Stroke and Stride #2

SO MUCH BETTER!!! Lily at Fleet Feet showed me the proper way to put on a swim wetsuit - basically, put the suit on, then lean over so your torso is at a 90 degree angle from your legs (think sun salutation), and then grab the wetsuit near your hips and pull upwards. Repeat again and again as you inch your way up your torso until it feels like the wetsuit is up to your ears. Then slowly stand up. The wetsuit around your chest and shoulders is now somewhat loose and you can inhale and exhale deeply. Use the same grab and pull technique on the arms and you'll have even more range of motion in the shoulders. Lily said 75% of women during their first open water wetsuit swim don't pull the wetsuit up far enough and they feel constricted. That is exactly what happened to me! I felt like I was swimming in a straight jacket which didn't help my overall panic breathing any. This time I had full arm motion and I could inhale and take a deep breath - wonderful!

Another difference was my starting position strategy. At the first Stroke and Stride, being a newbie, I started in the back of the short course group and was way behind from the get go.  I hate to be the last one in anything, it just seems futile. This time, (as a seasoned pro - haha), I lined up in the front line of the long course group and even though people passed me, I knew I wasn't the very last one. It made a world of difference to my motivation and I was able to focus on swimming and appreciate the forward progress I was making in the water. I swam freestyle about 1/3 of the way  and swam the breast stroke the rest of the way.  I remembered to set my watch this time so I got an accurate time.  I was surprised that I actually did it in 20 minutes!

I ended up buying the rental wetsuit so I can practice with it some more. I've come so far and I'm not going to let a piece of neoprene stop me:)

 Da Beast

Stroke and Stride #1

Stroke and Stride is a group that puts on an open water swim and 5K run at the Boulder Reservoir every Thursday evening throughout the summer. Both my swim coach and my triathlon coach suggested I should try it to get used to open water swimming. I thought, no problem, I'm a scuba diver, windsurfer, and surfer - of course I'm used to open water.

OH MY GOD! And I do not say that lightly! I had no idea what I was in for.  I had rented a wetsuit earlier in the week and had done a few laps in the swimming area at the rez a couple days before. For my first Stroke and Stride I signed up for the 750 vs. 1500 swim figuring I should see what it was like before going overboard. I got to the reservoir in plenty of time to get registered, set up, and see what the deal was. Even though it was 6:00PM, the sun was in the west and on it's way down and the shadow effect made the water look black. A breeze was blowing from the east making the water choppy. There were about 200 triathletes in the water when the gun went off and we started swimming.

That first dunk underwater was colder than I was expecting and I came up gasping for breath. I tried to swim a few freestyle strokes but I couldn't get my breathing under control. My goggles were so scratched up that it was hard to see the giant orange buoy floating off in the distance. When I put my head down all I could see was murky green water. When I turned for a breath of air all I could see were flailing arms and kicking feet. I went into panic mode. I didn't want to turn around but at that point the swim distance looked overwhelming.

I decided if I was going to keep moving ahead the first thing I had to do was breathe. I resorted to the breaststroke and little by little I inched toward the buoy. I had forgotten to set my watch so I had no frame of reference on how fast I was going. I was just praying not to be the last one in the water. I got to the the first buoy and made the turn. The second buoy wasn't too far away and I kept propelling myself forward. When I was about half way there, I decided to try the crawl again. This time I had the mountains on my right and it was so comforting to have a familiar landmark to sight off of. OK, so far so good. I made it to the second buoy and headed for the home stretch. I switched off between the breaststroke and crawl but my breathing was still desperate gulps instead of controlled inhales.

I passed a girl who had stopped dead in the water, was treading water, and looked near hypothermic. Her boyfriend or husband was yelling at her to put her head down in the water and swim. I was so  thankful that wasn't me me and I realize things could be worse. I made it to the beach and crossed the tracking tapes. I was so glad to be out of the water! I looked at the clock, I think it took me 20 or 22 minutes to swim the 750. In my muddled mind I think 750 is a quarter mile and that I will have to do 10 laps the day of the Ironman. I am despondent - I'm too slow, it's too long, what have I done?

