The Journal

Time to Talk

2011-05-29T08:26:00.002-04:00

So, I have been very MIA for the last hummm like 10 or 12 weeks and now it is time to talk about what happened. One day I was blogging about my 8 hour epic training day and preperation for ironman and two days later I went out for a 60 minute easy ride, returned home, tossed my bike across the room and informed my husband I was done. Then crawled into a black hole of anti swim, bike, run. This has left people asking two questions. What happened and what have I been doing?

The first question is a little more difficult for me to answer. I am a very black or white all or nothing person. It seems I just burnt myself out both physically and mentally. It was a solid six weeks of doing very little before my legs stopped feeling heavy walking up steps and it was just last week before I could stomach the idea of getting into the pool. For the first couple of weeks I spend A LOT of time on the couch, played wii and did puzzles. It almost felt like I had the flu, but wasn't sick. Then I started doing some yoga, tried crossfit, and started to learn to kiteboard. I went for walks, road my mountain bike, got a dog, and generally just chilled. Then due to some pleurisy (fluid around the lungs, which is not suppossed tp be there) I needed to sit on the couch and rest for about two weeks while taking some drugs and getting better. Which brings me to NOW!

Now, I am back to having that burning desire to go run, to fling sweat of my finger tips on a hot brick, to jump in the long course pool and bang out a tough swim, to knock out a long ride, to wake up at 4am and train. That is who I am, I am very passionate about this sport and truly love it, which is why I think so many people were confused by my complete withdraw from it. I will be honest that during this whole process the thing that made me the sadest was not bailing on ironman, not lossing my fitness, not explaining to friends/family/coaches/ that I was quiting, but the feeling that I had lost something that had once brought me so much joy. At one point I loved the sport, the people, the training, the gain of fitness, but I had lost all of that. I was scared that I would never enjoy the sport again, sad that I had lost it. It was kinda like a bad break up. I was glad it was over but still had all of those great memories which made it very difficult. Many people told me that if I just took some time off that things would be ok and the passion would come back. I did not believe them and was sure that if the passion did come back it would be more like a year or two or even five. BUT, I was wrong and the passion is starting to come back, so I am going to get back on the bike, back in the pool, pull out the AVIA's and run. Maybe even do some structured training and do some fall racing.
I am so glad to be feeling the joy of triathlon and I never want to lose it again. Time for a ride!

Gators!?!?!

2011-04-03T17:47:00.004-04:00

No I am not a Florida fan, in fact I don't even know which Florida school the Gators are. I do however know(from my time living in Macon, Ga) that the Dawgs and Gators don't like each other.

I am talking about real Gators. One of the unique aspects of growing up in the Low Country is our wildlife. Gators, dolphins, migrating manatees, sea turtles, nasty sand gnats, ect. As I child I always found it interesting to watch how the tourist reacted to each of those. They pay big money to go on dolphin cruises, are confused by why we have beach blackouts at night for the sea turtles, swat in amazement at the invisible biting Sand Gnats, and to my biggest surprise they go Gator Hunting. If I had a dollar for every time I heard a tourist ask, "Where do I find a gator." Ummm... any pond on a warm sunny day? Duh.... Even my husband is slightly mystified by these creatures. When we lived in Macon we would let our dog swim in the ponds. I had to be really firm with Jose about not doing that here, not in any pond, ever, because they ALL have gators. It's true, but he didn't believe me. Last month I took my residents and boss down to Savannah for a tour, lunch at Paula Dean's and a tour of the Juliet Lowe house. However, they just wanted to go Gator hunting. Really? I planned this great day for them and all they wanted was to find a gator? So, I found them a gator! You have to understand I grew up with gators they are commonplace to me. I am so confused by how fascinating they are to people. I was told at a young age "Just stay away from them." I think I was also told one of the gators ate the neighbors dog, which probably was not true but just intended to scare me enough to stay away from them. It worked!

Anyhow I came across this today as I was riding my bike. It was a good 10+ footer, just out enjoying the warm day. Note that this is a pond in the middle of a neighborhood with a sidewalk about 15 feet from where he sits. NO ONE was Alarmed, it's just a gator! However, I thought I would share it anways for all of you who may never go gator hunting.

st. george

2011-04-01T19:43:00.001-04:00

Let me start by saying that this blog is going to be rather hard for me to write, which is why it has been so long since I have written anything. I have been procrastinating officially saying I have decided not to do St. George. I know it is the right thing for me to do. I am just not where I should be with training and with it being an early season race, I feel like racing would jeopardize the rest of my year.

Ok, enough of that......

Day Off

2011-03-10T09:12:00.003-05:00

This last Monday Jose and I were fortunate enough to be able to take the day off from work, but our version of a day off is not what most people would expect. When I looked at my training schedule, I felt a little bored by the workouts, but a few small modifications quickly turned it into an exciting training day. The plan was to swim an hour, ride 6 hours and run 2 hours. Yes, I realize it is not normal to have this kind of training day on a Monday after a full week of training. But the idea of it had me a bit scared and nervous, which made the training exciting.

We started the day with a pre-sunrise swim. It was sort of non eventful and before I knew it we were on our bikes in a frigid 40 degrees. Our neighbors gave us some funky looks as they prepared to head off to work, but I am pretty sure if they knew what we were up to the looks would have been much worse. Unfortunately it seems that every other morning this month has been above 60 degrees with light winds, while we had to ride the first hour in really cold temps and with a very strong headwind. I kept wanting to turn around and call it a day, after all, it is not like I had to do this.

This is about an hour in, we had been averaging about 15 mph into a fierce headwind, I could not feel my extremities and was not enjoying my "day off".

This was our first planned stop at Gardens Corner. Unfortunately the Piggly Wiggly has closed.

Once we got past Beaufort and out of the headwind, we hit a short section of tailwind before the wind direction shifted and we had a crosswind, followed by more headwind latter in the day. The good news was that it did warm up a for a little while about 4 hours into our ride. However, as we were finishing the ride the clouds moved in and the temperature dropped again.

Once we got done with our ride it was time to head out for the run. I was really unsure about this section of the day. My plan was simply to head out the door and just see how I felt. There was no sense in hurting myself and jeopardizing my training. In the end, Jose and I kept the pace really mellow and just chatted the entire way. Before I knew it we were back home and we had just done a 9 hour training day.

Update

2011-03-04T09:49:00.004-05:00

Nothing much is new in terms of personal stuff. After a successful trip to Puerto Rico I settled into some solid training. I feel completely unprepared for an 140.6 mile race, but I am told that is somewhat normal for 8 weeks out. I was kinda bummed to not be able to make it to Costa Rica for the Rev3 race. I heard it was an awesome event. Being part of the Trakkers team though allowed me to follow the race and cheer for my team mates who were able to make it. I also really have enjoyed getting to learn about our new sponsors, two of which really stick out.

First Avia running shoes. I will be honest, I have been curious about these shoes for a while. This is a company that has been in the business for a while and I was excited to try out their innovative shoes. My big issue with shoes is that I need a certain level of stability, which ends up in me running in a bulky feeling shoe. The Avia Quest is the shoe I have been training on, and I am happy to report that it is not bulky feeling at all. While it might look bulky sitting on the shelf at a store, I think you will quickly realize that even though it is a stability/motion control shoe, it allows my foot to track more naturally. Having said that, I am not really sure how a motion control shoe can feel natural, but that is why I leave the shoe making to the experts.

The second new update is Recovery Pump. This is an Active Pneumatic Compression System which, in my most basic of layman's terms, pumps air into four different chambers. The process begins at you feet and moves up your leg, then starts again. The goal being to flush out all the waste product from your legs. The bottom line is it feels good and I can tell you that this is becoming a common sight around our house.

