2013 Kona Ironman Championships

I've been watching the 2013 Kona Ironman Championships on and off, but mostly on all day long.

 

I did take time off from viewing this morning to run a 5k race (well, I ran, walked and even skipped because I was not signed up for the event - I was a polite bandit) and then I ran the 10k race because I WAS signed up for that one.

 

Riverside Hometown Heroes Run

 

Before I even ran I got a great Brooks Dry-Wick Run shirt, a bag of goodies and a water bottle.

 

 

I ran a total of 9 miles, which of course is NOTHING compared to an Ironman competition.

 

But my goal going into the race this morning was to run less than 10 minute miles.

I have been a slow runner.

But my goal is to get faster.

 

I've been an 11 minute to 12 minute mile runner for a the past couple of year and I just want to run faster and feel good.

So, I warmed up with the 5k and then ran the 10k averaging 9.55 minute miles - UNDER 10!!!!

 

According to my Garmin 910:

 

Time:	1:01:39
Moving Time:	1:00:56
Elapsed Time:	1:01:42

Avg Speed:	6.1 mph
Avg Moving Speed:	6.1 mph
Max Speed:	10.2 mph

Avg Pace:	9:55 min/mi
Avg Moving Pace:	9:48 min/mi
Best Pace:	5:53 min/mi

 

I was so happy!

Then I got some bling!!

 

 

Thanks Peggy for taking such a nice picture of the finisher medals!!!

 

I came in 2nd place in my age group. There were only three of us, but I am going to feel good about it.

 

Why?

Because I remember what Harriet Anderson said to me when I ran along side her at Vineman 70.3 this year.

 

 

A win is a win.

 

 

 



http://train-n-tri.blogspot.com/2013/07/vineman-703-good-bad-and-ugly.html

(above is my blog about my Vineman 70.3 experience, especially running with Harriet)

 

Harriet is going to be a winner tonight!

All she has to do is cross the finish line at the 2013 Kona Ironman Championship event.

 

She just has to finish to be the winner of her age group because she is the ONLY one in her age group.

Harriet is competing in the 75-79 age group.

This is her 23rd Kona Championship race.

 



This is a pic of Harriet and me at Vineman 70.3 in July.

 

 

I will be sitting in front of my computer this evening waiting for Harriet to cross the finish line. In 2012 she was the final competitor to cross the finish line with just 41 seconds to spare. She was competing even through she had broken her collarbone six weeks before the race.

 

 

All athletes have until midnight to finish the race, giving amateurs 17 hours to cover the 140.6 miles. To finish, competitors must also finish the swim in 2:20 and get off the bike 10.5 hours after the start.

 

This year Harriet's swim was 2:13:02.

Her bike was 7:38:28

 

As I blog she is shown on IronTrac to be 5.2 plus miles into the run, but it looks as if it may be a long night for Harriet.

Her first 3.1 miles took her 42 minutes. The next 2.1 miles took her 33 minutes.

 

Go Harriet!!!!

A did take some time off from viewing to go the Triathlon Connection quarterly meeting. The meeting consisted of lots of awesome athletes, great vegan food and a raffle.

I think the people in my car drove off with a lot of the raffle prizes.

Go Jeanne. She won a shirt, a new bike pump, socks, and an entry into the Riverside Triathlon next week. I won also - an entry into the Riverside Triathlon and a TC hat.

I love winning!
I was in the perfect mood to get home and sit and watch triathletes cross the finish line at Kona.
 

 

A Triathlon Connection member and friend, Rusty Robertson, is also competing at Kona.

I didn't have to sit in front of my computer watching for him to finish for long.

He is done.

In under 10 hours.

 

Congratulations Rusty!!!

 

 

I should mention that both Harriet and Rusty are Mark Allen athletes.

 

The very first Ironman Champion Gordon Haller is racing this year.

