Canada

Just a few observations about Canada first.

1. The Okanagan Valley is beautiful

2. People are super nice

3. The views are really dramatic, especially mountains behind the huge lakes

4. Orchards and vineyards everywhere

We saw salmon jumping in the river, I asked some of these fishermen what kind they were- sockeye, that's the good stuff! I saw they had caught at least a dozen, so I asked if they'd sell some- yes. We bought 2 and grilled them for dinner, best fish we've ever eaten!

Jeff and I got to go hiking one afternoon, we went to Skaha Bluffs Park. It was beautiful and we got to see some really different areas. We took lots of pictures out there.Can you see the person climbing? Look near the bottom between the trees.

It was a "long weekend" while we were there. A few people mentioned it, so we asked if it was a holiday, someone replied "yes". We thought it was weird that no one said what the holiday was. After swimming one morning, I was chatting with an older man walking in the water, he mentioned the "long weekend" so I asked him what holiday it was. He said "it's a civic holiday" What does that even mean? We decided that it must be some super secret Canadian holiday that they didn't want the Americans to know about. Finally Ingrid found out from someone that it was British Columbia Day, I don't think we ever did figure out the significance of British Columbia Day!

Now on to the Ultraman race!

Couples Triathlon "Race" Report aka "Breathing is NOT overrated"

Connie and me post race. Photo by Tom Marek

I had been feeling major sinus/allergy and breathing issues for a couple of weeks before Couples. I went to the doctor today and it turns out I have bronchitis and a sinus infection (no wonder I've been feeling so crappy). I kept hoping it would get better, but if anything I was feeling worse the weekend of Couples. Cassie is taking a break from racing this summer, so I posted on the Tri Zones forum asking if anyone needed a Couples partner. Connie replied and we raced as "Heather & Connie's Excellent Adventure". I had never really met Connie, so we met at packet pickup and had lunch at Blue Dahlia on Saturday. We had a great time and decided we'd make a great team for Couples!

I slept great on Saturday night (I guess that might be the one perk of racing sick!). I had packed everything the night before so I was ready in just a few minutes. I got a good luck kiss from Jeff and headed out to Decker. I got body marked before I saw that Tom and Carolyn were body marking! I saw Julie W. right away in transition, then Connie saw me and I racked by her. We had lots of time to hang out with the other Tri Zoners pre race, which is always fun.Connie and I pre race. Photo by Tom Marek

Goals for this race- Just to have fun and finish! Based on how I was feeling I knew I couldn't PR, and even if I could, I probably shouldn't try. So I planned to take it easy and have fun.

At the swim start, wonder what I was saying to Jess to make her do that? Photo by Tom Marek.

Swim
I lined up where I usually line up for swims, just a couple rows back from the front, in hindsight, that might not have been so smart. The gun went off and just like always, I took a few fast hard strokes to get out of the choas of the swim start, but wow, every time I tried to breathe I wheezed and felt like I couldn't get any air! I felt like I was about to have an asthma attack, I never have asthma issues in the water so that was scary! Post race Katherine told me "Breathing is NOT Overrated!" Very true! I stopped and treaded water for a minute to catch my breath and get my heart rate under control. Ok, lesson learned, if I say I'm going to take it easy, I really should Take It Easy!! I started swimming again, extra slow and felt better, after the first turn buoy I picked it up to a moderate pace and passed lots of people. I felt good getting out of the water and slowly jogged up to transition. I didn't see Amy, but obviously she saw me!Coming out of the swim. Photo by Amy Gawlik

I saw Katherine and Linda, Jody, Brian and a few others on my way up the hill. I didn't want to walk all the way up the hill, but I was breathing really hard by the time I got to my bike, so I sat down and took my time wiping all the mud and dirt off my feet, might as well make good use of my extra recovery time! :)

Bike
I felt good starting the bike, but I knew the hills would feel tough, my legs have felt super tired biking and running lately, something about not getting enough oxygen to the muscles, again, "Breathing is NOT Overrated!" I could feel it on the small rollers on Decker Lane, so I knew the bigger steeper hills would hurt, but I had fun saying hi to people who passed me and people I passed (but there weren't too many that I passed!). Photo by Tom Marek
I really like the Decker bike course and I hadn't ridden it since Longhorn last year, so even though the hills were tougher than they should have been, I had fun. My legs were on fire by the time I got up Little Tard, but I made it. I took it easy the next mile or 2, knowing I still had a couple of hills and Big Tard left. I made it up Big Tard fine too. Then I saw Annette, Linda, Katherine, and Tom on Hog Eye just before the bike finish. I took my time in T2.Almost finished with the bike! Photo by Tom Marek.

