Yanti & Salty MAD MANATEES Mentor Group - FULL POD (Page 28)

I am alive. :-)

I went to bed last night after reading that a tornado was going through Wichita. Here was the weather announcement. The weather service is trying out a new "Impact warning" system in three states; Kansas is one. What do you think? Sufficiently frightening?

"IMPACT... THIS IS A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION. YOU COULD BE KILLED IF NOT UNDERGROUND OR IN A TORNADO SHELTER. COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOODS IS LIKELY. MANY WELL BUILT HOMES AND BUSINESSES WILL BE COMPLETELY SWEPT FROM THEIR FOUNDATIONS. DEBRIS WILL BLOCK MOST ROADWAYS. MASS DEVASTATION IS HIGHLY LIKELY MAKING THE AREA UNRECOGNIZABLE TO SURVIVORS."

I don't know. A little melodramatic. Anyway . . .

I went to sleep, and then was awoken by my 16 year old yelling, "Tornado Sirens! Tornado Sirens!" Our home city is extremely cautious about sounding our sirens. They don't set them off unless they can see the tornado -- they've actually been criticized for that practice. One day a few years ago, we were under a warning, sirens didn't go off, and in the paper the next week, was a picture of the tornado --- on the ground --- about half a mile from our city. But I digress.

My point is that when we hear a siren, we respond.

So I'm running around the room, trying to wake everyone up, yelling, "Tornado! Tornado! Tornado!" I got everyone up, shoes on (in case of broken glass after), and we're running down the stairs, and I'm yelling, "Don't look at the windows! Don't look at the windows!!" (????)

There was no proper shelter in the hotel, and the windowless bathrooms and hall ways on the first floor were already packed (the hotel was sold out), so the manager offered us the employee break room. The five of us huddled in there with another couple and waited. And waited. And waited. In the meantime, the sirens are still screaming, and finally we hear horrible winds and thunder that shook even the inside room we were in.

My five year old slept through the whole thing. He doesn't remember a thing. My 11 year old was beginning to go into shock, I think. He was pale, shivering, and crying. I sent my 16 year old in search of something to wrap him in, and he came back with a bath towel, which worked.

After about 30 minutes, the sirens stopped, and the manager told us all that we could go back to our rooms. She said to come back again, if we needed to, because there were more storms on the way.

A few storms woke us up (hail, winds, rain, etc), but the sirens didn't go off again. Nevertheless, at one point in the night (maybe at about 3:00?) my 11 year old was standing next to my bed, saying, "I think I hear sirens." But there weren't any.

I don't know where the tornado was, but it didn't come near the hotel where we were staying. We didn't even see much wind damage this morning, not like I was expecting.

So it was all much ado about nothing, so to speak.

And that's the first part of my race report! I'll get the report completed once I get/find my official results. I have ballpark figures for my times, but my family needed/wanted to get going before I could get my official run time.

I wasn't completely disappointed in my performance (you can see approximate times for the bike and run in my training log), but I wanted to be faster. Of course. The wind on the bike course was crazy. I went as fast as I dared on the way out, while I had the tail wind, and then just suffered through with the head wind on the way back.

So, Reece, I don't blame you guys for ditching the scheduled bike ride today. I had a couple moments in the race where I just wanted to stop pedaling.

Thanks for all the well wishes, especially for our safety. When we got home, we could tell that our house had been shaken up a little (plaster came down from one of the ceilings), and our recycling was blown all around our yard, but other than that, everything is just fine.

I posted a picture of one of the tornadoes that went through our county yesterday. The weather guy out of Wichita said there were almost 100 tornadoes yesterday. Wow. Not an everyday event, I assure you.

The tornado that went through my county yesterday afternoon, while we were in Emporia. More on my tornado adventures in my race report. :-)

I am alive. :-)

I went to bed last night after reading that a tornado was going through Wichita. Here was the weather announcement. The weather service is trying out a new "Impact warning" system in three states; Kansas is one. What do you think? Sufficiently frightening?

