Mulligan...

Sorry for the lack of communication. Michele and I arrived in Victoria on the Friday morning ferry. We’ve done our practice swim, done a short bike ride, checked in and racked our bikes in transition. The weather was predicted to be very cold and windy but is looking a bit better today. We may get some light rain but the temperature and winds are looking more reasonable. We plan to drive the bike route this afternoon. We’ve seen a portion of the route and it looks narrow, winding, and hilly. Definitely not a fast route. The swim looks great and the run is two loops around the lake on a good trail. Looks nice!

Guess all that’s left is to set out my gear, rest up and do this!

I survived! Tough course but I enjoyed it. We all exceeded our expectations. It’s been a fantastic weekend. We pack up and head to the ferry this morning. Time to rest and recover and get some farm work done. I woke up pretty sore this morning!

Nancy 6:51:56 8/18 AG
Michele 6:02:48 12/44 AG
Maura 6:01:56 11/44 AG
Sara 6:31:36 (Spokane course)

Gratz, Nancy!  Very happy for y'all.  Was the family relieved that nothing catastrophic happened?

Congratulations! It's always great when things go better than you'd expect.

ounce wrote:Gratz, Nancy!  Very happy for y'all.  Was the family relieved that nothing catastrophic happened?

Mark B wrote:Congratulations! It's always great when things go better than you'd expect.

Thanks to both of you!  It was an awesome weekend.  I met my modest goals of finishing in less than 7 hours and in the top half of my age group.  Not fast by any stretch of the imagination but very satisfying.  

I enjoyed both training and race day for this event.  Having training partners here in Madras and then sharing the weekend with Michele was so much more fun than my normal solo stuff.  Will have to see if I can figure out a way to continue this new slightly more social lifestyle.

I was hoping to post a photo but both my computer and my phone are giving me fits at the moment.  I'll see what I can do.

I'll try and post a short race report later.  The main excitement on race day was that Connor shared a bug with me...again!  I got a scratchy throat and my ears plugged the day before the race.  I wasn't 100% on race day but didn't feel to bad.  It's gotten progressively worse...glad I raced Sunday and not a day or two later.  It's made recovery interesting.  That combined with the fact that we are absolutely swamped on the farm has sleep in short supply.  Up at 4:30 to bale yesterday and we started at 2:00 am today.  The good news is it looks like we're going to beat the rain that's scheduled to arrive on Friday evening and get everything in the shed dry.

More details later...

You keep getting that extra helping of Connor's love!

Nancy kicked butt out there.  Carol & I went to change out of our cold, wet clothes and grab a slice of pizza thinking we'd see her at 7 hrs - and we missed her because she was 10 min faster than predicted!!!!

Such an enjoyable weekend and Victoria was a beautiful course.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Nancy kicked butt out there.  Carol & I went to change out of our cold, wet clothes and grab a slice of pizza thinking we'd see her at 7 hrs - and we missed her because she was 10 min faster than predicted!!!!

Such an enjoyable weekend and Victoria was a beautiful course.

Not sure that I would say that I kicked butt but I was quite pleased with my race.

It was a fantastic weekend mostly because I had friends to share it with and the course was gorgeous!

Victoria 70.3    6:51:56  8/18 AG
Swim 49:36  @2:34/100m
T1 5:42
Bike   3:28:20 @16.13 mph
T2 5:12
Run   2:23:06 @10:55/mile

My first 70.3 experience was awesome!

The weather prediction was for a very cold, windy day and we were all stressing about what to wear on race day.  It turned out to be perfect conditions for me.  I chose not to wear my tri top during the swim and just wore my sports bra under my wetsuit.  Then I put my dry tri top on during transition.  I was chilly on the bike for the first few minutes but I was never cold.  It sprinkled a bit during the run but not enough to really get wet and it wasn't cold.

I did wake up on Saturday morning (day before the race) with a slightly scratchy throat and plugged ears.  Fortunately it didn't get really bad until after the race but it was enough to have an affect on my race.

