My First Triathlon - Sept 13 - Pac Grove Tri - Sprint Distance

I figured I should blog about my first Tri for posterity's sake.. so when I become a world famous Ironman Triathlete I can look back at my first tri and see how far I've come :) .. OK, probably not going to be a world famous triathlete.. but anyway, it was an experience.. not an easy one, but one worth blogging about.

The training for the Tri was very fun, when I was able to do it. I trained with a couple friends of mine who HAVE completed Ironman events, some more than once. Also trained with some friends who have never done a tri before. I think, out of the people who did a tri that weekend, I was the weakest swimmer, but everyone has a weakness. The best part of the training was the riding on Sundays and swimming on Wednesdays with my friends Kellie and Larry. Kellie taught me a lot about swimming and gave me very very valuable pointers on form and technique. Too bad I didn't use half of them in the event (never put my head in the water) but they gave me the confidence to try. Larry and Kellie (father and daughter), Bill and Ollie (father and son) all did the Olympic distance event on Saturday. Jessica and I did the sprint distance on Sunday.

Anyway, on to the description of the race most of this is in response to a question from my siblings on "how did it feel"... so sibs, sorry, you've seen this already. But my IRs may enjoy.

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How did it feel?

It didn't feel very good... I've been learning swimming. I got pretty competent in the pool, able to swim freestyle and breathe comfortably. But I'm not at the point where I can do that comfortably in murky ocean water covered in kelp. So I did the whole swim with my head out of the water. While that made me easy to spot by my friends, it made it much more difficult. I basically hyperventilated my way through the swim. I finished that, then got out of the water... tottered my way to the transition area, took off the wet suit, put on a tri shirt, helmet, bike gloves and gulped down some Gatorade...

off to the bike leg, where I was still gasping for breath the whole time. There was an unfortunate optical illusion on the way out of the first of the two out-and-back legs... it looked like we were going down hill.. but my body was telling me it was hard and i was on the easiest gear on my bike and my legs hurt and i was getting passed by EVERYONE. Then I got to the turn around and found out by going downhill that the "out" leg was really uphill. That made the second leg mentally easier, but I still couldn't breathe, and it seemed I was the only one left on the course.

Finally, 3 minute transition to the run, helmet and bike shoes off, running shoes on ... legs killing me, not able to breathe, want to cough or throw up or something... first lap was miserable, second lap was miserable until the last quarter mile where I finally caught my breath and my stride. I did pass people on the run leg.

I ended up finishing 6 minutes behind my friend who I really wanted to beat... but she was thrilled because she had never beat me in anything before (guess what, she's a very strong swimmer). She earned the victory :)

It was hard.. I wouldn't call it "fun" (I call marathons "fun"). I'm not running out to sign up for another one right away but I'll probably do another one some day.. maybe a Half Ironman so I can have more time to get my stride or something in clear water where I can see.


Here are the stats. In case you're wondering, I was 444 out of 517 overall. It was one of the harder hour and a halfs of my short adult onset athletic life, but it was a good experience. Especially now that I look at it with the perspective of all things that have been going on in my lift that have not been helping with training (thank you Shifter for pointing that out!). Yes, Sibs, Kellie and Larry, I'll admit it. I did good. :)

There are pictures from my and my friend's events in the side bar on the right.

If a watermelon could scream...

would it taste like what I ate this morning?

I can only assume so.. seeing as the gelatinous substance in the vaguely shark shape that stuck to my teeth like super glue had a package saying the Sharkies were Watermelon Scream flavor. Sharkies have the carbs (aka sugar), sodium and potassium a person would need on a long run. I didn't have my usual PowerGels with me and tried to find a "gel" type thing for my long run this morning. Thus the Sharkies.

Back to the flavor.. it didn't really taste like watermelon. Or anything in particular. It didn't taste good, but when you're running, "good" is relative and sometimes not significant. It met a need and it didn't upset my stomach (which is even more important when running).

Reading the info on the Sharkies website it looks like a good product, natural sugars and electrolytes for instance. As long as the taste and the sticking to the teeth bit doesn't bother too much, I'll go ahead and keep using what I purchased. I don't know if I'll buy more though.

Running and Ranting

I have to say, running and ranting is a good thing. I ran with two of my friends today... I asked "may I rant?" they said "yes" and I ranted.. for about 20 minutes. Half of the run. The other half we talked of other things. It was very good. I'm so happy I can run and have friends that are willing to listen to me rant. Sometimes you need both.

