Just a quick recap of the Mountain Tropic Tri held at Bear Lake last weekend and produced by BBSC Tri. I did the half ironman distance with the purpose of using it as a final tune-up race going into the REV3 Cedar Point Full Rev (iron-distance) next month. It was low-key, close to home, and the timing was just about perfect. I have done one or two BBSC events in the past and they do a good job with race organization, and Bear Lake is simply a stunning backdrop for an event like this.
The night before the race was a little hectic. Albert and I had the dogs and were camping---as it turns out, everybody and their mother was also camping at the same campground as us. I have never before seen so many people crowded into a campground! It was a zoo, and with loudmouth Suzzie telling us whenever a little kid ran by or if there was another dog cruising through if was far from a relaxing experience. Next time we're going primitive!
The race itself went really well for me: decent swim, strong bike and run. I chose to swim in my a speedsuit rather than a wetsuit because the water temp. was just on that fine line of being too warm for a wetsuit. The men had about a 3 minute head start so there were definitely people to chase down once my wave got started. I ended up exiting the water just on the heels of another girl and with only a handful of men out ahead of us. My transition was quick and I mounted the bike in first place for the women. The bike course consisted of two out-and-back sections, the first on the busier west side of the lake and the second on the more remote (and more beautiful!) east side of the water. The nature of the course gave you a good look at where you were in relation to the other racers. There were just a couple of men up the road from me so I got to work on trying to close the gap. I caught one of them but was passed by another, so by the time I hit T2 there were still two men up the road from me, the closest one having about a 2 minute lead. I decided to "go fishing" and try to reel them in, using the game to pull me to a good run split. My little game worked and I passed both men by the time we hit mile 4. From there it was a matter of keeping my rhythm and staying on top of fueling, which was really good practice for the times in the full distance next month when I'll be spending a lot of time in my own head.
The end result was 1st place female as well as first overall, with a new PR at the half ironman distance. And it was at almost 6000ft. elevation! All in all a very successful training day and a good indication of things to come next month.
Also a shout out to my client Nate Marcotte for his stellar day, placing 3rd overall male and improving his half ironman time by a good 40 minutes. Way to go Nate, and good luck at IM Louisville next weekend!
Thanks to Albert for taking care of the dogs while I was racing, and to the Philpots for their cheers out on the more lonesome parts of the course.
Next up: REV3 Cedar Point on Sept. 11th!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Shooting the Gap
I arrived back home early this morning (the 12:30am type of early) after a quick little jaunt to Illinios/Indiana/Ohio for the Giant Eagle Triathlon in Columbus. This race caught my eye after the Battle at Midway (aka BAM, one of my all-time favorite local Utah races) was sadly cancelled this year and I was left looking for an alternative Olympic-distance event in late July. HFP Racing did a nice job assembling some great corporate support (Giant Eagle, Muscle Milk) and put together a weekend-long multi-sport festival which included a strong professional field in Sunday's race. It was kind of fun to "step down" in distance and test myself against some really speedy short-course specialists at this point of the season when most people are pretty fit.
Unfortunately I was coming down with a bug and never really felt great at any point of the race, but I was able to squeak into the money with a 7th-place finish in a respectable time of 2:01:59. It was a FAST course with the top five ladies all breaking the 2-hour mark; in retrospect I'm pleased to have been in the same zip code on an off day. My swim was horrendous, probably one of the worst open water swims I've ever had. The water was a steamy 84.9 degrees which is bad news for me; I'm not sure if it's having a lot of surface area from being tall, growing up doing 6am swim practices in an unheated outdoor pool, or if I just plain run hot in the water...but I am a much happier clam swimming in cold water.
