Thursday triathlon

Happy May Day! The weather may (ha ha ha, no pun intended :) have finally turned the corner, as today was a sunny, warm day. And this weekend, being Bloomsday, temps are supposed to approach 70. Whoa!!!

Today's workouts started out with a swim at lunch. After doing 10 x 50s for a warmup, I believe that a pool-gnome secretly began moving the wall in my lane back toward the parking lot, because my 10 x 150s took forever! Sometimes 200s seem to zoom by as if they were 25s, and sometimes 50s feel like 500s. Today's swim was definitely in the latter category. But, I'm glad I toughed it out mentally and got my 2000m in. Maybe it was because I was so looking forward to my evening workouts.....

....which began with a fun group meeting up at Thompson's house. Jessi and I had coordinated ahead of time to do a brick/transition practice, so I was excited to see just how much about T2 I had forgotten since last year :) Turns out, it was ALOT. I was also excited that Andy decided to join the group and do her last 5m run before Bloomsday while we were out on the bikes. She didn't know this before she committed, but every direction from Thompson's house includes a hill, so I was proud of her for tackling those hills and toughing out her 5 miles. My other 2 pieces of excitement were a) the arrival of my speedy new aero helmet, and b) the reuniting of Team A+ and the long-awaited A+ photo shoot.

After getting changed and ready to go, our cycling group hit the road for an hour ride. As we turned the first corner, I found myself second wheel, which could only mean one thing: I was stuck and bascially forced into keeping up with Roger. Yikes. Of course I suppose I could have always pulled out of line and hung back, but, come on, really, would I ever let myself do that? :) So it was Roger, me, Jessi, Steve and Eric and we quickly approached warp speed as we tore across Hwy 2 and out toward the Peone loop. By the time I dared take my eyes off Roger's wheel, it was just us two and Jessi, who almost got taken out by a wonderful Spokane driver. The hammer never came up, and before I knew what hit me, we were heading back and I had somehow survived. I even somehow ended up in front as we went past Mead HS on our way in, and I'm sure that Roger and Jessi appreciated the easy pace I was doing :) As I was gasping for breath and screaming down the hill toward the house, it was time to start thinking about T2, so I got out of my shoes ok and hit my "transition area" (aka, a towel, running shoes and visor in the garage). Of course Jessi smoked me in transition, and she absolutely tore out onto the "run course" so I just had to chase her down. :) Super, lets just get anaerobic right out of the gate and get it over with. I finally caught her and we proceeded to scream down the hill towards St Georges, convinced that my legs would fall off at any moment. Fortunately for me, the road finally pitched up and I was able to test out my uphill running legs. Amazingly, they were there, and I actually felt better going up the hills than down. But in reality, that happens alot. I even think that "Tim" is Latin for "can go uphill great, can't go downhill for crap". Anyway, after a leg- and lung-searing mile or so, I turned around and headed back. I tried to keep the pace high, and it was a struggle, but fortunately it wasn't too far back to the house. The overall damage for the brick was as follows:

Bike: 20.6m in 57:15, 21.6mph average (!)

T2: painfully slow

Run: 2.35m in 15:53, 6:45 pace

Here's Jessi before the brick. This smile means "I'm going to beat Tim like a drum and the poor sucker has no idea....he he he he"

After I retreived my legs and lungs from the side of the road, we all hung around for an awesome meal and then the real fun began. I will direct you to the blogs of my A+ teammates for their perspective, but here's my take: thank goodness I got to be the '+' and just got to lay on the floor with my arms out. In reality, it was alot like many of my post-workout sessions: lay on the floor for awhile and try to recover.

The main difference was that we were laughing our butts off while everyone else was standing around either a) taking thousands of pictures or b) wondering why they chose to hang out with such crazy people. In the end (yes, pun intended, A+) we did get a good shot. I'm happy we finally got our symbol on film, though I must admit that the process wore me out. Again, good thing all I had to do was lay on the floor!! :)

It was a wonderful evening of workouts, friends, laughing and food. Definitely the kind of night that makes me glad to be a triathlete.

Lilac Century

The weekend started with a nice Saturday of sleeping in and running some errands with Andy, bracketed around a 3000yd swim, and ending with a fun wine party at the Flowers'. My swim went very well, even though I was all alone :( I made it thru the whole workout in under 55 min, including breaks, which I felt very good about. I was even doing my 100s on the 1:40 and my 150s on the 2:30. I think I was more motivated to get the workout over than to get some extra rest, so I constantly heard Roger's voice in my head saying "READY??....OK, HERE WE GO" After looking at the Sunday swim workout that some crazy person put together, maybe it was best for me to do my own thing! :) Really, I did miss my Sunday swimming-mates, especially when I saw their handstand contest! But they did put together a super-nice tribute to me...its nice to be thought of and missed. You guys are awesome!!

