Man Overboard!

Ever since I took a tour of the Henri Lloyd over the Christmas holiday, I've been following the round the world yacht race online. Monday I was shocked to find out that one of the other boats, the Derry~Londonderry~Doire, had a man go overboard. He was in the water for over an hour, but luckily they were able to retrieve him, and his drysuit kept him alive.

The boats are currently in their trans-Pacific leg and they were literally in the middle of the North Pacific when this happened. As you might imagine, there are some pretty nasty storm systems out there this time of year, and they were in the midst of one. All the boats were waiting in the southerlies for the cold front to pass, at which time the wind would become more westerly or even northwesterly. The skipper accounts said the winds were 50 to 60 kts, gusting to 75, so this was quite a storm. I looked up the surface map from around the time of frontal passage and this is what it looked like:

18Z NCEP Surface Analysis courtesy of NOAA

For the uninitiated, the closer the lines (isobars) are together, the windier it is. So this was a very tightly wound system!

I also tried to look up the wave height at the time, but unfortunately there are no wave buoys very close, and most of the buoys in the North Pacific and Bering are broken anyway. So I looked up a hindcast of model output (the model gives you estimates of what the waves were in the past) and it looks like the waves were about 6.8 meters, or about 22 feet.

Which apparently looks like this (warning: some swearing, as you might imagine when your crewmate has gone overboard): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPmNo-jo4tg

Holy crap! That's some scary stuff! All's well that ends well and the crew member is recovering nicely. But this just proves that those North Pacific Storms are no joke.

If this piques your interest, you can find more crew and skipper reports at www.clipperroundtheworld.com

We're Off to See the Wizard!

Super Bowl Sunday is the day of another great tradition in Anchorage -- the Alaska Ski For Women. This is a race hosted by the Nordic Ski Association which raises money to fight domestic violence. For some reason, unlike the other races for women in Anchorage, the Ski for Women has become a costumed event. It's certainly not required, but I'm amazed at all the creative costumes I see each year.

My friend Sheila and I have done this race together a number of times now. I think one year we didn't have costumes, but other years we have gone as an angel and a devil, a fighter pilot and a fencer, and Thing 1 and Thing 2 (from the Cat in the Hat). This year, we decided to go as...drumroll please...

The Witches of Oz!

 Unfortunately, we missed the costume contest this year because the shuttle bus was late, but the fun part is really seeing everyone's costumes and having everyone recognize what you are. Most people knew who we were, although some people did think I was a fairy princess. Plus, I really enjoy the chance to have a paired costume -- Ethan likes to wear costumes at Halloween, but he won't do a theme with me.

I'll get you, my pretty! And your little dog, too!

But Dorothy, my dear, the power to go home has always been on the tips of your toes!

I don't have pictures of all the cool costumes at the race, but I saw penguins, pool balls, a dogsled team, S'Mores, rock, paper, scissors, leopards, peacocks, and much more. The winning theme costume was a forest -- team name "A Forest to be Reckoned With".

It's amazing how creative and funny people can be! I just wish more Halloween costumes for women would trend more this direction, and away from Sexy _____, (i.e. Sexy Witch, Sexy Nurse, Sexy Hamburger (you think I'm joking but I'm not)).

Mayor's Half

Yesterday I ran 13.1 miles for fun. Yeah, I know I'm crazy. But it was fun, believe it or not. I was a little nervous because I missed my 12 mile training run last week. I still made it though. As extra motivation, I put a special playlist on my iPod, and I ran the whole time which was my main goal.

I rode my bike to the race start, which is very close to my house, because I didn't want to be bothered with the parking issue. When I got there, it was pouring. Rain is a mixed bag; it's kind of nice to run through it, but when you're standing in line for the port-a-potty, rain is not too fun. It rained for about half of the race, but by the end the sun started to peek out and I actually got a little hot.

They had changed the course from the last time I ran it, which was three years ago. Now the course goes down the airport road, then veers off into the woods before finally making it back on the Coastal Trail. I was not anticipating trail running, and I was glad I had decided to wear my trail running shoes because it was raining. The trail wasn't bad, but it's nice to have that extra support when you're not on pavement.

My final time was 2:26:12. I was hoping to run 11:00 miles, so my time goal was 2:23. I unfortunately did not make that goal. I did come in #393 out of 987, so I was in the top 40%. So I'm proud of that. You have to take what you can get.

Ethan was not planning on being at the finish, since he had to help his dad yesterday morning. But to my surprise, he found me while I was waiting in line for my finisher's t-shirt. He had brought the truck so I wouldn't have to ride my bike home, and I was very, very grateful.

