The Dirty Double

Lucky Readers---you get a two-for-one race report! It's been a busy June so far and we're not even halfway through yet. I raced the past two weekends in my first official "dirty double", which is what I'm calling doing half-iron races on back-to-back weekends. Six days apart, to be precise. Trust me, that extra day makes a difference! First up was a trip to Connecticut for REV3 Quassy followed by a jaunt up to Idaho for Boise 70.3. In between I got to spend some quality time with my East Coast relatives in New Jersey and Pennsylvania---always a pleasure. This is the second year in a row that I've attempted the Dirty Double but last year the experiment was foiled by nasty weather in Boise which led to a drastically shortened bike ride. This time around I completed the entire 70.3 miles at each race, so mission accomplished in that regard; however neither performance was particularly stunning so there's definitely some work to do!

PART I: REV3 QUASSY

This is one of my all-time favorite races because in addition to being a gorgeous venue the course is honest and challenging; part of the allure is trying to crack the code of the course so that it doesn't completely chew you up and spit you out. Even though my overall time was the slowest of my three attempts at this race, I feel that I raced smarter than in previous years and figured out a good strategy for handling the course. It was decidedly hotter than the past two years which made the nutrition and hydration aspects more of an issue and I did a pretty good job of managing that part of the race. I felt strong on the swim and was able to build throughout the 1.2 miles---I got caught up in a little traffic in the first leg, was able to pull away from the traffic in the second leg (partly thanks to a few of the slower male pro swimmers), then pushed hard on the third leg coming into shore. Once on the bike I employed the same strategy of building my effort throughout the 56 miles. In past years I've been so excited to ride the course that I've started off a little too hot and then paid for it in the last 10-15 miles. This year I felt better as I went along and was able to finish up strong in the latter miles of the ride. I continued with my "building" theme on the run---it's easy to start this run off too hard because the first couple of miles are downhill so I found a rhythm that would help me be more conservative in the opening miles. The middle section of this run course is where it gets REALLY tough; miles 4-8 have a lot of uphill so you have to keep pushing and stay mentally strong. I had some gray patches out there but overall I think I handled the hills better than I have in past years. The last 4 miles of this run course are really fun and I was looking forward to using whatever I had left in the tank to push through that final loop. There's one final long climb in the last mile, a real doozy of a place to have a hill, but once you get to the top you only have about 400 meters to the finish line. I wound up in the top-10 for the third consecutive year, grabbing 9th place in probably the most stacked field ever assembled at this race (I would say the top six ladies all had a legitimate shot at winning). It was a good effort and I can't wait to come back again next year!

The Highlights
This trip had a lot of non-race highlights which made it really fun, including:

Reconnecting with my old swimming buddy & high school classmate Joe McDowell, now a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy who is training for his first triathlon(s) this year!

Staying with my AWESOME homestay girls, Kim & Sheri, for the third year in a row---and being allowed to drive Sheri's Porsche for a day!

Giving a pre-race swim clinic, supported by REV3 and blueseventy, focusing on open water swimming strategies and race-day safety. Thanks blueseventy for donating really cool Brick Bags for a trivia contest!

Having my #1 Philly Fan (aka Aunt Candy) using her impressive vocal skills to whoop it up cheering for me!

Spending time with my relatives for a couple of days post-race...it's always too short but a very sweet visit.

