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5/25/09

Had a good time at the race! Last night I had finally convinced myself that I was just going to take it easy during the race. Melissa described the race as our Victory Lap after after all our training and fundraising; that really resonated with me. People enjoy their victory laps so I thought I would enjoy mine. At the beginning of the season I thought I would do the race in 4 hours. My teammates thought I would finish in 3:15. I finished in 3:13. I'll take that. More details can be found here: http://www.run-far.com/

The action shot on this page is me on the way to the finish line while yelling at Eric to get to the finish line quick for a photo. He didn't make it.

But you can see more photos - taken by the professionals - here http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=46372&BIB=1216&S=230&PWD=

And check out the sample video here to get a feel for what a tri this size is like: http://www.goactionvideo.com/core.asp?main=splash&id=183

Last but not least, THANK YOU DONORS! You helped the tri team raise $85,000 for patient stipends and cancer research. People couldn't survive without you. And that's the truth.

5/23/09

In memory of Katherine Lewis

In memory of Evan Bravo

In memory of Steven Lynn Hash

In memory of Timmy Creamer

In memory of Tess Morkovsky Arburn

In honor of Jean Heins

In honor of Carl E. Benken

In honor of Aaron Konstam

In honor of Deb Poorman

In memory of Anna Smith

In memory of Harry Colborn

In honor of Linda Moore Munroe

In honor of Catriona McHardy

In memory of Marvin A. Moore

In memory of Ira O. Nevel

In memory of Herbert Cooper

In honor of Fletcher Sturgill

In memory of Marlene Kinder

In honor of Linda Mayo

In honor of Hector Villarreal

In honor of Dan Graney

In honor of Jimmy Santiago-Mauricio

In memory of Bernice Schweitzer

In memory of Joe Anthony Barrios

In memory of Celia McCoy

In honor of Pierce Sullivan

In memory of Mary Ellen Hobert

In honor of Christa Emig

Printed out this list this morning so that I can keep it in my bike pack with me during the ride.

As of Saturday afternoon, it should be about 68 degrees Monday morning when I wake up (at 5) - or should I say when the alarm goes off. ;) Should be about 85 degrees when I finish up. I'll take it - since it is supposed to reach about 93 that day.

Tonight after mass, I asked Father Eric for a blessing so I could get through the tri safely. So I think I officially now have all my bases covered.

Leaving at 9 tomorrow morning. Don't know when I will get to write again. Send good thoughts.

5/22/09

Took today off from work. I hope that wasn't a mistake. Ah, how to rest and pack all weekend without freaking out.

That's going to be a long ass drive to Austin all by my lonesome on Sunday. I'll have to listen to "Once More With Feeling" like 2500 times.

The tri team has raised $81,398 so far!

5/21/09

From Kara:

"Hello team, as discussed at monday practice 2 weeks ago - here are some nutrition tips to keep in mind over the next few days... several small, wholesome meals throughout the day. Pack your lunchboxes - so you have no excuse for eating out. At each meal/snack about (every 3-4 hours) eat a combination of complex carbs and protein.

examples of good carbs: fruits, veggies, brown rice, whole grains, and potatoes (red or sweet are best). Try to eat these foods in their natural form. Examples of good protein: legumes, nuts, lean meats - again, choose the whole or least processed of the choices available.

Don't forget to throw in a few servings of good fat - avocados, nuts, dairy ...

Also, make sure you don't go anywhere without your water bottle. Lots of water over the next few days. Some of you may even consider an electrolyte enhanced water if you sweat very much. This doesn't mean a vitamin water with lots of calories - those are okay but in moderation. You can supplement your electrolytes without the calories.

Don't forget to pack snacks for Sunday. As the race gets closer (late saturday and sunday - switch from complex carbs to more simple carbs - white breads, pastas, cereals and limit your fruit and veggie intake. You don't want to take in too much fiber the day before a race. That might get messy! (no pun intended)

You'll be busy running around all day and it will be very important not to go too long without replenishing your glycogen storages for Monday's race. Eating small, wholesome meals consistently throughout the day will be more effective than carb-loading the night before.

Race morning - eat first thing. Give your stomach plenty of time to settle. Eat a mix of simple carbs (bagel or muffin at the hotel bistro) and a bit of protein that will help prolong digestion. An hour before your race, begin sipping on a gatorade or munching on a sugary snack for a rush of energy b/f the gun goes off!"

