Mostly Full

Dare I even think about trying to keep up a blog again?

2008-03-30T20:17:00.006-05:00

Tough call. Maybe I can do it. Maybe it will be therapeutic. Maybe not.

So - since it's been a year and change since my last post, highlights of the time gone by are:

Moved to Austin, TX
Crashed a few times on the bike and lost last season to injuries
Currently racing bikes instead of triathlons (jury's out on this - it's fun, but has its own set of frustrations)

In a nutshell, things are great in Austin. I'm on a cycling team (TX Tough/Hotel San Jose) with three other fantastic women and learning a lot. I also kick myself a lot since I get pretty frustrated with the learning curve of road racing...

Case in point - raced a 38 mile road race today in Manda, TX (NE of Austin). Managed to forget the bag that I had put my kit in this morning - brilliant start to the day. Justin let me wear his bibs, and I was absolutely positive there was no way I could race because I needed to find a team jersey...but Tod Reed on the team had one, amazingly, and he let me use his jersey. Barry Lee, our team director, showed up moments later with bibs for me to use...another stroke of luck. Disaster averted, but it really bothered me that I'd done this! Not a great start to the day.

Our race began - a women's open race with 28 starters on a fairly wet day (on and off showers). The course was a ~13 mile loop that we'd do 3 times...with quite a few corners (not a simple square). I have too good of an imagination and have a hell of a time keeping it at bay when I think about all the things to not do (and more importantly, the repercussions of screwing things up) on a wet corner. So, I take them a little more cautiously, and it frustrates me because I know others are more comfortable railing through them, even in the rain. So, not something I was looking forward to.

Our race started off easily enough, but a break of three got up the road a little ways. I bridged up to them, and we started rotating through for 10 minutes or so, but the pack caught on again. A strong rider from Lonestarworks (Christina Smith) attacked, and then Kate Sherwin (Austin Flyers) attacked and I followed...we had a break of three that another rider (Natalie Klemko - Team Advil/Chapstick) bridged to. Our break stuck for 2 laps, and we rotated through pretty well. As we neared the finish, I attacked with a 1.5 or so to go on a hill. I had two strong sprinters that I was not looking forward to going head to head with, so I was hoping I might be able to get away. No luck. They caught back on, and we neared the finish line. Kate attacked closer to the line, but couldn't get away either. Our finish ended up essentially the order we approached the line - unfortunately I was fourth. I couldn't get around Natalie, although I've seen some pictures of the finish, and there looks to be room enough...so maybe I'm still working through some "personal space" issues. Teammates Lori and Rhe were 6th and 7th, essentially 2nd and 3rd in the field sprint - overall a good finish for all of us Cat 3's (we were the top Cat 3's in our race).

Lessons learned: keep working on cornering (one of these days, it will be a good friend) and sprinting (sadly, it appears that I did not get out of my saddle...)

Here's our breakaway going into a corner - note Christina's granny look with the sunglasses...I'm behind Natalie in the Advil-Chapstick kit.

And here I am...sporting the same granny look (I had mud smeared all over the lenses):

Here's the finish - bummer to be at the end, but at the time, I felt like I couldn't go right of Natalie (although it appears I had plenty o'room)!

Thanks to Velossimo for a great race and to Nikki for taking pictures!

Race Report: Frost Yer Fanny

2007-01-28T12:00:00.000-06:00

The race that almost wasn't...at least for me! Several days leading up to the race, weather forecasters began calling for another winter storm to hit central Oklahoma, dumping between 4-8 inches of snow (chump change for northeasterners, but for Oklahomans, this represents, as Justin puts it, Armageddon). The forecast eased off a little as the weekend got closer, and I was in a mindset to hang around the house and just train. We raced and travelled so much last year, I've been really enjoying just training at home. Saturday morning when we got up, it was raining (not snowing), and we decided at 7:30am to go ahead and head down to Austin. We had the dogs with us in our new Honda Fit, but driving conditions were horrendous. It was raining pretty well, and as we crossed the border into Texas, it seemed as though the number of big trucks multiplied by five. As we passed Waco, Haley, our red heeler began foaming...and promptly (and silently, no less) gagged up a big old wad of foam onto Jordan, our hound. Jordan proceeded to (not so silently) attempt to clamber into my lap. We exited the freeway and took a walk to clear the motion sickness...nevertheless, Haley sat in my lap for the remainder of the trip with the window cracked open (in the rain).

Our USAT region (south-midwest) does regional awards, and we attended the awards dinner banquet with Justin's parents, who had driven down from Arkansas. Rankings are such a hot topic for people, in terms of whether they really reflect abilities, but similar to the USAT national rankings, our region does its own set of rankings. This year, I was the top female for both triathlon and duathlon. There is a lot of talent in the region, so it was a nice honor to have, even knowing that there can be some issues with how the rankings are produced.

The next morning, we were up and out the door of the hotel in plenty of time to get a good breakfast (I'm a big fan of good breakfasts...I opted for harvest grain pancakes at the nearby IHOP instead of the oatmeal I usually get). Justin decided to opt out of the race since his knee had been annoying him for a few weeks leading up to the race (it's in good shape now, though!), so it was just Dave (Justin's dad) and I racing. Justin had the girls to keep him busy during the race, and it sounds like they had a great time smelling out the entire park. The weather was pretty nice, a chilly start to the day (near 40 degrees), but the sun was out. The weather forecasters expected the temperature to get to over 60 degrees!

The race site was pretty nice, although with all of the recent rains, there were quite a few mudholes, and since a good part of the run course was cross-country (ugh...I'm not used to slip-sliding on grass), the mudholes were little challenging obstacles to deal with. The race organizers started the race in three waves, with the women and relays in the last wave. We were started, and immediately 10 or more women flew off ahead. I have been really trying to work on proper pacing, so I held back, hoping they had no idea about pacing...and I started passing a few. I felt much more comfortable on the part of the course that had an asphalt trail, so I suppose I need to run a bit more on grassy trails to get used to the slippery feeling. I finished the first run in eighth place (I guess) and transitioned onto the bike. We had not biked much in the week leading up to the race, unfortunately, because we'd have several commitments in the evenings that we had to attend. It's amazing how consistency helps both the physical and mental preparation, and I think my bike leg could have gone a lot better. The course was flat, although there were quite a few turns and areas where I had to slow down due to road washouts and construction. I passed all the women ahead of me but one by the time I pulled into transition. I changed shoes (my trail runners had been great, but they were covered with mud, and they didn't have quick laces anyway) and took off. It might have been better if I had used my trail runners instead of my racing shoes because I felt like a slipped a bit more on the grass during the second run. I managed to hang on for second overall.

The race went pretty well for an early season race. My run splits are slowly improving (20:29 and 21:47), but I've got a lot of work to do. I did fine on the bike with respect to the other women, with the fastest female time, but I think I could have done a lot better. Duathlons are tough - that extra run is hard! I congratulated the woman who won the race, Kristin Villopoto, on her great race (she beat me by ~2 minutes...a great runner!). She's planning on going to short course duathlon worlds in Hungary, and I'm sure she'll do fantastic (good luck, Kristin!).

Frost Yer Fanny Results

Ugly Running Clothes

2007-01-06T08:46:00.000-06:00

I've been on a running focus - I never ran in high school or college, I don't look like a runner, but damn it, I'm going to try and be a faster runner. So, I've been putting in the miles and suffering through the intervals. Hopefully, my plan will work out, and my run will significantly improve...time will tell.

Yesterday, I got off of work and took off on an hour run from the museum in town. Justin and I carpooled, so I thought I'd get in a run in town before picking him up. I usually run around campus and towards Justin's weather building, where there is a lot of construction going on because the roads are so nice and quiet...and I can just focus on my workout without distractions. Yesterday I really wanted quiet roads because I had managed to grab the UGLIEST combination of running clothes ever - I have these brown (seriously) tights with red and black (how classy, eh?), and in my rush out the door in the morning, I grabbed a black long-sleeved shirt with big circles all over it. My bright orange Adidas Supernovas and a green hat capped off the look - it was beautiful in the sense that when my dogs take a crap, if you look hard, you might be able to imagine shapes in the crap, like people imagine the clouds making pictures in the sky. Or not. You get the picture. I was a running freakazoid with no sense of style (my defense...at least I was running!).

I hustled over to the quiet roads and was doing my run, happy in my general solitude, but my enjoyment was cut short by a red SUV that appeared to be stalking me. I was pissed and freaked, so I ran to the OU police department (conveniently located near where I was running), placed a report, and then headed back to the museum (luckily I had been able to get my full hour in). After picking up Justin, I drove back to the station to see if they'd checked out the SUV, but they hadn't. Why do there have to be people out there like that? I'm not going to be intimidated, but I will be very good about carrying a cell phone...and maybe a crowbar. Wouldn't that be funny? Maybe people would call the cops on me...

People and their animals

2006-12-12T07:34:00.000-06:00

Justin and I were talking yesterday about animals. He grew up never really having pets, while I grew up with cats and a few dogs. We have two dogs, Jordan and Haley, and if you couldn't figure it out, they are two of the most wonderful things to have happened to us in life. Yesterday, Justin walked out into a parking lot where several people had discovered a dog that had been hit by a car. The people were caring, and the dog's injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, although there were significant amounts of blood. All together, they were able to calm the dog down and get it to a local vet, where it hopefully was treated and reunited with its owner (the dog had tags and a collar, thankfully, although Justin infomed me that we would have had a fifth family member if that had not been the case). What touches me so, is that I know that Justin has learned about what it means to have a relationship with an animal because of our girls. I know that animals are special...for me, it runs in my family, especially in my mother's side of the family. My grandmother is the matriarch of all felines within a 5-mile radius of her home in Washington state. When I talk to her on the phone, she frequently fills me in on the animals - cats, dogs, squirrels, opossums, and birds in the neighborhood. We could talk for hours about the animals, their exploits, and our memories of pets that have passed away. Ever met a stranger that you somehow felt compelled to make small talk with? You may not have looked forward to talking to a stranger and coming up with something useful for the conversation, but when you discovered that you have an animal story in common...well, then that changed things, and it was fun to talk! Talking about animals lights people up.

For me, there is something really special about coming home and being greeted by an animal whose behavior makes you think you are the most important thing in their life at that moment. The routines that life dictates that ordinarily might be boring and monotonous are exciting when you have an animal who is simply overjoyed at the prospect of getting to do THAT again, even though it happens every day, at approximately the same time. Our dogs are emotional - we know when they're "happy" and when they'd really rather that we gave them full on attention. I'm a biologist, and I know that I am not supposed to go anthropomorphic, but they do have different psychological states that depend on environmental context...and I don't think there is too much harm in comparing those observations to basic human states, such as happiness, boredom, and contentedness. It's fascinating watching and learning from animals that we share our lives with.

If you have an animal that you share your life with, give them lots of love today and everyday!

Shaking off the chains!

2006-11-22T08:00:00.000-06:00

I've had a few tougher workouts recently. Not hard, but just mentally tough to get through them. Training is pretty cyclic; sometimes you feel fantastic, and other times, it's an accomplishment to have simply shown up and have gone through the motions. I did a pretty tough ride on Sunday with the guys after riding on Saturday. We've not been riding the 67 mile ride in Ardmore regularly, and the hills simply killed me (and the guys were pushing pretty hard, too). Swimming this week has been breakthrough workout after breakthrough workout for Justin, but I've been pushing hard on the "easier" stuff just to hang with him! Oy! Things are supposed to be pretty aerobic in the offseason...and I think my body has acclimated well to that aerobic zone!

Today I was scheduled to start some intervals on the run. I was a little leery of the number of 400's I was supposed to do (8), as well as the pace (under 6:00 mi pace...shorter distance, of course, so normally this isn't all that crazy). I've been running long and slow for about two weeks now, and the thought of jacking up the pace by over 2 minutes from what my body's gotten used to seemed like it might be tough. Well, it was tough. But...it felt like I shook off a bunch of cobwebs and chains, so I think I'll be coming out of my mini-slump today! I did only 4 of the 8 - they were pretty tough, after all, but definitely not impossible. Maybe all I needed was to shake off those chains!

