Summertime

Well, it has been a good summer. Other than work, which is, well, work I have been spending the majority of my time outside. I am either swimming, biking, running, working in my flower beds, or just sitting on my deck.

Several weeks ago I raced in a local sprint triathlon. I raced this a couple of years ago and here is the race report from then. This year, I was sick Saturday night and lost a good portion of the fluids and calories I had been working on all day for the race the next day. Sunday morning I got up and had a Nutrigrain bar and a bit of Gatorade as I was still afraid to eat. The swim was not great and I felt really sick on my bike. I considered turning in my chip after the bike ride because I felt so bad but by the 3rd loop of the 3 loop course I finally started to feel better and so I continued to race. I had a great run and I held on for 3rd overall female, 2nd in my age group. (Note: this is just a small local race.)

Place in age group: 2/13
Gender place: 3/73
Swim: 10:13 (Pace: 1:54/100 m)
TI: :53
Bike: 41:58 (Pace: 21.4 mph)
T2: :45
Run: 23:57 (Pace: 7:49)
Finishing Time: 1:17:15

Something else that was sort of amusing to me was the guy's set up next to me.

Here is my transition set up...


And here is his...


Note this little detail...


That would be the bucket 'o Gu. Two words...

SPRINT TRIATHLON.

Oh well, to each their own. Everyone is entitled to race their own race and he was a veteran triathlete. I say do what works.


Last weekend I raced with a few friends at Big Creek Triathlon near Des Moines. This was an Olympic distance race and this particular race previously held the distinction of most miserable race ever in my book. I wrote a rather wordy race report on it then. Anywho, the weather was much cooler this year which helped. The swim was wet suit legal but I didn't use one. I ended up starting too far left and having to swim across everyone. That was dumb. I then had trouble getting my legs going on the bike. The race's website boasted that the bike course was flat and fast. Somehow, this morphed into hilly, windy, and slow. I had a decent run but by that time it was too late. Overall, I had a sucky race. I felt pretty good until about 5 pm that evening. My head was throbbing and all I wanted to do was go to bed. I guess now I had better find another race to end on.

Place in age group:10/20
Gender place: 33/97
Swim: 31:32 (Pace:1:56/100 m)
TI: 1:03
Bike: 1:16:33 (Pace: 19.5 mph)
T2: 1:00
Run: 53:15 (Pace: 8:35)
Finishing Time: 2:43:24

It has been a busy summer for Mr KT and we both felt like we had hardly seen each other. He had a week off work last week to recover and energize himself for the fall and I took Friday off. We had intended to do a mini vacation but for several reasons this didn't work. Instead we opted to take the dogs to the lake for the afternoon. It thunder-stormed hard over night and it was grey and cloudy when I got up to swim at 5:30. By 11:00 all the clouds had burned off and it was hot and humid. We packed up the dogs and lunch and our gear and headed to the lake. When we arrived it was already 90 deg. We took the dogs on a short trail run but had to short cut back because it was just too hot for them.

Mr KT and Brick and Kona in the shade after running, trying to cool off.


We threw on swim suits and got in the water. Kona is a little fishy. She swims all over and she looks so cute. Brick seems to like to swim but always looks like he is drowning. He picks his head up too high and then his backside sinks. He swam out to his dad and then quit paddling when he got there. Mr KT then decided it was time to put his life jacket on. I thought maybe Brick would be embarrassed but Mr KT said, "all the kids are wearing them" and he was right. All the kids on the beach had life jackets on so Brick fit right in. We had a little lunch and put the babies in their beds for a quick nap. Then a little more swimming and home for the evening. It was a really fun afternoon.


Brick shaking it off



A soggy Kona.



KT and Kona loving the sun, water, and wind.



Brick looking stellar (and safe) in his doggy life jacket.

HyVee Race Report

Yeah, time to get my race on.

The last weekend in June was the HyVee Triathlon. It is an Olympic distance race and it starts at the crack of dawn. It is definitely a big deal in the Midwest in the triathlon community at least. Mainly, I think, due to the pro race. (The New Zealand team, Mexican team, and Russian teams stayed in the same hotel we did.)

First wave left at 6:00 am. My wave was third to last and I didn't leave until 6:50 am or so.

It is a big race with a gazillion people. The transition area is big, the fast guys are all there with there fancy bikes, the pre race meetings are intimidating. It is just one of those races. I know that fast bikes don't make the rider but it is pretty hard to ignore all those disk wheels.

Transition at 5:00 am







I was set to race. The water was a balmy 86 degrees. Significantly warmer than the air. I lined up in middle of the front of my wave. I almost never do that but I was prepared to go out fast and then just hang in as best I could. I had pretty clear water until I came around the last buoy and started catching the wave in front of me. I got clobbered. Ever been breaststroke kicked in the face by an old guy? It is not awesome. I don't recommend it. Anywho, came out of the water and headed for transition. We had to run through quite a bit of sand and had sandy, wet feet when I got to my bike. I didn't have anything to wipe them off with so I jumped into my cycling shoes and was off. The bike went well. The ride was an out and back and the out part seemed to include more uphill than down and a head wind. That made the ride back to transition faster. Ate a package of Cliff Shot Bloks on the bike and a part of a bottle of Gatorade. I think that only one girl in my age group dropped me on the bike ride. She was way fast. I am glad that I didn't try to hang with her or I would have blown up for sure. Flew into transition, ripped off my cycling shoes, yanked on the running shoes, grabbed my race belt and visor and was off again. Legs felt a little heavy but not bad at all. Had a decent run for a race and was pretty happy with it. Got boxed out by two older gentlemen at the finishing chute when I was trying to go in with a girl in my age group. Not bad at all. 12/74 in my age group.

