The story of my first Boston Triathlon

Howdy!

It's been quite the busy week and it just so happens that one of the best tri's around is this Sunday! I LOVE Boston Tri (last year's write up) and I'm excited for all those who will be doing it as their first triathlon.

I realized my first Boston Tri is actually one of the many stories that led me to my bad triathlete name. Now I shall finally share it!


Let's go back two years to a younger, even more energetic version of me. Boston Tri was the second triathlon I did in my first year of racing and I was TERRIFIED to be swimming .5 miles (I know, I know, look how much I have grown up.) I had a bachelorette party the night before and I decided I was going to be really well behaved and only go to the pre-game and have one drink.

So well behaved! :)

And home I went!  ...and then I got bored because all my roomies were at the bachelorette and it was too early to go to bed. Then I got invited to go to the Last Drop.

Back in the day, I never really said no to any plans-especially the Last Drop haha It was so easy to go to and so fun to people watch. How could you not love it :)

So there I was just having one jackndiet...ok maybe two...and then BAM my friend gets shots. Ugh. Fine, what's one shot going to do. OK I will leave soon, no worries it's still *kinda* early.  Just as I'm planning to leave... shot #2 arrives. I protest a bunch but ultimately I surrender and take it too. See BAD triathlete. I think I went to bed at 3am only to be up at 5am when Greg was picking me up.

The day was like a hurricane or something. Curmudgeon told me that the swim would be "as smooth as glass" and any regular day in Southie Bay/Carson Beach area, it is. Today was super choppy, crazy windy, rainy, gross out. BUT I finished the race with a smile on my face :)

What a beautiful day for a race!

Finishing down the beach!

My friend that i was out with the night before texted me to ask me how the race went. I decided he needed a little payback for making me do the shots. I told him I did so bad and was struggling so much that I had to have a kayak pull me out of the water and I wasn't allowed to finish the rest of the race. He quickly apologized and said how bad he felt. I let it go on for a little but and then I said I felt bad as well...because I was just kidding! :)

So there you have it, a blast from the past post from the Bad Triathlete mental archives. Good luck to all you newbs who are doing this race as your first tri! You will love it.

Remember, two shot maximum/two hour sleep minimum the night before the race and you will be fine!

Yours truly,
-Much better bad triathlete than I was before ;)

Triathlons Are Like Summer Camp

I've been meaning to write this post for awhile and I'm choosing to write it now because I think I need the friendly reminder :)

What I love about triathlons is that the race is basically like a day at summer camp. Swimming! Biking! Running! All activities that we so eagerly looked forward to as kids. Especially biking. Biking was our first opportunity at independent transportation and was our own little method of freedom. FREEEEEEEDOM :)

I'm choosing to remind myself of this fact today because I had quite the painful bike ride this Saturday. The Timberman course has this super nasty hill. I made it through but holy crap...it was hard. My new speed fill straw kept jumping around and smacking me in the face (this is why we do training rides with new equipment) and I realized I must wear biking shorts on race day. Then it came time for the post bike ride brick run. I actually felt pretty great and the view was exactly what I needed. Out and back right along Lake Winnipesaukee with beautiful lake homes to keep you entertained. I realized, although there is that hill that makes me want to not do the race all together, the venue, the people, the ability to even consider doing such a race, is what is actually making me excited to do the race. 

This tri-season has been different without Black Fly. I always loved Black Fly because a whole bunch of us Zoomers went up to NH for the weekend and hung out and raced together for the 3 days of the event. I feel like Timberman is going to be that weekend...except all the racing will be done in one day! I'm really just reminding myself, it's not everyday you get to swim in a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains, bike on country roads (and maybe you go over some of those mountains) and run next to the water as boats are coming by and people are out just enjoying the gorgeous view from their homes. Adult summer camp :) And hell, I guess you can always walk-I'm going to try very hard not to though! I figure, if last year I ran a half marathon spraining my ankle 2 weeks prior, I can do this. It just may not be so pretty. 

