Killer Quad #2

Lane 6 did great in Thanksgiving Swim. The times:

Ariel 1:50
Rhiley 1:50 (first Killer Quad)
Chris 1:50 (first Killer Quad)
Flipper 1:56
Bubbles 1:56

Considering last year's time of 2:15 and a 2:30 from the year before, this is a huge improvement. The Babes are pleased!

Rokky - deflowered

Ariel predicted that as in every virgin endeavor, it might not turn out to be the best experience; however with practice...

Rokky had her birthday wish fulfilled on saturday. She was the first one in the water, and the last one out. Got a hickey from a jellyfish, almost ran into a couple of buoys, and declared she will be back for more! Here is the proof.

Rocky's bday bash

Rocky's birthday celebrations are scheduled for saturday, november 8th, at Dolphin Club. A cold water swim followed by sauna bonding followed by pancake brunch in North Beach: lane6babe heaven!

Please rsvp to Bubbles if you would like to join! We'd especially love to see babes that have been missing in action lately, Ironwomen and jetsetting entrepreneurs, to be more specific :-)

'Tis the season

Killer Quad is in the air!
#1 Halloween Swim coming up on thursday night.
Flipper, Ariel, Bubbles and Marlin are all fired up to take off like torpedoes.

7pm. 1 hour non-stop.

Last year's distance covered was 2580.
Will we top it this year?
Will we fall short?
Or will we just slack off and munch on double chocolate cookies in Borrone's instead?
You got to stop by to figure out!

Dynamic Duo

Coming up on saturday at Burgess Pool. Flipper, Marlin and Bubbles are signed up for 7am/8am slot. Be there to win a fruit! Post swim Borrones brunch might happen.

Jon's Ironman Canada Race Report

Before leaving for Canada: as many of you know, I went to see mydoctor 1 last time for the series of small injuries I was dealing with.His last words to me: "this won't stop you from finishing, but I'm not going to lie to you, you're going to be in some pain on the run. Hopefully it won't hit until half way through." Not exactly theringing endorsement I was looking for! But on the positive side, it could have been much worse.

On the way to Canada: my left foot was really bothering me. We finally arrived at the place we were staying Wed night, and I found thatI had a long blister on the left side of my left foot. Really strange,I still have no idea what caused it! Aside from starting to rest for the taper, I made no changes in the week before the race, and I never had this kind of issue before. Oh well... So from that night until the race, I was icing a couple of times a day. It finally started feeling ok Sat afternoon, to the point where I could walk around normallywithout pain. Nothing like cutting it close!

Fri early afternoon: we drove the bike course and I was pleasantly surprised. I think I used the word "easy.". Minnie told me it was harder than it looked, but there were only 10 miles of climbing and most of it was flat or slightly downhill. There were plenty of places to eat comfortably on the bike, and compared to our training, this looked (andI still think was) REALLY easy. So at this point in the week I was feeling really confident. Probably overconfident. I knew the swim would be bad, and the run was dicey given my injuries, but I was really looking forward to the bike. And at this point in the week, I was still focused on having a good finishing time, versus just finishing. The bike course would definitely be a good place to make up time.

Fri late afternoon: we took our bikes out for a short ride. This went fine, except my plantar injury started acting up after the ride. Forthose who don't know what this is, think shooting pain at the bottom of your foot! This is the injury that knocked me out of the NYC marathonl ast year, and was on again off again for the entire year of training for Ironman. Great, this was not the right time to be on again! The other bad news was that going South (the first 40 miles of the bikecourse) there was a strong headwind. The forecast for Sunday was nice with only light wind so we hoped for the best. But this would be bad if it held for the race, which it did. For those who train in CA, it felt like riding on Canada road for the whole first 40 miles of the race! At this point in the week I was still feeling good about the race. Minnie was feeling much better. She was still a little concerned about some lower back pain on the bike, but physically and emotionally she was in much better shape than I was.

Sat afternoon: we went into the lake for the first time. The water was FREEZING! I was planning to wear my sleaveless wetsuit. No way! After about 20 minutes in the water my arms and hands were numb. My left hand started cramping up, and I was having a tough time pulling on my swim stroke. Some locals told us it was 62 or 63 degrees in thewater, but it felt much colder! And I was used to training in a heated pool, with a wetsuit!! This couldn't be good. And you all know how I love the cold! So at that moment I decided to wear my full wetsuit,which I've only used 2 or 3 times. Not good. The last thing you wantgoing into a race is a change from your training. But oh well....there's no way I'd finish the swim with hypothermia! Another bummer, the swim course wouldn't be set up until race morning,so we had no chance to get a feel for the course. Minnie struggled with sighting the year before, and lost about 15 minutes in the water swimming to the wrong buoy. And she's a much stronger / better swimmer than me! So 12 hours away from the start I was feeling REALLY nervous about the swim. The overconfidence from the day before was definitely gone!

Nutrition: they say this is the 4th discipline in triathlon...swim,bike, run, eat! But this was candidly the least of my concerns going into the race. Aside from 1 bad nutrition day in training, I was feeling really good about this. I knew what worked for me, I knew my calorie needs, I had a great plan going into the race, and I had a fall back plan if that failed. Or so I thought...

