I realized something this weekend: triathlons are a disgusting sport. I am familiar with the gross-out factors of running (porto potties, tummies jostling up and down, toenails that fall off) and cycling (bugs splatting on your helmet, saddle sores, other cyclists spitting--or worse--on you) . The triathlon has all of those aspects--with the addition of one more friend: the open water swim.
Swimming in lakes is perhaps the foulest part of a triathlon. I had a swim clinic at the Fremont Quarry on Saturday and tried not to think about what I was swimming in (i.e. goose poop delicacies). Ocean swimming isn't as disgusting unless you are swimming in slimy seaweed wrapping itself around your legs. Ocean swimming is more nerve racking to me because I hear the theme song to "Jaws" in my head. Lake swimming is just plain gnarly. The water is murky, suspiciously warm, and smelly. Plus, I have been to Lake Berryessa before. I witnessed what kinda of drunken, beer-bong debauchery goes on in those lakes on a holiday weekend. Blech.
But, in all honesty, I actually enjoyed my swim on Saturday. I think the thing that worked for me was thinking about other things, and not water snakes swimming under my torso. So, I swam and thought about lengthening my body and timing my breaths. I thought about finding the place I was swimming to and how to get there in a relatively straight line. I thought about how to keep my pace steady, yet fast so in a real triathlon I don't burn-out.
And, of course, I thought,: "Oh crap. My half-iron is 3 months away. Seriously?"
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Tierra Bella...kinda rock and roll
Yesterday's Tierra Bella ride went very well. Dennis and decided to stay at my parents in Morgan Hill and catch the route from there rather than meet the crowd at Gavilan college. Oh my goodness was it chilly yesterday. I left my windbreaker at home and was worried that I would be cold, to which Dennis responded: "Pedal faster." Thanks hon.
The ride itself had some very nice parts. We had a fairly long climb up Gilroy Hot Springs road. I think the toughest part of a new route is that I don't know the hills. We made our way downhill, passed Monterey road to Santa Teresa in Gilroy. From there we took Day road to Watsonville Road and eventually went to Uvas Reservoir. That was probably my sixth time cycling up Uvas, which is a good thing because I am doing the Uvas triathlon next month and will be fairly familiar with the road.
Today I met my friend Cheryl for a hike at Rancho San Antonio---one of my favorite places to trail run. The parking lot was way too crowded and we couldn't find a spot So we hopped into her car and headed to Montebello Open Space preserve. As we were driving down Foothill we saw quite a few runners on the road. I realized it was part of the California Relay ( a race that goes from Calistoga to Santa Cruz where each runner does 5-7 mile legs). I immediately felt envious and made a mental note to make a concerted effort in finding a team next year.
The hike was gorgeous! You can see all the way to the bay. We parked at Picchetti winery and caught the trail from there and even managed to do a tasting after the hour and a half long hike.
Time for bed now because I have to swim at 6:30 tomorrow!
The ride itself had some very nice parts. We had a fairly long climb up Gilroy Hot Springs road. I think the toughest part of a new route is that I don't know the hills. We made our way downhill, passed Monterey road to Santa Teresa in Gilroy. From there we took Day road to Watsonville Road and eventually went to Uvas Reservoir. That was probably my sixth time cycling up Uvas, which is a good thing because I am doing the Uvas triathlon next month and will be fairly familiar with the road.
Today I met my friend Cheryl for a hike at Rancho San Antonio---one of my favorite places to trail run. The parking lot was way too crowded and we couldn't find a spot So we hopped into her car and headed to Montebello Open Space preserve. As we were driving down Foothill we saw quite a few runners on the road. I realized it was part of the California Relay ( a race that goes from Calistoga to Santa Cruz where each runner does 5-7 mile legs). I immediately felt envious and made a mental note to make a concerted effort in finding a team next year.
The hike was gorgeous! You can see all the way to the bay. We parked at Picchetti winery and caught the trail from there and even managed to do a tasting after the hour and a half long hike.
Time for bed now because I have to swim at 6:30 tomorrow!
Friday, April 18, 2008
It has been awhile....
The bad news: I am a crappy blogger. I had high hopes of updating my blog daily and that didn't happen.
The good news: a half-iron man only seems like a half-crazy idea and not fully crazy.
February was dedicated to getting into shape. Or rather, I started my roughly 6 month process of getting in shape. I joined Team Mermaid, which has the awesome coach Heidi leading us on workouts to help us get to whatever goal we have individually. It is a great group of women and we meet 2-3 times a week. I learned about the famous core and did a variety of exercises to strengthen said core. I found myself doing squats, sit-ups, something called an inch-worm and a variety of other movements designed to make my abs, tushie and thighs strong. It took about a week to recover from my 1st workout and for my abs not to ache when I sneezed.