Swim - I was pretty nervous but I lined up with some other newbies and we chatted and encouraged each other and passed the time as we waited our turn to start.  We self seeded based on our projected finish time so Michele and Maura started way ahead of me.  We took off when it was our turn and I thought I settled into the swim pretty well.  No obvious panic...just normal nervousness.  Then I got a slight cramp in my hamstring...what?  Didn't last long.  Then the other hamstring...huh?  Didn't last long.  I was starting to notice my cold...I felt like I needed to clear my throat so that I could breath easier but it's hard to cough in the water!  It didn't have a huge impact but I definitely felt it.  Then my calf and arch cramped...this one was long and hard enough to affect my stroke but I got it worked out without actually having to stop.  And...then I got bumped and got water in my goggles.  I wasn't far from the finish so just kept going.  Not my best swim experience but I got it done and my time was only slightly slower than I had hoped.  

T1 - I was a bit wobbly coming out of the swim so I didn't take off running right away.  I gave myself a few seconds to get my legs under me and then jogged to my bike.  I normally have a bucket with a bit of water in the bottom at transition so I can rinse my feet before I put my socks on but they wouldn't allow that there.  I took a few extra seconds to make sure my feet were clean.  I was a bit flustered but felt I transitioned fairly well.

Bike - And I was off.  I will admit that I was pretty nervous about the bike course after driving it the day before.  It was hilly, had lots of sharp turns and was open to cars.  I settled into a pace that I was comfortable with and tried to get some nutrition/hydration in.  The course had good volunteers at the turns/intersections so that went better than expected.  I rode by as they were putting a rider in the ambulance who didn't make the turn at mile 8.6.  I made a mental note to be cautious on the turns.  Halfway through the bike I realized two things.  I was riding faster than I ever had before...was I expending to much effort at this point in the race?  And I wasn't on schedule with my nutrition/hydration.  I made a mental decision to dial back on my effort to save some energy for the hills that I knew were coming up and to make sure I could survive the run.  I also backed off on occasion to make sure I could get some nutrition/hydration in.  I was pretty pleased with how I handled the hills.  I passed several people on the last two big hills and never saw them again.  This portion of the course had some narrow roads and was open to cars.  Definitely out of my comfort zone but I got through it OK.  Overall I was pretty pleased with my bike leg.  I didn't get all my nutrition in but most of it.  I didn't spend much time in my aerobars...I was just to nervous.  Maybe I could have kept up the effort in the second half of the race and finished faster but I'm not going to second guess my decision to back off a bit.  I was coughing to clear my throat on a regular basis but I don't think my cold affected my biking to much.

T2 - I was glad that the bike portion was behind me but I was pretty nervous about running a half marathon after nearly 4 1/2 hours of swimming/biking.  Once again I was bit flustered during transition.  I think that will improve with practice.  I needed to pee before I started my run.  We had all joked about peeing on the bike or sitting on the ground in transition but I opted to lose a few seconds and use the porta-potty.    Need to work on T2.

Run - I settled into the run surprisingly well.  I was on pace without much effort/discomfort for the first 4 miles and then they snuck in a hill!  That took the wind out of my sails.  It was a two loop course and the first loop was pretty demoralizing.  I was being passed by faster runners completing their second loop and I knew that hill was going to be there when I looped around the second time.  I regrouped mentally and kept up a reasonable pace.  At about that time I noticed a strange noise.  I could not figure out what it was.  It wasn't another runner as I wasn't running with anyone...they were passing me or I was passing them.  I kept looking around and could not figure out what it was.  My throat/lungs were starting to feel pretty congested and I was coughing a fair bit.  Then I realized that when I coughed the noise went away only to return in a few seconds.  The noise was me trying to breath!  With my ears plugged it was kind of echoing in my head.  I laughed and continued to cough/wheeze my way toward the finish.  Mid-way through the second loop I abandoned my bottle of Infinit.  I downed a gu with extra caffeine and chased it with water.  I knew that hill was coming up again.  I was still on a good pace but...  I was starting to struggle and needed to regroup.  I walked a couple of the worst portions of the hill and also walked through a couple water stations.  Not a lot but enough to slow my overall pace a bit.  Once I got through the hills I took a deep breath...which was hard to do at that point...and managed a good pace for the last mile and a half.  I couldn't have been happier to see the finish line ahead.  Katie was there as I neared the finish.  She said afterward she was never happier to see me raise my arms and give her a thumbs up.  I think her memories of my thumbs down near the finish in Boston are as traumatic as mine!  

