Week 13 Wrap-up

With the racing season officially underway, Week 13 was back to more routine training—still not getting nearly enough sleep, but overall, I think I handled the training volume OK under the circumstances. I did another swim in Diamond Lake in Mundelein—it’s murky enough to help me overcome the initial panic of getting in the lake and one of the few lakes in the area that has a decent swimming area. Early Saturday morning (and I mean early), I drug myself out of bed (or, more accurately, off my friend Theresa’s couch—she happens to live in Mundelein and invited me over Friday night to hang out with her family and then crash so I’d be at least a little closer to Madison) and headed north to Madison, where I was slated to meet up with Jeremy, Sue and Michele to ride the out-and-back section of the course plus one loop. First, though, I met up with Claire, a friend from my hometown for whom I used to babysit. We met at the Madison Farmers’ Market and walked around for about an hour, catching up on life, work, etc. while we wandered around. It was great seeing her—it’s been over a year at least—and a great way to start the day!

After buying some snap peas and green beans and saying goodbye to Claire, I met up with the rest of the gang and we took off via bike for Verona. The out-and-back portion is fairly unremarkable except for some rolling hills on Whalen Road, one of which ends up being a bit of a doozy on the way back to Madison at about mile 100. Unfortunately, though, it was hot (~90°) and windy (Accuweather had winds of 17 mph with gusts up to 30 mph), which made it “fun”. I rode the loop with Jeremy—it was his first trip up there and a good test of my memory. We both relied on our route sheets, but kept plugging away through the loop. Helping talk him through things (particularly the three climbs starting at Old Sauk Pass) actually helped me get the course more firmly in my mind and, given the crappy weather, it helped having someone with whom to commiserate a bit. The wind, sadly, was a headwind heading into both climbs on Old Sauk Pass (the first brutal hill and then the hill with the cell tower on it), but both of us just kept our heads down, shifted into our granny gears and went slow and steady.

We got a little lost in Verona—somehow we missed the turn at the four-way stop and made it back to the Mobil station, but didn’t have a clue which way to go from there, so we asked several other cyclists to help us get back to the course and, ultimately, back to Madison. After filling up with water and taking a brief break, we headed back out to Whalen Road and the return trip. The hill at mile 100 is not much more fun at mile 60—especially when you’re tired and wiped—but we made it and, with the exception of some pretty crazy crosswinds, the return trip was uneventful.

Neither of us even remotely wanted to do a brick run when we got back, but when we saw Michele already out and running on the bike path, we decided we should probably suck it up and do at least a little run. It was bloody hot and windy, but we headed out, albeit slowly, and chalked up 3 miles (with some walking as we both had problems keeping our HR in check). After pounding some Gatorade and changing into dry clothes, Jeremy took off for Chicago and Sue, Michele, and I headed to our now-customary post-ride locale, the Great Dane Brewing Company, for beverages and food. A great way to end the day…

Sunday brought about the long run, which my legs resented and which was made more “fun” by the incredibly stifling humidity—haven’t had to walk to take water breaks in a long time, but man, I was ready to keel over at points. I took it slow and steady—even stopping to buy more water along the way—but still managed to get in 14 miles…not bad for tired legs.

Here’s the roll-up for the week…

Swim: 2:59:00 / 8300 m
Bike: 6:31:21 / 110.69 miles
Run: 4:44:35 / 30.04 miles
Total: 14:14:30 / 145.92 miles

Week 14 Wrap-up

Week 14 marked the start of my racing season, and it certainly started on a high note with the Logansport race. Leading up to Saturday, things were basically status quo—still pounding out the weekday workouts, still not getting enough sleep, and still looking forward to the weekend of training ahead. Friday afternoon, I headed to LaPorte to hang out with Sue and Michele at their cottage—I opted to take them up on their offer to stay with them instead of dealing with the slightly frightening Super 8 in Logansport. At the crack of dawn (actually, before the crack of dawn), we headed south to Logansport for the race (see earlier blog for the race recap). Following the race, we attempted to find some coffee of the non-gas-station variety—sadly, north central Indiana is lacking in espresso-based beverages, so we ended up back in LaPorte.

