First race of 2011 and I am pretty pleased with the outcome. Let’s set the stage going into this race….

• I am fully immersed in training for IMTX, which means long, slow, steady endurance pace
• I have been locked indoors for almost all of my training thus far. Only in the last few weeks have the temps and conditions allowed me to really get outside. I had one outdoor ride prior to my race.
• Sick. I’ve been sick more this year than I ever have been in the past. Monday morning of race week, I woke up with a sore throat and started the process all over again. Being sick sucks.
• I’ve been working away from home since the beginning of February, so my routine has been a bit “off”. I have nice accommodations for training, but it’s just not the same as being at home. Plus, I’ve been sleeping on an air mattress which is totally causing me discomfort. My back, my neck, my shoulders…and I just don’t really get quality sleep.

…

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Categories: Triathlons

Ahh…a sprint. The thought of doing something that would take less than 2 hours was so appealing coming off of the brutal courses in TN and CT. I was ready for something short and fast.  The field was only 715-ish people.  But the race was serving as the one and only qualifying event for the 2010 Sprint Worlds, so a lot of the fast people came out to play.   I’ve never seen as much Team USA gear at a race as I did on Saturday. I felt a little unpatriotic in my Trakkers green….

Anyway, here’s how it all played out:

The Day Before
Since the race was on Saturday, I left work early on Friday – got home, packed the boys in the car and the bike on the roof then headed towards CR so I could drop them off for the night.  As I was leaving town, I go to drive through some crazy weather.  It was a little unnerving, but I needed to be in the QC by 8pm before packet pickup ended. It was tight – I got there with 3 minutes to spare, although, I don’t think the volunteers were going anywhere.  The storm was about to unleash serious amounts of rain and lightening, and it sounded like they were going to wait it out for a while.

After getting my packet, I found the hotel and got settled in.  During a lull in the…

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Categories: Triathlons

The race at Quassy was intended to do one thing: HURT.  And hurt it did.  I knew going into it that it was not a PR course for me.  I knew that I would struggle.  But I also knew that I would learn a lot by pushing myself further and further out of my comfort zone.  So overall, it was a successful weekend.  Here’s how it played out….

The Day Before
What a whirlwind of a weekend!  Since I would be racing on Saturday, I took the earliest flight possible out of Des Moines and got to the airport in Hartford, CT around 1:35pm.  From there, I got a rental and drove about an hour to Middlebury.  I got checked into the hotel, put my bike together, gathered my things and headed to the race venue at Quassy Amusement Park.  I swung by the Trakkers tent to see Momma Bear Carole Sharpless, then it was off to do a little warmup brick.  I was able to test out the WARM waters, and took a spin on the bike.  The little 10 min out and back allowed me a brief glimpse of some of the elevation I would see Saturday…..but oh, it was no where close to the harsh reality that would unfold.  After the athlete meeting, a few of us headed to a little Italian restaurant for some dinner, then it was back to the hotel to get my…

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Categories: Triathlons

1. A really fast-looking uniform – This is *critical* in being fast. If you look fast, you feel fast.  If you feel fast, then you will obviously BE fast. Duh.
2. Super short shorts – Because really, who needs all that extra material weighing you down? Faris Al Sultan obviously believes this and he’s fast.  While I won’t be going quite so skivvy-ish, I guess it’s time to embrace my stems and let them be shown.
3. Fast shoes that match your fast uniform – You all know I’m in love with my Saucony Fastwitch 4s. And now that my kit is here and it all matches….hell yeah!!!
4. Fast dog – (actually, I have 2 of them…the other is hiding in the background) Yeah, he doesn’t look too fast in this pic, but trust me, he is. :)
5. Recovery tools – yep, that is my bundle-o-TPTherapy sitting over there.  I keep it close and use it often. Love it!

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Categories: Triathlons

I’m getting into race season mode.  I can feel it.

I’ve started randomly thinking about details throughout the day.  What is working for me as pre-race food these days?  What shoes?  Drive in or fly in?  How far is the hotel from the start?  Does “hilly” mean “HILLY” or “HILLY HILLY”?  What will my nutrition plan be?  What nutrition will they have on course?  Where did I put my race number belt?  Where did I put my aero helmet???  My aero bottle straw?  What did I accidentally leave in Mexico??!!??

Am I over-thinking this?  Am I forgetting something?

Am I ready?

I saw the countdown on the left roll to 60 days.  Yeowza!!

At 60 days out from the first race of the season, I’m still feeling like I’m shaking the cobwebs off a bit.  I’m seeing progress on my workouts but I don’t feel fast.  There is still snow on the ground and I have to wear 5 lbs of layers to stay warm for an outdoor run.  It doesn’t look/feel/smell like a race morning yet.  You know that look/feel/smell I’m talking about.  Sometimes, when I’m out walking the dogs before work, I get goosebumps when I walk outside and think to myself “man, I wish today was a race day!”  We aren’t there yet.  Daylight savings this Sunday will help – it will reintroduce the morning sun!  Ahhh….I can’t wait!  I will finally feel energized in the…

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Categories: Product Reviews, Training, Triathlons

I’m pretty happy at this point.  The gunk I had been harboring in my head/throat/nose/lungs seems to be gone for the most part.  Each morning I still wake up and manage to remove a fair amount of “something” that has accumulated in the back of my nose/throat while sleeping.  I am still on the last few doses of antibiotics, so my HR when doing my workouts still seems a bit off but for the most part, I am feeling back to “normal”.

But really, what is “normal” these days?

For me, it is hitting the snooze button a few too many times then rushing to get ready and out the door each morning.

It’s daydreaming of sunny, beach-filled days back on Cozumel, then wondering why the hell I live in Iowa.

It’s drinking a few too many cups of coffee each day.  Having to pee like crazy, then having coffee jitters until lunch time.

It’s taking my new regimen of First Endurance products in the morning – OptygenHP and MultiV.  (I’m not big on taking pills of any kind.  Vitamins, ibuprofen, cold medicine…. like my antibiotics for instance. I’ve been bad about taking them consistently.)  The multivitamin is something I should have been doing for a while anyway.

It’s coming home after work, feeding and walking the boys, getting my workout done, scrounging around the house for something to eat, then heading to bed.

It’s being better at filling…

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Categories: Triathlons