...Good thing I only had to swim today.
Has anyone else noticed how completely bizarre the weather has been this year? These storms just in the last couple of weeks are just like a continuation of the strangeness that began with the week long winter storm in February. North Texas needs to get it together.
I know it's been a while since my last blog. With the Playtri Performance Center opening in less than two months, work has been nuts - and that's not including the Buffalo Springs Camp two weeks ago, or the other weekend "activities" (a.k.a. work) that seem to take up all of my extra time these days. I can't say I mind since the Center is going to be basically a dream come true - there is just a lot of hard reality that is leading up to it!
That being said, I came close to have another dream come true at the Doghouse Sprint in Lubbock post-camp almost two weeks ago. I came second overall out of the women at the race, and actually thought I was first until I saw this amazon come streaking towards me as I started the run. However, even 2nd overall is a first for me, and the race as a whole was strategically and technically one of the best I have ever done. I was able to draft the entire swim, and not only did I manage sub 1:50's (a more-than-decent 500m split for this girl), I didn't even feel like I had done any work by the time I finished. Then, on the bike, I managed by far my fastest Lubbock split today, despite the wind, and legal drafted with one of our athletes from the camp the entire time after she passed me towards the beginning - we managed to pass just about everyone else after us (except for the amazon, of course). The run was not my best, but still solid - 22 and change - and it was almost better that it wasn't a PR, because it let me know that I actually pushed myself on the bike for a change. Ironically, I almost dropped out of the race right before the start due to the unseasonably cold weather (Lubbock has forgotten how to provide good weather for a race day, apparently - I've never had good conditions there). But I sucked it up (always key!!!) and had one of the best races of my life.
Made me feel even better about heading to Beijing.
The travel package has been reserved, and the plane tickets are in the works - and I'm making plans to head down to Houston with my mom in July to get our visas for the trip. It's hard to believe that this is really happening - and to me, an athlete with a little skill and some luck, just a totally normal person. Totally normal aside from the fact that I am going to a world championship race with Team USA... It's mind boggling. Also very exciting, and I am doing everything in my power to make sure I am 100% prepared as possible when I get over there. The extra work has been showing itself, of course, in my race results - with the two year recovery that came along with having mono, I had almost forgotten the amazing things that can result from consistency in training. And proper recovery, of course - no issues with that now that my body refuses to function on less than 8 hours of sleep a day! An unexpected blessing that also came from being sick. I've been noticing a lot of those - makes me think there really is such a thing as fate.
Either way, things are going well. I need to be less lax in my posting - it keeps me honest about where I am and what I need to be doing. Self-reflection and accountability are wonderful things.
Happy training everybody
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Cattleguards and Capsized Kayaks
Oh the life of a full-time triathlon coach. It's never dull, that's for sure.
This morning I was up at 6:30 to drive to Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie for the Playtri open water swim clinic. I had three pre-inflated swim buoys, cinder blocks, and plenty of rope in my trunk (I had loaded the kayak, paddles, and life vest into the red work truck yesterday for Coach David to drive down this morning). I got to Lynn Creek Park on the lake at about 7:30 and with David and Mike's help, got the kayak, buoys, and other open water supplies to the shore while the athletes were arriving. Mike volunteered to be our kayaker for the morning, so we loaded him up with a buoy to go set, and made sure the others were ready on the shore.
I walked over to the athletes and chatted for a minute - then looked back to the water, and saw that Mike was in much the same place in the water as he had been previously. Now, if you're not a north Texan or if you just didn't leave your house this morning, you might not know that it was viciously windy in the AM today, and that breeze was kicking up some pretty decent swells on the lake. So Mike was paddling head on into the waves, and not getting very far. I look away for a moment, then look back, and the kayak is upside down and Mike is standing in the water. It was just as well, though - he re-grouped, re-loaded the buoy, re-loaded himself, and started out again. Next thing I know, he's in the water again. Now Mike is a strong guy, so if he's having trouble, you know that is some rough water. But after a few more dunks, Mike got the buoys set and I went to go over the beginner swim clinic plan with Coach Jeanne. I had submitted the plan a few days before, and I was planning for us to do it together - but Jeanne had other plans, and I ended up leading the clinic myself (with help from her when needed, of course). I was pretty nerve-wracked at first (it was my first time to lead an open water clinic), but it ended up being a great experience.
