TheBeckmans.com

Chilly Cheeks Winter Duathlon #1

gaye — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:24:00 GMT

Last weekend was the first in this year's Chilly Cheeks winter duathlon series. This is a really fun race series that goes regardless of conditions, and last year two of the three were NOT in very good conditions!

Weather on race morning was really nice, although a little chilly at the start (mid 30's) and the wind REALLY picked up as the race went on. I met my friend Becky in the parking lot and we got checked in and racked our bikes. I kind of talked her into the race, and she was pretty nervous, since she hadn't run in a few years. Oh yeah, and she's pregnant! She was in the fat tire division since she was riding her mountain bike, and I was in the open division on my road bike. There were three waves starting a minute apart, and I was in the second and Becky was in the third, so when my wave went, I jogged realllllllly slowly until she caught up, and then we started running with 45 second/1 minute run/walk intervals. Becky really hadn't trained for the race at all but she did awesome. I think she was about ready to rip my Garmin off my wrist everytime it started beeping that it was time to run, but she didn't complain (much). The run was actually pretty easy for me. I was a little concerned since I hadn't done more than 3 miles since my surgery, but distracting Becky kept me distracted, too. We came into transition right around 52 minutes, which was great! I think that a 13 minute mile pace is pretty darn good for wogging, especially when one of us hasn't even run in at least a couple of years!

Transition was a little slow. Becky had never done any multi-sport races before and took a little while to get situated, which was fine since we definitely weren't looking to break any records! As we were switching our stuff over, there were a couple of guys packing up to go home. Yep, they finished the whole race in the time it took us to do just the run! We took off on our bikes, and since I was on the road bike, I lost Becky pretty quickly. I got passed once right at the beginning, but that was the last time I got passed for the race. The bike was pretty good, just WINDY. There were a couple of times where there was a cross-wind, and I seriously thought I was going to get blown over! I was able to reel in a few more people on the bike. It's kind of funny, doing the run with Becky really helped tamper down my competitive instincts, but as soon as I was on my own on the bike, they all came out. I probably should have taken it a little easier, but my knee was feeling ok, so I pushed it. I passed one last guy (on a mountain bike, who was really struggling!) with about a quarter mile to go, and that was it. I did it! I went up to transition and racked my bike and headed back down to the finish to wait for Becky. She came in about 9 minutes later, exhausted and sore, but super proud of herself.

I'm pretty happy with how it went! I was a little sore afterwards, but mostly muscular, not very much in the knee. I had a few twinges in my knee on the bike but not in the spot where the pain was before my surgery, so that seems promising. I wasn't last, either. And neither was Becky! Not too shabby for 8 weeks out from knee surgery and pregnant! And then we went to IHOP and replaced all the calories we had just burned off. :-p

Official results:
211/215 (open division, there were another 8 after me in the fat tire division)
Run (4 miles): 52:28 (13:07 pace)
Transition: 4:07
Bike (10.8 miles): 45:01 (14.4 mph ave)
Finish: 1:41:35

Definitely a good start to racing post-surgery, and I'm looking forward to being able to "race" a little bit more at the next Chilly Cheeks race in January. I go back to see my orthopedist the first week of January, and I'm expecting to be cut loose. My friend Chris, who is doing my rehab, has already told me she's most likely going to cut me loose in one or two more appointments. I'm almost back, woohoo!

Ah, the joys of TWO.

gaye — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:42:00 GMT

As I sit here typing this post, Tyler is crying because I had the nerve...the audacity (!) to tell him that I couldn't sit in his room (in the dark, no less) any longer and that he needed to close his eyes and go to sleep. I swear, they make toddlers so stinking cute for a reason...if they weren't, they'd probably get left on the side of the road or put up for adoption! :-p Oh, but when they're cute...they're REALLY stinking cute. Like this:

One of Tyler's favorite things to do lately, help Mommy cook. He loves to mix!

Tyler is talking up a storm these days. It seems like whenever we're in the car, he just does not stop talking. And he's quite bossy about telling us to "GO" whenever we have to stop. At least he's fine with it as soon as we tell him that it's a red light (or a stop sign, or whatever). Of course, then we have to listen to him telling us that it's a "red light! red light!" over and over and over. :-) He also likes to make up little songs. We recently got a new webcam on the crib that has sound and we've been told that when I put him down for his nap, before he falls asleep he likes to sing songs, about the camera and about sleeping. In the car he sings songs about green lights and bus drivers.

We went to Breakfast with Santa at the Y last weekend. Tyler was a little hesitant about Santa, but was willing to let Mommy hold him next to Santa because he figured out that he was going to give him candy! We also got to make crafts, and get our faces (actually, our hands) painted.

He made the snowman all by himself! Really! Ok, a little help with placement, but he picked everything out and glued it himself.

Yesterday, we made a trip to the mall Santa for the "official" Santa photo. I was shocked that not only did Tyler sit on Santa's lap all by himself, but he didn't even cry. Ok, he wasn't thrilled about it and wouldn't smile, but he didn't cry!

I've been a good boy this year, I swear!

The unofficial official Santa pic! (as opposed to the official one I had to pay for but didn't want to scan)

Coming up over the next few weeks: a trip to the zoo to see the lights, a Christmas party with friends, and a trip back to Ohio for lots of fun with family and friends!

Poor neglected blog...

gaye — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:52:00 GMT

So, it's been over a month since I've posted in either my or Tyler's blog. Oops. Sorry 'bout that. Life's been happening, but nothing that I really felt was significant enough to share here, I guess! My knee is still recovering. I've been running for a couple of weeks, but very slowly, and I'm only up to 45 seconds at a time so far. It seems to be healing well, just a little more slowly than my impatient self was hoping for. I'm pretty much back to cycling full-go, although I haven't tried it outside or pulling Tyler in the chariot yet. So far, no problems on the bike, which is a relief since that's where all the pain was pre-surgery. And, in my craziness (yes, some of you may call it stupidity), I'm signed up for a duathlon next weekend. Oh, don't worry, it's gonna be sloooooow. I'm planning on "wogging" it (that's a walk/jog :-p) with a pregnant friend. We'll probably be the last finishers by a good hour, but that's ok, it should still be fun!

I've got some fun new pictures of Tyler to post, so hopefully I'll get those up sometime this weekend.

Halloween fun!

gaye — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:09:00 GMT

It's been a busy Halloween season, with two parties, a trip to Bug-a-Boo at the Butterfly Pavilion, and trick or treating (of course)! Tyler had lots of fun with all the activities, and even got used to his costume, eventually.

Tyler was a dinosaur for Halloween this year. He didn't really understand enough to be able to tell me what he wanted to be, so I got to exercise my motherly rights and choose it for him, probably for the last time! :-p I was a little worried when we tried it on for the first time, and had a screaming fit as a result. He was pretty adamant each time we put the costume on..."NO dinosaur! NO dinosaur!", but as soon as we got him distracted, he was fine and even seemed to kind of enjoy his belly and tail a little.

I decided to skip Boo at the Zoo this year in favor of Bug-a-Boo at the Butterfly Pavilion. Smaller and less crowded were the key factors, especially with my recent knee surgery! Bug-a-Boo was really nice, and Tyler loved all the creepy-crawlies. He got to hold Rosie the tarantula AND a cockroach (ewww). There was bubble blowing, and candy, of course! My child, who has been adamant in his refusals of all candy up until now, all of a sudden LOVES the stuff. Right in time for Halloween, go figure. :-p

Holding Rosie

Blowing bubbles!

