Quickie

It's winding down, only 11 more days until Clearwater! I feel as ready as I can be both physically and mentally. I've trained well and have had fun with it, not too much not too little. In short: I'm super excited to race. Refreshed & ready!

Although I've been training hard, particularly on my swim and run, I'm having fun and keeping busy with other aspects of life, too. Maintaining that balance in my life has helped a lot—I'm definitely a happier triathlete! Unless the day comes where I'm an elite racer and have pro potential, there's no reason to live like a monk for this sport. (Acutally, I'm just trying to justify why I stayed up too late and drank too much on Halloween...oops.)

My goal for Clearwater is to PR my half-Ironman time. That's it. Of course I'll always strive to do my best in my AG, but there are fast ladies at World Championship races, and going in the 4:30 range just isn't something I'm capable of yet (stress the yet!!). I'm totally fine with that. Everyone says, "Oh it's a flat course, you're going to kill it." I'll do what I can. And I guarantee I'll race my own race out there.

Until Nov. 14, though, I have a lot going on with work and school (more tests, more presentations, more meetings)... so I'll finish this up with a few pictures that explain why my bike ride on Nov. 1 was not pretty. Yea, I almost hurled on the side of the road several times. But the fun I had on Halloween was well worth it, and thankfully I had gotten in my last key long bike and long run in before the party.

Some of the boys I grew up with (I was the only girl in our neighborhood... hmmm)

This guy (the "Mexican whistle dude") poured a shot down my throat faster than I could react and say no! Ew. Bearded Lady in the background.

My friend Dave's costume... the shirt says "Ask me about my zombie costume."

So I did...

Best costume I saw...

Punch bees in the face

I got stung by a bee, again. Riding downhill at 35 mph. R quad. Bam. This is the third time, the first two were on my face. I'm not allergic, but I do swell up like a balloon. The sting happened Sat morning, 10 mi into my ride. I continued to ride another ~15 miles, then ran 12 later that day, then biked 60 on Sunday. I fought the pain (out of fear of Clearwater), but it all caught up with me Monday. The swelling worsened, my leg was like 120 degrees, I was limping—felt like crap.

It's been brought to my attention that I get stung by things a lot (sea lice in Kona just days ago).

But, thankfully, it looks like I'm going to survive this one too.

The funny thing about Saturday is that I saw it coming. I was doing hill repeats, and going uphill I noticed a lot of bees around—at a slower pace, they were sort of bouncing off me. So going downhill I purposely tucked my head in and was literally praying "please don't get stung in the face again." Well, mid pray—right in the leg. Dammit!

To top things off, on Sunday's ride, a bee FLEW INTO MY HELMET (apparently they're out in full force in So Cal right now). Surprisingly I didn't panic, just cussed and threw the helmet off. Sure enough, the little bugger hopped out of the helmet and crawled away.

I almost took it as an omen that I shouldn't ride. But, that'd be wasting precious training time with Clearwater on the horizon...

Btw, the title of this post comes from one of my favorite Dane Cook bits.

Pt: 4 Kona Aftermath

First, some timely news... I got this in the mail Monday:I'm really excited to put this to good use, and I have some great plans heading into the new year!

Anyways... back to Hawaii. I'm sure you're all getting sick of hearing about it by now, especially D, so I promise to make this my last Kona post, and I promise to keep it short...sort of. But I will have a little ranting toward the end, so, D, I think you'll like this one.

Last Few Days in Kona

The day after Ironman was a little bit like the day after Christmas, and that's coming from someone who didn't even race.

Sunday we all slept in then spent several hours in the Media Center uploading, editing, writing, Internet-surfing and consuming all the free coffee and fruit stomachable (a word?). The goal of the day was to feel good for the Awards Ceremony and post-race parties that night.

An afternoon swim helped me get some energy back, and by 6 p.m., I was eager to get the fun started! Awards had great food, not sure what it was to be honest, but it all blended well on my plate Thanksgiving-style. Plus there was “free” beer (with the $48 admission).

To sum up awards, check out this video on EverymanTri.com.

Kevin and I ran into Hilary Biscay at awards, and of course Kevin knows her, so thanks to him, he had Hilary add us on the list for the K-Swiss party. Sweet!

Well, en route to the party, just after awards ended, the downpours began. Last year during Awards it rained, this year it waited until right after. But that wasn't stopping us. We got wet but made the ~1 mile walk to Huggos where the real fun began.

Not gonna lie, I was initially intimidated by the all-star crowd—all the top pros, all the top names in triathlon, pretty much everyone except Crowie. It’s one thing to see the pros in a press conference or racing, but to be mingling with them at the same party? It was too much. It took a while to get brave and just go up to people like Andy Potts, Chrissie Wellington, Belinda Granger, Faris Al-Sutan, etc, etc and strike up conversation. And when I did, I tried not to be “that person”—like the teeny-bopper wanting Britney Spears' autograph. Still, I wanted to take pictures with everyone and of everything, but I contained myself and kept it to just a few, including:

We all got kicked out of Huggos too early… so everyone migrated across the street to Lulu’s. Even Chrissie was still energized to keep partying (what is this woman made of??). I have to say, besides hanging out with my new super cool friend from Gu, I think Faris Al-Sutan wins for being the funnest person to meet and talk to. And he was lookin good freshly shaven too... he said, "I didn't want to look like an 80-year-old man anymore." Ha.

