Day By Day

As many of my friends are packing their bags and boarding planes for hot and humid Hawaii this weekend, I'll be scouring my drawers for all the warm cycling clothes I can find.  The Pittsburgh forecast for Saturday and Sunday = 40 degrees and raining.  BAH!  Anyone going to Kona with some extra room in their suitcase?  Anyone?  (I'm not that big... :)

I might not be racing Kona this year, but I still do have my eye on a big prize with two races left this season - Austin 70.3 at the end of October and IMAZ in mid November.  It's hard to believe that I really only have 3-4 more big weeks of training left this year.  I'm feeling good and my motivation is high right now so I'm just going to keep riding this wave as long as it lasts!  Day by day I get closer to another opportunity to try and crack the Ironman nut and that's very exciting to me.

In the mean time, if I have any Kona blues, I can cheer myself up with thoughts of this:

My bike shop ordered me one, it's in and as I type the tire is being glued on!  What can I say, my prize money burns a hole in my pocket...FAST!  :)

Best of luck to all those racing on the Big Island!  It's an amazing race, in an amazing place with amazing people.  GO GET IT!  :)

Poconos 70.3 Race Report

Ahh racing.  Oh how I missed you!  You are my very favorite thing to do!

Swim:

Standing on shore prior to the swim start it was relatively easy to see the buoys and the layout of the course.  When the race director let us into the water (start was a bit delayed due to some shuttle problems) the announcer told us "4 minutes until the pro start" and then about 22 seconds later he was yelling "everyone back to the line, 90 seconds until the start!"  And everyone looked out into the lake (large pond) and saw...lots and lots of fog.  Where did the buoys go?  I guess we would soon find out!  :)

The horn sounded and off we were and I felt pretty darn good!  The pro men and women started together which I thought I was going to NOT like but it turned out I really DID like because there were just that many more bodies around and people to swim with.  And in fact, I DID swim with people!  This might be a first this year!  About 2/3rds of the way through, I pulled through the little pack that I was in and gunned off on my own (or at least tried) so I swam the rest of the way by myself.  Overall I felt great and strong and I was pretty excited to see my swim time.  As I got out of the water and ran up the road a little bit I looked down and saw a "26" on my watch.  UGHHHHH!  Totally short swim.  I would love to think I really did swim a 26 (actual split was 25:5x!) but I know that just isn't the case.  You don't go from swimming 30 minutes to 26 minutes in a matter of weeks!  Nevertheless, I was very much encouraged by my swim, how good I felt and also happy for the experience of swimming in a group.  Had it been a legit 1.2 miles, I feel confident it would have been a good time for me which means my swimming might be headed in the right direction?  Maybe?  Ah...who knows...  :)

Bike:

I had decided to put on a vest (and I already had arm warmers on under my wetsuit) in transition, no matter how long it would take.  This race had very similar conditions (water and air temp) to Oceanside earlier in the year PLUS the Poconos bike starts off with a 4 mile screaming descent down the mountain.  BRRR.  I chose not to put any extra clothes on at Oceanside and really regretted it so this time I figured I'd be smart(er).  In the end I think it was a good call so I'm sticking with my decision!

As I exited transition with bike in tow, someone told me I was the 5th female.  I'll take it!  I set about trying to hunt that first person down.  Of course I didn't see anyone for about 13 miles and only then did I see the other women because there was a turnaround at about 14 miles and I saw them as they were heading back (while I was still heading out).  FORTUNATELY, there were 3 women all together (with Tenille way out in front by herself).  Oh yeah! 

