I AM IRON GIRL!

Wow.

So yesterday was my first sprint triathlon.
I have been working toward this since I started swimming in October.

I don't think I could have picked a better first race. Thank you Iron Girl - Syracuse!

Friday:
My parents came up to support me and watch me race on Friday...so in order to get in the required carbs we had Polish food. Awesome. Perogies are carb loading right? I say YES! Eva you make some awesome perogies!

Saturday was the expo and bike racking.

Saturday:
My dad went with me. Let me say Saturday was seriously 98 degrees and 70 something percent humidity. All of the hydrating I had done the week prior...well I sweated it out in about the first 15 minutes while waiting in line to check in. OMG it was ridiculously hot. I felt for all the volunteers...they all looked like sweaty messes and I was there within the first two hours of check in. And best of all my first check in person was the amazing woman that I bought my bike from. She gave Lola good luck kisses and we were off.

I was glad I had watched a race or two and had taken advantage of some lectures and such put on at the Y, this way I had some idea of what to expect. I put my number on my bike and took Lola to her overnight camping spot. She looked so cute all wrapped up in her plastic and pink tiger duct tape.

Did I mention how hot it was? I swear I was melting. So dad and I left and were so excited to get into a car with a/c, of course my dads hands got fried on the steering wheel, but hey who needs finger prints anyway?
So now we were off for lunch at Dinosaur BBQ. Yum! I had a lovely smoked portobello sandwich and mom & dad got to try some awesome brisket, ribs and pulled pork, oh and my had some house made lemoncello and I think she was in love. Thank goodness she only had one - if she had more she might have thought she would do the tri with me!
Now home to get my transition goodies together, I decorate my transition bucket and check my list once...twice...three...maybe more times. I didn't want to forget anything.

Now it is time to chill and get some sleep. Lucky for me (never thought I would say these words) I have to get up at 4am to work during the week so getting up about 3:45am was not too big a shock. I slept well and was up and at 'em Sunday morning.

Sunday:
Up before the sun...again. Had my pre-race oatmeal with peanut butter and some coffee (coffee is a must no matter what day it is) and waited for everyone else not accustomed to getting up stupid early to rise and shine. We loaded up and were off by 5am. We were on site by 5:10. Now to set up my transition area and get ready for go time.

My awesome family had shirts made for the event...which was such a fun surprise. They said -
Go
Mo
Go
Loved them and love them!

I was in wave 6 start time 7:25.
And we're off...
The swim was good. No freak outs. People did get in my way and I had to swim around a bunch of them, but oh yeah I got to swim around them...yep I passed people. Made it all 600 meters with no issues.
Swim time: 16:54
It was a really long was from the water to the bikes...plus I was enjoying the transition. And I was chatting with my neighbors - wishing them luck - and asking how it was going so far...you know chit chat.
Transition 1: 6:55
Now I am off on my date with Lola. She is so good to me.
It was a very windy ride and it seemed no matter which direction I was going I was always going into the wind. It must be that I am riding just that fast - right? In all seriousness it really was windy. Oh and I got stopped by a train. WHAT??? A train??? Really?? So that was interesting, but hey at least I didn't get hit by the train. Off we go again. I had a good bike even with the train and was as fast or faster than my personal best training ride. So yeah!!!!
Bike: 1:12:16
Transition number 2 was more chatting with previously mentioned neighbor...which also means slow time plus I do clip in for m rides so I needed to change to my running shoes.
Transition 2: 3:57
Lastly the 5k run. I am 2/3 done. My legs are rubbery. And it takes a few minutes for my body to figure out how to move forward. I am slow, but what else is new. I have never been a fast runner and running after an 18 mile bike ride and a 600 meter swim is even more challenging. I wave and smile and look at all of these awesome people out cheering us on and especially those who know me! Yeah us! The run is sunny in spots and yes a did walk here and there, but I was surprised to see I had a 13:17 pace.
Coming up the road you can see the finish and start to hear the cheers and you just keep running. How amazing it was to see all those smiling faces and hear the people...unbelievable. And then I crossed the finish line and was given my Iron Girl finisher medal...oh yes I got hardware.
Run: 41:08

Total time: 2:19:10
Now I have a PR and a goal to beat next year!

