Coast Ride Numero Dos

The start of it all...still smiling!

This past weekend we got together with 150 of our closest cycling buddies and ventured down the coast.  Mark and I did this last year for the first time ever and had a blast tiring ourselves out and riding 375 miles of California coast.  If you ever get the chance, this is a ride that can't be missed.  I say it all the time, but we seriously live in the MOST gorgeous place in the world.

This year would see more friends join us which I got VERY excited for...Sonja, Kendra and Grant came out from Colorado.  Beth came from Pennsylvania, and then I got to see Beth and Christine from San Diego.  AND BFF Jess was in for the weekend.  Wrap that up with the funniest writer of race reports ever in Steve and you had a recipe for a great weekend! All in all it was shaping up to be splendid!  Husband, what husband?  My friends are in town and buddy you are TOO fast for me these days...see you at breakfast and dinner!  Loved Mark's reports of "yep just ticking over the legs no real work today babe"...as I pant along and hold on to the wheel ahead of me for dear life...Yep, just another day ticking over the legs.  If only...

Beautiful CA hills...my fave

Quick recap...I got to seriously break in my new love, the Argon18 Gallium Pro...the guys at Argon18 have taken such amazing care of me and that bike is seriously super duper!  Day 1 129 miles and 6k of climbing...awesome and then was so excited about the day that I still had energy for dinner.  Woke up day 2 with way more energy than LY and not nearly as sore/swollen.  Day 2 gorgeous with 8k of climbing but the introduction of a knee niggle started and by the end of the day was in serious pain with any pressure on the pedal of my right knee.  Thankfully after I fell off the front pack, a very tall Pete towed me 45 miles into the hotel...Pete said it was windy...funny Pete, I wouldn't have known!  I owe that guy dinner. Day 3, knee no bueno, made it 17 miles to breakfast, tears ensued due to not being able to ride with my girls, skipped all of the climbing and rode the last 35 with my girls...so I got in 300 miles instead of 375 but 300 miles over 3 days is still MONEY IN THE BANK people...money in the bank!

Post coast ride?  Not as tired as last year and only gained 5lbs instead of 7!  Progress people...I took NO salt tabs this year and only had Cytomax and water for beverages....oh and about a liter of Coke a day.  No joke...day 2 nutrition saw a liter of coke, a snickers, Cyto energy drops, fries, some grilled cheese sandwich...and this was all on the bike.  Don't get me started on the ice cream sundae after dinner!

Hopefully this past weekend was more than just an amazing time with friends and my husband, and will show up in March at Los Cabos, but even if it doesn't I wouldn't change a thing.

Happy Training!

Blog? What blog?

Stunning CA Coast Ride Preview

Woah Nelly! Fell off the blogging wagon after Kona of this year.  I'm sure you've been dying to read that we bought a house soon after getting back from Kona, had 2 bathrooms gutted and remodeled, floors redone, kitchen redone, etc.  WHILE trying to train for Ironman Los cabos in march.  Busy much?  Sorry mom, I know my phone calls have gotten less frequent and my friends may think Mark and I live under a rock at this point unless of course they are of the triathlete friend varietal and then we see each other as if nothing changed!  So I've spared you from the boredom thus far, but it's time to RALLY!

Bob The Builder

So phew!  The remodel is almost done and we no longer have a toilet in our front yard.  I have to say that toilet made me feel CLASSY! Where else can your friends puke 'n rally during the nonexistent ragers you throw?

So what's up for this season?  This weekend we are going on the coast ride.  This is the 2nd time I will have done this awesome ride from San Frnacisco to Santa Barbara over three days.  125 miles/day with 6-8k of climbing.  Thank you Argon18 for my new beauty, I will try to show it justice while climbing the coast of California with my girls! The weather is looking promising and the friends that are coming are gonna make it EPIC, although Mark is so fit right now, this ride is sure to be a Girls Gab Session Gone Wild with me seeing my husband in the morning and after the ride ends!

