Raleigh 70.3: Part #1 Of The Dubious Double

First, I'd like to start by saying that this race is awesome.  I predict that it will be one of the most liked courses on the 70.3 circuit and will be a perpetual seller-outer.  AWESOME course, AWESOME spectator and volunteer support, AWESOME race organization (especially considering it was a first year race), and AWESOME city in general.

Want to know what's not so awesome?  Swimming hard in a wetsuit for 1.2 miles when the water temp is 76 degrees.  I seriously thought my eyeballs were going to pop out of my head.  Holy overheating batman!  This is my only complaint of the entire weekend.  WTC - PLEASE change the wetsuit temperature rule.  I understand it's my choice to wear one or not but let's be real here, if all the other pros are wearing one am I, an already weak swimmer, not going to partake also?  That's kind of like riding with a flat tire...

Swim: 30:57

As previously stated, I was really hot.  Like REALLY, REALLY hot.  Like my HR was in the high 180s when I got out of the water hot.  But what can you do?  It is what it is.  The swim venue was absolutely gorgeous and overall, other than being hot it was a pretty standard swim for me.  Laura Bennett swam a 24 which was faster than ALL THE MALE PROS (my mom said she got out of the water in 3rd overall despite the fact that we started 3 minutes behind the pro men), there were 3 women that swam in the 26s and then I swam the whole swim by myself and was out of the water in 5th place.  I have never been so happy to get out of a wetsuit in my entire life!

Pre race banana.  HUGE thanks to my mom who rode the shuttle out to the lake to hang out with me and snap some shots!

Apparently contemplating life.  Or perhaps just really wishing the water was about 10 degrees cooler.  :)

Bike: 2:25:45

The first 10 minutes of the bike I felt awful.  But I just needed to give my body time to cool down and my HR to get back to normal and once both happened, I started to feel GOOD!

I had a couple goals for the bike.  One - drink more water than I ever have before.  Drink like it's your job.  Drink, drink, drink!  (can you tell that the southern heat and humidity scared me a little?).  Two - enjoy the beautiful scenery and course.

Both goals accomplished!  I absolutely LOVED the bike course.  Probably one of my favorites of all the 70.3s I've raced.  It was a relatively fast course but I certainly wouldn't call it flat - mostly rolling, with beautiful roads and awesome countryside views!  And the fan support was AMAZING!  When I drove the course on Friday I thought it would end up being a pretty desolate ride given that the roads were relatively rural.  Much to my surprise however, there were tons of people out cheering - on the sides of the roads, on their boats from the water (I kid you not!), from bridge overpasses.  It was really cool.

And I'm really glad to have had all those people cheering, because I certainly didn't see any other women in the race for the entire ride!  Unfortunately I had a feeling that this might happen.  Other than "passing" Anna Clever who was on the side of the road and not riding, I knew the other fast swimmers up ahead were either riding just as fast or faster so it would be a tough time to catch them.  Nevertheless, I feel like I kept pretty good focus and kept the pressure on to continue to ride hard despite being solo and at times feeling like I was out on a training ride.

And the drinking?  Oh man did I drink like a champ!  4 bottles total which of course meant I REALLY had to pee.  But I was hydrated for that run!  :)

Photo courtesy of Denise Worden

Photo courtesy of Bob Hennessy

Run: 1:32:45

I started the run in 4th place and in no-man's land.  Luckily there were a fair amount of people out on the course cheering including my awesome family -- my father, my sister and my brother-in-law (and eventually my mom once she got back from the lake!).  I was really looking forward to seeing them!  I was also looking forward to seeing my friend Kari out on the course as she had told me where she was going to be stationed. She did not disappoint.  She had many fun signs to read!

The run went as runs usually go.  I started off feeling pretty good and I made it my mission to drink at every aid station.  Although the heat wasn't any where near as bad as I had built up in my head (keeping in mind we were obviously an early wave and those in later waves had it much worse I'm sure), it was getting toasty out there!

My stomach was good and I was really working on my positive mental "I'm a good runner" attitude.  Of course I knew Jess Jacobs (she of very fast running) was lurking behind me but I was actually thinking forward instead, telling myself that, especially on a hot day, anything can happen up ahead.