Race morning: I basically couldn't sleep the night before, but thiswasn't a huge concern. All of the experts say the sleep that matters isFri night for a Sun event, and we had a great night sleep Fri night. SoI got up at 3am, ate about 600 calories, stretched, got ready, and was feeling good. F1 qualifying was on Speed from Valencia, so I watched for a good hour or so, flipping back and forth between that and Olympics coverage. This took my mind off the race. I was still feeling VERY nervous, but otherwise pretty good. All of the injuries were ok. Not great, but ok...and certainly good enough to race.

Race start at 7am: the water as expected was FREEZING, and the house boat at the first turn in the water seemed like an ETERNITY away fromthe start! It took me a minute to actually figure out where it was! Minnie kept pointing to it and I couldn't see it! Not good :) The gunwent off, Minnie and I wished each other well, and that was the last time I saw her until my race was over.

First 20 minutes of the swim: REALLY tough to get moving. The cold water definitely shocked my system, and the current in the lake was consistently taking me off target (too far left). We were swimming in aclockwise direction and I typically swim to my right, so I was hopingwith the current coming to my left I'd swim straight. No such luck!So the entire swim I basically zig zagged back and forth. Everytime I looked up to sight I was off target, but it wasn't consistent, which made it really frustrating! For those of you who golf, picture goingto the driving range and going from slice to fade to slice over and overand over again. Not fun! Plus, I knew it meant I was swimming much farther than the 2.4 miles on the course, which was definitely not agood thing for me!! I finally got to the first turn (1400 meters), which should have taken me 34 to 36 minutes. It took me 50! I started doing the math in my head, and I knew at this point I might not make the swim cutoff. I was expecting to finish the swim in about 2 hours (cutoff is 2:20). My pace in the pool for 3800 meters is about 1:40, and my longest swim beforethe Ironman was 3500 meters in 1:30. So I was now looking at swimming 50 minutes longer than my longest swim! Yes Michelle, I know, I should have done more open water swimming! Given my time at the first turn, I started to push a little harder. Iwas now swimming directly into the current, so my "faster" pace didn'ttranslate into any more speed, but at least I didn't fall back any more.I hit the second turn (a little more than halfway) in 1:10. So at thispoint I knew I could finish before the 2:20 cutoff if I had a decent 2ndhalf. But.... I was feeling REALLY thirsty (very ironic given I was surroundedby water!) and I was starting to cramp up. I was also WAY behind therest of the field, and I was swimming with a group of people whohonestly looked pathetic! Now, I'm the first to admit I'm a lousy swimmer, but come on...these people looked horrible!! And yet, there I was, swimming with them. Sigh.... The second half was more of the same. The cramping got worse, my sighting was still terrible, but I started getting into a rhythm and I felt like my pace was picking up. I had no way to gauge speed, other than knowing I was pulling away from the other lousy swimmers :) Who given their terrible form could have been easily slowing down!About a 1000 maters out (little more than half a mile) one of thevolunteers in a kayak came over and started talking to me. This guy wasawesome! He was able to tell me how far I had to go, and he was going straight in the kayak, so it was much easier for me to swim straight by using him to sight. With about 250 meters to go my legs completely cramped up. The rules say you can grab onto a kayak as long as you don't get any forward progress. No time for pride now! I yelled over to the guy in the kayak, grabbed on for a minute, and he actually tried to massage my legs a bit. It didn't help but it was a nice gesture. At this point it was about 2:13 on my watch so I had 7 minutes left. A 250 normally takes me 6 minutes, so it would be really close. He told me what I already knew:"you can still make it but you need to go NOW!". So I pushed off and basically swam as fast as I could. Which at this point wasn't very fast! But it was just fast enough to make the cutoff... I came out of the water a little under 2:19, and I was actually the last person to finish the swim before the 2:20 cutoff. The whole crowd on the beach was cheering me on, easily 500+ people with an announcer yelling on the loudspeaker, so this whole part was really cool. I thought the worst was over....

Transition: I knew this would be slow, and it was. I thought I was moving quickly, but it still took me about 20 minutes. More time lost...

Bike: Now the fun begins. Or so I thought. I started on the bike and immediately got hit with 5 things:

1) It was 70+ degrees but I was REALLY cold from the swim. This passed after about 15 minutes, but it made the start of the ride feel terrible

2) My legs were dead...I had a huge build up of lactic acid from the swim. I went to an easier gear to increase my cadence, hoping I'd start feeling better as I got going. I did, a little, but I never felt good on the bike the entire day

3) I was incredibly thirsty and hungry, but I knew in the first 10 minutes after T1 you're not supposed to eat (you need to let your heartrate come down), so I drank a lot of water but no food or gels

4) The weather people were wrong! There was a strong headwind going South, so I was only going about 17mph instead of 20-22. Not terrible,but not the speed I was looking for on this part of the course. And to sustain that speed, I was pushing about 75 percent of my peak watts,which is higher than I wanted to push at the start

5) I was completely alone on the bike course! Given my slow swim and long transition, I knew I was AT LEAST 15 minutes behind the last biker on the course, maybe farther. With no IPOD to keep me company.

