2011: Doing it Better

The motto for 2011 was "Do It Better" and I think I met that in every sense of the phrase. This was my first full year of doing real triathlons. But I didn't stop there. I did a duathlon and several aquathons. I worked hard to swim/ride/run faster and was rewarded by achieving heights I had never considered.

I also worked hard to become a real agility and obedience team with Shelby. For that, I was rewarded with many titles including Shelby's Beginning Novice (a surprise to many).

I also made great new memories with old friends and family and made new friendships that I hope will continue to grow.

I enjoyed the year so much, I thought some one should make a movie about it...

Motto for 2012 is "Do It Stronger". Here's wishing you all a stronger 2012!

Ice berg in the pool!

Dinner Club
Saturday was Grumpy's and my turn to host dinner club. He decided to make Beef Wellington. He had this wonderful beef tenderloin hunk of meat that he pasted with a mushroom mixture and wrapped in prosciutto.

 Then, he wrapped the pastry around it. Sorry, no finished picture. It was fabulous.

Training

This has been a step back week. Training has been so lite I've hardly noticed. Most exciting thing on the calendar this week are the swim and bike tests. I was at the pool this morning to knock off that swim test. Brrr. 36 degrees! It took me 250 yards before the goose bumps went away -- or may be I was too numb to notice.


The swim test is one of the easiest tests that I need to do. However, I was worried I'd screw it up by miscounting or stopping my watch in the middle or some ditzy thing. But, I didn't! As I came back from each 75, I reminded myself to check the wall clock, THEN hit my lap button on my watch, then go when it was time for the next 100. Hope I gave coach good data.

Christmas eve is when I do the bike test. I'm a little worried about that as I watched the power meter on last night's ride jump all over the place yet I held the cadence pretty constant. If nothing else, coach will let me know if my meter needs to go back to the factory.

The run test won't be until next week. I'm hoping last night's off the bike lite run of the bike is a good indicator. My runs have been feeling good so, hopefully I'll get good numbers next week for the test. I wouldn't mind a new 5k PR either but, that will just be a side benefit.

For now, I sit in a long sleeved T-shirt, running jacket, Grumpy's pull over sweater, thermal pants, sweat pants, 2 pairs of socks and a blanket. I hope I thaw out by Christmas.

Weigh In Day


Maintained this week -barely. 

Week One:  149.8
Week Four: 146.6 

I'm not feeling as confident on next week's weigh in. Seriously, weighing in THE DAY AFTER Christmas ????? It is what it is and I'll own it.

Thought I'd forgotten weigh in day -- didn't you!

But, I didn't forget. I just didn't want to just post a weigh in. Sorry, kind of boring but, weigh in has to get posted.

I have no pictures to prove that training is going well. My swim is almost back to where I left it at the end of last season. I'm excited about being there so early in training. I'm doing lots of drills that I really hate but, really need. Next week is swim and bike test. Starting to get nervous.

Weigh In Day
 
Ok, I won't bore you any longer... Monday's weigh in turned out ok. Down another pound!

Week One:  149.8
Week Three: 146.6 

The goal for the next 2 weeks is just to maintain. If I happen to lose, great. But, I will enjoy the holidays -- with in reason.

The Big City

Back in training and loving it. To ease back into things, Grumpy and I rode in San Francisco with my sister, Shelly, and my brother Ray. Saturday morning, we started at Crissy Field. It was windy and in the 50's but, the sky was a beautiful, clear blue.

Upon leaving the parking lot, we immediately had a steep (but short) climb up to the Golden Gate bridge. We rode across the eastern side which allows both pedestrian and bicyclists. Because we were so early, the tourists hadn't come out yet so riding wasn't difficult.

We stopped along the bridge several times to take in the sights. Grumpy insisted in taunting any one who might be interested in Escape from Alcatraz. My brother had his helmet cam going. Yes, it was really this loud on the bridge.

 

 © 2011 Ray Prevost

Although we had planned to go further, we ended up spending time in Sausalito. We viewed some amazing house boats and had a nice lunch at Fred's.

In order to get on the west side of the bridge (cyclists only), we had to ride under the bridge and then up this hill. I looked at my power meter during this and it was at 282!

Although the western side is for cyclists only, it was SCARY! It's more narrow and there are a wide range of cyclist. I don't think that was on my bucket list, but I'll write it in if not.

Weigh In Day

It's weigh in day! Believe it or not, this actually helped me avoid a little temptation this week. Down 1.2 pounds! Ok, a little truth here. Week one's weigh in day followed a especially big weekend and I knew it would be easy this week. Not to diminish accomplishments, but I won't really be working until I'm below 145. The rest is just ebb and flow. Still, gotta love this downward trend.

Week One:  149.8
Week 2: 147.6

November Transitions

November is a month of transitions. It marks the end of my 2011 off season and gives way to the 2012 training season. Here are the numbers for November. Very little of anything which is what a good off season should be. I am physically and mentally recharged and excited for the new season.

A lot of thought has gone into the 2012 season. The two big changes for this season:
1) I have me a bonafide triathlon coach!!! Lots of good stuff on the training calendar and definitely different than I'm used to. By the way, Training Peaks is pretty awesome!
2) Tracking and weigh in days!!! Hey, it worked for Ben Davis! Don't worry, I do it weekly not daily.

