I have been eagerly anticipating this event, and even dreading it as the time grew closer. Much of my anxiety revolved around the discovery that the swim would have a limiting time; we would be allowed in at some time after 8 AM based on our scheduled waves and put out of the water at 9:15. For an accomplished swimmer this should not be an issue since a mile swim should really only take around 30 minutes. Let me clue you in.... I am not an accomplished swimmer. I know that in a pool, where I can push off on the ends of the pool, I can do a mile in just over an hour. In the open water, where I am zig-zagging all around the place and getting scared when people swim over me, it will take me about an hour and 20 minutes to do a mile. Those are just the swimming facts for me. I sent a frantic email to the race director asking if there was any way for me to start the swim with the long course (1/2 iron distance) athletes at 7 AM, but she said no way. I understand why, but it was a desperate situation, so I thought I would ask. Frequently I figure it is best to ask because not asking is always a "no" and asking might get you a yes. Sigh. She sent me an encouraging email that I just needed to swim hard and she was sure I could do it. That made one of us.
Saturday morning I headed off to Elephant Butte, NM. It is a long drive from Fort Sumner, about four hours, so I got to Marcy and Grady Oxfords about 3:30 that afternoon. That meant I missed the first of the packet pick up opportunities, so Marcy had to stand in line with me at 5, and it was a LONG, wait. Fortunately we have the ability to stand and chat at the same time, so fun was had. It was also a great time to visit with other friends all around. I got to meet Dave S, an online triathlon friend from Colorado, and his wife Michelle, and that was fun. Once packet pick up was done, we headed back to Marcy's for sandwiches and a great evening on the porch; it was so beautiful and I was in awe of the world God created for us to enjoy. A host of the NMSU triathlon club athletes were there too, so all of the available floor space was taken up by college-aged athletes, and as I've mentioned before, nobody knows quite how to party like triathletes: we were in bed by 9:30 and up the next morning by 5 AM.
Transition had assigned racking, and that worked out okay for me. I got an end spot, and you know how I am about my end spots because I need room to spread my gear. It was good and I got my stuff organized and set up. I waited until 7 to go find the ambulance to use their electricity to get my nebulizer going. It was the same crew that I'd bugged for Dam It Man, so that was nice since the EMT's mom is an asthmatic and he is always so encouraging. I got my gear stowed back in transition and met up with some more of the NM Outlaws, and that was fun too. This was my first race wearing my Outlaw tri jersey, and I am so thankful to my friend Deb for sending it to me so I can proudly race as an Outlaw. The race officials did decide that this would be a wetsuit legal race once they checked the water temperature, and I was so glad because I needed the security of the wet suit for the long time in the water. I was drinking lots in order to hydrate, so a couple of trips to the port-o-potties were needed, but the lines were non-existant for me and they were not stinky and were equipped with TP. YEAH for the necessities of life. Grady was capturing the moments on digital "film" and I'm glad since I didn't think to get the cameral out of my tri bag, and then we were off on the swim.
You may remember that last year I DNF'd at the 12.5 mile mark on the bike course due to dehydration, so I was highly motivated to make it this year. I am an extremely slow triathlete, but I plug away very well, and I see myself making improvements between years that do bring me joy.
It took me 1:18 to slog through my mile swim. I usually alternate between the breast stroke and the freestyle, but whenever I started to freestyle I would be called down by the kayak folks that I was getting off course, so I ended up doing the entire race in the breaststroke. There was one other woman behind me getting out of the water.
I had not been feeling well for a couple of days before the race and had put it off as pre-race digestive upset. I was nauseated the entire bike race, and figured it was the heat. Looking back, and seeing that I was sick the entire week following the race, I think I had the stomach flu. Usually I rock the bike portion of the race, but I was only mediocre, and that surprised me, but I plugged along. In the last four miles I was really stunned to realize that I could not look forward on my bike and apply my brakes at the same time. My trapezius muscles were completely locked up. I am assuming that the long breaststroke and then the long bike, something I'd never done before (can you say training failure?) were impacting me. The bike course finshed with a steep incline back down the boat ramp into transition. I knew that unchecked I would come screaming into transition at 25-28 mph, and that was not going to work. I just got off my bike at the upper parking area and ran my bike into transition. Of course my friends who had finished the race at that point and were cheering me on thought I'd lost my mind. My friend Marcy knows my dehydration accuity check is to do multiplication in my head, so she asked me to multiply for her, so I did. She was eating a snow cone, and it was HOT, and I really wanted to snatch it from her, but I needed both hands to change shoes to get out on the run. She did give me a bottle of cold water to dump on my head, and off I went.
The first 1/2 mile on the dirt trail felt good, even if it was churned and sandy, then the hills started. That was when the heat really hit me. I used the old fall back advice of walk up the hills and run down them. The heat was bad, about 95 at this point, so I did the best I could and kept plugging away. At the 3 mile mark I started seeing snakes on the road. I was pretty sure there were no snakes, so I cleverly constructed a question of one of the high school volunteers, "Are you guys having much problems with snakes on the road?"
"No, m'am," he replied, "We haven't seen any today." I figured that if they were just heat related snakes, I really didn't have much of a problem. I was not throwing up, I was only dizzy when I ran, and I would just get hosed down at the next water station. I got to the next station and there were two little boys with weed sprayers full of water. I told them to spray me down like they had sprayed nobody down all day. The look of joy in their eyes was completely worth it. I was soaked, much cooler, and did much better on the way back. Once I finished the race, I asked Marcy to help me find some ice, and I packed my bra with ice, and in five minutes I felt much more myself. I was the last person to finish the Oly course. I did get third place in the Athena category. At this race they also have a drawing for a male and female winner of a beach cruiser bike. I won the female bike and a friend from my triathlon club the NM Outlaws, Carl (won his age group in the long course) won the men's beach cruiser.
I figure that now I have to do a 1/2 iron distance race next year. The difference between a mile and a 1.2 mile swim is not that much, and since that is the part that terrifies me I can do that and enjoy the rest. Of course the bike portion will be 54 miles instead of 26.5 and the run will be 13.1 miles instead of 6.2, but who is counting. Marcy has said she is in too :-) It is good to have friends who are crazy right with you. Of course we also have decided we want to go beyond the 1/2 marathon distance, so we are looking for a good destination to do our full marathon. We think we would like to go to a place with LOTS of oxygen and not much hill, so right now San Diego sounds fun. Another reason San Diego would be good is that Southwest flies there for $49 each way, so it could be a fun girl's weekend. Another wickedly fun thing we are thinking could be a blast is one of the major relays where you get a team and do one of the ultra marathons and you take turns running through the night to cover 122 miles or something absurd like that. Uh huh, I know what you are thinking, and you are right....... you want in on this fun....... yep, that is what you are thinking. I know it <grin> You are as insane as we are. That is what the voices are telling me anyway.
I work hard, I just have so much ground to cover since I am coming from a place with absolutely no physical skills or ability. I like seeing the growth though. Participation in triathlon does bring me a great deal of joy.
Next up I've got the Duke City 1/2 Marathon on 10/23/11 and then the Candyman Triathlon on the 30th of October. On November 13th we have the Aggie Autum Triathlon at NMSU, and you should plan on joining us. It will be a great race, and you will have so much fun. Registration is available online at www.nmsportsonline.com.
Patricia
September 10, 2011--> Yucca Triathlon
This Saturday I did the Yucca Triathlon at White Sands Missile Range. It was an odd distance race with an 8K run, 45K bike, and 400M swim. I wanted to do it for a couple of reasons: it was my birthday, it was a great tune up distance for the Olympic race Elephant Man in a couple of weeks, and the base is just 30 minutes from my daughter and son-in-law's house so I could spend the rest of the weekend visiting them in Las Cruces.
I left Fort Sumner on Friday afternoon at 4 and went to the school football game at Capitan and stayed until halftime (I had to do my duty as the school superintendent). The Foxes were winning, so I didn't feel to bad about being a ditcher, and I still had an hour and a half drive to Alamogordo (NM is a big state). I got up at 4 AM in order to make the next leg of the journey to get to the military base and was at the transition area and set up by 5:45 AM. I visited around transition and that was fun. There were a lot of college students from NMSU's triathlon team there, and I am helping them organize a triathlon for November 13th (put it on your calendars), so it was fun to chat about that race too.
