ANOTHER Slog Hero: High Notes and Low Notes

LAHP and I recognize women on The Slog who provide us inspiration. These champions of life have a knack for athletics and are ass-kickers in all life pursuits. For round three, we turn to music, though the woman of note, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, is more regarded for her influence in the political sphere. Please note that we DO NOT endorse political views here on our blog.

I am zipping through Rice's self-authored book: Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family and no, we aren't turning into a book club. A passage about her early piano playing days parallels the principles of sports and triathlon (found at 41% if reading on a Kindle!). I took the liberty of embellishing with CAPS, though the italics are Rice's flair.

On balance, though, I loved my life in Denver. I kept the same rigorous schedule of piano and skating that I'd established the year before. I made rapid progress in piano in particular, competing in statewide and regional competitions. My first major competition was something of a disaster, though. Playing a Mozart piano sonata from memory, I lost my place a few minutes into the piece and wound up at the end before I'd played the middle. I was DEVASTATED, although the judges said that what I had played was very good. It was the first time I'd really bombed playing the piano. My parents tried to be supportive and kept talking about how good I'd sounded. I learned at that moment that some failures are best absorbed alone. I thanked them for their concern and spent the night replaying the disaster over and over. I knew that I had not really been prepared for the competition. Perhaps because playing the piano is both a physical and a mental challenge, it's not possible to "cram" for a performance in the same way one can for an exam. In other words, practicing eight hours one day will not produce the same result as practicing one hour a day for eight days. I'd left my preparation to the last minute and it showed.

A couple of days later I asked my piano teacher when the next competition would take place. It would be the Young Artists' regional competition in the winter. I entered immediately.

Rice's narrative is an example of how to process feedback--in this case, failure--learning from it and moving on. Though failure doesn't feel as good as getting a first place prize in a piano competition, it's meaningful information that helps you modify your preparation for what's next.

Plus, Rice hits the nail on the head about the consistent practice required for mental/physical pursuits like playing the piano, painting, swimming, or holding your breath for 17 minutes like David Blaine. You have to keep slogging away, ideally with a smile.

Lauren's Ironman Arizona Race Report

This might be a record for how fast I've been able to write a race report after the race. My few weeks of tennis/ski/mountain and road bike season have just started so before I get back to work I need to cram in all extra-curriculars such as blogging. Once again, I've been remiss in my blog updates due to the age-old work and training excuses so this blog is a long time in coming. Since Rev3, I recovered, attempted to race Austin 70.3, recovered from that and did a nice training build for Ironman Arizona, my third and definitely FINAL ironman of the year.

All I could say about Austin 70.3 can be and will be said with these 2 photos:



Blah blah blah blah

After Rev3 I was psyched to attempt another Ironman race but as the weather turned bad (as bad as it can be in the SF bay area) and the days grew shorter I really found myself struggling to get the work done.

Team Pataky rolled into Tempe late on Thursday and was greeted by a bright and shining coach Paulo on Friday morning at the pool for a little workout and chat. It is always nice to see Paulo face to face as he dispenses his no-nonsense race advice. We also found ourselves wandering around Target late on Friday searching for random last minute race articles. Target really is a taper killer, though, as you have to walk MILES AND MILES to find what you are looking for. Another interesting fact about my Target experience is that I only find myself going to Target in the presence of Lindsey, or when I'm at a race site.

Anyway, I was expecting a nice FAST course in Arizona. I did a short ride on the Beeline Hwy (part of the race route) on Friday and was excited by the constant tailwind. Dreams of averaging 25mph danced in my head that night, but my hopes were dashed on race day when gale force winds and some rain descended upon Tempe.

My swim was a few minutes faster than normal, and perhaps a bit less haphazard than usual, despite having to stop every 10 minutes and pull my cap back on my head. I saw Matt and some good friends of ours running along the path next to the lake shouting something at me. I assumed he was telling me to pick it up. I got out and heard Matt scream that I was only 2 minutes down from the B pack. I wasn't sure what position I was in after the swim but I knew I had to get to work.


Perhaps if I could learn to deal with open water swimming I wouldn't be caught up in this JV action.

