Square Lake Preview Ride

Looking for a place to ride on Saturday a.m.? I'm heading out on the Square Lake long course at 8 a.m. and doing 2 loops. Park at Square Lake Park ($5 fee) and head out into the rolling hills. Stop at the park after 1 loop and replenish your water bottles for the 2nd loop. Self supported ride.

Here's the route:



The weather looks like it should be fabulous. Probably a little cool at the start but warming up nicely.

Vacation Takes It's Toll

I'm sitting here blogging and icing down the arch of my left foot. This won't suprise any of you runners out there - it's a way to help prevent/heal the dreaded plantar fasciitis. No, that's not what I'm doing here. I'm icing down the spot where a yellowjacket somehow got between my sandal and my foot. It didn't want to be there any more than I wanted it there and it let me know! It's much better this morning than it was last night but I don't think I want to head out for a run. Maybe tomorrow.

Aside from the human/animal interaction, vacation left a mark in another way too. I'm up a few pounds. I could blame myself and my lack of self control, but I blame the Doc. She likes to have snacks around, have 1/2 a serving herself and then sit back and watch me eat the rest. It started with a ginormous (yes that's actually a word and I'm lobbying for hugantic (which is actually bigger than ginormous)) http://http//www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hugantic batch of gorp. We're talking about at least 1 gallon of gorp which is perhaps the most calorie dense substance known to man. The gorp disappeared after a couple of days and was followed by Special K bars, rice krispie treats and cookies (including those frosted sugar ones that don't fill you up at all but have like a thousand calories a piece). Fortunately she's tucked back into work and can no longer wreak havoc on my dietary intake.

Now I've got to figure out how I'm going to lug these extra 7 pounds (based upon my Rockman weight) around Square Lake. Good thing it's a hilly course - because that's exactly what you want when you're above your ideal race weight. (that's sarcasm people).

Managed to pack on the pounds despite biking 175 miles, running 13 miles and about an hour of swimming in 10 days plus all the projecting around the cabin. The cabin residing is nearly complete. Now for the big ol garage.

Vacation

Lest any of you think that my life is empty, but for triathlons, I thought I'd share a few pictures from our time at the cabin. (We're still there). But don't worry too much, I'm currently alone, blogging from our "bonus room" (formerly the guest house before a friendly neighbor called the City of East Bethel) above the detached garage waiting for the coverage of the Women's Olympic Triathlon to start. It's 11 now and I'm not sure I'm going to make it as the local news is starting first.

Anyhow - here are the pics. Click on a photo to see it MUCH bigger.

Where is my driver when I need her most? Look at that butter! Oh yeah, there are a couple of kids catching sunnies and putting them in a big Rubbermaid (tm) bin. My driver (the "Doc") was wrapping things up at work before her week off.
















The weather is supposed to be picture perfect all week.
















The dog chilled between sets during this after dinner ski/boarding session.





















JRose taking a break from tubing. But in case you think it's all sunsets, full moon rising, chilling in the sun. Here's an action shot from the tubers:

















On a training note - I did go for my first run since Turtleman this morning. 3 miles - whoo hoo. Tomorrow I'm planning a long ride. Next Sunday the Minnesota Tri Club's August Century Ride conveniently goes very close to the cabin. I'll jump in and get 60 - 70 miles in.

Turtleman

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm new to this blogging thing. Perhaps if I had more experience with this thing, I'd have a picture of Jim unveiling his Secret Weapon race morning, a picture of my reaction to said Secret Weapon, a picture of the presentation of THE Turtle.



As it is, you'll just have to settle for a few pictures of me from behind. That's right folks, I was so fast all day that they couldn't get the pictures of me from the front.



I know, I know, the suspense is killing you (or not). Yes, I did win THE Turtle. That makes me the first multiple Turtle winner. Yes Rob, I'm counting 2006 - it's not my fault Jim fainted prior to the start and couldn't go. I still beat Rob that year.



Rob won last year and added a plaque to THE Turtle. He put his name on it, but failed to add mine for 2006. In putting my name on it for this year I added the 2006 victory too.



I'm getting a bit ahead of myself though.

We all met at Rob's house before heading over to the race. Instead of pulling his gold Bianchi road bike with clip on aero bars from his truck, Jim gets out the SECRET WEAPON. A racing red fully tricked out tri bike complete with Zipp racing wheels and tubular tires. It was a pretty bike! How the heck did he talk Mindy into that? Oh . . . it was borrowed. I'm sure the look on my face was priceless. Worrisome? Slightly. The new bike looked fast, but was not without some risk. Jim would be in a completely new body position. I wondered how his back would hold up and how the bike to run would go.

This year Turtleman was again a time trial start (one person every 3-5 seconds). This year they went oldest to youngest. This meant both Rob and Jim were starting before me. Rob about 5 minutes and Jim about 2. This meant psychologically I would start out as the hunter instead of the prey. A pleasant change.

I was somewhat secretly hoping to be the first out of the water despite starting so far back. Jim swam in high school and our times are usually pretty similar. Rob dreads the swim. As I came out of the water I heard the Doc yell "Rob's waaaay in front of you." What she actually said was "Rob's right in front of you." He was just about getting ready to head out when I got to our rack. Jim's bike was still there too. Apparently he saw me pass him "before the first buoy." How he saw me go by I don't know. I think a small nuclear submarine could go past me and I wouldn't notice.

