Triathlon Mom +1

And the Fit2bMom winner is!....

2012-02-14T16:32:00.000-07:00

Brittany!

Congrats Brittany, I will email you the info you need to get your own Inspire tank. Enjoy!

Thanks everyone for entering the random drawing! If you want another chance at free stuff you can check out my contest below where you guess the gender, birthday, and weight of this little baby of ours who has still yet to make his/her grand entrance. Stay tuned!

1 more day to win a free Fit2bMom top!

2012-02-13T10:03:00.002-07:00

Win this super awesome maternity active tank!
Enter a comment in the post below.
Drawing is tomorrow!

Fit2BMom maternity activewear review & giveaway!!

2012-02-09T14:00:00.000-07:00

What better time than now to do this review seeing as I'm due tomorrow (and still pregnant, better keep busy right?!). Just means the product is fully and completely tested :)
Honestly, other than my sleep, having my kids involved, feeling the baby kick inside (and sometimes random stranger comments) the thing I'll miss most about being pregnant is being able to wear these tops! While all my other maternity stuff is driving me crazy because it doesn't fit any more, these tops are still going strong as big as I've gotten. And yes, I may not seem huge to some, but A) I feel huge so don't argue with me there :) and B) I grow right out in front so I can put maternity clothes through the ringer well. I'll be surprised if this baby is smaller than 9lbs, and at my 39 week appointment I measured 42cm. Yep!
This is our 4th baby and I've never had real maternity workout clothing, just wore bigger stuff or my husbands tech shirts or whatever would fit. Since our 3rd child though I've started teaching water fitness twice a week and well, I just want to still look cute while pregnant and nothing drives me crazier than how I look in an over-sized tech shirt with baggy sleeves down to my elbows and no sign of my new found cleavage, which if we're being honest about, I might as well enjoy while it's not leaky and being spoken for by a baby all the time right?! And I'm not talking about everyone seeing exposed cleavage, just the shape that goes along with a big belly. Hate the way over-sized shirts go from my shoulders to belly with nothing in between. Vain, I know.

Lets see, how did I come upon Fit2bMom, well it was actually December of 2010. I entered a contest and won a discount code and was super excited to use it....until we miscarried....again. So when we finally got pregnant again last summer and stayed pregnant I couldn't wait to use it. I currently have 5 tops and use all of them all week for teaching and for my own workouts. I've even worn some paired with a cardigan or something over/under as regular tops. Fit2bMom does have a very nice casual clothing line as well. I got most of my tops around 15 weeks and worried I wouldn't be able to fill them out, but I did and it felt good to give my growing belly room, and to show off the little at the time baby bump. And now with the not so little (and we're talking about a 42inch waist right now) baby belly, these tops not only still fit great (which really is miraculous in and of itself), but are flattering. I love their length. Even at 39 weeks all my tops still cover the very bottom of my belly and back without riding up at all and I don't feel like I'm stretching the fabric out. Oh and the fabric? Awesome! SO soft, hasn't snagged on me at all, washes easy, and breathes well, no complaints there at all. All of the tops I have have shirred waists which I tell ya, is the way to flatter a pregnant belly. 2 of the tanks I have have super cute backs as well! So here are some pics. Most are a month or two old, but honestly they all still fit great. I'm so impressed something can work so well for a not even 20 week belly to a 40 week belly, same top, same size. And as for sizing I think they're all pretty on. I can wear an XS sometimes in pre-preg stuff, but most of my tops are a size small and while I worried when ordering that I should go with a medium so they'd still fit at my biggest round out there belly, the small has worked just fine.

Probably my favorite back, black sports bra is mine. All the tops I have do have a built in bra as well

Ok, it's pretty cute from the side and front too!

Super cute back of the Cool Down Tank

Love this Balance Tank. Has a great neckline and banded hem on the bottom.
Check out my 39 week pic below in this top, it's still going strong.

I was fortunate to win 2 of the tops I have, but the other 3 I've purchased. Even though I only got to use them in 1 pregnancy, they've been my splurge of all my pregnancies, and yes I really think they're worth the money.

Just stay active. It keeps the aches and pains of pregnancy limited and helps you feel strong and confident and a bit like your usual self. It doesn't have to be my active, or your friend's active, or anyone's specific definition of active, just keep moving. Go for a walk, take a class (spinning sitting upright is surprisingly comfortable), do some basic weight training at home even (bicep curls, tricep lifts, shoulder presses, calf raises, etc), just be Fit!

If having a baby is in your now or in your future, definitely check Fit2bMom out on Facebook for updates and sales and contests.

So how about winning a Fit2bMom top of your own?!
Yep, the wonderful ladies there have given me the ok to give away one of their fabulous Inspire Tanks!
Same one I wore in that Massachusetts duathlon I did in October! So here's how to win:
Leave me a comment here telling me your favorite piece of clothing from Fit2bMom's website. You can earn 1 additional entry by sharing their website on your blog or Facebook (like them on FB if you don't already).
Just tell me which you do. So 2 entries total possible, and I'll draw a winner, hmmm, how about Valentines day? Seems like a good day since you'll love their clothes and I'll hopefully be loving on a sweet squishy warm baby!

Yep, still here

2012-02-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

and still pregnant. I'm still doing pretty ok physically which I'm grateful for. Nights are rough. Rolling over with a 20lb ball in front of you is harder than one might imagine. I'm really not even thinking about racing this year (which I will do and do look forward to, it's just not the foremost thing on my mind right now), just excited to meet this baby.

We're due Friday, but who knows if this baby will come by then or not. I tend to hope/think so though. Kind of slacked off working out this week, think I only got 3 workouts in. At times I feel like I'm just 'sitting around' waiting for this baby to come, but it's good to keep moving. Saturday morning I had a very nice cardio/weight/swim workout at the pool and while short and sweet it was refreshing. Here's to hopefully only a couple more!

10 days to go! Get your guesses in!

2012-01-31T11:06:00.001-07:00

If anyone is out there (it's been kind of dead on here lately, are ya'll just waiting to read the big news or something cool? Yeah, me too) AND interested in free stuff, play guess the baby stats with me! Guess the gender, birth day, and weight and I'll send the winners for birth day and weight a prize. Don't have to be closest on both, just birth day or weight. Maybe an even awesomer prize if you nail both. I have a pair of Injinji socks, a Road ID gift certificate, and could probably score someone a sweet Altra discount code too in case of a tie. And if you don't want to guess details I have a simple little poll on the side bar for boy or girl. Thanks for reading!

So here are the stats from my other 3 kids. I'm due February 10th by the way

M - 1 week late, 8lbs3oz

T - 1 week early, 9lbs15.6oz (I like to call that 10lbs!)

K - 3 days late (we argue about this, husband thinks she was 3 days early), 9lbs6oz

Help a brother out (tonight if possible)

2012-01-09T21:22:00.000-07:00

My good friend Matt Williams, a local ultrarunner and just all around good guy is vying or a pair of shoes from the best shoe producer ever, Altra, and just needs the most likes on his pic partway down on Altra Running's Facebook page. Read his description, such excellent writing, I promise the 2 minutes it will take you to read it will make you smile and remind us all how crazy we are for what we do for happiness. Although it's not so crazy, being active and outdoors, pretty wise actually. Anyway, contest ends tomorrow at 9am so if you could hop on tonight or early tomorrow that'd be awesome!

There was a comment made that maybe he shouldn't win since he already has a pair, to let someone who doesn't have a pair yet win, but I don't really agree. I think he has just as much right to a new pair as anyone and here's why. The man already owns 5 pair of Altra shoes. He's paid full price for them. Hey I won't lie, free stuff is always good, but probably coming from being on the back end of Altra, I've come to feel at least personally, that I don't feel as good asking for freebies anymore unless it's already a company I support and know. Matt and another friend Craig (and I'm sure many others out there) have been such vocal advocates of Altra, and these guys weren't given free stuff, they aren't sponsored. People talk like the only way they can get these shoes is by winning them. Sorry, but they are in 150+ stores around the country and online. These guys paid for their shoes themselves, and personally, I think that says something.
But hey anyone who's interested in their first pair and needs a little discount code love (no, not 50% off, they don't give me quite that much power), I am happy to hook you up. Email me.

"I work out"

2012-01-03T21:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, I've been trying hold back posting this video because some might frown on it or call it too much, but I think it's hilarious and I love the beat of the song! I also LOL at the video because it's just funny. It's not trying to objectify women (doesn't actually really have women dancing much at all), doesn't involve smoking, drugs, or drinking (except they're at a bar in one scene), it's just these guys putting on a hilarious show and making fun of themselves. Anyway, blame it on my swimming background, but I grew up a speedo girl and still don't have a problem with them on a good swimmer body (actually think they look better than Jammers on swimmer bodies), but these aren't quite the swimmer speedos we're all used to, so you've been warned. No thongs, just....um...looser fabric? The most uncomfortable part is probably for 10 or so seconds at 1:00 and 2:12-2:30. If you're easily offended just listen to the song and skip the video, or the song all together.
Shame me if you will :)

LOL, I just laugh every time. Don't know how sexy I'm feeling these days, although yes I recognize I have still retained some tone and grow out front and not all over, but man, when your kids refer to you as 'big belly' or your husband laughs in shock when you walk by in a spandex workout tank top, or I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror at certain angles, yeah, it's a little unusual. Although I will say my tops have never looked better up top from a cleavage point of view ;)

And I have been working out. Did a great weights aerobics class tonight, am enjoying spinning ok (although sometimes I just want to do my own workout, may throw my bike on the trainer just to see if I can even fit at all, I just don't want my body and muscles to forget the positioning), and love the water. I even did the masters swim workout New Years Eve which was 112x50's, 5600 yards. Really wanted to say I did that since I was bummed I wouldn't be doing the Beat the New Year 5k I've wanted to since the beginning of this pregnancy. But hey if you look at it from a yards standpoint, 3.1 miles is 5456 yards, so I guess I did do that 5k, just in the water :) Happy New Year to you all!

Why I should probably only be seen from the front now

2011-12-26T22:14:00.004-07:00

You were warned :)

Would someone like to calculate the drag coefficient here?

Definitely feel my best in the water though. The weightlessness, cool water, 2 piece (which was a necessary and lovely switch, function and comfort wise, I try to warn the lifeguards before I get in though :) Amazing how I don't care at all once I'm in the water even though you can clearly see the same me through the water) all feel so good.
I can definitely feel some drag with the belly, but I'm still swimming 1:30/100yard pace for a workout and 1:35 pace when I time 800's. Flip turns started feeling difficult today, but I hope to keep this up for the next 45 or so days!

Want barefoot goodness for Christmas?

2011-12-07T16:34:00.001-07:00

Zero Drop, truly foot shaped, uber flexible, perfect ground feel super minimalist goodness
while keeping your feet warm and dry in any sock (think wool for the winter, lovely).

The Altra Eves (and men's Adams) are 25% off right now at this link when you add them to your cart. Not sure how long the promotion will be going on. Enjoy!

*UPDATE - Prices have dropped permanently on this great shoe, so if you needed more incentive, you just got it!*

My 28th birthday, you know what that means right?

2011-12-02T20:58:00.001-07:00

A 28 mile run! Oh yeah, not a chance right now :) 2.8 miles maybe? Well yeah I could probably drag myself painfully through that, but that doesn't sound super epic or enjoyable or anything.
Ok, how about a 28 mile ride? Again, not super epic and I don't fit well on a bike right now except my mtn bike and man those things are no fun on the road! A trail yes, but I'm in no condition to go on a 28 mile mtn bike ride (I've never ridden more than 8 trail miles on a mtn bike, who am I kidding?).
Well, I guess it'll be a swim then. So for my 28th birthday this week I swam 2800 yards with 2 timed 800yard swims. Ok, so it's not epic either, that's a meager workout during a normal season, but today I was pleased with it. Swam it alone, didn't go crazy wanting to get out and my back and pelvis didn't flare up too bad, and hey, I swam the second 800 faster than the first so that's good right?!

At 30 weeks tomorrow I am feeling a little large. Yes I'm fortunate to not look pregnant much outside of my belly (although believe you me pants are getting restrictive in the hips, not used to so much padding there...and the cleavage?! Oh my word!) but that alone can make even me double take when I pass by a mirror or glass wall or something. Especially when I teach and wear my super cute and form fitting Fit2BMom tanks I treated myself to. This belly is just so out in front and can look a little strange. I'll take it though. While I have a feeling I'm past the cute stage now, I'm not too uncomfortable regularly yet (besides during running which I just don't do anymore, oh well), and my kids are having so much fun talking about the baby, feeling him/her move, and making hilarious comments about my belly only a mother could love.
I'm excited for this baby, it's been a long time since we've had a baby around here, it was a hard journey to get here, and I know we all will love this little one to pieces.
I'm nervous too though. Nervous for the birth as I am delivering in a birth center which means no pain meds unless I transfer to a hospital. Now don't get me wrong, that is our choice, one my husband and I both very much want for the ability to labor and deliver in the big birth tub, eat/drink/walk/do whatever we want during the labor, not be pressured by hospital policy, and hold our baby immediately after birth for as long as we wish before cleaning, weighing, or measuring is ever done, and no infant round up in the nursery. We really loved it all when we delivered our 3rd child in a birth center, but lets face it, labor still hurts! I ordered a Hypnobabies home study course that I'll be starting here in 2 weeks though and I'm looking forward to giving that a good go, I've heard very good reviews of it and hey, anything that can help make the experience more comfortable and enjoyable without risk to baby or I I'll take.
I'm nervous for the training again too, mostly just 'can I pick myself up off the couch or out of bed to go get it done'. I don't really worry about my body recovering, but man I haven't been able to put sleep second for workouts during the last year it seems. I've done it before, I just hope I'll be able to do it again. 4 kids sounds daunting to me sometimes. Any kids sounds daunting sometimes. I read blogs of pros or other great athletes who accomplish such great things athletically and I get jealous, I think how great it would be to have all that time to train, to only have to worry about a job if that. I know it will even out when I'm in the 30's and my kids are older while some are getting started, but having 4 kids in the 25-29 age group can feel like an extra hurdle I have to jump when competing in big or out of state events. But I adore my kids and would and do put them above sport in a heartbeat, and there are some moms out there who do it well with kids, I try to be one of them. I try to tell myself I have 2 in school, the 3rd who is older, not a toddler and I'm sure will be a big help. I'll just have to be super disciplined and scheduled, I'll just have to use the trainer a lot which is ok, and I'll have 2 seats again in the Chariot since our boy in in school now. And yes, I'll have to get up early. Maybe the baby will be good to me and get into a routine of sleeping well at night (which my babies have so far), and finish a morning feeding at a 'reasonable' hour like 5am so I can be up and go afterward.
I am really excited for everything though, a sweet new baby, the 'adventure' of bringing him/her into the world, exciting race goals for next year, getting my body back (meaning being able to push it as hard as I want without worrying about trying to conceive or growing a little human). What an adventure!

Pregnant pics, come help my indecisive self

2011-11-21T15:05:00.002-07:00

Help me design a new header. I LOVED my Ironman St George journey, but alas, that was almost 2 years ago now, and it's probably time to move on. And my life couldn't be more different right now than during IMSG times, so I better put a new header up as temporary as it may be. Or maybe I'll keep the rounder version of me up for a while after the baby so I don't go too crazy too quickly :) I have to say, most of the time I'm pretty relaxed right now and just accept that I really have no idea what next year will hold and I'll deal with it after the baby is born to see how all 6 of us (yeah my family sounds big now!) handle life with a new baby. But then sometimes I worry I'll cop out with the baby excuse (yes I know I can take time for the baby and I, I will). I haven't had a real training plan since IMSG in 2010 and honestly, I've never really followed a training plan so closely. I LOVED it. I knew what every day held workout wise, there was no "hmm, wonder what I feel like today" i.e. nothing productive gets done that day. I am always one to say if you need motivation sign up for a race. That's why I almost don't want to wait till next summer to see if I'll be up for anything epic in the fall, I'd almost rather sign up now so I can enjoy the early spring with the baby, but then be ready to go and committed come summer time. Next year is my last in my age group so that sways me with certain races. Anyway, we shall see.
Here are some fun pics my good friend Heidi took for me. Help me vote for a new header pic (or 3, may do a collage header) with the poll on the right sidebar. You can select 3 boxes. Thanks! *UPDATE* So the poll is gone obviously, thanks to those who voted! You're welcome to leave a comment still if you wish.

Hope everyone enjoys a nice Thanksgiving, I'm grateful to have my twin sister here from Michigan for a few weeks and even on our 28th birthday on the 28th! My family had a lovely day Saturday baptizing our beautiful 8 year old, then spent more family time the next day with my little brother who is getting ready to serve a 2 year LDS mission for our church at the end of the month. Oh and I hear the highs are supposed to be in the 50's for the next few days, lovely! Maybe I'll even venture outside - gasp!

Anyway, here's the slideshow of all the images including some of in black and white. Enjoy and feel free to click the slideshow image to make it bigger. Below it are the images to vote on. I'll take them down next week as to upset blogger with a long post.

While these guys aren't a part of my header poll, they are amazing and cute as can be.
They'd win the contest hands down so I had to fair things up :)

Half Pregnant Half Marathon

2011-11-15T20:02:00.003-07:00

Or 10k...So my good friends Craig and Matt (crazy ultra runners) heard my pleas wanting a longer trail race before I was done with this pregnancy, and organized one for me! Just something small, more like an organized group run, but hey, I'll take it! I'll be honest, real races do really have pressure to them even when they're not big deals to me. I never really noticed that, but even at the 5k I ran a couple weeks ago where I was in so much kidney pain, yes I wasn't going fast and could have cared less how I placed, but I still felt internal pressure not to stop, not to walk.

Anyway, I've been battling some real tough issues the last 2 weeks. A strange right side belly pain and bad pubic symphysis (SPD) pain, something like my pelvis was being pulled apart, not a lot of fun. This last week I've made it a whole mile before it was just too much. I was getting really worried how this race was going to go. I know I wasn't there to win, I know I didn't have to impress anyone, but I wanted to do it for me. My goal this pregnancy was to do a half marathon while noticeably pregnant. Now my body was giving up on me the week of this race. I was and am completely willing and ok with not running the last 2-3 months at all, I really can be ok with that since I can still be active in other ways, but now? Right before this race created for me? It was really depressing and frustrating. I am thrilled to be carrying this life, he/she wasn't in danger at all from my activity, I just physically couldn't will my body over my own pain. That's a different place to be in. A humbling place.

Ok, sorry for taking a while getting to the whole point. So after a sad week moping to my husband, we headed out that morning and I just figured I would walk the 10k option. Not what I wanted, but I just figured it would take me hours upon hours to walk the 13 miles and there was a bbq after so I just settled for the 10k. I let the guys go on ahead (there were about 20 people total I think?) after I was all situated at the car with my new Altra Lone Peak trail shoes and Ultraspire pack, I took a pre race bush prego stop and started a trot. Figured I'd make it a mile then just walk the rest. It was really ok being by myself. No pressure to run from others, no one to impress, just some nice solitude for me and the baby. The weather was good. Cloudy and a bit windy, but not raining/snowing or too gusty and not bitter cold.

The sweet new Ultraspire running hydration pack I won last month! Was so excited to finally have an ultra pack (it's not your usual hiking water backpack, but meant for running) and it's got so many great pockets and features (I'll review it soon), but the best one has to be the fact that it fits above my belly!

To my surprise I kept running! It was a little uncomfortable, but not like I'd experienced the last few weeks. I kept my pace at a long run jog. Not fast like pre-preg, but faster than I could walk :) I wasn't after any time records, so it was nice to just settle into an ultra style pace and trot along. Even got to run some uphill sections I thought I'd walk! Part of the pace was the hip binding I did. Took a couple yards of some fancy purple checked fabric I had and squeezed my hips together tight. A little uncomfortable, cut some circulation off around my hips, but I got the hang of how to tie it pretty good and I have to wonder if that did the trick. I also wore the big maternity (well technically it's a larger post partum belt) belt I've had around my belly snug, but I've done that before and it didn't fix everything. Like the belly pain. It came around a few times, and I did walk it off once or twice, but was able to run through it another few times by kind of flexing my 'abs'.

Anyway, found the bathroom at the turn around was unlocked - yay! - and headed on back to the start. As I always do, felt better after those first 3ish miles, and even negative splitted the 2nd half! I even got some adrenaline and to feel like the old me when I finally caught up and passed some runners that had been ahead of me the last 4 miles.....even if one was in her 60's :)
I was getting more uncomfortable toward the end, but was still thinking about turning around and running more. Just figured I haven't been able to run like this in a long time and probably won't for a while, but yeah, I didn't. Figured I'd feel it the next few days and I was really happy with the 6.5 I got in. And I really was! I can't believe I got to run even 2 miles, let along 6+. I was still a little bummed not to have done the half especially upon hearing there were no women that did the half and I could have earned a super sweet specialty made thrift store trophy (although I doubt I could have made it that far with my pelvis), but the 10k really was for me that day. And hey, technically the time I did out there on my favorite trail took me about what a road half marathon does, so that counts, right? :) Right

New post

2011-11-08T11:17:00.001-07:00

New post about the Duathlon my sister and I did near Boston is below the Halloween post below. Check it out. Really hoping my body will hold out for me to enjoy an epic adventure of sorts on Saturday on my favorite trail. I'll let you know how it goes next week.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T11:45:00.001-06:00

Sure did not win the race, but did win the costume contest!

We had a great Halloween week at my house. You can read more about all our family adventures on my family blog here. I had planned on running a favorite Halloween race around here, but it didn't work out. I still wanted to race so found this smaller local race with a free kids race, can't beat that!
I signed up for the 5k so I could be back in time for the kids race, turns out I would have had time with the 10k but oh well. Actually it's probably good. We rushed to get my belly painted before the race and I headed over to the start with a minute or two to spare. First mile felt good, probably was running 8 min/mi pace, so not too fast, not too slow. Then the last 2 miles of the race my back was on fire right where my right kidney is. No idea what caused it, I wasn't dehydrated, I stopped and drank, walked, nothing made it better. It just burned so badly. I've never been so anxious to get to the finish of a race, and never had such a hard time doing it. My kids were running faster than I was through the finish. I cut right over to my husband and had him walk me to the bathrooms. Wasn't sure if it was just a baby riding on my bladder thing, but nope, that didn't really help anything. After about 20 minutes the pain went away and I've just been achy there since. Baby is just fine, moving lots, and I had no other worrisome symptoms.
I have been dealing with some pubic symphysis discomfort too. Lots of relaxin hormone circulating right now, this is my 4th baby, and I have big babies. Those things combined can really allow stretch in the front bottom of the pelvis, and I get pretty darn achy after each run. It's annoying. I have to be careful rolling over in bed, keep my legs together and pelvis aligned well.
It saddens me a little to think of not being able to run the next 3 months. I know I'll have the rest of my life to run after this baby, but 3 months is still a long break. Of course if that is what my body and midwives told me to do I would, and I'd just put in more time to swimming than I have and have been meaning to, and try to stay on the trainered bike, but it would still stink a little. I have an appointment tomorrow so that will be good to talk about it. I really want to make it just 2 more weeks though so I can run this fun run half marathon on my favorite trail a friend organized. The kind of thing that I can take at my pace since there won't be a crowd there, is a great fairly flat course, isn't all downhill, and has plenty of sections I can walk. So that's my goal at this point, be able to run that, and then if I have to take the rest of this pregnancy off running so be it. I'll walk and swim and bike and hopefully do some more weight training. I have to stay active though, it is healthy for me and the baby and I get depressed without it. Daylight Savings is coming soon too thank the heavens since it is so depressing to wake up to dark every morning. I really need some daylight, not even sunshine, just daylight. Hope you all had a nice Halloween! Next post (that may be below this one though) up is the duathlon I did with my twin sister out in Boston a couple weeks ago. Stay tuned :)

Spreading the multisport world love...I hope!

