First Triathlon

My tri box!

Today I competed in the the Blue Lake All Women’s Sprint Triathlon. It was a chilly morning and I had concerns about the swim portion. The line to get into the park was SO long and by the time we got parked, I only had 20 minutes to get marked, set up my stuff, rack my bike, and go to the bathroom. Needless to say I was stressed out. The forty five minutes I had planned on having to do these tasks was eaten up by our waiting in a super long line to get parked.

The water at Blue Lake was actually warmer than the surrounding air. Swimming in the open lake with so many women was nerve wracking. I got kicked a few times and seemed to attract a certain woman who continued to run into me time and time again. Although my swim took 24 minutes for the half mile, it seemed like it took hours. At one point, I didn’t feel like I was making any progress. But eventually I made it.

I'm in there somewhere...

Swim portion

Transitioning from the swim to bike is much harder than it looks. I decided to put shorts on for the bike and run portion. Pulling lyra over wet legs is comedy. Not to mention the sheer amount of mud I had on the bottom of my feet. My first transition took me over five minutes!! The time goes by so quickly. Your legs feel like jelly, you are struggling to get your breathe, and concentrate on the tasks at hand.

Just a little wet..

Get on a bike

The bike portion went great! At first my legs felt a little gooey but after a few miles, I got into my groove and was making great time. My legs felt very strong which is mostly due to the spin class I have been taking. I was actually able to pass another cyclist going uphill!

The transition from bike to run was supposed to be the easy one since I don’t need to change shoes. But I had issues trying to rack my bike. The other competitors bikes were so bunched up there was no room for mine anywhere! Frantically I pushed the bikes aside and attempted to get mine racked. My hybrid bike frame doesn’t really rack so easily. Perhaps I need to practice a bit. I don’t know. Eventually I got my bike racked.

Trying to rack my bike

I lost my water bottle during the bike portion so I had to take a minute to drink some water before heading out for the run portion.

H2o

Andy kept popping up on various parts of the course. Usually when I least expected him. But its always nice to see a familiar face.

Hi!

At this point my legs were fatigued but I could feel a vast improvement on my form and speed over my performance at the Duathlon. For those of you who’ve never experienced a duathlon or triathlon, the first couple of miles after transitioning into a new activity, your legs feel weak and weird. You have doubts on your ability and then after the first mile you start to feel the familiar rhythm and start enjoying the experience.

I felt really strong during the run and enjoyed the experience much more than the last 5k at my last duathlon. It’s amazing how much 4 months of training will help!

I really tried to finish up strong but I was a bit fatigued at that point.

Trying to sprint to the finish

Happy to be done

Much needed water

The camaraderie between the participants was wonderful. Everyone was cheering each other on. There were a lot of smiles and jokes. While there was a sprint triathlon being held, there was also a duathlon and a kids event which meant that this event had a ton of children. I wasn’t so keen on the children throwing toys on the course or people milling around areas that I needed to access. But it was a great experience. And I’m so lucky to have Andy’s support on this event.

Oregon Brewer’s Festival

In continuing with our yearly tradition, Andy and I attended this years Oregon Brewer’s Festival. If your not from Portland or have hid under a rock, OBF is a huge beer festival held the last full weekend in July. It’s fun and exciting. I think I truly love OBF because its one of the few times I plan an entire day (or two) around beer. Please see my previous post from 2009 for more information.

Oregon Brewers Festival

I'm patiently waiting..

Didn't like that beer..

What does this one smell like?

Saturday afternoon crowd

Where's Aleta?

Saturday crowd

One last beer and we are homebound

Trail Running

I tweeted that I was looking for someone to run 16-18 miles with on Sunday and asked if anyone wanted to join me. @dorothybitestoto replied that she was interested so over the next few days we made plans to run in at Hoyt Arboretum. The Arboretum is a beautiful place conveniently located in Washington Park and has gorgeous trails that you can hike, walk, or run. It’s shady and cool which makes it an ideal place to run in July.

I purposefully didn’t look too closely at the elevation change on the trails surrounding the Arboretum. I knew if I did, I might chicken out. Plus @dorothybitestoto is an ultra marathoner who is training for a 50 mile race in August. But as I found the previous week, having companionship on the long rules is truly beneficial for a variety of reasons:

1. You run faster and harder
2. The time goes by much quicker
3. The advice you receive from experienced runners is so valuable

Having run the Portland Marathon, @dorothybitestoto was able to explain some of the tricky places on the route such as the Saint John’s Bridge on mile 16. We traded stories about post run meals and discussed in detail toenails, IT Band injuries, and how training regimens affected our families. @dorothybitestoto didn’t make fun of me for having to walk the last couple (okay more than a couple) of hills.

