Deschutes Dash 2008

This weekend...back to Bend. This time so I could do anther Triathlon, and Sean could do a Duathlon.

Big differences?

1st -it was only about 86 degrees this time compared to 102 3 weeks ago.

2nd - the swim was down current. At Pacific Crest, it took me 40 minutes to swim .9 miles. This time, a mere 19 minutes.

3rd - 95% of all the other participants were true tri- or duathletes. These folks were fast, ripped and had all the right gear.

But we had a blast. The bike portion started with a grueling 12.5 mile climb. It was long and steady. Not too steep, but enough that everyone was crawling up the mountain at a very slow pace. Since it was an out-and-back bike ride...eventually we got to turn around and come back down. Sean topped out at 40.8 mph on the descent. I hit 41.8 mph :) Now that was fun! Especially since I was now passing people left and right.

By the time I got back to the bike transition, Sean had just finished his run. He finished the 25 mile bike ride and 6.2 mile run in 2 hours, 13 minutes. A fantastic time for his first event.

Running is the hardest thing for me and the elevation is also tough at 4500 ft. I had hoped to complete the entire race in 3 hours, 10 minutes...but on the run, I had to stop and walk a few times so the whole event took me 3 hours and 15 minutes. Not bad considering my last endeavor was 3 hours and 53 minutes. Even if the swim had taken 40 minutes this time, I still would have had a better time than last time.

I am so excited that Sean is doing these events with me now. It makes the day more fun.

Not sure what's next for us...but we'll let you know.

Seattle to Portland 2008...Conquered

Seattle to Portland 2008 is done.

Mile 1 - 25

We set off at 4:55 Saturday morning with thousands of other riders. The first 25 miles went by quickly and easily. There were a bunch of small hills to climb getting out of Seattle, but there were police at almost every intersection letting us pass through without stopping. There were a few crashes behind our group in the beginning, but it seemed to be due to people not paying attention and trying too hard to pass.

Mt. Rainier at Sunrise

Our first stop was at mile 25 and we were a solid group riding strong.

Mile 26 - 50

The ride started levelling out and although there were a lot of people on the road, we started getting into some good pacelines and our speed started to increase. Then we hit "The Hill" at mile 43 and that slowed everyone down, but we regrouped at the top and continued on to our next rest stop at mile 50.

Paceline (from back: Christa, Sally, Sean, Kurt)

Mile 50-100

WOW! This was the best ride I have ever been on. We decided that except to refill our water bottles, we were going to ride straight through to the lunch stop in Centralia, WA. The roads were flat and fast. Several times, our group met up with other groups and we formed an awesome paceline. We were riding at about 24 mph and flying down the road. We had a quick stop at mile 75 for water and found out that Myron's bottom bracket was coming off. He stayed behind to get it fixed and since he is such a strong rider, we said we'd meet him at lunch. And we were off a few minutes later.

We made it to Centralia in a total of 2 hrs and 30 minutes including breaks.


Sean and Christa at Lunch

Total time riding - 5 hours 39 minutes.
Total time on the road including breaks - 7 1/2 hours.

Mile 100 - 146

After lunch, we set off again. We decided to slow things down a bit since some of us couldn't really sustain those speeds over the long haul. But, as luck would have it, the roads were still too great to slow down and we continued at about 21 mph for the next 46 miles. But the road was starting to undulate and some pretty good sized-rollers were breaking up our group. The day was getting hot and we were getting tired. Sean was doing great...as always, but I was starting to feel the effects of the day. Dry peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, watermelon, lukewarm water, GU, shot blocks, sports drink...none of it was tasting good. We rolled into Longview, WA, I choked down what I could stomach and after a 30 minute break, we took off again.

Mile 146 - 178

Hell. This was awful. We broke up just after the Longview Bridge (but we were finally in Oregon again). Sean, Myron and Sally were up ahead and feeling great. Sally was pulling them at about 23 mph across long hard flat and false flat sections of Hwy 30. Don and I stuck together and tried to maintain 15 mph. With about 10 miles to go, Don stopped to help a young woman change her tire. I couldn't stop. It was in the sun and I was starting to feel pretty sick. I ate my last GU and almost threw up...but I finally made it to St. Helens. I rode past Sean, Sally, Hanna (our support driver) and Mel (our main cheerleader) and headed straight for the misters. I stayed there for a bit to cool down. Then I went to check out the food tables hoping for something new...and there it was. A whole bit paper bag of salted popcorn. No sugar...no gu. Just salty goodness. That revived me and after another 30 minutes I was ready to tackle the last 30 miles.

