ITU World Championships

Check facebook for my latest updates on my adventure to Australia for the ITU Sprint World Championships. I have an app for that on my iphone.

Click HERE

Honey, Trouble and Kitty

Y’all can call me Honey.

That’s right, that sticky, gooey, sweet mess of a disaster that was discovered at 2AM upon arrival at the hotel. My Fage yoghurt/honey had punctured in my suitcase and spent the last 10 hours oozing through little holes in the plastic bag in which they were supposed to be contained. Ahhh man! Fage is my miracle workout food. Won’t race without it. With no Trader Joe’s in this side of the state, I was required to bring my own. And I brought it. All over my helmet, toiletries, clothes and shoes. I spent the next hour washing and cleaning honey from places honey doesn’t need to belong. Thursday, 3AM, lights out, finally.

Checking in for my return Southwest flight back to San Diego, the TSA agent asks me as he’s manually screening my disk wheel for explosives.
TSA: “What is it? A bike tye-rr?”
Me: “A special bike wheel for racing. I don’t trust the baggage monkeys with it.”
TSA: “Where it at?”
Me: “Tuscaloosa”
TSA: “What’d ya think of da Black Warrior River?”
Me: “Uh…. Before or after my 43 minutes of hell?”

Well, in all honesty, I don’t think BWR was going to be highlight of the day, before or after. My introduction to the river that flows through Tuscaloosa, AL (home of the Crimson Tide, University of Alabama) was, “its 85 degrees and home of water moccasins.” Sa-weet! Let’s jump in and go for a swim, why don’t we. As it turns out neither the temperature nor the snakes were really the problem. Before I get to the problem, let’s talk Crimson Tide.

If you asked me on Wednesday what I thought you meant when a woman said “crimson tide” I would’ve responded with “oh, sorry, you too??” Ask me on Thursday, I’d tell you it was a charming town of students wearing burgundy Nike running shorts. Yup, 8 out of 9 students in Tuscaloosa, AL wear Nike shorts. You see one group of girls wearing them. Then another group. And another. Soon you realize that they’re all wearing them. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Fascinating. Not that it really matters. I digress.

En route to Tuscaloosa I got the chance to witness two lighting storms that could probably power a small nation (one viewed from the plane and one from the ground), two days of rain, with said 2nd lightning storm letting loose a downpour of nearly 2 inches in less than 60 minutes. For a good ‘ol California girl, that was quite an experience. When we get rain, it lasts for days, not minutes, and we get a fraction of an inch, not several inches. Hell, they have grass in Alabama in the summer! This rain also caused a little flooding upstream. So Joe Waterboy opened the flood gates at the base of the Black Warrior River so the poor folk upstream could stop treading water. That’s fine and dandy…until you have to swim in it! I now know what my very own endless pool feels like. Just kinda blows when you’re actually supposed to be racing. You see, when racing, the intent is not to actually swim backwards.

Learn something new every day. I learned that on a day like August 22, 2009, not being a strong swimmer was going to cost dearly. I met up with fellow San Diegans Neily “Trouble” Mathias, Marisa “Kitty” Rastetter, Diana Black and Lesley Tomaich who were racing as well. I love these girls. They make a bad day fun. Oh boy did we have fun after the misery was over. More about that later. I am the weakest swimmer of the bunch and it was advertised like a neon billboard in the middle of an ocean. Instead of closing the flood gates to weaken the otherwise brisk current (as we were initially told would happen), the gates were opened to accommodate upstream flooding causing the current to strengthen. 1000 meters of our 1500 course was upstream. The top swimmers will usually swim a 1500 course in anywhere from 16-20 minutes. After the first wave went off and 16 minutes into the swim the leaders were only half way, we knew it was going to be a long day in the water. For top swimmers, times were 20-40% slower that normal. For average swimmers (me), it was more like 50-65% slower. For weak swimmers, well, some didn’t finish the swim.

