Skiing Blacktail Mountain, Montana

Jennisse — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:27:52 +0000

So I went skiing yesterday. And today. I am not sure if I am happy that I found something else that I really enjoy. I already enjoy swimming, biking, running, lifting, trail running (which is sort of hiking for the impatient), hiking, rock climbing, shooting, scuba diving, kayaking, sailing, water skiing, back country camping…….do I really want another sport?? Well, yes, I think I do! How much are downhill skis again? LOL

I brought my cross country skis out here with me because I have been liking the aerobic sports mostly in the past but somewhere in the past year, I decided I really like speed. The faster, the better. Well, I always liked speed but never went very fast. Now I am going fast and enjoying it immensely.

My brother is a good ski coach…..hmmm, interesting family trait, no? And tweaked my not-so-bad form after all this time not skiing (6 years?) and suddenly I had control through turns and on steeper hills. The skis are very different since I last skied; they are not straight down the sides but almost like an hour glass shape. This helps grab the snow with the edges. He told me to use all of the edges of the skis, both skis, and roll from edge to center to other edge as you go through your turn and to not rush the turns. Do not be afraid of the speed or of pointing straight downhill. You are, after all, trying to go downhill. And with that, I finally felt I could go fast with control. I had felt that I could hold my own before on moderate hills but I was doing the same thing I had always done and wasn’t really sure how to get better. I don’t think you get better by doing the same thing over and over. You have to try something new - push the envelope a little bit. After that little lesson, I felt lots faster, lots more in control. I still could not catch Travis, even with him on Telemark skis, he just flies. Maybe I am faster than him on the bike!!! I can hope!! And besides, thank God for all of the squats and lunges I have been doing because I don’t know how many more runs I could have made- wwhoooeeee - skiing does burn the quads!

Nature note: It is so cool how the snow sticks to all sides of the trees. It was raining (I missed the really cold weather last week - it has been in the 30’s the entire time so far) when we left the house and another storm is forecast to come in behind this one - so there will be plenty of fresh snow between now and Christmas day. Always a Schule family tradition to go skiing on Christmas day. One I have not been a part of in many years and am looking forward to it very much this year.

Off to sit in the sauna. From Montana for a few more days at least, Jennisse

Why I like to ride my bike up mountains!

Jennisse — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:37:27 +0000

I can’t tell you why other people like to climb but I will tell you why I like to climb on my bike.
I actually like to climb mountains in all ways - hike, rock climb, train run. Climbing to the top of a mountain on a bike versus just hiking up somehow is special. You and your bike must work together. I am always grateful for my bike when I get to the top. That and to get off my bike and appreciate the view. When you are at the top, you can say, “I came from down there?” When you are the bottom, you can say, “I am going up there?”
Hills and mountains add variety and intensity - they are like truth - you are laid bare - you can’t fake anything on the mountain. You either have trained, are lean and are ready to go, or you aren’t. And Mt. Washington is the most unforgiving of all. Many people quit in the first mile.
Riding your bike up a mountain is just hard - and being a good descender takes some skill and some courage. There is an incredible sense of accomplishment when you reach the top of a mountain. And then there is the view. It is a kin to flying - when you look out, you feel a sense of freedom of mind.
The actual climbing - there is a rhythm to it. There is some pain - or discomfort so it takes mental and physical toughness and focus. There isn’t necessarily speed, depending on the steepness of the mountain but it is amazing how fast 9 mph can feel after going 4 mph for quite some time, if you hit a less steep part. When you are riding up and you look out and can see for miles, you do feel like you are soaring.
I love the rhythm and the sense of accomplishment that I feel when I have been able to push past the pain, focus on my breath and squeeze as much speed as I can out of my body to ascend to the heights of a mountain.
My favorite hill climb of all is Mt. Graham in Arizona. On the way back down, after several hours climbing from 70 degrees to snow (which was amazing in and of itself) and from the back of the mountain to the front of the mountain, we came back down - no cars - whole road to ourselves and got to fly down these amazing switchbacks. At one point we stopped and looked down the mountain and could see the road we were going down snaking down the hill like some tweaked sports car add, except it wasn’t an ad and we were just as fast on our bikes as a car would be.
If you read the book we have about hill climbs, the author (who escapes me at the moment) says he just doesn’t consider it a bike ride unless it has a hill in it. I used to hate hills because they beat me down every time. Now I am stronger and smarter (I use the right gearing, now matter how big it needs to be to get me to the top) and have figured out how to relax even when it is tough going, so I know I can climb anything. Anytime.
I love knowing that.
If you want to climb something local that will give you a good idea of what a thrill hill climbing can be, go climb to High Point State Park from the back (north side up). Better yet, send out an invite and we will all go with you!
Jennisse

