Nate is OUT

OK so no that kind of out. Out of Eagleman. Too many things have added up to me not being ready and my body is not ready to do something it is not ready for. I have tried to cram in some key workouts lately to jumpstart my readiness but those workouts left me feeling dead so I know I am not ready to do the whole thing. I am still coming so now Meghan and Cory have a huge support crew.

I was hoping the training would help me get through all the changes in my life but it seems the changes in my life have overwhelmed the training. I am starting to get in a groove with training and if this race was in three months, I think I would be more than ready but I can see a really bad day of racing sending my whole world crashing down... I am excited to see everyone and I think I will be much better company without the issues of being overly stressed....

nate

Columbia Race report or how I managed to finish the bike with a flat tire

I had something to prove this year at Columbia since I DNFd last year because of a 'user error' in fixing a flat tire at mile 6 on the bike. Bound and determined to not let that happen again.

Lets say that pre-race I managed to keep calm cool and collected. Didn't get into my wet suit too early but when I did, had to squeeze my fat a#$ into the neoprene and try to keep from choaking 'cause it was so tight around my neck. Suffered some chaffing just above my armpits [never had that before] from the swim but otherwise, no race induced discomfort. Limited to a slow run from foot pain [going to get diagnosed this afternoon] and post race still had fuel in the tank but felt pretty good. Got my finishers medal and that's what counts, right?

SWIM: 33:48
T1 4:14
BIKE: 1:32:30
T2: 1:53
RUN: 1:11:10
FINISH 3:23:33

My race went something like this:

Check in on Saturday went extremely smoothly as usual...for having 1,600 competitors I expected a line but I breezed in and out without a hassle. Checked in my bike and then did a short walk around the transition area and swim start to get the excitement going.

Race day:

5:15 am departure from Capitol Hill and arrived in plenty of time to set up and get body marked. I've been experiencing some serious foot pain in the past week probably due to poorly positioned cleats on my bike shoes [now corrected] but it made walking and running very painful so my goal for the race was to finish [prior to the foot pain, it had been to stay at or under 3 hrs].

My swim wave didn't start until 8:08 so I had a good long time to sit and wait my turn. Didn't put the wet suit on too early [not like last year] and managed to stay calm and focused once we got into the water. I didn't plan for the bright sun but I just sort of focused on keeping an eye on the "blue heads" in front of me and spotting one buoy at a time. Didn't body glide myself far enough up the arm and wound up with rash...lesson learned. You can never use too much "grease". Exited the water at 33:48 which is more than 2 min faster than 2005.

T1: Seemed to take forever to put my junk on after exiting my wet suit [which was 1/2 off before I got to transition] 4:14...what was I doing?? I'll chalk it up to the run I did to get to my spot [3 rows from the bike exit] and trying to pull on my race jersey over wet skin.

Bike:
It took me 1/2 way through the bike to find my groove. It was windier than I'd experienced during my training rides and I kept playing leap frog with a number of people. As I passed the 1/2 way point somehow I kicked into gear and just kept going. 5 miles from the finish, I developed a flat front tire but was too stuborn to stop and fix it. I knew I was risking a seriously damaged rim [luckily it wasn't] but I didn't want to waste the time to pull over and fuss with it so I kept going. 1:32:30

T2
Of all the segments of the race, this was my fastest so Yea!! on the bike/run transition. Bike in, shoes off, shoes on, grab hat and number, run out...pretty simple. 1:53

Run:
This is where the pain kicked in and running has never been my strong point to begin with. I was determined to just finish the race no matter the time but wanted to keep it below 3:30. I walked more than I wanted to but as I ran up the last small hill prior to the finish line, I set my mind on finishing strong and kicked into a higher gear to the finish line. 1:11:10

Total time: 3:23:33

Looking forward to Eagleman and hoping I can rid myself of this pain in the next 3 weeks. The goal now is to race pain free and get it done. Can't wait to see y'all in some shape or form. My dad and mom are coming out for the race as is John [I hope] so it should be a grand affair!!