We took off at 7:30, and I was really pleased with my 8K time of 58 minutes. I know most of you runners are much speedier than I am, but for me, this 12 minute mile pace is a SIGNIFICANT improvement and really surprised me. Frankly, I didn't know I could do five miles that fast. I guess it must be the gift of birthday magic and my new birthday orange Newtons. I was only three minutes behind this other Athena that ALWAYS beats me. I kid you not, she always comes in ahead of me. She went to nationals in Athena last year, and she is a great competitor.
I jumped on the bike, and took off, and the first four miles of the bike are an gradual decline, so I knew I would be crying on the way back to transition, but I cranked it pretty hard. At the six mile point, I passed her, and I know that caught her quite by surprise. I realize I am a pretty aggressive cyclist, and I know from looking at my bike splits in races this year that I am usually in the top third on bike times in races. I just pushed it hard because the swim is her best portion in triathlon. I saw her once more after the turnaround, and then beat it back to the transition point, and yes, that long slow incline was a beast. I did the bike in 1:33 and then my usual pitiful swim of 17 minutes. The great news was I still beat her by 11 minutes overall, and it feels AWESOME.
I have had other wins this season, but not over someone who is a recognized, regular winner. When they were giving out the medals, the race director just started to hand her the first place medal, and she had to say, "No, I got second, she got first." Yes, that is the sound of my head swelling. Yes, I am being little miss braggy pants. Yes, I have stapled my medal on my bulletin board in my office with all of my bib numbers. Yes, I wore my medal to lunch with my daughter and son-in-law. Yes, I know it is silly, and yes, I don't even care. I realize this is unseemly in a 52 year-old woman.
This strong competitor and I will both be in the same sprint race on Saturday, and I am sure she will be looking to redeem herself. I am going to try to keep her from doing so :-) She is not doing Elephant Man and that will be the last one I am doing in the Southwest Challenge Series. Right now I am third in that series and she is second. I don't know that I can unseat her from that position given the current points, but there is always next year <grin>
Patricia
I left Fort Sumner on Friday afternoon at 4 and went to the school football game at Capitan and stayed until halftime (I had to do my duty as the school superintendent). The Foxes were winning, so I didn't feel to bad about being a ditcher, and I still had an hour and a half drive to Alamogordo (NM is a big state). I got up at 4 AM in order to make the next leg of the journey to get to the military base and was at the transition area and set up by 5:45 AM. I visited around transition and that was fun. There were a lot of college students from NMSU's triathlon team there, and I am helping them organize a triathlon for November 13th (put it on your calendars), so it was fun to chat about that race too.
We took off at 7:30, and I was really pleased with my 8K time of 58 minutes. I know most of you runners are much speedier than I am, but for me, this 12 minute mile pace is a SIGNIFICANT improvement and really surprised me. Frankly, I didn't know I could do five miles that fast. I guess it must be the gift of birthday magic and my new birthday orange Newtons. I was only three minutes behind this other Athena that ALWAYS beats me. I kid you not, she always comes in ahead of me. She went to nationals in Athena last year, and she is a great competitor.
I jumped on the bike, and took off, and the first four miles of the bike are an gradual decline, so I knew I would be crying on the way back to transition, but I cranked it pretty hard. At the six mile point, I passed her, and I know that caught her quite by surprise. I realize I am a pretty aggressive cyclist, and I know from looking at my bike splits in races this year that I am usually in the top third on bike times in races. I just pushed it hard because the swim is her best portion in triathlon. I saw her once more after the turnaround, and then beat it back to the transition point, and yes, that long slow incline was a beast. I did the bike in 1:33 and then my usual pitiful swim of 17 minutes. The great news was I still beat her by 11 minutes overall, and it feels AWESOME.
I have had other wins this season, but not over someone who is a recognized, regular winner. When they were giving out the medals, the race director just started to hand her the first place medal, and she had to say, "No, I got second, she got first." Yes, that is the sound of my head swelling. Yes, I am being little miss braggy pants. Yes, I have stapled my medal on my bulletin board in my office with all of my bib numbers. Yes, I wore my medal to lunch with my daughter and son-in-law. Yes, I know it is silly, and yes, I don't even care. I realize this is unseemly in a 52 year-old woman.
This strong competitor and I will both be in the same sprint race on Saturday, and I am sure she will be looking to redeem herself. I am going to try to keep her from doing so :-) She is not doing Elephant Man and that will be the last one I am doing in the Southwest Challenge Series. Right now I am third in that series and she is second. I don't know that I can unseat her from that position given the current points, but there is always next year <grin>
Patricia
Live, Love Tri-->August 27, 2011
Live Well, Love More, Tri Harder. So say the women who organized the Live, Love Tri held this weekend in Rio Rancho, NM. The race filled and we had a WONDERFUL time. I've not done any other women only events. When I saw that they were organizing this early in the spring I signed up online right away, as evidenced by my bib number 3. I sent an email and a text, no reason to trust only one form of electronic communication, to my dear friend and fellow triathlete Marcy Oxford, and she also signed up immediately and she was #5. Now this matters because we ended up with assigned racking and we were assigned by bib number, so we were rack buddies :-) and now I am waaaaay ahead of myself in the story.
I arrived in Albuquerque in time to go to REI on Friday night to get my packet about 6:45 and ended up waiting in line until 7:30. Now I know people usually gripe about waiting in line, but this was just a lovely time to visit with fellow triathletes and get to meet new friends. It was really fun when I got up to the check in station and the organizers said, "Oh, you are Patricia Miller, the AMAZING Patricia Miller that we've heard so much about." and we all had a great giggle about that. I guess Angie from Chasing3 Race Productions had been telling them about our Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon that we had in Fort Sumner, so that means we may get some more good entries next year. Of course now I will owe Angie some payment for the good publicity <grin>. After packet pick up it was off to VietQ Grill to meet Marcy, Lisa and Lisa's daughter for supper and great conversation.
As per our usual athlete ethic, we were in bed by 10 and up at 4:30 AM so we could hit Starbucks for skinny lattes and be at the race venue by 5:45 AM. We even got to park in the parking lot and had no problem getting everything set up in transition. The body marking and race organization were great. The event was held at the Rio Rancho Aquatic Center and was set up as a reverse sprint triathlon. We started with the run and went off in waves separated by three minutes. Marcy and I were in the first wave. The course is the same as the Patriot Triathlon and we start of going uphill and then we go off the paved path and go into the desert and run more uphill in the sand. I don't really mind the sandy trail running because it is easier on my knees, but the sand is challenging. I did love the downhill portions though, I felt so FAST. My pace was nice for this run and while it was not my best 5K time, it was not bad at 42:41. Last year when I did the Patriot Triathlon on the same route my time was 52:53, so that is a 10 minute improvement. Of course in the Patriot the run comes at the end, so a direct comparison is not very fair.
T1 was great, as always in a reverse sprint, and then it was off on the bike for a great hilly 12 mile ride. I passed so many people and it was hugely rewarding. I got to say, "On your left" to so many people. There were a number of folks who had not done triathlons before, so there were some folks who didn't know basic things like not riding two abreast or not to pass when someone is already passing someone. Since I am a fairly aggressive cyclist, I paid close attention to everyone else and did really well and was extremely happy with my bike split time of 43:15. The bike route does not compare to Patriot's route, but Chili Harvest has a 12 mile bike route and is much less hilly and it took me 45:45, so I am happy. I should be happy because I am really sore today, so my legs worked hard yesterday.
T2 went really fast too since it is just a matter of stripping excess items off and running to the pool. I did forget to take my inhaler out of my short pocket, and lost in the pool. The pool was a bit of a battle zone. I did a combination of backstroke and breaststroke and my time was 14:08, again an improvement and I passed some folks in the pool, and that is a novel experience for me. I am still a super poor swimmer and I am freaking out the closer we get to Elephant Man. That mile swim at Elephant Butte is making me tense, but I will just plug away because I know that I am a good plug away person. Frankly, the kayak people are always great about shadowing the last person in the water, and since I have LOTS of experience being that person, it will be okay. That is the positive self-talk I am using every time I begin screaming in my head anyway.