'Run''
I'm pretty sure I walked more than I ran, but I'll call it a run anyway. I started off at a super easy run pace, ran down the first little hill and saw Linda and Katherine near the fence. Linda yelled for me and I heard Katherine (who was sitting with her back to me watching the bike course) say "that's not Heather, she already came by" and Linda reply "No! Behind you, she's running!" It may have just been my hypoxic state, but I thought that was really funny! I watched for Connie coming in on the bike course while I ran/walked along the fenceline, but I never saw her. At the 2nd water stop I was very happy to see Elizabeth, so happy that I considered stopping and chatting with her until Connie came by and finishing with Connie. But I only had a little over a mile to go, and there were plenty of people to chat with along the course, so I decided to keep going. I walked all the way up MOFO and even a little of flat past it, mostly because Breathing is NOT Overrated! But I picked it up and jogged in to the finish!Running to the finish. Photo by Tom Marek

Post race
I had a really hard time catching my breath and getting my heartrate to come down. I walked over to chat with Katherine, Linda, Laura, & Becky, but I couldn't say more than a few words without having a coughing fit. That's when Katherine told me "you know Heather, breathing is really NOT overrated!" You're so right Katherine!

Connie and I had planned to finish together (so whoever finished first had to watch for the other and run in to the finish with them). I walked out to where Tom and Carolyn were taking pictures and we watched for Connie, when we saw her coming I walked out to where she was and ran to the finish with her. Connie and I finishing together. Photo by Tom Marek
Connie and I blowing kisses to Tom, thanks for being out there and taking awesome pictures Tom! Photo by Tom Marek.

Thanks for letting me finish triathlon number 4 with you Connie! And thanks for being an Awesome Couples partner!
Tri Zones post race. Photo by Tom Marek

I hung out post race for a long time, watched awards (Congrats Little Pam and Julie W!!) and then helped with tear down. I had committed to tear down before I started feeling crummy and I didn't want to back out. So I put my big girl pants on (as Amy would say) and helped with tear down til about 1:00 pm and then went home, showered and slept through the first 2 hours of Stage 9 of the Tour de France.

Bike to Work Day 2011

This year it was just Linda and I biking to work from my house, and Linda didn't even have to work! Kendra was working one of the breakfast stops, and Annette and Laura had to back out at the last minute, totally understandable given the circumstances. We took off from my house early so we'd get to The Peddler just after 7 and have plenty of time to hit our other stops. As we rode past Peidmont, Linda asked "that's Jenny & Joe's street right?" "yep" and she told me that once she was riding down Woodrow and heard "Heather! HEATHER!" She looked around and saw Jenny waving at her, so she stopped and Jenny told her that I ride by her house all the time, so she just assumed it was me. Haha! Of course that spurred some discussion about Joe and we both cried a little. Jenny, in case you ever happen to see this, again, I'm so so sorry. We recovered and had a fun Bike to Work Day despite the circumstances.

First stop was The Peddler on Duval, we opted for just coffee there since the next stop was just a few blocks down the road. We chatted with some other cyclists for a few minutes but didn't stay too long.
Stop #2 was Dolce Vita, this hasn't been a stop before, so we definitely wanted to stop even though it's just down the street from The Peddler, coffee and KIND bars here. We laughed at the volunteers trying to get the little kids riding to school to stop for coffee, I'm sure the teachers would love that!
Stop #3 was Thunderbird Coffee on Manor and finally some breakfast tacos! Good thing, I was already getting jittery from 2 cups of coffee, but I love T-bird's iced coffee, so I had to have a small glass. One of the volunteers told us "hey, I remember you guys from last year" There were a lot of people at T-bird this year and last, so I'm not sure how or why she remembered us specifically, but it's kinda cool.
The last stop for me was Freewheeling with more breakfast tacos and this time I opted for orange juice instead of coffee. The guys from Freewheeling remembered us too, but that's understandable since we were interviewed for the news there last year. No news crew this year though. After Freewheeling, I went to work and Linda went down to Mellow Johnnies and Whole Foods for a little more Bike to Work Day fun.

