Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Race Report: ColderBolder

A little late, but finally a few words on my "big" winter race this year - the ColderBolder 5K.

As I mentioned in my last post, my motivation to train and run this race had been slowly dwindling. Dwindling to the point that I seriously considered sleeping in and blowing it off. But, I persevered - my main motivation being that I didn't want to waste the race registration money and I wanted to collect my Headsweats Alpine Reversible Cocona Beanie. So, I dutifully made the drive to Boulder.

After parking, registering, and making a bathroom stop, I huddled near the start line. The waves were going off 10 minutes apart and mine was the last of the invitational waves. Lining up, I started to get excited and felt glad that I was participating. The gun went off and that pre-race excitement lasted about half a mile. After the first few minutes, I seriously wanted to quit. I've been really drained emotionally lately - the stress of finding a job is getting to me and I had been particularly upset the day before. For me, running is as mental an exercise as it is a physical one. When I'm in the pool or on my bike, I can lose my thoughts more easily and just get into the rhythm of it. But, sometimes when I run, it's like I have to will myself through each and every step. When I'm not feeling it, I'm not feeling it. ColderBolder morning, I wasn't feeling it.

I quickly shifted into "survival" mode, for lack of a better term. I told myself that I should completely forget about my time (luckily I left my Garmin at home) and asked myself to simply run the rest of the way without stopping to walk. Sounds silly, right? Although I am by no means a great athlete, one thing I know I can do is run 3 miles continuously! "Run the whole way" is a goal for a marathon or half-marathon, not a silly little 5K. But, I suppose that's how it goes sometimes. You never know what variables you will be working with on a given race day or training day and you have to roll with the punches. Sometimes what you think will be an exercise of prowess and speed turns into a grueling task of perseverance. And, as much as I wanted to quit, I'm happy I persevered. I felt like I was slowing down to 11 minute miles, but I kept willing each foot to follow the other. Things looked up a little when I passed the second mile-marker, which was right near the starting line. The open wave was scheduled to start 20 minutes after my wave and they hadn't started yet, so I knew I was running sub-10 minute miles after all. I kept it up and finished in 30:48 (9:55/mile). It felt like icing on the perseverance cake to finish with a sub-10 min/mile pace.

What kept going through my head during the race was a scene from Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me -- Austin looks at the camera bewildered and exclaims, "I've lost my Mojo!" As I ran, I kept reminding myself of the movie's "lesson" -- if you have Mojo, no one can take it, it's just a matter of finding it within yourself. (I swear, I'm not obsessed with Austin Powers -- I've only seen this movie once, but for whatever reason it popped into my head!)

Even though I've been feeling a little Mojo-less lately, I know I haven't lost it, and I know I'll get it back, sports-wise and life-wise.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Turkey Trot and Stuff(ing)

I'm in training again - this time for a 5k. It seems kind of silly to train for a 5K, but it probably doesn't matter since I've been interpreting the word "train" rather loosely. I don't usually run once tri season is over, so the fact that I'm running at all these days is huge.

The Race:
The ColderBolder. Advertised as "A really cool 5K without any people that are faster than you." The deal is they invite all qualifying finishers of the BolderBoulder to participate in a 5K against only people who finished the 10K within 2 minutes of them. My BB time last year was 60:11, so I was invited to participate in the 60:00-61:59 Invite Race - the last (but not least!) of the many waves of 5K races. The motivating factor is that you have a theoretical chance of winning.

Training:
I thought training for the ColderBolder (and the chance at a podium finish) would accomplish two things: (1) motivate me to run, period, and (2) motivate me to do more speed work. I signed up for a free training program on active.com, which sends me an email everyday telling me what sort of training I should do. So each morning, I check my email and if it's convenient and I feel like running, I do the suggested work-out. (You can tell how committed I am to this!) On the whole I've been averaging two days of running a week and have done a couple of speed work sessions. About two days a week, the active.com email suggests 30 minutes of "low" cross-training. Since I really savor my gym time during the winter, most of my "low" 30 minutes of cross-training work-outs ended up being two hours of fairly intense group exercise classes. Often, this left me sore and not feeling up to my suggested run the next day. Maybe, I'm just not meant to be a winter-runner. :)

Goal: Based on my BB time, in theory I would finish the 5K in just under 29 minutes, at a pace of 9:19/mi. But, as they say, IN THEORY, communism works. I'm not in as good running shape now as I was then, so running at that pace is probably an unrealistic goal. I've let go of the hope that I will get to stand on the podium. As per usual, I'm just going to go out there and try to do my best. I'd love to run a 9:30/mi, but I think I'll be happy with anything sub-10:00/mi.


Turke
y Trot: I ran the Turkey Trot 4-miler this morning. I thought of it as a pre-race race or a practice tempo run before the "big" day (Saturday, December 5th). It was actually pretty fun to see so many runners and families out there - many wearing turkey headdresses and other T-Day inspired swag. My Garmin ran out of batteries at the starting line so I ran the whole race "caveman-style." It was probably good for me to just run without worrying about my pace or time. I finished in 40:33 (10:08/mi) - slower than I was hoping for, but still decent. It wasn't great racing conditions either (lots of bobbing and weaving around walkers, joggers, and strollers). I imagine I'll do much better next weekend, as being surrounded by fast runners usually makes me run faster.

It's so weird, but I find the shorter distances much more challenging. During most of mile-3, the little voice in my head kept saying "I hate running" over and over. It's kind of the watched-kettle-never-boils phenomenon. When I know the race won't take me much time, it feels like it is taking forever! Today it seemed like I was running for a very long time before finally passing the one-mile marker. But, when I did the Rocky Mountain Half-Marathon last summer, I knew that I would be out running for awhile and each mile seemed to tick by so quickly, one after the other.

After the ColderBolder next weekend, no more running until February! Now, that's something to be thankful for...

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Grand, Indeed, and Worth 1000 Words

At the entrance to Grand Teton!


Jenny Lake

Oxbow Bend

Heron Pond

Iconic view of the Snake River twisting towards the Grand

Lewis Falls in Yellowstone

Lewis Lake (Yellowstone)

Quintessential Yellowstone - buffalo in a geyser!