My legs were sore last night, but they are already getting better today. Mostly I'm just glad I finished, and in an acceptable (but not record) time. :)

Raise the Roof

I just had an excellent racing experience. My friend E convinced me to run the Run for Women with her work crew. So I signed up last week. It's a five mile run, which I knew I would be able to do since I've been training for the 1/2 marathon. A five miler is a "short" run at this point in my training.

Anyway, my goal was 50:00. It was cold and a little rainy this morning, and my ankle was bothering me because I really really need new shoes, but I started out at a good pace -- and kept it. I wasn't exactly sure how I was doing, because I didn't know the distances (it took me 4 miles to figure out they had a water station every mile. Duh). But, I figured I was doing okay. I got to the final 1/4 mile around the track, and I could see by my watch I was at 48:00. So I picked up the pace. I rounded the final corner, and the time on the clock said 49:50. I thought "there is NO WAY I'm going to let myself get one second over 50:00" and I sprinted to the end. I mean, I was busting my ass. 49:54, 49:55......

49:57, baby. Official time. Awwww yeah. I rocked the house!

It's good to achieve your goal -- and even better when you have to work at least a little hard to do it.

Summertime and the living is easy

This weekend has been pretty dang good, which I'm glad for, because I spent quite a bit complaining to Ethan about how busy it was going to be. Here are the highlights:
Friday: a going away party (meh) and a regular party (fun but nothing special).

Saturday: a full day of classes on Becoming an Outdoor Woman. My friend J, who ironically, does not really like being outside, convinced me to sign up with her for this. For $20, I got to choose 2 classes to do on Saturday. They had all kinds of stuff, like Map & Compass reading, Intro to Fly Fishing, Intro to Spin Fishing, Dutch Oven Cooking, Archery, Intro to Shotgun...and some others too. I chose Pond to Pan in the morning. We learned how to clean a fish, vacuum pack and freeze it, and made some delicious meals. Plus, we got to take home our cleaned and frozen salmon (yay for you, Ethan)! Then in the afternoon, I had chosen Dutch Oven Cooking, but through a fluke, I got signed up for Fly Fishing. Learning how to fly fish was actually really fun and made me want to do it more often. Of course, that would require me buying a fly rod. Regardless, it made me interested in doing more fishing and I am going to make an effort to get out and do it this summer. One really cool thing about Anchorage (amongst many) is that we have plenty of lakes and streams that are full of fish. So I can go salmon or trout fishing without leaving the city. Really.

Okay, on to Sunday. That was the Tour de Cure. Which was a total blast, just like it was last year. I had invited a friend from church to do it with me and my normal group of friends. I was a little nervous, because I didn't know her that well, so I didn't know if she would be offended by my friends who swear, or beer at the afterparty. Well I forgot, I go to Methodist church now. Catholics drink wine, Methodists drink beer, and Baptists drink water. So not only was she not offended, she had a beer herself. Yay! The ride itself went really well too. I was in better shape this year, so it wasn't quite so tiring. I even managed to ride all the way up the final (steep) hill, whereas last year I had to walk. So I was proud of myself for that. And hey, 50k (31 miles) is a long way!

Anyway, today I've been rather lazy. I got up late since I had to get up before 7 both Saturday and Sunday, and I've been kind of lying around reading magazines and pretending like I'm going to clean up the house. I did call S. to go hiking tomorrow, so that's one thing I accomplished. But the rest of the stuff, well I'm just not very motivated. Plus, the sun is kind of peeking out, so I think I might go fishing.

Summer is the best.

Next up on Sports Call

So, this upcoming weekend, I'm doing the Tour de Cure! It's not a race, it's a bike ride, which means no pressure to do it fast. Whew. Anyway, it's a ride to raise money for the American Diabetes Association so that hopefully one day, they'll find a cure for diabetes. I'm trying to raise $150 this year. Last year I raised $100, I think.

I'm sure you're thinking, squirrel, I would love to donate, but you haven't informed me how! Well today is your lucky day! If you would like to donate, you can go to my page and donate by credit card. Or, if you feel uncomfortable with that, you can mail me a check and I'll make sure it gets donated. E-mail me for my address if you'd like.

In other news, I'm going to open up my blog to my non-internet friends. So, I'll be making a few changes to appearances of things, and I'll try to update even more frequently, in the interests of keeping my RL friends up to date with my life.

And, if you are a RL friend who has stopped by, sorry for the double solicitation on the Tour de Cure. But thanks for visiting and I hope you keep coming back!

Proof positive

Just in case you had any doubts ;) , here are some pictures to prove I finished the triathlon:

Here I am running across the finish line:


And here, I'm getting my timing chip cut off my ankle:


Here's a picture of my two coworkers and me after the race. From left to right, Kristine, me, Lisa:

I am now a triathlete

I DID IT!!! I DID IT!!!! I finished my triathlon!!!!