 Week 1:  149.8 (had a good Thanksgiving!)

Tomorrow begins the 2012 prep phase by easing into the pool at 5:30am. Swim bag is already packed and in the car. Will any one remember me?

Big Sur Half Marathon - 2011 Race Report

Last year, I ran the Big Sur Half Marathon. The Big Sur course winds around downtown Monterey, back towards the wharf, over to downtown Pacific Grove, down to Cannery Row and out along the coast then back again. Last year, I bitched and complained and short changed every workout. The longest training run I managed was a single 8 miler. As I ran that race, I found that never once did I find it not fun. I was disappointed in my 3 hour course time. I vowed it wouldn't happen in 2011.

I wasn't a perfect angel in 2011. However, I hit 2 out of every 3 workouts and every long run except 1. I did 2x8milers, 3x9milers, 2x10milers, and a single 11 miler. When my triathlon season ended, I began to notice a decline in my running speed even though I added boot camp to my weekly training. I tried more warm up which helped but didn't bring it all back. I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew I'd beat 3 hours but, by a little or by a lot, I didn't know.

The weather reports leading up to the 2011 Big Sur Half Marathon were doom and gloom - more preciously a very cold 70% rain. My most favorite race was running in the rain. But it wasn't arctic cold! To give me something fun to think about out there, I made a pledge to my friend Molly (what doing AZIM that day): if she made it to T1 before I made it to mile 10, I'd buy her a Lemon Drop. I figured we were both going for a PR so it would be a win no matter what.

Through out the night, I could hear the rain pounding down and it was still pouring when I woke up. I planned to wear a garbage bag over a long sleeved shirt and over my sleeveless running shirt and arm warmers. It stopped raining shortly before I left for the race.

Because of the proximity of the military base, Big Sur always does the Star Spangled Banner proud and they supply a few soldiers along the course for traffic control. Funny how calm I was. Of course, there was no swim and worry about vertigo. There was no bike and worry about flats. There was just the run and I'd been doing that week after week after week.

 When I got into my coral, I knew it wasn't going to rain enough to matter and it was warmer than it was last year. Off came the arm warmers and I threw the garbage bag away. By the time I had come back towards the wharf, I'd stripped off the long sleeved shirt. Perfect weather for a half.

The first part of the run was exactly as planned. GU at 45 minutes, then every 30 minutes after. I had brought my small water bottle to wash down the GU if I wasn't at an aide station. I was even able to do a 10 second fill up of the bottle. Perfect.

As I reached the turnaround at the top of the hill, I was 12 minutes quicker than last year. I had hoped to be moving faster on the down hill, but I was starting to feel the result of all that effort. At mile 9, the voice said to walk. I thought about Molly bouncing around in that frigid lake and kept running. Finally mile marker 10 - time 1:57 (turned out to be a tie with Molly!). Not as good as I'd hoped but still on schedule for a great PR. Somewhere shortly after mile marker 11, the sprinkles started as I hit the last hill. By that time, I was completely done with hills. I wasn't worried about rain by then. Not too much farther to go. Next it was Cannery Row at mile marker 12. The pain really started here and I wanted to walk. I thought of my niece struggling through a lot of pain in rehab and I pushed through. As I got out on the recreation trail, the spectators cheering helped me to keep going. Especially the guy who said we were 1/4 mile out. I didn't know if he was right, but I knew he wasn't that far off.

Finally, the finishing shoot. No smiles today. I just wanted to be done. Keep running.

Time: 2:34:33 and a major PR

That was 26 minutes in a year with me coaching myself. I wonder what I can do in 2012?

October mish mash

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Just nothing worth blogging about. However, here is a mish mash for October including a race report and October workout totals.

•  I need to mourn the loss of my dream time for the Big Sur Half Marathon. Not that it couldn't still happen, but it isn't as likely as I had hoped. Why let go now? Because I don't want to be disappointed in my actual time. I DO expect to have a great PR (providing my knee holds out) and I want to fully celebrate that. I will have to leave the dream time to next year.

• It sucks losing fitness. My long runs have been going great. I'm able to hold a better pace for the full run than I did last year. I'm still slow by other comparisons, but faster than I was last year -- in the long runs. However, yesterday's 10k was even SLOWWWERRR than my 10k in the Mermaids ???? I've lost that much fitness? I didn't feel bad but it seems I may have a cold. Was that it? I certainly couldn't get much air. Very bummed about that 10k (race report follows)

• Am going to have to do something different than boot camp. As I start to train again, the schedule just doesn't work no matter how much I fit the pieces together. I have stuff at home, but I won't use it. So, gotta find a gym. 24 Hour Fitness, Club One, Right Stuff?

• Got out and rode with my new power meter -- avg. power 94 while completely zone 3 or less. Don't suck as much as I thought I did when I tested it to see if it worked (that was a max 34!)

• Started reading Training for Endurance by Dr. Philip Maffetone -- If he's good enough for Mark Allen and Dave Scott (and by extension Chrissie Wellington), then he's good enough for me!

