Bike

Yesterday I lost an old friend—my first tri bike. Well, maybe ‘lost’ isn’t exactly the right word.

I decided to do my first triathlon back in 2003. Upon graduating from college, where I ran cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track, 3 seasons out of the year for four years, I was looking to do something fun and exciting that involved competition, getting in a workout, and, well, running- just not quite the same kind of running I’d been doing for the prior 4, really 9 years. It’s not that I didn’t still love running- I’d just qualified for and competed in the NCAAs for outdoor track the month prior, which had been my goal (dream) all throughout college. I just kind of realized that I’d probably never have the same opportunity that college running afforded me to be at my absolute best as a runner, and knew I probably wasn’t going to be setting any more personal records on the running front (at least not in the 5k and below distances). I wanted a NEW challenge. There was a sprint triathlon close to my parent’s home in Montauk, NY. Every year during high school and college I’d watch the cyclists ride past our driveway, and my passing thought was that it looked like fun. Two weeks out, I signed up (I think it cost about $85, which seemed SO EXPENSIVE at the time) and got geared up for the race. I’d done plenty of biking in my life, including biking trips as a child and teenager with my parents, and as I got older became pretty fond of spin classes as well. In addition, the year prior I had learned how to swim freestyle. I had running down. I was all set! Only problem was I didn’t have a wetsuit or a bike. My dad graciously worked on his old steel-frame bike to get it in good working order so I could do the race on it. I used an old surfing wetsuit for the swim which was far from hydrodynamic but got the job done!

I had a lot of fun in this first triathlon, but like all things tri-related tend to be, I wondered how much faster I could be if I had faster gear? I needed to get a modern bike (one that didn’t outdate me) that was fast and fit me well. After some hunting around I settled on this! 

I still remember my first ride with this bike, which was also my first ride with clipless pedals- I clipped in and promptly fell over. I’ve never been one to name my bikes, so we’ll just call it ‘Bike’. Bike and I were practically inseparable from the start. We had many long, short, and in between adventures together on the roads of Atlanta, in and around the DC metro area, and even some trips to races in Austin, TX and Long Island, NY. (Bike and I also got into a slight accident that caused me to lose 7 teeth, but since this post is about remembering Bike fondly, we won’t go into that). However, after about 5 years of fun adventures, I eventually outgrew Bike. I had started to get into triathlon more seriously and once again, wondered how good I could be at tri if I had comparable equipment to all the other fast athletes I saw out on the race course? Bikes had advanced quite a bit in the last 4-5 years. In December 2008, I decided to purchase a Cervelo P3 and I’m not sure I ever rode Bike again after that. He’s been living a fairly sedentary lifestyle in the house for the past 4 years. Eventually last year the idea dawned on me to sell Bike. But I didn’t. I took pictures for the online sale, but never posted them. This fall, I had thoughts of getting another road bike, but didn't want to own 5 bikes. As logic and practicality won over against sentimentality, I finally posted his photo on Craigslist to see if any would-be suitors would bite. I got several inquiries, but the first person who came by didn't like Bike enough to buy him. I can’t say that I was disappointed. The second person to come look at Bike really liked him. I could tell that Bike would get a lot of use with this person. In fact, this buyer brought his biking gear with him and planned to ride Bike home right then and there. I knew that Bike would have exciting new adventures and many miles on the roads with his new owner which would be a much better life for him than being cooped up in a house for months, or years, on end. I realized that Bike would be much better off this way. Still, as Bike’s purchaser handed me the money and readied him to be ridden home, I felt just a little bit sad. It felt like I was selling an old friend.

I can now say that I completely understand how some friends (not naming any names here…) end up with 14 or 20 bikes!

Eagleman 70.3 Race Report

On June 10^th I competed in the Eagleman Ironman 70.3 for the 4^th year in a row and can definitely say it’s always one of my favorite weekends of the year, not just because of the race but all of the events surrounding the race and sharing it all with the many friends who come out to compete in this race and/or support. Racing with friends is something I always got to do as an amateur, but I don’t so often get to do as a pro so I'm always grateful for the opportunity.

My last race (Columbia Tri) was really sub-par and I really wanted to have a good race at Eagleman to prove to myself that those results were not indicative of my fitness or what I was capable of.  Eagleman exceeded even my optimistic hopes and I couldn’t be happier. I finished 3^rd in the pro field and came close to setting a PR for the 70.3 distance in 4:26 (with my only faster race being Clearwater which always turns out unbelievably fast times from all… so in a sense I feel like this was a PR since this is a legit course).