Go me! :)

So, first of all, I was waaaay more worried about the shorts issue than I should have been, because it was 70 degrees out and my legs were not cold at all. I had forgotten that I had a pair of normal shorts that I could wear. They are made of that quick-dry stuff, have an elastic waist, and are longer than my running shorts but not too bulky. I wore those and they worked out fine. They rode up a little bit on the run, but my running shorts do too.

Circle swim also went well. I guess it's a lot easier when you aren't in the pool with a freaking porpoise, like I was when I practiced last week. My lane partners were nice, and weren't passing me at every single turnaround.

Problems: eating a Clif bar on the bike was a major hassle. I don't like Gu (a gel that athletes use to power up), but there's a reason to use it. I didn't want to eat in transition, so I got on my bike and started riding. Well, I couldn't open the damn Clif bar. It was hermetically sealed or something. So I'm trying to open it with my teeth while riding, then choking it down, then trying to get my water bottle and wash down the Clif bar before I really do choke, all while nearly knocking one lady off the course as I'm passing her, and nearly getting run over by someone who's passing me. Point of the story: Gu is good.

Second problem: something -- sunblock, hairspray, sweat, I don't know what -- ran into my eyes both at the beginning of my bike ride and about half way through the run. I was tearing up so badly I couldn't see. I actually ran with my eyes closed for a little bit. So next year I'm going to skip the hairspray, and get that sport sunblock that doesn't run.

Also, WTF was up with the wind? It was in my face both on the ride out and the way back. Sucky.

The bike ride was difficult for me. I was disappointed; I was hoping to take 30 minutes but it took me 45. Also, see wind issue, above.

The run went well. I recovered from the bike a lot more quickly than I expected to. I only felt like I was dragging for the first half mile or so. It took me 43:00 to run 4.1 miles, but considering that I stopped for water, stopped to mess with my shoelaces, and had just ridden 10 miles on the bike, that's pretty dang good. I average 10 min/mile usually anyway.

The weather was awesome. We could not have had a better day. Not a cloud in the sky, and it was so warm, I actually just wore my windbreaker over my bathing suit and was not cold or hot. It was so great. And the ride and run in the sunshine, on the roads through the woods, next to the stream, was definitely the highlight of the race.

Anyway, while I was doing the triathlon (particularly the bike part), I was thinking "Stupid triathlon! I'm never doing this again!" But afterwards, I felt pretty dang good. I did have a good time overall, I got a really cool t-shirt, and I am so proud of myself for completing it! While I'm not interested in getting all hard core or doing one where I have to swim in open water, I might actually do this one again next year. We'll see.

Tri-ing not to get too frustrated

Last night, I biked to the pool, swam, and then biked home in my swimsuit. This was supposed to give me sort of a trial run for the swim/bike transition in my triathlon, which is on SUNDAY! Holy Crap!!!

Anyway, I learned several things:

1. I am totally going to have to figure out the logistics of the transitions. Up until now, I didn't think it was that huge a deal, but last night I realized that I am going to have to plan what I need for each portion, and set it up beforehand in an easy manner, or else I'll be totally confused and stressed out.
2. Circle swim? Sucks. Especially if you are a crappy swimmer, like I am. For those of you who don't know, circle swim means that instead of swimming back and forth on one side of the lane, like you would with two people, you swim as if you're on a race track -- with the ropes on your right side both going down and back. The main thing is that I'm not able to do flip turns, so I would get to the wall and wait and see if the other people were coming so I could let them pass. Also, with that many people in the pool, there's a surprising amount of wave action, which I am not fond of.
3. Riding your bike in your swim suit? Also sucks. My ass was so wet, even though I used a towel to dry off. I am not sure what to do about the shorts aspect of it, either. I wore my running shorts last night and realized that my legs were pretty dang cold on the bike. But I am not buying a $60 pair of triathlon shorts for something that I'm not sure I'm ever going to do again. Pants will be a huge pain in the ass to drag on over my wet legs, and they'll get hot when I run. I would like to wear my bike shorts because they are a bit longer, but I'm afraid that running in them would not be fun (they have padding inside them, which might make it like running in a big diaper). Plus pulling the bike shorts on over my wet legs might also be a problem. So I do not know what to do. I have one more day of swiming (Thursday), so maybe I'll try to wear the bike shorts that day, and then try to do a short run in them on Friday and see if it works out.
   

Overall, I am just not sure that I really enjoy this triathlon stuff. The swim to bike thing is a logistical nightmare, and I'm not sure it's worth the effort. Of course, the race will be so much more fun than training, so we'll see how I feel about it after the race. Anyway, the point of doing this race was to try it out and see if I like it, and to finish a triathlon. So if I do end up deciding it's too much trouble, I never have to do one again, but I can say I've done one at least.