Jordanelle is HOT...(literally)

Racing this year has been interesting, challenging and overall a kick butt time.  After dealing with injury and weight gain for the last two years, I am finally feeling healed enough to race.  With great anticipation I woke up early and headed out for the hour drive to Jordanelle.  Brittany is a fabulous friend to have at races, she has a knack for making other racers feel at ease.  I was grateful to be with her this day.  Later on you will know why exactly I was especially glad she came along. 

We planned our time to reach the venue a good two hours before our race started.  We hadn't planned on road construction and limited parking.  The designated parking lot was full, luckily we drove in the back way and snagged the last legit spot. Waiting in the long line of cars to get to the race left my bladder begging for mercy, only to be denied at parking.  Riding our bikes to the start we both felt upbeat and excited, although anxious to find the honey buckets...to no avail.  Packet pick up was a long distance from T1 where the supposed restrooms were.  We had to wait in a long line of delayed racers for our packets, yet Brit cranked her Ipod with her Rock Out Speakers and brought smiles to the anxious athletes.  I was feeling calm but increasingly uncomfortable and slightly in pain.  PBJ's were being handed out to those of us waiting. Such a nice t ouch. 

As we left with our packets, we noticed a building tucked off to the side of where we had been in line for 35 minutes....SWEET RELIEF!  Now off to T1.   

T1 was set up great. Britt and I were directly a row behind each other, making it such much more fun to get ready for the race.  We were surrounded by anxious first time triathletes.  It was neat to share our limited experiences with them.  Having never raced Jordanelle, I didn't really know what to expect out on the course, just that from where I racked my bike, I could see that the swim transition was horrendously long!

The swim was great, I was able to get into a smooth rhythm quickly, taking a minute per 100 off my last race time.  Coming out of the water, covered mid-calf deep in lake sludge, I jogged to transition.  Luckily the athlete next to me in transition had a bucket of water to cleanse my feet in.  Off on the bike I still felt pretty strong and rode hard for the first 3 miles, all the sudden I had nothing left in the tank. Gu chomps, gels, honey stingers, nothing was working.  I felt so uncomfortable, miserable.  By the time I reached T2 I just wanted to quit. The best thing was my Switch eyewear keeping the blistering glare from the sun out of my eyes.   Slowly jogging, I forced myself to keep running.  After half a mile, I was willing myself to run 10 orange cones and walking 6.  Everyone was walking.  What was wrong?!  I walked and slowing jogged the run.  It was incredibly long.  I just didn't care anymore, I wanted it over.  Finishing the race I guzzled the water bottle handed to me.  That's when it all sunk in.  I was fighting dehydration and heat exhaustion.  5 a.m. training in the cool of the early morning left me grossly under trained for the heat.  My bike and run were in 100 degree weather.  All in all it wasn't the kind of race I was hoping for, but Jordanelle is gorgeous.  The race directors made the best of some unpredictable circumstances.  The water bottles ran out at the finish line, but I was able to find full coolers to refill my bottle.

Here is the part that was the most taxing.  I was exhausted and wanted to be home to take a cool shower and sleep but I had to make the long walk back to T2, hop on my bike and ride 3 1/2 miles up hill in 100 degree weather back to my car.  Did I already mention dehydration and heat exhaustion?  Not a happy prospect.  This is where I was so grateful for Brittany.  I rode to the bottom of the biggest hill, I was frustrated and thirsty.  I decided to wait 5 minutes and then tackle the last hill to the car.  My heart lept for joy when I saw Brittany coming down the hill in the car. Besides the finish line, that was the most beautiful sight of the day.  I love my TriEdge/Kestrel team mates.

Lessons were learned from this race, mainly to train for the heat.  Most important I loved the race and the smile at the end was genuine.  Will I race Jordanelle again?  Absolutely, I have something to prove!

Jordanelle, Another Great TriUtah Event!

There are several races that often get buzzed about in the triathlon community for their popularity. Jordanelle is one of those races and I've always been interested in seeing what all the talk is about. Knowing it is a TriUtah event, the same organization that hosts other race favorites like Echo, I knew it would be well organized and executed.

A week and a half leading up to the race I was playing a softball game and pulled my left hip flexer. What I thought was a minor annoyance started rearing its ugly head all week as I attempted running, kickboxing, lifting, and even walking. My game plan was to be in denial about the problem in hopes it would just go away. I even played another softball game two days before the race where I was reminded that the problem still existed and now I would have to race with the consequences. Sadly, this was my first race of the season I was not excited about because of this little annoyance.