We had a great send-off party last night. Thank you, Sutton, for the use of your beautiful home. Tracy said that our send-off was way better than her husband's cycle send-off - more diversity of food. I said that of course that would be the case: multi-sport, multi-food. We get too bored eating one thing for too long. ;)

As usual a TNT send-off is a mix of bonding, mourning the end of a season, and logistics for race day. This one was no different. Each of us signed purple transition mats, one per teammate so that we have well wishes from the team to ponder in transition (of course if you have time to ponder in transition you are doing something wrong). ;)

Susan handed out certificates to each of us that the mentors, captains, and coaches had worked on. Drew's said "Drew 'Who?' Dodson" since he never came to practice. Sheryl's said "Sheryl 'I'm not Mary Kay' Crump" since everyone got us confused at the beginning of the season. Dean's said "Dean 'I love to swim' Valibhai" since he hates to swim. Mine said "Mary Kay 'Scabs' Cooper" since I wrecked about a month ago on my bike, tore open my knee, and haven't managed to get it healed up since - too hard to do when you put your bodies through the stuff we do.

On the mourning side of things, we made Kara cry when she received our thank you cards and a boat load of money we had collected to help her travel to Australia for the World Championships she's been selected for. Reva got some TNT schwag as well as a Tri-sitions gift card.

Regarding logistics, we got our tickets for the Inspiration Dinner Sunday night and the Victory Party Monday afternoon. I got some maps of where Eric should stand to see everything.

The best news of the evening came from Dean, though, who has decided to do Nation's Tri after all (that makes 5 of us rolling over to the next season so far). I asked him what changed his mind since 10 days ago he told us he'd never do a tri again. His tone got hushed as he told me conspiratorily, "This stuff is a little addicting."

You're kidding me.

5/20/09

Well, the e-mail we received today is a sure fire way to make me vomit with nervousness. Becoming all too real.

"Team Arrive in Austin - 10:45 am Sunday

Please allow at least 90 minutes to get to downtown Austin. The hotel will not guarantee check-in til 3pm so please keep your gear stored in your car.

Team Lunch- 11:00 am

Meet the team for lunch and get fueled for your afternoon activities. Dutch treat. 10% of food proceeds will benefit LLS. This will be a great time to bond with the team. We have the patio reserved for our group. The restaurant is just two blocks from the hotel walking distance.

Team Packet Pick-Up 1:00pm

Meet as a team at the Packet Pick-up at our hotel. See Melissa if any changes need to be made. Sprint to Olympic or Olympic to Sprint changes may be handled at the Solutions booth if not already done so. [Don't tempt me!!]

Team Course Ride - 1:45 pm

To check out the course and make sure your bike is race ready, we'll meet as a team ready to ride in front of the Hyatt. Please be sure to wear your TNT jersey. This will be a short ride.

Team Bike Check-In 2:30 pm

Meet in front of the Hyatt to go to transition as a team. Coaches and Alumni will be able to assist in the transition set-up.

Hotel Check-In 3:00 pm

Rooms may be ready earlier, but historically, the hotel is extremely busy during race weekend. ****Be sure to give Melissa your room number***

Inspiration Dinner 5:30 pm Hyatt Regency Austin - Texas Ballroom

Plan to join your peers for an inspiring and informative evening! The dinner menu will include a choice of pastas and sauces, chicken, salad, bread, cookies and fruit. A motivational program with valuable race information will be presented.

Team Meeting approx 7:30 pm

Meet staff, coaches and the team on the Hyatt patio bar facing the lake. We will get last minute logistic information for the race and take a team photo.

Monday, May 25th - Race Day!

Team Meeting - 5:30 am

Meet in the lobby to go to the Race Start as a team. ***Be sure to check-in with Melissa, or she'll be calling your hotel room at 5:31! ***

Event Day Schedule

CapTexTri OLYMPIC DISTANCE TRIATHLON:

Auditorium Shores:

5:00 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Olympic Distance BODY MARKING

5:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Olympic Distance TRANSITION AREA OPEN

5:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. Olympic Distance CHECK-IN

6:30 a.m. Olympic Distance TRANSITION AREA CLOSED

6:40 a.m. Swim Start wave staging

6:45 a.m. to 6:55 a.m. Olympic Distance MANDATORY PRE-RACE BRIEFING

7:00 a.m. Olympic Distance RACE START

11:00 a.m. Olympic Distance Transition Re-opens

Course Maps

Click on the links below to see the course maps for this year's event.

Transition Area

This map shows the entire transition area and facilities with swim, bike, and run routes for the Capital of Texas Triathlon on May 25, 2009.