Overall, my time was 1:43:53 and that is 10 minutes faster than the similar distanced race in Socorro held just a few weeks ago. I was 202 out of 265, so that means I can in ahead of 63 other competitors, and that is the most people I've come in ahead of in any triathlon. Dance of joy moment! We all got great necklaces as we finished. My triathlon friend Paula gave me this really cool (operative word) neck bandana that I can use when I do the Yucca Triathlon and Elephant Man. It has gel crystals in it and it will help me not to get overheated.
Next up on the fun list:
October will bring a duathlon at Santa Rosa, the Candy Land Triathlon in Albuquerque, and the Duke City Marathon, so it has some fun ahead too.
Living Well, Loving More, and DEFINITELY Tring Harder,
Patricia
I arrived in Albuquerque in time to go to REI on Friday night to get my packet about 6:45 and ended up waiting in line until 7:30. Now I know people usually gripe about waiting in line, but this was just a lovely time to visit with fellow triathletes and get to meet new friends. It was really fun when I got up to the check in station and the organizers said, "Oh, you are Patricia Miller, the AMAZING Patricia Miller that we've heard so much about." and we all had a great giggle about that. I guess Angie from Chasing3 Race Productions had been telling them about our Billy the Kid Tombstone Triathlon that we had in Fort Sumner, so that means we may get some more good entries next year. Of course now I will owe Angie some payment for the good publicity <grin>. After packet pick up it was off to VietQ Grill to meet Marcy, Lisa and Lisa's daughter for supper and great conversation.
As per our usual athlete ethic, we were in bed by 10 and up at 4:30 AM so we could hit Starbucks for skinny lattes and be at the race venue by 5:45 AM. We even got to park in the parking lot and had no problem getting everything set up in transition. The body marking and race organization were great. The event was held at the Rio Rancho Aquatic Center and was set up as a reverse sprint triathlon. We started with the run and went off in waves separated by three minutes. Marcy and I were in the first wave. The course is the same as the Patriot Triathlon and we start of going uphill and then we go off the paved path and go into the desert and run more uphill in the sand. I don't really mind the sandy trail running because it is easier on my knees, but the sand is challenging. I did love the downhill portions though, I felt so FAST. My pace was nice for this run and while it was not my best 5K time, it was not bad at 42:41. Last year when I did the Patriot Triathlon on the same route my time was 52:53, so that is a 10 minute improvement. Of course in the Patriot the run comes at the end, so a direct comparison is not very fair.
T1 was great, as always in a reverse sprint, and then it was off on the bike for a great hilly 12 mile ride. I passed so many people and it was hugely rewarding. I got to say, "On your left" to so many people. There were a number of folks who had not done triathlons before, so there were some folks who didn't know basic things like not riding two abreast or not to pass when someone is already passing someone. Since I am a fairly aggressive cyclist, I paid close attention to everyone else and did really well and was extremely happy with my bike split time of 43:15. The bike route does not compare to Patriot's route, but Chili Harvest has a 12 mile bike route and is much less hilly and it took me 45:45, so I am happy. I should be happy because I am really sore today, so my legs worked hard yesterday.
T2 went really fast too since it is just a matter of stripping excess items off and running to the pool. I did forget to take my inhaler out of my short pocket, and lost in the pool. The pool was a bit of a battle zone. I did a combination of backstroke and breaststroke and my time was 14:08, again an improvement and I passed some folks in the pool, and that is a novel experience for me. I am still a super poor swimmer and I am freaking out the closer we get to Elephant Man. That mile swim at Elephant Butte is making me tense, but I will just plug away because I know that I am a good plug away person. Frankly, the kayak people are always great about shadowing the last person in the water, and since I have LOTS of experience being that person, it will be okay. That is the positive self-talk I am using every time I begin screaming in my head anyway.
Overall, my time was 1:43:53 and that is 10 minutes faster than the similar distanced race in Socorro held just a few weeks ago. I was 202 out of 265, so that means I can in ahead of 63 other competitors, and that is the most people I've come in ahead of in any triathlon. Dance of joy moment! We all got great necklaces as we finished. My triathlon friend Paula gave me this really cool (operative word) neck bandana that I can use when I do the Yucca Triathlon and Elephant Man. It has gel crystals in it and it will help me not to get overheated.
Next up on the fun list:
- Hearts on Fire Youth Retreat with our FCA students on Sunday/Monday of Labor Day weekend
- Yucca Triathlon at White Sands on 9/10. This will be a different distance because it is a 7K run, a 45K bike, and a 400M swim. After the triathlon I'll head to Las Cruces and spend the rest of the weekend with our daughter and son-in-law. It will be great to see our friends in Las Cruces at the church there too.
- Cotton County Triathlon at Levelland on 9/17. I will drive over to Clovis and ride to Levelland with some of the Clovis triathletes. They tell me that this is a great triathlon, and I am looking forward to it and have never done this one before.
- Elephant Man at Elephant Butte on 9/25. This is an Olympic distance race, so that means a 1 mile swim, 26 mile bike, and 10K run. At the recent clinic they told the attendees to power walk the first mile in the sand up the hill on the run rather than to try to run it, and then when we get to the paved road surface we can start running. So glad they gave me permission to walk, giggle. Heat can be an issue for the slow pokes like me. Now the good news for me this year is that they are also having a 1/2 iron distance race, so my finishing time will be about the time that the finishers of the 1/2 iron distance folks are finishing--- yeah, I am truly that slow. Oh well, it will be my race and it will be in my time.
October will bring a duathlon at Santa Rosa, the Candy Land Triathlon in Albuquerque, and the Duke City Marathon, so it has some fun ahead too.
Living Well, Loving More, and DEFINITELY Tring Harder,
Patricia
Chili Harvest Triathlon--> August 6, 2011
Oh, this was as GREAT triathlon in Socorro. I had so much fun and improved my time by 12 minutes over last year. I have to do the celebration part right at the beginning. Three years ago I was the last person to finish this triathlon by 30 seconds. It took me 2 hours and 24 minutes and 34 seconds to do this course that year. This year it took me 1 hour and 53 minutes, so I've cut 31 minutes off my overall time in those three years. It feels so great. My swim time was pitiful at 15 minutes and my run as sadly slow at 47 minutes (I'm not sure why either), but I was thrilled with the bike time of 45 minutes. I finished the race ahead of seven people and was 8th in the Athena division.
Well, even though assigned racking usually makes me want to growl a bit, I got a spot I liked just fine on the end of a rack and I was a happy triathlete. I was able to hook up with some of the Outlaws and that was great fun and then the Oxfords from Las Cruces were all racing too, as were a whole host of folks from the Las Cruces triathlon scene, so it was fun visiting around prior to the race. We lined up based on our pre-entered swim time. I turned in 15 minutes, but ended up with people who turned in 12 and ahead of people who turned in 10, so I don't understand how that worked out. I can tell you that the pool ended up being okay. I had to do the back broadstroke most of the way, and so I hugged the lane line and stayed out of the way so folks could pass easily, so it was not a huge issue.
Once I was off on the bike, I was a passing maniac. I LOVE the bike portion of the triathlon. I may need to sign up for some bike races. They'd paved some portions of the road recently and Grace (my bike) and I fairly flew along the way. It was a dream bike ride. Right after I made the turn on the way towards the first turnaround I was passed by a 12 year old boy. My first thought was, "What! How can that happen? I'm having a great ride and no 12 year old boy can pass ME, no today." Well, I calmed myself and reminded myself that I was doing my race, not his race, and that he was not my competition anyway...... chattering monkeys in my head continued to converse. Well, he slowed down, so I had to say, "On your left," and pass him. He could not stand it, and he immediately passed me. I guess he had his own chattering monkeys in his head telling him that the 52 year old woman (ages on our legs in triathlon) could not pass HIM. He almost immediately slowed though, and I am really good at maintaining a consistent cadence, so I knew I needed o pass him back; yeah, you can see where this is going, can't you? Anyway, we were close to the first turnaround, and that is a poor place to pass, so I hung back until we finished the turn, and then it was a slight downhill. Well, my "superior mass" (shall we say weight) meant that gravity was certainly my friend and I blew past him. After the next turn though, I knew he would have his chance because there was a long uphill and he would almost certainly pass me. All along the way I was passing a good number of people. The bike was good to me and made great time. Going up the hill my 12 year old nemesis did pass me, but that was okay because after the last turnaround, I passed him and he stayed passed. It was 30-35 mph all the way back to transition and it was AWESOME. I love the bike portion of this triathlon.