Saturday morning Sherri picked me up at 6:00 to head to our race venue. My game plan for the day was to try to go easy on myself and be ok with being painfully slow. As we hit the turn off for Jordanelle, there was a long line of cars backed up on the freeway because of construction. We ended up sitting in a line of cars with anxious racers for about 30 minutes. To add to the angst of many, you have to bike 3.5 miles in to the race venue because of lack of parking. Buses were provided for spectators, but racers had to bike to the packet pick up, then a little further to T1. As we headed on our bikes to packet pick up, we went down a pretty steep long hill. I saw where the turn off was for the bike course and luckily noted we would only be biking up a quarter of it.

With my Rock Out speakers in tow, I was sticking to my game plan of "just having fun" for the day as I provided everyone with a dance party waiting in line for registration. I couldn't help but forget about my injury and be excited to race.

When we arrived at transition the question from several people was "where is the water?" You couldn't even see a lake at T1. The water level was so low T1 was a little over a half mile jog from the swim. I grabbed my transition towel and running shoes and set another mini transition spot by the lake.

My swim was pretty non eventful. My wave didn't start until 9:55! The water was cold, but felt pretty good. I came out in 17 minutes...you know, to give all the racers a head start so I could chase them all down on the bike. I vow this will be my last year of lame swimming.

The bike course was a little longer than the typical sprint, 15 miles, and it was all uphill until the last 5 miles which were my favorite 5 miles of any race. We had the best downhill stretch of any race I've done! (St. George has a great one, but you usually have so slow a little for the cattle crossing and for the slow people blocking the road) I had no racers or traffic around me and I got up to 48mph on my bike! That's right, my bicycle, not some motorized wimp-mobile (Keena's term). My bike split was decent at 44 minutes. I tried to ease up on my bike a little knowing I had forgotten my salt pills and it was going to be a hot run.

My run didn't even start till after 11:00 and the sun was ruthless, with minimal shade. I gave myself permission to start slow and comfortable but looked down at my watch and saw an 8:30 pace (not too slow for me). I was pleasantly surprised but knew I couldn't maintain that and gradually slowed my pace to 8:45 then 9:00. By the time I hit mile two I felt cramping start in my quads and knew I was in trouble. By this time the run was weaving up and down a trail with little loops. It was really beautiful and I normally would enjoy this scenery. My legs went into full seizure and I started to really hurt. If you have never experienced muscle cramping/seizing it's horrible! The muscle tightens up like you're flexing it and does NOT release. I ran stiff legged the last mile or so. It's really awesome looking, it sort of looks like I drank Ex-Lax and I'm shuffling to the bathroom. Walking brings no relief, so I just work through the pain. I have experimented with various nutrition methods and I've learned I need about 4 salt tabs per hour in the heat, even on a short little sprint. Needless to say, I was passed by about 4 or 5 women in my age group during that run. Humbling, but kind of expected. My run time ended up being a little over 29 minutes. I ended up 6th in my age group, but had one of the fastest female bike splits of the day so that was cool.

I'm sure the post race food was delicious, but I felt too sick to eat after the race. After drinking a few bottles of water, I realized the day was only getting hotter and I needed to still walk back to transition to get my stuff, then bike all the way back to the car. Biking up the monster hill that gave me so much enjoyment earlier that day, with all of my gear on my back was now kicking my trash.

This was a hard race for me but I was so happy to experience it (well maybe not the run). TriUtah picks great locations for their races. I love the small town/country scenery and they give great t-shirts (you know, the kind you'll actually wear). It was fun to have a teammate there with me and know that we finished the race and didn't quit when it got hard.

Thank you to TriUtah for another great race and thank you to my sponsors! I love my Switch Eyewear Axo glasses. They worked well on my bike ride, even in my aero position. I will be heading back to 3B Yoga to repair the damage I have done to my body. Thank you to Kestrel for my bike, I think they sprinkle magic dust on their bikes allowing this very undertrained athlete to manage great bike splits, and to HEAD Swimming and Snorkeling for the amazing goggles and wetsuit. Thank you to BEARPAW for indulging me in my favorite guilty pleasure, gorgeous shoes. And a big thank you to T3, Flexr Sports, Velo Ink, and Coach Keena Training. I'm grateful to be associated with a team of girls that are fun, supportive, and great friends!

