3 Things Thursday

I am normally not a 3 things Thursday kind of gal, but today I felt like posting a quick note and this seemed to be a good way to do it.

1. Ragnar So Cal – Team Tough Chik is gearing up for Ragnar So Cal which is a 12 person relay from Huntington Beach to San Diego.  We will cover 194 miles on foot over the course of 2 days (really 1 and a half).  We have a great group of women racing, some from down the street and some from far away.  Over the next few weeks you will be hearing much more about Ragnar So Cal.

2. Swim Week – I am training for Ironman 70.3 Boise right now, and this is swim week.  Which means most of my workouts are in the pool.  At this point I feel like I sweat chlorine!  Today is a rest day and I am SO ready!

3. Hot Chocolate 15K – On Sunday I am returning to PetCo Park in San Diego to race the Hot Chocolate 15K.  I rarely race the same race year after year, so I am excited to see if my running has improved over the past year.

Surf City Half Marathon Race Report

I am going to be very honest, there were 2 reasons that I signed up for this race.  1) I thought the medal was cute.  (I should be “above” racing for a cute medal…but I am not)

and 2) Jen Small was going to be there!  Jen was one of the first bloggers to embrace Tough Chik.  When she emailed me and asked to partner with Tough Chik, I was skeptical.  But one thing you will learn (or know) about Jen is that she is honest, enthusiastic and loving.  She believed in my brand and work hard to get out my message.  I pretty much owe my early social media connections solely to Jen.  She really changed my business.  We live on the 2 furthest points from each other, me in So Cal and Jen in Maine.  So I was NOT going to miss my chance to hug this amazing woman be picked up my this amazing woman.

So what is Jen like in real life?  Exactly as you would expect.  Warm, friendly, fun, energetic and she gives great hugs, which is a big bonus in my book.

Back to the race…well…not yet…

Saturday before the race we had a Tough Chik meet-up/beach party.  A few of the Team Tough Chik members who were running and some locals braved the parking dropped by.

Jenifer, Dee-El, Theresa, Laura, Dawn, Robin and me (Shannon)

Keen Raffle Winners!

It was great to meet some of the new Toughies and catch up the members who are now my friends.

This race morning started like every race morning, with an alarm so early my cats look at me like I am nuts and don’t even get up to beg for treats.  When you confuse the cats and they are to sleepy to beg for food, now THAT is early.  Stupid early.  I was concerned about parking, as this is a HUGE race, so I was able to catch a ride with one of my team members brother-in-law, who lives down the street.  It is kind of weird to get picked up a 5:30 AM by a complete stranger, but we had a lot in common and chatted non-stop to the race.

Paul (my ride) and Me

Sunrise as we are walking to starting line

Some of the Toughies met before the race started for a group pic and Julie woke up and rode down to cheer us on!  Now she is real trooper!

I promise we like each other! We were so cold!
Julie, Theresa, Dee-El, Judy and me

After a quick photo op, we went our separate ways and I headed to my corral.  I was shaking uncontrollably I was so cold.  It was probably 50, I mean not cold, but I admit that I am a total weather weenie.  I was suppose to take off at 7:57 but I *might* have been in the wrong corral, because we didn’t take off until quite a bit later and there was the 2:30 pacer right in front of me.  But I hate feeling like everyone is passing me, so I was okay starting with a slower group.

Crowds of folks at start line

We finally got moving and I remember a friend telling me to start of painfully slow.  So that is what I did, and it wasn’t that hard.  There were so many people, and I was so cold that it was hard to get faster than a 10 min mile that first mile.  I had studied the course map and knew were the one hill was at around mile 3, so I told myself to keep it nice and slow until past that first hill.  About 2 miles in, I had to go to the bathroom.  OF COURSE!  Now you have to go!  Sometimes you and your body are NOT on the same page.  The lines for the port-a-potties at that first stop were very long, so I kept on going.  My plan was to go either on the way up the hill or at the top, knowing that I can haul butt down hill and maybe get some of my time back.  I had also decided that I was going to stop my Garmin and not count potty time. LOL

Right before mile 5 there were some port-a-potties and I begrudgingly waited in line to go.  A couple minutes later, I was as good as new and ready to move on.  I was feeling really good.  Pacing myself, drinking water and moving.  Except everything was moving.  I wore a flip belt with my phone and money and a race belt.  Both of which wanted to twist, turn and rise up on me.  It was driving me nuts.  I didn’t want to snag my new team shirt by pinning my number, but this was crazy annoying.  I think around mile 9 or 10 both final stayed on my hips.