10 Reasons to Ride Your Trainer

Jennisse — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 23:23:13 +0000

Hi, now that Winter is on the way, many of us now need to embrace training indoors to really be ready to hit the roads strong. Training indoors can be a huge help to reaching your fitness goals – here are some great reasons to do it now – and all year round.
1. Convenience - You can put all your hydration, nutrition and towels right next to you. Your bathroom right around the corner.
2. Safety - You do not need to pay attention to traffic, what time of day, pests, animals, etc. You can watch whatever you want on TV or listen to whatever you want as loud as you want without endangering yourself or others, unless it is 6 a.m. and your spouse is still asleep. You might want to consider headphones in that case.
3. Form - Even without a computerized trainer such as the Computrainer (with the SpinScan capabilities) or Tacx system, you can really focus on your form. Do those Isolated Leg Exercises. If you have them, ride those rollers. Check out the new e-Motion rollers for the best of both worlds in one (albeit expensive package). www.insideride.com
4. Focus - Having to divide your attention among less things means you can pay more attention to just riding. Singular focus. You can focus on keeping that cadence at 90 instead of AROUND 90.
5. Mindless - On the flip side, you can completely zone out. You must pay attention when you ride outside. On the trainer, if you just need a mindless ride, plug in that music and pedal away. No other thought required. Put in a ride DVD and just do what it tells you to do.
6. Efficiency - If you are crunched on time, a trainer is a very time efficient way to train and with high intensity. Put your trainer in front of the TV - watch your favorite show and not be relegated to some isolated room in the house.
7. Consistency - Even if the weather is bad outside due to heat, rain, cold or simply because your schedule at work didn’t allow you to come home as planned or whatever else in life happens, you can still ride.
8. Flexibility - You can ride inside at 10:00 p.m. or 4:00 a.m. So especially if you have more than one bike, it is very helpful to leave one bike set up on the trainer. This removes a lot of the prep work of getting the bike on the trainer that can cut into valuable training time. At the very least, have a place set up in your house with the trainer set up. When a free 45 minutes presents itself, you can take advantage of it.
9. Learn - You learn all sorts of things about yourself when on the trainer. Keep a tape recorder next to you to empty all of those brilliant ideas into as you ride. Practice your nutrition. Try out a new pair of shorts.
10. Repeatability - Because you have so many factors in your control when inside, you can replicate the same conditions. Same temperature, same bike shorts, same time of day, same nutrition. This allows you to do that Threshold test every 6-8 weeks under very similar conditions. If anything changes in your power or energy output, it is easier to identify the causes for these changes. It allows you to isolate one thing you are working on without having many other things change as well.
A couple of things to remember: your saddle will not feel as comfortable because you do not change position as much. This is normal. If you want to change position, come out of the saddle, just add some gear/resistance to help you stand.
Abient temperature must be low - ideally around 60 degrees. A fan is a must. If you do not do either or both of these things, your core temperature will heat up beyond what is comfortable and you will just need to stop. You will start out feeling cold but this won’t last. Turn on the fan from the start, every time. Garage, basement or room to open a window in the winter or can set the room temperature in independently of the rest of the house is ideal.
And lastly, sometimes an effort inside at the same power can ‘feel’ harder than outside. Do not get hung up on this. It is not know exactly why this is, whether it is mental or physiological or a combination of all of the above, but unless the majority of your workouts are inside and are consistently falling below where you should be, it is rarely a significant problem. Just enjoy the trainer, enjoy the simplicity of it and the fact that you can ride inside at any time, any time you want and not worry about the numbers.
So set yourself up in a corner of your house with a small table next to you, sync up those iPods, plug in your DVD player, grab a towel and some water, and go spin!