Whatever the case, it was hot and I swam poorly. This made me mad so I started off the bike like a bat out of hell. The first section of the course was on some nice smooth rolling roads in the area just south of Alum Creek State Park, before continuing onto "The Main Drag" (Hwy. 23/High Street) for a straight shot south into downtown Columbus. It's neat doing a point-to-point course into a big city and I have to hand it to the local police department and race volunteers for doing a great job directing traffic at the intersections. There was, however, a glitch in between the intersections. While the far right-hand lane was coned off for the race the entire way down Hwy. 23, there were still some cars parked in that lane once we got closer to the downtown area. It was feasible to ride to the very left of the coned-off lane to squeeze by the parked cars, or if it was a really tight fit you could even swing outside of the cones into the left lane and still be relatively safe. The real problem occurred when a city bus stopped in the left-hand lane directly beside a car that was parked in the right-hand/bike course lane to let passengers off...at exactly the moment when I was barreling through at 24 miles-per-hour. My choices were to a) slam on my brakes, b) swing suddenly out around the bus on the left-hand side into on-coming traffic, or c) try to shoot the gap between the car and the bus. I wasn't sure exactly who/what was behind me so I made the split-second decision to stay in my lane and try to zip between the two vehicles before the bus door actually opened and people started getting off. I almost made it. No one was hurt and I didn't have to come to a complete stop, but I'm certain that if the bus passengers were not fully awake as they started climbing off the bus they surely were jolted to attention by my yelling! Nothing profane, just a string of loud "heads-up-heads-up-heads-ups"!
Once I got past that obstacle the rest of the ride was uneventful. T2 and the finish line area were in a really pretty grassy square called McFerson Commons in the Arena District. I hopped off the bike with two other girls hot on my heels so I took off hard on the run to see if I could drop them. The first one caught me about a mile in and I wasn't able to match her speed, but when the second girl pulled up beside me I pushed the pace and really raced her for a solid mile on the backstretch of the first loop. It felt good to have the mental and physical strength to be able to do that. Eventually I cracked though and she opened up a gap that remained pretty constant until the finish line.
This race was a good reminder that there are always going to be things beyond your control; it’s a matter of preparing for the more constant variables and then keeping a cool head when faced with unexpected mishaps. I can do things in training to prepare more effectively for swimming faster in warm water and for improving my ability to hang tough in a duel on the run. The bus/car incident, on the other hand, was one of those random things that you don’t ever imagine being an issue during a race. Sure, the event company could have posted “No Parking” signs the night before the race and then towed away any stray cars that were there race morning. But the fact of the matter is that they didn’t and I had to decide how to react in one of those weird perfect storm situations…and then carry on with the task at hand.
Overall it was a fun little trip to the Midwest despite having a sub-par performance. I flew into Chicago, took the Orange Line train downtown, hopped on the South Shore Train bound for South Bend, and then met my mom at the train station for the 40 minute drive to Elkhart. It was a dry run of the same travel arrangements that I’ll follow in 5 weeks when I head back to the Midwest for the REV3 Cedar Point race. It was great having my mom and brother out supporting me, as well as my dear friend Courtney and her 9-yr-old daughter Lucy. Lou---you did a great job blowing the vuvzela!
Thanks to Shannon Kurek and the HFP Racing crew for organizing this event; to Ryan and Jill Cantzler for their awesome hospitality in absentia; to Mom, Adam, Courtney and Lucy for coming out to cheer; to Nicki and Megan for the tasty post-race banquet; to Albert for tending the garden and taking care of the dogs; and to PowerBar, BlueSeventy, Rudy Project, Maxxis, and Wasatch Running Center for their continued support.
Unfortunately I was coming down with a bug and never really felt great at any point of the race, but I was able to squeak into the money with a 7th-place finish in a respectable time of 2:01:59. It was a FAST course with the top five ladies all breaking the 2-hour mark; in retrospect I'm pleased to have been in the same zip code on an off day. My swim was horrendous, probably one of the worst open water swims I've ever had. The water was a steamy 84.9 degrees which is bad news for me; I'm not sure if it's having a lot of surface area from being tall, growing up doing 6am swim practices in an unheated outdoor pool, or if I just plain run hot in the water...but I am a much happier clam swimming in cold water.
