Summer is coming to a close

Well, it is now the end of August and I have two races left for the season. I've gone through many up's and down's this season and I FINALLY feel like my body is cooperating and responding well to training. Plus...I'm enjoying it again! I realized that I didn't link to my Buffalo Springs race report. If you're interesting in reading it can be found here on the DC Tri Snapple Team blog page. Here are a few pics from the race.


Hot 90 some degrees the day before the race!



I had a post race pic of my mom and I but she didn't like the pic so I better not post. ;)

 

July was a very busy month! At the beginning of the month, one of my best friends from Iowa, Marci Burns, visited. We've known each other since 1st grade! It was so wonderful to spend some quality time together and show her what its like to live in the 'big city'. Plus, she had some big news....she's pregnant! I'm so happy for you Marci!!

Marci and I on a boat ride in VA

The following weekend, Ron's sister, Kym, got married and we were both in the wedding party. It was such a beautiful wedding/reception and we had a blast! Here's a pic of us all dressed up. A nice change from lycra ha!  We also had our IAFF work Convention that week following the wedding in Philly. It gave us a chance to check out some different restaurants in the area. We also found a hole-in-the-wall  karoke bar and sang a few tunes. They said they had never seen their bar that lively on a Sunday before. Everyone was having a blast dancing and singing with us! A Michael Jackson impersonater even showed up!

 

At the beginning of August, Ron and I did the Bike to Beach for Autism fundraiser ride. This was a 108 mile ride that left from Washington, DC at 5:00 am on a Friday and ended in Dewey Beach, DE. We biked to Annapolis first, got bussed over the Bay Bridge and then dropped off on the other side of the bridge to continue the 75 miles left of the ride to the beach. Like last year, it was a very hot day! Right before we hit mile 90, Ron got a cramp in his leg. He ended up riding the last 10 or so miles using mainly one leg. Guess those one legged drills he had us do in his off season cycle class during the winter came in very handy that day! Besides that, we had a fun time. This is a great ride, for a great cause and I highly encourage bike lovers to do it. We hope to do it next year again.

Bike 2 Beach Finish

 

We stayed at the beach the rest of the weekend and really enjoyed some R&R time. Saturday afternoon was spent on the beach and then a visit to Jimmy's Chicken Shack where we ordered some delicious Watermelon Crushes! Yum! Our favorite live acustic singer, Jefe, was singing that day. He even let me sing part of a song with him! If you are wondering how we got back to DC, well that's a good question....no we did not ride! We took a bus and then picked our bikes up the next day in a secure location. Bike 2 Beach folks hands down have one of the most organized events around!

This past weekend I decided to do the Reston Century. I've had motivation issues with getting up and riding on weekends so knew if I signed up for this, I'd actually get my ass out of bed! It was a very hilly ride and it rained off and on the whole time. I knew that I didn't need to get a full century in and that it would probably hurt me more than help me for my upcoming race, Poconos 70.3. So, I tried to cut some off where I could. I ended up cutting off 18 miles, and got in 90 still. My legs were very happy to see the finish! (The full ride was actually 108 miles. For some reason all centuries are 100+ these days!)

 

Coming up is Labor Day weekend. I'm heading home to Iowa to visit my parents, some friends and race in the Hy Vee Triathlon! Since the DC Triathlon was canceled, I did not get the chance to try to requalify for the 5150 Championship race (can't use last years time unfortunately), but they still have a regular AG race I'll race in. My dad let me know today that he was asked to do the bike portion on a relay team so he will also get to participate. I'm looking forward to the fun weekend! Race report will follow!

Summer's here...It's about time I post!

Oh my, it has been since the end of January since I posted! What a bad blogger I am! it’s time I get my butt in gear and start blogging for the 2012 season.

Let’s see where do I begin….well how about a quick recap of the past four months. Yikes….I’ll keep it short!

March:

Ron’s off season cycle classes on Saturdays were a great motivation for my winter Saturday rides. He kicked everyone’s butts in class with his threshold training intervals. When I went out for my first hilly ride later that month I predicted a world of hurt for my legs. It wasn’t bad and I attribute a lot of that to the hard trainer sessions.

March was also the beginning of the HORRIBLE allergy season which arrived early in DC due to the very mild winter we had. It was also a very warm March! I have never been affected by allergies so much. My first road running race was the DC Rock and Roll half marathon. It pretty much sucked b/c of allergies and I felt sick, congested and fatigue the whole time. Ah well….that’s when I went to an allergy doc and, found out that I’m allergic to a lot of things…..pretty much every tree that blooms in the spring, dust, mold and a little bit to dogs! I’m in disbelief about the dog allergy and still pet every dog I see on the way home from work to my house. J I wish I would have gotten a picture of my arm after the doc pricked me with about 40 different allergens. I was one blotchy, red chica! At least I found out what was going on, got some prescriptions and a different over-the-counter allergy med that works better (Ahhhh llegra). The doc pretty much told me that I’d feel crappy through the end of April/May. Woo hoo! Well, it is now July and I still have some issues every now and then.

April:

April began with a visit from my Dad and his girlfriend, Sue. My dad came out for his traditional Cherry Blossom visit. This was the 7^th Cherry Blossom 10 mile race we had run together! Last year we decided to do the Broad Street Philly 10 miler and the year before something had come up or this would have been our 9^th race in a row. Race day was cool, it rained the day before and allergies were not a problem! I managed to keep a 7 minute mile pace ave. for the run and actually felt decent. Whew! My dad did great as well and ran around 7:40 pace.

April also included the DC Tri Snapple Team camp at Lost River, WV. We stayed at the infamous ‘Barn’. It was tough riding/running, but a lot of fun! There were six of us girls that stuck together the day we rode on what turned out to be a 90 mile ride. Let me tell you, running a very hilly 12 miler the next day was very challenging but worth the great training!

May:

Herkey made an appearance!

