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August 31, 2009

Two weeks, two race reports - Wild on Windsor Olympic, 8/30

I must say I haven't been blogging much but I do feel that I've been spewing a good amount of content out into the interwebs these days since every entry seems to be a race report! Anyway I questioned my sanity yesterday morning as I popped out of bed at 5:05 am to get out to the 5430 Wild on Windsor (a.k.a. WOW) Olympic Distance Triathlon. I signed up for it because I had to miss the 5430 Sprint and in order to be a good MAO athlete I needed 5 races of 500+ participants. I knew I would feel like crap a week after Timberman but I knew the course was fast and flat, and I figured worst case it would be fun! I definitely had very low expectations as the week between Timberman and WOW was very easy and light and I still felt kind of crappy on every workout. I just felt really tired all the time too, not like tired during workouts, like I want to go to sleep tired. But I figured it would be fun and if I felt awful I could always turn it into an aquabike.

Pre-Race:
Made good time getting up to Windsor. I was a little rushed because the parking was FAR away from Transition. I was definitely disorganized - I forgot to get my chip until about 10 minutes before Transition closed and somehow I got a flat between the car and the Transition area so I was madly changing a flat right before I got out of there also. It was stressful for me but the atmosphere of the race was decidedly mellow and friendly, so I was excited. The girl I was racked next to was super nice. She is doing MAO for her Ironman in Cozumel so it was fun answering her questions about the program (i.e. yes, eventually you'll get used to heart rate training and you won't be constantly frustrated running 10:00 miles!!), and we generally enjoyed chatting. It was cloudy and somewhat cold so that is great for me but I was eager to put my wetsuit on to warm up!

The Swim - 29:10, no I am not joking
This is the worst swim I've had in two years (basically since my first Olympic). I really don't know what happened except that it was choppy and I swam really poorly. I am super frustrated with my swimming in general this year - I feel like I swim all the time and I am really burnt out but I never get faster and in fact I am slower than last year. This swim was very representative of all my frustrations with swimming this year. At first I thought oh maybe it was long but I don't think it was - I think I just sucked! Oh well. Good way to get expectations out of the way. I did find a big gash in my Xterra suit so I used my old suit, I guess at least I know the new suit is faster and I should get it fixed :)

T1 - 1:07
I was kind of discouraged after the swim but somehow I still managed a decent transition!

Bike - 24 miles, 1:12:37, 21.5 MPH
Um, I somehow calculated this wrong or the course was short or something but I thought I only averaged 20.5 MPH. So I am excited! Anyway, the bike. I rode my road bike because my tri bike is not getting back from New Hampshire until today. That made me sad because this was the PERFECT tri bike course - flat and windy! Also, I was tired so I figured any equipment advantage would be really helpful :) I was not feeling great but I just tried to pass a lot of people and not get passed by any women. Success! Oh except for my two teammates Heidi and Diana, but they're allowed to pass me :) I felt like I could have gone way faster on my other bicycle, or even with clip-on aero bars, but I guess that was a good learning experience. I hope to do this race again next year and if I do, you can bet I'll ride my tri bike. But overall I guess it was a decent effort - in looking at the times of other girls in my age group I was right up there. How funny!

T2 - :59
I consider this a good transition because I came in right after my teammate Diana and I left right after her. Also, in my book anything under a minute is smokin' fast!

Run - 10k (6.2 Miles), 44:10, 7:08/mile
I headed out of transition and immediately felt great for some odd reason. I think it was probably partly the weather and partly my slow bike! It was still really nice and cloudy and cool, and not super windy. I passed Diana within about a quarter of a mile and told her I was sure she would pass me back, how's that for low expectations! I came through mile one in 7:09 and said to myself, okay, well let's just keep going for as long as we can. I missed the mile two marker but I came through mile three averaged about the same pace. I figured I would stay steady and then pick it up once I hit mile 5. I did that and picked off my nice rack-mate around mile 5.75. That was a nice boost so I picked it up into the finish! The run course was nice, very flat and fast. This was my fastest 10k all year so I was pretty excited!