Saratoga Sprint…who doesn’t love a local race?

This was the 4^th year for the Saratoga Springs Sprint; I have raced it 3 of the 4 years.  You can’t beat a local town race that is 7 miles from your home!  Who doesn’t love rolling out of bed and driving down the road to the race start?  Another bonus…it doesn’t start until 8:30…which means I don’t have to get up until 6:30! 

I was excited to be back racing this course after missing it last year due to being at Age Group Nationals.  When I raced it in 2011, I was overtrained and didn’t have the best race so I looked forward to be going in with a healthy mind.  When I rolled into transition shortly after 7 I couldn’t believe how many people were already there setting up!  People come early to this one!  I quickly set up my transition spot and then spent the next hour visiting with all the friendly faces that were there.  This is such a low key race and I love the opportunity to socialize with others who are racing.  While in transition the race director asked me if I wanted to go in the elite group with a couple other females, some elite males, and then the 35-39 male group.  I honestly had to think about it for a minute because people who have read my race reports know that I don’t love swimming with men…they are just not as friendly in the water.  But, the bonus was I knew I would have men in front of me to site off of which was great! And I knew the wind could get worse. So, I said yes!

Since the race doesn’t start at 8:30 it is usually windy and it doesn’t take much to stir up Utah Lake.  The wind is like clock work out there.  It kicks up at about 8:00 from the South.  I have never had a great swim at this race because it is always rough water.  I knew this morning when that wind kicked up it wasn’t going to be any different today.  I actually thought it was worse then years before!  The waves hit before we were even out of the protected marina.  I just told myself it wouldn’t be as bad coming back…..I just had to get through the 300 yards of craziness.  Coming back in was awesome because the water just pushed you back into the marina…that is when I knew I wasn’t exaggerating the size of the waves out there!  I really don’t love swimming in waves; I can never get into a rhythm!  The swim was a little long, .46.  Swim time was not something I am proud of…13 minutes.

I left the swim in the water and figured it was what it was and now it was time to hammer the bike and run.  I had no idea what place I was coming out of the water, nor did I care much.  Today was all about fun!  I hopped on my bike and embraced the South wind.  I felt like I was in my element because I bike in that dang wind ALL the time out here!  I just settled in, watched my heartrate, and pushed the course.  I was happy with my decision to start in the first wave with all the men because they are so darn competitive…and so am I!  I don’t like being passed…and neither do the guys.  So it makes for a great set up for competition.  I passed a couple guys on the bike and came in with a 21.7 MPH…happy about that!

My goal on the bike was not to thrash my legs so much that they were wasted for the run.  It is really something I have been working on this year.  As I started the run I immediately knew that I had played the game right today.  I immediately passed 2 men and was holding a great pace.  The run course is a little hilly, but I had mentally played it out in my head that morning and knew where they all were.  My goal was to average a 6:40 run and that is what I did!  Ran it in 20:09.

Overall time was 1:10 and earned me the spot of 1^st overall female.  I LOVE racing, and love the new things I learn every time I am out there.  This is truly a great sport!

If it wasn’t for the rough swim ALL the time this race would honestly be one of my favorite races!  The race directors are all about putting on a great race and not making money off it.  The shirt was awesome and I won 75 dollars cash!  Great job SS Triathlon!

A special thanks to our team sponsors:  Kestrel Bikes…what can I say…I love that bike!  It has been such a great set up!  Absolutely love it.  HEAD…their goggles are seriously the best!  Switch….I LOVE their glasses!  They were awesome on the bike, and then sadly I left them in transition on the run.  Who runs without sunglasses!?!?  Bearpaw…if you haven’t tried out their shoes you are missing out!  Their flip flops are the best for race day, and I love their sandals for after!

And lets not forget my awesome support team!  My kids are the best cheerleaders a mom could ask for!  I love hearing their shout outs when I see them out there.  My husband puts up with this craziness and I appreciate him SO much!  And the Coaches…Heath and M….I couldn’t ask for better coaches for me.  I loved racing out there with Heath today, and loved seeing M out cheering as well.  They have helped me learn so much in this sport; I can’t thank them enough!

Love these little cheerleaders!

I really love me some cash!