And it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway: it's really lonely and somewhat demoralizing when you're literally last in a field of more than2200! The euphoria from the swim finish was definitely gone!! But positive energy can carry you a long way. I figured all of those issues would pass, and as for being last, there'd be more people to pass later on! At this point my goal for the day was just to finish, so Ihad 7.5 hours to finish a bike course that on a good day should take meabout 6 hours. Maybe 6.5 hours with the headwind, but 7.5 hours shouldhave been no problem. Then I tried to eat...This was the first moment it hit me that I might be in trouble. About 5minutes after I took my first gel and water, the gel came back up. Hmm,I purposely started with a gel because it's easier to digest, and Icouldn't hold it down. So I slowed my speed and waited another 15 minutes to eat, and in the meantime kept drinking Gatorade and water. I hit the first aid station at mile 10, and tried to eat another gel anddrink Gatorade. Same result. This went on for the next 30 miles. I'deat, keep it down for maybe 10 minutes, and then throw it back up. By this point I was finally starting to pass people on the bike, even though I was going relatively slow trying to let my body recover. But I gave up on food for the time being, no point trying to keep doing what wasn't working. At this point I basically had 2 options:

1) keep going at a light pace with no food and hope I'd feel better, or

2) stand down for 15-20minutes and hope my body would recover. Time started to come into play. I figured I had an hour to give up and still make the bike cutoff, but I had already used up some of that time going at a slower pace, so how much time could I wait?

Long story short I decided to keep going. I still don't know what Ishould have done, but I'm not sure it would have mattered either way.If I waited I'd risk not making the bike cutoff, and I had no way of knowing how long I needed to wait. I was feeling fine physically, so there would no obvious sign for how long I needed to wait. So I kept going at a light pace. For those who know the course, I had 10 more miles into the wind to theturn at Richter Pass, and then the climbing would begin. So I basically had 10 miles to recover and get some food in. But I knew I needed electrolytes before I could take in food, so I just focused on trying to hold down Gatorade. I can normally drink Gatorade like water, but now Iwas struggling just to drink half a bottle.

Skip ahead: I made the turn for Richter Pass at mile 40. I was now out of the wind and about to start the most difficult part of the course.The temp at this point was in the low 80s, with bright sunshine, and the air on the climb was completely stagnant. My speed on the climb should have been 8-9 mph...I was at about 6. My cadence was also WAY lower than it should have been. And this was no longer because I was tryingto conserve energy! I was trying to push but had no power. Very discouraging! At this point I knew I needed to stand down for a few minutes to get some food in. So I stopped for a couple minutes which seemed like an eternity. The people I had passed earlier on the bike began to pass me again. And much like the swim, these were NOT people I should have been bikingwith! Sorry M2, I know you're shaking your head about now! At least Iwasn't wearing any of your M2 Revolution gear on the course :) After a couple minutes I started feeling better and thought I had turned the corner. I took in a gel, starting climbing, and saw my power output nearly back to where it should have been. I started passing people again and was feeling a lot better. I hit the top and started the first descent. Still feeling good...And then it all began to fall apart. Halfway down the first descent I threw up what felt like everything I had eaten the entire day! This was at about 40mph on the bike!! Then it got worse, I started coughing. Not your normal cough, but this dry hacking cough like I had bronchitis or something. Really strange.I was thinking maybe I had fluid in my lungs from the swim. As it turned out, the most likely cause was fluid going down the wrong pipe at some point when I was throwing up. The next 20 miles was rolling hills, mostly downhill, at a very fastpace. Absolutely stunning scenery. But I was feeling horrible! And I knew this was the only place on the course to recover before the next set of hills at mile 85. I needed electrolytes if I had any chance ofgoing on, so I just focused on drinking Gatorade and washing it down with water. This section got me to mile 70. I tried to eat again a couple times and immediately lost it each time. I was also coughing a lot more. I wasn't sure if it was because of the speed of the descents, or my condition getting worse. I stopped for a couple minutes at the turnaround point. This was no longer by choice. I couldn't stop coughing and I was going so slow itwas almost pointless to keep riding. My only shot at finishing was to take a few more minutes to try to recover. It was now a little before3pm, and the day had turned dark and looked like rain. Very fitting!I had 42 miles left on the bike and exactly 2.5 hours to finish. I typically average 18-20 mph on the bike so this still wasn't a huge concern. But I definitely had no time to waste! And at this point I needed time to recover!! The last 25-30 miles of the course are mostly downhill, so I knew I still had a good chance of making the cutoff if I could stop coughing and get some food down. For those who like #s, through all of this I was averaging about 15.5mph on the bike, with my watts at about 60 percent. So I was still doing ok considering, but this was WAY lower than I was expecting. AndWAY below any training ride I had done the entire year! I think in manyways all of the data at my disposal was a bad thing. I knew exactly howbad I was doing, and at this point in the ride I wasn't looking at these#s in any kind of positive light. I knew where my speed and poweroutput should have been, and this was way off. I also knew I had expended about 2300 calories on the bike, and at least 1200 on the swim,so my calories in (~600) / calories out (~3500) equation was WAY out of balance. I stopped coughing and tried 1 last time to take in a gel. Same result,and after another 2-3 minutes I was again coughing almost uncontrollably. Time was getting short, the weather was looking more and more ominous, and I finally started thinking about pulling out. I know, I know, what took me SO long?! Hey, I trained for a year for this thing!! I was only about 2 miles away from special needs, so I had 1 last decision. Anything in my bag that would have helped? Maybe, probably not. And at that moment the 2 miles seemed more daunting than the swim!So I officially pulled the plug at mile 71. About 2 minutes later it started to drizzle, and then pour! I was happyI stopped when I did. It took about 30 minutes for the SAG vehicle to arrive. And by this point it was 3:30, so anyone still on the course where I was had NO CHANCE of finishing. But yet people still continued to ride. Stopping is a tough thing, even when the writing is clearly on the wall. About 45 minutes after pulling out I began to feel good enough to eat and keep food down. At some point on the ride back into town I realized my core body temp was way too high, so I was definitely running a fever.You can't gauge this stuff when you're riding! There was nothing Icould do now, but again, I was happy I pulled out when I did.