 Marsh Madness 10K Race Report (No pictures as the camera was goofy)

The course is a relatively flat paved/trail course along the Palo Alto marsh lands. The weather was perfect. I was well rested and while not feeling GREAT, I was feeling OK. Usual early, lite breakfast and then off to the site. I was really hoping to get a finally 10K PR and had worked out what my average speed needed to be -- I wasn't trying to crush my old PR, just improve by 20-30 seconds. I also wanted to stick with my fueling plan for the half marathon -- GU electrolytes and Carbo Pro to drink and GU gel at 40 minutes into the race.

Used my inhaler 20 minutes before race start (some times I forget and suffer at mile 2) I did static and dynamic stretches to warm up. Did a few striders. Got my heart rate up a tad. I lined up in the middle, towards the back. I wanted to hold it down for the fist mile until I was really warmed up. So far so good.

Gun went off, we started off slowly for the first mile. Passed a few walkers, but sticking to plan. Some how, I picked up the pace WAY too early in mile 1. When I hit the second mile, I couldn't hold the pace. At the first water station, I walked while drinking my GU Brew/Carbo Pro mix. By the fourth mile, my knee started to bother me. At this point, I walked so that I could eat the gel and drink some more mix. I was huffing and puffing so I slowed down to my planned half marathon pace. This worked for a little while and then even that seemed too tough to hold. Miles 4 and 5 I had significant walks. When I ran, my stomach sloshed. After mile 5, I picked up again. I was determined to hurry up and get this over with.

Is it because I'm losing fitness? Is it that I went out too fast too early? Is it that I'm coming down with a cold? On the one hand, very frustrating on the other, my long runs have been great (or at least for me). Definitely need to rethink the fueling.... gel is ok, but will need to stick with aide station water I think.

7th out of 13.... hmmm. middle of the group. last year, I'd have been last/almost last.
10K: 1:14:20 (more than 7 minutes over my PR)

October totals (look at the running volume!!! BIG for me ;-)

When September and my Season Ends

With the end of September also comes the end of my triathlon season. I sure wish that I had logged my hours for 2010. It would be fun to compare, but I KNOW this year's numbers would have swamped them. The best way to see this is to compare January's totals with September's:

Compare January's paces to September's and there is improvement across the board. Of course, these are some what rough numbers: .25 mph faster in the swim, almost .25 mph faster in the run, and almost 2mph on bike. I might actually get respectable some day.

One of the things I wanted to do this year was work on strength. As you can see by the year end total for TRX, that hasn't happened yet. I start BootCamp next week so we'll see. I'm determined to drop some weight and build some muscle. Now that I have numbers to compare, I can't wait to blast them apart next year.

Mighty Mermaids - 2011 Race Report

The last of this year's Triathlons is over and done with, but it was fun. The Mighty Mermaids Triathlon is held in Capitola. I was really nervous about this race because it would be the longest of my ocean swims. This is the one that I've been working towards since June.

Grumpy and I drove the bike course yesterday since mapmyride was showing me a really scary course. I mean don't those look like ski slopes?

Any way, between Grumpy's driving and me trying to read the map, I got a major case of car sickness. At this point, everything DID look like a ski slope - ride and run!

I really didn't know how to plan for this race. Go all out on the bike and hold on for the run? Go easy on the bike and save it all for the run? Not that I know how to do that, but I'd try.

I was worried about getting parking, so I had us there before 6am. It was nice to have plenty of time to set up transition, get body marked, find the ride in/out and run out. We then went down to the beach to check out how things were set-up. 

I got in for my warm up around 7:15am. I was surprised at how warm the water was. I mean, it was still cold, but I was able to get my face in the water on the second try. Pacific Grove holds the record for cold this year.

I'd been watching the waves carefully so when something that looked like a wave came towards me, I dove. Ok, so may be a little early, but I wasn't going backward today!

Sighting was tough since often the swells blocked my view. I just kept my eye out for the largest group of women. I was able to find fast feet several times on the way out. On the way in, it hit - my nemesis V-E-R-T-I-G-O. I'm not sure if it is my breathing or the cold water freezing my brain. The cure is a few minutes of swimming doggy style. I got out of the water a little too soon and a very wobbly.

Swim:  34:30   PR! (SV Tri 38:31)

Off to transition. Where is transition you ask? .25 mile up that hill.

 

T1:  9:40 (includes the run up to transition and the run around transition to get to my spot)

Done fooling around in transition, and off on the bike. Hmm. What do you know? There's a hill followed by a hill.

The bike course was hilly, but nothing different that I've ridden all summer. The unfortunate part is that almost every good down hill had to be taken slowly for a variety of reasons: sharp turn at the bottom, speed bumps, giant pot holes. You name it and every time I tried to press for good down hill speed, I was foiled. There was also a MAJOR up hill that we didn't drive yesterday and I'm glad! No one stayed in the saddle for this one and some even walked their bikes up. This was equivalent to the first rise on Sierra Rd.
Bike: 1:45:30
T2: 2:10

The run was 2 loops of which the first loop you had to run almost into the finish shoot before veering off to go back up the hill and through transition. There were more hills in the run and I hate running in sand!

