With all of the excitement and nerves starting to gather, we can easily forget about some important details in the days leading up to a big race.  Whether you’re a seasoned triathlete or doing your first race, taking extra care of your body a few days out can make a huge difference between a great race to the finish or a long day of suffering.  I try and focus on 3 things before every race: recovery, nutrition, and hydration.

Recovery: This includes getting lots of sleep each night and taking naps if I can squeeze them in during the day.  It also means eating after every workout and getting enough protein in those post workout snacks.  mix1 is my go-to post workout snack because it has a balanced mix of protein and carbohydrates that helps my body recover quickly from the training.

Nutrition: Not only is it important to eat a well balanced and nutrient rich assortment of foods leading up to a race, but it’s important to eat enough so that my body is fully fueled for race morning.  I’ll add an extra mix1 into my daily diet in the days leading up to the race so that I’m keeping my fuel levels topped off.

Hydration: Most of our races are in hot conditions so it’s important to go into the race totally hydrated.  Staying hydrated is always an important goal of mine, especially here in Colorado where it’s so dry, but I make an extra effort to drink more in the days leading up to the race.  mix1 is great in helping me stay hydrated because I can get some extra fluids in with my recovery snacks unlike protein bars.

Here’s what my pre-race days typically look like (or at least what I shoot for!)

Friday

            Morning

Easy training (swim, run, bike) with several “race-pace” efforts

Focus on post training nutrition and hydration with mix1 and lots of water

 

           Afternoon

Like many of you, I work full time so my Friday afternoon is spent working in my microbiology lab but I try my best to stay off of my feet as much as possible!

I take a lean performance mix1 for a snack when I start to feel tired or flat mid-day

           

            Evening

Big dinner with lots of veggies, pasta/bread/rice, and chicken.  I feel much better when I keep things balanced and typical of what I normally eat on a daily basis

Wash my Specilaized Shiv and get it race-ready and running fast (with the help of The Boulder Service Course)

Get to bed early because tomorrow night’s sleep may not be great due to an early morning race start

 

Saturday

            Morning

mix1 and Breeze Bar for a light but substantial breakfast pre-run

Easy jog with some strides and pick-ups to race pace

Big breakfast with some eggs, toast or waffles with almond butter, orange juice, and coffee! (Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day)

Short ride, just to make sure everything on the bike is working properly

Easy “float” swim – I leave the swim till last because it helps me loosen up and relax for the rest of the day

 

            Afternoon

Lunch – sandwich with fruit and a mix1

Pre-race meeting and expo – these can get long and hot so it’s important to stay hydrated and bring a snack like a mix1 and some dried fruit

Chill out in a cool place and watch TV or a movie

 

            Evening

Dinner – Pizza, salad, and some ice cream. I love pizza so it’s never hard to eat even if I’m really nervous for the upcoming race. It’s also never hard to find a pizza joint in whatever town I’m racing.

Put race numbers and gels on my bike, pack race equipment in my backpack and get to bed early!

 

Sunday  Race Day!

Wake up about 2-2.5 hours before race-start

Breakfast is a bowl of oatmeal, mix1, Breeze Bar, small cup of coffee

Drive to race site and set up transition area

Easy jog or ride with a couple efforts to get my heart rate and body temperature up

Long swim warm up so I’m ready to get out fast

Race FAST!

Immediately after the race I have a mix1 that I froze the night before so it’s nice and cold waiting for me!  Just because you’re not racing again soon doesn’t mean you get to skip the recovery step!

Time to relax and have some fun at the expo and post-race festivities.  I don’t usually feel like eating right away so I’ll have another mix1 to try and get some calories and protein in until I’m ready to eat!

For more information on Kristen's recovery products, mix1, please visit www.mix1life.com

photo
Paul Phillips/Competitive Image

Wowza! What a weekend of fantastic racing and fun. There's just so much to tell everyone about between getting to meet a bunch of the best triathletes in the world and what actually went down in the race!  Here's the Part I version of my blog update: This is the actual race report. More fun details to come!

Race Report:

The women's race didn't start until 1:30pm on Sunday, which is always kind of weird for me. I'm used to a 4am wake up for a 6am race, where there isn't time to sit around and think about the race all day, so this made pre-race stuff a little different. I got up, went to a cute little coffee place down the street and sat out on the curb and cheered on some of the age groupers racing that were racing. After that, it was all about wasting time without thinking too much about the afternoon. Good thing there were some interesting tennis matches from the US Open going on at that time.