Hill Country Ride for AIDS

First of all, THANK YOU to everyone who donated so that I could ride. I had a great time, but more importantly, many people in the Austin area will get the help they need because of your generous donations!

Ride morning was cloudy and cool, but I knew it would be a beautiful day to ride. Del and I got to Reunion Ranch right in front of Roger & Ron and just a few minutes before Shayla. They had a huge variety of breakfast food out for us and right away we saw people in costume, Superman, Batman & Robin, etc. This was going to be fun!As we were getting our bikes ready, I realized I had left my Garmin charging at home. I'm completely addicted to it and I don't even know the last time I rode without it. I was not happy! But I knew this was just a fun ride, so it wasn't really a big deal. Shayla and I planned to start early with the century riders. We figured it would take us about the same amount of time to ride 70 miles that it would take Roger & Ron to ride 100- yeah they're fast! We lined up to start and Shayla pointed out the ominous looking clouds, weather.com said 10% chance of rain, so I didn't think it would rain.We started the ride with lots of people cheering for us, we rode out the same way that cars were coming in for the later start, I thought that was weird, but whatever. Then about a mile into the ride a car comes zooming up beside me and the passenger yells "they took a wrong turn at the start! You have to turn around!!" That was a first! I lost Shayla in the wrong turn mess, but I wasn't worried. Soon, Del came up behind me and told me there had been an accident when some people turned around- ugh! I hate hearing about bike accidents, especially when I'm riding!

Between making a wrong turn, a little rain, chip seal, Del telling me about the accident (and he had told me about another one that morning too), and not having my Garmin, I was not very happy. This was not starting out to be the ride I wanted.

Luckily, after about 10 miles I was feeling much happier! I'm not even sure what happened, guess I just came out of my mental funk. I was still driving myself crazy looking down where my Garmin belongs constantly, but it had stopped raining, I had found Shayla and Del and I was having fun! Just a few miles before the first rest stop I hear "ring ring ring ring" behind me- it was Roger & Ron! They had stopped to help at the accident at the beginning so they were behind where I thought they would be. This also meant Shayla and I had a good chance of finishing our 70 miles before they finished 100! We all got to the Lube Stop rest stop about the same time and hung out a few minutes.
Del, Roger & Ron at the Lube Stop

me at the Lube Stop with...well I'm not sure but he/she was entertaining!

We were 20 miles into the ride and I was feeling great! I was concerned that there would be some very steep hills as we got close to Burnet and rest stop 2, but I was pleasantly surprised with mostly rollers and a few longer climbs, but nothing really long or steep. It looked really west Texasy with lots of catus, rocks, and cedar trees. Rest stop 2 had a tikki theme
Porta potty said "volcanic sacrificial virgins apply within"
They had pineapple and coconut at this stop- I was happy! We should have gotten pictures of the volunteers dressed in grass skirts.

We were already halfway! I got distances from Shayla and from signs posted on the road, otherwise without my Garmin I would have had no clue how far we'd gone. I was still expecting some big hills, but Shayla told me that according to the elevation profile, the second half of the ride should be mostly downhill, and like clockwork we hit a section that was mostly downhill for a few miles.

The lunch stop seemed to come really fast but I was ready for it. Lunch had a Mardi Gras theme with beads on the tables and more dressed up volunteers. Even the porta potties were decorated with beads and flowers! They had sandwich boxes from Central Market for lunch- a big sandwich, chips, fruit, and a cookie. As long as I don't eat wheat, I can pretty much eat anything and feel fine riding, so I gave my white bread to Shayla (she had some kind of whole grain bread with nuts that she didn't want), and ate everything else but the cookie (I had a bite of the cookie- it was yummy). These guys were volunteering in a SAG truck, they told me they were dressed as transvestite pole dancers!