At 9:00, I had to speed out of there - no rest for the weary tri coach! - and head up to Sherman, TX, about 70 miles away. I had an appointment with a brother and sister who wanted to start doing triathlons. After a good 20 miles of scenic roads and wildflowers (I love driving in the country) I make it to the home of my newest athletes. It is a sprawling (there's no better adjective for it) stucco ranch house complete with tennis court and two pools, and the requisite cattle guards and gravel drives. The land is absolutely beautiful. We head straight back for the pool, and the kids' first lesson in the breast stroke. I like to start younger kids who have no previous knowledge of freestyle swimming with the breast stroke. It builds their muscles and confidence in the water, and makes for an easier transition to freestyle (in my opinion). We broke up swim practice with an underwater headstand contest, cannonball contest, and water slide time (naturally). Have I mentioned that I love my job? And I get paid for this! By the end of our 45 minutes in the pool, both kids pretty much had the knack of the stroke - all they need now is more practice. Then we headed to transition practice. The kids weren't huge fans - they wanted to get to the biking, darn it! - but they were good sports and humored crazy Coach Morgan as she made them put on their biking gear over and over again, until she finally let them bike for real. That's when the younger sister announced that she couldn't ride her bike over the cattleguards. Um... cattleguards? I brought my TT bike, but that suddenly didn't sound like the best idea. Fortunately, spare bikes were not in short supply at this wonderful home, and I was on a GT hybrid bike before you could say "gravel road," and it was a good thing because we hit at least four cattleguards during the ride that followed. The kids did a great job, and they kept it up all the way through our second hour of practice, which included an awesome game of Simon Says. Again - I love my job. As I was heading out, there was a flurry of fort-building happening inside, and I was hoping I would get to come back again.
On the way back to Dallas, I quickly realized that my indiscriminate bathing suit wear during the 2 hour outdoor practice had led to a pretty thorough upper body sunburn. Sigh. But no time to worry about that. I got into town, hit up Target for a new card table, paper, pens, and aloe vera gel, and it was off to the Richardson Bike Mart on Garland (right by my apartment, thank goodness) for the Playtri Festival Kids Race Ready Program introductory meeting. I set up my table and information in a corner in the back so parents could stop by if they still needed to register - it was short and sweet, we only had one new registrant, and the others already paid online, so I was out of there and on my way home by 3:15 (once I figured out how to re-fold my new folding table).
As soon as I got home I passed out on the couch until about 6:30. After a bacon sandwich and some leftover birthday cake. Hey, I'm a tri coach, I'm not perfect - don't judge.
I woke up groggy and not a little disoriented, but I knew I needed to run, so I threw on my Adidas' and a long-sleeved tech shirt (thank you suburn) and hit the trail to the lake. I realized about one minute in, as I was fantasizing about ice cold watermelon, that I was wildy dehydrated. My hour run quickly turned into 30 minutes, and a grueling 30 minutes to boot. Talk about heat acclimation. I got home and immediately took a cold bath accompanied by a glass of iced Gatorade and some cold V8 (lots of salt and carbs, perfect recovery drink). After about 15 minutes in the tub, I started to feel human again. Chuck just looked at me like I was crazy, but then that's just what cats do.
And now, it's time for more aloe vera.
Happy training everybody
This morning I was up at 6:30 to drive to Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie for the Playtri open water swim clinic. I had three pre-inflated swim buoys, cinder blocks, and plenty of rope in my trunk (I had loaded the kayak, paddles, and life vest into the red work truck yesterday for Coach David to drive down this morning). I got to Lynn Creek Park on the lake at about 7:30 and with David and Mike's help, got the kayak, buoys, and other open water supplies to the shore while the athletes were arriving. Mike volunteered to be our kayaker for the morning, so we loaded him up with a buoy to go set, and made sure the others were ready on the shore.
I walked over to the athletes and chatted for a minute - then looked back to the water, and saw that Mike was in much the same place in the water as he had been previously. Now, if you're not a north Texan or if you just didn't leave your house this morning, you might not know that it was viciously windy in the AM today, and that breeze was kicking up some pretty decent swells on the lake. So Mike was paddling head on into the waves, and not getting very far. I look away for a moment, then look back, and the kayak is upside down and Mike is standing in the water. It was just as well, though - he re-grouped, re-loaded the buoy, re-loaded himself, and started out again. Next thing I know, he's in the water again. Now Mike is a strong guy, so if he's having trouble, you know that is some rough water. But after a few more dunks, Mike got the buoys set and I went to go over the beginner swim clinic plan with Coach Jeanne. I had submitted the plan a few days before, and I was planning for us to do it together - but Jeanne had other plans, and I ended up leading the clinic myself (with help from her when needed, of course). I was pretty nerve-wracked at first (it was my first time to lead an open water clinic), but it ended up being a great experience.