Anyways, after surviving the whole morning from going crazy, I noticed the wind was picking up quite a bit so after a quick conversation with Nick, who was in Germany for Eurobike (and some moto racing...), we decided a 404 front wheel was the better choice than my 808. This ended up being a really good decision as the wind continued to get stronger and more gusty as the day went on.

photo Paul Phillips/Competitive Image

After getting everything set up in both transitions, some of us went down to do a little swim warm up and holy crap was the

current moving! We watched a few girls that were already in the water as they swam upstream and weren't going anywhere! My initial thought was, YES! The rougher the swim, the better for me so I was pretty stoked on this whole situation. The race directors ended up shortening the laps but making us do 3 instead of 2 just to try and keep people a little closer to shore and therefore "safer". So we all lined up, walked out with our country flag, and did the whole introductions, anthem, pontoon line up... and go! Unfortunately, when changing the course because of the current, they shortened the first bit where we swim upstream and make a quick left at the buoy. 30metes is NOT far enough for the first turn of a swim. Those first couple of minutes were some of the scariest I've ever had in a race. Between getting pounded by each other, we had to get around the buoy whose anchor line nearly strangled me on each lap. This was a really rough swim, I'm still sore from getting punched the whole way. But at least I knew it was going to be crazy going into it so I was able to keep calm and just do what I could swim away from people and get some clean water. It was non-wetsuit cause the water was really warm but I still got to wear my blueseventy swim skin which made me feel super speedy!

Finally, lap 3 of the hurricane was over and it was off onto the bike, my favorite part! My cycling has been feeling so good lately and I was pumped to get out there and just ride the crap out of that course. I think I did pretty well considering it was not my kind of flat, power course. I passed a few strong girls and only got passed by a few like Mirinda Carfrae (IM world champ) and my Specialized teammate (and cycling bad ass) Nikki Butterfield so I was pretty pleased about that as well. My Specialized Shiv

was amazing to race and with some swirling winds, I definitely felt like I had the advantage over everyone else. That bike is just so fun to race, especially since it had been tuned and race-ready-fied by the Boulder Service Course last week. There were a couple of places on the 4 lap bike course where the fans were just incredible, screaming for you as you ride up a gnarly hill, it was awesome.

photo Paul Phillips/Competitive Image

Off onto the run, I knew I just needed to keep things consistent and hold it together as long as possible. I was able to drink my whole bottle of SDM on the bike so I knew I was fueled and ready for a fast run. Resting into this race made everything feel so much better. My legs actually felt great for most of the run and every time something started to fall apart, I just had refocus and bring it all back together. The course was pretty fun because it was just a big out and back down hill on the way out and uphill on the way back. The fans lined the entire course and kept things exciting the whole way. It was awesome to see so many people interested in the sport and it was great to have them all out there... minus the ones cooking bbq and drinking beer right by the run course... those are things you just really don't want to smell mid race... ugh.

So ya, the race was awesome and it was worthy of the money that was on the line. I'm glad it wasn't just an easy, flat, boring race. This course was challenging and I think it really helped shake things up and make people work for their place. The race directors deserve a huge thanks for getting all of this together and making this race into such a fantastic weekend! Hy-Vee is the best sponsor we could ask for and I look forward to racing there again next year!

Being athletes we can all get caught up in the 'world of me' each day when deciding what to eat, how to train, and what else to do to fill the day (there's usually not much time left after those two). And as focused and disciplined as we all are, sometimes it's necessary to take a step back from life and remember why we do what we do and how we can help our community.

This weekend was one of those occasions and so I spent some time with Boulder Mountainbike Alliance (BMA) building some new trail up at the Sourdough Trail just outside of Boulder. Because Boulder is so awesome for all outdoor activities, our trails get used A LOT and thus need quite a bit of maintenance to keep them flowing and fun. There is one section of Sourdough that has turned into a rocky pit and was exactly 0% fun to ride.

So about 20 volunteers and BMA members hiked in, tools in hand, and proceeded to reroute the trail to some beautiful new single-track. Nick Legan of VeloNews and The Boulder Service Course and I spent quite a bit of the day trying to uproot one sucker of a tree stump and after about 3 hours of digging and chopping we finally got it out. By the afternoon, we were definitely hitting the wall from a full day of physical labor but after seeing how awesome the new trail looks, it was well worth every bit of sweat and muscle ache (which I am still suffering from several days later!)

