Heart Of The Valley Triathlon

I always have a hard time writing a race recap. I'm not sure why, cause it's pretty straight forward. So I guess I better dive in and get into the meat of the event.

This was my opener race. Heart of the Valley Triathlon that took place on Sunday, April 21st. This was a sprint distance race (750m swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run). I usually dislike pool triathlons (and still do) but there are not a whole lot of triathlons in Oregon that have open water swims in April. At least I can say that swimming at the Osborne Aquatic Center was quite delightful. Their facilities are impeccable. Plus, it was nice to swim in a 50 meter pool vs. a 25 yard pool. It makes swimming with multiple people in one lane more tolerable and easier to pass or be passed. Although, it is quite a change from training in a 25 yard pool. I'd get about half-way through the 50 meters and my body wants to do a flip turn and head back. But after several laps my body and mind adjusted.

I guess the first thing to start with is the weather. Since this seems to always be a factor in racing. Leading up to the race the weather was on and off rain. I was a little worried that this would continue throughout the weekend. Thankfully, the day before it only rained in the morning and as the day went on the roads dried out. Race morning, it was overcast and the temperature was about 47 degrees. Not quite ideal temperature but I'll take that over having rain.

I was in wave #4, which was the last wave of the day to go. About an hour and 10 minutes after the start of the first wave. They were running a little bit behind schedule (30ish minutes) so I had plenty of time to warm up and get mentally prepared. Finally, it was our turn to start. There was 3 people in the lane with me and I was the first person to go. The other two followed in 10 second intervals. The first few laps went alright until I got passed by both of the people in my lane. I made sure not to let a gap form and was able to pass one with a few laps to go. My swim was 11:57.

All ready to go and waiting for my wave

Swim to bike transition went very smooth. Of the few girls that came out of the water before me I passed through transition and at the very start of the bike course. It definitely pays to be able to mount your bike with your shoes already attached. At this point I wasn't sure how many women were ahead of me so I went out to chase them down. When I came to the turn around point I realized I was the first woman. I saw the second one a little ways behind me and made sure not to let her gain on me. This was a hilly course so I made sure to take advantage at every spot possible. I ended up riding a 33:28 for my bike split.

Stupid shoe!

Bike to run transition wasn't as smooth as my swim to bike. My dismount went beautifully but when it came to put my running shoes on...phew, that took more time than was needed. I was having the hardest time getting on my right shoe more specifically. This could have been due to having my ankle taped. (I've had an ankle issue for about the last month. Still not sure what caused it) Finally, I got the darn thing on, grabbed my race belt and was flying out of transition to start the run. My legs felt quite heavy from the start but quickly loosened up. The run course was two loops in a residential area. So it was pretty flat, which worked out great since I hadn't been able to consistently run for the past few weeks. I ended up clocking in a time of 19:13 for the 5k, which was almost a minute faster than any other female.

At the finish!

Because of the different start waves I wasn't sure if I had won or not but felt good about it since the 4th wave was with the fastest swimmers. They printed out the results so I was able to check, and was very excited to see that I did win. I had an overall time of 1:07:19. About 30 seconds ahead of the second place finisher, who I believe was the favorite to win the race.

Overall Female & Male Winners. We got lots of goodies :)

If you feel like reading another race re-cap here is one from Race Center. The article is pretty good but some of the facts are not correct.

Something goofy my sisters and I did today. Enjoy all 8 seconds :) The Smoking Orange

As The Raven Flies Time Trial

Last Saturday I participated in my very first bike race, and the only reason I did was because a recent acquaintance suggested this race. However, I was planning on doing a few bike races through the season to work on my bike racing skills, and this one was perfect timing! This bike race was a time trial one. I don't know if I could handle those other races where you start in a pack. (I know there is a specific name to this type of race, but since I'm still new to the scene of bike racing, bare with me) Anyways, they actually scare me a little bit. Probably, because I have no experience riding with a group of people. I've only been on one group ride and ridden with one or two people at a time. Otherwise, it's just me, my bike and the road. So group riding is definitely something I will need to be working on!

Ok, now for the specifics of race day. Since I had absolutely no idea how these events go I was a little nervous. Well, there are always a certain amount of nerves before any race. But I had no idea if I brought the right gear, what time should I show up, should I bike the course before I race it?

I ended up getting to the race an hour and a half before start time. We (a few of my family members) got there so early that we weren't sure if we were at the right spot since there wasn't any kind of race setup yet and there was only one other car there. I saw that there was a TT bike in that car so I figured we were at the right spot. We drove around a little bit to make sure and by the time we got back to the initial spot we started at, the race organizers were just starting to set up registration. Now that it was confirmed that this was the spot where the race was to take place we went and parked. By this time a few more people were starting to trickle in.

