Back in the saddle

How is training going? Good.

Lan and I had a chance for dry weather the other day so we took the tri bikes out for a 1.5 hour ride on the Interurban trail in Kent.

Went 20.5 miles at about 13+ MPH. We had to stop at a lot of cross streets but I'm very disappointed with my time. I felt like we were going much faster than that.

The trail is flat, along the Green River, from Algona Pacific, past Emerald Downs and into Kent. Nice wide paved trail that's perfect. I'm going to make Linda go there with me pretty dang soon so we can haul ass on it.

We had taken the bike to Northwest Tri and Bike in Covington so have it fitted to me better than Lan knows how to do it. It was close but the guy made a few adjustments. Saddle is lower, handlebars are angled up, neck is turned over.

He also suggested we get a new hub with a granny gear, which I currently don't have.

We are seriously thinking about renting race wheels for the Ironman Coeur d'Alene, which I will be taking part in. It costs $150 per wheel but Lan thinks it will cut 20 minutes off my bike time and I'm going to need every minute I can possibly get for the run.

I recently found out that Marilyn will start training at Bremerton YMCA for their Masters classes!!!  I loved taking classes with her at Olympic Masters but it was so expensive, $40 per month plus a yearly fee of up to $150. Yikes! And you have to pay it whether you go or not. Bremerton Masters is $30 per year and I already have the YMCA membership.

I'm be getting up early tomorrow for the Y's boot Camp at 5:30-6:30am, then I'll run for 45 minutes then go to Torreys spin/strength class. I'm going to be beat!   Later in the day I'll get to work for 4 hours.

Back on track

How is training going? Much better.

This week I have done 2 boot camp classes, 1 Pilate's video, 1 spin/strength class & 1 hour of masters swimming. I haven't run at all but On Saturday I'm supposed to run a half marathon so we'll see how that goes. I'm not worried about if I do it or not.

The half marathon is in Seattle and ends at Alki in west Seattle. There are 123 people signed up to do the run, it is a New York Marathon qualifier so I'm guessing its going to be very fast paced. I would be the very last finisher.

Lan has asked me to go on a nice, long bike ride with him tomorrow or Saturday and I think that would be a good thing for me instead of the half marathon.  I haven't been on a nice long ride in too long.  West Sound Triathlon Club has a group of people doing the course of the Chilly Hilly on Bainbridge Island Saturday. http://shop.cascade.org/content/events/chilly-hilly-details  I remember something about this from when I was in high school...

I'll keep you updated, of course.

With all the snow we had and freezing temps, Wifi colicked again. Poor girl, she was down and rolling but not violently. I bought her a heated water bucket so she'll be happier to drink.  I have been making her warm  mashes each night and soaking her hay. Shes not getting as much as before but that's OK since she doesn't need to get all clogged up again.

Look at her main, even in braids its super long. It was in dreads, awful! But while she was sick I spent some quality time with her and got it all groomed up nice then braided it to keep it from redreading.  here she is eating her soaked hay.

And here shes eating her warm mash, alfalfa pellets & Beet pulp.

We have a new boarder in the barn, Chenoa brought her 5 yr old QH mare, Roxy.
The mare has been halter trained but that's it. Shes nice and gentle and very trusting, she loaded into the trailer without balking at all. She hauled quietly and didn't whinny once she got to our barn.

Roxy has been a nice horse so far. Chenoa, on the other hand, is high maintenance. She expects me to give her mare 2 flakes of hay automatically at each feeding, whether she needs it or not. That might make for a lot of waste so instead I've been feeding 3 meals each day, 1 flake per horse per meal. This works well, giving all of them something to do for longer periods of time. Anyway, Chenoa wants all this bullshit done for her horse and I'm not caving in to her demands. If she feeds the horse when shes not supposed to I'll know it and I'll feed less at dinner time. A horse this size doesn't need as much hay as Joey & Patti.

With the snow finally gone I was able to turn Wifi and Sunshower out for a few hours yesterday and Wifi went crazy, as usual. I'm so happy to see her feeling better.

Snow sucks

How is training going? Not.

I go to a website called Iamtri and read what people there have to say, its pretty neat. Any question I have I can just search for it and read all the answers everyone else has written. There is a lot of support there.

One lady started Ironman CDA and she lives in Coeur d'Alene and said if anyone wants a guide for the bike course that she will gladly take you for a ride. How cool is that??

I have a half marathon to run in 8 days but I haven't been running, I'm going to suffer on this thing. But there is only a $10 entry fee and the money goes directly to the local food bank.

We now have about 6-8 inches of snow with a 3/4 inch ice crust on top. I can almost walk on top without breaking through. There is absolutely no way to go outside to run, not that I would run alongside a rural road in these conditions. Here is the outside behind the barn yesterday when we only had 4 inches and no ice on top.

I made a warm mash for my horses tonight, Wifi was so impatient she was kicking the walls of her stall. Bad pony. Its alfalfa pellets & oats with some bentonite mixed in for good measure.

