And Now, Triathlon

Went to the doctor today for the pain in my foot and the ultrasound showed the tumor is practically gone, which is a very good thing. But he couldn't find any explanation for the pain in the top of my foot.

Now for something weird: There is a tiny spot on the second metatarsal bone of my left foot, the foot that hurts and its an old stress fracture.

See the small gray spot here? This is where it is.

And something different, where the 2 small bones are circled in red on my right foot, I have 3 small bones. Obviously this isn't my right foot.

He said there isn't any arthritis in my feet at all, that the xrays show my feet looking

very good for my age.

So while there is no reason for my foot pain I do have the go-ahead to train for IMCDA 70.3 on June 24th so I've got 144 days to train.

Ironman World Championship

Our friend, Heidi, is racing in Kona today, you can follow her here

https://track.rtrt.me/e/IRM-WORLDCHAMPIONSHIP-2017#/tracker/RKBGDTZP

Ironmans Injury

My Ironman has an injury and hasn't been working out. He's using the barn building as an excuse and though I appreciate it, he needs to get busy building up his body. Hes got a big race in November to FINISH and do it well.
From some of his comments hes made it sounds like he wants to use his injury to get a pass on the race this year and defer till next year. Um, NO. I paid for him to do it THIS year, not next year.
I was checking out the calendar and I wouldn't be able to do it till 2020 if I remained on-call at work, since we can't take days off of Thanksgiving week.

The barn/lean-too

is now completely off the arena, its a lot lighter & brighter in there. But if we are smart it can stay light and bright, with use of windows and clear roof panels.

He has been moving dirt out of the way to make room for cement. Its going to need 6 inches of sand + 4-6 inches of cement so hes got a lot of dirt to move.

Today I made another big life change. Transferred my entry into the Marine Corp Marathon (October 30 in Arlington, VA) and am making plans to do another Ironman race in 2017.

Hoping I can get in to the one I want.

 

Which is

IRONMAN ARIZONA 2017

 

Suzie has an early entry into it so I asked her if she doesn't use, may I please have it and she said maybe. She wants to do Chatty again. But I'm sure she will give her early entry to someone else that she likes better than me.

 

Lori sent me a text the other day, saying shes got the bug and would I like to do it again with her. I asked Lan, he said I can't whine to him about training. I promised I'd only whine half as much as last time.

 

 MCM was and still is on my bucket list and I'll enter the lottery again when I don't have something else going on at that time of year. This year its Hawaii for the Ironman Championships.

I also want Lan to have a chance to do another Ironman, I can't hog them all.

And I cried over this decision.

USAT Age Group Nationals

 

A few months ago I told you about how I qualified at Irongirl Sprint Tri 2015 in Seattle for the

USAT Age Group Nationals,

I came in the top 10% and was invited to race in Omaha, Nebraska against the other top 10%

in the nation.

This is the weekend they raced and several of my friends went;

Windy, Barb and Lindy.

 

And this is the medal they all received in the Olympic distance

 

Windy 3:20:39 age 44

Bard 3:25:47 age 54

Lindy 4:18:58 age 70

 

I wish I had been able to go to the race but working where I do just doesn't allow summertime vacations. My supervisor encouraged me to go but I'm not stupid, it would have been a waste of money. Today they were paying overtime for someone else to show up, he would NEVER have given me today off.

 

And its about 100* in Omaha, that would have sucked.



2016 Vineman 70.3

Lan raced Vineman 70.3 on Sunday in Windsor, California

 

The swim and T1 are 20 miles away, in Guerneville in the heart of the Sonoma Valley wine region.

The 1.2 mile swim is in the Russian River, 4-6 feet deep in most places but only about 12" deep at the turn so athletes had to walk the turn around.

 

  Lans swim wave was the 4th to start, 16 minutes after the pros started their swim. First wave after the pros was the 35-40 yr old women, then 3 waves of 45-49 yr old men.

 

 

 

Pros came out of the water in about 25 minutes.

 

Craig Alexander and Andy Potts are just two of the pros in this shot.

 

 

Here is T1

 

Lans swim was 38:01, he was 118th in his age group

 T1 was 4:10

 

The bike was on a rolling hills course through wine country.

The pros finished the 56 mile bike in about 2:10.

 

Here are Craig Alexander and Andy Potts with a couple other pro men heading out on the run and they are after it. These guys were #3, 4 & 5, the other 2 were ahead by 90 seconds.

 

A short time later Lan finished his bike, in 2:47:18,

an average of 20:08mph.

69th in his age group.

 

 

Right about the time he finished his ride the pro men finished their 13.1 mile run;

Andy Potts was the winner with about 3:48.