Training Bestie Jess!

Then march is where the season really begins.  I'll be racing Escape From Alcatraz on march 3rd to Bust off the Rust from 2012 and prep for Los Cabos.  And after that cold water torture awesome race, we head to San Jose Del Cabo later in March to race the first Ironman of the season!  I'm excited and nervous to race an Ironman this early in the year.  It's tough to motivate to bike outdoors, but as Coach has told me, there has been time enough to get in, out and back into shape for this race.  So we shall see!

After that?  8 weeks later is Ironman Texas, another meet up with pals from across the country disguised as a race!

I'm looking forward to it and will post pics along the way!  Hope that your training is making you stronger than ever and see you at the races!!

Hawaii 2012

I'm sitting on the plane headed back to California and have for the last few days tried to suck up as much Hawaii as possible:



Friends, family, Lava Java, swimming with honu and lava flows.


I think that I fall more in love with this place each year. If you've been to Kona, you will know that there is just an indescribable pull to return each October. The pull finds me in my dreams and makes me work hard when all I want to do is sit on the couch and eat Bon bons.

Super Chef John Making Muscle Milk Pancakes, mmmmm

We arrived, and by we, I mean an entire entourage of family on the Wednesday of race week. My mom and step dad have been all three years with me so are now familiar with the drill and they were joined this year by my Aunt and Cousin and super supporter Marks parents, who win the "coming from furthest away" award, having traveled all the way from London to see our super bowl. While my Mom and Gary showed these Kona babies the ropes, I spent some time prepping for the big day and visiting with my support team of Argon18, Cytomax and TYR.

Team rules the UP run 2012

I was lucky enough to stay with non racers in a house behind the King Kam until Sunday and spent the pre race days finding friends at the underpants run and then sorting myself out for race day!

SisterFromAnotherMother Kebby

Big thanks to Kebby and Reg for tending to me like family and always being there during race day.


People kept asking me if I was EXCITED about the race, but until we touched down in Kona, I was feeling quite calm and ambivalent about it. How does that happen? I think a long season of racing is to blame for that laissez faire attitude. But come Saturday morning, I was FULL of emotion, including some tears before the start. Wonder where those came from? I think the more and more of these races you do, the more you know how much it will take out of you on that day and how much you will have to give of yourself to be successful. And you also know how MUCH you and your family have given to get you there...missed family time, early bed time...thank goodness Mark is also an athlete and not much of this is an inconvenience for him.



So by now, it's time to get into the water and tread water with 1800 of my closest friends for the next 20 minutes before the cannon (what cannon?) goes off.

Pre race food: giant bowl of cereal, banana, nut butter, Cytomax. Total calories: 850
Pre swim calories: 100 calorie gel

Thanks Angela from the Athlete's Lounge for photo!

Swim 1:04:51 (hit the final turn buoy at 34:xx) :30 faster than LY
Luckily for me, as soon as I found my spot in the water, I also found Grant and Michelle from Colorado. I know that Michelle is a stud swimmer and I wouldn't keep up with her, but seeing a smiling face in that crowd is always comforting. All of the sudden, instead of the cannon going off, we all just started to go...someone yelled GO and the entire filed went. Apparently the announcer yelled go and THEN fired the cannon. Doh! For the first 500ish yards, it was madness similar to last year. I was being pummeled and just trying to keep my head above water and keep moving forward. Grant was right next to me and I kept breathing and seeing him still to my side. I thought, OK this is good, Grant was overall amateur winner at Canada and is a good swimmer as well. We found some clear water and a cruisey pace. I focused on staying in the draft rather than only own as who doesn't want to save energy? I hit the final turn buoy at 34:xx and was thinking, "wow, last year I hit this turn at 31:xx.this swim is gonna be slow!". There was for sure a swell the night before that left residual chop but I thought, time to put a hustle in that bustle Hailey Manning! I found a guy with a ginormous tattoo on his calf and followed him all the way home. We had clean water until about 200 meters from the finish when we were all coming together and trying to get out of the water.

