Race Weekend is Here!

Race day is in three days! Ironman Louisville here I come! I can honestly say, I am finally excited to race. There have been some up’s and downs on my journey to IM Loui, but I think my body is ready to go!  I feel like the last weekend in July was my ‘breakthrough’ weekend. Ron and I did the Bike to Beach Century for Autism ride on a very HOT day! This was a fun ride for a wonderful cause! We left from Washington, DC at 5am, biked to Annapolis for the first 33 miles, got bussed over the Bay Bridge, and then dropped off at route 405 to bike the rest of the way to Dewey Beach, DE. Ron realized that he did not have his camelback with his water and money in it when we arrived at the beginning of the ride. So, he drove back to get it, then realized I had the house key. Ugh! So, he drove back, got the key, and then had to drive to Annapolis to meet up with me there. Despite the annoying and frustrating start of the day, this ended up working out well b/c Ron was just coming back from hurting his back. He could barely walk two weeks before the ride but ended up finishing the 70+ miles to Dewy strong and in no pain!



Bike to Beach



This was a great ride for me as well. I got into a groove and was able to crank out an interval of 10 miles or so around mile 70 and keep a 23-24 mph ave. I surprised myself b/c it was close to 100 degrees with the heat index at that point and all of a sudden I just got this burst of energy. We were holding around 20 mph ave. for most of the ride so I was very pleased with that! Granted, the last 75 miles of the ride were pancake flat and not hilly like all my training rides, (I think I do better on flat courses) I felt this was one of my best long rides of the season. Hmmm maybe I do like flat courses best.

Two days later was my first 20-mile run of the season and I managed to produce negative splits and average 8:05 pace.  The heat/humidity has been tough to train through this summer and for awhile, I felt like the heat defeated me on almost every long run. Just one week before my ‘breakthrough run,’ I had to cut my long run short and called it quits at mile 15. I just bonked and my body was breaking down becoming tired w/ horrible form. The heat won that day. I felt defeated but thankfully, Ron was out with his bike to give me more water at the turn around point. He is the one that talked some sense into me and told me to stop, that he would go home and get the car to come back and get me. After he left me, I did sneak in another half a mile to our meeting spot to get in 15 instead of walking it. I am a Garmin numbers sucker and I couldn’t stop at just under 15 miles. It’s a mental thing for me. ;)

After my great training weekend, I got in my last 6-hour ride. I actually did this ride by myself b/c some of my friends were doing a double brick (hell no I said to that training offer!) and a lot of my other friends were recovering from IM Lake Placid. This will definitely help me mentally on race day. It gets a little lonely riding 110 miles by yourself on a hot day and you just have to keep telling yourself to keep going and stay positive. I kept telling myself that taper was just around the corner! I had a sore throat that day and hoping it would just go away. Well, it turned into a cold/sinus issue and kept me from getting in my last 20 miler that weekend. I took a few days off and then ended up getting in a three-hour ride, swim and Body Pump class. Whoops! That was too much and I was out of commission for another two days. Then it was time to leave for NYC for our work conference for a week of running around and long days. Not really the taper I had planned, but in the end I guess it was a ‘forced taper’ for me and think it will actually help me come race day. I did end up getting in my last 20 miler that weekend in Central Park! What a place to run! The change of scenery was much appreciated and I got to people watch all afternoon!  I even got yelled at by a New Yorker woman telling me I was running too damn long. So sorry to ruin your day lady! Ha

This brings me to the week of the Ironman full of earthquakes and hurricanes. Who knew I’d experience such crazy acts of Mother Nature when I moved out to the East Coast eight years ago?!  Luckily, I didn’t get trapped in the elevator I was on when the earthquake rumbled the earth, and we are getting the heck out of dodge before the hurricane blows through the Mid Atlantic area.  Right now, the weather is looking pretty darn good for race day…a high of 81 and no storms! (I’m knocking on wood every chance I get!) Last year the temps scored to a high of 100 degrees with the heat index, and if that were to happen again this year, I’d be in deep trouble! Even though I’ve been training in the heat, that type of heat is just evil and not safe or fun to race in.