2011-10-30T11:12:00.001-06:00

My best friend

So earlier this month my sister and mom and I traveled out to Boston for a medical conference my Nurse Practitioner mother had. We toured Boston Friday, then my mom had conference the next 3 days so my sister and I got to hang out and do our thing. One of those things was a duathlon about 90 minutes outside of Boston. Yes, a race on vacation, clearly my idea :) Thankfully she was along for the ride with me. I'm really proud of her for getting active. I mean it's not like she's overweight or anything, much the opposite, she has a great body! But great body shapes don't necessarily equal great health. Anyway, I digress. She started running last year and we did her first race together, a 4 mile road race over Thanksgiving weekend last year. We did another 5k this spring when she was out here and she did great, dropping a lot time! It's fun for me to watch her. She also purchased a bike she can ride around town on earlier this summer. I of course sent her out a little care package with bento box, shorts, helmet (of course), etc. So of course the next step? Race! Ok, kidding, I really don't believe everyone has to race, but I found this little duathlon with distances I thought would be great for both of us and off we went!

The drive out was pretty, we got to see a lot of leaves and small old historic towns. We also got significantly lost a lot, but we made it . The great race director found us 1 bike to use, and a great bike shop out there Gear Works Cyclery (visit them if you're in the area) let us borrow another bike. Perfect. The race was smaller, proably only 60 people. The weather was breezy, a bit colder, enough to keep our jackets on (so forgive the belly hiding pictures). There were a couple tri bikes there and yes the geared out people made me a little ancy wanting to race them (not that I would have come close right now on the awesome bike I had, and I came to race with my sister, I was way excited to!), but we'll save that for next year.

I tell ya, check these running pics out. Twins we are for sure. Stride in stride for every picture I saw. Cool

So a 5k to start with. I was just there to pace my sister at her pace, but it turns out I was working pretty hard to keep up with her! I almost stopped in the bushes to pee along that first run route as the baby was really sitting pretty on my bladder and that is really uncomfortable running wise, but I'm not sure I could have caught back up with her! She ran that first section really well.

Yup

Told you so

After that we hopped on the bikes and went out for a 2 loop 9 mile course. It was lots of up and down, lots of shifting which I was glad my sister caught onto on the new bike quickly. I know it was pushing her at the end, both sitting on a new saddle, and her lungs, but again, she did it. For me it felt great to be on a bike in that setting again, mainly because I wasn't pulling the trailer.

Check out my sweet ride! No bar wrap on the hoods which was a wee bit uncomfortable and shifters on the down tube, something I've never experienced. A new seat is also something I do not enjoy, or the way too smallness of it. While the bike is probably older than I am, I was grateful for it. It worked, kept me safe, and meant I didn't have to ship mine out.

Funny story. When I was on the phone with Gear Works asking about a rental they said that yes they had one that would fit us, but it was really ugly. I said oh yeah? They said yeah, it's this lime green color. LOL! I told them I was insulted, my tri bike is lime green. Then I told them I was of course kidding (about being insulted).

Of to the last section, a 1 mile run. Now no that doesn't sound like much, but to someone who's farthest run is 4 miles and has never done any kind of multisport brick or race, it is. She struggled with breathing and I tried to help her best I could. I suggested a walking break at one point but she said no. Good on 'er. I know I was pushing her and she wasn't having much fun now, but it was a good time just trying to motivate her and encourage her. We finally saw the finish, I told her there was a photographer so smile :) and we were done!

We did it!

I know it was hard for her, but I'm really proud of her for doing it! She finished strong, no walking, and we even tied for 1st in our age group! I'm even ok with the fact that our duathlon made her appreciate 5k's more :)

Thanks Sis!

A great view of KONA (not through my eyes)

2011-10-20T09:39:00.001-06:00

Man this guy made a great video! He got into Kona via the lottery and just absorbed every part of the day with so much positivity. Sometimes as a faster age grouper I yearn for an experience like his, finishing in the dark, just out there soaking it all in, not worrying about splits and what place I'm in. I've been able to do that some while pregnant, just racing for fun, not caring how I'm doing. And I still make an effort to smile and enjoy myself and cheer for others even when I am racing hard, because after all, I don't have to do this, I'm not getting paid. I choose to. Just really love this guy's attitude. Enjoy!

"Look Mom, the baby has a running arm!"

2011-10-04T11:04:00.000-06:00

Were the first words my 7 year old said upon seeing this ultrasound picture. LOL!


Baby's running arm

We chose not to find out the gender on this one. We have girl boy girl so we're not lacking any clothes or blankets/bedding or whatnot. I haven't been that anxious to know, so hopefully that will remain and I'll stay calm and not to ancy through these next 4 months.

Sweet

Everything looked good with baby. He/she is very active which proved a little difficult during the ultrasound, but that's ok, it's just a genetic thing ;) My placenta was low enough to warrent another ultrasound near 30 weeks. If it doesn't move up (which we expect it will) I probably won't be able to deliver at the birth center like we plan, but instead closely monitored in the hospital, or worst case scenerio, a c-section.

Now I am a natural birther by choice. I don't care how others birth, I think everyone should be able to do it how they wish, but I personally don't want to expose the baby to the drugs and I want to be in control during my labor, move around, not increase my chance at complications/c-section from being stuck in bed all day with other meds to manage the pain meds (I had a very medical birth with our first, including an epidural, so I know that end too), and I want to recover faster. I've gotten all those things from my last 2 med free vaginal births. So yeah, a c-section freaks me out some, but of course if it was necessary I would do it. My biggest worry with it is how will I come back into sport? Will slicing my abs open slow me down a lot longer, will I come back a lot weaker, or can I still come back strong like I have without waiting a year to do so? Any of you athlete mamas out there have experience with training and racing again after c-section?

Again, NOT planning on having one, but I like to think ahead and prepare myself for whatever. For now, baby and I will continue enjoying this summer like fall weather here running on the trails, swimming at masters, and biking all of the 10 miles I might get to do around riding kids to school and back :)

Forget me!

2011-10-01T16:47:00.000-06:00

and all my self centered posts. I am so touched by my friend and fellow athlete Heath Thurston's example today. I was watching the St George Marathon live finish line coverage this morning on the computer and noted quite a few of the more elite runners stumbling in or falling after the finish line, I hear it was real hot down there. Then close to the 3 hr mark I see this guy stumbling bad about 20 yards from the finish line, and fall to his knees. Then this guy coming up behind him stopped, picked him up, and carried all this guy's weight, supporting him through the finish line. None of the staff or volunteers came to help till feet before the finish line, Heath carried him in with I'm sure super fatigued muscles.

What a guy

Heath is such a good example of thinking of others and remembering that it's just a race, it's for fun, we choose to do this. People are more important. The pregnancy emotions in me don't help, but I've been crying and so teary all day from watching it actually happen on the computer to every time I look at the pictures his brother Jarom posted. It's even more touching to me today because it's my church's semi annual General Conference where our leaders speak words from the spirit to help us grow and become more Christlike. Excellent example Heath!

Triathamom!

2011-09-25T10:25:00.000-06:00

So Altra was a sponsor of Triathamom, a women's only pool tri in Herriman, which means my husband had to be out there. They were really kid friendly with a carnival like atmosphere (bouncy houses, face painting, sign making, balloons, popcorn - all free!) so I knew we could bring the kids. And what does that mean for me? An hour to work out! : D Seems silly that I just can't find the time lately to work out, but between normal mom stuff, going to school (taking a Pathophysiology class as the last class I can take before starting a nursing program that I just want to keep the possibility open for. I'm not sure if I'll do it, I'm not sure how I would with my more important family, but it's at least a year down the road, so we'll just take it as it comes), working all day Thursdays and being tired being pregnant, I just haven't gotten up early recently and Jer is always working these days, so I don't often get an escape from morning to night. I have and will have have to utilize the Chariot more I think.

Anyway.....sorry for the ramble. I knew I could leave the kids with him (typical expos no way), and it was a beginner oriented race so I wouldn't feel any pressure going slower to accommodate this little baby on board. So a few days before, I signed up - so my style. Really hoping I can sign up for some A races for next year well in advance as a good commitment.
I tested the bike handling skills out Friday afternoon since honestly I haven't been on it in weeks, and it went great! Still felt just fine on it. We headed to my mother-in-law's house to crash with the kids that night since she lives about a mile away from the race, and I'd have to go earlier than they would. So alarm clock went off and my only negative thought for the day was 'oh man it's early, I don't have to do this race, what was I thinking??' I tell ya, getting up early pregnant is not my forte. Got everything ready after my usual pre race breakfast and headed out. As soon as I sat on the bike I thought, 'oh no!' I could barely sit on the seat, seriously. I seem to have issues with tenderness down there while pregnant when I ride a lot, and yeah, I guess I forgot that when riding Friday. I was really stressed about the bike portion of the race, because I litterally could not sit on that seat riding to the race. Decided to just go with what I planned on attire wise and let the endorphins help as my wise husband suggested. After I planted my bike I wanted to help out my good friend and race director Aly, so I wandered around transition answering questions. I love doing that, and there were plenty of questions to be had. It was really great to see so many women (close to 400 I think) out doing this triathlon that you probably wouldn't expect.

So it was finally go time, wandered into the pool, snuck into a bathroom I probably wasn't supposed to use, and lined up. It was so nice to have Jer and my youngest Kaitlyn come over for the start. Such good spectators.
Swim was fine, I didn't intend to go first, but the lady I was talking to that went behind me was nervous to go first I think. So off I went....and so did she a second later :) She rode my feet the whole time which kind of stunk, and when we got out of the water she said 'oh was I supposed to wait till they told me to go?' Well yeah (guess they didn't know her number, each person was supposed to tell them that before they started), but that's ok. She didn't tap my feet or anything, was just that close the whole time. No harm no foul.

Other than my hand in front of my belly I really like this pic. Totally worth the $6

We got into T1 and I had a light jacket sitting out ready, but it was already way too warm even when I was wet so I just pulled on my lovely matching pink tri skirt so not everyone had to see my butt and off I went. Had to go around the mats again after laying my bike down though because it didn't beep the first time. Cost me 10-15 seconds and I wasn't rude, but wasn't the most gracious/patient, which I feel bad about. I can get kind of into it/emotional when racing. I try very hard to be enthusiastic and appreciative of volunteers always saying thank you, so I feel bad I got a little upset telling them it was important they send people out the right way. Luckily I got to talk to the guy after and apologize.

So as soon as I started riding I notice a pace car in front of me. Fun! I've never had a pace car experience, usually because I'm either not in the lead or it's a dual gender race and the men get them. I was happy to see them though as it made me feel a little more secure and visible out on the road. Now is not the time to get in a wreck. And yeah, it was just fun :) Was a little more out of breath than I would've liked the first half, and was concerned a bit about the big hill at half way, but fortunately that one was acutally easier than the preceding several miles leading up to it. Yeah I had to stand, but it wasn't bad at all. And then it was all downhill from there. The winds were nice as was the traffic and it was a great smooth 4 miles back into T2. Thank you pace car!

T2 was fine. The run was a little lonely. There was no one out on the course, volunteers included, I guess I beat them there. Aly passed me with about a mile to go asking if I needed an aid station as she was driving to set it up :) No worries, I was fine. Anyway, the course was marked well, but there was about a mile section where I just hoped I was going the right way. I've had dreams about getting lost on a race course, not fun. Just another less that you should study every race course map, I glanced, but that's it. Kept my pace reasonable, was definately less out of breath on the run than bike. Finished into a fun arch of colored balloons and headed toward the food :)

Check it out, 6:20-6:30. My 10 seconds of fame! : D

So that was that. The kids and husband missed me (he underestimated me I think), but not a big deal. There was great fruit and bagels and drinks afterward that I definately enjoyed. Rested for about 10 minutes then scooped the kids up and headed to a church kids program practice where I had to be because I play the piano. yeah, talk about rushed. Confession - I litterally threw on a skirt and shirt on over my swim suit. Afterwards we headed back to pick Jer up and the race was still going so that was fun to be around it a bit. I think they did a great job with organization. The swim is really the onlything I can see being changed for next year (more divided by time), and I hear they're already on it. It was a fun boutiquey atmosphere, and I LOVED the great stuff for the kids. It was also neat to see all the different women come in and finish and hear some about them as they finished.

Fun!

I ended up 2nd, by a second, at 20 weeks pregnant. Sounds good to me! Great way to celebrate half way through this pregnancy. Jer thought I'd be upset about not winning by such a close margin, but eh, I didn't go to win, and know I could've made that second up easy so it's fine. They didn't do awards which would have been fun with this belly of mine, but they wanted to keep it a non-competitive attitude. The charm necklace is cute though. Glad I did the race. It helps to give me a little athletic reminder and uplift that I'm still in reasonable shape and will be back next year. I am getting more and more excited to meet this baby and play in that phase again. 4 more months :)

Saratoga Tri = great race!

2011-09-14T14:41:00.005-06:00

Some have wondered why I race at all pregnant. It's not like I go into it expecting a win or anything, why not just take a break right? I've said it before, I'll say it again. I really love triathlon and it's FUN, so why when I train for this stuff year in and year out and I know how to listen to my body, do I have to take a break from fun just because I'm pregnant? I don't, I still need some fun :)
So I did the Daybreak Tri about a week after we found out we were pregnant. Yeah I was a little nervous, but my body knows how to do this stuff (race, it's not always the best at staying pregnant apparently), it was a sprint, and I really wanted to win that 3rd time. It went great, no problems. Then around 8 weeks I think I did the Women Rock tri mainly because it had a trail run - those don't exist in regular non-Xterra tri's, and it was great! So much fun! Then I took about 8 weeks off. Some because my mind was going crazy with worry about this pregnancy lasting, and some just because life got in the way. Well, we hit about 15 weeks I believe and I knew of this great little open water race and decided to jump in. I finally felt pretty safe in the pregnancy, I know I can control my pacing and listen to my body and I just wanted to do it because triathlon is FUN and I missed it and the atmosphere and people, and it was probably about the last time I could fit into a larger wetsuit :)

So I show up to register morning of after the race director said I would be fine to do so. I figured it's a small race, every race this year has had way low numbers, I'll be fine. Boy was I wrong! This great little race with non-professional race directors, just average people that live in the area, had sold their race out with almost 300 people! That's more than almost every race this whole year has had in a single distance, that's phenomenal for a race that doesn't get a lot of hype and isn't part of a series. Oh and did I mention it was only $35?! So anyway, I show up about 90 minutes before the start of the race and see a sign saying it's full. I'm happy they sold it out, but I was SO bummed! They said to stand in line and wait to see if anyone didn't show up as they were out of chips. So wait I did with about 5 other people, and stressed, and stressed, and finally got in 10 minutes before the race started. Can you say fastest most simple transition set up EVER! Really shows you how little you need in transition. I didn't want to get out of line so I wasn't even dressed in a race kit, let alone my wetsuit. I threw everything in transition, ran to the bathrooms to change, ran my bag back to the car and threw my wetsuit on while running over to the start just in time to walk into the water with my wave, whew!

The swim - water felt SOOOO good! Now this is Utah lake, a notoriously yucky/murky lake, but the beauty of where they held this race was it wasn't in the main boat ramp. Yes I couldn't see my hand in front of me, but I never tasted boat fuel at all, didn't taste anything actually. So the wave took off and we made our way about 100 yards and then were out of the sheltered area and found ourselves riding some pretty big waves! Now not white capping ocean stuff obviously, I wouldn't call the water rough, just some big rolling wake. I'm a swimmer and I know some struggled with it (I stopped to check on a few people), but I thought it was a blast! Seriously! Yeah I got a few face fulls of water, but I was laughing and smiling the whole way. The size large sleeveless wetsuit I wore was perfect too. Great swim! They had great in water support too, very important.

Bike - wasn't sure how much time I'd spend in aero, actually figured I really wouldn't at all as it was gotten a bit uncomfortable, but I actually rode most the ride tucked in. It just felt good and the roads were keen to it, fairly flat, nothing that I needed to stand for, and in good condition. I felt better during it than expected and again, just smiled my way along. The views riding along the lake were nice and traffic control was good. No complaints here

Run - running out of T2, literally, 10 feet out of it some guy was like "come on, why can't I run?!" He was so mad. We were 10 feet out of transition and I let him know it. I told him to calm down, we just turned a corner and left the transition area. Just thought it was weird he'd declare it was a bad run already when we'd only taken a dozen steps. Anyway, took off at what my body knows we race sprint/oly tri's at, I swear it just has a preprogrammed pace. So I had to reign it in a bit, but not much. I really expected and planned to run slower, but I felt just fine at probably 7:30 pace. I watched my breathing and any discomfort anywhere and just smiled and ran and cheered for others and enjoyed the views again looking toward the lake.

Neat views all over the course and closed to traffic, yay!

Finished 4th woman overall, sounds good to me! I'm not sure who took that worse, the men or the women :) So there you have it, a simple race report all about a great day. I don't have any suggestions for the race directors at all, I am really super impressed! Totally affordable race entry, open water swim with in water support, great road and closed bike course, and well supported run and just a really good course. They had chip timing and tech shirts, a finish line banner thing, lots of volunteers, really great post race food with all kinds of fruits and bread and cookies and drinks, and get this, they had prize money not only for overall winners, but top 3 in every age group! I walked away with $40 for winning my age group, that's more than I paid to race! They didn't advertise it, I had no idea they were doing prize money, but I'm impressed. Seriously, I can't say enough good things about this race, put it on your calender next year! I was so pleased with my body too. I really haven't been training much the last several months so just expected to go out and do it at a slower pace, but I listened to my body and it let me do more and go faster than I was expecting. Maybe it's the extra ATP (cellular energy) the baby is developing too :)

Some 15 week belly shots. Also notice the calm water in the middle pic post race, oh well, I enjoyed the waves

Some pregnancy updates

2011-08-11T17:51:00.000-06:00

Well, so far so good! We're 14 weeks now (2nd trimester I guess huh?), have heard a heartbeat twice, just picked up a doppler to borrow from a friend so I'm sure we'll hear many more, and saw baby on a quick ultrasound a couple weeks ago. I've been feeling good, times of nausea, but have only thrown up once, but yes, it has come time to pull out the heavier duty sports bras :) That's a good thing though, I appreciate have some kind of indication that things are ok. Oh yeah, there's the belly too. Holy cow it's popped out big time! This whole last 4-5 weeks it's been obvious (at least if I'm in spandex) and that's way early for me. I know it's my 4th baby, but yes I suspected twins (I'm a twin), but we only saw one on the ultrasound, so that's what I'm going by....for now :)
Anyway, all those things are good. I've stayed pretty active, getting a little more active now that I'm starting to crawl out of the pit that is constant worry and anxiety after 5 miscarriages. These last 10 weeks have really been brutal. After so many miscarriages it's just been so hard, and you can't feel the baby move, so there's not much to go off of. That should come in a month or so and will be great.

So I entered this fit2Bmom model search contest. I know, I know, me a model? Don't laugh! It sounded fun and they make great maternity activewear which I could really use since I'm almost out of my current tanks and jerseys and shorts and that means I head into the husband's closet (which has evolved a lot since our last baby and has many fancier fabrics than I do) but equals a shirt that fits my belly but hangs off my chest and arms. I'm assuming this will be out last baby, but still, I'd really like some cute stuff that is meant for a big belly. Now yes, I'll be my biggest Nov-Feb, but I teach on a hot humid pool deck, and hey, there's always arm warmers and gloves for outside :)
So here's my entry video for it. I wasn't selected, but was recognized as a top 4 video (including the winner) which is great considering I don't have a huge belly right now, and they're sending me a goody bag with clothes - SO EXCITED!! I'll fill you in for sure on how great the stuff is. In the mean time, don't laugh at me, I don't talk well under pressure even if it is just me and the camera. Am I the only one that squirms a little when watching themselves? And I even made the whole video all by myself with voice-overing which is a big thing for non tech savvy me (Jer of course did take the pics and video though)

But here's some updated bump pics for you :)

A few unseen race pics

2011-07-14T19:58:00.000-06:00

Appears I forgot a few pics from Rockport :) Notice anything out of the ordinary?

No, not my scrunched up face...look more, central

Breathing a little extra oxygen in for a reason

Did you figure it out? I know the first pic isn't super obvious, but it's different to me, and in person.

I'm pregnant! So far so good, still some worry. No plans in the next couple months to race (but then I never plan my races as of late), just lots of praying and finger crossing. I knew what I was doing during Daybreak and Women Rock, and had a lot of fun. Now it's time to work on growing another human.
I'll still be around though, don't you worry :)

Women Rock

2011-07-12T10:25:00.000-06:00

Rocked!

What a great race!! I really really liked the course. Let me tell you more.

So signed up week of (story of my life this year) thanks to Powertri, just figured I'd go up there and have fun. We found a great RV resort to camp in - minus the RV, we have a nice tent though :) But it was great for the kids, lots of grass in a big tent only area right down by a pretty river, table, modern restrooms/showers, game room, rock wall, nice pool, clean sleeping arrangements, no dingy budget hotel, and $20/night - score! I got up to Park City that afternoon with the kids to get my packet (the only thing that's hard about that race, no race day check in) then we headed to the campground to play. A nice afternoon/evening with them since they'd be with me all the next morning, and it was finally bed time.
You were supposed to shuttle in from Park City to Rockport Reservoir, a 20 minute or so drive, but I'm rebellious, more like I have kids and worried about using a shuttle (which was BAD on the way out, like hours, I'm sure they'll improve it next year), so I drove our car as close as I could, parked, and rode my bike in 3 miles. My husband who joined us later Friday evening after working, wisely drove in in our van with the kids to the marina right by the start. Now there wouldn't have been room for everyone to park, but there was plenty and I was grateful he didn't have to bike the 3 kids in the trailer in the 3 hilly miles - I never would have heard the end of it!
Ok, blah blah blah, sorry. Set up quickly, probably faster and more efficient than I ever have, I tend to dink around. Time to put on the wetsuit and head down. Got to find and chat with Ammie Black who is always fun, great hanging out with her all day!