It's a great thing, feeling like you're taking part in the community and doing something to help your fellow athletes, adventurers, and outdoorsmen. One day of work truly makes me appreciate all of the hard work people have put in to developing new trails, maintaining the ones we have, and keeping us all on our bikes and smiling down some single-track.

Can't wait to get out there with my Specialized Epic!

It's official folks, I got my formal email invitation to the Hy-Vee Triathlon yesterday and what an fn relief!

For those of you who are a little confused right now about this whole Hy-what? thing going on, here's the low down. Hy-Vee is the biggest non-drafting Olympic distance race for us pros because it has the largest prize-purse of any race (I think of any distance from sprint to Ironman... correct me if you know). I would describe Hy-Vee as kind of like the 'world championships' for Olympic distance non-drafting triathlon since we don't really have an actual worlds. But beyond that, with a $1million total purse, it is quite the event with everyone vying for a spot.

In previous years, Hy-Vee has been a World Cup on the ITU circuit. This means it was draft-legal and came with all of the ITU rules including only a certain number of athletes from each country. As an American, if you weren't solely focused on racing ITU, there was little chance you would get into Hy-Vee because everyone wanted in.

This year however, WTC (think Ironman and 70.3 corporation) bought the rights to Hy-Vee and decided they were going to make it non-drafting instead of trying to work with their enemy the ITU. But having such a huge purse meant they had to limit the field somehow so they developed a new series called 5150. There were a bunch of races this spring and summer that athletes could earn points at to try and qualify for the limited number of entries. These qualifying races had 3 different levels: 250, 500, and 750 with 750 earning the most points per place and less for 500 and even less for 250.

Anyways, the "July qualification" for Hy-Vee ended this Monday and the top 20 men and women in the ranking are automatically in. This means, it doesn't matter if someone goes to another 5150 race this month and outscores you, you're still in. There is one more race, New York City Tri, where 5 more athletes can get points to try and qualify but it doesn't affect those 20 July qualifiers... confusing huh?

So.... going into Boulder Peak this weekend, I was sitting out of the top 20 (I played the game completely wrong) but was ready to race for some major points to move up the ranking. I ended up getting 7th at Peak, which being a 750 level race earned me a good chunk of points but I wasn't sure it was going to be enough. After the race, I sat down and did the math and thought I was 21st and wasn't too pleased about this! However, I didn't realized one of the girls at Peak was out-sprinted by another girl at the end and ended up losing one place, giving me just enough to move ahead in points. Whew! So I'm 20th. Way to get in by the skin of my teeth huh? Doesn't matter though, I'm in for sure and I don't have to go chase points in New York now!

Well, I hope this helped clear some things up. I know, I probably confused everyone even more, but at least we know one thing for sure... I'm in! Yes!

Huge thanks to my sponsors, family, friends, and coaches for helping me reach my major goal this season. Grant and Neal from ApexCoaching have got me to where I am now and without them I'd still be lost! Specialized has been amazing from the beginning. The Shiv is so freaking fast and it's always nice having the hottest bike in transition! Also, Mix1 has been key in stepping up my recovery and nutrition throughout the day. I feel so much better using quality products to get me ready for the next session. Blueseventy has also been there from the beginning creating the fastest wetsuits and swim gear around. It's hard not being confident going into the swim wearing such awesome equipment. And of course, a ginormous thanks to the Boulder Service Course for all that they do to keep my Shiv and Amira rolling fast. I like to pretend I do my own bike-work but let's be honest here, I let the experts take over and everything just works so much better! Thanks you Thank you!

Well it was another trip to Miami and another top 10 for the season.

 Lifetime Fitness races always seem to draw some of the highest quality

and deepest fields of all the International distance races in the US and

South Beach was no exception.  9th place gets me some valuable LTF

Series points and was the first and most important goal for this

weekend.  Things are starting out pretty well and I'm pumped to be where

I'm at right now.  The race wasn't spectacular and there are plenty of

things I know I need to work on and improve in order to crack the top 5

but I think things are headed that direction.

