Mark Your Calendars! 6-9-2011

6/11
Ride for the McKnight's (fully supported)
28 and 60 miles from SCTAC (aka Donalson Center) at 8am
No fee for the Ride - Donation to the McKnight family are very welcome and appreciated.
100% of the donations go to the McKnight family, all ride costs are sponsored!

 

6/11
Sunrise 8K and Kiddie Kaper
Start Times: 8K 6:30am, Kiddie Kaper 7:45am at the Simpsonville City Park

6/11
Rail Trail 5K
- Beginning at the East Henry Street Trailhead in Spartanburg SC
8:00am registration and packet pick-up, 9:00am race start

Pre-register here or download the registration form

6/11
17th Annual Death Valley Open Water Swim Meet
East Beach on Hartwell Lake, Clemson University, Clemson SC
Distances: 5K, 3K, 2K, 1K, ½K

 6/11
Caesars Head Challenge, Cleveland SC
Grand Fondo Event; 10 miles; 60 miles and 100 miles
All levels welcome; Feast BBQ Lunch included.

6/11
3rd Annual Adoption Awareness Run 5K
ICAR Greenville

6/18
Candlelight Run 5K
@ CU-ICAR Campus Greenville SC

6/18
Save the Trails Challenge at DuPont State Forest

They have a 25 and 45 mile option. 25 miles in DuPont is a hard ride. 45 is epic - comparable to a century on the road.

6/25
Maggie's Third Annual 5K Run/Walk and Mile Fun Run
Furman University Campus
Register here by selecting Maggies Run

6/25 Greyhound Rescue Ride
@ Ducworth/ Tucker Sports Park in Anderson SC
Route Options: Metric Century, 40-miler and 25-miler

6/26
The Ridges Resort Invitational 5k Open Water Swim
Location: Hiawassee, GA

7/2
Red, White and blue Shoes 5K
@Furman University, Greenville SC

 7/3
Inaugural Columbus Firecracker 5K
Starting time is 8:00 a.m. at the Columbus, NC. courthouse, and will be run over a certified 5k course.

7/9
6th Annual Hot Doggett 100, Madison County NC
Route options: 100 miles and 100K closed loop courses

7/9 and 8/6
Hilton Head Island Beach Bum Triathlon
Start Time: 8am

Race Location: Coligny Beach, Hilton Head Island.

Race Format: 500m Ocean Swim / 6mi Beach Bike / 3mi Beach Run.

7/15-7/17
A Ride to Remember

7/17
You Go Girl - Sprint Triathlon
250 yd swim - 10 mile bike - 2.5 mile run
Greenville's only Women's Only Event!
Register here.

8/27
Hickory Nut Gorge Olympiad VII (1-mile, 2-mile)
Location: Lake Lure, NC

8/27
4th Annual Ride for M.A.C. in Easley SC
10, 20, 40, 62 (Caesars Head ride) and 100 mile (Super Challenge)
starts at 7:30am

9/10
Setting the Pace at Whitten Center 10K and 5K Run/Walk at 8:30 a.m.
Clinton, SC
Entry $25 before August 26th. Late entry is $30.

9/17

Kings Mountain/Moss Lake Open Water Swim

Distances: 5K, 3K, 2k, 1k, and 500m

Website, once it's availble

10/8
iRecycle Run Half Marathon and 5K
in Spartanburg
click here for registration

10/15
Bluffton SC Half Marathon and 5K

11/19
2011 Hope Relay in Greenville SC
RUN - 48 MILES...12 LEGS...6 RUNNERS...1 VAN...
WALK - 24 MILES...6 LEGS...6 WALKERS...1 VAN...
Register here.

********************

Greenville Track Club Paris Mountain Trail Run Series

8/13 - 7K
11/5 - 15K


The Y Tri Series:

06/18 – Ft Mill, SC
07/16 – Columbia, SC
07/31 –Blacksburg, SC
08/27 – Toccoa, GA
09/10 – Surf City Beach, NC
09/17 – Hartsville, SC
For more information (pricing, distances, if duathlon event is available etc) check the website.

