Manassas Mini Tri 2008

At first, I wasn't even going to do this race and instead go right to a sprint -- but I'm soooooo glad I did! I was inspired to do so because I'd read reports about other beginners starting with a super sprint. I'm really glad this series is held, because it's the perfect introduction to a triathlon, which is what it's designed to be, and for others, a great way to start the season. The distances were not intimidating at all:
250 yard swim
4 mile bike
1.4 mile run.

The race was an excellent opportunity to round up my gear and go! I was sooooo excited and nervous about the race, much, much more than I thought I would be!! I used a checklist given to me by a member of the swim team to round up my gear the night before. I fretted that I might forget something, but I didn't. Everything was just perfect. With three disciplines and two transitions, I worried that I would forget to do something, but I didn't. Well, I almost forgot to get bodymarked, but my helpful husband who came along reminded me. The pettiest things confounded me. I couldn't figure out how to get the race number on the race belt until I saw someone else do it. Once the race got underway, everything more or less fell into place.

Swim 5:18
I was seeded at the beginning of the race, and was the 36th person in the water (out of about 280). I found it really challenging to get in the water and go. Unlike a swim meet, we had no opportunity to warm up in the water and I had to get in and start swimming fast. The snake swim format of touching the wall on both sides of the lane marker plays into my bad habits. When given the opportunity, I'll hold onto the wall and take a few breaths. This gives me the opportunity to rest as people bunch up in the middle of the swim...but then we spread out, so it went well.

As I swam, I couldn't help but think that the swim team was great preparation. The race was almost like swim practice in which there's the intimacy of having 7 co-ed people in a lane and all the splashing that ensues. The swim team is also a great introduction to swimming as a contact sport as I sometimes accidentally hit other people and they accidentally hit me. Nobody complains. In the race, there was one guy tapping my toes, and of course I tried to swim faster, but I thought he should just back off a bit.

T1
Took really long....way too long. The transition times weren't reported, but it can be surmised from the overall time. I wore my crocs into the pool area and put my cochlear implant processor in them. A friend suggested that I put them near where I come out of the pool, but since I couldn't tell where I'd come out, I had to ask permission to walk across the pool and get it. I also expected this transition to be lengthy because I spent time putting on my socks and tying my shoes and generally assembling myself. Should I put on the race belt now, or later? I clipped and unclipped the belt. Sunglasses on or off? Let me decide. Next time, I'll make a plan and stick with it to avoid making all of these decisions mid-race.

Bike 21:18:00
Flat and fast, but for me very slow. Cycling is my weakest area and many people who were next to me in the swim passed me. I'll have to work on this. As I came back into transition, I also remembered to put my bike in lowest gear to generate leg turnover for the run.

T2
Much faster because I simplified things by using my running shoes for the entire race. But for the most part, the race was an opportunity to experiment and try things that I might do in the future.

Run 12:56
I started out behind a 61-year-old gentleman -- the oldest person in the race -- although I didn't stay behind him. I was surprised by how tired I was at the end of the short-distance race.

And then in 39:32 minutes, it was all over. I finished in the middle of the pack in my age group. I had a great time!








A sherbet green bike is really easy to find in transition!

First Brick

I did my first brick today by cycling 2 miles to my favorite park, running 2 miles on the trail, and then cycling 2 miles back home, and then running a short distance around the neighborhood. The shorter distances suited me fine, and I could see that the repetition of the final run was helpful, as that's where I felt the slowest on a morning that was heating up quickly. On the trail, I could also see a lot of other folks had the same idea of getting their runs in early before the heat came on.

Cycling back home, there's a long, steep hill and a sign prohibiting truckers with heavy loads. All last summer, I could never make it up that hill and always wound up walking halfway up. Today, I had no problem getting up the hill. And as LeftRightRepeat says, this is a small victory!

Discouraged

I've avoided posting this for a while....but I'm feeling really discouraged about all three sports. Back in April, a sore right arm after a swim workout evolved into a rotator cuff injury. It's not bad, but it's June and I've done all the right things and it's just not gone. I also got sick a lot in April, so I took two weeks off. When I tried to go back to things, my knee started to talk to me in a way that I didn't like. Of course, it's all on one side of my body. Now I'm trying to come back from another two weeks off due to injury/schedule, and I don't know if it will be a success.

