And The World Contains Another Triathlete

Setting up Transition.

Bodymarking!

The start.

Bike Out.

The finish!

Sporty Spice did it! He finished is very first triathlon! This race was part of the Jenny's Light Kids Triathlon series. It was held at the College of San Mateo, which was a beautiful campus. We were all up and in the car by 6:30. It was going to be a really hot day and Sporty's wave was last. We got there, set up his transition area, checked in and got body marked (what a proud moment!). Then we had almost a two hour wait by the pool, for the older kids to start. There were maybe 80 kids in all, ages five to twelve. Lots of parents, some with M-dot tatoos, and at least a couple of recognizable pro-women with their kids. The announcer was very funny, making comments on the p.a. system like, "ok, kids you've trained for years for this, and you're almost ready to live your parents' dream."

Sporty had a mini-crisis at the start and there was a little crying. I had a feeling there was going to be, only because the pool at his swim school is an indoor wading-type pool, and this one was a big, bright, deep, Olympic sized pool. It had to look intimidating. Luckily for us, they were allowed to use kickboards for the 50 yards! And still, my kid was last out of the pool--takes after his mother. And like me, he was pretty happy to get that swim behind him and get on that bike. Sixteen inch wheels rolling as fast as they could, off he went for the mile loop (2 laps!), powered up the little hill and back down without wiping out (whew!). And on to the run--half a mile--he took off running as fast as he possibly could--and through the finish chute! Professional Becky LaVelle gave him his medal and took his timing chip. He was so proud! It was absolutely one of the cutest things I've ever seen and I couldn't be prouder. When we got back to the car he asked if his race was going to be on tv.

Lookie What Sporty Got!

MAIL?? FOR ME?? WELL, WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE??...
ah
AH, MY FIRST USA TRIATHLON LICENSE!
AND I'M ONLY SIX!
WATCHOUT MACCA!!

Yes, it is upon us. Sporty's first triathlon is this coming weekend and we are training hard. Stay tuned....

As promised, June in our household was nuts. It started off with our aforementioned visitors. Brett has just posted his podcast from Escape From Alcatraz on www.zentri.com so both his Ironman Texas podcast and this latest ones contains bits of audio from their trip here and glimpses of life at our house. So fun to listen to on my runs this week.

While our houseguests were here, our little family actually had to leave for an overnight to the Mister's parents' up north several hours where we attended a graduation party for our eldest neice as well as a 50th anniversary party for his parents. The next week contained Sporty's kindergarten graduation and end-of-year festivities. The weekend before last, the Mister did his third-this-year 200 mile ride so Sporty and I were on our own and made it to the local Wildlife Museum and to see Mr. Popper's Penguins, which we very much enjoyed. The following Monday my good friend gave birth to her first baby, a little girl named Madeline and I was lucky enough to see both mommy and baby in the first 12 hours after her arrival. So amazing! And I couldn't be more thrilled for her.

And all along, I was finishing 3 weeks of major training (some might say overtraining--but I had the time and it felt ok). 70 mile rides, 15 mile runs and trips to the summit of Diablo each week for starters. And getting ready for a June 26th feral cat spay neuter clinic....

NO KITTENS FOR ME! NO SIR!!

Our clinic went well, if a bit smaller than we'd like. We fixed 60 cats. One cat didn't make it through surgery, which is always hard. He turned out to have an enlarged heart that we couldn't have known about and which just couldn't handle the anesthesia. But on the upside, one little itty bitty calico kitten with the saddest eyes I've ever seen, who was too tiny to be fixed that day, went home with one of our volunteers, and is going to live her life in one of the best homes I know of.

Belated Race Report: San Jose International Triathlon--1500 yard swim, 26 mile bike, 10K run.

It dawned on me the morning of the race that it had been about 3 years since I've done a race this short! This race is flat and fast! And the weather was very cool, which I have never experienced there. The swim start was chilly and almost everyone was shivering, despite the wetsuits. A great improvement this year was that they changed the swim course, from the old one where you practically need a map and a gps unit not to get lost on all the weird turns, to two nice triangles. The sun came out soon into the bike and I was moving! My bike time turned out to be third fastest in my age group. I met my own goal on the run: just get it under an hour, which I was happy with after going so hard on the bike. All told, I placed 13th out of about 60 women in my age group. If I could just learn to swim, I could see top ten!

