Critter Tales and Furry Fears

I run and ride along Bellaire Drive a lot as it’s a straight shot out to Benbrook.  I see many critters on my training adventures.  Dogs , squirrels, some snakes, armadillos (usually they’re road kill), deer, and road runners just to name a few.

Most are totally innocent and never threaten me.  Most.

Squirrels are tricky though.  Let me tell you, those suckers can turn on a dime!  Although I am not afraid of squirrels, they have, on more than one occasion, tried to make me crash on my bike by freezing - - - turning to scamper off away from me, making me believe I may proceed with no fear of death - - - then FOR NO APPARENT OR RELEVANT REASON - - - running right in front of me, leading to my imminent death. 

There was a snake one day, too.  I was doing repeats on Bellaire and I rode by this poor snake (when they are dead I feel sorry for them and my fear of the ferocious beasts wanes) who had been run over by, what looked like, a bike tire.  I rode by it, very close so as to stay in the bike lane.  It was partially laid out and looked very much dead.  I finished my out and back and headed out again.  I made note to ride closer to the curb as I came upon the “dead” snake again.  The snake was very much NOT dead at this point and was coiled up.  CRAP!  My heart jumped. 

Ok, it was not this small, but I probably overreacted

For those of you that did the Trident Sports open water swim on July 21^st, you heard about the strange fish phenomenon.  Tim and I were out setting buoys on Friday night and we came upon an area of the lake where Tim told me “water was bubbling up, probably from a pipe under the lake.”  For a moment I believed him.  As I sat in my kayak looking at the bubbling water (that was a good four feet wide), I realized this “pipe” was moving.  I screamed.  No, I take that back, I squealed.  Not in joy, in pure fear.  This was straight out of a horror movie, no joke. 

As I watched it, I am not sure if I was frozen in fear or pure curiosity, but I sat and starred at it, little tiny fish started flopping out all over the place.  It was like a moving lake crop circle.  FREAKED.ME.OUT.

Deer are an elegant creature.  They are truly graceful and, on occasion, I am fortunate to see one or two deer on my rides through Benbrook.  I often lose my focus as I ride by and just watch them.  However, I have this absolutely strange fear of being rammed, entirely by accident, by a deer.  My friend Larson showed me a video of a guy getting rammed by a deer and I now have this bizarre fear of getting t-boned as I’m riding through Benbrook.  I’m truly afraid that the doe is setting me up.  Gracefully meandering into the road to catch my attention and then BAM, the buck gets me (yes, this is a true fear).   If they’re just grazing by the side of the road, I’m totally cool with that.  But if one runs out in front of me my knuckles go white and I attain a death grip on my handle bars as I await its partner that is lurking in the trees ready to ram me.  If you’d like to share this fear with me, you can watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2oymHHyV1M.

They should post signs that say, "bike stealing deer ahead"

By far, the scariest critter-related incident I had while training occurred one evening about 11:30PM on Bellaire.  I hadn’t gotten my workout in yet, so I headed out the door at 11PM for my run.  I donned my white top, white skirt, florescent/reflective orange visor, clip on visor light, pepper spray, and my flashing red light so as to be visible to any passing cars (critters were not on my mind).  Well, I have watched far too many episodes of Criminal Minds to be able to sanely venture into the dark by myself at such an hour.  I was on high alert as it was.  As I headed back toward my apartment, I noticed the beady eyes of a critter focused on me.  The critter was in the bike path I was running on and I didn’t want to run too far into the street.  I slowed up.  I slowed up more.  It was going to be a chicken fight and it looked like I was going to lose.  The critter stood its ground, so focused on me that it was perfectly frozen, awaiting my passing.  I began to run into the street, to keep my distance from the critter, and as I approached, to my sheer shock, I realized what it was.  A smashed beer can, with the light from my visor reflecting on it, making it appear to have eyes.

There is absolutely no point to this post.  I just thought I would humor you with some of the things that go through my mind as I’m training J

Beware the smashed beer can animals of the night!

Shiny Happy People

A lot of people say that everything happens for a reason.  I don’t know that I used to believe this, but with the choices I’ve made in the last five years, I am beginning to believe it more and more. 

In the end of 2006 I decided to move to Texas, which led me to joining the marathon team for Team In Training.  After being a participant and mentor I chose to take the step to becoming a coach.  Right before the start of a season our walk coach decided not to return to coaching.  There is a riff in Team In Training between the walkers and the runners, but in my mind everyone out there is doing the same distance for the same cause, it just may take some longer than others.  So, I stepped up and volunteered to be the walk coach.  It was quite possibly one of the most humbling things I have ever done.  If you think running a marathon is hard, try walking one!  The people I coached on the walk team were driven and passionate about the cause and I learned a great deal from their determination. 

