Yellow Caps and Yellow Jackets

4:15 AM came a little too quickly for my liking this morning. After a night spent mostly dreading the looming morning swim I woke up more nervous than I've been in a long time. I went with a rice flour waffle with honey, a handful of cherries, and black Irish breakfast tea for breakfast. After I arrived precariously close to the closing of transition and set up T1 & T2 I broke out my vanilla Honey Stinger Waffle for a snack. Stinger Waffles are my new favorite work out food, I highly recommend them!

I made my way down to the water and swam around in an attempt to calm my nerves. It wasn't really working too well but I had a decent warm up anyways. Shortly after I found myself standing at the edge of the water listening to the National Anthem and watching the first wave start. I found a fellow triathlete to talk to and calmed down a bit. Before I knew it I was trudging into the water to begin the swim. I thought it sort of looked long but maybe my nerves were just playing tricks with me. As the swim started so did the panic. I made it to the first buoy without too much trouble, half walking half swimming. By the second buoy I was getting kicked and swam over, smacked repeatedly, splashed in the face every time I breathed, it was basically a cluster F#@%. I managed to round the far buoy and make the first right ok, I got a few strokes in here and there and then inevitably someone would use my chest to kick off of or throw their arm over my back and push me under. So I finally had to make the decision to swim to a kayak and re coop. Once I got there I took a minute to catch my breath and let the more aggressive swimmers go by. Finally I returned to the underwater wrestling match and almost got shoved under the next buoy but at least it was the final right turn for home. The rest of the swim I zigzaged my way back to the beach and finally pulled my sorry self out of the water 17 minutes 12 seconds after starting...

The run back to transition was rough, running on asphalt sucks and having your calf muscles cramp up the whole time doesn't help. I had a little trouble with my socks but I got ready pretty fast and as soon as I jumped on my bike I clipped in and took off. I have to learn to be a little more aggressive and ride around the women who are not really racing because I waited a while before blowing by them. I was loving the bike portion and making pretty good time until somewhere around mile 8 a yellow jacket flew into my left arm, lodged himself into my shoulder and I had to flick him off after he stung me. Like I really needed that. I had a few choice words and then was forced to grit my teeth through the rest of the bike course while the stinging sensation slowly turned into a throbbing pain in addition to the stinging. Fun.

Back at transition I flew through racking my bike and switching to my running sneakers. As I took off for the run my body was screaming out in protest to stop and walk and put an ice pack on my sore arm. I ignored all this and told myself it would all be over in 30 minutes. I was utterly disappointed when I realised what I thought had been the 1 mile marker was really more like a half mile point. I thought the turn around would never come. Finally I saw it and fought off the urge to walk. 15 more minutes... I tried singing "Good Life" by OneRepublic to myself a few times which worked until I didn't know any more words. Then I tried to think about Boomer being all excited to see me when I got back and finally I turned to my cheering section for inspiration and thought they might like to see me at some point rather soon... so I kicked it up a small notch and when the beach came into view despite wanting to keel over I sprinted up through the finish line. I then went directly to the medic tent and got a nice cold ice pack for my arm. It's now been over 12 hours since I got stung and it still hurts... that little effer! Although to be fair, I'm sure I ruined his day as well.

Thanks to my cheering section, Angela, Kris and my Dad... seeing you guys at transitions made it a lot more fun for me! And also to everyone who was there in spirit : ) And a big Thank You to everyone for supporting me through all my training and racing too! And Congrats to all Iron Girls out there past and present : )

Tri Time!

New clips and shoes, so far so good...

Boomer "helping" with transition set up

My Bike is racked, my nerves are shot and my bank account is suffering.

