Race Report: Tolland Summer Solstice Sprint

The Tolland Summer Sprint Triathlon was a great event. I definitely want to go back next year

Our pre-race schedule was much better than our first race. Our dinner consisted of a huge pasta salad that we ate in the car and we arrived at our destination at 9pm (instead of 1:30am) and we were in bed by 10pm. It took me awhile to get to sleep and I tossed and turned throughout the night. Before I knew it, it was 4:45am and time to get up.

I was much more relaxed before this race than Pine Barrens. At Pine Barrens I was so nervous I had a hard time keeping any food down. Not the case for this race. I happily devoured my favorite pre-workout English Muffin with PB&J. Yummo!

We arrived at the race site just after 6am. The fog was burning off nicely and it looked like we were going to have a good morning. They weren't quite ready for registration yet so we explored the site and found the pond where the swim would take place.

Hmm... Water Quality Pending?


We checked in and picked up our race numbers and timing chip. We also got awesome t-shirts and a reusable tote bag!

The transition area was set up on a baseball field and it was quite nice! There was tons of space between the racks and each place was numbered so you knew exactly where to put your bike.

I lucked out and got a spot on the end! Great to have a little extra space. Here's my transition area all set up. It was much more compact than last time.

We debated whether or not to wear our wet suits. The swim was super short (only 300 yards) and not dealing with a wet suit would speed up our transition times. Before we got to the race I decided I was probably going to wear mine because I wanted the practice of swimming in it and speeding up transition. Once we got to the race they informed us the water temp was 58.5 degrees - which is really fucking cold. In fact, they said if the water was under 58 then they would have had to cancel the swim portion of the race.

At about 7:45 we put on our wetsuits and got ready to head down to the water.


A kiss for good luck...

Swim: 300 yards / ~5:30 (16th out of 92)
The swim portion of the race was broken into 3 heats. Each heat had about 30 people. The swim entrance and exit were in the same spot so the second heat left after a 3 minute delay, and the third heat left after a 10 minute delay. Sam was in the first heat and I was in the third heat. I was kind of pissed about this at first because the swim is my strongest and 2/3 of the racers were going to have a head start on me and I was afraid I would be in last position for the good part of the race.

I got into the water a little before the start but didn't do much because it was so fucking cold. Since I'm a strong swimmer I decided to get out in the front of my heat and just go for it. I was in the water for about 30 seconds and my feet cramped up super bad from the cold. It hurt like hell... and then they went numb. I decided to just keep kicking with my legs and try not to move my feet to much. I quickly fell into the fourth position and despite the cold I felt pretty strong. Because the water was so cold (and dark) I swam the entire way with my head above water but it didn't slow me down to much.

When the swim was finished I limped out of the water because it hurt to walk on my cramped up feet. I walked/hopped/limped up the hill into transition. When I got to my spot I looked at my watch and it said 5:45. Once we got the results my swim was recorded as 7 minutes. Three other people in my wave had this time so obviously something was messed up because I didn't cross the mat with 3 other people.

Transition 1 (T1): 2:37
T1 went pretty fast. I stripped off my wetsuit and jumped on the bike. My feet were still hurting but I didn't notice them too much after I put on my shoes. My recorded T1 time was 1:07. I took the 1:30 I cut off my swim and added it to my T1 time... From now on the splits seem correct so it should get simpler ;)

Bike: 12.2 miles / 45:54 (43rd of 92)

The course was full of rolling hills that made for a challenging and fun ride. I felt strong on the bike and I actually passed quite a few people (a change from the last race). Now, a lot of these people were on hybrid or mountain bikes, but I even passed a few on road bikes. I pushed hard on the bike and with about a mile left to go it dawned on me that I still had to run 3.1 miles. Shit.

Transition 2 (T2): 1:43
T2 felt fast but in hindsight it was not. I was 86th out of 92 for speed. I have a lot of work to do on transitions still...

Run: 3.1 miles / 31:07 (73rd of 92)
The beginning of the run really sucked. Like really,really sucked. About 100 yards in I was thinking to myself "This must be what it means to bonk on the run." I was afraid that I was going to have to start walking, but I pushed through and about a half mile in I started to get into a groove. The run course was 2 loops and after the first loop I saw Sam waiting for me with my camera. Here I am at 1.5 miles:

He had finished his portion of race but, being the awesome husband that he is, he jumped in and ran the second loop with me. He took a bunch of pictures along the way. He also reminded me that my blog would be picture-less without his efforts. He went the extra mile and a half for me and the blog :)

I'm looking pretty strong in this shot:

Starting to hurt...