A reporter stopped me in the finish chute and interviewed me...I don't know if it aired...I didn't see it.  Katie met me at the end and once I got back to my gear I sent a text to Michele to let her know that I caught up with Katie.  Michele met up with me as I packed up my bike and gear.  She had an awesome race!  Maura also had a great race.  Sara raced in Spokane on Saturday and also had a good day.

It was a good effort.  I've got lots of room for improvement.  I learned a lot.  I've always trained individually in the past.  I really enjoyed the group training that I was able to do this time.  Unfortunately Maura is moving back to DC and Sara is threatening to sell her bike...  I set more modest goals for both training and racing and it was fun again.  Can I take that knowledge and use it in the future?  I don't know.  I'd like to say that I'm not going to be quite so competitive going forward but I'm just a competitive person and I don't think I can change that instantly.

My favorite part about the weekend was sharing it with friends!

Recovery has been tough.  I was up early to bale hay every morning..we started at 2:00 am one morning...so I was very short on sleep.  We finished yesterday and it rained last night.    And my cold just kept getting worse.  It's still hanging on but seems to be starting to ease up a bit.  

I'm hosting a BBQ tomorrow to thank family and friends who helped get me through training and race weekend.  We're also saying good-bye to Maura.  She's headed to DC next week.

I need to ease back into training.  I don't have any other important events on my calendar but I need to keep up my base and be ready for the local 10K on the 4th of July.  The MAC Dash date has been moved from early September to August 11th this year.  I won't be "racing" these events but I want to participate well.

Thanks for listening and encouraging me.  I appreciate the support that I find here.

Ultreya...

What a great race report, Nancy! I no virtually nothing about the art of IM, but it sounds like you did a great job with training, planning and execution, while keeping alert enough to make mental notes for next time. I'm proud of you, and Michele was embarrassed that you came in so fast that they missed your big finish!

You definitely look strong coming across that finish line. Woot!

Hope your cold abates soon, and I wouldn't be surprised if you "race" your upcoming events a bit more than you think you will. Fast Freddy lives!

Mark B wrote:What a great race report, Nancy! I no virtually nothing about the art of IM, but it sounds like you did a great job with training, planning and execution, while keeping alert enough to make mental notes for next time. I'm proud of you, and Michele was embarrassed that you came in so fast that they missed your big finish!

You definitely look strong coming across that finish line. Woot!

Hope your cold abates soon, and I wouldn't be surprised if you "race" your upcoming events a bit more than you think you will. Fast Freddy lives!

I know even less than Mark knows, virtually or otherwise.  You did good.  Enjoy those lazy 2 a.m. mornings as you heal up everything.

Glad you had fun, since that makes it possible to get psyched up to do it again.

So, uh, what's getting barbecued?

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:What a great race report, Nancy! I no virtually nothing about the art of IM, but it sounds like you did a great job with training, planning and execution, while keeping alert enough to make mental notes for next time. I'm proud of you, and Michele was embarrassed that you came in so fast that they missed your big finish!

You definitely look strong coming across that finish line. Woot!

Hope your cold abates soon, and I wouldn't be surprised if you "race" your upcoming events a bit more than you think you will. Fast Freddy lives!

I know even less than Mark knows, virtually or otherwise.  You did good.  Enjoy those lazy 2 a.m. mornings as you heal up everything.

Glad you had fun, since that makes it possible to get psyched up to do it again.

So, uh, what's getting barbecued?

Thanks to both of you.  I did enjoy it and I did feel strong at the finish!  Not sure about future events.

Fast Freddy is a jet-setter so I expect him to stop in for a visit now and then...especially on race days.  I'm going to make an effort to dial back my training for a while.  I need a bit of a break I think.

Maybe BBQ wasn't the correct description...I provided ham and baked beans and everyone brought a side or dessert to share.  We gathered out at the irrigation pond where we have a nice grassy picnic area all set up.  It wasn't warm enough to swim but the paddle boards and kayaks were put to use.  We mainly just sat around the fire pit and talked. I'm not usually very social so I was a bit nervous about hosting but I enjoyed it.  It was a nice way to thank friends and family for their support during my training and also to say good-bye to Maura.