I did this race in the midst of my Cambiati diet experience which I have yet to give an update on. I finally finished my 28 days that involved the cleanse. Parts were tough, but other parts were easier than I expected. It was interesting, and the diet was rather involved and hard to sum up in a nutshell. But I accomplished my bottom line goal. In six weeks total, I lost 10 pounds and a significant percentage body fat, which has made such a difference training. And I must say, that I was able to put in these three high volume weeks without feeling nearly as beat up as I think I would have before.

SO, my plan, until Vineman 70.3, which is three weeks away, is to basically stick to the primary list of foods that you start this diet with (non-inflammatory, non-allergenic) and then start adding some foods back to do the last part, where you figure out what foods you might have reactions to. It's just working too well to mess with before that. One other thing I have grown fond of as part of this diet is the post-workout protien and fruit smoothie. I hadn't really tried this before, although so many people I know do it, and I swear it makes recovery faster. I also like the eating only at certain times of day thing. Only ten pounds away from ideal race weight now!
I am drinking my first cup of coffee as I write (in almost 8 weeks!)--although it's decaf. I'm a hard core coffee drinker and had never successfully kicked it before. So I'm loathe to ever go through that process again. And I must admit that my energy level is much more even without the massive caffeine intake. My ART person told me not to even go back to the decaf, that I was looking for my old habits, which I'm sure has some truth to it. So I thought about it for several days...and decided that if a cup of of decaf coffee with some lowfat coconut milk is my worst habit, then cling to it I shall!

Help! There is a Triathlete in My House!

Or, there was! This is now a very belated post, but I cannot miss writing about one of my most exciting parts of June!

THIS is the Blankner family from College Station, Texas! That's Emily, her husband Brett, and their six year old son, Kai. Now, they did not know me before they arrived, nor did I know them, perse, but I felt like I was the hostess to rock stars! Coach Brett does the most wonderful podcasts about triathlon and balancing life and family that can be downloaded at his website www.zentri.com. I started listening to him after finding them while rehabbing my broken leg. Brett's podcasts got me through my rehab and training, all alone, for Ironman Hawaii. I had to train at a walk, for anybody that remembers, and sometimes the only thing that got me out on that silly 6 hour training walk (ugh, hurts to even think about it!) was knowing I had one of his episodes to listen to. It was like having somebody there to train with, and not only was the guy a character and had a family just like mine (one triathlete, one other athlete/supporter and a six year old son), but he was funny and informative at the same time. SO, for the past couple of years I'd been thinking in my head, "wouldn't it be cool if I could somehow repay this Coach Brett fellow for all he has done for me, that he doesn't even have any clue about?!". Lo, and behold, a couple of months ago, Brett anounced in a podcast that he had qualified for the hard-to-get-into Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon. I emailed him straight away and said, "Bring the family! Come stay at my house! I'll loan you one of our cars! Come and do this race!".

And out they came! I picked up my little adopted family at the airport the Thursday before the race and they were delightful! I felt like I had famous people visiting. We enjoyed their stay so much! Emily, who is a nurse and a runner, was so enjoyable to be with and Kai and Sporty Spice were a match made in heaven. And to get to talk tri with Brett in person was like a crazy dream come true. Brett met up with Jamie Patrick, the ultra swimmer who is planning to swim down the Sacramento river this summer, and that was interesting to hear about even second hand. We took the boys to the Space and Science Center which was fun. And Brett had a great race and got to check one of his dreams of his list at Escape From Alcatraz. It was so fun to have them here, it was actually a bummer when they left. I'm so glad I took a chance and sent my email to invite them. Triathlon truly is more than a sport. I know it is a lifestyle, but it is also a sort of family in many ways.

Check out Brett's podcasts and website at www.zentri.com!