I didn’t want the night to end. But sadly, it did. Still, not after everyone hung out in the parking lot after Lulu’s kicked us out too…. talk about stamina among the triathlete crowd.

MONDAY
Most people were leaving town, so I was ready to start enjoying Hawaii minus Ironman.

But first, I hit up the Stand-Up Paddleboard Demo at the King Kam with Chris Lieto, the Multisports crew, Surf-Tech, etc. Got lessons from Lieto and it was a blast. I felt comfortable, it came pretty naturally to me, that is, until I tried tandem with fellow media dude, Kai, from Germany. We ate it a couple times, which was refreshing more than anything!

Also hung out with Jessi Stensland a bit and learned about her new MovementU classes. Really good stuff, and great CEUs for coaching! I’ll be attending the Nov. 7 session in Lake Forest.

After SUP, I headed out for a 1-hour ocean swim (battled some gnarly chop!), refueled then rented a moped to venture beyond my little world on Ali'i. Glad I did. It was so refreshing to cruise around, see the sights and work on my tan.

I even made a pit stop at Target for some cheap snacks and more gum (I’m a total gum addict, it’s bad). After moped-ing for the full 2.5 hours, I got in a 7-mile run. I was feeling really good—actually getting used to the heat, or maybe it’s because I waited until sunset (i.e. cooler temps) to run. Another good night ensued, but this one was alcohol-free and early to bed!

TUEDSAY
Got in my last hour swim and 45-min run then hit up the farmer’s market for the last time to stock up on fruits and veggies for the trip home—I knew I wouldn’t want to spend $30 for a crappy airport meal. Before I knew it, I was in the taxi waving goodbye.

Then the dream vacation turned sour...
The airport situation was a disaster. I don't recommend flying Mesa Airlines aka Go Air; I learned the hard way that they have a bad rep for canceled/delayed flights and planes with air-conditioning issues. My 4:40 p.m. flight to Honolulu got delayed until 8 p.m. So about 6 hours of sitting in Kona. But that’s not the worst of it: We got to HON at 8:30 p.m. and due to some other BS I dealt with before the trip (rescheduled flights) I supposed to pick up my bags, recheck them and go thru security again—all in time for my 9:10 p.m. red eye back to LAX on AA in a different terminal. 40 minutes to do that? Uh, no chance in hell.

So, what else: I started crying. I swear, it works (for girls, at least). In no time, I had at least 5 airport staffers trying to help me get over to AA while searching for my bag and getting it over to my red eye (I won't even mention the other major mess up by Mesa). Meanwhile, I basically said screw my bag, left it in the hands of the airport Gods and started running because if I missed the 9:10 flight, I’d be stranded in the airport overnight and AA would charge me $200+ to take the next available flight out in the morning because Mesa’s delay “was not their fault.” Argh!

Well, the airport Gods were watching over me: I made the 9:10 flight (got a crappy night's "sleep") and when I got to the LAX baggage claim on Wednesday morning my bag was the first to fall into the carousel. (First off, meaning it was the last on!!) My heart dropped, and I said a mini prayer thanking the folks who helped me in Honolulu in particular.

Made mom pick me up from LA at 5:30 a.m. (heehee) and then I was home.

And that's it.

Alright, D, I'm done :)

Pt 3: Ironman Hawaii Race Day

No TV special or online coverage compares with seeing this live:

Of course the hours before and after that moment were equally incredible...

I began the day at 3-something-am feeling fresh and ready to charge... and considering the lack of sleep I got and the more-than-average amount of alcohol I drank Friday night, that was surprising. Before heading out, I packed some Clif Bars and fruit from the farmer’s market in my bag, as I had no idea when or if I’d get a real meal during the day. My needs were insignificant on this day.

Now, I’ve been to a lot of triathlons, but I have never seen energy like I saw in this transition area. It was incredible. My HR was increasing just being in the crowd.

I posted up in media-access area, and wouldn’t you know… Ms. Wellington comes right by me and starts getting ready. I tried to get my Flip video cam, digital camera and cell phone on her all at once. This scenario turned out to be a common dilemma of the day: Me trying to manage three media devices, the “trio,” simultaneously. Ridiculously hard! And everything happens so fast it’s impossible to get it all. On top of that, then try rushing over to the Media Center at the King Kam to upload the latest pics & video—it’s just a mess. I’m a "young" journalist at 24 but I’m still old-school with my reporting (i.e. I need time) so this Internet immediacy was beyond hectic for me. But, you do what you can.

Inside the Media Center:

I found a good spot on the pier to watch the swim starts. I shed my first of many tears at this point. I knew enough people out in that washing-machine water and I felt excited/nervous for them all, plus I had met enough new people—pros and amateurs—who I was rooting for, too. And then, of course, there’s the fact that I’m a girl, and I get emotional over this stuff!

The pros setting off:

Age groupers lining up next:

Next, time to get busy. Joe and I were given strict instructions that as soon as the pros made their first little bike loop around town, we’d hop in the car with Coach Mario and head out. I really wanted to pee first, and every bathroom around seemed to have mile-long lines, even though the racers were all gone—that’s one thing every triathlon needs more of: Port-a-potties! I wound up in the Starbucks on Palani, where the bathroom line and coffee lines were equally insane. At least I got an Americano.

