because I had my new Republic bike to cruise around on... love that thing! I need to name it...hmmmm.

Anyways, I went to attempt a long run this morning, and literally 0.3 miles in it was clear that was not gonna happen. Achilles still pissed. So, rest it is! Thankfully I have a massage/ART appointment scheduled, and taper is beginning so I'm not too worried about taking time off from running. It's all about being well for Vineman.

So, instead of hittin the road today, I'm going to hit the surf in a bit. Shaka!

SDIT Race Report

Ahh what a weekend. Can't believe all I've done in the last 48+ hours. Exhausted. The highlight, of course, was racing San Diego International Triathlon. All things considered, the race went very well and I'm stoked on the results.

I say "all things considered" because a couple minor things worked against me in this race. 1) I'm still battling a cold; 2) My transition area was in BFE. Normally I wouldn't even mention something like that, but it was so far in the boonies that it likely added on 2-3 minutes extra transition time that not everyone had to deal with. But that's racing, and those were the cards I was dealt. Rise to the challenge, right?

I had two goals for this race: 1) Feel pain, the good kind 2) Get a sub-2 hour finish. I achieved one goal: I made myself suffer. Didn't get the sub-2hrs, though; maybe it was the transitions because according to my watch I got the times I planned for myself on the 1k swim, 30k bike and 10k run. I finished in 2:02:39 (so close!) and got 2nd in my AG, literally 5 seconds behind 1st place in what was an INTENSE sprint to the finish line. Whitney Handy, who I know and like a lot and who's doing Vineman 70.3, was the rockstar who just edged me out. Good job girl!

So here's the story...

Pre-race

Got into town early to enjoy the weekend. Saturday morning I did a 35/20 bike/run in La Jolla as my pre-race warmup. During, something totally unexpected happened: my heart rate shot up into the high 170s, wtf?! I don't know if it's b/c I'm still sick or the couple glasses of wine I had the night before, but I didn't like that. At all. Hmmm.

Saturday night we ate at Bali Hai on Shelter Island (great view), and I ordered a Kona Special dish. Appropriate, right? I also wore my Newtons to dinner b/c my feet were killing me after tons of walking in sandals earlier at the race expo/bike drop off and I had no other comfy shoes. Yea, I looked dorky.

Dinner with friends went late, and I managed to sleep maybe 5 hours. Blah. We also set 3 alarms which all gloriously awoke us at 4:30 a.m. That was fun.

Race morning I ran into some very special people... the Golden boys. No, really. Brad Golden (my ex/now good friend), Brian Golden (dad) and Rory Golden (bro)...in order w/ my mom and me in this picture:

I had just finished picking Brad's brain of everything race-related merely hours before because the dude just qualified for Kona at IM Cour de'Lane. He gave some good tips, one of which helped me tons today, something I'll for sure do again at Vineman! The Golden boys were swim buddies at the race and it sounds like their help was very much appreciated. Good job guys!

Swim

7:15 and I was off! Great conditions all around. It took a while to get my groove, and when I did, I got kicked. Twice. Hard. In the ear area. I've never been kicked so hard where it leads to a ringing noise, pounding head and discombobulation. I sucked it up and continued on. Found a rhythm again and was feeling OK. I think I did alright for my weakest link, finishing in 16:xx I believe.

Look! There were still a decent amount of white caps (my wave) behind me, (I'm the crazy girl running out with her eyes closed):

T1

Because of my ridiculous transition area placement, this time was ugly. My T skills were fine though!

Bike

I wanted to hammer on the bike because, well, it's my strength. My goal was to average 20mph or more, which I think I did. Finished in 53:xx for 30k according to the Cateye. Thankfully, I've ridden up to Cabrillo Monument several times and knew what to expect. Talk about a gorgeous view and even more gorgeous day! I ate a Hammer gel halfway thru even though I didn't feel I needed it and also drank a water bottle with Zym. Tummy hurt toward the end. Bummer. But not devastating.

My dad caught me biking in...

Ohh Dad. I appreciate and love so much and am so grateful to have him support us, and he really tries to get pics of us racing, but inevitably we end up with a lot of these (my favorite):

T2

See T1.