Whew…May was a whirlwind! Every weekend I was out of town and I think I worked 10 whole days. All my mini vacations just happened to end up being around the same time and I certainly didn’t mean to plan it that way. I started the month out with a trip to Iowa. I sang in my cousins wedding and made a week out of the trip so I could also spend some quality time with my family and some of my good friends. My cousin used to be one of the Herkey the Hawk mascots in college so, Herkey showed up to the wedding and danced with everyone!

I shipped my road bike out (which by the way cost about $100 more to ship back for some reason and reminds me I still need to check in on that before my next bike shipping….beware of shipping costs and how they do it!) and rode with my dad and his two friends, Ken and Jan. The first day we ended up getting in 80 miles. This day was a day of flat tires. Before we even started, I had two bad tubes with holes in them so had to get those changed out. Then, Ken ended up getting three flats and a hole in his tire! Crazy! Luckily, we were close enough to Ames and Bike World that we could get some tubes to bring back to him. After that ride we hung out at Jan’s house and had a few well deserved Tommy Knocker beers. Mmmmm! My dad and I ended up putting in about 175 miles while I was back and the longest my dad had really ridden before that was a few 20 milers. My dad is an endurance machine!

My Dad, Jan and I. Jan and my dad used to train for marathons together and ran a few sub 2:50's!

After I got back from Iowa, I worked two days, and then flew out to San Diego with Ron for the San Diego IT World Triathlon. (race report here) Ron and I stayed a few extra days and had a ‘Sunday Funday’. J  The day started out with lunch with our friends, Chris and Karen, who we had met at our resort in Cozumel when we were there for the Ironman in 2010. This is a really small world story I have to share….we just happened to be in the elevator at the same time as Chris who was bringing Karen’s bike up to their room. Chris told us he was being a Sherpa for his wife Karen, and that he had just done a marathon. Knowing that the Philly marathon was just the weekend before, I asked if he had raced that one. He said yes, and that he was from there. Well, come to find out, he’s from around the same area as where Ron grew up near Philly, and Karen is from Falls Church, VA! We hung out with them several times that week and Ron ended up doing the relay tri with both of them while we were out in San Diego. It really amazes me sometimes how people end up meeting. Cozumel was also where I ended up meeting some people from Iowa, and then found my coach through their coaching services, Zoom Performance. Another great ending to this short story is that Chris and Karen will be moving back to VA this fall so we will be seeing a lot more of them and their baby James! I love it!



Delicious dinner in La Jolla

Ok back to Sunday Funday….I want to write about this b/c it’s probably a once in a lifetime experience. Ron and I found a happy hour going on in La Jolla with live acoustic music at a place called Prospect. The singer had an amazing violinist playing with him. When the singer took a break, he walked by and we chatted with him a bit. Somehow in the conversation I brought up that Ron and I like to sing and play (Ron plays the guitar). He said, well that’s great, do you guys want to do a song. What?! Of course! So, Ron and I got up to play/sing a few songs with the beautiful ocean in the background. And, the violinist didn’t miss a beat playing some background music with each of our songs. Of all the rare times we both didn’t have our phones with us or my camera, we unfortunately, didn’t get video of this. Bummer but the experience is etched in my memory.

May ended with a weekend in Philly for his sister, Kim’s, surprise bridal shower. And, she really was surprised! Success! Then the following Thurs. – Monday was the long Memorial Day weekend. We headed to Dewey Beach. That Sunday Ron and I went for a bike ride. There’s a portion of the ride with a newly paved raised section that we had to get off our bikes to go around. I had asked Ron why he got off thinking it would have been ok to just keep riding up it. Well, I later found out why he got off! I added on a few more miles by myself at the end of the ride and ended up going over that same portion we had been on earlier. I had the genius idea to keep riding up that unlevel portion of the road and definitely paid for it! My front tire slipped out from under me, my body went flying into the cement barrier to the left and then I landed on my left knee. Needless to say, I was scared of what I might have done to myself, checked everything out, then remembered my carbon Cervelo went flying out from under me. Of course then my only thought was, ‘Is my bike ok?!?!’…..yes, she was and just got a little bit of scuff on one of the shifters and a bent in brake. Whew…that would have been expensive to replace! I hadn’t hit my head and the worst of what I could see was a couple small chunks taken out of my leg along with some scratches and bruises. My left shoulder and arm hurt pretty bad the next day so I went to get an x-ray just to be sure everything was where it should be. Luckily, all bones were aligned!

Road Rash

This brings me to June, which will be my next blog and my race report from the challenging Buffalo Springs 70.3 race!

Happy Very Belated New Year!

It’s almost February and I haven’t even written a Happy New Year blog entry. So….happy belated New Year blog followers! January wasn’t supposed to be this busy!  Many great things happened over the last few months. The DC Tri Club and Snapple have combined their elite amateur teams and formed the DC Tri Snapple team. I am honored to be a part of this team in 2012! The combination of the teams will allow for a more structured team for DC Tri and Snapple while promoting both clubs. I’m looking forward to training with the team and being pushed by some fast athletes.  I have also been re-elected to the DC Tri Board of Directors. I am the Programs Director and have been working with our coaches and coordinators to get the half Ironman and Ironman programs running. This is why January has been really busy. I have been enjoying it and it has made me get back into a routine after sleeping in every day the two weeks I was in Iowa for Christmas.!

I have been slow getting back into my training. I took November and December off from any type of structured training, ate lots of delicious holiday goodies, slept a lot and caught up on stuff around the house that I put off throughout the training season. Ron and I went to many holiday parties and really enjoyed our time together.  He met me in Iowa the last few days I was there but unfortunately, caught the stomach flu bug that was going around. I have to say, I have never seen Ron that sick before and it was a bit scary!