Watching the first of the racers bike by was a rush. I tried to get as many shots as I could but only several worked out—talk about frantic caffeine-jittery hands.

A wave from Bree Wee; and Crowie:

And before I knew it, we were running up Palani, in the car and driving to the turn to Hawi. We didn’t have access to drive on bike course, so we had to go up and around: long. It was great, though, because for about an hour, I had the opportunity to pick the brain of one of the top triathlon coaches there is. As an aspiring coach, I was in heaven. (Seriously, looking back, I got in some priceless networking on this trip!)
.
We got to the turn to Hawi (mile 35 going out, mile 70 coming back), and those few hours—as hot as they were—definitely were one of the highlights of the day. My feet, on the other hand, hated it out there and swelled up like balloons. It hurt. I was literally standing in the shade of a street sign to cool them—shade the size of about the size of a shoe box. Pathetic. At least I got some decent shots:

Chrissie, Mirinda Carfrae, Chris Lieto, Andy Potts, Faris Al-Sutan:

And most importantly… me followed by the triathlon media man himself screwing around:
. The only sad part out on the road was when Yvonne Van Vlerken came by at mile 70. She yelled something in German to Coach Mario and he translated to us: She had a mechanical issue and was stuck in her big gear, thus, completely frying her legs. (This eventually led to her dropping out in the run; what she endured on the bike proved to be too much.) Mario was very optimistic and understanding about the situation. “It happens,” he said. “There will be more races.”
I took a half-nap on the way back to transition headquarters, while still trying to chat with Mario and listening to race updates on the radio. I even had my mom working for me sending me the latest from Athlete Tracker.

We got back just in time to see Chrissie go into T2. I literally jumped out of Mario’s car while it was still rolling. I felt bad for ditching him like that, but was later able to apologize… he didn’t mind. The man is all smiles and a genuinely good guy.

I then met up with Ben Greenfield and we ran around the run course a bit trying to get good shots and whatnot.

Sam McGlone (5th):

But the best had yet to come….

The FINISH
I was a wreck… Crying like a baby every time someone significant crossed the finish line (just ask my mom who I kept calling even though she probably couldn’t hear me). The emotions started with Crowie at 8:20, peaked with Chrissie at 8:54 and continued past midnight.

Too many pictures to choose from of the men's finish; several of my favs:

Then the ladies. The buildup to Chrissie's finish was incredible. Would she break PNF's record? We were all holding our breath... and she did it! Also, as luck would have it, I was standing right next to her boyfriend (didn’t even know she had a BF!) when she finished, so, yup, she came right over to me (well, to him, but I was right there too haha.) How cute: And some of my other favorite ladies:

I stuck around at the finish until just about the 10:10 mark, after I saw Brad Golden cross. Yea, he's my ex but I'm not cold-hearted and I care about his accomplishments in tri. I've seen the guy go from Mr. anti-endurance sports to Kona qualifier. (For the record, there was a time when I could run faster and longer than him!) So, I'm proud of him, like I am of most Ironman athletes who clearly sacrifice a lot to get to Kona. Anyways, after Brad crossed, I needed a breather. Unfortunately, this meant I just missed Charisa, Brian and Nick crossing together, bummer. But I got to see this:
I later went to the post-race pro press conference, and it was great to hear Chris Lieto, Crowie (beer in hand), Andreas Raelert (3rd, in blue below) and Rassmus Henning (5th, in white) talk about their experiences. Plus, I shoved down some free pizza. At that point the Clif bars & fruit were gone, I had grabbed a sandwich in the Media Center at some point, but was still starving. My calorie burn was probably equal to that of my typical Saturday training day.

Ben G was also in need of a meal, so we skipped out of the women’s conference early for food and wine at this great Thai place right on Ali'i where we watched the last guys coming in from our table. Refueled and energized, it was time for a couple bar-pitstops and crazy antics, then to the finish line for midnight.

The finish line at midnight was, of course, amazing. NBC and tons of others do a good job at portraying that, so I’ll spare ya. For me, the most heart-wrenching part of the night was seeing Matt Hoover finishing and then laying in medical, ghost white. Matt is so much more than “the guy from Biggest Loser.” Imagine the pressure on him… he attracted nationwide attention, he doesn’t have the typical Ironman-athlete build and some were skeptic of the fact that he was handed a Kona slot. Pressure? Um, yeaaa. In my opinion, he earned his ticket to Kona. Just look at what he overcame: From overweight to Ironman. That's inspiring, especially to anyone trying to lose weight and live healthfully. America needs more of that.

I don’t care that he crossed 3 minutes after the official cutoff time. That man is just as much an Ironman as all the rest in my eyes. And, the fact that he wants to do another Ironman next year, well, that speaks volumes. On top of it all, I got the chance to talk to his coach, Jim Vance, about Matt’s day… and oh man. Rough, but remarkable. Read Jim’s blog.

Being surrounded by such athletic greatness all day makes me somewhat ashamed to say that the rest of my night was spent being a little too tipsy. But I eventually found my bed and slept it off.

