Friday, June 27, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Don't Want to Train
Training for the upcoming Spudman Triathlon and St. George marathon is not going well. I'm having a hard time running, so I've been trying to do more swimming.
It's been almost three weeks since Vikingman, seems like a lot longer though. My IT band is giving me some problems, I've never had problems with it before, but the last mile at Vikingman was just a little more than my body really wanted to do. Been back on my bike and had a few good rides, no pain. I rode a 20 mile flat ride with Rosemary, we took Taylor and Kyle on the bike path from SB to Fairmont Park, I had never rode this before and it was a great, fun and easy ride and the boys had a great time. I think tomorrow I'm going to ride with Kristin. I've ridden a few times my usual hilly loop and found myself just puttin' along, no desire to really "train". Spudman is certainly do-able without any great training volume, however I really wanted to pr this year and I don't think I will. My biggest concern is lack of training for the St. George marathon, since I haven't been running, I am way behind on any training plan. I will try a run/walk this Saturday and see how it goes.
Lessons learned from doing a half ironman:
1. I know I did this too early if I cared about any other upcoming events. Note to self, do not schedule half, olympic, sprint, marathon, century, in that order. I knew this wasn't a wise order, but it seemed to work best with life.
2. Go to yoga. When I got busy trying to fit training into a busy life, yoga was the first thing to go, if I hadn't skipped out on yoga maybe I wouldn't being having the ITB issue.
3. I am a fair weather athlete, you can't pick the weather on race day, go train when it's windy, hot, cold etc.
4. I rarely wear full finger gloves at home, I wore them for Vikingman which was a great decision, however, unwrap everything and dump in pockets or Bento box, no zip-locs, no unopened shot blocks etc. Speaking of Bento boxes, mine is some off-brand and it is tiny, buy a big Bento box.
5. When it is cold you can put hand warmers in between your toe warmers and shoes and you can duct tape closed any holes in the bottom of your shoes. I also used hand warmers in my gloves and had no problems with burning my hands. I slipped the warmers in my shoes and gloves during set-up in T1 (lots of baby powder in the gloves) and had no problems getting the gloves on. (Thanks SBR sports for that great advice)
6. Swim more, find some open water options. It is just not convenient to do open water swims but my swimming panic attacks are going to cause me a DNF, it's just a matter of time.
7. Pack every piece of workout clothes you own. Just kidding, but I almost packed everything I had for all different weather scenarios. Who'd have thought that June would be so cold, the previous years race reports were all about the heat.
8. Neoprene caps really help. I tried it out at the pool before the race and when I took it off I could tell a big difference. Make sure you body glide the chin strap area.
Would I do this race again--don't know, I'll have to think about it.
It's been almost three weeks since Vikingman, seems like a lot longer though. My IT band is giving me some problems, I've never had problems with it before, but the last mile at Vikingman was just a little more than my body really wanted to do. Been back on my bike and had a few good rides, no pain. I rode a 20 mile flat ride with Rosemary, we took Taylor and Kyle on the bike path from SB to Fairmont Park, I had never rode this before and it was a great, fun and easy ride and the boys had a great time. I think tomorrow I'm going to ride with Kristin. I've ridden a few times my usual hilly loop and found myself just puttin' along, no desire to really "train". Spudman is certainly do-able without any great training volume, however I really wanted to pr this year and I don't think I will. My biggest concern is lack of training for the St. George marathon, since I haven't been running, I am way behind on any training plan. I will try a run/walk this Saturday and see how it goes.
Lessons learned from doing a half ironman:
1. I know I did this too early if I cared about any other upcoming events. Note to self, do not schedule half, olympic, sprint, marathon, century, in that order. I knew this wasn't a wise order, but it seemed to work best with life.
2. Go to yoga. When I got busy trying to fit training into a busy life, yoga was the first thing to go, if I hadn't skipped out on yoga maybe I wouldn't being having the ITB issue.
