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.

Open Water Swim

 

Today was the first real swim since Ironman.

 

Afterward, I snapped this picture, literally half a second after the sun slipped behind the mountains.

A beautiful way to end a wonderful day.



3.5 weeks

with 3.5 weeks left until my race I'm getting a bit excited. Only a bit though. I've done this twice already, I know its going to be a hell of a day. Hard, never ending, I will quit a thousand times and just keep going.
Its time to start packing bags and making  purchases of the things I'll need that I don't already have. Time to inventory so I CAN shop.
I've already got a bunch of spare tubes and 2 new tires, I've got a couple C02 cartridges, I'd like 4 more.
I still haven't completely dialed in the nutrition for the day but I'm trying. I know I'm going to have cookies and chips in my special needs bag. I also k now the Bike Special Needs is at mile 66 so I'll have to carry a lot of stuff with me. I've done plenty of 56 mile rides with just the stuff in my pockets so I'll be fine.
I've begun using the fuels they will be providing on the course so I'll be used to them but I haven't gotten any of the Lemon-Lime Gatorade yet. I must get some soon and drink it on my run. I DO have a Red Bull, which they provide on the run, I should use that tomorrow to see what happens when I drink it. Might be interesting.
I'm going to start going over a packing list, see you later.

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.

Tri Turtle Tri 2014

Today was my last scheduled race event of the summer, the Tri Turtle Tri. I've done this race 4 times in the last 6 seasons and its a lot of fun. Today I was the bike leg of a relay team, first time I've been in a relay.

 

This is Dave, then me, Daves wife Terry and Sherri.

 

I think I'm looking pretty good in my tri suit right now.

 

Denise Brooks, Terry Harter, Sherri LaHaie

Team Name: Victorious Secret

Bib:49
Swim( .5 mile): 0:25:59.3 Rank 23  Terry
T1: 0:00:38.7
Bike (15.6 miles): 0:58:38.1 Rank 11   Me
T2: 0:00:41.2
Run (3.4 miles): 0:34:52.8 Rank 20   Sherri

FINISH TIME: 2:00:50.1
18th out of 31 relay teams
131 finish out of 339 total finishers

 

It was a beautiful sunny day spent with great friends.

 

This is the end of my 2014 tri season, tomorrow I start my diet, a new weights workout plan and prepare for our trip to Arizona and then the holidays.

Getting There

Slowly but surely, I am relearning to swim. Today I swam .65 mile and worked on my rotation, pointed toes and elbow high. It works well if I concentrate. As soon as I get tired it starts to fall apart.

I have tried using my upper hip to rotate me & it doesn't work, using my bottom hip is better but also doesn't work but I kept at it today. What works best is rotating my shoulder down and body turns.

I'll be swimming again tomorrow morning and will test it some more then.

Swimming

Last Tuesday I had such a crappy swim that I quit after 1 lap in the lake, aprox 1/4 mile. My goggles were leaking, wetsuit was tight & bunching up, just not getting in to it. So I got out, got dressed and got away from the lake.
For the next couple hours I was feeling blah and even cried on my way to work, with NO reason to do it. I'm not stressed out, I'm not sad, I'm not working too crazy of hours.
But work was a different day, the system was down 3 boats and we had people going all over and even though they were OK and NICE, it was still a different day.
But I met people who were missing airline flights, trains, dr appts, etc. So I felt much better because I seriously didn't have any reason to cry.

On Thursday morning I met Dave out at the lake and swam a  mile with him. I used a different arm stroke, keeping my elbows high; my toes pointed and used my shoulder to roll my body instead of pushing it with my core.
It worked, it only took us 20 minutes to swim out to the buckets and 18 for me to get back to shore. My fastest time, ever. EVER, for a mile. I felt good, my shoulder didn't hurt and still doesn't and my feet didn't cramp. I did have to stop a couple times to empty my goggles but I got back to shore 1 full minute faster than Dave.
Then a damn leech got on my foot, freaked me out, I made Dave get it off me and I got out of the water, fast. Little fucker.