"IMPACT... THIS IS A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION. YOU COULD BE KILLED IF NOT UNDERGROUND OR IN A TORNADO SHELTER. COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOODS IS LIKELY. MANY WELL BUILT HOMES AND BUSINESSES WILL BE COMPLETELY SWEPT FROM THEIR FOUNDATIONS. DEBRIS WILL BLOCK MOST ROADWAYS. MASS DEVASTATION IS HIGHLY LIKELY MAKING THE AREA UNRECOGNIZABLE TO SURVIVORS."

I don't know. A little melodramatic. Anyway . . .

I went to sleep, and then was awoken by my 16 year old yelling, "Tornado Sirens! Tornado Sirens!" Our home city is extremely cautious about sounding our sirens. They don't set them off unless they can see the tornado -- they've actually been criticized for that practice. One day a few years ago, we were under a warning, sirens didn't go off, and in the paper the next week, was a picture of the tornado --- on the ground --- about half a mile from our city. But I digress.

My point is that when we hear a siren, we respond.

So I'm running around the room, trying to wake everyone up, yelling, "Tornado! Tornado! Tornado!" I got everyone up, shoes on (in case of broken glass after), and we're running down the stairs, and I'm yelling, "Don't look at the windows! Don't look at the windows!!" (????)

There was no proper shelter in the hotel, and the windowless bathrooms and hall ways on the first floor were already packed (the hotel was sold out), so the manager offered us the employee break room. The five of us huddled in there with another couple and waited. And waited. And waited. In the meantime, the sirens are still screaming, and finally we hear horrible winds and thunder that shook even the inside room we were in.

My five year old slept through the whole thing. He doesn't remember a thing. My 11 year old was beginning to go into shock, I think. He was pale, shivering, and crying. I sent my 16 year old in search of something to wrap him in, and he came back with a bath towel, which worked.

After about 30 minutes, the sirens stopped, and the manager told us all that we could go back to our rooms. She said to come back again, if we needed to, because there were more storms on the way.

A few storms woke us up (hail, winds, rain, etc), but the sirens didn't go off again. Nevertheless, at one point in the night (maybe at about 3:00?) my 11 year old was standing next to my bed, saying, "I think I hear sirens." But there weren't any.

I don't know where the tornado was, but it didn't come near the hotel where we were staying. We didn't even see much wind damage this morning, not like I was expecting.

So it was all much ado about nothing, so to speak.

And that's the first part of my race report! I'll get the report completed once I get/find my official results. I have ballpark figures for my times, but my family needed/wanted to get going before I could get my official run time.

I wasn't completely disappointed in my performance (you can see approximate times for the bike and run in my training log), but I wanted to be faster. Of course. The wind on the bike course was crazy. I went as fast as I dared on the way out, while I had the tail wind, and then just suffered through with the head wind on the way back.

So, Reece, I don't blame you guys for ditching the scheduled bike ride today. I had a couple moments in the race where I just wanted to stop pedaling.

Thanks for all the well wishes, especially for our safety. When we got home, we could tell that our house had been shaken up a little (plaster came down from one of the ceilings), and our recycling was blown all around our yard, but other than that, everything is just fine.

I posted a picture of one of the tornadoes that went through our county yesterday. The weather guy out of Wichita said there were almost 100 tornadoes yesterday. Wow. Not an everyday event, I assure you.

I would love to say that I did not complete my race today due to some major issue that could not be controlled. The truth is, the only 'issue' was the water temp (I heard it was 53 degrees or 55 degrees---maybe it was actually 54....). Nonetheless, I had to be brought in from my swim...all because I could not catch my breath. Because I didn't finish the swim, I am not going to do a race report. Basically, here is what happened:

