Acworth Women's Sprint Triathlon

Pre Race



We decided to go camping for the three days prior to this race. It was a nice relaxing weekend, but in retrospect, I wondered if it cause me to start the race dehydrated. It was certainly a hot weekend and I may not have been hydrating like I should.



On the morning of the race we got to the race site in planty of time for me to set up transition, warm up, stretch and still have time to hang out with Baby Grace and HB. A co-worker was also doing the race, and oddly enough had the race number right next to mine. Another co-worker came to watch us both race.



Swim 8:56



The swim was uneventful. I was able to do the crawl the whole time, except a few breaststrokes around the buoys for sighting. I felt pretty strong and relaxed in the water. It was pretty crowded and maybe the most physical of the swims I've done so far, but that didn't bother me.

I hadn't swum since Chattanooga, so I guess I did pretty well given the lack of training. my goal had been under 8 min, but I'll take this and try to actually swim some before my next race!

T1 1:47



This was pretty sloppy. I didn't dry my feet well enough and couldn't get my socks on. The socks I chose were too tight around the ankles, which made them extra hard to get on. I put one sock on upside down and had to struggle to fix it. I almost forgot to put my helmet on and had trouble unracking my bike. I could have done this much faster. Still my goal had been under 2 min and I made that goal.


Bike 49:57

This is where the dehydration kicked in. For the first half of the bike I felt great. I was keeping a great pace and felt strong and light on the hills. I felt like I was going to be well within my goal time. About halfway through I started to get a stitch in my side any time I was in aero. I stopped trying to ride aero and that helped for a bit. I also realized I probably was not drinking like I should, so I started drinking more. After a couple more miles the pain started getting worse. I slowed down noticeably. The last 2-3 miles were agony. I was starting to get afraid that I might be having another attack of the abdominal pain that had sent me to the hospital a few months ago. I decided that I would take one of my pain pills when I got to transition. I got some funny looks from my fellow racers as I was moaning quite a bit from the pain. Finally I made it to transition! My goal time had been under 48 min. So, not too far off giving how much my abdomen hurt.

T2 1:19

As soon as I got off my bike, the pain in my side virtually disappeared. I still took a pain pill just in case. This transition went much more smoothly than the first one. I was slowed a little looking for the pain pill, but otherwise executed everything as planned.

Run 35:03

Fortunately, the cramps went away as soon as I started running. I took it easy at first just to be sure. I felt like I was running pretty strong. Made the first mile in a little over 12 min. and decided to try to pick it up a little. When I got to mile 2, my time was around11:30. Since I hadn't used the split function on my watch, I spent most of the next mile trying to figure out if my math was right. 11:30 seemed a lot faster than I thought I had gone. When I hit mile 3 at around 11:00, I thought for sure the course was short. When I crossed the finish and saw my run time was 35:03 I was ecstatic. That is the fastest 5K I've ever had. The night before the race I had actually been writing down some long range goals and one of them was 5K in under 35. If I had realized I was only 3 seconds away, I might have dug down a little deeper for the final kick. Either way, very excited about the run part of this race!

Overall 1:37:00
It was a great race and I thoroughly enjoyed the day, even with the pain on the bike. I love racing and this was a fun race.

Iron Aspirations

I have been doing just a minimal amount of training lately. Weight is hovering around 150-152. One more week until the Acworth Women's Sprint. I am excited about the race and just hoping to have fun since my training time has been limited.

In the meantime, I am feeling the Ironman bug. I've mapped out a plan to do Augusta 70.3 next September and Beach 2 Battleship full Iron-Distance in November 2012. Just the act of saying those two goals out loud has me anxious with anticipation. I've been playing around with what the training and racing seasons for the next two years will be like. I put reminders on my calendar to register for the events, finalize training plans, make travel arranegments, etc. I can hardly believe that I am at the point now where I feel like I will be capable of actually training for and racing these distances! This has been a dream of mine for a long time. I am ready. I will be an Ironman.

Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon

Baby Grace kept me up a good bit of the night and morning before the tri. I was pretty much awake from 3:00 A.M. At 5:00 I finally got out of bed, ate a banana and some nut butter. I checked the tire pressure on my bike, got dressed and headed out. I rode my bike two miles to the transition area. It was nice riding there, gave my legs a chance to warm up and the streets were so peaceful. Setting up transition went quickly and smoothly. I ate a Lara Bar, got body marked, stretched, and practiced the entrances and exits from transition.. By 6:15 I wasn’t quite sure what to do with myself. The race had shuttles to take participants to the swim start. They were loaded according to race number and my bus wasn’t scheduled to leave until 7:30. So I decided to walk the mile to the swim start.