Flora Duffy and Me leading the ride
 What an exciting year this is going to be for the Specialized Tri Team.  We have some of the best athletes racing everything from ITU World Championship Series races to Ironmans and everything in between.  Not only is the Global Team the biggest and strongest it has ever been, but the domestic US Team has made a huge jump this year, adding in some really quality athletes that are on the up and up.

Last week the US Team got together out at Morgan Hill for a little team camp so we could all meet each other and learn about all the sweet Specialized products we will be using throughout the year.


Specialized US Tri Team

Post-race In-N-Out Burger (Flora and Sara Tarkington)

Pre-Camp however, several of us made our way to Folsom, California for a little off-road racing at Xterra Real.  The race was awesome and full of mud pits and rivers from all of the rain Cali has been getting lately.  The Specialized team dominated the podiums  with the Queen of Xterra Melanie McQuiad and Ben Hoffman taking the wins.  The race was hilarious because of the mud and lack of skills of some of us road triathletes, but it was a great way to start the week.  A huge thanks goes out to Kinetic Cycles who hosted a fun pre-race night at their shop and was out at the race to help us with our bikes (and they even cleaned our bikes after the race... which was quite the task with all of that mud!)


We eat a lot... (Jen Tetrick, Flora Duffy, Mandy McLane)

 in Morgan Hill, we met up with the other team members and packed the next 3 days full of training, product meetings, and a big introduction and Q&A session with all of the company.  We got to completely geek out on bikes, aerodynamics, rock-gaps, and lots of deltas...  The engineers and product managers for everything from bikes to tires to helmets and clothing came to talk to us about what sets Specialized products apart and above the rest.  All I can say is I'm stoked to be on the best equipment made by the most passionate people out there!

Another great addition to the camp was having Peter Reid and Jordan Rapp come for a day or two and give a really interesting talk about their experiences with Triathlon as well as what it took for them to make that next level of racing.  You should check out a video of their talk!


Jen Tetrick and I spent some serious time in mud at Xterra Real

Peter and Jordan weren't the only stud athletes present though.  Melani McQuaid, Ben Hoffman, and Desiree Ficker were at the camp as our "Mentors".  This was actually pretty awesome because having athletes of this caliber so accessible and willing to help is truly amazing.  Melanie was particularly amazing to me and really helped get some things straight with my training plans and just life in general.  So thank you Melanie!  Big things coming!


Gas Station desserts with Melanie, Ben, and Flora

So this camp was something special and I think we all learned a ton about this amazing company that supports us all so much.  It was great to get to know so many other athletes and it's going to be a fun year to watch and cheer on our teammates at races!  Thanks to Ian and Mallory for getting this whole thing together and putting up with all of us strange triathletes...

I forgot to mention in my race report from Miami that my family flew out

to see my race.  This was the first time my dad has ever seen me race a

triathlon and only the second time for anyone else so this was a fun

way to show them what I do.  The more important reason why they came out

to Miami was because we hopped over to Nassau in the Bahamas for a

couple of days for a little family vacation.  It's been close to 15

years since we all went somewhere together that wasn't for a specific

sporting event so this was a nice little treat.

The

Bahamas are truly paradise and so much fun to just relax.  It's always

hard for me to sit still and beach vacations aren't really my thing, but

there were lots of things to do like kayak out to deserted islands and

go running through the town.  Each morning started with a little run

through the more unseen parts of town and then some open water swimming

in the ocean.  I could definitely get used to this life!  Not only was

it super relaxing and warm, but this little trip gave me a lot of time

to contemplate my training, racing, life, and all those things you just

don't have time to think about usually.  This trip got my focus back and

I'm ready to get back to work and implement all these fantastic ideas!

Anyways, it's back to the real world now... well, my real world...  I'm

off to California today to race Xterra Real with my Specialized team

mates (this should be interesting) and then I'll be heading down to

Morgan Hill for our Specialized team camp.  What a great month this has

been!

Oh boy, the first race of the 2011 season is done and dusted and let's just say hooray for that Training over the winter went extremely well and besides a small issue with my hip in early February, I've been basically injury free (knock on wood I've also been more consistent and more focused with my training than ever before, which is key for me.  So going into Miami I was pretty stoked.  This was the first time I wasn't dreading the race but was actually excited to see what I could do.  For once, I didn't feel out of place or like I didn't belong with the Pros.

