Ready for IM Training Finally!

The Cherry Blossom 10 miler was a little over a week ago and it felt pretty good. I was happy with the way it went and I didn't push so hard that I hurt the next few days after. Just enough that I got in a good tempo run and was able to recover quickly. I knew I needed to get in some good training throughout the week. The half marathon the weekend before had made me feel a little beat up for a few days. All participants of the Cherry Blossom 10 miler got an email with their results and statistics where they finished. Pretty cool tool! You can view it here. Here's a picture of Ron and I at the finish.

Since I didn't get in my long ride this past weekend, I decided to take the day off yesterday to get a few things done around the house and get in my 3.5 hour ride, followed by a 20 min. run. I knew the weather would be warm and a great day for a ride. I didn't get out until a little after 12 so, most of my ride was in 80 degree weather. This was perfect weather to start getting used to the heat I will be racing in during Ironman Louisville the end of August. Eagleman could be very warm in June as well. Let's just hope it isn't 100 degrees like last year!

To avoid traffic, I drove through DC and parked by Sibley hospital on MacArther Blvd and started my ride there. I had a cue sheet from the Vertical Swimmer Sunday bike rides put together by Tuan. If you need a good laugh check out his blog. Tuan has a great imagination and always finds some way to make us triathletes chuckle in his weekly ride emails!

From where I started, it would be close to a 70 mile round trip. Since everyone else was working, I did this ride by myself. This is something I don't mind doing from time to time to help get me mentally prepared for race day and...no drafting at all the entire ride. About 5 miles into the ride I passed some dude and then a mile later noticed he was drafting me. Normally, when some random person rides my wheel I get pretty annoyed and actually ask them to get off. Today, I wasn't in the mood to ask the guy who was having a girl pull him up the hills to back off. ;) About 6 miles later he went straight and I turned left. That's good b/c I wasn't going to pull this random guy the whole ride!

This is a ride that will definitely prepare me for Louisville! Lots of hills, which I'm actually starting to learn to like. I trained mainly on flats last year because most my races were flat. I do think this is the kind of ride that is safer in numbers, but since it was the middle of the day I didn't come into too much traffic until the end of the ride when I headed back into DC. Towards the last 10 miles of the ride I was starting to get a little tired and feeling the climbing settling into my muscles. So, I decided this was the perfect time to pull my iPhone out and snap a few pictures to capture the beauty of spring since most of these flowers will be gone in a few weeks.

Here are a few pictures of one of my favorite flowers in the area. I'm sure the people in the house didn't appreciate me stopping outside of their gate to take a picture, but I loved the tree in their yard. Plus, this house is an example of what you see out this way in Potomac. Multimillion dollar homes that just take your breath away. I always wonder what kind of job all these people have. Definitely won't be a place I will ever own a home but one can dream right?!

I stopped and got some pictures of a few hills on River Road, but the pictures definitely don't do justice to the other hills I had been riding all afternoon. I was really feeling it on River Road, and this is not a road where you want to be feeling tired. I had to find a spot that wasn't too steep to pull over and snap a few pics so I could get going again and not trash my legs out starting up again on a hill.

On the last stretch of road coming in, an angry man yelled at me from his van from the other side of the road that I should ride on the bike trail. Just a few feet ahead of me right after this jerk yelled was a sign that says, 'Share the Road' with a picture of a car and bike. I had to stop and take a picture of this to post and hope that other road rage people who drive on this route remember to chill out and share the road! This guy wasn't even on my side of the road and I was over as far as I could be. I'm not sure why there are drivers out there who hate bikers. Guess they are the ones who have never gotten on a bike before. Obviously, not a road or tri bike b/c the trail he was telling me to ride on is covered with sticks, dirt and rocks.