At 9:00, I had to speed out of there - no rest for the weary tri coach! - and head up to Sherman, TX, about 70 miles away. I had an appointment with a brother and sister who wanted to start doing triathlons. After a good 20 miles of scenic roads and wildflowers (I love driving in the country) I make it to the home of my newest athletes. It is a sprawling (there's no better adjective for it) stucco ranch house complete with tennis court and two pools, and the requisite cattle guards and gravel drives. The land is absolutely beautiful. We head straight back for the pool, and the kids' first lesson in the breast stroke. I like to start younger kids who have no previous knowledge of freestyle swimming with the breast stroke. It builds their muscles and confidence in the water, and makes for an easier transition to freestyle (in my opinion). We broke up swim practice with an underwater headstand contest, cannonball contest, and water slide time (naturally). Have I mentioned that I love my job? And I get paid for this! By the end of our 45 minutes in the pool, both kids pretty much had the knack of the stroke - all they need now is more practice. Then we headed to transition practice. The kids weren't huge fans - they wanted to get to the biking, darn it! - but they were good sports and humored crazy Coach Morgan as she made them put on their biking gear over and over again, until she finally let them bike for real. That's when the younger sister announced that she couldn't ride her bike over the cattleguards. Um... cattleguards? I brought my TT bike, but that suddenly didn't sound like the best idea. Fortunately, spare bikes were not in short supply at this wonderful home, and I was on a GT hybrid bike before you could say "gravel road," and it was a good thing because we hit at least four cattleguards during the ride that followed. The kids did a great job, and they kept it up all the way through our second hour of practice, which included an awesome game of Simon Says. Again - I love my job. As I was heading out, there was a flurry of fort-building happening inside, and I was hoping I would get to come back again.
On the way back to Dallas, I quickly realized that my indiscriminate bathing suit wear during the 2 hour outdoor practice had led to a pretty thorough upper body sunburn. Sigh. But no time to worry about that. I got into town, hit up Target for a new card table, paper, pens, and aloe vera gel, and it was off to the Richardson Bike Mart on Garland (right by my apartment, thank goodness) for the Playtri Festival Kids Race Ready Program introductory meeting. I set up my table and information in a corner in the back so parents could stop by if they still needed to register - it was short and sweet, we only had one new registrant, and the others already paid online, so I was out of there and on my way home by 3:15 (once I figured out how to re-fold my new folding table).
As soon as I got home I passed out on the couch until about 6:30. After a bacon sandwich and some leftover birthday cake. Hey, I'm a tri coach, I'm not perfect - don't judge.
I woke up groggy and not a little disoriented, but I knew I needed to run, so I threw on my Adidas' and a long-sleeved tech shirt (thank you suburn) and hit the trail to the lake. I realized about one minute in, as I was fantasizing about ice cold watermelon, that I was wildy dehydrated. My hour run quickly turned into 30 minutes, and a grueling 30 minutes to boot. Talk about heat acclimation. I got home and immediately took a cold bath accompanied by a glass of iced Gatorade and some cold V8 (lots of salt and carbs, perfect recovery drink). After about 15 minutes in the tub, I started to feel human again. Chuck just looked at me like I was crazy, but then that's just what cats do.
And now, it's time for more aloe vera.
Happy training everybody
Monday, May 2, 2011
26 For 26
In honor of my 26th birthday (which has been awesome, thank you so much to all of my friends and family for making it special), I have 26 goals for the coming year:
