TriThings

If you read my babbling here on a somewhat regular basis, you may have noticed my announcement yesterday that I’ve signed up for my first half Ironman. Very smoothly I snuck that in, indeed, at the end of a 2,000-word long post.

But yes. I did it! I signed up for Ironman 70.3 California Oceanside next year:It’s on my birthday, too. What better way to check one item off the bucket list and celebrate turning 21 [in the 34-39 age group]?

Am I freaked out? Yeah… kinda. Of course I am, what did you think?

I have run plenty of half marathons, but not after swimming 1.2 miles in the cold ocean and then biking 56 on crazy hills?!?

But you know what? I’ll do it and I’ll live. I know that because I’ve already made a plan. Here it is, the mother runner’s plan for becoming a half-Ironmom in a pink skirt [will decide on the outfit later!].

1. Breathe, relax, believe

The feeling I had when I clicked that Register button…. I suspect we’ve all been there. And not just in reaction to that $350+ credit card stinger [what’s up with those prices, anyway?!?]

If you’ve ever done a 5K, 10K, a half marathon, a marathon… any distance you’ve never gone before, really, you know how it is. It seems so darn long and intimidating. What? Run 26.2 miles? Me? Crazy.

But then you find a training plan, go through it, day after day and week after week, and by race day — what do ya know, you take yourself from the start to the finish and laugh and cry about it. The human body is amazing. It adapts to anything we throw at it, as long as we prepare it carefully and patiently.

Like my 5-year-old said one time we were looking for water shoes at Target and they had none in stock: “Come on, Mommy, you can do it. You just have to keep trying and believe in yourself.”

My Ironman is those water shoes! And so is your first marathon, half marathon, triathlon… you just have to keep trying (and training) and believe in yourself.

2. Mark the calendar, count down

Most half Ironman training plans are 20 weeks, or five months long. The day I signed up, I got a calendar, marked March 29 and counted 20 weeks back.

November 11 is my first day of training. [Now I’m glad I didn’t sign up for any races in the second half of November or December, giving me time to follow a training plan like I should.]

Which training plan will I choose? I don’t know yet, but I’ve got five months to think about it.

3. Stalk it on YouTube, Get Psyched

It’s a good thing I’m already obsessed with watching Ironman videos on YouTube. Now I can channel that towards Oceanside 70.3 videos — of which, thankfully, there are plenty. My favorite so far has got to be the drive-through of the second half of the bike course. Because it is on a military base, riding on the course is not allowed before the event, so watching this video over and over will be my way to prepare for those insane hills:And here’s how last year’s winner Andy Potts did it:

Doesn’t it look easy-peasy lemon-squeezy? Yes! Can’t wait to do it myself!

4. Live the “Iron” life, starting now

Training kick-off may be five months away, but the time to start preparing myself psychologically – and physically – is now. I’ll have to make sure I maintain a good endurance base, eat well and gradually get used to some of the things that most intimidate me about this Half Ironman thing. That means taking longer rides (I envision at least one 45-50 miler in the near future) and doing at least a few open-water swims (luckily, there are quite a few organized events here in the Bay Area).

I can’t wait!
What’s your next challenge? Any sage advice for a half-Ironmom wannabe?

Today’s workout:Just some laps at the pool at a relaxed pace. Though, with school out now, I have to say the pool is becoming more of an open-water swim experience. Three people to a lane, several kicks to various parts of my body. Just the way I like it!

The Bay Area is an awesome place for triathlon: perfect weather year-round, biker-friendly roads (flat, hilly: take your pick), runner-friendly trails. But it doesn’t have very many open-water swim options.

[And no, the cold Pacific is not a viable open-water swim option, if you ask me.]

There are plenty of lakes nearby, but many of them do not allow swimming outside of organized events (boo, UVAS!). One notable exception is Lake Del Valle in Livermore, so this weekend we headed out there — an hour-plus drive — for a morning of swim-bike-run fun. We got there early (8 a.m., don’t ask me when I got up), so we could beat the crowds: a great idea, it turns out, because later in the morning the water got quite busy with boats.