Today I went back out to the lake and even though I was hesitant to get into the water, I still did and it was just an OK swim. 1/2 mile but I was OK with that since I had such a good swim yesterday.

Then Lan & I rode mtn bike sup Wildcat Lake Trail, 9 miles round trip. I pushed my bike about 3 miles UP and rode about 6 miles all together. it was a HOT ride, I was RED faced well before we got to the top but I rode more, faster, than usual. Lan was happy with me. I tipped over twice, once on the way up and get onto the dirt on the side of the trail and once again at the very end, just couldn't get unclipped on the right side. I literally had 50 feet to go to the end of the trail.

Then we went into Silverdale and did a bit of shopping, didn't find anything I couldn't live without.

So over the over protective mothering BS

I went swimming with Linda this morning and she had her 15 yr old son with her. She's always been over protective with him but this morning she was a little over the top.

He had on a wetsuit and we were out in the lake and for once it was quite clear so we had pretty decent visibility in the water. I told him to swim to the bottom of the lake and she had a shit fit.

 

'NO, He's NOT swimming to the bottom of the lake.'

 

What? You're not going to let him attempt to dive down? Its only 20 feet deep, he's got a wetsuit on, WE CAN SEE HIM.  But because she's the mommy she won't let him.

Fuck, she needs to let him play with other kids and do this shit so he can grow up. He's not always going to have mommy and daddy RIGHT THERE to take care of him and make his decisions for him. But sadly, he might.

 

Its irritating as hell that she takes him EVERYWHERE she goes but I tolerate him and he is getting better. He is part of the package deal that is our friendship.

 

So I am making reservations for me & her to go to NW Trek in a couple weeks to go on their woodland ropes challenge course. I looked at a couple different sites and this one is in a location I know how to get to, its a beautiful place, there is other stuff you can do after the ropes course is finished and its  practice for us going on The Amazing Race.

Its only about $80 each and has 6 zip lines, rope bridges, climbing obsticles and other stuff. We have chosen a date and I'll be buying the tickets/reservations this week.

 

And HE is not going.

Been Busy

I've been working out a lot more and just working more, for most of May & June I was getting full time & even a little OT. Not so great since I prefer part time but I do what I have to do.

I have ridden my bike quite a bit more this week than I had in the whole previous month or even 2 months. 15 with Sharon, 32 with Linda, Sharon, Erik, Steve & Lan & today Amanda and I rode the mtn bikes for 2 hours at Banner Forest.

 

This is the steepest hill in the whole park and we both have a hard time going down it. Today it only took me 3 tries, it took Amanda about 10. But we had all day and she finally did it. Both of us did it last week too, she only the bottom half but she's getting better at it.

 

The trails in the park are getting so well worn that they are like sidewalks almost. Pretty soon we're going to have to go to new ones to challenge her more.

 

Today it was just us and I was able to ride at my pace and not feel guilty for making Lan wait for me. He is great finding the way and taking us to good trails but he doesn't understand that's its not just about getting down the trail as fast as your bike can go every ride.

 

I've been out to the lake a once or twice each week, going to the buckets and back each time

(.97 mile R/T) and approximately 42-45 minutes.

 

Today Rich & Alisa hosted a swim & BBQ but I only ate good food and chatted with a lot of friends. I love my triathlete friends.

 

In horse news:

We tried to get Wifi into another Dressage show, Bridle Trails in Bellevue but they were full. That made me sad because we don't know of any more shows for a while. I can't be asking for days off every week and their next show is August 10th, 1 week before Iron Girl Triathlon.

 

We had a new horse come into the barn, a big gray TB gelding. Thomas is at least 16hh and actually quite nice looking but he has terrible feet. He came off the trailer limping and he limped as he ran around the arena and he can barely move in his stall. When he does move he's got to throw his head up to take the weight off his feet.

