My REV 3 Knoxville Experience

*** Photo credit goes to Eric Willis*****  

So for anyone who was counting, this past trip was 9 days long and got me home late Sunday night and capped off 4 weekends in a row that I have been out of town for the entire weekend (Mohican, Nashville, AL/Chattanooga and Knoxville).

The idea was to get an update out sooner, but I have been plunged into the world of playing catch up.  That and the fact that I want to do it justice.  So I am thinking a three part series the next three days to get it all down in some sort of manageable way as there is so much to say! 

• Part I-REV 3 TRI Experience
• Part II-My Race Report
• Part III- Trakkers and Sponsors

So this past weekend was race one of the new Rev 3 Triathlon Series which I am participating in which includes the big three distances of Olympic, Half and the Full!

I had arrived bright and early after a 2.5 hour drive to Knoxville from Alabama on Saturday morning.  No sooner than we park, I hop out of my car to see two of my Trakkers teammates, Sonja and none other than Michael Lovato. This brings me to point number one about REV3...it was sooo cool to get to be around such a large pro presence which led to a big race feel.

*** Photo credit goes to Eric Willis*****  

Photographer, Eric Willis is teammate, Sonja's dad and he took tons of pics of the gang...how cool is that?

The expo seemed to offer a lot to everyone including inflatables for kids, bike support, multiple nutrition vendors , a swim preview, an All 3 Sports booth with a little bit of everything, a REV 3 Booth (I was so in love with the little spaghetti tanks and the sweet REV3 swimming suits and was blown away how affordable the prices were as I could not get a boring swimming suit at the Dicks for the price).

who's that in the green :-)

*** Photo credit goes to Eric Willis*****
who's that in on the far left...wish it was me that sweet Kestrel in my hand! 

The volunteers were everywhere and everything was real easy to navigate through both at the expo and on race day.  I picked up my packet and headed to get my timing chip where they snapped a picture.  Later, I had headed down to the bike transition about a half a mile away to rack my bike.  REV3 thought of all the little things like my name and number where I would rack my bike.  Not only that, I am a huge fan of this style of bike rack.

This was my first time in Knoxville and I thought it was a great venue.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn for a reasonable price offered through REV3 (less than half the cost of hotels for Nashville mary).  The hotel was located right next to the expo and the finish line!  Bonus!  It did seem like most the hotels were pretty close.  I really liked that we could park and just walk everywhere!

Outside of the expo, my Saturday was pretty laid back.  We hit Downtown Grill and Brewery for a laid back lunch while sampling a couple beers :-)  Then for dinner we checked out Oodles at Market Square (Market Square was a cute lil area to walk around with a bunch of shops and restaurants) which was good and even offered some smaller very affordable portions....both places were thumbs up in my book and felt lucky to have found them both...thank you Internet!

The Race!  This one had to be fun to watch (which I heard it was) and left me thinking how cool it would be to be a spectator there!  Plus the MC's sure kept it interesting and fun all weekend!

First off, the field was deep in talent.  Not only where there around 70 pros, there was a number of elite age groupers and also a lot of talented age racers.  Needless to say, REV 3 brought out some good competition!

My wave was set to go off at 8:15, pros at 7:45 and transition was to close at 7:40.  I figured I would leave the hotel at 6:45 for the 1/2 mile walk to transition and still have plenty of time so I actually slept in until 5:45 which was really late for a race day which was nice.

I walked by one cop car by the expo stuff...definitely seemed like REV3 had a lot of them on hand everywhere!  I continued the walk to transition and set up my area and made my way to the portopotty line.  I probably waited 5-10 minutes, so not too bad!  Then it was off to the swim start which was probably another 1/2 mile away. 

At first glance the 0.9 mi. swim was incredibly scenic!  Definitely would have been cool to take in the start over the brunch on Calhouns overlooking deck.  It sure had a big race feel with the two helicopters, filming pontoon boat and all the stuff going on like the guy paddling out the pro men!

  *** Photo credit goes to Eric Willis***** 

The swim was well marked and seemed pretty easy to navigate.   No worries about waves, water seemed clean and the water actually felt warm!  Great SWIM course!

  *** Photo credit goes to Eric Willis*****

Next up-the 24.8 mi bike course!  I am a fan of a rolling course so this was great in my book!  The hills kept everyone honest and there were a lot of fun sweeping downhills like I am used to!  I did not think either of the two longer climbs seemed too rough but they will definitely slow ya down a bit.  Both the bike and the fun course seemed well marked and never did I have any real issues figuring out where to go.  I saw some course marshals out on the course but I did not notice any blatant drafting and seemed like a pretty clean race from my vantage point.  

  *** Photo credit goes to Eric Willis*****

(Just checking out the bike setups at this race was friggin amazing all in itself!)

Last up the 6.2 mile run!  It was mildly rolling and an out and back for the most part until the end and that was cool to see other racers and figure out where you were at.  Looking at the elevation profile, I had expected it to be much hillier than it actually seemed.  There were a few areas that slowed you down such as the 5 steps and the u turn.  Seemed like plenty of aid stations through the bike and run course with Cera Sport, Water and gels.

   *** Photo credit goes to Eric Willis*****

Just seeing the pros and how fluid while going so fast was INSANE!

  *** Photo credit goes to Eric Willis*****

The finish area seemed first class with the jumbo-tron, finish chute, and all the other stuff!  They had ART setup, an awards ceremony which went 3 deep in each division!  Oh and did I mention the sweet finishers shirt and medal we got on top of the race shirt, visor and Tyr Bag....Super Sweet Swag for sure!

COMING SOON...THE  RACE REPORT !

Overall, easily probably the coolest triathlon to date I have done and I am just soooo much more excited for Quassy and Cedar Point!

Tour de Tenessee :-)

First there was Nashville half mary on April 24 which was an absolute blast.  Then it was back home for 4 days before getting back in the car to head down to AL. While in AL, we have spent time with the husband's family and have enjoyed relaxing for a few days....I guess in all honesty sometimes I have a hard time with this and start looking around trying to figure out what we can do next! 

Lucky for me, I have Tether for my phone so I can still get on the Internet but the connection is slow and uploading pics is not working so ya all are going to have to wait for those!

I have found some good ways to occupy my time though.  I have been getting in some open water swimming in the gorgeous lake, playing on 4 wheelers, sunning my chalky OH body, running and riding bicycle of course!