Kickoff to to 2011 and Vacation

2011-02-17T17:16:00.002-05:00

So this weekend many of my teammates will be in Costa Rica racing as rev3 kicks off their 2011 season*(they have added several races this year and a crazy prize purse). I am so jealous that I am not there with them. Rumor has it that the weather is great, the water is blue, the pros are around, and everyone is having a blast.

I wish I was there! BUT, since I cannot be, I have decided to pretend. I have a long weekend planned on the bike(to many hours to admit to), so to get me through it I plan to take a mental vacation, joining my teamies and Rev3. I will eat local food, swim in the blue water lots, and cheer for everyone racing while drinking a cocktail. Oh, yeah and I WILL work on my tan! Want to Join me?????

Best way to start a Friday

2011-02-11T06:00:00.002-05:00

So I walk out of the bedroom swimsuit in hand in a hurry to go to the pool. I tell my BHE(husband) I am running late to head to the pool without me and I will meet him there(he hates to be late to masters). He is standing in his running shorts looking at me funny. He replies, "we have a run today...." YES YES YES!!! Of course, I don;t believe him and have to go check the schedule myself, but sure enough, no swim, just a run!!!! And not just any run, but my favorite, a TEMPO run! So instead of dragging my butt into the pool, which I don't like, I get to do one of my favorite workouts! I cannot think of to much better of a start to my friday. Hope your day is starting equally as well!

day two numbers

2011-01-30T04:52:00.002-05:00

78-miles ridden
3-flats
0-trips to the ER!!!!
3-rounds of doubles don q (puerto rican rum) and diet
A few more- rounds of other stuff!
2-amazing puerto rican meals
1-new food tried
Not enough - pictures taken
Too many - "hoyos" spanish for hole in road.

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day one stats

2011-01-29T04:07:00.001-05:00

Sorry this will be short. And no pictures because my phone died.

154-miles riden
4-flats in our group of 7 people
1-broken chain
1- trip to the er for my father in law. He is ok, details to come.
Countless-AMAZING views
Not enough-calories consumed
Too much- fun had

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BEST HUSBAND EVER

2011-01-28T19:44:00.004-05:00

Ok, so my new passion is Beer. I really never knew Beer could be so good until a friend turned me onto dogfish.....mmmmmm :)

So, my husband who will now be refereed to as BHE(best husband ever, and he has really earned this title lately TRUST ME) surprises me with this beer tasting. Oh, and did I mention he cleaned the house before I got home from work? He knows how stressed I have been with things lately and how sad I am about my bike, but this totally made my day. I learned that I am an IPA fan!

Ok, Time to go ride 375 miles in the 75 degree weather with the BHE. Don't Hate!

Really?

2011-01-25T19:25:00.003-05:00

So Sunday I head out for a 5 hour ride and bam.... 2 feet into it my derailleur deciedes it no longer wants to be attached to my frame. Part of me says, "Really? Now?" I mean at the start of a five hour ride and 3 days before I fly out to Puerto Rico.... COME ON! BUT on the flip side, I was only going 2 miles an hour and my husband was able to catch me before I hit the pavement. It was not in the middle of the Ride Around Puerto Rico and I still had a shot at finding a different bike to ride. It wasn't during a race, or an A race for that matter such as IM St. George or Rev3 Anderson
Luckily I have some amazing friends and family who were there to help me out! Jose, my hubby quickly pulled out the mountain bikes and did a five hour ride with me. Val from Outspoken told me, I could cry all I wanted but there was no way I could safely ride my bike and I would need to send it in for a waranty replacement. (as much as it sounds harsh, her tough love probably saved me a wreck). Two of my training partners Tracy and Bridget quickly jumped to loan me their bikes(I have to admit a bike is a very beloved belonging and thier willingness to help me out really says a lot about them, I am lucky to have them as friends). My Mother in law found me a SWEET bike to rent for the ride around Puerto Rico! So my only issue left is what to ride while I wait for my new frame. With the way things are going I have a feeling something will work out.
THANK YOU so much to everyone who was so quick to help me.

La Vuelta PR

2011-01-19T11:43:00.005-05:00

I will be taking off for Puerto Rico next week to ride around the island over the course of three days. My husband and my in laws will be doing the ride with me, along with 600 of my soon to be closest friends. We will be doing La Vuelta Puerto Rico. I wish I could say I was ready to go, but the truth is I will be hoping to to gain LOTS of fitness from this ride as I do not have any real long rides under my belt in recent training. Either way, it will be great to get some warm weather riding in and share time with family and friends.

Check out the Route.

Day 1 (153 mi.)

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://classic.mapmyride.com/ride/puerto-rico/pr/san-juan/234129432963225659"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Vuelta Puerto Rico, Day I Official Route&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://classic.mapmyride.com/find-ride/puerto-rico/pr/san-juan"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in San Juan, Puerto Rico&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Day 2 (81 mi.)

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://classic.mapmyride.com/ride/puerto-rico/pr/ponce/459128327578520788"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Vuelta Puerto Rico, Day II Official Route&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://classic.mapmyride.com/find-ride/puerto-rico/pr/ponce"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in Ponce, Puerto Rico&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Day 3 (131 mi.)

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://classic.mapmyride.com/ride/puerto-rico/pr/mayaguez/914128493548960108"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Vuelta Puerto Rico, Day III Official Route&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://classic.mapmyride.com/find-ride/puerto-rico/pr/mayaguez"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Bike Rides in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Plus somewhere along the route I should be able to get one of these:

January

2011-01-15T05:38:00.003-05:00

I am going to warn you now... I am whining, so I will keep this short.

Would it really be January if I were uninjured and running. NOPE. I have this stupid tendon in my foot right now that has my coach restricting all my running and attempting to get my heart rate up to 90% on the elliptical machine. He says, "just work your arms harder." Yeah whatever! The challenge has actually been kinda fun and I have been trying to ignore the fact that I am sidelined from my favorite of the three disciplines, until these showed up at the gym last week.

Sorry for the blurry picture, I was on the stupid(I mean super fun) elliptical.

Yeah, that's right my gym got pink treadmills! I really want to run on them. Now I can't wait until my stupid foot gets better!

Odd People, Nice People, Mean People

2011-01-11T05:02:00.002-05:00

From the last 24 hours.

Odd person: This was so odd I couldn't even put it in words to explain it to anyone and thus have not even told the story yet. I will give it a shot with my horrible writing skills!
I park, get out of the car and start going to the door of a store( I tend to move quickly). All of a sudden I hear some lady yell at me, "make sure you don't hit my very nice car with your car door." Mind you I am half way to the store by now and totally confused. I look back and see her standing there looking at me, I feel badly and wonder if I unknowingly hit her car with my car door when I opened it. So, I ask her if I had. She replys, "No, you have a very nice car(not so much just a car) and I have a piece of junk(not so much, I saw nothing wrong with it), I was just joking, lighten up." I ran away scared and confused wondering why someone would say that. The next day I was at the dry cleaners running in the ran with a huge amount of dry cleaning and some lady yells across the parking lot, "Do you need some help." I look over and see the same lady from the day before. WTF is she following me? I yell back, "no" and start running faster before she notices I am in a different car and starts giving me crap.

Nice Person: My lane mate from yesterday. Ok, I am not a good swimmer, but due to a lane shortage got put in a lane that is a tad above my abilities. The coach says to me, " do 25's and leave 5 seconds behind Kelly(a faster swimmer than me), swim hard and catch her." Kelly responds very nicely(not sarcastically), "Savannah, you should set your goals higher!" I don't know why, but Kelley's confidence in me just felt good!

