Lake Stevens 70.3 RR (Part I)

FINALLY huh? The problem is, once I have a minute to myself... kiddos in bed, house clean, dishes and laundry done... all I want to do is sit and enjoy a temporary catatonic state. Then when I don't have my little loves... I find other things to do like house projects. Sigh. Kinda puts the kabosh on the creative writing skills.

This is going to have to be done in stages I think. There's just too much for my little brain to spew in one post... so here it comes!

I got up to Seattle around noon on Friday and hooked up with my IM CdA pals Colleen and Bryan and their dog Pip! They generously offered me a place to stay for both Friday and Saturday... for FREE! I lllllllOVE free! It had been over a year since I'd seen either of them and we simply picked up where we left off... really great folks! Isn't that true of triathlon people? Some of the easiest people in the WORLD to make lasting friendships with. Of course... they're also kind of a pain in the ass aren't they? "I can't eat that... I'm training... It's 8:00, I have to go to bed... Pass the salt, I've been crampy... What do you mean my bright white compression socks do go with this dress?". Uh huh. We are a rare and wonderful breed.

After hooking up with Colleen, a we grabbed a bite to eat, (a big, fat, awesome, dirty dirty delicious GYRO!) and headed over to the very swanky Everett Holiday Inn for packet pickup. This is a MANDATORY race briefing and you're not allowed to pickup your packet until you've gotten your, "I'm a Good Boy and Know the Rules" stamp. After that 1/2 hour of my life that I'll never get back, we grabbed our packets, perused the ironman store for overpriced stuff that we really don't need, and took off. We spent the rest of day doing last minute bike tune-ups and hanging out. While we were at Mrcrampys, we ran into Blake... who just happens to be coached by Liz as well! Blake has a big bald head... which is funny... and just a great attitude about him! For the last event of the day we went to the velodrome to catch some of the racing before heading home and hittin the rack early.

There's day one... I know... thrilling. Stay tuned for more and thanks for taking the time to read!

Breathe...

Velodromin!

Me, Col, and Blake @ MrCrampys. Look at his MELON!

Me n Col... we're cool... just ask us.

Oh! I forgot!

I'm racing Lake Stevens this coming Sunday!

I didn't really forget... its just that I finally woke up this morning excited! Odd huh? There's usually a whole lot of anticipation going on the week before a race... but that hasn't been my experience this time around... I just haven't felt it. It's so bad that it wasn't until yesterday evening at 5:00 that I realized I should probably take my bike into LifeCycle to get a race tune! Luckily, Jeff at the shop has taken amazing care of me and my bike since the shop opened. I walked in... he threw it on the stand... tuned her up... cleaned her up... and passed her back! THANKS JEFF!

So I'm heading out late this afternoon to get a portion of the drive out of the way. I'll be staying somewhere in Portland and hopefully seeing a couple of friends for dinner. Quick n snappy run then hittin the hay. The plan is to drive up to Seattle Friday and hook up with Colleen and Bryan... a couple of friends from IM CdA. Col and I will pick up our packets and possibly drive the course... then chill for the rest of the day. Saturday we'll get our swim, bike, run in and then go check in our bikes etc. We'll be staying at one of Col's friends house.... which is literally right on the lake! Ought to be a great time and I'm really looking forward to racing on Sunday.

As far as expectations go? Again... I expect to have some fun. That's it. I'm just going to give what I'm able to this race and be grateful that I'm a participant.

That's all for now. Hopefully I'll update as things play out. Thanks for taking the time to read. Hope you're all happy, healthy, and whole.

Breathe...

Vineman 70.3 Race Report...

First of all... what the HELL is going on with all the comments on my blog from those residing in the Pacific Rim??? No seriously... that's just weird. They should at least do us the courtesy of posting in something other than kanji.

