Warsaw Sprint Triathlon

This past weekend I raced at the Warsaw Sprint Triathlon. Since the race is a sprint distance there was no easy week and is to be considered a tempo brick workout. The race itself is great. If you are ever looking for a fantastic small town sprint distance tri I would definitely recommend this race.

Overall it went well, the swim was warm so wetsuits were not allowed, but it was the usual weedyness. I had a good T1 time and then for the bike I had a planned LT test. I reset my powertap before the race then didn't hit the start button until I got passed the beginning portion of the bike course. It was ON for the next 20 mins. It ended right before the turn around point. I was really happy with my results since I went up 9 watts from my last test. The rest of my ride was in tempo watts zone. Then off on the run I go. Out of T2 there were 4 girls all in my age group heading out together. The first 2 were picked off in the first half mile but I noticed the girl further out stayed within the same distance from me. So I played it smart and slowly caught up to her, the girl with pigtails. Then I just hung behind pigtails and let her pick the pace. I was feeling pretty good and my garmin said we were punching 6:38 pace. Then the worst thing happened, I cramped but it wasn't in my legs and it wasn't in my side. I felt like I got punched in the stomach. This occurred at mile 3 of 3.5, the big hill, and also the same time I saw my Dad who was screaming his heart out at me to keep moving. I've never had a cramp like this before. I used my thumb and tried to rub it out. A few strides out of the hill it started to go away but by now pigtails was long gone around the next turn. I knew I was coming into the end so I increased my pace and focused on the back of the person in front of me. I saw a bunch of guys from the Team a quarter mile to go and they were convinced I could pick off the last guy. Off I went - it's nice to have a little stored speed at the end because I caught the guy right before the finish.

Place 6th female overall. Third in my AG.
Next Race - Muncie Half Ironman July 11th.

A few things on swimming I want to add. These past two weeks I've made it out to the lake front for some OWS! My schedule says 60 mins straight. Which I can do in the pool but open water is a different story. Like I said the other week it was cold and my little fingers just can't hold the heat and stay together. Last week was better, warmer, and little miss Amber was joining me. This time we went to the second buoy for a total of 1600m at 34mins. This week my goal is 2400m and I estimate around 42 mins. If I work my way up to it I'll eventually be comfortable and confident to go all 4000m.

8 Weeks and 4 days til Ironman Louisville

First Cold Water Swim of the Season

I had my first open water swim of the season in Lake Michigan. It currently is 62.5 degrees!!! My planned workout was for a 60 minute straight swim but I had a feeling it wasn't going to go well. In the past I have had 2 other very cold swims. One was in Connecticut in the Long Island Sound. It was right after I received my sleeveless wetsuit so of course I had to try it out. Bad idea!! I believe the water temp was somewhere in the low 50's. Midway through the swim my hands went numb and my fingers started to separate. Luckily we were swimming the beach line and I immediately flipped over on my back and kicked my way in. Then I ran the half mile back down the beach.

My second cold water swim was at the Racine Half Ironman 2008. Water temps were 56 and I was freaking out! The day before I stuck my toesies in the water. Again, Bad Idea!! All evening I was psyching myself out, I even dreamed I drowned from going numb in the water. The next day it was still cold, duh! The start was delayed due to fog and the race coordinators also decided to bring the buoys in a little closer in case the fog rolled back in. The delay allowed me to acclimate myself to the water temp. Each time I would go in a little further then 5 mins before the start I went all the way under. There were a few race participants trying to be clever in keeping warm - like duct taping yellow kitchen gloves to their hands (which I totally think is against to rules). I believe neoprene caps are allowed, booties might be up to race director, but I'm sure gloves are not! Either way I had on two swim caps and my sleeveless wetsuit. Funny thing about the swim was that when they pulled in the buoys it 1. shortened the course and 2. had us swimming over a shallow sand bar. So when I felt my face going too numb to breathe or my hands starting to separate I would just stand and swim-run. Yes swim-running is a glorious thing!!

Now for yesterday. Maybe if the air temp was warmer or if it had not been raining for the past 3 weeks I might of been okay. Also since the last cold swims I have lost a few lbs and gained some muscle...there are days I miss my flab. The swim route is along a break wall with depths at 6-10 ft deep. So if I freak out or numb up there wasn't much I could do. I ended up swimming 10 mins out to the first buoy which I think is 500 meters out. At that point I was to scared to go to buoy two, another 500m. So I turned around. At the beach I debated going back out for another 1000m. At the time I was freezing but today I kick myself for not going back out. Besides the cold I did feel good. I just need to get used to the gloomy waters of the lake, suck it up, and Swim!

Here's me, the drowned Rat!

10 Weeks til Ironman Louisville

I have hit the point of training where this is IT, this is what will make me an Ironman. For that reason I have had to let a few things go such as showering, napping, laundry, cleaning, blogging, but not reading blogs, yes I am still reading just lacking on the commenting. On a high note I have better organized my google reader. Since I've enter blog-world I have stumbled upon a number of awesome daily reads. I actually felt quite overwhelmed [and distracted] by the habit I have developed. Reader has been categorized into Foodies, Running, and Triathlon. My next goal is to update my page a bit, tri-accentuate it more, and update the blog roll!! I do need to write more because I've been going to bed with craziness going on in my head. I wish there was a device out there that recorded my thoughts and pasted them on my blog, maybe it would help me sleep better...zzzzzz.

Here's a few of those thoughts which haunt my sleeps at night

• MIM Race Review (long awaited)

• Mexico (Lynnie's Wedding)

• 1st Century Ride

• IM Louisville Camp

• 1st Hemp Milk Smoothie

• Chicago Marathon via GOTR???