First BRick

Today was the first brick of the tribabes and I noticed there were less people there than in previous years but it was still a good turn out and fun. It was a 5 mile bike / 1 mile run.


I took Abbey with me, who said she would like to give them a  go. She has already signed up for Irongirl so I told her she might as well do TriBabes too. That way she will have people to train with all summer. Tuesday will be out first lake swim and I should be able to make it even though I won't be with the tribabes, I'll go for a swim, maybe to the buckets and back. That's about a mile.

Today after the brick Linda and I ran 5 miles in the woods where it was nice and cool. We still sweated but it wasn't as bad as running on a road, dodging cars and being chased by dogs. I'm really liking the Garmin GPS watch Lan found on the highway.

Somewhere we have a sync chip that would connect it to the computer but good luck finding it. I'd like to download the info off the watch so I can anylize it later.

Yesterday was 57 miles of hell on the bike. I wore shorts that aren't meant for long rides and my hoo haw was hurtin. I will never do that again.

Horse News:
I bought new lead roaps for each horse, Joey gets black, Sunshower gets red and Wifi gets royal blue. I'll need to purchase new brushes sometime soon but I don't like big ones, I have small hands, so will gather them over the next few years. I still have a brush box in the new barn and I'm NOT taking it over there to be stolen.

When things get easier

Yesterday I was honored to meet one of my Ironman and Triathlon idols, Mr. Robert Key and his lovely wife, Susan. They are visiting Seattle from Texas, going from Alaska to Portland & back home. He had contacted us a while ago to let us know he would like to get together so we enjoyed a nice dinner at Anthonys in Seattle. Besides me & Lan, there was Linda & Steve and Sarah.

5 Ironmen, 1 halfer-soon-to-be Ironman

 Robert is one of my idols, 5 years ago he had a heart attack, now, 5 years later, he is a 7 time Ironman finisher and a motivational speaker who travels all over talking about his journey. He told us the story of a kid named Ivy and long story short, it was about him. I had a feeling when he started it...

Susan, Robert, Sarah, Me, Lan, Linda & Steve

 He did IMWI a few years ago and Linda shared the link to his photos so I studied them to see what I needed for my own race. For my last race, I went back to revisit and saw that in one of his recent races he had just the bare essentials, so that's all I went with. If he doesn't need it for an Ironman, I certainly don't need it for a sprint.

Selfie!

Today just as I was starting my run there were two other ladies out on the road going the same direction as me and I had to run past them. They were walking but it looked like they had been running too. As I passed by I asked if they run every day and they said yes, they asked me how far I was going so I told them an easy 6. As I sped off one of them remarked,

AND SHES GOT AN IRONMAN TATTOO.

 

That made me feel proud, then it made me get teary eyed and a snotty nose. Suck it up, I had to tell myself. So I ran to the old farm 2.95 miles, walked another .67 miles there while cleaning and ran back home but added in that extra .05 so I got in the 6 I had previously bragged about.
6 miles
1:27:14
14:32 min/mile
4.13 mph avg
My Garmin said my average was 5.1MPH but whatever. I did it.

Open Water Swim

I did get my first open water swim done but it was basically alone. I met some other people at the lake and we all started out at the same time but one swam fast out to the other end and the other 2 people were training so I went alone. Swam .58 mile in 25-28 minutes. I was in no hurry because I was just trying to remember how to swim.
 So when I got out of the water one of the guys was like, hey, you have a hole in your wetsuit. SHIT. I've taken such good care of this wetsuit, always trimmed nails, always wore mittens when putting it on so no fingernail holes, always rinsed and cared for properly.
So to have the seam rip out really pisses me off.

After I got it home and had it clean and dry I checked it out thoroughly and there are a few other spots in the seams that are failing.
I borrowed some seam sealer from Linda, I will repair it and hopefully it doesn't look like shit when Im done.
Its a $600 wetsuit that I got at the end of season for half price but I can't replace it now.