Morgan, my mom's dog, trying to make Ron feel better

We ended up having to cancel our flights and fly home a few days later. After we got back, I caught some type of upper respiratory infection and went on antibiotics. We are finally both healthy and I hope it stays that way! Our illnesses delayed the start of our base training a bit but seems like we are getting on a good schedule now. Ron teaches an indoor bike session for the DC Tri Club every Saturday at the local bike shop, Fresh Bikes. Every Saturday morning at 7am, 50 of us bring our bike trainers, mats and bike for a tough two hour ride that is based around heart rate training. We do single legged drills and work on cadence. It’s quite a site to see 50 people packed in the bike shop sweating away, but it works! We even have a stereo system and mic set up so Ron can yell at us. :)

I’m still working on my race schedule for the year. I signed up for the San Diego Triathlon (international distance) which is May 12th. A lot of DC Tri members are heading out to sunny Cali for this race. The USAT Director came to our DC Tri annual meeting and invited the club to the race. He said if we can at least get 30 people there, then they will provide free shipping for bikes for everyone who comes out to race. Pretty sweet deal! The Board also provided incentive to sign up and paid for over half of the race fee for the first 30 that signed up. I don’t need to have my arm twisted to head to San Diego! Sign me up! I will do the International distance and Ron will be on a relay team. Ron and I are making a mini trip out of it. We got a sweet deal on Travelocity and our flights were just a little over $200 each….that’s unheard of! We jumped on that deal and will be staying at a hotel right by the race site. Very convenient! This triathlon is also a part of the ITU World Triathlon series for the pros and the second of two qualifier events to determine the 2012 Olympic Triathlon Team. The women race on Friday and men on Saturday after the age group race. It will be a treat to watch the pros compete for spots on the Olympic Team!

The other race I am signed up for is the new National Harbor 70.3 on August 5th. Yes, this will most likely be one damn hot race, but I’m up for the challenge. :) Maybe I’ll luck out and have decent weather like Louisville…wouldn’t that be wonderful!! Since it is in DC, I can’t pass up the opportunity to race so close to home and this will actually be my ‘A’ race of the season. I haven’t trained to race just a half Ironman distance hard, so it will be interesting to see what my body is capable of. (The past few years I’ve used the half Ironman distance as part of my Ironman training focus.)  I know Coach Mackenzie will push me to my limits. She’s already finding that I’m a horrible procrastinator when it comes to swimming and calls me out on it. That’s exactly what I need because I’m going to make myself get to the pool four times this week.....what?! I know for you swimmers our there, that's nothing but it's a lot for me.  I have to do something to get my swim times down and that’s not going to happen just talking about it. Why must I hate swimming so much?! Maybe I’ll start liking it more if I finally start to see some improvements??

I will be sprinkling a few other races in throughout the season including the DC Tri Olympic distance race in June. Other than that, my schedule is a bit up in the air for now. I just need to make sure I don’t sign up for too many races like I did last year and end up not being able to do them all.

This weekend I am volunteering at the Snapple High Cloud half marathon and get to sing the National Anthem again! It might be chilly but will be a good time helping out fellow athletes. I get to help with the pre and post race food/water….someone must know me well and that I like to eat! ;)

Here’s some off season pics fromt he past few months

My Mom and I in FL in November

Bill Rogers 'Boston Billy' was at the 10k I ran when I was in FL

Indoor Cycling Class taught by Ron

Women's Off Season Tri Brunch Menu - We do three things each event. This one, we biked, did abs and then ate a delicious brunch!

USAT Worlds Long Course Race Report

I had great intentions of writing this race report while in Las Vegas, but I just wanted to enjoy the rest of my trip by relaxing and spending time with my dad, his girlfriend Sue,  and Ron….and not think about triathlon for a few days. ;) Don’t get me wrong, I still love the sport, but it has been one long year (actually three years) of Ironman training and my body is screaming for a much needed break! So, I did just that….I took off a week of exercising, did some gambling, enjoyed some adult beverages, ate greasy food, and slept in almost every day. Guess what…….I loved every minute of it! J

My final triathlon of the season was USAT Worlds Long Course in Henderson, NV. I qualified for this race at the Halfmax in Myrtle Beach last year. I’m not quite sure why Worlds long course is longer than the half iron distance. I found out a few months before the race that the distances were a 2.4 mile swim, 75 mile bike and 18.6 mile run. Hmmm, how did they come up with those distances?? When I heard that, my goals for the race changed. There was no way I was going to be able to train hard for this race after training hard all year for Ironman Louisville. So, my goals for this race included: 1) Enjoy the experience of being on Team USA 2) Take in the beautiful scenery on the bike course 3) Finish without getting more injured. I accomplished all three!  Although, goal number one started off a little disappointing.

Thursday before the opening ceremonies was the ‘Parade of Nations.’ Typically, from what I hear, this is when all the countries get to walk in parade fashion, wear their team/nation’s colors and get a proper representation. Well, USAT gets a huge FAIL for this part of the experience. The ‘Parade of Nations’ consisted of all teams sitting together at dinner (which they did not have enough seating for and apparently ran out of food by time the last people got to the pasta line), and then each country getting a shout out with two representatives walking down the middle of the convention room with a flag. Well, to get the so called ceremony started, the USAT director asked that each country send two members from their team to the back of the room to be the representative and get their flag. The director proceeded to botch certain names of countries, forgot to name a few and laughed about it once he was aware of it, and then didn’t even have flags for every country  that had athletes racing. This was utterly embarrassing and unacceptable! The announcer also tried to give a shout out to about ten athletes who were supposed to do very well at the race, but had failed to contact them before the event to be sure they were present for their acknowledgement. One out of the ten athletes was in the room when he called their names. Once we got to the mandatory athlete meeting, I was so annoyed that I just started tuning them out. They couldn’t even get that part organized. The woman who started out didn’t know what she was talking about half the time so had to keep turning it over to the race director. The race director (Silverman race director) is amazing and he should have just handled the whole ceremony and meeting himself! I was really looking forward to this kickoff event and hoping it would get the excitement and adrenaline pumping for everyone. It did the opposite….USAT didn’t make the US look good, it was embarrassing to be a part of, and from the comments I heard, everyone just felt annoyed and disappointed leaving the room that evening.