In 2008 a friend of mine talked me into doing a triathlon.  I tried to get out of it for the longest time by using the excuse that I didn’t have a bike, but I really (REALLY, REALLY, REALLY) hate being bad at things and I didn’t think I could swim very well, that was my true deterrent.  Another friend showed up with a mountain bike and my excuses were gone.  I did my first sprint in the end of 2008 in Cleburne.  Now, I am slightly competitive and was told (threatened, in my mind) by Fred Wood that “I would be the one he would beat”.  He’d found out it was my first tri and had set his mind on beating me as his goal.  Nope.  No, sir, was I going to let that happen.  Carlo (who is the one that got me into this whole mess) tracked my time and how far I was behind Fred the entire race.  It was one of the most adrenaline filled few hours of my life! 

Here are a few things that happened during that race:

-          I sat down in transition. Yup.  I popped a squat right there by my bike and took my sweet time putting bandaids on (I had really bad blisters). 
-          I didn’t have a cycle computer and I’m pretty sure that only mile 11 was marked on the bike.  I remember the scenery being really pretty, but I had NO IDEA how far I had gone or how far I had left.
-          I ran my heart out.  The fastest 5K I’ve ever run was at this race.  Raw adrenaline and the pure lack of any sort of knowledge of what I was doing led to this.

The point being, I fell in love with triathlon at this point.  The next year I ran the ultra at El Scorcho and decided that there was no logical reason to run 20 miles on Saturday followed by a 10 mile “recovery” (really, 10 mile recovery run???) on Sunday.  In the end of 2009 my focus became triathlon.

Somehow, over the next few years, I progressed from walk coach to run coach to triathlon coach.  Team In Training is an amazing organization and the passion of the people involved in it are what makes it so enjoyable to be a part of.  Coaching for Team In Training keeps me grounded and reminded of the hard work and dedication it took me to get where I am today.  The thirst for learning and growing that the participants have is addicting and entices me to coach them to the best of my ability so they reach (and exceed) their goals.

Sometimes you can get so caught up in where you are that you forget how you got there.

Coaching reminds me that when I started, I couldn’t swim from one end of the pool to the other without hyperventilating and feeling like my lungs were going to explode.  That I didn’t know how to get my tire off to change it, quick release anyone?  Gears…I bought my first road bike off of Craigslist (picked it up in a dark parking lot late at night…thanks for going with me Mer).  I proceeded to take it for its maiden ride as my new bike, then I proceeded to shift it all the way into the hardest gear.  Then it stopped shifting.  The darn thing was broken!!!  I took it to my friend, Don Armstrong, who kindly explained (I’m sure he was laughing a little), that the brake levers were shifters too. ..so, I guess it wasn’t broken.  Clipless pedals.  Oh the stories.  Slow motion falling and being able to do nothing about it…

I had my Team In Training participants take part in the Disco Sprint Triathlon this past weekend.  They have been training for over two months now and I wanted to get them into a race setting.  For some this was their first triathlon, ever.  For some it was their first in years.  For all of them, it was the beginning of the next phase of their training for either an Olympic or Half Ironman.  Sunday morning was a bit quiet.  I kept trying to find some of my TNT kiddos and they seemed to have wandered off.  Many of them were withdrawn and some were outwardly nervous.  Few were very smiley.

Come the finish line and each and every one of them finished with a smile on their face and each and every one of them cheered and got excited as the others crossed the finish line.  I am so proud of all of them!  The smiles on their faces when they finished are engrained in my mind.  They were like gossipy school kids when they finished, asking each other how they did and how they felt.  One of my guys told me he swam the entire distance without stopping.  This was HUGE for him.  HUGE!  Again, it grounds me to see the pure joy that can come from someone completing the entire swim of a sprint distance race.  Another one of my participants knocked 19 minutes off of her previous time at Disco.  19 MINUTES!  She was bouncing around with a Cheshire Cat smile on her face.  The best part to me?  That they were sharing this excitement with their Teammates.    

As much as I would like to attribute part of their success on Sunday to my tutu and Monica’s afro wig and sunglasses, I think it had to do a lot more with hard work on their part.  That day I was thanked time and time again (and so was Monica who is ROCKING as an assistant coach this season!) for getting them to the point they were at that day.  It made me so proud of them and proud to know that I could bring that much joy to someone just by coaching them.  I’m only part of the equation though.  My TNT kiddos have put in a ton of hard work this season and I can’t wait to see them all complete their events.  I know there is a long way to go and a lot of nerves, but they are more prepared than they realize.  When their big day comes they’ll have smiles on their faces for weeks to follow.

About two years ago I figured out what I wanted to be when I grow up.  It took me two years to fully realize it and take the leap.  I’ve made significant changes in my life this year.  The next couple of years aren’t going to be easy, but with hard work and support of some amazing friends, I know I’ll reach my dream. 

