Posted on Jun 1, 2011 in Race Reports
Wildflower lived up to my lofty expectations. Since starting triathlon a few years ago, Wildflower has been on my wish list of iconic must-do races. Unfortunately for me, it was a day of 2nd places: 2nd fastest swim to teammate Jodie by just under a minute, 2nd fastest bike to Leanda by just over a minute, and 2nd fastest run to Mighty Mags by just under a minute again. What did this all add up to? A 2nd place overall but agonizingly only 7 seconds outside of the win. I will be having nightmares and flashbacks about that slim margin for quite some time. The day started well. In the swim, as expected Jodie gaped the rest of us immediately. I lead the rest of the women around the course. I exited the water second woman not as far behind teammate Jodie as at Singapore but still almost a minute down. The bike course in Wildflower is no joke. It reminded me of doing the Alcatraz bike course twice with a 25 mile flat super windy section between the reps. It made the Quassy bike course look flat. After struggling in Galveston, it was nice to have a better bike performance on a course that was challenging and left no place to hide. I just tried to bike smart and save a bit of gas for the run. My nutrition plan went well. First Endurance drink went down smoothly, and I peed early on the bike around mile 35 which was a first (usually my system takes right around T2). I finished the bike about 90 seconds down on Leanda. She pulled away on the flat windy section of road. I definitely need to either get a femur transplant or work on my flat windy TT riding after this race and Galveston. During the first 9 miles of the run, I wasn’t able to take any time back from Leanda. Then suddenly around that 9 mile mark, the gap of 90 seconds started to slowly come down. By the time I got to the final mile, a steep downhill to the finish, the gap was only around 20 seconds. On the final downhill mile, whenever I tried to push it my calves and quads would quiver threatening to cramp up with each footfall. Even still, I made up another 13 seconds to come within 20 meters of Leanda but just couldn’t quite get there. I needed another quarter mile and I could have done it. It is hard to race for just under 4.5 hours and lose by 7 seconds. But Leanda is such a tough competitor, and she made me work hard to take back any time at all. I think we both pushed each other to race harder and were respectively only 5 and 12 seconds off the legendary Julie Dibenator’s course record. Overall, I am happy...
Read More »
Posted on May 30, 2011 in Race Reports
Race week didn’t go very well. I left camp on Monday and 43 hours later arrived home in Boulder. As Doc predicted the travel made me feel sick and tired and by Friday old stress case MBE was not feeling well at all. But with some rest and words of wisdom from Doc and support from Eric, i was ready to go out and give it my all on race day. Unlike Singapore, once the race started it went smoothly. The swim was easy….no men to elbow me in the face. I got clean water and exited the swim with a decent lead over the rest of the field. Once on the bike, i felt pretty good but just was riding at the level of the other ladies. I battled the win on my own and finally saw some of the other girls around halfway. Unfortunately I couldn’t keep their pace and struggled into T2 in 7th place. Once on the run, I struggled a bit the first lap and faded to 9th place. But after 5k, my body woke up and I started to cruise. I managed to start moving up the field and landed in 4th place as the top American in the US Pro championship. While I would have liked to have finished a bit better, it was a good test out there and valuable learning experience. I nailed my nutrition much better thanks to having my First Endurance drink and gel with me for this race. No impromptu bathroom stops or puking like in Singapore so I learned never to be without my First Endurance products! In addition, I learned that I need to raise the level of my cycling. It was a tough day out there on the bike for me battling the crosswinds and I saw that I have more work to do there. Likewise, I learned never to give up. After the first lap of the run, I would not have predicted that I would be able to salvage my race. But around 4 miles the legs and body woke up, then the run started to get fun as I was able to start hunting down the other ladies. Finally, I learned that the travel takes a bit out of me and next time I need to both build more time into my travel around the world to a race and also not stress about feeling subpar race...
Read More »
Posted on May 29, 2011 in Training Updates
As my time in Thailand draws to a conclusion, I am starting to get nostalgic about my time here and what I will miss most. Of course we all grumble about the things we don’t like namely the rain along with what and who we miss at home. But deep down I think everyone has some Love for Krabi. Here are the top ten things I am going to miss: 10. No driving! At home, I spent so much time driving here and there to the pool to the track to the store, etc. But here in Krabi, it is nice not to spend so much time sitting in traffic and to do all my commuting by bike. 9. Thai food. While I must admit, I am starting to get a bit tired of Thai food. It has been amazing and when I get home the Thai restaurants will be a pale comparison to what we have here. 8. No housework. Unlike at home where there is always a list of chores to be done, here I don’t have to cook or clean unless I want to for myself. It is nice not to have a list of things I should be instead of resting. 7. The one movie channel. Without any choice in TV, it makes it easy to decide what to watch every night. If I don’t like the one movie option, I just head to bed sooner or read. Instead wasting time with hundreds of stupid TV options I only have one so it is much simpler. 6. Thai massage. For $8 us dollars, you can get an amazing massage here. At home, I pay seven or eight times that for a great massage. 5. Free time. At home, it seems like I am always rung around from one thing to the next without any time to just sit back and relax. But here I manage to get in a god rest between sessions and feel like I am able to make the most of every workout. 4. The Big C. Where else can you eat at KFC, clothes shop, get a donut from Donut Time, and do all your grocery buying. Plus it provides a needed outing when the going gets tough. 3. The Tawantai Hotel! May and the rest of the hotel staff have been so nice and helpful dealing with us and our bikes and smelly shoes. And they have all gone out of their way to make our stay as easy as possible. Plus, living in a hotel has its advantages with laundry and cooking done for us. 2. The Thai people. Everyone here has been so nice and welcoming. Wherever i have gone, the people in Thailand have been so friendly. Even the cars on the road don’t seem to want to run us over as much as they do at...