Since I still had no idea what to expect and came so early I figured I should ride the course. As I started to get my bike out and put my gear on I saw some of the other people pulling out their trainers, bikes and they were all decked out in their biking gear. Since it was a little chilly that morning I had on a pair of my running capris, a long sleeve and a bike jersey. My apparel may not have looked like I was a serious cyclist but at least my actual bike gear did. I had my amazing Cervelo P2 TT bike and my aero helmet. At first, I thought the helmet was too much and should've brought my road helmet since I didn't see any others with an aero helmet...yet. But there was no sense in thinking that my gear was over the top. Rather that I'm here to do my best with what I've got and to beat ya'll :) That may sound a little cocky but that is always one of my goals in any race I enter. I want to win!

I've now ridden the course and gotten a good feel for it. The "hills", how to ride the corners, good spots to surge, potholes to avoid, and the roughness of some of the road. I made it back just in time before the first racer was sent off, which was at 10:00am. My time to take off was at 10:22am. Each racer was to take off at one minute intervals.

Once I had gotten back to the start area there were many more racers now. A lot of them were spinning away on their trainers and others were going back and forth on the road. I now saw some of the other people's gear and realized that my gear definitely was not over the top.

It was now about time to get to the start line. So I put on my number, had one last bathroom stop and was now time to wait in line for my turn to go out and hammer it! This part seemed like it took forever as I was watching the clock tick closer and closer to my take off time. As the time got closer I started to get a little more nervous. Also, checking out my competition. Most of the women were decked out! Aero helmet, TT bike, race suit, etc. But this does not always mean they are fast. So my goal, other than to win, was to catch as many women ahead of me as I could and to not let anyone catch me!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1... GO! I went out as fast I could, but made sure not to burn myself out right from the start since the first hill was only about 100 meters into it. The rest of the course went pretty smoothly. There were a few other ups and downs but the biggest climb was the hill at the beginning of the race and at the end. On the way out I caught 3 women and after the turn around I caught another 2. Also, I am happy to say that nobody caught me or even got remotely close to me :)

Waiting

It's my turn next!

Off I go

And I'm gone

A nice view on my cool down ride!

After I crossed the finish line I went to find my family. First to see what they thought of it, which wasn't a whole lot considering they only got to see the start and finish, tell them a little of how it went, but mostly to let them know I was going to go for my cool down. I had never biked out in this area before and let me tell ya, it was beautiful! I was only planning on doing about 30 minutes but once I got out there it was very difficult to turn around. So I ended up doing about 40 minutes. When I got back from my cool down most racers had finished. I had no idea how they were going to be doing awards or when and I wasn't sure if I had placed or not so we decided to leave. Especially, since we were all starving! Later that evening I got online to check the results and I ended being the overall fastest female. Not bad for my first go at a time trial race. Or maybe it was because I got six inches of hair slashed off the night before ;)

Just had to treat myself to a Shirley Temple :)

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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. :)

Natural Energy Bar Recipe!

Here is the energy bar recipe that I mentioned in my last post.  I have come to greatly enjoy these lovely little energy bars. They are great for either pre or post workout. Although, I would take heed to having before a workout unless you know your body will be fine with them, and if you're not sure, might as well give it a try and see what happens!

This recipe is easy to manipulate. If you don't like some of the nuts or fruits I put in mine, feel free to put whatever you want. I'm sure they will taste just as good!

These are the main ingredients: Rolled oats, bananas, almond or peanut butter, almonds, 3 different dried fruits, 2 other types of nuts.

 

To start with grab 2 - 2 1/2 ripe bananas, mash them and throw them into a sauce pan along with a heaping 1/2 cup of almond or peanut butter. Cook over medium heat until the contents are combined and look somewhat disgusting. Set aside to cool.

Next chop up 1/4 cup of each 3 different dried fruits. Total of 3/4 cup. I used cranberries, medjool dates, and apricots. Throw them into a bowl along with 1 cup of oats, 1/2 cup chopped almonds, and a 1/4 cup of other nuts/seeds. I used pumpkin seeds and soy nuts. I also like to add in chia seeds, but I was, unfortunately, out the last time I made them.

Next, combine the mushy ingredients with the dry.

You're almost done now! Throw the whole thing onto a 13" baking sheet pressing the ingredients evenly throughout the pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes.