 

This is his right front, the horizontal line along the coronet band is a blown abcess and the hoof wall below it has cracked off. The entire area is soft and extremely painful for Thomas, there is hoof wall separation and it was terribly overgrown and cracked. The first night Lan trimmed off 3 big chunks of toe. He is walking on the sole of his hoof.

 

All of these photos were taken after he had been trimmed by Gary.

 

This is the other front hoof, its got cracks all up it and it had a shoe on that had been on for at least 6 months if not longer.

 

This is the rear left hoof, the crack is worse than it looks because its full of shavings.

 

I had Gary come look at them and he didn't have much good to say for them. He wouldn't put shoes on the horse. He did suggest a vet but at least soak 2 times daily, antibiotics and Bute. He was willing to come back Sunday to attempt to shoe the horse but he also said there was no hoof wall to hold a shoe on that front hoof.

But the owner said the limp is caused by bone chips and his hooves are FINE. She didn't want to give him any Bute, not even when I offered it for him. She disregarded everything Gary told her.

 

So today shes back, with a Mexican farrier that would have just slapped shoes on him no matter what. I told Lan to go down & stop them and I told her no way will I allow her to torture a horse on my property and she would have to remove him before she can do anything like that. The farrier was nice and understood where I am coming from but she made arrangements to move him tomorrow.

 

 

Last night she gave him a little Bute but I gave him 3 more this morning and it did nothing to stop his pain. Tonight I gave him 3 more and if I didn't have to work in the morning I'd give him more. Shes going to move him to the back pasture of the farrier, with no shelter of any kind.

Stupid bitch, she has owned this horse since he came off the track and she hasn't done shit to actually care for him. I hate people like her.

 

I'm giving her a partial refund, charging $30 for the 3 days she was here. I actually did all his stall cleaning, bedding, turn out & in, held him for the farrier and gave him my Bute. Shes lucky shes getting a penny back.

 

 

 

Four Days Off

Today was my first of four days off work. I've been working full time, usually 2 five hour days with 3 ten hour days each week, for the last couple months. The paychecks have been great but I really wanted to be home more.

My old truck rides again

 This week I'm getting my wish. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday off. Today is Tuesday so I got the oil changed in the car, did a little shopping, went to the X-Men Days of Future Past

Look, its Katniss!

 at the cinema (where I fell asleep during the slow part).

 

After I came home I packed up my swimming stuff, threw it in the truck and headed out to purchase hay. On the way I met a guy and sold him my old Zoot wetsuit for $75.

 

 

After I bought hay I stopped at the lake and swam 1 mile with Dave. We are so perfectly matched that we were stroke for stroke most of the way. We even breathed at the same times, he on the left side & me on the right.

TriBabe cars waiting for their Babes

 I left soon after I was done, the TriBabes hadn't even got into the water yet but I needed to get home & unload hay, clean runs, feed ponies and prep hay for tomorrow.

 

In horsey news:

Wifi hasn't done much, our trainer has been ill and actually in the same hospital as Casey Kasum. But she came home, on the day he died.

So today Wifi was ridden for the first time in 2 weeks, I hope she wasn't too much of a turd.

 

So much going on

Last Saturday Wifi had her second dressage show, at Peteton Farm in Olympia. Once we picked up Audi from Delicias farm, Wifi was a happy camper and she then proceeded to act like a seasoned pro.

In the warm up arena she was nice and calm, doing everything she was asked to do.

At one point another horse bolted and threw its rider. Wifi stood perfectly still and respected & trusted Delicia, even when another hors reared up right beside her. She did tuck her tail but still stood still.

 

 

 Wifi's first class was Intro A and she was the first horse of the day to use the outside full court dressage arena.

Here is her start.

 

First tracks

 

Excellent trainer in action, coaching Caryn on Audi.

 

We were all surprised to see these results and

WOW,

check out her score!

70.938

 

I'm so impressed with my mare.

 

She wasn't too happy to wear this ribbon though.