 

Thank you Wikipedia:

On Oahu, Hawaii in 1978, Haller competed in Navy Commander John Collins’ race which combined the Waikiki Roughwater Swim, the Around-Oahu Bike Race, and the Honolulu Marathon. Of the 15 competitors, 12 finished what today we call the Ironman, and Gordon Haller was the first champion, with a time of 11 hours, 46 minutes, 58 seconds

 

Gordon was born in 1950, so he is competing in 60-64 division.

My IronTracs shows that he swam the 2.4 miles swim in 1:30 and the bike in 7:16.

I can't find any information after that.

 

I just want Gordon to finish tonight so Mike Reilly can say to him, "Gordon Haller, you are an Ironman."

 

And then wouldn't it be great if Gordon said back to him, "I was the FIRST Ironman."

 

Go Gordon!!!!

 

I don't like to say NEVER and I try to stay positive and refrain from using the word not.....so here is my goal for Kona.

I want to go and run in the Underpants Race!!!!

 

 

I can only imagine what they are thinking.

I think that Timex team looks great...and I'm not just saying that because I am on the Timex Factory Team.

 

Triathlon Connection was well represented at the Underpants Race. Thank you Rusty and Sandy!!!

 

For my part I can train and dream.

 

 

 

 

.

Workout Weekend

My weekend started out with a mud run.

Yep, I know, I said I wasn't doing any more of these after I got that weird infection in my foot last year from the Del Mar mud run, but then I did the Rugged Maniac with a friend and it was so much fun, that we decided it would be great fun to sign our husbands up also for this year, only she didn't and I did.

 

(Yes, I know that was one long run-on sentence.)

 

My guy is such a trouper that when I told him the other couple did NOT sign up and it would just be us, he didn't flinch.

He is SO good at not flinching.

 

 

Saturday morning we got up and drove to Lake Elsinore to the Motorsport Park where they had the 3.1 mile obstacle course set up. It was different from last years. Not the same uphill runs....way easier.

But some of the obstacles were a notch above my "this is safe" zone.

 

Obstacles like this were easy.

 

 

This obstacle gave me pause.

 

 

Luckily, I had had enough coffee Saturday morning to realize this was NOT the obstacle for me...and there were about 8 jump pits in a row. I was supposed to run and jump over the wide expanse where there was a 4 to 6 foot drop off below and then there was about 2 to 3 feet to the next JUMP.

 

Do the math.

Okay, I didn't even do math when I looked at my short legs and at the width of the jump and depth of the hole.

My head said, "HELL, NO!"

 

So I skirted this obstacle.

I took on all the climbing obstacles....the walls and the ropes.

I took on all the mud with the barbwire.

 

 

Yeehaa, some people pay a lot of money for mud with exfoliation.

 

 

This one I skipped.

 

For the second year in a row, I skipped this one.

 

Again, I am short and those poles were FAR apart and all I could envision was me slipping and banging my face on the pole in front of me and then needing extensive dental work. I walked around this obstacle.

 

I ran all the run parts..up and down!

 

And I jumped fire!

 

With my guy!

 

 (If you look closely, we still have mud on us.)
 

Then I celebrated my last mud/obstacle course that I will ever do...unless I get invited once again to the Navy Seal Training Camp because all these mud/obstacles courses pall in comparison to the real thing. I always walk away from these mud/obstacles course happy that I have learned some skills from that one day of training with the Navy Seals and sad that it is not as hard as that one day of training with the Navy Seals in 2011.

 

The rest of my day was spent relaxing on my new family room furniture watching movies with my daughter, who was visiting.

 

Sunday morning was clear, sunny and NOT windy.

 

I met my friend, and kick-ass triathlete, Orietta, at Bobby Bonds Park and we set up for my first ever clinic.

 

I offered a free bike course preview and transition clinic for the Riverside Triathlon.

 

A married couple showed up.

 

It was fabulous.

I really enjoyed sharing information with them.

