Pacific Grove Triathlon

i wasn't sure how to set the hotel alarm clock, so i requested a 4 am wake up call. when the call came, i was in the middle of some weird non-race related dream and was seriously disoriented. it literally took a few minutes for me to realize where i was and more importantly why and what i was doing there.

i jumped into the shower to wake up, quickly changed and hauled myself and gear down to the lobby in search of coffee. other team mates were milling around and after securing my star bucks and instant oatmeal, before i knew it we were headed out into the dark misty morning to ride the 3 mile path to the transition area.

i picked up my race packet the day before and listened to a few pointers on the swim from 2 pro athletes and went for a swim with a few team mates. the water was calm, much like it had been a few weeks earlier when we came down to practice. the race buoys weren't set up yet and there was much debate on the actual course. the uncertainty of the course stressed me out a bit, i just needed a visual. the buoys i could see were way the hell out there and i started to get uneasy. peter, one of the mentors took it all in stride and led the small ban of swimmers in a 30 minute swim. despite the uncertainty of the course, i grew less anxious, in the water i felt comfortable, the familiarity gained from previous practice and swimming in my Lake Anza assured me i was going to be fine.

The Big Bad Swim

arriving at the transition area at 6am, we were greeted with entirely different swim conditions. the tide was coming in, the water was anything but flat and calm. the swells were HUGE. i really really started having doubts about whether or not i would get in. watching the first few waves go out, bodies were bobbing up and down. my wave didn't go out until 9:15 and fortunately things had calmed down a little by then but the conditions were nothing like what they had been during practice and while the water wasn't churning like earlier, the swells were still really really BIG.

coach seth asked me what my strategy was and i too quickly replied, "get it done", he then suggested i take it easy until the second half of the bike. ....5,4,3,2,1 the gun goes off and it seemed that my fear gave way to adrenalin and before i knew i was rounding the first buoy, each buoy 225 yds apart. i made a mental note of coach seths advice to slow down and when i completed the first loop (the first of many on this loopy course) i was surprised to feel good and totally confident that i could complete the second loop of this infernal swim. i swam a mile for the first time only a few weeks ago and it took me an hour and a half, so i was really pleased when i got out of the water in 00:50:30.

T1 5 plus mins, my transition area was right near the bike out so that was cool,once my fingers regained some feeling i managed to get out of the wetsuit, grabbed a dry shirt...helped a girl get into her wet tangled singlet an then took off.

The Bike

i really fell in love with my bike this summer and the ride was pure bliss. i had a smile on my face the entire course which consisted of (4) 6 mile loops. i averaged 24 min loops and finished in 01:37:56 boo ya! i managed to forget my sun glasses but the overcast never burned off so it was all good.

T2 4mins pulling off my bike shoe, i noticed blood on my left big toe. i then decided NOT to change socks and crammed my running shoes on for fear of making something out of nothing...turned out to be a good call, later when i did take a look it was a teeny tiny blood blister ...it didn't bother me on the run...not that the run was pleasant by any means but the blister was not the culprit...just my lack of running in general.

The Run

off all 3 disciplines, running was most neglected this season and it showed. The (3) 2 mile loops were monotonous and i just wanted it to be over. i took a few walk breaks so i could finish with some semblance of dignity, run done! 01:12:12

i met my goal for under 4 hours by 10 minutes. i'm most proud of my swim, i really can't believe i did it. i free styled the whole time, not needing to roll over or back float once. not that there's any shame in that at all! hell, you do what gotta do but i've struggled for so long to get comfortable with swimming and i am still a stunned at the conditions i found myself in on saturday. i think i will be for a long time.

Pre Pacific Grove

after some fancy negotiating i was able to wrangle getting to work half day so i can head down to Pacific Grove for my BIG WEEKEND!

i'm filled with equal amounts of excitement and anxiety. i know i can finish the .93 mile swim i just hope i don't take a freaking hour and a half to do it! i'm hoping to get the bike done in 2 hrs and the run in 1 hr. i've seeded myself to finish within 4 hours so depending on when my wave goes out 9:15 am? with any luck i'll be basking in glory sometime around 1:00 pm. i know i'm cutting it close and i know i shouldn't get hung up on the numbers...but i still gotta have a goal right?

i'll try to check in over the weekend. TNT has a slew of events and whatnot planned for us over the next few days . what a fun summer it's been. i got back into shape while raising money for blood cancer. all the hard work is going to pay off when i cross that finish line!

the last 2 nights or rather mornings i've been waking up around 3am. i guess i'm getting pre-race ansy a litle early. today we swim/run at shadow cliff...the same place i tri-ed in '06. i'm excited to see how much better i'll swim there this time around. every time i swam there in the past i could never get my face in the water. irregardless of what i could do in the pool it just never carried over into open water. now granted, in '06 i was just learning to freestyle and the first time i swam at shadow cliff it was late spring, cold as fuck and when i hit the water sans a wetsuit it occurred to me that maybe i had literally gone off the deep end.