Whatever the case, it was hot and I swam poorly. This made me mad so I started off the bike like a bat out of hell. The first section of the course was on some nice smooth rolling roads in the area just south of Alum Creek State Park, before continuing onto "The Main Drag" (Hwy. 23/High Street) for a straight shot south into downtown Columbus. It's neat doing a point-to-point course into a big city and I have to hand it to the local police department and race volunteers for doing a great job directing traffic at the intersections. There was, however, a glitch in between the intersections. While the far right-hand lane was coned off for the race the entire way down Hwy. 23, there were still some cars parked in that lane once we got closer to the downtown area. It was feasible to ride to the very left of the coned-off lane to squeeze by the parked cars, or if it was a really tight fit you could even swing outside of the cones into the left lane and still be relatively safe. The real problem occurred when a city bus stopped in the left-hand lane directly beside a car that was parked in the right-hand/bike course lane to let passengers off...at exactly the moment when I was barreling through at 24 miles-per-hour. My choices were to a) slam on my brakes, b) swing suddenly out around the bus on the left-hand side into on-coming traffic, or c) try to shoot the gap between the car and the bus. I wasn't sure exactly who/what was behind me so I made the split-second decision to stay in my lane and try to zip between the two vehicles before the bus door actually opened and people started getting off. I almost made it. No one was hurt and I didn't have to come to a complete stop, but I'm certain that if the bus passengers were not fully awake as they started climbing off the bus they surely were jolted to attention by my yelling! Nothing profane, just a string of loud "heads-up-heads-up-heads-ups"!
Once I got past that obstacle the rest of the ride was uneventful. T2 and the finish line area were in a really pretty grassy square called McFerson Commons in the Arena District. I hopped off the bike with two other girls hot on my heels so I took off hard on the run to see if I could drop them. The first one caught me about a mile in and I wasn't able to match her speed, but when the second girl pulled up beside me I pushed the pace and really raced her for a solid mile on the backstretch of the first loop. It felt good to have the mental and physical strength to be able to do that. Eventually I cracked though and she opened up a gap that remained pretty constant until the finish line.
This race was a good reminder that there are always going to be things beyond your control; it’s a matter of preparing for the more constant variables and then keeping a cool head when faced with unexpected mishaps. I can do things in training to prepare more effectively for swimming faster in warm water and for improving my ability to hang tough in a duel on the run. The bus/car incident, on the other hand, was one of those random things that you don’t ever imagine being an issue during a race. Sure, the event company could have posted “No Parking” signs the night before the race and then towed away any stray cars that were there race morning. But the fact of the matter is that they didn’t and I had to decide how to react in one of those weird perfect storm situations…and then carry on with the task at hand.
Overall it was a fun little trip to the Midwest despite having a sub-par performance. I flew into Chicago, took the Orange Line train downtown, hopped on the South Shore Train bound for South Bend, and then met my mom at the train station for the 40 minute drive to Elkhart. It was a dry run of the same travel arrangements that I’ll follow in 5 weeks when I head back to the Midwest for the REV3 Cedar Point race. It was great having my mom and brother out supporting me, as well as my dear friend Courtney and her 9-yr-old daughter Lucy. Lou---you did a great job blowing the vuvzela!
Thanks to Shannon Kurek and the HFP Racing crew for organizing this event; to Ryan and Jill Cantzler for their awesome hospitality in absentia; to Mom, Adam, Courtney and Lucy for coming out to cheer; to Nicki and Megan for the tasty post-race banquet; to Albert for tending the garden and taking care of the dogs; and to PowerBar, BlueSeventy, Rudy Project, Maxxis, and Wasatch Running Center for their continued support.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
REV3 Portland
It's been seven days now and the dust has settled after my latest adventure in the Pacific Northwest. Albert and I loaded up the car with camping and triathlon gear, settled the dogs down in the way back and headed northwest for a week-long race-cation in Portland, OR. We were lucky enough to have family to stay with for the majority of the trip (спасибо Edward and Valentina!), and even more family and friends to come out and cheer on race day. Many thanks to the REV3 crew for their impeccable (albeit inadvertently so) choice in race locations!
The days leading up to the race were filled with similar activities to what we normally do at home; some swim/bike/run mixed in exercising the dogs. Our "challenged" dog does not have very nice manners around other canines but we're working on improving that flaw. There is a really great dog park close to Gresham where we took Sherman and Suzzie almost everyday for some much-need social skills training and hiking. It was just what the doggie doctor ordered! Suzzie is not 100% cured but she's doing a lot better now...it's a relief to know she's not going to eat every single other dog we come across---just the smaller tastier ones. ;)
Back to the race. I was much more relaxed going into this race than I have been for the last few events and was able to sleep soundly the night before. I chalk it up to being in a familiar place doing familiar things. For once race morning did not come early! A solid night's sleep, plus traveling one time zone west and having a rare 8:00am start time made for a nicely relaxed morning. The big question mark as everyone was setting up their gear was whether or not it would be a wetsuit legal swim for the pros. The answer was no which was fine by me; I had packed my trusty BlueSeventy PointZero swimskin just in case and I prefer a cooler swim anyway. The women's pro field took off at 8:05am, five minutes after the men. I chose a spot to the far right of the field for the beach run-in because I prefer to avoid the tangle of arms and legs and find some clean water as quickly as possible. The sprint to the first buoy was FAST. After the first turn the pace let up and I was able to swing around a couple of girls and settle into a nice rhythm in second place. The leader's feet were too far away to catch (holy smokes Meredith, that was a great swim!) but I focused on keeping my turnover up and my head in the game. Ha---keeping the turnover up is all relative of course; I saw some footage of the swim and compared to the other girls my arms move in slow motion! But then again, my wingspan is about twice as wide as any of the other ladies who were racing...that makes a difference, right?!