 

At 10:17 she entered the ring for her Intro B class.

Halfway through I saw it happen, she said 'I'm done' and faltered, right in front of the judges

(of course), in the middle of the arena going across. But Delicia told her she will finish so Wifi did.

 

 

 

And they WON that class too.

68.125

 

She also won 2 bags of carrots and two $10 gift certificates to a tack store.

She's earning her keep!

Here she is just chillin', waiting for the results. 

 

In other news:

Triathlon

The Kitsap Tribabes had their first BRick on Saturday, which I obviously missed, so I completed a 6/1 brick on my own today. I needed air inmy tires and couldn't find a pump so had to ride down to Lans work because I knew there was one in the car there so not only did I ride 6 miles but I had to come back up Mullenix too. Good job me.

 

I have a date at 7am tomorrow with Windy to swim at Wildcat Lake then ride bikes either  on the trainers or on the road for an hour. It feels g so good to be getting out.

 

I have another date Friday with Amanda to ride mountain bikes at Banner Forest.

Good times.

Running

Lately I have been running a bit. Not every day, not on any schedule, just once every couple of days I get out there. Usually got 3 miles. Last weekend I ran once & walked once, just so Lan would get out there and do it.

I have signed up for the tribabes again this year, officially, so I'll have a schedule to keep pretty soon. I KNOW I can to that training, its a sprint, easy peasy after 26 weeks of Ironman training. I have enough time to get at least as fast as I was for all my other Irongirl (Danskin, Trek) venue races.

I won't be taking any age group awards but I'm going to give it my all and I really, really hope I do well and beat all my previous times. Maybe I should actually get out there and ride my bike??

Lan needs a new wetsuit. While we were at Speedy Reedy in Seattle the other day I tried to get him to try them on but he wouldn't. I remember the first time I had one on, it was there. 1st one was too big, second one was so tight I left claustrophobic and had to GET OUT OF IT as fast as I could.

I'll maybe go out to the lake tomorrow for a swim, Lan and I both have the day off and we both need it.

 Two days ago Sarah took Renata for a trail ride & Joey whinnied for her for an hour, something he hadn't done in a long time. Then I realized he has always had Handy beside him if another horse left. So even if my girls are right there where he can see them, he still doesn't want her gone. Bonded. Uh Oh.

 

 

After I fed horses this morning I remembered to turn on the hot water heater in the barn so I can bathe Wifi again. She's not going to like it but my baby girl needs to be clean for her show in 10 days. I'll at least wash her tail today. Its not very warm out, she's all shed out and she can't be left wet all day. I do have a polar fleece blanket to put on her and I'll lock her into a stall with shavings. Maybe Sarah will have time to turn her out later in the day??? I sometimes dislike having a job but if I didn't then I wouldn't have horses or triathlon either.

I'm expecting her new sheet to be delivered tomorrow and I'm excited to try it on her but can't decide if I'll use it on her before the show or not. Maybe I'll go to From The Hooves Up and see if they have a cheap one to use at home & save her new one for being away.

Speaking of hooves, Gary was finally out for their feet, they were 4 weeks overdue. But all of them were still good, Joey hadn't lost any and the girls were OK. Wifi has small but beautiful hooves.

Next Dressage Show

I've got the paperwork for Wifi's next show, it will be held in Olympia on June 7th. Lucky for me that's a Saturday & I'll have it off so won't have to worry about work. But it is also Daves retirement party and I can't be late or miss it at all. I missed Terry, Rich & Lisas Tri Birthday Party last week for Wifi's first show.

I have ordered her a new blanket and matching lead rope in Royal Blue, since shes royalty.

I'm pretty sure I ordered her a solid blue blanket, not this plaid one but I should have ordered two of them. Next time I go to a tack store I'll get her another one. This is to help prevent green poop spots on her gray coat on show mornings.

 

In other news:

 

Today Lan & I went to Seattle. Here he is at Starbucks, waiting for his coffee.

