4th of July

I got up at 4 a.m. this morning. By 4:30 I had my bike and gear loaded and headed up to Scottsdale for my race. I spilled hot green tea in my lap while I was driving... but lucky for me I was already wearing my tri-shorts so it soaked the spill right up! :)

It was a good race, 500 yard swim, 12 mile bike, and a 2 mile run. I felt good for the entire race, except for the run. But the time I started my run it was getting hotter, and I'd already been working out for an hour. I don't know my results as they were posted yet when I left the race. Based on how my body felt, I'd say I might have a new PR. On verra.

There was a youth category before the adult races started and I enjoyed watching them get through transition. They all did great. One little boy forgot to take off his helmet, so I stood there yelling "Helmet! Helmet!" from the sidelines until he pulled it off and ran back to leave it at his transition spot. Adorable group of young athletes. One girl was fund raising for Prostate Cancer research as she lost her father to cancer a couple of years ago. Here's the link for TeamWinter.

Summer mornings in AZ

It's so hot in the summer that most people start their rides by 5 a.m. I didn't get on the road until 7 a.m. but will still rewarded with temperatures in the mid-90's and no traffic on the streets. Once I got closer to the mountains saw a bit of the city wildlife. A flock of quail ran across the road in front of me, and some other birds were flying from cactus to cactus. What a beautiful morning.

Next up...

The Firecraker Tri on the 4th of July. There are races every weekend all summer long, it makes choosing difficult! I chose this one because it is local and I won't have to spend too much money. I'm currently planning on two races for the fall at the end of the triathlon season, but that's when the weather is the best in AZ.

Bartlett Lake Tri

I haven't written about my tri training in awhile. I did finish the Bartlett Lake Tri (March 21, 2010) but I was incredibly slow. I finished a full hour after the fastest woman in my age group. I was totally unprepared for the hill work on the bike ride and that's where I picked up an extra 45 minutes of time overall. It was about 8 miles, straight up. I was in granny gear the entire ride. Don't get me wrong, the down hill was thrilling. I was going downhill at 30-35 mph, and there were riders passing me.

My grandfather died a couple of days before the race and my heart just wasn't in it. There was nothing inside of me that wanted to compete, but I had committed to this race with a handful of friends and I didn't want to let them down. I'm considering another attempt at this race in 2011, I want to finish with a better time but as of right now, the sights on this course still make me think of my grandfather and how I felt right after his death. It might be cathartic to do it again, I'm not sure.

T-shirts

I found this at the expo for the Lost Dutchman 8k that I ran on Valentine's Day with my girlfriend. Love it, but I wear pants with mine!

Swim Clinic

Today I drove 40 minutes to DC Ranch Village health club to attend a swim clinic hosted by Tri for the Cure. I'm not registered for their race, but heard about the clinic through Triple Sports. Since the clinic was free, I figured it would be worth the drive. And it was! Sean, the swim coach who took the group who considered themselves beginners was great. He talked about body placement in the water to reduce drag, head placement and rotation, playing "catch-up" with your arms, and breathing. It was a really great clinic because after an out of the water explanation of everything, we got in the pool and practiced everything with corrections from the coaches that were there.

The only thing that sucked was the weather today... barely 60 degrees, and we were in an outdoor pool. It actually rained while we were swimming, thick clouds, and no sun at all. I was freezing cold but I'm glad to have had the practice. It wasn't my only rain-training this weekend... we got rained on during our group hill training yesterday in Paradise Valley. It started to rain at the end of the run, we still transitioned and took the bikes out but had to cut it short because none of us had rain gear on. It was just too cold.

One thing I did learn is that I never want to do a tri in a swimming pool. It snakes through the lanes and people get crowded together, not much room to pass, etc. It sucked. I'll take a lake over that any day.

Still training, just not posting...

I'm still training for the tri in March. Mostly cross-training at this point, with boot camp 3 days per week, swimming 2 days per week, and cycling 1 day per week. I haven't been running much at all which will make for an exciting 8k on Sunday! I hope I can finish with a time that I don't have to be ashamed of!

I found a swim clinic for next weekend, the 21st and it's FREE!

A quote that caught my attention

"A lot of people run a race to see who's the fastest. I run to see who has the most guts." -Steve Prefontaine

Found it...

...my new training goal. The Lost Dutchman 8k trail run on Feb.14, 2010. I've planned out a 6 week schedule to get myself across the finish line. Six weeks seems like a long time to prepare for a 5 mile run, but you forget that I'm not a runner. I'm one of those non-jock types that cannot seem to push myself past the burn. But I'm not giving up! This is my next goal. I've worked two days a week into my schedule to allow for swim and bike training so I can keep working towards the next sprint-tri in March.