I exited Blue Lake about a minute behind Meredith but with another minute lead on the next pack of swimmers. The run to transition was almost a half mile long, the highlight of which was seeing my sister and her husband cheering for me somewhere along the path through the park. Have I mentioned how great it is to race in places where I've got family/friends to come out and whoop it up?! T1 went smoothly and I got out onto the FLAT FLAT FLAT bike course quickly. The original course was going to be extremely hilly with the swim/transition/finish all in downtown Portland but there were some last-minute permit issues and the REV3 crew had to scramble to find a new venue so that the show could go on. They did an incredible job bringing it all together and the REV3 experience did not suffer one bit from the eleventh-hour changes.
The bike was two out-and-back laps on a road flanked by the Columbia River on one side and the Portland Airport on the other. There was a nice view of Mt. Hood on the second half of each loop---if you had the presence of mind to lift your eyes from the road for a minute to see it. (I did.) Some people might assume that a flat course is an easy course, but staying focused and keeping the pedal to the metal for 56 flat miles is not a walk in the park. There wasn't much wind to speak of, but there was a section of rough and "humming" road that took some mental fortitude to endure. I rode a good part of the first lap keying off of two of the slower pro men, trying to control the damage that Meredith was doing to the rest of the field while increasing the gap between me and my pursuers. I knew I would need a considerable cushion going into the run because it is my weakest link and there were some fleet-footed ladies on my tail. On the second bike lap I focused on catching whoever was up the road, which happened to be a string of age-groupers on their first lap. At one point I even tried racing an airplane that was just revving up for take-off...I thought I had it for a minute but then it kicked into a higher gear and left me in the dust. :)
The run: it was probably in my best interest that it ended up being a flat run course. I've been working hard at sealing this chink in the armor but there's still a lot of work to do; at this point it's easier for me to hold my form and pace together on flat terrain. I was greeted at the start of the run by my cheering squad which was a nice boost and put a smile on my face. The first few miles ticked by pretty quickly and I was pleased to settle into a relatively comfortable 6:45 pace. If I held it together I would be able to break 1:30 which would be a first for me in a triathlon. The initial out-and-back section of the run gave me a good look at who was behind me and what kind of gaps there were. Time for some mental math! I figured it would be a real battle to hang onto second place and even third place might be questionable, so I buckled down and kept my feet moving as fast as I could. It took Kate until mile 8 to catch me which is 2-3 miles longer than at Quassy so there's an improvement! Coming back from the far turnaround I got another look at the field and knew that barring a complete blow-up I would come in third. Miles 11 and 12 were long straights that were mentally challenging, but they were followed by the nice surprise of a somewhat short mile 13. Rounding the last bend into the finishing chute was awesome and I'm sure I was grinning like the Cheshire cat. At the end of the day I ran a 1:28+ split with an overall time of 4:25 and change, both of which were significant improvements for me.
It's such a great feeling to FINALLY have gotten my act together in training and to see the consistent hard work paying off. I've definitely got some good momentum going right now and I'm eager to keep it rolling through the second half of the season. Five races down, five to go!
Thanks go to: Charlie, Eric, Krista, and the rest of the REV3 staff and volunteers for making this race happen; Stu, Jen, and the entire camera crew for the great coverage; Albert, Valentina, Edward, Val, Kira, John, Rachel, Nathan, Marie, Daniel, Dave, and Kara for all coming out to cheer; the ladies field for the strong competition; my clients/athletes for understanding the week-long absence; and to my sponsors PowerBar, BlueSeventy, Rudy Project, Maxxis, and Wasatch Running Center for continuing to support my athletic endeavors.