I try to encourage new triathletes that the swim isn’t the hardest part of a race. The run is always the hardest because it’s last and you’re tired. The swim is usually the scariest, but not hardest. This day, it was the hardest. On top of a rip roaring current, it was muddy. So muddy in fact, you couldn’t see your hand enter the water right in front of your face. This meant that whoever was swimming up from behind you (later waves of swimmers) couldn’t see you, so they just swam over you. I have never been so beat up and repeatedly dunked (as their hand enters the water on your back and pushes you under) in a race, ever. And I let it get to my head. I wanted to cry. I wanted out. I’d already been in the water well beyond my normal 26 minute swim time and I was over it. I don’t get frustrated to the point of breaking too often, but this was one of those moments. I was not surprised to see my watch ticking beyond 44 minutes when I got in to T1. Frustration turned to anger. I was pissed. Everyone in T1 was pissed. You could see the frustration in the eyes of many. “What the F%@&!!??!?” were words uttered by more than a few. On a positive note, I did rescue someone timing chip while swimming. On one of my many dunkings, happen to swim into a chip that was floating, stuffed it in my swim skin and threw it at the volunteer at T1, "This ain't mine". You can see me holding the extra chip in my delirium on the way up to T1.

Once out on the bike, it occurred to me just how disastrous my swim had been. I was going to be in damage control mode. Marisa, Neily & Lesley were all out on the bike already. Their waves started upwards of 6-12 minutes behind me. I don’t expect to beat any of those women as they are all stellar athletes, but I do use them to gauge my performance. Marisa has rocked launchers attached to her quads and she was outta there & gone. I passed Neily & Lesley in the first half of the first bike lap. I would expect to see both those ladies run me down. They had a lot of time on me and I had to make up some time. Not to mention, I had all my pent up frustration to burn. So I hit it hard. The smooth, rolling course would lend itself to fast splits, but when I saw the 31/32 minute split for the first lap (20K) I knew I was either on fire, ortemporary numb & going to blow up on the run. I steadied the pace and finished in 1:06 (my computer registered 1:05:30). A new PR for a 40K triathlon course.

I had no clue what would happen on the run. My left foot has been troubling me for the last few weeks. Advil & ice was all therapy I’d had time for with my demanding work travel schedule. Talking with friends and Doc John via the phone, we concluded it’s most likely plantiar faciatis. Never had it before. Never care to have it again. Hurts like hell for the first 5 or 6 minutes of a run, then settles to a dull ache or goes away altogether. I expected the first 5 minutes of the run I may be limping. Hopefully I’d run out of it. I felt like typical poo for the first half of the run. The course was such that the 3 hills were all in the first half of the course. The last half was flat. The first hill, Library Hill, was a quarter mile of 8-10% grade out & back. Ouch. I saw Les & Neils on the way down. Neils & I gave each other a hi-5 which was all I needed to lift the spirits. My foot hurt. “Good, run till something else hurts more than your foot” I told myself. Second hill, mantra in rhythm to running steps, “I like this, I enjoy this, I like this.” Third hill, “you paid for this, you paid A LOT for this.” I laughed at myself. Silly Raja. Who’s the nutbag now? By the time I got down to the flat I was back to, “run till something hurts more than your foot.” Or until your legs turn to lead bricks.

I finished with something far from a PR for the Olympic distance. I finished with an understanding that sometimes you get lucky (like the swim being cancelled at Newport), and sometimes you get unlucky. As unhappy as I was about this swim, for once, the swimmers had a race they could win on their swim alone. That doesn’t happen often, so I just have to chalk it up to experience. I did however PR on the bike split as well as my 10K run time of 45 min n’change. I wanted to break 45, but having the foot to deal with, I thought I wasn’t going to get close. I came closer than expected. I also learned, that while I placed 20th in my age group (top 25 get chance for Worlds), I ended up being ranked 27th for World’s due to age ups from the 25-29 age group. I was bumped from my chance to go to Budapest in 2010. Can’t tell you how upsetting that was. Everyone who could swim in my group qualified. Marisa placed 7th, Neily 9th, Lesley 14th in their age groups and only got jostled a few spots from age-ups. I did not. I felt like a rug had been ripped from my feet. I got dealt a painful hand.

