Triathlon dress rehearsal

Yesterday I did the full-length triathlon. Two also-competing friends, Beth and Carrie, joined me, although Beth had to run along to the airport instead of running the 5K. So, two of us did the whole thing. And I lived to tell the tale, although not on the day I did it. Yesterday I was busy putting a Bluestem-shaped sweaty mark on my floor.

So it was supposed to hit 87 degrees. The plan was "get it over before the heat really gets going." Uh. Not entirely successful on that front. We started at 7 am (as my Sunday paper waited, sadly yet patiently, on the driveway) by biking to the gym (3 miles). We used the one lock one of us (hint: not me) managed to remember to lock up our bikes. Swam half a mile. Got out, biked another 11 miles, ending at our houses. Ran the 5K. I started running with Carrie but couldn't keep up, and finished the rest at my pace.

The whole thing, er, took, um, *cough* three hours. But! There were very long transition times. So that's my excuse. Plus it was hot. Oh, and Carrie had to nurse her baby before the run. So, actually, seriously, it was a pretty decent time, considering all that. I'm not entirely sure, but the swim was roughly 24 minutes, the bike a little over an hour, and the run 40 minutes. Had I been doing it alone I think I could have biked it in 55 minutes. I'm thinking my previous guess of two hours is not going to happen.

So. The other important component of this dry run was figuring out What to Wear, which sounds girly but is dead serious. I've elected not to buy a trisuit (hint: $$$), so this is a big deal.

Here's what I wore:

• Land's End tankini, as it must be a two piece (I don't have that exact one, but I'm sure someone out there doesn't know what a tankini is. And he's German and knows a lot about crystals.)
• Champion sports bra
• Biking shorts bought at Performance at least 12 years ago
• Dri-Fit tanktop

This is how it works. Start off with tankini, with jog bra on under it. Add biking shorts and tanktop, since we were biking to the pool. At pool, remove shorts and tank. Wear tankini and jog bra for the swim. After swim, take off tankini top, add tank and shorts back on over wet jog bra and swimsuit bottom. Do rest of race with that combo of items. Notice that at no point does one need a changing room for public decency! Clever, no?

Everything worked out great, except I wanted pockets, so on future training runs I'll wear a biking top, since they always have pockets in the back. For the actual race I probably don't need to carry my phone and Kleenex and such, so it won't matter.

Three weeks until we do it for real.

My life, illustrated

From http://www.gocomics.com/bliss/2010/05/12/

Next up: a book

A 304 page book entitled: Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish

I'm hoping this one will explain all those Iowians I know. A stoic bunch, those Iowians. Quick to cook up a storm and such. Salt of the earth types. Whatever that means. Not like us flighty Illinoisians.

Best Mother's Day Evah

Sure, sure, there were cute homemade presents and cards and a family bike ride. And yummy dinner at Oma and Opa's. Kohlrouladen, mmmm. Whatever, blah blah blah.

No, the real highlight was the trashpick of a minivan full of hostas. Big hostas. Fancy hostas. Free hostas. We filled the back. Filled it. Then after dinner we borrowed a tarp and filled the second row floor, beneath the kids' feet. We piled them in the backyard, and there is easily a 8x6 foot bonanza of hostas. A plethora.

Note: this photo shows much, but by no means all, of today's haul.

And now the week is pretty much planned out, I'd say.

Triathlon report

With just over five weeks left before the big event (Sprint Competition = .75k swim - 22.8k bike - 5k run), training is going pretty well. I wish I could say that every week I run three days, bike three days, and swim one day, but that's really hard to fit into one's schedule. But I've been doing a lot.

Sunday I biked to the health club, swam the half mile, biked home the long way, so it was about 12 miles. Ran a 5K Monday. Biked 12 miles Tuesday. Ran a 5K Wednesday (35 minutes! For me, a good time), and then took BodyPump that evening. Thursday I was tired. I did nothing. Today is rainy, so we'll see. But tomorrow I'll take a one-hour spin class, and hopefully run the full 5K after. Sunday I'm doing the same thing as last Sunday (bike, swim, bike).

I'm training with three friends who are also doing the triathlon. None of them are in my age division, however, so they'll just have to pass me when they can. I believe us old people start before the youngsters still in their prime, with ages that start with a "3."

Prediction: it's stupid to make a guess, since this is my first triathlon. If I'm doing each event alone, I would expect around 22 min swim, 45 min bike (?), 32 min run. But since I'm hoping to, you know, complete the race and do all three events in succession … ummm. I guess anything under 2 hours would mean I had a good race. A little over 2 hours would still be a decent result. But that's assuming great weather, not too hot. As long as I finish it, I'll be happy.

Third Annual Giant Trashpick

Perhaps you remember the happy items I got in 2008 and 2009. Well, it was another great year, made even better by nice weather for once.

Here's the haul:



Really heavy limestone blocks I loaded by myself, and some pavers

Ice skates, metal buckets, retro Easter platter, 2 pillows for the playhouse, nice runner rug, beginner rollerblades, candles, pots, Halloween bag and decoration, rusty old pitcher that would be cute as a vase or planter, jump rope, books

Totally cool dragon kite, clock radio and adding machine (both to be taken apart at Science Camp in June), Playmobile covered wagon, moon shoes, jumpy ball, duffle bag

Bike basket, ball, bubble solution, game and craft, decorative buckets, Richard Scarry floor puzzle, Thomas counting game, wooden coatrack (to be used as garden accent piece) new-in-box pampered chef loaf pan, new-in-box gingerbread house mold, Lincoln Logs, 25 superballs, vase, decorative plate, nice wooden box for storing items, new napkin holders

Sidewalk chalk, 10-lb weight, DVDs, ugly denim tablecloth that we'll use as a dropcloth, Gap hoodie, basket with more craft supplies, 3 sleds, paper airplane kit, more books

Not shown: Electric Razor scooter, 3 jump ropes, a regular kite (new in package), football, giant ball of twine, new kid magazines and books.

We also took photos of my friend's haul, but apparently stealing her photos from Flickr is harder than I thought. Sorry the photos are small. Here's her list of what she brought home: 2 hose reels, 7.5 ft prelit xmas tree (in box with directions, warranty card and extension cords), light-up santa and snowman, 2 adorondack chairs w/ footstool, little tykes kitchen, little tykes slide, small big wheel and push car, fire pit, 36" tv, a bronco rider, kite, box o awesome trucks, bag chair, white table and chair, wooden santa decor, skateboard, melissa and doug pizza game, box o dolls, a shop vac, the "spider of doom", little tykes shopping cart, decor xmas trees (2), another electric razor scooter, sleds, tall wooden chair, plant stand, baskets, new-in-box slip n slide, bedazzler, (4) baby gates, bird feeder and squirrel baffle, light brite, wine rack, small plastic wheeled cart, gap purse, bells, funky crayons, etc.