A new ride!

2006-11-07T18:15:00.000-06:00

Cannondale is the bike sponsor for the OKC-Velo women's team (and guy's team, too), and I had my frames switched out last week. It's a really nice frame, and I'm told the fork is pretty nice...so I'm pretty excited to ride!

Temporary change of plans....

2006-11-05T19:15:00.000-06:00

So, Justin and I have both been slightly sidelined with various issues for the run. I have some stiff hamstrings, and J's dealing with a tender ITB (illiotibial band). So, we're not quite set on our quest to tackle the run...yet! Instead, we've refocused on the bike so that we don't go insane. Neither one of our issues seems to be too affected by riding, so we're spending a bit of time on both of our bikes (road and TT). I'm pretty energized right now anyway, since the OKC-Velo women's race team that I am on just enlisted the help of a coach (Aaron Smathers...one of our local pro's). He'll be a tremendous resource, I'm sure. I went on a ride with the roadies here in Norman yesterday, and right away, I have a few things to work on, since Aaron was on the ride and was happy to give feedback...lots of good stuff to think about!

Yee-Haw! Time to learn to run fast!

2006-10-15T18:33:00.000-05:00

Alright - so I did just (minutes ago) publish a post about Fall Classic, and since I pretty much post sporadically outside of race reports, something must really be on my mind, right? Yes! I am ABSOLUTELY EXCITED because tomorrow, I start on the path to becoming a faster runner! I'm just about giddy since I think I can do so much better on the run...

We're starting our run focus block of training tomorrow with the help of a lot of thoughtfully researched information and advice from books and people we respect. We're going to be extremely careful about staying injury-free. Easy runs will be amazingly easy, and hard runs will be hard, as dictated by specific pace or heartrate targets. We'll still ride and swim, but not in the same proportion as we did all of our training during the race season.

Alright, cheetah, show me your secrets...

Race Report: Fall Classic Duathlon

2006-10-15T17:38:00.000-05:00

Finally...the last race of the season (it's been a great season, don't get me wrong, but I'm ready for off-season training). This duathlon is a pretty short sprint 2 mile run - 14 mile bike - 2 mile run. Interestingly, it is the Oklahoma State Championship, and a "big" points race for the region (our region does regional rankings). The race is put on by our triathlon club and takes place up at Lake Overholser, where the bike club we race with (OKC-Velo) puts on several time-trials. The bike course is generally fast and very flat. The run course is a one mile out and back on a generally flat course. It's potentially a course where you can go sub-one-hour (or at least the fast folks can).

We woke up to a downpour outside with a ~15-knot breeze (gusts to ~20). It's been months since we've seen that much rain. And, the temperature was a balmy 59 degrees...just as I was thinking I was getting used to warm weather! 168 people showed up to do the race, including a large contingent from the Oklahoma Heart Hospital (http://www.okheart.com/), who I think supported the race to encourage healthy activities and keeping fit. I thought that was awesome. We got to the race site and were happy to see that it was raining much less than at our house (about 30 miles away), although the rain seemed to build in intensity as the start approached! The race started anyway, and we all took off for the first 2-mile run. It was entertaining to see the throngs that take off at 50m-dash speed and then slow wayyyyy down 1/2 mile into the run. I did the first run pretty comfortably, with no complaints from my hamstring. I almost broke my ankle, though, as I stepped (stupidly...wasn't paying as close attention as I should have) into a pothole filled with water. Luckily, I wasn't hurt, but I heard my friend, Kris, behind me ask if I was alright. I would not have been happy if I'd screwed my ankle up. I ended up running the last half or so of the first run with a small group that included Kris, and Rob Bell (one of the Tri-OKC guys). Time-13:15.

I've improved leaps and bounds on the bike this year, so I always REALLY look forward to getting on the bike. I had a decent bike leg, passing a lot of faster runners, and only getting passed by a few guys, including Mr. TT himself, Steve Schlegel and also Rob Bell, who I went back and forth with (legally) a few times, before he finally passed me in the last 1/2 mile or so. The wind was not terribly fun - it was gusty in areas, and we had headwinds both out and back because the course curved around a lake. Standing water was a concern in several areas, but there seemed to be safe pavement to negotiate around the water. A pretty good bike ride, considering the conditions. My average was only 21.9, but the wind and weather really dictated the ride for me. Justin, of course, still managed over 24mph...I need to keep working on my power, I guess. Time-37:49.

Going into the second run, I knew I was doing pretty well on the rest of the women's field (maybe it would be best not to know this?), although I did want to catch Rob Bell, from the club. I'd seen plenty of his backside at various parts of the race since we'd trade off, and I thought it would be nice to just get around him and leave him behind me! Not to be - he had a fantastic race. We ran together for a while, actually, and then something lit a fire under his ass, and he took off. He actually posted on our triathlon message board about the race (and it cracked me up because he's selling himself short!). I'll copy and paste it after my report since it is pretty entertaining. My second run was disappointing - I should have pushed a lot harder. Time-14:28. I ended up as the first female overall, and I guess I am the female OK State Champion for Duathlon. A fun race, despite the weather and my slower second run (I really should have kept the two runs closer to each other in time...).

Here's Rob's post:

Two Reviews here....I'll start with the wheel cover and then give a little race report from my experience today at fall classic.
I probably should lie to you all about this so you won't kick my butt next season more than you already do, but that $75 disc cover from wheelbuilder.com is amazing. I was a bit skeptical at first. I was thinking "well if this cover is so good why doesn't everyone have one since it's only $75?" Now that I own one i have to ask why not every triathlete owns one. Putting it on was simple. Wheelbuilder.com cut the disc perfectly for the wheel i put it on. I'd say instalation time was about 15 minutes and you need about $20 worth of tools to do it. Those tools (a chain whip, cassette tool, and 1" socket or wrench) were only used to get the cassette on and off. The only other tool needed was a screw driver. In my not-so-scientific test around lake hefner I added 1.5mph onto my average. I was using the same cassette and same tire on two days in the same week with comparible wind. The wheel with the cover is a 32 spoke mavic open pro (cheap wheel) vs a 36 spoke campy wheel with no cover. I let John Crawford try it on his bike and he saw 1mph into the wind compaired to his ksyrium sl wheel. He didn't know how much faster he was going with a tail wind, but he said he was doing 30+ and his heart rate was still low. He said keeping a 30mph pace never felt so easy. The best part is, it's free speed. Both of us agreed that the bike didn't feel any different at all. I wasn't any more or less tired, just faster. When you figure 1.5 mph over a 5-6 hour ride like an ironman, thats a 30 minute difference. So figuring in that 30 minutes for my redman time, i only have to get about 3.5 hours faster at redman to be close to Justin Wolf next year
It makes me a little skeptical (and very curious) about MIT's reports on how much better an aero helmet is than any wheel upgrade. Were they compairing something like hed to zipp wheels???? I could see if you are already on a $1000+ wheelset then a aero helmet might make a better deal than a set of zipps. But for us budget racers on a $300 wheelset, I can't imagine anything other than aero bars giving you that kind of free speed. If an aero helmet can match that 1.5mph, I might be willing to invest in one for next season
Transitioning into my review of fall classic, I'll mention that in a strong cross-wind like we had today, I could feel the wind pushing on me a little more than normal, but it wasn't bad at all. It was never to the point where I felt unstable or anything, just a bit noticeable.
All the tri club members looked great at fall classic today. As you know, I'm new this year to the sport and I don't know a lot of the tri-okc veteran racers very well. At every event I go to I'm able to put at least one more name to a face. IT's so cool seeing people at easlier events this year and then seeing how far along they've come in such a short amount of time. Sharon Barrows is one that comes to mind. She looked great out there today! Jon T. also looked real strong at his first duathlon. It seemed like he had a really good time and hopefully he got bit by the same bug I got bit by at lazy E this year. This is such an easy sport to get addicted to...especially with a club as supportive as this one. I hope Jon skipped over my review of the wheel cover. He's my age and I don't want that extra competition for next year
On the starting line i really didn't have any plans or any goals. My age group was bigger at this event than any other event I've done in Oklahoma this year. In the past I've ben able to place just be finishing the race. Today, with 11 people signed up for the 20-24 division, I had a lot more pressure. I read the post a few days ago about the top 10 people probably finishing under 1:00. I crunched some numbers and realized I didn't have a chance. I figured 1:10 would be a better goal but I would try and do whatever I could.
The gun went off and a lot of people took off very strong. I forgot my watch to i wouldn't know my splits so i figured I'd just go by the way I felt. I felt good today so I tried to stay a little closer to the front than i normally would. After a half mile or so Chris Wolf passed by me. I was really amazed that I was even in front of her for a half mile because she's such an amazing athlete. I could still see Justin so i figured maybe they just had a strategy to take the first run real easy and then blow past everyone on the bike. I saw him start passing closer to the front and knew he'd be out of site soon....and he was. When I was almost back to transition i realized Chris was still really close to me. Right before the end of the run I figured this might be my only time to ever have a faster split than her so i passed her and figured it would be the last time i saw her until the finish line.
She was out of T1 before me but still in sight. I feel like the bike is my strongest leg of a du or tri but I realized that earlier in the season I would always push too hard on the bike and it would kill me for the last run. It happened at draper and I didn't want it to happen again. I decided to hang out a ways behind Chris and just try and keep pace with her. When we were coming close to the turnaround I thought to myself "screw this race...I want to be able to say I was ahead of an athlete like Chris at the halfway point of the race." Again, it might be the only time it ever happens and even if she was feeling a little off today, I'd take it. After the turn I was still ahead of her for a little while...and then she went screaming past me. Again, as a newb I don't know a ton about pacing myself so I was probably going a little too slow with the tailwind. With the speed she had passing me i figured she was sandbagging the first half of the race and now it was time to turn it on. I sped it up a little again and was able to match her speed speed again. With about 2 miles to go I decided again that I didn't really care about this race and I wanted to try and have a faster bike split than Chris. I made a pass and rode pretty hard all the way back to transition. At this point my legs started to hurt, but I didn't care. For most of the ride i was more worried about staying close to her than anyone else. I guess while i was watching her I was also able to pass a lot of people, because when I got into transition I didn't see very many bikes at all.
I'm used to that site by now, although at a different time in the race. I'm used to getting out of the water and realizing that everyone is already out on the bike, or even getting close to starting the run. This time it was different. I was actually ahead of some people for once! When I started my run I really thought I might have blown my race again on the bike. I think it was near the first corner when Chris passed me...she gave me some positive encouragement just like she did every other time she passed me. Thanks Chris
When we got to the turnaround i realized that the guy who had his bike racked right next to me was not far behind. I also remmbered that on the first run he was right next to me the whole time. Since we were racked by age group (which I LOVE! Thanks Jeff) I figured he was my competition. I got worried because he was so close and this is when the race finally became more important than passing Chris. When we started the run I already decided I'd make a post like this and say that I was really pumped to be able to stay ahead of an amazing athlete like Chris for 90% of the race, but then she was able to kick my butt when it counted at the finish line. Seeing that guy charge up behind me made me totally forget about that post and Chris became invisible. I wanted to beat this guy. Somehow, someway I was able to get a little energy back and pick it up for the last 3/4 mile. Across the finish line I had Chirs hot on my heals dominating the female competition and right behind her was my AG competition. He was a good guy and a great athlete. On any other day he'd probably stomp me but I guess with some kind of fluke today I was able to beat him.
Thank you Chris for being there for me to chase. Seriously, if you weren't there I wouldn't have finished nearly as well. You and your husband have been an inspiration to me all year. Hopefully some day it will be him that I realize I'm within passing distance of...but I'm not counting on that happening anytime soon
I'd also like to mention that Chuck Sloan is crazy fast. Like seriously...insanely fast. I'm sure everyone reading this already knows that though.
Thanks to all of tri-okc for making this first season so memorable for me. I've made so many good friends with people in this group this year. It's sad for me that my season is over now. The past few months of long daily workouts have been some of the most enjoyable times of my life. I am absolutely stoked to repeat all of this next year, except hopefully with better placements in all my races Thanks again to everyone, even though nobody probably read this far down.
Rob "time to start training for next season" Bell

Race Report: Redman Half-Ironman Triathlon

2006-09-24T22:07:00.000-05:00

What a weekend we’ve had! The 2^nd annual Redman Triathlon was on Saturday. I raced the half-ironman distance race, even though I was originally gearing for the full back in May. After I qualified to go to the Best of the US amateur triathlon competition, I decided not to race the full distance, so that I could focus more on improving my run (something I didn’t quite accomplish since I had a sore hamstring for a few weeks leading up to the race). Justin had also originally decided to cut back to the half-ironman, but then he went back to his original plan and committed to the full-ironman. Crazy man.

