Souper Bowl Sunday

It's no secret that I'm not the world's most prolific blogger, but after a major triathlon I try to write up a race report within the month. Or two. Minor triathlons ("B" and "C" races) occasionally get a mention and cross country ski races almost never make the grade. Skiing is meant to be my antidote to competition. Occasionally while skiing, Aaron will tell me to practice my weak side V1 or suggest doing overspeed drills or intervals, and without much hesitation, I politely decline. I do want to become a better skier both technically and fitness-wise, but I don't want to treat going to the mountain like a training session. I want to feel smooth and fluid, go fast, see snow on trees, have fun winding down descents and enjoy a hot bowl of lentil soup at the end of the day. That might explain why I haven't improved a lot since I started skate skiing 2 years ago.

I'm also the kid who used to cry when my mom would beat me at Sorry or my brother at ping-pong, so I seek out competition even in the sport that I vow to treat non-competitively. "Souperbowl Sunday" is a benefit event for the Women's and Children's Free Restaurant at Mt Spokane that includes an a women's only 10km freestyle ski race. It was my first race 2 years ago, and I shocked myself by going out way too fast, crashing several times, but being so terrified of being caught while crashing or bonking that I went on to win the thing. And thus began the flow of competitive juices. The next year involved a bit more confidence, a few more races, and after winning every race I entered (no, these were not big Birkebeiner type events), I thought that was just the way it was going to be for me on skis. I didn't even have to do overspeed drills, and I could win.

For the race, I showed up at the Selkirk Lodge on Mt. Spokane in typically late fashion, was the 2nd to last person to register for the race (thanks Jayne for being more delinquent than I), and did a brief warm up. As I eyed up the start line I realized that my days of Souperbowl surpremacy were no longer secure. Deb Bauer, a local skiing legend who has raced in Leavenworth the past few years on Superbowl weekend was there, along with Allison Scott, who has been training really well and was testing several pairs of skis to find the fastest ones. Also in attendance were several members of the Jr. Nordic Racing Team. As is the standard, race director Robin announced that we would be required to double pole the 1st 20 meters or so - not my strength. Maybe I should have listened to Aaron's drill suggestions . . .

Naturally, I ended up behind the lead pack after the start and watched Deb pull away on the long, gradual climb that starts the race. I eased into the hill and gradually picked my way around a couple of people and set my sights on Deb. It required more focus than any skiing I've ever done before, but it worked and by the end of the first km I was sitting right on her tail scheming about when the best time would be to pass. I figured I'd take it easy for a few minutes and surge at some point on the back of Shadow Mtn. No matter, when Deb found out I was there, she put the hurt on and surged up the steeper part of Shadow, putting a gap in between us again. So much for my original plan. Onto Raven's Glide, a pretty, gradually rolling trail I tucked back in behind Deb, trying to pass, but could never find a place wide enough to get around. I was so close to getting around her on Hemlock, but Deb was savvy and knew how to hold the front position. My only option was to pass on the outside of a curve but being forced to take the longer route meant that I didn't have enough relative speed to pass. The only trail wide enough was Alpine and, knowing this, Deb hit it hard, and it took an amazing effort to stick with her. We cruised down the other side and past the finish to Brian's Hill. With less than 1 km remaining we had to go up and down a short, brutal hill. I decided to give it my all and just complete the pass to the outside, but ended up slipping in my frantic state. In that second, Deb put what I determined to be an insurmountable gap in between us.

I'm really frustrated with myself now for letting the race go in those final seconds when my legs and lungs were screaming "enough already." I shouldn't have listened to them. Around my head rattled a variety of stupid little thoughts "you don't need to hurt any more. . . you're an ironman triathlete, not a 10km ski racer . . . there's no way you can catch her in the last 100 meters . . . 2nd place is fine. . . Deb is more experienced and a stronger competitor. . . "
When it comes down to it, I'm not an xc ski racer, but I am a competitor and I lost that race because I wasn't willing to hurt when things hurt. Obviously, I completely respect Deb and know that she has and will accomplished way more than I ever will on skis, but I'm disappointed in my own chutzpah. I just need to make sure that the result is different if I'm faced with a similarly close finish in a triathlon.