Carpe Diem Ride

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 23:16:19 +0000

Title: Carpe Diem Ride
Location: Frenchtown, NJ
Link out: Click here
Description: Paul Nardoni Foundation Ride for Comfort and Aid to Cancer Patients and their Families
Start Time: 07:00
Date: 2008-10-05
End Time: 17:00

Black Bear Race Report

Jennisse — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:57:43 +0000

Okay, to be fair, the race report for this race starts a week ahead of the race when my new TT bike arrives. I had placed the order for the custom Serotta (I am very spoiled, I know) a couple of months earlier with some small hope that it would be done for Black Bear. It was. I just had to put on the cranks, pedals, seat, seat post, chain and cassette. Everything else was already built for me. Oh, yes, the most important thing I had to put on was bottle cages. (Remember this, it will be very important later - no quiz - just important.)
Somehow I decide instead of putting the normal bottle cages on, I have always wanted to try the behind the seat jobbers. The fancy carbon X-lab behind the seat jobbers arrive at Ren’s place on Wednesday before the race. He comes over to the house to put them on - sans cages - on Friday. Our plan was to use the perfectly matching (okay, so I am spoiled AND a little girly at times!) red carbon cages from my Road Serotta. They look really pretty!

Ren and I did a shake down ride on Friday - all worked well. Gary and Ren tweaked the gears. I got a long sleeved wetsuit with Marie the week before - tried it out in the Navesink with Donna on Tuesday (the bike got rained out but you can swim in the rain - which turned out to be bright sun instead). So I felt I was as ready as ready could be.

I knew the run was going to be my toughest part. The half marathon always kills my legs - I just haven’t gotten my legs built up to that many miles of pounding yet. I now know that they will be able to tolerate that many miles, I just need to be a little more patient about getting them there. In the meantime, I will be sore.

The swim, well, I love the swim. And since I have been taking swim lessons every Thursday morning with John Quintana, I love the swim even more. When it all clicks and you can glide through the water almost effortlessly, it is glorious. I will add speed later. Right now, I am looking for all of the efficiency I can get.

The bike, this course was picked because it was hilly. I just want to keep doing hills until I am good at them. I am not where I want to be with them yet but am getting there.

So those are my thoughts going into the race, now for the race itself.
We drive to Beltsville State Park, just north of Jim Thorpe, PA. It is really beautiful but kind of in the middle of nowhere and it is very stormy. The lake does not look happy at all. The CGI crew is rather rule heavy - no headphones or you will be disqualified, no drafting or 4 minute time penalty. Frankly, I was more worried that Ren had all the rules down than I was thinking about the race for me. It was well after 2 p.m. and I realized I hadn’t drank any water all day. SUPERhydrate before a race, silly! This will become the theme for the weekend as you will see shortly.

Off to the hotel - Slip Rock Resort north of the race is very cute. We stayed in cottages that had a fireplace and little kitchenette in them. Our neighbors were quiet but Ren’s, not so much, unfortunately. Donna had the best accomodations with her brother!! Up at 4:30 a.m. to get to the transition area before it opened at 5:45 a.m.

We stop for coffee along the way and run into our friends Drew and Karen who now live in Delaware. When Karen first started doing triathlons, I wrote up a transition break down for her. Now she is doing Kona! She trains about 40 hours a week though - and works on top of it.