I'm going to a chiropractor who cracks my back and my neck only because I didn't want to go to an orthopod and inevitably get referred off to a PT. My insurance only allows five sessions of PT and I'd rather save it for a bigger injury. Don't know if the chiropractor is doing any good, but the one nice thing about him is that he's patient with people like me who read the Internet too much and worry. "If it were that, you'd feel this...so it's not that."

When I was last swam with the team, it wasn't an encouraging night. I come, I swim, and I go. Sometimes I feel as though I'm on the outside looking in, listening to everyone tell their stories when I have none of my own.

Sometimes I feel that three sports means triple the injuries. It's the story of my middle-aged athletic life: I had a grand vision, I tried to train sensibly, but then I always wind up injured. I'm worried that my season will be over even before it begins.

I'd sit on my couch, but I wake up before my alarm clock goes off and think about swimming, biking, and running. I like all three flavors of stress-reliever.

The Accidental Gardener

I'm an accidental gardener. I never have any confidence in my ability to keep anything alive, so I buy a small perennial and plant it, never thinking that it will survive and grow, then I forget the name of the plant. Several years later, I have a big, beautiful, and nameless plant.


Here's to horticultural naming. I'm posting pictures and names of my plants so that I can remember what's there, particularly in the early spring when I have the urge to plant and no idea of what I already have.

This is my three-year-old peony. This year, I sprayed them in time to get rid of the bugs so they could bloom. I can't wait for them to be in full bloom.

A front view of my garden. Last year, someone -- who won't be named -- decided to prune the azalea foundation bushes in front of the railing. The problem is that azaleas can't be pruned and the bushes promptly died. Now, there's an empty space and a large root system underground, so I'm trying to think of what to plant in the back. Perhaps daylilies or some small azaleas would be a good choice.

In the front (left to right) catnip plant that reproduced to the center of the garden, in front is a small lavender plant, some groundcover that has little purple trumpet-like flowers that bloom in the spring. Along the front boarder, there are blue baloonflower plants. Next to that is thyme, chives in bloom with lavender flowers, an oregano plant, rosemary, and tarragon (I think), and in back of that is a flowering plant. Then there a big continuously blooming lavender plant.

My peonies are in front. Near the front along the sidewalk are some parsley plants and a yellow callalily, which just began blooming last summer. There are the old blooms of spring bulbs, a foxglove, two basil plants, and a nameless flowering plant. There are several plants with pink carnation-like flowers. I planted one last summer and like it so much I got more of the same this year.

The flowers give color to the garden, and the herbs are in my salad from spring to fall.

Cheers for Oscar Pistorius!

I think that athletes with and without disabilities should be able to compete together.

Amputee Sprinter to Compete for Spot on S. Africa Olympic Team
Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius will be allowed to compete for a spot on the South African Olympic team after a sport regulatory body ruled today that his carbon-fiber prosthetic limbs do not give him an advantage over other runners.

May Madness

It's May and I'm losing my mind. I could write this same post every year at this time. May is the time when the world wakes up and decides that something needs to be done before June comes and summer sets in and everyone goes on vacation. May is IEP season, in which I have the pleasure of trying to negotiate a reasonable IEP for my son after trying to gain compliance with the current plan. IEPs never get any easier, any less stressful--or any less expensive to try to obtain a free, appropriate public education. May is the time when I take on a volunteer project that's enjoyable, but a little more time-consuming than originally anticipated. It's a time when I discover through casual conversation that my husband, who was tasked with handling the college funding process, didn't have a clue as to what to do. May is at time when paperwork piles up and my task list grows longer.

Venturing Into Open Water, Right in the Neighborhood Pool

We've been tackling the open water...right in the swimming pool at swim practice. One night we learned how to sight a target, a skill needed to swim a straight line in open water where you can't see underwater. Last night we built on our skills by swimming around a buoy. We combined lane dividers and broke into groups. The coach jumped in with a big mesh bag filled with pull buoys and held them in place. Then the group sprinted off, simulating the water orgy of a mass start, and swam around the buoy. The coach probably got clobbered by the crowd. Then the group moved into the next section of the pool and sprinted from one end of the pool to the other, simulating the experience of swimming in a pack with people tapping your feet the whole time. I probably should have tried to spot the person beside me as an aid in pacing and alignment.

I was going to take a workshop to learn these skills...someday....when I was ready. The team is practicing for the bay swim, but I'm not venturing into open water at any point in the near future. But I really appreciate the coach taking the time to teach the team these skills.