Elizabeth Rich

Sneak peak...

2009-10-31T14:44:00.001-07:00

Just for a second - why don't I talk about 2010 :) This morning I had to represent my place of work (Road Runner Sports) at a local sprint triathlon. Don't worry I wasn't racing. You couldn't pay me to strip down into my tri suit at 6:30am when it was 47F outside. I was freezing, even in my car with the heat on and sipping my Starbucks latte. So this got me thinking about my LEAST favorite thing about triathlon...

I LOATHE stripping down, putting my wetsuit on and getting into cold water when it's cold outside. My feet just freeze and it makes me unhappy and uncomfortable. Before every race I get nervous about that more than anything else. When I raced Escape from Alcatraz in 2007 I remember sitting on the boat, in tears because I was frozen all morning, could not get warm and still had to jump off the boat into the cold water while it was still dark outside. I knew this was going to happen, so race morning I put those ski boot toe warmers in my cleats. That was the BEST decision I have ever made. My feet were able to defrost on the bike and it wasn't so painful to run. I ended up having a stellar race that day.

Then before IMNZ I remember worrying about being cold, the water has a reputation for being frigid and you never know what the weather will blow in from day to day. It gives me shivers just thinking about walking from transition to the water barefoot with frozen feet (I know I can bring cheap flip flops to walk to the water with and leave there, I have done that, but wasn't worth it enough to continue to repeat)! Fortunately I got lucky and the weather race morning was calm, slightly warmer than usual and I was perfectly comfortable in the water... PHEW!

And then when I signed up for IMC, I had the same fear. Unlike IMNZ where I swam in the lake 3 times before race day and had the chance to get used to the water temp, I never even touched the water at IMC before I jumped in race day. I only talked to people about the water temperature, but I came from swimming in 90F lake water and 85F pool water. My temperature gauge is much different than others. However I was once again pleasantly surprised when I walked into the water and was comfortable :D

How does this relate to next year???

Well for some reason I signed up for Oceanside 70.3 which has a reputation for being VERY chilly! When I asked JH about racing Oceanside she wrote me back saying, "you do well in the heat, why don't you choose a warmer race like New Orleans 70.3?" And all I could think was, "I KNOW!!!!" I'm going to turn into an ice cube before I even get to the turnaround buoy ;-/ EEKS!!! But, I am staying with Marit and can drive there and training through our winter is lovely and there are just TOO many positives about Oceanside (ahem, except the COLD) and TOO many negatives about NO 70.3.

Then I am racing IM Coeur d'Alene which also happens to have a frigid reputation! What the heck am I getting myself into next year? I better HTFU this winter!!!

And that's not all folks :) I am also signed up for IM Wisconsin! We will see what happens with that one though, I am not in love with the idea of that race... yet. Kona would be a great reason to skip it - HEE HEE! But I age up next year and have some serious time to cut off before that's a possibility. Next year is all about putting in the work, being smart and having some fun in the process :)

Who knows, maybe I will continue to bring the warmer temps with me to races :) That would be FABULOUS!!!

Happy Halloween!!! I won't be dressing up, going to a movie (non scary) instead :-)

hmmm...

2009-10-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

Yes its been awhile. I took a break not only from training, but from blogging too. I've been thinking and thinking about what I want to write my next post about and you know what??? Nothing pops into my head. That box of chocolates I talked about a few posts ago, yeah well they all look the same right now!

Last week I went to DC for a family thing. I thought it would be fun, it would be cool to see the fall leaves, enjoy the crisp fall air, see some cool things, etc... When we arrived it was 40F and rain. The weather continued that way until Monday when I was flying home and I remained frozen the entire time. In fact I even made a list of all the reasons I hate the cold :) I didn't even bother with including the things I like about the cold (there are a few). The highlights of the trip were going to the Smithsonian American History Museum, National Portrait gallery and National Archive museum. Then on Monday after a little begging we walked around to the Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and WWII monuments. All of those were very cool!

As far as training goes I am still taking it easy. Not much going on there. But I am okay with that, slowly the training will pick back up and as people are taking their breaks after IMAZ I will be getting back into shape, just like last year.

Earlier today I got a 20 minute lecture from Marc about why I don't want to ever race Kona. But isn't that the appeal? How that race can break the best athletes? The heat, the wind, the competition. One day I will find out for myself what its like and then maybe I will be the one telling the horror stories :) Until then I will learn from what I can and ignore the rest.

My dad sent me a cool Eleanor Roosevelt quote that he thought was cool...

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences."

Now if you have anything you think would be good to write about just let me know :) Without much training I am rather boring.

what's going on?

2009-10-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

I suppose it's time for an update.

Last week I was "training" and this week I am not. That's right I am taking two more weeks off of training in any way, shape or form. Unlike post IMC (that was only 5.5 weeks ago!) I am okay with it this time. I have made peace with the rest and I will enjoy it as best I can. No training takes away from my routine. Yes I am a creature of habit and on Sunday when I got word that I wouldn't be training this week I made the decision to give my week some structure. Which means I wake up at the same time each morning so that I can actually sleep at night and I am spending lots of time at coffee shops studying.

Why more time off? Well, I am not sure im ready to discuss that fully on my blog... But I will say that I was digging myself into a deep hole healthwise and if I didn't take a step back and chill out then I was setting myself up for a disastrous 2010 racing year. So JH and I decided more time off was necessary!

It's just weird because everyone is either going off to race Kona or gearing up for IMAZ or training for an upcoming marathon. And I keep reminding myself that most of these people are just getting ready for their first IM of the year, where as I already have raced two and have been going since October of 2008. Once I think about what I have done this year I relax a bit.

I have been studying for the GRE and I am taking advantage of my extra time to fit in as much studying as I possibly can! Standardized tests have never been my thing... I was talking to one of my friends who has her master's and she was telling me I would be fine, even if I just winged it. I just laughed at her and she didn't get why I was laughing. I explained that the term "winging it" and me with tests has NEVER been successful! I can wing many things, but tests are not one of them. Trust me, I have tried!!!

In other news, my little ipod died the other day :( I posted that on my Facebook and the next thing I know my phone is ringing. One of my dear friends had a new Ipod shuffle for me!!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

And what is a blog post without my lovely little bugger Cody :) He goes to work with me sometimes, so here he is working really hard... Normally he just sleeps on the cement by my stool. If you can see the stool in the bottom right corner, that's where I sit while I work - not the most comfortable place in the world!

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE racing KONA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ramblings...

2009-09-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

I don’t have anything exciting to report. JH is SLOWLY adding more and more into my training schedule each week. I had a bike ride the other day where my body and mind thought about pushing the pace, I didn’t, but at least I felt like I could - HAHA. Other than that everything is slow. I’m not complaining, it’s just great to be outside and training a bit! The weather is cooling off. We have been hovering right around 100 degrees during the day and sinking into the mid 70’s at night. I’m going to miss the heat and have been soaking up as much as possible. That means running at 3 or 4pm when its warmest… yes I understand how crazy that sounds, but it feels so good! You would NOT catch me saying that this time last year, but somehow training for IMC all summer has acclimatized me to the heat.

As far as fall 2009 racing is concerned I am done with triathlons for the year! Now its time to do some run races and some bike races and get ready for next year. It’s a fun time around here right now too… everyone seems to be gearing up for IMAZ and/or a few are going to Kona!

