Washington

We've arrived in Washington (2 days ago) and let me tell you, it's beautiful. I've been told numerous times not to be fooled, that it's only like this for maybe 2 months of the year, but it's pretty nice. Cool weather, light for 12+ hours, Pacific Northwest summer, fresh fish, friends, a little racing and excursions planned for all next week!
Totally enjoying our time here so far. We've had such great hospitality and couldn't ask for better friends to be helping us make the most of our time here!

<<<<<<<---------We travel light

Friday morning we decided it was a good idea to try to get right on track with West Coast time so we go up at 5am and went on a short little shake out run with a few of Aaron's old friends. They usually meet on Thursday mornings before work for their THAMR (Thursday Morning Run), but were gracious enough to change their plans this week to accommodate their friend Aaron. So FRAMR it was! We didn't see any eagles, which is apparently a usual occurrence on the trails and paths here, but we did see some bunnies and a deer!

The trails and bike paths they have here are amazing! Isn't this great? I could run for hours on this trail (well I would like to think I could), but being able to have this scenery and be off the road with aggro drivers is a nice and welcome change. What a treat! 

But, I suppose if you want this then you have to deal with cold, grey, raining, miserable weather for 10 months out of the year...I think I'll stay put right where I am and just visit these places every once in a while. 

Saturday morning was full of race prep and logistics. We decided to go for a quick little spin in the morning before heading up to Lake Stevens for packet pickup and bike drop off  just to make sure the bikes were all good to go. Again I was able to experience the bike paths in the Woodinville area. Love them! We even went for a quick little jaunt into Chateau Ste Michelle. Would have loved to stop in for some wine tasting, but we will save that for Saturday night! 

Once we got to LS, everything was a breeze. Ironman is a well oiled machine and can churn you in and out of packet pick up and bike drop off with great efficiency. (I even got to finally meet Krista, now we can be real friends and not just FB, blog stalking friends!)

Perfect Pre-race lunch! Smoked
Salmon and noodles!

Once everything was settled we went down to the lake to check out the water. The air temp was a bit chilly, but the water was just right...I hope! After checking out the lake, I calmed down a bit, I was a little anxious about the cold air and cold water, but since the water will be ok, I'll be great!! 

Super excited for the race tomorrow and am looking forward to what they day has in store for us!!  

Not a bad place for pre race relaxation

A week of racing....

Fourth of July week is usually filled with lots of races over here on Oahu. I only did 1 (the second of the North Shore Swim Series, Waimea Bay Swim). 

What a fun week....here's a little recap in pictures.

Aaron and the Lanikai Hui did the Da Hui SUP
race up on the North Shore

Michelle and I rode out to the boys race

Tourist pic 

We got to take the boat out to the Mokes and watch the fireworks from the water

Heading out to the Mokes

iphones don't take good fireworks pictures

Aaron and I pre race

post race run with M and G and Aaron
(he was just the one taking the pictures

SangriaFest

Turtle Bay Sunset

Sunday morning bike ride pre FreedomFest

Aaron at FreedomFest

Wrong bike for this kind of race

 Only a little over a week left until the next big race. We leave for Lake Stevens a week from Thursday....

Quadruple Birthday Party

Sooooooo.....I was going to blog about the awesome quadruple birthday party we had last Saturday, but I didn't take any pictures and I think Michelle covered it exceptionally well!

What a fun day! Thanks friends!


On another note, I found a fun new pool to swim at. Went and swam LCM with some BSC ladies on Monday morning and let me tell you, LCM is no joke! My arms were sore the rest of the day after our morning workout. It's been a while since I've swam meters and I'm excited to start swimming meters again even if it is only once a week. It's so much fun to swim with people who genuinely enjoy swimming. Thanks for letting me crash your Monday morning parties!!