I opted to carve our pumpkins while Tyler was down for his nap...just wasn't up for dealing with pumpkin guts AND a 2 year old at the same time! Next year will be soon enough for that, I think. I thought my carvings turned out pretty cute. Tyler loved lighting them up, or as he said "turn candles on!" He also LOVED the pumpkin seeds. He didn't even want to let me roast them, just wanted to dig right in! He pretty much single-handedly demolished two pumpkins' worth of seeds. Ok, I helped a *little*.

This year's artistry

We headed down to the Nielsen's again for Halloween. We just don't get any trick-or-treaters in our condos, and they live in a cul-de-sac with great neighbors that's perfect for taking the little ones around. This is becoming a tradition for us, and it's a lot of fun.

Tyler, Taylor, and Sage

Trick or treating was SO much fun! The kids actually GOT it this year, and they had an absolute blast. Tyler and Taylor were a little shy for the first couple of houses, but as soon as they figured out that they were getting candy, they were all over it. :-) I couldn't get Tyler to say "trick or treat" until we were on our way home, but he was pretty good about saying "thank you". He loved running up to the houses to "knock on door" and "get candy!"! It was so stinking cute!

Here we go...

Trick or Treat!

Yay, candy!

We soon discovered that Tyler REALLY likes Kit Kats. And Starburst. And Nerds. A lot. There were some serious sugar highs going on Halloween night!

There are lots more pictures in the Halloween '08 album, so go check them out! There are also some new pictures up in the 24-30 month album and a few from my last triathlon here.

Surgery Update

gaye — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 03:24:00 GMT

Hi everyone. Thanks so much for your well-wishes and support. I really appreciate it. Just thought I would post a quick update to let you all know how I'm doing.

Surgery went very well. I talked to my doctor this afternoon (one of the perks of knowing your surgeon personally, you get an actual phone call from them after surgery!) and got the low-down since when I saw him yesterday in recovery, I was totally out of it. He found two bands of plica, one above the patella and one below. He said there should be about 3 cm of space between the patella and the femur, and the plica was taking up all that space, binding down the patella so it wasn't able to glide smoothly. He removed the plica bands, and said that it should do the trick!

I'm actually in very little pain right now. I wouldn't even really call it pain, more discomfort really. I changed the dressing a little bit ago and the incision sites look good. I'm having a lot of itching, most likely from the anesthetic since I haven't taken any painkillers since last night. Other than that, I'm just tired. So far, recovery is going very well! I've got my PT appointment set up for next week and should be able to get on a stationary bike by then, and I'm looking forward to being able to run again within a month.

Thanks again for all the support!

Seasons' End

gaye — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:09:00 GMT

It's official, race season is at an end. I finished my season two weeks ago by running the Fans on the Field 10k with my friend Amy. It was a really cool race, although I didn't really get to "race" it. I ran it with Tyler in the jogging stroller, and there were so many people running that I couldn't run as fast as I would have liked. That's ok, though, it was a fun race, and since I hadn't really been training for the 10k distance anyway, I tried to just treat it like a training run. The fun thing about the Fans on the Field race is that it's named that for a reason. You actually run through three stadiums/arenas over the course of the race. We started out from outside Invesco Field (where the Broncos play) and ran to Coors Field (home of the Rockies), where we did a quick in and out along the third base line from the outfield to home plate and back. Then it was over to the Pepsi Center (home of the Nuggets/Avalanche/Crush) where we ran in one side, ran around the basketball court, and out the other. The last stop was back at Invesco, where we ran through the stadium on the sidelines and out the other side to the finish line. Even though I'm not really a huge fan of any of the teams, it was still pretty cool to get to run through the stadiums like that.

The race itself was a little frustrating just because it was so crowded. A good portion of the course went through pretty narrow areas, so with the number of participants (especially walkers/joggers), it was really hard to maneuver the stroller around them. Tyler had a good time, though! He especially liked running through the Pepsi Center ("Basketball!", followed shortly by a sad "All done basketball?"). At one point I had been trying to get around a couple of girls in front of me for around a quarter-mile or so, and I finally saw an opening. As I went to the side to pass, I heard "GO!" from the stroller. I was like..."Did you just tell me to go?" and one of the girls I was passing said "I'm pretty sure he just did!" It was pretty funny.

Amy, me, and Tyler in front of Invesco after the race

And another reason that race season is officially at an end...I'm going to be having my knee scoped on Thursday. I've been aware for awhile that I was probably going to end up with surgery at some point. We tried everything else to get rid of my knee pain, and nothing worked. So, I saw my orthopedist, and he's going to operate to remove the plica in my left knee, which we're pretty sure is what's irritating things. It should be a relatively minor ordeal, but it is still surgery. I'm a little nervous about dealing with a second floor condo, a toddler, and a dog, but I'll make it work! I should only be on crutches for 3-4 days, and my doctor says I should be back running in 3-4 weeks. I'm hopeful that I'll be ready to go for the first of the Chilly Cheeks races in December. I might not be quite "racing" form, but at least I should be able to get out there and have fun with it! I'm really hopeful that this will help clear up my knee pain, since I felt like that was a major factor holding me back on the bike this year. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't lose too much of my conditioning while I'm laid up! I've got big plans for next year!

Here are the official, kinda embarrassingly slow, results for the Fans on the Field 10k:

Gaye Beckman

bib number:	219
age:	31
gender:	F
overall place:	659 out of 1009
division place:	106 out of 182
gender place:	286 out of 509
time:	1:05:38.6
pace:	10:34
guntime:	1:07:26.4

Weekend in Glenwood

gaye — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:42:00 GMT

I was lucky enough to spend last weekend in Glenwood Springs with my good friend, Becky. Just me and Becky. NO TODDLERS! Don't get me wrong, I love Tyler more than life itself, but mama needed a vacation! We had an absolutely phenomenal weekend with hiking, biking, enjoying the hot springs, lots of yummy food, and lots of silliness (mostly on my part!). I got some fantastic pictures and wanted to highlight some (ok, maybe a lot) of them here.

Saturday morning, Becky and I did the Hanging Lake hike. This is a hike that I have been wanting to do since we moved to Colorado, but Glenwood is just far enough away to make it really difficult to do as a day hike. I knew that the hike was supposed to be spectacular, but I had NO idea just how gorgeous it really is! The trail is super rocky in spots and follows the path of a creek all the way up to the lake. Since it's pretty much straight up, there are tons of waterfalls all along the way.

Getting ready to head up the trail (I like how they try to warn you off!)

Looking up the trail...yes, there is a trail there!

Me on the trail...really, I swear there's a trail!

Cool mossy waterfall along the trail

View of some fall colors through an opening in the canyon

The lake itself is absolutely breathtaking. The pictures I got are great, but don't do it justice at all. The golds and reds of the fall colors just added to the beauty!

First view of the lake

The lake and waterfalls

Becky and me

We took a short side trip a few minutes further up the trail to Spouting Rock. It was well worth the trip. Spouting Rock is an incredible waterfall that somehow cut its way through the solid rock and bursts right out of the middle of the rock cliff.

Spouting Rock

After a trip back to the hotel for some lunch, and a check or ten on the weather, we decided to head out for a bike ride. Neither of us was too sure that our legs would hold out for long, but we really wanted to get a ride in, so off we went. We rode the couple of blocks from the hotel to the Glenwood Canyon bike path. The path is 15 miles long one way and follows the highway and the river for pretty much its entire length. It's a really beautiful trail, and oddly enough, you don't even notice that you're riding right under/alongside an interstate highway. We ended up doing 20 miles, our legs survived, and we didn't even mind getting rained on a bit!

After our bike ride, it was back to the hotel and then over to the Hot Springs pool to soak out some of our stiffness and soreness. We drove down to Basalt for a nice dinner and then slept HARD after a practically perfect day!