Life is like a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re going to get. With that said I feel like Forrest Gump sitting on a park bench with my box of chocolates on my lap wondering which to go after first. I guess trial and error is what it comes down to, right? This isn’t a bad place to be, but my type A personality shines through here and I want to make each chocolate be the right pick! I realize that’s not reality… failure is inevitable and that’s okay. I just want to make sure I maximize what I learn from each chocolate I choose??? Oh now I am confused ☺

This morning I ran with Marc (Kona bound!) and BH (IMAZ). It’s always comical running with those two and they always ask me all sorts of girl questions. Most of them I cannot repeat on my blog, but I enjoy giving them what insight I can. Although I do believe most of the time they forget I am a girl. That’s okay, I really don’t mind!

The ramblings of this blog post directly reflect the ramblings in my brain the past couple weeks! I currently don’t have answers for just about anything, but I could talk circles around several different topics ☺

Time for dinner with Dad... haven't seen him in a few weeks!

Together again

2009-09-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

When I came home from Canada I put my bike box in the hallway. I opened it up and pulled out all the dirty bottles, clothes, and other random bits I stuffed in there. But until this morning my bike remained in its travel box.

Everyday I looked at my bike and felt bad, but never felt like putting it back together. This is where I thought having a live in bike mechanic would come in handy :)

And now your probably wondering (or maybe not) if I have ridden since IMC... well, yes I have! I have a fixed gear bike that I like to play around on. The weather is finally cooling off so I rode my fixie to work the other day. And that's the extent of my bike riding :)

This morning I woke up and put my bike back together. We are together again! Unfortunately we are VERY VERY slow right now. I got dropped a few times on my ride this morning and never felt like working hard to catch back up. Even though I am in S-L-O-W motion on the workout front it is lovely to be outside and our morning lows have dropped so its almost chilly... okay, not quite - but almost! HA

As far as what IM's I am doing next year... I have signed up for IMCDA and IMMOO, but to tell you the truth I would LOVE to race IMC again next year instead of Wisconsin. Probably should have thought about that earlier, but no big deal! Everything has a way of working itself out :)

Back at it :)

2009-09-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you how HAPPY I am to be back into training. Sure its not even half the amount of training time I normally get during an IM build, but I get to swim, bike or run every single day!!!

This past weekend I went to Telluride, Colorado for the weekend with some friends. It was great to get out of AZ and play in the mountains. On Saturday I went for a LONG hike where I had the chance to think over a lot of things going on right now. Nothing bad is going on, just some slight changes :) One of them is going back to school. I have a few things I need to accomplish before I can get in, but hopefully fall 2010 I will be back to school getting my masters. Other changes??? Well, let me get through the graduate school application process first. Then Ill tackle the next change.

Today was my first day back at master's swim. I was sad to show up and see my least favorite coach on the deck. He practically sleeps during practice and that's just NOT okay with me. Then I had some dude in my lane whose name I forgot, probably because he collided head on with me not once, but TWICE! Okay, the first time was no big deal... but seriously, TWICE?!? I was angry and just wanted to be done with my swim so I could come back another day and start over. However, I don't work that way and I stuck with it until practice was over. I should have known after the first incident and a two of my normal lanemates decided to switch lanes when they saw this guys lane manners. I won't make that mistake again.

Let's end this post on a happier note :) I am officially signed up for two IM's next year!!! It's my favorite distance - do I sound like a broken record??? :-D Next year I plan on staying stateside for my IM's... no more distance markers in kilometers.

Here is a picture from the awards ceremony at IM Canada

Time OFF!

2009-09-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

After several races already logged this year it is time for a break. Jen has told me I MUST take two full weeks off. If I get antsy I can go to a yoga class or walk. Cody and I already walk everyday... but he is lazy and will only let me take him 1.25 miles (we have a loop we do) at his pace. Since my cold is finally getting better I am beginning to get antsy and was thinking that next week if I go missing you may find me at the gym walking on the treadmill for a couple hours :-)

This is what happens to Cody after our little walks...

He isn't a very active dog, he just likes to carry around as many toys as he can fit in his mouth. His record is three tennis balls.

I hope everyone is having fun training!!! I can't wait to cheer everyone on at there IM's in the next few months :-)

Parts 3 & 4

2009-09-02T16:52:00.000-07:00

Here is the rest of the race for everyone... Ill let you choose if you read it all at once, skim it, read it in parts or don't read it at all :)

Bike 6:03

I have been told several times to take the first 60km EASY, stay in my HR zones, let everyone else fly by me and just ride my race. That is easier said than done. But after the swim and my negative thoughts I decided this was MY race and this was a learning experience so that later on down the road (ahem, next year when I age up ☺) I will know how to pace myself so that I can run strong off the bike. So I made the decision in the first 5km, I would stick to my HR zones like Jen and I had discussed. In order to stick to my HR zones I had to continue to remind myself that this was MY race and I have put in the work, I know how hard I can ride, but lets just experiment (or do what I am supposed to do – LOL).

The bike course at IMC is absolutely breathtaking!!! And even though its only one loop, spectators show up all over. People are outside their houses cheering us on, people rode bikes and were driving by in cars cheering, it was AWESOME! During the climbs the roads were lined with spectators on both sides cheering for us like we were in the Tour de France. I didn’t even feel like I was climbing because of how great the spectators were, plus I was sticking to my HR zones and therefore felt like I was just dawdling up the climbs.

As far as nutrition goes I began the ride with 3 bottles of Powerbar Endurance. Each bottle was 20oz. with three scoops at 210 calories, 570mg sodium each. Then I had Powerbars and Powergels in my bento along with Salt Stick, cough drops and Werthers. I planned on eating a gel or ½ Powerbar and drinking one bottle of Powerbar Endurance each hour. Once I ran out of PB Endurance I began grabbing Gatorade bottles and some water. Gatorade has significantly lower sodium than PB Endurance so I knew at that point if I hadn’t been taking Salt Stick already than it was time to start. Since the weather was warm 90-95F I was taking Salt Stick the entire race. Each capsule has 215mg of sodium and I took one about every 30min on the bike. The Werthers and cough drops were for my cold, nothing scientific about that ☺.

During the ride I realized I hated gel, so I ate just one of the 3 that I brought and grabbed some extra Powerbars at aid stations instead (that also lowered my sodium intake, so I needed more Salt Stick). I did not stick to a timer as far as eating, I knew about how much I wanted each hour and took it in within a 60min. window when I felt ready to eat. Listening to your body is key and knowing what it’s telling you – that is one thing I have been working on since IMNZ.

If you read Facebook or have talked to me you know that I had a mechanical on the bike. At mile 10 I heard a, “clink, clink, clink” and I felt around. Do I have all my bottles? CO2 cartridges? Spare tubular? Yes, yes and yes… so what was that? SHIT! My rear spoke broke! I continued to ride another 40km until the bottom of Richter Pass, I knew there was some technical stuff coming up and I needed to assess what was wrong and how bad it was. I got off my bike, used the porto potty, I cannot pee on my bike, its not that I wouldn’t, its just that I cant do it. I poked the spoke back into its little hole (Im so technical, I know.. ha ha) and got back on my bike. It wasn’t 5 minutes later that I heard, “clink, clink, clink, clink” again. I crossed my fingers the entire ride that nothing worse would happen, I tensed up every crack I went over and heard the, “clink, clink, clink, clink”. Fortunately my wheel didn’t feel too bad on the decents and I only got a few weird looks as I rode by, “clink, clink, clink, clink.” Just in case you were wondering I do a great impression of the “clink, clink, clink, clink!” ☺

I felt great on the bike and knew I was feeling okay to run. On the bike I was telling myself that I CAN NOT walk until it is absolutely necessary on the run. I was gearing up mentally for the marathon… my favorite part of ironman!