Then Craig Zelent from San Diego said something supportive to me and I can’t even tell you what it was, but it triggered a light in my dismal tunnel of failure. I’m here because I want to be. I’m bummed because I am competitive and I want to prove to myself that I am good enough to qualify. I am only here because 10 years ago I broke my back and couldn’t walk and made the decision at that point to try a triathlon. It seemed impossible at the time. But I was one of the few who overcame a challenge, and just to be here is good enough. There will always be girls better than me. I thank Marisa, Neils, Les & Diana for being so incredibly supportive and supplying never-ending streams of goodwill and fun.

For that night, after the award ceremony, we went out dancing and show’d them good’ol Crim’sen Al’bama boys how the girls from California can rip up a dance floor.

Top Ten Memorable Moments at USAT Nationals 2009

10. Crossing the finish line at a National Championship event. You don’t ever forget. Even more so, the feeling of rocking it on the bike.
9. The largest section of Grits I’ve ever seen. Not even sure what grits are…
8. Meeting new friends with names like “Spider”
7. Viewing a strobe light of a lightning storm from the plane. Can’t tell you how delighted I was to not be under that storm. Yikes! Enough energy to power a small continent.
6. Gino, my physical therapist commenting on the rather unsightly large bruise acquired during my swim battle.
5. Wanting to cry with my goggles on… while swimming backward.
4. The adventure at the market: “Butt Rub Makes Everything Better”
3. Showing them ‘Bama boys how the California girls like to have a good time
2. The blow to the side at award when I didn’t qualify for Worlds due to my swim time and the realization that if I want to do better, I’m going to have to spend a lot of time doing what I don’t enjoy most… swimming
1. Laughing till my stomach hurt, enjoying wine & dessert with friends post race and hanging out with a bunch of rad, wicked cool chicks nicked-named "Trouble" and "Kitty" who made everything better.

A Box of Chocolates

It's been a tough year for me. After all, it is already the end of July and I feel like all I've done this year is work... cough. My physician, a sports med doc, a pulmonologist, now an allergist, and perhaps an ENT later... all I know is that my lungs are healthy and my sinuses are less than ideal. Why? who knows, check's in the mail.

So when I got clearance from the doc to work out again mid July, I felt like someone had released me from shackles. Like my dog Vela, when you take her off the leash... she goes crazy. Spins and whirls, wiggles and gyrates. It's pretty cool to imagine yourself so flexible your butt can touch your head. I imagine I would break if I tried, so I'll live vicariously through our not-so-little bounding joy of canine companion.

With 10 solid days of workouts, 3 swims, 3 trips to Gino (ART physical therapy) to work on a strained right hammy, Dave & I packed up for a fast & furious weekend. Friday started with an early 2 hr ride before work and ended with dinner with 25 of my Velo Bella teammates and host Alex Burgress. Lessons on what it means to be a Bella, and how the cross girls really do flair! Y'all are nuts! Good thing us tri girls are... errr... sane.

Saturday morning just dreamy. Sleek and slippery, that new Ellsworth CoEfficient stared at me and I couldn't help the drool. Sandra restrained herself, the thoughts of perhaps the first person to lick the bike would be able to claim it as their own. Then hunger struck and Tony cooked up a fabulous BBQ. To think all this time I've been riding Highland Valley... my precious CoEfficient has been sooo close.

DeeAnn, Amy, Vicky & myself take off for Newport Beach to check in for the Pacific Coast Triathlon, host of the USA Triathlon Sprint National Championships. This was the Hail-Mary pass to qualify for Worlds. I convinced Dave to go for a little swim, play in the surf a little since I hadn't yet been able to due to sinus infections. We walked down the steep bank and thought it best to check in with the lifeguard first. Surf had been labeled "hazardous" for the last couple of days and just around the corner at The Wedge, a body surfer was killed under the crushing surf.

"Nobody's getting in the water today, surf is too dangerous here" said the lifeguard. Ok, no swimmy for me. Tomorrow? We'd have to wait to find out in the morning. If we do swim with this surf.... I think I'm going to pull out the water wings. Dave & I take off and drive to a friend's for the night.

Later that night, reports were flying of 25' surf at the wedge earlier in the day.

Sunday morning arrived waaaay to early. I do have to remind myself at 4:30AM that I paid money to do this.

