This year's A race:
I'm signed up for Ironman Florida which will take place on November 3rd, 2012 in Panama City Beach, FL. Me and about 22 of my closest friends. We will have a huge MN contingent at this Ironman and I couldn't be more excited for it! 146 days until the BIG SHOW!
Training/coaching:
I'm training with a new coach this season. I'm very lucky that Scott Penticoff has taken me on as one of his athletes and I couldn't be more excited and honored to be training with such an amazing athlete and group of athletes! I have never used an online type of training log, so that is a great new piece of the puzzle for me. When I have to log every mile and pace, and know it's being read... I make SURE and work my hardest!
Besides the new coach, I've actually been dabbling in a couple of different types of training this year and I think it's really helping. Last fall I started going to Discover Strength. I have never taken strength training seriously and last year I realized, that attitude was just plain silly. I feel it's already helped me make strides in all three disciplines and the staff there is awesome. I plan to go to Discover year round, for the rest of my life. :)
Another piece of my training, that I've been doing consistently for over a year now, are cycling classes at The Fix Studio. It's CompuTrainer/power based training and it's helped my biking immensely! I love these classes as you always get a quality workout in not a lot of time. There is no doubt in my mind that training by wattage will improve your cycling. I can't wait to keep this up and see how far it can take my bike legs!
2012 races:
I've raced 3 (outdoor) triathlons so far this season and I'll just say this... 2 out of 3 ain't bad! I also raced my first indoor triathlon this season, which I'll mention last.
New Bri Tri, June 2nd
Starting backwards with race #3... last Saturday was New Bri Tri, my neighborhood race. I was pumped as I get to race with a lot of my friends at this one, and I was SO ready to kill this course and go for a New Bri PR. I didn't get a swim warm up in, so within the first minute of the swim I felt my wetsuit scraping my neck, so I was rolling onto my back to try and adjust the closure. I lost some time there and wasn't happy with that, but overall, the swim was OK. I know I had been beaten out of the water by a younger girl, so my next mission was to catch her on the bike. I caught her about 5 miles into the bike, and at a pretty good clip, which made me pick it up even more. I was going along good, passing quite a few men, then took a right to head towards Lake Johanna, as I was starting on a downhill at about 26 MPH I suddenly hear a "POP!" I nearly lost control of my bike as I was barreling down the hill on just the rim, but gradually regained control and pulled off the road. My front tire was totally flat, I had hit "something", but no idea what it was... it sounded metal-y as it bounced off the road. I had a spare tube, luckily, so I went about changing it. I finally got the spare tube in and as I started blowing it up, using a CO2 cartridge, I heard the tube blow up! I checked and sure enough it has a huge hole in it... my day was done. :(
On happy notes, I met a lot of nice people on my venture back to the park. Some police men who were directing traffic for Bethel's graduation, a really kind biker who tried to help get me going again, a first time triathlete who had a flat tire who I was able to show how to change it so she was able to continue on and eventually finish. Thankfully, a New Brighton fireman gave me a ride back to the park entrance, and then I met a group of people who showed me a neat trick for when your tube springs a leak. You just find the leak/hole, tie a knot in the whole tube around the hole, blow it up, then that should hold at least to get you back to where you started. I also met a new Team Aquaphor teammate, Jordan, and saw an old friend/teammate Lynne Nelson at the race! Here's a shot of all of us pre-race, thanks to Lynne:
I did decide to do the run when I finally made it back to transition. I asked if I had time and they said there were still people out there so I thought I'd go for it. I finished about 303 out of 307 athletes. :) As I was crossing the finish line, all of my friends were receiving their medals for placing in their age groups, so that was fun to see. It was a great day overall now that I look back on it. I was due for a tire malfunction I suppose, hopefully it never happens again! Here is what it looks like to finish *almost* last in a race (you SMILE, yes, you better smile!!):
Blaine Triathlon, May 19th
A brand new race up at "the Lakes". It was a beautiful day for a race, besides how hot and HUMID it got! Nonetheless, the swim was great, the bike was pretty good too, and the run... not so great. It was 3.5 miles through neighborhoods and it was so still and HOT. I felt like I was barely moving. Nonetheless, I knew Jessica Deegan and Greta Simpson were right on my heels, so I kept "running" (if you could call it that) even though I felt like walking. When all was said and done, I was 3rd female overall. A master's woman who started in the last heat ended up 2nd, Greta was 1st, and Jessica was 4th. My friend's Jeff Grebner and Tom Morgan both were on the overall men's podium too, and Jeff Pearson was 2nd in his age group! Thanks to so many of us racing... Oscar, April, and Lisa were there to represent and cheer. These are a couple of pictures that April took that day:
I had a blast at this race and hope to do it again next year! They did a fantastic job for a first annual event; excellent course markings, volunteers, food and awards. Great, great, GREAT all around! Here is the race coverage by Minnesota Tri News.
Chain of Lakes Triathlon, May 5th
This was my 3rd year making the trek up to Alexandria, MN to race this very early season Tri. It's so early season, the swim is in a pool! One reason I enjoy this one so much. :) It was nice to have a pre-race mention, as that gave me even more determination to try and get a PR here. The race went well overall. I was happy with the swim and bike. The run was "meh". Good for me I suppose, just not very good when I compare to everyone else. :) Regardless, with a finish time of 1:07:16, it turned out to be a 5:10 PR for me on this course so I can't complain! Overall I was 2nd female, and Angie Hop took first. She wrote an awesome race report that was shared on MN Tri News that gave a good description of the day. We started in the same lane together even so I just hung on her heels through the swim and bike, until she took off on the run and I just couldn't keep up. Felt great as my first race of the season!
Lifetime Fitness (Fridley) Indoor Triathlon, April 15th
I'd never done an indoor triathlon, but since my very own club has one and my friend Scott was signed up for it, I thought I might as well try too. As it turns out a couple more friends, Lisa Brown and Chad also signed up for this race. That brought out Lisa Wacek to cheer for all of us, which was AWESOME!
How the indoor tri works is it's a 10 minute swim in the pool, 30 minutes on the spin bikes, then 20 minutes on the treadmill. They had about 12 different waves so people are going at all different times. The swim was good, I swam in the same lane as Scott and tried to keep up the best I could. The bike was ok, just that it felt really hard. They set the tension for you, and you can't change it because they duct tape the spinny/gear thing down so you just have to deal. They have odometers on the bike to get your total distance at the end. The run was good. I liked using the treadmill some this winter to try and get a faster pace going and get familiar with how (hard) it feels. Overall, I ended up 1st female overall, and Scott won the whole thing! He had a killer race. I ran next to him on the treadmill and I had no idea he could run as fast as he did (10+ MPH!). He had tough competition right next to him so that really pushed him.
It was super fun to do an indoor and even more fun with both Lisa's and Chad there too. Lisa wrote an article for MN Tri News about this race, and it's a great read. I may just do one of these again!
New bike!!
Last, for now, but certainly not least... I've got a new ride for this season! Isn't she a beaut!???
Up next...
This Sunday I'll be racing Trinona. My first Olympic of the season, and it's forecasted to be about 90 degrees. Whew! Should be a fun/HOT one!
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