Herriman Black Ridge- A Hidden Gem

As someone who has only lived in Utah for the past 2 years, I am still not familiar with all the great local races. I had my early season schedule filled, and my late season schedule filled, but I had a little window in the middle. I heard someone talking about doing Herriman Black Ridge so I looked it up.I haven't done a sprint in a couple of years, so I thought this would be fun.  I saw that it was a RaceTri event which means it was without a doubt, going to be both fun and well run. The date was perfect. The swim was short and with that as my slowest split, I figured it gave me a better shot at the podium. The race was almost full at 400 racers and I really enjoy races this size. Add those all up and it seemed like this would be a perfect race for me to do locally.

I'd never even heard of Black Ridge. I called my teammate Amber earlier in the week, knowing she had been up there, and we chatted about it a bit. She raved about the place and how much fun it was. A couple of my other teammates had mentioned wanting to do this race so I thought there would be a few of us there. So, in a last minute decision, I signed up just a few days before the race.

As the day of the race approached, I texted back and forth with those who had been talking about racing, and everyone had ended up with a different conflict. Looked like it was going to be just me! I'm not used to racing without anyone I know, but hey, why not?

The day before the race, my daughter and I went to Elite TriSports to pick up my packet, then we drove to Herriman to check out the course. I figured since I had no clue where Black Ridge was, and my GPS didn't either, that I should probably figure that out before the race! We drove out there and found this charming, tiny little reservoir in the hills of Herriman. It was so...CUTE! Then we drove the bike course. RaceTri had been very open about the fact that there was a descent at the beginning of the race with a lot of curves, and warned riders to BE CAREFUL because someone always takes it too fast and loses control (and yes, it happened again this year). I'm a chicken on descents as it is, so I wanted to see what I was preparing for. I wanted to go into the race, knowing what was coming.

My daughter, who is turning 10 this month, wanted to come watch me race. I was thrilled about that, especially since I didn't know anyone racing! It would be good to have my husband and daughter there with me. I woke them up bright and early on Saturday morning. We arrived in Herriman about 6:30am. I set up both transition areas, got my timing chip, and was ready to roll. My stomach wasn't feeling too hot, but I figured it was a sprint distance race, I could get through it.

My wave started at 8:12am.  The water was beautiful. The lake is very small so I was never really out there on my own on the swim. As I've mentioned before, this is my weakest split. I just go in there, swim at a pace I'm comfortable with, and then hurry it up and switch into race mode once I'm out of the water (yeah, yeah, I've gotta work on that). I came out of the water somewhere in the middle at 10:07. I ran up to transition and got the see the smiling face of my husband and beautiful daughter, as they cheered me on.

The bike is where I usually make up some time (thank you Kestrel). I was excited to try out my new glasses from Switch Eyewear at this race. I just got them the day before the race so I hadn't had to chance to ride with them beforehand. I LOVED THEM! They are definitely my new race favorites!

The waves had started just 2 minutes apart, and since there was body marking, I could see that there were people from the wave after me that had exited the water before me and were already heading onto the bike. However, knowing how that first curvy descent was going to be, I rode VERY carefully the first couple of miles. As soon as that was out of the way, I let it fly. The course is hilly, although nothing too rough. It's either you're climbing a little, or your dropping a little, with very little actual flat. It was a beautiful course! I could tell that I was making good progress on the bike. It wasn't long before I was passing the youngins with "20 something" written on their leg, and I knew I was in the middle of the wave before me. I leapfrogged with a couple of other women through the first half of the bike, but then passed them on the last half. About halfway through the bike, I caught up to the men from 2 waves before me. At this point, I was pretty sure there couldn't be too many in my age group out ahead of me because I wasn't really seeing any women at all. I figured there were probably 1 or 2 in my age division who had come out of the water enough ahead of me that I hadn't ever seen them or caught up to them. I biked the 15 mile course in 46:32.

T2 was uneventful (although Coach Heath would have scolded me for sitting down ;) and onto the run I went. My legs felt tired from the somewhat hilly bike course. I had tried not to hold back at all on the bike because I knew the run was short enough, I could power through it even on tired legs. I started feeling sick to my stomach and was pretty sure I'd be stopping to lose my breakfast before the run was over! However, it eventually passed and I was okay. The first mile of the run heads uphill. My legs didn't like that much and I ran my first mile slower than I had hoped. Just as I started mile 2, my legs came back and I felt like I could run again. I picked up the pace and ran mile 2 over a minute faster than mile 1. I really didn't know where I was, as far as placing, but I knew that there are some fast women out there and if I let up at all, one of them could come flying by me at any second. I really enjoyed the run course. There was some shade, some ups, some downs, some gravel, some grass...it kept it interesting! I kept up my goal pace on mile 3 and headed into the finish. To my surprise, a guy 20 years my senior and a good 70 lbs heavier than me, sprinted past me on that last .2 miles! I picked it up, pretty sure I could out sprint him at the end, but I was wrong! He got me :)

My finish time was 1:25:19, which when results were posted, was good enough for 1st in my division, a total surprise to me.