 

Lan, almost falling as he heads out on his run.

His T2 time was 6:15

 

Here are the pro men chatting after the race, still in the finishers chute.

 

There is Lan in the yellow shirt as he finished his run with a time of 2:17:09,

he was 96th in his age group.

 

Total race time was 5:52:23

There were 217 men in his age group and 1996 total athletes competed.

 

Just happy to be done.

Vineman 70.3

Lan is signed up for Vineman 70.3 this weekend. Its supposed to be hot and he has been training in the hotter parts of the days but not nearly as hot as it will be there. He has been going to the pool to swim without his wetsuit so he's used to that in case its not wetsuit legal and swimming at the lake in case it is.
Its about 14 hours drive time from home and he has to work tomorrow. We've been talking and still don't know when departure time is but thinking later Thursday or early Friday. While he's at work I'll pack and load the car, purchase water and things and get the house ready.
The horses will be staying home with Julia to care for them and luckily she will feed chickens and the dogs too.
I'm not excited about this, I'm excited for the Hawaii trip in October. Have started checking out surfing lessons, rental cars and other things to do. Whoo Hoo, fun times.

Black Diamond Triathlon

 

Once again I'm in for the Black Diamond Long Course triathlon in Enumclaw, WA.

This year on September 10th.

 

I finished last year in 7:38:50

with times of

Swim~ 50:13

T1~ 4:48

Bike~ 3:39:38

T2~ 3:09

Run~ 3:00:59

 

All I have to do this year is beat each one by 1 second and I'll be good.

 

The next day is Tri Turtle Tri, our local sprint put on by Lisa every year; my fastest time on that was 2:00:26 so all I gotta do is beat 2 hours. This is weird, my fastest TTT was 2011, I also did it in 2013 but took 2 minutes longer and least year I was the bike in a relay team and I was still slower. Geesh.

Fort Ebey Kettles Run 13.1 Half Marathon

Fort Ebey Kettles Run 13.1 Half Marathon was the 2nd HARDEST half marathon I've ever finished, (1st hardest being Tacoma City half marathon, which was my first ever half marathon)

with 2750 feet of elevation gain.

This was all trails at Fort Ebey State Park, Whidbey Island, Washington.

 

Views of the beautiful Puget Sound and trees.

 

 

ALL UPHILL, all the way, barefoot, in the snow, hungry.

 

We rode the ferry over in the morning. This is the Kennewick, it holds 64 cars. 

 

Linda, Steve & Brayden

 

 

Before the race. Lan did the 5k, he was smart but he still had 660 feet of elevation gain.

(UPDATE: Lan finished 8th overall with a time of 37:23.8!!)

 

The weather said rain all day but we were so lucky and didn't get rained on at all. The trails were mostly all just wet and a little muddy, only 1 puddle we couldn't go around and it was at mile 1. I'm sure there are a lot of people with blisters from running in wet shoes for 12.1 miles, or the people who did the full marathon, twice on the same course.

 

Start of the race, big bottleneck because 200 people want to all get onto a single track trail. That's Linda in the pink.

That's Walking Stick Dude in the yellow. He wacked my leg with his stick cuz he was stupid.

 

See, UPHILL. Steep uphill.

 

And here is at the end, after we finished and DIDN'T GET A MEDAL because they didn't give any out. Maybe should have stated that in the registration process?? I mean, come on, I paid $42 just to race, didn't get a tee shirt either.

I'll never do it again and will strongly suggest no one else do it either but that's due to all the hills.

Oh, and no porta potties on the course, except the old shed outhouse near the very end of the course but none at the aid stations.

 

I did have a good time, got to spend 4hrs 28 minutes with my bestie. Who sprinted the last 10 feet to beat me but I still finished. And I had to wait 10 seconds for her to even cross the START line since she was tardy getting to it. so I technically beat her but if it makes her feel better...

and she did have to go slow for my sorry ass the entire second half.

Spring Weather, Bike Rides

Today I had a fun ride on the mtn bikes with Leona at Banner Forest, about 6.26 miles in 1:40 hours. So much fun. Shes got skills and is about equal to me so we ride well together.

 

Here is her bike, leaning on a log. We had to climb over that sucker.

 

I've been asked to ride 32 miles tomorrow.

 

Going long.

 

This morning before I rode the bike I had a massage, she worked hard on my left shoulder and right hip. The hip is messed up because the shoulder is messed up, all aggravated by the accident. I have stretching exercises to do to help it get better and IF I JUST DO THEM it can only make me feel better.

 

I'd be able to swim faster too.

 

Horse news:

Joey is awesome.

Wifi is shedding, should be white soon.

