Thursday, June 24, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Insanity
Things are crazy around here! I saw it lurking on the horizon like a storm cloud rolling in from the distance, but now that it has actually descended upon me I realize it's not just any old storm...it's more like being caught outside during a tornado. Lucky for me, I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie (as my realtor keenly observed) and I tend to be very productive in times like these. Here's just a taste of what the current 3 weeks of my life are like: it began with the trip to Boise for the 70.3 triathlon this past weekend, while Albert and Sherman headed off to Portland for a week to visit family and run what ended up to be a non-existent 5K at the Portland Track Festival. We are also attempting to close on a house before the 30th (fingers crossed for the tax credit!) and with Albert being gone I am the one responsible for organizing fun things like the house inspection. Not to mention we are less than 2 weeks out from Ironman Coeur d'Alene (my first stab at the distance!)...and we'd like to move ASAP after that event...in time for my parents and college roommate Courtney to roll in from Indiana for a visit. At the same time. Which means a very full house (Courtney will have her 10-year-old daughter with her) and only 1 bathroom no matter which way you look at it. But a place with 4 bedrooms and 1 bathroom (for 6 people) is WAY better than a place with only 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom!
Needless to say, I don't have much spare time right now. So this recap will have to be short (by my standards, that is).
The Boise race on Saturday was my final tune-up going into IM CDA. I'm mostly pleased with this race, but there is part of me kicking myself for not sucking it up and being a little tougher in dealing with a rough patch on the run. I had a legitimate shot at being on the podium and I blew it between miles 5-8 when my stomach started doing something funny and I was reduced to walking in patches. Damn! Even so, I'm pleased to have mixed it up with some ladies who have pretty impressive resumes and I'm heartened to be in striking distance at this stage of my training. The swim and the bike were dreamy...I was out of the water in 2nd place thanks to my BlueSeventy Helix wetsuit, then held that position until about mile 35 of the bike. The two girls who passed me before T2 are both very strong cyclists and I was pleased to have held them off that long. The run started off well, then I hit that rough spot around mile 5 and took a few miles to get it together again. Here's a big THANK YOU to my friend and PowerBar teammate Tim Hola for offering up some encouraging words when I was struggling out there! I started feeling better just before mile 8 and picked up enough steam from there to finish strong. Two girls passed me on the run which unfortunately landed me in 6th place, just one spot off the podium. Next time! It was my highest finish at an Ironman branded event, and with the stellar field I have to be pleased with the overall result.
Boise itself is an AWESOME little vibrant city, situated in a picturesque location and full of friendly and enthusiastic people. If I were not buying a house in Utah I would seriously consider moving there. The course was great, the spectators and volunteers were amazing, and it was honestly the most fun half ironman event I've ever done. Thanks to the race directors and the city for putting on a good show, and to my wonderful homestay Rachel Corey for adopting me for the weekend! And congrats to all the people from Salt Lake who made the trip up for the race...way to represent SLC!
Needless to say, I don't have much spare time right now. So this recap will have to be short (by my standards, that is).
The Boise race on Saturday was my final tune-up going into IM CDA. I'm mostly pleased with this race, but there is part of me kicking myself for not sucking it up and being a little tougher in dealing with a rough patch on the run. I had a legitimate shot at being on the podium and I blew it between miles 5-8 when my stomach started doing something funny and I was reduced to walking in patches. Damn! Even so, I'm pleased to have mixed it up with some ladies who have pretty impressive resumes and I'm heartened to be in striking distance at this stage of my training. The swim and the bike were dreamy...I was out of the water in 2nd place thanks to my BlueSeventy Helix wetsuit, then held that position until about mile 35 of the bike. The two girls who passed me before T2 are both very strong cyclists and I was pleased to have held them off that long. The run started off well, then I hit that rough spot around mile 5 and took a few miles to get it together again. Here's a big THANK YOU to my friend and PowerBar teammate Tim Hola for offering up some encouraging words when I was struggling out there! I started feeling better just before mile 8 and picked up enough steam from there to finish strong. Two girls passed me on the run which unfortunately landed me in 6th place, just one spot off the podium. Next time! It was my highest finish at an Ironman branded event, and with the stellar field I have to be pleased with the overall result.