After the race, I got a chance to visit with a few other athletes from the area. That's one of my favorite parts of the race. I love meeting new friends and fellow athletes.

RaceTri always has great medals and prizes, and makes the awards ceremony very entertaining. They didn't disappoint. This awards ceremony even included a $100 prize for the HAIRIEST MAN! What a hoot! All in all, the race was wonderful. It was well run, beautiful, fun, and social. I will definitely be back!

Special thanks to Coaches Heath and Mahogani Thurston as well as TriEdge, Kestrel, Switch Eyewear (LOVE THESE NEW GLASSES!), HEAD swimming, Flexr, GU, 3B Yoga, BearPaw and T3. And thank you to my sweet husband and daughter who got up so early and came to support me. I love you!

Barb's Race/Vineman

     Barb's Race is the only all female half distance triathlon in the world. It started in 2001 and is named after Barb Recchia. Barb was a volunteer at Vineman every year since the race began. In 1999, she was diagnosed with cancer. To read more about her special story, here is the link.http://www.vineman.com/Barb_s_Race.htm This year it was limited to 450 participants. The other cool thing about Barb's Race is that it takes place on the same day as Vineman - a full distance triathlon. My husband decided to do Vineman and I chose to race Barb's as I needed to get practice in on my new bike. I am training for Ironman Florida in November.
      The races take place in Guerneville, California. It is in wine country next to the Redwood Forests and the Russian River. It is breathtaking. We left early Thursday morning and drove to Reno. When we arrived in Reno, we found out that there was a mudslide that closed I-80. We stopped at a diner/casino off the side of the road and waited the 4 hours til I-80 was reopened.  We finally left Reno around 10:30 at night and drove the rest of the way.
        We pulled into Guerneville at 2 am. So tired, we took our bikes in and went straight to bed.
In the morning, we discovered our surroundings.  We were staying at Creekside Inn. It is a beautiful place with either cabins nestled in the tall redwood trees or a bed and breakfast at the main house. We were staying at the bed and breakfast. They had very reasonable prices and were extremely hospitable and accommodating. It was only a mile away from the race start which was fantastic. After a delicious breakfast Friday morning, we went swimming in the Russian River. The water was very warm and very shallow. It doesn't get much deeper than 6 feet and is 1 foot in others.
          After our swim, we rode our bikes for about 20 minutes, just to make sure everything was in working order and felt good-(our bodies, not the bikes j/k). After that, we went and checked in. We picked up our packets, walked around the venues, picked up some last minutes necessity items, dropped off our running gear a T2, and decided to drive the course.
           The bike course winds through vineyards and forests, charming towns, and countryside. Golden Eagles fly overhead and it is beautiful. We had read race reports so we thought we knew what to look for. The course is a very technical course with lots of winding roads, hills,and some crappy roads, just for fun. Chalk hill is the famous hill of the race. It's pretty steep, like parts of American Fork Canyon, but it is only 3/4 of a mile. After driving the course, we thought we were ready.
            We had dinner (Panda Express for me, Subway for my husband- and some pb choc Hagen-Daaz to top it off) and went back to Creekside. After going through all our gear, nutrition, race plans, etc. we went to bed.
             Race Day: I woke up at 4:15 to get ready and go with Michael. His race started at 6:30 and mine wasn't til 8:30. We had oatmeal and an egg/potato dish for breakfast and rode our bikes down to the race. It was quite convenient as it is such a small town and no parking. I helped Michael and I got a sweet spot in T1 (no one in my race was there yet). I heard someone ride by and say "da** overachievers". I laughed thinking "I'm only here because I don't want to ride down here by myself " and to support my husband. :)
             The Swim: It is pretty cold in the morning- usually 55 degrees. The river was warmer than the temperature outside and it felt nice to get in. The swim went well, it was a little long and I was super surprised at how many people walked the entire swim. I had to walk the turnaround so that I didn't get stepped on and because it is that shallow. I couldn't even follow through on a stroke. It felt great and I finished the 1.3 miles in 44 min. I was ok with that.
              The Bike: I loved the bike. First, I LOVE my KESTREl. It was awesome!!!! I felt like I was cruising. I found things that I really like to eat on my bike: tropical coconut water mixed with carbo pro, NOW bars with chia seeds and all natural ingredients, go squeeze applesauce,chocolate raspberry roctane gu, and beef jerkey rounds-the kind you can get at gas stations. They were awesome!! Everything sat really well too. I also grabbed a pb sandwich from a volunteer without getting off my bike-first time for me-I almost ran her over but.. I'm awesome! The bike course was a lot harder than I originally anticipated because of all the technical aspects and my Cobb seat still needs to be broken in. Yes it does! I finished the 56 miles in my goal time of 3:32 and my legs felt fantastic! Can I give another about out to my Kestrel!! Awesome!!
               T2- took forever! It is seriously like a .3 mile run from where you dismount your bike to your rack. I could have run but... I figured I had a 13.1 mile run ahead of me and I seriously had to pee- so I didn't.  Stopped at the port-a-potties and I was ready to run.
                The Run:  it is an out and back 2xs. The first mile is tricky because it is just slightly downhill so you tend to start out faster than you should. I settled in and tried to maintain my 10:30 pace for the first half of the half. The run goes through neighborhoods but there aren't any sidewalks/curbs. After the first mile, you have rolling hills. Super fun! I felt really good but I had to keep slowing myself down. It is all about pacing right? On the course, they had peaches and nectarines that were divine. I am all about yummy fruit! After the first out and back, I was wishing it was over. You basically go to the finish line and have to turn around and go back out. Not so happy! The spectators were awesome as was the support on the run. Mile 6 -9 my legs started to feel a little tired, but that was to be expected. The hills were taking their toll - more so the downhills. Mile 9.5, my foot started to cramp up. Boo! I realized this was somewhat my fault as I had skipped many a run workout in July. Something I will be changing immediately. I took plenty of metasalt etc. so I just need to run more and run faster! I continued to cramp and had to walk on and off for the rest of the race. At one point, I found a ledge that overlooked a creek. I got up on the ledge to stretch out my foot and calf, and a man yelled to me, "not worth it. you can totally finish this race." I thought it was hilarious! I finished my run slower than planned and laughed because I remember being told at a half or full distance, there will be plenty of times you will want to quit. I could have quit but there was nowhere else to go but back to the finish line to wait for my husband. So... on I ran! I will say that I wore my Injinji toe socks with my Nike luna racers and this is the first half marathon I have run without getting runners toe. I thought that was awesome! Thank you Injinji! Next time I will run with the Injinji compression socks or CEP sleeves.        After the race, they had lots of food and drinks, plenty of fresh fruit, soup, etc. However, by the end of the night, they ran out of a lot. I felt really bad for the last people coming in from Vineman. Also,they charged for massages which in my opinion, should be free after racing either distances. Overall, I thought the race was very well put on and I loved it! I would definitely want to do it again and possibly even Vineman. It was a wonderful day!            
         