My swim lesson with Liz was good. as i said before i wish i had gotten together with her sooner but i got some good tips and was able to carry a few of them over. my swim has come a long way but it still needs alot of work. it's so important to put speed and endurance on the back burner and focus on form first!!!

i bit the bullet and bought a tri back pack. my neon orange duffle bag worked fine in the past but it's hard to deal with on the bike. we have to ride about mile to get to the swim start, so a back pack will be easier to handle while riding. the triathlete store, while there was some confusion about available colors offered excellent customer service and a wide range of product at affordable prices.

my right thigh is still quite sore from last weeks hilly ride. i'm pretty sure it'll be fine by next week and if my massage therapist can get her act together and not overbook herself again ..like she did last night and had to cancel...i'll get it worked out. so for now the dreaded foam roller will have to suffice, ouch!

Butterflies

M goes back to school today. She's grown up alot this past summer and despite being a little nervous she's got the cool 8th grader vibe down to a tee.

After dropping her off, I'll be heading out for my private swim lesson with coach Liz. Unlike my cool 8th grader I'm more than a bit nervous, fortunately it's all the way out in Dublin and I'll have time to settle down. It's going to be fine as long as I can get past the thought of "WHY IN THE HELL DIDN'T I DO THIS SOONER!!" Whatever coach Liz has to offer isn't going to reveal itself on race day...it's less than 2 weeks away. I just need to be open to her direction and keep focused

Swim Analysis

yesterday we were all video taped in the pool and then watched and received individual feedback from all 3 coaches.

1)when i roll to breath, i tend to look back (causing my head to lift too high..causing drag and zag).

2) as my arm is entering the water the opposite arm tends to "drop" vs staying elongated ...it was suggested that i practice the "catch-up" drill, my coach also described it like handing off a pencil, imagine as you reach out, that your holding a pencil and that hand stays stretched out (holding the pencil) until the other hand can grasp it.

3)my pull is premature, i need to wait until i see my forearm ...about chest level, then "push" the water towards my feet.

i've heard this feedback before, but seeing myself on tape was invaluable. instead of feeling overwhelmed by all the critique, i know exactly which drills to apply to self-correct. it makes so much more sense now. meeting monica at lake anza today, i will focus less on endurance and more on form.

trading a massage for a swim lesson with coach liz this wednesday. having spent some time in the water, the feedback is more meaningful now. there so many subtleties in swimming...i remember stressing out whenever i just read anything on technique it was all so foreign, not that i'm anywhere close to fluent but i'm starting to get below the surface and understand things better. i think i'll be more prepared when i see coach liz this week.

in need of some hair-apy

my swim has improved alot over the last several weeks but i will admit that i'm under trained and i have what will appear to be an extremely lame excuse. i HATE getting my hair wet. more specifically, i HATE the drying and styling process afterwards. it's fine if i have say a couple of hours to spare which is seldom the case. so i've been swimming mostly on the weekends averaging 2 swims a week.

there's one other woman of color on my team and she keeps her hair really short which i just can't bring myself to do. lately i've been considering going back to nature. transitioning from straight processed hair to my natural curls.
just thinking about going natural again is stressing me out, my thick course wild child mane has been processed into submission for so long the very idea of going au natural is daunting. the curl isn't the issue, it's the poof factor. there's an administrator at work who has completely embraced her nappiness and while i totally respect the snubbing of conformity, i'm sorry but she looks like shit.

clearly, i've got some evolving to do.

i'm a sucker for product. i learned about OUIDA, hair care that claims to tame and enhance ones natural curliness. i'll share more after i've used it before going any further.

FINALLY

I met Monica at Lake Anza today and swam 1 mile for the first time. it was slow going, i didn't pay too much attention to time or speed i just needed to prove to myself that i could go the distance. i'll roughly estimate and say i hit the water around 11:20 and was out by 12:38. i felt good upon exiting the water, totally ready to ride...not that i did...we're meeting for track tonight so we opted to sunbathe instead.

This past weekend some of the team met up at the race site down in Pacific Grove to swim and ride the race courses. the infamous kelp crawl was on the agenda. turns out i'm cool with the kelp...but i am of the opinion that the water in pac grove tasted saltier, brinier than aquatic park...which took some getting used to. we swam approximately a half mile and really focused more on sighting and swimming through "salad". The ride is a series of (4) 6 mile loops, a little disappointing considering all the gorgeous coastline in the area but the event is meant to be very spectator friendly.

not withstanding a generous donation to myself i met my minimum for fund raising....actually went over a little. $3,350.00 for Blood Cancer research, not too shabby if i do say so.

fundraising was both hard and rewarding, i'm pretty sure my next event will NOT involve fundraising but working out with TnT definitely reignited my love for this crazy sport and I made few new local friends who i will want to keep in touch with. i feel like a winner already. just a few more workouts and it will be showtime!