Okay, the run was not hideously hot, so I have no explanation for my slowpoke time. I like the route, we get to run on an irrigation ditch for part of the way and that feels good on my legs, so I can't really tell you why it was slow. No asthma issues, so it was just me having no gas and no go. It was only 2 minutes faster than last year and I should have been 45 minutes or faster this year. If it had been really hot...... oh well, it is done. I just hated being passed by EVERYONE that I passed on the bike. That made me sad to lose the lead I built up. Grady Oxford got second in his age group, Jeffery got 4th in his, and Marcy got 4th in hers, and the NM Outlaws were second in the team division.
F1 Triathlon was cancelled this weekend because the fish have died in Bottomless Lake. Mary was mocking me and said she is surprised they didn't just say, "Hey, this is an endurance sport, keep your mouth closed." Evidently the Health Department takes a dim view on people swimming in decaying fish. That makes the next event the Live, Love Tri at Rio Rancho, NM on August 27th. After that I've got a 1/2 marathon in Roswell, NM on Sept. 5th and three triathlons in Sept., so the season is rolling along well into the fall.
Tri-ing Harder Every Day,
Patricia
Details of the Race
There was really no incentive to do packet pick-up on Friday evening or to come particularly early on Saturday since racking in transition was assigned. Transition opened at 5:30, so I had a wake-up call for 5:00 and was at McDonald's for a big coffee and an egg McMuffin (no disgusting cheese with a 'z'). I toss half the muffin away and it is "just right" as Goldilocks would say. There has been such a lot of dialog on some of the web blogs about the evils of caffeine in endurance events, with the recommendation that athletes limit themselves to only 200 mg of caffeine before competition or long training events. I have decided that this is based on spurious and anecdotal evidence. Bring on the caffeine. Evidently they have three national cases of marathoners that had cardiac incidents in the last few miles of a marathon that they were able to revive. All three had significant caffeine intake. There have been numerous others who have not been revived and they were not able to determine caffeine intake or any other reason for the cardiac incident. I have determined that three is a mighty small number for this sort of recommendation, just my opinion and if you die, well I will be sad. Ranting will now cease. Well, even though assigned racking usually makes me want to growl a bit, I got a spot I liked just fine on the end of a rack and I was a happy triathlete. I was able to hook up with some of the Outlaws and that was great fun and then the Oxfords from Las Cruces were all racing too, as were a whole host of folks from the Las Cruces triathlon scene, so it was fun visiting around prior to the race. We lined up based on our pre-entered swim time. I turned in 15 minutes, but ended up with people who turned in 12 and ahead of people who turned in 10, so I don't understand how that worked out. I can tell you that the pool ended up being okay. I had to do the back broadstroke most of the way, and so I hugged the lane line and stayed out of the way so folks could pass easily, so it was not a huge issue.
Once I was off on the bike, I was a passing maniac. I LOVE the bike portion of the triathlon. I may need to sign up for some bike races. They'd paved some portions of the road recently and Grace (my bike) and I fairly flew along the way. It was a dream bike ride. Right after I made the turn on the way towards the first turnaround I was passed by a 12 year old boy. My first thought was, "What! How can that happen? I'm having a great ride and no 12 year old boy can pass ME, no today." Well, I calmed myself and reminded myself that I was doing my race, not his race, and that he was not my competition anyway...... chattering monkeys in my head continued to converse. Well, he slowed down, so I had to say, "On your left," and pass him. He could not stand it, and he immediately passed me. I guess he had his own chattering monkeys in his head telling him that the 52 year old woman (ages on our legs in triathlon) could not pass HIM. He almost immediately slowed though, and I am really good at maintaining a consistent cadence, so I knew I needed o pass him back; yeah, you can see where this is going, can't you? Anyway, we were close to the first turnaround, and that is a poor place to pass, so I hung back until we finished the turn, and then it was a slight downhill. Well, my "superior mass" (shall we say weight) meant that gravity was certainly my friend and I blew past him. After the next turn though, I knew he would have his chance because there was a long uphill and he would almost certainly pass me. All along the way I was passing a good number of people. The bike was good to me and made great time. Going up the hill my 12 year old nemesis did pass me, but that was okay because after the last turnaround, I passed him and he stayed passed. It was 30-35 mph all the way back to transition and it was AWESOME. I love the bike portion of this triathlon.
Okay, the run was not hideously hot, so I have no explanation for my slowpoke time. I like the route, we get to run on an irrigation ditch for part of the way and that feels good on my legs, so I can't really tell you why it was slow. No asthma issues, so it was just me having no gas and no go. It was only 2 minutes faster than last year and I should have been 45 minutes or faster this year. If it had been really hot...... oh well, it is done. I just hated being passed by EVERYONE that I passed on the bike. That made me sad to lose the lead I built up. Grady Oxford got second in his age group, Jeffery got 4th in his, and Marcy got 4th in hers, and the NM Outlaws were second in the team division.
F1 Triathlon was cancelled this weekend because the fish have died in Bottomless Lake. Mary was mocking me and said she is surprised they didn't just say, "Hey, this is an endurance sport, keep your mouth closed." Evidently the Health Department takes a dim view on people swimming in decaying fish. That makes the next event the Live, Love Tri at Rio Rancho, NM on August 27th. After that I've got a 1/2 marathon in Roswell, NM on Sept. 5th and three triathlons in Sept., so the season is rolling along well into the fall.
Tri-ing Harder Every Day,
Patricia
Dam It Man Triathlon--> July 24, 2011
Dam It Man was on Sunday, July 24, 2011 at Elephant Butte Dam Site. The packet pick-up and transition opened at 5:30 AM. I'd arrived the night before and stayed at Marcy and Grady Oxford's lake house in Elephant Butte. Marcy and I got up at 4:40 and killed a 10 cup pot of coffee between us, don't try to tell me that caffeine is not a good pre-race breakfast food! Okay, we each had a banana too.
Open racking (personal favorite) and we each took an end spot so we had easy in and out and no crowding. I needed to use my nebulizer. You may now note that I am attempting to live in peace with my asthma. I am not railing, whining, or complaining, I am coexisting with my asthma, my companion in triathlon. This was a rural location with no outlets, so I went to the kind ambulance operators and asked to borrow a cup of electricity. They were quite willing to let me hook up my nebulizer to their equipment and I got my duoneb ampule delivered to my lungs readily and in time for the pre-race meeting, or at least most of it.
There was a long walk down the stone ramp to the dock. We were all talking about how long a run UP it would be after the swim. There were two waves, men in the first wave and women and Clydesdales (men over 200 pounds) in the second wave. I was good with that since I prefer NOT being in a panic when people swim over me. It is bad enough when they start swimming into me head on in a loop swim like this on their way back, but usually the lifeguards stop most of the head-on collisions. There was no ladder to get in/out, so we had to jump in and they had members of the Hot Springs High football team on hand to haul us out of the water. That was the best news of the morning, okay, electricity for the breathing treatment was #1, but this was a very high #2 since getting out of the water with no ladder was not an experience I think I could handle.
I did the freestyle out to the first buoy and then got a little panicky when a woman swam back headfirst into me. I thought, "What is up with that? How did she already loop the course and then run into me?" Then she swam to the kayak near me and I realized she was in some sort of distress. Now I am embarrassed to report my first thought was, "Good, now I won't be the last person out of the water," instead of, "Gosh, I hope she is okay." Of course the knock on the head and the panic messed me up a bit and I could not calm down enough to breath right, so I had to do the backstroke for a while until I calmed down and could do the freestyle until the turn around. Once I hit the turn around, I thought, "Is the swim EVER going to end?" I was seriously considering the stupidity of the idea that I am signed up for Elephant Man where I have to swim FOUR TIMES as long and I can't do it. I flipped over and did the freestyle for a tiny bit and noticed that the lifeguard had to jump in and rescue a woman. I am talking, jump out of the boat and take in her lifeguard fun noodle, and give it to one of my fellow triathletes. Then she stayed in the water and swam with the woman. That sort of perked me up, and I thought, "Wow, I am not the last person out of the water today for sure." Then I began doing the breast stroke, and it felt pretty good. I was moving slowly, but I was not scared, and it felt good. I was catching up on this guy who was doing the backstroke, I was catching up on the drowning woman, and I even was able to encourage a woman who was struggling along beside me. I was praying for everyone because I was so scared for them. I've been the last one out of the water in most of the open water swims this year, this was a new experience. I have no clue about why. I know I was still SCARY SLOW. The Hot Spring High boys were awesome and they hauled me out like I weighed nothing. I ran up the boat ramp, but I did not run all the way up the stone incline.
