Race Report: Southern Indiana Triathlon

Last post, I think I mentioned that I've been spending a lot of my time training for a sprint triathlon. Mostly I've been trying to get better at running, an activity I've generally classified as Not Fun. I've also been riding my bike plenty, because I like it. I've always been comfortable in the pool, which is why I chose triathlon as a way to motivate myself to exercise more. See, I've tended not to make working out a priority, so unless I have a goal of some sort, I can't be bothered to show up at the gym. Or get up off the couch, for that matter.

Anyway, today was Race Day, and so I dragged myself and my long-suffering husband out of bed at Oh Dark Thirty so we could go to Jeffersonville (Indiana) for the Southern Indiana Triathlon. I was signed up for the sprint distance, which was a half-mile swim, 12 mile bike ride and then a 5K (3.1 miles) run. The transition area was scheduled to open up at 5:30am, and I wanted to arrive early, so I could get a good spot to rack my bike and set up my stuff. We got there a little later than planned, but still before sunrise.

Over the last week or so, I'd been checking the NOAA's website to try to find out what the water temperature would be for race day. When I first realized I should maybe figure this out, the posted readings showed that the water temperature was about 68 degrees Fahrenheit, which is pretty freaking cold. Wetsuits are allowed in triathlon, so long as the water is 78 degrees or colder. I was pretty sure that the water wasn't going to gain ten degrees in 8 days, so I rented a wetsuit for race day. It arrived early in the week and I decided that it would be wise for me to try it on and try it out at the pool. It was the funniest thing I've done in a long time! First I lubed myself up with Body Glide and then spent the next 20 minutes or so tugging it up my legs, around my hips & gut before I could get my arms through the sleeves. A kind friend gave the zipper a good yank, and I was ready to head for the water. Once I got into the pool, I swam a few easy laps to get the feel of the suit and determined that I was ready for the half mile in the river.

If only that were so! This morning I couldn't make up my mind about whether to wear the wetsuit or not, as a race official had told me the water was, indeed, 78 degrees, and I wasn't sure I really needed it for such a short swim. About 30 minutes before the start, I decided that I did want to wear the suit, so my husband went back to the car to retrieve the suit that I'd had him stow less than an hour before. I'm so glad I did! My swim turned out to take about 27  23 minutes, which was longer than I'd planned. I think the current was a little faster than I was expecting, due to the rains over the last couple days. I had to work a little harder than I expected to overcome that, in addition to avoiding getting clobbered by the other swimmers in the open water. I had hoped to finish the swim in 20 minutes, but I guess I can be grateful that I finished it at all. I saw at least one of the men swim back to the shore just as my group was about to set off.

After I exited the water, there was a nasty hill to get from the riverbank to the transition area. I wish I'd paid attention to that when I was scoping out the course last week. I took that hill at a walk and then made my way to my bike to start that leg of the race. This part felt good! The course was nearly flat, and I actually passed a couple people while I was out there. I even remembered to put a Gu packet in my bento, so I had a little fuel for the second half of the race. I was so happy that I actually got to complete the ride - last year I had a catastrophic flat on this course and had to DNF.

For the run, my only goal was to complete the 5K without taking any walk breaks. I did pretty well for the first mile, but some soreness in the arch of my left foot made me take a short break. After that little break though, I was able to get back to my snail's pace of a run and complete the course. I never really think about how having encouraging people along the course can make the running easier, but I have to admit that it helped me at the end. Once the finish was in sight and I got a few atta girls from the spectators, I was able to find a little burst of speed (if you can call it that) to get to the chute. I don't remember my time - it was a little longer than I wanted it to be, but I wasn't last, which is really all I was shooting for. What's really cool, though, is that I actually placed in my age group! Mind you, there were only three of us in our age group, so we were all going to place, but I would be lying if I said I cared. I'm completely giddy that I got third place in my age group! I think I would have been heartbroken if there had been a fourth person. What's frustrating now that the race is finished is that I could see the second place finisher for the whole of my run. I'd actually passed her on the bike course, and she passed me halfway through the first mile of the run. I only lost track of her with about half a mile left. I think she only beat me by about 2 minutes over the whole race. I'll get her next time.