While running we started day dreaming about Dunkin Donuts Collatta's with whip cream... Mmmm... Yum... I think that motivated me to run faster...

My "sprint" was short lived... In this picture I look like I'm power walking instead of running (pick up those feet!!):

Coming in for the home stretch...

Done! Sam ran ahead to get a picture of me crossing the line but since my camera is a POS it had gone to sleep so I kept "running" until he was able to snap a pic:

Final Time: 1:26:51
Overall Place: 56 of 92
Age Group (F20-29): 8 of 14

The post-race festivities were great! They had bananas, oranges, apples, granola bars, water and Gatorade. But, best of all they had Subway sandwiches!! We went and got some snacks and posed for an after picture:


We packed up our stuff and headed back to the picnic area to see if they had posted results. Low and behold, Sam finished second in his age group! Go sweetie!!!

After the race we headed straight to the nearest Dunkin and fulfilled our Collatta dreams...

Overall it was a fabulous race and great for newbies like us. We can't wait to go back next year!

My First Green Monster

I finally picked up a copy of Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life. The author, Brendan Brazier, is a vegan Ironman triathlete. I've been reading a lot about it on the blogs lately and after Heather's recent post on Run. Bike. Swim, Fight. I decided not to wait any longer. I searched on Amazon and eBay but the used copies are almost full price so I decided to bite the bullet and head over the Borders to pick up my own copy right away. I'm only into the second chapter but I'm already loving it.

I ate my first Green Monster this morning. I've recently started following Jenna over at Eat, Live, Run and she has a Green Monster (or some variation) every morning for breakfast.


My Green Monster included:
- 1 frozen banana
- 4 Tbsp Hemp Powder (120 calories / 13g protein)

- 2 Handfuls Baby Spinach

- 1 large Tbsp frozen OJ concentrate

- Almond Milk (enough to fill in cracks)

I have to say, I was quite pleased with the taste. I really thought that spinach in a smoothie was going to be pretty gross but it tasted okay. Now, I still think I like fruit based smoothies more, but I can definitely see incorporating this into my daily routine. It was pretty thin and more like a juice than a frozen smoothie. I've been wondering if it would work with frozen spinach (it's cheaper and stores better). At first I didn't feel too full, but than I forgot about it and didn't even think about eating my morning snack until 11:30am (usually I want to eat at 10am).

Good Karma at the Pool

Last night we went to the pool to squeeze in a quick workout. The Mets were playing which means we couldn't go to the pool until 8pm (parking & traffic is terrible before then). I hate working out this late at night but sometimes it is the only time that you can squeeze it in. The constant rain has brought everyone back to the pool in droves and it was packed last night. All the lanes were full to the max and there was a super slow person in one of the fast lanes - as in dogging paddling without goggles - super slow. The good lifeguard was on duty so we flagged him over and he bounced the slow dude out of the lane. It was still packed though and everyone else was just regular slow and annoying.

I spent the first 400 meters dodging breast strokers and attempting to crush people with flip turns, the nice lifeguard came over to let me know they were opening a couple of lanes in the diving pool if I wanted to move and I jumped at the opportunity. I switched lanes but because the diving pool doesn't have signs about speeds I was quickly joined by a breast stroker, a doggy-paddler and a double-armed backstroker. Hell. So, I moved outside of the lanes and began swimming along the lane marker in the open water part of the pool (which was actually closed) but I figured I would do it until the life guard kicked me out and then try to move back to a fast lane. Well, I swam and swam and nobody bothered me. I was resting after finishing 5 x 200's and the nice lifeguard came over and informed me that I could continue to swim outside the lane, by myself. Why? Because he told the other swimmers and lifeguards that I worked there. So, I got to finish my workout in total peace in a lane all alone. It was blissful and wonderful.

Tolland Summer Solstice Sprint

The race today went great! I was happy with my effort and finished 8 out of 14 for my age group! But, I was outshined by my awesome husband who placed 2nd in his age group (out of 18!) I am ridiculously proud of him!!

I'll be back with a full race report after the weekend. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Pre-Race Day

I used some comp time and left work early today. This has been the week from hell - well really just Wednesday through Friday were hell. I'm just glad it is over and I'm thankful we have the race to focus on this weekend to keep my mind of work shit.

I came home and packed the car and prepared us an awesome pasta salad with penne pasta, black olives, bell pepper, squash, zucchini, mixed in with olive oil and parm cheese. It's chilling in the freezer right now and we're going to eat it on the way up to Connecticut. Hopefully a good healthy carbriffic meal will be the perfect fuel for tomorrow.