I thought the run course was relatively tough.  You climbed for the first several miles (gradual, but a climb nonetheless) and then you got onto a bike path that was NOT flat.  It was on this very bike path that I, in my own little world, decided 13.1 miles was not long enough and therefore took a wrong turn to add on some distance.  DOH!!  Totally my fault because when I did get corrected (a VERY nice lady on a bike thankfully chased me down), I did see the arrow that very clearly marked the proper way to go.  DOUBLE DOH!

I was SO mad at myself.  Like really mad at myself.  I had gone about 2 minutes out of my way which isn't totally insignificant.  Fortunately, in the end, it didn't really matter because Jess would have caught me anyway but nonetheless, it most certainly took a little wind out of my sails.  I kept telling myself to "just let it go" but it was a few miles before I could do so.

So yes, Jess did finally catch me, as she went onto record the fastest run of the day.  Although I never saw her pass me because it happened when I was on my detour.  I will say I held her off until about mile 8 which is longer than I managed at Steelhead last year when she passed me around mile 5.  Progress!  :)

The finish itself is pretty awesome.  You make a turn and run down a long stretch with tons of people cheering on each side.  It reminded me of the finish at IMCdA.  I am glad though that my sister told me when I turned I still had a half mile to go because I was expecting the finish line to be a lot closer!

Overall a good day for me.  I was happy to be on my first "podium" (I know 5th place isn't really a podium but awards went 5 deep) of the year with a pretty select crowd and also happy to have felt relatively good throughout the day.  Mostly though, it was just really awesome to have my family there and to be able to see them at the finish line.  I am eternally grateful to my family for their awesome support and encouragement.  I wouldn't be where I am otherwise.

Look - I'm in 3rd!  No wait, 3rd and 4th just forgot to come.  :)  Also, I feel short.

And now, 2 days later I'm still in North Carolina.  I've had a great time with my sister and brother in law and I'll be sad to leave tomorrow!  But another race awaits!  So far the recovery is going well from part #1 of this double.  Time to tackle part #2!!

Doing The Double

This weekend I'll be racing here:

Then I will fly from North Carolina to Maryland and race here the following weekend:

I've never attempted such a double.  And I have NO idea how it's going to go.  You don't know until you try right?  I'm just super excited to spend back to back weekends doing what I absolutely love - RACING!

One thing I do know is, there's no need to pack my coat!  The temps in Raleigh should be nice and toasty (forecasted in the high 80s/low 90s with plenty of southern humidity).  And although it's too far out to tell about Eagleman, ANYONE who has done that race in the past knows this: it WILL be super hot, it WILL be super humid and the snow cones they serve out on the run course at the turnaround WILL make you temporarily forget that you are dying a slow and painful death.  :)  Gotta love Eagleman! 

I'm also super excited about this double because I will get to see (and stay with!) my family at both -- my sister and brother in law live very near Raleigh and my parents are making the drive up from South Carolina.  And then my in-laws live near Baltimore and will be hosting me until Oscar picks me up to make the rest of the trek out to the eastern shore of MD for Eagleman!  

I've been looking forward to these 2 weekends ever since I hatched the idea to try this double.  Finally time to GIDDY UP!  :)  Now the only thing standing in my way is - you guessed it - PACKING.  UGH!  11 days away, 2 races, lots of wheels (SO. MANY. WHEELS!), and a whole lot of PowerGels.  However will this all weigh less than 50 lbs?!?!

Best of luck to all those racing these next weekends!  Hope to see you out there! 

New Addition To The Family

Nope, not pregnant!  But please do welcome to the family, Zippy (Zip for short), my new bike!

Took a pit stop on our ride today for pictures and snacks.  :)

I didn't really get this bike on purpose.  In fact I had no designs on getting a new bike since I just got a new frame around this time last year.  But about 3 or 4 weeks ago I found a crack in my old frame.  Yes, I have a remarkable ability to crack frames.  Seriously, I have no idea how this keeps happening.  I treat my bikes with the utmost care and pack them like I'm transporting my only child!

Yet still, I had some cracks near the seat post and Cervelo, being the awesome company that they are, sent me a replacement frame.  I'm not sponsored by Cervelo and they don't know me from the next person on the street, but they've always taken very good care of me.  I can't recommend them highly enough.  Oh, and they make awesome bikes too!

