March 17, 2008

I took my first win in a criterium this weekend. It was fun. I didn't plan on winning and did not think I could win, either. I decided that this year I would stop caring about results and just try to have fun instead. I was still nervous when the race started, but not as much as I used to be last season.

There were some women in the race who I think are much stronger than I am. But I was in the right place at the right time for the final sprint. So part of winning has to do with luck. But also I was having a good day, feeling physically strong and my head was in the right place. I didn't know I had won until I came back around and asked someone. I had been concentrating so much on my sprint that I had tuned everything else out, including my competitors' positions. It's nice to be able to say that I have won a race.

Here's a photo of the final sprint.

Posted by megabeth at 11:26 AM | Comments (2)

 
August 27, 2007

On Saturday I did my first climbing-specific road race in Chattanooga. It was about 5800 feet total elevation gain, with two major climbs and a few smaller ones, for a total of 38 miles. I decided not to do the criterium or time trial because I'm still teetering on the edge of burnout, and thus wanted to err on the side of caution.

The night before the race I saw the list of women who had signed up and was rather intimidated, because there were some serious athletes competing - women who I have not raced with before, because they are elite level athletes who usually choose high-profile races to participate in. I calculated my chances of finishing in the top 10: Zero. The day of the race, I estimated somewhere around 37 women, which is phenomenal for women's cycling in the southeast. The women's side of the sport is definitely growing! In 2005, this race had 9 female participants. Last year, there were 18. It is by far the largest pack I've ever raced with, and I thought it was great fun.

I like climbing hills, so I thought I'd like this race. From the start I felt pretty good and had a goal of staying with the lead pack for 20 miles. The first climb was for "King/Queen of the Mountain", an extra prize designation for the race. That was at mile 10, and I stayed on the back of the pack until the end of the climb. I joined forces with two other cyclists to push hard until we saw the pack again and reconnected. That was a relief. I stayed with the pack until the final climb, which made the race a helluva lot easier. In a previous post I was talking about how much easier it is to race in a large pack than with just a handful of people. This race proved to me that theory is true. There were some times during this race when I was comfortably chatting away with a cyclist riding next to me, taking advantage of the draft. So maybe that's why I liked this race. It seemed like I was riding downhill a lot more often than climbing!

By the end of the race, I was out of water and very dehydrated. I should have packed an extra bottle, but thought there was a feed zone. That did not fare well for me on the last climb of 1200 feet elevation. The finish line was at the top. In the pack of about 20, I finished last on the climb, but still did well since I finished in front of about half of the field.

I'll definitely seek out more hill-climbing races next season. And I think that my motivation has been restored! My racing season is almost over since classes started last week. I have learned a lot about my limiters and how to train properly, so I am looking forward to a more wise and informed winter training season. Best of all, I graduate in December!!!

Posted by megabeth at 01:30 PM | Comments (0)

 
August 13, 2007

I went to Meridian, MS for some races this weekend, and noticed a cycling team from Baton Rouge that has Boudreaux's Butt Paste as a sponsor. Not only that, the words BUTT PASTE are displayed on the cycling shorts across the booty. I badly want a pair of those shorts.

My idea to race this weekend was totally dumb. I knew it was going to be hot, but had no idea what racing in 100 degree heat with no shade really felt like. This is one of those rare instances where I say "never": I will never race in this kind of heat again. On top of heat-related suffering, I haven't been eating for a couple of weeks and started having GI problems two days before the weekend. I am annoyed with my loss of appetite, and the only cause I can think of is that I don't like to eat when I am hot. Last week, some very good lunches were brought in to reward my department for our participation in making sure that our customers had electricity during this heat wave. I did not want to eat any of it. I have been drinking some recovery drinks as meal replacements in order to get down some calories. Also, I trained too hard during the week, thinking that if I rode in the heat, I would acclimate to it. Actually that had the opposite effect, creating a sense of dread about going outdoors and sapping my enjoyment of riding a bike.

Thus, my race performance suffered. I was proud of myself for finishing (every cell in my body wanted me to quit), and I did beat some other, equally crazy women. On Sunday, my road race was at 8 am, so I did not have to suffer as badly from the heat, but still did not ride at top form, and was happy to finish the race without having to sprint with the lead group at the end.