And for the record, I'm not that obsessed with Chrissie Wellington, despite what you might gather from these blogs :)

IM World Champs Pt 2

To start off, I want to throw out some numbers that were mentioned during the Ironman Awards Ceremony:

During the race, the longest transition time was 57:37 (T2) and the longest combined transition time was 1:01:37 (T1 + T2). Incredible. But what's more incredible is the guy who spent an hour-plus in transition still finished in 12:36:44.

On the flip side, Torenzo Bozzone had the fastest combined T times at 03:40 (01:43, 01:57).

Kona Day 3: October 9

PRE-RACE DAY

I got in another swim along IM course first thing. To be honest, the first day I was so caught up in the excitement and the free coffee that I didn’t get in a regular butt-kicking sorta swim. So Friday, knowing the course better, I spent a solid hour pushing myself, mainly working on swimming straight while maintaining intensity. I ditched Lava Java and opted for post-swim brekkie (veggie omelet) at a restaurant where I could watch the finish line being built. The lady said there were a lot of veggie omelets being ordered lately, go figure.

With less than 24 hours till race start, there was definitely a different vibe in town on Friday. You could feel the tension in the air. No longer were cyclists and runners passing by every 0.5 seconds. Instead, participants had to drop off their bikes, and some clearly had the wide-eyed, “holy sh*t what have I gotten myself into” looks as they marched down Ali’i Drive. Others, like Linsey Corbin and Faris Al-Sutan were all smiles (photos courtesy of www.finishline-multisport.com):

Kevin of finishline-multisport.com and many others opted to post up at transition all day to watch every single person check in—a great op to meet pros, photos, etc. Plus, it’s Kevin’s mission in life to be friends with everyone in triathlon. I must say, he’s doing an excellent job at it so far. On the flip side, for bike companies and such, this is where they tally how popular they are at Kona. How many people rode Cervelo? We’ll know soon.

I’m a little ADD, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand at transition all day.

Instead, I met up with friends (and made cute new friends like that little dude above) then went for my run, which went a lot better than Thursday’s—I could hold a decent pace and went farther...about 7 miles. On the way I was refilling water and chatted with some local surer bros. It’s was the typical “dude, yea bra, surf or die” sort of convo. I loved it because I had been talking triathlon nonstop and hadn’t even thought about surfing in paradise. Unfortunately, I never had time to do so, but I at least learned where some good spots were from the dudes.

While we were chatting, Torenzo Bozzone ran by—one last quickie—and I pointed out to the surfers that he was in contention to maybe win. Their response, “Dude, that guy has tiny little chicken legs, no way bra.”

I eventually made it to the bike check in that afternoon. Through conversation and thanks to Kevin, I landed a spot in a car that’d be going out onto the bike course during the race. The driver was Mario Huys, a former pro and coach of Yvonne Van Vlerken and rookie pro Mickey Weiss. Mario is such a nice guy—a heavy German accent so hard to understand at times, but I always nodded, smiled and asked more questions. I felt honored that I’d spend half of race day with him. Mario was 11^th in Kona the year I was born. Mario's in the middle here:

I also got a chance to meet Rebekah Keat and her twin sis. Super nice girls. I'm really bummed she got DQ'd after the race. I don't know the whole story, and even if I did, it's not really my place to discuss that sort of thing. All I know is she's a phenomenal athlete and she would have been 5th woman had her race counted. I mean, look at her calves compared to mine; she is pure muscle (photo courtesy of finishline-multisport.com):

I stayed at transition until everyone was checked in and it became a ghost town except for the overnight-watch crew, several photographers and some nearby local fisherman. Seeing all the bikes lined peacefully was awesome. There was no turning back now for the 1,779 racers. I talked to one overnight guard, and he was so honored and proud to have the responsibility of watching the bikes. His enthusiasm almost brought tears to my eyes. Here he is:

I also couldn't help but laugh at the placement of the Penalty Box. There's no excuse for cheating or whatever penalty is issued, and the officials clearly don't take it lightly--they really must want the perpetrator to feel in the dumps.

We spent the evening soaking in all the sights. It was like the calm before the storm. Only hours and the place would be going off! photo courtesy of www.finishline-multisport.com:

Luke McKenzie getting in One. Last. Run.

That night, after hearing how cool and fun Thurs night was, I joined the party people at Lulu’s. The guy I was teamed up to work with, Ben Greenfield, got me to drink a foo-fooey cranberry vodka because they are “healthier with less calories than beer.” Whatever, it takes fewer to do the job, so I obliged.

Some dudes showed up, we were all talking, and one happened to be Cliff English, Chrissie Wellington’s coach for a brief time. For those who don’t know, Chrissie has had a tumultuous year with her coaching/team situations. From TBB (Brett Sutton) to Cliff to currently being self-coached. So, I had the balls to ask Cliff the story of what happened with that whole ordeal—particularly why he’s no longer Chrissie’s coach—and he told me! It was an amazing story, and I’ll keep it at that. Cliff is a great guy and I was honored to talk with him.

I found my bed at 1 or 2 a.m. Sweet. I would be waking up at 4 a.m. to head to the race. Maybe not the wisest way to lead into what would be another 20+ hour day, but, again, who sleeps in Kona? I’d worry about that later.

(In fact, as I write this, I’m back home and am catching up on all that sleep I missed: I've had two 10+ hour sleeps since I've been home—rare for me—plus I napped yesterday too.)