I spoke with Coach Mackenzie last night to discuss my race plan and she gave me some great tips and motivation for race day. Then, tonight I visited my chiropractor, Dr. Beck from Capitol Rehab, and he told me I am feeling strong and my back/hamstring are right where he wants them to be for race day. Yes! Dr. Beck has been my Saving Grace the past two years and with his help, I’ve become a 2x Ironman finisher and have made it through this year’s tough IM training. He works with a ton of athletes and is not your typical chiropractor.  He does ART (Active Release Therapy) on my hamstring each session, sometimes digs deep and massages my hammy/hip flexors, gives me core/hamstring/hip exercises to do, and has this cool trick he does to help release sinus pressure. ;) I also highly recommend getting a deep tissue massage from their massage therapist, George. J Dr. Beck genuinely cares about his patients and wants to help all the athletes he works with achieve their goals. Their office is pretty cool b/c they have pictures of the athletes they have worked with all along their wall. (I still owe them a picture of me oops!)

This post was a bit rushed so excuse any grammatical errors. As always, I have not taken the time (or had much free time) to blog and figure I should probably post something about the past few months before the race is here and gone. Part of the whole Ironman experience is the months of training itself leading up to the big day!

 It’s time for bed! Everything is packed and I stuck my lucky stuffed turtle in my suitcase. My mom gave me that turtle for good luck my first marathon back in 1999. He goes with me to all my races! This is going to be a fun weekend with lots of athletes from High Cloud and DC Tri. The support crew is going to be amazing! Good luck to everyone racing!!

Three Races in a Month...Yikes!

So it has been a couple months since my last blog. Guess I better get on it! Ironman training has taken up a lot of my time and in full effect! I went home to Iowa for ten days to visit my family and friends the end of May/beginning of June. It’s always nice to get home and I got a lot of family time. There still never seems to be enough time to see all my friends I’d love to see! My mom and I got some good shopping in, got to catch up with my brother and take him out to eat for graduating from Iowa State University (way to go Ty!), lots of movies were watched with family , wine night with one of my best friends, Marci, and just some nice relaxation time with everyone. Our good friends from Texas were even in town so it was perfect timing and we got to hang out with them for an afternoon.

My mom and I w/the Thompson's



My dad and I after our 95 mile ride.

 Since I was going to have some more free time to get in some training in the mornings, Mackenzie put some extra workouts on my schedule. While I was back I got in over 200 miles on my bike! I had such a great time riding with my dad and some of his friends. I sent our friend Kendall my training plans and he put together some great routes. He even did my intervals with me! My dad got to show off his new bike and would all of a sudden go all out passing us all every now and then. I guess I know where I get my competitive side from! 

My dad’s 60th birthday was on June 5th so I planned a surprise party for him the evening before at Jax, a restaurant in Marshalltown. So many of my dad’s friends and family showed up. My brother had helped me decorate the party room and then we went and got my dad. Right as we were pulling up in the parking lot he started pointing out cars that he recognized and was saying, “Oh so and so must be eating here.” I was so worried the surprise was blown but when he walked in and saw everyone, he was totally shocked! He had absolutely no idea….success! :) The evening was spent having some good food and a few beers hanging out with everyone. The next day I had a sprint triathlon, Pigman, which was an hour and a half away outside of Cedar Rapids. My dad had told me he wanted to come watch me race, but he didn’t know anything about his party. So, I couldn’t say anything and just told him that night that he didn’t have to come if he was going to be too tired. He was a trooper though and we both set off for the race at 4:30am!



My dad's 60th bday party.



This was my first sprint triathlon ever! I had heard that it’s pretty much a suffer fest the whole time if you are racing all out so was a bit worried what it would feel like. Especially, after putting in over 200 miles on the bike that week. I decided to sign up for this race since I’d have my bike while I was back and there were some great cash prizes for the overall top five winners. I decided to try racing in the elite amateur category. I knew I’d definitely be the last one out of the water but thought it would be fun to try. There ended up only being five women in this category. It was really cool to be the only five starting out in the swim wave. It was also funny to me to see the swim turn around just 250 meters out. Ha I’ve never seen that before! I may not be a super fast swimmer, but I sure as heck like just swimming 500 meters! No time to even get freaked out in the open water in this race. ;) There was a guy taking pictures at the start, so I finally have some really cool swim start pictures.

The gun went off and we’re off! As expected, I was the last one out but that’s ok. It was such a fun start and wonderful not getting knocked around in the swim! I passed one of the elite women after about five miles and then I just couldn’t get the power to reel the other four in. They were phenomenal at all three disciplines. My legs just wouldn’t go on the few uphills and I had a lot of lactic acid buildup. The run went great! I felt really good and ended up keeping a 6:48 ave. (My Garmin read – 6:41 pace for 3.23 miles but guess some of that was through transition. Shucks!) I ended up 4/5 for the elite amateur category and had thought I was 4th overall to win $150. When my dad and I came back out to read the results we saw that two age groupers had beat me. So, that bumped me out of the prize money. I was hoping to win at least $100 to pay for putting my bike on the plane. ;) (Which by the way ended up costing me $200 on United because my case was a little over 50 lbs. What a rip!)