1. Go to a world championship. Ok, this kind of feels like cheating, but it is on the list!
2. Go camping (in my brand new birthday tent).
3. Run my mom's 4th half marathon with her.
4. Break 20:00 for my 5K.
5. Swim 100m in 1:20.
6. Unpack all of the leftover boxes from the move to my Dallas apartment.
7. Visit the Dallas Arboretum.
8. Improve my credit score!
9. Write another article on youth triathlon coaching and/or training.
10. Place in the top three overall at a multisport event.
11. See a play.
12. Go to a concert.
13. Ride my bike to work (did you know that Ride Your Bike to Work Week is coming up?).
14. Grow a tomato (if they would just turn red...).
15. Go to a wine tasting.
16. Treat my mom to something really nice.
17. Go on a bike ride with my dad.
18. NEVER PLAY SCRABBLE AGAIN.
19. Beat Ken at solitaire (or any other game) EVERY DAY.
20. Tour the Texas Hill Country on bike.
21. Lay on a beach for a whole day.
22. Be able to do a shoulder stand again.
23. Get my hair cut and donate what they take off to Locks of Love.
24. Put money INTO my savings account.
25. Visit Enchanted Rock.
26. Be happy with my life and in my life.
1. Go to a world championship. Ok, this kind of feels like cheating, but it is on the list!
2. Go camping (in my brand new birthday tent).
3. Run my mom's 4th half marathon with her.
4. Break 20:00 for my 5K.
5. Swim 100m in 1:20.
6. Unpack all of the leftover boxes from the move to my Dallas apartment.
7. Visit the Dallas Arboretum.
8. Improve my credit score!
9. Write another article on youth triathlon coaching and/or training.
10. Place in the top three overall at a multisport event.
11. See a play.
12. Go to a concert.
13. Ride my bike to work (did you know that Ride Your Bike to Work Week is coming up?).
14. Grow a tomato (if they would just turn red...).
15. Go to a wine tasting.
16. Treat my mom to something really nice.
17. Go on a bike ride with my dad.
18. NEVER PLAY SCRABBLE AGAIN.
19. Beat Ken at solitaire (or any other game) EVERY DAY.
20. Tour the Texas Hill Country on bike.
21. Lay on a beach for a whole day.
22. Be able to do a shoulder stand again.
23. Get my hair cut and donate what they take off to Locks of Love.
24. Put money INTO my savings account.
25. Visit Enchanted Rock.
26. Be happy with my life and in my life.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Can't Sleep, So I Might as Well Blog
I've had trouble sleeping the past few nights. I'm not sure where that's coming from - possibly the fact that I've actually gotten more than 8 hours a night for the past few days and my body forgot how to function outside of a state of exhaustion. Unfortunately, I'm going to pay for tonight tomorrow morning when I have to ride at 7:00 AM before I go into work! And then I'll be working until at least 8:00 tomorrow night... Oh well, I ought to sleep well tomorrow.
Training is going well - since King Tut, I've had some really solid workouts, despite some pain in my foot since the 5K PR (it's almost gone now, we think I bruised the foot earlier in the week, and the race aggravated it). My running is truly back to what it was in 2008 when I was competitive in the mid-distances, and possibly even better than it was then. It snuck up on me, but I can't say I'm surprised, because Aaron always seems to know what is best for me. That's why I pay him the big bucks. So anyways, my training pace runs now average about 8:00 minutes a mile, which is about 2:00 minutes a mile faster than they were averaging in January after Ken and I got back from Europe. It's silly, but I love going out to run around White Rock, and passing all the boys without even breaking a sweat. What can I say - I'm a competitive person. I like being the fastest. Which brings me to my swim, which has always been a source of problems in the past, but which has finally started to come together in the last year or so. Last Friday at DAM, I actually had someone ask me if I swam competitively in college - of course, I laughed out loud, but I was still really flattered. They also had me move up a lane FINALLY! Even I was amazed at the intervals I was maintaining at that workout. It felt amazing, and left me more excited than I've been about swimming since last fall.
Of course, with summer rapidly approaching, race season is in full-swing at Playtri and we are all racing around (no pun intended) trying to stay on top of the many events we are producing this season. I am constantly amazed at Staci's ability to stay organized with everything going on - and also inspired to be more organized myself, something that I have always struggled with. But even with the best organization, there is a lot to do right now, and some days seem never-ending, which makes training less appealing than usual - days like yesterday, Easter Sunday, when I actually don't have to go into work or drive to a practice or clinic are so exciting for me now. To have all day to sit around, write schedules, get in all of my workouts, eat well, and rest is like the ultimate luxury. Granted I had to get right back in the swing of things today, but I did manage to fit a nap in post-work/pre-training. Always a major accomplishment these days!
The McKinney Kiwanis Sprint Triathlon and Kids Tri are this weekend, which will mean being in McKinney by 5:00 AM Saturday AND Sunday - worth it because it's all part of having the best job in the world, but still a struggle to be up that early on the weekend!! Additionally, my mom and Ken are coming up this weekend for my BIRTHDAY (yep, I'm getting older in a week), so I want to make lots of time to spend with them as well. Ken's birthday is coming up, too, but not as soon as mine. So it will be busy times, but good times. You can sleep when you're dead, right? That's what I hear anyways. Sometimes I think that would be a better title for this blog...
But all is well in my world and in the Playtri world and I am looking forward to another crazy-but-awesome week of training, working, and racing with the best group of triathletes I know.
Happy training everybody!
Training is going well - since King Tut, I've had some really solid workouts, despite some pain in my foot since the 5K PR (it's almost gone now, we think I bruised the foot earlier in the week, and the race aggravated it). My running is truly back to what it was in 2008 when I was competitive in the mid-distances, and possibly even better than it was then. It snuck up on me, but I can't say I'm surprised, because Aaron always seems to know what is best for me. That's why I pay him the big bucks. So anyways, my training pace runs now average about 8:00 minutes a mile, which is about 2:00 minutes a mile faster than they were averaging in January after Ken and I got back from Europe. It's silly, but I love going out to run around White Rock, and passing all the boys without even breaking a sweat. What can I say - I'm a competitive person. I like being the fastest. Which brings me to my swim, which has always been a source of problems in the past, but which has finally started to come together in the last year or so. Last Friday at DAM, I actually had someone ask me if I swam competitively in college - of course, I laughed out loud, but I was still really flattered. They also had me move up a lane FINALLY! Even I was amazed at the intervals I was maintaining at that workout. It felt amazing, and left me more excited than I've been about swimming since last fall.
Of course, with summer rapidly approaching, race season is in full-swing at Playtri and we are all racing around (no pun intended) trying to stay on top of the many events we are producing this season. I am constantly amazed at Staci's ability to stay organized with everything going on - and also inspired to be more organized myself, something that I have always struggled with. But even with the best organization, there is a lot to do right now, and some days seem never-ending, which makes training less appealing than usual - days like yesterday, Easter Sunday, when I actually don't have to go into work or drive to a practice or clinic are so exciting for me now. To have all day to sit around, write schedules, get in all of my workouts, eat well, and rest is like the ultimate luxury. Granted I had to get right back in the swing of things today, but I did manage to fit a nap in post-work/pre-training. Always a major accomplishment these days!
