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? :)

On the 1 and 3 year "Anniversary"...

It was one year ago today I wrote my very first blog post. Happy birthday blog! The header needs to read more like "2010 is the year I became an Ironman!" Re-vamping the blog is on my 'Top 10 list of things to do in early 2011'.

It was three years ago today I lost my Dad. I woke up feeling SO sad this morning, just knowing what this day means and looking back to remember the whole horrifying experience of watching my hero, role model, best friend and most important person in my life, pass away. I started looking through a stack of sayings and poems that my Mom has sent me over the last few years. Reading those always help to enlighten the soul. This is one of my favorites:

God saw you getting tired and a cure was not meant to be,
So he put his arms around you and whispered "Come to Me".
With tearful eyes we watched you, as we saw you pass away.
Although we loved you deeply, we could not make you stay.
A Golden Heart stopped beating, hard working hands at rest.
God broke our hearts to prove to us, He only takes the best.

I re-read my first post again and it is fun to see how far I've come from one year ago. Going into Ironman training at this time last year, I wasn't certain it would be something I'd be able to do, nonetheless if it was something I would truly enjoy. Little did I know, I would be beyond committed and I have never enjoyed anything SO much! I'd always wanted to do an Ironman, but the fact that it was also a goal I had shared with my Dad, made me even more determined to make it happen. One of the last things he said to me was how proud he was of me and to "just keep doing what you're doing". It brings a smile to my face to think about that as I can still hear him saying it.

Now that the Ironman #1 is accomplished, I want MORE! I won't be doing an Ironman in 2011, but 2012 is another story, that may be the year for Ironman #2. I am currently planning out my 2011 season, and am training with the same coach and team, but this time around I'm going to train harder, smarter, and work on the nutrition piece. Whatever I put into my mouth has to fuel me for performance and keep my energy up.

My 'A' race for 2011 will be Ironman Steelhead 70.3. I've heard it's a great race (as long as the waves in Lake Michigan aren't too big and the swim gets canceled! *Gulp*) and it's a fairly flat course. After a bike course like IMWI I'm looking for a flat bike for my 'A' race this time. I plan to race quite a bit this year. (My schedule is coming in that blog re-vamp I mentioned.) :) I'll be racing more than last year, since I don't feel so strapped to only Ironman training on all of my weekends. I may add a few running races into the mix which I totally bagged last year.

I'm really looking forward to the new year. Having new goals to work towards, a supportive and awesome family, great friends, great teammates, a great job, and my heart in a good place. I feel that losing my Dad, although it was the hardest thing I've ever gone through, has opened doors as well. I can see that out of tragedy comes triumph. When you think your situation is the worst in the world, there is always someone, somewhere going through much worse.

Bring on 2011!!

This is my Dad and I at the last race he ever attended, the 2007 Twin Cities Marathon, just two and a half months before he passed away (before we even knew he had cancer).

Friday Laugh - Training for an Ironman

This was posted on YouTube just a couple of days ago, and since it has blown up on Facebook. I had to share it here. So hilarious, and so true!
(Foul language warning for those of you faint of heart.) :)

Race Report - Gobble Gallop 5k!

Whoa. It's been awhile. I have not had a ton of excitement to share in the off season, and that's probably fine, as it's the OFF season. And it's winter. And it's COLD out. And it's the holidays. And it's time to shop! And oh boy, have I gotten some shopping done this fall/winter. I think I made up for not being able to step foot in a mall the last 9 months... I have done enough damage the last month to have made up for 9 months and then some. But I digress...

I realized I didn't want to drop off the face of the (blog) earth and not post a race report about my last race. A 5k people! I completed a 5k on Thanksgiving Day! It felt funny when I "toed the line" to head off on my 25 minute journey to look back to two months prior and think that the last race I had lined up at a starting line for was an Ironman. I was home in Duluth for Thanksgiving so of course had to run this race. I have done it the last 3 years and it always feels good to get in some exercise before getting lots of delicious food in the belly!

The day before had snowed quite a bit so the conditions were definitely not ideal. The race course is an out and back on Superior St. in downtown Duluth, so for those who are familiar know that means running on some cobblestone. Cobblestone seems to get extra slippery with fresh snow/slop on it. It was also COLD! Like wind chills below zero, freeze your toes, freeze your fingers within a minute or two if not covered COLD.

I started the first mile running like a bat out of hell. I do this EVERY time I do a running race, you'd think I would learn one of these days. The second mile I hung on, then the third mile I felt like I was barely moving. I didn't wear my Garmin, so I don't know how exactly I paced any of it, but my overall time was 25:06, which is a 8:05 per mile pace. I would have liked for it to be under 24 and under 8, but I also haven't been training for a 5k. For 7 weeks of XP2 we worked on a LOT of stairs, a LOT of standing on our bikes, and just overall strength. (That also included running with medicine balls, in downtown St. Paul. I can imagine how funny we all looked to passersby.) I have another 5k on New Year's Day so I better start training for that one. :)

I love being home in Duluth as I always get to see a bunch of friends and family. I was also able to cheer on one of my friends from high school who did the the Gobble Gallop 2 mile walk the same morning. He just started doing some 5k's this fall season and now he's hooked! Here he is finishing the 2 mile:

My Mom and I also went to Bentleyville while I was in town. If you are ever in Duluth over the holidays, it's an amazing tour of lights, and it just gets bigger and better every year. YOU HAVE TO GO! Just a little spoiler for you... Here's the Aerial Lift Bridge, a ship, a 120 foot Christmas tree (made of iron) all in lights, with the "real" Aerial Lift Bridge in the background:

Bentleyville. Another reason, on top of the already 8 million, that I LOVE DULUTH.