Excellent, 1:04:51 on a slow swim day left me 12th in the AG out of the water and ready to RIDE my bike!

T1 calories: 100 cal gel on the run out

Thanks Robyn for the AWESOME pic!

Bike: 5:32:38 5th best bike split in the AG (LY was 5:21:48)
I have been spending a lot of my rides with a fast crew out of San Jose, who push me to my limits most of the time. I was hoping that this would pay dividends on race day and really I think it did. It's harder to say well, I went slower this year so I must have had a "worse" ride. Not true. And I avoided the "what time are you shooting for" dilemma before the race by saying, this is Hawaii, the conditions are not constant year over year and last year I went 10:06 in calm conditions. This year showed us true Kona conditions and produced slower times.  (For reference, most pro women biked 12-18 minutes slower and Rinny ran 13 minutes slower) The cross winds started on the Queen K and at times I was cursing my aero helmet, I felt as if the wind was going to pick me up via my helmet and toss me across the road. Thankfully, I only blew from the shoulder to the yellow line once this year. I knew that it was going to be awesome on the way out and that on the way back I would find my low spots from Kawaihae through mile 90. I focused on riding with my legs and not my back and had no lower back pain which was absolutely delightful. And the low spots from previous years didn't really come. I was focused on getting my Energy Drops in every 15 minutes and I think having a bit of a calorie surplus going into Hawi was the difference this year. I kept as cool as possible with a bottle from each aid station going over my head and refreshing my speedfil with cool water. I took my first bottle of coke around mile 90 and focused on getting home.

Bike calories: 6packs Cyto Energy Drops, 2scoops Cytomax, 2x150 cal gels, 1 large bottle coke...1,760/320 an hour.

I found a lot of age group women on the way out and then wasn't passed much by any other females for the rest of the ride. I was mindful coming down from Hawi and tried to note the other gals that I saw. What I did see a ton of was Drafty McDrafterson. I had a guy glued to my wheel for the better portion of the ride and noted he already had one penalty. I told him to get lost with my eyes first, and then told him verbally to get off of my wheel. And then proceeded to call him Drafty McDrafterson to his face when he would ride back up on my wheel. And for voicing my frustration instead of just riding my race I was gifted with my own 4 minute penalty to serve at T2 for not passing said McDrafterson within 20 seconds. I thought about the penalty and what those four minutes would mean at the end of the day(ultimately one AG place), but didn't let it get me down. Shit happens and it's still a long way to go. I was friendly with the volunteers in the penalty tent and while I was standing there for what seemed an eternity, watching girls come in, Drafty McD rolls in for his second penalty. What a goober!!



3,2,1, GO!!! I had seen Sonja just enter T2 as I was being released from prison and my back was like, whoa Nelly, stopping is no bueno!! Get this truck a moving!
T2 calories: 100 cal gel on way out of transition
Run: 3:38:01 vs LY of 3:33:41



