Tech Trek with Mom

My mom has been working on getting more fit. She has done great with the diet, but the exercise is the other half of the equation. She wanted to do a walking event with me (since right now she doesn't run) so our first step was to hit Performance Footwear and get her hooked up with some "real" shoes. She had been walking on her treadmill and having heal pain, and I told her it was because she needed real running shoes. We took her to Performance where they put her up on the treadmill and video taped her footstrike and had her try on different shoes. She loved a pair of Brooks Glycerines that came in purple, her favorite color. As long as she loved them, that's all that mattered. I knew she wouldn't want to walk in shoes if she didn't like them. I then told her she had to practice in the shoes on her training walks to get used to them. She's up to 30 min of treadmill walking each day.

Then I set out to find a race we could do. It had to be on a weekend that didn't conflict with one of the other billion races I'm registered for, and I wanted to find a good event. Luckily the Tech Trek was offered again this year, and I signed us up to walk the 2 mile course. It's a family friendly event, and you save more on entry fees if you register more family members, so I convinced my husband Zac to sign up to run the 10K while we walked. Nevermind he hasn't been running lately. This is $5 off an entry fee we're talking about here. I had done this event in the past, so I knew it would be a good one for my mom, and it was only 2 miles from my house because it started at Agua Caliente school. I also had the Fleet Feet trail run the following day, so I would have to do the walk anyways to not blow my chance at a PR on the trail run. No temptation to sign up for the Tech Trek 10K there.

Race day we got there early to get good parking and get our goodie bags. Since we were there so early we waited in the car and took stock of what was in our bags. The bags had cool things like flashlights, hats, tool kits, and Fitness Plus magazine which we read while we waited. It was then time for Zac to get ready. We strolled over to the start to watch him take off on the run, then hit the bathroom one more time before lining up for the 2 miler. I then answered all of my mom's first-timer questions: Would I stay with her? (Yes, of course). Would we be the only ones walking? (No). Would we be the last ones out there? (No).

About 30 or so people lined up for the 2 mile course, and the announcer yelled "Go!" and we were off. I let my mom set the pace, and of course I still wore my Garmin so I could announce the distance we had traveled and our pace with insane accuracy, weather she wanted to hear it or not. We had a simple square course to follow: west on Limberlost, south on Melpomene, east on Prince, north on Homestead. My mom was walking at a consistent pace of 17-18 min/mi, and I carried my camera to take pics along the way. We did catch up to groups of people and had to work on passing to get around them. I let her lead the way and let me know if she wanted to pass. We walked past houses with horses that watched as the groups of people went by. Once we reached Prince we merged into the 10K course, but I think by that time Zac had already passed through. The course was mostly flat with only a few slight inclines here and there.

Mom kept her head down most of the time because she was used to the treadmill and wanted to make sure she didn't trip on anything. Most of my pictures have a great view of the Nike swoosh on her hat. She didn't want to turn around to see who was behind us (I kept telling her there was a bunch and no way were we last). So instead I took pictures. At the end of Homestead St. we entered the back entrance to the school grounds. Since the 2 mile course was non-competitive, there was no official finish line. People just meandered onto the field. So we stayed on the path that went around the field, and I picked out a random painted line and said "That's the finish line!" so that I could get a picture. We finished in 36:40 and walked a total of 2.06 miles. About 15 minutes later we saw Zac cross the finish line for the 10K. He finished in a little over an hour, which is right where he expected.

We wandered over to the goodies and decided against the French toast made out of donuts. In my opinion, that ruined both the French toast and the donuts. Keep them separate, please. Instead we opted for fruit and water, then headed home. Mom had a great time, so hopefully she'll slowly increase the walking so that we can start to increase the distance. I'm already shopping around for a 5K for her as the next goal. ;)

Mom and I before the race:

Zac starting the 10K race:

Mom was excited and emphasising the arm swing at the beginning of the walk:

Still smiling about 1/2 way through the course:

Proof that I stayed with her:

Proof that she wasn't last and was in front of others:

Mom crossing Elaine's Improptu Official Finish Line:

Zac heading towards the finish line of the 10K:

Chase The Sun trail run

I found out about the Chase The Sun Run on the Running in the USA website (I was looking for a different race at the time). Then Tri Girl Joyce sent me an invite on Facebook, so I decided it would be a good race to do. This was a 10K trail run through Tucson Mountain Park, starting from the Ironwood picnic area. And, as you can guess from the name, the race started at 4:30 PM, so we would be chasing the sun.

This race was put on by the USA Orienteering team. This was the inagural race, and it was sold out with a whopping 13 people. Big races can be fun, but I also like to do small, grassroots events like this where you find out about them through word-of-mouth or obscure internet searching. The Tucson cyclocross series used to be like this (it is no longer around) and the Arizona Endurace Series is like this. Smaller events mean cheaper entry fees, and it's pretty much a "show up and race" feel.