To the main (geyser) event

Before...

After!

Antlers were everywhere in Jackson

Longhorn fans, too, apparently!

Local brew = great way to end the day

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

First 14-ers, Part II: Mt. Massive

The mystery of Day 2 actually began around 7:30pm the night of Day 1. We set up camp in the San Isabel National Forest and planned to wait to pack up camp once we were done hiking on Sunday. Because we were very tired from Mt. Elbert and planned to wake up around 3:30-4am, we all retired to our tents around 7:30pm. I laid in my sleeping bag reading by the light of my headlamp for awhile. It was a little windy and I heard some rustling, but didn't think too much of it as campsites often go hand-in-hand with creepy noises. Later, when I was still up reading with my light on, I swore that I heard footsteps nearby, saw a flashlight right outside my tent, and heard the zipper of a tent or a sleeping bag open and close several times. I was scared, but convinced myself that it was one of the other girls and finally went to sleep. At breakfast the next morning, my two friends reported hearing similar noises. This freaked me out enough that the first thing I googled after getting home was "san isabel national forest halfmoon campground ghost." (Didn't find anything). I know it probably wasn't a ghost. My best guesses are the wind and/or the jerky guys in the campsite next to ours. Regardless, it was enough to make us want to pack up camp before leaving for the hike. This ended up being a good thing. More on that later.

The hike! We started hiking Mt. Massive around 5am. It was still dark out, so we hiked with our headlamps for the first couple hours.



















We emerged from the forested area around 7am when the sun was rising over the mountains.




















Mt. Massive is called a Class 2 climb, which is defined as "More difficult hiking that may be off-trail. You may also have to put your hands down occasionally to keep your balance. May include easy snow climbs or hiking on talus/scree." (Mt. Elbert was Class 1 -- "Easy hiking, usually on a good trail.") And, there were two routes to get to the summit that formed a loop. One route was 3 steep miles, the other was 5.5 miles in a more gradual climb. We decided to take the 5.5 mile climb up and then assess at the top whether to take the steep route down or go back the way we came. Everything we read suggested that the 5.5 miles route was fairly easy. Well, I thought it was freakin' hard! But then again, it was only my second 14-er ever, not to mention in as many days!


The first 2-3 miles weren't bad and the scenery was incredible - much more varied than Mt. Elbert.







Then we got to this part:





































This part, though grueling, wasn't actually as bad as what came later. Some of the rocks were loose, but for the most part it was pretty solid footing. I made up a system for getting up this. I looked down at my feet and counted ten steps, then I stopped to look up and figure out where I was going. When I felt more comfortable, I started counting 20, 30, or 40. Closer to the "top" (of this stretch only) I reverted back to 10 steps at a time.

Then it started snowing.


































The snow didn't last long and we pressed on. The rest of the climb was a ridge trail with a series of "false summits", meaning lots of ups and downs. Not too long after this, we were atop one of the summits and noticed a tube containing a log - we summitted!!!




































Or so we thought . . . We looked in the log tube more carefully and saw a sign that read, "Mt. North Massive, 14,421 ft 14,340 ft." We had hiked a 14-er, but not the one we were aiming for. It must be just the next summit over, right? Wrong!

The next summit over was particularly difficult and took us a long time. We couldn't go over the top and we had to go the long way around the side to avoid a large patch of ice. Not to mention that the scree was really loose on this part and almost every movement sent rocks and gravel down the side.







I was able to push through this part because I really, really thought that the next peak was Mt. Massive, the real thing. I felt so demoralized when I reached the top and realized it wasn't. But, when we finally were looking up at the actual Mt. Massive, the sky was looking pretty ominous. It was getting late, we had already made it up to a summit of 14,ooo+ feet, we were worried about lightening, and at this point I was so frustrated I cared much more about making it back to the trailhead than making it up to Mt. Massive. We made the decision that it wasn't worth the risk to try to summit and hung out in a rock alcove for awhile, seeking shelter and making a plan.

Since we weren't going to summit, the shorter 3 mile route to get back along the ridge was not an option. We had to get back down to the trail we came up on without turning around and going back the way we came. This involved more loose scree and took FOREVER! I wanted to keep my center of gravity low and I was afraid of slipping on loose rocks, so I pretty much just slid all the way down on my butt. I have ripped pants to prove it!






























After this, I tried to keep my spirits up, but I was in full on death march mode. I just wanted to get back to the car and tried to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. Much more than the day before, I was feeling the elevation and had been the entire hike. It wasn't so much the aerobic challenge or lactic acid build-up in my legs, it just felt like I was wearing ankle weights. Putting one foot in front of the other was much more challenging than usual.

We finally got back to the car around 7pm - 14 hours of hiking! I have to say I was glad that ghosts or whoever scared us out of the campsite that morning so we didn't have to go back and pack up our tents. That would have sucked.

I was glad that I was able to summit a second 14-er and I really enjoyed the scenery (before I switched into death march mode). The fact that we didn't quite make it up to the Mt. Massive summit makes me feel that there is some unfinished business. The next time I attempt it, I'm definitely going for the shorter route even if it's harder. But, I need at least a year moratorium from Massive before I can even contemplate tackling it again. For now, I got my first 14-ers under my belt--pretty challenging ones, to boot--and that's all that matters.

Monday, August 31, 2009

First 14-ers, Part I: Mt. Elbert















We set off on our journey to hike Mt. Elbert--the highest point in Colorado--around 6:45am. This was a little later than we had planned on, but more on that later.
















Once we got above treeline, there was a great view of Twin Lakes - gorgeous!















The trail was basically up, up, and more up. Steep and challenging aerobically, but nothing technical. Just walking, no scrambling.

































Yeah! Made it to the summit around 10:30am. My first time ever at 14,000 feet and atop the highest peak in Colorado!