And I can call myself a Triathlete.

And to celebrate...we went to Bavarian Fest and had Spaten Dark and a broccoli & cheese strudel. Yum!

-Thank you to all of you that have supported me: Mark & family, My family, Gina, Paul, AJ & Emily, my work friends, my training buddies, my coaches, and everyone else. Without you I am not sure how I could have done this.

-Thank you to all of the volunteers! You all rock and without you, none of us would have been able to do this.

Next up half mary land...

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY

So this Sunday, August 5 I will become a triathlete.
Yep, I got this.
I will be an Iron Girl.

All of the training will come to this. My first and really only goal is to finish. Time doesn't matter. I am going to have fun. I am going to enjoy the experience. Deep down I do hope I do well and pass at least a few people, but the weather is looking toasty and me and heat racing are not friends, but I got this.

Long time no blog...

Okay so it has been forever since I last posted here. I feel like the worlds worst blogger, not that I have many followers or anything, but still I am hoping this may provide a useful tool for me in my life, my training, or just fun to go back and read about my follies back in the day.

So since my last post I have run my second Boilermaker 15k road race in Utica, NY. This year I finished about 5 minutes slower than last year, but there were a few reasons why I was a wee bit slower.

• It was about a billion percent humidity
• When you are slow it gets hot and the last 3 miles are open and sunny and toasty
• I ran with a friend and we learned about nerves and racing and port-a-potties

On the awesome side:

• With a race bib you get 50% off a 12 pack of Saranac beer
• I finished
• I ran with a friend
• We ran up the entire hill
• We made up a ton of time between the port-a-potty and the finish
• We saw an ass - an actual ass (donkey) at the zoo and were not delusional
• Physically I feel much stronger and better than I did at this time last year my legs feel good and this I am happy about
• I finished!

Also when you are at the back of the pack and pass the 500 photographers on the course they have nothing else to do but take a ton of pictures of you. So I have lots of photographic proof that I did indeed run this race - none of which will ever see the light of day. Oh and a new feature they added...a finisher video. I found this completely depressing. I my mind I was sprinting like I had never sprinted before...running like the wind...running like something awful was chasing me...on the video I look like I might collapse at any moment...like I am about 112 years old and am crossing the finish line with my walker...I look like forward progress is almost unnoticeable.  Ugh. Again this video will never be viewed by anyone and must be destroyed immediately.

The following weekend was winefest so not much training to be had unless you count sweating in huge tents while waiting for more wine...

And now I am only a week away from my first Iron Girl. My first triathlon. Wow. I am excited and terrified.
Just this past week I did a training with the CNY Tri club. This was really my first open water swim with people. I have been swimming since October so I am okay in the pool and I know I can swim the distance, but open water is different. And open water with 100 of my closest friends kicking and swinging their arms is even more different. I decided to do the swim sans wetsuit. I wanted to make sure it felt good without it just in case the water is too warm to wear the wetsuit I didn't want to be dependent on it. The lake is very low due to lack of rain and even snow this past winter - and it is very weedy. You could probably walk the majority of the swim and I am sure many will, but not me. I have trained to swim not walk so I am going to swim that bad boy. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the swim felt. While I am not a fast swimmer I was comfortable in the water and I passed people. Oh yeah you heard that right I PASSED PEOPLE! I am now feeling much better about the swim. Whew.

I did a loop of the bike course which was just under 9 miles. It felt good. And guess what? I passed people!!! And they weren't all on tricycles with baskets filled with flowers and puppies they were actual athletic people on bikes! Me and Lola were feeling good. This was my first swim then ride. Whew.

Next was the run. I wasn't sure how far I was going to run. I was after all skipping my maraton speedwork training to do this tri training, but I had also just done a swim and a ride how would I feel running? And could I go the full 5k? Did I want to? Off come the cycle shoes and on go my running shoes. And out I go. Yep I am still slow. And nope I don't want to quit. I do the whole 5k. I am not last and I PASSED PEOPLE! What what what?