I was also reminded of how fun racing can be the other day. Last week was a crazy mess for a whole number of reasons (including leaving my wetsuit at Walden-D'oh!) and one of the nights I was bolting over to Waltham (stuck in tons of traffic) to attend the Tedy's Team meeting about the Falmouth road race. I rushed in starting looking over the logistics, formulating a plan in my mind about how to accomplish this "task." In my mind I went over when was the best time to leave Boston, when to pick up my packet, how to be dropped off on race day, where to meet up on race day etc... and then I heard the words "after party". O right, this is a fun race, Tedy will be there, we will all be hanging out and celebrating after. RACING IS FUN :)

We don't look for worse of the wear after biking and running the course, right? Do I look a year older now?

I'm also sad I don't have any photos to post from Saco Bday weekend or other riding/running events. Now I have a new camera so more photos to come! A big thank you to +1 for driving to and from NH last weekend and this past weekend. (I was also kind of a whiner on the big hill and he gave lots of great encouragement to get me through it.)

Here we go Camp Timberman! TRIATHLONS ARE ADULT SUMMER CAMP :)

-Older (wiser?) but still a bad triathlete

Attitude re-adjustment still in progress but 2 years a triathlete!

O well hello there!

I know my last post was kind of a bummer. I can't say I feel 100% back to my usual self but I'm taking it day by day. I still haven't regained my faith and positive outlook on the general population but hopefully that will come in time. I had a pretty great and relaxing 4th and that was a major help.

In case you weren't following my NEW badtriathlete tweets (wait why aren't you?? https://twitter.com/Imbadtriathlete)

I'll provide some general fitness updates with badtriathlete flair and pictures :)

The weekend started off by battling the traffic down to Gillete to run the 10k that finishes on the 50 yard line of Gillete stadium. Holy hot/humid day! I was really trying to hit my 55min goal but goddddamn it was hot. I also had boloco on the drive down (oops!) so I had mega stomach pain the whole time. I did pretty well the first 5 miles but then bonked hard/felt like I was going to faint/got goose bumps and all my regular bad triathlete symptoms. Oops! It was nice having so many friends doing the race from my Reach the Beach Team, Zoom, Tedy's Team etc... and +1 (aka Chris) did his first official 10k! I think I was more proud of him than I cared about my time.

After the race we drove down to Hyannis. And yes, there was still traffic at 11pm :/ The Cape is so pretty and I didn't realize the house was pretty much on the Hyannis Half Marathon course that I ran in February!

I tried to be good about getting in training but it was so freakin hot! I tried going out for a run and sticking near the shore for the sea breeze but it wasn't too helpful. There was a girl running behind me and when I stopped to take a picture of the pretty view she passed me with something interesting in her hand:

 Running with a bottle of wine! Brillant! Why didn't I think of that?! Such a bad triathlete move!

Her next move confused me though:

Umm...? Chick that white wine belongs on the fridge if you are saving it for later!

I suffered through some more heat and finally it was time to go to the beach. We decided, despite the heat, to bike over to the prettier bigger beach on the other side of the bay. As we were biking home Chris gets into aero. TOOL! ;) Who gets into aero wearing a bathing suit after the beach? And then I suddenly felt empowered. I wanted to finally ride in aero too! So yes, the first time I fully rode in aero was when I was wearing my bikini top and jean shorts biking back from the beach like a tool. Can you think of a more badtriathlete first time for aero?

The rest of the trip was full of more Tour de France watching, Cape Cod beer drinking, beach attending and great hospitality by Chris' cousin. Here are some more pretty pics:

I didn't realize we were so close to the Kennedy Compound

Pic from my run

+1 refused to remove his sweater at the beach hehe

Right before the fireworks :)

After we got back to Brighton, we jumped on our bike trainers and biked while watching the Tour (stolen idea from Sherpa). What a great way to get some miles in! We did a brick run after and it felt like woof. All that humidity, makes me feel so nauseous when we run. O well.

I attended a nice butt kicking core fusion yoga class last night taught by a fellow Tedy's Teamer. I realized, yoga may just be what I need right now. This class was fast and intense but there is just something about only working with your own body that is very peaceful no matter what the speed. Lululemon is putting on these free classes on Tuesdays for the next couple of weeks and I'm going to try to attend. I'm hoping it will help with the mental re-adjustment I have been looking for.