Mean Person: My swim coach for putting me in that lane and giving me an insane set.

Hope you find some nice people and stay clear of the mean and odd ones. Although, that mean one will likely help me out when it comes to preparing for my Ironman.

New Years!

2011-01-05T07:15:00.002-05:00

New years eve 2010 was by far crazier than any previous year. Not only did I make if til midnight for the first time in years, at 4am I was the last one standing! I will leave it at that.
If new years eve is any indication of how this year will go I full expect an exceptional year. Normally I don't do the whole resolution thing because I think I should strive everyday to make improvements in my life. I don't feel like I did that last year and to make up for it I set three new years resolutions for this year!

They are :

1. Remember names. I am really bad at this and honestly it's just rude. It also drives my boss NUTS.

2. Be more green. I have been using way to many disposable cups/bowls/silverware ect. at work. At the end of the day my trash can will literally be full of cups bowls ect. I also need to get some more of those reusable grocery bags AND actually remember to take them with me when I go to the grocery store.

3. This one is a little more personal so I will leave out the details but in short I have had an issue bothering me for several years and have been avoiding it. By the end of Feb I want to man up and deal with it.

So that's my plan for 2011. What's yours?

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opps..... ?

2010-12-09T17:29:00.003-05:00

Let me start off by explaining that if I am in the car with my husband, he sits in the drivers seat. I like to look it as a team effort though. Yeah, he has his hands on the wheel but I make sure he is driving the correct speed limit(he calls this back seat driving), is aware of all the lights that are changing colors, and I always point out weavers. For the speed limit, I have this rule and it has always worked for me. My rule is you drive 8 miles an hour over the speed limit. My theory is that if you drive faster than that you will get a ticket and if you drive slower than that you are wasting my time because you could be driving faster and not get a ticket. The hubby doesn't like my rule and I will leave it at that(ok so maybe there have been a few arguments about my rule).

The other day we were driving home from Beaufort and I see a police car in the middle of the road and immediately look over to see the speedometer. It was about 10 over and dropping. I think to myself F*** he is about to get pulled over. Sure enough we had blue lights behind us. Hopeful about not getting a ticket I thought that chewing him out would make the situation worse so I didn't say anything to him. I had just read Carole's Blog about how to instantly predict if you were going to get a ticket or not. She says that if the officer walks up to the car and immediatly asks for your license and registration without any prior chit chat you are done, and there is no way to get out joke, cry, flash, or pay your way out of it. Much to my dissapointment, those were the first words out of the officers mouth, and I thought to myself, "damn here comes the ticket."

My husband does the normal pull the license out of the wallet, fumble with the registration/insurance and hand it to the officer thing. Now let me explain, my husband has a very Latin name(Jose Angel Fuentes). However, he is very fair skinned and speaks without any accent and this has caused him trouble more than once with his id/cc/bartenders/ect. because people don't believe that he is showing his real id. The officer glances at the license, looks at my husband and says.... "that makes sense, sorry sir. I was looking for the car with the jeep behind it. Have a nice day." The officer then hands the id back and walks away. Jose and I look at each other completly confused and unsure of what to do. It was the strangest thing.... After a few seconds we drove off without a ticket or even a warning. So, sorry Carole, there must be some exception to your theory, I have no idea what we did, but I sure am glad to have gotten out of that one.

My recommendation on the issue is to just drive the 8 over and not get pulled over in the first place.

Northern Fun

2010-12-06T05:26:00.006-05:00

I know Thanksgiving was a week and a half ago and I am just getting around to posting about it, but we had so much fun that I have to post about it even if it is late!

We always go to Annapolis for Thanksgiving to visit my husbands family. His mother is a triathlete, his father a sailor, his older sister has two great daughters(our only nieces), his little sister is probably one of the coolest kids I know(ok so maybe she is 21 now and not really a kid anymore but I still see here as the 12 year old she was when I met her), and his brother in law works for the Boston Globe and is always good for some great conversation. I am very lucky to have this group for inlaws they are always ready to have fun and we have many common interests!

Luckily, this year we arrived to a nice warm front that hung around until the last day we were there. Normally it is what I consider ungodly cold and I HATE the cold. Despite the cold weather my mother in law, being a dedicated triathlete herself(2x kona qualifier and age group record holder at IMLP) always sees to it that we have plenty of training opportunities. In past years she has introduced us to the "4:40 group"(a crazy group that starts their 6 mile run at 4:40am and then hits the pool), arranged multiple turkey trot races, and took me on my first 30 mile bike ride(from which my husband had to bring the car and come pick me up so she could finish her ride!) As always this year we had a couple of treats. First we hit the basement for a little computrainer ride.

That's right they have 3 of them networked together in the basement for winter racing! What a blast. Then she took me to Masters swimming(a great group) and introduced me to her friend Maureen to get advice on cold water swimming. I have signed up for IMSG and have an absolute terrible time swimming in cold water. Of course with all the great advice I got, I wanted to try it out right away. Since the water temp was 53 and beach access less than a block from the house I thought it was the perfect opportunity. My mother in law(Crissy), and husband were not going to let me suffer alone and tagged along. Sadly Jose didn't have a wetsuit and went in a speedo and Crissy gave me her booties, gloves, and cap.... so they were a little colder than I was, but real troopers for supporting me. My father in law(Joe) grabbed the camera and we headed out!

The swim was the coldest water I had ever been in and it sucked. Although Jose and Crissy were cold they were able to swim a bit. However, I was fairly warm but unable to swim because every time I put my face in the water it would take my breath away. I will be looking for any advice to overcome this issue, but that's all for another post.

It was another successful Thanksgiving in Maryland and I can't wait to see what the inlaws have in store for next year!

Fun at the pool!

2010-11-17T10:10:00.001-05:00

Today started with a swim! I typically enjoy starting my day with a swim even though most days I have to convince myself to get in the water by repeating the mantra "get in that water and the worst part of your day is over." I hate hate hate the first three seconds of being in the pool. Yet, something about the smell of chlorine and the comforting feeling of warm coffee after swimming just starts my day of right. However, todays swim was exceptionally enjoyable. I don't really know why..... the water was cloudy.... so cloudy that you couldn't see the wall until you almost ran into it. I got stuck in the end lane but made the best of it by trying to splash the lifegaurd during my "blast legs" kick set. Then when I got in the shower I noticed the shower curtain was gone. It was there monday..... and no I didn't notice it when I got in the shower and was fully exposed to everyone in the locker room. However, when I looked down to see water splashing all over my dress shoes sitting just outside the shower I became very concerned. Funny how I was unalarmed by exposing my nakedness to everyone but get a little water on my shoes and the world might end! Friday I will be sure to check for the shower curtain before I get in the shower!

What I use Wednesday coming us soon.

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What I Use Wednesday

2010-11-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, I really LOVE this one!!!! My stick! I have to admit that when I started this sport I was in my early 20's and could get away with a lot. Maybe it was my age or maybe it was the fact that I did much less volume and intensity than I do now, but I NEVER stretched, used massage, or thought about recovery nor did I ever get tight or sore. I remember some of my training partners who were older and wiser than me doing all these things to aid recovery and complaining about being tight or "fried." I literally did not understand what they were talking about or why they devoted so much time to this stuff. Well, now those days are gone, in fact I rarely walk up steps without feeling the fatigue in my legs! So, I have slowly learned a few tricks to help my muscles feel better and the stick is on the top of my list!

