Zman's Diary : lake chelan

BEST. MEAT. EVER. (and Blueberries)

zman — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:07:00 GMT

J & I popped out to Cle Elum last Friday - we were helping out with a race series called Street Scramble. You never know what the traffic is like so we headed out early and arrived with enough time to eat. Cle Elum isn't a very big town so its always hard to know which restaurants are the ones to eat at. Boy did we luck out.

After driving around we settled on Mama Vallones which serves mainly Italian food but has some steaks and prime rib. I decided to get the 8oz prime rib which was around $20 or so. Seems like a bit of a cheap price so I was not expecting the menu claims to hold up:

Indulge yourself with some of the best prime rib you'll ever taste. The Midwest Angus beef is aged a minimum of 21 days. We prepare each rib by expertly trimming excess fat. We season with our own homemade seasoning salt. The ribs are then roasted in our special ALTO SHAMM Prime Rib Oven for a controlled period of time then served to you at its best-almost fork tender and very juicy.

But I was wrong. Damn that was probably the finest prime rib I have ever had. I'm used to picking the fat and chewy bits out (too many Vegas buffets - I know its my own fault).

Now you know The ZMan loves to rant and reserves his praise only for the very best. So if you are ever in Cle Elum and you enjoy eating a nice bit of cow then remember that ZMan's Food Guide gives Mama Vallones 250 stars!!! (out of a maximum 256 - I'm a geek what do you expect)

And while I'm in a praising mood I feel the urge to also point out that Blueberry Hills Farms at Lake Chelan gets a spiffing 200 stars for their blueberry pies (and big points for a funny menu and website). Just the thing you need after doing a Triathlon.

TRI-ing it again [groan]

zman — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:28:00 GMT

Those of you paying attention will remember last years triathlon at Lake Chelan. Well it was such good fun (well maybe the wine tasting) that J and I heading out there with some other runner friends for a repeat.

Triathlons vary quite a bit. Seems like the Olympic, Half Iron and Ironman distances are fixed but the sprint distance varies by the mood of the race organizer no matter what wikipedia says. This year had a longer bike ride and the swim was in a different place but it didn't seem like it would be too different.

Last year this was my 'comeback' race after 6 months of injury and recovery - I had plenty of time to practise swimming, biking and was running in pretty fresh legs. This year I think my swimming has been good, not enough bike and its been a while since my last race so my running should be better and stronger..... notice I say SHOULD!

The weekend went well. Saturday was an early start to get to Chelan to see M head off on her Olympic distance triathlon and D & M (different M) on the 10k. Great performances all round including 1st in his age group for D and M barely missed breaking 3 hours in the triathlon. Then some relaxing for the afternoon and racked our bikes ready for an early start the next day. We've herd rumours of the elite or wannabe elite moving bikes if they think they deserve your spot so we rack way at the back where nobody else wants. We go down at 9pm to check and they are right where we left them

7:30am Sunday we head out to set up our transition bags to find out bikes are not where we left them. Some wankers have decided that they are more important than us and moved ours about 6 bikes down in the rack so they can get the position at the end of the row. These bikes are nothing special so its hardly anyone who thinks they are elite. Seems we should have taken the advice and locked our bikes in position. These losers never show their face before and were VERY fast in removing their bikes after the race. I debate letting both tyres down or disconnecting the brakes but that would lower me down to the level of the pond scum that did it in the 1st place. Next time I am taking a cheap bike lock with me and if you move my bike I am going to lock YOURS in place and write the combination on the back of the ladies bathroom door. See how fast your transition is when you have to fight your way past a bunch of women with full bladders.

Before you know its 8:15 and we are off to the start. J has decided its warm enough to not need the wetsuit but I like the extra confidence and most people swear it makes them faster. I don't see how I can improve on last years stunning under 17 minute swim (it usually takes me nearly 20 in the pool) but I'm figuring my run should be a bit better and hope to improve on the transitions.

As usual I start at the back to avoid all the feet and walk the 1st 20 yards while everyone else flounders around like salmon in their death throws. At the 1st buoy I choke down a big mouthful of lake water which throws me a little but I've got a nice even stroke going. There's a buoy line under the water to follow for the middle section though most people don't seem to care and are all over the place. Around the final buoy and I can see the beach. I've not pushed hard this time because I remembered being totally wiped last year but when I get out of the water my watch says 14:04... Yes that's not a typo almost 3 minutes faster than last year. D&M on the beach with the cowbells for me to show my watch to - pretty stupid really as they can't read it as I run by.