Swim & Run Routes

This map goes into greater detail of the swimming and running routes, showing the First Tri vs. Sprint vs. Olympic Distances. Water temperature is typically 78 degrees and cooler.

Bike Route Map - includes Swim and Run routes

This map shows the biking course street details and includes the swim and run routes.

Finish Tent

All TNT volunteer participants must check in at the TNT finish tent so that we know you have finished the race safely and to receive your TRI pin!

Victory Party 4 pm Hyatt Regency Austin - Texas Ballroom

The Victory Party will be held at the Hyatt Regency from 4 - 7 p.m. There will be a light buffet dinner, a DJ, dancing and cash bar. "

5/19/09

Last night was our last team run practice. :( I'm really going to miss my team. Wednesday night is our send off party. Thursday is our last lake practice. Then Sunday we will meet up in Austin at 9:30 a.m. for an easy bike ride. We'll eat lunch together that day and dump off our bikes in the transition area.

My biggest concern for Monday is simply that I'll go out too fast and not finish strong. I'm not interested in crawling across the finish line.

The weather remains in the mid-80s. Very nice. 10 degrees cooler than it's been. It makes a real difference. I wonder what the chances are that it will hold out until this time next week.

5/18/09

Sorry about the abbreviated blog but the LLS Office has needed to put some limits on the amount of text we post. Apparently way too many of us are blogging on the site causing the site to crash==the reason I often can't get in. If you are behind in your reading and need earlier entries than are posted here, please let me know. I am happy to e-mail the blog in its entirety. Thank you for your patience.

Colleagues Rick and Katharine were telling me the other day that part of tapering is not only to rest your body but also to deprive your mind and body of the exercise it has become so addicted to. Then, on race day, it wants to GOOOOOO! Hadn't heard that theory before. But it makes a ton of sense.

5/16/09

The 6 of us (Bambi, Mauro, Darren, Andria, Sheryl, and I) had a good time at the sprint tri today. Sheryl placed 3rd in our age group. I placed 1st. Mauro was pleased with his run and that he did better on the bike.

http://rrptiming.com/RockinRTri09Results

Sheryl is convinced that we run faster together (we distract each other from the hideousness). She has this crazy idea that we need to find each other on the CapTex course so we can run together - mostly impossible in a crowd that size.

The river swim was interesting (no, we didn't end up wearing wetsuits). It was so shallow in one place that some people walked (legal). I got away with doing breaststroke==which worked for me since swimming in water is always faster than walking. Someone was jacking with the guys' swim cap colors. Their swim waves were designated by pink, orange, baby blue, and yellow swim caps. ;)

I hope our teammates at the Lake today had a good practice tri. I'm sure they did.

5/15/09

Bought some Endurolytes. Holy crap those capsules are huge. Heat stroke won't kill me now but choking on those horse pills will.

Only a high of 87 degrees tomorrow for the sprint tri. Woo hoo! The first break in 90-something degree weather in a while.

Here's what I've learned this season:

- Over 824,000 Americans are fighting blood cancers.

- The Society gave over $64 million to blood cancer research, and with your help, we will give even more this year!

- Life-saving therapies are being developed every day such as Gleevec, which brought the survival for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia up to 95%!

- Over 400 families in the South Texas area received financial aid last year to help with costs not covered by insurance.

5/14/09

On Saturday, the teammates who won't be at the competitive tri will be doing a practice tri with Kara at Boerne Lake. There will be an honest to gosh Transition Area set up, a mandatory pre-race meeting, and support staff. The team will do a mile swim, a 20-mile ride, and a 4-mile run. Once we all discovered that they would be doing quite a bit more than the bunch of us will be doing at Rockin R I announced to the group that I thought there was still time for them to sign up for the competitive tri. ;)

Apparently Kara has a different definition for "tapering" from our training than I do.

5/13/09

Regarding sprint tri on Saturday:

"For all of you lovers of wetsuits, I may have some bad news. 10 days ago the water tested at 76 degrees. Yesterday the water tested at 80 degrees. Of course I checked it at noon so maybe that was the problem. You may or may not be able to wear a wetsuit. I will test the water at 6:00am on race day and then make the determination so if you want to bring your wetsuit, you might get to wear it."

So much for being able to practice getting a wet suit off in competition (and over my ankle chip) before CapTex.

5/8/09

Regarding May 16 tri: http://www.redemptionrp.com/sites/default/files/RockinR_RaceDayInstructions.pdf

5/7/09

Well, my crazy teammates have talked me into signing up for another sprint tri. Lord, help us. ;)