After probably a bit too much wine the evening prior, Sunday dawned with a beautiful sunrise at about 5:30am while I was eating breakfast and getting my gear together. Kirk picked me up at precisely 6:28am, and we were off to SFCC for the Lilac Century 100 mile ride. It was a bit chilly waiting around for the start, but I handled it ok leading up to the 7:30am start. The first 20 miles were, for me, damn cold. But fortunately I had some Tri-Fusion teammates, Kathi, Katie, Matt, Dave, Tasha to chat with and take my mind off my frozen fingers. My plan was to ride conservatively thru the first 2 rest stops, hoping to save my legs for the mentally tough last 30 miles and my post-ride run, and I think I managed to do just that. I linked up with a few different riders and groups occasionally, but I really felt like I was riding my own ride. At the first rest stop, Matt Cusack and I joined up and rode most of the remainder of the ride together, and it was nice to have someone to ride and chat with, especially as the miles wore on and the pack thinned out. It can get quite lonely out there, unlike the 112 miles of the Ironman. We found Dave Lawrence at the bottom of the hill to Reardan, and the 3 of us powered our way up, up, up until we pulled into Reardan. The last 2 years, this section has been a struggle for me, so it was a very nice feeling to have lots of energy under me and feel like I was really moving well up the hill. Except for the guy who was climbing this long hill in the big chainring (!), I don't think we got passed by anyone.

After Reardan, it was into the headwinds, although mercifully they weren't too stiff. Matt dropped back a bit, so I was left to fight out the last 30 miles solo, which, even though it meant I wouldn't be able to get any drafting help, turned out to be a good test of my mental strength. I am not a cyclist by nature, so any long efforts usually turn into a test of my mind as much as my legs. Today, I felt great the whole way, never really got frustrated or "down", and didn't let my pace slack off. Of course my butt and shoulders and neck and legs were feeling worn down when I rolled into the finish line, but nowhere near as bad as the last 2 years. It was a good day in the saddle, to be sure. Total damage: 101.67 miles, 5:49:14 in the saddle, avg 17.4mph. I was not concerned about going fast today, and it showed :) Oh well, this ride was all about time on the bike, so...mission accomplished! I also did some nutritional experimenting during this ride, and was happy to find a good PowerBar option that seemed to set well in my system.

After I got back to SFCC, I roused Kirk from his post-ride and potato nap, and grabbed my running stuff from the truck. Secretly, I was hoping that since he had been done with his ride and run for about 6 hours (ok, maybe 2, but sheesh he's fast!) he would tell me that he really needed to get back home, which would've meant I didn't need to run. But, really, would Kirk ever let me get out of a workout? Ha! So, off I went for what I hoped was 2 of the 5k loops the ride organizers had generously marked out. It appears that a baked potato and salsa are really good for brick recovery, because Kirk quickly finished his potato and joined me on my first loop. So, lets see...Kirk does 100+ miles on the bike at over 20mph average, then runs 10k, then has a potato, and still wants to run 5k more with me??? Are you kidding me? As I watched him run away from me quickly up the hills, I was reminded once again how freaking hard core this guy is. But I am really thankful for all the workouts he's dragged me thru over the past 3 years, because I know they have made me so much stronger. I limped in to the finish of my first loop, and this time actually begged Kirk to please, please, please tell me that he really did have to get going and couldn't wait around any longer for me to finish my workout. As I descended the hill away from the college, I realized how silly this request was. I darn near crawled up the steepest parts of the hills, but absolutely refused to walk. I'm not sure why, since if this was in any way an IM prep day, I would have been walking at every aid station, but I kept my legs moving at just slightly above walking speed. In hindsight, I am happy that I didn't give in...I think I may be recalling those 2 miles at some point in time while I'm out on the IM course. :) I finished up my run and was absolutely spent. Kirk and a few others stood around watching me get changed and packed up "very quickly" (a.k.a. "Geez, Tim, could you move any slower???") Then I looked at my watch and realized why I was moving so darn slow. I had somehow managed to run 10k in 8:07 pace. Damn. After riding 100 miles. I think my watch may have been on someone else's wrist, but if it really was me, I'll take that any day!!! I certainly don't think I'll be anywhere close to that at Ironman, but I secretly think this may bode well for things to come in, oh, say, 55 days? :)

Andy and I ended the day with what has become sort of a tradition for me after a long workout or race, a burger and beer at The Onion. Matt, Jessie and Steve joined us, and we had fun recapping our day. And in yet another testament to why she is the worlds greatest IronSherpa, Andy again wonderfully put up with me and my tri friends going on and on endlessly about triathlons. All in all...a good day!!!