Transition feels better than last year. I only had to dry my feet once and I am about to put on my helmet when I hear the cowbells - I wonder who they are ringing them for when suddenly there is J. She started 5 minutes behind me in the women's wave and she is already out of the water. Stunning swim for her too. So I get out her way and jump on the bike. Right out of the start its up hill and I already regret not training more. Once again my computer is not working - that's 2 years in a row - so I just have to try to pace myself by effort. My fast swim has put me in front of a lot of fast racers so I am being passed by guys with stupid pointy hats and solid carbon fibre wheels. They are very encouraging even though they are all thinking "how the hell did a guy on a mountain bike get in front of me". Eventually the passing stops and we get to a short but very evil hill. I go down the gears and then get out of the saddle so I don't have to use granny gear. Quads are burning so bad and I think I'm only about quarter of the way there. Thankfully a nice downhill the other side and suddenly my excess weight plus a heavy bike is worth something and I catch up towards the guys in front of me. Sadly not for very long and then the women (who started 5 minutes behind me) catch up and start passing me. I passed nobody this year :-( Eventually the turnaround point comes and my legs are feeling rough. I've been in my highest gear a lot of the way though so I think I'm doing OK. The ride back seems easier and I see J coming the other way. She's less than a mile behind I reckon. I get back home in 47 minutes so even the extra mile means I was a lot slower than I thought. But I don't think I could have gone any faster.

Dash through the transition and out on the run.... Holy Smokes Batman... I had forgotten this special kind of dead legs. Once again we start up a hill OUCH. I keep running and I'm right around 9:30 at the 1st mile. Not too bad but I can't make my legs move faster. At least they are moving which is more than some folk. At least I pass a few folk here. I'm not feeling too tired just jelly legs. Turnaround and on the way back see J again. Still about a mile behind me so she's having a great race. My legs never really recover but I hold the 9:30 pace and manage to stay under 30 minutes. Even the little sexy outfits and abundance of lycra isn't helping me here. At the last bend there is a big crowd and ALL of them seem to shout my name due to the magic Andy shirt. M&M are on cowbell station #1. Running down to the finish line even the guy on the microphone reads it and calls out my name and somewhere in the crowd is D with cowbell #2. I have no clue where but I could hear them loud and clear dude. Total time 1:37:42.

Lets compare the years shall we? (this is where it gets boring folks!)

Swim	min/100yd	T1	Bike	mph	T2	Run	min/mi	Total Time
00:17:22.900	00:01:59.2	00:05:37.540	00:37:42.920	20.4	00:01:42.920	00:28:10.030	00:09:05.2	01:30:36.31
00:14:17.900	00:01:38.0	00:05:03.000	00:47:28.700	16.6	00:01:37.400	00:29:15.100	00:09:26.2	01:37:42.1

Last year was a 20k (12.4 mile bike) this year was a 13.1 mile bike. Correcting based on speed that would add 1:58 to the 2007 time for a total of 1:32:34 so I was still 5 minutes slower. But STUNNING swimming improvement and I felt very very easy. Transition 1 was a little quicker but still sucks. The bike bit me hard for some reason. Last year I was surprised to average over 20mph but this year I was shocked to have dropped that much speed. T2 about the same and then I even lost a minute on my run. Heck that's what I'm supposed to be good at!

2007: 11/13 in my age group
2008: 8/10 in my age group
So that seems about the same - I am a year older but I ought to be fitter too.

Swim: 2007 5/13, 2008 6/10 - 3 minutes faster and further down the field!
T1: I don't even want to talk about this. I'm on the last page of the results here. Pathetic.
Bike: 2007 13/13, 2008 9/10 - so much slower but an improvement on place? Odd
T2: 2007 6/13, 2008 7/10
Run: 2007 4/13, 2007 7/10 - amazing the difference 1 minute makes.

So some room for improvement if I want to do better at this in the future. I (WE) really need new bikes - ours are so heavy and I run out of gears at the high end fairly often. Please Santa?

ZMan the Triathlete

zman — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 05:53:00 GMT

Not content with the title of marathon runner and male gigolo this weekend after much swim training I finished my first triathlon.

We travelled out to Lake Chelan on Thursday afternoon - a nice 3.5 hour drive over 2 mountain passes. For once I was a passenger so I got to check out the scenery and not worry about the 200ft RVs driving at 40mph. In the UK you would need a special license to drive something that big - in the US they let the folk with the worst eyesight and slowest reactions drive them.

Anyway we arrived in Chelan on Thursday - man it was hot.... I was not looking forward to the race already. I'm a pale skinned Brit - we rarely see the sun and exercising in it is something we try to avoid. Checked into the Riverwalk inn and got ourselves a very nice pizza from Local Myth. Friday morning we had a quick swim in the lake followed by a short run/walk around the river walk trail then picked up the race packets and timing chips. I did try to get my wetsuit off quickly and slipped on the grass and almost broke my back - doesn't bode well for the transition tomorrow. I don't know if the chips were special ones but they were huge - maybe from the 1920's . There were no lines so we had plenty of time so we visited some wineries and local tourist spots... more on that in another post though.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early for breakfast followed by a short walk with our bikes to the setup area. J likes to be early for everything so we had an hour in the sun while we waited for the start. J also hates being in the sun so she spent most of it standing in my shadow. Its nice to feel useful. We were most upset to find that according to USAT rules our ages are based on our age on Dec 31st 2007 so I had a rather impromptu 40th birthday party as they marked my leg.

