Santa Cruz Sprint Tri- post mortem
Aug. 10th, 2008 02:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threadwalkerIt was all good. No shark sitings. The only great-whites were land creatures!
After the Napa Valley Race, I brain-stormed a list of stuff to improve my racing. I did most of it, too. This includes:
1. Work with a professional yoga instructor to get a warm up routine.
Frankly, on race day I want to hoard my calories, not burn them by running up and down the beach. Nor do I want to start fatiguing muscles that need to propel me on bike and on foot. My instructor came up with (IMO) a nice little routine that can take anywhere from 15-30 minutes depending on me; it warms and stretches my muscles. I felt that worked out well.
2. Open water swimming practice.
My jaunt to Monterey a few weeks ago was intended to prep me for kelp-swimming. However, I hit the ocean today and was not freaked out by the strangeness. I credit my Monterey class. I didn't race into the water; my heart rate was reasonable and I kept my swim pace constant and reasonable. I could tell my head was in the game and my spotting technique worked well. I even passed people.
3. Eating the day before the race:
Friday was my attempt to kill myself with mojitos and wine to the tune of "Ticket to Ride" (board game). (I turned it into an experiment; I wanted to see if I could "mix", which is something I've never ever done. Apparently I can (1)) However Saturday was all good. The hubby pointed out that I spent the evening taking in lotta free radicals, so in a burst of inspiration, I spent Saturday double fisting blueberries and strawberries (seriously - like 4 small bins of blue berries and 2 small baskets of strawberries). And chugging water... lots of water. Gimme anti-oxidants! I'm not sure that my wacky idea to eat blueberries would speed my recovery from Friday's excess, but I was feeling no pain today and had plenty of energy. Saturday Dinner was white fish (halibut) and veg. Last time around I spent my run with a steak-sponsored-cramp in my gut; today - it was all good.
(1)(ha! Conal! You are sooo totally in trouble at A&S next year... contrary to what I assumed, my anti-hang over wah continues to grow! I bounded out of bed at 7am on Saturday, ready to beat... er..."greet" the day!)
4. Sleep. I slept 9 hours the night before. It was very good.
5. Breakfast of Champions: whole wheat english muffin w/ 1 tbl peanut butter. Body had lots of fuel and never got any tummy discomfort nor the urge to use the bathroom.
6. Injuries:
a) Sciatica:
Acting up again. Mostly I ignore it, but it's been hard to sleep - it aches unrelenting when I'm laying down. I've been stretching to ease it but it's not gone. Which sucks.
b) My right ear is driving me nuts. That piece of cartlidge that sticks out in the ear lobe... (Edit: it's the Tragus. and it hurts a helluva lot on a frequent basis). It has periodic stabbing pain in it that radiates from the same area. It hurts a lot and since it hurts a lot, I tend to lose track of what's going on around me. It's very distacting. If you see me crossing my eyes while I'm pinching my ear, it's not you, it's all me.
c) I pulled the inside of my calf (again) on Monday. I can see this is going to be a recurring thing. I was supposed to be doing a tempo run, but at mile 4.5 I decided that I was being a sissy and pushed myself up to my race pace. (Which is still pathetically slow, but hey! at least I'm doing it, right?) About an hour later, when I was cooled down and climbing out of my car, it hit me hard. PAIN! LIMPING! Almost fell down when my right leg started to buckle.
"Hello Brain, this is Leg. You are an idiot. And apparently you need to be taught an object lesson. So take THIS!"
I limped for a few days, started to recover, then did another run. Not brilliant.
MY version of babying my leg before a race:
Monday - injure myself
Tuesday - walk at lunch
Wednesday - Wildcat ride (leg feeling okay)
Thursday - short (30 min) run at race pace
Friday - (woke up w/ shooting pain again. duh!) Did Wildcat ride
Saturday - wander around Santa Cruz for a few hours.
