Greetings from Ireland!

Well, after 2.5 weeks, I am more or less settled in here. It would be nice if I had a clothes dryer that didn't merely make my clothes less damp, but I'll survive.

Assuming I don't get hit by a car because I have been looking the wrong way before crossing.

Since I don't belong to a gym here yet, it's been back to ye olde running exclusively for me. I live in a cute little stone house right alongside a canal that goes between the ocean and campus and has a nice path alongside it. I haven't yet run down by the ocean because it is damn windy here, even away from the ocean.

You know, in the US, I always assumed that bike/pedestrian paths should follow the same rules as roads - you keep to the right and pass on the left. So in theory, here I should keep to the left and pass on the right. But these people! There is no rhyme or reason at all to which side the walk or bike on. THEY ARE DISRUPTING THE ORDER OF THE UNIVERSE. Just like the Germans who cut in the Portapotty lines. Europe, you are whack.

America! Fuck yeah!

Holy crap. Less than three weeks.

My time here is Seattle is rapidly coming to a close. I actually haven't been running lately outside (I do intervals on the treadmill after doing weights at the gym) because I have been trying to squeeze in as much playing in the snow as possible before moving to Ireland!

Skate skiing surely has to be an adequate running replacement! Seriously, I find skate skiing to be way harder than running, both from a cardio standpoint and a muscle strength standpoint. Of course, I look as graceful as these skiers!

I do have one last trail race near Seattle before I head off. I am signed up for the 20 miler, but I think I shall be dropping back to the 5 miler. Weak! To answer Bertie's question - I'm actually stalled out at 55 minutes since I haven't been running. Tomorrow! I swear! If anything, I need to get a few more runs in my favorite places in Seattle before I go as well!

55 minutes

That's how long my next long run should be. This whole "10%/week" things is lame. So next time I have to run 61 minutes? And if you start from zero, how do you increase at all? 10% of 0 is... 0.

But I shall be running none of that this weekend, as I shall be gallivanting in Whistler! Yay snow! I'm trying to smush in as much snow as possible before Ireland, as that is one thing Ireland is sorely lacking in.

ZOMG, Ireland! I have exactly 21 full days left in Seattle. I will be gone for 13 days in February. Nuts! So much to do! So little time!

Mysterious Pelvic Injuries

The area between my pelvis and right leg is hurting. A lot. It doesn't feel quite like the hip flexor, but it doesn't feel like my groin either. All I know is that I am limping all over the place. I ran less than 2 miles yesterday and it is one big hobble fest today.

In good news, I am trapped in the woods in Vermont and running from our house has two options: Up a big hill and then turn around and go down or Down a big hill and turn around and go up. So I don't love running here anyway. (So the hill doesn't look so bad in the photos, but it is uphill for miles and miles and miles without any true flats, so it wears on you. And add the snow.)

We have snow here at least! Yay for white Christmas! I hope you all have a good one, while I sit on the couch and have my mom bring me breakfast. I love my mom.

Dublin 2012!

Hotel rooms are booked. Dublin 2012! Good times! We'll return later to the question of if I really want to run another marathon...

In other news, we rented this cabin by Mount Rainier for New Year's Eve. You have to ski or snowshoe in (or bribe the ski patrol to bring you up on that stylin' snowmobile). It sleeps 14. Party time! Of course, we do have to haul in all the booze ourselves...

Sinister Minister!

Oh my, how did I forget! Team BOMIAS also did a trail relay in Alberta this summer (the Sinister 7)! I had to run 8 miles downhill in the dark being chased by bears and cougars. Even with my huge ass head lamp, it was hard to see and so running was really hard. My hands were cut up from falling and where I had to essentially shuffle down steep banks into creeks because the gravel was so loose that it was hard to get footing.

But it was good times! The race was really well done and we had a blast. Some random Canadian let us stay at their house for free and he slept in his camper. Oh Canada! You're so sweet.

The year in review

Since Glaven needs a place to make suggestive comments in response to my comments on his blog, I thought I would pop in and give an update. It's been over a year, so I imagine approximately three people will read this, but hey! I'm procrastinating!

