If all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you do that too!?!?

So...the words some of you never thought you'd hear me say. Well, since this is a blog you're going to read them, not see them, but whatever. I'm borrowing a friend's road bike to see if it's something to add to the Dein's bike roster. We've got the BMX bike, two XC bikes, the DH bike...and maybe a road bike needs to be added to the stable.

No it's not just that I covet a new bike. If I had limitless cash and time to devote to more multi-sports than I'm already tackling, I'd hold out and get a really T-O-T-L kayak. But in the more realistic scheme of things, a road bike would work out for the better. With Beth recently jumping over to the dark side, and Renee already residing there for some time, if I want to ride with my friends more often, a road bike is one of the best options, especially for base training rides for next race season.

I'm not getting ahead of myself...hence the phrase that says I'm borrowing a friend's bike first. If I absolutely hate it, I won't continue. There are too many other training activities I enjoy if I just can't stand the skinny tires. But if I do enjoy it, it will double, if not triple my ride time with friends. Not just Renee and Beth. The Sorella girls spend a lot of fall and winter time on the road bikes...grinding out long, conversation paced rides. Those would be fun.

Details after the first ride...should be interesting.

2 pics

Here's a photo of the island we swam around for the Hiawassee tri:



Here's a photo of me in the new wet suit. This was taken when the rain was still misty and not out-right pouring:


There's another photo of me at the finish, but I look like a drowned rat and reserve the right not to post it. lol. No other race photos cause of the rain. I didn't want my pretty camera getting wet!

Hiawassee Rain-athlon

My adventure to my first international distance tri started great. Jake took me up to All3Sports in Atlanta to buy my Christmas/Birthday present: a wet suit!! I was THRILLED! So I got the one that I had previously tried on there, during a visit this summer. It's a BlueSeventy Helix with full sleeves. The guy helping me said I would definitely need it in Lake Chatuge, as he grew up there and the water is always cold.

As it turns out, he was right. Couple that with the pouring rain that lasted all Saturday night and Sunday morning, and a lack of sunshine, and the water was really really cold.

When we arrived at the venue, just over the state line in Hayesville, NC, it was raining. Having driven the bike course the night before, I started to get a little nervous about the weather conditions. The course was hilly with nice weeping corners at the bottoms, I was worried about wet roads + skinny tires + trying to go as fast as I can = crash really bad.

Everyone got ready to race, and rumor quickly spread that the officials were canceling the bike portion. Sure enough, 15 min prior to race start, the bike got nixed. Then -- all suited up and a feeling a little constricted -- we all set off to the shoreline, in the pouring rain. We didn't have so much as our feet in the water when the lightning started. They called us all quickly out of the water and we huddled under a pavilion while the storm passed. Meanwhile, everyone's crap in transition was getting soaked.

While waiting, we had the pleasure of listening to one of the founders of the first Ironman event in Hawaii in 1978 talk about how he and his military buddies came up with the idea for the event, where the distances came from, and what it was like to participate. (His homemade protein shake which he drank during the event consisted of milk(!!) + some diet protein powder + honey + raw eggs. yuck!) He was a really cool and down-to-earth guy. On the run he was handing out Gatorade!

After the lightning passed about half of the field chose to continue and we quickly got back in the water. Off we went! It was COLD even with the wet suit, and I felt really sorry for the few people without them. I realized if I hadn't had one, I may not have been able to compete. We swam out and around an island, which was cool. It provided some good scenery. It was 1,600 yards out, around and back. I did the swim in 27 minutes. Come to find out, I was one of the first women out of the water!!

Transition took me a solid 2 minutes, as I nearly fell over trying to get the wet suit off my legs and feet. lol. Yes, I put on body glide, but I still had trouble. Then it took a while to dig my shoes and raincoat out from my wet pile of crap. I finally got going and felt great despite the rain. The out and back run was SO scenic and pretty. We ran on a levee where one side was green pastures and the other was Lake Chatuge. Looking out, I could see the shore where we started the swim and the island we swam around. The mountains in the background made the run go seem to fly by, as I was focusing so much on the scenery and less on the pain. lol.

The rain cleared on the last of the 4 miles, and I finished the run in 36 minutes. That's a total time of 1:05. Good enough to earn me 6th place overall for the women. I was first in Athena, as there were no others. I would have been second in my age group had I raced it. I was 29th out of women and men.