Spudman- Race Report

I'm so excited to blog about this race! This is the 5th time I have raced Spudman and it's one of my favorite races. I moved to Utah 2 years ago from Idaho. I had a great group of friends to train with up there and Spudman was one of the races we hit every year. I love the atmosphere, the large size of the race and seeing so many familiar faces.

The first year that I raced Spudman, there were approximately 2,500 racers and I came in 26th in my division. I remember telling someone that this was not a race I would ever be able to place in. As the years have gone by, however, I found myself climbing closer and closer to that podium. Two years ago, as I came in 6th in my division, I decided it was time to stop saying "can't" and start saying
"will". As luck would have it, three months before Spudman 2012, I suffered a debilitating injury (torn hip flexor) and I had to completely stop training altogether. Just before the race, I got clearance to "race" again but was told I was not allowed to do ANY sort of speed work and I wasn't allowed to push my pace at all or I would risk a lifelong, recurring injury. I cried, but it was what it was. I raced it, holding back on the run (which prior to that injury, had always been my strongest split) and knowing this would not be the year I would place. Surprisingly, I came in 5th in my division, although my time was a couple of minutes slower than the previous year due to my slower run time.

This was my year. I decided back then that this would be my A race this season and I was going to place. Going into the race this year, I was injury free and feeling strong. My run time has never quite recovered since the injury, but I was biking stronger than ever before and my run has improved since last year. I knew exactly what I needed to do on each split to make it to that podium, and I was feeling strong and confident.