This morning I took the bike out to make sure everything was running smoothly after it's tune up. As I pulled into our usual cycling spot I noticed a group of fellow enthusiasts who did a double take while I drove by. A few minutes later one of them came over and told me about their group that ride together about 3 times a week. I'm really excited to ride new routes and hopefully learn from the more serious riders. They seemed really nice and even though it'll be hard to keep up with them I think it'll be good for me and Angela. The girl I was talking to suggested I take my bike out for a 10 mile ride before the race tomorrow so I took her advice, I hope she's right!

My bank account has been suffering with all the new equipment and the new tri suit I bought today. I'm hoping they were all good investments, since Angela and I are planning on a big bike race and a 10K run this year and 2 Triathlons next year. With any luck the suit will be comfortable and dry fast... I'm pretty sure it's more than a little see through so I'm going to cross my fingers no one notices but me!

Rockin the Lime Green Handle Bars

I guess it's time to talk goals. I remember last year saying I would never do another tri when I rolled out of bed, when I dragged myself out of the water, when I was trying to catch my breath out on the bike course and every time I knew I had a whole lot longer to go. This year I hope I can enjoy it a little more. Just like last year I hope I don't drown or panic, and I especially hope that I can swim well and not walk like last year. For the bike portion I'd like to shave 5 minutes off my time from last year. If there's wind that might not be possible, but I'd like to be in the top 33% of my age group in the bike at least. I've been neglecting the bricks this year so I'm a bit worried about a run after pushing so hard on the bike. I'm going to try like hell not to walk during the run. A lofty goal would be to run the course in under 30 minutes. Probably a little tough since I average about a ten minute mile during a 5K. I'll try my best and that's all I can do... til next year anyways : )

My play list on the insanely early drive to Oneida Shores tomorrow includes:

Good Life/ OneRepublic

Keep Your Head Up/ Andy Grammer

Faster/ Matt Nathanson

Free Fallin'/ Stevie Nicks Version

Chasing the Light/ Mat Kearney

Wetsuit/ The Vaccines

Learning to Love Again/ Mat Kearney

Bottom of the Sea/ Matt Nathanson

Just Stay Here Tonight/Augustana

Shot in the Dark/Augustana

This is your Life/ Switchfoot

Science & Faith/ The Script

Free/ Zac Brown Band

Free Fallin'/ Stevie Nicks Version

She Got the Honey/ Mat Kearney (really loving his new cd!)

I might throw the theme from Rocky in there just to pump myself up... but mostly I need chill music to settle the inevitable nerves.

So that's it for now, time to watch Harry Potter, wind down for the night and hope tomorrow is a fantastic day : )

Clipped in and Carb Loaded

T minus 3 days.

Oh crap. I'm terrified to swim. My solution: just wing it. Can't wait to Bike! Running will most likely be torture. I've come to realize Triathlons are sort of about how long you can stand putting yourself through physical agony at an ungodly hour of the morning. But I still somehow think they're a good time and well worth the hours put in... I'll let you know if my opinion changes at 4:15 AM Sunday morning.

This week has been rough. Too much work, too little training. It's taper week and I'm tapering and eating my usual over dosage of carbs. I'm hoping bad practices equal good races. I did a pretty pathetic swim the other day. Thanks to the constant furniture and photo equipment moving my arms have become weak useless apendanges that flail around hopelessly in the water. Running tonight took a while to get into and my ankles feel like the bones are grinding together. Most likely from the 12 hour days spent running around on concrete floors. The one bright spot in my training has been my biking. I made the plunge and had the guys at my local bike shop hook me up with clipless pedals. Angela and I went out for a ride to see if they made much of a difference and she seems to think they do. I hope they help me out on that long and flat and seemingly neverending tri course! They're also putting some hot handlebar tape on for me, I'll post pictures soon! For now I have to get some sleep, this tri has once again approached at warp speed.