This was five minutes slower than LY but again, most pros ran 8-12 minutes slower. So I take some satisfaction in only 4 minutes slower for me. That's OK right? I knew at some point, my consecutive Ironman PR streak would have to end. I have done 6 Ironmans and up until last Saturday had set a PR each time I toed the line. This too, must end. I passed Sonja on the way out of transition and told her it was time for us to get to work. The first 5 miles along Ali'i went really well, in fact I kept having to tell myself to slow it down a bit. My goal was really to break 3:30 here for the first time in my marathon history. But after the first five HOT miles, I suddenly Felt the slowing occurring. I don't know that I've ever felt the slow happen, again since I've been blessed to just have the times keep coming down so this was a new sensation to me, and one I wasn't too happy about! But, every time I saw Mark, I just kept focused on getting enough calories in and ice and water down my shorts. That's right, down your shorts. You will never know such wonderful coolness :) it was beyond wonderful to see my entire family and brood of friends from the beginning of the marathon straight through to the end. Smiling faces and loud cow bells can get you through a lot! Going into the energy lab, I set a goal for myself to find one girl to pass. It was here that the wheels really did fall off a bit. Instead of finding one girl, 3 found me. After I got out of the lab, Mark and Kebby were waiting for me and telling me that I may still be in position for a wooden bowl, or 5th place in the AG. I picked up the pace and told myself that it was time to get home. I knew that I wasn't going to be setting any records that day, but that in the last 6 miles, I would try to pass as many people as possible. That included 3 women within the last mile. I was praying some of them were in the AG but it wasn't to be.
Heading past Palani Mark told me to soak it all in and enjoy Ali'i drive. I had been thinking about running under that big Banyan tree and feeling the energy of the crowd. I saw my mom and cousin Julie cheering for me charged across the mat. Thankfully Reg had all access and was there to greet/catch me as soon as I had finished.

Run nutrition: 4 gels and a whole lotta coke! Let's say 15 cups of coke at 40 cal/cup? 1000 ish so just around 285/hour. After about the first 10 miles, my tummy said hell to the NO to any more gels, so I started drinking coke instead...mmmmmm cold coke!




Kona 2012: 7th W30-34, 10:25:01
Another ironman down, and another race down with no peeing. I swear I hydrate, and just to check, I had the med tent weigh me and I had gained 3 lbs over the day. Can you say camel?

I came into this race wanting to do better placement wise than last year. Last year, I was 8th in the AG and 15th amateur female. This year I was 7th in the AG and 30th amateur...but I'm not disappointed. I truly feel as though I had a strong race. There was no magic like there was last year, and there was a lot of negotiating with myself throughout the day..."yes you want to walk but there is nothing wrong with you so you can't walk until the next aid station". But it was a solid, strong race. I'll be looking for that 5th gear over the winter.



Many, many Mahalo's to my friends, family and super supporters. Without this group of people, I wouldn't be where I am as a person or as an athlete.

I love this island

Kona is T-minus 2 days away as I sit here on the dark lania listening to the ocean crash against the shore. I love this place, in fact there may have been tears on touchdown yesterday. Seeing the lava fields, the small wispy plants that somehow survive in this environment, it's definitely a passionate place.

I have an entire brood of support here this year, Marks parents have flown all the way from England, my mom and her hubby are here from Ohio, and even my Aunt and awesome cousin and her son have made the trip from Seattle. Saturday night party anyone?

We landed yesterday almost 40 minutes early which was a gift! We got to our house that we are sharing with awesome friends, none of whom are racing...see the support theme here?!! And then built bikes, found food...pulled pork, mmmmmmmm tasty, but maybe not the best decision in terms of my Kona abs making any appearance at the famous and most important event that takes place this morning, the Underpants run!

The rest of yesterday was spent having fun with friends at a party and then a luau dinner with TYR with amazing women like Julie Dibens and Chrissie Wellington. Good food AND cool peeps!

So more fun, registering, getting bags ready and two more sleeps and then it's gonna be ON! Being on the island this year for a third time feels really different and special. The first year, I had zero expectation, I had qualified at my first go at Ironman in Utah and just had a blast experiencing what is Kona race week. Last year I was excited to see the friends that I have continued to build and to see how I could improve on the course. This year it feels special. I don't know how else to say it. My sister gave me the best advice though. As a college swimmer of just one year, she watched her besties go through four years of collegiate swimming on the best D3 team in the nation and how they put SO much pressure on themselves. She told me to not do that, and to remember my first year here, how I was just so excited. I need to just be excited and do MY best.

So I plan to do just that on Saturday, my best, with a smile. We will see what that will bring.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go get ready for the underpants run!