3. I am a fair weather athlete, you can't pick the weather on race day, go train when it's windy, hot, cold etc.
4. I rarely wear full finger gloves at home, I wore them for Vikingman which was a great decision, however, unwrap everything and dump in pockets or Bento box, no zip-locs, no unopened shot blocks etc. Speaking of Bento boxes, mine is some off-brand and it is tiny, buy a big Bento box.
5. When it is cold you can put hand warmers in between your toe warmers and shoes and you can duct tape closed any holes in the bottom of your shoes. I also used hand warmers in my gloves and had no problems with burning my hands. I slipped the warmers in my shoes and gloves during set-up in T1 (lots of baby powder in the gloves) and had no problems getting the gloves on. (Thanks SBR sports for that great advice)
6. Swim more, find some open water options. It is just not convenient to do open water swims but my swimming panic attacks are going to cause me a DNF, it's just a matter of time.
7. Pack every piece of workout clothes you own. Just kidding, but I almost packed everything I had for all different weather scenarios. Who'd have thought that June would be so cold, the previous years race reports were all about the heat.
8. Neoprene caps really help. I tried it out at the pool before the race and when I took it off I could tell a big difference. Make sure you body glide the chin strap area.
Would I do this race again--don't know, I'll have to think about it.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
A Little Dish Soap, a Tarp, a Ramp and You're Skiing in June!!
Well, how boring can summer be. Today was Brad's last day of Sport's Camp at the U of R, he had a good time. This was Kyle's first year not going to camp, I guess you're just too cool, or maybe too old when you're going to be a freshman in high school. Craig and I ran down to Blockbuster to get a movie for tonight, when we got home the boys had decided to "go skiing". The idea was to ski down the ramp and then do the rail, (note the skateboard rail at the end of the ramp). I'm not sure what they used to make the ramp, but I saw our old red wagon peeking out from under the tarp. They used dish soap and the garden hose to make the ramp slippery and then it was time for fun.
Ok, so now they've got the idea, it's time for bigger and better, I went out to check on them again, and they had created a new ramp (it's huge compared to the first one) this one is so big they have to climb up on Craig's shoulders and they start up in the tree branches.
Oh no, so now they've moved the ramp to the backyard so it can be even higher, they've got the ramp coming off the deck, slightly curving up at the bottom and onto the portable skateboard rail. You know we've made it at least a year I think without any broken bones, hopefully we can avoid the ER! At least they're wearing helmets!!! I'm not even taking pictures of this one, it might encourage them!!
Ok, so now they've got the idea, it's time for bigger and better, I went out to check on them again, and they had created a new ramp (it's huge compared to the first one) this one is so big they have to climb up on Craig's shoulders and they start up in the tree branches.
Oh no, so now they've moved the ramp to the backyard so it can be even higher, they've got the ramp coming off the deck, slightly curving up at the bottom and onto the portable skateboard rail. You know we've made it at least a year I think without any broken bones, hopefully we can avoid the ER! At least they're wearing helmets!!! I'm not even taking pictures of this one, it might encourage them!!
Friday, June 13, 2008
I'm home
Well, I guess I'm an RM now, though I don't really feel like it so much. It's a bit strange being home, but nice to see the family. I love you guys!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Brian is Home!!!!
This day was sooo long waiting for Brian to get home. The airport in Tegucigalpa is closed due to the plane crash a few weeks ago so last night he had to take a bus to San Pedro Sula, this morning he left for Houston, and then into Ontario this evening.
Bri came in on Continental, Craig is trying to find his flight but Continental doesn't have an arrival/departure board.
We went to pick Kyle up next, he was on the eighth grade trip to Knott's Berry Farm.
Went to In N Out, and then off to President Carlson's office for some official words of wisdom and the official release. Brian is no longer a full time missionary. We love you Bri, so glad you're home.
Bri came in on Continental, Craig is trying to find his flight but Continental doesn't have an arrival/departure board.
Waiting.
Waiting...
Still waiting.
Could it be...is it really him?