Well, everything was shaping up nicely... until it all came crashing down.  The Wednesday before the race was possibly the most miserable day I've ever lived through due to what we thought was food poisoning but later re-evaluated and decided it was a pretty awful case of the flu.  I couldn't eat from about Tuesday night until Thursday night and even then it was only small bits every once in a while.  Pretty much my body was screwed and I knew despite doing everything I could, I wouldn't be as ready for Sunday as I wanted to be.

I had to make the decision of whether to fly all the way to Miami to do a race that I'd be lucky to be 50% on race day.  Due to the new 5150 series and the push for points to qualify for Hy-Vee I decided to suck it up and just get it done and get as many valuable points as possible.  I had the attitude that I'd just be super rested and extra light from not eating... haha. Just kidding, eating is NOT cheating ;)

So, I raced.  It went pretty well.  I set a new personal record of puking 3 times during the race (sorry I know you didn't want to hear that one but I think it's funny... gotta find the positives and pr's in each situation right?!?

For the most part, I felt OK but nothing felt strong or fast.  I got through the swim and came out with the lead group (minus McLarty).  I was pretty pleased with this considering I hadn't swum since Tuesday and with how poorly I felt.  The bike was actually going really well for the first of two laps.  I got in a great rhythm and was flying through some people and just hung in 3rd for a while.  Then everything started to fall apart.  My body had enough and there wasn't much I could do but hold on and hope the wheels didn't go flying off.  I got through the bike and was able to regather myself for the first 2 miles of the run.  Then it was all a race to keep my position and stay upright as long as possible.  Things started getting pretty blurry by mile 5 and those damn cones kept getting in my way as I stumbled the last few miles. Ha!

So I ended up 9th which I feel pretty good about considering the circumstances.  I'm pretty pleased that I can do these races when I'm as sick as I was and still stay in the top 10.  Things have definitely progressed since last year and the year before.

Beyond the race, Miami is a really great place and I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was.  The 5150 organizers were awesome as well and I was really impressed with how professional and organized they were.  There were more cops on the roads than I've ever seen in a race before and the course was fun and well marked.  Hugely impressed!

That's it for March.  Up next is Nautica South Beach Triathlon in April.  This will be the 2nd of three consecutive trips to Florida for races.  I'm excited to be healthy again and ready to go out and race!  But for now, I'm spending a little time in the Bahamas and then I'll be out to the Specialized team camp in California.  Lots of traveling to come but no worries, I'm still getting the work done!

Let me start by saying that I LOVE my Specialized S-Works Transition TT Bike.  It's amazing.  I've never felt so fast and aero and stable on a TT bike before and I had some great races on it this last season.  But for the 2011 season I have been given the opportunity to try out the Specialized Shiv and, well, hell yes!!  The Shiv is by far the coolest bike out on the market right now and I'm stoked to be on such a beautiful and powerful machine.


However, the Transition and Shiv seem to fit a bit differently so in order to get a good feel of what size Shiv I need to be on, I went to my friends at University Bicycles here in Boulder.   UBikes is a staple in the bike community around here and they just happen to be a Specialized dealer with the BG Fit system.  So last Wednesday I met up with BG Fit certified, bike fitter extraordinaire Jason Williams to dial in my position on the Transition so we could easily swap these dimensions over to my Shiv when it comes in.

Here's a video Matt Sweet from UBikes put together of the fit process and how this whole BG Fit thing works.  Check it out, it's pretty cool!

This is officially my 24th winter in Colorado and I have to admit that it is by far the best one I've ever had.  Yes, maybe it's the fact that it's only snowed a couple of times and the temps have been hovering around the mid 50's, but regardless, things have been going great here in Boulder.  About 4 months ago I was dead set on escaping to Tucson or Santa Monica to avoid the Colorado winter, but now that we're smack in the middle of it all, I couldn't be happier with the decision to stay.

Like everything in life, this situation really came down to attitude.  Instead of hating the snow and cold and wishing I was somewhere else, I finally decided to embrace the mountains and learn to enjoy them again.  After finally opening my eyes, I've realized everything I've been missing out on while pouting the past couple of years.  Winter sports are fun.  Yes, they are very fun, and actually pretty great cross-trainig and super beneficial to triathlon. 

Skate Skiing is by far one the hardest sports I've ever done.  Not only is it physically hard but the technique is insane.  I don't think I've ever been so bad at a sport before!  But once you get down the basic understanding and are able to get a small glide going, it's a great workout for really snowy days.  But the best part is how peaceful it can be when you're out in the mountains without anyone around just skating through the trees.  It's a great way to slow life down and just be happy with where you are at that exact moment.... ahhh so cheesy but whatever.