After the 3+ hour run, I was sore in places I had never been sore before. My ankles and glutes were very tight and tender. My ankles were actually sore for two days. While running, I was bitten by what I initially believed to be a mosquito. It’s swollen up pretty good and reminds me of a spider bite but has a larger area of redness than any spider bite I’ve ever received. The swelling is going down but it is very tender to the touch. Even socks irritate the area. Next time I run trails, I will put on much thicker and taller socks.

Early Morning Run

I got an invitation to run with several ladies early this morning. 6am early. I thought it would be a good idea to run with a few others for motivation and to run at a steady pace. So I gladly accepted.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning after a terrible night of sleep. I quickly chowed down a bit of food and headed out to West Linn where I was to meet my party. I ran with three ladies who were upon first observation in better shape than I was. (After running 15 miles, I conclude that they are in better shape than I am)

The three ladies are all accomplished athletes. Two of them have completed 70.3 Ironmans and the other completed several marathons along with other races. All three kept up a steady pace peppered with interesting conversation which helped us power up the lovely rolling rolls in West Linn and Lake Oswego.

It was fantastic to be home and done with my long run by 10am. It was even better to eat a burrito and get a nap in by 2pm. I have decided that I need to start running with others more frequently. Running with others helps me to run faster and keep me honest. Sometimes during my long run I stop to take a break – or two or three. Sometimes I walk. Although this is isn’t bad, it doesn’t help my pace and doesn’t help my overall fitness. So now I need to find some groups to run with.

Rest and Recovery

Yesterday after running the half marathon, I went back to the hotel, took a shower, and checked out. I went to Subway and had my favorite sandwich, chicken breast on wheat. Then I drove the 3 hours home. Actually it didn’t take me quite 3 hours. I was hot, tired, and thirsty so I was pretty motivated to risk a speeding ticket.

I have chafe marks under both arms and on my abdomen from where my sports bra rubbed. I’ve been battling chafe for sometime now and thought I had it all figured out. I’m not sure if I didn’t use enough triple antibiotic ointment on my chafe prone areas or what. But I have the worst case of chafe I’ve ever had. And the heat makes me sweat which makes the chafe burn. And then there is the boil on my thigh. But no one wants to hear about that.

I spent the majority of the yesterday afternoon hydrating myself and resting. Okay and complaining about the heat, chafe, etc. Today the chafe looks much better but I’m sore. My shoulders, back, and calves are sore. I think that during the hilly part of the course I hunched over rather than remaining upright which would lead to the soreness in my shoulders and back and of course the chafe on my abdomen.

I’m resting today and probably tomorrow. I’m still contemplating the sprint triathlon at the end of July. I have a lot of competing priorities right now including retaking the GMAT. My first attempt was terrible partly due to my test anxiety and my lack of preparedness. I’m rescheduled to take it again in August. I’m also rethinking my training plan for the Portland Marathon based on my performance at the half marathon. I need to start increasing the length and speed of my runs. I think I could also benefit from dropping some weight.

Resting for me gives me a lot of time to think and evaluate where I am at in attaining my goals. Sometimes I think that’s not always the best thing as I’m very critical of myself. I know I need to ease up on myself at times. I know am very capable of doing great things and don’t want to sell myself short by not shooting for the stars. But the journey to the stars is exhausting at times.

Smith Rock Sunrise Classic

My friend Amy suggested that we race in the Smith Rock Sunrise Classic a few months ago. I was intrigued by the idea as there were several different lengths to choose from 5k, 10k, and half marathon. I was very worried about my ability to run well due to the issues I’ve had with my IT Band. But a few weeks ago, I did a leg workout and the pain in my IT Band mysteriously disappeared.

Unfortunately Amy was not able to participate because of an ongoing issue with her shoulder/arm. I was very sad that Amy wasn’t able to come with me to Redmond/Terrebonne but I had been training for the half marathon and took time off of work to attend.