I got back into town and saw Minnie at about 5pm, just as she was starting her run. She also had a tough day, but still looked good, and said she'd finish for both of us. I went to the medical tent, got a massage, and then drove out to the run course to pick up my special needs bag and try to find Minnie. I got to her right around the turnaround point (mile 13). By this time she was feeling a lot worse,and it 8pm so it was just starting to get dark. She wanted to stop but she had a ton of time to finish, so she kept pushing on. The rain was off and on but it was starting to get worse. So with each passing hourI was feeling better about my decision to stop!I went to the finish line around 10pm, and I have to say the crowd was amazing! There were still hundreds of people at the finish, in a totalparty atmosphere. It was now cold (low 60s) with very heavy rain!Minnie finished in a little under 16 hours, which was a huge accomplishment given the conditions :). So, what did I learn from all of this?

1). I have a greater level of respect for anyone who can finish an Ironman! I know this sounds crazy to many of you, but when you'retraining for it and around lots of other triathletes, the race seemsvery achievable, almost easy. It's not. Going into it I was focused on a specific finishing time. Could I break 12.5 or 13 hours? If I ever try this again, I'll really just focus on finishing

2). You learn a lot about yourself when you try something like this!Especially about how your body works (or doesn't, as the case may be!).It's actually really cool. Your body can handle a LOT more than youthink it can, but there's clearly a breaking point and it's tough to figure out where that is.

3). An old takeaway, but it was reinforced. Would I have done anything differently? At this point, NO! I'll talk to lots of people and seewhat they think I should have done differently, but based on what I know now, I wouldn't have done anything differently. With the benefit of 2 days of reflection, I'm 99% sure my race was over when I got out of the water. I was fortunate to finish the swim, but it took way too much outof me to finish the race.

4). Never pre-purchase race pictures unless you're really confidentyou'll finish :) I ended up with only 1 race picture, from behind on Richter Pass. A fitting end to a tough day :)

So for now, Minnie and I are done with Ironman! I'm going to keep swimming and work on my speed. At some point in the future when I'm a stronger swimmer I may try again. But definitely not anytime soon!

The next goal is to qualify for the Boston marathon, so we're going to take a couple weeks to heal up and then start our run training. In the meantime we're both looking forward to getting back to a normal life :)

Olympic Fever

Why i didnt make the Olympics

Chasing the Ironman Dream

After 10 long months of swimming, biking and running, Jon and I finally head to Penticton BC, Canada this weekend, where we're gonna be finding out what we're made of. If you have some time in between your masters swim, brunch, picnic, grocery shopping, laundry etc this Sunday, do check out our progress. We can be found here:

www.ironmanlive.com, Under the "Ironman Canada" section, click "Track an Athlete", type in 567 (Jon) and 2035 (my) bib numbers.

We need all the good karma we can get.

Looking forward to seeing y'all next week.

Star and Jon

Drinks tomorrow

We will meet at Borrones for post swim drinks/grub tomorrow evening. This is a send off for Flipper and Bubbles: we leave for Alaska swim on thursday. Please join if you can!

Aussie Surprise from Rockfish!!

I am at a cattle station called Glen Helen that has a water hole. I thought it was funny to have a life rescue ring in the desert. However, the water hole can be up to 50 ft deep. And when it rains, supposedly water flows everywhere.



This place is so remote there is no cell phone reception. What a pleasure.--Rockfish!

pix from the big dance competition

Hi Everyone--Here are a few snapshots from the Dance Competition on Saturday. A silver was taken on Friday night but I do not have pix of the Latin performance! Nor have I seen that medal... We must have a viewing! These images are from the Smooth Division and I must say that Elegance was the word of the day. For those of you who have gotten "hooked" on the various dance programs on the tube, this was a great way to extend that kind of enjoyment and watch a friend step out on the dance floor and compete with the region's best!! Nice job Erica!! We look forward to the next event! And of course the gowns we can attribute to our very own Ariel who transformed the humdrum into pretty snazzy threads!! And we look forward to seeing more from her too!! It was a lot of fun and I very much recommend this as a great spectator sport where the athletes are incredibly friendly and approachable!!

late dick bennett pix

Hi Everyone--Here are some very late pix from Dick Bennett Meet. Unfortunately there are not very many and none of any of the competitors swimming!! But I did get a shot or two of the timing staff anchored by our very own Lane 6 Ariel and her fine helpers!! See you next year!