I also finally got back to snowboarding a little bit.  Wow, boarding is not like riding a bike... it doesn't stick with you through the years... at least not for me.  I grew up skiing nearly every weekend with my family up until my sisters and I started getting serious with swimming.  Once swimming took over we rarely made it up to the slopes and I think there might even have been a couple contracts with the swim coach to not ski at all.  Anyways, I've been up maybe once a year for the past 10 years so it was a shock to the system to jump back into it.  I still haven't been up as much as I'd like and I'm still terrible but there is still plenty of time.

Finally, the last (and quite possibly the best) thing that has made training in Colorado over the winter pretty great is my Specialized S-Works Epic Mountain bike!!!  I'm completely hooked.  Why didn't anyone tell me how fun mountain biking is?!?!  The trails around here have been staying pretty dry since the weather has been so nice and I just can't get enough of this bike.  I was riding the cross bike a lot throughout the fall and early winter, but it just doesn't compare to the mountain bike! Can you tell I'm a little excited?!  Huge dork, I know.  


But seriously, I think it's really important to have some other training options throughout the winter months just to keep you interested and motivated to keep working.  I'm 100% satisfied with the decision to stay here for the winter (minus a few trips to Cali and AZ just for fun) and am looking forward to the season this year!  Oh, and thanks to Julie Dibens' recent blog about winter training, I feel like I'm doing the right thing for me by staying here.  Nothing like having a wold champ confirm everything you were thinking..

Overall, I have to say I am really pleased with how this season turned out and I feel like I made some big and important jumps to take me to another level. Last year was pretty rough. I was definitely in way over my head and suffered a lot of mental and emotional blows that left me wondering whether or not I should even be doing this? This year started off pretty bad as well with a torn hip flexor that took me out of the first half of the season. Again, those thoughts of whether I should be racing came up. But then an amazing opportunity came about to spend some time in Denmark with Rasmus Henning and the Danish National Team and just get to experience what it's like to be a full-time, nothing-else, this-is-all-I-do, kind of athlete. And that was my turning point. I learned a ton, trained a ton, and figured things out a ton. After returning to the US, I was much fitter, faster, and most importantly much more confident! Each race from that point on started to get more and more fun and I kept getting better as I went. Talk about a positive feedback loop! I wanted to end this great season on a high note and went into Dallas rested and ready to kill it. Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned and this sure didn't. But instead of dwelling on it or frantically searching for another race to try and redeem myself at, I decided to hang up my Specialized Transition for the season and take some time off to recover and regroup before heading into 2011 training.

Now that it's time to start training again, I'm pretty happy I made this choice because now I'm super motivated to get back in shape and start building toward a huge 2011 season! Thanks to everyone for the great support and help this season and especially thanks to my great sponsors who took great care of me this year! Specialized Bluseventy VanderKitten Powerbar SRAM Mix1

Escape from Alcatraz Podium

Alcatraz

BG Bike Fit at Specialized

Riding in Denmark

More riding in Denmark

Pacific Grove

Race Start - Diving off the side of a boat!

What a fantastic weekend and great race at the inaugural San Francisco Triathlon at Alcatraz!!! With a 4th place finish, this has to be considered one of my best results to date and I'm super excited how everything is progressing this season!

The trip to San Francisco is always easy and super fun. I get to stay with my great home-stay Jon Orban who has a spectacular house in Brisbane overlooking the city. It's a little bit further away from the race site but it's worth the extra drive on race morning... well maybe not this time around...

View from my amazing home-stay! Thanks Jon!

As usual, I was staying with my roommate Jimmy and we were so proud of ourselves for getting up super early so we could actually get to the race site with plenty of time to warm up and get things sorted (this is very unusual for us). However, the only problem was that I didn't do a very good job of checking the race info and thought the last bus from transition to the ferry left at 6... not 5:45. We we got there around 5:20ish and hopped out of the car and heard them yelling that the last bus is leaving like right NOW! (They were just scaring people so they would hurry, and it worked, cause I freaked!)