     Chris and I headed out to Cambridge Friday morning (about 2 hours from DC) and spent a relaxed day getting lunch with friends, swimming the course (which was especially enjoyable since the day was beautiful and being out on the water felt great- Cambridge is a really wonderful place to spend time when the weather is nice!), getting settled at my homestay, and getting dinner at an amazing restaurant (Bistro Poplar) with Chris. 

     Saturday was filled with the usual pre-race activities including getting gear together, analyzing my race nutrition and choice of gear many times over, and taking care of small details- which always seems to consume an inordinate amount of time, but it’s so important to pay attention to the little things since these can make or break your race… for example, forgotten salt tabs or misjudging what how much nutrition you’ll need. I finally decided on going with a very concentrated bottle of First Endurance EFS drink mix on the bike, 2 First Endurance Pre-Race caps before the race and 2 more at mile 40 of the bike, a First Endurance EFS gel flask on the run along with Salt Stick tabs and on-course sports drink and coke. I also emptied some additional Salt Stick pills into the EFS drink mix since the forecast called for it to be especially hot and humid. After everything was just right we went out for a great dinner with a fun group of friends and I was asleep by 9:30 or so.

I could have had a bad situation when my phone didn’t charge the night prior to the race, whose alarm I relied on to wake me up in the wee hours of the morning… but thankfully my phone waited to die until 45 minutes after my alarm went off! Much better than 45 minutes before. Yes, God is good. So race morning I got up on time and had my usual coffee, and the most calorie-dense thing I could stomach- half an Odwalla Strawberry protein smoothie and a few cups of mango juice. I can never eat anything before a race so I try to go for the most liquid calories I can stomach.

Race morning the race officials made the call the water temp- just ever so barely wetsuit legal! Since I love swimming in my wetsuit and need all the help I can get in the swim, I was super excited about this, but it did come as somewhat of a surprise as the water temps had already heated up beyond the wetsuit threshold by Memorial Day weekend… since things usually only get hotter as the summer progresses, the chances of this wetsuit swim being legal were very slim to none… in fact, the pre-race email to pros stated that the swim would not be wetsuit legal.

My usual pre-race routine includes warming up on the trainer for 20 minutes with some 30-second pickups immediately upon arriving at the race site, then setting up my transition area. I got those two things done and got ready for the swim start. For some reason I was feeling really nervous - much more-so than usual. I really of wanted to get the race started so I could have something to focus on other than being nervous. Finally they called the pros into the water and it was time to swim!

After the gun went off, I found myself on some feet early on and stuck with them the whole way. Eventually we joined up with a few more pros and I therefore ended up coming out of the water at about the same time or close behind 4 others.  Swim PR for me! (29:30-ish). This time was so “fast” that my dad missed me coming out of the water until Chris informed him that I’d already gone by. Into T2 there were several women ahead of me, so I tried to transition quickly so I could be within close range on the bike.

I decided not to swim with my Garmin this time because I feel like it’s so big and creates additional drag so therefore had the added challenge of grabbing it in T2 and putting it on while riding. This was a bit more difficult than I’d imagined and pre-race practice would have been good! I eventually managed to get it on without crashing, slowing down, or dropping the watch which I consider a big success.

I took the first 10 miles rather easy since there were several pros up ahead bunched together and the course marshals were right on us… I didn’t want to try to pass and get a penalty for being too slow in passing several people at once, or burn too many matches by sprinting to pass within the short allotted passing time. I think this actually worked out well for me since the slower start allowed me a more even effort throughout the bike, something I’ve always struggled with. Since the Eagleman course is flat and the scenery rather unchanging (though beautiful!) I decided to take splits every 10 miles to break the race into smaller pieces and keep myself focused, and just paid attention to my power for each 10 mile segment (and taking in nutrition at the right intervals). Around mile 40 I took the two First-EndurancePre-Race pills and my power really picked back up for the last 10 miles, which ended up being strongest (highest wattage) one.

Since this was a pretty competitive field, my goal was to finish in the money (top 6) and coming into T2 I had no idea what place I was in. I thought maybe 6^th or 7^th. So when I saw the 3^rd place female lead biker up ahead waiting for the next runner to emerge from T2, I got pretty excited! I was in 4^th place at that point but right behind 3^rd, and within 2 miles passed into 3^rd place. However, with the infamous heat out on the run course (it ended up being a humid high of 93 that day, with 10 miles of the course completely unshaded) anything can happen so I tried not to get too excited and keep a good but not too hard effort. Though I usually do really well in hot race conditions (comparatively), I have had a race or two where I’ve gotten depleted and really struggled badly in this type of weather.  Around mile 2 we passed a house that had a great party going on out front, and they were cooking bacon- really NOT what you want to smell when you’re running in 90 degree weather. I focused on taking in as much as I could at each aid station- which meant stopping to make sure I got everything- cups of ice to pour into my sports bra, ice water to pour on my head, and liquids to drink at every aid station, and a coke and salt tab at every other aid station. At the run turnaround, I saw that I had a pretty good gap which made me feel better about stopping at every aid station to get everything I needed rather than running through. It seemed like a hot eternity between aid stations, but pretty soon we were at the final partially shaded final mile leading to the finish line!