Boise itself is an AWESOME little vibrant city, situated in a picturesque location and full of friendly and enthusiastic people. If I were not buying a house in Utah I would seriously consider moving there. The course was great, the spectators and volunteers were amazing, and it was honestly the most fun half ironman event I've ever done. Thanks to the race directors and the city for putting on a good show, and to my wonderful homestay Rachel Corey for adopting me for the weekend! And congrats to all the people from Salt Lake who made the trip up for the race...way to represent SLC!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Discovery
In the course of training for an Ironman I have discovered that I really enjoy doing long solo bike rides...really REALLY long solo bike rides...followed by long runs (of the 10+ mile variety)...
Can't wait for Coeur d'Alene!
Can't wait for Coeur d'Alene!
Girls On The Run
This past Saturday I had the opportunity to participate as a running buddy in the Girls On The Run 5K at Sugarhouse Park. Girls On The Run is a wonderful program aimed at getting elementary-aged girls involved in running, giving them a sense of empowerment and achievement and promoting a healthy and active lifestyle. One of the masters swimmers that I help coach, Susan DeYoung, is a GOTR coach at Backman Elementary and she recruited me to be a running buddy for one of her girls. We did a practice 5K at the school about month prior to the "real deal", so I had already met my runner, Jenny, and was looking forward to pacing her through another 5K. I knew this would be tougher because the course at Sugarhouse is hillier than what we practiced on, but there was no doubt in my mind that Jenny could do it!
Despite being hot and (relatively) humid, it was a great morning for a run. The festivities started early, with face-painting and hair-coloring available for the girls, as well as samples of Jamba Juice for everyone. After meeting our runners at their designated table, all the different schools came together for a group warm-up led by Cari Jung of OPT-IN Fitness. Then we headed over to the start line and the horn went off! The course consisted of two laps around the road in the park, then a little straightaway at the end into the finish line. Jenny got pretty hot during the run because she was wearing long pants, but by adopting a strategy of alternating running with walking and making sure to stay hydrated she was able to pace herself and complete the 5K in a respectable time. It was so awesome to run down the finishing chute with everyone cheering for her! Each girl got a medal as they crossed the line, and everyone also got pink GOTR t-shirts with the race #1. It was really great not only to see so many girls running, but to also see a lot of familiar adult faces out there supporting the cause. My clients Rebecca and Jordan brought their cute fluffy dog Beau along to run with their two younger kids, and I also bumped into another lady I trained for a while, Shelley Snow. It was a great event and is something I'm excited about being involved with again next year.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Going Postal
Today I swam a 5K (non-stop in a 50 meter pool!) as part of the United States Masters Swimming 5K/10K Postal National Championships. Will Reeves, one of the faithful morning crew swimmers, joined me for the effort and Albert stood in as our official timer/lap counter. The only other time I have done this distance non-stop was for the exact same event seven years ago when I lived briefly in Bloomington, Indiana and swam for the IU Masters. I somehow managed to become a national champion that time around...probably because most competitive swimmers in that age group have just finished up their collegiate careers and don't even want to get within a mile of a pool! I think my current age group will be more competitive and I don't anticipate a repeat performance. However, it was a solid effort and a great workout to get under my belt to remind myself what over-distance swimming feels like. Now 2.4 miles in five weeks is going to seem like a piece of cake!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Pics From Galveston and St. George
Pics include my awesome Galveston homestay, Hud and Christine Hopkins; the funny Teapot House on Galveston Island; IM St. George spectators at sunrise; IMSG lead swimmer; bike gear set-up; cool tattoo; and kids playing in the fountain.