So that's the race! I'm probably going to sign up for another race soon - there's another one in Jeffersonville at the end of July that looks promising, mostly because it has an Athena division (for women 165 lbs. and up). I have been enjoying my run workouts lately, so maybe I can pull off a 5K personal best next time. Thanks for sticking with me, Friends.

Balance?

Since the last time I posted, I realized that I was just a few short weeks from my next sprint triathlon, and that I wasn't really prepared for it. So I've been making a point of getting my training in for my race, which has pretty much worn me out and made me worthless for anything else. The race is this Sunday, so once I get through that, I hope I'll have a little more energy for blogging. And knitting!

Anyway, I have been making slow, but steady, progress on my Lanata cardigan. I've been working on it during my commute to and from work, which has gotten me about 10 rows a day. It's not going fast, but it's going.

I started this project with the Rowan Revive that I reclaimed from my (now) ill-fitting Peasy cardigan. Since I've lost weight over the last 18 months, the sweaters I made before then don't fit me anymore, so into the frog pond they've gone! I was very pleased (and surprised) at how easily this sweater came undone - I think it only took three hours to take apart. It was most of the first two Harry Potter movies, if I remember correctly.

Once I got the sweater frogged, I wound the yarn into hanks, then tied them up so I could get them washed. After a decent soak, all the hanks got a couple days to dry, then I was ready to cast on! I got through the bottom ribbing pretty quickly, and learned the lace repeats easily too. I've just gotten to the point where I get to set the body of the cardigan aside to work on the sleeves, so I'll probably start those on tomorrow's commute. I like knitting my sleeves two-at-a-time (doesn't everyone?), which I find easier, because I know that both sleeves will have the same gauge and they'll (likely) come out with the same number of rounds and with their decreases in the same places.

So, that's all I've got for tonight. Until next time, Friends.

Some catching up to do!

For the last few posts, I've been promising that I would post some photos of my finished Amaya sweater, and today I'm finally doing it! See:

A finished sweater! It really was very easy knitting. If I could change anything (which is not going to happen), I would probably have gone down a needle size (or maybe even two), as the finished sweater really grew after washing. I even put it in the dryer in the hopes of shrinking it some, but I think it's just in the nature of the bamboo rayon be slinky. And heavy. Anyway, it's cute enough, and I'll just have to make sure I wear a little something underneath it since the fabric is a little sheer to wear unlayered.

I've also finished my Frankenanklet, made from sock yarn leftovers. Three of the yarns are ones I purchased at Sock Summit in the hopes of making something for myself and the fourth was from a skein I bought in Ft. Wayne. These socks were pretty simple knitting, even if they were done two-at-a-time on size 0 needles. I knit them toe-up until I ran out of yarn, then added the next yarn and the next until I had a pair of anklets. It was pure accident that a color change happened at the heel flap - I couldn't have planned it, but I'm glad it worked out that way. I may do this again with yarn scraps, but the next ones will probably have more color changes, as most of the leftovers I have now are shorter lengths. But what would I name them, now that I've used Frankenanklet? I'll have to think on that one.

I've also made a little more progress on my Columbines needlepoint. There's just a little more of the background left to finish and then I can move on to the border! I actually had to run out to the needlepoint shop to pick up one more skein of the background color - I was so close to finishing! I'm just grateful that the new skein is in the same dye lot. Whew!

Well, that's it for today, I think. Next time, I can tell you about my current knitting WIPs and maybe I'll have more progress on the needlepoint. Until then, Friends!

Riverside, the Farnsley-Moremen Landing

My mother is visiting this week, which doesn't lend itself to coherent blog posts, so I'm sharing the photos of our visit to Riverside, an historic home on the Ohio River in southwestern Jefferson County Kentucky. I promise that once I have my house back to myself, I'll post an update on all my recent knitting. Enjoy these pics! Until next time, Friends.

The front of the house, which faces the River.

The stairs were built nicely.

They had to send to Pittsburgh for the glass for the windows.

The view of the River from the upper porch.