I rack my bike and realize I've forgotten my chip in the car. Oh goodness, everyday racing is a learning experience! I just back on the bike and wiz off back to the car for both my chip & swim cap. Ugg. Lucky for me, the girls in my wave were nice enough to save the rack spot for me. Then.. the bullhorn. Swim is cancelled, and we will instead run down the length of the beach, up the steep bluff walkway and to T1. Although I had not yet done a duathlon before, I was quite delighted not to have to challenge mother nature and her washing-machine wrath of 10' surf.

Off we go, running through the sand. I was smart enough to bring 2 pairs of running shoes (race flats & a dry pair for after) and chose to wear my training shoes for the short sand run and leave my race flats sand-free for the post bike 3 mile run.

Before you knew it, we were off on the bike. My mounts & dismounts blow. Gotta work on those.

The course was a short 13 mile rolling 2 lap course. I tried to hit the hills hard to make up for a soon-to-be sorry run. I just didn't really think about the lack of high-intensity training, and at the top of every hill I would adorne myself with a little extra "flair". Yeah, it was going to be one of those days. Not much was going to stay down. I clocked at 35 n'change bike for the 2nd fastest in my age group. The run was brutal. I'm not sure there's a race where the run isn't brutal. Just the nature of the beast. Lesley's Scottish voice chased me the entire run, "come on Rrrraa'ya!" Out, around and down to the sand... again. I hate sand, but geeze it looks good in the backdrop of a photo. Just when you're done running in the sand, you have to haul your poor lactic legs up the bluff. I probably could have walked up faster... but alas, I wouldn't have been able to pick up running again if I did. I felt like I was dragging a bowling ball and just throwing myself up the hill. I finish unchallenged and promptly drown myself in water.

I catch Marisa, Amy, Neily and DeeAnn finishing. They all looked better that I felt. My poor husband has now been finished for quite some time, has already changed and looks like he just jumped out of the shower. Not to mention he's starving. God knows, keep the man fed!

Amy & I walk over to the results - My results were posted, 5th in the division. Top 12 qualifiy for Worlds! I'm stunned. I wasn't supposed to qualify that easily. Turns out, we all qualified!

I will accept the invite to ITU Age Group Sprint World Championships in Australia Sept 13th. If I never qualify again, I would regret turning down the opportunity. So as retarted as it is to spend a rediculous amount of money to fly for 24 hrs to the other side of the world for a race that will maybe last an hour that you have no business racing (for lack of any quality training), it it an opportunity that may be once-in-a-lifetime. Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to Australia I go!

In the twisted words of hollywood, Triathlon is "like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get."

Special thanks to those around me who have kept my head above water at times I felt like I was drowing: Coach Peter Clode, Confindant Neily Mathias, Lesley "The Inspirer" Paterson, Sports Med doc John Martinez, Gino "The Thumb" Cinco, and of course, my hubby Dave, who was pretty sure I was going to drop dead from a chronic cough.

Happy Riding,

Raja

Road Trip!

It was time to get out of town. My head was already spinning, not only from work, but from the sinus & chest congestion I'm been suffering from for the last 4 months. One week before my June race I just in the ocean for a nice ocean swim and come out with a nasty sinus infection. Yet another one. I called my local doc, Dr John Martinez of Coastal Sports & Wellness on a Sunday. I felt like a bug that had been lodged on the front of a Mac truck grill. Looking ahead I had a huge work week, 2 travel days with significant client meetings, 2 days training out in the field with corporate and a dinner meeting with 20 of my favorite clients. And I felt like absolute poo.

Hi ho, hi ho.. it's off to more antibiotics I go.... however sucky it may be to race on antibiotics, Doc John reassured me, my sinus infection would make me feel far worse than the meds. But I could go ahead and race, it wouldn't make me any worse.

I traveled. I worked. I suffered. And didn't workout if an effort to let my body recover as fast as possible. By Friday I was toast and more or less decided I wouldn't race. Saturday, felt better. Sunday? Ok, I'll race... it's not about winning, it's about the journey. I just wish the journey didn't involve a cough.

