Icebreaker 2014 - TRI SEASON IS BACK!

How do I start?  I am so excited about my day!  I was so excited just to race and be at a start line again, the rest of the day is just icing on the cake!  This is the third year I have done this race and I think that is has landed on my yearly "must do" list.  It serves as a progress measuring race for me to see how my winter training paid off and to see where I need to build or improve.  

PRE-RACE:

I got down to American Fork early, pathetically so if you ask Ken.  I was there by 7:45 as I wanted a good racking spot, and I wasn't early enough to get where I would have wanted, but still, not a bad spot. I was on the first unreserved rack by the bike/run out part of transition, and I was able to get near the end.  I set up and then talked with Alicia who was on her way down.  This was her first tri ever!  She was nervous, but I was just plain excited for her!  It was chilly out, but not as bad as I remember it being from last year.  Boy how that would change, but more on that later.  Here are some pics I from pre-race, the bike one I took, so excited to have Belle in race mode again.  The one directly below was on from Racetri.  These two guys I met as they were racked right next to me.  Nice guys!

SWIM:

This is a 300 m pool swim.  I was excited for this swim as I feel that I have made progress in the pool this winter.  I got in at the front of my group.  This was a good place to be seeded and I only got passed once and passed two other people.  I never got traffic jammed behind anyone and I felt great the whole time.  I think it was a good comfortably hard pace, but one I was able to maintain.  It was over before I knew it and my final swim time was 6:30, a 10 second improvement from last year!

T1:

Fairly uneventful.  Had a heck of a time getting on my socks.  I stopped and debated whether or not to put on my arm sleeves or not.  I decided it wasn't worth it, a mistake I would regret later because I would freeze my arse off on the bike.  Total T1 time was 1:23, a 3 second improvement from last year.  

BIKE:

I ran out with Belle and had a heck of a time clipping in, so much so I almost fell over.  What the heck?  Anyhow, once I got clipped in, the rest of the ride rocked.  I was able to fly up the first hill of this 2 loop, 12 mile bike ride.  I felt awesome that I was able to pass people on the climbs, thank you Sufferfest!  I swear those videos helped a ton over the winter.  Once to the top I settled into aero and decided to try to ride as aggressively and hard as I could maintain.  I practiced an even pedal stroke and felt strong.  I was pretty cold, but I didn't let it bother me too much.  I loved when we got around to the Alpine Highway, I flew down that!  I only wish we had a little more room, or I would have gone faster had I not had to worry about other cyclists or things parked along the curb.  Oh well, it was a great bike.  The second loop seemed good also, and the climb the second time I was able to pass people as well.  Final bike time was 39:53 (around 19 mph) , a 3 minute improvement from last year!  WOOHOO!

T2:

This was also pretty uneventful.  I was stoked to see that they had bike catchers, so that always helps, but a a sprint?!?  AWESOME!  I simply  handed off my bike and ran over to my spot where I kicked off my bike shoes and helmet, threw on my running stuff and was off.  I did grab a quick GU and was ready to run.  I looked down at my watch and the overall time was at 48 minutes.  I knew I could have a really good PR if I had a good run.  Total T2 time was 1:03, a 5 second improvement from last year! 

RUN:

I took off and immediately grabbed a water from the aide station outside of the transition area.  I felt really good coming off the bike and was surprised that I didn't have that usual lead legged feeling that I usually have.  I have heard that the better bike fitness you have, the less of an issue it will be to run off the bike, so I am hoping that is true!  Anyhow, the run up that dang hill wasn't great, but I was able to keep it up and not walk any part of it.  Honestly, the entire run I felt strong and knew that I really wanted a PR, so I tried to go as hard as I could maintain.  I had some people pass me on the run (surprise, surprise) but was thrilled to see that none of them were in my age group!  What the?!?  I made it up to the Alpine Highway and knew that the rest of the course was literally downhill so I tried to gun it if possible.  I was less than a mile from the finish and some chick comes blowing past me and of course, she was in my age group.  Oh well, the way she was trucking along, she deserved it.  But, I kept thinking that she was the only one I had seen pass me in my AG, so maybe, just maybe I could pull a podium finish!  That thought really kept me going and I went as fast as I could to the finish.  I did my normal finish line sprint and felt awesome!  My final run time was 28:08 (a 9:03 pace).  This was actually 22 seconds slower than last year.  Dang run!  It continues to be my nemesis in racing!