Looking back, if I'd had a bigger race, I would have regretted Wednesday's run. I was sore today, but didn't acknowledge it, which was easy since it was such a short race.
Edit
7. Heart Rate Monitor:
I forgot to mention that I used my Heart Rate Monitor. I had this idea that instead of beating myself up for not being faster, I'd use my heart rate as a gauge for how hard I was pushing myself! How's that for using my brain?!? HA!
Unfortunately, for most of my bike ride it was spitting out numbers like "42" and "58". Totally wacky. But during the run it tracked better: 160-165. So even though I wasn't going to win any foot races, I have to say that based on heart rate, I'm pretty pleased with how I did.
Other stuff aka Blah Blah Blah
Cheering Section and other blah about the race
It was overcast and foggy. Everything that was sitting out (during my swim) was soaked by the time I hit my transition. It was cold out, but that was actually kind of nice; I didn't actually start to feel chilled until I was done. Perfect fighting weather! And the transition from beach to bike was a bit of a jog. Some woman w/ her pack of kids stepped right in front of me - the race volunteers hustled her and her pack out of the way. Oh - lots of really nice race volunteers. Not too many brushes w/ cars during the ride.
My cheering section this time was the hubby and the dynamic duo. When I was at the start down at the water line, they hung out on street level out of the sand. I could see Miss E doing her version of jumping jacks for the benefit of Daddy. It was hysterical. I had that funny visual with me in the water. They were there cheering me as I got out of the water and at the finish line I could hear N calling out, "Go mommy" as I ran in at the finish. when I hugged them, they wanted to know why I was so wet. It was totally cute.
There were several tri-teams present, all decked out in their team uniforms. And some of the gear was very high-tech; I always mark the people on the $10K racing bikes as "winning contenders". Hanging out on the beach, I met some very nice people. I wish we'd exchanged e-mail or something. We joked pre-race and dubbed ourselves "Finishing and Not Drowning Tri Team". When we saw each other in different legs of the race, we were cheered each other; I still think the tri-community is really nice. And I was glad to see that Craig didn't drown since he was so sure they'd be pulling him out by his ankles.
I met someone crazier than me! Seriously! This was her second tri and she's going to do the Big Kahuna in Sept - it's a half iron (1.2 mi swim, 56 mi bike, 13.1 mi run). She has a swim trainer, but ... dang! That's crazier than me.
Post race, as I was packing, I was commenting that my fantasy to ever be good enough to "compete" was truly fantastic. I was passed by so many people, including some speedy 57 year old women with legs of steal. (Wur ages are writen on our calves with sharpie, so everyone's age is out there). For his part, the hubby piped up that after the first few women came in, he was sure he'd see me sprinting up. Awwww! In my moment of "i suck", my cheering section spouts faith in me. And he really wants to know why I think I'd be competitive after 2 races (cuz I'm harder on myself than anyone else? I'm driven to perfection?). Okay, point taken.
Tomorrow: tempo run without any crazy race pace thrown in. I'm not a sissy. I may not be speedy, but I have a strong engine and I can keep going and going once I find my pace.
Comments on Santa Cruz
It's dirty. And worn looking.
We hit Santa Cruz Saturday afternoon; haven't seen the Board Walk since... wow. 23 years? It's changed a lot. Mostly, freaking expensive. When did Santa Cruz become a vacation hot spot? I won't freak anyone out with our ONE NIGHT hotel bill for a minimal room and closet sized bathroom. (Seriously - for that price you should have been able to have a shower that would have fit at least 2 people! and maybe a jacuzzi tub! and a CLOSET!!! yeah - we had no closet!) The kids were funny. We hadn't even hit the beach - we were unloading the truck into our room. Evie Flops on the bed, throws her arms out, and exclaims, "I love going to the beach." (lol.. she hadn't even seen the beach yet!) N was leaping back and forth between the two beds, shouting "Cannonball". He pipes up with, "I love taking vacations. We haven't had a vacation since Disneyland last year." (I'm impressed that he recalls that). That's the spirit of adventure! (we know who they get THAT from. LOL)
After the Napa Valley Race, I brain-stormed a list of stuff to improve my racing. I did most of it, too. This includes:
1. Work with a professional yoga instructor to get a warm up routine.
Frankly, on race day I want to hoard my calories, not burn them by running up and down the beach. Nor do I want to start fatiguing muscles that need to propel me on bike and on foot. My instructor came up with (IMO) a nice little routine that can take anywhere from 15-30 minutes depending on me; it warms and stretches my muscles. I felt that worked out well.
