SheRox Philadelphia - Results!

Officially finished in 1:37.59, more than twenty minutes faster than my previous effort (it helps that I can run now). It's a lot easier to drop time when you can actually do a section of the TRIathlon. I was not prepared for how much the run would hurt (thankfully, not my leg) after doing exactly ZERO bricks prior to the race. That's lack of training for you...
The race was great fun; all women and a nice atmosphere. Almost 40% had never done a race before. My mentor Julie was also great in helping me prepare and answer really dumb questions. My family (except my middle sister who couldn't make it) drove all the way in from KY and cheered me the whole way!

Because the course for this race was exactly the same as the Philadelphia Sprint Tri, it's really easy to compare results. So here goes:


Swim 800m (same course as before; magically lost 100m)
Time: 14:52
Group Rank: 2nd Overall Rank: 21
Time dropped: 1:20
Wow, when I mentioned before that I was going to actually warm up before the race, I had no idea that it would matter so much. I felt much better than I did in the Philly Tri, and it showed. I was actually battling it out most of the leg with one other girl, but due to very poor visibility, lost her at the end by about 10 seconds. We finished nearly a minute before the rest of the wave. Awesome!
Room for improvement: I'd say train more, but I still find swimming alone so painfully boring I can't seem to do it more than once a week.

T1
Time: 1:45
Group rank: 10
Time dropped: 1:22
Again, running really helps. I also had a little more preparation going into it.
Room for improvement: Keep practicing.









Bike 25K (same course as before, magically gained 1K; who's measuring this thing?)
Time: 52:48 17.6mph avg
GR: 29 OR:146
Time Dropped: 1:22
Well, I'm actually kinda disappointed in this. I switched to clip-in shoes, rode my bike to work every day, rode the course a bunch of times, and had minimal gain. My only thinking is that last time I knew I wasn't going to run, and maybe I went harder then. I didn't have a lot of time to train the past few weeks, but I expected a little more. Maybe next time.
Room for improvement: I'm thinking maybe I should actually take a class or get some coaching. I'm trying to do this all on my own, and I really know nothing about biking. Until I can afford that (and maybe a sweet Orbea bike), keep pushing the ol' Chuddley Cannondale around.


T2
Time: 1:42
GR: 49
Time Dropped: 55sec
I'm kinda surprised I was faster considering I had to change shoes this time. But I guess this is where running helped again.
Room for improvement: Continued practice.

Run
Time:26:50 8:39min/mile pace
GR: 51 OR:260
Time Dropped:15:53
I have to be proud of this. I'd been sidelined from running for over 3 months, and I haven't been able to run more than about 2 miles at a time while I rehab the stress fracture. I was having some aching in the leg again last week after running 8 miles (in three days) and was kinda worried about it flaring back up. The leg was absolutely not a problem in the race. My being out of shape was. I actually had to stop and walk a few times in the first mile. I got my wind back for the rest of the race, and somehow managed a pretty good time! My best ever 5K is 25 minutes, so that ain't bad! I'm pretty sure I could have done sub-24min before I got hurt, so there's hope that I still have a lot of room to improve. Here's to a safe rehab.

Finish 1:37:59 (I saw the clock at the finish, and sprinted to finish sub 1:38)
Overall: 66 of 1163
Group: 15 of 168

me and the hubby after the race

me posing with the bike

me and my mentor Julie

Next up: The Annapolis Olympic Distance Tri on September 7th. I have got to make myself train harder for the next month. I'm off next week, so I have no excuse not to get out there.

SheRox Philadelphia

Just a few more hours 'til the next race. I have a mega-busy weekend ahead of me with the combination of the race, my family coming in, and preparing another lecture for work on Monday, but none of that's going to distract me tomorrow morning. Here's the new plans for this race.
Swimming: Get there early and warm up. My arms always hurt 400m or so into a workout, so I need to get that out of the way early. Other than that, set a good pace and go.
Bike: I've switched to clip-ins since my last race and am very comfortable with them. I also got a new helmet but that's because my old one was starting to dry-rot (ewwwww).
Run: I haven't trained much as I would like due to a very slowly-progressing rehab program, but at least I am able to run. Got a little recurrent achiness in the left tibia again on Thursday, but I should be okay for a 5k.

She Swims, She Rides, She Runs, She Rox!

Yankee/Shea Doubleheader

Well, Darren covered most of the bases (rim shot) in his blog, but I thought I'd put in my two cents as well.
1. Yankees fans can heckle well. Playing the Twins, who according to fans are from Canada, several quite clever shouts were heard:
-"Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!" (a reference to Manifest Destiny and the annexation of Western Canada)
-"Hey Morneau, how many loonies and toonies you paying the ump?" (Canadian cash(now worth more than American))
-"Hey Twins, why don't you head back to Nunavut?" I had to look this one up; apparently it is an independent Inuit colony in Eastern Canada.
2. Shea smells
3. The outline of the player outside the stadium looks way too much like the logo for the union of Jazz Dancers, Pastry Chefs, and Nuclear Technicians (on the Simpsons)

I also have to always have an ice cream helmet sundae at every major-league ballpark I go to. I think it started as a kid when we would go to Redbirds games and you could pick whichever team you wanted, and I at one point had every major league team (as of 1986). So I now have the Cardinals (two parks), the Reds (two parks), Brewers, Astros, White Sox, Phillies (helmet and Phanatic dish), Yankees, Nationals, and Mets. Boo to the Cubs and Orioles for not having them available.