Really struggling to kick this cold...  I felt better for a couple days and then Marty got sick/got better and mine came back with a vengeance.  I'm wondering if I caught a different bug? I'm sure my immune system is pretty much non-existent right now...

I did get up to the pool on Mon and Wed but kept it pretty easy.  It felt nice to move again.  I'm planning on riding McKenzie Pass on Saturday.  It's the Crest the Cascades supported bike ride with no cars.  I may try a short bike ride today and see how I feel.

Ultreya...

This came out this week.  I had forgotten that Kevin had helped with it.  He's the first farmer that talks and the photos of planting steckling carrots were all taken on our place.  My brother, Casey, is driving the carrot planting tractor.  

Kind of fun so I thought I'd share.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/268605518

The photos I promised months ago...

As you can see from the last couple posts I'm in the process of finishing up this blog and moving on.  To what I don't know yet...

Anyway...I swam on Mon, Wed, and Fri this week.  Recovery type swim on Monday.  Fin and drill work on Wed.  Short race pace session today.  I rode my bike on Thursday.  15 miles at a decent pace just to make sure I was feeling well enough for Crest the Cascades (McKenzie Pass) tomorrow.  I am and I'm looking forward to a very challenging ride.

I took the time to look back over my triathlon training.  It's been very educational.  I'm including data starting from the first of the year.  I was kind of on my own/combining a couple different training ideas for the first few weeks until I found a plan that worked well for me and I was able to ease myself in and finish up the last 15 weeks or so following it fairly close.  Most of the old traditional plans have you swimming, biking, and running 3 days a week in addition to strength training.  I just couldn't handle the load and the time commitment.  The plan I ended up using only had us doing each activity twice a week until the last couple weeks but the individual workouts were challenging!

So...in 22 weeks...

• I swam 133,385 yards (6063 per week).  I swam an average of 2.7 hours per week and my total was slightly higher than what was recommended in my training plan.  I'm not a fast swimmer but I'm gaining confidence.
  
• I biked 984 miles (44.7 per week).  I biked 3.15 hours per week.  This was only 2/3rds of what was recommended in my plan.  Mostly due to the weather and my reluctance to ride on the trainer.  I eventually discovered on-line training videos which made riding on the trainer not only tolerable but effective.  I'll know better if there is a next time.  I also discovered the benefits of group rides.  My riding improved immensely in the last couple months...I have a lot of room to continue to improve.
  
• I ran 302.6 miles (13.75 per week).  I ran 2.5 hours per week (including warmup/cooldown).  I know this doesn't seem like much...and it isn't but it's actually slightly more than recommended in my training plan.  Most of the running was in the form of intervals or a brick run following a bike ride.
  
• I spent 78+ hours core/strength training (3.6 hours per week).  This was a combination of the core/strength workout I do with Marty, Pilates, and Sara's Total Body Conditioning class.  This is significantly more than I've ever done in the past and as you can see it made up the largest portion of the hours I invested.  I probably need to find a better balance but I do think that it paid off and helped me finish strong.
  
• I trained for a total of 275+ hours (12.5 per week).
  
• I achieved my modest goals and I finished feeling good!
  
• I enjoyed both training and racing.
  

So now the challenge is to figure out why I enjoyed training for and racing my first 70.3.  Was it the event?  Was it my modest/realistic goals?  Was it training with others?  Was it race weekend with friends?  Was it the fact that it was a new challenge?

Where do I go from here?  Should I do another 70.3?  I am not doing a full Ironman!  Can I translate some of the lessons learned into a more positive running experience?  Will I be satisfied to train/race in a more sustainable less competitive way?   It's going to take some time for me to figure out what place running/triathlon should have in my life.   I need a goal...but I want to chose it wisely.

Ultreya...