 

Joel and Rosalinda will be first-time triathletes at the Riverside Triathlon.

 

I am so excited for them.

 

We had an informative slow ride and checked out the route and planned their bike attack.

We talked about transition set-up and I gave them lots of free SunRype samples and Aquaphor samples.

 

 

 

 

 

They are going to love their first triathlon. I am excited that I will be there to cheer them on.

 

It was a good morning....and may I add, thank you to the nice person who found my phone on Victoria Avenue and phoned ICE Husband (Robert) to come and pick it up. I don't know how my phone escaped from my bento bag, but it was nice to have it at home when I arrived.

Thank you Robert for recovering my lost phone.

 

I spend the early afternoon hiking up Mount Rubidoux with my kids, Danielle, 23 and Darin, 16.

There was hardly anyone on the mountain. Probably because it was about 95 degrees. We hike about 2.7 miles standing in the shade when we found it.

It was nice not to have to share the road with LOTS of people.

 

 

 

 

 

After the past couple of days of wind, it was very clear. Hot and clear.

And then we went and got grinder at D'Elia's. If you are from Riverside, you know that is the best place to get grinders. My daughter, Danielle, worked there for a while, so our grinders were made special.

 

I did find some time to water my backyard and make a list of what I need to do during the week if..

if I don't work.

if I have time and keep to my training schedule.

if no one in my family needs anything "off the books".

IF.......

 

 

This was my relaxing weekend.

 

I ran 3.1 miles, plus some obstacles, bike 15 miles slowly and walked 2.7 miles.

(4 dishwasher loads/unloads and 8 loads of laundry)

Yikes, I need a weekend to relax now.

 

It was nice to enjoy time with my family and friends.

 

New week starts tomorrow.

Time to ramp it up.

 

 

 



The Results are in and I.....

The results are in and I made all my goal miles for the National Bike Challenge!!

 

 

But I took the long way about it today.

I needed 30.5 miles to get my 1700 miles in.

That's the miles I said I would cycle for the National Bike Challenge.

 

http://train-n-tri.blogspot.com/2013/05/national-bike-challenge.html

 

Yeah, I even put it in my blog that I would ride 1,700 miles for the National Bike Challenge, even though the previous year I barely made 850.

 

But I did it.

And I thought you might enjoy my recollection of how I got through the last 30.5 miles.

 

Well, first of all, I was lucky and I had today off from work. I didn't take any teaching work on and I didn't have any clients. I did have a client's training plan to finish, but I did that AFTER my miles. I didn't do any laundry or clean anything at my house. I did feed my animals (3 cats and 1 dog), but I didn't put out any effort to feed anyone else living in my house (16, 21, 49). I figured the living humans could take care of themselves. I made a grocery list, but I didn't shop.

 

 

So I got dressed in most comfortable bike shorts.

That would be my Terry Bella Shorts.

 

 

Yep, that's them above. And after today it is obvious that I need a new pair because I have outbiked the ones I have.

 

After putting on my shorts I slathered my "lady" parts with Aquaphor.

 

 

 

Yes, those are finger-gouges in my Aquaphor. But Aquaphor in strategic places gives me a great base for all my bike mileage.

 

 

 

I hooked up my Garmin 910 and the heart rate monitor that goes with it and I prayed. I prayed because I really don't know how to use it yet. I just turn it on and I turn it off....and then all the minutes between my start and stop are calculated, even if I stopped at a red light for 5 or so minutes, or I stopped to take a pee in the orange groves, or I stopped to get a turtle out of the road...

 

I just keep it on because several times before I have turned it off when I stopped and then I would TOTALLY FORGET to turn it back on until about 5 miles later. That's how long it takes for my brain to remember - 5 miles.

And today I needed every mile to count.

 

 

 

 

Okay, I know this is sideways and probably too small to read anyway, but it's okay. It's the NEW way to figure out your heart-rate. When I was training for my personal fitness trainer certificate we were taught two ways to figure out your heart rate...and this is NOT one of them.