Pics to come:)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Las Vegas 2.0: Interbike

Less than two weeks after 70.3 Worlds, Mark and I headed back to Vegas to have fun help out at the booth a bit during Interbike.  Neither of us had ever been to Interbike and had heard that it is truly bike porn for those of us lovers of all things on two wheels.  There was also the opportunity to race Cross Vegas for Mark and he couldn't resist. Couple that that we had also only ever been to Vegas together for races and we knew we needed to go and have a GOOD time with friends.

Wednesday night was Cross Vegas and Mark rode over to the race and I met him after a run.  Now most CX races take place in Belgium when winter is descending and the conditions are cold, muddy and not at all Vegas like.  Even in the Bay Area, CX races are usually in the fog and have an air of Fall about them.  Cross riders are known for their grit.  Vegas would offer them the opportunity to show a different side of their grit. Last week it was still 95+ in Vegas and the race started for M at 5PM.  Did I mention the guy in arm warmers?  Dude had sweat dripping off his face and evaporating so quickly he looked like a salt block.  It was 40 minutes of pure madness as the racers took on a 9-10 minute lap of grass, barriers to hop over and stairs.  I ran around like a mad woman with a camera around my neck snapping photos.  Mark finished well and upon crossing, looked like a man who hadn't had a drink in weeks, politely asked me for a cold beverage. I have to return the SUPER sherpa duties a few times a year since Mark is pretty much the best you could ask for at my races.  I met up with Jeff from Sinclair, and he got me an Argon18 for me to demo on my ride with Chrissie the next morning.  As soon as I hopped on that rocket ship ride, I was in heaven.  Fast and fit me like a glove. 

Me, Lance and Mario Cipollini

JP, me and Chrissie

I had contacted my other sponsors that I knew would be in Vegas to offer up my assistance and ended up getting treated like royalty instead.  Ummm, when can we go back?  Already making plans to go back next year and "help".  Turns out Cytomax team mate Chrissie Wellington was going to be doing a small group ride put together by the awesome crew at Cyto/Muscle Milk, and would I like to go?  Muscle Milk for breakfast AND riding with Chrissie?  Count me in.  This would also mean that I got to escape the strip, a land where people take pictures in front of water falls that smell like chlorine...can it be that they actually think it's pretty?  So, I woke my butt up at 5:00 to get shuttled outside of Stripland to meet at a local bike shop and ride the 35 miles with Chrissie and co.  I was determined not to be "that girl", you know the one, "oh Chrissie, I am your BIGGEST fan, please sign my forehead!"  She was amazing at working through the crew of riders and chatting.  We ended up talking about how I came to be in Vegas and I mentioned the team and she immediately knew about our teammate Amy, who had been hit by a gravel truck not a week earlier and asked what she could do for her.  I was amazed...that she knew our team and that she offered to help in any way she could to support her recovery.  Amy now has a book signed by CW to look forward to reading when she wakes up.  That is RAD.  Also, it turns out that Vegas is pretty once you are off the strip, although at night the strip is definitely alive with energy and has it's own beauty.

Sisters From Anotha Motha

OK, back to booth babe duty Thursday morning and then it was time for the REAL fun to begin.

Big George!

The team at Sinclair hosts THE party of Interbike every year at club XS.  I have only heard of this party, famous cyclists, cycling streaming on the mega screens in the club while music thumps and drinks flow.  Like a dream really for me, a previous lover of all things thumping in clubs and bikes.  We were invited to pre-party with the crew and I was excited to get dressed up and hit the town!  Cue gratuitous photos of me with some cycling icons, George H, Bobke Roll, Todd "Gogo" Gogulski.

Bikes in Clubs: Pure genius

Gogo Inserting Himself into Photos

Aside from cycling, I got to hit up Topshop, my fave place to shop in London, that now has a shop in Vegas, hang with friends, workout in the desert and then come home to my new baby niece and a BIG weekend of workouts.

Bobke!

