2015 Kickoff with Siskiyou Sprint Triathlon

I decided to do things a little different this year. For the last couple years I've been doing some bigger races and traveling far away for those races. I loved doing them but I felt that this year I needed to take things back a notch and really focus in on my training. Plus, traveling is very tiring and I originally had planned a race every month out of state. So I'm keeping it simple and staying in the Pacific Northwest for my races with the exception of Nationals in Milwaukee. I was sad not to do Wildflower this year but I didn't really want that race to be my first of the season and to be completely honest I didn't really like the change of the course. I know it's not their fault. They were forced to change things up due to the drought.

I found the Siskiyou Sprint Triathlon down in Ashland. What mostly enticed me to do this race was that they were offering prize money. $250 to be exact for first place then $150 for second and $100 for third place overall. I've never won money at a race before and that's mostly because prize money is for Pros. So being able to win some money and being in Ashland was a plus for doing this race. I've only ever stopped by Ashland for a pit stop before (usually on the way down to Wildflower) and always thought that town was so cute. Finally being able to spend a little time there was sure to be a fun time.

The race distance was a 500 yard pool swim, 14 mile bike and 5k run. I didn't realize when I signed up, but it also had two different transition areas (same as the revised Wildflower). I don't particularly like these. Mostly because I always feel like I'm forgetting something at one or both of the transition areas. This race was also probably the smallest race I have ever participated in. I was in the last wave for the swim and was able to have my own lane, which was really nice. Although, I think I picked the worst lane. I grabbed the one next to the wall and at one part of it the jets would push me into the lane line. Other than that I swam a good time of 6:40. Fastest swim time yet! Woohoo! :) I was the second person out of my wave behind another woman who swam crazy fast! I will soon get there :) The swim, bike and run times are from my sister's since this race just had overall timing. So times are approximate.

Swim, swim, swim!

Transition area was interesting because it was extremely small but the most interesting part was that it was not completely fenced off, had no entrances or exits and it seemed like anyone could come through transition. I didn't really like this but obviously I had no choice. Also, there was no mount line. So if you really wanted to you could just mount your bike in transition and then head out. I waited till I got onto the sidewalk that headed out onto the course.

Transition 1

Starting the bike leg

The bike course was pretty nice. When I was first heading out I missed one of the turns. I couldn't see the arrow because there was a car in the way (this part of the course was in a parking lot). Luckily one of the people who were putting on the race was just heading out to the next transition area and saw me and told me the correct way. A little ways further onto the course there was a T intersection and I was on the straight away part. I saw the guy come to a stop and then sit there for a bit and then as I got closer I thought "no, he's going to wait until I go by;" well, that's not what happened. He pulled on the road cutting me off since he was going the opposite direction as me. I slammed on my brakes, my back tire started to skid to the side and then I yelled "you idiot." Usually, I don't feel the need to yell at idiotic people like that but I guess that day instead of saying it under my breath it took on a higher volume. He got across to the other lane before I got to him. If he hadn't I probably would have crashed. I still don't understand why people do that. Do they think that bikes aren't going that fast and they have plenty of time to go? Or are they just completely oblivious and don't pay attention?

Anyways, after that the rest of the course went really well. One section was interesting to me in the way that the road looked like it was declining but felt like it was inclining. Then on the way back it felt the opposite. I'm glad it did because otherwise I would have been disappointed on how tired my legs were feeling. The second transition was at a tennis and fitness club. My bike leg was around 40:19 for 14 miles.

Heading out of Transition 2

Again, the transition area was very interesting. Pretty much the same as the first transition area. Just like the first one there was no dismount line. I wasn't sure where to dismount so I got off pretty close to transition area and ran my bike the rest of the way in like I would at other races I've competed in. The guy behind me rode right into transition. It was actually kind of chaotic and also a bit unsafe.

Starting the run

Now off for the run. I'm not sure if it was a complete 5k but I think it was pretty close. The run course started out on a dirt path behind the building and out over some rail road tracks. From there it was on to a bike path, which was really pretty. For the first half of the run I felt pretty good. Once I hit the turn around point I felt like garbage. Felt a little short of breath and my stomach felt upset, which was probably due to having some Heed when I haven't been training with it.....lesson learned not to do that again. I wanted to stop so bad and regain myself but I feel a bit like a failure if I do that. I know that sounds harsh but for all the years I've been running I've never dropped out of a race and only walked in a couple. And the ones I walked in were Olympic distance events. So I've got to keep up a good record of finishing strong and not stopping. Plus, from my experiences in training and racing usually if you keep going you'll work through it and feel better faster than if you stop. But again that also depends on what the issue is. After about another 3/4 mile I started to feel better. I was so glad to cross that finish line. I asked my sister what my run time was and she had 19:06. I was ecstatic about my time. I was sure it was at least a couple minutes slower than that. So even though I felt like crap for half the run I still ran a good time and am glad I didn't stop since I was on a good pace. This was also a good boost in confidence since I wasn't quite sure where my fitness level was. This proved that I'm in pretty darn good shape! :)

On the home stretch

Ended up have an overall time of 1:08:35. Which ended up being 1 second faster than the first male finisher. Making me the overall winner. Maybe I should have gotten his first place prize money too :P Next race is an Olympic distance and I'll be excited to see where my fitness is at for that distance.