The best part of my finish was that I got to share it with so many friends, many of whom also had great results. Chris was 2^nd place in the male Aquavelo division, qualifying him for Aquavelo nationals. My good friend Doria PR’d in her first race back after having a stress fracture this past fall.  Friends and family including my Dad were out on the course cheering. Our homestay hosts- who hosted me as well as friends Doria and Esther for the 2^nd year in a row- showed us incredible hospitality, and it was as if they were our own family with how excited they were for us after the race. They even made us a congratulatory poster on the door when we arrived home. I also saw so many friends at the awards or finish who were as excited about my race as I was- as well as others tracking me online- truly made it a great day.

Now that Eagleman is over I’ve started my Ironman-specific training for Ironman NYC in August, and I’ll be racing next at Racine Ironman 70.3 on July 15^th. Many thanks to the great support of FFT, especially coach Eric for the smart, well thought out training plan that is challenging yet manageable with my full-time work schedule, to Computrainer for enabling me to do those killer bike sessions that would be impossible otherwise, and to Cervelo for my super fast P4, both of which helped me to the 3^rd fastest bike split at Eagleman. I’m also extremely grateful to Inside Out Sports for sponsoring our team and all of the great support that they provide, First Endurance for the excellent products (best on the market) for keeping us properly fueled and performing at our best in training and races, and recovering properly after, CEP for the great compression/recovery gear, and Nicole Allen Massage Therapy for the excellent massages that keep me injury free and training strong. And last but not least, many thanks to SkinSake for keeping us chafe free (an often-overlooked but vital product especially for longer-distance races!), Rudy Project for the excellent helmets (most comfortable and functional I’ve ever owned) and eyewear, TrainingPeaks for making tracking training a piece of cake, SPaRC of Santa Barbara for keeping our mental game strong, Prevail Conditioning, and FS series. Looking forward to racing again in three weeks!

New Orleans Race Recap

On Sunday I raced the New Orleans 70.3, my first “real” race of the season. Results: 8^th place in a strong field of 21 pro females, with the 5^th fastest bike split.

New Orleans 70.3 is a great race for several reasons… the incredible southern hospitality, ability to get great seafood, the fact that they give you things like this (photo below) in your goody bag… warm weather and oh yes, the fact that the swim tends to get cancelled due to extreme weather. Not that I don’t love a good swim, but it’s exciting to race and not have to work my way up from the back of the pack once in awhile!

I headed down to New Orleans on Thursday night directly from work to catch the 2-hour flight to New Orleans. Thanks to Tri-Bike Transport’s gracious support of Ironman pros, I was able to fly sans-bike for the first time in awhile, which was SO NICE. Plus, they take amazing care of your bike- I’ve used them for several events now as an amateur and now as a pro- they are awesome. Unfortunately, my flight was delayed, the shuttle and rental car fetching took forever, and so I ended up getting to my homestay at 1 am. The family I stayed with, the Chimentos, were SO gracious and wonderful, I’m so blessed to have gotten to stay with them for the weekend- they truly made me feel at home, and even left me a bowl of snacks in my room!

The days leading up to the race were not too eventful… much of my time was spent doing work (busy time at my full-time job) interspersed with a good amount of sleep, some solid taper workouts, the usual pre-race committments, a great dinner with friends on Friday night where we had some really authentic New Orleans fare, and an awesome sushi dinner (which happens to be my favorite pre-race meal!) with the Chimentos on Saturday night before the race.

The race day forecast was for a storm front to move through with very strong winds, so was talk of cancelling the swim. Sure enough, Saturday around 2pm, we received the official word that the swim would be cancelled, to be replaced with a 2 mile run prior to the bike. This was exciting as I feel like I’ve made some progress with running in the last month and was more than happy to have the 1.2 mile swim replaced with a 2 mile run. At the same time, the super windy conditions (30mph winds) that were in the forecast made me a bit nervous for the bike since I was planning on riding a disc, more nervous after they told us at the pro meeting that they would really not recommend riding a disc for the race (though pretty much every pro showed up on race day with a disc).  Sure enough, the winds really picked up on Saturday evening. By Saturday night, large trees were swaying, I could hear really strong gusts outside all night.