It took me another 10 miles or so to catch them.  As mentioned, the bike course starts with a big 4 mile descent.  The next 20 miles are on an out and back section that is only VERY slightly rolling (ie: it's pretty flat).  And then from there you get up into the constant up and down that you would expect of this region.  My Garmin told me there was about 2800 feet of climbing but it all came in the last 30 miles.  I finally caught up to 2nd-4th place right as the flat was ending and we were starting into the hills.  There was a race official on motorcycle making sure those 3 were riding legally so when I did finally get myself to them, I sat back for a bit trying to decide what to do.  I figured I was going to have to put on a massive effort to just pass all three at once which didn't seem smart but was really my only option unless I just wanted to latch onto the back.  Latching onto the back was also not a good option because there were some FAST runners behind me and I wanted to distance myself as much as possible.  So after a little self pep talk I went for it.   

OUCH!

It did indeed take a massive effort and my Garmin would later show that I rode close to 320W for a while to get around all 3 of them legally.  Um, that's a lot for me.  And I'm sure it burned a few extra matches that I probably shouldn't have burned.  BUT to me it was the way to go because this is a RACE after all!

Of course after I passed them I tried to ride really hard to get away.  This worked for 2 of the 3 but I did not shake Amber!  I relaxed for a bit to eat, drink and compose myself at which point Amber passed me back.  I tried several more times to shake her but she was always right there behind me.  At some point I conceded that we'd be riding the rest of the way in together.  Which is exactly what we did.  Sometimes I led, sometimes she led.  We got a little confused together through town when there were SO MANY CONES and we had no idea where we were supposed to be (which we eventually figured out and got a good laugh out of).  It was a good, hard ride and I really enjoyed it.  But don't get me wrong, I was also glad when we finally rolled into T2!  Final bike time was 2:31:26.

Run:

I've raced with Amber a few times this year and I know she is a good runner.  I came into T2 telling myself not to let her get ahead of me because once she did, it would be really hard to catch back up.  Oh now wouldn't that prove to be VERY true!

We came into transition together but of course it took me FOREVER to get anything done.  I wrestled with my vest, fought with my shoes.  And then out of the corner of my eye I saw Amber darting across towards "run out."  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!  I got all flustered (like seriously, have I NEVER done this before?) and in my haste forgot my Garmin (I put it on my bike for the ride and hadn't remembered to re-attach it to my wrist).  I ran back to get it and just like that, Amber was gone.  It really is silly little things like that that add up!

Here is the elevation map of the run course from the Ironman Poconos website:

It should be noted that this map is ALL LIES!  I really don't understand what this map means.  I kid you not that to the turnaround was a downhill and then once you started heading back it was uphill.  Seriously, all lies.

Here is the elevation map of the run course per my experience:

Yes, that's right - it was hilly.  Okay, no big hills and in all fairness it did finish on a downhill...but still, it was up and down, up and down...not all up on the way out and then all downhill to the finish!

Okay, back to the race report.  :)  When I did finally get out onto the course I could still see Amber, perhaps 45-60 seconds up the road.  I didn't feel great at first and was just trying to let my stomach settle and my legs come back to me.  But as we got out of the neighborhoods and onto the long road that would be the majority of the run, I started to feel quite a bit better.  The volunteers encouraged me through each aid station that I should "go get her" and I started to really come around to the idea that maybe I could!  Although I will admit (and this is the biggest lesson I learned yesterday), at this point of the race (miles 4-9) I was still thinking BEHIND me instead of IN FRONT of me.  What I mean by that is, I was thinking only of the FAST runners behind me (and there were quite a few!) instead of focusing on catching Amber.  It was a mistake and I know that now. Lesson learned.

When we got to the far turnaround at about mile 7ish I could finally get a look to see who was coming behind and let me tell you, it wasn't very reassuring!  They were all together and they weren't too far back. 

RUN BETH RUN!

Somewhere around mile 9 I got my head in the game.  It occurred to me that nobody had caught me yet AND furthermore, I was getting ALL kinds of encouraging comments from the AGers coming the other way to "go catch her", "she's right there", "you got this."  AHHH!!  I pray every morning for God to help me not waste the opportunities that He gives me and here I was, almost about to waste this VERY great opportunity to give it my all and GET AFTER IT!