I tend to be a perfectionist and beat myself up for not doing as well as I wanted to, but in racing, not every race is going to be a great one. I'll chalk this one up to a learning experience, and if it's really hot outside next time, I won't be there.

Photos

Posted by megabeth at 09:55 AM | Comments (0)

 
July 23, 2007

I raced well in Huntsville this weekend, and am finally reaping the rewards of long winter rides and summer training, and have caught up from my two month injury break this spring. My fitness level has increased significantly since I started racing about two months ago.

This was also the first weekend I have raced with my teammates, and it is much easier racing with people who are on your side. We worked together to chase down attacks and position each other for energy conservation.

On Saturday we started the road race around noon in the hot sun. It was 48 miles (three 16 mile laps) so the race started out slowly for the first lap. Everyone was hanging out, chatting with each other. Then I figured the first attack would come on the second lap on the hill, which it did. My goal was to never give up*. There were more attacks and the women's field was splintered, but 5 or 6 of us got back together and rotated a pace line. The lead rider is a notoriously strong woman who can race with men and hold her salt. She got ahead, but we passed her sitting on the road trying to fix a mechanical problem with her bike. That motivated my group to work harder so that she would not be able to catch up to us. By the last 10 miles I was about to die (and puke), but I was determined to finish the race with the lead pack. There were three of us on my team in the lead pack, so we were in a good position. I took a break from pulling after one of my teammates told me to take it easy. The other teammate cramped up a mile or so before the finish, so she did not contend for the final sprint.

(*Note: I was convinced I couldn't hang with the strongest riders, but J. had told me that I was strong enough and should not allow my current category status to limit myself.)

At the end of the race, we sprinted to the finish line and I battled it out with a cat 3 for third place. She beat me by a few inches. I was still ecstatic with fourth place, having been beat by two cat 2s and one cat 3. I won first place for being the first cat 4 across the line. And beat a slew of cat 3s and 4s. The lead rider did not catch up to us but still finished pretty well.

For about an hour after the race I felt pretty bad, but kept putting in calories and recovered nicely by the evening. The next morning we raced the criterium. I was not 100%, but still felt good. It started out very fast and the mistake I made was to not be in the front 3-4 people. One person in front of me gapped the field and dropped off, so I bridged up. The next person gapped the field and dropped off, and I could not bridge up a second time. So the field (down to 4 women) went ahead and I regrouped with some other women. We swapped out pulls, with lots of bickering. Nobody wanted to pull and those who were pulling were taking too long at the front. I decided to stay at the front because I don't like being at the back where someone can attack and I miss out on it. So I had to pull a few times to maintain my position.

After the first part of the race, the pace wasn't too difficult. I had a lot left over for the final sprint and took a good wheel to launch me to the finish. I placed 6th in this one, with one cat 4 and four cat 2s ahead of me.

I'm not quite ready to cat up (I'm going to do another race weekend as a cat 4 to make sure that I am competitive at cat 3 level with other cat 3s). But it looks like I will be a cat 3 by the end of the season. I wasn't sure if I would be able to get strong quickly after my injury time-out, but I have been doing the right things with training, diet and rest, so everything has been working out.

Photos of the races

More photos

And more photos

Posted by megabeth at 08:27 AM | Comments (1)

 
July 31, 2006

My weekend races went a lot like the past Tuesday's crappy performance. The road race was very painful and I got dropped about 3/4 of the way through the race and finished the rest of it with a teammate. The criterium wasn't nearly as painful, but I got dropped early in the race but hung in there until the end of it. My muscles were extraordinarily sore after the road race. I skipped the time trial after the road race, but decided to go ahead and do the criterium despite feeling very hot and tired during the pre-race warm-up.

I'm already getting tired of chasing women of faster categories of mine during races. It does help to make me a stronger cyclist, but the strategy of simply surviving gets old. The problem with women's cycling in the state of Alabama is that it is nonexistent. There were six women for each race this weekend and one in each race wasn't from Alabama. I would like to try some races in Atlanta or Nashville where the Cat 4s are separated out so that they don't have to race against much stronger women.