Since I was coming from the exact opposite side of Tucson, I gave myself an hour to get to the event. I got to the Ironwood picnic area and found the tent where check-in was and we got our numbers. I used the trip to the bathroom as the jog to warm-up. Then it was time to strip off clothing and get ready. I had brought a wide array of clothing because I didn't know what to expect weather-wise. I decided on my TTG capris, my long-sleeved Underarmor shirt, and TTG top. I put a headlamp in my hydration pack "just in case." I also wore the pack so that I could practice with it. I may be wearing this pack in Saipan as it will definitely be hot and humid, and I want to be used to runing with the pack.

At around 4:30 PM we headed to the start. We got instructions on the course markers. There would be flags in the ground marking the turns, and we were to turn in the direction of the markers. There would also be streamers in the trees to follow. We were to ignore all other splinter trails. At 4:35 PM we were off and running. This was a training race for me for XTERRA Saipan, so my instructions on the training plan from Coach Scott were to go hard during this race. So I shuffled my way through the runners, chatting with everyone for a bit before finding and open spot where I could set my pace. The first part was a bit breezy, and my eyes were watering like mad. For the first part, the trails were pretty flat and not too rocky. As it progressed we got into some small roller hills, kind of like Fantasy Island, where you go down a short downhill followed by a short uphill. The organizers had also put mile markers out on the course, which is rare in trail running. But the markers were exactly spot-on as far as distance, because my Garmin was showing the same distance.

We headed west for a few miles before making a sharp turn and heading east again. After this turn I could feel we were going up a slight incline, and this would last for the next several miles. Thankfully I had the tracks of the faster runners to follow as well. This section had a bit more gravel, and we had to watch out for cholla balls that I'm sure the wind had knocked down from all the cactus. At the 3 mile mark I was beginning to wonder if I could hold the pace and make it. At this time, two other runners caught up to me. I needed to take my mind off of how far we were, so I started talking to the guys behind me. They were happy to stay there and let me pace, so I asked where they were from and how they found out about the race. One runner was Tom and the other was Pete, both from out of town. They had found out about the race from the same website. Thankfully they were both willing to chat, and we talked about running races, Garmins, and the upcoming races we had. This really helped make the miles go by. Sometimes it's tough to tell if the other runners around you are willing to talk, but I'm glad both Pete and Tom were.

The last few miles we were parallel to Kinney Road, and this section got really rolly with the small hills and I felt like it was exactly like Fantasy Island. The course flattened out and I saw people up ahead, and sure enough it was the finish. We crossed the finish line (yes there was an official line drawn in the sand) and I walked around a bit right after to cool down. I thanked Pete and Tom for running with me as we all had a great time out there. I finished in 58:20, for an average pace of 9:21. This was the fastest 10K I've done so far, and it was on trails so I was really happy with my time. Plus, I avoided tripping or falling, which is always a bonus with trail running.

The USA Orienteering crew had a nice spread of snacks of bagels, bananas, clementines, and hot chocolate at the finish. I put the layers back on and enjoyed the snacks and talking with everyone while the others came in from the run.

This was a fantastic race and really well organized and fun for the inagural event. This would be the perfect race for any beginners to trail running because the course is pretty flat with no gnarly technical sections. You aren't on a mountain with the risk of death if you fall off the side. ;) I was able to run the entire thing, whereas other technical courses often require hiking in spots. I asked if the race would be held next year, and the USA Orienteering team is planning on it, although it may be on a different weekend as they have to work around their training and racing schedule. So if you have a goal to try trail running in the future, be sure to check this event out.

The Trail Runner and The Mountain Biker

Today I had to do a 1 hr 15 min trail run on "difficult" terrain, according to the training plan. I decided the Redington area would do. Lots of climbing and descending in rocks and scree. Actually, I'd rather trail run out here anyways. With the mountain bike there's always a lot of hike-a-bike. This time I'd be free to run the entire way and not have to push a bike. So I threw the trail runners and hydration pack in the Jeep, and Zac put his bike on the roof rack. We drove up to the 3 Feathers parking area on Redington Rd. When we started at 10:30 AM, there was only one other car there. We thought that was kind of odd for a warm Saturday in January.

Zac took his camera and I took mine, so we have pics of me trail running and Zac mountain biking. I went ahead and started my run while Zac got the bike ready, as I figured he'd catch me soon. I walked for 5 minutes to warm up, then started my run. The Jeep road immediately heads downhill on steep, rocky terrain. Loose gravel covers the rocks, so it is super slippery. But this is what I was here to practice on. I made my way down the first steep section, then had a flat spot before "The Chute." The Chute is a large, steep rock formation that many 4WD vehicles play on. A white Jeep was blocking the route I wanted to take down, so I ended up staying far to the left along the hillside. I made my way down this section before the trail flattened out and started to climb. It was pretty much either climbing or descending while on this trail. I ran for about 40 minutes, with Zac leapfrogging past me on his bike. We would take pictures as he rode and I ran, and I got good at fishing my camera out of the front pocket of my hydration pack when Zac rode by.