The weather was looking pretty iffy on Sunday, so we decided it would be a bad idea to try to do any hiking or biking. Since I'd never been to Aspen, we took a drive down there both to see the fall colors and so I can now say that I've been there. :-)

Aspens over Aspen

On our way back up towards Glenwood, we stopped in Carbondale and had a fantastic brunch before hitting the road and heading home. It was a great weekend, with a great friend, and I hope I get to repeat it sometime soon!

Fall hiking and the pumpkin patch

gaye — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 04:03:00 GMT

We've had some absolutely gorgeous fall weather recently. Tyler and I have been trying to take advantage by getting out and doing some hiking and biking. We met some friends up at Reynolds Park a week or so ago. Reynolds Park is one of my absolute favorite spots, and while the fall colors weren't quite there yet, it was a lot of fun with some picture-perfect weather. I went up a little early to test out the backpack and see both if Tyler was still willing to be carried and if I was able to do it. Good news, the backpack still works, at least for now! I got a good hike in carrying Tyler and then we met up with our friends for some toddler hiking. The kids did great, we actually had to call it quits because the MOMS were hungry!

Checking out the leaves with Abi

Hiking!

Last week, we hiked at Meyer Ranch, which is just drop-dead gorgeous when the aspens change color. I got a great hike in carrying Tyler, but unfortunately our toddler hiking got a little curtailed by an unexpected storm that blew in over the mountains.

Aspens at Meyer Ranch

Fall hiking rocks!

Yesterday we visited Rock Creek Farm up in Broomfield. This is a great place to visit the pumpkin patch. They also have a hay bale maze for the little ones, a great photo backdrop setup with cornstalks and pumpkins, and farm animals for the kids to see. Tyler had a great time running through the pumpkin patch, although he wanted me to pick every single pumpkin there. Every time I would cut one off the vine, he would move on to the next one and tell me "This one!" He and Carter and Tana had a fantastic time chasing each other through the hay maze. There was lots of giggling, some hay throwing, and just a general good time. Thanks to Hillary for organizing, and for making the yummy caramel corn. :-)

Picking out our pumpkins

Some serious pumpkin bounty

Hangin' with Carter

Tyler, Carter, and Tana running crazy through the hay bale maze

Vacation, Finale

gaye — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:39:00 GMT

Ok, time to wrap up this long and drawn out vacation report! We finished up our big road trip with a drive down to Durango to ride the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. I'd been wanting to go down to Durango and ride the railroad since we moved to Colorado 7 years ago, so when my mom told me that they were planning to do just that, I latched myself and Tyler right on to their plans. :-) This was a super quick trip, drive down, ride the train, and drive back, but I'm so glad we did it!

The drive down was surprisingly easy, again much thanks to my new best friend Elmo. I don't know what they do to those videos, but seriously, they're toddler crack. The drive was beautiful, especially once we got to Wolf Creek Pass.

Tyler and I on top of Wolf Creek Pass

The next morning, we were up bright and early to get some breakfast before heading over to the train station for our departure. The train ride from Durango to Silverton is only about 45 miles but takes 3 1/2 hours. The scenery is absolutely breathtaking. You can do any combination of train and bus for the roundtrip, so we chose to take the bus from Silverton back to Durango, saving two hours on the way back! It's hard to describe the train ride and do it any justice. It's one of those things you really have to experience. We were in the standard enclosed coach car, which was our only choice with Tyler. They also have an open-sided coach car, and premium class cars. The open-sided car would have been great for pictures, but you get hit with cinders from the engine. You get those in the enclosed car, too, if you have your windows open, just not as bad. Tyler was really good for the long train ride. He got a little antsy over the last hour, which was understandable, some of the adults were getting antsy, too! Some of the highlights of the train ride were: watching all the people stop on the side of the road to take pictures as we left Durango; the High Line portion of the route where the train literally clings to the side of the cliff with a rock wall just inches away on one side and a breathtaking drop-off on the other; the bridge crossing where the engineer blows off steam, resulting in a rainbow over the river; and just watching Tyler look out the window and enjoy "ride choo-choo train, ride choo-choo train!" I'm happy to report that we even managed not to lose anything out the window, although one of Tyler's trucks had a very narrow escape. Here are some pictures from the train ride:

Ready to go!

Watching the scenery

Rainbow over the High Bridge

Fun with Papa

Looking back at the train and the scenery

Once we made it to Silverton, we had about two hours to eat lunch and walk around before our bus back to Durango left. Silverton itself wasn't very exciting, but there were a couple of nice little shops. Before we knew it, the train was heading out of town and it was time to "Ride bus! Ride bus!" back to Durango.

Yes, my child is easily entertained.

Tyler was exhausted and passed out cold within ten minutes of leaving Silverton. He slept the whole hour and a half bus ride. It was kind of nice to hold him...he doesn't snuggle with Mommy very often!

The bus ride was almost as beautiful as the train ride had been. The highway follows a similar, but not the same, route as the train. I enjoyed watching it, although I knew I would be driving it myself the next day on the way home. The train ride makes for a long day...around 7 hours round trip...but it was well worth it! The following morning, we got up, packed up the car for the trip home, and sent Grandma and Papa on their way to Mesa Verde, while we headed for home at last. I decided to take the "scenic" route home, coming up what's called the Million Dollar Highway through Ouray and up to Grand Junction to hit I-70 and back to Denver. The drive was well worth it. The views were stunning. The only bummer was that the part that was the most breathtaking was also the part where it was impossible to pull over and take any pictures! Ouray was beautiful as well, and I'd love to get back there to visit sometime, especially since we weren't able to stop at all.

We drove up past Telluride, stopped in Olathe to pick up some fresh sweet corn on the side of the road, and then bypassed Grand Junction. I made a quick detour through Palisade to buy a flat of peaches and a basket of plums, we grabbed some lunch, and then it was the last leg home. Once again, my friend Elmo kept Tyler happy. At least until we neared Georgetown (about 45 minutes or so from home), where he randomly demanded Thomas the tank engine and promptly fell asleep once I put Thomas in!

Heading out to load up the car (he insisted, really! I was barely allowed to touch it to steer!)

Tyler and I on top of Molas Pass

We had a great vacation, with lots of fun memories. We're definitely glad to be back home and settled into a routine, though. Especially me! The lack of naptime was getting a little old... :-)

Vacation, Part Deux

gaye — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:07:00 GMT

AKA a visit to Rapid City, with a couple of stops along the way! My stepfather's navy shipmates have a reunion every year, and this year's was in Rapid City. When I mentioned to my mom that I had always wanted to see Mt Rushmore, she said that Tyler and I should come up for the reunion with them. I was (understandably, I think) nervous about driving up there alone with a toddler, but my new best friend Elmo made the trip super smooth. The 6 1/2 hour drive honestly was a piece of cake!

We arrived in Rapid City just in time to get on a bus and go to a chuckwagon dinner with the group. Tyler was very excited about the bus ("Ride bus! Ride bus!"), and even more excited when we got there and there was a bunch of boardwalk he could run around on and get all his energy out. He wasn't so sure about the show after dinner, but I think that was because we were so close to the speakers. He had a good time clapping along when I took him to sit in the back!

Dinner with the grandparents...he refused to let me put his hood down!

The next day was rainy, so we decided to spend the morning at Bear Country, USA, which is a drive-through wildlife park. It could have been kind of lame, but it was actually really really cool. The cool weather meant that the animals were really active, and we got up close and personal with a couple of them. There's a good reason they tell you to keep your doors and windows shut at all times!

Yes, that's a bear passing RIGHT in front of my car. Seriously, if you look closely, I bet there's some fur in the grill!

There was also a little zoo-like area that had a bunch of bear cubs...I've never seen anything like 4-5 bear cubs all in the same tree!