Results so far:
REV3 Costa Rica 8th
REV3 Knoxville 5th
REV3 Quassy 8th
Dino Tri 1st
REV3 Portland 3rd
Upcoming:
Giant Eagle Tri (Olympic)
Mountain Tropic Tri (Half)
REV3 Cedar Point (Full)
REV3 South Carolina (Half)
ITU Long Course World Champs (a really weird longer-than-half-but-shorter-than-full distance)
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Getting It Done At Dino Tri
Last weekend I competed in the annual Dinoland Triathlon in Vernal, Utah. I must say it certainly is nice to do a "local" race every once in a while, with minimal travel logistics to organize beforehand. Nothing like packing up the tent, hopping in the car with the dogs, hitting the road for a few hours and voila....you're there! This race is fun to do for several reasons: it's well-organized, has a nicely challenging course with a unique finish on a high school track, and it features a bit of a prize purse which typically draws in some quality athletes from Utah, Colorado, and Idaho. This year was no exception. There were some slight changes to the bike course due to road construction and the run course was entirely revamped (which I LOVED!), but the heart of the event stayed true. So did the finishing sprint around the track!
I came into the Dino Tri in the middle of a big block of training so I was not exactly fresh on race day, but my mindset was to get out and race hard to get in a good tune-up going into REV3 Portland (on July 10th). The swim is held at Red Fleet State Park in a gorgeous little piece of water with sandstone walls. The elite men and women started together, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the size of the field. This is a smaller race so it made for a relatively friendly swim---not much clobbering going on. I was in a little pack of 3 or 4 swimmers for the first lap, then was able to build my effort and create a bit of a gap on the second lap. I came out of the water in 4th position, with two men and one woman up the (steep) boat ramp ahead of me. I peeled off my BlueSeventy Helix wetsuit and transitioned quickly, hitting the mount line ahead of the girl who out-swam me. So I was sitting in first place among the ladies, a position I was determined to hold for the rest of the day.
The first two miles of this bike course are downright tough; the climbs are reminiscent of the hills coming out of the water at Wildflower, only they occur as soon as you get your pedals moving. This was my third time doing the Dino Tri so I knew what to expect but it's a humbling experience nonetheless. I'm sure the altitude has something to do with it as well---I believe Vernal is about 1000 feet higher than Salt Lake, and coming out of a hard swim and having to tackle those hills right away on the bike makes you acutely aware of your lungs!
The other challenging part of this bike course is the false flats. After the initial climbs out of Red Fleet there is a nice bombing downhill section, then a long section where you wonder why it suddenly feels like your brakes are rubbing. Once you hit the turnaround it becomes obvious that you were actually going gradually uphill the whole time; then you can really turn it on and feel like a rockstar! Overall I was able to put in a solid effort on the bike and built about another minute onto my lead over the next female competitor. Two men had passed me early in the bike leg, so at this point I was sitting in 5th place overall.
Once I hit T2 I was ready for a good run. I had seen at the bike turnaround that my friend BJ (who is a helluva runner) was riding with the second place female; my goal was to hold him off as long as possible. So I took off like a bat out of hell to see if I could be "out of sight, out of mind". It worked until maybe 2.5 miles in when BJ came roaring up behind me. Then my strategy changed to hanging onto his coattails as long as I could...which wasn't long, but I was pleasantly surprised to keep him (almost) in sight the rest of the run. The final 300 meters on the track was a blast, and hitting the finishing tape first among the ladies (and 6th place including the men!) felt great. I found out afterwards that my official run split was 39:45---my first time ever under 40 minutes on a legitimate 10K run course. I know that's nothing compared to what the top ladies in the sport are running, but it's a step in the right direction and a good sign going into Portland.