On Friday, (the day before the race) I traveled to Eastern Oregon. The start time for the half marathon was 6:15am but after ten minutes of being out at Smith Rock State Park I understood why. It was hot. And dry. And hot.

Smith Rock

Smith Rock

Scouting the location

So beautiful here...

I visited the site of the race, picked up my packet, and checked into my room at Motel 6 in Redmond. I had tried to get a room in Bend but it seemed like every place was booked. Staying in Redmond actually turned out to be better as it was significantly closer to the start of the race. So rather than driving 28-32 miles to Smith Rock State Park at 5am, I only had to drive 5-8 miles.

I laid all my gear out so that when I was cold and clumsy at 4:30am, I wouldn’t waste time looking for items.

That's me!

The official t-shirt

Settling down...kinda

I logged onto Yelp to find some suggestions for dinner. I came across a few promising reviews for a place called Red Dog Depot. If you are in Redmond, I highly recommend that you try the place out. Great food and good service.

I headed back to the hotel to try to get to bed early.

bedtime

I couldn’t really sleep past 3am on the morning of the race but forced myself to lie there until 4:30am. I hurried through pre-run rituals trying to choke down as much oatmeal and banana as I could. I arrived early to the site and was one of the first runners to arrive at the start line.

I felt very ready for the race until I saw the parking attendants slapping their legs. Mosquitoes were rampant at 5:30 in the morning. The next forty-five minutes were spent slapping various body parts, sipping water, stretching, and going to the bathroom.

I had a plan based on some advice I received about starting slow and gradually increasing my pace. I would love to write that I did that. But I did not. I am terrible at pacing. The race wasn’t marked so I wasn’t sure where I was at on the course. During my pre-race preparedness I failed to drive the course to visually mark each mile. I mistakenly assumed that at least some of the miles would be marked. The first mile was the only one that was marked. None of the volunteers knew what mile they were on either. We were told that there would be a porta-potty on mile 8, but later I asked a volunteer where I was at and he said 9k (which made no sense as I was running a 13.1 mile race not a 5k race).

There were a few long rolling hills on the course that I wasn’t anticipating. The landscape was gorgeous. We ran numerous farms where the scent of fresh hay and junipers could be smelled. The other runners were very friendly and jovial. As this was my first half marathon, I didn’t really know what to expect from myself. It was a hard race and I wish I had been much faster but I wasn’t. I finally finished somewhere around the 2 hour 30 minute mark. I was shooting for 2 hours and 15 minutes. But please note that the last mile and a half was very difficult due to the traffic snaggle (the road wasn’t closed to traffic). At one point I had to either stop running (due to a huge school bus that was shuttling runners) or jump over a huge tangle of barbed wire. I chose to stop as I didn’t trust my jumping abilities at that point. I also had to stop when a parking person told me to stop so a car could leave the parking lot. I did NOT appreciate this and let him know. Loudly.

DONE!!

Will I do this again? Hell yeah!

Moving On

I’ve outgrown my neighborhood gym and am moving up to a bigger ‘corporate gym’ that has multiple locations, pool, group classes,etc. I’ve been going to the same gym on and off for over five years. For some reason I feel guilty about moving on. Last night after I ran, I spoke to the owner about my upcoming half marathon knowing this was probably going to be the last time I sought his advice in his gym. I felt sad.

But along with the guilt is the realization that I need more for my money. With my swimming and gym fees, I was paying almost $45 a month. I cannot afford that. The new gym is about $30 a month and has a pool. The old gym is slowly but surely falling apart. There are water leaks, broken equipment, and the place could use a deep cleaning. I am seriously about the cleaning part.

In preparing to move away from the old gym, I did discover that almost every gym will allow you to work out for at least 7 days on a guest pass. I really encourage you to take advantage of this option. I went to a couple of different gyms each at different times to get a feel for the amount of traffic and potential issues that might arise. I went at lunch and at 5pm which are high volume times. I also read a lot of online reviews of the gyms to look at the experiences other people have had. And I talked with friends about their experiences. Then I worked out at my old gym for the last 30 days of my six month prepaid membership to ensure that I did indeed want to leave.

So today I embark on a new adventure. It’s an adventure to me as I work out as much as my busy schedule will allow (which lately has not been as much as I would like). I’m excited about some of the group classes as I’ve always wanted to take a spin class. The new gym has a variety of classes that I want to try out. So I will let you know how the adventure turns out.