Once at swim start I still had lots of time and nothing to do. I tried to relax and stay warm and stretched. I heard an official say it would take 1 ½ - 2 hrs to get all the participants in the water. Since my number was so high, I began to feel anxious about how late I would start and whether or not I would make the 12:30 cut off. I tried to be calm and just accept that I would start when I started, but my nerves got the better of me. At one point I felt almost in tears. Coincidentally, the race director was walking around and I asked her about the cutoff time and the late start. She seemed a little surprised that things were taking so long and assured me that the cut off time would not be an issue. That helped me calm down some.

Swim
Finally, around 9:00, I was in the water. I remembered after a few minutes to turn my watch timer on. The swim felt great. Nothing significant to report. I kept a nice, even, strong stroke. Occasionally I stopped to breaststroke and get my bearings visually. It was actually pretty lonely on the swim since it was a time trial start (one person at a time). Toward the end several of the men that started behind me swam over me, but that was about the only contact. I don’t know my swim split, but I think it was quicker than my previous Olympic distance, with the help of the current.

T-1
This transition went very smoothly. It was a long run up from the river to my bike, but once there I executed everything as planned.

Bike
Wow! Can you say HILLS! I swear one of the hills was over a mile long. It was a really challenging bike course. Though I guess the upside of such long hills is they also have really long down hills. I picked up quite a bit of speed on some of the down hills and was able to take full advantage of my aero position. It was actually a little scary going so fast down those hills. I rode my new bike for the first time in a race. She worked beautifully and I felt very comfortable. I’m getting used to the downtube shifting, but I still think I’m going to convert to bar end shifters. With all the hills, a triple crank might have been nice. But then again, the extra gearing at the top gave me a little more speed on the down hills and the flats. Either way, I was very pleased with the performance of my new bike and promised her a nice lube when we got home.
Bike time was about 1:46.

T-2
I fumbled a little getting off the bike and couldn’t get my right cleat unclipped. Then my legs were so stiff from riding that I was a little dazed in transition and forgot to grab my water bottle. I remembered just before exiting transition, but decided not to go back.

Run
I was really proud of my run in this race. For the most part I ran and only walked at the aid stations. I was surprised I was able to run for so long, especially after I realized it had been well over two years since I last ran more than 3 miles. I actually can’t believe I was able to run all 6 miles. My knees did not bother me at all and I felt pretty strong throughout. I kept a slow, but even pace. The run was hot, but mostly flat and had plenty of aid stations. I didn’t need my water bottle after all. My run time was about 1:16.

At the finish line, Baby Grace and HB were there to meet me. I carried Baby Grace across the finish line with me, but quickly turned her over as I began to feel unstable. I sat in the med tent for a while getting ice on my knees (just precautionary) and regaining my balance.

It was a great day of racing. It was a beautiful course and very well organized and supported. I would definitely do it again… after lots of hill work!

My overall time was 3:38:31. 10 minutes better than my last Olympic Distance – so a new PR. Given how little I was actually able to train, I am elated by that time!

The sprint in 3 weeks should be a piece of cake.

Bike Love

The bike I currently ride is about 5 years old now. It's still in good shape as I take reasonably good care of it. It fit my needs well when I bought it. It was a step up from the department store bike I was riding. When I bought it I was totally in love with it. Riding that bike was such a joy and gave me a love for cycling. However, my needs and desires in a bike have outgrown my trusty bike.

I have been searching for and thinking about buying a new bike for the last few months. About a month ago, I came to the realization that we can't really afford for me to buy a new bike right now. I resolved to take my old bike in for a complete overhaul and get another good year out of it. The next day I was at a flea market in South Carolina when I saw her - an old, celeste Bianchi. It was love at first sight. There is no way I could have haggled for a cheaper price because my eyes lit up and I exclaimed. I tried to play it cool, but there was no containing my excitement. I actually did walk away at first to think it over. I debated whether I should save my money and buy a flashy new bike in a year or go for this bike that obviously needed some work but seemed like fate dropped in my lap. I ultimately decided that a flashy new bike might be nice one day, but I already loved this bike. A bike I love riding is worth more than any high end carbon machine.

