Yesterday was the Chicago Triathlon, my first olympic distance tri. Brother Tom did this race last year and I flew out to cheer him on. The high that day was 69 degrees. When I got up at 3:45am Sunday morning to check my bike in to transition, it was already 71 degrees.
Also, yes, I got up at 3:45am.
Both Tom and I raced this year, and we had late start times. His was just past 9:30 and mine was at 9:45. This means it was quite hot by the time we started. Coming out of the water felt ok, as did the first half of the bike, but I was not feeling happy in the second half. I felt sick, and the fitting I recently had done to my bike didn’t help. It makes my shoulders and arms tire very quickly. While that’s easily fixable, it isn’t fixable during the race. I was sore, pissed off, and felt awful. I started getting some cramps and was 90% sure I was going to actually throw up around mile 20 of the bike. I could not wait to get off the damn bike.
Then I was supposed to run a 10K. By this time it was in the mid-90s and I’m told the heat index was 101. It was the hottest day of the year in Chicago. Leaving transition, I did not feel good at all. I couldn’t really run. I was wobbly and still on the verge of throwing up or passing out. I ended up walking the whole first mile. Under normal circumstances, this would be embarrassing. However, only 2 or 3 people passed me. Just past mile 1 I started running and I was one of the only people out there running. *Everyone* was walking, and these were not back-of-the-pack people. This was everyone who started in the later waves. The sun is brutal on the lakefront path, so there were a lot of really miserable people plugging along Sunday afternoon.
It was a slow race for me, and I’ve got to say that it was not fun. However, I finished and given the number of people I saw carted away from the bike and run course, that is actually something. The race was well organized for me, though I would really appreciate a Saturday transition checkin like they had at the DC Tri, rather than a 4am-5:30am checkin (especially when your wave doesn’t start until 4 hours later). I chatted with a lot of other people as we were clearing out of transition, and they assure me that it’s not that Olympic triathlons are really this bad (nor would I believe a few extra miles on the bike would make me feel THAT bad).
My next Olympic distance race is the Nation’s Triathlon in 2 weeks. I’m hoping the familiar turf (it’s the same course as the DC Tri) and hopefully cooler weather will make for a much better race.
This weekend I undertook the dramatic Splash ‘n’ Dash - a 300m pool swim and 5K run. It was quite fun, actually.
We were asked to guess our swim time, and we started from fastest to slowest. I was very honest, even conservative, but was slated 34th overall. That worried me, but turned out to be pretty accurate. I ended up finishing 34th out of 80 for the whole race.
The swim was fine. The run was very good given my recent performances. I felt like I was flying, though I was really doing about a 10:30 mile. Compared to other races, though, that is quite fast. It was also very hilly, so really, it’s not a bad time for me.
Better yet, I had no discomfort at all. This gives me hope for improvement over the next few months.
My motivation has bottomed out this week. It’s been a tough week, for sure, but it is Friday and the only training I have managed this week is a 3 mile run yesterday. I planned to take a day or two off after Sunday’s half marathon, but Wednesday rolled around and I stayed in the house. Today I was hoping to take a long ride, but now it’s approaching 4pm and I really would rather take a nap. I am still going to try to get myself out on the bike after dinner, but I’m not making any promises.
I hate when this happens. I seem to have a phase like this around this time every summer, and again once the depths of winter have set in. Unfortunately, this would have been the best week to really ramp up my training. My first olympic tri is a week from Sunday. Furthermore, I’m signed up for three of them, each 2 weeks apart.
At least I’m signed up for the grueling Splash ‘n’ Dash on Sunday (300m pool swim, 5K run). That will get two spots on my training log!
Last year, I ran the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago half marathon. It was not a great experience because I was circling the drain toward IT band surgery. I had to stop a few times to try to stretch it out, and it hurt.
Today, I ran the race again. It was my first half marathon since Rock ‘n’ Roll New Orleans in February, and my longest run since surgery. I was worried. Granted, I had done the 11 mile run, but I didn’t want anything to go too wrong. I didn’t kid myself that this would be one of those glorious runs where I thank the universe that I am alive to experience something so perfect, but I hoped it wouldn’t hurt too much.
And it didn’t hurt too much. In fact, the areas I’ve had difficulty - the surgery site, my IT band, and the knob of my fibula - were pretty much fine. My body is not used to this distance anymore, so I have soreness in lots of other places, but not there. I can feel quite a bit on my hip on the left side (as was so common before I hit the foam roller last fall), but overall, it went pretty well considering.
