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Runner’s Purgatory

17 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Running

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Boulder Marathon, Ellie Mahoney, Georgia Pass, ironkids


I wrote a wistful blog a few weeks back lamenting the end of the running season.  My pensive mood was brought on more I think by the end of an agenda, the dearth of training goals, than by the lack of events.  Of course, in Colorado, I could easily schedule events throughout the year.  If I want to run a marathon in January, I could afford to book a trip to Houston.  But there are other activities to excite me.  My buddy Rob has scheduled a couple of camping trips to hike the new 80 mile Collegiates Loop on the Colorado Trail.  And he’s hell-bent on teaching me survival skills with some winter camping.  Not sure about blogging from a snow cave, but I am so ready for October and some fall hiking.  And let’s not forget snow shoeing.

bikeThese pictures capture my favorite event of this summer with Ellie’s participation in an IronKid’s Triathlon.  It’s such a kick to see your kid competing in sport.  Triathlons are over-the-top with their three distinct events.  There’s no lack of drama.  I don’t know what had me more nervous; Ellie finishing or her bike tire exploding because I failed to properly inflate the tube.  Ellie is totally into triathlons and wants to train more seriously for next season.  I can make that happen.  I plan to get her on a swim team in the winter and spring.  That’s the sport where a base level of form is required to compete comfortably and effectively.  Next I would say she needs to learn how to bike faster.  At her age, running comes down the most to natural ability.  It’s fair to say though for any of the events, your muscles need to be trained to go fast.  It’s more about enjoyment at her age, but training counts.

 

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It was hard for me to pick the best run pic.  There’s a good one of Ellie out-running some boys, but this photo captures both her feet off the ground.  I always go for airborne.  With school started, Ellie is now on her first ever volleyball team.  Really her first ever team sport.  Middle school and team sports sort of go hand in hand.  The social aspect is there with a mix of behavioral discipline.  She’s into volleyball and should have the height to succeed – at least through 8th grade.

It’ll be interesting to see which sport, if any, Ellie takes to during her adolescence.  Team sports are more difficult to keep active in as you age.  And one can only go so far in baton twirling.  Running has to be the most portable sport ever.  I feel like I got lucky making the commitment to distance running in high school.  It was a tough decision to quit football, because I really love that sport.  Having a distance runner’s body type though made that the right decision.  I can’t determine yet any affinities between Ellie’s body type and specific sports.  Brit was clearly aligned with softball or swimming because she had broad shoulders and large hands.  I still remember the softball game when Brit, playing 3rd base, threw out a girl running to 1st base.  The coach made her a pitcher after that game.  Brit didn’t stick with softball, but she liked it and had the physical abilities for that sport.  Brit running Cross Country in High School is a big factor that got me running again.
Wistfulness isn’t the proper description for my current state at the end of my planned running season.  The Boulder Flood resulted in my mountain relay being cancelled last weekend along with the delay of next weekend’s marathon.  September has been a runner’s purgatory.  Ever defiant, I am rounding up my relay team to run Georgia Pass this weekend.  That would have been the highlight leg of my relay last weekend – a 12.5 mile trail run over a 12,000 foot pass.  I fully expect the Boulder Marathon to be run in October.  The fall colors will be that much more vivid.  I just need to keep up my distance training a few more weeks.

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Swim, Bike and Run

03 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Ellie Rose

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Boulder Res, Ellie Mahoney, ironkids

IronKidsEllie attended the packet pickup at the Boulder Res Friday afternoon with her girl friends Kate and Lindsey.  The three of them were registered in the 9 to 11 year old Intermediate division of the 2013 IronKids Triathlon.  Afterward, Kate and Lindsey’s dad made us dinner at their house – chicken piccata, pasta and salad.  I forgot to ask what the dressing was but the salad contained thin yet crispy apple slices.  This morning, I woke Ellie up at 5:30am, then again for reals at 5:45am.  She ate a light breakfast while I drank coffee.  Then we drove back to the res to setup her bike and gear in the transition staging area before the 6:45am deadline.
The girls wave didn’t start until 8:30, after the Seniors.  They played on the beach and primed their pumps with some light swimming while we waited.  Dave showed up before the start with breakfast bagels for us big kids.  They hit the spot.  Not sure why food and drink vendors don’t attend this event.  It’s huge.  Anyone selling coffee could have made enough to winter in Florida.

