Monday, July 26, 2010

Tri-ing For Children's Triathlon 2010

Event: Tri-ing for Children's Olympic Distance Triathlon 2010
Bib # 90
Overall: 106/166
Female Division: 35/78
Age Group: 11/16
Finish Time: 2:52:18
Just Under a Mile Swim Time: 00:34:57
T1: 00:02:04
25 mile Bike: 1:21:24
T2: 00:01:15
6.2 mile Run: 00:52:40

Swim Recap:
I have no idea what the distance was for the swim of this tri. Close to a mile according to my time. Started way to the outside, so I added a little distance, but I was able to avoid getting kicked. Lap one went pretty good, minus the first few kicks when my timing chip loosened up on my ankle. I was paranoid the rest of the time that if I kicked too hard it would fall off, so I wasn't able to push as hard as I wanted to. Lap 2 wasn't bad either, until the last "leg" when a guy doing what looked like a backstroke butterfly hooked me. He said he was sorry though, which is pretty cool. But it threw off my stroke and took me a minute to find my bearings. And then right before getting out of the water I went to step up but the ground was farther down than I though, face went under with my mouth wide open. Managed to spit it all out and didn't choke.

Bike Recap:
A whole lot of people for the first lap. Many/most of them were doing the sprint or super sprint distances. And then there were the elite men on their $3000+ bikes with their rocket-shaped helmets passing me so fast I felt like I was standing still. They were already on their second lap. They changed the course this year from the map we had been practicing off of, but it seemed a little better this way. Except they really need a big huge brightly colored sign that says "Oly 2nd lap Turn Right", not "Oly turn around ahead". I was so confused I almost missed the turn, but luckily the police officer staged at that cross-road was able to tell me fast enough to turn right when I asked. After I turned I saw no other bikers and thought I had still gone the wrong way. Then way off in the distance there was a guy in a white shirt on a bike, and I realized that not as many people are doing the Oly, and those that were most likely were close to being finished on the bike, not just starting their second lap. I was able to catch up to him & pass him and a few others. I was sad when I saw the dead kitten in the middle of the road twice, and dedicated lap 2 to him.

Lesson learned from this section: don't try adjusting your arm rests the night before the race unless you're going to put your shoes on and ride around to make sure the adjustments are comfortable.


Run Recap:
Let's just say I wasn't very fond of having to run through thick deep mud/hay to get out to the smooth flat street. Could they not have re-routed to keep us out of the ditch? Turning left onto the street after the ditch I must have kicked up a rock that hit my right ankle square in the bone. It hurt so bad I stopped for a second to see if there was blood coming through my sock. (There wasn't so I kept going). Lap 1 was pretty good - opened a Honey Stinger gu and took "sips" of it throughout the run. I have a feeling my pace for the first lap was much faster than my second lap. I was doing well catching up to people one by one on the first lap. At some point I thought it was a good idea to squeeze some of the honey half-way up the packet so I could sip it out better. All the sudden I realize I have honey all over my left hand (the packet was in my right the whole time) and honey dripping down the back of my fingers on my right hand. Guess that was a bad idea. Then it was back through the mud ditch and paved road to the finish -- well almost finish. There was a "turn-around" to the right for the Oly distance, just before the finish, where they sent us back through the mud to the road, and one final time from the road through the mud to the pavement for the final dash to the finish. Can't wait to see a finish picture - I kicked it up right at the end to make it look really good for whatever photo might have been taken.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Race Results - Pewaukee Triathlon

Event: Pewaukee Sprint Distance Triathlon 2010
Bib # 245
Overall: 300/1199
Division: 41/429
Age Group: 7/55
Finish Time: 01:27:54.1
1/4 mile Swim Time: 00:09:44
T1: 00:01:21
15.55 mile Bike Time: 00:50:05
T2: 00:00:47
3.1 mile Run Time: 00:25:56

Here's my recap from this weekend's Pewaukee Triathlon.

The 1/4 mile Swim:
Mass chaos running start into the lake. I don't think people ahead of me were aware of their swimming capabilities - arms and legs were flailing everywhere. I didn't want to get kicked in the face so I did some head-out-of-water freestyle until I could get around them. This cost some precious time, but I came out bruise-free and with all my teeth so I guess that's worth the added time.

The 15.55 mile Bike:
An extremely hilly course, but the new road bike with installed aerobars stepped up to the plate. I think I tied my top speed down the same hill again of 36.3mph. I was passed by men going downhill, but I was able to pass both men and women on the uphills. And not all of them were on mountain bikes. One lady even said outloud to herself "Oh sh*t" when I passed her on a level straighaway. I had to contain myself from laughing, as I presume she thought she was going at a really fast pace.

The 3.1 mile Run:
I was really hoping to have an 8min/mile pace for this race, but the humidity combined with the hills did me in. More the humidity than the hills. I don't sweat well, so once I get hot it's usually a lost battle. A resident in the neighborhood we ran through had a sprinkler pointed at the street for us. I ran through it but felt only about 2 drops of water hit me. At the top of another hill there was a water station. Unfortunately this was also a water station for the bikes, and the runners had to cross over the street section of the bikers. I was able to avoid the bikes, but was almost decked in the face by a man facing the other direction suddenly holding out water for the quickly approaching bikers. Luckily I had enough tread on my shoes to stop dead in my tracks before getting whacked. He was nice enough to say "Oh, Sorry" once I ran out from behind him crossing the street. After running this course I've decided I won't be doing the Pewaukee Tri again - I'm just not that good of a hill runner. Ottawa is going to be a piece of cake after this! (Very flat run.)

Friday, July 9, 2010

Wave 5 - Pewaukee Tri

Sunday, July 11 I will be participating in the Sprint distance Pewaukee Triathlon. The race starts at 6:30am at the Lakefront Park beach area. For anyone coming to watch, I am in Wave 5, racer number 245. It's a 1/4 mile swim, followed by 15 mile bike ride around the lake, finished off with a 3.2 mile run which starts at the beach area and finishes at Village Park (about 2 blocks away for spectators). Looking forward to the possibility of beating my fastest bike speed of 36.3mph.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

New Painting for a New Month


After working on my Art-O-Mat series entitled "Little Bits: Trees" for the past few months, I've finally gotten around to starting this theme as a full-sized piece of art. This particular one is 14" wide by 20.5" high, acrylic and latex paint on plywood. I was testing the properties of the latex paint and how they would work with acrylics. Not sure if I'll continue to use the two together, but at least I know it is an option.