I like picking out a Bible verse before each race and thinking about it prior to the race and during the race when things get tough,  as they do in every race whether it’s a “good” kind of tough or a “bad” kind of tough. This time I picked out a verse from Isaiah 41:

“Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my righteous right hand.”

On race morning I got up at 4:30am and I was pretty wide awake. Had my usual pre-race coffee, and some liquid calories (I find it extremely hard to eat solid foods before a race… probably one of the only times I find eating difficult!) including half of a Naked tropical protein smoothie and a Boathouse Farms strawberry banana smoothie. I had planned to eat a Powerbar too, but this was just not going to be happening today. Stomach was not feeling like it could stomach any food.

I got to the race site about 5:15 and pulled out the trainer in the parking lot to do my bike warmup (thanks also to my homestay host for lending me his trainer… yet another thing I did not have to travel with this time around!!) Did a good 15-minute warmup with some 30 second pickups, then went to transition to get situated. Setting up trasition for a run-bike-run is different from setting up for a swim-bike-run, and required some thought to make sure key pieces were not missing. I then headed out for a 12-minute warm-up run, spent some time loosening up my legs on the foal roller (buoy),hydrated and took some First Endurance Pre-Race, and before I knew it, they were kicking us out of transition.

It was COLD waiting for the start. I was glad we were the first to start, and did not envy the people who had to wait around for close to an hour without warm clothing as there was seemingly no morning clothes drop at this race. Pretty soon it was time for the national anthem and pre-race prayer, which expressed thankfulness for being healthy and able to compete here today. I truly feel blessed to be healthy, injury-free, and the means and support to race as a pro, but in the hours leading up to a race, it’s sooo easy to take this for granted when all you can focus on is the pain that lies ahead!

RUN 1- 2.2 miles, 12:20

Pretty soon the pro women were lining up… felt like a track race! I chose the inside part of the lane. Then the gun and we were off! The plan was to run at no harder than a 10k effort per coach Eric, which is about a 5:50/mile pace for me. I felt like we were going about this pace or maybe even a bit slower, though I wasn’t looking at my Garmin too much since the group was tightly bunched and I didn’t want to trip over anyone. First mile was a 5:37 (a little fast!) but the second mile settled down to a 5:50 pace. This pace felt fine and not out of control… I came into transition with the first group of about 9 women, and once we got into transition it turned into a sprint for the bikes! I was definitely not the quickest one out- had trouble with my helmet, and lost about 10 seconds there- transitions are definitely something to work on.

BIKE- 52 miles, 2:13:45 (5^th fastest)

I tried to get on the bike quickly and catch up to the group of women who had beat me out of transition. I gradually worked my way up to 4^th place in the first 10 miles of the bike. It was definitely windy, especially with some mean crosswinds when descending off the bridges, but overall not too bad at all in terms of bike handling. My Rudy Project wingspan helmet was awesome in the wind- even though it was so windy, I felt like it was slicing through the air with little disturbance. Things were going pretty well for the first half of the bike and I was able to hold my goal power output, but this started to drop in the latter half especially in sections with a tailwind- I couldn’t find the proper gear to really put out a good wattage – kind of odd, since I felt like my effort was pretty high. After the race, I also realized I only comsumed half my bottle of calories- which would probably play a factor later on during the run. I came into T2 in 4^th place, with the 5^th fastest bike split of the day despite my issues, which I was fairly happy with though I need to work on being able to sustain my power throughout the bike in different conditions.

RUN- 13.1 miles, 1:27:06 (70.3 PR)

Into T2 and a quick change into my shoes, and I was off running… in the wrong direction. Quickly turned around but by this time Mirinda Carfrae and Magali Tissere, who came into T2 right behind me, had caught up passed me as we exited T2. It was clear that I was NOT going to be keeping up with them-  they ended up running a 1:19 and a 1:22- My first mile was a 6:15 and they had already gained over 100 meters on me by that point- so I tried to settle into my goal pace of 6:30, which I was able to hold for the first 7 miles. Around the 5 mile mark, Caitlin Snow came clipping by (she would run a 1:18 half) and I just tried to focus on my form and effort level- and on keeping cool and hydrated- it was starting to feel pretty warm out there! Around mile 9 I was passed again and my pace was slipping to 6:40 or so. The last 4 miles were not so fun… I think my lack of calories on the bike was starting to affect my legs… around mile 10 I started to get foot cramps/ charlie horse in one foot…. I prayed that this would stay at bay for the next few miles since it was really uncomfortable and messing with my form, making it hard to push off and making me feel like I was going to trip. Getting in some sports drink at each aid station definitely helped, but then the foot cramp would slowly resurface during the next mile. Not something I've ever experienced before during a run- only during swims! Finally, I could hear the announcer in transition and there was the finish! Came across in 8^th with a 1:27:06 run (a 6:38 pace, and though I definitely think I’m capable of going quite a bit faster, is actually a 70.3 PR for me). Definitely happy with the way this race went, but also motivated to improve some things with my biking, running, and racing, not to mention swimming.