So I ran Berlin and then proceeded to do nothing for a long time.

Then I signed up for the Avenue of the Giants Marathon with some Iowa friends, got really sick in February (woah, vertigo!) lost all my fitness, but ran the half anyway, despite having a long run of 2 miles. Gorgeous course. The half is totally PR material. I recommend it whole-heartedly.

I organized a team for the Epic Prelay from Portland to Eugene. It was a gorgeous course. I can't recommend running in Oregon enough.

I was going to do the Ragnar Pacific Northwest Relay, but on short notice I got flown to Australia for an interview (for a job I didn't get, but free trip to Australia!).

Here I will gently suggest that you avoid doing Ragnar races in the future. As a relay veteran, I have done two Ragnars and many independently run relays. If you haven't heard, they started a new relay in Colorado, which runs the course of a long standing relay (simply named The Colorado Relay) in reverse. In fact, the Ragnar race organizer was given a free entry by The Colorado Relay as a courtesy, ran the race, and then a week later began the plans to poach the course.

My Ragnar experiences do not trump my independent experiences in terms of organization or support (in fact, Ragnar's Great River Relay has been my worst experience), so this is not a case of the better man winning, simply bullying by a larger organization. There is room for other relays in Colorado (Epic has a new one as well - they developed a unique route and picked a weekend that doesn't overlap with the long established weekends of other races in Colorado). So on principle, I will not be organizing any more Ragnar teams. There are plenty of great races out there without the Ragnar label, so go do those!

Sorry for the diversion! Anyway, it is all moot, since I am moving to Ireland! So I am guessing there will be no relay for me in the near future, but Dublin Marathon 2012? Anyone?

Also, I'm wearing the German chicken hat today for an office Halloween party. Best hat ever!

Hmm... currywurst...

So... The Berlin Marathon...

It was a lot of fun! I think not training very hard makes the whole thing more enjoyable since there was no performance pressure. And I PRed anyway!

Hanging out in Berlin before the race, I drank lots of beer, ate many pastries from the bakery on Lisa's block, and had some German food, which is mainly meat and potatoes in some form or other - It was goooood! I think I broke every pre-marathon eating rule.

Lisa lives in Berlin, so I ran the race with her and her mom. Although we really only ran the first 12 miles together or so, since I had to stop to use the portapotty and then I lost them.

I only walked through the water stops. That was my main goal - to not walk this time. I figured that if I met that goal, that I would probably PR.

The weather was rainy. That wasn't fun. But much better than the heat!

Other highlights:

*Germans are totally line cutters, which makes the portapotty line miserable.

*This was the first race ever where I had to use the portapotty in the middle of the race. I am so glad I finished in 5:11 and not 5:03 or something, or else I would have been kicking myself for the portapotty minutes.

*I only did two runs longer than 14 miles - a 15 miler and a 20 miler. So I was ready for the collapse at mile 18 or so. But by then you are so close, you have to finish!

*It was marked all in kilometers. Thank God for Garmin. Too bad Garmin was a half mile off by the end. (And I even got a new one! Not the old crappy one I had!)

*We ran past lots of historic things of which I have no recollection. This is argument number one against destination marathons - the city is a blur.

*I do remember running through the Brandenburg Gate. That was about half a kiometer from the end, but the way it was described by the race, it sounded like the end, so I totally sprinted through the gate only to see the finish line in the distance. That was brutal. But running through the gate was cool. And there spectators for the last km, even for us slow folks.

*My last 2k were the fastest splits I had all day. Nothing like wanting to finish to get the job done!

*After the race, despite there being a changing tent, everyone just got naked on the grass near the Reichstag and changed there. Oh the Germans! We all would have been arrested for indecent exposure in the US.

*The rain made for some major chafiness. My tank top chafed at the arms holes, by belt thing I put blox in chafed around my stomach, my running skirt chafed in all sorts of unmentionable places that made walking miserable.

*It's a lot of fun to run these big races! All the people makes it more enjoyable. I am thinking of doing Chicago next year.

Er, that's it! I'm off to do an easy 7 miler before I head to Hawaii tomorrow for a conference. Life is rough. I know.