 POST-RACE

I found my family and enjoyed the finish line refreshments.  Chocolate milk and bagels were awesome at that point.  The medal rocked, as usual.  I hung out for a very long while to see the final results and see that my overall time for this race was 1:16:59, a 3 minute and some odd second improvement from last year, and a PR! And it landed me a 3rd place finish in my new age group F35-39!  I finished 19th overall female as well.  I am beyond elated with this!  I have never had a podium moment in a tri, I did take second in my AG up at Big Bear, but there wasn't any hoopla or anything.  Racetri always does a little awards thing so I actually got on the block!

RACE ORGANIZATION:

I got to hand it to Racetri, they keep outdoing themselves.  Awesome event, superbly organized, cool shirt I will actually wear, and great medals.  I love that they do an AG award as well.  In my AG swag bag I got a cool pair of Feetures running socks, a $20 gift card to Utah Run, and some KT tape.  And, I got the cool 3rd place medal seen bottom left next to the cool finisher's medal.  And really, how can you top Aaron Shamy and his crew?  I love racing with Racetri, and will try to squeeze in a few more of their races this season.  

WHAT I LEARNED:

Consistency is key, baby.  I swear, all of the hard work I have been putting in is finally paying off.  I don't have talent, but to my credit, I do work hard.  My training has for the most part, been spot on.  I do need to work on my run, but what else is new?  I am thrilled to see the gains I have made in every other category.  Only 5 weeks left till IM St. George 70.3!  And in reality, that is 3 weeks of solid training, and a two week taper, but also two races in between now and then, the Rage Oly Tri in Vegas and the SLC Half Marathon.  Can't wait!

In the meantime, Happy Training and Racing!

How Things Are...

Nothing monumental here.  Just checking in on what is going on with the training front.  I am doing well for the most part, dang life keeps happening.  I started feel a pain in my ankle in the middle of last week, so I skipped two runs in order to let it heal, and it was exactly what I needed and a good example of listening to our body.  I had a pain right next to my Achille's and it even hurt pushing off the wall in the pool.  That was after my run on Tuesday of last week.  I continued to bike, but skipped my runs for Thursday and Friday, had it taped and it is now fine.  Thank heavens!  I can't afford an injury!  So, the moral of the story is, take care of an issue early on before it gets to be something bigger! 

I am loving the nice weather.  I need to get new tires for Belle before putting her on the road, or else I would have done the last few rides outside.  I don't mind the trainer though. I honestly LOVE Sufferfest videos and know that they push me more than I normally would push myself.  Saturday I my training schedule called for a 2 hour and 45 minute trainer ride, so I did it with back to back Sufferfest videos and it was great!  I was tired, but not completely wasted, so my bike fitness is doing well.

I also have noticed small gains in the pool.  I did a 300 meter time trial last week to get an idea of where I am at as IceBreaker is coming up in just over two weeks, and that is the swim distance for that one.  This time last year I was at 5:15 for that distance.  This year I am at 4:20!  So excited to have shaved almost a minute off that time!  I credit more consistency in the pool for that!

I have been looking over my training plan for IM StG.  I can't believe how soon it will really be here!  Between now and then I have three other races, so the time is going to fly!  I feel very good.  I feel strong, and though my work outs are increasing in intensity and volume, I feel like my body is adapting well and has been solid.  I can't wait to see how all of this plays out in the races to come this season.

What's next?  The IceBreaker tri is just over 2 weeks away!  Then two weeks after that is the Rage Oly tri in Vegas and then the Salt Lake City Half Marathon just a week after that!

Happy Training and racing!

Dreaded Week 9!!

Since I picked out the training plan that I am using to prepare for Ironman St. George 70.3, I have been dreading Week 9.  It is when the main part of the base building phase is over and they really amp up the volume and intensity of the work outs.  I have already been doing 3x3 workouts every week (meaning 3 swims, 3 bikes, and 3 runs), and that is tough, but I had fallen into a routine and was doing it.  I average 1-2 work outs a week, but not the key ones, the long ones.  Anyhow, after last week's "recovery" week, the Dreaded Week 9 started yesterday.  I now have an additional swim and bike each week and instead of adding another run, they have added a long walk to Sundays.  This is perfect timing to add that walk as the weather here has been gorgeous!