I was *extremely* slow, however. I anticipated this and did not intend to do a damn thing about it. As I say over and over, I have only worked on distance, not speed. My average half marathon time is around 2:30. Occasionally I’m faster, and occasionally a bit slower, but it’s always around that. Today I was just under 3 hours at 2:57:something. This put me about 2 minutes slower per mile than usual, and that’s waht I’ve seen in my triathlon runs as well .
Overall, I am pleased but I’m not going anywhere near this distance until mid-September. I need more time to heal and it’s not good for me to be at this distance yet. I need more time to work up to it. I have the energy to do it, but my body is not used to those miles anymore and, while that makes me sad, there’s no good in pretending it’s ok.
We will see how I feel later this week, but I may work on pushing the speed a bit so I get back to my more typical slow pace.
Issues aside, it was an *excellent* weekend. I got to see Brother Tom and spend all day Sunday with MOM!!!!
This week, I increased my long run to 11 miles. I went out on Thursday. It was hot, again, but I tolerated it much better than last time. The run itself was ok. I had a bit more discomfort than usual, and I was pretty sore the next day. I obviously have lost a lot of my physical tolerance for the long runs. Other than the doomed Mardi Gras half marathon, this is the longest I have gone since the Chicago Marathon back in October. I’m still encouraged and I hope after a couple easy weeks and some time to heal more, I will be feeling good in Chicago.
I don’t know if that run or something else tired me out, but I was kind of drained the rest of the week. I took Friday off and did a normal ride yesterday. Today, I decided to do a longer 25 mile ride. Nothing daunting, but something that takes more time than I can usually devote on a weekday. I didn’t really feel like going, but I headed out anyway. The first half of my ride was in the DC part of Rock Creek Park. It was alright, but that’s not my favorite place to ride. Coming out, I got a little wobbly on some gravel. At the intersection after that, I stopped but my wheels were on some sandy gravel so the bike slipped and I fell over. That’s a stupid humiliating thing to happen. My chain came off which was to doom me later.
I got back going and headed out on my normal route. At the furthest intersection from my house, 17.5 miles into my ride, I stopped again. The chain slipped yet again. I pulled the bike over to get it back on and, when I was doing that, the bike slid a bit. It didn’t hit the ground, but the stem on the back wheel hit something (a rock maybe). It snapped right off and all the air went out of my tire.
This is like my biggest fear. I was 5.5 miles from home, I did not know how to change a tire, and I did not have the equipment to change it. Fortunately, a nice person stopped and checked on me. I asked her for a pump and she told me she had one in her car just a bit ahead. I carried my bike over and, though she couldn’t find her pump, she did help me change it. A spare tube came with my Trek 1.2 and I’ve carried it with me. After fixing that, she gave me a ride home.
So, even though my 25 mile ride was cut short, I learned to change a tire. I also went to my bike store to buy another tube, a CO2 kit for refilling it, and a lever to help get the tire off. Now I’m fully prepared for whenever this might happen again.
In fact, I got TWO CO2 canisters because I watched Chrissie Wellington get a flat in the Ironman World Championships and then blow her CO2 canister. She had to spend minutes waiting for another one (passed to her by a teammate). I don’t want that to happen to me!
Cycling is an expensive sport! I’m happy that I love it so much, that it’s fun, and that I’m decent at it. However, it’s not like running where a splurge involves a new pair of shorts. There’s a lot of stuff I want and it will take a lot of saving!
Bike Lust
I have a beautiful wonderful road bike. It is good in race, perfect for training and group rides (if I ever go that way). But I’d like an equivalent tri bike. Not just any tri bike - one to match the beauty of my road bike. And only one tri bike fits the bill: the Cervelo P3C. It is the most popular and most winningest tri bike. It costs about the same as my Trek 5.2 would have cost retail. It’s carbon with beautiful components. It’s also pricey. I’m saving. It will take about a year, but I’ll get there eventually.
Wheel Envy
I have a thing for wheels. Man do I want a good set of wheels. But I could get a bike for the price of good wheels. There are a lot of options, but I would probably do a Zipp 606 wheelset - a 404 in the front and 808 in the rear.
Training Aspirations
I have a great set of rollers for indoor training now. I’d really also love a CompuTrainer. This has hardware that controls the load on your rear wheel. It connects to a computer that monitors your output and controls the climbs and other features. I know it would be a big help in winter training, but it also costs as much as a bike (around $1500).