Myron, Don, Christa, Sean and Sally in St. Helens

So for the last 30 miles, we kept a steady pace of about 19 miles per hour. We pulled into Portland and crossed the finish line at about 8:30 in the evening. My total time on the bike was 11 hours 56 minutes. Sean's total time riding was 11 hours 18 minutes. After 15.5 hours on the road with breaks, we were done.

I swore I would never do it again. I was hurting and so tired and couldn't imagine ever riding 200 miles in one day again...but after a good nights sleep in my own bed, I woke up stiff, but not sore and decided that with just a little more training I could do even better next year.

Next week...The Deschutes Dash. A Triathlon for me and a Duathlon for Sean.

Unofficial Pickel Duathlon

I signed up for another Olympic triathlon in 2 weeks. I also signed Sean up for an Olympic Duathlon (no swim, just bike/run). We'll be back in Bend, and I am hoping that the weather is a bit better.

It's called the Deschutes Dash and has a fast down stream swim...that should be fun.

Today, in anticipation of that event, we went on a 30 mile bike ride around Kelly Pt. Park and up Marine Drive. We had a big of a tail wind and made AWESOME time. I would have had a 19 mph average if I hadn't gotten a flat just 1.5 miles from home. As it is, I had an 18.9 mph average. That's a record for me. We were cruising along Marine Drive at 23-24 mph. I love a good tailwind. Every bike ride should be slightly downhill with a tailwind :)

When we got home, we changed into our running shoes and took off on a 5.5 mile run from the house, through the Rose Garden, once around the river and home again. Our total time was 2.5 hours for the bike ride and run.

Pac Crest Olympic Triathlon...HOT!

The weekend was hot. Very hot. Apparently summer is finally here and it arrived this weekend with a vengeance. The temperature in Sunriver Sunday the day of my Triathlon was a cool 102 degrees.

We started out at 6:30 Sunday morning by setting up our Bike to Run transition at Three Rivers Elementary School. Then we hopped on a bus to travel 30 miles to Wickiup Resevoir. For weeks we have been fretting over what the water temperature might be. There was still snow around the lake just 3 weeks ago, but as the air temperature started to climb over the last few weeks, so did the water temperature and we were lucky to swim in 64 degree water. Very comfortable with a wet suit.

My heat started at 9:10 am. I stayed toward the back as there were so many people and many of these people are hard-core triathletes. But, I held my own in the water. I was far from first, but I was not last.

40 minutes later, I ran (at least it felt like I was running) up the boat ramp to my bike. I stripped off my wetsuit, dried my feet, put on my socks, shoes, helmet and gloves and was off to the bike ride.

The race guide listed the bike ride this way "The first 12 miles are flat. At mile 12 there is a 3/4 mile climb with a total of 400 ft in elevation gain. The rest of the course is downhill..." NOT! The first 12 miles were rolling hills. Many of the downhills were steep enough that my momentum could carry me up the next hill, but it was still a workout. The 3/4 mile climb was actually 4 miles long, and while not extremely steep...as the temperature crested 90 degrees, it was hot (I found out later that the race book showed the hill as "3/4 mile" instead of "3-4 miles"...that's a slight difference).

But overall, the ride was great, and relatively easy. This is where I started making up some time. I finished the 28 mile bike ride in 1 hour and 38 minutes. As I rode up to the transition from the Bike to Run in Sunriver, there were 2 guys beating on drums and everyone was cheering. I saw Sean and Corbin as soon as I got off my bike and Sean snapped this photo.

Bonus -- for those of you who are fans of the TV show Lost, apparently Dr. Jack Shepard (Matthew Fox) was also there. Why Sean didn't take a picture I don't know...but he was cheering people on as they came into the transition area. Unfortunately, I didn't see him since he was on the left and the transition area was on the right. Although, if I had seen him...I may have fallen off my bike :)

So, into the bike to run transition. Less than 2 minutes and I was off and running...then walking...then running...then walking. Oh, this was a miserable run. It was now over 100 degrees, and there was very little shade on the course. It was so hot, I could hear the race organizers pleading with the volunteers on the course to stick with it and not quit their stations. I was drinking enough water to stay hydrated, but for some reason, my heart rate kept spiking way too high. I ran as much as I could, but I walked more.

Then I turned a corner (literally, not figuratively) and realized that the finish was just ahead. I was running at this point and I kept going. There were so many people cheering us on, calling out our numbers and shouting encouragement. The path curved again and there was the finish line. I made it!

It wasn't pretty. It will probably (hopefully) be the worst time I ever get on an Olympic Distance triathlon as I don't plan to ever do one in 100 degree heat again. But, I do plan to do this again. I am going to do a couple of the short ones this summer and maybe another Olympic distance at the end of the summer and see if I do better.