Honu 70.3

Bike check in

I did this race two years ago and it was my first big race. I didn't know anyone or really what I was doing and I had a pretty successful outing. The water was calm, the winds were off and it wasn't too awfully hot out either (at least that's how I remember it). I was totally naive to triathlon. Two years later, I am in great Honu shape, I've put in all the hard work (pool workouts, ocean swims, long rides, hill climbs, intervals, track workouts, tempo runs, long runs, bricks etc), I know what the course is and what to expect and the day ends with a result I'm not 100% satisfied with, I want a do over! But you don't get do overs in races, races happen and you are either physically and mentally able to handle what the day has to offer you or....you're not. Yesterday was not my day, I was prepared and ready, but it just wasn't my day. Before I get into the nitty gritty, I want to say congrats to everyone that raced, we really had to fight for that finish! Yesterday was tough and to everyone who toughed it out out there, you deserve a medal (oh wait, you got one!). Seriously though, if you finished, you are a rockstar!

You win some, you lose some, but there's always something to be learned. I think I learned more from this race than I have from any other race I've done. There are still some unanswered questions, but I will definitely be more prepared when the unexpected happens next time.

Pre Race:
We woke up to winds in the morning at o'dark thirty and knew it was gonna be a tough one out there on the bike today. The winds had been off all week and sure enough, race morning, they were baaaaack! It wouldn't be a Honu without those famous Kona winds right?!
Anyways, I had my usual pre-long race breakfast of a bagel with banana, peanut butter (yuck!) and honey. Along with a drink, in retrospect, maybe I should have drank a little more pre race? I might have gotten dehydrated on the course? Not sure, but more water, EFS, gatroade in the morning wouldn't have hurt things. After breakfast and applying the ever important PlanetSun Suncreeen (face and body formula!) we were off to Hapuna.

Michelle was our Super Sherpa for the weekend so we didn't have to wait to take the shuttle, all we had to do was hop in the mini and get driven over!

We got to transition, pumped tires, reapplied PlanetSun and headed down to the beach for some stretching and to get away from all the crazies and anxious people milling around transition. We got a course conditions report from Stefan who had just swum the course this morning (thanks!) then got in and swam a bit, chatted with some friends and before we knew it, the pros were off.

The Swim:
Wave starts. The pros went off at 6:50, followed by the men at 6:53, then the women at 7:00. I followed Stefan's directions and took the best line I could and made it to the first turn buoy without much struggle. There were 2 girls in front of me, but then we started to hit the wall o' men and I lost them. I finally met up with Kathryn at the second turn buoy right before we headed across the bay. I was feeling strong and smooth on the swim, not exerting myself to much, but I was confident in my position in the water, slingshotting past the men and staying relatively untouched. Well, that didn't last long, all hell broke loose at
the 3rd turn buoy, this is where men were cutting the course, arms were flailing; it was total chaos. I guess when you start 7 minutes back from the men and you're a pretty good swimmer, you're gonna to run into a huge wall of them at some point and this was that point. I got completely lost at this point, people were swimming in every direction, the sun was high in the sky obstructing my view of shore, I completely thought I had done a 180 and started swimming back out to sea! The buoys are there for a reason people, don't cut the course, you will eventually get caught and it's not worth it!!! Finally after probably 2 minutes of chaos, I got my bearings back and was able to swim in to the finish. After all that, I was 5th woman out of the water (2nd in my AG to KT who had a great swim) and happy about the swim (albeit annoyed at the men that got in the way there at the end).

T1
uneventful, run up a short steep hill. If you just jog, it's super easy to run past lots of people! I found my bike easily and was off.