Nationals

I woke up this morning wanting to do something nice for someone, someone who means a lot to me. I offered to pay Windys registration fee for her to go to Nationals since she qualified too (1:21:45, 8th in her A/G) and she is going. But she totally shot me down.

Made me feel like a heel for trying. Hurt my feelings and pissed me off.
She just doesn't get it, that I can't go but if I could pay her fee then I will feel a lot fucking better about NOT GOING. I'd feel like I was there, just a little bit.

Congratulations from USA Triathlon

Congratulations from USA Triathlon

Congratulations Denise! You have qualified for the Olympic-distance race at the 2016 USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships on Aug. 13 in Omaha, Nebraska, after finishing in the top 10 percent in your age group at the Iron Girl Seattle. 

 

        

             
    Registration is now open. To register, look for an email invitation with the registration link to hit your inbox within the next business day. If you do not see an email in your inbox, please check your junk/spam folder before contacting USA Triathlon. This event has sold out in past years and is likely to sell out again in 2016, so be sure to claim your spot on the starting line early. If you would like to participate in the Sprint National Championships on Aug. 14 in Omaha – either in addition to, or lieu of, the Olympic-distance race – simply CLICK HERE to register.

The USA Triathlon Olympic-Distance National Championships race is the nation’s premier amateur Olympic-distance event with top athletes from all 50 states forming one of the most prestigious age-group fields in the sport. The top 18 finishers from each age group will also automatically qualify to represent Team USA at the 2017 International Triathlon Union (ITU) Age Group World Championships in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The dates of the 2017 ITU World Championships will be announced later this year, and additional information will be added to the Team USA website.

For more information on the 2016 USA Triathlon Olympic-Distance National Championships, please visit www.usatriathlon.org/nationalchampionships. Please note: Athletes must be current USA Triathlon annual members through Aug. 13, 2016, in order to register. You may register or renew your membership at www.usatriathlon.org.

 

I have been hoping for this email since last summer when I finished in 10th place at Iron Girl but since there were only 98 people in my age group I had no idea if I would qualify or not. And look at that, I did! So exciting for me, to be in the TOP 10 in the nation in my age group.

 

There are a few other ladies I know who qualified, Suzie, Barb, Heidi in my A/G alone, plus Windy in hers.

 

I wish I could go but I can't afford it with Hawaii in October and my work will never let me have the time off for sure in the middle of summer. And that just bums me out. To work so hard, to do so well and not be able to go the next step.

 

If Windy decides to go I'll help her any way I can, maybe give her some cash for a new jacket.

Post Ironman

I am an Ironman. I love being able to say it out loud and I brag as often as I can. Because I can.
I have ran just twice since the race and both times it felt wonderful but its dang cold out and I'm lazy so I don't do it often. I want to get my house in order but its cold in here because I'm too cheap to turn on the heaters.

But I have signed up for another race so I'm up to 3 again. I didn't do Yukon Do It half marathon, with the accident I seriously wasn't in shape to run but I did volunteer at the club aid station.
next race is Hot Chocolate 15k in Seattle, with Lan, on March 6th. Then Tacoma City Half May 1st and Harstine Island half June 16th.

I was thinking about doing a half each month, there is one at the end of January on a Saturday in Seattle, its free or $10 donation to the local food bank. Unsupported, you bring your own food and water and you know the way, no medals or tee shirts. But it is timed and a Boston qualifier if that's your thing. That's not my thing. But I could use it, if needed, to qualify for Half Fanatics if I wanted to and if I were to run 2 others within a 90 day period. I can't use the time & bib number 'I' had for Yukon because I sold my bib to Sandy. I want to qualify for HF's on my own.

So if I'm going to run a half each month I have to start looking for a February run that I can afford and that's on a Sunday and local, or at least in Western Washington. OK, make that within 50-100 miles from home. I really don't want to drive to Bellingham for a half marathon.

I see a lot I like but this one http://www.rainiertoruston.com/FoothillsBOHalf.html is in my home town, or ends up there anyway. Only $60 and limited to 250 participants. If I could get the day off...

112

Today I did something I never knew I'd do in my life, never even imagined it. I rode my bike on the CompuTrainer for 112 miles. It took me nearly 8 hours but I didn't turn off the timer for all potty breaks.

 

Here I was still on the first lap of the Ironman Arizona 3 lap course, still felt pretty good.

 

And here I am at about mile 106, my hoo haw was SCREAMING and I wasn't looking forward to doing a run afterward.

 

Here is my awesome Helmet Hair

 

And the run.

I wasn't happy to start, I was scared it would be miserable but it wasn't.

 

So I was happy to be done, even though the run was only 1 mile.

