Lake Mills Sprint Tri 2010: 2nd Athena!

Last weekend I was happy to compete in my first sprint tri of the season. Yippee!!!

The Lake Mills Triathlon is a .25-mile swim, 16-mile bike and 3.2-mile run. It's the first of three local sprint triathlons included in the Wisconsin Triathlon Series. The weather was cool (low fifties) and fortunately the rain held.

This was the third time I've done Lake Mills (2005 mom of two, 2008 new mom of three). The bike segment was new, same distance (16 miles) but was a new route due to construction.

Results 2005, 2008, 2010:
2005: Swim: 14:22, T1: 3:16, Bike: 57:31 (15.65), T2: 1:11, Run: 35:17 (11:02/mile)

overall 1:51:35

2008: Swim: 12:18, T1: 2:55, Bike: 54:21 (17.6 ), T2: 1:02, Run: 35:39 (11:08/mile)

overall 1:46:12

2010: Swim: 11:21, T1: 1:45, Bike: 56:02 (17.1), T2: 1:03, Run: 30:48 (9:37/mile)

overall 1:40:57, 2nd place Athena Division! :-)

Race Day Notes & Thoughts:

prerace - : I left my sunglasses in the car. Ken went to get them while I juggled holding my youngest who was having a tantrum while my middle son had to pee. Not ideal pre-race bubble of calm!

prerace + : Someone pointed out a park bathroom with real toilets, so I skipped the super long port-a-potty line and traded up for a real bathroom trip pre-race.

Swim: The water was warm and choppy. The air was colder than the water, so I hung out in the lake after my warm-up. They combined the Clydesdales & Athenas in Wave 9. My mom noticed I picked a fine group of athletes to line up behind. (picture: me in pink goggles) I hit the beach around 10:30, though I didn't cross the timing mat until after 11 minutes. I was hoping to be under 10 minutes, but I had issues swimming straight on the way in... Ken was annoyed watching from shore & took this picture (above) to show how far off I was. That splash all by itself to the left side is me. I started off well, even with crazy arm (picture above), I managed to sight OK in the beginning of the swim.

T1: Great transition spot and I was happy to cut time over my T1s in 2005 and 2008.

Bike: I have zero bike pictures. Ken didn't recognize me each time I came through transition and with three kids along, he was busy. My sister saw me each time. Thanks Sue & family for coming! I heard your voice several times! The bike felt good. I was hoping to average closer to 18 mph, even though it was a new route, so I was a little bummed to get ~17mph.

T2: One second slower!!!

Run: I chased down another Athena during the second half of the run. I didn't know how many other Athenas were ahead of me, but I wanted to pass her. I wasn't sure if she'd have a big kick in the last 1.5 miles and push my pace, so when I passed I tried to give a little, "there's no way you'll pass me back" attitude. I didn't say anything or make any motions, but I imagined speaking those words in a loud voice as I ran by while using rock-solid form.

I did try to stay in the moment during the bike and run. I was thrilled to cut almost five minutes off my run time, especially good since I've focused the least on the run segment itself. Dustin Maher's bootcamp workouts + Jessi Stensland's MovementU both helped me improve, especially glute bridges, partner chariots, step-ups and rapid response. My swim coaches Katie & Nick are amazing. I love Thursday morning Fun Club.

After the race Ken commented on how my body type has changed. He said he was looking for a different shape on the bike and run segments and that's how he missed taking my picture.

See photos above: me with dark short hair & pink hat/top at Lake Mills 2008 and me in blue outfit at Lake Mills 2010. I was very happy to be racing BOTH years!

I was THRILLED to receive my first award. Last year I took third at Devil's Challenge in Athena, but I didn't know it, and left race site not knowing I'd won. This year at Lake Mills I took 2nd in Athena (At this event Athena Division means I weigh 145+ pounds. It's the athlete's choice to register as an Age-grouper or as an Athena).

When I walked up to get my plaque the announcer said, "Look at that smile, she is SO excited to win an award!" And I was! I was surprised how nonchalant or uncomfortable most other award winners were. Actually many of the athletes who won, win all summer long. Amazing athletes!!

But for me it was a good reminder to celebrate!

To smile and be happy, to enjoy this simple sport that brings me joy.

It's funny how something so basic can be the hardest part of my finish-line experience. I'd rather hit "stop" and review the ways I could save time or frown and wonder where I'd place if I registered as an agegrouper. JOY stealers!!!!