The McKinney Kiwanis Sprint Triathlon and Kids Tri are this weekend, which will mean being in McKinney by 5:00 AM Saturday AND Sunday - worth it because it's all part of having the best job in the world, but still a struggle to be up that early on the weekend!! Additionally, my mom and Ken are coming up this weekend for my BIRTHDAY (yep, I'm getting older in a week), so I want to make lots of time to spend with them as well. Ken's birthday is coming up, too, but not as soon as mine. So it will be busy times, but good times. You can sleep when you're dead, right? That's what I hear anyways. Sometimes I think that would be a better title for this blog...
But all is well in my world and in the Playtri world and I am looking forward to another crazy-but-awesome week of training, working, and racing with the best group of triathletes I know.
Happy training everybody!
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Hello Heat Acclimation...
For of you who didn't notice, the temps got into the mid-90's in Dallas yesterday. It's April. And it was 95 degrees. That's hot.
I totally prefer the heat to the cold - if it's a choice between 40 degrees and 100 degrees, I will take 100 degrees any time. Don't get me wrong, I love a happy medium, but when push comes to shove, I'm a summer-time person. Tank tops, shorts, flip-flops, sunshine, these are definitely my preferences. However, I've been training in cold weather for the last 6 months or so (minus my brief but amazing week at the Hawaii camp in Kona), and my body is not operating at 100% in the heat just yet.
Conveniently enough, I presented a lecture on heat acclimation at the Iron Texas Camp two weeks ago, so I have a pretty thorough understanding now of what it entails. Which is basically - train in the heat until your body acclimates. Ok, I joke, it is more specific than that, but at its most basic, that pretty much sums it up. So heat acclimation training started with yesterday's post-work run by the lake with Ken. I was already not at 100% because of doing King Tut the day before, and when the 90 degree air hit my face, I suddenly was slightly less excited about running than before we left the apartment. I quickly noticed that even though I was incredibly hot, I was barely sweating at all - not necessarily a good thing, since sweat is our body's cooling mechanism, and a lot of the time if our body isn't sweating in hot weather, it's because its use of that mechanism has become slightly rusty from disuse (to put it in the least scientific way possible).
Even though we were only running for 30 minutes, I felt completely dehydrated by the time we got home. I chugged a Powerade and took a cool bath as soon as I got inside. It's amazing the things that heat can do to your body... I've definitely got some work to do in that area before Beijing. Hopefully, though, the warm temps will stick around now and I'll be a hot weather racing machine by mid-summer.
I hope everyone is enjoying the warmth, despite the negative effects on performance! Stay cool and train safe!
I totally prefer the heat to the cold - if it's a choice between 40 degrees and 100 degrees, I will take 100 degrees any time. Don't get me wrong, I love a happy medium, but when push comes to shove, I'm a summer-time person. Tank tops, shorts, flip-flops, sunshine, these are definitely my preferences. However, I've been training in cold weather for the last 6 months or so (minus my brief but amazing week at the Hawaii camp in Kona), and my body is not operating at 100% in the heat just yet.
Conveniently enough, I presented a lecture on heat acclimation at the Iron Texas Camp two weeks ago, so I have a pretty thorough understanding now of what it entails. Which is basically - train in the heat until your body acclimates. Ok, I joke, it is more specific than that, but at its most basic, that pretty much sums it up. So heat acclimation training started with yesterday's post-work run by the lake with Ken. I was already not at 100% because of doing King Tut the day before, and when the 90 degree air hit my face, I suddenly was slightly less excited about running than before we left the apartment. I quickly noticed that even though I was incredibly hot, I was barely sweating at all - not necessarily a good thing, since sweat is our body's cooling mechanism, and a lot of the time if our body isn't sweating in hot weather, it's because its use of that mechanism has become slightly rusty from disuse (to put it in the least scientific way possible).
Even though we were only running for 30 minutes, I felt completely dehydrated by the time we got home. I chugged a Powerade and took a cool bath as soon as I got inside. It's amazing the things that heat can do to your body... I've definitely got some work to do in that area before Beijing. Hopefully, though, the warm temps will stick around now and I'll be a hot weather racing machine by mid-summer.
I hope everyone is enjoying the warmth, despite the negative effects on performance! Stay cool and train safe!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
I Raced Like an Egyptian
This morning... King Tut Sprint Triathlon. My second tri of the season, after a disastrous first one at the Tri Cowtown Sprint.