Do not eat at steakhouses when you are vegetarian

I made the mistake of joining my co-workers at an upscale steakhouse for dinner last night. I laughed and chided them for eating 6 pounds of dead cow each while I sensibly ate a plate of grilled vegetables (and, as an aside, if you are a chef at an upscale steakhouse, shouldn't you know how to make a dish more exciting than grilled vegetables?). Now I have food poisoning and missed most of my day at work today, and I'm on call tomorrow so I can't rest up. Triathlon training has now been relegated to a sick joke I tried to indulge in. Damn.

Shouldn't the picture above make you healthier?

Favorite Pixar Movies

With the recent release of Wall-E, several outlets have begun posting their thoughts of the best Pixar movies ever. Many have considered Wall-E a masterpiece, including myself. It's the first movie in a long time that I've actually wanted to see more than once in the theater (side note, I saw Star Wars Episode I about 6 times in the theaters, and it wasn't even any good, I guess I just had a lot of free time back then). For a studio to produce 9 outstanding movies, improving computer animation techniques while not cutting back on story, is truly impressive in this day and age of crappy CGI extravaganzas. Without further ado, my list of the top Pixar movies ever.
9. A Bug's Life (1998): Easily my least favorite of the Pixar bunch and the only one I don't own on DVD. It's cute in its own way, but it is geared strictly at the under-10 set. The German caterpillar is funny though.
8. Cars (2006): The only Pixar movie I didn't see in the theater and I fell asleep the first time I saw it. I like it in general, but compared to the top 7, it's not even close. I also don't get NASCAR, so maybe that's the problem.

The top 7 get a lot harder...
7. Monsters Inc (2001): It's really hard to put this movie this low, but when you compare it to the other 6 ahead of it, it falls a little behind. Again, part of that may be because it's aimed at a slightly younger set. The scene at the end of the movie when Sulley finds Boo again is about the most touching scene of any Pixar film.
6. The Incredibles (2004): Another fantastic outing by Brad Bird. The story of outlawed superheroes is fantastic, especially the scenes when Frozone and Mr. Incredible are forced to listen to police monitors to fight crime. I also love the scenes of Violet's transformation from wallflower to supergirl (a childhood dream of mine).

5. Ratatouille (2007): I love the story of the gourmet rat, and gosh darn it if Remy isn't the cutest rodent since the great Mickey himself (who is now a corporate shill). The animation is superb, and the story of a rat trying to follow his heart is actually very moving.

4. Toy Story 2 (1999)
3. Toy Story (1995): Okay, these two are more of a tie. I think the story is better in 2, but the concept was so new with the first one. I also love the constant side jokes, like the Binford tool box and the names of the books on the shelf (Knick Knack, Tin Toy, etc). The adult themes are also slyly present, such as when Buzz and Woody discuss spending a lifetime in a landfill together after Andy has grown up.
2. Wall-E (2008): Please see this movie now. If you are unaffected by this robot, you may be one yourself. For the first half of the movie, I somehow didn't get it. Then I began to get the understated brilliance of this film. I will see it again. I will own it on DVD. My kids will watch it 100 times a day and that's okay by me.
1. Finding Nemo (2003): When I was an intern in Chicago, I worked hideous hours, got yelled at a hundred times a day, and I had to deal with a patient population that was way sicker than I like to deal with. The only thing that could cheer me up at the end of a long night of call was this movie. I'd put it on, watch all the pretty colors, and slowly be lulled to sleep. It is not a boring movie by any means, but it is extremely soothing to the stressed out. I quote the movie all the time ("curse you aquascum""I speak whale""Es-ca-pe") and I think it is the ultimate adventure story for a separated father and son (like "The Odyssey").

So, what do you think?

Hmmm...

Remember the old Bugs Bunny cartoon when a gremlin takes over the controls of Bugs' plane and tries to crash it? Bugs of course was saved when he hit the air brakes mere inches from the ground. Well, I think my husband may be the gremlin incarnate, decide for yourself!

Ka-Boom!

Sorry for the long delay since my last post, but work and family have kept me way too busy the past few weeks. I'll do a more formal post at some point, but here's the highlights of my recent goings-on:
1) Went to Long Beach Island to visit Jill and her two sons. Had a great time and I hope we can meet up again soon.

Riley in Darren's Fedora

Look at the two of us; we haven't changed a bit in 15 years!

2) Started work back at my downtown hospital and am now biking to work. Great for exercise, not so great for my knees and elbows that aren't used to getting out of clip-in pedals very quickly.

3) Laura and Jeff got married on the fourth in a beautiful ceremony in my parents' backyard rose garden.

4) I have had minimal time to train for triathlons with my current work and after work schedule, but I did manage to run(!) one and one-half miles (at a ten-minute pace) once last week with only moderate pain in my leg. I'm finally on the mend!

By the way, I think google blogger makes moving pics around entirely too difficult (unless you know html)