It is great for when my legs are stiff, but also to keep them from getting tight. Five minutes a day is all I need. It feels so good! It is works for all the muscle groups from legs to back to arms to neck and I can even get into my hips and glutes with it. I do use it in combination with stretching to help work out the kinks and knots in my muscles. One of the big perks about it is that I can do on my own. To maximise my recovery I also use my Saucony compression socks and Ultragen recovery shakes and have seen a noticeable improvement in recovery between workouts.

I frequently give the stick as a gift and have never heard any negative reviews about it. So, if you don't have one yet..... go get one NOW!!!!

Bye Bye Crosstraining!

2010-11-02T06:54:00.003-04:00

I have spent the last several weeks trying to be "chill." I was instructed by my coach to take some time mentally and physically off from triathlon. This was a bit of a challenge for me as I love the life style and structure of triathlon.

Of course we did some of the usual cross training stuff, a good bit of cleaning, and eating the last few weeks but I also took the opportunity to try a few new things. First on the list was a self defense class for runners. Since I will be likely running in the dark this winter and many winters to come I thought it would be a beneficial thing to do! We learned how to get away from someone if they grab you by the wrist, waist, neck, or pony tail. I really hope I never have to use this knowledge but it was fun. I also took a couple jiu jitsu classes which I really enjoyed. It was pretty entertaining to see some of these smaller girls drop 200 pound men to the floor. Finally, my last cross training activity was playing wii. I have played way to much wii over the last couple weeks. However, Jose and I have almost beat Mario so I expect until we do there will probably be way to much wii in my future too.

The official start of my training for the 2011 season was yesterday and I am so happy to see rn, bike, swim back in the routine.

What I use Wednesday

2010-10-20T19:10:00.002-04:00

This week I am sharing one of my favorite race day products. First I want to say yes SBR is a sponsor for my team, Trakkes. However, I was introduced to and started using this product long before they sponsored my team. I will never recommend nor does my team as me to recommend anything I don't honestly believe in. Trakkers just happens to have some great sponsors!

So the product is Trislide by SBR Sports. Oddly enough my mother in law also introduced me to Trislide. Apparently she knows her stuff! Trislide is an "aerosol skin lubricant" or as I like to call it anti chaffing stuff and hurry up and get outta my wetsuit stuff!

Why I LOVE Trislide.....
1. It prevents me from getting chaffed. Obviously! But seriously it works really well. I spray it on the neck, wrists, and ankles of my wetsuit, on the inside of my tri shorts, around the edges of my sports bra, and inside my shoes.
2. Since it is an aerosol spray you get the perfect "coating" and there is no caking or rubbing over and over as opposed to some other products out there. Just a nice spray and you are good to go..
3. It doesn't melt in your tri bag!
4. It is fun to spray.

Try it.... you will love it I promise!

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Triple T

2010-10-20T08:48:00.000-04:00

Its been oven a week since I finished triple t and I still think I could sum up that race report with one word. OUCH!

Rather than write a detailed race report of how each each segment of all four races went(which would be really long and only include declining heart rate with corresponding declining output and a lot of "OUCHES"), I will just give some of my thoughts on the race. I heard about triple t Ohio a few years ago and have been trying to fit it into my race schedule ever since. So when they added one a four hour drive from me, offered it at half price, put great prizes at stake,and it fell on a weekend I had nothing planned for, I signed up. I will say now that I greatly underestimated the difficulty of triple t, maybe I was still broken down from nationals but Sunday hurt! I was smart enough to realize that having a teammate would be more fun and managed to talk BC into racing with me. Of course the hubby wasn't going to miss out and then our friend John jumped on the band wagon. So we had a nice group of four for the long weekend.

We arrive at the race sight Friday afternoon and checked in. I was instantly excited about the weekend. Transition was set up just off the lake at an FAA camp. The whole weekend was a truly unique atmosphere. People were very relaxed and you didn't have that nervous energy that typically appears at races. We never felt the need to lock our car and left our shoes at the swim start all day. The race director did a fantastic job. Courses were well marked, every event started on time, results were quickly available, and they provided plenty of food all weekend which was free to all athletes. I do have two complaints. First the roads were a little bumpy and second they only put your race number on your right arm so it was very hard to keep track of people as you couldn't see their race numbers. Oh and one last possibly negative comment. Everyone had to wear the same jerseys. This added a very neat aspect to the race, but it made me really appreciate my awesome Trakkers kit which is made by Saucony. My race kit is much more comfortable.

I will tell a little bit more about the races. Friday night was a super sprint which was a fun way to get some speed in and kick of the weekend. And, oh yeah BC laid down a 5 minute mile for 5th fastest overall run of the day.... take that boys. Saturday brought two olympic distance races. The first one is traditional and I have nothing exciting to say about it. The second one starts at 3 pm it is a bike, swim, run and where you start to feel the pain. It is also where I learned It would probably be better to take the time to deal with a wetsuit than deal with the time lost from cramping while swimming hard off the bike in 71 degree water.

Sunday was the final race, a half. Going into the race BC and I had a pretty generous cushion between us and second place so we decided to take it a little easy. I am so glad we had that option as it was a rather painful race even at the more enjoyable pace we set. The totals are four races with over 140 miles total for the weekend.

Would I do this race again? No probably not..... this was a bucket list race for me. It was fun and I would recommend it, but it's done for me! I would however go up there again if others were racing and just race the half on Sunday. Even though I say I would not do the race again I am very glad I did it. And, oh yeah we had a bidet in our 1970's hotel, but no.... no one tried it..... maybe we will have to go back?

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Done!

2010-10-11T16:13:00.001-04:00

With the completion of triple t comes the end of my season! This year has been amazing and here is why!

1. I stayed healthy all year! Thanks so much to my wonderful coach for keeping me in line, a great team at drayer physical therapy for teaching how to fix my imbalances, and my amazing husband for taping my stinky, blistered, yucky foot without complaint.

2. The Trakkers team. I was lucky enough to be part of this team of amazing athletes and sponsors. I have to say one of the highlights of my season was getting to meet my teammates and sponsors at Rev3 knoxville(while also racing one bad a** course).

3. Lessons learned. Wow I have learned so much this year. I cannot even start to list everything I have learned this year. My most recent lesson was not to ride a hard 40k on your bike and then jump in a 71 degree lake without a wetsuit and try to swim your a** of unless you want to cramp like crazy. I also have learned how to nail my race nutrition thanks to coach Dirk and first endurance. I have learned I can push my body much harder than I thought.

4. This year has also been filled with accomplishments. There were a few pr's. I finally backed up a solid bike with a run in a half. Thanks to Kat I made it through my longest and hardest bike ride ever. Tracy paced me to a 10k I thought I would never be able to run. I reached volumes in my training that I never even considered doing. There were many more throughout the year but most importantly I had fun each step of the way.

5. Finally my friends and family have given me unbelivable support. My parents dealt with me being missing a lot. My mom actually pushed me to man up and register for my first ironman(IMSG). The inlaws supported me through the very dissapointing eagleman. My mother inlaw as well as training partners Kat and Tracy have very generously shared their knowledge with me. And of course my husband jose! He has been amazing this year helping me with everything from staying motivated to making sure my bike was clean and race ready to yelling at me to do PT. I am very very lucky to have such a great support team.

Now that the 2010 race season is over I have big plans! Four weeks of cross training! I plan to play some golf, ultimate frisbee, take self defense classes, mt. bike, and relax. However I decided this week will be all about me. First up a pink hair extension to support breast cancer awareness month, a massage to get triple t outta my legs, a pedi and mani with my triple t teammate to celebrate our survival of that race, and some much needed wine with the hubby.

Next up .... what I use wednesday.... and a triple t race report.

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What I use Wednesdays!

2010-10-06T08:48:00.002-04:00

I am starting a new habit on my blog! I am very particular about the things I use. Once I find something that I like I stay with it. Each wednesday I will share one of these things with you and explain why I use it.