It really is him, it's Brian!!!
Mom gets first hug.
Brian and Brent
Brian, Brad and Brent
Leaving the airport.
We went to pick Kyle up next, he was on the eighth grade trip to Knott's Berry Farm.
Went to In N Out, and then off to President Carlson's office for some official words of wisdom and the official release. Brian is no longer a full time missionary. We love you Bri, so glad you're home.
Eighth Grade Awards
Last night was the eight grade awards, Kyle was recognized for CJSF and Presidential Scholar, good job Kyle. We are proud of you. Kyle also auditioned for wind ensemble for RHS and just found out that he made it. Congratulations!!!
Beinvenido a casa!
Welcome home Brian! We missed you! Can't wait for you to see the boys, they are so big now.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Kerri's Vikingman Race Report
My my mom and I finished the Vikingman Half Ironman Triathlon on Saturday! The race consisted of a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run. We got up at 5am on Saturday after little to no sleep and headed over to T1 to drop off our bike gear, I couldn't help but notice a flag rippling in the 20 mph wind. Our next stop was the swim start, we were one of the first to be body marked and the kid who marked me looked at me like I was crazy when I told him I would probably be wearing long sleeves the entire race (at this time the temps were between 39-41 degrees, but it felt a lot colder in the wind). We then squeezed into our wetsuits, (always a fun thing!) and put on our neoprene caps and booties, because the water temp was a chilling 59 degrees. We walked over to the swim start, it was supposed do be a down river swim in the direction of the current, but with the wind blowing in the opposite direction all I could see were the white caps headed straight for us. I was seriously considering not getting in the water at this point....
SWIM:
But when it came time for my wave (all of the women went first, 7am sharp), I walked down the boat ramp and slid my way in with everyone else. The entrance to the water was so steep and slippery that we had to sit and slide in. They only gave us about 1 min in the water before the gun shot and the we were off... well sort of. The swim took and incredibly long time because of the waves coming at me and crashing down over my head, it seemed like I drank a good gallon of that water, and several times found myself gasping for air. I was not the only one, I think there were only a few swimmers that came out of the water with a decent time and there were several who opted to just get on the boat and ride in. I did get used to the water temps and found that after about 10 min I wasn't freezing anymore. I finally did reach the bridge and was pretty happy to be out of that choppy water. I took a long time in T1 because my hands were so cold that they were not very functional, it took a while to get my wetsuit off, and then I had to add a few extra layers due to the cold air and wind. Including heat packs in my cycling booties :) I was happy to finally get on the bike and start moving...
BIKE:
well sort off... I started out at a pretty good pace, keeping up with most people, until we hit that first turn, then we were faced with the 20 mph (+ extra gusts) of head wind. Everyone that passed me would say something like.. "this totally sucks," "I can't believe this," "having fun yet?" or my favorite, "are we stupid or what?" A lot of people quit on the bike, and I sure wanted to, I kept waiting for my dad to drive by, so I could get in the car and be done, but fortunately he didn't show up until mile 18, I asked if my mom was still going and he said she was, so I kept pushing through the wind, even on the downhill, it felt like uphill, I tried to stop pedaling a couple of times on the downhill just to get a little break but I would come to a stop, it was crazy! I don't think I ever got above 12 mph the first 22 miles, but usually I was riding 7-10 mph, thinking, I am going to be on this bike for the next 6 hours. After I turned at mile 22 I accelerated to 20 mph and soon realized that I could not maintain this speed without being blown over, I almost fell every time I tried to ride faster, so I was still stuck riding 12-15 mph ughh...
Finally I hit the next turn and a tail wind for a while and could easily keep a pace of 25-30 mph for a while, then it was more headwind/ crosswind/ headwind/ crosswind. I was dying to get OFF of the bike! I think the course was a little long because mile 56 came and went on my computer.