T2:

Going through T2 I dropped my bike off with a volunteer, ran and grabbed my bag before heading into the changing tent. Another volunteer helped me empty out my bag and get my shoes, socks, visor and hydration belt on. Once out of the tent I made a quick stop at the porto potty to pee again. That was a great sign that I was well hydrated! I remembered how shitty I felt when I stopped at the porto potty in New Zealand, I could hardly move my back was so tight, but I felt GREAT today.

Run 4:23

Once on the run the miles just ticked away. When I hit mile 3 it felt like I just started running, I couldn’t believe I was already 3 miles into the run! I remembered what I wrote in my race plan to Jen about how if I felt good at mile 10 (before I got to see the course) then I was going to start pushing my pace. And if there wasn’t some steep climbs after the turnaround/halfway point then I would have started running harder, but the climbs slowed me down a bit. I still ran the hills and passed just about everyone as most people were walking up them.

I was so happy during this entire race that I was talking to anyone that I could. Around mile three I was running up on this guy who grabbed his hamstring and it looked like he was cramping, so I asked him, “do you need some salt? I have an extra baggy full of salt tabs if you need some?” but he said he already got some from someone since he lost his on the bike. Then another guy said a couple words to me around mile 5 and I couldn’t shut up. I was so desperate for someone to talk to me that once he told me he had a blister on his foot I started asking him questions about his blister! I just wanted to find someone to run the same pace as me and talk to me the entire run! I probably would have run faster if I could have found someone to entertain me ☺

People say that ironman starts at mile 18 of the run. Sure enough at mile 18 I started to get a bit tired. But I had a rhythm down, the run was set up great. It went mile marker, then ½ mile later aid station where I would get sponges, Gatorade, water and ice. Then I would spend a few hundred meters pouring the ice into my hydration bottles while running. I repeated this every mile! Around mile 18 I started walking through the aid stations, but I would run as soon as they were over. At mile 21 or so a woman came by me with a Durapulse tri top on. Durapulse is a phoenix coaching/tri team and I thought, hmmm… I thought, could this be my friend Renee’s friend Jen? I said, “are you Jen?” and she had this huge smile on her face and said, “YES, are you Elizabeth?” and we just started laughing. Renee had been telling both of us about each other, but we never met or really knew what each other looked like. She pushed me a bit the final four miles AND she was wearing a watch! I had NO clue where I was time wise until mile 22 when Jen told me her goal was to go under 12hrs and I said mine was too. She said we had PLENTY of time to run the last few miles and get there before 12hrs… YES! Around mile 23 I started to get a side stitch, so I had to let Jen go and I walked for a minute and sucked down a bunch of water. That fixes it for me and I was running again. I had to do that one more time and I was fine for the next 3 miles until I crossed the finish line!

As far as nutrition goes on the run… well, I just base it off of how I feel. I know I need calories and salt and water. Oh yeah and Pepto Bismol tabs! I chomped on a packet of Pepto Bismol tabs to help my stomach with the mass amounts of Gatorade and salt! Every aid station I would take Gatorade, every couple miles I would take a salt stick pill and then sometimes I wasn’t feeling great and I would forego the salt and eat some Pepto. I seemed to understand what made me feel better and what made me feel worse. Around mile 20 I took a cup of chicken broth and that was DISGUSTING, but did exactly what I needed it to do for me. Whenever my stomach felt like it was cramping I chugged a bunch of water. I don’t know why that helps, but it does and that’s why I wear the hydration belt.

The last mile is a little out and back stretch before you get to the finish line. It went by super fast and I was pushing it again. As I turned onto the final out and back I saw our bike mechanic Jon cheering us on and told him about my spoke as I was running by. He just laughed. I was getting choked up on this last little stretch, I could see the clock and knew I was coming in under 11:45! I ran back past Jon and gave him a high five and ran into the finishers shoot. I was punching the air and trying to get the crowd excited… I love that!

Once across the finish line I felt nauseas (that’s normal for me) and the volunteers caught me. I had two women helping me and when they were holding my arms they told me I felt really cold. I was, I stopped sweating around mile 21. I tried to talk them into taking me to medical to get an IV, but couldn’t convince them. Apparently I need to work on my dramatic side! They tried to give me Gatorade, water and food but I wasn’t taking anything. I settled on letting them take me to the massage tent. I sat down there and it was nice and warm. Getting a massage after IM New Zealand was one of the best things I did, so I was doing it again today. Again, it didn’t disappoint! After I was done with my massage I munched on a few chips and drank a bottle of water while going to get my bike and gear bags. I still had to ride my bike the mile back to the hotel ☺.

There will be more....

IMC Part 2

2009-09-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

Swim 1:08

The swim was rough for the first 2/3rds, I expect that and embrace it as best I can. While swimming I was having negative thoughts, like “this sucks” and “who cares how fast I go, I am just going to go slow” and “why is this SO long” and I kept telling myself to shut up! That attitude is not helpful and I don’t know where it came from, but I squashed it as fast as I could. I thought about one of the principles (we had a different one each year) at my old high school who used to start every day on the loud speaker saying, “you can make it a great day or not, the choice is yours” and I knew I was in control of my attitude. So I switched the negatives to positives and on I went.

Here’s the thing about my racing. I don’t wear a watch. Ironman is a LONG day and I don’t want to get caught up in what a watch is telling me about my pacing. I have done the training, I know what my times are in training and I know how I feel, so why wear a watch? Out of the water I had no clue what time I swam, all I knew is that I felt like I was in the lake FOREVER and it must’ve been slow.

Through transition I am speedy. I grabbed my bag headed into the changing tent dumped my bag out and the volunteer helped me sort through everything. I was out of there fast and grabbed my bike.

Now here’s the deal about the whole watch thing (I am about to contradict what I said earlier)… I wear a HR monitor on the bike only. So I put my HR strap on in the morning, wear it in the swim so I don’t have to fuss with it in transition and leave the watch on my bike. As soon as I grabbed my bike I pushed the start button on the watch to begin reading my HR. However once I am done with the bike leg it remains on the bike.

IMC Part 1

2009-09-01T20:48:00.000-07:00

Let me start my race report by apologizing :) This is going to be LONG and I have written the entire thing, but I am going to post it in parts because its obscenely long.

Here is the first part...

I already wrote about how I felt going into this race. I was not a happy camper nor was I a healthy one the days leading into this race, but the one thing I did know is that I thoroughly enjoy the IM distance! After IM New Zealand I thought that maybe my love for IM racing was just a fluke, but after Sunday’s race I don’t believe it’s a fluke anymore. I feel lucky to be able to compete in these races.

Without further ado I better get on with my race report…

Race morning started at 3:50am. I got up, hopped in the shower, put on loads of sunscreen and ate my breakfast. Every time I read race reports I want to know exactly what people ate and how much, so here it is. I ate roughly 1.5 cups of unsweetened applesauce which I didn’t have a spoon for so I poured it in a glass and kind of drank/choked it down (yuck), a banana, 1 scoop of chocolate whey protein mixed with 4oz. of water (yuck again) and a bottle of Powerbar Endurance. At 4:45am I left my room to meet up with other athletes in my group to head to the start.