I vote for Ironman 70.3 Coeur D'alene next June - I'm in if you are.  And I promise to cook.   I love the HIM distance - not so sure If I'd ever do a full either.     Bet I can get Carol to commit too.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:I vote for Ironman 70.3 Coeur D'alene next June - I'm in if you are.  And I promise to cook.   I love the HIM distance - not so sure If I'd ever do a full either.     Bet I can get Carol to commit too.

 I would love to spend the weekend with you and Carol again.  Coeur D'alene is very tempting.  It's a reasonable drive for me...and no ferry.  And I think the timing is a bit better later in June as well.  We aren't as busy on the farm now as we were that first weekend of June.  Still mulling over some options...part of me wants to give a marathon another try.  But Coeur D'alene seems to have more pros than cons and I think another 70.3 would be a better choice than another marathon.  If you and Carol are interested I'm in!

***

Still not feeling the greatest.  I think it's mostly the bug I ended up with.  I'm still coughing a fair bit.  I'm back to swimming.  Tim's been giving us slightly over 2000 yards.  Good workouts but not to tough.  I haven't been on a run yet.  The 4th of July 10K is not going to be pretty!  Definitely going to need to make that a social run.  I have been out on my bike.  My recovery ride near home went well so I headed to McKenzie Pass on Saturday.  50 miles with 4133' elevation.  My longest climb ever.  It was a tough ride...but mostly because I made a dumb mistake.  I didn't dress as warm as I should and I got cold...didn't drink enough...and felt pretty crappy by the end.  Lesson learned!  I did meet some really nice people and enjoyed the ride. 

Resting HR has me a bit concerned.  I wasn't surprised that it went way up during and after the triathlon especially since I did have a cold.  But it hasn't come down as quickly as I expected.  I'm seeing a slight improvement yesterday and today...hope the trend continues.  

I'm trying hard not to set immediate goals that I need to train hard for.  I think that I need a mental break from training and that I need to give my body a break as well.  I'm struggling with the idea of not having a training plan...I enjoy the structure.

I will run the 10K on the 4th of July but I'll make it an easy effort.
I will do the local sprint triathlon.  They moved it to early August this year.
I'm hiking and rafting with Katie and Abby (youngest granddaughter) this weekend.
I'm taking Izzy (age 12) to Yellowstone in late August.
Mom, Katie and I are headed to Canada in October to spend some time in Banff and Lake Louise and then ride the Rocky Mountaineer from Jasper to Vancouver.  This trip has been on Mom's wish list for many years and she is getting less and less mobile.
Marty and I are headed to Tasmania for the month of January.  Marty will be working during that month for a boy that worked for us 20 years ago.  He now has a small farm and a custom harvesting business.  I have a couple hikes planned and will also be spending time with a couple of my good friends from my year in high school in Australia.  My swimming friend Janice and her husband will join me for one of the hikes.  My brother is also going to meet us there and after a few days in Tasmania we'll all fly to West Australia to spend some time with my host parents.  Oh...there is an active triathlon club 20 minutes from where we'll be staying in Tasmania...

I won't have any trouble staying busy and even though I'm going to try not to officially train...I will continue to run/bike/swim.  It's become part of my life.

I need to remember that I can't still eat like I'm training for a 70.3!!!!!!!

Ultreya...

I seem to remember after your sickness after Nepal that you had the same concern about your RHR.  It also settled down.  Same with your last race in Sacramento.  Patience, grasshoppah.

Uh, good thing you're not going to be TOO busy, while not training. 

Really pretty pictures that you shared above, too!

ounce wrote:I seem to remember after your sickness after Nepal that you had the same concern about your RHR.  It also settled down.  Same with your last race in Sacramento.  Patience, grasshoppah.

Uh, good thing you're not going to be TOO busy, while not training. 

Really pretty pictures that you shared above, too!

Good point Doug.  I didn't expect my RHR to go this high and stay high so long as I finished the race in Victoria feeling really good.  I guess nearly 7 hours even at a moderate pace is still hard on a body!  I do think that the bug I caught is as much or more to blame than the race but maybe the reason I haven't been able to get rid of it completely is because of the race stress.  I had a couple odd/scary feelings but they were short lived and could easily be attributed to things other than heart issues.  Who knows...it is starting to improve.  I'm trying to stay active but keeping the effort very low...