The last two days have included trips up to Chattanooga.  Wednesday my husband and I packed the mountain bikes up and went riding at Raccoon Mountain.  These trails are beautiful up next to the TN river and have amazing rocks and overlooks.  We stopped quite a bit to take in the sites as we traversed all the elevation changes.  It was a 85 degree day and the climb up Megawatt about melted the husband but we survived fine and treated ourselves to our own little Cinco de Mayo celebration at a nearby Mexican to refuel with some chips, salsa, food, margaritas and Dos Equis!

Yesterday we headed back up to Chattanooga to see some family, shop and have dinner which made for a nice day.  Today is our final day down here before we head up to the last stop on our Tour de Tennessee to Knoxville for the REV 3 Olympic tri.   I am SOOO excited to meet my Trakkers teammates and some of our sponsors like Kestrel, Tri Swim, Saucony First Endurance, All3Sports and more.  It never seems to matter how many triathlons I have done, I still get nervous and already have some butterflies thinking about Sunday.  Why do I want to do these things that are going to force me to deal with such racing pain?    Nonetheless, looking forward to seeing where I am at and giving it my best!  Bring on the weekend! 

Oh and I should also mention the little AG competition going on with Trakkers and the two other teams....time for our Trakkers peeps to bring it!!!!! ;-)

Reporting in from Ider, AL!

This marks weekend number 3 away from home. Thank goodness my doggie seems to like staying at the mother in laws with all the other girl dogs!

This last week had been sort of a whirlwind. We had got back home late from Nashville Sunday night. I did the best I could to unpack right away, get the laundry going and all that other fun stuff right away.

Monday morning, at 4:45 am I dragged my butt out of bed only to find that I had never shut my car lights off the night before and now had a dead battery...ugghh so much for the swim!

The week went pretty much as normal-

Mon noon- 6 mile ez spin to loosen up my tight calves, 40 min weights/core
Tues- AM 1600 M Swim
- Noon, 6 M run with ET (8:30 pace)
-Eve, 31 Miles biked with touring club (I was so tired and cold by the end)
Wed - Noon 18 mile focus bike
Thurs - 1600 M Swim (just not feeling real motivated swimming to get in more distance)
- 7 M run with MB (8:30 pace)
Friday - off ...in the car forever!

Then Saturday started my fun in the south. My husband had been trying to get down here to take a weekend class in AL and stay at his family's place. That was fine by me as I figured we could have a low key week and then head to Knoxville 2 hours away for the upcoming Olympic race and it would work out perfectly! So with the husband and his family tied up all weekend, I had to come up with a way to entertain myself!

Saturday, I had mapped myself out a 68 mile ride which turned into 72. Really it would be most helpful if more of the roads down here actually had signs, but nonetheless I managed with no issues. The threat of storms loomed and it was cloudy all weekend, but all in all I only had a little mist for probably 15 minutes. The real threat in my world was all the dogs that chase me down growling on the road. I had lost count within the first 5 miles of how many had to come see me. Thankfully from prior trips I was beginning to learn where they lived and was getting good at really accelerating past their places!

Saturday's bike was just fabulous. Ider, is the the northeast corner of AL next to Georgia and TN in the Applachian Mountains. I left out early and rode down Sand Mountain and headed into the historic village of Mentone after a long climb up Look Out Mountain. The climb up was rather long but I backed off the pace some and felt rather comfortable the entire way and took the time to stop for a picture. I continued on through Mentone and after missing a turn and realizing I was in Georgia, I turned around and finally figured which of the unmarked roads I had meant to turn on which was Desoto Falls Parkway.

The Desoto Falls Parkway was just gorgeous with winding, tree covered roads and stunning scenery. Now over the last few years I have become such a fan of group rides that I can not even remember the last time I had rode this far myself. Yet, I was actually enjoying myself, especially on the descent down Look Out Mountain as I rode into Fort Payne. Past Fort Payne I started checking my map some and realized I had missed the turn I had intended but thankfully I was able to navigatge back without going out of the way too far and then it was back up Sand Mountain towards Ider.

A couple of notes on the ride. It was my first ride in the aerohelmet I had got for Christmas...and to the husband I did not care if you told me I looked like some alien! (I wanted at least one practice ride before using it to race which was a good thing as I made some adjustments after the ride.). I am not sure if it was the climbing or staying aero for longer (since I was not riding in a group on the hoods or drops) but my back and neck were definitely a bit sore.

After some food and rest, day II of operation Daisy entertain herself and I set out on a new 48.5 mile bike course which was to be followed up with a run. (In all fairness coach had given me a 60-70 m bike and the 40 M bike/ 4 mi brick). I knew before I got started that this course would not have the elevation changes, but I had something else to contend with...A Mighty Strong Wind! And of course with the way I planned the course it was all in the second half. I might have swore at the wind more than a couple of times on the ride, but I managed. Then it was back out on the streets to run 4.5 miles with miles 1&4 at race pace armed with a little horse prod in case of dogs (and of course 5 dogs came and seen me but they did not seem nearly as bothered as they were with me on the bike). I wrapped up the day with a ~600 M open water swim (auntie has gorgeous big lake to swim in). I had planned to swim longer but by the time I put on the wetsuit and got going, I decided I was tired and called it a day. Good enough for one weekend!

So the week ended with-
175.5 Biked
17.75 Ran
3800 Swam

Planning to get in some fun stuff early on this week and taper it off to be ready for Knoxville Oly REV3 tri on Sunday!

A whole bunch of hollerin and swallerin!

Oh I am ready to move!

I had the best time down in Nashville this weekend. The funny thing I realized about Nashville is that everytime I would bring it up, everyone mentions how much they love it, how fun the town is, what we should hit and on and on! Now I know why! That place is mad fun!

So back awhile ago I had decided that this spring I wanted to do a fun marathon and I had heard Nashville fit the bill so I signed up. Yet, after the tibia stress fracture set back over winter and so much time off I decided it wise to not try to build too quickly and just do the half.

I went back and forth with coach as to how I should run it. It was tagged as a B race on my calendar with my A Oly Rev 3 Knoxville race two weeks later. The plan was to run it as a training run for the half Quassy IM I am doing in June. Just wanted to run it as a training run and see how the hr trended to see if my pacing and effort would be on schedule and realistic for the half I wanted to run after a 1.2 m swim and 56 mile bike.