On Wednesday night, I debated going out for a ride. Tuesday had been an off day, but I had an 11 mile run planned for Thursday morning. I decided I needed to go, so I headed out after dinner. I rode my usual route in Rock Creek Park. On my last few miles, I did one of the big hills (the one that humiliated me last fall), and was speeding back down toward home. Literally speeding. I was apparently doing about 34 but the speed limit is only 25.
A cop pulled out of a side street, turned onto the street I was on, flipped on the lights and siren and, as I braked and pulled to the side, she pulled with me. I GOT PULLED OVER!!!! She was not too happy with me. Apparently, people have been complaining a lot about cyclists in the area lately and I seemed to be a problem child. I didn’t have my ID on me, but she took my info and ran me through the computer and everything. Here I am, standing on the side of the road with my little white bike and behind me is this big cop cruiser, lights flashing. It was weird. I was actually hoping someone would stop and take a picture.
Fortunately, she let me off with a warning, sparing me the $90 fine. One of my Facebook friends said I should have just asked for the ticket so I could have framed it
After two seriously fun times in my first two triathlons, I was excited to sign up for the Philadelphia Women’s Triathlon this weekend. I have done the Philadelphia Distance Run (a half marathon) a bunch of times and I like it quite a bit.
So Pi and K and I drove up to Philly yesterday. First stop was at packet pickup, which was outside at the race site. That was the first problem. They had us park about half a mile away along poorly traveled streets, and those of us who had our bikes on racks in the car were not happy about having to leave them so far away and unattended.
Now, this race claims it is one of the top 100 races in the world, and one of the top 5 women’s races. That is a crock. You could tell just from packet pickup that it was going to suck. There were the usual number of lines broken down by number. The setup was reasonable. The pace was not. I must have waited 40 minutes behind only a dozen people to get my stuff. I have no idea what was taking them so long, but everyone in line was grumbling about the ridiculously slow pace of things.
After finally getting out of there, we headed to the hotel. While checking in, I met another woman who recognized us from the packet pickup. She asked if I had heard that they were going to cancel the swim. I had most certainly NOT heard and I didn’t even know such things happened. The water quality in the Schuylkill River was so bad that we weren’t going to be allowed to swim in it. Instead, we’d be forced to do the duathlon. She said that this was the second year in a row that the swim would be canceled.
I would not sign up for a duathlon 15 minutes from my house, let alone dedicate a whole weekend to doing one. Even though I am a slow swimmer, I want to do the swim. If there was a real possibility of this happening, we should have been told.
So now I’m stuck doing a duathlon. It’s a 1.9 mile run, 17 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run.
I get there this morning, rack my bike, set everything up, and start. On the first run I experienced their off-brand sports drink (HEED, maybe?). It was this nasty, clear, banana-flavored crap. I hate bananas, first of all, and second of all, who likes banana-flavored sports drink? That’s not a big seller in the stores.
I get to transition 1 and one of the girls on either side of me had knocked my bike fully off the rack. My stuff was all over the place, the bike was haphazardly put back, most of the gatorade had spilled (a lot of it onto the bike, making the brakes squeeky when applied). I had to refill (it was 90 - definitely needed drinks) and get it out. When I get to mounting, they pointed out I did not have my helmet on. That’s because my helmet is supposed to be sitting right on my bike in transition so I have it at hand and don’t forget. I would have noticed once I started riding, but you don’t have a feel for it missing if you’re just walking/running your bike over to the start. Plus, I hadn’t even noticed it missing because it wasn’t there to be put on. That meant I had to run back to transition, find my helmet (which was sitting a full row over from where my bike was racked), and run back. I lost about 2-2.5 minutes doing this and it turned my existing irritation into some real anger.
I will note that my actual bike speed was 19.1mph - very good. However, those 2-2.5 minutes cost me about 60 places in the bike rankings. I would have easily finished in the top 20% but instead was down around 27%. The bike is the only place I care about my placing, and I push hardest there for it, so this was really disappointing.
With the exception of the banana drink, the second run was uneventful. I mean, it’s hard to screw up a 5K with one water stop.
After finishing, they had water at the end and promised a “breakfast buffet”. I rarely take extensive food after races. I’ll grab a cookie or a bagel and a drink and be on my way. In basically every race I’ve done - and it’s got to be over 75 - there are tables along the sides of the area past finish chute where you grab whatever you want on the way out. The system is common because it works. We don’t linger over food tables after races. We reach in, grab something, and leave.
