First I guess I should mention that I scored the cover page and article feature in the July 2009 issue of Ohio Sports and Fitness.
I had went up to Lake Erie at 5 am (which meant leaving my house by 4 am and waking up even earlier!!) with their photographer and some other OSF personnel to shoot a shot with the morning sun. This was in early June in some very warm water of course! The OSF peeps were great and I felt fortunate to have to opportunity to work with them!
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Moving on, since Xterra Trimax on 6/28 the weekends have went as such-
Sat 6/4, ran Mulberry's 5 Miler (race 2 in the series). It was slower than the first 5 miler but still nabbed first in my AG. Slacked off Sunday after several July 4th parties on Saturday.
(Sat off) Sun 7/12, did Milton Man Olympic Tri. Placed 2nd overall. This was quite satisfying for two reasons. 1. After a poor swim at Trimax, I swam double the distance and felt very comfortable. 2. No leg cramping issues which I think I can credit to Beth and hooking me up with some enduralytes which I will start to take more regularly in events.
Overall swim went fine and came out somewhere in the middle. My hamstrings felt pretty tight on the bike. While not a bad bike, it was no where it should have been. I felt good on the run but really did not push myself too hard so maybe I was too easy on myself. Finished with a time of 2:34.48. 1500M Swim, 25.5 M Bike, 6.2 M Run.
(Took Sat off) Sun 7/19, did Xterra One. This was an A race for me. Overall it went pretty well but I had major chain and bike issues on the bike which cost a lot of time. I ended up 2nd overall female (par for the course this year apparently with planetx tri, miltonman and now this!). Swim went well and was out in top 5! A little bit of seaweed to deal with but nothing major. Somebody has been practicing and getting more comfortable in the water!
Upon getting onto the bike, I was still having trouble getting into a rhythm which I need to figure out. Perhaps I need to practice swim to bike transitions as it seems to take me too long to settle in. First 6 miles went fine and then we hit the snowmobile trails which were deep muddy rutted messes. One time I stayed to the edge and ripped my arm open with a bunch of prickers. On the second half which is the intermediate section of trails, the mud from the snowmobile trails caused major chain suck issues. This was also due in part to a majorly bent rear derailer. The chain must have gotten sucked up in between my sprocket and frame 8 or 9 times. Then I would stop and tug and fight with it (a couple times I thought it was impossible or my chain was just gonna snap) and have to flip the bike over. It was so frustrating and I was just not sure if I would make it through.
I was happy to get off the bike and finish out the run as I cannot complain about mechanical difficulty there! Run went fine, passed a girl and several guys while travering one interesting rock section on the expert trail. All and all a good day!
S 6/25 - 13 mile hill run with VR, good day to run with the ole gang and then hit Fishers of course!
S 6/26 - 101 mile bike at the Sweet Corn Ride. Can we say hills, hills and more hills? I think this was all up hill. If on the occasion there was a downhill, there was usually a stop sign or something where we never seemed to get a good runout. Weather was gorgeous and enjoyed riding the fellow CTC'ers BH, SY and DM. A great training ride and then some!!!
On the horizon, looking forward to getting in some good training next weekend 8/2 (maybe Mohican mtn bike ride Saturday and long run Sunday morning) in addition to volunteering 4-8 PM at Boston Store for Burning River. Huge corn party the following weekend 8/8 , head to NY to complete Xterra M2Xtreme 8/16, trip to PA to camp and Mtn Bike with friends 8/22 and then head to KY to watch IM KY 8/29. It's gonna be a busy month!
