Seattle Century Race Report

Kim, Ashley and I did the Seattle Century ride hosted by Portland Bike Club.  They have a 50 mile, 85 mile and 100 mile option.  Some quick details of the 100 mile option.

Distance: 99 miles
Elevation: + 5189 / – 5496 ft
Climbing Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult*

Our stats based on my bike computer:

Distance: 99.35 miles
Time: 7:35:50
Max Speed: 39 mph (not my PR)
Average Speed: 13.3 mph

Race map and elevation profile

The race start was at Magnuson Park where we met at 6am.  The race was a fully catered race which started with breakfast at the start line, then deli sandwiches on Dave’s Killer bread (yum!), pie from Remlinger Farms, strawberry shortcake, and ended with chicken and salmon dinner and unlimited free beer (more on this later).

Race start

At the first rest stop another ride asked us if our matching outfits were intentional.  They were.  Thanks to UW crew free gear. 

At the second rest stop (~30 miles in) Kim realized that she busted a spoke on her back wheel.  While there was support at each stop, Kim was so overdue for a tune-up (and new brakes!) that one of the volunteers just took a pair of pliers and tucked the loose end to try to alleviate some of the noise making.  This of course caused a significant wiggle in Kim's wheel and he suggested that we do the 85 miler and not do the optional 15 mile add-on.  We said we would think about it.

When riding, I always get a song stuck in my head and it just loops over and over.  To most, this would probably drive you nuts, but oddly enough, it doesn't really bother me, unless the song is not something I want circling in my mind for hours.  About a 1/3 of the way into the ride, there was a break in the clouds as the sun attempted to come out (and it did later, turning into a beautiful day).  This break in the clouds and seeing my shadow on the road beside me prompted me to think of Annie, The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow.  So, for the next few hours, that song played on repeat in my head.

I told the girls about this habit of mine, of which Kim particularly enjoyed and decided to give me a new song, The Motherf___g Pterodactyl.  This is a comic written by a local comedian/artist who is super funny, The Oatmeal.  Well, lets just say as soon as she mentioned this song, it was stuck in my head.

Within a few minutes, I was asking Ashley to provide me a new song (because you can only sing about a pterodactyl ripping you a new one so long), an easy gospel song to sing along with.  For those who do not know, Ashley is an amazing singer (currently recording in a studio actually!) and whenever we hang out she (oh so nicely) obliges our repeated requests to sing something.  At this time we had picked up another rider who was unaware of the private concert he was about to witness.  On a back road on the way back from Snoqualmie Falls, Ashley starts belting out He's Got the Whole World In His Hands and Ain't No Mountain High Enough. 

Loved it!

Snoqualmie Falls (61 miles)

As soon as we dropped from the falls, we climbed into Issaquah up a monster hill that has a fake descent in the middle that tricks you into believing the climb is over, but its not.  During this hill, I kept alternating our names (Steph & Ash, Ash & Kim, Kim & Steph) and sang He's Got the Whole World In His Hands in my head on repeat.  I think it helped.

At this point we knew the biggest climbs were behind us and we were back in familiar territory and on familiar roads.

At mile 95, Kim was leading the way (usually I lead in biking and she leads in hiking) and I was about to slingshot up a hill and as I came up on her I challenged her to the top.  I won by a hair, but it was more fun to be able to still have that type of energy at 95 miles.

Finish line!

 

We finished and quickly loaded our bikes on our bike racks, changed into flip flops and headed for food.  We quickly inhaled chicken teriyaki, salmon, salad and veggies.  There was a live band and table/chairs set up which was a great way to end the race in the sunshine.  Unfortunately, as Kim and I searched for the beer section (Ashley doesn't like beer) we realized that they set up the beer garden inside of the building, rather than making a separate section outside in the sunshine, with the live band.  After eating we walked inside to get our (unlimited) free beer.  They told us they were out of Co2 for the kegs and they told us to wait a few minutes as they got "more."  We assumed, "more" was more Co2 for the tasty beer.  However, we saw someone walk in with cases of PBR and Rolling Rock.  Their solution to running out of Co2 was to buy crappy beer.  Disappointed, we strolled over to the merchandise to see if there was anything fun to buy.  Ashley got a cute shirt and all three of us got cute biking pint glasses.  As I was waiting to buy my pint glass, I was chatting with a volunteer and expressed my disappointment at the crappy beer.  He turned out to be someone who ran the race and gave me the pint glass for free, which was very nice and unneccessary.  We grabbed some beers, sat down inside and drank them quickly so we could head home and shower.