I didn’t have time to do too much exploring after the race but did make it to a Bikram Yoga class in an incredibly cute part of New Orleans on Sunday evening, which really helped me loosen up and feel better after the race.

Many thanks to Coach Eric for such a solid training plan and great guidance on training and racing, and to all of the fantastic great sponsors that have supported myself and the Fast Forward Triathlon Pro Development Team and helped us achieve our goals: Inside Out Sports, Rudy Project, Cervelo, Computrainer, First Endurance, Skin Sake,CEP Compression, Training Peaks, Prevail Conditioning, SPaRC, and FSSeries.

Thanks also to Will Jones of 4D Fitness for lending me a shallower front race wheel which made my bike handle much better in the wind, TriBike Transport for supporting pros this year with bike transport and doing such a stellar job at it, Lee Ann Leblanc for the great dinner at Mandina’s, and to my incredible homestay hosts, the Chimentos! 

Next race: Columbia Triathlon on May 20^th.

FFT Team Camp and Oceanside 70.3 Recap

I spent the end of March in Southern California at the FFT Pro Development Team training camp and racing the Oceanside Ironman 70.3. It was a challenging week filled with training, learning, getting to know my FFT teammates, racing and some quality time with good friends- all in a very scenic environment.

Chris and I flew into San Diego on Friday night and spent a day and a half with my friend Maureen and her husband Iggy. We were treated to some awesome meals and some great relaxing time in their outdoor hot tub! In addition to great friends, they are amazing hosts. Maureen took us on a great long ride on Saturday with lots of climbing, and a great run on Sunday morning. On Sunday morning we made our way up to Santa Barbara, a 5 hour drive, stopping along the way just outside of LA to see my friend (and college track teammate) and now pro cyclist, Devon Gorry, compete in a bike race with the NOW/Novartis women’s cycling team at the Redlands Cycling Classic (they won the race!) After a quick lunch with Devon, we completed the traffic-y drive up I-5 in the pouring rain and finally made it to the awesome Santa Barbara home that would be our training base for the week (many thanks to the Warrens!)

TEAM CAMP

Monday AM started off bright and early with a blood lactate test on the bike. This test is done on the Computrainer and involves cycling at progressively higher wattage while monitoring both heart rate and blood lactate levels. This helps to determine your lactate threshold, approximately the level of effort you should be able to hold for a 1 hour TT on the bike, which is then used to create training zones (measured by wattage and heart rate) for various types of workouts. The team then headed out for a 4 hour ride with some good sections of climbing at a tempo effort. Unfortunately at the beginning of the ride, Chris crashed and landed on his side and left wrist. He seemed to be OK (though in pain) with likely a sprained wrist. Since the ride took longer than expected, we rode straight to Prevail Conditioning for functional strength assessments, which involved performing various movements while being videotaped. I was feeling pretty beat and hungry at this point, and was forever grateful to Moose for bringing over a whole assortment of lunch ingredients for us! After our functional strength assessments, we then headed straight to the pool for a recovery swim workout at a beautiful long course meter outdoor pool. By the time we got home and had dinner, made by Mrs. Warren, which was excellent! I was so tired I fell asleep at 9pm.

Tuesday we did the always exciting bike-run-bike-run brick workout at a hard tempo pace. The bike loop included some beautiful views of the ocean, which we didn’t get to enjoy much once the workout started but could certainly appreciate on the cooldown. I tested out First Endurance Pre-Race for this workout (along with my usual EFS Drink), which I felt made me more alert and focused, and made my legs and lungs forget about all the hard workouts I had done in the days prior and able to ride and run at a relatively hard effort. The afternoon included a swim workout with some all-out 100s, and a sport psychology talk by Dr. Steve of SPaRC. Among other things, he encouraged us to think beyond simply what time or place we want to achieve in a race, to how we want to be remembered as an athlete and person in our sport, and what values we want to express during our training, racing, and interactions with others. He also talked about overcoming mental and emotional obstacles to training and competing at our best. After that it was dinner time (with another amazing dinner prepared by Mrs. Warren) and then cake time as it was Erika’s birthday!