 

Look, they are opening a store in our name!

Going nowhere slowly

I haven't been working out much, haven't been on my tri bike in over a month. Supposedly I'm supposed to do a sprint this weekend and a HALF IRONMAN in 9 days.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahahahahahahah

I'll do the spring, its local and can be for fun & games.  For the HIM I am going to ask for a deferral to next year. I'll say I've got ITB or something. I just do not feel like doing it and I'm not trained.

Last night I went to the lake and swam and I feel like I'm getting slower and slower. Everyone I swim with is faster than me. Only, and I mean ONLY, 2 people that I've swam with this summer are slower than me, Barbara & Rhonda. And they are codependent sisters that I can't stand anymore.

BUT ON TO THE GOOD NEWS:

Lan finished Ironman Canada Whistler in

13:06:08

 

I couldn't be more proud of him, he is so incredibly awesome.

 

 

My retraining starts tomorrow

I'm excited to begin working out again to get in condition for the Black Diamond Half Iron Distance race in September.

I've made my plan for retraining, starting tomorrow with Bike 2 Hrs & 15minute Brick easy . I am using a Chris Lieto training plan, its a 20 week plan but I'm pretty sure I'm mostly OK to start in the middle. Which is exactly where I am, 8 weeks from race day or week 11 of the plan.

Thursday   Bike 2 Hrs   15minute Brick easy

Friday  Swim 50:00  &  Run 50:00

Saturday  Bike 3 Hrs    2x15minute @ race pace, after 1hr warm up w/ 10 minutes rolling recovery

Sunday  Swim 40:00   Recovery/Low Intensity  &  Run 90:00 w/ Hills

 

I haven't done much of anything besides a few swims & a couple rides since Ironman due to the pain from the blisters on my feet. They are still tender and even just swimming hurts but that's because water gets in them. I've cut away most of the excess skin now so its better and the new skin is getting tougher.

 

I had already planned on riding with Linda tomorrow and I can do a run afterward. Windy is swimming Friday morning so I'll just swim to Rich's dock. She won't be going that far and going through the weeds alone will freak me out so I might need to recruit Lan to go with me. She can sit at Rich's dock and wait for us.

These are the kinds of plants that grow in the lake and I HATE swimming in them. They go all the way from the bottom to the top and parts are so old and thick that it looks like live tentacles. I don't want to swim through them alone and I'm not mentally that tough. Ugh!

 

But if I do swim out there I can take the last of the horses out and the next time I can take one of the teensy ones Windy got for me to take there. Or the dragon, Rich might like that dragon... or the duck or sheep or whatever it is.

 

Horsey News:

 

 

 I won't be able to see Wifi's lesson this week because I have a massage scheduled for the same time. Trying to reschedule Wifis lesson because I can't reschedule the massage. But shes looking good and her being trained can't hurt her at all.

 

 

 

Just 5 Days to Go

In 5 days I'll be out on my bike on the Ironman Coeur d'Alene course, hopefully heading into the hills. We're supposed to leave here in 2 days and I haven't even packed yet, I've only gathered together a small portion of the things I'll be needing.

Last year I fretted over packing, freaked out over what goes into a gear bag ~vs~ a special needs bag. I packed everything & repacked, again & again. I'm sure this year I'll forget something important because I'm waiting till the last minute.

There are only a few things I know that I need to purchase, some minty Certs and a new nose plug, maybe some new ear plugs. Yes, my head leaks, yes, I've tried to learn to not need them, no I can't swim without them. After 5 years of trying I know I need them.

I'm going through all the taper things, being bitchy, emotional, irritable. Plenty of self doubt going around here.

I do not fucking want to train for another year.

I'll be swimming with Windy this evening & hope to sell my old Zoot wetsuit while at the lake. I was hoping to sell a scooter & a couple sets of jump standards but those people are flaking out. I might not have any money to buy a finishers jacket and that will suck.

Good news is that the weather is supposed to be about PERFECT.

