Inspirational Friday...

Most people never get there. They're afraid or unwilling to demand enough of themselves and take the easy road, the path of least resistance. But struggling and suffering, as I now saw it, were the essence of a life worth living. If you're not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you're not constantly demanding more from yourself—expanding and learning as you go—you're choosing a numb existence. You're denying yourself an extraordinary trip.

~Dean Karnazes

I dropped off the face of the blogging world the last few months... but I'll be back and posting soon! I have a BIG year coming up next year to look forward to and share! :)

It's 'A' race week!

Holy #%*! My ‘A’ race is here in a few days! Where did that summer/year go? This thing we call “life” has taken priority over 20 hour training weeks this year, but I’m totally OK with that. I’ve still trained, just not as many hours as last year and not as many looooong weekend days. My running is on the back burner this season which is a bummer, but I am enjoying the fitness I do have to have fun at races and give it my all.

My last few races were REALLY fantastic days. The courses were challenging, and I had a BLAST racing them. Each of them were great experiences and I had a couple of “ah ha moments”, solidifying for me why I do this. I LOVE it. I LOVE to keep fit, I LOVE to race, I LOVE to challenge my mind and body even when they’re not sure they’re up to the challenge. I LOVE being surrounded by the great people that also love this incredibly amazing, challenging, unpredictable, and always fulfilling sport of triathlon.

My last three races were; 1. Minneman (2nd in age group):

2. Twin Cities Triathlon (2nd in age group. Well... 4th, but the first 2 were overall winners):

One photo I was in that was taken at the Twin Cities Triathlon by professional photographer Paul Phillips of Competitive Image ended up being included in the TC Tri photo gallery on Triathlete.com! Here's the picture as it appears on the site. :)

3. 25th Anniversary Brewhouse Triathlon (6th place in age group, yet probably my best race to date of this season. Those Duluth girls are FAST!) Racing at Brewhouse was amazing... Back on home soil! It was a fantastic day surrounded by high school friends and parents and the best part of all, it was in Duluth! It doesn't any better than that!

I won’t bore with full race recaps of the last three races I skipped reporting on, but rather look forward to my one and only Half Ironman of this season which is a mere 3 days away. I may not come home with a new PR, but I’m looking forward to the trip and experience that I will get to enjoy with a dear friend.

Bring on Steelhead!!

Race reports gallore!

Man, you get behind on blogging for a couple of weeks and four races have passed! I am slacking in the blog department this year. I guess getting race packets and being at the right place at the right time has been all I can think about. It's certainly race season with FOUR races in three weekends.

What better way to 'report' on a race then by pictures/videos?? So here goes...

Race 1 - New Bri Tri, June 4th in New Brighton (my backyard tri!) and with all my Lifetime buddies! I had an absolute blast at this race. Mainly due to the fact of having so many of my friends and teammates there racing and cheering, and that it was a beautiful day. My swim was ok, bike was ok, and run was horrible. I felt like I couldn't remember how to 'push it' once I got to the run. No big deal, it was the first outdoor race of the season. One of my friends did this as his very first tri ever and totally ROCKED it! Here he is post-race taking a breather (he's in the middle). I think this is a face of "I'm hooked", don't you??

Race 2 - Liberty Half Ironman Relay (swimmer), June 11th. Lots of P2ers raced this one so I was mainly a cheerleader this day since all I "raced" was the first leg. Our team came in 2nd. The 1st place team was all male and had an insanely fast swimmer and biker. Not like we couldn't have beat them, but none of us are on steroids. :) Here's video of our team that day:

Here's our team post race:

Race 3 - Manitou Triathlon, June 12th. Loved this race! It was really well run thanks to Optum Health Performance. It makes me extra happy that they are running Minneman this year and I am planning to sign up for the 'new' Twin Cities Triathlon, also put on by Optum.