I'm a little annoyed with the huge variability of my performance from one week to the next. This happened to me in May this year and I took some time off trying to recover. I don't have enough history in extreme sports to call this a pattern, but it is starting to look like one. The last round of blood tests in May did not uncover anything out of the ordinary. So I'm not sure where to go from here.

My team went out to eat in downtown Huntsville on Saturday night, and I walked around Big Spring Park on Sunday morning. I'm impressed with the improvements that downtown Huntsville is undergoing. It seems that a lot of cities are revitalizing their downtown areas. Huntsville has some very beautiful historic buildings and homes. I also noticed a lot of people out and about in the downtown area on Saturday evening, as well as an increase in new independently owned restaurants. Huntsville has suffered from a proliferation of mediocre chain restaurants over the years and it's nice to see patrons supporting some variety.

I'm also a little too fond of Memorial Parkway because some really smart engineers designed it and the people who put a red light every 20 feet on Highway 280 should have taken a major hint.

My grandparents lived in Huntsville for most of their lives before they passed away, so it's nice to see the places where so many fond memories of them still live.

Posted by megabeth at 08:56 AM | Comments (3)

 
July 28, 2006

On Tuesday I had a pretty weak ride, which I would say does nothing for my self-esteem but everything for my determination. That's probably a very good set-up for my upcoming race weekend. On Saturday around 11:30, I'll start the road race. 36 miles in length. After that, I'll do the ten mile time trial. Then I get a few hours of rest and will eat a big dinner in Huntsville. On Sunday morning at 8 am, I'll race in the criterium downtown.

I'm very excited but nervous. What if I don't feel strong? What if I am sore on Sunday morning? What if I get dropped? What if I finish last? What if I crash? What if I puke? And so on. I want to do well. My performance is helped if I convince myself that I have something to prove. Thus, if I tell myself that I suck, then I will want to show the world that I don't suck. If I tell myself that my bike is heavier and substandard to the other bikes, then I will want to prove that I can ride faster than women on nicer bikes than mine. So, those are the stories I'm sticking with. Criticism, whether internally or externally generated, serves as a motivator.

Posted by megabeth at 08:22 AM | Comments (3)

 
June 18, 2006

During the last month, I have been trying to squelch my tendency to become insanely competitive again. So it didn't take long for me to try out a new type of bike racing this weekend and quickly become coo-coo for cocoa puffs about criteriums. My original plan was to do one crit in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, but I had fun and my team encouraged me to race the second crit this morning in Homewood.

As usual, I was stressed out about racing, no matter how much I told myself it doesn't matter. And it doesn't. I guess I am just wired to be competitive and can't convince myself to relax about it.

I went into the race feeling encouraged and rested. There were nine of us in the field. The first few laps were fast but I had plenty of energy. I did not feel tired until about halfway through the race. At the end of the race, I dug in deep for the final sprint and crossed the line in fifth, behind women of lower categories than mine (lower cats = faster racers), and one teammate, the Little Beast. My payout: $70. We pooled our winnings together ($250) and each teammate went home with $50. I quickly learned that women's crit racing has very nice payouts since there are so few of us competing in the sport. I suspect part of that is a barrier to entry (the high expense of bikes and equipment), and another part of that is that women make babies.

The distance in my Saturday crit was only 16-17 miles, but it took a lot out of me. This morning, my legs were not sore, just a little fatigued. I didn't feel that fantastic when starting the race. The first few laps were quite brisk, and it was very hot outside, and I was immediately suffering. I began to feel stronger as the race progressed, but at the end, I was fading again. This race was faster because the race directors offered several primes (pronounced "preems"), which are prizes for the person who wins the lap. That makes the lap pace fast and furious. They had several prime laps and I was about to scream, "STOP ALREADY WITH YOUR DAMN PRIMES!!!" But I couldn't scream anything since I was about to die. The end of the race involved myself and a teammate trading places trying to gap up to the leaders. We were successful, but not in a position to sprint for the win. I dug in deep again for the final sprint, and was neck and neck with my teammate at the line. In the style of Davis Phinney, I threw my bike forward across the finish line for the fourth place finish. I was very excited about the chance to throw my bike across the line. It is an act of much drama and flair. I'm not sure it was entirely necessary, but I thought it looked cool.