We both took off of work on Friday to put our feet up and take our time getting all of our stuff ready for the race. Justin’s folks drove over from Arkansas to watch the race, and they came over on Friday afternoon. We took our bikes up to the transition area and went to both the athlete and the volunteer pre-race meeting (I was planning on volunteering after my race was done) Friday evening. It was amazing to see how much the whole race organization had improved in just one year. Everything looked so professional and well-organized, and I got excited about the race the following day. This race would be our last triathlon of the season, and frankly, I think both of us were more looking forward to the rest and relaxation that we were allowing ourselves after the season than we were to actually racing…but we’re both competitors, and at least for me, when I go to pre-race meetings and see the fit-looking people, it’s hard not to regroup and think about what needs to be done to put together a good race. For me, I had decided that this would be the first half-ironman I’ve done where I actually have a decent run. My goal was to simply get to the start of the half-marathon fresh and ready to run well.

Saturday morning came quickly, and we were on our way to the race site by 4:45am. Justin and I each got our transition areas set-up, and then pulled on our wetsuits. The forecast for the day was pretty good – 70’s with low humidity, but with a bit of wind…20-30 mph! Since we’ve gotten accustomed to riding in Oklahoma, we’re used to the wind, so that wasn’t too big of a deal – the temperature, though, was fantastic news. Last year at this race, we both raced the half-ironman distance and were pretty miserable because it was very hot and humid (just thinking of it makes me cringe). The wind was already blowing a bit, so we were expecting a few small waves during the swim. The water level in the lake where the swim was to be held was pretty low, since Oklahoma has had a pretty dry summer, so getting out to water deep enough to swim in was going to require running through shallow water for 100 feet or so, with 400+ other people, when the gun went off. When the gun did go off we all took off, and I was able to get comfortable swimming pretty easily. We swam west first, and with the building northerly wind, there were some pretty good waves rolling across all of us as we battled to the first buoy of the triangle course. Once I made the rounding buoy and headed south, I was pretty much able to surf down the waves and that was pretty fun. I rounded the last buoy and was headed back to the beach with no incident. As I was getting closer to being done with my swim, a swimmer crossed my path…a bit too distinctive, though – it was Justin, swimming right with me! I was a little surprised, considering that his plan was to take the swim “easy”. I veered towards the beach, though, and he started back on his second loop. I came into transition with another woman right next to me. I heard Jeff Kragh announce that we were the 2^nd and 3^rd women out of the water, so that was pretty good to hear!

I transitioned onto the bike with no incident and took off onto the course – Justin’s dad, Dave, told me I was first woman onto the bike. The bike course was a big 56-mile loop. The first part of the course was into the wind, and it wasn’t too bad. I was passed by a few guys early in the ride, and then I was pretty much by myself for the remainder of the ride. No incidents, and the ride back towards the lake with the wind behind me was nice! I decided during the ride that I was getting hydration easily and that I would not put on my Fuelbelt for the run (it sometimes chafes, and I also didn’t want the extra weight if I thought I could rely on the aid stations alone). I got into transition again, put my running shoes on, grabbed one of my Fuelbelt bottles, and took off on the run. The spectators were great – they lined the shoot where the athletes were coming out of transition to head onto the run course and cheered loudly – it was hard not to head out with a huge grin! The run went really fantastic for me – I took splits at each mile to see the pace I was running at my target heartrate and was really please to see 7:15’s and 7:20’s. I made it to the turnaround and hit my split button because I would soon find out how far ahead of the next woman I was…and sure enough, I had lots of time (more than 10 minutes). What a relief! The last three miles were into a wall of wind and my splits were showing it, but I made it to the finish line thinking that I should try to run like I was a fast runner (even though I felt like I was running in slow motion trying to make headway into the wind). I crossed the line in 4:55:52, a PR for me by a long shot. This was a 46-minute improvement over my performance last year in meltdown conditions, so I was quite pleased with my race!

I finished my race a bit after noon, so I had a while to wait for Justin to finish his race. I cleaned up as best as I could with a hose and put on my neon-yellow volunteer shirt to go help out where I could. Justin came in off the bike at around 1:45pm, and I was able to talk to him a little when he was in transition. He asked how my race went and told me he was doing good. He looked really strong coming in and pretty comfortable as he took off on the run. The next guy came in 20 minutes after him, and then the third guy came in after another 10 more minutes. Justin’s lead seemed like a lot, but a marathon is a long race and anything can really happen. He came back around in 1:45 (15 minutes ahead of his goal pace-time), and other than a skirmish to try and get his special needs run bag, he looked comfortable and strong. The next part of the wait until the finish was by far the longest. Now and then, Jeff Kragh would announce where the leader was, but I didn’t know if the 2^nd and 3^rd place guys were closing in on him or not. Finally, we saw him coming towards the finish line, and when he finally crossed the line, he dropped to his knees (out of happiness/joy/relief/too much emotion…who knows!). He was definitely emotional, and it was impossible not to be teary-eyed seeing him. I walked him over to the med tent and sat with him for the next two hours as they gave him 3.5 bags of fluid. He finished his first ironman-distance race in 10:24 and won it, on top of everything!

It was fantastic to be able to share this special day for both of us with family and friends. A reporter from the Oklahoman called us to get an interview, and the article was in the paper today.

Race Report: Best of the US Triathlon

2006-09-18T20:13:00.000-05:00

What a fantastic weekend! We left Oklahoma on Thursday, stopped in NW Arkansas to switch vehicles and pick up Justin’s folks, and took off for Excelsior, Minnesota, for Saturday’s Best of the U.S. Amateur Triathlon Championships. We finally arrived after approximately 15 hours of driving (ugh…), and had some time to check out the race site, drive the run and bike courses, and look around town a bit before the pre-race meeting. We met up with Daniel, his mom, and his grandma at the race site as he was about to go ride the course. At the pre-race meeting, the race organizers, Jerry McNeal and Trudy Marshall, really started pouring on the “make you feel special” sauce – we were given temporary tattoos of the numbers for our body marking, temporary tattoos with the BOUS logo, temporary tattoos with our state flags, as well as our own little state flag to wave during the “parade of athletes” that was supposed to take place later. We sat through an informative meeting and then everyone drove to the race site for the expo and “parade of athletes”. The “parade” was more of a general introduction of the two athletes from each state (Jerry is the “voice of triathlon” in the area, and he did his homework on each athlete!), but it was pretty fun (maybe a little cheesy, but in a good way!).

The next morning, we woke up to rain and wind…a lot of wind (20-30 mph). We arrived at transition with plenty of time to get ready. It was windy and rather cool…overcast with light rain that fell off and on during the early morning. I got to see Justin start his race (there was a sprint that started an hour before the BOUS race) and come in from the swim before I headed over to the beach for my start. Daniel and I commiserated on the temperature of the water (“70 degrees” was way too optimistic – it felt more like 35!). Our swim course would take us away from the beach and then have us take a right turn and swim into the wind (and ever-increasing waves). The race director came down to the beach and made several last minute announcements (one of which would severely impact 39 athletes later…), including that we needed to get going NOW because the buoys were moving. He sent the guys off, and then one minute later, the women all took off. My swim was fine. The waves were surprisingly high and very choppy, so it was difficult to stay on course and see the buoys over the waves. Needless to say, I was well hydrated by the time I reached the shore. My feet were numb, but I managed to shuffle into transition and get out onto the bike. Justin had finished and was yelling at me that I was “right on plan” (I was thinking, “What the heck did that mean? Why wasn’t he telling me how many women were ahead of me?”). I took off on the bike into the 30 mph southerly and was pretty happy that we train in windy conditions fairly regularly here in Oklahoma. Several times along the first leg straight into the wind, a gust would hit, and I would be pretty impressed at how the wind affected the bike. The bike course was a two loop (one loop of 15 miles, one loop of 10 miles) course on good roads, although the course was not closed to traffic. I had a good bike ride, hitting my heart rate targets with no problems and took off on the run onto a super-flat, fast course. The run had been a concern of mine, though, as the last two weeks, I had been nursing a strained hamstring and have not been able to get in key workouts while I was trying to let it heal properly (thanks so much, Norman, for all of the help!). I had no pain or discomfort, but my legs only went one speed. Several women passed me on the run; from my perspective, I thought they looked like cheetahs! I was pretty happy to finish as the eighth woman in a PR time of 2:15:11 for a fairly accurate Olympic-distance course, although I found out later that I was one of 39 athletes who missed the last swim buoy, so I was assessed a 2-minute penalty. I had been 7^th out of the water, and at one time was 2^nd overall on the bike, but wasn’t as competitive on the run. But, it was still a good race for me, all in all.

I do want to note that Daniel had the most AMAZING breakthrough race – he was third out of the water even though he did the full swim course (the top two guys missed the last buoy, and a lot of folks followed them…but not Daniel). Daniel’s bike was awesome, but his run was absolutely phenomenal. Justin had the opportunity to watch everything, and he said that Daniel simply looked amazing as he took off out of transition onto the run course. It turns out that Daniel PRed the 10k by only about 6 minutes!!! Something clicked for him, and he ran a 34:xx! He ended up 6^th overall for the guys in a pretty impressive field. His was a fantastic performance, and he definitely needs to be working closely with USAT, because he’s going places in triathlon if he keeps this up!

Daniel and I both received really nice individual awards for being top ten finishers, as well as a lovely Waterford crystal vase for each of us for being the fifth place team (I don’t even want to go back and figure out if my penalty cost us a place or two, but I might later when I really want to get annoyed at myself). We were both pretty happy with the day, but it was obvious that some of the other competitors were upset about the swim course penalty.

I can’t say enough good things about the race organization overall, though, and hope that I’ve communicated what a neat experience I had. This is the second year that BOUS has run, and while they’re still ironing out some logistics, it is definitely on its way to being a premier championship race.

Thanks so much to Tri-OKC for the support provided for this race – I was so happy to be able to attend for Oklahoma, and based on Daniel’s perpetual smile, I think he was, too!