After the race

This ended up being a fun first sprint race and was great having my dad out there cheering me on! The sprint distance is definitely not my race but I’m happy with 6th overall. My dad and I stopped and got a delicious Maid Rite and chocolate shake on the ride home. Thanks for spending your 60th bday cheering me on at my race dad!!  (side note…since my dad has turned 60 he has won his age group at three 5k’s and was 3rd overall at one of them. He has a few more on the schedule and this time he’s not going to ride 20 miles to get to it and save his legs a bit.)

The weekend after Pigman, I had Eagleman 70.3 on the schedule. Many of my friends asked me, “Why in the world would you want to sign up for this race again?!)  It was over 100 degrees last year with the heat index and a really long swim. This race pissed me off so I wanted revenge. ;) Well, after doing this race again, I will not be going back for quite some time. I never have a good swim in the Choptank and once again no wetsuits were allowed. I think the current threw me off because I had a slower time than what I had anticipated based on my time at Kinetic. The bike went alright but was hoping for a little bit faster split than last year since my biking has improved. My run was definitely better than the previous year, but not where I wanted to be. After I got out of the swim, I was mentally let down and I think this followed me through the rest of the race. I felt like I was having to play catch up the whole time and just didn’t have the mental toughness in me. The run is in the sun on black top the whole 13.1 miles and during the second half, I started walking through the water stops. I think I was consuming too much water and Gatorade because I got side stitches with two miles to go. My left hamstring was also starting to really hurt…probably from grinding away on the flat bike course. That seems to always bother it. I knew I wasn’t setting a PR and figured I’d still be able to get in by 5:15:00. So, I slowed to a walk with one mile to go to try to shake the side stitch and hammy pain.  I just wanted to see that finish line so pushed it in the last half mile and ended up finishing in 5:12:54. Not bad, but signed up for this race with the hopes of breaking five hours. I will not go back for revenge next year though!

Race #3 the following weekend, DC Triathlon! Yes, that’s right you read correctly, three races in a row. Some might say that’s ambitious, others may say it’s stupid and a little crazy. I’m going with the latter. I had already signed up for Eagleman last year before knowing I was going to be on the DC Tri Team. The DC Triathlon is one of the team’s key races so I decided to see how it would go even after such crazy training and racing the past several weeks. My race report can be found on the DC Tri site with this link:
http://www.dctriclub.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Learn.CourtneyDCTriathlon11

Crazy ass HEAT!!

It is now less than six weeks out from Ironman Louisville! I will be blogging again in the next few days about how the long training has been going and a few things I have had to do to keep my body trekking along (dry needling at Sports & Spinal PT, my wonderful chiropractor, Dr. Beck and massages!) We have been having record breaking heat the past few days with the temperature hitting 115-120 with the heat index. This has made training a bit difficult to say the least!

Kinetic Half

Two Saturday’s ago was my first triathlon of the season, the Kinetic half distance in Lake Anna, VA. This was one of the High Cloud Dream Team races so I sported the High Cloud kit in this race. Ron did a relay with Dream Team members, Anna and Shireen. There were so many athletes racing from both High Cloud and DC Tri which made it very motivating out on the race course later!

High Cloud Pyramid

Ron and I stayed in Fredericksburg the night before which prevented us from having to get up at 4:00 am since the race started at 7:00 am. Once we arrived at Lake Anna we needed to stand in line to get our race packet and then another line to get the timing chip. This portion of the race was not real organized but that was the only thing about the race that wasn’t. I tend to take awhile setting up my transition area and stare at my setup awhile (a bad habit of mine!) to be sure I didn’t forget anything. This time, I had to rush since I didn’t get everything until about 6:30 and transition closed at 6:45. I’m one that likes a lot of time to get ready and just chill a few minutes before the race. Ron is the opposite and sometimes jokes with me about how stressed and anxious I get before races. It’s the pre race jitters! So, I hurried to get my bike off of Ron’s roof rack since he was still in line (well actually had to have a very nice race spectator help me get it off since I’m so short) and hurried to transition to get set up. It was 6:45 when they started telling us to finish up and that’s when I started to panic a bit since I wasn’t ready. I still needed to get body marked with my number/age and put sunscreen on. I was freaking out a bit because I couldn’t find my sunglasses. I found Ron before heading to the water and asked him if he could go look in the car for them. Come to find out later, he tore the car apart and ended up finding them in my transition bag by my bike right in the sunglass pocket where they always are. Oops! Then he told me later that I had forgotten my water bottles with all my Infinit nutrition in them and he had run back to the car for that. Holy cow! Now, this is why I don’t like to rush through race set-up because I do stupid stuff like that. I had set my bike helmet on my back water bottle holders. If Ron had not noticed that something did not look right with that, seeing I didn’t have my bottles, there was no way I would have had the race that I did. Thank you soooo much Ron for saving the day!!

