CASSIE MCGARVEY
SWIM BIKE RUN OVERALL RANK DIV.POS.
50:48 3:16:33 2:09:40 6:23:12 837 809
LEG DISTANCE PACE RANK DIV.POS.
TOTAL SWIM 1.2 mi. (50:48) 2:40/100m 1032 996
BIKE SPLIT 1: 28 mi 28 mi (1:38:46) 17.01 mph
BIKE SPLIT 2: 56 mi 28 mi (1:37:47) 17.18 mph
BIKE END: 56 mi 3:16:33 17.09 mph 971 935
RUN SPLIT 1: 3.275 mi 3.275 mi (30:14) 9:13/mi
RUN SPLIT 2: 6.55 mi 3.275 mi (32:56) 10:03/mi
RUN SPLIT 3: 9.8 mi 3.275 mi (34:25) 10:30/mi
RUN SPLIT 4: 13.1 mi 3.275 mi (32:05) 9:47/mi
TOTAL RUN 13.1 mi. (2:09:40) 9:53/mile 837 809
TRANSITION TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE 2:59
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN 3:12
9:42 AM
3:39 PM
I discovered my love of Frank Turner last October whenever he opened for Flogging Molly. Seriously, who doesn't love a Brit with a tattoo in the shape of Texas -- yes, I'm completely serious. All of his songs have great lyrics, but below is one of my favorites (Journey of the Magi). It takes a great songwriter to include Moses, Odysseus and Balthazar in a song.
Moses was old, chill in his bones
Falling apart, he knew in his heart
His time had come.
He lay in his tent, on hot desert sand
He smiled at how he would never see
His Promised Land
He sang "I could've lived and died an Egyptian Prince,
Could've played safe
In the end, journeys brought joys that outweighed the pain.
Odysseus sat, tired and alone
Always held out against all the doubt that
He would come home
Now he was here so found it strange
His wife and his dog, his son and his gods
And everything changed
He sang "I could have stayed and ruled an Ithican Prince
Could've played safe"
In the end, journeys brought joys that outweighed the pain.
Now, Balthazar rode for seven long years
Eastwards and far, he followed his star
And it brought him here.
A stable in ruins, some backwater town
To a Virgin defiled, no king but a Child
Too small for a crown
He sang "I could've lived with my gods as a Persian Prince,
Could've played safe."
Paupers and kings, princes and thieves
Singers of songs, righters of wrongs
What you believe.
Saddle your horse, shoulder your load
Burst at the seam, be what you dreamed
And take to the road.
3:32 PM
It can be good, right? In discussing this with my tri-friends this weekend, I realized that there are two types of competitive people - 1) the type that race to win (i.e., beat others - especially those with whom they train) and base everything on the rankings in the race; and 2) those who are competitive with themselves and like to use other's performances as a benchmark. For me, if a training buddy does well, that's awesome! If we are training together (at the same pace), then it means that I should be able to do that to - or vice versa.
I'll admit, I like to use my friends as benchmarks. For instance, Christy and Kathleen both had great races on Saturday at Gateway to the Bay. In fact, I think that Christy may have had her best race ever - I'm still wondering when she got so fast. It makes me happy to see them do well - because it means that I can as well - even if they are both much better swimmers than me.
So, for Gateway, I decided to 'game' the system and register as an Athena. My goal was to see if I could place. And that I did. I walked away with a first place finish.... and, a run split that was absolutely fabulous. My average pace for the run was a 7:42 (I think, definitely in the 7:40s). I KNOW that this would've been a 5k PR for me... who'd have thought that I'd ever see 7s by my run time... And, I was quite pleased to know that I would've been competitive in my age group as well - granted, I would've had to chase Kathleen down... but, this way, we both win AND we both get rewarded for good races.
Anyway, as for the competition, I think that I'll keep it. I like my version of competition. For me, its about having fun and doing my best. And, I really don't see the problem of using others as benchmarks. Seriously, if they can do it, why can't I.
End of the day, competition is a way of life. Yes, I am the type that believes that kids should not receive participant trophies -- you gotta teach the kiddos at a young age that there are winners and losers and that people will be ranked. Those are the facts of life. I do think that it is a delicate balance. Everyone needs to be pushed to be at the top but everyone also needs to learn to fail. You can't be a big fish in a small pond forever...
1:29 PM
I'm just having a minor freak out... I'm doing a HIM in just over two weeks and I don't think I'm really trained...
- I didn't do my long run this weekend.
- The Good Friday bike ride in Brenham was fun but really didn't seem like training.
- I didn't do a long bike the weekend before last.
- I haven't worked out at all the last 4 days... maybe this is the one that is scaring me...hmmm....
Here's the schedule for the rest of the week:
Tonight - hard bike ride on the trainer followed by a 3-4 mile run through the neighborhood.
Thursday - hard swim with Del in the morning and Tour de Bayou + in the evening (10-11 miles)
Friday - Lake Sharks (haven't been in a wetsuit since IMFL)
Saturday - Gateway to the Bay Sprint Tri (I'm registered as an Athena and am hoping to place); I will likely try to get in an easy run on Saturday afternoon/evening
Sunday - bike at race pace in Galveston - this will be interesting... i'll training is now being done on the road bike...