I'm glad we have the first race behind us. I'm much less nervous about tomorrow than I was last time. We signed up for this race on Monday and we're really just looking at it as a sanctioned brick workout and good race practice. For the race tomorrow I am going to focus on fast transitions, staying focused on the bike and strong on the run. My hip had been bugging me so I've taken the last week and a half off from running. Hopefully everything will feel good and cooperate tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

Free Shoes?!

One of my favorite tri bloggers, Steve in a Speedo?! Gross!, is hosting a giveaway for a $75 gift certificate to OnlineShoes.com! Shoes are expensive and I know everyone could benefit from this awesome giveaway and that's why I'm sharing it with you (plus I also get an extra entry for blogging about it ;) muh-haha...). OnelineShoes.com has all types of shoes and they have free shipping and a 90 day return policy! Who wouldn't want a gift certificate?!


In order to enter all you need to do to enter is go make a comment on the giveaway post through midnight Central time on Saturday, June 20th. For extra entries you can become a follower of his blog (I already am) and you can blog about it (I'm doing that now). That means I'll get 3 chances to win!

Blog Comments

It recently came to my attention that it is a pain in the a** to leave comments on my blog. I changed some settings and I think it should be working better now.

Can everyone do me a favor and try to leave a quick comment? If you try to leave a comment and you can't please email me at kristagager@gmail.com so that I can try to fix it further... Thanks for your help!

Big Suprise!

Spinning class kicked my bum last night. Who knew it was so much harder to spin than bike?! I think I'm going to try to start incorporating this class into my schedule!

Now I know you've all be waiting with baited breath for my big surprise. I won't keep you in suspense any longer....

We signed up for another tri - this weekend! On Saturday we will be racing in the Second Annual Summer Solstice Triathlon in Tolland, CT. This tri is a sprint distance and will include a 300 yd swim (super short!), 12 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. The swim is super short - a standard sprint swim in 750 meters but the bike and run are typical of this distance. We were planning on going up to CT this weekend for training and we decided on Sunday that we would do a short race instead!

Bumble and Bumble

I went to a Bumble and Bumble hair model class last week and I got a free hair cut! I was a bit nervous before my appointment because I thought that the stylist would all be brand new. But this wasn't the case. It turns out that veteran stylists from around the country come to NYC to take classes at Bumble and Bumble. The woman who cut my hair had been styling hair for years!

The class was shortish curl so I knew that I would probably lose some length and I was trying to be open to new style options. I told Amy, my stylist, that she could do whatever she wanted as long as I could still pull it back. Daring? Yes. And I didn't like it at first. But now I think it's growing on me (pun intended). It is longer in the front and a bit shorter in the back. I can still pull it half back so it's not a problem for running or biking. It's hard to take self portraits, but I got a couple that seem to show the style well enough.

Now I'm off to a spinning class. I've never been to spinning at my gym before but I think it will be a good way to supplement my training. And guess what? It's raining. Again. I guess my last letter to Rain got lost in the mail...

Stay tuned for big news tomorrow...

Rain Rain Go Away

Dear Rain,

Let me just start by saying that I know how important you are to our Earth. You keep the world green and clean. But seriously Rain, I'm getting tired of you. I wanted to go for a bike ride this morning but you were visiting this morning - for the third day in a row. I think we've got enough rain for now. I think it's time for you to take a road trip.

X's and O's,

Krista

Turnips?

The first distribution of our CSA was held today! This weeks produce included 2 large chives, 6 spring garlic, 6 radishes, 6 turnips, 3 bok choy and 3/4 lb. cooking greens.




I also had the opportunity to purchase coffee through the Crop to Cup(C2C) program. C2C is a farmer-direct coffee importer based in Brooklyn. This community investment program allows consumers (like me!) to directly support the coffee farmers with every cup! I bought my first pound of coffee today and I'm definitely going to add this to our weekly distribution!

I think I'm most excited for the bok choy. I love it at Chinese restaurants and I'm excited to prepare it at home. Now, what do you do with turnips?

Swim, Run, Bike, Shop, Swim

It was a busy weekend of swimming, run, biking and shopping. We started our Saturday workout at the pool and I got a great set in.

Apparently, if you go to the pool in the middle of the day on a beautiful Saturday it will be mostly empty :) I swam 3300 meters:

500 warm up
5 x 100's on 2 minutes
4 x 200's on 4 minutes
3 x 300's on 6 minutes
3 x 50 kick
3 x 50 sprint
300 cool down

After the swim we went home and hit the park for a run. I ran 5.5 miles in 54 minutes (just under 10 minute miles). The last last mile felt hard, but overall it was a decent run. Here I am after my run (sweaty, red faced and proud):

For dinner we ordered pizza and watched The Visitor on DVD. It was very good - you should add it to your Netflix/Blockbuster list. Then we went out in search of parfait ingredients for dessert: plain yogurt, blueberries/strawberries/raspberries, and Kashi Go Lean Crunch with a dollop of whip cream on top. Yummo!



