Posted on Jan 29, 2009 in Ramblings, Training Updates
It’s hard to believe that we’re already a month into 2009. My new years resolution, to publish more frequent blogs, was broken swiftly and soundly in the first few weeks of this month. However, I am going to be optimistic and aim to improve from this sad start to the year. Nowhere to go but up. For my first post, I’d like to draw inspiration from new beginnings. The first and most notable new beginning is of course our new president, Barack Obama. For the first time in my own memory, it seemed that the whole country came to a stand still to watch the Inaugaration last Tuesday, and it was inspiring. My favorite parts of President Obama’s speech were when he addressed the duties we all have: “What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a difficult task.” as well as when he spoke of the hope and bravery of General Washington and his men facing the British. In another notable quip, President Obama told those in the Beltway area to toughen up; he was referring to their relative lack of skill in coping with cold weather . I hope that I can toughen up this year and also take the initiative to find a task and purpose greater than myself. Another more personal new beginning is my change of training program. For the past few years, I have had the great opportunity to train with and follow Siri Lindley and her team of athletes around the world to training camps. While this was an amazing experience, it was time for more stability and a change. In the vein of nothing ventured nothing gained, it was time to try some new things. Last fall, I started working with Neal Henderson at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine. It has turned out to be a great partnership, and I am enjoying the journey and excited to be learning new things. Most importantly, I am eager to see the results from all our hard work in my races this year. As an extension of the last new beginning, this year for the first time since 2006 I am spending the entire winter based in Boulder. Thus far, we have been lucky with the weather, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that our good fortune continues. Other new things this year are my new sponsors which I hope to have finalized soon. And my new training partner who is top secret and definitely going to take me to the next level this...
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Posted on Nov 12, 2008 in Race Reports
It’s always nice to finish the season well. Unlike last year, I had a strong finish this year: Escape to Bermuda and the World Championships both went well. In my last race of the year, the 70.3 world championships, I finished 2nd and broke the world record. I was a bit surprised by the time and my overall place. But, otherwise the race wasn’t too different from my pre-race plan; I wanted to swim well, bike hard, and hoped to come off the bike with the lead women then just run my own race that is pretty much what happened. I’ll post my full race report in a few days. The weekend before that I had an opportunity to race in Bermuda. It was a great trip; the island was so beautiful with amazing beaches. IMG put on the race and did an excellent job; it was very well organized and a ton of fun. The pros also had the chance to help out with the sprint and kids races on Saturday which was fun and allowed us get to know some of the local athletes. The race course was tough with a hilly bike and very hilly run. Other than a sub-par swim, I was happy with the race. The poor swim probably cost me a few places as I was only one second out of 3rd and only eleven seconds behind the 2nd place lady. But at least if you are going to have a poor swim; the water in Bermuda isn’t a bad place to spend an extra minute or two floundering around in… I definitely hope to go back next year and improve on my...
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Posted on Oct 26, 2008 in Rants, Training Updates
Sometimes I really really hate the wind…especially when I am on my bike and not feeling great. Today was one of those days in Boulder, the wind was blowing at 30mph and gusting up to 40mph. There is something so futile and frustrating about riding into a wind and especially getting upset with the wind (wind rage as I call it). The first hour and a half of the ride, I really was angry at life at the wind at everything. But once I got into the efforts in my ride, I forgot about the wind and focused on going hard. It is amazing how once you stop obsessing about something you can’t control like the wind; it seems to suddenly be a non-issue. I am sure there will be wind rage in the future but maybe next time it won’t take me a whole 90 minutes to get over my blow-hard anger and just focus on the...
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Posted on Oct 26, 2008 in Training Updates
I was planning to end the season with another three-peat: racing the world cup in Mexico followed by the Bermuda triathlon, and finishing with the 70.3 world championships in Clearwater. But around the time I got back from Dallas, I started to feel a bit off. At first, I thought it was just all the travel and racing. But last week, I went downhill fast and headed to the doctor for the strep test and to see if I had a sinus infection. After starting antibiotics, I turned around pretty quickly and felt okay by the middle of this week. However, after a tough decision, I decided to cancel my plans to go to Mexico on Thursday. It was a hard choice, but I just felt that racing when I wasn’t 100% didn’t make sense. I also didn’t want to jeopardize my last two races by racing when I was still sick. In addition, I realized that a big reason for going to the world cup was not to miss out on one of the few easy points world cups (there are only 21 girls on the start list and top 20 get points). After thinking about this rational, it seemed silly as the only finish that would really help me would be a podium finish, and I know that I am just not at that level yet. So I am home recovering and will ready to roll for the next two weekends. I am excited to finish the season with a bang or a very loud belly...
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Posted on Oct 26, 2008 in Race Reports
The last race in my three race string was the Dallas US Open, the final race in the Lifetime Fitness series. I was excited for the race but definitely tired from all the travel. I arrived home from France on Monday but spent a few days on the east coast again, flew back to Denver on Thursday, then left 20 hours later for Dallas…racking up the frequent flyer miles. I was in a bad mood on Friday, but had a nice time at the race briefing and VIP party. It is always a treat to get free food, the life of a poor pro triathlete, and catch up friends that I haven’t seen in awhile. The day before the race Rinny, another pro, and I caravan’d with some of her Aussie friends to the race site. It was only supposed to be @24 miles away but driving there took forever. It made me wonder if the bike course is really 40 miles not 40K. After getting a bike, run, and swim at the race start, we drove the 20 feels like 40 miles and headed back downtown. After a relaxing lunch, I headed back to my room to rest and do all my pre-race rituals. Race morning started very early….we had to be down and ready to go at 5am. It was still pitch dark for the first hour or so when we arrived at transition. I went on a dark ride through the park and hoped I didn’t hit a pothole and crash before the race. The race started off well; the pack was swimming well and then we turned around at the far buoy and started swimming directly into the sun. I think our pack zigg–zagged back and forth and wouldn’t be surprised if everyone swam an extra 100 or 200 as we tried to find our way. It was amusing and didn’t really bother me too much as I figured everyone else was just as screwed as I was. I just tried to follow the feet and splashing up ahead…probably blinding following them as they zigg–zagged. Once on the bike, it was a bit of a draft-fest for the first few miles as we road through the pack on a tight single lane road. It was a bit frustrating but at least it was only for a few miles. Once on the main road, the pack spread out and drafting officials started hovering around us. Joanna Zeiger got a questionable call to stand down early in the bike; I didn’t think she was drafting but sometimes the officials can see things we can’t or make calls that suck but we have to live with….I had a great ride and was doing well in second place with Sarah Haskins and Julie Dibens. Then, with only 2 miles to go in the bike, I took a drink and...
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