SWim bIKe rUN

Andrew and I headed up to Barclay Bay in Boise last night to meet up with Ryan and Todd for an open water swim. We got out of the office a little late but headed up to meet the other two anyway. When we got there the road across the dam was closed. We decided that rather than going to Spring Shores we’d head over to Veteran’s Memorial Park in the Boise Cascade Lake. Spring Shores was a closer destination but I’ve never been swimming there and wasn’t sure where the best route was to avoid the boats.

On the way back to Veteran’s we hit traffic due to a one car rollover on the freeway. We turned around as soon as there was a crossing through the median and headed down Gowen Road. We hit the office again to pick up Andrew’s rig that he’d left there since Veteran’s was on the way home for both of us.

We finally arrived at around 6:40 p.m. to start our swim. First Danger, wife is at home with 2 kids ages 3 and 7 months and I’m not getting started until 6:40 let alone getting home.

We started our first lap around the lake and made our first turn towards the dock. I was feeling pretty good and noticed that I was in front of Andrew who is a faster swimmer than I am. Then I found out why.

Danger number 2: one of the fisherman, if you can call him that with his forked stick, lawn chair and cooler, had his line out a little further than normal caught a 163 pound Andrew. Luckily it was just the line and not the hook that got Andrew. Both parties were civil about the encounter and after a few minutes Andrew was out of the line and passed me up.

I have yet to see anyone catch anything out of this lake/pond except for today when Andrew was snagged. However, it must be a great spot because the poles and coolers were lined up on the banks.

So, our new route is swim from the side to the middle, swim to the dock, swim back and then across to the start. This will enable us to stay as far away from the shore as possible. Now let’s just hope we never get a cramp

My wife bought me this for my birthday and I love it. However, the only thing that I’ve noticed so far that is an advantage over the Garmin Forerunner 305 is that you can swim with it. If you’re not into Triathlons the 305 is probably a more economic choice for you. It has all of the same basic features, minus the swim, at a fraction of the cost. That being said, I do triathlons so I love the 310XT.

I used it in the Boise 70.3 and it was nice to pop out of the water, hit the Lap button and I was into timing my transition. Hit Lap again as you exit the transition and you’re into the Bike. Nice not having to worry about putting the watch on after the swim.

Don’t expect the 310XT to track your distance on the swim. It is just there for your time and has been discussed on the Garmin site and other blogs about the distance being off. This would be because it is in the water so much during the swim.

Good luck with you races and as my buddy Shane says, “Keep Tri-ing”.

Runmeter by The iPhone Mom

Let me begin with a disclaimer – I am not a serious runner. By serious I mean that I do
not track my pace and splits. I do not read Runnerʼs World or carbo load before a race.
My goal is to finish a run and be able to walk the next day and Iʼm proud of my humble
pace. I run because I have four kids and Iʼve got to do something to keep my sanity.
The year after my third child was born I was turning thirty. I made a goal to finish a
marathon before my birthday and I did it and was hooked. Over the next four years I ran
the same marathon, missing last year because Iʼd had my fourth baby just a few months
earlier. This year Iʼm turning thirty-five and I hope to run the race again this fall. So far
Iʼve found that in between the baby and keeping up with all the kids Iʼve been limited in
my time and ability to run away long enough to get the miles in. Weʼll see how the
summer goes.

When I was putting in the miles for my previous races I was often tempted to buy a
fancy Garmin. I donʼt care about my pace but I do care about the miles. I live in an area
that is semi-rural. Subdivisions mixed with open fields of corn and cows. Most of my
training is done running on the side of the road and I try to calculate my routes by the
“country miles” that run from one main street to another. It works but it makes for
boredom because I run the same routes over and over. About a month ago I went
looking in the iTunes App Store for an app that would help me track my miles so I could
get off my well beaten path. Basically, a poor girlʼs alternative to a Garmin. I browsed
through the App Store and tried a few different running apps out. The most I spent was
$.99, I just couldnʼt purchase any of the $9.99 ones which are probably wonderful.
Eventually I found Runmeter and the $4.99 price tag plus the positive reviews won me
over. Iʼve been using it for a little over a month and itʼs made me a happy runner.
Runmeter takes advantage of the iPhoneʼs GPS and maps your runs, measures your
run time, tracks your distance and will calculate your pace per mile and your average
pace. If you are running a route that youʼve run before using Runmeter then the app will
also tell you how much distance you have left in your run. You can name your routes so
theyʼre easy to keep track of. Runmeter is also not limited to running, it will also track
cycling, hiking, skating, skiing, swimming and walking. Because it tracks my miles I can
explore a bit and move away from my country miles. Iʼm loving that and seeing places
around my home that I was totally unaware of before.

