Tomorrow...

Tomorrow is Race the River, off to bed before the big race!

RESULTS

I forgot to post the results from the race. 
Place - 240 (out of 338)
Overall time - 1:51:36
Swim - 21:19
T1 - 2:53
Bike - 42:24
T2 - .55
Run - 44:11

After the race

I felt pretty good yesterday and today, just a little sore.  I'm really tired, and really hungry too.  My neck is a bit sore.  I don't want to overdo working out this week since I have another race this Sunday.  I don't really feel like working out anyways, just sleeping.

ChelanMan

Today was the big day!  It has been such a long day.  We are finally home and unpacked, and ready for bed and an update on the race today.

When we got to the lake today, there was quite a lot of wave action going on... It was like swimming off the Washington coast out there.  I'm so thankful for the wetsuit, as I probably would have had a really rough swim without it.  As it was, the swim took twice as much energy as I usually have to put into it.  There didn't seem to be much of the swim that was with the waves, it seemed like we were fighting it all the way till the very last stretch.  (Sitting here writing this, I can almost feel the push pull of the waves rocking me... Not a good feeling)
Once out of the water and into transition, I got out of my wetsuit (pretty quickly too!) and got my bike.  After the push up the hill out of transition, I got to the top and realized that my shoes were not tight enough and had to stop to get them cinched up.  Then when I mounted the bike I couldn't get my feet in the straps, Ugh!  I guess I need more practice.  The first half of the bike was into a sharp headwind.  I would check the spedo on the bike and it would say 8 mph... I was really pushing it up the hills too.  Once at the turnaround the bike got easier and I got up to 24 mph.  The course wasn't too bad, but I should probably practice on some hills sometime.  After returning my bike to the transition, I had the worst part of the race to go... the 5k run.  After a little jogging and a lot of walking I met up with a very nice girl from the Seattle area and we hung out together (she had a recent knee injury, so she was walking at about my pace).  About half a mile from the finish line, I left her behind and ran the rest of the way (through the crowd where people could see me :) ).  At the finish line, I got a medal and a congrats, and got to sit a bit and have a snack.  Our after race snacks are much better over here, all they offered were bagels with pb and grapes and bananas.

Times are not posted yet, but according to my watch my time was approximately 1 hour 50 minutes.  Slower than Race the River last year, but quicker than Radiant Lake this year.  I have a race next Sunday, so hopefully I'll be able to decrease my time for that race and beat my time from last year.  I just need to push myself on the run, or push myself harder on the bike so I can walk more... either way, I need to try harder.
I'm off to take a quick bath then ice/myomed my neck/shoulder.  Tomorrow is another day!

Tomorrow is the big day!

Today I picked up my packet for ChelanMan, the park was pretty busy and I got to see lots of other athletes in the park.  We played in the river between check in and the meeting and it was fun.  When we went back to the park for the pre race meeting, we learned about the course and where to go and what to do... I'm ready, time to get to bed. 

Travel Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow I leave for the drive to Wenatchee, where I'll be for a home base for the race weekend.  I'm almost all packed, and got my tires put on by a professional today.  He said, and I quote, "these are the hardest tires I've ever gotten off a wheel."  And then said, "You better hope you don't get a flat, because there is no way that YOU are going to be able to change one."  (emphasis by him).  Hmmm.... it sounds like a challenge :).
Either way, I'm as ready as I'm going to be, which isn't saying much, because I'm not ready.  I'm going to go watch a Total Immersion DVD before bed.

1.6 minutes!!! And THREE DAYS!!! Yikes

Today I took the new wetsuit out for a spin (swim :) ).  I cut more than 1.5 minutes off my half mile! (14:38 for those who saw my time in the earlier post)  WOW!  I'm finding it a bit difficult to get used to, my rear is so much more buoyant now, that my head doesn't come out of the water as much, and I get a lot more splashes in my face while I'm trying to breath... More practice, more practice, more practice!!!
Greg picked up some tires for me today, and we tried to change our first tire... I'll be going back to the store tomorrow to have them show me how to do it.  The video on Youtube was not that helpful.  

Wetsuit!

Tuesday~
My wetsuit came today, I was so excited to try it out.  Things got a little hectic getting out of the house, and I didn't realize till we were 5 minutes from the lake, that I forgot my goggles :(.  I tried out the suit in the water anyways, and it felt so strange!  I'm already pretty buoyant in the water, and the wetsuit makes me float with half my body OUT of the water!  I did a little swimming around, I feel faster, but it's hard to judge without putting my face in the water.  I'll go back after work on Wednesday and give it a real try.  I'm pretty excited about it.  Just hope it gives me enough of an advantage that it doesn't matter that I run in slow motion! 

This Weekend

This weekend I was very busy.  Did another open water swim at Coeur d'Alene Lake, swam from the beach to the row of bushes and back (just under 1/2 mile) in 16.14.  Tomorrow I'll go back with the wetsuit and try it again!  I tried to ride my bike from Post Falls back home, but only made it to Harvard/Liberty Lake trailhead.  My neck was really bothering me.  When we got home, Greg adjusted my pedals, seat height and position, and my aero bars.  I went for a quick short ride and it feels better already.  I used some biofreeze on my neck and shoulder and they felt surprisingly better.  We also went to CycleSport and WheelSport looking for tires for my bike.  Ended up getting a bag for my spare tire and tools, and a CO2 refill kit thing.  No tires in my little bike size (650) to be found.  ChelanMan 4 days 18 hours...

Friday

An early morning bike ride since I was kid-less this morning.  Didn't go nearly as far as I would have liked.  I need my neck to feel better!

I forgot to mention yesterday...

Greg ordered me a wetsuit yesterday, it'll be here on Tuesday of next week, just in time to try it out a few times before the race next weekend.  I'll post a picture as soon as it gets here, but for now it is an Xterra  Vortex3, sleeveless. 

http://www.xterrawetsuits.com/products/womens/wetsuits/vortex-3-sleeveles/

Now, if he reads back through the blog he will remember what else I said I need for the next race.... it rhymes with.... classes.  

Swim!

Today we took the girls to Sanders Beach on Lake Coeur d'Alene.  While we were there (the real reason we were there) I did an open water swim.  It felt pretty good.  My shoulders and back muscles are really sore!  I met a group there that are training for the Race the River tri in a few weeks, and I inquired about attending some training sessions.  I'll check out their webpage in the morning and see about it. 

Monday's Workout

I did swim, bike and walk yesterday.  My shoulders were SO sore!  I'm very creaky, I'll have to swim everyday to get back even a bit of what I've lost these few weeks.  I was so depressed about the state of my fitness that I cried, a lot!  I'm not looking forward to the race next week :(

No More Excuses

You hear that??? No more excuses, unless I'm unable to move, I will be following my training schedule from here on out, and probably adding in workouts this and next week.  I have taken FOUR weeks off now for my neck, my cold bug is almost gone, I'm ready!  As soon as it is nap time for the girls, I'm going to go for a quick jog around the back, then finish unpacking from our camping trip.  I think we'll do a family bike ride when Greg gets home, then swim this evening.  I'm doing the swim, bike, run thing backwards today, but I'm going to do some of each!!!