After refueling with caffeine, Michele and I took off for a 10-mile run (we had a 13-miler on the schedule but opted to count the 3.3 miles from the tri as part of the 13 miles). Thankfully, the rain had stopped by then, but Michele was still trying desparately to warm up—turns out she dislikes being cold about as much as I hate being hot. We attempted to take it easy—we often don’t do so well pacing when we run together—and managed to hold a fairly reasonable pace for the run. After a low-key dinner with some of Michele’s family, we crashed hard—even took the opportunity to sleep in on Sunday morning.

Following a fairly lazy morning on Sunday, we took off for what we thought would be about a 65-mile ride through LaPorte county (which, by the way, has a fantastic bike route system). Sue wasn’t feeling all that great, so she peeled off to head back to the cottage after the first 35 miles or so. Michele and I continued on to round out the day—we both sort of biked our own pace, which meant I spent a fair amount of time looking at Michele’s back from a fairly significant distance. At some point, we ended up riding together again—just in time to have one of the more random experiences to date. We were on one of the random county roads we ride when we saw a horse and a foal (at least I think that’s the right word to use for baby horse) run across the road. Now, we’re both from more or less rural Midwestern towns and are not unfamiliar with farm animals…but neither of us had ever seen a horse in the road before. Cows, yes—horses, no. Michele pulled over to the farm from where it looked like the horses had come and, sure enough, the gate to the pasture area was wide open. Luckily, at about the same time, a pickup pulled into the driveway of the farm—not the owner, but an acquaintance of the owners who had seen the horses running in the road.

The farmer opened up one of the seemingly empty pens on the farm, and he and Michele started trying to get the horses rounded up and back in some sort of secured area. By the time I figured out what was going on and turned around to help, Michele had already started dragging some big pieces of old barn lumber to try to pen the horses on the property—no small feat in bike shoes. When I got over there to help, we noticed two longhorn cattle coming out of the pen the farmer had opened (again, he thought it was empty), so we quickly shut that and kept the cattle in place. At about the same time, the farmer had managed to get the horse and foal back into the open corral/pasture, and, after helping to shut and secure the gate, we called it good on one of the more bizarre biking adventures we’d had to date.

After a brief water stop at the Fish Lake Grocery (and some very deep and fairly surreal life conversations in the parking lot, we made our way back to the cottage—for a grand total of about 85 miles (and about 20 longer than we thought we were going to ride—slight miscalculation, but it was all good). All in all—good ride, and great week!

Here’s the roll-up…

Swim: 46:10 / 7700 meters
Bike: 8:07:48 / 142.58 miles
Run: 4:00:17 / 27.70 miles
Total: 14:54:15 / 175.09 miles

The Guest Blog...You Gotta Read It to Believe It...

OK--here's a first...the first guest blog entry in my little blog world. My friend Jen (see the "Pool Noir" blog entry from February) did an aqua velo race (swim/bike--no run) at the Eagleman 70.3 (half IM) on June 12--when I talked with her about it, I was in stunned silence most of the time due to the tales she had to tell. At the end of the call, I asked her to recount her adventures (or misadventures, as the case seems to be) for me to post--it makes my race in the rain at Logansport absolutely pale in comparison. So, enjoy...and thanks, Jen, for being such a good sport about this...

To all:
I am proud to say I have finished my first Aqua Velo this past Sunday in Cambridge, Md. It consisted of a 1.2 mile swim and 56 mile bike ride. I had a blast only because my fellow race buddies were the best Maryann, Suzanne, and Keri. The honorary member was my husband who was the best taking pictures and driving around the bike course to find us (I will have CDs of the pictures for my fellow race buddies tomorrow).

Here is my story, which is quite entertaining. (It’s long, but worth it)

Saturday,
Maryann and I decide to go for a quick spin on the bike to make sure everything is okay. We get out on the course to encounter 20mph head winds. Needless to say 10 miles was plenty and we were glad to end that ride. Everyone kept saying “don’t worry tomorrow it will be less windy”. Yeah…whatever.
Next we met up with Suzanne and Keri for a quick swim. Again the expectation is a nice leisurely swim to get a feel for the water and check out what the exit will be from the water. Due to the lovely 20mph winds, there were white caps on the water – which makes it that much easier to swim in against the current = dripping sarcasm.

