STEPH SPRINT FULL Let's do this thing! StephSprint group FULL! (Page 41)

5 miles at the track yesterday. Feeling good. My fellow co workers have taken to calling me "Super G" and even put a Superman logo with the letter G (for Gary, duh) on our daily task board. That's cool and all, but if you know my co workers, it wouldn't be that hard to be considered "super". Great bunch of guys, but not athletic in the least sense of the word.

I am really in need of a swim. Was going to go yesterday, but the drive is so far that by the time I got there it would've been time to turn around. I pretty sure OWS is no longer an option w/o a wetsuit, which I don't have.

Have a good weekend everyone!!! 

 Whoa!  My first HM is this Sunday- I would love to get it done under 3 hours, I bow to you at under 2!  I also hope to put the 13.1 sticker on my caR, and get the awesome T-shirt & surfboard medal- it's all about the bling...

Bridget - So sorry to hear you're under the weather.  What lousy timing! :-(  Hopefully lots of rest will have you on the mend soon & you'll have fresh legs for next month's race! 

LOL - U r hilarious.

This morning I managed to 'participate' in the no frills 10k time trial run that marked the end of the run training group that I joined in July.  Chatted with a guy about the misery of the hills in yesterday's sprint race, and am now looking forward to a slightly reduced training schedule now that tri season is officially over. Race report forthcoming.

Terri

I am unbelievably disappointed and saddened.  The week started out with a little sore throat, earache and became full blown bronchitis by last night.  I was up all night coughing, blowing my nose, and my whole body hurt.  Surftown will have to wait until next year

I texted my friends telling them to go on without me.  No surfboard medal for me.  There is the Hartford Marathon on 10/13/12- and a friend of mine may be going there.  The web site is encouraging, but Surftown is in the next town over- I'm almost a local, it is on the beach, the fall festival goes on at the same time- it would have been glorious, but even as I type this on decongestants, I am a hot sick coughing mess.  

Thank you all for the well wishes.  I trained all summer for this and wanted something special- a challenge like I have never done before.  I can apply the same enthusiasm for Hartford too though.  

Bridget

Yesterday's sprint tri marked the end of my 1st season of triathlon.  I completed 5 races (1 each month), all sprints, all varying distances.  Yesterday's was by far the toughest course, but a good, pretty well-run, festive race.

Quick stats:  16/33 AG, 364/541 OA;  Total time - 1:47:21 (500m swim, 14.5mi bike, 5k run)

Long version -  My dh was in CO playing golf with Son #2, so Son #1 had the 'pleasure' of escorting me to the race in WI.  haha  He caught some zzz's in the car before my wave was scheduled to go off.  Unfortunately the start was delayed by about 45 minutes, because when the water is 70deg and the air is 40deg, it's difficult to see the buoys (there's a guard on a paddle board in the middle of the photo)

: ?

I had debated not bothering with the wetsuit, but in the end I was glad I wore it just to stay warm before the race started!  Son #1 arrived at the start just as the sprint waves were getting organized, so I was able to leave my bag of clothes & stuff with him.  As I was walking to the swim start, I turned on my Garmin.  Batteries low.  Rats.  Tossed it to Son#1 & tried to line up to the right (along the buoy line) behind the woman I recognized from my 1st race in May who I knew would have a good swim pace (AG winner).  When the horn went off, I swam a good 50m with my head up (water polo style) trying to get clear and find some feet.  Didn't work - all the people who started wide left were angling hard to the right and I couldn't believe the contact and the congestion.  I decided to give up my line & move out left to get some clear water which worked better.  After the turnaround buoy, things opened up a bit more, although I had to pause a couple of times to clear my goggles of water.  

First race in the wetsuit, so T1 was over 5 minutes. Oh well.  At least I didn't have to worry about messing with my garmin. lol

I had driven the bike course the day before, so I knew that in the first mile there was a monster hill.  Monster.  My car struggled to get up it.  I was just hoping not to run out of gears and have to walk it like many people were doing.  I barely made it spinning up the last half in the granny gear.  It's probably a good thing my garmin wasn't working - my HR likely redlined.  Settled in for the rest of the rolling course since that was just the first mile!  And can someone explain to me why anyone would wear headphones on the bike during a race on a course not closed to traffic??? (end of sidebar)  Averaged 15.4 mph on my trusty hybrid over a lot of hills.  I'll take it.