Run

This was my biggest personal test of the day. I could predict my swim/bike times fairly well, but my running is schizo this year. So the plan was to make it hurt... could I pull of a 40-minute 10k? Well it hurt, but I didn't get the 40 min. I know I could have dug deeper and pushed harder, but hindsight's 50-50. Right? I averaged ~7:30 min miles; don't know the official split yet. I remember seeing Beth so far ahead of me on Harbor Island and just wondering how she does it. I hope to be as good as her one day. (Not trying to be a kiss ass, really.)

The highlight of the run was the last half mile. I recognized fellow 20-24 AGer Whitney up ahead, within catching distance, so she was my target. I got just behind her and made my move to pass on the final straightaway. She responded and started sprint battling with me. My body was hurting all over and I tried to find it to beat her, but she barely got me... and took 1st place in our AG by 5 seconds. Whew. Then I got to thinking after the race... If it hadn't been for my darn transition area I might have made a successful pass on the run earlier on to pull off 1st AG. The logic: I'm pretty positive Whitney was with the Breakaway Training crew in the VIP/Pro area... i.e. not dealing with the extra BFE transition mini-marathon runs. But no biggie. I'm super stoked for Whitney and her win! She nailed it. We were all hugs after the race and agreed that she's going to help me with swimming and I'll help her with running (although, she might want to go to Beth for that haha).

So overall, good day. I stuck to my game plan and executed. I even kept the snot rockets in control. Kinda.

Post-race

I downed like 8 cups of water within 1 minute of finishing. It was hooottt out! And I was a little shakey after my sprint battle. Then I met up with the Golden boys again and did the usual post-race chatting while eating a million Clif Bar samples.

Also, had to wait for Mom to finish! And soon enough, there she was. This was her second race of the years, and it went excellent minus the run. She was with the top 50-54 females until the run, where she got dropped. She finished 2:17, and felt better than she did after Superseal. Improvment? I think so!

There we are all chatting in the mix of things. My shoulders got super sunburn today. Ooopps!

Mom and daughter before race. Looking pretty calm, maybe a tad preoccupied.
Post race. Looking releaved.

I have to say, Koz put on yet another great race, especially by getting through the award ceremony in a swift manner. Man, sometimes those can drag on forever! But I am questioning the logistics behind the transition area setup. Heard some other folks talking about it who were also PO'd, so I know I wasn't the only one who noticed. Hmmm.

Next up: Get back to 100% health and make it a quality 3 weeks until.... drumroll.... Vineman 70.3! Can't wait!

I have some other later-season news, but I'll share that, well, later!

Woah...That's a New Number!

I was reading a post on Mark's Daily Apple today on weight, and I found it ironic that in the last couple weeks my weight has been on my mind quite a bit, so much so that a scale has creeped into my routine--yuck!

It started when I went to the doctor for a routine visit and I was shocked when I stood on their scale--up nearly 10 lbs since the last time I weighed myself (ok, yea, I had just eaten and was fully clothed). Still, I was a little taken by the number because I NEVER weigh myself, so this was news to me. Last time I stepped on a scale was maybe back in January or February? I like to go by how I feel and how my clothes fit, rather than focusing on a number. So I retested my weight the next morning at home, before eating and in minimal clothing, and sure enough I've gained about 7-8 lbs. But I have an idea what the dealio is with this unfamiliar number.

1) I wanted to gain some weight. Going into IMCA I was a tad on the skinny side, very low body fat and just not enough substance (i.e. muscle) to power me through the race like I wanted to. So after April 4 I declared I wanted to make some changes and become more of a powerhouse...

2) Subsequently, I've increased my caloric intake a bit, particularly taking in more calories with and after workouts. I also will have maybe a couple extra eggs at breakfast, an extra serving at dinner and eat a lot even on days off. The thing is, I eat insanely healthfully, like borderline crazy, but I guess you can even have too much of the good stuff.

3) I don't deprive myself. I snack, and it's often at night. If I'm eating out with friends I don't overly analyze what I order--no one wants an anal eating companion. I have wine and/or beer every now and then. Etc, you get the idea. But maybe I've been indulging on all of the above a little too much.

4) This may be the most significant factor: I've been strength-training a lot more and have actually gained muscle mass! And obviously that means I've gained weight, and those are lbs I'm OK with. I'm honestly stronger than I've ever been right now and am stoked about it.