The Bike:
The winds did not disappoint, they were here and they were constant. I guess you never know what to expect with the winds in Kona, but you can expect it to be challenging. I'm pretty sure there was a headwind the entire ride. So much for the winds not picking up until later in the morning. I had a great first half of the ride, I think I only got passed by 3 or 4 women which doesn't usually happen, so that was exciting for me. After the turnaround at Hawi, I was looking forward to trying to blast back down the hill to Kawaihae, but no dice, Madame Pele didn't want that to happen, headwind, headwind, headwind, headwind but at least it was a going downhill and I was basically done with all the climbing. I started to get a little grumpy in Kawaihae before the turn back onto the Queen K. At this point Frans rolled up on me and shouted "Let's go." Well, thank goodness for that cause I stayed with him for almost a mile and then we hit the hill to get out onto the Queen K. I stood up and went, that was the plan at least I thought Frans would come with me, but as soon as I got back onto the Queen K, I looked for him behind me and he was gone...whoops. Sorry Frans, but thanks for reigniting my fire to get this bike done. The last 10 miles were uneventful, slow (avg 15mph!? seriously, the wind was ridiculous!!!) and I couldn't wait to get off my bike.
I was super pleased with how the bike went and was ready to run!  

The Run:
The first four miles of the run felt pretty good, I was holding a solid pace, one I could definitely keep up for the remainder of the run and I might even be able to catch some ladies up there. I had a little twinge of a side cramp, but nothing a little long, slow breathing couldn't get rid of. About three miles in, I was still feeling
good, it wasn't even hot out! Not a good sign. That should have been my first indicator that something was seriously wrong
(this was the hottest date on record for this race in the 10 years it has been happening). It's probably not a good thing when you're running in miserably hot heat and you don't feel hot at all. I plugged on and made it about 7 miles before I started imploding. I'm not exactly sure how I got through the rest of the "run", with the puking, kneeling down on the golf course to puke some more, walking, jogging, attempting to run and not being successful, just one foot in front of the other. Thanks Ryan for all your help out there on the run! It was great to see everyone out there being so encouraging when I was in such a bad place. The negative self-talk started, was there in full force, I wanted to sit down on the side of the golf course, curl up in a ball and not move. I'm not sure what it was that got me to that finish line, but I got there. I ended the day 5th in my AG, in a race that I had to fight harder than ever to finish and at points I though I might not finish at all.

The result is not what I was trained for or wanted as an end result, but I learned some valuable lessons that I can and will take with me in my future endeavors. I know what to do when I get into those dark places, how to get myself out of them, and how not to go there in the first place! I now know better how my body will respond to extreme heat and am glad I had this experience because I anticipate racing in hot conditions in the future. I know that I can race and be mentally and physically drained and still finish. Leaning to "embrace the suck" and keep moving forward. I know there are always people out there that support and love me no matter what the outcome. Being able to spend the day with an amazing group of people on a tough, tough day is something I won't soon forget. Many more lessons were learned from this day and they are stored away ready for use when needed! Thanks to everyone for your encouragement, support and kind words before, during and after the race.

Outrigger Invitational

As always, Stefan puts on a great Ocean Swim Race. The Outrigger Canoe Club hosts a 1.2 mile Ocean swim. It's a small local race <150 participants, but that makes for an intimate, fun, still competitive race with friends. This is only the second year I've done the race and it did not disappoint. It's a "late" start, so you don't have to get up at the crack of dawn (although we did so we could see this lady crush it in the Hibiscus 1/2 marathon the same morning! Great 5 min PR for Michelle who ran a smokin' 1:33!!).

Where was I, late start, right...the pre-race briefing is always interesting, especially if you know Stefan. If you don't then you might not get his humor. Anyways, we found out that the course was going to be changed from what it has been in the past since the currents out in front of the Outrigger were rippin'. (I swam out from Kaimana on Saturday and we got a little taste of what the currents could be like the next day and the ocean did not disappoint Sunday morning, she was angry!

The swim started out just fine, we were crusin' out to the first turn buoy and I found myself with Ben and another boy I didn't know (the eventual winner and 16yo high schooler, go figure). The three of us stayed pretty close throughout the entire race. After that it was a battle to get to the next buoy. We were swimming parallel to the shore, Ewa bound and it felt like it took forever to reach that buoy (after the race, I found out the lifegaurds and volunteers had to pull about 40 people from the ocean because they weren't making forward progress, the currents were that strong!), we finally made it and the currents eased a little, but that final swim in to the Outrigger was still super tough, we had to angle Ewa bound to even get DiamondHead! I do need to work on my water exits as I fell on my face running out of the water, I thought for sure Ben was going to blast past me up the hill, but I was able to recover and snuck in right ahead of him.

