Ready, set....GO? ...and my California 70.3 race recap

First and foremost, what's on my mind is tomorrow...Friday, April 15th, at 9am PT to be exact.  No, it has nothing to do with taxes...but it does have to do with TAXING your body for 140.6 miles across the Kona lava fields in October!

For the sixth year in a row, I've applied for the Kona Ironman World Championship Lottery.  Basically where about 7,000 or more apply to try and get one of 200 lottery slots.  By my calculations that's less than a 3% chance of getting in.

Of course there is a long-standing debate about how worthy a lottery slot is versus actually qualifying for a spot to toe that magnificent start line...but I'm not going there today...maybe some other time.

In past years, I have queued up the internet on ironman.com and waited for the clock to tick over to 9:00, desperately scan the list about three times for my name (even looking at the bottom of the list...which makes no sense, given they list the names alphabetically!) and hang my head in disappointment.  I'll be honest, the first few times I was bummed, one year I was more relieved than sad, and last year I cried.  That is what tells me in my gut that I am ready.

So, with that, I'll dive into the latest race.  The California 70.3 in Oceanside was just a little less than two weeks ago.  It was my fourth time of doing the race and I went into it not really knowing exactly what I was capable of.  I had a shoulder injury that took me out of swimming for nearly a year and a half, I hadn't been on my bike much these past two years, and to top it off, my one and only road-ride was three weeks before the race!  I was relying solely on my running, three months of swimming Masters, some resistance training, and weekly pilates reformer classes.

The swim in this race is my weak spot...mainly due to the wave start and getting pummeled by 30 - 40 year old competitive (and aggressive!) male swimmers that are in the waves after me...but also due to the fact that I tend to zig-zag in the water without a nice solid black line below me that I can follow.  In true-Brenda-consistent-form, I finished that swim in 50 minutes.  Same as 2009, same as 2008, and same as 2007.  I really do feel as though I'm a much stronger swimmer these days, but clearly I need to work on my open-water swimming and learn to be more aggressive myself in order to keep my pace and not get hung up and interrupted by others.

I had a theory that though I didn't do much bike work (hardly any!) that all the consistent running will play a successful part in the biking; and I was right!  I won't go on too long about it, but there were a couple 9-10% hills that initially I doubted whether I was going to be able to handle...but I did!  Awesome!  The last 10 miles coming in had a very strong headwind, that's usually where most people slow down and have a hard time.  I was on my big ring and my little rear cog and POWERED it in, huffing and puffing (you should have heard me, it was really quite ridiculous!)  I ended up coming in off the bike in 3 hours 40 minutes (only 4 minutes shy of my time two years ago, when I actually did train pretty hard on the bike!)

My first mile of the run felt pretty good, legs were not heavy and I felt like I moved right into a great pace.  I was surprised because I figured with pushing on the bike so hard, it would all come back to bite me on the run.  Well, about 6 miles in, it did bite, hard!  I was not feeling great.  I managed to walk/jog/walk/jog and bring it in the last mile at a respectable pace with a nice solid stride/sprint to the finish.  My run time was 2 hours 25 minutes (and only about 2 minutes slower than two years ago!)

All in all, a solid finish.  Not a PR (slower by 7 minutes total) but I'll take it.  As with every race, I learned something.  I think I learned to push a bit out of my comfort zone on the bike and run (a few times) and that I can keep on going.

I can't help but think about how good my times could have been if I had taken the bike training more seriously.  And did my run time suffer as a consequence of beating up my under-trained bike-legs on the bike course?

With that said, I'm sure that 2012 California 70.3 will be on my race list next year.

My Elite 8

To go along with the theme of the NCAA basketball tourney, I came to think of my training over the past 8 days as stellar...or elite.

Last Saturday I went out to run about 16 miles (while knowing that I'm a few miles shy of where I should be) and ended up only pulling off 13.1 miles.  I don't know, there were a ton of emotions going on with this particular day and I just couldn't settle into the groove.  It was a beautiful day, I'll give it that.  I ran along the San Diego harbor, caught some amazing views of sailboats in the harbor with San Diego downtown and the Coronado bridge in the background.  I ran through the Cancer Survivors Park over by the airport and took a moment to snap a few pics and bring myself back to ground zero.  I was feeling sorry for myself, wondering why I couldn't just bang out a solid 16 miles with little to no walking.  And then I came upon the park, and it grounded me.  How can I not be inspired by those that have fought an immense uphill battle against cancer, and who am I to whine about this run not being as awesome as I'd hoped, when here I am in beautiful, sunny San Diego, in good health, with so many blessings that I can't even count.  Shame on me!

I won't lie, after the run on our drive back home, I did tear up a little when talking with Bryce about my frustrations as a runner at this point.  About a year ago I was about 1 and a half minutes per mile faster and I just can't stand this setback. Over winter, I got sick with whooping cough and in the past six months I've gained about 10 pounds as a result of that downtime. I can't figure out if I should cut myself some slack and go easy to build back up, or do I just need to step it up and push it hard, beyond comfortable.  Am I capable of that?  I resolved that in just a week I'll be back to doing weekly track workouts, and that, my friends, is when I'll learn to push myself again (with someone standing on the sidelines, holding a stopwatch, and holding me accountable.)  I'll get there.

With only three weeks until my half Ironman, I took Monday off work to get a solid training day in...not to mention, I needed to pull my bike down, dust it off, pump up the tires, and make sure everything was working correctly...seeing as I hadn't been on the thing for more than 15 months!  Ha!  And I have a flippin' half Ironman coming up?  Geez.