It's almost a week later when it dawns on me that 750 is actually almost half a mile! I'm elated! It's not as bad as I thought. I think I can finish in time:)

Pearl Izumi

One of the benefits of all the training I've been doing is that I've whittled my body down to perfect size 10. Perfect that is according to Pearl Izumi's Fit Model Standards for height and body measurements. Pearl Izumi, a premier cycling and running wear manufacturer, has been my number one go to for cycling gear for years so when I had heard about PI's fit model opening I thought it would be a great opportunity to see their new designs and maybe even have some input on the final product.

I applied for the job online and after a few weeks they asked me to come in for an interview and a measure. I passed the first hurdle and was asked back for a follow-up meeting with the designers. I was given a set of accessories, a cycling short and top, and a running short and top to try on. The designers all asked questions about the various outfits - were the sleeves and leggings long enough? was the chamois in the bike short too big/too small/in the right place? did the liner in the running short ride up?

I answered all their questions and they thanked me for coming in. They took one final measurement of my torso running the tape measure from the front of my neck, through my legs, and up to the back of my neck. The results showed that my torso is 2" shorter than that perfect size 10. 

At that point I figured I'd be disqualified and that would be the end of my fit model career. No amount of  exercise could change my skeletal structure. Needless to say, I was ecstatic to get an email from PI the next day offering me the job!

I can't wait to get started! I am so excited to be a part (even a small part) of the Pearl Izumi design team! The design process from concept to manufacture is a long affair so the gear that I'll be modeling will be available in 2 years.  

The Bolder Boulder

You can't live in Boulder, Colorado without running in the Bolder Boulder 10K at least once. The BB is the nation's largest citizen's race and had over 52,000 participants this year. The spectacle - and it is that - with bands playing everything from oldies to rock, to jazz, to Elvis; people dressed in all kinds of costumes from ridiculous to risqué; and every block armed with squirt guns and hoses ready to soak anyone who runs near enough - is a chance to welcome summer with open arms and also pay tribute to our service men and women.

My mom, Ione Norby, began running the Bolder Boulder when I was still in college. She taught English at a middle school and the gym teacher talked a bunch of the teachers into driving up to Boulder and running with the pack. At that time I had no idea what a 10K was but I knew my mom got up at 3:30 A.M. every day to run around the lake in our neighborhood park before going off to instill the finer points of grammar on unsuspecting teens. My dad worried about her being all alone and running in the dark, so he would drive the car up to the park and sit in the parking lot to make sure she was OK. He didn't really have to worry though, my mom found a group of like-minded runners at the park, (one of them was a nun!), and they would lap the lake together.

I ran the Bolder Boulder this year with my mom, my daughter Berkeley, and her boyfriend Tim. My first 10K was the BB when my kids were toddlers and my mom introduced me to it. Now, 20 years later, my mom's still doing it and at 83 years of age, she was given the 'Age Group Champion' tech t-shirt for winning her age group last year. (The folks at BB described it as being the equivalent of the yellow jersey of the Tour de France.) She was thinking about maybe calling an end to her career but when that letter and t-shirt arrived from the folks at the Bolder Boulder, I told she had to wear it and she had to run the race again!

She walked more than she ran this year but she is one fast walker. I lost her 3 times going through the water stations. I looked ahead, but at 4'9" she's tough to spot in a crowd. Then I pulled off to the side thinking I'd be able to see better but no luck. Finally, I ran ahead a couple blocks and saw her fluff of white hair bobbing ahead. When I caught up with her I said, "Mom, I lost you! Weren't you going to wait for me?" And just like when I was a kid she said, "I knew you'd find me." (When she took us anywhere when we were children we had to pay attention and keep up for fear of being left behind and lost!)  But while running after her this year, I realized she had inadvertently taught me skills that I still use to this day. Pay attention, keep up, run hard, keep going, don't quit, don't give up.

We finished the race in 1:49:41. My mom won her age group again this year and is still the champion of the 83 year olds. I hope I'm still charging along at full throttle when I'm her age!