I was very happy with how I felt and how I did at this race. Although canceling the bike portion was the right decision for the weather (and I don't question their decision at all), I regret that we couldn't do it. This was to be my fist "long" tri. I was amped up, nervous and excited to go the distance. I feel like I was a little robbed by not being able to do the bike. Even though I participated, I feel like I still haven't truly done that longer-distance tri I was seeking. Alas, there's not a conveniently timed one on the calendar for the rest of the year. Guess I'll have to wait till next year to prove my stuff.

As for now, I plan to do the super-short sprint tri at Lake Lanier in two weeks. It's only a 400 yard swim, 12 mile bike and 3 mile run. While the focus of my ill-fated international distance tri was to do my best and just make it through, my focus for the one coming up will be to try to kick ass. There's already a LOT of folks registered, so my chances aren't that great, but for whatever reason, I seem to do well with this whole triathlon thing, so maybe the gods will smile on me at Lake Lanier. Keep your fingers crossed.

Shhhhhh...Don't Tell Hashi

Yes, it's true. I've become one of those folks who wears a heart rate monitor while exercising. I never thought I would be...but the anemia related heart flutterings and shortness of breath were the final push to pick one up.

I'm sticking as true to my anti-HRM stance as possible, though, by refusing to pay kaboodles of bucks for all the bells and whistles found on many of the newer, flashier, high-tech models. I'm just using the low end Polar monitor. It has a stopwatch, tells me my heart rate and stores one workout. I can set a high and low zone and it can beep (or not) when I get higher or lower than what I want for a specific workout. And that's about it.

It's pretty easy for me to keep in the low and easy zones on the bike. Did a 4.5 hour downtown ride on Sunday and never had any problems keeping it on track. The running is another issue. I'm going to spend some time treadmill running so I can get some ideas of what I need to to do to keep that on target. Haven't tried it in the pool yet. That will be a real adventure.

I also promise not to become one of those annoying HRM proponents. You know the ones that put it on for a walk around the block with their dog and then proceed to detail each heartbeat to anyone and everyone regardless of interest or lack thereof.

I'll let you know if I get the running rate sorted. I plan to do base work on the runs too (long, low speed, low heart rate). So I hope I get it sorted out soon.

Nerves ... nerves

It's only Tuesday and I'm already nervous about my tri this weekend. I'm starting to do my usual over-think and over-analyzing of things. Typical. I'm being hyper-sensitive to how my body feels and find myself waffling on my usual pre-race exercise plan this week. To swim or not to swim ... that is the question.

Lately my body's kinda had an all-over tiredness to it. Perhaps I'm over-trained, but I really don't think so. I think it's more like my body knows my season is coming to an end and it's preparing to go into winter hibernation. lol. I don't want to do too much this week and have a residual soreness for the tri. Then again, I don't want to take it too easy or I'll feel like a slug. Ah, choices. I could hit the pool tonight ... or I could sit on the couch. But if I sit on the couch tonight, I'll definitely have to hit the pool tomorrow. I've got about another half hour to sit here at work and make up my mind.

The thought of the actual tri itself has me nervous as well. It will be the longest distance tri I've ever done. It's called an "international distance," which best I can figure is somewhere between "sprint distance" and "Olympic distance." The swim is 8/10ths of a mile, or 28 laps in my pool, or about 29 minutes depending on how frisky I feel. The bike, at 16 miles, will be a non-issue. The run is 4 miles, which is a mile longer than the runs in the tris I've done before. Although I'm not a fast runner -- at all -- I think I can maintain a 10-minute-mile pace for that portion. Plus, I'm not too proud to walk.

My goal for this event is to finish strong. I want to control my heartrate and asthma on the swim. I want to go my own pace and not hurry my stroke. I want to feel strong and refreshed on the bike. I want to pass people and use the bike leg to make up time. I want to start my run without my asthma kicking in (as it's prone to do when running after riding). I want to run a lot more than I walk. I want to have enough energy to sprint -- even if it's 20 yards -- to the finish line. I want to regret nothing.

Most of all, I want to eat a lot of Mexican food when I'm finished.

50 Things About Mallie

Just got back from a four mile run (all right...since I'm just getting back into full swing there was about a 1/2 mile of walking) and have a little time to kill before I head out to do some trail work at East Macon...so having seen various 100 and 50 things lists on some of the other blogs, thought it'd be fun to let some of you folk who read know some of the lesser known things about Mallie. I mean...we're already blog buddies...so why not get to know eachother. I encourage all of you to do the same so I can come up with even better comments to your posts!