So I went about running as hard as I possibly could to try and catch Amber over the next 4 miles (not like I wasn't already running hard but now at least I was thinking in the right direction!).  And I REALLY, REALLY tried.  I was so, so thankful for every passing comment I got from the athletes running the other way.  I couldn't acknowledge them all but they really lifted my spirits!  But try as I might, I was making up very, very, VERY little ground (if any at all).  Hats off to Amber.  She was in the MUCH tougher position of being the chased vs the chaser and she held up to that pressure wonderfully. 

In the end I came up 22 seconds short.  I would love to say I just needed a few more miles but honestly, I don't think that would have done it either!  Amber is a tough athlete and she gutted it out!

Our final run times were almost exactly the same.  I had let the gap grow and then I shrunk it some but the time that she put on me in transition was what it came down to!

Nevertheless, I was absolutely THRILLED with the outcome.  Honestly, probably just as thrilled if I had caught her.  Because yesterday was all that I love about racing - a real, honest to goodness RACE!  I truly enjoyed it and I was so happy to feel strong and like I could really go for it.  This is what all the training is for and I really got my reward yesterday!!  To say I felt very thankful and blessed is quite the understatement!

Amber definitely pulled out of me one of the best runs that I've had in a half (not my fastest time but also not the easiest course) and for that, I'm really thankful to her!  Focusing on her also kept those fast runners behind at bay.  Just goes to show - if you take care of business up front, you don't have to worry so much about what is behind.

(in telling this story, I should remind you that this was the race for 2nd place as Tenille had 1st all wrapped up about 7-8 minutes ahead of us!)

Yesterday was a really good day for me.  I love the 70.3 distance and this race just confirmed that!  I was happy with the result but also learned a lot of lessons throughout the day.  I just missed breaking 4:30 again so I still have my eye on that barrier too!

Overall a most wonderful weekend!  Although I had my moments, I also survived travelling to my first race by myself which was a victory in and of itself!  It is a somewhat logistically challenging race with two different transitions and a whole bunch of shuttles in between, but the course itself is awesome and I highly recommend it to anyone that is thinking about doing it next year!  The foliage is beautiful this time of year!

This is Otis.  He is my homestay family's dog and he was awesome!  He apparently keeps the bears away... (Also, I did get a picture of my actual homestay family (the people) but am waiting for it to get emailed to me.  Monica, Jason and Sophia were awesome and I really enjoyed staying with them!)

From right to left, Tenille, Amber, me, Heather (4th place Jessie is missing).  Honored to share the podium with these women!

Thanks to everyone for all the cheers and good luck wishes!  How much longer until I get to race again??  :)

Poke-a-nose!

This weekend I am racing in the Poconos 70.3.  If you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, I don't think I have to mention how happy and excited this makes me!

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  Race timeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  (finally! :)

My last race was 5 weeks ago.  Far too long in my opinion but apparently to gain any fitness you occasionally have to train hard instead of taper, race, recover, taper, race, recover!  Who knew?  :)  Anyway, I did the training part for the past 5 weeks and it was great.  I'm feeling healthy, strong and like I'm getting read for an Ironman!  And now my reward, a little break in the training for a RACE!

I'm leaving for the Poconos on Friday.  Unfortunately I must travel to this race by myself because all the usual suspects (Oscar and my mom) are busy living their lives.  The nerve!  (of course I'm kidding!)  I have been so spoiled over the years to almost never have to travel to races alone so this weekend should be interesting.  If I show up at the start line in one piece with all my equipment in one piece AND on time, I'll consider the weekend a success.