At the 40 minute mark I turned around and ran back the way we came, figuring the trail was mostly uphill on the way back up. We only had 1 Jeep and 2 dirtbikes pass us while we were out on the trail. When we got back to the parking lot there were a ton of vehicles parking and unloading dirtbikes and quads. Looks like we had picked the perfect time to hit the trail. Overall on this technical trail I averaged a 13:15 min/mi pace. It was a bit slow, but my legs were also super tired from the past 3 days of workouts (A mountain hill repeats on Thurs, mountain bike time trials and run brick on Fri, and hard trail run today). I only had a few slides of the feet on the steep, rocky sections, but didn't crash. Thankfully tomorrow is an easy recovery road ride and TTG swim. The easy workout day couldn't come soon enough!

Johnny and Liane will recognize a lot of where these pics are from the many training rides we did out here this past summer. ;)

Trail running the Jeep trail:
Wee! A downhill!

Zac at the very top of a climb. Does he look tired?

Running past the cow pond:

Zac at the intersection of FR4417 and FR4426. And there's still a little snow in the Rincons!

Zac blasting down the downhill of FR4426:

Me crossing a cattle guard. It's much more difficult to run over these than to bike over them.

Saguaro and blue sky:

Zac enjoying the downhill:

Hiking up "The Chute."

Preparations for Saipan

Check out the 2009 Saipan Championship Gallery. These photos were from the photographer from Triathlete magazine for the April 2009 issue. One thing I'm noticing is that people were wearing their bike gloves on the trail run. Hmmmm...

This is Week 12 of training, and there's 1 month, 3 weeks, and 3 days left until the 2010 XTERRA Saipan. Training has been going well. Scott is having me ramp up into more specialized training now that the base work is done. I did some research on the course, and there's lots of climbing on the bike, and loose, rocky, steep hills on the trail run. So now my training plans come with off-road brick workouts specified, followed by comments of "Please don't kill me afterwards" from Scott. He's not making me swim 3X per week, so he shall live. ;)

I'm averaging around 12-13 hours of training per week, which is more than I've ever trained for an XTERRA. My routine is to come home, empty the bag of workout clothes and gear, and re-pack them for the next day's workouts. As soon as I'm finished with one workout I'm planning and prepping for the next one. Sleep is somewhere in there. I'm trying to keep up on it this week, but being the first weeks back at work from the winter break has made it tough.

So here's how I'm feeling about the 3 sports.

Swim:
Thankfully it's all coming back rather quickly to me, even though I'm swimming 1-2X per week. Flipturns are part of my workouts now (even though they are not needed for XTERRA). I figure if I get somersaulted in the ocean, I'll be experienced in coming out of it streamlined and knowing where the surface is. But my swim times are right back at where they were before my swimming strike last year.

Bike:
Lots of work being done here. I'm using all of my bikes. The tri bike goes on the road in the daylight for HR specific work, and stays on the trainer during the week for early morning sessions. The cyclocross bike comes out for recovery rides. The mountain bike comes out on the weekends for trails and brick sessions. I just had my XC mountain bike overhauled at Arizona Bicycle Experts, so everything will be broken in and adjusted by race day. I seem to be climbing a lot better than before, and Zac mentioned I now have muscle definition in my claves on the climbs. I don't know, I can't see them. Guess I'll have to trust him.

Run:
Lots of intervals and now the trail runs are on more technical terrain. I need to get used to running on loose rocks on steep hills, so on the trails I'm forcing myself to stay off of the worn-in line and run in the rough where the rocks are at.

Overall I'm starting to see an improvement in fitness and strength. I'm glad I hired Scott's brains. :)

The past few weeks have been spent making all of the travel plans and arrangements for the race. I officially registered for the race, though I'm still waiting for the participant list to get updated for this year. Our flights are all set and are insane. We depart Tucson at 6:10 AM on Saturday, 3/6 and fly to Dallas. We are using Zac's airline miles from American, so we have to go through this hub. Next we fly to Tokyo and arrive there at 4:35 PM on Sunday, 3/7. We depart at 9 PM that night and fly to Saipan and arrive at 1:30 AM on Monday, 3/8. We are in Saipan the whole week and leave on Monday the 15th. My plan is to get there early, adjust to the timezone, swim, bike, and run the course ahead of time, and rest before the race on the 13th. In between we'll do all the touristy stuff.

I've been waiting to see if we would get a discount for the XTERRA at the host hotel, and after much internet scouring I found out they were set up this week. So we will be staying at the Pacific Islands Club resort for only $80 a day! They want to encourage people to travel out to this race, and so they offer this great deal. So that saves us a huge amount, because the normal rates there are not cheap.