Once at the race I got body marked and dropped my nutrition off at my bike and then I sat on a curb in transition for a while mentally preparing. I also chatted with a few girls from my age group, one of which was doing her first ever triathlon – EEKS! About 6:15am I saw the porto potty lines got long and I needed to jump in. I waited and at 6:30am I ate half a Powerbar while in line, then I got through the line by 6:45am. I ran into the changing tent (it wasn’t crowded and it was a nice peaceful place to put on my wetsuit when I was in a hurry), peeled on my wetsuit as fast as possible, ate my gel and dropped my dry gear bag off at its designated location. I hopped in that water as fast as I could so I could get a little warm-up since I still hadn't been in the lake :-/

Once in the water I weaved through throngs of people to do a little warm-up. I felt like a dolphin swimming around and couldn’t believe how calm I was. They lowered the start rope while I was still warming up and athletes were lined up ready to go while I was out there swimming. I remembered that one of the guys from my group said he always started in the front of the swim, so I looked for him, swam over and gave him a hug and wished him good luck. I slipped under the start rope with just 60 seconds to spare, snuck behind a couple people, planned my line for racing and got ready for the gun to go off.

How did I do?

2009-08-31T05:29:00.000-07:00

It's never fun going into a race sick. I started getting sick last Saturday night and was okay because it was still 1 week out and I am rarely ever sick for a full week. Well, each day got progressively worse to the point that I lost my voice. Imagine travelling somwhere alone, meeting new people and trying to communicate without much of a voice. During the athletes dinner Friday night one of the guys in my group told me it was funny trying to listen to me because you never knew what words, if any were going to come out. Each morning I woke up I felt worse and finally on Saturday morning I woke up feeling like total crap and I had a wee bit of a meltdown. I wrote Jen this LONG message on my iphone, then when I tried to send it something happened and I lost the message. I was not going to type it again so I tried to deal with myself on my own. I spent the rest of my Saturday in my room, except for dropping my bike and gear bags off. Since I had been so sick I also never swam in the lake or run. I ran about 40 minutes on Wednesday and rode my bike around for 20 minutes on Friday while making sure everything was working. That is all I did the week before the race. Normally I try and swim a couple times to get used to the water, but not this week. Needless to say I was worried about how this would race would go. I know this is kind of rambling, but I fear a lack of sleep and just racing an IM has left me a bit delirious :)

Anways back to how I did... which most of you already know my times but you don't know what my goals were going into the race. The first thing I need to say is something I told Jen a few weeks before Canada, something that most of my training partners didn't want to hear. I told her that IM Canada was NOT about Kona for me. I didn't sign up for it in hopes of Kona, I was not putting that kind of pressure on myself and I can't control how fast the girls are in my age group. I mean the 1st place girl went 10:15!!! I knew that I put in some solid work over the last 5 months, I worked hard and followed my training plan as closely as life would permit. Last weekend I put my race plan for Jen. Here is the times I predicted for myself and what Jen agreed were good goals...

Swim: 1:10 (I swam a 1:12 at IM New Zealand)
IMC swim: 1:08 (REALLY?!? How the heck did I take 4 minutes off my time???)
Bike: 5:55 (I rode 6:03 at IM New Zealand)
IMC bike: 6:03 (HA, same time as IMNZ! I followed my HR to a T. Kept HR under 149 except for a couple of the hills and had a mechanical issue)
Run: 4:30 (I run/walked 5:05 at IM New Zealand)
IMC Run: 4:23 (I was able to run the entire thing, except in the end I was trying to push it and got a side stitch so I walk twice for 1 minute)

Soon enough Ill write a detailed race report about each one specifically. What I am trying to say is I can't ask for much more than a 47 minute PR just 5.5 months after my last IM! It doesn't get much better than that :)

And for everyone asking about the 1st and 2nd place girls taking the Kona slot... I have NO clue, but once again I will be going to the Kona roll down later today!

THANKS SO MUCH for everyones support!!! It means A LOT to me :-D

short and sweet

2009-08-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, that last post was too long! I must admit that when I get to other blogs and they are rather long I just skim it :-) Call it ADD, call it whatever you want, no matter how interesting you are if I am not in the right mood I can't read it all.

Yesterday I got up early and met Marcand BH for a run at the base of Pinnacle Peak. Most every Sunday morning they are out there running and as long as my schedule permits I join them. This morning I had 65min on tap with 6x90sec pick-ups. BH was a slave driver and sent me off on each of my pick-ups, he told me not to look at my watch and just go. Occassionally he would yell at me that him and Marc were going to catch me. Once my 90sec was up I looped back and joined back up with them until it was time for my next interval. My stomach was in knots this morning, probably from the copious amounts of watermelon I ate the night before, so my pick-ups were harder to push through than normal.. fun times, eh.

Then I spent the majority of Sunday in bed, reading and sleeping. Yep, I have a sore throat - its taper time and I am blaming it on the taper!!! At least I have a 5.5 more days until race day. Gosh I can't believe its so close, but I am SO ready for this race. And I already have a list of races I want to do this fall and into next year, but I am saving that list until after IMC.

Ill try and post more, including pics as the race gets near! Until then I need to finish my race plan for Jen :-)

The wall

2009-08-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

I hit the wall last Saturday. It all started on Thursday when I began to feel rather tired, but hoped I could pull myself together and make it through my one last big bike ride on Saturday. But Friday had me getting up early flying to Portland, OR for the day to work and then flying home that night. I got home around 10:45pm, got my stuff ready for the next mornings workout and in bed by 11:30pm. I had a 3:45am wake-up time, was picked up by my friend to go swim for an hour in Barlett then spend 5hrs in the saddle.

My enthusiasm level was rather low when I woke up and it decreased rapidly through the next coupld hours. I spent the entire time swimming wondering how I was going to make it through 5hrs on my bike??? I knew I was going to have to dig deep, but this was absurd! I got on my bike and could barely turnover the pedals, it was just NOT happening. After 13 minutes in the saddle I found myself back at the car calling it a day. Two weeks out from IM, it was just not worth it and even if it was I don't think I could have made it.

When I got home I showered and went straight to bed. I slept for 5hrs and still felt wrecked afterwards. That night, even after a 5hr nap I was still in bed asleep by 9pm. I was supposed to meet Marc and BH the next morning at 5am to run, but when my alarm went off at 4am I felt like crap so I texted Marc and told him there was no way I was going... I would run later.

I made my friend Becky aka Broom run with me after work, we had a good time and I was reminded why I love this sport so much. This week has been non-stop, I have been trying to rest up and do what I can to chill out. But I have A LOT going on at work, which is great, but busy busy busy!

On Monday I helped Broom get her Bianchi all blinged out so she can add some bike riding into her marathon training schedule! I took her to Edgar and we bossed her around for a couple hours... she is ready to ride! Later that night I went with my brother and cousin who is in town to see 500 Days of Summer, then dinner. I don't get to see my cousin that often as he lives in DC now, but he is like a big brother to me and we always have a good time together. The three of us is a funny dynamic, all very different and even though I am the girl I am the sporty one in the group. Both my brother and cousin are very political and I am, well... not so much :-) Regardless, we have a great time and give each other plenty of crap.

On Tuesday I put on our monthly free 5K at my work. We generally have 30-50 people who come out to race, even though its 100+ degrees during the race and I expect to see those numbers double as the temperature decreases. We have so much fun doing these races, people who came out for the first one back in March are still coming out and have taken tons of time off their original finish in March!

On Wednesday I had dinner at my dad's house. He and his GF went to Africa for two weeks and I had yet to see their pictures. So after dinner we watched a slide show. The majority of the pictures were of animals - AMAZING! The entire time I kept thinking about Madagascar (the Disney movie) and each giraffe picture made me think of Melman (David Schwimmers voice), the lions reminded me of Alex (Ben Stillers voice), the hippos reminded me of Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smiths voice) and the zebras reminded me of Marty (Chris Rocks voice). Needless to say I had a little movie in my head while I was watching the slide show.