Hellloooo oooutttt tthhheerrreee

People, this summer has been nuts. Since my last post, it has been one marathon-training destroying weekend after another. I can't even recap it all, so here is the brief summary:

7/17-7/18 Seattle To Portland. Me and my bike and 205 miles and 10000 of my closest friends. We split it 135/70 and that 135 was tough. I did one century ride in training. Skipped my long run that weekend.

7/23-7/24 (yes, six days later) Ragnar Northwest Passage Relay. My friend Genn recruited me at the last minute for her relay team, which is also entirely composed of scientists. Genome scientists to boot, so I was totally the odd man out. I got the easiest legs (4,4,3) and I hauled ass, running them at a 9:30, 9:10, and 9:20 paces respectively. Van 1 is totally easier than Van 2. I didn't know what I was missing! I was supposed to run 14 miles the day after, but I only managed to squeeze out 12 - long run destroyed again.

8/1 (yes, one week after that) Troika Half-Ironman. I signed up on a whim the day before Seattle to Portland. I figured I was doing all this biking and running, I might as well just do it.

I did one 1.2 mile swim for training, along with a few dips to get used to my wet suit. It was a small race, so I was one of the last people out of the water (in 50 minutes or so).

I brought out Aqua Velva for this race. I had done one 20 mile ride on her this whole season, then I raced her 56. She held up and I caught several people and finished in about 3:25 (16.5 mph or so).

My only real goal was to finish under 7 hours. I got off the bike at 4:25 so I had 2:35 for the half marathon. It was doable, but I knew I couldn't walk. So I trudged through it in the heat, stopping at every water stop. I still didn't get enough down (I didn't finish my water in my Camelback on the bike, so I went in low). By mile 10 I had chills and I was beginning to wheeze (didn't bring my inhaler). I told myself I had to do this all again if I didn't get under 7 hours, so I kept going. At mile 12, the volunteer at the water stop started running with me to ask me if I was feeling okay. I told him there was no way in hell I was stopping with 1.1 miles to go, so I wasn't going to tell him the truth.

I came in at 6:56 and was immediately swept into the med tent, mostly because I had sprinted to the end and I was wheezing really badly, but then they realized that I was covered in goose bumps so they wouldn't let me leave until I had sat and hydrated.

Needless to say, I missed my long run that weekend as well. But I am not sure when I will ever be in this biking condition again, so I decided that the Half-IM goal was more important than a good marathon.

8/13-8/14 (wow, a whole two week break!) Spokane to Sandpoint Relay. We had a last minute drop out, so the team was reshuffled and I ended up with harder legs than intended. My first 8 miler was hot and hilly and kinda sucked. The second 4 mile leg was still hot (despite it being almost sunset) and kinda sucked too. The last 3 mile leg was one of those pure bliss nighttime relay legs. I had a sweet downhill for the last half mile as well and pulled out an 8:59 pace on that leg. Our team was speedy and came in 9/56 in our division and 17/100-something overall. The roller coaster in the middle of the night was pretty freakin' awesome. What was not awesome was that a bike escort got killed by a drunk driver during the relay. I feel kind of remiss for not doing a real race report on this, but honestly, it was a month ago and I barely remember shit anymore.

Missed my long run that weekend as well. I got back from the relay and the next morning flew out for my first ever faculty interview. I was working on my talks on our breaks during the relay. Good times!

Exhale. I have been home since and managed to do some of my marathon long runs. I did 15 the weekend after the relay. I was supposed to do 18, but my hip flexor acted up and I started limping. I think my body was just yelling at me "You need to take a freakin' break!" Never one to actually listen to my body, the next weekend I jumped 5 miles to 20 miles. It was slow, but I got it done with no weird aches and pains. Then I have been tapering. And by tapering, I mean no runs more than 7 miles. Despite the fact that my horoscope says that 9/23 +/- 4 days will be good good for athletic achievement, I don't care at all about this marathon. I'm going to go to Berlin, have fun with Lisa, and run this race with her. If she is in better condition than me (and I think she is, but she has had a crazy training period as well), then I will send her off into her first marathon glory without me.