I know I am petrified when I think about Elephant Man in September. I know I did the mile swim last year in an hour and twenty minutes, and it scary. People swam over me and I thought I was going to be killed. I cried in the water but I would not quit swimming. There were waves and I didn't know what to do about them or what to do with them. Did I say I was scared. Yeah. I was scared, and I am still scared every time I do an open water swim. I do them anyway. There is a lot to be said about doing things that scare you because when you are not scared you don't have to be brave. I really like Nichole Noredeman's song Brave with the chorus that says:
There is a line in the song where she sings about "fear ties me down" and I don't want fear to tie me down. I am doing Elephant Man, and I am scared. Just letting you all know. I am scared. A whole bunch. Back to the race.
Off on the bike portion of the race, and I knew immediately I'd made a big mistake; I left my bike in too big a gear and I could not get up the hill out of the dam. I jumped off the bike and just ran up the hill and then got back on so I could pedal off. The course was good, but I really brought the wrong bike. I should have left Grace (tri bike) at home and brought Mercy (road bike) with me. I needed more gears and I had very little time in the aero position. There was a section on the course, about mile 5 where I was flying about 31 mph, that I thought, "I'd better get ready to brake, I have no clue about this route and it is a great place for a wreck." I got up out of aero position and came flying around a corner to see the ambulance, state police, EMS truck and saw them loading a cyclist into the ambulance. Evidently, I correctly assessed the danger of that particular section of the road. Heavy sigh and prayers for the sad triathlete on the way to the hospital. I did pass a few folks on the bike portion, uphill most of the time, and then off on the run.
I had to use my inhaler at the start of the run, and the run began with a good hill to just make sure our legs were aware they were expected to be active participants in the day. There was a water station and then a turn to the left and a turn around. Well, the early runners were not so fortunate to have volunteers there to tell them to turnaround, so a large number of them run an extra 3 miles, yeah, they did a 10K instead of a 5K, so they posted times that are either minutes before or after mine, but they ran twice as far. Interesting turn of events. In triathlon it is the participants responsibility to know the course, so nobody blames the event director, except that they do, if you know what I mean. I realized this had happened when I was making the second turnaround loop and Marcy is coming up to the second turnaround. I asked, "What are you doing?" and I was thinking she might just be getting in an extra workout. She told me she was trying to finish the course. YIKES. After the race we drove the extra she and the group she ended up running with and measured it with my Garmin, and it was an extra 3 miles. She still won her age group because all of the women her age were in her group. Go Marcy! Anyway, I was absolutely loving the run. I don't know why my time was 46 minutes, because I thought I had a great run. I was happy, springy in my step, I was slow according to the time, but I had an awesome time. My overall time was 2:11:40, so this was a slow sprint race but I have no baseline to compare since I've never done this race before. My individual times were Swim 400 Meters : 19:06 Bike 12 miles: 54:37 Run 5K: 46:16
Yeah, I forgot to tell you, I got second place and a beautiful shiny silver medal. I also accommodated my asthma and borrowed a second cup of electricity and did a second breathing treatment in the ambulance. My lungs were grateful.
Next up is the Chili Harvest Triathlon at Socorro on August 6th. I like that race a lot. The people do a great job and the bike course is interesting and fun. The run has some dirt trail stuff I like too; it is easier on my knees.
I am SOOOOOO open to suggestions to deal with my Elephant Man fear. You can certainly pray for me.
Open racking (personal favorite) and we each took an end spot so we had easy in and out and no crowding. I needed to use my nebulizer. You may now note that I am attempting to live in peace with my asthma. I am not railing, whining, or complaining, I am coexisting with my asthma, my companion in triathlon. This was a rural location with no outlets, so I went to the kind ambulance operators and asked to borrow a cup of electricity. They were quite willing to let me hook up my nebulizer to their equipment and I got my duoneb ampule delivered to my lungs readily and in time for the pre-race meeting, or at least most of it.
There was a long walk down the stone ramp to the dock. We were all talking about how long a run UP it would be after the swim. There were two waves, men in the first wave and women and Clydesdales (men over 200 pounds) in the second wave. I was good with that since I prefer NOT being in a panic when people swim over me. It is bad enough when they start swimming into me head on in a loop swim like this on their way back, but usually the lifeguards stop most of the head-on collisions. There was no ladder to get in/out, so we had to jump in and they had members of the Hot Springs High football team on hand to haul us out of the water. That was the best news of the morning, okay, electricity for the breathing treatment was #1, but this was a very high #2 since getting out of the water with no ladder was not an experience I think I could handle.
I did the freestyle out to the first buoy and then got a little panicky when a woman swam back headfirst into me. I thought, "What is up with that? How did she already loop the course and then run into me?" Then she swam to the kayak near me and I realized she was in some sort of distress. Now I am embarrassed to report my first thought was, "Good, now I won't be the last person out of the water," instead of, "Gosh, I hope she is okay." Of course the knock on the head and the panic messed me up a bit and I could not calm down enough to breath right, so I had to do the backstroke for a while until I calmed down and could do the freestyle until the turn around. Once I hit the turn around, I thought, "Is the swim EVER going to end?" I was seriously considering the stupidity of the idea that I am signed up for Elephant Man where I have to swim FOUR TIMES as long and I can't do it. I flipped over and did the freestyle for a tiny bit and noticed that the lifeguard had to jump in and rescue a woman. I am talking, jump out of the boat and take in her lifeguard fun noodle, and give it to one of my fellow triathletes. Then she stayed in the water and swam with the woman. That sort of perked me up, and I thought, "Wow, I am not the last person out of the water today for sure." Then I began doing the breast stroke, and it felt pretty good. I was moving slowly, but I was not scared, and it felt good. I was catching up on this guy who was doing the backstroke, I was catching up on the drowning woman, and I even was able to encourage a woman who was struggling along beside me. I was praying for everyone because I was so scared for them. I've been the last one out of the water in most of the open water swims this year, this was a new experience. I have no clue about why. I know I was still SCARY SLOW. The Hot Spring High boys were awesome and they hauled me out like I weighed nothing. I ran up the boat ramp, but I did not run all the way up the stone incline.
I know I am petrified when I think about Elephant Man in September. I know I did the mile swim last year in an hour and twenty minutes, and it scary. People swam over me and I thought I was going to be killed. I cried in the water but I would not quit swimming. There were waves and I didn't know what to do about them or what to do with them. Did I say I was scared. Yeah. I was scared, and I am still scared every time I do an open water swim. I do them anyway. There is a lot to be said about doing things that scare you because when you are not scared you don't have to be brave. I really like Nichole Noredeman's song Brave with the chorus that says:
So long status quo
I think I just let go
You make me want to be brave
The way it always was
Is no longer good enough
You make me want to be brave
Brave, brave
I think I just let go
You make me want to be brave
The way it always was
Is no longer good enough
You make me want to be brave
Brave, brave
There is a line in the song where she sings about "fear ties me down" and I don't want fear to tie me down. I am doing Elephant Man, and I am scared. Just letting you all know. I am scared. A whole bunch. Back to the race.
Off on the bike portion of the race, and I knew immediately I'd made a big mistake; I left my bike in too big a gear and I could not get up the hill out of the dam. I jumped off the bike and just ran up the hill and then got back on so I could pedal off. The course was good, but I really brought the wrong bike. I should have left Grace (tri bike) at home and brought Mercy (road bike) with me. I needed more gears and I had very little time in the aero position. There was a section on the course, about mile 5 where I was flying about 31 mph, that I thought, "I'd better get ready to brake, I have no clue about this route and it is a great place for a wreck." I got up out of aero position and came flying around a corner to see the ambulance, state police, EMS truck and saw them loading a cyclist into the ambulance. Evidently, I correctly assessed the danger of that particular section of the road. Heavy sigh and prayers for the sad triathlete on the way to the hospital. I did pass a few folks on the bike portion, uphill most of the time, and then off on the run.
