Friday Night Swims and Lake Stevens....delayed!

Friday Night Swim races at Lake Meridian are held twice a year now and land perfectly with the athletes prepping for Ironman CDA and Canada. Since the focus is on my swim I signed up for the 2.4. We arrived early, just to allow for more time to stress over which division to participate in (rubberized or not). Flashbacks of Rev 3 Portland where the temps were 73.6 and feeling warm in the comforting Torque had me debating the actual 75 degree temps of Lake Meridian up until the final minutes. Webb reminded me that this was to be “fun” and no pressure so I figured, if I get hot I could just slow down (what a concept huh?!). I got myself the fresh out of the box TYR Hurricane and TYR tracer goggles and got in a quick warm-up. The water was very “comfortable”. Rumor had it that the first few buoys on the way out can be difficult to site so I played it safe for the first ¼ of the swim, swimming side by side another athlete and leading the first pack of 6 or so swimmers (which had some speedy non-wetsuiters in there). The rumors were true as we could not find the “green” buoy anywhere (the line-up was orange, then green, then yellow, repeat). A kayaker came over to get us as we were way to close to shore. Fellas it’s a good thing there wasn’t a lululemon nearby or we would have really been off course. Never leave me in charge :). By the first turn buoy I finally felt comfortable to swim on my own so I settled into a normal 2.4 mile swim pace and kept myself in check until half way through the second loop to make sure I was not boiling. In the final quarter I added in more power in my arms and a little more bang to the kick to finish it off (Hard to believe if you know how I swim-all legs. Hand me a pull buoy and I drown). I landed first place which got us a huge apple pie that kept my husband happy for days, three to be exact! To note for fun, second place is a cinnamon roll and third a stack of cookies. Always trying to fatten up the podium! (Pie at end of day two!)
Two days later was the Lake Stevens 70.3. We put together a girl relay team with the plan of having a blast. We were the final wave to go off and it was only 3 minutes behind Mark’s wave. I think he stressed all night as to “when” I would catch him. We joked that I would get in front of him and pull him a bit. All joking aside I figured there would be no way we would find each other, UNLESS he followed coach’s instructions of staying on the inside of the buoy line. Relays are always an unexpected abundance of athletes of all abilities. I started out steady to see if there were any “current-collegiate-swimmer-type swimmers”. There was one but not even close to the buoy line where I started. So I swam solo for a bit until catching the wave ahead of us, then the swim went by quick, I felt like I was play frogger in the water trying to dodge swimmers. About a ¼ of the way headed back “home” I saw Mark (he followed instructions :)) ahead of me in his purple cap. It immediately made me laugh…..his fears had come true! Oh, there was so many things going through my head to do to him, but I didn’t want to affect his race, remember this was all about fun for me, he had an agenda (ie: Worlds 70.3). I came up to him on his left, ughhh….he breathes to the right. So I stayed with him stroke per stroke for 5 or so strokes just waiting for him to look over. It was a no-go; he was racing a dude next to him and not even considering looking left. Thinking “I could whack him in the head” OR more kindly I will just get right in front of him, the annoying wife just wanting to say “hi”, and if I do something really obnoxious he WILL notice me. Backstroke it is…..so I did some backstroke with a super-grin and he finally acknowledge my existence in the smelly lake of Lake Stevens. It was LOVE. I continued on and got out of the water knowing my swim time would not be pretty because I felt like I was “playing” the whole time, never really thinking of racing. I checked my watch and it read 28:xx. That sounded about right, until I later remembered (okay, I looked at ironmanlive) and forgot I had started my watch a minute early. Somehow I managed the fastest women’s split of the day! The timing chip was quickly off and handed to my great friend/TNM coach/training buddy Bridget Jones! She hammered out the bike and buddy Karen ran a half ironman PR. We were women relay champs!!! Yeah! Very upset we don't have a photo of the three of us :(

And Double-Yeah to Webb for qualifying for Vegas…bring on the heat and hills and for me the suntan!

Islander Aquathon I

Although I am banned from any big races, I have received the okay to do some smaller events. I am avoiding the swim/bike/run all together stuff for now, but don’t be surprised if you see my name on a start list of a local tri at end of season :).

The Islander Aquathon consisted of a 1000yd swim and a 10K run. After looking at the results from last year this race would take me right around an hour which is PERFECT for my fitness right now (run course differed this year). We have been working on building up my swimming right now to build up a solid aerobic base, as anything over 2 hours on the bike or 1 hour on the run leaves me exhausted for the remaining portion of the day. I would be sleeping my life away if we had any other plan!

