Updated Race Schedule

Not much to blog about since returning from vacation.

I did just confirm the next couple of races on my schedule though. I deleted Steelhead 70.3 and added the following:

• Evergreen Triathlon, July 18th - Normal/Bloomington, IL (International Distance)
• WIN for KC Triathlon, August 1st - Kansas City, MO (Sprint Distance)
• Tour of KC OP Crit, August 9th - Overland Park, KC (Womens Cat 4)
• National Championships of Cycling Crit, August 15th - Downers Grove, IL (Womens Cat 4)

I think that's good enough for now. Whew!

Vacation

I had a great time in New York City last weekend and wished it would never end.

Thursday I flew in and was welcomed by the wonderful weather - pouring rain and temps in the 60s. Lovely. Catch a cab and off to Greepoint! I stayed with my BFF Michele and her three lovely roommates and two cats!

In the four days that I was there, we did ALL this:

• Ate lunch at Five Leaves (Heath Ledger's place)
• Happy hour at Enid's (my FAVORITE brunch place)
• Visited the new open section of the High Line (much anticipated!)
• Checked out the New Museum (best feature: their donor wall)
• Coffee shop show by featuring the crafty Googly-Eye Cru
• Dinner with Michele, the brother and the new girlfriend
• Trip to Coney Island for the Mermaid Parade
• Dinner party in Williamsburg
• Shopping in the city: Lululemon and NYC Velo
• Dinner with the brother and great view of the Manhattan skyline at night

Not only was this trip well deserved, but it gave me time to think. I thought a lot about the decisions I am making this summer and where I want to be...where I'm going. I found a renewed enthusiasm and motivation for training and racing and a desire to focus on what I want and take charge of my life!

I have one more vacation planned for the summer: training with Coach and friends in Chicago in August. I can't wait!

IMKS 70.3 Race Report

I hate writing the typical "race report". Mainly because by the time I get around to posting it, I have already shared the story with a ton of people and it seems like old news. Also because...well...sometimes race reports can be filled with the most banal minutia.

So here's my attempt at it - stickin' with the most interesting details.

I went into the race with a simple outline of how I would get it done. It looked something like this: negative split the swim, ride the bike well, let the run be whatever it will be and those people passing me? Screw 'em!

Yes, that was my race plan: swim, bike, run. I think the most strategy I put into this race was my nutrition plan and that wasn't very strategic either - just a lot of bottles filled with Nuun and CarboPro (thanks Cat and Molly for the tips).

But you know what? It worked! My strategy of "winging it" gave me a sub-6 hour finish and I felt like a million bucks by the time I crossed the finish line. This could be in part to the four Ibuprofen I took during the run (that's not doping, is it?) or it could be, GASP, that I followed my plan???

The race was great. Overall, RR and TB put on a good show and all the players were there - Chrissie Wellington, Pip Taylor, Luke Bell, James Cotter, Nina Kraft, Simon Lessing. My only complaint was parking - ugh! At least 1/2 a mile to 3/4 of a mile from where we parked to T2 - it was another 1/2 mile to T1.

Parking also made people late for the start. I had just enough time to put my bottles on my bike, air up someone else's tire (seriously, I looked down and thought, "when did I put Kysrium's on my Scott?" - I ride a Felt and the Kysriums are on my Blue), pump up my own tires and then they were herding us out of T1. Lucky for me, I pack light. People were still filing into T1 after the pros entered the water exactly at 6:30.

I was nervous about the race. Why? Oh yeah, I was wingin' it.

The swim went pretty well. It was packed but I found little gaps here and there. It's fun to swim past the people in the two waves ahead of you...until you have to swim past the people two waves ahead of you because this means that they are really slow and will get in your way. I made up a mantra that I repeated over and over and that got me in and out of the water in a jiffy - which was good because I was not loving the swim.

T1 was pretty uneventful. Even though I was at the back of transition from bike out, I chose to run out with my shoes on because there was a hill at the mount line. Good choice! Paul said there were so many wrecks at the bike mount because people weren't paying attention, couldn't get clipped in, etc.

The bike was...what it was. This is a tough course! Hills out and back - with the worst of them at the end. I swapped out my 11-23 for a 12-27 and STILL I was spinning up the worst hill at 6 mph and 56 rpms. People passing me left and right - BUT THE BIKE IS MY BEST SPORT! Ugh. Frustrating. When I rolled in to T2 I finally looked at my computer and my avg. speed was 18.1. Okay. Not what I was hoping for but it was over now so no use getting down about it.