Got slowed up in T2 because someone else's bike was in my spot.  My assigned spot.Didn't want to start a negative chain reaction so I stuck my bike in the adjacent neutral space (these were the wooden racks that u stick your back wheel in)  & had to jimmy it some so it wouldn't fall over.  Whatev.

I should have driven the run course too, so that I knew once I powered up 'killer hill', around the corner was 'psychotic mass murderer hill'.  Yeah, that one got walked.  Again, no garmin, so no pace info other than RPE.  On the bright side, the back half was all downhill. haha  Saw one of the gals from the run group heading out on the Oly course & waved.  Crossed the finish line, got my medal & hung out a while watching others finish.  Pretty good band for entertainment and a full-on pancake breakfast for post-race food.  Tried to stick around for the awards but Son #1 had been supportive long enough.  lol

Last (funny) side note on this race - on Friday after packet pickup, I was getting the lay of the land for the swim start.  Walking back from the beach to catch the course review, who do I cross paths with? Yep, the HS classmate I saw at the last race! Of all the gin joints....lol.  Met her DH & wished her well in her first Oly.  Saw her cross the finish line in an amazing 3:03, but missed her post race.  I'll probably catch her at the next race. haha  This is the 2 of us coincidentally standing next to each other for our frosh year swim team.  Great suits, huh?  Don't ask the year - it's not polite.  

Hope everyone has an enjoyable week!

Terri

Yesterday's sprint tri marked the end of my 1st season of triathlon.  I completed 5 races (1 each month), all sprints, all varying distances.  Yesterday's was by far the toughest course, but a good, pretty well-run, festive race.

Quick stats:  16/33 AG, 364/541 OA;  Total time - 1:47:21 (500m swim, 14.5mi bike, 5k run)

Long version -  My dh was in CO playing golf with Son #2, so Son #1 had the 'pleasure' of escorting me to the race in WI.  haha  He caught some zzz's in the car before my wave was scheduled to go off.  Unfortunately the start was delayed by about 45 minutes, because when the water is 70deg and the air is 40deg, it's difficult to see the buoys (there's a guard on a paddle board in the middle of the photo)

: ?

I had debated not bothering with the wetsuit, but in the end I was glad I wore it just to stay warm before the race started!  Son #1 arrived at the start just as the sprint waves were getting organized, so I was able to leave my bag of clothes & stuff with him.  As I was walking to the swim start, I turned on my Garmin.  Batteries low.  Rats.  Tossed it to Son#1 & tried to line up to the right (along the buoy line) behind the woman I recognized from my 1st race in May who I knew would have a good swim pace (AG winner).  When the horn went off, I swam a good 50m with my head up (water polo style) trying to get clear and find some feet.  Didn't work - all the people who started wide left were angling hard to the right and I couldn't believe the contact and the congestion.  I decided to give up my line & move out left to get some clear water which worked better.  After the turnaround buoy, things opened up a bit more, although I had to pause a couple of times to clear my goggles of water.  

First race in the wetsuit, so T1 was over 5 minutes. Oh well.  At least I didn't have to worry about messing with my garmin. lol

I had driven the bike course the day before, so I knew that in the first mile there was a monster hill.  Monster.  My car struggled to get up it.  I was just hoping not to run out of gears and have to walk it like many people were doing.  I barely made it spinning up the last half in the granny gear.  It's probably a good thing my garmin wasn't working - my HR likely redlined.  Settled in for the rest of the rolling course since that was just the first mile!  And can someone explain to me why anyone would wear headphones on the bike during a race on a course not closed to traffic??? (end of sidebar)  Averaged 15.4 mph on my trusty hybrid over a lot of hills.  I'll take it.

Got slowed up in T2 because someone else's bike was in my spot.  My assigned spot.Didn't want to start a negative chain reaction so I stuck my bike in the adjacent neutral space (these were the wooden racks that u stick your back wheel in)  & had to jimmy it some so it wouldn't fall over.  Whatev.