This week I didn't do a lot of bike miles, only about 40 total but I was exhausted from the previous week when I did 75. But this week I've run about 15 miles, very good for me, and have now surpassed the entire amount of running miles I did in all my previous Ironman training. But those previous miles were mostly walking, this time around I plan on running most of my marathon.

Bitching

FUCK.
Made plans to swim with Linda tomorrow, at the lake. It was to be both our seasons first open water swims, we were just going to take it easy and have some fun, just get wet.
So while Im at work today she fucking goes swimming with some other people.
FUCK.
Now she doesn't want to go tomorrow. And everyone else is swimming Tuesday but I don't want to swim with everyone else for my first swim. I wanted to have just one person so I didn't have to worry about anything, like a fucking audience.
So I whined to Windy so she invited me to swim with her and Robin at 3 tomorrow. Not optimum for me but it works. And we're going to take pictures and post them on FB and it will be more fun than swimming with Linda any day.
And I'm going to ride my bike by myself tomorrow and run alone the next day and avoid her for a few days because I'm pissed off at her. Let her do shit with everyone else or alone for all I care.
Yes, I'm a little bit jealous but mostly Im pissed off that she agreed twice to swim with me tomorrow. I even soaked my wetsuit so it would be ready.

Armed Forces 5k, Bremerton

 

I paid for this race a few weeks ago, thinking its local, just a 5k, should be fun. But little did I know that HARDLY ANYONE KNEW ABOUT IT. I didn't want to run it alone, I mean, I wanted to run alone but not be hanging out all alone at the starting line and I really had a 10 mile run I needed to do today.

 

I asked Amanda if she wanted my entry since I was too lazy to find parking but she's in Tucson.

But Suzie saw that post and said she would meet me at the Safeway and we could ride together. Suzie was there to support Nancy, who was running/walking with her new prosthesis for the first time.

 

 

 

The reason I wanted to run this race is because the money goes to the Armed Forces and I would get to run through the tunnel that ferry traffic uses to exit our dock.

 

Somehow, toward the end of the race, they accidently put bleachers on top of the directional arrows and I cut my run short, from 3.1 miles down to 2.61. many people did it, I was just following the crowd. If they had all turned, I would have turned also. But I didn't know if the GPS had worked through the tunnel or not so truly had no idea where I was at.

 

But I finished the 2.61 in 25:55 and that made me happy. I was trying for a PR

(29:21, flat course, 12.3.2011)

but this was a bit hilly and since its cut short its all moot anyway. I might have gotten below 31 minutes though.

 

After the race Suzie and I talked each other into running 7.5 more miles, for a total of 10 for the day. We met up an hour later on Beach Drive in Port Orchard and along the way saw Lisa Madson with her friend, going the wrong way.

They were looking for a restroom, that's the sewage treatment plant right behind them.

 

Only a mile to two left. Suzie wasn't feeling too great, she's been fighting a few old injuries.

I felt GREAT.

 

After 1hr 23mins we were done.

Today was my longest run in a very long time, since Race For A Soldier on September 29, 2013. WOW, too long between races.

 

No wonder I got fat.

57 biking miles

Rode 57 miles today with a couple friends, one of which totally invited herself. Oh well, shes the right speed for us but she doesn't take suggestions well. Her arms don't sit in the aero bars well at all, her elbows aren't seated in the elbow pads. I think they are too close together. She says her boobs get in the way.
Mine don't get in the way and we are so close to the same size. but whatever.
there was an epic front tire blow out and after we changed the inner tube we noticed a bulge on the sidewall of the tire so undid it and slipped a dollar bill inside the tire. That worked for 4 slow miles so I raced ahead one mile to home, got my car and Lans front tire, went back and switched them out and after filling up with water and having a snack of snickerdoodles, we were on our way for the last 12 miles.
What a great day.

Old Farm Problems

I really wish the bastards stealing my hay, halters, brushes and all my other shit would just knock it off. I can't afford to be feeding their fucking horse and supplying their barn with everything they need to set up shop.