So I did. And it sucked. I swam open water with a nose plug. Nuff said. And that was the best part of the day. I certainly wouldn't have been in any shape to win even if I was healthy, but I was looking for a sub-2 hr race. I came in at 2:02. (Bike & swim are slightly short for an Olympic distance) Fellow Bella, Stacy Schockler raced well, ran herself silly and placed 3rd (a 43 min 10K!!!). Wicked cool! Go Stacy! Stacy also trains with ever peppy pro racer Lesley Paterson (aka Scottish Devil).

Now, time for a little vakay, rest & relaxation. Dave & I hopped in the car and drove to Sedona, AZ.

With a stop at the sand dunes in Yuma.

And lunch at the Saloon somewhere next to Horse Thief Canyon and a cactus.

A quick stop at Montezuma's Castle. (complete misnomer btw, but fascinating nonetheless)

and Ahhhh. Sedona the Beautiful.

Then Dave took me mountain biking. I think it's been years since I last went mountain biking. And concluded, I haven't gotten any better. It turned out to be a 3+ hr bike-hike. I was re-assured by the Bike & Bean that on a scale of 1-10, 10 being expert barely rideable, the ride we went on was an 8. Perhaps next time I should take the skull & cross bones on the trail map a little more seriously!

I should have know better than to ride on something called "Chicken Point".

Special note - they have a unique way of making sure you stay on the trail!

But alas... we made it to Chicken Point!

And the view en route wasn't too bad either.

After an amazing dinner at Elote Cafe (best southwest food I've ever had.) and a few days in Sedona we packed up and drove up to the Grand Canyon. Dave hadn't yet been there, and I have to say, even for me having been there before, it is magnificent.

Check out our lodging at the grand canyon! Our little adobe room on the left.. canyon on the right!

The next day we woke up for the sunrise (view is much better if you're on the north rim) and hopped on the Grand Canyon Airlines for a sky tour. We snaked across the canyon for ideal viewing from any spot on the plane.

Next we hopped in a Navajo jeep, toured the river beds until we got to a precious little narrow called Antelope Slot Canyon. The photo says it all. Unbelievable. I could spend a day there getting lost!

Next we hopped into a raft and smooth water rafted down the Colorado River through Glen Canyon.

Finally we wrapped up our canyon trip and headed down to La Posada, a uniquely special train lodge designed by Jane Colter. On the way a quick stop at a rather large hole in the ground.... Meteor Crater, how alien!

A wonderful dinner with my parents, whom we met there as they were on their way north to Ann Arbor, MI.

A fabulous trip, great sights, too much great food, and back to work!

In the meantime, I'm trying to get rested, now cleared to get back to workouts... so let's see what happens!

Happy Riding!

Raja

Pie Has Never Tasted SOOOO good!

So why is it a big juicy slice of warm Julian apple pie is just NOT as good at the store as it is in that little Julian Apple Pie Co store?

I think everyone would agree, that first bite of pie removes all you pain, all your worries and sets you in a nice little pie heaven.

It didn't matter that the wind chill coming through Mt Laguna was 39 degrees.

It didn't matter that the 30+mph cross winds gusts tried to knock us off our bikes (but it didn't!).

It didn't matter that the make-shift garbage bad was flapping insistently in the wind and everyone could hear where you were.

It didn't matter that we had climbed so high we were descending down to 5000'.

It didn't matter that you may have gotten dropped for a time.

Or that a nice man got to escort you up a hill or two.

It didn't matter that the redneck in the old rusty red pickup liked his horn better than hot chicks on bikes.

All it mattered was that the pie was warm and it was headed directly into your mouth for pure bliss......

Thank you ALL to a fantastic ride! A great group of riders. Wicked fun.. and my a$$ still hurts!

Happy Riding,Raja

The Prince & the Frog

This was on the USA Triathlon Facebook page, thought it was kinda cute:A man was out jogging in the forest one day when a frog called out to him and said, "If you kiss me I'll turn into a beautiful princess." He bent over, picked up the frog, and put it in his pocket. The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will tell everyone how smart and brave you are and how you are my hero." The man took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it, and returned it to his pocket. The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I'll stay with you for a year and do ANYTHING you want." Again the man took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it, and put it back into his pocket. Finally the frog asked, "What's the matter? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess that I'll stay with you for a year and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?" The man replied, "Look, I'm a Triathlete. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog is cool."