As you may recall I am not a swimmer. The 800m (half mile) swim route didn't look very long from the lake side but I knew the fastest I had ever swum was around 21 minutes which would put me near the back of the swim leg. Of course that was in a pool without a wetsuit or a cap and with some big old heavy swim shorts. Today I have the suit, a nice green cap and some sleek tight, thin (yes ladies I look good!) swim/run shorts. The ladies went off first and it seemed to take them ages to reach the 1st buoy and turn so we could start. I started from the back since I knew I wouldn't be fast. The 1st side of the rectangle was pretty hectic - lots of arms and legs but not as bad as I had imagined. Once we made the first turn then the pack spread out and it was much easier. Well almost - I appeared to be swimming with some guys who couldn't decide if they should swim freestyle or breaststroke. One of them was switching every 10 strokes and annoying the hell out of me. I was pleased to see I swam in a very good line but he was all over the place and breaststroke is not something to switch to when you are along side someone. If *I* can learn to swim 800m freestyle then so should the rest of you dammit. Sure breaststroke was my plan B if things went wrong but make sure you are out of arms reach of people when you switch. I hit the second buoy in under 8 minutes. Based on my times I figured that it was less than half way which was almost as annoying as breaststroke boy. Down the back straight he continued to meander around and at the 3rd buoy he cut right in front of me as did 3 other people. Turning into the final side I could see the end and I passed the lot of them. Getting out of the water I looked at my watch and just about died because I was under 17 minutes. I glanced over my shoulder to see a LOT of green hats still in the water. I could have stopped at this point and been very happy but then I realised that people were passing me. I was walking pretty slowly up the hill to the transition. God knows how many places I lost there.

Still in a euphoria I entered the transition area. I really had not practised this and it showed. The wetsuit came off quickly with no injuries but I failed to dry my feet well and couldn't get my socks on. This took me several minutes to get sorted and it was almost 6 minutes before I was on the bike and heading out into the sun.

In training we had not done 13 miles flat out - instead doing half at a normal pace and then coming back at speed. I felt pretty good around 19mph so I was hoping to maintain that for the race even though there were a few small hills. However my bike computer wasn't working (turns out i had nudged the sensor in the bike rack and it was not close enough to the receiver) so I had no idea how fast or slow I was going. I started well by passing several folk including one guy on a very nice tri bike. I'm sure he wasn't happy being passed by someone on a heavy old mountain bike. This was short lived though as the good cyclists who didn't have such a good swim started to catch up. I tried to keep up as best I could but most of them lost me pretty quickly. Eventually I settled to a pace I thought I could hold and plugged on. Some subtle uphills where you could feel you had to push harder. Eventually spotted J on her way back. I have no clue how far I am from the turnaround but she did. Turns out I was pretty close and I was catching up. As I passed I yelled '17 minutes' - yes I was still over the moon about the swim and since J had been helping me a lot with that she needed to know. I hit the turnaround quickly and realised I was only about 5-6 minutes behind her and that meant I might be able to catch up. Unfortunately she had also realised this as we crossed and had picked it up. The competition probably helped both of our times. The return trip seemed to take much less time and soon I was back at the transition area again and there was her bike. Turns out I had averaged over 20mph - also much better than I expected.

This change over went much better and I headed out into 90 degree heat for a 5k.

Its well known that the bike to run is the hard one and sure enough my legs feel very odd. Not what I expected though - no ache or tiredness just numb. I knew my legs were moving but I didn't feel like I had much control over what they were doing or what pace they were going. I figured I would just have to keep up whatever pace I was going until they felt better. Around half a mile in I caught up to J and exchanged some pleasantries about the state of our legs and then I headed off. Apparently I was doing a pretty good pace even though it didn't feel like it to me. About half way in I finally felt more normal but now I could feel the fatigue and also the potential for aggravating my leg injury. There were no mile markers until mile 2 so I had no idea of pace but I was surprised to get there and find I was running 9 minute miles. They had plenty of water stops but I didn't feel like I had much left to pick up the pace so I just stuck to what I was doing. Lots of slower people to pass and its always nice to see they are younger than you by reading their legs. Then you see the park and the finish line and in one final insult they turn you off and make you run around the car park instead of directly to the line in front of you. I managed a short sprint the last 100 yards and was VERY happy to see the water and bagel stand. A quick look at my watch and I was just over 28 minutes. Not my fastest time for 5k but only 2 minutes off my recent 5k races and pretty good for the 3rd part of a triathlon.

Final time 1:30:36 - I think I'm more proud of my swim than anything else. I was 39th out of 85 men out of the water, 76th in the bike and 66th in the run. To my surprise its the bike and run that need work compared to my peers. Though I'm not in as good running shape as I was last year the marathon stamina helped no end and I have recovered very quickly. My injured leg was a little sore the next day but other than that I feel great.