Driving to meet the start of my ride on Sunday. I thought this blog was in need of a self portrait.
I rode on the bike path for a short portion of Sundays long ride. This is the Columbia River looking at the Blue Bridge.
I had a fantastic run this morning! It's my last big workout before tapering for Ironman Wisconsin on September 9. Yesterday I had a long bike ride coupled with a short run afterwards then today I ran. I thought I would share some things I learned during my run today with you:
1. When a parent starts counting they are serious. 1... 2... 3...
2. People appreciate you saying "morning" when you go by if it's before 9am.
3. People look at you like you have two heads when you say "morning" after 9am.
4. More men than women walk their dogs on this particular bike path.
5. When doing an 11 mile loop twice, the second time around is always longer then the first time around.
6. A lady biked past me and said, "you're obviously in shape, you're my hero!" I am someone's hero.
7. I can run faster than I thought.
8. Most people wear headphones, I do not.
9. Having worship before a run makes everything better!
10. 22 miles is a long ways to go without having a conversation. (if you've ever ran or biked with me, you know I don't shut up)
For those of you interested, here are my two longest workouts up to this point in preparation for my race that I completed this past weekend. You may find it interesting, inspirational, boring, or confusing. I totally geek out on this stuff, so if you're one of my admirers, now you know what gets me.. Just kidding. But seriously, follow the links to my workouts. Real quick, Sunday I biked then went for a short run and Monday I ran.
First day of school, I must have been in 3rd or 4th grade.
Yes, this is me. I kind of look like a guy.. Ugh..
One of my terrible hair cuts. Yes, I really posted this..
Growing up I received two really bad haircuts that left me looking like a boy. Seriously. I was asked to use the boys bathroom twice in one week! How depressing is that? I was in elementary and then middle school when I had these terrible hair cuts. (see above photo's) In fact, half way through my 7th grade year I transferred to a new school and was the new "cute boy" until all the girls found out I was in fact a girl.
Do you see how bad my hair must have been? I'm sure it didn't help that I was very active growing up and refused to wear dresses, but that's not the point. I was a girl and did not like being told to use the boys bathroom or being thought of as the cute guy.
Three weeks ago at about 7:30am I set out to begin my long Sunday bike ride. There are very few cars on the roads that early in the day which makes it a great time to ride. This Sunday I was in for a surprise. As I was riding on a neighborhood road, I heard a car horn behind me. I looked and saw that there was plenty of room between him and me, so I stood my ground and didn't move over. I should tell you, this road has huge shoulders, so there was plenty of room. The car went past me with no problem, although closer to me then it needed to be. No biggie, cars don't like bikes and I understand that. As luck would have it, the car and I were both stopped at the stop light. (Seriously, there are no cars! How is the light red?) The driver was pretty heated, so he rolled down his window and let me have it-
Cadillac driver: what are trying to do, get yourself killed?!
Me: there's lots of room for you to go around.
Driver: you stupid son of a bitch!!!
Me: enjoy church!!
The driver was 70+ years old, dressed nicely and had his well dressed wife in the car with him. He was totally going to church! Zing! I remained calm throughout the entire reaction and wonder what he thought as he drove off. I like to think he regrets what he said to me after I called him out on going to church wondering if he maybe missed a chance to witness to me. I felt sad for him and his wife as they drove off because the driver was so full of anger. I mean, who yells at a biker early Sunday morning on a neighborhood street?
My point of this story? He called me a son of a bitch! I've worked so hard to remove myself from my younger years by growing my hair out long and being more feminine, (besides from burping, I totally burp like a guy) and he called me a son! I had my hair down my back while I was riding, so I know the driver saw it. How could he have mistaken me?
Making fun of people can be so harmful. I would like to challenge each of you to not hurt people with your words and to think before you speak asking yourself what the other person will hear.
Where you ever made fun of growing up?
Have you missed a witnessing opportunity recently?
Do cars bully you when you ride?
Do I honestly look like a "son of a bitch"? I didn't think so.
Two Sunday's ago, August 5, I did my second half ironman of the year. I like this race because it is a small local race that is well organized and always has a stellar race shirt. Actually, they give out a sweatshirt! That's the real reason I go back every year..
I'm learning to not let myself get nervous before a race and to trust my training and coach, it seemed to work out pretty good for me at this race! Here's my report:
Swim: the swim started out with me drafting off two girls in front of me. I was pretty proud of myself with this drafting because up until this race, I have not been able to find someone to draft off of because they were either too fast or too slow. Sadly, this drafting only lasted about 500 meters because the women were too slow and faded. It wasn't until the last 500 meters that I found another person to draft off of, great practice for me. The challenge during the swim was that the sun was in my way to sight the buoys so I felt like I swam a zig-zag pattern. I was the 5th woman out of the water, so I must have done better then I thought.
1.2 mile swim- 32:50
Bike: I tried a new thing on my bike this race. Isn't that what races are for, to try new things? Instead of putting my shoes on immediately after taking my wetsuit off, I left my shoes on my bike! It worked well! Not sure if it was any faster of a transition for me, but it was nice to let me feet dry off a bit more before putting my shoes on and not worrying about sliding when I run with the shoes on. Anyways, the bike leg of the race went well. The race plan was to keep my heart rate low for the first half of the ride and to steadily increase it allowing me to pass all the athletes that passed me the first half. It worked! I ended up passing a lot of people the last part of the bike who looked like they were struggling. I felt great! There were two struggles on the bike though, first I sneezed at least 20 times coming out of transition! Not sure what was going on, it made it kind of a challenge to put my shoes on. Second, I got stung by some insect on my forehead with only five miles left on the bike. The insect got stuck in my helmet and must not have realized who he was dealing with so decided to sting me. It didn't slow me down too much because I finished my ride feeling strong.
56 mile bike- 3:02:56
Run: the run is where the race begins. Everything up until this point is a warmup. This year Troika did not disappoint with the heat, and the temperatures were high. It was a very sunny and hot run. I had the same race plan on the run as for the bike as far as my heart rate is concerned and it worked again. Although the sun was hot, I kept plugging along on my run and ended up passing four athletes in the last mile! Also in the last few miles of the run I got stung by another insect! How does that happen twice in one race?! I must have been running hard because I was stung on my tongue and didn't even see the bug until it was too late. Looking back on my run, I am disappointed with myself that I did not increase my heart rate sooner and increase my pace earlier.
13.1 mile run- 1:50:10
At the finish line I learned that I was 3rd in my division and 7th overall! Overall it was a pretty good race, I had a tough, high volume regimen the two weeks leading up to the race which may be the reason I was unable to push it sooner during the run.
I actually couldn't say it better then my coach, Chris Bagg (his website here) did in an email he sent to all of his athletes:
Congratulations to Sally Shadle, who took 7th overall and 3rd in her age group at the Troika 1/2 Iron this past weekend. It's especially awesome considering the two weeks Sally put in before this event, logging over 40 hours of training over the 14 days. Pretty stellar result on tired legs. Next up for Sally is IM Wisconsin in a month, where she'll actually get to race fresh for once!
Total race time- 5:28
My next race is ironman Wisconsin September 9. I'm really excited about it as I will have loads of family supporting me there! My "A" race is less then one month away!!
When is your next race?
Have you ever been stung by an insect during a race?
Are you going to be at the finish line of ironman Wisconsin to support me?