Mondays = stretching & strength training
Tuesdays = run
Wednesdays = cross-train (bike or swim)
Thursdays = short run & strength training
Fridays = rest
Saturdays = cross-train (bike or swim)
Sundays = long run

Christmas Break

I'm still on Christmas break from school, and for the past week I've been on break from working out as well. I read somewhere that you can start to lose your cardiac capacity in 7-10 consecutive days of not working out. I've reached that number and am now thinking about new goals for 2010 to keep me moving.

I know that I want to do another Sprint Tri, I'm looking at two possible races in March. One is in Lake Havasu and supposedly has a killer bike ride, even in the Sprint category. The other race (on the same day I think) is just south of Havasu, near to where my first race was. I haven't read up on it yet but a fellow boot camper was telling me about it a couple of weeks ago. If I only had a bike! For some reason Santa didn't bring me one. :(

I know that in April, De wants us to run in Pat's Run for the Pat Tillman foundation. It's a good cause and it seems to be very well organized. The finish line for the race is the 42-yard line inside of the ASU football stadium. I hope they play the Rocky theme song for that!

May brings a Sprint Tri to Tempe, just down the road really. I would like to compete in this race but everyone says there are dead bodies in Tempe Town Lake. I'm not sure, but I'm not a strong swimmer. I have a tendency to swallow water, and I don't feel like drinking dead-body soup.

Luminaria 5k

We're going to do the luminaria run in Cave Creek, AZ on December 5th. I'm really looking forward to it for a couple of reasons. First of all, I've always wanted to see the luminaria display at the Desert Botanical Gardens, and never have. And secondly, it's the evening before our one-year anniversary. It will be nice to do this as a couple. A perfect example of who we are together.

The race ends with bowls of chili and Indian fry bread. Then Cave Creek lights up their Christmas tree in front of the crowd of finishers. Should be a great Christmas-y night, even without snow.

Next race?

I definitely want to do this again. It was a great experience, and I love that there are three different events. Just when your shoulders burn and you think you can't swim anymore it's time to start the bike ride. And just as your ass gets tired of the saddle, you're back in the transition area getting ready for a run. My original plan was to train for the PF Chang's Rock n' Roll marathon in January (the half-marathon category) but after having completed this sprint-tri, I'd really rather do another one or two of these races. Also, I don't seem to have the time to get in as much running as I need for the half-marathon.

I'm still undecided, but I think the Sprint Tri in Havasu, AZ will be my next race. Their website is horrible, but here are the details. Here's an idea.... if you do web-design, why not trade your work for your entry fees plus hotel room for the race? Most of these race sites are horrible!

UBBC Newsletter

Here's what Richelle had to say about the race. I have to agree, I would have never been able to stay on track with my goal without the support of the people around me. Thanks to everyone at UBBC!

Thank-you UBBC.

I am so grateful to Richelle Melde at UBBC for pushing us all to our potential with this race. She believed in me when I didn't believe in myself, and I never would have done this race without her encouragement. Teena, Laura S. and Kim were great training partners, they went through all of this with me. The hard work, the fear of failure, and the sweet taste of success. We did it! Our first sprint triathlon! :)

A strong finish.

Bike to run transition

I've heard this is a difficult transition to make, but it went smoothly for me. Maybe because I competed in the sprint category and the bike ride was only 10 miles. That's not far at all. Also, I didn't need to change shoes/socks at this transition because I don't have a bike with clip-in pedals.

The Swim

This was the most difficult part of the race. One, it was cold water. Two, it was open water. The swim was just north of the dam in Parker, AZ so we had to deal with the current in the river. The long-distance swimmers had the advantage of swimming downstream, however the sprint-distance swimmers (my group) had to go across the river and back. Towards the end of the 600 meters I had definitely drifted further downstream than I needed to be and had to swim hard to get back on track.

Exhaustion, and elation.

Body Marking

First group photo of the day. We had just set up our bikes in the transition area, and then answered the loudspeaker call to get our "body marking" done before the swim starts. It was an exciting moment... the realization that we were really going to race.

My name in lights.

They finally changed it from Linda to Laura.

Wetsuits

Today after school I met the boot-camp girls at Tribe to get fitted for our wetsuits. We all took sleeveless ('cept for the other Laura) and we had a lot of fun in the shop trying to get in and out of them. It is especially difficult to get the crotch in the "just right" spot before pulling the rest of the suit on.

After we all had the right fit on our tri-suits and wet suits, we walked next door (yes in the wetsuits... we looked like robbers!) to 24-hour fitness to do a transition clinic. We swam for 20 minutes, then ran to our transition area to put on our running shoes, then ran through the gym to the stationary bikes. Once on the bikes Richelle put us through some hill training, when we finished we ran through the gym to hit the treadmills upstairs. We were the only people running in the gym, and we were wearing wet tri-suits so there was a lot of stares. I felt like a bit of a stud. I actually felt proud of what I was doing. Good feeling.

Three days till the race....