Today's payout: $65. We will pool our winnings together again. I couldn't have done so well without my teammates. We're just getting started racing together and need to work on strategy. These being my first two crits, I don't know what is going on most of the time other than my need to hang on and not get dropped and to sprint hard at the end. I was doubtful I would like this kind of bike race, but it seems to suit me well aerobically, as I have grown up doing interval-type sports like tennis and ultimate frisbee. And despite my (misleading) diminutive size, I am not the best hill-climber. My bike does weigh more than most racing bikes (around 19 lbs), which does not matter as much in a crit as it does when climbing hills. I could probably improve my performance with a lighter bike, but I also need to increase my leg strength.

Next weekend I am doing a road race, which will require hill climbing skills. Hmm.

Posted by megabeth at 04:13 PM | Comments (6)

 
May 30, 2006

I volunteered to help at a triathlon this past weekend, and the experience was eye-opening. First of all, it sucked getting up at 5:00 AM to drive over to the race site, but it was very much less stressful than racing. I think only twice I was rueful that I myself wasn't participating. What was most entertaining was the body marking portion of the volunteer work. Well, handing out water was also somewhat entertaining, and I promised not to say the word "water" for three days, having exhausted my allotted supply of the word "water".

If you don't already know, triathletes must have their numbers marked on their bodies. The number of markings is illogically excessive. The race number must be placed on both upper arms, the side of one thigh, and the front of the other thigh, plus the age of the athlete is marked on the back of the calf with the category on the back of the other calf (such as Athena, Clydesdale, Beginner, etc). At the end of the body marking session, a triathlete looks as if she has been attacked by a rabid black marker.

So, it was kind of fun for me to attack people with the black permanent marker. And these people were wound up, nervous, jittery. They jumped from side to side trying to guess in advance which body part I would attack next.

One male volunteer was intuitive enough to request that I assist him with marking a young lady who was being a little stubborn about removing her clothing so that her body parts could be adorned with numbers. I don't think she was reticent or demure, but rather a beginner who didn't know what to do. I coaxed her into pulling her pants down for the thigh markings, then pulling the legs of her pants up for the calf markings. Unfortunately, by the end of it, I felt like I had violated her.

The most difficult people to body mark are excessively hairy males and those who slathered on three bottles of sunscreen. I had to circumvent only one arm-covering tattoo, as those with body-covering tattoos tend to ride Harleys instead of Cervelos.

Handing out water entailed screaming WATER!!! WATER!!!! WATER!!! ad infinitum while pitying those who sounded as if they might hack up a lung. I envisioned running alongside certain triathletes, screaming, "TAKE MY WATER, DAMMIT, OR I WILL RUN ALONGSIDE YOU UNTIL YOU DO!" But that would be a little TOO helpful, wouldn't it? I feel so very loved when you take my water. Like Quasimodo's girlfriend.

Posted by megabeth at 05:07 PM | Comments (2)

 
April 18, 2006

The Brightroom folks were a little overzealous with race photos this year; there are eighteen of me. Not surprisingly, I look like a dork in extreme discomfort when I run.

Click for pics

Posted by megabeth at 09:16 AM | Comments (3)

 
April 11, 2006

This site called virturace.com offers a way to keep up with your race results online and compare with others who have participated in the same races. You don't have to enter your race results because the site has already collected the data for you. However, the drawback is that some races have not sent their information to the virturace site. Also, I'm not sure how to remove duplicate race results from my list. Here's my page (for example, the Mercedes Half 2006 is currently not on the site, and it takes a while for a recent race's results to show up.)

Posted by megabeth at 10:34 AM | Comments (1)

 
April 10, 2006

I did not ask the pro duathlete who stayed at my home over the weekend for permission to mention her name, so I won't do that. She was really nice and we had a good time getting ready for the race yesterday. I'm sure she helped me get in the right mindset for the race by helping me to start the day well-prepared.