There were lots of P2ers racing and cheering again so that was fun. The course is also super flat and fast. It's rare when this happens, but the worst leg of the day for me at this one was the swim. I swam to the wrong buoy! I went to the first one just fine, but when I looked up to head to the second one I veered off to the right and reached the second buoy, on the other side of the course. I am blaming my goggles as they were fogged up beyond belief. Once I ran into a kayaker who was yelling at me to go the other way, I took my goggles off to re-establish where exactly I was, then when I realized, I was just plain emabrassed. Oops! There were others with me though so it wasn't just me. Not sure if I lead that effort or not, but we eventually made our way through the swim. :)

The bike was a little slow going, the legs took about 10 miles to want to work, but the run was actually MUCH better than the week before. I felt like I pushed it much harder and just felt better all around with it. Overall, the results turned out good, even with my much less than stellar swim and bike this day, I was 1st in my age group! The rest of our team dominated this race too. EVERY P2er made the podium! Noelle was there to cheer as well and got some good pictures, here are some of that day:

Race 4 - Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, June 18th, in my hometown!! I really wanted to be a part of Grandma's Marathon weekend again this year as I missed last year due to having a long training weekend. After missing it last year I decided I would never miss it again. A 32 year streak is nothing to break! It was POURING rain and cold once we got up to the start. It was tough to take off my pants and jacket to get lined up at the starting line in only shorts and a thin shirt. At about mile 4 the rain had stopped, there was a tailwind, and it turned out to be an ideal day for a marathon (or a half marathon as it were). My only goal was to hold a steady pace and to beat the time I ran at Fargo Half. I was beating it by a long shot until I needed to take a bathroom break. There were long lines at every bathroom, but I couldn't hold it anymore so I had to wait in line and got a bit behind my time. I didn't mind though, I was SO happy to be back and running in Grandma's Half! Here's a photo that actually looks like I'm haulin'... It must have been at the end. :)

Next up is Minneman over July 4th weekend. Taking a little break until then to have a party and cheer for my teammates who are racing Ironman Couer D'Alene THIS weekend!! 

Fargo Half Marathon Race Report!

Better late than never I suppose! :)

I wasn't planning to "race" this half as I haven't been running super great leading up to this race AND I was sick the week(s) prior. I mainly signed up so I could be a part of this weekend while cheering for my friends who were running the full marathon. The unfortunate part, which I didn't realize when signing up, was that I started 1 hour 15 minutes AFTER the marathoners. (I thought they would do like Grandma's Marathon does, where the half starts an hour before the full.) Due to my marathoner friends being so speedy, it meant I wouldn't be able to go out on the course and cheer for them as they'd be done soon after I was, or before I was even!

My race plan was to just keep it consistent and not breathe hard. It all went according to plan with a short blip where I decided to pick it up for awhile from about mile 8-9. It felt good to get a faster stride going, but I only did that for about a mile then slowed back down to get my breathing under control. I had a blast running the half without any pressure, and my marathoner friends kicked BUTT! It was fairly humid this morning, so not ideal marathon weather, but they all had great races.

Overall, I LOVED the course (fast and flat!), I LOVED the entertainment (there were bands and/or DJ's at every mile!), and I LOVED the crowd support. Fargo put on a great event, and I can't believe it's taken me this long to get back up there to be a part of this. I went to college in Fargo/Moorhead, so every minute of this weekend brought back memories. It was a fantastic time! We even had a fun night out on the town that Saturday evening. It brought me back to my college days, except I felt much more mature this time around and didn't feel a need to hunt down the bars with $1 beers. :)

Next stop... New Bri Tri this Saturday!

Chain of Lakes Race Report!

Last Saturday was my first triathlon of the season. First triathlon since Ironman in fact! The timing of this race couldn't have been worse for me and all I had going on last week, but as much as I wanted to skip it, I made the drive to Alexandria, MN and gave it a go.

It was a perfect morning for a race. A bit damp out, but no rain during the race, just some sprinkles before to get the streets wet. The swim is in the Discovery Middle School pool which is nice since good weather is never a guarantee in central MN in early May for an open water swim. In order to get your lane assignment you give them your predicted swim time for 600 yards. I have been swimming semi-decent lately, so I thought an 8:10-8:20 sounded good. Once we took off, half way down the pool I knew I was in trouble. My arms were SO sore!

The days prior to this race I had to MOVE all of my furniture out of the downstairs of my house as I was getting new carpet installed. This included some of the heaviest pieces I've ever owned, like my dining room table, and entertainment center. I had asked a friend to come and help, but I just hate bothering people so I managed to get everything moved one way or another (and was pretty proud of myself after the fact!)

Friday was all around busy with the carpet installers, a handyman that was replacing the wood trim on the garage and the soffits on my house, then making an IKEA trip to buy some new (also super heavy!!) furniture. Once the installers were done I had to move everything back. I didn't get in a pre-race workout on Friday (which would have warned me about the arm soreness) because I had too much going on with the workers being here and the moving that I ran out of time.