Swim - 15:31, 6th woman. There were 4 waves, 5 minutes apart, I was in the first wave. Don't like waves.
The water was great here! Not amazing visibility, but good, tasted clean, wasn't too cold. Easy sighting except on the way back. I do appreciate all the buoys they had out there, I think they were really looking out for beginners, lots of kayaks too and even swim buddies if you wanted (someone to swim next to you). I felt really good on the swim! No legs squished in the wetsuit, no anaerobic out of control feeling. Just felt good and steady. There was a pack of 3 swimmers always a couple body lengths ahead of me, but I never could catch up enough to draft, oh well.

T1 - :53, 1st woman. With a long dirt trail run up to transition I decided while swimming I would take my wetsuit off just out of the swim in front of my sandals (quick note there, they gave all participants a pair of black or purple flip flops, nice touch, but I still bought my own for identification). I knew it would dry on the way up and be a pain in the butt, so got it off fine, fumbled with my flip flops, probably puzzled spectators who watched me hang out there for what seemed like forever, and ran up the trail. Entered T1 in 4th, left quickly in 1st giving a quick smile of acknowledgment to a certain coach there who I'm not a fan of. Upon meeting me several years ago at a half ironman, told me I'd go no where as a mom with young kids, especially without his help. I passed 2 of his girls in T1....all while wearing the sportsmanship bracelet my 5 year old boy told me to wear :) Hey, I didn't say anything to the ladies. Ok, vent over, he just really irritates me with extremely rude comments like that, and several other girls have heard crap like that. Yikes.

Bike - 37:32, 5th woman. I wasn't expecting to leave transition in 1st, I was expecting to get to kind of hide out of the podium spots since I came out of the water 4th. My goal that day was just to have fun, not race my guts out. Well leaving in 1st boosted the ol' confidence and I worried would push me to work too hard, but it didn't. I just smiled and had fun the whole time! The first 3 miles are curvy and up and down, and can be steep, but aren't leg burners. I may have stood up twice but it was short and sweet. Just a very fun section in my opinion. I'm sure it could be challenging if you're not experienced with shifting quick and climbing some, so for some beginners I can see how it would be a little hard, but I really thought it was a blast! Then the next 3 miles after leaving the park and getting on the highway were basically straight and false flat. No winds I recall, good roads, good police support, just fun! Turned around curious to see where I was and don't think I saw anyone for a good couple minutes. Continued back toward the lake and really enjoyed pushing fast on those now false flat downhills. It was so sweet and uplifting and awesome to see all these women all the way back to the lake just smiling and cheering. I wish they hadn't cheered for me like I was something cool, because they were out there doing something out of the ordinary for them and they were smiling! THEY were something cool, I was really touched!

So while I may still be too scared to do a flying mount again since breaking my foot a couple years ago, I do do flying dismounts, and when time counts, I DO think they are faster. Some will argue with me, but I believe it's faster to run without bike shoes slipping around and having to take them off.

T2 - :52, 6th woman. Fun to arrive back in first to lots of cheering, it really was a great crowd. Surprised just now looking at my being 6th in rankings here, but I bet there were a lot of ladies biking in their running shoes. Hey props to them, some speedy times ahead of me!

Run - 23:54, 5th woman. Needed to keep this under control. I recall how it felt at Daybreak, and I didn't want it to hurt that bad, but I was in the lead and that's fun and motivating. Just tried to hold back a little and be cautious of effort and have fun. And have fun I did! A TRAIL run!! That is unheard of in road triathlons. I mean there's a few races with even dirt paths, but if it's something I could drive my little Saturn on with no problem it's not real trail in my opinion, at least not the kind I like. After 1/2 mile on the road this was single track and enclosed with trees! It had mild ups and downs and curves and was slightly overgrown in some places, I'll take it! There were signs at the places we'd cross over another trail, but a few flaggings here and there would have been nice since at times I hadn't seen any markings in a while and just hoped I was on the right path :) Anyway, figured I'd get to the turnaround and see where the ladies were behind me and that would guide my pace to the finish. Turned around and had ladies coming again, probably 2 minutes behind me. Figured I couldn't really go slower, but could hold this pace and be ok since the girls I saw were in my first wave. Enjoyed the end of the run, cheered on some ladies coming toward me and made my way off the trail to the hard part, the last 1/2 mile on the road. I didn't have to win this race, that wasn't even on my radar before the start of the race, but I figured if I'm this close I might as well try :) Made my way into the finish to cheering and feeling great! What a great day, I had so much fun!!! 1:18.39

Second place came in a couple minutes after me and immediately came up to me asking my time and wave (which I find annoying, at least say nice race or good job or hello first). I didn't wear a watch, I had no idea, I was there to have fun. Turns out she was not the girl I thought was in back of transition as I ran out, she was in the wave after me, so she actually won by 2 minutes. That's ok, it really is. Sure it would have been nice to know that, but the way I wanted to race that day, I really don't think I should have pushed for those 2 minutes. I at least got the thrill of thinking I was winning most the race! : D
I'm so satisfied with what my body did, with what fun it let me have despite the fact I haven't trained it this year. I tell ya, maybe there's something to this taper all the time / hardly train thing ;) Seriously though, I just loved the day. Loved having my babies there cheering, love seeing their faces while I'm out there. Had a great feeling swim, had so much fun on the bike, and just adored the trail run, it was all exhilarating. Way more fun than pain, way more! Even if it is just as a swim buddy volunteer sometime, Women Rock is definitely one I will put on my calender in the future.

Daybreak 3

2011-06-11T22:41:00.000-06:00

I came into Daybreak casual in that I was 'only' doing the sprint and decided I'd do it only a couple weeks before after coming to the stark realization I was not in shape to race Boise and there really wasn't a point in going up there since I don't really care about qualifying for 70.3 worlds. I would like to go up and do it because of all the people that go up and do it, but wasn't worth it this year.

Anyway, once I decided to do Daybreak for sure I was excited and looking forward to going for a 3 for 3, 3 wins in 3 years. 2009 I raced it 3 months after breaking my foot. I'd been running 3 weeks I think when the race came so I was cautious and nervous, but actually had a fantastic race winning by 6 minutes. 2010 was post Ironman so I was in great shape. Came away with win #2 again several minutes up. And 2011? Well let me tell you.

Swim - 13:58 - 1st woman, 6th OV w/men. LOVED the new swim venue! Point to point, under bridges big and small, great sandy beach exit with a big dock all around for spectators, and a big finish area to run by. Water was fine. Pretty cold upon getting in, but wasn't cold at all while swimming. I felt ok, never felt like I got into a good groove, kind of felt anaerobic and not smooth most of the time. My old tattered but full sleeve Xterra practice wetsuit I wore (since I sold my QR last year thinking we would have a baby this year...) was good in the shoulders, but really squeezed my quads and that was uncomfortable.

T1 - 1:01 - 1st woman, 7thOV. Not much to speak of, in and out. Somewhat long run to the bikes, but a cool feeling to it. Was concerned about possibly being cold going into the bike, but so glad I didn't put anything on, warmed up very quickly. And loved the new sports bra I wore :)

Bike - 42:09 - 3rd woman, 16thOV. So I got out on the course once before the race this year because it's always good to ride the road up to the hill because of potholes, and it's good to ride the hill because it's a bit of a challenge. You can't sit and spin, it's not a canyon climb, but you can't stand and crank the whole thing. It's a good challenge. Anyway, it seemed a little harder than I remember in practice, but come race day it felt smooth and fast without too much effort (which was the goal, not spike the HR). That was nice. The winds were very calm, I didn't have to deal with a lot of other riders or traffic, really liked riding along the lake new this year. Don't love my bike split but oh well.

T2 - :46 - 1st woman, 7th OV. Again, not much to speak of, in and out. T2 is a funny one to rank because the more beginner athletes who choose to ride with their running shoes on can smoke you :)

Run - 22:52 - 1st woman, 13th OV. Course must have been long based on others times. This was the part that felt the hardest though. My body kind of knows one pace when racing, and it's hard to rein that in. I probably could have run a little faster, but I could tell my lack of fitness with how hard I was working for this run. Found a guy to run with the last half of the run and that was nice. Felt bad I was stalking behind him, but he didn't seem to like me to his side and I really didn't want to spur him on to run a faster pace, I was just content to follow him. Apologized as I went to the finish and he kept on going for his 2nd Oly lap. He didn't seem upset, thanks Canyon guy! My goal was to stay out of that anaerobic area as much as possible, but still win, and besides the run I think I did that.

1:20.43, 1st woman, 10th OV. 3:50 lead on 2nd. So I did it! 3rd win in 3 years! And while it was 'just a sprint' (had someone say something to that effect on FB later. Irritating. I did the sprint for a reason, and sprints can be really hard if you push them to be, it's all out all the time if you're really racing it. Ironman racing isn't everything....even to me), I was pretty excited to have done it since I hadn't really been training well or consistently. At all. Seriously. Thank you body!

I think that guy wasn't interested in getting chicked ;)

Great job USTrisports! I loved the new finish venue, plenty of grass, much easier for spectators. Was nice to see my husband and kids there of course, but my mom and brother too. Thanks to sweet friend Aly Black for a really nice chat and my boys from Powertri for saving me a spot in T1, they're so good to me.
The race directors just did a great job overall on this one, I really think this is a race everyone should try. Close by, affordable, cool swim, urban and country challenging but doable bike (because what goes up the whole first half screams down the whole second half!), and great almost all flat run. Good day!

Always nice to have family there! Wish I'd gotten a pic with my 4 biggest fans, they were probably busy helping Daddy sell shoes :)

FreeThingsFriday - First Endurance

2011-06-03T07:00:00.005-06:00

This has been a long time coming, I'm sorry I've held out on your so long! But I want to tell you about my favorite nutrition product line, First Endurance. Here's some background. I was a dedicated Hammer Nutrition user for years and years and introduced many people to it. It was last year and we had recently started carrying First Endurance at Powertri. A coworker gave me some comparisons of it to Hammer, and while I didn't think anything would really feel all that different and better that what I was using, about 3 weeks before Ironman last year I decide to try this First Endurance stuff on my last 110 mile long ride just to see if all the hype was for real. It was. My energy and mental state stayed SO steady. It wasn't that I felt hyped up or anything, I just felt so steady and kept going fine and a biggie for me was that I didn't get grumpy and ancy to get home as usually happened at the end of every long workout. It was also so simple! First Endurance has A TON more electrolytes in its products than other nutrition products including Hammer, even with Endurolytes, and it's all in the drink or gel. I can't tell you how many times I got a pill stuck in my throat, fumbled and dropped pills mid ride or run, or found a bunch of pills crushed in my pocket or bento. I really love the fact that the electrolyte complex of First Endurance allows me to only use the drink or the gel or a combination.

EFS

So let me tell you a little bit about their products, and keep reading, I'll tell you how to enter to win some from me for free! First Endurance has a powdered drink mix in several flavors (more potent flavor, sweet, but I like them, tropical punch is my favorite for sure). The grape is good if you like grape, the orange reminds me of the McDonalds old school orange drink, lemon lime is lemon lime, and like I said, tropical punch is my favorite, especially cold on the bike. I don't do super cold drinks on the run, I end up with side aches. I personally like to concentrate my bottles, so I can carry less weight, and I think at twice the concentration it tastes better than only 1 scoop per water bottle (bike bottles, not 8-10 oz running bottles). But don't concentrate it more than 3x the dosage (or 7%), can mess with absorption.

They also have a version of a gel, Liquid Shot, but it's actually not a gel at all as it has no gelling agents in it. A gel is closer to a solid, and our guts do not like to digest solids when exercising. So First Endurance 'gel' is like a thick liquid and comes in 4 serving (400 calories) flasks, or big 24 serving jugs. The Liquid Shot comes in vanilla and a new berry flavor. Both are strong flavors and I prefer vanilla, but I started mixing the two in a flask and I really like that combination, really mellows out both flavors. The fact that it's not a gel makes it easier to swallow too. Liquid shot does not have as high an electrolyte count as the EFS drink mix, but still a lot.

The other thing different about First Endurance is that they don't put protein in their products, kind of. Yes our bodies need protein, but what they actually need is from the protein, they need the amino acids. So First Endurance takes the amino acids out of the solid protein and puts it in their drink and gel so you're getting the important part of what you need from protein but without the digestion issues. "EFS contains 2g Free Form Amino Acids per serving which is the equivalent in BCAA and Glutamine profile to 9g Whey Protein." I had used Perpetuem for years and never super successfully. It about killed me at Ogden Marathon 2009 when I just wanted to kill over and vomit the entire last 6 miles because my stomach was so upset. It didn't happen till I started the Perpetuem, and it hasn't happened since (I haven't used Perpetuem since). A lot of people refer to Perpetuem as 'rotgut' because it can be so hard to get something so heavy to settle well in your stomach.

So aside from the high levels of electrolytes (highest level of sodium on the market, and did you realize you can't effectively absorb fluids you drink without proper sodium levels?), the clean and effective amino acids, First Endurance also uses a mixture of simple and complex carbs unlike former fav products of mine. Some simple carbs allow for quicker initial absorption. EFS and Liquid Shot also includes Malic acid in their products. From the website " Malic acid stimulates oxygen consumption by increasing mitochondrial uptake, improving mitochondrial respiration and increasing energy production. Malic acid is essential in the formation of ATP, the body's energy source. Malic acid allows the body to make ATP more efficiently, even under low oxygen, or hypoxic conditions. "
I should also mention that First Endurance makes a great product I used last year when I race prepping for Ironman and racing so much that summer, called Optygen HP. It has some pretty sweet stuff in it and improves oxygen absorption. I don't think I realized the difference it made until I was off it. First Endurance also has a great recovery drink called Ultragen.

So how do I use it? When racing I do my usual 3 hours before race breakfast, then take 100 calories of Liquid shot 15 min before the race. If the race isn't longer than an hour I may carry a flask of calories with me, but I can usually get away with what my body has stored in that amount of time. Now in longer races, I use 200-250 calories on the bike, about 150 on the run. To get those calories for say 3 hours, as I've done in half and full Ironman races, I take a regular sized water bottle (the short ones, not the tall ones) and make 5 tick marks on it with a sharpe, then fill it with water and 3 scoops of EFS. I'll also carry a flask of Liquid Shot. I have my Garmin go off every 15 minutes, and on the :00 and the :30 I'll take in 1/6 of my EFS water bottle (here's where the handy markings come in so I make sure I get in enough) and some water. On the :15 and :45 I'll take almost a serving of Liquid Shot (about two mouthfuls) and some water. This gives me about 250 calories. During IMSG last year I picked up a pre-frozen EFS water bottle and new flask at bike Special Needs. If it's just a running race, or just on the run of a tri half ironman or longer, I carry a Liquid Shot flask with me to sip on every 30 or so minutes while alternating with water. I haven't felt the need for any additional products like salt tabs or anything.
Here is some more good stuff from First Endurance:
"During long races (3 hours+) considerable stress is put on an athlete’s body. 1) Glycogen (energy) stores are depleted 2) cells experience damage from cellular oxidation 3) electrolytes are depleted and 4) amino acids are depleted.

1) EFS replenishes glycogen by using a mix of high glycemic carbohydrates including both simple and complex sugars. This easy to digest mix is rapidly absorbed and delivers fast and long term energy.

2) Formulated with 120mg (200% RDA) of Vitamin C per serving, EFS helps protect cells from oxidation keeping the immune system stronger for better training and faster racing. A depleted immune system can cause upper respiratory distress which generally accompanies long exhaustive exercise.

3) EFS provides the most potent electrolyte profile available. The combination of all five electrolytes deliver a potent 1040mg per serving, helping to prevent cramping. The 300mgs sodium per serving also aids in maximum fluid absorption so you stay hydrated throughout your training and racing. Supplementing with additional salt tabs, electrolyte tabs, or salty snacks is no longer needed when using EFS.

4) 2000mg of Amino Acids offers the same BCAA and Glutamine levels as 9g Whey Protein. These amino acids have clinically shown to improve performance, reduced post-exercise muscle damage, improve muscle glycogen resynthesis, reduced central fatigue and improved rate of perceived exertion."

Heather Wurtele said it very well detailing her nutrition during Ironman St George this year, winning it for the second time. Check it out. I really enjoyed it

There's some really great stuff to read on the website, check out the Q&A of EFS and Liquid Shot at least. So all that said, there are some nutrition companies I will not use period, thick slug like texture, all simple sugars, syrups, artificial colors/flavors (of which First Endurance has none), and I certainly think Hammer is a great company, I just found something better for me. I love the convenience of not having to bring any pills or protein source with me, it's all there in the drink and/or 'gel'. I've had people share concerns about it's higher cost, but I don't think it is in the end since you don't have to buy salt/electrolyte additives or a protein source. If cost is a concern for you, save First Endurance EFS and Liquid Shot for your harder/longer workouts and races. But I really think it's worth it. I love the higher level of electrolytes, and respect the research First Endurance puts into their stuff. Nutrition is a very individual thing that must be practiced and is something everyone has to try for themselves as certain bodies like certain products, but I'm uber impressed with First Endurance. No cramping, great absorption, great energy levels and mental clarity. I've raced with only it since April of last year and don't plan to stop any time soon. So there's my plug (and I'm not sponsored by First Endurance by the way, I buy it at Powertri, and I just love the stuff).

I think you will too, so how about a giveaway?? I have 4 packets of EFS and 2 flasks of Liquid Shot that were generously donated by Robert at First Endurance (who by the way is a head of the company, and has communicated with me in almost every email I've sent, awesome customer service!). Here's what you need to do by Monday June 6th at noon: 1) Go on their website, and leave me a comment here telling me one thing that you like or is appealing to you about First Endurance including a small quote from the website telling me you checked it out, and 2) tell me if you'd like to try the EFS or the Liquid Shot in this giveaway. My followers have been kind of quiet lately, hint hint, so if you I only get a handful of comments then great, you'll all get something, if I get lots of comments I'll do random drawings for the giveaway. Good luck!! ETA: Winner's announced in the comments, thanks for playing!! Another good giveaway in a couple weeks

Mud, blood, and beauty! Timp Trail 2011

2011-05-31T10:30:00.000-06:00

Timp Trail Half Marathon - FUN!

I'd be on the fence with this race for several months. Well that's not really true. I'd been planning on it and looking forward to it for several months, and then it proceeded to just DUMP rain the entire week of the race. Not usually a problem for a race, but if it's on trail it could be. I love to trail run, I love dirt, and I'm even halfway fond of mud, but not suck your shoe off-squishy squashy mud, so I kind of talked myself out of doing it. Then it stopped raining for a whole day on Friday (amazing I know), and some other plans I had to help my husband out with our Altra booth at Ogden fell through, so there I was at 9pm at night texting race director and friend Shaun, asking if I could still get in. He said yes, so I threw some stuff in a bag, grabbed the kids, and headed to my awesome mother-in-law's to sleep the night with the kids.

Timp Trail Half Marathon started at 8am at a park a mile up Provo canyon. Race morning was a bit chilly. I had to use both jackets I had to go get my packet, then hung out in the car for a few more minutes till it was time to get out and race. Of course upon walking to the start I noticed I wasn't cold at all, should have listened to my instincts and taken layers off, but I didn't, waited till the first mile in. Not a huge deal and I actually really like my Nathan 4 bottle belt because I can carry 20oz of water and still leave 2 slots open and they are great for holding stuff like a vest or arm warmers.

I just loved running fast through the scenery. Beats the pants off hot dry highways and neighborhoods :)

I started in my Intuitions, wool socks, gaiters (shoe and ankle covers to prevent dirt/rocks from getting in the shoes), shorts, a tank, a wind vest and tube sock arm warmers. Like I said, had the arm warmers and vest shed and stuffed in my 2 empty Nathan bottle cages by a mile in. I was concerned about getting lost since you have to follow flagging and there are other trails you could run and be off course and there aren't herds of people all around you all the time, but it was marked just great! We followed the pink tape tied onto trees or bushes, then a pink and yellow together signaled a turn. Was just fine. Anyway, there was probably about 25 min of walking terrain that I walked up as fast as I could, and the rest was runnable. The last 3-4 miles was all downhill, some gentle where I could really open up and fly, and some steep where I hoped my legs and footing would hold up. I floated between 2nd and almost 4th woman most of the race until I mile 8.5 or so when I spotted the leader ahead of me, talk about excited! I know her and she's an Xterra athlete meaning she races all off road triathlons. I had no intentions of winning the race, or even podiuming for that matter, didn't feel like I was in great shape, just wanted to go out and enjoy the race. Once I saw her though, I kicked in :) I spent the next 1.5 catching up to her and eventually passing her when I gave her one of my water bottles as she had nothing and aid stations were anywhere from 30-60 min apart. From there I took off and tried to build as much lead as I could, fearing her. About mile 10.5 I tripped on something and went down hard scraping up my knee and taking a nice chunk out of my hand. Took no time getting up worrying I'd just blown my lead. That was seriously the first thing I thought of. Took me a minute to get past the pain (thank you endorphins, where were you that afternoon when I cleaned the wounds out??), but then really ran hard those last 3 miles and never looked back out of fear she'd be right behind me. I felt so amazing the whole time, it was just the last mile that I felt it get hard because of steep downhill terrain, it can be hard to keep your footing and legs underneath you. I was SO excited to be finishing 1st! The finish line was not as exciting as I'd hoped for, no cheering or announcing, but I guess that's just how trail races are. It's ok. Everyone was very friendly. I finished in 2:06, which is a good 37 min off my road PR, but I bet I raced close to as fast. 2nd place was about 2 min back. I haven't been training very well or very consistently, so to feel that good running fast and catch a girl I was sure I wouldn't was so great, a great moral booster for me that I have really needed. I say this humbly and honestly, remember we're all on different levels, but the races I'd win last year became mundane, not that exciting anymore, and I hated that. More than winning or beating anyone, I was just so glad to feel excitement again. It was so amazing racing in such beauty too, man, I could leave road racing behind all together if it came down to it. A great race all around! I highly suggest you all take the opportunity to do a trail race, its an amazing experience. If you're in Utah there's a Cascadia series that has shorter trail races 3-7 miles.

Did I say how fun and great the race was? :D

This race was just so much fun. Thank You body for surprising me with such a great and enjoyable performance when I least expected it. The longest trail race I've done and I'm absolutely hooked!

IMSG 2011

2011-05-22T22:03:00.000-06:00

No racing IMSG this year, hadn't planned on it at all, planned on having a baby, well that didn't work out, and just not enough time to train like I would want to. That's ok, it wasn't on the plan. But we, ok I, wanted to go down and watch for sure, so we made a little trip out of it.