Since I love coffee, and its a daily staple in my life I figured I would start with something coffee related. I love my Contigo insulated coffee mug. My mother in law (also a coffee enthusiast) gave this to me last year for Christmas. This thing seriuosly keeps my coffee hot for ever. Even though I love coffee and drink it often I don't atually drink that much of it because I sip on it. Since I sip on it, it takes me forever to finish a cup and it almost always gets cold before I can finish it. Cold coffee is icky! The reason the mug keeps your coffee so cold is that rather than having a hole in the lid to drink from it has a seel with a button. When you push the button the seal opens and your nice warm coffee comes flowing out of the mug into your mouth! That seal holds the heat in rather than the traditional hole in the lid that let's the heat escape.

The other reason I love my coffee mug.....it has pink on it! Pink just makes me smile, but when you combine it with hot coffee it's almost a guaranteed happy start to my day!

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taper,race, recover

2010-10-03T17:26:00.001-04:00

Halfmax recap!

My taper was torture. It always is. My body feels terrible, my digestive system gets thrown out of whack, I am tired all the time, I get very cranky, and I doubt myself. My poor coach got several emails to the tune of don't be dissapointed if I am slow at halfmax. My husband had to listen to me say I didn't like to race. To which he responded that I was full of nonsense. Anyhow we all survived the taper week.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling pretty good. I did my warm up run and my legs felt 100% recovered. Something I had not felt in a long time. That combined with the fact that I had not really done a workout in almost a week I was very excited to race. The announcer said the swim would be wetsuit legal! Thank goodness as my swim training has been weak and I needed any advantage I could get. I then headed to port-o-john(I have a fear of these things, like seriously a real fear), upon my return I see almost everyone is out of transition and crowded around the announcer. Which seemed odd. As I walk past a couple people I overhear them say that the swim is CANCELLED. Yes, very good news for me. But in my opinion pretty sad given that it was a national championship.

The race director decided to do a random tt start. Allowing athletes to line up however they wanted, this he hoped would cut down on drafting. I found it dissapointing as I wanted to race the girls in my age group and would have preferred if we all stated at least within a few minutes of each other. I lined up at the very front as I just wanted to get the race going and stop standing around in the cold!

I quickly got on my bike and settled into my zone much quicker than I thought. My nutrition was a bottle of efs liquid shot mixed with efs sports drink totalling about 500 calories. This works perfectly for me as it is mild in flavor and provides calories and electrolites. The course was a two loop H, with too many uturns to count but it was easy to break down mentally. Final bike split was 2:31. PR! I have laid down some strong bikes before but never been able to run after them so I was excited to see what my legs had.

I ran into transition, grabbed my efs liquid shot and team Trakkers visor and head out to run. I decided not to start my watch and just run off heart rate. I didn't want to know my pace because I had no idea what to expect and knew that running off from my heart rate would bring my best result. The first mile felt good so I turned my watch on knowing that my pace was strong enough to not effect me mentally. The run felt great! I was able to execute my race plan perfectly. I think the cool temperatures really helped with this. Run time was 1:43:30 for a total bike/run of 4:17.

I was pretty happy with the results of my race. It's the first time I have put together a run and bike split in the same race. I hit my heart rate the whole time which is also a first. That is all I can ask for.

Now..... I recover..... I am signed up to do triple t next weekend so I have lots of recovery to do. I will be spending the day on the couch with my saucony compression tights on. The day will also likely include some stretching, mt. biking, a walk, a massage, and some stretching to help aid the recovery. Since triple t is just for fun coach has me official in the off season which calls for four weeks of cross training and "eating like a piggy." Seems odd to me. But the biggest thing I have learned this year is to trust him, but that is a whole other post! Any suggestions for the cross training..... my husband has already taken over the wii!

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blogging from new phone?

2010-10-01T11:42:00.001-04:00

Got a droid! Yay! That means I can blog front phone now... right?

Here is the view of my favorite river.... on our way to halfmax!

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This is how you taper?

2010-06-11T18:01:00.004-04:00

I hesitate to post this before my race, because I really don't want to make excuses before I even start the race, but this is reality. The last six months I have been training and targeting Eagleman. Everything was going almost perfect. I had been able to run, had some great races, was PRing, and really felt fit. Well, that was until about 3 weeks ago. My training started to feel off, I was really tired all the time, sleeping more than usual, my house was dirty and laundry undone and I didn't care(very out of character for me). All I wanted to do was sit on my couch. I would get excited about the idea of a workout and then go to do it and feel absolutely terrible. I didn't know what was wrong, I talked to my coach, my husband, my training partners, and we thought I was just tired from a HUGE training block and maybe a little run down from the weight I had lost over the last 6 months. WRONG.

So last Friday morning, I woke up and felt terrible. UGGG.... Friday was also the first easy day working towards my taper. I had planned to go for a short walk and do some light stretching in the am and an easy swim in the afternoon. My stomach hurt, I had a headache, was freezing cold, and had no energy. I thought maybe I had eaten something bad and just needed to get moving. I went for my walk at a snails pace wanting the whole time to just stop and sit down. When I got home I laid on the floor for 30 minutes unable to move and barely able to answer my husband when he talked to me. I really wanted to go to work, so finally I got up and headed to the shower. But after realizing that I was unable to complete the shower, I decided to call in sick. My husband set me up with an array of sick people stuff, animal crackers, gatorade, ginger ale, tea, ect. After about an hour and a half I figured something must be really wrong, since. I still couldn't stand up and still had all the other issues I had woken up with, yet I didn't have head cold symptoms and wasn't throwing up. So, I called my mom to take me to the doctor.

The doctor said I had an infection somewhere in my body and all my white blood cells had been released("even the baby ones") and the infection wasn't respiratory or UTI. So I was told to go home take antibiotics, drink lots and 3 days of bed rest. Antibiotics, fine, drink lots, fine, 3 days bed rest???? WHAT???? I emailed my coach and didn't tell him about the bed rest and his response was "3 days rest." OMG, I had a great TT exercise planned for Saturday and Sunday was a 4hour brick and and hour swim. My last big push before the race. Fortunately, for my doctor and my coach I remained so exhausted for those three days that I could not even think about doing those workouts let alone actually attempt them.

So I sat on the couch out and was going crazy. Coach changed my taper and I trust my coach so I went with it. I have to say I attempted to do most of the workouts. I have felt wiped all week. Lots of ups and downs. Still tired. Still frustrated. But today I finished the last workout, got a massage, and am ready to do what I can on race day. Hope my coach knows something........

Rev3 Part 2of2: The numbers!

2010-05-18T04:55:00.004-04:00

YAY!!!! Rev3 was able to recover my numbers! Here is my race report of race day and some splits!

The day started when our alarms went off at 4:30. Jose and I did our usual prerace routine, coffee, breakfast, and headed out the door. It was COLD!!!! We set up transition, chatted with some of my Trakkers Teammates and went for a warm up run. My legs felt great, but my hip was killing me and way out line (bad news for my bad foot) from the spill I took on bike the day before, which had me concerned.

As I was heading down to the swim start there was a crowd of about 20 pros I had to walk through. About half way through, I hear someone say, "Hey Savannah, Good luck today!." I was shocked, what pro would know me by name? I looked up to see Michael Lovato talking to me, he is one of the pros on my team and I had met him briefly at the team dinner Friday night. I couldn't believe that he recognized me in my wetsuit, swim cap, and goggles, but it was a great start to me day.

