Hey Lady, Take it Easy

Ok. That's it. For reals.

I am done with events for the year.

That became abundantly clear at yesterday's Golden State Triathlon. It was a sprint triathlon and was probably my slowest tri ever. And I am totally, 100% cool with that because, to quote Austin Powers, "And I'm spent!"

I foolishly thought that this would be a cakewalk (mmmm...cake) because it was JUST a sprint triathlon.

So what went wrong? Mainly, two things:

First: Don't underestimate a race's difficulty just because it is a distance you have done before.

Second:
Don't overestimate your ability just because it is a distance you have done before. Yeah, I have done plenty of sprints before, but a lot of things can come into play that can affect your race.

For example, let's take a look at the events I did in September:

9/11/11 Big Kahuna 1/2 Ironman
Got sick the day after, did nothing for a week, and ran/swam a little teeny tiny pathetic but the week after

9/23/11 Had a work event, was awesome, but crazy busy, draining

9/25/11 Ran run portion for mermaid triathlon. Good pace considering lack of training.

10/1/11 3.6 mile open water swim


The 1/2 Ironman and 3.6 mile swim were both A races for me this year. Hmmm, probably not so good to have them spaced so close together.

So, already I was going into this race with event fatigue.

Also, last week I started a 21 day clean eating plan. It is really to help me get a hold on what I eat, limit my portions, eat foods that aren't empty calories etc. You get one cheat day a week and this week's happened to land on race day. However, I planned poorly and did not stop for breakfast on the way from our hotel in Sacramento to the start near the American River. I was too concerned with finding the venue. We kind of get lost a lot when we drive through Sacramento, primarily because there are bridges involved. I managed to find a mini Cliff Bar that I gulped down while setting up transition. That combined with my conservative eating the day before probably did not make for great pre-race nutrition.

After setting up transition I headed to the start of the race. The swim started way far away from transition (you had to cross a bridge to get there). I muttered a little "ouch ooch ouch" from walking barefoot through a park and over a bridge. I entered the water did some strokes and got ready for my wave to start. I noticed I had a little trouble swimming to the start buoy, but didn't really think much of it.

And then we were off.

The swim was tough. It was only 1/2 a mile and I totally thought I had it in the bag. I mean, c'mon! I swam 3.6 miles last weekend! I took off and noticed my arms were sore and I wasn't going as fast as I would like. And then it dawned on me: Oh, yeah. I swam 3.6 miles last weekend. I guess it may take time to recover from that. The swim was a little annoying because there were people stopping in the middle of the swimming, or doing breaststroke or backstroke butterfly. Argg!

As it turned out, there was a reason why the swim was so hard. It's called current. After the race I heard people talking about how hard the swim was because we were going against a really strong current. Oh, and those people weren't stopped on purpose in the river. They just couldn't get past the current. Yikes.

So, I finished the swim and proceeded to exit the lake. There were volunteers there to help you out while you climbed the MUDDY SUPER SLIPPERY STAIRS to get back to the park. Thankfully there was no falling. However, when I got out of the water and took my first step on the ground I got a swirly lightheaded feeling.

I was hungry.

I remember hearing the announcer saying there would be no aid stations on the bike. Eek. I got to transition, drank a bunch of water and reluctantly headed out on my bike.

Wow. How do you spell "SLOW?" Sheesh. I was dragging on the bike. And it was 3 five mile loops which made it feel even more tedious. After the second loop I started feeling a little weird. My stomach was cramping and I had cold sweats. I think I was running out of gas. At one point I thought about stopping after the second lap, but I just kept going.

Finally I was back in transition and getting my run stuff on. A man approached me, "I LOVE YOUR PINK BIKE! IT IS SOOOOO AWESOME!" He kept blabbing on about it, which ordinarily I like, but HELLO I am in transition! Then I asked him, "Are you finished?" He said yes to which I responded, "Well, I, uh gotta go because I have this run thing to take care of."