2. Open water swimming practice.
My jaunt to Monterey a few weeks ago was intended to prep me for kelp-swimming. However, I hit the ocean today and was not freaked out by the strangeness. I credit my Monterey class. I didn't race into the water; my heart rate was reasonable and I kept my swim pace constant and reasonable. I could tell my head was in the game and my spotting technique worked well. I even passed people.
3. Eating the day before the race:
Friday was my attempt to kill myself with mojitos and wine to the tune of "Ticket to Ride" (board game). (I turned it into an experiment; I wanted to see if I could "mix", which is something I've never ever done. Apparently I can (1)) However Saturday was all good. The hubby pointed out that I spent the evening taking in lotta free radicals, so in a burst of inspiration, I spent Saturday double fisting blueberries and strawberries (seriously - like 4 small bins of blue berries and 2 small baskets of strawberries). And chugging water... lots of water. Gimme anti-oxidants! I'm not sure that my wacky idea to eat blueberries would speed my recovery from Friday's excess, but I was feeling no pain today and had plenty of energy. Saturday Dinner was white fish (halibut) and veg. Last time around I spent my run with a steak-sponsored-cramp in my gut; today - it was all good.
(1)(ha! Conal! You are sooo totally in trouble at A&S next year... contrary to what I assumed, my anti-hang over wah continues to grow! I bounded out of bed at 7am on Saturday, ready to beat... er..."greet" the day!)
4. Sleep. I slept 9 hours the night before. It was very good.
5. Breakfast of Champions: whole wheat english muffin w/ 1 tbl peanut butter. Body had lots of fuel and never got any tummy discomfort nor the urge to use the bathroom.
6. Injuries:
a) Sciatica:
Acting up again. Mostly I ignore it, but it's been hard to sleep - it aches unrelenting when I'm laying down. I've been stretching to ease it but it's not gone. Which sucks.
b) My right ear is driving me nuts. That piece of cartlidge that sticks out in the ear lobe... (Edit: it's the Tragus. and it hurts a helluva lot on a frequent basis). It has periodic stabbing pain in it that radiates from the same area. It hurts a lot and since it hurts a lot, I tend to lose track of what's going on around me. It's very distacting. If you see me crossing my eyes while I'm pinching my ear, it's not you, it's all me.
c) I pulled the inside of my calf (again) on Monday. I can see this is going to be a recurring thing. I was supposed to be doing a tempo run, but at mile 4.5 I decided that I was being a sissy and pushed myself up to my race pace. (Which is still pathetically slow, but hey! at least I'm doing it, right?) About an hour later, when I was cooled down and climbing out of my car, it hit me hard. PAIN! LIMPING! Almost fell down when my right leg started to buckle.
"Hello Brain, this is Leg. You are an idiot. And apparently you need to be taught an object lesson. So take THIS!"
I limped for a few days, started to recover, then did another run. Not brilliant.
MY version of babying my leg before a race:
Monday - injure myself
Tuesday - walk at lunch
Wednesday - Wildcat ride (leg feeling okay)
Thursday - short (30 min) run at race pace
Friday - (woke up w/ shooting pain again. duh!) Did Wildcat ride
Saturday - wander around Santa Cruz for a few hours.
Looking back, if I'd had a bigger race, I would have regretted Wednesday's run. I was sore today, but didn't acknowledge it, which was easy since it was such a short race.