With my second Olympic this coming Sunday I reluctantly headed out to Walden this morning. Chris' commitment to data is so intense that he spirited back out to his apartment at 4:30 this morning to grab his forgotten garmin before Greg came to pick us up. I've been trying to be better about data as well and I've been wearing my heart rate monitor every workout including this morning. I was so proud of myself for wearing after we finished the swim. I was then informed it does not work in the water so I basically wore it for nothing. Trying to make me feel better, I was informed I could see my heart rate before and after the swim though! Great.... haha At least I didn't wear it to see Coach tomorrow for our swim lesson and look like a dummy then!

The Timehop app also reminded me that today is a very important day: It's my two year anniversary of my first ever triathlon!!! My how the time has flown. It seems like just yesterday Curmudgeon was ripping the reflectors and kick stand off my mountain bike that I had lugged up to Black Fly Tri in NH. Talk about being nervous! I had no idea how two years later I would be about a month out from my first half Ironman and how much triathlons have changed my life :)

In the spirit of a picture filled post, here are some pics from start of my badtriathlete lifestyle!

So.Freakin.Nervous.

No really, I rode my mountain bike before I got my road bike to make sure I "liked" triathlons..hehe road/rode/rowed

Sprinting to down the finisher's chute!

My Mom and godmother drove up and surprised me! Aww my old car! Definitely did not finish #1... haha

There is your picture filled update, happy July :) I'm going to try and bring my mindset back to the girl in the picture above who was just so happy and amazed she finished her first triathlon. I never knew I could ever be capable of finishing such an event.

If you have time check out: My exciting Tedy's Team update!

But more on that to come later :)

Happy training everyone! Follow me on twitter for more up to the minute badtriathlete action :)
-cat

Lost bad triathlete?

 Sorry bloggy, I know I've been neglecting you....

The truth is, I'm not really sure what to say. It was a rough June.

My grandmother passed away at the age of 93 and just a few days later we experienced a tragic loss of one of Chris' friends while we were on the Trek Across Maine.

The marathon events still live inside my thoughts every time I go running. I can so easily picture myself just standing in the middle of Kenmore so confused and upset.

Basically, everything has been a little off lately.

I have forced myself to keep training but it's been really hard. I've lost a lot of faith in humanity. I don't want to bike any more. Cars are just jerks. I know there are a lot of people on bicycles (I'm not going to call that type cyclists) who act terrible when they are on the roads and put drivers/pedestrians/themselves at risk when they are out on the roads. I can assure you that myself and the people I ride with are not like that. The saying you learn when you first start biking is, "it's not IF you are going to get hit, it's WHEN."  You have to think though, as a driver is it really worth killing or permanently injuring someone who is on a bike? I know it can be frustrating driving around bikers but you basically have that biker's life in your hands when you drive past them. Do you want to explain to your friends/family/children that you killed a cyclists? It's just not worth it...

Nonetheless, I keep trucking along. I know this isn't the happiest of posts but I think I just needed to get my thoughts out there.  I really love everything triathlon has brought into my life and it just makes me sad that I've been feeling flat lately and scared to do the activities I love.

However, I finally had a great run the other night where I finally felt like my old runner self again. 6.24 quick miles where I got a nice healthy dose of runner's high. A bunch of teammates and I are doing the Patriots Place 10k where you finish across the 50 yard line in Gillette Stadium so I'm hoping that will help my racing spirits to be lifted.

We can all laugh that the "C" in "CAT" that I wrote on my arm for the Marathon is still permanently fixed to my arm:

Here's to a happier July (it is my birthday month after all!)

Tough Mudder Write up! aka: Advance trust falls with your co workers!

So here it is, in all its glory: My Tough Mudder write up!

First I would like to say, I did not get *really* injured! Wooo!

If you don't want to read my write up and are looking for my short one sentence reaction to the Tough Mudder here it is:

If I wanted to hike up and down one mountain all day, I would have picked a prettier mountain.

For all those that want more detail and to see some pics please continue!

