Mt Si Relay

What beautiful weather for the Mt Si Relay today! At least a gorgeous 70-degree sunny day can somewhat mitigate a 5am wake up call. I joined up with several other members of the CycleU triathlon team in the recreational relay. Our 8-person team has been decimated by injuries so our only expectation was to enjoy the sunny day.

My leg of the relay (#4) started at Remlinger Farms and headed out the Snoqualmie Valley Trail to Fall City. I completed a long run of nearly 5 miles last weekend and felt ready for the 5.5-mi leg. Then due to last-minute course changes the officials lengthened it to 6 miles. There goes my strict 10% mileage rule...

I quickly forgot about it as the excitement of running again in a race hit me a mere second into my start. A mile down the trail I checked my watch and whoah doggy! I clocked the first mile in 7:59, a bit off my 10-min/mile goal. I slowed way down but that first mile already did the damage. At the 3.5-mi mark the IT band tightened and then off and on between mile 4 and 5 I had to take some short walk breaks just to keep it in check.

The last mile of my leg turned downhill so I used caution since any semi-steep downhill grade really sets off the IT band. Surprisingly, it hung in there. The last half-mile flattened out and I sprinted the rest to finish up at 1:01:58, just 2 mins off my goal. I can live with that!

I have some worry about aggravating the injury. I did push pace and distance though so it's not completely unexpected. At least it recovered and I'm due in for PT this week. I'm pretty damn stoked I finished the 6-mi run though. My first in nearly 3.5 years! Now it's back to building some hopefully easy miles for the Rock 'n Roll Half in June.

Ah, the day after.

I'm moving a little slow today after yesterday's crash, but considering how hard I went down, I'm relatively unscathed. Just a bit of gravel rash, a sore shoulder, and a bump on the forehead and cheek. Yay! So far I've gotten up from every stupid stunt I've ever done and found them all funny. What can I say? I bounce well! The day that gift stops giving I need to worry.

Ironically enough, my mom is a wound care specialist, so I can thank her for actually getting all the dirt out of my scrape this time. I'm horrible at cleaning that stuff. Thanks mom! Now I just need to learn how to fall on my left side for a while. My right shoulder is already screwed up and could use a break.

Some more great pics from yesterday's race:

Indie Series Opener!

I can sum up today by saying: I think I broke my face. Yep, it was a great day! Big kudos to my awesome kick-ass teammates though! The uBRDO gals are a force for sure! Mercedes tore it up out there and won the Sport class with some fantastic riding. And Leigh rode strong and finished a very tough, wet, and muddy course. I love these pictures of Leigh and Mercedes with their $30 mud facials. Ha! Nice job ladies!! Ya'll rock!

The steady downpour created a muddy and slick course that became an exercise in controlled sliding. Nothing on the course was very technical, it was just a matter of slogging through mud and trying to find traction on some steeper pitches. I don't have much sprint in me so I didn't get off to a fantastic start. A few gals seemed a bit tentative going downhill on the slick mud so I stayed off the brakes and used it to my advantage to pick off a few people.

Ironic really, because brakes, or lack thereof, are what lead to my rather spectacular crash towards the end of the 2nd lap. Headed down a longer downhill pitch shortly before the start/finish line, I grabbed my brakes to slow for the corner at the bottom. The brake levers went straight to the handlebars and I wasn't slowing. I pumped the brakes to no avail and then had that fantastic "Holy shit, this is not going to end well" moment.

I should have made the corner, but by the time I wrapped my brain around the situation it was too late. I slid out hard on the gravel trying to make a fast turn and hit the ground first with the right side of my face followed by everything else. Not a good plan. I immediately saw stars and things were in trippy 3d vision. Sorta cool but not really. Thanks to the girl behind me for stopping for just a sec to make sure I was ok.

I sat there for a bit and then got back on the bike. I had just gotten into a good rhythm and really wanted to finish the last two laps but the rest of the ride to the start/finish line I couldn't shake off the stars. Pretty wack. When I crossed the line I asked the announcer if I was going the right direction and then thought it might be a good idea to not ride anymore. I wasn't even sure at that point if I had brakes or what was going on.

Shortly after I finished I shook off the head fog and felt ok, so I really wish I had just kept riding. Ah well. Not really the finish I was hoping for today, but there's always next time. With as hard as I went down on the gravel, I'm pretty surprised that I only have a shoulder scrape and some gravel rash and bruising under my knee. My head hurts and my eye socket and cheek are pretty sore. It will be funny if I wake up with a black eye tomorrow.

I have no idea why my brakes failed. Sure, conditions were crappy, but I've never had that happen before. I run Hayes Sole and Scotty said he's heard of them failing. Seems pretty widely reported in some online forums. Anyone else had that experience? Very weird. I think I see a new brake system in my future because that big time sucked!

Chile and Easter Island!

I just booked my 9-day Sacred Rides surf and mountain biking trip to Chile and I'm stoked!! I'll be taking off right after XMas and spending about two weeks there.

I'll get to ride around Santiago and Valparaiso and then visit Maitencillo for some surf lessons. Then it's off to the Atacama Desert and the Valley of the Moon for a few days. Pretty rough eh?

At the conclusion of the Sacred Rides trip I want to hop over to Easter Island and spend a few days there. I've always dreamed of going so I'm thrilled to finally get the chance. Since Santiago and Tahiti are the only places in the world from which to get to Easter Island, I can't pass up the opportunity.

Now I just gotta book airfare and eat Ramen for the next few months to save up $$$. The excitement will make the Ramen bearable!

Put a fork in me...

I know it's a shocker, but I might have over-rallied this weekend. Like I could say no to this kick-ass weather!

I spent a beautiful day Saturday sailing on the Sound in the Blakely Rock Benefit Regatta. The race took us more than twice as long as expected due to poor wind conditions. We lined up for the start in good position ready to crush the field. Then...no wind. We sat there for quite a while at a smoking speed of zero. Rest assured, we did finally get moving: backwards. About an hour after the start we made it back to the start buoy and eventually passed it. Progress!!

The sail out to Blakely Rock was pretty slow but after the turnaround we found some wind and got moving. We rounded the final buoy for the finish and surprise! Stalled out again with no wind. The final stretch of the race became a very intense 1 knot duel with two other boats. I'm proud to say we fought hard to finish second...to last. With a 7-hr sail time, the committee boat rudely gave up on us and headed back to dock while we were finishing.

What an awesome day with great people. Thanks to Kirk for the invite!

I started this morning with a kickin' run at the Arboretum, followed it up with a few hours of mountain biking at Philip Arnold, and capped that off with a 40-mi road ride around the north end of the lake. I don't think I'll do that sort of triathlon again. 10 miles from home on the road bike, very essential and necessary muscles started seizing and cramping. First my quads, then my calves, then my hip flexors. I'm sure my legs are atrophied and getting off the couch will result in a face plant.

At least I survived the weekend with no major injuries, though I did manage to sideswipe a tree on Tapeworm in a spectacular fashion. Didn't really know you could get "tree rash". I really need to quit hugging trees.

Cyclocross cat!