Off to transition set-up. For those of you that haven’t ever been to a triathlon, transition is the hub of activity for the whole event. You have to have a tag or wrist band to get in or out - your bike is left in there with all of your other items, running shoes, hat, sunglasses, nutrition, everything you need to go from swimming, to biking to running as fast as possible. Some people have a very specific almost superstitious way of setting things up - the pre-race rituals of some people are very entertaining. A lot of people have taken to putting a big mylar balloon on their bike so they can find it after the swim. I think this is very funny because I have never thought to look up to find my bike. All of the balloons make the transition area look like a big party. Which, I guess, it is!

Okay, everything is the way I want it. I got my nutrition in and it is sitting well and I am ready to put on my wetsuit and head down to the now not angry lake. Water temperature is reported at 68 degrees which is a lot better than the 58 degrees a few days ago. I didn’t really trust this large increase in temperature over a few days on this mountain spring fed lake but it is what it is. My wetsuit is my wetsuit. 1.2 miles is 1.2 miles.

So we all head down - Grace is there, Donna is there. Both are ready to swim. Gary and Ren and observing and chatting. Donna gets in the water. I head down, too. It is cold but after Hammonton’s 62 degrees, it is what I expected it to be - but very clear. There are mussel shells on the shore. Is the water brackish? Are these fresh water mussels? How did they get here? That is odd. These are the kind of rambling thoughts that are going through my mind as I start to swim in the little roped off area for us. The sprint swimmers go off first. By the time the third wave starts, the first swimmers are out of the water. Envious. I can barely even SEE my turn-around buoy. It really looks so far away, I make a conscious effort to not look that direction.

Powder Blue Wave to the water. That’s me. Off I go. Uncharacteristicall y confident of me, I am one of the first ones in the water. I head all the way out to the far end of the start line. I have to tread water here but with the wet suit that makes it easy. I wave to Gary and Ren but they don’t wave back. Too many PowerBlue heads bobbing in the water to know who is waving at who. No one else is around me. I am all by myself at the end. I don’t think I have ever had a swim start where I haven’t been vying for position. I am loving this. Totally takes away that panic-y feeling I have when people get too close to me in the water. 3 - 2 - 1 - And we are off. Stroke, catch, rotate, breath, glide. Stroke, wait for the catch, rotate, push, breath at the beginning of the stroke, glide. Again. Glide. Again, breathe. Look up. I am getting passed like I am standing still. Crud. I am in my own little world - efficient, gliding world and had almost forgotten this was a race. I pick up the stroke a bit but am now in the washing machine. I would have been ready for it at the start but now I want clear water and clear air and it is just getting worse. Knocked in the head, breast stroke, where is a hole for me? Break out, stroke, breath - no air - water - choppy. Look up. Okay, see a hole. Get back into a rhythm. Can’t seem to get a good breath. I am breathing every stroke. I just try to talk myself out of it - maybe it is the wetsuit. Just swim. Focus. Just swim. The buoys are not getting any closer. Am I swimming or standing still? I see a person from the wave before with a silver cap breast stroking. I realize that I am doing better than her. Off I go. Still can’t breath and am now not tracking straight. Heading towards shore. Not good. Straighten out. Relax. Glide. Breath. Nope - CANNOT get a breath. So I stop for a second, tug forcefully on both sleeves to pull them up and give my chest some more breathing room. Let in really cold water down my chest, gasp. But at least I get a good breath. Good. Nice and deep breath. I can keep going. Finally the turn around buoy starts to come into view. Now, I have a different mental problem. I am afraid of drowning. I am not afraid of falling or crashing but drowning seems particularly unpleasant to me. My mind starts to tell me, ‘you know you are out in the middle of a lake, deep lake, you don’t know what is down there, and there is a dam at the other end - there must be a current - you are so small in this big lake.’ Thankfully, the other part of my mind (do you think I am crazy yet?) has no tolerance for this kind of scary thought especially with a gazillion kayaks (yes, gazillion) and dozens of motor rescue boats around. I am getting passed again. Another voice loudly proclaims, ‘Quit F**ing around, Jennisse. This is a race you know.” That would be the voice of Gary - the voice of reason - grounded realism. I start swimming fast. Like it is a race. I am half-way done. I KNOW I can make it to the finish now. All the lack of confidence about my longest swim to date is gone. I am going to finish. I don’t care how fast - I am just happy I can breath, no lake monster got me and I am going to finish. Stroke, catch, glide, rotate, power, kick, breathe. A women in a yellow cap with a sleeveless Ironman wetsuit swims by me as if I am standing still again. It looks like Donna. I smile (as well as I can in water) and hope that is her. The last buoys are coming into sight. I picture Gary on the shore and swim strong. I swim in until I can feel the sand and fresh water mussel shells, where ever they came from, on my finger tips and then stand up. Surprisingly, the shells don’t cut my feet. Can I feel my feet? yes, out of the water I go. No snot down my face. Check. Goggles off. Check. Unzip wetsuit. Check. Still running to transition. Check. STILL running. Check - it is a really long run to the transition area and I start to ask out loud that I thought the running portion of a triathlon was last. No one around me laughs but I thought it was funny. Into transition. Rack 1, where is my number? 1307. If only I had an Cookie Monster balloon, I would know where my bike is. ha, I crack myself up. There it is. Ready to go. Flop down on the ground and try to get the rest of my wetsuit off. Won’t. come. Off. My. Anklllleeeeesssss. CRAP! This is taking too long. GET OFF ME!
Off. Finally, okay, good. Water bottle squirt on feet and into bike shoes. Transition is too long to run out without shoes no. No socks. Last second change. No socks. will put them on for the run. Electrolytes in one pocket. Gel Blocks in the other. Gloves, yes. Helmet, clipped. Check. Sunglasses. Check. Bike. GO! RUN!