Single Parenting Weekend

Ok, so the Mister was gone this weekend for his second of three 200-mile bike rides this year and Sporty Spice and I did what we do best. Added to our menagerie. Meet Sam, the guinea pig. He is SO cute! His family and two little boys loved him very much, but found out they were severely allergic to him, so he needed a new home and a new kid. He loves to be petted around his ears and run around. The Mister is just counting his blessings because he came home to this instead of the large black sheep I was "this" close to rescuing/adopting; he was picked up as a stray at the local shelter, but someone else adopted him before I could get there. He would have been perfect for our lonely little goat Isabel.

And what is this, you might ask? THIS, my friends is proof....proof of the TOENAIL FAIRY! Known by few, but mostly by endurance runners, the Toenail Fairy is the much maligned step-sister of the Tooth Fairy. She wears one of those terrycloth sweatbands from the 70's and sports one of the original pairs of Nikes. She runs about at night, placing money under the pillows of all the good little runners who have left her their toenails which have fallen off as a result of running too much.

Ok, it's really hard to spend a whole weekend with a six year old and not start to think at their level. Sporty gave me the most disgusted look when I suggested we try to summon the Toenail Fairy with this latest little gift from my toes, but then thought it was pretty cool when I told him I doubted any of the other kindergarten mothers could do this trick.

On a totally unrelated topic (well, related to running I suppose) is my report on my first week of this Cambiati Diet. I had very mixed feelings about it as the week went on. They ranged from "this might be the greatest thing!" to "F--- This!". The whole diet is a bit hard to explain, even the small part I think I understand, but nonetheless, it's gonna need some tweaking. It is a high protein diet, but not too extreme. I came home from a 15 mile run on Thursday thinking I was going to DIE; I'm clearly gonna have to add some carbs somewhere. The first two weeks of it are "practice" weeks before you start the real 28-day thing with the cleanse. Part of it is to get anti-inflammatory, possibly allergenic foods out of your diet, and I did succeed as far as not veering from that. And I started my coffee-taper, which saw my last coffee for at least 5 weeks thismorning. That's the part that scares me most. Will update after week 2!

Happy Mother's Day!

Sporty Spice's Kindergarten class had the cutest Mother's Day celebration. Yes, he made me that hat out of a paper plate. They sang songs and even did a little dance for us. Happy Mother's Day!

Tomorrow I'm launching into an entirely new adventure in nutrition and I must admit I'm a little scared. I've never done anything "organized" with the exception of a single Weight Watchers meeting about a decade ago, which I left in tears. Tomorrow I start the Cambiati Wellness Program (www.cambiati.com). And it looks like it's gonna be a full time job for awihle, until I get used to it. And I don't doubt it's gonna be tough. But something has got to be done, and it's got to be done soon. Mostly, I believe I've got to get sugar out of my life and reset things. I thought I had this done and behind me, and then somehow after IM Florida, and the holidays right after that, that nasty sugar started weasling it's way back in. And then I could go five or six days without it, and the cravings would hit again. It's horrible! And secondarily, I'm way too tired all the time, even given the training; it just doesn't seem right. This diet is primarily a 28 day cleanse (which part, for me, won't start for 2 more weeks--I'll be easing in for the next 2 weeks) to reset your body, get allergenic foods out, and it basically follows the Paleo plan. I was surprised at all the ins and outs of it, and so these first two weeks will be trying to figure some of that out. Watch out! Blogging to come!

Clearly, We May Have Watched Too Much...

Sorry, we couldn't help it.

Wildflower Weekend!

There is still, to me, something so WRONG about something with the word "flower" in its name being so painful. That is how I got sucked into this whole thing 12 years ago! Wildflower? It sounds pretty, and nice, like a flower! What a completely deceptive name for what I believe is the hardest Half Ironman race within driving distance. And, as usual, it lived up to the expectation, once again.





I knew going into this one that most likely I wasn't going to PR, which made it hard to get myself psyched up for this race this year. I had put in the training, but my focus has just been "off" somehow, lagging. My nutrition this year has been less than exemplary and I had a feeling I was about to have a very expensive, very visceral lesson on why holiday eating should end with the holidays (in other words it should end with Christmas, not Easter).