My T1 running was faster than my marathon pace.


The first half of the first of 3 loops was blissful - minimal wind, slight incline, minimal people, no rain. This all changed when I hit the first turnaround and was blasted by the cross/head wind coming at me. The wind became progressively stronger as the day went on, so I just made sure to control what I could control - my watts (well, most of the time), attitude, and calorie intake. Matt miraculously appeared in random places all over that bike course, yelling splits and taking photos. I rode myself into 6th place by the end of the 2nd loop and managed to hold that position until the beginning of the second run loop. I rode around 5:01, which was about a minute slower than Rev3 for me.


BIKE FUN!!!!!

The run was a lesson in pain management - both mental and physical. I felt so strong and happy on the bike and then upon leaving T2 I remembered that I still had 26.2 miles to run. At that point, I would have preferred to curl up in a snuggie given the cold temps. I usually try to forget the mileage number, but it just seemed daunting to me. I felt flat and when I looked at the video Matt took, it looks like I had the cadence of an ox pulling a trillion ton plow. I tried to follow my nutrition plan and attempted to employ all sorts of mental tricks I've read about, but nothing was helping. My body started rejecting the powergels - it was probably just in protest mode after being forced to consume 1 trillion gels this year. The headwind did not help things either, but everyone had to deal with these conditions! Two girls passed me at the beginning of the second loop and then another 2 girls passed me towards the middle of the final loop. By that point, my quads were screaming at me and I wondered if they were going to hold out until the finish line. I did make it to the finish line in 9:33, good for 10th place in a stacked field and a nice way to end my season.


The rainbow hopefully masks the painful look on my face during the second loop of the run.


Last loop - trying to keep it together..just like that other guy in the photo.

I had to get back to work Monday so poor Matt had to pack up all my race crap and haul it around as I was pretty much useless and could not bend in any direction. In fact, still in race mode, I tried to beat an older woman with a walker up the jetway but she won. My calves gave out and I just couldn't push it.

This season I've learned so much more about racing as a pro (especially long course). I've enjoyed the training and racing this year and have really enjoyed getting to know some of my fellow pros. Unlike last year, I have no doubts about why I am racing - I love to race!

Thanks to Matt who has been such a supportive husband. I would be lost (or at least that pesky ISM saddle would still be hanging off my bike) without his help. His race day sherpa skills have been honed to a science. Also thanks to Coach Paulo for all of his wisdom and knowing how to manipulate me to get the work done correctly and in good health, and to Darrell at Front of the Pack for helping out with all of my bike maintenance and other triathlon needs. I dumped off my bike to be fixed recently (resplendent in a bath of Coke and power gels from a recent long training ride) and when I picked it up, it was GLEAMING...no questions asked.

Also thanks to all of the people who have kept me healthy and relatively uninjured this year. I will have to do a separate blog post about my "team" of medical professionals, but in short...thanks to Dixie Snyder and Anthony Gilbert, for their ART skills. Dixie also has mastered a 2 hour stabbing ART massage in which my QLs ,glutes, and some random back muscles are bent into submission. Also thanks to Lyresa Pleskovitch, Chiro/ART extraordinaire and to Harriet Garfinkel at Woodside Pilates for keeping my spine moving, and Patrick Wilson for 90 minute stabbing massages while watching sci-fi shows. INJURY prevention has been key for me this year! If anyone in the Bay Area reads this and is in need of an ART/CHIRO/Massage person, let me know and I'll put you in touch with these people.

Anyway, I've had a nice relaxing time with the Harrison family over Thanksgiving My mother was so happy to hear that my last race of the season was the week before thanksgiving, which means I could barely walk and thus was prevented from doing any turkey trotting. I'm now busy trying to run all the errands and clean all the closets I meant to clean in the past year but for which I just had no time!

ONWARD TO 2011!!!!!

Thanksgiving activities - the first and last time you will ever see me swinging a golf club.