Out out out out out. Bike Mount area guy in front of me get the hell out of the way, leg over clip in. Perfect gearing, set it up before hand. pedal. pedal, pedal. pedal. There is NOTHING like pedaling a bike all wet. It is like standing in front of a really bike fan. Cold, exhilarating and you know it won’t last. Pedal, pedal, pedal. Drink. I feel good. First hill. YEEEhaaa!!! Yes, I said that as I was going up! Sick puppy, I am. Drink - Left hand bottle is an insulated bottle from Carpe Diem ride with a gel like Infinit Long Distance nutrition mixture. Right bottle is just water. Must take water with everything I have with me. I plan to drink one full bottle of water until the water bottle exchange, drop my water bottle, get another one and do it again. So I will have drank 3 full bottles of water and finished my Blocs and Infinit by the time I am done. The hills are big but the bike is perfect. It is hard to not be in someones draft but I realize quickly that if they are going to ding me for drafting at 10 mph, they are idiots. I will take the time penalty if it happens. Do the best I can. Gear smartly. Ren passed me about 8 miles or so into the course and then almost falls off his bike as we are trying to hit knuckles. What a pair of geeks! But he is having a great time and that just makes me smile - geeky or no, we are having fun! Hilly, hilly, hilly. Shift, shift, shift. A lot of people pass me on the hills but I pass them very fast on the descents. I am not afraid of the descents as it evident by my 50 mph max and those ceramic bearings really make a difference. I catch up to people as I am coasting and they are pedaling and heavier than me. Worth every penny and they weren’t even that expensive. The course is very technical. Lots of turns, lots of hills right out of corners when you aren’t expecting it. Lots of steep ascents, short and steep but also long and steep descents. Think of the course as a roller coaster and you will have the right image. There are people that are clearly not prepared for this. People are on the side of the road for jammed chains, don’t being able to get out of the big ring and into the small ring. Flats. And some people are just walking up the hills. I really enjoyed the bike course. Two loops. Don’t like the loops so much. But it is what it is. I start making a game out of passing people. I am sometimes successful. mostly with the women. Guys don’t like to be passed. Guys don’t like to be passed by a girl. That is my theory anyway and it makes it even more fun to watch a clearly suffering guy pass me again just because he has to. I smile again and off I go. I am dry now, except for my butt. the disadvantage of the one way fan.