The race was Saturday morning. I wasn’t really nervous, I was more worried that I would hurt my neck swimming 2.4 miles and feel like crap doing it since I couldn’t swim much because of neck pain two weeks before the race. Plus, it was going to be cold!! When I woke up the temperature was in the low 40’s. Brrrrrr! Since T1 and T2 were in different places, I had already dropped off my bike/run gear the day before so didn’t have much to do to get ready in the am. We got some really cool tattoos to put on for our numbers, age and gender. I didn’t really get a good picture of them though since I was so bundled up for the race. USAT told us we could wear clothes over our uniforms and compression gear/tights. So, I wore my long sleeved DC Tri jersey and kept my compression socks on for the whole race just for warmth. I usually only wear them for recovery purposes. When I was heading to T1 a woman I was walking by told me the swim was canceled. I thought she was joking so just laughed and told her wouldn’t that be nice. She told me she was serious and I let out a big cheer…..I was saved from the swim!!! That seriously would probably have been one of my worst swims ever! Whew, a blessing in disguise! Normally, I’m a bit disappointed when the swim is canceled (even though I don’t really enjoy it) because, well, that’s what makes it a triathlon. But, since this was not an ‘A’ race for me, I had been long ready for off season, and was still struggling with my neck/hammy/back irritations….I was all about the swim being canceled for this race!  Plus, it was freakin cold out there! My phone said it was 39 degrees when I was walking into the race site, so the temperature had gone down since I first looked this morning. This is ironic since it was just in the 80’s a few weeks before the race! I like cool races but not winter like cool!

Luckily, the changing tent at the start had a heater in it. All the female athletes were hovered around the heaters drying out wet clothes that had been sitting in the cold rain all night. It hardly ever rains in Nevada, but unfortunately, it rained the evening before the race. This is also what caused the water temp to plummet over night. The start ended up being a time trial start from oldest to youngest. Once they called your group of numbers, you had to stand by your bike and then hike up a hill to the start where the race director greeted everyone with high fives as they went by. He’s a cool guy! My friend Amy, from Iowa, started right behind me. It was nice to have a familiar face close by. We chatted a bit while in line (teeth were literally chattering!) and finally it was time to start. It was nice that they didn’t have us start out going the opposite way and got a little bit of a warm-up before we started climbing out onto the course. The day before I had gone the opposite way for my pre race brick, and was a bit worried when my heart rate soared to zone 4 right away starting with a nice long hill. A few minutes into the race start, I rounded the first corner and saw my dad, Sue and Ron. I felt bad for them because I knew they were probably cold waiting for me to start too. (Luckily, I found out later that they were entertained by watching some fool attempt to climb a palm tree like a monkey and then ask how he was supposed to get down. Ha!) I was so happy they were there to cheer me on! This was going to be a very challenging race!

Since I didn’t drive the course at all and kind of zoned out at the athlete meeting, I didn’t have much of a mental vision of where the course went. That didn’t bother me though and I knew that it was just going to be up and down the whole time anyway no matter what. All I knew, was the last 20 miles were going to be the hardest and that part of the course included three steep hills right in a row called the ‘Three Sisters.’ So, I tried not to wear myself out too much before getting there. I also knew that I was not in my top Ironman shape anymore, and had only done a few long rides, so knew I had to watch myself with all the climbing and stay within  limits of my training. There was no racing hard or pushing the limits on this course. I knew if I pushed it too hard on the bike course, I’d really struggle on the hilly run.

The first 55 miles of this course are breathtaking! On the first really long decent, you see Lake Mead out ahead with its crystal clear, bright blue water and the mountains all around. I know I said ‘wow amazing!’ out loud several times. It really was a beautiful site and looking around helped get me through the constant climbing. I do not think there were any flat sections of this race. It really wore me out and by time I got to the ‘Three Sisters’ I was so ready to be done. Right after that section, you are on a paved bike trail for quite some time. Then, the course started heading back into Henderson and I just couldn’t get my speed up. My legs were definitely starting to drag. Finally, I start to see runners and knew T2 was getting close. After handing off my bike to a volunteer I ran into the changing tent and took my good ol time! I knew it was going to be a long 18.6 miles and it wasn’t going to be as speedy as my marathon at Louisville. Just like the bike course, this run course was no joke! I took a quick stop at the porta-potty, waved at Ron, my dad and Sue, and headed out to the course. The first few miles felt pretty nice and speedy…..that’s because they were downhill. I soon found out that this course consisted of a little over two miles down hill and a little over two miles uphill…..times four! Ugh, talk about needing to keep your mental toughness. It definitely helped knowing I’d see my wonderful cheering section twice each loop around.

There were a lot of fast athletes on the course since it was Worlds. Normally, the run is where I start passing a lot of people. Not this race. I was getting passed quite frequently. There was one woman out there who amazed me. She was in the 50 year old category and she passed me when I was going about 7:40 pace like I was standing still! I saw her several more times throughout the race and she still kept booking along at the same pace. I’m sure she finished at the top of her age group. I hope I can be that fast when I’m her age!

I have to admit that I walked a little bit two times on the long hill at the back of the loop. Just enough to get some lactic acid out of my legs after the water stop and get going again. I kept telling myself that off- season starts at the end of this race so the faster I go, the faster it will be here! Finally, when I was on the last mile, I started to kick it in. Ron was playing one of my favorite songs on the Bose he brought and that made me smile. After I crossed the finish line, the announcer said, “Well, I see somebody got their nails done for the race.” I gave him a thumbs up and laughed as I staggered to the finishers tent. I never do my nails so it was funny the announcer pointed that out. ;)

All in all, the race was a decent experience. I’d like to do another Worlds course in a different country someday to see what that experience is like. And, actually train hard for it. For some reason, we didn’t get finisher medals at the end of the race, so another disappointment. I am definitely going to write to USAT to voice my concerns about the pre race activities and about not receiving a medal. Who doesn’t give finisher medals after a race like this, especially after they mention it in the athlete guide?!  If Worlds is held in the US again, I hope USAT gets more organized. Athletes spend a lot of money to participate in these events, especially, traveling from different countries.