Progress in the Swamp: New Orleans 70.3 RACE report

I decided (or perhaps it was decided for me) to start off the race season a bit later this year at New Orleans instead of the typical Oceanside - Wildflower pattern I've been doing the past few years. I've been putting in the work this winter, but much of it has been on the tready or trainer in our garage/dungeon due to a myriad of reasons (injury prevention, rain, cold weather, lack of daylight, did I mention rain?) I actually told Pataky before this race that I felt prepared and excited to go out and get the work done on race day. I don't usually verbalize such thoughts, but felt it was about time to own it.

Anyway, my time in the swamp was awesome. I stayed with my Louisiana celebrity friend John Fell in his hood near Lafayette on Friday night and then we drove down a few hours to NOLA the next day for the pro meeting and all that jazz. Other than forgetting my swimskin, all the pre race stuff went off without a hitch. (Although we did manage to find ourselves roaming around the french quarter for an hour looking for race morning bagels. Note to NOLA city planners: add additional grocery stores that contain more than beads and booze). After a bit of UFC fight channel indoctrination, I headed to bed...which ended up being the floor of the sound proofed bathroom at midnight as countless numbers of cars drove past my bedroom window with drunken people singing such gems as: "making love in the club," among other songs.

The swim was an exercise in not drowning. We ran for what seemed like HOURS to get to deep enough water for swimming. I was cruising in zone 10 and by the time we were able to actually swim, I was pretty much wasted. I managed to keep a pack of girls in sight until the turnaround when the waves and interesting buoy setup made sighting less than easy. After having to retrace some swimming, I finally made it to shore and tried (successfully) to put the swim past me.

The bike course was great. I haven't ridden a flat race course for awhile, so it was nice to put the hammer down and just go. I passed a couple of girls and was then passed by another. The wind was bad on the way out but we had a great tailwind on part of the way back.

I was pretty much alone on the run course. Other than the awesome aid stations, it felt like a typical solo training run (although I was running faster, in a swim suit with a race belt, and had vanilla powergel plastered across my arm and legs...with the occasional photographer capturing unsightly facial expressions. On a side note: don't you find it odd that these photographers always get you at your worst...like when your shoulders are clearly not where you told your coach they would be...or you have that look of death on your face?!) At the mile 10 marker, swamp celebrity John informed me that there were girls within striking distance ahead and that I was currently in 7th place. I picked up the pace on the homestretch (which was awesome.....shaded....crowds....etc..) and ended up running my way to an unprecedented 5th place finish!

I really enjoyed RACING and am ready for more! The race venue and support were awesome and I definitely plan to be back. Thanks to John and his excellent stand-in sherpa and motivational skills. Also thanks to Coach Paulo for throwing down some creative training schedules to get me to the start line healthy and Darrell at FRONT OF THE PACK for dealing with my 500 last minute bike issues......and thanks to Matt for walking the dogs, cooking, etc.. and not making me feel too guilty. :)



We went to a post-race crawfish boil at John's parents' house...a virgin crawfish experience for me! I learned how to rip the tail off the poor creature and pull out the meat. Killer.




On the podium..apparently contemplating the fact that I am holding a check.



The swamp!

Basketball Takeaways for the World of Triathlon

LJ's boyfriend Carl recently sent her this gem of an interview with Houston Rockets star T-Mac (Tracy McGrady). While I dabbled in basketball during my formative highschool years as a respite from the daily tennis sessions, I've let my basketball knowledge slip lately so I had to google this guy. Apparently, this T-Mac character has had some injuries which have prevented him from reaching his best the past few years. He is currently working hard to rehab and what I find most motivating is his attitude.

Interviewer: You've heard all the doubters saying that they don't know if you can make it back to being the player you used to be. Is the pain you're enduring during rehab all the motivation you need and do you feel confident that all the work you've put in here can get you back to the same level you were at?

TM: I'm not necessarily worried about the doubters saying anything. If they feel like I can't back to the player I once was I don't care about that. That's not gonna motivate me. What motivates me is I'm not finished. I got some unfinished business left on the court. I'm not happy the way last season went, so that's motivation in itself. I know what I'm gonna do and what I'm gonna get back to, so I know where I'm gonna be. Once I leave this place and I'm healthy, I'm gonna be ready because I'm not satisfied the way last season went.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/columns/blog?name=friedell&post=4479907