...laced with joy...: From Gollum to Einstein, of course...

My theme from the last race report was Gollum/LOTR, so obviously the next logical parallel to a triathlon race is...Einstein. Physicists can be extremely insightful and/yet/but in a different way than a creepy hairless corrupted hobbit...

Short version: Some of my Gollum feelings still resonate with my wetsuit experience (i.e. we [still] hates them) but I have not lost hope that I will conquer the wetsuit swim. I really enjoy open water swimming, & I am going to figure this out. Went a little faster in all 3 sports. Makin' progress in the right direction, but still have a ways to go...definitely!!! Skip to the pics or read more of the juicy triathlon/physicist parallels... (um...spoiler alert: it's a stretch but hey, it works!)

More Scoop:

Swim: It's true that I came out of the water an unacceptable 3+ minutes behind the leaders....again....but I changed my wetsuit which means I'm taking Einstein's advice and keeping out of the "Insane" category... (Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. ~Einstein)

Last race, I wore a full wetsuit size W Sm, and this time I wore a sleeveless one, unisex size 6... Although my arms enjoy the freedom ("don't clip my wings!!"), they actually never warmed up since the water was in the upper 50s....It was like a 10 minute pre-race ice bath and then sprint a mile swim out of the gate. Literally "cool"...but definitely not figuratively! The swim at Pacific Grove is called the "Kelp Crawl"....and my raw arms had bruises on them from wrangling with the kelp. It feels as if you're swimming in a pool with 100 pool vacuum cleaner hoses (the rough plastic tubes). If you hit the tube, it hurts and is somewhat stiff, but if you try to grab it to give you momentum, it just floats with you and ends up being worthless. Moral of the story = the shortest TIME between buoys on the race course is not a straight line. It's following someone who previewed the course and knows where to avoid the kelp. Doh! My course preview was cut way short due to the icy take-your-breath-away-but-not-the-romantic-type feeling I was getting from that cold water. Maybe sleeves aren't such a bad thing...

Bike: At the race, I took my bike to the local bike shop and asked them to look at a couple things, one being my shifting. They couldn't figure out what was wrong, so I ended up riding a bike that had a shifting mind of its own. #notgood. A girl in our bike group told me after the race, "I was thinking, 'Gosh, she's shifting a whole lot!'...But then I realized you weren't trying to shift!" Well let's just call that not ideal during a race. Now, I know that I attached the derailleur incorrectly. Grrr. Does it make me feel better or worse that the 3 bike mechanics at that store couldn't figure out my shifting problem? ....not sure.

Run: First 2 miles were conservative...Second 2 miles I had a horrendous gut/lung cramp & had to go slug pace...Last 2 miles I could finally go semi-strong but it was too late to catch anyone.

That particular swim-bike-run landed me 7th place out of 10 pro ladies, with a fun check from the wonderful Tri-Cal, who put on an amazing race! I hope I get to race many more TriCal events! I'm a huge fan of TriCal! Thanks!!!

I'm going in the right direction, even if it is by smaller steps than the leaps I was hoping for. I knew that I wouldn't be performing like I did before I had the downward spiral of 3+ yrs of injuries...but every time I race, I don't go into a race thinking that I'm going to have a poor race! So it's kind of a mini battle of the will/mind/heart for a couple days post race....which is normal, I'd say, for competitors! We race to win, right?! I always have a post-race list of what to fix & focus on next time, and start chuggin' at it! I'm a list girl & love crossing items off. The theme of patience came up a few times in my discussion with my coach, Jamie, at HUB Endurance. :)

This week I get to add a UT XC workout to my training! I love trying to keep up with people. Woohoo! And UT Masters swimming is picking up, with more & more former Vols who can still kick some tail! So much fun to be in that mix...as well as the many good group rides around here. I'm really thankful for the opportunity to be with people and work hard. What a gift.

Also - I'm still healthy! This is largely because of Steve Bailey, who owns and works at PROMPT Physical Therapy. And neat that we originally met because he and his wife invited a bunch of random 30-somethings over to their house for a Bible Study last year. He should seriously be a famous guru of body work sorts. I had a neck/back injury on and off since 2009, (mostly ON), and he is the only person who has gotten to the bottom of the problem and nixed it, and maintained an effective nixing! I even ride a bike that has a seat higher than the handlebars. This is good! He is very talented and has a gift of understanding of the body & how it works.

Whew, so thankful to be healthy!

Other Random Highlights:

Lover's Point Inn - stay there! Perfecto.
Pacific Grove, CA is gorgeous!
What's there not to love about a place where you enter & instantly get 3 hrs of extra life?!
2 loop swim, 4 loop bike, 3 loop run. Fun stuff!

Next race = Dallas on October 6th! Thanks for being curious, caring, praying, &/or cheering for me!
THANK YOU (!) to my amazing sponsors!
God bless you,
bethany
PS: Einstein has many more great quotes! If you also like him, we should chat more sometime...