After the race, I met up with Brian Southworth, one of our xc ski instructors through Fitness Fanatics, who had agreed to give me some classic ski pointers before next weekend's Langlauf 10 km classic race. In addition to being a phenomenal ski instructor, Brian can run with the best of them, and we spent about as much time talking race psychology as classic ski technique. It was a lot of fun! I don't expect huge things from next weekend, but I won't start with the kids in the back of the pack, so I should at least lop some time off from last year. Ultimately, I'm just looking to have fun :)

p.s. My Spokane Swifts teammate Jayne McLaughlin returned to xc skiing after two children and several years' hiatus to claim the title in the classic race. You'd be more impressed if you could see the outdated gear she was using. Nice job Jayne!

Victoria. . .

. . . is so much warmer than Spokane. After finally being deemed a passport-bearing non-terrorist, I was allowed to invade the country to the north and come to training camp 2/3 the way through. The good news was that I got off the Swartz bay ferry with just enough time to make it to our Wednesday afternoon sodium/sweat loss test at the brand new Pacific Institute of Sport Excellence. The bad news was that this bike trainer session was 3 hours long.

I have never spent 3 constructive hours on a trainer in my life. I was honestly expecting a 45 minute test and thought that everyone was joking when they told me to settle in for 3 hours. Being a bit tardy, Torbjorn (my bike) and I were excommunicated to the nether regions of the lab with Brent McMahon and Coach Lance. It didn't take Coach Lance very long to decide that Brent and I weren't as interesting (or perhaps we were just a lot less mature?) as the larger group of athletes, so he left Brent and I to rock the B team alone. His loss. I don't know who won the sweat contest, but Brent and I definitely had more fun than anyone else in the lab. A few corny jokes, and 3 hours flew by.

Coach Lance - too cool for the B team

and seriously, he could have been hanging out with this lot. the photo unfortunately does not show Brent's incredibly full and masculine moustache.

That was when my appetite began to take over all waking moments of my life. Even though camp has been busy, I'm certainly not doing IM volume training, yet no amount of food seems to satiate. Luckily, Dewain and Judy have opened their doors to me, my bikes, and my putrid clothing again. With full access to their kitchen, I've been able keep a loose handle on the appetite.

Since the sweat test, there have been a few more trainer sessions, some frustrating swims (I'm not launching into that) and some blissful runs. The trails of Victoria are an amazing resource and remind me of the beautiful runs that were so much a part of my life in Dunedin. The longer runs are exhilarating, and the speedwork is so tactically simple: stay right in my coach's shadow. It works brilliantly - I just wish I could hire him to be my rabbit in the IM marathon.

I had considered two options post-camp. A tour de Canadian nordic centers, starting with Whistler and the Callahan Valley 2010 Olympic venue, or a few extra days in Victoria where I would be able to ride my bike outside! Given that I got to camp so late and that I haven't ridden outside since IM Arizona, I went with the latter option, and it's been well worth it. Coach Dan took Curtis and I on a scenic 2 hour base ride after our run intervals on Saturday, and then Sunday we hit the hills for 3 hours. It was a ride that very much mirrored our hill ride from camp in September except that there was a lot more snow, ice, slush and mud involved this time around. It was awesome and it was a reality check. I remember those hills being deliciously tough and totally manageable in September, but they were just plain tough this time around. I'm completely encouraged though, because I know that come June, I'll relish the hills again. I needed these few months of not riding to be reminded of how much fun it will be to grow strong on the bike again.

Monday was a bit of a treat, as Dewain took me up to Mt. Washington for a skate ski excursion. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of terrain open, but it was sufficient for Dewain to get a good taste of the sport, and it was actually warmer up on the mountain in the snow than it was in town. Not that I can even begin to complain about the weather around here. It's been ~10 degrees and sunny every day. After a few initial mishaps that involved a bruised derriere caused by too-short rental skis, Dewain totally got the hang of skate skiing. If my camera hadn't run out of batteries, I would have photo evidence. Coming home from a long, sunny day of skiing to Judy's home-cooked dinner, I had to wonder how I got so lucky!