I guess I should keep the daily thing going, but Thursday was just work, work, work!

Friday was much of the same, except I actually woke up early enough to make it to morning masters :-) I LOVE my lanemates at morning masters, but at times its hard to wake up at 4:30am to drive there if I don't have to. Then I worked all day, then I went with my mom to help her buy a car. I wanted her to get a specific rate and price, but the car salesman didn't want to give it to us so I told them that this wasn't going to work and we would find a different car that would. Eventually they folded and she got her car with a great price! Now she has a beautiful shiny new Prius!!!

Today I had to get up early to give a clinic on shoes, socks, insoles, apparel and accessories to Team Diabetes. I got lucky because the weather is amazing today and I didn't get on my bike until 10am. Normally that would be awful, but today we have clouds and some sprinkles and some wind and a little humidity and its awesome!

Now I have to go run a bunch of errands and gather everything I need for packing!

ONE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!

Recap.

2009-08-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

I had high hopes of writing a full on report of my BIG adventure last Saturday. Unfotunately work (contrary to popular belief I actually do work), more training, and then life got in the way. Needless to say I have been MIA.

Back to this BIG adventure... I roped my friend Jayson into it and he prepared all week long for this day - gotta love the enthusiasm and committment! On tap was a 120 mile ride with a 40 minute T run and NAILING my nutrition. Before Saturday the longest I had ridden was 112 miles during IM New Zealand, so this was BIG for me. We had our route mapped out and I woke up ready to go back to bed at 3:30am, but to no avail I got my butt out of bed, ate breakfast and turned my lights on for a 4:10am departure. I met Jayson 5.5 miles from my house so we could begin our adventure.

***i wish i could've taken pictures***

The day went by perfectly! My tired legs came around, my nutrition was perfect and I kept telling Jayson to eat because he was NOT allowed to bonk. It was 6hrs45min of riding time and 122 miles later I rolled into my house like a tasmanian devil. The addrenaline was pumping and I needed to keep that flowing to get me threw the next 40 minutes. I set out on my T run and it was GREAT... I couldn't believe it!!! I was afraid that it would be really hot and I would feel like death so my backup plan was to run on the tready, but no need. It was beautiful outside - maybe only 98 or 100 degrees. I have been VERY lucky with the weather training this summer. HOT is only a state of mind :-)

This craziness has continued through this week and tomorrow morning I fly to Portland, OR for the day to work and then tomorrow night I fly home. I arrive just in time to get some sleep in preparation for Saturdays adventure! One last adventure before taper is in full swing and Jayson has signed on to join me again.

During taper I can't wait to be able to see/think clearly again! Speaking of seeing clearly... my left eyeball has been rather red for the past couple weeks, but nothing else is abnormal except for the discoloration. Everyone keeps telling me how red my eye is (I have had pink eye before and it doesn't seem like that at all)... Oh well, it doesn't seem to bother me and I am thinking that maybe once training comes down a bit it will return back to normal :-)

Time for work! Happy training :-)

Long ride.

2009-07-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

Let me start this post with a little background information. After Clearwater in 2007 I came home and sold my road and tri bike. It took me a few months before I bought another road bike and then I rode it maybe twice a month until I decided I wanted to race Ironman New Zealand and started working with Jen in October 2008. If you do the math, I took about 9 months off of riding my bike... so when Jen and I started working together I had some serious base mileage to put on in the five months leading up to IMNZ. All those long rides, short rides, brick sessions, etc. were spent on my own at my own pace. During my IM build up I did as much climbing as I could because I wasn't fast and I knew climbing would at least make me strong. I believe I have put some quality time in on the saddle, but its time to step it up, especially since I prefer to race the bike segment hard.

What am I thinking... Well, after my dismal run at Buffalo Springs 70.3 I have come back to training ready to work hard. My goals haven't changed, but my respect towards the hard work, consistency and long miles needed in order to obtain those goals has increased ten fold. This is a good place for me.

***I wrote this first part with the idea of a different blog post, but it took a turn part way through, so this doesn't make the same sense it would if I had stuck with my original posting idea... however I am still not erasing it because it kind of ties in :-)***

Last week, after doing some research and reading Alan Couzens Blog Post on Success, I asked myself a few questions.

First question I asked myself was "is what i am doing working for me?"
The answer? Yes and no.
--Yes, I love working with Jen, we are continuously learning, revising and growing.
--No, sometimes I don't focus enough during key workouts. I also have a tendency to put too much pressure on myself during workouts then I get upset because I didn't hit X:XX pace. After the negativity hits I find it hard to pop back into a positive mindset.

Second question I asked myself was "how do I fix what isn't working for me?"
--As far as too much pressure goes, well, Jen has me running naked. Meaning I just wear my watch, no HR, no GPS, just me and time. I have been doing this since Buffalo Springs and its helped me understand what hurting feels like... that is the first step. Now the naked thing doesn't work for my bike riding, its a different story and I will go into that at another time.
--I believe that focus is tied into my mental happiness. So as long as I can forget about what pace I am at and just run hard, moderate or easy then I can really focus on the task at hand.
--Understanding what hard, moderate and easy feel like mentally is an important first step.

Third question I asked myself was "have I improved since I started training for IMNZ in October 2008?"
YES!!! Although I have unrealistic expectations and don't like to see or believe my improvement. But the truth is in my trainingpeaks and the answer is YES!
--I can handle a larger workout load mentally, physically and emotionally with an increase in volume and intensity than I could during my build up for New Zealand. Enough said!

Alan Couzens said something (which he underlined in his post) that made perfect sense. "Type-A age group athletes typically let their goals for the season dictate their rate of improvement rather than letting their rate of improvement dictate their seasonal goals."

Fourth question and this should really be my number one question, but I feel this has too much emotion attached to it for me to look at it from a pragmatic perspective. I asked myself "what is my weakness right now?"
--My run is my weakness.

Fifth question I asked myself was "how can I improve my weakness?"
--Again, Coach Jen is working with me on this. But I have to put forth the work and possess the right mentality to get through the workouts she prescribes. Positive attitude is a must for me, once I start being negative its a LONG road. The good news is that I CAN control my attitude - hooray!
--The run follows the bike and I like to race my bike hard, but I rarely train as hard on the bike as I race. Hmmm... I think thats an issue! I need to up my bike intensity when it is on my training program so that my legs are ready to handle the way I race, thus giving me better running legs. ***Per my racing plan for Buffalo Springs I took the bike easy to give myself a chance to actually have running legs off the bike, but there wasn't much difference except that my stomach didn't cramp as bad as usual, so I think i just need to improve my biking legs to handle the way I like to ride my bike*** No problem, I have plenty of friends who are willing to kick my ass whenever I want on the bike!
--I am still working on making the run HURT during training so that I am ready to handle it come race day!
--Lose weight. This is a hard thing for me, a constant battle, but I am continuously learning and figuring things out.

Evaluating my strengths and weaknesses has helped me gain a new perspective on the sport. I am excited about the next couple of years in this sport to really see how I can improve!!!

FUNNY.

2009-07-21T16:02:00.000-07:00

Im thinking...