At this point I was running my bike through transition to get it set up and then noticed something was wrong with my rear brake and it was rubbing... damn, must have gotten knocked or something. So in the dark of 5AM, I'm trying to screw my brake cable a little to loosen it but it's just not working. Luckily, the geniuses at Specialized have made it really easy to adjust your wheel angles with some little screws in the drop outs so I was able to at least get stuff sorted so nothing was rubbing. Unfortunately, I was a little paranoid so I left it pretty loose and ended up having to race with literally no rear brake... fun times in San Francisco eh? Anyways, by that time they were yelling that you have to be on the bus like 5 minutes ago, I'm sitting there cussing up a storm, and now I've cut my hand and am bleeding all over the place! Finally, some of the race directors and workers came over and told me to relax and that if worst came to worse, they could give me a ride in one of their cars... ahhh. A little less panicked. What would have actually been nice is if they told me the bus wasn't really going to leave for another 10 minutes. Cause I finally got everything together, including myself, and got to the bus and waited on it for another 5 minutes before leaving. Oh well, at least I wasn't the last on, and I was able to sit and breath for the first time since arriving....

Zipping up before the cold plunge!

But from here on, things went super smoothly and I had a great day. The swim was awesome. This was the swim I've been looking for and knew that I had in me. I came out with the leaders, Amanda and Tanille, who are both amazing swimmers so I was really pleased with that. The bike was great too. I stayed right with the leaders and felt oh so comfortable but tried to hold it in just for a bit during the first huge climbs. But then the 2 leaders destroyed me on the downhills. Not having a rear brake made things a bit sketchy and I had to play it a little more conservatively. Losing time going down hill sucks cause it's just free speed. It has nothing to do with fitness or strength, just guts and experience. But anyways, I tried to really hammer everything I could because I knew the Queen of technical riding, Miss Melanie McQuaid, 3x Xterra World Champ who is also my Specialized teammate, was coming for me. But I was able to make it off the bike still in 3rd, which was great!

My second transition... not so great. Nick Tuttle, the race announcer was right down in transition and he can vouch for how sorry and embarrassing my T2 was! Hahah. It was a really cold morning and my feet had seriously frozen on the bike. I couldn't feel anything beneath my ankles and so trying to put on my racing flats was a battle. I'm pretty sure it took me about 2 minutes to get my shoes on, I even tried running with one of my heals still sticking out cause I just got sick of trying to fit it in... Eventually, I got things sorted and started the run strong, steady, and under control. Melanie passed me within the first mile and I tried to hop on but she was flying and I was under strict instructions to run my own race, which included starting a bit more conservatively and then building into it. So I relaxed, focused on my stride and felt great! I don't think I've ever felt "good" running before, so this was awesome. The uphills and stairs were tough, and oh my gosh how hard is the damn sand-ladder!?!? Seriously, this was my 3rd time doing it in a race and it still surprises me how hard it is to get up that thing! I didn't see any of the other girls on the run after Mel went by and I was able to run the whole thing controlled and happy.

My home-stay's cutest kittens ever! Peanut Butter and Jelly.

Taking 4th was huge for me and I'm so excited at how this season is progressing. I know I still have a ton of work to do, especially in the run, but I'm having much more fun and can't wait to race again! Big thanks to Tri California for putting on such an awesome race! I loved this new course (longer bike, no mile run to T1) and look forward to next year. Also, congrats to everyone who did this race cause it is so tough! And of course, thanks to BlueSeventy cause without my awesome Helix wetsuit, that swim would have been miserable. An last but definitely not least, thanks to Specialized for making the fastest, best bikes out there! I felt so smooth and fast on my Transition!

Iron Girls Maryland Podium

I was out in Columbia, Maryland this weekend for the Aflac Iron Girls Triathlon and took home 2nd place with a pretty strong race start to finish. My actual race was pretty uneventful, lead out of the water, felt OK but not super great on the bike, and worked out some kinks in my run. Things are still going in the right direction and I'm excited to keep on racing and learning each time.