The main mystery of this hike was the reason we got started later than planned. When we pulled up to the trailhead, we saw smoke, red embers, and a few flames. When we got closer we realized that the sign marking the trail was on fire! We grabbed some jugs of water to douse it and so did the car in front of us. Upon closer inspection, it looked to be intentional. There were logs set up directly in front of it and a few beer cans and empty bags of chips. We hung around awhile to call 911 and let someone know what was happening. While we were waiting we met these two guys, who eventually became our main suspects. At first they said that they had showed up at 2am and saw the sign engulfed in flames and moved some of the logs to keep it from burning more. They claimed, "Yeah, dude, it must have been some drunk college kids or something. We did our best to put it out." Once we realized how much these two reeked of alcohol, we were pretty doubtful that it was, in fact, "drunk college kids" who started it. The sheriff called us back later to get more information once he got to the trailhead and realized how bad it was. By the time we got down at the end of the hike, one of the three signs had fallen.

After this hike, it was on to the campsite to rest up for Mt. Massive.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

What's Next?

Now that tri season is over and I no longer have to wake up at the crack of dawn for racing and training, the main advantage is . . . now I can wake up at the crack of dawn for a day of hiking!

One thing I've regretted about being so into triathlon since moving to Colorado is that I haven't had as many opportunities to enjoy the natural beauty of my own backyard. As a first step in making more of an effort to get out in the great outdoors, yesterday I joined two friends and hiked 13,375 feet to the top of South Arapahoe Peak in the Indian Wilderness. I was worried about the elevation and that even though I'm in shape, I'm not really in "hiking shape," but I did just fine. Even though it was chilly and very cloudy, the scenery was beautiful and it was great to spend my Friday off in the mountains.

It is supposedly very normal to feel a sense of let down once you meet your major race goals for the season. Last year, I was not sad about the end of tri season, but I was completely burnt out. This year, I feel neither let down or burnt out. I'm not struggling with "what do I do now?" nor does the sight of my bike or the thought of running make me want to vomit. Since I purposely divide my year between "training for a goal" season and "exercising for the sake of exercising" season, I'm content to arrive at the latter. Since I'm a gym rat at heart, I'll happily go back to Zumba, hip hop, spinning, lifting, step, yoga, and Pilates. And, now that my weekends are free from long runs and long bike rides, I'm going to try to get more into hiking and outdoorsy stuff. Also, I'm planning to combine gym work-outs and the great outdoors by trying out Boot Camp at Red Rocks.

Even though this feels very "cart before horse," I'm already thinking about my triathlon goals for next year. Since they are bopping around my head, might as well write them down. I suppose the only post-season disappointment I feel is that I really loved the Half-Ironman distance, but I know I can't commit to training for them too often without burning out. I really want my summer back and I want next year's to be significantly more unscheduled. It would be so nice to be able to say "yes" to an invitation for camping without hesitating because I need to do a 60-mile bike ride or be able to zip down to Austin for the weekend without having to squeeze in a 10-mile run at Town Lake. Therefore, the current plan is to do two triathlons early in the season and then have the rest of the summer to do whatever I like. I'm thinking of doing the Cap Tex Tri (Olympic distance) in Austin on Memorial Day and TriathlON Friday in early June - a new sprint distance in Denver that is on Friday evening so you don't have to wake up at 4:15am!

I'm also thinking of a vague three year plan. I would focus more on biking next summer and maybe train for the MS-150 or some other multi-day rides or centuries. The following year, I would focus on doing 3-4 half-marathons and some 10Ks and see if I can improve my running. The next year, I would put all three sports together again and go for another Half-Ironman or other challenging race. One race I'd really like to do in the next few years is Escape From Alcatraz. It looks like so much fun and is theoretically a good one for me because the most challenging leg is the swim.

And now back to enjoying the rest of my first post-season weekend! A mani/pedi is in order!

Monday, August 10, 2009

TriathLONG!

It's done - I finished the 5430 Long Course yesterday with a total time of 6:55:07! It was a great experience and surprisingly doable (though definitely a challenge). The key factors seemed to be pacing myself, staying hydrated, taking in enough calories and electrolytes, and keeping a calm mind.

Pre-Race

The night before, I had one of the best nights of sleep I've ever had before a race and probably the best night of sleep I'd had in the last couple weeks. Perhaps I owe this to my plan of taking care of all logistics the day before, so I didn't have do much besides pick up my race packet and lay around watching The West Wing. My brain wasn't still reeling with mental to-do lists and reminders, so it was easier than usual to fall asleep around 9:30. I woke up once at 2:30, but went right back to sleep and didn't even hit snooze when my alarm sounded at 4:15.

I got to the transition area and found a spot in the racks for Wave 10. It was right near the Porta-Potties, so it didn't smell that great for 5am, but at least it made it easier to find my bike during transitions. The girl who racked her bike next to me tied a fake Gerber daisy around our rack as a marker. Gerber daisies are my favorite flower, so this was a nice addition to the transition set up.

For a race of this distance, there was more transition gear and steps to think of - mostly related to food and staying comfortable. I was afraid of forgetting something important, so I decided to stuff the transition items I was most afraid of forgetting into my shoes. Going on to the bike, I didn't think I would forget my socks, helmet, sunglasses, or bike gloves, but I was worried I would forget to put plenty of Cliff Shot Blocks in my back pockets. Likewise, going into the run, I knew I could remember my hat and race number, but I thought I might not remember to throw on more sunscreen, apply anti-chafing lotion, and grab more food. This strategy worked pretty well.

Here's me in my Porta-Potty-Proximate transition slot. I usually wear this same T-shirt before all of my races - the big, important ones anyway. This shirt was from the Corpus Christi "Swashbuckler's" Beginner's Triathlon, my first ever multi-sport race. It wasn't even a full sprint distance - just a 200 yard swim in a pool, a 10 mile bike ride, and a 2 mile run. I did it with my helmet on backwards and almost no air in my tires (this was before I realized you were supposed to pump your tires before every ride). I wear it as a little security blanket and a reminder of how far I've come.

