#sometimes i can translate my thoughts into something semi-easy to digest.......

[meamiiikiii]

Hello. I haven't spoken much on the Reverse Entry AU (Modern Office + Reverse Isekai Loop AU). That changes today!!! Have some scattered (relatively long) tidbits on this AU. Mainly background to actually get to the office part of it but, yea!

If anyone wants elaboration on anything on this list, and I do mean anything, I encourage asking!! Or any random questions on the AU general!! Or just things in general!! Make me think about things I have not considered!!

Spoilers for all of ISAT + 2Hats and the like:

Mainly Concrete

The Country -> The Company.

Well, more of a family storefront, but the similarity in those two words next to each other was too good to pass up LOL.

Said storefront was run by Siffrin’s parents, and was their life's work.

Specialized in niche craft related stuff, in both teaching people how to do them & selling materials for the crafts. 

It was a very warm & homely store, and was adored by locals and visitors alike. 

A store that felt comforting to just vibe in for a bit, if that makes sense.

Loop ends up being Siffrin’s roommate after being reverse isekai’ed :)

They do not help with rent

They are a solid night light, which they try to justify as helping with the electricity bill

They also find a mirror shortly after arrival. 

Important Points

Mirabelle & Isabeau have known each other since University and are besties!!!!!!!!!

Not 100% sure of the logistics yet, but this was too important of a point to not include

Additionally, please know at some point, Isa custom stitched the scarf-shawl Mira wears to work all the time now, and gifted it to her!

He is also responsible for the fun pattern on the vest he wears all the time too!

Bonnie, whenever they are hanging around, makes sure to sneak onto Nille’s computer, and block out time between meetings for time to breathe / snacks for the others

And they also make sure to block out like an hour of time for proper lunches as well

Back to back to back to back meetings are not fun!!!

Breaks are important!!!

I have mentioned this in a different post, but this too, is a very important point to not include here as well

Location of Living

Mirabelle & Siffrin live in the same apartment complex, but on opposite sides of it

They have briefly interacted a few times prior to being coworkers? 

But Siffrin had his hair dyed for interviews for a long time

So Mirabelle didn’t realize it was him for a while, since he started growing out the dye before formally meeting in a work environment

Siffrin simply forgor

Isabeau lives relatively close-by to where Mira & Sif live, he visits Mira sometimes!!

He may or may not have also interacted with Siffrin two (2) times prior to working together due to the above point

Nille & Bonnie live around the area Siffrin used to live before he had to move, and have resided in that area for a long time

They technically were neighbors, at one point!

Odile lives closer to the office than everyone else 

Shorter commute for in-office days 

But still in the general vicinity of everyone else's abodes ofc

Hiring Order

Mirabelle has been working in the office the longest (interned two years in a row, and was formally hired right out of University)

Isabeau is next after since he got a referral off of Mira (interned for one year before graduation, then was hired at the same time Mirabelle was)

Odile was hired to replace Euphrasie (previous senior manager to their team who got a promotion, she’s now director of the regional office)

Siffrin was hired a bit after Odile when they got more capacity, since what they were originally doing was way too much for just three people LOL

Apparently, he got a referral from someone internally, but has no idea about it!

Nille was hired a little bit after Siffrin was

She only agreed upon the role if she was granted the flexibility to pick up Bonnie from school whenever

Random RPG Equivalence Hour

Turn Based Combat = Emails 

Whether it be waiting for data to start processes, answering inquiries, so on and so forth

Sometimes those turns take literal days

It happens!

Being Frozen / Damaged = Program Freezing 

This goes for any program being used

If it freezes it inflicts small damage

It inflicts more damage if it crashes

It makes you cry on the floor if the program crashes and you can’t recover any of what you did for the past hour

It makes you regret all of your life decisions up to this moment in time if it crashes, you can’t recover anything, and you have a presentation on the stuff you were working on in 15 minutes

Misc Meetings

Mirabelle writes fanfic

Isabeau knows about this and supports her in her endeavors

Odile has read some of her works, but does not know she wrote them irl

At some point prior to working together, Mirabelle & Odile became mutuals and started trading book / fanfic recommendations to one another

Odile had a brief stint as a bartender prior to working for the office

Mainly to earn some form of income while applying for jobs / waiting for prior certifications to process and transfer properly after moving from another country

In one or another, she met Isabeau and Siffrin at separate intervals while working there

Additionally, the bar is located close to the office. A lot of happy hours happen there. It ended up serving as a networking opportunity for her LMAO

Both Nille and Bonnie moved around a lot when they were younger

At different intervals, Nille went to the same high schools as both Mirabelle & Isabeau

Nille has probably worked a lot of jobs throughout high school / university

This includes working at the same place Odile worked at for a bit, they were probably coworkers there at some point.