Anyway, the replacement frame just happened to be the upgraded P3, which is more like a dressed down P5 then a dressed up P3.  In short, it's awesome.  And because Big Bang Bikes is such an awesome shop (and you should definitely go there if you are in Pittsburgh!!), they got me set up with the new Shimano Dura Ace Di2 group set so I'm also now electronic!  AND, I also got a frame size smaller (from a 54 to a 51) and got refit to make sure my position is maximized.

Today I rode Zippy for the first time outside.  And let me tell you -- he ZIPS like none other!!  I absolutely love the electronic shifting (how did we ever live without it?) but most of all, the smaller frame size is so key. At first I couldn't help but feel VERY low to the ground but once I got over that, I feel like the bike fit me like a glove.  A smaller frame size makes for much easier handling.  It was love at first pedal-push.

So yeah, now I just have to deal with the fact that my Zipp disc has a 10 speed hub and I need an 11 speed hub instead.  Which means I need a new disc wheel.  Like yesterday.  #ouch  (oh, and I also have to remember to bring yet ANOTHER charger to races with me -- the charger for my bike battery!  :)

Happy riding!

Busy Getting Busy

Signs that training has picked up again:

1) The drying rack is totally over-run with swimsuits, cycling jerseys, running shorts, etc...  Each load of laundry fills the thing up to capacity such that I find myself hanging things up in random places in our basement instead.  Good thing I don't really wear regular clothes that would also need space on the drying rack!

2) The last few days I've woken up with the oddly comforting feeling that is a combo of "I'm so sore and tired I'm not sure I can get out of bed let alone do my scheduled training" and "ah yes, this is the awesome feeling of getting fitter and faster!"

3) There is no food in our house.  Like seriously, where did it all go?  Bagels, bananas, spinach (actually fruit and vegetables in general), milk (of chocolate and white varieties both), yogurt...all of it...GONE!  Needless to say I need to go grocery shopping today.

So yes, I've been busy getting busy.  With training and recovery and all the life that happens in between.  After binging on races in the early spring, I do have to admit that this nice little 3-4 week block of real training has been nice thus far.  Working hard does bring a deep satisfaction to my soul.  And our weather has been great for it. I was even treated to an Eagleman-esque (ie: hot, humid and windy) day on Wednesday afternoon for my track session.  It put me in a serious place of hurt but I was glad to have gotten the chance to get a little more acclimated to those conditions!

I went to watch O's athletes compete in the district track championships yesterday afternoon.  They have a host of kids headed to the state meet now including some girl distance runners in the 800 (2:15), 1600 (4:55) and 3200 (11:08). Can't believe I last ran in this meet FIFTEEN years ago!  #oldtimer

Cracked my helmet (not on the pavement with my head in it but rather during airplane travel) so Rudy Project was kind enough to send me a replacement AND a case so it doesn't happen again.  :)

You have to try these out!  SO good, made with good ingredients and very easy to travel with.  :)

New SOAS kits arrived just in time for me to look good while riding my bike all day, every day! 

Happy training to all and to those racing this weekend: BE GREAT!  :)

St. George 70.3/US Pro Championships Race Report

The St. George adventure began about 8 days prior to the race when my parents came to visit Pittsburgh from South Carolina.  My father flew home after a few days but my mom stayed on in Pittsburgh so that she could accompany me to St. George as race sherpa extraordinaire.  We had fun prior to leaving for Utah.  We played Scrabble, watched movies and of course, prepared for the race.

Doesn't every mom love packing bikes?

My mom and I got into St. George mid afternoon on Wednesday.  That day there were 30 mph winds and I was scared.  Mostly I feared getting attacked by tumbleweed.

Big tumbleweed on the side of the road.  I seriously didn't know this stuff really existed - I thought it was just in the movies!

Luckily as race day approached, the winds calmed down significantly and while it did also warm up quite a bit, I think St. George gave us it's best conditions possible on Saturday.  Thank you St. George!

Onto the race!

Swim: 29:52

The quest for making the swim pack continues!  I feel like a broken record but my swim played out pretty much as it has been thus far this year - I miss big swim pack/I swim by myself/I pull other swimmers around the water/I swim 30 minutes.  Ah well - what can you do but keep trying each race to finally attach to faster feet?  I will say that despite not swimming anything in the realm of impressive, I am swimming much better than I did all of last year.  Patience young grasshopper!  