The past week has been manic - race week at Playtri always is - and I've been averaging about 6 hours of sleep a night, and logging nutrition had, unfortunately, taken a back seat to work as well. Then last night we went out with a group of friends for a huge Italian dinner complete with wine and tiramisu, and had my favorite triathlete, Mandy, to stay over. To top off the ideal racing situation, I had to be on site by 5:00 AM this morning to run race day packet pickup before the race. Tired, dehydrated, and oh, by the way, it was cold AGAIN and it took us about 20 minutes to get my wetsuit zipper to work.
My head wasn't exactly in it this morning.
But none the less, I was at the swim start in plenty of time - cold, cranky, and distracted, but at least I was there. And in my wetsuit. Thank god. My wave was the first after the Open wave left, and as Mandy and I hit the water at the start, I thought maybe, just maybe this could be a decent race. No time to dwell on it, though, because the next thing I knew Staci was blowing the megaphone siren and we were off. I immediately swam off in the wrong direction, but got back on track with a decent draft soon enough. I didn't feel strong, but I didn't feel nearly as bad as I did at Tri Cowtown. I warmed up once I was moving, too. I caught a few drafts throughout the swim, none of them great, but it was still good practice. Finally, with about 100m left, I just sighted for the finish - I felt like I had been really slow, and just wanted to get the heck out of there. (Of course, turns out I was averaging 1:59 100's, which for me, in an open water swim, is actually pretty good - you can never tell for sure!).
When I got into T1 I soon realized that my wetsuit wasn't coming off without a fight. I ended up sitting on the ground, yanking on the legs and muttering profanities under my breath (not one of my prouder moments). After a solid three minutes in transition, I finally managed to somehow rip the wetsuit off and get cycling socks on my cold, still-wet feet, and hit the bike course. Even though I bought super awesome new Trivent Women's cycling shoes yesterday, I didn't have them fit to my bike yet, so I was still using my pretty cruddy old road cycling shoes this morning (one of my tri shoes was lost in the move two months ago, and has yet to be recovered... very mysterious), and this came back to haunt me at the end of the bike. The bike itself was fine - I averaged 18.5, not great, but still better than Tri Cowtown. I caught a couple of legal drafts, but only two or three women passed me, and they were a good deal faster than me, so they didn't make the best leads. By the end of the bike, I hadn't seen but two girls from my age group, and since I was convinced they had all beat me in the swim, I wasn't in the best mood.
Then I had my Cinderella moment.
While getting my foot out of my shoe about 1/2 mile from T2, my cycling shoe pops off the pedal. Instead of stopping, I keep trying to pedal with my sock-clad foot, but after 100 meters or so that just isn't working so I hop off and run my bike the last 1/4 mile to transition in one cycling shoe - again, muttering less-than-appropriate phrases beneath my breath and hoping no one can hear me!
By the time my bike was racked in T2, I was downright cranky, and I needed to go to the bathroom. I also couldn't feel my feet. BAD combination. But I high tailed it out of there (I had the fastest T2 for my AG) with my bib bumber and hit the running path. I immediately felt like turning around and heading for the port-o-potty, and walk/running the run - NOT part of my race strategy, but I was so frustrated at that point that I didn't even care. I heard a girl breathing behind me as she gained on me, and I sped up a little at the thought of getting passed AGAIN (or so I thought). Then I thought about World Championships coming up, and what would I do if I had a crappy swim/bike there? You can't exactly walk/run the 5K at a World Championship. So somehow, I sucked it up, and started out the find the rest of my age group. And then, it happened... about 1/2 mile in, I hit my stride. I don't think I've hit my 5K stride since before I had mono in 2009. But all of a sudden it just felt like I was flying, and wasn't even working for it. I started passing people left and right. I caught Mandy at the turnaround, and caught three girls from AG shortly after. I was breathing hard and working at that point, but my determination was completely outweighing any discomfort at that point, and I just kept flying. As I made my way up the last hill, I was tired, but I still felt amazing - I couldn't believe I had overcome my frustration so completely, and I shot the photographer a huge smile right before the finish line.
Turns out, I PR'ed my 5K time this morning with a 6:56 pace. I can barely describe how totally elated I was when I saw the unofficial results and realized that I had run my fastest 5K EVER - including before I was sick two years ago. I also realized that I could have gone even faster, since I messed around a good chunk of the time, thinking that even though I was booking it, there was no way I was going to place. What an incredible feeling. It made me feel like, finally, maybe I deserved my spot on Team USA. It also made me realize that I really am back to full health. I couldn't have run that race otherwise.
Mandy and I stuck around for awards, and she won her age group while I placed 2nd in mine. Lots of Playtri folks were on the podium this morning, and it was exciting to hear all those familiar names being called for awards. I can't wait for the Kiwanis Sprint in two weeks.
Happy training everybody : )
The past week has been manic - race week at Playtri always is - and I've been averaging about 6 hours of sleep a night, and logging nutrition had, unfortunately, taken a back seat to work as well. Then last night we went out with a group of friends for a huge Italian dinner complete with wine and tiramisu, and had my favorite triathlete, Mandy, to stay over. To top off the ideal racing situation, I had to be on site by 5:00 AM this morning to run race day packet pickup before the race. Tired, dehydrated, and oh, by the way, it was cold AGAIN and it took us about 20 minutes to get my wetsuit zipper to work.