Run: 1:13 (SV Tri was 1:13:09)
Overall: 3:44:30  Total Ascent 1241ft   (SV Tri 725ft)

So, in comparing this Oly with the SV Tri and subtracting 5 minutes for that run from the ocean to transition, I was only 6 minutes over. Given the spotty training I've been doing over the last 6 weeks and the extra 500 ft in ascent, I'm REALLY happy with this race.

What I did right:

• Dove in to the wave at the start.
• Stayed on fast feet.
• Brought and used extra GU.
• Got there early so had a great transition spot.
• Drive the course before hand.

What I did wrong:

• Not doing any race specific training.
• Not doing enough off the bike at pace runs.

Amazing end to peak week

This week has been a week of contemplation. I really want to do a HIM next year. Early in the week, I had convinced myself that any thing less, would mean I'm a failure. I struggled to get in the time needed for an Olympic. How would I do trying to train for a HIM?  The nail in the coffin was when I asked Grumpy if he'd support me doing a HIM and he answered "No". I also looked at my times, and frankly, I don't want to do a 7 hour HIM. 

I was pretty bummed about that and very confused as to what I should plan for next year. I just bought the book Your Best Triathlon by Joe Friel. Since I'm at the end of the season, I jumped ahead and in the last chapter I read:

"Am I Racing the Right Distance?  ... Or perhaps you are racing Olympic distances even though your speed is not great and your endurance is. If this description fits you, maybe you should move up to the half-Ironman distance."

Some how, everything fell into place. No, I won't be doing a HIM in 2012. But now I am actually planning it for in 2013 - as in, I'm doing it. Not afraid to plan it. Confident to plan it. In the mean time, I've got plans for 2012 and a lot of work to do.

Saturday, I did the Jan Lipson Ride For Diabetes which my friend Molly put on. This is a small event that benefits the Diabetes Technology Society. I went into the ride with a new attitude and my goal was to ride those 30 miles as fast and hard as I could. My plan was to leave nothing in reserve.

With in the first 3 miles, I picked up my first drafter and had lost Grumpy. No problem, I'm having a blast. Once I made it over the steep hill and started the rolling hills, I started getting glimpses of Grumpy in the distance. That meant the fast guys had dropped him and my mission was to catch him! It took a few miles and some really hard peddling, but I did catch him. At this point, we picked up 2 more drafters and I was ready to draft off of Grumpy. About the time we reached Old Almaden, Grumpy was spent. So, I pulled again. Some how, I dropped Grumpy going up those little inclines. We reached the turn around point. I waited for Grumpy and the drafters used the trees. The way back was peddle as fast as possible. At the end, Grumpy pulled ahead just so he could said he won -- really???   
30 miles 2:02 not bad for the head wind, hill, wait, and stop lights. Stoked!

This morning, I met up with a group of PinkLadies that are doing the San Jose Rock & Roll Half Marathon. They had 10 miles to run and I had 9. We met at Los Gatos Creek trail for an out and back. There's NO WAY I was going to keep up with them. My goal was to do my run as close to my Big Sur Half Marathon pace as I could -- and honestly, I didn't want them to get back too much before me. Going south, the trail is a slight incline. I worked HARD to keep my pace up. Going north, the trail is a slight decline -- woohoo!
9 miles 1:42:11 AND I BEAT THEM BACK WITH TIME TO SPARE!!  Stoked!

Next week is the Mermaids Mighty Triathlon - I'm ready!

Palo Alto Moonlight 10K & Pacific Grove Sprint Race Reports

No. I'm not an over achiever. No. I'm not crazy. Yes. I did do 2 races on the same weekend. No. I don't have pictures, but it DID happen because there are on-line records!

The Plan: 

1. To spice things up, do the Palo Alto Moonlight 10K on Friday night as my "long" run for the week (i.e., run it very slowly). 
2. Do the Pacific Grove Sprint Triathlon as an all out brick (Note that the swim is 1/4 mile and the run is 2 miles)

Palo Alto Moonlight 10K

The weather reports said chance of lighting in the east bay and in the Sierras. It said nothing about all of the bay area. Grumpy did the 5k walk and then it was my turn to do the run. It was pretty crowded so I stayed toward the back since I was going to run slowly.

The first 2 miles went as planned and there were lots of people around. As soon as we were committed to running the levees, the lightening started and the crowd thinned. The ground was surprisingly secure. I had plenty of light between my headlamp and my little flashlight. So, I was off. At some point out around mile 4, I found my rhythm - that point when your form is correct so you're not expending as much energy. Unfortunately, I don't have the leg to keep that -- but I felt it FINALLY!

It was around the 4.5 mile mark when the rain started. I LOVE running in the rain, but lighting when I'm the tallest thing out on the levee wasn't too appealing. Once back on to the asphalt, the course goes to a stupid little out and back to make the mileage. As I got to the turnaround, this most amazing gust of wind hit me. I was almost at the turnaround so hoped to use it as a tail wind as I turned. Unfortunately, it died as soon as I needed it.

