Bassman Sprint Triathlon October 4, 2009

The last triathlon of the 2009 season! Team Z was headed to the Bassman Triathlon in the Bass River State Forest, near Atlantic City. It's a bit of a distance to travel for a sprint triathlon. However, it was worthwhile for two reasons: 1. it's fun to do a race with Team Z, wherever it is and 2. after dating over a year, my boyfriend was finally going to come and watch me race. It would be a trip we could both enjoy: triathlon for me and fun playing poker in Atlantic City for him.

This race was for all the marbles. I only had a limited number of marbles in the bag though. Not going into details, but shortly after the race I would go on four weeks of medical leave for surgery. I had been suffering from back pains as mentioned in previous reports. The surgery would indirectly help alleviate this. Additionally, triathlon training had taken a back seat to work and personal life in anticipation of the time off. Between the lack of training and the back pain, I knew that Bassman would not quite be an "A" race for me. Nevertheless, I would give Bassman all that I had.

SWIM: 0.35 miles 13:39

The swim started out a little frantic. The mud from the lake bottom kicked up, making for zero visibility in the water. The field had many first timers, and I think their anxiety transferred to me a bit. About a third of the way through the swim, I got into a rhythm and cruised along. I was able to swim pretty straight, as with no sun (cloudy morning), there was no glare. I was able to sight well.

T1: 1:40

Normally, my transitions are not blog-worthy. However, this time, it was fun to exit the swim and see my beau there cheering me on, into T1. Our transition area was on the beach, which was QUITE MESSY. At the end of the race, sand was EVERYWHERE. The triathletes who were participating in the half iron distance were in transition, prepping for their race, which started an hour after our start. I saw Maggie Crnic there, cheering me on. I quickly got my bike ready to head on out. My beau ran with me briefly as I headed toward the bike course until I quickly let him know that it could be considered "pacing", which is illegal in triathlon.

BIKE: 14 miles, 38:37, 18.6 mph

The bike course was nearly pancake flat. A majority of the course, I leapfrogged with a gentleman in his 50s, named John, from New Jersey. We good naturedly cheered one another on, with a bit of a competitive edge to motivate one another.

T2: 1:56

Ugh! More sand!

RUN: 3.1 miles 29:58, 9:40 pace

John and I started off on the run together, chit-chatting a bit, continuing to leap frog. The run course was just as flat and as boring as the bike course. OK. Flat is good. I can do flat. I am not quite sure if I went more than, less than, or equal to 3.1 miles however. At an intersection, a course marshal was not sure if we should go straight or turn. Hmmm. I had not reviewed the course myself. Some spectators said that those who claimed to know the course had turned. Others approaching said they saw people on the return leg who had gone straight. Hmmm. The runners near me and I made an executive decision to go straight. (Note to race directors: make sure your course marshals know the course! After all that IS their job!)

FINISH: 1:25:48

Wow! Better than I expected! I thought I would have a good day to break 1:30! There is a small disadvantage to doing better than I expected however: my beau missed my finish! Darn! He was equally thrilled as me, though, to see that I placed third in my age group! My first podium finish in a triathlon!

We rewarded ourselves with a stop at the White House sub shop in Atlantic City. A fun way to end a good weekend in Atlantic City and the 2009 race season...

(Thanks to Mike Schmidt & Priscilla Demeo for the pictures!)

24 Hours of Booty September 26-27, 2009

Someone once told me that there comes a time to do a race for someone else. In other words, do an event where the primary goal is to raise awareness and funds for those who cannot. In 2005 I did the Gulf Coast Half Ironman Triathlon with Team in Training for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The following year I raised monies for the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women while I trained for Ironman. This year I participated in 24 Hours of Booty to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults, and Johns Hopkins Medicine.

I had originally hoped to build a relay team of four (or more) where we could rotate over the entire 24 hour period. Unfortunately, it did not quite pan out that way. Those who initially expressed interest backed out to various reasons. It wound up just being Carol and me.

The ride was up in Columbia, Maryland, about halfway between Washington DC and Baltimore. It was held on 2+ mile closed loop course in a business park.... not exactly scenic. Less appealing was the rain. Hmmmm. I knew I could not bike too long due to back pains.

Carol and I made it a mission to go at least 30 miles. Staying out there was a bit of a challenge... chilly, rainy, and rapidly becoming dark outside.