Not here. If you wanted anything besides the water they gave you, you had to go get in a GIANT line. It snaked around the park. They had only one line going past their “buffet”. If you wanted anything, you had to wait in the giant line to get to it. And they had weird stuff, including a bread and butter station. No bagels. No fruits. I had to stand for almost 30 minutes just to get myself a cookie.Why not just let people walk up and grab a cookie? Beats me. Instead we had to stand for 5 minutes by the cookies while people in front of us buttered their bread. Baffling.
Were there any good sides to the race? I guess it didn’t start too early (8am) so I got to sleep a bit, and it was flat. Also, I didn’t have any surgery-related discomfort (though no credit to the race organizers for that).
Our medals were basically shaped like this logo:
Look. I am not a diva. Most women endurance athletes are not the types you would call divas. Sure, there is always a group (usually in the back) with tiaras and boas or tutus or whatever. I am happy to have them in races and I have no problem with them having a good time. But if you look at the majority of the pack, they are women who spend their weekends out doing long runs and who put in hours and hours each week to their training. They wear technical gear that is most effective - they do not pick it because it is cute. They do not put on makeup before races. They do not put on jewelry for races. They do not fix their hair except to tie it back so it doesn’t bother them. They go out and spend hours in the heat and sun running or biking or whatever. Have you seen what people look like at the end of endurance races? Well-groomed is not an accurate descriptor. They are hot and sweaty and dirty and there are hairs pointing all over. They don’t even make pretty faces during the race. Diva is just the totally wrong word to describe this group of women. So was it a guy who decided we should all be told to “go diva” for this event, or some touchy-feely woman who has a tiara on the shelf with her race gear?
And while I’m on this point, let me vent about another thing I saw. Luna Bar was there. I love Luna Bars. I had one for breakfast every day for about 5 years. They are tasty and I like that they market to women. BUT in their tent they had this little drum like you have for doing drawings and lotteries. You were supposed to write an “affirmation” on a round paper disc with a metal edge and put it in there. Then you were allowed to pick one out for yourself which you could keep or put back for someone else. Again, if you want to go around affirming one another, great. But seriously, Luna - you think this is the kind of thing that women athletes do? We like sit around saying “You are beautiful for trying” and “Every day you wake is another chance to make a difference”? Um, no. There are some, but the only group talk I heard was in the pack of bikers I was with on the last hill with one woman yelling “COME ON LADIES! PUSH IT HARDER!”
Touchy-feely? No. Divas? Absolutely not. I find the whole concept rather insulting, to be honest. But maybe that’s who they wanted to appeal to. While it was nice to do an all-women race without the machismo that comes along with a lot of male triathletes, I’d take the macho attitude any day over being treated as though deep down I’m a wanna be princess.
Will I be back for this race? HELL NO. What a waste of time, money, and effort. I’m perfectly capable of getting frustrated at home on my own without the hassle and expense of a weekend away.
It was unbearably hot yesterday - 104. Today it was only 102 so I decided it was a perfect time to go out for the 9 mile run I had scheduled this week.
Overall, it went very well. I ended up walking a bit of the last (very uphill) last mile because the heat was getting to me. My heart rate was very high and I kept telling myself there was no reason to be stupid and push it. The reason for these runs is to test my IT band and surgery recovery, not to go fast. I am certainly not fast, but I am enduring just fine.
I’ve had a bit of minor discomfort this week, and that stayed the same on my run. There were no flare-ups or problems. It’s very encouraging! I have an 11 miler scheduled for next week, which should be fine. Other than the heat, I think I could have done that distance today. Then, I rest and head off to Chicago for the half marathon August 1st.
Back in January, I went out for an almost-7-mile run and had some serious IT band problems. That lead to the Oh-it’s-a-bone-contusion-not-the-IT-band-take-2-months-off-then-half-marathon-OUCH-surgery-time process that’s covered my last 6 months. After that run I took off 2 months to heal the bone contusion, ran the very painful New Orleans Half, and then went in for surgery.
Today, I went back out on that same run, the longest I’ve gone since back in January except for that doomed half marathon. It went pretty well. I had some minor discomfort around my fibula, but it’s getting better. The area around the incision is just fine. Now, a few hours later, I feel completely fine.
It looks like the surprising improvement I saw a couple weeks ago was not a fluke. It makes me think even more that the orthotics were causing many of my problems. Regardless, I’m very happy to be getting better and that my increasing distance seems to have me on track to do the Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon in 4.5 weeks.
