Courtenay Brown

So the Brown-Collins household is becoming one of leisure. Just in time for the holiday weekend!

Today, I went to Inewmed to get some professional help with a saddle sore I have had for forever. Gross, I know… The stupid thing would NOT go away, no matter how much I poked and prodded at it! Come to find out: I have a staph infection. This ranks up there with “cracking head open in front of bar on 23rd birthday” and “sustaining stress fractures from ignorant run training” on my list of most severe medical things that have ever happened to me. I’m off the bike and out of the water until at least Monday, when I have my next appointment. So Ben and I are both on injured reserve!

This means I won’t get to do a practice criterium tomorrow night. I did one last night, which was totally lame because I drove for forever to get there, there is no separate women’s field so I tried a couple of men’s fields and then rode alone after getting sketched out (yes I am a wuss, but big guys who crash kind of scare me), and I felt like crap. Which: I have a staph infection! Of course I felt like crap! Oh and the other reason it is totally lame is I got called out for calling it a crit when it’s on a race track so it’s technically a circuit. Whatever. It’s a practice race. How many designations of “first one across the line wins” do we really need. Who cares. This morning, I cared, but after a good day at work and some acupuncture and an evening sail, who cares? I love summer.

The only bummer thing about this leisure time is I can’t go tubing. Lake water has bacteria .

Am I too old to handle a new job, a birthday party, my regular training load, and discovery of a new awesome activity all in one week? Obwiously not. These four things plus a raw-food dinner on Thursday night that was essentially like “here, body, digest this giant pine tree! It will be great!”, that made things a little rougher than necessary, but clearly I survived .

Work rules. This is a pleasant surprise, I was bitching and moaning before I started, oh waa it’s going to be boring and everyone is going to be boring and I’m going to be so bored. But it’s not boring at all, and it’s kind of trippy to be working in a company that has 30,000 employees. I call the IT desk in our building to ask how to run a new program and suddenly I have 3 emails in my inbox documenting the question and resolution. I have an ID badge! And there is a whole email list for employees who are cyclists and bike commuters. On Friday I managed to ride into work (biggest instance of being lost was when I spent 10 minutes riding around the giant parking garage trying to find the bike cage). It was great because it’s a beautiful hour-plus ride each way, and I got to ride my favourite bike for the first time since I left Oakland in 2007! My Cannondale track bike. Which I bought because I was going to “try racing on the track” but honestly I just wanted a cool bike, the velodrome disinterests me entirely.

Another thing that happened was Ben’s birthday party, which was the best party ever because I got to go tubing for the first time ever! You string up two inflated inner tubes to the back of a motor boat and zoom around the lake trying to knock the other person off their tube (if you are Ben) or do synchronized wipeouts (if you are girls who have never gone tubing). It’s freaking awesome, and it’s also the reason I can barely unload the dishwasher. I spent a mere ten minutes hanging on for dear life, laughing hysterically, and flopping all over the place. I call myself an athlete but I was destroyed in 10 minutes! As for my lifelong, steadfast, vehement anti-motorboat stance? My disdain for all the noise and air pollution? Gone with the wind. My morals are fickle in the face of fun.

I’m leaving things out. It’s hard to condense a Seattle summer week into one blog post.

And finally: we are going to be a bit light on the photo documentation here for a while. At packet pickup before Eagleman, I kept telling Amy to stop splattering me with her beverage samples. She kept looking at me like I was high. Then finally I realized it was my completely flooded purse that was splattering me. Good job leaving the waterbottle full of precious Nuun open, good job… Yet another reason to get a waterproof camera, which is yet another item on my “what to do with my first PAYCHECK!” list, which is predictably ambitious. New pedals. A massage. iPhone 3Gs. Some cool sneakers. Some cool flip flops. Gloriously absent from this list, however, is a speed suit! I got a Rocket Science suit this weekend and it is FANTASTIC! I am already trying to plot a halloween costume around it. I hope all my races are non-wetsuit swims from now on. That thing is ridiculously more flattering than a wetsuit, and we’ve all heard a billion times where I stand on the look good vs. feel good debate.