In the past 15 months I've definitely put a lot of concentration on running, so I had to wonder if that might translate and pay off on the bike.  I first went to Masters Swim and put in a solid hour of swimming (about 2600 yards).  I threw back two lattes at home and then went out for a planned 30 mile bike ride, and 20 miles in, I felt so solid that I decided to add another 10!  Sweet!  I was feeling so good that I decided to move to the big ring and really see if I could push it.  Shift, click!  And boom, it moved to the small ring.  What???  I was on the big ring to begin with and I didn't even know it! Even sweeter.  The five mile run following the bike was not anything amazing.  It was a bunch of slow jogging with many walk breaks.  But you know what?  I'll take it!  Almost four and a half hours of my own little mini-tri and I felt good.  I'm back.  Not fast, but back.

I spent the rest of the week in chilly, rainy Seattle.  One evening was spent in the hotel gym on the elliptical trainer, but the next day I braved the cold and ran along the water.  It was awesome, I felt a good pace and was very happy.

Today, on the first day of Spring, it was windy and there was a forecast for rain.  So, as a true-blue fair-weather San Diego girl, I did an indoor brick.  Two hour stationary bike followed by an hour run on the treadmill.  Felt awesome.  Could have kept going.  But I had my Cats to watch (who by the way just made it into the Sweet Sixteen by the hair of their chinny-chin-chins!)

So eight days ago, I was feeling blue and sorry for myself...not sure if I was going to suffer in a serious way on the Cal 70.3 course.  And now, here I sit, with glass of wine next to MacBook Pro, feeling as though I learned a ton about myself and got my confidence back.  That was my elite 8.

The Neopolitan Returns!

It all began when I started training for my first triathlon.  No, it wasn't a craving for Neopolitan ice cream (though it sounds pretty darned good to me right now!)....it was what my husband began calling me based on my crazy tan/burn lines.

Imagine it...a fair, blonde with blue eyes and a bodacious set of tan lines on my back from several months of Masters swim workouts at lunch-time in San Diego.  Then...a long bike ride on the weekend where my top didn't quite reach all the way down my lower back to meet with my low-rise tri-shorts....leaving me with a pink-strawberry stripe across my lower back, dark chocolatey sections along my upper back, criss-crossed with pale vanilla-like X's spanning my upper back.  Hello neopolitan!

After this Monday's inaugural-Brenda-Olympic'ish-triathlon with two hours on the bike, and no tan-lines to show (given we've just finished up winter), I'm not so much neopolitan as I am a freaking candy-cane! Who knew that 10am morning sun could do that to a pale girl! Sheesh!

Sure, every triathlete/runner complains of the farmer tan; but I've got'em beat with my neopolitan shades.

I digress.  Lesson learned (again!)  Bring on the sunscreen, this girl's gotta take care of this skin she's in.

Disorganized organization?

Do you know what I'm talking about?  I think most everyone has a junk drawer or two that they rely on when trying to quickly clean up the kitchen or bathroom....am I right...or am I right...or am I right?

Yep, I have one in the kitchen and it's filled to the gills.  I can rarely close it without having to smash a few things down before slamming it shut.  I would be mortified if a friend were to open this drawer, it's a complete chaotic mess of totally random things.  But I'd also like to point out that I can proudly list off 95% of the items in there.  My point is this...if I know what's in the drawer, and I routinely need to access these things, would you consider it organized?  Even though it's a mess?

Sure, I'd love to show off pristine drawers with everything in its perfect little place! But back to the theme of my last post 86 400 Seconds in a Day I think I've listed the reasons that I can't seem to find that time to get my drawers, cabinets, and closets all perfected. It at least makes me feel better that it's on my to-do list. See? I'm organized! ...to a degree...

I've read several articles in the past talking about ways to better manage your time and get organized. I read it and I am am energized! Ready to take on that drawer, that pantry...anything! And here I am...still thinking about it. One of the best methods that seems to be something I could handle is the Pomodoro Technique. Have you heard of this? You basically break down periods of work into 25 minute intervals. So I'm thinking maybe I go a bit more realistic and set aside 15 minutes a day to organize things.  In theory, it sounds awesome...just need to put it into practice.

Image credit to DaGoaty

86 400 seconds in a day

It seems like a lot of time, but after working a full day, commuting home (albeit 7 miles...it still can take up to 40 minutes!), feeding the dog, going for a run, scrounging up something for dinner, throwing on the boob-tube, and sitting down...it seems I have maybe 400 seconds left before I hit the hay.

Here's how I'd like to spend those 86,400 seconds: Sleeping in until 8, enjoying a latte with breakfast out on my patio while reading on my Kindle, work on my training plan and schedule my next triathlon, go for a run, shower, run some errands, blog, have dinner prepared for me by my live-in chef, drink some wine, and then make jewelry into the wee hours of the night. Yep, that would be perfect. I could finally make some headway on my jewelry project, finesse my photography skills, and improve my Etsy listings. ...sigh... My Etsy site is a work in progress, that's for sure! I have so many pieces to post, and just need to find the time. Where there's a will, there's a way, right?

In the meantime, check it out and spread the word! www.swirlytwirlygirl.com

Image credit to Brandon Christopher Warren

1/11/11

So this blog originally began to chart my journey through training for my first Ironman...back in 2005. Six years has passed and my life has taken shape around so many other things (in addition to Ironmans) that I feel the need to write about it all. There were many significant things that happened in 2010, but the most common thread throughout my year was about cancer. My life is (and was) touched by cancer in so many ways that it's opened my eyes a bit more to the world, what really matters, and it makes me want to go through each day with more purpose, joy, and gratefulness.

And so it begins...soon...when I have a little more time. (Ha...haven't we heard that one before?)