I grew up in the water. Pool in the yard. Nearest beach 10 minutes away. Why, now, as my 33 year old self am I so scared of the open water? Growing up is scary in so many ways, particularly because the older you get the more fear you seem to build...the dreaded "what-if syndrome" that I picked up somewhere along the way. Damn. I cannot let it paralyze me.
I guess reading about the San Diego shark sightings over the years wasn't the smartest thing I could have done to prepare myself for this. My first super triathlon. What better way to conquer a fear than to dive right in. It's the only way I know how, one extreme or another. Always.
My preparation for this was weak. I barely trained.
Swim.
Bike.
Run.
How hard can it be?
Swim.
I decided one day after work to swim the cove in la jolla. Man that place gives me the creeps. Swimming with the seals is not my ideal situation, and frankly, they are weird and the cove is gross. The swell was high that day and the seals were having a blast diving off the cliffs into the surf. As their game started, mine ended. I was in and out within 15 minutes of a laughable swim.
Bike.
I woke up on a Saturday morning to ride my new bike. I started on the 56 bike path near my house and then hit a detour due to flooding. Boo! I wound up in town for a few miles and then back to the path. I totaled about 25 miles that day. The last 15 being against 25mph winds. No bueno. I was pooped.
Run.
Run? I was so burnt out on running from the LJ Half that I ran twice to train.
Combine all three? No thanks. I'll do that on race day.
In all honesty, I am making myself out to sound somewhat lazy in my training. And I was, but I did do a little bit more then mentioned and would have done even more if I can have more hours in the day. Still working on that.
A week before the race and I am getting anxious. What am I doing? I am not prepared for this. I beg Casey please please please sign up for this. I will get you a new bike, spandex, whatever you want! He turns me down. Up next, George! Good ol' George will surely want to do this race...he's always up for a challenge! Shoulder injuries? Oh yeah, damn!
Race day. My alarm goes off at 5am...my heart's already pounding! How am I going to swim when I am so out of breath? I get dressed, drag Casey out of bed and head down to Moonlight Beach. Transition closes at 6:30. My wave goes off at 8:10am. I have 1.5 hours to sit here and feel like this?!!
Casey waits for George to arrive and I go and sit on the beach and watch the elite swimmers and do some deep meditation breaths. They really seem to help. My cheerleaders join me and at 5 minutes before my wave Casey and George mention how they kind of wish they signed up...seriously guys?!!
My wave goes off and I dive through the waves how I saw the elite guys do it...well, not really. I pretty much run until I can't reach and begin swimming. I am gassed already.
Kurt (my swim buddy): Are you tired?
Me (while swallowing water): yeah.
Kurt: want to take a break?
Me: no
Kurt: laughs
Me: Kurt, do not leave my side!
(Boy, as I write and relive this moment I can't believe what a baby I am when I am scared. haha.)
The swim back from the buoy felt like an eternity. When I looked at Kurt and he said he was standing I realized I could reach. He really wanted me to catch a wave and kept yelling something about one coming but I was already running at that point and was not about switch course.
My cheerleaders are at the shore rooting for me. Casey is snapping shots like the paparazzi and I am so thankful that they are there with me.
I run up the switchbacks to transition, hop on my bike and go. Wow. This feels great! Yippee! I cruise down the coast and pass Swamis,the Cardiff kook and a cop eating a donut. My IT band is hurting and I am burping up the ocean I just swallowed all while totally enjoying the moment and racing away, still learning the gears on my bike. I round the bend at the end and there are my cheerleaders again! I kind of wish they were riding with me.
The guy in front of me jumps off his bike and loses a shoe and just keeps going. Holy cow, these guys are serious!
I get back to transition and am looking all over the place for my bandanna. The East Coaster in me thinks the girl next to me took it. I look in her pile. No luck. I finally give up and throw on a hat and run. My legs are like bricks...oh yeah, the brick workout I never did in training! Wipe the sweat from my forehead, my bandanna is around my wrist! Oops!
Eventually, I cross the finish and am stoked to be done! Some woman rips my timing chip off me and I eat some oranges. There is nothing like an orange slice after a race. Super refreshing!
Race is over. I did it! Burritos and mimosas at Mozy's to celebrate. Slipping right back into the Sunday morning routine to the farmer's market.
My race results came in yesterday. I did this race to finish and nearly placed! I came in 4th in my age group. The girl before be had slower times in everything but I wasted too much time in transition...must have been that 'missing' bandanna.
The problem with hiking Mt Whitney is the way that it's typically done. It's like hiking the AT or PCT and putting down a 30+ mile day. Yeah you're proud of it and you tell all your friends, but it really wasn't enjoyable - and the next day your toenails fall off. So, this time around I've got a different approach. We're going to do a 3-day backpacking trip up the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) heading north from Cottonwood Pass, approaching from the backside of Mt Whitney. The advantage is that we'll get to spend time hiking and camping portions of the High Sierra that we've never seen, and when we arrive at Mt Whitney our final day will be just 14.5 miles instead of 22. Plus, after a few nights above 10,000', we hope to be better acclimated when we make our way up to 14,498'.
Mt Baldy is IMHO one of the easiest and most enjoyable elevation training hikes around. Because of the storm, we opted for a later start on Saturday morning. We arrived at the trail head around 10:30AM and the temperature was still only about 40deg. After some debate about clothing, we started off. The trail was cold and windy, but great hiking weather. We were deep in the clouds for about 2 hours, but as we approached the summit we could see the tops of frost covered trees and clearing blue skies.