I will also say that swimming in Sand Hallow Reservoir was truly awesome.  Clean, clear beautiful water in a breathtaking backdrop!  I would do this race again just for the chance to swim in that fantastic body of water! 

The swim course took us around that little island out there.  Look how purty the water is!

Chad and I pre race.  Xterra buddies!

My mom got a good view of the swim course.

Bike: 2:33:27

I exited the water with a nice little group of girls and because the women's pro field was quite large (bigger than usual anyway!) there were also several targets up the road that I could see.  Unfortunately when I started riding my legs didn't seem to want to participate in the fun.  I didn't panic, knowing that they could most definitely come around.  Which they did a little, but still, I spent most of the ride feeling flat and like I was lacking my usual power and punch.  This is bound to happen if you race often enough.  Some days your legs just don't have it.

Nevertheless, I wouldn't call it a terrible ride by any means, but rather just "so-so".  I moved through the field some and finally caught sight of the pack of girls that I wanted to be riding with (because I wanted to run with them).  But catching sight of them is all the further I got because try as I might, I could not will my legs to push hard enough to actually catch them.  I was terribly frustrated at one point but finally resolved to just keep chasing as hard as I could because that would at least keep me focused.

Oh, and by the way, the course was not only the most beautiful bike course I've ever raced on, but the toughest too!  The 2.5 hours on the bike went by incredibly fast because we were either going up, down, around or being treated to breathtaking views.  Really, you MUST do this race if you get a chance.  You won't be disappointed.

My pictures don't even begin to do it justice.

I definitely ran out of gears in both directions.  3244 feet of climbing per my Garmin.

Run: 1:34:29

If the bike was one of the harder courses I've ever raced on, the run was THE hardest 70.3 run I've ever encountered.  Out of transition we climbed for 4 miles and some of the climbing was pretty brutal!  This terrain definitely discouraged going out too fast which was good for me.  When I left T2, I just set my sights on the next girl up the road and slowly tried to reel people in.

As "blah" as I felt on the bike, my run legs were feeling a little peppier than usual!  Not that I was moving fast by any means but I did actually pass people on the run vs my usual just getting passed by others!  I was most pleased with my "fight" on the run.  St. George isn't a PR course so success has to be measured in other ways.  I definitely felt like I had a much improved run over New Orleans just 2 weeks prior.

1168 feet of climbing on the run course is no joke!

Charisa and I at the finish line with the INCREDIBLE Sue Hutter!  :)

Overall:  20th female/4:41:14

I'm proud of this race.  It wasn't an amazing or breakthrough performance by any means, but I fought hard and stayed in it on the run.  I'm also very glad I did this race -- not really an obvious choice of venues for me as there was no real chance of getting a paycheck or a boatload of points for Vegas in this stellar field.  HOWEVER, the way I see it is, there isn't really any better way to learn how to race like the best other than racing against the best!  I like putting myself in situations where I can see how I truly stack up and where I can really learn and that's exactly what happened yesterday.  I'm smarter and much fitter for having done the US Pro Champs.  And also super hungry to keep chipping away at those long term goals.  I had a great first pro year last year where I truly surprised myself in many ways.  But this year is about raising the bar and St. George was an important step in doing just that.

Thus ends my "3 70.3s in 5 weeks extravaganza"!  And now I don't race again for 4 weeks.  Uh-oh, I think that means I have to do some "real" training now!  No better time to get after it though - Pittsburgh appears to have finally emerged from it's deep freeze and summer feels right around the corner!  YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!

As always I owe a big thanks to so many.  My Mom, first and foremost for coming out with me and doing all things triathlon for 4 days!  Nothing like waking up at 3:30 am and carrying around heavy bags all day!  ;)  Also big thanks to a wonderful group of sponsors who make this possible.  To an amazing husband who REALLY makes this possible.  ;)  And to an awesome coach who keeps me believing.  Our conversation after the race yesterday has me quite excited for what lies ahead.  Thanks for all the twitter/FB/texts cheers and encouragement - it means more than you could know!  