I did my whole setup, got everything organized, and then headed to the waterline to get a view. The lake looked beautiful! The water level was so much higher than it has been, and the sun was out, keeping everything nice and toasty. At that point, I hit the bathrooms and headed back to transition to get suited up. I met up with a friend, and we went back to the water to warm up. I was in the water for about 20 minutes and then got the 5 minute warning for our wave. The water, by that point was actually quite comfortable---and my face wasn't even getting the 'exterior ice cream head ache' feeling that I had gotten before! This race had a run into the water start, and I started near the back of the pack (where I usually start)--I felt like I was doing okay, very steady, and then nearly got kicked in the face when I swam up on the person in front of me, so I backed off and swam a bit slower. Then it went downhill....by this point, I was just about at the first buoy (maybe 200 meters), and it was like my lungs just LOCKED up! My body and brain said "keep going, we got this!!", but my lungs said "nope, you ain't going nowhere...". I held on to a kayak or about 2 minutes and got my breath back (I thought), meanwhile, there were only 2 people left in the vicinity, and they were long past that buoy by now. I moved on and swam past the buoy and halfway to the second one when it happened again, this time I changed strokes--first to breast, then to back, and then to doggy paddle! I FINALLY got past that buoy and had to hang on to a kayak again....after another 2 minutes, I let go, and this time I made it about 10 strokes, and then I lost my breath and began to have the deep chest coughs that I have when a full asthma attack hits. Thats when I knew I was done. I got picked up by the boat and taken to shore.

Oddly enough, when I reached the shore, the med guys asked if I had taken in any water---for the first time EVER in an OWS, I had swallowed NO water! Maybe that was the issue--I just need to DRINK the entire lake to be competitive!!! Anyway, I would have been allowed to do the bike/run portions, and I probably could of (though the run might have caused a bit of an issue.), but I was so upset that I gave up, I just said forget it and came home. Needless to say, I am still pretty down; doubly so, because this was the first time in years I was looking forward to my birthday (the actual birthdays for me usually suck pretty bad, so I have grown to not be happy on the actual day and usually try to hibernate in my home for 24 hours...). Thankfully, my husband, given the task to decide what b-day activities we would do in the afternoon, came up with the idea of going to the shooting range and then dinner. I needed that. There is something very cathartic about shooting a 40 cal handgun and a 22 rifle at a hapless paper target---even when done poorly(like I did). Dinner was also decent. 

Even with all of this, my resolve is still there. I have a month and 5 days til my next tri. I KNOW I can do the swim, now I just have to convince my lungs. In the meantime, I will return to my training so I will be prepared.

Okay, I will stop prattling on now.

I would love to say that I did not complete my race today due to some major issue that could not be controlled. The truth is, the only 'issue' was the water temp (I heard it was 53 degrees or 55 degrees---maybe it was actually 54....). Nonetheless, I had to be brought in from my swim...all because I could not catch my breath. Because I didn't finish the swim, I am not going to do a race report. Basically, here is what happened:

I did my whole setup, got everything organized, and then headed to the waterline to get a view. The lake looked beautiful! The water level was so much higher than it has been, and the sun was out, keeping everything nice and toasty. At that point, I hit the bathrooms and headed back to transition to get suited up. I met up with a friend, and we went back to the water to warm up. I was in the water for about 20 minutes and then got the 5 minute warning for our wave. The water, by that point was actually quite comfortable---and my face wasn't even getting the 'exterior ice cream head ache' feeling that I had gotten before! This race had a run into the water start, and I started near the back of the pack (where I usually start)--I felt like I was doing okay, very steady, and then nearly got kicked in the face when I swam up on the person in front of me, so I backed off and swam a bit slower. Then it went downhill....by this point, I was just about at the first buoy (maybe 200 meters), and it was like my lungs just LOCKED up! My body and brain said "keep going, we got this!!", but my lungs said "nope, you ain't going nowhere...". I held on to a kayak or about 2 minutes and got my breath back (I thought), meanwhile, there were only 2 people left in the vicinity, and they were long past that buoy by now. I moved on and swam past the buoy and halfway to the second one when it happened again, this time I changed strokes--first to breast, then to back, and then to doggy paddle! I FINALLY got past that buoy and had to hang on to a kayak again....after another 2 minutes, I let go, and this time I made it about 10 strokes, and then I lost my breath and began to have the deep chest coughs that I have when a full asthma attack hits. Thats when I knew I was done. I got picked up by the boat and taken to shore.

Thanks also! Yes, I have a full wetsuit, its one I have done all OWS swims in since last May. Its actually quite comfy--not so much constricting as just 'snug'.