There is also a matter of the drive to the race.  The Poconos, although in Pennsylvania, the state I live in, are quite far away.  I live in the southwest corner of PA and the Poconos happen to be in the mountains of northeast PA.  And PA is a looooooooong state. Steelhead 70.3, which is in Michigan, is almost closer for us.  Did I mention that I tend to fall asleep when I drive longer than 1 hour?  Hmmm...like I said, if I make it to the start line in one piece I will be thrilled!  :)

Kidding aside, I'm really excited for this weekend.  And although I'm traveling alone, there are several Pittsburghers racing and I have a wonderful homestay family to take me in!  I've already invited myself (see I told you, I'm really good at inviting myself to places!) to be a 3rd wheel for several meals with others.  All is good. 

Now just keep your fingers crossed it doesn't snow!  It almost did last year at this race.  And while I like chillier weather, 40s and raining isn't the best option when one is riding one's bike up and down mountains really fast.  I'll definitely be packing the arm warmers!  But it will all be worth it when I get to see stuff like this on the bike course!

 
Hope everyone has a fantastic rest of the week and weekend!  And to all those racing - yeee-haw and giddy up!  :)

Thankful

I'm very thankful for many, many things.  Way too many things to list in one blog.  God has blessed me beyond belief.  But I thought I'd list the things I was especially thankful for today.

1) The lifestyle and ability to ride my bike for 6 hours and then run an hour after that on a Friday.  My legs were tired, I was hungry and my butt hurt.  But I couldn't have been more happy to be where I was, when I was.  I don't necessarily think I have an "easy" life (of course it's all relative) but I do know that I have a very, very good life.

2) A body that will do more than I think it will and one that is healthy and strong.

3) A pup that greets me at the door when I get home from my training and that licks my salty legs while I lay on the kitchen floor.

"Yes, I'm cute.  Now let me lick your salty legs!"

4) Absolutely AWESOME weather.  It was a cracker of a day!

5) A coach that believes in me enough to really challenge me.

6) Rising to a challenge, even when I thought I couldn't.

7) A super, awesome friend to ride with.  Kim totally got me out of bed this morning.  If I hadn't been meeting her to ride, I still might be hiding under the covers.  Plus, Kim tells really funny stories.

The self portrait always lends to very good photography.  (I'm laughing...not crying :)

8) A tailwind for the last hour of my ride.

I'm sure tomorrow will bring a whole new list of things to be thankful for.  God is good.  All the time.

Have a great weekend everyone!

All Systems On Go

I had a good training week this week.  Training for Ironman #2 = so far so good!  Of course one would expect this after only 2 or 3 weeks.  Talk to me in another 5 or 6 weeks and I might be crying uncle (I'm sure I will be). 

It helps that our weather is amazing right now.  Running in 55 or 60 degree temps automatically gives you 20-30 seconds per mile without working any harder when compared to running in the 80s or 90s.  At least for me.  I love it.  I didn't even mind that I was shivering a bit on my ride this morning!  :)  I do feel as if fall is the reward us Pittsburghers get for enduring the stifling heat and humidity in the summer and then the ice/wind/snow/frigid temps in the winter.  Fall will always be my favorite.

I did have a little blip this week when I had to go to the dentist for more mouth "stuff".  If only I knew that what started as needing 2 little crowns would turn into root canals, crown lengthenings and skin grafts on my gums - I never would have started the process in the first place!  (or at least would have waited until the end of the season :)  Anyway, on Tuesday I got 2 crown lengthening procedures (they essentially expose more tooth so that a crown will actually have something to grab onto) and 2 skin grafts on my gums (something about a receding gum line...I stopped listening after a while).  All I have to say is - OUCH!  I'm not someone who gets anxious or scared at the dentist but let me tell you - I had to go to my happy place a couple times on Tuesday.  I kept my eyes closed for much of it.  And then the one thing I did want to watch - when the dentist was stitching the grafts in - I was told I needed to keep my eyes shut!  I kept sneaking peaks.  He looked like a seamstress.  :) 