The main reason I get so jittery before triathlons is because I don’t like open water swimming and I’m not the best at it. Once I’m past the swim, I’m a lot more at ease and just pray I don’t get a flat on the bike! Luckily, the lake was not choppy at all. A few times in the open water I started going off course so citing better is something I know I always need to work on. Also, when I'm racing I can't seem to get comfortable breathing every three strokes and was breathing to the right most the time. I did the alternating breathing a few times and started to get kind of dizzy. I don't know why I always have an issue with that. Oh well, I do what works to get me through the swim. I came out of the swim with a time of 37:53 which is what I had clocked myself at in the pool earlier that week. This was my best 1.2 open water swim, so was content with that. I know swimming is something I will always need to work at….I just don’t really enjoy it so makes it more difficult for me to get motivated for the workouts. I know I need to work hard to cut off a few minutes of my time at all distances in order to be competitive.

I got to see Ron right out of T1 as he was getting ready to bike for his relay team. T1 was relatively uneventful which is always good. Off to the bike course. The bike course had rolling hills and just a few steep/short ones. False flats and some wind. It actually felt a lot flatter when I rode it a week ago, but I also had fresh legs for that ride. I was pretty happy with the way it went. Right around mile 25 I see Ron up ahead on the side of the road. I yelled out and made sure he was ok. I found out later he had run into some bad luck on the bike course. First, he got a flat and then later a girl cut the corner and ran right into his leg and derailer. That sucks! Bike support had come around and stopped to help him. They turned his bike into a fixie. So, Ron rode over half the race in one gear! I felt so bad for him when he told me the story after the race.

Around mile 30 or so into the bike I was actually getting real annoyed with some 'cheaters' on the course. There were a pack of girls I kept going back and forth with who insisted on drafting off each other. At one point I yelled out to them to stop it b/c it was getting so annoying seeing how obvious they were being. Kind of frustrating, but I just did my own thing the fair way. :) At times it was hard to not draft when people got all packed up every once in awhile but what they were doing was ridiculous. I think I saw a course marshall once on the course so they could get away with it easily. I was happy to finally see the finish of the bike as my hamstring was starting to get real tight.
Bike – 2:39:43

The run was challenging and I ended up being very happy with the way it went! It was three loops and right at the beginning of each loop was a steep hill out of the transition area. Then a long gradual climb out of the park. Awesome downhill to the finish! The motivation on the course was seeing so many of my friends and cheering each other on! I got to see many of them all three loops.
Run – 1:37:11
Finish - 4:59:02 (I finally broke 5 hours!!)


AJ, Janie and I posing with our age group awards.

 Overall, I was very pleased how this race went! Especially, given that I didn't taper a lot for it and that it wasn't an 'A' race for me. I got 2nd in my age group and this was the first time I got a podium place in a half! High Clouder, Emily Long and DC Tri Elite team members AJ Morrison and Janie Hayes, also got a podium finish!
It makes me happy where my training is right now, and I also realize what I can keep improving on. This was a great first race test and I'm excited to see that the training Mackenzie is giving me is helping me a lot!! After looking at my heart rate data, Mackenzie told me I can push a little bit more in some of my workouts since during the race I could hold a higher heart rate for awhile. I thrive on race day adrenaline and that tends to push me on race day. Now I know that I need to push myself a bit more in my intervals when training.

Taking a water break during the century ride.

Last Saturday I did the Casa Century in Martinsburg, WV. This was a rolling, hilly course and I actually liked biking on the hills! Did you hear that.....I’m finally starting to like hills…woo hoo! (I'm usually a flat course racer!) It was so beautiful and it felt great to ride out on the open roads, not having to suck in the exhaust from busses in the city! Adrianna told me this ride was similar to rolling hills in the Louisville course.