The Plan: Run 1st 5 miles at 7:45 pace
Run rest of the way at 7:30 pace

The Actual: Ran the first 5 at 7:38 avg pace
Ran the last 8+ at 7:13 avg pace
Garmin reflected 1:37:42 total time, 13.18 dist, 7:24 avg, avg HR 165

As a side note that I should not neglect, apparently I have never run a half marathon well. I was digging back through some of my results on athlinks and 1:40 and change a bunch of times but I had never even broke 1:40. So my little "training run" was even a PR! And the best part was I felt so good the entire time and was just taking it all in!

So here is the rest of the story.

We left out Friday morning about 7:30 am. It took us about 8 hours to get down there, then we hit the hotel, & hit the expo. I had a really nice conversation with the Saucony rep over at the expo and think I know what shoes I will try next...it was really nice to talk to someone so familiar with their shoes.

As a sidenote, I had received a new pair of shoes from Saucony Wednesday night, the Saucony Tangent 4's. My old racing shoes were wore out and I was nervous about wearing these without a proper break-in but without a lot of options, I set out to wear them anyways. I had wore them for an easy 2.5 mile treadmill run with some strides on Thursday and laced them up Saturday morning. And these shoes worked great for me! They were lighter than my old shoes and just felt fast. Oftentimes I seem to have issues with the balls of my feet going numb and thankfully no issues with these shoes and not even a blister! I LOVE THEM ALREADY!

Anyways so before we could leave the expo, we got a text to go to bar across the street and of course, we obliged. Great music, good beer (Yuengling on draft!) and friends. I love how everywhere down here has good live bands! We hung there for a bit and then headed to Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner and turned in early.

The next day I woke up waaay tooo early. I kept wondering where everyone was. It was not until 6:45 AM when I realized Nashville was an hour behind us and I still had another hour to wait! How did I miss that???? Anyways the threat of really bad weather (tornadoes, hail and storms) was the talk of the day and a big concern so the race was going to start early. Yeah as I thought it was starting an hour earlier already :-)

Race was awesome and it was even sunny. There was a good breeze and tons of spectators and AWESOME bands the whole way. I loved the course. I like hilly courses like this that mix it up, probably more so since I was not racing. Did I mention how nice it was to go to a destination race and NOT run a marathon and feel good when you are done? I am sooo used to always running a marathon and hurting so badly when I am done that this was such a nice change of pace!

Upon finishing, I left pretty quick as I wanted to change and shower. We killed some time at the hotel and headed out around 11:45 to commence pub crawl about the time the monsoon & the rest of the crazy weather rolled in. Oh what a day! Lots of laughs, good music, good beer and fun times hitting Big River Brewery, Tootsies, Big Rock with some of the Cleveland running gang and three of our high school friends that made it out!

The only question is, when can I go back there?????

Winner!

What is it with me and stupid pics?

Let's Talk Some Smack!

 

Another Camp picture! Who is that chick in the Trakkers gear? ;-)

Oh this time of year just has me so excited with so much going on!

The Cleveland Tri Club training camp last weekend was just a blast!

This upcoming weekend I am heading all the way down to Nashville, TN to run in the Country Music Half Marathon!

The following weekend I head to AL for a week to visit family and will cap that week off heading up to Knoxville for the big REV3TRI showdown!

Speaking of Knoxville, REV3TRI...beep beep beep beep....breaking news! Time to interrupt the blog for breaking news from Team Trakkers (YES, that would be my team!) The PRO TRAKKERS TEAM had already challenged KSwiss and Trek teams to a showdown! Now Trakkers Age Groupers are taking the challenge to a couple other teams at Knoxville! Complete details are laid here in my teammmate, Sonja's blog here!

Did I mention that I just love a little bit a rivalry and fun competition? Go TEAM TRAKKERS!!!!

So back to the original report -
4/17 Weekend was Camp.
4/24 Weekend is Nashville Mary
5/1 Weekend is vacation in AL
5/8 Weekend is Knoxville REV3 Trakkers Team Domination (Oly Tri)
5/15 Weekend is Cleveland Mary (not participating but official cheerleader!)
5/22 Weekend is Greater Cleveland Tri Training and CTC Picnic
5/29 Weekend is Mountain Biking Weekend in Raystown Lake, PA
6/5 Weekend is REV3 Quassy in CT (Half IM)

So back to the original statement that I am so excited that the season is here and the schedule is now action packed with fun things! Now to somehow stay on top of everything else like stupid laundry!

CTC Training Camp!

 

This weekend rocked! First ever CTC Training Camp. We ate, we drank, we trained, we learned and we laughed! Good times!

Loaded down the RV with major amounts of food for the camp after some power shopping trips and headed out Friday afternoon to Mohican about 2.5 hours away.

Upon arrival, I kicked my feet up and just enjoyed some beers and good conversation. There was a very popular headlight trail run that night which I opted out of on account of my tender tibia and trying not to overdue it.

Saturday morning came fast and was kicked off with a warm up clinic and lots of drills like high knee, butt kickers, lunges, striders, grapevine, etc. It really does feel good to wake up the muscles and then I was off on a mountain bike ride. My Team Lake Effect Teammate, Todd and I took the lead on the mountain bike ride. It was time to put some miles in on the new mtb! Oh the full suspension 29r is such a change from my 26 hard tail. It was a blast with lots of climbs and in less than 3 hours we were done with the 24 mile course! WHAT A BLAST!

The camp had various road and mtn bike distance options for this 3 hour time slot and you could pick and choose accordingly...(would not want to scare anyone away thinking about this for next year)

Then it was time for some lunch, sandwiches, chips, fruit...good, easy stuff! Then we had a choice of swim clinic with videotape or bike skills clinic, then transition clinic, then nutrition clinic. Lots of good stuff here!

Afterwards I headed out for a 6.5 mile run on the paved path feeling pretty fresh still. Upon return, it was a much needed shower time before getting ready for dinner. It was quite a job to drain that many pasta noodles from such a giant pan, let me tell ya! It took 3 of us! Pasta, salad, bread, veggies, salad and ICE CREAM like drum sticks, heath bars and sandwiches! Mmmmmm!

There was one last clinic Saturday which included periodization and planning your training to race day before chilling by the fire over another earned beer!

Oh we had a lot of good laughs thoughout the day....some of the biggest was brought on when a unicycle emerged and people took turns giving it a go! :-)

Sunday was a core workout and then a road ride! The roads down there are just beautiful. We found a very lightly travelled flat road which would be great for some intervals next year and then we headed over to climb some hills around the Mohican State Park. Did I mention how gorgeous it was??? Although it was a little cool both days, it was not too bad thankfully and I was sooo happy that it did not rain!