When he was done, the dentist told me no training the next day because he was worried the grafts would bleed.  (I didn't tell him I was a triathlete, by the way, but my t-shirt gave me away - doh!)  I was all set to ignore him and carry on with my normal training plan but Dirk stopped me in my tracks.  Double doh!  Dirk was actually trained as a dentist (little known fact!) and told me an easy spin only.  Bummer.  But it was fine and actually a very good call because I woke up very, very sore, very swollen and a little black and blue.  And really hungry because it was too hard to get my mouth open wide enough for eating the night before.  :)

By Thursday morning I was back on track though.  The mouth is still sore but workable.  I get my stitches out on Tuesday (maybe the dentist will let me watch this time! :)  The part that hurts the worst is the roof of my mouth where they took the skin for the grafts.  It's like a big open wound in your mouth and sort of feels like a really bad pizza burn x 10,000.  :)

Otherwise, life is good.  Oscar's training for the Columbus Marathon is going quite well and I'm humming along too.  This morning we even got to run together.  Of all the amazing training partners I've had through the years, he is definitely my favorite.  He talks about the Pirates, I sometimes listen, and we run stride for stride.  Perfect.  :)

And because everybody knows a post without pictures is boring, here are two.

She never fails to find a sunny spot.  (she looks dead but she's fine)

My friend after Tuesday's visit to the dentist.  He gave me a script for Vicodin and I filled it but I never take it.  For this reason alone, I have a bunch of bottles of Vicodin in our medicine box.  This is probably not a good thing.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!  :)

Winchester Training Weekend

This past weekend I drove down to Winchester, VA to spend a weekend training with Katie.  How did this come about you might ask?  Well, it went something like this: I emailed Katie a few months ago and invited myself to come.  Yep, that about sums it up!  And Katie is really just too nice to say no so we picked a weekend and BOOM, a weekend training camp was born!  (By the way, I highly recommend inviting yourself to places.  I've done this to many other people including Sonja and Michelle, Liz and Jen, Marit, Barb, heck, even my own parents and sister!  And I haven't received a no yet.  "Yet", being the important word here... :)

ANYWAY, the plan all started with me asking Katie if I could ride on Skyline Drive with her.  I knew she lived close to one end of Skyline and that she rode on it often and I also knew that Skyline is AWESOME.  Like really awesome.  I also knew many other people use Skyline as a great riding route.  This all made me *really* want in on the action.  So that's how it began.  But it ended up with me driving down on Friday so we could do a 6ish hour brick on Saturday together and then ride Skyline and swim together on Sunday.  By the end of the weekend, I was ready to stay for another week or so, but alas, Katie had to go back to work.  (boo)

On Saturday we awoke bright and early and got ready to go!  Katie had a 95+ mile bike route planned to get us started.  And it was amazing!  Winchester is an awesome place to train!  The road surfaces themselves are beautiful (quite an upgrade from the garbage we ride on around Pittsburgh) and the surrounding areas are really just what you'd see on a postcard.  Beautiful farms, big houses, rolling hills, lots of cows, corn, horses, goats and even an ostrich or two!  And the apples - OH THE APPLES!  I've never seen so many in my life.  Winchester is also apparently a huge apple producer and we rode past orchard after orchard after orchard.  (and later went to one of said orchards where I bought many apples and of course, an apple cider doughnut!)

Of course I don't have any pictures of Saturday's ride because I'm a horrible picture taker.  It's a crime really.  So you'll just have to believe me that it was great.  And riding with Katie was just perfect.  We'd make a very good training duo because I think we are very similarly paced on the bike and were just able to ride as normal without one slowing the other down (or at least I hope I wasn't slowing her down! :).  Also, Katie, like me, likes to start early, not stop during rides and keep an honest pace.  All in all, a most wonderful combo we made!

Off the bike on Saturday we ran a good hour together and then called it a day.  Sunday and Skyline awaited.