Overall, the race was really fun and I liked doing a race course that I haven't done before.  Outside of the beer at the end I really liked it and loved experiencing it with some great friends.

*Climbing difficulty is a sliding scale is based on the following criteria: Easy: Gently rolling terrain with few short hills. Moderate: Has rolling short steep hills or moderate, sustained climbs. Difficult: Has longer, steeper hills or extreme terrain with frequent steep hills and long sustained climbs.

Seafair Sprint (but we thought it was Olympic) Relay Triathlon Race Report

.5 mile swim (Steph) - 13.30

12 mile bike (Heather) - 36.12

5k run (Aarthy) - 24.36

Going on 2.5 hours of sleep, I woke up Sunday morning at 4:30am for the Seafair Triathlon.  As my knee is in pretty bad shape these days, I was only doing the swim leg of a relay.  Heather would be doing the bike and Aarthy the run.

I showed up at the park around 5:15am with plenty of time for a warm-up before the anticipated 6am start time.  Well, as we were a relay group and Heather kindly picked up all our packets the day before, I was not able to get into the transition area until she showed up.  I don't think Josh enjoyed my 5:30am call to see if she was on her way as Heather's phone was dead.

Waiting outside of the transition entrance I was able to gawk at all of fancy bikes and gear many people had.  I ran into Rusty Pruden who was assisting a legally blind triathlete and chatted with them for a bit.  Amazing.

Aaron and Rusty at the finish

Heather and Aarthy joined me and we set up in the relay section of transition.  As we were chatting with others, we soon learned a few things.

1. The relay triathlon was only a sprint distance, not olympic distance
2. The relay start wasn't until 8am (currently around 6am)
3. Try to stay warm for the next 2 hours

So we watched all of the olympic waves start, waited 23 minutes, then the sprint waves started.  I got a tiny warm-up, just enough to get wet and get moving.  They grouped us with the men 40-49 age group.

As I am a decent swimmer, I am used to getting a jump start and having some space in the swim leg of triathlons.  As we rounded the first buoy and I was still fighting my way through, I remembered that this was a relay and that all the swimmers out there are good swimmers, hence their reason for doing that leg of the relay. 

Since I have started regularly doing triathlons, I have trained my body to put a lot more effort in my pulling, rather than kicking as you need your legs for the bike and run.  I quickly had to focus my efforts in reminding myself to kick, and kick hard as this was .5 mile sprint.  I originally had hoped (when we thought we were doing the olympic distance) to break a 25 minute mile so I knew that this was a good chance to see how fast I could go.  However, with the lack of warm-up and the not warm weather/water, my breathing and stroke were not as smooth as I would have liked.

To transition where Heather totally kicked butt on the bike and tried out aerobars for nearly the first time.  It was pretty windy and she felt it on the ride.  It was interesting to watch all of the relay legs come in as everyone was actually sprinting on the legs.  I am so used to seeing endurance races that I really enjoyed watching people putting their everything into one part of the race.

Aarthy took off in her cute lululemon top and Heather I wandered over to the finish line to get some food.  I had to convince a volunteer that I really was in the triathlon in order to grab some noms. (I did a deck change right after the swim to get warm).

Aarthy came in quickly and we cheered and took this sweet photo where I look like a giant.

Winner winner, chicken dinner.

This is our official winner's photo as we were too cold to stick around for the awards ceremony.  If we did stick around, we would have gotten an award as 

We won the all-female relay!