Thanks go out to the following for this race: Mark Mason and the entire Dino Tri team for putting on a great event; BJ for the extra motivation out on the course; Albert, Suzzie, and Sherman for their cheers and woofs; my training partner Rich for humbling me into running hard off the bike; BlueSeventy, PowerBar, Rudy Project, Maxxis, and Wasatch Running Center for their continued support; and to the community of Vernal for supporting this awesome event. Can't wait to come back and defend the title next year!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
REV3 Knoxville and Quassy Videos
REV3 does a great job with media coverage, including post-race recaps. Here are the links to the Knoxville and Quassy event recaps...you have to wait until the very end of the Knoxville one for any mention of me (and they slaughter my name but I'm in there nonetheless!) but I get some good coverage on the Quassy video. And they got my name right on that one. :)
http://vimeo.com/23773835
http://vimeo.com/24723325
http://vimeo.com/23773835
http://vimeo.com/24723325
REV3 Quassy Trip
It's been one week since REV3 Quassy and things have finally settled back into a normal rhythm. Quassy is a race that I've had on my mind for the past year and I'm so glad that everything came together so that I could make the trip back east to compete, visit family, catch up with old friends and make some new ones along the way. It was a very full and fulfilling trip; one that I look forward to repeating next year.
It started with a flight into NYC. Why did I chose to fly in and out of the Big Apple, you might ask? Location, location, location! It was central enough to all the places I wanted to visit while out there so that my furthest drive would not be more than 3 hours. My plan was to visit my friend and once-upon-a-time training partner Rudy (Adam Rudin) whom I had not seen in six years (!!!), not since the last time I did the NYC Triathlon. Rudy also set me up with a place to stay while I was in New York...in a convent! I had to chuckle over this since I am not exactly nun-worthy material, but it ended up being a wonderful place to get a good QUIET night's sleep as my friend Betsy pointed out. It's not actually an active convent anymore and there are only three (non-nun) girls living there at the moment, so there's lots of space to rattle around in. I met two of the girls, Jayne and Terry, both extraordinarily friendly and generous people. Thank you ladies for your hospitality!
After my night in the nunnery I made the drive up to Middlebury, CT, to the race site at Quassy Amusement Park. What a location! Lake Quassapaug is a perfect little piece of water to swim in, the amusement park itself is a friendly size, and the surrounding countryside is picturesque with wonderful leafy green trees and rolling hills. I knew immediately that this course was going to suit me. I did a bit of training and previewed the bike course, then met up with my homestay Kim Dubord later in the day. Thank you Kim and Sheri for adopting me for this race! Kim raced in the Olympic-distance race on Saturday, and both she and Sheri came out to cheer me on in the Half-Rev on Sunday. They were awesome!
Saturday consisted of an early morning run on the rail trail close to Kim's house, a rousing game of frisbee with Hannah the Golden Retriever, then the usual day-before-the-race routine of organizing gear, pre-race meetings, and trying to relax. It helped that Saturday was "movie night" at my homestay house. I finally wound down for bed a little later than I would have liked, but it didn't matter because I barely slept a wink anyway with all the butterflies dancing around in my stomach!
Race morning came early (why do I insist on traveling east to race?!). I was able to get to the race site without any problems (unlike Knoxville) and I had plenty of time to set up my gear and warm up properly before the gun went off. The pro men started at 6:50am and the ladies followed 3 minutes later. The water temperature was just above the allowable limit for professionals to wear wetsuits, so I suited up in my BlueSeventy PointZero3 swimskin. The swim was solid---I was able to build my effort throughout and work my way up to 6th place coming out of the water, right on the feet of defending Hawaii Ironman World Champion Mirinda Carfrae. My transition was quick and I got onto the bike ahead of Rinny, although I almost blew my usually smooth flying mount when one of my cycling shoes flipped and I had a bit of a wobbly struggle to get it righted again. Thank goodness I didn't tip over! That would have been rather embarrassing. I headed out on the bike course and got right to work. I've been putting in a lot of cycling miles lately, what with my commuting routine and doing long rides with my awesome training partner Rich on the weekends, so I was not afraid to attack this course. I overtook a couple of girls within the first few miles then realized that I had company with Rinny and Jessica Meyers right on my tail. We rode in a nice little pack for a while and I was pleasantly surprised to not only hang with them but feel completely in control of the pace. Eventually we reeled in Liz Blatchford; at that point I threw in a little acceleration up a hill and was able to establish a bit of a gap that lasted the rest of the ride. There had been a media crew following us pretty much the whole way, and I assumed it was because Rinny was in the group---the World Champ definitely deserves the coverage! I was a bit surprised that the camera followed me on that break, and it wasn't until somewhere between 35-40 miles when a spectator yelled at me to "go get her!" that it dawned on me that I was in second place!!! Wow, that was a pretty cool position to be in amongst such a tough field of competitors. It was a MASSIVE breakthrough for me...realizing that I can ride with some of the best ladies in the world and, more importantly, giving myself permission to do so.
