... maybe we are back...

So over the last few months we've been focusing on things other than triathlon... like life in general. It's funny, but even though we want to workout and our bodies actually feel ok during workouts it is just hard to go at it with the same intensity or regularity that we were before. Even funnier is to go to the group workouts and hear everyone (most of everyone, except the new team members) say that they haven't really worked out as they had planned.

On the personal non-tri front, I (Puli) am happy to announce that my Oregon stunts have probably come to an end. Yes, I'm back to the good ol' Texas. Even though I had a great experience working there both personally and professionally, nothing compares to being home and sleeping in your own bed with the ones you love next to you (that being Res and JayJay). On the workout front, well I think I'm going to miss a bit of it, working out there was pretty awesome, got to do awesome rides and runs. So I got to say... we are probably planning a riding vacation out there.

Last Mountain Bike Ride in Oregon

Climb to Mary's Peak, OR

On the personal tri front, a couple of weeks ago we did the Disco Olympic tri. Being our second Olympic and our first race after Ironman Texas, we really wanted to do it to come back to it. To try to get back to the swing of things. Traveling didn't allow for much swimming and motivation wasn't really there the whole time. So we did what we could, hitting about 50% of the training plan our Coach M graciously put for us, but not really killing ourselves to keep up with it. We weren't really afraid of the distance. Funny now how a 1500 m swim, 23 mi on the bike and a 10K on the run really doesn't even phase us and probably we need to take it more serious than that, but after having done 5 times that, we know our bodies have the distance, might not have the speed but we know we can finish it and not really puke or be completely exhausted by it.

Back to our Disco Tri, granted I had flown in on Friday for a Sunday race and had to leave again Monday so needless to say I was preoccupied, tired and really didn't feel like going out there to kill my self on the tri. Regardless I gave it my best, I think we all did.

The morning came, we had the Keller carpool ready (truck's name for race days, since we tend to fit 4-5 bikes and 4-5 people in it) and we headed up to the tri. About an hour's drive from home. So the wake up call came at 3:45 am (last time we did that was on Ironman day). We headed up there and it was overcast, and storms were rolling in. Got to the park after a minor incident getting into the park which I'm not going to bore you with, we got in parked and unloaded. Transition setup was again uneventful, with the exception of a lady who was just rude. I think she was a beginner and I was trying to help her but she was just rude (maybe she wasn't a morning person). We had designated racks (like many races) and she decided to come to my rack, when she was like 4 racks down actually by Res (her number was one number before Res) so I politely told her, she should not be racking there as they would probably make her re-rack and/or get a penalty. She fought me back and just went to the rack next to us, again racking way off from the place she had to. She even had a balloon for her bike, thought that was cute. Anyways.... I think in our sport we try to be nice for the most part and here is one of the reasons we share our experience, so other people getting started know or learn from our mistakes. So lesson here, listen to others, they are not trying to make your life harder, if they tell you something maybe is worth listening.

Res Looking Good 

My Signature... tongue out

The swim:
On the swim I knew I wanted to stay around 30 minutes, that meant to keep a
2:00'/100m pace. The swim start was a mass start with all male and female under 40. I started towards the back and found myself towards the middle by the first turn. I found a few feet that I followed but then ended up passing. Sighiting was a bit difficult because they only had the big buoys but other than that pretty easy swim. Garmin read 31:56 or 2:03'/100m, not bad.

Bad Ass team

The bike:
By the time I got to the bike the rain started, it wasn't too bad at first and I tried to push hard to see if I could cover more while the roads were dry, that didn't last long, about mile 1 or the entrance to the park the rain just was a constant drizzle and pretty much I settled for a pace to be safe and not screwed up crashing. I settled for a 20 mph pace which I tried to keep, some hills slowed me down but I didn't want to push too hard on them as I didn't really want to walk the 10K. I came out of the Oly detour and got with the Sprint people, I saw a couple of our teammates that I knew were ahead of me from the swim but they weren't too far ahead of me, maybe 1 mile or so, so I knew it wasn't too bad. Saw Res and a few others heading behind me and warned them to be careful on the turn as some folks had wiped out with the wet road. Anyways I started passing Sprint people and here was the other incident of the day. Note to people here.... please read the rules when you participate, mistakes can get you penalized and its not fun to spend time at the penalty box on big races (luckily I haven't and hope I won't). Anyways I wasn't going to let that bother me, just aggravated me a bit, but kept going.  Finished the bike, I wanted to have an hour (in perfect conditions) but with the rain I take the 1:08 I had, 20.2 mph average.