I felt a source of pride since I began triathlon last year, that I finished every race I attempted; even when I came in exceedingly close to last. I knew I would probably eventually get a DNF, but I was hoping not. The worst part of it all was just the absolute feeling of failure, because I gave up. I KNOW that I was already going to feel icky just from the swim experience, and I would have been REALLY bad ad I done the bike/run....I just don't like to give up or admit defeat. Its not me. I'm a bit better now, but I am really having to fight the 'dark cloud' feelings from taking over.

I am alive. :-)

I went to bed last night after reading that a tornado was going through Wichita. Here was the weather announcement. The weather service is trying out a new "Impact warning" system in three states; Kansas is one. What do you think? Sufficiently frightening?

"IMPACT... THIS IS A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION. YOU COULD BE KILLED IF NOT UNDERGROUND OR IN A TORNADO SHELTER. COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOODS IS LIKELY. MANY WELL BUILT HOMES AND BUSINESSES WILL BE COMPLETELY SWEPT FROM THEIR FOUNDATIONS. DEBRIS WILL BLOCK MOST ROADWAYS. MASS DEVASTATION IS HIGHLY LIKELY MAKING THE AREA UNRECOGNIZABLE TO SURVIVORS."

I don't know. A little melodramatic. Anyway . . .

I went to sleep, and then was awoken by my 16 year old yelling, "Tornado Sirens! Tornado Sirens!" Our home city is extremely cautious about sounding our sirens. They don't set them off unless they can see the tornado -- they've actually been criticized for that practice. One day a few years ago, we were under a warning, sirens didn't go off, and in the paper the next week, was a picture of the tornado --- on the ground --- about half a mile from our city. But I digress.

My point is that when we hear a siren, we respond.

So I'm running around the room, trying to wake everyone up, yelling, "Tornado! Tornado! Tornado!" I got everyone up, shoes on (in case of broken glass after), and we're running down the stairs, and I'm yelling, "Don't look at the windows! Don't look at the windows!!" (????)

There was no proper shelter in the hotel, and the windowless bathrooms and hall ways on the first floor were already packed (the hotel was sold out), so the manager offered us the employee break room. The five of us huddled in there with another couple and waited. And waited. And waited. In the meantime, the sirens are still screaming, and finally we hear horrible winds and thunder that shook even the inside room we were in.

My five year old slept through the whole thing. He doesn't remember a thing. My 11 year old was beginning to go into shock, I think. He was pale, shivering, and crying. I sent my 16 year old in search of something to wrap him in, and he came back with a bath towel, which worked.

After about 30 minutes, the sirens stopped, and the manager told us all that we could go back to our rooms. She said to come back again, if we needed to, because there were more storms on the way.

A few storms woke us up (hail, winds, rain, etc), but the sirens didn't go off again. Nevertheless, at one point in the night (maybe at about 3:00?) my 11 year old was standing next to my bed, saying, "I think I hear sirens." But there weren't any.

I don't know where the tornado was, but it didn't come near the hotel where we were staying. We didn't even see much wind damage this morning, not like I was expecting.

So it was all much ado about nothing, so to speak.

And that's the first part of my race report! I'll get the report completed once I get/find my official results. I have ballpark figures for my times, but my family needed/wanted to get going before I could get my official run time.

I wasn't completely disappointed in my performance (you can see approximate times for the bike and run in my training log), but I wanted to be faster. Of course. The wind on the bike course was crazy. I went as fast as I dared on the way out, while I had the tail wind, and then just suffered through with the head wind on the way back.

So, Reece, I don't blame you guys for ditching the scheduled bike ride today. I had a couple moments in the race where I just wanted to stop pedaling.

Thanks for all the well wishes, especially for our safety. When we got home, we could tell that our house had been shaken up a little (plaster came down from one of the ceilings), and our recycling was blown all around our yard, but other than that, everything is just fine.

I posted a picture of one of the tornadoes that went through our county yesterday. The weather guy out of Wichita said there were almost 100 tornadoes yesterday. Wow. Not an everyday event, I assure you.