Coach Justin

2006-09-12T06:52:00.000-05:00

How did I get so lucky as to have someone as great as Justin is for my partner in life? He is a lot of things to me, but recently, he’s been a fantastic coach, despite all of my many inadequacies…

I’ve been dealing with a strained hamstring that has affected the past week and a half of training. I’ve been trying to be conservative and actually took four days off from running, but I’ve been driving myself crazy about it because running wasn’t going great right before the time off. I’ve been a bit concerned about an upcoming race – I really wanted to be dialed in and feeling fast, and I’m not exactly there because of this injury. Justin interprets my moods pretty well and generally knows exactly what to say. Here are some examples of things where he is simply an amazing coach that I really should be paying 20% of my annual income for:

1. This morning Chris finishes her first run in several days and is secretly disappointed that the time is not faster because it actually felt pretty good. Coach Justin appears to sense her mood and reminds her that the time is actually quite good because Haley (one of our dogs…the other one wouldn’t get out of bed this morning) had to take a shit and we had to scoop and bag it.
2. After the run, Chris asks Coach Justin if he’d be up for transition practice tonight, and he tells her that he would rather watch her and see if he can help her by pointing out anything that he might see.
3. After a shower, Chris diligently wraps her leg with the compression ice pack that our good friend and physical therapist, Norman, has loaned her. She laments (this is only the 442nd time this has crossed her mind in the last week) that it’s too bad that she’s not been doing speedwork because she really was hoping to be able to run well this weekend. Coach Justin hits a home run with her by telling her that many of the great race performances have been done by athletes who were dealing with injuries leading up to raceday and had been forced to rest. He points to Joan Benoit Samuelson and her Olympic win and also says he has heard of others whose name he can’t recall.
4. During breakfast this morning, conversation switches to Coach Justin telling Chris that he spent some time during our run this morning thinking of things he was going to yell at her when she races on Saturday. He says the thoughts give him goosebumps. Chris gets teary inside when he tells her and then teary again as she writes this.
5. Finally, Coach Justin tells her that she needs to be confident in her abilities. Chris asks Coach Justin why he’s never had a confidence problem, and he just shrugs as though she had just asked him why his hair is not hot pink. Chris makes mental note that her on/off confidence might simply be a decision she has to make (to turn the confidence switch to “on”).

How lucky am I? All this plus a million other things that he does (including lots of help with bike maintenance stuff!). And to think that even this morning I gave him a hard time for not looking for things very well (“Honey, where is my race belt? I can’t find them in your bag” “They’re there! Stop looking like a guy!” “I can’t find my tri-shorts” “In the drawer” “Didn’t see them” “They’re there!”). I feel bad about that. I think I need to give him a million “Find it for me without giving me a hard time” passes (Chris makes mental note of this...maybe she better write it in her PDA so she doesn't forget).

He’s an amazing guy, and I’m so fortunate.

Race Report: Degray Lake/CATS Sprint & Half-Ironman

2006-08-21T23:46:00.000-05:00

We signed up to do the “double” in Arkadelphia and were really looking forward to the weekend. Justin’s dad was coming down to do his first triathlon, too, so it was going to be a great weekend. As the weekend neared, I was becoming less and less enthused about the weather predictions – over 100 degrees with humidity. As a consolation, I suppose, the race director posted that the half-ironman run would be shortened to 6.1 miles if the heat index exceeded 111 degrees. Luckily (hear the sarcasm fall from my mouth), the heat index was only 107 for Saturday’s race, the half-ironman…

To spare you the details in case you aren’t interested, I DNF’ed. I had a reasonable swim, although I was a little disappointed to not hang onto the lead women (my split was 32:06, and the lead woman’s split was 30:59), but I caught everyone on the bike. I went back and forth changing places (we were the lead women) at least 7-8 times (it seemed like a million times) with Caroline Smith on the bike (she ended up as the first amateur woman for the day). I wasn’t feeling fantastic on the bike…nothing I could really put my finger on, but a general awareness that I was surprised that I wasn’t feeling great was creeping over me. I came in to transition with Caroline right behind me. I dropped my race belt in transition and had to run back to retrieve it, so I left T2 on Caroline’s heels. The run felt awful. I was hot, and my stomach wasn’t feeling well. I took water at the first aid station and caught up to Caroline, and we ran together for a little bit before a chick ran right between us. Caroline said, “Who was that?” and we watched the girl fly past us into the sunset. I was feeling worse and worse and finally let Caroline go – she said a few nice words and took off. The next woman, Kristi Darby, passed me not too much later. At the second aid station which didn’t come an inch too soon, I was walking and trying to cool down as much as I could, taking everything they would give me. As I began running again, cramps set in (from drinking too much freaking water!)…I ran a bit further and then decided to call it a day since I was feeling so badly. It simply wasn’t worth it to me to spend hours in the medical tent afterwards if I was not doing well with the heat. I’m not sure what went wrong, but I may have pushed too hard on the bike, may not have drank enough on the bike, or some combination that also includes that I still need to learn a lot about racing in the heat. I hitched a ride back to transition in time to hear the announcer say to all of the spectators that I had pulled out of the race (talk about feeling like a loser!). Another really competitive girl and amazing runner, Amy Simonetta, also pulled out, and I went over to talk to her. One of the highlights of the day, in fact, as she was a really classy girl – she’s had a nagging injury in her calf, and it kicked in at about mile 7. As we were talking, the announcer reannounced that we both had pulled out, and then I heard the announcer say that Justin was out walking on the course…I guess the announcer wanted to give the spectators an idea of the conditions that everyone was racing in, but it seemed like it just reinforced my feeling of being a drop-out. I spent the rest of the day cheering for Justin and other folks I knew, especially the Tri-OKC contingent that had come to the race. Justin had a good race up until a few miles into the run, and the heat started to take its toll on him. I think that he has decided that his nutrition plan had been completely inadequate. We also agreed that we’d not willingly do a half-ironman in those types of conditions anytime in the near future (maybe never).

That night, I slept like crap. I replayed the race over and over and over in my head. Next time, I better get it figured out because not finishing simply sucks. I am probably too hard on myself. Luckily, I had the sprint race on Sunday to think about, so that took my mind off of Saturday. Sunday’s race was going to be Dave’s (Justin’s dad) first triathlon – we’re so proud of him. He has done several duathlons now, but did not start swimming seriously until just a few months ago, so this was going to be his first experience with an open water, mass-start swim. I was secretly amazed that he did not seem to be fazed by the prospect, at all, and I certainly didn’t want to bring it to his attention that many people are generally freaked out by the potential washing machine action. He had a great race, though, and finished 3rd in his age-group, earning him some hardware! He was racing against 7 other guys in his age-group, so that was a great finish! My race went well. I had a good swim (I think I passed Dave at one of the turn buoys) and was out of the water right behind Caroline Smith. She left T1 a few seconds ahead of me, but I passed her quickly and settled in for a hard ride on the bike. I felt like I was flying and passed a lot of people (the guys had started a few minutes ahead in one big mass start, so I was catching slower swimmers/slower cyclists). The course was flat and fast, and it felt like a time trial for me…I am much more comfortable on these types of courses, but hopefully will be doing a lot of work in the off-season to improve my bike performance on hillier courses. I came into T2 as the first woman, and took off on the run. I was not sure how far back Caroline would be, but after how well she stuck to me on the bike, I half-expected her to be close. She might have been tired or simply not used to hammering in the flats (which is what I had done), but I ended up putting three minutes into her on the bike alone. I had a decent run (it was 3.2 miles apparently), and finished almost five minutes ahead of Caroline, who ended up as the second female overall. I was pretty happy to actually be “only” 7 and 6 minutes behind the two racing monsters in the region (Greg Rouault and Chuck Sloan) – most of the time is due to their amazing runs. Justin had a good race, too, considering that he was tired from the day before. He won his age-group easily and also had a fun time on the bike. Then, we got into the car and raced home to try to beat my sister (who’d been driving from Seattle) to the house…

2006 CATS Half-Ironman Results
2006 Degray Lake Sprint Results

Race Report: Rivercities Triathlon

2006-08-07T15:59:00.000-05:00

1/2m Swim, 18.2-mi Bike, 5k Run

What a fun race! Our friend, Norman, had said that this race was a blast, and it really lived up to our expectations. Registration opened on the first of June…and all 1400 slots were taken within 3 hours! The race boasts a fantastic goodie bag, and it was – a rolling duffle bag, running shorts, two shirts (including a groovy tie-dye shirt that fit the theme of the race: the sixties), socks, a hat, sunglasses, and a few other things. We left early morning on Saturday for Shreveport, hoping that everything would calm down a bit – our car battery died at 3pm the day before, and our friend, Marcy, had some family come into town unexpectedly, so we had to make some last minute arrangements for our dogs. The drive to Shreveport was uneventful, and we picked up our packets in the most amazingly efficient way that I have ever seen…we essentially entered a building and walked through the hallways picking up this and that…we were done in less than 5 minutes! And there were all of these people who were excited to help you with anything! It was really nice!

We hung out at the hotel until the pasta dinner, which was held at the Isle Capri (now Diamond Jacks Casino). For $10, there was a really good dinner, and lots of really good raffle prizes (next time we know to buy some extra raffle tickets!). Got back to our cheapskate motel and slept well.

We had breakfast at our old standby – IHOP – oatmeal, but we changed it up a bit and ordered a short stack of pancakes, too. We got to the race site with plenty of time to spare. A monster thunderstorm had blown through the night before, relocating swim buoys, blowing down speakers, and blowing out the fences. Apparently, it was a miracle that the race got off with only a 15 minute or so delay. Justin took off in the 3^rd or 4^th wave, while I had to wait until the 7^th wave. I got to see Clay and Norman exit the water, and I cheered them on. While I was lined up ready for my start to go, I saw Justin leave the water. I really hoped that he had had a great swim, but I never saw how many guys from his wave were ahead of him. My gun went off, and I was surprised that there were not many women around me at all. One woman took off, and I just tried to keep her in sight. I was really hoping to have a good swim to make up for my poor showing at KC, and I think I did a pretty good job of keeping focused (not letting my mind wander!). I pulled someone the whole time – I guess I should take it as a compliment that she thought I was going well enough in the correct direction, but technically, it slows you down a bit, so I kept trying to pull away from her…but she held on. Oh well. I exited as the second woman from my AG. I got to my bike and took off thinking to myself that I needed to catch that first woman, and I must have caught her early when there was a lot of congestion, because I never saw her really. With six waves of people ahead of me, I really passed a ton of people. In fact, no one ever passed me, on the bike or the run. I pushed the bike really hard and was amazed at how much faster I was going than most people – several miles per hour easily. I was able to keep my HR above 165 (my goal), so I was pretty happy about that. The bike leg was over way too quickly, and I transitioned to the run. The run went fine, although I saw a really fast woman (Melisa Christian) from Dallas who has qualified for the 2008 Olympic trials for the marathon – she is one fast runner. I panicked a little and started to feel the pain a lot more. I’m actually disappointed that I didn’t channel my adrenaline a little more to have an even better run after I saw her, but I sort of just tried to hold on (instead of kicking it up a notch). I ended up beating her by a good margin, but was disappointed in my reaction – I think I’m still learning how to embrace the discomfort on the run. Anyway, I finished well and found out that I had the top woman’s time! My splits and total time:

Swim - 13:38
T1 - 1:19
Bike - 45:23
T2 - 1:01
Run - 20:56
Total - 1:22:15

I’m quite happy with my bike split – I averaged just over 24 mph…definitely a personal best. I need to keep working on the swim and run. I really think I can do much better on the run, but I am struggling to go into that zone of pain/discomfort…I’d like to get my tri-5k down to 20 minutes. We’ll do a bunch of 5 and 10k’s this winter, so I’ll keep working on it.

My award, by the way, was a 3-foot tall lava lamp, a pair of Oakley sunglasses, and a bike shop gift certificate. A groovy day…

Rivercities 2006 Results

Buffalo belly!

2006-08-04T08:42:00.000-05:00

One of J's co-workers is heading to Australia to open an office for the company in Sydney (lucky guy!), so they had a going away party for him last night at Buffalo Wild Wings (http://www.buffalowildwings.com/index2.asp), so we were there to send him off. I ordered a chicken salad (I didn't look carefully at the menu), and I should have known when they asked what kind of sauce I wanted on the chicken to be suspicious of what I was about to get...it was a "salad" with iceberg lettuce topped with boneless buffalo wings, served right up with ranch dressing. It tasted alright - a bit heavy. Our friends, Lance and Tanya, arrived a little later, and Tanya also ordered a chicken salad, although she was asked if she wanted dressing on hers (they had just brought me ranch)...she asked for honey mustard...and they actually brought her two containers of MUSTARD! Anyhow, it was quite the odd place - bar food, really, so now we know what the restaurant is like. My point to all of this is that eventually we got home and went for a run...which started out as a tempo run...but 2.5 miles into it, I had to hurl on the side of the road. Spicy buffalo chicken stuff in my mouth and in my nose. I finished the run well behind J, who was just dancing on ahead (he was having a great run despite stopping out of courtesy for my puking). He ended up under 7-minute pace for the 6 miles, despite the stop, and although the run was agonizing for me, my time was respectable given the conditions (I'm calling it "buffalo belly") - 43 minutes and change. After finishing, I hurled some more and felt much, much, much better. I need to stop eating crap (even though it tastes good) because I always feel awful after I do.