PART II: IRONMAN 70.3 BOISE

After two days back in Utah, Albert and I loaded up the car (doggies included!) and made the short trip up to Boise for the next weekend of racing. The weather forecast called for a HOT day---highs in the upper 80s on race day, about 30 degrees warmer than what it topped out at last year for this event. You just never know what you're going to get in Boise! I'm used to the dry heat though, so it didn't feel as hot to me as the sticky humid heat in Connecticut the previous weekend. Boise is an odd event because it has a noon start time, which is nice because it allows for a nice relaxed race morning...but last year I remember hating it because I ended up spending the entire morning watching the weather get worse and dreading having to race in it! No such problem this year. Race day set-up went smoothly and I was ready to go when the cannon boomed at 12:04 to send the pro ladies off. It was a small field this year---I think Boise's reputation for unpredictable weather scared a lot of people away---and I was able to get off to a fast start and find clean water right from the beginning. Lucky Peak Reservoir makes for a real swimmer's course; the water is relatively cold (60 degrees this year) and choppy, so it helps to be strong and comfortable in the water. The last two times I've done this race I've come out of the water in 2nd place; the third time proved to be a charm as I was able to build a 2+ minute lead and exit the water in first place! That was a pretty cool feeling, especially at a "local" race (out west anything within a 5-hour drive is local)---thanks to my blueseventy Helix and the friendly crowd for boosting me to the top swim! I had a smooth transition, bombed my way down the hill from the reservoir, then settled down to work on the bike. I felt solid throughout the ride---not spectacular but not bad---and focused on staying hydrated. Heather Jackson came storming up past me just before the climb at Mile 18, then it was a lot of lonely miles until Liz Lyles came by around Mile 45. At this point I made a tactical error; Liz passed me just before a descent (which I'm good at) and I should have gotten around her and tried to create a gap on the downhill, but then a media motorcycle pulled up and I found myself boxed in and unable to pass. I literally had to sit up and brake on the downhill in order to stay legal. Immediately after the downhill there was a tricky little "no-pass" zone on a bike path, followed by a left-handed aid station. I grabbed a bottle of Powerbar Perform at the aid station with the intention of taking a couple of sips then tossing it, but to my dismay the cap had been loosened and the drink was just leaking out from around the bottom of the cap rather than coming out the nipple. I slowed way down trying to figure this out then eventually just tossed the bottle, and by that point Liz had zoomed off up the road and I wasn't able to regain contact throughout the ride. Damn! So I started the run in 3rd place about 5 minutes from Heather and maybe 1-2 minutes behind Liz. I felt a little awkward running when my feet first hit the pavement, but started feeling a little better throughout the first mile. Then something BAD happened and I ran the next 8 miles very slowly. I'm not sure how much of it was the effects of having completed a very challenging half ironman only 6 days before, but I know for sure that my mind was NOT in a very good place. I'm really disappointed in the way I ran these miles and mad that I didn't have a better grip on what was going on between my ears---in addition to my running fitness I also need to improve my mental fitness! With four miles to go something snapped inside me and I suddenly started running like I knew how again and it felt really good. Three girls had passed me by that point and I thought if I really pushed hard I might have a chance to catch at least one of them. My mantra those last miles---"Get your head out of your ass"---really seemed to work and it just may become my refrain whenever I'm racing! I didn't end up catching anyone but I was glad to have at least turned the run around and finished strong.

I don't have any particular highlights from Boise, but I'll leave you with some favorite parting shots from the Dirty Double:

As always, THANK YOU to my amazing sponsors for seeing me through this endeavor! Blueseventy for the race kit & speedy wetsuit; Powerbar for keeping me fueled; Rudy Project for protecting my eyes & noggin; REV3 for believing in me; CycleOps/Powertap for keeping my effort on track; Reynolds for keeping me rolling on great wheels; Fezzari for the first-class ride; Maxxis for the rubber; Recovery Pump for helping my legs tackle the Dirty Double; and The Bike Shoppe for getting my bike ship-shape for racing.

You'll find me racing again two more times this month on June 23rd at REV3 Williamsburg and then at the Utah Spartan Beast event on June 29th!

Iron Fail

You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away, know when to run...

Okay, admit it, now you've got the song in your head...and I've got your attention!