Wednesday included another long ride (80 miles with a long climb partway up the well-known Gibraltar route) out to Solvang and back with a 20 minute brick run, then to Prevail Conditioning for a great session where they showed us how to do some great preventative strengthening exercises and how to self-treat various issues we’re having (or example, a tight IT band or tight plantar fascia) using a foam roller, tennis ball, lacrosse ball, golf ball, etc (painful but so helpful!) and improve our mobility. Their work with us all week was so helpful and I learned a lot.

Thursday held another LCM swim workout followed by a track workout in the afternoon. The Prevail crew came and showed us many great drills to do to help us both warm up and instill proper run form before our workouts, and videotaped us as well. Most of the group then did 6x1000m intervals at VO2 Max effort, while I did a bit shorter workout since I had Oceanside 70.3 in two days. Then we all headed down to downtown Santa Barbara for dinner. Chris and I went to The Natural Café where we got some really awesome fish tacos and an amazing salad- and got to eat outside!

Friday AM we did a team run photo shoot on the beach (beautiful backdrop for it!) with Chris as the photographer. We then packed up and headed back down to San Diego so I could make the Oceanside 70.3 pro meeting, get my race packet, and get my gear and bike situated for the race. After browsing the expo, getting some free samples, visiting some sponsors, checking in and attending the pro meeting, I took a short icebath in the ocean (which at 55 degrees, was the perfect ice bath-ing temperature, though a bit disconcerting that it was also the temperature we would be swimming in the next day!) We then drove further south to San Diego to Maureen’s house where we’d be staying for the night, where she was preparing an amazing salmon dinner on the grill. After getting the bike and gear all ready for the race, Chris prayed for me and for my race the next day, and it was time to get some sleep.

RACE DAY

Saturday morning we awoke at 3:30am, which is I think the earliest I’ve ever gotten up for a race. I was so glad Maureen was racing too, as that made the early wakeup much more tolerable. I was still feeling really tired by the time we were ready to leave so I skipped the coffee and napped on the 45-minute drive up to Oceanside (thanks to Maureen’s husband Iggy for driving, and to both Chris and Iggy for getting up so early to support us at the race!) I felt better after that and had my coffee and breakfast and some EFS and Pre-Race. It was about 50 degrees out and clear, but when we got to transition, it had started to drizzle. Since the weather forecast had not called for rain, I assumed this was just a momentary patch. As I got my wetsuit on and prepared for the start, it was clear that it was only getting ranier, but I hoped it would let up before we got on the bike. I was definitely a bit nervous for the swim, as in addition to the cold water, they’d told us at the pro meeting that there would be 3-foot swells during the middle section of the course, and sighting is not my best talent as it is. My goal was to swim with a pack to make this easier.

When they let the pro women into the water, it indeed felt like we were jumping into an icebath, as I'd anticipated the day prior- the water was COLD! I had to swim with my head up for a minute or two as the water was so cold I couldn’t breathe with my head submerged. Finally my body semi-adjusted to the temperature, just in time for the starting gun. The start of the swim was pretty violent- I got kicked directly in the face pretty hard twice and my goggles partially filled with water. Good thing I’d had plenty of practice swimming with salty water in my goggles earlier in the week at team camp, when we did 100s off the blocks and my goggles filled with water on every one! I was able to stay with a couple girls which helped immensely as we neared the rough section of the course, but sighting and staying in a straight line was still pretty tough for us. By the end, my head and feet got pretty cold, even with two swim caps on. I came out of the water pretty close behind the little pack I was swimming with at almost 34 minutes and struggled to get my wetsuit off and socks and helmet on with numb fingers- not a quick transition! 

As I began to bike, I thought of the verse Philipians 3:13, as it was how I wanted to approach this race- “but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal…” Though I’d put a lot of training in this week, I did not want to use this as an excuse to have a sub-par race or not push myself as much as I was capable of. During the race I tried not to think about the training we’d done that week, but just about pushing myself and moving up throughout the race! I knew the field was pretty large and strong, but I tried to focus on my own race, and moving forward, not on the week behind or what I could have done differently in the swim or earlier in the race.

Out on the bike course I couldn’t get my Garmin to pickup my power meter, odd since I've never had this issue before. I tried to re-set it in order to get it to pick up, but it took several tries. The rain got a little stronger which made corners (which there were many of, and which I’m not that great at anyway!) tricky. About 5 miles in, I dropped a bottle, thankfully not the one with all of my calories for the ride. I also had to make do with the one cassette I’d brought for the week, an 11-23, which made the course’s decent-grade climbs tough standing climbs for me. Despite the rain, the bike course was beautiful! Green mountains and foothills were the only sight for miles. I tried to keep up a good level of effort but in retrospect, my average wattage for the ride was at least 20 watts lower than I wanted it to be, and I would have liked to have ridden more strategically as well. However, I was really loving my new Rudy Project aero helmet- so much more comfortable and lighter than my old one, and I like the fact that I could close up the front air vents to stay a little warmer on a cold, rainy day like this.