Long Overdue
There is a double meaning in that title...first of all, this update is well past due! The reason is that the past month has been a whirlwind of activity and travel. I visited Galveston Island, TX, the final weekend of April to do the Memorial Hermann 70.3 Ironman Triathlon. The race was originally called the Lonestar 70.3 but it was designated as the US Pro 70.3 Championships and renamed when a new sponsor stepped in. The additional prize money drew a strong international field including a smattering of previous world champions and Olympians. It was a real honor to be part of this event, and I had the luck of being hosted by a wonderful family during my stay. A big thanks to Hud and Christine Hopkins for adopting me and showing me the very best of Galveston!
The race was a good one for me…and I finally figured out the food part of the equation for this distance! The nutritional aspect of longer distance racing has been the monkey on my back for a while now. I know that my running fitness has come a long way, but I’ve struggled with maximizing that fitness because I have been getting hungry and puttering out on the run. No mas! I’ve FINALLY figured out a formula that works for me. Who knew that I could eat so many PowerGels in so little time?!
The swim part of the race was rough due to the relentless wind and I ended up getting out of the water about 5 minutes slower than usual for the 1.2 miles. It’s funny, I don’t usually think much about the swim but on that day it was the hardest part of the race for me! The bike segment was a flat out-and-back course with a steady headwind going out and a nice tailwind coming back. I tried to ride conservatively in the first half then build into a stronger second half, and was able to split 10 minutes faster on the way back in. My other focus was on having a steady intake of fluid and calories on the bike because I didn’t want have a repeat of Oceanside and run out of steam on the run. Mission accomplished! I closed with a 1:32:11 run split, a good 6 minutes faster than I’ve managed to run at the end of a half-ironman before. It’s still not in the league of what the best are running right now but, as I jokingly told Albert, I was the fastest of the slower runners on that day. My effort was good enough for 8th place female and 5th American; best of all, I nabbed a spot for the Ford Ironman 70.3 World Championships in November! It’s nice to have that qualification out of the way so that I don’t feel the pressure of chasing a spot the rest of the season. Now I can focus on getting down to work for the next big task at hand…training for Ironman Coeur d’Alene!
And speaking of Ironman races, we had one of our very own right here in Utah! The week after the Galveston race, Albert and I drove down to southern Utah for the inaugural Ironman St. George. I signed up to volunteer with body-marking, which ended up being an 8-hour date with an air-brush on Friday before the race. It was a different way of marking the race numbers and I sucked in more ink fumes than I care to remember, but it was a great way to meet the athletes up close and personal and to see things from the other side of the fence. Race morning started very early with driving out to the swim venue at Sand Hollow to help catch any stray people who needed last minute body-marking before the cannon went off. Once the athletes headed down to the swim start, I put on my spectator glasses and cheered for everyone I knew out there. It was so much fun! We watched most of the swim and some of the last bikers going out, then we took off for a little training run before heading back into town to catch more of the action. It was perfect timing; we had just gotten some sandwiches and settled down along Main St. when the first riders started rolling in! The run course was two out-and-back loops which ended up being great for spectators because we caught everyone going past four times. Aside from the cold water and some wind on the bike, the weather really could not have been any better for this time of year in St. George. The best part was knowing so many of the athletes and being able to cheer for them by name…what an inspiration! The most amazing thing I saw all day was the guy who had crashed near the end of the bike and broke his collarbone…then proceeded to walk the entire marathon. Talk about tough as nails! The real tear-jerker part of that tale is that two of his buddies ended up stopping their races and walking it with him. Very cool to see. So it was a great experience for me on many levels, not least of which was to see an Ironman in person and draw inspiration from it for my own upcoming stab at the distance. Thank you to Paul the body-marking captain for all your hard work, and to the Olsen family for giving us the run of their house for the weekend!
