HILDEBEAST'S Magnificently Motivational Mentor Group - CLOSED!!!! (Page 55)

I had a fun time racing with my sister yesterday.  Here is my race report:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=449815

Some highlights -- This was a very low-key/low-maintenance race...  Many newbies.  2 transition areas which was weird (and complicated b/c so used to leaving everything in one spot!).  Totally disgusting water for the swim - goose poop and algae everywhere.  I'm waiting to see if I come down with anything following that swim (can you say "cholera"??).  Was hoping to go faster as always, but am okay with my MOP status and total race time of 1:27.  The race results only give us a total time, no splits.  That's how low-budge/low-maintenance/low-tech this race was!  Oh well....  Had a great time with my sister.  She's pissed that I beat her by a minute, haha!  A little sisterly competition is healthy, right?! 

Just wanted to get my race report up there, will post pics later...  Lots of unpacking an cleaning to do after a week in NY!

Hope everyone had a safe and Happy 4th!!!

Here are some pics from Sunday's race...

Photos 1 and 2 - My sister and I

Photo 3 - Final hill before finish line, I'm dying here!

Photo 4 - My kids had no interest in taking a post-race family shot!  :P  Long day for them...

Looking forward to reading Kristen's report in a bit.

For now, I'll report on my ride this morning.  I planned on 1 hour.  I decided a few miles in to work on my shifting.  I tend to be a lazy shifter sticking with the easy gear and just shifting up and down on that.  The thing is that I know I could use harder gears, if I wasn't so lazy about shifting.  It went pretty well I only misshifted a few times.  All was going well and I was planning out my route home to make it around 1 hour, when I started down a small hill.  Near the bottom I wanted to keep momentum going so I shifted up, cross chained and dropped the chain between the cassette and the frame.  Stuck!  Oh crud!  I braked stopped and got the chain back on.  Tried in vain to wipe some of the grease off of my hands with some leaves.  Pedaled home with greasy hands trying to stay off of the white bar tape (that I never wanted-will change in the fall).  What a mess!  Cleaned up the bike and myself. 

All is fine after my minor adventure.  Spent the afternoon sailing.

Good for you for handling it yourself! My underseat bag now has a couple of disposable gloves and a Handiwipe in it! Comes in handy for rear tire changes, too. I'm jealous- sailing sounds so relaxing.

Kristen - Glad you had a good time at your race!  Especially nice you could do it with your sister.  Your kids will love seeing you race when they are a bit older.  I remember my first race -- kids didn't come but they asked oh so excitedly "Did you win?"  Haha.

Andrea - Bummer about your dog.  I'm sure you miss the daily company and being followed around the house.  On another note, it's good you are getting used to the gears on your bike!

I really like the idea of putting disposable gloves & Handiwipe in my seat bag.  I will try to remember to do this tonight!

Hey guys, just wanted to share that I had a really good speed workout last night, and I did things a little differently after reading a fantastic article about the benefits of harder recoveries between intervals.  It basically explains that short, harder recoveries give you the benefits of a tempo run (increase your lactate threshold) as well as sharpening your speed and helping your pacing.  I felt like it was the most beneficial workout I've had on the track in a long time.  Here's the article if anyone wants to check it out:

http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=25579

Alex- looking forward to hearing all about your summer, and good luck on the HIM this weekend!

My news: I FINALLY got off the fence and registered for the Waco tri this weekend! Enough cards fell into place where I could finally make a decision, and I'm super-excited! As long as there is a plane with a seat for me and space for my bike, I'm there! I registered for the sprint even though I'm NOT a sprinter, so I can race with my buddies. I'll get spanked, I'm sure! Yeehaw, lookout Texas, here I come!!

Hey there!  Good luck to those that are racing this weekend!  Can't wait to read all about it.

I'm still plugging along.  My running has been suffering lately - not sure exactly why.  I think it's partly the heat and now humidity and partly some issues at home.  Biking has been going well though.  I joined the TdF challenge here and it's gotten me on my bike more often and for longer stretches so that's a good thing.  Swimming has been non-existent.  I've had some shoulder issues and saw my chiro the other day.  My rotator cuff is really tight and there's some nerve entrapment there also.  He doesn't think it's torn though so we're hoping that a couple week's worth of ART treatments should do the trick. 

I officially registered for a tri in August.  It's a little longer than the ones I was originally looking at, still a sprint though (400/21.6/3.1).  This one fits into my calendar better than the others I was considering.  I've got 5 weeks to get ready!

Good luck at all your races this weekend, Tammy, Tammy, Brad, Hilde, Alex and Michelle!!  Go MMMer's!! 

I'm sure all you TriWaco folks will have a blast! Have a post-race drink (or 2) for me!! 

Well, the MMMer's had an awesome race this morning in spite of seeing lots of lightning on the drive up and downpouring rain towards the end of the run.  The fact that it stayed overcast sure helped!   Let's see, how did we fare?   Tammy Turtle (tstl) podiumed for the first time in a tri, in spite of the ongoing joke that it was just going to be a low "training day" for her.... she got 3rd in her AG and spanked me by about 7 minutes!  Tammy Tucker beat me too, she was rocking that bike leg today, but we think that's because she bragged yesterday about using "Hoo Hah" cream in her bike shorts that would make her all warm and tingly.... she was FAST!  Unfortunately she's in an awfully competitive AG and took 7th.  Connie did her second tri, coming off little training the past 3 weeks or so due to injury and managed to do as well as she did in her first, so she rocked it too!  Brad.... well Brad.... Brad's been nursing a bad chest cold, we even had to go pick up an inhaler for him yesterday, and he's just been off.  Not a great race for him, but he seemed to be in fairly good spirits as he mooned Tammy tstl and I as we drove home!  Yep, he got all naked in Wilson's car, he's gonna have to disinfect it now... and me, well, I managed to pull out a 1st place AG inspite of little to no training this week so I'm happy about that, but not so much about my splits, could have done better I think.  Wilson wisely decided NOT to race, his collarbone is still causing pain, so he was our head cheerleader and took video of all of us, hopefully he can post something!  We've come home, showered, scrubbed and Goo Goned our race tattoos, gone out for some lunch and it sounds like it's nap time until the BBQ  begins a little later this afternoon.  Ron's been cooking like crazy and is in his element!  We'll see if this evening turns into "What happens in TX stays in TX!".

wrkinprogress - 2012-07-22 4:20 PM OMG, that sounds like a BRILLIANT day in Waco! Congrats to you all for such a fab race! So pleased to hear it, and I trust the post-race shenanigans will be suitably (in)appropriate! The HIM here went well, on a GORGEOUS summer day (for once: it's been raining in Antwerp for weeks!). Finished smiling, uninjured, and apparently negative-split the run to finish in 6:36:36. Not too bad for a first HIM, I figure! Scarfed dinner and a Belgian waffle when I got back to the hotel, and had a bit of the (tasty) wine I got in my swag bag (gotta love European races!). Must now crash, though, as tomorrow I travel back to the UK: will post race report when I get back & have better wifi. Hope all MMMers had a fabulous weekend! Alex

Congrats on your first HIM, Alex!!  That is a great time!!  Belgian waffles and wine sound so good right now!!  Great HIM recovery nutrition, YUM!

Congrats, Tammy Turtle and Hilde on your AG places!  And awesome job to all the other MMMers who rocked TriWaco, woohoo!!  Way to represent!

Hope Wilson, Brad and Connie are feeling 100% soon!!  So frustrating to be injured or sick during race season!