The bike is a 1986 (?) Bianchi Axis. It has a steel Cro-Mo frame with mostly Shimano 600 components. It showed minimal rust, though quite a bit of paint chips. The brake pads, cables, chain, bar tape and brake hoods obviously needed replacing. The tires also looked a little iffy, though were certainly holding air. It definitely needed a good cleaning.

I immediately started searching for replacement parts on ebay and spent lots of time trying to clean up what was there. So far I have replaced brake pads, straddle cable and hanger on both brakes, all cables, bar tape, tires, tubes, chain rings and cranks. I went from 700x35c tires to 700x25c tires and traded a triple crankset for a double. I switched out the pedals and saddle for those on my current bike and mounted my aerobars. I have overhauled most of the parts - I still need to overhaul the front hub and the bottom bracket. The bike could use a new pain job and some fresh decals. In all I have spent less than $100 on replacement parts.

Everything is running smoothly and she is a sweet ride. I haven't had time yet to go on a long trial ride, but maybe this week. I'm still working on a name, but that will come as I ride her more. There are things I would like to upgrade at some point - a lighter wheel set, the brake levers and hoods, maybe try bar end shifters instead of down tube. But I love this bike! She is way better than some flashy new thing. And the best part is I have touched every part of this bike and restored it to working order. I know her inside and out and feel so rpoud that I have been able to recondition this bike into one that I will absolutely love riding.

Progress

These were my goals:

Weight: 150 (currently 164)
Body Fat Percentage: 24% (currently 28.9)
BMI: 23.5 (currently 25.7)
Waist: 32 inches (currently 36)

Here are my current stats:

Weight: 153 (down 11 lbs)
Body Fat Percentage: 25.2% (down 3.7%)
BMI: 24 (down 1.7)
Waist: 33.5 inches (down 2.5 inches)


I am so close to my goal! The date I had in mind was by my triathlon on July 11th, so I still have two weeks to go. It is totally doable. The diet is going well, though I am cheating quite often (mostly ice cream). Overall, I feel so much better not eating grains. The change in my body chemistry and digestion has been amazing. Training for the triathlon has been a bit more uneven. With a baby at home it is just so hard to make the time to workout. I have been getting in at least three sessions per week - long ride, long run, and one other. Sometimes I get more. I feel reasonably prepared for the tri, though I am nervous about the run.

Bike Lust

This is the new bike I am lusting after. On Saturady we went up to the Silver Comet for my long ride. After the ride I stopped in the Depot and took a look at the bikes. After talking to the salesman a bit, he offered to let me test ride some. I had been looking at the bike above online and they had them in stock in my size. I was so excited I couldn't run back to my car fast enough to get my helmet! The bike felt great and was such a sweet ride. I am totally in love!! But, it's a little out of my price range right now....

However, last night on craigslist I found a slightly different model of the bike - same size, different paint scheme. The seller lives in my area and is only asking $550 for it. Of course, I sent a request to come see it. She's showing it to some one else today, but I'm next in line if he doesn't buy it. So, here's hoping it's a bad fit for him and I can have it!

Training and diet are still going well. This weekend I was able to fit in my skinny jeans!!! I finally broke 160, which felt amazing. It has given me the confidence I need for those times when my will power is lagging. Like yesterday when I was standing in the grocery store drooling over some chocolate. But I reminded myself how fabulous it felt to put those jeans on and passed on the chocolate.

Weight: 159.6 (down 4.4 lbs)

BMI: 25 (down 0.7)

Sugar Drug

This past week proved more challenging in completing all my workouts. BabyGrace got sick toward the end of the week and was not interested in going out in the jogging stroller or trailer. Alas... But, I did get some workouts in, which felt great!

The first week of the diet went mostly well. Mon-Sat I was very disciplined and felt confident in my food choices and excited about how good I felt and how much progress I seemed to be making. Sunday I had lunch at a friend's house. They didn't serve anything that was on my diet. I knew that would probably be the case going in and had promised myself that I would eat conservatively while there and then be good the rest of the day. I felt like I needed to eat what was served to be polite. I did fine only eating a reasonable amount of food while there, but later in the afternoon the sugar cravings hit hard and I lost all will power. Well, not all, I did resist a chocolate cake that walked by. It just confirmed for me how much of a drug sugar and refined carbs are. I need a better plan of action should this kind of thing happen again.

Weight: 161.4 (down 2.6)
Body fat %: 27% (down 1.9%)
BMI: 25.3 (down .4)

Pretty good overall!