However, though I've gained the muscle I was hoping for, I've also gained some pudge as an unintended side effect. Hey, I don't have my body down to a science. You'd think burning anywhere from 700 to 3,000 calories in one workout nearly every day means you can eat whatever, but not necessarily, at least for the type of high-performance body (machine) I want to have. I got a little more love-handle going on right now than I'd prefer.

I'm not sccrrrrrd though. It's time to get serious. I've had to lose weight before... Yup, I've been through chubby stages and I put on that freshman 15 back in the day (Ohhh SDSU), but I know how to get it off. It's not rocket science--calories in vs. calories out.

But now that I'm a focused athlete, it is a little different. I don't want to lose any of my precious muscle, nor do I want to workout in a deprived state and have a sub-par performance, so I'll just have to be creative and smart. And, in reality, I don't even need to lose much weight, maybe 3-5 lbs? I just see it as a new challenge.

Anyways...

NEW FAMILY MEMBER

In other news, I new addition to the family arrived today. My fixed-gear bike! After a lot of Internet research and bike-shop hopping, I found a sweet deal on a fixie at Republic Bike. They're based in Florida, and have great deals on new, custom-made bikes where you pick the colors. Still, I was a little skeptical. But then I noticed Charisa has a new fixie that looked similar to the ones at Republic, so I asked her... sure enough hers was from Republic, and she had great things to say about it, so that confirmed this wasn't some gimic. So I picked my colors and placed an order. (I warned Charisa that I might end up with the same color frame... the wasabi is just so cool!) I didn't expect the bike to arrive so fast, but today, I got to build this:

Can't wait to take him out for a real ride. Wonder if I can make it up a legit hill? Well, I'm going to have to learn... This baby is going to get a lot action, taking me around CSU Fullerton, down to SPI and many other places. Now I just need a sturdy lock.

Annnnd lastly, I'm getting ready to leave for my favorite place: San Diaaggooo. San Diego International Triathlon is Sunday, and thankfully I'm pretty much fully recovered from what turned out to be a nasty nasty cold. I'm still blowing my nose like a crazy woman (riders near me on Sunday, beware of flying snot and don't take it personally if I accidentally shower you). But I feel lightyears better than I did last weekend, so we'll see how things go! I'm really excited. I'll be looking for familiar faces out there... and trying not to snot or sneeze on you.

Spoke Too Soon

Yesterday I made a point to say how well my training is going. It truly is, but now I have a cold! Hopefully it's a freak thing I picked somewhere (door knob, dirty ocean water), but I think my body is telling me a little more recovery is needed. I can't even recall the last time I was sick. I felt it lingering within me yesterday and tried to deny it. But after waking up through the night to blow my nose because I couldn't breathe, having zero desire to jump in the pool at 6 a.m. this morning and hearing my new manly voice from a sore throat leaves no question. So I guess I'll just pump in every healthy thing I can get in body, rest and chill. The guys at work told me to stay away, they don't want to be around a sickie. So I'll make use of my time with some NSCA studying.

Back on the Trails

I hate finishing a workout covered with muck after road biking--car exhaust, street grit, nasty pollution. However, I love finishing a workout covered in dirt from nature--fresh mud, creek water, mountain dust, that sort of thing. Unfortunately, the latter doesn't happen that often for me. But it did today!

These socks perfectly express my feelings :)

My friend Stuart and I went mountain biking at Whiting Ranch, a trail that I'm very familiar with from countless trail runs and mountain biking waaay back in the day... but it's been a long time since I rode it. Like years long. I borrowed my mom's mtn bike because I think my old outdated Diamondback has seen it's day and would be a hazard to ride. Here's a peek at our sported-out garage. We somehow have equipment for just about every sport/outdoor activity imaginable fit in there--thank my dad for MacGyvering that one.Anyways, speaking of hazards, I'm also known to be a charge-hard kind of girl, and, thus, a hazard to myself (why I don't dirt bike anymore), but that wasn't the game plan for today. I sucked up my pride and told Stuart that I'd be "taking it easy" because I REFUSE to get injured so close to Vineman. He's a great all-around athlete and a lifeguard (he kills it swimming, so jealous!), but he doesn't do much mountain biking either, so all was good. Just a fun ride.

