I picked the perfect Friday to take off work and have a three day weekend. I picked that Friday a while back to take off and go home to Beaumont to take my car in. The 5 year warranty conveniently expires while I am in Florida and I had no time between now and then to take it in to get worked on. I had to call in the troops (Mom and Dad) for help for this one as taking a car to get worked on as a single, working person in Houston is anything but easy.
Friday morning was crisp and bright...and WINDY. I met up with Richard and Amie, a couple from Beaumont who I had only briefly met in person, but who I had recently started communicating with regarding The Gusher Marathon (Beaumont's first marathon, next May!), and my Race Against Drunk Driving. It turns out we have several friends/family friends in common, but it is Beaumont, so no one should have been surprised. They wanted to come out and help me with my last semi-long ride for Ironman Florida. How awesome is that? We were also joined by Freenea, another awesome person who moved to Beaumont a few years ago with her family and just started biking a few months ago. Amie had told me beforehand not to worry if she couldn't keep up with me, that Richard could stay with me no problem...then proceeded to tell me Richard was one of Peggy Yetman's ironman bike training buddies. Ugh - enough said! Turns out the four of us all rode a great pace and stayed together no problem. We rode 30 miles up 105 to Batson and then came back. I had ridden half of that before, to Sour Lake and back, but the extra part was even better. The shoulders from Sour Lake to Batson are wide and smoooooth - a biker's dream. It was a beautiful morning and just so awesome to spend time with my new awesome friends. How many times can I saw awesome? I guess you get the idea...
The best part about Beaumont biking is you can go from and to your driveway. My mom had driven me to the meeting place because I had to meet up with some other people before the ride, but then I rode straight home, saw Mrs. Clark at the only major intersection I had to ride through, and was at lunch not 10 minutes later.
Saturday morning I ran with Kenyan Way in Houston and started off with Monica and Nikki. Somewhere in the Heights Lisa joined up with us as well and it was great talking to her - I hadn't seen her in a while. Then, for another treat, Michelle met up with us for the last 5 miles of our run. I haven't seen Michelle since her baby Nathan was born in early June. She, baby Nathan, and husband Cameron are doing great! Saturday was also another day of good weather that we have so patiently been waiting for. After the run I went to masters swim and did a whopping 2000yds, but that was all I really had planned for, and my starving stomach had other plans for me than to swim any more than that!
Saturday afternoon Bob and Silvia hosted a BBQ get together at their house for the Houston IMFL group. It was very relaxing and fun to see everyone somewhere other than on the road or at the pool.
Sunday morning Jon and I did the Firethorne Triathlon in Katy. I thought it would be fun for me to do, almost as a mini dress-rehearsal two weeks before IMFL, but as it got closer and my legs grew heavier I was wondering why I thought this was going to be such a good idea. It did turn out to be a pretty good day for both of us. Mike and Katie's cousin Seth was also out there racing his second triathlon, so Mike and Katie along with more of their family members came to watch. It was a fun race that actually had a pretty big crowd! I told Mike and Katie it was good spectating practice for them since they are coming to IMFL, but that they only had to multiply the time they were out there watching by about 10.
Jon's group went into the water nine minutes before mine for a 500m swim. I knew I'd probably get to see him come out of the water just before I went in, and sure enough he did pop out in under eight minutes, as the first person in his wave out the water. My swim ended up being pretty darn good too. I wore a wetsuit while many others did not. I noticed immediately there were not many yellow swim caps near me and knew I was close to the front of my wave when I came out. Looking at the results after I found out I was third out of the water in my wave, but first in my age group (the first two girls were in the 20-24 age group). I struggled with my wetsuit a bit but still had the 3rd fastest T1 time, so I will take that to mean it was still worth wearing.
The bike sucked. I'm not sure I have much more to say about it than that! My run went surprisingly well. My miles were evenly paced and my last mile was the fastest. A girl in my age group passed me with about 1/2 mile to go and never gained any more on me after she passed. I knew two in my age group had already passed me on the bike and another on the run, so at most she took 4th place from me, but I did not even figure I was that far up, assuming there had been others ahead on the swim. Had I thought maybe I was fighting it out for 3rd place I may have tried to pass her, but I also had to remember this was basically just a fun day for me and that I did not need to do anything stupid with Ironman in less than two weeks. So I just stayed where I was and didn't try anything crazy. She ended up beating me by 6 seconds, taking 4th in our age group. I took 5th. Turns out that was good enough for an award since our age group was big enough for them to go 5 deep (45 girls in my age group). So I am very very pleased with 5th out of 45 on a day where I was not expecting much of anything. Jon had an awesome race too, and placed 3rd in his age group out of 55 guys. He's quite the speedster!