Post Eagleman course ride report

So, John and I went to the Eastern Shore this past Saturday and rode the course along with several other folks [10 of us in total going at different paces]. With the new steed and not much cross wind, we managed 18.2 mph average and I did a 15 min run afterward...feeling pretty good. It was a great confidence builder and if I can manage to get someone to just ride next to me the whole way during the race, maybe I'll do just as well race day. I haven't felt sore but I was throughly exhausted on Saturday afternoon [didn't manage a nap post ride] and I didn't really do much in the way of exercise yesterday unless you consider getting a manicure/pedicure exercise...most don't.

Racing at Columbia this weekend and somehow its tough to remember that this was my A race last year and now is sort of a precursor to my A race this year; Eagleman. I'm hoping that I'm not being overly confident but I think I'll be okay for E-man...but things can change come race day.

I think if my dad can make arrangements, he and my stepmother Nancy will be there on race day too. Which brings up the question, who's in to race, to spectate and to come over on Saturday and spend the night for the early morning wake up? I know Meaghan, Scott and Alex are planning to come over on race day [be aware that its also the Bay swim that day so the bridge might be more crowded than usual]. Chris, are you planning to come down to spectate?

Chris has apparently turned into part fish...heard via text message that he's aiming to swim 10,000 yds by the end of summer. I asked if this attempt was all in one fell swoop but didn't hear back.

All in all a decent weekend of training and mother's day...I've got orange [day glow] toenails now and maybe they'll last for Columbia...might have to paint them bright blue for Eagleman...

A visitor from DC and my Vancouver 1/2 marathon race report

First order of business: I want to acknowledge my first DC visitor to the Seattle 'hood: Yvonne! She arrived on a beautiful & sunny Friday, stayed through an abysmal Saturday and tuckered herself out kayaking on Sunday before boarding the red eye back to her life on the Hill. We had good food, laughed, walked a ton and generally caught up. It was great to have her here!


Once Yvonne headed out, I undertook my heaviest training week to date which meant that I logged 120+ miles on the bike, 17 poundin’ the pavement and 7 or so in the water. It was a great non-taper for my Eagleman warm-up 1/2 marathon in Vancouver on Sunday! My run club group (i.e., swimmers who run once in a while as an excuse to gather for yummy pastries, breakfast sandwiches and fabulous coffee) had mustered about 15 folks for the trek up to Vancouver including lab partners, significant others and friends of friends from high school. We’ve gotten to be quite the tight group in the last few months training together so the experience was a whole lot of fun!

Some folks headed up on Friday and others on Saturday. I stuck around until Saturday a.m. to allow myself to get in a long ride and Alden to make swim practice on Friday evening. The ride up was beautiful and pleasantly uneventful for my first foray into British Columbia. We arrived under cloudy skies and they opened up every couple of hours to remind us that yes, we do indeed live in a temperate rain forest! I saw photos of the beautiful mountains surrounding Vancouver in the guide books, but unfortunately did not have the chance to see them with my own eyes until we were headed out of town. But I’m getting ahead of myself with the story, which I know Nate detests so I’ll focus: We hit breakfast around noon with some friends (mmm, bacon) and then headed down to the Expo. No good deals from the vendors, but decent free loot. We shopped a bit, relaxed at the hotel and then had a great group dinner before heading back to prepare ourselves for the race in the morning. Now, we had some newbies among us, so serious time was spent discussing bag check protocols, timing your potty breaks, chip-shoe-attachment techniques, the benefits of wearing bright colors and how to transform a trash bag into a waterproof poncho... fun times! We headed off to bed early, hoping that the weather forecast would be wrong.

No such luck when I woke up around 4:30 a.m. It had been steadily raining sideways for several hours and the TV temp said 5 degrees Celsius- brrr! Revised my clothing plan to wear tights and a heavier top (since I don’t get to hang in the elite tent pre-race) to hopefully stave off the chills a bit. The start organization was the smoothest I’ve ever experienced which helped me to feel better as the combination of my anxiety (me, anxious before a race?! no way!) and the coordination of such a large group was a bit much for me to handle. We made it to the starting line just in time.