Taper week

I have 13 days until my race. This morning I woke up, not knowing what kind of exercise day to expect, since I didn't check my schedule last night.  DAY OFF!!  So I'm going to get some work done around the house, maybe clean the barn.

These last 2 weeks have been crazy. I worked 33 hours two weeks ago, then just a couple shifts this week but they were midnight-4am and one midnight-9am, those KILL me. They totally ruin any training plans I might have.

I did have a few good workouts. On Tuesday I swam 2.5 miles at Wildcat Lake, first time ever to go that distance. I was exhausted afterward and scarfed down a sandwich Windy brought for me. but I got it done.

My wetsuit wasn't on right and I fatigued my left arm/shoulder on that swim so the next day I had planned on 100 miles on the bike but due to arm/shoulder pain (it hurt just being attached to me) and Barbara backing out at the last minute as riding partner for second half of the ride, I didn't ride.

Weekly totals for June 3-9
Swim: 6 miles
Bike: 52.6 miles
Run: 4.8 miles
Total Time: 9:30
Total Distance: 63.4 miles

I am now officially in TAPER mode and even though I wasn't last week, I'll call that a pre-taper week. This week I'll still be putting in just as much or more hours working out. As long as I DO it and don't get called in to work. I'm only scheduled for 2 shifts, one of which is done for this week.

 

Sad news: My Timex watch is beginning to fail me and I'm afraid it isn't going to Ironman with me again. The buttons wont work and the timer has decided to start/stop of its own free will. I can't have that! If I think I have 5 hours left but really only 4, I'd never make it. Just cant take a chance like that.

 

Horsey news:

Wifi survived a week of training with Kate & she's going back for more. I'd love to have her in training for a month, living there, so she gets 5 days a week.

Ya take a day off

I had a day off yesterday, first one in 9 days. Relaxed, went shopping, got a nap in while on the ferry.

Then today I couldn't make myself do anything. Not run nor ride.

I had a shitty run. Only 3.1 miles & it took way longer than I had planned, over 50 minutes!  But I will say I was wearing my new shoes & they were pinching my toes, need to break them  in, and my new shorts were sliding down under my fat belly. I also went pee right before I left the house but half way around the block I had to go again & there was NO running while I had to go. So I walked but it was  terribly slow.

As for biking today, yeah, I haven't done it and won't.

I did have a 2 hour nap after doing nothing all day, just before my run.

Lan and I went to the WSTC monthly meeting, they had speakers on race day nutrition. At Round Table Pizza. Can't beat that!

Heidi spoke about needing up in the medical tent after your big race so I now know that if I go there I will be OK. And its free. I better not need to go there but if I do I'll be able to relax.
Then Alisa talked about her race day nutrition, some of her fave things are peanut butter & bacon sandwiches, or grilled ham & cheese. I'll have to try that, have a sammywich cut into quarters for riding. Sounds perfect.

After the meeting was over Alisa came to talk to me about my training, she said she loves my posts on FB and that I should be able to do this without any problem. I certainly hope so. But I was honest, I've only gotten in a single 100 mile ride so far but I did it and I wasn't dead the next day. But it was slow. Shes going to try to get in a ride with me in the next week but shes in no shape to ride 100 or even 50.

I was the only one there tonight signed up for CDA. Looks like the big race for everyone to go to this year is Honu and its this weekend, in Hawaii. There are 14 members of the club there plus their support people. Next year I'll see what big race everyone else is doing and I'll think about doing it too. If you are all doing the same race then you have more people to train with.

26 days

26 days to go...

Totals for May 20-26.
Swim: 3.94 miles
Bike: 84.77 miles
Run: 24.88 miles
Total miles: 113.59
Total time: 15:20

 

 

May totals, so far:

Swim: 11.08 miles      5:35
Bike: 344.40 miles     23:25
Run: 37.66 miles         7:05
Total miles: 393.14    
Total time: 50:50

 

I still need another 100 miles on the bike to beat last months biking total but I'm way ahead on the swim & running.