Maybe not necessarily a bartender but, general staff

Again, this served as a networking opportunity similar to the Odile segment ASFASDASDA

Um????

Loop somehow ends up becoming a vtuber.

Loop somehow ends up being a vtuber for the company the team works under, akin to Tony the Tiger.

Loop does this vtuber gig for approximately one (1) stream and quits right after.

((loop decided their first stream was a nuzlocke for some reason. the crafts company literally didnt ask them to. they decided this on their own volition for no apparent reason. the company literally asked for a stream where they do crafts?? anyway they named their pokemon after the party. and. well.))

As I am Indecisive, this still has a chance for change! But for now this list is slightly ordered from “concrete in my mind” to “need to let simmer more probably, but the vibes are there” to “probably not but it is a bit of a funny to consider” (this only applies to the last loop segment ASDAFA)

But yea!! Thanks for reading the ramblings :)

[thejerkstorecalled]

Race Report: Ironman 70.3 St George 2018

Every time I start a race report, I think that it’s going to be short. I think this one really might be 😊 after I get through the prologue!

The preamble is that I first raced Ironman 70.3 St George in 2015 and got completely Tyson’d (“everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face”). It’s the race performance I’m least proud of, definitely for the distance and maybe ever. I debated whether or not I would ever race there again. After completing fourteen different half-distance triathlons without repeating the same race, options were fewer, especially if you’re looking to fill a certain hole in your scheduled via a North American race. Mid-season in 2017, I repeated a super-tough Olympic in the mountains that I originally raced in 2015 and was able to bike seven minutes faster and even run the super-hilly run course slightly faster. I realized it was time to return to St George for redemption.

I took a look back at finish times – my own at various races, and others at this race – and put together a plan to take at least 20 minutes off my 2015 time. This is what that looked like.

It helps for me to write down my goals, to maintain focus and stay honest with myself. I also like to do weird things, like when it’s time to update all my many work account passwords and I’m out of options, I use race goals. For instance: CIM310 (check) or STG525 (check, check). Of course these aren’t the exact or complete passwords, it would be silly to give way my syntax publicly on the interwebs. With this sneaky and ever-present tactic, you remember your goal every damn day and think about how badly it would suck not to hit the time that you can’t get out of your head.

Okay, onto the race!

Michael and I flew into Vegas two days pre-race, and drove to St George just in time to check in and pick up our bikes before Ironman village closed on Thursday. He noticed a new issue with his head unit, so had planned to hit up bike tech early Friday before driving some loops of the course as a refresher and doing our shake-outs. No big surprises in driving the course, mostly just subbed in a new out-and-back on the bike course.

We arrived right on schedule to Sand Hollow Reservoir where the swim and T1 (swim -> transition area) were set up to do a shakeout ride on the first five miles of the bike course and splash around a bit to remember what 60* water temps feel like. At 1.27 miles, my chain got mangled. Usually I can sort it, but this was pretty bad. Michael couldn’t get it either, so he had to ride back to get our rental van so that we could take my bike to bike tech all the way back in the town of St George where Ironman Village was.

The bike mechanics had to take apart my chain rings to get my chain sorted and let me know that I needed to replace the chain rings (after the race, this was beyond their race venue scope). This was frustrating since I’d had quite a bit of bike work done a month prior, with a full tune-up and new cabling among other things. Bike te also advised me to ride conservatively the next day. Not at all what I wanted to hear!

By this time, it was approaching 4 PM. Our bikes were due for check-in by 5 PM, all the way back at the reservoir. I did a super-short ride near bike tech in case of further issues, and tested the gearing. I was able to shift into my small chain ring, a requisite for riding a course as hilly as this one! I was still super-nervous. By this time, my goal was to ride conservatively enough to finish the bike course.