I added some chocolate chips to half them :)

Be sure to let them cool before you start to chop them into bars, or not, if you are super excited to try them...like I was when I first made them :D

Hope you enjoy the bars! Since this recipe can be changed easily I would love to read anybody's revisions or suggestions on making them better or a completely different bar!

Natural Energy Bars - No More Of That Processed Stuff!

I am so picky when it comes to food. For instance, when I was a youngster I use to hate yogurt, beans, eggs (I believed they use to give me headaches), peanut butter, nuts, raisins (I still dislike them), cottage cheese, peppers, onion, garlic, tomatoes, radishes, oatmeal, and I'm sure there are many others but this is all I could remember right now. As I have grown older I have expanded my palate to many of the above listed foods. I think one reason for my ever expanding palate is due to my love of cooking. Also, being an athlete many of the foods I use to hate I need in my diet, and now I love them. Plus, I love all the colors. Making colorful dishes is my favorite! And I've gotta have variety.

The last couple months I have been trying to think of foods that I can consume while on the bike. Foods that are more natural and still give me everything I need without upsetting my stomach. Of course, it's not as convenient as getting some gus or other "energy" bars from the store. Here anymore, it actually really creeps me out to think of some of those "foods" of how processed they are and how long their expiration date is. I know this isn't the case for all energy bars/foods out there but I would prefer to have something that will spoil within a week or less. 

I would like to share one story of foods that don't seem to spoil. A few months back we had some hamburger buns and we ate most of them but there was still a couple left that needed to be consumed. Therefore, into the bread box they went for later consumption. We didn't make anything that required the use of a bun for weeks, and eventually we forgot about them. I think it was about a month and a half to two months until we took them out.(Long time, I know) We examined them and to our surprise they looked exactly the same as the day we bought them. So into the trash they went! Creepy huh? Now I make all of our breads from scratch, and let me tell ya, they taste SOOO much better than the store bought, never molding, creepy bread!

Now back to the energy bars. I found a natural energy bar recipe online and tweaked it a little, and so far I love them! They have either peanut or almond butter (I prefer the almond butter), a variety of different nuts and seeds- almonds, soy nuts, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, etc - banana, dried fruit and sometimes I add chocolate chips.
So far, I have only tried them on the bike once. This is mostly due to weather and that I haven't done any really long rides that would require me to take some nutrition with me. Plus, I prefer liquid over solids, but that's for another time. Right now I have mostly been eating them as a post workout food.
Here they are. Aren't they pretty? :)

Yum Yum!

If anyone is interested in the recipe, let me know and I would be happy to send it your way!

I'm really itching to try my hand at making an energy bar with pumpkin. Considering my pumpkin craze through the holidays. I don't have any more pumpkin from scratch but I have plenty of canned pumpkin that needs using. I will be sure to write a post about it once I create them!

Monotonous Counting!

Counting is inevitable when it comes to training. Whether it comes in the form of counting seconds, minutes, hours, or laps! For the majority of my life I have been a runner. So having to count laps was never too bad, considering I never had to count over 4 laps at one time. If I wasn't running on the track I had my watch to keep track of the time for me. Now that I have become a multi-sport athlete I now have to count for biking and swimming.

So far I have not had a problem keeping track of time or number of intervals on my bike workouts. When on the road I mostly just have to keep track of time, a few intervals with recovery and at what time I need to turn around at, since most of my rides are out and back. These are starting to become quite monotonous as well.....probably about time I route out some loops around here! As far as indoor bike rides, these can sometimes be hard to keep track of since there are more intervals. But I shouldn't have to worry too much about that now since I just started TrainerRoad. I have yet to use it (just set it up today), but it looks awesome! All I needed in order to use this program is a Garmin ANT+ stick and a Garmin speed/cadence sensor (this is a lot cheaper than having to buy a power meter!). So double awesome!!

Now here is where the true problem lies with for me and monotonous counting...swimming! Swimming and keeping track of laps through an interval can sometimes be quite challenging. Most of the time I don't have a problem keeping my mind focused on the current interval I am on, but then there are those long intervals, such as a 400, 500 etc, that are occasionally hard to count since my mind will sometimes wander. And even if it doesn't I sometimes over think the counting (if that makes any sense). Come to think of it, I even sometimes have a hard time counting for a 200, which would be counting only 4 laps! (This is rare, but it does happen) So what should I do to make counting laps easier on myself?