I am boycotting buffalo chicken anything and defintely Buffalo Wild Wings...

Facing the swim again…

2006-08-02T08:45:00.000-05:00

We did a 1000 yd TT today in the pool. Both Justin and I have been feeling like our swims have slipped. They’ve not felt good, and my performance at Nationals was not at all confidence-inspiring. I’ve been probably overly-analytical with my stroke and have been tweaking little things to see how things feel different. But…we decided to face our fear of the clock showing a much slower time than what we had been doing the TT’s during the spring, and we swam 1000 yards straight through in the indoor pool…the temperature must have been mid-80’s (essentially bathwater). Justin set a PR, and I was only about 10 seconds off of my best time…averaging approximately 1:24’s per 100. I’m feeling better about things…I still want to get my swim times down quite a bit further (who wouldn’t?), but I’m not too far off of where I was!

112 miles of agony

2006-07-31T23:30:00.000-05:00

A day of superlatives: it was too hot (>100 degrees) and too windy (20-30 mph) to ride 112 miles on the bike, but we did it anyway because we apparently love to be miserable. We did not expect to need three bottles of fluid for a 23-mile stretch (the longest stretch between refueling stops), but towards the end of the ride, we were going through liquid like no tomorrow, and we all (Justin, Kris, and I) finished up our fluids (or “effectively” finished up our fluids by refusing to drink 98 degree Infinit). I almost pulled out of the ride after the first loop because I felt like crap – stomach issues mostly and general blechness, but Justin insisted that he was not going to ride without me (sucker), so I went on. It’s a tough line to figure – do you “listen to your body” and take it easy when you feel yucky, or “tough it out” and train through the “yuckiness” so that you can race through the same kind of “yuckiness”. I made a good call by continuing, though, because I felt a lot better (relatively speaking – still generally miserable) towards the end of the ride. And…I logged 112 in the worst conditions ever – because I finished that ride (actually not too terrible – 18.5 mph average, but we were riding really conservatively to not die…), I can do anything! My own little psychological warfare arsenal!

Thoughts on New Orleans...

2006-07-27T08:26:00.000-05:00

I spent a week in New Orleans just recently for a conference and had the opportunity to take a tour of the city to see how recovery efforts have progressed following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita last fall. Several of us from my museum were able to ride with a professor from the University of New Orleans (who still lives in a FEMA trailer) and hear firsthand about life before, during, and since the hurricanes. I wanted to share some pictures that my boss, Jan Caldwell, took. Unfortunately, seeing the city through photographs and television does not even come close to how the city looks in person - the enormity of the devastation simply cannot be conveyed realistically through two-dimensional media. At first, I was reluctant to go on the "hurricane tour" - it seemed too voyeuristic and exploitative to me, but many of the people at the conference from New Orleans really encouraged visitors to go see the neighborhoods for themselves. I think they feel forgotten and put out of everyone's minds. After seeing everything, I was simply at a loss as to what I could do to help the situation, but I realized that I can start by reminding the people that I know that the situation is still pretty tragic, but not necessarily without hope.

A few of my thoughts:

- Before my visit and from the standpoint of a biologist, I was appalled that the city would even consider attempting to rebuild in the flood zone. I still have many concerns about rebuilding efforts, but now I have a much better appreciation for the cultural importance of the area and its ties to the river and surrounding lands. I am not sure what the best solution will be to rebuild the city, but I do understand that many New Orleanians are doing everything they can to save their city and its culture, and I respect that.

- I am completely mortified at what little has been done to help the people. I don't feel that governments exist to give handouts, but I do feel that one of the primary functions of government is to serve the people. During and following a natural disaster, the government (local, state, and federal) should help with facilitation and coordination of rescue and recovery efforts, as well continue to be involved with rebuilding efforts. I expected the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana to be broke, from economic losses, as well as from the obvious costs involved with dealing with the disasters, and according to many locals, this appears to be the case. What I didn't expect to hear was that the primary "presence" the federal government seemed to have for the disaster was through FEMA. Many of the people who I talked with or heard discussing the hurricanes were frustrated about insurance companies (e.g., many insurance claims have yet to be paid because the "wind" or "water" dilemma, where insurance companies are trying to deny claims because certain damage scenarios are not covered, but with the hurricane, damage ensued as a result of many causes, and it is almost impossible to tease apart root causes). People are concerned about skyrocketing building costs (the Lowes parking lot was packed!) and continue to be annoyed with the hassles involved with getting FEMA trailers (subcontractors set them up for $17000-$35000...what a deal!). Based upon numerous examples and discussions I heard from local people, I now believe that many in the private sector are taking advantage of this situation to a degree that is criminal, and because of this, I feel that the government should be stepping in to help negotiate these issues.

- Finally, there are some incredibly caring individuals and organizations that have stepped up to help the people who have been affected by these disasters. They've helped tremendously, but there is too much that needs to be done to rely on the generosity of these people alone.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I wish there were a simple solution for all of the issues involved with this disaster, but there obviously is not. My thoughts in sending this email to you is to simply ask you not to forget about these people in this city and also to ask you to think to yourself what you might hope for or expect should you ever find yourself in a situation similar to what these people encountered. I think of myself as pretty independent, but there definitely are limits to what I can and cannot do by myself (e.g., getting utilities turned on, ensuring clean drinking water), and I realize that I rely on society for many things that I take for granted. Since my visit to New Orleans two weeks ago, I can honestly say that I have spent a good deal of time thinking about what I can do - surprisingly, I think there is plenty to do, from voting for a government that will serve its people well on all levels, to staying informed on issues, to participating in well-researched charitable causes...alright, I've said enough.

Race Report: USAT AG Nationals

2006-07-10T23:48:00.000-05:00

The USA Triathlon Age-Group Nationals Championship was this past weekend in Kansas City, MO, at Lake Smithville. We drove the six hours to Kansas City on Friday, arriving a bit after noon. We picked up our registration, tried to check into our hotel room (800+ triathletes apparently overwhelmed the hotel, so many rooms weren’t yet clean!), and checked out the expo before heading out to the race site to rack our bikes. Trying to get to the race site was an exercise in absolute frustration – Justin and I were absolute idiots to each other, probably because we were both ravenous and maybe a little tense…and there were two sets of race site directions, with one being completely screwed up. Of course, as we’re approaching a road that we know is one to turn onto, I kept grabbing the wrong directions. It probably wouldn’t have been so bad, but we had a friend driving behind us who likely thought we were completely stupid! We finally made it out to the race site – a beautiful venue, really. We set-up our bikes (which looked pretty nice with our new front wheels that finally arrived – we won a nice gift certificate for the TTT in late May and received the first part of our “purchase” [the wheels] the day before we left for KC!) and then left to get some dinner. We made it back to the hotel and crawled into bed…

Got up the next morning, generally ready to go. Justin and I ate oatmeal at IHOP and were at the race site with 2+ hours to spare before the race start…plenty of time to get warmed up, check and double-check transition, etc. The swim was a non-wetsuit swim and the lake was really shallow for a ways out, so we wanted to get in a decent warm-up. We did our warm-up in the water, and then got out to wait the 45 minutes for Justin’s wave (mine would follow his)…and proceeded to freeze in the process! There was a brisk wind, and with temperatures only in the 70’s, it was really cold! We were both shivering, and my jaw actually became quite sore! Eventually, though, Justin headed out to do his start – a pretty good start, I thought, considering his wave had to be the largest. The swim start was a beach start, but like a sailing start, there was definitely a favored end to start at – the far left end was significantly closer to the course, so starting at the other end would mean you would be swimming a bit further. Generally, folks noticed this, and each progressive wave would move further and further down the beach to the left. I saw Justin go off as he planned, running through the shallows and then dolphining until he could start swimming. I made my way down to my own wave and when the gun went off, thought I was off to a good start. I saw a group of women get ahead of me, but I thought I was doing alright and just focused on my stroke. My swim cap started coming off, so I had to do a quick adjustment to pull it back onto my head. As I neared the second rounding buoy, I saw a woman actually cut it, instead of going around it – how annoying…stupid girl, obviously, we have to round the damn buoys…I went around the buoy the correct way and then tried to go reel her in. As I was nearing the swim exit, I noticed my cap coming off again, so I just pulled it off and shoved it in my top. Exited the water and ran up to transition to get the bike gear on…

Earlier in the week, I practiced “flying mounts” onto the bike…okay, they’re really not too “flighty”, but it essentially means that you throw your leg over the saddle in a blind sort of way and then get going on the bike. As I ran past the bike mount line, I took a deep breath and went for it (you really can sort of miss this and end up on the ground…so I was slightly nervous), and it worked just fine! I took off on the bike and immediately felt pretty good. I was able to hold my target heart rate, and I was passing people left and right, including several women in my AG. The bike course was rolly, but the road surface was pretty good, compared to Oklahoma’s crappy roads. As the bike leg wore on, my HR started dropping below 160 and closer to 150, even though it seemed I was still trying just as hard…I just kept at it and pedaled back to the dismount line at transition. Had a mediocre transition (the back of one of my shoes folded over and I had to fix it), but watched as a woman in my AG tried to run off with her helmet on…she realized her mistake and jumped over the rack to return her helmet to her transition area. I took off right after her and was able to settle in for the run, strange enough. At each aid station, I was able to take ~6 cups of water to throw on my face…so nice and cool! I passed a few women in my AG, which was awesome! The run seemed to fly by, until there was just a half mile left…and I heard footsteps behind me. When you hear footsteps behind you, there’s quality about the kind that belong to someone in your AG because they are generally a little quieter (those people who want to pass you know that the element of surprise is a good thing), and so I took a quick look behind me…sure enough! Damn! She made her move, and I responded…by moving to the right and making it hard for her to get around me. I suppose that is probably not the way to respond, but when you’re tired and hurting and bummed that someone is challenging you during the last quarter mile of the race…you do what your instincts say to do. I might have considered tackling her to keep her from going by, but that would have taken too much energy, I think. No matter, she danced around me and finished 15 seconds ahead of me. Damn! I reached the finish line and congratulated her…and recognized her from the TTT. Andrea Myers had won the women’s overall at the TTT – a good competitor! I hope she doesn’t hold my blocking maneuver against me (she was nice at the finish and told me she had also recognized me from the TTT). I found Justin, and my wonderful husband waited a little while before he broke it to me that I was a little ways back on the finish order. Oh well, I guess…at least Justin had a killer bike split and was pleased with that! We found some of the Tri-OKC people to hear about their races, and listened to Greg and Chuck (the two very fast guys in Oklahoma) talk about the “tough course” (Greg, who was 8th OA, apparently stopped a few times on the run course for cramps…he probably went from 5:00 mile pace to 5:02 mile pace!). But you know that the racing is tough for everyone…we all just go different speeds!

Good days can be hard to “put together”, I guess. Nationals this past weekend appears to fall into that category! When I saw how bad my swim split was (25:45 – ouch, ouch, ouch) and then saw that my bike split was nothing noteworthy for me (1:10:xx), it was pretty obvious to me that it simply had not been my day. Yesterday, Justin put on his analytical hat and REALLY looked at the results. He sat me down and essentially told me that I was easily 4 minutes off of what I probably could have done, based on swims by others who we’ve raced before. How in the hell could I have had such a poor swim? I’m not sure, but I do know that it’s been a little while since I’ve felt good in the pool, probably because we have just been racing a lot…and we’re tired…and it’s hard to push hard all of the time. The lack of a wetsuit certainly didn't help either! And the bike…well, I know I’ve been stronger on the bike. We’ve missed out on some of the important long runs and rides because weekends have been full of racing. The training/racing cycle is just that – a cycle…lots of waxing and waning…peaking and recovering…and we were simply not peaking this weekend.

