Hurts so Good

I started a new yoga class yesterday and it was a whole new experience. Robin, my previous instructor, was soft spoken, played soothing world music, and slowly led us through posses. My new instructor, was a bit more like a drill sergeant. I felt bad towards the people to whom she displayed open disgust towards, because they could not hold the poses for long enough. I did well, though I would have been discouraged if I was a yoga beginner. Today my shoulders are more sore than they've ever been due to the pushups we did. She kept having us hold the pushup in the down position (halfway). Pushups are not my forte. I'll just have to view this yoga class more as an extra core class than as a relaxing experience.

1/2 Done

Over half the year has passed, and I'm half done with my races. Only 10 (maybe 11) races to go. I'll have another tough couple weeks in early August (3 races in 11 days), but this time I'm going to sleep and eat excessively well.

I ran 8 miles pushing Cedric today. He held up quite well, though he got really fussy a few times. At mile 6 I found myself gasping "Victors" up a hill to entertain him. It reminded me of trying to blast out M Fanfare after doing entries into the stadium. I need to run with him more often, though on shorter routes, for both our sake.

National 24 Hour Challenge

The National 24 Hour Challenge is a bike race in Middleville, MI where the goal is to bike as many miles as you can in 24 hours. I was planning on doing the first loop of this race, 120 miles, with my Dad. Unfortunately I fell ill the night before. My dad still completed the loop on his own. Way to go, Dad!

I was planning on finding another long bike ride to do this summer, to make up for missing this one. Once I started looking at my calendar for a weekend that would work, I remembered how many events I already have on my plate this year. Aside from the stress on my body, it is also stressful for my family to plan around these weekends. I think I'll just aim to do the National 24 Hour Challenge again next year.

Triceratops Triathlon

Felt great the whole races. Made some mistakes, including leaving my socks inside out, forgetting where my bike rack was when I came in from the bike, forgetting to take my helmet off before the run...but I think those are to be expected for a first timer. My goal was to finish in the top half of my age group, and I did (8 of 16). I would have placed better except I'm worse at the swim than I had originally expected. The good news was that I never panicked on the swim, and "swam" the whole thing without stopping. Percentiles in results are given as the % of people better than me (so 100% for the swim portion in my AG means I was last).

Flirt with Dirt

First of all, thanks to my parents who saved the day. They drove all the way from Sturgis to watch Cedric so that I could run and Greg could go to work. Here are the results:

Time: 54:13 (8:45 pace)
Place: 112 of 327
AG: 3 of 24

This is a huge improvement from my 1:05 time last year. Not only was I in better shape, but I improved my strategy as well. A good portion of the course is single track, meaning that it's difficult to pass. I made sure to start in a faster pace group and I was more aggressive with passing. I still got stuck in lines a few times, but most of the time I was going at my own pace.

Triathlon Approaching

My first triathlon is coming up. I wanted to provide a description of how these things work.

You generally wear the same outfit the whole race, called a tri suit. It's pretty tight, to avoid drag as you swim and bike, but quick drying so that you aren't water logged after the swim. It has a padded chamois, like bike shorts, but much less padding, so it dries faster and so you don't feel like you are running with a diaper on. You are labeled, by marker, or temporary tattoo, with your number on your biceps and quads, and perhaps your age group on a calf.

Most triathlons have open water swims. The start is often staggered, so there aren't too many people swimming in a clump at once, though it still gets congested. You are required to wear a bright swim cap with your number. You want googles as well. If the water temp is below a certain temperature, you can wear a wet suit without being penalized (the buoyancy makes you faster), but no wet suits are allowed above 78ºC. When your wave starts, you run into the water, swim around the buoys as instructed, and come out where indicated. The swim distance in the races I will be doing this summer is a half mile.

You then run into the transition area. The next segment is the bike. You put on your shoes (and socks if desired), sunglasses (if needed), and helmet. You then run your bike out to the mount line until you can get on and start riding. The Running Fit races have a bike distance of 12 miles.

Once you reach the dismount line (usually the same as the mount line) you have to jump of your bike and run it back to your place in the transition area. You place your bike on the rack, take off your helmet, change your shoes, and grab your race tag. Then it's just the running segment, in this case a 5k (3.1 Miles).

You are timed on all segments of the race; swim, transition 1 (T1), bike, transition 2 (T2), and run. The total time determines the winners, so you need to be quick at all aspects to succeed. We'll be practicing more of the transitions and starts in the triathlon class I started this past week.

Dances with Dirt - Gnaw Bone

Time: 2:22:41 (10:54 pace)

Place: 35 of 105 total, 8 of 51 women

AG: 2 of 9

This was an amazing race. I would have never thought southern Indiana (near Bloomington) was so beautiful? The first couple miles had clay mud that came up to your ankles, but since the last 1/2 mile was in the creek, your shoes ended up pretty clean. In between were some gorgeous trails, though with frequent downed trees, many of which it was hard to decide whether it would be quicker to climb over or crawl under. Crossing a couple of times through Brown Country state park, where we camped, you found water and Gu stations.

I did well this race, and finished feeling that I could have gone faster or further. Instead of the usual mug AG award I got a "Run Wild" canvas chair. Definitely going back next year.