So, we will see how all this pans out. It has taken some careful planning and maneuvering to fit all those work outs in, as I normally don't train on Sundays, so I had to finagle it otherwise. It breaks down to two-a-days Monday through Friday with a long ride on Saturdays.

Week 9 also means I am half way through this training plan.  I didn't really follow a plan for my first Half, and it was okay.  But I have seen that following this one, it is much better planned than what I did and I have seen the wisdom behind the workouts and the phases with it.  I love that every 4th week is a recovery week.  I mentally and physically need these recovery weeks.  The weeks slowly build on the weeks prior, and it all makes sense!  I am feeling strong and am loving the training.  I do my best to fit it all in, but life happens.  I feel that the work outs are taxing, but do-able. I feel like even with IM StG 9 weeks away, I could complete it today.  I feel that this plan though will not only prepare me to complete it, but do it WELL.  I love that aspect and thence do my best to stick to the plan because it is a good one and I am excited to see how all of this pans out in the races that I will do before then, and for StG itself!

So, in the meantime, Happy Training all!

Way too Quiet!

I haven't posted yet this year!  I guess in the lazy off season, there isn't a ton to post about!

I have been busy though getting ready for this season. I am on Week 6 of my training plan for IMStG 70.3 that is on May 3.  I am so excited and scared about this race all at the same time.  I feel great about how my training is going.  The volume is starting to pick up, and the work outs are more demanding and more frequent, but I am feeling great.  I am swimming well, running well, and biking better than I have been.

One new thing that I have incorporated into my bike training this season is the Sufferfest cycling videos.  I figure if I have to be on the trainer due to the winter, I might as well try new things.  Holy crap those things give you a kick in the pants!  I am dripping in sweat and begging for mercy when they are done!  I really feel they will make me a stronger cyclist, heaven knows they push me harder than I would normally go on the trainer and it makes the time pass much faster.

As far as races go, there have been some slight changes from the original plans I had for the year.  My Dad and I got into the Triple Bypass for July 12.  I am so excited to do this hard and challenging ride with my Dad of all people!  It's 120 miles and 11000 ft elevation gain!  Bring it on!

I also found out that my running group got accepted into the Hood to Coast Relay.  This is an amazing race that I have wanted to do and even though the timing is pretty bad (it is the weekend BEFORE school starts) I am going to do all I can to make it happen!

So, that is it for now.  I am so excited about how things are going and how this season is shaping up.  it is going to be challenging and so fun at the same time.  Stay tuned!  In the mean time...

Happy training!

Fall Trail Running with my Peeps!

Coming off my stupid injury, and also not doing much of anything active for the past 8 weeks or so, my running/tri group has saved my butt! Meaning, they have given me a reason to get off of it!  This past Saturday was no exception as they posted about going to do a training run up on the Bonneville Shoreline trail, and then possibly up to Adam's Canyon Waterfall.  I was so glad that I joined them, even if it was a tough run!  I had no idea how steep it was, but with these folks, I was laughing the whole way.  Just look at us, wouldn't you be laughing too?

We got off track a few times and had to try to figure out where exactly the trail was.  This lead to us sometimes taking a much more difficult route than was necessary.  We joked about cold (read FROZEN) Clif shots, and where to keep them to avoid the frozen predicament.  After the stressful week I had, this was just what the doctor ordered! It was so worth getting to the top and seeing the waterfall, even if it was much longer than I thought. It was gorgeous getting up there, and I so wish I lived a little closer to these trails to enjoy them more.  Yeah for fall running!

We then went out to breakfast and discussed next season's racing plans, and I think that I now have a pretty good idea of what next season looks like for me.  It will really depend on a few lotteries for some of the events that I want to do.  Really, beyond St. George 70.3, I don't know what the season will hold till I see about a few lotteries, as mentioned before.

These guys are great!  They are so much fun and when I think of my beginning days of running when I always trained and raced by myself, I don't see how I ever did it!  It is so much more fun, easier to stay motivated, and keep going when you have company a long the way.  Thanks again peeps!

First DNS

Tomorrow is the St. George Marathon.  Even though I got in with the lottery, trained for it, and was fully planning on going, I will not be among the runners at the start line in the morning.