Bag o' Tricks

If you are a triathlete you have received (or bought) enough bags during your tri-life to send a family of five on a two week ski vacation, so why don’t you put one of those bags to good use on a daily basis?

Have you ever packed for your after work ride, run or swim only to get to the trails and realize, crap, you’ve forgotten your socks, visor, sunglasses, goggles or (ladies) your sports bra.  What oh what do you do?  Tell your training buddies you’re heading out for a beer and you’ll see them there after they finish their training?  I don’t think so. 

I used to belong do the Downtown YMCA.  I headed over for a lunchtime run one day only to realize I’d left my sports bra at home.  I had no time after work to get my run in, so it was now or never…what to do, what to do.  I stared at my locker for a bit and then pulled out my swimsuit.  I’ve seen plenty of women doing entire triathlons in swimsuits and never could figure out how it would be very comfortable.  So, I figured on this day of my forgetfulness, I might as well try something new in order to get my workout in.  I threw on my bathing suit, running shorts and a shirt and headed to the treadmill.  It was a HOT run, bathing suit material DOES NOT BREATH!  But I got my workout in.  If I hadn’t had that extra suit in my locker, I may not have gotten my workout in, which wouldn’t have made me very happy.

Yes, as a child, I was a Girl Scout and I still live by the motto “be prepared”.  I keep a bag in my car that I call my “bag o’ tricks”.  If I head out for a workout and realize I’ve forgotten something, my bag has a backup for almost everything I need in it.

Here are my contents:

-          Swimsuit

-          Swim Cap

-          Goggles

-          Contacts

-          Running shorts

-          Running shirt

-          Sports bra

-          Socks

-          Visor

-          Gym towel (can be used as a mini swim towel)

-          Jacket (winter)

-          Gloves (winter)

-          Ear warmer (winter)

-          Two produce bags (winter)…what are these for, you ask?  Ever forget your toe covers while riding in the winter?  Wrap a produce bag in the toes of your shoes and it helps a little.

Now I don’t have an old pair of bike shorts in there or running or cycle shoes, so if I forget certain things then I’m out of luck (I do carry about four pairs of sunglasses with me at all times, so I should never be short on those!), but I can pretty much pull off a workout with what’s in the bag if I have to.  I’d suggest adding things like body glide and Chapstick, but for those of us who live in hot climates it wouldn’t last a day without melting all over your extra gear.

Speaking of extreme summer heat…I have an extra helmet in the car too.  It’s one that came to its demise one hot summer day a couple years ago when I thought it was a good idea to leave it in the car (in direct sunlight) all day.  The case is melted, but it’s been used by multiple people when they’ve forgotten their helmet.  It’s a million times better than nothing!

As it turns out, I’ve used this bag more to loan things to people than for myself, but it has come in handy for myself every once in awhile.  Go through your plethora of bags and grab some old training gear that you don’t use often (don’t lie to yourself, each of us could probably put three of these bags together with all the extra gear we have) and create your own “bag o’ tricks”.  It will save your butt one day, or make you a hero to a training buddy that has forgotten their oh-so-important goggles.

Race Day Life Support

Could you do a triathlon swim without goggles?  Sure, but it would be very uncomfortable and heaven forbid you wear contacts or you might come into T1 blind.  How about completing the ride in a long course race in tennis shoes, now that you have fancy shmancy clipless pedals and shoes?  Yep, but you’d lose a lot of power.  How about doing the run in the blazing heat of at Texas summer without your hat/visor or sunglasses?  Of course!  But you’d get such a headache that you’d want to quit far before you reached the finish line.

So how much thought have you put into the importance of volunteers on race day?  Are they as vital as your goggles, bike shoes, or sunglasses?  As triathletes we focus on every aspect of the sport that can shave a nanosecond here and a millisecond there.  Do you ever factor the importance of volunteers into this?  They’re all relevant and necessary to a successful race day.

Don’t feel bad if I’ve left your favorite volunteer task off, I promised to try and keep these things short and I’m really trying my best to do so. 

Wetsuit strippers – aside from the fact that these poor rookie volunteers have no clue that they’re getting more than just water thrown on them each time they strip a wetsuit, these folks save you time.  Have you tried to get out of a wetsuit on your own?  I have, it sucks.  You step on it, you pull it, you sit down (WHAT???  Who would sit in transition, certainly not anyone that knows what they’re doing), you turn in circles, like a dog or cat trying to get comfortable before they lie down, then you just stop, take a deep breath and reassess the situation.  THEN, then that is when you finally get your wetsuit off.   I tried a new wetsuit on once when I was home alone and learned NEVER to do that again.  By the time I got it on I was sweating so much the darn thing had suctioned itself to my body.  I went from door to door (in a skin tight black suit in the dark) trying to find a neighbor to answer their door and help me out of the neoprene death grip.  No one answered.  Odd.  Point is, wetsuit strippers save you time.  I had a guy run all the way up to T1 with me at a race one time because the zipper on my wetsuit was stuck.  I was ready to go it alone, but he kept yelling (encouraging may be a better word) me to keep running while he tried to get the zipper undone.  It takes no time, while they’re handing you your wetsuit, to thank them.  So, thank them.