On to the run, I was not feeling very energetic. This had the potential to be a really long run… I tried to think of ways to keep pushing myself. First I focused on my run form, then focused on staying with anyone who passed (mainly fast age group males at this point). At the out and backs, I could see the pro women ahead of me so tried to focus on narrowing the gap between us. I began to feel better with each passing mile, and gained about 3 or 4 spots on the run. Amazingly, my pace stayed even throughout the run and my last mile was the fastest one. It was great to have Chris and Iggy cheering out on the course! Overall 14^th place out of 21^st- not my best race, but my second-fastest 70.3 run and I think I more or less accomplished my goals for the day. Still, I’m looking forward to racing again, an opportunity I will have in a couple weeks at New Orleans 70.3.

          Overall a challenging week with some great fitness gained! Thanks to coach Alex for all the work that went into planning and leading the camp, Moose for planning and coordinating our activities and rides for the week, Mr. and Mrs. Warren for the accommodations and wonderful meals, coach Eric for the training and racing guidance, and to the FFT team for pushing me during workouts - congrats on great week of hard work. Thanks also to our great sponsors- Inside Out Sports, Rudy Project, Cervelo, Computrainer, First Endurance, Skin Sake, CEP Compression, Training Peaks, Prevail Conditioning, SPaRC, and FSSeries for helping us to train, race, and recover better this year!

New Years Bike Adventure- Covering All 184.5 Miles of C&O Canal by Mountain Bike

Over the new year's holiday, we embarked on a 184.5 mile bike trip with the goal of completing the entire C&O canal in Maryland. The complete recap (with lots of photos!!) is posted here:

http://fastforwardtriathlon.com/2012/01/16/bucket-list-item-complete-the-entire-184-5-mile-chesapeake-ohio-canal-on-a-mountain-bike-check/

Thoughts on this day of Thanksgiving

This time of the year we tend to be reminded of the need to be thankful for what we have in life. Over Thanksgiving dinner, we may have the tradition of discussing what we are thankful for, giving a prayer of thanks for life’s blessings at our turkey feast or holiday dinner, or making a special donation to church or charity as an expression of our thanks for what we have been given. While these are all great things, and God indeed wants us to develop an attitude of thankfulness and a habit of giving, something that I notice much more in people, and that has a much bigger impact on those around us is our attitude toward things we aren’t thankful for.

This past weekend, I served with friends from church by delivering boxes filled with ingredients for a 10-person thanksgiving turkey dinner to low-income families. It was an awesome experience, but we encountered some logistical challenges along the way, including not having a complete list of apartment numbers for the families, language barrier, and having to wait around for two hours from the time we were asked to arrive to the time the boxes were delivered to our meeting spot. As we grabbed a bite to eat afterward we were recapping the day and I found myself and others in the group critiquing the event and what the organizers should have done differently. As I found myself thinking these thoughts and ‘venting’ about spending two hours on a Saturday morning waiting around, I realized that those two hours had not been wasted, as I got to catch up with some dear friends who I had not been able to connect with in too long, as well as meet some new people in my church community. Maybe God planned my day that way so I’d have the chance to connect with these people, and I should be thankful for that time, even though it meant I’d be up late that night finishing up some work I needed to get done that weekend. God had simply rearranged my day so it flowed the way he intended, though not the way I had expected, planned, or envisioned. And despite the challenges, what an awesome honor to have the time and resources to serve God and point others to Him!

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul instructs, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world”… this becomes harder the more stressful and trial-filled our lives are. But at some point it becomes easier. Trials present hidden opportunities for learning and change, and we come to recognize this. James writes, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4). Doing everything without complaining or arguing, and having joy when we face a difficult situation, not only makes us more like Christ, but makes a bold statement about the power of Jesus, because we cannot do these things by our own strength alone.

So, in addition to considering what we are thankful for this Thanksgiving… how about considering how we can change our attitude toward what we aren’t thankful for??

Ironman 70.3 World Championships- Henderson, NV- a Recap

This season, one of my goals had been to qualify for and race well at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas, NV, so I was very happy to hear that I had completed the first part of this goal, qualifying, at the end of July. After that, I could focus my training on the WC race and not have to race any more 70.3s in between to accrue more points.