2009-07-21T14:17:00.001-07:00

Okay well I just accidently posted a blank blog - hmm, its taking a bit longer to do just about anything right now. Thats what training for an IM in the middle of the AZ summer will do to you. I really don't mind the heat, 90 degree lows/110-115 degree highs. It's just that it leaves me a bit fuzzy headed all the time. Post workout you will generally find me starring at the TV. I rarely know what is happening in whatever I am watching and I have given up reading right now - as soon as I open a book I am ready to go to sleep. I love to read too, usually I read a book a week and I have about 3 or 4 started right now, but I think they may have to wait until taper time to get finished. My ability to concentrate on anything but my workouts is at an all time low :-)

On the training front everything is going well. As always I have my good days and my bad days. Today wasn't pretty, but they aren't all going to be great! I have signed myself up to get my ass kicked on a few of my workouts each week... I am so lucky to have friends who are willing to take the time to beat me up :-)

I will get a better post up soon, but I thought I should let you all know that I am indeed still alive. I have also overcommitted myself in the dog/house sitting department for the next two weeks, but everything will be just fine! Right now I have three dogs instead of just my one. Just call me the dog lady...

Cheers.

Make it HURT

2009-07-06T15:49:00.000-07:00

Sport is a constant learning process; no matter your age or experience there is always something new to learn. I don’t have a ton of years under my belt, nor do I have a ton of experience. Needless to say I have a LOT to learn and this is a good thing.

One thing I have learned from my Buffalo Springs race is that I don’t know how to make it HURT on the run. I prepared mentally to deal with the stomach cramps I have experienced in past races, but I was not ready to deal with the pain of racing hard during the run.

Let me begin with a positive… I am learning to put myself out there during the swim and as I have described in previous race reports, I line up with the front group and within the first 400m I seem to watch them pull way out ahead of me. That hasn’t stopped me from lining up with the faster ladies and each race I become more comfortable out there in the washing machine (as I like to refer to it). As I become a stronger, more efficient swimmer I will be able to stay with the front group.

The bike is my strongest… right now. While I think the bike is an important part of triathlon, I believe the race is all about the run (at least this is where I fall apart – right now). Sure I can put 5, 10 or even 20 minutes on girls in my AG during an IM bike, but if I can’t run, then it doesn’t matter. And you know what? When I age up next year I won’t be putting any time on girls during the bike. That’s what’s so freakin’ cool about this sport – you get better as you get older!!! I LOVE that!

Okay so besides the fact that we get better with age… Where does this leave me? It leaves me on the run and learning how to put it all out there. At the moment I don’t believe I understand what the word HURT means – sure, sure I work hard, harder than the normal American who thinks a 2 mile hike is a workout, but that’s not what I am talking about. And, sure I have had workouts where I felt like I was going to throw up, but I don’t reach that point often enough to really and I mean really understand what HURT means!

The next 7 weeks or really 5-6 weeks have a purpose. That purpose is to learn what HURT means. I want to know the definition, I want to have it memorized, I want every part of my body to know it and search for it come August 30th.

Easy week is over as of tomorrow morning. The real work begins and I have saved up all my motivation from Buffalo Springs and am ready to unleash it over the next 7 weeks!!!

Bring it on!!!!!!!!!!

Time to move on

2009-07-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

Its been a few days since Buffalo Springs and I have thought about my race over and over again. Its time for the disappointment to fade away, the lessons to sink in and the motivation to propel me forward into my next race.

Yesterday I had a nice long chat with Jen. She had some great points and we are moving in the right direction. Once we got off the phone I felt a sense of relief. I did not have a bad race, it just wasn't the race I expected to have and that left me disappointed. It's hard to lead your AG with a Kona slot on the line, only to be passed by not one, but three girls on the run. But enough is enough, I cannot complain anymore - its time to move on.

This morning I spent about 2hrs at the bike shop. We are changing my position on the bike, which should actually give me more power and set me up for a better run. My position and the fact that I ride a road bike with TT bars is a small (like maybe 10%) reason why my legs don't want to move when I get off the bike. At least in theory that is. Edgar (my bike guru) took all my current measurements and then changed my position. He put a longer stem on my bike, raised my seat, lowered the angle of the seat, pushed my seat forward, etc... He also put some slant inserts in my shoes since I am a supinator on the run and on the bike. Now we are looking into tri frames to see what is going to be the best fit. I am hoping by my next race I will have a new ride :-)

Thanks for everyones kind words about my race! And you CAN tell me I will do great, I promise I won't punch you in the face :-) HEE HEE

Disappointed…

2009-06-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

"It is not a disgrace to fail. Failing is one of the greatest arts in the world." ~Charles F. Kettering

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." ~Robert Francis Kennedy

That’s how I feel about my performance at BSLT 70.3. I went there with every intention of grabbing the Kona slot, I was excited and nervous and ready to give it my all! Everyone kept telling me how great I was going to do and by Saturday… maybe even Friday I was so sick of hearing how great my race was going to go from other people that I told a couple of my friends that “the next time I hear how great I am going to do I am going to punch that person in the face!” Great attitude, right? And I am such a hypocrite because I ALWAYS tell people, “You are going to have such a great race!!!” I just wanted to race my race and see what I could throw down. There was NO way I was going to finish this race thinking, “what if?” And you know what, I don’t have any “what ifs” after finishing. I gave the race all I had on that day and I came up short.

Here’s how the race played out…

When I arrived in Lubbock, I met up with my friend Jim who raced IM New Zealand with me. It was great to see him again and catch up… many of us who travelled to NZ with Ken Glah’s Endurance Sports Travel group have kept in touch and plan on racing together again and again.

Jim and I drove to the start of the race together and while we were driving he was Mr. Chatty Cathy. It was SUPER windy out; lightening was in the sky and who knew what the day would bring. He was talking about the wind, his race, my race, how the buildings ahead looked like where Homer Simpson works. You name it he was talking about it. I was giving him all one-word answers to questions he would ask and finally I couldn’t take it anymore so I told him I couldn’t talk anymore. I needed to reflect and get my emotions in check. Once we got to the race I grabbed my stuff and headed to transition on my own. The nice thing about being in the youngest age group is that I generally get racked with the pros. I am no threat to them so they usually chatter away to me. One of them this morning was telling me how she hated the wind, she didn’t care if it rained or was super hot, but she DID NOT like the wind and it was worse than Kona winds. I set up some of my stuff that I figured wouldn’t blow away in the next hour and went for a little stroll. Then I ran into Charisa and her husband. I had never met her in person, so that was great!!! I saw a few other friends of mine, wished them good luck and went back to my bike to figure out how I could place my stuff so it didn’t blow away (it was that windy, but I was really excited about the wind… wind doesn’t bother me one bit, heck I have been caught in dust storms on my bike and survived unscathed – this wasn’t that bad and I was hoping it would scare the other girls in my AG). When I did I saw my friend Patrick Bless arrive. He turned pro last year and when I did this race in 2007 he and I drove out and raced together. I figured maybe I would get the Kona slot again since he was here (he could be my good luck charm). You see I did this race in 2007, it was my first 70.3 and I came in 3rd in my AG. The Kona slot rolled down to me, but I was not ready for IM yet and turned it down for a Clearwater slot. I still don’t regret my decision to turn Kona down that first time.
This is turning out to be very LONG... SORRY… I will try to keep it shorter!

Swim:

My wave left 35 minutes after the men’s pro wave. We lined up on the beach and I was nervous, scared, on the verge of tears, but when they yelled, “GO!” I ran into the lake and a sense of calm took over. The first 400m were brutal, I couldn’t believe how rough these ladies were, but it didn’t phase me (this was the good part of my good, bad and ugly race). Each race I become more comfortable in the open water. My sighting gets better, my stroke becomes smoother, I don’t get rattled as easily and dare I say it… I actually kind of enjoy the swim now ☺.