Once I got back to my car, I stuck my bike in the car (can't leave it on the bike rack b/c I'm sure it would be gone when I got back eek!), and took off for a 20 min. run. It ended up feeling alright, but I know I have some work to do with transitioning to the run and keeping up a good pace for the longer distance races. I averaged 7:20 pace so was happy, but my HR was sneaking up to near max. The heat was getting to me! Plus, before my ride I had asked Ron to put in 1.5 scoops of infinit nutrition in my water bottles instead of the 2.5 scoops (2 scoops per hour) so was lacking a bit on nutrition. Oops! Still felt good considering and just happy that I finally feel motivated to get these long rides and runs in for my Ironman training. I have been feeling a bit unmotivated lately for the longer distances and just needed a nice day to get outside and enjoy the ride.

It's definitely all about balance when training for triathlons and I've been trying to find that right balance between work, personal life, training and everything else I'm involved in. It is doable, but sometimes it just takes awhile to figure it out. Instead of riding Sunday, Ron and I had a wonderful afternoon and evening together. We went to the nursery to pick out our new tree that is going on our back patio and looked at a ton of other beautiful flowers and plants to get an idea of what we want once the new patio is in place. (This is a picture of me next to a cute monkey statue at the nursery contemplating which tree to get. For those of you who know me well, you know I love monkeys and can't miss a photo opportunity with one!) We ended up choosing the Dogwood with white flowers that will bloom in May! It will bloom just in time when everything is finished. Sunday was such a nice spring day, was very relaxing and I learned a lot about flowers. :)

I was reminded yesterday of why I love this sport. It was wonderful to get outside to enjoy the weather, the beautiful spring sights, and enjoy the roads outside of the DC hustle and bustle. I felt like I pushed my body (mentally and physically) to finally get in the right frame of mind for Ironman training. I absolutely love the feeling I get after a long endurance run or ride and the endorphins! At the end of the day I ended up with a few odd sunburn lines since my sunscreen ran out right as I was trying to finish spraying my arms on my pasty body. I'll be sure to have plenty next time I'm in the sun for four hours working out!

Now, that I made myself get motivated for my training, I need to buckle down and get motivated to do my taxes! Time is running out! Remember that balance thing I mentioned earlier....yeah the whole doing my taxes thing early kind of fell through the cracks.

This coming weekend is my first triathlon of the season, Rumpus in Bumpass. It is an Olympic distance triathlon and will be at Lake Anna in Bumpass, VA. This is one of the triathlons I'm doing for the High Cloud Dream Team. There will be a ton of athletes from High Cloud and DC Tri so it will be very motivating to see many familiar faces on the course. I'm just a little scared for the cold water, but the swim is in the area of water that is used to cool the power plant and it is a few degrees warmer than the rest of the lake. I will definitely be sporting my wetsuit! Let's hope the storms stay away! So far it's not looking too good weather wise. We shall see!

Spring Racing Begins!

Its spring and Cherry Blossom season in the DC area! Last week I got the opportunity to run around the Tidal Basin and Hains Point and view the cherry blossoms before the area was overtaken by tourists. Apparently, the cherry blossoms peaked two days ago and will be going through their blooming phase through April 7th. You wouldn’t know it by the cold weather we’ve had this week, but this is a sign that spring and warm weather will be here to stay very soon! Unfortunately, along with that comes the allergies everyone develops when moving to this area, but I have learned to cope with that.

Last weekend was my first race of the season, the National Half Marathon. This was the first High Cloud race on my schedule. My coach, Mackenzie Madison, told me to race the half hard and use this as a test to see where my training is at right now. Goal: 1 hour 35 min. I knew this would be a challenge but if I were to run this time, I’d be very happy with the way my training is going so far. I have to admit, last week I was feeling a little burnt out. Not just from training, but from being on the go all the time. I think this winter was more of an 'on season' instead of 'off season'. Don’t get me wrong, I love keeping busy with everything I’m involved with, but last week I just needed a few days to take a deep breath, relax a bit and spend some time with my DVR catching up on some Grey’s Anatomy and Criminal Minds. Coach Mackenzie said use the rest of the week as a ‘recovery week’ (except the race of course) and that is just what I did. And, boy did that help!