We made the bike check deadline with a bit of time to spare, and I was able to squeeze in a short run on reservoir trails and a swim to the first buoy and back. A really epic four-minute shake-out swim!

It was time to get cleaned up and eat something before bed time. For simplicity, we just decided to eat at our hotel bar knowing that it likely wouldn’t be crowded and we wouldn’t need to get very fancy or drive anywhere. We ended up having tasty bites and drinks with two guys from Normatec – one of which was the guy who raced all the Ironman events wearing fireman gear on the run and the other was a former pro who still dabbles heavily in extensions of the sport.  A fun way to shake off a stressful day.

BTW would highly recommend out hotel: Hyatt Place. It was nice and new and smelled of fancy lotions like the hotels in Vegas usually do. The staff was super-friendly and helpful. The breakfast was legit. The snack options were delicious. The gym was on point. No complaints. I’ll also share the hotel tip that I imparted upon Michael from my semi-frequent travel experience: always carry a water bottle and refill it with the cold, filtered water in the hotel gym/fitness center to be eco-friendly and cost-efficient.

Race Day!

Up at 3:30 to get to the hotel-provided race breakfast at 4 (the bananas usually go fast). Since that leaves four hours until getting in the water given where I’d seed for the swim, here’s what I ate:

Ezekiel toast with almond butter

Banana

Zest Tea’s High Octane Green Tea

Chocolate Clif Gel and water (~30-45 min before swim start)

We parked near Ironman Village so that we could access T2 and take the Ironman shuttles to the swim start. We had to turn in our run bags the day prior but pro tip (from a total amateur): get in on race morning and remove your run gear from your bag, set it up to support a faster transition from bike to run.

Bike set up went quickly and was great to hang out with Sherpa Courtney and Competitor Mike before we filed into the start chute.

The Swim

I optimistically started right around the 36/37-minute swimmers. To be fair, I’ve had swims in this range and my pool times have been solid the last few months.

I jumped in the water without hesitation and was feeling pretty good. I thought I might be passing people but then I also realized I was too far to the left…again…so this might be me and not my sleeved wetsuit 😊. There were a lot of waves splashing me in the face and I was taking in a ton of water, woof. The second half of the swim, I definitely felt like I was getting passed, and for the final 3 – 4 buoys I knew I’d been in the water a long time and was expecting to see 38-40 on my swim clock.

This is wildly frustrating. I keep putting increasing effort into my swim training year over year, and I’m see gains in my pool times and enjoy swimming so much more than in the past. What used to be my all-out-and-Im-probably-drafting 100s are now my steady-race-paced-just-slower-than-Z3 100s; I was stoked when I – two or three years ago – was able to hold this pace for 200-300 yards at a time and now I’m holding it for 1000 continuous. But it’s not translating to open water swimming; my OWS times are not moving, and may even be digressing. I’ve been obsessing over if this has to do with a certain wetsuit or whether I breathe bilaterally or if I’m not swimming straight whereby adding on lots of distance and thus time. I have no idea; the results are far too mixed with no clear patterns:

The Bike

The bike went by fast. This course has a lot of different-feeling sections that are easy to mentally parse up and digest. It was fun and scenic, and the roads were good. I wish every bike course was like this!

I had to change gears pretty gingerly and less often than I wanted to in order to avoid a race-ending malfunction. This meant that I was often not in the gear I wanted to be in or in the gear that would help me ride faster for that section of the course, but I was in a safe/lower risk gear that meant I was more likely to get to T2 and the run portion.

I was proud of myself for smiling a lot, encouraging fellow competitors and riding bravely (I’ve been riding like a real pansy in training, on my tri bike, and wasn’t sure if/how I’d be able to “race” on it). And for remembering how to use my behind-the-saddle bottle holder and take bottles at the exchanges, things I haven’t practiced in about eight months! I think I put my helmet on weirdly because I had much less front-facing visibility that I usually do, and had to pick up my head more than was comfortable or optimal for aerodynamics, to ensure I wasn’t about to roll into anyone or anything. Otherwise, a smooth ride! I was elated to dismount without incident.