In other news, I beat my 10k PR by almost 3 minutes on Sunday, coming in at 58:25. I was pretty ecstatic about that. I didn't even want to die at the end. My short run times have really gotten faster recently (I usually run about 9:30s-9:45s comfortably instead of 10s these days), so I think after this marathon business, I am going to focus on getting sub-27 on my 5k. Me and the track will become friends.

In other other news, Team BOMIAS has been challenged again by Girls Heart Rockets to the Sinister 7 in Alberta next July. Registration fills by January, so I am trying to find 6 other souls to do this with me! Let me know if you are interested. The logo alone is awesome!

Pretty soon I will start planning for the next relay season. I am thinking that since recruiting in the PNW is so easy, that I am definitely going to stick with PNW race. That leaves two races at two very different times of year. If you want to do either one of these, let me know! I will pick one or the other (probably by a vote) at the beginning of next year.

6.17-18.2011

Oregon Prelay

Tualatin, OR

177 mi

8.5-6.2011 Cascade Lakes Relay Diamond Lake, OR 216 mi

Okay, time to do some work. I'll try and post more regularly, but life is a lot less boring here than in Iowa.

Lake Padden Tri Race Report

ETA: This happened about 10 days ago, but I have been slow to update. One of our faithful readers and commenters, Wendy Buckner, passed away after doing a sea swim. I didn't know Wendy personally, just through many email exchanges over the years now. I consider her a friend and she will be missed.

Well this was my first race back on the tri scene in two years. The race was a half-mile swim, 21 mile bike, and 5.2 mile run. So the swim was more sprintish, but the bike and the run were closer to Olympic distance.

SWIM (1/2 mile in 17 minutes)

The swim took place in this pretty little lake. Everyone's opinion was that the half mile swim was short, which is fine by me! The water actually wasn't that bad - I think our "heat wave" last week warmed the water up to 65 or so. I could have done it without the wetsuit if necessary, but it was good practice. On the other hand, I was totally one of those 3 minute transitioners because of the wetsuit. Normally I am under two minutes, but I took my sweet precious time. I wasn't racing this all that hard, as they only gave out awards for the top three men and women, so I wasn't even close to being in the running. It's amazing the effort I'll expend when I might win some bling :-)

BIKE (21 miles in 1:24 - really? really?)

The bike... was disheartening. I'm usually best at the bike and pass a crapload of people, but it was hilly. I was warned though. I was looking at my Garmin afterwards and I had several miles where I wasn't even hitting 10 mph on average for the mile and several miles where I was averaging 25 mph. But it was a pretty bike ride. And I didn't fall over on my bike on the last hill like I was afraid of doing. I saw a girl do this once on the Hill of Death at the Cornman and ever since, I have been petrified of doing the same!

RUN (5.2 miles in 53 minutes)


The run was a trail run on the above trails, which was a nice change. The run was quite nice. I wasn't a huge fan of the two loop course because I got passed a lot on the first loop by people who were on their second loop. But by the second loop I knew who I should chase down and did the second loop a minute faster. The trails were pretty though!

SUMMARY

The best part though was starting a race with temps in the 50s and ending in the 60s. Back in the midwest, by the time you were on the run, it was in the 80s. My first Olympic distance race (Big Creek) I crossed the finish line and they yelled "She's dry!" and hauled me into the ambulance because I was apparently no longer sweating.

My friend won the women's division. My bike time was my worst performance (back in the midwest I typically did Olympic distance races (25 miles) in the same time I did 21 miles on saturday AND I wasn't riding 50-80 miles every weekend back there). I came in at 2:41 total.

I did win a door prize too - a t-shirt from the local brewery (Boundary Bay).

I'm also leaning very heavily towards signing up for this Half-IM in August. It is a favorite race of my friend who won this event. And the bike! It's meant for me. 56 miles of rollers with a long downhill into the finish (point to point course). That's what me and my triathlon bike were born to do! (I used my road bike this weekend, since that is what I have been riding).

This week I have a 12 mile run on tap tonight, a 50 mile bike ride on Wednesday night, and an century ride on Saturday. Oh, don't let me forget a grueling kickball match on Thursday night. It requires a lot of effort to lose 17-0!