I ran with two fellow run clubbers, Nina and Greg, for most of the race. It was a first half for both of them and we were quite used to running together on Saturday mornings. Saw Alden at mile 5 or actually, he saw me and cheered as I was discombobulated navigating the water stop (see photo). The three of us plowed through the hill at mile 8 and I was still feeling great around 11 so decided to really open it up for the last couple of miles. It rained on and off for the whole race and my feet were fairly soaked, but otherwise I felt awesome! I had forgotten my watch at home which I think turned out to be a good thing as I just went with how I was feeling instead of focusing so much on the time. If I’d had the watch, I may have been tempted to slow down and instead posted a PR which beats my only other time in the half marathon by almost 15 minutes!

There was great post-race food including cold milk and yummy doughnuts. We all managed to find each other after the half, procure some hot liquid at Starbucks to fortify ourselves and wait for our sole representative to finish the marathon. Once he came in, we hobbled back to the hotel, showered and I had my first dim sum- mmm! While we were eating, the sun came out making for a beautiful afternoon which helped to neutralize my feelings about the lines at customs that kept us idling in no-man’s-land for about an hour before gaining entry back into the good ol’ USA. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend: a great city, good company for socializing, running & eating, loads of time with Alden and a PR- what more could I ask for?

Here’s a link to the photos (Alden’s are the only ones up at the moment, but he’ll add in more as they come in) if you want to check them out: http://www.huskymasters.org/photos/2006_05-May_Marathon/

And here are my official stats for those of you keeping score:

FINAL Place Place
Place in SEX in DIVISION PACE /MILE NO. COMPETITOR TIME
1121 354/4345 F 79/753 F3034 8:41 9033 Meghan McCarthy 1:51:48

This should be another good week of training for me. Alden is off to Swimming Nationals on Thursday so that will make for a lonely weekend, but hopefully his fabulous swimming will inspire me to train hard and his absence will leave me with time to get lots of work done as well. Wish I could make the Eagleman course brick with Cory on Saturday (mostly for the prospect of pizza afterwards, of course!), but will have to be content with being there in spririt. Happy training, y’all and thanks for reading!

Whew...thankfully its Monday. I can rest now.

Well my government slacker flex schedule every other Friday off just makes me jam more stuff into a 3 day weekend. Swam on Friday, got the bike fixed [rear derailur was wacked and flight deck wasn't working properly], Home Depot, Trader Joes, etc and two happy hours; Saturday I did a brick of the Columbia course [the race is May 21 and I've got something to prove since last year I got that dreaded flat tire], went to REI's anniversary sale and then the Nats Pirates game [11 innings later the Nats lost]. Sunday I swam, went to book club and then had Thai pot luck dinner at a friend's house [I made Mango sticky rice...yummmm]...oh and in between then, watched the first stage of the Giro d'Italia [Yea Robby McEwen].

Its been a crazy training weekend but all is well, I feel pretty good, the weather has been cooperating [nice and dry until yesterday] and not too warm. Perfect race conditions. We'll see if that holds for the next two weeks. I've got my sights on June 11 rather than May 21 although I can't completely discount Columbia. Will be riding the Eagleman course this coming Saturday morning with a group and there's a promise of Pizza Hut post ride. How can I refuse?

Anyone have any tapering tips?? I have never done it successfully and wonder if there really is a benefit [and do I deserve one since I haven't really been packing on the training hours].

Otherwise, its another day in DC; more political muck swirling about, and I'm trying to tiptoe through it all.

Sheesh...19mph is much faster than 16mph [duh]

So the current iteration of the 5:30 a.m. riding group has some very fast people in it and I'm not [currently] one of them. Tuesday we did intervals [30 sec on, 90 off] and I held my own. Today, we just rode, around and around, and around. My flight deck computer on the new steed is missing the magnet that tells me my speed so I hadn't a clue...I just knew I was lagging behind kdog [Kirsten Emory] and Chad [Chad] and felt really slow. That is until I asked what speed we were going...19-20 mph average. 5 laps went much faster ... when you're going faster. So maybe the trick to getting faster is to (a) not know how fast you're going and (b) ride with people who are fast. Seems pretty easy, right? My legs were burning slightly and I was putting in all the effort just to keep contact. It was nice and calm this morning [if there'd been even the slightest wind, I'd be toast] so it was just a matter of pushing a bit harder than usual.