Well lucky for me I get stung by a jelly fish. (flashback from the morning: I went down to the water in the morning by myself and I over heard a woman saying she was trying to avoid the jellyfish in the water). A jelly fish is not just a minor annoyance for me. I am so lucky that once the poison hits my bloodstream I get a systemic reaction so I begin to instantly break out in small hives all over my body!! So I finish the swim and tell Frank what happened. He kicks it into high gear and gets my butt in the car wetsuit and all so I can get back to the Bates Motel so I can pop some Benadryl. I take 2 Benadryl and start calling my Doctor’s office in NJ to get a prescription for Prednisone. (you may ask why do I know this b/c this is now the 3rd time it has happened to me) In parallel Frank tries to find a pharmacy open. Yes the CVS was closed at 6:30pm on a Saturday – can I just say I love small towns. The only reason the local Craig’s pharmacy is open is because Main Street is having a street fair until 8:00pm. Luckily I get a call back from the on call doctor and he calls in the prescription so now I am on Prednisone for the next 8 days.

Sunday Race Day
I am totally psyched out because I don’t want to get stung again. So much for my prayers, I probably got stung at least 10 times during the swim (my wetsuit is sleeveless, but I had full length legs…I may be looking into purchasing full sleeves before I get in ocean water again for a race). The real highlight was wiping the tentacles off of my face – needless to say I was screaming in the water. I couldn’t spot for shit so I probably swam 1.5 miles instead of 1.2 miles. And oh how lovely was the leg back against the current. There is a reason they call it the “Choptank River” – that is no LIE. I was literally going up and down over the crests. I had the kayak guy tracking with me and I finally stopped and said “am I too far away” and he said “yup” then I say to myself “shit” and I start swimming back closer to the buoys. I get to the exit and I see Frank. As soon as I stopped swimming I start commiserating about the jellyfish stings. You will have to get his version of my ranting and raving.

Now I am into the transition area trying to take 2 Benadryl that I had with me ‘just in case’. For those of you, who hate child resistant packaging, well try it with wet hands and cycling gloves and time pressures to get on the bike and minimize “wasted time” in the transition. Clearly as you see my transition time it took me over 6 minutes to get out not exactly what you would call quick. Well I had to put on suntan lotion and a bike shirt – why – oh yeah being on Prednisone it says “stay out of direct sunlight”!! Oh well I have 56mile ride in direct sunlight.


Now I am on the bike course. Within 5 minutes or less the screws fall out of my right aero pad and the entire thing falls off onto the street. Well I don’t have the time to whip out my non existent handy dandy screw driver to put the thing back on. So I keep riding. Today’s winds were easily 20mph – 30mph winds. Not the best day to be in a non-aerodynamic position on the bike. So I just rode with my right arm directly on the handlebars, I now have a lovely raw spot on my right arm. The winds at least in my first race of this distance opinion were BRUTAL, by mile 40 I was seriously just praying for cross winds vs. head winds. I got up to a whopping 10mph during some of those head wind stretches. It got so bad, I was psyched to get up to 15mph. One would think you would have tail winds at some point, which there were but it seemed to me I had the tailwinds far less then the head winds. By mile 35 or so I thought I was getting a bladder infection (probably this is TMI for my male friends reading) b/c I stopped to go to the bathroom and nothing came out. I saw Frank around mile 38 and yelled out my latest ailment!! Luckily the constant feel of having to go to the bathroom did subside – probably b/c I was so consumed with cursing the head winds that it was the least of my problems. I am finally in the home stretch and I see Suzanne, Keri, and Frank cheering for me. Yeah I am finally off the bike.

I went to get my medal of which the volunteer said I don’t know if you get one – I did the Aqua Velo, which corresponded with the main event the ½ Ironman Eagleman race (so I guess she was thinking I didn’t do the Eagleman so no medal). I kindly said, “I highly recommend you give me that medal” so she did and I wore it proudly.

I hope you all got a kick out of reading this, I did have a blast and hope to do another Aqua Velo with no jellyfish.