But I want to be open minded about it.

I keep hearing this is the NEW way, so I figured out my NEW heart rate and....

I'll report in a different blog.

But I was thinking about this today while I rode my bike.

 

I put my $20 in my Altoids container along with a few mints and stuck it with my nitro in my bento bag.

If you don't know why I have nitro, this is why...

(Prinzmetal angina (also known as variant angina, angina inversa, or coronary vessel spasm) is a syndrome typically consisting of angina (cardiac chest pain) at rest that occurs in cycles. It is caused by vasospasm, a narrowing of the coronary arteries caused by contraction of the smooth muscle tissue in the vessel walls rather than directly by atherosclerosis (buildup of fatty plaque and hardening of the arteries). It occurs more in younger women.^[1])

^{Yes, Thank you Wikipedia....}

 

I hardly ever have an episode, but carry my nitro (just in case)..

 

Then I grabbed a couple of SunRype bars from my stash and stuck them in back jersey pocket for my nutrition for my 30.5 mile bike ride.

 

And because I wanted to try the new heart-rate zone (which I am not convinced of) I put on my Keen bike shoes because they are always my LOW-KEY shoes and not my race shoes...

 

I swear I took a picture of my actual feet in these shoes, but my toenail are so bad right now, my camera on my phone must have rejected the picture.

 

 

I decided to ride Sarah, my road bike, today. She is an easy ride and I like cruising on her. I pumped her tires to 110. and checked her Bento Bag to make sure all my "necessities" were in there.

 

 

Then I took off.

 

It was kind of warm and I rode around my neighborhood for about 5 miles. It was around 11:30 a.m and I was getting hungry.

 

I stopped under this tree by the Victoria Country Club and called my guy.

I was HUNGRY!!!

 

"Are you still at work?" I asked. It was around 11:30 and I had ridden 5 something miles.

"No. I just left," he said.

 

Talk, talk, talk, talk....and we agreed to meet at the

 

 

 in about an hour...but he would call me when he was close.

 

So I took off to get some mile in.

Best case scenario - get all my 30.5 miles in and then eat lunch with Robert at the Greet Street Grill and he can take me and Sarah home in his car...or

get a lot of miles in and eat at the GSG and then slowly pedal home for the last of my miles.

 

Pedal on I did.

 

Down Victoria Avenue.

Until I hit a detour.

I was detour through Casa Blanca.

This all brought back lots of memories of when I was a kid and my mom would NOT drive through Casa Blanca because she was afraid of being shot.

Even as a teenage driver, I avoided the area because of racial tensions.

 

Today I rode my bike through the detour area and I never felt scared or threatened.

That's what a change of times or riding on a bike will do for you (me).

 

One of my favorite parts of today's ride was at the intersection of Adams and Lincoln. I was stopped at the intersection in front of a fire truck, so I pulled myself way into the crosswalk to get out of its way in case they needed to turn right.

 

All of a sudden I hear, "Well, hello there."

 

 

 

The CHP officer on Adams is talking to me.

I wave.

"Ah, you would be way safer if you were behind the white line...just like regular cars are...." the CHP officer droned on from his car way over on the other side of the road.

 

I turned and looked at the BIG fire truck behind me and shrugged my shoulders. Really, my bike wheel was about 1 1/2 feet over the crosswalk line. And I thought I was in the safest place for me. I could see everybody and everybody could see me. But I guess the CHP guy needed to be in control.

 

 

So I slowly backed my bike up until my rear tire was almost touching the bumper of the fire truck.

 

When I turned my head to look back I couldn't even see the driver of the fire truck anymore.

I prayed that he would remember I was there in case he got a call before the light turned green.

 

Light turned green and I was pedaling thinking I really wanted to get off a street with a lot of traffic and onto a less traveled route.