Be careful people. Protect your race-day experience! There is value there, no matter what, even with a DNF. (2x for me, another post.)

It reminds me of this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEGSiX0JA-s

It's tradition in our family to bite the medal post-race. Most triathlons now give tech t's instead of medals, so I bit my award.

Photos by Ken, my hubby. Thanks!

Other tidbits:

- Someone lost their bike seat and rode 4 miles without it! Race support found it on the course.

- Someone crushed a small rabbit with their bike tire... ew.

- I dropped my water bottle by mistake, first time during an event.

Questions for You:

- When is your next race?

- What did you feel like winning an award?

- What's the first thing you think of post-finish?

Athlete Profile: Cheryl Jestis - A New Race: Cancer + 1st Triathlon!

It’s common to toss and turn the night before your first triathlon. You’re either too excited or too nervous to rest well, but hours later you step out bed and get it done, eventually crossing a finish line—and life goes on.

Unfortunately it wasn’t nerves or adrenaline messing with Cheryl Jestis’ pre-race slumber—it was something with a bigger kick. Jestis needed more than rest, she required a cure.

Two days before her first triathlon Jestis learned the lump on her shoulder blade was cancer, changing the type and scope of the new race waiting for her. The Champaign MiniTri was now small potatoes.

After deciding to go through with the tri, she didn’t spend much time thinking about it. “I would love to say I spent that night having some deeply spiritual experience or that I prayed all through the night to the only one would could make a difference,” says Jestis. And while she did pray a little, she thought most about life. “I stared at the ceiling a lot. Then I stared at the wall. Eventually I stared at the ceiling again, then the other wall.”

Between periods of numbness and denial, Jestis came to two conclusions. “I decided for me the only things that mattered were my relationship with God and my relationship with others,” she says. The predominate thought that night was, “I can’t leave my daughters. My husband can’t do it without me. It’s not acceptable therefore I will not accept it,” she says.

After maybe two hours of rest, Jestis got out bed for the big race.

“I have to admit, once I got there and I got into the training I was SO glad to be there. Three years of dreaming and months of training led to this day,” she says.

In the minutes before the race Jestis chose to forget awhile about the diagnosis and what that might mean and simply run her race. That’s when Hebrews 12:1 came to mind, she says. “I needed to ‘throw off everything that hinders’ and ‘run the race marked out for me with perseverance,’” says Jestis.

The Champaign MiniTri was a reverse tri, so Jestis swam first, a 400-meter pool swim, followed by a six-mile bike and two-mile run.

Race day went well. The swim was fun and easy, a nice warm-up for the bike says Jestis. She wanted to take it easy on the bike and save her legs for the run but says once she got on the bike her competitive juices kicked in and she pretty much went all out.

After T2, her sister Vicky and friend Suzi jumped in running behind Jestis for part of the run course. The women realized how symbolic this bandit-running role was post-race.

“I was running out in front and they were there right behind me representing the many that would support me through the cancer and its treatments in the coming months,” she says. The bandits took off, letting Jestis drive toward the finish. “That part I had to do alone and I ran with all I had. I summoned every ounce of strength and emotion I had left and poured it all out on the last stretch of pavement. I crossed the finish line. I survived!” Jestis took sixth in her age-group, well done!

Jestis' friends and family surrounded her at the finish. “Steve, Emily, Kelsey, Mark, Rusty, Vicki, Tony, Suzi, David and Aaron were all there to support me, encourage me, cheer for me, photograph the event and celebrate endurance when it was over,” she says. “These same people and many more did the same thing for me in my race with cancer.”

“This mini-triathlon is symbolic of the new race I'm in—my race to victory over cancer. I’ve trained for it physically, I don't particularly want to be in this race, but I'll run it with all I've got and I am so blessed knowing I have TONS of bandit runners along with me. I look forward to the day when we stand and celebrate together, blissfully exhausted, with the finish line behind and a future ahead!" she says.

