MicroMussel Race Report

Finally - My A Race.

An overview of the race: 100m (that's meter, not miles) swim, .6 mile trike (yeah, I mean tricycle), and .2 mile run.

And without further ado...Heeerrreeee'ssss my Radio Flyer (I'm ashamed to say I never named my trike):



Oh yeah, the IronWoman costume came out!

Anyhow...

Pre: Winery stop on the way to the Lake. Quick veggie burrito at the Team Z tent. Chugged two beers in the rain and headed to the "real" race start.

Kevin (in his aero-helmet, Iron-Es, and Iron-Cat (CHEATER)

Swim: Cancelled due to thunderstorm. I wore my goggles for the race since I forgot my mask, and it WAS raining! Instead of the swim, we ran a traffic circle.

T1: Water was ankle deep at the beginning of transition and sloped up to mere puddles. I didn't know how the puddle situation would be like come race time, so I racked RF up on the rack.



Bike: Who'd-a-thunk a .6 mile ride would be so hard! I swear, the "hill" (slight slope) at the far end of the ride felt like IM-Swiss' Heartbreak Hill! The "Rulz" were your butt had to be on the trike the whole time. You had the option of pushing with your feet or pedaling. I chose pedaling! (Other then the behemoth thigh, I love this picture)!



Right at the end of the ride, Cat (forever more known as CHEATER), passed me. She chose to push with her feet and I later learned her butt was NOT on the seat the whole time.

T2: RF back on the rack and off on the run (I suppose I should mention, everyone wore their helmets for the whole race. SMART!

Run: I was a little back from CHEATER so I sprinted to catch up. Finally, close to the turn around I caught up to her and instead of racing fair, she threw an elbow and stuck her arms out so I couldn't pass. I was laughing so hard, I decided that if she needed to CHEAT, I'd let her have the race. OK, maybe not "have the race", she is a faster runner but she did CHEAT!!!

Final: 11:04, 7th out of ~14. Post race I disqualified CHEATER for not keeping her butt on the seat and declared myself 6th place finisher.

Loads of fun, but I felt every inch of that .6 mile ride in my hip flexers and abs for the rest of the weekend. I imagine next year will have far more then 14 racers, there's a $500 prize - the winner did it in 8 minutes.

Thursday Thirteen Random Thoughts

1. So far I’m doing so-so on my Non-Catholic Lent. No brussel sprouts, shoveling snow, watching professional sports, or time on the trainer. Still have to commute everyday though.

2. I’ve also only had one Barq’s Root Beer and not a single Disaronno’s! See, so I have sacrificed something I like!

3 weeks to Shamrock ½ Marathon

4. I have stayed true to my New Year’s promise to myself. I made myself the deal that I could only get my 7-11 coffee on mornings I go to swim practice and Friday’s. So far, I haven’t made swim practice and I’ve only stopped on Friday mornings.

5. I have to change lanes so it makes it difficult to get to the 7-11 to resist the temptation. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

6 weeks to VEGAS BABY! Girl’s Weekend in Vegas – we’re going to go to the spa, see Le Reve and take a Stripper 101 class (hey – I hear it’s a great workout and who couldn’t gain from learning how to shake that boot-ay!)

7 weeks to first Tri (RumpASS in the BumpASS Oly and Sprint Relay)

8. This weekend’s goals are install a garage door opener, chop down a tree, fix a light fixture, stage my house, run 10-12 miles, and work on my new blog.

9. Yep, I’m going to abandon this blog and move to another. More details to follow – but it will be about training, racing, life, and cooking – just more Type-A organized then this one.

10. My house goes on the market next week. For Sell? For Rent? For Sell? For Rent? For Sell? For Rent? For Sell? For Rent? For Sell? For Rent? For Sell? For Rent? For Sell? For Rent? For Sell? For Rent?

11 weeks to first 70.3 of the year (Ironman Florida 70.3)!

12. There are big changes coming at work and I’m one of the few that knows about them. I don’t like being “in the know”!

13. I registered for the WARRIOR DASH for 9 October. It’s a 3.1 mile run, but there’s obstacles, like mud pits, a wall, and rappelling. Oh, did I mention you get to run through fire. "Fire, Fire, He He"! {Beavis & Butthead reference} They also give away warrior hats – furry warrior hats with horns. How could I NOT sign up!

Ski + Snowshoe = 2 Run Workouts

MLK weekend seemed like the perfect time to do my last non-tri related weekend so Dude and I headed out to CO to ski and snowshoe.



I use to be a pretty good skier. Apparently 3 years away from the slopes changes things. Add the fear-factor of getting hurt and delaying IMS training and let’s just say I was skiing very slow and cautious – in other words like a beginner.

Nevertheless, I got talked into skiing a black diamond (something I use to do regularly) and I believe I actually said out loud “this was a piss poor decision” about 100 times. From the lift it looked there were options to avoid moguls. WRONG. My process for surviving the moguls was ski across the tops to one side, sit down, turn, and ski across the tops to the other side. It took close to 10 minutes to get down a very short mogul field. Everyone else was waiting for me, but in their speediness they missed the cut-off to the steep but no mogul section. So on we went until we came to what I’m calling a cliff of moguls. It was steep. And there were huge moguls. I started to hyperventilate and pondered how much it would cost to have ski-patrol come up to rescue me. I then did what any sane terrified skier would do in this situation - I took off my skis and started to walk to the tree line. I knew on the other side was the slope I originally wanted to be on. Finally made it and easily skied down the remainder of the run. Love the steep runs – vow to never ski a mogul again.

So, we skied for 5 hours, which equates to probably 3 once you take out waiting in line, riding the lift, resting on the runs. Heart rate is relatively low considering gravity is doing most of the work (although my heartrate was high Z4 when looking over the mogul cliff). All in all, I decided the day was equivalent to my needed Z2 5 mile run. And the 5 mile snow-shoeing on Monday equates to my Monday 45 min Z2 run.

Optional Rant: The luggage fee was enacted over the summer due to soaring gas prices. Those prices are back to normal yet the fee has not been removed. Add that Continental has a $15 FIRST bag fee, plus $25 for each additional bag. Oversized (and that would include ski bags) are an additional $100. So, to take our gear plus clothes to wear when not on the slopes it would cost $140 PER PERSON EACH WAY! Needless to say we left the gear at home and rented when we got there.