Those lyrics are surprisingly apt when applied to my experience at Ironman Texas last weekend. It was my 5th iron-length triathlon and my first DNF at the distance. I am not proud of this and I don't plan to make it a habit---I've always been one of those "old-school" athletes who looks somewhat scornfully at other athletes who drop out and "save it for another day" when they're not having a great race. I always thought I had too much respect for the sport to treat it so flippantly; besides, an Ironman is such a long day with so many ups and downs that you never know what might happen so you might as well keep going and see it through to the end. However, I realized last weekend that sometimes the body simply doesn't cooperate and as a professional you have to decide whether it's worth carrying on and potentially doing more damage, or if it's better to take the long view, fold your cards, and wait for the next round. I knew by Mile 60 of the bike that running probably wasn't going to be a great idea, which meant I had a good 50+ miles to make peace with that decision. I HATED dropping out but I know it was the right thing for me to do. By the time I rolled into T2 and handed off my bike it was surprisingly easy to step off the course. Figuratively, that is----literally it was actually quite difficult! The pavement was burning hot, my back was in spasms, and once I sat down in the change tent I discovered I couldn't stand back up on my own. Luckily the volunteers were great and the sponsoring hospital Memorial Hermann had wonderful massage/PT personnel on hand to help straighten me out and get me walking relatively normally again.

Despite not putting it all together on race day, I really enjoyed the trip to Texas. The Woodlands is a unique setting for an Ironman including swimming in a canal, riding in the HOT lonely rolling Texas countryside, and running along the Waterway. In a way I had the best of all worlds: I was in the thick of things as a participant, put in a good swim-bike training day, then I had a lot of fun cheering at the finish line and being a spectator---with the added bonus that I wasn't sore and hobbling around the next day! Plus my rental car was a lot of fun to drive! It's the small things in life...right?? My homestay, Katie White Reynolds and her family, were really great down-to-earth hosts with a "no muss no fuss" attitude. Thank you for adopting me, trying to teach me how to use a GPS (unfortunately a fail), and showing me how to set my phone so the alarm sounds but everything else is silent---priceless! I made some new friends in Texas and spent some time with old ones. Thank you to Ashley for passing the hours spectating with me, to April for the Gatsby movie date, and to BJ & Chrystel for the VIP banquet seating. Thanks also to my fellow athletes for the overwhelming support in the wake of a disappointing race. Congrats to all who finished on a steaming hot day in Texas, particularly Kim & Ian for their breakthrough performances, BJ for punching his ticket to Kona, and to Todd for persevering and putting one foot in front of the other to get 'er done. And of course, thank you to my sponsors and supporters for sticking with me through thick and thin: Powerbar, Rudy Project, Blueseventy, Reynolds, Fezzari, Recovery Pump, REV3, Maxxis, CycleOps, and The Bike Shoppe.

So what's next for me? I'm not exactly injured, I just have some "issues"---and I have every intention of maintaining my planned race schedule while working through things. I have some underlying structural imbalances that I suspect were exacerbated by trying to do too much too quickly in preparation for an early season Ironman. Lesson acknowledged, and hopefully lesson learned. With the help of my massage therapist and some work with a PT to re-train my body how to move correctly I should be good to go...and it's off to Connecticut next week for REV3 Quassy!

Since I didn't have much of a race to report on, here are some pictures to illustrate the experience:



Swimming here made me feel like a real swimmer again!



Setting up the day before.



Banners along the Waterway.



Cows on course!



Ghost town.



Great for spectators & for runners alike.



So close...just a downhill followed by an uphill to the finish line!



Water features at night.

Just Driving Through...Photos From The IM Texas Bike Course

This is the scenery I get to ride my bike through this Saturday!