My carb loading secret weapon: Irish Brown Bread : )

Listening to: Hey Mama/ Mat Kearney

Ealry Bird, Night Owl & Chicken S#!%

If only there were 12 more hours in each day... I need about 4 more hours of sleep every night and another good 8 hours worth of free time to train, read, take my dog to play Frisbee, visit my friends and do any of the other 4 million things I'd rather be doing lately. Lately I've been up at 5:15 and lucky to be in bed by midnight. Tonight I managed to fit in a run as the sun was disappearing below the horizon. It's been cooler so I brought Boomer with me and he pulled me through about 2.5-3 mile steady paced run. I really need to get a running watch, or at least use the handy stopwatch feature on my ipod I always forget is there. I still sometimes prefer not knowing exactly how far I'm running and how fast because I enjoy living under the impression that I'm getting faster.

I made it out to the lake in my tri suit on Sunday and as I waded out into Lake Ontario I quickly pulled a U turn and completely chickened out. Granted there were actual crashing waves and I couldn't see anything through the churning waters. Still, it knocked my confidence as the open water swim looms in my not so distant future. I'm crossing my fingers for clear skies & calm waters... little to no seaweed and a general migration of all fish to the opposite side of the lake would also be nice though.

There's been talk about a relay marathon where each runner runs 6 and a half miles. I'm considering it and even wondering if I can grit my teeth through training for a half for the next year or so. Considering it will probably take me a full year to work up to anywhere near that distance it would at least keep me fit for the tri next year.

I've worked about 38 hours in the last 3 days and I'm absolutely beat... sitting down has become one of life's great pleasures for me lately. The worst part is the lack of sleep is making it very hard to drive so I've resorted to drinking coffee again. Hopefully next week will be easier and my taper week will actually find me tapering. I suppose we'll see.

Listening to: I Would Love/ Lee Coulter

In Search of Runners High

For the second time this year I successfully ran for over 30 minutes (last time was Komen). Tonight I wanted to see if I could run a 5k and since I'm not familiar with a good route I decided to run the length of my play list and that would get me through the distance. So I ran for about 34 minutes. If in that time I didn't cover 5k then I prefer to live in my fantasy world where I can be blissfully naive. I like to think I covered more... but that's more wishful thinking. So finishing strong in the 5k run portion of the Iron Girl is at least possible.

My only question is when does the runners high kick in? It seems to me 30 minutes should have done it and all I got were tight calf muscles. Maybe somewhere in the 45 minute range? Sounds like it's time for a new goal.

Listening to: Wetsuit/ The Vaccines

90 minute Irish hike = 2.5 hour American

Conversions in Ireland

Our massive hike up and over the waterfall

Biking in Kinsale

Guiness for Strength

We're back from Ireland and back from an exceedingly long break from tri training. I was sure I'd find time and energy to run while on vacation but I failed to factor in travel fatigue, late nights, early mornings and busy schedules. We managed to get in a short scorching run on the board walk at Jones Beach the day we left, always nice to switch up the scenery. Once we got to Ireland it wasn't exactly like we were relaxing on a beach somewhere. We walked the streets of Dublin so much the heels of my boots are worn down. I believe there was also a small bit of dancing and toe tapping to all the great music, one massive hike and a few smaller treks, one bike ride, lots of ab workouts from laughing so much and I couldn't possibly forget the horseback riding on the beach. I know we got a good work out riding because on top of my bruised legs from ankle to hip, every muscle in my back and arms cried out in protest for the next two days. So much for a leisurely stroll on the beach... we don't mess around : ) So we remained active as best we could without running ourselves into the ground.

Despite a lingering cough and jet lag I pulled myself together for a run and Angela and I fit in two bike rides over the weekend. I just got back from the pool and managed the 600m without too much trouble. The only problem is that I have less than three weeks to somehow work up to a triathlon. I'm a bit worried this year. I wanted to do better than last year but the timing of the race is just not good for me. I hope I can at least finish strong and not walk during the swim or run this year. Someday I'll hit my stride with this sport!

On the upside I hear Guinness is good for you and it gives you strength as well, and I certainly had plenty of it... so here's hoping!