…except the lake was so COLD!!

Notable occurrence of the weekend: I went sailing, and I had fun! Like legitimate fun! Ben and I sailed his boat from where it was docked, in Ballard, under the Fremont Bridge and through Lake Union and past UW and through Portage Bay and up to the top of Lake Washington! It took us about 4 hours, on Saturday evening, and it was really fun. I am not super at sailing, especially compared to Ben’s companions on his two sailing trips last month (one with Bob, Bob, and Robert, obviously on that one I also lose out because my name isn’t Robert or one of its derivatives, and the other with Christine and her mom who is a champion sailor), but I take direction well and I’m awesome at picking out boat snacks. And at taking photos!

Sunset over Lake Washington

Then today I started my new job at Amazon. It was pretty cool. I haven’t actually done any work yet so I don’t know about that part of it yet, BUT the people I met were all very smart and nice, my office location is great (in Chinatown, and we have a Tully’s and a Starbucks right downstairs), and everyone wears jeans. Amazon actually has several office locations in Seattle - there is the main office in the PacMed building on Beacon Hill, and then my office and some other ones. They have free shuttles between the buildings, one of the reasons I didn’t do any work today is I started out at PacMed for orientation, and then shuttled to my building, where, come to find out, they didn’t have my laptop, so I shuttled back to PacMed, but I got on the wrong shuttle and wound up downtown, then found my way onto the right shuttle, then got my laptop, then got on the right shuttle again back to my building. Then my laptop didn’t work. So… Then I trouble shot, then I got it fixed, then it was time to go home!

Tomorrow: no thumb twiddling. I have lots of projects to do and I am looking forward to getting started.

I’m also back on the training wagon now, my week off after Eagleman is officially over. It felt so great to ride my road bike today! I haven’t ridden my Ruby since before I left for Maryland in early May, and I missed it so much. That bike really reminds me why I love cycling - basically just delusions of speed and awesomeness, a 15 lb. bike will do that for you, but I’ll take it . As for my run… I did that this morning at 5:30 and as if the hour weren’t enough of an “ouch”, my legs felt as if I raced yesterday and not last week! It was a bit of a slog for sure, but I’m hoping I’ll feel better soon. And swimming. I went for a swim in Lake Washington this afternoon, which was totally neat until I got 15 minutes out from our house and realized there wasn’t another soul on the lake. No one. The lake is huge and there wasn’t even a water skier or anything. And then I felt something brush my leg, then I remembered that technically Lake Washington is totally connected to the Pacific Ocean where there are sharks, and I turned around and hightailed it back home (and screamed a couple times when phantom jellyfish swiped my hands). So, no more open water swimming without my knight in resplendent neoprene aquajogging armour to come and save me if/when I start to freak out.

My Knight

Amy Kloner and I head into the water at Eagleman

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I’ve been taking a week off from training, starting on Monday. Then this coming Monday I will resume training AND AND AND be starting my new job with Amazon!

But the week off has given me some much-needed time for relaxing, regrouping, and reassessing. As for relaxing, top activities thus far have included: riding a horse on Monday (for the last time in a while ), and shopping at Target, ostensibly for work clothes but really I just wound up buying my first-ever pair of “skinny jeans” from the teenagers’ section, which guys, this does *not* mean I am buying anorexic, lose-5-lbs-so-the-$200-jeans-will-fit jeans. In reality it means I found some $15 faux-hipster pants that don’t look leotarded and they are black and I want new black pants. Additional relaxing activities have included traveling from the East coast to the West, testing out Ben’s kombucha (it’s not bad, but I think the next batch will be better), “helping” Ben clean his motor boat (I have not shaken my lifelong, resolute distaste for aquatic motor sports. Total sensory pollution if you ask me), and catching up on some Tivo.