It came time for my wave to get in the water. I lined up next to a couple of my teammates and jumped in as this was a water start. We had 5 minutes between waves, so I did a quick warm up and positioned myself on the start line. The swim was nice, fairly calm, didn't get too many elbows thrown at me nor did I catch a draft. Swim time 31:40, a PR, I'll take it.

Time to head out on my bike. First, I cannot even begin to explain how awesome this bike course was!!! Just beautiful, technical, and challenging, I highly recommend it. Did I mention, it was COLD. I had set out gloves and arm warmers to put on, but for some dumb dumb reason I did not put them on. This ride was so cold. I have NEVER been this cold for this long in my life. For those of you that know me, you can attest to how easily I get cold and how much I hate it. I thought many times about bailing, and at the coldest point wondered if I was going to go hypothermic. Luckily, that was just before the temperatures started to warm up. Ultimately, I was a not too excited about how I rode, I was just to cold and felt out of control of my bike from being so tense. Not to mention my heart rate was just way low. Even though I was uncomfortable I enjoyed the change of pace from the flatlands, I loved the bike course!!! Bike time 2:52:02.

YES YES YES!!!! Time to get off this bike and get warm. My feet were numb coming off the bike, so running felt kinda funny. However, my legs felt fresh and good. I started out running around 8's the worked into some 7:30's. My run mileage has been pretty low so around mile 9 or 10 it started to hit me and my pace gradually slowed. The run course was very nice, shaded and well aided with great volunteers. I headed to the finish line, almost there!!! No wait, turn left???? what??? Ok.... OMG a huge, hill! That's cruel and funny at the same time. Up the hill (they had volunteers on the hill cheering for you), down the hill to the finish!!!! Run time 1:43:12. A 15 minute PR!!!! I will take it.

Total Time: 5:12

A few thoughts on the race.
1. Great great course, best I have been on and I will do it again
2. Amazing volunteers and very well stocked aid stations
3. Extremely family oriented, if you have kids this is a race you should do for sure. There is so much for the kids to do
4. Yes, my timing got messed up, but ultimately the eventually found it. I have had this happen at other races so I don't hold it against Rev3. It happens, I know people who have had it happen at Mdot races where kona spots are on the line. Generally if you give the race director some time he/she can figure it out.
5. Finish line. The finish area was also very nice and exciting, a jumbotron, huge stage, face painting for the kids, and lots more!

Next up, my nutrition report. stay tuned.

Rev3 Knoxville Race Review (part 1 of 2)

2010-05-12T19:35:00.011-04:00

I have so much to say about my weekend in Knoxville, it was a great weekend!!!!

We arrived in Knoxville Friday afternoon and headed right to the race site to pick up our packets. The expo had just opened when we arrived, but they were ready to go. The parking and directions were well marked, registration was well staffed with knowledgeable volunteers, the jumbo screen was set up, and they had all the big inflatable slides ready to go for the kids.

One of the major things I noticed about this race over the weekend is how geared they are towards family and the athlete having a great race experience(yes they are still fine tunning some of the timing and gps units, but I have raced several races where my timing was wrong. Not to mention how many race results I have looked and noticed that some of the participats results were clearly distorted).

Rev3 has so much to do for the kids, they had a play area set up with large slides, a child/parent adventure race(which made me wish I had kids just so I could do the race), family movie night on the jumbo screen, and they let you cross the finish line with your family/kids!

On Friday night I headed to the trakkers team dinner while Jose meet up with my aunt for a Gluten Free dinner! Team dinner was a blast, I meet some of my fellow teammates. We had a special treat when some of our team pros(Richie Cunningham, Michael Lovato and Amanda Lovato) stopped by to say hello! Of course pro and team manager Carole Sharpless was there to hang out with us all night and make sure we didn't get too rowdy. They were all so nice and each took the time to talk to us individually about our race season, training, homes, ect.

Saturday it was up bright and early to head back to the expo for team pictures, a fun run with our team pros, a First Endurance giveway at the Trakkers booth, and bike check in. I ended up hanging out in the Trakkers booth for awhile with fellow teammate and 2009 Kona Amature Female Champion, Kathleen Calkins. This chick is seriously fast and super down to earth and humble. Thanks for the race tips Kathleen!

After the expo Jose and I dropped our bikes off at transition and checked into our hotel. I did my traditional prerace nail painting while Jose got our nutrition ready for race day.

Then we meet up with my Aunt for a prerace dinner(and maybe a glass of vino) at Outback! Yum!!!
After dinner we headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep before race day. Part 2 of 2 coming soon!!!!

Rev3 Goals!!!

2010-05-07T04:15:00.003-04:00

I am so excited to race Rev3 on Sunday. I love the half distance races and know that this course and event are going to be a great experience no matter what the clock says when I get to the finish line. Therefore, I have intentionally not set any time goals. I really want to enjoy the day!

Here are my Goals!!!

1. To actually be able to run the run and to get to the finish line without my foot bothering me.
2. To hit my Heart Rate Zones on the bike and run.
3. To stay calm and focused no matter what the day throws my way.
4. To hit my nutrition well. No bonking!!!!

Number 1 is probably the most important to me. I have been struggling with my foot now for over a year and am just now able to train on it and I don't want a big setback.

Taper Time!

2010-05-03T18:28:00.003-04:00

My taper for Rev3 officially started at 12:43pm Saturday. By 4:00 I had hit sushi for lunch, barnes and noble for a magazine, and of course starbucks for coffee. Then promtly found this chair open at the pool!

Yes it was 85 degrees out and I am was drinking coffee, but.... I was recovering with this good stuff.

I managed to sit still for about 40 minutes before, I couldn't manage any longer. We headed back to the condo and by 7:30 I had cleaned everything, finished laundry, and cooked enough food to feed an army for a week.

Now I only have 6 days left of my taper week, what is left to do? Tracy and I plan to perfect an energy bar recipe, and I might start packing......

Oh, yeah,and other than a tremendous amount of time on my hands during taper week, I also seem to wake up at like 3am, which Jose loves!!!!! Gotta love the TAPER.

Langley Pond Oly Race Report

2010-04-26T19:47:00.013-04:00

This was my last race before the Rev3 Knoxville Half on May 9th. I know that the race is getting close because registration for the event closes this Friday.

We arrived in town around 8:30 Friday night. Our friends, Troy and Kat had arranged for us to stay at Troy's parents house. We preceded to stay up way too late having fun, before finally crashing around midnight, I had been up at 2am so I was more than ready to passout! The alarms went off and coffee started brewing around 5. Everyone quickly made breakfast and we headed out to the race site.

This was also my first race with my new Trakkers team kit and I have to say I really enjoyed showing up to the race site in my team colors!!!!. Saucony makes the kit and it is super comfy and smooth. The water just beads off the material. I knew they made good running shoes, but was pleasantly surprised by the quality of their tri apparel.

I picked up my packet, and headed over to transition. The interesting thing about this race series is that my husband and I rack and start right next to each other since we both race the open division. Well, I rack my bike and start to set up transition when the hubby shows up and asks me to slide my bike down so that he can fit in. Mind you there are only two bikes on the rack so there was plenty of room without me sliding anywhere. I told him to get lost..... What nerve!

Here Is My Transition All Set Up and Ready To Go

One thing I have really been working on is nutrition on the race course. I have started using the EFS Products and they are for real. I am loving the liquid shot. It is kind of like a gel, but there is no gelling agent. I think this is what makes it so different. It not only tastes great but it digests easy and keeps you fueled even during the most demanding efforts. I put about 200 calories in my bottle for the bike and it worked out perfectly.

The swim was interesting, it was my first open water start in the open division. I am by no means a swimmer. I was aggressive in the start and had some feet, but let some girls push me around and ended up all alone. About 2/3 of the way through the swim I caught some feet. However these feet did not swim very straight.