Shopping For A Cause

The Athleta shop night was a huge success!!! Bif Hillard, Rachel, and Annie, of Athleta, have been joining the Kaia girls for early morning workouts. We sweated together and smiled through all the challenges Angela Hypio threw our way. In the end, it brought so much more meaning to the event and made it so much more personal. I think it was so wonderful that the Athleta team stepped up and joined in! I feel like our circle of Kaia friendships just got bigger:)

On the night of the shopping event we brought in a few small bites and drinks, set up the Doctors Without Borders information table, and waited for the shoppers to come in. We didn't have to wait very long, at 5:30 on the dot the doors swung open and for the next 2 hours a steady stream of friends rolled in. We had several call in orders too. All in all, at the end of the 2 hours, we had a grand total sales of $4,579.00. Doctors Without Borders receives 10% of that total or $458!!!

The Boulder Athleta store also generously raffled off a pair of sport sun glasses and a $25 Athleta gift card - how nice was that?!?! Spencer Casey, my triathlon coach, stopped by and met some of the girls - they had lots of training questions for him. Between seeing so many friends come out for the event and having my coaches there and working with the Athleta girls, I felt such a sense of community on so many levels. It was such a richly rewarding experience, one of the highlights on my journey to the Ironman!

 

 

Finished The Skratch Challenge!

Last week was tough... I decided to do the Skratch Challenge and ride 16 hours in 8 days. Skratch (electrolyte hydration products) and Strava (GPS run/bike tracking) partnered together and challenged cyclists worldwide to ride while the AMGEN Tour of California Pro Cyclists were riding the length of California.

While the pros faced a week of hot, dry temps in the 90s, here in Colorado it was a race against old man winter. The first day and a half of the challenge it SNOWED! When the clouds finally parted just before evening of the second day, I got on my bike and went for a quick spin just to get the first miles in. Most of the week was 40s with cool, blustery, rainy, foggy, and cloudy weather so I had to make a plan if I was going to get through this. I decided to ride and map out loops so that I'd know exactly how far I could go in X amount of time. I had a Short Loop, a Long Loop, an Extra Long Loop, and Carter Lake. On the longer rides I was able to link 2 or 3 loops together and use my house as a warming hut - grab a cup of tea or soup - and go out again.

Dave Scott, one of the greatest Ironman athletes ever, lives in Boulder. He says the Ironman is a test of mental determination, you know what you have to do, just "GET IT DONE." I used that mantra to get through the week. Along with the extra hours of riding, I kept up my full Ironman schedule also. One day I ran 12 miles, another day I swam 2 miles, a couple of days I did Kaia cross training, and even squeezed in a yoga session one day.

All told, I rode a total of 234 miles and climbed 8,852 feet in 16 hours and 18 minutes over 6 days. (I was so motivated to keep my Sunday day off I that I finished the challenge early!)

Stats:     Overall Rank - 4,907 out of 43,423
              Female Rank -    305 out of   2,441
              #1 Colorado Female Rider

I'm glad I tried it, I'm glad I finished it, and I'm really glad to add the Skratch cycling jersey to my gear!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

The best advice my triathlon coach ever gave me was - don't get lost in the training, make time for some fun along the way too. I took that advice to heart and looked around for some 'fun' things to do. I didn't have to look very far...

My favorite nail salon, ten20, also has a women's cycling team. I'd seen their kits around town for years and always drooled over their super cute designs. This year I got it together in time to join at the beginning of their season and snag a sweet ride set up. Gear and clothes do make you feel like super woman! Meeting all the girls during a team night night event at Oak was a blast. Jessica Johnson, a bike buddy whom I met in Italy on a cycling vacation, and Connie Solowiej, a long time friend from our boys' grade  school days, are both ten20 riders.  I can't wait for it to stop snowing so I can get out on the road and go for a very pink ride with the girls:)

My Kaia girls also ramped up the fun-o-meter this past weekend when we ran the Diva Dash 5K Obstacle Course. Decked out in pink tutus and pink Kaia tanks we ran, climbed, scampered, and crawled our way over, under, and thru a surprising number of obstacles. Sponsored by Shape magazine, the Diva Dash is a national event and Kaia Boulder had a great first year showing with 12 girls participating. The goal for next year is 40 girls! Of course having my daughter, Berkeley, by my side made it an extra special fun day.

My running partner, Angela Hypio, has made the ever mounting miles fly by. Somehow we manage to talk non-stop for the duration of the runs and still have enough gas to crunch out an ab workout at the end! We're looking at 12 miles this week - who knows what world issues we'll solve, recipes we'll share, or wedding plans we'll discuss!