By the time dinner rolled around (the ride started at 4pm), we knocked out our mileage goal. And we were cold and soaked. Needless to say, we changed into dry clothes, ate dinner, and drove home.

A little disappointing. We agreed that we would like to do the event again, but with a bigger group than just the two of us.

Thank you to all of those who helped contribute toward the $565 I raised for 24 Hours of Booty. Next year, bigger and better?

Nation's Triathlon - September 13, 2009

The Nation's Triathlon.

This race is in its third year, but my first time racing it, despite its highly convenient locale. After all, I live about 10 minutes from race start. The price tag is steep ($170) it's one of the bigger races in the U.S. (attracts a great atmosphere). Plus, with no need to travel or seek lodging, it makes the hefty price a little easier to swallow.

The race had about 6,000 entrants, and about 4,500 toed the line. Whew! For comparison, I would say that anything above 1,500 or so is a big triathlon. The numbers made for a somewhat chaotic race venue, but all things considered, I thought it was rather well run.

The transition area was an estimated 240,000 SF in size. Enormous! I had to triple check the location of my bike and gear (luckily the row numbers were well marked) otherwise could easily get lost.

Large number of participants equates to multiple swim waves. The swim waves were scheduled for every 3 minutes. I was skeptical that they could pull it off, but it was successful. Although the ladies and I had to wait for about an hour to start, it went by fairly quickly. Here's Tracey, me, EB, & Sally awaiting the start of our swim (the Washington Monument in background)....







I knew my race would be rather lackluster. I had been suffering from a cold the week prior, my training had been so-so, and this was the longest race I had on my slate for the year. So, I elected to have a little fun and take pictures along the way. We had to clear out of transition well before race start, so in order for me to take pictures as we waited around, I had to bring my camera with me... including in the water during the swim. (My camera is waterproof, allowing this to happen.)


SWIM: 1.5 kilometers 36:27



Swimming parallel to shore and towards the Memorial Bridge, makes sighting fairly easy. I got plowed over a few times by the 20-24 year old men in the wave behind us, but managed to swim at a comfortable rate. It was a little slower for me than usual for this distance, but forgiveable. (Maybe because I was towing a camera in my back pocket under my wetsuit? Ha ha ha...)



BIKE: 40 kilometers 1:29:40







Outside of having a flat tire (thankfully... and I have yet to have flatted during a race- whew!) a lot of things seemed to go wrong on my bike ride. Ok. I didn't crash either, which would have been awful as well. We're talking small things which lead to frustration.


My water bottle cage on the bike frame had partly broken prior to race day. Specifically, it was unable to be secured by the top screw and only the bottom screw was holding it. It was unusable. I meant to secure it before the race using ubiquitous duct tape, but failed in doing so. Ugh. I left it as is. It never occurred to me that it would flop over mid-race and begin to whack against my pedal cranks. Duh! So, early on, within the first 5 kilometers, I had to pull over and mess with the thing. I tried to break it off completely but it was seemingly indestructable! I somehow managed to immobilize it and continue on.


Coming back on Rock Creek Parkway, still within the first 5K, my chain dropped. Usually, it can be easy to recover from this by continuing pedaling. Not so in this case. In triathlon, as in normal traffic flow, one keeps to the left, and passes to the right. Due to course layout, we biked in the normally-oncoming traffic lanes. In other words, by keeping to the left, we were actually in the center of the roadway. I was biking - well coasting since I could no longer pedal- and attempting to get over toward the left and off the roadway. Multiple people passed by me and pointed out that my chain had dropped. Gee, thanks for pointing out the obvious! If I could only get over (with 4500 athletes on the road- lots of bike traffic), I could fix the problem!


Eventually, I was able to get over and deal with it. It was not an easy fix, however. For the first time, I discovered that there is a post of sorts between the crank arm on the gears. I have no idea what function it serves. Nevertheless, the function it served during the race was to give me frustration as my chain somehow got caught on this thing. I was seemingly unable to get my chain around it and back on the gears where it belongs. Meanwhile, my hands and arms are covered in chain grease.


The entire escapade probably took about 2 or 3 minutes to resolve, but seemed like an eternity as the race passed me by.


My bike was never quite the same afterwards. My gears jumped wildly. It was as though the Red Baron was affectionately telling me to take it in for a check-up. That it is long overdue for one. Will do. Before Bassman in 3 weeks.