My major regrouping activity of the week involved a trip to the chiropractor. Lucky for me, Dr. Phil Spencer has become one of my good friends here in Seattle. I was able to pester him from afar when my back started hurting me in Maryland, and then yesterday was the appointed day for an in-person evaluation. Which basically confirmed what I already know: my friggin’ back hurts. In addition to the reverse curvature I have in my neck (which I have mentioned here before), I also have the beginnings of disc degeneration in the disc above my sacrum, and an obnoxiously zig-zaggy spine. Sweet. So yeah, my back hurts. My hope is that, with regular chiropractic treatments and an improved flexibility routine, my back AND my body will feel better.

And finally: reassessment! Like stay local, go back to basics stuff. I’ve decided that after a few months of pretty regular traveling, I’m going to stay here in Seattle until October-ish. I want to enjoy the most beautiful months of the year here, and there are a lot of cool races nearby. Cool races that aren’t giant superstar-fests - I’m hoping to gain a little confidence over the summer, and a little speed. Mostly in the water. Which, ugh, isn’t this always the case, but I thought I was doing soo well with my swim training! And yesterday when Ben and I went down to Phil’s office for our appointments, we decided to go swimming at the nearby 50-meter pool. I know it’s my week off, but long course meters! And Ben can see how much I have improved! Of course I’ll swim! But after only 50 meters of swimming, Ben stopped me. “What are you DOING?!” he said. “Is that a DRILL?!”.

No. It’s me swimming.

Apparently this whole me getting slower thing isn’t a fluke. It’s a fact. What the crap. Also now apparently I am not even allowed to mention that Ben has been helping me with my swimming, because he doesn’t want his reputation to be tarnished . But what can I do besides keep working at it? Keep working at it with guidance. Oh, and blame it on my back!

Oh my god, I am leaving the ranks of the unemployed. No longer will I be a triathlete bum. I got a job! A real one! Not a like, oh here organize a bunch of stuff over the next few weeks and I’ll give you some money. This one is a real live job.

A few weeks ago, a recruitment firm in Seattle contacted me about a part-time contract accountant position at Amazon. The experience requirements were pretty hefty, so I thought I was a long shot at getting the job, but might as well try. Then I had two phone interviews last Friday, and thank god Amy arrived at our homestay for Eagleman 20 minutes before my interview because she helped me practice and got me really excited about it!! And lo and behold, I start Monday.

In other news, I got back to Seattle last night. My bike isn’t here yet, which is actually great. The airline sent it on a later plane, so they will deliver it to me, and I didn’t have to drag it through the airport, a practice which I swear is harder on my back than all of the racing and training I do. Also I think I might start a consulting business on the side: “How to get out of Airline Bike Fees, or at least get Really Reduced Ones.” Over the past year and a half, I have flown to 9 races and paid a total of $315 in bike fees. Not bad!

As for my race at Eagleman 70.3, I am kind of glossing over it. The race was fine, but a lengthy report on my blog might just be a boring case of SOS (same old shit) so I will spare you all the gory details. The brief details: yes I got stung by what seemed to be an armada of jellyfish, it was awful. Yes I was last of the pro women. Since even before the race started because the start was ~25 meters from the shore, they let us in the water 20 seconds before the start, I think *maybe* one time in the pool I have done an all-out sprint 25 in 20 seconds… The bike was really flat. The run was really flat. My mom and sister and aunt and niece came to watch. Which was really cool and motivating, on the run I was so hot and tired but I kept thinking “my family is here! They might be around the next corner! I better look good and run fast!” They were actually at the finish line, so I had to keep up this chant for quite a while . So that’s about it. Last place kind of sucks, but I was not surprised about it. I just have to keep working on my swimming, that is the place where I blanketly lose giant chunks of time. And ugh, one more fun fact: at Oceanside, my pace per 100m was 1:53. At Wildflower, 1:54. At Columbia, 2:05. At Eagleman, 2:11. Screw *improving* my swim, at this point I would be happy to just stop getting worse!! (BTW I know that you can’t really compare races like that… saltwater, wind, length, wetsuits/speedsuits, bla bla bla, but it’s still annoying).

Speaking of wetsuits: I have a 2007 Blueseventy Helix size WMS for sale. If someone buys it then I will have money to buy a speedsuit!! So please please please spread the word, it’s in good condition and not stretched out at all since it is too big for me.