Around mile 10 I started to get stomach cramps. Not buckled-over-cramps, but my stomach-is-unsettled cramps.  This is also the point where I realized that I would be cutting it very close to the 2 hour mark.  I really, really wanted a sub-2 hour race, but knew that it wasn’t a sure thing.  This is the point where I am doing the math in my head and to what pace I need to run these last miles.  I started to feel down, realizing that I was going to miss it.  I was close to tears, when I see Sara.  Sara is amazing and one of the coolest gals I know.  She is on Team Tough Chik and also lives in the OC.  She knew I wanted a sub-2 hr run and I was actually using her training plan.  She came up to me and asked me how I was feeling and what time I had.  At that point I was an hour and a half in and had over 3 miles to go, plus a gradual climb.  She told me that I would be cutting close, but I could do it.  She blew me a kiss and was off.

After that I just pushed as hard as I could, at this point it was right around mile 11.  I think I started pushing to early and around 12.5 I hit a wall.  I looked at my watch and knew there was no way I was going to cover the next .6 miles in 5 minutes.  I just didn’t have it in me.

SO CLOSE!

I finished my first real Half Marathon at 2:03.  Even though I was a little bummed I didn’t get my sub-2, I knew that I gave it my all.  I left everything out there and I did the best that I could do.

Me and Sara

Overall this was a great race.  Beautiful, well organized and pretty dang flat, which is huge for us!  I have a sub-2 hour half in me, so I guess I will have to try again next year!

Iron Girl – Lake Las Vegas Triathlon

On Saturday I broke my 6 month race hiatus (which lasted 2 months) with Iron Girl Olympic Triathlon at Lake Las Vegas.  After “only” racing 2 tris this year (although both were 70.3s) I thought I would try a shorter distance and see how I shaped up.  I had a few factors working against me.

For one, I only trained 4 weeks for the race.  Typically a training cycle is 8-12 weeks and although I wasn’t starting from scratch, I didn’t feel as prepared as I wanted to be (but I rarely do!)  The biggie was I was working the expo the day before.  Working an expo means standing all day, a lot of heavy lifting and poor fueling/hydration.  I rarely get a chance to eat lunch and since I typically work solo, bath room breaks are a luxury (so I don’t drink as much as I normally do).  So I pulled on some compression sock (and my big girl pants) and grabbed a big bottle of water and hoped for the best.  Luckily the expo was relatively short and I was packed up by 6:30.  I was also lucky that Marc was there to help me load and unload, a HUGE help.

This was the first year for the Olympic distance, although Iron Girl has had the Sprint race at Lake Las Vegas for many years.  The course was pretty much just 2 laps of the sprint course, easy enough.  The swim was a little odd in that after out first lap, we had to physically get out of the water, cross the timing mat and swim a second lap.  I heard that it was the only way they could ensure that we swam 2 laps, which makes sense, but was a pain!  I think they could figure out a better way.  I had never heard of that before.

Race morning – 4:30 AM – UGH why do I do this again?  Really who pays to wake up at 4:30???

The night before the race I slept like sh!t.  I woke up about 20 time in a panic looking at the clock.  Don’t you just hate that?  This had happened to me before ITU last year and I had one of the worst swims I could remember, so I wasn’t feeling too confident.  I got up and got ready, ate some breakfast and Marc drove me to the start.  I told him that he didn’t have to stay and I would call after the race for him to pick me up.  I was secretly hoping he would say, “No, it is ok.  I will come watch.” But he eagerly accepted my offer and slowed down enough for me to get out of the truck before he speed off back to bed!  (I joke)  You know you have been racing a while when your significant other doesn’t even show up anymore.  But I was OK with that.  I knew that Lauren and Helaine were going to be cheering me on, so that helped.

Since I was a vendor at the expo, I was able to pick up my packet before the expo opened and rack my bike first.  So I had the very first spot, right at bike out, SCORE! So I set up my transition spot and was chatting with the girls around me.  Everyone was excited and nervous, but generally nice and inviting.  That is what I love about the all women races.  Everyone is so supportive and positive.

I walked down to the beach and found Lauren.  She was unable to race this year due to injury, so she was volunteering as support on the water.  Keeping the swimmers safe and more importantly…on course!  It was nice to see a friendly face and have someone to talk to while we waited to get in the water to warm up.  This race had a time trail start, meaning only 5 racers would go out every 10 seconds.  I had never participated in a race like this, but my guess is because the lake is narrow at the start, the didn’t want us all to go out together.