Alright... onto the "race". With the exception of my first triathlon ever... I've never approached a race like I approached this one... without expectation. Well, I shouldn't say that... I actually did take the time to sit down and write out an actual plan... but the goals were conservative AND I didn't necessarily expect to meet them... they were just there. It was a very weird experience for me... in a good way though. Somewhat validating.

Pre-Race: I pulled into a balmy Guerneville Friday afternoon. It was odd coming to a race completely solo. It was just Sally and I. She's great company but there was a large contingent of triathletes from Tennessee that were staying at the same place... so there was never a dull moment and plenty of opportunity for hick jokes. There was also 2 couples from Texas that were freaking out about the size of the hills on the course. Pretty entertaining. I actually went to the welcome dinner and was treated to some overcooked pasta and vegetables. I did however get to sit down with Mirinda (drool... pitter pat) and chat for about an hour. I'm still trying to find one of them "fiber" bikes Rinny... I'll let ya know.

I'm just gonna fast-forward to race day so you don't fall asleep...

Race Morning:

Pre-Race: Oatmeal, bagel with peanut butter, banana, all set. I walked out the door and into the cool morning air down to T1 to set up my transition. My wave was set to go off at 0825... so, I had plenty of time and was completely relaxed and ready to go. I always love the atmosphere before races. There's this great mix of excitement and anxiety underlining everything... each person dealing with it in his or her own way... its just really interesting to see. I watched the pro's and a few other waves take off and then sauntered, (yes "sauntered"), over to don my wetsuit.

Swim: 31:08

I was in the 1st of two separate waves for my AG. For those of you that don't know... its a river swim... against the "current" on the way out... with it on the way in. So the idea was for me to go out hard initially and stay closer to the bank... minimizing the drag of the current.... then come back at the turn around more in the middle of the river using the current to my advantage. BAH! Whatever man! I just swam... and had a good time! It really did feel effortless. There was so brawl at the start and it was smooth sailing the entire time. I suppose I could have gone harder... actually, I know I could have... but... ehn... wasn't feelin it. The only interesting thing that happened was at the turn around.... people were actually standing up and WALKING a bit! Hilarious! I actually stood up and did a few duck dives to get out of the quagmire... but other than that it was an uneventful yet fun swim and I came out of the water feeling fresh. I do need to work on my "Water Exit Smile"... what the hell man? I look like I'm gonna kill someone!

T1: 2:34

Just call me Mr. Pokey-pants. I did have a nice conversation with a dude that was completely decked out from head to toe in KSwiss apparel. Seriously... not only was every item covering his person KSwiss... he also had 4 different KSwiss tattoos. Yeah. Overkill I think.

Bike: 2:44:23

In classic form... I launched my first bottle a mile into the ride. Yeah. WTF??? What IS it with me and loosing my nutrition. Here's the thing about having a relaxed attitude about my results tho... I giggled, (not like a little girl... more like a lumber jack), and just kept pedaling. If you've not done this race... I would HIGHLY recommend it just based off of the bike course alone! Seriously. It's technical, relatively hilly, and challenging but not overly so. 90% of it literally rolls through a BUNCH of different winery's! SO pretty! Anywho... the ride appeals to my bike skill set, (yes, I just used "skill set" in a sentence... ugh... someone punch me in the neck), in that I corner well and I have zero fear of fast downhill... which maybe isn't a good thing. I had a ball the entire ride! There were two unpleasant moments: 1) I had to pee so bad at one point that I thought I was going to burst. By the time I reached an aid station that didn't have a line for the porta potty's, I wasdesperate and cramped up! It took me 5 freaking min to relieve my overly full bladder... all the while I had an older lady pounding on the door of the john. Not helpful. 2) I had a huge moment of doubt. Let's face it, despite the outstanding training plan that Coach Liz has been working me through since Jan... I've been nothing but inconsistent. My training has suffered badly... a side-effect of the huge life changes. So I had a moment where I was like, "Wait... this ride... right here is the longest you've done all year... and then you're going to have to get off the bike and run.... the longest you've run all year! Ugh. I dunno Rob.". I'm serious. I had doubts. BUT... I just pushed it out of my mind for the moment... and figured whatever happened... simply happened. I rolled into T2 feeling remarkably good. I nailed my nutrition and was so conservative on the bike that I actually felt ready to run.

