Race Report: Tri for the Cure 2009

Pre-Pre-Race: So with all the travel I've been doing, I've been getting a lot of reading in, if not a lot of working out. I'm almost finished with the book Mindset, which is written by a woman who has spent her entire career in Psychology studying the effects of failure on people in society. What she's found is that there are two different mindsets - the fixed mindset, and the growth mindset. If you're reading my blog, I'm sure you know by now that my time sensitive, ultra planning, super efficient, perfectionist self - well I am the definition of a fixed mindset. I am what I do, not WHO I AM!

I've read people with the growth mindset - people who take (enjoy?) set backs and use them as challenges and opportunities for growth, and it's always inspired me, but I can't keep with it, because damnit, I wouldn't be perfect then. You can say this book has been a game changer for me, and you would be right.

So, with that said, I went into this race woefully unprepared, untrained, having done zero swimming, little running, and even less biking. Was I terrified? No. Nervous? No, I can't say that I was. I said "What the hell? I paid $100 for this race, at least I can have a good time, right? We're curing cancer here!" So that's what I did. Shockingly I had a way better time than normal!

Pre-Race: The race was at Chandler High, which was oh- less than 10 minutes away. I think I'm in love with this race solely because it's so close to my house. :) We had to get into and out of transition before 6am. I showed up at 5:15, AFTER Lilac, which shows you that I wasn't worried about the time. In fact, I set my alarm for 5am, so I just got up and got in the car.

We set up, and because our race didn't start until 9:13am, we went home, and went back to bed. Literally. Lilac jumped into the princess' bed, and started sawing wood, and I decided that was a good idea, and followed along.

We got back up at 8, and were feeling incredibly unnervous. We got dressed, checked our stuff, and left for the race. We parked across the street, and went to see the sights. We snuck into transition to put our clothes in our bags, and checked out people who were already racing. This is such a fun event because it's all women, all for a good cause, and frankly not a lot of "athletes". I felt entirely comfortable walking around in my bathing suit and swim cap. So did every other lady out there. It was a rare day that was judgement free. We all need a day like that to celebrate being women.

So, about 5 minutes before the race, Lilac and I got into queue, and started putting on our swim caps. We actually both put our caps on with our nose plugs in our hair. We took them off, found our plugs, and started over. Mine was not staying on my nose, but I kept messing with it. The funny thing was that I was so intent on getting my nose piece on, that I didn't even really care that we were quickly moving up in line. Before I knew it, Lilac was shoving off the wall, and I was 15 seconds behind her.

*Note, Tri for the Cure start times go by age. In order for us to race together, Lilac had to be aged up a couple of years. The people running the race knew what happened and didn't seem to care. Neither do I. This race is about being together.

Swim: Again, I've done no swimming. The pool was the perfect temperature, and incredibly clean. It was a good 50 meter pool, and we were to swim 8 snake laps, meaning that we hit the wall, went under the buoys, and swam up to the other end of the pool where we'd hit the wall swim under the buoys. It was a 400 meter swim. As part of my new growth mindset I decided that it wasn't necessary to pass Lilac, just to show that I could. This was about us doing this together, so I had a very leisurely swim. I lost my nose plug in the water about halfway through, and wasn't worried about it all. I just plunged back in. When I caught up with Lilac, I decided to do a nice easy breaststroke, because it was slow enough that it didn't make her feel like I was all over her feet. As always the first 200 stink mentally, and then you get in the groove.

12:13, which is at least a minute slower than last year, and I couldn't have cared less. It was 29th of 44 25-29 year olds, and 25th of 43 in the Athena division.

T1: We trotted all the way to our bikes, which were as far away from the pool as you could be - they were assigned spots. However, the ladies around us had been very nice, and all of our stuff was laid out perfectly, as it had been at 6am. Bra, shirt, skirt, socks, sneakers, sunglasses, helmet, (moisturizer, deodorant, those little gummies, and a bit of water) and we were off! Transitions were untimed in this race - yeah!