Water bottle exchange. Poland? That isn’t what I expected. Oh well, I am empty, toss it, grab the Poland and go. Up a mile long hill. As I am coming out of the hill and down around a corner, I hit a bump hard and off goes the rest of my Poland water. That’s okay, I say outloud and keep going.
I don’t think too much about it until I realize. I now have no nutrition either. I can’t take Blocs or Infinit the way I mixed it without water - it will have me doubled over with gut pain before too long. Okay well, keep pedaling and you will get back to the bottle exchange again. Hills, passing, pedaling, gearing. thirsty. Keep pedaling. Hills, gearing, stay out of the draft. Pass - can’t - crap- try again - too much power needed - back off. okay enough of you fool, PAASSSSSS! Good. Thirsty. Ride. Water. Ride. Water. Water. Ride. Water. Water. Water. Water. Water. Water. Water. Ride. Water becomes my overiding thought and I can’t think about much else. I know I am in trouble. I can’t ask for outside assistance. I see Drew. I think to him - would you just happen to have water? No, Bastard. Ride. by the time I made it back to the only water bottle exchange, it was 45 miles into the ride. I had done 30-35 miles without water or nutrition and could feel it. My heart rate was higher. I was hot. I never get hot at 75 degrees - not on the bike at least. And I had that hollow, hungry feeling in my stomach. My plan was to drink Heed that they also provide at the bottle exchange in a bigger bottle that hopefully wouldn’t come out. And grab a water bottle - I had this brilliant idea that I would drink all of the Heed (because just drinking straight water at this point would be really bad for me - I could feel the salt caked on my lips) THEN as I am riding up Mt. Black Bear, I would fill the bigger water from the Poland bottle - yes, as I am riding - and I do manage to do this successfully. I am quite proud of myself actually and am feeling optimistic that I might be able to salvage my nutrition and water problem in the last hour of the ride. Then my bottle pops out again with 8 miles to transition. I don’t know if I should have stopped and picked it up or if I should have stopped and picked up the first one. After thinking about it for hours then and since, I STILL don’t know. I just know that the pretty red bottle cages are really lucky they are pretty and until Sunday had never done me wrong before or I would kill them - especially the right one. They will be summarily replaced with sleek black ones without any feeling of guilt on my part at all.