Finish and the Lake

As for the rest of the weekend, there was much more interesting things going on! First of all, if you know me at all, you know I'm no girly-girl who's all about sisterhood and girl-power. Not that I'm against anything like that, I've just never been the one to burst out in cheers or do cartwheels down the road, it's just not me. However, despite my un-girlyness, I had such a great time this weekend talking to the women and girls racing Iron Girls and hearing their stories and inspirations to race triathlon. The enthusiasm and excitement blew me away. 2500 women participated in this 3/4 Olympic Distance race and I couldn't believe how many young girls were there. I think there was about 16 girls of 13-14 years old and over 60 girls who were under 20. That's HUGE! It's awesome to see a new generation of girls getting involved in the sport and bringing a whole new attitude and energy to the races. Iron Girls is such a fantastic organization that helps women get involved and get active and I'm so glad to see these races selling out as quickly as they do (18 hours for 2500 athletes?!?!). There are great things to come and I'm excited to be a part of it all!

Post Race at Awards Ceremony

Also, I have to mention how awesome this race was from the athletes perspective. TriColumbia did an amazing job hosting this race and creating a fun and challenging course in such a beautiful area. I've never been to Columbia or even Maryland for that matter before so I didn't know what to expect. If you haven't been there before, be sure to make it out there to ride sometime because the roads are great, the hills are plentiful, and the people are really nice. A huge thanks to Vigo for putting so much heart into putting on these races and also to Jerry for getting me set up and taken care of out there. I'm completely sold on these TriColumbia races and I look forward to going back for more next year

A wedding down by the lake

Community Area in Columbia

Talk about last minute decisions! Last Monday I had no intentions or thoughts about racing anytime soon due to my hip issues earlier this season, but after deciding to make the trek out to Morgan Hill to visit the amazing people at Specialized, I figured, well, I’m already out here, might as well pop into a race and just see how it goes! This race I was about to “pop” into just so happens to be Escape from Alcatraz, one of the toughest but most amazing races on the circuit.

Overall, my race went OK. I’m not thrilled with my performance but considering I wasn’t planning to race until 3 days beforehand, I guess it was decent. The Alcatraz swim is notorious for being rough, but wow was it a tough day out there. I exited with a huge scratch across my face and feeling slightly seasick from the waves, not to mention being frozen from the freezing water temps! But onto the bike my feet thawed out and I put my head down and just tried grinding it out but my legs were not with me. I’ve been spending more time doing base riding and running lately due to injury so this high-intensity stuff was a killer. However, the run was what I was most concerned about because of my hip. I wanted to test it out in a race situation but I made a promise to my coaches and Bobby and Ian from Specialized that I’d be very conservative and pull out if anything felt wrong. But once I got out there everything felt great! My hip felt almost back to normal, even all that tightness was almost unnoticeable! I finished on the podium in 10th, which I’ll take but am most definitely not satisfied with, even under these circumstances! Huge congrats to Leanda Cave for taking the win, Jenna Shoemaker for racing like crazy to walk away in second and Mary Beth Ellis for hanging in there for third! As always, Alcatraz was a great race with some amazing and very inspiring women!

Since the race, I’ve been spending a couple of days down in Morgan Hill at Specialized learning all about the bikes, products, people, and everything you might need to know about this kick ass company. More details about this experience are on the way but all I’ll say now is that this is one amazing company and I feel very lucky to be a part of it all!

It’s been about a month since I started having some issues with my hip that caused me to DNF at Mazatlan but I am finally back to running! The doctors and I are still not quite sure what happened but our best guess is that I slightly tore my hip flexor, which caused a bunch of inflammation and a bit of tendonitis. Everything is feeling much better now and I’m ready to attack training and get back to racing as soon as possible. However, even with how things are going, I don’t feel like I’ll be ready to throw down at Escape from Alcatraz (which got moved up by about a month this year) and so I won’t be heading out to the Bay Area for what I consider as one of the best and most exciting races out there. Instead, I’ll be spending more time getting my run volume back up and doing some cycling races and crits around Boulder.

So as of right now, I’m planning on jumping back into racing starting at the end of May when my hip should be 100% and I should be ready to go. I’m going to keep things pretty mellow through June and then really start getting things rolling by mid July. I’m putting a big focus on some races later in August and September so I’m not too concerned with a bit of a mellow start to the season this year. US Nationals isn’t until the last week of September and I want to be flying by that point so maybe this forced late start will actually be a good thing, at least that’s what I keep telling myself.

Anyways, swimming and cycling are going really well and I’m feeling stronger in the water than I ever have before. I’m also really excited to get out and do some bike races to practice some tactics and technical skills so I’ll be ready to tear it up out there come June and July. Until then, it’s more base building on the run and more strength and rehab on the hip, but I couldn’t be more excited for the 2010 season.