On Friday, the local new stations concocted a story of doomsday and death because the radar showed some approaching storms. Schools and offices closed early across the area despite that the weather on Friday was gorgeous, with clear skies and full sun. I'm not going to accuse the Doppler storm tracking system of being inaccurate, but I do think that the local news anchors are a bunch of fear-mongering idiots. One of these days we may have a REAL emergency, and most of us will be seasoned to ignore their ridiculous blather because they cried wolf a thousand times before something truly important actually happened. Perhaps the FCC should impose financial sanctions on those who create a news story out of nothing, since it should be a crime to spread false paranoia throughout a population.

So, guess who was at the grocery store on Friday evening after work? Yep, the ENTIRE WORLD. I fought my way through the crowded aisles, and you know that since there is THE STORM TO END ALL STORMS on its way, we are given license to leave our manners at the door. Yeah, right.

Sorry about the additional rant. Anyhow, I bought a lot of food to feed some hungry athletes. The pro was scheduled to fly in around 9 pm Friday night, but due to the storm activity in the midwest, her flight was delayed nearly 2.5 hours. She had trouble getting a rental car at that late hour and arrived at my house around 1 am, immediately retiring to bed.

We woke up in the morning and she put her bike together, as pros must fly with their bikes disassembled and packed into a hard plastic case. I cooked a large breakfast of eggs, bacon and biscuits with fruit. She had some doubts about her reassembled bike, so we took it to a local shop to have it checked out. Then we headed over to the race expo and drove through the course with J. Back to the shop to pick up her bike, then the two of us rode together for about half an hour to make sure our legs were working well. She retired for a nap and I cooked up a huge pot of family recipe spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. J joined us for a huge pre-race meal, and DAMN the spaghetti was good. My Italian ancestors could cook!

We went to bed early to get some good rest for race morning. Woke up at 5:45 am and threw on race clothes and drank a pre-race meal of banana, soy milk and honey. (Side note: I wore my BBC jersey to REPRESENT!!) Arrived at the race site, parked car, had body marked, set up in transition area, then fiddled with my clothing and gear until time for my wave to begin. Apparently I can avoid becoming nervous if I keep playing with my transition set up and my clothing. Although I know I was nervous since I had to go to the bathroom a zillion times that hour.

And I forgot to mention that I said a little prayer in the transition area. Something like "Dear God, I haven't gone to church for three weeks. I am SO SO SO SO BAD for prioritizing this activity. Please forgive me. Please protect me from harm during the race. Amen."

Time to line up for my wave to begin. I checked out my competitors and looked on the back of their calves to see who my AG competitors were. The race director gave us the GO and everyone set off at a VERY fast pace. I allowed maybe 10-15 women to pass me, thinking they were nuts for blowing out the pace at the beginning. As we started to climb a hill, I began to pass one here, one there. For a while, I drafted behind a woman trying to save up some energy while running that fast. (Drafting during the run is legal.) She eventually took off and I let her go, thinking it wasn't human for me to go that pace. At the end of the 2.7 miles, I check my watch and it says 20 minutes. That's a little above a 7 minute pace, but I'm gasping for air like I just started running yesterday. Dashed into the transition area and changed shoes, grabbed my helmet and ran my bike out to the mount line.

Hopped on my bike feeling out of breath still, but recovering. The bike doesn't require breathless panting like the run does. I felt strong and confident. Started catching women who had beat me on the run. My time was speedy, but lots of women can break 7 min miles easily. I passed back and forth with a few women here and there, and one tried to block me from passing. This is a violation, but the USAT officials have to catch it for their time to be docked. I suppose that if you are a cheater and can't rely on your training effort to win races, then you would stoop that low. This is an amateur race, which means that cheating earns you nothing.

This race course is hilly, so I'm able to drop the women who passed/blocked me once and for all. I'm thinking that my pace is pretty good, but at times my speed doesn't seem to be faster than what I've done in training (though I could draft in training!). I look at my watch as I head back to the transition area. I've gained three or four additional minutes ahead of my target time.

Back to transition, change shoes quickly and take off for the third leg/second run. This is when I begin to have a sense of dread. I'm not sure how far behind the women I passed are. I feel as if I don't have much energy left and the lactic acid has built up in my legs; the muscles are burning. The first two miles of the run sucked. I thought for sure that I was running 8 to 8:15 pace and started worrying that I would be overtaken by my female competitors. As the run progressed, my legs felt better and I began to speed up. When the homestretch appeared, which is downhill about half a mile, I took off and finished strong. I felt elated about my finish time.