Boy was I glad that was over, but damn, I might just do okay on this Iron Girl. I feel ready. I may not be fast, but I am excited to do this race.

Post Iron Girl my focus changes...biking and swimming for fun or cross training...and focus on running, running, running. Next stop 1/2 mary land.

Tri-ing to be a good sport

Today was the Green Lakes Livestrong Triathlon. It was cool and intensely humid when not raining and colder when it was raining.

Today I volunteered at the Green Lakes Triathlon.

Wow! So many beautiful, strong, courageous and determined athletes. The power of this group was inspiring.  I worked briefly helping racers put their timing chips on and then was stationed at the first water stop coming out of the bike transition into the run. Let me tell you there is an art to handing out water and it took a few to get the hang of it. I got to cheer (and by cheer I mean yell really loud) on all of my friends out there navigating the course. Lastly, I got to help with crowd control near the finish line and while I did not get to see the winners finish I did get to cheer on some of my favorite people and watch them succeed and see the look of pride on their faces. A great big way to go to all of you!

Props to all of the family, friends, volunteers, survivors, and other supporters that came out to cheer on these amazing people.

Note to self...start taking more pictures to include in blog.

Tomorrow it is 4 weeks until the Boilermaker and 8 until my first tri Iron Girl and 154 days 11 hours 6 minutes and 36 seconds until the Outer Banks Marathon, but hey who's counting. One of these days maybe I will write about some of my training.

2012 a year of firsts...

The year is 2012 and this will be the year I compete in my first triathlon. I know I have talked about it before on my blog, but I wanted to touch on it again. The tri is called Iron Girl and it is a race for women only and I am mildly terrified. Not so much of the running or the biking or even the act of swimming, but I am petrified of the wetsuit. It hangs in my closet like an intruder waiting with an ax. I sleep with a light on so it doesn't sneak up on me in the middle of the night.

Okay the second first (is that proper English) is going to be a half marathon. Yep 13.1 miles. Thirteen point one miles. What am I thinking? Who does that and why? The way I am justifying it is...if I am doing the Boilermaker (which is a second) anyway which is 9.3 miles what is another 3.8 miles? That is only another 5k plus .7. No big deal. Right? That is what I keep telling myself. Oh yeah and the Boilermaker is less than 6 weeks away. WHAT??? Okay now I haven't actually signed up for one yet, but I am. Just got find one that guarantees 50 degrees, light rain, it must be all slightly downhill, and it must end with adult beverages. Shouldn't be too tough to find.

Then the coup de grace...the piece de resistance...the WTF are you thinking...the third first...I am going to run a marathon. Yes a full mary. The run that only between .1% and 2% of people will ever do in their life. Why? Because I can. It is on my bucket list. I am going to run the Gateway Bank Outer Banks Marathon on Sunday, November 11, 2012. There I said it out loud and I said it online (where everything is true).

The lesson I learned is IT IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA TO TALK TO YOUR MOM ABOUT RUNNING AFTER DRINKING MULTIPLE GLASSES OF WINE OR YOU WILL END UP COMMITTING TO RUNNING A MARATHON.

Corgis say what are you thinking?

Trying to Tri oh yeah and run the Boilermaker

So I should have started this ages ago, but you know what they say about mice and men and me and being ahead of the game...

So as some of you (all two of my followers) know I am signed up for a few races this summer. The first is a repeat performance of last year in the Boilermaker. What is the Boilermaker other than a whiskey with a beer chaser? Well, let me tell you...it is a 15k run in the lovely town of Utica, New York. What's lovely about Utica? Well...they do have an awesome Cambodian restaurant and the race does end at the Matt Brewery, which is home to Saranac Beer and yes there is free beer for all the racers...and pretty much all the fans and the rest of Utica, but hey if you come out to cheer on the racers and are kind enough to pass out ice, or freezee pop things, or ring a cow bell or hand out shots of vodka to make that hill on the golf course more manageable, by all mean you deserve a beer too. Last year was my inaugural race and I made a stunning PR (personal record) of a mere two hours nine minutes and 41 seconds. Blazing fast for me and oh a 15k is 9.3 miles for you metrically challenged out there. You know what? I wasn't last and I totally passed people. Oh yeah!