To add salt to my wounds, my troubled knee began to sting in the latter half of the bike leg. I tried to let it not bother me. Just get off the bike and smile and have fun. After all, it was a huge race, a beautiful day, and no use making matters worse.

RUN: 10 kilometers 1:05:27

I started out rather strong on the run, running with EB for a while. Continued on until Joanna passed me. It's a scenic run, around Hain's Point. I felt pretty good, walking only through the water stops for the first half of the run. I walked a bit more the latter half, but overall cannot complain.

FINISH: 3:18:17 133/253 AG

Me, Joanna, & Es showing off our proud finish:

Annapolis 10 Miler

Time to Run in the Annapolis 10 Miler!
The race is one of the more popular running races in the Metro DC area, and one leg of the "Triple Crown" of 10 milers. (The others are the Cherry Blossom and the Army 10 Miler.) The Annapolis 10 Miler differs from the other two in that there's a true post race party, with beer at the finish line. And the give-aways to runners (at least the ones that finish) are fabulous!

I joined Carol in the morning pre-race at packet pickup, but missed her at the starting line (bummer).

I was not quite sure what to expect. My running has been light lately, with something in the range of 4 to 6 miles being my "long runs". I planned on taking it easy, implementing a run-walk plan as I would do for a long training run.

The race held up to its reputation as being hot. There were 5000 runners and the residents of Annapolis greated us with sprinklers in hand to keep us cool.

I kept up a decent 10-minute pace for the first half, slowing to about an 11:15 pace the second, partly due to the hillier second half.

I was glad to have felt better than I expected and managed to finish in about 1:43. As expected, the finisher give-away was fabulous: a women's (it's so nice when gear is separated for men and women!) long-sleeve run pull-over. (And I lost my timing chip pre-race, so I won't have an official finish time, so I'm going off my watch...)

Great race, great day, time for a nap....

Luray Triathlon Weekend

Off to the races in Luray, Virginia!

The Luray Triathlon is a grassroots 2-day triathlon festival, with an international distance triathlon (1500 meter swim, 25 mile bike, 10K run) on Saturday and sprint distance (750 meter swim, 17 mile bike, 5K run) on Sunday.

Last year I did the international distance, but this year, I elected to take it a little easier. I participated in a relay with two other ladies on Saturday, and was scheduled to do the sprint on Sunday (but did not quite do it... more on that momentarily).

I met my relay teammates for the first time on Saturday morning: Michelle and Johanna. I was slated to ride the bike. My biking has been a little weak as of late, and at some point, I need to get some mileage up to be able to ride more at 24 Hours of Booty. Hmmmm.

Michelle swam, and upon her exit, I headed out on the course. The course was billed as challenging, but it was on par to our normal training rides. (Granted, my participation in Team Z training rides has been rather limited as of late. My bike rides have generally consisted of a solo ride on the essentially flat trails in Metro Washington D.C.) Nevertheless, I knew the ride would be doable.

The course had some fun decents. I topped out at 67.2 km/hr. (My bike computer is in metric and I have no clue how to fix that....) (Anyway, that's 41.8 mph for the metric measurements impaired.)

My legs were not quite accustomed to hammering on the bike. Early on in the course, my left calf severely cramped up. It was almost paralyzing. I cursed up and down to myself, begging my body to ease up a bit. I spun easily for a while, and luckily, the cramping relaxed. Whew! It was going to be a very long ride for me otherwise.

The course had some false flats. These have a tendency to cause mind games. Are the breaks rubbing? Am I that out of shape? Ugh.

Continuing on...

In about the last 5 miles of the course, my right leg started to give me grief. No cramping, per say, but a sort of numbness. My foot seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep. I was grateful that I only needed to finish the bike ride and my race would be over, rather than needing to run.

The race is billed as a 25-mile bike course. Hmmm. It's a little longer than that. For a little extra bit of punishment, the toughest climb on the course is right where the 25-mile mark is located. A little sufferfest. I went a little harder on it, passing people, but cheered them on, indicating I was merely participating in a relay.

Bike finish: 1:35:49

As for our relay finish, we knew we were going to be in the middle of the pack. Our team finished in 3:16:45.