After the race I ate and ate and ate. Food is a many-splendored thing after a hard effort. The pro who stayed with me urged me to do the full powerman next year. I was able to do that this year, but I wanted to test my limits at a sprint distance pace. Next year, I'll train with a focus on the longer distance.

Posted by megabeth at 01:29 PM | Comments (1)

 
April 09, 2006

I had a very good race today and was pleased with my results. My target time was way too conservative because I finished in 1:40:15, eight minutes ahead of my target.

Here's the breakdown:

19:59 - 2.7 mile run (7:24 pace)
1:36 - Transition 1
56:09 - 27.5 km ride (18.45 mph pace)
1:30 - Transition 2
22:30 - 2.7 mile run (7:47 pace)
-------------------
Total: 1:40:15

My bike leg was very strong despite the wind. The course was hilly. Climbing is tiring, but I love pedaling downhill in a fat gear. When I started out on the second run, I wasn't sure I had anything left for it. After about a mile and a half, my pace picked up and my legs felt better. I finished strong.

I learned from this race that I need to continue doing speedwork and increase the number of intervals I run, so that I can keep up a faster pace during the end of the race. I placed second in my age group and lost to the first place finisher primarily because she is a faster runner. I calculated her average run pace to be 28 sec/mile faster than mine.

Next year, maybe I'll do the full Powerman distance. Until then (at least for the rest of the day), I am going to eat a lot of food! Yum.

Posted by megabeth at 02:28 PM | Comments (4)

 
April 07, 2006

One of the things I like about race weekend is that I get a day off. I realize I could choose NOT to race and then I could have as many days off as I want. But race weekend provides me with one guilt-free day off, and that's nice. Since my race is on Sunday, I am taking Saturday off. And also today, since I still need to clean up a bit around the house before my guest arrives later tonight.

My legs are still a bit sore from the strength training on Tuesday. Yesterday I rode aerobically with a high cadence and didn't push it too hard. I also practiced riding at 30 mph in my aero position.

I'm trying out an old Terry Butterfly saddle loaned to me by a bike shop manager. It's a great seat and I could tell almost immediately that it is the right seat for my booty.

I'm excited about hosting a pro triathlete and I hope I can pick her brain about nutrition and race strategy.

I feel very confident that I am going to race well on Sunday. I feel very strong for early season. My only concern at this point is my pre-race jitters. When I get nervous, my digestive system gets rather overexcited. I've never been able to eat much before a race because of that. I usually eat half a banana and some soy milk and maybe some Hammer Gel. I haven't actually puked at the finish line (yet), but I have doubled over and gagged. I recently read an article about that. People kept telling me I was getting sick to my stomach because of dehydration, but I knew I had been taking in enough fluids during the race. What happens is that when the body is at an oxygen deficit, it diverts oxygen flow to the less important parts of the body, such as the digestive system. The reduction in oxygen inflow causes the stomach to want to expel its contents. Thus, I think the solution to the nausea problem is to increase VO2Max level through interval training. However, it may just be a symptom of biology, and thus unavoidable if I'm pushing my body to the limit.

My target times for this race:

22:30 - 2.8 mile run (8:00 pace)
1:30 - Transition 1
60:00 - 27.5 km ride (17 mph pace)
1:30 - Transition 2
22:30 - 2.8 mile run (8:00 pace)

Total: 1 hr 48 min

This time will put me in good standing for a top 3 AG placement.

I'm being a bit conservative with my times. I can run a 7:45 pace and probably 18-19 mph on the bike. My fastest race pace last summer was 20.3 mph. It just depends on how I'm feeling and if I use my energy reserve judiciously. Ideally I hope to run the second portion faster than the first, but it's more difficult to run after the bike.

Posted by megabeth at 09:29 AM | Comments (1)

 
March 29, 2006

I volunteered to host a pro athlete for the Powerman Duathlon on April 9, and it looks like I have a match! This will be an interesting experience. I will provide transportation and housing; hopefully she'll give me some tips and advice in return. More details later.