The day started off better than other obstacle courses races I've done (i.e anything that takes place at Amesbury Sports park).  We had to park at Loudon raceway and get shuttled over. There was hardly a wait get into park and a very quick wait at the buses. The registration line was annoying but tolerable so good job Tough Mudder with that. However, I still have yet to see a race be able to successfully drive people back to their cars without some sort of chaos/confusion but their system was at least better than the ones I've experienced before. O I should probably mention I had my 5 year college reunion the night before so I was working on like 4-5 hours of sleep.

As you probably noticed, it was really hot on Saturday. I think I'm just so done with working out in the cold after training for the marathon, that I didn't even care it was so hot. As you might have also figured out, I ran this race with my co workers. I was the only girl. It is definitely a bonding experience given how many hours it is and that you do need each others help. I would say, this race did a very decent job of promoting team work but until you have an 18 year old stop during the biking part of a triathlon to help you put your bike chain back on, you don't know what camaraderie is.

The race started by going up Gunstock mountain and down Gunstock mounatin, which we did several more times throughout the day (hence my hiking comment.) There was a lot of trail running which was awesome-just not a lot of people actually running. For the most part the obstacles were fun. The barbed wire just cut you up a lot and since it was so hot out the water obstacles just felt nice. I did get my hair stuck in the barbed wire a couple of times.  Jumping in the ice was very shocking but it kinda felt good because it was so cold. Your toes just froze afterwards but that quickly wore off. When it came time to carry a log around I saw this awesome small, smooth log and I went to pick it up and then this other woman went to grab it. She just looked at me with this look of desperation so I was like o..ok...and grabbed another heavier one with bark all over it. O well. I lived. I got shocked a bit when I was crawling through the hanging electric wires and then not at all at the end. I also had the best bib number with SO MANY 8's in it...and it got riped off my shirt after the first set of crawling under the barbed wire. My KT tape also didn't last past mile 4.

I'm not the most graceful person so I found the hardest part of the obstacles was getting out/off them. Like getting out of a tube you were just crawling through or rolling off a log onto your face. So just imagine doing all of those things in front of the head of your company haha However, I kept up with the group and we ran the majority of the 11+ miles. So yes we had a lot of laughs, it was nice being in the mountains, it was awesome to be active for that long with a group of people... it just wasn't THAT great.

For example, I feel like their were overwhelmingly three kinds of people who came out to do the Tough Mudder:

1) Hardo bros who have such much muscle they can't run so they beast through the obstacles (some of them even wore lead vests) and then walk the rest of the time-they were fun to pass ;)

2) Girls who would say things like, "Now we don't have to go to the gym for like 3 months!"and wore the short short spandex (even when it wasn't the most flattering) and were whining. Note to them: YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG

3) People who didn't even TRY to train for this thing

It kind of proved all of my assumptions (and points I made in the previous post before I did the race.) Granted, my group wasn't like the ones listed above and like I said, it was good bonding with my co workers who I didn't know that well outside the office. I actually thought, it would be really funny if you took a client out for a meeting than you were like surprise! Let's do the Tough Mudder! Because yes, you could do it without training.

Before the race they make you state this pledge about being a Tough Mudder and helping your fellow mudder out etc... One of the pledges is "No whining, whining is for kids." I think it would be pretty awesome if they had whining watchers and made all the whiners (see people listed above) do burpees or something. THAT is something I would get on board with.

My conclusion is: when it all comes down to it, it wasn't worth the price tag. Yes, it was nice being outside and I did get a good workout in but there are a lot of other races that would be more worth my time. I still don't get what they are trying to achieve by putting other races down and saying triathlons are boring etc... Like I said, it got pretty annoying going up the mountain, down the mountain and there is A LOT of running (well, walking to most) during those 11 miles. I mean, if people need taglines like those seen on the Tough Mudder website to get them off the couch then I guess the Tough Mudder is a good thing. At least I can check that box off that I tried one but it's just not my thing.

My favorite "LOL" moment of the day was when you were suppose to jump over the "fire" into this water. I guess I didn't really get the whole fire part of it because the flames were so low so I didn't realize they were part of the obstacle so I just stepped over the fire and then jumped in the water. So tough! Oops.