Later that afternoon, we went to meet up with the group at Crazy Horse and then Mt Rushmore, where the veterans were to be honored at the monument's lighting ceremony that evening. I have to say, I was less than impressed with Crazy Horse. If they ever get it done, it could be really cool, but right now that looks like a BIG if. On the other hand, I LOVED Mt Rushmore. It was truly phenomenal, much more than I expected. One of the coolest things is the hiking trail that goes right along the base of the mountain. It gives a really cool perspective on the monument, while also being a legitimately beautiful trail through the woods all on its own.

Cool view of George from a "cave" along the trail

Posing in front of "the heads"

The following morning, we took a drive up to Dinosaur Park, which is a free park overlooking Rapid City. It's called Dinosaur Park because, as part of the Works Progress Administration in the 1930's, several models of dinosaurs were built in this park. It was really cool, and did I mention free?

After Dinosaur Park, we decided to go back to Mt Rushmore. Our visit the night before had been kind of rushed and I wanted to take the audio tour that goes along the hiking trail. Tyler had a fantastic time hiking, especially on the hundreds of stairs!

Checking out the flowers

That evening, we took a drive out to Badlands National Park. We had heard that the best time to go was either at sunrise or sunset, and it was no lie! The way the light hit the rock formations was truly spectacular. Tyler slept through most of it!

Our last day in Rapid City was spent with the reunion group. We took a bus ride ("Ride bus! Ride bus!') out to Black Hills National Cemetery, with a detour through Sturgis, for a memorial ceremony for the veterans who have passed away. The cemetery was absolutely beautiful.

We finished up our trip to Rapid City with a banquet that evening, then headed back to Denver the next morning. We made a stop in Hot Springs, South Dakota, to visit the mammoth site. This is the world's largest mammoth research site, as well as being an active dig. They leave the majority of the bones as they find them, which was kind of cool. Tyler LOVED the guided tour since it consisted of going to different spots and picking up a phone in order to hear the tour guide.

It was pretty darn cool, especially the two almost-fully complete skeletons.

That was our last planned stop, but we decided to make one more when we saw signs advertising the Oregon Trail ruts near Guernsey, Wyoming at a rest area. It was a short drive out of our way, but it was really interesting to see. The ruts were cut into the soft rock by the wagon wheels passing through on the Oregon trail. It was pretty amazing that the wheels cut through rock that deeply...shows you just how many wagons passed through.

From there, it was just a few short hours back to Denver, and the comfort of our own home. Well, for one night anyway! Look for vacation part III, our trip to Durango, to be posted soon!

Vacation, Part I

gaye — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 04:26:00 GMT

I'm still sorting through the just plain silly amount of photos I took at Mt Rushmore and in Durango, but I did at least get the photos from our trip to Ohio uploaded. This was a kind of last-minute trip we took, in part to get a chance to go see the fireworks at Riverfest for the first time in almost 10 years. We got to spend some good quality time with the Cincinnati family, and even got to meet up with Amy, Dan, and Kallie at Young's Dairy in Yellow Springs. The kids had a great time driving the tractors, going on wagon and barrel train rides, and seeing all the animals in the petting zoo! We got to feed the goats and see real, live pigs, chickens, cows, ducks, and even a turkey up close. Hopefully, more vacation pics up tomorrow!

Driving the tractor

Feeding the goats

Barrel train ride!

Boulder Tri-Babes Sprint Tri

gaye — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 21:40:00 GMT

Today I wrapped up my 2008 triathlon season with the Boulder Tri-Babes Sprint Tri. This was the first year for this women-only race, and it was a lot of fun!

I pulled into Union Reservoir in Longmont 10 minutes before transition was set to open this morning, and I was one of the first 10 cars in the parking lot. I scoped out a stellar transition spot and got my gear all set to go, and then went to check out the set-up since I'd never been to Union Res before. Back into transition where I got body-marked and picked up my timing chip, and then I just kind of hung out and watched people. It was pretty entertaining. This was one of those races where there are a LOT of first-timers, and although I'm sure I looked just like them last year, you sure can tell who they are. There was even one woman who showed up 10 minutes before transition was set to close and put down her kickstand on her bike and started to set up her area...6 feet OFF the end of the nearest rack! I very politely said to her that she might want to check with race officials that she was allowed to do that before she got everything all laid out, and she had absolutely NO idea that you couldn't do that!

A few minutes before transition closed, my friend Robyn arrived to cheer me on. Yay! I had also gotten a text message from Brian that he and Tyler were on their way (I knew they MIGHT come, but wasn't really expecting it), so I was super excited that I was going to have my own cheering section. I got my wetsuit on and headed down to the water. Which was COLD. I heard that it was around 70, but it sure didn't feel that warm. I did a short warm-up, then it was time for the pre-race meeting. Before I knew it, my wave was starting.

My swim felt good. I started at the back of my wave, like I usually do, but quickly learned that (at least for this particular race), that was a bad idea. I was swimming faster than most people around me for once, and kept running into them. By the time we made the left turn around the second buoy, it had spaced out and I could just swim. The water was not the clearest I've ever swum (swam?) in, all I could see was the little bits of seaweed floating in the top couple of inches of water, that was it. Before I knew it, I was making the turn back toward the beach. Coming out of the water, I had no idea how I did, except that it felt good! I saw and heard Robyn, as I made my way up to transition. Oddly enough, I heard (but couldn't find where it was coming from), someone else cheering for me. And it wasn't Brian. Hmm, I figured maybe it was a volunteer who had a list of names and bib numbers.

T1 went pretty well. They had obviously not swept the parking lot and there were a lot of loose stones on the pavement, which hurt, but other than that, it was pretty uneventful. The wetsuit came off relatively easy, and I was on my way. The bike exit was kind of odd. You had to go up over a curb, then across a carpet laid out over grass, before mounting on a dirt road which turned to pavement maybe 10 or 20 yards down. There was no clear mount/dismount line either, although that was more confusing on the way in.

The bike course was 3 loops of 4 miles each. It was pretty flat, and it was FAST. The first loop flew by, and as I made the turn into the second loop, there were Brian and Tyler cheering. I don't think Tyler ever saw me, he looked pretty confused. :-) I was worried about the bike because I had gone for a ride on Thursday and had to cut it way short because my knee was bothering me so much. Luckily, because it was so flat, the knee didn't start acting up until the end of the second loop. The final loop was a little tough, but I just kept telling myself that it was the last race of the season, ignore it, give it all you've got, and it worked!

As I came back into T2, there was Robyn, and again, a random person cheering for me by name. Hmm. Weird. Probably that volunteer again! T2 was a little slow thanks to difficulty getting my running shoes on. My shoes are overdue for replacement, and when I went to put them on, the backs of both of them squished down into the shoe. Ugh. It took WAY too much work to get that fixed, but at last, I was on my way to the run.

The weather was absolutely perfect for running! It was cool and overcast. The forecast had called for a chance of thunderstorms, and there were some black clouds heading in while I was on the bike, but it held off, thank goodness. I felt a little rough on the run, especially the first mile. I had a really tough time getting my legs going and it seemed like every time I looked at my Garmin, I was going so sloooow. It didn't help that we were running on a dirt road and the first 1/2 mile or so were in desperate need of grading. Holy washboard. I've never run on anything like that before, and don't care to again! Luckily it evened out before too long. I hit the aid station at the one mile marker (although the Garmin said it was a little short) and holy crap, I could see the turn-around, and it wasn't very far. The aid station was at the top of the one hill on the course, so I knew it was pretty much downhill from there and tried to pick it up. I got to the turn-around, and checked my watch. Hmm, only about 1.3 miles. That's strange. I just thought maybe the run to the finish line added a little distance to the otherwise out-and-back course. I'm very proud that I only got passed once on the run course, and she was hauling pretty fast! I passed a handful of people, but we were so spread out, it was hard to even target people to try to reel them in. I hit the washboard section again and began to realize that there was no way the run course was a full 3.1 miles. Oh well. I turned off the road toward the finish line and saw Robyn and Brian and Tyler. This time Tyler saw me, and I got rewarded with a big smile. I managed one last sprint to the finish, and that was it. It was over!