Swim - 1.2 miles - 42:26

My wave (the very last) didn't start until 7:15, forty-five minutes after the gun for the first wave. This gave me plenty of time to put on my wetsuit and mill around on the beach before getting in the warm-up. I was chilly so I was excited to finally warm-up in both senses of the word and plopped in the water around 6:55. This is the point when I usually start to get nervous, sitting in the water, anticipating the start. But yesterday, I felt remarkably calm. I've done rehearsals for this distance twice before (though, never with the full run) and both times I remember sighing to myself while waiting in the water, "Man, this is the beginning of a very, very long day." My mind didn't go there Sunday and, while I'd like to think it was because I felt so confident in my training and preparation, I think most of the credit goes to that FANTASTIC night of sleep.

Women 30-34 shared a wave with Men 20-24. I'm not sure I've ever started in a wave with guys before, so I wasn't quite sure where to place myself. I put myself about mid-pack, slightly further back than usual. Although it was nice and cloudy for the earlier waves, the sun came out just in time for me to spend yet another morning in Boulder squinting in search of the buoys. The start was a little more chaotic than I've had in awhile. For the first 50 meters there were people on top of me and all around me. I eventually carved out spot for myself and felt pretty good. The water was calm and I didn't have any panic attacks that my wetsuit was strangling me like during last month's Boulder Peak. Swimming is by far my strongest of the three sports, but I didn't think it would be worth it to spend too much energy hammering out a super-fast swim time. Mentally, I thought of the swim as a warm-up and made a conscious effort to cruise through the swim and feel fresh going on to the bike. The one positive to starting last was that I didn't have to worry about different-colored swim caps from later waves creeping in on me - if I saw another colored cap, it meant I was catching them. By the last stretch of buoys, I was almost completely surrounded by red and blue caps (my wave wore white) so I figured I was making decent time. I cranked the speed a little for the last stretch and ran up the hill to the transition area.

Bike - 56 miles - 3:26:09 (16.3 mph)

The bike started out with a slight hiccup - I had barely turned out of the reservoir when I switched gears and my chain fell off. I might have jinxed myself the day before when I thought to myself that I hadn't had to adjust my chain in awhile and maybe I should practice that before the race. I did not end up practicing and instead got to practice right there on the course. Luckily it only took about 30 seconds to fix and, since I was just getting started, I didn't lose much rhythm or momentum.

My main goals on the bike were to stay hydrated and re-fuel regularly and to push it as much as I could without killing my legs. I set my watch to beep every 5 minutes to remind me to eat and drink - I drank water at every beep, drank Gatorade at every other beep, and ate a Shot Block at every third beep. I doubt I kept that rotation exactly, but overall it worked pretty well. The first 12 miles (of the 28 mile loop) are mostly a steady incline, then a few miles of awesome downhill, then it flattens out with a slight incline towards the end. I had an easier time with the uphill part than the last time I practiced it. I was able to stay in my big ring almost the entire time, dropping into the small ring occasionally to get up some of the hills. At one point during the second loop, I realized that I hadn't switched back to my big ring once a hill had flattened out and I was so annoyed at the speed I must have lost that I stayed in the big ring, stood up, and powered up the next hill. This was probably a mistake as it resulted in a cramp that lasted the remainder of the bike ride. I spent the rest of the time trying to make it go away. A cramp isn't so bad on the bike, but I knew it would be really uncomfortable on the run. I stopped taking in calories for awhile and just focused on small sips of water and deep yogic breathing. It didn't feel completely gone by the time I dismounted, but I didn't notice it at all once I started running.

Even though my second loop was much more uncomfortable than the first, I managed to keep a pretty consistent pace, finishing each loop with an average speed of 16.3 mph. The last time I did this ride at race pace, it took me 3:33, so I was happy for the 7 minute improvement and for an average speed above 16 mph.

Run - 13.1 miles - 2:35:44 (11:54/mi)

My quads were definitely feeling the burn as I got ready for the run. I headed out of the transition area trying my best to ignore the many people already finished and finishing and focused on the task at hand. My absolute only goals during the run were to (1) stay sane and (2) keep cool. I had planned and practiced running 5:1 intervals -- run for 5 minutes, walk for 1 -- and set my Garmin to beep accordingly. I adjusted the display so it only showed me how long I had left in each interval. I didn't even want to think about my pace. Although I felt a little sheepish stopping to walk midway through mile 1, I was happy to have the break. The first couple miles were tough, but eventually I settled into it. I drank water and Gatorade at every aid station and also grabbed ice to put in my hat and ice water sponges to stick inside my sports bra.

I could tell I was keeping a pretty good pace on my run-intervals, but I kept doing the walk-breaks nonetheless. I adjusted the timing of the walk-breaks occasionally, mostly to accomodate hills and aid stations. I felt so strong that I wondered if it was silly of me to walk periodically. But, I decided that this was cocky - the reason I felt so strong was because I was taking the time to walk. I'd much rather walk on purpose throughout than go to hard and be forced to walk out of necessity. Plus, the mental benefit of breaking the run into six-minute segments was incalculable.

Finishing the first loop and going into the second was a little challenging, just because most people running around me were on their second loop and going into the finish. The crowd was cheering, "Keep going - you're almost there," but I still had 6.5 miles to go. I had prepared myself for this and kept my head high when asking a volunteer which way to go to continue for a second loop. I was totally fine, but then someone in the crowd recognized that I was still going, yelled out my race number and told me I looked strong. It sounds silly, but that random support from a stranger made me so emotional I thought I was going to cry and was fighting back tears for the next mile.

I think I enjoyed the run more than any other leg, which is surprising because it was the one I was most terrified of. I just couldn't believe how strong and capable I felt for most of the half-marathon. It did get hard again towards the end - I thought I was going to cry again at mile 12, half because I couldn't believe I had run that far and half because I didn't want to keep running to the finish line. Once I got off the dirt trail around the Rez and hit the parking lot for the last three-quarters of a mile, I wouldn't let myself take any more walk-breaks. At long last, I veered into the finishers chute and saw my awesome cheering section of friends and family as I crossed the line. Awesome feeling!

I finished with an overall time of 6:55:07. I was predicting a time of around 7 hours, but secretly worried it was going to take me closer to 7:30. I was delighted to come in sub-7.