As soon as we hit the trail my heart starting racing--a combo of nerves and adrenaline. Like my recent rejuvinated love for surfing, I immediately felt that old love for mountain biking building within me. I had a grin from ear to ear and wanted to go all out but held back through some of the initial technical single-track stuff. And as much as it hurt to do so, I even got off my bike and walked through some super-deep technical sandy parts saying, "It's not worth it!"

Whiting isn't anything too gnarly at all (in fact, when we were done I was like, "OK, either let's do that again or I need a real workout). But, there is one infamous hill, Mustard Hill, that's a decent climb. When I was younger, I was rarely able to make it up the whole hill without stopping or walking. But today, no problem. Right up. My level of fitness is definitely in a whole other realm. After Mustard, I took us up another climb, Dreaded Hill, which wasn't long enough! I wanted more suffering! For a guy who doesn't ride bikes often, Stuart rocked. But I still beat him, just barely :) We chilled out at the top a bit and took in the view. My next adventure on the list--riding up that big mountain right behind me, Saddleback.
After the little break, it was all downhill from there. I guess my concept of speed is jacked up from all my time spent on the Felt TT bike because according to Stuart I was "flying down." It didn't feel that fast to me... I maybe maxed out in the 20-something mph range. But I felt confident and in control, so what the heck! It was a blast. Especially the curvy downhill single-track stuff (is that proper mountain bike jargon?!). After our ride we chowed down some killer sandwiches at a local deli, Bagels and Brew. I swear, mainstream sandwich shops just don't compare to the little hole-in-the-wall mom and pop places in my opinion. A swim followed later on. I'm working on not crossing over at my midline so much, thanks to some great advice from Mike at SPI. Hopefully this will start shaving off time; I've already noticed slightly faster 100s when I do it "the right way."

On the Training/Racing Front...

Nothing too exciting to report, except that I've been taking things up a notch and am hanging in there, especially that I'm able to recover quickly from intense workouts. I attribute good nutrition and early bedtimes to that. Check out this study on the importance of sleep. It's amazing how many workouts I fit in the last few weeks without crashing and burning, sometimes three a day now that I'm doing Crossfit. And, I of course take a recovery day when needed, as painful as that is. (But lately off days have included surfing or some sort of activity.)

I did an 80-mile bike and 35 minute t-run last Saturday and was curious to see how I'd perform after an already hefty training week with no rest. I faded at about mile 60, but got a second wind and did pretty well overall, I think there was like 8,000+ feet of climbing according to my Garmin. Ouch! Surprisingly, the t-run wasn't so bad. Sunday's run, though, was another story. (Crappy.)

I think I'm most stoked on my new love: Crossfit. I'm doing about two a week now and am hooked. It's so intense you want to puke, but in about 10 minutes it's over. And it's incredible the amount of work that is done in that time. It's not your typical strength-training routine, Crossfit does laps around a regular weight-lifting session! I'll leave it at that.

So next week I'll taper a bit for the SD International Triathlon on June 28, then a couple more intense weeks and then time for Vineman tapering. Feels like just yesterday I was getting ready for IMCA.

Time flies when you're having fun!!!

And oh yea, I'm now in the market for a new mountain bike. I'll have one by the end of '09 for sure :)

My "Twin" Is Coming

I don't think I've ever really mentioned her (shame on me) but I have an 19-year-old sister, Karlee, who I absolutely adore. I probably haven't spoken about her much because she's busy up at Cal Poly SLO. But she's about to finish her freshman year and is coming home this week for the summer. Can't wait to have her back.

Here's us on my b-day last year (I still had my long hair)! We look a lot alike. Sometimes it's freaky--I'll look at a picture and be like "hi me."

Karlee is a riot. She is the funniest, most outgoing person I know and she radiates energy wherever she is. She's the type of girl who is friends with everyone and has no enemies. Not to mention, she's a stellar athlete. To this day, she smokes me in the pool--so jealous! She was a killer volleyball player all through high school and almost played in college but decided to take time off from organized sports and "have fun." And, oh is she having fun. Her life at SLO reminds me of how I was when I was unleashed into SDSU. We know how to have a good time :)

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Speaking of good times, Karlee and I really bonded in Mexico last summer, where she could legally drink. By bond, I mean we partied like rockstars todos los noches. (Glad we didn't give my poor parents heart attacks.) That trip was right before I started getting serious about triathlon, kind of like my last hurrah! Ha ha. Here's my mom, me and Kar:

Karlee loves surfing, so I know we'll do a ton of that this summer. But my real goal while she's home is to get her on a training plan and encourage her to do a triathlon by the end of the year, hopefully! So far she's down for me to be her coach, but she hasn't agreed to entering a triathlon yet. It's going to be tough work on my part to convince her how amazing racing is! But like I said, she's very athletic, so I know she can pull it off.... if she can balance workouts with her busy party life... uh geez.