I’m saving the Race Day blog entry to be it’s own post. But here’s a little preview. Dean Sprague of San Diego was in our group at Seaside so I watched him eating his pre-race breakfast (gotta note what the fast guys do, right?). Well here’s part of what he ate:

The other part was some Pop Tarts and a GU-mix drink. Classic. And, hell, he raced well so guess it worked! Keep in mind, this is also the same guy that bought us beers the day before and had done his share of partying in the nights leading up to the race...

"The good thing about Hawaii...."

"... is wonderful K-o-n-aaaaa." (the song by Pepper, anyone?)

So this is where I spent the majority of my trip:

I don't know anything about video editing so excuse the sound of wind and lack of cool music.

Ironman World Championships Pt 1

Watching the Ironman World Championships is in the top-5 greatest experiences of my life, so far. With a jam-packed week of amazingness, there’s no way I can fit my whole trip into one blog, so I’m going to break it up into multiple postings. I’ll start with pre-race fun.

Macca photo courtesy of Kevin @ www.finishline-multisport.com:

Kona Day 1, Oct. 7

Wednesday was a 22-hour day, but unfortunately only a few of those were spent awake in Kona. Traveling sucks. We finally got in and dropped off our bags at the Seaside Inn (a great place to stay if you want to be within walking distance of all the Ironman events), then went to go pick up our media credentials at the King Kam. Talk about hooked up! I had no idea we’d be getting so much free schwag as "just the reporters."

View from the room at Seaside

After that my first mission was to find Lava Java and eat there. Mission successful. Yum.

Wednesday night I met up with some local OC people for dinner at Kona Brewing Co. (Thanks Kevin Rauch!!!) It was great pizza, but I skipped the beer that night... would have fallen asleep right on the table. By the time I got back to the hotel I was spent.

But who sleeps in Kona?

Kona Day 2, Oct. 8
I got just enough shut eye only to wake at sunrise on Thursday for, what else, but a swim at Dig Me Beach along the IM course. I know everyone says this, but it’s truly the place to be in the morning with the hottest bods you can imagine in little itty bitty swimsuits. They put my fitness/physique to shame.

Now, if I had access to an ocean like Kona’s, I’d be one hell of a swimmer. I never wanted to get out, and I was amped to practice swimming straight minus a black line. It's warm, clear water, awesome fish and coral to look at and—the best—there's free coffee 700 yds out! Coffees of Hawaii anchors up to serve fresh brew to all swimmers. The first sip is bitter and salty, but after that it’s actually quite refreshing.

I swam early enough to be at the annual Underpants Run at 8 a.m. But, get this, while swimming back in I got stung by something on my neck (sea lice apparently). It burned soooo f-ing bad. My first though—while still ~700 yds out—was, “Oh crap, I just got stung by some weird tropical thing and now I’m going to pass out, drown and die.” Needless to say, I swam fast.

I survived, but basically had to ignore the burning because I refused to miss the U-Run. I figured running around in something skimpy would be a good distraction.

So fun. I’ll let the pictures do the talking:

Greg Welch leading the pack on moped, Paul Huddle running in the lead, equipped with much-needed HR monitor and mega phone (courtesy www.finishline-multisport.com).
Amanda Lovato and "anonymous" BoratWeird place to run into your ex... Brad and me

A bunch of fast people (Ian, Charisa, Kevin, Kristin), and meMJ in the lead (photo courtesy of www.finishline-multisport.com)

After that Thursday included more Lava Java, a pro press conference, mingling with media, taking pictures, being in awe. I had to get over my star shock seeing the pros within touching distance. For most the Ironman and media guys, like PNF and Bob Babbitt, it’s no big deal. So I had to play it cool and pretend that it was no big deal for me that I was looking a table lined with Terenzo Bozzone, Eneko Llanos, Faris Al-Sutan, Crowie, Chrissie, Linsey Corbin, Yvonne Van Vlerken, Sandra Wallenhorst, Michellie Jones and Mirinda Carfrae.

My first observation was, wow… I had no idea Torenzo was so hot! He’s funny too… on the topic of speed suits, everyone had to give their opinions and he simply stated, “I think we heard everything and personally I don’t give a shit.”

MJ's hot bike

Meanwhile, stinging continued, up into my ear. It eventually subsided, but not before I tried the ol’ pee trick (ewww)…

No, I didn’t pour my pee on myself—to messy. Instead, I peed on a wash cloth and pressed it against my neck. No joke. But that still didn’t work too well. So, while eating at Lava Java, I asked the owner for vinegar and napkins. He asked if I wanted white or balsamic.

Thursday was also my first taste of running in Hawaiian heat and humidity. Holy crap, 5 miles never hurt so bad. It made me glad that I didn’t qualify for Kona yet. I’m still in my infancy phase with triathlon, and definitely have no rush to get ahead of myself.

After recovering from the heat, I’m pretty sure I ate dinner at Lava Java that night too. I invested way too much money there in a matter of days. But the free Internet was convenient and the crowd is always entertaining ..
The partying started Thursday night, but I opted out. I was still in my “I’m doing Clearwater so drinking and staying up late is not part of the plan” phase. That soon changed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Ha. You only live once, right?

Stay tuned for more.... and if you want to see all my Kona pictures, friend me on Facebook.