I had a GREAT race. I did the swim 2 minutes faster than I thought I could if I had a good swim. I smoked the bike course, for me at least. And I had a decent run. Although if they insist that it was a full 5k, I blew away my fastest 5k time to date by 3 1/2 minutes. This was a good wrap-up to the season. The race was well-organized and run, although they need to work on the course a little bit to get their distance right. According to my Garmin, the bike course was a mile longer than they said it was, and the run was only 2.67 miles. I'm sad that tri season is over, but there's still running and the Chilly Cheeks winter duathlon series to look forward to. First though, I'm going back to get my knee checked out again. I have a feeling I may have to take some enforced time off while I deal with it, but at least I made it through the summer.

Oh yeah, and that person I kept hearing cheer for me? That was Linda Essex, my gym teacher all through elementary and high school, and a good friend of my mom's. She lives in Ohio, but was out here visiting her niece who was doing the race, too. I knew there was a chance that she would be there, but had completely forgotten about it. It was so cool to realize that the random voice was actually somebody I knew, and it was great to get to catch up with her for a few minutes after the race. :-)

The results!

Boulder Tri Babes Sprint Triathlon (9/21/08)

Union Reservoir, Longmont, CO

Overall place: 63/222

Age group place: 14/46

Overall time: 1:26:01

Swim: 15:18 (rank:97)

T1: 2:02

Bike: 43:45 (rank:74, 17.0 mph ave.) <official ave. is based on 12 m course, actual ave was 17.9 mph>

T2: 1:50

Run: 23:08 (rank: 54, 7:28 pace) <yeah, the fastest mile I've EVER run was 7:22 and I was dying, so I don't think so. Actual pace according to my Garmin was 8:40.>

63	Gaye	Beckman	655	F30-34	14	97	15:18	2:02	74	43:45	17	1:50	54	23:08	7:28	1:26:01	F	63

Gaye

Beckman

655

F30-34

15:18

2:02

43:45

1:50

23:08

7:28

1:26:01

For your entertainment

gaye — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:23:00 GMT

I'm still working on sorting through the hundreds of pictures I took on our trip, but hopefully I will be able to get a trip report up sometime in the next few days. In the meantime, here are a couple of videos I took of Tyler. I think they're pretty funny!

General lunch silliness on our trip home

Dancing (yes, he's very white, and yes, he has no pants on)

The long road ahead...

gaye — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 06:26:00 GMT

Ok, I admit it, I've been slacking on the blog entries lately! I don't really have much to say right now either, but I felt like I should break the silence before we hit the road tomorrow. :-p

Tyler and I are headed out on part two of a three part vacation in the morning. We flew back home from almost a week in Ohio today and tomorrow morning we will load up the car for the 6 1/2 hour drive to Rapid City, South Dakota, where we will be meeting up with my parents. Please send me any calm, peaceful vibes you can spare, as this morning's flight was a rough one Tyler-wise, and it was only 2 1/2 hours. He recently discovered how much fun (he thinks) it is to scream "AH!" at the top of his lungs OVER AND OVER UNTIL YOU THINK YOUR EARS WILL START BLEEDING. I may have to break out the duct tape if he starts that up in the car. I'm kidding. I think.

Part three of our vacation will be driving down to Durango with my parents (well, in our own car) for a few more days before they head on to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon and we return back home, probably very exhausted and sick of each other's company.

I promise a nice long trip report when we get back, with lots of pictures, I'm sure!

Race, Interrupted

gaye — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:17:00 GMT

Today was the Rattlesnake Olympic triathlon. I was really looking forward to this race...my friend Amy talked me into doing it a few weeks ago and I thought it would be fun, especially since there's no way it could be as hard as the Boulder Peak was! The weather forecast looked fantastic at the beginning of the week, but got just a little bit worse every day until yesterday they were saying that it would only be a high of 60 with rain expected all morning. Fun!

Sure enough, the race got called when I was at mile 8 of the bike due to lightning. I honestly couldn't decide at that point whether I was mad or relieved. And the 6 miles worth of biking to get back to transition was the most miserable exercise I think I've ever done in my life. It was absolutely pouring. We're having the one of the driest years on record, and a freaking monsoon arrives just in time for my race! The funny part is that I think I actually was more wet on the bike than I was in the swim!

The weather at the start was kind of crappy, but not that bad. Just cold (48 or so degrees) and drizzly. Getting in the water actually felt GOOD...it was so much warmer than the air. This race had a time trial start (one person at a time, about every 5 seconds), which was interesting. Everyone I talked to before the race absolutely raved about it, but I really didn't like it. With a wave start, I can position myself toward the back of the wave and get out of the way of the worst of the chaos since I'm a fairly slow swimmer. With the time trial start, though, it was pretty constant that people were swimming over me. The men were the worst, since they started behind the women. They pretty much just plowed through, not caring who was in their way. Other than that, it was an ok swim. Thanks to the weather, it was really choppy, which was tough. I swallowed lots of water! At least when I got out, I was nice and warm, for a few minutes anyway. The first four miles of the bike weren't too bad, just a little wet, but I wasn't too cold yet. Then the rain picked up. Then the lightning started.

It really stinks, but I am glad that they canceled it. It was the right call, and being out on that course for another 12 miles beyond what I did would have been awful. Not to mention having to run after! And when I went to pack up my transition area, my stuff was all completely soaked despite my precautions. I had a garbage bag on the ground, then a towel, then my stuff, then another garbage bag over top. Completely sopping wet, all of it!

I'll be interested to see what the race organizers decide to do. There's really no way to reschedule it, but we didn't even get our race shirts or anything, they were supposed to hand them out at the finish. This was a relatively expensive race, so I at least better get my t-shirt! A discount for next year's race would be nice, too.

Oh, well, what can you do? It just wasn't meant to be today, I guess. You can't argue with Mother Nature!

Almost forgot to mention...I put some photos up in the new Biking gallery the other day from our Bike with your Bambino ride this week. Sonja borrowed my camera and took some great pics while we were riding.

Group photo (L to R: Laura, Gaye, Hillary, Sonja, Lindsay):

For all my triathlon buddies

gaye — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 02:29:00 GMT

I came across this commercial and thought it was hilarious. Enjoy!

p.s. For the non-triathletes out there, did I mention that it's official...I am nuts. My friend Amy talked me into signing up for another Olympic race. Next weekend! Woohoo! Rattlesnake olympic tri, here I come. Yes, I am crazy, thanks for asking. ;-)

Newsflash!

gaye — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 02:44:00 GMT

This just in...

Tyler ate vegetables for dinner!

And not just the pseudo-veggies potatoes and corn either. He ate mixed vegetables. Ok, so he picked out the green beans, but he ate the carrots, peas and of course, the corn. Woohoo!

I'm pretty sure I've just jinxed it by proclaiming it to the world. ;-)

Back to your regularly scheduled programming...

Macaroni and Cheese

gaye — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:01:00 GMT

No words necessary. Or forks, apparently! :-)

Riding Highgrade

gaye — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 03:15:00 GMT

Today, I did something that makes me feel, for the first time, like a "real cyclist." I rode up Highgrade! Highgrade is a very popular training route for cyclists here in the Denver area. You start in Deer Creek Canyon and ride up, up, up for about 10 miles at an average of a 6-8% grade. The steepest and hardest part is Highgrade Road. Now, steep is absolutely relative here, as this ride is not even close to as steep as Old Stage, the big hill I rode last weekend in the Boulder Peak Tri. What it lacks in steepness, it makes up for in length, though. It's a loooong uphill!