ONE MORE THING...

On an unrelated topic, I have to mention what Michellie Jones said in her blog about the recent OC Duathlon. It made me smile.

"...This would have to be one of the hardest 40km's I have ridden or maybe it was the 5km run before hand. The first 6 miles were uphill not a lot of fun after running hard. At least that meant on this out and back course you could fly back home to the transition..." ~MJ

Props to my regular training route... Even my idol sees it as challenging :)

Making Time for the Beach

New priorities! Not only is surfing making a huge comeback in my life--I went twice this week--but I also did a little soft-sand beach running Tuesday morning, and oh man... that's good stuff. I also did my first-ever Crossfit workout, and for those of you who know about Crossfit...daaaang, it is legit.

As for surfing, I really forgot how much I enjoy it! I think for a while, back in the day, I was so concerned about being good that I lost the ability to just paddle out to have fun. Then other things started becoming more important, namely triathlon, so surfing sessions became few and far between.

But now I see surfing in a whole new light. With triathlon as my main focus and discipline, surfing can be a relaxing, enjoyable way to be active outside of swimming-biking-running with none of the added pressure of thresholds, intervals, pace work, beating myself up. Don't get me wrong--I love doing all that with tri, but it's nice to have another sport that's just for fun. No big deal if I suck or kick ass.

On that note, Friday the waves fairly bigger than they've my past two sessions, and it definitely was more challenging. The first wave I caught was my best of the day; things kind of went downhill from there. But thankfully I had a friend out with me so it was fun and I wasn't scared or anything like that... just held onto my board and got pounded on a bit. Good times.

This was my view when I opened the back doors of the Prazak Surfmobile. Ahhh, heavenly. (A little windy out today, but still surfable):

Being at the beach and in the ocean is therapeutic after a gnarly workout week, and spending time in this environment just seems necessary:
All I needed was a Corona with a lime. Too bad there's no drinking allowed at San-O anymore.I have to do a little work with my surf equipment, though. I've had the same Becker longboard since high school (why change something if you love it?), and at this point I think it's had the same wax on for about three years now. Poor neglected board. So this weekend, I'm making it a priority to re-wax my board. All that sandy grit is tearing into my skin.

I was thankful that it turned out to be so beautiful at the beach today because the Friday forcast called for more thunderstroms (WTF?!) and conditions were like this in the morning when I headed to the gym for a swim/run session:

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Part 2 of my new beach obsession is running in the sand, SOFT sand that is. After doing an early-morning workout at Sport Performance Institute with the Tribuys team on Tuesday morning, I headed down to Calafia in San Clemente to meet a friend for a soft-sand barefoot run. Very peaceful so early in the morning, before the crowds start shuffling in:

We ran for about 40 minutes, down to around Lowers and back, which was 4 miles. Sounds ridiculously slow, but I was working hard! Not 100% hard, but I don't think I could have pulled off even 8-minute miles. Running it the soft stuff is a killer workout, so I've decided to make it a semi-regular part of my routine. Talk about getting powerhouse legs.

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Even though it was still overcast and chilly after our run, we were so heated up that we jumped in the ocean to swim and cool off. I was straight up in my workout clothes (sports bra, strecthy capris--kind like a bathing suit, right? haha); my friend had his boardshorts on so no big deal for him. It was awesome though--kind of like an ice bath right after a hard session, felt great... until I got cold ha ha.

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After Tuesday morning double-workout craziness and a 33-mile bike Wednesday morning, I was invited to try out Crossfit that afternoon at SPI. All I have to say is wow. Add it to the list, too, because the power and strength benefits from that will be amazing, and I have proof in seeing some of the other guys. I'm hooked!

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Needless to say, by Thursday I was mush. But smiling. And back it all by Friday.

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Final thought: I will always live close to the beach. After all, that's how I chose which college to go to!