After the race, we stayed for three more days and enjoyed ourselves. We went to the Cirque du Coleil, ‘Love’ show, toured the Las Vegas strip and enjoyed a day at the Hoover Dam. Off season has begun and this Friday I’m meeting my mom in Orlando. We will celebrate Thanksgiving and her 60^th bday together next Thursday. Then I spend a week in Clearwater for work. Not too shabby of an off season start and then holiday celebrations begin when I get back!

Beautiful view of the dam and new bridge

Speaking of holidays, check out this article in the online Tri magazine page, 16 http://bluetoad.com/publication/?m=16599&l=1  . I give a few holiday tips and answer a few questions in their, ‘From One Age Grouper to Another’ section. Thanks to my coach, Mackenzie Madison, for asking her athletes to reach out to the editor and answer her questions. Also, a huge shout out and congratulations to Mackenzie for finishing 2^nd (pro) at Ironman Florida! I’m so proud to be one of her athletes and I am truly inspired by her abilities and dedication coming back after a big surgery earlier this year!

Hoover Dam

Getting a beverage to go on the Strip

We found the guy from Saw on the Strip!

In front of New York, NY Casino

One more race!

Tonight is Halloween already. That means that Worlds long course is this Saturday!! It also means off season and vacation starts Sunday!

Since my Ironman, training has been filled with up’s and down’s. I took ten days completely off after the big race. A few weeks later, Ron was on a relay team for the Savageman triathlon. Without being on his bike for several months, he climbed 6000 ft. over the 56 mile course. I too, ended up doing the course but at least had some time to rest to watch Ron and the rest of my DC Tri friends climb the ‘Wall’, which has a 31% max grade! I figured that I needed to get back somehow and didn’t think it would be as safe to go back the way I came. So, I just rode the rest of the route back to the finish line. At mile 40, right before the ‘Killer Miller’ climb, I got a text from Ron saying, “This sucks!” Well, I guess that’s how I felt doing the course just three weeks after my Ironman with hardly any riding so, I can’t imagine the way his legs felt not having been on his road bike for quite some time. It’s very impressive that he finished that harsh course with little training! 

So, let’s see, what else has been going on…..I sang the National Anthem at Nation’s Tri and did not race since I know my body would not have been too speedy two weeks after my IM. What an amazing experience! It was such an honor to sing the National Anthem, at the largest triathlon in the U.S. on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 in the Nation's Capitol! Words can't describe the feeling I had singing that morning! If you're interested in seeing it, I finally got it loaded on You Tube.

 I got to volunteer at mile 4 water stop and represent High Cloud and DC Tri.  It was so fun to cheer everyone on and it was really nice that so many friends and even people I didn’t know were telling me ‘nice singing’ in the middle of their race. It was much appreciated and I know it’s hard to speak when you’re racing!

DC Tri Club members at after race party

The beginning of October was USAT Club National Championships at Myrtle Beach, SC. I signed up for the International distance. It was a 7-8  hour drive each way and my back and hamstrings did not like that! I was already having issues with this during my recovery. This race was VERY windy and flat….the perfect recipe for my hammy irritation. L I tried my best and raced to 4^th in my AG and 7^th overall. They only gave awards to the winner of the race, so no AG award for me. The best thing about this race was seeing over 50 athletes from DC Tri out on the course! I will link to my race report on the DC Tri site soon. Check out the rest of the elite team’s reports as well! Everyone rocked that course! DC Tri got 2nd in the club championships b/c people from Columbia, MO bring their whole club and slot people into every age group and race. They know how to work it strategically to get the most points, but we by far had the fastest times and podium finishers!

After the Myrtle Beach race, I was in a lot of pain for a few days. Luckily, that went away and I got in some decent workouts that following weekend into the beginning of the week…75 mile ride, 14 mile run with negative splits and 4600 yards in the pool. I got a massage appointment with George, at Capitol Rehab, knowing I would definitely need it to keep up my training for Worlds. It hurt so bad I almost cried, but I felt amazing the next day! Then the rest of the week was a pain in the neck…..literally! A week and a half ago I turned to shut off my alarm awakening me for a 5:15am trainer ride. The left side of my neck locked up and it hurt just to walk to the bathroom. No ride for me that day! I got into Capitol Rehab and  Dr. Booker told me some ligaments had moved around, which causes the muscles to tighten up. I got adjusted and went to work. Luckily, I didn’t have to be at my desk too long that day. The IAFF went to Capitol Hill to support the ‘Back to Work Act’ where Vice President, Joe Biden spoke. Fortunately, he was only about 15 feet in front of me and I just had to look straight ahead. ;) It’s nice to get opportunities such as this living in the Nation’s Capitol!

The next few days I went back to see Dr. Beck, who has kept my back/hammy in working order the past few years. He did some more adjustments and work on my neck. I admit I cried when I left the office….out of frustration more than anything. It did hurt during the adjustment but it helped! Ron made me go back the next day (I think he was tired of me being grumpy…sorry Ron!) and I told Dr. Beck I was afraid to come back. I didn’t mean it in a bad way of course. Dr. Beck is definitely not a scary person! J

That weekend Ron and I were supposed to go to the Fall Foliage Bike Festival in Shenandoah. My plan was to do a century on Saturday, 30 miles easy Sunday and then a 14 mile run. Umm that was of course before I hurt my neck so obviously, there was no riding for me. This ride would have been beautiful and the perfect training ride for the hilly ride at Worlds next weekend. Very disappointing! I just think my body is telling me it’s so ready to be done for the season. Come on, hang in there, just one more race!!

We did end up having a nice weekend and went to Lenornardstown, MD for a Cavalier Spaniel meet-up group event. I was in Cavalier heaven!! There were about 20 cavaliers at this event and at the end they had a costume party. After our horrible experience with not getting our dog last year b/c of an awful breeder, we held off on getting a dog. At this event, we got to meet three wonderful breeders so when we are ready we definitely know who to contact now. Here is Ron with one of the dogs we took a liking to. His name is Ernie. Apparently, Ernie is usually shy, but he warmed right up to Ron and me and cuddled on our laps for awhile. I love this breed!