Bottle hand-up volunteers – You know those long rides we do?  The rides where we have to factor in where the convenience stores are so we can stop and get more water because we’re riding for five hours and there’s just no way (even with my rigging up every water bottle possible and, yes, a camel back) to carry enough water.   You know how your legs get stiff every time you stop?  How you lose your pace and rhythm?  Imagine doing that every 10 miles on the bike course.  Having to stop and get off your bike and refill.  O.M.G.  Who can even imagine having to do THAT?  That would drop your pace down a good ½mph or more.  And that, that is a lot of time in a race.  So when you eye your bottle hand-up volunteer, point to them and as you grab your bottle say a simple “thank you.”  Again, this adds zero time to your race, BUT they’ve just saved you time.

Sunscreen application volunteers – I find that these folks are few and far between, especially at the races that I need them most at (ahem, Galveston).  They seem to come out later in the race, but for those of us of German and English descent, whose skin leans towards the English side and being TOTALLY pale and were in an earlier wave they are often hard to come by.  When they are available and drowning your skin with a thick coat of a white pore choking substance, remember that they are saving you time from applying your own sunscreen.  Ever try to use spray sunscreen (so your hands don’t slip on the bike) after swimming?  How well does that stick to wet skin?  They are also saving you time in the form of doctor’s appointments and cancer treatments for skin cancer.  So, thank them.

Water Stop Volunteers – These volunteers are lifesavers.  Imagine having to carry enough hydration to get you through your race.  You know how heavy that would be?  I have learned, through being yelled at as a volunteer, to thank these folks.  I volunteered at El Scorcho once and was handing out what I was told was Gatorade.  As a woman came around for another lap, I called out “Gatorade” and handed her a cup.  She took a swig, spit it out, threw the cup down, and turned around screaming at me “that is not Gatorade!!!!!!!!!!!!!”  It made me never want to volunteer again.  She was scary!  Now, when I volunteer, I simply say “sports drink”, I figure that’s safer.  These folks  are your key to successful race.  I had a great volunteer experience once when I was wanting water at a race.  I ran through the stop yelling “water” and there wasn’t any ready.  As I passed the stop,  mouth parched but  not wanting the sweet nectar of a sticky sports drink, I heard the pitter-patter of feet behind me and a small voice saying “ma’am, ma’am”.  One of the volunteers was running after me with a cup of water.  That made my race!  Thank these volunteers.  Even if you can’t get the words out while you’re throwing down a cup of sports drink and drenching your head with a cup of water, a simple wave will do the trick.

Police Officers/Traffic Control – I don’t think I need to go into detail here why these volunteers are so vitally important.  Not only do they allow you to continue through congested intersections without stopping, they also protect your lives.  I thank every one of them.  Even on a loop course, where I see them more than once, I do my best to thank them every time.  Now, they are getting paid to be out there, but it can’t be an easy job in the middle of the Texas summer.  So thank them. 

Ironman Changing tent volunteers – WOW.  That is all I can really say.  For those of you who have yet to do an Ironman, you will experience some of the most amazing volunteers in the changing tent.  In Coeur d’Alene, I stood in the women’s changing tent with my sports bra pulled over my head and only about halfway on.  For any woman that has tried to put a sports bra on while wet or any guy who has tried to put on a tri top while dripping with lake water, you know it’s not an easy feat.  I grabbed the arm of the volunteer and just said, “will you please help me?”  Now, I am not good at asking for help, but I knew I wasn’t going to make it out of the tent in the manner of “dress” that I was currently in, so I needed help.  She stopped what she was doing and took my bag from me.  As she started pulling things out she would say, “Is it an arm warmer day?  Is it a gloves day?  Etc.”  I would have liked to think at the age of 29 I was totally capable of dressing myself.  But in this situation, maybe it was my half frozen fingers from the frigid lake water, the help was overwhelming.  I must have thanked her every time she helped me put something on (she truly dressed me, I don’t think I even put my own socks on).  These volunteers are fabulous and without her, I would probably have been in the changing tent for at least another 5 minutes.

If you have never volunteered for an event, even a local 5K, go do it.  Take a morning off training and go volunteer.  You will be amazed at the appreciation you receive and how great it is to volunteer at an event and help others do what you love to do.  Take yourself out of being the one that needs to be supported and support others.  It will bring to light just how amazing the volunteers are that make every one of your races possible for you.