The back of the house, with the Ell that was added later.

The kitchen building.

Inside the kitchen.

Derby 139

It's the first Saturday in May, y'all, and that means it's Derby Day! It's been raining steadily all morning, and there are various reports that it may let up soon. After a quick look at this morning's Racing Form, I think my pick for this year's winner is Revolutionary. Orb has been the favorite, but the line this morning shows that Verrazano and Goldencents have pretty good odds, too. The reason I like Revolutionary is that he's actually run on an off track, he's trained by Todd Pletcher and Calvin Borel is riding him today. Anyway, I've put it out there, so I'm sure that means he'll come in second and break my heart.

Here's a video I found of the crowd singing "My Old Kentucky Home" from Derby 137 (skip ahead to about 1:48 or so). Happy Derby!

Unstuck!

Louie loves cashmere. He has good taste.

Well, I laid a big, fat egg for Knit & Crochet Blog Week, what with my one sad post and no follow-up. I'm still thinking that I'll get around to writing posts for all the other prompts, but for tonight, I'll just give you an update on the Portico Shawl.

I managed to finish it the day after I posted on it, I think. My kind friend, Cindy, happened to have another skein of the wasabi cashmere, and it turned out that I only needed about 15 yards of it to finish the shawl. The blocking went pretty quickly, and once I had it pinned up, it dried quickly as well. I haven't had an opportunity to wear it yet - I might not get to wear it until Fall, as it's been pretty hot the last few days and will likely stay hot until October.

It has turned out just as light and airy as you could imagine. It practically floats! I won't dare call it "ethereal," because that adjective is so over-used, but it is pretty effing nice. It has just a hint of a halo from the cashmere, and it's so soft against the skin. I will definitely love wearing this around my neck.

Anyway, that's about all I've got for tonight. Next time I'll have photos of the Amaya sweater, and maybe even of the Frankenanklets I made from some leftover sock yarn. Until then, Friends.

The House Cup!

Well, it's Day One of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, and the fine lady behind Eskimimimakes who has kindly organized the whole thing has also provided prompts for everyone this week. Today's prompt, The House Cup, has asked us to identify which of four houses (a la Harry Potter) we expect we'd be sorted into.

The four houses are Bee, Manatee, Monkey, and Peacock whose descriptions you can find here. Once I had a good think about it, I decided that the Sorting Hat would place me with the Monkeys, as the most important requirement of any project I undertake is that it has to challenge me. I also think that I'm intelligent and fun-loving, but that's kind of a tacky thing to admit about oneself. Anyway, yes, I like to be challenged in my knitting and I like unusual construction and learning new skills.

Just looking at my sock knitting projects, it's pretty clear that I have to have an interesting pattern. Even when I've knit a stockinette sock, the technique was a challenge (Anne Berk's intarsia in the round). There are multiple examples of lace knitting in my sock projects, most of which I think look more challenging than they actually were. I've also done plenty of cabled socks, including Bex, which I've done twice. (I can't even say how many green u-cable needles I've lost over the years - since they only come in a set of three sizes, I must have a gross of the pink ones and white ones scattered throughout the house!) I think the challenge factor gets upped on all these projects because I always knit my socks two at a time. It's not always the easiest way to do it, but I'm pretty sure that I'd be one of those people who suffer from Second Sock Syndrome, were I ever to let myself do one sock at a time.

So, there it is: I'm a Monkey. I think if we were talking about Hogwarts, this Monkey would end up in Ravenclaw House, mostly for the degree of difficulty of the projects I take on. I suspect that Manatees would end up in Hufflepuff House, since they're so easygoing and gentle. Peacocks, I think, would likely be Slytherins, not because they're evil, but because I would expect that cunning Slytherins would value the embellishments and sparkle that characterize the Peacock. I guess that leaves Gryffindor for the Bees, but I would say that Monkeys could be in that house too, since lace knitting without a lifeline requires a degree of bravery that I don't think Bees have.

Anyway, that's it for Day One. For Day Two, I'll see which of my projects is most appropriate as a Mascot Project. Until then, Friends!