RUN:
My dad, Kael, Kyle and Wayne's family was waiting for me at T2 which was a great help, to have some cheering coming my way after an exhausting and challenging bike section. I took my time and regrouped in T2, obviously I was not that concerned about my time by this point. I switched my shoes, grabbed a payday bar, shot blocks and sport beans and headed out. Poor Kael was upset that I came and went so quickly. I was feeling good on the run, I think I ran about a 10 min mile the whole way. About mile 9 I started to feel tired but knew I could finish at this point. Miles 8-13 were an out and back loop, it seemed like mile 10 would never come, but when it did I was faced with another headwind to finish off the race. I finally made it to mile 13 and was proud of myself for finishing. It was great to have the kids there at the end. Kyle keeps telling people that "mom won the race" because he saw me coming out of the finish with my medal. A little while later my mom finished. I was glad that we did it together, It will be something we will never forget!
What would I do different?
If I woke up and there was wind, just get back in bed and try again next year!
SWIM:
But when it came time for my wave (all of the women went first, 7am sharp), I walked down the boat ramp and slid my way in with everyone else. The entrance to the water was so steep and slippery that we had to sit and slide in. They only gave us about 1 min in the water before the gun shot and the we were off... well sort of. The swim took and incredibly long time because of the waves coming at me and crashing down over my head, it seemed like I drank a good gallon of that water, and several times found myself gasping for air. I was not the only one, I think there were only a few swimmers that came out of the water with a decent time and there were several who opted to just get on the boat and ride in. I did get used to the water temps and found that after about 10 min I wasn't freezing anymore. I finally did reach the bridge and was pretty happy to be out of that choppy water. I took a long time in T1 because my hands were so cold that they were not very functional, it took a while to get my wetsuit off, and then I had to add a few extra layers due to the cold air and wind. Including heat packs in my cycling booties :) I was happy to finally get on the bike and start moving...
BIKE:
well sort off... I started out at a pretty good pace, keeping up with most people, until we hit that first turn, then we were faced with the 20 mph (+ extra gusts) of head wind. Everyone that passed me would say something like.. "this totally sucks," "I can't believe this," "having fun yet?" or my favorite, "are we stupid or what?" A lot of people quit on the bike, and I sure wanted to, I kept waiting for my dad to drive by, so I could get in the car and be done, but fortunately he didn't show up until mile 18, I asked if my mom was still going and he said she was, so I kept pushing through the wind, even on the downhill, it felt like uphill, I tried to stop pedaling a couple of times on the downhill just to get a little break but I would come to a stop, it was crazy! I don't think I ever got above 12 mph the first 22 miles, but usually I was riding 7-10 mph, thinking, I am going to be on this bike for the next 6 hours. After I turned at mile 22 I accelerated to 20 mph and soon realized that I could not maintain this speed without being blown over, I almost fell every time I tried to ride faster, so I was still stuck riding 12-15 mph ughh...
Finally I hit the next turn and a tail wind for a while and could easily keep a pace of 25-30 mph for a while, then it was more headwind/ crosswind/ headwind/ crosswind. I was dying to get OFF of the bike! I think the course was a little long because mile 56 came and went on my computer.
RUN:
My dad, Kael, Kyle and Wayne's family was waiting for me at T2 which was a great help, to have some cheering coming my way after an exhausting and challenging bike section. I took my time and regrouped in T2, obviously I was not that concerned about my time by this point. I switched my shoes, grabbed a payday bar, shot blocks and sport beans and headed out. Poor Kael was upset that I came and went so quickly. I was feeling good on the run, I think I ran about a 10 min mile the whole way. About mile 9 I started to feel tired but knew I could finish at this point. Miles 8-13 were an out and back loop, it seemed like mile 10 would never come, but when it did I was faced with another headwind to finish off the race. I finally made it to mile 13 and was proud of myself for finishing. It was great to have the kids there at the end. Kyle keeps telling people that "mom won the race" because he saw me coming out of the finish with my medal. A little while later my mom finished. I was glad that we did it together, It will be something we will never forget!
What would I do different?