So, starting today (we took two days off for mental replenishment), we’re back at it. I leave for New Orleans for a work conference for a week, so I will be focusing on the run, as well as doing lots of strength, core, and swim cords.

2006 USAT AG Nationals Results

Squirrel terrorists

2006-06-30T20:19:00.000-05:00

There is a war on squirrel terrorism going on in our backyard.

I got home this afternoon and was out watering my poor drought-stricken plants when I heard an awful dog scream, and then turned around to see Jordan flying through the doggie door to one of the trees in the back yard - she'd seen a squirrel, apparently. Justin came running through the door (not the doggie door) because he thought she had been hurt (it was an awful noise). She sat at that tree for a good twenty minutes. Impressive for her (she prefers to be indoors).

Haley, on the other hand, treed a squirrel a couple of weeks ago in a crepe myrtle that is MAYBE 14 feet tall. I had to drag her inside, and it took an hour for that squirrel to feel comfortable enough to take off for safer ground. After the squirrel was gone, I let Haley back out, and she guarded that tree for hours. Dogs 0, squirrels 47. I'm not looking forward to when the dogs score.

Pseudo-Race Report: OKC-Velo Wed. TT

2006-06-29T12:34:00.000-05:00

We did the 9-mile time trial yesterday put on by OKC-Velo (part of the summer series that includes crits and a circuit race) - I like these races. My time seemed alright, I suppose - 22:42 or something like that. 5 seconds faster than the last time I did the ride, but I almost crashed twice. I decided to ride in the gutter to get off of the nasty pavement (part of the Draper Lake course is on really nice pavement, while the other part is on absolute crap), and I was humming along in pain (par for the course for a TT) when Justin caught me. He passed me like I was standing still, and I kept on a' movin', but apparently was not paying as close attention to the gutter due to the distraction...and I hit a block of cement that was probably 4-5 inches tall. I am amazed that I didn't flat immediately...that I didn't bend my wheel in...that I stayed on the bike! Then, a little further along, I must have put my front wheel into a crack because my bike swayed under me, and I had to grab it to keep from going down. Finished the race completely parched - Justin had offered to carry some water to share so that I didn't have to put my aero bottle on. He was lollygagging a half-mile away after the finish while I was desperately trying to make spit to relieve the dry mouth...I ended up 4th or something like that for the B division (these races are not split by gender or category - there is an A [fast!] division, and then a B [the rest of us] division), while Justin's stellar blast-off performance won 1st in B. He's riding quite well. I was 2 seconds away from 3rd...paying attention on the course and cutting the corners (in triathlon, you can't cut corners on the bike...it's illegal and called blocking) may well have cost me 'dem seconds.

Race Report: Ozark Valley SprOly Triathlon

2006-06-26T16:24:00.000-05:00

This is the second year that we've raced the Ozark Valley Triathlon out at Lake Wedington (west of Fayetteville, I believe), and I love this race. There is a 1000-meter (non-wetsuit) swim, a 19-mile bike on a fun, rolly course, and a 4-mile run that is done in two loops (to ensure you have to clamber up a pretty decent hill twice). The venue is absolutely beautiful - lots of trees and interesting topography. This year, as we did last year, we spent the night with J's folks in Bentonville and then drove down the morning of the race, in plenty of time (we thought). Yet, again, as we have noted in other races, people in this region are always unbelievably early to races! So, even though we were easily an hour early, everyone else seemed to have been there 2 hours early! I like to be early, so it felt like we were actually late, which is not totally ideal! We ended up with decent spots on the transition racks because the organizers had to pull out more. The one other "glitch" for the race was that there was a huge swath of gravel where the park was doing some repaving or something right at the entrance to the park, which meant for us that we would finish the main part of the bike course, dismount and run the bike on carpet over the gravel area at the park entrance, get back on the bike to the actual transition area, and then finally get off the bike to go into T2. It helps to keep your shoes on your bike for these things!

The race went just fine. I started in wave 3 (all the women), and there was plenty of room. I took it out at a moderate pace, and right away I saw two other women who were strong swimmers swim with me, and then move on ahead. We had to weave our way through the slower swimmers in the previous two waves. I exited the swim as the third woman out, but apparently passed a woman in transition. I saw Dave on the side of the road, as I was starting out on the bike, and he told me the woman ahead of me was only about 75 yards ahead. I saw her pretty quickly and recognized her (I saw her at this race last year, and at the Tulsa triathlon last year) - she's a very good swimmer. I passed her and then settled into the bike, trying to focus on keeping a heart rate in the 160-165 range. Originally, I was shooting for 165, but it was a little tough to keep it up there, perhaps because of the rolly course (downhills reduce the HR significantly!). It was fun pretending that I was slingshotting myself around the bikers I was passing who had started in previous waves (I am easily entertained)! I came into T2, had a good transition, and took off on the run. The run was easier (strike that..."less hard" is better) than I remembered from last year because there were some flat and easy downhill sections that helped move you along. The big hill was slow, but it was fun running down it! I finished, and the announcer mentioned that I had won the female overall last year, and then apparently he looked at the results and announced that I had improved my time by ~5 minutes. I was pretty pleased with that! It's so fun to improve! Justin had a really good race, too...finally a decent run for him where he wasn't breathing out of his ears (his description!). There were some other Tri-OKC'ers that came, and I think everyone placed in their age-groups (Buzz, Coop, Dez, Jerianne, Jane). We saw Chris H. and chatted with him for a while. We enjoyed the awards ceremony and definitely had fun at Lewis and Clark Outfitters using the gift certificates! The race organizers had gift certificates for overall male and females, as well as for the fastest swim/bike/run time for male and female (I won the bike and, to my surprise, the run). The plaques that they gave out were really pretty nice, too - the two we brought home look nice on our little shelves in the bike room! Anyhow, it's a good race, and if you're considering doing it, you should!

Ozark Valley Triathlon 2006 Results

Being smarter to go faster?

2006-06-23T07:57:00.000-05:00

So, we've been trying to be pretty analytical about our training, asking ourselves what we can do to go faster with the time and resources we have. Justin was telling me about one of the books he's reading (Lore of Running) - how there are three kinds of people: 1) very talented people with low motivation, 2) average people with high motivation, and 3) very talented people with high motivation. I interjected that there were also people that were not very talented at all and who had no motivation (insightful on my part, eh?), to which he responded that those people are pretty much still sitting on their couches watching television and not out racing us on the weekends. Fair enough. So, his point eventually was that the champions are made out of people in category 3, but my take home message is that I am probably in category 2 and could simply be the most motivated person ever...and maybe I might still accomplish a lot! There's a lot to be said for putting in the hours...

So anyway, we've been a bit more proactive about soliciting ideas and suggestions from people that are far smarter than we are in each of the disciplines: swimming, biking, and running...we've been talking to the local swim coach at the pool, and he's been pretty helpful looking at our swim form and suggesting some workouts. It turns out the kids we see every day are putting in between 10-12,000 yards a day, 5 days a week. Yow. And, we're meeting with a friend tonight who knows a LOT about running...our achilles tendon right now for triathlon, so hopefully that's where lots of our improvement will come from!

Cycling can blow you up...

2006-06-22T08:01:00.000-05:00

We did our first real "circuit race" yesterday at the OKC Velo Wednesday Summer Series on our road bikes. We had ridden Tuesday night with the Norman group for 36 miles at a moderate pace, but I didn't think it had been too bad. Apparently, though, I had no idea what a 12-mile circuit would be like because the whole thing flew by in a painful sort of way and then the finish was all of the sudden there, and then it was done! I think the average speed was 22 mph...which, considering that a lot of the ride was done at a fairly "normal" pace, meant that those mean accelerations must have been pretty impressive. I need to work on being a stronger climber - I am amazed at how quick the roadies are to leapfrog the hills like they didn't exist! I rode in the "B" group - I wonder how crazy those "A" riders rode that course!

I'm still not sure about doing any crits any time soon, but we'll be back for more circuit races and time trials...one of these days, maybe I can call myself a cyclist!

Race Report: Tulsa Oly Triathlon

2006-06-12T16:24:00.000-05:00

In a nutshell...things were going well until I flatted on the bike. I changed the tube, but both CO2 cannisters blew up in my face when I put the adapters on because they were not the correct size.

Lesson learned...get a threaded CO2 cannister that is the correct size.

I did enjoy getting to be a mile-15 cheerleader for the bike course. And, when the sag wagon picked me up, I thanked each and every volunteer that I saw profusely for all the help they had given (I try and thank people during a race, too, but it's a bit more difficult). People were unbelievably nice with their offers to help, but I firmly think that I needed to be able to handle my own problems, so I waved everyone on. Justin had a decent race, though, so we were both pleased with that. It was hot, hot, hot out, and we're getting better in the heat the more we deal with it! When we got home after the race at ~3pm, I went ahead and "finished" by running 6 miles (in 105 degrees). Not a wasted day, but it would have been fun to finish...oh well!

Race Report: OKC-Velo TT Series #2

2006-06-11T16:23:00.000-05:00

This time trial was the third in series that OKC-Velo put on (I did the first race in April, missed the May race due to travelling, and then did this race...the results would be based on the best combined time for two of the three races). Again, this was the 8.4 mile out and back at Lake Overholser north and west of Oklahoma City. The weather was a big improvement from the misty mess that the April race had been. There was still a crosswind, but really, when is there ever not wind in Oklahoma? My race went just fine - I pushed hard and was trying to go under 20 minutes. I ended up with 19:58, good for the best overall female time (I also beat all of the cat 4/5 guys...how nice!). I ended up winning the series with a combined time of 40:29, and hopefully, I will be getting some moolah in the mail to help support this expensive racing habit.

Race Report: Route 66 Oly Triathlon

2006-06-05T16:22:00.000-05:00

The Route 66 olympic-distance triathlon is the Oklahoma State Championship, as well as the Best of the US Amateur Triathlete Competition qualifier (what a mouthful!). Tri-OKC does a great job with race organization, and the club did well this year despite some hassles with the weather. Justin and I got up at 3:30am or something awful like that to be able to help volunteer at transition before the race (making sure people had been body-marked, had bar-end plugs, helmets, and the like). We took turns at the transition entrance while getting our own gear ready to go for the race. The forecast was supposed to be pretty mundane - warm with light winds. It ended up being warm with 20 knot winds, which, apparently almost took down the transition area while we were all out on the bike course (a gust took hold of the avalanche fencing and everything started slding along...).

The swim was wetsuit-legal, with a mass start. No major problems, except that the last jog into transition was into the fetch...it was kind of fun, but got old pretty quickly and became irritating because I ended up drinking a little more of Lake El Reno than I really wanted to. Exited the water with Daniel Agnew, who's a pretty good swimmer (I think he's still under 20) and has been training for ITU races. I got out on the bike and settled in, wondering where Amanda Stevens was up ahead of me (our local professional...and an amazing swimmer). Approaching the half-way point, I finally saw her, and she wasn't too far ahead. My legs were feeling alright, despite the TTT races from the week before, so I tried to keep pushing. There was a bit of a crosswind, though, and things just didn't feel that fast...although the road surface for this course leaves a lot to be desired, too! Got to T2, racked the bike, and switched gears for the run, and I was off to the run course...where my legs became heavier and heavier...it didn't help at all that the wind felt like a wall, and I seemed to be perpetually thirsty. It was a 2-loop course, and towards the end of the first loop, I started getting worried because I was not feeling great at all with the tired legs, and though I knew I was the first amateur woman, I wasn't sure if I would be able to hold off a strong runner. So I started taking splits on the women behind me at each turn, and luckily, even though I was running awfully, they were not getting closer. I finally reached the finish line and was really glad to be done. Justin had a bad run, too - obviously, we were still really, really, really tired from the previous weekend.