Played at Sand Hollow Friday.

The water level is so high we were able to venture out on the the big rocks the swim goes around.

The water felt great and the air was HOT! Friday was the first in a string of painful sunburns. As much as I would love to have raced Ironman again had I been in shape, it was so nice to relax and play with my kids and not freak out because this or that still had to get done or I was out in the sun.

We rode our bikes towing the trail a bike and Chariot from the far campground into the main one to play on the rocks (I LOVE getting around like that, think it's so fun), and found this handy little spot on the way back to play at, complete with shallow kid friendly water, shade, a hammock and good friend Michelle Anderson!

Friday morning I also got a Facebook wall post from a sweet friend and very talented coach and athlete Lynda, asking if I was busy Saturday from 11:30-4pm, because she needed an extra lead bike escort!!!
Um, yeah, sure am available! Thank you honey for letting me do that

You can bet I got a hold of here asap an set things up. Ironically we had the mtn bike down there which is not fancy, even has a kickstand ;) but it tows the trail a bike and we didn't want to fight getting the attachment off. You have to have a mtn bike to escort as to not lead road biking racers off course, all I had left was to buy a sweet $5 Bell brand bike bell, you know the ones that go "ringgg ringgg". It was sweet!

So anyway, Friday and Saturday night we camped at an RV Camp there in SG only a mile from the finish. It was great actually, yeah more $$ than regular campgrounds, but it meant no driving, a clean bed, real restrooms and showers, and a swimming pool! Score! Worked great. Talked with a few athletes while we were there including Bart Preston. We did the kids race Friday night, but my 3year old was the only one happy to end up doing it, it was really hot out.

So Saturday morning came and I wanted to share outdoor time with my husband, so he went for a run and I got the kids up and fed, threw em in the trailer (yep, all 3) including the still asleep 7 year old, and hauled tail the 2 miles uphill to mile 22 on the bike course. Whew! I was late so riding as hard as I can, and pulling 100+ pounds behind me and on a mountain bike without clipless pedals, that was a workout.

Yep, still warm. Slurpee time by 10am.

Then it was time to meet up with Jer (my husband, I'm just going to use his name from now on) and hand the kids off so I could get ready for my job.

Finally got everything together and sunscreened up as best I could, found my group after worrying I'd be too late and waited for about 25 minutes before our pro's came in

The sweet set up. Cool Ironman plate, pink Fuel Box, purple cowbell fastened onto my shifter thanks to my 5 year old little guy. The bike bell was on, but fell off at mile 13 and spent the rest of the ride in my shorts

This was the lead bike escort team. Great people! Lynda two people to my left, and my good friend Jana to my right

Waiting to go while my pro is in T2.

I won't lie, I was nervous. Yes I know that course like the back of my hand, but I was still nervous I might somehow lead him off track. Mostly though I was concerned about knowing who to stay with if a pass happened since I was in charge of leading the 5th place male position, not the 5th place man out of T2 necessarily. But it actually went fine. I started with TJ Tollakson, who was then passed by Mike Aigroz, who was passed at one point by Paul Ambrose I believe, and then it kind of went in reverse with TJ moving up again (and he was hauling by that point, I was doing my best to keep my distance up the hills), and then I finished the last 10 or so miles with Mike Aigroz again.

So the rules are you stay about 20 yards in front of them and use your bell to alert media or aid stations or other racers they are coming. You don't talk to them, don't inform them how close their competition is, and you don't lead them off course :)

Oh yeah, forgot, so we're headed up Pioneer Park's steep hill for the first time, I shift like an idiot, and the chain locks up!! AHHHH!! I can't end now! Jumped off the path, fiddled with it, watched my pro go by and like an idiot told him to just keep going (what's he going to do, hang out and help me fix it? No ). Got it back on, jumped on, it locked again, I freaked out. Got it on and it held, took 2-3 minutes to race up to my pro and resume my job. Whew! Never did shift down to the small chain ring again though :)

Mike was doing great those last 10, but everyone gets tired and I could see it a little bit, so I'd ring my cowbell and look back at him as we were going up big hills to encourage him. Our last mile or so were exciting, he started putting his jersey back down and zipped up, visor on, getting ready to finish, and he was smiling -he was never bad to look at though ;) I parked my bike in the round about before the chute and gave him five on his way in. The footage I've seen shows him super smiley and excited, it was great!

And then all the fanfare went away, I exited the course, and my great amazing day was done.

I was able to meet up with Mike after the race and tell him good job. He thanked me for my cheering and cowbell skills for him. It was neat.

It really was so cool! I had a ton of people ask me if I was doing IMSG again this year, if I was disappointed not to be, etc, and sure I'd love to do it, but I really did ok. It was crazy hot out there (no longer really have any idea how to train for the weather on that course, it's nuts), I am in no way trained to do close to what I did and would want to do better next time I hand over $600 to an organization that won't answer my emails anyway (grrrr, hear that Ironman? A little customer service by the 5th email would be nice!), and I got to watch a ton of friends, and participate in what I think may be one of the coolest ways! I tell ya, that's how you see the course, forget actually doing it ;) And I fully intend on doing that any year I can that I'm not racing if I'm asked again.

So that's that. Witnessed a ton of friends do so well in such adverse conditions whether they hit their goal times or not. It was really brutal out there. I'm sure I'll be back at some point, just don't know whether it will be next year, or a year or two down the road. Jer and the kids and I rode around Diagonal St (the last couple miles for most folks) for a while cheering, then I came back at 11pm to watch what I could. Man, the feeling down there is electric! So. Much. Energy!! I wish there was a way I could still race fast and satisfy that part of me, while still getting to finish at night like that, just a whole different pumped up atmosphere. I definitely shed a few tears. Congrats all you new Ironman finishers! What a great trip!

Ironman 1 year later - reflections and advice

2011-05-02T22:28:00.003-06:00

It's really hard to believe it's been one year now since I trained for and conqured Ironman. It was such an incredible journey and race and one I look forward to doing again. Altough I won't lie, the training scares me. I didn't know any different the first time around, I figured it'd be hard, but I knew I had to get it done. Yeah I know those same things now, but for some reason it just seems scarier to me. Will I really be able to put all that time and those miles in again? They were hard!

The hundreds of miles indoors on the trainer

With and without children :)

A TON of swimming. Was more dedicated to the pool in those 6 months since I have been since high school. I remember being diligent and committed to the 12x100's on 1:20 set we built up to for 12 weeks.

All the fun that comes along with training for a spring race. Lots of adverse conditions,

But lots of great friends as support too!

Friends that without I don't know if I would've made it through those 90+ mile rides

The trips to St George (5 of them in total between October and Race day I believe)

Including the so valuable and now tradition week in SG with Sarah at our great friend Sylvia's house

Being completely wiped out most of the time and enjoying naps with my sweet little one when I could. I look back at it now and miss doing enough to deserve to be that tired

Peaceful snowy solo training sessions when the sun would grace me with her presence, and sometimes sans sun

And finally conquering those long training weekends with the final one, 110miles on the bike

And then came RACE WEEK!!!
I battled through a run stopping calf injury for the 3 weeks before the race, but finally seemed good to go with days to spare before the race (thank you Muscleworks!). I was in the best shape of my life. My sister flew into town and it was time to head south!
That drive was horrible. Just horrible. Thank the Lord we made it safe, but it took us almost 7 hours to make a 3.5-4 hour drive. The kids were great, but it was snowing the entire time between Nephi and Ceder City. And bad! Like if we weren't in a city with overhead lights or following closely behind a semi, we couldn't see the lines on the road. The passenger had to look out their window to guide the driver by the solid white line on the shoulder. It was scary stuff and hard to believe I was driving down to do and 2.4 mile swim in open water.
But we finally made it down and stayed in such a great house. Thank you Mom for putting us all up there!!

I enjoyed every second of the atmosphere, the check in, the 5 plastic bags (transitions and SN) they gave me made me giddy! I studied and studied the athlete guide and course even though I already had for hours and hours before.

Now I'm going to give my advice, I'll bold it. My big suggestion for all of you getting ready is to have your bags ready to go Thursday night or Friday morning (save perishable stuff). Even though I knew what was going in the bags, I was up till 11:30pm assembling them, being sure I had every little thing right. Try to keep your bags simple so you're not digging through a mountain of stuff trying to decide what you need when you're in the middle of the race, but put in what you think you may need. For the bike SN, it was an extra CO2 and tube, some pringles and a small candy bar in case I felt like I needed a snack, and my new water bottle and flask of First Endurance calories. For the run SN it was an extra pair of socks (really only necessary if it's going to rain or you pour a TON of water on your legs or you're just prone to blisters), and an additional Liquid Shot flask. There's plenty of food on course if you want it.

Now come RACE DAY?

I'm going to keep it simple. Just ENJOY your day!! That doesn't have to mean loaf it, you can still go hard, but smile. Smile at other racers, say hi or something when you pass someone, and you'll see their name on their bib, so try to use it sometimes. Smile at the volunteers and thank them. Smile at your friends and family when you see them, it's so magical and like a dork I'm starting to choke up just thinking what a great experience this was. Don't get mad if they aren't at a certain point to cheer you on. I felt bad that I didn't even acknowledge my sister and husband at the bike into T2 even though I heard them because I was mad they never saw me on the bike. They got up at 5:30am and got on a shuttle, sat around in a parking lot at a reservoir to see me for 5 minutes maybe, then wait another 2 hours to get out of there and back to their car. Sure I was sad not to see them on the bike, but they had a busy day too. Appreciate all your supporters!

Now come the swim, don't be afraid, I was walking into the water, and dear Keena said "don't worry about it! This is fun!". Don't worry about the water temp. There's nothing you can do come race time, just wear that wetsuit and neoprene cap or at least just two laytex caps, let some water in the neck, let it drain back out on land, and start where you're comfortable. Oh and pre-swim, get there EARLY! I wanted to take one of the earliest buses but of course it always takes longer to get out the door than you think (and traffic just to get dropped off downtown was bad), so I got there close enough to the race that I was kind of scrambling. When I do it again, I will be on one of the earliest buses and bring a cheap blanket to huddle down in and just chill out after everything is ready to go. Another tip - there's a couple volunteer port-o-potties over by the med tent, if it's right before the race and you really have to go, sneak over there ;)

USE the help in transitions! I would have never gotten anything on my body after the swim if it wasn't for the help of a wonderful lady in the change tent, they're there, use them!

Bike time - another dear friend and woman I look forward to Debbie Perry emailed me a few days before the race and said "be conservative on the bike, just be conservative". SO KEY! Just go out and ride it like a long ride. Don't push and be huffing and puffing and feeling the burn unless you're going up one of the few big/steep hills. You don't have to go slow, but there is so much more race left after the bike, that even if you went too slow, I think you'll still have the advantage come run time. My other key to success was setting an alarm on my Garmin to go off every 15 minutes to tell me to take nutrition. Now of course this has to be something you've practiced, but hopefully you've practiced taking in calories and/or hydration every 15-20 minutes. Without the alarm I would have spaced off and not take nearly enough. And along with taking enough, I put tick marks on my water bottle of EFS calories (only put water in my aero bottle, much easier to refill and sip on) so that I knew I needed to drink x amount of ounces to get x amount of calories every 30 minutes (took Liquid Shot and water on the other 15 min alarms). Because when I just grab a water bottle I take way less than I should, it usually was 3 swallows for me, 2 more than I'd do if I wasn't thinking about it.
If you screw your nutrition up, it's going to be a hard day, so do something easy and set an alarm or do something like this so you KNOW you get all the calories, hydration, and electrolytes you plan on taking.

That Run, oooh baby, it's a hilly one! And some people don't like the double out and back, but I did. Look at it this way. A) you'll know every inch of where you're at on that course, you'll know what's coming next, B) you'll see a lot more spectators and racers around you, C) once you're to the first turnaround, you're 1/4 of the way done with the whole run! That was so helpful to me to know there were really just 4 x 6 mile repeats. And I knew that in general, once I made it to the turnaround on the bluff, it was mostly downhill. Then I went up the hills for a second and last time, then it was basically all downhill to the finish! You may have to really dig in and focus come that last 6-10 miles, don't be afraid to. All my giddy smiling and thumb uping ended at mile 18. It was time to focus and that's all I could do. I just watched the road in front of me and focused on lifting one knee/leg up at a time. Just get to one aid station at a time, don't think any farther ahead than that if it helps.

And then it comes

The Finish. Now do me a favor here and listen. I knew what I was supposed to do for the finish, but it didn't work out great. Take that last mile at least, at least, and realize you're almost done. Soak it in, cry if you feel like it, your experience is almost done. When you get back to main street, look around you and find some open space so you can have you time on that last stretch so Mike Reilly can announce your name and "you're an Ironman!!". I never got to hear that and it made me a little sad. Either sprint ahead of someone or slow down and let them go, but get your time in those last 50 yards. I was and still am SO proud of the accomplishment of finishing that race. Of course I figured I could finish, but I really did it. I trained for it, I raced it hard, everything came together, my family was there.
I did it!

And then, thank your family, get a post race massage, drink water, take in what calories you can, and DON"T go get a concrete from Nelson's and eat the whole thing. Unless of course you want to spend the rest of your evening in bed feeling worse than during the race :) I really look forward to watching the finish line late at night this year, something I wanted to do, but just couldn't physically last year. I felt bad my night ended an hour or two after I finished. It was such a magical day, extend it as long as you can! But like they say, you'll have the glory of Ironman forever, so it all works out.

If something doesn't go right on race day or it was just plain hard, try not to dwell on it. I dwelt on the fact that I didn't qualify when people who finished behind me did, and you know what, it almost ruined my experience. But I have nothing but good positive feelings toward Ironman St George 2010 now. What an amazing day it was, and it will be hard for me to know I can't do it this year. But I do look forward to watching so many great athletes and so many friends who have put the time and energy into training.
Have a magical day guys!!!

I REALLY want to do this race!!

2011-04-21T16:40:00.001-06:00

In my 12 years of triathlon I never knew such a race existed, and I am so intrigued by it. 1.5 miles of swimming, 25 miles on the bike, 13 miles of running (trail running!) broken up into 10 segments. You have to carry your swimming stuff while you run, and your running shoes with you in your suit or a dry bag around your waist while you swim, love it!

The race is in Michigan, and just so happens my twin sister lives in Michigan and I've only been out to see her once, and haven't taken my kids at all. I am very much tempted to go out and see her and sneak this race in as well. Check it out!

They also give away two slots to this SOS race in New York. I think it's a championship race of this kind of race. Some serious climbing on the bike and run and sounds like just crystal clear mountain lakes. Here are a couple former participants race reports from SOS, here, here Watch out husband, I may have found a new fetish to add to the plate :)

Salt Lake Marathon

2011-04-18T23:05:00.002-06:00

Ouch. That's how it went. Ok, that's not entirely true, here's the run down in short. Rode a completely stuffed trax train up to the start. It was bad, must've taken 30 minutes, and it was SO hot in there I thought I was going to puke, we were completely shoulder to shoulder in there and this obnoxious kid decided to push in on a later stop and I had to listen to him yak for the next 20 minutes, uhg. Anyway, made it up with only about 15 minutes before the start and ran right to a bathroom with a huge line, knew I didn't want to start without one last pit stop and I knew the bathrooms would be busy in the first few miles, and I knew I don't like to stop and didn't have much time to spare. Fortunately I got in and out while putting on my sock's and watch and took my layers off and had about 3 minutes to hurry and get everything else in/out of my morning bag I needed, run to the bag drop, and stand in line.
Gun went off, took about 3 minutes walking to cross the start line then another 2 to start running, was kind of frustrating. It was cool to be around 5,000+ other people, but made it really hard for the first 2-3 miles to navigate around them. I felt good the first half, and the miles seemed to go by quickly.

Hit 13.1 at 1:45 and while I was hoping it'd be closer to 1:40, oh well, I was still feeling good. Running along a few miles later top of my foot was bugging me again where I tied my key into my laces, so as much as I detest stopping, I stopped at the side of the road, fumbled with the laces, got the key out, fumbled to retie them (it was weird how my hand function was a bit impaired) and took off again. I had been watching this one lady in front of me for the last 4 miles and had hoped to keep her in my sights as she looked strong. She obviously got a little on me with that stop, but I could still see her. Ended up making up time on her and beating her by 20 seconds at the end I think. It was kind of a motivator like, "hey if she looks strong, maybe that means I do too". I know, I know, but I don't think of myself in an elitist way. So wandering along about mile 16 and the left quad/hip flexor start tightening up or filling with lactic acid, not sure which, and I thought 'uh oh' but kept on. The other leg joined in by mile 18, and my pace slowed to 8:30-9:00 at times despite my efforts to keep it faster. I wasn't really fatigued per say, my lungs got a little tight which was wierd, and thankfully my nutrition was fine, but those legs, when they tighten up there's not much to do but keep on running and make it to the finish. I got a little ancy about the miles going slowly in the 20's, but by the time we turned onto State and hit 24.2, that was nice, knowing I had "a mile and", I think like that a lot. Worked the uphill to my best, and the downhill to my best, and kept my eyes peeled for the final turns and finish :)

Myself, Steve who ran a 3:15, and Neil who ran his first marathon

The finish line was ok, a lot of people, but no one was really cheering when I went through :( I saw 2 spectators that I knew while I was running. It was fun to see others out cheering for their families, but it was kind of hard not having anyone there for me too. Oh well. I focused on the race. I did get to see 2 coworkers Steve and Neil (who I shared some First Endurance Liquid Shot with when I passed the poor guy at mile 20 who hadn't had any calories besides powerade at aid stations), and I also got to meet up with good friend and 84 time marathoner Jonathan. We ironically ran races 2 seconds apart in total time, but never saw each other on the course, darn! It was nice to have a good hug at the end. Thanks Jonathan!

So I came away in 3:36.08, a 1 minute PR. And I wasn't super excited about the time or the race the first couple days, and I think that's because it really hurt a lot. Ironman hurt a lot too, but not like this, IMSG zapped all the energy out of me by the end, but didn't leave me in pain at the end like a marathon does. I knew I was going into this marathon under trained and that it would hurt, but I was hoping I was in good enough shape, those tight legs wouldn't come into play till the last 6, not the last 10. It wasn't an easy race for me, it was tough. But I should, and am getting toward a more positive feeling toward the race just thinking that hey, it's another marathon under my belt (#4), and a PR despite under training, and despite the legs slowing down earlier than they did the last time I ran a marathon. At least I still ran through that which was mentally and physically challenging and managed to pull off a PR when I thought I'd be on track for a 3:40 something finish. 1:45 first half feeling reasonably well, 1:51 second half feeling a lot of leg pain. Not too bad I guess :) Thanks to all the friends who were kind enough to say something since the race. I don't want to come off all negative, and your words have helped me to remember the good in the race. I have been awfully sore since the second I finished, taking a good 20 minutes walking barefoot to the car when it should have taken me 10 or less, having to have my kids help me up out of a chair or off the floor or out of bed, not being able to carry my kids up the stairs because I need all the upper body strength to pull myself up and down the railing, but as a good friend reminded me, I guess I just left it all out on the course, and that's a good thing, something I'll take.

Some more thoughts about the race: The course is very urban which is cool because you have a ton of residents out watching in their yard, but the scenery was lacking at times too. It's not my favorite full marathon course, but I wouldn't mind trying the half, think it looks faster and just better overall. But along the way I was mistaken for my twin sister twice from people who knew her in high school, passed a guy with a full KISS face paint, passed another gentleman with a soft serve ice cream machine in his front yard (yeah, sorry buddy, I'm not taking ice cream at mile 7, it was a nice gesture though), and passed another guy dressed in green tights and a green tank top with a huge yellow flower pedal thing around his neck. That's one thing I don't quite get, why so many costumes lately, so many tutus in regular races? I get it in a Halloween or costume race, but think it's kind of strange otherwise, but to each is own. Oh yeah, also saw 5 or 6 guys with tight jeans and short sweaters out hitting cowbells along the course, you know like Will Farrel's "more cowbell" skit on SNL? Humorous and nice of them to come out and support.

So here's what worked about the race:
Nutrition - used First Endurance Liquid Shot (mixed half the new berry flavor with half the vanilla flavor, liked it a lot) and took a serving every 4.5ish miles starting at mile 5. Also carried a flask of Coke with me and sipped on it between 17 and 23 miles. Next time I will make sure it's more flat and will carry it in a belt or something. I don't mind holding flasks, but that one got me a little bit sticky as it would fizz.
Shoes - wore my Altra Intuitions for their first marathon. Really liked having my toes spread out, think it kept my feet out of pain, and so far no black toe nails. Loved how well it held my heel into place, and love how long I was able to keep good form (most of the marathon). That zero drop is good stuff, I tell ya.

Blister help - so I got a blasted blister on my heel from some shoes 2 days before the race, nice timing I know. Was worried about it as my Altra's rubbed it and the last thing I wanted was to suffer through that all morning. Used these Nexcare Comfort Fabric Brights Assorted Bandages and they were great! Stretchy so held on well, a nice pad, and breathable. It didn't move at all under my CEP's. Great help.
Socks - CEP's. Love em, don't run long without em. These are totally something you can experiment with on race day and they won't hurt you. I just really like the help and support I feel like they give during the race, and have made my calves the least sore part of my lower body since the race.
Jersey - Ran in a new top from Freemotion, a partner company with Altra. Just enough support for me, loved the movement that came from the thin straps, no chafing at all, and a long top, never worried it was creeping up to show my mama tummy. Nice and thin too, just really well built. Also had a cute new sweat/head band I wore. I kind of look like a cancer patient in it but it's all good.

Here's what didn't work out so great:
Shorts - So while I know and tell people you never try anything new on race day, I was an idiot and tried new shorts on race day. They were Zoot Compression Tri shorts I just got. I had hoped they would help the leg pain I'm used to getting that last hour. Wore them on a 3 mile run the week of the race to try them and loved the support they gave my legs (and did on the marathon too, very nice), but come race day they chafed me something fierce, and not where I was expecting. I have run in tri shorts during races and some training for 12 years, I have never had this problem running, but basically they didn't sit right on my lady parts and rubbed me RAW. Like light bleeding raw. Hurt during the race, tried pulling them down a little, didn't help. They had a plush fleece pad, part of the reason I thought they'd be great, but something wasn't right I guess. Came home from the race, used the bathroom, and lets just say yelled out pretty loud, it is pretty bad. Trying to wear as many loose pants/skirts as I can to let air heal things up. The negative things said, I did like how high they were on my belly and back, felt like good core support and held in what pudge (yes there's some) I have. They weren't too hot on my legs, but I don't know that I could handle them in hot conditions unless I get them wet at aid stations. I'll not retire the shorts all together due to the chafing, but I'll cycle in them fine and run in them WITH something underneath them. I obviously got pretty pained during the race but I don't know whether to say that means they didn't do their job or not, it's still a long way to run on the road and if there are any shorts out there that take all that pain away, someone better tell me! Although I suspect they don't exist :)
Music - So I did end up taking and using music. Put it in at mile 10 I think, earlier than I thought, but I was getting bored. Just no one to talk to and not a super amazing scenery course. I liked the music, but by the time my legs started hurting, it was hard to not be able to run fast to the good songs like I do in faster training. It kept my mind a bit busy and I still tried to focus on spectators, but I think it would be more fun with legs or a race that would allow me to run faster.
The pics - Silly I know, but I looked pretty pooped in some of the pictures and made some pretty lame faces in others . Also couldn't get a stinkin photographer to take a pic of my shoes, I asked like 3 times (most of the weird faces are them catching me asking) and they all just laughed at me. I would have bought a good close up, oh well.