Poster at MCM expo in memory of Will Caviness

This past weekend was jammed packed with training and helping with the Marine Corps Marathon. Ron’s IAFF Burn Fund Fitness team ran the 10k and marathon so I helped at the expo booth and went to the pre race dinner. Ron did such a wonderful job planning this event for his athletes! At the booth, there was a nice poster he had made for, Will Caviness. Will is the fire fighter that tragically passed away at the end of the Chicago Marathon a few weeks ago. He was running for the IAFF Burn Fund Fitness Team and Ron was there at the hospital with his wife and when Will passed away. Very sad! It's comforting to know that Will’s wife and kids are surrounded by many family and friends filled with tons of love and support. Will and his family are in my thoughts and prayers! Here is a link to Will's Memorial Page on Facebook and where you can find more information on how to donate to his family. http://www.facebook.com/#!/captainwillcaviness

On a more happy note, congrats to all my friends who ran MCM this weekend! Many people had PR's with the cool weather. Luckily, the race was not on Saturday when it snowed. Crazy weather and I hope that was not a preview of what type of winter we are going to have. I did test myself mentally Saturday and ran 11.5 on the treadmill. I wanted to get off after three miles! I'm still fighting off a cold and was not going to run that long in the rain/sleet. On my three hour ride yesterday I started to feel my neck tense again. Unfortunately, I turned quickly to turn my alarm off again this morning and my neck tightened up in the exact same spot. :( Who knew an alarm clock could be so dangerous!? So, this week will be very easy workouts and I just hope I can get through World's long course without injuring myself this Saturday. I will definitely be ready for a break and some relaxation! Next post I'll be writing from Henderson, NV. At least it will be a little warmer there!

Ironman Louisville Race Report

So, today is the first day of Fall and it has been almost four weeks since my Ironman. Within that time I went through all the post Ironman finish phases…..I had my Ironman high, ironman ‘blues’ and now the ‘I need to start training again, but my legs are heavy and yelling at me’ phase. I wrote up my race report a few weeks to post on the DC Tri site but just now getting it posted on my blog. (Just a heads up...some of the things I have in my race report might have been written in previous blogs about my training.)

Where did the summer go?! I know…it was spent running/biking hours in the heat and early morning swim practices at Hains Point, training for my A race, Ironman Louisville! (Ok who am I kidding?!  I didn’t spend that many mornings at Hains Point and had to force myself to get to the pool a few times a week. Why can’t I like swimming more?!) I’ll start off my race report with my reason for wanting to do Ironman Louisville this year. I have never come out and said it in writing, because I didn’t want to jynx myself, nor did I know if I’d be close to achieving my goal.

Last year after Ironman Cozumel, I noticed some athletes with ‘Zoom Performance’ gear on at the resort we were staying at. I knew that Zoom Performance was a triathlon coaching business started in Des Moines, IA, close to where I’m from. I started chatting with one of the coaches, Matt Zepada, and telling him about my ‘Kona dream’ goals and trying to get faster at the Ironman distance, wanting to break 11 hours. Yes, I’m one of the many triathletes who would love to go to Kona someday, but also know it’s a very difficult goal to achieve. I had told myself and Ron that I wasn’t going to be doing an Ironman in 2011. Matt was very excited to tell me about Mackenzie Madison (my coach in case you haven’t read my other blog posts), and how he knew she could help me reach my goals. Well, of course I was on my Ironman high having just completed my 2^nd Ironman so I was getting real pumped thinking about training hard for another Ironman in 2011! After doing a little research, and discussing things over with Ron, we both thought that I should go for it and sign up for Ironman Louisville. Ironman Louisville is the last qualifier for Kona 2011 and had more slots to give away, making the odds of qualifying a bit better than some of the earlier season Ironman races. So, that’s how I came to find Coach Mackenzie and started off with my training in February.

This brings me to pre-race. Hurricane Irene was pounding the East Coast and our flight left early Friday morning. We got out of DC just in time before flights started getting canceled. Whew! I had been nervously watching the weather all week fearing that Irene would decide to effect more than just the East coast. My other fear was that it would be unbearably hot like it was last year. Apparently, it was around 100 degrees race day with the heat index.  But, by Friday I knew that the weather in Louisville would be just fine! In fact, it was more than fine. Sunday was going to be the coolest day of the weekend with a high in the low 80’s and no rain! I was very thankful to say the least.

Race Day

It’s finally here! I had worked hard all spring/summer, got many century plus rides in, multiple long runs in the crazy heat and worked through some motivation/minor injury issues. Three weeks before the race my body finally broke down and I got a bad cold. Then I went on a work trip to NYC for a week. So, needless to say, my much needed taper was pretty much forced. I did end up getting in my last 20 miler in at Central Park two weeks out from the race and it felt great! Come race day, my nerves were a little less rattled with it being my third Ironman having an idea what my body was going to feel like with the demands this distance puts on it. I was excited and ready to race!

Swim course

Swim



Hillary and I waiting for the swim start

The water was above 80 degrees, so there was definitely no wetsuit being worn for this race. This swim is a time trial start, so basically, when you show up, that’s where you start. I found fellow DC Tri/High Cloud team member, Hillary Peabody, so joined her in line. Thanks Hillary for letting me hang out with you in your comfy lawn chairs! Ron and James were there to see us off to the start and take some pictures. A few other DC Tri friends, Kevin and Richard, joined us in line. We saw club President, Steve Carlson, but he didn’t jump the line to be with us. Guess he didn’t want people to yell at him. ;) It was nice to start with a group of friends and share our race start anxiety together. Athletes are let into the water two seconds apart. We all started at about 7:15 am. The water was warm and smelly, but not too choppy so I was calm and ready to get this swim started.