SWIM – 1.5K

I am not a great swimmer and I didn’t want to be in the water when the let the Sprint race start.  I really wanted to get this part over, so I jumped in at the front of the line.  I was in the 3rd group to go and I went out WAY too fast for me. I was about 100 yards in and I felt exhausted (just like ITU).  I was getting passed right and left and I felt like I was never going to get out of the water.  At that point I reminded myself that I was here to race my own race, not beat this girl or that girl.  I wasn’t going to win, so just HAVE FUN DAMN IT!  So I started to swim at a comfortable pace and actually look around when I can up for air or to sight.  The sun was rising and the lake was beautiful (man-made but beautiful).  I finished my first lap, got out of the water and did it all again, this time at my own pace.  I kept a look out for green swim caps (Oly was pink, sprint was green) and I was able to make it out of the water before the green caps.  Out of the water we had a 1/4 mile run up hill to transition.  This was part of our swim time, which is a bummer because I would like to compare it to my past swim times.  But it probably would have been longer either way with getting in and out of the water. Time – 40:44 13/20 (div) 57/88 (overall)

Lesson – I need to work on my speed and not worrying about everyone else.  Getting a good night sleep is beneficial to the swim for me, but that won’t always be a given.  I was good with my sighting, I felt like I was improved there but I don’t have the speed.

TI – After my hike up hill I made it to T1 with no issues.  Found my bike easily and was able to get on and go…no problem.  Half of the bikes were gone when I arrived and I was surprised I wasn’t the last one, even if I was one of the first in the water. Time – 2:44 9/20 (div) 24/88 (overall)

Lesson – Buy expo space at all races to ensure early bike racking! 🙂

BIKE – 40K

If you follow my blog or know me from Team Tough Chik, you know that I LOVE THE BIKE.  This is my sanctuary, where I feel at home, where I should shine.  Gordy (my bike) had been making a clicking sound on and off for the past few weeks.  I couldn’t locate the sound and Marc had been traveling and unable to look at it.  I was hoping that it would magically disappear for the race, no such luck. So there was a click with every tire rotation the entire bike.  SO.FREAKING.ANNOYING. But I tuned it out the best of my abilities.  The portion of the bike in and out of the resort area was pretty hilly, so we didn’t get much time to warm up before we were climbing.  There were quite a few ladies already on the course by the time I go there due to my less than stellar swim.  I passed a few, but for the most part, I rode the first lap solo.  By my second lap there were a lot more women on the course and some of the sprint athletes were on the bike as well.  I saw 2 Tough Chik jersey out riding and that made me smile.  A lot of women were walking their bikes up the hills to get out to the main road.  I have never seen so many people have to hike a bike in a race.  It was a tough course. Time – 1:32:51 8/20 (div) 33/88 (overall)

Lesson – I could have done better, bottom line.  I am a strong cyclist and I don’t feel like this reflects my true ability.  I think this is were I suffered from standing 8 hours the day before.  My quads were burning for nearly the entire first lap.  So buy expo space for early racking but just sit in said space to ensure fresh legs.

RUN – 10K

I am not the strongest runner.  I feel like a lot of triathletes start off as runners, so they are stronger runners than I am.  I could be wrong, but that is my impression.  This run was a B!%*#.  It was hilly, very hilly.  The hilliest run at a tri I have ever seen.  Again, so many people were walking that is was not the exception.  I knew that if I stopped to walk, it would be way harder to start to run again.  I never looked at my Garmin for my pace, I just ran as fast as I could.  My friends and teammates Lauren and Helaine were on the run cheering us on.  It was fantastic and so up lifting.  I saw them at the beginning of my first lap and the beginning of my second lap.  Here is Lauren’s sign…

I ran with a gal for the last quarter mile, I was running to the finish and she was running to her second lap.  I felt so bad for her because she had another lap and I was DONE.  It was a very hard run.  This was so many women’s first tri and it was such a difficult course.  I ran across the finish line and there was Lauren and her sign, I almost cried.  She stayed with me to the bitter end.  All of our friends raced the sprint and were done an hour before me, but she stayed out there!  She is amazing!   Time – 1:00:23 11/20 (div) 37/88 (overall)

Lesson – I was very happy with my run time.  11/20 is mid-pack but I am happy with that.  That was a hard 10k and I did it in an hour, I am please.  The lesson is that my hill running is help and to keep moving works for me.

My final time was 3:18:35 9/20 (div) 38/88 (overall)

Final thoughts – I am going to be honest, I knew that this race was going to be a small field and there was a fleeting thought that I might, just maybe, get lucky and place.  Obviously, I wasn’t even close and looking at the times of the top 3…not even in the ballpark.  My goal was 3 hours and I didn’t get there.  I didn’t expect the course to be so difficult but we all raced a difficult course.  I went though so many emotional places during this race, from not sure if I could finish the swim, to actually feeling competitive on the run.  I was all over the place.  i would LOVE a do over and see how I would have done without working the day before.  To see if that played a role or if it is an excuse.  I am proud of my race, yes I can improve and I have room to grow, but it was a good way to end the 2013 season.