Bike:

Jen and I talked about how I would ride the bike course. Usually I like to ride the bike as hard as I can, I like passing people and never looking back. I love blowing by people on the bike, especially riding up hills. But since Buffalo Springs is generally very hot and humid we decided I should take it easy, keep my HR in check, spin up the hills and not hammer so I can run off the bike. I followed Jen’s plan and I was bored out of my mind! I was still passing people, but I wasn’t happy sitting up and spinning up the hills, plus it was rainy and wet and I just wanted to get this ride over with. Around mile 20 my tire repair bottle flew out of its rear holder… oops! As soon as that happened I knew I better get through the bottle of Infinit I had on my frame and trade it out with the full one on my rear cage so I don’t lose the rest of my nutrition too. Not long after I switched my bottles, my empty bottle flew out the back and into the road – SMART me ☺ I had switched them just in time! I was also lucky that I didn’t suffer any flats!

Run:

The last 16 miles of the bike I began to dread the run. This is NOT like me; I usually look forward to the run, even with all my stomach cramping issues. Unfortunately today I just didn’t feel any spunk, but I wasn’t going to let that get me down. Once off the bike I stuck my wet socks and wet shoes on (they were out in the rain) and headed out of transition. I ran side by side with this guy for the first 4 miles and at one point he tried to talk to me, but I was concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other that I couldn’t respond back. I just had nothing in my legs. I couldn’t let that get me down mentally, I was still first in my AG and second already had a Kona slot, so all I had to do was hang on to her if she tried to pass me and hopefully we could bring it in one and two together. At mile 4 she passed me and I couldn’t react. At mile 6 another girl in my AG passed me and she was running like a freakin’ gazelle – she eventually took first and Kona! At mile 10 another girl in my AG passed me! I came in 4th – no Kona for me.

The last mile I experienced something many of you I am sure have, but it was a first for me. All the sudden my right calf cramped, then my left calf, then my left quad, then my right hamstring and I had this continuous flicker of cramping through my legs. The only thing I can compare it to is twinkling Xmas lights in my legs. I was trying SOOO hard to keep myself from falling down as I made my way through the last mile, I could picture Chris Legh at Kona collapsing about 50 meters from the finish line. Although I wasn’t that bad, however when I crossed the line I was white as a ghost (at least that’s what they told me), they asked me if I wanted an IV and I will never turn down an IV so they helped me into the med tent and put me in a lawn chair and hooked me up to an IV. The kid who shoved the needle in my arm got my blood all over him, but after that race I couldn’t feel a damn thing. He could’ve poked me a hundred more times and I wouldn’t know the difference.
So much more happened during this race, but I could probably write a book and no one need’s to read that much about me.

I raced BSLT 70.3 for a few reasons, but the main one being Kona. I didn’t come home with the golden ticket and I am disappointed.

HOWEVER…

I learned MORE from this race than I ever expected. Each time I race I learn, but BSLT taught me so much, I wouldn’t trade my experience this past weekend for anything else. I LOVE this sport and I know that more than ever right now. Just like passing people on the bike fuels my fire, so does learning great lessons ☺ I will save the lesson’s I learned for another blog post.

And one last little quote that is so simple, yet means so much...

“If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.”

IM Canada here I come!

BUSY!

2009-06-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend was SUPER busy. Between dog sitting, workouts, working, friends, packing for my race this weekend, father's day and playing with Cody I almost didn't make it out alive! WOOHEE

On Sunday I woke up bright and early to meet my friends Marc and Brian for a run at Pinnacle Peak (I missed my picture op here). The run ends on the backside of Pinnacle Peak which we normally run, but today since Marc and I are tapering we walked the last 2 miles. I talked the guys into an open water swim at Bartlett Lake after the run, but Marc was having doubts about going since he was tired. I promised him a frosty drink from the gas station before we headed to the lake. Once we got to the gas station he stood by the frosty machine for a solid 5 minutes drinking and refilling his cup! The clerk thought he was crazy :-)

At the lake we had a nice swim.... Below is a picture of us post swim. I am wearing the shirt I ran in and got called out for sniffing it to see just how nasty it was, but I forgot a clean sports bra, so you do what you gotta do.

After the swim I hurried back home, showered and got into my dad's truck that he let me drive when I crashed my car back in March. The paint on the hood of the truck needed to be repainted so its been in the shop and was finally finished on Friday. So I promised my dad I would drive it back up to Flagstaff where it belongs, but I was running over an hour late - OOPS! I drove the 2hr drive up North, parked it at the airport where my dad picked my up in his plane and we flew back down to the valley.

He wanted me to get up north earlier because it gets windy in the afternoon. As we were flying home he told me I may need to hold on to my seat because its going to be a bumpy one! Fortunately I don't have a weak stomach when it comes to stuff like that. Here is a shot of Sedona - pretty, eh?

Once we got back into town we had plans with my brother to go see The Hangover and dinner (sushi). The movie was hilarious!!!

I was checking in on IMCDA friends throughout the day!!! Everyone ROCKED IT!!!! I am very impressed and thrilled for everyone :-)

Early Thursday morning I am leaving for Texas. I am meeting up with my friend Jim who raced IM New Zealand with me. We are racing Buffalo Springs 70.3 and I am already getting nervous - especially after seeing how awesome everyone did in CDA!!!

Jim already warned me that I can't make fun of him for the atrocious amount of Hammer products he packed!

awake

2009-06-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

I had a rough weekend of training, a migraine that fades into a headache at times and in turn have given up coffee for the summer. It all started a couple weeks ago, the day after Deuces Wild Triathlon to be exact. Since then I haven’t felt great, not sick or anything, just a bit blah. I am sure some of this is mental as I am trying to figure out my issues during racing (i.e. the stomach cramps/side stitches) and wanting to get on the right path. Although I think I am on the “right” path, it just takes time to figure these things out, but I am certain I will get there sooner or later. Then about a 1.5 weeks ago I got my notorious summer migraine! I am SO used to them, I just never know when it’s going to start. Each summer that I have stayed in Scottsdale, since my teenage years, I have endured a summer of migraines and headaches. Some days are worse than others. As soon as the migraines arrive I give up coffee and that seems to help. Except its been tough without the caffeine boost in the morning and getting up early and still having the lingering migraine which has turned into a dull headache - UGH. This morning I am proud (or maybe not so much since I should have been getting up at least 3 x week) to say that I actually got up when my alarm went off at 4:15am to go to masters swim. While I was in the kitchen this morning filling my water bottles and packing my breakie I just starred at the coffee pot longing for a cup of joe. ☹ What makes it all worthwhile is being able to swim Long Course Meters in the morning now!!! How can you not get excited for LCM at 4:15 in the morning?!?

I must mention that I am SO SO SO excited to e-spectate this weekend as many of my friends will be racing IMCDA!!! WOO HOO IRONMAN ;-)

10 days

2009-06-11T15:43:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it’s been THAT long since I have updated my blog! Life has been busy. You know its crazy when you haven't checked out Facebook (heaven forbid) in 72 hours or updated your blog in 10 days or even Trainingpeaks for that matter since Monday.