As usual, the decision to race would be last minute. It fell on a Wednesday and the Friday prior I had Remicade and the doctors attempting a new medicine (DHE) to help prevent the post-treatment-migraine-ER-visit-chaos. After 1cc of the DHE (prescription called for 10cc) I had the worst reaction to medicine ever. Jaw went numb, then chest, then closer to my sternum, then began sweating profusely, followed by excessive vomiting (sorry guys!). Needless to say, it didn’t work, and by 2:30am on Sunday morning we cashed in our frequent flier miles once again to the ER. Was feeling fine by Tuesday and wanted to race. I have accepted this now as my just “normal” routine and want to play when by body says play.

By 5pm Wednesday it was a gorgeous 70 degrees so we strolled to Mercer Island to let me race for CHOCOLATE (the grand prize).

(The trusty fast TYR Hurricane wetsuit and myself!)

The swim: I started out fast on this two loop course, okay, maybe too fast….as I dove back in I was a tad nauseous (typical two loop fashion. ie: ironman CDA) and had to slow it down a tad to keep some fuel in me. I was happy to land my one and only goal of the day of having the fastest swim split!

So lucky no one passed me as I was “sitting” in T1 trying to get my wetsuit off, not on purpose, but because I literally fell on my booty trying to get it off using the “tap-dance” style that needs to be re-perfected for sure.

(gorgeous trail run through Luther Burbank Park)

The run: 4 loop hilly up and down on gravel, on grass, on pavement, and on sticks. On loop two I ran into a girl who had made a slight wrong turn landing us side by side. We ran within two feet of each other, taking turns on leader, for nearly three loops. It felt good to be “racing” again and especially to be pushing the pace while running! By the middle of the third loop I will admit, I was D.O.N.E. The goal going in was to just run as this would be my longest run in some time. I found out the girl I was racing was one loop behind me, “phew”. I backed off, or just slowed down in general, and enjoyed just smiling while running!

(On the podium with great speedy friends!)

It was so much fun to be out racing, to push the pace again, and to have so many friends out there! The Luna Chix-Seattle were “manning” each corner and seeing each one of them FOUR times was a treat! And then super-buddy Kirk Sall was there to witness my victorious fist-pump. And of course to have so many teammates and Mark (reminding me of “no-pressure, just fun”) too made the day such a blast. And SO much chocolate we got to bring home!!!!!
The same event falls again at the end of the month…..hmmm….I can’t wait!

*On the medical front we are stopping the Remicade and switching to Humira (assuming insurance gives us the okay). These are self-injections every two weeks with the first treatment being in the ER (lets hope this is the last ER visit for eternity). Fingers and toes crossed that this will have way less side effects, in less than six weeks we will know!

Fat Salmon 2011

Fat Salmon!

(Fellow fish, I mean teammates and a view of the "scene"!)

(Enjoying this gorgeous day!)

My favorite open water swim race was this past weekend (2010, 2009) . The sun was FINALLY out in Seattle so the day was absolutely beautiful to swim 3.2 miles from I-90 to Madison Beach. Choppy waters made this event a little more challenging than years prior adding 4-5' on most swimmers results from previous years (a long eight additional 8 minutes for me). My past swim buddy was gone from the get-go, so no pedicure for good-ole' Tom while swimming THIS year!

(Tom, the speedy feet dude! 4th overall and #1 Master!)

(Mark demolishes his first 3-mile open water race!)

(Bridget and I ie: partner in crime!)

The choppier the water the more strength is needed. As I long for more strength, that I recognize can not be achieved through swim/bike/run alone, I (and Bridget) have enlisted in my long time buddy Curt Ligot and his Kinetic Force shenanigans to get me in "fightin' shape", as I am now officially now at "fightin' weight" (Insert big smile! Take that UC!!!). Excited for a few focused months of building some real muscle back, the heels and wedges will be in the back of my closet for now!

Thank you TYR for the amazing Hurricane, tracer goggles, and comfy suit to do this super fun adventure!

To more open water swimming, strength, and health....life is good!

Rev 3 Portland 2011

I did it! The 2011 goal was to complete a triathlon. Seems so minor from where I was a year ago. Seems so BIG from where I have been this past year. (reminder posts: here and here)Who would have thought? Would love to say I did the race to prove to myself “I am back!” but really I am so far from that (but will use that as a blog title someday!).

I did this race for ME. I needed to know that I could do this sport again. Yes, it is incredibly challenging to go to a start line with not even half the fitness I had currently displayed, especially with a little “P” marked on your left calf. The “P” represents professional, a choice I made when my health was at its best for months. But at the end of the day, life is too short, and I wanted to play. I didn’t want to wait around until my fitness surpassed where I was in July of 2010 just because of the “P” status and the expectations that are placed on you while “displaying” it.

This race brought more tears to my eyes than any athletic event I have ever participated in. Everything truly felt surreal.

It is challenging to write this report because it felt so unusual than any other race in my life. There was no second or third gear, there is no pushing the pace, and there is very little fitness to pull from. It was a race of staying steady and making it to the line on both feet. This made it incredibly challenging to “race” as it was nothing of that sort for me.