We were about 50 miles into the ride and with all the stops, I barely felt like I had been riding at all. The first few miles after lunch went by quickly, then we hit a section with lots of uphill, it might have been the toughest section of the entire ride. Shayla was a little behind me at that point, but I knew she was going to be annoyed with the uphill, since we were expecting mostly downhill and this was her longest ride ever! I saw a sign that said "Cold Treats Ahead" I knew it was way too early for our last Andice rest stop, so I didn't know what that meant. Then a few minutes later another sign said "popsicles 1 mile" I Love popsicles, so I was excited! They had put in a surprise rest stop just after the hilly section with popsicles! Yay!! Shayla pulled up to the rest stop and said "this rest stop came at just the right time!"

From the popsicle stop it was only about 5 miles to Andice and the royal wedding rest stop. Volunteers were dressed in wedding gowns, and they had this cutout.
Shayla and I at the royal wedding rest stop

From Andice, it was only 5 miles back to Reunion Ranch and the finish! There were tons of people at the finish cheering and when I stopped, they gave me a medal. I don't think I've ever gotten a medal from a bike ride before. Shayla was right behind me and we got cleaned up, got more to eat and started looking for Del, Roger & Ron. We had spent lots of time at rest stops, so I was sure they had finished before us. Turns out, they finished an hour and a half After us! I guess they spent just as much time at rest stops.

I felt great even after finishing, no tiredness in my legs, no sore shoulders, nothing! Maybe if the Ironman ride was a rolling buffet with lots of rest stops, I'd feel great then too!
The SAG trucks were also decorated, this one was the Village People, the driver was a cowboy, the guy standing in the back of the truck was an Indian, and I bet the passenger was a cop!

We stayed to see the final finisher and the awards ceremony and didn't leave Reunion Ranch until about 5pm. I have done a lot of really fun bike rides, but this was probably the most fun. I'm really lucky to have great friends and family who will support me in doing this kind of stuff. Thanks again!!

Lonestar 70.3 2011 Race Report

I know it’s now the Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Texas, but like I said last year, to me it will always be Lonestar. I’m also still really sad they retired the armadillo logo I love so much (so I just used the one from 2 years ago here). This year was my fifth Lonestar in a row and 6th Lonestar overall and my second time doing the Lonestar half iron distance.

I was feeling much better about my training for Lonestar this year. I felt great about my swimming, good about my biking, and well, not so good about my running. I have an Achilles issue from someone stepping on my heel a few weeks ago and my running has been ok, but not great. The original goal for Lonestar was a PR, although in Galveston that always depends on the weather. After the Achillies thing, the new goal was good swim, good bike, and hope for a decent run, and of course, have fun!

Pre-race
We (we was me, Jeff, Adrian, and the dogs: Connor, Katie, Abear, Riley, & Bonzai in the big coach towing the Jeep with 3 bikes on its rack and Del's brand new bike still in the box in the front seat- Glad I didn't have to drive!) left for Galveston after Jeff got off work on Thursday at about 9pm, which meant we got to Galveston at about 1am (avoiding all the Houston traffic!) and got to bed around 2am. Del had invited me to swim Friday morning at 7am with his new friend and pro triathlete Sonja Tajsich (who has won 3 Ironmans!), but since I had gotten to bed so late, I opted to sleep in- huge mistake! I had no idea the race officials weren't allowing practice swimming at Moody Gardens this year and from what I could tell, Del and Sonja were the only people who got in a practice swim at Moody Gardens!
"Big Nasty" the only hill on the bike course. As Shayla says "it was nothing for Austinites" photo by Shayla Neris

I started Friday with a bike ride, Jeff came with me we rode out on the seawall, as always, there was wind, but it didn't seem too bad. I did packet pick up and spent the rest of the day relaxing by the coach with friends. Photo by Shayla Neris
Del brought Sonja by to meet us, she and her husband Thomas were super nice! Sonja and Thomas actually stopped by the coach 3 or 4 times over the weekend, it was definitely cool to hang out with a pro triathlete all weekend!!
me, Adrian, and Del with pro triathlete Sonja Tajsich
Ingrid, me and Del telling Sonja "you're #1!" her husband Thomas is in the foreground