Bike Nutrition:

Two bottles each containing two scoops of custom Infinit and ~5 oz of Red Bull (mixed w water obvi)

Two lightly salted Yukon Gold potatoes

I took a water bottle at each of the three aid stations, chugging some and diluting/filling my bottles with some

The Run!

I took off out of T2 trying to just get relaxed and into an easy rhythm. Most of my training runs recently have been directly off the bike or weights where I needed a couple miles or a couple minutes to feel “normal” which was good precedent for this race where you come off a hilly bike course into a run that starts with 3 miles of real climbing. During this easy start, I mentally collected myself and devised a game plan: the more miles of “up” at the outset meant the less miles of effort and pain at the end. So in my mind, it was a ten mile run since the last 2.5 – 3 miles are downhill. I like to lie to myself and I always fall for it, ha!

I also planned to manage the climbs with a strong but controlled effort and then hammer the descents, pushing the cadence and high foot turnover as hard as I could. If you’ve ever run alongside me, you know what this must have sounded like because my feet literally pound the pavement. I hammered down loud and proud! I passed a lot of guys on the descents who were putting on the brakes and being timid about pounding and rolling down the hills – I know they’re carrying more lbs than I am, but guys, your quads will forgive you in a few days!

I was actually feeling good and happy and all those weird things. I was even called out by other racers for smiling stupidly on a dead-ish area of the course, just to myself! Also: science, smiling relaxes you and makes you go faster, so sometimes I force it in the name of science. Maybe it’s because I’ve done so many tough training runs/intervals on the treadmill getting serious mental training and zero air circulation. The breeze I felt from running outdoors, even in the exposed desert sun, was quite a treat.

I wasn’t watching my splits because on a run course like this, it’s just demoralizing. I mostly record for post-analysis. My watch band actually spontaneously broke in half and my watch fell off while I was running, and I almost didn’t go back for it. What a great excuse for a new watch for a girl who still uses a 6 YO Gamin 910 that’s on it’s third(?) band!

I told myself that once I was done climbing and everything left was downhill (about mile 10.5), I could check my watch to see average page and get some motivation to cut that down with some high cadence descending. The math was much better than I expected! The last 1.5 miles were tough, I was nervous that I might collapse or pass out and not make it to the finish line. I could see my pace petering a bit and kept trying to force the turnover because I knew I was staring down a run faster than I thought possible and wanted to see how low I could get it.

Run nutrition

One 25 mg caffeine Strawberry Clif gel

Water from aid stations; usually I like Coke on the run but I could tell that my body probably couldn’t handle any more caffeine without some kind of intestinal implosion or explosion

BTW – because it was hot, a lot of spectators were out with super soakers, spray bottles, etc and there was a mister on course. I know some people avoid these because they’re scared of blisters. Guys, just get better socks. The cold water is a lifesaver! I got a free pair of SmartWool socks in the swag bag for a trail race I did a few years ago and wore them in a 50k that included multiple stream crossings. Nary a blister. I’ve bought more of these socks and wear them when I know I might want to get wet 😊

Epilogue

I was happy to come well-below my goal time for the race overall and hit a time that I really didn’t think was possible even though my swim goal was off. I noticed that it was offset by faster transitions, so while I didn’t swim a lot faster, my increased swim fitness allowed me to feel super-fresh coming out of the water and “race” the transition to kick off the bike with gusto. Secretly, I did want to break 2:50 on the bike, so rode just where I wanted to despite not doing it exactly how I would have liked due to gearing issues. I would have been happy with anything <1:50 on the run, thinking that a perfect day would yield 1:45 on this course, so am pretty stoked with the run.

For my first 70.3 of the season each of the last three years, I’ve had some specific goals I developed in the preceding off season, and always hope to race near the top of my age group. I did that at Oceanside in 2016 (dern I miss the 30-34 AG ha ha!), and had designs on doing that at Coeur d’ Alene in 2017 and now this race. In both instances, I achieved a finish time that seemed like a real stretch and one that would’ve put me on the podium the previous year. Not sure if I raced in better conditions or against stronger fields each time, but dang, can a girl get a break? Maybe next time…