Erica's dance performance

Erica will be competing in The International Grand Ball Championships upcoming friday and saturday.
Her schedule:
Friday morning sometime between 10 and noon in the Pro/Am student closed rhythm events of cha cha, rumba, salsa, swing.
Saturday morning sometime between 9 and noon in the Pro/Am Student smooth closed event in waltz, tango and foxtrot.

Flipper, Ariel, and Bubbles might go watch friday/saturday night show. Send them a note if you would like to join!

Save the date - August 5

Erica suggests post workout Borrones dinner on August 5th, tuesday. This will be Flipper and Bubbles' last workout before Alaska. Please join us if you can! It has been a while since the Babes got together outside water.

Also, stay tuned for Erica's annual dance competition details coming up later this month. Ariel re-designed her pretty feathery white gown from last year's performance for this year. Should be fun to watch!

Badwater

Badwater Ultramarathon is underway in Death Valley. Check Michele Santilhano's progress here!

Dolphin Club Gashouse Cove

Before:


Flipper at finish:


Polarbear at finish:


More pictures..

Menlo Masters Long Course Roundup

Flipper and Rhiley smoked the course. Rhiley took Gold with a blazing 39 seconds for 50 meters freestyle! Congratulations, you two!

Ariel nursed an injured elbow and patiently timed the entire meet, ending up well toasted in the heat.

Rocky manned snack bar for hours in spite of tendonitis flare in her Achilles.

Bubbles and Rhiley did a little bit of cleanup at the end of the meet.

Menlo Masters Long Course Meet

Flipper and Ariel will attempt several events tomorrow at Sacred Heart pool. The rest of the Babes wish them all the very best!

Lost in Berryessa

Flipper, Polarbear, and Bubbles had quite an adventure on saturday at Lake Berryessa.

Flipper getting ready to swim the lake:


Polarbear with her pilot towards the end of her swim:


Polarbear at finish line:


Dolphins at the swim: Dan, Mimi, Pete, Emma, Polarbear, Flipper, Bubbles

Spring Lake!

Hello Lane 6 babes--Well Spring Lake was truly an experience. Quite a drive. Water was about 70 degrees. Weather was hot. Polar Bear and I arrived very early but still there was an a buzz of excitement in the air with everyone queuing up for their numbers and t-shirts. The event was extremely well run and went off with minimal hitches. It had a very collegial and relaxed feeling to it though the competitive spirit was high. Lots of what I have come to know as the "regulars" at the masters events were there. No neoprenies. Well, maybe one was there but the tri's there were in their regular suits and not neoprene.

And as we found out today, Polar Bear took home a 3rd place ribbon in the race!! So hats off to her for an outstanding swim!!

I had thought Spring Lake was named that because it was fed by springs. However, I am now thinking that it was named that because it is most lake like in the Spring time when there is lots of water. It is a very lovely, idyllic sort of small lake that I am sure supports lots of birds and other kinds of wild life. An excellent setting for a picnic and swimming and for those into trail running lots of those around as well.

Lots of grass on the ground to spread out on and lots of grass in the water to swim through. But it was a very fun event despite the challenging botanical features.

There were 3 heats and we were in the third. The race was pretty uneventful. It was a swim down to the right and then around a tightly bunched set of 3 buoys then up the lake to the final 3 buoys and then back to the finish. You see in the picture with polar bear a look to the right where there was the first set of buoys and then the other pic above it shows the finish taken from about the same spot.

It was a water start with each heat staggered by about 5 minutes. And it was unclear to me whether we were supposed to stay inside the yellow buoys to avoid the water grass or stay outside. But we were cautioned that the wise do not stray close the edge of the water because of branches and the like. Fortunately they did not mention water snakes so I was very happy about that. However, it seemed that the path of choice for the faster swimmers was nearer to the edge so I may have erred on that one! Yet, everyone seemed to have some story about where the water grass affixed itself. The faster swimmers seemed to have it stuck in their goggles... (heads down... well done!!) and the slower swimmers such as moi had it in their watch bands--far more preferable in my estimate.

Polar Bear put in quite a good swim and just kept to her pace and swam and her race. Outstanding Polar bear!!

I struck out and felt I had a good pace too and really felt that I didn't have a lot of navigation problems so it was just a great morning for a nice swim! (: It was a very "clean" race in my opinion and sportsmanship was high in everyone's mind.

The drive back over the bridge was incredible with fog wafting in over the gg bridge and all of the sail boats out in the bay and the breakfast in town was very good too. I would definitely recommend this event to people for next year. Well run, fun and a great location. (:

More Parkside Madness

Hello Lane 6 babes!! I heard some barking in Aquatic Park today and it was not Bitey but Tiny Seal!!