Overall - 2:28:01, 3rd F30-34, 14th Overall Female
Well, considering that I had really low expectations for this race I am super pleased and even though there were times when I thought I was insane for even showing up, I am glad I did it! I am also super stoked to have gotten on the podium in my age group because with 5430 Sports turning into IM for next year, this was the last possible opportunity to get one of the super cool hand made trophies that Jodee Siff makes. I just barely got one, but I got it! It was really fun being called up to the stage by Barry. He made a few comments about how MAO always cleans up at the 5430 races and I felt really proud to be part of my team. Heidi and Diana, my two teammates who were there, were the first and second masters and Heidi was third overall. They are absolutely amazing!

Now that the race is over, it is back to the grind for me. Longhorn is about 8 weeks away and I am getting excited to bump up my volume and intensity again. I am riding 4 hours this Saturday which will be super fun! I do love racing, and this race for some reason made me so appreciative that I get to participate in this fun, crazy sport! Thanks for reading my race report!

Posted by barb at 2:33 PM | Comments (1)

August 27, 2009

Timberman 70.3 Race Report - Better Late than Never :)

I have been so busy since I got back from Timberman that I must say a race report was the last thing on my mind. But I knew I really wanted to write one so I am taking the bull by the horns as they say! So here goes, and I must warn you, it is probably going to be a long one!

Pre-Race:
We arrived in Boston at around 10:30 pm EDT on the Wednesday before the race. It seems super early but I must say that I would highly recommend this if you are going West to East before a long race - that way we could adjust to the time change and ride the course, both of which are things we really wanted to do. We got our car and drove straight to the cottage we stayed in. This took a long time and it was very late when we arrived but luckily we were still on Mountain time so it didn't seem all that bad. The next day we got up and I went for a quick run. Holy cats it is hilly there! After I ran we got breakfast (OMG the food is good in the Lakes Region, they make perfect omelets), picked up our bicycles at MC Cycle & Sport which is a great little shop, and headed out to drive part of the bike course and then to park and ride the other part of the course. Thank heavens we did this or I would have blown up so badly - it is really hilly! The ride was on the flattest part of the course so that was nice. It was very warm and humid, I could not believe how many bottles we went through in 90 minutes. But it was a great little ride and it was a nice confidence booster to get out on the course prior to racing. We did have a triathlon star sighting as we saw Chrissie out riding the course as well. My friends I traveled with think I am a total pro stalker now but hey, Chrissie is very easy to recognize!

I had to swim Thursday too so after we got back and had a snack I went out to Weir Beach for a little swim. I think I looked like a bit of a weirdo swimming back and forth along the buoys but what can I say, I am used to that. The water was definitely warm. Thursday evening we had a great dinner in Meredith, NH, which is on the water about 5 miles north of where we stayed in Laconia.

Friday was a day off for all of us from a training perspective so we hung out, had an awesome breakfast again, and picked up our packets. I must say the expo was definitely not as good as the 5430 expos which really surprised me. Also, the weather was really rainy so it wasn't that fun to wander around. I love the rain though!! Friday night we had dinner at Gunstock (the expo location) and heard some great speeches from the pros. I must say that in addition to being very fast and very attractive, Michael Lovato is an excellent speaker!

Saturday we had some mini-workouts that were delayed a bit due to rain but that overall went fine. After we did our training we drove the beginning of the bike course again and then dropped off our bicycles at the race site. The organization seemed great so we were excited about that. Saturday afternoon we headed back to Gunstock for the carbo loading dinner and for a pre-race meeting. The meeting was excellent - short, to the point, but answered all questions before they were asked. The IM event penalty methodology sure is interesting, I was glad to know about that so that I would make sure not to draft as it seemed kind of embarrassing. Saturday we got back to our cottage nice and early and I got to lay in bed not sleeping for a long time :) I slept way better than I did before Lifetime but still not great.

Race Day!!!
Sunday morning we were up at 4:15. I had a bagel with peanut butter and a bottle of EFS, got dressed, and we headed to the race site at 4:45. Traffic was bad but we were in transition by around 5:30 or 5:45. I got everything set up and did a little 'please don't rain on my stuff' dance. I was getting excited to head down to the beach when they announced that there was a car accident out on the bike course so they would be delaying the start. It was kind of nerve wracking but what can you do! We just waited around and chilled out in transition until they announced they were ready for us to go. It was only 20 minutes or so, so it wasn't too bad.