The main screen of Runmeter is your “Stopwatch”. Itʼs here that youʼll be able to view
the key information about your current run. Youʼll see your run time, pace, distance,
remaining miles and your elevation. From this screen you can select your route (or
create a new one) and the activity that you are doing.To start tracking a run you tap the
“Start” button on this screen. When you are finished youʼll tap “Done”.
The next screen is “Map”. This shows a Google map of the route that youʼve selected.
You can view a street, satellite or hybrid map. The time and distance from the last time
you ran this route are displayed at the bottom of the screen.
Next comes the “Calendar” screen. This screen displays a calendar of the current
month and will show you the days you have run with Runmeter. If you tap on a run day
the app will show you that runʼs details. Tap on those details to see even more details.
You can see your splits and email/export them out. On the calendar screen you can also
add in a run that you didnʼt complete with Runmeter. This is great for me because
unfortunately the majority of my runs lately have been on the treadmill after the kids
have gone to bed.

The “Routes” screen shows you a list of all the different routes youʼve taken with
Runmeter. Tap on a route to see the list of dates when you ran it. There are icons next
to each run that show if the run was best, better, median, worse or worst than the others
youʼve done.

Finally there comes the “More” section. This section of the app is filled with all sorts of
goodies and tweaks you can give to Runmeter. I like the “Announcements” feature. With
this you can set a time and distance interval to hear announcements over your
earphones. Personally, I like to hear an update every mile and at every thirty minutes.
Thereʼs a list of things you can have announced but I have mineI set to tell me the time
of my run, the mile Iʼve reached, my pace and the calories Iʼve burned. The app fades
out your music, you hear the announcements and then the music starts right up. I also
set up email updates for my runs. I get an email after every run that lists the key details
and gives me a link to the Google map for my run. More importantly Iʼve also set up
email updates to go to my husband after every two miles. That way he can keep track of
where Iʼm at which is great for peace of mind when Iʼm off on a long run. In the “More”
section you can choose a setting that will turn your iPhoneʼs earphone remote into a
remote control for Runmeter. Iʼve done this because I run with my iPhone strapped to
my arm. I donʼt want to have to take it off every time I need to control Runmeter.
The last thing Iʼm going to mention about the app is that you must start your iPod music
first and then begin Runmeter. If you exit out of the app it will stop tracking your run.
Likewise, if you take a phone call or do any texting the app stops. Youʼll have to restart it
to continue from where you left off.

Iʼve been extremely happy with my Runmeter purchase. It does everything that I need
and it seems to have the capability to do the things that a more serious runner would
also want. In my opinion itʼs been well worth the $4.99.

TheiPhoneMom.com is a website written by Heather Leister which is dedicated to helping women and moms get the most out of their iPhones.  The site focuses on app reviews, how-to articles and other commentary about the iPhone, iPad and other Apple products, all from a real-life Mom’s perspective.  TheiPhoneMom.com has been mentioned on TechCrunch,com, ABCNews.com, AOLNews.com, FastCompany.com and various Globe and Mail Newspapers in Canada.  Heather lives with her husband and four children in Boise, Idaho. She can be contacted at mom@theiphonemom.com.

So the Boise Ironman is over and I survived, barely.

Brent, Eric and I met downtown at 11:30 a.m. to set up our T2 and Brent’s wife, Lenea, took us up to the base of the dam at the reservoir for the start of the race.  There was a nice little climb up to the top of the dam and the starting line which was actually a nice little warm up for the legs.

As I reached the top Craig Alexander was also just getting to the T1 set up.  Of course he was in the front row and I was fourth from the back so he didn’t really have time to interview me like he probably wanted to.  I set up my bike, got my swim gear ready, made a last porta-toilet trip and then found a shaded area under a tree to wait for the start.

