Posted on Sep 8, 2016 in Ramblings
The number one question I get from age groupers is “what do I use to fuel during training and Ironman racing?”. Unfortunately, what works for me won’t necessarily work for everyone. In fact, I have found that my own fueling is not a one-solution problem. There is no simple answer that will work for every person in all race conditions. As I get older and more experienced at long distance racing, I have found that what I need to consume daily to maintain my training load as well as what I need during a race changes yearly. This means that I need to continue to adapt and adjust each year to find the best formula for my body. At age 33, I started with First Endurance and their fuel as well as their daily multi-vitamin and optygen product were essential to enable me to race and train consistently. With First Endurance fuel and supplements, I was able to stay healthier over the entire season enabling me to achieve consistent race results. However, now that I am in my late 30s my needs have changed. Recently, I’ve struggled with my stomach in hot races and started working with Glukos to fuel during races. Their energy drink and gels have worked well for me in hot humid conditions like Kona where I have struggled like many Ironman athletes with nausea and vomiting. Their product is simple and digestible. In addition, after hard sessions, their protein bars and shakes are perfect for recovery. In addition, in order to support my training load and recovery, I started working with Enduropacks. Initially, I was drawn to Enduropacks for their Electrolyte Spray. I have struggled to ingest mineral and salt pills during hot Ironman races. The traditional salt pill regimen was not successful for me as was clearly evidenced by my meltdown in the lava fields in Kona the last two years. The spray allows me to get in salt and minerals either in my drink or separately and absorbs better than capsules. In addition, the Enduropacks liquid Multi-Vitamin and Glutamine Recovery Complex have keep me battling through some obstacles namely Lyme disease this year. I find the liquid multi-vitamin absorbs better and have been surprised to find myself feeling more resilient than I have in years. I don’t think that is a coincidence. I have noticed that in my late 30s that I need to be more careful about recovery and illness. With Glukos fuel and Enduropacks, I have managed to stay healthy unlike last year where I got sick on almost every flight. In addition as training has accelerated over the past month, I have responded very well to the load and been feeling great despite the demands I have put on my body. The recovery from training definitely seems faster, and my body has been durable something that is harder to maintain as...
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Posted on Jul 27, 2016 in Uncategorized
My coach has given me the nickname the honey badger. It not just a nickname but the way I approach all the challenges in my life. I don’t have unflappable confidence and am not really really ridiculously good. For me, it’s always come down to grit – hardheaded, stubborn, down and dirty, blood sweat and tears, grit. So in my typical badger style, I took my Lyme disease diagnosis this June with a stubborn desire to preserve yet another challenge in my path. It is only through grit that I am here racing professionally at all. I wasn’t born with ridiculous talent in fact I was born with a hole in my heart, a mitral valve prolapse with mitral regurgitation of blood and deformed heart valves. Now this isn’t uncommon. But it is not an advantage to have leaky valves allowing blood to rush backwards every time my heart pumps. Add to this my bad hips and their two torn labrums and early osteoarthritis, my ten stress fractures, feet with plantar plate tears, and bad knees, it’s only with grit and a lot of duct tape that I make it out the door to train every day. I wasn’t born with ridiculous luck either. Start with my ill-timed broken collarbone and shredded AC joint a month before Kona in 2013. Add in a similarly ill-timed crash caused by a convicted doper in an ITU race three weeks before the Olympic Trials in 2008. Not to be outdone by a dog attack resulting in a puncture wound while riding my bike, not a big deal except when the dog has not been vaccinated for rabies so a month long rabies vaccine protocol is required. And finish it off with a low speed sailboat drive by hit. I know you can’t make up this stuff. Who gets a hip contusion from a sailboat cruising slowly through a pack of swimmers? But all this bad luck only made me more determined to get to the next starting line with typical honey badger stubborn perseverance. I wasn’t born with studied forbearance. The obstacles above have been tough but the challenges that have truly tested my grit have required patience. I’ve had to take a step back from my normal urgent gritty stubbornness to get past Mono, years later Epstein-Barr virus, and now this summer Lyme disease. Taking a step back to recover requires a placidity and intelligence that is difficult for me. But despite being forced to step back, I never considered stopping. As I reflect on my strengths and weaknesses, I can see where my stubborn determination has both helped and hindered me in reaching my goals. My only ambition this year is to put Lyme disease away and take every race as an opportunity to unleash raw honey-badger courage. With that in mind, I will tackle my first race in many...