Ran 2x this week but can't really say I went for distance or speed. Just to say "I ran 2x this week". Will be doing the Columbia brick this weekend and then a swim on Sunday morning.

Still wondering if I'm crazy for attempting to do Eagleman [we all are in our own ways, right?] but I'll be riding the course next Saturday with company and the lure of pizza [Pizza Hut] afterward will be a good way to motivate me through 56 miles and a short run afterwards.

It is very tough to keep focused on training when my man is off going to Nats games, going out for birthday parties, etc. Of course I want it all...play, train, work (well, maybe not the work thing but it pays for the play and train part of life) and travel. I will just reconcile that triathlon is merely one aspect of my very full life and it doesn't matter whether I beat xyz person in my age/weight group; it only matters that I'm pleased with my performance and I know I put everything into training and racing. Or that I did my best ... I feel as though there should be a relevent Sesame Street episode to correspond to my "triathlon" lesson.

Can't wait to see you all [those who are in time zones other than EDT]!

I'm so screwed...and out of shape

I biked the Columbia course this past weekend and did my first brick...I'm in big trouble. I did 33 miles on the bike and ran about 23 minutes [less than 3 miles] and was DONE. I don't think there's enough time for me to feel even remotely comfortable with the necessary distances for Eagleman but I will continue to try to make up the deficit! Doesn't help that I took off for 10 days during prime training time and didn't do a lick of training while I was gone -- I was on vacation, fer cryin out loud... No more trips until after Eagleman...even if it kills me. I plan to do a brick next weekend and a long swim on Sunday...then the Eagleman course ride the next weekend, then Columbia race, and more Eagleman training...might get a long ride [30 miles] and a longer run [7-8] in a brick Memorial day weekend...Its tough to juggle training and a new love [all I really want to do on the weekends is sleep late and go to breakfast at 11 a.m. -- not so good for training]. Italy and Ireland were fantastic. We had an unexpected stop over in Goose Bay Canada [small electrical fire on the plane] and we missed a day in Dublin. However, we still managed to see the important things; the Jameson tour [and tasting] and the Guinness Storehouse [again, tasting]. Had Nepalese food for the first time in Dublin and then it was off to Rome. I've never been to Italy and neither had John so it was a first for both of us. We were instantly overwhelmed but it was an amazing trip. We took a short [less than 24 hrs] side trip to Florence and puttered around there for a bit. Saw an AS Roma game [no score...disapointing] and had real Cappucino every day. The trip back was long [3 planes, 4 airports, had to claim our bags at each plane change] and this time uneventful. Here we are at the Colosseum:

We've got a bunch of the "self portrait" photos from the digital camera. I'm so happy that I invested in the little thing; best investment I've made since I bought my house. Since we've been back, I've biked 2x, swam 2x and run once. Really must get better about the running thing...its my weakest sport and I don't do myself any favors by ignoring it. Will try to motivate to run tonight even if its only intervals for 1/2 hr. Otherwise, things are good, the weather in DC is fantastic if a bit chilly. Its been dry and about 65 - 70 degrees and that's just fine by me. I'll be cleaning the house this weekend trying to get the guest room in shape for Meghan's upcoming stay. I'll be forwarding you all the hotel info so you've got it [for Eagleman] and we should figure out who's staying overnight and how many rooms we need...we've got 5 currently [Me, Nate, Chris, Meghan, Rebecca] and I'm not sure how many bodies will be occupying those beds...we'll figure it out before June 11, I hope. So, for Sesame characters, we've got Nate = Ernie [right?], Meagan = Animal, Chris = Oscar, Meghan = Cookie Monster, and Cory = Big Bird. How's that?? The t-shirts are coming together...