I started off from the lower parking lot of South Valley Park. I chatted with a nice couple who were getting ready to go, too, and when they found out it was my first time riding Highgrade, they were nice enough to ask me to ride with them, at least for awhile. They were planning a loop (and actually doing it backwards), and I was only doing an out and back, but we rode together to the turnoff. It was really nice chatting with them, they had a lot of great advice for me. Thanks a bunch, Jen and Michael! There were a TON of cyclists out today. It was a beautiful day for a ride, a little cooler than it has been. The ride up was just SO beautiful. This is why we live in Colorado. This place is so freaking gorgeous I can't stand it sometimes. Before I knew it I was on Highgrade. I caught up with a couple of guys in front of me right before the steep section and latched onto them until it leveled off a bit and they pulled off to rest. It was nice to have someone's wheel in front of me to follow, if only for a short while.

At the top of Highgrade is an old school house where the locals have set up a Cyclist Rest Stop. It's great! They have a port-o-potty, picnic tables and benches, and a bunch of coolers with gatorade and water, with a slot to stick donations in. I decided to stop and rest for a few minutes and let my legs recover. They were a little shaky after the long climb, but I was so relieved and proud to know that I did it!

Rest Stop

Made it to the top!

Once my legs were recovered a little, it was time to head back down. I thought about attempting a loop, but I didn't have a map, and it looked a little tricky, with lots of possible turns where I could get lost. So, I figured I'd done enough for my first attempt, and just turned around and went back the way I came. But first, a few pictures!

View from the top of the way I *didn't* go :-)

Looking the other way from the top (the way I came up)

Wow, the way down was a little scary! That steep part on the way up turned out to be hairpin curves on the way down. Eek! My brakes got a good workout, as I tried to make sure I didn't go flying off the side of the mountain. Oh, but WHAT A VIEW! Absolutely breathtaking!

Hairpin curves

Check out this view!

Looking back up...yup, I rode up that!

After the hairpin curve section, the road straightened out, so I just let my bike go and enjoyed the ride down. It took me an hour and a half to get up the hill, and half an hour to get down! Total mileage, just under 22 miles. I probably could have kept going a little longer, but my legs are definitely feeling it a little bit right now, so I think it was just about right for a start. What a confidence booster this ride was. I was pretty scared starting out this morning. In fact, I sat on the couch for awhile trying to come up with a good reason not to go. Couldn't come up with one, so I packed up the car! :-) It's weird, I still kind of feel like a wannabe when it comes to this whole running, biking, and swimming thing, like somebody will notice that I don't actually belong there. Whenever I do something like this, it makes me feel just a little bit less like a pretender!

Boulder Peak Triathlon

gaye — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:16:00 GMT

I did it! I finished my first Olympic distance triathlon yesterday! It was long, it was hard, it was fun, and it was HOT.

My weekend in Boulder started out with the expo and packet pick-up on Saturday. I bought the CUTEST t-shirt for Tyler at the expo, as well as a new visor to wear for the run. I HATE wearing hats when I run, but I knew I was going to need one for the race. I hung around for the race meeting where I didn't learn anything new really, except that it was going to be BLAZING hot! I got my first glimpse of one of the sport of triathlon's truly amazing people: Sister Madonna Buder, 78 years old, and veteran of 32 (yes, that's right, 32!) Ironmans! After the expo, I headed over to my friend Sarah's house, where I would be spending the night. Sarah very generously opened her home to me, and she was a fabulous hostess. It was SO nice not to have to drive back to Denver after packet pick-up, and not to have to get up quite so early for the race! We had a fun day hanging out. Sarah is also responsible for all the photos that I have of the race. Thank you, Sarah, you rock!

My alarm went off at 4:15 yesterday morning (ouch) and by 5 am, I was parking at the Boulder Reservoir. I found a pretty good spot in transition and got all my gear unpacked and laid out. I don't really like to do much of a warm-up before a race (other than a short swim), so I had a LOT of time to kill. And then I found out that they were having some parking problems and were pushing the race start back about 20 minutes. Just wonderful...especially since I was already worried about how hot it was going to be on the run course! They closed transition just before the start of the race, so I grabbed my wetsuit, cap, and goggles and wandered out of transition to try and find something to do for the hour before my wave went. I found some of Sonja's Practical Coaching teammates and hung out with them for awhile. I have to say that the PC people are some of the nicest and coolest people I have ever met! I met up with another good friend, Laura, and we got into our wetsuits and headed down to the water to warm up. I (literally) ran into Sonja down in the water, and then surprise! Another good friend, Amy (who did the Highlands Ranch tri with me) was there! Amy had been on vacation and I didn't even know she was back in the state, so it was SO cool to see her, get a hug, and some good luck wishes!

My swim went really well, I thought. After my meltdown/freak-out at Danskin, I was really nervous about doing a mile long open-water swim, but my strategy was just to take it slow and steady. I made sure I started in the back so that I wouldn't be in the middle of all the craziness at the start. I kept drifting to the right on the first leg of the swim. I knew it, and kept trying to correct, but every time I came up to sight, I was still to the right. At one point, a kayak told me to keep left. Oops. After I rounded the first turn, I stopped drifting so much. I did learn that it's a bad idea to try and use another swimmer as a guide...they might be going the wrong direction, too! I felt pretty strong and comfortable in the swim, so that was great! I came up out of the water and headed up the beach. There was the PC crew, cheering for me! Awesome. A little further up the beach, Amy was there cheering. I headed into transition, where I saw Sarah for the first time. SO cool to have so many friendly faces. I had a slight issue in transition with putting one of my bike gloves on the wrong hand at first (STUPID). I knew I should have skipped the gloves! Oh well...got the rest of my gear around, and off I went on the bike.

The bike went pretty well, I guess pretty much as I expected. Another friend, Liz, was volunteering at the race and she was directing traffic at the exit from the reservoir, so I got another little cheer as I made my way out. About 5 miles in, just before the really tough part of the course, Laura passed me (her wave started 5 minutes behind me, but she's a total rock star on the bike!). We exchanged "go get 'em!"s and she was off. Shortly after that, we started up Olde Stage. If you read my last blog entry, you know that this is one big hill. 600 feet of elevation gain in about 2/3 of a mile. I was very pleasantly surprised with myself that I actually passed several people on the hill. I was sure that I wasn't going to pass anybody on the bike, so that was cool! Before I knew it, I was at the top (that was it? ;-) ) and heading down the 5 miles of downhill, my favorite part of the course. This part goes through a beautiful canyon and along a river. Of course, this is also where Sabrina Oei hit a bear in this very race two years ago! The race directors put up a Bear Crossing sign at the spot...which would be funnier if another cyclist hadn't done the same thing in pretty much the same spot about a month ago. Once is a freak accident, twice is a trend, know what I mean? Luckily no bears were sighted yesterday! Once out of the canyon, we hit my least favorite part of the bike course. The second half of the course is pretty boring, with little to no shade, and rolling hills that are really tough on my knee. About three miles from the reservoir, I hit something with my front tire, and panicked that I was going to have a flat. I spent the next mile and a half staring at my tire to see if it was losing pressure, but I guess I was lucky!

