1st Race of 2012

Thanks to April Morgan for snapping a shot of my HUGE over striding at the finish!

April 28th was a Saturday. I picked up my bike from Urban Tri. I had a new cockpit installed and it looked shiny and fancy. I knew the left side of my low back was feeling a little "tight," but I did not think too much of it. I brought the bike home and set it up downstairs in the "lady cave." I had a three and a half hour ride to do and it was raining (thus setting up the bike on the trainer inside). In the end, I rode three hours and called it quits so I could go run. My back was not very happy. I had another herniated disk "flare up" and I knew this would be a long process to correct.

Yep, I went there. Showing you fancy medical terms.

From that rainy Saturday until Thursday May 17th, I really thought I was going to be screwed as far as my 2012 season goal. Well, Thursday I decided that I would indeed race the Blaine sprint race I had already signed up for months ago. After not running or biking for over a week two weeks prior to the race and only doing either of those two disciplines a handful of times the week of the race, I knew I would not be in a very competitive place. Whatever. Go race. Have fun. See what happens. Oh, and don't push things too hard. Good luck!

Sarah and I arrived in Blaine around 6:45am. With the first wave going off at 8am, we had plenty of time to set things up and check out the swim "course." The reason I say swim "course" is that you really couldn't tell where it was. There were no orange, or red, or yellow swim buoys to mark the course. Instead, they used the "classic" white swim line buoys. Awesome. They are small as hell and it was impossible to see the first turn once the race began. The good thing is that this was the ONLY bad thing this race had to offer. everything else was extremely well done.

Transition was closed fairly early, so I had to get my butt out on the run course and warm up. Did that, chucked my shoes into my transition area and headed to the swim start area. The wetsuit "installation" is always frustrating and even more so when your low back is not 100% up to par. Good thing I was in wave 7! Sarah and I were able to people watch prior to my start and saw something unfortunate. A woman who was wearing the same sleeveless wetsuit I was, had it on backwards. She basically had a "popped collar" wetsuit on. We were so close to the start that I did not feel comfortable talking to her about it (she looked nervous enough!).

A number of high school aged girls and a couple of ladies my age made up wave 7. There was a young pup I knew I wanted to stay with on the swim so I could get a small amount of draft. Well, that sort of worked. Right off the bat, we both got "off course." I could not see that damn buoy!!! After we corrected ourselves and made the first turn, I was able to draft a wee bit. But, she went a little wide for my liking so I stayed in tight by myself. There was no one else near me, so it was solo to the end of the swim (a short swim, people).

Coming out of the water I had already planned on stripping my wetsuit off as soon as I got to the sidewalk. It was a fairly long run to transition and I knew I didn't want to run in that damn thing. So I stripped it, put it under my arm, and off I went. With an uneventful T1. I was off and on to the bike course. Oh, I didn't say anything about the wind yet. It was windy. I knew where the headwind would be and had a plan of making sure I didn't work too hard on that stretch.

This was a two loop bike course that was basically a rectangle on flat roads. On the first long stretch there was a crosswind that I knew would turn into a headwind at the next right turn. I tried to stay relaxed on both of these stretches, knowing that I would need to use the tailwind to my advantage a few miles up the road. There were a few folks out on the bike route, hanging at the end of their driveways cheering. That was nice. After a pretty darn tight right turn, I took off and held on to that tailwind for the next couple miles whilst soaking in the heat of the day.

Riding past transition to start the second loop was neat, as was hearing the cheers, especially from my ol lady right before the turnabout (literally, we turned around a turnabout). After my second right turn into an even more aggressive headwind, Paul Johnson from the YWCA road past me (he relayed with two other YWCA staff members) in his bright orange jersey. I was really trying to conserve on this stretch, so I could hit the next two stretches harder with the help of the wind. It all seemed to work pretty well. As I was nearing transition, I saw Christina Meier and Jessica Deegan heading out onto the run. I knew they started a couple waves before me, but I really wanted to get out there and get after them.

I only knocked over one bike once I got into transition (I rack my bike pretty hard almost all of the time...whoops) and had to take some time to quickly pick it up and apologize:). Sarah was in a good place as I started the run and gave me some words of encouragement as I tried to get into my legs. Later, she would tell me how that orange fitted hat I put on was, basically, stupid and never to be worn again! I can't tell you the last time I remember running "fast." This disc flare up really put me in a tough position concerning my "speed" on the run and made for a pretty damn slow 3.5 mile run. The course, on the other hand, was great. Right in the thick of this newly developed neighborhood in Blaine, families were out in their driveways cheering. Kids were handing out water and gatorade. Hoses were out spraying runners. It was cute. Unfortunately it was pretty damn hot and there really weren't any "rabbits" out for me to try and catch. That said, I just tried to keep my cadence up and get the run done. I was almost to mile 3 when I thought to myself, "well, those girls started quite a ways before me, I think I went faster than they did today, I will slow down a little." Sweet lord that was dumb thinking, as a 48 year old named Cheryl ended up finishing only 30 seconds behind me, shit!

Thanks, Clix!:) Proof-style.

All in all, it was a nice first race. I was happy with the way my body performed with the condition it was in. I was also very happy to have Sarah there in support.

Next up will be my bro's wedding, then Manitou Sprint, as I decided I am NOT ready to race Liberty half in my current body-health condition:(. It should be a very competitive race against some of my good buds. After that? Sarah's first race at Lake Minnetonka!

The bro Garett and his wife-to-be Keren!

What You DON'T Want to See When Signing a Pass...

"I didn't draw that."
"Awesome."
"I didn't draw that."
"That was an unfortunate way to start my morning."
"Yeah, sorry, I didn't draw that."
....My reaction to a student's agenda book that consisted of male anatomy, as drawn by an 8th grade boy.