I'm still waiting to see if Northwest airlines (the Tokyo to Saipan flight) will be waiving bike fees for the race. They did it in the past so hopefully it goes through. Other than that, we're all set to go!

Tour De Cookie

Tour De Cookie is kind of like a scavenger hunt on bikes, with the bounty being cookies and the proceeds going to the Tucson adaptive rec center, and the Kids’ Try-athlon. So it’s a really cool event. This year riders could choose a 31 mile long course, or an 11 mile short course. I was tired from a week’s worth of training and hoping I could convince my husband Zac to do the 11 miler, but he noted that there were only 2 cookie stations on the short course and 9 on the long course. Those that know Zac know he’s all about the cookies, so I was stuck riding 31 miles for cookies.

Holy cow it was freezing this morning! We rolled into the Brandi Fenton Park parking lot and the temp gauge on my Jeep said 37 degrees. Ugh. I donned all the clothing I had brought with me and got the bike ready. I brought my commuter cyclocross bike, which has a rear rack where I attached my commuter trunk. I was prepared to haul a lot of cookies! Zac did the same and attached one of his panniers. We were not going to be limited in the number of cookies we could haul. My bike also had a small furry Cookie Monster attached to the front. He has a hinged mouth and each time he opens his mouth, he yells “Cookies! Kawabunga! Yum Yum Yum! Wha ha ha!” and then he burps. Since he was on the front of my bike, he would talk each time I went over a bump or rough patch in the road. On roads like Oracle I have a rapping Cookie Moster.

We got to the start line and lined up with all the other Tri Girls. Everyone was bundled up but there was a ton of purple out there! At 8:05 AM we took off and the event was underway. I was really mad at myself for not packing my winter cycling gloves. My hands hurt so bad from the cold that I wanted to cry. Zac and I decided to follow the long course as it was laid out on the map and cue sheet, so that we could also follow the course markings. There were orange arrows with a “C” marking where to turn. Our first stop on the map was Bodycentral on Oracle and Magee. Last year this was the furthest stop away, and many people skipped it. I thought this year the organizers put them first so that they would get all the early traffic and wouldn’t get jilted, and it also allowed everyone to string out a bit. It was 10 miles and a ton of hills to get to the first station at Bodycentral. I had remembered from last year they were down a hill, and you can’t see the shop from the road. But as we approached the area there were no signs or balloons or anything. Had we missed the turn? Zac’s dad, who was also riding in the event had their address written down, and sure enough we were in the right spot. We rolled down the hill of the driveway and up to the front of Bodycentral.

No booth. No people. NO COOKIES! Crickets chirped. A lone tumbleweed rolled by in the dusty wind. A baby cried in the distance.

WHAT?!? Are you kidding me? We had just ridden 10 hilly miles and were eager to taste the sugary goodness of cookies only to be greeted with an empty parking lot. Hmm…well, maybe they moved their station on the road for better visibility? (Long stretch here but I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt). We went back down Oracle all the way to the intersection, and there was nothing. That is kind of a downer for a charity ride. Oh well. On to stop #2 and Team In Training we go. Their booth wasn’t too far away, but unfortunately they were packed with people and were running low on cookies, and we were only 1 hour into the event. I think the first booth not being setup caused an overflow to the second booth. But the TNT folks were cheery and doing their best. Zac and I decided to only spend 1 cookie dollar there so that they would have more cookies for the others still coming in. We still had a bunch of other stops to go.

We continued on to stop #3 on Stone and Grant at the Ameripsych booth. Much less traffic here and a good selection of cookies. Since we were behind in our cookie spending, we spent 2 cookie bucks here. Next we ended up downtown at the Tucson Roller Derby booth. They were easy to find as there was a gal on skates with a cookie sign showing us where to turn. They had a great booth setup with lots of derby folks on skates. If Tri Girls skated, we would be like them…it was like a parallel group. They had a fabulous selection of cookies so Zac and I splurged and spent 4 cookie bucks there. A guy from the paper was there taking photos, and as I took my outer jacket off he kneeled down and started taking a bazillion pics of the Cookie Monster on the front of my bike. I also got my pic taken by the roller derby folks with a derby girl and Cookie Monster. The guy from the paper asked me my name and I put in a plug for Tri Girls. So I’ll have to see if Cookie Monster ends up in the paper. ;)

Zac and I had to pick up the pace because I was hoping to go to TTG swim after the bike ride. Next stop, the TTG booth! The purple tent was setup on the UA mall, right by the pool. It was easy to find, especially with the TTG banner up across from the booth, and it was the perfect location. Keli, Shari, Kathy, Joyce, Eve, Leslie, and Jess with Patches the Tri Pup had an awesome spread, and it was so fun to chat with them. Zac and I spent 9 cookie bucks here each, and I think I took about one of everything. Leslie and the other TTG bakers had some tasty stuff that we couldn’t resist. I wasn’t able to get Krista’s truffles though, because those were already gone. :(

Our next stop was the Lightning Rugby booth, and they weren’t far off of the 3rd street bike path. They were on the side of the street, and I have to hand it to them for being very organized. They had a line of cones and they directed the bikes into the cone lane. They had someone mark the cookie sheet on our race numbers while the others got cookies, and the whole thing went very quickly. They were limited on space with the street they were on, but it all worked out well.