Hillary, Kevin and I ready for the swim



You swim 900 meters against the current, turn for about 400 meters around the island and then head back with the current the rest of the way. It wasn’t too bad of a swim and I actually felt decent the whole way. I don’t think I swam in the right area to get the current pushing me in, because my time wasn’t really any faster than I thought it would be. The one hilarious thing about this swim was as I was swimming along in the first half, I looked over and see some guy standing up and walking! A friend of mine who had raced Louisville a few years ago had told me about this area of the swim where you could stand, but seeing it while you are swimming takes you by surprise! He literally looked like a swamp man wading through the water! This gave me a little chuckle and took my mind off swimming against the current for awhile.  Although, I think I gulped a little water from laughing out loud! A few times in the last half of the swim, I’d be swimming along and all of a sudden run dead on into someone doing the back float. That’s the only problem with a time trial start. You aren’t always swimming with people of the same pace and get a little surprise bonk on the head that will all of a sudden slow you down. I do feel like this type of start provided much less congestion and I didn’t get pushed under water or as many elbows thrown at me as I have with a mass start. The rest of the swim was pretty uneventful and as with any triathlon swim, I was very excited to get to the steps that take me out of the water and get ready for the sports I really enjoy.

Swim time – 1:16:35

T1
T1 was pretty uneventful. The transition area was so organized! The man who was in charge of organizing the transition area is a friend of Adriana and Matt from High Cloud. He also organized a bike course preview the day before so I was very thankful to have been able to meet him and check out the course before race day.

At this event, you run down the row of your number and get your bag (handed to you by a volunteer), run to the changing tent and then run and get your bike. I’m still pretty slow at my transitions, but I made sure to get all my body glide, chamois cream and sunscreen on, because it was going to be a long day in the sun and saddle. I trained all summer in bike shorts, but opted to do the whole race in my tri kit to try to save time by not having to change.
T1 – 6:31


Bike

On the bike course

The first 10 miles of this course are flat. Coach Mackenzie and I chatted several nights before the race about my plan. I needed to be sure I didn’t hammer it the first part of the race and hold back. Having seen the course the day before, I knew it would be very easy to take off for that first half hour or so of the ride. I kept reminding myself to ease into it, keep my HR down and save it for later in the ride. At about mile 18 you turn onto the portion of the course that looks like a ‘tumor’ jetting out. This was a five mile out and back hilly portion. I don’t know if it was because this part was at the beginning of the ride or what, but it looked much more difficult in the car. This was surprisingly one of my favorite parts of the bike. I was dreading it after seeing it the day before. There were several steeper hills but going down them was so fun! This is where you could see where your competition was as well. Although, given the time trial start, it was hard to tell where anyone really was time wise. The sound of the race wheels going down the hills was so loud and made me smile. It’s such a cool noise!

After the ‘tumor’ portion of the course you start the first loop that brings you into LaGrange. This was where all the spectators got bussed to and where you got that needed burst of energy from the crowd. Right after this town, I started to get passed by some of the pros on their 2^nd loop. The lead motorcycle passed with a video camera. My first thought was, “Hey, this is pretty cool. I get to be on TV.” I just thought they were randomly filming the race. Then I realized that the leader was coming up. Ha! It was cool to see him go through the special needs area. He was handed his bag on the bike, threw out his empty water bottles, got the new ones out and was on his way. Very speedy!

Right after this, I came up on one of the girl in my age group that had passed me early on in the race. I recognized her name as one of the faster girls. I’m not sure I should admit this, but yes, I went through my age group and made a spreadsheet that included everyone who I found that was going to be my top competition. Little did I know, three of the girls who beat me weren’t even on this list. Damn you Athlinks and Google for not providing me details on these women! ;)  I admit this is very ‘stalkerish’, but I want to know what type of competition I’m up against. It just helps mentally to know what other people’s strengths are. (Side note my wonderful boyfriend, Ron, was back in the hotel room throughout the race in between my loops figuring out where I was place wise and trying to figure out how far behind I was from everyone ahead of me. The time trial start gave him some math to figure out. ;) I debated passing this girl because I knew I’d be setting myself up for a chase the rest of the race. Well, I passed her, and that’s exactly what happened! I knew this girl had to be a fast swimmer given where she was in the race and also that she had to of slowed down since I caught her. We went back and forth throughout the entire next loop. Finally, around mile 90, I let her go. My HR was starting to get too high and I told myself to keep within myself, don’t get caught up in someone else’s race. I also figured I’d see her on the run. I wasn’t going to wear my legs out too much to ruin my marathon. (I found out after the race we had the exact same bike time!)

Earlier on in the bike I broke a race day rule and tried something new for nutrition. At the expo I bought some of the new power bar gummy things that have gushy stuff in the middle. I bought the coca cola flavor, thinking the extra caffeine/sugar would give me that pep I knew I’d need when the bike started feeling tough. On the second half of the bike course, we had some head wind that wasn’t expected so I decided to take a few of the gummies during this part b/c it was getting tough constantly pushing through the wind and hills. I started to get a stomach ache, so after three of the gummies, I decided to not take anymore. At that point I had a few hours to go before the run so wasn’t too worried.

After mile 90, the rest of the course was downhill and flat. I used this time to take in the scenery a bit and just keep my HR nice and steady. I was thankful that I made it through the 112 miles without a flat or any mechanical malfunctions and felt ready to get off the bike and run!

Bike time– 5:46:45; 19.38 mph

T2 – 4:19 - got more sunscreen and body glide on my feet!

Run

First few miles of the marathon

This is the portion of the Ironman that can make or break your race. I wasn’t sure how exactly I’d feel coming off the bike but was hoping I didn’t feel like I did in Cozumel. My legs felt horrible on the marathon in Cozumel and the heat got to me. I didn’t want a repeat of that. I knew my training had been different and confident that all the long training runs I got in this summer prepared me well for the marathon. I found out after the race that the temperatures were in the middle 80’s but fortunately, that didn’t bother me too much. Must have been all the runs I did in 90’s and high humidity all summer!