8:02 AM
Yup, just a little behind here - but, I wanted to make sure to post this...
On Thursday, Kathleen, Kim and I did the West End ride for the first time. In passing emails throughout the day, we all thought that we'd be dropped like nothing else - which kinda happened when we were stopped at every light through downtown. In all - it was a fun ride...
Perhaps the funniest part of the night happened at a red light in the med center. I'd been having problems clipping in with my left foot so I decided to try the right. As we were waiting for the light to change, I inexplicably started shifting to the left and, in slow motion, fell. There was a 60ish year old lady and her son in the car next to me. The look of horror on her face was funny (in hindsight). The window slowly rolls down and she asks, "Baby, are you okay? How far do you have left to ride? You must be exhausted." Someone told her that we had about 10 miles left. "Oh, my! That is crazy. That poor girl is exhausted. Baby, are you gonna make it back. 10 miles is a long way." As I picked up my pride, I smiled and said that I was fine. The whole thing still makes me laugh.
Oh, West End ride, Black Betty (my road bike), thanks you. She's been feeling a bit resentful as she's been confined to the trainer in the living room. After that ride, I'm taking off the clip on aerobars and bringing her back to her glory days as a road bike. I even cleaned her drive train last night -- good lord she needed it.
Kathleen, Kim and I after the "epic" 18 mile ride
9:47 PM
Or Simple Rules to Follow When Doing an Organized Ride.
Or Don't Be Rude.
1. Wait your turn. When starting the ride, wait for your route to be called. When the organizer calls for those who are biking the 70 mile route, don't start if you are only doing 40. This is for your own good. Although, you may think that it is a) unfair for those doing the longer ride to get an early start; b) unneccessary for you to have to wait; or, c) doesn't matter because you are important and need to be done riding early, don't do it! Out of respect for all that is holy, wait your freakin' turn. This really does help the organizers and volunteers direct traffic along the route. When the shorter routes have a turn only 3 miles into the course while the longer routes go straight, the volunteers don't expect the need to direct your 40 mile self to the turn when you weren't even supposed to have started yet.
2. Be alert. So, you didn't follow number 1 and are now starting out with the 70 milers. In this case, don't rely on the volunteers to direct you -- you aren't supposed to be at this turn for another 10-15 minutes. Also, when you've missed the turn, pay attention to the riders around you. Don't turn left directly into someone. Pay attention when people are trying to call out to you.
3. Don't Be a Jack@ass. Whenever you do turn into someone and cause a crash, you need to see if that person is okay. Under no circumstancs is it acceptable to pick yourself up, quickly apologize and then head out to your short 40 mile route while the person you hit after breaking the above rules is still on the ground. Don't be that guy... No one likes that guy... you might think that its okay because no one knows that it was you -- you made a "clean" getaway but, your day will come. Karma is a beatch...
As much as I may be complaining, and yes, I am... I'm still pissed. Not that it screwed up my ride, but because now I'm paying for it -- literally. I JUST bought a new helmet 3 weeks ago. My gorgeous new pink helmet is done. That said, it did its job and it has the cracks and crumples to prove it (and I have the no loss of consciousness to go with it). Also, I paid 35 bucks to ride 3 miles... kinda ridiculous. Finally, I know there will be some cost for a bike repair. I managed to take a pretty nice chunk out of my aerobars and am hoping that Andrew at Tri on the Run can just tape over it (or something)... That said, if you add in my bottle of water, a ride in the sag hummer, a nice chat with the fabulous ride marshalls from the Clay Walker Cycling Team, a Waller police officer, and the Waller EMS - it was 35 dollars well spent considering the circumstances. As an aside, the EMS paramedics noted that I was in excellant shape and were quite impressed with my low 50s heart rate. Also, I got to spend some time in the massage tent. When getting back to the ride start, I had some time to kill. (I'd carpooled and was waiting for the crew to get back; then decided to take James on his offer to come get me).
To end on a positive note, this ride has excellent support and is a first rate event by Northwest Cyclery. This is the same group that does Katy Flatlands in June. Although, I did enjoy Katy Flatlands more, it had nothing to do with the ride organization -- in June, only the "real" riders are out there -- all of the MS150-only riders are gone. Also, the ride marshalls were beyond caring. The group of marshalls that helped me were from Band Against MS, a group that likes to eat, drink, and ride. I cannot thank these people enough for taking care of me.
In sum, I'm fine. I wasn't hurt; just a bit shaken up and had (and still have) a bit of a headache. And, even though I didn't finish the ride, Kathleen still gave me a brownie.. :-)
4:03 PM
Truth be told, I'm looking for a HUGE PR and think that its possible. For my first (and only) HIM at Longhorn in 2008, one could say that I was undertrained. Truthfully, I was untrained and Heather, Kim, and Ingrid will confirm this fact. Prior to the race, I did one 50 mile bike ride, two hilly rides of about 30 miles each (and complained the entire time), one brick, minimal open water swims, and maybe swam 1600 meters in a workout twice. Considering that, I was pretty darn happy to finish in just over 8 hours (46 minute swim; 4 hour bike; 3 hour run).
Now, I'm biking and running better than ever. Deep down, I know my capabilities. My goal is to push them to the max on race day... I'll post the numbers as we get closer to race day.
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