Then I started the not so fun part of packing up and just when I thought my workouts were over, I had to unload the rv which WAS SOOO FULL, start laundry, put things away, and on and on! Big kudos to all the others like Tim, Todd, Brandon, Mindy who helped pitch in with everything. AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST my husband, Joey, who did so much to help out and provided some entertainment along the way!

Anyways I think everyone had fun and learned something! So here are some random comments from my weekend there!

• I kidnapped my mother for a shopping trip that would overwhelm any car. My mother had no idea what she was getting into when I said I needed to pick up a few things for the club camp. Thank goodness it was all going down to camp in an RV!
• There is a reason why triathletes all have vehicles with a lot of storage. And holy crap can we pack a lot of stuff!
• Fire, beer and conversation = a very good time
• That was a big bathroom but a small cabin for so many adults!
• Flips flops apparently are not a good choice for warm-up shoes but they did great for longer than expected (way to go Julia!)
• Yes, my new mtn bike rules and the Mohican Mountain bike trails are SO much fun even when trying to not slow Todd down too much! Oh and as a bonus, who needs maps when you have well marked mountain bike trails!
• Don’t ask about going to the bathroom at transition.
• You can learn a lot from swim video analysis, including who slept through it!
• Don’t hide ice cream sandwiches from Tiffany 
• You can fit a lot of people in a small cabin!
• Is there something wrong when you first meet someone and you ask if they want to share a bed?
• Only so much food can sit on one table.
• Did I mention Mohican is hilly? But oh do hilly park roads make for such beautiful road rides!
• Craig is part pyro.
• Who knew CTC was teaching unicycling at camp?
• Watching newbies learn unicycling is VERY FUNNY!
• Hot tubs RULE!
• Mapmyride turn by turn lies.
• 20 or 30 degrees more would have been nice, but who needs that when you’re tough and you have other peeps around to train with!
• Thought the weekend’s workouts were over until I got home and started unloading the rv!
• Major props to “There’s no need to fear, underdog Tim is here!” for coordinating camp details!
• Nothing beats a weekend full of food, good people, lots of training, lots of learning and gorgeous scenery!

ALREADY LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT YEAR!

Lifetime Masters Swimming

 

Yesterday was an easy day with just masters swimming in the morning, some work and then it was off to enjoy the sunshine at the Indians home opener with the sister and friends!

Well the good thing about my swimming is that there is lots of room for improvement!

Just over a month or so ago I started swimming with Lifetime Fitness Masters at 5:45 AM on Monday mornings. The first week there was about 10 people. Now it is more like 2-5 people. I almost feel bad for the coach and hope that we get some more people there so that this actually stays on the schedule.

Anyways this actually works out great for me as it is like I have a personal coach. Jeff, the coach, really seems to know his stuff and has been giving me lots and lots of tips and things to think about. He also makes me do lots more drills with his favorites being one arm leads with side kicking, fingertip drill and catch up. Not that I like to spend a bunch of time doing drills but cleary there is value to them. I just hate how tired I get doing the one arm leads and doing the side kicking!

Anyways I have been really working on my hip rotation, staying long, finishing my pull and not dropping my arm early when I breathe. I feel like I am using a bit less energy and have sped up a tiny bit but I am still sooo slow! Hopefully as I continue to work on my technique, improvement will continue!

Mustard Rules!

 

Definitely on of my favorite condiments!

The Roo is Gone!

 

Time for a moment of silence for my old friend, Roo! Roo was my first real bike. Prior to Roo, I had not rode a bike since early high school on what I deemed as the lame, Free Spirit. Back in 2006, Trisaratops had told me about this deal at Bike Authority on a sweet bike and I could even get a discount if I joined Cleveland Triathlon Club. Well I took the plunge and WOW, has that led me down such an awesome journey both with my favorite shop, my club and my beloved bicycling!

I remember being very nervous about the purchase. Dropping a lot of money on a bicycle was a bit daunting. Always trying to keep a watchful eye on the funds, one thing was for sure...if I spent that much money on something, I sure as HELL was going to use it! And I did!

I rode that bike like crazy for 3 solid years. In the Spring of 2009, after several thousands of miles, I decided it was time for something new and picked myself up a new carbon bike and the Roo sat. The plan was to use it on the trainer and when the roads were crappy. Yet, I have not rode it one time in over a year. I told my sister and friend that they would have to ride with me and that I had an extra bike that should work for them to ride. The one asked if I would sell it. I had not thought much about it, but that got my gears going and a week later, I had a couple interested people, and I decided to sell it and she was gone! I hope new owner catches the Roo bicycling bug that I caught!

So anyways another week in the books. Right now, the schedule is structured around training for the Rev 3 Half Iron in CT on 6/6.

This week was a run focus week which key workouts would include Clev Tri Club duathlon (Run 1 tempo), a brick, and a long run. Everything went pretty much as planned.

M 4/5: Lifetime Masters Swim 2600 M, 60 min weights / core (leg EZ day)
T 4/6: 2400 M Swam, 6 M EZ Run (8:25 pace)
W 4/7: 18 miles indoor ride (10 min w/u, increasing LT intervals 5-9 min while dec Z3), 7.5 M MTB Ride
R 4/8: 2300 M Swam, 14 M Ran (7:51 pace)
F 4/9: 1750 M Swam
S 4/10: CTC Headwaters Du 2.85 M Run/ 16.5 Hilly Bike/ 2.85 M Run(6.36 R1, 19.25 M Bike inc T1, 7:03 R2 incl T2)
S 4/11: Brick, 47.6 M biked with touring club (18.4 avg), 5.6 m run (miles 1, 2 & 6 focus 7:05, 7.24, 7:45 uphill, 7:45 avg)

Thursday night's run was especially terrific. I had talked my friend, Nathan into running with me and explained I wanted to start at around 8:15 pace and work our way down to around 7:45 and average under 8. This was going to be a bit of a challenge for NA but he is always up for a challenge and handled it with no issues! My husband and two of our other friends joined us on their bicycles. So the 5 of us GHS alumni just carried on as we clicked off the 14 miles, dropping pace and feeling pretty chipper the whole way. It is not that often that my husband will join me while I run, but it was really nice! Then we headed to the local bar / grill for our reward! It may have been one of the most perfect nights!

Run Splits
1 8:09
2 8:04
3 7:56
4 8:02
5 8:10
6 7:44
7 7:44
8 8:04
9 7:53
10 7:50
11 7:55
12 7:40
13 7:38
14 7:24

MY NEW GF!