When you cross the line at an Ironman, they announce your name and say "You . . . are . . . an Ironman!" They don't say anything like that at a Half-Ironman, because the rhetoric doesn't quite work. But hey, I'll say it. I'm half an Iron(wo)man, and that ain't bad!

Friday, August 07, 2009

Pre-Race Prep and Food

As I type, I am 1 day, 8 hours, 20 minutes, and 55 seconds from the start of the 5430 Long Course - my first half ironman!

In order to be as rested and relaxed as possible for the big day, I'm focusing my entire weekend around it. Basically, I'm trying to get every little chore and errand done today so I don't have to worry about anything Saturday but picking up my race packet, hydrating, eating well, and getting to bed early. Right now, I'm watching DVDs of The West Wing (late to the party, but glad to be here!), folding laundry, laying out all my gear for Sunday, and doing some cooking.

I've been cooking a lot of vegetables in the oven lately. It all started when I got a craving for Parmesan chicken a couple weeks ago and tried a recipe I found online. I like to overcook and have plenty of leftovers to re-heat the rest of the week, so I made four chicken breasts. While it was great out of the oven, the chicken was not nearly as good after being nuked (way too dry). I love eggplant, and figured it would hold up much better in the microwave, so I applied the same recipe to eggplant. It was AWESOME! Very yummy without much effort. The only problem was that I wanted to eat it all and it was much harder to save any for leftovers.

After making that a couple times, I decided to branch out to other vegetables. Here's what I made earlier:



















Eggplant, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and Brussels sprout parmigiana! I'm not sure how healthy this is, but at least I'm getting my veggies. And making it was really easy. I just chopped everything, dipped each piece in butter, and lightly coated each with a mixture of breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan cheese, dried parsley, and garlic powder. I baked them in the oven at 350 for about an hour with foil covering the pan.











This was my first time eating Brussels sprouts and I thought they were quite good. Neither they nor the cherry tomatoes really needed the crusting (nor did it stick well), but it was a fun little experiment.

For my "last supper" tomorrow evening, I'm opting for something a little healthier. I'm making eggplant and zucchini again, but no butter or Parmesan crusting. I tossed them in the oven with a light coating of olive oil and a sprinkling of parsley and garlic powder. In addition, I'm going to have some ground turkey and tomato sauce with whole wheat pasta. (I'm staying at a friend's house in Boulder tomorrow night and bringing my pre-race meal with me, ergo the need to cook it tonight). The experts say to have a big lunch the day before a race and then a modest-sized dinner. This meal should give me some vitamins, some lean protein, and some "good" carbohydrates and (I hope) will leave me feeling energized Sunday morning!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Boulder Peak

Yesterday was the Boulder Peak - my second Olympic distance tri and my first time ever racing the same tri in a different year. Warning - this post is really long.

Goals

When I first joined CWW, my coach gave me (and everyone else) a little zip-up pouch with a very specific purpose. She reminded us that when doing a triathlon, there is so much gear to gather - goggles, wetsuit, bike shoes, helmet, running shoes, water bottles, etc. But, in the haste of gathering everything, it's important not to forget the reason that you are there. Thus, she gave us the little pouches to hold perhaps the most important thing - our goals. It's all about the power of visualizing what you want to accomplish and committing it to writing. If you write it down, it will happen. (Though goals should be realistic and focused on you - who wins or how you place depends on who else shows up, not you.) I forgot to write down my goals before the 5430 Sprint last month, and perhaps that's why I felt so discombobulated and disappointed afterward. I thought of goals in my head before the race, but it's not the same. Also, my goals were number oriented, which is just a set-up for disappointment.

The goals I wrote down for the Boulder Peak were:

-Have fun and work hard!
-Enjoy and revel in the fact that you are a triathlete!
-Appreciate the crowd, the views, and fellow racers
-Push it from Rez to Olde Stage
-Crank it up Olde Stage - relax and breathe
-Run so you will be sore Monday
-Smile and wave at CWW teammates and coaches when you cross the finish!

The race t-shirt this year had a similarly inspirational message: "Training at ALTITUDE means i get up everyday BELIEVING i have the CONFIDENCE to SWIM 1.5k across the REZ . . . KNOWING i have FUELED my body enough to BIKE 42k and POWER up OLDE STAGE . . . and REALIZING that no matter how HOT it gets out there, i will hit the 10k RUN with EVERYTHING i have left in ME and i WILL cross that FINISH line!"

The theme of this race for me was having fun, doing my best, and not worrying about the numbers. I did have a few numbers in the back of my mind and was worried that I might finish 15 - 20 minutes slower than last year. But, I ended up easily finishing in the same ballpark as last year, which I felt really good about.

Swim

At last year's Peak, my age group was in the very last swim wave. I didn't start until about an hour and a half after I had to be out of the transition area. This year, I was in the second wave, starting at 6:40, only 20 minutes after the transition area closed, so less time to wait around and get nervous. I hopped in the water right away to warm up and then stood to listen to the Star Spangled Banner while the sky-divers parachuted down with a huge American flag. I was really excited at this moment and glad to be doing the race.

The first wave was most of the older age groups together, so there was a 10 minute gap between their start and ours to give them a head start (all other waves were 5 minutes apart). The first wave got a lead kayak that steered toward the buoys through the glare of the Boulder sun and we got a lead kayak too, since the swimmers from the first wave were 10 minutes ahead. The course was kind of a pentagon shape (with the fifth edge being the shoreline between the swim start and swim finish). The first leg of the swim, I just tried to follow the kayak and the streak of the sun in the reservoir, conveniently masking the buoys. One buoy, I literally did not see until I was a few feet away from it. Once I got to the first turn, I was astounded by how clearly I could see the buoys now that they were out of the sun. I thought to myself, this is almost too easy! After the second turn, into the third pentagon leg, I started to freak out a little bit. Right before the swim started, I was thinking about how thirsty I was. The day before at the packet pick-up, the race director was talking about how important it was to take water on the bike because you'll likely leave the swim deydrated, especially if you wear a wetsuit. I started obssessively thinking about how my wetsuit was dehydrating me and constricting me and it even occured to me to wave down a kayaker, strip off my wetsuit, and hand it to them to take it to shore for me. But, I tried to put that out of my head. During this third leg, I started to see white swim caps from the wave ahead of me, which meant I was catching people with a 10 minute head start. But then, I also started seeing purple caps from the wave behind me starting to infiltrate. I knew that this wasn't going to be my best swim, but thought my time would be typical for me. Once I made the third turn and could see the red arches of the finish and cranked up the speed.