Nonetheless, I was disheartened from the get go, once I realized how sore my arms were. I had done really well at this race last year, so was pretty upset I wasn't going to improve on last year's time. I ended up doing the swim in 9:16. Whoops and UGH. Once I got on the bike I just felt drained, but I still tried to push it. The bike went decent, it was similar to last year's time. Then came the run. I felt fine on the run, but I was moving in slow motion. I tried to speed up, but just couldn't. It felt like one of those dreams where you are running but not getting anywhere. Or maybe I'm the only one to ever have that dream?? :)

Overall, I came in 7th in the 30-39 age group and was 13th female. My time was over a minute slower than last year's time. I'm trying not to be too hard on myself, but it was just a bummer of a day. I am happy I showed up and did the race though! There are lots of other races to look ahead to.

In other race news, the TC 1 Mile was a race FAIL this week. I had signed up, but after Saturday's race I got sick. It came on full force Sunday; with horrible congestion, sinus and ear issues, and has hung on all week. That race always makes me cough for days after so I didn't think it'd be worth it in my current condition.

I did start my new job this week! With bad always comes good, so regardless of my sniffles and feeling icky this week, I really enjoyed my first week at General Mills! :)

BIG NEWS!!!

Wow, what a year it's been already. I remember posting a comment a couple of months ago that said something like "The year of no Ironman, now what?" NEW JOB is what!! I have accepted an offer with General Mills and will be starting on May 9th as a Unified Communications Technical Specialist.
 
I'm so excited that I am going to be working at such an amazing company. Looking for a job is stressful, even if your field is booming (which mine apparently is as I had more than one job offer to choose from)! I spent a ton of time updating my resume, on the phone with HR departments, working with recruiters, and going to interviews. After weighing all my options, I couldn't be happier with my decision!

Regardless of what the Star Tribune said I said, I am not "fed up" with my current job, the fact of the matter is LarsonAllen is an Accounting firm and they cater to the careers of Accountants, not Infrastructure Engineers. Since I am not an Accountant, I felt that the opportunities had run out for me there. It was time to move onto a company that gives all fields opportunity to move onward and upward in their careers. I can't wait to start on this new journey!

In other exciting news, I received my Team Aquaphor kit today and I LOVE our new uniforms! It's all super comfortable, and I love the darker colors. The white tops we had last year could be a bit see through once they got wet. :)

I feel so lucky to be part of such a great team! I'm making sure to be much more involved with the Team Aquaphor online community this season and look forward to meeting other teammates throughout the year at races. My friend, blogger, fellow P2er, and Ironman extraordinaire Noelle, is also sponsored by Team Aquaphor this season. Come find us at races and let us share the anti-chafing goodness with you!!

In final news, I did run a race two weekends ago. The Trail Mix 50k relay. We had a team of four and each had a 7.75 mile run on the Hyland trails. It had snowed overnight, but by the time the relay started it wasn't snowy on the trails, just muddy. It was actually pretty fun to get dirty. I started out the race with good intentions, but ended up fairly stressed and with a pretty bad time. I was on call, had my phone with me, kept getting texts and phone calls, which I stopped to listen to, and then responded that I'd be back to my car/laptop as soon as I could. As much as I tried to speed up after that, I think I actually slowed down! My fellow teammates rocked it though!

Next up is my first Tri of the season, the Chain of Lakes Triathlon in Alexandria on May 7th. Wow, already!?? I don't feel ready for racing season yet. I've only biked outside ONCE so far this year! The plan is to ride the MN Ironman bike ride this Sunday so that'll be my 2nd outdoor ride of the year.

It's crunch time.

There's a method to the silence/madness...

Man, I've been quiet lately. I've had LOTS going on in my life the last few months, but nothing I can bring up in the blog world... as of yet.

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will be able to go public with my news that I'm... Moving to Trinidad and Tobago? Being cast in The Real Housewives of Minneapolis? Not really a swimmer, I'm ALL runner, and I'll be at Boston 4/18 to give Kara a run for her money?

Ok, NO... None of those... but speculation is fun, isn't it?! :)

I did find out I am lucky enough to be sponsored again this year, by the greatest sponsor ever, AQUAPHOR!! Sweet!

It's an honor to be chosen again to represent such a great brand. It makes me want to get out there and train that much harder to make sure and give Aquaphor a good name in 2011!

Please come and find me at races... I have samples! :)

Leadman Tri Qualifying Standards!

It's really happening! The Leadman Triathlon DOES exist and 2011 will be the inaugural year.