Busy Bee: IM 70.3 St. George, Striders 30K, SLC 1/2 Marathon & More

Yesterday marked my third weekend in a row of racing in one form or another---and that's only the beginning! My schedule includes five more races in the next eight weeks, including one full Ironman, three half-iron distance events, and the Utah Spartan Beast 10-12 mile running/obstacle challenge (just to keep things interesting). Two weeks ago I ran the Salt Lake City Half Marathon, partly because I love that race so much, and mostly as a display of solidarity for the running community in the wake of the tragedy at the Boston Marathon. It was a cold and wet day for running which somehow seemed fitting, and I found myself in a real head-to-head battle with a girl named Emily who as it turns out is friends/training partners with my fellow local pro triathlete Ali Black. Small world! It was fun to engage in a real game of cat-and-mouse over the course of a half-marathon, and despite ending up on the losing side of the sprint finish I'm still happy with the effort and the tactical practice. Thanks Emily for pushing me! I followed the SLC Half up with the Striders Winter Running Circuit 30K---that's 18.64 miles for those of you who want to know---the next weekend; I highly recommend this series (which includes a 5K, 10K, 10-miler, half-marathon, and 30K) as a great training progression for people doing the Ogden Marathon or anyone looking to get some early-season running races under their belt. My goal was to run a controlled negative split which I managed to do, and surprisingly I walked away with the win as well! That's a rare occurrence for me in a running event so it's always a nice feeling no matter how low key the event may be.

My string of three-in-a-row continued yesterday when I had the honor of rubbing shoulders with some of the very best in the sport of triathlon at the US Pro Championships Ironman 70.3 race in St. George, Utah. For the past three years this race has been a full Ironman but because of the time of year and toughness of the course it never really caught on, so the WTC decided to shorten it to a half...and voila! It sold out! I read somewhere that the participation of Utahns shot from 300 registrants last year to over 1000 this year which is really exciting to see---having an accessible showcase event like this will do wonders to help the sport grow in our state, and it certainly generated a supportive crowd for a "local" girl like me. Naming it a championship event for the professionals helped draw in a larger, more competitive field as well, and the fact that it's a post-Olympic year made for an interesting mix of short-course ITU speedsters and long-course specialists. In fact, this was hands-down the deepest, most competitive pro field I've ever been a part of, and paired with the toughest 70.3 course I've ever encountered it promised to be an epic day!



St. George Town Square: a great place for families.


THE SWIM: ONE-ARMED WONDER
If anything, the past three years at St. George have proven that you never know what the weather is going to throw your way the first weekend of May in southern Utah. Heat, cold, whipping winds, frigid water, 10-foot waves...not to mention the challenge of the terrain itself...any and all of these elements could be a factor on race day. However, the weather gods were smiling down on St. George this year and race day dawned to clear skies, calm winds, and relatively mild temperatures. At 60 degrees the water was cool but not frigid, and the stunning backdrop of desert red rock and mountains around Sand Hollow Reservoir made for one of the most scenic swim venues I've ever seen. The pro men were off at the boom of the cannon at 6:55am, followed by the pro women five minutes later. It was a deep water start so we lined up between two small buoys; with a larger-than-normal ladies field, not to mention a faster-swimming-than-normal field, I knew it was going to be a furious pace right from the gun. I really dislike the "contact sport" part of the swim so I chose a starting position to the outside but in this case it was to no avail---there were about 15 of us trying to swim in the exact same spot and the washing machine effect was in full spin mode. A couple kicks to the face, a few tugs on the ankles, and several arm locks later things began to thin out a bit. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to extricate myself from the turmoil and I didn't catch any of the faster feet I was aiming for, so the swim was a bit of a frustration. For some reason I also had a problem controlling my left arm and struggled to find a rhythm---I've experienced this a few times before but am just now starting to piece together a theory as to why it happens and what I can do to prevent it. In any case, I felt pretty lopsided swimming and was more than happy to get out of the water and onto the bike.