Other YMCA Tri/Du Events:

8/ 6 Union County YMCA
8/ 13 Laurens Family YMCA
9/ 24 Tri the Ridge Pickens County YMCA


2011 XTERRA South Carolina Trail Run Series

7/10 Harbison Half Marathon (Columbia)
8/? Table Rock 15K

********************

GROUP RUNS organized by the Greenville Track Club

* Tempo Runs at Mauldin Middle School every Monday night at 6:30pm
* Track Workouts at Greenville High Track every Wednesday night at 6:00pm

ON THURSDAYS

"Girl's Morning Out" at Carolina Triathlon in downtown Greenville. Gather at 8:45am to pedal promptly at 9am. This is a 30-mile "C" ride hosted every Thursday by GHS EveryWoman Cycling Team and Carolina Triathlon. Road bikes and helmets are required. Everyone is welcome and nobody is left behind.

Normally gets canceled, if rain is in the forecast.

Sounded Good in Theory

Sometimes, I do have a hard time to get myself motivated for a middle of the week 30-miler on the bike. Last week, I fought the demotivation with joining a co-worker at a popular group ride. I thought, a group ride for a change is exactly what the doctor ordered. I had this option this week again, but honestly, I felt so uncomfortable* in the group last week, that my nerves couldn't handle a new edition of that one so soon.

*While average speed and distance for the ride was pretty much perfect, the constant speeding up and slowing down of the group was driving me nuts... I felt like we are going to crash any second.

Besides, I did have intervals on the schedule and I yet have to do a longer ride on my aerobars, so riding alone was the way to go this week. But I didn't feel like my usual usual, so I branched out to a popular loop 20 minutes from work. Unfortunately, it was 20 minutes into the exact opposite direction from where I live, so needless to say, I was home very late last night. So while that new route was a good idea in theory, I kinda doubt, I will do this again.

The ride itself was really nice and the loop is popular, because it's really pretty, low traffic and not a lot of turns. On the way back, I ignored a turn, thinking I'll cut the ride a little shorter, only to realize later, that I just added at least three miles and so I ended up with close to 35 miles for the day. Not bad for a weeknight.

Also, I had a classic nutrition fail: I still had leftover gel blasts in my bento box from Saturday's race in an open bag. While I was at work, the bike was in the car and the summer heat, did a great job melting the gel blast. When I lifted the bike out of the car, I saw this:

And because, I didn't do enough stupid things already, I thought, I'll get the gooey mess out of the car with my hands, only to have the sticky crap on my hands. Then I thought, I get rid of it by wiping it off in the grass only to have gel blast covered in grass on my hands....

Race Report: 2011 Middle Tyger YMCA Sprint Triathlon

400 meter pool swim - 14 mile bike - 3.1 mile run

Results (based on chip time):

Swim 7m43s (pace 1:46m/100y) OA 9/61
T1 1m02s
Bike 44m13s (speed 19 mph) OA 20/61
T2 49s
Run 30m55s (pace 9:58 min/mile) OA 44/61

TOTAL 1h 24m 40s OA 26/61 AG 1/3 GR 7/17

OA= overall, AG= age group, GR= gender rank

Pre-Race:

We already packed the night before, but after the alarm went off at 5am, I still had a couple of random things to throw in the car. By 5.30am we hit the road and I had breakfast in the car (banana, Larabar cashew nut cookie and water) and I tried to no indulge in my nerves.  It was the first tri of the season after all and it makes my stomach a little squirrelly. Once at the race site, we picked up our packages, set-up transition and then talked to our tri friends and snapped a couple of pictures.... That was nice and distracting, so the nerves never came out full force. Sweet.

My race plan was: Swim hard, bike hard, run with whatever is left, but don't worry about the run.... Deal.