Maybe next time I will swim more than once in the 6 months before the race.  Well done ladies, I can't wait for the next one!

I Have Amazing Friends

Seafair Olympic Triathlon - Race Report

Yesterday was the Seafair Triathlon and the weather couldn't be more perfect.  Summer finally reached Seattle, the sky was bright blue without a cloud and the day's high was low 80s.

I was doing the Olympic distance (1 mile swim, 20 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) and met up with some friends from college that I rowed with.  As my alarm went off at 4:15am and picked up the girls at 5:00am, I semi-jokingly asked them why we chose a hobby that starts even earlier than crew practice did.

I only have one picture of me right now, but more pictures will be added to the facebook later this week.  :)

Here are my times for the event:

Swim: 25:58
T1: 3:28
Bike:  1:06:40
T2:  3:33
Run:  1:23:11
Total:  3:02:50

Before I get into the breakdown of the events, I just have to say how awesome my friends are.  Not only the ones that did the event but those who came out at the crack of dawn on a Saturday to see us for a few minutes during transistion.  My good friend Jed, fresh off of his brother's wedding the night before, showed up at 6:30am to wish us well before we dove into the lake.  He took pictures the entire time and even ran with me for a bit during my second loop to encourage me and tell me I was doing great.  He also emailed status updates with pictures to another friend who was out of town and otherwise would have stood along him to cheer us on.

Swim:  25:58
The swim was in Andrews Bay in Lake Washington.  As you can see from the handy-dandy map below, there was a double loop that took you out and then almost all the way back in to the start for the second loop and actually went around the south end of the swim dock.  This caused an issue because as you went for your second loop, the sprint waves (starting about 20 minutes after the Olympic waves) were starting.  So, after you had just battled your own wave, either swam over others or was swam over or both, you got to do it again through the second loop.

For me, I battled most of the swim.  I was at the front of the pack for our wave with a friend of mine whose swim pace is similar to mine.  At the first buoy turn I was stroke for stroke with someone from my wave (you can tell by the color of the swim cap) and it later turned out to by my friend.  During the swim I caught up and passed some from the wave(s) ahead of me.

Transition 1:  3:28

Uhh, 3.5 minutes?  Not good.  I knew I didnt want to rush through transitions as this was my first Olympic triathlon (and my first triathlon this season) but I didnt realize I was moving that slow.

Bike: 1:06:40

The bike course was beautiful and super cool, I averaged about 17.5mph.  We went up Lake Washington Blvd and it took me about 3-4 miles to get my bike legs going.  Lady (my bike) rode like a champ and it was so great to have her back after nearly a month.  The express lanes on I-90 were closed for the race and they sent us East to Mercer Island first.  The sun was just rising and the view was amazing and gorgeous.  The ride was great as there was plenty of space for all riders and no intense climbs.  It was fun to be able to shout to my friends as we passed each other on the bikes.  Orange cones and a police car with flashing lights was the signal for the turnaround and they sent us West, all the way to downtown Seattle.  I have never been on this stretch of road before and it was super cool to be able to ride all the way to the football and baseball stadiums in the city.  More cones and flashing lights signalled the turnaround that sent us back.



Bike course in red

True to form, triathletes during a race are some of the nicest and most encouraging people I have ever encountered.  No less than 5 people (men and women) encouraged and congratulated me during the ride.

Transition 2: 3:33

Yeah, about 3.5 minutes again.  I did realize that after putting on my shoes I still needed to put on my knee brace, thought I could fit it over my shoe, then realized I needed to take my shoe off again to put it on.

Run: 1:23:11

As you can see above, not good.  I am a terrible runner.  The first loop I didn't walk at all and felt pretty good.  The second loop was definitely worse.  I felt thirsty and dehydrated and although I went reallllly slow, I didnt feel like I was going to die.  Which, for me, is a plus.  This part is where I always lose ground.  I passed 2 people during the entire time and it was because they were walking.  But again, triathletes show their awesomeness.  During the run, I had about 5 men holler encouragement to me as they went loping by.  I was called sweetheart, honey and girl.  I laughed.