Jen

Splish, Splash, I was taking a bath…

Picture this…57°F, pelting rain, rural Indiana, and about 120 triathletes huddled together under a single picnic shelter. That was the scene a couple of weeks ago at the River City Triathlon just outside of Logansport, IN as we awaited the start of the race. I think most of us thought (or perhaps hoped) the race would be cancelled or modified in light of the weather, but no such luck—instead we scrambled to set up our transition stuff on and under trash bags, worm our way into our wetsuits (which, for the record, are so much easier to put on when you’re dry—not so much fun when wet), and barely made it to the pre-race meeting in time. Not exactly how I pictured my tri racing season kicking off, but it makes for one heck of a good story.

I think we were actually glad to head to the lake (which is a spring-fed quarry and pretty much crystal clear)—turns out the water was warmer than the air and was really quite balmy. The women were in the third and final wave, so Sue, Michele and I cheered Jeremy on as he took off, and then hung out waiting for our turn. It was a little déjà vu for me—Logansport was my very first tri last year, and it was sort of odd to be standing in the water again…same place, but totally different feeling. I wasn’t really nervous about the race—just about making it through the bike without wiping out on the rain-slicked roads. When the horn sounded, we took off—I have to admit I was fine without having the crazy panic attack feeling that I did last year at the race start. I was actually hoping to draft off Sue on the swim, but she took off quickly and left Michele and me (and a bunch of other people) in her wake. So, I was left to my own devices, which ended up working out OK. I actually swam side by side with Michele until we hit the mid-point between the buoys, but then we split up and I just sort of hammered out the rest of the swim. I felt SO much better than last year—way more comfortable in the water and even calm enough to see the huge paddlefish and the diving wreckage for which the quarry is known.

After running out of the water, a mild sense of panic set in--having never even ridden my bike in the rain before June 10 (aka race day), I was more than a little nervous about my bike-handling skills and the road conditions. Plus, frankly—it was really really fricking cold and that didn’t help matters any. My T1 time was dismal—a whopping 4 minutes while I tried to peel off my wetsuit, put socks on (again, way easier to do when dry) and grab my gear—but then I was off on the bike. The Logansport course is out and around France Park on small country roads—some with potholes, some without. A number of the roads had standing water on them, which made it that much more of an adventure as no one was sure where the potholes were located under the puddles. It was a very cautious ride for me—lots of time on the brake hoods and not so much hammering going on. I also learned that 57°F and pelting rain combines to feel like sleet when you’re on a bike in a tri suit cruising right along, and also that even with clear lenses, sunglasses are not so much fun in the rain (I ended up riding with mine down on my nose and looking over the top of them so I could see). I still felt OK on the bike and had a decent ride, but very conservative over all.

My T2 time was slightly better—at least I didn’t have to fight with my socks again—and I was off for the run. I love the run course at Logansport—it’s a 3.3 mile trail run, which made it an awesomely sloppy, muddy blast. After about the first 100 ft, I realized there was no way I was staying even remotely clean, so I basically gave up and started running straight through puddles and embracing the muddiness. My pacing was pretty solid—ended up being about 8:18/mile for the run—which I felt good about considering the lack of agility I have on trails, hills, mudslides, etc. Jeremy and I were laughing after the race that the run course this year felt a lot shorter and easier than last year…could be that the crazy amounts of training we’ve put in so far have paid off a little bit. Of the Kraft gang at the race, I finished third (Jeremy and Michele beat me to the line), but I ended up taking first place in the Athena group and would’ve even won my age group—overall, not a bad end to a somewhat dicey day weather-wise…

The downside to the fun mud run was the clean-up—I joined several others in rinsing off shoes, socks, and my legs under a very cold water faucet, but I was able to get at least my trail shoes reasonably clean. My socks, however, may never be the same…but it’s a small price to pay for the fun I had on the run. The next step was attempting to warm up—even with a change of clothes, it was tough to get warm—Jeremy and Michele had a worse time of it (here’s where being an Athena comes in handy), but eventually we all managed to warm up a bit.

After loading up our gear, we headed to the YMCA in Logansport for the awards (they are usually held at the park, but the rain halted that plan). Overall, it was an awesome day for the Kraft team—Jeremy won his age group, I won Athena, Michele came in second in her age group, and Sue picked up a third place medal in hers. Not bad for the first race of the season…made for a nice ending to a crazy weather race…and I’ll definitely be back at Logansport next year!!