Now I just have one more trainer session tonight and a run around Thetis Lake in the morning (my favorite!) before heading back to Spokane. I wouldn't mind staying in this winter training wonderland indefinitely, except that I really miss my Aaron, my friends, co-workers, and pets. Besides, I'm totally out of money, so it's back to the real world for this happy triathlete.

Don't worry Carl, I'll be home tomorrow and I promise to treat you to a bucketful of gut-loaded crickets.

They basically forgot to put it on the truck today

After yesterdays "adverse weather conditions," I spent another entire day (minus a 16 mile am run) waiting around for the package that UPS forgot to put on the truck today. Below is a copy/paste synopsis of the tracking infomation with my personal comments in purple. Why purple? Not sure. Best read from bottom to top. I welcome anyone who might find a thread of logic in the system and is willing to explain it to me.

Location
Date
Local Time
Description
SEATTLE,WA, US

01/13/2009
3:54 P.M.
THE PACKAGE WAS LEFT IN A UPS FACILITY / FORWARDED TO THE FACILITY IN THE DESTINATION CITY

01/13/2009
5:24 A.M.
OUT FOR DELIVERY (PSYCHE! But we'll wait until 4 pm to admit that
SEATTLE,WA, US it never got on the truck)

01/12/2009
10:00 A.M.
ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS (this is total BS. Unless overcast skies in Seattle)
SEATTLE,WA, US represent adversity)


SEATTLE,WA, US (and back again . . . )
01/11/2009
7:59 P.M.
ARRIVAL SCAN

01/11/2009
7:59 P.M.
ARRIVAL SCAN (still trying to figure out why it went from Seattle to
REDMOND,WA, US Redmond?!)

01/10/2009
7:20 A.M.
DEPARTURE SCAN (wait, where are you going!)
SEATTLE,WA, US

01/09/2009
12:01 A.M.
ADVERSE WEATHER CONDITIONS (It arrived in Seattle at 12:01 am on Friday, but
SEATTLE,WA, US has yet to be delivered 5 days later . . . )

01/08/2009
8:32 P.M.

DEPARTURE SCAN
01/08/2009
6:46 P.M.

ORIGIN SCAN
01/08/2009
4:17 P.M.

PICKUP SCAN
US
01/08/2009
7:24 P.M.
BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Viva FedEx! Boo UPS!

I've been on a wee road trip these past couple of weeks. It's been going smoothly, for the most part, but there have been a few inevitable hiccups that seem to occur each time I try to leave one location for the next.

Just after New Years (which was a fun one involving a night ski with Robin, John, and Manny and then a pajama clad sled-fest with Phaedra and Shelby), I hit the road. My dad was in Mexico, and in the midst of incessantly falling heavy snow, it was my duty to visit his house periodically to shovel crucial areas. My final shoveling job occurred the night before road trip departure. It was raining when we finished shoveling at 12:30 am, and upon waking at 4:45 am, there were another 7 inches or so of fresh, wet snow. Given the time constraints, I ignored it and headed down the driveway to drop Aaron off for his 6 am flight to San Jose. Coming around the slight bend at the end of the driveway, it became immediately apparently to me that stopping was not going to be an option.

Hiccup #1 : stuck in a snowbank at the bottom of the driveway approximately 0.6 miles into a 2300 mile road trip. Luckily, Aaron had insisted that I bring an avalanche shovel and he proved adept at using it.

20 minutes later we were back on the road, which was scary icy after the previous night's rain. I dropped Aaron off at the airport and carried on down I-90 in terrifying conditions. I saw several cars spin off of the road right in front of me and got briefly stuck again after stopping in the median to ask one crash victim if he was okay. I then allowed him to push me back onto the road. I'm sure that he was grateful for my stopping. Once I was a few hundred miles south, the roads cleared, the sun began to shine, and driving on real pavement for the 1st time in weeks proved to be a real treat.