bikeKate was one of the first girls out of the water.  She’s a fantastic swimmer.  Ellie’s game plan was to pace herself and simply try to finish.  She swam a nice straight line to the first buoy.  Ellie said the swim on the way in from the second buoy consisted mostly of swimming around people.  It got crowded from some of the boys who were still in the water from the wave ahead of her.  Ellie’s game plan on the bike was to take the first lap easy and to speed up on the second which she said she did.  There were some momentum killers though like when the course does a u-turn at the firehouse at the bottom of a hill.  The bike was clearly her slowest leg comparatively but she kept to her plan which was to keep a comfortable pace.
The bike was four miles whereas the run was one mile.  That makes the run a bit long relative to the swim and bike.  In my mind anyway but maybe a 4:1 ratio is normal.  Ellie ran strong though turning in an 11:08 mile.  I thought initially from the results that her mile run pace wasn’t much off from her bike pace.  Same with many other kids.  That made me suspect perhaps the bike course is longer than advertised.  Then I figured out the bike pace references laps and not miles.  The timing results have a number of issues I won’t get into.  Not sure why it’s so difficult though to publish meaningful and accurate results.
Ellie finished feeling good.  This is her first ever Triathlon.  She wants to join a triathlon training team next summer with her girl friends.  She trained well enough this summer to complete a triathlon.  Next time she wants to be competitive.  That’s my girl.

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IronKids

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Ellie Rose

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Tags

Boulder Res, Ellie Mahoney, ironkids

UHC IronkidsEllie returns to the Boulder Res Saturday for her second IronKids triathlon.  Her first triathlon didn’t go so well as she discovered she has exercise-induced asthma.  That wasn’t a huge surprise as we knew she had some breathing issues.  Such asthma-like conditions aren’t show-stoppers anymore though as evidenced by the Denver Nugget’s JaVale McGee.  Plus Ellie won her 5th grade, all-district, 50 meter dash this spring.  All the same, I’m not expecting any trophy level competition out of Ellie.  I just hope to see her finish.  I’m so proud of her getting back in the saddle and fearless to try again.

Ellie doesn’t exactly train for triathlons.  Not formally, but Brit has been taking her swimming and she runs around the neighborhood with her friends.  She also swam last weekend at the Boulder Res to prep for the open water.  She first had to take a small swim test from the life guard before being allowed to swim beyond the rope.  She smoked a couple of boys in the water whom were also testing.  Ellie also has a nice Diamondback Clarity hybrid bike she bought used from her friend Kate.  I swapped the dirt tires out for faster road tires and lubed the chain.  More importantly, Ellie ordered a Pearl iZumi tri-suit because for an 11 year old girl, it’s all about style.  Can’t wait for Saturday.

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No More Tears

04 Saturday Aug 2012

Posted by Ed Mahoney in Ellie Rose

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Ellie Mahoney, ironkids, Kids Triathlon


I drove Ellie (#269) with the Sebesta girls to the Boulder Res last night to pick-up their race packets at the Expo for today’s Kid’s Triathlon.  A wasp stung Ellie while standing in line.  I suspected she wanted to cry but she didn’t.  Not sure why not, most grown-ups would at least cry out a few warranted expletives in such a situation.  Perhaps peer pressure is taking hold.  Maybe she just didn’t think it an appropriate way to start a race.  I have to believe a couple of years earlier she would have cried.  She captured another wasp in her bedroom later that night which for some reason gave me visions of those evil Chick-fil-A cows.  It seemed like nature was conspiring against Ellie.

