Wednesday, November 18, 2009

2009 Races

Nearly a year has elapsed since I last "blogged". A couple friends commented on this lapse, which made me feel kind of good to know that someone was occasionally checking my "Aging Up" site, despite my neglect. A stranger commented, too.

Before I continue with my story, here are some racing gal pals enjoying our post-race glow at the September Trek. Wendy J. is a regular at running, placing in AG regularly at everything from 5Ks to marathons (and she can wear a two-piece with confidence). Hillary is the hatless gal, "a monster on the bike" a co-worker of her's once commented, and a fast runner. I'm in the pink. On the right is Chris Kessler who recently wrote a book, "Fresh Off the Couch", a book about fitness, though I confess I have not read it. She fills in leading spin classes, rides and track workouts for Cheryl Marek, a local coach and athlete. We are all 50+ but pretty sure we all felt ageless here, thanks to that after-race euphoria.

Back to my blogging hiatus. It was August, the morning of the '09 Danskin triathlon, minutes before the start of the race and I was standing in the holding pen with the other women in my wave. We had not yet been herded into the corral which precedes actual admittance onto the beach where swim start occurs. It was the last few moments of idle time before you approach the start line and realize that you are totally committed to seeing this race through to the end. Everyone is nervous, there are last minute "Good Luck" comments to friends and familiar faces, some idle chat to try and relax, last minute positive mantras spoken silently to self, a lot of fidgeting, adjusting of neoprene, deep breaths, stretching and so on. A woman said "Hi Karen" to me and added that she was Judy. I racked my brain wondering where she knew me from and who she was. It's not unusual for people who have attend Mary Meyer's tri clinics to say hi after they've been in my group (I volunteer coach), or was she that Judy who I knew 20 years ago? She did seem vaguely familiar. She let me squirm for a couple of beats, leaving me at a small social disadvantage and potentially messing with my pre-race mojo. She finally said "You haven't written in your blog for awhile". I laughed and made up some excuse and felt strangely flattered that someone unknown to me would be noticing my absence from this pastime. Well, Judy, if you are reading this, thanks for influencing me to resurrect this blog in some way, and for saying "Hi". I hope you had a good race that day.

This is Mary M. and me before the start of the Danskin in '09. She has been the swim coordinator for the Seattle Danskin for many years. This year she started her own local triathlon series, the Tri and Tri Again at Cottage Lake in June and September. At those races, I was a volunteer rather than a participant. More about that later.

Back in February, I wrote an inspired entry explaining my several-month break from blogging and racing. Having done a couple 5K's in winter '09, I felt a renewed enthusiasm brewing and a desire to create some new goals around running, training, triathlons, etc. Alas! That entry was lost before I could post it and I couldn't summon the inspiration to write again. Nor did I follow through on establishing specific goals for the upcoming season. So my lack of writing coincides with a general lack of news around racing. Sure, I did a few races, did alright and thoroughly enjoyed myself, but it wasn't the same as in past years.

Earlier blog entries were mostly about my first 4 seasons of triathlon, 2004-2007. They were good ones, with each being an improvement over the previous season. My '07 season was great, with many races, PR's all around, competitive age-group finishes at the races and all my goals met or exceeded. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do race-wise after that. Thinking it was time for some balance and a more relaxed approach that would allow time and energy for other things in life, "training" morphed into just "working out" or "exercising". I stayed active but allowed for I-just-don't-feel-like-it-today excuses, or other recreational things like camping or gardening (is gardening recreational?). I continued to volunteer coach for Mary M. in the summer and competed in 4 triathlons in '08 and just 2 in '09.

In November '08 I had surgery followed by a quick and easy recovery. I was doing light-duty spinning in 5 days, running in 10 days and swimming in 15 days after a hysterectomy - and yes, I cheated a little on the medical advice here and there. The saying is "listen to your body" and mine told me "MOVE!", " GO!", "DO SOMETHING!", so that's what I did. Still, a week of no exercise, several weeks of light exercise, many monoths of unstructured exercise preceeding my surgery plus lack of motivation and goals contributed to some fairly lackluster performances.

I ran the 5K Valentines reace in Feb '09, then teh St. Patrick's Day Dash on a snowy, slushy March morning. No goals other than to test the waters on what my current pace was, what it felt like to get out there again and see if I'd get excited about running again. Tri-wise, I did Danskin in August '09 and the new Trek triathlon in September '09.

Seafair and the Fat Salmon Open Water Swim have been regular races for me for 5 years, but this year the annual Deep Lake open water swim and car camping trip in Eastern Washington was planned for the same weekend. I opted to go the leisure route, drag my kid and her friend out camping and spend some time with friends. Those races should be there in '10 for me to revisit.

Most recently, in October, I ran the Dawg Dash (5K) and the Pumpkin Push (5K). The Dawg felt hard, with all that uphill and me not having raced in awhile, but I kept the pace just under 8 min/mile (just barely) which was my goal. I didn't know if I'd be able to place, but managed a 3rd in AG finish which was nice (I tried keeping Val. R. in sight as long as possible, and that lasted until about mile 2 when I started to lag. Val took 1st in our division. My friend Lori was looking forward to competing in her new age group, having just turned 55 this summer, but the AG was in 10 year increments. I think she was happier about being 4th in our shared AG than 1st, as she would have been, in the 55-59 AG.

The Pumpkin Push sparked my enthusism since my pace improved to a 7:47 min/mile, finally nudging away from the 8 min/mile realm where I had been stuck for over a year.

Love 'Em or Leave 'Em 5K
(A flat 5K around Green Lake)
2/8/09
5th in AG
24:54 (8:02 pace)

St. Patrick's Day Dash
(3.75 mile run, this year a new route: north/uphill on Aurora/99, turning on the Aurora Bridge for a downhill return to Seattle Center)
3/15/09
6th in AG
31:32 (8:25 pace)


Danskin Triathlon
8/16/09
1st in AG/10th OA
Swim 13:36
T1 2:05
Bike 37:27 (19.2 mph)
T2 1:02
Run 24:52 (8:01 pace)
Total 1:19:05













Trek Triathlon
9/20/09
2nd in AG/19th OA
Swim 14:07
T1 1:32
Bike 37:48 (19.0 mph)
T2 1:06
Run 24:31 (7:54 pace)
Total 1:19:06



There was an actual podium for the top 3 in each division at the Danskin triathlon, which was kind of cool. Here I am with Hillary. I wish Val had stuck around to take her spot in this picture. There was no podium at the Trek a month later (just the table with result print-outs for everyone to crowd around), but Hillary would have been the one standing on the top tier that day, since she took 1st in our AG.






Dawg Dash 5K
10/18/09
3rd in AG
24:45 (7:58 pace)

Pumpkin Push 5K
10/24/09
2nd in AG
24:09 (7:47 pace)



Sunny day for the P.P. and plenty of interesting costumes to enjoy, including dancing zombies (you had to be there).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your armpits are simply incredible.