Boulder.

Dear Diary,

This morning Sweet Baboo and I had a short run and then headed for Ironman Village to pick up our race pack. We are expecting perfect racing conditions on Sunday but it rained all yesterday afternoon, night, and into this morning, so the grassy field next to Boulder High school was a wet, sloppy mess.

For this race they gave us a backpack and a small bike multitool kit. And there were a few changes since the last time I did this one...no number on the bike, just our body markings and the stickers all over the bike. The race number with my name on it will be worn during the run. There are TWO bike claim stickers, so Baboo and I can each have one.

I'm busy packing my bags. Korbie has directed me to eat solid food throughout the race. Not a lot, just enough to keep something in my system. I've done this during ultras but not during an iron distance race. It will be interesting. I think it might help.

I'll be wearing my bike shorts and tri top Under my sleeveless wetsuit. I have corrective goggles, and anti fog stuff for them. I am to eat one of my protein bars about an hour before i swim. It may be as cold as 50 degrees (air temp) at the start

Bike bag: my pointy alien head race helmet, mountain bike shoes, regular cycling socks, Sportslick, and a ziplock bag containing my noon thyroid medication, four protein bars (one i am to eat IMMEDIATELY) and a couple of gels.

Bike special needs bag: i'm not preparing one. I'm too paranoid of not making the cutoffs, I will ride as continuously as i can. A small red bull will be de-gassed Saturday and go into a small bottle on my bike. I have to reach mile 56 by 1:30 and 86 at 3:30 and be off the bike by 5:30 pm. This is a source of great anxiety for me since I'm such a crappy cyclist, and because: hills. I will not be carrying a hydro pack. It's too unweildy and adds weight. I am worried about the possibility of an afternoon thunderstorm. I'm supposed to have a protein bar every 2-3 hours.

Run bag: underarmour mesh running shirt, raceready shorts, injinjis, and Newtons. Another packet of bars and gels and another degassed red bull. I'll be switching from corrective bike goggles to lightweight transition lens glasses and a hat. I have to be at mile 12.9 of the run by 8:50, turnaround at mike 16.5 at 9:40 pm. The third run cutoff is Boulder high school at 22.7 at 11:15 pm. Unless I'm injured or throwing up, i'm not worried about the run cutoffs. Protein bars every 2-3 hours. Headlamp, because, lets face it. I am not a pre-sundown kind of girl.

Tomorrow, I'll take Danger Kitty to the t1 area.

After that, it's over but the sweating, crying, and swearing.

...

 

Posted with Blogsy

Hiking 'The Light' - Race Report

Dear Diary,

Today I participated in the La Luz (Spanish for, "The Light") Trail Run (for me: trail hike).  There is a Wikipedia entry for the La Luz trail here.  I have stolen various photos and posted them throughout.  Ignore the ones with snow.  There was no snow.  It's August.  Anyway.  This race was declared one of the twelve most grueling races in North America.

This is the 46th running of the LLTR.  That means that the first running was held when I was 5 months' old.  I figure that also makes it one of the older trail races in NA.  Participants are selected by lottery, because it is held in US Forest Service Land, and limited to 400 participants.

Once you hiked La Luz, you get the feeling that this is a race that was put together as a result of some trail runners hanging out and drinking beer, daring each other to do some crazy shit.  Did I mention that the start is around 6200 feet altitude, and the top is around 10,400 feet?  Yes, that's right.  There is nearly a mile of vertical gain.  It's a trail that many of the locals aspire to ascend, but it is noteworthy that about a mile up the trail, where there is a post, the trail suddenly becomes slightly less traveled.

I was not expecting to do well today.  Last year I hiked this trail with Eldest Son, and it took me five hours, I think.  By the time I got to the top, my nails were gray and I had to stop and breathe many, many times.  I was gasping for air.  Also, I hiked most of this last week, and by the time I got to the other side of the rockfall (more on this later) I had already used up 3 hours.

As I had no intention of running, my realistic goal was 3:30.  
My fantasy goal was 3 hours for the entire 9 mile race.  

Sweet Baboo, by the way, finished in 2:09.  Because he's a freak.  And a bit of a stud.  I can't for the life of me figure out how he can haul 200 lbs up the side of a mountain in that amount of time.

The first 1.8 or so miles is on road, and starts just about 3/4 of a mile off Tramway in Albuquerque.  The rest of the run, about 7.2 miles, is all La Luz, baby.  There are aid stations at the trailhead, and two or three more (I can't remember) on the way up.  They are manned by boy scouts.  I got water.  I don't know if they had anything else there.  I was carrying a pack, by the way, with about 60 ounces of water in it, and my watch chimed about every 6 minutes reminding me to drink.  I also drank at least a cup of water at every aid station - I still ran out of water about mile 8.