"What Tiny Seal is the matter?" I implored.

"Oh Flipper I would rather see a group pic than one of me accomplishing this race. It is a group thing, you see."

"Ah," I replied. "Well would you rather that I post a group shot and take down your run up the beach??"

"Yes, Flipper. That would be great!!"

Unfortunately Flipper does not have the expertise to do that so.... here is a new post with some more pix of Parkside for all to enjoy! (:

Dick Beeler Crazy Cove

History

Crazy Cove swim is a funky Dolphin Club tradition in honor of long time member, Dick Beeler. He was an adorable member of Nooners gang, a group of tough guys and a pretty lady, that swam the cove at noon for decades. Dick once got out of a routine cove swim at Dolphin beach, sat down on a wooden deck chair, said "uh oh!" and dropped dead. Heart attack, they presumed.

Course

The course is kept top secret until 15 minutes before swim. Today's course turned out to be a tribute to tax season. We were split up into teams of 3 and given fake bills. We had to swim a relay course around aquatic park and pass all our money to team leader. Team leader would then swim out to the beach, exchange the bills for pennies from a tax collector ("because that is what IRS does"), and swim back to the club. The team that finished last was declared winner for their smartness in delaying rendevouz with Taxman.

Bubbles' Performance

i successfully located my relay teammate, handed him my hard earned moolah, fought a strong ebb and swam back to the club. Our team placed somewhere in the middle. Nobody noted anyone's individual finish times, people got busy eating donuts.

Lavaman in Kona

Aloha!

Neither Jon nor I have been to Kona, so we didn't know what to expect. We landed a day before the race, with a heat wave of over 90 degrees welcoming us, we rushed to the shop to get our bikes set up, barely made it to the expo to collect our registration packet and attend the race meeting. We had planned to go to the race site to check out the transition and swim area, but it was dark outside by the time the meeting ended. We figured we'll get there early the next day to sort it all out.

Jon had been very nervous all week leading up to the race, as this would be his first open water swim - ever. He had been practicing in the pool by himself, from learning how to put his head in the water to religiously swimming 1500 yards 4x/week for the last 3 months. This would be a key milestone for him.

Race Day

Started pretty uneventful - we ate, rode our bikes to the transition area, set up our areas, bodymarked and saw the beach where the open water start was going to be.

Swim

The water temperature was in the high 70s, very comfortable, so wetsuits were not allowed. Jon wore his and was told he would not be eligible for any awards. The swim course was kinda funky - 2 out and backs loops. The wave starts were as follows: Pros/Relays, Men, Women - 5 min apart. At 7am, the water was calm. However, it was a different story after the swim had started. Because of the funky loops, I had a couple times knocked my head/got punched by swimmers coming from the other direction. Other than that, the ocean was beautiful. I saw coral, fish and even a giant turtle from under me. Beats swimming in the pool anytime.

** See the swimmer with the "216" pinned on her back? That's me. And Jon was next to me with the wetsuit.



Bike

Getting out of the swim, I saw Jon in transition. YAY, he finished! He finished the mile swim in 40 min and myself in approx 35-38 min (the race folks lost my chip so I don't have an official time). Hopping on my bike and out to the Queen K highway, I was excited to be ridding on the famous Ironman course. By then, the wind had already kicked up, facing constant headwinds made riding all the more challenging. Throughout the course there was heat, lava rocks and more heat. Jon and I finished the 25 mile bike 3 min apart - he in 1:17hr and I 1:20hr.



Run

Now comes the hard part - the heat got up to over 90s and it was unbearable. There were hardly any shade and the sun mercilessly beats down on us. Yeah, it was that bad. Part of the course past through the Hilton resort so we ran by tourists on their beach chairs sipping Mai Tais. It was brutal. We also had to run on lava rocks and lime rocks. Very interesting. The finish, in all Hawaii style, was on the beach. Jon finished the run in a blazing 46 min and myself in 60 min.

Total Time: Jon - 3:06hr, Star - 3:10hr.

All in all, we had a awesome time! The people, the volunteers put on an excellent and well organized event. What more can we ask for?