We had a couple of miles to our next stop, United Cerebral Palsy of So. AZ. They had volunteers on the street corner directing us into the parking lot, which gave us a safer way to get back to where their booth was in a back parking lot. A couple of their guy volunteers were bike valet, and held our bikes for us as we went to the cookie booth. These folks had a ton of spirit, with music and their volunteers were dancing. They had the cutest cookies shaped like bikes, so I had to buy 2 of those. They also had games, but Zac and I couldn’t stay for the games because we were running out of time. Last year we got done with the ride after they had taken the finish line down, and this year we weren’t going to let that happen. So we had to essentially grab our cookies at each booth and go.

A couple of miles to the next stop at a park, and we were at the Janice Meyer booth. Zac and I bought 2 baggies each of these cool little turtle things. They had taken a small pretzel, melted a Rolo on top, an stuck a pecan nut on top of the Rolo. Oh my gosh were they tasty! I’m going to have to figure out how to make them because Zac and I thought they would make excellent endurance ride food. You know, when I’m not eating Snickers bars. ;)

As we rolled back towards the Brandi Fenton park, we made a quick stop to help some TTGs with a flat. Zac popped the tire back on quick, and add some more air to the tire with his pump. Next we hit the Green Things booth. We had ridden past their plant nursery on the river path many times, and now we know how to get in the front way. This was kind of a self-serve station, where you just grab a brown paper bag and put cookies inside. We talked to the nursery guy for a bit while we got our bags situated and he told us stories of lost riders. The story of the missing Booth #1 had also made it to him, as I guess other cyclists had told him the same story.

Only one more booth to go, and that was the TriSports booth at the finish! Zac and I decided to hit the booth first and got our last 2 cookies. Then we turned around and rolled through the finish line and got our finisher’s cookie medals. They are little ceramic medallions that look like dark chocolate chip cookies. This time we got through the finish line before they took it down. I quickly unpacked my gear, said goodbye to Zac, and left to get to TTG swim. Overall it was a great Tour De Cookie!

Thanks so much to the Tri Girls that volunteered this morning in the cold, and those that made wonderful cookies. Thanks also to all the TTGs and honorary Tri Guys that came out and rode in this event to show support. A big thanks to Shari for making the TTG booth at this event happen. I think it is awesome TTG can give back to the community and support events like this.

Joyce took these great pics, which I'm stealing from Facebook. :)

Zac and I at the TTG cookie stand together:




The bounty of cookies I bought from the TTG stand:

Merry Christmas from the AZ Trail!

Yes, I know. Christmas was last month. I'm still catching up.


The training plan for Christmas morning said I could do an hour run anywhere, so I decided on a trail run on the AZ Trail. I chose the Sycamore Reservoir trail (#39) from Prison Camp to the Sycamore Canyon Reservoir. This section is in wilderness, so mountain bikes aren't allowed on this section of trail. I always like to trail run the AZT sections that I can't bike.


Zac and I hit the trail at 9 AM and were the only ones heading out. The trail starts by the corrals in the Prison Camp campground, and heads up a hillside and then down into a wash. We started our run in the wash and climbed up to the saddle where the official AZ Trail sign is.



We then had a lot of downhill leading to the reservoir. Some sections were quite rocky.

View of Thimble Peak:


Zac and I at Sycamore Reservoir with Thimble Peak in the background:


There was quite a bit of water flowing down the reservoir to the stream below. The snow on Mt. Lemmon was already melting.

Zac by the reservoir:


I hiked down a bit down a steep slope to get a few more pics. Yes, risking my life for pics! ;)

Better view of the steep reservoir wall:
That would be ice in the stream below. The water flowing down the reservoir ended up below the ice.

View of the saddle on our climb back up. The saddle is where the AZT sign is.

That morning we were the only people on the trail. We only saw 2 other hikers coming up the other side of the saddle as we headed down. After we left the parking lot, there was a lot of traffic heading up Catalina Highway...most likely people going up to play in the snow. Overall it was a great way to spend Christmas morning!

Cliff Notes versions of race reports

Yep, I'm still alive. Apparently I took a break from blogging. Right now I'm averaging 12-13 hours a week with XTERRA training, which ranks right up there with Half Ironman training and the early weeks of Ironman training as far as volume goes. Phew!

I'm not going to be able to do the usual detailed race reports for the 6 (!) race reports that I am behind on, so here is the Cliff Notes versions of each race.