March was dedicated to running. It worked out well in terms of gaging my results because I had a race at the beginning of the month and one at the end. I raced in the Happy Hour 10k Run the first weekend of March in downtown San Jose. My time was 1:01:26 which is a 10:28 mile pace. After a month of great training (tempo runs, long runs, stair-step breathing), I finished the last weekend of March with the mermaid Half-Marathon. My time for that was: 2:02:54--roughly a 9:35 pace. It was a PR for me and I felt awesome, aside from the gigantic blister on one of my toes so gross and intimidating that my husband refused to pop it for me.
Somehow I managed to squeeze my first triathlon of the year into the month of March. It was a sprint triathlon put on my the Cal Poly tri-team. My time was so embarrassing, that I refuse to blog it. Though, if you are really curious, I am sure you can Google the results. That triathlon kicked my bootie---those Cal Poly Kids do not mess around! We started with the lake swim at Lopez Lake, which was my first time swimming in a wet suit. The water was 52 degrees---brrzziees! The bike was the toughest part for me, even though it was only 16 miles. The hill before the halfway turn-around was brutal and many people wound up walking their bikes up it. I didn't walk, but my chain fell off as I was puffing my way up the hill. My pedals were moving but the bike was not. Luckily I clipped out of my pedals and saved myself from falling over and possibly causing a pile up. By the time I reached the last transition and was ready to run, I was exhausted. Though it was a tough race for me, it definitely was a wake-up call for what I signed up for in August.
April is all about introducing the other two sports into my training: swimming and cycling. I did the Cinderella Century at the beginning of April. It was a blast. Imagine 2500 cycling through Pleasanton, Livermoore and San Ramon wearing crowns and fairy wings. I definitely will be wearing a costume next year. Tomorrow is the Tierra Bella Century in Gilroy and Morgan Hill. I signed up because I am a South County girl at heart.
The addition of the two other sports is a little challenging---I think my body is confused because I am not solely using my running muscles.
My next big event is the American River Half-Marathon on May 3rd. I am hoping to break 2 hours, but will be happy to at least be faster than the Mermaid.
The good news: a half-iron man only seems like a half-crazy idea and not fully crazy.
February was dedicated to getting into shape. Or rather, I started my roughly 6 month process of getting in shape. I joined Team Mermaid, which has the awesome coach Heidi leading us on workouts to help us get to whatever goal we have individually. It is a great group of women and we meet 2-3 times a week. I learned about the famous core and did a variety of exercises to strengthen said core. I found myself doing squats, sit-ups, something called an inch-worm and a variety of other movements designed to make my abs, tushie and thighs strong. It took about a week to recover from my 1st workout and for my abs not to ache when I sneezed.
March was dedicated to running. It worked out well in terms of gaging my results because I had a race at the beginning of the month and one at the end. I raced in the Happy Hour 10k Run the first weekend of March in downtown San Jose. My time was 1:01:26 which is a 10:28 mile pace. After a month of great training (tempo runs, long runs, stair-step breathing), I finished the last weekend of March with the mermaid Half-Marathon. My time for that was: 2:02:54--roughly a 9:35 pace. It was a PR for me and I felt awesome, aside from the gigantic blister on one of my toes so gross and intimidating that my husband refused to pop it for me.
Somehow I managed to squeeze my first triathlon of the year into the month of March. It was a sprint triathlon put on my the Cal Poly tri-team. My time was so embarrassing, that I refuse to blog it. Though, if you are really curious, I am sure you can Google the results. That triathlon kicked my bootie---those Cal Poly Kids do not mess around! We started with the lake swim at Lopez Lake, which was my first time swimming in a wet suit. The water was 52 degrees---brrzziees! The bike was the toughest part for me, even though it was only 16 miles. The hill before the halfway turn-around was brutal and many people wound up walking their bikes up it. I didn't walk, but my chain fell off as I was puffing my way up the hill. My pedals were moving but the bike was not. Luckily I clipped out of my pedals and saved myself from falling over and possibly causing a pile up. By the time I reached the last transition and was ready to run, I was exhausted. Though it was a tough race for me, it definitely was a wake-up call for what I signed up for in August.
April is all about introducing the other two sports into my training: swimming and cycling. I did the Cinderella Century at the beginning of April. It was a blast. Imagine 2500 cycling through Pleasanton, Livermoore and San Ramon wearing crowns and fairy wings. I definitely will be wearing a costume next year. Tomorrow is the Tierra Bella Century in Gilroy and Morgan Hill. I signed up because I am a South County girl at heart.
The addition of the two other sports is a little challenging---I think my body is confused because I am not solely using my running muscles.
My next big event is the American River Half-Marathon on May 3rd. I am hoping to break 2 hours, but will be happy to at least be faster than the Mermaid.
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