Although it may sound dramatic, the truth is, my mind could not stop flashing back to the days in the hospital bed (total of 7 nights, over 10 ER visits, and one only 2 weeks prior to this race). To the days of taking 50mg of Prednisone and 3 vicodin for over 5 months (and tapering off these medications have been even more of a challenge). My training is half of what it used to be, simply because the recovery time is twice as long for any workout. I need two days off a week, and typically have 10 hours + a night of sleep. When the going got tough I would just smile thinking about how lucky I was to be out on a beautifully sunny day, with 31 TNM athletes, and countless supporters out there cheering for me. I was awe-struck by how many people had really followed this journey back to health that did not even know me.

I did not need this race to show to me or anyone else how weak I have become (losing over 8 pounds and I can tell you it was all muscle), I needed this race to know exactly where my body is now, how much recovery time is needed, and to help coach and I move forward with my upcoming plans. I needed to just get out there again, experience living, and doing what I love. I got all this and more.
You will probably not see me at a triathlon for the remainder of the year, Coach and Mark and I have developed a plan as my fitness and health improve to get me stronger. With this intact, I am accepting of the strategy to taking a few more months off of triathlon racing. I got my fix and am satisfied….for now!

To my amazing supporters (a little story first):
My swim coach growing up (Dick Hannula) would, along with emphasize the importance of our fitness and health, would also highlight the priority of friendships and the relationships formed in sports. His words were “Your best friends in the world are with you during your highest- highs, and your lowest- lows”. He would reference this as our teammates sharing the same experiences during every practice, every swim meet, every great success, every hardship. And that they were!
It takes a true person, a true company, and a true heart to support someone during their most challenging times to date:
Thank you to TYR, Gerk's Issaquah, RUDY Project, Cyclops, Lululemon,Brian Perry, Peter Schmidt, Mom, Mark, all my teammates, tri-buddies, coaches, doctors and family.

With you guys......anything is possible!

June and on to the other side!

We've been doing a lot, but who hasn't. Unfortunately, we have been doing so much that I can't even remember what we did yesterday!

Here are some highlights for the month of June (post-Hawaiian sunshine):

Boise 70.3-

*Went to observe the athletes race and planned for a little swim training. The lake, more or less, left us feeling like we were freezing our bodies for future lab testing.

*Friend, TNM Coach and athlete- Kim Pancoast won the overall amateur in her first half ever!

(strong, strong, stronger)

*With athlete-tracking down I played the role of Matt Lieto and Hillary Biscay for a short amount of time to send updated to the world (okay to twitter fans, but you get the idea)
Ironman CDA-
Upon return we had postponed my Remicade treatment to the following Monday so I could enjoy a weekend at home. The training was superb and all I had hoped for this weekend. Thanks to Brent Hardy for keeping me honest, or is it the other way around?!
Monday I had treatment. By Wednesday our nomad-like selves were off to Ironman CDA. An entire week of VACATION! My vision was clear going into this. Loads of times with friends, family, training, and eating. The minutes were booked to the second. By Wednesday afternoon the head was aching.

You would think we know the routine by now but the medicines are still changing so each treatment is different. All that “pre-booked” time became eternity in the “Dream” bedroom of our 6-bedroom rented home. And a visit to the ER. Once the migraine (not sure of the terminology of a migraine-beyond-migraines, but it hurts and I can only accept vomitting while racing an ironman) diminishes it is still a few days of feeling really wonky before returning to normal life. Can’t thank our loving family enough for helping me, once again. (Webbs, Cunninghams, Mom and hubby Webb).

Some photos of what I wanted to be doing:

(These two champs swam in the minus 55 degree water....brrr! Maybe the migraine WAS a blessing...ha!) (Current was so strong that the paddle boat got stuck at shore, these boys came to the rescue but still had to be pulled in by the boaters!)

By Sunday I was feeling up for cheering on friends from all over the country! Every Ironman event is beyond surreal. So many dreams coming true in one day, at one event! The TNM team had an amazing day and Mark came out with more improvements than ever. He continues to prove that hard work DOES pay off!
(the boys an hour before conquering the world)

As for racing, Rev 3 Portland has always been on the table. Taking an entire week off (with only 3 weeks to go) was less than ideal. We are beginning to realize that my training plan is 6 weeks ON, 1 week completely OFF. Once home I was able to get in 4 solid days of training and now sniffles and congestion is settling in. Painfully depressing blog, I know!

So Rev 3 continues to be a yes, then a no, and is an affirmative maybe now. The decision will be made by race morning.

My fitness is far from where it was, and I am staying away from comparing THEN from NOW. My new now is what matters and my fitness has continued to improve since beginning training in the last week of February this year. That is all I can truly ask for.