Since then, I’ve really been able to wrap my mind around the Ironman distance and have been training in earnest for the end of June. My training includes plenty of solo time in the saddle getting strong and practicing nutrition, as well as an increase in running volume. So far so good. I’ll do a test drive at the Boise 70.3 in mid-June (I’ve wanted to do this race the past two years but because of one broken bone or another have had to sit it out…) and then the big one is on the 27th. Anyone want to take a trip to beautiful Coeur d'Alene?!
The race was a good one for me…and I finally figured out the food part of the equation for this distance! The nutritional aspect of longer distance racing has been the monkey on my back for a while now. I know that my running fitness has come a long way, but I’ve struggled with maximizing that fitness because I have been getting hungry and puttering out on the run. No mas! I’ve FINALLY figured out a formula that works for me. Who knew that I could eat so many PowerGels in so little time?!
The swim part of the race was rough due to the relentless wind and I ended up getting out of the water about 5 minutes slower than usual for the 1.2 miles. It’s funny, I don’t usually think much about the swim but on that day it was the hardest part of the race for me! The bike segment was a flat out-and-back course with a steady headwind going out and a nice tailwind coming back. I tried to ride conservatively in the first half then build into a stronger second half, and was able to split 10 minutes faster on the way back in. My other focus was on having a steady intake of fluid and calories on the bike because I didn’t want have a repeat of Oceanside and run out of steam on the run. Mission accomplished! I closed with a 1:32:11 run split, a good 6 minutes faster than I’ve managed to run at the end of a half-ironman before. It’s still not in the league of what the best are running right now but, as I jokingly told Albert, I was the fastest of the slower runners on that day. My effort was good enough for 8th place female and 5th American; best of all, I nabbed a spot for the Ford Ironman 70.3 World Championships in November! It’s nice to have that qualification out of the way so that I don’t feel the pressure of chasing a spot the rest of the season. Now I can focus on getting down to work for the next big task at hand…training for Ironman Coeur d’Alene!
And speaking of Ironman races, we had one of our very own right here in Utah! The week after the Galveston race, Albert and I drove down to southern Utah for the inaugural Ironman St. George. I signed up to volunteer with body-marking, which ended up being an 8-hour date with an air-brush on Friday before the race. It was a different way of marking the race numbers and I sucked in more ink fumes than I care to remember, but it was a great way to meet the athletes up close and personal and to see things from the other side of the fence. Race morning started very early with driving out to the swim venue at Sand Hollow to help catch any stray people who needed last minute body-marking before the cannon went off. Once the athletes headed down to the swim start, I put on my spectator glasses and cheered for everyone I knew out there. It was so much fun! We watched most of the swim and some of the last bikers going out, then we took off for a little training run before heading back into town to catch more of the action. It was perfect timing; we had just gotten some sandwiches and settled down along Main St. when the first riders started rolling in! The run course was two out-and-back loops which ended up being great for spectators because we caught everyone going past four times. Aside from the cold water and some wind on the bike, the weather really could not have been any better for this time of year in St. George. The best part was knowing so many of the athletes and being able to cheer for them by name…what an inspiration! The most amazing thing I saw all day was the guy who had crashed near the end of the bike and broke his collarbone…then proceeded to walk the entire marathon. Talk about tough as nails! The real tear-jerker part of that tale is that two of his buddies ended up stopping their races and walking it with him. Very cool to see. So it was a great experience for me on many levels, not least of which was to see an Ironman in person and draw inspiration from it for my own upcoming stab at the distance. Thank you to Paul the body-marking captain for all your hard work, and to the Olsen family for giving us the run of their house for the weekend!
Since then, I’ve really been able to wrap my mind around the Ironman distance and have been training in earnest for the end of June. My training includes plenty of solo time in the saddle getting strong and practicing nutrition, as well as an increase in running volume. So far so good. I’ll do a test drive at the Boise 70.3 in mid-June (I’ve wanted to do this race the past two years but because of one broken bone or another have had to sit it out…) and then the big one is on the 27th. Anyone want to take a trip to beautiful Coeur d'Alene?!
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