 

OH THE JOY! My new GIRLFRIEND (ER GARY FISHER) HAS ARRIVED! Cue to the celebratory music and me doing back flips!

For the last two years of my mountain biking fun, I had whooped my poor little 26 Cannondale F5 mountain bike. That bike had been good to me but after destroying many a rear derailers, (due to my sheer riding finesse falling off obstacles and banging it on everything) I (or rather my bike shop friends) had converted it to a single speed and it was to be strictly my park bike (complete with sweet flat pedals and HAWT pink tires). The master plan was to save some money over winter and get a new mountain bike.

I had pretty much got my heart set on getting a hard tail 29r. So on March 30th the time had come to hit the bike shop and pick out my new steed. I wanted to get the best bike in my budget and wanted to be sure I was getting a step up from the ole F5.

Upon looking through the catalogs and pricing stuff out, I was all set on either the Gary Fisher X Caliber or the Paragon. With a quick check of the shop computer, the bad news came. Both sold out for 2010. None available until maybe August. Booooo! I should have known this was going to be a problem as my friend, ET, who was also looking at bikes had said several of the bikes she was looking at were sold out and not available.

I am assuming after a slow year last year, manufacturers cut production back and everyone who waited to buy last year all bought early this year. I never would have expected this to be a problem in March!

I was sort of at a loss as to what to do. I looked at the Felts but the one I liked was a little out of my planned budget. Cannondale does not make a SM 29r (although I guess my current F5 is a medium so started looking at those later but all specs say I should ride a SM). After talking it over with the husband I decided to just get old bike fixed up to ride this year. I had resolved to deal with that but, yeah, that was sort of a bummer. I just did not want to wrap a bunch of money up on a mountain bike that I was not really excited about.

So dropped off old bike the next day to get fixed. Then the next day, I went back to pick it up. I got to talking with super awesome bike shop man MV about the Cannondale possibility and then was comparing them with the Gary Fishers I had liked. Checking out the Gary Fisher site, he stumpled upon this super awesome Gary Fisher HiFi Plus 29r in a SM.

You know that thing they say about love at first site...it was kind of like that! Needless to say, the bike was ordered on the spot on Thursday and just a few short days later, it had arrived! (More cartwheels!)

Now this bike is full suspension which is not what I was expecting but that was even an added bonus in my book! Oh my new Girlfriend is beautiful! Everything on it is sooo much better...forks, shifters, derailers, brakes...I could go on forever. I took it home last night and was rolling down the steps in my yard, going over anything I could find like it was nothing with that suspension! OH I LOVE IT! The only sad thing is that I have this sweet new bike and am not doing the Mohican 100K mountain bike this year. Nonethless, I will make up for it!

So I guess tonight it is time to hit the mountain bike trail! The husband brought me to work today so he could pick me up and we could head straight from work to the trail...YIPPPEEE! I can't wait to take this to Mohican to ride at the CTC training camp April 16-18, then down to AL when we are down there April 30-May 7 (I see Racoon Mountain in Chatanooga in my future...maybe a day trip to ride in Nashville??), then out to the Allegrippis Trails over memorial day weekend & the weekend of June 12, and ride it July 11 at Xterra One and to RIDE IT ALL THE TIME...You get the idea!

Gimme more Sunshine!

 

This last week was just a whirlwind and I felt like the tasmanian devil just running around spinning in circles like crazy with a million things going on!

Monday was action packed with AM Masters Swim, work, dropping off taxes, meeting to discuss CTC triathlon training camp.

Tuesday, worked, ran 14 miles, and went to the bike shop hoping to buy a new mountain bike. Sadly, so many of the bikes I wanted appeared to be sold out. I left the shop with some prices and a lot to think about!

Wednesday, worked, got in another 2000 m in the pool and then headed off to Rays Indoor Mtn Bike Park to pick up the bicycles. I was going to convert my old mtn bike back from single speed to gearing and ride it one more year since I did not want to get something I was not sure about. I also took the husband's bike to the shop for some service.

Thursday, worked in the morning and then got out and enjoyed some gorgeous weather and rode 45.3 miles. Oh, it felt so nice outside! Managed a nice farmers tan that day in the bike jersey! Then for Day 3 in a row, I returned to the bike shop to pick up our finished mountain bikes just in time to ....

..take the bikes out to Medina's Reagan Park for Mountain biking fun Friday! Then a quick shower and we were off to motorcycle ride for the remainder of the day! (NOW IF THAT IS NOT A GOOD DAY?)

Saturday, included a ez 4.3 mil run with HS Newbie runner friends, a 43.75 m bike ride followed by a 2.9 mile race pace run. The wind was rather brutal the last 10 miles but nonetheless, finished feeling pretty strong. It felt good to lay down on the picnic table after that, stretch out, and chug my FE Ultragen recovery drink. Then I rushed out of there to grab a PBJ, sort the mountain of laundry, run to the store and speed clean the house before the 6:30 BBQ! Oh I was happy to finally shower and plop my butt down in the deck chair and crack open a Yuengling! It was a nice low key night with both my husband's family and my family including my favorite little nieces!

Sunday, I was up again for more cycling fun! I rode another hilly 46.5 miles with the Cleveland Touring Club boys before hopping into my car. No sooner had I got on the road, then my my sister called and wanted some running company. I had a bit of time and was still in my sweaty clothes, so what the heck! I must indulge her new running interest! We ran an easy 6 miles and she had her best run yet! I am so proud of her! Then off to Easter dinner at the in-laws!

It was such a busy fun week!

All this and there were still some more highlights including...

THURSDAY MY TRAKKERS TEAM KIT CAME IN AND IT IS SUPER AWESOME! Even broke it in Saturday properly!
THURSDAY I found my long lost swimming suit hiding in my car!
THURSDAY, after giving up new mountain bike hope, MV at BA found me a close out super bad arse mountain bike which was just up my alley! Guess who is picking up a new mountain bike today...pics to come! SOOOOO EXCITED!

Totals for the week-
SWIM: 5600 Meters
BIKE: 143.55
RUN: 22.1

Why I love my Honda Fit

 

38 MPG, good price point and holds all my stuff like here! Groceries, lots o bags of crap, 2 mountain bikes and a road bike!

Win Some, Lose Some

Why is swimming always the big loser???

Simple answer is really convenience!

Living out in the boonies has its pros and cons. The con with regard to me getting in my swim workouts is that the pool is over 25 miles away and still not close to the office. At least it is on the way.

This week has been good and bad.