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Posted on Dec 1, 2015 in Uncategorized
In the spirit of off-season adventure seeking, I am tackling a crazy daunting challenge. In four short days, I will be running the North Face Endurance Challenge, a 50 mile trail ultra marathon with 10,000 feet of climbing. To say I am nervous would be an understatement. I feel like I did treading water on the start line of my first Ironman back in Klagenfurt in July 2011. It is a feeling of apprehension mixed with excitement: not knowing if I am ready for the race but eager to test myself against the course and competitors. After Kona in October, I was in dire need of a mental and physical break from the myopic focus of triathlon training. In my hiatus from the tri-world, I hoped to find a new challenge that spoke to my heart. As soon as I read about the North Face Endurance Challenge 50 mile event, I immediately wanted to enter. (My bucket list of life adventures has always included some ultra marathons like Comrades, Hard Rock, Western States, and UTMB to name a few.) The race hit my adventure target with 50 hard undulating miles along the gorgeous trails in Marin county with amazing views of the ocean, bay, and city that are sure to take my breath away if the hills don’t. As soon as I entered, after struggling through a four hour long run, I questioned my sanity. Who enters a 50 mile hilly trail race as their fun off-season activity? But now with only four days until the race, I am excited for the challenge, can’t wait to test myself on the amazing trails, and of course my main goal is to finish with a muddy, tear-streaked, but smiling face. Enjoy your off-season adventures! I look forward to seeing you all back out there rested and refreshed to tackle your triathlon-ing challenges in...
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Posted on Nov 16, 2015 in Uncategorized
As a professional Ironman triathlete, Kona is the holy grail. If you perform well in the lava field, your season is a success if you fail then what? Having given myself 40 days to consider my performance, I haven’t come any closer to the answers. I started the world championships in Kona with an aim of finishing on the podium, but I ultimately struggled and managed only a distant 13th place on the back of my slowest ever marathon. Like Plato in the cave, I can’t see what led to my failure but I can determine what didn’t go wrong. I wasn’t injured. Thanks to Brett Sutton and the entire TriSutto team especially Robbie Haywood and Susie Langley. I started the race in the shape of my life. I wasn’t unprepared. The TriSutto team was acclimated in Jeju. I should have been completely ready to race. I wasn’t sick. I didn’t get food poisoning or a bug or get sick really the entire season. I can’t blame some unnamed illness anytime during the entire season for my defeat. I didn’t have any equipment failures. There were no mechanical issues in the swim, bike, or run that resulted in my demise. I didn’t have anyone interfere with my race. I wasn’t penalized and didn’t see any other athletes who unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged by the race conditions. I didn’t make any huge mistakes during the race. I always swallow seawater and get sick on the bike in Kona but that didn’t impact my race. I knew to expect it. My pro fluid bottles were frozen and I wasn’t able to get anything from them. But again that didn’t impact my race, as there were plenty of aid stations on the run course. I just had to take aid like every other age group athlete or like I would at any other event. I didn’t have any GI issues during the race. I didn’t puke or have to use the porta-potty. Seeing what didn’t happen leaves me with one one outcome. I went for a podium finish and wasn’t good enough on race day. Whether I simply had a bad day or whether I am not good enough is the real question. With my swim and bike performances, I only needed to run a 3:15 to finish in the top three. If I was given that information before the race, I would have said done and backed myself for a podium every time. I don’t regret that I went for the podium and flamed out on the day. My only regret is that all the hard work and support of my entire team didn’t get rewarded. This is a selfish pursuit and our team from family and friends to sponsors and coaches is what makes it all possible. When you don’t succeed, the team doesn’t always get the credit they deserve...
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Posted on May 24, 2015 in Ramblings, Rants, Training Updates
As the spring came to an end, I found myself at a crossroads in my triathlon career. For the past year, despite the world’s best training, I have struggled to execute consistent performances in my races. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was letting down my coach and myself, and that it was time to either walk away from the sport or make a change. For the 18 months, I have had the incredible opportunity to live at home and work with Siri Lindley and her amazing team of athletes. I wouldn’t be where I am in my career without Siri. She has been an inspirational mentor and an incredible friend since she gave me my start in the sport in 2006, and she was gracious to take me on after my season-ending crash in 2013. Coming back to train with Siri was incredible. She has an enthusiastic energy and is completely dedicated to getting the best out of all her athletes every day. On the performance side, Siri’s record as a coach in the US is unmatched; her athletes dominate on the world stage from ITU Olympic distance to the Ironman world championships. Siri is an amazing leader.. But, I couldn’t seem to turn the training into race results. And, while I have no doubt we would figure it out eventually, I also know that my time in the sport is limited. So, after some very deep reflection, I made the incredibly difficult decision to go back to what had proven successful in the past. Now, I’m here in Switzerland and back under the supervision of Brett Sutton who coached me through the most successful years of my career. Brett, while with a different style than Siri, is equally accomplished having produced countless triathlon world champions over his coaching career. I approached Brett Sutton for the first time at the end of 2010 when I was at another crossroads in the sport and considering retirement. This time, I was at a similar point and knew that if he was willing to take me on his squad that Brett would do his best to help me find the consistent race form that I had under his tutelage in 2011-2013. Brett agreed to help guide me through my final years in the sport. This change will not allow me to live full time at home, but with the support of my husband, who has once again gotten behind me, we’ll both give triathlon a few dedicated years before I hang up the tri kit. This was not an easy decision to be taken lightly. In addition, this change has no guarantees. However, in the words of Arthur Ashe, “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” When faced with an impasse, sometimes the only choice is to change direction, push onwards,...
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