I thought of having someone count my laps for me during a workout, but I don't think that is very realistic. First, it would be incredibly boring for the person counting. Second, they may even lose track because they are so bored! Third, where would I find this person? I guess I could always try and guilt one of my sisters to do it. Seeing that I have three to choose from :) However, the more realistic option would be a watch that interacts with you. I have been looking into watches that are specific to swimming and gathering data. The one that I like the best is the Garmin 910 xt. It is a bit of a spendy watch, but well worth it. Considering that it is THE multi-sport watch to have! It collects data for swimming, biking and running! I've never owned a multi-sport watch before but am hoping to in the near future. Now if I could just get Garmin to sponsor me and let me try out all of their amazing products! :D

I was looking at pools that would be marvelous to swim at and perhaps make swimming laps not so monotonous. But I'm sure after awhile it would come to that again. So I guess to avoid that, I just need to travel all over the world and change pools every month!

Eugene Holiday Hustle 5k and More!

This post is a tad late but nevertheless, here it is.

On the weekend of the 22nd I ran the Eugene Holiday Hustle 5k. At this race they also had the half marathon and 10k. I didn't have high expectations for this race considering the week I had leading up to it.

Early in the week I had a muscle flair up that inhibited me from some of my training sessions. This, of course, really upset me because I already had a different muscle that has been giving me a little grief but have been able to work around it. I did not want to have another issue, since this one hurt even when I swam! Thankfully, after taking a little time off it was fine, but I knew I still had to be mindful of it, as not to have it flair up again!

On Thursday, me and a couple other members in my family had to drive down to San Jose to pick up my sister and her things from school. The drive is approximately 10.5 hours one way. We didn't want to have the hassle of finding a hotel while pulling a trailer so we decided to do this trip in one day. To San Jose and back home. We left at 2:00 am and made it to our destination at about 12:30ish. We had a little break there as we loaded up her stuff, stretched, and ate some food. Then it was time to hit the road again and try to get home at a decent time.

I was the one requested to drive through traffic since I, apparently, handle the vehicle well under "stress". I must say I made pretty good time to Redding. However, we were unable to go any further that night. They closed the pass down due to the severe winter storm. I learned later that it was closed mostly due to how many accidents there were. So that night we slept in the vehicle. It was quite uncomfortable and got increasingly cold as the night went on. I didn't sleep much cause I was desperately hoping the pass would open back up, but to my dismay it didn't open until the following morning around 9:00am, and they were only letting cars go. Which I was very thankful for because there were hundreds of semi trucks waiting to get over the pass.

Snow on the pass! I so badly wanted to disrupt the perfect snow!

Playing in the snow at the rest stop. It was probably about 3 ft deep.

When we started to enter the pass we had to put on chains. Although, I must say that we didn't really need them since the roads were actually quite clear. There was another check point about half way through the pass and then from there it was a straight shot home! Well, we did stop a couple times for bathroom breaks and to change drivers. At one rest stop there was lots of snow. So, of course, I had to play in it a little! We made it home around 4ish I think. Ah, it's always so nice to be at my final destination! 

Still in the car!

It was now race day! I had to get up at a decently early hour. I was still a bit tired from the previous days adventure, but not as tired as I thought I would have been. Which is good! But I must admit, I was looking forward to being done and getting back home to relax. 

One of the only reasons I decided to race this particular race is because a friend of mine suggested it and said that his friend, Bridget Franek (who went to the Olympics in the steeple chase), was going to be racing the 10k and that he would introduce us. This would, however, have to wait until after the race.

There isn't much to say about the race. There wasn't a very big field, considering that this was the first year it was being put on. Both the 5k and 10k started at the same time and ran the same course. They had us start off the grass and it was very muddy. When the gun went off, I went to bolt out. But instead of going forward I went down... I slipped! I didn't stay down long. I probably got up in less than a second. It made me laugh for a bit, and my sister caught it all on film!

The start of the race. Kind of hard to see...

The 10k runners had to complete the loop twice. Throughout the race there was only 3 people in front of me, one of whom was Bridget. The other two were men. The one in the lead was running the 10k as well and the other was behind Bridget and running the 5k. During the majority of the race I was by myself. I felt like I was running about a 20 minute pace, but to my surprise as I crossed the finish line I ran quite a bit faster. I ran an 18:30! This is the fastest 5k I've ran in a long time, and I was very pleased.

Just finished and pleased with my time!

Got a medal and a holiday mug

After both Bridget and I were finished racing and cooling down we met each other. She was very pleasant to talk with, and I was so happy that she was still a humble person after achieving such great things!

Me and Bridget showing our first place prizes. Me with a mug
and Bridget with a reindeer ornament.

The rest of the day went as I had hoped. Just relaxing and recovering from the long week!