Bike: The bike was 8 miles, two loops of the city block from AZ Ave to Chandler Blvd, to Alma School Rd, to Ray Rd, back to AZ Ave. Alma School was a beast with the wind pounding down, and likewise AZ Ave was like rolling downhill - it was quite fun. Aparently my brother drove by during one of our loops - he noticed the running skirts - but smartly decided not to honk, and prevent the freak out, spin out incident. The cops were cheering us on, there were plenty of ladies that passed us, and again, I passed no one, but eventually I'm going to figure out the secret to biking. Until then, I'll just keep cheering people on, and enjoying being out in a beautiful day!

45:38, 41 out of 44 age group, 37 out of 43 Athena. So hey at least three other people (including Lilac) don't know the secret.

T2: off with the bike, off with the helmet, more gummies, more water, feeling good!

Run: The run was a great course. One mini-block traversed twice, small enough that we could easily see each corner. Then you get into the stadium at Chandler High, run around the track and finish off with a bang. I'll admit that the travel weariness/lack of fitness caught up with me a bit here, but I hardly noticed, because we were having so much fun! The volunteers were rocking, we were dancing to the music in the stadium - the Dirty Dancing song was great, if you had seen us doing the mashed potato and the twist while we were running. Great times! At the end, they announced us, we crossed the finish hand in hand again, and got some great pink ribboned medals, and best of all the coldest water I've ever consumed. It was perfect for a 95 degree day.

27:08, 39/44 age group, 33/43 Athena. Go me!

Overall: 39th of 44 age group, 34th of 43 Athena, with a total time of 1:24:59. I enjoyed every minute!

Home Sweet Home!!

Wow, it's been a roller-coaster couple of weeks, and I feel like I need a post just to remind myself of all that has happened. So on Tuesday March 10th, I was in Albuquerque, NM for a tech support F2F. Jason was hunting for homes, as he has been doing for the last few months while we waited on the longest "short"sale of all time. He found the most beautiful home, but it was listed for more than we wanted to spend. He tried to talk himself out of putting an offer in, and eventually asked me to go look at the house when I got home on Wednesday the 11th. I went to the house straight from the airport. I loved it. We said what the hell, we'll offer what we're willing to pay, and who knows, sometimes you get lucky. We submitted the offer on the 12th, and to our intense surprise it was accepted by the owner (another real estate agent) on the 13th, and the bank first thing Monday on the 16th. I was in Chicago at this point, but it was sure exciting. Aparently the other offers had been higher, but the bank approved letter for required price was just below what we had offered, and it expired at the end of March - no one else could close quickly enough for the approval letter to still be active. We were now in escrow So I'm in Chicago for the week, frantically writing down lists of everything that needs to be done - all the addresses that need to be changed, the updates to our utilities, rental trucks, cleaning crews, landscapers, the whole shebang. We actually get the inspector to come on Monday the 16th, and he gives it a very good bill of health, with just a few minor issues - AC needs servicing, there's an electrical outage in the 3rd bedroom, and one of the outside faucets had a small drip. I get home from Chicago on Thursday the 19th to find that the entire house has been packed. I have exactly three work outfits laid out for the following week, and peanut butter and almonds in the cabinet - which is really good for those mono-unsaturated fats, but where the hell are the pretzel fishies?! That's about it. Everything has not only been packed, but staged in the garage for a quick move. That weekend we get our new appliances, and some other shopping done. Monday the 23rd, my boss is in town, and we're doing another pilot - this time in Chandler - which means I'm once again unavailable for house stuff. Tuesday we close. Wednesday we get the keys, Thursday "we" (being J and my brother) move. Friday and Saturday we un-pack. Sunday we rest. Count the days... we were in escrow for a total of 10 days. 5 of those days I was gone. The details on the house? 2970 sq. ft. on a very nice sized corner lot. 4 bed, 2 1/2 bath. Pebbletech pool, outdoor fireplace and built in grill, courtyard, office for me, lush tropical vegetation, and upgraded tile, granite counters, crown molding, and plantation shutters. And we stole it. Does it get better? I feel like I'm staying at a nice hotel. The best news of the whole thing is that one of the bedrooms is pink and purple, just like Sydni wanted, and she's going to come out in July to spend a week with us. Yay!