Training for this race has been miserable.  Even though this was going to be marathon #5, the training was derailed on many accounts.  It started with the fact that I started getting GI issues on many of my long runs and had to call many of them short.  I still can't pin down why this happened and what I did differently to have this happen on some runs and not others.  I haven't changed my diet, or my nutrition on long runs in 4 years, so I am at a loss as to what the issue is.  But let's just say that when it happened I would be out the rest of the run and the rest of the day remaining.  Then as if that wasn't bad enough, my peroneal tendon that acted up last spring was back in full force and bothered me even while taped and on short easy runs.

Maybe I called this race to early.  I am really beating myself up today as my friends are all headed down to run tomorrow.  I want to race with them but the thought of a marathon makes me want to throw up!  Running has really hated me lately and last time I was at the doctor to have my ankle checked out, he said no running anyhow for another month.  Granted, I maybe could have sucked it up, but it would have been a miserable race.

Next year I am for sure NOT doing any full marathons next year.  I am generally good on runs up to around a half marathon, but that's it.  I am not even going to do any run specific events next year other than the SLC Half which is my fave and has become a staple on my race calender.  Other than that, I am thinking all tris and bike specific events for me in 2014!

For now I am just taking the time to take a break. I am not on any specific training plan at the moment and am simply biking or swimming as I want or don't want.  I am going to start my official training plan for StG 70.3 in January, but till then it is going to be a basic routine of maintaining a basic level of fitness.  I will do a Turkey Trot in Denver when we are there for Thanksgiving, it is a 5k, then probably another 5k Santa Run in December, but this season is wrapped up for me for now :)

LOTOJA 2013 - Relay race write up

I have heard about LOTOJA for years.  It is a big deal in cycling for this part of the country and many people in my area try to do it every year.  It is a 206 mile bike race from Logan, Utah to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  You can do the whole thing yourself or in teams of 2-5 people.  I was on a team of 5 people that are all from my neighborhood and they have done it before.  We were part of the Green Gecko Racing Team and there were 25-30 of us total.  I would be doing the third leg known as the King/Queen of the Mountain leg that goes from Montpelier to Afton.  It includes the two highest climbs in the whole route and it is a total of 48 miles.  I have been preparing for this all summer by doing a good climbing ride every week, either Big Mountain, Snowbasin, or something similar.

Ken and I would ride up early on Saturday morning with Kelly and Melisa in Kelly's Excursion, which would serve as our team vehicle.  Ken became the official race support for our vehicle doing the driving and the picture taking, a role he is getting very good at :)

We sent Lisa off, our first rider off at the start line promptly at 6:00 am and then headed to Preston where we would meet her and send Kelly off on her route.  We had so much fun in our car and it was neat to get to know these ladies better!  The following pictures were taken at the Preston stop.  These guys in the Texas jerseys caught my eye, because of the Texas of course.  They were all brothers up from Houston and they all had matching jerseys as well as the Texas flag at every stop.  They were so fun!  It was neat to see that along the route, I still am a bit of a Texas girl at heart :)

We arrived in Montpelier and it was time for me to get ready for my leg.  I wasn't really nervous for this until we actually got there and it was time for me to go!  Waiting for Kelly to come in seemed to take forever, not that she was slow, just that I was nervous and anxious to just get going!  She came in before we knew it and I was off on my bike.  The route immediately starts something of a climb up a canyon within the first mile, so there wasn't much warming up!  My fault, I should have ridden around a bit before starting, but I didn't want to miss Kelly coming in.  I decided that I wanted to do as road cyclists do and get into a pack if I could.  Group riding makes me really nervous as I have a personal bubble that I don't like people getting into anyway, but to do that on a bike close enough that you are able to get the benefit of drafting is not something I am comfortable with yet.  Plus, I mainly train solo, and drafting isn't legal in triathlon anyway, so I have never really seen a point to it till now!  

The first climb was up to Geneva Summit and I have to say I loved this climb!  It was gorgeous and challenging, but it was very doable!  I felt great, was chatting with others around me and my spirits were still high.  I stopped at the top long enough to shoot a quick Gu and have a short drink.  I then did the downhill coming down from the summit and it was SAWEEEET! Seriously, the best downhill ever!  I didn't hit my brakes one time and tucked in as low as I could to thoroughly enjoy it.  There wasn't any bends in this portion of the road either, so you really could just let 'er fly and not worry about braking.  I hit a new personal record for speed on Belle on this downhill  - 44 mph!  That was so much fun!