Hopping off the bike in second place behind the great Julie Dibens at Quassy is hands-down the most exhilarating moment of my triathlon career thus far. But there is still work to be done. My running form is not where it needs to be to compete at the top level in this sport. It was a good run for me considering where my training currently is and how challenging the course was, but there is plenty of room for improvement both physically and mentally in the third leg of the race. I slid from 2nd place to 8th place by the end of the race---a statistic I am not especially pleased with. I would have been absolutely thrilled with a top-five finish at this event; top-eight is a good showing but I am hungry for more and I know what needs to be done to get there. So now it's back to work before the next string of races!
This race was special to me not only for my performance, but also because my Aunt Candy (#1 Philly Fan) was able to make the trip up from New Jersey to cheer and share the experience with me. She is a classically trained singer and knows how to project her voice---a great quality to have in someone rooting for you! After the awards ceremony we hopped in our respective vehicles and caravaned south (through NYC traffic---ugh) to the Philadelphia area where I spent two very special days visiting my relatives in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and getting back to my eastern roots. I visited with my elderly grandparents as well as a smattering of aunts and uncles, and met one of my cousins for the first time ever. I also had the opportunity to go up in the new Comcast tower in Philly (my aunt works there) and meet a bunch of her co-workers, who apparently know all about me and are part of my Philly Fan Club. We also made a side trip to where my aunt takes horse-riding lessons (she competes in dressage) and met her wonderful trainer Joanie and her mother Joanne. Wonderful people! Crossing paths with so many great people made the trip that much more memorable...thank you each and every one for your part in making my journey a special one!
On my way out I headed back to NYC where I had a nice pizza dinner with Rudy and his girlfriend Lucy, packed up my bike, and spent one more very short night in the convent before catching an early morning flight back to Salt Lake. When Albert and I got back from the airport we were greeted by two dogs with vigorously wagging tails...I think they missed me...and by some new plants poking their heads up out of the ground in the garden! I can taste those fresh home-grown tomatoes already. Yum.
Thanks as always to my sponsors (PowerBar, BlueSeventy, Rudy Project, Maxxis, Wasatch Running Center) for their support, to the great folks at REV3 for putting on a good show, and to my family, friends, clients, training partners, and other random people I've met along the way who have encouraged me and contributed in some way to my success.
Next up: a local one at Dinoland, then REV3 Portland on July 10th---another family trip!
It started with a flight into NYC. Why did I chose to fly in and out of the Big Apple, you might ask? Location, location, location! It was central enough to all the places I wanted to visit while out there so that my furthest drive would not be more than 3 hours. My plan was to visit my friend and once-upon-a-time training partner Rudy (Adam Rudin) whom I had not seen in six years (!!!), not since the last time I did the NYC Triathlon. Rudy also set me up with a place to stay while I was in New York...in a convent! I had to chuckle over this since I am not exactly nun-worthy material, but it ended up being a wonderful place to get a good QUIET night's sleep as my friend Betsy pointed out. It's not actually an active convent anymore and there are only three (non-nun) girls living there at the moment, so there's lots of space to rattle around in. I met two of the girls, Jayne and Terry, both extraordinarily friendly and generous people. Thank you ladies for your hospitality!
After my night in the nunnery I made the drive up to Middlebury, CT, to the race site at Quassy Amusement Park. What a location! Lake Quassapaug is a perfect little piece of water to swim in, the amusement park itself is a friendly size, and the surrounding countryside is picturesque with wonderful leafy green trees and rolling hills. I knew immediately that this course was going to suit me. I did a bit of training and previewed the bike course, then met up with my homestay Kim Dubord later in the day. Thank you Kim and Sheri for adopting me for this race! Kim raced in the Olympic-distance race on Saturday, and both she and Sheri came out to cheer me on in the Half-Rev on Sunday. They were awesome!
Saturday consisted of an early morning run on the rail trail close to Kim's house, a rousing game of frisbee with Hannah the Golden Retriever, then the usual day-before-the-race routine of organizing gear, pre-race meetings, and trying to relax. It helped that Saturday was "movie night" at my homestay house. I finally wound down for bed a little later than I would have liked, but it didn't matter because I barely slept a wink anyway with all the butterflies dancing around in my stomach!