Race morning was cold and in the 30’s when I woke up at 5:15 am. The race was an early 7 am start and the best way to get to the start at RFK Stadium, was driving. Metro opened its doors an hour early, but that didn’t help anyone at all when trains only run every 20 minutes and it was suggested to be at the race by 6:15. I got a ride from my good friend Kathryn and her boyfriend, Eric, who was running the full marathon (who by the way had a kick ass 2:50 time! Way to go Eric and not bad for ‘not really racing’!) Traffic in the city was horrible! We were afraid we were going to be late, so hopped out a mile from the start and jogged. Hey, I needed a good warm-up anyway so I didn’t mind. The bag drop and restrooms were inside so of course it was packed. There was no way I’d be able to get to the bathroom in time before the race. Luckily, I was ok to just start, but that’s always a risk when running hard. The High Cloud Dream Team got a quick picture together and then it was time to start.

It’s so fun to do a race right in your backyard. There were over 95 people from DC Tri and about 15 members from the Dream Team racing. I found a group of my friends at the start and we were off! Fellow DC Tri team member, Janie Hayes, had warned me to not start off too fast, that mile 4-7 were going to have a few hills, and once you get past that, it’s smooth sailing from there to the finish line. I took your advice Janie! I have a terrible habit of starting off too fast. I had my new Garmin 310xt to help me pace. Boy, am I glad I had that with me! I hardly saw any mile markers along the route and heard that complaint from a lot of runners after the race. Apparently, a lot of them were on the ground out of site.

I did start out at a good pace and then at mile 6.5 the 1:35 pacers came up on me. It was right in the middle of a hill so I had to push myself faster to keep up with them because I was not about to lose sight of those guys! I hung on to the back of them the rest of the race. They must have started off a little slower b/c at times my Garmin said we were running 6:40 pace. I heard someone ask the pacers how they know what pace they are going and the one guy said, “I just go by feel.” He didn’t even have a watch on! I made it known at that time were going 6:40 pace and they backed off a bit. Whew! We still had about three miles to go. I found my friends, Janie and Alejandro, and we pushed each other those last few miles. It helped a ton and I made my goal, 1:35:47! I didn’t feel totally wiped out either so was very pleased with how this race went. And, I finally ran a race with negative splits...that never happens! My Garmin actually said I ran 13.47 and that is 7:03 pace. I’ll take that! I can definitely tell the track and tempo workouts Mackenzie has been giving me are working. This ended up being a great day for racing! The cool weather felt great during the race, there were familiar faces out cheering all along the route and the race wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be. Plus, many of my friends got PR’s! Dream Team member, Anna McGeehan, qualified for Boston her first marathon....simply amazing Anna! Our DC Tri President, Steve Carlson, and fellow DC Tri team member, Stephanie Ewert, were even riding their bike trainers half a mile from the finish while cheering people on. I’m just sad I missed them because I was 'in the zone'.

Next up, my 8th Cherry Blossom 10 miler this Sunday. My dad and I made a tradition of running this race every year from 2004 – 2009. Unfortunately, he was not able to make it out last year because of an emergency at home, and this year we decided to try a different race, the Broad Street Philly 10 miler in May. So, this year my mom came out to visit and will get see the cherry blossoms for the first time. I will be one of those ‘annoying tourists’ tomorrow looking at all the blossoms. ;) Can’t wait! I love this time of year in DC (alright, minus the crowds!)

High Cloud Spinathon a Success

Last Sunday was the first annual High Cloud Spinathon. It was a huge success! Over $1000 was raised and proceeds will go to one of the High Cloud Foundation programs. Participants could chose to spin one, two or all three hours. Over half of the participants registered chose to tough out all three hours! Those who signed up for all three hours received a cute High Cloud towel. All participants were given High Cloud water bottles, Accelerade drink and gels, Pirate’s Booty, Luna bars and other snacks from Whole Foods. Each hour long class had a theme and was taught by Dream Team Members, Ron Benedict ( my lovely boyfriend), Jen Knickerbocker and me. The first hour Ron rocked it out with a Rock n Roll theme. And, yes he did actually rap a little bit of the Eminem song, ‘Love the Way you Lie’.

