Destination MoP is FULL (of motivation!) (Page 22)

Race Report

Not as lengthy as the one's I've seen in the past. 

Wish they had a like button on here!

Ok so Thursday was our 27th wedding anniversary...we did nothing special but who has time...we are planning a wine tasting trip sometime soon.

However, Mr. Supportive, being ever-so the supporting spouse of his wife's triathlons decided to pay my entry fee for my next Triathalon in California.  However, being the man that he his, some how did not hear me when, for the past two weeks, go on and on about how I was able to get up the hill at Donner Lake, and how I won an entry fee for the Donner Lake Triathlon so I am going to do Donner instead of the Tri for Fun.  Gotta love that man!  

I think of all the problems we could have in our marriage and my greatest is that he paid my entry fee to the wrong event.  I am lucky to have him!

Dooh,  his heart is in the right place at least.

-Steve

Great job Christine!

My Volunteer report

My family was out of town this weekend so I volunteered for the Xterra Whitewater triathlon that is held at the US National Whitewater center outside Charlotte NC.  Yes, this is where the US Olympic whitewater team(s) train.

This Xterra event is off-road with some pretty technical single track bike and run trails.

Pre race setup activities were to make sure all the water stations had Gatorade and water.  Yesterday was very hot/humid and racers were definitely going to need it.

My first station was to guide participants into the 2^ndhalf of the swim.  The swim includes swimming 550 meters in the Cawtaba River, a tough 500 meter trail run, along with a hand-over-hand hill climb, then another 200 meter swim in the Whitewater Center's man-made pond.  That hill climb was a very steep and narrow goat trail, I was wondering how people were going to get up it.

After the swim I hiked 1.5 miles out to the last water station on the bike/run trail.  The race was 2 bike laps and one run lap so I got to see everyone a couple time as the race progressed.  This station happened to be at the bottom of the biggest hill; everyone loved the water stop but there were definitely some expletives when I guided them up the hill and most ended up walking to the top.

All in all I had a great time cheering on the racers, I only had one nasty person at the water stop when 4 racers came in at the same time and we only had 3 people working the stop, so one racer didn’t get what he wanted fast enough.  Oh well, there always has to be that one person that doesn’t get along.

I then hiked back out to see the award ceremony and a final push-up challenge to win a wetsuit.

I would like to add this event in the next year or two when I feel strong enough for this off-road challenge.

 -Steve

Congrats, Christine & thanks, Steve, for volunteering!

I went to my 1st yoga class in a VERY long time) on Saturday and felt pleasantly sore for the first time in a long time on Sunday... until I had a sudden onset of gastritis (that's what they say it is) & spent the rest of that day & this morning in various urgent care and doctor's centers.  So I'm hoping the meds actually work & keep the pain at bay so that I can get back into training.

In an effort to get my runs in and have family time in the evening I'm attempting to change my run time to the morning.  This leaves lunchtime for biking and swimming.  I really need to focus on the run.  I've been slacking on consistancy for while. 

I did a short run this morning on my TM at a faster pace than normal.  Here's to tomorrow's run...Only 9 weeks to my Sprint.

I ran this morning, but it was struggle.  Between the humidity and feeling like I was going to go off the back of the TM, since I couldn't get my legs going, it was less than stellar.  I slowed the TM down a lot and still turned to run/walk for the second 15 mins of my 30 min run. 

I'm building back up from lack of consistancy June and early July and getting used to AM runs.  I'll just have to keep it up and hope for better runs.

OK, it's hot.  Charlotte, NC hit 102 yesterday with a heat index of 118.  Waited until 95 degrees  at 9 pm before heading out for a run.  Stay Cool (if you can) everyone.

-Steve

And hydrated!  Sorry I've been rather scarce this week.  I'm on vacation at a music camp in North Carolina (in the mountains) and it's up early and play late into the night (err... morning).  Having a great time, but training and sleep are getting short changed.  Will catch up soon... until then, keep up the training (morning is the way to go in the summer) and good luck to anyone who is racing this weekend!!

Stu

I just realised I still haven't done my July goals, so I'm going to do a quick update now.

June's goals went a little awry due to being ill for the first 2 weeks.  After that I was pretty much just trying to get myself physically and mentally prepared for the Steelman.  So July's goals are just a repeat of June's.  The only difference is that I realised my run goal was far too vague.  This month the plan is to try to start building up my running distance again in preparation for the marathon I'm doing in October.

I'm using the first 2 weeks of July to try to recover from the Steelman.  It's amazing how much of an impact it has.  I've done one swim, one run and one bike since, and have felt exhausted after each.  I also had to do a fitness test at work 4 days after, which was not ideal.  Fortunately they aren't so worried now about getting high scores as long as you pass, so I did just over the minimum and dropped out.  

The plan is to continue to take it easy until after this weekend, and then try to build back up to some kind of training routine again.  I'm going to continue to listen to my body though - even now I'm noticing how fatigued I am, and I've got a bit of a twinge in my knee which I'm keeping an eye on.

I'm thinking about doing a sprint at the end of July to give myself something soon(ish) to help motivate me back into training.  It'll be fun because it's a sea swim with a beach start, which I haven't done before, and is a nice flat route for both cycling and running.  It's also quite a technical bike route, which will be good practice for the OLY I'm doing in August.  It was weird after the Steelman, realising that I'd been training for it for 6 monnths, and suddenly it was done...  That's by no means my only goal for the year, but it was the one that seemed insurmountable.  If I can manage that, what next? ;-)

Okay, I am getting excited and anxious.  Fulfilling my destiny of doing the Donner Lake Triathlon, (when a coach trains you to get up that hill and then I win the entry fee it is destiny), and my daughter, her husband and my grandson will be there! 