Me, Toni, Helaine and Lauren

Top 10 reasons to be a Tough Chik – Guest Blogger – Jessica Langston

Top 10 reasons to be a Tough Chik
1.  You are probably thinking, “Am I tough enough?”  Here’s the answer: YES! Yes you are. You’re thinking about it, you are considering it, you ARE.  Who says what’s tough and what’s not?  YOU do. What’s tough for you may not be tough for me, and vice versa. You only have to be tough in your own mind, not compared to anyone else. And if you join the team, you have a shirt that says your tough. And if your SHIRT says it, well, then, duh, you are.
2.  You immediately are embraced and loved and encouraged by over 200 kickass women CHIKS. (OK, so I don’t blog, and I always think it’s the coolest thing when bloggers cross stuff out like that, so you might see that again in this list. Just sayin)
3.  You now have a connection to Chiks all over the country, and even some all over the WORLD!  If you are planning to do some races, or even take a vacation, chances are, there will be a fellow Toughie nearby. MEET UP WITH THEM!  You WON’T be sorry you did. I’ve had the chance to meet 3 awesome ladies in PERSON, and it has been the coolest thing.

• Tara – Uh, I love her. We met in June in South Dakota, and both did the Deadwood Mickelson Trail half marathon.   We didn’t run together, we simply met up before the race, and found each other at the end. That’s it. Maybe 10 minutes total of together time. But when you meet someone FOR REAL, it makes them more real. Is that true? Heck, I don’t know, but it sounds good right?  Tara and I have really clicked, and she’s pretty freakin awesome.  We shared this race on our journey to Half Fanatic-dom and I think that gave us a jumping off point in getting to know each other.  We facebook message a lot, and we’ve sent each other little packages in the mail. It’s like having a grown up pen pal. How cool is that??  I encourage her, she encourages me. Got a long run this weekend? Pretend I’m with you. It works. I’m not kidding. Mile 8, I’m tired, in my head, there she is next to me, hey, it’s better. Seriously.

• Jess and Lisa – Super cool chiks!  I got a 2 for one when I met these ladies.  We met just a few weeks ago at See Jane Run in Wichita.  Jess (as in Run with Jess who some of you may know from her blog) won an entry at the last minute. She drove about a million hours just to come run 13.1 miles. And then turn around and go home. Yep, that’s the kinda TOUGH chiks we are.  Opportunity knocks, we’re gonna kick in that door!  Lisa is from Wichita and I’d known all along I was going to get to meet her.  Since she was from there, I got to bug ask her all kinds of stuff about where to stay, where things were in relationship to the race, etc. Inside scoop!!  And talk about TOUGH, Lisa just had a baby this summer and here she is, out 5k-‘n it up like a champ!! Oh, and by the way, I kept Jess in my sights for about 9 miles, and stalked her down and got a PR because of it!

4.  Ok, so I talked about meeting people in real life. But for the 3 people I’ve met in the flesh, there’s plenty more I feel like are my friends now that I HAVEN’T actually met. And facebook friends, they’re like at least 90% as good as real ones, right?? Let’s face it, probably twice as good sometimes!
5.  Super awesome clothes/gear.  If you are like me, you love you some awesome workout clothes. I can’t even tell you the last time I went to a store and DIDN’T check out the athletic section.  It’s hard to find cute, and practical stuff! Well, Tough Chik has a whole line of clothes that ANYONE can buy, and they have super special stuff JUST for team members!!  You should have seen the facebook posts in our super secret group (I’ll get to that point later). But October 1 (first day of team registration) was like counting down to CHRISTMAS!!    I mean, check out this wonder chik top. Hello!! Have you ever seen anything MORE amazing??  And the tank top is this year’s team singlet. It says “This is what Tough looks like”. Its awesome, its comfy, its TOUGH.
6.  Ok, time for the super secret group. We have a super secret facebook group. You can only be in it if you are on the team, and NO ONE else can see anything you post!  Cool huh? You can ask every embarrassing fitness related question you’ve ever wanted to ask. And I guarantee, in 5 miles minutes (ok, that was a for real typo, but that just cracked me UP when I was proofreading this that I typed miles instead of minutes!! Bahahaha!) you’ll have 16 answers and 27 funny stories, and 12 people that have had the same exact issue as you. (Ok, don’t quote me on the numbers, but its close.)  And not only fitness stuff, you can say anything else you want!  Had a craptastic day, and don’t want to gripe about your best friend that screwed you over on your own facebook page? Post here, you’ll get support, and no one in your everyday life will be any wiser about it. We even had someone tell us first that she was gonna be a grandma because she couldn’t announce it to the world yet, so yep, she told us first!   All your “real” friends sick of hearing about the 16 miles you ran? How fast they were? How you felt? About your marathon, triathalon, 5k, 1 mile swim…whatEVER…. Coming up?  Welp, we all wanna hear about it. I swear. Not joking. Yes, please, tell me more details. How did you feel at mile 6? Mile 12? At mile 18 you wanted to die?? Tell. Me. MORE!!!!