Run:

Res focussed on the finsh

Off to the run I went, I felt pretty good starting, it was a 2 loop run. First loop went ok, second loop I was starting to feel the lack of training, I was trying to keep an 8:30'/mile pace and not get my heart rate too high, but on the second loop I found my self slowing down between miles 3-5. I saw Res at mile 5 and she told me to go finish strong, I had started to pick up the pace then, I was doing about 8'/miles then and had a girl running behind me and we were just pushing off from each other. It was raining so I could hear her strides and she was keeping my same pace. When we came to the last 200 yds of the run she just sprinted to pass me, I gave it all I could to not let that happen and not let her chick me... yes I have some pride left :). It was funny because at the end she hugged me and thanked me for pushing her. It was more the other way around but I didn't say anything. Come to find out my 10K was 53:28 or an 8:40'/mi pace, come to find out later she was running a 7:40'/mi. which is what I kept for the last mile.

Worried about getting chicked....didn't happen!

All and all, the race was a good one, weather was great, could do without the rain but it turned out great. I think the rain actually helped us to stay cool and also to not push so much on the bike that we were able to run the 10K without that much of a problem. Definitely will do the race again next year so we can see how we do.
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Not a bad swag... Disco Tri-Top

My First Product Review.... Thanks to ChiTriBloggers for the opportunity

*** Note: This is a copy and past of my guest post to ChiTriBloggers, if you want to get the original post, you can go here: http://www.listoftriathlonblogs.com/


Excited to bring you another product review.  Swirlgear is a Chicago based company that is in their second year of production and are looking toward their fall line launch soon.  I had the chance to meet the owner and really loved her, her team and what they stand for. We, at List of Triathlon Blogs, really want to support local/small businesses and I purchased a pair of shorts for one of our bloggers to review since becoming a Swirlgear Ambassador. {Res was not compensated for the review other than receiving the shorts and I personally paid for the shorts for review}.
Thanks Res for the review!
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Swirlgear Shorts Review

Hello everyone Res here, we recently connected with Triathlon Blogs and they offered me a chance to review some gear they had. Of course, being me I didn't miss a chance to try something new and to see what this whole reviewing gear was all about. We read all the time about these type of blogs but thought to ourselves... well... we are not that popular so we'll never get to do one of those cool things. So anyways they send me a pair of shorts from Swirl Gear I was actually so surprised because they offered them on Thursday night and by Saturday I had the shorts in the mail. When I opened the package I noticed the shorts where these

I didn't know about this brand before I got the shorts and neither read anything about them before I tried them (actually haven't read anything about them yet). I wanted my review to be as uninfluenced by other reviews as possible, so my review is my own experience with the shorts. 

So here I go, my first impressions on the shorts as soon as I opened the package: 

1. They felt really soft to the touch
2. The lining felt different from other built in briefs 
3. I liked the length 
4. The army green color... not my fave, but for the review purposes they worked 
5. They felt relaxed when I first put them on.

We then planned to take them for a run during the week, things got really busy with work and other social

events and our run didn't go as planned and then considering that the temps were in the 100's here in Texas we weren't pushing it too much, yes we don't like the "dreadmill"

I ended up finally putting a decent run on Saturday on them. We had a swim/run workout so we headed out to it early in the morning. I had a swim first so I didn't wear them there (for obvious reasons), my plan was to put them on after the swim. 

I put them on after I got out of the water (of course drying myself first). At first they were OK, however I should've worn some underwear (some sort of tights or compression shorts under). I thought the lining material felt different than other shorts I’ve worn, particularly since I wasn’t wearing any undies. Yes... don't start looking at me now funny... most of you don't wear any undies either. :). FREEDOM!!!

We had an hour run, 6 miles more or less, I really like the fact that they were quick drying and didn't feel hot. So what they advertise on the website "Moisture wicking fabric to help keep you dry and comfortable" was very true.

The size I was given was a Medium, I'm a size 6 pants, and wear between S and M depending on the brand. The M felt good but if I were to buy these, i would consider getting the small as they were a bit loose on the inseam and they kept riding up which we girls know is not the greatest feeling. I ended up chafing a bit b/c of the loose inseam but don't think that would have happened with the smaller size so I definitely would recommend sizing down.

Overall, I definitely will use them for short training runs or gym workouts or even for walking and if i ever purchase the smaller size, would love to try them out for long runs. Thanks for the chance to review these shorts... hope it was helpful.

A little ride while away from home

Hello everyone, Puli here. I know it's been a while since our last entry. Like we said on our IronMan report, we were going to try to take it easy at least during the month of June. We know we have a race scheduled for July and a few after that, but they are shorter and our bodies simply been asking for the rest. So we've been listening.

On one end, I've been traveling for work a bit, so it is making putting a significant amount of training a bit harder than before, the beauty of working on deadlines, but I'm glad that IM training is over and I've been able to focus on work, afterall, we don't get paid to train or compete and we need to work to pay for our expensive hobby.