So that's that. I got to do marathon #4, it was a great day with great overcast cool weather, my body stayed healthy in the regards to stomach issues and the head pain I get sometimes, no dizziness, no seeing stars (I prayed the night before and morning of that my body would be well during the race, and that's what I was looking for, no scary head stuff). I've had great help from my mom brothers and my mother in law and friends watching the kids for me so I can go to work and get this second workout of the week in. Going to take a few weeks off running now and get back on my bike and back in the pool. It's been way too long for both. We'll see what I can finally figure out in the way of future races too.

I need your help

2011-04-14T12:57:00.001-06:00

So my husband left on Saturday for a shoe store visiting/selling road trip eventually stopping in Boston for the Boston Marathon Expo with Altra and won't be back till next week. Now I've kept my sanity fairly well so far, gotten a bit of housework done, fed the kids at least twice a day, you know, relative success ;), and made it to work on time thanks to Grandma's and neighbors. But I haven't gotten much training in. So what does one do when their other half isn't here to allow workouts? You taper! :)

Yep, signed up for the Salt Lake City Marathon that's in 2 days :) I've been picking my long runs up since I recovered from our December loss (that was for sanity sake), and wanted something resembling epic since Ironman isn't in the books for this year. Anyway, here's where your help comes in. I don't race with music, never have. Don't want to get sucked into it and away from the atmosphere and it's illegal in triathlon, so why get hooked on it and then have withdrawals during races? But do I love to workout with music? YES! Well, road races such as a marathon don't ban music, and a marathon is a long way to run. And while I'm probably somewhat sufficiently trained (undertrained, but that's always better than over), me thinks it's still gonna hurt pretty good those last 6-10 miles and as I'm sure you've figured out, I'm a competitive person and still want to do well; I am not going out just to loaf 26.2 miles (that just doesn't sound fun...but apparently pain does :) So I wouldn't put the earbuds in till at least the half way point and it would be a fun distraction from the pain and probably help my pace, but am I then going to always need music to beat that time if it's a PR? Do the survey on my sidebar and tell me what you think. Thanks!!

Oh and stay tuned for a good multi winner giveaway of one of my favorite most heavily used products coming on Friday if I can get around to it :)

Let me present...

2011-04-09T20:14:00.006-06:00

possibly the world's greatest running shoe (trainer at least right now) and company. I've mentioned it before, but our family is intimately connected (LOL, the guys I work with are going to laugh at that after last night's staff meeting) with Altra Running, a revolutionary new running shoe company making natural footwear everyone can wear. Altra is also a company that cares about you and your enjoyment of running and I think the story behind Altra Running is pretty neat.

They will come out with 3 models this year. The Adam/Eve which is a truly barefoot shoe with only a few millimeters under your foot will come out around June. The ultimate in flexibility, and low to the ground, but NO separate toes which means less rubbing and the ability to wear whatever sock you want, as well as letting the toes spread out naturally, not defined by the pockets they're in. A great strengthening and form technique tool!
Then there will be the Lone Peak coming out later this summer. It is a trail shoe for those people who run real trails, real gnarly stuff. A rock plate sandwiched in just the right place in the shoe offering you cushioning from sharp rocks below the plate and above it next to your foot. Even a trail rudder on the back giving a graceful nod back to the first trail running shoes.
But today I want to talk about the road shoe, the Instinct and Intuition, which just came out last week and is selling fast and is in stores around the country as well as online through Altra or your favorite tri shop Powertri

I've run in this shoe since last year and I have to say my boys at Altra really know what they're doing and really care about what they're doing and what they make. Let's go through what makes Altra's shoes different, shall we? First of all they are Zero Drop. This is a term that Altra coined meaning there is zero differential between how far off the ground your heel and toe are when in the shoe. Most running shoes are built on a 2:1 ratio, meaning about 24mm under your heel, 12mm under the ball of your foot. Thankfully some shoes companies have started lowering that drop getting as low as 4-6mm, but Altra went all the way to true zero.
Why do I need Zero Drop you ask? To run with better form in order to avoid injury, to run faster, and to run easier. Research is finally catching up to show everyone that landing midfoot under your body with a bent knee allows healthy shock absorption. It also then prepares your body to spring off those bent legs and power forward where as landing on your heel puts the brakes on and makes you pull with the hips and IT Band and roll over that leg in front of you. Heel striking also sends all the impact into your joints (also NOT a good thing, this is why running can be hard on knees). If I were to tell you to jump as high as you can and land on your heels would you? I wouldn't, it'd hurt! Point taken? Off your heels people!
But it's not necessarily people's fault for running heel-toe. Sure some people encourage it (not sure why), but for the most part, your typical running shoes don't really give you a lot of choice. A big heel is physically the first thing that can hit the ground in typical running shoes unless you run on your toes (talk about blowing your calves up quick, DON'T run on your toes) because there is a ramp angle to the shoes. It's virtually impossible to land flat footed because there is no flat mid section of your foot while in the shoes. With Altra shoes though, they got the heel out of the way so you can land midfoot and save yourself a lot of pain and energy.

Next is the gender specific foot shaped last. A last is basically the mold they use to make the sole of the shoe. Go look in your closet at your running shoes. Are most of them pointed or tapered in at the toes? Yep, that's how running shoes have been made up until now. Now look down at your toes. Anyone's toes pointed in the middle? Ok maybe some interesting folks out there, but in general, no, our feet are rounded at the toes. So logically, Altra rounded the toe box allowing your toes to splay (spread) out absorbing more shock, stabilizing your foot from rolling in excessively, and giving you more to push off of going forward. Have you ever thought about that, what an important role our big toe plays? Some pronation is normal, truly excessive pronation can need help, but not how we typically think. It's not this grey EVA foam that we stick inside shoes that should stop pronation, it's our big toe that should be assisting. By allowing the big toe to spread out in a shoe, we stabilize and stop that excessive rolling in. I was just educated in that lesson on pronation a couple weeks ago by my dear cofounder husband, and I think it's pretty cool! And speaking of pronation, another thing Altra did was to not have a deep arch cut out. By allowing more shoe under our arches, it also helps support the foot (not command the foot like stability shoes do) and assist the big toe in stabilizing any rolling in at the landing. Ladies, you've noticed how it's easier to stumble and roll and ankle in in high heels versus flats right? Right. And finally, the gender specific part. Most shoe companies "pink it and shrink it", don't you love that phrase? I do. They make a men's last narrower and shorter, and add some feminine colors. Problem with that is anatomically, women's feet are a different shape than men's feet. Women have more of a triangle shaped foot, men, more of a rectangular shaped foot. Women have a narrower heel, smaller instep, higher arch, different metatarsal placement, and shorter toes. So Altra took this too into account and makes all their women's shoes, every single model, off a completely different last than that men's.

A couple other things to mention are the heel claw, the way the heel of the shoe is built it really holds you in so that while you do have a big toe box, you absolutely don't slide forward in it. It's really noticeable, I like it a lot. And then there's the asymmetrical lacing. The laces are not on the center of your foot but offset a little to to the inside and at an angle so to take off pressure of the top of your foot. It will be more pronounced in the future, but even now it's helping me alleviate that pain my Kinvara's gave me last week. Finally, most EVA (white foam) that is used in shoes and inserts eventually breaks down 70-90%. That's why we get new shoes, the foam flattens and doesn't give any more. Altra uses this amazing stuff called A-bound in the insoles as well as the foam at the top of the shoe, right next to your foot, and get this, it compresses a remarkable 7-9% ! That means that even when the bottom and midsoles have broken down over time and it's time for a new pair, you'll still have some cushion and give directly under your foot. Sweet!

So I've told you all about most of the technology behind the shoes, now lets meet the Altra Intuition. This is the female road shoe, a trainer if you will, but of course you could race in it if you wanted. It's 8.1oz making it lighter than many trainers out there. 10mm off the ground at the heel and at the toe means you've got the feeling of a barefoot shoe to help your form thanks to the Zero Drop, but you've got the cushioning of a trainer. That is what makes the Intinct and Intuition unlike ANY other shoe out there. Zero Drop AND cushioning! It really is the shoe for any runner I think and virtually any conditions. I've taken this on the road, on grass, on the trails, and it's done fine on the them all. I've run a road marathon in them, won a trail half marathon in them, and I race triathlons barefoot in them (took me about a month of normal wear with socks to break in the heel for barefoot use, not it's just dandy, if the heel rubs you at all wear a band aid on your Achilles for a few weeks)

Now before we go any farther, you must know that there is a transition period to Altra footwear, and they have it spelled out very simply and specifically on their site for runners new to a lower drop, and runner's who have experience with a lower drop shoe. Unless you've been running in true Zero Drop shoes (which have only just come out in the last 6 months, and most of them still have a 1-2 mm drop if you include the insole) you'll need to take 1-4 weeks to transition into being able to wear your Altra's full time. See with traditional running shoes your Achilles doesn't have to stretch and your calf doesn't get to explode and be used as much. But with Altra shoes, your Achilles has the chance to get lower and then help spring you back up and forward and your calves play a bigger role too. So for those first few weeks you'll likely notice some soreness there and need to pay attention to that. You can increase your frequency and distance in them as that goes away. The transition period is just the time needed to strengthen those Achilles and calves to be able to support your new and improved running form. It will be worth it though, I assure you! Please please remember the transition period. Too many people threw on Vibram 5 finger shoes and got really really sore or even hurt because they were cool and the hype and so runners of any and all ability threw them on and ran like they've always run without any guidance how to make that drastic switch. The Altra road and trail shoes won't be as drastic a transition as the Adam and Eve will be, but still deserve your attention.

Alright, here are some pics:

The pretty swirly heel

The sole. Love the metatarsal placement and design and if you look close you'll see tiny flowers in the background

The way I traditionally laced my shoes, I don't think the extra non-laced space is necessary in the Altra's though with their foot shaped forefoot. I'll be re-lacing mine into the standard way they come. It is helpful for a person with one foot wider or longer than another though.

All Altra's come with two sets of insoles, one very flat and flexible to strengthen your arches (blue), and one to support your arches for people who are used to and want more support (pink). I'm also so excited about the printing in the box. My hubby designed it and I had no idea till the first shipment came in last week, great job babe! Every box also comes with a 8 page guide to the shoes, how to wear them, transition, LTR, the Altra story, etc

Another view of the insoles. A unique option in running shoes, 2 sets of insoles that come with the shoes.
Learn to Run, Love to Run, Live to Run!

ETA: You can read a report of the Salt Lake City Marathon where I wore the Intuition's here

Great tri and running clinic Saturday!

2011-04-05T11:44:00.000-06:00

Hey check out this clinic you Utah locals, some really great people feeding you I'm sure some really great info. They are dividing it into running people and tri people as well as beginner, intermediate, advanced, so you have lots of choices. Lecture and hands on training on everything sport including training, yoga, nutrition, weight training, race tactics, attire, it'll be good! $35 gives you 7 hours of info AND lunch. Check it out!

Strange sightings

2011-04-03T09:35:00.001-06:00

So I think I'm training for a marathon. That's right, think. I'm back to my active self, but still don't have a race season nailed down and haven't been terribly motivated to do so. Don't know if that's because we've been really busy lately with kids and life and Altra, or because maybe we'll have another kid and I'm not letting myself get too used to the idea of racing. Who knows.

Anyway, because I think I'm training for a marathon I've been running a lot lately. My bike was out for an entire 5 weeks and I rode the other bike on the trainer maybe 5 times, and it showed at Icebreaker this year. Boo!! That's what I get for not cycling I guess. It was hard to not feel fast, to feel like I didn't have any power, to feel like I didn't uphold people's thoughts that were so confident in me and sweet, saying things before the race to the effect of I was going to win. But anyway, I've been enjoying running, so that's what I've been doing. Started building my long runs up from about 8 miles back in January and have run a 14, 16, 18, and today 20 since then.

I won't lie, the 20 hurt. I felt ok the first 8 or so on a new canal road route I found - I love canal roads by the way, dirt which is better for the joints, quiet, no cars, very nice. Then while thinking about how great this new canal road was I found and how I'd gone a whole 8 miles without a gate or fence or anything, this comes along:

That's right, bulls

Kind of funny eh? Must have been low on calories or hot or something (it was SO warm today (I ran Thursday), I was literally too warm the entire run in my shorts and tank top) because I just kind of stopped and stared at the sign and pondered what to do for like 2 minutes. Decided not to chance it as I could see a gate on the other side and I was definitely going to have to climb over it, so went onto the street and ran a chunk of road till I could turn around.
I ran with a tailwind to start which I never like doing, but I figured "I'm running, not on a bike, how bad could it be?" Answer: not horrible, but not so much fun. My legs did fine, I've been battling some piriformus irritation and some weird stiff sore knees, but they didn't bug me during the run, the lactic acid didn't really build up (till I was done and walking home anyway, then Jer told me I looked like an old woman, it was true, and my muscles have been so sore and tender/DOMS since), but ironically the top of my foot hurt the whole time, like my shoe was laced too tight or had a rock in it or something, but no, nothing wrong. I've been running in my Kinvara's for a while, waiting for my new pair of Intuitions to come in this week (I've had a pair to wear over the last year, but I've had to share them a bit), and I'm definitely tired of the Kinvara's and welcoming back the Zero Drop Intuitions. Can't wait! They really are an amazing shoe.

So carrying on, I finally refilled my bottles at 16 miles and that cold water tasted SO good! On my way home I happened on some interesting graffiti. A bit strange for sure

Believe in Life. Why thank you gangsters for the uplifting message at mile 18 :)

Anyway, sorry, this is turning into way too long of a post to say "I ran 20 miles, it was hard, it was hot, it was windy, it was hard to keep going sometimes, my foot hurt, I ran into a bull warning sign as well as some positive graffiti and am now sore as they come" Yes, that was much simpler :)

I want race season!!!

2011-03-21T17:20:00.000-06:00

Not that I'm in this great shape or anything, but I was scrolling back through the blog today and this is what I happened upon. Escape from 2010. Come on summer!!

When it rains it pours

2011-02-28T15:40:00.002-07:00

Not the weather per say, but my luck. The weather was actually great Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, progressively getting better as the days went on. Yes only in the 50's, but light winds and sunshine. Prepare yourself for a long post :)

A bit of snow at the top of Zion Monday

Monday we swam at the new Washington City Community Center which is very very nice. Then it was a 60 mile group ride from the Harley Davidson building in Hurricane out to Zion and back. I ran the Hurricane Half Marathon several years back so recognized a lot, but there was lot of new and nice scenery. Was a nice sized group, 8-10 or so of mostly St George locals. Almost 10 miles into it we were climbing up a big long hill. I was trying to adjust something and the group took off. I tried to catch back up, but that's hard to do without a draft and without great climbing legs (I discovered my climbing legs aren't at their peak right now). At about 12 miles the ride started feeling a little bumpy, almost like I had suspension, but nope, that suspension feeling was a flat. It wasn't completely flat, but probably only had 20 psi or so left. So I pulled over, watched the group get out of sight and went to work changing the tire. Got her done, a little upset I wasn't with the group, but just figured oh well and put the headphones in and went on with my own solo ride. Saw them at the turnaround, I'm sure they'd been hanging out for half an hour or so. I really had to pee (I hadn't had a break yet) so rode 20 feet up to the gas station, ran in and out, and hoped maybe they'd waited or I'd catch up. But it's funny how mind reading really is a myth and you have to communicate. They thought I was going to keep going or something so kept going. Anyway, was enjoying the ride back, the sun was warmer and the wind was a little more favorable, when at about mile 40 it started getting bumpy again. Great, awesome. I had 1 CO2 left and no tubes (I only carry 1 tube), so when the tire was as low as I thought safe to ride on I filled it up with the last cartridge. At this point I was pretty upset. Upset that the group ride I was on wasn't a group ride (at least not the kind I was used to) and I had no one to rely on in a weird situation like this and in the middle of no where. I was upset that I couldn't keep up with them. I thought we were going out just to ride this easier, but those girls are just better I guess because they took off, they're strong riders. And now I was upset because I was in the middle of no where, no gas stations or homes really, my phone was almost dead and I was 20 miles out of town. So I rode a few more miles until that tube also got flat and started walking. I walked a few miles maybe when a nice man and his daughter picked me up in their truck and took me into town where Sarah picked me up. Yeah, I was pretty pissed off at the whole situation. It wasn't their fault, but I was upset no one could have asked if I was ok when I was obviously not even close to in view. Oh well, that's just how most groups ride I guess, if you get dropped you get dropped. We ran 2 miles out and back near Sand Hollow and apparently I had us running 5:50 pace. Running mad will do that to you :)
So anyway, that sucked, I considered going home since I obviously couldn't keep up with my training partner(s), but my husband said to stay so I did. Oh yeah, we also enjoyed a nice dinner over at new teammate Collen's house. Thanks!
ETA: How could I forget! Sarah and I were driving over to Colleen's for dinner when I hear Sarah say "uh where's your bike Leslie??" You see they ride on the back of Sarah's car and mine was now not there! I was kind of dazed and she was like "well, go look!". Right, better go check, even though I assumed it was miles down the road somewhere. Thankfully it was just hanging by it's wheels off the end of the rack. Could have been much worse! The seat is ripped up a bit, and I broke Sarah's rack (sorry!), but another disaster averted somewhat unharmed.

Tuesday was a new day. We took our time getting ready then headed out on a 2 loop 90 mile ride on the Veyo/IMSG loop. I was excited to get on it since this was the first time since Ironman. We got rolling and oh crap, SADDLE SORE!! It caught me by surprise since yesterday was just fine and I was fine walking, but oh baby sitting on that saddle hurt bad. Luckily it got bearable by about mile 20. Again, got dropped by the group 25 or so miles in, was mad at myself, but figured I'd just enjoy the ride alone. Was unsure of a second loop, but really didn't want to waste my time down here courtesy of my husband, children, and our great host Sylvia. The climbs were tough, as I said I just don't think my climbing muscles are as strong as I'd thought, but the downhills were fun and I really tried to work them. Got near our cars and just kept going into the 2nd loop figuring if I stopped I'd never get started. I knew the others who were refueling at the cars would catch up, it was only a matter of time. Did well on the second loop, a little better than the first mentally, just saying that I was riding this as my ride, it didn't matter if I kept up with them or not. They're a lot more trained that I am right now. It was reassuring to keep Sarah more in my view this time though. Near one of the steepest hills a girl training for IMSG this year Missy was struggling a bit, so I waited for her and we rode together. It was nice to at least feel some endurance from having done the race on that second loop. We were halfway between Veyo and Snow Canyon along the highway cruising with a headwind along a flat at about 16mph or so when out of no where my wheels and crank locked up. I started sliding and was able to control the bike and stop, but Missy who was drafting behind couldn't. She ran into me fell over with her bike. Luckily she was ok, just some scrapes and bruises, and her bike was ok. After being sure she was fine I checked my bike.

This was the carnage

Don't ask me how it happened. I wasn't shifting, climbing, didn't have anything get jammed in the wheel or chain ring. Just wammo. The frame seems ok, could need a new spoke, probably a new deraileur, maybe a new cassette in back, probably a new chain. Fun and fun! I wasn't really upset about it, just kind of laughed like "really? are you kidding? more bad luck?". It could have been much worse had be been 3 miles down the road going down some steep hills at a much higher speed, I'll count my blessings.
So anyway, Missy and I carried my bike, rolled hers, down the highway about a mile to get better reception, then just stood there waiting for our ride (who we confused and couldn't find us the first time). We ended up waiting an hour in the setting sun, it was chilly, and again, we weren't near civilization. Get this. In the HOUR we stood there waiting 1, ONE car stopped to ask if two girls carrying their bikes standing on the side of the highway clearly not for kicks and giggles needed any help. I was floored. We had so much traffic passing us and were in plenty good view, and ONE car stopped. Wow.

So Wednesday came and Sarah and I planned a good 2 hour trail run on the trails at Chuckawalla, an excellent and super close to the city trail head. I love it there! I was plenty nervous (not really, but a little) about my luck so just told Sarah we better stay away from cliffs. Fortunately nothing went wrong and we had a great 10 mile run. We ran though all kinds of terrain from rolling packed red dirt to loose sand, some slick rock, and did a bit of fast hiking over some of the tricky stuff. Man my butt got a workout from having to lift my feet up high enough to keep running up these rock stairs! Ironically though, the next day the outsides of my calves were the most sore for sure, think IT band outside, but between the ankle and knee, it was weird.

I had a great time down there despite all my bad mechanical luck. I had some hard mental moments for sure when I thought I was in decent to pretty good shape, but then couldn't keep up with anyone on the bike. Had to reach in and just say "these workouts are for me, it doesn't matter where I fare against others", but if you know me you know that's not the easiest thing in the world. I haven't been training like Sarah and Shaun and even Missy, they've been going strong since October, when I took a 2 month break. I still had a good time on the bike (my 1 loop time was actually the same as it was this time last year), just wanted to feel stronger, but I did have really great runs down there that I'm happy with. The weather was decent for us those last few days, and I got to spend some really fun time training with, eating with, rolling endlessly on foam roller with, watching movies with, and just talking with Sarah. She's such a great friend and I'm so glad my husband was able to hold down the fort as well as he did so I could get away!

All that said, the point of this trip was to give me an idea if I was capable of doing Ironman St George again this year, with less training. Now am I capable of it? You bet, I could finish it today (humbly said, I know), but I don't want to just finish. It's too much time and money and hard work for me personally to go there and 'just finish'. I want to do better than I did and know that I can, but I just don't think I'm where I need to be right now to be where I want to be May 7th. So I think I'll go with my original plan of going down to volunteer and cheer on all the great athletes down there. Will it be hard to not wish I was with them? Yes, for sure. But as anal or weird as it is, I just have a certain respect for the distance and if I can't give it my personal all, I'll save it for another time. Ironman isn't everything. I sure had a great time down there last year, even the training! But it isn't everything and there are a lot of smaller road and tri races that I've wanted to do but haven't been able to because of Ironman training, so I think that'll be my route this year. Just have fun. That's what this is all about right? Having fun!