I was glad to have toughed it out, though, because I'll represent Oklahoma at the Best of the US Amateur Triathlete Competition in Minnesota in September. The thought of doing a race in cooler weather makes me giddy!

Race Report: DeSoto American TTT

2006-05-29T16:21:00.000-05:00

What a weekend! For a complete overview of the race, click here, because I can’t even begin to describe what this race is all about! It’s exhausting even to think about it, so I’m only going to talk about it in highlights. Justin and I were ranked 33^rd & 34^th(HFP Racing figures out ranks based on your USAT ranking from the previous year), and there was one other coed team that was ranked higher than us (I believe they were in the high 20’s). This was a good place for us, since we didn’t want to be the targets. We were hoping that our similar swim and run splits would be an advantage, and that we could capitalize on Justin’s strong cycling skills (and my ability to hold with him in the draft J). We had read several articles/journals from folks that did the race in the past, so we did our homework and understood that this race needed to be treated as an ironman-distance race (i.e., don’t go anywhere near crazy for the first three races…). The venue was absolutely beautiful. We were given race singlets to wear for the entire weekend with our numbers, 33 and 34, on them. Nice shirts, but mine was pink (yuck). We had a motel approximately 30 minutes away (unfortunately), but at least it was cheap!

Race 1: Prologue: 250m Swim - 5 mi Bike - 1 mi Run

This was a quick race – 20 minutes! This race would not win the weekend, so we took it pretty conservatively. All of the swims for the weekend were time-trial format, which was great! We were introduced to the first of many, many, many hills for the weekend. I was the first woman, so I was able to earn some bonus time points for us. We made sure we got our massages and headed back to the motel after dinner for some rest.

Race 1 Results

Race 2: Individual Triathlon: 1500m Swim - 24.8 mi Bike - 6.55 mi Run

We arrived early enough to pick out awesome spots in transition again and got set up pretty quickly. Justin started his race, and then I started right behind him. We ended up exiting the swim together, and of course, he took off on the bike course, never to be seen again by moi, until the run turn-around. The hills and descents on the bike course were pretty fun, but I knew what I thought was charming initially would later turn into “evil” – and sure enough, I did get tired of the hilly bike courses as the weekend wore on! The run course was actually pretty nice, off-road and in the shade, generally, but with a few hills. We were both pretty happy with our races, and after the race, we pulled out our blanket and slept/rested until the third race. I ended up being the 2^nd woman (by 3 seconds), but still earned some bonus time. Got our massages, happily!

Race 2 Results

Race 3: Team Triathlon: 24.8 mi Bike - 1500mi Swim - 6.55 mi Run

This race started on the bike, in time trial format with your teammate. We had a great ride, but we realized later that we had gone too hard (major mistake). After the bike, we were in T1 helping each other maneuver the damn wetsuits on our sweaty bodies, but we managed it well enough. We did our two laps, during the swim, I began to fully appreciate what a tough weekend it would be. My arms were definitely telling me they were getting tired. We did our two laps around the buoys and exited to start the run…and the run was where it got really hard. Justin was having difficulties, and I wasn’t feeling superb, so we kept easing off to be able to finish the race and have something left for the next day. We finally reached the finish line, and Justin laid down…he was not doing well at all. He tolerated a massage, but pretty soon was throwing up. I loaded up the car and drove down to transition to carry him off to the nice bed back at the motel. I expected him to perk up pretty soon, but he was pretty sick and only wanted to crawl in bed. I got everything ready for the next day and got into the bed with him, trying to encourage him to eat (he had not been able to keep anything down for hours). It wasn’t until after midnight that he was able to start eating. Thankfully, he was doing much better and was starting to think about the next day’s race, but I was incredibly worried because he should have been fueling up for the past six hours! He started eating slowly, but kept pushing food down every half hour or so until we had to get up…

Race 3 Results

Race 4: Team Triathlon: 1.2 mi Swim - 55.5 mi Bike - 13.1 mi Run

Justin seemed chipper enough, so we got everything together, loaded the bikes onto the car, and then proceeded to 1) back over my transition bag (which I had forgotten to actually load INTO the car, and 2) discover that the front right tire was completely flat because I hit a piece of metal in the road on the drive back from the race site the day before. Luckily, my bag and its contents were not too damaged, and we were able to change the tire quickly because we’d had plenty of practice recently trying to change our brake pads. However, we quickly discovered when we got to the race site that the race time had changed from the time we were expecting it to start – it was starting a half-hour earlier than we thought, so we essentially had 10 minutes to get set-up and pick up our chips and everything that you need to do before a half-ironman distance race! We did it, though, and I felt much better after 10 minutes into the swim. I had been so tied up worrying about how Justin would do and then dealing with the issues that we had to fix, it was almost a relief just to get racing again. We had a good swim, a decent T1 (our transitions were all pretty good), and headed out on the bike. We decided to back off on the bike a bit more than we originally had planned, and I pulled a lot more, as well. The course was two laps, and we had to pull into transition and switch our bike bottles (we stashed our own bottles), which went just fine. Despite easing off, we had a good ride. We both knew, though, that the run would be the serious obstacle to get through, so we took things very conservatively, stopping at the aid stations to get as much ice as possible to deal with the increasing temperature (and we’re told, humidity). It was such a relief to get through the first of the two-loop course. We went back and forth with another team that seemed to be dealing with issues of their own (one team member was having problems on the run). As the run wore on, we power-walked a few of the hills, but eventually we were out of the forest and could see the finish…we were comfortably ahead of the next team, so all we had to do was make it to the finish line! We did, and we were so happy…unfortunately, Justin’s stomach issues came back again, so I spent three hours talking to medics, watching him lay down on a cot, watching him throw up a bit more, trying to coax him to drink just a bit more, etc. Poor guy. He’s a trooper, and he recovered just in time to make it to the awards ceremony (once there, the pizza smelled really good to him, so he recovered even more taking little bites of pizza!). When we went up to get our award for the 1^st place co-ed team, he said some wonderful things. I am terrible about being able to think on my feet, so I’ll say the things I wish I had thought of to say here…I have the most wonderful teammate in the world – the TTT experience is analogous to what life is…many, many, many uphills with lots of technical, fun descents, a long road at times that seems to go on and on...but it’s all achievable, especially with an amazing teammate who can provide encouragement and guidance with or without words. Seeing how sick he was made me really sick with worry – what if I woke up one day without him? He’s a part of everything in life that I love. Since each day we live is one day closer to the day that we die, I need to make sure that I remind him, each day, what he means to me.

Race 4 Results

We loved the race, even with all of our issues, so we’ll be back…

Race Report: Memphis in May Oly Triathlon

2006-05-22T16:21:00.000-05:00

We raced the Saturday MTB race, and then went back to Justin’s grandparent’s house to relax and rest up for the big race the next day. I had a tough time sleeping, though. First, I couldn’t keep my mind quiet. Second, I got a call dealing with a house alarm for my bosses, who were out of town. I was not watching their house, so I had to get in touch with the person who was, at 11pm. He went out to the house, verified everything was fine, but then had to call me back after an hour because he needed the number to the alarm company…ugh. Not great preparation for a big race. I felt bad for Justin – he probably would have slept fine except for all of my restlessness and phone calls. I don’t think either of us slept well, at all.

We got up super early to get to the race site in plenty of time. I really prefer to get there early and wait around, rather than take the risk of being late. It was amazing what a transition area with ~1700 triathletes and all of their gear looks like. I hardly looked around, though, because I only wanted to focus on me and what I needed to do. I wasn’t interested in getting intimidated by all of the really fit people that I’m sure were around me. I did see Chris McCormack, though, and since he’s a bit out of my category, it was interesting to see how he sets up his transition area. I saw the local professional triathlete from OKC, Amanda Stevens, and exchanged a few supportive words with her. With the TT start, we were able to watch the pros go off – pretty interesting. After they were all off, I kissed Justin and told him to race well, so that I could go get in line for my start (my number was in the 217, while his was in the 600’s). I sat on the curb in the middle of a huge melee of people in wetsuits. I tried to ignore everyone else and just focused on what I wanted to do with my race.

When my time came, I dove off the ramp and took off, trying to be smooth and even. Justin’s sighting trick that he mentioned to me the day before worked really well (he’s pretty nice about sharing all his fun, little tricks that work well!), and I passed a lot of people on the swim. I exited the water and tried to run quickly through transition. T1 went well, although my chip caught on my wetsuit for a second. I started out on the bike course and really just got in a groove where I was completely focused on hitting my HR targets. I had no issues and enjoyed passing people J. I was conservative about getting out of my shoes with plenty of time before the dismount line (there was a small hill, and I didn’t want to be rushing to get out of the shoes as my bike sped up going downhill). I was in and out of T2 well, and early into the run, was feeling like the run was going to be really hard. But, I kept to my plan of keeping below 165 bpm for 1-1.5 miles and sure enough, I started feeling much better and stronger on the run since I didn’t go out too hard. I saw Amanda Stevens fly by me on her way to the finish and was astounded that she would use some precious energy to tell me, “Go girl!” It made me feel good, and I said something encouraging to her, too. Water was available on the course every mile, and I took the opportunity to dump as much of it as I could on my head and drink a swallow. I reached the turnaround and began to see the amateur women who seemed to me to be catching me on the run. With the TT start, you had to do math when you saw someone’s number (e.g., my number was 217…someone whose number was 234 would have started 51 seconds after me because we all started 3 seconds apart) to see how much time you “owed” them or how much they “owed” you. I think I just tried to put the panic out of my head that they might all be catching me and tried to run as well as I could. I finally made it to the berm that led to the finish line, and it was so nice to cross it! I looked at the time on my watch: 2:06:30 and could not quite believe it. I saw that the timing people were putting up results quickly, so after I cooled off for a minute in the lake, I verified that my HR monitor wasn’t messing with my mind.

How could I have taken almost 20 minutes off of my PR in a race? The swim and bike were on the short side and supposedly, the run was a bit long... The course was incredibly fast, though, and I'm sure it would have been a PR had all of the distances been measured perfectly, so I guess the training – physical and mental – pay off! I think I put together the best race I’ve ever had so far. I waited at the finish line for Justin to finally come through – he’d had a decent race, but was not as happy with his run. I kept tabs on the results, since other women who started behind me could have posted a faster time, but it continued to show me as the 3^rd overall woman, behind two pros (the first woman pro was Amanda Stevens! Go Oklahoma!). I was pretty happy, to say the least. They did the awards, and with the amateur challenge that Justin and I did by competing the day before in the mtb race, we took home some moolah and a really nice Zoot backpack. We’ll be back again!

Memphis in May 2006 Results

Race Report: Memphis in May MTB Triathlon

2006-05-21T16:20:00.000-05:00

The Memphis in May weekend extravaganza that we signed up to do included a mountain bike race on Saturday, and then an olympic-distance race on Sunday. We wanted to do both so that we could compete in the amateur challenge, where they were actually paying some money to winners 15 deep! We’ve done pretty well in off-road races, so it was a pretty easy decision.