Truely Stupid Corporate Tricks #1

I live a corporate life from about 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday - Friday... thought it would be time to share some truly stupid corporate tricks.

Trick #1.
Problem: Not enough resources to do QA for a software product....
Solution: Fire QA

Yes, friends, it is true. A rocket scientist at my office decided about a year ago that the resolution to the problem of not having enough QA resources available to QA your software product quickly was to fire the resource you had and "have the developers do their own QA". If you have worked in software development of any stripe, you know how ridiculous that is.

Fortunately, the pay off for my team was, we got a kick-ass QA resource... and for the other person's team, the "developers do their own QA". Unfortunately, the end users of the other team get to do the QA the developers don't do.

UK July 2009

Had to share a link to pics from my recent work trip to the UK... I had to fly out on a Wednesday, back on a Wednesday. I stayed near the Heathrow Airport because the office I was visiting was in Stockley Park. However, I did get a weekend to spend on my own time... did a tour on Saturday, spent the day with a co-worker/friend on Sunday...

Saturday's travels: London, Leeds Castle (Kent), Dover, Canterbury Cathedral, Greenwitch, Thames River Cruise, Westminster (viewed the outside of Westminster Abbey and Big Ben)

Sunday's travels: Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeer's birthplace), Tintern Abbey (Wales) - absolutely beautiful.. want to return there and spend more time, Bristol (to see Clifton Bridge) and finally a traditional Sunday Roast at a pub in the english countryside near my co-worker's home.

All was very good. Here are the pics:

http://picasaweb.google.com/nissaRLTW/UK_July_2009

Now I lay me down to sleep...

Do you remember this prayer?

Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
If I die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take

I have always hated that prayer. Sleep should not be linked with death.. but with life, regeneration, restoration, peace, healing even, REST for Chrissake! ... not Lord take my soul. Yes, I know.. its not supposed to be about death.. it supposed to be a supplication that the Lord watch over you... but I could never shake the other connotation.

I've never taught my daughter that prayer.. I never will.

That's all.

re-engineering self (or how to get used to cognitive disonnance)

Some things to catch up on... little brother.. no cancer! Father-in-law, cancer, but treatment doesn't seem to be so bad, BUT he sends a cryptic note saying he just got out of the hospital. Me, no cancer.. but it could have become cancer if we didn't catch it and remove it.

My "no cancer" experience (plus a combination of work, autoracing and my husband's work) have conspired to set me back again on my running... it seems every time I start to get my running feet back under me, something happens to shut me down for a couple weeks again. I've been knocked down so many times, I'm starting to get used to it.

I read an AWESOME book the last time I was laid out on my ass recovering from general anesthesia and minor surgery.. this one was called Born to Run. It is exactly what I needed. In my usual fashion I was panicking and thinking that I would not be able to run anymore because I'm not getting any faster (long story, tell ya later). AND I knew when I had to have the surgery (and found out the other half would be out of town for two weeks) that I would not be able to do the Olympic Distance Triathlon that I had been training for. AND I was starting to feel like my other half wasn't as supportive of my running as he used to be. ... so depression was setting in. I was going to have to quit running, exercising, everything I love.. because my body and my husband and my life were conspiring against me. Then I read Born to Run and I got inspired. That book reminded me of what I love about running... just the feeling of it. I still remember the first really hard and hilly 16 miler I ran 5 years ago, and, after conquering the last switchback and climbing the last hill.. I was running down the single track trail, feeling like I was flying, arms out like wings. And another thing I love, the camaraderie of the run, the way people take care of each other and support each other, through race and training run. I've been on both ends of that equation and they are both great.

So I've decided this year to re-engineer myself, my goals. New goal.. stay sane. New goal.. just run. New goal.. run with two of my brothers and hope they'll stay slow enough to run with me, and if they don't or can't (its hard to run slow) I'll enjoy the scenery... and finally, New Goal, skip Tuscon and just run the Valley of Fire Marathon.. not for speed (its not a fast course and not even a USTAF certified course) and not to compete with my friend (I finished 4 minutes ahead of her last year in a 30k.. I'll be eating her dust this time), nope. Just to run, in the desert, the climate that reminds me of home... though I've never lived in desert just like this.. desert just like this has always been home. I'm setting my expectations back to my 2nd TNT season.. I know what to do, I'm out of shape, and I'm just gonna run.

And, if for some reason, life strikes again, that's OK. As long as I'm healthy enough to run into town for dinner once in a while... that's better than not running at all.