 

Here is my nutrition table which doesn't show the bacon or the chicken sandwich.  I drank 5 bottles of water and 3 bottles of Gatorade.

I wore my helmet for the entire ride so my neck could work on carrying the weight.

 

I'm really tired but have to stay awake for The Walking Dead.

Run. Swim.

Today I run and swim.
Tomorrow I run and Bike.
Saturday only about 5 hours of running, biking and swimming.
Sunday Running and biking. Monday biking and running.
Or I can swim Saturday and nothing else but we're getting so close. Only 4.5 weeks away now.

On the home front:
Lan and I went to Olympia and met our new family member, a Brazilian Mastiff puppy, a little girl. I think we're going to call her Jenny.

2015 Race For A Soldier

 

 

Kyle Marshall Farr came back home “safe” from Iraq, but no so safe. He had PTSD, which sadly claimed his life. His mom, Leslie Mayne, an admirable woman, decided that Kyle’s death would not be in vain. Her mission was to get the necessary reform to help our military men and women suffering PTSD. She was determined to make Race For A Soldier, an instrument to bring awareness to our communities, military, and government that PTSD is a heartbreaking reality costing the lives of our men and women that have served for our freedom.

Exhausted

I'm not the only one, I've read several reports from other FB people that they just can't get enough sleep. This is when injuries happen so I'm being very careful. This morning I slept in until 9am, unheard of for me lately.
Today the only exercise I got was a 22 minute walk at the YMCA after I renewed my membership. I need a place to swim and the Y in Bremerton is so close to work that I can't go wrong. I'll swim before and/or after work. But I need a new bathing suit, my old one that fits is threadbare and see through, my others are too small since I've gained weight in the last 9 months.
This morning I did weigh in at 149.2, the least amount I have weighed in about 3 months.
I am enjoying having the CompuTrainer, its getting used a lot. The bummer is that if I take my bike outside for a good weather ride then I have to reset the CT and I'm too lazy. So last week I rode the trainer for a 3 hour ride, and I've ridden it several times for 2+ hour rides. They say indoor training is better for you than outdoor.

Ramping Up

This week the official amount of hours my training plan calls for is about 15 hours. So far I've completed 4 hours of training, all running and biking. Tomorrow will be more biking.
Neither of the two wetsuits I picked up from Wetsuitrentals.com will work, both are too big so I'll be returning them for another one or two.
I am also going to sign up for the YMCA again so I can get my miles in swimming. I think I'll be going in tomorrow for that.

Black Diamond Race Report

Black Diamond Half Iron Distance 70.3 miles

 

1.2 mile swim: I chicked a dude and peed in Lindas wetsuit 5 times. FIVE TIMES! Before swim start Lan asked me what my swim time would be, I told him 50. It was 50:12.9.

 

T1:  Its always nice having the whole area to use because everyone else is already out on the bike.  4:48.6

 

Bike 56 miles: I chicked a dude. Stinky dead deer on the side of the road, had to smell it 4 times. I always thought this was a hilly course before but its not, its nothing like the hills we have in Kitsap County, so I was in aero a lot. My neck hurt from looking up so I didn't look up sometimes, just followed the white line. Greg Pelton chit chatted with me for a sec as he passed me at mile 50-ish. (WHY did Greg pass me at mile 50? Could it have been the 4 flats he got?? (Thank God it was him and not me (or I'd still be out there (and I wasn't calling YOU an asshole when you passed, I was calling that truck that honked at us an asshole)))) PR'd for this distance of a ride with 3:39:38.8.

 

T2: Once again I had transition all to myself. 3:09.8

 

Run 13.1 miles: I'll just set this right here, I needed to poop and it wasn't happening. This was my problem at IMCDA and a couple months ago at the See Jane Run Half Marathon. Tummy hurt. I will test prunes soon. My slowest time for a half marathon is 3:29:14 and my fastest was 2:24:28, today I took 3:00:59.5. It wouldn't have taken much to sub 3 hours, shoot.

 

Overall race time 7:38:49.6 was a PR!! and I beat 2 other people, yay, so proud of myself. But it's the only 70.3 distance race I've ever done.  7/ 7 in my age group, 58th of 60 female finishers,  48/60 swim, 44/60 bike and 57/60 run. (additional results not posted online yet).

 

I stole the results sheet off the restroom wall and I see 3 other ladies I know. And I got to talk to Patty Swedberg and Diana Hull.  And Lan ROCKS as a Sherpa, I'd hire him any time.

 

I HIGHLY recommend this course in case you were interested and Raise The Bar did a fantastic job with the whole event, there was plenty of good food at the end and everyone was all smiles, all day. OK, maybe not everyone all day.

 

I lost 1.2 pounds today.