I should also mention that my friend Kat was racing the sprint, their start was after ours, but the swim finish was at the same spot. Kat is a VERY fast and GOOD swimmer. So I am swimming towards "the finish" when I feel someone swim over me and head in a different direction. I look up see that it is Kat and I think wow that is odd and mean, but kept swimming. Well, about 30 seconds later the lifeguards were blowing whistles at me as I had swam way off course. DUH, should have followed Kat!!!! Out of the water in 26:45.

I rushed through transition and got out on the bike. I wanted a solid bike and to be able to push the effort the whole time. It was a two loop course with a low grade hill. The first loop was good. I hit 39 going down the hill but my climb was a little dissapointing as I was a little agressive at the start. The second loop brough some rain, slick roads, bike traffic, and car traffic so even though going up I was stronger going down was slower. All in all it was an ok bike. My legs were really tired and didn't want to give me as much as I was asking for. Bike was 1:07 something.

Into T2!!! I was a little scared about this run. I have been known to be lazy here and I knew it was gonna hurt. I managed to push it and ended up running a personal best 43:XX to which I was happy.

Finish time was 2:20:XX. All in all it was fun day!

Probably the thing I was happiest about from my race were actually my transistions. I typically have had very very slow ones. T1 was second fastest female and t2 was fastest female. I have to attribute some of this to trislide. The stuff is amazing! I spray it on everything and you just slide in and out of it, not to mention it's anti-chafing effects.

At Awards

Rev3 Challenge and Smack Talk

2010-04-16T08:44:00.005-04:00

The Trakkers Pro team recently challenged the Trek/Kswiss team to team challeng. The top two men and the top woman from each team at the upcoming Rev3 Knoxville Olympic race will be scored using cross country scoring to determine the fastest team on the day. Winning team get $5,000. Since the challenge there has been a lot of smack talking between the team. Check out this clip from Michael Lovato and Ritchie Cunningham.

http://www.rev3tri.com/...0richie%20quotes.mp3

This makes the race so much more interesting and I can't wait until May 9th. It will be a challenging and exciting race to watch and to follow.

Check out http://rev3tri.com/knoxvilleComingSoon.htm

Registration closes on April 30th so sign up now before you miss out. You can use the coupon code "Trakkers127" for a $10 discount.

My week in recovery

2010-04-09T06:48:00.002-04:00

This whole recovery training is new to me. My old coach never took a recovery period, he took recovery days, two a week. This didn't really work for me, I ended up hurt OFTEN. Now I actually work both recovery days and weeks into my training. I was pretty broken down and coming off from being sick so I was given this for my "recovery" week.

Monday:Easy Swim, 3000 Yards

Tuesday: OFF DAY

Wednesday: Brick Easy Effort 1hour bike 40 minute run

Thursday:Power swim 2600. I only swam 2000 because I was swimming outside and freezing. I figured with coming off being sick I was better off to bag the last 600 and go get warm.

Friday: 1 hour bike with a couple of short intervals

Weekend: Recovery is over, back to some good training!!! YAY!!

I actually hate recovery, because I am still on my old coaches mentality of GO GO GO! I felt like crap all week, which I am being told is normal. I hope it pays off!

Cooper River Bridge Run

2010-04-05T09:52:00.002-04:00

My first memory of the Cooper River Bridge run in Charleston, SC is from my senior year in college. It was about 11:00 on a Saturday and I had just rolled out of bed.I was trying not to noticed how dirty my house was from the previous nights activities when my roommate walked in the door wearing running clothes holding a box full of fruit and water. I asked him what in the world he had been doing up so early and why he was in running clothes. He explained he had run a 10k over the copper river bridge, I of course thought he was an idiot for getting up so early to run over a bridge.

Well, once I became an athlete myself one of the first races I added to my list of todo races was the Cooper River Bridge Run(I will use any excuse to get back to Charleston)! Year after year we have tried to make it, but have always had a conflict. Finally this year, it fit in the schedule.

We rolled into town Friday night about dinner time, where our friend Tracy had cooked an amazing meal(gluten free!!!) at her parents house on James Island. After dinner Tracy and I had to get to our pre race tradition.

Nail Art!!! We then got our stuff together for the next day and headed off to bed.

4:45 and we are all up and drinking coffee 15 minutes before the alarm was set to go off.

6:30 We pack the car with too many people to count and head over to the race site. Mind you this is a big race with 40,000 runners. I had never done it and was fully expecting to spend lots of time in crowds, waiting, and frustrated. Not at all how it went. We drove over the bridge made, several turns that got us lost, and then Tracy pulls right up to the start line. Crazy! We do a warm up and head to line. Again, Tracy pulls some crazy tricks out of her sleeve and I find myself almost in the front row of 40,000 runners. I was starting to hope that my race was going to go half as well as our logistics were working out.

8:00 The gun goes off! Go time. Since I pace poorly, I had decieded to pace off of Tracy and see what it felt like to run"smart." Miles one and two I felt a little tight but comfortable. Mile three, the climb was good, felt strong and was able to pass a few people. Mile 4 was down hill, where I opened up my stride and worked the down hill. Miles 5 and 6 are nice and flat and take you right downtown. I was able to find a nice pack to run with those last couple miles and felt strong.

8:40+ish I hit the finish line with a 1:30 minute PR (I had no expectations going into this race so I was very happy with this). I guess running smart works.

We easily found the rest of the sardines that had packed into the car with us,hit the First Endurance Ultragen, did a quick warm down and headed out for some brunch and mimosas! Perfect day all around.

lucky chica

2010-03-05T05:04:00.002-05:00

I am not typically a lucky girl, but on Saturday I think I used every bit of luck I have ever had and will ever have! I was in Charleston, SC and needed to do a four hour ride. The previous night I had been out with my husband and for some dumb dumb dumb reason thought I was back in college and hit the yager and then a little to much wine all before dinner. We let's just say my four hour ride didn't start until one. We brought the trainers with us, but the weather was actually nice so we decided to ride outside. Then I decided that Jose, my husband, and I should not ride together, just be close enough to check in occasionally. He is a much stronger rider than I am and he would have to ride easy to ride with me or I would have to suffer way to much for being hungover to ride with him. Well. I am horrible with directions and of course missed a turn and found myself on some busy back road with no shoulder and a speed limit of 55. Kinda scary, but I am kinda dumb, so I just kept riding. Yep, I got hit by a car. A car that was going at least 50. I was riding and all of a sudden I hear this loud noise and my elbow got hit really hard. I was so stunned about what happened, I couldn't even tell you what kind of car it was, or even what color it was. Nor did the driver have the courtesy to stop. Here comes the lucky, lucky, lucky part! Not only did I manage to not break anything I didn't even go down. I was waiting for a terrible pain to hit me but it never did. At this point the reality of what happened hit me and I did start to panic and had to get off my bike and stop riding for the day. I tries a few times to get back on my bike and ride back to the car, but once a dump truck passed me and I nearly jumped off my bike and into the bushes I decided to call it a day. Jose, was only about 3 miles away and went to get the car for me. I feel so lucky to be typing this blog right now and next time I am felling uncomfortable with where I am riding I will go home. I honestly had that stupid, "it will never happen to me" feeling about getting hit by a car. I do hope it never happens again. Ride safe ya'll!

extra baggage

2010-01-17T10:58:00.001-05:00

Extra baggage(fat) is not fast on race day. A few of us have a little to much extra baggage(thanks mom for all those cookies over the holidays!) than we would like going into the 2010 race season. So, we are starting a weight loss challenge. The first weigh in will be on Tuesday, but the trash talk has already started. We are all super competative. One person who I will leave nameless is determined not to lose since the last time he lost a weight loss challenge he ended up with a tattoo of the Bojangles logo with "Body by Bojangles" on his fanny. No, it isn't Jose. We have also already had to put a no sabotaging rule in place, as the scheming has already started.I expect this to be a highly entertaining 12 weeks
Here are the rules:
12 weeks.
Lose the highest percentage of body weight you win.
20 dollar buy in, winner takes all.
No tattoos
Take a picture of the scale, apparently we have some cheaters in the group.
Plus there will be a weekly incentive TBD and a few sidebets.