The Swim - 1.2 Miles, 34:01
My goal for the swim was 35:00 so I exceeded that by about a minute. I was pretty excited! The start was not too rough at all, I got some decent drafting going, and I felt pretty good. I did get really hot about 3/4 of the way through and then I started to freak out about the length of the race before me but luckily I had enough time to talk myself down! I finished pretty strong, ran out of the water, and had my first awesome experience with wetsuit strippers. That was so nice! I wish every race had them. It is just so much more expedient than trying to pull your own wetsuit off. The transition area was pretty long so my T1 was right around 2:00. I was excited to get the longest part of the race over with so I headed out pretty quickly!

The Bike - 56 miles, 2:45:43
I passed a ton of people on the bike and I feel like I had a pretty solid performance. It was not the fastest in my age group by any stretch but I was in the mix with the other girls pretty solidly. I didn't pass many girls in my age group but I passed a ton of people who started before me so I feel good about it. The course was rolling with two steep hills. I got passed by two girls in my age group on the first steep hill and I was convinced they were burning out their legs and they'd come back. One of them did, and one of them didn't at all! But I know if I had crushed those hills I would have had a pretty disastrous run so I feel like the bike was successful to me - fast enough that I was in the mix for the run, but not so fast that I would be dead for it. I think I could go significantly faster on a flatter course but so could a lot of girls so I am not too fussed about that!

The Run - 13.1 miles, 1:51:24
Oh the run. I was really nervous about this for a couple reasons - first I had never had a great run after that long of a bike before. Secondly in my last race my IT band hurt a lot. That sucked for 6.2 miles and it would really suck for 13.1! Also it was warm and humid by that point and it was really sunny so I was worried about how my nutrition would hold up, and generally I was just nervous about the heat. I got through mile one and my time was 9:00 so then I really freaked out! However, I didn't feel like going much faster so I kept moving and when I got to mile two I realized the mile marker was wrong and I was actually running 8:30 pace. I was able to maintain this pace for the entire run - I think some of the middle miles were faster and miles 10 and 11 were slower. I did get a boost around mile 12 when I saw my old running coach, Darren, and he seemed surprised but excited that I was about to finish, so I think I ran a decent 13th mile. By mile 10 I definitely felt awful but I didn't feel so bad that I thought I had to walk or anything. My IT band hurt but not nearly as bad as it did in Minnesota so that was good too, although I need to figure out why my IT band only hurts during races.

Overall - 5:15:18, 8th F30-34
Overall I am really delighted by the outcome of the race. I absolutely think I can go faster next time and I think someday I can go under 5:00 so I am super motivated and excited about that. But this was a 23 minute PR which is huge! It was also a much tougher course than Boulder so I felt like overall it was a much better race. I am really looking forward to Longhorn in October, hopefully I can go under 5:10!

I have taken this week really easy and now I am tapering again, for the first Wild on Windsor Olympic Triathlon this Sunday in Windsor, CO. I am super excited to race again, although I do not expect to have a fabulous race one week after a half. Hopefully it will be a fun hard workout! Thanks for reading my race report. I hope to be blogging more regularly again soon!

Posted by barb at 1:00 PM | Comments (3)

August 18, 2009

Trip Prep

Oh I cannot believe how exciting this is, I am leaving for Timberman in just over 24 hours!! I must say that I have not yet done any packing, but I feel that considering the fact that my bike is already at the shop in New Hampshire the packing I have yet to do is not that bad. I fit everything in a really small suitcase for Lifetime Fitness but I was only there for two days and I didn't go out for dinner or anything. So I think this trip will definitely require more packing, especially since the weather in New England is unpredictable at best! I am swimming after work and then my little sister is coming over for dinner but I don't really have to get up super early tomorrow so I will not be needing to take to my bed at a ridiculous hour. So I hope to get most of the packing done tonight.