The race director forbade ipods, but I noticed several people wearing them.  I guess I did not know these rules were optional. I didn't bring mine, and I'm beginning to wonder if this might have been part of the reason I did as well as I did.

Now, you can get a pretty good pace in - mine was about 16 minute miles for the first 6 or so miles, occasionally trotting down some flats and downhills, although there weren't many of these, until you get to the rockfall.

Ah, the rockfall.
What can I say about the rockfall on the La Luz?  Sometime in the past, there was a major landslide of pink granite angular boulders down the side of the mountain.  The trail cuts back and forth over this rock slide, which is narrow at the bottom and wider at the top, four or five times.  What we in New Mexico lack in altitude, we make up for in annoyances.  I passed one woman who had already turned her ankle before getting to the main rockslide, and as she was stepping gingerly over a rocky part of the trail, she asked me if "this" was the rock slide.

I pointed across the canyon, where a line of people were traveling up the switchbacks across the rockfall.  "No, that's the rockfall," I informed her.

"Oh.  

My.
God."  

was what she said.

NOT what is on most of the rockfall.

The picture above makes it look like a handy little trail has been carved through the rockslide, but it lies. IT LIES!  In most places, the "trail" is actually walking up and over the pile of angular boulders.  So, you watch as your Garmin tracks your traveling pace, and your average pace creeps up...up...up.

To make matters more complicated, although most of the boulders are well situated in their spots, some are not.  You don't know when you'll step on one that will move.  NOT a great place to go if you've already turned your ankle.

You'll be stepping over this after
mile 6.  A lot.  

After about mile 7.5ish, much of the rockfall is done, and you're all happy.  You're in the shade.  There's only 1.5 miles to go, right?  Who can't go 1.5 miles?  This is where things get really bad - over the next 1.5 miles the trail will ascend about 400 feet. It's especially steep here.





After mile 8, you're gasping for air, but you know you're almost done and you feel pretty cheerful.



Until, that is, you see this:

at this point, if you're like me, you're already sucking serious wind, and you're like, STAIRS? REALLY? You you shake your head to clear it of the evil mirage before you, and it doesn't clear, you realize the truth: there is, indeed, a very steep flight of stairs in the middle of this rugged trail. Because, God hates you.

The man in front of me went up the stairs on hands and feet.

I followed, gripping the rail like grim death.

By now you're getting closer, or you assume you are, because many, many spry people are bounding back down the trail past you, calling out, you're almost there!  It's just around the corner!  And you resist the urge to trip them and then eventually, it is there.  You're done.  You get your finisher's shirt, which is only given to people who are wearing bib numbers and cross the finish line.

And then there's a burrito and some green chile stew.

And then you ride the tram back down, which is cool.

Oh, did I mention my time?  It was 2:56ish.  For the first time ever, I beat my fantasy time.
BOOYAH!


Take that, VA.


...

Brief post.

I'm officially entered into the Javalena Jundred.  Which is way more expensive than just talking about doing it.  This past week, I finished my first 'real' training week; it was a 50 mile week, and now I figure I can think of about 10 different synonyms for how tired I am.

Saturday after our wet, splashy 20 mile hike/walk/run, we stopped at Subway to get sandwiches.  I can't believe how fast I made that foot long disappear, but I had the presence of mind to turn town chips, which is amazing, for me.

So this Subway is about 60 miles from town, and who was sitting there but our family doctor!  It was pretty gratifying to run into our PCP while on our good behavior.  I've sat in his office, and can attest that we're probably the more healthier of the folks that come in there.

So that's it.  That's all I was going to say.  I'm tired, I'm hungry, and about $240 poorer than I was earlier today. I know that's cheaper than an Ironman, but it was still pretty stunning to see it in print.  The JJ100 is 6-15.5 mile loops, and then an 8 mile loop.  I'm a bit agoraphobic, so I liked the loop format.

The initial plans are that Baboo will do a lot of pacing (he's doing this race with me) and DP will boss me around between loops.  I'm pretty grateful for that, because I will probably be out of my mind by the time I've hit the end of the 4th loop, which I'd like to try to hit by 11 pm..

...

Thursday Thirteen

1. Thyroid stuff: Lab tests this week include checking my current level of TSH and T4, as well as checking my cortisol and ATCH. Don't ask me what the cortisol and ACTH tests mean. I'm still learning.

2. BUT. there are some signs that my body has finally given up trying to hold onto the fat. I think my parts got together and said, hell, she's never going to feed us the way she used to, so we might as well burn the furniture for heat. I woke up this morning and noticed that my legs are smaller. Not a lot. But a little.

Yeah, you better get smaller, legs. What did you say? Oh, nothing? Yeah, that's right. that's right.