Mission Bay Tri from the Sidelines

So much to do before I leave for Kona on Wednesday, and I at least want to recap an incredible weekend in San Diego. But first, a little self-promoting. I'll be covering Ironman Championships the days leading up to the race, race day and post-race, with all my reports on EverymanTri and on Twitter at @tawneeprazak and @everymantri. Check it out! I'll be teaming up with Ben Greenfield, Kevin at Finishline-Multisport.com and many other folks on the BI.

Now onto this past weekend....

The father-son duo Mike & Calvin (read about them here) drove down from NorCal and successfully completed the Mission Bay Triathlon Sunday morning. Calvin was one of two 10-year-olds who did the race, the youngest participants, and had a speedy time of 1:26! His dad was racing by his side the entire time. So glad I got to watch. I'll let some photos do the talking:





My dad was also set to race in MB, but an unfortunate bike accident kept him from being able to do so. He's ok but pretty banged up and sore; we're just thankful nothing worse happened. I unfortunately can't discuss the details, but I will say: Wear a helmet because it's the other guy out there who you can't trust.

Larry, my dad's best friend from college/training buddy, was still able to race but it was clearly very bittersweet without my dad. Still, for Larry it was quite a day... Last year, Larry was diagnosed with an aggressive form of throat cancer last year, and things were not looking good for him. But he held on strong, endured chemo, fought the cancer and WON. Training and racing in the Mission Bay Triathlon was not only a huge personal accomplishment, but a huge moment for Larry's family and friends. There was not a dry eye among us when he crossed that finish line. Both his 20-something sons also raced in MB, so needless to say it was a special day.

My dad & Larry...
Larry crossing the finish line at 1:26, wow!...

Then there's my mom, aka the speed demon, who also raced. Back-to-back weekends of racing for her! "Never again," she says, haha. Whatever, mom... She pulled off yet another podium finish at 1:10, despite some hiccups: Her chain fell of during the bike costing her precious time, she got lost in T2 sorta, some sort of water issue. But in the end she experienced her first-ever sprint-to-the-finish battle with a woman in her AG and won that, which secured her 3rd place spot, as well as 3rd place in 50-54 women for the entire Koz Enterprises Triathlon Series!!!!

Look at those buff arms!

With all these participants I had to keep track of, I was one busy girl! Thankfully I found an open Starbucks at 5 a.m. and got my Venti Americano caffeine fix.

The race was a blast, and I'm so happy I made the decision to give up my spot and be a spectathlete & sherpa. Just as fun as race-day was the day before the race. Good times, especially with my sister, who was cool enough to come down from Cal Poly SLO and hang out with us. The fact that her new Scott road bike was waiting for her at our house probably helped in that decision to drive down. Whatever got her down, I was stoked, she's good company to have around. As we get older we keep getting closer, and (gasp!) we don't even fight anymore!

On Saturday, we got dropped off by the 'rents in North County SD and rode our bikes to Mission Bay. Karlee killed it, particularly on her first attempt up Torrey Pines.
A million stop signals later (grrr) we arrived at the hotel where we hit the in-house restaurant & spa for a bit before hitting the town for the night. (Traveling with parents = good... dad posts us up in nice hotels, like the Paradise Resort on Mission Bay. Traveling with me alone = you're brave... get ready for the cheap motels that smell like old socks.)



The view from our suite....

After quality pool time with the whole crew we all gathered at Wahoo's for a solid pre-race meal. I picked Calvin's brain about all his training, asked if he was ready for the race, etc. One of his comments: "Is this going to be on your blog?" How cute. I have to say, the kid is very confident, in a healthy way, and is bound to do some great things if he keeps it up, which I'm sure he will, especially with the cool parents he has! Dinner:

Calvin's giant pre-race burrito....

After Wahoo's Karlee and I had to ditch the crew who needed their sleep, and we headed to Pacific Beach to, ya know....

....get some of this amazingness:

Yea, not quite the beers you were expecting, right? We were the anomalies to the drunken Saturday-night crowd on Garnet. Sitting on the curb, eating fro yo and watching the mayhem was pretty fun. Hands down better than being one of the drunks. We also stumbled upon a random pumpkin patch where the owner was blasting some classic rock that had those 10-min solos. I'm pretty sure he's been living in PB since the '60s, yea one of those guys who never made it out. Super nice guy. We bought a pumpkin. He asked if we wanted our picture taken...

After all the fun of pre-race, races, post-race meals, etc., it was time for me to torture myself. The weekend wouldn't be complete without that, right? Innocently enough, I got dropped off in Oceanside to make the long trek home on my bike. Little did I know the headwind of death would haunt me the entire ride home. I swear, it was by far one of the hardest rides I've ever been on (entirely northbound = headwind never ended). I kept thinking of all the excuses I could make to have my parents come pick me up. But I didn't call. Just kept thinking about them, and before I knew it, I was home! And exhausted.

Only one more bike ride left until a week sans Felt. But that means a week of paradise. I can cope.

Aloha!