The race went pretty well for me. The swim had two mass starts – one for the guys and one for the girls, so I only had about 50 people to deal with (the swim start is not my favorite part of the race). I think the gun took most of the women by surprise, but I took off! The swim was pretty uneventful – I passed a lot of people and felt really good. I love my new sleeveless Quintana Roo Superfull (Justin bought it for me at an unbelievable price online); it’s been one of the best buys ever for me for triathlon. I’m so comfortable in it, and my arms have a complete range of motion that my other full-sleeve wetsuit really didn’t give me. The bike started well enough. The route was over fields and then moved into a singletrack area. I passed several guys early in the open field area (marked by these little flags…it was pretty hilarious). When I entered the single-track area, I was impressed because it was more technical than I was expecting. There were a few decent-sized logs, pretty twisty areas that were surprisingly narrow, and a huge mound of kudzu that seemed to grab at my chain ring as I rode over it! There was also a ravine, were I had to dismount and carry the bike across. A super nice volunteer pulled my bike up the other side…so nice, since it was pretty steep and my bike shoes generally aren’t optimal for hiking up enormous hills. About half-way through the ride, my damn saddle began to slip on the seat post, so that it was inching skyward…unbelievably annoying to try and sit on a saddle that is pointing north. And, I looked like a dork. It was a good exercise for me to try and be tough about the situation and just deal with it so that it wasn’t a race-breaker. I got back to transition, funky seat position and all, and took off on the run, which was a 3-mile loop through the field and into a few areas of singletrack. I put my foot into a hole and freaked out about injuring myself with the road race the next day and the TTT the following week (we have a lot invested in these two weeks!). I was a bit disappointed that there was only one waterstop, but managed to finish fine, although I felt more tired and hot than I expected. I was the first woman by ~10 minutes, so I was pleased with the results. I think I was 13^th overall, and since Justin and I assumed that they would be awarding the amateur challenge awards to the top 15 (not the top 15 men and top 15 women which is what they ended up doing), I was pleased to be in the top 15. Justin did great with an 8^th overall and an age-group win. I think we both did a good job of racing pretty conservatively in light of the following day’s race and next weekend’s TTT. We really enjoyed the post race barbecue!

Memphis in May 2006 MTB Results

Race Report: Lazy E Duathlon

2006-05-15T16:19:00.000-05:00

The triathlon club that we belong to here in the Oklahoma City area, Tri-OKC, does a fantastic job of putting on duathlons and triathlons. This race is a formula 1 duathlon, meaning that you end up doing: 2 mile run-10 mile bike-2 mile run-10 mile bike-2 mile run. Lots of transitions! Justin and I like transitions...we're not too bad at them. The race went just fine for me. It was pretty fun, though, because the really nice guy who I bought my new tri-bike (a Cervelo dual) from, Steve S., is an amazing cyclist and has just become a bit more interested in duathlon...so he's started running. Well, I completely expected to have him go blowing by me on the first bike leg, and he did...he's so fast! However, I caught him on the second run, setting him up perfectly to come screaming by me again on the second bike. However, I caught him again on the last run. He's such a nice guy, though...each time we passed, we said "hey" or "good job." I started looking forward to seeing him each leg!

The race went fine for me. I wanted to just have a decent showing, and I ended up winning the overall for females. I may actually get a decent ranking in the region for duathlon (not my cup of tea, generally), as this was a Grand Prix event and was worth 105 points (instead of just 100). Justin had a pretty good race...he looked like he was about to barf a lung when I saw him on the last loop of the last run. He's such a good competitor and pushes himself really hard.

Lazy E Duathlon 2006 Results

Race Report: Tribbey Time-Trial

2006-05-07T16:10:00.000-05:00

Such a dreary day to be trying to push as hard as you can on the bike for 26 miles...but we did anyway. Tribbey is a tiny town east of us, and we took the scenic, circuitious route (not Highway 9) to the race. Perhaps 25 cyclists showed up, and I was one of two women. The course was pretty fun, in a nasty sort of way - many, many, many hills. Central Oklahoma has plenty of hills, by the way, in case you were thinking of Oklahoma as an extension of Kansas...it definitely is its own topographical identity. I pushed hard, tried to pass people, tried to avoid getting passed (but was unsuccessful - Steve S. from the bike store came roaring by, as did one of the top riders in the area...there were not many people who started behind me, though). Final time 1:13:09 for 26.2 miles or so. Good effort, I suppose. I was the first female, and Justin won the overall for the cat 4/5 guys. We both took home some cash, which is always fun!

Race Report: OKC Half-Marathon

2006-04-30T15:42:00.000-05:00

I set a PR for an open half-marathon, and it wasn't too bad! The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon and Half-Marathon are organized and run very well, so I would encourage anyone who is considering the race to do it. We did the marathon last year (ugh...such a long time to be doing the same thing...that's why I like triathlon!), but this year decided to do just the half. My game plan was pretty much to go fairly conservative for the first half, and then start stepping it up for the second half. I ended up running next to the woman who ended up winning the race for several miles early into the race, and actually hit the half-way point 10 or so seconds behind Justin. She obviously paces herself really well, considering that she did an impressive negative split. Eventually, though, I could not keep her pace, and then continued to run by myself to the end. I was definitely getting more and more tired, but was pretty pleased with my finish: 1:31:50. Next try will be to get below 1:30...

Oklahoma City Memorial Half-Marathon 2006 Results

Race Report: OKC-Velo TT Series #1

2006-04-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

I showed up to do a quick 8 mile time trial with the cyclists, expecting that these types of races will help me ride better and also to learn what pushing on the bike really feels like! Justin, Norman, and I showed up to one of the Wednesday night OKC-Velo time trials earlier in the month, and we did well - 1-Justin, 2-Norman, and 3-me, although they did not have the results correct at first (and I never noticed that they fixed them on the website, but they did give us the money...so I assume that reflects the correct placing?!). It was pretty cool, for Oklahoma, and a bit wet on the roadways. There was a bit of a crosswind, but generally, I've learned to deal with the wind pretty well after riding in it so much down in the Arbuckles this winter. The race went fine for me - 20:31 for the 8.4 miles (out and back). I don't think time-trialing is a priority for the women who cycle in this area, as my time was the fastest overall woman's time. However, I'm absolutely confident that they will kick my ass in the road races that I'll eventually show up for!

Race Report: Redbud Classic 50-miler & 10k

2006-04-10T15:14:00.000-05:00

During the second weekend in April, Oklahoma City has the “Redbud Classic,” which appears to be a bunch of fun, active things to get people outside and enjoying spring. We participated last year in the 50-mile bike ride, and this year, we did that bike ride again, in addition to a 10k run the following day. It’s quite the deal – 2 events for $30! The one annoyance was that they ran out of smaller size shirts, and we both had to settle for an XL. Why do race organizers think that the main demographic who participates in running and cycling events wears an extra large shirt? We did not register at the last minute, either…if you are a race director, please set out the shirts in the sizes requested for the people who register early! Luckily, the shirts were not preshrunk, so I was able to shrink them up a bit. Good thing – I really liked the shirt design (they do a very nice job!). Saturday’s bike ride was fun. We lined up at the front for our event (there were some USCF events ahead of us) and ended up being in the newspaper! Justin had told me to just stay with him when the gun went off, but when it did, Justin took off like a bat out of hell! I did not think it was prudent to be red-lining so soon, so I let him go off into the sunrise and settled into a smaller group of riders that included our friend, Norman, who we ride with quite a bit. He saw me and asked me where Justin was…and when I told him that he was the guy that took off at the start, Norman said, “Let’s go get him!” I held on for a while, but was shot off the back eventually and got to ride on my own for a while (happily, I might add). I took turns pulling with two different roadies, but eventually a bigger pack caught up, and I almost finished with them. I dropped my chain in the last 1000 feet going up a small hill and had to fix it! I ended up being the second woman to finish, but that doesn’t mean anything since it was a ride, not a race…Justin managed to hold everyone off except for Norman, who eventually caught him. They rode together for a while, but Norman (the überbiker!) pulled ahead, so they went 1-2. I think they had a good time!

Redbud Classic 50-Mile Ride 2006 Results

On Sunday, we did the 10k. The day was a bit warmer than expected, and the run times seemed really, really slow. Not a great run for either of us. This fall, after triathlon season is over, I am going to try and work towards a 40-minute 10k…but I have a little ways to go.

Redbud Classic 10k 2006 Results

Gearing up for epic camp!

2006-03-30T07:22:00.000-06:00

Triathlon season is just around the corner, and Justin and I have a rather ambitious (hopefully not too stupid) season planned. Our early "A" priority race is the Desoto American TTT, a three-day event with a super sprint, 2 olympics, and a 1/2 IM distance race. For two of the races, we'll get to race as a team and draft on the bike. The weekend prior to this race, we'll be racing Memphis in May (both the mtb and the olympic road races)...hopefully, this will not be too poor a decision. Then, in June, there are olympic distance races almost every weekend (welcome to triathlon season in Oklahoma). In July, we might consider heading to Kansas City for age-group nationals, and then do a 1/2 IM and sprint race over a weekend in Arkansas for August. September has Justin thinking he might go for a full IM and see what it's like...I'm not yet convinced.

In preparation for the season, we're meeting some friends this weekend for a crazy training "camp," based on Gordo Byrne's epic training camps. We'll bike 100 miles on Saturday after running for an hour (~7 miles or so), and then wind down the day with an hour in the pool. On Sunday, we get up and do it all again. I'm excited to swim with some really good swimmers (although our swims have been really improving with the volume we've been putting in). The bike work will be really good for us, too, but we have been getting in long rides pretty consistently for the past month and a half or so - we can tell that they've been greatly improving our endurance and climbing/descending skills (since we ride through some of the few mountains Oklahoma has to offer).

I'm very optimistic about the coming season. I think I've struggled to put races together, not so much because I wasn't in shape, but because mentally, I wasn't at the top of my game. I'm making a concerted effort to read up on the mental side of training/racing/triathlon, and I think it will really help me do my best with the sport. I'm excited about the prospects! Training has gone really well; I just got out of the pool after a short workout, but my times have really decreased...I just did 3 x 100's in ~1:10, which I was pretty pleased with! I'll keep at it with the bike, run, mental training, and learning about nutrition, and then...I think I might be able to put together my best season so far!

2006-03-22T07:10:00.000-06:00

I'm feeling a little contemplative today, maybe because it's my birthday. I wonder if I've been good at seizing each moment and living life to the fullest...all that. I think I've done pretty well - I can make a list of some really cool things I've been fortunate enough to do:

Work in a natural history museum
Lived in a foreign country (Iceland)

I was profiled as an American kid on Icelandic television!

Sailed up and down the west coast of the US and Mexico in my sailboat

Saw a humpback whale breach less than 500 feet from my boat!
Weathered some pretty impressive storms with freaking big waves

Expanded my "horizons" by living all over the US - I've seen sunrises emerging from the Atlantic and sunsets retreating into the Pacific
Held wild birds in my hand (mist-netted for a MAPS assessment)
Experienced one of the world's global hotspots for diversity looking for salamanders in the southern Appalachain mountains
Qualified for the Boston marathon
Been somewhat competitive as an age-group triathlete

I should probably keep adding to that list to remind myself how great life is. I have family members and friends that struggle with health and other issues. I realize that life is dictated by random events, at times, but also careful planning and decisions. I have been fortunate with some things, such as my health, but have also made conscious decisions that have helped me end up where I am today. Not all decisions have been "sound" in all ways, of course...I wish I had no student loans, but I am incredibly happy with the career I am in (compared to where I was before I went back for another degree and graduate school). All those what if's and ponderings of what might have been if I had done something different! Everything is a compromise, I suppose - it all comes back to our attitude (echoes of my mom...brilliant woman).

Day 1 of the rest of my life...

2006-03-20T10:06:00.000-06:00

Thought I would start a blog today - so I did. I've never been great at writing in a journal, but have heard that it's a useful exercise for getting to know yourself. I think I know myself fairly well, but maybe there's still lots to be learned.

Who am I?

An age-group triathlete

A museum professional who works in herpetology (I suppose I could call myself a herpetologist, but people associate the word too much with Steve Irwin, and that makes me cringe)

An environmentalist who is getting more and more pessimistic about the state of the world

There are a number of important people in my life who will likely make appearances in my blogs, if I can manage to remember keep these exercises up.

Who are they?

Justin - the simply brilliant (he just about aced the damn GRE's), sometimes illogical ("I don't like the word 'asparagus'), and generally amazing guy who's been on lots of life's adventures with me in the last 10 years

Jordan - the hound dog who followed Justin back to our campground in Tennessee and showed us that without her, our lives would be empty

Haley - the red heeler dog who we adopted when we thought Jordan needed a friend (in hindsight, Jordan probably didn't 'need' a friend, but she's got one now); she has also demonstrated how she fills life's holes

Those are the main players, but there are many others who I might formally introduce, or maybe not. It's my call.