Unreasonable pre-race freakouts commenced early this time, and violently.

(Although, I think that my paltry 3 hours of sleep on Tuesday night could not have helped matters any. I woke up at 1:01 a.m. yesterday and could not not not fall back asleep. On the plus side, I am all caught up on the past three months of cheezburger.)

So back in April when I raced Oceanside 70.3, they handed out this magazine with all the WTC events in it, course descriptions, last year’s top-5, etc. For Eagleman, I happily noted that it was a wetsuit swim. Yay! But happily = naively. Of course it’s not going to be a stupid wetsuit swim since now I have my stupid pro license and everything is stupid, including stupid pro wetsuit rules.

Tears and accusations of pointlessness ensued.

Then, on Twitter I follow Terenzo Bozzone. He’s in Maryland for Eagleman this weekend, just like me! Right before going to bed, I read his latest update, in which he said he went swimming and he got jellyfish stings ALL OVER.

Jellyfish? We have to deal with JELLYFISH during the swim on Sunday?! That is ridiculous! I did not sign up to be MUTILATED!!! So I did what I always do when I freak out, and which I had already done earlier in the day: I called Ben. Who was like “I don’t know anything, but I am sure you will be fine. They won’t sting you.” If there is anyone out there who would find this statement to be encouraging, calming, or otherwise remotely helpful, please don’t identify yourself so that I don’t call you stupid… It would be one thing if I were facing the jellies in a wetsuit. It’s another thing entirely when I am facing them in nothing but a cute little Splish. For approximately forty minutes, if we are being realistic. All by myself, since I am the slowest swimmer and I won’t have anyone to put between me and the jellyfish.

Ugh.

The only reason I got a good night’s sleep last night is I had the very HELPFUL help of Sleep1, which I was tempted to designate as my new boyfriend. But Ben was actually pretty helpful on day 2 of my crisis (today) so he is not in danger of being replaced by a supplement . He helped me work through my attitude about this race.

So this crisis is a mental matter, as you can probably tell. It has been pretty easy for me to build it up to monster proportions, to start feeling like the three legs of a “triathlon” are 1. jumping into a cavern of near-certain death followed by 2. a round of lawn-bowling and then finishing up with 3. a watermelon-spitting contest (which I would win). But really, I will probably be fine. As far as swimming with no wetsuit goes: it will be fine. I did it at Columbia, and I didn’t die. I have been training in the pool with no wetsuit, and I have been doing lots of long sets without the aid of “training tools” like the pull buoy and fins and whatnot. So I could/should be a little bit better prepared now. My goal will be to do the swim in the same time as my wetsuit swims from early season and last year - at Columbia, my goal was just to not die and/or not cry, this time I will get out there and focus on good form and forget about the wetsuit stupidity.

As for the jellies, what can you do. It’s not in my hands. I will just hope that the race directors will be responsible and make decisions based on everyone’s safety on Sunday morning, and that’s that.

It will be fine. I don’t know anything, but I am sure I will be fine, and they won’t sting me.

Yesterday, my usual ride Cosmo had a bent shoe, so I didn’t ride him. Instead I rode this horse:

Perfect to a Tee wins 1999 Maryland Million

T-Bone is retired from racing now, he foxhunts and trail rides and occasionally shows. He’s a gem! I love stories of thoroughbred race horses retiring to fulfilling new careers. It used to be that thoroughbreds dominated the horse show arenas as well as the tracks, but in recent years showing tastes have turned to warmbloods from Europe. This is kind of bad news for thoroughbreds, because demand is lower for retired racehorses than it used to be, but gambling demand is not, so there are just as many race horses being produced, if not more. Most race horses’ careers on the track are over by the time they are 3 or 4 years old (for reference, the Triple Crown races are for 3 year olds), but horses live until well into their 20’s. So then what for the thoroughbred? I try not to think too much about the potentially heartbreaking economics of this, beyond the fact that it will be a bonus for me - I am a thoroughbred lover, so when I get my act sufficiently together to have a horse, I’ll be able to get one off the track at a pretty good price . If anyone has an email address for Mine That Bird’s owner, please let me know!