I should have driven the run course too, so that I knew once I powered up 'killer hill', around the corner was 'psychotic mass murderer hill'.  Yeah, that one got walked.  Again, no garmin, so no pace info other than RPE.  On the bright side, the back half was all downhill. haha  Saw one of the gals from the run group heading out on the Oly course & waved.  Crossed the finish line, got my medal & hung out a while watching others finish.  Pretty good band for entertainment and a full-on pancake breakfast for post-race food.  Tried to stick around for the awards but Son #1 had been supportive long enough.  lol

Last (funny) side note on this race - on Friday after packet pickup, I was getting the lay of the land for the swim start.  Walking back from the beach to catch the course review, who do I cross paths with? Yep, the HS classmate I saw at the last race! Of all the gin joints....lol.  Met her DH & wished her well in her first Oly.  Saw her cross the finish line in an amazing 3:03, but missed her post race.  I'll probably catch her at the next race. haha  This is the 2 of us coincidentally standing next to each other for our frosh year swim team.  Great suits, huh?  Don't ask the year - it's not polite.  

Hope everyone has an enjoyable week!

Terri

I should be cited for over-use of exclamation points.

!!!

Went for a KILLER 5ish mile trail run with the dog. Lots of elevation and scenery. Didn't see another person. Very fortunate to have access to awesome trails right out of my front door. A great run that was marred by my dog who, at the VERY end, like at my driveway 30 secs to the finish, decided to run away. When I gave up looking for him and went back, there he was inside with my wife and kids. Big dumb dog.

Anyway, when I told my wife my next race (Oct. 9, Summit Race 1800 ft climb) is only 2 miles, she said "your last race was 13 miles, and you're training for this one even harder?" I said without lying: "These two miles are harder than the 13" 

Well, my next, next race might be a 12K on Sunday actually.

A little race report in case anyone is still in here:

12K - 6th overall, 2nd in my age group.

The gun goes off. We all start out and right away a runner goes down because someone's dog is in the mix and trips him up. I'm trying to keep up with my pal, which puts me at 7 minute splits for the first two miles. OUCH. I start fading at mile 3, where I wish I had signed up for the 5K that was running with us. When the 5K turns and finishes, it is me and a lady who end up pacing each other for most of the race at 7:30. Yeah, that still hurt. I lose sight of my friend until he has reached the turn around point and is heading back. The lady is pulling ahead a small but increasing distance in front of me at the turn around and through the back stretch. At this point I'm trying to manage short bursts of speed to reel her in, and pushing the up hills. She slows at a water station and I'm right on her heels. Another uphill and back down the other side and I fly past her. A couple of more bursts of speed and I'm way out in front of her now. I keep cruising until the final kick. 53:20. She is the first female finisher, and when I congratulate her she says I really helped her through it. My buddy gets 4th overall and 1st in our AG. Awesome race and incredible scenery. Vermont is starting to get some of it's Fall colors and the route followed a famous trout fishing river on a dirt road.

A little race report in case anyone is still in here:

12K - 6th overall, 2nd in my age group.

The gun goes off. We all start out and right away a runner goes down because someone's dog is in the mix and trips him up. I'm trying to keep up with my pal, which puts me at 7 minute splits for the first two miles. OUCH. I start fading at mile 3, where I wish I had signed up for the 5K that was running with us. When the 5K turns and finishes, it is me and a lady who end up pacing each other for most of the race at 7:30. Yeah, that still hurt. I lose sight of my friend until he has reached the turn around point and is heading back. The lady is pulling ahead a small but increasing distance in front of me at the turn around and through the back stretch. At this point I'm trying to manage short bursts of speed to reel her in, and pushing the up hills. She slows at a water station and I'm right on her heels. Another uphill and back down the other side and I fly past her. A couple of more bursts of speed and I'm way out in front of her now. I keep cruising until the final kick. 53:20. She is the first female finisher, and when I congratulate her she says I really helped her through it. My buddy gets 4th overall and 1st in our AG. Awesome race and incredible scenery. Vermont is starting to get some of it's Fall colors and the route followed a famous trout fishing river on a dirt road.

Right now I am working with a trainer to ease back in - mostly generic workouts that hit all body parts to get back in tune - next month will increase visits and start splitting up muscle groups.

Went on a 3 mile run Saturday that took me 3 hours!  Ran through a neighborhood that was having community garage sales - at least 2 on every block - so glad I only had a couple bucks on me!