 

These are my predicted times for IM CDA:

 

Swim  1:46

T1         :12

Bike    8:00

T2         :06

Run     6:00

 

total   16:04

 

Linda finished it last year in 16:08. I probably wont beat her time but I just want to finish and have this part of my life over.

Got in the 100 miles

Last Saturday Lan & I rode the bikes 100 miles. Or, I did.

We left home at 10:24am, headed through Gig Harbor. This is the northern beginning of the Cushman Trail, a paved bike & walking path alongside the city most of the way to the Narrows Bridge. Sections are pretty steep, this was 8% upgrade, one part was 10%.

Over the Narrows Bridge.

We went on the same route Lindy, Heidi & I had ridden the previous week but Lan & I went & got on the ferry, Chetzmocha, to Vashon Island. This was my first time to ride this boat & I was impressed, they have many, many bike racks inside the Mezzanine level and seating for the riders so you're not stuck outside in the cold wind if you don't have cleat covers.

How lucky we were, it was loading as we got to the dock, no waiting at all.

This is Vashon Island. When I worked at Fauntleroy ferry terminal, one of the 2 destinations was the northern end of this island. The one at the southern end is Tahlequah and that's the one we got on at. We rode up to the A but also added in some of the little island off to the right, Maury Island. That one was just so damn hilly that we decided to go back.

At the blue marker we stopped and had a small lunch.

This is inside the Wet Whisker, a small general store/deli/coffee bar. Very cute, extremely expensive. But a nice respite from the ride.

 

We were just in time for the return boat heading back to Tacoma, only had to sit there a couple minutes to wait for the cars to unload.

After leaving Vashon we rode along the waterfront for .5 mile, over to Owen Beach & headed up. UP is putting it lightly. The exit from that beach is super duper steep. I was riding at 2.3 mph, barely moving but I didn't have to walk. I'd say its easily 10% upgrade for .25 mile.

This is what I found online: Ride up Owen Beach Hill at Point Defiance as repeats.
Hill is roughly 4/10 of a mile and 200 ft. elevation gain in total with an average 10-11% grade.
Recover over next 1.5 miles after climb (spinning easily), loop back around and hit it again. Do 4-8 times as fitness level and intestinal fortitude allow (sometimes once is enough). Do the longer loops around to the park entrance/exit if you need more recovery time.
Vomiting is permitted, you carry less weight up the hill.


Here is Lan at the end of Pt D, we're ready to head back toward the Narrows.

 

 

This is a map of our whole ride that day. We made it 88.2 miles, not the entire 100 I had planned but I had horses to feed and daylight was running out.

And since I had HAD to get in 100 full miles, I got on the bike trainer and finished the last 11.2. This photo is me, with tears in my eyes.  But the tears are from information shared with me from Windy.

My bib number for Ironman Coeur d'Alene this year is 868. This makes it real and for a few minutes I was experiencing sheer terror.

Totals for May 13-19.
Swim: 3.7 miles  (not counting yards now, this was all open water)
Bike: 151.67 miles
Run: 6.53 miles
Total miles: 161.90
Total time: 15:45


In horsey news:

Sarah & Lulu

Joey & me

I went on a trail ride on Joey, with Sarah on her mare, Lulu. Went a couple hours in Alpine Forest, saw a couple deer & another couple of riders. It was fun for me. I'm sure Sarah was bored
stiff, she and Lulu are used to running the entire way because they are training for a 25 mile endurance race. Joey had a good time, he LOVES the trails and he has no fear. He goes anywhere and isn't afraid to lead or follow.

And yesterday I rode him again but just in the arena. Saddled him up in the English saddle. First I let Hannah ride him while I saddled Sunshower for me to ride.
That turd would not move forward. I was so frustrated! But she finally did, then we switched horses and Hannah rode her for a while. Joey was wonderful again, as I knew he would be.