Ingrid and Shayla really wanted to get in a practice swim, so I went with them to a little park a few minutes from Moody Gardens, it wasn't the best place to swim, we had to be really careful not to cut our feet on barnacles and sharp rocks and we had to watch for boat traffic, but it felt great to get in the water and know that the temperature was actually really comfortable.
me, Ingrid, Shayla, & Del relaxing by the coach

Saturday morning I got up early to watch Shayla and Elle do the sprint race, they both did great! And Ingrid, Del, Kim H. and I had fun spectating. The rest of Saturday was more relaxing by the coach and race prep.
Shayla getting on the bike and Ingrid cowbelling her heart out!we had lots of company at the coach on Saturday!
Coach Gina, Amy, Jess & Adrian relaxing by the coach on Saturday

Saturday night I dreamt that I woke up at 9:30am and missed the race! I woke up from the dream, looked at my watch and it was really only 3:23am, so I tried to go back to sleep, but when I woke up at 5am, 30 minutes before the alarm, I just stayed up. Transition closed at 6:45, and my wave didn't start until 8:30, plenty of time to watch the pros come out of the water and cheer for Sonja, Kelly Williamson, James Cotter, Richie Cunningham and lots of other pros we recognized.Sonja coming out of the water Photo by Shayla Neris

Then it was back to the coach to finally get ready for my race
Good luck hugs from Connor and kisses from Katie pre-race. Photo by Shayla Neris
Amy and I getting our wetsuits on Photo by Shayla NerisHanging out with Ingrid before our start
Finally almost time to start, talking with Bonnie and Jess just before heading out to the pier. Photo by Shayla Neris

Swim
I walked out to the pier to start the swim with Bonnie & Jess, then I remembered Cassie is in my age group now too, I found her and we talked for a minute before we got in the water. I jumped in the water and swam over to the start buoys, the count down, and finally the start! There was the typical contact for the first 100 meters or so, but nothing crazy. Until I got elbowed in the eye! Ouch! My goggles were leaking and I stopped to fix them and saw that it was Cassie who elbowed me! Maybe it's not so good we're in the same age group now! :) Unfortunately my goggles leaked the rest of the swim and my left eye stung and burned from the salt water. But leaking goggles aren't that big a deal, even in salt water and I felt pretty good swimming. After the first turn buoy it seemed like the wave action picked up and I was inhaling/swallowing a lot of salt water when I tried to breathe. I know the wave action wasn't as bad this year as last year, but I feel like I swallowed more salt water this year- yuck! I also felt chaffing starting on my arms, even though I body glided them this year. When I made the final turn, it was easier to breathe again and I picked it up to the finish. After the last turn we swam toward the Colonel paddlewheel boat.

As I got out of the water I heard Richard yell "Go Heather". Swim time was 44:13 (8 minutes faster than last year), not a PR, but considering I got elbowed in the eye, had leaking goggles, and swallowed half the ocean, I'm happy with that.

T1
I was worried about running up to transition barefoot with my Achillies, but Jon had set me up with some kinesio tape and it didn't hurt running up to the wetsuit strippers. Then I ran through the showers and saw Jeff and Shayla cheering for me. Shayla loves to get pictures of all of us getting out of the swim when we look our worst! Thanks Shayla!
I got to my bike got everything together and took off for a windy bike ride. T1 was 4:59 (39 seconds faster than last year). Photo by Shayla Neris

Bike
I got out onto the seawall and immediately felt a head/cross wind and it felt stronger than it did on Friday or Saturday when I rode. I tried to push hard into the wind since I really wanted to have a good bike this year, but I quickly decided if I pushed too hard I wouldn't be able to finish the bike let alone run after, so I slowed down to a comfortably hard pace, I wasn't really happy with that pace, but I knew it was smarter. Starting the bike

A few miles into the ride I started feeling really nauseous, so much that I thought I'd have to stop and throw up, I definitely swallowed more salt water than at any race before and my stomach was not happy. I was getting behind on my nutrition, but there was no way I could drink anything. I thought about stopping and trying to throw up, but honestly no one wants to stop during a race, and no one ever wants to throw up! I kept going, hoping my stomach would settle down. I got passed by a lot of people but they were all super nice "Hi Heather" "love your license plate" "this wind is brutal, at least we'll get a tailwind on the way back" Tri Zoners yelled "Go Heather" and "great swim!". Ingrid passed me, slowed down and tried to have a conversation with me, I couldn't really hear her because of the wind, but I did hear that she was happy with her swim- Yay Ingrid! I was actually happy that people were passing me and talking to me since it kept my mind off throwing up!