Hope everyone has a great weekend racing, training and in life!

I hope that you are having a great race, Cynthia!

I just completed my best running week since Feb (when I was still run/walking).  I was able to get in 6 runs for a bit below 13 miles total.  None were long, but it felt good to get a run in each morning (Sat off).  Morning TM running for me (so far) is a bit rough.  My legs seem to still be asleep.  The lower temp and the feeling of getting it done early is nice though.  Went outside this morning and it's heating up.  Our week looks to be hot and humid. 

On to next week when I plan to continue running daily and will add some swims.

Hope your race went well this weekend, Cynthia.  Looking forward to the race report.

Rach, you're smart to have another race already on the books for August.  It took me awhile after last year's HIM to get motivated again... but that's a long story :-)  Anyway, nothing wrong with taking a little time to let your body recover.  But get back out there soon... don't let Kevin get a leg up on you now!

Great job with the consistent running, Andrea.  Hot here too.  Taking some getting used to again.  May move indoors later this week with temps around 100 and heat indexes around 110 forecast.  Not my idea of fun.

So, for my fellow weight challenged friends here on the board, I had an interesting experience over the last 4 weeks.  I was in two "controlled" environments - first in France, then at this music camp.  In both cases, I really didn't watch what I was eating, nor was I working out as much as usual.  I honestly expected to gain at least a few pounds.  However, somehow, over that time, I've lost 5-8 lbs.  Now, some of that may be due to not working out as much (the old muscle vs. fat stuff), but I think some of it has to do with no processed food for a month.  That is the primary common denominator that I can find.  The other common theme was lots of walking.  In both cases, I didn't have a car and walked everywhere.  The music camp was probably the most interesting as I had 3 good sized meals a day.  They grow alot of their own meat and veggies there (Warren Wilson College).  Not to mention, they were long days.  But still, I was shocked to get on the scale this morning.

Hope everyone is well.  I'm feeling mentally rejuvenated, but after many late night jams, a bit sleep deprived!  Back to the training!

Stu

Stu, congratulations on the weight loss! Sounds like a dream to me, move to France, get skinny! C'est la vie! The correlation to processed foods is interesting. I try so hard to keep our processed food intake low, but there are just some things you can't avoid.

Speaking of foods, I signed up for the Train with Grain from Bob's Red Mill and they sent me an awesome goody box. It had granola, pancake mix, etc. I whipped up some pancakes with fresh raspberries this weekend. Yum! The bonus was the kids liked it too!

We are in full packing and organizing mode for the trip out to Seattle. We leave on Thursday, run Friday and Saturday, then return on Sunday. It will be a quick trip, but I am looking forward to the break from work. It's been a while since I have had time off...and I really need it!

For those of you who are interested in our 30 hours of mayhem, you should be able to link to our FB group here, we start Friday at 8:15 PST. Team Site

I had all kinds of issues on Saturday night with bike tires. My husband and I couldn't tell if the tires were not seating correctly or tubes were bad or what. We experienced bulging of the tire once inflated, and tried all the "tricks"...except the right one. Anyone had experience with bad tubes being the problem, or is it always the tire not seating correctly? Help. Good thing we went through this exercise, as race day is not the day to learn.

We had a decent run yesterday, although I am looking forward to getting out of this heat. Something about the 90+ degree weather that just saps my energy. I thought yesterday I was going to fall asleep standing up. I am glad we only experience this a couple weeks out of the year, my hat is off to those of you who train in it all summer.

Good luck to everyone this week with your training.

Christine

Back from vacation.  4 days backpacking in Yosemite, 1 overnight in Yosemite Valley, 4 days/nights in Pacifica, CA with relative.  

Now back to training.

4 days backpacking in Yosemite sounds like training to me :-)  Welcome back, Melanie!

Hey you were far, but not too far from my neck of the woods!  Sounds like fun! 

Here's the race report... http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=261394 nothing too new as this was a difficult race for me.  But the lake was beautiful, the race as usual was a blast and my heart soared when I saw my grandson at the finish line!  Camping was nice and but a bit too windy which made it too chilly to enjoy the lake other than its views.

I started a bit disorganized in the morning and forgot my drinks.  It was a deep water start which was new to me.  For some reason my right arm felt as if I had pressure on it the entire swim.  That seemed to wear me out a bit, my left arm felt fine so I think I may have had the suit bunched up funny or something. 

The bike was slow but sure...one poor athlete was screaming all the way back down...like she was on an E ticket ride at Disneyland!  There were some gust and just before you reached the turn around there was a wall of wind tempting us struggling hill riders to stop and take a break.  In determination, I lowered my head and kept pushing those pedals. 

I started at a good pace on the run but wore out a bit on each hill.  These were rolling hills but my lungs were telling my head they were mountains.  I reget walking at those times but it is what it is and I need to get stronger for those.  Funny  thing...several strangers came up to me and complimented my legs...strange but true...guess these gammes looked good but still a little more ornamental than effective at this point. 

All in all I had a really good time...and that is always my goal in life...have a good time.  While waiting my turn to look at the posted race results a guy seemed really mad when he told his wife his place, 175  out of 204...I mean I thought he was going to cry.  Not sure what I felt; just felt for him, because he felt soooo bad.  Then I looked at my place and I was listed right after him...the irony made me chuckle.  I always wish I could do better but I did see in my swim I was 102 out of 204 and thought that was pretty cool. MOP RULES!