On Sunday we headed up to Westchester for Bicycle Sundays. Instead of resting between the 13 mile loops we did it in one shot - 26.2 miles total (if only running was as fast as biking!).

Here's Sam getting ready to head out:



And me:



The bike went well. I kept the same average as last time (16.9 mph). I focused on having high RPM's and not pushing so much.

After we finished our ride we headed into Manhattan to visit the bike shop and our favorite triathlon shop (Jack Rabbit Sports).

I needed a new pair of goggles and decided to go with Aqua Sphere Kaiman Goggles. They were a little more expensive than the standard fit, but they had great suction and they didn't press to hard on the bones around the eyes. Maybe this will help reduce "goggle-eyes."



I also invested in a new pair of running shoes. I'm hoping new shoes with more stability will help correct my running form a bit and reduce my hip pain. Jack Rabbit has a awesome shoe people and they have treadmills with cameras in the store so you can see your running form for each shoe. My ankles were both turning in a lot (over pronation) and we were able to find a more stable shoe that corrected for that.


I decided on the New Balance 1224. They are a higher end running shoe and usually retail at $140. Lucky for me, they were 30% off so I got them for $98! The shoe man warned me that this is how people get addicted to the higher end shoes and once you go there you can't go back. They felt awesome in the store so I decided it was worth the addiction :) I can't wait to try these babies out tomorrow morning!

After we dropped a ton of money at Jack Rabbit we went back to the bike store to pick up Sam's bike. He decided to invest in areobars for his bike.

Aerobars allow the rider to be in a more aerodynamic position by leaning down further on the bike. They also allow for another riding position which increases comfort on long rides.

{Aerobar Position}

We are heading to the pool shortly to take advantage of the long distance course on Sunday evenings (they convert the pool from 25 meters to 50 meters).

I have a confession...

There are so many things I want to blog about but I never seem to make the time. I build up these big posts in my head and then I'm so intimidated by everything I want to say - and wanting to write it perfectly - that I never get around to posting. I know this is probably silly, as I enjoy reading other blogs even if it is just a short update or a nice picture, but for some reason I just make it more difficult on myself. I'm going to work on posting more, less-perfect posts...


This week has been physically light but emotionally heavy. Last weekend was full of hard workouts (an hour of weights, 45 minutes at the track working on running form and sprinting, 26 mile bike ride and 2700 meter swim). This left me sore and depleted at the start of the week and my bike fall turned out to be more problematic than I thought. My left elbow, hip and knee are all bruised and sore. Nothing that won't heel, but still discouraging. On top of that, my right hip has been pretty sore and achy since the track workout last weekend. All the aching brings me to a topic I've wanted to post about for awhile...

Hurt vs. Injured
I have a confession to make... I train with a constant fear of injury. Every joint ache and sore muscle freaks me out and makes me afraid that I'm going to injure myself. Now, the actual pain/ache at the moment doesn't bother me so much, it's my fear of the unknown. Am I pushing myself too hard or is this a "normal" ache? Can I keep going or am I risking injury (requiring long term recovery)?

For instance, my right hip has been hurting all week. The hurt is minimal but noticeable. As it stands now it is bearable and I could certainly push through it. But should I? Will I make it worse? Or will I be strong because of it? After living with chronic pain for nearly a year I have a serious fear of returning to the dark lifestyle of pain meds and physical therapy.

On the other side, I often think that some of these pains might be originating from my brain (ala Dr. Sarno) and not from really injury. I do have a lot of different stressors going on right now and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if some aches are related to my personality and stress levels.

I know these fears are holding me back to reaching my potential but I just don't know what to do about it... If only I could see into the future.

26.2

When we were in California I read this (in 3 days):

He ran 50 marathons, in 50 consecutive days in all 50 states. It was a great read with good personal stories, running tips and motivation! A good read even for non-runners! I highly recommed it!

The next day, still in California, I bought this and read it on the way home:


Well I don't consider myself a runner (some people are just born to run and I'm not one of them) I am in pretty good shape. This book is more for people who are not really athletic in anyway so it didn't quite apply to my situation, but it was still a good read. Filled with laugh-out-loud stories and first time marathoner tips. It was a nice contrast to Dean Karnaze's description of running for days without stopping.

Can you tell where this is going? I'm strongly contemplating running the Philadelphia Marathon on November 22nd. This may be a bit crazy - considering the longest distance I have run is a 10k - but I think I'm up for the challenge.