I was going to post my strategy, but on second thought I don't want to give the competition any ideas. So, I will post it in 12 weeks.

We have a few spots left if anyone wants in.

looking silly

2010-01-15T09:00:00.007-05:00

Since my foot hates me and refuses to let me run like I want to, my coach has me swimming double swims. I have mastered the art of hanging my suit from the rearview mirror and blasting it with the heater in my car to dry it. There is nothing worse than putting on a cold damp suit to get in the pool. Last week while I was doing this my swim coach called me and I had a realization while on the phone with him. The conversation went something like this.

Me: Crap, I think my suit is see through in the butt.
Coach: Which one?
Me: The blue and black one that looks like water.
Coach: Ha, yeah.....
Me: Well, thanks for telling me

Since I swim with a coed group of youth, walking around the pool deck mooning everyone is slightly inappropriate. When I got home I tossed the suit and ordered three new grab bad suits. They arrived yesterday and I am thinking I should have opted for mooning everyone. This is what I got.

Ok, cool... It kinda matches my team colors......

Camo? Really? Sigh..... I have never owned camo in my life....but whatever, it was cheap!

WTF! Skull and crossbones? and red??? Does it get any worse. Good God, I am gonna catch some crap at the pool for this one. I much prefeer pink.....

Luckliy, Trakkers sent me a cool box to lift my spirts. LOVE the PINK!!!!!

swimming

2009-12-23T21:40:00.000-05:00

For the last few months I have not been able to run much due to some stupid foot issues. So, I thought a swim focus would be a good idea. I am not a fast swimmer at all and I blame that on never swimming as a kid. So, I figured I would try to talk the local youth swim team into letting me swim with them. The reasoning in my mind is that all of the really fast swimmers were swimmers as kids and if I ever want to be a "really fast" swimmer I need to start from the beginning.
The coaches of the youth team were nice enough to say yes when I asked to join their team. What I was not prepared for was to only make the silver team(10-11 year olds). I figured ok, I'll give this a try, out swim these little kids, and get moved up. HA. Let me tell you these kids are FAST. They out swim me day after day, I have been swimming with them for about four months now and still am not in the fast lane. They often swim 5000 yards a day and can do 20X100 on 1:20 without thinking about it. It has been a great experience I have dropped lots of time, learned two new strokes, and gain a great amount of respect from these kids. I have gotten to know my lanemates and learned to respect them as athletes as much as I do my other training partners. Today was the last day of practise before xmas and it hit me that most of my training partners in the pool who continue to whoop my butt still believe in santa. Good grief!

Winterizing

2009-11-16T07:02:00.000-05:00

So the end of the triathlon season has arrived for us. With that brings a few changes on our routines. One big change is that we will be seeing a lot of our trainers. UGGGG... I get so bored on the trainer, nothing new to look at, no cool breeze, it's just not as fun as being outside on my bike. I wouldn't say that riding my bike is my favorite discipline in the first place, so when I get stuck inside doing it I am even less excited. So the other day when I got home Jose decided to winterize my bike in order to get me a little more excited about riding it!

Yes, I like pink!

Thanks Jose.

details

2009-11-04T04:59:00.000-05:00

The weekend started out with us finding out that too many birds pooped in the pond where the swim is held for our triathlon. This caused the tri to become a du. Since my foot is still on the fritz, I decided not to race however Jose had already signed up and wanted to race. Unfortunately for the dog, this meant he was denied his first race. This must have really upset him, because while Jose was out racing and I was out training he had a field day in the house. First he ate the pumpkin bread my mom had made from scratch, then he chewed up several Halloween decorations, and when I got home and asked him about it, he rolled his lip at me. Needless to say he ended up in the doghouse.

Jose and John Prerace

When I got out of the pool, I found a phone full of text message updates from Ryan about Jose's race. It was so exciting to read through them and "follow" the race rather than just hear the results. Jose posted his first OA, by over three minutes!!!! However, that was not his big race for the weekend. It was this:

That's right, a burger eating contest. He and Alex decided to go to Five guys and eat two 5 patty cheeseburgers, fries, and a soda. They both did it, and said it wasn't that bad. I am sure glad it wasn't my stomach that all that food went into, I wouldn't have been hungry for a week.

WEEKEND!

2009-11-02T06:53:00.001-05:00

This weekend was filled with lots of exciting stuff! Some exciting race results, a burger eating contest, floor shopping, a mischevious dog, some really cool team news, and we started planning or 2010 race season. I will post details tonight!

Training Partners

2009-10-28T06:14:00.001-04:00

Everyone knows that a good training partner is priceless. I have been blessed with some great ones. In Macon I had a few amazing triathletes who had more years of experience with this sport than years I have been alive. They were kind enough to mentor me and share lots of great advice. I also have Jose, who is always ready to push me to the limits and give me a good butt kicking. The H2A team has been kind enough to let me join them and get my butt kicked in the pool by a bunch of 10 year olds(more on that another day). Recently HHI has had a growth spurt in young new triathletes with some great natural talent, who have also kept me company on many long ride. My list goes on and on, but there has been one training partner for the last three years that just really stands out. Poor guy can just not figure out how to ride a bike so he as been bugging me to do a relay with him. Which I must say I have thought really hard about as he is a good runner and with my current run fitness I could use a good runner. I told him I just didn't think he was quite ready yet. So he shows up at my door looking like this.

I explained to him that although he has a great nose to show him the way, the course routes can be difficult and he may get lost. He has been training hard lately and really wants to race so the next day he shows up at my door dressed like this

He then tells me that he would swim for me. I still just don't think he is ready to race. I feel really bad for him, so I told him I would let him enter the costume contest for this weekend's Halloween race in Savannah. I am trying to help him think of a good costume. Any suggestions?

Commiting

2009-10-25T12:28:00.000-04:00

Life is all about committing. Since I am a poor communicator and often leave those around me in the dark about what is going on in my life I am committing to keeping a blog to keep everyone up to date. I have some high expectations for the next couple years in my life, from sport, to family, and career, and I look forward to sharing my adventures to all those interested. I will post about some of those expectations another day.

Sometimes in life you need you need a little extra help to follow through with your commitments, as my friend Josh knows. Friday night I got an email from Josh saying he was looking for some people to ride 100 with him on Saturday. I am never one to turn down a long ride with good friends so I ditched my standard Saturday Run, Swim, Bike routine and showed up. The ride started out a mess, two flats, several drops, a killer headwind, among other challenges. At mile 70 we took our second store stop, where it started to rain. UGGG! Josh however had made the commitment to finish this loop strong, but he knew he need a little pick up. Man goes into the store and walks out with a paper brown bag, inside a SPARKS!

For those of you that didn't part enough in college, Sparks, is a malt liquor energy drink. Craziest thing I have ever seen, Josh downs about 2/3 of is drink and mans up to finish that century strong! Two more flats later, more rain, enough wind to annoy me, and some really crappy roads due to a short cut to avoid more rain, we made it home!
I hope that over the next year I am able to find the drive to follow through with my commitments sans to many sparks..... we'll see.