I can’t stress enough the importance of practicing open-water swimming if you’re new to triathlon (like me). My first such swim – in a wetsuit, and not counting swimming in the Black Sea growing up – was during my first triathlon and I certainly wish I’d practiced at least once before. No amount of swimming in a pool will prepare you for open water, it’s just that different.

Sighting, in particular (looking ahead of you every so often to make sure you’re swimming the right way), completely throws me off rhythm and I cheated quite a bit: breaststroke, oh yea. (And yes, I didn’t wear a wetsuit. The water was great!)

I tried my new Garmin in an open-water swim for the first time, too:[Thanks for the photos, Julie!]

We swam 0.6 miles, according to my watch, though looking at the GPS route, I kind of doubt its accuracy very much.Looks like it was losing GPS signal every now and then and jumping around in the water, because what we did was basically four out-and-backs to a nearby buoy:My guess is, the signal will be more consistent if I stick the watch under my swim cap. Smarter, if I want more accurate data — not so smart if I somehow lose the watch in the water.

The bike leg was quick, but pretty challenging. If you go out there to bike, be ready for the massive hills going out of the park. We only did 8.75 miles, but the total climb was 1231 ft. Wowza. The run was my favorite part, obviously. (I’m getting the impression that most people in triathlon hate the run. I don’t get it? I spend the entire swim and bike looking forward to it?)

We decided to forego the monster hill and headed in the opposite direction, up a dirt path around the lake. Such a beautiful place to run! That road was just shy of a 15-min run at an easy 9:30 pace for me (not sure what that makes it, 1.6 miles each way?), so I ran a mile out and back, then again out to the end of the path and back, for a total of five miles:Just one semi-tough climb, rewarding you with a great view from the top of course (see the photo at the very top of this post).

Totally worth it to go to the very end of the path, too:If you’re looking for a place to practice open-water swimming and do some bike-running afterwards, Lake Del Valle is definitely a great way to go — even if, for me at least, it was definitely out of the way!

What is your experience with open-water swimming? Like? Not like? Never!?!?

Today was the first time in quite a while that I’ve had to wake up before 5 a.m. and not run a race or triathlon. I was volunteering at one!

I signed up to volunteer for the Morgan Hill Sprint Triathlon at UVAS reservoir because:

a) a friend from my Tri training club is doing it,
b) I’m doing another tri at that location in a few weeks, and
c) all volunteers get a 50% discount off a future race!

That’s right! Considering the triathlon I want to do next month is $130, and my shift was just three hours and change, I’d say I was getting paid to help out at an event and have fun! Also, to observe and learn stuff, because when it comes to triathlon, I’ve got tons to learn.

To make things interesting, I decided to bike to the event, which is about 20-25 miles from where we live, depending on which way I take. You would think sleeping in and driving would make more sense, but I had a great ride, pretty much all by my lonesome on the road. No cars! No bikes! Just me and some cows:[Yes, I was in somewhat of a hurry to get there. But when a photo op presents itself, you take it. It’s a moo point.]

I also got to watch the sunrise:The ride ended up at 26 miles exactly and took me almost 1 hour 50 minutes. That’s a long time and I need to practice this biking thing more.

But I did get to the triathlon just in time: everyone was set up and athletes were heading into the water:Not long after I took my position at the water station in transition, the area emptied out:

My job was to hand out water to the athletes as they headed out on the bike (and later, run). Barely 10 minutes had passed when the first men out of the water appeared. Talk about fast!Then things started to get busy and I had to stop taking pictures and start handing out water:I was just getting into the water-handing groove – and, more importantly, screaming Water, Water – when one of the race organizers showed up and told me she needs someone loud at the bike dismount area, so I should head over there with her. I’ll take that as a compliment?I spent the next hour and a half screaming Dismount! and Off the bike here! to the incoming bikers, some of whom were visibly tired. Several accidents almost happened.

My shift was done just as the awards ceremony was starting, so I got to watch that and eat some food (half a burrito and a beer at 10:30; yes please!) with friends. It was an appropriately fun ending to a super-fun experience.

Well, not quite the end until I biked back home, now, was it? I took a shorter way back, though it was decidedly hillier: 1349 ft climb, vs just 963 ft in the morning.

I have been “refueling” with soy ice cream sandwiches all afternoon? Also, this: My new favorite thing.

Have you ever volunteered at a race? How did it go?