7.  Ok, my reasons have gotten a bit long winded. Let me try and wrap this up. Wanna do a ragnar relay? Boom….instant team if you are looking for one.
8.  Wanna know how that headband fits? Size comparison of a brooks shirt vs. a nike one?  Ask!  Someone will answer. HELL, someone will post pictures with exact MEASUREMENTS. I. am. Not. KIDDING.
9.  Have an injury that you are nursing and want to know if its your shoes, your socks, or your diet that’s causing it?  Again, someone’s been through it and has some AWESOME advice for you.
10.  This is the BEST, most amazing group of women on the planet. I could research that, but I don’t have to. I know it. In my heart.  If you want to be part of something special, this is it. We’ve got every level of fitness there is, from beginner, to someone that’s run 50 marathons.  And everything in between. We’re here to support each other, listen to each other, and just make new friends!  This is what you’ve been looking for. I promise. You’ll see.  (Dang it, I almost made myself cry when I reread all this.)

 

To learn more about Team Tough Chik, please visit http://www.toughchik.com/TEAMTOUGHCHIKINTRO.php

TriRock San Diego Race Report – Exhibitor Addition

Many bloggers post race reports, I thought it might be interesting to my readers to hear about a race from the “other” side.  The view of one of the exhibitors.  You know the guy or gal sitting in a tent handing out samples or selling you t-shirts with cute saying.  I have been selling at expos all over California, Arizona and Nevada for 4 years now.  Some are great experiences and some are not.  Just like races, some are very well organized and some are just not (or cluster Fs as I like to say).

TriRock is an international races series that is owned by Competitor group that is known for its very popular Rock N Roll Race series.  If you have only been to the Rock n Roll expos, then you would be a little disappointed by the the Tri Rock expos.  They are much, much smaller which is GREAT for me!  Less competition, there was only TYR and the official merchandise there as apparel competition.

TriRock is also an outside event, which if you have good weather, is great!  It is much easier to load and unload if you can pull up to the spot.  At TriRock we could not drive up to the spot on the grass, but we could park along the road, which was very close to my spot.  When you have an event inside, you have to put everything on a hand truck and wheel it in, which takes a lot longer.  So set up was easy!

TriRock San Diego
Tough Chik Tent

Of course it is a total crap shoot when you have an outdoor expo, if you have bad weather, it can ruin your event.  Luckily in So Cal, we are usually blessed with nice weather and last weekend was no exception.

The event was 2 days, day 1 is packet pick up, from 10 – 6 and then on race day, 8-12.  Packet pick up is typically your big sales day and since packet pick up was on a Saturday, you can get traffic all day long and just not the lunch and after work rush.  This was also a good spot because we are set up in a very touristy part of San Diego, so I even got some sales off of visitors who had no idea the race was even going on.  BONUS!

Day one, Saturday, was a beautiful day and I had a nice stream of customers most of the day.  It can be hard to work by yourself, especially if you need to go to the bathroom!  Luckily I am like a camel, if you know what I mean, and the tent next to me kept an eye on the “store” while I made a pit stop.  So if you ever walk up to an un-manned tent at an expo, they might just have to take a nature break.  Please stick around, we will be back soon!

I love introducing new athletes to the brand and getting the opportunity to explain the benefits of my product in person.  It is very hard to show the quality and thought that goes into an article of clothes on-line.  I also love seeing the same women returning year after year, telling me what items the already own and what they want to add to their collection.  You don’t get this kind of feedback on-line.

It was a long day on my feet and only a apple here or handful of trail mix there, so I left pretty tired and hungry.  Since it was a 2-day event, I added the nylon “walls” to my tent.  The expo has overnight security and I have been very lucky to have never had an issue leaving my tent and product in the tent over-night.  Even so, I always hold my breathe the next morning, hoping that everything looks like it did when I left it.  I only had on instance when 3 of my grid walls were knocked over, but nothing was missing or damaged.  Just a mess.

Day 2 can start very early, sometimes we need to be there the same time the atheletes arrived due to road closures or parking issues.  This can be a very cold a lonely time, because no one is at the expo, the are at the start and/or racing.  We had a parking garage that we could enter without hitting any of the road closures, so I was able to arrive around 7:30, which is way more palatable than 5:30 when transition opened!

I have to admit that I was SO jealous of the racers.  I wanted to be out there in the mix.  It felt like years since the last time I strapped a timing chip around my ankle!  Then I did the math and it had been a month and a half!  HA!  I was jonesing to race.  During the race I had a few supporters stop by, wives who also race but were supporting their mates, families of first time races, etc.  But the big rush is when the main field finishes.  You get to see women who you sold a kit to the day before, race in it!

Tough Chik Zoom Zoom Kit takes 1st!

You get to talk to women who didn’t want to buy the “I TRI” tee until they TRId and see how happy and relieved they are that they finished thier first TRI and I get to be apart of it.  You get see how one of your sayings makes to a cheer poster.