Welcome to Sunny St George!

2011-02-20T17:06:00.001-07:00

I had the opportunity to come down to St George for a bit to train with my good friend Sarah Jarvis, just like I did last year around this time (March of 2010 if you want to see the posts)

. She's coming from Flagstaff Arizona now, so I don't see her much which makes this trip even better. We're staying at our great friend Sylvia's beautiful home about 5 miles north of St George in Winchester Hills. It's perfect. We have our own little mother in law apartment so plenty of space, but we still get to see their fun family.

So rolled into town Friday night after a fun drive down with Mahogani Thurston and Missy Payne. Saturday morning we woke up ready to ride, all day long! This is also what we woke up to

Rain rain go away come again any other day!

So the plan got changed to a run on the Ironman St George run course. I wasn't thrilled to be out in the 40's and at times pouring rain, but luckily it only sprinkled while we were running and I wasn't cold. So Sarah and I and another great athlete

Anne Heiner ran in a group and man, I wasn't sure I could hang on. These girls were running 7:15's from the get go. I didn't want to get dropped so I just pushed out of my comfort zone for that early in a run and luckily by mile 4 or 5 I was feeling good. It was fun to be back on the course, very familiar at times, humbling at times, and fun to answer their questions about the course. So any of you familiar with the course know that it's full of hills, no more than maybe 1/2 mile of flat, big hills too. We ended up running our 13 miles in 1:42, holy smokes! Now that's not a half mary PR or anything, but that's hauling for that course, so while I wasn't sure if i could hang on early on, it was nice to finish strong and feel good. Anne went on to run like a crazy woman for 2 or 3 more miles, that girl is FAST and a workhorse!

So with crappy weather still around, Sarah and I went to our new friend Collen's house to ride on the trainers. She has a whole big room as a dedicated gym, I'm so jealous! We rode for about two hours and I was about ready to be done, bored more than anything. It was a good time though.

Me, Colleen, Brianna, Sarah

We stayed up late watching movies, went to Church this morning after waking to this...in Sunny St George

Awesome!....

So much for the sunny part :) We got about 3 more inches in the next few hours. Big days to come in the next few days though, will blog more when I get home Wednesday. Train happy and safe!

SLTC 10k

2011-02-13T09:33:00.001-07:00

So the SLTC Winter Series 10k was yesterday. I was crossing my fingers for a better race than than 5k 2 weeks ago, that wasn't pretty. And I was pretty sure I'd get it since I wasn't sick the week prior or during it and the air was much cleaner. The family came this time which is always fun, just means we were a little later than I'd like. Showed up 20 minutes before the race start, ran in to get my bib, ran about 8 minutes of warm up, grabbed some gel and lined up.

Love this pic of my friend Chuck and I, no idea what I'm telling him here.

The race is at Saltair, an old (and current I guess) part/rave/concert building thing out on the Great Salt Lake. The kids went down the beach to play after the start. Thank heavens they stayed out of the really yucky mud

A pic I'm happy with - yay! This was only 2 miles into the race so my face looks normal. I'd post the mile 4 and mile 6 as my form still looks good, but my face looks more strained :)

I love this pic. You can't really see me (look for the pink socks in front), but I love that the kids were all watching for their mama. Love to have them there.


Love my post race hugs. We didn't get a pic, but our almost 3 year old Kait greeted me in the trailer with this huge grin and her pretty blue eyes. Love it

So overall this race went much better than 2 weeks ago. I've been healthy and putting in some good training and just felt steady and strong. I ran with Chuck most of the race which was nice, nice to have someone to pace with. There were a few points where I had to keep pushing, but for the most part it wasn't too bad. We talked a lot of the way which probably means I could have gone faster, but oh well, just wanted to run strong. Beat 2 weeks ago's 5k time at the half way point in the 10k which was good. I felt good and strong the last half mile so pulled away from the boys behind me and just opened up the stride and enjoyed every second of it. Ohhh so nice to feel that way instead of begging for the finish line to come to me! Wanted to get under 44:00 (it's a completely flat course, so now downhill advantage), saw the clock at about 43:47 and ran for it, but finished in 44:02 and that's fine by me.

Don't know how I did in my age group, didn't stay for awards, think I was 7th again overall in what I think was a bit more competitive field than the 5k. Rode 20 miles home with another friend Jared. Felt great, well the first 5 miles anyway, then the next 10 took us 30 minutes and were all uphill with a head wind. A nice friendly reminder that I just ran a strong 10k. Good to be out though and nice to see spring on it's way!

Gettin' back in the sadde

2011-02-04T16:46:00.000-07:00

I tell ya, Ironman was the best day of my athletic life, but it sure can do a number on the mind. Seemed like life after Ironman felt like I wasn't training at all, and I'd get down on myself about it. The fact is that Ironman is SO MUCH training and I became accustomed to it. Those 16-20 mile runs, 70-100 mile bike weekends were just a part of life, so when the need wasn't there to train like that I let myself think I wasn't doing anything at all. But I did still train, as disorganized as it may have been (and that's ok, life doesn't always have to be all training), and enjoyed a great full season of racing. I really wasn't super dedicated to training though, didn't even keep a log after Ironman. Anyway, did the Hobblecreek Half Marathon and Utah Half Ironman and got kind of lazy :) I did race the sprint at Kokopelli in September, but that wasn't a big deal. Also ran the Halloween Half Marathon with my hubby, but again, not a huge deal. So knowing we wanted to get pregnant, that I had no intentions of racing in 2011, and the fact that I was taking physiology at school and was just plain busy, I hardly trained at all from September on through the end of the year. Now I advocate taking a break, I didn't get on myself about it, I was busy and pregnant and it was ok to step back. But then after we miscarried and I recouped a little I got the itch to get moving again, but man, it's hard! I don't really have a problem doing hour long workouts, but much more than that and I was getting pooped. Still, I decided several weeks ago to start following my IMSG training plan just for fun, just for something to follow, until we get life figured out around here.

During the week it's doable, 60-75 minute workouts, I can do that, but then looking at my log and my plan and seeing what miles I was already putting in at this point last year?! I felt a wee bit inadequate. So I've changed the long runs for the next 6 weeks or so so that I can ease back into them without getting hurt, and did the same with the bike although I'd like to see myself get back to those 50-80 mile rides sooner than later.
I'm enjoying following a plan again and yes it's bugging me not being able to answer people when they ask "so what are you doing this year?" race wise, but I'm hoping by the end of the month of so I might have an answer. I have had a few humbling moments, and a few good ones this last month.

Good - ran the 5k at BASH, an all snow run. The fog was super heavy and I led the race so it was a huge challenge navigating a windy course when you can't see more than a few feet in front of you and all that's around you is white. It was easily the hardest 5k I've ever done with the hills and the snow, but it was fun! Even that time I fell flat on my face after post-holing :)
Bad....and kind of good - did a 2 hour test ride on the Computrainer at work this week. It wasn't at a hard wattage/power, just a long ride to see what my heart rate would do. I felt like I'd been going a while and looked at the clock...8 minutes. Are you kidding me?? I used to do 2, 3, even a 4 hour trainer ride last year this time! Oh man I wanted to die, the hardest part was just telling my mind to keep going...that and I wore my thinnest tri shorts and not bike shorts like I should have. But I made it through the ride and even felt pretty strong mentally and physically that last 45 minutes or so. Unfortunately for me the computer didn't save my test so I get to do it again....yay.
Good - my husband has been getting out every weekend at least, to be active through runs or snowshoeing. That's great. I'm glad he's healthy now. His hot bod isn't bad either ;)
Bad - ran a 5k last Saturday after myself and the family being sick all week (I know, I know, not the smartest, but I was feeling better that day and being so poor I just can't waste any entry fee I ever pay no matter how cheap, neurotic, I know). Felt HORRIBLE! Seriously, the first mile was fine, was holding like 6:15 avg, but those last 2 miles were just not fun at all. I settled into a just-finish-it pace but it took forever, and even got beat by a short plump girl - dang it! I know I haven't trained much at all, but it was just a 5k! I raced several shorter races like that in the fall 'under trained' or so I thought, but this was bad. Part of it was being sick that week, but part of it I think was just my body saying "look hot shot, you don't train me, I'm not performing, period". The race series has a 10k next Saturday, and a 15k two weeks later. I sure hope they go better because that 5k made me not want to race again at all. yuck.
Good - ran 10 miles today, 10 pleasant miles. I'll being honest here, I haven't run more than 6 miles at any one time since that Halloween Half October 31st. So I ran 8 miles last week, ended with a sharp brain pain that I get from time to time and it worries me, but an MRI 3 years ago says I'm fine. This week though was great. I wasn't looking to push it hard, just run to get the miles, averaged 8:45 or so, and never had those, "are we there yet" thoughts or brain pains. Felt strong at the end too. Gave me a nice boost of "maybe you can do this again", which I know is silly to think I can't, I go through an off season every year, but I still struggle with it.

So there you go, whew! Long post. Sorry, but good for me to document stuff, even if it isn't all that impressive lately. Hope your winter training is going well, that you're healthy, and looking forward to the spring!

QOTW

2011-01-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

"Training is the opposite of hoping." - Nike

Now off to go clean and fix someone lunch...I mean train :)

QOTW

2011-01-19T19:59:00.003-07:00

The only one who can tell you 'you can't' is you,

and you don't have to listen ~Nike

I'm not a Nike endorser per say (there are only 2 things Nike at our house I think), but they have some good quotes I found online. I'll put one up every week for a while

Favorite things Friday!

2011-01-07T11:51:00.005-07:00

Hey all! I'm feeling better these days and working out well the last couple of weeks. Been following my Ironman St George plan from this time last year which is fun. I've been asked if I'd do it this year if I kept following the plan and we didn't get pregnant and I'd probably still say no. Probably. I would absolutely LOVE to do Ironman again, including IMSG, but where I just wasn't planning on it 3 weeks ago and I don't have all the base I did last year this time, I'm not sure. I want to do really well and smash up my time a bit, so I'd like to be really prepared. I am really excited to watch the action this year too. We shall see. For now I'm just enjoying being active again. I'm going nordic skiing (skate style) tomorrow for the first time in a year, we'll see how that goes! I really like it, it's an amazing hard workout, but I'm not great at it. Hopefully I come home unbroken with everything intact :)

So, haven't done one of these for a while, but have been meaning too. This is a product we use at my house ALL the time, like daily. And what's nice is it's cheap. These Nature Made Immuni-C packets are great! Just like Emergen-C, I just get the 72 packet Costco version to save some money, but you can find name brand Emergen-C on sale fairly often. Anyway, this baby is packed with 1000mg of a very absorbable kind of Vitamin C (better than pills), as well as 17 other vitamins and minerals. I put it in all of my smoothies or recovery drinks. Here's a quick recipe for the smoothies we do around here in our Magic Bullet (we have a Kohls generic one too that works great, just get em when they're on sale for like $20)

1 cup 100% juice, usually apple, sometimes orange, grape, or some other 100% blend
However much more water you need for your desired consistency
Packet of Immuni-C
Splash of Flaxseed Oil (maybe a tablespoon?)
Handful or raw spinach (no you really cannot taste either the spinach or oil)
Blend - the first blend is optional, it just helps blend the spinach finer
Add a cup or so of frozen or fresh fruit - superfood blueberries are my favorite, bananas, pineapple are good too. We get a bag of blueberries and a bag of mixed fruit frozen from Costco to use
A scoop (roughly 12-20grams worth) of protein depending on the workout length, intensity, and body weight. I use 100% whey isolate for long or hard workouts and post race, a blend of isolate and concentrate like Interphase for not as intense workouts.
A scoop of HEED or Carbopro (if you use HEED and juice together the drink will be really sweet, just fyi) to get to that 3:1 or 4:1 carb to protein ratio
Blend and drink!

If I don't have time for a smoothie or I'm away from home I'll just do the water, Immuni-C, protein, carb powder in a water bottle and shake it up. You can even add the powders in there before hand so you just have to add water, no measuring away from home. The recovery powders like Ultragen or Recoverite are great, I just prefer the fresher nutrients and lower cost of my shakes when I'm home. I will use the powders after races sometimes though for convenience sake.
If the shake is not a recovery shake, just something during the day, leave our the carb powder, and the juice for that matter if you want, which is just in there for more quick absorbing carbs. We don't usually need more help getting carbs in our regular everyday diet. You may also use less protein. And if I haven't had a shake at all in a day (which is rare, I try to get all that good stuff in every day) or if I'm feeling a cold or illness come on I'll just have a Immuni-C packet in a 6oz glass of cold water. I'll do 2-3/day with a cold. Doesn't taste horrible alone, but some people think it's an odd taste, I don't mind it for what it gives me.

So there you go. Want a packet or two? I'm not going to do this contest style, you just leave me a comment in the comments and I will send the first 10 people some! Unless we see each other regularly, email me at leslie@powertri.com with your address and a message mentioning this post and I'll send some out. Happy Friday all!

* NOTE: My costco stopped carrying this brand, so you'll want to look for Emergen-C. 5-31-11

My 2010 teamates

2011-01-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

Congrats guys! It was a great season and you all are so talented and so much fun! I'm not sure if I'll be racing with them again this year or not, but I'll still be around cheering none the less. This was a slideshow I had a fun time making that is also on the Powertri blog. Now to get started on my 2010 summary...

Ironman St George Camp

2010-12-31T19:49:00.001-07:00

Hey guys, just wanted to throw this out quick. A friend of mine is putting on this awesome Ironman training camp over President's Day weekend in February in St George. It would be an excellent camp for any athlete training for a half or full ironman, especially Ironman St George, and even better for someone looking to improve their swim. There's some serious qualified swim coaching down there! I tell you, nothing helped me prepare more than being down on that course, nothing. If you sign up tonight or tomorrow with the code camp2011 you can get 20% off too. The two head coaches of the camp are certified and know what they're doing, and I'll even be down there too hopefully :) Anyway, check it out, could be great for your season!

Quick update

2010-12-20T23:53:00.000-07:00

Still have no idea what 2011 or 2012 hold but just wanted to update that I am getting to feeling better, but not 100%. Strong athlete or not, the last week was really rough both physically and emotionally and I've had to take it easy and listen to my body (not as an athlete, as a regular human). I haven't worked out since, uh, Thursday Dec 9th, not that I really care, and may or may not this week. I think a couple more days and I'll be able to do something at a modest pace. I've just tried to give my body a chance to heal as it's thrown a couple fits this week when I tried to do too much day to day stuff. It's like my body is one of those parole ankle bracelets not letting me get away with leaving the house... till today that is, must be off parole now. I'd like to get back into the pool so I can swim the Master's New Year's workout. I've never had a chance the last couple years, always timing conflicts. The workout is 211x50's, yeah that sounds like a lot. At least they're 50's, but it's nice to have some feel for the water before jumping into that, but I can't exactly get in yet if you get my drift. If that doesn't work out maybe I'll consider the half marathon fun run my friend Jonathan is organizing.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words and thoughts and emails and texts etc many of you have offered, I really really appreciate it. While the life I lost was a very little one, it's impact was and is a lot. I hope to get back to training in the next couple weeks just to work things out in my mind. I think most of us do such soul searching and pondering and head clearing while working out. I need some of that...and some endorphins, those are nice too :)

2011? No idea

2010-12-15T14:11:00.006-07:00

So I was finally going to reveal my 2011 schedule and plans, and I had big plans! I was going to announce that I would not be "Triathlon Mom" for the year....... but "PREGNANT Triathlon Mom"! That's right, I was going to have a baby in July so would enjoy a few sprint races and a few running events, and then enjoy the summer and get back to competition in the fall and 2012. Instead, we found out at 10 weeks that we won't be having a baby after all, at our exciting 10 week visit Monday we found out I'm not having a baby, I'm having a miscarriage. :(

So now, I have no idea what is in store for 2011. I don't know if we'll try again or not, if I'll race in 2011 or not, and it's killing me. I love to have the next season planned, know what I have to look forward to and work toward. I had a 2 year plan 3 days ago. It's very motivating, now I have zero motivation. I actually am not motivated to compete right now at all, can you believe that? I'm sure it will come back eventually, but my whole world is turned upside down right now. It's amazing how many plans and hopes and dreams can be made in 10 weeks. It's so hard to have them all gone now. I didn't bring it up on my family blog -which you're welcome to read, just don't stalk my kids ;) - because I didn't want it misunderstood, but I would guess most of you could understand this side of it too.

This baby was timed out so well! We don't normally have great control over when we get pregnant, but we were fortunate to have it happened when I wanted. We'd have a baby in July, I'd be able to do a competitive Olympic tri in October, and then have a 5-6 month old when it was time to really start training hard. Now I have no idea. I'll stop beating around the bush and just say it. I wanted to race Ironman St George in 2012. Yes I understand my baby would have been under a year old, but I've been through this a few times now and I knew what I was getting myself in to. But now everything's a mess. I age up in 2013, so it's race it again in 2011 or 2012. Sure I could do another race, but this one is most convenient for my family and I and our budget, and probably my best shot at qualifying. But now I have no idea where to go from here. If I didn't care about qualifying, I'd just do any race, whenever the time was most convenient, probably Vineman in California in August even though it isn't Ironman brand. IF, huge IF we decided to try again and IF we got pregnant quickly, I'd be due anywhere from October to December 2011. There is absolutely no way I can leave a 1-2 month old home with my husband for even 3 or 4 hours while I go off and train. It's not fair to him and it's not fair to the baby and frankly I don't know that I'll be up to a 50 mile ride, 10 mile run 8-10 weeks postpartum. I've done 5 mile races and sprint tri's at 5-7 weeks out, but that's about it.

Ironman, triathlon, training, these are not my life. I love them a lot and they make me and my life better, but my family does come first. I'm just so sad this happened. So mad and disappointed it happened. I'm going from such a high to such a low. So confused about where to go from here. I had no intentions of racing IMSG in 2011. I have no real base right now to build off of, we don't really have the money for the entry, and it was just wasn't in our plans. I really wanted to watch this year and see how it plays out and be totally ramped up and excited and ready to go at it in 2012. And I don't know that I can say we're done having kids, and if we're not done, I'd rather get on with it so they're not any farther apart. Now I just don't know. I hope my husband and I are able to figure things out quickly for my mental sake, and I hope I'm able to get some motivation to want to go out and do anything, swim, bike, or run. Right now really sucks. I'm all of the sudden not pregnant, can't be excited for the great spring and summer I was looking forward to getting my big pregnant belly out there and being active. Please don't misunderstand all this talk about my own selfish timing for racing and such. I am VERY much saddened and grieving over this loss, this baby. This is just an outlet for me to talk about the less important but still important part of this loss for me. Thanks for reading if you got this far.

I want this shirt!

2010-12-09T13:59:00.001-07:00

LOVE IT!

SO cute! Husband are you listening? This would be an excellent Christmas present for this Triathlon Mom!! Thanks for pointing out the link Paul!

CEP compression sock review

2010-12-07T15:28:00.002-07:00

The stockings all hung by the chimney with care......sorry, couldn't resist :)

So after attending a Powertri clinic about compression apparel I walked away with a pair of CEP compression socks. I'm telling you people, if you're local, come to the clinics! They're free, they're always informative, and you often times leave with product of some kind. I answered a question right, so I got a pair of socks. Come to the clinics! And if you can't, you can watch them live online, or recorded online here. Here is a link to the compression clinic I refer to in this review.

So anyway, I was thrilled to have a pair, and like some women, questioned and questioned what color to get, and eventually ended up with pink which I like. The pink is pretty trendy with the ladies so if you want to be different, pink might not be your choice. Believe me, I considered the lime green :) I was excited to get them when I did since my husband and I were going to run the Halloween Half Marathon in a couple weeks and it is a very downhill course, perfect testing grounds.

Compression is about lowering muscle vibration/bounce during impact, but more importantly, all about blood flow and keeping it from pooling in your feet and calves. ~~Compression wear~~, proper compression wear keeps the blood flowing well which improves oxygenation of the blood, improving lactic acid metabolism. We're all going to produce lactic acid, it's just an energy cycle, but with the proper oxygen in your blood it can get flushed out more efficiently. CEP's socks and sleeves (the term for calf sleeves, socks without the foot part basically) do not have to only be used during activity, but can be used before and after as well. As explained at CEPsocks.com, "Pre-exercise - muscle activation and reduction of injury risk, During Exercise - optimized performance and stabilization, reduced muscle strain, Post-Exercise - quicker and shorter recovery phase"

Now I've had compression wear, but only true recovery tights, these ones from Zoot, not active wear. I think I notice a difference with the recovery tights, but it can be hard to tell how much with recovery only stuff, I do think it's beneficial though. Maybe I'll wear one leg on one leg off sometime.....ok, probably not....maybe. I was hoping for a more noticeable difference with the CEP socks since you use them during. CEP even "consistently see increases in athlete's performance by up to 5% as well as a drastic reduction in recovery time and increase in lactic acid metabolization.". 5%? Do the math, that's a savings of 12 minutes in a 4 hour marathon, or 4.5 minutes in a 1:30 half marathon. That's pretty significant for a pair of socks my friends. I didn't get to test them out for speed, but I did for distance, elevation drop and lactic acid metabolism. And let me tell you, watching people at the finish line of this race really proved it. Everyone was protecting their calves and complaining how bad they hurt, which is understandable on such a steep downhill course. Been there, done that, many a time. The pain for me? Nada, nothing, zipp! Seriously, my calves felt the same way they did when we started the race. My poor husband, several friends, and dozens of people on the race's Facebook page were dying right after and for several days, but I honestly felt no pain or discomfort at all. And I don't attribute that to running slower than my usual race pace since I was with my husband. I ran a 10 mile downhill long run with my husband and friend at a pace slower than my race pace the week before and I came away considerably sore, but not this race day. These results were unlike anything I've ever felt. This is definitely something I will be using in my next half marathon or marathon, for sure!

So now that you're intrigued, let me tell you a little bit more about CEP. They are a company from Germany (thanks to Sarah for the correction) and have just penetrated the athletic scene in the U.S. over the last couple years and are now the most popular brand of compression socks at Kona, the 140.6 Ironman World Championships. They come from a medical background making true medical grade compression necessary for some people's day to day health. They make excellent quality stuff, not just slightly snug socks that look cool (or not depending on who you're talking to). Check out the science here. as well as the CEP link above. I've tried on 3-4 different popular brands and these guys have it right. They have a left and right sock as our feet are not the same, they have more Achilles and ankle support than any other brand I've tried, and they're long enough. That's a big issue with a lot of brands, especially calf sleeves (socks without the foot part, used mainly for shorter triathlons), some can come very short. The sole in these socks is also really nice and padded. I don't feel like I"m going to put a hole in these in a few months. They are built anatomically, of course allowing room for your calf, true graduated compression, these socks are not just straight up tube socks, you in fact have to measure your calf to choose your size, not just choose small, medium, large. And just a tip, the women's socks are the same, just shorter, so if you're a man with shorter legs consider getting the women's so that you don't end up with a lot of fabric under your knee. And tall women, works both ways, find your calf measurement on the mens chart and buy a man's if you have really long legs. CEP is great with a 30 day money back guarantee too, so you can give them a try. Did I mention they're the lowest price tag brand out there? Yeah, they are! I LOVE selling people on CEP because it's such good quality stuff, honestly the best that I've tried, but for significantly less than the other big brands like Zoot, Skins, and 2XU.