HAA!! love it..

Wildness

Wildflower is just wild. It's more than the flowers. Or that you're in the middle of nowhere. Or that there are 15,000 crazy nutcases, just like yourself, camping in club tent cities. Or that it's one heck of a wild race.

I was looking forward to a good aggressive race at Wildflower. Then I got sick. Then "allergies" took over. Knew I've had some sinus issues, especially when it comes to swimming.. but this??!? Four weeks later, I'm still coughing, sinus are still not in control. It's gotten better, but just not fast enough. A little over 2 weeks before the race I was out at the velodrome trying to get in a workout and I couldn't. I simply couldn't breath. I went home and sulked for while. All workouts between that moment & a few days before we left for Wildflower I did all workouts to keep my heart rate low. Swimming felt ok. Cycling was easy, just push a bigger gear. Running, well a little challenging to get a decent workout in when you can't get your HR up to get a workout. Finally the weekend before I go for a "hard" run with coach Peter where my respiratory condition was still evident. My advice from the coach, "you're going to have to race smart, because you don't have the condition to race hard."

My expectations coming into Wildflower were neutral. I wasn't sure what to expect. Perhaps the swim would be fine, haven't had too much of an issue being back in the pool the last couple of weeks. The bike would probably be decent. All the big gear work would surely carry over in strength. The run I was dreading. It's a hard run. Progressively uphill for the first 5 miles and straight downhill for the last mile. Ain't pretty. Luckily I was doing the Olympic (qualifying for Nationals). Long course was even worse.

There are always large age groups at Wildflower. There are also no "Elite" divisions, so elite racers race with age groupers which makes it as hard as any national level race. I don't know how many started, but in my age group 30-34... there were results for 231! Yikes. That's a lot of peeps. Two football field length racks of bikes for 1 age group. We were sent off in 2 waves, I got the first wave. As we were waiting in the last few minutes I hear the announcer call my name as a returning competitor. Last year I managed top 10. I wanted to better my result but could I do it? Last year I had a great swim here, a PR. I thought to myself, "this lake likes me".

The horn sounds and splish spash in we go. First 100 meters, feeling good. I round the first buoy and am nicely position on some one's feet. Drafting is the key. Another 100 meters and then a strange sensation envelopes my chest. I can't breath. I take a breath but just can't get enough air. I start to panic. This has never happened before. My sinuses are burning and my chest won't take in the air I want. I pop my head out of the water, stop swimming and gasp for air. "My race is over? No, get it together" I think. "Calm down, you're fine. Just start swimming again and stay relaxed" I tell myself. I start again. The feet I was following are long gone. Relax, nice calm breaths every stroke, get your rhythm back. Then it happens again. I can't breath! I stop again, yank on my wetsuit in the back (which is a strange place to be yanking, usually if you can't breath, you pull on the front). Now panic has turned into frustration. F&*%^!!!!! "What's wrong with me??!?". I calm down and start swimming. Yet again, a third time I have to stop and get air. All this before the second buoy. Now I'm pissed. Usually being pissed is a good thing for me and allows me to push harder. In this case, it was a bad thing. Pushing harder was tapping my lack of lungs. I calm down, start again and just try to keep my head in the game. "Just finish the swim". By the time I got out of the water my heart rate was pushing 190 and I'm 6 minutes down from last year. I exit the water in 87th place. Chances of making the top 10 are over. This sucks.

In transition I try to recover a bit. Once on the bike it's straight uphill for a mile so there is no recovery. My sinuses are burning (like you have to sneeze, but can't) and my HR is not recovering very quickly. Screw it, get on the bike and just go. I head out and start climbing. My heart rate is ~195 for the mile climb but I'm passing girls. A lot of girls.

Half way through the bike and I'm still cranking. There are 6-7 hills on the course and easily make it one of the hardest Olympic bike courses. One woman from a different age group passes me. I let her go. She's not important. I hit the hills and grind in my big chain ring. Save the cardio I don't have. I'm flying. I pass a lot of age groupers. I see coach Peter & his wife Neily as I make the turn back into the campground. That lifts my spirit. "You're going to have to race smart" I remember Peter saying. I let up off the gas. I need to recover before the run otherwise I'll be in big doo doo, especially since I wasn't considering the swim to be a problem and it was. Next was the run, and I was already expecting problems as I haven't been able to run hard in nearly a month. I cruise the last couple of miles into T2 and get a big spirit booster. I just took 10 minutes off my bike split from last year and finish with the 6th fastest bike split in the entire age group. Not bad for 40K.