I finished the run at 1:10:36 Garmin said 6.37 miles which wasn't bad for starting really slowly and having to wade through the crowd. But had I done too much? Quick - Protein, E21, Ice Bath. Compression Tights. Bed.

Pacific Grove Sprint Triathlon
Amended Plan - Survive the swim. Bike like hell. Do what you can on the run.

Although I got to bed by 9:30pm, something had me up every 2 hours - Shelby wanted something. I had to pee. Grumpy came home and the grrls had to let me know...  on and on. Finally, 3:45am arrived, things were loaded into the car, and we took off for Pacific Grove (roughly 1 1/2 hour drive). After a little back and forth, we found a great place to park and began unloading my stuff. 


I had Grumpy pump my tires because the last time I did it, I tore the stem off. No sooner had he put the pump on and the air fizzed out that he realized that the pump was broken. CRAP! By the light of the Pilot's hatch and my cell phone, he actually fixed it! I got to transition by 6:20. We had assigned spots. I got set-up, got my body markings, and made a note of where the various ins/outs of transition were before heading down to the water. 


OH MY GOD that water was cold. It was colder than Santa Cruz last month. I made sure to get my face in the water and get over the shock. The swim was only 1/4 mile and you had to crawl over kelp. Turns out all my fretting about the kelp was over nothing. What I should have been concerned about was that people would bunch together to stay in the channels that the previous waves had made. This was the most physical swim I've had yet. I got kicked twice and twacked on my goggles once -- none hard and none hurt. Just enough for me to get out of there.

Swim: 11:22 - I survived


I tottered out of the water and started up to stairs to transition. By the time I reached my bike rack (which was the farthest away from swim entry), I had my legs back. Quick change... oops put my helmet on backwards but fixed it before I left transition. 


T1: 3:53

The bike course was 2 loops of 3 miles out and back along the coast. This is where the lack of recent riding hurt. I concentrated on pumping, pumping, pumping (and not drafting) but I wasn't getting much. This course had a short hill that I lost a lot of speed on, but I made sure that I pumped hard on the way back down to regain what I lost. As I came in to make the turn for my second loop, I made sure to get to the left early -- but no too early. Seemed like there were a lot of people that didn't do their second loop because on this time there wasn't any one out there for a long time. I caught some one at the turn around point and she promptly fell in front of me... YIKES! UNCLIP UNCLIP UNCLIP.  I DID IT!!!! So, off I went back to transition -- making sure to dismount BEFORE the dismount line.

Bike: 46:56 (if you believe their mileage is 15.80 if you believe Garmin 310XT mileage, it is 16.29)

So, off to the other side of transition to change and then back to the other side for the run out.

T2: 3:12 (pretty impressive considering where my spot was!)

The run course was 2 loops 1/2 mile along a trail that follows the coast and then cuts back on Ocean View to Lover's Point. It started off as painful as usual. I thought that it was because my legs were still sore from Friday night's race. My calves were SKA-REEMIN' but I ignored them. I glanced at my Garmin to see my pace was 13.89 -- shit, this is going to be a long 2 miles! I made it around the first loop and I noticed my legs weren't hurting any more. I started to push harder and glanced at my Garmin -- huh? 14.56???? Whatever, it doesn't hurt so just go. At the final turn, I looked at the Garmin again --WTF?! 14.89!!! Then it hit me. That wasn't pace -- it was the total mileage for the WHOLE race! I had no clue how fast I was going!

Run: 21:11

No PRs this weekend. In all, not bad for a training run and a brick. I know the lack of riding mileage in August and early September has hurt me. I hope I can get some of that back for Mermaids.

P.S. Grumpy ran his first ever race - 5k for a whopping 26:04! So proud of him. Imagine what he could do if he trained.

August Numbers

So, August (and my vacation) is over and the numbers are pretty sad.

 

 Why?

• Exhausted from previous workouts.
• Bike fit instead of bike ride.
• Didn't feel like doing workout after spending day at dog show.
• Normal pool closed and a little intimidated at starting the new pool.
• No life guards at the pool = no swim allowed.
• Blew off work out to celebrate anniversary.
• Bike shop took my spear so couldn't do the trainer workout.
• Stuck at work.
• Other priorities came up.
• Work totally stressed me out. Pushing to do a workout was out of the question.
• Hotel swimming pool was useless.
• Area to run in was not very safe so cut run short.
• Hey! I'm on vacation... I don't have to do anything I don't want to do.

There's a lot there of just losing the motivation. I've been pretty good since I started in January, so I won't beat myself up. Just listing the reasons/excuses to work on better scheduling so I have less of them.

Vacation Maddness: Part II

Flying out to Nebraska at the end of August really seemed like a mad idea at the time. I mean, who goes to Nebraska at the height of heat and humidity?

First stop not even out of Omaha: some restaurant that Grumpy saw on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives - enough said.

Next stop: Lincoln and a beer with the Girl Child and her friends in the Hay Market. - Nice.

University of Nebraska - Lincoln Memorial Stadium

Lincoln is know for its many running trails -- of which I couldn't find any. Instead, I ran around the University. I'd see one runner after another and latch on for as long as I could see them. I was reminded of drafting while swimming ... just not that close. Beautiful campus.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that the first race that I fly to ends up being Grumpy's race!