The Argonettes

Life is darn good right now.  And in only a few weeks, we will head to Kona to have even more fun with friends.  Looking forward to seeing some of you there!

The House Wins Again: Las Vegas 2, Hailey 0

Where to even begin? What do you say when training has been great, lead up into the race was good and you get an unprecedented 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep race night eve? And then you have a massive crap of a race...
I'm at a loss. Everything "should" have been great. I felt awesome saturday and even the swim was an improvement over LY at the longish swim at worlds. I had all of my super supporters there and although not over the top excited, was ready to have my way with a course that I had suffered on so badly last year. Scratch that, last year was a cake walk compared to the suffering for me this year.
I am not going to be Debbie Downer here, I was sad yesterday. Today I am hopeful that just as last year went so too will this year. I had a pretty poor showing in Vegas last year, in contrast to what I knew I was capable of and this year was no different. Hopefully just like last year, this will turn into a very good Kona!


So leaving what happens in Vegas here in this blog, the details are below.
I was SUPER pumped to be staying with BFF Kebby and another team mate from back home Willow and their men. Low key ladies, who I love hanging with make going to races fun.
I was feeling good up to the race and and race morning, I had the usual big bowl 'O (gluten free) cereal, a banana with almond butter, and a Big Gulp of cytomax. perfect! Now let's go race.




Swim: it was 83 degrees in the water and 85 when we started...immediately upon starting the swim, I remember thinking to myself, "good God I'm hot!", and not in the In Vegas at the club hot. Last year the swim was LONG and I was out in 32:40, which is about 3 minutes slow for my average. This year I was out in 31:30 so seeing that as I exited, I thought "OK, time to get to work on the bike, you are headed in the right direction for the goal".
T1: 4 minutes...it was long but this was 1 minute slower than LY...there goes my swim improvement!
Bike: I was watching my heart rate and it was pretty high for me and I was feeling it from the beginning. I took two bottles at each aid station, one to fill my bottle and the other to cool me off. From the get go, I felt like I was being cooked like a baked potato! Hot can't describe how I felt yesterday. I was dreaming of ripping my helmet off just to cool off a bit more. Those hills were never ending and I never seemed to be able to get and stay aero. My lower back was talking to me which isn't normal for such a short ride. Gals that don't normally pass me until the run/maybe not at all, were passing me EARLY on the bike. I did my best to say, no worries, it's still a long day, but pretty early on I knew it was not going to be the day I had hoped for.
Nutrition on the bike: 2scoops cytomax, 1 1/2 bags of Cyto energy drops, 3 Crank e-gels and 4 succeed salt tabs. Total kcal for just under three hours 850. About right on target...maybe could have had another gel at start of ride instead of waiting 20 minutes.




Run...can we call it that? I haven't moved this slowly (for me) on a run in years. 8:53/mile. There was walking, there we're tears, thoughts of pulling out ran through my mind. Again, queue people passing me still and my having a big ol pity party for myself on that first loop. Why is my body letting me down?!! Thankfully, Mark and Kebby were in strategic places on the run and were there for me every step of the way telling me to just keep moving, loads of folks looked like poo and to just gut it out and get to the finish line.
Around mile 7 I began to come around. The side stitches were going away and I was constantly "running" as opposed to running for a few steps and then walking. At each aid station I was taking double cups of coke, as much ice down my shirt as possible and then would rally for a few minutes. Ever feel like a mile is too far inbetween aid stations? This race makes me think that. And by my final loop, ice was no where to to found, they had run out of coke and the sponges were filled with hot water. SO glad I wasn't in a later start wave as it would have been even worse a bit later on. I was so hot, I had my shorts rolled down and my race tank doubled over to look like a sports bra. When I first started to roll my pants down, the guy behind me must have thought I was about to pop a squat as he was like "woah". Then when I tried to explain myself, he started talking to me in German. That was my lost in translation moment of the day.
I was very thankful for one gal on the run who when I was
cryingtalking to Kebby about the crapper of a day told me to not let "that shit" get into my head. Everyone was hot and suffering and that, yes life sucked right then, but keep it going. That was good. I am normally the one doing the ass smacking telling people to keep running and yesterday those favors got returned. A guy smacked my booty and told me to keep running, and when I started to run, he supported me. These are the special moments in our sport. As agro and selfish as it is, every once in a while you get a glimpse of just how much everyone out there understands what you're going through and will offer a word or ass smack to get you going.