I ran out of the water and up to the transition area and was shocked when I saw the timer clock: 45:39. What? Subtracting 10 minutes to account for when my wave started, that meant I had a time of 35:39. My swim time at last year's race was 29:26 (though I remembered it as 26-something). Either way, 5-10 minutes is a HUGE amount of time when it comes to swimming and it really stunned me that I had gone so slowly. But, when I got into the transition area, about the same number of bikes were still there as usually are when I come in from the swim. And, as I was putting on my bike gear, I saw a teammate come in who usually finishes the swim a couple minutes after me, so I figured something must have been off with either the swim course or the timer. (Many people had the same experience with their swim time and it seems like the course was a bit long.)

Bike

I did my best to put my swim time out of my mind and headed out on my bike. Even though I didn't write down a goal for bike speed, I knew that I had averaged 15.1 mph last year and came in two minutes behind the 78-year-old nun from Spokane, WA. This year, I was determined to beat that nun's time!

To give you a sense of the bike course:











It is a steady climb for 5 miles, then about an 800 ft elevation change over the span of two miles - the infamous climb up Olde Stage Road. After that, it's all down hill, rolling hills, easy cheese. I've practiced that hill about 5 times this year and I know that for the worst part of it, I hover between 3-4mph. I knew that I would be able to make up a lot of that speed on the downhills, but I also didn't want to go in to the steep climb with too much of a speed deficit. Ergo, one of my goals was to push that gradual incline the leads up to Olde Stage and not lose too much time.

It was perhaps a blessing in disguise that my cadence sensor wasn't picking up. Usually, I aim for a cadence between 80-90 rpm and shift gears accordingly so I have the most efficient pedal stroke possible. But, I can pretty much do it by feel now - I know when I'm spinning too easily and when I'm grinding too hard. I realized about halfway through the gradual incline that I was still in my big ring (harder to pedal, but propels the bike further and faster). I think I stayed in the big ring much longer than all the times during my practice rides and I think it helped me rack up the average speed I wanted going into Olde Stage.

I finally got to the hardest part of the hill and just focused on breathing and pedalling one stroke at a time. There were huge crowds cheering us on and a big sign for CWW. It was definitely grueling, but I had practiced it enough that it didn't even feel that hard. When I got to the top, there was another CWW sign that said, "You are one tough cookie!" (My coach even drew a picture of a cookie.) After that, it was flying time, down the hills, which was fun on my new, lighter bike. I took me until about mile 20 of 26, but by then I could tell from my computer that I was safely out of "nun territory" and ended up finishing with an average mph of 15.6 with a time of 1:40:09 - almost two minutes faster than Sister Madonna Buder's time from last year! Suck it, Sister! (Just kidding - I think you're awesome.)

Run

Towards the end of the bike, I tried to visualize how good it was going to feel to run after the hilly bike ride. I'm not sure if it helped, but I transitioned from the bike and was off. I gave myself about half a mile to work-out the jelly in my legs and settle into a comfortable, doable pace. When I looked down at my watch, I was glad to see 10:23/mi. It felt more like an 11-11:30/mi, so I was really happy that I felt able to sustain a sub-11 minute mile pace. It did get hard at parts. I walked through the water stations at each mile so I could get little breaks and have something to look forward to. Between mile 2 and 3, I freaked out a little. It was like I stepped outside of myself and looked at what I was doing. I started thinking, "What the hell am I doing? How am I going to get out of this?" I was able to refocus and just keep running for the most part, but I never quite reached the zen of "I'm racing right now, it sucks, but just take one step at a time and it will be over soon."

I did fall back to an 11:00+/mi pace several times, but I was able to think "I need to pick it up and run a little faster" and have my body actually respond. It was nice, because often my body says, "That's great that you'd like to run faster, but it ain't happening." I kept telling myself what I wrote in my goals - you've got to make sure you'll be sore tomorrow. (I felt really disappointed in myself the day after the sprint because I wasn't very sore, which made me feel like I hadn't given 100%). The last mile was probably the slowest, but I cranked it up to 9min/mi when I saw the finish line (and my teammate and coaches). The announcer called my name and city, which is always an exciting touch, and the race volunteers handed me the wet "Boulder Peak Finisher" towel (this race's equivalent of a medal). I finished with a 10:43/mi pace and a run time of 1:06:23 (about a minute and a half faster than last year). Oh, and I am definitely sore today!

My overall time was 3:29:16. About three minutes slower than last year, but that seems to be because of my inexplicably slower swim. Had my swim time been on par with my time last year, I would have beat my previous time by 2-3 minutes. It was most imporant to me to make improvements on the bike and run legs. I was also glad to prove that I haven't majorly regressed since last year, which was the main thing I was worried about.

Overall, it was a great race and I met all of my goals. Just a few more weeks of hard training until the Long Course on August 9th.


Monday, June 22, 2009

5430 Sprint

My first tri of the three-part series in Boulder was yesterday. Overall it went fine. It wasn't my best effort or best race, but it wasn't my "A" race either. Yesterday was a nice warm-up to the longer distances later this summer that I really care about -- the Boulder Peak and the Long Course.

The swim was nice and easy. No major waves, panics, or collisions with fellow racers. The only slight hiccup was that I didn't have a good understanding at the course ahead of time. With the glare of the sun, it usually takes a couple minutes before I can sight the buoy and know where I'm heading. Before that happens, I just follow the crowd. I finally spotted the triangle shaped buoy, thinking that was the turning point. Once I got there, everyone else was still swimming straight ahead, so I figured I must have gotten it wrong. Luckily, following the crowd worked and I eventually made it to the second buoy, which was the actual turning point.