PBR Off-Road Tri - 10/11/09
After surviving several insane XTERRA courses, it's a nice treat to drive up to Tempe and do the PBR off-road tri. I think it's a requirement for each XTERRA course to have something insane. The PBR tri is not part of the XTERRA series, but is kind of the same idea. Swim in a lake, mountain bike, trail run.

We drove up to the Phoenix area the day before because Zac had a mountain bike race at McDowell Mountain Park as part of the Dust Devil series. He made it 4 miles in to his race when his fork broke, forcing him to walk something like 6 miles back to the car. He was not a happy camper. We hit a hotel that night in Tempe at a super cheap rate thanks to a last-minute bid on Priceline, and got up early on Sunday for my tri.

I'd like to say I rocked the course and beat my time from last year, but my swim, bike, and run times were almost EXACTLY the same as last year! The swim was uneventful, but it was nice to only have to go 750 meters. The mountain bike was a blast and I rode the techy rock section each time, which was a great way to pass a bunch of people. The run was a mixture of trails and road, with the road section heading down Curry avenue and under the 202. As with last year, the race ends with an awesome slip n' slide.

Rock y Road 50/50 - 10/17/09
I had ridden the Reddington area trails a ton in preparation for this race. The week of the race I had to travel for work, and that Thursday I came down with some sort of stomach bug that purged my body of all electrolytes and fuel. Thursday evening I was definitely not doing the race. By Friday evening I had eaten toast and drank tons of Gatorade, and managed to get down some bland pasta. I was down 6 lbs in fluids. Saturday morning (race day) I was still a bit shaky but decided to see how far I would get on the course.

We headed out just as the sun was coming up, and it was already in the 70s, with weather predictions showing it to be on course for the hottest day in October. I slowly climbed up Redington Rd and made it to the Chiva turn-off, alternating water and Gatorade as I rode. These were my least favorite roads of the course, with many of the hills covered in scree and lots of wash crossings. I was way behind the group and just focused on keeping moving foward and taking rest breaks when I needed them. As I climbed to FR 37, there was a large bull standing in the Jeep trail, munching on the grass. I had to walk up the hill behind the bull and hoped he wouldn't come after me. At this moment I recalled Chad's AZT 300 race where he ended up in a tree as a bull came running and rammed into the tree. I made it safely past and continued on. As I rolled to the Italian Trap singletrack, a herd of cows on the other side of the fence next to me started trotting, and I recalled Liane's story of how she stampeded a herd of cows and had to track down the rancher to apologize.

As I rode the trails alone, I remembered all of the training rides I did with Zac, Liane, and Johnny...where we stopped to rest, where we just about died from heat stroke, and where we ran out of water in the past. I made it to the singletrack and started the long, rolling hills of the AZ Trail. Johnny said he'd be there in spirit, and sure enough he was. On 2 rides we stopped to un-wedge his chain from between his large rear cog and spokes. Well, on the Bellota trail my chain got wedged in the exact same spot. It took me forever to get untangled, but I finally did.

At 12:10 PM it was well over 90 degrees and I reached the major decision point at the La Milagrosa trailhead. Do I continue on down Milagrosa, one of the most technical trails in Tucson, or head back to the forest road and call sag support (my dad) to come get me? I rested in the measly shade of a mesquite tree and switched the last of my water bottles around. Miraculously, I had cell phone signal here, so I sent Zac a text message: "Starting La Milagrosa at 12:10 PM." That way if I didn't make it, he'd have a time stamp and Search & Rescue would only have 4 miles to find my body.

I started down the Milagrosa trail, telling myself to keep moving as much as possible. I had put my arm coolers back on to try to keep the sun off my arms. Also, it's never a good idea to ride trails like this in the heat of a hot day when you're in the middle of reading books like "Death in the Grand Canyon." Your actions closely mimick those in the book that have died. Somehow I survived the trail and got to the granite slab section of trail, which is the steepest and most technical. The few ounces of water that I had left were as hot as soup and it was hard to force myself to drink it. I finally got down to the pavement of the neighborhood and started riding back to McDonald park. I breifly thought about going straight home. I REALLY wanted to stop at someone's house and ask to use their water spigot, but I didn't want to stop riding. The last stretch on the pavement back to the park took forever, but when I got to the park I found Zac there at the Jeep. I dumped my bike, immediately laid down in the parking lot in the shade of my Jeep, and started drinking water and dousing my face in the water we had stashed in the coolers.

I laid under my Jeep for about 30 minutes, not caring about the stares of people in their cars as they rolled through the parking lot. I told Zac that I couldn't continue, and packed up. There was no way I had any strength left to continue on the road up Mt. Lemmon. But I had survived the trail portion of the 50/50 which was much further that I thought I was going to get after being sick right before the race.