I had high hopes for a good race but also knew the level of competition would be high, with only the top 30 female pros in the world racing the 70.3 distance qualifying. My goal was to have a tactically good swim and stay in contact with a pack to get into good position on the bike, my strength, then finish with a strong run which I knew I was capable of from my training. I also knew the heat and course would be punishing- when we arrived in Vegas it was 101F out and though it was dry, felt blazingly hot! I couldn’t imagine biking, let alone running hard in those temps. Thankfully, the race day forecast was a high of just 90, so it looked like we wouldn’t have to deal with unbearable conditions

THE RACE

Overall, the race did not go well for me. I just didn’t have that extra gear I needed to race fast. On top of this, realizing you’re not feeling strong and falling behind despite your best effort in your A race of the season is extremely disappointing, making for a rather painful race overall.

Things started off as I had hoped with a good swim, for me (32-ish- a non-wetsuit swim PR). I got off to a fast start (again… for me) and was able to latch onto the feet of some other swimmers. I felt like I was working extremely hard to stay with them, and kept telling myself to just stay on it till the turnaround that this could make or break my race, I can do this! At the turn, I had to sprint a bit to stay on their feet, this was becoming tough. About 200m from the finish, I began to fall back a bit, and for the first time realized that several swimmers were in fact drafting off of me- always a surprise! Though I lost my pack at the end, this was the first time I had successfully stayed with a pack in a non-wetsuit swim, a setup for a successful race- or so I thought!

Coming out of the swim, I felt extremely fatigued. Not sure if it was my level of effort, the warm water, or just a sign of how I was feeling that day). I couldn’t run at my usual speed through transition, and as a result was alone coming onto the bike (until Karin Theurig, eventual second place winner, sped past). I was still feeling tired but tried to give it an even effort and let my heart rate settle. This course was no joke! Quite mountainous with 5,000 feet of climbing total. At the turnaround (mile 20-ish) I was excited to have some cometitors in sight to guage how far back I was, but to my dismay I was nearly 6 mins back of the next female pro. I tried to pick it up after the turnaround, but began to feel nausea and ankle/ lower calf cramping that was making it painful to pedal. Packs of riders started passing me, frustrating because I’d have to slow and drop back each time while the entire pack passed, which took awhile, to avoid getting caught up in the pack. As a result I felt like I was losing even more time. On such a hilly course, I would not have thought I’d see that. I was shaking my head and another competitor passing me said, “I know, ridiculous”…

I really started to lose steam toward the end of the bike. I had known the point-to-point course is net uphill, and the last 10 miles or so are a gradual climb, but I hadn’t expected to feel this bad. In the last few miles of the bike Chris passed me- he started 18 minutes behind me and we are usually somewhat similar in terms of our bike times, which showed what a good bike he had but also what an awful bike I had. Still, I tried to talk myself up for the run and decided I was going to give it as good of an effort as I could.

Jumping off the bike, my legs felt like they were filled with cement, NOT how I normally feel at the end of a 70.3 bike. It reminded me of an Ironman bike-run transition. I began running and felt a bit better, trying to maintain a good pace on the hilly-ish run. As motivation, I tried to stick with some of the male pros who were on their second or third laps who were passing me, feeling it from the heat and hills. Eventually some pro women passed me, a lap ahead (ouch!) so I did the same and used them as a pacing tool and motivation. I saw Chris and Morgan several times on the run which made things more motivating, plus saw my parents a bunch of times cheering. I had prayed for strength & managed to talk myself into staying positive all the way to the finish, but I think my true feelings came out as soon as I crossed the finish line- I felt awful, physically and emotionally. I said hi to my parents and then quickly went to just sit down by myself, waiting for Chris to finish. Perspective is a great thing, and I know there is value in having a bad race sometimes if it motivates you to get out there and have a great race next time, address nutritional, recovery, mental, or training deficiencies you might not have otherwise realized you had, and to provide humility and a reminder that we are not ultimately in control of all life’s events- nor can we boast full credit for our successes.

While the race was truly sub-par, the trip itself rocked! We had an awesome homestay in Henderson with local triathlete Pat Peterson, overlooking the mountains and desert. On our last night there, we were treated to some wonderful cedar-plank grilled salmon and grilled corn salad with avacado, with great wine. Really delicious!

Our last 1.5 days in the area were spent exploring. We rode by and swam in Lake Mead, visited Red Rock Canyon twice, which has gorgeous views and great hiking trails. We also ate at a raw café (usually my favorite, but unfortunately this one gave me mild food poisoning so I wouldn’t recommend it!)

Since the 70.3 World Champs, training gradually started to resume again and I’ve been having some great workouts gearing up for IM Cozumel in November- in fact, some of my best so far this season! I ‘m looking forward to giving it all I have at my final race & first IM of the year on November 27^th.