 

 

I picked Cleveland Avenue. But it is not very bike friendly. Look where I am. And ohoh, there is no place to push a button to go across. I had to sit there and wait four about...I don't know how long, but I drank a good bit of my bike bottle before someone pulled up behind me and then the light turned.

 

 

Then I continued on road such as this (no cars and lots of orange trees) until Robert called me and said he would be at the Greek place in a few minutes.

 

I hightailed it there and when I got there I was at 21 miles.

 

I chained my bike to the railing in front with my helmet strap and we went in and ate.

It was good.

While we were eating I joked that I should write a "ride and review" column for the local newspaper. I could just ride my bike from eatery to eatery, well, eating, and review the food and how easy it was to lock my bike up in front of their local, and their tolerance for my stinky bike clothes.

 

Then Robert got in his car and DROVE home and I still had to (and mean, got to) ride my bike home for 9 miles.

Once I got home, I did have to go around the block once, but I managed to log my 30.5 mile.

 

I am happy to report that I did get in my 1,700 miles that I set my  goal as (twice as much as last  year).

 

 

Yes, the official NBC  says I have MORE than 1,700, but I am going with my calculations.

 

A while back I got an email from the Inland Empire Biking Alliance asking me to join their NBC Team (I had been riding as a solo person), but I was happy to jump on their team.

 

 

 

 

 I think I am ready this right, but it looks as if I am the first women on the IEBA team....and I am happy with that.

 

But no worries, I promised my husband that I would NOT double my mileage for next year...

 

And then behind his back I mouthed, "Until I win the lottery and we move to Seal Beach."

 

 

 



National Bike Challenge. Today's the Last Day!

The 2013 National Bike Challenge started May 1.

I said I would log 1,700 miles for this year's challenge.

21 days ago I had logged 1,328 miles.
I still had 372 miles to go.

Today is the last day for the Challenge.

 

I start today needing 30.5 miles to meet my goal.
I have until midnight tonight to ride them and log them.

Wave when you see me out riding today!

 

 

To ready other blogs about my (almost) 1,700 mile National Bike Ride Challenge, you can click on the links below.
And next year you can sign up for the Challenge also.

 

http://train-n-tri.blogspot.com/2013/09/national-bike-challenge-still-time-to.html

 

http://train-n-tri.blogspot.com/2013/08/national-bike-challengelogging-miles.html

 

http://train-n-tri.blogspot.com/2013/05/national-bike-challenge.html

 

 

Wasn't Feeling It!

I just wasn't feeling it this morning.

 

So I stayed home.

 

I was signed up for the Apple Valley Reverse Sprint Triathlon. It was cheap compared to lots of other events. It would be a good morning workout and I could work on my speed.

 

But Thursday I could barely make it through my club's bike ride. My head was full of cotton, but the cotton wasn't soaking up the liquid that was coming out of my nose (my bike gloves have since been washed) or running down my throat. I could only breath through my mouth.

 

Yesterday, I felt a little better and I thought I could suck it up and get through the event.

I sat on my new family room furniture last night and I didn't want to get up to pack my stuff.

 

But I finally did.

 

I set my alarm and went to bed at 9 p.m.

 

When the alarm clock went off this morning, my body went AUGGGGHHHHH!

and my mind said, "Why are you getting up so flipping early to drive an hour to do a sprint, and then drive an hour back home when you don't feel the best?"

 

I don't know.

 

 

My mind did some math.

 

 

I hit the snooze button and went back to bed for a couple of hours.

 

 

I'll still be doing a sprint today.....and part of an Olympic Distance...just not in Apple Valley.

 

I'll be right here in Riverside.

 And since I am not spending time driving, I'll have more time to train.

 

It won't be quite the same.

 

No event shirt.

I probably have enough event shirts anyway.

 

No event medal.

I already have enough finisher medals to make a dozen wind chimes.

 

Since sick training clients and children have been sharing their "ill" germs with me, training, not eventing, is the BEST I can do today.