Apparently these costumes were good enough to win trips to France and Spain….. Ridiculous!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
MEMBERSHIP DRIVE...
The First RTB member who can sign a political telephone solicitor to the team gets a free membership in 2011. Ready....Set....Go. (I’ve tried twice in the last 15 minutes. No luck)
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Friday, October 08, 2010
Monday, October 04, 2010
Sunday, October 03, 2010
Trev Dakan's Black Diamond Half ironman report
And it’s his FIRST half Ironman, by the way – and was sub-5. DANDY!!! Way to go Trev
Well, I have had a week to mull this one over and am finally able to sit upright in bed, so here is my report....
I don't think I have truly tapered for anything since I have started this triathlon thing last June('09). I was getting pretty antsy, and had plenty of energy all week. I caved once during the week and rode hard on my bike, but other than that, I rested and only did shorter, intense efforts. Luckily, my team mate and friend RTB Hat, kept things interesting with a little competition leading up to the race. I enjoyed this because, to be honest, with all the training involved, I sometimes fell a bit narcissistic and often thought it would be nice to somehow help others while being narcissistic, you know? Thanks RTB Hat!!
The morning of the race was great. Nice weather and I like to drive to Nolte Park along the Green River Gorge road. It is scenic and peaceful and these are the very roads I often get my back side handed to me on Sunday mornings with the Geyser Crew. I also get a lot of great advice dished out in nice heaping portions along the way. The Geyser Crew is a grizzled group made up of a lot of the veterans of RTB, who were doing triathlons before many of us were born!! Haha. But anyway, I digress. Got to see lots of people I knew before the race. What great RTB support both Sat. and Sun. at Black Diamond.
I followed one of my mentors (and fellow RTBer and Geyser Crew member) to the edge of the water to start the race, Ed Clarke. He went to the middle of the pack and worked his way to the front. He is a much stronger swimmer than I am, so I stayed back a few rows. With about 30 seconds left, Ed worked his way left in the front. Wiley veteran move. Everyone around me seemed hesitant to take the front, so I moved up and we were off. I kept waiting for the inevitable elbow or hand in the face, but it never came!! It is always a rush the first 100-150 yards, but I settled down and felt like I was swimming straighter than normal. I was a bit to the left of everyone, which is perfect for me, because I breathe to the right and I can keep an eye on people. About half way through the first of two laps I was feeling like I was cruising along. Not too hard of an effort, as I had a long half day ahead of me. On the second lap, some guy came up on me and hit my feet 4 straight times! Can't he see where he is going?. OK, then I will kick you!! I missed and around me he went and I get a calf cramp to deal with, for my effort. Lesson: worry about me, not the a$$hole next to me. Like I said, I felt like I was swimming very straight, but I was always outside the main line of swimmers. It looked to me as if they were curving inside the buoys and I was straight on line. I came out at 32:13, which was slower than I had expected. (maybe I was the one swimming in a curve?)
T1 was uneventful and I was out on the bike. Patty yelled that Ed was only 1 minute ahead (yeah right, like I believe that). A wave went out ahead of us and the Duathlon was out on the road, so there was the illusion of being really fast and passing a lot of people. Again a long race, so I tried not to go too hard on the bike. I ate as many gels as I could and drank 4 bottles of water/electrolyte/maltodextrin. I had to go to the bathroom at the start of loop 2, but decided I would not go off the bike. By the time I came into T2, I felt a little upset in the stomach, maybe should have thrown caution to the wind and gone on the bike. Bike time 2:33 and change, which I was happy with.
Came out of T2 and immediately used the bathroom. Much better!! I started the first mile at 8/mile pace. After getting my run legs, I picked it up to 7:30 pace. Now that's better. A few miles at this pace then I'll put the hammer down and catch Ed. I had just run a stand alone half marathon at a 6:40 pace 2 weeks earlier, I can run 7's no prob, right? After 4 miles of 7:30 I thought I better eat, but stomach said NO! I grabbed a cup of the electrolyte from the water station and drank it. A few minutes later, it came back up and I spit it out. Now I was doing 8/mile again and was feeling really fatigued. Oh yeah, I haven't eaten yet. So I had a gel, but...too little too late. I was getting slower with more (perceived) effort at each mile. I held 8 for 3 miles, then 8:30 pace and was walking each water station and hill. I am pretty competitive in my head and this was something I thought I would never do, but it felt right at the time and it was all could do. I was passed at mile 11 for the first time of the day, as I remember it. And from there, I dropped to 9:30/ mile and watched my second in age group fall to 5th and 18th overall. It was pretty tough watching all those 40-44 year olds I passed on the bike go by and I couldn't do anything about it. Coming out of the woods and to the finish, you bet I ran as best I could. Finished with a 4:58:55. A great first Half Ironman effort and some serious lessons learned.
Now a little rest and then to see if I can run a marathon this fall/winter. Good training for an Ironman, which is good, since I am signed up fro Ironman Coeur d'Alene in June 2011 along with a good 20 or so fellow RTB team mates. this was by far the hardest effort I have put into a triathlon to date. And I am looking forward to a long winter of training with RTB to get ready for my first Ironman!! Look out Coeur d'Alene, here comes Trev and RTB!!
Friday, October 01, 2010
Raise the Bar Patty Swedberg saves the day....
well she saved the day for a little heron that had wandered out towards the road at Lake Morton. The little bird is now safely swimming around Lake Morton... All in a days work for our RTB leader!
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