And finally, some more pictures.  To end what was already an awesome day, Chad came up with the idea to visit Zion National Park.  So Cary (good friend from my MAO days), Chad, Mom and I piled into the car and made the 30 minute drive and it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!!!!!!!!!!  Being among such grandeur has an awesome way of making me feel so small and insignificant.  God sure has created some fantastic beauty in our world.

Mom and I in Zion National Park.  Very good memories created!

So big and beautiful and like nothing I've ever seen before.

Chad made us climb up this (just kidding...but I think he was considering it...).

Cary, Chad and I!  :)

New Orleans 70.3 Race Report

This was my third year doing the NOLA 70.3 and I have to say, this city just does NOT disappoint!  It's so full of flavor and amazingly unique to every other place I've ever been.  Unlike many of the other major US cities I've traveled to (that all look and feel the same), you will never mistake New Orleans for any other place!

This year I was lucky enough to have (yet another) wonderful homestay family in the Sanders, made even better by the fact that Kim also stayed with them.  Dave and Angele have lived their whole lives in New Orleans so it was awesome to hear their perspective and understand the NO culture from true locals!  Plus, they took us to some awesome eats that the normal tourist (ie: me) never would have found on their own!  All in all, a most wonderful time. I can't say I'd want to live in New Orleans but it is a place you have to visit at least once in a lifetime.  (or every April to do the 70.3 if you are like me :)

Onto the race!

Swim: 30:00

Although, as mentioned, I've done this race 2 other times, I've never actually swam in New Orleans. After many failed attempts at having a safe swim in Lake Pontchartrain, the race organizers moved the swim to a protected harbor this year.  And it worked!  I was happy to finally get a full triathlon for the first time!

The water was a pretty perfect 64-65 degrees (much warmer and I seem to boil in my wetsuit) and the course was shaped like an "N" with a little tail at the end to exit the water.  Although it seemed like it was going to be a hard-to-navigate course, it really wasn't.  I had a pretty easy time of siting (although that doesn't mean I actually went straight, I at least didn't feel lost :).

My swim itself was "meh".  It was fine - not bad by any means but certainly not spectacular.  The pro women's field was relatively small in ~15-16 women and within those women the swim abilities were very split - those that can swim 25 minutes or under (~5 women) and those that swim around ~30 minutes (every one else).  Because I can't hang with those that swim 25 minutes, I ended up towing everyone else around the harbor.  To have that awesome breakthrough 27 minute swim, I'm going to need a whole bunch of women that can swim in that range and just hang on desperately to their feet.  Either way, I'm not disappointed with yesterday's effort in the water.  I can definitely see big improvements over last year in this department so I'm not complaining!

Bike: 2:24:51

Because the swim course was moved, the bike course was also just a bit different but it was essentially the same idea - an out and back on very flat but very windy roads - the kind of course where you just hunker down in your aerobars and pedal as hard as you can for 2.5 hours.  As in the past, we had a head/cross wind for pretty much the entire ride out and a tail/cross wind all the way home.

I felt good on the bike and was happy with how things were going.  I had swallowed quite a bit of lake water (the harbor had that little chop that smacks you in the side of the face every time you breathe) which had really triggered my reflux and so I spent the first 15 miles just trying to throw up/settle my stomach.  But around mile 20ish, my friend Kristin passed me and I was super thankful for this development!  Besides being an awesome person, Kristin is also a SUPER biker and I knew if I could just focus on keeping her in sight, she would pull me along to the next group of girls ahead on the road.  And this is exactly how it played out.  I struggled at times to keep up but pushed hard and then at other times I felt good.  At some point I passed Kristin back, we caught a few of the other super swimmers and I was even in 2nd place briefly (with Haley Chura up the road 4 minutes and Amy Marsh on the side of the road with a flat).  In the end I came into T2 in 4th place with the 2nd fastest bike split behind Kristin.  If there is a bright spot of yesterday's race, my bike was it.  I'm feeling good and strong on the bike, my power was good and my HR low, and I'm definitely progressing from last year!