I am the first to admit to being a summer person. I really enjoy Smartwool and skiing, but more than anything I love long, sunny days, lightweight clothing, bright blue skies and big shady green trees. Driving through Southeastern Washington, Eastern Oregon and Northern Nevada and California in January wouldn't light up the "oh this is so beautiful" parts of my brain on an FMRI but the stark landscape was impressive nonetheless.

Blowing snow between Pendelton and LeGrande, OR.

The roads are finally clearing up!

Northern Nevada near Sunset

Some of the straightest roads I've ever driven

Then, 850 miles later, I arrived in Tahoe around 8:30 p.m. The hilarious part is that I actually beat Aaron in getting there, as his plane was late due to extensive de-icing. Aaron, Noah, and Lily arrived about 15 minutes later and we settled into the rental cabin for the Scott family post-Christmas Christmas. It was a great week. Skate skiing, hard-core sledding, and eating Jim's awesome cooking dominated the agenda. Lily was fantastic, bravely taking on cross country skiing, ice skating, and sledding. She also mastered the all-important life skill of blowing up balloons. The good news is that none of the sledding injuries appear to be permanent.

Hiccup #2. Trying to leave Tahoe without any car keys. It's a long story, but instead of leaving on Thursday morning, as planned, I spent that day frantically trying to find a locksmith, walking into town to fax documents to the car dealership in Spokane to get a key code, pulling my dad out of surgery so that he could do the same, etc. In the end, it resulted in one extra day in sunny Tahoe, an amazing sunset ski along the ridge line at Tahoe-Donner, and a lovely swim in the Trukee Community Pool. I did learn that it's harder to swim at 6600 feet than at 2000.

Next destination: Bend. I really like Bend. The views of the volcanoes from town are spectacular, the downtown is charming, and there is no dearth of exciting outdoor activities in the region. They also have an awesome 50m pool in an aquatic facility that is open to the public year round. Spokane should take notes. The purpose of swinging through town was to attempt to avenge my dismal showing on the mountain bike in last year's winter triathlon national championships. In that race, I was unable to stay on my bike for any longer than 3 consecutive seconds, and I vowed to learn to handle my bike on snow. Instead, I thought about trying to ride my bike in the snow, but threw my hands up in surrender when the shed housing my mtn bike got too snowed in.

There were definitely some positive aspects of this year's race compared to last year's:

1. I arrived on time

2. I practiced mtn biking the day before

3. I deflated my tires

4. I tapered the day before the race by skiing for 2 hours, riding my bike, and swimming.

Well, it was all for naught, because I still got my butt kicked. Last year I led out of the run, but this year I came into T1 in 3rd. There was a super-steep hill at the end, and my legs decided that they weren't really into running up it. Even though I got passed by most of the rest of the elite field on the bike, I stayed on my bike for the most part, and conditions were nasty. The day before it had been cold, dry and the snow was packed, but an inversion overnight caused it to start raining and then the sun came out and turned the snow to slop. 2007 nats all over again. The only real bike-related complication arose when I started to hear my rear tire rubbing against the bike frame. I had endo'd a few times so I assumed that I had knocked something out of joint in doing so. After the race I figured out the real culprit - a non-existent rear skewer. Talk about being prepared to race!

My bad. The trip wasn't a total waste though - I discovered the Westward Ho motel. At $29/night including fridge, microwave, and WiFi, it was a screaming deal.

My other option was the Holiday Motel next door, but it cost $5 more.

Hiccup #3: US Homeland Security. Because my coach lives in Victoria, Canada, going to training camp involves crossing national borders, and I forgot to bring my passport to Tahoe. I had Aaron overnight it to my brother's house in Seattle on Thursday night after he flew home, and according to the tracking number is arrived in Seattle that very night. I had planned to catch an early ferry to Victoria this morning (Monday), so assumed that my passport would arrive in plenty of time. Well, it's Monday night and I'm still sitting in Seattle.