5th Annual Ultra Mud Run

Grumpy, Girl Child, Candidate

Grumpy did the 5k which was took him by corn fields and into 2 mud pits. He was upset with the spectator that told him there was beer a mile up -- there was NO beer on this run!




 



A little clean up and we were off for a brief viewing of the ZombieFest, hitting as many breweries as Grumpy could handle (never came close to challenging him).

Favorite Eats: Pepperoni Rolls and very potent Strawberry Margarita (only took 1).
Training: Very little, but lot's of eating. Lost 3lbs.... probably lost muscle.


One more vacation day left. I've got a bit of my mojo back so, it's back to masters in the morning. Hope it's a big volume day since my numbers for this month are beyond pitiful.

Vacation Maddness: Part 1

It took a couple days to decompress from the last few weeks of stress filled work days. I've made some decisions and changes are forth coming. This means reduced goals for the future, but hopefully life will be more balanced. Of course, I have no motivation to do any training. I think I'm going to just recharge for now. Too many things going on.

In the mean time, vacation started with the arduous trip 330 miles north to the very cool Eureka California for the 3 day HumDog CPE trial. We left Thursday so that the girls would be well rested for the start of the trial Friday afternoon. Almost the moment we got to Eureka, I broke the arm off of my glasses. Friday games went well despite spending the morning at the beach. Both Tazzy and Shelby qualified in their runs beautifully.

Samoa Dunes Recreational Area

Saturday started with loud music from the Extreme Games across the street at the Fairgrounds. It never let up all day.  Regardless, Grumpy and Tazzy had many beautiful runs and looked like a well oiled team.

Tazzy

Shelby and I struggled to come together as a team until the last run Sunday. She had fallen asleep with her ear in the water bowl. She needed some heavy duty waking up. I spent 20 minutes making her bark, close range ball chasing, and quick little tricks to get her pumped up. It worked! Last run of a 3 day trial was full of energy and togetherness -- from BOTH of us. But really... 20 minutes of fluffing???

Before leaving Eureka, we headed back to Samoa Dunes to wear out the grrls. First part of vacation is done. 

Race Report: Santa Cruz Sprint Triathlon

This was an extremely stressful week. You know the kind of week that you find yourself sighing just to relieve the pressure. 3 major deliverables due by Friday one of which was my annual self evaluation.  By Friday night, the idea of getting up at the butt crack of dawn to jump in the freezing, bacteria laden Pacific ocean was not appealing. I signed up for this race to get me used to swim in same said water so I was going. Since this was a sprint, the race plan was simple - balls all out.

The morning was 61F degrees and a bit foggy... well, foggy enough that they reduced the swim distance from 750 meters down to 650 meters.

They started the briefing with a saxophone version of The Star Spangled Banner. First wave to take off was the handful of Pros. The next wave was the Semper Fi group consisting of wounded warriors. My eyes were already running, but when the guys ran out and picked up the wheeled chair bound racer who was having trouble getting past the breaking waves ... I still tear up.

Since I was the last wave, I waited to do my "warm-up" swim until the young men were getting ready. Water temperature was said to be 56F degrees... it was enough to make my face hurt. Well, maybe I'd swim with my face out of the water. I popped a handful of stingers to get me ready for the swim.

see the break in the pack -- and the waves got MUCH bigger

When it was my wave's turn to line up, they announced that staying left would take the most advantage of the current. So, every one scooted left. Since this was women 39+, I moved to the left and middle.

3-2-1-GO! Every one surged forward. The first group made it out no problem. Suddenly, the women right ahead of me STOPPED??? The woman directly ahead of me moved left and then I saw it -- too late to do anything -BAM a larger than previous wave took down a dozen of us. I righted myself and body surfed until I could get my legs under me. I stood up, turned, took a step, and then BAM another larger than previous wave taking me down again. I was PISSED. I got to my feet quickly this time muttering G'damn it, turned, and dove into the next on-coming wave. I was finally off. Grumpy said that was it for a couple of the women. He said it knocked the wind out of them. I was lucky.

Some how, the water didn't seem as cold during the race. I kept pushing and felt like I was working as hard as a few weeks ago in the Splash and Dash. I passed a lot of people. I tried to stay on feet when I found them and dropped them quickly when they went off course. My sighting was spot on again. When I got to shore, I swam until my fingers touched bottom and then popped up. A quick glance back to make sure I wasn't going to get pummeled and then I got out of there as fast as I could. Rinsed my feet, donned sandals, and trotted the 1/4 mile+ to transition trying to get my heart rate under control. Sure wish I hit the lap on the Garmin before leaving the beach. I'm not sure what portion of my time is the swim and what portion is the run to T1.

Swim: 18:18.4 (not sure what to make of this time)
T1: 2:27.6

Every one warned about the "hill" as soon as you mounted the bike. As I turned the corner and started up, it was nothing. Ate a gel immediately. Realized that my Garmin wasn't set up correctly so my display was for the Run NOT for the ride. Other than this "hill", it was 2 loops of  a very flat course. I had trouble concentrating on keeping my speed up because it was so flat. Knees in. Don't point your toes. Oops, don't draft. Drink. Drink. Drink. And then it was down the hill and into transition.