“Proud of our TRIATHAMOM”

And you get to see your friends and teammates after they race and hear the triumps and tragedies that can occur during a race moring.  This is one of my favorite parts, the sweaty, salty hug after a race!

My friend and teammate, Sara, post race!

Then once the awards are handed out, the beer is drunk and race numbers are peeled off, the crowd dwindles and we pack up.  I was so lucky that my husband drove to San Diego early Saturday AM to help me set up and then again on Sunday afternoon to help me load up.  It is so much quicker with 2 people.  I am a lucky lady!

Overall, TriRock is a great race to expo.  This year we were set up in a new grassy field that was much easier to access than years pass.  It was very organized and tons of port-a-potties.  The atheles were excited and energized.  We had great weather and little competition.  On the downside, TriRock is very expensive to exhibit at, just like it is to race.  On top of that we had to pay $15 per car to park on race day, although we did have free parking on packet pick-up.  I will most likely be back to TriRock if they don’t raise the pricing and if you are new to triathlon, this is a great first race!

CRUSH your comfort zone!

Last night I stepped out of my comfort zone, like way out.  During my bike fit last week, Derek (owner of Out-Spoke-n) and I started talking about racing.  We discussed that in our area, most bike races are crits or criterium races.

“A criterium, or crit, is a bike race held on a short course (usually less than 1 mile), often run on closed-off city center streets.

Race length can be determined by a number of laps or total time, in which case the number of remaining laps is calculated as the race progresses. Generally the event’s duration (commonly one hour) is shorter than that of a traditional road race — which can last many hours, sometimes over the course of several days or even weeks, as in a Grand Tour. However, the average speed and intensity are appreciably higher. The winner is the first rider to cross the finish line without having been “lapped.”

Events often have prizes (called primes, pronounced “preems”, and are usually cash) for winning specific intermediate laps (for instance, every 10th lap). A bell is usually rung to announce to the riders that whoever wins the next lap, wins the prime.

Success in road criteriums requires a mix of good technical skills — in particular, the ability to corner smoothly while “holding your line” on the road, as well as rapidly and sharply — and riding safely with a large group on a short circuit and exceptional “sprint” ability to attack other riders and repeatedly accelerate hard from corners.” (thank you Wikipedia)

If you aren’t use to riding in a tight pack, crits can be very intimidating and down right scary.  Which is why I do not race crits.  Derek informed me that his shop ride on Wednesday nights is on a crit track and sort of a beginner practice ride.  I have been on my fair share of group rides, but this was different.  Out-Spoke-n is not close, but Marc was out of town and I figured I could either sit on the couch and watch SOA on Netflix or get my bike on the car and try something new.

It took me almost an hour to get to the shop, it was rush hour but I was going the opposite direction of traffic from most of the way.  Pulling up to a new shop ride can be like the first day of school in Jr. High.  My biggest fear was that I wasn’t going to be able to hang, like at all, and embarrass myself.  I was so worried about this, that I didn’t wear any TC gear (yes, I do have 1 non-TC kit – it was a sample LOL) because I didn’t want to disgrace my brand or my team.  I know, terrible but that is the truth.  Plus there is nothing more frustrating when you are giving everything you got and some jack ass yells out, “Come on Tough Chik!”  or “Not looking so tough now…”  yes…it has happened and then I get all pissy and f-bomb-y.

As I drove into the parking lot, I started sizing up the group.  They all looked fast.  You know what a roadie looks like, strong and thin.  I admit, I was a little intimidated.  At least I have a bad ass bike.  So I unloaded Gordy and went into the shop.  Derek was there, kitted out in the Out-Spoke-n kit and I also saw a familiar face, Patrick.  Patrick and I met through the shop and I have ridden with him once before and was dropped.  Not confidence boosting.  I said Hi and made a little small talk, but stuck to myself.  There was one other girl in this group of about 20 and she looked like she was in college.  Actually she is in college because she and her buds were wearing Cal Long Beach kits.  Great collegiate racers…awesome.

Patrick, who was leading the ride, explained that we would ride from the shop to the park and there would be more folks meeting us there.  After we were all at the entrance of the park, we would ride the first 6 laps at a appx 20mph pace and then the last 2 laps were a free for all and you could attack.  And with that we were off.  The ride to the park was a brisk but comfortable pace from the most part.  I was able to talk to 2 other guys and one was a first timer too and the other assured me that it wasn’t too different from the way we were riding now.  2 pace lines.

My confidence grew a smidgen on the 10 or so miles to the park.  I was hanging with the front of the pack on the way over and able to slow down and accelerate with the pack.  When we entered the park, there were about 10 or 15 riders waiting, making the pack to start at about 30-35 riders.  There were about a dozen riders in front of me including a kid who was about 12.  If a 12 year old can do this, so can I…right?