Run: 1:31:16

Of course with every bright spot, there is also a not-so-bright spot and my run was definitely the disappointment of the day.  ARGH!  DOUBLE ARGH!!!  It's no secret that my run definitely frustrates me more often than not.  In many races I can bike myself into a great position but that doesn't mean much if you don't have the run to back it up!  Oh how I wish the race sometimes ended after the bike!  HA!  :)  Seriously though, why I'm most frustrated is because I KNOW (like I really, really, really believe!) that I have in me what I need (that 1:25ish type run) to finish off a good race.  But it just won't come out.

I can come up with many excuses for yesterday - most notably the fact that I really struggled with my reflux (it's something that is very manageable on the bike but exponentially worse once you start running) but truthfully, even I'M tired of that excuse so I know you all must be too!  And everyone deals with something on the run that doesn't necessarily hold them back (case in point, Kristin had some NASTY blisters starting early on but that didn't stop her from running 1:24!).  Also, although it was bad yesterday, for the most part my reflux has been pretty under control.  So that's certainly not the sole reason I'm not able to run 6:30 pace off the bike.  It's definitely a mental demon!

I will admit to being pretty down about my dismal run right after the race.  Not only was I REALLY nauseated upon crossing the line, but I was sulking a bit too!  (never a good combo!)  But after some time by myself (actually, on the massage table), letting my stomach settle (upon which I was STARVING) and talking with Dirk on the phone about the situation, I definitely felt very encouraged and much better.

The thing is, it's a process.  This sport is really hard because it's super tough to get all the variables and the balance you need to excel in all three.  Yes, I'm not running like I want to right now.  But the positives are, my swim and bike are definitely progressing.  I went under 4:30 for the first time (moving in the right direction!).  And most importantly, I'm healthy.  With patience and continued hard, consistent work, I just know that run will come!  And when it does, I will be super thrilled to really finish a race off!  Also, it's early. This is the one thing Dirk really impressed upon me in our phone conversation yesterday.  If there is one thing I learned last year, it's that it is a VERY long year.  And because I've put so many races on my schedule, Dirk assured me that he's taking things slow so I actually make it on the start line healthy and happy to all those races!  It may be a bit like high school running where you just race your way into shape all season long.  :)  (of course my lack of patience dictates that I want success and I want it NOW!)

So I certainly haven't given up!  More than anything, the somewhat disappointing days drive me to make it right the next time.  I'm stubborn like that.  I want to show that run who is boss!  And as luck should have it, I only have to wait 2 weeks to try it again in St George, Utah!  (hooooray!)

In the mean time, I will celebrate and be inspired by my friend's and fellow competitor's performances.  It was amazing to see Haley with her first pro win (and super cute victor's speech!), fantastic to watch all of Kim's hard work come together so that she could really have a breakthrough run and truly inspiring to witness Kristin put together a SUPER solid race (I aspire to her bike/run combo!!).  Let me tell you, I'm hanging out with the right people!

Many, many thanks as always for all your cheers and encouragement, to my family and friends who love me even if I do 15 minute miles on the run, to an awesome group of sponsors, and to a coach that never grows tired of me running 1:30.  I'm not sure who is going to be more excited when I finally have that breakthrough!  :)

My new strategy for running fast is to hang around with Kim 24/7.  I'm pretty sure some of her quicks will just rub right off on me!  :)

Louie, awesome homestay dog!  He's an Australian sheep dog so he spent most of the weekend herding Kim and I around.  :)

Dave, awesome homestay, getting down at the awards ceremony!  The Sanders showed Kim and I an awesome time!

Pittsburghers travel in packs!  LOVED sharing the day with so many awesome friends from home!

Finish Lines

I've crossed hundreds of finish lines in my life.  Finish lines of big races, little races, cycling races, swim races, track races, road races, cross country races, triathlons. As I thought about it, I realized that no matter what type of race - a really bad performance or a breakthrough win, the finish line is ALWAYS such a welcome and amazing sight.  And the only truly bad race is the one where you don't cross the finish line.

I've never crossed the finish line of the Boston Marathon but it's now a big goal of mine.

Another big goal I now have is to remember to cherish each finish line I'm privileged enough to cross.  Should I be blessed enough to cross the finish line this Sunday in New Orleans, I have made a promise to myself and all those in Boston yesterday that I won't take that line for granted.  And I will celebrate that finish line for all those that didn't get one yesterday.  And for all those who may not ever have one again.  #prayforboston