Apparently my passport hasn't been able to make it from the UPS warehouse to my brother's house for the past 4 days due to "adverse weather conditions." That's funny because I am in Seattle, and aside from a bit of cloud cover (it is Seattle, after all), the weather is far from adverse. 50 degrees, no wind or precip, a UPS delivery driver's dream I would imagine. So perfect that a UPS truck drove right past the house today. The more amazingly idiotic aspect of the whole situation is that I am not able to pick up my package from the warehouse because no delivery has been attempted yet. So because UPS won't even try to get my package to me, I can't try to get it from them. Moreover, there is no longer any scheduled delivery date, due the continuing "adverse weather" situation. I love that UPS gets to make up an "act of God" to absolve themselves of the ability to deliver packages as contracted.

Who knows when I'll get to training camp at this rate. I keep looking at the training schedule with a mix of sadness and trepidation. I'm getting there so late at this point that I'm going to be the slow, soft one who forgot (or never learned?) how to swim. And I know that ultimately this is my fault for forgetting my passport (though I'm going to blame homeland security a bit because I don't know that a passport is going to stop a terrorist coming from Victoria), but I heretofore vow to never use UPS again. I know 2 lovely people who work for FedEx, we use FedEx at work, and they've always been great problem solvers when we have issues, and they can't possibly do a worse job than UPS.

A rant. It's been a long day of waiting for the brown truck that never came.

Phillip

This house is called Phillip. Tim and Rebecca named the house Phillip, and it's a very special house. It's where Aaron lived when we first met. I suppose it was actually where he lived when we second met, because we first met in a bike shop and I buggered back off to New Zealand and blew him off for a year. After Aaron and I second met, Aaron wooed me on Phillip's front porch with his apple tart. At that point, I was too polite to tell him that I don't like pastries. He really won me over when he took my superfluous zucchini and cauliflower from the garden and made delicious concoctions from it while I studied microbiology. That porch was the first place that Aaron and I ever kissed, and I've been known to drag him over there for a smooch on special occasions. Aaron moved all the way across the street, so Phillip's porch is always at our disposal.

For the past few years, Aaron and I have had a tradition of celebrating the solstices. I (the triathlete) am in charge of the summer solstice celebration, since long days and minimal clothing make me happiest. Aaron (the biathlete) is in charge of the winter solstice celebrations, as he is thrilled by long underwear, copious amounts of snow, and cozy fires on frigid nights. I wasn't surprised when I came home from work last night (the winter solstice) to a fairly untraditional but delicious 5 course meal. I wasn't surprised when we went for a walk after dinner in the snow. We walked around Cannon Park and checked out the christmas lights until I began to freeze and whine. I was distracted for a while when we assisted a family recently transplanted from Maui (yikes!) that was stuck in the snow. In the end, there were so many people helping that we all just ended up pushing the stuck car the 2 blocks to their house.

When Aaron told me to join him on Phillip's porch after the walk, I thought he was being sweet and romantic. I didn't know that he was going to ask me to marry him. I was surprised, but it was sweet and I said yes. Actually, I think I said "sure." The stuff of princess dreams, eh?

I suppose I should have been more onto it. I did receive several queries over the past few months: "Are you sure you don't want an engagement ring? You're not just saying that?" My (truthful) answer was no - I don't have any desire to wear a ring, and I think buying one would be a waste of money and resources. Aaron wasn't completely satisfied with that answer, so he superglued (the man loves epoxy) a pebble from the foundation of the now-burned-down bike shop to a simple band. So ladies, if you ever want to check out my "rock," I've really got one. The difficulty that ensued when I tried to replace my mittens post proposal reaffirmed my desire to remain ring-free.

I know that this is a tri blog and not a relationship blog, but I think it's worth mentioning that Aaron actually wanted to do this 6 months ago on the summer solstice, but it was the day before IM Cd'A. Then, he postponed his plans until the equinox, but I was traveling back from training camp in Victoria, so he had to wait another 3 months. Kona would have been a romantic spot for a proposal, but hours of sustained vomiting left me rather cranky. He is one patient triathlete partner. And I sure do love him.