For more information, go to: http://www.lavamantriathlon.com/

Ariel's Birthday Bash

Calling all Lane 6 Swimmers!! It was a sterling night to celebrate the birthday of our very own Ariel! Indeed thanks to the gracious hosting and culinary talents of the ever amazing Rockfish in celebration of the birthday of that rocking swimmer and number one mermaid, Ariel it was an enormously memorable evening of fun for everyone and delightful merriment. An excellent time was had by all---lots of joyful chatting and incredible amounts of exceptional food and drink. The evening began with the noshing of Indian delicacies prepared by Bubbles and assorted finger foods, each savored by the hungry Lane 6 fishies. We sampled the South Indian fare with great pleasure and could easily have made a meal of the noshing!! But then the real fun began with one of a kind dishes created and prepared by the Rockfish-- from vegetarian, chicken, home grown and magnificent veggies, the very necessary brown rice and of course unique sauces to homemade chocolate cake. What an evening for food!! Was Rockfish really a chef??? My reaction was pure text...OMG!
And finishing things off in addition to that sinful Rockfish chocolate cake were delightful South Indian desserts from Bubbles. So different from what our western tastes expected and so delicious!
And lest I forget the drink--magnificent wines from our very own Napa valley and the heart of the California wine centers graced the table thanks to our triathleting and swimming friends!! Delicious varietals were sampled and enjoyed by this happy dolphin!! Many thanks to those who swim, bike and run!
But what makes every fine evening unique is the company. And for this birthday bash we had swimmers from all parts of the pool from near to far, from slow to fast. It was a truly eclectic mix and not a finer one to be found.
What's that you say?? Were there non Lane 6 types splashing about at the birthday shindig? Hmmm. Indeed!! It was a famous combination of triathletes, fleet of feet runners and those fast and talented in and on the water. A finer group we could not imagine! Lots of fine conversation and stories were traded and enjoyed until the late hours!!
Of course needless to say the heart of the occasion was the birthday of the talented Ariel who incidentally is set to advance to the State Senior Games and go for the gold there. Nice going Ariel!! And lots of good luck at your next competition!! We look forward to another excellent year of swimming from you!
So Lane 6 Babes (and Boys!), there you have it. And for those of you who missed it, you really missed a great evening. Enjoy the pix and the memories and stay tuned for our next grand adventure right here at the Lane 6 blog!!

Thoughts on racing

Every once in awhile a serious thought does cross through the porpoise mind and one did indeed occur today. Recently I have done some pool meets. I suppose it is classified as racing though at my speed relative to the competition it may really only be considered "taking part" since I did not give much competition to the others on the blocks. But I showed up and once on the blocks the others didn't have a clue as to how fast I was so they probably got a little nervous just because I was there.
My experience in "competing" in the water has really only been mostly in the open water events and there for me, finishing is always a victory. Every time I enter the water in an open water competition I look to the heavens and say a little prayer... "Please just let me finish. Please do not make me have to be pulled out of here by a boat." And then of course there is the secondary prayer of "Please do not make me last." But last actually is quite fine as long as I finish. Open water is a "horse of a different color" and sometimes last is a magnificent accomplishment!
I do not believe I have ever finished first in a race in the water. I don't believe I can remember when I have, truly. It is easy to say, "Well, I was just born slow," but I have never been able to accept that. I believe that everyone can improve their performance with hard work and determination. You might not finish first but you will finish in less time than the last time you took to the water.
And that brings up the serious thought that passed through my mind today. What exactly is the point of a meet anyway? Is it to take home a trophy and if you don't, is it a tragedy? No, I think it goes back to the whole basis for sport and competition. It is important to show up and do your best. You might finish last but was it the very best you could give and was it the very best time that you could have clocked given all of the circumstances? That is the point in my mind.
Recently I did my first 400 meter competitive swim. I was a minute and a half behind the winner and really I could see that I was a lap and a half behind the woman in the lane next to me. All this did was make me try to swim faster.
When I saw her red square appear as I was just heading for my lap 17 I thought, "Oh no, this is really bad, expletive deleted..." So I tried to step it up a notch. I came in dead last but I was absolutely thrilled because I had swum what for me was an outstanding race and I had really put everything together in a way that I did not think was possible. In fact, I remember thinking, "I do hope I don't kill myself with this swim....."

But back to the point. Doing your very best effort is what this meet stuff is about. That race was a personal best and it was a hard race that I put everything I had into. I rose to the occasion and I met the challenge. That for me was a victory.
I used to be a pretty good runner and I will never be in the same league swimming that I was running. But even now I know when I step up on a treadmill I can never be the runner that I once was. Time and injury have seen to that. But swimmin and swimming in a meet allows me to channel my competitive energy positively. It "gives me game." We all have game. It is the heart of sport. It is what makes us go out and compete and strive to win even when we know we don't have a chance in a million.

I go to meets to "keep my game." I go for the adrenalin. I go for the day in the sun. I go because my best competition is myself. And every once in awhile I get a ribbon. And every once in awhile I know when I have put everything I had into something and I have gone faster than I had imagined. And that is what swimming in meets is all about. So, babes, as they say in Nikeland... Just do it. (:

Hello Babes--Well, that shamrock was really lucky for the babes and for our fab coach. Today we came away with lots of HEAVY METAL! Ariel had an incredible day with silvers and a bronze. Flipper had a great day with bronze. Our fab coach came away with a pile of gold. Everyone had lots of great memories.

The day was a breezy one and the only really warm spots were already taken by early risers. Hence we had to sit either behind the blocks and pretend we were up next for swimming (a little problematic for the babes when there were several heats of a men's race.... but the babes were so cute that no one said a word.) Our hang out was at the far end near the practice pool beside the hot tub which was not open to us. However, we found that area to be sunny and warm and pretty well protected.

The day began for the babes with the 100 yd sprint where Ariel made a quick entry from deckside and kept up her pace throughout. She was edged out by our new friend from Petaluma who had not raced in 40 years but who had been practicing practicing practicing since January! But Ariel established a dramatically lower personal best!! Woo hoo Ariel!