After a kind of slow transition (I had a really hard time getting one of my running shoes on, for some reason), I headed out for the run. I felt pretty good coming off the bike, and actually was surprised at the pace I was running. I think my first mile was around 9:30 pace, not bad! Um, did I mention that it was HOT yesterday? By the time that I got out on the run course, the temperature was hovering right around 100. Blazing hot. And there is absolutely not a single bit of shade anywhere on the run. Nada. Phew. My second mile was a little slower, and the third one was a little slower than that. I just kept getting slower and slower until mile 5 when I was able to pick it up a little bit. There were aid stations every mile, and at each one I slowed to a walk and grabbed two cups of water. Pour some on my head, drink a little. Pour, drink, pour, drink. Walk, walk, walk (do I really have to run again? oh all right...). I did learn the downside of pouring water on your head...squishy shoes and socks. Yuck. I actually got a bit of a blister from the squishiness, but it was necessary! At the final aid station, I started seeing the pro racers. They started about an hour and a half after I did, and I fully expected them to be finishing at the same time or before me. Guess what, I was right! I finished just about the same time as the second or third place woman, I think. It was pretty cool to be on the same course as them, and to see them flying by me! I was really able to pick up my pace the last third to quarter mile, and I felt super strong as I headed into the finish. I saw Amy and Sonja (LONG since finished!) cheering for me and then I was crossing the finish line. I did it!

I'm pretty happy with my time. I know I could have done better, but for my first olympic distance race, I think it was pretty good. I had a good swim, a decent bike, and a tough run. I don't know that I could have done any better on the run in yesterday's conditions, though. And I know that I have a lot of room for improvement for next time! This was a really, really difficult race, and not only did I complete it, but I actually did a lot better than I thought I might. I will say though, that it could have been an absolutely miserable race without all the friendly faces that were out there on the course. My friends who raced with me, and all the friends who came out in the heat just to cheer for us! Thank you so much, friends, I don't know if I could have done it without you!

I'm feeling pretty good today, although definitely a little sore. My knee feels totally fine today, which is awesome! It definitely bothered me on the bike course, and it was a little painful yesterday afternoon and evening, but it's good today. Amy is trying to convince me to do another Olympic distance race in about a month and I'm actually kind of considering it! We'll see...at the very least I think I have another sprint tri or two in me this season before it's time to switch back to running!

You can see more pictures from the race here.

Official Results

Overall Place 1140/1317
Class Rank    84/101
Swim   35:35
T1   2:36
Bike 1:47:15 (14.6 mph ave)
T2   1:43
Run   1:05:38 (10:36 pace)
Final 3:32:46

PLACE	FIRST NAME	LAST NAME	BIB	DIV	DIVPLC	SWIM RANK	SWIM	T1	BIKE RANK	BIKE	BIKE MPH	T2	RUN RANK	RUN	RUN PACE	FINISH	PENALTY	TIME	AGE	SEX	SEXPLC	CITY	STATE	EVENT
1140	GAYE	BECKMAN	1445	F30-34	84	1113	35:35	2:36	1220	1:47:15	14.6	1:43	989	1:05:38	10:36	3:32:46		3:32:46	32	F	408	DENVER	CO	TRIATHLON

The Big One

gaye — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:28:00 GMT

Boulder Peak. This is the race that anyone who's anyone in triathlon in the state of Colorado (and some beyond) comes out for. There are at least a couple of Olympians racing in this race. The best of the best, the elite. Oh yeah, and me. :-p I will be racing in my first ever Olympic distance triathlon on Sunday. This race is double the length of all the tris that I've done so far. Of course, I couldn't pick just ANY olympic tri, no....I had to go pick one of the hardest! This course is tough. The bike course starts off with 7 miles of uphill, including a HUGE hill that climbs 600 feet of vertical in 2/3 of a mile at a 15% grade. That's a big hill. Of course, what goes up must come down, so there's a nice long downhill after that, but the rest of the course is full of rolling hills and not particularly easy. Then you get to run 6 miles that, while flat, are completely exposed (as in NO shade). It's supposed to be 98 degrees on Sunday. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention the part where you swim a mile...

The mental preparation for this race has really been the hardest part, I think. I've been so happy with my progress in races, and the fact that I've been finishing in the top 25% of them. There isn't a chance in the world that I can get even close to that in this race, I'll be happy with finishing in the top 75%. I've been trying to make a mental adjustment from "racing" and "competing" to "finishing" and "surviving". My game plan is just to go out slowly and take my time. Try not to get sucked into the excitement and push too hard at the beginning, or it will just get ugly later!

I rode the bike course last week with my friend Sonja's team, so at least I know I can do the hill. The run may be slow, and may involve quite a bit of walking, but I can do it. I will do this. I will finish! And then I don't ever have to do another Olympic distance triathlon again if I don't want to. Of course, I'm pretty sure I said that about my first half-marathon, too, and look where that landed me... :-p

Look for a race report either late Sunday or sometime Monday, as well as a post about the latest and greatest that Tyler's been up to!

Triathlon 101

gaye — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:34:00 GMT

So many friends and family members have asked me so many questions about triathlons that I thought it might be informative to write a sort of FAQ post about tris!

I think the question that I get asked the most is about the distance involved in the triathlon. Basically, there are four major categories of triathlons and the distances are fairly standard within each of those categories (although there can be a little variation). First are the Sprint Distance triathlons. The next longest are the Olympic distance (also known as Short Course) triathlons. Then come the Long Course triathlons (aka Half-Ironman or 70.3), and of course the granddaddy of them all is the Ironman (sometimes called the Full tri). Here's the breakdown on distances, with approximate mile equivalents in parentheses where applicable:

Race Swim Distance Bike Distance Run Distance

Sprint 750-800m (1/2 mile) 20km (12.5 miles) 5k (3.1 miles)

Olympic 1.5km (1 mile) 40km (25 miles) 10k (6.2 miles)

Long Course 1.2 miles 56 miles 13.1 miles (half-marathon)

Ironman 2.4 miles 112 miles 26.2 miles (marathon)

Races are typically started in waves, usually divided by age group. The entire wave starts at the same time, which can result in a lot of getting kicked, hit, and swallowing water until the group spaces out a bit! Races are usually chip-timed, which means that you wear an electronic chip around your ankle and at various points in the race, you cross a mat which picks up the signal from your chip to give you your split times. Most races give you splits for your swim time, your first transition (T1), your bike time, your second transition (T2), your run time, and your final overall time.

On race day, you get to the race site nice and early to set up your transition area. It's good to be early so that you get a good spot! You also get body-marked, which means that you get your race number written in permanent marker on your upper arms and thighs and your age on the back of your calf. The age on the calf is so that people coming up behind you know whether you're in the same age group as them.

Transition is where you change over between disciplines. So, after the swim, you run into transition to the area that you set up earlier. You strip off your wetsuit (if you wore one), swim cap, and goggles. Then you put on your bike helmet, sunglasses, and shoes and socks. If you're really talented (which I am not), then you DON'T put on your shoes. You have them already clipped into your pedals and you put them on AFTER you start riding! You grab your bike and walk/run it out of transition. Usually there is a mount/dismount line just outside of transition and you are not allowed to get on your bike until you are past the line. After the bike ride, you dismount at the line, and walk/run your bike back into transition and your transition area. You rack your bike, change into your running shoes, take off your bike helmet, and put on your race number for the run (either on a race belt or a shirt that you have it pinned to). Off you go to the run, and that's it!

It sounds kind of crazy (and I know some of you think I AM crazy for falling in love with this sport), but it's SO much fun and SO addictive. One of the best things about triathlon is that when you start feeling that you just can't keep doing whatever it is you're doing at the moment, you know that you get to stop pretty soon and do something else! It's the same thing for training. Unlike single sport disciplines, you don't have to do the same thing pretty much everyday. You get to change up your workouts constantly. It really helps keep you from getting bored. Not to mention that the feeling of accomplishment when you cross that finish line is just amazing. Oh yeah, and the level of physical fitness that you get from doing this isn't so bad, either!