Swim:

In previous years at this race, they let us start in pairs at the pool wall and you were spaced out by 10 seconds or so. This year, a different company did the timing and there was a timing matt on the pool deck, so they were much more flexible with letting people in the water. We were lined up by start number and then stepped on the matt and dove, jumped etc into the pool. I prefer this start over pairs, because you don't have to fight right away to get a good position on the first wall. Still, I was going for it and passed two people in the first couple of laps and then got passed by one guy, but just barely. The plan was to go out hard on the swim and I was swimming hard (actually, I had sore triceps the next day), but I never felt like I had a good rhythm. My stroke count was way too high and I had to remind myself several times to stop thrashing the water and just glide. Oh well, it wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good. When I got out of the pool I saw 7:20 on my watch... The official swim time also included the way from the pool to the transition timing matt... Pretty good.

T1:

There is not much to say about this... It was by far not the fasted transition, but I think I didn't mess around much either.

Bike:

This was the first time ever, that I had a 19 mph average for a bike split and I am thrilled. Two years ago, I was close to it on this course, but I finally cracked that baby. With that being said.... I was supposed to go out hard and that's exactly what I did. I didn't wear a heart rate monitor at all for this race, but if you are almost out of breath the whole time you are on the bike, you are definitely working it. One mishap of course was dropping my chain maybe 300 yards into the bike, but fortunately, I was on a downhill and I just kept pushing up on the big chain ring until it finally caught on again. Phew! After that it was just pedal, pedal, pedal as hard as my legs and lungs would let me. Like one of the girls later said: This course is either up or down. There are no flat sections.... I cannot agree more. The meanest hill out of all of them is in the last mile before transition and it makes the legs feel like jello. I was feeling my left hip flexor during the complete ride, which sucked big time, but stopping and stretching just wasn't really an option. Last year, I really messed up my nutrition on the bike and this time I thought I did a much better job with both drinking and eating and was hoping that it would also result in a better run.

T2:

Once I got into T2, I knew that my "assignments" for the race were done and now I am just here to do whatever is left in me without worrying too much. My hip flexor seized up as soon as I got off the bike, but other than that, transition was pretty efficient and I was in and out quickly.

Run:

Since I have a lot of pacing issues on the run (on top of my other issues with running), I really took it easy out of transition and was passed by one of my team members right away. It's pretty normal for me to get run down, so nothing to fuss about. The run course starts out with a nice downhill section and after the first .5 mile, the hip flexor finally loosened up and after that, I didn't think about it anymore. I think I was pretty consistent on the run this time and only walked through the aid stations, grab a cup of water each time and had a couple of sips before dumping the rest on my back. Since the course is an out and back, the nice downhill at the beginning is a nice uphill at the end of the race. Once it flattened out, I picked up the pace some and brought it in. I felt pretty good right after I crossed the finish line, which made me wonder, if I held back to long. Oh well, nothing to be done about it anymore. The first thing after taking off the timing chip, was kicking off my shoes. I forgot to bring socks and ran myself a couple of nice blisters.

Post-Race:

I hung around at the finish line, until all my team mates and my husband were done. Terry beat me this year... So sad! ;-)

After that, I grabbed a quick shower and then we took down transition to help out the guy that did the timing. And then a short and sweet awards ceremony which added another cup to my collection, before heading out and grab some serious breakfast.

Good first tri of the season overall. Now I just have to figure out, if I want to do a couple more sprints or if I stick to my international distance plans. ;-)

Also, I have to get cracking on running again. It's just so frustrating to see how I make good time in both the swim and the bike, only to loose all of it and then some on the run... ARRRRGHHHH!

OWS Strategies - It's all in your head

Open Water Swim in Lake Lanier

I don't speak about it much, but I am also part of the "open water swimming (OWS) creeps me out" club. I don't think, it's as bad as other people I know, but it's not my most favorite activity. The funny thing is, I am fine with swimming in most places, as long as you don't ask me to stick my head under water, which is kind of  a prerequisite if you want to do freestyle... While I don't have tons and tons OWS experience, but with the little I do have, I seem to resort to the same strategies to calm me down each time. This is not on official "how to" guide, just some things that work for me.

