TandemHearts

Goals for this race were pretty simple:

Swim:  Go easy & get comfortable in the new, full sleeve wet suit.

Bike: Go easy.

Run: Enjoy it and have fun.

Competitors often describe their races as “A” or “B” events.  ”A” races are the big ones that you focus on having peak performance for.  ”B” events are the ones where you work on small details, with less focus on your best time ever. Last year I  put so much pressure on myself, for all my events,  that I just wasn’t having as much fun as I should have been having.  By the time each race day day came around, I was a mass of jitters and pretty stressed.  This year is going to be different – no time goals, no agonizing over where I might place. Every race an “F” race – FUN!  I was pretty relaxed until Saturday night, when I didn’t sleep very well.   The butterflies started appearing in the car on the drive over, but I managed to net them all and send them away.  I was most nervous about the swim – much to Thom’s surprise.  It was cold and miserable last year and I have only swam once this year.   I knew I could do the distance, but I didn’t want to be cold.

The weather this year was quite different from last year’s race, sunny and hot rather than overcast and cold.  The warmth made the swim more enjoyable, the run, not so much.  I got a great spot for transition, since they set up more racks as I arrived.  I enjoyed getting to see Tracy (TPrevost on the Team Estrogen forum) and chatting with her and her friends before the race.  It’s awesome to have a little cheering section!  And of course, my wonderful photographer is always there.  Thom took 120 pictures this year, which we narrowed down to thirteen.

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The White Rim Trail has been on our To Do Ride list for years and we aren’t quite sure why it took so long to get to it. This route is well suited to a guided camping trip because the logistics of self- supported would be a bit of work. We took a 4 day/3 night trip with Western Spirit and had a great time. Spring can mean dicey weather in Moab, but we timed the weather perfectly. It was cold the second morning, in the mid- 30s, but otherwise the nights were pleasant and the days were in the low 80s. The WRT loops around the Grand Overlook in Canyonlands National Park, starting at 5000’, dropping to the river at 4000’ on the first day and then climbing back to generally 4500-5000 for the rest of the trip, until the last climb: up 1400’ in about 3 miles. The WRT is a jeep trail, about 80 miles long. It isn’t very technical, although there are short sections of sand, and some very steep pitches. None of the days really tired us out, but we each had to walk at least some portion of the trail, usually because of deep sand or long very steep sections.

We were doing this as a minimally planned trip, so we rented camping gear and bikes from WS. All we had to do was show up and ride. We flew from SFO to Denver, where the plane to Moab’s tiny airport (2 flights a day) was 90 minutes late. This would not have been a big problem, except that Canyonlands Airport is 20 miles from town and there are not a lot of taxis at 8:30 at night. We got lucky and the taxi company we were able to reach picked us up in about 40 minutes. That’s when we realized that getting back to the airport for the 7AM flight home might be a challenge. Since there was nothing we could do about that on the trail (no cell coverage) we decided not to worry about it and enjoy the ride.

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Someone asked me yesterday  if I made New Year’s Resolutions and the answer is no.  Resolutions are wishes, not goals with a plan.  I make goals.  (more…)

I signed up for this race after stressing out so much on Barb’s Race because  I wanted to end my season with a fun race. (more…)

Although it is very late in the cycling “season” here, we are finally getting in some good rides. It has been quite a while since we rode regularly,  so we don’t really know what kind of cycling  shape we are in.  Naturally,  we picked a 64 mile ride with about 8,000 feet of climbing, at altitude, to test ourselves.