Here's the stinker eating it. Right after this she kicked again, flung her head up & around and sent that stuff flying into my face. I love Wifi.

Dave helps me whenever I go to the barn and he likes to help while on my shoulders. We don't do that too often of I wouldn't get any work done.  He likes to ride in the manure cart too, but mostly when there is hay in it & not the manure.

Hagen always goes to the barn with me too but she goes down there is Cassie is cleaning because Cassie gives her carrots. Hagen will do tricks for Cassie, sit up and beg and roll over. She doesn't do tricks for me. Once Hagen saw Cassie coming into the gate so she ran to the gate and rolled over, without begging for a carrot first. Silly dog.

Snow before the storm

How is training going? Shoulders are sore from yesterdays swim.

I haven't done my spin/core/strength workout for today but I will in a while. Right now I'm letting dinner settle in my gutt.

There is only an inch of snow outside, we got a little more overnight but not a lot and it started melting before sunrise. They are predicting 3"-6" more tonight so we'll see what we get.

Today I put Joey and Handy outside in the arena, they made snow angels. Heres a video of Joey. http://youtu.be/120OuKRBHVg

Snow days

How is training going? On & off.

Its been hard to get my bikes & running due because of inclement weather. I simply DO NOT run outdoors when its raining or snowing due to the idiots who live around here. I would get hit in an instant and they would take off and leave me for dead. And naturally its been snowing here for 2 days.

This is my dog, Hagen, yesterday. At that time there was only an inch of snow.

 Its been snowing all day but still only about 2 inches, maybe. They are predicting 6-8 inches, in some places they said FEET, not INCHES.

This was yesterday when Lan & I went for a drive, didn't find much snow, the most we saw was at our own house.



Today I not only ran 3.6 miles on the YMCA indoor track but followed that with an 1800 yard swim. I dislike swimming. but I did todays in 56 minutes, which is right on for finishing the 2.4 ironman swim on time. Barely. But I swim faster in open water, don't have to stop and turn around. I don't flip over or that would make me sick. As it was, I was nausous after 34 laps.

Gary came out & trimmed the horses feet. Joey is barefoot again, I hope he doesn't get too sore since hes had shoes on for the last year because of a quarter crack. I'll keep an eye on it and if it cracks any more I'll get Gary out to put shoes on right away.

If there is any more snow tomorrow I'm going to take the camera out with me & get video of Wifi when I put her out into the arena. That filly can buck and I'd like snowy video of that.

You should have seen our sunset tonight

This was the sunset at work today, absolutely gorgeous.

All the customers getting onto the ferries couldn't miss it, I saw several people getting out of their cars to take photos and I just had to stare. We have a lot of perfect evenings here, being near the water, but this was extraordinary.

Big bad bummer day

How is training going? The pool was closed.

Linda and I went to the Bremerton YMCA tonight for our first Masters swim class but the pool was closed. I guess someone had a little accident...  So we drove all the way out there for nothing. I was bummed because I didn't want to go in the first place but I knew I had to and we had planned on going to that class because we need to learn from better swimmers.

We also need to save money, Marilyns masters classes are excellent but the yearly fees of $130 plus $40 per month are just out of my league. The class tonight has a once yearly fee of $30 plus your monthly YMCA membership, which is already being paid for. And most of the people in the masters class at the Y are in West Sound Tri Club and we want to be really friendly with them because they are going to Ironman CDA too.

Yeah, so both of us were bummed. I could have gone to the Y in Gig Harbor at any time today but didn't because I was waiting for this. SLACKING.

Good swim workout today

How is training going? I had a good swim workout.

Linda and I went to the Silverdale Y to swim. We knew we had to swim 26 laps with warm up, drills, swim & cool down so we did it all. Drills need to be more serious but at least I got my butt to the gym and into the water.  We did all 26 laps in 1:13:00 which for even me isn't bad, considering we chatted between every single lap.

Then I was supposed to run 45 minutes but the dang high school kids got there and were running backward on the track, chasing each other. Annoying, irritating, stupid kids. I'll go earlier next time.

Linda needs to stop running so she can save her knees for Ironman. She can run once in a while for short distances and do more spin or actually getting her butt onto her bike and riding it. This is all my opinion.

Woke up sore.

How is training going? I'm a little sore.

My shoulders and back are a little sore, maybe from the bike ride, maybe from my bed. We've got a new mattress but if I'm waking up in pain almost every morning then somethings wrong.

I now have to go swimming, called & made plans with Linda to get to the Silverdale YMCA pool. If we hurry there won't be any bratty snot faced kids there. Then we might be able to get into the lazy river...

Nice sunny day for a ride

How is training going? Very good.

Lan and I went for a ride on the Felt bikes today. The temps were in the high 40's and it was sunny all day long so we couldn't stay indoors and do house stuff.