T2 - I HAD TO PEE! I had to go so bad that it hurt!

The run was FUN! I was slow as molasses but I had fun! I finally just said to myself, "do whatever it takes to feel comfortable" and "just keep moving" and most importantly, and Cat I owe you one for this, "stay inside yourself - stay in control". Looking back now, this may have got me over the finish line in great shape, but I certainly did not leave it all out on the run course. I could have given it more...I could have gone faster...I could have hurt more.

In the end, it was still a fine day and a solid effort.

AND, most importantly, the SPARK is back. I am ready to train with focus and purpose. I'm changing the schedule up a little. I won't be doing Steelhead, instead I'll be sub-ing two shorter distance races to build up some speed.

Coach and I "talked" a bit yesterday. She is so wise. No, really. She can read me like a book. Just when I say, "so I was thinking such and such" she usually comes back with, "that's so funny because just this morning I was thinking such and such". LOVE HER! The change to the schedule has me fired up again - ready to feel the burn, the pain! OWN IT!

Geez...this RR ended up being a lot longer than I wanted. Sorry no photos. So here are some nice photos from the local paper from Sunday.

Race Ready

So tomorrow I'm participating in this little race called Ironman Kansas 70.3. I haven't been sharing my thoughts on racing lately in blogland and that's on purpose. One, because I learned the hard way that when you put all your eggs in one basket, and then you drop the basket, you're left with...well, broken eggs.

I know, that's so morose.

Okay so what am I expecting from this race - the first long course of the season? Well, I'm expecting it to be WET! They are calling for thunderstorms to roll in around 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning and then again around 8:30 or 9:00. With any luck I will be on the bike by the time the second round rolls through and it is much harder to cancel a race when most of the field is already out on the bike. Hopefully it will just be rain and no hail or lightening.

What else am I expecting? I'm expecting to have a great swim and a fast bike. The run? Well, the run will be whatever it will be and it will not be fast. We all know that while I have been running pain free for a month and a half, that I am still lacking speed. Whatever. It will come back and at least I CAN run - and PAIN FREE! (but I'm taking some ibuprofen just in case).

There will be no PRs for this race - just a good baseline of where I'm at this year in the 70.3. There are two more 70.3s on the schedule this season and plenty of time to improve on them. In fact, the swim and the bike have already improved DRAMATICALLY! The run time is pulling my overall time down but I feel comforted by my injury excuse.

Thanks to DR, I have a sweet KCOI top to wear tomorrow. Representin' the new team!

New Team!

I'm super excited to be a part of the KCOI/Boulevard women's team this year!

I met Teri, Darcey, Sarah and Jennifer years ago (2006??) when I was training for my first century. It just so happened that I showed up on the Wednesday night "welcome ride" that was part of their weekly training. Darcey used to joke about it being a welcome ride - "welcome to an ass kickin'" is what she would say.

Teri tells the story of the time that she had just convinced me to do my very road race - not three minutes later, she and I crashed and I was out for the rest of the summer.

My cycling speed has since improved and I'm even considering doing some cycling races this summer - TTs or maybe a crit or two. Of course, still saying with the tris and MAYBE CX this fall (Paul is convinced I will hate it because it's wet, cold and muddy and I'm not used to riding a bike that weighs more than 20 lbs.).

I'm excited to represent the team and be a part of this fast group of ladies! Oh, and you can support the team too by drinking lots and lots of Boulevard beer!!

Stress-less

The best view in all KC - my front porch

The last few months have been stressful. That seems like an understatement - they've been down right chaotic and I've been going just a little bit crazy. However, the good news is that this time, I really feel like things are starting to settle down and return to "normal".

Work has been a monster - events every week with far too many people to try to please and we're talking about doctors and hospital administrators!!! Political nightmare. Thankfully, our event planner is back from maternity leave (I MISSED YOU SO MUCH VIK!) and some of the stress I felt has been lifted.

I've been crossing off projects and deadlines every day and - good news - I don't have any new projects on the immediate horizon, so things have been getting better every day.

This weekend I actually found some time to chill. Friday night, Paul rode down to First Fridays (monthly art-gallery-district-event-thingy) and I stayed home. Perfect. I had the house to myself, beer in the fridge and a movie I had DVR'd. Got to bed at a decent time and slept really well.

