“Life ain’t all sunshine and rainbows” -TriRock Philadelphia

In light of the race taking place around the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Rocky’s infamous steps I felt this image suited the weekend quite well. “Life ain’t all sunshine and rainbows”… and it wasn’t. Shortly after I arrived in Philly, the rain started and continued through the weekend. The afternoon prior to race day, I received an email saying the swim had been cancelled and the race was now going to be a duathlon; a 40k bike and 10k run with a time trial start. I didn’t let the change of events shake me, drawing on the lessons I have learned from my past two years in the sport I just focused on “going with the flow”. The morning of the race was still rainy and transition was sloppy. I set up, warmed up and waited for my start time.

A tap on the shoulder by the race director was my signal to start. I sprinted out of transition and hopped on my bike. The roads were still slick and the descents were a little sketchy. Then it happened. 5.5 miles into the race, I heard a strange rattle from my rear wheel. I had a flat and my day was done. I pulled over to the side, unclipped and reminded myself “this is a part of racing, its not a big deal, make the most of the day”. With my cleats and helmet in one hand and my bike in the other I proceeded to walk and cheer on the other participants as I slowly made my way back to transition. At one point I stopped and chatted with a volunteer, she didn’t know much about the sport so I answered as she asked. Eventually we realized there was no sag car, so she gave me a stick of gum and I thanked her for volunteering and continued my trek.

Eventually, I made it back to transition. My feet at this point were bleeding and blistered. Though I was disappointed that I didn’t get to finish I was grateful that 1. I didn’t crash on my bike 2. I am privileged to share the journey of triathlon with my boyfriend (who had a phenomenal day finishing as 4th Pro!)  and 3. I was able to meet his grandfather, aunt and uncle while on our trip and begin to develop a relationship with them.

Next up, Live Love Tri. A local New Mexico reverse sprint tri, just for women! Looking forward to sharing the passion of triathlon and the inspiration of the female spirit with all those women!

Everything Plus the Kitchen Sink

So I have been meaning to write a blog for a while and at this point all topics will be clumped together.

1. January 17^th – 1 year anniversary of moving to NM
   1. A year in Albuquerque has come and gone and I still believe this move has been the best decision of my life. I grew so much this past year from who I was when I first arrived that it is mind-blowing to look back at that person. I am so blessed and grateful for the relationships that have supported me over the past 365 days.
2. February 2-9^th – iTz Triathlon camp in Clermont FL
   1. This trip was a much-needed kick in the butt to get out of my training rut. While there I discovered that my fitness is better than I had anticipated (which is always a nice surprise) but also that I needed to focus and think hard about how I wanted this season to unfold.
3. February 10^th – My 30^th Birthday
   1. Ugh, this has been a daunting mile marker for me. For me 30 needs to mean something. It’s time to start making plans and taking life serious (or at least more than I have in the past – which seems hard considering how “Type A” I already am). I have goals for a career and future outside of triathlon and it’s time to start working towards those goals as well. Henceforth a career hunt has begun, as better finances help get all my ducks in a row.

      

      “Farewell to the 20’s” birthday party and new race wheels!

4. March 2^nd – Career opportunity!
   1. I have been searching and pining over jobs for about 6 months, hoping I could find something in Albuquerque (I could not fathom moving yet again). I applied for a position at the University of New Mexico back in January and was called in for an interview but then never heard anything further. To my surprise they contacted me at the start of March just after I had started to give up hope! The position could not be better; I will be in the IRB department (Internal Research Board) helping oversee the safety and efficacy of ALL human studies conducted on campus! Boom! I get to use my degrees, my brain and it’s a 5min walk from home! I will still work for Sport Systems on the side as needed; training associates on gait analysis and helping during sales and holidays, collectively it’s a win/win for everyone.
5. March 5^th – Lifetime announces that it will be dropping Pro Races
   1. This was the Debbie downer news of the season. Suddenly my race plans for pro card qualification drastically changed. With next to no pro races available in the US, there is next to no chances for me to qualify. Talk about taking the wind out of your sails! Thankfully, I have been able to scrape together two potential opportunities, both are pretty early season so I have to be on my game much sooner than I had originally intended. It would be amazing to still achieve this goal (especially since I missed it by seconds last season) and then just see how the future of U.S. Triathlon shakes out the following year. So here is to getting all your ducks in a row and then throwing all their eggs in one basket!

Until next time! Happy Training and Racing!

October Update with X2

September Update with X2Performance

July Update with X2Performance

X2 June Update

Finally got the video to attach! wohoo!

June update with X2Performance.

May Update with X2

March Update with X2Performance

My interview skills need some serious work, but here is the latest and greatest on training with X2Performance!