Here are some pics from the day: 

Out of focus but hi!

About to jump in the ice bath

Mmm love me some mud

Climbing out more mud piles

Running up Everest the quarter pipe

Thanks for the help Team!

At least they didn't lie about the beer!

Driver/photographer/best sandwich maker

So after all that I finally get home and realized I had to complete the final obstacle of the day: I was locked out of my house. I had to do the familiar motion of Chris putting his hands out to put my foot in (like what happened 6 times that day) to give me a boost so I could  pull myself through the window:

 Don't forget your keys.

Also...if you would like to see all the scratches/bumps/bruises I sustained after this "challenge" this see my Injury log!

Cat vs Tough Mudder, the prelude

If you want to know my initial feelings about the Tough Mudder I think they can be nicely described in two letters: F. U.

I have never done the Tough Mudder (I have done other obstacle course races) and honestly, I really don't have much desire to. However, when I heard there was a "Boston" one coming to town and my company was making a team, I decided to give it a try.

I will save all final judgement until after I actually do a race but as of right now I hate it.

First of all I always thought I was pretty decent at geography, but I never knew Gunstock Mountain in New Hampshire was considered Boston. My bad.

Besides that little two and a half hour drive time, NH tolls hiccup, I decided to try and find out more about this race and why people decide to race it. I thought the best place to learn about the race would be on its "About" section on their website.

Here is what I found:

It starts with:



Cool! Sounds good to me...

And then it just goes downhill...

Ummm.....see where I got the F U from?

Pretty damn hypocritical to talk about COST of a race when the Tough Mudder is no cheap race. $171.40 is the total I had to pay for this geographically deceitful race. That is more expensive than my Olympic Distance Triathlon last year and almost as expensive as a half Ironman. You leave marathons alone Tough Mudder!

And about my knees...excuse me, I didn't realize obstacle courses are good for your knees, I better not tape mine up then!

O and I don't need any "time" to train for a Tough Mudder? Then why do you have training plans on your site that each require workouts several times a week?

Don't you keep lying to me Tough Mudder!

Moving on...

WHAT IS YOUR F'N PROBLEM WITH RUNNING TOUGH MUDDER? Now you are picking on Triathlons? You leave Triathlons alone! I am more stressed about your stupid electrocution at the end of the race and hurting myself than I am about my Escape the Cape Triathlon next weekend. I bet just as many people take the Tough Mudder seriously (you know the kind of people that I'm talking about) as do Triathlons. I bet there are plenty of people who think Triathlons are not lame.

I like beer. I like to laugh. I like music. I guess got me there? But...Tough Mudder, you do realize these things also all exist at Marathons and Triathlons...right? You aren't the first race to offer beer. Some races even offer FREE UNLIMITED (until the kegs are kicked) beer to finishers. Wow those Triathlons race organizers, they sure do not know how to have a good time...



I don't have as many issues with this fact as I do the other ones. Camaraderie is absolutely NOT a Tough Mudder exclusive feeling though...

I guess I just don't understand why the Tough Mudder has to be such a hardo about other kinds of races? Did they fail at running marathons in their past? Did the Triathlon team nickname them fartlek? DO YOU JUST NEED A HUG AND WANT TO BE ACCEPTED TOUGH MUDDER?

But Cat, no one is making you do the Tough Mudder. You're right, I signed up for it all on my own (well I guess there was some co worker peer pressure). Like I stated above, I will wait until I actually COMPLETE the race before passing final judgement and I will admit if I was wrong and if my feelings towards the race have changed. I just wanted to do my pre-race due diligence and report my findings. I will say, I really hope I am all wrong about this race and end up enjoying it.

Basically, Tough Mudder, you sure know how to initially rub a badtriathlete the wrong way. Let's hope you are better in person than you are on paper.

However, I do think the Tough Mudder has good customer service. So at least they have that going for them, I guess?

All I'm saying is that, my body better be intact and my hair better not be permanently stand on its ends when I write my post-race entry....

When I'm stressed or having a bad day, I google pics Mini Australian Shepards. Best way to calm down after that rant...

 ALL BETTER! :)

-cat