I've done Wildflower under so many different circumstances. The old days with the TS Tri Club. Days with friends, be it many or a few. The year I did the Mountain Bike Course less than three months after having a baby and a blood clot in my lung. The year I came out of the pit on the run course to see my friend Nancy on the way down, swearing like a truck driver about how she was reconsidering our friendship altogether for my having gotten her into this thing. Years it rained, years it was ridiculously hot out there. A year I missed due to lack of motivation and a year I missed it because I had a broken leg. Ah, Wildlower. Let me count the ways I love you. This year, having no friends to speak of, and knowing it wasn't going to be a performance worthy of uprooting a husband, six year old and large dog with cancer, I opted for the Jiffy Solo Mission. By the time I got packed and got my animals all set up on Friday, I didn't leave until 3:30 Friday; I arrived at Lake San Antonio with just enough time to get to check in before it closed and get my sleeping bag set up before dark. Got my bike and race stuff ready, ate my pre-prepped dinner, and settled down with my headlamp and book for a cozy sleep in the back of my car. Luxurious.





Up at 7:00, downed my thermos of coffee and took off for the transition area, fueled as always, by oatcakes and the Days of Thunder Soundtrack. It wasn't windy when I got there. But by the time the Old Woman division went off about noon (oh, ok, it was 9:25), there was a darn good chop on that water! The kind where if you try to bilateral breathe and come up on the choppy side, you are now gasping and sputtering for air. My new Zoot wetsuit is still great (although tighter than it was in November), and very bouyant on the waves (waves on a lake?) that were now forming. Very bouncy swim! So much for my under 45 minutes I was looking for in the only sport where my lardass wasn't going to be a defining feature....48.46 (compared to 48.17 last year...aaaaaa!). On to the bike and the goal there is ALWAYS the same: stay upright and alive long enough to get past the people doing the mountain bike course--their course starts out the same and then veers onto the trail about a mile in, right as the hill out of the lake to the ridge hits you like a ton of bricks. Made it through the sketchy masses of beginners and mountain bike people, up the bad, bad hill, and to the crest where we were met with...a...giant...HEADWIND. By the ten mile mark I was pretty sure this ride was going to be no land speed record. At the fifteen mile right turn in Lockwood it became a sidewind--the kind that seems to want to scoop up my aerodynamic (from the front at least) bike frame and sweep it inland a few miles. That always scares me and makes me a little cautious, especially knowing I had done this trip solo and there was going to be NO one nearby to claim me from the hospital. Lots of ambulances going to and fro with sirens blaring on the course, more than usual, although I never saw an actual accident like I have in years past. When we finally turned back towards the Lake about mile 35, to head towards Nasty Grade, I wouldn't exactly call it a tailwind, but it was at least less noticeable, which was nice, but also made it feel warmer. The temperature wasn't near unbearable; my best guess is that it was between 75 and 80 degrees. I'm here to say Nasty Grade isn't any flatter than it was last year. And I will admit to feeling a little tentative on the big descent given the wind. Hobbled back in with a 3.32.47 for the 56 miles (compared to last year's 3.26.28--an increase in time contributing to a mix of wind and ass fatness). Into T2 not feeling thrilled about the run, and just telling myself I was "just going out for a little 13 mile run". That run is so much more brutal than any other half, with the hilly trail! Off I went at my little jog. My new goal, since last year, is to just keep running (I want walking to be a thing of the past). I wish I could have made it faster and will admit to a bit of tentativeness due in part to knowing I was going to have to drive home right after I finished, but I did at least jog the whole thing. It was hard to be motivated too much beyond that, knowing my PR was not going to happen that day and I wanted to keep myself in one piece. 2.34 compared to last year's 2.26, and I almost felt guilty that I felt a little too good when I was done. Total time: 7.06.22 (the sub-6.30 was not to be this year. Someday.) Last year: 6.50.06. 2008, pre-broken leg: 6.41.54. And with that, I pronounce a ban on all cookies and baked goods during Christmas 2011.





Took a shower, threw my bike in the car and was out of there by exactly 6:00pm lastnight. Home by 10, just in time to crash into bed and spend much of today catching up on things and watching all my recorded shows about the Royal Wedding!