This is actually a slightly slower time than last year but the course was different and they can't be compared. I did place better in my age group so I'll take it. I did drop about 3 minutes in transition times combined this year but part of that is due to not needing a wetsuit and only having one transition time this year.

bib number: 1549
age: 29
gender: F
location: OMAHA, NE
overall place: 586 out of 1404
division place: 12 out of 74
gender place: 100 out of 420
time: 2:46:53
swim: 31:41
t1: 1:38
bike: 1:19:06
t2: 1:20
run: 53:10
penalty: 0:00

Post race shots in our Arizona Freak Factor gear.
Me, Kurt, and Lisa








So there is a quick race report for the last race I did. Good timing since I am racing tomorrow morning (Sunday, July 19th) again. Oops. :)

Psssssst

Shhhh, hey, it's me.

Just wanted to say that there are less than two weeks left before the HyVee Olympic Triathlon! Whoa. Hope I don't need a wet suit cause I don't have one. :)

Time for a little tiny break

I just need a break from the blogging. I will still post occassionally but just need some time away.

Ciao

It's almost like Christmas!

Look what is going to be coming to me in the mail...

Yep, those would be a set of dragonfly arm warmers!

and...



Bicycle jammies! Woo hoo.

oh and one more thing.



A sweet new sports bra for Bikram Yoga. Yay.

I love ordering things in the mail because it is fun when you order them and then it is super fun when they come in the mail and are waiting for you when you get home from work. :)

On another note: I've had a fluctuation from loads and loads of running to biking and swimming. Been on my bike quite a bit more and riding with faster riders which means that I am getting faster. Yay. Also, the pool that I normally swim at closed for a month, plus for maintenance and so I switched to a different pool. Been great. Love the coach and it is sooooo nice to swim in the morning at 6 as opposed to the evening. My other pool has a morning practice but it doesn't start until 6:30 and there is just no way for me to get in a decent workout, get halfway presentable and get to work by 8. To be honest, it is pushing it to do that starting at 6 but I have made it to the pool 3 mornings a week. I am going to have no choice but to get faster there as well.

Half Marathon RR

I ran the half marathon on Sunday in Lincoln with 6,499 of my closest friends. It was a beautiful morning and I was looking forward to trying to PR. Goal time: 1:55:00.

I got up at the crack of dawn and drove down to Lincoln with Mr KT in tow. He was quite a trooper for getting up so early to be a Sherpa.

We pulled in and I picked up my packet quick. No line when you push it so close. ;) Got my chip on my shoe and really, really could have used a stop at the bathroom. No such luck as the lines were a mile long. So, I lined up in my estimated pace group and was ready to get the party started. The gun went off at 7:00 am and startled me.

"Wind, check. - Antennae, check. - Nectar pack, check. - Wings, check. - Stinger, check. Scared out of my shorts, check."

Apparently, nerves were a bit of an issue and not helping the bathroom situation much. Anywho, my feet crossed the line about 4 minutes after the gun went off and I started the watch. I really ran fairly well. These are the splits that I got on my watch.

Miles 1 and 2 (missed first marker): 17:09:51 (approximately 8:34:55/mile)
Mile 3: 8:33:38
Mile 4: 8:36:13
Mile 5 and 6 (missed another marker): 16:42:45 (approximately 8:21/mile)
Mile 7: 8:32:21
Mile 8: 8:31:78
Mile 9: 8:37:45
Mile 10: 8:25:42
Mile 11: 8:39:87
Mile 12: 8:35:94
Mile 13 and a little: 9:25:42


overall place: 977/4812
division place: 85/654 (top 13%!!)
gender place: 313/3023 (top 10%)
time: 1:51:46
pace: 8:32
10 k: 52:53
gun time: 1:56:31

I saw a buddy at about 42 minutes and I saw my mom and dad at about the 10K point 10 minutes later. My dad got a sweet picture of my backside as I ran by. Ahahaha.

Not sure what happened on the last mile. I basically ran out of juice. I had a little breakfast about 5 am and that didn't sit all that well. I didn't feel bad but there were about 3 times where I considered throwing up but didn't. When I got finished I couldn't hardly drink any water. Then my mom was so nice and made breakfast for Mr KT and I. It looked yummy but I just couldn't get anything down hardly. I had a headache for most of the rest of the day and I really didn't eat anything normal until Monday night at dinner. I talked to Blink briefly about it and he had a few suggestions so hopefully that will help a bit. (Thanks Blink.)

So a couple of good things...
1. All races should put straws and lids on their cups because that rocks.

2. I met and exceeded my goal time and set a PR at 1:51:46

3. I realized how much I like having Mr. KT there and how much I missed my Koni running in front of me.

So, on to the next race. :)

Lincoln Half Marathon

The Lincoln Half Marathon is Sunday! Yay, yay, double yay. I am so ready to do a little racing, well, running. I am looking forward to a nice run and then maybe if I get really motivated I will come home and do a medium distance bike ride. That was the plan last year as well. Hopefully it is nice out.

My mom and dad came and cheered last year at about the midpoint of the run. My mom thought maybe they would do that again. I promised her I would try to post the race route on the blog. Here ya go momma. (Mom, if you click on it, it will get bigger.)



After the half marathon is over I am going to start in on the P90X workouts that Mr KT has been doing. He said he has been really sore and that they are like crossfit workouts. I am looking forward to a little sore!

Oh, and the stinking pool is closed for at least a month and a half. Really, right before race season starts? Boo. Stupid pool. Oh well, more time to bike which is what I really need anyway.