Total damage? 5:30 and 40th place. 24 minutes slower than last year and 22 places south. I think it was overall slower than LY, but this was definitely a sup par day for me.
From here, we have fun, prep for Kona and put this day in the bank. A day to be called upon when other lows are happening and to tell myself that this too shall pass and I will get through. No quitting allowed. When the day is rough, you see the true state of your mental tool box and mine still needs a bit of work.




Thank you to all of my team mates, family and amazing support team for getting me to the line. I couldn't do it without Cytomax, TYR, Argon18 and Gray wheels.
See you all in Kona!

Vineman 2012: Stuck in Third

Yesterday was Vineman 2012, my 5th consecutive running of this race. This is my fave race of the year.  I love the vineyards, it is close to home and there are always SO many friends there that it seems almost like a party, not a smashfest. 

For the second year in a row, I ended up 3rd in the W30-34 age group but took my OA ranking up to 4th place this year from 9th last year, with a 6 min PR even though i ran slower on the course.  Good stuff right?  All I can say is that the 30-34 AG continues to amaze me. 

So let's take it from the top shall we?

Pre Race- I wasn't much feeling like racing on Saturday but knew that the "I want to go home now" feeling was temporary and only due to nerves.  mark said it's normal to feel like this when you have raced a bunch already...not many nerves to have as you know the drill.  Swim, bike, run and make it snappy! Sure enough though, as soon as the gun went off Sunday, I was in it!

Pre race kcal's: Banana, pack of Justin's honey almond butter, Crunchy Vanilla Sunrise cereal (gluten free), 2 scoops Cytomax = 870 pre race calories down the hatch!

TYR Swim: 28:26, 2nd AG/11th Amateur
There had been talk all week, as there is EVERY year wondering about the temp of the Russian River...PSA folks, if you go to Vineman, it will be wetsuit legal.  Something like in the history of the race, it's only been 1 year without wetsuits.  But, just in case, I had my Freak, a shorty, and my speedsuit ready to go. A bonanza of options for my swimming pleasure.  A girl can overpack when there's no weight limit on luggage for the car! 

All smiles before putting on our game face!

The Freak makes it easy to spot Kendra and I

The swim in Vineman is as easy as it gets, the course is narrow and shallow and there is usually fog in the AM so the sun in your eyes is not a problem. So how, you are wondering does a gal make an error?  There are two bright orange bouys 3/4 of the way down....Now normally at any other race a change in color buoy means TIME TO TURN, so what did I do, when I saw these bouys?  Turned! 5 years at this race, and I pull this rookie move?!! Perfect, I was in 2nd place and then I took a :30 sec detour. I was able to get out fast and kept telling myself to remain focused- now was not the time to be daydreaming about what Reese Witherspoon is going to name her baby! Would I have been able to bust through the 28: mark without my detour?  I'd like to think so, but you just never know...so I will have to take my :09 swim PR and be happy.  Thanks to Stanford masters for helping me to continue to improve...if I can carry this time over to my Kona, I will be looking good!

Nutrition: nada while submerged in H2O

Argon18 / Gray Wheels Bike: 2:30:16 1st AG/2nd Amateur

This is definitely a course where I always forget how many hills there are, but thankfully each year, the hills seem to get easier!  I remember when I lived in Santa Rosa for a year and would ride Chalk Hill.  I don't remember ever getting off and walking, nor would I admit to it but I do remember thinking, LORD when will this hill end!  And now when I go up it, I think huh, that's it?  Being in the 3rd to last wave meant that we were out on course with literally, the entire field.  I was very concerned about a drafting penalty, as the entire day I was just passing people.  It was very aggressive at the beginning of the bike, and the roads are a bit narrow.  I saw a crash and told myself to be hyper aware of my surroundings. 