This Friday, I will be going to Iowa to visit my family and friends for ten days! While I am there, I will have more time for training which means a lot more swimming and more time in the saddle! I'll also be racing in a sprint triathlon, which I've never done before! We'll see how these slow twitch muscles handle the fast twitch racing. Yikes!

Spring Happenings

 



I’ve been a slacker with my blog posts! Since my last blog, I have gone through some motivation transitions. Ironman Louisville is just over 15 weeks away and I now realize, in order to do well and achieve my goals, I need to get my butt in gear and stop skipping bike and swim workouts! My coach, Mackenzie, let me know it’s time to get more time in the saddle and if I want to see improvements in my swim, I need to get all my swims in! I agree and sometimes just need a little kick in the butt to get to the pool. I’m really looking forward to the pool opening at Hains Point and am hoping to join the masters swim team that meets there a few times a week. I think swimming outside in a 50 meter pool, with a masters team, will be just the motivation I need.
Over the last few weeks there has been a lot going on as usual. My mom visited in April and she finally got to see the Cherry Blossoms for the first time. I forgot to post pictures in my last blog. Here is a picture we captured by the Tidal Basin. Ron’s parents also visited and we all took a DC Harbor cruise and got to see some of the DC historical sites from the water.



  The second week in April I purchased a new 2011 Hyundai Tucson! Ron struck a great deal with the car salesman and we were out of the dealership in an hour and a half! We had looked for this specific type of suv a year ago when they changed the look of the Tucson. So, when this popped up I jumped on it. It was a little sad to say goodbye to my Saturn. My Saturn was a graduation gift from my dad back in 2000. That car has literally gotten me across the country......from Iowa to DC, from DC to San Diego and back to DC! When I moved out to DC I even had a 4x4 Uhaul attached to the back. That car had been through a lot!

My new Tucson and tri mobile!



My dad visited from Iowa the last weekend in April and did the Philly Broad Street 10 mile race with Ron and I. I ran the whole race with my dad and we had a great time! His athletic abilities always amaze me. We did some site seeing and took my dad to the “Rocky Steps” in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art where Rocky Balboa ran up for his training in his movie. My dad loves that scene from Rocky and we captured a video and a few pictures of him reenacting the scene from the movie.  After the race, we had a delicious meal at Ron’s parent’s house. You never go hungry at the Benedicts!

My dad on the Rocky Stairs.



Last weekend was the 2nd annual High Cloud Peasantman triathlon held at Lake Anna State Park, which happens to be the same location as my first triathlon of the season this coming Saturday, Kinetic half. It was a perfect weekend for training and volunteering! The event was a huge success! Both sprint and Olympic distances were offered. Many participants from the DC Triathlon New Triathlete Program took part in the event. This was a training day with a BBQ celebration after.  It provided a social training atmosphere as opposed to a competitive one. The perfect environment for new triathletes to put into place what they have learned over the past few months and get a feel of what a triathlon really is all about. Don’t worry, seasoned athletes were also welcomed, and got in a good tune-up/training day for the race season. My duties for the day were to help out in transition and be one of the course marshals for the bike and run points.  I also got to sing the National Anthem. I have now experienced what it is like to be on the other side of racing and see just how much goes into putting it all together. Tuan, Becky, High Cloud founders Adriana and Matt, and everyone else on the volunteer committee did such a wonderful job putting this race together. It’s true, there is not a race without the volunteers and I’m so happy to be able to give back to the triathlon community. 

 I also got to spend some time with my friend and mentee from the New Triathlete Program, Sharon. With my crazy schedule it has been hard to meet up so it was nice to hang out with her a bit before her first triathlon and open water swim! Here she is getting ready to head into the water. Go Sharon!





Next up on Saturday, Kinetic half distance triathlon. This is not an ‘A’ race for me so didn’t taper, but I am going to try to do the best I can on non-tapered legs. I will be sporting High Cloud colors since this is one of High Cloud’s Dream Team races. There will be High Cloud green and DC Tri red and blue all over the course! After the race, I will be celebrating my 33rd birthday with great friends back in Arlington. Only a year and a half left in this age group. Yikes!



High Cloud Peasantman Finish Line





Ron grilling after the race.

Oh and I can't forget to post a picture of our new Dogwood tree I mentioned in my last post....it has bloomed and a wonderful addition to our new patio!




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!