A few more details I want to give you, a lot of people, myself included, see these and say "no way, I'm running in the middle of summer, I'm going to be way too HOT in those!". Not so though, the socks have many ventilation channels, and actually help keep you cool when the water you splash on yourself at aid stations runs down your legs.
Socks vs Sleeves. The socks are better for recovery than sleeves, can be worn for longer periods of exercise, and in my opinion are the best choice if you compete in half-full marathons or half-full Ironman races. The sleeves lack the foot part obviously which interferes with circulation a bit, but are a good choice for shorter distance triathletes who don't want to take the time to put them on after the swim. With a sleeve you still get benefit but you can wear it under your wetsuit. You can also wear sleeves after with flip flops if you don't want closed toed shoes post race. CEP also recommends you don't wear the sleeve for more than 2 hours of running, a sock is better suited for the 13.1 distances and up for most people.
And finally, how to put these on. I didn't use them in Ironman St George this year obviously, but plan to the next time I race a half or full Ironman, especially such an arduous course like St George. But I can't afford 5 minutes struggling to get them on. If you're like me, you scrunch your socks up, push your feet in and are off. Try that with a compression sock, go ahead :) It's going to be VERY hard to scrunch them (think trying to stretch a dozen+ elastics all together) and stretch them enough to get your foot in. And add moisture to your foot and it gets even funner. But Matt Frazier the CEP rep who came to the clinic showed us a great technique. You fold down the top half of the sock inside out over the foot part, slide just the foot part (with leg section over top) on over the heel, then you can simply pull the leg part up. Make sense? Try it, even with a normal sock, so much easier. I could easily say I could have these on in under a minute with this technique.

So there you go, a long review, I apologize, but I hope it helped some of you. Compression isn't just a fad, and with great quality brands like CEP out there, you can find out what it's all about for yourself. Powertri carries their full line of running/triathlon socks and sleeves (CEP does actually make other socks for many different uses like walking, hiking, winter sports, soccer, etc), so you can come in, get measured and try them on for yourself, or you can always order online. My athlete discount code does sweeten the deal some too. :) Oh and it can get even sweeter. Check out this link to win a free pair of socks or sleeves of your choice simply by submitting a photo of you wearing CEP in your next race. Race and train on friends!!

My little runner

2010-11-27T14:59:00.000-07:00

One of them anyway, they all like to run!

But I thought this picture from the Thanksgiving day races my family did was classic.

Cute little thing

Favorite Person Friday

2010-11-26T18:30:00.002-07:00

Ok so I won't really do one of these regularly, but my twin sister Stephanie definitely deserves it right now! We are the best of friends! We had a rough growing apart patch during high school, but since then as we've gotten married we've become super close. She lives in Michigan, but we still know exactly how one another will feel in a given situation and can confide anything. We'll still end up dressing alike unknowingly when we're together which I find fun.

Her first race shirt!!

Anyway, she started running in the summer after what I think she told me what a bug from watching Ironman St George. Can't say I didn't know it would happen :) I'm really proud of her. She's had some aches and pains since she started that I'd like to go away sooner than later, but she's still going. I got to get her a 'coach to 5k' plan together and she followed it. So on Thanksgiving we ran the Earn Your Turkey 4 miler together while she's out here for the holiday. Her first race, I'm honored to have run it with her and she did great! Was breathing quietly the whole time, never walked or complained, and we ended up finishing in 42 minutes, 3 minutes faster than she thought she could go!!

It was so fun running together. I wish we could be neighbors so we could meet outside our houses in the morning and run a few miles together just chatting and enjoying the sunrise. Someday, but until then we'll just make it a point to run together any time she's here or I'm there (our next race is already plotted for May). And someday out there, she'll do a triathlon, I just know it......right Sis? ;)
We watched my kids race after and all of them ran happily and self motivated, that's all I would ask for. I'm so grateful for family. I love my kiddies and husband to death, as I do the rest of my family, especially my sister with whom I share such a special bond. You did great Sis! Come back soon!!

Guess what I got to race in??

2010-11-21T14:44:00.003-07:00

No no, no cool Ironman or anything like that, just a 5k, but that's not the super cool part. The race was fun and all, I got to run at my old high school, but I got to race IN the Altra Intuition road shoe!! These aren't available to the public yet, but will be soon! I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before, but my husband is 1 of 3 co-founders of Altra Running, a high energy innovative thinking company creating new and unique and awesome running shoes!
There are plenty of running shoe manufacturers you might say, why one more, how are they any different? Their concept lies in 4 key things

Foot shaped design - last time I checked my feet and toes weren't pointed in the middle like most running shoes. Altra's shoes are rounded toes, wide in the toe box allowing the toes to spread out while running. Try running barefoot on a soft surface sometime, or heck just stand barefoot on the ground. Your toes will naturally spread out a little. Altra's shoes make that possible, allowing you a bigger more powerful platform (your wide toes) to push off from.
Zero drop - meaning zero hight deviation between the front of the shoe and the back, no chunky heel. It does not mean NO material/cushion (the term cushion is very misused/misunderstood) under your foot, it simply means a flat natural surface to work off of. No one's heel is raised off the ground when barefoot. A large heel grabs the ground first, and a heel strike equals more impact and less efficient running, you're basically putting the brakes on. You should try running in these, or just barefoot, it is so much easier to land on your mid foot underneath you, it's lovely
Gender specific shoes - Here's my favorite term ever - 'Pink it and shrink it'. That's what every other running shoe does for their women's line. Add some pink and make the shoe narrower. Last time I checked my feet were not the same shape as my husbands. Women's feet are anatomically different in their bone structure. So these guys at Altra made a true female specific last (or model for what the sole of the shoe is made from). I can attest it really is different, and great!
Learn To Run Initiative - Altra has a motto: Learn to Run, Live to Run, Love to Run. Part of that is running with good form. Not only will it make you faster and reduce your chances at injury, but it will make running more enjoyable! So many people start and stop or never even start running because they don't understand how, it doesn't feel good, it's hard, I can't run. Not true! With some form guidance and the knowledge that you have to start out slowly, anyone can run if they want to. You can read more about it here. There are 4 simple steps to good form, it's worth your time. Altra isn't just in this to sell shoes, their mission is to improve your running experience.

So anyway, the shoes are set to release to specialty running stores (contact yours and tell them you want Altra!) and online probably too, by April 1st (maybe Feb/March for the road shoe, Instinct and Intuition), but the boys just got back from the biggest running retailer expo in the country, The Running Event, in Austin, TX this week, and of course they needed demo shoes to show to the world. Well after being rushed from the factory overseas, a couple came home with us and I get to wear the Intuition around for a while. Yay! It's been a long hard road getting this far so it's great to hold the real thing in your hand. And it's almost time for everyone else to be able to too!

One quick note I thought I'd make, I mentioned barefoot running a lot in the 4 points above. When people say barefoot running, they don't usually mean truly bare feet. Yes some people do run many miles that way, and no they aren't tribal. Barefoot Running usually means natural running by wearing minimalist shoes or simply running barefoot some of the time. The misconception starts when people think they're supposed to throw their shoes away and never use them again. Well yeah, that might make some people question the validity and safety of this barefoot movement going on. This isn't the case though! Barefoot running is meant as a drill, a strength tool, strength training for your feet if you will. By taking your shoes off once a week and running on a soft surface for 30seconds-30 minutes you will improve your running. Your feet will get stronger, joints more resistant to injury, and you'll teach your body better form. It's much harder to reach way out in front of you and heel strike barefoot. Most people land closer under their body and take faster shorter strides when barefoot. So for the beginner barefooter, seriously, start at 30 seconds one day a week and don't run fast, just a easy to doable pace. The next week add 30 seconds or a minute working your way up to maybe a mile or two after several weeks. That's a great distance, you don't really need to go past it. You must start gradually though as our feet are very babied and weakened by traditional shoes. Those arch supports? A crutch for most people. Barefoot running will strengthen your arches. I am not a wing nut barefoot proponent. I'm a proponent for strong feet and joints and proper form, and incorporating a few minutes of running barefoot on a soft surface will help you achieve that.

Checking out the shoes pre-race :)

And just like barefoot running, when the Altra Running shoes do come out, you'll start gradually with them, and there will be guidelines in the box telling you that. Most shoes don't expect as much out of your feet or legs, and the positive change in form that will happen with a zero drop shoe will take time for your muscles to adjust to. I've been running in modified zero drop shoes for about a year now. We take regular running shoes into a cobbler, or shoe-smith if you will, and they cut out a section of the heel, glue it back together so we can have a closer attempt at zero drop, but the real thing? Oooh baby it's nice! I was 'blessed' with bunions (bony protrusion by my big toe) on both feet and they make finding any kind of shoe a challenge. The Intuition felt so great, in fact, I could hardly feel them at all. The shoe wraps around your heel and ankle so well and feels very secure. I am so excited that these are finally becoming public, they sincerely are great shoes! And they're not only for the elite runner or the extremest. They will make anyone's running a better experience. I'll keep you updated as the release dates approach, but you can also visit their website or Facebook page (lots of new shoe pics on Facebook too).

No new PR, I took 3rd overall, but just the chance to get out and be with my family, run fast and run in some great shoes made for a great Saturday morning for me!

Running on my old stomping grounds with 2 of my babies after the race

You know it's the off season when....

2010-11-08T11:51:00.001-07:00

...you spend all Saturday morning (7:30am-1:30pm to be precise) cleaning, doing yard work, and caring for children INSTEAD of enjoying some long epic workout or race. Oh well, such is life. I thought about working out but it was my oldest's birthday party, and I just didn't really have time, and I'm ok with it. Of course once I see pictures from races (like Turkey Tri that morning) it does me in and I wish it was race time again. I'm weak, I know.

I just love racing. I love going fast and feeling my body that I've trained cooperate and 'show up' on race day. I love the anticipation of a race coming up, I love the 3 days before a race where I really prep my body nutritionally, I love seeing people I know at races, I love hearing and seeing my kids cheer for me when they come, and I love trying to podium (not being prideful, just saying it as it is, it's satisfying and fun JUST like finally placing in my age group was at one time and should be for most people). I love following a training plan, knowing what I'm going to do every day. So much in fact, I must get one back. I am useless without it

Now there is for sure a time and a place for a break from everything, I've taken about a true week off so far. I have worked out a couple times, but none really planned, just going out to do something. It's nice to focus on my kids more, my house and cleaning it (my Achilles heel - I am NOT a domestic goddess), just other stuff. But honestly, after about 2 weeks I've had enough and it's time for a training plan. So I'll put something simple together so I know what workout is scheduled so they actually get done, because I feel so much better when they do. A long base period until January/February when I can start thinking more about periodization and speed work and long rides/runs. I'd really like to work on strength training this winter. I have slacked seriously in this department for quite a while, at least a year. A strong base is so important to effective speed and power, injury prevention, and just feeling well. Here are a few strength training and off season training articles I found online.
Here - Periodized Strength Training Program. Doesn't have some of the bigger movememt/dynamic moves I've been turned onto lately, but good info none the less.
Here - Off season article by Keena Schaerrer, a great coach and fellow Powertri athlete
Here - Another great summary on off season training by the great Debbie Perry, a great nutritionist and coach in SLC
And not off season specific, but I just found it and thought I'd show you the topical index for David Warden's (an owner of Powertri and the completely-geekiest-know-it-all when it comes to triathlon coaching....he's my boss, I can say that) Tri Talk podcasts, the most popular triathlon podcast site online. Great thing to listen to during this off season.
Did I mention geeky? Yes? Well this is the man responsible for David's nerdiness.....I mean complete and impressive obsession for training knowledge and numbers :) Joe Freil, and he's written 4 excellent blog posts recently on Base Training.

So there's some jabber from me, what's your "you know it's the off season when..." line?

Want another chance at a Handful Bra?

2010-11-04T13:40:00.002-06:00

My favorite bra ever!! Check out my friend Aly's cute blog,
A Little Great. Good luck!!

Halloween Half Marathon review

2010-11-03T14:23:00.000-06:00

My husband and I had the chance to run the Halloween Half Marathon together this past Saturday in Provo, Utah. My husband ran a little track in high school, but nothing serious. Then he picked up running (or any exercise for that matter) last summer, 10 years later, and I'm so glad! While it can present training time management challenges with the two of us, he understands me better now, and best of all we can go out and be active together! Now I've come to learn that we have our differences still, speed/endurance obviously being one of them because I've been fit for over a decade, he only has one year under his belt. He doesn't care that I train or race faster, but he isn't overly fond of trying to do my quality workouts with me, even if he goes at his pace, and frankly I don't like having to worry if he's upset or not that I'm ahead. So that's ok, we've learned that we can go on base. or non-tempo or speedwork runs together, and most trail runs (although he is way more into 'bagging' peaks than I am, I'd rather find a rolling trail and run fast, he likes climbing to the top of stuff then flying down). Anyway, not sure where I was going with that except that we wanted to do this together. I'd normally be about 20 minutes faster, but didn't care about that Saturday.

So anyway, we arrived at the buses at 6:40am or so only to find a VERY long line of people waiting to get on. We also saw at least a dozen if not more buses waiting to be loaded. We probably stood in line for close to 45 minutes while they loaded 1 bus at a time. That's ridiculous. I went up and asked some guy who appeared to be in charge why and he said "we have to make sure every bus is full, it's just easier for us". Well yes, I'm sure it is, but there's no reason you can't load 3 buses at a time and check the full status of 3 buses, that's not 10, it's 3. Just seemed silly to me that they were trying to get the race as large as possible, even encouraging people to call their friends to sign up the night before at packet pickup, yet they weren't being smart about getting everyone up there and not waiting in the cold for an hour. We got up there in time and there was only 2 buses that were after the 9am start time, but still, could have been SO much more efficient.

Pre Race

So we get to the top and to the race director's credit there is a heated 15,000 sqft tent. Very nice touch. Not room to spread out per say, but plenty of standing room to watch the somewhat disorganized but entertaining costume contest. The usual lines for bathrooms, not more than 15 minute wait probably. The only thing the start was really lacking was water and music (both which can be important).

Steeper downhill about mile 2, Mt Timpanogus behind us

Anyway, so a brief post about the race itself. Starting a couple miles above Sundance Resort, the first 5 miles are very steep, much steeper than one would normally run. Didn't feel unmanageable except for in a couple spots. The next 8 were on the Provo River Trail which is very forgiving, either flat, slight up, or slight down. No big deal. I was worried about crowding, but I think our pace managed to avert it. Seeing some pictures like this one, from slower paces though, it looks like it got pretty crowded.

The aid stations were fine, simple, but fine. Although they totally could have put MUSIC at least at the aid stations. They made a big point that this was a fun exciting race, but it was kind of quiet and lonely during all but the start and finish. I took a gel at mile 5 and water at most aid stations and was fine. My hubby did well until about 9 or 10 where I kind of had to keep the motivation alive (very carefully though as not to make him feel like I wanted to run ahead, I did, but I didn't want him to feel that way), and then finally we got to mile 12 and we ran the last mile in under 8. So we ended up with a 1:46 which is a 3 minute PR for him and not insanely slow for me, but yes, 20 minutes slower than I could have gone and it was hard sometimes to be running that slow, but it was easy and fun and gave me a chance to observe the fun costumes around me. Some favorites were a Forest Gump who carried a box of chocolates the whole way, a Mr Clean who carried a mop the whole way, Dwight from The Office, and a huge 6ft5in guy in a full Captain America muscle costume. Oh and my good friend Jason Crompton sported a full Super Grover costume. Check out Zazoosh or the Halloween Half website for more.

Couple more tiffs I had with the race. Finish food was sad, self serve cut up oranges and apples and bottled water, that's it. No carbs (bagels), treats, chocolate milk etc. Had to walk back 3 blocks from the finish line to get our drop bags. I heard the transportation back to where people parked was ridiculous, taking an hour to go 10 minutes, and we saw several people walking the 2 miles back to the cars. And finally the shirt. Now don't get on me because I'm being prideful or something, my husband even pointed it out. The shirt says in big bold letters "Halloween Marathon". Now I've done marathons, and I don't know about you, but they were quite noticeably different than the half marathons I've done :) My husband could've thought that was cool to have a shirt that says he did a marathon, but he didn't and he doesn't. That's like saying you're an Ironman when you haven't gone the 140.6 miles, not cool ;)

We had fun though and that's what was important. I don't know that I'll race with him again unless it's some fun race with costumes or a team event or something, but this was fun.

Wanna party?

2010-10-04T13:57:00.000-06:00

Come check out the Powertri Kona Party on Saturday!!

All day coverage on a big screen of the Ironman World Championships from 10am-11pm (when our athletes finish).
Food to sample and purchase
Kids races for kids under 12 with free T-shirts while they last
TONS to give away! Bigger stuff at 11am, 2pm, 5pm, and 8pm, smaller stuff in between on the hour

It'll be fun, I promise! Just come stop by for a few minutes and soak up the yummy spirit that is Ironman at it's best! I'll be there too from 5pm on if that's any greater incentive, I'd love to say hi!

18? Say Whaaaaat?

2010-09-26T09:47:00.001-06:00

Some of my friends from the Desert Sharks Triathlon Club (great club by the way, I encourage new athletes to find a club, you can learn a lot from others) put on the innagual SOJO Marathon, Half Marathon, and 5k. I went out to help them with MCing, and of course had to get a little race action in myself.

I toyed with the idea of the marathon, since I haven't done an open maraton since Ogden last spring, but alas I haven't been doing long runs over 13 miles except 2 back in late June/early July. I was curious to see what would happen when I got to 18-20, if my body would just plain revolt or if I still had enough endurance from Ironman and the rest of my season. But I don't love running in pain for almost 4 hours, just isn't my idea of fun :) So I chose the 5k which also left me more time to help out, which is what I was really there for

Anyway, a couple hundred 5k runners I believe, a flat course, nice sunshine and semi cool temperatures. Long story short (since 5k's don't have a ton of details), I won the women's race and finished 5th among the men. My friend Charity finished 2nd only about 2 minutes behind me......pushing her year old son in their Chariot - debates are still out about whether he beat mom or not :) I wanted to break 20:00 (haven't run an open 5k since last year although my triathlon 5k's usually feel better than open because I'm good and warmed up), but ended up doing a little better than that! The course was unfortunately short, only 2.82 miles, but I ran that in 17:06.5, and after some figuring in the head of my husband, I was on track to run an 18:50 something!!! SO excited about that! I've only officially broken 20:00 once, so to break 19:00 and be in the 18's? So cool!! I'm glad I was able to be excited about it as sometimes I don't give results the excitement I should.

The next 4 hours were spent welcoming finishers of the half and full marathon in, including my good friend Jonathan who just finished his 78th marathon in 3:50 I believe. It was fun to watch people cheer their family in, fun to watch people smile and be excited to be finishing - or just being done, that was probably it :) I also announced awards, and have to say it was a little strange to announce my own... The race directors faced a few challenges, but what race doesn't? They did a great job and should do even better next year. Check them out (think they're moving to October) for some Saturday morning fun!

More fun...

2010-09-18T17:19:00.003-06:00

...and maybe I'll actually end my season now.....maybe....probably :)

Only posting briefly as my husband and I actually are making a real little trip out of this, sans kids and actually staying in a hotel - gasp!

The race was great though. Lots of friends which is always great. Very warm temps nearing 100 which is a little tough, but sure made the warm and super clear water even better. First out of the water, felt good to push it a bit, loved the sleeveless Xterra suit I got to try for this one (more on that later). Haven't seen splits yet, but I finished 1st overall, 5 minutes ahead of 2nd place. Sounds good to me :) 1:14 I believe, hopefully the course was long today as that's about 3-4 minutes slower than my favorite personal Chrissy Wellington :) but I did probably only push 85% today.

My husband raced and did great, his 3rd tri, 2nd overall. It was awesome to get to watch him start and come out of the water. I also saw him on the bike and run. He was 5th in his age group which is great for a big sprint field like this one! Great job babe!

We're having a great time so I better get off the computer now, but hopefully I can add some race pics and details later. Chao!

The Fabulous Alta Peruvian Lodge 8-K

2010-09-12T12:47:00.009-06:00

And fabulous it was!! I've raced A LOT and man, this one impressed me big time! No there weren't screaming crowds everywhere and thousands of athletes (just under 100 to be exact), but this race has its mystique. My wedding anniversary is today, 8 years for us, and this was our little date. We dropped the kids off at Grandpa's about 2:45 and headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon for the 4:00 race. Check in was fast and easy and then we walked up about 1/2 mile to the start. Good chance to warm up on a great day. Seriously so beautiful up there. Sunny skies, slight breeze coming up the canyon, nice green mountains around us. Anyway, money was tight and my husband Jeremy paced a friend of ours 9 miles of the Wasatch 100 the night before, so he went for a trail run of his own up there while I ran the race. Great compromise since we wouldn't run side by side anyway. Forgive the lovey-dovey pics, but we were kid-less and it is our anniversary weekend :)This wasn't a triathlon so the pressure wasn't on like usual. I always want to go fast because it's fun, but all I wanted today was top 3 overall or an age group place or win since they have some awesome prizes! I saw two ladies whom I know are very fast road racers, and talking to one of them there was another fast lady there who took second last year. So now I had 3-4 to contend with, but that was it, so it eased any pressure some. I just wanted to go out there, have fun, and hopefully earn a sweet prize.Ok, so this is a 5 mile downhill race, and when I mean downhill I mean downhill! I heard something like 2000 ft drop in those 5 miles - yeah, wow. Can't say I've ever done anything like this. We started just above the Lodge and ran on the road down. I can only recall about 30 seconds of the race where I could really think about my form and moving the legs forward, the remainder of the race was was applying the brakes, just a matter of how hard depending on the pitch of the road.
So the race starts and I settle into 3rd woman overall. Didn't even worry about the 2 ladies ahead of me. My optimistic goal was 30:00. We roll past mile 1: 5:33. Yeehaw!!!! Hit the 5k just under 17:00 - yeah definitely a PR, but I'm not really going to count it as my official 5k PR. This course is way faster than any other. Aid station with water at 2.5 miles, took a little just to sip, didn't really need it. I wasn't really out of breath during the race (not breathing easy either though), but I did deal with side aches. I think just the fact that I was going so fast and landing a bit harder than usual. Not too bad, but a little annoying. I loved that there were a few spectators here and there down along the road, how awesome! Anyway, the last mile was the steepest down and my legs were feeling it by then. I never looked behind me for the 4th place woman, don't like to do that, just want to run my race. I was only passed twice and each time they were coming up on me I thought "please be a man because I don't want to have to run down a woman". Yeah the last guy that passed me about 1/2 mile from the finish? Some 60 something year old......nice. You can't see the finish till you're 200 yards from it and it was nice to see. Came through happily in 3rd in 29:45! Just a second under 6min mile pace!! Whohoo!!! So we hang out down at the finish for about half an hour then jump onto shuttles and head back up to the lodge where a raffle was waiting. You drew a number and came away with a prize. I came out with a Utah Natural History t shirt, but they were giving out gear and such as well. Very nice for everyone to leave with something. Then onto the post race food. Probably the best part of the night eating on the grass listening to the live chill music band playing out there. And would you check out this food.....I mean DINNER and DESSERT! Such good food!And a great atmosphere with all the racers out there eating (there were tables, just full), listening to music, and eventually listening to the humorous announcer doing awards. Speaking of awards, I have to tell you how stinkin excited I am about my prize, definitely one of the best ever, if not THE best.
An overnight stay for 2 at the Lodge anytime during the next year which includes dinner and breakfast for two as well as a $50 cash prize!! Thank you Alta for paying for our anniversary trip to St George this next weekend! No we don't stay high class, just a chance to get away and be together is great. Don't think we're wealthy because of all the racing I do and my pretty bike, quite the contrary actually, we're a young family, it's called a very helpful sponsor, Powertri, (but no, my bike was not free).