Here's Lan, we're about 2 miles in to the ride and he had to adjust his seat. I am using a TEST seat, a Cobb Flow, to see how I like it. Its way better than my own old seat but I'm not 100% that this is the seat for me. We'll ride a couple more times and see how it fits & how I feel then we'll go exchange it for another one. I can't ride well with parts going numb.

Lans riding on peacock Hill Blvd. We were still in Kitsap county at this point so there wasn't much of a shoulder but Pierce County had nice ones.

We stopped by to see Linda in action. She got a job as sign spinner for those new houses in the back ground.

Here is the  man I love, who loves me back. Lan is awesome.

And me. I had a good time on our ride.

We went a total of 18 miles and I was good with that, we had planned on going farther but Lan thought we should turn back so we don't overdo it on new bikes we're not used to. Good idea. I got home in time to clean my barn and ride Sunshower.

Yes, I actually saddled up my mare and rode her in the arena for about 15 minutes. We did a little walking & then a nice slow (almost a walk) trot. Perfect. I miss riding my horses.

After June 25th I'm going to be riding my horses a whole lot more than I will up until that point.

New Saddle to Tri

How is training going? Slow this week.

This is where I was for most of the week, at Fauntleroy dock. They said they needed to lay me off then I got 40 hours this week and almost overtime. I did have a good time and I was able to rest after the Marathon so it wasn't all bad. Plus I got double time for working on the New Years Day holiday.

Lan and I went to several bike & tri stores today looking for a new seat for my bike. Tri & Bike in Covington has a bunch of test saddles & you don't have to pay anything for the testing time. I got a Cobb Flow Max. I need to go on a nice long ride to see how I really like it & to make sure its comfortable before I decide if its right for me or not.

We also checked out the Terry line of saddles.

 and the Adamo saddles. I think I'd like to test out one of these after I bring back the Cobb.

I like how the front is split for comfort and I thought it might be too wide in the seat but it didn't feel so wide when I sat on it.

We took our bikes because we were going to go ride but it got too dark, too fast.

See that 13.1 sticker? I forgot to buy my new one the 26.2 sticker so I still have something I need.

These shoes are not only pretty but would be a good choice for the race. can't justify that price, yet.

This is what I want on the seat of my riding shorts so everyone knows it is me ahead of them.

Yukon Do It Race Report

How is training going? I'm a little sore.

Yesterday was my first full marathon,

the

Yukon Do It

in Port Orchard.

This was the 2nd annual Yukon Do It.

Here is the medal, its the largest one I've ever received.

Tony Seabolt at the beginning of the race

Ready, set, GO!

The temperature at the beginning of the race was 31* so I wore layers. It was a perfect combination as I wasn't too cold nor too warm.

HI!

We started at the local high school because there is tons of parking there, ended at a strip mall down the hill about 4 blocks so the race had a negative elevation gain.

Cheerleaders

Barbara, someone I don't know, Linda & Barbs 2 daughters

This section of the road was solid ice, people were peeling off to the sides and several people fell. You can see the first runners at the top of the hill. They were the half marathon runners and they were hauling ass.

There I am in the yellow jacket. this is just past the 1st turn around at about mile 6.5, out at Manchester State Park.

I like this part of the road, the trees grow completely over the road and its nice and quiet in there.

about mile 7. I removed the neck buff and the gray shirt and gave Lan my gloves and hood.

About mile 9. My left hip flexor was really starting to be a pain but I ran through it. The guy behind me was with me throughout the entire race, he and another guy would run past me then walk, run past, walk. For 3/4 of their half marathon. They called me their pace bunny.

My first split was 2:34 and I was seriously considering quitting but I wanted that marathon off my bucket list SO BAD!!!

This camel and another one were at the 1st & 3rd turn around area. They live here.

I passed them 4 times. At this point I was at about 18 miles and still felt good. I hadn't walked more than at aid stations for water and I did drink at each one. if they offered electrolytes I drank them. I was also feeling a little dehydrated here so I drank more than at the previous aid stations.

I stopped at this aid station for over 5 minutes because Lan, Linda & Steve were all there so I was chatting. Linda walked back up the hill with me.

Lan had to make sure to give the camels treats and the camel tried to eat the camera.

Then suddenly I was finished.

But in between I had to walk a couple times, just for about 100 yards. Linda and Steve stopped a few times to offer moral support and water. Linda walked a lot of it with me as I drank water.

My watch said 5:42:28.

I felt better at the end of this marathon than I did at the end of my first half marathon.

Here's Linda and Steve with me.



Here's my husband, Lan. It was our anniversary.

I love you Lan!

He said the race was Yukon Do It and

"Yukon DID It!"

On the way home...

I had a lot of dried sweat on me but not as bad as previous races. I'm eating better.

And the surprise injury, both of my 2nd toes had blisters.

Next time I'll try using anti-chafing stuff on them.

The sun was out almost all day, the temperature got up to about 43* or so, warm enough to run very comfortably but not too warm. I was encouraged to keep running, that's for sure.

The weather report had called for rain but we were lucky and had a beautiful day instead.