The first lap was an average pace of about 23 mph, I had no problem keeping the speed, but the corners were tough.  I couldn’t keep the speed up during the corners, so I would have to work twice as hard after each corner to re-gain my spot.  In a race situation, I would have lost my spot, but here they gave me the space to speed up and work to make up the distance.  Or at least that is what I did, hopefully it wasn’t a party foul.  With each lap I was able to take the corners faster.  With each lap, the first 2 riders peel off and the next 2 led out the pack.  I started to do the math and figured out that I was going to end up a the front sooner or later.  At this point I was wishing that I had started the ride towards the back of the pack, less chance to lead.  I wasn’t keeping track of the laps, so I had no idea where we were, but from what I can figure, half way trough lap 5 I was a the front.  Holy shit I am leading the pack, pulling these 30 riders.  It lasted for all of a quarter-mile and then was one of the sharp turns, which I intentionally took wide and descended to the back of the pack.  Over the next half mile I gave all I had to catch up with the pack.

I held on for another lap and then I was wasted.  The last lap and a half I rode solo.  I used so much energy trying to stay with the pack after I took the lead that I couldn’t keep up. When I rolled up to the entrance of the park, where we were meeting to leave, I noticed that half the pack was gone.  I don’t think that most of the riders rode for the whole 8 laps, which made me feel a little better about myself.

Once we were all gathered to head back to the shop, Derrik had us get together for a photo.

Can you find me? Yep I am like the black sheep at the far right. Honestly, I didn’t think I was in the photo.

Overall, I am very proud of myself.  I am proud that I got off my butt and went.  That is pretty huge for me these days.  I am proud that I led a huge pack, even if it was very briefly.  I am proud that I didn’t completely embarrass myself, I hung with the boys and I loved every minute.  I am bummed that I found this ride at the end of the summer, as next week is the last week for the ride.  But I am so happy I went!

Race Hangover

Barb’s Race was 11 days ago and I have yet to set foot in the gym, sit on my bike, jump in the pool or strap on my running shoes.  I am hungover…race hungover.  I am having a very hard time getting back into the swing of things and this is the point where I typically sign up for my next race to motivate myself to get moving.  But I am officially putting it out there, I am taking a break from racing (expect sprints) for 6 months.  I have been training for over 2 years straight and I my body is begging insisting on a break.  I hurt….everywhere.  It isn’t fun.  I want to go out and just ride, ride with out an agenda.  So I am giving myself a self-imposed “off-season” since they don’t exist in So Cal.

RACE HANGOVER

But, I am struggling because for over 2 years I have had some form of training plan.  They have ranged from very rigid plans to basic outlines, but I have had some guidance.  Now, I am lost.  I know that I need to work on strength training, especially in my hamstrings, glutes and core. I want to keep up my swimming and running fitness.  I need to get back to yoga because I am so tight and my back is SO sore that I need more stretching and I have failed in that past in “doing it on my own”, plus it will help with the core strength.  I will continue to ride, because I LOVE it and it something that my husband and I do together, plus I have promised him and many other friends to get back on my mt. bike.

So here is what I am looking at:

1. Strength training
2. Swimming – preferably 2 x week
3. Running – preferably 2 x week
4. Yoga
5. Road Cycling – preferably 2 x week
6. Mt. Biking

I am not really sure how I will fit all this in, something is going to have to give.  I really don’t want to be working out 2 x day for my “off-season” but I don’t know how else to make it work.  I guess all of my swims don’t have to be 2000+ yds and runs don’t have to be 45+ min, but it is so hard to pull back. Especially if you are a mile whore like me.  I LOVE to collect miles, junk miles…I don’t care…I love watching that number grow.

What do you do in your “off-season”?  Do you find it hard to come up with an action plan for the off-season?

To Athena or Not To Athena….

I am working on my Barb’s Race recap in between eating everything in site and taking naps.  In the meantime I wanted to share a FaceBook post of one my Team Tough Chik teammates, Xanthe.  I found her post to be very interesting and it evolved into an interesting discussion on her FB page.  I asked Xanthe if it was okay to share it here.  She agreed and I wanted to see how the Toughies is cyberworld felt about this topic.  Below is Xanthe’s post, please let us know what you think and stay turned for the Barb’s Race Recap!  XOXO, Shannon

“I recently asked a RD if he would consider adding a Clydesdale/Athena class to his races. Generally, Clydesdales are males over 200 pounds, and Athenas are women over 150, or a variation of those (some are 220 and 165, etc). He replied back that for a number of reasons, he wouldn’t be adding them, but possibly at another point. Out of curiosity more than anything, I asked him his reasons….What he said back seemed intelligent and empathetic.

Quote:
Regarding the Clydesdale/Athena divisions, I have a few feelings regarding them. First, I think they are a little useless. I played football through college, and when I was at my peak muscularly, I remember my BMI suggested I was obese. I was far from obese, at the time. So, without a height to weight chart, I think it is useless. Even with a height/weight chart it still doesn’t tell you much.