In T2, I refuel, collect myself, wave at JT (owner of Moment Cycle Sport) and set out on the difficult run. Last year I did this run in just under 50 minutes. Normally that would be a horrid 10K split. At Wildflower... that's not to bad considering the fastest women will run it in 42-43 min (instead of 38 minutes for a flat 10K). I take longer strides than I normally would. I need to run smart. I get doused with water at every water station. I pass more girls in my age group. At mile 4 my heart rate is back up to 190+ and the road is getting steeper. I see Devin Riley from TCSD and he gives me a cheer and a few words of wisdom, "don't loose your form, stay focused, now's not the time to get sloppy, drive through!!!" He was right, dig. I somehow pick up the pace fueled by the madly cheering spectators and know that at mile 5 it's all downhill. I pass a lot more people, none of whom are in my age group. I finish strong and notice I matched my run time from last year (within a few seconds). I'm happy with that. I have to be. Drowning felt like an option earlier, so to finish strong is a successful finish.

All said and done, I managed to do ok and finished in 10th (or 11th?? they were still screwing with the messed-up timing weeks after the race so not sure what their final positions were). I'm thinking I was channeling a little Mine That Bird for a come back that wasn't expected. It wasn't a win, nor was it a podium. And to be honest, I'm not sure that I could podium here. But I did learn a lesson - even when you're "out", you're still "in", just keep your focus.

Huge congratulations to Lynne Branchflower (Velo Bella racing for Moment Cycle Sport) who not only recently got engaged (to JT), but had 3 solid performances and finished 2 places in front of me in 8th.

It's the pink shades

I've gotten many inquiries on my wicked pink sunglasses. They're Rudy Project Sportsmask Girl frames. I love these sunglasses. They're surprisingly dark enough for super sunny days, and curiously light enough for night riding on the velodrome. Not to mention they're crazy light weight and feel like nothing when you're running. Go figure!

Many thanks to Rudy Project... page 2 of their 2009 catalog...

Photo by Steve Jones

Season (Eye) Opener

So it's now nearly the end of April and my indeed season eyes-wide opener was back in March. The Superseal Olympic Distance triathlon is run in conjunction with the Superfrog Long Course triathlon. My husband had signed up for the long course - so a few of us thought we'd have fun with the early season race and do a relay. Not exactly a training race.. but one to just bring out some strengths and have fun. After all.. there was also prize money to be had...

So, Stacy Dietrich signed us up - Velo Bellas & Fella. Nick "The Dolphin" Abramson would swim the double loop beach entry/run swim course. His stellar 53 min Ironman Canada swim says it all. He has gills. I would do the bike. A 56 mile time trial of pure bella bellisma. The skin was going on, the aero helmet & the disk coming out to play. Of course Stacy did tell me I had to bike a sub 2:20 or she wasn't going to do the run.... 'cause of course she would have to run a sub 1:45 half marathon... in deep sand.

Then... she found out she was prego. As ridiculously excited as I am that one of my best buds is having offspring... it now left a whole in our plan. So.. 2 weeks before the showdown I signed up for the full olympic distance Superseal.

My swim had been behind par due to an annoying shoulder injury, so I would only hope for the best I could do for the day. My biking has been feeling good. After the great Velo Bella cycling camp in January up in San Luis Obispo I felt like I could push it harder & longer than I had before. My run is coming along. I'm not a fabulous runner, so learning to suffer has been, well.. painful!

Last year's race was cold, windy with ridiculous swells. This year, it was calm and overcast. I'd been told it was a fun race so I just figured I'd enjoy the adventure. Race reports are nice.. but the best part of the reports are the crazy thoughts that go through one's mind when wondering why they paid money to feel like a bag of poo.