I headed out to the run. Right at the beginning there was an aid station. Hurrah! I grabbed Gatorade and Gu and it was like nectar of the gods. At every aid station I took a cup of Gatorade. I finally finished the 5k (with a record slow pace. Um...yea?) and f ound my hubby and we took off. I needed breakfast (and so did he since there wasn't food for spectators). We drove to our fave breakfast place in Sacramento and there must have been 30 people in line. FOILED AGAIN! We headed back to our hotel, dumped the bike, and walked to a breakfast place. We had to wait 20 minutes to get seated, which was fine. However, it was about 40 minutes before we got food. Sheesh!

Finally I had an egg white omelet in my belly and was ready for a catnap and watching Legally Blonde at the hotel room. It was awesome.

So, I learned a lot at this race. I hope I actually start applying these lessons. One thing I know is I will not be doing the 1/2 marathon I signed up for in two weeks. Judging from Sunday, my body is telling me, "Hey lady, take it easy."

I hope I do not go through event withdrawal. I already heard that some of my workout buddies are flirting with the idea of the Las Vegas Rock n Roll in December.

Must.Not.Log.Into.Active.com.

Slam the Dam: A Race Recap

OK folks. Let's do this thing.

I signed up for this event in the beginning of the summer mainly because I wanted an excuse to go to Vegas and get out of town for a weekend. The Slam the Dam event is at Lake Mead which is the back of Hoover Dam. They have 3 different races going on: an 8k, 1.2, and 2.4 mile swim. For people wanting to up their distance they could do the Super Slam which s the 1.2 and 2.4 mile swim, or the grand slam which is the 8k plus 1.2 mile swim. I knew I had to justify this race by signing up for a distance out of my comfort zone. The 8k did not seem like a realistic goal, so I thought, let's do the 3.6. Why the heck not, right?

My two friends and I met at SFO on Friday to fly out together. Our flight was supposed to leave at 9:30 but got delayed to 12:30. That wouldn't have been that bad if we were at the cool section of SFO. Oh well. We had a short flight to Vegas, got a rental car and drove about 20 miles to Boulder City.

We stayed at the Hacienda Inn, which was...um, how shall I put this delicately. It is what you would expect for a $50 a night hotel next to a major tourist attraction. They did boast 99 cent shrimp cocktail on their marquee. I decided that probably would not be a good choice for dinner, so we drove to the town and had dinner at a brewery.

We woke up at 4am(!) and headed to the start of the race. Did I mention there was lightning the night before? It was 5:45 when we arrived at the beach and they were still setting up the race. It was so dark, I could not see the lake. Finally the sun rose and this enormous lake was in front of me.

My friend was signed up for the 8k and unfortunately hurt her ankle earlier in the week. She took a shuttle with our other friend who was her kayaker to the start for that event. She texted me they may cancel the 8k because a thunderstorm was coming. They ended up not canceling, but she decided to do the 2.4 as it would be tough to swim in choppy water with an injury.

There was a delay at the start time, so we probably started the 2.4 mile race at 8:15 instead of 8.

I don't really know how to write about swimming. The 2.4 felt long, and choppy. My mind wandered a little. The last 1/4 of the swim I was getting nervous. I didn't have a watch on and was not sure if I would make it to the cut off time to start the 1.2. Fortunately, I did! I waited around about 20 minutes to start the 1.2. At first I was thinking it would be tough to swim again after a break, but I was thankful for the break because I got to eat a banana, drink some water, and reapply sunscreen.

The 1.2 race started and I was off again. It is interesting comparing the two races. The 2.4 had less people, and felt more mellow (or at least the fast hardcore people were way ahead of me, so I dd not feel the intensity). The 1.2 had more people and had a lot of people stopping in the middle of the water, doing breaststroke, etc. At one point I was stuck behind 3 people swimming next to one another. I decided to go for it and pass them. And something funny happened. I felt stronger on the 1.2 mile swim, then the 2.4. The only issue I had was my left shoulder was acting up, but other than that I felt great. And I finished! Whoo hoo! I had never swam that far in the open water before. The thing that amazed me is that the past 3 weeks my swim training has decreased significantly, and yet I was still able to finish. Still waiting for race results to post. I seriously have NO IDEA what my time was.

My friends and I packed up and headed to the strip. It was a great weekend filled with yummy food, a massage, and Jabberwockeez--- an awesome vegas show!

Next up: The Golden State Triathlon this Sunday! A sprint tri with a 9:20 am wave start. YAY!