Oh well, Karma is a BITCH and it will come around to bite them in the ass.

I have suspicions and if it turns out to be that person then I only have one message for her:
I hope you lose your battle with depression.

Fiesta 5k Ole'

 

Today Linda and I traveled to Seattle for the Cinco De Mayo Fiesta 5k Ole' race at Volunteer Park.

 

OFFICIAL RESULTS:

 

Me:

635/1201 overall

13/27 age group

 32:21 chip time

10:26 pace

 

Linda:

794/1201 overall

30/60 age group

34:37 chip time

11:10 pace



 

When we got there, 2 hours early, we went & got our race packets & then went back to the car. We got a nice close parking space and by thinking ahead I got turned around and was at the end of a lane so it was easy to leave.

But first we had to change clothes before the race. Me, twice.

I didn't want to run in shorts if it was going to be cold but it was warming up and I was planning on working it so I put my shorts back on.

 

When we returned to the park it was a bit breezy and we were both chilled so we stood by this brick wall, which was radiating warmth from the sun and blocking that breeze. Warmed us right up.

 

When I signed us up for this race just 2 weeks ago there was a GREEN WAVE that was timed or the RED WAVE which wasn't timed. There was no additional charge for timed so I chose that. I'm glad I did, it gave me a reason to run a bit faster than I might have.

 

here we are with 10 minutes to go about 50 people back from the front of the green corral.

 

Countdown & we go. Stop. jog in place. stop. walk a couple feet. stop. Walk, jog slowly.

After about a quarter mile we were able to get into a steady pace, at about .75 mile I heard her phone say we were keeping a 10.09 minutes per mile pace and I knew I could go just a titch faster and have a slight chance to get a PR.

 

So I had to leave her behind. But it was ok, with 3000 people on course and it being a small course, there was no chance of getting lost. The roads were shit, I saw 3 people fall and another guy trip badly.

I was feeling good at a mile, keeping pace with 2 other girls who looked good and strong, just my speed.

At 2 miles I knew I had a little more in me and it was going down hill but I had NO idea of how the course went, its turns of hills or anything. So for the first half of the last mile it was gently sloped downhill and I went a bit faster, thinking I wish it would turn because we have to go back up this hill. The turn around was in the middle of the mile and on the way back I figured out Linda was about 30-45 seconds behind me. I handed her my small water bottle and kept going. I had no watch on myself so I had no idea of my time but I still felt good.

 

The hill was a bugger and it slowed a lot of people down but I stayed strong and passed many of the people who had passed me earlier. One couple in gray shirts who had jumped in front of me earlier & then slowed down and blocked me were now beside me again and I passed their asses and didn't look back.

With 1/10 mile remaining, it was still a bit uphill and we couldn't see the finish line. They had strategically placed it behind a sharp turn.

 

I finally saw it and was pretty glad and I didn't stop running until I was over the line, both blue lines. Most people were stopping before then but that's just stupid, the race isn't over until you cross it.

 

I was there in time to see Linda FINISH and got this cool picture and shes even smiling.

 

Then we went and ate bagels and tacos; there was a taco truck contest and you got to vote for them. And buy tacos, online they made it sound like you would get free tacos, but no, we had to buy really expensive small tacos from street vendors. I had a shrimp taco, it was OK. Just OK. But I was starved since breakfast had been 5 hours earlier and the bagels weren't enough. And the bagels were dry.

 

And finally the beer garden was open and both of us were BEER VIRGINS before today. Today we actually took advantage of the free booze being offered and we collected it.

We had strawberry 'Ritas.

Yum.

 

We didn't wait for the band of anything like that, we just decided to go home.

One the way back to the car Linda took a picture of the UW arena and I took a picture of her taking a picture.

 

I finished in about 32:40, that's the time on the clock. I actually was a bit faster than that because I crossed the start line about 30-45 seconds after the official start time.

And of course we forgot to check our results before we left. And of course they aren't posted online yet.