Sunday we were up early again to drive to Skyline for our ride.  I can't even explain how much I loved it.  The heat and humidity that we suffered in on Saturday had dissipated with the Saturday night storms and Sunday dawned cool and sunny and AWESOME!  Katie and I rode 64 miles and climbed over 6300 feet and I think I smiled the whole way!  (except maybe that last 2 mile climb before the final 6 mile descent to home).  The plans for next summer's epic adventure of riding the entire length of Skyline (105 miles one way) with Katie are already underway!! 

I did take some pictures on Sunday.  :)

A self portrait that didn't turn out too bad (in the sense that we both have heads :)

Okay, obviously stole this one from the Skyline website because the leaves have not yet changed.  But how amazing would this place be in the fall?

Pretty sure that's West Virginia over there!  :)

Views like this all over the place.

Elevation gain on this ride = mucho.  (but the final 6 mile descent was VERY fun)

After we finished our ride on Sunday, Katie and I ate lunch and then got mad at Ironman.com for not updating any of the IMMOO or Vegas splits and THEN we went swimming where Katie was nice and only lapped me 5 times in the pool.  Training with someone who swims a 54 minute IM is painful, but probably good for me!  :)

And then I had to go home.  SADNESS!  But I was very glad to see Roxy and Oscar again!  (and find that the house was still in one piece)  All in all a most wonderful weekend that I'm very thankful to Katie for making it happen!  She is fit as a fiddle and my two main thoughts about training with her were (1) I'm really glad I don't have to race her and (2) I feel really sorry for the 25-29 yr old ladies in Kona!  :)

The weekend for me was definitely a great jump start to my IMAZ training and got me fully excited for getting back into some bigger miles!  I haven't ridden 165 miles in a weekend for a long time!  It's always really nice to ride somewhere new and different and to keep things fresh with new training partners.  VERY much worth the drive.

Now...where shall I invite myself to next?  ;)  

Kona/Vegas (baby!)

This time last year I was packing my bags (and probably grumpily, my bike) and heading to Sin City for 70.3 Worlds.  I was also doing some very big miles in preparation for my 2nd Ironman in Kona.  It was a busy and exciting time of year.

After Kona last year when I was making the decision re: racing professionally vs AG for 2012, I did the pro/con list like you're supposed to do when making a big decision.  (okay, maybe I just did it in my head vs writing it out, but that still counts!)  Truthfully, one of the only cons on the list was the likelihood of missing out on Vegas/Kona this year.  I knew at the very least I'd be sitting out a year or two of these awesome races that had been the highlight of my seasons the past few years, and I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it!

So as the time approaches for championship season and many of my friends are packing their bags for Vegas and soon Kona, I evaluated (as much as I evaluate stuff...which is not that much!) how I was feeling. 

Answer?  Well, I'm feeling pretty awesome to tell you the truth!

The sadness that I predicted I'd feel about missing Vegas and Kona hasn't surfaced, not even one bit.  And I'm guessing that's for several reasons:

1) It wasn't Vegas and Kona themselves that I loved so much as it was the CHALLENGE that those two represented.  It was the excitement of getting to race the best of the best.  I still have that challenge - now pretty much every time I race, so I'm not missing out!

2) I still have much to look forward to in my season (I'd probably be sad if I was done for the year) and many more miles to train and race!

3) I have so many friends and teammates racing in Vegas and Kona and I feel so uber excited for them.  I can live vicariously through my friends!  :)

4) My decision to race pro was a good one for me.  You never know until you do it.  And before the year is out I may change my mind.  But for now, I'm happy to have done it.

So although I won't get to swim with the turtles anywhere this year (unless there are turtles in the Poconos??  :), or eat at Lava Java, I am okay with that.  And I'm also REALLY excited about my goal of trying to qualify for Vegas next year.  It's just the type of challenge that gets me up out of bed in the morning! 

And to all those that ARE racing this weekend and the first Saturday in October - ENJOY!  What an awesome opportunity.  I will be cheering you all on!

Vegas 2011.  It was hot!



Kona 2011.  It was REALLY hot.  And I got a big blister.  :)