Working hasn't been all I've done, I've been able to put a few runs here and there, somehow the legs are not there yet, they feel sore still sometimes, which is weird because when running or riding I don't really feel much pain. Haven't been swiming much because we recently got our IM Tats.. yes we did it!..

his and hers... matching IM tats... wanted to make it something meaningful for both of us



Courtesy of Paul's Cycling Racing Team, they took a pic of a pic



Anyways, besides that we've been kind of training separately, I've been doing my usual rides in Oregon, and Res has been riding with the team back home.

Yesterday I had a chance to do a ride here in Oregon which believe it or not is pretty famous out here. It is called the McKenzie Pass, even though the "official" ride starts at Sisters, OR I figured since I was comming from Corvallis/Eugene area was easier to start from the west end and head over east. The beauty of the ride, besides the landscape and hard climbs, is that the actual pass is closed to car traffic every winter and they open it back up mid June to cars. Yesterday was the last day it was closed to cars therefore making it the last day that you could ride it carless. I learned about the ride from some friends from work who were doing it on Friday but since I had those infamous deadlines I worked.



Group I eneded up riding with (a few missing)



I got my usual bike at Peaks which was pretty awesome to me this time, gave me a complimentary bike rental, I guess I got now a frequent rider pass :). So for that thanks Peaks!. I headed back to the hotel pretty early on Friday as the drive to McKenzie Bridge, OR is about 1:45 from Corvallis, it's a nice drive and not that complicated to get there. I headed out there like at 7:00 am after grabbing cinnamon rolls and fruit at the hotel, which were good source of energy. I grabbed a few bananas for the road and headed out. As I passed Eugene and took 126 East to head to McKenzie Bridge I noticed a few cars that had bikes in them or on them, so I figured I was heading in the right direction. A few miles east of the town, I saw that everyone was turning right to the Ranger Station, which from what I read was the starting point. As I was getting my bike out of the car, I saw a few folks and I asked them if I could ride with them. They said that they had done it in the past so it would be nice go with some people rather than climbing alone. We headed out as as we entered the road 242 that leads to the pass we caught up with a group of 11 or 12 riders from Salem that were keeping a nice pace, I ended up sticking to them. My original plan was to summit and head back down, but while we were climibing and talking to everyone they convince me to head to Sisters for lunch and head back. That meant that I would have a few things... 1) double the ride distance, 2) would be in for climbing the summit twice, granted the second climb is about 2/3 the first climb but still a climb right after lunch. So considering that I haven't done a long ride since IMTX, by long I mean longer than 25-27 miles, I was getting into something I wasn't sure I was ready for. I knew it was 40 miles of climbing at least. But after talking with them for 20 miles... they conviced me to go up down and back up again... so I stayed with them. Got to the summit, hang out there for a while and then headed down to Sisters for lunch. Nice town, small, a tons for shops, and we also found a cycling shop so we bought some mixes for our drinks, which was good, because I hadn't plan on 4 bottles, I had only planned on 2. 



Mt. Washington from Windy Point :) and sea of lava and of course... the "mistress"



Anyways, heading back from Sisters, it is interesting, because when you get to Sisters, you don't go down to the 1400 ft that you start on the other end, you go down to about 2500 ft or so, yet you have to go back up to 5200 ft which is the summit. It is a 15 mile climb, which I honestly thought was a bit tougher than the 25 mile 3100 ft climb, legs burned almost the whole way, and heart rate was just through the roof and of course I was starting to get tired about 3/4 of the way up. I pulled over at about 4900 ft to take a quick break and enjoy the view, I knew we had some people from the team behind so I wasn't last.

 

View of Three Sisters from Sisters, OR

So after that short break, I continued by climb to the top, we waited for the rest, took a gel and headed on the 25 mile ride "downhill" stretch. It was actually a bit more interesting than I anticipated, luckly I was wearing my windbreaker because we had a headwind going down, granted we were still pushing 27-30 mph going down, but the wind and false flats of that stretch made it somewhat tough. Got to the snow gates met the rest of them, and we continued down, we split up because those guys were just flying going down, I guess need to practice more my downhill skills, those switchbacks at 30 mph are kind of hard, and I surely didn't want to end up in the ditch, it was fun though :). (max speed on the downhill 36.6 as recorded on the Garmin)

The "Mistress" overlooking the Three Sisters

Total ride time was about 5:40 for 80 miles (78 and change as the Garmin said). Total climb +6000 feet, best ride ever, in terms of challenging climbs, views, people, roads, all of it, was great. Totally recommended if you ever have a chance to come this way. Definitely plan for a whole day trip, come prepared for different weather, we started at 55-deg and at the top was clear and maybe 60-deg, the wind going down and with the sweat makes it for a cold ride. Riders that had done it, said that there are sometimes that they get to the top and its snowing and raining, while at the bottom might be just cloudy.



Hard not to smile with that view!!!

If you want to see more pics from the ride, you can click HERE

 For now, looking forward to go home for a couple of weeks and putting some training hours there. Perhaps starting to get back into the training discipline and get ready for the Olympic in July.