Swim split: 26:48 (~15th place, in a pack of 8)



Sand Hollow Reservoir

THE BIKE: STRAP FUMBLE!
One remnant of my ITU racing stint is that I'm pretty good at transitions (thank you Ric Rosenkranz!) and despite coming out of the water with several other girls I was able to zip through quickly and get to the mount line before a traffic jam built up. I did my classic flying mount (again, thank you Ric), put my feet on my shoes and started pedaling---but when I went to put my feet into my shoes I noticed that the left strap had come completely of the buckle and was flapping in the breeze. Irritating! Once the strap has slipped out it's tricky to work it back through on the fly, and I fiddled with it a few times to see if I could slide it through but no luck. So I rode the entire 56 miles with one shoe unstrapped. I don't think it really affected my performance, it was more of an annoyance than anything, but from now on I'm going to put a safety pin or two through the end of my shoe straps to keep that from happening again! Aside from the strap fumble the ride was super fun and engaging. There were grinding climbs, bombing descents, a fair number of sweeping and hairpin turns, and a large enough women's field that there was always someone in sight to try to track down. I caught some girls, was dropped by a few and passed by others. I never felt great but didn't feel horrible either---just sort of flat, which is not surprising considering where my training currently is---but I really enjoyed the course and couldn't believe how quickly it flew by!

Bike split: 2:32:48 (~12th place with an Olympian and a 2x XTerra World Champ right on my tail)



A view in Snow Canyon---we rode up it!

THE RUN: UP AND OVER AND BACK AGAIN
One benefit of living in Utah is that I have done races in St. George before and had the opportunity to do some training on the course leading up to the race, so I pretty much knew what to expect. A simple description often used for the run is that you go up for 6.5 miles then turn around and come back down, but it's really more "up and over" and then back again---with a few other undulations along the way. It's by far the hardest run course I've ever done and I can't imagine doing it twice like they did the first two years of the full Ironman! As with the bike, my running legs were a little flat but I never felt horrible, just steady. The uphills were definitely challenging, but oddly enough it was the last two miles downhill that hurt the most! The grade wasn't quite steep enough to just let gravity take over, and I knew there were some girls breathing down my neck so I was pushing hard to try and fend them off---but despite my best efforts I got nipped right before the line by my friend Charisa Wernick. Darn! It's actually kind of hilarious to end up in a sprint finish at the end of a half-ironman if you think about, especially on a course like St. George. Kudos to Charisa for charging hard right to the end!

Run split: 1:38:03 (sprint finish and no hamburger feet---my personal victory!)
Race time: 4:40:30 (19th place)



One foot in front of the other.

"HAPPY BUT NOT SATISFIED"
This was an epic race and it was thrilling to be a part of such a competitive field, and even more thrilling to be one of the thousand-plus Utahns representing our state on race day. It's really wonderful to see how the St. George community has embraced this event. On paper my performance might not look very impressive---the course and the competition pretty much handed it to me---but overall I left feeling mostly good about it. Andy Potts summed up my feelings pretty well in his post-race interview: "Happy but not satisfied." I was happy to be racing, happy with the course, happy to see so many familiar faces and feel the support of the crowd, happy to give the best effort I had on the day, happy knowing that despite a low placing it was amongst a stellar field and there's no shame in that...but I'm definitely not satisfied. I'm aiming higher than where I landed yesterday; I know the potential is there, it's a matter of fine-tuning the art of drawing it out and then putting all the pieces together on race day when it really matters.

THANKS
First of all, THANK YOU to everyone who cheered for me out there, whether you were racing, spectating, or volunteering---your good will gave me wings! Particular thanks to Albert (& dogs), Mallory, K-Rob ("it's just a little hill!"), Todd & Matt, BJ & Amanda, "Lead Bike" Leslie, Romney, and the girls on Bluff St. with the sign that said "Go Random Stranger". Thanks to all who sent me kind pre- and post-race messages---the encouragement means a great deal to me. Also thanks to my sponsors and supporters: Powerbar, Recovery Pump, REV3, Rudy Project, BlueSeventy, Reynolds, Fezzari, Maxxis, CycleOps, and The Bike Shoppe. Finally, congratulations to everyone who competed and conquered the course. It was a doozy but we did it!