The bike was probably the highlight for this race. Though I'm still worst at cycling of the three sports, I improved the most on this leg. The course (17 miles) was a slight, but definite uphill for the first five or six miles, then mostly downhill with a few rolling hills for the next six, then a mostly uphill, though not as steep, climb back to the transition area. I had practiced the exact course two weeks ago at my team's rehearsal. During the rehearsal, I was really hoping to have an average speed of at least 16 mph, but I ended up averaging 15.9 mph. Urgh! So my main race goal was to average 16mph+ on the bike portion. For the first third of the race--the uphill portion--my average speed hovered between 12 and 13 mph. I was worried I wouldn't be able to overcome that deficit, but ended up making good use of the downhills once I got there. I even caught my speed at 31 mph a couple times. Towards the end of the descent I had an average speed of about 17.1 mph. I was worried that the final miles uphill would lower my average a lot, but I ended up with a final average speed of 16.7 mph! Woo hoo!

I had a pretty quick transition to the run (read: no bathroom break needed). I don't know if it was because I pushed harder than usual on the bike, or because I just wasn't feeling it, but my run wasn't quite up to par for that distance. During the rehearsal, I averaged 10:10 min/miles and was hoping to get closer to a 10 minute mile if not sub-10. Yesterday my pace was 10:30 min/mile. I'm really not sure if I just didn't have anything left to give or if I just wasn't motivated to dig deep and push through.

I think my feelings about the run explain why I've wanted to move up to longer distances in recent years. Since it's doubtful I'll ever mutate into a speedy machine, most of my satisfaction from doing these races comes from enjoying the course and the crowd and just finishing. Now that I've finished the sprint distance several times over, I know I can do it, and "just finishing" doesn't do as much for me anymore. As much as I'm dreading the upcoming 10k following a 24 mile bike and (yikes!) the half-marathon after a 56-mile bike, I think finishing will probably seem a sufficient accomplishment. The Boulder Peak will be a little trickier mentally because I did the course last year and will likely be a little disappointed if I don't beat, tie, or come close to my previous time. But for the half-ironman, I'll be happy if I manage to limp across the finish line before they close down the course.

My overall time was 1:55:28. My other goal was to finish in less than two hours, so yay! In my age group of 111 women, I was 30th out of the water, 84th on the bike, and 88th on the run for a final placing of 73/111. Not bad and fairly typical for me. As the race director said during the awards ceremony, Boulder is a tough place to compete. Most of the podium finishers had at least been to Kona and many of them had placed there too!

After the race on Sunday, I went home and slept away most of the afternoon - I was so tired! But this evening, I'm barely even sore and bounding with energy, which makes me feel guilty that I really didn't give it my all yesterday. Again, it doesn't really matter because this wasn't my "A" race. And, I have two more chances where I'll probably have no choice but to give it everything I've got.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Duathlon Rehearsal Re-Caplet

Today was the first time this year that I put together biking and running in an official-ish capacity. My tri club put on a duathlon rehearsal and we had the choice of doing an Olympic distance (1 mile run / 22 mile bike / 6.2 mile run) or a Sprint distance (1 mile run / 11 mile bike / 3.1 mile run). I did the Olympic distance, which is what I did last year, too. I remember last year, I felt obligated to do the Olympic because that was the distance I was training for. But, this year, I didn't so much feel obligated (even though I am), as I felt the Sprint du would be too easy, or at least a waste of waking up early, packing up all my gear, and driving out the 'burbs.

I finished in 2:46:28, which was fine with me. (It was fun using the multi-sport feature on my Garmin - it even clocked my transition times!) I didn't have a goal going in, I just wanted to see how I did. Ideally I'd like to improve my bike and run pace a little, but I still have time, so I just may. I'm realizing that for longer distance tri's, it may not be a realistic goal to run a sub-10 min/mile pace after the bike portions, especially when it's hot and sunny like it was today. I averaged just over an 11 min/mile pace this morning. I wouldn't say I was giving it my all, but I don't think I would have been able to go much faster. At the Boulder Peak last year, it was 104 degrees and I felt like I had to slow way down from my normal pace and ended up averaging 10:55 per mile. In future races and rehearsals, I'm going to make a point of hydrating more on the bike so I'll be more prepared for the run. In sum, the two things I learned today: I'm used to the longer distances enough to not be tempted to take the shorter option and I need to hydrate more on the bike!

Speaking of hydrating on the bike, I'm riding 65 miles tomorrow, the majority uphill, from Boulder to Ward. Yikes!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

AA BBig ImprovEEment

The t-shirt slogan for this year's BolderBoulder (BB) was Altitude Attitude (AA) and I qualified and registered to run in Wave EE. YipEE!!!

As it turned out, I didn't actually get to start with my wave, which was only disappointing because of the previously mentioned correspondence to my first two initials. The reason I didn't get to the front by the time my wave started was because I got stuck in the line for the FedEx mobile locker (to transport to the finish line any belongings I didn't want to run with). I was so COLD after last year's run that I basically packed enough extra clothing to be prepared in case of a post-race blizzard. Even though it's not my initials, Wave FB was a fine wave to start in. I mostly just wanted to start with people who were my pace or faster so I would get off to a good start rather than have to spend the first mile weaving through joggers and walkers. The race used chip timing, so the actual wave you start in doesn't really matter for purposes of clocking your time. Added bonus--according to the announcer at the start, Wave FB included the only couple ever to get married during the BolderBoulder!

I set my trusty Garmin's virtual partner feature to pace me for a pace of 9:49/mile, which was my goal based on my 5k time last week at the Federal Cup and last year's BB time. The first part of the race is down hill and that coupled with the excitement of the start meant for a very fast first mile. I caught my pace at sub-8 min/miles several times, so I knew I needed to slow down, but I also felt pretty good and thought I would be able to keep up a pretty fast, consistent pace and would likely exceed my goal. Because of such a fast first mile, my average pace was just over 9 min/miles for the first 2-3 miles of the course. I decided to slow down a little for miles 3 and 4 so I would be able to speed it up again at the end. (That was a convenient decision because much of miles 3 and 4 were uphill.) This strategy didn't work out exactly as planned because I ended up getting a cramp around mile 5 and couldn't push quite as hard as I wanted. But, I pushed on, got a good laugh out of two guys wearing gorilla costumes, and saw that my average pace was right around 9:30/mile -- I was psyched! For the last 2K, I really wanted to keep my pace fast enough so my average pace would stay the same. I checked my Garmin and was nearly 2 tenths of a mile ahead of my "virtual partner," so I knew I would easily beat my goal and just wanted to beat it by as much as I could. As I neared the CU Stadium, I thought the visual of the end would be all I needed, but I completely forgot how steep the last hill leading into the stadium was! I had to slow way down to make it into the stadium and my average pace dropped by a few seconds. Once I got into the stadium itself, I was able to speed up and finish strong in a Ralphie-style victory lap.