Tomorrow I have a day off from training, which will be fun - I think my last day off was right before Lifetime Fitness - and Matt and I are going to partake in a new tradition which is that on the day I leave town for a race, we go out for breakfast. It is such a nice treat to go out to breakfast on a weekday - no wait, awesome breakfast foods (breakfast is by far my favorite meal unless you count dessert as a meal), and it is just nice to have some quality time with Matt before I leave since I will be gone for a few days. Then again, can we really call this a tradition if we've done it twice? I guess we'll have to do it before Longhorn, I think if we partake in our tradition three times that will set it in stone. Realistically I must say that I love any excuse to have breakfast!

I think mentally I am doing well. I have not yet visualized the race but I plan to start on the plane tomorrow and continue through sometime on Saturday. I know it is very hippie dippie but I am definitely sold on visualization - at least it works for me! My legs felt a bit off this morning but I am chalking that up to normal taper feelings of weirdness. Ultimately my goal for this race is to finish and have fun, because I am never going pro so I see no reason to tie my feelings of awesomeness to finishing in a certain time since this is basically my first Half Ironman (outside of the one I did two years ago that I didn't train for). It will be a great learning experience first and foremost and hopefully it will also be a really fun weekend in a beautiful location!

As far as other preparations go, I've printed out my race tips and nutrition tips (Thanks MAO and Beth!!), we have directions to our B&B, and we know vaguely where everything else is. Luckily we all have fancy phones so if we get lost our phones can tell us where we are!

I am not sure how much blogging I'll be doing over the weekend but I will probably update facebook when I finish, so keep an eye out for that. Hopefully I will upload some pictures too!

Posted by barb at 1:56 PM | Comments (0)

August 17, 2009

Taper!!!

The taper as a concept is so confusing to me. Sometimes I love it and sometimes I absolutely hate it. Earlier this summer, I really struggled with my taper for Lifetime Fitness because it felt like I had not un-tapered from my sprint taper (for the race I DNSed due to the crash). However, I have put in a good solid four week training block so I am relishing the taper!! This morning I did a very short running speed workout (i.e. I ran 4 miles total), and that's all I got for today, and I am delighted! My legs are ready for a rest and I am just so excited about this race that I want to make sure I am totally ready to go on Sunday. My primary goals for the next 2.5 days are to get a lot of rest, drink a lot of water, pack a ton of crap, and relax my mind in preparation for the big weekend.

I absolutely love New England, it is such a special place for me. I did not appreciate it very much when I was living there but now I do! I cannot wait to get back there!! Two days from this moment I will be at the airport about to get on the plane!

Posted by barb at 1:22 PM | Comments (1)

August 13, 2009

Booting off the bike

I am pretty sure I came as close as I ever have to puking off the side of my bicycle this morning. That was fun!! I had my first speed workout in my new training cycle for Longhorn and it was deceptively tough. The workout was only 15 x 1:00 hard but when the repeats are that short you really have to make yourself push very hard. So I pushed!! I pushed so hard that it took me a good 20 minutes after my last repeat to stop feeling nauseous. Oh boy that was fun for me in a weird masochistic way. What can I say, I have been dying to do speed workouts again, so I must be a glutton for punishment! Overall I did enjoy it and I feel like it was a nice solid effort. I also got a good night of sleep last night, for the first time in several days, so that was great too! It is so nice to feel somewhat human again ;) I must say that I do love sleeping. It is one of my favorite things to do and maybe I'm just getting old but my idea of the perfect vacation is going to the beach and laying under an umbrella sleeping, reading, and snacking on tropical fruits all day. What can I say, I'm not much of a party animal!

In spite of the fact that I am somewhat lame from that perspective, there is actually a party at my house tonight. Matt is having a barbecue for his brother who is in town visiting (he lives in New Zealand). He went to Costco last night and loaded up on tons of meat products, snacks, and other yummy stuff. Hopefully it will be fun! I have two more workouts before I get home (lifting at lunch, swimming after work) so I will be excited to have some good food. That is one thing I do like about parties!

Posted by barb at 8:54 AM | Comments (1)

August 12, 2009

The bike is out of here!!