It seems like my swimming is finally starting to pay off, I ended up 2nd OA and 1st female. Super stoked about this swim! The best part of this race is the brunch afterwards and getting to spend time catching up with friends.

Aaron and Gary also did great! Aaron won his AG in a super fast time as well and Gary, in what I think might have been his first swim race ever, was 2nd in his AG! All-in-all a great morning.

Monday morning, obligatory Memorial Day Mokes swim. A huge group of us swam out to the Mokes and once again the Ocean did not disappoint, super choppy and fun! Must have been a record group size of people swimming out there....

I'm off to pack now, leaving for Big Island bright and early!

Honolulu Triathlon

Triathlon #2 in the books for this season. 

11 more days until Honu.

5 more days until OCC Invitational Swim.

3 more days until the end of the school year.

...this year is going by quickly...

on to the race report.....

This was my third year participating in this race and another opportunity to work out the last kinks and get in another practice before Honu. This race is such a great tune up for Honu which is coming up quicker than I can even believe! Anyways....How lucky are we that we get to swim in the ocean (even though Ala Moana isn't the ideal place to ocean swim, it sort of makes me gag every time I get in the water there), ride through Downtown Honolulu on closed roads (and a police motorcycle escort!! I'll get to that later) and run in Ala Moana Park, finishing up at Magic Island (if you didn't get lost on all the crazy loops and U-turns on the course) on a gorgeous Sunday morning in May!? All the while playing and racing with great friends, both new and old. On Thursday night before the race, I remembered that I could sign up and race Elite this year, so I emailed the race director to change my registration to the Elite division. Last year the Elite division was full of all the girls I normally race, but I had no idea that was even an option so I raced normal age group. Didn't want to make that mistake this year, so I made sure I was signed up, well come race morning and there were only 3 women in the Elite Division!! Oh well. You gotta do what's right for you when it comes down to it right!? 

The Elite wave took off at 5:45am and it still wasn't fully light out yet. I was a little concerned since I had only brought mirrored, polarized goggles (it ended up being just fine, but maybe next time I bring another option). By the time the gun went off it was light enough to see the buoys, crisis averted.

I've been swimming much more consistently and purposefully lately and it has shown in recent races. A couple of weeks ago over on the Big Island for training weekend we did some ocean swims and then we raced Lanikai Tri, I was able to stay within drafting distance (had we started together)of Tim in all of these instances, so my goal for the swim was to not let him get too far ahead of me and stay in his draft for as long as possible. I hate drafting in swimming. When you compete in the pool, you're always told to stay off the feet of the person in front of you or go around; competitive pool swimming is an individual endeavor, but in triathlon and ocean swimming it's a necessary evil and I'm trying to learn how to be more efficient and expend as little energy as possible while swimming in the ocean. I was able to stay right with him until the turn around and then he took off a little, but I was able to stay with 20 seconds of him and was right on his heels coming out of the water. Fastest Female swim of the day and 4th fastest swim overall. Mission #1 accomplished. 

Swim 19:49

On to the bike...I'm getting there, I'm not where I want to be yet, but slowly I will get closer to being there. I was able to ride almost 3 minutes faster this year than I rode last year, conditions are always part of it, but I finally think I'm riding a little stronger than I was last year. So...the bike, started like any other bike portion of a race and about 30 seconds in a little motorcycle cop pulls out from a corner and starts riding away, I think nothing of it as you always see police patrolling the race courses, keeping traffic off the course and checking on whatever it is they check on, well he didn't go anywhere...he stayed right in front of me. Is this really happening?! Do I seriously have a police escort right now?! I thought for sure he would peel off and go do something else, but he didn't. Who knew I would ever be in the position to be leading the women's race and have a police escort?! It was not going to get taken away from me, it was way too cool! What an experience! I won't soon forget it and I sure would like to have that happen again!! I think that might have made me ride a little harder than usual and I was determined to keep that police man in front of me! It was a little weird riding without so much congestion on the roads, but I wasn't complaining. Who can complain with a police escort!? ok, ok, enough of that. I rolled into transition (didn't have a super fast bike, but it was almost 3 minutes faster than last year, so I was happy) and headed out for the run. 