T2: 2:19

Yeah. I think I actually had to put effort into transitioning this slow. Actually... the initial entry into T2 was pretty narrow... and I got stuck behind old slow guy walking his bike. Ehn. Oh well.

Run: 1:39:27

Despite the pained look on my face in the picture at left...

I exited T2 feeling really good. I had one gel with me and a flask that was full of water with a heavy dose of Base salts. It was juuuuuuust beginning to heat up a bit and with the cramping problems I've had in the past I thought it a good idea to have the extra sodium. I felt great! I had told myself that I was going to force an overly conservative pace. I sorta did it... but you know how it goes when you feel that good. I yucked it up with people and just concentrated on having a good time. On the way out I saw Chris McCormack on his bike, "CHRIS! Run with me!"... he laughed... but didn't get off his bike to run... the bastard. Everything went along swimmingly until around mile 9 or 10... and I started hitting a wall. Hints of cramping and just reeeeeeeally low energy were affecting my pace severely. It occurred to me that maybe taking in more than one gel to this point would have been a good idea. The problem was... my stomach felt shloshy and I didn't think I could take anything in besides a bit of water at the aid stations and some of my salts... besides... I was almost done and figured I'd just get through it. I eventually did come around after drastically slowing my pace within miles 9 through 11... then I was able to suck it up, come around, and finish strong.

Total Time: 4:59:52

Overall I'm very pleased with this race. Considering the gaps in my training, life stress and whatnot, I did exactly what my body was prepared to do... no more, no less. Coming into the race with a relaxed attitude and no pressure was a breath of fresh air for me. It was also pretty validating. The reality is that I can enter a race, relax, and be confident that I can still put together something to be proud of. This is a long life we live... and I have more than enough time to "go hard"... when the timing is there. For now, I'm just tickled to be able to participate. I am blessed.

Thank you for taking the time to read. Hope you're all happy, healthy, and whole.

Breathe....

Expectations....

are a bitch to get rid of! Aren't they? Seriously.

The family I grew up in, particularly, has always had a problem with expectations... or maybe its every family... who knows. Anywho... when I was a kid, we would continually let ourselves down b/c we would have certain expectations about the way things "should be"... or the way someone "should" react or the way someone "should" understand our point of view because its so flippin clear in our heads! As a result, we spent a lot of time being sooooo disappointed and sad that our expectations were never met. Sick right? I can remember as a kid... I was probably 7? 8 ish? My parents had planned a trip to Hawaii for the family. Believe it or not... I had a pretty vivid imagination as a kid... yeah... I know... weird. I didn't know anything about Hawaii but I assumed it was a beautiful, wild, relatively uninhabited paradise. Key word here is "wild". I literally thought we would spear fish, eat coconut, and wear grass skirts.... maybe kill a wild pig for funsies. That was my expectation... which was developed simply out of my imagination right? I mean... I didn't open the Encyclopedia Britanica (that's a book... with pages that you turn... and words) and get a real picture of what it might be like.... I just made some assumptions and RAN with it! AWESOME right? So on the flight over, the pilot comes over the intercom and announces that on our right we'll just be passing over the big island. I politely, (I was such a good boy), asked the passengers next to me if I could lean over and get a peek... here's what happened in my head:

"Buildings? WHAT? There's got to be a mistake! That's not the way Hawaii is supposed to be! I don't even want to go now. This is stupid. Stupid buildings and cars and people and McDonalds. Stupiddummydumbdumbpoopcrudgoodfornothingnofun Hawaii. Sssssstyewwwwwpid."