My Garmin beeped as I crossed the finish-line, signalling that I had finished my 10K at an average pace of 9:36/mile with a total time of 59:41. That's 18 seconds faster per mile and almost 2 minutes faster overall than my time from last year! This was actually the first time I've ever done the same exact race more than once (it's hard when you move all the time) and it was exciting to be able to compare my performance year to year, even more exciting to beat my previous time by so much.

But, when I got home, I checked my results online and they told a slightly different story. The timing-chip clocked me at a 9:41/mile pace with an overall time of 1:00:11.57. Not too disappointing because it was still faster than last year's time and my goal time, but it would have been nice to have the official results show that I broke an hour. It's a bit perplexing because my GPS watch should have been accurate. If it were only off by a few seconds, I would have assumed that I didn't start my watch at the right time, but 30 seconds is a pretty big deficit. I haven't decided which time I'm going with . . . it's hard for me to understand why the time I clocked was off by so much, but it's also hard for me to go against something official and on the internet. I guess I'll go with my official BB time. If for no other reason, it will be easier to beat my time next year.

The BolderBoulder was the official kick-off to an all-Boulder, all the time race season. My next race is the first of the Boulder Triathlon Series: the 5430 Sprint on June 21st!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Race Report: Fed Cup 5k

I did my first official race this morning: the Federal Cup 5k. The race is a "a fun and low-cost fitness event that honors the entire U.S. Government workforce and their families" and apparently the longest consecutively run fitness event specifically for federal employees.

The weather was great for running - overcast and temperature in the 50s - but not so great for hanging around before and after. The sun did start to come out around Mile 2 and it has since turned into a typically beautiful sunny Denver afternoon. I ran as a member of one of EPA's two teams, "EPA in the ZONE," but the whole team thing was just for fun. We didn't run together or have matching t-shirts or anything. I think they just calculated the team winner by adding together the top 2 male and female finishers from each.

The run itself went fine, great actually, but I had a pretty bad attitude for about 2.5 miles of it. I've pretty much accepted that I'm a slow runner and I'm never going to improve that much, but it's hard not to get a little annoyed when co-workers who say that they haven't run in months or who don't train nearly as much as I do still easily beat me. So, I childishly spent the first half of the race wondering why I even bother training and thinking how delusional I am to think I have any right to race a half-ironman this summer. But, with my trusty Garmin on my wrist I knew that I was making good time and maintaining a pace that was faster than I was hoping for.

When I was in law school, before I did any regular running, I was in career services freaking out because I hadn't found a summer job yet and everyone else in my class had and I was never going to find one and my life was over (you know, because it was November and summer was only seven months away). I ended up getting what was probably the most useful advice that I ever got out of the career services office. My adviser occasionally did marathons and other running races and said that when you get the starting line, it's really easy to pay too much attention to what the other runners are doing and get worked up or run too fast at the outset. But, what you're supposed to do is know what your own pace should be and focus on maintaining that. "Run your own race," she told me, "don't worry what other people are doing." Good advice for running and for life, I guess, so I kept that mantra in mind as much as I could and my bad attitude mostly subsided by the time I was in sight of the finish line. I still feel a little bit down that I'm never going to improve my running speed that much, but if my choices are go out there and run slow or stay in bed, it seems like a no-brainer.

My official time was 28:59, which is a pace of 9:21/mi. Despite my whining, that's actually a really good time for me, probably the best I've ever done. I haven't felt all that great about my running lately, and I was really hoping to run around 9:30/mi but worried I wouldn't be able to do much faster than a 10 minute mile. So, in terms of my internal personal goals, I did great.

This actually gives me a lot of confidence going into the Bolder Boulder 10k next weekend. Based on my time last year (1:01:32, 9:54/mi) I qualified for the last of the qualifying waves, Wave EE. Since those are my first two initials, I decided I had to do it even though I wasn't sure I'd be able to make that pace again. My goal for next weekend is to do the same as or faster than last year. According to an online calculator using the Bruce Hamilton method, my 5k time means I should be able to run a 10k at a pace of 9:44/mi. I think I'm going to play around with my Garmin, figure out the "Virtual Partner" setting, and set it to pace me at 9:49/mi (splitting the difference).

On an unrelated note, I'm eligible to upgrade my cell phone. I'm thinking about getting a Blackberry, but I'm not quite sure I'm ready yet. The cons for me are the extra money for the data plan and that I'm afraid I'll start obsessively checking my email, when I'm not the kind of person who gets enough email that she would need to check it obsesively. On the pro-side, I am the kind of person who gets lost and confused enough that there would be advantages to having access to my email, directions, and the internets when I'm on the go. I'm putting off getting a new phone until I know what I'm doing for work after June (I guess some things never change). Any thoughts?

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Apparently my latest hobby is power point...

Here's a power point I made for my Toastmasters speech about organizing my apartment...


Uploaded on authorSTREAM by emma.garrison

Here's another one I put together a few weeks ago about storage options for my new bike. (I got this new bike that I'm paranoid about keeping on my back deck, but I don't have much room for it in my apartment and I want to install a hook to hang it from, but that requires drilling, which is against the rules, but I ended up getting special permission as long as I get someone to help who knows what they're doing and promise to be responsible if and when I take out a chunk of drywall. A friend is coming over this weekend to install it for me.)

Any-who...


Uploaded on authorSTREAM by emma.garrison