Edit
7. Heart Rate Monitor:
I forgot to mention that I used my Heart Rate Monitor. I had this idea that instead of beating myself up for not being faster, I'd use my heart rate as a gauge for how hard I was pushing myself! How's that for using my brain?!? HA!
Unfortunately, for most of my bike ride it was spitting out numbers like "42" and "58". Totally wacky. But during the run it tracked better: 160-165. So even though I wasn't going to win any foot races, I have to say that based on heart rate, I'm pretty pleased with how I did.
Other stuff aka Blah Blah Blah
Cheering Section and other blah about the race
It was overcast and foggy. Everything that was sitting out (during my swim) was soaked by the time I hit my transition. It was cold out, but that was actually kind of nice; I didn't actually start to feel chilled until I was done. Perfect fighting weather! And the transition from beach to bike was a bit of a jog. Some woman w/ her pack of kids stepped right in front of me - the race volunteers hustled her and her pack out of the way. Oh - lots of really nice race volunteers. Not too many brushes w/ cars during the ride.
My cheering section this time was the hubby and the dynamic duo. When I was at the start down at the water line, they hung out on street level out of the sand. I could see Miss E doing her version of jumping jacks for the benefit of Daddy. It was hysterical. I had that funny visual with me in the water. They were there cheering me as I got out of the water and at the finish line I could hear N calling out, "Go mommy" as I ran in at the finish. when I hugged them, they wanted to know why I was so wet. It was totally cute.
There were several tri-teams present, all decked out in their team uniforms. And some of the gear was very high-tech; I always mark the people on the $10K racing bikes as "winning contenders". Hanging out on the beach, I met some very nice people. I wish we'd exchanged e-mail or something. We joked pre-race and dubbed ourselves "Finishing and Not Drowning Tri Team". When we saw each other in different legs of the race, we were cheered each other; I still think the tri-community is really nice. And I was glad to see that Craig didn't drown since he was so sure they'd be pulling him out by his ankles.
I met someone crazier than me! Seriously! This was her second tri and she's going to do the Big Kahuna in Sept - it's a half iron (1.2 mi swim, 56 mi bike, 13.1 mi run). She has a swim trainer, but ... dang! That's crazier than me.
Post race, as I was packing, I was commenting that my fantasy to ever be good enough to "compete" was truly fantastic. I was passed by so many people, including some speedy 57 year old women with legs of steal. (Wur ages are writen on our calves with sharpie, so everyone's age is out there). For his part, the hubby piped up that after the first few women came in, he was sure he'd see me sprinting up. Awwww! In my moment of "i suck", my cheering section spouts faith in me. And he really wants to know why I think I'd be competitive after 2 races (cuz I'm harder on myself than anyone else? I'm driven to perfection?). Okay, point taken.
Tomorrow: tempo run without any crazy race pace thrown in. I'm not a sissy. I may not be speedy, but I have a strong engine and I can keep going and going once I find my pace.
Comments on Santa Cruz
It's dirty. And worn looking.
We hit Santa Cruz Saturday afternoon; haven't seen the Board Walk since... wow. 23 years? It's changed a lot. Mostly, freaking expensive. When did Santa Cruz become a vacation hot spot? I won't freak anyone out with our ONE NIGHT hotel bill for a minimal room and closet sized bathroom. (Seriously - for that price you should have been able to have a shower that would have fit at least 2 people! and maybe a jacuzzi tub! and a CLOSET!!! yeah - we had no closet!) The kids were funny. We hadn't even hit the beach - we were unloading the truck into our room. Evie Flops on the bed, throws her arms out, and exclaims, "I love going to the beach." (lol.. she hadn't even seen the beach yet!) N was leaping back and forth between the two beds, shouting "Cannonball". He pipes up with, "I love taking vacations. We haven't had a vacation since Disneyland last year." (I'm impressed that he recalls that). That's the spirit of adventure! (we know who they get THAT from. LOL)