Zac had gone straight from the exit of the Milagrosa trail back to our house and laid down in the driveway by the hose bib for 30 minutes before continuing on back to the park where our vehicles were. The heat got to him, too, so we both decided today wasn't going to be our day to finish the event with how hot it was. Hopefully next year the weather will be a bit better.


Tinfoilman Tri - 10/25/09

I had done the Tucson tri and the Firecracker tri, and the Tinfoilman was the last race in the series. I signed up with an estimated swim time of 14 minutes. I was swimming just under that in the summer aquathlons, and I figured that would motivate me to keep swimming up until October. Well, it didn't. I went on a strike from swimming, and forgot that I really should update my swim time. So on race day I was in Wave 8 out of 10. Lots of sitting around and fretting about the swim. Why, after doing 5 years of triathlon, would I fret over an 825 yard pool swim? Because I had volunteered for these races in the past as a swim lap counter, and know that Jim the race director paces up and down the lanes and does the math of who in the current wave is going the slowest, and holding up the entire next wave of swimmers. (This is why an accurate swim time is important). I didn't want to be THAT swimmer, especially in Wave 8! Keli was in Wave 7, so I had someone to talk to while we waited and waited for our time in the pool to come up.

This race I actually made an effort to warm-up, and got in the Kasser pool and did 200 meters right before my wave started to get in. I was hoping this would help get the heart rate up and the start wouldn't be such a shock to my system. Before I knew it, it was time to go and start swimming. It felt like the swim took forever, but when I got out I wasn't the last person in the pool! I looked down and my time was right in line with my swim time for the Tucson Tri, so I was happy with that. I got through T1 in about a minute, and got on my bike with it's new Zipp 404's installed (great buy on ebay). I hit the bike course with the plan to bike as hard as I could and hopefully turn in the best bike time I could. I forced myself to stay in the aerobars on the straight sections of road, and ended up leap frogging with 2 other ladies. On the last lap the one in front of me crashed as she was making the turn onto Enke Drive, so I slowed down but she was already up by the time I got there. I did my flying dismount, but had a sloppy racking of the bike that may have cost a few seconds. I got my run gear on and was out in about 30 seconds for T2. A quick check of my watch showed my fastest bike time ever!

My running wasn't as abismal as my swimming, but I hadn't been doing as much as in the past, and definitely not any speed work. I had mostly been biking on the mountain bike the months leading up to this race, so I was less than prepared for racing a sprint tri. I decided to push as much as I could on the run and my time would be what it would be. The first race was a 1:20:25, and the second was a 1:20:05. I was mentally preparing myself to be no where near that once the run was over. I wasn't sure if I could pull down the same run split, especially after pounding so hard on the bike. The 2 laps around the UA mall were painful, and as I ran past the garage I looked down and saw that I was close to last race's run time. Could I actually do it? I didn't look at my watch anymore and pushed as hard as I could for the rest of the way and crossed the line and looked at my watch. 1:19:18! I had beaten the 1:20 goal! I was all teary at the finish but quickly found some water and calmed down. Hmm...maybe I should re-think this training thing since I went faster on my least amount of training. ;) I ended up 4th in my age group and the series champion in W30-34 for doing all 3 races.

Casa Grande Tri - 11/7/09

The Casa Grande sprint tri would be my last race of the 2009 season. I had read on the entry form that they only awarded 2 deep in each AG, so I made getting top 2 in my age group the goal. Zac was there to do the duathlon, so of course I had to sign up and do the triathlon. We arrived to the race super early and set up on the tennis courts. The swim was super short with only 400 meters to swim. The only problem was that it was self-seeded, meaning you lined up where you wanted to in the line of racers. Krista and I slowly worked our way around the crowd and got in with folks that were in the 7.5 min timeframe. We got in and started the serpentine swim. The pool was nice and heated, but crowded with all of the racers. By the last 50 meters I caught up to a guy that was WALKING on the bottom of the pool! And he was ahead of us! Apparently he was a bit over zealous in his swim time estimate. I quickly passed him and got out to start the bike.

I left T1 with a guy that was in a white shirt and we headed out onto the course. The duathlon riders were already on the bike, so there was a lot of passing to do. I kept myself down in the aerobars again, and it was nice to have long stretches of road to just spin in the high gears. The white T-shirt guy and I kept passing back and forth. He was the only one that passed me. We came into T2 right next to each other, and it turns out we were racked right next to each other in transition. "Nice bike!" I told him, and he agreed. I took a little extra time to grab a sip of water and was out onto the run course.

This was my 2nd tri 5 years ago, and I had forgotten that the run course climbs along the base of a mountain with some rollers. I hit the first aid station, grabbed some water, and looked at my watch to see 11 minutes. I wasn't sure if the mile 1 marker had been there or not, but kept going. Thankfully, the next stretch was all downhill, then a long flat section before making the final turn to the finish. I crossed the line in 1:09:34, which was under my goal time of 1:10, and I was surprised to see I had averaged under 9 minute miles on the 3 mile run. I caught up with Zac at the finish, and he was happy with his finish time as well. We waited for Krista to cross the line, and it was her turn to get teary at the finish because she had her best 5K run time ever and wasted her goal time.