I had to use my inhaler at the start of the run, and the run began with a good hill to just make sure our legs were aware they were expected to be active participants in the day. There was a water station and then a turn to the left and a turn around. Well, the early runners were not so fortunate to have volunteers there to tell them to turnaround, so a large number of them run an extra 3 miles, yeah, they did a 10K instead of a 5K, so they posted times that are either minutes before or after mine, but they ran twice as far. Interesting turn of events. In triathlon it is the participants responsibility to know the course, so nobody blames the event director, except that they do, if you know what I mean. I realized this had happened when I was making the second turnaround loop and Marcy is coming up to the second turnaround. I asked, "What are you doing?" and I was thinking she might just be getting in an extra workout. She told me she was trying to finish the course. YIKES. After the race we drove the extra she and the group she ended up running with and measured it with my Garmin, and it was an extra 3 miles. She still won her age group because all of the women her age were in her group. Go Marcy! Anyway, I was absolutely loving the run. I don't know why my time was 46 minutes, because I thought I had a great run. I was happy, springy in my step, I was slow according to the time, but I had an awesome time. My overall time was 2:11:40, so this was a slow sprint race but I have no baseline to compare since I've never done this race before. My individual times were Swim 400 Meters : 19:06 Bike 12 miles: 54:37 Run 5K: 46:16
Yeah, I forgot to tell you, I got second place and a beautiful shiny silver medal. I also accommodated my asthma and borrowed a second cup of electricity and did a second breathing treatment in the ambulance. My lungs were grateful.
Next up is the Chili Harvest Triathlon at Socorro on August 6th. I like that race a lot. The people do a great job and the bike course is interesting and fun. The run has some dirt trail stuff I like too; it is easier on my knees.
I am SOOOOOO open to suggestions to deal with my Elephant Man fear. You can certainly pray for me.
City of Santa Fe Triathlon--> July 16, 2011
Saturday was a beautiful day for a triathlon in Santa Fe. I did my packet pick-up in Albuquerque on Thursday night, and then Friday night attended the mandatory pre-race meeting in Santa Fe. Both the run and the bike courses were changed since the previous year, and the race director wanted to make sure we were all quite aware of the rules and the course. There are so many great challenges to the City of Santa Fe Triathlon that I have no choice but keep it on my race calendar, PLUS it is a wonderfully organized and supported race. This year was no exception to either the rule of challenges or support. The C of SF Tri always starts at 6:30, and transition opens at 5 AM, so I decided to go to dinner early and head to bed so I could be up get up at 4 AM. I am, as you know if you follow my RR, pretty obsessive if I have the chance to grab "my" spots in an open racking situation. My preference is to be near the exit for the bike portion of the race. This means that I am willing to dismount my bike and run into transition with my bike shoes clopping along. In this particular race it also put me in a good spot to be able to run out and down the LONG sidewalk down to the swimming pool entrance. Yes, I give transition location a lot of thought. Now for the blow by blow details of my most excellent adventure in Santa Fe.
I got to bed by 9, and then woke up about 2:30. I refused to get up, but I was just so excited about the race that I could not go back to sleep. It is a reverse sprint, so that means we run first (my favorite) and the first mile is mostly downhill. I love running downhill because the advantage gravity gives me is worth the stress on the knees. I also have way better transition times in reverse sprint triathlons, so I was running things through in my mind. I did doze off for about half an hour and then got up at 3:45 and was out of the hotel by 4:15, dressed and ready to go. I drove through McDonalds, where I chatted with the nicest fellow who was quite cheerful for that early in the morning, and got a sugar free/fat free iced latte and a cheese free egg McMuffin. Just a hint, if you get your egg McMuffin without cheese, you save about 75 calories of not so great cheeze (we spell it with a "z" because I don't think it is real cheese) and they have to make it fresh. I toss half of the muffin away and have the perfect prerace breakfast. I got to the parking area about 4:40 and loaded up my stuff and unloaded my bike. I carried my bike to the road and there were already about 10 bikes (other obsessive compulsive triathletes) in transition, but fortunately no throwdowns were necessary since none of them were in "my" spot. I got set up, and went in to get body marking done, got my timing chip, and then found an outlet to use my nebulizer for a breathing treatment for my asthma.
Back up to transition, borrowed a bike pump from the super nice bike mechanics and aired up my tires. Chatted with a few folks, and then went for a pre-race bike ride warm-up. Oh, the altitude was killer. It did not take much to get the heart pumping and the lungs working. There is not a lot of oxygen in the air in Santa Fe, compared to our elevation in Fort Sumner. I was really gasping for air. One of the challenges I like to embrace, hence one of the reasons I sign up for this race. At 6:15 they closed transition and we all moved out to the road where the wonderful City of Santa Fe Police had closed off Rodeo Road so we could run down it unimpeded. I ADORED the support in this race. They are just so great about keeping us safe. Yes, the bike course is open to vehicle traffic, but they have uniformed officers at every main intersection managing the traffic. There are over 100 volunteers, it is terrific. At 6:30, we take off, and I am running well. The downhill is being good to me, I am keeping up with a group of people, and it feels good. A little asthma problem, but I am working with it and am postponing the use of my break through inhaler. We are about 3/4 of a mile into the run, when a woman in the group I am running with, falls and breaks her ankle. She is running, and she just falls and breaks her ankle. Amazingly, she does not cry, we just wave the police down and they call the ambulance and take her away (found out later she probably did break her ankle). She is brave and she tells her friend to finish the race, so we all just leave her with the police and then we run on. Yes, we triathletes are driven. Our companion is down for the count, and we murmur in sympathy, and proceed to run our race. At least we summoned aid and made sure a responsible party was there to watch her. I wait until the turn around and then use my inhaler and then finish the run ahead of probably ten folks, just guessing. It was just the luck of the draw, but in my particular bike rack, I ended up being the first person back from the run. I can tell you that has NEVER happened to me before, and it was fun to be the first one back from the run. Now, drum roll, my run was 40 minutes! Yes, that is only 2 minutes off my personal best at Jay Benson in May, and that is despite the altitude in Santa Fe. This time was also FIVE minutes better than last year.
Off on the bike, and I am cruising. I love the bike and I love passing people. I REALLY love passing people going up hill. It is so sweet, so satisfying to push, and push and pass someone going uphill. The route was primarily uphill going out, and into the wind, but I am pretty devil-may-care and just flew back in my biggest gears and crushed the return trip. I did remember to drink plenty on the bike because I did not want a repeat of last year's dehydration episode. I'd had plenty to drink on the run, and finished about 10 ounces on the bike. The bike time included both the run into transition and the run down to the swim, both transitions, and it was 55:53. This time was 13:43 faster than last year. YEAH, baby, you read that correctly......THIRTEEN minutes and 43 seconds faster than last year. My swim was laughable, as always, at 16:30. This time was two minutes and nine seconds faster than last year. I used my rescue inhaler as I ran down the LOOOONG sidewalk to the swimming pool. I was finishing the 5th of 8 laps, when I knew I was in some breathing trouble. I switched to the backstroke and tried to ease the tightness, but my lungs were being unforgiving and unyielding. I finished and got out with an overall time that put me in 6th place for the Athenas. Last year my total time was 2:13:33 and this year my total time was 1:53:13. This means I cut 20:23 off this race. I will take that any day.
Once I got out of the water I asked a volunteer to go up and get my red nebulizer bag so I could do a breathing treatment. Actually, my asthma made me more whisper it, but I got the message across. They were good enough to go get it for me, and then got me set up by an outlet so I could use my machine. The paramedics came to check on me, but I assured them that I knew what I was doing to care for myself. Of course I had to sign forms for everyone, including the lifeguard that they had offered to help me and that I was stubborn and willful and did not want to go to the hospital. Actually, the paramedics agreed with me that I was fine, but they still had to get me to sign the form that says they offered.