Next up was the 200 where we again made fast entries and held to our pace. Unlike the prior event at Rinconada we tried not to let the adrenalin take us away and we found good success there. Here Ariel again took home metal and hit another personal best!! What was this babe eating?

Third up was the 50 yard sprint where Ariel really had an incredible swim and another new personal best! What did this mermaid eat for breakfast??? We need to know and to bottle it for distribution to the other babes. (We do understand that she is relying on a new visualization training discipline which allows her to tap into cosmic pool energy and put it to good use!!) Way to go Ariel!!! Pretty soon you will be swimming with Hauling Haillie and Energy girl Erica!!!

Last up was the 400 or was that the 500?? Does anyone know? 400? 500?? Does it make a big difference to the babes?? Not really. For this one we thank our absolutely fab coach for counting laps for the perky Flipper who had no idea that she had to get her own timer. Thank you Rick!!

Undaunted by the uncertainty as to distance Flipper took the blocks. She had to really be motivated to get up there since she had finally found a nice warm spot in the sun and would have been quite contented to hang there and watch others swim. But this was the longest event of the day and she was curious about what her time might be and since she was there... and she had paid... and they had called the event, she climbed up on the block once more. (:

She set a good pace and kept at it to do a personal best in this event and was thankful to be able to finish in fine form.

Our incredible coach really set the example today. He entered every race and won his age group and his heat in each one!! Great job Rick!

So it was a great day for all and really a fun one from start to finish!! See everyone in the water!!

Flipper, Ariel, Rick: tail wind forecast

Hope you have a great show at Stanford Senior Games on sunday!

more pix from rinconada

Thanks to Tiny seal for some great pix. Mine are nowhere as good as hers are but I did get a shot of Ariel from Phelps that shows her sucking in air as she sprints for the finish.

The shot of some of the pre race activity gives you an idea of the crowd and excitement that hung in the air as every competitor was keyed up for some great swimming. Ariel had a terrific day taking home a couple of Blue Ribbons (woo hooo!!) and Flippper took home a couple of 4ths (woo hoo!!). And too was a marvelous day for the meet with lots of sun and a slight breeze.

The parade of beautiful bodies from the Olympic Club did not materialize so there was a lot of opportunity for the rest of us to participate and take home some ribbons for our teams. As you can see there was some out of town presence with some folks over from Tam.

The highlight of the morning was the novice 50 yd sprint where our very own Ariel was one of the competitors. She chose to enter the water with a flat dive from poolside and hit the water swimming and never looked back. She flipped at 25 and sprinted back for the finish.

Flipper also swam and chose to go off the blocks. She lost her goggles on entry to the 50 and had to fight the drag from them the entire 50 yards!! What a swim though and despite those wretched goggles dangling from her neck she finished a couple of seconds faster than last year. Way to go Flipper.

The 200 showcased the amazing talents of both swimmers. There Ariel again struck gold and copped a Blue Ribbon with an impressive time and personal best. Flipper took home a 4th place and thinks she might have had a personal best too though she is not sure. However, she did manage to count to eight and finish the complete race!

So it was a very fun day for all and we look forward to seeing more of our friends at the next big show!!

Flipper and Ariel rock it at Rinconada

Congratulations to Ariel and Flipper for winning two ribbons each in Rinconada Spring Meet today!

Phelps was seen crying in envy in a shady corner far away from the pool:

Lane 6 Babes' performance numbers:

Ariel:

Novice 50 free: 0:48
200 free: 4:12
___________

Flipper:
50 free: 0:41
200 free: 3:41

More pictures..

Rinconada 2008

Hello babes!! Yes, it is true. These guys are going to be there just to cheer on Lane 6. Take a look at the spirit they are bringing with them!!

It 's Mike and his boys!! At the ever enchanting day in the pool known as Rinconada. True!!

Last year it was wonderfully sunny and a great time was had by all attendees!!
Today Ariel and Flipper received diving lessons from Rick. We splashed pretty well into the water from poolside and next week we are hoping to take off from the blocks!! We are looking eagerly forward to next Saturday's meet!

As a reminder, last year they had dynamite chocolate chip cookies and a fair collection of stylish threads to purchase there! Come along and enjoy the games, work on your tan and do some shopping too.
Ariel is looking forward to entering the novice class. Flipper will be flopping around in the non novice class hoping that by wearing very dark goggles no one will recognize the sea turtle that has dared to swim with the fast fish!!

We are debating which events to enter but hope to make a final decision next week with the help of rick who we are sure will have some good advice.
Swimming today was lots of fun with Ariel clocking a blistering 50 yds in 53 seconds and Flipper following suit with a 100 at 1:44.

So come ahead and cheer the home team. And oh yes, there are always the Olympic Club "ringers" to watch as well who will have you scratching your head over the true meaning of "amateur" and the distinction it has from "professional"...

Later babes!! see you there!

bday pics

Hello everyone--Here are a couple of great pixs from last night. What a wild bunch of characters!

hello lane 6

As I travel the world doing exciting open water swims I always look back to my very enjoyable lane 6 swims in a nice warm pool with my friends. see you soon-orcinus orca