Friday morning was crisp and bright...and WINDY. I met up with Richard and Amie, a couple from Beaumont who I had only briefly met in person, but who I had recently started communicating with regarding The Gusher Marathon (Beaumont's first marathon, next May!), and my Race Against Drunk Driving. It turns out we have several friends/family friends in common, but it is Beaumont, so no one should have been surprised. They wanted to come out and help me with my last semi-long ride for Ironman Florida. How awesome is that? We were also joined by Freenea, another awesome person who moved to Beaumont a few years ago with her family and just started biking a few months ago. Amie had told me beforehand not to worry if she couldn't keep up with me, that Richard could stay with me no problem...then proceeded to tell me Richard was one of Peggy Yetman's ironman bike training buddies. Ugh - enough said! Turns out the four of us all rode a great pace and stayed together no problem. We rode 30 miles up 105 to Batson and then came back. I had ridden half of that before, to Sour Lake and back, but the extra part was even better. The shoulders from Sour Lake to Batson are wide and smoooooth - a biker's dream. It was a beautiful morning and just so awesome to spend time with my new awesome friends. How many times can I saw awesome? I guess you get the idea...
The best part about Beaumont biking is you can go from and to your driveway. My mom had driven me to the meeting place because I had to meet up with some other people before the ride, but then I rode straight home, saw Mrs. Clark at the only major intersection I had to ride through, and was at lunch not 10 minutes later.
Saturday morning I ran with Kenyan Way in Houston and started off with Monica and Nikki. Somewhere in the Heights Lisa joined up with us as well and it was great talking to her - I hadn't seen her in a while. Then, for another treat, Michelle met up with us for the last 5 miles of our run. I haven't seen Michelle since her baby Nathan was born in early June. She, baby Nathan, and husband Cameron are doing great! Saturday was also another day of good weather that we have so patiently been waiting for. After the run I went to masters swim and did a whopping 2000yds, but that was all I really had planned for, and my starving stomach had other plans for me than to swim any more than that!
Saturday afternoon Bob and Silvia hosted a BBQ get together at their house for the Houston IMFL group. It was very relaxing and fun to see everyone somewhere other than on the road or at the pool.
Sunday morning Jon and I did the Firethorne Triathlon in Katy. I thought it would be fun for me to do, almost as a mini dress-rehearsal two weeks before IMFL, but as it got closer and my legs grew heavier I was wondering why I thought this was going to be such a good idea. It did turn out to be a pretty good day for both of us. Mike and Katie's cousin Seth was also out there racing his second triathlon, so Mike and Katie along with more of their family members came to watch. It was a fun race that actually had a pretty big crowd! I told Mike and Katie it was good spectating practice for them since they are coming to IMFL, but that they only had to multiply the time they were out there watching by about 10.
Jon's group went into the water nine minutes before mine for a 500m swim. I knew I'd probably get to see him come out of the water just before I went in, and sure enough he did pop out in under eight minutes, as the first person in his wave out the water. My swim ended up being pretty darn good too. I wore a wetsuit while many others did not. I noticed immediately there were not many yellow swim caps near me and knew I was close to the front of my wave when I came out. Looking at the results after I found out I was third out of the water in my wave, but first in my age group (the first two girls were in the 20-24 age group). I struggled with my wetsuit a bit but still had the 3rd fastest T1 time, so I will take that to mean it was still worth wearing.
The bike sucked. I'm not sure I have much more to say about it than that! My run went surprisingly well. My miles were evenly paced and my last mile was the fastest. A girl in my age group passed me with about 1/2 mile to go and never gained any more on me after she passed. I knew two in my age group had already passed me on the bike and another on the run, so at most she took 4th place from me, but I did not even figure I was that far up, assuming there had been others ahead on the swim. Had I thought maybe I was fighting it out for 3rd place I may have tried to pass her, but I also had to remember this was basically just a fun day for me and that I did not need to do anything stupid with Ironman in less than two weeks. So I just stayed where I was and didn't try anything crazy. She ended up beating me by 6 seconds, taking 4th in our age group. I took 5th. Turns out that was good enough for an award since our age group was big enough for them to go 5 deep (45 girls in my age group). So I am very very pleased with 5th out of 45 on a day where I was not expecting much of anything. Jon had an awesome race too, and placed 3rd in his age group out of 55 guys. He's quite the speedster!
Now my taper really starts. I always get excited about the first week of taper, but it honestly never really feels so much like tapering. Riding 60 miles and running 11.5 are certainly shorter than 100 on the bike and 21 in the shoes, but they still take some effort and leave you tired. Couch time starts today (well, really, pilates and a massage, but I can dream).
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