Super Supporter Mark had let me know on my way out of T1 that I was in 4th (slow transition!) and there had been a super swimmer who was about 1:30 up the road. 

Kendra is a buddy from CO and we met up race morning and chatted.  We started the swim together, and left T1 together and stayed together, legally of course people, the ENTIRE bike!  She would go ahead, I would go ahead, the pesky male would try to go ahead.  We all know that story right ladies?  To the one male who reads this blog, what is it about "on your left" that when coming from a female you don't hear?  I was trying to be nice yesterday, but had to get loud a few times.  Followed up by a prompt "thank you", when said male finally moved himself out of the blocking position so I could pass. 

Kendra ALL smiles up Chalk Hill!

Chalk Hill Done!

Riding with Kendra in my sights was phenomenal.  I do believe I can speak for us both when I say that we pushed ourselves harder than we would have had the other not been so close.  I kept telling myself that the only thing that was stopping me from going faster was my mind...I am certainly physically cpable of going faster, I just don't like to hurt.  Mantra on repeat please. There was not one minute of that bike where the pressure was not ON, we kept the focus and with each pass would tell the other to keep it up, work hard and get into T2 in the lead.  I don't remember once looking down to see "how many more miles to go?"  the ride flew by and I was super excited to see the 22.4 MPH average...I kept pushing to maintain that pace.

Nutrition: 2scoops Cytomax (then I go all water), 1 gel, 3.5 packs of Cytomax energy drops = 900 calories over 2.5 hours so 360 an hour.  I have been trying to hit a max of 370/hour on the bike so this was GOOD stuff!

Muscle Milk Run: 1:38:06 5th AG/17th OA (AKA thank goodness, I can swim and bike!)

Kendra telling me to come with...next time!

After T2, I was in the lead!  This was exciting, but I knew that Kendra came into T2 just behind me and that she is a phenomenal runner!  The pass happened before the first mile was out and she encouraged me to come with her...if only!  My 7:29's were no match for her 6:52's...that is where I should be and think I can get there, but I didn't get there yesterday.  I was wondering how long I would hold 2nd, and that pass came around mile 3 ish?  Kendra and Adrienne would go on to take 1st and 3rd amateur overall respectively.  I was in GOOD company!  I felt good at times, and when Mark would encourage me to lean forward, I could feel the speed- but it was like I just couldn't keep leaning forward...things to work on for sure!  The run ended up being 1:30 slower than LY. Only bummer of the day.

I came across the line in 4:41:46, 3rd AG and 4th amateur.  This was a 6+ min PR for me on this course.  I was proud of the mental state I kept yesterday, trying to focus on continuing to dig just a bit deeper...we can always do just a bit more, right?

Run Nutrition: 2 gels, 3 blocks, 1/2 of a 5 hour energy, coke and water = not nearly enough!  Let's say total about 400 total with coke added in and I think that may be a bit generous...but the tummy was a bit on edge, so didn't want any accidents before the finish line!

I was in no shape to eat directly after, a correlation to how hard I worked.  I got in a protein shake and a coke and then it was at least an hour before I was like, hmmm, let's go find a sandwich.  The only food in the athlete tent I was interested in was fruit...how people are cramming down chicken and veggie burgers after a race is beyond me.  My stomach would have thrown a massive protest that would have landed on the pavement. 

Mmmmm, Vino and protein bars!

We stuck around for the awards and am pleased to have gotten another SWEET bottle of La Crema pinot as a prize. 

Alana from TX and I

Next up for racing is Vegas in September.  There could be a few races that pop up, but as of now, nothing scheduled.