Bike 1:04

Here we go, 10k to go (I did hear it was a little short?), loops in Ala Moana. I've been working on my run lately, weekdays at the track, long runs, tempo runs, form, ocean running, hills, etc and I think it's coming along quite nicely. I've still got a bunch of work to do, but that's how we get better right? There's always something to work on. 
I had my game face on for most of the run, just blocking everything out and focusing on one thing at a time. It's a fun run because you get to see people the whole time and you're never lonely out there. As worried as I was about making a wrong turn and going the wrong way, the course was very well marked as long as you looked at the maps before hand and I didn't get lost or confused once!
Everyone I saw was super cheerful and offering words of encouragement and just smiles, sorry I didn't respond to almost anyone, focus you know! I was able to run a 10k that I'm proud of (my fastest ever...maybe I should try racing a straight up 10k sometime to see what I can do.....maybe not though, that doesn't sound like very much fun to me). It wasn't the fastest run of the day (great job Natalia...smokin' 35, congrats!!) and it wasn't the slowest, it was right where I want to be right now. I did get run down in the last .5mile of the run, I did everything I could to try to let it not happen, but when you're racing girls that can run a 35 off the bike, I guess that's what happens! 

All-in-all, I'm super, super happy with how this race turned out. 2nd Female OA against a fast group of ladies and a great stepping stone before Honu. A little over the week and it's game time! 

If you're in the market for a super cute and comfy race kit, I highly recommend checking out the SOAS kits, I've never worn a more comfortable and functional kit!

Smiles,

Lectie

Track

We've been going to the track once a week for the past month or so, maybe more, and it's amazing what consistent, mentally and physically challenging track sessions with people who are much faster than you can do for your run speed, form and confidence. Last night was the first time I've left a workout in a long time feeling super proud of myself (and not defeated which is how I usually leave track sessions)!! I have had a hard time with track workouts in the past if they entail more than one loop around the track at a time and obviously most track workouts make you go around in circles more than once per interval (you think I would be used to the monotony having been a swimmer for 20 years swimming back and forth, inside, looking at a black line for 2+ hours everyday). This week I was able to hold it together for 98% of the workout and was able to be faster than I though I could/should be, which is always confidence building. Thanks Aaron, Tim and Mariane!! 

This is where I used to do my "track" workouts and I would just use my Garmin to measure the distance and stop when I got to the correct point, jog/walk a little to cool down and then start the next interval. At least I was working on my mental math skills while I was also getting in a workout, right?! I never truly understood the benefit of running on a track until I started to do it consistently (and don't get me wrong, I'm no expert and I haven't been consistently going to the track for too awful long, but long enough to know and see results ). These are probably things you already know, but I'll go ahead and mention them anyways. The track is a fixed distance (obviously!), a set route, there's no thinking involved when you have a workout to do, you know how many loops you need to do and where you need to start and stop. There's no cheating on the track, you can't cut the interval short without someone you are with noticing and holding you accountable. You can focus on your form (stride, cadence, etc) a lot more on the track, it is an uninterrupted surface with flat terrain. Track is super helpful if you want to work on your pacing as well. It gives you a place when you can hit interval after interval at the same pace and let you body get a feel for what running at xmin/mile feels like without having to deal with traffic, hills, other people, changes in road surfaces, etc. Track running also seems a little less harsh on my body than always road running on hard surfaces. The track surface is a little more forgiving than the roads are. These are just a few of my thoughts and things I've noticed from running on the track lately there's no science or anything behind it, just what I've been thinking about. But it seems to me that if you want to be a stronger, faster, more efficient runner, incorporating a track workout once in a while (probably once a week is good) is one way to work on bettering your running performance. 

Happy Running,

 Lectie