At the 6 mile marker I was passing a 68 year old man (and I know this because they mark your age on the back of your calves) who was walking and looking like he was struggling a lot.  Feeling good, I told him lets go and that we can do it and he took up trotting with me to the finish. 

Finish:  3:02:50

It was good to finish.  My first Olympic triathlon on 3:02.  I really wanted to do it in under 3 hours, but with my slow transition and struggle on my run I came close.  Next time baby.

Poker Face

My physical therapist consistently tells me I have an impressive poker face.  This usually happens during the deep tissue massages where I grip the sides of the table and try to ignore the searing pain through my body.  While I don't think my poker face would be useful in an actual game of poker (I get too excited when winning), it works well for being an athlete.  After spending the last two decades in sports, I have encrued various injuries.  Due to that and phrases from coaches that include "Dig or Die" and "Sacrifice your body for the ball" I have learned how to hide the pain that I am in.  Luckily, Costco sells monster-sized bottles of Ibuprofen.

Alas, here is a laundry list of all the major injuries that I have encountered in the past 20 years:

• tendonitis
• juvenile rhematory arthritis (JRA)
• torn miniscus
• torn cartilage
• blown ACL
• sprained ankles
• sprained wrists
• jammed fingers
• pinched sciatic nerve
• separated bone from tendon
• stress fractures
• bone spurs
• joint injury (apparently only resolved by exploratory surgery - no thanks)

Majority of these issues still bother me today, even if they are quite old.  I am pretty sure I am keeping my physical therapist, multiple specialist doctors and Costco afloat.

60 Days

Today marks officially 1 week since I have been allowed to start training again and exactly 60 days to Lake Stevens.  In the past week, to start getting my endurance back, I have had my butt kicked in just about each thing I did:

• Spinning classes - these can and will kick your butt no matter what shape you are in
• 100 mile bike ride - definitely challenging when you have not worked out for 2 months
• 7 mile hike - the morning after the century ride
• Masters swim - was planning to be a recovery workout, but instead turned into a 3000 meter swim in 60 minutes

It still hurts to run, even to eliptical, so my new strategy is to race the swim and bike as fast as possible in order to not be kicked off the course during the run, even if I have to walk most of the way - which is very likely.

I also just signed up for the first Olympic distance Seafair Triathlon (they have only had sprint distances in the past).  This will be a good indictor on how painful and tough the run for the 70.3 will be.

With only 2 months to go, I am already getting butterflies and second guessing myself.  What if I don't make it?  What if they kick me off the course?  Not only will my group of friends (aka my team) be racing or cheering but my parents are planning on driving up from California to watch me as well.  Which is great! I love having my parents be there and support me and I know just how lucky I am to have that, but it definitely adds another level of nervousness to the race. 

As an athlete, my biggest competitor is myself and I definitely don't want to let me down.

Many Things, Here Are A Select Few

It has been forever since I have posted, and there is lots to catch up on.  Here are some highlights:

• Finally done with my project management program!  So happy to have my evenings back.  School is way different as an adult, without student loans (and out of my pocket instead), and working full-time
• I am (unofficially for now) the new VP of the Board of Directors of Candlelighters Children's Cancer Foundation of Western Washington
• Injuries from training.  Lots of injuries.  Was banned from running for a couple months, which caused me to cancel my Seattle Rock n Roll half marathon and also the 1-day Seattle to Portland ride.  Sadface.
• I now have a little over 2 months to train for Lake Stevens 70.3,  lets hope my body doesnt break down again
• It still hurts to walk, yet I am now allowed to start training again
• Changes in friendships have made me realize how amazing my true friends are
• Taking a vacation in Florida made me remember what life was like living outside of the PNW
• Fun spring/summer weekends have started, I am so stoked for what the rest of this summer brings.

Candlelighters in Wonderland

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