We then had several miles until we would start the actual King of the Mountain climb and it was then that many people would pass me or I would pass them.  Most of the packs would simply pass me by and it made me nervous but they would quickly pass.  Well, then this HUGE pack of between 30-40 cyclists just sort of swallowed me up and they didn't leave.  At first I was thinking "PLEASE pass, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!"  I didn't want to be the cause of 35 cyclists biting the dust if I didn't do something right, and it made me really nervous.  Then when they didn't leave and I was in the middle of them, I then resigned myself to, "Hey, this is your chance to learn drafting!"  I have to admit once I chilled a little, it was kind of cool!  All of a sudden I wasn't noticing any wind and I just kept my head down and tried really  hard to hold my line and stay steady so I wouldn't be THAT guy that takes out the bunch.  I noticed that this group was some of a team, but others were like me, single riders that just hopped along for the ride!  The ones that seemed to know each other were passing things back and forth to each other and at times COMPLETELY taking both hands off their handle bars, and I thought that was just plain crazy.  But, they also communicated very well in who was going to pull, whose turn it was to rotate back, when they were slowing, etc.  I was able to stick with this group for about 20 minutes and I learned A LOT in that time.  I think I may see why people swear by this for group riding!  It was actually fun and I wish I could have kept up with them, but most of them split from the pack right before the start of the King of the Mountain climb to use bathrooms and groups like that tend to split up on big climbs anyway.  I did also stop before the climb, but further up ahead of where they did.

I crossed the timing mat at the start of the climb and quickly settled into a low gear and grinded my way up.  I noticed for the first time all day the sun was out in full force.  We had a very overcast day up to that point and it was VERY hot.  I was literally sweating what seemed like buckets as I grinded my way up this hill! I did feel pretty good and was passing several  other people at points, but was also getting passed as well.  Everyone was very kind and supportive and one guy said, "Can you believe we PAID for this FUN?"   He was super nice and we joked our way to the top. I had felt really good during the first climb, but on this climb, my quads were burning.  This is not unusual for me on difficult climbs, and it usually goes away once the climbing part is over.   I was grateful to get to the top because I was hot, sore, and  just about out of water.  They had a feed zone at the top where I did refill my bottles, use the bathroom, grabbed a banana (it was heavenly at that point) and threw some electrolyte tabs into one of my bottles.  I was probably at this feed zone for 10-15 minutes.

I was really looking forward to the downhill after such a brutal climb, but was really disappointed!  It wasn't nearly as cool as the one coming off Geneva Summit and we were greeted by a nasty headwind that didn't leave for the remaining 18 miles of my ride.  It was the kind of wind that at times felt like it was going to blow my bike over.  I was so tempted to get down into aero like I usually do when I hit winds like this, but aero bars are technically illegal in this race.  I didn't take them off my bike, but I swore I wasn't going to use them.  It sucked not being able to tuck down!  I also noticed that the quad burning that started on the up hill at King of the Mountain did NOT go away.  It was awful.  I felt like my legs were on fire, but I was so ready to get off the dang bike I just kept going, though I am sure I was slow.  I didn't look at my watch to see my speed, but I just felt so slow during the final miles of this.  The pic below is one that Ken got of me as I turned into the transition area.  Many people have commented that I look "serious" in this pic.  Yes!  Seriously ready to get off the dang bike!

Once I was off, my quads continued to burn for an entire hour after post ride.  I still don't know why this happened or what I could have done to prevent it.  I don't think it was a hydration issue because I had been drinking all morning long prior to my leg and drained 2.5 bottles during the 3 hours and 18 minutes it took me to do my portion.  I also had taken in electrolytes, a few GU gels, and a Bonk Breaker bar.  I think it may have been I just went too hard on this since it was a race situation and it was faster than I had trained at.  Either way, it was miserable!

However, the rest of the day was just plain fun!  The finish line was great and the entire course is amazingly beautiful!  At the finish line I was able to see my friends James and Jared who KILLED this course today!  They did the whole ride themselves and came in around 10 hours!  That is averaging 21-22 mph for the whole thing!  They are machines!  I also saw other people from my tri group and it was fun!

I had a ton of fun and want to do this in some way next year, either in a relay or if I completely lose it, do the "whole enchilada" myself.  We will see.  It was amazing and a great experience.

What's next?  St. George Marathon is 4 weeks away!