Next up:
IM Texas (May 18th)
REV3 Quassy (June 2nd)
IM 70.3 Boise (June 8th)
REV3 Williamsburg (June 23rd)
Utah Spartan Beast (June 29th)
July----OFF!!!



Funny faces.

Hamburger Feet

Last weekend I headed down to Texas to kick off my triathlon season at the Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 event in Galveston. This race was originally not on my calendar, but I was feeling antsy and ready to test out my fitness so I decided to get things rolling about a month earlier than planned. I had a couple of other reasons for doing this race as well: I'm using some new gear this year and wanted to have a slightly lower key event than the US Pro Championships in St. George to try things out and blow out the cobwebs, plus I'm slated to do Ironman Texas in May and I was looking to get a hot & humid race under my belt to simulate likely race conditions in the Woodlands next month. The weather was a little cooler than I would have liked for that purpose (did I just say that?!) but overall the mission was accomplished on those fronts.



Among other things, I was testing out my new Reynolds Element disc wheel in a race for the first time.

The biggest surprise of the weekend was the announcement at the pro meeting on Friday that the water temperature was only 63 degrees, which meant that barring an unnatural rise in temps overnight it would be a wetsuit-legal swim. Last year at this race the water was a balmy 80 degrees and I believe that in the four-year history of the race it's always been a non-wetsuit swim for the pros, so I was expecting more of the same this year. Luckily I've learned from experience to ALWAYS bring both a wetsuit and speedsuit to races just in case, so I had my trusty BlueSeventy Helix on hand.



My Helix wetsuit got an unexpected maiden voyage of the season!

I've been putting in a little more time at the pool this year and it was pretty awesome to see the swim reflect that. I chose a starting spot to the far right with the idea of finding clean water and avoiding tangling up in the "washing machine" of other swimmers at the beginning of the swim. More time in the pool has translated into better speed + swim endurance and I was able to start strong with high turnover (for me at least) and a good kick then hold it pretty well for the entire 1.2 miles. I settled into the first chase pack of four girls and swam comfortably at the back of the group the whole way. This was a nice change from last season, when time after time I found myself missing the first pack and then hauling the second pack around the swim course. The other thing I'm really pleased about is that we got out of the water only about a minute down from super-swimmer (and former NCAA Div. I stud) Haley Chura, who swam 5 minutes faster than me at Ironman Arizona in November. Bonus!



The swim exit was just on the other side of the Colonel.

With the help of a quick transition (thanks to Ric Rosenkranz and my ITU training) I was able to start the bike ride in 2nd place. That was short-lived though, as the eventual winner Emma-Kate Lidbury came steaming by within the first few miles. She's a taller girl like me and at the pace she was going I honestly wasn't sure if I had just been passed by a girl or a guy. I decided it would be suicide for me to try and re-pass her to find out, so I let her go and kept my eye on the next rider up the road.

The bike course is a completely flat out-and-back affair that allows you one chance at the far turnaround to see where you are in comparison to the rest of the field. Flat may sound like it should be easy, but mentally it's a challenge to stay focused and keep the pedal to the metal, and the winds in Galveston are legendary. The weather on this day was actually relatively tame, with partly cloudy skies and winds hovering around 15mph. I liked what I saw at the turnaround---I was about 1:40 out of first, :35 behind 2nd, and had built a cushion of around 1:40 over the 4th place rider. Over the second half of the ride I was able to whittle down the space between me and the next rider up the road so we ended up entering T2 in a virtual tie; however, there were some big moves made behind us and we were passed by one other girl with just a few miles to go, and she managed to pull a large group of riders much closer than I would have liked by the start of the run.



The famous Teapot House. You can spot it along the bike course---if you're looking!