Race day came and my husband reminded me to charge the battery to my Kestrel 4000 LTD. I knew it was probably already charged but I didn't want to take any chances, so I went out to get my battery and charge it (I shouldn't say out, my bike lives in my house :). As soon as I reached for it, I felt like I should leave it alone and not mess with it, but thinking I was being cautious, I took it off anyway and gave it a full charge. I put it back on my bike and off we went.

I was bummed that none of my teammates could make it this year but thrilled that my husband and several other friends were racing with me. We rolled into Burley, ID about 7:00 pm on Friday night and got all checked in. We drove over to T1 to set our bikes up for the race the following morning. The transition area is huge and I can always feel the excitement of the upcoming race. I love checking out all the bikes, but with my Kestrel this year, I was plenty happy just drooling over my own :) We got our transition area set up and were about to head back to the car when I decided I better double check my shifters and make sure no wires etc had come undone. As I tried to shift, I realized nothing was happening. I called my husband over and told him that a wire must have come loose because my bike wouldn't shift. I was so glad I stopped to check that instead of coming out of the water the following morning to find that out. He tried to mess with it and then looked at me and said, "You don't have a battery!" WHAT??? I put the battery back on my bike after charging, but I must not have locked it in correctly. I had no battery. By this point, it was 8:30 pm. There is only one small bike shop in Burley and it closes at 6pm. I just sat there in shock for a minute. And then I started praying. This was my race. I had trained so hard and worked towards this goal for years, but with no shifters, and the bike as my strongest split, there is no way I would be placing this year. Next came the crying. About that time, a sweet race volunteer named Stan Baker found me and we told him what was going on. He said that he knew ONE guy who rode Di2. He said he would call him and if he wasn't racing, he would ask if he'd be willing to let me borrow his battery. He called his friend but got no answer.

Next, I called my coaches. Coach M (my hero, seriously, thank you) tried talking some sense into me. In my head, I was ready to just not race. I didn't want to race a less than stellar race. She said, "I know this isn't the race you wanted but this is the race you've got. You're racing in one gear. You'll just have to kill it on the run." She had the determination in her voice that I was lacking at that moment. She gave me pointers on what to do if I was in my lowest gear, or what to do if I was in my highest...and she listened to me sob my eyes out in frustration.

One of things that is awesome about Spudman is that you get to camp right on the course. About 10pm, we went back to the campground and set up our tent. And then my phone rang. It was Stan. He said he had reached his friend who said he wasn't racing and he would let me use his battery! Stan drove clear across town (okay, so in Burley that's not very far, but still...) and then hand delivered it to me about 10:30pm. I asked him if I could give him a big hug. I can't tell you how grateful I was to both Stan, and Rick Dayley, the man who agreed to let me borrow his battery. Come to find out, Rick was also the race announcer for Spudman.

I slept well the night before and woke up, almost on a high from everything working out the way I had hoped. We made our way back down to transition where I put the battery on--correctly this time-- and set everything up. I felt like I was mentally and physically in the right place to do well that morning.

My husband, friends and I all headed back to our tent where we got into our wetsuits and walked to the water. This race is typically VERY hot, so I was relieved that I was starting in an early wave. The forecast was showing highs of 95 that day and the early temps were once again projected to be quite warm. I don't run well in the heat.

My wave started at 7:20am. I am a mediocre swimmer, and I go into the swim just thinking, "swim, then race", because when I try to swim faster, my form just gets even worse and I wear myself out, without going any faster. This particular swim is current aided (HOLLA!) which I love. For those who have never done an olympic distance race, or those who aren't as strong of swimmers (like me), this race is for you. I've done this race enough to know where the current is strongest and where to position myself so I don't get run over too terribly much. I got into a great rhythm and felt like I found a great spot for my swim. I came out of the water in 20:00, which was just over a minute faster than last year.

T1 went pretty smoothly. I had a goal to transition faster than last year. I felt like I was a lot faster but when all was said and done, I only shaved 6 seconds off the previous year's transition time. Oh well, improvement is improvement, right?