Race morning came early (why do I insist on traveling east to race?!). I was able to get to the race site without any problems (unlike Knoxville) and I had plenty of time to set up my gear and warm up properly before the gun went off. The pro men started at 6:50am and the ladies followed 3 minutes later. The water temperature was just above the allowable limit for professionals to wear wetsuits, so I suited up in my BlueSeventy PointZero3 swimskin. The swim was solid---I was able to build my effort throughout and work my way up to 6th place coming out of the water, right on the feet of defending Hawaii Ironman World Champion Mirinda Carfrae. My transition was quick and I got onto the bike ahead of Rinny, although I almost blew my usually smooth flying mount when one of my cycling shoes flipped and I had a bit of a wobbly struggle to get it righted again. Thank goodness I didn't tip over! That would have been rather embarrassing. I headed out on the bike course and got right to work. I've been putting in a lot of cycling miles lately, what with my commuting routine and doing long rides with my awesome training partner Rich on the weekends, so I was not afraid to attack this course. I overtook a couple of girls within the first few miles then realized that I had company with Rinny and Jessica Meyers right on my tail. We rode in a nice little pack for a while and I was pleasantly surprised to not only hang with them but feel completely in control of the pace. Eventually we reeled in Liz Blatchford; at that point I threw in a little acceleration up a hill and was able to establish a bit of a gap that lasted the rest of the ride. There had been a media crew following us pretty much the whole way, and I assumed it was because Rinny was in the group---the World Champ definitely deserves the coverage! I was a bit surprised that the camera followed me on that break, and it wasn't until somewhere between 35-40 miles when a spectator yelled at me to "go get her!" that it dawned on me that I was in second place!!! Wow, that was a pretty cool position to be in amongst such a tough field of competitors. It was a MASSIVE breakthrough for me...realizing that I can ride with some of the best ladies in the world and, more importantly, giving myself permission to do so.
Hopping off the bike in second place behind the great Julie Dibens at Quassy is hands-down the most exhilarating moment of my triathlon career thus far. But there is still work to be done. My running form is not where it needs to be to compete at the top level in this sport. It was a good run for me considering where my training currently is and how challenging the course was, but there is plenty of room for improvement both physically and mentally in the third leg of the race. I slid from 2nd place to 8th place by the end of the race---a statistic I am not especially pleased with. I would have been absolutely thrilled with a top-five finish at this event; top-eight is a good showing but I am hungry for more and I know what needs to be done to get there. So now it's back to work before the next string of races!
This race was special to me not only for my performance, but also because my Aunt Candy (#1 Philly Fan) was able to make the trip up from New Jersey to cheer and share the experience with me. She is a classically trained singer and knows how to project her voice---a great quality to have in someone rooting for you! After the awards ceremony we hopped in our respective vehicles and caravaned south (through NYC traffic---ugh) to the Philadelphia area where I spent two very special days visiting my relatives in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and getting back to my eastern roots. I visited with my elderly grandparents as well as a smattering of aunts and uncles, and met one of my cousins for the first time ever. I also had the opportunity to go up in the new Comcast tower in Philly (my aunt works there) and meet a bunch of her co-workers, who apparently know all about me and are part of my Philly Fan Club. We also made a side trip to where my aunt takes horse-riding lessons (she competes in dressage) and met her wonderful trainer Joanie and her mother Joanne. Wonderful people! Crossing paths with so many great people made the trip that much more memorable...thank you each and every one for your part in making my journey a special one!
On my way out I headed back to NYC where I had a nice pizza dinner with Rudy and his girlfriend Lucy, packed up my bike, and spent one more very short night in the convent before catching an early morning flight back to Salt Lake. When Albert and I got back from the airport we were greeted by two dogs with vigorously wagging tails...I think they missed me...and by some new plants poking their heads up out of the ground in the garden! I can taste those fresh home-grown tomatoes already. Yum.
Thanks as always to my sponsors (PowerBar, BlueSeventy, Rudy Project, Maxxis, Wasatch Running Center) for their support, to the great folks at REV3 for putting on a good show, and to my family, friends, clients, training partners, and other random people I've met along the way who have encouraged me and contributed in some way to my success.
Next up: a local one at Dinoland, then REV3 Portland on July 10th---another family trip!
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