Now, if the race had just been a swim-bike I would have been in pretty good shape; however, there was still the run to tackle and (as I found out at the first turnaround about a mile into the course) there was a pack of hungry wolves right on my tail! I ended up having one of the more spectacularly dismal runs of my career. I'm annoyed with myself because I made a series of poor choices that added up to a bigger problem which I let get to me, and I mentally checked out of the race about 2 miles in. It's disappointing because the mistakes I made were elementary---neglecting to apply bodyglide to my feet, wearing a newer pair of shoes without socks for the first time in a race, trying a new sunscreen that apparently wasn't waterproof---and although the run fitness isn't superb at this point it's still better than what I displayed on Sunday. Slipping from 3rd place to 15th is not a result I'm proud of, but the good news is that it was a lower key early-season race and (hopefully!) I've gotten all the rookie mistakes out of my system! I also finished the race, and despite hobbling through the run and ending up with "hamburger feet", racing is always good training and you can learn a lot from the things that don't go smoothly. I'm actually pretty heartened by this spring fitness check and am looking forward to what the rest of the season holds. Back to the drawing board for a few more weeks of solid training, and then St. George here we come!



The run course made three circuits of Moody Gardens and its pyramids.

I would be remiss if I failed to thank the following sponsors for their support: Powerbar, Rudy Project, Reynolds, Recovery Pump, CycleOps, Fezzari, BlueSeventy, Maxxis, The Bike Shoppe, and Revolution3 Triathlon. Also, thanks to Coach KT, Hud Hopkins, and Brandon Marsh for the cheers out on course...it was great to see you all and I'm sure our paths will cross again next month at the Woodlands!

Short & Sweet, Or The Most Expensive Half Marathon Ever

Last weekend I made a very quick little trip down the the Phoenix/Tempe area for the Arizona Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. At least, I originally intended to do the full marathon, but a case of the sickies during the week leading up to the event made me change my mind (and entry) to doing the half instead. I still wasn't feeling great on race morning---in fact, even now I'm battling some lingering effects of the illness---so I decided to take it out conservatively then try to push around Mile 8 if I was feeling up to it and see if I could pull off a negative split effort. The weather was great, the sunshine was divine, it was wonderful to escape the nasty cold & dirty air of the Wasatch Front for 29 hours---and I accomplished the negative split! So even though it wasn't a particularly blazing fast time I'm still pleased with the effort and feel like it was worth the trip.

In other news, REV3 Florida was recently broadcast on TV. If you missed it, you can view the whole thing below. So grab your popcorn, sit back, relax & enjoy!

Out From Under The Rock

It's been a while since I've posted anything, but that doesn't mean I haven't been a busy little bee the past couple of months! The holidays and off-season always present a bit of a challenge for a routine-driven animal like me and I tend to get a bit grumpy when I'm out of my groove, but this year I've made some changes that have helped me manage that issue more effectively. One change is that I've stayed more actively focused this winter and taken less down-time than in past winters. The result is, shall we say, a "less soft" me than usual in January. Another change is that I'm taking a giant leap into the 21st century and---gasp!---learning how to use power on the bike and making friends with the heart rate monitor again...and really enjoying it! I've also been logging some good running miles and the plan actually calls for doing the Arizona Rock 'n' Roll Marathon this Sunday (although that might go out the window considering a poorly-timed illness that has me sidelined). In any case, it feels great to be logging some good base work and I'm excited to see how these changes impact my performance come race season!

I'm not really one for making formal New Year's resolutions per se, but there's no denying that a new year provides a nice marker to reinvent your routine. Since my life doesn't revolve solely around triathlon (what?!!), here are a few non-triathlon related things that I want to include more of in my life this year, in no particular order:

Art: creating, viewing, enjoying, discussing

Plants: not just outdoors, but indoors too!

BBQs: we have a backyard, we have a grill, we have friends...we have NO excuses!

Neighbors: get to know them better, and do what neighbors do

“Neighbors bring food with death and flowers with sickness and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a pair of good-luck pennies, and our lives. But neighbors give in return. We never put back into the tree what we took out of it: we had given him nothing, and it made me sad.”
― Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Community: volunteering & becoming more active in civic events

And on that merry note...let's get out and do this!