Feeling Alive

Today is the first day that I actually felt good working out. I biked on the stationary for an hour, and finally felt like my fourth and fifth gears are back. When I finished, I walked back down to the lockerroom to grab my stuff, and I felt an overwhelming sense of joy and ability. I am healthy, and lucky to be able to go to such a great gym whenever I want.

I walked outside, and it was absolutely beautiful out. Windows down weather for sure. Blue skies, flowers out, gorgeous breeze. I felt so alive and glad that I live in a city that lets me feel that way six+ months out of the year - as opposed to 6 days, if some are lucky.

We found a beautiful home, put an offer in, and are going to close on Tuesday. We have a 10 day escrow period, because some of the short sale paperwork was going to expire, and I've been out of town for 5 of them, so it's been just a little frantic. Still - with all of the people in this country losing their jobs, struggling, losing their homes, the things they've worked so hard for - I'm extremely lucky to be able to buy a gorgeous home way under price, at a very low interest rate, in a neighborhood way above where I expected to be. I'm lucky that I can pay for all of my new appliances with cash, that the government is giving us our down payment back to stimulate the economy.

I'm lucky that I'm so in love and so aligned with J, and that we have the same path ahead of us.

I'm feeling absolutely alive, lucky beyond belief, and truly happy.

Hill Heaven

Yes, I'm certain that at some point in the hot Phoenix summer, I'll be posting a "Hill Hell" blog. But not today!

Sunday, Lilac and I (ok I) decided to go exploring at South Mountain. Our (my) goal was to find a good long decent hill that was neither too rocky, nor too sandy that we could use for our summer hill work. We explored different trails and found lots of washes that were really rocky - just spells disaster - or were short, but none that were Goldilocks 'just right'. Then we went back to our staple National trail, and decided to use a section that is rolling hills, and finish it with short but intense hill.

It was an absolutely beautiful day. Just slightly chilly, so that it felt perfect when we were running. It was green, we saw a coyote, it was just a beautiful day. The best part was that I felt good doing 'sprints' in th hills. It was the first day since I've been sick that my lungs didn't completely collapse on me. My knee hurts today, but I think it just needs to get used to running the trails again, versus hiking them. My initial early season version II times? 2:27 through the rolling hill section, 0:46 for the longer portion of the last hill, and 0:11 for the short part of the last hill. We'll see how that improves.

I think that after training for the half, I need to change my focus a little. Now I know I can go somewhat long, and I can build on that, but I want to work on my explosiveness and speed - primarily because with all this travel, I will probably be doing more short workouts. Might as well make the most of them, right?

I feel confident that the short stuff will help me with my Summer Series goals, give me some incentive to push through this funk, and keep me from dwelling/dreading? the training for an Olympic Tri at the end of the season. I don't have to think about September right now. I just have to think about short effective workouts and I can take a mental break from 3 hours on the treadmill.

We'll see how it goes. Did anyone notice that I actually am trying something new, without being forced into it? It could become a habit! (Yeah right)

Itching...

First - Thanks Lady Tiara, for your positive post to my last message. I can't tell you how much that helped me work through my funk. It's still a work in progress, but I read several blogs this week that reiterated that I need to take care of myself, focus on the long term goals, and have faith in the process.

Gotta love a good 4.13 mile week. Sheesh. It wasn't so long ago that 4.13 was just my warmup hour. And it felt easy. And I enjoyed it. I guess at least now I know it's possible to feel that way, and I can get there again. I went for a beautiful and easy bike ride last Saturday - the weather is absolutely perfect right now - took Sunday off, swam Monday (more seasickness), tried to run Tuesday afternoon but gave up after my stomach revolted, took Wednesday off (which was the plan all along, to slowly get back to active) biked Thursday, and took Friday off. I just got back from a short two loop run around the bike park.

The interesting thing is that both my Thursday bike and this morning's run were not far off my previous fitness according to my graphs. The problem is that they felt like herculean efforts. I just feel like there's no energy in my legs - I think a single line of lunges would be the death of me right now - and my lungs are seriously "scarred" from this cold. I haven't felt my lungs like this since I was a wheezy out of shape kid trying to do the mile in gym class. I guess it's a good reminder that they are there, and maybe I've been taking them for granted.