My head wasn't exactly in it this morning.
But none the less, I was at the swim start in plenty of time - cold, cranky, and distracted, but at least I was there. And in my wetsuit. Thank god. My wave was the first after the Open wave left, and as Mandy and I hit the water at the start, I thought maybe, just maybe this could be a decent race. No time to dwell on it, though, because the next thing I knew Staci was blowing the megaphone siren and we were off. I immediately swam off in the wrong direction, but got back on track with a decent draft soon enough. I didn't feel strong, but I didn't feel nearly as bad as I did at Tri Cowtown. I warmed up once I was moving, too. I caught a few drafts throughout the swim, none of them great, but it was still good practice. Finally, with about 100m left, I just sighted for the finish - I felt like I had been really slow, and just wanted to get the heck out of there. (Of course, turns out I was averaging 1:59 100's, which for me, in an open water swim, is actually pretty good - you can never tell for sure!).
When I got into T1 I soon realized that my wetsuit wasn't coming off without a fight. I ended up sitting on the ground, yanking on the legs and muttering profanities under my breath (not one of my prouder moments). After a solid three minutes in transition, I finally managed to somehow rip the wetsuit off and get cycling socks on my cold, still-wet feet, and hit the bike course. Even though I bought super awesome new Trivent Women's cycling shoes yesterday, I didn't have them fit to my bike yet, so I was still using my pretty cruddy old road cycling shoes this morning (one of my tri shoes was lost in the move two months ago, and has yet to be recovered... very mysterious), and this came back to haunt me at the end of the bike. The bike itself was fine - I averaged 18.5, not great, but still better than Tri Cowtown. I caught a couple of legal drafts, but only two or three women passed me, and they were a good deal faster than me, so they didn't make the best leads. By the end of the bike, I hadn't seen but two girls from my age group, and since I was convinced they had all beat me in the swim, I wasn't in the best mood.
Then I had my Cinderella moment.
While getting my foot out of my shoe about 1/2 mile from T2, my cycling shoe pops off the pedal. Instead of stopping, I keep trying to pedal with my sock-clad foot, but after 100 meters or so that just isn't working so I hop off and run my bike the last 1/4 mile to transition in one cycling shoe - again, muttering less-than-appropriate phrases beneath my breath and hoping no one can hear me!
By the time my bike was racked in T2, I was downright cranky, and I needed to go to the bathroom. I also couldn't feel my feet. BAD combination. But I high tailed it out of there (I had the fastest T2 for my AG) with my bib bumber and hit the running path. I immediately felt like turning around and heading for the port-o-potty, and walk/running the run - NOT part of my race strategy, but I was so frustrated at that point that I didn't even care. I heard a girl breathing behind me as she gained on me, and I sped up a little at the thought of getting passed AGAIN (or so I thought). Then I thought about World Championships coming up, and what would I do if I had a crappy swim/bike there? You can't exactly walk/run the 5K at a World Championship. So somehow, I sucked it up, and started out the find the rest of my age group. And then, it happened... about 1/2 mile in, I hit my stride. I don't think I've hit my 5K stride since before I had mono in 2009. But all of a sudden it just felt like I was flying, and wasn't even working for it. I started passing people left and right. I caught Mandy at the turnaround, and caught three girls from AG shortly after. I was breathing hard and working at that point, but my determination was completely outweighing any discomfort at that point, and I just kept flying. As I made my way up the last hill, I was tired, but I still felt amazing - I couldn't believe I had overcome my frustration so completely, and I shot the photographer a huge smile right before the finish line.
Turns out, I PR'ed my 5K time this morning with a 6:56 pace. I can barely describe how totally elated I was when I saw the unofficial results and realized that I had run my fastest 5K EVER - including before I was sick two years ago. I also realized that I could have gone even faster, since I messed around a good chunk of the time, thinking that even though I was booking it, there was no way I was going to place. What an incredible feeling. It made me feel like, finally, maybe I deserved my spot on Team USA. It also made me realize that I really am back to full health. I couldn't have run that race otherwise.
Mandy and I stuck around for awards, and she won her age group while I placed 2nd in mine. Lots of Playtri folks were on the podium this morning, and it was exciting to hear all those familiar names being called for awards. I can't wait for the Kiwanis Sprint in two weeks.
Happy training everybody : )
Saturday, April 9, 2011
My Work Shoes are Adidas
I just wrapped up my 4th Playtri camp as assistant camp director - the Iron Texas Camp in The Woodlands, TX, on the Ironman Texas course. It was my first time to officially work a brand new camp, and it was definitely an experience. The thing about a new camp is that, no matter how much recon is done ahead of time, you never know how the course is going to treat your group of athletes until you get there. It was a fresh challenge every day, addressing the aspects of the event that weren't under our control. It was exciting, and great working experience. And, most importantly, it was a great training experience for the athletes. I think everyone left feeling good about the event, and excited for the next one (though also ready for a good rest).