As with most triathlons, she began with the swim.  Her best friend Kate was in the same starting wave.  I was filming and saw them both hit the water last but make good corrections to right themselves in the field.  A couple of girls were pulled from the water, not sure why really but probably it was too much.  The race had tons of volunteers in the water to ensure safety.  They took both of these girls to the dock.  I noted an earlier boys wave had one boy who opted for the rescue but then jumped back in after a short rest.  Which is cool that the safety volunteers judge the ability of the participant and let them continue when appropriate.  I initially thought one of the girls was Ellie because she had the same color swim suit and apparently I’m blind.  It didn’t make sense to me because I last saw her in the middle of the pack, but I walked out on the dock to discover it wasn’t her.

I then hauled myself over to the transition area to catch the bike event.  I saw Ellie walking back and forth by her station clearly not finding it.  She was too far away for me to yell but she finally found it.  A bit later Kate came riding out of the transition area.  It was quite a bit longer for Ellie.  I learned later that she had trouble putting on her shoes; unlike other aspects of a triathlon – something she had actually practiced.  This was Ellie’s first triathlon.

Ellie finally came out and launched down the bike course.  Kate came by for her second lap and I caught her on film.  I waited and waited for Ellie until it seemed unusually long.  I began to feel bad thinking I hadn’t properly prepped her bike and the chain came off.  Karen and Jessy (Ellie’s cousin) walked down the bike course to look for her.  Not much later my name was being called by the race announcer to report to the finish line.  Several thoughts raced through my mind as I walked over, struggling to find my way through the maze of fencing.

The announcer had me walk with a couple of volunteers to the medical tent.  Turned out Ellie was actually in the ambulance.  I climbed in not knowing what to expect other than the volunteers had told me she was okay during our walk.  Inside, Ellie looked sad but fine.  The medical technicians told me they gave her a thorough exam and she was totally fine.  They suspected she might have had an episode of exercise-induced asthma.  Who knows but it’s not unreasonable as Ellie had asthma-like symptoms as a toddler.  She’s mostly grown out of that though.  And I can’t rule out allergies.  I checked and the weed count is high this week.  I’ll schedule a doctor appointment before school starts.  The medical staff at this IronKids Triathlon was great.  This event is totally prepared and supported by a wonderful community of volunteers.

Ellie shared her story with me.  She related that she nearly puked after climbing out of the water.  An indication of pushing herself super hard.  Possibly too hard.  Getting lost in the transition area and struggling with her shoes for so long further indicate exhaustion.  If the doctor exam determines she did suffer exercise-induced asthma, that swim seems intensive enough to trigger such a thing.  It was before reaching the one mile point riding up a hill when Ellie started wheezing and had to stop.  She knows this type of wheezing is an asthma symptom and it would have been impossible for her to breathe sufficiently to continue.

She told me later that she cried a bit walking down the hill knowing her race was over.  But there was no crying later when she faced the medical technicians or the family as we consoled her.  She was visibly dejected but maintained her composure as sure as Missy Franklin collecting her medals while the Star Spangled Banner plays.

What I gained from this race, other than amazement at my daughter (inexperienced in triathlons) going balls out on the swim, was the knowledge that she’s learned to not cry over everything.  This is why parents put kids in sports and go watch their events.  Sports serve as a metaphor for life in exaggerated scenes that can be shared.  Events like this capture time in a bottle and I saw my little girl mature emotionally today.  “You can’t learn how to win if you don’t know how to lose.”

The Sebesta girls had great performances in an exceptionally deep field of talent.  A Boulder County event like this is probably on par with State-wide events elsewhere.  If that sounds arrogant, bring your ass up to Boulder and you’ll discover it’s not trash talk.  This place is unreal.  Ellie is still really sad but is talking about trying to sign up for more races before end of season and doing swim classes through the winter.  That’s my girl.

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