On to something else...
On May 5th, I will again be participating in the Randy Bauer 5k in Coon Rapids. It is an event to honor the late Randy Bauer, whom I had the privilege to teach next to at the beginning of my career. It would be awesome to get some other folks up there for the event this year. The course is actually fairly fun, and a little challenging towards the last mile (as it is mostly uphill). Sign up and join me!

Next post I'm going to give a quick overview of the upcoming (May 19th) 1st annual Blaine Triathlon. Flat and fast, ya'll!

RPMs and Lent

1.) About three weeks ago, I learned some valuable information; I have never trained on the bike at the correct rpms...ever. Now that that lesson is learned, time to move onward and upward (hopefully faster and more powerfully).

2.) I waited too long to sign up for Door County Half Iron in July, and it filled. So...race plans had to be moved around a bit. Turns out, Sarah and I will still be going, but racing Saturday's sprint race followed by a lovely long training day on Sunday! Yeah for Egg Harbor, WI.

3.) Another swim meet. Another box to be hurt in. These swim meets are very humbling. Good thing nice people attend them to make it a little nicer! Nice pool at UST.

4.) Public announcement: Candy and ice cream are currently not a part of my life, as of Ash Wednesday. I am absolutely not catholic, but decided to participate in the tradition of giving something up for Lent. So far, so good.

Swim Swim.

This past Monday was the "official" start to my 2012 season. Yes, I have gotten in some good work already this year, but now it's time to deuce, bounce, and roll. Coming off of another stress fracture, this time in my other foot, will be slow once again. But, I thank all of my lucky stars that everything else is in working order. Every day be thankful for that, people.

My first "comepetion" this year was in January at the U of M aquatic center. This was a "week before" decision, so I asked ol coach Tripps what he thought I could handle. With some of his advice in hand, and my lack of memory of my childhood swim meets, I entered the 200 free, 100 free, 50 fly, 500 free, and 200 free relay. I was tired by the time I got to the 500 and had really nothing left. Overall, the experience was really good. A nice group from Hopkins masters was there with lots of support. I guess I liked it so much, I'll do a couple more meets before the tri season really gets into gear.

Sarah and I have tried to take up skating as well this winter. Granted, we have only been out one time at our local Pearl rink, but I think it's something that we will really enjoy together. Oh, and I also received an awesome xmas/birthday gift....skate skis!! Now I just need Nordica to teach me!

To 2012.

Body Image

Triathlete Magazine recently posted 14 pictures of Lesley Paterson on their website (Check it out here). I have one question for her: what does your diet look like?? Because, my word, she has more than a six pack on her! My body will never look like that, but it is a very good example to look at when I want another bowl of ice cream.

We are now into our first month of 2012 (in case you were unaware) and many things are moving and shaking. South Nokomis is continually abuzz with dog talk, tri talk, and 'how do we make it all work' talk. I am three weeks out now from 'officially' beginning my 2012 training season and am very excited for what is to come.

Trip to the 'big' dog park when there was lil snow and ice on the ground.

Over the holiday break from school I was able to do some running with good buddies Nordica and Kevin. My brother was also in town, willing to train a little with his big sister. We got into Urban Tri's Peddle for Pancakes, where Gavin whooped that road bike up, tennis shoe-style. Seriously, no clips and a crazy moving cadence!

Gavin getting his stretch on, post Peddle for Pancakes ride.

Gavin was also able to enjoy the YWCA's 100 100s with Sarah and I on New Year's Day. He led our lane (aka, he was first, with everyone else quite a ways behind him), swimming 1:20 and 1:25s! We were able to polish off the swim in 3 hours with our sibling love still intact:).

My spin 'room' for Saturday's long ride.

Time to get my butt to yoga!

Boom Boom Pow

Crew doing some work at Urban Tri on a chilly Saturday morning.

This past week has been the normal "not too exciting" week. Which, to be honest, we are grateful for. Blessed in our life, we'll take the fairly relaxing weekend over anything too positive or too negative. I got a couple of folks revved up at school about doing the Blaine Triathlon in May and Sarah has been soaking up all of the time she has since having only one job to do!

Did you miss it? Well, my mother missed some of it, because I "didn't remind her." But at least she saw some good parts. Sarah missed it all together. Here I am, not missing it...

I'm in the hat talking with Brad. Guy next to him is from San Juan...here on business. Matt Priess and his fiance are there on the couch, with Paul Phillips next to him. JMatt and Kim are back there too.

Urban Tri put on an awesome viewing party for the Ironman World Championship that aired on NBC Saturday afternoon. Pizza Luce pizza, super giveaways (including one of Paul Phillips' 2011 IMWC photos that went to Lydia Novotny!), and great company.

Looking forward to our last "full" week of teaching and some fantastic training days:)

Getting Back on Track...

In many ways, it is time to "get back on track," including updating this damn blog!  Today starts my December 5th, 2011 Resolution: update this blog at least once per week!  I never updated after Ironman Wisconsin, which was basically a sin. This is why I am determined to make this resolution stick.

I have just recently penciled in (hard penciling, by the way) my 2012 racing schedule.  It looks like two A races (one in July and one in August) will be accompanied by a few sprint races and another half iron.  My last A race will be Ironman Louisville, which, as of this past weekend, I figured out just how far of a drive that will be. Yikes.  I am trying to convince my mother to hit the road with me in May or June to try out the course...yay mother/daughter time in the car!  Also, convincing Sarah of these shennanigans is looking more difficult the closer we get to "changing the family."

The training has started up again, since returning from our "late" honeymoon to Ft. Lauderdale.  There was a couple week "break" when I was down with pneumonia...but we're on our way back up!