As usual, I was in charge of all SAG/support for the event, so I got to know all parts of the course extremely well. It was a true taste of Texas - we passed through Montgomery (Birthplace of the Texas flag) and stopped at Jorge's Roadhouse out on 149 for 1/2 pound cheeseburgers. We also went by the Sunshine Store, advertising soaps, lotions, and goats. We still need to look into that one. I had a barbeque sandwich in Richards, and spent time photographing bluebonnets at one of our last rest stops. The course was absolutely beautiful. I didn't expect that from somewhere so close to Houston, TX that it's practically considered part of the city, but it definitely surprised me. It winds through the Sam Houston National Forest and up towards Conroe and Huntsville, the roads are almost all completely smooth, tree-lined, and of course all the wildflowers are blooming right now.
Uh... can you say "perfect one-on-one camp location?" I can, and did. I'm getting a one-on-one camp for myself out there ASAP.
At one point, I looked down at my Adidas-clad feet, and realized that my work shoes are in fact racing flats. It might sound crazy, but I never, never thought I would be so lucky. I remember daydreaming about being a full-time triathlon coach, working for Playtri and getting to work with athletes from all over the country. There was a time when it seemed like an impossible reality - and now here I am, doing exactly what I want to do. Wearing running shorts, tech shirts, and Adidas to work. It's literally my dream job. And I'm doing it. Not to brag or anything.
Of course, the only bad thing about coming to camp to head up support is that you don't train at all during the camp - just sit a lot and still end up completely exhausted. Fortunately, I did the kayak support as well, so I got a decent workout the two days that we swam, but other than that I lost a couple of days training-wise. The coaching knowledge I gain is invaluable, though. Which of course all feeds into my own training knowledge.
I'm ready to get back on my training horse tomorrow for sure. We'll be spectating at the Ironman Texas 70.3 tomorrow after a quick run, and then I'm headed back to Dallas in the evening. Monday is a HUGE day at work, of course, with King Tut coming up next weekend. It will be a 12+ hour day, so I'll just be lucky to get a 30 minute run in somewhere. Hopefully I'll get more in the rest of the week, however. And then of course I'll be racing the King Tut on Sunday with Mandy Mandy, so that will be a great workout!
I hope everyone has a great weekend, and enjoys this wonderful, warm weather.
Happy training!
As usual, I was in charge of all SAG/support for the event, so I got to know all parts of the course extremely well. It was a true taste of Texas - we passed through Montgomery (Birthplace of the Texas flag) and stopped at Jorge's Roadhouse out on 149 for 1/2 pound cheeseburgers. We also went by the Sunshine Store, advertising soaps, lotions, and goats. We still need to look into that one. I had a barbeque sandwich in Richards, and spent time photographing bluebonnets at one of our last rest stops. The course was absolutely beautiful. I didn't expect that from somewhere so close to Houston, TX that it's practically considered part of the city, but it definitely surprised me. It winds through the Sam Houston National Forest and up towards Conroe and Huntsville, the roads are almost all completely smooth, tree-lined, and of course all the wildflowers are blooming right now.
Uh... can you say "perfect one-on-one camp location?" I can, and did. I'm getting a one-on-one camp for myself out there ASAP.
At one point, I looked down at my Adidas-clad feet, and realized that my work shoes are in fact racing flats. It might sound crazy, but I never, never thought I would be so lucky. I remember daydreaming about being a full-time triathlon coach, working for Playtri and getting to work with athletes from all over the country. There was a time when it seemed like an impossible reality - and now here I am, doing exactly what I want to do. Wearing running shorts, tech shirts, and Adidas to work. It's literally my dream job. And I'm doing it. Not to brag or anything.
Of course, the only bad thing about coming to camp to head up support is that you don't train at all during the camp - just sit a lot and still end up completely exhausted. Fortunately, I did the kayak support as well, so I got a decent workout the two days that we swam, but other than that I lost a couple of days training-wise. The coaching knowledge I gain is invaluable, though. Which of course all feeds into my own training knowledge.
I'm ready to get back on my training horse tomorrow for sure. We'll be spectating at the Ironman Texas 70.3 tomorrow after a quick run, and then I'm headed back to Dallas in the evening. Monday is a HUGE day at work, of course, with King Tut coming up next weekend. It will be a 12+ hour day, so I'll just be lucky to get a 30 minute run in somewhere. Hopefully I'll get more in the rest of the week, however. And then of course I'll be racing the King Tut on Sunday with Mandy Mandy, so that will be a great workout!
I hope everyone has a great weekend, and enjoys this wonderful, warm weather.
Happy training!
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