The tornado that went through my county yesterday afternoon, while we were in Emporia. More on my tornado adventures in my race report. :-)

The tornado that went through my county yesterday afternoon, while we were in Emporia. More on my tornado adventures in my race report. :-)

Kate- Great attitude, and I know you will do great on your next race!

Well as for me I fell off the BT world this weekend but I'm back!  6 days to the HIM, I'm excited as ever just need to get that OWS in, Thursday after training at this point.  The fundraiser went really well, we raised more money than we had expected which was awesome and very humbling for me and my wife.  The food was amazing, the chef actually infused the beer that was paired with the dish into each dish which was fantastic.  The feedback we got from everyone involved was awesome as well and talking with the guys that helped us put it on we think we can make this an annual event!  I got home late from that and had to work the weekend, and it was a crazy weekend, apparently friday the 13 waited until saturday the 14 to hit.  In a training class most of this week but will plan to get a few taper sized workouts in but I'm of the opinnion that I'm not going to get much better at this point so wont overdue it too much.

The triathlon that I did as my first ever race was cancelled for this year and I had been toying with the idea of doing it again, more as for fun than anything else as it is a week after the Police Unity Tour and I'm sure my legs will still be a mess, so that was a little disapointing to hear as it was a fun race.

I saw the gatorskins thread in tri talk, I actually put a pair on for the Tour since speed is less an issue than keeping the bike rolling, and had a question.  My friend who works at the lbs, and a fellow bike patrol member, got all the gear to tune up and outfit the bike and went with 25 cc tires instead of the 23 saying it will be more stable but doesn't add much more resisitence through recent tests.  Does anyone know the truth of this?  I still have my 23's for the race saturday but was just wondering.

Yanti feel better-  no poptarts=no training

Hope everyone has a good week!

I had a great race today.  It was sunny with cloudy periods, about 60F.  Little bit of wind, but nothing like last night (nor like the midwest...)  I was very happy with all aspects of my race, but especially my swim.  I did discover that I drift right when swimming in OW, so have to work on that.  But, I was able to do all freestyle, unlike my first race, kept my breathing under control.  Had one part where I was starting to lose my breath, but was able to slow my stroke and regain control.  Improvements on the bike and run as well!

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=435371

Aw thanks!

That is the one thing that is different from other times I had asthma issues---no Panic! This time,  I was calm, and I actually knew I was capable. This type of issue happened in several OWS that I did last year, and it mainly was panic then, now I am cool as a cucumber. I have an inhaler, which I did use this time (lately I haven't needed it during my workouts.). I kind of think that today's problem was primarily due to the remnants of last week's cold--I woke up this morning still coughing stuff up. I truly don't know for sure what the problem was, but I will continue to hit the water in hopes of it NOT happening again.

I will be calling my doctor---perhaps I will be tested this time (last time they just prescribed the meds without checking anything.) and I can find out for sure if there is something amiss.

The tornado that went through my county yesterday afternoon, while we were in Emporia. More on my tornado adventures in my race report. :-)

Congrats on the great training run - it should make you feel really confident for Big Sur.  Well done.

I went out for my 2 hour bike ride today and once again found myself in the middle of a triathlon!  Shortly after I started my ride I ended up on the course with the athletes doing a half iron (there was also an oly going on).  Rode with them for a while before making the turn back to the car.  These races are small races with such great volunteers.  People kept telling me I was doing "great" and "way to go".  I just kept saying "thanks".  My picture also got taken a lot and I imagine that after the race 3 weeks ago that I also ended up in and this one, the photographer is probably cursing me   I did not take any of the water or gatorade they offered, but I did take advantage of the cops manning the intersections.  It was really nice not to have to wait my turn at stop signs   This is a very hilly course (yes, parts of Florida do have hills) and it was so windy that I was blown all over the road in some areas, so I was very happy that i was not actually part of the race.  I also kept thinking about the miserable conditions that Kansasmom probably faced in her race today and while I wished her luck, I selfishly thought "thank god I have blue skies and otherwise beautiful weather for my little ride".

Can't wait to hear about everyone's races!