So, I survived the swim. Not horrible. "Could have been worse" I thought. Of course, friend Neily Mathias racing for GoMichellie.com (also wife of coach Peter Clode), finished the swim over 6 minutes in front of me. I've love to tell ya I was swimming backwards with my hands tied behind my back - but reality strikes... I'm no fish. No gills. In fact, when I take my goggles off, it ooks like I've been hit by a train. Positively the nastiest site for a Bella to behold. I've included a visual for posterity. Now.. Where's my bike??!?

I had a good ride, but I must say, I liked my bike clock & my watch split better.... not sure where the 2 minutes went.. but both clocks posted a 1:07 n'change bike split. My official split 1:09:12. Needless to say, any sub 1:10 split at this time of year is a decent split. In any case, it felt pretty solid, so no real complaints.

I hadn't done much in the way of brick training this year. For non-tri-geeks, that's a workout where you bike, run, bike, run until your legs are mush. If aliens had landed during a brick workout.. I can only imagine they'd go home because clearly we're a self torturing species.

But when you hit sand on the run.. you're wishing you did more bricks. I opted instead to go off-road and run on top of the ice plant. Not something I've tried before... and not sure I'd recommend it either...

I've got just over a half mile to go, and I get run down. Shannon Harris pulls up along side of me and she's looking good. Good rhythm & pace and she's outpacing me big time. "Please tell me you're in a different age group" I said in whatever voice I had left. "33". "Oh shit". It went something like that.

I must say, Shannon gets the best sportsmanship award. She voluntarily carried me to the finish. She kept up her pace and I just tried to speed up to hang with her. "Let's work together" she said. That kind of sportsmanship - For a split second I wanted her to beat me. She deserved it.

Then I realized I was in fact racing.. and if she was going to out run me, she'd have to do it to the line. A little tactics came into action. If I could draft off her run, in the chute maybe I could out sprint her to the finish. I wasn't going to out run her. Not today at least. We rounded the nearly 180 degree turn with about 200 meters to go neck and neck. As the lane bottle-necked, I inadvertently bumped into the flying elbow of a man reaching for the finish as well. She went to his right, me to his left, nearly tripping over a land cone. And let's just say 3's a crowd. I hit it and hoped I had enough in the tank to fuel it to the end. I put 2 seconds on her. Once we crossed the finish line we congratulated each other on a good race. We finished 1st & 2nd. She just oozes Bella vibes.

So just as there are rock stars like Shannon Harris, there are also rotten bastards. After crossing the finish line another 10 seconds or so back, this man who I inadvertently bumped elbows while entering the chute, rams into me as I'm standing there drinking some needed water. "Dude, the race is over" I said. A lady walked up to me with her child and asked, "did he just do that on purpose?!?" Yes maam, he did.

I think the entire point of this race report is about sportsmanship. It's ok to be competitive, to challenge each other. Nobody is out here to "get you". It's your own race. As refreshing as it was to race with someone like Shannon, it was also as upsetting to know that there are jerks out there that feel they are more deserving than others by instigating physical contact. Not nice. He goes on the Bella poo list.

Race to the best you can do that day. I had a decent race, but it wasn't spectacular. I'm not a pro. I have a job that consumes more time than I'd like to admit. I have a husband and friends. I got a bit lucky all the really fast girls were not in my age group. Sometimes it's a bit of talent. Sometimes a bit of tactics. Sometimes a bit of luck. It is however all about who shows up on that day to race. Yourself included. Race to have fun, to accomplish something, to improve yourself. Otherwise, don't race. Nobody likes the attitude. After all.. you paid money to be here.. so you'd better get your monies worth of enjoyment.

In the meantime, train hard and race to have fun!

Happy riding,

Raja

A good start

Just a quick entry, it's late.. and if you're actually reading this, you're worthy of a full race report... coming soon!

Superseal Olympic Triathlon - 1st W30-34 (Got lucky all the really fast girls were in a different age group!). Huge props to Shannon Harris who ran me down in the last mile and nearly snatched the win. She gets the super-sportsmanship award for being to coolest competitor in the field...

Fiesta Island TT - 1st W30-39, 2nd overall. New PR... finally! 31:24. It's taken me 2 years. But I got it!

Galactic congratulations to the NINE Bellas racing at last weekend's Ironman California 70.3!