Bike: 43:36.2 PR
T2: 1:41.1

Now it was time to see what my legs could do on a 5K. I started off hoping to reset the Garmin while I was running. Nope. .1 into the run, I stopped for a minute to fix it since I wanted to run faster than usual. NOW I was off and running. My stomach made sloshing sounds at which point, I decided not to eat the final gel. I kept watching the Garmin 6.4, 5.6, 6.... and on it went. I walked 30 steps through the aide station while drinking my GU Brew and then it was back to running. Finally, I made the turn down the hill to final run in. (I love that hill.) I was doing 7+ when I heard "GO MARY!". I turned to see Molly. At the bottom of the hill, I kept up the pace -- I couldn't let her see me give in. As I ran up the little walk way, I was disappointed to see I had to run all around the freakin' parking lot to get to the finish line. I was committed to that pace.

Run: 33:11.4 PR
Total: 1:39:14 4th AG out of 8 

I really had a lot of fun in this race. I hope that running Olympic distance will become this much fun.

Things I did right:

• Lined up to the left of the pack.
• Had a pair of sandals for the run to transition. I have feet issues and just being barefoot in the sand that long made them sore.
• Stop to fix the Garmin. This was a C level race. It was important that I get a good run in.
• I did a good job on sighting during the swim.
• I kept the speed up during the run. When I felt like I couldn't go any more, I let myself slow down a little to catch my breath and then back up to speed. Never dropped below 5.3.

Things I did wrong:

• Eating a stinger right before the swim. I don't think the cold water allowed me to digest it. Need to stick with liquids.
• I should not have lined up so far back that I could not see the wave pattern. 
• I should not have set my Garmin up the morning of the race. However, saying this, I could just have easily set it up incorrectly the night before.
• Did not drink the morning of the race. By the time I got to the beach, I was thirsty. I lucked out that this was just a sprint. I would have had issues if this was an Olympic.
• Didn't stock up on quarters for parking.
• Not hitting the Lap button on the Garmin before leaving the beach. I'm not sure if my huge time is due to slow swimming or the trotting up to transition (and right then, all I could do was trot)
• Not taking a huff in T2 (or better yet on the end of the ride). If I'm going to run in the wheeze zone, I need to take precautions.

Hard Decisions: I need a Time Turner Watch

Sorry if this is a little boring. I'm trying to organize my priorities and have a bit of a history of what I was thinking during the process.

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Obedience 

Each year, I set myself several goals. I try to make them feed into some longer range over arching goal. This year's goals have solid plans behind them. All I have to do is execute the plans and stay injury free.
 
One of my goals for this year was to get Shelby into the obedience ring. Today she got her Beginning Novice title at the Monterey Bay Dog Training Club's Obedience Trial in Watsonville.

But now that we've gotten this, what's next -- get her CD? And, what do we need in order to accomplish that? That will take more than 1 hour per week -- perhaps 3 hours per week and several days at trial. TIME!

Hall's Canine Shelby Cobra RE, BN, CL3,

 CL4-H, CL4-S, PDI, PSII

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Agility

My goal for Agility this year, was to get Shelby into the AKC ring and to get her out of level 4 in CPE. AKC was so successful, we're 1 JWW and 1 Standard shy of the Novice title. The end of October we may exceed our goal for AKC Agility. In Cpe, Shelby needs 1 level 4 Standard but, she has 4 more opportunities this year.

So what's next -- get her C-ATCH? That will take many many days at trial next year. A lot more opportunties than she had this year. TIME!

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Triathlon
My goal for this year was to just do it better and I think getting a few placements means I've met this goal.

1st AG Stanford Treeathon Duathlon
1st AG Finish Line Productions Dip and Dash
A bunch of other things that I was far from placements, but I wasn't last.

So what's next -- do a Half-Ironman? Here's where I'm choking. According to Joe Friel's Triathlon Bible, the annual hours per race distance is:

• Sprint - 300-500
• Olympic - 400-500
• Half-Ironman- 500-700

My projected annual hours for this year is 350 hours. I'd need to put in almost double what I'm doing now. TIME!

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Any one of these by themselves is possible. All of them take more time than I've been devoting this year.  It's time for some hard decisions.

End of a good training week... (and July totals)

Vineman was yesterday. Always gets me motivated and a little over zealous *sigh*. It's a long rode to get there and one that is only traveled one step at a time. Everything in it's time.

This week was an awesome week at swim. Without telling us why, coach had us do (in my case) 100 yards for time (New Pool PR 1:45). He then divided that time in half so I had to make 50 yards in 53 seconds 16x on the 2 minutes with a 50 EZ after every fourth hard 50. And I nailed each one -- all a little faster than 53 seconds. Last year, I would have struggled to make 1:05. Progress. That's what this year is all about - Do It Better.

After 2 weeks of not being able to get out for a long ride, Grumpy mapped a 53 miler that took us from the foothills to the bay and back.  I was a little worried about the distance since I haven't done that distance for a couple of months. I decided to work on drafting. But that meant I had to keep up enough with Grumpy to be able to draft.