Monday was right on target. I have meant to get up to swim each of the past three mornings but my stupid cold won't go away and everyday I have opted to sleep in and skipped swimming. Fortunately for me, running and biking can be picked up pretty easily at lunch or in the evening so still hitting the target there!

Tuesday was another Grueling Gorris Bike Workout. It was 75 minutes long which included 60 min alternating between LT and Z3. As the LT time increased and the Z3 time decreased, I found myself playing mind games to stay committed and stay strong. Wow, that was tough BUT nailed it! Yeah!

Wednesday, ran with the boys and ESpeed on a lunch time run downtown Cleveland. That was interesting! We did what they call the movie run. Takes you out past some of the places that have been used in movies, across some cool pedestrian only bridges, over highways and into some really sketchy neighborhoods. It was kind of funny to have a posse of 8 of us runners at high noon trotting through the ghetto! Ran an easy 8 min mile pace for 7.4 miles.

That night the hubby and I had been planning an easy bike ride together but unfortunately I gave him a bad present-my cold! So he took a pass and I decided to get in Gorris workout 2 since it was short! Only 39 minutes of big gear, low cadence work. 39 minutes is still plenty of time to get really sweaty though!

This weekend, the husband and I are planning to spend Saturday night down south with our friends and go motorcycle riding all day Sunday. This means no Sunday workout and shuffling the schedule to somehow get everything else in somewhere else.

So today, in the cold rain, I planned to meet a friend for my long run during a long lunch hour (er two!). It was supposedly 49 but windy and rainy. I chose my boston long sleeve shirt, shorts and rev 3 visor! Not wearing gloves was a huge mistake. I should have known better, especially with the Raynauds I am pretty sure I suffer from. 25 minutes in I tried to tuck my hand into little balls and pull them into my shirt as much as I could but my hands were still so cold!

Pace target was to start at 8:15 and work down to 7:45 which was executed well especially considering it was an out and back and we negative split the second half nicely which was all into the wind.

13.71 M, 7:59 avg pace, 163 avg HR
First half averaged 8:07, second half 7:50 with last few miles being closer to 7:30.

I got back from that run and it took me 4EVER to get my calf sleeves and socks off because my hands did not work and while I was in a hurry to get back to the office, I could just not pry myself out of the long shower! While the run felt good, the chilly hands put me into such a miserable state! Glad I can check that off my list for the week!

So now I definitely need to swim the next two days but I just have no idea where I can get my brick in...that may need to wait until Monday! Last indoor cycling class Saturday!

TRI SWIM

 

TRI SWIM is one of the Team Trakkers Sponsors. Awhile back I had got a package from Tri Swim. It included the following items-

* FOGGLE: anti-fog towelette that cleans the lens while defogging.
* TRISLIDE: an anti-friction/anti-chafing continuous spray skin lubricant
* TRISWIM SHAMPOO: Aqua Therapy Chlorine-Out Shampoo contains Organic Aloe
* TRISWIM CONDITIONER- salon quality Conditioner pampers your hair as it highly moisturizes.
* TRISWIM BODY WASH- Chlorine-Out Body Wash contains Aloe which moisturizes and helps protect from environmental elements like the sun.
* TRISWIM LOTION-TRISWIM Chlorine-Out Lotion is a unique and innovative formula that hydrates and moisturizes the skin while neutralizing Chlorine and Chlorine odor.

I used the foggle right away and it was so nice to actually be able to see out of by goggles.

Last week the last of my other supplies was running low so I switched in the Tri Swim Shampoo, Lotion, Body Wash and Conditioner. Now for some strange reason I have always sort of liked the lingering smell of chlorine on me after the pool. Maybe it was the reinforcement that I knew I had got my swim in, perhaps it just made me feel extra clean. Regardless, it is weird that now that I switched to these products, the lingering chlorine smell is totally gone and I am not missing it!

Now i am not usually that particular with my product selection. Every now and then I will buy salon products for my hair but it gets expensive with all my hair washing so often I just get what it on sale....but now I am not sure so sure! My hair just gets put through the ringer with constantly washing, blow drying, curling iron, hairspray, flat iron...you get the picture! Anyways my hair seems to be in much better shape now that I have started using these products and I LOVE the smell of the light citrus products. I recently caught myself in the locker room after our group swim raving about how much I loved this stuff and decided it was time to blog about it!

If only this had been around when I was a kid that loved the pool so much that I always ended up with green plantinum blond hair! So for what it is worth, if you are constantly in chlorine, you may want to check out Tri Swim!

Time to Focus!

 

Well the last week has been one big whirlwind of activity...and not so much on the fitness side but definitely FUN! Celebrated St. Malachi, Night out at Rays & Great Lakes Brewery, St. Pats, my birthday and then capped it off with a big party Saturday!

Unfortunately I now have a stupid cold but nonetheless Operation Lean Out/Focus has now commenced which means an extreme belt tightening of all this playful behavior! (And I really think after last week I got it out of my system...at least for a little while :-) )

Yesterday, Monday March 22nd I started my 11 week training plan leading up to the Rev 3 Half Iron out at Quassy. (Knock on wood) The tibia seems to be holding up well and I am optimistic that all systems are go!

Yesterday hit masters swim at lifetime for a total of 2500 m. Workout included-

400 Free
4 x 25 one arm lead
4 x 25 fingertip
4 x 25 catch up
4 x 25 fingertip
4 x 25 catch up
4 x 25 one arm lead
1000 TT
100 ez
4 x 25 hard
200 cd
+ extra 100 pull

My time trial was so-so. To be honest, this was my first straight 1000 set in awhile. I should probably start doing more of them and some other longer ones. I just did it nice and slow and steady and felt comfortable the whole time...no doubt, way too comfortable!

A couple issues of note a) my turns (which are still not flip turns) are so slow...not a big deal in the tri world but it sure would help my times here as I see how much ground I lose here. b) there was no one that I was trying to keep up with as there was just two of us at MS and he was not even doing the same workout. Competitive Daisy would have done much better working with someone. I did not want to post the time for the world to see but I will probably forget it if I don't so it was 21:50 for 1000 M.

Lunch workout was my focus run. Target run was 2 or 3x 1.5 mi runs at 6:55-7:15 pace with 2 min ez between. I felt pretty good and did the following. Fortunately I still felt like I had plenty left at the end of each interval!