I now know my destiny... for 2012! :)

I had heard some buzz about this Tri last year from a friend who was out in CO doing the Leadville 100 MTB race. He had a conversation with the LTF CEO, and heard that an event like this was in the works. The Leadman Tri is a modification to the Iron distance triathlon, one that caters more to the swimmer and biker! (When you tack a marathon on the end of an Ironman, the advantage goes to the runners. Don't try and deny it, I will carry this belief to my grave.) :)

Leadman Tri distances are a little different; 250k in one day; hence the name LEADMAN EPIC 250.

5K (3.1 mile) SWIM

223K (138.6 mile) BIKE

22K (13.6 mile) RUN

I already received an email back on the Leadman Tri qualifying standards: (Note: these are for 2011 as stated.)

Christina:
 
Thanks for your interest in Leadman. The race is scheduled for May 14, 2011. Below are the standards for this year's race, not 2012. We will address 2012 this fall. Registration is now open at leadmantri.com.
 
The qualifying standards are one or more of the following:
 
OPEN DIVISION

Leadville 100 MTB Men: 11:30 Women: 12:00
Leadville 100 Run Men: 29:30 Women: 30:00
Ultra Triathlon* Men: 12:30 Women: 13:00
1/2 Ultra Triathlon** Men: 6:15 Women: 6:30
Marathon Run Men: 3:10 Women: 3:40

MASTERS DIVISION

Leadville 100 MTB Men: 11:30 Women: 12:00
Leadville 100 Run Men: 29:30 Women: 30:00
Ultra Triathlon* Men: 14:30 Women: 15:00
1/2 Ultra Triathlon** Men: 7:15 Women: 7:30
Marathon Run Men: 3:20 Women: 3:50

* - includes 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run
** - includes 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run

If you do not meet any of the above standards, please feel free to submit your own personal qualifications. We will be selecting a limited number of other athletes to participate in this inaugural event based on these submissions. Other information (i.e. time cutoffs) will become available as we finalize it.

Also, please note that in the time from submitting the ad to the present, we changed the distance of the bike and run. The current distances are 5k swim, 223k bike and 22k run. We simply could not resist the thought of the turnaround on the run taking place at Hoover Dam, thus we extended the run.

Good luck. Hope to see you in Vegas on May 14.

If I had known sooner, I'd have signed up for 2011. Knowing it exists is all the excitement I can handle for this year. Plus, that'll give me another year to prepare for 2012. SO EXCITED!!

Securian Half Marathon/11.6 mile Race Report!

Ok... whoops! The blog has definitely been on the back burner so far this year. I completely forgot I had a "race" back in Jan. that I still needed to report on. So, here's my official report:

I ran a Half Marathon in January! I don't think I've run a half marathon between the months of November and April EVER, so that was a huge feat in itself. I ran with a good friend who was nice enough to go slow with me. I didn't plan to race that day, I just wanted to do it as a long run, since I had one on the schedule anyway. The one quirk about this race (and it was too bad, because it was the most perfect Jan. day for a race, even being it was the dead of winter in MN) was they had the turn around point too soon! I knew something was up when we got to the turn around point and not too long after, we saw the Mile 8 sign. I knew we hadn't even gotten to Mile 7 yet so was suspicious that the turnaround was early. I had looked up the road while at the turn around and saw a race sign way off in the distance, but wasn't about to argue with the St. Paul police officer who was telling us to turn around at the barricade. Although it wasn't a full half, I look at it that I got a 11.6 mile PR that day. Can't beat a PR no matter how you get it. :) A race distance I've never done before and will probably never do again.

Here we are that day and notice there were no ice caked eyelashes or eyebrows. It was really a beautiful day!

Base training is going well. I'm the process of really focusing more on strength training and protein eating, following the guidelines in my latest read Racing Weight Quick Start Guide by Matt Fitzgerald. Great book, and I highly recommend. Now I just need to crack down and do it EXACTLY as is written before I can recommend it based on experience!

2011 Race Planning

2011. The year of NO Ironman. Where to go from here?! I have registered for Ironman Steelhead 70.3, which I am already looking forward to. It's in Benton Harbor Michigan ON Lake Michigan, which looks like a fun destination race, and I can drive to it!

                                                                                                  Steelhead will be my 'A' race, but I have lots of other races on the list. I'm trying to decide which to sign up for and which to call a wash, although I'd really like to do them ALL! There is some method to my madness... I've written them all out on this sloppy list. Now to get the checkbook out, pick and choose and try not to sign up for a race EVERY weekend this summer. Although... would that be so bad? :)