Saturday could not have been more perfect - easy run in cool temps with light rain, finally pulled the 5-foot high weeds that were growing along the fence line, showered and then...NOTHING! While Paul rode the Smithville trails, I grabbed a book and sat on the porch for 2 hours. I didn't crack the spine - just sat there staring off into space then grabbed the phone and called my Michelles (Michelle M. and Michele G.). It was good to catch up with my girls. Then I went to the store and picked up fixin's for a BBQ - mango guacamole and brownies. CHILL! Two "summer beers" later (beer, lemonade and vodka) and I was a noodle.

Today plans to be more of the same...hard as hell brick (but it's short) and then - NOTHING.

I need this. I deserve this. My mind has been a mess lately and this easy-breezy weekend came just in time. I even have time to think about my race plan for next weekend!! AND I'm actually looking forward to racing for once this year!

Looking ahead, I'm headed to NYC for vacation and I CAN NOT WAIT. Five days of fun and culture and NO WORKOUTS! Okay, I'm taking the running shoes but no swimming and no biking - okay, I'll miss the biking.

Ahhhh...

SUGAR!

So this morning is off to a pretty good start.

This morning is different because: 1). the sun is shining and I went for a nice little recovery run and 2). I'm eating a cupcake for breakfast!!

But not just any cupcake mind you - the best cupcakes in all of Kansas City! Cupcake ala Mode is our favorite new sugar bowl. "Our" is all the girls in the office. I think it was Vikkie who discovered them first...or maybe it was Lindsay...any way, we're all addicted. In the last two weeks, I've had three cupcakes from there and it still doesn't seem like enough.

Stuffed French Toast, After Dinner Mint and Raspberry Lemonade are my favorites!

We are using them for every special event that we can - just so we have an excuse to enjoy these little (well, not really - they are HUGE!) mounds of heaven. I had one last night at the event, and there were leftovers this morning - so I'm enjoying a Raspberry Lemonade cupcake right now.

Yeah, when you have this much sugar, this early in the morning, there is no way you can have a bad day - mostly because you will sleep through the rest of the day when you come crashing down from the sugar high.

Race Report: KC Tri

Edited version of what I sent to the ELF yesterday after the race:

Hi Elizabeth,

Just wanted to follow up with my results...
AG 4/13
Total Time 2:46:51

Swim: 29:46 - this surprised me. Even though I had the 2nd fastest swim time (in my AG). During warm-up, I had my "first OWS of the season freak out" and couldn't breathe. Quickly got that under control and was able to relax. However, I was swimming wide off the buoys. Sighting seemed okay but I just could not get close to them like I normally do. Should probably get in a couple OWS before Kansas.

T1: 1:31

Bike: 1:16:18 (19.5 mph) WOOO WHOOO! Very pleased with this considering that legs did NOT FEEL like they were firing today. Went out with tight quads and coming in calves started to cramp up. I had no idea where I was in the field while on the bike. I saw like 2-3 women so I figured I was way in the back - but when I pulled into T2 and all the FAST GUYS were running out, I knew I had a good ride.

T2: 2:14 This should be more like 1:14 BUT the jerks who came in before me threw their bikes on the rack and it was practically falling down. It was like a house of cards when I tried to rack my bike. I tried to fix it but realized it was taking too much time and just put my bike up against the fence. I figured it was better to get a penalty for not racking than have 15 angry dudes on my hands. No penalty by the way.

Run: 57:01 (9:10/mi) I knew this was going to be slow. My strategy was to just run and maybe negative split it. Make it a training run. Run in Zone 1-2 and have fun. I relaxed and just did it.

Overall: I did not eat enough this morning and felt the BONK in the swim! Yep. Curses. I also didn't eat much on Friday or Saturday because of all the "emmotional" crap that went on that day. Gotthe calories in on the bike and that brought me back.

Legs feel like CRAP now. I stood in the lake for 10 min. after the race. My calves cramped on the drive home and while I was napping just now. Had a big lunch. I will ice bath tonight before bed. Going to go to the chiropractor for ART this week.

Overall, I feel like I did pretty well considering that I wasn't terribly focused, I didn't eat very well and I have been under a considerable amount of stress this week. The run needs work. BUT if Iwould eat more, rest more, recover better, etc. it might improve faster (ya think - duh!).

All in all, I would say it was a good first race of the season.

Thanks!
Andrea