Second, by assigning a definitive weight to a class, it subtly tells healthy women(and men) that we think they weigh too much. My amazing wife is a very good runner, much faster than me, but after 4 babies she is a little heavier than she used to be, like 10-15 pounds. She looks great and runs 8 minute miles. I don’t want her to feel like she doesn’t make the cut because she is not under 150 lbs. We send a lot of very unhealthy signals to men and especially women that I don’t think is a good thing.

Finally, based on a few articles I have read, many women who qualify for the Athena division, opt out of it. Either they don’t want to weigh in, or they don’t want to formally admit that they qualify. I certainly don’t want to auto enroll anyone into a division either. So unless everyone is part of the division, it just doesn’t make sense to have one.

All that being said, we exist for our runners. So I’ll add this question to our post race survey and see what the response looks like. If our runners want it, then we’ll reconsider.

End quote.

I thought about his response while I was running today. I actually LOVE the Athena class, especially when they separate them39 and under/40+ (ages). I find the field to be much smaller, and I rather enjoy being able to take home an award.

I am not fast, I may not ever be.

I do believe that most of the fast women in my age group (non-Athena) who place (win AG awards) are generally slender, lithe, and have lower body fat percentages. My friend Karen is an example of such an athlete.

I’m happy to compete in Athena, especially in triathlons, where a higher weight, no matter if it comes from muscle or fat, can be a disadvantage on the bike leg, especially going uphill. I will take every advantage I can, and every incentive available to keep me motivated.

I love this RD’s thinking, though, and give mad kudos to him.

What are your thoughts about the Clydesdale/Athena classes? Good or bad? Why?

Again, just curious.”

#ForSusan

As you may or may not know, I am racing Barb’s Race, which is the only women’s only 70.3 this weekend.  The course is almost the same as Vineman 70.3, which is 2 weekends before.  This will be my second half ironman distance triathlon in 4 months.  Am I crazy?  The jury is out.

Part of racing Barb’s Race (named after a Vineman volunteer who is a cancer survivor) is fundraising.  When you register, you pledge that you will raise $250 for cancer charities.  This got me thinking.  As you know, endurance sport is not just physical.  There is a huge physiological or mental game you play when you are racing for 6-7 hours (less if you are fast).  One of my many mantras are, “it could be worse, you are lucky you have the ability to be out here and race”, this thought solidified when I was injured and couldn’t ride for 4 month (a lifetime for me).

Around the same time I started racing triathlons, my mom started taking her friend, Susan, to Chemo.  My mom and Susan studied for their PhDs together and had known each other for years, but their friendship grew on those long drives to downtown Dallas and hours of Chemo. Susan’s health had its ups and downs, she has a very rare form of blood cancer and for years it was touch and go.  There were stretches when she felt good enough to bake, she worked of creating the perfect chocolate cake (it was probably a good thing that I live thousands of miles away).  But the bad stretches were growing longer.  The pain…unbearable.

So when I signed up for Barb’s, I asked my mom if Susan would be okay if I dedicated my race to her.  Susan will never race a triathlon, heck I don’t think she even knows much about the sport but I knew when I had to dig deep and push myself on race day, my pain would pale in comparison to Susan. My mom spoke with Susan, and she was honored that I was racing for her.

On May 30, 2013 Susan passed away surrounded by her family and friends.  I know she will be watching me on race day and I hope she knows how much strength I pull from her.

Susan

I tri for those who can’t, I tri for Susan.

I might be facing my 1st DNS…

I mentioned in my last post that I am experiencing some ankle issues.  Well, it has been over a week since I have been able to run and on Saturday my ankle swelled like a balloon after a few hours of walking standing on it.  The swelling has gone down, but not away.  Of course my sports med doc is out this week.  Dr. Husband has diagnosed tendonitis and that I must stay off it (i.e. no running and limited walking).  I rode yesterday and again, no issues.  My foot was no more swollen after the ride than it was before the ride.  And I am swimming, although after an hour of pushing off the wall of the pool, it starts to hurt.

My race is less than a month away and I am starting doubt that I will be able to start.  At this point, I can’t even walk the 13 miles.  I don’t know if I am tough enough to swim, bike and bail.  My competitive streak will kick in and I can almost guarantee that I will convince myself that I am ok enough to stick it out.  I think it is MUCH harder to pull yourself than to race injured.

The other kicker is I raised money for this race.  To not start the race makes me feel like I have let everybody down.  I know that one of my donors will be upset or disappointed, but I will feel bad.  They gave the money to a charity and not me, I know, but it still stinks.

I am not making any decisions yet, but it is on the plate.  A DNS may be in my future.

Have you ever had a DNS or DNF? Have you ever DNS a charity fundraising race?