I went onto the bike ready to kill it. I upgraded my bike this year and felt confident that I could really do well on the bike. I did well last year, averaging 21 mph. My goal this year was to beat that. As I started the bike portion, it started to sprinkle. I was just praying that the rain would hold off until the bike was finished. There was a bit of a headwind as we went out, but I was still passing people left and right (which is to be expected, since I come out of the water in not such a great position). I felt like I was doing pretty well, but then about 6-7 miles in, some guy passed me. I don't like ANYONE passing me on the bike, even if it is a dude, so I kicked it into gear even more and realized I should have been pushing it that much harder all along! My bike average was down a little from where I had hoped it would be, due to the headwind, but as we turned, that all changed. The rain seemed to be holding off and now I was cruising with a nice little tail wind. As I came into the final stretch, I saw that my average speed over the 25 miles was 21.7pmh, and I had shaved about 3 minutes off of last year's time. Sweet!



T2 went smoothly as well. I got in and out in a pretty good time and off I went onto the run.

This is when I had to stop and tell myself "listen to Coach M. Listen to coach M." My tendency is to go out too strong, feeling good, and thinking I can hit a certain pace, then burning out about mile 4. Coach M had told me she wanted me running a negative split. She wanted me to hold an 8:30 the first 3 miles and an 8:15 the last 3 miles. When she said that, I thought in my head, "But I can run faster than that. I'm going to....." As I began my run though, I knew that she knew what she was talking about, and I decided to hold exactly what she said. I hit the 8:30 on the first 3 and when I hit mile 4, instead of burning out, I felt awesome! The rain was really light, the cloud cover was holding, and it was a good 10 degrees cooler than I had anticipated and trained for. I felt rejuvenated at a point in my race where I usually want to vomit! I picked up my pace a little and kept the 8:15 that she told me to hold. I wasn't sure where I was in the standings, but based off my time, I knew I had to be close to 3rd. Two women had passed me at the beginning of the run. I didn't know for sure which wave they were in but I was pretty sure they were in mine. I figured that to place, I needed to pass at least one of them before the end of the run.

At 5.9 miles in, I finally caught up to one of those women. She was right in front of me. I remembered a race where I had been in 1st overall and at the very last second, a woman I had no idea was behind me, sprinted by me and took the overall title from me. I had no idea she was even there and I didn't have time to catch her. In my head, I told myself that the girl right in front of me was in 3rd place. If I passed her, I would place and hit my goal. If I didn't, I wouldn't. I really had no way of knowing if that was true, but that's what I told myself. However, I didn't know how much she might have left in the tank. I wanted to make sure that once I passed her, it was all over. I didn't want her to have the chance to pass me again before the end. I know this race course very well. At the end, you drop down a steep hill and then it's a sprint to the finish. I waited until right before that hill to make my move. I am quite tall and have a long stride so I can usually make good time going downhill. When I hit that point, I just let it fly. I took off and passed her. In my head, she was 2 steps behind me so I just sprinted with every ounce of energy I had left. I maxed out at a 5:42/mi on that last .2 miles. I did my last 3 miles at an average of 8:10, just under what Coach M had told me to. I looked up at the clock to see what my final time would be. My goal was to finish in under 2:26. I saw that I was at 2:24 and some change so I kept up the sprint, trying to make sure I finished before the clock hit 2:25. I crossed the finish line at 2:24:48. I was happy to have beaten my goal time but was still waiting to see how I'd placed.

Just after I finished, the rain started pouring! I'm sure those on the run were grateful because it kept it from being too hot, but I'd guess that the ones still out on the bike weren't so happy about it! I saw several of my Idaho friends cross the finish line and went over and hugged them and visited for a few minutes. As we were talking, I glanced at the big sign at the finish and saw my age group pop up, with my name listed as coming in 3rd place. Once again, I started to cry :) After my frustrating injury last year, then my almost disaster of the night before, I was ecstatic to have reached my goal. I wasn't even going to let the fact that I missed 2nd place by 7 seconds take away from my excitement. I did what I set out to do.

After 5 years at this race, I finally got my ugly potato ;) And as soon as I had it in my hands, I was making goals for next year's race.

 

After the race, I walked over to return the battery to Rick Dayley. He told me that he usually races this race. He raced it last year, and was registered to race it this year as a team. However, one of his teammates was unable to race, which was the only reason he had a battery to loan me. *cue more tears*.

Special thanks to my coaches, Heath and Mahogani Thurston, and to TriEdge, Kestrel, Switch Eyewear, T3, HEAD swimming, GU, Flexr, BearPaw, 3B Yoga, and most especially my husband Daniel who races with me and supports me in my addiction. I couldn't do it without him. And a final shout out to my heroes of this race, Stan Baker and Rick Dayley, for their help with my battery situation. You truly are angels!