As I was running out of T2, Ron let me know I was in 11^th place. That meant I had to run some girls down! I had already passed one girl in my AG out of transition so I was up to 10^th. The first two miles are an out and back on the bridge and the rest of the race is broken down into two loops. Right after mile one I found the girl who I had played frogger with out on the bike course. She was actually walking when I passed! This gave me some adrenaline and I probably ran the first several miles a little fast, keeping it under 8 min. pace. I slowed my pace a bit and just tried to keep it steady between 8:00-8:10 for awhile. I didn’t want to have to worry about any stomach issues popping up so took an anti-diarrheal pill. My left hamstring has given me problems throughout the season and it was starting to get a little tight. I had some Advil with me and couldn’t rip it open with my teeth after multiple attempts. So, the next water stop I saw they had a knife. I quickly ran over and ripped it open then was on my way again.  Throughout the first loop I passed a few more girls in my AG. I decided I should stop at the special needs and fill the two fuel belt bottles I had with me back up with Infinit. I wasn’t too sure if the Power Bar drink would mess with my stomach and didn’t want to take any chances. I may have lost a little time doing this, but the alternative could have been bonking the last few miles of the marathon.  I needed to stick with water, Infinit and gels….just like my training runs. No nutritional experiments on the run! I know better than to try that with my sensitive stomach.

Finish line!! (not right time b/c of TT start)

I came to the end of the first loop, which takes you right by the finish line. Oh, that is so painful! That mental downer only lasted a minute before I saw High Clouders, Adriana and Matt. Ron was also there and he let me know I was in 6^th in my AG! I got chills and excited knowing I had gotten closer to the top contenders. This gave me some motivation and energy to speed up a bit. On the 2^nd loop I saw many DC Tri and High Cloud friends and it was so great to encourage each other. My legs didn’t really feel like they were running a marathon until about mile 22. This is when my pace slowed a bit more, but I was still able to keep in under 8:30’s. At mile 24, Ron had found me and told me I was getting really close, to just keep going and finish strong. I knew since he didn’t tell me exactly how far I was behind, he wasn’t sure how close I was to the girl in front of me. He ran ahead of me on the sidewalk with his cowbell getting the crowd fired up. Finally, with one mile to go I knew I just had to reel it in. I knew I’d come in around 10:50 if I just kept that pace. The finish line appears and I’m all smiles. That crowd was amazing! The finish line of an Ironman is definitely my favorite part of the Ironman. Music is pumping, everyone is yelling and you know that all the hard training has paid off! I knew I had gotten a PR, pumped my arms that last block, got chills and took it all in. I had finished my third Ironman and felt pretty darn good!

Marathon – 3:37:36; 8:18 pace

Total time – 10:51:46; 5^th in 30-34 Age Group; 13^th Overall for age groupers  

Post Race

Ice Bath!

The volunteers are amazing at Ironman races and the finish line volunteers were so concerned and caring for everyone. They would not let me leave the area until I found Ron and they knew I was safe with someone. I found Ron, got some post race food, and headed back to the hotel where I sat in the ice bath that Ron had all ready to go for me. I hate ice baths but man do they work!  Ron’s support was simply amazing and I couldn’t have gotten through all this training and racing without it!

I was very amazed at how great I felt! Of course, I felt like I had just finished an Ironman, but I didn’t feel sick or like I needed to lie down right away like my last Ironman. I finally got to go down to the finish line, have a few beers, and see the last person finish. That’s a very emotional thing to see and very inspirational!

Blue Moon for post race drink!

Next morning was Kona slot allocation. I knew that my age group would probably get at least three slots like last year. I found out that four had been allocated to F30-34. This meant, one woman had to decline for me to get a slot. We went back to the room and I tried to nap and relax (yeah right!) Then at 11am went to the roll down allocation. All four women had accepted their slots! Bummer! I felt my heart sink. I was so close with just being three minutes behind the 4^th place female. Ron and I sat down and waited to see if there would be another slot from another age group. They got to F25-29 and said there was a slot that a woman in the F60-64 didn’t take so for some reason it was up for grabs and rolled to their AG. They called name after name and no one was claiming it. I was starting to get excited knowing that if no one in this AG took it, it would go to my AG. Finally, someone claimed it. I’m not trying to sound negative or rude, but I have to admit this really ticked me off. This girl was over an hour from the two other girls who got a slot in her AG. That’s the way it works out sometimes, but I honestly don’t think this is the most fair way of getting a Kona slot. I still do not know why that slot went to that age group b/c the F30-34 had the most starters and according to their rules if there is a slot from another age group that is not taken, then it will be allocated to the group with the most starters. I have asked WTC to explain this to me and they told me that their race officials have some sort of algorithm that figures it out. 

Hillary, Steve and I



Best Sherpas ever!



Kevin and I after the race

Giving Ron a huge hug :)

Ron and I went back to the room and I just needed 15 min. to myself to let out some of my frustrations. I was also angry with myself for letting this override the great race I had just had. I really, really did not want this to bring me down after having such a great day. I played the ‘what if I hadn’t done this or that’ game and then told myself to suck it up. I am happy with the way my race went and so thankful I had the race and race conditions I had. I gave it my all and left it all out there on the course! I couldn’t have asked for better weather, I actually enjoyed the rolling hills on the bike course and I felt sooo good on the marathon! I surprised myself with how I ran and had a fun time at Ironman Louisville! The F30-34 AG is so crazy competitive and I am very happy with where I placed. The lava fields will just have to wait. I may not have made it this time, but I still have plenty of time to try again. Some of my friends have already tried to convince me to sign up for Ironman Coeur d’Alene, but I won’t be doing an Ironman in 2012. I do believe this is the race distance for me,  but after doing an Ironman three years in a row, it’s time to focus on keeping my body healthy and getting my speed up for half distances and under for 2012. In 2013 I will be in a different age group so I might try again when I’m 35!

Off season will have to wait another two months. Next up, Club Championships at Myrtle Beach and USAT Long Course Worlds in Henderson, NV. Time to get in the pool, back in the saddle and lace the shoes up for more training!