(edit) I couldn't sort out all 50 things at once. So now I'm back from two hours of trail work and I'm doing all I can to get to 50.

1. Mallie is not my given/legal name. It's Mary Lynn.
2. My eyes were blue until I was six years old. Then they started their turn to the current green.
3. I've had all my fingers and toes (excluding thumbs) broken at least once.
4. I don't eat any vegetables except corn, carrots, lettuce and cucumbers...I do however love fruits, so I do get my vitamins.
5. I met my husband on the Internet.
6. I double majored in history and political science
7. I spent the first twenty years of my life as a resident of the state of California.
8. I wore braces for over four years. My gums were so strong my teeth wouldn't respond to straightening methods, so I had to have gum surgery to make them "less" strong.
9. I am one of five children, and each of us has the potential to have our birthday to fall on a holiday (one sis Easter, one sis Mother's Day, two of us girls Father's Day, and my brother Labor Day).
10. My "type" throughout high school and college was pretty much the exact opposite of my husband.
11. I absolutely cannot wear socks to bed no matter how cold it is. They drive me nuts.
12. I played soccer (goalkeeper, which explains #3 and sweeper) from the time I was six until my second year of college.
13. I was on the track team in high school, but I didn't run. I threw the shotput and discus.
14. I only medaled once in my track career...though I had good form and technique most of my competitors outweighed me by 50-100 pounds (no, I'm not joking).
15. My 65 pound dog thinks he's a 10 pound cat and likes to curl up in my lap on occasion.
16. I have two tattoos.
17. I don't like anyone, even my husband, rubbing my neck. Thus I don't do massages.
18. My one attempt at yoga involved me kicking a wooden block across the floor and nearly nailing another yoga newbie!
19. I absolutely love Christmas and make quite a lot of my my gifts, packaging, wrapping paper and cards.
20. My biggest pet peeve is tardiness...it really sets me off, especially in business situations.
21. Another high ranking peeve is folks who ride bicycles and don't wear helmets.
22. Folks think generally my little sister and I look like twins or look nothing alike...never in-between.
23. I was made fun of for saying "you guys" instead of "y'all" when I first moved to Georgia.
24. Fifteen years after moving to Georgia I still have no discernable accent and people still ask me to slow down when I'm speaking to them.
25. My husband's cat was diabetic...and yes that means we gave him an insulin shot daily.
26. My favorite song is "My Dream Girl Don't Exist" by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel.
27. Though I'm kind of an indie music snob, I do like some mainstream acts, especially the Killers.
28. My mom passed away in 1995 after spending almost two years in a nursing home after a stroke. She was only 55.
29. My sister and I called my dad "Jorge Cafe" as a joke, since his name is George Coffey.
30. I once patched together a split exhaust pipe with a shoelace...and got myself home after seeing sparks flying out from under the car on Interstate 75.
31. I used to be a commodities broker. I helped clients buy and sell agriculture futures on the Chicago Board of Trade. Yes, that includes pork bellies.
32. My little girl nickname was "punkin".
33. As I got older my dad started calling me "meathead".
34. My stride is as long or longer than men several inches taller than me, as I was daddy's little girl and I did everything to keep up with my 6' 3" father.
35. Though I enjoy reading anything and everything, there's nothing like a little chick-lit when you want an easy read.
36. I used to love the Piers Anthony "Xanth" chronicles.
37. I'm a very light sleeper.
38. I sleep with one of those nosemaking machines set to the "wind" setting. My husband calls it the wind-jammer.
39. I've recently fallen in love with kayaking...I'm currently saving up for a new kayak.
40. I had numerous concussions as a youth, mostly soccer related accidents, but none since I took up mountain biking.
41. My feelings get hurt pretty easily.
42. I flush spectacularly when I'm nervous or angry.
43. I love planting flowers and plants, even from seed, but I'm very bad about maintaining said plants.
44. I love mythology and folklore...I'll read almost anything, fiction or nonfiction that has to do with King Arthur or Greek, Celtic or Norse gods and goddesses.
45. My sister and I used to amuse ourselves on long drives by harmonizing on Simon & Garfunkel tunes.
46. My favorite snack food in the world is Cheese Puffs, but I prefer to leave the bag open over night so they're stale and chewy. YUM!
47. I once had a cat named Tybalt, after the Prince of Cats in Romeo and Juliet.
48. I adopted a cat in January this year after she was abandoned at a local mountain bike trail. I named her Turkey Trot after one of my favorite sections of the trail.
49. My favorite ice cream flavor is a toss up between German Chocolate Cake and Birthday Cake.
50. I was deeply saddened by the death of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin.