By the time I got to the San Luis Pass my stomach was finally feeling better. I tried to drink some extra Infinit since I hadn't drank anything for about an hour. I was super happy to see the turn around and feel the tailwind that came with it! I had a much better ride back to Moody Gardens, not awesome but definitely better. My legs were more tired than they should have been, not sure if that was from the headwind on the way out or the lack of nutrition, probably both. But I was still able to pass quite a few people on the way back and I hope I was as friendly and encouraging to them as others were to me on the way out. Bike was 3:56:58 (6 minutes slower than last year), not what I wanted, but it was a tough bike for me and at least I finished.

T2
I got into T2 and took my bike stuff off and sat down to put on my compression socks, yeah it took a little while, but after not wearing them last year and having an awful run, and with my Achillies issue there was no question, the extra time was worth it. I got up to run out of transition and the first step hurt. T2 was 4:44 (1:11 slower than last year).
Definitely not my typical "Heather Smile" this is the look of "wow my Achilles really hurts and I have to run 13 miles now"

Run
I started running and my Achilles really hurt, but I hoped it would warm up and feel decent after a few minutes. I made it 5 minutes before I couldn't stand it and took a walk break for a couple minutes, the searing pain went away after about a minute walking, then it was just a dull pain, so I started running again and it hurt worse again. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, I wasn't really sure I could make it 13 miles running or even walking at that point, but I didn't want to quit either. I thought about walking the entire 13 miles, but that would take forever! After a few more run/walk cycles, I figured out I could run for about 2 minutes before it really hurt bad, and if I walked for 2 minutes that was enough of a break that I could run for 2 minutes again.

Starting the second lap I saw Jeff, Shayla and Adrian, they cheered for me and encouraged me to start running and I said "no way", they all felt really bad for me, but by then I had decided I could finish even if I had to walk the entire thing, I was doing ok with my 2/2s so I was just going to suck it up and do it.
I think this is when I was telling Jeff, "this is going to be a long painful 'run'" photo by Shayla NerisAfter telling Jeff my Achilles was killing me, Adrian walked with me asking "what do you need, what can we do to help" I couldn't think of anything that would help and I told him, "there's nothing you can do, I just have to deal with it"

Definitely not my best run, but at least there was tons of crowd support and encouragement from other athletes. That's why I like the 4 loop course. I saw most of the Tri Zoners running, I saw Kim Evans and Ingrid and I walked with Kathleen who wasn't having a great run either after having a mishap during her flying dismount and putting her knee through the spokes of her wheel! I saw Nicki at some point and told her I was having a terrible run, she said "you wouldn't know it to look at you, you look happy"thanks Nicki! The volunteers were super enthusiastic and lots of spectators cheered for me, which was pretty cool since there were only a few Tri Zones spectators out there (thanks so much Jeff, Shayla, Camilla, Bob, Richard and anyone I'm forgetting). On my first lap I was walking when I saw Bob H. and he heckled me for it, so from then on, I made sure I was running when I got to Bob's spot! Jeff, Shayla and Adrian missed me at the start of lap 3, which is probably good since I was planning on making them get me some Advil when I saw them and in hindsight that was a bad idea, but I saw them at the start of the last lap (by then I had decided Advil was stupid) and they walked with me for a few minutes.

When I finally got to the finish, Logan was announcing and said "Out of Tri Zones Training, Heather Herrick from Austin Texas" and I raised my arms up and smiled big, even though it wasn't my best race, I was still finishing and I was really happy! I haven't seen my finish picture yet, but I bet you can't tell I had a tough race. Run time was 2:49 (believe it or not that's 2:37 faster than last year!) And my overall time was 7:39:54 not what I was hoping for but still 3:35 faster than last year.

Jeff says that after 2 tough years in a row, Lonestar is my nemesis race now!

The Achilles is feeling a little better now and with some time off and therapy it should be good as new in a couple weeks.