The second and third hours were 80’s and pop themes respectively. High Cloud Dream Team members volunteered and provided motivation through the entire spinathon. There was dancing, singing, laughing and cheering throughout the entire three hours to keep everyone’s spirits high. Dream Team members, Mark and Ron, busted out some Michael Jackson moves, and Hillary performed some head bopping moves for a little entertainment during my pop themed class. Hillary actually strained her neck a bit from bobbing it up and down too hard. Hope it doesn’t affect your swimming Hil!

Gift cards were raffled off from Dick’s Sporting Goods, Under Armour, and Best Buy. Each hour during a recovery portion of the workout, participants were asked a question about High Cloud. The person with the correct answer won. A few of the questions asked were: 1) How many programs does High Cloud have? Five – nutrition, knowledge, sports, environment and micro finance. 2) How many children does High Cloud reach and in how many countries? Over 3,000 in 10 countries including – Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Haiti, Kenya, Bethlehem in the Middle East, Macedonia, India and the U.S. We wanted to make sure that we incorporated as much about High Cloud as we could during the spinathon and remind everyone that they were there working hard for the High Cloud children!

In over ten years of teaching spin class, I have to say this by far was the most fun I have ever had teaching! And, definitely the most rewarding! Not only did I get to help coordinate the event and instruct an awesome group of endurance athletes, but I got to ride for a purpose, to help the children of High Cloud! High Cloud Founders, Matt and Adriana Anderson, are letting Ron and I put the money raised from the spinathon towards a High Cloud program of our choice since we helped organize the event. I will be blogging soon about the project we choose and how it is coming along! So amazing!

We had several participants ask if we will do this again and the answer is YES! We may even do another one later this year....Stay tuned!

Exciting Year Ahead!

2011 is going to be an exciting year! So many great things have happened in the past few months and the year is off to a great start! I've been racing triathlons for several years and this year I want to not only race, but give back more to the clubs I'm involved with and the triathlon community. In December I got elected to the DC Triathlon Board of Directors. I am the new Program Coordinator which involves helping with the New Triathlete Program, Half Ironman Program, Ironman Program and our new program coming in April, the Olympic Distance Training Program. Check out the DC Tri webpage for more details on each program! The link is on the side of my blog.

A few weeks ago I was notified that I got selected to be on the High Cloud Dream Team! My boyfriend, Ron, also got selected! The High Cloud Team is a diverse and successful group of male and female athletes (professional and amateurs alike) from all ages and all over the world. The Dream Team raises social awareness for High Cloud's cause, which is to alleviate world poverty for children, orphans and displaced families who are victims of violence and natural disasters in the US and throughout the world. It will be so great to be training, racing, and fundraising for such a wonderful cause! The team kicked off their first event and helped volunteer at the High Cloud Snapple Half marathon last Saturday. Over 250 runners came out and braved the cold and snow packed trail. It was very inspiring to see so many brave runners tough it out in such harsh conditions!

Last week I was told that I got selected to be on the 2011 DC Triathlon Elite Team! I was ecstatic to say the least to get such great news these past few weeks! Both teams have their key races for the year and I will be representing both at their respective key races. I'm very motivated, humbled, honored and thrilled to be a part of both of these wonderful teams!

With so much going on this year, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to start a blog. I will be blogging about my training, racing and events going on for both DC Triathlon and High Cloud. I have a new coach, pro triathlete Mackenzie Madison, who coaches for Zoom Performance. Zoom Performance is based out of Des Moines, IA my home state! I can already tell Mackenzie is going to push me and help me with my 2011 race season. It's so great to be working with someone from good ol Iowa! :)

I've been really bad about writing race reports so this blog will also keep me on track since that will be one of my requirements for the two teams. I had one about half way done for Ironman Cozumel, which was my last race of the 2010 season. Something happened when I tried to save it and it is long gone. Dang it! Needless to say, I have not written another report up. I will be including some information on the race that I feel is good information to have for anyone looking to race it this year. That will have to be for another day....it's time to get some good sleep and try to keep this cold of mine from getting any worse!