birch's blog

Difficult Perspectives: When training comes second

I can finally blog again! My life has been completely abducted by graduate school applications... even classes and training have had to take the backseat. It's difficult to knowingly let your hard work slip for a few weeks-- after gutting it out (and thoroughly enjoying) El Tour (made Gold, enjoyed pancake breakfast at mile 78, thrilled to draft at a speedy 32mph in a tight pack on the home stretch), I've lost about, shit, 3 weeks of training? I've literally been working on 11 different applications since October. But they are all completed and submitted.

Reckless Abandon: Last minute training for El Tour

I'm learning that I'm a little bit reckless when it comes to athleticism and pushing my limits. I've been wating to do El Tour since last year, and I started out thinking about the 66-miler. Then the 80. Then I lost all sensibility (after only a 62-mile ride-- to Biosphere and back) and registered for the full 109. What. Am I. Doing.

Tinfoilman 2007 - First tri of the season

Yesterday's Tinfoilman Triathlon (Tucson, AZ) was my third official triathlon and the first race of the season for me. I took 25th for overall womens (out of 155), but my teammate placed 20th, just 1:00 in front of me. I'm a slow swimmer.

Race strengths: Felt great on the run (but only ran 24:30, which is probably why I felt good), swam my fastest sprint-distance swim, 30s faster than I anticipated.

Race weaknesses: Awkward, clumsy transitions. Couldn't get my bike shoes on to save my life, stuffed the rubber tongue down in my left shoe, blah. Didn't push like I normally do on the bike; I could feel it in my legs that I hadn't been in the saddle for 2 weeks.