Top 3 Female winners

Sister selfie

My winnings :) $250

I Hit A Chicken On My Bike...Or Rather The Chicken Hit Me!

Once upon a time there was a young girl around the age of 24, whom hails from the heart of the Willamette Valley, that fell in love with the sport of triathlon. Generally, she swims, bikes, and runs 3-4 times a week in each discipline. For awhile, she was swimming at a couple different pools, but lately it works out best to swim at the pool that is closer to her, which is the Lebanon Community Pool. Being that it is a community pool the lap swim times, with the biggest block of time, are in the morning from 5:30-8:00 am. She prefers these times, as it frees up more of her day to get her work done and have enough recovery before she proceeds to the second workout of the day. Plus, one great benefit to having an early swim is she gets to see the sunrise, which is always such a spectacular sight. As shared before in a previous post, she sleeps with a couple of manx cats every night. Her cat, Jasper, is very sensitive and does not like it when she leaves so early. Therefore, he is in a pouty mood until she returns. Sometimes it takes Jasper awhile to warm back up to her for leaving him in those early morning hours.

Lebanon Community Pool

A beautiful winter sunrise

Waiting for Her return and pouting

Being that she lives in Oregon, the weather is unpredictable. Sometimes she is able to ride outside when the roads are dry and if not, its an "enjoyable" indoor ride. On some days, the morning will start off absolutely gorgeous. The sun is shining brightly with only a few clouds in the sky. Then about an hour later the clouds role in and cover the sun giving it that wonderful grey color. Sometimes you can tell if the clouds are going to dump that lovely form of precipitation called rain, by how dark they are, but sometimes they will deceive you! As I have experienced this on several occasions. Then there are those workouts that are best suited on a stationary bike. It just so happens that those workouts sometimes fall on a day that is warm and dry. Therefore, it is time to be creative to have the best of both.

A dry and then rainy ride.

Enjoying the sun while getting in a quality workout

Beautiful daffodils with a little rain

Since she has been a runner most of her life and lived in the Northwest, it is no big deal to go out and run in the rain, cold, snow, frost, wind, hail, heat, sun, etc. Rather, it makes every run different and entertaining. The road a lot of times can be quite boring. That is why she prefers to run on trails, and she is in luck, for they are in abundance where she lives. Although, most all of the trails are quite hilly. A flat course does not exist out here, sadly enough. But hills build strength. Not only physically but mentally! Here are few pictures of the places she gets to run.

Early morning frost.

A lovely trail

After a rainy run

Old growth forest!

Now that you have read this far you get the idea of how a typical day/week of training goes. Sometimes however, there are things that happen that one would never plan on. And this just so happened to Kambria.

She went out one day riding her bike (Joon Pyo the TT bike) like she always does. That day's ride was a 2 hour adventure that started in Crawfordsville and made its way towards Sweet Home. Since Sweet Home is not super exciting she ventured out toward Foster lake. Normally she would ride about half way on the roads that are not traveled very often, but instead she decided to be courageous and ride on the highway. By doing this, she would ride all the way around Foster lake. A first for her, which always makes a ride more exciting to travel on roads that haven't been traveled before. And oh, what a beautiful ride it was! On one of the final roads on the way back home she saw a chicken in the ditch just a few yards ahead. The chicken looked calm as it was foraging in the grass and dirt. As she drew closer the chicken noticed her and didn't know what to expect and therefore, freaked out. Instead of freaking out before she was near him the chicken decided to cross the road as she was passing. This resulted in a blind panic to make it across the street where the chicken believed it was safe. By doing so, the chicken made contact with the back tire. Kambria tried to pass as quickly as possible to try and avoid a collision but was unsuccessful and felt a little thump. Thankfully, as she looked back the chicken was fine and did in fact make it across the road. We can now say we know where the joke came from "why did the chicken cross the road?" 

Foster Lake

Looks very similar to the chicken that hit her

The day of her ride was one of the famous Oregon weather change by the hour day. It rained on and off all day. It was actually quite beautiful at some points of the day when it would rain when the sun was shining.

Sunny with rain falling!

*I was very unmotivated when I first started writing this post. It started out quite sarcastically and evolved into what you just read. Hope you enjoyed it. :)