There was a nice breakfast at the end while we waited for the results. Results showed Zac 1st in his 30-34 AG, and I was 2nd out of 52 in the W30-34 AG for the tri. But when awards were announced, our names weren't called. For some reason, for awards, the race was grouped into 10 year age groups. So Zac and I were grouped in 30-39, and the 35-39 folks were ahead of us in the standings. No idea why the race did this, especially when last year they were grouped in 5 year age groups. So for 30-39 I was 7th out of 88. I guess 52 women in 30-34 weren't enough to justify awards and they had to expand it to 10 year age groups. USAT sanctioning is good for some things, like keeping races consistent. (This race isn't USAT sanctioned).

Zac had fun in the duathlon, so I think we'll try to find him some more races to do. Oddly enough, there are only a few duathlons around, but a ton of triathlons.

Dawn 2 Dusk - 12/5/09

Liane and I do the Dawn 2 Dusk mountain bike race every year, and the past 2 years Zac has done it solo. This year there were the usual parking issues, but we found a spot and managed to grab some space for Liane and Nate to park. This year, it was freezing cold. I had the first lap, so Zac and I rode our bikes down the road to the start line in the dark and 36 degree temperature. I was wearing bike shorts, tights, and insulated pants on the bottom, and 2 long sleeved jerseys and a wind breaker on the top and I was STILL cold! The race started and Zac and I rode together, letting the mass of the group go ahead. It was kind of disappointing to see people that had been late for the start coming down the road and hopping in with the group and shortcutting the road to the start line.

We hit the singletrack and the sun finally came up, but I was still cold. Zac rode behind me and joked it was nice for the duo racer to allow the solo racer to draft off of her. The Pemberton trail that we were on has a long, grinding climb at the beginning for several miles, and I lost Zac towards the end of this climb. But he caught back up and decided to go ahead on the downhill section. I finished my first lap about 5 minutes behind him and handed off to Liane and headed for cover in the RV. I immediately turned the furnace back on and started to warm up my frozen feet. It took about an hour before they were warm again, but it made a difference for the second lap.

I was still bundled up on the second lap, but thankfully didn't have the extra 2 miles of road to ride. I wore my heart rate monitor for each lap, and this lap I spent 34 minutes in Zone 4 and 32 minutes in Zone 5. It sure didn't feel like it on the course. I finished up the lap and handed off to Liane and grabbed more food before sitting down briefly to rest.

On my 3rd lap I was doing the math and determined there was no way I would be getting a 4th lap in. We would need me to go out before the 4:30 PM cutoff, and both Liane and I would have to turn in record-breaking laps to do so. Besides, on the 3rd lap I was tired and didn't really feel like doing a 4th lap in the dark when it would be freezing cold again. I came into transition and handed off to Liane for her 3rd lap and told her to enjoy the last lap of our race. I then packed up the RV and waited for everyone to finish their last laps. Zac completed 5 total, and was happy to see the burrito I had warmed up and ready for him at the finish. Liane finished up her 3rd lap, locking in our 6th. Our goal was to not be last in our category, and we succeeded.

Kentucky Camp Epic - 12/12/09
I did this ride last year with Liane, and we decided to do it again this year. There was the option of riding a 29 mile short course, or 58 mile long course. I had already seen the section that makes up the long course, and didn't want to be out on the trail for over 8 hours, so I decided the short course was the best bet. The course was slightly different this year with the start at Rosemont Junction and heading south on the AZ Trail. This would give me the chance to ride a new section of the AZT that I had never ridden.

That morning I geared up and waited with the other short course racers for the start. There was no sign of Liane, and I wondered what had happened to her since the race is just down the street from her house. The race started and I let the speedy folks go ahead and fell in behind. This wasn't really a "race" for me, more like a long ride where I just wanted to see new trail. I didn't see Liane at the beginning, and as I rode I figured maybe she thought the race started at last year's start point, and I might see her out there. I climbed and climbed the new section of trail, and fell in with a group of people that were also out there to have fun and rolled with them. As we rolled along FR163 and hit the junction where the long course people came up from Kentucky Camp, I spotted a rider in pink long sleeves. It was Liane! Somehow we intersected each other. Sure enough she had parked at last year's start point and decided to ride the course backwards hoping to find us, and she did. So she rode the rest of the trail with me until we hit the intersection where I would continue on back to my car and she would take the dirt road back to hers. As we rode we began to remember the long climbs and sketchy sections of last year's ride, but at least this year we didn't have the crazy wind that we had last year.

I hit the last singletrack and made it back to my car and then headed off to Liane's for some of Nate's panini sandwiches and tomato soup. Which, by the way, is excellent ride recovery food. Hot food never tasted so good!