Triathlons are a huge challenge and the training and physical challenge are only part of the battle. Keeping yourself moving in the water when people are swimming over you and splashing water in your face. Riding that flat stretch of road into a headwind wondering if you have a flat tire, only to realize the road isn't really flat, it's slightly uphill (that's called a false flat...I hate those). Or forcing yourself to keep going even though you are hot and your legs are cramping and you can't run any faster than you can walk. It's a huge mental challenge. But I am so glad I did it. Afterward, other than being a bit sunburned and hot...I actually felt fantastic.

My total time was 3 hours 53 minutes...about 40 minutes slower than I thought I would be...but that just means I have room for improvement.

Blue Lake Triathlon

My number

My Age

Woo Hoo! I did a triathlon. What a great morning. This was a warm up for the Pac Crest coming up in 2 weeks, and Joni and I did great.

We did a Tri-It Sprint Distance. That means we swam a 1/4 mile, biked 12 miles, and ran 3.2 miles. (A regular sprint triathlon has a 1/2 mile swim).

We were the last heat into the water, but ended up passing most of the men in the heat before us :) during the swim...it was great to pass all the orange swim caps of the men in the Tri-it group and realize that I was in front of most of the pink swim caps of the other women in my group. My confidence in swimming definitely increased out on the water today, and I wasn't nearly as freaked out by swimming in the dark pond water as I was on Thursday in our practice swim.

The swim was quick, and then we were out of the water and running through the transition area to get our wetsuits off and our helmets and bike shoes on. Then, we were off again. This time running with our bikes to the start of the bike section. 6 miles out on Marine Drive, it was fast and flat and we average 18.5 miles (AWESOME). We passed A LOT of people on the bike ride.

We hit a bit of a head wind between miles 3 and 6, but then on the way back, we had the tailwind and sailed back to the Park...and back to the transition area.

We took off the bike shoes and helmet, slipped on the sneakers and were off again for the last leg of the event...the run.

Wow! Did our legs feel like they had bricks attached to our shoes! Luckily we have done some "Brick" workouts and were ready for that feeling. Going from the bike to the run is a very hard thing and your body takes some time to adjust. Joni adjusted much quicker than I did, but finally I got into the rhythm of the run and the last 1.5 miles were great.

Our wonderful friend Rebecca rode her bike down to the park. We saw her in between the bike and run section and she was able to get the pictures of us crossing the finish line. (except for the darn guy in front of us)

The Finish Line

I can't wait for the Pacific Crest Triathlon. I am totally prepared and ready to tackle this challenge. We'll see how I feel afterward, but maybe I am up for a Half Ironman next year...

2 Happy Racers

Pioneer Century

Training Continues...

We rode the Pioneer Century yesterday. It's a great ride split into 2 halves. The first 1/2 is 55 miles and 3,000 feet of elevation climbing. Then we all stopped for lunch back at the start and probably 75% of the people called it quits. The rest of us went on to the second half, 45 miles, mostly flat with with some rolling hills. I struggled on the 2ND half. Twice during the ride, my front brake decided to stick. Sean thinks it's because I hit a big piece of wood and now my tire is out of "true." Anyway, a couple of times, I hit a really big wall and struggled to keep going. We had a total ride time of 6 hours and 53 minutes for 102 miles and 4,000 ft of elevation. Not great, but not really bad either.

So, today we are waffling with the idea of going for a run. For my running training, I should go for an 8-mile run. But I think that I will stick with a 5 mile run since I rode yesterday.

Next week I am signed up to do a Sprint Triathlon...just to get the sense of the transitions, etc. Sean will probably go for a long ride with the group and training continues...

One year later

Well, a year later, and we are back at it.

We had a phenomenal ride around Lake Tahoe last year, and while we decided to not do it again this year, we are very busy with other events.

We rode Reach the Beach again this weekend, but went out of Corvallis. There were way fewer hills at the beginning, but the whole ride is 110 miles (actually 108.75 to be exact).

It was a hot day, in the 90s at least. But we kept the sunscreen on and tried to go fast enough that we always felt a breeze. Overall, we did great. 6.5 hours of actual riding time. And that's great considering we are planning to ride 210 miles in 7 weeks - Seattle to Portland.

In addition to that one-day ride, I am training for the Pacific Crest Triathlon on June 29. It's an Olympic Triathlon, .9 mile (1.5Km) swim, 28 mile (40Km) bike ride, and 6.2 mile (10Km) run.

I am feeling really great about and ready for the challenge.

I also signed up for a weekly training group called Portland Fit and if I stick with it through the heat of the summer, I will be trained to run the Portland Marathon...which means I will have run a marathon before I turn 36...there is something appealing to that.

Stay tuned...