Overall winners, L-R, Danny 3rd, Patrick 1st, Devra 1st, Mary Ann, 2nd, and myself 3rd

After awards and dinner and dessert, lets not forget the chocolate cream cheese cake!, Jer and I hopped in the hot tub and enjoyed the nice water, views of the mountain, and talking with a few other runners. What an evening! So much fun. We both got to do our running thing, came away with a great and super useful prize and were able to spend time together on a very nice evening. I highly highly recommend this race. Started on time, mile markers with people on them calling out splits every mile, shuttle back up, everyone leaves with a prize, awesome OV and AG prizes, excellent food, and use of the facilities, all for $28-$35 - SCORE!

It's so great to be able to get out and be active with my husband. I love that he's active and fit now...and hot ;) Thanks for coming love, what a fun way to spend time for our anniversary. I hope I can earn us an even better trip for our 10th :) Happy 8th Anniversary!

And the lucky lady is!.......

2010-09-10T16:21:00.004-06:00

Jamie!!

Congrats Jamie! She is a great friend of mine, runner, and mother of 3 who just had most of her left lung removed this summer due to cancer. She's got a great attitude about it, and everything for that matter, and Jamie, I expect to see that great attitude come into play now with your Handful Bra. We're talking sporting that awesome almost full body scar baby!! :)

That was fun, thank you guys for entering, and THANK YOU HANDFUL for the generous giveaway! Can I just say that as much fun as this is, choosing a winner (well I didn't exactly choose, it was a totally random draw by my 6 year old) is SO NOT EASY! I'm rooting for all of you and wish I 'had enough for the whole class'. Powertri is placing their order today, so we should have stock by the end of next week, and you can use my 15% off code, so if you get the chance to buy one, take it! Husband's usually like lingerie purchases right? Well believe me, there's no lace or anything here, but you'll look gooooood in it nonetheless ;)

Favorite Things Friday - A girl's best friend

2010-09-03T07:30:00.004-06:00

No, not diamonds, at least not for this girl. This bra, the Handful (yes that's it's name, isn't it awesome?!) is I dare say, my very favorite piece of workout clothing. Nothing makes me feel cuter than this bra, and yes, vanity is everything sometimes. I mean honestly, in my head, thinking I look good makes a huge difference in my confidence level come race day. It really does. I just think you race better when you feel confident about yourself. And I'm not prancing around shirtless all the time, I feel cute with it under my tech shirts and jerseys too. You can see it in almost all of my photos this year. Let me tell you more about it.
I've had this bra 6 months now. My first thoughts upon seeing it were three things. It's way cute, but is it a yoga bra or will it really support me, and as a triathlete, will it dry quickly? Let me address those 3 points.
Cute - SO cute! I love the colors (black, white, pink, nude, cocoa), and the pink matches my Powertri kit perfectly. Again, I'm back to the vanity, yes :) I love the thin straps, so flattering, and the back? LOVE it! The bra comes with removable pads that looked kind of bulky before I put it on, but they so totally work with this bra. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about here when I say I have grown, fed, and loved my 3 children, and as a result, the girls definitely do not look like they used to. Lets just say push up/padded bras are my friends (gentlemen if you're still reading, sorry to burst your bubble, but those beautiful babies you like to help create really do take a toll on all of us women). So I was so so so super excited upon donning this lovely creation, and just loving what it did for me. I had shape all of the sudden! And it looked natural too! Oh and those pads? Very good at concealing the whole 'headlight' effect too, definitely no worries there.
Support - does it support? Yes it does. Do I realize I'm not exactly the best girl to talk about needing a lot of support? Yes, I do. I've gotten smaller as my dear children have grown, but I've run through pregnancy and nursing and know how stinkin hard it was to deal with bras then, and I still know I never want any bounce even now. And this bra does its job. I've worn it during all types of training, and at every race but 1 this year I believe, including Ironman St George which includes a marathon of course. I've never felt like I was bouncing. That said, yes, the Handful is probably not the best high impact bra for those larger than a C. But that doesn't mean it can't be a great weight room, yoga, spinning, etc bra at the gym where let's be serious, it's a meat market anyway, so you might as well look good :)
Fabric - I was concerned as soon as I held the bra that it wouldn't dry quickly. I was worried these lovely shaped and gently lifting removable pads would just be sponges and leave me wet my whole race, but......NOT SO! I was pleasantly surprised to have no issues at all with it drying. I haven't paid enough attention (because it hasn't demanded it), but it's for sure dry within 30 minutes or so of being on the bike WITH the pads in. *I did hear of a lady soaking and then freezing the removable pads though and then putting them back in the morning of a hot bike race, interesting!* No chaffing issues with this bra either. The fabric is very comfortable and seems to breath really well too, and I've never seen my pink one with sweat stains. The bra is easy to get on and off, which is always important. Sizing is great, and if you're falling between two sizes, I say size down. Oh and it comes in it's own little wash bag, so machine washing is a breeze.
Cost - $39.95. No, not your Target $10 clearance special, but so worth it. You get a bra that you'll really like the way you look in, a bra that does it's job, and it'll last a lot longer than a cheaper sports bra. Look around at other online athletic retailers, really well made bra's typically go for $30-$50 . This bra is worthy of it's cost.

So there you go, I love this bra. As there slogan states, "It flatters, not flattens". It feels good, does what it should, and looks great. So I thought how much I'd love one of you to have one so I contacted the good people at Handful Inc. And, drum roll please..........they're giving me a code to give to one of you for a FREE bra of your choice off their website (you only pay shipping). That's a $40 value ladies!! I'm so excited! So here's the deal. I'm super impressed that Handful was willing to give away a free bra, so I want to help them out. If you will become a fan of Handful Inc on Facebook (they send promos to fans by the way), you can have a chance at your own FREE Handful bra. Just post some brief little schpele here on my blog about why you'd like a Handful too, and let me know that you became a fan, and poof, I'll enter you in the random drawing. You have until next Thursday, Sept 9th at 11:59pm to post a comment below, and then I'll announce a winner on Friday Sept 10th. Cool? Awesome!

Your favorite tri shop Powertri carries these wonderful bras now, and I seem to recall a 15% off code on my blog somewhere to help you out :) Go in and try one out or order online, you won't be dissapointed.

Utah Half

2010-08-28T19:03:00.008-06:00

I was so excited going into this race. One last race, a good long one, a good challenge, and one I'd done before. I knew I could do better this time than 3 years ago and unknowingly pregnant, but was excited to see how much better. I have more experience and know how to push myself even more now, a great base from IMSG, and am just stronger. I've worked hard on improving my bike strength and skills in the last year or two, and it's showing, so this was going to be fun to see.

I got on the road late Friday, got the kids to Grandma's, checked in at the Marriot (which was very cool, felt so official), and headed to my hubby's cousins house in Orem to sleep. Slept well and rose bright and early at 4am to eat and head out. Got to Utah Lake a little later than I'd like, and was concerned about getting a good spot so I jumped out of the car grabbed my bike and rode right over without bringing anything else. Turns out I didn't really need to go that fast, but oh well.
Now starts my being too casual in transition before the race and hustle to the start while forgetting a few things. After placing my bag in the car quite a distance from transition, and getting ready to grab the wetsuit and walk down, I realize I left my cap and goggle in the car. Ran back over barefoot to get them, and luckily remembered to get my timing chip too. I realized on the way over though, that I do really like getting to a race more than 90 minutes before the start. I forgot to put my wedding ring away (slips off my finger swimming), so I ran it over to my friend Grant who was volunteering to hold onto. Then I realize I didn't put on any Chamois Butt'r, a very nice and pretty essential butt cream basically. Helps to reduce friction in the saddle. Figured I could do without it though, just wouldn't be as comfortable (and it wasn't). Then the last thing I realize I forgot was to put my Garmin I took special attention to charging the night before, on my bike so it's alerts can tell me when to take my nutrition. VERY important to me. I can't just take it when I feel like it, it needs to be every 15 minutes, that's what works for me. I did happen to have my sweet cheap Powertri stopwatch style watch in transition though, so that'd have to do. Onto the race.

That's me in the pink cap. Thanks for the cool swim pics Craig!

1.2 mile Swim- 36:16, 5th woman. A good swim! The water felt great, and a sleeveless wetsuit was for sure the way to go for me. It is SO very murky though, hard to get used to seeing grey as soon as you put your eyes in the water. I had mostly open water, not too much contact or passing to deal with, and it was lovely to have the clouds covering the rising son. LOVED not having to deal with glare. My time is about 5 minutes slower than I predicted, so I'm sure it was long some, but not sure how much. My arms felt good, it was a nice swim. I have some shoulder/tricep thing starting to flare up in the right arm, so it's good I'll have some time to give it off. Getting out was tricky with a super slippery boat ramp, but they had 4 guys lined up in the water to help pull you out.
T1- 1:12, 1st woman. Easy peasy, not much to write about. Got the wetsuit off easy and remembered to grab the Powertri watch. Mounted well.

Thank you Chris for the great as always bike pics!

56 mile Bike - 2:42.44, 20.6mph avg, 6th woman. Rode comfortably hard. Never huffing and puffing like I am sometimes with sprints or olympics, but riding at a good pace. Nutrition went down well, I was pleased I was able to watch the time on the watch for when I'd need nutrition, but not be staring at it the whole time. The legs were tired at times, but cooperated. The winds were pretty good to me, but were pretty hard to deal with heading south back from the turn around. That was a tough 3 mile or so stretch. After that it was a manageable crosswind or a tail wind. Oh and the rest of the weather was great except for a 2 minute or so long microburst that left us all soaked and primed for all the dirt on the road. Thankfully it stopped. I was sure my running shoes and socks would be soaked, but thankfully were only a little damp. Oh but hey, the good thing about wet roads? Shows you where every pothole is! Which is especially helpful for any of you that have ridden near West Mountain.

Now for my issues on the bike. Man I hate having to learn during important times like races. I am not using these as crutches for my overall time or place at all, just telling you about my day. I wasn't too upset about these at the time, or now.
#1 About mile 15 we went over a bump that didn't seem that big to me, but my bike thought otherwise and my flask went flying off the holder on my frame onto the road. Dang it! Besides the fact that it's littering, I couldn't just leave those 300 necessary calories behind. I thought for 2 seconds about taking the HEED on the course, but it wouldn't be concentrated enough like the EFS Liquid Shot, and I'd be drinking a gallon to get the same calories. So I turned around and tried not to get run over while I grabbed it. Probably cost me 30 seconds.
#2 Construction surprised the race director with 2 weeks to go before the race, so we had to use a different way over the freeway....a bigger overpass that we couldn't close. That meant if you come to a stoplight, you have to stop. And there were volunteers there to make sure you did. I mean I guess they'd stop you, or at least write your number down. Anyway, guess who had to stop at 3? That would be me. Stopped at one on the way out, and 2 on the way back. Can I just say how un-natural it feels to stop during a race and just stand there?? It's so weird and so very frustrating. Lights probably cost me 3 minutes total.
#3 At the last light it stopped a girl ahead of me who I really needed to keep up with - sweet!!! Yeah, until I put my foot up to get ready to push the pedal down on the green light and my chain fell off - CRAP! No time to fix it before the light turned red again, so I had to run across the 3 lane street in my bike shoes while everyone rode on to fix the chain. Probably cost me 90 seconds.
#4 Coming into T2 one of my shoes fell off my bike - DOH! I asked someone to throw it, but the volunteer told everyone not to touch it (could be perceived as outside assistance, I didn't think so though since I didn't need it for the run, I just didn't want to lose it). I started to go after it, but realized I would mess my timing up if I went over the mats again so just said "screw it", literally, out loud. Not the best sportsmanship, I know. Someone did end up brining it in though. Which they didn't have to, I just wanted it at least on the grass, I'd find it later.
#5 I really missed that Chamois Butt'r......

....nevertheless! I was having a good time throughout the swim and bike, see that smile? PROOF!

T2 - 1:08, 1st woman. Not bad for taking 10 or so seconds deciding what to do about my shoe. Chose to wear socks today, it's kind of an obvious decision in such a long run. Not a big deal, but not something I'd typically take the time to do. Racetri put out lots of bike racks today, and it was really nice not to be crowded in.

13.1 mile Run- 1:42.23, 7:49 avg, 3rd woman (1st OV ran a 1:39, a gal around 10th OV ran a 1:30....really?? Props to her!) Oh man, those first 5 miles, I hated it. My legs were still tired from Hobblecreek, and I was just not in the mood to run. It seemed hot and hard and I was sure I'd walk. I was also sure the miles would go so slowly. Fortunately after about mile 6 things perked up a bit. My right foot hurt again (not where the fracture was last year, near the ball of my foot was and has been achy), but other that that I was ok. Thank goodness my stomach hung in there, nothing worse than running with an angry stomach. I took both flasks with me, had Liquid Shot in one, and would fill the other with water to use as spare in between aid stations. So glad I did because there were points where they were spaced a little far, or my mouth was dry, or I had to take the LS away from a station. I realized about mile 5 that I may have been grumpy because I was running 7 min miles. Didn't mean to, really wanted to keep it at 8, but that's hard without mile markers every mile and without a Garmin. I think that's my body's go-to race pace. I was pleased to have that much time in the bank and to be able to slow down a little though. The last 6 miles went better. I was building a lead on the women behind me who had me a little worried early on, and was creeping up a little on the woman in front of me. The running wasn't exactly easy, but was at least steady now.
* Funny thought about this course. There are 2 out and back sections, and one loop and you repeat all of that twice. I love out and back's so you can see your competition, and it was fun seeing so many people I knew on the out and backs, but kind of hard too because I get into my zone when things get tough and it was hard to feel like I had to say hi and wave to everyone I knew everytime we passed. I loved seeing them and giving a thumbs up, it was just distracting occasionally. THANK YOU to all my friend and fellow racers for saying anything to me and cheering though, I don't want to sound ungrateful AT ALL! I really do appreciate it!*
So I was running happy the last 4 or so miles now because I realized I was for sure safe in 3rd and would be able to end my season having placed overall in every triathlon I did (save IMSG that's a little different). Imagine my surprise when I approached the finish line and heard "Congratulations to the 4th place woman".........Wait, what??

Yeah. 4th. My first thought was that they were wrong and one was a relay or something. I NEVER saw another woman and had plenty of opportunities, or I wouldn't have thought I was in 3rd. But nope, there really were 3 ahead of me. I guess I may have missed the lady who finished in second because she went the wrong way on the course the first time around leaving off the first out and back. She ran it twice in a row on the 2nd time to make up for it I guess. I hope she covered all the ground to get from the first out and back to the second. I'm not going to play mental games thinking she didn't though. The race ended as it did. And yes, I was super disappointed (still am just a little). I really let it ruin my otherwise basically spot on race.

5:03.45

I was under the bike and run times I wanted by 3 minutes each. Those 3 minutes I was over the 5 hours I could have made up not having to stop at lights. Oh and I dropped 45 or so minutes off 3 years ago. But still, not getting to place overall in my last race for a while was really hard. I'm not ungrateful for an age group spot, I realize so very many people want and strive for that, but that's not what's important to me right now. I hope people will understand that. I'm challenging and expecting of myself something different. I think I'm capable of overall, have achieved it in every race except this one, and don't really want to hear that "well maybe you're just meant for shorter stuff", or "it's good to still have things/people to work toward" or what not. I could have placed overall, I'm capable of it, there were just 3 other women there today that were too. At least we were all within 5 minutes of each other. I don't think I'm all that, that I should be winning every race. You betcha there are some great talented women out there to compete with! That's good. I wouldn't want to win every race because there wasn't competition there for overall. All that said, yes, I'm still bumed, but I think mostly because I thought I was in 3rd the whole time. Several people told me that, and that's what I saw. No one told me I was in 4th. It was just hard to be surprised like that. Thank you to those friends that let me whine about it after the race. It was hard not having my family there, so thanks for being a shoulder for me.

I'm tired of not letting myself be happy for the great things I've been able to do racing wise this year. I have raced more than I ever have, and have raced among and gained friendships with some really great ladies (and guys), and I've done really great! It is so exciting, really it is! But I manage to find some reason not to get excited or to find something to be disappointed in. That can't happen. I should be over the moon with how I've done this year. So I think it's time for a break.
Thank you thank you thank you to all the great friends and fans (meaning you haven't come talked to me yet - do it!) that I have out there who are so kind and supportive, and to my family. I'm so fortunate to have all of you! Thank you to Powertri too, whom without, I could not have raced as much as I have.Their sponsorship has also helped me make so many new friends, being more visible in the Triathlon community. I really am grateful for this life. I'm grateful for a strong healthy body, for all the training and racing experiences I've had this year, and for the many more I look forward to in the future!

Hobblecreek

2010-08-21T22:53:00.001-06:00

This is a race my husband's family own, and we've been around it since we got married 8 years ago. This year was my 4th time I believe running it, and the 1st for my hubby Jer. I'm so proud of him. I never pushed him into the 2 tri's that he did this year, nor this running thing. He is part of an amazing new shoe company, Altra, who are making shoes that will revolutionize running, and well, I guess it's rubbing off on him. He started about a year ago and is already here, to his first half marathon. Way to go babe!
So with family that owns the race, we help with the race. Our 'race day' starts Friday about noon and ends Saturday about 3:00. It's a long day, but a good one. I've learned much from volunteering, setting up, doing packet pickup, and being around race directors. The #1 thing I've learned (aside from always bring your ID to packet pickup), is I don't want to be a race director. Ever. Fast forward to race morning. We sleep in a tent at the finish line, and after helping with packet pickup at 4:45am that morning I finally got to the top about 7am. Unfortunately not enough people got on the first load of buses so the start was delayed about 30 minutes to get the rest of the runners up the canyon. At the top I heard someone sound completely shocked it was late, she said she'd never heard of a race starting late. Really?? Maybe it's just because I race so much, but I've definitely seen it before. And yes, it's been late in the past. Sometimes the buses fault, sometimes the race directors, sometimes the athletes. The deal this time was that not enough people showed up early enough to get the first load of buses out on time. It takes 30 minutes to get up there, 30 minutes to get back, so when the first load of buses leave at 5:30 and not closer to 5:00, that means the last set of buses don't get athletes to the top till 7:15am or so, then they have a 1/2 mile walk to the top. I know they sent an email out to the later registrants asking that they be there at 5am to load the first buses, I guess not enough of them did. It stinks, I know.
It was kind of funny. They sent Jer to the top before 5am to set up a water table, so he had an orange volunteer vest on. He took it off about 7:10 because he didn't want to deal with questions anymore. Poor guy, I can't blame him. I totally don't mean to sound like I don't hate race delays and problems and that I don't get mad at race directors sometimes, I do. I hate that is messes peoples nutrition and potty timing out and that they have to wait around forever. I just try to be understanding since I see the back end of it and would NEVER want to take their place as race directors. Man that's not a job I aspire to! They do a heck of a lot of work for very little money (about $4/hr at this race in particular), to put on a good time for us athletes.Anyway, onto my race. The race started without me hearing anything, and I was close to the front. Not sure what happened, but we were off. I ran with a friend for the first 3 miles or so and it was fun to chat, but then I let her go ahead. I kind of wanted to run by myself, it seemed like too much work today to make myself keep up with someone faster :) Took me till about mile 5 or 6 as usual to feel good but I never felt super good, it never felt effortless (which once in a while fast racing does). Fortunately my stomach was fine and my body didn't complain too much and the miles seemed to pass quickly. I wanted to be running 6:30's the first 6 miles to build up a cushion for the last half, and the first 4 or so miles it wasn't happening, but then all of the sudden by mile 7 I had a 3 minute cushion. By mile 11 that had dwindled (and it didn't feel like it, but by my watch I did now have to run 7:00min/miles to make my goal. Felt achievable, just close. I ran pretty strong the last 2 miles, and came in just under my goal time of 1:30, in 1:29.43. Whew!

It was so nice to not care in the least who was around me and who might be passing or in front of me. I was only there to get my goal time and watch the clock. I ran with my cheapie Powertri stopwatch function watch, no Garmin. It was nice not to have to factor in a swim and a bike, and figuring out how those would play into my overall time, I just had to make my splits. I'm very happy with my time, it was a PR for goodness sake by 4 or 5 minutes, and under the goal time I wanted. I did exactly what I wanted! I just wish I got more "excited" about it. I think it may just be that I'm tired and have raced a lot. I'm ready for a break after next week's Utah Half.

Good friends Heidi and Crystal who also ran Hobblecreek. Great job ladies!!
We'll see you next year Jamie!

And I'm so proud of my Jer. His first half marathon, he started running about a year and a half ago, hasn't been the best with his training, but he pulled off a 1:49! I was totally surprised and almost missed getting over to the corner to watch him. My goal for him was to break 2:00, but I just had no idea what to expect from him. I ran a 5 mile trail race pacing him last month, and he did a lot of complaining and lagging, so when I saw him running the time he did and looking strong I was so excited! I finally showed some bigger emotion, and it's fine that it was for him, at least I know I can still get excited.

And excited I am.....for the UTAH HALF on Saturday!!!