Oh I am so relieved. My bicycle and my nice new wheels are on their way to New Hampshire!! It was a dramatic process which included a trip to the UPS store and a subsequent trip to the local bike shop, because somehow bike shops pay way less to ship bicycles. Random but good information to have!

I think I really like my new bike box so hopefully my bicycle will make it to its destination relatively unscathed. Please keep your fingers crossed for it!

I am very sleepy today, I think the excitement of packing my bicycle was a little bit too much for me to handle last night at 10:00. Good lesson learned, do not go out to dinner instead of packing your bicycle. I am heading out to swim in a few minutes and that will be my only training for the day so that is kind of nice and relaxing. Have a great day!!

Posted by barb at 4:11 PM | Comments (0)

August 11, 2009

Advice!!

Okay 70.3 experts. I have done one Half Ironman ever. I did not train for it. I had no plan. It was 95 degrees. I hope Timberman will be better on many fronts. I know a few people who read my blog are awesome 70.3 veterans. Let me know your best 70.3 advice. Thanks!!

p.s. I think I just set a record for my shortest blog entry EVER! :)

Posted by barb at 3:38 PM | Comments (2)

I like zipps

So last night I tried out my fancy new Zipp 404s for the first time. I felt like kind of a tool going for a moderate ride on a P3 with Zipps (and apparently any dude who saw me riding around with this setup decided he just had to pass me, so perhaps the feeling was shared by others!), but oh boy it was so fun!! The handling is a little skittish so I am really glad I tried the wheels before I was in a race situation (and this was something my bike shop boss said I really needed to do to get the tackiness to come out or something). They are so cool and I really like the ride on them as well as how they look. I think they are lighter than my old wheels so that is nice, I don't really feel like I'm giving anything up having the aerodynamic wheels. Also you may be able to tell that this means my tri bike is rideable!! Hooray! I am still going to try to get my claim resolved with FedEx somehow but it is not as urgent now as the damage is extensive but cosmetic. Hopefully the new scars will make my bike more tough and hard core, right?!

Timberman is barely over a week away, it is so exciting!! I am packing my bike tonight and shipping it tomorrow. I need to start packing, I need to take a ton of stuff. I will definitely be checking a bag.

I have been obsessing over my goals and expectations for the race. Number one is to finish and have fun of course. Number two is to PR (my Half IM PR is 5:38 from my first year in triathlon when I ran and occasionally competed in tris). Number three is 5:20. Number four is 5:10. Hopefully I will be somewhere in the middle of my goal tiers! I just have no idea how fast I will be able to run a half marathon after swimming and cycling. So we shall see! I am so excited to go back to the Northeast, I absolutely love it there. Here is to a week and counting till I am back in New England!!

Posted by barb at 9:05 AM | Comments (0)

August 6, 2009

I love you, summer, but I hate you!

I am having 'I hate summer' issues right now. But realistically I love summer so I am just confused! Here is the deal. I love the long days because they make my schedule so much more flexible. I love being outside (as is apparent from my ridiculously browned appearance!), and I love BBQing in the park which is rare for me in the winter :) But here is the only thing I hate. When it is hot out, my old brick house just does not stay cool, and it is so hard for me to sleep. So right now I have a raging headache which I have had for days due to lack of sleep. I just cannot fall asleep when it is still 80 degrees in my house. But I can't sleep in because I really need to get to work on time, and I need to fit training in. So basically I am just a whiny, exhausted mess! When I am over-tired I also somehow turn into a Hypochondriac, so right now I am convinced I have a 24 hour stomach bug (which I have somehow had for days without puking, weird!) and strep throat. These two illnesses have been going around in my office for a while but realistically I am quite sure that I don't have them. But when I am really tired my throat hurts and I just cannot control my irrational thoughts.

Luckily right now it is only 77 degrees out, so hopefully things will continue to cool off, I will be able to get some sleep, and tomorrow I will feel like all is right in the world again. The good thing about sleep is that it is easy to catch up.