I hope that this helped answer some questions (and that I answered them correctly!). If you have anything to add or want to know more, leave a comment and I'll do my best!

Ah, lunch.

gaye — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:39:00 GMT

Allow me to transcribe (more or less) today's lunch. On the menu, macaroni and cheese.

Tyler: Hot?
Me (from the kitchen, making my own lunch): Blow on it.
T: (blows on it, takes a bite)
T: Hot?
Me: Blow on it.
T: (blows on it, takes a bite)

Repeat. At least 75 times. Nevermind the fact that by probably the 5th or so time of asking if it was hot, it was no longer anywhere close to hot.

Then add in (when Tyler apparently got tired of stabbing his own food with the fork):
T: Help!
Me: (stabs a forkful of macaroni and hands it to him)
T: Hot?

And last but not least...fork dropping is quite the event at mealtime these days, and today's effort cracked me up. Tyler (looking at me the whole time to make sure I was watching him) dropped the fork through the back of his chair. Immediately after it hit the ground, he looked at me quite disapprovingly and said "NO!" He knew darn well what I was going to say and beat me to it, the little booger. Just try not to laugh at that one (thereby reinforcing the behavior, of course!)...

Danskin Women's Triathlon

gaye — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 02:30:00 GMT

Ah, Danskin. This is where it all began last year, the start of a journey and a transformation. Wow, that's deep! :-p

I had really high hopes for this race, especially as it was supposed to be a true, apples to apples comparison, a measurement of how much I've improved in the past year. Of course, the best laid plans never go smoothly. The first change was that they made a slight change to the bike course, shortening it by 2 miles in the process. I have to admit, I was pretty disappointed in that because the bike was my favorite part last year, and the rolling hills that they cut out this year were a big part of that. I found out about the second change at the course overview yesterday. Due to unseasonably cold water (61 degrees, about 10 degrees colder than normal), race officials decided to shorten the swim to 400 yds. This almost definitely wouldn't happen in most races, but Danskin is so geared toward first-timers and non-athletes, that I'm sure they wanted to make sure they didn't have too many freak-outs and/or medical problems. I had a minor freak-out when I heard the water temperature, since I wasn't planning on wearing a wetsuit, and made a panicked phone call to my friend Sonja to see if I could borrow hers! Thanks, Sonja!

I woke up this morning and felt kind of blah. Not bad, but not good either. Traffic getting into the reservoir was dramatically improved over last year (when it was a major nightmare), so that was a big relief. I strapped on my spiffy new transition bag that I picked up at the race expo and rode into transition, where I was able to get a decent spot and got everything laid out. Everything just felt kind of weird for some reason. Maybe because this was the first tri I've done where I didn't know anybody else racing and didn't have any friends cheering for me. For whatever reason, I started getting pretty nervous. Before I knew it, it was time to put on the wetsuit and head down to the water. I got in to warm up a little and surprisingly, it wasn't all that cold! Sure, I had the wetsuit on, but it probably wouldn't have been too, too terrible without it. Here's where I found out that my goggles were leaking. Yeah, that's not a good thing. Apparently they've reached the end of their life, and I found out at a really bad time. It wasn't a horrible leak, but bad enough to be annoying. I did my best to get a decent seal and went to line up with my wave. Where I noticed that the swim (which was supposed to be 200 yds out, around a buoy, and back 200 yds) sure didn't look that long. I have no idea how long the swim actually was, but I would be surprised if it ended up being more than about 200 yds total. The waves were going off in 5 minute increments, and the majority of a wave was getting out of the water before the next one even started!

One of the cool things about Danskin is Sally Edwards, who is their national spokeswoman. She's a former world champion triathlete, and she starts every wave off with a little motivational talk, including a specific word for each wave that you're supposed to tell yourself when you need a boost. Our wave's word was "Excellent" as in..."I am an Excellent swimmer", "I am an Excellent runner", etc. We counted down to our start, and off we went.

The out portion of the swim wasn't bad, just crowded. I got into a rhythm for a short while, then ran into somebody. There really wasn't anywhere to go to get out of the crowd, so there ended up being a lot of breaststroking and just plain survival swimming. I rounded the buoy and all of a sudden, I couldn't breathe. I've never had an asthma attack, but I imagine that's what one feels like. My chest was completely tight and I just couldn't get air in. I completely went into survival mode, just trying to finish as quickly as I could without drowning!

Transition went pretty well, and it was out onto the bike course. I've more or less done this course twice before (Danskin and Crescent Moon last summer), but this was the first time on my road bike. Wow, what a difference. I felt like I was flying. I was passing people constantly, and only got passed a handful of times, so I feel pretty good about that. There was a pretty crazy headwind in spots out on the course, I actually felt like I might get blown over a couple of times! I felt pretty good about the bike, although my legs just felt tired. My time was slower than I expected, probably because my knee was starting to bother me. I managed to get my feet out of my shoes on my way into transition much easier this time, so I'm feeling more confident about that at least.

The run was tough. My legs just felt like lead, and unlike my previous races where that cleared up within the first mile, today I really didn't feel good until the last half mile or so. The run course was really crowded and there were a lot of walkers, so there was a lot of dodging. Eventually things started clicking and the last little bit was great, with fans cheering along both sides of the course. I did at least manage to run a sub 9 minute pace, but it could have been much better!

Overall, it wasn't a terrible race, but I'm a little disappointed. It's still a HUGE improvement from last year, just not as good as I know that I could have done. My results actually weren't as bad as I felt like they were, I finished 38/194 in my age group and 187/1611 overall. Of course, this isn't a race that has very many of the more serious triathletes competing. I'm not entirely sure what the problem was today, but probably a combination of things. My knee has really been starting to bother me a lot more lately. It used to just hurt cycling, but it's now bothering me running and even just in everyday life, too. I get the results from my MRI tomorrow, so hopefully that will shed some light on things. I think I'm feeling kind of a mid-season funk, too. I did so many races this spring that I think I'm feeling a little burned out now. I had a blast doing all the races, but it was probably a bit too much.

I gotta admit, I'm more scared than ever for Boulder Peak now. If I struggled so much with a super short sprint distance today, how on earth am I going to manage an Olympic distance in just 3 weeks? Especially with my knee issues affecting my training. Yikes. Oh well, I'm certainly not doing it to be competitive, just to finish. And I will!

Official results

Overall rank 187/1611
Class rank 38/194
Swim 05:11 (200 yds?)
T1 02:02
Bike 40:01 (14.9 mph ave)
T2 01:13
Run 27:44 (8:56 pace)
Final 1:16:12

Strawberries!

gaye — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 03:45:00 GMT

Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, I have STRAWBERRIES! Woohoo, I am so excited! Planting strawberries was totally an experiment and I was totally skeptical that it would work, but I have berries growing. I currently have three (well, 2, I ate the first one!) growing and two more about to turn from buds to berries. They might just be the tiniest berries I have ever seen in my entire life, but they're strawberries, and I grew them all by myself!

Berries!

A shot to put the size in perspective...that's my hand there showing my itty bitty berry (that I ate 30 seconds later)

Then and now mint

I'm really happy with how the mint is growing, but a little disappointed in the variety. It's just not very mint-y. Oh well, I can try something different next time.

And then and now herbs!

My dill and basil are really doing fantastic. I think the chamomile is fine, just getting a little taken over by the other two. I need to do some thinning! The dill is ready to go, I might have to make some homemade dill dip or something else (what all do you do with fresh dill?). The basil is really close, but I'd like the leaves to get a little bit bigger. Can't wait to start using them!