9 posts

There are officially 9 blog posts between this one and the last one in which I complained about snow. I was actually about to complain about lack of snow last week. It was the day before National Club XC Championships, and a doozy was forcasted. 4-8 inches of snow and bitterly cold temps and winds. What a perfect day for running, ay? Well, the sub-zero temps and 25 mph winds transpired, but not a whole lot on the snow front. Perhaps a couple of inches on the South hill and a mere skiff in the Valley where the race was to take place. And despite my whinging of 9 posts past, I was disappointed in the lack of snow. Mid-December, not enough snow on the mountain to groom for skating, and winter tri nationals less than a month away!

Nonetheless, with the high temp reaching 4 degrees on the mountain (a great improvement over the previous day's -2) Aaron and I took the classic skis out and followed some of the tracks cut by others around the Mt Spokane nordic center. Cutting classic tracks isn't nearly as fun as it is to skate really fast, but it satisfied my need to see snow and sun and participate in a sport that doesn't involve swimming, biking, or running. Plus, I experienced the unique pleasure of having my eyelashes encrusted in ice.

Then, just when I was going to sit down and write a blog about Spokane's tragically snowless state, I noticed that there was a slight chance of snow in the forecast mid-week. A few inches were possible, they said. As predicted, snow was falling steadily when I left for work on Wednesday (my usual 15 minute commute took 50) and with noone coming through the doors all day, my co-workers and I entertained ourselves by watching the snow pile up on our cars. There was at least a foot by the time I left work and the roads were a disaster. This is Spokane - people are supposed to know how to drive in inclement weather, but there are only so many plows in this world and the snow was falling incessantly. I went for a swim after work and watching the snow fall past the window every time I breathed was very cool. The next morning was stunningly beautiful. The snow continued to fall, and we had about 2 feet on the ground already.

The best thing about a city-stopping snowstorm (yes, even the malls were closed, and it's prime holiday shopping season), is the extent to which it brings everyone outside. Even in single digit temperatures, the whole neighborhood was out shoveling. And shoveling and shoveling. It turned out to be a recored-setting storm, with 25 inches in 24 hours at our house. That's my dad (an industrious sort) plowing his driveway (it's a long one) for the umpteenth time.

The worst part of a city-stopping snowstorm? Trying to train. I like to think that I'm pretty hard-core when it comes to running, but it is simply impossible to do so in knee-deep snow. So I tricked myself out in my teal Sorrells left over from my middle school days and Aaron's Carharts. I tucked my sweatshirt into the Carharts to make them fit (and to make myself look extra cool) and trucked into town to go to the gym. I love that pedetrians completely take over the streets when cars can't pass. There were people out snowshoeing and xc skiing, and I even saw a couple of snowboarders carving down Monroe street. Regretably, the storm took its toll on the gym, and with a single person staffing the place, the pool was closed :( I did manage to get in a decent treadmill workout (yawn) and trudged back up the South Hill to make dinner.

The following day was another snow day, so Aaron and I headed back up to Mt. Spokane where some preliminary grooming had taken place. It wasn't quite set up enough for skating, and my classic skis were slow (think I need to lose weight or shorten my wax pocket a bit), but it was absolutely gorgeous. I love that mountain in all seasons, but winter is particularly special. We didn't finish skiing until after dark. A fine day indeed.

Now I'm at my dad's house in a desperate attempt to facilitate a run outside on traffic-free country roads that are still decently packed tomorrow morning, but it looks like we're in for more snow tonight. In fact the only pictures on the 10-day weather forecast are snowflakes. I'd like it to be known that I'm not complaining about snow in this post. Lots of cold, feathery, light snow is perfect for holiday cheer (and for skiing). If it's still doing this in April, I'll be writing something reminiscint of 9 blogs ago, but now it's time for celebration. Even though my ability to run outdoors is presently compromised, yay for snow! I can't wait for my brother and sister to come home so we can do some ultimate sledding (full-contact sled racing down my dad's driveway). Aaron and Bri have joined in the action in years past, and I fully expect optimal conditions this year.

The videos

Very funny grand canyon videos. 1st up . . . "Alice cookin' beans she's got the hot dogs on."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flAYSNIRILI

Dee's modified version

http://www.thepenalcolony.com/familyvids/shelbycooper.mp4