Posted by megabeth at 09:20 AM | Comments (1)

 
February 23, 2006

I have completely lost my mind. I thought I would make a flowchart for a sprint triathlon to help people get an idea of the best way to go through the race. But due to my uncontrollable irreverance for just about everything, I instead created a flowchart for people who would like to race rudely.

May I present (in pdf format), MegaBeth's Guide to Rude Triathloning.

Keep in mind that this is VERY different from Nude Triathloning, which I do not recommend, and besides, most of the participants are already practically nude, anyway.

I do a lot of flowcharting at work, so this flat out tickled my funny bone. I could flowchart my entire life, if someone would give me the time.

Just for reference, if you're not a flowchart guru like I am (and you can thank God for keeping you away from them):

A diamond is a decision point. A box is an action. A box inside of a box is an unconscious or automated action.

Posted by megabeth at 12:32 PM | Comments (3)

 
November 27, 2005

I did not think I would get ranked in the USAT Southeast rankings list this year, but I am #26 out of 56 in the female 30-34 age group and #109 out of 275 overall. Not too shabby for a newbie. Next summer I plan to get better results since I know in advance what I am getting myself into.

Posted by megabeth at 03:11 PM | Comments (0)

 

May 28, 2005: Tri-It-On Triathlon
Birmingham, AL

Swim 200 yards - 4:15
S/B Transition - 1:43
Bike 8.5 miles - 29:08
B/R Transition - 0:57
Run 2 miles - 15:08
Total - 51:09
Place - 1st Female Beg (also 1st F AG 30-34, 1/43)
Notes - My first triathlon. Pool swim was a mess because most people got stuck and were walking in the pool. 2 mile run was more like 1.9 miles. Estimated avg bike speed 17.8 mph.

June 12, 2005: Buster Britton Triathlon
Birmingham, AL

Swim 500 yards - 11:34
Bike 15 miles - 52:15*
Run 3 miles - 25:06
Total - 1:28:54
Place - 3rd Female AG (3/20), 6th F Beg (6/46)
Notes - Rainy morning. The swim was a disaster for me because I was too excited and was breathing too fast, so I did breaststroke part of the way. Hilly bike course. Estimated average bike speed 17.8 mph.

July 30, 2005: 2005 Rocket City Road Race
Huntsville, AL

Bike 38 miles - 8th place/12, Cat 3-4 Women
Notes - First and second places went to Cat 3 women. Third place was a Cat 4 breakaway. I finished in the second group of five. Did not do well in the final sprint so I was the last person across the line. Still, it was decent for my first road race.

August 13, 2005: Mountain Lakes Triathlon
Guntersville, AL

Swim 600 yards - 12:18
S/B Transition - 1:31
Bike 16.2 miles - 47:51
B/R Transition - 1:04
Run 3 miles - 24:22
Total - 1:27:04
Place - No awards. 4th Female Beg (4/60), 7th Female AG 30-34 (7/41)
Notes - Big race, 800 participants. Flat, fast course. Had a good swim because I was calm and collected. Had a good race and was happy with finish time. Estimated avg bike speed 20.3 mph with aerobars.

September 10, 2005: Frantic Frog Triathlon
Scottsboro, AL

Swim 400 meters - 10:27
Bike 14.3 miles - 44:42*
Run 3.1 miles - 25:59
Total - 1:21:08
Place - 3rd Female AG 30-34 (3/18)
Notes - Did not have a particularly good race. Was breathing too fast during the swim, which was choppy. Had a side stitch for the last two miles of the run. Estimated average bike speed 19.8 mph with aerobars.

October 1, 2005: Heel and Crank Duathlon
Huntsville, AL

Run 2.85 miles - 21:21
Bike 8 miles - 26:11*
Run 2 miles - 16:17
Total - 1:03:48
Place - 3rd overall female, 1st Female AG 30-34 (1/4)
Notes - Good race. Averaged 7:30 for first three miles and 8:08 for the last two miles. The last two miles were painful. Estimated average bike speed 19.8 mph with aerobars - course had several turns.

November 24,2005: JCC 10K Thanksgiving run
Birmingham, AL

Run 6.2 miles: 51:23
Pace: 8:17
Notes - 5th place age group 30-34 out of 47

*Transition times included in bike portion.

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