Read More »
Posted on Mar 22, 2011 in Training Tests, Training Updates
As the triathlon season gets into full swing with training and soon to be racing. I started taking First Endurance HP Optygen daily in early February. I wanted to wait six weeks before reporting on the results. Over the past six weeks, I have been duly impressed with how my body has responded as i have increased my training stress and i think that has a lot to do with First Endurance HP Optygen. After a hectic holiday season, I didn’t rush into training this year but rather used january to just build my fitness and consistency. When I started to get the 2011 season training underway in February, I started using First Endurance HP Optygen. As started to increase volume and intensity, my body broke down but definitely not in the way it did last year. Last year, I became very overtrained and struggled to stay healthy. But for once, I didn’t catch that inevitable winter cold or flu bug but remained relatively healthy. In addition to this, I had consistent training without facing the usual tiredness and soreness that plagued me at least once a week last year. At the end of February, I headed out to Krabi Thailand for a Team TBB camp stocked up with plenty of First Endurance HP Optygen and multivitamin. Unlike last year where I caught something on just about every trip, I managed the 30 hour journey without catching a bug. Then, I jumped straight into intense training over the last three weeks. With the help of First Endurance HP Optygen, I have responded very well to the training load and been feeling great despite the demands I have put on my body. The recovery from training definitely seems faster, and during back-to-back hard sessions and training days my body has been durable and resilient. In years past, I have been inconsistent with my nutrition and wanted to make a change. With the help of First Endurance, I have finally started to take my training, racing, and daily nutrition to a higher level. While I don’t think that First Endurance HP Optygen is the only reason that my training has been progressing so well, I do think it has definitely been an asset. As a pro, it may give me that extra 2 % that i need to win a race instead of finishing 5th. In addition, with professional drug testing, I need to be sure any vitamins and supplements are tested and don’t contain any banned substances. With a company like First Endurance, I don’t have any concerns and trust in all their products. In the scheme of my training program, the easiest workout is taking that First Endurance HP Optygen with my First Endurance multivitamin. Make it one of your goals this year to take your nutrition more seriously. For that, I don’t think you need to look...
Read More »
Posted on Mar 21, 2011 in Race Reports
Singapore Race Review After a long dryspell, it was a huge relief to start 2011 with a W. The race in Singapore was a good training day as Doc would say and gave me chance to go hard and see where I am at early season. It was great to have TeamTBB members dominating out there with 1,2,4 in the womens race and strong results with three men in the top ten. The day had an auspicious beginning. I was beat senseless at the beginning of swim and probably arrived there last. Luckily the swim went better for the remaining 1700 meters. I exited third woman a long way behind teammate Jodie but not too far behind another team member Amy. The first lap of the bike was nice. I just tried to relax get into a rhythm and not get dropped by Amy whose biking strength surpasses mine. After a nice first lap, the second and third were mayhem as we tried to ride legally while weaving through over 1700 age groupers. Sadly, I grossly underestimated my First Endurance needs for a six week training trip in Thailand. I ran out of First Endurance drink a week ago so was forced to use a Singapore drink with carbonation. I tried to flatten it but it still had some bubbles so I was puking it up during parts of the bike. Then, at the end of the bike, the official gave me a penalty for blocking. After the race, the official apologized for making an example of me to the other girls. But really I had sympathy for the race marshals out there, frankly the three lap bike course was a mess and would have been near impossible to officiate. So at the end of the bike, I went past the bike entrance to the penalty tent in a frenzy to serve my infraction. After leaving the penalty tent, I was in such a flustered I started to put on my shoes before my socks. After more harried running around, I finally got out of transition and on to the run in third place. On the run, I felt pretty good but tried to be conservative taking the heat and humidity into account. For the first time in a race, I had some serious stomach problems and needed two quick pit stops on the run. I wish I had my brought more First endurance with me to Thailand as in all my previous half iron mans I have never had any issues using their drink. But other than the upset stomach, the run went okay as I just tried to get into a steady pace and stay as cool and hydrated as possible. I just barely nipped teammate Amy for the win and was glad to be done. With one race down, I am excited to have 2011 underway...
Read More »