M.I.A.

Yeah...I've been away too long. Had to do some sorting out, some prioritizing, some thinking. Nothing too heavy...nothing for any of the regulars to worry about. But it's just in the past two days that I've felt like getting back on track. Enjoying the biking and running, the paddling and swimming. Cuz for a while it seemed routine and forced. I had to step back, much like Renee wrote in an earlier post, and remember why I'd set goals, why I'd worked hard to get to the level I was last at, why I do want to get to the next level.

So, it's the same journey... the destination is still the same. I just needed to pick a new route.

So, yes, I'm back and Renee doesn't have to hold up the blog alone anymore.

34 miles + 1 gear = FUN!

The Four Hours of Pig Trail, as it's officially known, was Sunday. More affectionately, the 4 Hours of Pork, or Pork-a-thon, was a great success and a whole lot of fun.

This is the first time the event's been held, and it was a grassroots sort of race, strictly to raise money for the Georgia Industrial Children's home, on whose land the Pig Trail resides. It's a great cause and you just can't beat 15 bucks for 4 hours.

When I built up Sweet Susie Singlespeed a month or so ago, my goal was to do the Pork-a-thon riding it. Riding the SS is tough but fun and I really needed a goal to work toward. So I thought that if I could manage to ride for four hours in one gear, I'd be an official member of the Singlespeed Army.

Well, give me my stripes, lieutenant, because I did it.

My plan was to try to get in 4 laps in the 4 hours -- which was more like 4.5, because you could depart for another lap up to 3:59. I did the run start at more of a trot, and Beth and I were some of the last folks into the woods. Beth wanted to ride the first lap with me, so that she wouldn't go out too hard and then bonk later in the day. I didn't want to be in front of the fast folks cause I knew I'd just slow people down. Let's face it, the Pig has a lot of fast, flat stuff, and with one gear, I can't keep up with the folks who can throw it into big ring and pedal away. So we started in the back and turned a nice 45 min lap (we estimate, as there was a run start and then a parade lap). Beth took off on the second lap, and I didn't see her again until the finish.

I pedaled on, and each lap the hills got harder and harder. Toward the end I was having to walk a hill or two that I normally can zip up. Laps 2, 3 and 4 continued with no major incident, and I was tired but still excited to be on the bike. My lap times were fairly consistent with about a 45 min lap, with a few minutes of break time between laps. After the fourth lap (my goal) I stopped at the tent, ate a banana, and decided that since I still had 40 minutes till the cutoff, I should go back out for a fifth lap. Off I went. The fifth lap was very hard, and I was hurting pretty bad. It got to the point where in the flats I just cruised along, pedaling slowly. I just wanted to finish strong and walk as little as possible.

I finished and come to find out, I finished in 3rd place! 3rd out of 5 women. Everyone else had gears, so I thought I would finish last. I really surprised myself with riding that long, and sticking with it on the SS (I brought Baby Rush out as my backup bike just in case I couldn't hack it and still wanted to ride). Beth finished 2nd place and got in 6 laps! Another local rider, Donna, took 5th -- so we had a nice local showing on the women's podium!

You know, sometimes you race and finish well and are proud of yourself for making the podium. And then other times you race and finish poorly but are still proud you did it. This was one of those races that, no matter if I had finished 100 out of 100 riders, I still would have been proud of myself. I thought it was an almost unachievable and crazy goal to hop on a SS for four hours after only riding one for a month. I even doubted if I could do it. The fact that I finished on the SS, and did one more lap than I had expected, meant so much more to me than taking home that 3rd place medal.

In true Renee fashion, I pigged out last night on brats, beer and ice cream! That whole "ride to eat" ethic is strong in me!

One final lesson I learned yesterday at the 4 Hours of Pork: I CAN do a six hour solo event, maybe next year -- and maybe on a bike with gears.

We Beat Boys

The 13 Hours of Santos was a blast! It helped, of course, that we beat boys.