I’ve done five marathons, six or seven half marathons, and two olympic distance triathlons but the atmosphere here was just electric.  It’s always cool at race time but this race was just a couple notches ahead.  There were a lot of fans that showed up to the swim start and did a great job cheering for everyone just like they did the professionals.  They were also staggered along the bike ride and run throughout the race and really helped pull us through the race.

Downtown was awesome.  During T2 and coming through two more times for the second lap of the run and the finish there were fans lining the streets.  The cheers were great.  Of course my pace was good coming through town.  Once I hit the green belt I would find a bush to hide behind and cry for awhile.

I started the race at 2:37, 37 minutes after the professional wave, and ended at 7:43 for an official race time of 7:06.  I was a bit disappointed in my time but considering the 30 to 40 mph winds during the bike ride I took it pretty well. 

Looking back I can probably see a few things that I could have done differently on the bike.  I loaded up with Gatorade and GU.  Buy the time I got to the first aid station I hadn’t finished the aero bottle so I just went by.  Next time I won’t take spare bottles and I’ll just use the aid stations to refill.  Warm Gatorade to wash down Gu wasn’t good.  Cotton mouth, from the wind, along with the sticky feeling of the Gatorade and Gu made it impossible to eat along the ride.  This lack of eating may have made a difference in my final time.  So lack of nutrition, fighting the wind on the bike are my two excuses for finishing thirty minutes to an hour slower than I’d envisioned.

In my training I had done 50 miles on the bike and 8 mile run brick using the same bike route and did much better.  Of course this was with a slight breeze but after that training session I figured I should be able to finish between 6 to 6:30.  Oops!

As I was burning through all I had during the bike there were many times I said to myself, “Self, just stop once you get to T2.  Give it up”.  But then I thought, “you spent $40 on visors that say Ironman 70.3 on them.  You got a hat and a shirt in your shwag.  You can’t wear those if you don’t finish”, so I pushed through.  There was a lot of run walking for me to finish the race but I made it and even though it took longer than expected I have a great sense of accomplishment.

For all of those that worked the race and those fans that lined the streets, thank you.  You made this event even better and I can see why it is such a draw for the professionals.

I have more photos on the swikun facebook page.

There are just 3 short days until Boise Ironman 2010 and I’m getting pretty anxious.  We had a great swim last night at Boise Cascade Lake, Veteran’s Memorial, getting in one of our last open water swims before Boise Ironman 70.3.

The swim is 1.2 miles up at Barclay Bay in Lucky Peak Reservoir.  Here is the map for the swim.  Won’t tell you much, it’s just a rectangle .  Swim Map  The water as of Sunday was still pretty cold at around 54 degrees but after the ache in my feet went away it was still a pretty comfortable swim.  I’m looking forward to heading up today or tomorrow to see the race being set up.

The bike is 56 miles in the SE Boise area.  It comes off of the dam, and heads West for an out and back.  The only real hill is on Pleasant Valley Road which is a little grind but the rest of the race is fairly flat.  Bike Map  Let’s just hope for low wind.  I’ve read two reports, one says 24 mph and weather.com says 12 mph.  I’m hoping weather.com rules.

The run is right downtown Boise that goes from Boise Downtown to the greenbelt.  It is a 6.55 mile loop that we’ll run twice.  There are plenty of trees and buildings that I hope will give us shade and block the wind if it is 24 mph.  Run Map

I haven’t been able to find much information on road closures.  I’ve been trying to warn my boating and fishing buddies about the race starting at the Reservoir.  The news stations haven’t been doing to good of a job on warning the public about the race.  They’ve been too busy trying to make the fact that BSU isn’t moving to another conference dramatic.  We’re only getting some of the best athletes in the world here in Boise, why would you promote that?

I did check the participants list and we have our 1st and 2nd place finishers from last year returning.  Craig Alexander and Chris Lieto gave us a dramatic finish last year.  Still no sign of Magali Tisseyre or Linsey Corbin on the list who finished first and second for the women last year.

Participant List Boise Ironman 2010.