3. Cheap: since I'm a lowly unemployed student. My hair dresser did a "half foil" and didn't cut my hair this time. It cost about half the price and took an hour less to do, and will require touch-ups every 2 months instead of every 5 weeks. This wonderful man made me look good in about half the price. I love him for that.

4. Training: I'm now able to run continuously with no more scheduled walk breaks for about 15 miles. Gee, it only took me, what, 9 months to get back here? I still take walk breaks in races because it's results in my fastest overall pace, but not in training.

5. Mileage: This past week, I put in 44 miles in on the trails and roads near where I live. FORTY-FOUR.

That's like, 22 twice.

So, Saturday afternoon, after entering my long run data into the Daily Plate, it told me I had 2000 calories left to eat. I didn't eat them all, but I sure as hell had some Dulce De Leche ice cream, which is my current indulgence. It tastes like Kraft Caramels. I eat it and roll my eyes around.

6. Turn, turn, turn: I picked the last of the fresh tomatoes from the vine in my back yard. >sniff.< farewell, Summer...

7. Car: This past week I vacuumed 3 pounds of play sand out of the back, threw away documents with 2008 dates on them, shampooed out all the spilled gatorade, green tea and ginger cooler, and coffee. My car is now clean and smells good and I'm no longer ashamed to allow people to see inside it. including my husband.

8. Rumors are true: Sweet Baboo is attempting another 100 miler October 31st. He's also put in his name for the Western States Endurance Run lottery. Me, I'm sticking to the smaller races.

9. My new boss: is me. I have some time and unemployment compensation coming, so while I'm in school full time, I figure this is the optimum time to put together an idea I've been considering for a while. So. this week, I got a tax ID number, filed a DBA, and the paperwork to be an LLC. I'm a little scared.
At this point, though, I figure I've done a few scary and difficult feats. And, I'll have more anxiety to burn off on my runs.

10. 2009. 25 years ago this week I produced my first offspring. I told him, I won't waste your time with telling you how big you were or describing your long, natural childbirth...8 pounds, 13 ounces; and it was EIGHTEEN HOURS after I was admitted that you were born, and I was TINY, only 19 years old...

but ANYWAY I told him that next year, when he's out of the Army and living here, I would be able to take him out to lunch on his birthday. Anway. Twenty-five. Shit. I'm old.

11. School. I've survived midterms.

12. Old School. I have discovered what makes me happy what makes me feel good:Running and Yoga, first thing in the morning, in that order.

13. Training runs. I'm considering this as my final training run before the Palo Duro 50K:

They offer a last place prize.

Race ya for it!

...

Bleh.

BIB NUMBERS: 1032 (me) and 1043 (Sweet Baboo). You can track us HERE

From the website: Bike course: 8 challenging hills, ranging from 2.9% - 8.9% grade and a quarter of a mile to 1.2 miles in length.

Run: 3 challenging hills, ranging from 10-14% (not the same hills as found on the bike course) grade. The hills are approximately 300 yards to 880 yards in length.

I just can't seem to do a flat race to save my life. :-( It's going to be HOT, too. Wait--can I just have one more month to train? The course cutoff time is 8 hours, which is my PR for a flat half iron. Eep. Other bloggers doing this race: Greyhound - Crazy Jane - SW Tri Gal - Sweet Baboo.

You can track us HERE.

I'm still heavy, not an ounce down since January. I'm getting pretty depressed about my weight; I'm 20 pounds heavier than I was this time last year, and 175 is a lot to haul around a long course with hills. I'm eating about 1500 calories a day and training. This used to work for me. No more. I don't know where to go from here. If eating less, and moving more, doesn't work - then what does?

=============================

I lost my keys again. DAMMIT!! The last time I lost them, about a year ago, they were found outside, behind the air conditioning unit, 3 months later. I have no idea how they got there. My keys are definitely in my home, somewhere, and I've had enough of this $hit.

Last time, I bought one of Sharper Image's "now-you-can-find-it" things which isn't made any more, and good thing, too, because it was utter crap. You had to be within 2-3 feet and pointing it straight a the lost object, and there could be nothing covering the lost object, not a sheet of paper, item of clothing, nothing. I think it's safe to say that everything I have ever bought from SI has been utter crap.

I've ordered one of these: Find-One-Find-All and this time, I'm keeping the receipt.

====================

Yes, I have pre-race cranky craziness. You got a problem with that?

...

Best Diet. EVAR.

So here it is, the best diet ever:
I've arranged the first 55 miles of each bike course (Ironman Coeur D'Alene and Ironman St. George, respectively) side-by-side. Click, and enjoy. I mean, I don't know about you, but I want to throw up just looking at it.

I figure if I post it on the refrigerator it will reliably take away my appetite and I'll be lean and mean by September.

September...but Geekgirl, isn't Ironman St. George in May?