So after the race it was off to Starbucks for a fat free frappe, and I got a bonus free oatmeal (they'd made an extra and it was just my lucky day) and then to the hotel for a shower. Then off to Sam's for groceries and then a small Schlotzsky's on wheat (celebration meal) to eat on the road. While I was driving I was thinking about many things. I was really happy about how well the race went, and I was also embarrassed/frustrated/angry about the struggles with my asthma. While I was in the pool I was pretty angry at my asthma, like it was my enemy. On the way home I started thinking that maybe I needed to change my perspective. My asthma is part of who I am, like my eye color. I did do the things I know I need to do to care for my asthma. I did a breathing treatment prior to the race. I took the inhaler with me. I used it. I had the machine and meds available since I know that this has been a very bad year for asthma. It has been a long time since I pretended I didn't have asthma, so maybe I should not be so angry when it flares up. Frankly, my asthma is not keeping me from doing things I like to do. I may not be doing them as fast or as fluidly as I wish, and it has been inconvenient to have asthma flare up, but I can work with that. I do keep hanging on to the information the pulmonary specialist shared years ago; asthma has a six year cycle and that consists of 2 good years, 2 bad years and 2 years that can go either way. This is one of the two bad year and maybe it will end soon and I will move on to one of the good years :-) My change of attitude or perspective toward my asthma is not fully fleshed out, but I know I need to be prayerful about this and be open to looking at this challenge differently.
Next up, Dam It Man at Elephant Butte on Sunday the 24th. Prior to that, I have Diva Night at Sports Systems on Thursday the 21st at 6 PM. That brings it own challenges since I have to be a "Fastanistia" in my sportswear for that event. I did get to pick out the outfits, and they are really cute and they are things I would really wear to run, bike or do triathlons in, so I feel good in them.
Merrily Training Along,
Patricia
I got to bed by 9, and then woke up about 2:30. I refused to get up, but I was just so excited about the race that I could not go back to sleep. It is a reverse sprint, so that means we run first (my favorite) and the first mile is mostly downhill. I love running downhill because the advantage gravity gives me is worth the stress on the knees. I also have way better transition times in reverse sprint triathlons, so I was running things through in my mind. I did doze off for about half an hour and then got up at 3:45 and was out of the hotel by 4:15, dressed and ready to go. I drove through McDonalds, where I chatted with the nicest fellow who was quite cheerful for that early in the morning, and got a sugar free/fat free iced latte and a cheese free egg McMuffin. Just a hint, if you get your egg McMuffin without cheese, you save about 75 calories of not so great cheeze (we spell it with a "z" because I don't think it is real cheese) and they have to make it fresh. I toss half of the muffin away and have the perfect prerace breakfast. I got to the parking area about 4:40 and loaded up my stuff and unloaded my bike. I carried my bike to the road and there were already about 10 bikes (other obsessive compulsive triathletes) in transition, but fortunately no throwdowns were necessary since none of them were in "my" spot. I got set up, and went in to get body marking done, got my timing chip, and then found an outlet to use my nebulizer for a breathing treatment for my asthma.
Back up to transition, borrowed a bike pump from the super nice bike mechanics and aired up my tires. Chatted with a few folks, and then went for a pre-race bike ride warm-up. Oh, the altitude was killer. It did not take much to get the heart pumping and the lungs working. There is not a lot of oxygen in the air in Santa Fe, compared to our elevation in Fort Sumner. I was really gasping for air. One of the challenges I like to embrace, hence one of the reasons I sign up for this race. At 6:15 they closed transition and we all moved out to the road where the wonderful City of Santa Fe Police had closed off Rodeo Road so we could run down it unimpeded. I ADORED the support in this race. They are just so great about keeping us safe. Yes, the bike course is open to vehicle traffic, but they have uniformed officers at every main intersection managing the traffic. There are over 100 volunteers, it is terrific. At 6:30, we take off, and I am running well. The downhill is being good to me, I am keeping up with a group of people, and it feels good. A little asthma problem, but I am working with it and am postponing the use of my break through inhaler. We are about 3/4 of a mile into the run, when a woman in the group I am running with, falls and breaks her ankle. She is running, and she just falls and breaks her ankle. Amazingly, she does not cry, we just wave the police down and they call the ambulance and take her away (found out later she probably did break her ankle). She is brave and she tells her friend to finish the race, so we all just leave her with the police and then we run on. Yes, we triathletes are driven. Our companion is down for the count, and we murmur in sympathy, and proceed to run our race. At least we summoned aid and made sure a responsible party was there to watch her. I wait until the turn around and then use my inhaler and then finish the run ahead of probably ten folks, just guessing. It was just the luck of the draw, but in my particular bike rack, I ended up being the first person back from the run. I can tell you that has NEVER happened to me before, and it was fun to be the first one back from the run. Now, drum roll, my run was 40 minutes! Yes, that is only 2 minutes off my personal best at Jay Benson in May, and that is despite the altitude in Santa Fe. This time was also FIVE minutes better than last year.
Off on the bike, and I am cruising. I love the bike and I love passing people. I REALLY love passing people going up hill. It is so sweet, so satisfying to push, and push and pass someone going uphill. The route was primarily uphill going out, and into the wind, but I am pretty devil-may-care and just flew back in my biggest gears and crushed the return trip. I did remember to drink plenty on the bike because I did not want a repeat of last year's dehydration episode. I'd had plenty to drink on the run, and finished about 10 ounces on the bike. The bike time included both the run into transition and the run down to the swim, both transitions, and it was 55:53. This time was 13:43 faster than last year. YEAH, baby, you read that correctly......THIRTEEN minutes and 43 seconds faster than last year. My swim was laughable, as always, at 16:30. This time was two minutes and nine seconds faster than last year. I used my rescue inhaler as I ran down the LOOOONG sidewalk to the swimming pool. I was finishing the 5th of 8 laps, when I knew I was in some breathing trouble. I switched to the backstroke and tried to ease the tightness, but my lungs were being unforgiving and unyielding. I finished and got out with an overall time that put me in 6th place for the Athenas. Last year my total time was 2:13:33 and this year my total time was 1:53:13. This means I cut 20:23 off this race. I will take that any day.
Once I got out of the water I asked a volunteer to go up and get my red nebulizer bag so I could do a breathing treatment. Actually, my asthma made me more whisper it, but I got the message across. They were good enough to go get it for me, and then got me set up by an outlet so I could use my machine. The paramedics came to check on me, but I assured them that I knew what I was doing to care for myself. Of course I had to sign forms for everyone, including the lifeguard that they had offered to help me and that I was stubborn and willful and did not want to go to the hospital. Actually, the paramedics agreed with me that I was fine, but they still had to get me to sign the form that says they offered.
So after the race it was off to Starbucks for a fat free frappe, and I got a bonus free oatmeal (they'd made an extra and it was just my lucky day) and then to the hotel for a shower. Then off to Sam's for groceries and then a small Schlotzsky's on wheat (celebration meal) to eat on the road. While I was driving I was thinking about many things. I was really happy about how well the race went, and I was also embarrassed/frustrated/angry about the struggles with my asthma. While I was in the pool I was pretty angry at my asthma, like it was my enemy. On the way home I started thinking that maybe I needed to change my perspective. My asthma is part of who I am, like my eye color. I did do the things I know I need to do to care for my asthma. I did a breathing treatment prior to the race. I took the inhaler with me. I used it. I had the machine and meds available since I know that this has been a very bad year for asthma. It has been a long time since I pretended I didn't have asthma, so maybe I should not be so angry when it flares up. Frankly, my asthma is not keeping me from doing things I like to do. I may not be doing them as fast or as fluidly as I wish, and it has been inconvenient to have asthma flare up, but I can work with that. I do keep hanging on to the information the pulmonary specialist shared years ago; asthma has a six year cycle and that consists of 2 good years, 2 bad years and 2 years that can go either way. This is one of the two bad year and maybe it will end soon and I will move on to one of the good years :-) My change of attitude or perspective toward my asthma is not fully fleshed out, but I know I need to be prayerful about this and be open to looking at this challenge differently.