Mind Over Matter

 

In the months leading up to Ironman Arizona things hadn’t developed as originally planned. Following my race in September I had been struggling with some IT band issues and a bit of end of the season burnout which caused me to dial back on training and re-think race goals.

 Upon arriving in Tempe I met up with my X2PERFORMANCE teammates, my friends JC and Haylee and my coach Trista Francis. Trista and I talked about race plans, nutrition and surveyed the course. I wasn’t all that nervous or excited really, it was the last race of the season and I was going into it just to participate. I didn’t think I really had a shot of anything “great” because my training had been so limited leading up to the race.

Race morning:

I was instructed to start on the front line. That was cool and all until you think about how you have 3,000 people behind you. If you are slow to start you are going to get pummeled. That is exactly what happened too… video footage showed that although I thought I was whipping my arms around at lightning speed I looked like I was in slow motion compared to the rest of the field. As I began to get pummeled I obviously started to panic. So I stopped and floated as the masses swarmed around me. Regaining composure I worked my way out of the main stream and started swimming again. From that point on the rest of the swim went well and I came out of the water in 1:04.

 

I was psyched with the swim and quickly preceded to the bike. I’m not the strongest cyclist and anticipated a fairly long day on the bike. People of all shapes, sizes and ages passed me as I had expected. However I stayed true to my plan and spun away; slowly but surely clipping off the miles. About 50 miles in my IT bands started to hurt.  The nagging pain began to wear on me so I set my goals smaller “just get to the next mile marker” I’d tell myself and then extend the goal out to the next marker. I continually reminded myself that I was just participating in this race, so whatever the results may be it was no big deal. I didn’t have much hope for my run coming off the bike due to the knee pain but had already mentally prepared for that scenario as well.

 

Onto the run. The IT band pain seemed to dissipate at first, so I plugged away with a goal of running for an hour which was my longest training run leading into the race. When I made it an hour my next goal was to make it to the half marathon marker based off the longest distance I had run all season. By the time I was approaching the 13mile mark my knees were screaming. I wanted to walk and was planning on it when my coach screamed “you’re in 7^th and can catch 5^th!” My first thought was “you’re kidding me”. I evaluated the pain in my knees and thought “ok, let’s give this a try” I kept running and by the time I passed my coach again I was in 5^th. This time she yelled “if you maintain this pace you’ll hold 5^th”. Well now I’m in a pickle. I’m 16 miles into this race, my knees are screaming and I don’t want to loose my position. I went back to my tactic of promising myself I would walk at the next mile marker but then when I’d reach that marker I’d extend my goal out another mile. I was running on guts and fear. I had no idea how much longer my body would allow me to keep moving and I had no idea where 6^th place was. I bit my lip and kept going, praying I’d make it to the end. Finally I saw mile marker 25. Upon seeing mile marker 25, I was all smiles, I knew I could make it to the end and was going to hold 5^th. I crossed the line in 10:52:31, a 3 hour PR in and of itself.

 

I guess the take-home message of this race was that. With a flexible mindset and some good ‘ol guts and determination you can overcome any adversity and find yourself accomplishing more than you ever dreamed possible.

Special thanks to X2PERFORMANCE, iTz Multisport and my boyfriend. Without your support and guidance none of this would have been possible. Thank you for making this first season more amazing then I could have ever dreamed.

CapTexTri Recap….Finally!

Wow, okay, this is long overdue. Race report from the CapTexTri-May 27th. Overall the race went well. I definitely has some obstacles to overcome leading into the race that make keeping a “race head” somewhat challenging. However, all in all I feel I did a pretty good job compartmentalizing. As for the race its-self, race day conditions were perfect… well as perfect as hot/humid Austin, TX can get. The sky remained overcast keeping the heat and humidity to tolerable temperatures. I was fortunate enough to be moved into the elite category, putting me up against the best women at the event and allowing me a head start on the course before all the age groupers started. I didn’t really know what to expect being in the elite race, as far as how I would measure up to the other gals. The swim went okay. Being used to racing in the age group waves, I can typically pull away from the masses however with everyone being of similar ability in this groupI struggled to find my grove as we jostled for positioning the whole 1500m. To my surprise I came out of the water in 8th.

 

The bike was the setback of the day, feeling woozy as I cam out of the swim, the first two laps on the bike were hindered by dry heaving and spit-up. Things settled down the last two laps and I was able to make up some time on the bike, however overall I had faded to 13th.

I knew I had a lot of work to do coming off the bike. Thankfully, I had scoped out the run course throughly the day before and was able to use my running background to my advantage. I pushed hard and used every turn and downhill to pull away and makeup ground. I ran myself back into 6th with a time of 2:21. Although I did not return home with my pro card, I came home with a lot of insight on how I can further improve for my next race.

 

Next up: Lifetime Tri Minneapolis July 13th