I get into run transition. Socks. Am not moving as fast. Water. Warm water but I don’t care and I am running with my water bottle. I don’t care how hard or uncomfortable it is. I am not going to be without my water for the run. Visor. Race belt. Water. Off I go. Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch with every step - jelly legs. Running off the bike is a very interesting feeling that you just have to practice and know how it feels to know that it goes away. Water stop. Ahhh, COLD water - glorious cold water. Walk to drink. Heed. Drink. Ahhh. Run. Quick feet. Keep going. Hill. Ugh. I liked the hills on the bike. No like on the run. Walk up it. Let that water absorb. No sloshing. Please let there not be any sloshing in my belly. Breath - hot. muggy hot. Am I just dehydrated - yes - but how did it get so hot? Well, no more bike fan! And I am dry. next water station. Half of the water goes on my head and down my back. Butt is wet again. Oh well. drink. So far so good. will have to walk more than I want but if I can drink at every water station, I think I might be able to do this. Nice forest trail. and then out into the open. Ugh. Wow is that sun bright. And hot. REALLY Hot. Wow. To the end of the dam. I hope there is another water stop at the end. There is. What are those towels they are giving - oh, they are cold - oh, they feel so good! Keep running. Pick a point run. Pick a point - walk. Drink. Pick a point - run. Quick feet. Pick a point - walk. Two loops of this god forsaken piece of shit run course. This sucks. I am going in loops. I hate loops. Makes me feel like I am a gerbil. Running in circles. Give me an out and back so I can see that I am making progress. I am running in the f***ind desert. Where the he** did the humidity go? How did it get so dry? And so the downward mental spiral goes. I had no water. I had no nutrition. I might need an IV. This sucks. it is hot. Starting to slosh. Where is the medical tent? I can’t let my team down. I can’t let my puppies down. Gary will be proud. Keep running. No water. No food. How can I possibly expect myself to do this? Mile 6 the turn around point which is cruelly right at the finish point. Go left and you go back on the god forsaken sahara desert course - go right and you are done! Ren and Donna are running and running the purple cow bells - you look strong (are they kidding?), keep going! You are so awesome (they don’t know how much I am swearing right now) but I will keep going. Going left. Going left. Going leffftttt… .ahhhhh. No turning back now. Damn. So close to the finish. Back to the desert. Keep running. turn off the negative - not successful - it keeps going - I keep picking a point to run to. Right foot burning. I can feel the blisters forming. My negative adds that to the list. No food. No water. Too hot. Sucky course. Blisters. I keep running. Grace and I start to pass each other as we do the bazillion turnarounds on the run. She catches up to me - I didn’t know if she wanted company - I was in my own negative revere. She catches up and I don’t want to let on how miserable I am but conversations with Grace are just easy. How are you doing she says? This sucks I say and we both laugh. We talk for awhile and I feel bad that I have to keep stopping to walk but I know it is the only way I will be able to finish. I finally tell her what happened on the bike and she starts dumping water on me and making me drink more. I smile. Very proud to be her friend and honored to be able to coach her. But this run still sucks. She motivates me. I motivate her. It is all good. Mile 10. double digits. We are going to make it. We talk about all sorts of stuff - idle chatter to take our minds off of the heat, dust, loopy course, and burning feet. Mile 11. yes. yes. Pick a point. Run. Pick a point. Walk. Drink. Gummy bears. MMMMMMM they tasted good! Mile 12. I can crawl to the finish if I have to at this point. Around the lake. Kick it up. Well, I tried to kick it up. Pathetic but I am going to finish. Then the covered bridge and Gary is there! Smiling! And up the hill - cruel and unusual punishment this freaking course - to the finish! Yes, I am done. Grace right in front! Awesome! done done done done. water. Shade. keep walking. Feet oh my god. hurt. Shade. Walk Water WAter! just under 7 hours. Not bad. Not bad at all. I would have believed you if you told me I was out there for 12 hours. It just felt like a really long day.

I went and sat down by my bike. And didn’t get up. Well, I couldn’t get up. I just sat there and drank my recoverite. Which tasted really good to me - usually I hate that sticky sweet taste. today, it almost tasted bland. I did it. What a race. Stupid water bottles. done. Sigh.

I feel a sense of pride in myself that I completed the race. I knew and know that I shouldn’t have ridden with those water bottles but learned a good lesson about back-ups and trying new equipment before a big race and still making it work. I also talked about quitting a lot to myself but didn’t. For lots of reasons. But I think the quote that I finally convinced myself to believe is that pain is temporary - quitting is forever. As always, I thought about the team, my family and friends, furry ones included. You all push me to do my best. I can’t say that it was a fun race or that I even really had too much fun. But I know why - I will be looking for another half-Ironman to do later this year to try this again! And see if I can do better - better preparation - better mental discussions (less swearing!) - and better times.
I am still very sore today - especially in my quads. I have been watching my hydration and nutrition very closely. I swam yesterday very briefly for the first time and got a massage last night. Today I am feeling the best I have felt all week. I will ride easy tomorrow and slowly get ready for Whiteface Mountain.

Donna did very well in the swim - similar thoughts - not able to get a breath. She felt the water get colder the further out she went - which is probably why I couldn’t get my breath. And I don’t think the water was 68 degrees - maybe at the shore.

Ren did fantastic on the bike - no penalties and a nice time!
Gary had clothing malfunction with his run shorts splitting and then rubbing him really raw - so the run was no fun for him. But even so, with a noon start and a hot day with broken shorts, he had a great run time.

Grace - just ran the whole thing with grace and ease. Amazing!
Thanks for pushing me you all, even if you didn’t know you were! Thanks for being a part of an awesome team!

Thanks for reading!