1M w/u at 9 min mile pace
1.5 mi at 6:53 pace
2 min EZ
1.5 mi at 6:53 pace
2 min ez
1.5 mi at 6:48 pace
cooldown to finish 7 miles at 8:30 pace

Rough start today (Tuesday) as I really wanted to bike in the AM and strength train at lunch but still under the weather so I reset the alarm when it went off and opted to skip the strength workout and bike at lunch. I bet it was a good call because I doubt I would have been able to knock out a solid workout this morning with how I felt. I am actually quite surprised I managed to conquer the 75 minute killer LT/ Z3 workout at lunch as it was a toughie! Holy crap was I a disgusting sweaty mess. I swear the only time I have felt good the last two days was when I was working out and could actually breathe...FUNNY HOW THAT WORKS!

Despite the stupid cold, just enjoying the level of commitment to the plan!

St. Malachi Race Report

 



The time for one of funnest races of the year had arrived. My HS running friend NA and I had been drumming up some fellow GHS alums to come out and run and hit the party after! We managed to draw out about 20 or so GHS alumni and friends, including my HS BF as well as my sister that both did the 2 mi race! Each of them ran the whole way and I was so proud of them! It definitely is fun to get other people motivated about something you love and to watch them achieve their goals!

Now of course race day, I had to make sure I dressed as spirited as possible so I donned my tall shamrock socks, green shamrock hairbands with my pigtails, BAFF team jersey, Trakkers visor and CTC arm warmers! I think I managed to support a little bit of everything!

I was not sure what to target for myself. I have been running again for 6 or 7 weeks post tibia stress fracture. I have kept speed to a minimum and building mileage pretty slowly only running 3 days a week.

My plan was to try just go the first mile and not worry about the split knowing that there was so much downhill. Then I planned to settle in until I got past the hill during mile 3 and then to try to pick it up the last couple miles. I would give myself a A- on execution. I think this was easily one of my best efforts at pacing at a shorter race. Perhaps it is all the heart rate based training I have been doing but for the first time in awhile I did not just die the last half of the race and felt pretty even the whole way. If anything I may have not pushed myself hard enough as I never fell into my super suffer-fest state.

Going into the race, I was really hoping to stay under 35. I thought it was a good goal with the limited speed work and time back running. I knew my training was coming along as I had ran outside Tuesday (7:51 for 6 miles) and Thursday (7:41 for 5.3 Miles) and felt like everything was on the up and up as far as my leg. Residual tibia pain seems to be disappearing over time!

I lined up to for the start next to some of the silly fast girls. With the start we were off and I was trying to maintain decent footing with all the other runners, run tangents as good as possible while avoiding the big puddles, as well as as trying be careful on the bridges and potholes. I knew my HS friend NA was gunning for me and also trying to break 35. I was just trying to keep myself in a zone where I would not blow up taking inventory of the pace and trying to hold steady. As I approached the hill at Mile 3 I shortened my stride and tried not to blow my HR up too high. The best thing is as soon as you reach the top, you get it all back on the downside! I knew at this point that if I could just maintain I would get that sub-35! I tried to pick it up a bit but knowing there was an uphill finish to come and I made sure to save some energy! As I climbed the last hill I just looked at the ground right in front of me and before I knew it, I was at the top! Unfortunately my friend TR got me at the bottom of the hill and beat me by like 10 seconds...oh I should have pushed a little harder ;-) Guess he did not want to lose to this girl!

At the end of the day, I was pretty happy with the outcome and gave myself a good baseline as to where I am starting from here! I am happy to maintained this much running fitness over the winter thanks to all the hard biking (&Coach Gorris making me work so hard) I think! After the race, the party WAS SO ON! We had gotten a hotel and pretty much did a pub crawl from post race until mid-night with a 1.5 hour break to shower. As my one shirt says, "You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning!" And if you were not sure, yes indeed I am Irish!


St. Malachi results over the years:

2004 50.08, Hungover, late and just getting into running again
2005 41:20, If only I could get 9 minute improvements every year!
2006 37:35
2007 33:32, Best race
2008 37:46, Dealt with asthma
2009 37:39, Dealt with leg cramping and stoppped to stretch
2010 34:18, 6:51 min / mile pace. Not bad considering limited running!

Splits-
Mile 1 6:14 downhill
Mile 2 6:51h
Mile 3 7:00 (incl decent incline and descent)
Mile 4 6:55
Mile 5 7:04 uphill finish

Average HR 176
Max HR 184

A break from this!

 

Yesterday marked the first outdoor ride of 2010! This week, not only was I treated to some sunshine and warmer temps, but my boss was travelling meaning I could work from home! This meant I could do my lunchtime workout while getting in some miles outside on my bicycle with my husband.

Waaahooo, a break from the trainer and the articial light!

It took me awhile to get ready to ride. I had to find my thick gloves, shoe covers and all my cold weather gear and then made my way through our snowy walk up to the road. Then we were off up the hill leaving my place and it was not 5 minutes that I was already realizing I was totally overdressed! Oh well, I can totally deal with being warm, but I am just a miserable baby when I am cold so no biggy!

The husband was fairing a little worse. He had done a couple indoor training rides early on and decided he no longer wanted to be friends with the indoor trainer. By the time we hit Burton hill 8 miles down the road, his legs were jello, his lungs were on fire from the cool air, and his butt hurt!

The husband is a real trooper though as we pedaled on and managed to put in 24 miles on the rolling country roads as we dodged the horse crap and buggy ruts! Oh it was such a friggin awesome ride in the sun and has me just stoked to put in some more miles on the bike outside while we are treated to this mild weather!

Mill Creek Half Marathon Report

 

First event of 2010 down and I guess we can say that I am officially starting back!

The plan was for the gimp squad to run the hilly half marathon pace at a comfortable pace and just have social 2 hours while we attempted to put in some quality mileage! The Gimp Squad included me, coming back from the tibia stress fracture, Amie (pictured above)coming back from IT band issues, and Jim who is only 9 weeks out from knee surgery!

Unlike the last several Youngtown 1/2 marathons, weather was as nice as one could ask for. 33 degrees and sunny at the start! Jim and I took a position near the back of the crowd as I looked around for Amie who had disappeared into the mass of runners. Jim's plan was to run a nice easy pace of 9 min or better miles. I was fine with that as I was still nervous the tibia might just throw me the bird at any given minute! As a side note, it is so nice to start a race with no expectations other than to finish, feel good and enjoy yourself! I was looking forward to gettiing back out there running with all my friends!