If I woke up and there was wind, just get back in bed and try again next year!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Vikingman Triathlon Race Report (alternate titles: How Slow Can You Go, or "Mom, Some Mom's Teach Their Daughters to Quilt"
Kerri and I did Vikingman yesterday. We finished! It wasn't pretty, in fact it was pretty ugly, but we are 1/2 Iron Women!!!
I came to Utah on Thursday, we did some last minute stuff Thursday and Friday morning. My bike had some clicking in the rear cassette, took it to Racer's in Provo and they fixed it on the spot, thank you Racer's. We also decided to buy some toe covers, not needed very often in California. The weather forcast was 37 at 6:00 am and 41 at the swim start at 7:00, it was going to be a cold day.
Got to Burley on Friday afternoon, picked up our race packets, went to the dinner and prerace meeting. I was excited that all women were in the first wave. We went to check out the swim start after that, I guess we shouldn't have, after seeing the entrance and the river I couldn't sleep all night. Because of the weather conditions they had an option not to do the swim, but I didn't come all that way to do a duathlon (probably should have). The swim is supposed to be a downstream swim, but the wind was blowing so hard it looked like it was flowing backwards, whitecaps and all.
Race morning, went to T1 at 5:30 to set up, it was so windy the night before we only left our bikes, also dropped our run bags at T1, since T2 was in a different location they would take our bags and set them on our numbers for us. Headed over to the swim start.
Getting body marked
This was the swim start, you walked down the blue carpet, at the end you had to sit down and slide into the water (maybe you didn't have to sit down, but that's what everyone did), once you were in the water it was too slippery to get out, you were in for the swim. It was very cold, we had on neoprene caps under our race caps and booties. The water was choppy and cold. As we were walking down the ramp Kerri's comment to me was "Mom, some moms teach their daughters to quilt." At any point I think either of us would have backed out if we thought the other would have. It was really a scary start. All I can say about the swim is that it went. It was way slower than I even dreamed it would be, I gave myself an hour to do it (official cut-off an hour 10 minutes) but secretly hoped it would be in 40-50 minute range. i think my time was 1:05 and Kerri's was 57:27. I didn't feel so bad getting out of the water when the Sheriff's boat pulled up at the same time and began unloading people, I felt bad for the ones who were part of teams because that would scratch their whole team.
Kerri coming out of the swim
Me, finally out of that water, happy day!!
Nobody was hurrying in T1
Ran over to the transition area, no wet suit strippers so it was a struggle to get my wetsuit off and into my bike clothes, I decided to wear my warmest run jersey over my tri top and a windbreaker, it turned out to be a good decision, I was cold my hands were so frozen I could hardly buckle my helmet. It was cold on the bike, but not unbearable. Headed out onto the bike, the first 22 miles had a 20+ mph headwind, it was a struggle, this course is billed as flat. It is not flat, I would not even call the rollers, rollers. With the head wind even the downhill was uphill, everytime I thought I could get out of my small ring I couldn't the wind was too hard for me. I kept thinking, "just get to the turn at mile 22, just get to the turn" finally got to the turn and the wind became a crosswind, still struggling. There was one part next to the freeway where we finally had a tailwind, I thought this would bring me in, but no, turned off of this road and the rest of the bike was headwind, turn, crosswind, turn, headwind. Not fun.
And I'm off on the bike.
Somewhere on the course, I think I'm starting up out of a little canyon.
Kael saw Kerri come into T2, he wanted his mom!!
Finally off the bike, into T2, I was so happy, Kerri was already out on the run, I knew I could finish now, it might be slow but I would finish.
Kyle J. and his cousin Tyler at the park, they were having a good time, there was a festival at the park that made it fun for the kids while they were waiting for their family to finish the race.
Not a great picture, but a great moment!!! Kerri finished, Kerri Jex you are half ironman!
Kerri celebrating with Kyle J. and Kael
I got my medal!!! Craig ran out to meet me on the run course, it was against the rules, I made him leave, there was no way I was going to not get my medal!!!
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