I was on a 3-girl team with Beth and Courtney. The day started off with Courtney doing the run start and first lap. She set me up with a great time. My first lap went smoothly, except for a few places where I chose to let a string of people pass. The trail was great. It started with a mildly technical section called "Sink Hole." It was very tight with 90 degree switchbacks, lots of roots in treacherous places and a few croppings of rocks. Aside from about 3 spots, I cleaned the section. What followed was this sadistic hill called Magic Mountain. I learned quickly that it took me a lot less time and energy to just run up the beast, so that's what I did. After that, it was flat flat flat! Lots of wide, sweeping trail with no obstacles. It was super-fast and the corners were ones you didn't really have to brake through. SO much fun. Then came the dreaded "John Brown" trail. It reminded me of Razorback. Up and down, rocks here, there, everywhere. Roots, trees, steeeep ups and downs. Whew! I was able to ride about 70 percent of it -- and I felt like I was doing great! It was funny, at the end of the night, in the dark somewhere near 11 p.m., I cleaned this one particular section that I hadn't made in the daylight. Go figure!

So after my second lap Beth headed out and I ate some food. Then I started to feel REALLY sick. I laid down on the ground with a cold towel on my head and sat up a few times feeling very sick to my stomach. Then Courtney headed out on her lap. I must have passed out at some point, as the next day Beth and I were catching up and I don't remember anything between me laying down and Jake waking me up. Then I don't remember much other than Beth standing over me saying "Do you want me to take your lap?" I must have mumbled yes, because she went out for me. We basically traded laps, so I was next up. After drinking some water and walking around, I felt a lot better. Jake decided to ride my lap with me since I wasn't feeling good (he was racing the solo class). What a good boyfriend.

As an aside -- I think the heat sickness was a direct result of tubing down the Rainbow River for 4 hours Saturday afternoon. I put on a lot of sunblock, we all did, but I was as red as a tomato. It was too painful to even put on my sports bra until I had to change to ride. Ouch! And here I am, on Tuesday, still looking like a tomato! My super-white, redhead boyfriend didn't even get this burned. WTF?

Here's me and my good boyfriend before I was feeling ill:


Anyway, as soon as I started riding again, I felt better! My upset tummy went away and so did my killer headache. I even turned the lap about 5 minutes faster than I expected, and when I rolled past our pit, Courtney was still standing there. I hollered at her and she sprinted over to transition.

At some point we realized we were racing for first place. The second place team was hot on our heels all day. It started to come down to the wire and they were catching up -- did I mention their team was 3 guys and a girl? So Courtney went out with 58 minutes till cutoff, which was 10:30 p.m. That means she would have to turn a 58 min lap in the dark. She was turning 57 in the daylight, so she had a big job to do. The opposing team's rider went out 5 min after Courtney -- so he had even less time to make it. I suited up in hopes she could do it and the ENTIRE pit crew gathered in transition with me to wait. Courtney came out of the woods with 30 seconds to cutoff and we all cheered her in. She got in with 20 seconds to spare! I took off on my final lap and was radioed a minute later with the news that all I needed to do was finish to win. The other team hadn't made the cutoff, so we were one lap up on them! Wooo-hoooo!

I took my time on the last lap and played it safe in the dark. Another rider had started ahead of me and we rode together the entire time. Knowing I was the last person out, it was nice not to ride completely alone. We came across a kid (13 maybe?) lost in John Brown. His light had gone out and he was terrified. So we walked him out of John Brown, and then rode him out the rest of the way. About 1/2 mile from the end a search party came in looking for him. Poor thing. Good thing I didn't have to hustle on that lap, cause there's no way I could have left him out there in the dark.

So as soon as I came in the awards ceremony started. Beth, Courtney and I -- and a big-ass trophy! -- all managed to climb onto the podium. It felt REALLY good. We went into this race thinking we didn't stand a chance with only 3 people on the team, and being all-female competing in a class where the only requirement is 1 female teammate. Our game plan was to ride hard and have a great time. And we decided beforehand that if somehow we found ourselves in podium contention, that we'd give it all we could to make it happen. And it did!

Here's a shot of us on the podium. Props also to the third place team, as they are locals and friends (from left, Sarah, Diana, Angie and Steve) and to all the other locals who put in a good showing:


I've awarded each of my teammates an MVP award for Santos, here's what we got:
Courtney: For turning a 58 min lap under extreme pressure, in the dark, securing us the final lap for victory.
Beth: For taking my lap for me when I was feeling sick, even though she'd just eaten a sandwich.
Me: For going from spending an hour and a half passed out on the ground nearly barfing to turning a lap five minutes faster than expected.

Now I'm totally excited and stoked about the next mtb endurance event -- although it probably won't be till next year. Now I turn my sights on the 4 Hours of Pork this weekend. It's all for charity, and I'm doing it on my singlespeed. It will be the longest amount of time I've spent on that bike, so I'm looking at this event as a personal challenge. Happy spinning!