1. Ignorance is Bliss: Fish? What fish? Seriously, we all know, that there are creatures in lakes.... But let me assure you, that I don't want to know, so please don't even bother mentioning it to me.
2. Don't look down: I don't know and I don't want to care plus, I don't want to see anything. One of the other swimmers from today's OWS said, that she keeps her eyes closed while her head is under water and only opens them when breathing.
3. Tinted Goggles: It helps to see more above the water and less under the water... Win win situation right there.
4. Breaststroke Breaks: I look at breaststroke breaks while swimming like walking breaks while running. It let's you catch your breath. Additional advantage is that you can have a look around and orient yourself again.

 Today, we went out to Lake Lanier for an open water swim with the team. I did around 2,600 yards in under 50 minutes and I felt good the whole time. The water felt awesome and had not too many leaves on the surface (to keep the creep factor down ;-). I turned down the "offer" to add another loop... I will try the additional distance next week during the 3K open water swim race. Bring it on!

The run after the swim while very scenic, was horrible... I haven't had stomach cramps like these in a long time.... Funny enough, I think this time I was cramping, because I didn't eat enough... Live and learn... live and learn.


PS: Only the first picture is from today, the other ones are from a swim last year... Today would have been way too warm for wetsuits.

Stuff, I like (right now!)

• FRIDAYS... That was a no brainer. But a Friday, that started with a little taper run around the block in the company of the hubs and the dog... Awesome!

• Larabars Chocolate Chip Brownie.. I realize, I am late to that party, but I just had my first bars a couple of weeks ago and I am so crazy hooked on those things, it's not even funny.

• Bolthouse Vanilla Latte and Mocha Cappuccino... Best recovery drink ever.

That's from last year in HHI.

• Summer... hot is better than cold!

From our 2007 trip.

• Plane Ticket to Germany... in September for the 70th birthday of my Dad.

• New Gear... This year's Malone Coaching kit... I tried it on for a quick test ride and walk last night. And yes, we have a couple of fallen trees in our yard. The trees are from a neighboring lot and took down one of ours as well... The other lot is empty and the owners live in Ohio and have yet to answer our calls to please take care of the carnage in our yard.

• Swimming... Best exercise in the summer. I am also really digging the outside pool right now for lap swimming.... Nice.

• Cycling... Still love the bike! ;-)

Mark Your Calendars! 6-2-2011

6/4
ON ON TRI - Scheduled Activities
They provide coffee, fluids, bathrooms, changing facilities, and leadership for all the folowing activities

6:45am - GROUP RUN - led by Nelson "Baby Face" Cortes - moderate pace of 60-75 min. Everyone welcome - Pace leaders for different levels.

8am - GO RUN - Walk to Run Program and GO Walk Program

8am - GROUP BIKE - led by Hal "the Renaissance" Outen - 60-90 min at steady pace - No Drop Policy

6/4
Safe Harbor Cycle Tour, 8.30am in Iva SC
25 and 65 mile ride options.

 6/5
Fletcher Flyer
Venue: Fletcher Community Park near Asheville NC
Routes: 100, 62, 50 and 30 miles

6/11
Ride for the McKnight's (fully supported)
28 and 60 miles from SCTAC (aka Donalson Center) at 8am
No fee for the Ride - Donation to the McKnight family are very welcome and appreciated.
100% of the donations go to the McKnight family, all ride costs are sponsored!