OC Tri RR: Fueling the 2010 Fire

Got to start off with this, too cute: Our neighbors and their two little boys came out to cheer along the run portion of the OC Tri yesterday, and the boys drew this picture after, doing good justice to the hilly run course:Check out that uphill grade! I'm at the top, my mom is following close behind, and according to the boys the brown guys are getting sick and/or are walking.... pretty accurate :)

Sooo, another race in the books: OC International Triathlon. Good times for sure, but I'd be lying if I said I was completely content with my performance. Nope. I know I have it in me to do better. My mental game was lacking. I've been preoccupied with school, work, etc lately, and it showed; I didn't race to my potential. Need to focus! (Maybe I should be more like Peter Reid.) Still, don't get me wrong, the day was a blast and great things happened....

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My mom raced in the OC Tri, too, and got 1st in her AG!!!!!!!! A first for her. As her live-in coach, I'll take the credit for that amazing achievement :) But really, she killed it out there and I'm super proud because she did race to her potential, she was in the zone and the hard work she's put in showed out there. She can really get a crowd fired up in her award-acceptance jumping-for-joy routine, love it:

Plus, during awards it was announced that I got 2nd overall in the '09 Orange County Tri Race Series for Women 39 & Under. Yes, for once I was thrown into a bigger age-group pool and got a podium! The award was a complete surprise, and I was stoked, as you can see on my face here (Ian's apparently stoked for me too):

A big highlight of the day was seeing so many familiar faces. Yea, I'm not the biggest fan of where I live (need the beach!), but we do have some nice trails and bike routes, and lots of tri peeps I know showed up to dominate... like tri superstars Charisa & Ian who were 1st overall amateur male & female:
BFF Sara Davis did the relay; local friends from my swim class, bike shops, etc, were there racing; my aunt, uncle and cutie cousin came; saw Beth and met people I "know" from Internet land--like Maggs, Kristin Mayer, Chris Berg. Makes triathlon a lot more enjoyable when you have friends, family and FAST people around.

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So, here's how my race went down...

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Swim

NO wetsuit; water was in the 80s. That was a first for me, but I managed just fine. I was expecting it, plus my confidence in my swim has grown as my weekly yardage has increased and times have dropped. Although, after my warmup swim I was FREEZING on the beach before our start, see below. I was ready to hug people for body warmth.The first half went spectacular minus the extra rough thrashing (big wave w/ men and women). The water was so clear that I glanced at my watch at the turnaround buoy & it was :12.30 setting me up for ~:25 swim for 1.5k. Ideal for me. Except on the way back I got way off track, realized I was by myself and ended up in the middle of the dang lake alone. No doubt I probably added an extra 300+ yds to my swim, which including dead time stopping and trying to see where to go while the rising sun blinded me. Bonehead mistake! That was so frustrating, and very devastating because I was on track to possibly PR that swim. Ahhhh!!!!

Bike
I know Santiago Canyon like the back of my hand... every little bump, every hill and turn; therefore, I am confident to go fast out there. But I tried to find a happy balance between playing catch-up from the swim while still pacing myself on the the conservative side. I didn't want to go all out TT style for the 40k for two reasons: 1) I've had a nagging R hamstring issue that's left me less than 100% and I didn't want to blow it; 2) The run is killer hard and I wanted to leave something in my legs for it. Overall, the bike went fine, passed one girl in my AG. In retrospect, I should have laid the hammer down a little bit more.

Run

Had a great T2 spot and was in & out in no time. The first 2.5 miles of the run are slight downhill on solid ground, nice for finding a smokin' pace. But I didn't start off like a bat outta hell because everything changes. Gnarly uphills, dirt/woodchip trails... terrain that can slow you down. Vista Del Lago aka "the hill of death" is truly an insane climb. A huge chunk of racers walk up; it's by far the hardest uphill I've experienced in a triathlon. This is the start of "the hill" (pic doesn't do it justice at all):

I was passed on the run by that same girl in my ag who I passed on the bike, and she got a decent, but not insane, lead on me. I didn't think I had that "extra gear" to get her and hold it for the entire 10k, but I'm sure I could have dug deeper, ignored hamstring pain and charged. Especially looking at the results: She finished only seconds ahead of me, leaving me in 2nd place, again.
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Perhaps I raced too conservatively for the day? I haven't really found my Olympic-distance pace yet. This was only my second real attempt at an Oly.

Losing the next spot up in the rankings by seconds has happened to me quite a few times this year. It's one thing when you're beaten by a significant margin (like Tatiana beat me in SB), but when it's seconds, that hurts.

It also fuels my fire.

So, bottom line: It's 2010 planning time, and I'm setting some big goals for myself. Although looking at my competition is important, it's not the other guy (or gal, in my case) that concerns me so much, as long as I can walk away from a race saying, "I gave that my all and I'm content." Part of that means, I'll be a lot more picky with my race schedule and prioritizing races, as well as strategically planning out my year.

If you haven't noticed, I'm hard on myself, but I still enjoy a nice well-deserved post-race indulgence (mom's idea):

Lastely, a few more more fun shots from the day.....

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The top Best of the US men & women:

Sara and I devising our "master plan" hahaha:

Hanging with super moms (Mikelson & Prazak):

Quick: What's 40ºC in Farenheit??

...it's HOT, like 104ºF hot. And, that's the theme of this post. (Yes, I'm just learning Celsius conversions; why does the U.S. have to be so difficult by using all these non-universal measuring systems?!)