So this year I signed myself up to do it again. I guess I will do just about anything for free beer.

I am about 7 weeks out from the race and am on track with my training. My long runs are up to one hour 30 minutes so in 6 weeks I should be ready for the race. I feel stronger in my training and I wish I were a little further along in my distance (longest run has been about 6 miles) I know I will be ready. Will I be faster? Probably not, but hey not too many people can say they have run a 15k.

Of course if you come to cheer me on, please pace yourself you will be waiting on me for a while and please make sure there is beer left for me when I get there! Oh and did I mention instead of giving out the usual race t-shirt you can a pint glass for running the Boilermaker...if I keep this up maybe I will collect myself a six pack of glasses. :)

My other race I am registered for is the Iron Girl. It is a sprint distance triathlon which is held about 10 miles from the house. The distances are as follows: 600 yard swim, 30k bike (18ish miles), and a 5k run (3.1 miles).

I started swimming in October when I was in the 'thinking about signing up' stage...the just in case I do place. I am glad I did. Growing up we had a pond. Now you might think that having a pond and having several friends with ponds I would have taken swimming lessons...you know because we had a pond, but nope. I learned by the just get out there and do it method which works more or less and since I am still here I must have done something right. Fast forward to October 2011 when I enroll in a Level 1 tri swim clinic, an adult intermediate swim lesson and a level 2 tri swim clinic just for shits and giggles. Before going into these classes I am not sure I had ever swam the 25 yard length of the pool without some form of flotation device...why??? Because I had never had a reason to - now I did. Guess what? I am a pretty good swimmer. I believe I owe it all Dara Torres and Michael Phelps and what I learned from watching them swim. Of course my butterfly leaves a lot to be desired, but I will give it a go ever once in a while and swimming 1000-1500 in one of my lessons is now easily doable. Who woulda thunk it? I have a wetsuit (thanks Kecia!!!) in case I need it, of course it terrifies me and hangs in the closet like a noose waiting to strangle the life out of me - that is if I can actually get it on (note to self, buy stock in body glide).

Next is the biking. Enter Lola. She is my showgirl...
Lola is a Specialized Dolce Sport in white and berry and she is smokin' hot and super fast. I am learning that going from my hybrid to Lola is like going from a A1 Abrams Tank to a Ferrari. She is a beast. I love her. I still can't figure out how to get to my water bottle without falling over, but I will get there. I have had a few firsts with her...and learned a few very valuable lessons.

Lesson 1 - do not DO NOT try to clip in (when you have only clipped in once before) on a hill and this is a big friggin' hill called SBJ (Sweet Baby Jesus). Gravity is not IS NOT a theory and wen forward momentum stops you will inevitably fall to the side where your foot is still attached to the pedal.

Lesson2 - chain catchers do not always catch chains and getting one back that is under the chain catcher requires at least 4 other cyclists to stop and help with your 'mechanical' - 3 will actually dismount and one french guy will supervise while the woman with the fresh mani curses and gets all greasy.

Lesson 3 - bike pants/shorts are black for this reason...chain grease.

There will be more lesson I am sure, but this is a good starting point.

Some firsts:
- crossing tracks (while staying upright no less)
- using the drop handle bars
- using all my gears successfully
- spelling derailleur correctly and knowing what it is and does

Then there is the running which I think I have successfully covered above.

Oh and today I did my first real brick. It was a short brick, but it was a brick. I took Lola out for about 9 miles and then did a base run immediately following the ride. One interesting thing was my run was faster and significantly so without meaning to be...did my normal loop which usually takes about 16 to 16 minutes 30 seconds in 15 exactly and it would have been faster if Sydney the wonder Corgi hadn't needed a potty break that required cleaning up.

So today was a good training day for me.

Happy Tuesday all.