I literally welled up I was so disappointed. Okay... we all know it doesn't take much to make me cry.... I'm kind of a pansy.... but you get my point. I was totally shattered! Instead of looking out the window of the plane and being THRILLED at the possibilities of what adventures lay ahead... I was completely let down. Now... don't worry... little Robby had a great time in Hawaii. Although I think it's telling that the above scenario is my most vivid memory of that trip, (read... Rob is a complete nut-job).

What's my POINT! I am having a HARD time letting go of my expectations for this race coming up next week! Even having all the facts in front of me... I keep setting pacing goals and split times. I thought, maybe if I wrote about this, it'd sink in. SO! Here are my expectations for Vineman 70.3:

• Show up.
• Toe the line.
• Swim
• Bike
• Run
• Smile
• Laugh
• Finish
• Smile some more

That's it. That's all. Uh. That's it? That's all? Yes. That's my story and I'm stickin to it. Period.

Thanks for taking the time to read... and helping me process this stuff. Hope you're all happy, healthy, and whole.

Breathe...

Gettin....

air! Yeah. Can you imagine what's goin through this guys head??? Probably not, "This is SO cool!"

It's interesting... I've taken a big break from writing... I suppose it's because I haven't felt I have anything particularly clever or insightful to say. Things are constantly swirling around in my head, (which, believe me, is annoying), but the thought of making them semi-sort-of coherent, and typing has been repulsive to me. I'm not promising anything remotely brilliant here... but it feels good to write a bit.

Training continues. I've been pretty consistent through the entire year but there's been a big shift in my thinking regarding triathlon. I'll be honest here... it's kind of a pain in the ass isn't it? I mean really. Think about it. Think about all the time you spend planning training, packing for training, scheduling training, fretting about training, resting for training, executing training, recovering from training... maybe racing... on and on and on. It's pretty consuming. I've also noticed that it's isolating for me. I enjoy time on my own... I really do... that Rob guy in my head can be pretty fun... but at least in Eugene... I've found it really difficult to meld my schedule with anyone else's. Or maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just lazy and don't want to go to the effort of seeking people out to train with. I know there's a bunch of triathletes here in this town... but the idea of having to coordinate schedules... which means even MORE planning... makes me want to hurl. Yeah. Lazy I suppose.

Don't get me wrong... I really love this sport. LOVE it. I also think that for a 40 year old guy, I have the potential to be pretty decent at it. I just think I'm evolving a bit. Not quite as obsessive. Maybe a bit more relaxed regarding results and schedules. A lot of this is out of necessity... new life direction and adjusting to a different flow of things. Whatever it is, it's happening, and I have to roll with it. Here's what I WILL say about this shift and new life direction: I haven't felt this calm or peaceful or relaxed or happy in a veeeeeeeeeery long time... even before I started triathlon 4 years ago. Like everyone, I have moments of sadness, despair, anxiety, and anger... but they're short-lived. I've always talked about "breathing"... something I adopted as my own from a dear college friend... but I finally, FINALLY feel like I actually am! I'm actually breathing. Whew.

Despite Coach Liz's best effort, I don't feel particularly ready for either of my upcoming races, Vineman 70.3, or Lake Stevens 70.3. That's b/c of me... not her. I can't imagine doing this triathlon thing without Liz's expertise. I don't feel race ready... but that's just the way it is. This is a big ego check for me... which is always good. Basically... I've had to throw all my expectations, based off of past performance, completely out the window. I'm just not as fit as I've been in the past. So... the goal for both of these races is to have fun. People do that all the time right? Have fun? Race for fun? Enjoy being out there among these happy fit people? Yep. Happens all the time... and I'm joinin in!

More soon... and in the meantime... thank you for reading. Hope you're all happy, healthy, and whole.

Breathe...

Yup...

I'm still around... and guess what? I'm "racing"! Who woulda thunk it? Number six hundred and something on the wait list and KaPLOW! I'm in! Giddy up.

More to follow... as I actually have something triathlon-related to write about now! Hope you all join me as the journey unfolds...

Breathe...