I stripped off my wetsuit and got my shoes on as quick as I could. I headed off chasing Rob on the bike. I should note that I was operating on very limited information. When we got to the rack that morning I discovered I had neglected to charge my Garmin. Fortunately, I had decided to use my Polar heart rate monitor since the Garmin has been acting up (something to do with the 2 inch crack in the face). On the ride I didn't have any information about cadence, speed, distance. I've ridden the course about 50 times so I know it pretty well. It actually was kind of nice to just focus on keeping my heart rate in the zone and not worry about whether I was going fast enough or what my cadence was.

I caught Rob about halfway through the bike. He tried to stay with me for a while. Cha, like that's going to happen. It'd be like me trying to hang with him on the run. The thought never crossed my mind when he passed me a mile and a half into the run. I was too busy trying to figure out if he could make up 5 minutes in the remaining 3.5 miles.


I saw Jim for the first time since the start about 3 1/2 minutes into the run. He was coming in on the bike. This put him about 6 minutes back. I thought I might see him at around mile 4, but he struggled on the run and I didn't see him until after the finish.

The whole last couple of miles I kept telling myself. "You don't want to lose to Rob by 3 seconds - keep moving." And I did. My mile splits were - 8:41, 8:49, 9:08, 9:11, and 8:47. That last mile is mostly uphill (not steep, but still up) so I'm especially pleased that I was able to drop the pace back under 9. I was really concentrating. I didn't react to the Doc or Mindy and the kids until the Doc yelled at me to "RUN FASTER." That's a joke between us and isn't something people usually yell. I did manage to smile and give a little wave after that. As I came to the finish there was a women a little ahead of me. I think she thought I was kicking to try and get by her. I didn't care about her, I just didn't want to lose to Rob by 3 seconds. She sped up to stay in front. At the line I eased up as if to say - it's all yours.

The day was beautiful. Great to hang out in the park eating free hotdogs and hoping to win some awesome prizes. No one in our group won anything this year.

Here are the numbers. I don't think they could have been much better. I would have liked to have broken one hour on the bike, but overall I'm pleased:


Time
2:13:34
Overall Place
269 / 795
Gender Place
214 / 494
Swimtime
25:51
Swimpace
1:35
Swimplace
160
Tran1
1:46
Biketime
1:00:47
Bikemph
21.1
Bikeplace
276
Tran2
0:38
Runtime
44:34
Runpace
8:45
Runplace
449
Penalty

Sometimes Inspiring Others Hurts

So a couple of you have told me you've signed up for races because my signing up for CDA inspired you. (Wow if signing up inspired you, just imagine what actually running the race might do). One of those two, neighbor Brian, signed up for his first 5k - the Villagefest 5k. I told him I'd run it with him. Brian's a big guy. He's down to just under 250 (or an eighth of a ton as I used to describe myself back in the day).

He told me his goal was 31 minutes. We were planning on being at the lake that weekend. I thought cool - the race doesn't start until 8. I'll ride my bike down (28 miles), change and go for a short training run with Brian. Then I'd ride back up to the lake and go about my day. Fortunately the Doc had to round that morning so she offered to give me a ride back to the lake. I thought about it and said sure. I probably didn't need to ride my bike back.

The race starts and we're off. A half mile into it I look at the Garmin and we're doing an 8:50 pace. Uh, Brian . . . you're starting off a little fast here. I'm worried he's going to fry himself in the first mile and we're going to be walking it in. I've done it before, I recognize the signs. He says he feels pretty good. We slow a little and finish the first mile in 8:55. We come to a couple of small hills in the second mile which slow us a little more.

Brian's huffing and puffing pretty good. As I said he's a big guy. I start thinking that his wife probably blames me for Brian's bike purchase and everything that goes with that. A fact that she confirmed after the race. I decide if he drops over she's going to blame me. Good thing I didn't find out until after the race that his mom died from a massive coronary during an aerobics class. He really hasn't slowed down too much but I can tell he's running near his limit.

I had stashed an extra shirt at the start. It was about 50 feet off the course with 200 yards left to go. I was thinking about diving over and getting it when all the sudden Brian kicks it in. Guess I'll get the shirt after the race.

We cross the line at 29:15 which worked out to around 9:15/mi. So much for 10:30s. I go home get cleaned up and immediately take a nap while waiting for the Doc. I'm really glad I didn't have to ride back up to the lake. I would have been toast.

Shameless Plug

Hey

Just wanted to point you to one of my new "sponsors." I met Colleen through Stomper Rob at a swim class. She was preparing for her first triathlon - Turtleman - a 1 mile swim, 22 mile bike and 10k. No small task.

Anyhow, she's started a business selling tri related picture frames, jewelry and stuff. Here's her description from her website:

Our purpose is to offer you fun and affordable keepsakes that mark your athletic accomplishments. Trinity Designs was created by someone who, after participating in her first triathlon in 2006, wanted to find a way to mark this achievement, but had little luck finding a way to do so.
At Trinity Designs we offer creative keepsakes for you to recognize your hard work and discipline.
At this site you will find products such as picture frames, plaques, necklaces, bracelets, key chains and zipper pulls that give you the opportunity to celebrate your athletic achievements.
You are able to choose from the products on this website or work with Trinity Designs to custom design a keepsake of your own. Thank you for taking time to see what we can offer you!

Check out her products at http://www.trinitydesigns.org. She'll also be at the Turtleman packet pick up this week. If you get something from her tell her "Rich sent me" No I don't get any kickbacks or anything.