I am getting super excited about Timberman although FedEx continues to annoy me with their general incompetence. Yesterday I got a tag on my door saying that I was not there for a pickup. Um, what pickup? So I called them and they said 'well we need to get your bicycle and its packaging.' Do you think they might have told me about their intention to pick up my bicycle? That would have been a good idea! Also apparently the fact that I wanted to know before they wanted to take my bicycle, and the fact that I could not rush home, pack it up, and wait for them all day was very bad behavior on my part that deserved a rude response from my customer service representative. If you have a choice, do not use FedEx!

That is my soap box for the day. I am debating internally about swimming 1500 meters or 4500 after work. I hate to say it but it's looking like 1500! Well, what can I say, sometimes the motivated Barb wins and sometimes not. And it is off to the pool for me!! Have a good one all!

Posted by barb at 3:37 PM | Comments (1)

August 4, 2009

OMG!!!

Every week I vow to blog more. Then every week I am so busy and I never have time!! Bad Barb. Here are some random thoughts from me though.

First off I rode 78 miles this weekend!! Yeah!!! It was awesome. I totally want to do a century now (a flatter century though). The ride was in the mountains, it is called the Copper Triangle. It is awesome. Everyone should do it, the scenery is absolutely gorgeous. The ride goes from Copper Mountain (a ski resort just off I-70), up to Leadville (the highest town in America or some such thing), down to Minturn (just past Vail to the West), through Vail, up and over Vail Pass, and back to Copper. Vail Pass is a son of a gun coming from the West, holy cats! I honestly felt great though, so I am happy about that. I am feeling FIT right now. It is weird, I feel good in all three sports which never happens so in a way I am waiting for a shoe to drop as far as that goes.

As far as feeling fit.... my heart rate is crazy right now! Yesterday I rode for 2 hours, averaged 17.5 MPH, with an average heart rate of 138. This morning I ran for 1:15, ran fast for me in the early morning, and had an average heart rate of 139. I just cannot get my heart rate to go up! That is huge for me, usually I think I am part rabbit and my heart rate is constantly hovering at the top end of my zone.

You can see this is a very random post with little structure, sorry about that! It is diarrhea of my brain!

Timberman is in 2 1/2 weeks. I am so excited. My race wheels are in, so hopefully I will be using them for my first race at Timberman!! Oh boy, that is going to be nuts! I hope I don't flat, I am scared of Tubulars :)

I love to plan. It is probably one of my top five favorite activities. Thus I am already planning my 2010 season. Here is the text from an email I just wrote to my coach on the subject of what I want to do for 2010:

I feel like this year my season started WAY too late so I am trying to fix that. Here is a skeleton of my schedule for 2010, let me know your thoughts please. I am hoping to make the team again next year so keep that in mind :)

April - St. Anthony's Olympic (I really want an early season race, last winter I went insane on maintenance)
June - Eagleman 70.3 (I was thinking this or Oceanside but March is so early for a half)
June - 5430 Sprint
July - Boulder Peak or Lifetime Fitness Olympic
August/September - Age Group Nationals
September - Muskoka 70.3
November - Clearwater if I qualify

Some of the unknowns depend on how much money I spend traveling. For example I really want to do Lifetime Fitness again, but I don't know if I will have the appetite for traveling to another race if I already feel broke. But overall I think it looks like a fun schedule so I am super excited!! I think it will be great to start my season in April, I will not feel like a big loser all winter toiling away on maintenance. Also, I will be doing Olympic training in the winter which will not make me go insane riding on my trainer. So I think it is a BRILLIANT plan! I am sad that I am taking Oceanside out of the mix for now but realistically training for a March 70.3 in Colorado is kind of insane. Even more insane than I am usually willing to go which is saying something.

The rest of this week is going to be SUPER busy but it is all good stuff. I am hopefully riding with my friend Robb tomorrow and I have not seen him in ages, so that will be great! Also I am randomly doing the run leg of a relay for the 5430 Long Course on Sunday, so that will be so fun! I have several friends who will be there so I am very excited to see everyone. Hopefully it won't be a million degrees, but if it is, that is good training for my races!

I am about to head to the pool, we are having some hot weather this week so it will be refreshing and I am hoping for another good swim to keep up my streak. Have a great day all!!!

Posted by barb at 3:46 PM | Comments (3)