In OTHER racing news, I am fully into taper mode for Eagleman 70.3. “When in doubt leave it out”, “nap time”, “oh my god there is a TWINGE under my LEFT SHOULDER BLADE that could be MAJOR and the WORLD is OVER”, these are my most frequent thoughts at the moment. Along with “I miss Ben” and “petting kitties is good recovery”. Today I bagged my workouts because we had thunderstorms all morning and again right now, tomorrow’s forecast is good so I will do today tomorrow. I am also trying to get my body ready for a 6:40 a.m. race start. Ouch… I haven’t gotten up before 9 a.m. since I raced Columbia! Today I made some progress, I got up at 7:45. And my whole family started talking at me before I even finished pouring my cereal, I hate that. Then my mom made coffee, ostensibly for my sister who arrived home from college last night but had a paper due this afternoon so she stayed up all night, but she made enough for two of us, and the whole house suddenly became happier.

This morning I got up and two of my favourite kids came over for breakfast! Cora and Nathaniel.

Pre-race breakfast

After a lot of butter-laden waffles, we headed out for some Tennis Court Sprints.

We're off

Cora attacked from the gun (as you can see she is not even in sight in the Start photo above), and held her lead past the Final Netpost Turn.

Splish should add a skirt like this to my race suit!

And Nathaniel took the sprint for second with a great finishing kick.

Nice sprint Nathaniel!

Their dad would be proud. He is one of the top racehorse trainers in the country! And I enjoyed the race tune-up, it was excellent prep for Eagleman 70.3 next week.

Then later in the day, my dutch niece Libby and I went to the barn to ride. Here is where my DIP theme gets a little incomplete… photos of me are on my camera, photos of her are on her camera, she’s upstairs asleep (which I should be but I’m not), so: something to look forward to! (the photos AND sleep!)

Before riding, we went to visit the cows! They are G I A N T! And so sweet! And yes that is cow drool on my boob!

I love you George!

Cosmo is slightly less giant, slightly less sweet, but I am starting to love him nonetheless - he makes me laugh, he’s clever albeit obnoxious, and he’s so handsome! Maybe he and Ben are kindred spirits .

Bucking, or cantering?

I get my new helmet tomorrow! I can’t wait.

So it looks like I won’t have my Garmin Forerunner 310XT in time for Eagleman 70.3 next week. MAJOR TRIBULATION. Ugh. This will be my 4th race this year and the 4th one with no powermeter. I sold my SRM a couple of weeks ago, received my new Quarq Cinqo (with SRAM! Yay!) last week, but the Garmin, which I will be using as a head-unit, won’t be here in time.

Crap-tastic.

Should I (gasp) race with a HEART RATE MONITOR?!!?

I don’t know if I can deal with one of those awful chest-constrictors for a whole entire race though. So I will once again suck it up and pedal cluelessly. And hard, of course.

I know that I shouldn’t be making a big deal out of this, but I really prefer racing with power. Especially now, after a few races where I feel like I could have and should have ridden better.

—

Speaking of riding, today I went to Dover Saddlery! I needed new half-chaps and a new helmet, which by the way there was a tribulation in this trip as well. I have black paddock boots. My old half-chaps are black and they faded to this dingy green-blue-gray-brown color, so I really wanted to get new chaps in brown, but brown chaps and black boots? Is this a major faux pas? Then of course the only color helmet they had in my size was gray… So brown black and gray? Ack! What to do! I spent a long time deciding… sticking with my current black paddock boots, getting the brown half-chaps, and ordering in a black helmet from another store. Not that this is a fashion show… but really, you see, it is.

—

Ugh. It’s raining, and my body is pretty tired, so I decided to take the day off from training to rest and get work done on this data-organization project I am doing. Rest is sort of happening, work is sort of not happening.

I need to find my work ethic. I know I have one, otherwise how do I spend so much time training, but honestly… work work? Ugh.