After the race, it was time to let loose in true Team Z fashion. We chilled out at the tent, feasted on food, and drank beer. In time, some of the frivolity got a little ugly. I was a spectator, not a participant, to the Beer Pong tourney. I at least encouraged a group to play a game of Apples to Apples with me... a non drinking game. (The older I get, the less beer I can drink. In fact, I almost have an aversion to beer these days. Can still drink wine, thank goodness.)

Sunday morning was the sprint triathlon. I was signed up for it, but turned out I had to leave early from the race. I thought no big deal- I'm not a contender to place in my age group anyway, and really just looking to have the exercise. The race was not my "A" race for the season. Besides, my legs were rather wiped from the day before.

Instead, I decided to do a pre-race brick (bike-run), then swim officially with the race, then depart. Due to time and weary legs, I wound up only biking about 10 miles, and running about 1-1/2 miles.

My swim with the race went fairly well. I swam sans wetsuit, which for a weaker swimmer like me, makes me swim much slower. (Or maybe I am slow regardless?)

Swim: 20:08 (15/23 AG)

Race with just a swim and a pre-race mini-brick? I could get used to this....

Rediscovering Hiking

Ahhh hiking. A workout that doesn't feel like a workout. It's a chance to explore, breathe fresh air, enjoy the peace and quiet, and get in touch with nature. It's rewarding to watch an animal in its natural surroundings, to surmount a climb (and enjoy the view at the top), and in short "get away from it all"... And yet, hiking is great exercise!


Lately, I'm finding myself discovering the vast number of hiking trails around the region. It helps that my boyfriend is on the same kick.

In the past month, we have hiked from Riverbend Park to Great Falls and to Scott's Run Nature Preserve.

Perhaps this blog will start steering away from triathlon adventures toward hiking adventures?

The Cyclists on Roads Debate

Do cyclists belong on roads? A couple of weeks ago, about 700 cyclists were participating in the Multiple Sclerois Charity Bike Ride in Loudoun County, about an hour west of Washington DC. A handful of them were ticketed for running through stop signs. This sparked a debate in the local news media.

As a cyclist myself, I certainly am a fan of riding on the roads. The trails around the Metro area serve a purpose too. Generally, when I do weekday training rides solo, I stick to the trails. However, it is highly rewarding to get out of the area and explore the byways of Virginia and Maryland via bicycle. Additionally, the trails around town tend to get overly crowded on the weekends and are not conducive to long training rides, particularly in a group.

I do strongly feel in obeying the rules of the road, however. It irks me both as a cyclist, and a driver, to see cyclists who feel the rules of the road do not apply to them. All too often, I see cyclists biking against traffic (which is highly dangerous), blowing through red lights, and dodging wildly through traffic. (I can understand going through a red light when no cars are in sight, and the bicycle does not trip the light switch.) I feel that cyclists who do no obey the rules of the road hurt safety for the rest of us.

I was once biking with a small group of friends through Potomac, Maryland, a close-in subburb of Washington DC. This particular area is very popular with cyclists, as the route is scenic with rolling hills, but very close to town and convenient. We approached a left turn at a stoplight. We signaled that we were heading into the turning lane when a car approached us. The driver (a man) loudly berated us, yelling us to go onto the biking trail and get off the road. His car was filled with children. If he's familiar enough with the area to know there's a biking path nearby (which is short and poorly maintained), he should be familiar enough to know the area is frequented by cyclists on weekends. We politely asked him to share the road (we were mindful of the rules of the road), as he continued to berate us. What sort of example was he setting for his kids?

I was once also biking on a trail (the Washington & Old Dominion Trail - known as the W & OD - a rail to trail conversion) out in Loudoun County. I was approaching a road crossing. I saw an approaching car, but seeing his speed, and seeing my speed (I was descending down a hill), I knew I would cross in plenty of time. Mind you, I probably should have stopped at the road crossing. I agree. I do not recall if there was a cyclist stop sign (although there likely was). Needless to say, I must have given the driver a bit of a scare. He proceeded to follow me as the trail and the road paralled one another. He yelled at me, "I could have hit you, bitch!" Now I was scared. In a moment of anger, I told him to get off his ass and ride a bike, which granted, was not intelligent. Was he going to come after me? Needless to say, I was relieved when I did not see him again.

As a rule, I obey the rules of the road. It's about safety. There is no way I will win a battle versus a car from my bicycle.