As always, the hardest part of balancing multi-sport with life for me is adjusting my expectations. Tri for the Cure is 43 days away, and I went from wanting to really push hard and PRing to not feeling confident that I will actually be able to finish it. Notice there's no countdown clock up for it. I think it would push me over the edge. Sounds stupid, I know, but I've really lost that much fitness in the last few weeks. It certainly doesn't help that I'll be traveling for the next 3 or 4 weeks. I acknowledge that I feel that fear right now, but I have to take care of myself, focus on the long term goals, and have faith in the process.

Taking Care of Myself
Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Maybe forcing me to start my season slow will let me build to a successful olympic distance race at the end of the year. Maybe by traveling and taking more rest time, and doing some shorter workouts I'll actually wind up with a better healthy base for when I want to kick it up later in the season. Maybe doing some shorter work will give me the incentive to continue working out outside, fit some hill work in, and make me feel like I CAN workout when I'm traveling, because I'm only expecting 45 minutes or so from myself. Maybe that's not so bad. Maybe I'll look back at this time of frustration and think that it was the best thing that could have happened to me. Maybe I'll get over getting pissed every time Lilacs tells me I need to rest and take care of myself, and reminds me that I promised I would listen to my body.

Focus on Long Term Goals
Ice Cube - You Can Do It, Put Your Back Into It - yes I actually still listen to this song. It's a great warmup song. There's always one line that reminds me of my REAL goals - ...training like an athlete, life ain't a track meet, it's a marathon... well damnit, don't I keep writing and telling myself that I want to be healthy for the long term. Yes I do. I know you're sick of hearing about it. So why can't I remember that when I'm pissed that I'm hacking up a lung 5 minutes into a run, or that I'm sitting at 85 rpm on the bike at level 5, and I just can't get my legs to move faster? Pespective. I need some.

It's spring. The weather is perfect, and will be for another week or so. I want to feel GOOD when I'm working out so that I can enjoy it! All summer I'll be thinking about how nice the weather was... except I won't remember any great moments, because I'll just remember dying trying to run for 5 minutes at a time. Races are starting, and I'm itching to get into shape so that I can start racing. I feel like I'm way behind my expectations of where I should be right now, and I'm struggling with - you guessed it - adjusting my expectations. I will get there. I know I will. I'll die before I'll DNF at Tri for the Cure. If I can get run off the road by a car on the way to Chances, and finish that race with a two knee caps on one torn up leg, then I can finish Tri for the Cure just being out of shape. Is it what I wanted? No. Will it be just as great of an experience for me, because I'm coming back from illness? Especially with those cute new princess skirts from runningskirts.com? Yes. Maybe even more so, because it's another year that I've continued to attempt to be healthy.

Have Faith in the Process
Anyone who knows me, or read about the "alleged" ping pong paddle incident knows that I'm not at all religious. So I'm not talking about Faith that God will lead me on the path to greatness and a gold medal at the Olympics. My faith is more about trusting myself. Trust is not a natural tendency of mine, and even trusting myself can be hard. Yes, I have read thousands of articles about training, and I have found a way to train that mostly keeps me injury and illness free. But what if it's not right? What if it's not enough? What if I can't prepare enough to do an Olympic distance tri this year? What if I start riding my mountain bike on places other than the canal and I break my arm and I'm out for months? What if I become a total bum with all of this travel? What if I can't balance it all and I get sick again? Sadly each of these things has crossed my mind. I need to learn to trust myself, and my body, and be willing to adjust my short term goals to maintain my long term goals. I can do this. I can have faith in the process.

Random notes:
- Did some shopping, and felt good with everything that I put on, so that's always a subtle bonus.
- Word from the bank this week is that they are not even going to LOOK at our offer for another 60 - 90 days. I guess it just gives us more time to save and plan. Nothing wrong with that.
- I'll be in lovely Albuquerque this week for work.

Thanks for listening. I'm getting my head wrapped around my frustration and itchiness to get where I need to go.