CANCER TIMEFRAME

7-4-09 Her sister Vicki noticed a bump on Jestis' left scapula. She mentioned the bump to her doctor that week at her annual physical. To be safe the doctor sent her for x-rays that day and scheduled an MRI for after Jestis' vacation. Cheryl and her family went to San Diego (the birthplace of U.S. triathlon) and had the best vacation of their lives. She ran around Mission Bay each morning while watching the sunrise.
7-30-09 MRI followed by a phone call. The doctor seemed certain it was cancer.
7-31-09 Jestis read the MRI report. “When I read this report I wanted to throw up,” she says. “I learned there was one very large mass, another large mass and possibly a third (or maybe it was an extension of the first, they couldn't tell). There were several other smaller ones around the large ones. They could not tell if there was bony involvement but there was definite stranding with other tissue. In addition to that lots of medical terminology I didn't understand. That was a most difficult day but God had friends and family members positioned strategically in the exact times and places to give me the support I so desperately needed.”
8-1-09 Champaign Mini Triathlon.
8-22-09 Grade 3 Follicular Lymphoma. Stage II This is a Non-Hodgkins B-cell slow growing form of lymphoma. Started treatments. During treatments Jestis ran the Woolyworm 5K. She was frustrated because she had to walk some that day. “It was tough to know I was losing ground to chemo,” she says.
1-12-10 Last radiation treatment.
3-31-10 Cancer free day.

100 POUNDS
Cheryl Jestis lost 100 pounds before becoming a triathlete! Motivated by the early deaths of her parents and in-laws, Jestis lost the weight over five years through a combination of healthy eating, strong relationships and exercise. Stay tuned for more about Jestis and this aspect of her fitness experience!

$100 Winner!
After reading hundreds of amazing stories, active.com recently chose Jestis’ entry as winner of its “Favorite Active Experience” contest. Read Jestis’ inspirational entry and the 35-plus reader responses here. http://bit.ly/CherylJestis

“I was shocked when I got the facebook message from active.com telling me I’d won!” says Jestis. She reads active.com’s facebook posts almost every day and frequently reads active.com articles on many different topics. Jestis put the gift card to good use—she bought new running shoes. Congratulations Cheryl!

Jestis' Favorite Quotes, Verses & Songs

• "Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.” ~unknown,
• “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” ~John Wooden,
• “Live in day-tight compartments.” ~Dale Carnegie,
• “He has turned your walls into a platform.” ~Molly Jones,
• “Adjust your attitude, adjust your pace, adjust your face.” ~Cheryl Jestis,
• “This is the last hill.” ~Rusty Van Rheeden (and especially fond of this version from Rusty, just before my first chemo treatment, “I don’t suppose you’d believe me if I told you this is the last hill.”
• Hebrews 12:1 1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
• 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
• Matthew 22:37-40 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[a] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
• Mandisa’s songs "God Speaking" and "Broken Hallelujah" are special to Jestis. She heard Mandisa perform both songs live at a Women of Faith conference shortly after her diagnosis. http://mandisa.sparrowrecords.com/
  

Photos: taken by Jestis' friends and family.

Questions for You:
- How long did you dream of becoming a triathlete?
- What's the least amount of sleep you've gotten pre-race?
- Have you seen bandit athletes in an event?

**Thanks Cheryl for the interview! I hope you'll have more chances to Tell Your Story!

Dragonfly Eggs, OWS & Trail Running

Last week we went to my inlaws' "farm" -- FUN time including:
- An open water swim with my husband. Parts of the lake were weedy, creating a kelp-like forest to swim through or across. It reminded me of past vacations to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and to the Seattle Aquarium. Sea Otters are the cutest!

- While the kids splashed around in the pond/mud, I took dragonfly pictures. One dragonfly was pulsing/dipping her tail into the water and laying eggs. My camera has a delay, but it was fun to watch. In the second picture on the top row you can see her body is vertical and touching the pond. I think the dragonfly in the second picture on the bottom row looks like an x-wing starfighter.

- Then, while on a trail run I saw my favorite dragonfly--the big one (see picture bottom left). In April one year this dragonfly hung out by our dryer vent for a few days. I thought it was dead or frozen, but two days later it flew away! Two weeks ago my toddler and I saw another one at the park near our house. I saw one by the pond too, but couldn't catch it with my camera.

I saw the dragonfly near this area of the farm, though this photo was taken in the fall, it's one of my favorite sections to walk, run, jog through with a combination of pines and sand.

- Other dragonflies at the pond.

- Ken with our toddler riding the 4-wheeler (he was going slow, but it made me nervous.)

Questions for You:

- What insect do you like?

- How do you feel about swimming through, on and around weeds?

photos by me