Jim and I took off and the miles just clicked off pretty effortlessly. One of my biggest regrets of the race was not carrying my camera. The park just looked so gorgeous with the sun shining through the trees, glistening the water filled with ducks and of course a lot of us good looking runners on the hilly streets! Oh a wonderful morning for running for sure.

Strangely the planned 9 minute pace never really materialized as we were in the 8:45/ min mile pace the first third and then worked our way down on the back sections to 8:20 /min mile pace or so on the last few miles. The good part was we sort of noticed the slight pick up in pace but it was not intentional and we were actually probably consciously holding back trying to make sure we did not push our respective healing areas too much!

After finishing the last several climbs at the end of the race , before we knew it, we were rolling through the finish line! A success for the entire gimp squad, who all finished feeling well with the longest run in months for all of us! WE'RE BACK!

Here are the numbers for the day-
Distance Total: 13.36 Miles
Elevation Gain: 2107
Elevation Loss: 2089
Average HR: 153 (a nice comfy Z2, with some HR spikes on the uphills!)
Average Speed: 8:34 min/miles

Also of note, I was very proud of 3 of my fast female friends (EH, NC, and SI) for posting up some silly fast times and taking 1,3, and 4 spots! Way to go ladies!

The awesome morning was concluded with an awesome evening with our Southeast Running Club Banquet at Primo Vino! Good food with good friends!

Last week runddown:

3/1 AM 2200 Meters Swam (Lifetime masters), noon 1 hour Gorris Bike W/O
3/2 AM 5.5 Miles Ran
3/3 AM 3350 Yards Swam (CSU Masters), weights 30 min (UB)
3/4 AM 7 Mile Run with CV (8:45 pace)
3/5 Noon 45 min Bike Gorris w/o (cut short by 15 min), 6.25 Mile run with E (8:30 pace)
3/6 AM 2 hour Bike (ECC), 2000 yard swim
3/7 AM 13.3 Mile Run (Ytown half)

Totals-
Time 12.75 hours
Ran 32 Miles
Biked ~ 60 Miles
Swam 7550 yards (plus a little for meters day)
Core 30 min

Brightening My Day!

 

This morning captured the essence of one of those things I have missed so much!

Cleveland, OH has a had so many cold gray days this winter. Not only that, my tibia stress fracture had sat me on the sidelines and my will-run-in-any-weather attitude had me stuck inside all winter. I have missed the daylight I got on my runs. I have missed the hiliarity that ensued when I ran with the girls in blizzard like conditions. I have really missed the conversations with my running friends. I have missed watching the sunrise. AND OH YES, I HAVE SO VERY BADLY MISSED RUNNING!

This morning was the return to all things right for me. I drove into downtown Cleveland and met one of my favorite running friends in the darkness and removed my scarf and coat ready for my second outdoor run of the year (first being Sunday). With the beeps of our garmins we took off down the side walk down around Browns stadium, out past the Rock Hall and headed out Marginal alongside Lake Erie.

As we shared stories, the light became brighter and brighter and illuminated the sky with the full beauty of the sunrise! (Yes, not the one in the picture but equally as beautiful). It is hard to imagine much of a better way to start my workday!

PS- No TIBIA PAIN TODAY ON THE RUN! (Still feeling very touch and go on this one. Some days it still seems to bother me and sometimes I have good days. Hard to know what to think!)

The secret ....

 

Yes another early morning workout today! Alarm clock 1 went off at 4:45 AM and scared cat out of bed. Alarm clock 2 went off at 4:50 and I rolled over to grab my phone to turn off the alarm. After browsing through the emails on my blackberry that came in over night I pried myself out of bed and made my way to the other room to throw on some clothes as quickly as I could before running downstairs to brush my teeth. Within 10 minutes I was out the door and in my car where my Blue Rockstar awaited me. I had a 40 minute drive to wake up before hitting CSU masters swim!

No traffic to deal with, 3350 yards swam, one blue rockstar down and at my desk by 8AM makes for a great start for the day! Woot, woot!

The secret to waking up early today?
A margarita and some Great Lakes Conway Irish Ale putting me to bed before 9 last night!

Just for kicks!

 

So some new Saucony shoes came via Brown Santa recently as they are one of my Team Trakkers sponsors.

Oh new running shoes are always enough to brighten this girls day even if it is just another cold, snowy, Ohio gray day!

At first glance, I gotta say, "I totally dig this color!"

Now I was going to write up a post about this awhile ago but it was not until yesterday that I could do it justice as you all needed a picture!

The side story...
The last time I could remember having my camera was the day I fractured my arm about 6 weeks ago at Rays. The little camera went everywhere with me, just in case! Now I have always had some issues with this one prized little possession of mine. (That is why I try to keep these to a maximum expense of $100 or so!) One camera went down due to a cracked viewing screen which probably resulted from being in a soft case in my purse and me rooting around for something or another. Another camera went mia after I think I left in the bathroom after Akron Marathon. So when this camera went mia, I was at a loss. I thought it was time for yet another new camera. Booo! Yet, it just seemed to me that I could not recall anywhere I would have lost it. After turning over every pillow, checking every bag and anywhere I could think of over and over again, Sunday it made its re-appearance! Woot! Woot! I found it in a coat pocket I rarely use. I am not sure when I put it in there....perhaps I threw the coat on to snap some pictures of Mr. Matches one day and just forgot???? Regardless, I ran upstairs and jumped around cheering with my camera to my husband! Hooodihoo, time for pictures again! To think just Sunday afternoon I was pricing out a new camera at the store! Yippee!

So back to the shoes! To be quite honest this is my first pair of Saucony running shoes so I was a tiny bit nervous. I laced these good looking shoes up and hopped on the treadmill. The first thing I noticed was that they had a lot of soft cushioning which felt good to my little feet-zies! The fit seems just right for me. I am really hoping that the extra support will be just what the doctor ordered to help keep my devil tibia issues at bay!

I do have to be honest though. Sunday was my first return back to pavement since my running hiatus and it was a gloriously fun 10.6 mile run with some of my favorite running girls and Bob, who got me started running! The roads were wet from salt and snow covered in spots. I could not bear to wear my stunningly clean Saucony shoes outside yet and get them all dirty just yet....soon though!

It is with great excitement....!

 

It is with great excitement that as of today, I am officially registered for the Revolution 3 Triathlon Race Series! Woot, woooot!

This means Olympic Triathlon in Knoxville on May 9th, Half Iron in Middlebury, CT on June 6th and MY FIRST FULL ever in my own backyard of Sandusky Ohio at Cedar Point on September 12th! BRING IT ON!!!