Next up, Dam It Man at Elephant Butte on Sunday the 24th. Prior to that, I have Diva Night at Sports Systems on Thursday the 21st at 6 PM. That brings it own challenges since I have to be a "Fastanistia" in my sportswear for that event. I did get to pick out the outfits, and they are really cute and they are things I would really wear to run, bike or do triathlons in, so I feel good in them.
Merrily Training Along,
Patricia
Bottomless Lake Triathlon--> July 9, 2011
Okay, contrary to the name, you do get to wear bottoms at the Bottomless Lake Triathlon. I recently discovered that they do have naked 5K races, and I will absolutely be avoiding those. Random.
Bottomless Lake is outside of Roswell, NM. My weekend of fun started by meeting Mary (daughter) and Dave (son-in-law) in Roswell. Dave is a screenwriter and his movie Roswell FM (comedy about a radio station and aliens) is being filmed in Roswell this summer. We had a great visit and a yummy dinner, then off to bed because I had a race in the morning. Like a wonderful family, Dave, Mary, and hubby Les all decided that they would come and cheer me on. Now this is despite the fact that triathlon is really a HIDEOUS spectator sport. They must really love me a lot.
Bottomless Lake is in a hollow, so the bike is hilly and you get to ride around it. The tri started at 8:30, and by 7:30, when I got back from a warm up bike ride, I could tell it was going to be a scorcher. I was sweating buckets. Don't tell me ladies don't sweat, or that they glisten, I was pouring buckets of sweat and it was disgustingly hot. Yeah, I know, no whining, triathlon is an endurance sport and that means we endure the heat too.
Two waves in the swim; women first so the men could swim over us. We took off, and if I had ANY swim skills I would have been out of the water before the men got in the water, but no, I was meandering all over the lake. I don't know what was wrong. My usual pitiful swim attempt was lamer that usual and I thought I would never get out of the water. The poor kayak lifeguards were desperately worried about my safety and kept shouting encouragement to me like, "Lady, you're going the wrong way." and "Lady, the men are going to run over you if you don't move over this way." When I finally drug my sorry carcass out of the water they were so relieved they were cheering for me. I did beat some of the men out of the water, and they started 12 minutes after the women's wave. Yeah, you read that correctly. The swim took me 18:31 and that was about 1.5 minutes longer than last year. This was a 400 meter swim. Yes, you may gasp and mock me. I can't hear you. You may laugh out loud. I am okay with that.
I ran up and in to transition, and did a great job on the bike course. I finished the hilly route in 36:44, and that was 9:12 faster than last year's time. Super pleased with that, and the passing people part was good too. Off on the run, and I did that in five minutes faster than the previous year. Overall, my time was 11:36 faster this year than last year and I got third in my division; I will take it. I think I've mentioned that I am racing in the Master Athena division in all of my races this year, and so far I've received points in the Southwest Challenge Series in most of my races, so that is good.
Now one of the nicest things happened. I was chatting with another triathlete, and she complimented me on how great my run was. Now my run was almost 42 minutes and this was a 4K race. For most triathletes I know I am posting lame times. I console myself that I getting better and I keep setting goals. I never really thought that for some starting triathletes, I am doing great and I am where they hope to be. I keep beating myself up because I can't get my 5K time down to 30 minutes (my best time is 39 minutes). This conversation is giving me a bit of a perspective shift. Maybe I need a bit of celebration attitude. Goals are good, but somehow I've been forgetting to savor the sweetness too.
One of the other athletes, Greg, had a tough thing happen. He lost a tire and had to run 5 miles of the bike portion in his bare feet (no socks) on the 100 degree pavement. He then put on his running shoes and did the run. He had horrid, bloody blisters on the soles of his feet following the race. That is a can-do spirit.
It was really hot on Saturday in Roswell, so that afternoon Mary and I celebrated my triumph by going to get manicures and pedicures. Nothing like a good girly thing after a great tri event :-)
Next up, the City of Santa Fe Triathlon on Saturday the 16th and after that Dam It Man on Sunday the 24th (not too late to register). How did I manage to make myself compete three weekends in a row when I decided in June that was really tough to do? I think it must be that I just like it so very much.
On a fun note, if you are going to be in Albuquerque on July 21, come to Sports Systems from 6-8 PM. They are having Diva Night, which is a women's fashion show. I will be one of the sports clothing models. I think it is funny and appropriate that they want to have an Athena model in the show. I like it that they realize that larger women are athletes and like to wear great sports wear too.
Yours in Trying Harder,
Patricia
Bottomless Lake is outside of Roswell, NM. My weekend of fun started by meeting Mary (daughter) and Dave (son-in-law) in Roswell. Dave is a screenwriter and his movie Roswell FM (comedy about a radio station and aliens) is being filmed in Roswell this summer. We had a great visit and a yummy dinner, then off to bed because I had a race in the morning. Like a wonderful family, Dave, Mary, and hubby Les all decided that they would come and cheer me on. Now this is despite the fact that triathlon is really a HIDEOUS spectator sport. They must really love me a lot.
Bottomless Lake is in a hollow, so the bike is hilly and you get to ride around it. The tri started at 8:30, and by 7:30, when I got back from a warm up bike ride, I could tell it was going to be a scorcher. I was sweating buckets. Don't tell me ladies don't sweat, or that they glisten, I was pouring buckets of sweat and it was disgustingly hot. Yeah, I know, no whining, triathlon is an endurance sport and that means we endure the heat too.
Two waves in the swim; women first so the men could swim over us. We took off, and if I had ANY swim skills I would have been out of the water before the men got in the water, but no, I was meandering all over the lake. I don't know what was wrong. My usual pitiful swim attempt was lamer that usual and I thought I would never get out of the water. The poor kayak lifeguards were desperately worried about my safety and kept shouting encouragement to me like, "Lady, you're going the wrong way." and "Lady, the men are going to run over you if you don't move over this way." When I finally drug my sorry carcass out of the water they were so relieved they were cheering for me. I did beat some of the men out of the water, and they started 12 minutes after the women's wave. Yeah, you read that correctly. The swim took me 18:31 and that was about 1.5 minutes longer than last year. This was a 400 meter swim. Yes, you may gasp and mock me. I can't hear you. You may laugh out loud. I am okay with that.
I ran up and in to transition, and did a great job on the bike course. I finished the hilly route in 36:44, and that was 9:12 faster than last year's time. Super pleased with that, and the passing people part was good too. Off on the run, and I did that in five minutes faster than the previous year. Overall, my time was 11:36 faster this year than last year and I got third in my division; I will take it. I think I've mentioned that I am racing in the Master Athena division in all of my races this year, and so far I've received points in the Southwest Challenge Series in most of my races, so that is good.
Now one of the nicest things happened. I was chatting with another triathlete, and she complimented me on how great my run was. Now my run was almost 42 minutes and this was a 4K race. For most triathletes I know I am posting lame times. I console myself that I getting better and I keep setting goals. I never really thought that for some starting triathletes, I am doing great and I am where they hope to be. I keep beating myself up because I can't get my 5K time down to 30 minutes (my best time is 39 minutes). This conversation is giving me a bit of a perspective shift. Maybe I need a bit of celebration attitude. Goals are good, but somehow I've been forgetting to savor the sweetness too.
One of the other athletes, Greg, had a tough thing happen. He lost a tire and had to run 5 miles of the bike portion in his bare feet (no socks) on the 100 degree pavement. He then put on his running shoes and did the run. He had horrid, bloody blisters on the soles of his feet following the race. That is a can-do spirit.
It was really hot on Saturday in Roswell, so that afternoon Mary and I celebrated my triumph by going to get manicures and pedicures. Nothing like a good girly thing after a great tri event :-)
Next up, the City of Santa Fe Triathlon on Saturday the 16th and after that Dam It Man on Sunday the 24th (not too late to register). How did I manage to make myself compete three weekends in a row when I decided in June that was really tough to do? I think it must be that I just like it so very much.
On a fun note, if you are going to be in Albuquerque on July 21, come to Sports Systems from 6-8 PM. They are having Diva Night, which is a women's fashion show. I will be one of the sports clothing models. I think it is funny and appropriate that they want to have an Athena model in the show. I like it that they realize that larger women are athletes and like to wear great sports wear too.
Yours in Trying Harder,
Patricia
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