6/11
Rail Trail 5K
- Beginning at the East Henry Street Trailhead in Spartanburg SC
8:00am registration and packet pick-up, 9:00am race start

Pre-register here or download the registration form

6/11
17th Annual Death Valley Open Water Swim Meet
East Beach on Hartwell Lake, Clemson University, Clemson SC
Distances: 5K, 3K, 2K, 1K, ½K

6/25
Maggie's Third Annual 5K Run/Walk and Mile Fun Run
Furman University Campus
Register here by selecting Maggies Run

6/26
The Ridges Resort Invitational 5k Open Water Swim
Location: Hiawassee, GA

7/3
Inaugural Columbus Firecracker 5K
Starting time is 8:00 a.m. at the Columbus, NC. courthouse, and will be run over a certified 5k course.

7/9 and 8/6
Hilton Head Island Beach Bum Triathlon
Start Time: 8am

Race Location: Coligny Beach, Hilton Head Island.

Race Format: 500m Ocean Swim / 6mi Beach Bike / 3mi Beach Run.

7/15-7/17
A Ride to Remember

8/27
Hickory Nut Gorge Olympiad VII (1-mile, 2-mile)
Location: Lake Lure, NC

8/27
4th Annual Ride for M.A.C. in Easley SC
10, 20, 40, 62 (Caesars Head ride) and 100 mile (Super Challenge)
starts at 7:30am

9/10
Setting the Pace at Whitten Center 10K and 5K Run/Walk at 8:30 a.m.
Clinton, SC
Entry $25 before August 26th. Late entry is $30.

9/17

Kings Mountain/Moss Lake Open Water Swim

Distances: 5K, 3K, 2k, 1k, and 500m

Website, once it's availble

10/8
iRecycle Run Half Marathon and 5K
in Spartanburg
click here for registration

10/15
Bluffton SC Half Marathon and 5K

********************

Greenville Track Club Paris Mountain Trail Run Series

8/13 - 7K
11/5 - 15K


The Y Tri Series:

06/18 – Ft Mill, SC
07/16 – Columbia, SC
07/31 –Blacksburg, SC
08/27 – Toccoa, GA
09/10 – Surf City Beach, NC
09/17 – Hartsville, SC
For more information (pricing, distances, if duathlon event is available etc) check the website.

Other YMCA Tri/Du Events:

6/4 Middle Tyger YMCA
8/ 6 Union County YMCA
8/ 13 Laurens Family YMCA
9/ 24 Tri the Ridge Pickens County YMCA


2011 XTERRA South Carolina Trail Run Series

7/10 Harbison Half Marathon (Columbia)
8/? Table Rock 15K

********************

GROUP RUNS organized by the Greenville Track Club

* Tempo Runs at Mauldin Middle School every Monday night at 6:30pm
* Track Workouts at Greenville High Track every Wednesday night at 6:00pm

ON THURSDAYS

"Girl's Morning Out" at Carolina Triathlon in downtown Greenville. Gather at 8:45am to pedal promptly at 9am. This is a 30-mile "C" ride hosted every Thursday by GHS EveryWoman Cycling Team and Carolina Triathlon. Road bikes and helmets are required. Everyone is welcome and nobody is left behind.

Normally gets canceled, if rain is in the forecast.

Month In Review: May



May was consumed with Mitchell. Of course there is the race, but there is the taper leading up to the race and then recovery after the race. That means my numbers have been much lower, especially for running and swimming in May. I had more rest days over the last month than I can remember of ever having without being sick.

Currently, I am trying to recover from the recovery week(s) a.k.a. trying to convince mind and body to get back on the program, because it's all too easy for me to keep on "slacking" (for the lack of a better word) once I had a break.

But with my big goal for this year out of the way, I also started to review the race schedule, that I created earlier and see, if I will swap out some races for others and add some rides... This is still a work in progress and we'll see what I am going to end up with.

The end of May also brought summer temperatures and humidity and I am struggling to adjust right now, especially while attempting to run, which is a struggle for me to begin with.

Now that it is June, my triathlon season finally starts. This Saturday, I am once again trying to put three sports into one event and have to see how things are going to shake out for me. I have done this particular race two times before and it was actually my very first tri back in 2009. This year, they shortened the run course from 4 miles to 5K... Consider me very happy about this descision! ;-)