Anyways, as triathletes, families, friends, etc., head out to Kona for Ironman, knowing a little about what happens to the body in a hot, humid environment can be useful--or scary, possibly. (Plus, I know some of you wanted me to talk about it, and I have a test on Thermal Physiology next week so I could use this as a study opportunity.)


First, though, on the topic of heat: OC Tri is this weekend and word on the street is that Lake Mission Viejo is apparently 85ºF. That's way over USAT's 78ºF cutoff. And, inland OC has been freakin scorching lately, with no end to the heat wave in sight, so chances that the lake cools down? Um, like zero. Which means: NO WETSUITS on Sunday. I have mixed feelings about this. A wetsuit is like my security blanket, and I'm not ready to give it up. Just think of me like this guy:

But there's no way I'd pull myself out of contention for awards/rankings (the consequence for those who choose to wear a wetsuit still). Thinking positively, I am looking forward to not dying of claustrophobic overheating in my wetsuit and to having a faster T1 time.

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Heat & Exercise
Now to that nerdy exercise science stuff. We all know that it sucks to exercise in the heat and humidity. But why? Physiologically what's going on in the body that makes exercise in heat so difficult and detrimental to performance, etc? Anyone, anyone? (fyi: I love this stuff, so I might go overboard. Stop reading now if you have a short attention span or just don't care about phys.)

The following are acute responses to heat. After acclimatization (~2 wks) the body adapts to better handle heat stress; more on that at the end. Repeated training in SoCal's heat waves before Kona is obviously a good thing, then.

1) Humidity Hinders Cooling
First the humidity factor. The body cools itself by sweating, but sweating itself doesn't cool you--it's the evaporation of sweat that's key to cooling. The problem with humidity is that the more humid it is the more saturated the air is and the harder it becomes to evaporate sweat. (Relative humidity is the amount of water in the air compared to the theoretical maximum amount of water in the air.) So, you don't technically sweat more in humidity, it's that evaporation doesn't occur as well so the sweat stays on your skin, which makes it feel like you're sweating more, and, worst of all, prevents your body from successfully cooling down.

2) Blood Flow Changes
In heat, blood vessels vasodilate allowing more blood flow to the skin in order to dissipate heat (sweat, which is blood plasma). The problems are blood also needs to go to working muscles, the heart, etc, and as blood flows to skin and is sweat out you're losing blood volume. So less blood to the muscles that need it, less blood back to the heart, hurting your cardiovascular system. No bueno. This one reason why hydration is so essential to replace sweat loss.

3) Cardiac Output Suffers
Cardiac Output (Q) is the product of Heart Rate x Stroke Volume. SV is the amount of blood pumped out of the heart per beat (higher SV = good). But in heat, there's less venous return (due to increase in skin blood flow), which means SV decreases. To compensate, HR increases. So although Q is unchanged at submaximal intensities, a higher HR and lower SV isn't exactly a good thing.

It gets worse. At max, intensities, Q decreases because HRmax decreases. An Ironman athlete is hopefully not working at HRmax, but because HRmax is lower, this means at any exercise intensity you're working at a higher % of your HRmax than in a thermoneutral climate. Ouch.

4) VO2max Decreases
Changes in Q directly affects VO2, and in heat VO2max is reduced. In endurance sports, obviously the higher your VO2max, the better. (VO2max is maximum amount of oxygen that the body can take in and use for important stuff like working muscle!)

Now here's the thing: At submaximal exercise in heat, VO2 is the same, but (like HRmax) since VO2max decreases, at any exercise intensity you'll be working at a higher % of VO2max. Again, ouch.

(If you don't know your VO2max, you can use % of HRmax to estimate % of VO2max. Click here for a conversion chart.)

5) Increased Anaerobiosis & Metabolic Rate With the changes in Q & VO2max, the body's maximal aerobic (with oxygen) exercise intensities are limited. Meaning, you start relying on anaerobic (w/o oxygen) means of producing energy. We all know what it feels like to work in that anaerobic state: mega ouch! It results in more blood lactate accumulating, carb metabolism increases while lipolysis (fat utilization) decreases.

With anaerobic systems kicking in, total energy expenditure increases (i.e. you're burning more calories). Think of it this way: as temperature increases exercise costs more energy. And, for most people, this generally decreases time to exhaustion (i.e you poop out sooner than later).


Heat Acclimatization
For those who've adapted to intense heat--like in the 30º-40º C range for at least 2 weeks--there's good news:

1) You become a better sweater
Sweat sooner, sweat more and at a faster rate, less salt loss via sweat, better sweat distribution.

2) Your plasma volume increases
This means all that stuff about blood volume and skin blood flow affecting Cardiac Output and VO2max is alleviated. More plasma = more blood = good.

Alright, whew! Killer study session for me! I also have a Stats exam next week, would you like me to blog about that? Aw, c'mon... Z scores, standard deviations, probability of error... good stuff!

*Please note: I've tried to be as accurate as possible presenting this info, and even talked to my professor to make sure I have my facts straight. However, I'm only human and if I got something wrong, I apologize.


Lastly, for those of you who don't know Celsius conversions (like me!) here's a hint: Starting at the point where water freezes (0º C, 32º F) for every 10º increase in C there's an 18º increase in F..... 10º C is cold (50º F); 50ºC is hot (122ºF); and the body is happy at 37ºC.

Let me know if you have any questions please!!!