I needed to back off from drafting in order to take this shot. The point is, I was actually keeping up with him! Most of my pictures have him as a tiny spec in the distance.

The last 4-5 miles out to the bay was on multi-use trails. Riding around the bay was literally cool but, a little crowded with people having troubles staying to the right.

This was a very long mostly zone 2 ride and nicely finished off the month.



I'm NOT training for IM. But I'm right on target for the Santa Cruz Mermaids Olympic in September. A little disappointed in the biking numbers, but I'm focusing on running.

BayTeam CPE Trial Highlights

This is the only picture I have of Shelby for the weekend.

This was a really tough week of trying to fit everything in. I had 9 hours of training, 2 hours of dog class, 32 hours of work, and countless hours trying to co-chair the BayTeam's CPE trial.

Saturday and Sunday mornings started bright and early at 4:45am. After breakfast, Shelby was ready to get started on the day.

The trial was held in a horse arena in Morgan Hill. It was supposed to be low to mid-80's for the weekend, but the morning there was extremely thick fog making it a cold start for the morning.

Shelby enjoyed herself so much she interrupted her runs to visit the poll setters. But, she also managed to do some of the parts nicely.

Tazzy jumped and ran her little heart out getting several qualifying runs and some placements.

Jackpot

More Jackpot

One of the gambles in Jackpot... or practicing to be the Easter bunny.

Dip and Dash - Aquathon

Today, I did the Santa Cruz Dip and Dash Aquathon. This was a little 750 meter swim + 4 mile run I did to acclimate to ocean swimming. It was drizzling this morning on the way over to Santa Cruz. Water temperature was roughly 57F and the air was supposed to be about the same. But, can you believe how calm this water is?

We lined up on the beach. When the horn went off, we ran through the beached kelp. I dove in and swam hard. It was COLD and SALTY! I swam on auto pilot. I kept pushing hard not worrying what I would leave for the run. I was very relieved when I rounded the second buoy and started back to shore. The current would help carry me in right? Still, I kept pushing all the way to shore and hoped when I popped up I wouldn't get knocked over by a wave. I got my highest yard/minute EVER.

(I'm just above the guy at the bottom with out a wet suit)

Out of the water, we had to run across the sand and across some plywood (ah - yuck) to get to transition. I rushed through transistion making this my best T1 EVER.

The run was a 4 mile out and back along the sidewalk that follows the coast. Immediately out of T1 is a very steep hill. In the past, I've walked up the hills. But, I'm able to run them now! I kept running at the edge of what I could sustain. On the way out, I had no problem and didn't stop for water at the turn around. On the way back, I started wanting to look at the Garmin to see how fast I was going. I decided that I only wanted to see how fast so I could give myself permission to slow down ???? And that was that. No looking and NO walking!

Remember that steep hill immediately out of T1? Coming back down it at the very end of the race was an absolute blast. Ended up with a PR and a 1st in AG!

Enough fooling around. It's time to build.

Best Day Ever

Finished up base phase with a low heart rate run by the lake with the grrls. I'm loving this low heart rate running, but nervous about how slow I need to go to keep my heart rate down.

I also love multitasking and the grrls need some exercise. So Grumpy went with us so I could switch off the grrls. Eventually, he got to a place where the grrls got to play in the creek.

This is easy/taper week, but apparently that wasn't on the plan for Masters this morning. Masters kicked my butt this morning. I had a short easy run tonight and figured I'd take both grrls by myself. I thought about it all day at work and wished the day would hurry up. By the time I got home, all I wanted to do was take a nap. So I changed clothes, told the grrls we're going, and then there definitely wasn't any turning back.


WOW! That wasn't an easy run. Once they realized where they were, the grrls made a bee-line for the creek! I got a run in and a bit faster than I had planned. It was supposed to be 4.8-5 mph and I really bounced around 4.5 to 8.6mph!

The look on Shelby's face made it all worth it. That's her "Thank's Mom. This is the best day ever!" look.

Just doing my thing...

I love riding. I love riding LONG slow rides through the hilly areas around the peninsula and south bay. I love Hicks. I love Sierra (category 1 in the Tour of California). I love Mt. Hamilton. I love Old La Honda. Mind you, I'm not fast. The problem is, these routes don't work well for short duration high intensity and they don't work for the "long" low intensity.

From January to the Silicon Valley International Triathlon in July, I followed my training plan as much as possible given some extra curricular 100K rides. To get me through the last two weeks before the race, I promised myself that I would spend some time doing the other things I like to do... like riding and hiking the hills in the south bay.

I started with the some what shaded Hicks/Shannon/Kennedy loop.

 

A few days later, I had an awesome ride (with Grumpy) through Los Gatos/Saratoga/Monte Sereno around Stevens Creek including up Pearce Road (really impressed with how long I was able to stay out of the saddle on that one!)

 

And to end the holiday weekend, I joined Grumpy on a hike with the grrls. Today my glutes are screaming! Should find a way to keep that in the training plan. Can I count that as a run?

One more weekend of "Base", a week of recovery, and then it's back to Build Build BUILD!