Yesterday I made my friend Jordan do my 45-minute easy run with me. We run a similar route most times we run together and he proceeded to tell me this time that the 2 mile incline was just TOO much of a hill for him now- I laughed and told him I would drop him like a bad habit next time he said that to me ( I am a lovely friend). He recovered from that quickly (he is used to it by now) and we just got back into a nice conversation when he saw a SNAKE. That boy ran so fast screaming like a little girl I had to stop running to keep from peeing in my pants! I was standing there right next to the snake laughing as he was yelling at me to "HURRY UP, HURRY UP, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? IT’S GOING TO EAT YOU!!!" What is scary is Jordan was serious – it was just a little bull snake. Oh yeah and did I mention this was an out and back run we, so we had to turn around after he calmed down and head back past the SNAKE. Jordan couldn't figure out which side of the road was safer to run on because now that he saw one snake there could be more lurking in the brush.

While we were running back near where we saw the snake and Jordan was getting his panties in a twist, I saw a truly horrifying thing. A big man in LITTLE shorts. I wanted to pull out a stick of bodyglide and give it to him as his thighs were rubbing together I swear sparks were flying out of his shorts. The man must have needed XL MEN's shorts and was wearing what I imagine a M WOMEN's split shorts. WOOHEE that was more than my eyes could handle!!!

On to the training front all things are looking good. I am on to something as far as my side stitches during races are going. I just need another race before my next big one to try out my theory. But looks like my next big one is going to be the test pilot - oh well, I have plenty of racing years left to get things right.

I haven't mentioned work in a while on my blog, but I am happy to say that things seem to be moving in the right direction. I still don't know what I want to do with my life, but I don't think it’s reasonable to believe I should know. They (my bosses) are using me as a guinea pig and allowing me to show them what I can do. So far I have gotten rave reviews and I feel as though there is SOO SOO much more to be done.

Speaking of work… I should get back to it!

Learning.

2009-06-01T16:18:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I competed in the Deuces Wild Olympic distance triathlon in Show Low, AZ. Show Low was named after a poker game between C.E. Cooley and Marion Clark (hence “Deuces Wild”), located in central eastern Arizona and has an elevation of 6400ft. It was great to get out of the heat for the weekend. When we got to packet pick-up it was raining, windy and COLD! The beanie, jacket and gloves had to come out of hibernation for this race.

After Maureen and I checked in we decided it was too ugly out to ride our bikes, but we needed to move our legs so we changed into our run gear and set out on the race route. We followed the racecourse, but it got a bit confusing at one point and we ran a little longer than planned. Once we got back to packet pick-up the boys had arrived. BH, OC, Stocker and Korey were hungry for dinner… it was 4:30pm. Maureen and I decided we could eat so we all headed to dinner. You might as well have added 40 years onto our ages as we beat the early-early birds! After dinner we went back to our hotel and checked in, BH and Korey were just across the hall from us. They thought it would be funny to stick a copy of OC’s swimsuit modeling pic on our door… here is the pic that we never took down on our door for us when we got to our room.

We spent the evening watching TV, getting things organized for race morning and went to sleep early. Except I couldn’t sleep and that is VERY unlike me. Seriously, I ALWAYS sleep like a baby the night before races. The altitude was getting to me though and I never felt like I could fully breath. Altitude beats me up pretty good, I wish it didn’t and I like to forget the toll it takes on me, but I suffer the first week at altitude – its just the way it is.

Morning couldn’t come soon enough and Maureen’s alarm went off at 4am. I was up and moving, my race gear + 5 extra layers was on before she even got out of bed. Once she was ready and I had made my breakie we headed to the race site. She was doing the half IM and her race began at 6:30am. I got to watch the half IMer’s swim before I even had to warm-up. At 7:20 I stripped off a few layers, threw my running shoes on and headed out along the course for a little warm-up. I actually felt pretty good, fairly speedy and I was looking forward to the run ☺ After my run I squeezed into my wetsuit and got into the 61 degree water – it wasn’t bad at all! I swam around for 10 minutes trying to get used to the water and calm myself down.

Swim:

Open water swimming is hard for me. I need a good warm-up before I start or I freak out for a bit and that costs me time, so I try my best to get it out of the way before the gun goes off ☺ I am trying to put myself out there during races, give myself a chance to get on some fast feet and hold on as best I can during the swim. So I position myself in the front, or pretty close to the front. This hasn’t worked out too well for me yet because I am not fast enough - YET, but I have to give myself the opportunity and try, or it will never happen. The swim went smoothly, I am not fast, but I am becoming more comfortable in the water… so it’s a step in the right direction!

Bike:

The bike seems to be my strongest in triathlon. I like riding hills and I don’t like getting passed, so I ride hard. But I was NOT into the bike today. I just wanted to test my run and I started daydreaming about my run while on the bike. I kept reminding myself what my friend Angi told me, “Remember to push on the middle part of the bike, it is always super windy there...but that is where peoples "minds" are weak, so stay strong on that!!!” and all I could think was, “DAMN YOU ANGI!!!” There were more expletives filling my mind during the ride, especially when the 55-year-old woman passed me and then proceeded to stand-up and stop pedaling! At mile 15 there was even more bad language as I was pedaling up this long hill and my tummy began to cramp – NO NO NO NO NOOOO!!!!!!! THIS IS RIDICULOUS, WTF!!!!!!!! I was out of my aerobars climbing, but once I was back down it went away. I pushed through the last 10 miles of the bike, made it through to transition and was happy to be running.

Run:

I knew that since my tummy cramped already on the bike that I better start the run slow. I jogged along try to breath deep and stop the cramp from getting worse, but it was useless. That STUPID BUGGER took over and I could. Not. Get. Rid. Of. It!!!!! At one point I had to walk and was putting as much pressure on my ribs as I could with my hands and a guy told me to breath as deeply as I could through my nose and fill my lungs as much as I could, then breath out through my mouth. I laughed! We were at 6400ft and he wanted me to fill my lungs?!? HA HA HA! But I tried… Anything to fix this dagger in my ribs. It was no use today and I jogged/shuffled the rest of the run. I was pissed off when I crossed the finish line. I was even pissed at the guy who told me at mile 5 that I was “holding such a great, consistent pace!” I was nice and said “thanks” but the truth is that it wasn’t even marathon pace for me… UGH!!! No, make that DOUBLE UGH!!!

I do these “little” races to work out these kinks in my racing. So I can’t be mad about this race, its helped Jen and I get to the root of my problem. My training is going GREAT – now we just need to get my racing issues all figured out! I am on my way, it’s a frustrating path, but no one said it wouldn’t be.

Here are some pics...

Maureen getting ready to rock her race!

OC coming out of the water

BH coming out of the water

Me on my ride in Show Low the day after the race :-)

Race time

2009-05-28T19:53:00.001-07:00

Not even two weeks since my last race and I am headed up North for another one :-) It's the Deuces Wild Olympic Triathlon (theres a half too). And last week I forgot about this race, I begged Marc to pack me in his bike box to Hawaii for the 70.3. Then I remembered that I DID get to go away this weekend! I just don't have to get on a plane or cross the ocean to get there. Deuces Wild is in Show Low, AZ. A small town at 6400ft up. I am driving up there with my friend Maureen and meeting up with a bunch of friends! We are going to have a great time. Oh and did I mention that after the race on Saturday night Trisports.com is giving away over $30,000 worth of product in a raffle? I think we are gonna stay, enjoy the raffle and chilly weather for the weekend!

ALSO... I need to say good luck to everyone racing this weekend! I have friends racing Hawaii 70.3, Deuces Wild (where I will be) and Rock n' Roll San Diego Marathon!!! I will be without my computer in Show Low, so I have given strict instructions to certain people (you know who you are) to fill me in on ALL the results! I want calls as soon as you finish :-)

YAY for racing!!!! GOOD LUCK EVERYONE :-)