There was a plan to participate in a smaller race for lead up but for a few reasons I bailed out, primarily due to the torrential downpour, but too, because I was clearly not ready. Not ready mentally. This was a huge eye opener for me because I had not realized the level of confidence you get from racing frequently. There is a level of assurance I had not realized existed in myself. I was so unsure about everything that I knew my day would not unfold in a positive manner. I was more nervous that I had ever been in my life going into a race. I, pulled a quick U-turn and headed straight home. More mental training needed for me!

Rev 3 Portland will mark exactly one year since I have had the opportunity to race.

Fitness or not, my heart is strong and my mind is tenacious with belief, with that, the body will mimic.

Kukio Challenge

Another trip down and it is always so sad to leave Hawaii! I am not cleared to do a "full" triathlon yet so I continue to enter fun activities and try new things. I heard of the Kukio challenge last year from Kiet and Bree and when I knew I would not be racing Honu 70.3 I jumped on the Kukio Challenge bandwagon.

What it is:

1/2 mile swim, 3 mile run (uphill and then back down), 2 mile paddle board.

Swimming: done that forever

Running: coming back slowly but surely

Paddleboarding: once at Honu 70.3 2010 and once the week of the 2011 Kukio Challenge


We took of from the swim and there was no draft from Flannigan as he took off and we battled the chop. It was two quick buoys and with difficulty sighting the shore I stayed with the board short dudes stroke per stroke to stay on target to the shore.

The run was up and up and Rachel had pre-warned me about this. She sped past me on the way down the hill in her cute Betty Designs signature suit (BTW she raced Honu the day before!).

The paddle: YIKES! Volunteers knew my lack of paddle experience so I was told it was okay to stay on my knees. I saw the far buoy and it was not getting any closer. I had a Powerbar energy gel in my suit but could not reach for it, in fear that I would move back another 10 feet if I stopped paddling. I promised myself that Powergel no-matter-what when I reached the buoy. But it was like holding a donut in front of a starving individual....it was never coming to an end! 25'ish minutes later I made it to the turnaround. I was ready to sunbathe on my board at this point as I lied down to take the ever-so-sought-after gel. I need to train to sit on my knees that long! The paddle back was much more "refreshing" as the waves assisted in the forward movement and the calories gave the muscles power to motor home. In the finish chute I reached the volunteers and immediately a the big Kahuna wave came over me and flushed me to outside the buoys. Yep, I was "that girl" making the grand exit after being on the paddle portion of this event longer than anyone. Flailing outside the finish chute, cutting up the toes, and smiling while running the dirt path to the finish line!

So I was passed by all the islanders, however, somehow managed first in the division (Rachel took 1st overall thrashing the women's field).

I will be back.....and next time on the prone board simulating swimming on a board, instead of submerging an oar into the thrashing waters of the ocean and moving no-where-fast!

Thanks Kukio for the amazing venue, amazing pumpkin pancake, fresh fruit, drinks, and sushi, and super fun event. Kiet we have a challenge next year!

Cross check complete.

We are off again. Lots of travel has left me far away from the computer. Last week was the TNM CDA (I miss-spell it everytime so it will forever be in initials) camp. And now we are in Hawaii which was our honeymoon and a race for both of us last year.

Yep, its been one-full year that has been a whirlwind and along the way (dang, still need to order wedding photos too!). From sleeping on hospital floors, to taking over my daily tasks, to helping me keep my head on straight, through EVERY doctors appointment and his unconditional love and support our love was tested for sure. I am not sure how I would have possibly made it through without this man in my life. THANK YOU!

We have mastered traveling....Mark packs bikes, Teresa over-packs her luggage, Teresa then SECRETLY packs more stuff in bike boxes and Marks luggage....it is working out nicely and I have yet to exceed the 50lb maximum in any bag. :)

We left early last week for CDA because mid-70 temps were calling our names. We got in some solid training (two 70+ mile rides for me=happy) before and in-between helping the seven amazing campers with their goals for the weekend of training. They are all looking great and in 5 weeks (gulp...maybe closer to 4 weeks) their dedication will pay off. So excited to watch them flourish!

(Sunny biking days, thanks Betty Designs for the super stylin kit!)

(43 degree ice bath...yikes!)

Then it was 4 days of "real work". Getting things done in overtime so we can enjoy some vacay', a little work, and a little play, and top the next weekend off with some weekend racing/cheering in Kona. We nearly pulled an all-nighter, which I am become all to familiar with (the last flying trip the royal wedding was being televised, so it made sense to pack and clean through the night...who's with me here?! :)), to get everything together and I was still 10 min late getting out the door this morning. Luggage-would-not-zip-up! Going to try to redeem myself for the Boise trip up next :)

(Waiting to go play ALL week in Hawaii)

Things are looking again with my health and I submitted the 2011 racing license to USAT. I see a race in my deck of cards by the end of the year. Fingers crossed!