Ah, yes. It IS! you see, I have reneged on my plan to not doing an iron distance in 2009. My name is GeekGirl Iron Misty, and I'm an addict.

Dear Misty:
Thank you for registering for the 2009 Redman Full Distance Triathlon.
Your Registration is confirmed, and you may use this email as your
Registration Confirmation...

The Redman is where I did my first half iron, and I always wanted to come back and do the full. It's small, great shwag, and I remember the support being fantastic. Plus, you can packet pickup on the day before the race, which is on Saturday.

Win-win! We'll see.

I also remember it being incredibly hilly. Of course, that was in 2006 when I was just a triathlon infant.

Now when I look at the profile, I realize that it's all relative.

We'll see.


...

During Pictures. Again.

This is my friend Sharon. We went to high school together in Richardson, Texas. It's freaky that I am old enough to have had the same friend for nearly 30 years. I met her in 9th grade in Algebra class. As one of many kids do not reach abstract thinking by 9th grade, she struggled. She's smart, always did her homework, but her brain just wasn't ready for Algebra in 1980.

I sat in the back of class and read, notably the trashy Flowers in the Attic series, never doing any classwork or homework. From time-to-time, I'd glance at the overhead projector screen, and it always made sense to me, and return to my book. I was not a good girl, like Sharon. But, I got As on all my tests. Mr. Ayers had learned early on that it was just best to leave me be. (I've paid my dues since then, obviously.)

I let Sharon cheat off me during tests. Then Mr. Ayers started handing out two versions of each test, so, she then she'd just hand me her test when he wasn't looking, I would do the problems lightly in pencil, and hand them back. She wound up passing Algebra. But before you think less of her, the story has an ethical and happy ending: Sharon, with her low threshold of guilt, retook Algebra a couple years later IN SUMMER SCHOOL, to make sure she understood it. She got an A. I thought she was crazy for doing that, but now I'm proud to have a friend who recognizes that there are no short cuts.

Sharon graduated in the top 10% of our 1983 class (over 600 kids graduated). I graduated in the lowest 10%. I'm not making this up. It caused a great deal of distress and angst - in my parents, not me. Sharon went on to college, then established her career, then marriage, then children. I, or course, did things is a slightly different order. Sharon worked for the Forest Service for a long time, before changing her focus to start her own business as a landscape designer and be home for her kids.

Sharon has always had a problem with her weight, in that she had difficulty gaining it. She suspects an overactive thyroid. I never had much problem with my weight until later on. I joked with her earlier this week that if would could somehow average our bodies, we'd make two normal people.

Sharon is more or less intruigued by my interest in multisport insanity, the way one is intruigued by a friend who has become involved in some sort of weird cult. Not enough to be involved in it herself, just interesting to watch.

In any case, look at me. Just LOOK at me. All of me. This is going to be my before picture, although, in this entire journey, perhaps it's more of a "DURING" picture. I know that for me, two things work:

1) I MUST track my food. If I don't, it's too easy for me to just start eating, eating, eating and the next thing I know I'm downing a few thou calories a day.

2) I have to have a program that lets me "earn" extra calories for doing exercise. On this day, we climbed a small hill behind my house called, "The U mound" (seen in the background of the picture of me, above) and I was distressingly breathless. I even had to stop once or twice to catch my breath. Time to get my butt in gear.

Last night, Baboo and I signed up for the AtomicMan Duathlon, near Los Alamos, New Mexico.

I've done this before, always the "Little Boy" course. (Yes, the two distances are charmingly named after the two atomic bombs that ended WWII) The little boy course is 5K run, 20K bike, and then a 4K run. The bike is hilly, on mountain roads with sharp turns and steep climbs.

The "Fat Man" course is a 10K run, 40K bike (including going down and then back up out of a canyon) and then a 5K run. It is essentially an Olympic triathlon with the swim having been replaced by a 5K run.

So guess which distance I signed up for. In two weeks. I expect to die around noon that day.

Hopefully, I won't, because these last pictures of my big fat butt are not what I want in a frame next to my casket.

...

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to the finish line.


The one in St. George, Utah.


Um....Yeah.

Now what...?

Thank you for joining the
Ford Ironman 2008 Arizona
VOLUNTEER TEAM.

If this is a new registration, an email confirmation will be sent shortly. If you have added a job area to an existing registration you will not receive another email. Please keep your current ID number for future reference. Jobs are subject to availability and you will be contacted when assignments have been determined.

=====================================================

Now, why would I be interested in volunteering at inaugural November 2008 Ironman Arizona? Sure, Sweet Baboo will be doing this one...along with many Outlaw buds...
I hear it's FLATTER than Couer D'Alene and Kentucky...and, of course, it is a race that sells out fast...
didja know volunteers get to sign up first for an Ironman, before the general public?

Hmmm...